FicWad

Disclaimer: I couldn't afford to buy the Teen Titans even if they were on sale and I had a coupon... so I still don't own 'em.


A Dish Best Served Cold-Chapter Sixteen





They have arrived!


Sub-Zero had grinned with satisfaction as he finished dropping anchor on the near the Norblitzian shoreline... there was no sign of Slade whatsoever; he felt fairly certain they had gotten here first.

He had gotten the Titans some spare white, fur robes from the Cargo Hold... he was taller than any of them, except Cyborg (Who had insisted he didn't need one anyway: "Hey, I'm ¾ metal, I can't really feel the cold."), so the robes were a bit long and baggy, but thick enough to provide them some shelter from this place's chilling elements. The only exception was poor Beast Boy, who was so much shorter than Zero that Zero had to slice off the bottom portion of the robe with his sword so it wouldn't drag the ground!

He turned to them and sighed resolutely.

"Well... are we ready?" he said, making sure they were ready to go.

Robin shrugged. "As ready as we'll ever be."

Zero nodded and turned back to the side of the ship facing the shore. He raised his arms and began to materialize a spray of frost from his hands that hardened into a bridge of ice sloping downward to the shore. Once he was done, he stepped out onto his makeshift bridge and walked down to solid ground.

Robin was the next to walk down, going slowly so as not to slip on the ice and slide down... Star floated down after him.

Raven didn't really seem to trust the stability of Zero's ice platform, because she levitated down.

Cyborg and B.Boy were next... but as Cy stepped out, he slipped and fell flat on his face...B.B. tripped over him and landed on his back... and they slid all the way down, with B.B. riding Cy like a sled, both of them hollering wildly. Once they hit ground, Zero stared at them with concern.

"Whoa... are you guys all right?" he asked quickly.

Cy lifted his head and spat ice shavings out of his mouth.

"Y-yeah... we're all right...." The big man sighed.

"Heh...we'd be better if a certain robot wasn't so clumsy!" B.B. teased.

"Okay, now listen here greeny..."

Starfire broke in quickly.

"Friends, Friends, please! Do not fight!" she pleaded, sniffling and giving them a pair of lime-green, sad puppy eyes.

They both looked at her guiltily.

"Sorry Star..." they mumbled simultaneously under their breath, sounding ashamed of them selves.

"Guys, we need to get going now... I don't like being outside of the city walls at night, here..." Sub-Zero interrupted. "There are wild animals about..."

Beast Boy snorted derisively. "Pshht! Wild animals? We're superheroes, and you think we're scared of animals?"

Sub-Zero gave him an odd look for a moment and then shook his head without saying anything.

"Wait... one, two, three, four, five, six..." Zero counted under his breath. "We're missing somebody... where's Jinx?"

"I... I don't think she came down." Robin said slowly.

Zero looked up and saw Jinx still on the ship, about get on the ice bridge, but hesitating as though nervous.

"Wait here..." Zero told them, and he jogged up the platform back up. He reached the top and looked at Jinx curiously. She was eying the platform warily, not quite trusting it enough to walk on it... it had to stretch all the way up to the deck of the ship, and it was very tall and steep... and very slippery, being made of ice and all.

"What's the matter? You coming?" he asked.

"Y-yes...but.... I mean, Are you sure this thing won't... break?" she stuttered nervously.

He held up his right hand up, put his left and to his heart and smirked.

"Cross my heart, and hope to die! Here..." he held an inviting hand out to her. "... Trust me."

She gulped and took his hand shakily, and he led her slowly down the steep icy slope, ready to catch her in case she slipped like Cyborg... he, having walked on snow and ice for most of his life, didn't worry about slipping.

Once they were at the bottom, he let go of her hand and chuckled.

"Well now, THAT wasn't so bad was it?" he joked, and she looked a little relieved. "Now... let's get going."

They set off into a small path through a forest of gnarled, leafless trees... the path wound around crazily as they walked, and it felt like they were going in circles... but Sub-Zero just strode on confidently, so they assumed he knew were he was going. The eerie, dead-looking trees surrounded them on all angles, while snow continued to fall silently all around them... and it was so late, there was no light whatsoever...so, Starfire held out her hand with a ball of green star energy to help illuminate things. This actually made things a bit eerier though, because a dim, green light against a barren, snowy, woods setting did not make for a very reassuring picture.

"Oh man... this place gives me the creeps..." B.Boy gulped.

"Y-yes... it is rather...unnerving out here." Star agreed.

"It's fine... we'll be at the city in about...oh, say...thirty minutes I suppose...but we're not going in the front way." He explained.

Robin looked at him strangely. "Not going in the front way... ? What d'you mean?"

"Well... I think we should see thing King first... once I convince him you guys are okay, everyone else will listen to him... so we're kind of going to skip the city and sneak straight into the castle." He said nonchalantly.

"What? 'Sneak in?' How?" Jinx asked, surprised.

"Oh, you'll see..." he teased them cryptically.

They walked on for several more minutes... and finally, they came to a small clearing, the small group stopping dead in their tracks with a collective gasp.

Out in front of them, was a massive wall... a wall of solid ice. It was fairly transparent, so you could see behind it.

What they saw, was a city... small, stone and mortar cabins with wooden roofs, some big some small, but all with smoking chimneys... they saw shapes, distorted by the ice, walking around behind it... all with white hair and dressed in white and blue robes and hoods.

The city spread out and continued up the slope of a huge mountain, gigantic icy walls surrounding it all the way around... off in the distance up at the pinnacle of the mountain, at the top edge of the huge city was a castle made of ice, which rose up like a huge, silent guardian.

Reflections from the ice wall caused the entire place to come alight with a mystic bluish glow...

Sub-Zero turned to face his stunned comrades with a smile, and puffed out his chest impressively.

"Monsieurs and Mademoiselles, ... I give you... my home."


After a moment, Starfire was the first to speak, sounding awed by the amazing sight.

"Oh, X'hal.... It is beautiful..." she cooed, her eyes big as green lilypads.

He laughed. "Hahahah! Thanks, but it's like I said... we're not actually going in there just yet..." he said craftily.

Sub-Zero walked calmly over to a large, boulder on top of a stump on the edge of the woods they had just made their way out of. With a grunt, he pushed the massive boulder off of the stump, knelt down and began feeling around the edges of the stump as if looking for something...

"AHA!!" he shouted suddenly, startling them a bit. "Eureka! I've got it!" He did... something...with his hands, they couldn't see in the dark... and the top off the stump suddenly swung upwards as if on a hinge...

Sub-Zero chuckled darkly. "Heheheh... one secret passage, comin' up."


The Titans walked up and looked down at the stump... and it was completely hollowed out, with a rickety old rope ladder leading down like a tunnel for God-knows-how deep...

He looked up and smirked knowingly. "Going down?"

He swung over the edge of the big stump and started climbing down the ladder, down into the dark... after a moment's hesitation, they followed him down... and after much climbing, they wound up in a spacious tunnel made out of a combination of natural ice, along with mortar and gray stone... many, lit torches lined the walls, dimly lighting it up.

Sub-Zero walked down the tunnel, and they followed him... as they went on for what seemed like an hour, they noticed the underground path becoming steeper and steeper as they went... like they were climbing a mountain slope...

"...(Sigh)... how much longer is it?" Raven said eventually, her legs starting to get tired.

Zero turned, stopped, and looked at her. "Hm? Not much longer... do you need to stop and rest? We can..."

"No. I'll be fine... let's keep going." She muttered softly and kept on going.

Finally, they arrived at a series of large stone steps. At the top was a large, barred grating like you would see on an air vent. He climbed the big steps and carefully gave the grating a tug, pulling the bars off and leaving an exposed, empty passage. He climbed got on hands and knees and climbed through, the Titans following him... Cyborg almost got stuck though, and had to REALLY suck in...

"Grrr! Remind me to go on a diet when we get back home..." Cy panted, struggling to crawl through the narrow passage.

Beast Boy, with his short, slender frame, was making his way through with absolute ease. "See? If you ate more vegetables, you'd be thin enough to actually get through here!" he said, blowing him a loud raspberry.

"WHAT?! Listen runt, if you don't shut your veggie muchin' cakehole, I swear I'm only two ticks away from kicking your..."

"Shhhhh! We're in the castle now... the walls aren't sound proof... we need to stay stealthy." Zero hissed.

Raven turned to Robin and whispered in his ear: "Since when is stealth a job skill for a knight? And why does he know about a secret passage going into the castle? Sounds like a criminal's abilities to me..." she said in slight confusion and curiosity.

(A/N: For those of you taking notes...Yeah, right... that question will be important later on, when we discover more about Zero's past...)


After crawling for another couple minutes... they came to another large, dark, chamber... where they could actually stand up.

There was a grating in the floor... and when they looked down, they realized they were inside of the ceiling... the grating showed down into the throne room.

"Dude! Look at THAT guy!" B.Boy whispered, pointing to a huge, bearded figure with a crown and robes, sitting on a throne of solid ice... he seemed to be scribbling on a large roll of parchment with a feathery quill pen.

"Yep... that'd be the king." Explained Zero... "And he's alone! Good, I need to talk with him in private about you guys anyway."

He turned to them..."Alright... you guys stay here... and don't make any loud noises or sudden movements..."

Stealthily, Zero opened up the grating on the floor... or ceiling, depending on how you looked at it... and jumped down, landing with a thunk on the floor, on both feet in a kneeling position.

Slightly startled, the king looked up from his parchment... and a moment later, cried out in astonishment.

"Thor's ghost... SUB-ZERO! It's you!" he shouted, amazed to see the young knight back so soon. "Why've you come back m'boy?" he asked softly. His old, wrinkled face suddenly lit up. "Why, have you ALREADY passed your final test? Do you have the Talisman?"

Sub-Zero remained in a kneeling position, and sighed softly in disappointment.

"I wish sire, I wish. In truth, I have come to warn you..."

"Warn me? Of what?" the huge monarch inquired, perplexed.

Sub-Zero chuckled nervously.

"Well my liege... I should start at the beginning. When I departed our land to set out upon my quest... I sailed for several days... and, finding nothing, I prayed to God for a sign...and then, as if out of nowhere, a miracle appeared to me above the horizon... A giant 'T'."

"A 'T'? Like the letter, you mean?"

"Yes, M'lord, like the letter... I immediately sailed there, and found it was a huge building. And living there, was a group of powerful outsiders, calling themselves the 'Titans.'"

"Titans? Indeed? This is a wild tale you're telling me, boy." The king huffed.

"I know, sir, but there's more... they guarded a city nearby...Jump City, they call it... sort of like the city guards, except there was only five of them, all extremely powerful warriors."

"And they are coming to attack us? That is why you've come to warn us?"

"NO!" Zero shouted suddenly, startling the king. "Er...I mean, No sir... I befriended them."

"Sub-Zero, are you sure that was wise? Outsiders are treacherous..."

"Oh, no, no, my lord, they were some of the most trustworthy people I've ever met... and they saved my life, to boot."

"Saved your life? And they aren't attacking us? Then why have you come back to warn us?" the King asked, exasperated and impatient.

"Patience please, My liege, I'm getting there... anyway, the Titans greatest foe was a powerful man named Slade... A wicked man, I assure you sire! And it is HE that is coming."

The king gazed at Sub-Zero for a minute... and then spoke in his deep, echoing voice.

"You have done well, Sub-Zero... we shall prepare for the fool's arrival immediately."

"Err...Sire? I don't think we'll be able to fend him off by ourselves... and that is why I took the liberty of...of...Y'see, sir, there's something important I must tell you about these particular outsiders.... they're.... Uhh."

He gulped nervously, unable to finish what he was saying.

"What about 'em, boy? Go ahead and say it, if it was for the good of our land, then I will not be angry about it."

At that moment, as if on cue... a crack started to form along the ceiling, above where Zero had jumped down... and a small chunk of the ceiling collapsed out under the hidden Titans' weight, bringing them down with it, screaming... and landing on the floor loudly.

For a moment, there was absolute, dead, ringing silence.

The King looked back and forth from a now cowering Sub-Zero, to the disheveled Titans groaning on the floor.

Finally, Zero looked up for the first time since leaping down and kneeling. He had an unnaturally large, fake, strained smile plastered on his face.

"Uhh... t-th-they're...h-h-h-here......y-y-your m-m-m-majesty...." He stammered terrified, in a tiny, sheepish voice.


Ten Minutes Later



The Titans sat in a small room with small beds and a few paintings on the walls... it looked almost like a guest room...except with a small platoon of guards in full white body armor and ice spears guarding the entrance... and a few cowering young maids, whom Zero had insisted on staying, in case the Titans needed any food or anything, seeing as how they weren't allowed to leave the room.

Robin sighed. He wasn't sure how much longer they'd be held prisoner in here... he hoped Zero could convince his King to let them out...

Raven sat in the corner meditating silently, trying to stay calm.

Jinx was sitting on a bed, watching the cowering maids with interest... apparently, they were terrified. 'Well, can I blame them? They've probably never seen an outsider before, much less ones that look like us...' she wondered.

Beast Boy and Cyborg were also sitting on a bed, glaring in silent anger at the guards. They could probably take those chumps out with no trouble... but they were trying to make peace with these guys, not war... besides, they already felt guilty so the last thing they wanted was to get Zero into even more trouble...

Starfire was sitting next to Jinx, watching the maids on the other side of the room. She turned to Jinx and whispered: "Why are they frightened of us? We do not mean them any harm..." she said sadly... all she really wanted was to make friends with them.

Suddenly, one of the maids approached Robin.

"Er...E-excuse m-me s-s-sir..." she stuttered, looking nervous and excited at the same time. Robin looked over at her in surprise. "Hm?"

"Are you really foreigners?" she asked breathlessly.

"Uhh...yeah, we are...why?" he asked suspiciously.

"F-forgive us, sir...we've never seen a real outsider before!" she explained.

"Yeah, well... you don't have to be hiding over there like that... we don't mean you guys any harm, believe it or not." He said wryly.

The rest of the maids slowly moved forward.

"How do you know Sir Zero?" asked a different young woman.

"Well, we've met... we kind of saved him, when he first arrived."

"Saved him?" the maid asked incredulously. That hardly sounded like something an outsider would do... according to what she'd heard about them before.

"Yeah... but he saved us later on... so you could say we're even." He said calmly.

"...What is your name?" asked a third girl.

"Robin."

"Robin? That is a nice name.... What are your friends' names?"

"Well... the green, short one is Beast Boy... the big guy with metal all over him is Cyborg... the one with red hair is Starfire... next to her is Jinx.... And the moody one in the corner is Raven."

"Mmm.... Beast Boy.... Cyborg.... Starfire.... Jinx...Raven." the maid repeated. They are...odd names...but nice names though." She said.


"Um...Lord Cyborg?" one of them asked. Cy looked surprised at hearing himself addressed 'Lord'. But then he remembered, they were maids; they probably referred to everyone as either 'Lord' or 'Lady'.

"Yeah?"

"Why are you still wearing your armor?"

He sighed heavily with DeJa Vu. When he had gotten sucked back in time once, Sarasim had asked the same thing...so, he decided to give the same answer.

"Well, mine doesn't exactly come off." He said softly.

Another maid approached Raven, and began to ask her something... until Robin warned her not to, he knew Raven probably wasn't in the best mood right now.


Overall though, the maids no longer seemed to find them so threatening.

"Hey lady..." Robin started. The maid flinched and looked back.

"Do you have any idea how Sub-Zero knew about that passage into the castle?"

The maid blinked and nodded. "Oh, I expect 'is father showed 'im that before he died."

"His...father?"

"Oh, yes. Dark-Shard... worst pirate what ever plagued our fair kingdom." The young girl explained grimly. "I don't know how on Earth such a wonderful young Lord like Sir Zero came from the likes of him...."

At this point, all the Titans were staring at her. For the first time, Starfire spoke, startling the poor maid again. "Oh my.... his father was a pirate?" she said, shocked.

"Aye... a terrible, ruthless one. Just before he died, he left Zero on the drawbridge of the castle, in a basket, with a note attached, what said: 'Take care o' me son. Signed, Dark-Shard.'"

The maid walked over to a bookshelf, got off a large, gray book and flipped through the pages until she found what she was looking for. She brought it over and showed it to Robin. It was a portrait of a man in fancy, militaristic clothing and a large, extravagantly feathered hat.... A pirate. He shared many facial features with Sub-Zero, but was older, probably in mid-forties. He held a pair of cutlass type swords with ice blades across his chest and smirked cockily.

"That's ol' Dark-Shard... Sir Zero's Father."


Before any of them could inquire further, they heard a noise from outside.


"Make way! Coming through!" shouted a familiar voice... it was Sub-Zero.

He bust open the door and pushed the guards roughly out of the way, making his way over to the Titans.

"Guys, come with me, please... his Highness has requested an audience with you."

As they followed Zero out of the room, the guards pushed and shoved them, and it was all Zero could do not to lose his temper and go off on the guards... he knew they didn't know any better, but still!

Finally, when one of the shoved Jinx, he lost it.

"Aanslag le jente, et jou skall sois halshuggalius!" he snarled softly and venomously to the guard in question and drew his sword, pointing it at Jinx, then at them. To his friends, it was just foreign gibberish... the guards however, understood it crystal clear and backed off.


(A/N: A quick lesson in 'Norblitzian': Aanslag le jente, et jou skall sois halshuggalius, means, 'touch the girl, and you WILL be decapitated.' Obviously, Zero was pissed. ^-^)


Five Minutes Afterwards...


The Titans followed Zero back to the throne room. On the way, Sub-Zero turned his head and apologized:

"Guys, I can't apologize enough for what's happened...I...I think I've convinced his highness though."

Jinx shook her head. "No, it's alright... you can't blame them for being a little afraid of us." She said.

Raven sighed to herself, and then asked. "So, the King wasn't too hard on you was he?"

Zero grinned sheepishly. "Well... let me put it this way... it could've been worse."

Starfire burst out with the question she'd been dying to ask him. "Friend Zero... why did you never tell us about you're father?"

Zero instantly froze dead in his tracks... and then turned around to face her with a look of horror.

"F-father?" he hissed in confusion. ".... How would you know about my father?"

"Uhh... the maids told us." B.B. explained softly.

'Damn those twittering maids!' Zero thought venomously.

"...I'd rather not talk about it, please..." He said simply... and continued walking off.

They followed him to the King's throne, where Zero knelt down again. The Titans stood there awkwardly for a moment, and then did as he had, kneeling down.

"Well... I hope that young Sub-Zero was not mistaken in trusting our fate to you outsiders." The king said gruffly. "He tells me you know something of the knave that's coming to attack us...well, don't just kneel there! Explain yourselves!"

The Titans looked nervously at each other for a moment before Robin got up and took a step toward the King. "His name is Slade... we've come to help you fight him."

"And why should we trust you?" said the king levelly, not angry, but not exactly pleased either.

Zero stood up with Robin.

"Because... they are our only chance of driving off Slade." Zero explained. "We are but twenty knights, and a small militia of guards and archers... if we fought him and his army of machines on our own, we would be destroyed." He finished solemnly.

"...Well... If you're going to help us... I might as well learn your names." The King said, catching everyone by surprise. They hadn't expected him to agree so quickly!

"You there! What is your name?" he asked, pointing at Robin.

"Robin." The Boy wonder replied without missing a beat.

"I see... and you?" His highness asked motioning towards Starfire.

She floated up and smiled cheerfully. "My name is Starfire!" she chirped, happy that the king wasn't so suspicious of them now.

"Robin...? Starfire...? My, such names you outsiders have...but I digress.... What of you?" he asked Raven.

"Raven." She said flatly.

"I see... and you?" he pointed to Beast Boy.

"Uh... Beast Boy, your royal dude." B.Boy said nervously.

"Royal dude...?" the king muttered, not quite sure what B.B. meant, but deciding not to dwell on it. "All right... what about you, stranger?" he asked Cy.

"Call me Cyborg." He replied.

"Cyborg.... fair enough.... That just leaves.... you." he said softly, pointing to Jinx.

She gulped nervously, and then said in a shaky voice "J-Jinx."

He looked at her strangely. "Jinx... is that not another word for a curse or a misfortune?" he asked suspiciously. "Ahh, no matter. If Sub-Zero trusts you so much... I suppose I shall, too."

The king looked at the Titans, and then at Zero... and for the first time since he had brought them in...he smiled.

"Well, that is that! As you outsiders are clearly not our enemies... I suppose it would harm nothing to have you stay with us and help us battle this...Slade. And since you are now among our friends... a celebration is in order, I think.... What say you, boy?" asked the old monarch of Sub-Zero with a wrinkled smile.

Zero smiled back. "A grand idea, your grace."