Teen Titans Fan Fiction ❯ Evermore ❯ All the King's Men and All the King's Horses . . . ( Chapter 9 )

Chapter 9: All the King's Men and All the King's Horses . . .

The park was absolutely alive with energy, the happy cries of playful children, the soft trill of spring birds calling out to the clear sky, the soft, cool breeze caressing skin like a loving mother, all contributed to the almost electrically charged atmosphere. This made the meditation Raven and Starfire were attempting to do extremely difficult, as the infectious rhythm of life crept insidiously into their calmed bodies.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos . . . Azara- . . ." Starfire paused in her chant, throwing Raven off as well, due to the lost of fluidity and harmony.

"Raven, I feel . . . strange, I cannot seem to remain still." She commented, looking over at the dark heroine beside her.

"That's because there's too much going on here, it's difficult to concentrate with a constant distraction like this." The dark magus gestured widely, indicating the groups of children and adults playing various games not far away, as well as those simply walking about while talking to one another amicably, and the many animals scurrying about the park. "Focusing on the self is difficult in this situation because all these other things demand the attention which is needed for examination, that's why I normally meditate away from others." Starfire looked down, shamed.

"I am sorry, I did not realize, otherwise I would not have suggested that we come to this place." Raven shook her head, and at first reached for the Tamaranian's chin, but she instead shifted at the last moment and planted her hand on the other girl's shoulder.

"It's okay, Star." She smiled a little when the alien looked back up. "Besides, our dates are supposed to include work on my powers and fun for you, and I'm pretty sure we haven't done any of the latter yet." Starfire blinked, and began to object,

"But, Raven- . . ." She was cut off even before she got started, though.

"No `buts,' Star." Raven let go of her love's shoulder, and crossed her arms over her chest in a manner which showed she would brook no more dissent in the ranks. "So, what would you like to do?" At first, the crimson-haired girl pouted indignantly at having been led around by the nose, as Raven had just done, but that pout gave way to a smile shortly as the Tamaranian truly realized what Raven was asking.

"Perhaps we could play a game . . . `tag,' I think your people call it." Raven smirked, but nodded her agreement to Starfire's choice none-the-less.

"Alright then, tag, you're it." Within a moment of having bent forward and poked Star on the tip of her orange-skinned nose with one index finger, Raven was swallowed up by her teleportation manifestation, leaving Starfire to stand alone and blink in confusion.

Then, after realizing what had just transpired, she took to the air, quickly getting into the game as she used her superior vantage point to locate Raven. It took the playful Tamaranian a minute or two, but she eventually caught sight of a flash of Raven's blue cloak behind a tree. She reached the site in an instant, only to find that Raven was not and had not been wearing the cloak, that she had taken it off before and left it as bait for Star.

"You know, I suddenly realize that trick would have been much more useful if there was a safe spot set up." Raven commented dryly, crouching on the branch just over where Starfire was standing, causing the other girl to jerk her head up in surprise.

And then, even as Star made a flying lunge to catch Raven, the dark magus sprang right over her, landing at the base of the tree and snatching up her cloak before taking off in a dash. For the barest moment, Starfire contemplated bringing herself to a screeching halt and then giving chase, but her less rational, more instinctual mind told her to simply turn about. She did so, causing her to land feet first against the tree branch, letting her already bunched legs straighten and catapult her off of the wooden protrusion and after Raven. The ashen-skinned girl, knowing that she could not out pace her pursuer, went with the next best thing and threw her cape out behind her. The garment flew straight into Starfire's face, quite effectively blinding the poor alien.

Regardless of impaired vision, though, she intended to get Raven, and so simply flew even faster straight forward. In a final desperation move, Raven threw herself onto her back, trying to slip underneath the flying alien, while reaching out with her power to stop herself cold where she fell. Despite the move, Starfire still managed to catch hold of Raven's legs about the ankles. With a wrench, the Tamaranian's added impetus ripped Raven's claws of black energy out of the ground, along with several large chunks of the park lawn and soil themselves. But, at the same time, Raven's telekinetic anchor threw Star's inertial drive completely out of kilter, shifting her straight flight into a spin that dragged the dark magus along with it.

When the alien's actual flight cut out in an attempt to halt the spin, the pair instead went tumbling and bouncing over the ground, end over end in an unbreakable tangle. Eventually, they rolled to a stop, just beneath the boughs of a relatively large tree, and once she could finally see straight again, Raven attempted to extricate herself. But, in moving her legs and bringing her knees up initially to begin getting to her feet, she found her movements obstructed by a soft, yet immovable obstacle. After bringing her hands up and straightening her arms, she saw that she was over Starfire, hands planted on either side of the emerald and lime green eyed girl's head, one knee seated rather firmly and high up between the other girl's legs; a fact that caused Starfire to blush quite darkly as she stared up at Raven; while the other lay on the outside, causing Raven to vaguely straddle Starfire's right leg.

At the realization, Raven's violet eyes went wide and she froze, unable to make any further attempts to remove herself from Star's person. But, at the same time, her resolve to keep from forcing anything on Starfire nagged at the back of her mind, stifling the dark magus' desire to kiss the Tamaranian's soft, slightly-parted lips. The tense moment held for nearly a minute on end, as both girls were unable to escape, but also unwilling to do anything besides escape. Then, finally, it snapped as a scream rang out, a woman's scream, followed by a harsh, uncaring voice.

"Look, lady, just hand over the stupid ring, and you or your boyfriend won't get hurt!" Both super-heroines got to their feet in a flash at the sound, and immediately oriented themselves on the shout's origin point.

Awkwardness superceded by duty, Starfire looked to Raven questioningly, unsure of the other girl's ability and willingness to fight, and the dark magus nodded without hesitation in response.

"I'm tellin' you right now, you've got five more seconds to hand that over, then we're gonna start fucking you up!" Starfire took off, bursting through the trees over the altercation a moment later, finding seven brightly colored and oddly-attired gang members surrounding a young man and woman, menacing them with various weapons.

"Cease and desist your criminal actions this instant, otherwise I will be forced to take severe disciplinary action." Without the others there to do so, Starfire was forced to take on the mantle of verbally abusing the offenders, which she did relatively well, floating in the air over them with her hands surrounded by a brilliant nimbus of bright green energy.

Unsurprisingly, the thugs did not react favorably to Starfire's appearance, the leader, obviously so since he was doing all of the talking, raised a pistol drawn from his belt to the girl.

"Ice this bitch!" He shouted, punctuating the cry with a shot from the small weapon, the Tamaranian nimbly dodging the attack.

Even as the other bangers went to draw their own firearms, blazing bolts of hot plasma sizzled into their midst, downing two where they stood. A storm of small arms fire came in retaliation, forcing Starfire to go on the move, still raining down bolts even as she did so. And, like her shadowy namesake, Raven appeared as if from nowhere in the air over one of the members, delivering a vicious kick that downed the youth instantly. She landed easily beside another, knocking his gun from his hand with a single strike, then blocked his follow up knife swipe by stopping his arm at the wrist with her own, and lastly brought her free hand in to deal a hard blow to the underside of his jaw, snapping his head back with an audible "crack." As the unconscious thug feel before her, though, she found herself faced with another two, pistols already trained on her.

That is, until both were knocked to the ground by solid hits from Starbolts, and Raven smiled faintly, though she wasn't foolish enough to look away from the last remaining member of the gang to acknowledge Star's assistance. Bereft of aid, the leader looked from the slowly advancing dark magus to the Tamaranian girl floating in the sky above him, and simply threw his gun to the ground and ran. After taking a moment to calm herself, Raven tentatively reached into the pool of her collective power, and drew forth just enough to send several of the leather jackets from his downed fellows flying at the leader, quickly knocking him to the ground and immobilizing him with the garments.

That taken care of, Raven turned about to face the pair they had rescued, and immediately found herself embraced tightly by the young woman, a blonde with sparkling blue eyes.

"Oh, thank you, thank you so very much!" She cried happily as she held the dark magus, and the stunned Raven could only nod dumbly in response.

A moment after Starfire landed beside the pair, the young man, a handsome youth with slightly spiked brown hair and charming eyes of the same color, gently detached the woman from Raven, after which the ashen-skinned girl inched behind Starfire, putting her between herself and the two.

"I'm sorry, Miss, my fiancé just gets a little overly affectionate when she's happy." He apologized, gesturing to the woman beside him as he spoke.

"Fiancé?" Starfire asked curiously, tilting her head in that curious manner that she did when her interest was aroused.

"We're promised." He answered, draping an arm over the blonde's shoulder, bringing the golden band on his ring finger into prominence. "You came just in time to save our rings, they're all we brought with us." Starfire smiled widely at the news and fairly hopped in place as a million questions tried to beat their way out of her all at once.

"Glorious, when is the union to take place?"

"Tomorrow night, actually, right in this very park, that's why we were here." The man answered, before he stopped and blinked. "But we're getting ahead of ourselves, we haven't even introduced ourselves yet." He smiled, and gestured easily to himself. "I'm Brendan Reed." Beside him, the blonde smiled as well, and curtsied just a little.

"Sophia Lorraine."

"Starfire."

"Raven." The dark magus said quietly, stepping out from behind Starfire as she did so.

"Well, it's wonderful to meet you both, and now that I have your names, I'd like to invite you both to come to the wedding as guests of honor." Raven gaped at the offer while Starfire fairly quivered with barely contained joy, but before either could give an answer, Sophia looked down at her watch and then grabbed her fiancé's arm.

"We're going to be late to meet my parents!" The youth looked to his wife in shock, and before either of the super-heroines could even blink, the two were already dashing off.

"Don't forget the invitation, tomorrow night at six!" Brendan shouted back, before he and his intended vanished from sight.

Starfire and Raven stood in silence for a few moments, before the Tamaranian fairly exploded with words.

"Oh, this is so wonderful, Raven!" She grabbed the ashen-skinned girl about the shoulders. "It will be so enjoyable to be a part of such a joyous occasion, I cannot wait to decide what I will wear!" Raven winced, and gently put a hand on Starfire's shoulder.

"Starfire, we can't go to that." The crimson-haired girl's face fell, and Raven only appeared more pained by that fact.

"Why, Raven?"

"Because . . ." The dark magus looked into Starfire's emerald on lime eyes, and at the sight of the girl's dejection, she faltered. "Because neither of us really have anything to wear." She finished lamely, trying to pretend as though she'd been planning to say that from the start.

Starfire smiled at hearing that, missing Raven's slight state of distress.

"That is fine, we can go shopping today and purchase something." Raven buried her misgivings and smiled.

"Of course, how could I be so silly?" Starfire nodded.

"I do not know, but I would enjoy leaving now to begin our shopping as soon as possible."

"Let's." And the two left, Raven hoping desperately that her fears were entirely unfounded.

* * *

Her foot tapped softly on the ground with considerable rapidity, nervousness bringing forth the unconscious action. Raven sat in a chair inside a small but still glamorous clothing store, a very upscale place with the latest fashions, waiting as patiently as she could for Starfire. The Tamaranian had vanished into the dressing room with a huge collection of clothing some time ago, and had yet to make even a sound to indicate her continued presence within its confines. So, left to her own devices, Raven worried.

What would happen at the wedding, who would be there, and how would they react to the two girls who came to the event together? Yes, it wasn't entirely uncommon for single people, especially people about their age, to bring just a friend along, but that illusion could so easily be destroyed. Starfire could simply mention their dating, or one of the people could recognize them from earlier in the park, or Raven herself could lose control for just a moment and let something slip, or touch Star in an inappropriate place or manner.

It was all just too frightening, a powder keg just waiting to explode, in Raven's mind.

"Raven . . . ?" But, every last thought in the dark magus' pretty little head vanished when Starfire emerged from the dressing room.

To call her "stunning" would have been a vast understatement, particularly when Raven was the observer. She wore what was actually a rather simple dress, nothing more than a shoulder-less, strapped gown, soft lavender in color, spun of a silky fabric in a satin style, the soft lighting in the store causing it to shine and sparkle. The bodice was just short of tightly-fitting on Starfire's form, and from beneath it at the hips fell a loose, straight skirt that hung almost down to the ground, almost covering the dainty slippers of the same color as the dress that came with the outfit. Lastly came the pair of long, pale blue gloves, which reached up just past the alien's mid-bicep, which accented her thin, graceful arms, as well as making her arms only appear long due to their length. The garment itself hugged the curves and contours of Starfire's body seductively, and yet it maintained enough ambiguity in its presentation to remain modest. Overall, the whole outfit gave off a sense of elegance and simplicity, immensely complimentary airs for the crimson-haired girl herself, and Raven was utterly blown away by it.

"How is my appearance, Raven?" Starfire asked shyly, blushing slightly as she looked to the dark magus.

Raven only stared in silence for several moments at first, but finally she blinked and shook her head, trying to clear the odd haze from her mind.

"You . . . you're . . . beautiful, Starfire." The Tamaranian smiled and blushed an even deeper shade of red.

"You are being too charitable . . ." She murmured demurely, bringing Raven almost instantly to her feet.

"No, I'm not." She shook her head, though this time it was almost in shame. "If anything, I'm not being kind enough, I don't have the words to do you justice." Starfire flushed another shade darker, but this was offset by the concern that entered her expression.

"Raven . . . ?" At the quiet, worried question, Raven subsided into her seat, staring into her lap.

"Never mind, Starfire, just believe me when I tell you that you look wonderful."

"Thank you, Raven." Starfire whispered unhappily, though she brightened after a moment. "Perhaps finding your dress will bring you cheer?" Raven looked up to Star, and after a pause managed to put a smile on her face.

"Maybe."

"Then we shall find your dress and make you happy!"

* * *

Hours and many visited stores later, Starfire and Raven plodded up to the front of the last store they knew of in the city, still only with one bag in tow.

"I'm sorry about this, Starfire." Raven apologized, though Starfire responded without hesitation.

"It is not your fault, none of the garments we have seen thus far have suited you, and I can understand your wish to have the perfect clothing for this exalted event." The dark magus shook her head.

"But I'm still inconveniencing you for my- . . ." Star smiled warmly, and held up a hand to halt Raven.

"You take too much guilt upon yourself, Raven, and you forget that the point of our dating is to spend time together, is it not?"

"I suppose it is, but- . . ."

"No, no more `were it not for the fact,' I am enjoying this time with you, Raven, and that is all that matters." The ashen-skinned girl blushed at Starfire's vehement denial of her insinuations, and finally she backed down.

"Well, then I guess we should go in here and hope I can find something." Starfire nodded and followed Raven into the store, an odd place called, "The Golden Dragon," which was apparently an Oriental specialty store.

As soon as the Tamaranian stepped inside the darkened confines of the store, she found herself assaulted by a thousand strange odors, the smells of several different varieties of burning incense, musky odors of ancient, dusty artifacts, the crisp, metallic smell of various types of metal, including hard-forged steel. All of it was a bit much for the alien girl to absorb all at once, but she adjusted after a few moments, and almost immediately became engrossed with the many oddities and curios scattered about the walls, not even noticing that Raven was nowhere to be found by that point.

Briefly, she examined a golden, extremely artistically-rendered incense burner, followed by a wooden carving of a Kuang-Shi, a Chinese Vampire, after which she moved on to a wall covered in rack after rack of exotic weapons.

"Starfire . . . ?" Raven's quiet call came just as Starfire was puzzling over a weapon that amounted to a stick with a crescent-shaped blade on one end, and an extremely heavy bludgeoning weight on the other.

She turned about to face the girl at the nervous query, and quite nearly fell right off of her feet from shock. Raven stood, hands held before her and pawing at one another, in a dress. But this was no ordinary dress, not by any stretch of the imagination. First of all, it was almost two garments in one, the first a feather-light shift of a gossamer, silky fabric, violet in color and thin enough to be seen through for the most part, with a simple, scarlet dress beneath that. Both overlapped their fabric at the bodice where they buttoned in a typical Chinese style, though the overlap lay in opposite directions between the two. The similarity ended there, as the scarlet underdress' high neckline reached all the way up to Raven's mid-neck at the collar, while the violet overdress hung low enough that it would have shown most of the girl's collarbone, had it not been for the opaque underdress.

Whereas the overdress had long, billowy sleeves that extended all the way to her wrists, drawing the eye to her bare hands, the sleeves of the under ended just as the arm started off from the shoulder. The juxtaposition of dissimilar styles continued as the difference in the lengths of the skirts became obvious, with the underskirt falling down to mid-thigh and fitting relatively tightly to the ashen-skinned girl's legs, and the other over falling loosely all the way to Raven's ankles, right over her sandaled feet, and slit up the right side all the way to the underdress. And though the scarlet underdress drew the eye through more vibrant color, the intricate embroidery of the overdress' sheer surface more than made up for that advantage, forming on its shimmering surface images of birds taking to graceful flight, mysterious, bestial shapes hiding in the distance, and shadowy masses that appeared as both large, half-formed images, and tendrils that twisted and wound their way about, particularly on the sleeves.

The dress was at once both showy and yet modest, and the very fact that it was essentially two pieces of clothing, one worn over the other, only made it all the more fitting for the dark magus.

"Starfire . . . ?" Raven asked again, the anxiety in her voice having grown as the alien girl continued to stare at her with wide, almost blank, eyes.

The call broke whatever spell the dress had held over Starfire, and she blinked a few times as she tried to navigate thought-processes through her addled mind. Once the train cars finally connected on the tracks of her brain, though, the Tamaranian lit up with joy and hugged Raven tightly.

"Oh Raven!" She cried, and even as she did so, she found herself unable to help noticing how soft the dress was, much the same as Raven's body underneath it. "It is absolutely perfect for you, this is wonderful!" Raven smiled, her cheeks turning a shade of pink.

"I'm glad you like it, Starfire." The crimson-haired girl nodded enthusiastically.

"I do, it is beautiful, and I cannot wait to see you in it at the wedding!" Before Raven could say even a word in response, Star had released her from the embrace and spun her about to face the check-out counter at the far corner of the store. "Come, we must purchase it!"

"Alright, but can I at least take it off first?"

"Oh, of course, certainly, Raven." Starfire blushed and rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment, allowing Raven to go off back toward the dressing room to remove the garment.

But, even as she did so, the Tamaranian couldn't help notice every little detail about the way it and Raven's body moved as she retreated, an odd feeling slipping through her body . . .

* * *

Thus far, the wedding had gone off without a hitch, and had been quite enjoyable to watch. The ceremony itself hadn't been incredibly extravagant, but had still been breathtaking in its own simple manner, particularly when Brendan and Sophia had actually taken their vows, Raven had been forced to literally restrain the emotional Tamaranian beside her from squealing with joy at the event. Everything else had gone by in a blur of enthusiasm, almost too fast for Raven to even notice. And now it was time for the dancing, which presented her with a new, though not exactly unexpected, problem.

"Why should we not dance with the other guests, Raven, no one seems to be concerned with them for doing so now?" Starfire asked curiously as she stood before her seated "date," a large mass of dancing pairs acting as a backdrop frame to her form.

"Because I'm not very good at dancing, and I don't want to embarrass you or myself." Luckily, Raven was vaguely prepared for the questioning, and so did not stumble quite as much as she had previously.

"But, that youth and his friend do not appear to be very good at dancing, and they are not concerned." Starfire stated with the lilt of questioning still in her voice, indicating a boy and a girl off to the side of the crowd who could barely avoid tripping over their own feet, much less each other's.

"They don't care if they look like idiots, I do." Raven responded, sadly aware of the losing battle she was fighting against Starfire's simple logic.

* * *

Meanwhile, not too far away, a certain young man in a tuxedo was quietly watching the pair, first as the tall red-head fairly tried to pull the short, pale girl onto the dance floor, and then as she literally tried to do so, grabbing hold of her sheer silk-sleeved arm and dragging her toward it. His eyebrow quirked for a moment, and then his face split in a knowing smile.

"Well, let's see if we can't give them a little helping nudge . . ." He murmured to himself before slipping off through the crowd, receiving congratulatory pats on the back along the whole way.

* * *

"Please, Raven, I am sure that no one else will notice your poor dancing ability, and we may not have another opportunity to dance at a wedding for quite some time!" Starfire begged, pulling on the dark magus' arm as she did so in hopes of somehow further motivating the girl by doing so.

"I told you, Starfire, I am not going up to- . . ." Raven broke off her protest as the sound of a finger tapping on a microphone boomed forth from the loudspeakers scattered about the area, just as the music that had been playing cut off.

"Sorry to interrupt the fun, everyone, but I only just realized that I'd forgotten about a last minute addition I made to the ceremony." Both Starfire and Raven looked to the podium where the microphone was situated, and found Brendan standing atop it. "You see, there are two people here; two young ladies, actually; who saved Sophia and I from some thugs who might have postponed this ceremony indefinitely if they hadn't been stopped." Suddenly, a spotlight fell on the two super-heroines, illuminating them for all to see. "So, Starfire and Raven, I'd like you two to have the first complete dance of the night, as the guests of honor at this occasion." Realizing exactly what Brendan meant, the many couples standing about on the dance floor quickly cleared it, leaving it completely open for the two youths.

For a moment, Raven simply sat transfixed, eyes wide and unseeing, like a deer caught in the headlights of a car. Then, as Starfire gently pulled on her arm once more, Raven snapped out of it and stood, allowing herself to be led by the hand to the center of the floor, where they then stopped and faced one another, the spotlight faithfully following them to keep them constantly in full view. With barely contained terror, Raven glanced about at all the faces and people watching her and her secret love, fearing the emotions she would find in their eyes, the words that they would speak which would damn her chances at a relationship with Starfire straight to the abyss. But, to her astonishment, she perceived not even a hint of malice or disgust in the visages spread out around her. In fact, the very worst she saw was cautious curiosity, and many of the faces in the crowd of onlookers actually wore smiles, and looked as though they would have been clapping, had it not been for the respectful silence that had fallen over the area.

"I do not think anyone cares." Starfire commented, bringing Raven's focus back to the alien girl before her, a warm, just short of "I told you so," smug smile on her face. "So, let us dance." Inhibition gone, Raven stepped right up to Starfire, taking one hand in hers, while her other went to the alien's side, just as Star's did.

And, as they took their first step, the music softly trilled back into life, a slow, low melody that was perfect for the event. It began with more cautious, unsure steps, moving in a three-point pattern, a triangle at the center of the floor. But, as the violin accompaniment swelled into stronger, greater life, followed by a tempo jump in the piano's high playing, their dance grew as well. They watched one another with a vaguely curious gaze, not quiet sure what the other had in mind for the dance itself, but without even realizing it, they moved together. Seamlessly, almost as if they were of one will, they slipped and slid over the length of the dance floor, twirling, fairly flying as they did so. The spotlight could barely keep up with their almost erratic movements, and yet they somehow still moved with perfectly synchronized intent. They smiled at each other, simply knowing by that point, and the dance grew even more elaborate. In a smooth, fluid motion, Starfire lifted Raven into the air, spinning as she hovered just an inch off the ground.

And, from her vantage point, Raven watched as the stars above dancing in twirling circles with one another, as if honoring her wonderful waltz with her own emerald-eyed star. She came back to the ground, first twirling Starfire across from her left to her right, and then having the same done to her by the alien. Her eyes skimmed over the smiling faces of the crowd while uproarious clapping filled her ears, and she knew in her heart of hearts that everything was simply perfect.

* * *

The floor was once again occupied by all of the other guests, though this time with Raven and Starfire at their center. The music now played as a mellow, slow tune, which fit well with the small, repetitive movements that made up the new form of dancing the alien and the dark magus were engaging in. Finally willing to break the wordless dialogue she was holding with the other girl as they slowly stepped about, Raven spoke.

"Thank you, for getting me to come to this, Starfire." The Tamaranian smiled in response.

"No acknowledgments are necessary, Raven, it is only right to do what I can to make you happy." Raven shook her head lightly, negating Starfire's modesty.

"No, this is more than that, being here didn't just make me happy, it made me feel . . ." She paused for a moment, unsure of how to convey her earlier feelings in words. "Whole, like I'd found something I'd been missing for my whole life." Gently, she squeezed the crimson-haired girl's hand in hers. "Tonight was perfect, and it would be rude to not thank you for it." The squeeze was returned before Starfire spoke.

"But it is unnecessary, the night was nearly perfect for me as well, and that is repayment enough for recognition to be forgone." Raven blinked, catching the "nearly" in Starfire's statement.

"Why nearly perfect?"

"Well, there was just one detail . . ." While maintaining their dance, Star reached around Raven's head to the bun that her hair had been pulled back and styled into before they left for the wedding, and slipped the pair of anchoring chopsticks out.

Without their support, the bun fell apart, causing most of Raven's violet locks to fall back into their normal style, the remaining dissidents being nudged into place by Star's nimble hand. When she finished, the Tamaranian returned her hand to Raven's side, smiling warmly with just a hint of mirth at the dark magus' still surprised expression.

"You are who you are, Raven, and that is all that you ever need to be." She said quietly, bringing a fierce blush to the ashen-skinned girl's pale cheeks, before she glanced away in embarrassment.

"Thanks, Star, I'll remember that."

"You are most welcome, Raven." The alien girl returned with her typical chipper lilt, and after another moment, Raven faced her again, beet-red blush reduced to a faint, rouge-like tinting of her cheeks.

She attempted to continue dancing after that, and succeeded for a time, but quickly found her head sinking inexorably, until it actually lay against her dance partner's shoulder.

"Tired?" Came the quiet question from the smiling Starfire, and as the dark magus stared up at her sidelong, she nodded, smiling weakly. "Would you like to go back to the tower, then?" Another nod, and Star returned it just the same. "Then we will go home." A smooth shift of her body changed the positioning of both herself and Raven, letting the dark magus lean fully against her.

And, with ease, she headed off from there, both stopping briefly to wave to Brendan and Sophia, and then they left.

* * *

"So, do you think they'll make it?" Sophia asked quietly of her newly-gained husband, as the two of them lowered their arms from the air, watching Raven and Starfire's retreating forms.

"Of course, they both look like strong girls." Brendan responded almost immediately, smiling just a little as he recalled the past. "And besides, they remind me a lot of us, just a few years ago." Sophia blinked once, and looked off in the direction the girls had gone, though they were already out of sight by that point.

"I suppose so, the shy one is far too much like you were, when you were still shy, that is." She noted, causing Brendan to give a little "huff" of indignance.

"I'm still shy, just a lot less willing to let life pass me by because of it." Sophia raised one eyebrow.

"Assertiveness and shyness are conflicting attributes, dear." She said dryly, though she couldn't help but smile as she did so.

"Maybe, but that doesn't change the fact that I still feel as small as a mouse around your father." The words were said in jest, but they placed a certain pall over the conversation, and both fell silent for a time. "How do you think he's going to react to us having those two dance as guests of honor?" Brendan asked finally, breaking the silence.

"He'll deal with it, and if he can't, then we'll deal with it." Sophia answered, almost harshly. "We'll just be thankful that no matter how much trouble he gives us, it will be a whole lot less than those poor girls are going to have." Sadness crept into the woman's voice, empathy causing her to feel for the two super-heroines.

"Hey, don't worry about it, I already said that they'd make it, and as long as they can, there's no way in hell that we shouldn't." Brendan said as he hugged his wife, smiling.

"I love you, Brendan."

"I love you too, Sophia." And they kissed, forgetting their coming troubles for that moment in time.

* * *

The sun was shining brightly the next day, and though the wedding was long past over and its trappings packed up and taken away, the area still held a similar event.

"That flame's lookin' a little low, maybe you should fire it up a bit." Beast Boy commented as he hung by a morphed tail just off to the side of Cyborg and his grill, producing a box of lighter fluid from out of nowhere just after doing so.

"BB, I don't think you're supposed to add that stuff to hot coa- . . ." The cybernetically-enhanced youth's words were cut off as the barbeque grill became a roaring tower of flame.

"AIIIEEEEYAAAAA!" The green shape-shifter screamed as he flew away from the grill, hair on fire, and to the background accompaniment of Cyborg's uproarious laughter, he rolled back and forth on the ground while shifting between a number of forms in an attempt to put out the fire.

After a few moments, he found himself surrounded by cold, wet goop, and after shaking himself clean, looked up to find Robin standing over him, fire extinguisher in hand.

"I think you should try playing over by Raven and Star, and stay away from Cyborg and the grill, Beast Boy." He suggested, helping the shorter team member to his feet, and Beast Boy meekly nodded in response, feeling the many singed hairs on his head.

"Yeah, probably, heh."

* * *

And, with a sigh and a shake of her head, Raven looked away from the grilling area not too far away and to Starfire beside her.

"You know, I really do wonder whether or not he has a brain in that skull of his, sometimes." She said dryly, and though Starfire couldn't help but giggle as the scene came right back to her mind, she tried to refute Raven.

"It is not so much that Beast Boy lacks intelligence, simply that he is without the wisdom necessary to use what knowledge he has correctly.

"Starfire, he thinks that George Washington fought at the battle of Waterloo." Raven noted with deadpan seriousness, just before the Titan in question popped up right between them.

"Talking about moi, ladies?" He asked smoothly, obviously unaware of the light the two super-heroines had been discussing him in.

Neither was able to hold back their laughter at the unflattering situation Beast Boy had put himself in, and so both fell to their backs and laughed heartily, leaving Beast Boy standing over them and looking very confused. Eventually, Robin returned from suppressing the fire the green changeling had almost started, and stood similarly confused, though he had the sense to ask,

"What's so funny?" After calming themselves and smothering their bouts of laughter to just giggles, the girls looked to one another for a moment, and then Starfire answered.

"I believe that the reason for our mirth would be . . . too `inside-jokey' to make sense to you, Robin." The boy wonder looked curious for a moment, but then shook his head and dismissed it.

"Well, Cyborg should have the food cooked soon, so we should be starting in not too long." All three, even the still confused Beast Boy nodded, although Raven piped up a moment afterwards.

"If that's the case, then I need to talk to Starfire in private for a moment." The dark magus climbed to her feet as Starfire looked over at her quizzically, and inclined her head toward a place at the edge of the clearing, where the trees were planted considerably closer together than in other parts of the park. "Coming, Starfire?" At the words, the Tamaranian floated to her feet and nodded.

"Of course, lead the way, Raven." And thus the two walked off toward the area, Robin watching them leave with a slightly preoccupied expression.

* * *

Just as they were fully out of sight from the others, Raven's hand rather suddenly took Star's, holding it loosely. No words passed between the two, though Starfire did look surprised for a moment, but eventually her expression subsided into a warm smile, and they walked on. They continued to do that for quite some time, simply walking while holding one another's hand, admiring the sights and soothing sounds of the park. Finally, though, Starfire's curiosity got the better of her, and she asked,

"What did you want to talk to me about, Raven?" The dark magus blushed.

"Well, truthfully, nothing." She smiled a little and squeezed Starfire's hand. "Really, I just wanted to get away from the boys so I could hold your hand." And, as Star was about to reply to Raven's declaration, the ashen-skinned girl heard something that turned her blood to ice even as it flowed through her arteries and veins.

"You make me sick." The dark magus turned about, along with Starfire, and found a family standing behind her, carrying a number of items which indicated that they had also come to the park to have a picnic.

It was a rather typical family, a mother and father with a son and daughter, the mother and daughter both wearing very plain, almost colorless dresses, while the son wore dress pants and a white shirt. They all looked utterly and completely ordinary. But the father, the father was almost disturbing to look upon, a man so intense that Raven almost feared she would ignite on fire if he continued to glare at her with those hard, clear eyes. After another moment of simply staring, Raven managed to gather the will necessary to force words from her suddenly dry mouth.

"E-excuse me?" She stuttered, so great was her fear of what she knew to be coming.

"I said that you heathens make me physically ill." Starfire looked to the side at Raven, confusion evident in her features, but Raven did not have the time nor heart to acknowledge the look pleading for clarification.

"And w- . . ." She stumbled, and closed her eyes for a moment, squeezing Star's hand almost as hard as she could. "Why, pray tell, are we heathens?" The man snorted indignantly, as if he felt that he shouldn't even need to explain his claim.

"Because homosexuality is a sin, one specifically forbade by God himself, and unless I'm hearing things, I believe that's exactly what you're indulging in." His words were harsh, and barbed with insult and malice, spurring Raven to cry almost immediately,

"Why is it wrong, we're not hurting anyone?!" The man only smiled viciously, obviously expecting just such a response.

"Because God said it was so, whether you're hurting anyone is irrelevant, though I have to contradict you on that point as well, as you're hurting that poor girl by consigning her soul to eternal damnation in the pits of Hell." The fear and anxiety coming off of Raven became almost palpable at that point, particularly after she stole a glance at Starfire beside her and saw the confusion and fright on the Tamaranian's face.

The dark magus truly wanted to cry then, as it seemed the whole crystalline structure of her budding relationship with Starfire, her whole world, was crashing down before her eyes.

"Just the thought of such debauchery, of two men copulating- . . ." And, like a cornered, wounded animal, Raven instinctively struck at the first weakness she sensed from her attacker.

"Yes, I'm sure you find the thought of two men having sex revolting, but I bet you'd cream yourself if you saw us rubbing snatches!" Her agitation became obvious simply in her vulgar language, and both Starfire and the man's wife gasped in shock, the latter of which instantly pulled her children close and covered their ears, horrified at what they had heard.

The man's face flushed red, both in anger and embarrassment, but he quickly defended.

"You are wrong, I'm just as sickened by the thought of you . . ." He paused for a moment, swallowing as the ragged blush on his paled cheeks darkened a shade. "And that girl copulating as I am by the thought of any two men." Raven smirked, finally feeling as though she wasn't at such a disadvantage, but it was weak, as her fear of how what Starfire had already heard would affect the alien was immense.

"Regardless of how you may feel, this is none of your business, and you have no right to come here and try to force your will on us." She said, having decided that the best thing she could do was to get the horrible man to stop talking as soon as possible.

What he said even as she turned about to leave, though, broke her heart in two, and filled her with such deep-set, unquenchable rage that she could only barely contain the writhing, flaming aura of her power that attempted to emerge.

"Rights, hah!" He barked contemptuously. "The very fact that your kind aren't allowed to marry like normal people should be proof enough that you aren't real people, that you're less than human, closer to animals than men." Raven didn't even really seem to turn back around to face the man again, she just simply was when she hadn't been less than a second ago.

Her hands were clenched so tightly at her sides that her skin had gone absolutely stark white, and even as she glared at him with such intensity that she fairly burned a hole through him, the depths of her eyes glowed with a dark malevolence. And, just as her eyes began to shift into glowing red slits that heralded terrible comings, the tears that began to run from them washed its bloody corruption away. Without another moment of hesitation, Raven fled with all the speed she could manage, fearing what she would do, what would happen if she stayed any longer.

Unperturbed, the man watched her go, and then gave a mocking laugh as he looked to Starfire, who had turned to watch Raven go with a bewildered, lost expression on her face.

"You two would be better off listening to God's word, this wouldn't be necessary if you did." Finally breaking out of her shocked stupor, Starfire rounded on the father with scorn and disdain written all over her features.

"I do not know who your `God' person is, but he sounds like a horrible man!" She fairly shouted before flying off after Raven.

The man watched her leave as well, remaining silent and contemplative for a moment, before giving a dismissive "hmph," and gesturing for his wife to help set up the picnic area.

* * *

It was nearly ten minutes later that Starfire finally found Raven, huddled in a copse on the far side of the park, curled up in a fetal ball on the ground. She approached slowly, cautiously, fearing the state she might find Raven in. But, even as she floated silently over the ground, the dark magus knew she was there, and lifted her head from the ground to look straight at Star, eyes a little puffy from shedding tears.

"He was . . . a horrible and ignorant man, Raven." She said as she floated to the ground beside the other girl. "Please do not be upset over him." Raven lifted herself up slightly, propping up on one elbow, and looking down at the ground as she spoke.

"Of course, everything he said is a lie, it's not as if any of it is true . . ." Gently, Starfire touched the ashen-skinned girl on the shoulder.

"Raven, are you sound?" She asked, fearing because of Raven's behavior. "Please, I am afraid for you." The dark magus remained silent and unmoving for another moment, and then finally looked up at Star, smiling weakly.

"Of course, just a little shook up, that's all." Starfire looked at her just a little skeptically.

"You are sure?" She only nodded, an innocent expression on her face. "I am fine, Starfire, don't worry."

"Then perhaps we should return to the picnic with the others and try to enjoy the remainder of the day?"

"That's a good idea, let's do that." And, after Raven climbed sluggishly to her feet, they headed off, Starfire hopeful that their encounter would not adversely affect the rest of their day. But Raven . . . her heart still lay in two sundered pieces, and hope . . . hope was far beyond her ability then.

Author's Notes: Before you go off to send me hate mail or give me a nasty review, I'd like to make it known right now that it was not my intention to insinuate that all religious people are like the man portrayed in this chapter. I know quite a few highly religious people who are still quite tolerant of homosexuality. But, at the same time, I know for a fact that people like him do exist, and I think people should realize this fact.