Chapter 4

Valiors POV

Valior opened his eyes. The room was dark, the lights switched off and the curtains closed. He sat up and shook his head, yawning deeply. It was silent except for distant shouting from the living room and almost completely quiet wailing. He grinned. Valior jumped off his bed, jumping up and down to get his legs awake. He was fine. In his hand was a trigger, and standing before him were three small shadow like figures. Each to attack one of the troq's powers.

"her starbolts are being disabled, sir," one of the shadows said. It's voice sounded slippery, quiet and malicious. Valior smiled.

"good, good," he said, showing them the trigger, "now to get the titans away," he said and clicked the button. He moved towards the window, looking out as a silver ship began to appear in the sky, flying towards the city.

The boys POV

"what's going on?" Cyborg asked, watching Starfire intently. She had been coughing and her hands clenching and unclenching, looking like she was throwing a tantrum for the last twenty minutes. Then her cheeks seemed to go red and sweat lay on her forehead and she grabbed at her head, screaming. Robin, Beastboy and Cyborg crowded her, lifting her and taking her to the infirmary. Starfire screamed again, struggling madly, her arms seeming to flop uselessly. Then he stopped and just lay quietly, her breathing so slight the boys could barely notice it. Robin stroked her cheek with the back of his hand, going into close off mode. He didn't even listen to Beastboy and Cyborg as they ranted on. All he was worried about was Starfire.

Raven's POV

Starfire's mind was about as much happiness and joyfulness as Raven could take. There weren't dark crevices like in her own mind, but odd random happy thoughts even when she was in excruciating pain evidently. Raven swore if she saw one more skipping Bunny rabbit she would completely lose her mind. Then suddenly Starfire screamed. Raven felt the scream, rather than heard it. Her pain, what it was doing, why it was there, none of it made sense. Unless of course, it was like, an alien "monthly cycle." Raven gritted her teeth and began to levitate, concentrating hard on Starfire.

Starfire, what's happening? She thought. She heard groans and whimpers.

My starbolts, going, I do not know what is going on, if it was possible for a thought to choke, Starfire was doing it. Raven moved herself quickly, feeling more pain as she moved.

What do you mean "going?" she continued, half trying to get information, half trying to keep Starfire's mind off her pain.

Something hurts me when I attempt to release them Starfire explained. Raven wandered to where the main source was, feeling the power of the thing disabling Starfire's powers. Then she saw it. The black creature, eating away at what looked like some weird, giant floating green blob, It seemed to be made of the same thing as Starfire's Starbolts. The black shadowy thing turned and angrily lunged and Raven's spirit. Suddenly Raven woke up, attacking the black shadow in the tower, screaming at the top of her lungs for the boys.

"Robin! Beastboy! Cyborg!! Help!" she called. Soon they burst through the door, staring in wonder and shock at the thing attacking Raven. "anytime soon would be nice," she barked at them. Robin quickly tossed a bomb at the shadowy creature and Cyborg attempted to shoot his sonic cannon at it. Suddenly the creature vanished though, as if it had been a shadow and the light had disappeared.

"o-kay, am I the only one who thinks that was too weird for words?" Beastboy squealed. Raven shot him a 'not now' look and he grinned innocently. The group twisted round when they heard violently coughing from the infirmary.

"Starfire?" Robin called. They all bounded across the building. Starfire sat on her bed, one arm propped up to keep her sitting, the other at her mouth as she coughed loudly. She looked up at the worried faces staring at her.

"what happened?" she asked. Robin walked over to her and pushed her hair out of her face.

"it's okay now, Star," he cooed. Starfire smiled at him and leapt off the side of her bed. She shook herself off, wincing as she moved her arms. She yawned loudly and floated to the door.

"where are you going?" Cyborg asked. Starfire looked at them oddly, they looked defensive.

"my bed," she offered, flashing them a smile and disappearing. Beastboy and Cyborg shrugged and headed out after her. Raven turned to Robin, who was still watching the doorway. Cautiously, Raven waved a hand in front of his face. Robin shook his head and looked at Raven, his expression not changing.

"you don't actually think it's okay now, do you?" Raven asked him. Robin sighed, biting his lip. He discretely shook his head. Raven raised an eyebrow, obviously not satisfied with his response.

"of course I'm not sure, I know she can take care of herself but I can't help worrying about her," Robin confided. Raven half smiled.

"that's good, because if you didn't she might not be here right now," she told him, then smiled small and left. Robin sighed and followed her.

The next day.

The alarm sounded at six AM in the morning. Starfire groaned. She shut off the dreadful reminder that she might be dishonored because of her stupid feelings. But reluctantly she pulled herself up and rubbed her eyes. She heard knocking on the door. She glanced up and then pulled herself out of bed, yawning and clicking open the door. The titans stood there, grinning big at her.

"ready?" they asked. Starfire smiled and nodded. Robin tossed her a bottle of water

"good luck," he said simply. Starfire continued smiling and stretched.

"may I be alone while I prepare?" she asked. The titans all seemed to stumble around, forgetting for a moment they had been standing there. Starfire sighed and stepped into the hall, walking to the gym.

A bit more practice cannot hurt. She assured herself. She didn't even bother with her starbolts, almost forgetting they were there. She punched the punching bag, accidently into the other end of the room. Cautiously she swallowed, knowing she might actually hurt Valior, and despite her hatred, she didn't want to do that. She saw Robin out of the corner of her eye and her face turned a deep crimson. Robin chuckled and walked over.

"your gonna do great," he promised, hugging her. Starfire smiled and molded herself into hugging him back. Robin. She thought. She felt so closed off to him sometimes though, he never admitted how he felt, what he was feeling, he was like a cardboard cutout of a celebrity sometimes. She reminded herself of good times though. Robin and her at the fair, Robin rescuing her. Her hand in his briefly as the weird pie witch tried to cook them. The way he worried about her all the time. The way he looked at her when he thought she wasn't looking. Starfire untangled herself.

"I will win, for you," she promised.

"now, troqqy, this is going to be a fair fight, none of your little friends are to help you," Valior said, his voice implying what a waste of time this was.

"I intend to defeat you myself," Starfire spat, ice falling off the tip of her tongue. Valior and her exchanged a deadly glare and turned in the air, falling into place. Cyborg, Raven, Beastboy and Robin sat below, as referees.

"you sure she's going to be okay?" Beastboy asked cautiously. Robin nodded.

"she promised," he explained. Beastboy and Cyborg exchanged a grin and Beastboy shook his head lightly. Then there was loud buzzing.

"5!" came a metallic voice. Starfire swallowed.

"4!" she clenched her fists tight.

"3!" Valior was grinning mockingly at her.

"2!" Starfire readied herself

"1!" she breathed deeply.

"GO!"