Answers to Your Questions: I am intending this story to go through the end of Season Two, which is of course going to be very different because I am taking Terra out completely (I never liked her anyway). I'm anticipating around 15 chapters.
I've had one person ask me about a sequel, and I honestly hadn't thought about it, but I'd be willing to do some brainstorming if that was something you guys would be interested in, so PM me to let me know.
Chapters will be posted weekly (Friday or Saturday), but look for a special bonus chapter this Monday or Tuesday. Happy Labor Day!
NOTES: Shifts to Robin's perspective (I will only be working with Robin and Starfire) will be labelled and marked at the beginning and end by slashes (/\/\/\). Gaps in time will be marked by (...).
For some chapters, I will include songs that I feel fit or that inspired me in some way, along with the location where the song begins to be relevant. Just so you know what's going on below here. If you go onto my tumblr (see my profile page for the link) you will find an audio post that includes any songs listed, which will be posted the same time as the chapter, so you can go there if you don't want to bother with youtube.
Songs: "Requiem on Water" – Imperial Mammoth (Starfire's POV, after she surfaces from the sewer)
Chapter 3: Promise Me
Robin
"Is everyone okay?" Robin shouted, his hands frantically working through the water to spin himself around.
"Sensors aren't picking up anything," Cyborg affirmed, his fingers flying across the keyboard in his arm.
"I'm not dead either," Beast Boy chimed in with obvious relief.
"Same," came Raven's monotonous agreement.
Robin's brow furrowed as he looked at his fellow three Titans. "Well then what was that thing?"
"I don't know," answered Cyborg, still beeping away on his arm, "but I can tell you what it wasn't: A Chronoton Detonator."
"What?" Robin asked, swimming closer to Cyborg. "What do you mean?"
His robotic friend looked up at his approach. "That thing we disabled," he gestured toward the boat, on which the metal remains of the device still rested, "it wasn't a real Chronoton Detonator." His expression turned grave. "It was a decoy."
"A decoy?" said a higher-pitched voice to Robin's left, and he looked to find Beast Boy and Raven had joined them.
"A decoy for what?" Raven elaborated.
Robin looked down at the surface of the water, his frown reflected back at him in ripples. He started as the cogs clicked into place in his mind.
"Starfire!" he gasped, diving between Raven and Beast Boy as he butterflied toward the tunnel walkway.
"No…" Beast Boy and Cyborg breathed in unison.
"Let's go," Raven interjected, rising out of the water with a flare of black wings.
In seconds, Robin was at the tunnel wall, pulling himself up onto the narrow walkway that lined the side. Raven shot in front of him as a green tiger leapt onto the concrete beside him. A loud splashing sound told him Cyborg had just climbed up behind him.
The three boys took off running after Raven, who had slowed to a pace they could keep up with. He was tempted to screw his better judgment and tell her and Beast Boy to go ahead, just so the coldness tightening around his heart would lessen, but he knew they shouldn't separate. He didn't know what awaited them around the next corner, and they were already a man down. He pushed himself harder, his footfalls heavy on the cement. Unwilled, images of torn purple leather, splayed red hair, and glazed green eyes filled his head.
'Pull it together, pull it together!' he chanted to himself, pushing all of his energy to his legs, willing them to carry him faster. 'She'll be fine. We'll find her. Alive, alive, alive…' he silently hoped, clinging to that one word as if his very sanity depended on the truth of it. And maybe, in a way he could not even admit to himself, it did.
"THERE!" Raven called from above, jerking his attention back to actual reality and not his horrible, imagined one.
He looked ahead and saw a gaping hole in the wall, a matching one on the wall directly opposite. His heart leapt into his throat with both excitement and fear.
"STARFIRE!" he screamed, a burst of speed coming from some sort of reservoir within him as he pushed past Beast Boy and Raven, who looked at him with an odd mix of surprise and pity as he pulled ahead.
He stopped dead as he reached the entrance to one of the holes, his hands fumbling with his utility belt. Pulling out an "R"-emblazoned flashlight, he surveyed the cavity before him. The walls were dark and shiny from what Robin hoped was water running down and pooling on the floor below. There were remnants of the shattered wall littering the ground in front of him, but nothing else, which came as both a relief and a renewed terror.
"Over here!" Cyborg called, and Robin whipped around with a head rush of hope.
With a running start, he easily leapt the gap between tunnel walls and landed with a quick crouch at the entrance to the opposite chasm.
"What, what is it?" He frantically pointed his flashlight into the dark, but saw only three faces greeting him. He was about to explode when Raven, probably sensing his impending misplaced aggression, intervened.
"Cinderblock was here," she pointed to a large imprint on the ground. Robin scanned over the portion that wasn't already illuminated by Cyborg's shoulder light. Sure enough, the rocks were broken neatly in the form of a set of massive legs.
"Starfire and Cinderblock definitely went a few rounds," Cyborg said, his light scanning the room as he wandered away from the group, "but I can't tell who won." He turned back to face them, his expression sad and guilty. "Or where they went."
Robin's brain froze and melted all at once, and he could feel his mouth quiver slightly before he recomposed himself.
"Beast Boy-"
"On it!" he asserted, turning into a bloodhound in anticipation of Robin's order.
Robin felt a rush of gratefulness toward his friend at that moment, but now was not the time. Now, he had to be Robin: the leader, The Boy Wonder. Not Robin: the 16-year-old boy about to have a nervous breakdown. So, he simply nodded.
"Raven, see if you can-"
"Sense her, got it," and she immediately floated into the air cross-legged and began chanting.
On any other occasion, Robin may have been concerned that he was apparently incredibly predictable, but today, it was an asset.
"I'll wander around a bit and see if I can pick up any…" Cyborg paused, his back stiffening.
Everyone turned to look at him, the tension in the room palpable.
"…signatures," he finished, lowering his gaze away from them and turning to his console.
To distract himself from going down that particular train of thought any further, Robin pulled his communicator from his belt. He deftly flipped it open with one hand and began furiously lighting up keys with the other. A blue bar spun out from the center of the screen, completing multiple rotations before a red "X" appeared in its place.
"I can't locate her communicator," he stated, trying to keep his voice as even as possible. "It must have been damaged in the fight." He presented himself with the only explanation he considered acceptable, looking up at his friends for support.
"Or," Raven began cautiously, opening one eye to meet the fearful gaze she couldn't she, "it's out of range."
Robin didn't like that idea either, but at least it was better than…
He went back to busying himself with the communicator. "I'm going to try broadening the search area," he conceded, turning his back to them as he walked out into the tunnel.
Outside the collapsed-in room, it was relatively quiet. Only Beast Boy's distant sniffs from around the corner behind him and Raven's faint murmur broke through the flowing water. Robin poked away at the keyboard, scanning again and again and again. The same "X" mocked his every attempt and he growled, frustrated. He let his right hand fall to his side, red-flashing communicator reflecting off the damp wall beside his leg. He pinched the bridge of his nose with the opposite thumb and forefinger, breathing deeply. He allowed himself these few moments of weakness before raising the communicator back up and clicking a different sequence of buttons. A beep announced its readiness, and Robin brought the device to his mouth.
"Starfire?" he called, soft enough that his counterparts wouldn't hear. He released the button, and was greeted by static. His blood cooled in his veins, but he pressed on. "Starfire?!" he pleaded, an endless loop of 'Pick up!' playing in his mind. Still static.
"AGH!" he snarled, throwing himself back against the tunnel wall, his head banging off the stone. He closed his eyes, focusing on trying to slow his breathing away from the hyperventilating level. When he opened them a few moments later, he tilted his head down to look at the communicator still playing static in his hand. He slowly brought it up to his mouth once more, the screen nearly brushing his lips as he depressed the button.
"Be safe," he whispered, before closing it with a -click- and heading back to the others, his heart heavy with worry.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Starfire wandered forward, one hand held aloft to illuminate the way. It had been easy enough to find Slade's hideout with Cinderblock's communicator guiding the way, but she had no way of knowing how to get back to where she had been.
"Ooooh!" she whined to herself, her eyes scanning wall-to-wall, trying to find something familiar. A glint of metal caught her eye as it entered the ring of green light, and she gasped with delight. Never in her life would she have imagined to be so happy seeing a ladder. Rushing toward it, she let the green die from her fist as she clasped the cool steel. Barely suppressing a squeal, she eagerly placed one purple boot on the first rung, preparing to surface. She stopped short, however, her face falling to a frown, and she lowered herself back to the grimy concrete.
She frowned down at the black suit tucked under her arm and the communicator clipped to her belt, ironically hooked right next to her Titans one. She would have to hide them down here and come back for them later, certain her friends would locate her before she could conceal them in her room. She elevated a hand once more, scanning the surrounding area for a suitable hiding place. It was highly unlikely anyone would come across her cache down here, but she did not wish to take the chance.
She noticed a lose stone in the wall a few feet away and made her way to it, throwing the suit over her shoulder temporarily so she could dislodge it. The stone came free with ease, and Starfire peered inside. It looked as if the cavity would be big enough, so she placed the stone on the ground to prepare her things. Rolling the communicator up inside the suit, she shoved the bundle to the back of the opening before replacing the stone. Assured that it was secure, she returned to the ladder, but paused again as she wrapped her fingers around the bars.
She glanced back at the stone that she knew held her secret, a horrible secret, a secret she did not wish to bear. Sickness overcame her for at least the fourth time that evening, but this time it was directed at herself. Shame and guilt flooded her eyes, and she bit her lower lip to stop its trembling. Unable to look at the offending stone any longer, she lowered her eyes to the ladder in front of her and rested her forehead against the cold steel, not caring about how dirty she knew it must be. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, breathing in the rank odor of sewage that she had never become accustomed to, even with wandering the tunnels for at least half of an hour.
"You must," she whispered, reaffirming it to herself. "It is to save your friends. You must…" but her assertions did little to ease her conscience.
With a composing breath, she lifted her head and climbed the ladder, carefully pushing the grate up just enough to peek through a crack. She was familiar with Jump City, but there were areas that Robin insisted were very dangerous, and thus she had not entered them very often. She had lost all sense of direction wandering the tunnels, and thus squinted out onto the street with great trepidation at what unknown evils lay lurking just outside.
"Glorious!" she cried, fear giving way to joy as she erupted from the manhole to find herself in the deserted intersection in front of the place of pizza they frequented. She spiraled in the air, happy to be able to fly in open space once again, and breathed in the smell of not-sewage. Actually, it smelled like pizza, and her stomach growled in response. As she placed a hand against the rumbling skin, another infinitely more important sound broke through the roar.
"No!" Robin growled fiercely through the communicator, and Starfire sunk ever-so-slightly in the air at the scolding, even though it could not possibly be directed at her. "We will NOT go home! I don't care if you're tired! I don't care if you're about to drop out of the damn sky! Nobody goes anywhere until we FIND HER!"
Starfire cringed and looked down apologetically at the communicator on her belt. She had never heard Robin talk like that; so angry, so mean. She had no idea how she could ever explain this, and everyone else was probably terribly worried as well. Looking up at the dark sky and unlit signage, she reasoned it must have been well after midnight, meaning she he had been gone for hours. The ground came closer and closer as the hopelessness of her situation sank in.
"Hey!" came Cyborg's booming reprimand. He seemed to remember himself though, because his voice softened as he continued. "You know he didn't mean it like that. We're all worried, man, but you gotta calm do-"
"DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!" Robin shouted again, the speaker squealing in protest.
Starfire winced again, trembling as she reached for her communicator. Her feet hit the ground as she completely lost her flight, and her mind whirled furiously trying to think of what to say. She had to say something soon, or they would find her calmly standing in the middle of the street. And that would be so much worse.
"Robin," Raven's stern voice cut in, "you're tired. We're all tired. Maybe it's time we-"
"What, gave up?!" he spat accusatorily.
"Dude, chill!" Beast Boy exhorted, coming to Raven's defense.
"Chill? CHILL!?" Robin imitated furiously.
Starfire's knees were shaking. He was going to be so mad at her. So, so mad at her.
"How can I chill, how can you even say that, when she's out there somewhere, anywhere!?"
She had to say something, before this got even worse.
"She could be lost or captured or hurt or, or-"
"R- Robin..." she interrupted, haltingly.
There was absolute silence for a moment before-
"STARFIRE!?" said 4 voices in unison, before 3 continued in a flurry of questions.
"Are you hurt?"
"Where are you?"
"Where were you?"
"What happened?"
"Quiet," Robin interjected, the authority in his steely tone making up for his low volume.
The group fell silent, Starfire holding her breath.
"Where are you?" His voice was calm in a barely-restrained sort of way, and Starfire found herself missing the shouting.
"I- um- I am by the- the Pizza Junction," she said softly, looking behind her to be sure.
As she confirmed she was in the right spot, she saw that the sign actually read, 'Pizza Corner'. Feeling foolish, especially because Robin must have corrected her on that dozens of times, she opened her mouth to correct it.
"Stay there. I'm on my way," he responded before she had the chance, and she could hear the R-Cycle roar in the background. "Everyone else, go home. We'll meet you there," he continued, his tone making it clear that it was not open for discussion.
"But-" Beast Boy ventured, obviously put out.
"End open comm," Robin commanded the computer, and the feed went silent.
Starfire inhaled in sharp gasps, fighting back tears. Would he yell at her? Would the others? What would she tell them? What could she tell them? She tried to still the shaking in her knees as she waited, simultaneously wishing he would arrive and wishing he wouldn't.
Soon enough, the steady buzz of a motorcycle could be heard, getting louder and louder by the second. Turning in the direction she thought it was coming from, she saw a single headlight squeal around a corner and shoot toward her. A small whimper escaped her, and she instinctively folded her arms across her chest protectively.
The R-Cycle squealed to a sideways stop in front of her, and she saw her own, fearful expression reflected off the black helmet of the driver. He leapt off the bike in one, fluid motion, his steel-toed boots hitting the asphalt with loud clicks that echoed off the surrounding buildings. He stood there for a few seconds of intolerable silence before lifting his green-gloved hands to remove the mirrored helmet. He ran his fingers through his hair as it was freed, setting it back up into its usual position. He then tucked the helmet under his arm and lifted his head to look at her, an indiscernible expression on the lower half of his face.
"Are you hurt?"
His tone was so lifeless, she shivered at the chill of it, her back hunching and knees bending inward as she wilted. Unable to look him in the eye, she instead answered the yellow "R" on his chest.
"No," she breathed, hugging herself tighter as her eyes fell all the way to her own feet. She sucked in a deep breath, preparing to explain herself.
"Robin-" she cut off as a hand closed around her arm and tugged, sending her pitching forward.
He caught her as she collapsed into his chest, her head banging against his shoulder. She blinked blearily, her eyes trying to focus on the chin in front of her through the shock. There was a warmth around her waist and, as her heart starting beating again and blood returned to her brain, she realized Robin's arms were around her. Before she had completely wrapped her mind around this unforeseen turn of events, Robin spoke, his shoulder vibrating against her ear.
"Don't do that again," he entreated, his voice slightly higher than normal. "Ever," he added, tightening his arms around her.
Starfire lifted a hand to his chest and gripped the fabric, her eyes burning as she fought to push down the tears. She was so surprised, so ashamed, so guilty. Trying to pull words through the lump in her throat must have taken longer than she thought because Robin continued.
"Promise me?" he asked, turning his head so his lips brushed her hair.
Her fingers clasped tighter onto the red fabric in her hand as she squeezed her eyes shut. Her top teeth cut into her bottom lip in her attempt to seal off the sobs that were rising in her throat. She tucked her head down further into his chest and, as she moved, the new stone in her breastplate appeared in her peripheral vision. In that instant, everything came flooding back.
Just beneath the warm skin against her cheek, thousands of nanobots were coursing through Robin's blood, able to kill him at any moment if Slade saw or heard anything through that stone that he did not like. He was probably watching right now. She could not promise Robin she would not disappear again, that she would not scare him, that she would stay safe. She could not even promise that she would stay alive, only that she would do her best to make sure he did. At that thought, a small whimper broke through the dam, and she felt Robin tense.
"Star?" he pried concernedly, pulling away slightly as he placed a hand on the back of her neck and attempted to tilt her head to meet his gaze.
With that one, whispered syllable, she broke.
Her knees rattled and gave out, sending her crashing back into his chest. She buried her face in the cloth, grabbing handfuls as if it were the only thing keeping her from falling off the earth. Sobs tore through the seam of her lips, leaving her throat burning and raw. The carefully-maintained floodgates in her eyes shattered, and torrents of searing tears rushed down her tan cheeks. She watched as some fell free from her chin to form dark red rivers on Robin's uniform. She tried to apologize, but could only manage a small gasp before a fresh sob overtook her.
"God, Star," Robin breathed, his arms tight around her, keeping her upright. "What happened?"
She could not tell him, even if she had wanted to. She could hardly believe it herself. She did not know how she had managed to hold it together as long as she did, but now that it was out, she could not stop it. Perhaps this was the shock that people talked about.
She answered him by shaking her head against his chest, the accompanying whimpers being entirely involuntary.
"Okay, okay," he allowed, and went back to silently holding her up.
Her breaths were coming in gasps, and they were getting more and more manic all the time. She felt like she could not breathe, and that panic only made it worse.
"Star, you need to calm down."
She could hear Robin's voice, but it was far away and warbled, like he was talking underwater.
"Star? Starfire, breathe."
There was a dull throbbing in her head, and she moaned softly in pain and confusion. Her vision was blurring erratically, the edges beginning to go dark.
"Starfire? Starfire!"
And then, it all went dark.