Electricity. Fire. Electricity. Fire.
This is what I wake up to the nightmares of, along with the sweat clinging to my skin for dear life. This time, it's Starfire who opens the door, but unlike Raven, she looks at me with a naive look, rather than a pitiful one.
"Are you okay, friend Ember?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Just another nightmare." It's become routine now, my waking up in the middle of the night. The time currently reads 1:47am, and it's now that I notice a necklace of beads hanging around Starfire's neck. "What are those?"
"Oh, yes. This is a tinnabula, as today is Blorthog!"
"Blorthog?" I ask groggily, sitting up on my duvet.
"Yes, Blorthog," the alien girl explains cheerfully. "The Tamaranean festival of friendship!" Our voices are still hushed, in order to not wake up the other Titans.
"Oh," I say slowly, before smiling at the girl at my door. "Well, Star, happy Blorthog. I'll see you in the morning."
"But isn't it the mor—"
"Starfire, I need sleep," I say, cutting her off.
"Oh, okay." She beams in the hallway, waving. "Goodbye, friend Ember! May your dreams be—"
I lie on the perfectly made bed as the door shuts, my body free of the covers, and sink back into sleep. I don't know how the girls know when my nightmares occur, but whenever I wake up, there's at least one of them there.
This thought sends me to sleep, my mind thankfully void of horrors for the remainder of the night.
~~~
"Happy Blorthog!" Starfire shouts, and I look up as she looks around in disdain. "Huh?"
"Oh, hey, Star." I wave her over enthusiastically, a faux calm on my faux smile.
"Come on, Beast Boy, gimme that thing!" I look to my left to see Cyborg and Beast Boy fighting over the controller on the couch.
"Dude! I'm in the middle of a game, Cyborg!" Beast Boy argues, spitting the mechanical Titan's name like dirt.
"Yeah, my game, 'cause it's my turn!"
"Give me the controller!"
"How about none of you get it?" I ask, lifting it up into the air effortlessly. Beast Boy turns into an eagle but every time he nears the controller, I edge it away. He soon gives up and slumps back down on the couch.
"Friends! We must frolic and leap in glorious celebration, for today is Blorthog, the Tamaranean festival of friendship!" When everyone ignores her, the Tamaranean girl's smile fades slightly.
Beast Boy and Cyborg continue to fight, and Starfire walks up to the latter. "Joyous greeting, friend! I, Starfire, give you this tinnabula as a symbol of—"
"You're gonna pay for that, you little grass stain!" Cyborg cuts her off as Beast Boy wraps a tentacle around his neck and pulls him away. Beast Boy jumps back onto the couch as a frog and turns to a human, laughing and basking in his victory.
"Many blessings, friend. May your ears be filled with sugar candies and—"
"Beast Boy!"
"Look!" The shapeshifter snaps. "I'll give you back the controller as soon as Raven gives back my nail clippers!"
"You don't even have the controller, Beast Boy," I point out, looking at the controller floating in the middle of the room.
"Not gonna happen," Raven replies without looking up. "How else am I supposed to keep your toenails off the coffee table?" Starfire takes Raven's inclusion in the argument as invitation to talk to her and walks over.
"Happiness and delight, friend. On this wondrous day, I wish you sunshine and bunny—" Raven glares at her, raising an eyebrow, and Starfire giggles nervously, walking back.
"Robin, could the music be a little louder?" Raven asks sarcastically. "I can still hear myself think."
"I only turned the music up to drown out all the yelling!" Robin shouts, emphasising the last five words. Starfire frowns sadly as I blow the wind near the speaker, the harsh breeze edging the volume button down. Robin recognises it as my doing, and he glares at me. I glare back.
Cyborg catches Beast Boy in a headlock. "Whose turn is it now, tough guy? Whose turn is it now?"
"Neither of you!" I shout, and I feel fire in my veins. I'm about to run out of the room in a panic when Robin raises his voice again.
"Knock it off! I can't work with you two acting like idiots!"
I turn around, my hair flying all over the place. "Since when are you working?" I retort, my voice raised to a yell. "Is there a new bad guy who's linked to this excuse of a song?"
"Great, Ember," Raven comments. "More yelling will definitely stop all the yelling." Robin, Raven and I growl at each other whilst Cyborg and Beast Boy battle it out for the controller rights.
"Friends, please!" Starfire begs, but no one listens. "You must not, if we could simply, happy Blor—"
Cyborg runs around in a victory celebration whilst Beast Boy stands over his legs, panting. Somehow, he breaks Starfire's tinnabula and her eyes widen. "Whoa!" Cyborg says as he falls to the ground.
"Stop!" Starfire roars, silencing the lot of us. "Friends must never behave this way, and especially not on Blorthog! Do you wish to invite the Rekmas?"
"Gesundheit?" Beast Boy asks, clearly confused.
Starfire turns away. "On my world, 'Rekmas' means 'the Drifting.' The point at which close friends begin to drift apart, and their friendship begins to die."
"Aw, come on, Starfire," Cyborg says.
"Don't worry about it," I add, looking at the distressed alien girl.
"We are so not Rek-whatever-ing." Beast Boy waves his hand around at the word.
"We're getting on each other's nerves a little," Raven adds. "Big deal."
"Yeah. This is just typical roommate stuff." Robin turns to Starfire. "We're not going to drift apart, Star. I promise. We'll all be friends forever."
"Forever?" She asks, and he's about to nod when all our communicators go off in sync.
"Titans! Trouble!"
~~~
We arrive at the museum in great time, and we watch from the railing as the villain walks calmly out of a portal. I look at Raven to see if she knows what it is, but she shakes her head. "Hey, stop!" One of the guards shouts.
"Stop yourselves!" The villain says, voice still calm, and with a wave of his hand, the two guards are frozen in ice. "I didn't journey back in time one hundred years to squabble, I came to steal." He walks over to his target, smirking. "The Clock of Eternity. Valuable in the past, priceless in the future."
Robin throws a disc at him, knocking his balance off. I unfreeze the guards and shoot them a warning look. "But for the present..." the Boy Wonder begins. "You'll keep your filthy hands off it."
"The Teen Titans," the time-traveler states. "This is a treat. I read all about you in the historical archives. And now, you're all history!" He shoots two beams from his shoulders and we move to the right to avoid them.
"Titans! Go!" The villain keeps shooting at Robin but he uses his staff to block them. Soon, the staff breaks in two and another blast throws him back. Starfire shoots her starbolts at him but he deflects them. It ricochets off his armour and hits the alien girl, sending her to the floor as well. Beast Boy charges at a lion but the criminal quickly electrocutes him. I freeze in my spot at the sight of Warp and Beast Boy, before breaking the device that's electrocuting the green Titan in a fit of rage.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Raven incants, and two cases fly at the thief. They bounce off without breaking, and he shoots a sonic beam at the half-demon. She lets out a yelp as she's sent tumbling back.
Cyborg quickly shoots the villain with his Sonic Cannon. "Boo-yah!...Huh?" When the smoke subsides, a shield is seen to be around the criminal, and Cyborg and I stare in confusion. He throws a mechanism onto Cyborg, who looks down and groans. "Draining my power cell!"
I run over to Cyborg as the villain starts to talk again. "You cannot defeat Warp. I am from the future." Robin throws more explosive discs at Warp, but his cuts through them. "And you relics are one hundred years out of date."
He grabs The Clock of Eternity, but I growl. "Too bad you're set in stone to be staying!" I shout, and the ground traps him where he stands. He looks down and blasts it off effortlessly, the blast somehow ricocheting onto me and knocking me over.
"Ta-ta, Titans," Warp says after he opens the portal. "I have enjoyed our time together, but I've got a very bright future ahead of me." Starfire's eyes turn green and she flies toward Warp. "What?" She pushes him and herself through, the portal closing behind the pair.
"Starfire!" Robin and I shout, running to where the portal was.
"Where did she go?" I ask to myself, looking down at the torn up floor and fixing it.
~~~
I journey through the city, looking for the trouble that sounded my alarm. Soon, I find it, and I gasp when the two figures come into light.
"What's the matter, dear? Have I come at a bad time?" Warp, the villain that took Starfire away twenty years ago, says to none other than Starfire herself. She hasn't aged a day, but the villain has.
"You have actually," I say as I float down. "Send her back."
"Unfortunately, no. You see, I have a future to get back to."
"And she has a past to get to!" I say, fire shooting through my veins and melting the snow into water. I use the melted snow as beams and shoot it at the villain. "Send her back!"
Warp blocks the water with his shield, and focuses his attention on Starfire. She shoots starbolts at him but he blocks it too, before freezing Starfire. She almost hits the ground when I unfreeze her.
"You have also become old," she notes, looking at her foe.
"That's what happens when someone steals my vortex regulator," Warp replies. He holds his hand out in front of the girl. "The regulator, if you please. I really must get back to my future."
"If you ever wish to see your future..." Starfire replies. "You will repair the damage you have done to my past!"
"Damage?" Warp questions. "Silly girl. There's nothing wrong with your past. One cannot damage history, because history cannot be changed." Starfire's expression changes to shock and sadness at this. "I went back in time to steal this because history says it disappeared. And history says it disappeared because I went back to steal it. Past, present, future. It's all written in stone, my dear."
The road comes out from under Warp and traps him there when he finishes. "Interesting theory," I comment. Warp blasts his way out and freezes me, but I quickly unfreeze. "You really thought that was going to work?"
"No," Warp comments offhandedly. "But this will."
I don't find out what he's about to do, because a mysterious figure jumps out from behind us and tackles him into the alley. Starfire turns to me. "Ember?"
I look down at the mention of my old name and shake my head. "I'm not Ember anymore." We watch as the figure throws several familiar discs at Warp and jumps down to kick him.
"Another time, perhaps." Warp teleports away just as the figure lands.
"It's good to see you again," the figure says, back still turned. I know who it is from the deep voice, and I know that he's not talking to me.
"Robin?" Starfire asks curiously, eyes widening.
The figure steps out of the shadows and into view. "I haven't used that name in a long time," he tells the alien girl. "Call me... Nightwing."
I watch as Nightwing leads Starfire off and slowly follow behind, making sure neither of them senses me.
~~~
Starfire looks at the Robin costume that's on display in Nightwing's cave, then turns around. "What has happened to Ember? She didn't tell me anything of what has become of her, and I am quite curious to know."
"None of us handled the separation well, Starfire," Nightwing explains, and it takes my mind back to when we did separate. "When you left, things got worse. Ember and I stayed on as heroes, but we did it separately. It was too hard to fight together. It brought back memories that we did not always want to come back to us."
Starfire hugs the blanket closer to her body as she listens. "We would fight, without reconcile, and eventually it all became too much." Nightwing sighs. "She left to fight crime in other cities. Apparently she came back." There's a pause, and then Nightwing speaks up again. "I heard you've been looking for help."
"There is nothing you can do," Starfire says. "There is nothing anyone can do. The past cannot be repaired, the future cannot be altered, no matter how wrong it seems."
"So, it's impossible," Nightwing notes to himself. "Good. If memory serves, we're done the impossible before." Starfire's expression softens at his words as he makes his way to his computer. "I held on to this... just in case." He presses a button and his Titans communicator comes up.
"You really think that they're going to answer, Boy Wonder?" I say as I jump down. Starfire gasps and looks at me.
"Ember?" the teenage alien asks as she gets her first proper look at what's become of me. "What are you—? You look... different."
"What can I say? I've grown up. Twenty years, to be precise." I look at the defined man who used to be Robin and aim my next words at him. "It's interesting what time can do to a person. And... disbandment. But that's to be expected."
"What do you do now?" the alien girl asks.
"Same thing as before. I save the city. One of the only ones who still do it, anyway. I changed names too. Ember was too familiar."
"What to?"
I eye Nightwing, who nods. "I told her. Figured it couldn't do much harm."
Starfire's still looking at me with intent and curiosity, and I shoot Nightwing one last glare before turning to the girl. "Uh..." I begin, and Nightwing nods again through my peripheral vision. "Nova." Starfire's smile expands, and then retracts as a thought pops into her mind. She hesitates for a moment, and I shake my head at her, although curiosity abounds.
"What?" Nightwing asks suspiciously.
I shrug my shoulders and flash a devilish grin. "Nothing you need to know of." I roll my eyes and pull out my communicator. "If you're not going to do it, then I will." I press the button and Starfire and Nightwing's communicators light up red, causing us all to share a smile.
~~~
"Tick-tock. Tick-tock," Warp mutters, sounding crazy. "Just a few more seconds and I shall finally—"
"The future will have to wait," Nightwing says as he throws his staff and it comes back to him. We stand exactly where we did twenty years ago — our last fight with Starfire. "You just ran out of time."
"You've waited twenty years to say that?" I ask, grabbing Starfire and pulling her out of the way. I go in to kick Warp, but I hit his shield. Nightwing and Starfire throw explosives and starbolts but they don't hit whilst the shield's intact. Warp shoots his blasts again and we all dodge.
Nightwing runs towards the criminal, and jams his staff in one of the shoulder blasters, breaking it. Starfire knocks him onto his back with another starbolt and I shoot flames at his armour, chinking it.
Warp blasts Nightwing, who goes in for another swing. Warp dodges, and continues to blast, with the long haired vigilante blocking all the hits. He then hits him again and again until Warp falls to the ground. We surround him but his blaster shoots at the roof, causing snow to fall on Starfire.
"Star!" Nightwing and I call as I run over, but Warp's blast knocks Nightwing away.
"Oh, you're going to regret that," I growl, jumping at Warp. I tackle him to the ground and freeze his goatee, where his gadgets can't angle towards. I pull chunks of the roof down onto us and jump out of the way just before they hit, all whilst dodging the blasts from his shoulder. He's about to charge at me when a familiar Sonic Cannon shoots him back. We all look at the direction where it came from, and smile at the mechanical man.
"Boo-yah."
"Cyborg!" Starfire cheers as we all fly over. "You are repaired!"
Nightwing places his hand on his shoulder. "Glad you could make it."
"Wouldn't have missed it," Cyborg replies. "Now who said y'all could start without me?"
"So sorry," Warp says as he gets up. "Perhaps I should finish you first!" He's about to throw the same device that bested Cyborg twenty years ago, but before he has the chance, a green lion scratches his torso, stopping next to us. Warp readies his arm to fire but it's engulfed in black energy, which consumes his entire body and throws him to the wall. A black raven shoots out of the ground and turns into Raven herself, and once her white cloak settles she speaks up.
"Nobody hurts my friends." Raven joins us and Beast Boy changes into human form. He looks at Nightwing's long hair and frowns.
"Dude, that is so unfair," he comments.
Warp opens up the portal and turns to us. "It seems my time has come." He throws a disc at Nightwing but Nightwing throws a birdarang at him. Its wings slice through the middle of the disc on the way through and damage Warp's vortex regulator.
Warp gets electrocuted and he grows smaller. "Uh? No! No! No!" His voice gets higher pitched as time goes on and I run up to look at him.
Beast Boy moves the armour to reveal a crying baby. "Okay, I am not changing any diapers," he remarks. The portal starts to close and we all look in dismay.
"We gotta get you home," Cyborg says to Starfire. "Come on!" He takes off the vortex regulator, attaches it to his right arm, and shoots it at the portal, reopening it. "I'm redirecting the wormhole. Starfire, go!"
Starfire looks at all of us before walking to the portal slowly. Right before she walks through, she turns around. "Please, must this really be our future?" When she gets no response from any of us, her voice grows more urgent. "Is there nothing I can do to change it?"
Nightwing and I both move to walk to her, but when I see he's doing it, I take a step back. "I'm sorry, Star. There isn't time." He places The Clock of Eternity in her hands and she smiles.
Now I walk forward and smile at the girl. "If it's any consolation, we've just changed the future. Maybe we can change it again." I turn back to Cyborg, who nods, and I push the alien girl through. "Now, go!"
We all smile at each other, glad for the reunion. After moments of silence, I speak up. "Happy Blorthog." Nightwing smiles and hugs me, his eyes telling me that he's sorry. I hope mine relay the same message.
~~~
"Um, where did she—?" Beast Boy repeats my question, but is interrupted by a bright light. The portal appears from behind us and Starfire tumbles through, The Clock of Eternity in her hands. "Dude!"
"Whoa!" Cyborg says.
"Starfire! What happened?" Robin asks, and Starfire holds up the antique.
"History said it disappeared. But history was wrong!"
~~~
"Then Nightwing handed me the Clock, Nova said that they could change the future again, and I entered the vortex." Starfire finishes.
"Whoa," Raven says.
I look at Beast Boy, who has shedded an unhealthy amount of tears during the story. "Bald? You're telling me I'm going to be bald?" He pulls out his hair anxiously, and I smirk at the irony.
"Doesn't surprise me."
"Guess you were right about all that Rekmas stuff," Cyborg points out.
"I don't want us to drift apart," Robin says. "Does it all have to happen? Isn't there anything we can—?"
"Our friendship has already changed Warp's past," Starfire interrupts slowly. "I believe it can also change our future."
"So... is it too late to do this festival-of-friendship thing?" Raven asks, the beads rearranging under her magical influence.
Starfire smiles happily. "Oh, it's never too late!" A necklace falls the three Titans' necks, and I smile at my friends.
"Happy Blorthog!" Cyborg bellows in the cloaked girl's ear, and she tries hard to not get blown away by the gusto of his voice.
"I thought it was 'Blort-hog,' " Beast Boy says.
"Okay," Raven says once she's regained her sturdiness. "I feel like a wind chime."
I grab a necklace and put it on, and Starfire does the same for her and Robin. "So... Nightwing, huh?" He asks, eyebrow raised cockily. I smile and laugh heartedly.
"You're not the only one with a cool new name. That Nova girl sounds really, really wise."
~~~
"Starfire?" I ask as I venture down the hallway. "Starfire?"
Right before I knock on her door, she opens it for me. "What is wrong?"
I frown, unsure of how to phrase my question. "Did... Nova... seem back to normal? Or am I going to be this way forever?"
Starfire smiles. "I do not know what about, but Nova seemed to be happy." She looks me up and down. "You will be fine, Ember."
I smile at the girl, turning around. "Thank you, Starfire." I walk back to my room and fall asleep the moment my head hits the pillow.
This one kind of follows Starfire, but I wanted to show what Ember/Nova was like twenty years in the future. This was the best way to do that that I thought of.