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━ END OF THE EARTH xv. made of starlight ┈┈┈┈┈┈┈୨♡୧┈┈┈┈┈┈┈
TARA MARKOV IS ANGRY.
This is not an unusual occurrence. Tara Markov has spent a lot of her life enraged; when her mother died, when she was taken to Markovia, when Doctor Jace ran her experiments. There are a billion and one examples out there, taken from any point in her life.
But this is a new sort of anger. It's not the rage of a little girl, of a child, with nobody to ever hold her up. This is the rage of a Titan, with her teammate holding her hand and letting her know that yes, she has every reason to be pissed off, that she will burn it down alongside her.
It's hitting her now, that she never needed to hold back the truth. She tells Freya everything; she tells her of Markovia, Slade, the jobs she's taken, everything. Freya doesn't blink, doesn't judge her for even a second. Her features twist into disgust, but it's clearly aimed at Slade and not her, never her.
She spills every horrid detail of her life to Freya Anastas and she takes it all in stride. It should be expected ━ the girl has been living among people forged in fire, born in tragedy, for years. She's made of love, breathes it in and out with every moment, and when she holds Tara's hand, squeezing it gently as she makes her way through her story, Tara can feel like she deserves a little bit of that endless love too.
"He... he wants to do it all tomorrow", she whispers. "He's going to kill the Titans and I have to help and ━"
"We'll stop him", Freya says firmly. "If he's going after Dick... I can be there, make sure he isn't hurt. And since you're supposed to kill the ones in the Tower... just don't. Dick and I'll be able to handle Slade."
Tara's eyes widened. "You can't tell Dick!"
"What? Why?"
"I gave away his secret identity", Tara says, wrapping her arms around herself. She's not an idiot ━ she knew what she was doing, knew that he'd never forgive her for it. But the alternative was disappointing Slade and that is infinitely worse, something she knows from experience. "And Wally's."
"Okay... that's, um, that's less than fantastic, yeah, but Dick'll get it. What Slade did to you, Tara, that wasn't okay. You... you get that, right?"
She frowns, glaring at the ground. "He's hurt me, yeah, but he saved me too. Multiple times. He wouldn't do that if he didn't care... he's not like that."
Freya purses her lips, looking like she'd rather be punching Slade, but she doesn't argue with Tara. And that's what Tara likes about her ━ she gets it. Every time she falters, Freya's there, ready to lift her up and just understand, just listen. She doesn't need to listen to her reasons or her justifications; she just needs to look at Tara and somehow, that will be enough.
