Right then and there was when my breath caught so I couldn't breathe.

"Starfire!" I shouted, but I was sure she couldn't here me anyway. In one swift motion I pulled out my grappling hooks and launched after her.

The one I shot upward caught on the edge of the roof, providing an anchor. I glanced down at her falling form. What had happened to her? She seemed so limp, so lifeless. Had Slade come? Had he tried to kill her again? The very thought filled me with rage. I shot the second grappling hook downwards, but before it could wrap around her waist, she jerked away from it, twisting in the air and flew back up to the roof. She hadn't even noticed me.

"Starfire!" I called again, louder, as I stopped falling.

"Robin?" she asked, bewildered as she peered over the edge.

I waved to her and flew down to my level again. Her expression was completely surprised as if I was the craziest thing she had ever seen. Well I wasn't the one launching myself off of roofs.

"Uh…a little help?" I asked sheepishly, the wind starting to twist my body around. I could tell she was trying to suppress a giggle and my eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

Once she had safely placed me back on top of the tower, I wound up my weapons and stored them in my belt again. She watched me, the confused expression still on her face. I glanced up at her in disbelief.

"What were you doing?" I snapped, perhaps a little too harshly.

She didn't seem alarmed by my reaction. She pretended to examine her fingernails. "I was practicing," she responded, nonchalantly.

"For?" I demanded, my voice still dripping with anger.

She shrugged a gesture in which she rarely does. "For the purpose of battle, to improve my skills. I was merely practicing how to catch myself mid-fall. I have noticed recently that my flying had become the jerky, so I would wish to improve upon that. After all, I cannot always have you there to catch me. Surely you know this."

My anger faded. "What?"

She raised her eyebrows in confusion. "In battle, you will not always be by my side you know. It is also rather embarrassing how often you have been catching me. I should have to rely on my own abilities on occasion."

"It isn't embarrassing," I insisted. "And I like when I catch you."

She stared at me, her eyebrows shooting up close to her hairline.

I scratched my head and smiled sheepishly. "Uh, that came out wrong."

She nodded then looked away. "Yes," she responded softly, "It always seems to."

Wow that hurt. Did she even know what she was saying?

"Look Star-"

She turned back to me, her face utterly unreadable. "Robin, if you excuse me, I must continue my practicing. Practicing makes the perfect, yes?"

She flew to the edge of the roof once more, preparing to drop again, I assumed. "Wait!" I called, causing her to halt her actions. I ran up to her, grabbing her wrist as if I was afraid that she would disobey me and continue her "practicing" anyway.

When I didn't continue for several seconds she pulled her wrist away, placing her hands both on her hips. Maybe I was just naturally bad tempered but this annoyed stance made me boil with frustration. "Yes?"

"This is pointless. You shouldn't be putting yourself in danger like this. There are other ways to improve your flight you know."

"Such as?"

My mouth slid to the side in concentration. "Well…I'm sure I can think of something?" I shrugged lamely.

She rolled her eyes, another gesture that was odd for her. What had she turned into? Where was the good natured Starfire that I knew and…liked.

"Yes, well, let me know when you have thought of it," she continued, turning away from me.

"Why won't you talk to me?" I hissed.

She paused again, looking completely unsure of herself. She clasped her hands together and studied her shoes before glancing up at the morning sun. "I will talk to you," she murmured, biting her lip at my tone.

And I did it again. I went too far like I usually do. And, like always, the people around me suffer because of it. "Sorry, I…" I trailed off, really unsure of what to say. I felt like I was in one of those soap operas that Star sometimes watches.

She didn't answer, at first, but I'm pretty sure I heard her sigh. Then in one swift motion she flipped to face me. It was so sudden I flinched, and the corners of her mouth twitched upwards slightly in the formation of a smile. "What do you wish to converse about, friend?"

I almost flinched again at that last word, but luckily I was a master of concealing my emotions. "Where have you been going these past few days?"

Her smile grew bigger. "Silly, Robin. I cannot tell you that."

"Why not?" I questioned, slightly put out.

She ruffled my hair, and it reminded me of the days when Batgirl used to do that. Not that I really wished to remember those days. "It is a secret," she told me.

"You can't keep secrets from your team leader," I joked, grinning.

She giggled. "Perhaps I will show you some day," she proceeded, tapping her finger to her chin. Her face suddenly lit up. "Oh, I know when!"

"When?" I pressed, my interest thoroughly peeked now.

"Nuh-uh," she scolded, waggling her finger at me. "I cannot tell you. You will just have to wait and see."

I folded my arms and pretended to pout. She giggled again, and I was rather pleased at that. She shook her head at me, and the old Starfire was back again, to my relief. She poked me in the ribs and flew down the steps to the roof. I followed her eagerly. She stopped in the hallway suddenly, as if something had just occurred to her.

"Oh," she said again, thoughtful. "I recall you requesting me for knowledge about the orthax, yes?"

I nodded; the thought had completely escaped my mind. "It doesn't have to right now though, unless you want to," I added hastily.

She smiled calmly. "Perhaps after the breaking of the fasts?"

I nodded again. "Sounds good."

When we entered the common room, the kitchen was a complete and utter disaster. Raw splashes of meet and the ugly color of what could only be tofu littered the ground and smeared all over the cabinets and cooking utensils. A brownish red goo dripped from the ceiling and the smell of grease and fake meat was intoxicating.

Great, just what I need, a meat vs. tofu battle.

Sure enough Cyborg and Beast Boy were arguing as usual, while Raven watched safely in the corner, her nose scrunched up.

"Now look what you did!" BB complained, gesturing to the mess.

"What I did?! This is all because of that stupid tofu waffle recipe!" Cy fired back.

Star and I glanced at Raven and she just shook her head at us. I sighed scratching my head, and wondering who was going to half to clean this mess up later.

"Why don't we just order pizza again?" I suggested tiredly.

The two fools rounded on me and opened their mouths as if they were about to argue. I let the thought sink into their obnoxious minds and when they took in the idea they both nodded eagerly, their battle forgotten…for the moment.

Sure enough it started up again when we discussed pizza toppings, despite my words of advice and Raven's annoyed remarks. Starfire was strangely quiet, but not in a bad way. She watched the bickering in interest which was kind of strange considering this happened daily. I noticed more than once how her fingers brushed over the ring I had given her for a last year's Christmas present. I was pleased to see that she still wore it; even after all of the trouble I'd given her.

Eventually we ordered our usual-honestly, I don't know why they have to fight about the obvious-and the Beast Boy ran down to collect the pizza. He returned shortly after and we all began devouring the mysteriously, and incredibly delicious crunchiness that was Troy's pizza.

When I had finished I wiped the grease off of my face with the back of my hand. Surveying my team, I cleared my throat once to grab their attention. I was going to apologize for how I had acted yesterday, it was wrong of me after all.

However before I could ever say one word the alarm ran. I sprinted to the monitor before anyone else could, my eyes scanning the screen frantically. I deactivated the alarm and exhaled noisily from my nose. I couldn't believe it. It was almost too good to be true.

"It's the orthax."

~0~0~0~

It was strange. Not the orthax but the way the others reacted.

Raven was having an immensely hard time trying to concentrate. Her powers would randomly flare and then die away without her consent. I instructed her to not attack, just defend us, in case she couldn't control herself. She grimly agreed.

Beast Boy wouldn't change into the right animals that he wanted. He had told me this, and I was shocked that his powers had seemed to disobey him as well. He could still be of assistance maybe, but I really didn't see how.

Starfire couldn't fly. This really confused me. She insisted she was emotionally stable, but even while she was perfectly happy, she could not summon the power to float. Thankfully her starbolts still seemed to obey her will, but she had to ride on the back of the R-Cycle. She could have course taken Cyborg's car, but if her powers were acting funny, then I wanted to keep an eye on her.

Nothing seemed to be particularly wrong with Cyborg, however he kept making these strange beeping noises, and every once in a while he would complain to me about his joints being stiff. Although he seemed to be the most stable besides myself, I feared that he would just shut off all together mid-battle.

My crime scanners led us to a place just outside the city. Pine trees surrounded a small clearing, which is where the Tamaranian beast stood. I was regretful that we hadn't had enough time to learn about this creature more. We would just have to surround it and take it down as best as we could.

It didn't seem to notice us at first. It was knocking down large pine trees and making this awful howling noise which made me wince. It shook its massive pink head from side to side, banging it against trunks of trees. If it wasn't careful it could seriously cause some damage, not that it would be careful anyway.

"Titans Go!" I shouted, however I felt a little less confident as usual, on account of the current condition of my team.

I leapt off the R-Cycle, and Starfire followed me behind a rock as the beast turned around. Cyborg nodded to us and started blasting the thing with his sonic cannon, buying us some time.

"Star, does this thing have some sort of power that could affect your flying?" I asked urgently, peering over the side of the boulder we crouched behind.

"No, I am certain that whatever had affected my flight, as well as our friends, had nothing to do with the orthax," she insisted.

I nodded, my eyes narrowing. "Well then, we'll have to figure that out later. Are your starbolts still available?"

"Yes, I believe so."

"Alright, shoot above its head to make a distraction; I'll catch it by surprise."

She nodded engulfing her hands in green energy. She shot several of her bolts above the creature's form, just as it tossed Cyborg against a clump of trees. It was about to charge for him too when it grew distracted from the flickering lights above. I flicked my head to make sure Beast Boy and Raven were a safe distance away before I charged at it, tossing several smoke bombs into its face.

The orthax reared back growling in annoyance. It shook its head from side to side urgently, trying desperately to clear the smoke from its brightly colored eyes. Before it could recover fully I launched a bird-a-rang at it, slightly pleased when once stuck in its eye.

Suddenly-and I thought I had seen it all with this thing-its eye exploded, sending my own weapon to the ground. I watched in absolute disgust as the eye reformed from the puddles of acid on the ground. That was just wrong.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos."

I was surrounded by a shield of black energy, and it was a good thing too, because a moment later the beast rammed its head into it. I tossed Raven a look of thanks before I turned to Beast Boy. I gave him a questioning look and he tried to give me the thumbs up, however he kept turning from his human form into various animals. He was clearly not in control, and it would be better if he just stayed out of this.

Before I could glance back to see if Cyborg had recovered, the black wall dissipated and I knew Raven had lost control as well. The wind was then abruptly knocked out of me as the orthax headed me, sending my body into a clump of nettles. I was relieved when I realized that I was mostly uninjured, aside from a small cut on my elbow. I pulled myself out of the bushes and flipped out of the way as the alien monster charged at me once more. I could tell this time that it was prepare to inject me with its poison, so I was grateful when a barrage of starbolts captured its attention once more.

As Star battled the monster from her planet, Cyborg pulled me to the side, a strained look on his face.

"Robin, man, I don't know what's happening," he whined, a worried look covered his normally calm features. "My cannon won't work anymore."

"Crap, I was hoping we could use the sonic boom," I muttered, casting nervous glances at it.

Cy shrugged, and then grew calmer. "We'll just have to punch it to pieces then."

"Be careful," I warned, but he was already charging toward it. Starfire fell to the ground a few yards away from me, she seemed rather frazzled, but other than that she was unharmed. I was suddenly concerned for Cyborg. He didn't know the full abilities of this thing, neither did I for that matter. However before he could cause more harm to his already unsteady state, the orthax seeped into the ground once more, leaving only a sticky puddle of bubbling acid in its place.

"No," I growled, hitting the ground with my fist. Although I was glad that we hadn't sustained any serious injuries, the stupid thing had gotten away once again. I didn't know a thing about it, or what it was after, and my team's powers were completely unpredictable. The question was…why?

"Well," Raven said after a while. "Now what?"

I sighed. "We head back to the tower I guess."

Beast Boy shifted from a kangaroo back into his normal form. "Well what am I supposed to do?" he demanded between shifts of animals. "Do just expect me to deal with whatever weirdness is happening like a complete-" he turned into a jackass to prove his point.

I shook my head to clear it. This wasn't making any sense.

"Do not fear Robin," Starfire said, placing a hand on my back. "We will capture the orthax, and find the thing that is affecting our powers so."

I nodded, she was right of course. "Alright, let's go."

~0~0~0~

When we returned home, Raven began meditating immediately. After a moment she came up with a blank look on her face that said it all. She couldn't track it, and she couldn't concentrate either.

Cyborg retired to the gym to work on his muscles, which had become increasingly stiff. He claimed it was nothing, and normally I would have believed him, but given the circumstances, I was having a hard time doing just that.

Beast Boy kept changing into various animals and it got rather annoying, although I knew that he couldn't help it. Raven banished him to his room until further notice and I was glad she had spoken up before I could burden him with my frustrations.

I marched over to the fridge and drained a bottle of water, wiping the liquid from my mouth when I was hydrated. I watched Star as she tried to fly. Her face was screwed up in concentration and she was muttering in Tamaranian. I wasn't sure, but I think she was swearing, and I couldn't blame her. It must be frustrating.

Why had nothing happened to me though? Of course, there was the fact that I didn't have any powers whatsoever, but it still seemed suspicious. Starfire had said that the orthax didn't have any abilities that would affect their powers. It's not that I didn't believe her, but I wondered if perhaps she was mistaken, because there was nothing else that could have affected them so suddenly.

Slade.

Not sure why he came to mind, after all I hadn't seen him since the night he almost killed Star. I guess it was because I always thought about him these days. It was hard not to think about him.

"Do you mind?" Raven's voice interrupted my thoughts. I glanced up at her.

"What?"

She rolled her eyes. "Well between you crinkling that water bottle in frustration and her muttering, you're making it even harder to concentrate, if that's even possible."

"Right, sorry," I mumbled. I walked over to Star and took her hand. "Come on, we have to talk."

She opened her eyes, and her frenzied murmuring relented. She followed me to my room where we could talk in private. I typed in the code to my room and the door slid open and then shut behind us. She stood on her tiptoes like she was trying to float over to my bed, but then she sighed in annoyance and just walked over. I gave her a sympathetic smile, and she returned it before looking away.

"What is it you require?"

"I think you know."

She looked back at me. "I do. I am just unsure of how to say it. There is certainly a long list of the things the orthax is most capable of."

I nodded grimly. "Try your best. You don't have to explain everything today, but be as detailed as possible." Drawing out a pen and notepad and looked expectantly at her. "Besides, we can spend these next few days together. I've missed you."

She smiled at that.

Author's Note:

BEWARE! There will be tons of fluff in the next few chapters! Please review!