Chapter 8 - Old Wounds

Chapter 8

Old Wounds



Starfire had woken up early that morning, hoping to find someone to play with. She went to the training room, where she would normally find Robin, but no one was there. Starfire sighed and turned around to go check another room and let out a small scream at the shock of finding that Tom was standing behind her. Tom was surprised by Starfire's outburst and jumped onto a light fixture hanging from the ceiling. Starfire giggled at Tom's reaction. “My apologies, I did not know you had followed me.” Starfire told Tom, trying not to laugh at the spooked expression Tom's face.

Tom dropped down from the ceiling and landed gracefully on his feet. “Uh… no problem.” Tom said, scratching the back of his head. Tom looked into the training room quickly. “What are you doing?” Tom asked quietly as his eyes looked across all of the equipment.

Starfire looked back into the training room. “I was looking for the others, I was wondering what they were doing this morning… I guess they have not yet awakened.” Starfire said quietly as she closed the door.

Tom looked a little hurt by Starfire's words. “Do you not want to know what I'm doing?” Tom asked shyly as he looked down at his feet.

Starfire realized that she had made Tom feel uncomfortable and quickly tried to remedy the situation. “Forgive me, I did not ask because I already knew what you were doing.” She said, smiling at Tom kindly. “You were following me, correct?”

Tom looked back up at Starfire and nodded. “I wanted to talk to you… I should get to know you and the others better if we are going to live together.” Tom said quietly as he looked back down at his feet.

Starfire was glad to have someone to talk to, she took Tom's hand and led him to the living room. “We can talk and learn about one another while we eat the breakfast.” Starfire said, giggling as she pulled Tom through the hall.

Tom ate everything Starfire put in front of him. He seemed to be very hungry, even though he was given plenty to eat already. Starfire was glad to have someone who liked her cooking, she was glad to know it wouldn't go to waist. Starfire sat and watched Tom eat for a while, smiling warmly at him each time he cleared his plate. “There was something you wished to talk to me about.” Starfire reminded Tom as he cleaned his third plate of strange alien food.

Tom nodded and finished his food before he began to clear the table. “It's nothing really… I just thought I would need to know what to do if I wanted to get along well with the others.” Tom said, taking his stack of plates in the sink to wash them.

Starfire smiled and jumped at the subject, she told him all about the odd habits of the other titans as she helped him wash the dishes. Tom laughed every few minutes when he heard some of the stranger habits of the titans. “Beast Boy actually ate all that tofu… that would probably kill anyone else.” Tom said, in response to some of Starfire's information.

They both talked and laughed for a while, enjoying each others company while the others were still asleep. Starfire suddenly realized that she had been talking about the others the whole time, she hadn't learned anything about Tom. “Please, tell me how you came here. I would like to know more about you now.” Starfire said, trying to sound as friendly as possible.

Tom stopped smiling, he looked as though he just remembered something painful. “I guess it's only fair that I tell you the whole story… at least, what I can remember.” He said, setting down the last plate. Tom took a deep breath as he sat down to tell his story. “I was about… Nine when it happened.” He said, thinking hard to remember all of the details. “My father was a small time detective for Central City PD named Adrian Jones. He had made some pretty bad enemies by doing his job well.” Tom said, sounding as though he was lost in a dream.

Tom looked down at his hands and continued. “My brothers and I liked to pretend that we were as cool as our dad. Tony, my older brother, would put on dad's police hat and patrol around the house… Andrew, my little brother, would jump around and fight imaginary criminals.” Tom had to stop and swallow back a lump in his throat, tears were beginning to form in his eyes. “My mom was a teacher… Her name was Ruth… I remember how happy she was when my father came home with news of a big catch… I remember that he was happy to catch a man named… Dennison… I think he was part of a crime syndicate or something like that. He came home and told us all about how he had to fight Dennison's right hand man, The Advocate, before he could catch Dennison. We were all really excited that my father had caught a big time criminal, the police chief was talking about big promotions.”

Tom got really serious and quiet all of the sudden, like the pain from the memories was strangling him. “Three days later, Dennison and his associate broke out of prison… They wanted revenge on my father for their arrests.” The tears began to run down Tom's face, he continued to speak quietly. “They broke down the door and began shooting… my father only had enough time to give me his lucky pendant and a few pages from a book about our family heritage before he made me escape out a window.” Tom said, wiping the tears from his face. Tom looked up at Starfire, she could see an unspeakable amount of pain behind his eyes. “I haven't seen any of them since… I knew I just had to keep running.”

Starfire's heart sunk when she saw the hurt in Tom's eyes. “I'm sorry… I should not have brought up such a painful subject.” Starfire said as she put her hand on Tom's back to comfort him. “If it makes you feel any better… All of us can relate to your pain… We all have our sad stories to tell.” She told him, trying to give him an encouraging smile. “I do have one more question… if you are willing to answer.”

Tom nodded, drying the tears from his face. “I'll answer any question you ask… I don't have anything to hide.” Tom told her, sounding less miserable.

Starfire was glad to hear Tom feeling better, she gave him another encouraging smile before she asked. “What information did the pages your father gave you contain?”

Tom pulled out some folded pages from his pocket, they were old and worn out. He unfolded them and showed them to Starfire. “It something that has been bothering me for a while… These pages tell me about my powers… but not all of the information is there.” Tom said, pointing at some of the words on the front page. “The book my father took these pages from told about my family heritage, at least, that's what was told… I know I'm not human, but that bothers me… In truth I don't really know what I am.”

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