This is the last Starfire focus chapter, so back to the Raven and Robin romance.
Also, I can't believe that I posted 3 chapters in 2 days. Sorry for the mistakes. Enjoy :)
A Week with Starfire
Day 1
Starfire spent the whole day with Kate. It was hectic as they cancel runway shows, interviews and photo shoots. The company still wanted to promote her workout line, and they all agreed that it was possible since it was basically finished. And although it was a hectic day, Kate made sure that they ate lunch at Sparkle.
Day 2
Retra came over to help her pack, or at least, that was the original plan. Somehow, they ended up at the spa, then a trip to the mall, which was follow by a movie. It was Retra's going-away present for her. Although, she didn't get any packing done, she had fun.
Day 3
She actually packed, thanks to Raven and her powers. This was the longest time that she spent with the other female Titan since the team reformed. It was a pleasant day with her although she wondered why they had never spent time together before now.
Day 4
She spent the day with Changeling and Cyborg. Their antics kept her laughing. They took her to all of her favorite spots to eat. They even bought her favorite brand of mustard along just encased the restaurants didn't have it. She was stuffed once she returned to the Tower that night.
Day 5
It was decided that they, along with Retra, would have the Titans' quarterly picnic early. This year, instead of having it at the park, like they normally did, they had it on a private beach, away from the public eyes. The picnic was cut short thanks to Plasma. However, it didn't stop the party. After the fight with Plasma, they continued with the picnic on top of the Tower. It would be a day that she would always remember.
Day 6
Even though her schedule varied each day, for the last six days, there was two constants: morning breakfast with Nightwing and evening conversation with Nightwing.
However, on the sixth day, she got to spend the entire day with Nightwing. They spent the day doing all their favorite activities that they enjoyed together as a couple and trying the things that they had put off.
It was bittersweet. She knew that he was on edge around her since she told him that she was leaving. On one hand, she could tell that he was upset with her still. On the other hand, he wanted her to have a good time before she left. This was what she loved about Nightwing: he always put others first.
Day 7
Starfire stared at her friends. Once again, she was imprinting the memory of them in her minds. She didn't know when she would see them again, if ever.
"Bye, Kory," Kate hugged her with tears in her eyes. "I'm going to miss you. I don't know how the mail runs from Tamaran to Earth, but I do know that Jared pass by your planet often. So, send a letter when you can as well as the wedding picture."
"Of course. I will even send you a traditional Tamaran wedding cake to go along with the picture." They squeezed each other before letting go.
Retra stepped up next. "So, I guess, I will have to plan spa days with Cyborg now."
"He was your first choice anyway." They ran into each other arms.
"If you want," Retra whispered in her ear. "I can steal a spaceship and totally crash your wedding."
The alien shook her head inside of her friend's neck. "You wouldn't make it pass the Tamaranean Space Force."
"A girl can try." They stepped apart.
"Come here, girl. Give Cy your best hug." She flew into Cyborg and hug him harder than the rest.
"I'm going to miss you."
"Me too." They stayed in each other arms for a minute before separating.
"I don't know how well a Javier Tooka dress will do on Tamaran, but I couldn't let you leave without having the dress to go along with the shoes and purse.
A tear fell from her eyes. A Javier Tooka dress wouldn't do well on Tamaran. Nevertheless, she will wear the dress as often as she could.
"Thank you, friend," she said, taking the gift from him.
Next, Changeling came crashing into her. "Starfire!"
"Changeling!" He hugged her tightly.
"Here," he said as he pulled away. It was a photo of all the Titans. It was the one that Changeling took when they first reform, but never shared with the rest of the team. Two more tears left her eyes as she remembered that day.
"There's a joke on the back." She turned it over. "You know, one for the road." She smiled as she read the joke. It was her favorite one by Changeling although she didn't understand the whole thing.
"Thank you." She turned. "Friend Raven." They haven't been close since the team rejoined, but she loved her. And she knew that Raven love her too. They shared a brief hug.
"I'll miss you, Starfire."
"I will miss you too, friend Raven."
"Here." She handed her a wrapped gift. "I know that you were looking forwarded to the Little Butterflies' new album. I figure that you would have forgotten to get it since you were packing."
She smiled. She had forgotten. "Where did you find a CD for their album? They only stream their music."
She shrugged. "The Tower still has a CD burner."
She gave the mystic Titan a sad smile. "Thank you." She faced the last Titan. The person, who she will miss the most.
"Nightwing."
"Starfire." This departure was different than the last one. The last one had been filled with love and desperation. They hadn't been able to keep their hands off of each other, expressing their feelings through their lovemaking.
This time, they barely touched. She knew that he was still dealing with the loss of their daughter; however, she found herself wishing that they could depart like last time: with love and desperation.
"I -" She pulled him into a passionate kiss, hoping to show him that her heart was forever his. She deepened the kiss. He kissed her back. She pushed into him. He gathered her closer.
She pulled away with tears in her eyes. That was not the kiss that she wanted. He didn't kiss her like he loved her. He kissed her like he was doing her a favor. It was to make her happy, and not because he wanted to.
"Here." He handed her a small gift. She opened it and her heart soared. This was what she had wanted, what she had been waiting for. The ring in the small, velvet box matched the other pieces of jewelry that he had been giving her. This ring was-
"The ring will send a distress signal to here if you are ever in trouble." Her world crashed at his words. He wasn't asking her to stay.
"I….I…" She blinked the tears away. "I love you."
His face softened, and his hard masked cracked a little. "I love you too, Starfire." He stepped back. "Have a safe trip."
She looked at him a second longer, before saying, "good-bye". She shot off into the air and entered into the space craft.
She was greeted by the general, who remained scarcely visible during his trip on Earth. He wanted her to have uninterrupted time with her friends.
"Princess, let's return home." However, for her, she was leaving her home.
They watched the space craft leave until it was no longer visible. Nightwing whispered a last, silent goodbye before strolling off the roof. He was at the elevator when he felt the pressure of Changeling's arm on his shoulder.
"Come with me," the shifter whispered, "before the others notice."
He groaned. "C, I'm not in the mood for-" He was pushed in the elevator that had arrived.
He watched as his friend pressed a button to a floor that the Titans rarely used. "What's this about?" He tapped his foot impatiently, watching the elevator go down.
"You'll see when we get there."
"Changeling," he growled, giving him a murderous look.
"Fine. Fine. You know, how after Killer Moth's attack on the Tower, we left some of the places still damage?" Nightwing nodded. "Well, I decided to change one of the rooms into something else. I haven't shared this with anyone else, but I thought that I'll share it with you."
Nightwing rubbed his forehead but didn't say anything. He couldn't understand why this couldn't wait until later. "What did you change it into?"
The elevator chimed. They stepped off it and was greeted by clear plastic sheets. The sheets were used to keep dust to a minimal during construction. He pushed them back as he followed Changeling through the maze of sheets
"Well, you know, how my parents died in Africa, and I only had a few trinkets from them?"
"Yeah," he said, still not seeing where this was going.
"Well, sometimes, I like to talk with them." They reached a door, and when they opened it, the lights turned on. It was a columbarium.
There were only three spots that had writing on it along with flowers in the small vase beside them.
"These are my parents." He touched two vaults, which contained small trinkets inside of them. You could see the trinkets through the glass window, which had the name, a small quote, and birth and death dates of the person on it.
"And beside my parents is Mary." Nightwing walked to the empty vault. The glass, however, had both of his daughter's names, Mary and Nightstar, her warrior name, and the quote read 'The beloved daughter of Starfire and Nightwing and the little hero of the Titans.'
When he touched it, a hologram video came to life. He backed up to see a little girl with silky, black hair and bright, green eyes flying towards him while giggling. She stopped and made a kissy face before saying, "I love you." Then she was gone.
"General What's-his-face gave me the video," said Changeling. "I hope you don't mind."
Nightwing pulled Changeling into a tight hug. "Thanks," he choked out.
Changeling broke away, rubbing his neck in embarrassment. "Well, I'll leave you here. It looks like you need a moment." He stepped out of the room, leaving Nightwing to cry in peace.
"She was a cute kid." Nightwing turned to see Cyborg entering the room.
"Thanks." He turned back to the hologram, which he figured out how to put on repeat, as Cyborg sat on the floor beside him.
"Changeling has his moments, doesn't he?"
Nightwing smiled. "Yes, he sure does."
"I'll get the space clean up, so you guys won't have to walk through this mess, and later, I'll make this into a proper place. Changeling can submit a design later if he wants since the idea was his."
"Thanks…also, I'm sorry."
"For what?" Cyborg twisted his neck to watch him.
"For that dick move that I pull with the ring after you warned me not to do anything to hurt her…. I was just tired of pretending that everything was okay. That I was okay with her not telling me about Mary. I couldn't even argue about it, because she was leaving so soon…. I couldn't even touch her, because I kept wondering if she would become pregnant again and take another child away from me. A child who would be raise by man that wasn't me. And I had to be okay with her leaving to marry someone else again. I wanted her to suffer too. I wanted to hurt her just a little like she had hurt me. But now, I just feel empty and regret. She was suffering too."
Cyborg signed, leaning his head back against the wall. "She would've stayed if you would've asked. It was on her face."
"I couldn't."
"You had let her slip through your fingers once before. She was lost to you for years. I thought that you'd have done everything to hold on to her this time."
He was silent for a moment before speaking. "I love her, Cy. She is kind, sweet, and giving. She will always be precious to me. But, when she looked at me, telling me with her eyes that she was willing to become a traitor and turn her back on her people for me, I knew that I couldn't let her do it…. But I couldn't ask her to stay, not now and not then. "
"Why not? " His masked eyes met with the human and robot ones of his friend.
"Because if the situation were reverse, I wouldn't have stayed if she asked. I love her, but at the moment, I questioned how much."
"Love is a funny thing. Sometimes it's too much; other times it's too little."
"Is love ever enough?"
He pictured tears flowing from Sarah's beautiful blue eyes. He heard her begging him not to leave. "That depends on the people involve."
"Princess." General Ph'yzzon knocked on the door.
"Yes?"
"It is General Ph'yzzon. I have brought your dinner."
"I'm not hungry." Her voice sounded weak and pitiful.
"Please, princess, you must eat, or we'll be in trouble if you don't. How will we explain to your brother the reason why you have become so thin?"
"Enter."
Ph'yzzon entered the princess's outer chamber. He placed their dinner on the table before joining her on the wide window sill. The outside view was spectacular as distance stars and planets passed by the window's view.
His eyes turned to observe the Great Princess of his planet while she kept her gaze beyond the view that the window offered. She was as beautiful and as sad as the first day that he met her.
His eyes strayed to her hands. She fidgeted with the ring, he guessed, that Nightwing gave her. She moved the ring to her left hand and placed it on the finger beside her pinky. She twisted and turned it there before leaving it alone. Then, she pulled the ring off and placed it on the same finger on her right hand. It stayed on that finger for a second before she repeated the cycle over. It was painful to watch because he knew what her thoughts were.
He grabbed her hands when she placed the ring on her right hand and lifted them up. She looked at him with curiosity and a little bit of fear. It was in his right, as her betrothed, to ask her to share her bed with him. She had nothing to fear; he would never ask.
He removed the ring from her finger and observed it for a second. He wasn't sure if he would consider it beautiful or not, jewelry was not his forte, but he knew that it screamed Starfire.
He put the ring back on her hand. Not on the right hand, but on the left, where he knew that she wanted it.
Her eyes left the ring to find his.
"I know that you love him. Our marriage doesn't mean you have to stop," he said gently. "Continue to love him as long as and as hard as you want to. As your future husband, I'm fine with that." He smiled. "I know that you don't want this marriage and that you rather be on Earth with him. And that is fine as well. What is not fine is you not eating, you being sad. "He brushed the tears from her face. "And you locking who you really are away.
"The only duties that I have for you as my wife: be yourself when you are with me; stay safe at all times; if there's a problem, come to me first; and be as happy as you can be on Tamaran.
"If loving him makes you happy, then love him with your whole heart. Your safety and your happiest are the two most important things to me as your confidant and your husband."
She didn't say anything. She just fell into his arms and cried, unaware of the general's burning love for her. A love that was ignited on the first day that she smiled at him, and a love that he was willing to ignore for her.
