Unhealthy realities.

Thick, cold, gelatine akin, she was encased. Surrounded. Unable to move. Breathe. Survive.

That was all it was about. Survival. Hold the breath until the next reprieve. Circulate the energy. Keep the body alive. Flexing fingers. Darting eyes. Hold.

Hold.

"You do not belong."

The capsule hissed and she surged upward, gasping in deep shuddering breaths. Sticky gunk slopped out of her eyes as she clawed at her face so she could see, could breathe, could view them coming for her.

Another round, another series of test. Bright lights. Probes and faces and sounds. Burning energy, forced into her, hold no more, forever aflame.

The smell. Rotten teeth in rotten mouths, smell of death and decay on the breath. Leering face. Fingers in unprotected places and she could do nothing. Screams. Sister. Screams. Brother. Screams. Self.

Do nothing. Nothing to be done. Endure.

"You do not belong."

Square faces, massive blue bodies. Shifting shapes and eyes in the wrong places. Wonky faces and fingers too long for hands. Tentacles and feelers. An eternity to die, a lifetime of hardship. Broken back, broken hands, forever working, never sleeping, this was the future she escaped.

"You do not belong."

Vast deserts of purple sand. Orange cliffs. Skies above, sand below. Aching wind, dance on the streams. Family behind, future ahead. A laughing face, smiling eyes, brother torn roughly from her side, vanished into a swirling hole of despair. Shadow father looming, trapped.

"You do not belong."

Darkened alleyways. Crumbly brickwork, floating scraps of paper twirling in the chilly nighttime wind. Dark shadow. A mask. A black bird. A green snarl. Blue light.

"You do not belong."

Beloved fallen, powerless to stop. What was meant to be is no more.

Pain so great the fire was a relief, even when the metallic was not.

The water took everything and all she could do was watch.

Red, everywhere red. Lava and burning. Antlers and four red eyes. Life wasted, stolen.

"Help me."

Starfire bolted upright with a gasp. Her heart pounded, sweat lathered her brow. She felt so hot and yet she couldn't cease trembling. Her fingers patted at her own face. Pulling her legs from the wall, she swivelled to sit properly on the sofa and leant forward so she could bury her face into her knees. It took a while for her to catch her breath.

It was so real, so vivid. The memories, the anxiety. The fear of where her life was heading. She'd had that dream before.

And not. There was something strange about the end. Something different, she couldn't describe it because it was already slipping from her mind, ghosting away the more awake she became.

"Dream," she whispered to herself, trying to be reassuring and failing. "Just a dream. You belong." The darkness was most oppressive, so as she lifted her head away from her knees, she lit a starbolt.

It cast a strange, eerie glow around Robin's apartment. Everything looked different. Danalya snuffled little snores from her cushion beside the sofa. The little light on the television blinked at her, the digital clock on his sound system told her it was two in the morning. Which meant she really hadn't had a lot of sleep. Not that she would be able to get back to sleep after that dream.

The paperwork for tomorrow's Justice League meeting sat finished on the coffee table before her. She was worried about that, despite Robin's assurances everything was fine, it was just formality, she still worried. To put her fate in someone else's hands, to give them the choice whether she stayed on Earth or not, it was a scary feeling for her. She hadn't had a chance to ask him about the name Green Lantern had called him. Or ask about the model she had brought. Or even ask him why he was so tightlipped about what was going to occur at this tribunal. He had been brisk for the remainder of the afternoon, his answers curt and to the point and not what she had been used to. Starfire felt his attitude involved Batman somehow.

Starfire wiped her face to discard the tears she had shed in her sleep. She shuffled and then decided she would get a drink in the hope that would calm her shaking. Then maybe she'd go up on the roof and watch the stars until the sun rose.

Robin had left his door open, Starfire wasn't sure why. She paused at the threshold peering in. Her starbolt illuminated his face in a soft green glow.

He was odd, so different than what she'd expected and wonderful too. Kind and giving, yet stern at the same time. He stirred feelings within her, strange and foreign and yet somehow filled with a sense of rightness. Belonging.

She didn't belong. Not really. Alien transplanted on Earth, not truly expected to stay. Just for the interim. Until she was called home to fulfil her duties. They were different. And as much as she might wish it, he didn't belong to her.

Strange how she could feel so connected to him when she'd only known him a very short time.

She would enjoy her time on Earth and her banishment to this paradise until such time her planet had demand of their princess once more. Take her memories from here and hold them close and allow them to keep her happy. And he was the key to that happiness, her reason to stay on Earth. His kindness and friendship.

A friend she could never have at home.

She leant her head against the frame as she studied his sleeping form.

She could tell him. As much as she had avoided the subject, he seemed to realise she was important. She could say she was a princess, third in line to the throne. She could tell him of the Psions and their experimentations and the gift they had imbued her with. But she had learnt from other races, royalty was always revered. Never a friend. There were magazines she had seen in the supermarket of royalties on Earth and the articles always made them seem less approachable. More than human. Better. She didn't want that. She liked what she and Robin shared. She'd always been treated different because of who she was and here, it didn't have to matter. She could prove her worth just by being herself.

Humans slept so strangely. Head on a pillow, underneath a blanket. Robin was on his back, his arms shaped around his head, the blanket across his hips.

Starfire sighed. Turning, she meant to head towards the kitchen for a glass of water when he spoke.

"No."

She paused, her gaze back on him but his eyes were still firmly closed.

He didn't seem as relaxed anymore. His face was pinched. His hands clenched instead of curled. His breathing had increased. "No," he moaned again, his voice full of pain and denial.

Starfire hesitated. He was having a bad dream, just as she had. Did humans dream or was this something else? Should she wake him? Was that the right thing to do? Certainly a Tamaranian awakened from a bad dream would react with violence, she would have to be -

"No. Mom."

The sheer panic in his voice spurred Starfire into movement. She crossed his darkened room, her fingers still curled around her starbolt, darting to his side. She sat on the bed beside him, her unlit hand to his shoulder. "Robin?"

With a startled yelp, Robin thrashed and then bolted upright. She could feel him trembling through the hand on his shoulder. The dilation of his eyes seemed most odd to her.

"Robin?" she asked again, wondering if he saw her at all.

He let out a strangled cry, wrapped his arms around her, buried his head in her neck and clung.

She was startled by the ambushed hug, losing her starbolt in the process but she drew him into her embrace anyway. She knew if she had been woken by him from the dreams she'd just endured, she would have thrown herself at him. Curious that they both had nightmares.

He shuddered and Starfire was certain she felt something wet upon her shoulder. She crooned quietly under her breath, stroked his back for him in the hope that her actions would soothe him, especially since he had done that to her before.

His splayed hands on her back grabbed a fist full of her shirt as he pulled back sharply. "Starfire?" he asked, stunned.

That surprised her. "Yes?"

He stared at her, released her as he leant over to switch on the lamp beside the bed. She blinked against the light, her eyes taking a moment to adjust. "What are you doing in my bed?"

"You were having the mare of the nights." She placed her hands in her lap.

He narrowed his eyes at her.

Starfire dropped her gaze. "I had one too," she mentioned. "I had risen to fetch a drink in the hope it would calm me."

"You... are you okay?"

She nodded and looked away.

"Star?"

"I am... not. It was most disturbing."

"Yeah. So was mine." He rubbed his face. "Really weird. Normally my nightmares are all the same, but this one, I was stuck in some weird tube and I couldn't move or breathe and there were these odd brown reptile things and I watched them fall and couldn't-"

Starfire's heart beat against her breast so hard she had to place her hand against it.

Robin stopped. "Sorry." He let out very a heavy sigh. "Just dreams." He scrubbed his hand over his face.

Her hands were shaking.

Robin glanced down at them. "Hey, you okay?"

"Who fell?" she asked, her voice no more than a whisper. She clasped her hands together to try and make them stop.

Robin looked away from her.

Starfire ducked her head and squeezed her eyes shut. "My apologies," she whispered and went to rise. "I should not have disturbed you."

He caught her forearm. "Um..."

She paused, waiting.

He cleared his throat. "Um..."

"What is it?"

He went red, his eyes dropping down to study the bedspread. "I... recall you mentioning something about Tamaranains sleeping communally? I really don't want to be alone right now and I think that you don't either."

Starfire blinked at him.

He lost his nerve. "Or... we could grab a hot cocoa and stargaze 'til morning comes."

Starfire smiled.

Author's Note:

Next chapter: Pillow Talk.