I know that at least 20 people have glanced at the first chapter, but no reviews. What's the problem? My writing isn't that horrible. Review already!

Disclaimer: (because I forgot the first time) I don't own anything, including a car.


North America: Jump City, California: Reid Diamond Mines: 3 weeks earlier: 5:31 p.m.

His eyes stared at it, not believing what they saw. Out of all things, Red X didn't expect to find her like this. Question was…could that actually be her? Or did the Titans just leave a life-like statue over her grave? He involuntarily gulped. Red X forced himself forward, and attempted to control his racing heart. Halfway into the cavern, he stopped suddenly. What the hell is wrong with you? You've been through things much worse than a haunted cave. Did he just say haunted? The thief swallowed again.

Several agonizing steps later, he arrived at the statue. Slowly Red X lowered two of his fingers to one of the stony shoulders, and then jerked them back, expecting a booby trap coming to kill him. None came. Feeling a little bolder, Red X laid down his fingers, and then his entire hand. Odd, the shoulder felt warm, almost as warm as the skin of a live human being…..He jerked away once more. For a moment he wondered why he was so jumpy. Could she actually still be alive? Red X tapped her head, and backed away slightly. No reaction. Was she stuck there?

He stared at the statue for a few more moments and then shrugged in boredom. Deciding that the cave had been a waste of his time, Red X turned around and checked his belt. His eyes narrowed in confusion. Didn't he just refuel this thing? The xenothium core indicated that he had used enough Xenothium to teleport a short distance. Stupid belt must have been malfunctioning. Red X took a step forward and stopped. A second earlier the cave had been dead silent, but now…he heard a piano playing. Something about the sound seemed extremely distorted, and Red X could barely hear it, as if someone played a piano in a nearby room. Were there other caverns in this place? Of course, there had to be, not all the tunnels had collapsed. But how in the world did a piano end up in an abandoned diamond mine?

Taking a deep breath, Red X turned around. His eyes widened. In the thin, dark air of the cave doll sized figures of glowing dust danced. Red X froze. It sort of reminded him of ballet, but seemed freer than that, almost like ballroom dancing. Unconsciously he found his arms reaching towards one of the pixie couples. Then Red X heard footsteps, life-size footsteps. Glancing back towards the statue, he noticed that he didn't see anything but footprints. Maybe he guessed right about this cave being haunted. He backed away as he noticed the footprints were heading his direction. Twenty feet away the dancing dust suddenly reformed into a life size figure.

Red X stared into the eyes that belonged to her. It kind of reminded him of meeting a rock star, only much creepier, yet much more magical at the same time. Like the dancers, glowing dust formed her body. Somehow though, she seemed to glow brighter, making her seem more real. She walked closer and closer, until she stood only a few inches from his face. He felt his heart rate increase. Her face neared his own, too his surprise, but he didn't mind. Terra's golden, sparkling eyes began to close, and then suddenly her face jerked away from his. Then her shoulders slumped, as if something had bummed her out as she glanced back at her granite body. Much to Red X's dismay, the dust of her body exploded and then quickly dimmed as it the statue sucked it back to it.

The thief heard a ringing noise, the high pitched ringing like the kind he had in his ears after a long night of clubbing. Red X turned his slowly, not enjoying the sound too much. His eyes widened like saucers, stretching the eye slits on his mask into circles. Across the cave from him, red cracks streaked down the statue, and then glowed to orange, and then to Terra's signature yellow. He tried to back away, but in vain. A sonic boom roared toward him, throwing him against the far wall of the cave. Then gravity pulled him to the floor.

Catching his breath, Red X turned back towards the statue, and gasped a third time. The statue had crumpled to the ground, and in its place….He punched the teleportation button on his belt. A second later Red X kneeled by her side, and caught her as she crumpled to the ground unconscious. For a brief moment in his arms, Terra opened her deep blue eyes and gazed up at him, studied him with confusion, and then closed her eyes once more. Red X found himself immediately attracted to those eyes. They seemed so deep and complex, more complex than any lock he had ever undone. His eyes drifted over the remainder of her frame, and he frowned. Despite the girl being missing for months, she still had open wounds, covered in dust, and Red X would have to fix that. Pushing the mechanism on his belt, Red X vanished.

Around 15 minutes later, he reappeared at her side, with two first aid kits in his hands. Red X kneeled at her side and popped one of the kits open. Thankfully the girl stayed asleep. She probably wouldn't like the feel of the cleanser. His hands peeled off the remainder of her dirty "bandages." He did his best to wash away all the dirt, and to cleanse her wounds with some peroxide, and yet Red X sensed that his work would be seriously inadequate. Sighing, he took some clean bandages and covered her up again. Then a thought occurred to him. Terra probably needed something different to wear.

Unfortunately, just as he planned to teleport again, his cell phone rang. He opened it and let out a bored sigh, "What now?"

"Have you achieved your objective?" The luscious French accent accused.

Red X stole a look back at Terra before answering. "You know what Rouge? I think I've changed my mind about all this."

"What!? You will regret this betray—"

"Up yours, Rouge." The thief replied playfully as he chucked his cell phone at the cavern wall and followed it with his shuriken. They met with a small explosion, making Red X smile. Then he heard the stirring form next to him. His masked eyes met Terra's own, and this time her eyes didn't fall closed. He found her eyes so enrapturing, that he hardly heard her question.

"Who the heck are you?"


North America: Jump City, California: Titans Tower: Present day: 9:13 p.m.

A flash of red and purple raced through the air and down the hall. She had been in her room when the alarm went off. Normally she would have been 'hanging' with her friends in the common room, but tonight she had retreated to her own room for some of the deep thinking. The fight with the Brotherhood of evil left her wondering. It had been the closest anyone had ever come to defeating the Teen Titans, all of them. As they fought, Starfire couldn't help but notice that a few villains hadn't graced the battle with their presence. Starfire could only think of three that she hadn't seen there, but their names and their importance couldn't be ignored, Brother Blood, Slade, and Red X. Of course, the first name didn't surprise her, considering that the Teen Titans defeated him several times. But the last two worried her greatly, what could they have been up to? Nothing good, Starfire knew for certain.

Apparently she'd been thinking a little too much. "Oof!" Starfire called out as she collided with someone else.

"Watch out Star!" Beastboy replied as he dusted himself off and kept running. Thankfully it had been her friend Beastboy, and not her friend Cyborg. Running into Cyborg felt like being thrown into a wall.

(Flashback)


"Come on, kids." Red X taunted as he pointed to the x on his chest. "X marks the spot." A sonic boom blasted from behind him. Just as it neared his cloaked skin, the thief moved out of its path, and onto a crane. Starfire refused to let him escape that easily, and blasted him with her own starbolts. Unfortunately, he dived out of the way with ease, but ended up in the path of Beastboy. Before the changeling could hit him with his animal fists, the thief vanished. Moments later, as Beastboy and the girls regrouped, Red X reappeared on top of a stack of crates behind them. For a split second, Starfire wondered where Robin had gone off to….

On cue, the Teen Wonder knocked Red X off the stack of crates with a flying tackle. They both toppled over across the concrete, and faced each other from their menacing crouches. Robin didn't waste a second, and threw birdarang in the thief's direction. As Starfire had come to expect, Red X vanished before it could hit his masked face, and the birdarang merely swung back to Robin's hand. He caught it, and heard a familiar buzz behind his ears; Robin dodged the punch aimed at his head. Dropping to the floor, the Teen wonder kicked with both legs at the thief, but Red X managed to use Robin as a launch pad. A flip later, the thief had landed a few feet away from the Teen Wonder, facing him with his masked expression. They fought for a few more moments, and at last dear friend Robin managed to throw the thief against the wall. Even before his brain registered what had happened, the green glove grabbed his jaw.

"Who are you?" Robin snarled.

"If I wanted you to know that, would I be wearing a mask?" The thief retorted tauntingly. His hand grabbed Robin's and crimson electricity ziz-zagged up the Teen Wonder's arm before he could yank it away. Red X landed another punch to Robin's face, sending him into a wall of crates. Starfire's eyes widened, the collision had smashed nearly all the crates! Nearby Cyborg and Raven rushed towards the thief, and the thief readied his weaponed palms. "Azarath Metrion—"Raven started chanting…..Red X leaped between her and Cyborg, and used his suit to cross the power from the girl and the robot. They crumpled to the ground, filling the room with black and blue light, some of which landed on Red X's face.

"Looks like you got your wires crossed."The thief remarked nonchalantly.

Starfire's eyes narrowed angrily. Her fists lit up like nuclear waste, and threw starbolts in the Red X's direction. The thief flipped and dodged from the alien's flying charge. He touched his hands together, and fired a large X in reply. Seeing it, Starfire froze, only to be thrown against the wall by the man-sized X. Its corners stuck to the wall, pinning the alien there. She struggled, but the X wouldn't budge. Red X approached slowly, giving her a nice long once over as he did. "You know, cutie..." Lifting a finger to tilt Starfire's chin towards his, he continued. "…the only crime here is that you and I haven't gone out on a--"

BAM!!


(End Flashback)

She continued flying. The thought occurred to her that the hallways in Titans Tower seemed a little too long, if she could space out for a few moments and still not have reached the meeting room. Why had she been doing so much of "the thinking" lately anyway? Deep inside, Starfire knew why. Beastboy had been right; things had changed since the Teen Titans returned from Paris. As nice as it was to have so many new Titans, and in turn, friends, Starfire couldn't help but feel lonely. Robin had been withdrawing to his room nearly everyday, when he should have been relaxing with his friends, with her.

Starfire wished he wouldn't be so introverted around his friends, especially her. He especially shouldn't be now, since they had gone public with their couple status in Tokyo. Though the experience in Tokyo brought them closer together, Starfire felt more alone now than before. An air of expectancy hovered between them, and the pressure threatened to crush both of them. If only…if only…Starfire collided with the floor. She really shouldn't be thinking about such saddening things, it only caused her more pain. Half expecting someone to check on her, Starfire found it surprising when no one did. Perhaps they all had already arrived to the meeting room.

She sped up slightly, settling for walking instead flying. Starfire focused on her feet making footfalls across the floor, trying to calm her emotions. For some reason, touching the earth made her feel calm, calm enough to focus. Hopefully she could focus before she arrived at the main room of the Tower, before Robin would be briefing them on their latest mission. Robin… Sighing, Starfire realized she thought about him too much. Her knorfka always said it could be unhealthy to think about someone so much. But why did it feel so good to think about Robin, to dream about him, fantasize about him? Oh right….they technically counted as roommates or something. Roommates hung out together, and didn't obsess about each other or something like that.

But the others did. Starfire could see it in their faces and the tone in their voices when their minds had unceremoniously slipped into dreamland, thinking about the what-ifs and the could-have-been. Beastboy did it the most. She saw him do it practically every day, mostly at breakfast. For some reason, eating tofu reminded him of her. As soon as the tofu eggs hit his mouth, Beastboy's eyes stared ahead, penetrating the walls of the tower, the bay, until finally the imaginary x-ray vision reached the walls of Murikami High School.

One day, Starfire had caught him lingering on the sidewalk, when they were doing "the hanging out." Beastboy had always been one that always enjoyed life to his fullest, and little things like stopping on sidewalks in front of school buildings seemed trivial. Why wait there when he knew his fan girls waited for him downtown? Glancing at the wrought-iron fence, Starfire immediately recognized what it was that made him stop, who it was. Her. Terra. The blonde geomancer whose life ended in heroic tragedy; whose life should have stayed ended. It hurt Beastboy to see her alive again, and yet, be unable to do anything about it. He had told them everything. Terra didn't remember any of them. The Teen Titans meant nothing more to her than a bunch of heroes.

But…they should mean more than that. Terra fought with them, trained with them, lived with them. They had been friends, close friends, almost family. All those memories, all those great times she had with them, didn't exist to her any more. As far as Starfire knew, Terra didn't even remember her time before the Titans. Living, traveling all over world, the color red, it meant nothing. Her past, as a hero, had been made obsolete.

(Flashback)


She brushed the dust from her hands like flying on rocks meant nothing more than walking down the sidewalk or eating macaroni and cheese. A piece of the rock she stood on broke off, with her with it, all because a small wave of her hand. It lifted her gracefully into the air, and….did Starfire see her hands glowing like the sun? Seconds later the boulder had carried her to the cliff Titans stood on. As they watched with both awe and skepticism, the girl jumped toward them, and the rock fell into the canyon.

"What? Haven't you guys ever seen a superhero before?" She asked, a proud, nearly cocky smile beaming from her face. They stared back, not knowing what to say.

Finally Robin stepped toward her. "I'm Robin," He began, holding out his hand to shake hers. "We're the—"

Rather than shake his hand, Terra bumped it with her fist. "—Teen Titans! Rock on! It's cool to meet you guys. I'm Terra and you're Cyborg, Raven, Starfire…and…."

Beastboy's eyes lit up when he realized that she addressed him. Unfortunately, his tongue couldn't keep up with his most likely swarming thoughts. "Boy Beast...uh…I mean…Bass Boot!...No!" He squealed in frustration. It made Starfire stifle her giggles.

"Beast Boy?" Terra filled in, her eyebrows rising playfully. She burst out laughing at Beastboy's startled reaction. "Dude! He's hilarious!"

Beastboy's reptilian form finally stopped spinning as his poked out his head from the shell. "Me? Really?"

Terra winked playfully in response. He blinked, and to Starfire's delight, staggered at the sight of her. Beastboy most definitely had the feelings. Though as much as the Tameranean loved to watch the two of them interact, curiosity of the new girl got to her. "Curiosity abounds. Please, Wheredoyoucomefrom;howdidyougethere;whatisyourfavoritecolor; do you wish to be my friend?" She asked in one breath.

"Um….Earth, walked, red, and….sure." The girl responded with a slightly bewildered look on her face.

Starfire gasped in delight, as she gave Terra one of her trademark bear hugs. Once again, it seemed to leave a mark. Hm…humans didn't seem to have as much resilience towards that sort of thing. Oh well. She would get 'the hang' of it eventually.

The alien could hear joints popping as the girl gave a pained, but genuine smile. "How's it going?" Terra managed to rasp out.


(End Flashback)

Terra was…..normal now. The word soured on Starfire's tongue like spoiled zorka berries. But she shouldn't be forgetful of her times as a hero. They were friends! Best friends! Now Starfire could understand how Beastboy felt. But the reckmas had already come between them. If only things could return to the way they were, before it was too late. But was it too late already?


Meh, I deviated from my usual "no passive verbs rule" in the last section. But I couldn't help it, Starfire seems to think that way in my opinion, so there's my lazy, exhausted excuse. Savvy? Anyway, review please. Reviews repair my college-study-torn mind.