How Long Is Forever
The Teen Titans without Starfire
Prologue: (Robin's Point of View)
"We're not gonna drift apart, Star. I promise. We'll all be friends forever."
"Forever?" she asked, her bright green eyes shined with hope. Her eyes. I could never get enough of those sparkling emerald eyes. It almost made me shiver with delight. I suppose I have rather a weak spot there, but to get back to the point, I don't think I had ever seen Starfire like this, so worried about our friendship. Actually there was one other time. I remember when she first found I had been working for Slade, she was devastated and that look she gave me tore me inside out, knowing I was doing at her. And to think I almost fired at her. I almost fired at Starfire. And now she was worried that something was going to break up our friendship. The Rekmas, she called it. I wanted reassure her by putting my hand on her shoulder as I always did and really saying it with meaning. I wanted to tell her I'd be there for her forever, but my communicator began to sound.
"Titans! GO!" I instructed to them. The other Titans looked alert, Raven leapt off her feet and levitated towards the exit, Beast Boy morphed into a green cheetah and Cyborg, well Cyborg just ran while I checked my communicator. A villain named Warp was trying to steal an antique clock, the Clock of Eternity. Oh great…another one.
For as long as I had been fighting bad guys and villains, there were always guys who just wanted to steal. It's not even like they were even evil or anything…they were just selfish. And that angered me. A lot of things did. I was angry, something no youth should be. Just, too many things angered me, number one being Slade. I hated the constant bickering between Beast Boy and Cyborg and I wish Raven wasn't always so depressing and unsociable. In fact, the only person I never had a problem with was Starfire.
Of course, I had to explain a lot of things to her but in all honestly I didn't mind. In fact I often found it amusing to hear her interpretations on Earthly customs. If everyone was like Starfire I can guarantee the world would be a better place. Not that I want Cyborg, Beast Boy or Raven to change. I'm just saying. Starfire has to be the nicest person I've ever meant, and seeing her upset as I did now upset me myself.
The thing about Starfire was she was naïve, innocent. Completely untainted with the badness of the modern world. She was completely unlike any other people I have met, cynical and depressing. But Starfire, Starfire loved everyone. Something no human could possibly do. Especially myself. Starfire was an exceptional person though. Not only beautiful, but loving, and sweet and she was a damn fine titan. Oh the things there is to say about Starfire. But now is not the time for me to ramble.
We had to hurry before this guy got that clock. I began to run towards the exit, my yellow and black cape swaying behind me as I ran. I could tell Starfire was still there and she appeared to be deep in thought, saddened maybe? Perhaps she still didn't believe we'd all be friends forever. Perhaps she thought she'd lose us all. Well, she'd never lose me. Unfortunately I didn't have time to tell her that because she came to her senses and flew into the air and right by me to stop the villainous crime being executed.
"I didn't travel back in time one hundred years to squabble, I came to steal the Clock of Eternity. Valuable in the past, priceless in the future." I threw one of my electron disks at the feet of man from the future, which knocked him back on his feet.
"But for the present, you'll keep your filthy hands off it!" I said with malice, anger rising in me for that lack of justice and morals in this city today. I was perched on the railing of the old museum as I looked down at Warp. Warp a man of about thirty or forty I'd say. He had an oddly shaped black beard and an equally odd costume. It was golden casing around his upper body that stopped at the shoulders and thighs. On his head he had a circular disk similar to the one in the center of his chest. Underneath his Gold plate he had a black body suit and gold cuff links. His voice was rather annoying as well, almost like Gizmo's only a lower in tone.
"The Teen Titans. This is a treat. I've read about you in historical archives. As for now…you're history!" The villain known as Warp shifted his body and aimed his cannons that were positioned on his shoulders at us at several beams of red light bolted towards us and hit the railing we had been previously resting upon.
"Titans! GO!" I commanded as usual as we all jumped from the railing and split up then, each using our own tactics. I pulled out my bo-staff, ready to fight, spinning it around a few time for good measure. Suddenly something darted towards me, emitting from Warp. I bent backwards to avoid the blow, however it split my staff in half.
As I issued an anguished cry and my broken staff, I could see Starfire flying and Beast Boy racing towards him. Star had lime green beams coming from her hands that were aimed at the ground as Beast Boy promptly transformed in a green lion. Star pulled back her fists and flung a few Starbolts at Warp. He moved his arm in front of him, and blocked the bolts, so that they came speeding towards Star. She put her hand up to her face, however she was jetted backwards by her own powers and onto the floor.
Beast Boy savagely lunged for him, but Warp dodged his attack. Promptly Warp turned around as the green lion made another attempt to knock him over. This time however Warp stuck out his arm, in which a tiny weapon popped out of his cuff link. The weapon fired a sort of shocking effect on Beast Boy, and made the King of the Forest fall in battle.
Raven tried her luck at the villain as well. She levitated into the air hurriedly. Her long blue cloak rippled against the air, giving it a deathly look to it.
"Azareth….Metrion….XINTHOS!" she shouted the last part as two pieces of wooden furniture flew into the air, their outlines, white in an abyss of dark and hurtled towards Warp. He merely stuck his hands out and the two heavy object crashed to the ground. I could tell Raven was slightly taken back by that. In a moments notice he bent his head down and a jet of blue light came streaming towards Raven, from the circular disk on his head.
She yelled in fury as the light hit her, and she was thrown backwards onto the floor similarly to Starfire. Cyborg then leapt into action, his arm now his sonic cannon. He aimed directly at Warp and fired. The blue beam appeared to have hit Warp directly, however smoke issued from the impact.
"BOO-YAH!" Cyborg yelled in triumph. However his victory was short-lived when the smoke-cleared. "Huh?" was how Cyborg reacted to the force field that was surrounding Warp now. As the shield went down Warp reached into his belt to pull out another toy. He flung it at Cyborg, and it hit Cyborg right in the center of his metallic chest. It appeared to be tiny dial and immediately the hand on it turned upwards. Without warning, flashed of light surrounded Cyborg, as he tried closed his eyes in obvious pain.
"Drainin'…my power cell," he managed to get out, as he held his sides and bent over onto the cement of the floor.
"You can not defeat Warp, I am from the future," the villain said to us, his hand raised high above his head in victory it seemed. He pulled out some devices from his belt, similar to my electron disks and hurled them in my direction. I began racing towards him, disks of my own ready. I could feel anger swelling in my chest as I threw them, with accuracy at warp's disks. The disks he had used blew up my own and one remained and came flying towards myself and Starfire. We both leapt out of the way as the disk hit the wall of the museum and exploded on a nearby window.
"And you relics are one-hundred years out of date," he reached his hand for the Clock of Eternity. It was a rounded gold structure with a tiny clock at the top of it and a pendulum inside it. His hand evaporated through the glass that kept the Clock of Eternity inside of it and he grasped a hold of it. With that it turned a shade of light blue as he pulled it through the glass. He then turned around and pressed the centered disk on his chest. A beam of white light exited from it and created a black vortex with a glowing blue light surrounding it.
"Ta ta Titans. I have enjoyed out time together, but I've got a very bright future ahead of me." I glanced over at Starfire for a moment. She was in a crouched position, watching him intently. She seemed mad, upset. Her eyes glowed green with righteous fury. She bolted upright, her fist clenched and raced towards him as he began stepping into the portal. He glanced back at her, hearing her angered growl and became startled. She was heading straight towards him. Upon seeing this I jumped up right so I could stop her before she went through, however she was too quick. She flew into him with such intensity and pushed him into the portal. As I leapt forward to grab one of her feet it disappeared and I fell to the ground, doing a somersault to break my fall.
"STARFIRE!" I screamed, fear rising in my throat. I rose to my feet and looked around. My breathing had gotten heavy and intense as my eyes fruitlessly scanned around for her.
"Dude, where'd she go?" Beast Boy said, in his now human form. He was standing next to Cyborg, who had savagely ripped off the little dial from his chest and threw it to the ground. Raven was also standing now, her blue hood over her head as she casually glanced around the room.
"Quick!" I said running past them, my eyes still checking every dark spot in the room. "We have to find Starfire! NOW! We have to do something, ANYTHING! Just - " I turned around and they were standing there, looking bewildered. Raven had an expressionless face on now as though she was going to say something to make everyone annoyed because she was right.
"She's not here, Robin," she said, as though she didn't even care. "We should not waste our efforts looking for her." Raven crossed her arms across her chest and looked bored. I could feel myself getting angry at her. I don't care if Raven had to control her emotions, she could at least TRY to be worried about Star. All she could do was tell me that their was no way to save her, like she didn't care if Star disappeared forever. How could Raven be so…heartless all the time?
I narrowed my eyes at Raven, to show her I was getting annoyed now. Of course she did seem the least bit intimidated. That was Raven, I knew it. But I was tired of it.
"You don't even sound worried." I said, my voice quiet. Then I couldn't hold it back any longer. "STARFIRE IS OUR FRIEND! YOUR FRIEND! And all you can say is we shouldn't waste our time looking for her. What is your problem Raven? If Star was in your place she'd be worried sick! How can you just stand there and be so cruel?" Raven glanced at me, her mouth very thin as though she was fighting the urge to yell at me. I didn't care if she yelled. She was wrong, wrong as anything. No one could convince me otherwise.
"You have to calm down Robin. I never said I didn't care about Starfire. What I did say was there is no way we can find her, she's traveling through time. There's nothing we can do but wait," Raven said, taking a few steps toward me. Ok, maybe I was wrong. But still, I felt we had to do something. But I couldn't think of what.
I felt sick to my stomach at the thought of life without Starfire. She was addictive, once you met her, you never wanted to let her go. Her hair, her laugh, her eyes. Everything about her just – made life worth living. I suppose I sound like some love-sick hormone driven teenager, but something inside me says it's something more. Like maybe I – I don't know. Perhaps I'm just psychotic.
I dropped to the floor, and buried my face in my hands. My crouched form leaned up against the wall, as I murmured her name to myself. I wanted to cry, I had to, but in front of my team. I just couldn't do that. I had to suck it up. But my strength had left me completely. I felt powerless. My one weakness had been exploited. But I had to be strong. For my team, for Star. I had to be strong.
Footsteps approached me. I hastily wiped the small tears that were waiting to come out away. I stood up quickly, with my back still to them. I had my head held up high to show I was still strong, I was still their leader. I felt two hands rest on my shoulder. I could tell, one was Cyborg's and the other was Beast Boy's.
"Dude," Beast Boy said to me. "It'll be ok, she'll be back. Don't worry about her. She a tough girl." But it was not Star I was worried about. I was worried about myself. I might completely fall apart without her. But I nodded in reply to him.
"Come on now ya'll," Cyborg said. "Let's go home." I shakily took a step forward as my two friends pushed me along, followed by Raven who was silent. We reached the exit, and I held my breath. I forced myself to look back, at the last place I had seen Star.
And then…I could no longer hold the tears back.
It's rather degrading for a boy, a man of my stature to cry. But there's only so much one can take. And I let it go, everything. Wailing like a crazy man, as if my purpose in life was gone. I let it all out. Beast Boy, Cyborg and Raven tried to keep me under control, said things like, "Robin, calm down," "Robin, it'll be all right, man" "Dude Robin, you're like crying," but the tears kept coming. Why was I effected like this and they weren't? Why wasn't I strong like I usually was? Why could Starfire's absence make me fall, make me cry, and die inside?
I don't know…but there's something about her. Something I'll never forget. I felt it every time I heard her name, saw her, heard her. But I didn't know what it was. It's something I've never felt for another person, another friend. Friend…
Star was like no person I'd ever met. And now she was gone. And there was nothing I could do about it.
Author's Note: Well the prologue was short I know. But the rest will be longer. Anyways, this is my first Teen Titans fic and I hope you enjoyed the prologue of it. :D By the way, I found it difficult to write Robin, since he's all like angesty and serious. Whoa nelly! He's an angry boy. I also had trouble with it since you know he's a boy in love and all. It's pretty tough, well for me anyways. Some writers have no trouble with it. Anyway, I just really wanted to write this story since I've seen "How long is Forever?" and I'm glad I finally got the prologue done. And by the way, this is taken directly from the episode. :D