Author's Note: Hey y'all! Thank you for being so patient with me the last week or so. I was out of town this past weekend and didn't get to do a whole lot of writing (I did end up pulling out my laptop on the plane though). Things are a little rough right now with my personal life so please bear with me as I continue this story. Don't worry, this story WILL get done. Just, sometimes, writing is a good distraction for me and other times, it seems like it takes so much energy to sit down and try to start a new chapter. I need all the good vibes I can get, y'all.

ALSO! I am open to taking requests! Nothing multi-chaptered, just one-shots for right now. Feel free to PM me at any time and we can talk about what is on-the-table or off-limits concerning content, genre, themes, ratings, ships, etc. I can't promise that it will get done in a timely manner, since my first priority is finishing this story, but if you guys have any requests, feel free to send them my way. I always love talking to y'all. It makes my day.

Thankful for each and every one of you. You all inspire me. Thanks for stopping by.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.

CHAPTER 8

Robin rolled onto his back for what felt like the thousandth time that evening, blinking at the dark ceiling above him. For the life of him, he couldn't sleep. He had tried absolutely everything too. He had put away all of his electronics at least an hour before bedtime, he had drank a warm glass of milk, he had even started reading in the hopes that it would put him to sleep. Although, Cyborg insisted that reading the crime reports from the week didn't count as "relaxation". He rubbed at his eyes with the heels of his hands, groaning. He had spent hours in the gym this afternoon, beating away relentlessly at a punching bag and perfecting a new training routine for the Titans. He was exhausted. He should've fallen asleep the second his head hit the pillow. Yet, here he was, awake. Awake and frustrated. He glanced at the clock on his bedside table: 2:25 AM. He grumbled, ripping the sheets away from his body as he sat up. They felt like they were strangling him anyway.

He should go see Raven. Yeah, that would do the trick. She could probably do some incantation or spell or something that would allow him to sleep. Marvelous plan. His best one yet.

Not bothering to turn on the lights, he blearily climbed out of bed, fumbling for his mask in the darkness and plastering it across his eyes before exiting his room. He began trudging down the hallway, careful to not wake his fellow teammates before stopping abruptly in front of a certain door. He stared at the engraved metal lettering bearing her name. Starfire.

He grimaced. He had been such an asshole to her earlier that day. If only he had explained to her how he actually felt instead of just yelling like he always did. God, why did he always yell? He slapped a palm against his forehead, cursing at himself silently. He could fix this. He'd talk to her tomorrow, he decided. He'd pull her aside and have a proper, sit-down conversation with her and he would tell her everything, provided that she didn't toss a starbolt at his head. It's not like he didn't deserve it. Tomorrow. He would fix everything tomorrow. Anything's better than standing in front of her door like an idiot in the middle of the night.

So then why did he find himself suddenly rapping his knuckles softly against the cold steel before he could stop himself. Great move, Grayson. "S-Starfire?" he whispered. He waited for a response. "Starfire, you awake?" he called out, slightly louder. Still nothing. He sighed heavily, dropping his forehead against the metal panel. "L-listen, Star… I know that I'm probably… the last person you would ever want to see right now and I know it's the middle of the night, but there's just some things I need to say… can we talk?" Silence. He frowned, trailing his fingers across her name. She was probably asleep. He shouldn't disturb her. Besides, he's pretty sure the only thing that would come out of his mouth right now would be sleep-deprived gibberish.

Vowing to talk to her first thing in the morning, he continued down the hallway, pausing as he reached Raven's door. As he lifted a hand to knock, the door slid open, revealing the sorceress. Her purple hair was unkempt, she was wearing long black sweatpants, and a large oversized white T-shirt featuring Beast Boy as various cartoon versions of himself. The changeling had purchased it as a gag gift for her months ago and she had sworn to the others that she had burnt it to ash.

Robin blinked at her. "How'd you know I was here?" he asked.

She gave him a flat look. "Empathy link, remember." She rubbed at her temples in annoyance. "I could hear you screaming your thoughts all the way from over here. They've been keeping me up all night," she droned, a sharp edge to her voice.

He opened his mouth to respond before tilting his head in confusion. "Isn't that the shirt Beast Boy got you for Christmas last year?" he asked, a grin teasing at his lips.

Her pale skin suddenly flushed and she scowled. "What do you want?" she spit through clenched teeth.

Robin chuckled. "Can I come in?"

She nodded and grudgingly stepped aside as he slipped inside her bedroom, pausing awkwardly as he glanced around the room and noticed the particularly… morbid decor. The two Titans were close, but their relationship was different from the others. Sure, they weren't exactly buddies like Cyborg and Beast Boy, and they certainly weren't close like Robin and Starfire, but there was a shared understanding between them. They were both such private and independent people, it was natural that they felt connected to each other.

"I-I just… haven't been able to sleep and I was wondering if…" He scratched the back of his neck. "Maybe… you could like, I dunno, put me to sleep with like, a spell or something?"

"Does this have something to do with the whole Starfire situation?"

His eyes grew wide as he sputtered. "N-no! Why would that have anything to do with me not sleeping?"

She smirked. "You're not exactly a closed book when it comes to her, you know."

Knowing there was no use in her arguing her point, he groaned, squatting down on the floor and sitting back on his heels as he tugged his hair between his fingers. "I don't know how I screwed it up so badly, Raven…"

She slowly knelt beside him. "Maybe… have you tried telling her how you actually feel?"

He scoffed bitterly. "I-I just… I can't… I don't know if that's in the cards for… someone like me…"

The half-demon paused before scooting closer to him. She opened and closed her mouth several times, mulling over her words carefully. "Listen…" she began. "You know me. Probably better than anyone. I'm not the best with… feelings." She nearly shuddered at the word. "What I do know… is that the answer is not to push others away." She gripped his elbow, pulling his hands from the sides of his head, forcing him to look her in the eyes. "You think you're helping people. You think you're doing her a favor. But you're not. You're hurting the people that you love. And one day… when you do realize how badly you've screwed up and you're ready to change… she might not be around." She untangled her feet beneath her, rising to stand. "Life's short, Robin, especially for people in… our line of work. Tell her while you can." She gave him a knowing smile. "But maybe not right now."

He laughed as she offered him a hand, pulling him to his feet. Before she could release him, he had tugged her hand forward into a hug, wrapping his arms around her back and resting his chin against her shoulder. She tensed slightly at the sudden display of affection before relaxing, allowing her arms to encircle his shoulders. "You always were the sister I never had, Rae," he said softly.

She patted him on the back briefly before untangling herself from his grip. "Yeah, yeah, just don't expect that all the time…" Her tone quickly turned serious. "And don't you dare tell Beast Boy about any of this. He can't know that I'm capable of actual emotion. I'll never hear the end of it."

Robin held up a hand, crossing two fingers over his heart. "Scout's honor." He flashed her a boyish grin.

She rolled her eyes in response. "C'mon, Boy Wonder, let's see what we can do to help you to sleep."

"You'll help?"

She nodded, walking over to her bookshelf and scanning the shelves carefully. "I should have a spell here that can put you to sleep instantaneously. We'll wait until we're back in your room." She threw him a look behind her shoulder. "You cannot sleep here."

"Noted."

She picked a book from the shelf, flipping it open and skimming the pages quickly. "Here it is. Should do the trick. It'll put you out for 10 hours…" She squinted at the text. "Or 10 days."

"You don't know?"

She shrugged. "Guess we're about to find out."

Despite his hesitance, the two began to make their way back down the hallway towards Robin's room before he stopped her with a hand to the shoulder. He shot her a sheepish sideways glance, running a hand through his drooping hair. "Could you… could you maybe… check on her?" he said, jerking his head in the direction of Starfire's door.

Raven paused. "You know this is unhealthy… right?"

He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Yeah, yeah…"

"No, seriously, like this borders on obsession.

"Whatever, will you just check?"

She seemed to consider it. "Fine. I'll portal into her room real quick and then I'll meet you in yours."

He puffed a sigh of relief. "I owe you, Raven."

With a dismissive wave, she disappeared into the black void and Robin returned to his room. He yawned, stretching his arms overhead as he flopped onto his bed. Finally, some well-deserved sleep. Then, first thing in the morning, he would talk to Starfire. And he was going to tell her everything. He was going to tell her exactly how he felt about her. He was going to say how badly he missed her, how much of an ass he had been to her and how much he regretted it, how he wanted to start over, how he wanted to be more. Yeah, everything.

He couldn't stop the grin that stretched across his face. Sure, maybe she wouldn't take it well and she'd launch him halfway across the bay. And maybe she wouldn't. Maybe she'd tell him exactly how she felt about him. And maybe he'd finally get to feel her lips moving against his again. God, just thinking about it made a dizzying warmth settle into the pit of his stomach and his head started to spin. The more that he thought about it, the more he wondered what had taken him so long to understand his feelings for her. She was his best friend. He trusted her with his life. He needed her, he wanted her, he lo-

He shot upright, the realization slapping him upside the head like a ton of bricks. It couldn't be true… right? Sure, he had feelings for her, but they were still young. Up until this point, he had continued just chalking it all up to teenage hormones. It wasn't that serious… yet. But if this was the case, then… fuck it, he had to see her. And he had to see her now. It was the middle of the night and she'd probably be mad he just barged into her room unannounced and woke her up, but he had to know. He had to. He needed to-

"She's not there." Raven had suddenly appeared in the corner of his room, panic etched across her face.

Robin merely blinked, staring mutely for a moment. "What?"

"She's not there," she repeated, an urgent edge to her voice.

His jaw went slack. He must've misheard her, she must not be explaining herself correctly. "What do you mean 'she's not there?'"

She growled with frustration and floated towards him, grabbing him by the collar and hauling him to his feet. "See for yourself," she snarled.

The next thing he knew, he was standing in the middle of Starfire's room. Everything seemed to be perfectly normal, except for the fact that the alien herself was absent. He was about to tell Raven that she must be in the bathroom or had gone to the kitchen for a glass of water when he saw that the window was slightly ajar. His blood ran cold. It's alright, she probably just went on a nighttime flight, even though that was totally not normal Starfire behavior to begin with. He saw that her communicator sat abandoned on her nightstand and his heart started beating faster. She wouldn't do that. She never went anywhere without telling the others. He began walking towards the window when he stepped on something foreign and cylindrical. He frowned, looking down and noticing a syringe laying beneath his foot. He slowly knelt to the ground and picked it up. It seemed that there was a leftover liquid inside, a vaguely orange color.

"Robin?" Raven asked. He faintly remembered that he had never heard the girl quite so scared before.

His chest seized, his breaths were coming in short gasps. Open window. Strange syringe. Medicine, of some kind. No Starfire. She left her communicator. This could only mean one thing.

He turned to face his teammate, his mouth set in a tight line and a look of rage gripping his features. "Alert the others," he bit through a clenched jaw. "Starfire's been taken."

—

No one dared to make a sound. The Ops room was nearly silent save for the sound of Cyborg typing furiously as his fingers flew across the keyboard and the sound of their leader pacing a hole into the carpet while breathing sharply through his teeth. The others eyed him warily, exchanging nervous glances between them. It was only a matter of time before the masked teen popped a blood vessel.

Robin grumbled, rubbing at his temples. "C'mon, Cyborg, give me something."

The android growled and shook his head. "I'm doing the best that I can, but I can't pick up her signature anywhere." He pressed a few more buttons before he cursed, slamming his fist into the table. The whole room seemed to shake. "Without her communicator, there's not much to go off of in terms of her location."

"Well, try harder," he muttered. Cyborg tossed him an irritated glance over his shoulder, but the hero had already turned to face the half-demon, who was meditating in the corner. "Raven, anything?"

She cracked open an eye, peering at him. "I can't sense her aura. She must be out of range."

Robin looked as if he was about to dissolve into hysterics at any moment. "What do you mean? Can't you do anything?"

The doors slid open as a green dog charged into the room, launching himself over the couch before shifting back into his human form, landing in a crouch. His ears wilted at the sight of his teammates. "I can't pick up any scent from her room," Beast Boy moaned, tugging at his hair. His eyes were wild with fear.

Robin saw red. He waved his hands wildly in the air. "Are you serious, Titans? This is the best we can do?!"

Cyborg stood from his seat, placing a hand against the hero's shoulder. "Yo, Rob. You need to chill."

Robin roughly shoved his hand from his shoulder, whirling to face the android and thrusting a trembling finger in his face. "Do NOT tell me to chill! Not when she's out there! Who knows what's happened to her by now!"

Beast Boy scrambled from his place on the floor. "Robin, calm down, dude!"

"She could be hurt, tortured, dead-"

"And you don't think we're upset?"

"Just that you're not doing anything about it!"

"You better watch that mouth, you skinny, spiky-haired freak!"

"Yeah, this isn't our fault! If you guys didn't have that huge fight earlier today, we wouldn't be here right now!"

The sound of a lightbulb bursting overhead sliced through the tension. "Enough." The three quarreling boys swiveled to face the female Titan, noticing that her four eyes were glowing a sinister red beneath the darkness of her cape. She unfurled her legs from her floating position and rose to standing, slowly lowering the hood from her face. "Now is not the time to be fighting and now is definitely not the time to be blaming each other." She cast a scathing glare towards Cyborg and Beast Boy before turning to face Robin. "Starfire is out there, probably hurt, but taking it out on us isn't going to help her. So, if you really care about her as much as you say you do, then you'll shut the hell up and do your job."

But before the Boy Wonder could respond, the monitor suddenly flickered to life and a familiar voice echoed throughout the room.

"Hello, Titans." The words hung heavily in the air as the four Titans slowly turned to face the screen. None of them moved, none of them dared to speak.

Cyborg inhaled a shuddering breath. "No," he whispered.

"This can't be real." Beast Boy seemed as if he was about to vomit, pass out, or a combination of both.

Even Raven seemed frightened. "You're supposed to be dead," she said in a trembling voice.

A chuckle. "This is true, my dear. But life and death are such… fragile things."

Only Robin did not seem to be startled by the sudden appearance. "Where is she, Slade?" he growled.

The villain gave a disapproving tsk from behind his amber mask. "My, my, Robin. No time for pleasantries? After all, it has been quite a while since I've seen all of your wonderful faces." He paused for a moment. "Oh, I almost forgot. Did you enjoy the charity gala? I do hope that my… interruption did not put a damper on the party."

Robin pounded his fist into the table. "Where the hell is she?!"

Slade sighed and disappeared from view for a moment. He was in a dark room, that much was obvious, but the details of his surroundings weren't visible to the others. He picked up the camera, keeping the lens pointed downwards so that the Titans could only see his boots walking through the room. Suddenly, the camera swiveled upwards to reveal an area of the building illuminated by a single overhead light. And this time, Beast Boy really did hurl.

There she was, strapped to an upright table. Her hands and feet were bound and her head was dropped, her crimson hair falling around her like a curtain and hiding her face from view. Dark bruises littered both sides of her body, as well as various cuts and scrapes, including a rather deep wound at her left shoulder that seemed to be leaking blood. Tiny track marks were scattered along the inside of her left elbow, running all the way up towards the side of her neck. Robin felt the bile rising up into his throat as his stomach twisted violently.

"Why don't you get a better look at her?" the villain hissed before a gloved hand appeared on the screen, grabbing a fistful of her hair and yanking backwards. The alien cried out in pain, but her scream was muffled. A cloth was wrapped securely around her mouth and her face was contorted in pain, a thin layer of sweat and blood covering her features. Her eyes were shut tightly. "Come now, Starfire, that's no way to greet your friends," he taunted into her ear. "Such bad manners, especially from a princess."

Robin felt his hands closing into fists of their own accord and he dropped his head. He exhaled slowly, focusing on breathing in and out through his nostrils. In and out, in and out. He had to focus, he had to keep his cool. He couldn't let her down. He faced the monitor. "What do you want?" he spit at the screen.

Slade turned to face the camera once again and released his grip on her, dropping her head back against the metal slab. "Why don't you come find out for yourself."

"Just tell me where."

He chuckled. "Now where's the fun in that?" The masked hero didn't miss the sinister tone in his laughter. "I expect to be hearing from you soon. Oh, and Robin?" He swore he could practically see him smirk beneath the mask. "Why don't we settle this together. Just you and I."

The other Titans began to protest, but their leader held up a hand, halting their objections. "Fine. We'll play by your rules."

Slade nodded for a moment. "Excellent. Ta-ta, Titans." With a small click, the line was disconnected and the screen was black.

Robin sighed shakily. "Cyborg."

His teammate swallowed, exchanging an anxious look with the others. "…y-yeah?"

"Please tell me you were recording that."

A knowing smirk slowly spread across his face. "You bet your skinny ass I did."

Robin nodded, content with his answer. His mouth was set into a tight line as he faced the window, looking out across the bay. He could just barely see the first rays of the morning sun peaking over the horizon. "Good." He turned, looking around at his team. His features hardened. "Let's go get our girl."

Author's Note: Yeah, Robin is pissed. Please keep letting me know what y'all think in the reviews!