Note: I took the current DC version of Starfire, threw her into the YJ world and tried to salvage Lobdell's bad characterization of her.
There was a war in the sun with the rays of light brightening the field amidst the gray fog of guns and beams. She inhaled the scent of battle as a warrior facing the enemy; strong and willing, prepared for the ultimate sacrifice. Her thoughts never wavered against the villains, the corrupt. Her determination as her green eyes shone over the blackening air added to her ferocity. She seemed unstoppable.
At each side a comrade was fighting; her old friends, her new ones, strangers and one particular former lover from a past she struggled to remember. Repression was her copying device; to forget those close to her in favor of a passing present, all to hide the turmoil shaping itself into knives in her heart and lungs.
It wasn't working anymore, not with him below in the black and red; imagine the blue in his eyes as his hair pushed back from the wind in his jumps. Left and right he struck a blow, small grins in his banter, and strength in his movements, she almost stopped to admire the man before her. Years ago, as children in so many ways he was the boy of her affection, the crush that blossomed into a dangerous love. The darkness, the sweetness, the need and rush of a kiss, the goodbye that tore her and left her weak, reaching for forgiveness of a blame she did not own; she was very much the flower being crushed on the weight of the world's hell.
Hell.
That is what she felt inside, the burn on her skin that soaked in the sun, the tremble of her hands as the glow of her power dimmed from his voice. All around the earth shook with war, screams and battle cries reverberated at every corner. The green of the grass was sullen in grays; ash lay marking the fallen enemy. She could see familiar friends, those she'd intentionally left behind for the sake of somewhere else on this hell where she could be alone, where her tears would be silenced with no eye to see what she had become. The woman they had known was the façade in dire times where her heart, the instrument of her life, faded into quiet melodies. She was so broken and tired, so frustrated and hurt, but by surprising emotion, she'd learn to rise above. Of course her identity went with the pain.
Here again with him, fighting side by side was the glory of her youth. The sadness of her life, with the tortures as a little girl written all those years ago, was Dick Grayson. Near him was the woman he loved, not her, no he had forsaken her, abandoned her out of fear and confusion. There were other loves in his life but with him now was the other girl he had grown with. She wore the insignia of a family that this warrior princess knew she could never be a part of, she was not one of them, she was not accepted, she was viewed as an uncontrollable power by them much like those of this world did.
She was the outlaw, the castaway and this girl here with him was the brilliant Batgirl of Gotham. Everyone loved her. Most expected the two to end up together, a perfect fairytale for vigilantes dancing on rooftops while she withered in the frost of humanity's coldness. She was not the hero of a little girl with posters in her room, searching in the name for her favorite savior. No, Starfire was not loved, she was not wanted and after leaving her friends it was a surprise she'd answered their call at all.
How could I not?
There was an invasion, one she knew of well, her world having been attacked by the very same. Her world… her world that was no more, all that remained were memories, shattered pieces of a life she was stolen from and by those dearest to her. Betrayed by family, destroyed in love, she had little faith in others, little trust to give. This was not her way, not always. There was a time she chose to believe and that was not too long ago, before she was untouchable.
"Watch out Babs!" Dick screamed as a beam shot out to Barbra, the woman narrowly escaping the attack. She was on a mission herself, having just been reunited with the love her life, she ached for this battle to be over in hopes of once again being in his arms, quietly with the cackle of flames in the background as they kissed to the warmth of a fireplace in the Wayne manor.
"Don't worry hunk wonder, I know what I'm doing." To have her dream come true, she need only place the key into the weapon of mass destruction shooting at her and all her friends. With one turn of a small, little key the fire radiating from above would cease.
Kory watched as the two climbed closer to her destination, she flying behind them, guarding their bodies with her own might. That was the task asked of her, somewhat of an escort to the two lovers. She hadn't objected to it, her mask wore an impassive expression, she was the frost in the weather, the sweetness of a girl who'd soured with age and promises that never saw it's end.
"There it is!" Dick took Barbara's hand, the two having stopped in front of what would end the battle. Kory sighed, her thoughts having wandered to better days, ones where he saw her, before her body became strangled in his lies.
She could reminisce for days, recalling his "I love you" and the feel of his lips against hers, the intertwinement of hands and legs and the stare into one's soul. She had thought she'd found the one, the person, the other half and deep in that very soul she knew he was all those things but in this cruel life of mistakes and misunderstandings such a love could not be. There was a coldness flooding her body as she remembered her screams and accusations.
I hate you.
He'd taken so much of her, there was little to give. She'd been treated so wrong, the blood, the bruises, the innocence burned off of her as all those she trusted forgot her and then to come to Earth and discover there was yet love to give… and to have that lost… she could have no more of it. The sickness ran through her blood now as he held Barbara's hand. It was soothed only by the release of her power, her eyes glowing, her smile twisted, and her hair a blaze.
In all the commotion, they all had missed what came next, a blow from above, pushing Dick back as the ground beneath him crumbled. Of course Kory flew to him, there was no hesitation as she extended her hand and out of his own muscle memory he had grabbed it as he'd done so many times before.
She laid him down, wordlessly. A gust of wind from another blast yards away moved him closer to her. She, being a warrior and not an agile acrobat, had her feet planted firm on the dirt, and with the wind she dug them in, refusing to fall in the slightest. He admired her for this, and missed her as much for how strong she was. Regardless of the past there was a love there and always would be. As his mouth opened to say something, anything for his heart told him to speak, there was a cry that frightened him and he turned away from her as he done many times before…
"Barbara!" He yelled; he could see her above a beam reaching towards her and she having nowhere to go. Barbara's face became flushed in panic but she tried to hide it in favor of a smile. She didn't want to worry him.
"I've got it Grayson!" She said as she jumped to her feet, the key in hand, ready to end this hell once and for all. Dick stepped forward, reaching for her but being too far away to help. He could see the beam moving to the same path as the woman he loved.
A drum beat inside Kory's chest, thumping her ribs like an anthem of her life. It was time now to be the woman she knew she always was. Her hand pulled Dick back, muffling the cries as he watched Barbara run to her impending doom. Kory rose from the ground like a star, shooting into the darkness, pushing the gray away with her fists. She spotted her fellow redhead a second later as Dick continued to call out Barbara's name.
"I've got it!" Barbara screamed. She had the key in place and with one turn she'd done it but at the cost of her life. The beam inches from her, she closed her eyes. Speeding towards her was Koriand'r, the drum louder, the words "enough" and "time" resounding in powerful echoes across her limbs. The smog blew through her fire hair as she pushed her hands forward.
Memories of searching for Dick in the dark were all she could see, wanting to see his face, rushing to the skyline with the blackness behind her and only her bravery to save her. He was gone, and she was the lion ready for the fight, and now all over again she prepared to make the sacrifice of every warrior's battle. But he did not want her to be that warrior.
There was a painful helplessness seeping into his heart, his lungs filled with what felt like cement, unable to inhale, unable to breathe. He loved her; he loved her dearly. She was the listener, the light, she entertained his dreamer whims, she praised his outwardness; she changed him into a better human being. In all his insecurities, in all his fears there was the green looking at him whispering "you can do it," as she had always believed in him as he had her.
Why was it that death brought the only certainty a man would know?
"Kory!" It was her name now. Tears evaporated in the fire as she her hands touched the beam, her fingertips absorbing the blast little by little, giving Barbara time to move out of it's way. Of course Kory knew she couldn't take it all, she knew that all along as the energy ripped the skin off her bones. A hush fell for both her comrades and enemies as the star melted into dust, the last they saw were those green eyes, wet in her sorrow and yet wide with finality.
In her death she knew she'd saved someone he loved, the truth made her a martyr for the cause of anyone who should not believe but still did. All was not lost, all was not well, but in her life she had lived in her self-sacrifice for she was more than a woman in love, she was more than beautiful, she was more than powerful, she was a hero.