--
A/N: I want to thank everybody that gave me their opinion as to whether or not I should edit this chapter. Longer author's note at the bottom.
Chapter 29: Bonds
Starfire flew them towards the Tower, but stopped in the clearing by the river that she and Raven had come to a few days prior to bathe. She set Robin on his feet before landing, her arms still around him.
"Star, why are we…" Robin didn't have the chance to finish his sentence as Starfire pulled him against her and sealed her lips to his. Robin responded quickly, tightening his arms around her back and rubbing his nose against hers. "What, you couldn't wait until we got back to the Tower?" he asked around a smile when they separated.
"No," she answered simply, fastening her lips to his again. Robin chuckled into her mouth, reaching up to caress her cheek. Before too long, she pushed her tongue into his mouth and the two of them battled for control, nibbling and licking as they pulled each other ever closer, fingers digging into flesh. They separated after several minutes, their chests heaving. Starfire rest her forehead against Robin's and the pair smiled at each other.
"Besides," she said after another moment, slipping from his arms, "I thought this would be a nice place to have a picnic." She pushed her pack from her shoulders.
"But we just had lunch."
"I know," she told him, kneeling down and digging into her pack. "But we can have a snack and enjoy each others' company, yes?"
Robin smiled again and shrugged off his own pack. "Sounds great."
Starfire produced a blanket and spread it beneath a large tree that grew near the riverbank. Digging around a bit more in her pack, she pulled out two of the bottles of ginger ale that Robin had purchased, along with the package of chocolate sandwich cookies.
Robin laughed. "Star, where did you find those?"
"They were among your personal effects. I helped you pack them, if you recall. I hope you do not mind."
"No, of course not," Robin replied, settling himself against the trunk of the tree and reaching for a bottle of ginger ale. "To tell the truth, I got them for just this kind of thing. I had hoped we'd have some time to do something like this." He blushed a little, but Starfire smiled brightly. She opened the package of cookies and handed several to him before picking one up and twisting it apart, just as he had shown her to do. She frowned.
"What is it?"
"We have no milk."
Robin laughed again. "You're right; these cookies really are best with milk." He stuffed a whole one into his mouth and took a swig of ginger ale. He made an awful face. "Ugh..and they really don't go well with ginger ale."
"Oh…" Starfire's frown deepened. "I am sorry. I fear that I have ruined our picnic."
"Don't think like that," Robin told her, reaching around her shoulders and pulling her near. "I'm the one that picked out this combination; I only have myself to blame. Besides, I'm here with you; that's all I really want."
Starfire's worried look quickly changed into a bright smile and she snuggled up against him, resting her head on his shoulder. They sat like that for several minutes, looking out over the river. Robin lightly caressed her shoulder and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath, inhaling the heady smell of the damp earth, the briny-ness of the river and the sweet floral muskiness that was Starfire. She turned in to him then, sliding her arms around his middle, her head slipping down to rest on his chest. He opened his eyes and smiled down on her, reaching up to run his fingers through her hair. She raised her head, smiling softly back at him. His fingers shifted to her cheek, faintly drawing little circles on her skin at first, but then holding her more firmly as he leaned down and pressed his lips to hers.
The kiss was soft at first, their lips barely skimming, but Starfire shifted, pushing herself against him and sucking his upper lip between hers. Robin felt his pulse quicken as he tightened his grip on her and slipped his mouth over her jaw. He could feel her fingers tracing over his chest as it began to heave from his deepening respiration. He smoothed a hand over her side and down to her hip and was seriously considering pulling her into his lap when he felt the clasp of his cape snap open. The loosening of the ever-familiar garment caused Robin to lose his concentration. He looked up to find Starfire's fingers at his neckline.
"Star?" he rasped out, his breathing still deeper than usual.
She blinked at him, an odd mixture of hope, nerves and shame crossing her features. "We have said that we are ready to be revolethen," she said in explanation.
"Wha…now?"
"It seems an ideal time; all of our friends are occupied; we should not be disturbed. And this is a romantic setting, yes?"
"Well…yeah…but…are you sure? I mean…you were so worried about abandoning them. Are you sure you don't want to do this just to help wake up the creature?"
Starfire cast her eyes downward and leaned away from him a bit. "I must admit that is a secondary reason."
"Hey," he ran his fingers along her chin, tilting her face back up to his. "I love you, and I do want to make love with you. I mean… I really want to make love with you." His voice hitched a bit as he emphasized his desire. "But I want to do it for us, not out of any sense of obligation we may feel to the Team. I don't want it to be…colored by that. I want it to be about us…just us. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
Starfire nodded, her eyes beginning to shine with unshed tears. "Hey…don't do that," Robin soothed, stroking his thumb against her cheekbone. "We have time. Just because we said we were ready doesn't mean that we have to do it right this minute. Raven said all we needed to do was be together. We'll find the right time and place."
Starfire blinked back her tears and collapsed into Robin's embrace, her emotions swirling. Robin was right: she had hatched this plan with the idea that their xioykrw would not only further their relationship but also help their friends, hopefully easing the sense of guilt she was still carrying around despite her friends' assurance that she need not feel that way. At the same time, she wanted to be with him, to feel her skin against his, to hold him in her arms and join with him. There was a dull ache in her chest whenever she thought about it; a yearning that only holding him seemed to cure. She tightened her arms around him and swallowed the lump forming in her throat.
TtTtTtTtT
Beast Boy and Aqualad headed out towards the river, their assigned area. Beast Boy turned into a crocodile and began looking around. Crocodiles were close enough to being marine creatures that he and Aqualad were still able to communicate via telepathy, at least for the most part.
"What's this thing look like again?" Aqualad asked.
"Bear-like. Oddly-colored fur; kinda greenish-brown. You'll know it when you see it."
"Any chance I'll be able to communicate with it?"
"Doubt it. It's very mammal-like."
Aqualad frowned. "Whales are mammals. I can communicate with them."
Silence.
"Beast Boy?" Aqualad spoke aloud.
Instead of responding, Beast Boy morphed back into his human form, his arms and legs elongating and slipping out from under him, sending him belly first onto the ground. "Dude! I just saw it! It was over there!" He pointed off into the trees.
Aqualad twisted around, sending out telepathic inquiries despite Beast Boy's counsel otherwise. "I didn't see anything," he said. Receiving nothing back, he pulled out his communicator. "But there was a small spike on the sensor nearest here. Cyborg," he put in the call, "I think we've gotten a reading."
"Which sensor?"
"29."
A pause. "Yeah, that's definitely anomalous. You see somethin', BB?"
"That's what tipped us off," the changeling replied.
"Got it. Raven," Cyborg went on, "you getting anything?"
There was silence for a few moments before she replied. "It's here. It's still pretty diffuse, but there's a hot spot out near Beast Boy and Aqualad."
"Okay," Cyborg said. "I'll keep a look out for that particular spike. The rest of you, keep your eyes and ears open. It's out here; we just need to find it."
TtTtTtTtT
Robin brushed Starfire's hair away from her face. "That's enough of this," he told her. "We're out here to have some fun. What should we do?"
Starfire pulled a deep breath and sat back. "Well…perhaps we could play a game?"
"Great idea. What should we play?"
"Umm…" Starfire looked around, surveying her options. Her eyes came to rest on Robin's face. "I believe Beast Boy calls this 'Keep Away,'" she said, a wicked grin crawling onto her features. She yanked Robin's mask from his face and darted off along the riverbank.
"Ow! Starfire!" He launched to his feet, running after her, his cape left behind.
Starfire quickly ran out of clearing as the trees encroached on the riverbank again. She stopped and rose into the air several feet, turning around as she did so.
"No fair flying!" Robin protested.
Starfire smiled innocently and waved his mask at him.
Robin took a running leap at her and caught her around the waist. They fell to the ground, Starfire squirming in his grip, but not trying terribly hard to get away. He crawled up her body, pinning her wrists over her head. He knew it would take almost no effort at all for her to toss him away, but she was playing along.
"I've got you," he declared as he straddled her hips and looked straight into her eyes, his nose brushing hers. "Now what are you going to do?"
"Um…" She looked away for a moment, and then a coy smile pulled at her lips. "This." She reached up and kissed him firmly.
Robin let out a surprised laugh against her lips before settling in to return the kiss, letting his weight fall against her. They kissed for what seemed like hours, their breaths rasping against each others' cheeks, their noses rubbing, their tongues sliding back and forth. As Starfire lifted them from the ground, Robin slipped his fingers down her arms and around her back. His legs wound around her hips of their own volition and Starfire's fingers found their way into his hair. She turned her head to the side, gasping for breath, and Robin took the opportunity to skim his lips over her cheek to that spot behind her ear. She squealed, and Robin felt a thrill run through his chest and down to his groin. He gently bit at her neck, tearing at his gloves, dropping them to the ground beneath them. She squeaked at the feel of his teeth and her nails dug into his scalp. Pressing his bare hands against the hot skin of her back, he repeated the nip a bit lower on her neck. Starfire moaned again, writhing against him.
Robin's chest was on fire; every ragged breath burned through him. He felt like he suddenly had ten times the amount of nerve cells; every little twitch or squirm Starfire made sent cascades of tingles through his body. And the sounds she was making…all Robin knew was that he wanted her to keep doing that. He nibbled again, again rewarded by a sexy squeal. But then he ran out of room. Starfire's neck/breast plate extended halfway up her neck, and Robin had come to its edge. He searched the back of it with his fingers, looking for a clasp of some kind. All he felt was smooth metal. "How does this thing come off?" he muttered, pulling on it.
Starfire reached between them and placed her hand on the jewel that adorned the front of the armor. She twisted and slid it in a fairly complicated way. After a moment, the interlocking pieces of the plate popped apart. He grinned at her and pulled at the front of it, this time succeeding in sliding it from around her neck, revealing the simple scoop neckline of her halter-top. And the rest of her neck. He growled and bit fairly firmly into the flesh just above her collarbone. He heard the breastplate thunk to the ground at the same time Starfire moaned, "Oh, Robin!"
She arched against him, throwing her head back. He sucked at the spot, and Starfire moaned low in her throat. Robin could feel the vibration under his lips. In Starfire's rapture, she leaned further and further back, forgetting Robin was still subject to gravity. Despite their tight holds on each other, his lips lost contact with her skin and he slipped and fell to the ground.
"Oh, Robin!" Starfire repeated, her tone one of concern this time. She was instantly sitting on the ground next to him. "Are you injured?"
Robin sat up and shook his head, clearing the blissful haze from it. "No, I'm okay." He rubbed the shoulder he'd fallen on.
"Oh, I am so very sorry! I was so enraptured by what we were doing that I was not paying attention. Are you certain that you are okay?"
"I'll be fine." He frowned. "Look at what I did to you, though." He stroked his thumb over the trail of marks he'd left on her neck. But Starfire just smiled.
"Bites of love are considered a good sign among my people. It is a signal that your relationship with your reveloth is passionate." But at the mention of the Tameranian word for lover, the smile left Starfire's face. She reached up to touch his cheek, but her hand stalled in midair. "Robin…"
He placed his hand in the one she held out. "Starfire…" He searched her features. Her eyes shone with love and desire, but her lips, still rosy from their kisses, turned down in a disappointed frown. "You're sure?" he asked after a moment.
"I have been certain for a long time," she replied simply.
"And the creature?"
"That is merely…how does Cyborg say it? Gravy."
Robin laughed, his own trepidation lessening. "Okay." He nodded. "Okay." He stood, pulling her to her feet. "Come on."
TtTtTtTtT
Raven floated in a wide spot between two trees, her legs crossed under her, her eyes closed. That's what she'd been doing for over half an hour, in the same spot.
Bumblebee looked up at her again and frowned. She tried to keep herself busy by watching the local sensor readings, but she was getting a lot of garbage. The couple of things she'd called in to Cyborg turned out to be planes or other animals. She had no idea what she was looking for and was, quite frankly, bored. "Raven?" she called quietly.
"Yes, Bumblebee?" Raven replied without opening her eyes.
"I'm gonna know this thing when I see it, right?"
"Yes. But I'll know it's coming long before you can see it."
"You can tell it's active right now?"
"Yes. It has a very definite psychic signature. It's awake and…" Raven stopped, pulling in a sharp breath.
"Raven?"
Raven shook her head. "Nothing, just…it's getting stronger."
Bumblebee frowned again. "Can you tell where it is?"
Raven's only reply was to shake her head. Her breathing was starting to come a little more quickly, and Bumblebee was beginning to worry about her. Before Bumblebee could question her again, Raven began her familiar chant, "Azarath, Metrion, Zynthos…"
Bumblebee took that as a sign of danger and rose into the air, her stingers at the ready. When nothing happened, she turned back to Raven in time to see the witch press a hand to her neck. "Raven?"
Raven only response was to continue her chanting. After several minutes, Bumblebee saw her shoulders relax a bit and eventually her chanting stopped.
"Raven?" Bumblebee asked again. "What's happening?"
Raven opened her eyes as an odd look of worry and satisfaction graced her features. "Something is going to happen," she replied. "The creature will fulfill its duty soon."
TtTtTtTtT
Robin led Starfire back to the blanket she had spread beneath the large tree. He laughed nervously, reaching back to scratch his neck. "Ya know, I've thought about this a lot. But it never felt this…weird."
Starfire canted her head. "What do you mean?"
"I mean…how do we start? I know what we're supposed to do, but how do we get there?" He blushed furiously.
Starfire smiled patiently. She took a step closer to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, gently touching her lips to his for the briefest of moments. "We are Aiyknrwa. We will find what is best for us."
Robin's nervous frown turned into a nervous smile as he slid his arms around her back and met her lips again for another soft kiss.
In truth, Starfire was as anxious about this as Robin confessed to be, but she also believed very much what she had told him. She trusted Robin with her whole self: body, mind, heart and soul. She never had to be self-conscious around him about anything. He felt like an extension of herself at times. She wanted nothing more than to show him that. So she continued to kiss him, and let herself fall into the desire and instinct his touch brought.
Their kisses remained soft: brushes and pecks, over and over. Their hands, however, began to roam. Starfire's started in Robin's hair. She loved his hair: it was the deepest black she had ever seen on a human and was always a little unruly, no matter how much gel he put into it. The gel itself didn't bother her, although she had learned to keep her fingers below his neck before it had completely dried. She ran her fingers through it now, enjoying the contrast of the dried gel and the natural softness of his hair.
Robin's hands went the other direction, smoothing over her back. Starfire's breath hitched as he drew aimless patterns on her bare skin. She loved it when he did that; it sent tingles throughout her entire body. She pressed herself a bit more firmly against him at that contact, easing her hands down his neck to his shoulders. As Robin's fingers began to make delicious journeys up her spine, she let hers plunge down his back, stopping just above his belt, where she grabbed his shirt and pulled it out of his pants, working her hands beneath it and pressing them against the hard planes of his back.
Robin groaned against her lips, stopping his ministrations and pulling her closer, deepening their kiss for the first time since they'd returned to the blanket. Starfire pushed her arms further up beneath his shirt, lifting it. Robin quickly caught on and released her to allow her to pull the shirt over his head and arms.
Starfire smiled at him for a moment before dropping her eyes to size him up. She'd seen him shirtless before; he sometimes worked out without a shirt and once in a while even slept – with her – without one. But she'd never allowed herself to really admire him. She knew one way or the other she'd get herself in trouble. He'd outgrown the scrawnyness he'd displayed when she'd first met him and his well-worked muscles were beginning to define themselves. There was a sprinkling of course hair around his nipples and down his midline. She reached out and gently, almost reverently, traced her fingers over the curves of his abdomen and chest before lifting her eyes to his again.
As their eyes met, he raised his hand up and pressed her wandering hand against his chest – his heart. Time seemed to stop for a moment as Starfire felt Robin's chest heaving and his heart beating against her palm. His eyes bored into hers and Starfire felt she truly was going to drown in those blue pools; in the intensity of the moment she forgot to breathe.
Robin curled his fingers around her hand and pulled it gently away from his chest, never once changing his gaze. With his other hand he pulled off her gauntlet, dropping it carelessly to the blanket while repeating his actions with her other arm.
The moment faltered, but didn't break, as Robin put a hand on the band that she wore around her upper right arm and asked softly, "Star, what is this?"
She glanced at it briefly before returning her gaze to his. "It is the itr'jrsty," she answered simply. "It is a symbol of high honor worn by those who have been injured in battle."
Robin's eyes turned sad for a moment as he gently slipped it from her arm. He'd seen her remove it every night before retiring, but had never asked her about it. But then, he'd never undressed her before, either. He set it carefully on the blanket before taking a step closer to her and framing her face in his hands. The intensity between them seemed to increase tenfold as Starfire again got lost in his gaze. She could smell him now, and that combined with his nearness and his touch was quickly driving her insane. If something didn't happen soon, she swore she was going to faint.
Robin saved her from that fate by kissing her again, first softly, but within a few breaths he had pulled her against him and the kiss turned passionate. He scooped her up and fell to his knees, depositing her in his lap as he settled, his lips never leaving hers.
TtTtTtTtT
Cyborg and Speedy tromped through the woods, not really talking. Cyborg kept checking his arm, looking at the sensor readings he was getting from around the forest.
"What is it I should be doing?" Speedy asked.
"Just keep your eyes open, man. And keep that stun arrow of yours handy."
Speedy already had it drawn. A few moments of silence passed, and in an effort to make conversation, he asked, "So…is Starfire going to be alright?"
Cyborg looked up from his arm. "Huh? Oh, yeah. She just needs some rest. We all do, quite frankly. Hopefully with you guys here, this will go a lot faster."
"You knew who to call," Speedy replied with more than a little bravado.
Cyborg rolled his eye and poked at his arm. They tromped on.
"So…is she seeing anybody?" Speedy asked from behind him.
Cyborg froze. "You are not seriously asking what I think you're asking. Not after she told you to keep your hands to yourself." He twisted around to face the archer, a snarl on his lips.
Speedy shrugged. "I thought maybe she was just self-conscious about her scars, and maybe if I approached it a different way…"
"You do realize she could turn you into slag if you pissed her off enough, right?" Cyborg cut him off. "And that Robin would blow up what was left and that I'd turn the ashes into sub-atomic particles," Cyborg started to growl, advancing on Speedy. "And then Raven would send them to another dimension after Beast Boy turned them into cow manure!"
Speedy gripped his bow in a defensive stance, inserting it between himself and Cyborg. "What is it with you guys and Starfire?" he challenged. "You been charged by the high court of Tameran to guard her virginity or something?"
Cyborg grabbed him by the shirt as his other hand cha-chunked into his sonic cannon. "You wanna become sub-atomic particles right now?" He drew his cannon up and fired...over Speedy's shoulder. Speedy found himself on the ground as Cyborg pushed past him and fired again, yelling into his communicator. "I have visual contact! You should be able to track it by its transmitter! Teen Titans, go!"
Speedy twisted around and caught glimpse of some kind of bear-like creature disappearing through the trees. Without bothering to stand, he fired his stun arrow at it, and should have hit it, but he heard some weird rustling sound and saw it rise above the trees as it flew away…
TtTtTtTtT
… Robin pushed her over onto her back, falling with her, kissing and nibbling at every inch of exposed skin he could find. He felt her hook her ankles around the small of his back. His head snapped up with a grunt and as his gaze fell on her; he saw the desire in her clouded eyes, her bruised lips, her heaving chest, and knew he must look much the same way. God, he wanted her.
TtTtTtTtT
The blips on Aqualad's communicator were getting closer and closer together. "Beast Boy! It's coming this way!"
Beast Boy turned into a Tyrannosaurus Rex as Aqualad saw something fly over and into the sun. "Is that it?" he asked, his eyes going wide.
Beast Boy's answer was to turn into a Pterosaur and take off into the sky after the creature.
Aqualad just stood, unable to do anything, really. He watched Beast Boy's outline circle overhead several times before he landed and resumed his human form.
"Did you see where it went?" he asked.
Aqualad shook his head. "No. It flew into the sun and I didn't see it again."
"Aw man!" Beast Boy groused. "We lost it again!"
Aqualad looked at his communicator again. "Not for long. It's still on the sensors." He pressed the button. "Raven, Bumblebee, it's headed in your direction!"
TtTtTtTtT
Starfire's attention was on Robin's smoky eyes. The way he was looking at her, with such desire, combined with the delightful tingles the feel of his skin pressed to hers sent through her and the light-headedness of her own labored breathing was causing her to lose track of everything except him. She grabbed his hair and pulled him down for another ravenous kiss, tightening her legs around him and grinding her heels into the small of his back.
Robin dragged his lips down her neck and over her stomach before pushing away from her and rocking back on his heels. "Robin?" she asked, her voice pinched from the loss of contact.
"These things have got to go," he replied, pulling on the top of her left boot, his voice still a bit breathy. He managed to get it down to her knee, but the leather bunched up and refused to go any further. He looked up at her sheepishly. "Uh…Star?"
She pushed herself up onto her elbows, laughing with relief. "Start with the heel."
"Heh...right." He pulled the top of the boot back into its normal position and followed her instructions, quickly dispensing with both of the lengthy purple boots. He ogled her long, smooth legs and wasted no time running his hands up her shins, over her knees and around the outside of her thighs. Her dintovsmy was beginning to form and Starfire wondered for a pained moment if that was why he again withdrew. Her heart quickly recovered as she saw he had only done so to remove his own boots. He unhooked his utility belt as well and laid it across the toes of his footwear. He turned back to her and flashed her a somewhat goofy grin. Starfire laughed again, any remaining doubts in her mind evaporating.
TtTtTtTtT
Bumblebee pulled out her communicator and noted the line the creature seemed to be heading. She looked up to get her bearings and saw Raven flying off through the trees. "Are you coming?" the sorceress called over her shoulder. Bumblebee fluttered off after her.
Raven stopped in a small clearing. "I don't see anything," Bumblebee said as she came up behind her. "The sensors say it should be near here…"
"It's here," Raven cut her off, not looking at her.
Before Bumblebee could look around any further, the air was split by the sound of an animal's roar. "What the…" Bumblebee darted her eyes from one side of the clearing to the other, her hands going to her stingers.
In her survey, Bumblebee took a glance at Raven. Her eyes were dark and her face was pinched. Then a weird little grin formed on her lips. Unsure of what to make of that, Bumblebee continued her visual hunt when some thing suddenly appeared from nowhere, cowering a bit and keening like a hurt dog.
Bumblebee gasped and pulled her stingers.
"No, don't!" Raven shouted, shooting out a hand and encasing the weapons with her magic. "We can't hurt it."
TtTtTtTtT
…Robin pulled Starfire against him and crushed his lips to hers. She responded in kind, winding her arms around his neck, pressing the length of her torso against his…
TtTtTtTtT
"But I thought we were supposed to…" Bumblebee protested.
"Just trust me," Raven told her.
Bumblebee looked between Raven and the creature, which still seemed to be cowering at the base of a large tree. She slowly lowered her stingers and placed them back on her belt. "What should we do, then?"
Raven's eyes went dark just before she shut them. "Call the others."
Bumblebee pulled out her communicator again. "Cyborg, Speedy, Beast Boy, Aqualad, we have the creature on the ground. Requesting backup. Repeat, requesting backup." She switched channels. "Mas, Menos, get your nalgas over here!"
By the time Bumblebee lowered her communicator, Mas y Menos were by her side. "¡Sí, Bumblebee!" They turned to look at the creature. "Oooo.. ¡El monstruo!"
"Just hang tight, guys," she told them. She looked back to Raven, hoping for some instruction. Raven, however, still had her eyes closed. The creature snarled, and Raven's eyes twitched. Bumblebee glanced back over at the creature; the snarl had been a momentary reaction and it had gone back to cowering. Raven, however, gasped at something unseen. Bumblebee switched her gaze again to see her pull a few shaky breaths and began to mumble to herself, "Azarath, Metrion, Zynthos…"
TtTtTtTtT
Starfire squirmed against Robin as her desire to feel more and more of his skin spiraled ever higher. She broke their kiss and pulled him as close as she dared, not wishing to crush him. He ran his fingers deliciously up her back and leaned away from her. She loosed her hold on him and looked into his eyes, now almost black they were so dark. She felt his fingertips brush against her cheek and he bent in to kiss her again, this time sweetly and gently…
…And then he was kissing her again, nipping at her lips and tongue, gripping her shoulders, pushing her back to the blanket once more. This time he did allow himself to fall against her and Starfire couldn't help but float a few inches into the air as her whole body flushed with desire and pleasure…
…He pulled away after a few moments and looked deeply into her eyes. "Yr sefte, Aiyknrwa Starfire," he breathed.
Starfire felt her heart rate quicken and a small lump form in her throat. "I love you, beloved Robin," she murmured around it.
TtTtTtTtT
Pterosaur Beast Boy set Aqualad on the ground, who stumbled several steps before regaining his footing. "You're telling me Cyborg does that all the time?" he questioned the now-human changeling.
"Yeah, Robin too."
Aqualad shuddered. "They're braver men than I."
Cyborg and Speedy came marching into the clearing at that moment. "Bee!" Cyborg called. "What's…happening…" he trailed off as he saw the creature hunched on the ground. It rose up on its haunches for a brief moment, snarling, but quickly sat back down. Both Cyborg and Speedy aimed their weapons at it.
"No, stop!" Raven dashed in front of them, her eyes still dark and the color high in her cheeks. "We cannot hurt it. It will fulfill its duty soon. The issue will resolve itself."
Cyborg and Speedy glanced at each other and shrugged. "Raven?" Cyborg asked.
But Raven had squeezed her eyes shut again and was panting, whispering her magic words to herself. The creature growled low in its throat from behind her.
"Raven, move!" Speedy commanded, drawing another of his stun arrows. Aqualad and Beast Boy grabbed her cloak and pulled her out of the way.
"Wait, man," Cyborg wrapped a hand around Speedy's drawing wrist. "It's not hurting anything right now," he gestured to the creature, which had settled back into cowering mode. "Raven thinks this is gonna take care of itself. Let's just keep an eye on it for now, and wait."
Speedy lowered his bow but snarled at Cyborg. "I thought you called us out here to catch this thing!"
"We did! But I trust Raven. And I'm in charge of this mission. If you're not gonna obey my orders, then I'm gonna send you back to camp with boa constrictor Beast Boy as a chaperone!"
"Stop it!" Bumblebee commanded the two boys, stepping between them.
The creature keened behind them, and they all twisted to look. Raven let out a similar moan and drew in a few sharp pants before increasing the speed of her chanting.
"Raven?" Beast Boy asked.
"What is going on here?" Speedy demanded.
Cyborg shook his head, his eyes never leaving Raven. "I told ya the thing was interdimensional."
"What kind of answer is that?"
"Look!" Bumblebee pointed to the creature, which had started to quiver.
The team watched the beast shivering as though it were a cold winter night. A low moan came from Raven, and they all snapped their heads around to see her with her head thrown back, her cowl slipped down to her shoulders, her mouth hanging open, and her chest heaving.
TtTtTtTtT
…Starfire's arms slipped from his back and she threw them over her head. Robin felt her whole body tense and she began to glow the green of her starbolts. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him just as the glow exploded around and through them…
TtTtTtTtT
A wave of pleasure surged through Raven, causing her to groan and throw her head back. Robin and Starfire were together, and she could feel them. The creature could obviously feel them too, or Starfire at least, and Raven could feel what the creature felt. It was creating this unbelievable feedback loop that, no matter how hard Raven tried, she couldn't block out or even push far enough back into her consciousness that she could ignore it. She whispered her mantra over and over in a vain attempt to gain some control, "Azarath, Metrion, Zynthos, Azarath, Metrion, Zynthos…."
It's not as if she were spying on them; she couldn't really tell what they were doing. But she could feel their emotions and some of the physical sensations. It was still a huge invasion of their privacy, even if she couldn't block it out. The guilt from that knowledge made it all that much harder to concentrate. Mostly it was Starfire that she could feel – that was largely coming from the creature and its link with the alien – but Raven had her own link with Robin, and his emotions were definitely present. Something had lit him up like a Christmas tree not too long ago.
Right now, an odd sense of completeness coupled with longing had washed over Raven; she could feel it rolling off of both of her friends as well as the creature. Her breath rasped in her throat as she struggled to make sense of it.
Raven could still sense what was going on around her – the confusion of her teammates, mostly. "Look!" one of them, Aqualad she thought, called out. She managed slit her eyes open to look at the creature. It was shaking. A burst of light shot through it, and it decreased in size. At that same moment, her nerves cascaded and she tingled from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. Her limbs started to twitch, and she could feel what little control she had over her powers starting to slip. The leaves began to rustle as her telekinesis presented itself.
"Raven?" several of her teammates asked. She held her shaking hands up, warning them back.
The creature keened again, and Raven felt herself starting to become light-headed as her respiration continued to increase. The sense of longing from Robin and Starfire was beginning to overshadow the completeness; it was starting to turn into something more akin to reaching. It became a physical sensation; a pressing on her chest and arms. She could feel Robin digging his fingers into Starfire's flesh. Her stomach constricted as she felt the creature decrease in size again, and at that point, she lost any control she may have had left. She began to stutter through her mantra, "Azarath…Azarath…Metrion…Azarath, Metrion…"
The trees ringing the clearing trembled and their leaves rained down on them. Raven could hear her teammates shouting and complaining. The sense of reaching began to overtake her; all of her muscles started to tense. A wind that hadn't been blowing before whipped her cloak around her.
"Raven, stop it!" she heard Beast Boy yell at her over the din of the wind and the trees. He put his hands on her shoulders and she tossed him away with a blast of her magic. In her hyper-sensitive state, she heard him crunch against a tree and Aqualad and Cyborg going after him, inquiring if he was alright.
"Yeah, I'm fine. That's gonna leave a mark, though."
As the undefined reaching became stronger, Raven had enough clarity to realize that if she didn't focus somehow, she was going to bring the whole forest down on them. Her breath still rasping in her chest and her pulse pounding in her ears, she managed to open her eyes. Her teammates were doing their best to shield themselves from the onslaught of the wind and the falling debris; Beast Boy sat under a tree rubbing his head. The creature sat opposite her, still cowering; it had shrunken again. Needing release, she quickly focused on a tree off to her left; it was away from the other occupants of the clearing. "Azarath…" she spoke aloud, literally reaching out towards the tree, her arms shaking.
"Metrion…" Her magic flowed from her trembling fingers, engulfing the tree. The creature was beginning to keen again.
"Zynthos!" The tree creaked as its limbs began to fall from it. The creature shrank again, a burst of green light engulfing it. An almost animal-like growl came from Raven as she felt the world explode around her…
TtTtTtTtT
Robin went limp, and the spell was broken. But it wasn't a dream or a hallucination. Starfire was still everywhere; he could feel her labored breath against his neck as the two of them struggled to slow their respiration.
Starfire lowered them to the blanket and sat against the tree, cradling him in her arms. He rest his head against her shoulder and felt the completeness start to return.
Laying in Starfire's arms was almost better than what had just happened. He felt as though they were still floating, even though the feel of the blanket and the lumpy forest floor beneath his calf proved him wrong. Despite having settled into this resting position more than a minute ago, Robin's chest still heaved with his heavy breathing.
"Wow," he breathed into her ear. "Wow."
"I too am overwhelmed," Starfire's also-labored voice returned. "Do you think this is as wonderful for other couples?"
"On this planet? No," Robin chuckled, finally regaining some control over his respiration.
And so the two young revolthen stayed, wrapped in each others' arms, reveling in each others' touch. They said very little, letting gentle caresses and soft kisses do most of the communicating for them. They stayed that way for what felt like hours, even dozing now and again.
"May we not stay like this forever?" Starfire asked as the sun began to set.
Robin smiled into her chest before looking up into her eyes. "I know. I'd like to, too." He craned his neck up and brushed his lips against hers. "Thank you."
She looked at him quizzically. He tried to explain. "For today, for being you, for…for loving me."
She beamed and took his face in her hands, kissing him fiercely. When she pulled away, she said, "I thank you too, Robin. For what you have thanked me for, and for being my best friend."
TtTtTtTtT
Raven collapsed to the ground, holding herself up with her hands, gasping for breath. Bumblebee came to her side after a few moments when the only sound in the clearing was Raven's breathing. "Girl, you all right?"
Raven looked up at her. "Yes, actually. I feel…wonderful." She managed a weak smile as she looked around the clearing, now littered with leaves and tree limbs. "What happened to the creature?"
"That's what we were wondering," Speedy replied from near where it had been cowering. He rifled through the leaf litter with the end of his bow. He made a face as he cleared the debris away. "There's some kind of weird rock here." He knelt down to pick it up, but as he touched it, he was thrown several feet back, landing unceremoniously on his behind.
"Hey, you okay?" Cyborg asked from where he stood near Raven and Bumblebee.
"Yeah," Speedy shook his hand. "The feeling better come back in my fingers, though."
"Let me try," Aqualad said, approaching the small stone. He too was thrown back.
The Titans looked at each other. "What are we going to do if we can't touch it?" Bumblebee translated for Mas y Menos.
Cyborg frowned and began poking at his arm as he walked the few steps over. His frown only deepened as he examined the readouts. "I'm not even picking anything unusual up. It's just a rock, according to this." He looked over to Raven, now sitting on the ground. Her color was still high and she looked exhausted. "We need to wait," was her reply.
"Why?" Speedy asked.
"We just…do."
Speedy frowned, and the rest of the team didn't look too happy, but there was no real argument.
"Look, I'm gonna take Raven back to camp," Cyborg said. "The rest of ya'll just stay put and keep an eye on the thing. I wanna hear if ANYTHING changes – if the light hits it differently, you call me, okay?"
Nods were exchanged, and Cyborg offered his hand to Raven, who took it and let herself be led through the forest.
"What happened back there?" Cyborg asked once they got back to camp, handing her a cold bottle of water.
Raven took a long drink, shaking her head. "It's not what happened back there."
Cyborg paused. "Rob and Star?"
Raven nodded.
"They didn't waste any time," Cyborg noted, shaking his head.
Raven snorted. "They didn't even make it back to the Tower."
Cyborg's eyebrow shot upwards. "They didn't?"
Raven shook her head again. "Nope. I think they're by the river. They're still in the woods, at least."
"The river? Aw, man, I sent BB and Aqualad over there…"
"I don't think they saw anything," Raven said, taking another drink.
Cyborg nodded marginally, and then chuckled. "Man, I know those two had it bad, but…"
"You have no idea," Raven droned back at him, lidding her eyes with mild annoyance.
"And the reason we need to wait to call them is…?"
"To give them some time," Raven replied with a small smile. "Never let it be said that I'm not a romantic."
TtTtTtTtT
"C'mon, Sparky," Bumblebee's annoyed voice crackled through the comm. "It's been an hour and a half. Nothing's happened. And the sun is going down. We need to make a decision about what to do."
"I say we throw a net over it and let S.T.A.R. Labs take care of it," Speedy broke in, splitting the image on Cyborg's arm with Bumblebee.
"No, Robin needs to have a say in this," Cyborg insisted. He glanced up at Raven, who nodded marginally. "I'll call them. Sit tight till you hear from me." He broke his connection with Bumblebee and Speedy and tapped in the private code to Robin's communicator. The signal sounded three times before Starfire's glowing face appeared. "Hello, Friend Cyborg!"
"Hey, Star," Cyborg smiled at her, suddenly feeling very self-conscious.
"I told him to file his reports!" Robin's voice growled. Starfire's image tipped and Cyborg got a flash of golden skin and a glimpse of an un-masked, rather rumpled-looking Robin before the transmission switched to audio only. "What is it, Cyborg?" the perturbed sounding voice asked.
Cyborg was too uncomfortable to get upset with Robin's self-righteous tone. "Hey, man. Um…well…it's the creature…"
"The creature? What happened? Were you able to capture it?"
"Well…not exactly."
"What do you mean, 'not exactly?' Nobody else got hurt, did they?"
"No! No, we're all fine." Cyborg sighed. "Look, you two need to come out here and have a look at this," Cyborg pulled a breath, coming back into himself a bit. "No big hurry, but…" He trailed off, still not sure how to talk to them without putting his foot in his mouth.
Static.
"We'll be there in a little while," Robin's voice said.
TtTtTtTtT
After taking their own sweet time getting dressed (Cyborg had said there was no hurry), during which much teasing and kissing and caressing occurred and the young revolethen had to remind each other several times that their friends were waiting, Robin and Starfire secured the gear that they had planned to take back to the Tower and flew back to camp. When they arrived, they found only Cyborg and Raven there; Cyborg looked very uncomfortable while Raven seemed exhausted, the color in her cheeks much higher than usual.
"What happened? Where is everyone? Where's the creature?" Robin asked as Starfire set him on his feet.
"Friend Raven, are you well?" Starfire asked. "You look quite flushed. You were not harmed by the creature while trying to apprehend it, were you?" A worried frown began to appear on Starfire's face.
"I'm fine," Raven replied, pulling a deep breath. She lowered her chin and looked up at Starfire through her lashes, a face that all the Titans knew meant that Raven knew something they hadn't told her. "Are you all right?"
Starfire's frown turned into a beaming smile. "I am glorious! Perhaps we shall have the 'girl talk' later, yes?"
"Uh…" Raven's blush deepened.
"What happened with the creature?" Robin repeated, his ears starting to turn red at the idea of Starfire and Raven's "girl talk."
"C'mon," Cyborg said in answer, rising to his feet. "You two need to see this."
Cyborg led them through the forest. No one spoke; they were all too worried they would say the wrong thing.
As they entered the small clearing where the rest of the team sat waiting, Speedy planted the end of his bow on the ground and pushed himself to his feet. "It's about time you showed up!"
Robin didn't respond at first. He was taken aback by the scene. The ground was littered with green leaves and every tree that bordered the clearing was bare. Smaller branches lay among the leaves and one of the trees looked as though it had been ripped apart by huge hands, its shreds and splinters lying in a neat circle around its base. "What happened with the creature?" he finally asked again.
"Um…" all five members of Titans East gestured across the clearing to the small stone.
"Dude! It was the freakiest thing I ever saw!" Beast Boy exclaimed, bounding up to Robin. "We chased it through the forest for like an hour, and it kept coming in and out of this dimension. But it finally settled itself here, and then it got really weird! It would seem angry for a minute, and then it would settle down and it would seem to get sad. And then it started to shrink! And for the longest time, it just sat and shook, at first a little, and then like it was having a seizure, man. And she!" He pointed at Raven. "She was like sooo in tune with it. Every time it did something, she reacted to it: gasping, twitching, something."
Raven looked up at Starfire and Robin, her eyes pinched with shame. "I…I'm sorry. I tried to block it out but…I couldn't."
Starfire took a step and put a hand on her arm. "It is all right," she assured her.
"We'll talk about it later," Robin said, but there was no anger or threat in his voice.
"And then everything started to shake! The trees, the ground, I swear, even the air was vibrating," Beast Boy went on, waving his arms around. "And then the creature started to glow and Raven let out this weird growl/scream sound."
Raven pulled her hood up, hiding the ever-deepening redness of her cheeks.
"And then…" Beast Boy continued, his pace quickening as he became more and more excited, "it like…exploded! It burst into this ball of light, at the same time that tree blew up! And then it just kind of…melted into that." He pointed at the stone.
Robin nodded at him and glanced up to Bumblebee. "Pretty much," she confirmed.
Starfire took a few steps toward the stone and slowly sank to the ground beside it.
"Starfire, don't!" Aqualad called to her, shooting out a hand. "Both Speedy and I tried to pick it up and we both…" He trailed off as Starfire pressed her palm against it with no apparent effects. "…got zapped," he finished.
"I did not believe that these existed," Starfire murmured, seemingly to herself.
"You know what it is?" Bumblebee asked.
Starfire didn't answer her. Instead, she beckoned to her Aiyknrwa. "Robin, join me please."
Robin crouched next to her. "What is it, Star?"
She picked up and held out the stone. "You must touch it."
Robin placed his still-gloved fingertips on the stone.
Starfire frowned briefly. "You must touch it with your skin."
"Oh…heh…right," Robin looked sheepish for a moment, pulled off his left glove and replaced his fingers. As he did so, he sucked in a breath and stiffened, falling to his knees as a wave of emotion washed over him. Love, lust, concern, even a little fear. Starfire must have experienced the same thing; she shivered as the stone began glow faintly.
"Starfire…" Robin breathed, staring into her face.
Starfire beamed back at him, rising a few inches off the ground. "It is a dpi'syr stone," she explained, her eyes never leaving Robin. Her smile faded a little. "I do not know that there is an Earth word for it; it means something like 'one whose spirit is coupled with mine.'"
"Like a soulmate?" Rave suggested from beneath her cowl.
Starfire's beaming smile returned, her gaze never leaving Robin. "Yes. That is a very good word." Her voice became breathy and dreamy, while Robin's chest began to heave as he struggled to control himself. "There are folk stories among my people of a creature that appears when someone who has not yet experienced frpertomhfinds her Aiyknrwa. Its task is to make sure that its charge does not have her heart broken."
"When someone hasn't what?" Speedy wanted to know.
"A…virgin," Robin rasped out, his eyes fixed on Starfire. "When they're a virgin." He swallowed, his emotions still swirling, but a question formed in his mind in spite, or perhaps because, of them. "But Star…if it was supposed to protect you, why did it attack you?"
"Its task was to keep my heart from being broken, not necessarily to keep me safe," she clarified. "I was angry with you, yes, but when you were harmed, that hurt me more than any physical wound. It would rather I had died happy than had to live with the pain of your loss."
Robin shook his head at her a little, not really understanding.
Starfire attempted to explain. "There are several well-loved stories in our literature of young…virgins? Is that the correct word?" Robin nodded, and she continued. "…that are slain by their dpi'syr creatures in prevention of discovering that their aiyknrwa were unfaithful or duplicitous. " She shook her head. "I never thought it was real. I always thought it was a tale that mothers told their daughters to keep their hearts from being broken." She pressed her lips together. "Perhaps it is only real for those of royal blood."
"But what happened here?" Cyborg asked. "And why couldn't we track it?"
"It is said that the creature does not exist the way that you and I do: born of our parents and made of the building blocks of the universe. It is supposedly the manifestation of our emotional energy." Starfire answered the second question first. "And when the aiyknrwad wed or become revolethen, the creature considers its task finished, and its living energy is condensed into this. By breaking it open, they either receive the creature's final blessing, or a curse meant to drive them apart." She placed her hand over Robin's.
Robin's already labored breathing increased as his multitude of emotions tipped towards fear. "What…what if we're cursed?"
She leaned closer to him, her voice barely above a whisper. "I do not believe we are. Do you feel it?"
Robin was overcome with his emotions for her: a wish to crawl into her arms and be cuddled like a child, a longing to keep her safe, a need to see her happy, a desire to throw her to the ground right there and make love to her again. His head spun. "Oh yes."
Starfire gently pulled the stone away from Robin and with a loud "H'yah!" cracked it like an egg over a protruding root. She wrenched it apart, revealing two pearl-like gems approximately an inch in diameter. Starfire's smile almost engulfed her face, it grew so large. She twisted the gems from the stone, which crumbled to dust.
"Oh Robin! We are blessed!" Starfire held out the gems, which swirled with a multitude of iridescent colors and seemed to glow from within. Robin smiled, but shook his head. Since losing contact with the stone, his head had started to clear. The gems were pretty, but was there a meaning beyond that?
Before he could ask, Starfire began to pull her skirt down. Robin was horrified. "Starfire, what are you…" he trailed off as she stopped after a few inches, having only revealed her navel. She pressed one of the gems into the indentation and held the other out to him. "This is the blessing of the dpi'syr" she said. "You must wear this to fulfill it."
Robin could feel the stares of his other teammates, but denying Starfire anything at this moment was beyond him. He pulled his shirt from his belt and took the gem from her, pressing it into his own navel. The skin seemed to close around it a bit, holding it firmly.
He looked up into Starfire's eyes again, which were twinkling with more love than he thought possible. They reached for each other at the same time. Robin's intention was just to pull her close, but she kissed him passionately and Robin had no hesitation about kissing her back.
Mas y Menos burst into tears.
The sound pulled the dpi'syrad from their reverie and they turned their faces towards their teammates. It was then that Robin realized that Starfire had picked him up and he was floating with her. He felt the blush creep up his neck.
"I'm guessin' you two didn't just go off and get married," Bumblebee deduced.
"Um…no," Robin confirmed.
"Which means, if I'm following this right, that you two…" she trailed off as the realization struck. "Uh-huh," she finally noted as a knowing smile settled on her features.
Speedy was also putting things together. "So, you two were off getting busy, and that thing could sense Starfire, and Raven could sense the creature …" He dropped his bow and shuddered, shaking his hands. "Ewww!"
Robin had eased out of Starfire's embrace enough to sit on the ground during this exchange; he still held her hand. The blush remained around his ears, but he began an explanation nonetheless. "Starfire and I have been together about six months. In fact, it was the creature that kind of brought us together." He glanced at Starfire, who squeezed her eyes shut as her grin took over her face. "We dealt with the creature on and off during that time, but it was only the other day that we – that Raven – figured out that it was somehow linked to us, or to Starfire, at least. We thought if the two of us just went off and spent some time alone that that would be enough to lure it out so the rest of you could capture it. I guess it worked." He smiled sheepishly.
Drawing a deep breath and squaring his shoulders to brace against the last of the embarrassment, he told the rest of it. "And yes, we…" he paused, searching for a word that wasn't dirty or titillating. "…consummated our relationship this afternoon. I guess that's what caused all of this." He looked back at Starfire, the blush creeping up his neck and over his cheeks. But she just continued to smile and squeezed his hand.
"So all that stuff about taking Starfire back to the Tower to protect her…" Bumblebee looked to Cyborg.
"Was an exaggeration?" Cyborg tried. Robin looked at him and opened his mouth to question, but was cut off.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Aqualad asked. "I mean…that you were together," he quickly amended. "Not necessarily what you were planning on doing this afternoon."
Robin's shoulders slumped, tired of explaining this. "For the same reason I'm going to ask you to keep it to yourselves now. Close relationships are a liability in our line of work. I've learned over the past few months that they're worth the risk," he paused, glancing at Starfire and letting a small smile travel over his lips, "but they're still a risk to all involved. If the wrong person finds out, we'll just wind up as a bigger target. So please: outside the Tower, Starfire and I are just friends and teammates." He frowned. "I hope that's the last time I have to give that speech."
Starfire wound her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. "Do not worry, Robin. They are our friends. I am certain they will keep our best interests in mind."
"Of course we will!" Beast Boy piped up. "But…I'm still confused. You did what this afternoon that caused all this?"
The rest of the Titans all looked at each other, mixtures of humor and disbelief crossing their faces. Cyborg caught Raven's eye and raised his hands in defense. She responded by shaking her head emphatically. Cyborg held a fist up, indicating a round of Rock-Paper-Scissors to decide the impasse. "Best two out of three?" Raven croaked when her scissors lost to Cyborg's rock.
"Nuh-uh," he replied. "You lost fair and square."
Raven deflated inside of her cloak, but floated over and whispered in Beast Boy's ear.
Beast Boy's eyes grew to half the size of his face. "No way! Seriously?" Raven nodded. "And that's what caused all of this mess…? Holy….!" His eyes rolled back into his head and he fell to the ground.
"What's the matter with him?" Aqualad asked, a bit alarmed.
"Immaturity," Raven replied. "He'll be fine. I don't know about those two, though," she indicated Mas y Menos, who were still crying on each others' shoulders.
Bumblebee glanced over and rolled her eyes. "Oh, don't worry about them. They'll find somebody else to fawn over once we get home."
"So, that's it then?" Speedy queried. "The mission's over?"
Robin and Cyborg exchanged a glance. "We should collect the sensors," Cyborg answered. "But other than that…"
"The mission was to stop the creature," Robin said, climbing to his feet. "That's been accomplished." He looked around at the rest of the group. "Thanks again for all your help." He turned to Starfire. "Are you ready to go?"
"You're leaving again?" Speedy demanded.
"Our stuff is all packed up," Robin said in answer. "And there still needs to be someone back at the Tower. If you all want to collect the sensors and pack up yet tonight, that's up to you."
"And we're supposed to believe that you're actually going to go out on patrol tonight?" Speedy shot back.
Before Robin could answer, Cyborg landed a heavy hand on Speedy's shoulder. "Leave it alone, Speedy."
Speedy opened his mouth again to protest, but stopped when he realized the rest of the Titans, including Mas y Menos, were glaring at him. "Whatever." He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms in a huff.
"Friends, if you wish us to stay…" Starfire started.
"No, it's okay, Star," Bumblebee cut her off, "Speedy's just being cranky. I'm sure a few s'mores will cheer him up. You two go on."
Starfire smiled merrily. "I know I find s'mores most delightful."
"Yeah, well," Robin flashed an embarrassed smile. "If you guys need help cleaning up come morning, give us a call."
"Don't worry about it," Aqualad put in. "Get out of here, before Mas y Menos start crying again."
Starfire waved, smiling happily. "We shall see you tomorrow, friends!" And then she wrapped her arms around a relieved-looking Robin, and took off into the dusky sky.
Puff puff pant pant I can't believe I actually finished this chapter! It haunted my dreams, I swear. It is the longest chapter in the story; the longest single chapter I've ever written. It's longer than a lot of my stories, period! It's also one of the most difficult things I've ever written.
As you can see, the rating didn't change, so that means I did some creative editing. I cut almost 3,000 words! It was a really hard decision to do that, and again, I want to thank everybody that voiced their opinion. In the end, it came down to wanting to keep the story as available to everyone possible. I hope what's left still makes enough sense. I had to cut a lot of Robin/Starfire character stuff, unfortunately. But, as I've mentioned, I have every intention of posting it as a separate story. If you're old enough, check out my user page and look for "Falling: The Cut Scenes." (It's rated M for a reason.)
A few other thoughts: My initial concept for this chapter was to have what was going on with the creature and Raven match beat for beat what was happening with Robin and Starfire, but it wound up being a lot of the creature growling and Raven gasping, so I tightened it up to just hit the high points. I hope that still came through.
I don't know why I made Speedy such a jerk. Yeah, he's like that generally, but I really made him grumpy. I think I maybe needed something to cut the fluff a little so it didn't turn into treacle.
Thanks for your patience, everybody. Stay tuned; there's still one more secret to reveal.
