Chapter 35

Cyborg wandered happily into the main kitchen of the Manor. He had slept better than he had for a while and was feeling happier than he had for a while. Starfire was back with them, sort of, and the bed he had been given was just about the comfiest thing he had laid on in a long time. The only thing that could fully put the world back to rights now was a top tier breakfast… And Starfire being returned to normal of course, but they were working on that, so right now… Breakfast.

"Yo! How are you up before me?" He had to rub his eyes to make sure he wasn't just seeing a vision of Beast Boy sitting at the kitchen counter tucking into a bowl of cereal. Alfred gave him a polite greeting and turned to attend to the coffee machine.

"Dude, food." Beast Boy just pointed to his bowl.

With a shrug, Cyborg took the stool next to him just as Alfred had placed a cup of coffee and a bacon sandwich in front of him. "Oh! Thanks Alfred! How did you know?"

"I'd say it was years of practice, but Master Dick gave me your preferences when you all arrived." Alfred gave him a friendly smile.

"Speaking of, where is Dick?" Cyborg took a big bite out of his sandwich, not realising how hungry he was until he started to eat.

Beast Boy finished his bowl and scratched his head. "I haven't seen him since yesterday. When I saw Raven this morning she said she hadn't seen him either. She's in the library mediating." He suddenly sprang up in his stool. "Oh! That reminds me, Alfred do you have…"

"Miss Raven's tea." Alfred placed a tray with the tea pot and tea cup on the counter. "Would you like me to deliver it?"

"No, that's okay thanks. I'll take it." Beast Boy gripped the tray and turned to move out of the room before stopping and turning back, a puzzled look on his face. "How do I…?"

"Second staircase, left at the end of the corridor." Alfred gave a knowing chuckle. "Remember to knock on the door before you enter. I'm sure Miss Raven will appreciate it."

"Right! Will do! Thanks Alfred!" Beast Boy left the room, concentrating on not spilling the tea and holding the tray as if it might jump out of his hands. Alfred took his discarded bowl off of the counter and started to wash it as Cyborg finished his sandwich.

"In answer to your earlier question, I believe Master Dick is with Miss Starfire."

"Oh…" Cyborg put his mug down. "Maybe I should go and see if they're all right. Bat Girl knocked on my door last night to tell me they'd argued about the collar." As he moved to get off of his stool, Alfred stopped him.

"I understand your concern, Master Victor, but I believe they are sleeping. Master Bruce is keeping an eye on them and said he would inform us when they awoke."

"I suppose I can't complain that Dick's actually sleeping for once. I take it he used the belt?"

"Indeed. Master Bruce was under no illusion that Master Dick would stay away." Alfred got out a tray and started to assemble plates onto it.

"Hey Al?" Cyborg turned thoughtful. "Do you think we'll be able to get her right again?"

Alfred paused his movements and looked at Cyborg, taking in his sad expression. "Young Sir," A small smile crossed his features. "In my experience, these things always come out right in the end. Some things just take more time than others."

XXXXXX

Dick woke with a start as something pushed against him and he had to fight not to fall off the bed. With a small cry, he held on tight and pulled himself upright. It took him a few moments to realise where he was, and that what had woken him was Starfire who had bolted up and coughed up a scary amount of blood onto the blanket. "Star?" He scooted closer to her and pulled her hair back away from her face, his other hand gently rubbing her back. "It's okay. Get it up."

Starfire coughed a few more times before bringing the blanket up to wipe the blood from around her mouth. She looked at Dick with apologetic eyes and he smiled at her.

"No worries. Blankets can be washed. Are you okay?" He slowly gathered the blanket up off of her, careful to keep the blood contained, before moving off the bed to place the blanket in the corner.

"I…" She heaved in a breath before letting it out slowly. "My apologies, I did not mean to wake you. I had awoken feeling as though I were being choked." Her hand went to her throat.

Dick sat back down on the bed, concern showing across all of his features. "With the amount of blood you just coughed up, I'm not surprised. You could have choked on that in your sleep…" He trailed off before flicking his head up to face one of the cameras in the room. A Silent signal.

"Robin... " She turned to look at him and honestly looked like she hadn't slept at all, which was probably why she had called him Robin and not Richard.

He pulled on her shoulder so she was leaning on him and he wrapped his arms around her. "Are you okay?" He placed a gentle kiss on her hair.

"I do not know." Her voice broke a little and she leaned further into him.

"That's okay." He pulled back from her and lifted her chin so he could look at her. "How about, we have some food, and then you can have a nice shower and a change of clothes?"

Starfire's face lit up a little. "A shower? I am permitted?"

Dick shuffled, his eyes hitting the floor. "Raven will have to stay with you," he looked back at her, "and you'll have to come back here after, but yeah. I know you, and I know that if you were still under Slade's control, you'd have killed me in my sleep." He brought her hand up and entwined their fingers. "But I'm still here, and you're still here."

"How long will I have to stay here for?" She looked sadly at him and he squeezed her hand.

"Honestly Star, I don't know. I'm sorry. But, I can promise you that I will be here with you the whole time. If you have to be here, then so do I."

Her hand detangled from his to caress his face and he turned into her palm. "But I am in here because I am a danger. I do not wish to harm you…" She pulled away from him and stood from the bed. "Any more than I already have."

He followed her from the bed, standing before her and taking her wrists in his hands. "Star, you're not going to hurt me."

"You do not know that!" She tried, in vain, to pull her arms from his light grip, but he held tight, forcing her to look at him.

"Yes I do." Pulling her wrists down sharply, he got her to stop squirming. She was shocked at the force of his actions. "Starfire, stop. I don't want to fight with you anymore." He sighed, this was not what he was expecting and he was feeling too tired to want to have this out with her. Yes he understood her concerns, but he'd spoken to her three times since getting her back and twice they'd argued. "Look, I won't stay if you really don't want me to, but I'm not letting you sit in here by yourself whilst Bruce looks for an answer. I'll either be in here with you, or sat just on the other side of that glass, which, let's face it, means that if you wanted to hurt me, either way you probably could. But you're not going to hurt me." He released one of her wrists and tucked her hair behind her ear. "You're so incredibly brave and strong, but we all need someone there every now and then. Please, Starfire, let me help you."

She nodded gently. "Richard…" She wrapped her arms around him.

"Who's hungry?" Cyborg's voice bellowed from the door.

Dick and Starfire both turned toward the new voice to see Raven, Beast Boy, and Cyborg with a tray in his hands, all standing in the doorway. Dick motioned that they could come in and he detangled himself from Starfire's embrace. She smiled and moved so she could face them through the glass.

"Friends! It is glorious to see you."

Raven took note of the fact that Starfire sounded cheerey, but there was none of the usual infectiousness to her voice, as well as the undercurrent of emotions she could feel coming off of the princess. As the three of them reached the cell, Raven popped the tray out of Cyborg's hands and it reappeared on the floor next to Dick's foot.

"Thanks Raven." He moved to sit on the floor, pulling Starfire down with him. On the other side of the glass, the other three Titans did the same. Dick took the plate that had a singular sandwich on it, as well as a mug of coffee, before pushing the tray over to Starfire who eyed it suspiciously. There were a few different things on it, and she didn't like the look of any of it.

"You gotta eat, little lady." Cyborg gestured to the tray. "We don't know when the last time you ate was."

Starfire picked up a strawberry and popped it in her mouth, chewing slowly. "I do not know the last time I ate either, but I do not feel like I wish to eat."

"Dude, you have nine stomachs." Beast Boy piped up. "How can you be anything but hungry?"

Starfire picked up another strawberry but immediately placed it back in the bowl. "Perhaps it is the overabundance of energy I currently hold. We can survive off of the energy in place of food if necessary."

"You don't have to eat if you're not hungry, Star." Dick said, his voice soft. "But at least drink something, please." He handed her a glass of water which she took a few sips of before putting it down.

"If only you still had the appetite you had when you first landed here!" Beast Boy crooned, laughter in his voice. "You ate so much candy in that store!"

Everyone chuckled at the memory, except Starfire who looked at him and turned thoughtful. "Yeah," Cyborg cut in, "wrappers included." They all laughed at the memory, aside again from Starfire who had knotted her eyebrows.

"Was that before or after Slade freed me?"

The room instantly went deadly silent. Everyone turned to look at Starfire with concern. Dick put his mug down and unconsciously shuffled back from her slightly. "Star? What are you talking about?"

She looked at him, entirely confused. "I remember going to the candy store and eating the food there... " She paused, lifting her hand to her mouth as if it might help her think. She did a motion moving her hands, reenacting when she ate the candy. "It was after Slade had freed me from my bindings, because both of my hands were free, and then you came to the candy store. How do you not remember how we met?"

The three Titans outside of the cell didn't know what to think. Cyborg looked at Raven who closed her eyes for a moment. "She thinks she's telling the truth." Raven sounded lost, unsure of what to do.

"I am telling the truth." Starfire looked around at her friends, it was obvious she was unsure why they were all reacting so badly.

"Star," Dick reached out to take her hand, but changed his mind and dropped his hand back down. "That's not how we met."

"Yes it is! I was at the pizza junction trying to remove my handcuffs when…" She stopped.

"When I hit you with a birdarang."

She ran a hand down the side of her face. "It hit my crown." Suddenly she looked like she was about to burst into tears. It looked to the rest of the Titans as though it were the first time she was remembering what had happened.

"Starfire, can you tell us how you think we met?" Raven was closer to the glass now, one of her hands pressed up against it.

"I… I landed on Earth at the Pizza junction. I remember feeling frightened. I remember a flash of light, and then… I now remember Robin's birdarang hitting me, and then I was fighting with someone, though I cannot recall who it was. Then after I had managed to get away from them, Slade approached, introduced himself and freed me." She brought her hands to her head and squeezed her eyes shut. "But that is not right! Because it was Robin who I acquired English from." She lifted her head up and locked her teary eyes with Dick's very concerned ones. "What is happening? Why do I have two different memories from the day we met?"

"I don't know, Star." As much as it was very concerning to him that this was happening, and there was that little bit of doubt in his mind that she might not be entirely free of Slade's influence after all, he pushed the tray out of the way and pulled her into a hug.

"Star, can you tell me what happened when Slade approached you that day? Do you remember what he said?" Raven asked, concern dripping into her voice.

"I remember very clearly. He approached cautiously, saying something I did not understand. Then he removed my handcuffs and told me that if I needed help with anything to go and find him at the pier. I told him to leave me alone, through fear of him being hunted by the Gordanians."

"How did you learn English?"

They all held their breath, hoping with all their might that she wasn't about to say what they all had in mind. Starfire blanched and looked at Raven in a panic. "From Robin." A relieved breath was let out by all of them, she had said that twice so she must be sure of it.

"Starfire, what you're saying is that Slade freed you, you then learnt English from Robin, then Slade talked to you again, and then you met all of us. It doesn't make any sense."

"I know!" She started rocking in Dick's arms, pushing her hands into her forehead as if it would force the memory forward.

"I don't know how he's done it," Dick pulled her hands away from her forehead, worried she would hurt herself. "But he's changed your memories. It wasn't mind control he had you under."

"I do not understand."

"We need to speak to Bruce and Galfore. Bruce!" He shouted a little louder, knowing that Bruce had probably been listening in on their conversation. "Starfire, is there anything you remember from when you were with Slade?"

"No I…"

"Starfire, I need you to really concentrate for me." He sat her up and she could see the seriousness in his face. "Anything at all?"

She breathed in deeply and closed her eyes. They could all see the deep concentration on her face. "I am sorry Robin. I do not remember anything after Beast Boy took me to the gymnastics room at Titans Tower."

"That's alright. We'll figure this out."

"We already have." Bruce made them all jump as he appeared in the doorway, Galfore's huge frame behind him. They entered the room, Glafore's face was matching Bruce's with how stoic they both looked. "Galfore and I were listening to your conversation and we think we have an idea of what has happened."

"Little one," Galfore bent to meet Starfire's gaze. "Do you recall this Slade mentioning that he needed you to fall into a healing sleep?"

"Yes. He said he needed me to fall into a healing sleep for his plan to work, though he did not mention why." She grabbed Dick's hand and held it tight.

"Well, Robin and Batman had asked for our scholars to gather all of the information Tamaran had on the healing sleep."

"It's just a theory," Bruce interjected, "but we believe from the notes we have that Slade placed you into a healing sleep so he could essentially turn off the part of your mind that holds your memories. Healing sleeps shut down the parts of the brain that aren't needed whilst a Tamaranean recovers, memories being one of them. I don't know how he's done it, and we can't really look with that collar on, but we think that he's placed false memories into your mind to make you believe you work for him. Due to the fact that you don't remember what has happened while you were with him now that you have that collar on, I think that the memories might be being fed to you through some kind of technology, in a similar way to how he was able to alter Dick's dreams."

Starfire had gone deathly still and quiet. No one was quite sure if she was listening.

"That's all well and good, but that doesn't explain why she has two memories of when we met." Beast Boy pulled on his ears, the whole situation frightening him a little bit.

"I'm not entirely sure. Either way, it can't be good and we need to find a solution to this sooner rather than later. If we are right, the memories she's been fed for so long are making themselves permanent, almost becoming real memories, which is why we need to be very careful not to trigger any more."

"The more of the fake memories I remember…" Starfire looked up at Bruce with a blank expression on her face. "Means that eventually I will no longer be able to tell which ones are real."

"It's just a theory, but yes, we think so. That's why you're having such a hard time figuring out how the five of you met. You know how you met them, but your mind wants to believe Slade was there as well."

Anger swelled in Starfire, how dare Slade do this to her. He has no right to alter her memories this way, all for the sake of control. She squeezed her eyes shut as her fists clenched. Dick pulled her in tighter and she was grateful for his warmth. As the room went quiet, no one noticed as Starfire's eyes flashed green beneath their lids.