A/N: Yes! It's finally here - the long awaited sequel to One Year Before and The Threat of the Ruby. Before we begin the third and final installment of my A Hero Prophecy series (yes, that's what I'm calling it), I would like to thank all who reviewed on my previous two stories. I don't have time to list all their names here at the moment, but to each and every one, you have my gratitude, appreciation, and heartfelt thanks for helping me to improve. I would also like to thank those who came up with ideas that allowed me to recover from my writer's block and continue writing. Without you, this story would not have been possible. So thank you once again, and enjoy the story that you helped to create.

Return of the Ruby

Chapter 1

It was a quiet, ordinary morning in Jump City. On an island not far from the coast, upon which was a giant T-shaped structure, lived the city's five protectors.

The Teen Titans were hanging around, being normal teenagers for the moment. Cyborg was competing with Beast Boy in a racing game at the main computer. Starfire was busy cooking up another weird Tamaranian recipe involving pink glop and a slimy, wriggly, bluish-purple thing, which nobody except she would eat. Robin was attempting to fix a radio, and Raven, as usual, was curled up in a corner with a book.

They were not expecting the sudden flash of bright light that erupted in the middle of the room. Cyborg and Beast Boy jumped, causing their video cars to crash into each other, Robin broke a circuit, Starfire spilled her mixture, and Raven shut her book with a loud thump.

Once the light faded, they could see five figures: a redhead with a cybernetic arm, a girl with long blonde hair and pink eyes, a brunette with a gothic look, a furry, masculine figure, and a green-skinned guy.

Robin took one look at the redhead and his jaw dropped. "Lightning Lad?" he said incredulously.

"Hi." Lightning Lad shook hands with Robin.

"Oh, this is a joyous occasion!" Starfire cried in delight as she hugged Saturn Girl. "I have missed you, friends!"

Cyborg high-fived Timber Wolf. "Good to see you again!"

"Hiya, Phantom Girl", Beast Boy said, holding out his hand to shake hers and then nearly falling over when there was suddenly nothing to grip.

Phantom Girl grinned impishly. "Hi, Beast Boy."

Brainiac 5 cleared his throat. "A-hem. I wish this were just a social visit", he began solemnly. "However, we're here because we need your help."

"Let me guess", Raven said in a monotone. "Ruby's escaped from jail?"

Saturn Girl sighed. "Unfortunately, yes."

"Man!" exclaimed Cyborg. "Why can't any villain ever stay in jail?"

"I think it's hardwired into their brains or something", Timber Wolf said with a small, wry smile.

"Whatever the case, this time Ruby's scheme directly involves you", said Phantom Girl.

"Us?" said Robin, looking confused and apprehensive. He instinctively stepped closer to Starfire, whom Ruby had kidnapped once before.

"Well, one of you in particular", Phantom Girl amended.

"Who?" asked Beast Boy. "Is it Starfire again? Or Bumblebee?"

"Neither", answered Brainy. "What do you know of the girl Jinx?"

Jinx waited impatiently by the corner, tapping her fingers on the wall. When the red-and-yellow blur she had been watching out for finally turned up, she immediately launched into a tirade.

"Kid! Where have you been? For someone as fast as you, you shouldn't even be late. You know, just because we're officially going out doesn't mean I can't break it off any moment. Now you'd better have a really good explanation for being three whole minutes late or I promise you I'll ensure you have some real bad luck over the next few days, and no matter how fast you are, you won't be able to avoid it."

Kid Flash grinned and leaned on the wall, next to Jinx, not concerned in the least. "Just admit you like me so much you can't even wait three minutes for me to show."

Jinx snorted. "Unlikely. More like I'm really ticked off when people don't take important things seriously."

"So our dates are important, huh?" asked Kid Flash impishly.

Jinx stared, knowing she had trapped herself. After a minute she laughed. "Okay, fine, you got me. So why were you late again?"

Kid Flash shrugged nonchalantly. "Oh, nothing much. I just had to stop and get this." He whipped out a red rose from behind his back. Jinx looked at it. "For you", said Kid Flash, bowing and offering the rose to her with a flourish. Jinx raised an eyebrow and accepted the flower. Kid Flash grinned again. "Great! Now how 'bout we get something to eat? I'm starving!"

"Jinx?" questioned Cyborg. "What does Ruby want with Jinx?"

Brainy sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, a habit he'd grown into of late. "We don't know. She's been blocking us at every turn. She's absolutely determined not to let us get in her way again. It took us four days just to track her through the time stream."

"How'd you find out about Jinx, then?" asked Beast Boy, looking confused.

"We didn't." Lightning Lad seemed tense. "A while ago, she and Saturn Girl got into a fight. Ruby thought she was gaining the upper hand and she gleefully blurted it out."

Robin noticed for the first time how strained the Legionnaires looked, especially Saturn Girl. Unbidden, the thought of Saturn Girl's enormous part in the events currently unraveling rose in his mind, and he couldn't help worrying about what was to come. His friends all seemed so much more serious than when he had last seen them. He was so absorbed in his thoughts he almost missed the next bit of information.

"Why would Ruby do something like that?" Raven was asking. "She's not stupid."

"No, but she thought Saturn Girl wasn't going to survive the battle", Timber Wolf answered grimly.

"What?" gasped Starfire, rushing over to Saturn Girl and proceeding to examine her all over. "Are you 'the okay' now, friend?"

Saturn Girl smiled wanly. "I'm fine, Starfire." She paused. "Well, as fine as anyone can be in such a troubled time", she amended.

"Anything in the prophecies?" Robin asked.

"No, unfortunately", replied Phantom Girl. "The last chronological entry having anything to do with the Legion stopped right after stating the 'certain death of the Protector' thing, which didn't last, by the way."

"That's what I never really understood", cut in Beast Boy. "If the prophecy said that no power in the universe would be able to – er – bring Saturn Girl back, then how did we manage to pull it off? I mean, I'm glad we did, but I'm still confused." He did indeed look like a bewildered little puppy, minus the cuteness.

"The language used in the prophecies is cryptic", answered Brainy. "They don't always mean what they say. But in this case, the loophole was the…Greek gods." Brainy looked a little uncomfortable admitting that there was such a thing, even though he'd seen them with his own eyes. "They have power that surpasses what was meant in the prophecy. Also, the Heart of Kandrakar is technically not from this dimension, so it would not be accounted for within the context of the prophecy, either."

Beast Boy looked more confused than ever. "Um, could you repeat that, please?"

"Never mind."

Four girls crashed into each other came down in a tangle of arms and legs as they tripped on the little green thing that was running away from them like a shot.

"Ow!" cried Irma Lair, her brown head bobbing against the pavement as she attempted – unsuccessfully – to disentangle herself from Cornelia Hale. "Corny, get your butt off my arm!"

"Well, if you get your leg off me, I might be able to move", Cornelia retorted.

Just then Will Vandom came walking up the sidewalk. "Hi, guys!" she greeted. "What are you doing on the ground?" she added in confusion.

Irma groaned as she finally managed to separate herself from the mass of bodies and got to her feet.

"We just gave Blunk a bath", said Hay Lin from the ground, by way of explanation. "Thanks", she added to Irma, who helped her get up too.

"Oh", said Will, grinning.

"Yeah, smile!" exclaimed Taranee Cook as she pulled herself up. "You're lucky Mr. Collins went over to your place for tea so you had to stay home."

Will made a face. "Please", she said. "Getting stuck in my apartment with my mom and my history teacher is not my idea of luck."

Cornelia fluffed out her hair and observed it in the back window of the Silver Dragon, Hay Lin's parents' restaurant, behind which they'd been giving Blunk the Meridian Passling his weekly bath. "Trust me. I'd rather watch your mom and Mr. Collins make out than give that smelly thing whose name is Blunk a bath."

"Eww!" Will and Irma exclaimed in disgust.

"Taranee, what is this?" inquired Teresa Cook, holding up a yellow-and-black something.

Taranee, who had just gotten home, stared at the object in her mother's hand. It was the Titan communicator Robin had given the Guardians six months ago, when they'd had their little adventure in the future. She'd been keeping it in her desk drawer in her room – how had her mother found it?

"Uh, it's a…um…it's a, uh…" Taranee began, trying to come up with a suitable excuse. "It's just a little, um, gift from a…from a friend of mine." Thinking this story would suffice, she was quick to emphasize her point. "He gave it to me a while ago."

"He?" questioned Teresa. "A boy? Not Nigel?"

Realizing what her mother meant, Taranee involuntarily clapped her hand to her mouth. "No, I mean, it's…it wasn't Nigel, but uh…I just…I didn't want to mention…um…" Teresa's eyebrows were rising higher and higher. "I have this pen pal, see, from um, Jump City", said Taranee, thinking quickly. "And, uh, a while ago, he and his class came to Sheffield on a – er – field trip, and…and he gave me that – uh – paperweight, 'cause he knew he'd be meeting me, 'cause I'd told him in…in a letter."

"I didn't know you had a pen pal, and nor did you mention a visitation from Jump City at school."

"I – er – I didn't?" Taranee said, feigning surprise. "Sorry, I thought I…I mean, it must have slipped my mind. Um, did I mention it's a paperweight?" she asked with a sheepish, hopeful grin.

"Hm." Teresa didn't look convinced. "And I suppose paperweights beep?"

Taranee was totally unprepared for this question, but she racked her brains for an explanation. "It's, uh, it's supposed to do that. It's an…uh…it's an electronic paperweight, and it sort of…lights up, and – and it beeps – when I press a button. But I, uh, dropped it a - a couple of weeks ago, and it's been malfunctioning. So, um, so can I have it back? – and I'll just…put it in my room and, er, remove the battery." She held her breath.

Teresa studied the 'paperweight' for a minute and handed it over. "Electronic paperweights – what will they think of next?" she said, giving a fond smile to her daughter.

Taranee didn't waste another moment. Throwing out a "Thanks, Mom", she rushed to her room and closed the door, before letting out her held breath in a relieved sigh.

"Whew." She looked at the communicator. "You beeped, huh?" she said to it, making her way to her bed and sitting down on it. Flipping open the communicator to call the Titans, she felt excited, and a little bit confused. The Guardians and the Teen Titans hadn't contacted each other in over three months, each busy with their own lives. So why had Robin called now?

The big plasma screen flashed, drawing attention from the Titans and the Legionnaires. The Titans expected it to be another security camera video feed of some villain, or maybe a call from Titans East. The Legionnaires had no idea what to expect. But both groups were surprised when the African-American face of Taranee Cook, Fire Guardian of Kandrakar, appeared on the screen.

"Taranee!" Starfire exclaimed in joy. "Oh, it has been too long. How are you, friend?"

"I'm perfectly fine", said Taranee, grinning. "We just settled the latest problem in Kandrakar, so we've sort of got a break for a while."

"Glad to hear it", said Saturn Girl, drawing Taranee's focus from the Titans to the Legionnaires, whom she hadn't noticed before.

"Hey, what are you guys doing here?" she asked in pleased surprise.

"Problem", Phantom Girl replied. "Ruby escaped from prison and she's specifically after someone from this time."

This didn't please Taranee so much. "Oh. Is that why you called?"

"We didn't", said Lightning Lad.

"I did", Robin said. He smiled. "If we're after Ruby again, I thought it'd be better to have the whole gang together."

"Good thinking", Timber Wolf agreed.

"So, are you in?" asked Cyborg. Taranee grinned again.

"You bet!" she said. "I'll let Will and the others know. It'll be just like old times."

"You should know that it will be more complicated than it was before", Brainy warned. "Ruby's quarry is in the 21st century, and so she will remain here. She also knows we are at a disadvantage in this time because we are not well acquainted with it. Therefore, it is unlikely she will return to the 31st century until her business here is done, which will cause certain problems for you, since, as I suspect, your parents do not know of your powers."

Taranee dismissed Brainy's concerns with a wave of her hand. "They don't, but don't worry. We've been doing this Guardian stuff long enough to know how to hide it well. We'll be fine. Besides, the others would probably yell furiously at me if they found out you gave us a chance to work together again and I didn't take it. I think I'll pass on that."

"Awesome!" exclaimed Beast Boy.

"Taranee, dinner's ready", called Teresa's voice from the background.

"Oops, I've gotta go", said Taranee. "When can we meet?"

"Tomorrow", replied Robin. "We'll be here."

"Okay, see you there."

Ruby watched from the shadows of the alley as the two teenagers walked by. At least, one walked, but the other, making full use of his super-speed, kept running in front and then doubling back. They looked happy. Too happy.

"Just you wait", she whispered. "You won't be so happy when I've got what I want." She flipped open the holopad (containing all the information she would need) that she carried with her and studied the picture.

"Which is you, dear Jinx."

A/N: There we go! First chapter out. I think I'd better warn you right now that I will not be updating daily, as I did with One Year Before, because I have not yet completely finished this story and I don't want to set a standard I can't keep. I will, however, be posting every other day, so you still don't have to wait that long. Maybe once I've finished the story I'll switch to updating everyday. For now, though...REVIEW! Please?

Disclaimer: Okay, now I shall prattle off a list of names that I have no rights to whatsoever because I don't own the following: Teen Titans, Legion of Superheroes, and W.I.T.C.H.