Kori didn't go to the rehearsal the next day, or the next. Fred actually called her to yell at her. "Where have you been? We have a competition in two days and you probably haven't even practiced!"

"Sorry, Mr. Arlington. I…um…lost a family member."

"Well get over it and get back here by tomorrow, understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Now don't forget, Kori, that prize is five hundred thousand dollars. If we win, we get five hundred thousand dollars. Did you hear how amazing that sounds? If I could just call someone and say 'my band won five…'"

"Yes, sir. Goodbye, sir."

The day after that, she attempted to make herself look presentable, but failed miserably. She started to trudge toward the Batman Auditorium, her face turned away from the street.

When she arrived almost fifteen minutes late, Fred was furious. "They're dead! Get over it already! We have five hundred thousand dollars to win!" he yelled. Kori sighed and nodded.

Richard wasn't there, and Barbara was looking rather glum. Kori sniffed and wiped her already red eyes. Deanna appeared out of nowhere.

"Oh, Kori, you poor thing! Come here, don't cry, what's wrong?"

Kori spilled everything to her, except the fact that she and Richard had been a part of the Teen Titans. Deanna was sympathetic.

"You know, Kori, when I was your age that's all I would worry about, too. Don't worry, everything will turn out all right in the end."

"But it won't, Deanna! He…left me…again," Kori whispered before bursting into tears. All she wanted was for Richard to be here and hold her and promise her he would never again do anything to upset her.

"Come on, Kori, pull yourself together, at least for tomorrow. A person can only carry so much stress at a time before they break. Just forget about him till this competition is off your back and then I'll help you figure out what to do."

"You will? Thank you so much, Deanna," said Kori softly. She wiped away the last of her tears. Deanna was right. She had to get her job out of the way before she did anything about Richard.

"Oh my, Kori, I've never been so nervous in the past year! I think I'm on a sugar rush, I'm so jumpy."

"Calm down, Deanna," laughed Kori. She didn't feel quite as jumpy, but was nervous as well. Then she saw him. He was dressed at his best. Kori forced herself to ignore him and concentrate on listening to Deanna, who was talking about the time she was so nervous she dropped her flute.

"The Batman Orchestra!" they were introduced. They all came out single file and sat in their designated seats.

Fred raised his baton and counted out the first six beats. Then the band began to play their "Remixed Batman Theme," which contained many more trills and higher notes than most people believed possible by the flutes. Kori had no idea what the rest of the orchestra was doing and felt herself beginning to get lost in the music. Pictures flowed through her mind; the waves of the ocean by Titan's Tower was accompanied by the rise and fall in dynamics, the angry trumpets' blares a few measures later reminded her of countless battles. She suddenly jolted out of her reverie in alarm. Her flute solo was two measures away!

1...2…3…4…5…6…1…2…3…4…5…6…Kori began a trill that lasted eight measures, astonishing the judges as she never took a breath in between. After that she had four measures of complex counting and so many thirty-second notes it would have made your average intermediate flute player faint.

The judges clapped when the whole orchestra joined in again. It was almost over…the entire orchestra struck a chord as loud as they could play it without going out of tune. The note was supposed to be staccato, but the flutes held it out and began a gradual decrescendo, adding a wonderful lingering effect. The judges began talking amongst themselves, but one waved for them to leave.

Whispers of, "Oh no, I messed up so bad in measure thirty-six" and, "I think my (insert instrument here) was out of tune the whole time!" were heard once the orchestra gathered in the hallway outside the concert hall. Fred quieted them down.

"I think you did pretty well, but seeing as it doesn't matter what I think, we'll just have to wait for the judges' opinions. Now, would you all stop whispering like that? Where's the bathroom?"

Kori found Deanna and the two girls met with equally large grins on their faces. "I know we probably didn't make first, but that was excellent! It was better than I ever heard it!" cried Deanna.

"What are you talking about? Of course we made first!" said Kori. Deanna gasped.

"Knock wood!" she cried. She frantically looked around for wood to knock, and found a table not too far away. Kori sighed and followed her superstitious friend.

Thirty minutes later, the entire orchestra was very jumpy, especially Fred, who had not yet found the bathrooms. He was starting to curse at any and everyone who whispered or drank water. All of the orchestras were called in to announce the winners.

Kori had thought her orchestra was big, but seeing all these people and instruments in the same gigantic room was enough to make anyone awed. There were at least fifteen of the best orchestras from around the world there.

"Third place," called the announcer, "goes to the Du Musick orchestra from Germany!" They cheered and everyone else clapped politely.

"Second place goes to India's Rajkumar ne Shayar orchestra!" Again, everyone clapped, and that orchestra started yelling a bunch of things in Hindi no one could understand. Kori was on the edge of her seat.

"And first place, with a prize of five hundred thousand dollars and the much desired status of the best orchestra worldwide is…"

Kori cast a sideways glance at Fred and almost giggled. He was biting his fingernails and rocking on the edge of his seat. He was muttering something that Kori couldn't make out, too, and for all the world looked like he was about to hear his death sentence.

"Gotham's very own Batman Orchestra!"

For a minute no one moved. Then, as though it had been planned before, the entire orchestra jumped from their seats and started to cheer. Kori hugged Deanna and Fred ran to go look for a bathroom, screaming, "FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS!"

Amongst the celebration, the entire orchestra moved into a tightly knit pack. Kori found herself shoved up against Richard. The two looked at each other for a split second, and suddenly Richard was kissing her. Her heart soared until he pulled away and grinned.

"I love you, Kori," he said. Kori's eyes shined and twinkled as she looked up at him.

"Really?"

"Yeah. And I'm sorry I couldn't promise that to you. I didn't want to mess up again and leave you thinking I was a coward and a liar."

Kori smiled. "I thought I just wasn't worth it."

"Of course you are. You mean the world to me, Kori," he said, pulling her into another kiss. Deanna watched from a distance, beaming.

Kori broke it, eventually. "Richard?"

"Hmm?"

"Don't call me Kori. My name is Starfire."