Teen Titans: How Long Is Too Long?

Chapter 4: The Markings of Time

*Alt Star's POV*

"I want... what you have."

Her face contorts in fear, though there's a lot of confusion there too, still. At least I know my every word is being registered fully now. The effects of the drug I injected have worn off enough so that she can really make sense of what I'm about to tell her.

I owe that to her, at least.

An explanation as to what I'm doing, and what her life will be like from now on.

And hell why not, indulge in terrorizing her a little bit as well? I'll never see her again if it all goes according to my plans, and I'll never have to reveal what I'm doing to another living being either. What harm might come in reveling in the mastery of my plan a little while longer?

It's gone swimmingly well thus far, no reason to believe it'll go awry now that the hard part - bringing her here unnoticed - is over.

Yeah, I think I'm really enjoying this.

"I believe in your universe you've also had the pleasure of meeting dear old friend of mine, Warp?" I ask her, reminiscing fondly of his last moments alive. How much fun it was hunting him down, then torturing him the way I'm treating this Starfire now. Perhaps I'll remember her fondly after tonight, too.

But she's more baffled by what I said than anything I've told her thus far. "Warp?... He... He's a time traveller, but he's a bad person, he..."

"Oh yeah, and who are you to call him a bad person? A princess who's fled from the throne, exiled herself when her people needed her the most, to re-establish the grandeur and majesty that was Tamaran in its golden age?"

She's shaking her head, a pitiful being in denial. "It's not like that... And him and I aren't the same, it's..."

"Whatever," I cut her off, not really interested in what her reasoning is. I've observed her enough by now to know that she lacks self-awareness. She doesn't realize how fortunate she is, to not have to serve any masters and not be chased down constantly by the Gordonians. Of course if she's wilfully ignorant about all that, she also isn't appreciative of things' potential - how much stronger she could be if she wanted to, how much more independent and powerful, how her particular situation in this world grants her the most freedom to do and become whatever it is she desired.

No other Starfires I've visited have these privileges. Certainly, in my world, I don't either.

But to make her understand this, I have to break it down into more comprehensible pieces. Starting with, "Warp in your world happens to also be one of the weaker versions of himself out there. I've visited him too, and realized how flawed his perspective on reality is. He believes you can only move forwards or backwards in time, and that these events are all written in stone, destined to happen or destined to have happened regardless of how one might try to change them. But you, already know this is wrong," I whisper, crouching down to be at her level. I see it registering on her face that this proximity could be advantageous to her if she tried to take the upper hand again. But I'm not concerned. The drug will never fully wear off, not without an antidote that I don't even have at hand.

So I continue, knowing this might be the hardest bit to grasp, "what you did, when you changed your future by changing the past, is traveling sideways in time. You switched between one timeline in which you were gone for twenty years, to one in which you only left for a couple of seconds. And you could do so freely because in both timelines, you were the only version of Starfire to inhabit them. Because the inflexion point happened by the possibility of your absence or lack thereof. Are you with me so far?"

She is, I can tell. But she's growing impatient. I guess I would be too, if I was in her place.

Which I sorta will be, soon enough.

"I don't... Are you a time-traveller too, then? Like Warp? Are you from the future?" she asks.

I chuckle. I'm the same exact age as her, why would she think I'm an older version of her? My far superior strength and power, perhaps. What a compliment, Starfire! "I am neither from your future nor your past. I'm you. From a sideways timeline. One in which the Gordonians aren't the type of people to call off the search for an escaped prisoner. Not if you blow up one or two or tens of hundreds of their ships. They are the largest and most dominant species in the galaxy. They don't care what it costs to enslave you, they will just keep trying out of spite. And this will cost you more than it does them..."

This is a tricky part, too. I'm not expecting nor needing sympathy from her. But if the severity of my situation, one I've had to deal with throughout my entire life, isn't sinking in for her yet, I'd be surprised.

"If the Gordonians are after you... My friends and I, we can help you fight them, we-"

"I know how that will end!" I yell, not wanting to waste any time entertaining this. She's pleading for her life, trying to negotiate with me, it's quite reasonable. But it's a bitter reminder, of how sour things went down in my world... "It's pointless. There is no other way. They will never be satisfied until they've captured Starfire. If you only try battling they'll... kill you, and your friends. I'm at least sparing them, don't you see?"

She shifts her position slightly, not in an aggresive way anymore but just trying to meet my gaze better. With more conviction, she thinks she'll sound more persuasive. But if my mind wasn't made up already, I wouldn't have brought here here, wouldn't have risked my only shot at getting this right. I almost pity at her st this point. She's still in denial...

"Then, just travel sideways back into my world, and live with us there! You don't need to stay here, we can protect you there, we-"

"You think I'm the only one who has one with this?" I mock her, showing her the markings hidden by the arm band I wear on my left side.

She stared at it. "A tattoo...?"

I cover it back up again, annoyed. "It's an implant, the ink is metallic, it's designed to- Nevermind that. Point is, the Gordonians wouldn't hesitate in pursuing me across timelines. We have much more advanced time-travelling technology in my world because we understand it so much better, we-"

"So what do you want from me?" Starfire pleads, and I see tears swelling in the corner of her eyes.

Finally, she got it.

She keeps talking, softly and scared, "you don't want my help here, you don't want my help back home... Why did you bring me here, then?"

I get back on my feet and pace around her. She's looking up to me as if begging me not to say what we both know I'm about to say.

"I told you from the start... I want what you have. I want your freedom. The Gordonians get their prisoner, and I get freedom. It's the only way-"

I get interrupted by her launching herself at me again, yet more strongly this time. Her eyes are glowing green, and I realize she's somehow broken off the restraints in her wrists. She's pushing and dragging and hitting me, and I'm returning all the blows at her.

You're still drugged, Starfire. There's just no way you're winning this one.