Chapter 3

Gone

"She'll get better Robin, don't worry. Starfire's a fighter and she'll prove it once again soon enough." Not giving him a chance to respond, Raven left the room with water in her eyes as the door automatically shut behind her. Why did I just lie?

"… I gotta go take a few tests on Starfire. You know, see if everything's okay with her… I'd hate to say this to you man, but I can't focus on the tests with you breathing down my back and not letting me touch Starfire."

"Guys! Ya'll need to come to the medical bay quick!"

"Why?" His heart started to pound out of his chest in fear of what Cyborg would say.

"It's Starfire. Her heartbeat… she's flat lining."

Fear. That one word coursed through his body as he ran towards the medical bay. Questions with doubts filled his mind. Anger. He continued to blame himself at what he did when they were in battle with Slade. He let himself get distracted and that gave Slade an opening to make him weak. Maybe if he had beaten the villain sooner, then he would be able to help Starfire before she ended up like this. Despair. Robin never stopped wondering what happened to Starfire and if she had… left him for good.

Robin burst in through the doors with pain filling his heart at the sound of a 'beep' never pausing. Cyborg was running around Starfire's bed, applying more wires and turning on switches. Raven appeared with Beastboy beside her seconds after Robin entered the room. It seemed like they all had the same idea of trying to help Cyborg but Raven beat them to it.

Raven floated off to Starfire's right side so she wouldn't be in the way of Cyborg's process of whatever he was doing. She knew that she had to do something. She had a feeling this was going to happen but she knew that she had to try to keep her sister on Earth. Her eyes glowed white as she spread out her hands and scanned Starfire's body. If her body seemed in working order then why did she flat-line on them? When her hands levitated over her head, something felt wrong. Raven's eyes stopped glowing as she stood there by the Tamaranian's side. Knowing there was another way of bringing her sister back, Raven went off to a corner and started meditating.

"Azarath… Metrion… Zinthos…" Raven continued chanting her calm words and found her center. When she opened her eyes she was in a black abyss. Nothing was there with her. She was alone. Raven floated off to her right and as she continued down the path, she felt that something was there. She knew it.

Suddenly a faint white light appeared in front of her. Raven tried levitating faster but it only seemed to slow her down. Knowing she only had a limited amount of time, Raven braced herself and expected that her feet would never touch the ground ever again. She would fall for eternity. Surprisingly that didn't happen. She had her feet planted on the ground. Testing it, she started to walk. It never moved. With every step, Raven found herself closer and closer to the light. She started to run. The light continued to glow bright and grow. She knew she would reach it in no time.

And there it was, burning bright in front of her. Seeing only one option, her hand reached out and touched it. Immediately, she was jerked into the light and was falling. She wanted to scream but she couldn't. Something inside of her continued reminding her that she would be okay. It sounded like a voice she recognized. Before Raven could make sense of what it was telling her, Raven landed on the ground. It didn't hurt. She got up and looked around. Once she turned around, she saw Starfire.

She looked graceful by the way she continued to float up and down. She was wearing a beautiful white dress that cascaded to the ground. Her auburn hair was floating all around her and her hand was outstretched. Raven looked at her hand and was going to accept it but something separated the two girl's hands. It looked like film. They started to surround the two and Raven's mind tried to keep up with what they held but they were moving too fast. Eventually, her brain adjusted to the speed but she was faced with unfamiliar pictures.

The first thing she saw was the face of a girl. She had orange skin, fierce red hair, jade eyes, and looked no older than five. She seemed happy. The girl was flying around in a grand hallway with a boy who looked like her. He seemed younger with darker hair but otherwise, he could have been a spitting image of the little girl. They continued to laugh and fly around but this happy scene quickly changed to a horrific one. What was once a happy turned memory turned into a burning one. It showed a gigantic kingdom burning, taking down everything and everyone in it. Screams from so many people were heard which caused Raven to grow a serious migraine. She covered her ears as her eyes shut tightly, hoping that what she was doing would help keep the emotions away.

Luckily for her, the screaming stopped. She looked up and found the same little girl but she looked older. Guess she wasn't little anymore. But instead of another happy memory like the first one, the girl was up against a wall. Chains were tied around both of her wrists and ankles and her head was down. Her clothes were torn to shreds and Raven shuttered when she saw that something was moving towards the girl. It was tall with long, sharp claws coming out of its large hands. It had a tail that was a green-blue color which matched the rest of its skin. Its stomach seemed to be covered with a yellow, bumpy surface that went all the way up to its collar-bone. There were a few webbing that covered their arms or their legs or whatever. Most of its face was covered with a black helmet that only showed its mouth, nose and eyes. What caught Raven off-guard the most was its eyes. They were pure red, a color that stood for evil. Overall, it was an ugly, muscular creature.

The creature walked over to the frail girl and said something in a language she couldn't understand. Then out of nowhere, its hand reached out and grabbed her head forcing her to look up at him. He snarled something at her and brought out its tongue. It started to lick the girl all over her face. Small tears were coming out of the girl which infuriated Raven. She wanted to do something, anything to stop that thing from proceeding any further. But when she tried to move, her feet felt like they were glued to the ground. She didn't have the ability to move.

Before Raven could register what was happening, the images before her started flashing and going by quicker. So many images were flashing in front of her that it was nearly impossible for the empath to see every moment. It wasn't until her home came into view when she started to grow more interest. There were images of her, Beastboy, Cyborg, and mostly Robin. And in every scenario, the girl was there. But as Raven observed more closely, her brain started to put the pieces together. That wasn't just any girl, that was Starfire. Her best friend Starfire. The Starfire who was dying at that very moment.

As soon as the scenes started, they ended. Raven was confused about what had happened. She was left alone with Starfire once again but this time, Starfire didn't offer her hand. Whatever the offer was, it was out the window.

Raven continued to stare at the Tamaranian with an apologetic look on her face but there was a silent understanding between the two girls. Raven finally knew about Starfire's past which was a big deal. She had a feeling that this must have taken Starfire a lot of courage to finally tell someone. A part of her told her that she was the only one that knew about Starfire which made her feel special. Knowing that someone trusted you with something that most people wouldn't be comfortable talking about was something else. However, their small moment was interrupted when she heard a pleading, angry scream.

"Why isn't she waking up?! Please wake up Starfire! Please!" The scream was faint but was growing closer to them with every word. She recognized that voice. It belonged to Robin.

"Raven? Raven can you hear me?" Beastboy. Raven felt him shaking her shoulders gently but the amount of force he put into it was growing stronger. She looked around, expecting the two boys to be there but they weren't. When she focused her attention back on Starfire, the princess was giving her a small smile and was fading away.

The last thing she heard from Starfire was, "I shall miss you friend." Before Raven could react to what she had said, everything went black.

A minute had gone by. One painful minute filled of a never-ending beep, and pleas and cries from the leader. Beastboy was trying his best to not disrupt Cyborg with him trying to revive Starfire unlike Robin, but he felt like this was the end. Yes, he knew that that was a terrible thing to think of. Especially when your sister figure is dying but he couldn't help it. How badly he wanted to find a distraction. He was on the verge of tears and he didn't want to show it. That would only prove that he lost faith in Starfire coming back to life and accepted her death. Refusing to believe that, his eyes traveled around the room until they landed on Raven.

She was in the corner of the room in her mediating pose. She looked calm but he had feeling that she was anything but calm. Beastboy walked over to her body and called her name.

"Raven? Raven can you hear me?" He even tried to shake her and the more he looked at her, the more he grew worried. He started shaking vigorously but immediately stopped. Really Beastboy? She's mediating, you shouldn't distract her! But still… she looks uncomfortable. Maybe I should…

Raven's eyes flicked open and she immediately had trouble breathing. Her breathes came out short and ragged but they slowly started returning back to normal. Beastboy was already by her side and laid his hand on her back. He started rubbing his thumb in small circles between her two shoulder blades, trying to calm her down. Raven enjoyed feeling his touch against her skin, it was soothing, but she knew that her feelings had to be put aside.

"Starfire." Raven had a feeling she knew what Starfire had told her but she needed to make sure. She slowly got up and walked over to the Tamaranian's bed leaving Beastboy behind.

Robin had started to tear up but refused to let them leave his eyes. He was leaning on the railing of the bed with his hands gripping the railing. Please don't leave me.

Robin stayed like this, blocking out every noise. Every system, every voice, everything. He didn't look up until he felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Cyborg's metal hand that gently gripped him. Robin looked up and barely heard Cyborg's words.

"She's gone Robin."

Robin's head hung down once again and he could feel his hands grasp the cool metal harder. The amount of force he put in them was starting to hurt him but he didn't care. Robin gritted his teeth and his breathing became irregular. She's gone Robin.

The grip he had loosened up as he sunk down to a squatting position. His forehead rested on the railing and the tears started to form once again. He couldn't be there.

Robin decided that he would be able to sulk in somewhere more private so he got up. The wetness in his mask was barely noticeable but everyone knew it was there. He started walking towards the door and stopped once it opened.

Not turning around, Robin said "Thanks for trying. I'll be in my room and don't bother me." Just as he was about to head out, Robin heard a gasp. His eyes widened at that sound, he had recognized it. Robin turned around and saw Starfire sitting up from the bed.

Her eyes bugged out of her head as she looked around at the group of people around her. Four people. Four strangers.

"Who are you?"

This piece was somewhat of a challenge for me even though I knew what I wanted to do. I'm not the best when it comes to describing people but when it comes to inanimate objects, I think I'm okay. I hope you all pictured what I had in mind but if you don't then I should have given you an idea. If at time it sounded more like Raven's POV then I'm sorry. That part was kind of hard because I badly wanted to do it from her point of view but I knew that it would be somewhat random. Please review, follow, fav and all that other good stuff! I don't own anything but Warner Bros. and DC Comics do!

Always yours,

light is in the dark

P.S. I honestly feel like I messed up at some point but I don't remember where or what was happening. If I leave out something or it didn't make sense then please P.M. me or leave it in the reviews because I want to fix it.