A/N - la la la la I don't own 'em...
ok my insecurity over reviews had been appeased :) thanks guys! ok to the what, six intelligent people who told me i should accept anon. reviews? you're right! (i though i did but i turns out i dont! gotta fix that!)
on with the story...
"Ow," Cyborg murmured, rubbing the back of his neck. He got up slowly and clicked his back, holding back a wince of pain. The deadly whir of his sonic cannon could be heard as it charged. "Alright flame-lady, you're getting it."
He sprinted back towards the fight, following the roars and flashes of green light. He arrived back at the scene of the fight to see Beast Boy, as a tiger, leaping through the air at Flare, whose back was turned as she shot a jet of flame at a wheeling Starfire. His claws connected with her back and the pair tumbled forwards.
As they fell they disconnected from each other. Flare rolled quickly in one direction while the green beast skidded along the concrete painfully. He shifted back into his human form and rubbed his bruised chest.
Flare snarled and a flame pillar advanced on the wounded teen. Beast Boy turned at Starfire's frantic warning in time for his pupils to dilate fully and a small squeak to escape his lips.
Suddenly a black shield encased the jade teen and he sighed in relief, turning his attention back to his injured chest.
Raven maintained the shield as the fire pillar enclosed her green friend. Her lips moved in silent strain as the red-clad woman did not cease the blast. The thought slipped into Raven's head that this was a strange way for the two women to be fighting each other - over Beast Boy, of all things.
Her eyes closed as she tired. She heard the echo of Cyborg's cannon hopefully vaporizing the infuriating woman, but his cry of surprise and the easily recognizable clang of his half-metal body hitting the floor were a clear indication of how his attack had fared.
She cracked an eye to see if Beast Boy was still in danger, and her heart fell when she saw that he was. She was fast running out of energy and would not be able to maintain the shield for much longer.
Starfire swooped out of the sky, her hand poised to throw a starbolt at her enemy. Her eyes were radiating green light, and her hair was swirling madly around her face. She saw Flare lift a hand away from her attack on Beast Boy and, indirectly, Raven, and aim it at her. She smiled at her enemy's predictability as she dove right for her. Just as she saw the glow of fire being harnessed within the other woman's fist she swerved sharply around. She moved from being head on to the woman to coming around her side.
She swung her fist through the air and it connected with the side of Flare's auburn head with all the force of both her alien strength and the momentum of her flight.
Flare was thrown backwards. She crashed awkwardly to the floor a great distance away and lay there for a long moment. Starfire tasted victory and grinned. She was suddenly flattened.
The girl squeaked in surprise and prepared to attack her assailant – before she realised that her assailant was an unconscious and un-breathing Raven.
"Raven!" she gasped in horror. She put her fingers to the the thin skin under her friend's jaw, but could not detect a heartbeat. Her own breathing slowed considerably in shock.
She laid Raven on the floor and dug into the knowledge reserves in the back of her mind. Robin had taught her this before. She placed both of her hands in the center of her friend's immobile chest and pushed down sharply. She counted fifteen then bent down to hold Raven's nose. She breathed into her mouth three times, then started pushing down on her chest again.
"Raven? Friend, please," she whimpered. She finished the chest depressions and went to breathe air into her friend's lungs once more. Those completed, her hands returned to Raven's breast bone. "Please, please, Raven. Raven!" She screeched, tears blurring her vision. "I cannot lose you too! Raven, Raven please! Not you too!"
Suddenly Raven gasped and sat up. She took a few deep breaths, her eyes closed. Starfire gathered her best friend into her arms and rocked her backwards and forwards.
And Raven allowed her to.
"Raven," Starfire whispered helplessly. "I am overjoyed that you are unharmed."
"I'm fine, Star. Though the Tamaranian bear hug isn't helping much."
Starfire dropped her arms sheepishly. Raven's lilac eyes suddenly flashed wide. Her voice was filled with concern and alarm. "Is Beast Boy okay?"
Starfire shot over to her green friend. He was lying on the floor, but he seemed alright.
"Beast Boy – are you harmed?"
"I'm gonna bet my chest is black and blue, but apart from that I'm alright. How's Raven?"
"She is fine."
"Are you?" Starfire turned round to see Cyborg looking at her, concerned.
"Yes." She suddenly noticed his arm and gasped. "What has happened to your arm?"
"Oh, I landed on it pretty heavily."
His whole side was dotted and punctured with dents and woulds, and his forearm was completely crushed. Starfire touched it in pity.
"But hey ya'll – we won! Right?"
Starfire nodded gleefully. "Yes! The extremely unpleasant woman has been, um, I believe the correct expression is 'taken out'?" She gestured her hand to where she had left Flare lying prostrate.
But her smile vanished in a hurry when she saw just the concrete floor. She stepped a few meters in front of her friends in shock.
"Oh, this is not good." Beast Boy nodded at Cyborg's comment.
"Well, where–"
Suddenly a wall of fire shot up between Starfire and the other three Titans.
"Friends!" she shouted in alarm. She could see them through the translucent barrier, but she was loathe to touch it, and they were already backing away.
Suddenly her hair was grabbed and she was tossed violently backwards. She skidded across the floor on her back, yelping against the pain. When she skidded to a stop she smelled something ghastly. She inhaled deeply and spluttered. What was that stench? She realised with a horrified start that her hair was on fire. She pulled what was left of it round to the front of her shoulder and stifled the flames with her hands. She stared in shock at the singed ends of her once beautiful hair and leapt up.
Now she had two very good reasons to kill that woman.
She launched into the air, eyes and fists blazing green, staring right at the woman, who was totally ignited, like she had been that day in the street. The pain of the memory fueled her righteous fury and her unreleased starbolts intensified in color and size.
"You have hurt Cyborg. You have hurt Beast Boy. You have hurt Raven and," she swallowed a sob. "You have hurt Robin. I will make you pay!" Starfire managed to keep the hysteria she was feeling out of her voice as she screamed at the cocky woman.
Flare just grinned. Suddenly a fireball barreled into Starfire's back, sending her flying towards the flaming woman. Lying on the floor in pain and shock, Starfire still managed to fire both of her supercharged starbolts into Flare's face.
The woman reeled backwards, yelling in pain as Starfire fought her own agony. The force of the energy had apparently been enough to cause the older woman to revert back to her flesh and blood form.
Starfire was about to get up when suddenly something was pressing, hard, against her neck. She realised that it was Flare's hand. The woman's eyes were glittering unnaturally.
Starfire had once told Raven the key to her powers. She had not ever really thought about it before, but Raven had quickly demanded some sort of explanation. For her starbolts she felt righteous fury, her alien strength required boundless confidence, and her flying power needed for her to feel unbridled joy.
She felt nothing. All she felt was incredible pain, mentally and physically.
Robin, she called, tears dripping from her eyes as the sides of her vision began to blur. She could hear the shouts of her friends from behind the fire wall, but they were fading. Everything was growing slower. Her hearing was fading. She could not feel her body.
And a thought was pushing its way into her mind. She did not bother fighting it.
I'm dying.
A strange peace filled her. She had not thought dying would be like this. Of course, she never assumed she would die like this. She could see now that throughout all the fights they had been in, it was a distinct, or even likely, possibility. But somewhere in her secret heart she had always imagined dying peacefully, the man she loved holding her hand and telling her he loved her.
I'm coming Robin.
review again! please!
FunkyFish1991 xXx