TT - Troubled Hearts EIGHT

Troubled Hearts
—The News—

“Well, my news doesn’t even compare with what is happening in my living room, so I might as well spill.”  Rachel shrugged and took a shaky breath in and out.  This caused both men in the room to look away from the unconscious girl on the couch over to Rachel.  Roy had always known Rachel to be calm and composed.  Now, she was anything but.  “I know I should be excited, but with all this commotion going on. . .  I don’t quite know how to take the news.”

“Rach, tell us,” Roy told her, “What has been going on?  You aren’t yourself.   Please, talk to us.  We’ll understand.  I promise.”

“Can you really promise that?  I hardly know what to think myself.”

“It’s not bad news, is it?” Roy asked, but Rachel just walked into the kitchen and gestured for the two men to follow her to the table.

“I’m not quite sure anymore.  But I did want the two of you to know first.”  Suspense ran high as she composed herself by long, but steady breaths.  She took turns looking them both in the eyes and then grasped their hands in hers.  She gave a small, shy smile before saying what she looked forward to and yet shuddered to speak.  

“Dick,” she squeezed his hand, “I’m pregnant.”

This piece of info seemed to temporarily pause their situation with her roommate passed out on the living room couch.  “That’s wonderful, Rach!  Congrats!”  Roy stood up with pride and pure unadulterated joy for her.  He gave her a big bear hug and kissed her on both cheeks.  “I know it is what you’ve always wanted,” he calmed down a bit.  “You’ve been trying for a while.  I wish all of your hopes and dreams are fulfilled in this child.  You’ve earned it.”

“Thanks, Roy.  That really means a lot to me.”  She gave a wide, appreciative smile.   If for only a short period of time, the world seemed to shrink.  Even though there were many problems and concerns lying on the horizon, they chose to ignore that.  Soon it was only the three of them in the room that mattered.  

“So, what are you looking forward to?” Roy inquired as he sat back down at the table.  He wanted to know everything.  It had been so long since he felt he could just visit with the two of them.  And with news such as this, he wanted nothing else.

Rachel tapped a finger on her chin as she pondered for a moment before responding.  “I want comfort.  Warmth.  Love.  Hope.”

“Oh,” Roy slapped his hand on the table in excitement, “I am so going to add to this list!  How about. . .  Sleepless nights.  Dirty diapers.  Endless crying.  And eventually there will be teething.  Potty training.  Oh, and don’t forget.  The wonderful age of two.”  Roy leaned on his elbow with a smirk.  “I’m sure you’ve heard the rumors.”

“Ah, yes,” Rachel leaned back in her chair, “the Terrible Twos.  I have heard the tales.  I’m sure you’ll have plenty of experience and tips by the time ours gets there.”  She grinned.  “After all, you are going first,” she replied in an almost snarky tone.

“Touché.”  Roy smirked as he conceded.  Well, perhaps.  “Okay, for the next order of business, we are going to decide names for us.”  

“Names for us?  What do you mean, Roy?” Rachel inquired.

“Well, are you Mommy and Daddy?  Mama and Papa?”  Roy looked eager; almost as if this was his child.  “And, of course, the most important part,” Roy paused for suspense, “what is my name going to be?”

“Oh, come on, Roy.  Don’t be ridiculous,” Rachel said in a flat tone.  “You’re definitely going to be Uncle Roy,” she finished with a wide smile.

Roy looked at her at an angle in a mock serious manner.  “Godfather?”

“We’ll think about it.”  Rachel rolled her eyes.  “But, one thing for certain.”  She held a single finger up for emphasis.

“Oh, do tell,” Roy held his chin in his hand and fluttered his eyelashes in a schoolgirlish manner to mock a typical gossip-loving teenager.

Rachel chuckled at his ridiculous gesture.  “I know they are going to be best friends!  Just like we were.”  Once more, Rachel placed her hands on each of theirs.  This would be just like old times.  It would.

“Well, duh!”  Roy rolled his eyes in a teasing manner.  Then he smirked.  “Or, if it is a boy, how about boyfriend and girlfriend?  Eh?”

“Oh,” Rachel gasped in excitement, “then we could name him Leon!”

“Leon and Lian.  Don’t you think that would be a little confusing?”  Roy looked seriously displeased, but Rachel knew it was all a bluff.  He was enjoying this as much as she was.

“Well, then what about Liam and Lian?” Rachel proposed in a joking manner.

Roy shook his head at the entire nonsensical conversation he had stumbled into.  “Not a chance.”  Of course, he savored it nonetheless.  The three of them had stuck together through thick and thin; despite trials and tribulations.  This was the only part of his life that was a constant.

“You’re no fun,” Rachel pouted in a playful, almost teasing manner.

Dick was, well, confused for lack of a better term.  While something inside of him was urging him not to trust these people, another part was starting to get comfortable.  Something about the excitement in Rachel’s eyes and the friendly banter around him that made him feel right at home.  What was this feeling called?  It was almost murky, but warm.  He was lost in the conversation, lost in his emotions, and lost in this whole world.  But, why didn’t that bother him?

“What do you think, Dick?” Rachel turned and looked at him expectantly.  

That feeling again.  Thick and warm and overwhelming.  “I think that,” Dick paused, “I just can’t compete with you two,” he chuckled as he burst into a wide breathtaking smile.  “So, since when did we decide that it’s a boy?”

“What, you want a girl?” Rachel asked with a grin that made Dick feel. . .  What was it called again?  Her steady, almost sultry gaze she looked at him with was irresistible.  And he found, he didn’t want to fight it anymore.

So Dick surrendered and gave in to the pleasant, mysterious feeling.  “I’d rather have a daddy’s girl than a momma’s boy, thank you very much,” he replied with a cocky smirk.  He almost surprised himself on how natural it seemed.

“Well, that’s only a little stereotypical.”  Rachel rolled her eyes and leaned her chin on her hand.  

The curve of her lips in a small one-sided smirk, the playful expression in her eyes, and the tilt of her face, made her appear sensual to Dick.  There it was again.  That overbearing, tumultuous, teeming emotion that lured him in and attempted to drown him.  Oh, how he wanted to let it.  He wanted it to just wash over him and give in.

“Only a little,” Dick kidded her in return.  Yes, this was much better.  Nothing about these people were bad.  He felt at ease with the people before him and he found he liked it.  He liked it a lot.  Letting those emotions guide him was definitely for the best.  Everything around him felt surreal.  It was better than having to be worried about troublesome cities and villains all the time.  Why would he when this fantastical world was ready and willing to accept him?  A world where nothing else mattered than what was before him.  And right now, with Raven, no, Rachel, just in his grasp, and his best friend Speedy, no, Roy at his side, that seemed tantalizing.  He was right where he wanted to be.

—

Meanwhile, Tara was still kneeling next to the sofa in the living room; next to her friend Kori.  She could overhear what the others were talking about in the kitchen.  So, Dick was finally accepting this.  She wasn’t quite sure how to digest that piece of news.  Should she rejoice now that he felt at peace with his situation?  Or should she sorrow at his losing incentive to go back?  

Was there a way to get back?  Tara wasn’t sure that she would choose or want to go back; even if it was a possibility for her.  And if Kori did make her way back home, how would she feel without ‘her Robin’?  Sure, she had found happiness with Roy, but he wasn’t back in the Titan world, right?  

Tara felt conflicted for obvious reasons.  Loneliness because of the potential loss of Kori.  Sadness that Roy and Kori would most likely be parted eternally.  Relief that Dick was finally consenting to his being in this world.  Joy from Rachel’s good news.  But, most of all, regret that she never got to thank Kori or help her when she needed it.  She might never get the chance to.  And, now Tara was all alone again in a house full of mixed emotions.  What would become of her?  

She knew the answers to all those questions would become known only after Kori woke up.  But who would she be when she awakened?

As Tara pondered over that question, the redhead’s eyes began to flicker and her brow creased.

“Uh, guys.  You need to get over here!” Tara said in alarm.  This immediately grabbed the attention from the three friends in the other half of the open area.  They got up from the table and rushed over to the couch.  Roy faster than the other two.

“What’s going on?” Rachel asked as she came over.  “Is she waking up?”

“Ugh,” Kori moaned as her eyes opened, but winced immediately after that.  “Man, I must’ve drank too much.  This has got to be the worst hangover I have ever had. . .”  She held her hand to cover her eyes from the sunlight in the room.  “What happened?” she asked as she noticed the people standing by her.  

“Kori!”  Rachel smiled like there was no tomorrow.  “It’s really you!”

“Rach, too loud.”  Kori tried to sit up, but fell back onto the couch.  “Uh, yeah.  Must be a hangover,” she whispered to herself.  She looked up at each individual one-by-one as she adjusted to the light.  There was Rachel, as happy as could be.  Dick who looked a bit stunned.  Roy standing there speechless, but with a single tear slipping down his cheek.

Wait, why was Roy here?  And crying?  Talk about weird.

“Okay, did I get another concussion or something?  ‘Cause you guys look like I came back from the dead or something. . .”  Kori was starting to become concerned.  Especially when they were looking at each other, trying to figure out what to say.  Or at least to get someone else to speak first.  Kori looked at her side and saw a girl with long blonde hair and sad blue eyes staring at her.  “Who are you?” she asked confused.  This whole situation was mind-boggling and no one was answering any of her ever increasing amount of questions.

“Kori,” Rachel said gently, “we have a lot to say.  So please be patient and listen.”

“Oh, okay.”  Kori was almost speechless.  Whatever everyone had to say, it had to be serious.  Then she thought for a moment.  “I guess I was dreaming of you going bonkers, Rach. . .” she wondered aloud.  “You seem normal now.”

“Wait, what do you remember?”  

Kori tried her best in her current foggy state of mind to recall the events of that fateful morning not so long ago.  Rachel waking up, talking about something about a band of Titans, followed by her breaking down, and the decision to seek help from a psychiatrist.  Kori relayed the bits of information as she remembered them.  They were jumbled at first, but as time went on, they grew clearer as she progressively woke up.

“Are you saying, that wasn’t a dream?” Kori asked when she was finished.  She was confused because of all the different looks coming from each one of them.  She could tell by the silence that none of them knew what to say or even how to say it.

“No, it wasn’t a dream,” Rachel finally said.  “I don’t really remember what happened back then, but I was told later that I was acting weird.  But now I’m back to the way that I was before.  And, so are you.”

“Wait, what?” Kori asked as she sat up.

“The same thing happened to you,” Rachel said with empathy.

“It’s true.  You’ve been a different person for over a week now,” Tara told her with a gentle voice.

“Who are you?  And what are you doing here?  How do you know that?” Kori asked three of the many questions brimming around in her head.

“My name is Terra.  I’ve been living here as your roommate during the whole time you’ve been gone,” she sat next to Kori on the couch and took her hand reassuringly.  Kori stiffened in response.  A complete stranger was holding her hand and talking like they were best friends.  This was beyond weird.

“Kori, why don’t we go into my room.  I would like to talk to you privately.”  Rachel smiled and it encouraged her.  Kori let go of Tara’s hand and took Rachel’s outstretched one.  Then, Rachel led her friend by the hand to her bedroom.

This left behind a saddened Tara, a disbelieving Dick, and a despairing Roy.  Each one had many emotions tumbling through them, and it wouldn’t be easy to sort through them.

“I need to be alone,” Roy said and went to sit in the kitchen next to his sleeping daughter, Lian.  Dick heard hushed sniffles coming from the vicinity of the kitchen. He must’ve really hit it off with Star, he thought. I don’t blame him.  I mean, Starfire is a really amazing girl.  But, what will happen to him now?

The thought of Roy losing heart depressed Dick.  Roy had always been a good friend.  As Speedy, he was quick on his feet, always had a smile on his face, and was welcome company.  Thinking of him without that lively, passionate spark made Dick feel uneasy.  It made Dick question his acceptance of this world.  Where would he be without his good friend?

Tara, on the other hand, was thinking more towards the reaction this Kori had.  Would this Kori treat her differently than the one she knew? Well, of course, Tara relented. She doesn’t even know who I am.  She doesn’t seem to be as loving or cheerful as Star at all.  To Tara, it looked worse than how Rachel reacted when she first woke up. But at least she has someone to help her, where I cannot.

At that, Tara went back up to the room she and her Kori had roomed together for over a week.  It had been fun getting reacquainted with her, being forgiven by her, and being helped by her.  It was as if these past months in this world had never happened.  It seemed to rewind to a time where the things around her were important and worth maintaining.  Seeing Gar again made her feel strong emotions coursing through her veins again.  Although one of the more dominant was anxiety, it reminded her that she was human.  That she was real.  That she was alive.  And nothing, not Slade, not dream serum, not depression, absolutely nothing could ever take that away from her.

With firm determination that she would face whatever would come tomorrow, she laid down on her futon and fell asleep.

Everything was dimly lit around her, but she could tell she was moving fast.  She was hovering on a chunk of rock over a canyon of some sort.  Wait, how did she have her powers back?  She didn’t have time to think about that, as she saw a flash of something green glow in front of her.  It moved, no, shot out in the dark, lighting up what was around it.  Were those projectiles?  Then it hit her.  Green lights shooting at objects around her.  She tried to focus harder on what was in front of her.  Long flowing red hair and a miniskirt.  It couldn’t be!

As if to confirm her suspicions, she vaguely heard herself yell, “Starfire, stop!”  She reached out to her.  If only I could touch you, and know you are real, Tara thought.

She grabbed hold of her ankle.  Starfire turned onto her back while flying.  Her eyes were glowing green in fury.  Why was she so angry?  What had Tara done to make her so irate?  Why was Starfire flying away from her?  “I’m not go . . . traitor like you!” the few words Tara could understand hit her heart hard.  A traitor?  Why was Star calling her a traitor of all things?  Was she really not as forgiving as Tara had thought, and hoped, she was?

Starfire tried to kick Tara’s hand free.

“You’re . . . traitor . . . abandoned me,” Tara partially heard herself respond in spite.  Why was she so mean towards her friend?  She saw her hand grip tighter on Starfire’s ankle.

“You betrayed . . .anyone . . . a traitor,” Starfire was enraged and it showed in her voice.  Tara saw the background rush by even faster and assumed they were hurtling through the air at a higher speed.  She looked at her grip on Starfire’s ankle.  Good, she was still holding on.  Starfire’s hands glowed menacingly as she hurled starbolt after starbolt towards Tara.

They did not connect.  Tara saw bits of rock from below come to take the blows for her.  How had she gotten such fine control of her powers?  

“It doesn’t . . . ‘lieve me.”  She was pleading with Starfire, wasn’t she?  What was she saying?  It frustrated her to be so out of the loop.  It seemed very important, and she wanted to know so badly.

“Do you . . . convince . . . gone.”  The words Starfire was speaking again came out as jumbled and interspersed.  Tara stopped trying to piece them together.  All she could tell from Starfire’s voice and her emphatic gestures was that she firmly believed Tara was wrong.  Whatever she had done, it was making Starfire wrathful.  But, for some odd reason, as she kept speaking, the words she could hear Starfire say were slurred.  Was Tara imaging it?  Starfire shook her head as if to get a grip.

Tara’s vision widened and she could see more around her for a brief moment before it became unfocused and dimmed.

Starfire started to shake, almost convulse in midair.  What is wrong, Starfire?  Tell me! Tara thought, but alas she could not speak.  Only watch as the horror befell her.  Starfire produced a humongous starbolt— much larger than any she had seen before.  Tara knew then and there, if she was hit by that, she might never recover.  Quick, there had to be rocks or something to take the hit like before!  Tara looked around, but the starbolt was much bigger than most of the boulders near her.

She . . . wasn’t going to make it, was she?

With a warrior’s cry, Starfire unleashed the starbolt on everything in the nearby vicinity.  Tara’s vision turned white.  Then, when she could see again, she saw the ground steadily coming closer and closer.  She was falling at an alarming rate.  

Her vision blurred.  And then, before she hit the ground, everything turned to black.

Tara bolted upright in her futon.  What a nightmare!  Not only was her usually good, sweet-tempered friend terrifying, but Starfire had almost killed her.  

Light peeked into the room where Tara sat breathing heavily.

“Oh, I’m sorry.  Did I wake you?”  It was Kori opening the door to her room.  “It was Tara, right?”  

She nodded her head as she calmed down.  

“I hope I didn’t startle you.”  Kori seemed to be cautious around Tara.  It was as if she wasn’t sure what her reactions would be or what to expect.  Tara assumed by the mascara marks under her eyes, that Rachel had let out the whole truth.  Like Rachel had reacted before, she was sure it was a lot to take in.  But Kori had a long cry and appeared to have sobered down now.

“No, you didn’t wake me,” Tara said with as much of a smile as she could muster in her shaken up state.  “I just had a bad dream.  I’m really glad you’re here now.”  She took the time to look straight into Kori’s eyes.  “I hope we can be friends, Kori.”

“I. . . I would like that,” Kori managed to say.  She was surprised how sincere that truly was.  She needed a friend in this topsy-turvy house.  Everything was upside down, backwards, or just plain out of order here.  But with help from this girl, Rachel, and Vic, maybe, just maybe she could find a corner of peace here.

She found she would need that most of all.

—Fin—