Super sorry for the wait! I've pretty much been working on this most of last night and then today, but I just kept on getting distracted. My mind is just refusing to focus anymore.

Oh, and I want to clear some stuff up for after school begins. Now don't hold me to this, but there MAY be a sequel to this. You'll see why from the next chapter, which is coincidentally the last. I haven't outlined anything, but I'm just throwing it out there. Due to school, I don't even know if it'll come out until some months, but I'm going to try. If I do get it up sometime in the near future, it will pretty much be a monthly update.

Anyway, enough talk. Enjoy!

The funeral service was about to begin, and thankfully the murderer had been found. It was lucky that the killer was on the Southern Tamaranean side, or another war would have broken out, for sure.

Robin watched and Starfire sat next to Karras, rubbing his back. He couldn't help but feel a tinge of jealousy, despite the circumstances.

She pulled Karras into a hug, his tears wetting her Tamaranean silk gown. She looked down upon the broken man sadly. All three of them were back inside the castle, away from the rest of the crowd, until the service started in about twenty minutes. Karras had to get out; get away from all of the questions and consolations. She set her cheek against his shoulder. "It shall be all right, Karras."

He shook his head. "I love her, Koriand'r. You do not understand."

Starfire sighed. "The pain of loss hurts; I know this personally. But things get better; I do the promising of it."

He shook his head and wrapped his arms around her waist, burying his head farther in her shoulder to block out everything around him all the more.

Robin sat by, his foot tapping and arms crossed as he watched the two. He figured his face was twisted bitterly since when Starfire looked up at him, she gave him a reprimanding look. He gave an inaudible sigh, and decided to go over to them. He also knew the feeling of loss, so he understood his pain, too. He sat next to them, and he looked down at Karras. "Both Star and I have been through loss. It hurts. A lot. But you have a lot of people here for you, to help you get through it, including us."

Karras looked up from Starfire's shoulder and smiled at him. "Thank you." His words were raspy and quiet, barely above a whisper.

There was a knock on the door, with one of the nobles peeking their head in. "It's time for the viewing."

Starfire nodded wordlessly and shooed him with a simple hand gesture. She looked down at Karras. "Karras, it is time for the viewing, and it will be hard. Robin and I will stay with you the whole time, if you wish."

Karras rose from her and stood. He gave Starfire a smiled. "Thank you Koriand'r, that would be most appreciated." He cleared his throat and set his expression blank.

Robin was amazed at the swiftness of this movement. Just a second ago he was lost and torn with grief. He watched and Starfire stood, and quickly followed as they began to walk to the doors, and out to the preceding. He had seen dead bodies before, but something about having to see Taryia made him queasy.

All three of them made it to the open coffin-like clear object, Karras sucking in a breath, and stopped at it. Taryia's eyes were closed, her skin much paler than its usual color. She was wearing a sinaya, which was a Tamaranean gown meant for the deceased. It was a royal purple – much darker than the usual color of Tamaran. It consisted of a midriff shirt with diamond-like stones hanging down from it, and a long skirt, spread out around her. The belt attached to her was gold instead of the usual silver, the same diamond-like stones implanted in it. Her headdress was just a beaded piece put around her forehead like a halo, it copying the look of the belt.

All in all, she looked beautiful. Robin would almost say she looked more beautiful here than she did alive. He watched as Karras gripped Starfire's hand hard enough for her to even flex it in mild pain, and his heart went out to him. He tried to put himself in his position, and acted as though Starfire were the one in that coffin. He placed a hand on Karras' shoulder as comfortingly as possible; the image he had brought upon himself was almost unbearable, and he had no idea how Karras could even handle looking at her.

"Sek vaknug us enod. Esaelp ekat yur staes."

Robin looked up at Galfore, whom was wearing a large gown of the same color as Taryia's. By the movement of the rest of the group, he figured that Galfore had asked them to take their seats.

"Come." Starfire whispered to him and grabbed his hand, following Karras over to the front seats. Starfire guided him to sit down in the seat with a small translator on the chair, much like the ones on Earth. He stuck it in his ear.

"Greetings, fellow Tamaraneans. We come here today to grieve the loss of one of our trusty warriors. First, I would like to start with clearing up the murder; the man responsible has been detained. He was from the Southern part of Tamaran. He has been apprehended and will be sentenced to death by weapon."

Robin's brow furrowed. He still wasn't completely up to date on the methods of punishment on Tamaran, but he was not too surprised of the death sentence's method. They were going to kill the man through some type of weapon, and since they didn't have guns on Tamaran it would have to either be with a knife or dagger of some sort, or a blunt object. He decided to not ponder over it.

"We now ask for the nobles to bring up the trinkets to place with her. This will keep our deceased from returning to us in ethereal form, and to keep her with X'hal."

The men brought up small golden trinkets, all different in one way or another. By the look of it, they were really no more than balls made of expensive pieces, as well as some have jewels inside of them. Each noble littered parts of the box with them, all in different places. They nodded to Galfore, who nodded back.

Galfore turned back to the public. "We shall now bring the fire to cremate the body for the deceased to properly be with X'hal. Nobles, bring the fire."

A cone of fire was brought up to the coffin and was placed inside, directly over her heart. One noble closed the clear lid, and right as it dropped the inside seemed to be engulfed in flames. It wasn't anything like Robin had seen before. Despite the morbidity of the situation, he was awed by it.

A couple minutes of pure silence later, and the name noble went to open the coffin back up, and when it was all that was left in it was ash, even though right before it was opened it was still full of flames. The trinkets remained in place. Galfore made some sort of hand motion, and two other nobles brought over a blood red and gold blanket-type object, and it was placed on top of everything inside. The lid was closed once again, and this time is looked at though it was not clear at all, but red and gold.

"I thank you all for attending our ceremony; the burial will take place in private by family wishes. The ceremony is dismissed. X'hal, preserve us all."

Each Tamaranean spoke their deity's name and with that, each person began to stand and make their way over the edge of the balcony. Robin already saw some of the younger members playing on the grounds below, as if the ceremony had never even taken place. He turned and noticed the Starfire and Karras were already halfway to the palace, and he hurried to catch up.

By the time he was with them, they were already seated on the Earth equivalent of a marble bench right next to the large doors. When Starfire caught sight of him, she smiled sadly and beckoned him over to her. He didn't need to be told twice.

Starfire grabbed hold of Robin's arm and wrapped it around her, still rubbing Karras' left arm soothingly. The man looked even more pained than before the funeral. She sighed. "Please do not lose yourself in mourning, Karras. She is with X'hal now; in a much better place than here."

Karras looked over to her with a smile. "I know."

He had a tinge of admiration in his eye, but Robin was sure it was just the pain of losing his love that brought that on. After all, he had worked so hard to get out of marrying her.

It seemed that Starfire caught the look as well, considering she looked away from him and wrapped her now free arm around his waist, leaning into him.

Robin watched as Karras nodded silently to himself, looking down at the ground with his elbows on his knees. Silence engulfed the three.

"This is our fault, Koriand'r."

Starfire turned back toward Karras, his eyes distant. She furrowed her brow. "What do you mean by this, Karras?"

He sighed and stood, crossing his arms as he began to pace. "It's our fault. If we had not devised this whole plan then she would still be here." He stopped and eyes the two, a frown on his face. "But you had Robin. You just couldn't follow the rules! None of this would have happened if we just followed the treaty!" His face was flushed as he held out his arms to emphasize his point.

Starfire sighed and looked to the ground. She gently removed herself from Robin's grasp, who was watching the whole scene peculiarly, and rose to make her way to Karras. She set a tentative hand on Karras' shoulder. She felt him shiver. "I..." She sighed and closed her eyes, her hand slipping from his shoulder. "X'hal, you are right."

Robin's eyes widened and he stood up from his spot on the bench. He walked over to Starfire, grasping her wrist. "Don't start that, Starfire." He turned to Karras. "Karras, this event is unfortunate, I know that. But we were all only doing what we desired; if you went through with the marriage, you would never have had the chance to be with Taryia in the first place."

Karras looked at him, fire in his eyes. "At least she would have been alive! But no, you just had to ruin it! You…" He shook his head and sighed. "I wish to be alone." He began to walk away.

Starfire's eyes widened and she ran up to him, grasping his arm. "Karras, wait. We must talk of this; I do not wish to leave with us on the terms that are bad."

He stood still for a moment, tense, and both Titans feared what was to come. When he finally turned to face Starfire, the tears were back, and with no anger. "I'm sorry. I just…"

Starfire nodded in understanding. "It is all right, Karras." She glanced at Robin, and then looked back to Karras. "I believe you have frightened Robin, though."

Robin scoffed with his arms folded, and Starfire sent him a reprimanding look.

Karras looked over to him. "I am truly sorry, Robin. I didn't mean to accuse you."

He waved his hand. "It's no problem."

Karras flashed him a small smile. He looked toward the hall and sighed, and then looked to Starfire. "I am in need of rest, though. I'll say my goodbyes now, since I'm sure you'll be leaving soon." He looked out over Starfire's shoulder. "Considering Galfore is already getting the ship ready."

Starfire turned and looked, nodding once with a smile. "It seems that way." She cocked her head and gave him a small smile, stroking his hair once. "Perhaps we shall visit sometime. Most likely, due to the treaty." She leaned in and gave him a tight hug. "Please, do not mourn for too long." She let go of him and smirked. "Once I am due back here again, which will surely be in the near future, I better not see you doing the moping. If you are, there shall be dire consequences."

Karras rolled his eyes and Starfire giggled.

"Robin, Koriand'r. The ship is waiting."

Robin and Starfire turned toward Galfore, and then behind him at the ship. Starfire nodded. "We shall be there is a moment." She gave Karras one more quick hug and a goodbye in Tamaranean.

Robin went up and shook his hand. "We'll be seeing you around."

Karras smiled and nodded. "I'm looking forward to it."

Robin smiled and then followed Starfire off to the ship.

ATILTT

"Whoa, are you serious?" Beast Boy leaned forward, his eyes wide.

Robin nodded. "Yeah. Everyone was pretty devastated; obviously especially Karras."

Starfire leaned against him and nodded. "It was fortuitous that it did not start a civil war, but the look that Karras held…it was worth the breaking of the heart."

Raven turned to Starfire. "I can feel the waves coming off of you. You're hurt too."

Starfire shrugged. "I hurt because of Karras' state and the situation overall. It is nothing, I do the promising."

Raven nodded, not pushing the matter. That was the most likely scenario, anyway.

Cyborg stood up. "Ya'll went through a lot for only bein' there a couple days." He patted Starfire's back. "You have a pretty dramatic life up there, Star." He grinned cheekily.

She smiled back.

Robin glanced up at him, and then to Starfire. He murmured to himself. "You have no idea…"

Starfire turned to him. "Did you say something, Robin?"

He shook his head.

Cyborg stretched. "A'ight ya'll, I'm heading to bed." He turned to Beast Boy, pointing to him. "You. Me. Ten o'clock sharp. Meet me here." He turned and left.

Beast Boy put on his game face and yelled after him. "You bet on it, tin man!"

The couple stared at him.

While he was laughing sheepishly, Raven rolled her eyes and chose to explain. "They're having some form of 'Mega Monkey Duel'."

Beast Boy turned to her. "It is no joking matter, Rae. It is beyond serious. Seriouser than the bombing on Pearl Harbor in the seventeen-hundreds."

Raven raised an eyebrow. "'Seriouser'? That's not even a word, and please stop getting your history facts off of cereal boxes. And don't call me Rae." Her eyes flashed dangerously.

"Well ya know what! I…"

Robin turned to Starfire, choosing to drown them out as they continued to argue. "Wanna head to bed."

She nodded. "That sounds most pleasant." She turned toward the fighting duo. "Shall we tell of our departure?"

He studied them. "Nah. They're too busy getting their flirt on."

Starfire giggled. She stood and grabbed his hand, leading him out of the room and away from the two bickering 'love birds', as Cyborg once referred. She pulled him down the hallway quickly.

Robin stumbled after her, barely keeping his feet on the ground from her quick trip, her hand still in his. "Whoa! What's the rush?"

She stopped and pushed him against the wall. "It has been a tiring week. I believe it is time for the relief sex." She kissed him once and then began to pull him along.

His brow furrowed. "I didn't even know there was such thing…"

I decided I didn't want to play out a whole big fiasco for Taryia's death since the beginning. I figured it would be one more tragedy before the story closed, which doesn't create as much of an uproar since she was murdered by someone on her side. I did add a little of Karras blaming Starfire and Robin, because honestly, it's pretty easy to picture that. I mean, he's mourning his lover that was shockingly killed all because of the treaty to begin with.

Also, Robin isn't being a douche by getting all aggravated by Starfire comforting Karras. He gets a little jealous, but he also knows that he needs her. Oh, and also the part with Karras looking all loving toward Starfire. He just lost his lover, and she was arranged to be his by law - plus she was comforting him - so his mind just kind of went to that conclusion. It was short-lived, of course.

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