A brief apology and thank you to all who have been waiting for this chapter. Thanks so much for waiting it out and not giving up on me XD

TEACHING STAR TO READ

VigilanteCharlie317

Chapter 10:

Starfire unfolded the paper to find the inside contents brimming with words. Immediately seeing this, she became flustered and did not understand. This is some sort of test? She thought, perplexed, and found her name written at the top of the page, sitting at the top above the plunge of rushed scribbles below that she could not smoothly piece together.

"What is this?" she asked aloud in puzzled wonderment. It looked as though he left her some sort of test or challenge. But she felt as she looked at the top, addressing that it was for her, she felt as though it were something more profound. There were few words she could immediately pick out of the text, but everything else was lost to her.

Upon finding this mysterious and unspoken for paper Robin had left for her, Starfire had no idea what even to do in her current state of affairs. She couldn't even be sure whether confronting Robin about it would be the right thing to do. Nor –she remembered- was he apparently reachable at that moment. Then, a blinding realization clicked in her head and her lungs filled in a gasp; this must have been why he had evaded her so halfheartedly; he didn't want to be present when she found this strange paper, this test, she assumed to call it. But why would he want me to find it alone? She puzzled, and the only answer she could muse was that it contained information. Conceivably precious or important information, she pondered. Still, this was merely a guess, and it was the only guess she could hazard.

Starfire stared at the paper for only a second longer before she folded it back up and sighed, what does this mean? She walked over, and gently placed the paper in her dresser and shut it in the drawer, safe and concealed. Then, she left the room, and went to look for the only other person whom she knew she could trust, and who may have a clue as to what Robin was up to.

Starfire stood nervous by the door. She was beginning to doubt that this could shed a light on the problem, nor would searching for help this way be such a wise idea.

Just as she was about to take a step away, she heard Raven loudly say through the door in a slightly annoyed voice, "Starfire, just knock on the door, I know you need something."

The alien jumped in startled reaction to Raven's sudden and unexpected (and rather contemptuous) assertion, but then abided the request and knocked on the door.

It slid open immediately, with Raven leaning against the door frame with an amused smile, "Yeessss?" she asked in a lightly mocking sarcasm.

"Raven, there's something I need to ask of you," Starfire said, her face growing hot and her voice was hesitant. Raven rolled her eyes. I thought Robin took over this job. What could she need me for? Still, she had sensed something in Starfire from the moment the alien walked up to her door. Confusion and uneasiness were clouding Starfire's conscience from the moment she began walking up to Raven's door. They were so intoxicatingly potent to her; it seemed to the empath that she could almost touch Starfire's flamingly powerful emotions.

"Sure. What's wrong?" Raven asked, actually quite curious as to what the problem could be. With Starfire, no one ever could really guess.

"My questions concern Robin, actually." She said, and Raven's expression was flipped askew.

"Wait… is this 'girl talk'?" Raven asked incredulous, this topic of discussion completely –no pun intended- alien to her, and blatantly unexpected as well.

"I suppose that could suffice as accurate terminology" Starfire cogitated, her voice slightly hitched up a notch in her slight discomfiture.

Raven's eyes immediately found their way up to the ceiling again and she heaved a long sigh that flew down and out of her mouth like an anguished wind. This conversation was not -with any pun intended- Raven's cup of tea. Explaining love (and Robin's supposed inability to openly admit love) to Starfire was not an affair Raven expected to be penciled into her afternoon's schedule.

"Okay," Raven festered, "what has Robin done now?"

"Well," Starfire was unsure of how or where to begin, or what she could confide in Raven without necessarily divulging secrets. "Ummm…" her words hung off on a tangent, as the empath and the alien stood in the otherwise person-less hallway.

"Starfire, spit it out." Raven said, her voice passive, but nonetheless feeling impatient. Whatever it was, she wished Starfire would just get on with it and indulge Raven in what was probably a silly and pointless dilemma.

"I must regurgitate?" Starfire asked with a horrified look aimed at Raven. Raven gritted her teeth in slight annoyance, and Starfire did not understand where the conversation could possibly be going.

"No, no. I mean, can you just tell me what's wrong so I can help you?" Raven asked in raring exasperation. Whatever life-or-death inquiry Starfire had, Raven figured she could fathom a two-second answer, and she was all the more anxious to return to her room and be done with this childish banter.

Again, Starfire hesitated for a second; it wasn't as if she could help it, though. For some unknown reason, she found it nerve-racking just to speak of Robin, let alone ask what the frick she was supposed to do on the subject of the mysterious note. She couldn't think through her heart jumping up and down, and her brain, which was absolutely whizzing at this point as she could clearly recollect him; his smile, his words, his touch.

Then with a jolt, she awakened and her thoughts fell back down to earth as Starfire could see Raven's look of impatience. "Robin has left me a sheet of parchment with much writing on it for reasons that I do not know…" not wanting to expose her illiteracy, she added decisively, "should I read it?"

"You mean he left you a letter?" Raven asked, dubious. This was tremendously unexpected. Never thought Robin was the type to write love letters. Who even writes typical letters anymore? Raven couldn't even really discern what to think of it. She couldn't help but wonder what had persisted him to write Starfire a letter in the first place, though she knew for a fact it wasn't her business to ask him or the ever-flustered Starfire who needed Raven's insight on the matter… for some reason or other.

"I… am not quite sure" Starfire tentatively replied. Raven could see that Starfire was clearly lost, and dependant on her help. Damn it, Robin. What's your plan? Raven thought. Surely, he must have considered the chance she would be utterly confused if he left her… whatever it was he left her in that letter to read. Raven sighed and looked at her friend

"Sometimes… people write letters when they need to tell others of things that are important or significant." She paused, "Of course, no one's really writes letters anymore so that's why it's a bit strange Robin would randomly do that."

"You believe I should read the letter then, yes?" Starfire asked excitedly, her worry now a vanished apparition. Now only the hope of decoding his words prevailed in her. What could the letter possibly hold? she wondered. Starfire felt as though she was once again a young, high-spirited child, given a task with an ending result that was none other than reward. Now, she only hungrily desired to know what the winnings of this "challenge" could possibly entail. What grand words of importance had Robin left for her to decipher? On the note of the word 'challenge', Starfire contemplated that in a sense, she had been half-right with her guess upon the prior discovery of the letter. But all the same, she felt blissfully lucky to know that this letter was more than a meaningless test.

Upon the energetic release of Starfire's question, Raven could perceive the trouble and confusion dissipating off and away from Starfire. Instead, only joy and excitement blossomed from the girl; coloring the space around them and began blooming and chasing its way down the hall. Raven noted with a twinge of bother that it would take ages for all of that happiness to filter its way out and it would be unfeasible to block out as she meditated. But regardless, Raven couldn't help a small grin as she nodded from under her hood.

"Oh thank you Raven!" Starfire erupted, overjoyed. It was a miracle on Raven's behalf that the joyous alien resisted the urge to hug her.

"Um. Don't mention it." Raven replied on the whole.

With both girls anticipating nothing more than to return to their rooms, Starfire bidded Raven goodbye; the hallway could not get any more invigorating as she flitted down the hall, feet off the floor, a trail of intoxicating delight and bliss that could be unmistakably distinguished by Raven, who re-entered her abode as well.
...

Robin stared at the ceiling. The blank white of his mask met the blank white of the lath and plaster that spread to every corner above him, as he lay on his back on his bed and stared at the ceiling, thinking about what an insensitive idiot he was.

He could conjecture that by then Starfire had found his letter, which he had left to wait for her earlier that morning. He ran through the contents of the writing in his head and recounted every thought that had gone from his head and onto the paper in his haste that morning. His feelings, his troubles, years of his life put into words crammed on one single piece of paper that he sent to the room of the girl he loved. The girl whom he had made burst into tears minutes before.

He still remained in appalled disbelief that he'd made Starfire so upset. That should not have happened, and he could not have felt worse about it. Lately, when it came down to completely screwing up whatever chance he had with her; he was just batting a thousand; as though nothing went smoothly between him and Starfire anymore. As if fate had a malicious passion to make everything between them go unforgivably wrong, nowadays.

With ever lingering doubt that bloomed, Robin's confidence began to wilt, and regret ever writing the damned letter in the first place. What would either of them even remotely gain from the letter's confessions in the end? If she would uncover the secrets he set out for her, wouldn't she be liable to just keep asking him for more? His head was beginning to hurt, the disparaging thoughts that tortured and teased were beginning to weigh down inside of him like a dark and heavy rainfall. All he could see before him was her face; her eyes, wide and wet with tears born from the pain he had caused, as he stared up at the ceiling still.

He never should have written her the letter. He never should have let her down, the many times that he did. And he was beginning to consider that loving her was a thoughtless mistake as well. Thoughtless, careless, utterly irrational. As if there was anyone left in the world who could love me, he thought dejectedly, a pang of sorrow rose in his chest. The hero Robin was now dormant, and instead the human lay pained and exposed in the hero's uniform.

It wasn't as if he could cease to love her, though. He could barely stop himself from thinking about her consistently throughout the day. The boy found that he was addicted to every virtue of her. He found himself absolutely drawn to her kindness, her brilliance, and the overall benevolence of Starfire, without fail. No, he could not automatically stop himself from loving her, nor did he believe he could even manage to gauge his feelings in the slightest of ways.

And so once again the question that had grown deep in the pit of his heart cried out for what seemed like the millionth time; why, if he loved her so much, could he not get some sort of big break, a salvation, and be able to tell her his feelings? Why did it have to be so outright unfeasible? He hadn't the slightest clue. And the lack of an answer, the lack of understanding aggrieved him in such a way he felt he could lose his mind.

Robin sighed and -to his surprise- found his thumb tugging at the top left corner of his mask, as if his eyes were whining for attention, or to breathe. In one pull, it peeled away and he blinked; it was almost as if his entire self felt lighter all at once. A ghost of a sigh rose in his chest as he held the strip of fabric up before him and looked it over; this was the face that his team had seen every day for the years that they'd known him. This was the only face that the world knew of. But it wasn't a face at all. It was a mask. He ran his thumb over the white material in a solid thought.

He heard a knock on his door that made jolt up in a shocked rejoinder. He heard a sudden No escape from his mouth in a gasp. Against all warning, the door whooshed open in a split second; revealing none other than Starfire behind it. In a startle, Robin's hands flew up over his face as he fell forward with a scared yelp, off his bed and he immediately bent over on the floor; completely shielding himself from her at all costs. Starfire's mouth fell open when she saw him do this, almost like a provoked animal, the way he hid himself from her in what looked like complete instinct. Then she saw the lone mask that lay on the floor behind him.

In truth, fear was flooding him. Once again, it seemed everything was going wrong. Every part of Robin was shattering as his hands still clung over his eyes with a fragile desperation to keep them secreted.

"Star, please." he said weakly, still unmoving on the floor before her. There was an eerie feeling that whistled in the room and Starfire herself could not help but stare at him in a bewildered unease.

"Robin…?"

"STARFIRE PLEASE, PLEASE JUST GO!" his voice was strangled in a broken plea. He didn't know why he was shouting. He didn't know why he was so frightened and awry. He didn't know why he had such a strong urge to shun his eyes from the entire world altogether.

Starfire said nothing, as she backed away from the open doorway. She didn't even know Robin was predisposed to such… absolute panic. His unwavering need to hide was troubling to her. But she knew straight away that very moment wasn't a time in which he had the stability to come to terms with his dysfunction.

She turned away from him to leave, in a dead and concerned silence. Robin found a hand slowly crept away from one of his eyes to steal a glance at her as she left him. In her hand, he saw a familiar scrap of paper, and the sight of it couldn't help but relieve his pain and give him the littlest bit of faultless hope.

.

.

*A/N: Chapter nine; sarcasm, angst, and unmasked eyeballs. How lovely.

And you guys were expecting actual plot-development.

I know I've been gone for a super long time. I haven't had the chance to write/edit as frequently. As you can probably tell, this chapter by itself was very hastily written -_-'

But worry not! Two chapters remain! I can guarantee that '11 will be posted as of sometime next week. Please stick around and keep reading, because crazy things I cannot yet speak of are bound to happen in the final two chapters of this bizarre story! Please feel free to let me know what you thought of this chapter!

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