Chapter Two:: Hero
THANKS to SuperHeroLADY and HyDrOmAtIc for your reviews! You guys rock as well!
Raven had let her best friend in any world down once, she wasn't going to do it again. Placing Starfire behind her Raven accidentally pushed her by the open wound on her side and as a result there was dark red blood dripping from her hand. Raven felt a very unusual sensation for her, nausea. She was looking at it when the room filled with the lights of starbolts in every color. Starfire was cringing as she hid behind her friend for support and watched the beautiful rainbows that were beginning to surround them. Her mind was starting to play tricks on her for in the light of a green bolt, similar to her own, and a red bolt that crossed each other she could have swore she saw Robin. A weak hand extended to him as she faintly whispered his name. Raven, who was shielding them with her powers, looked back at her comrade and then glanced over to where she was pointing. Sure as there is night and day he stood watching. His jaw was dangling open and he couldn't tear his eyes away from Starfire.
"Robin!" shrieked Raven, crying for help and for Starfire's sake. She didn't think about the results. Every guard in the room turned on him and began firing his direction.
"Get her out of here!" demanded Robin as he leapt away from the assault, but Starfire refused to move. Raven pushed violently and pulled even more furiously but the red headed girl made no movement whatsoever.
"Robin, he will protect me Raven," she said quietly. Her eyes were going blank.
"Damnit Starfire if you don't move no one will be able to save you because you'll die of blood loss!" she screamed. Suddenly Raven's mind berated her itself to use her healing powers. Raven reached to place a hand over the wound when it was grabbed firmly.
"Get the princess out of here, now!" snarled Aunt Purefire. The guard who had fired orange starbolts helped to take her away. It wasn't as difficult for them as it had obviously been for Raven, who was also being held captive. The soldier who fire yellow starbolts came into Raven's face with a smirk.
"You cannot have her. She is ours and will always be. Anyone who interfers will be destroyed," he said and lifted a hand. Raven tried to focus with everything she had, but it was no use. She turned her head and prepared herself for the blow. Robin chanced a look over to see if Starfire and Raven were handling things just as well as he was. These Tamarans really weren't the best fighters in the world, they were wicked powerful but not very well trained. What he saw was Raven being held while another readied a blow. Raven peaked her eye open and nearly gasped at the sight above her. The blow had been stopped by a very familar gloved hand.
"Destroy this," said Robin and he used the yellow guard's attack on himself. The Tamaranian flew backward nearly six feet, making Raven worry over what that attack would have done to her while Robin took out her other captors.
"Men!" summoned their captain and all the guards retreated with the tall burnette Purefire and a red object hidden in the crowd of soldiers who weren't attacking.
"ROBIN!" screamed a pained voice that made his heart flutter. Starfire...
"Starfire? STARFIRE?!!" he shrieked after them as they retreated but they were gone before he could even reach where they had been. He raced after them. He wouldn't lose her, not again! But they were too fast, their figures were becoming tiny specks in the distance and he was still moving faster than life. He stopped and stared after them. She was gone. Taken once more out of his reach. He fell to his knees and gaped at the carpet of the ship. He had let her be taken away. Raven's hand found it's way to his shoulder consolingly.
"Come with me. I have a lot to tell you," she said and turned on her heel, heading for where Robin had come from. He was absolutely astonished. She wasn't even going to try to go after them. Why? She'd been in the attack before, why didn't she stop them then? Did she actually want Starfire to die? His mind slipped off into space, unconsciously contemplating the treacherous ideas he had just heard himself think. Raven would never do that. She was too honest, too honorable, and too good of a friend to Starfire to abandon her like that. His main corner stone for this was the image of her protecting Starfire before he'd gotten there. He looked back over his shoulder and saw her waiting on him impatiently. She had the answers he needed to get Starfire back....that's where she was. Every bone in his body told him this was the truth. Standing without looking back he followed his darker friend through the hallways and back to his room where Beast Boy and Cyborg were still sleeping.
Meanwhile Starfire was being dragged on her heels, fighting with all her might, to go back to Robin. He could save her, he would love her, he would care what kind of breakfast she wanted instead of making her eat anything!!! Her mind was screaming to be with him while her body was screaming to give out. She wasn't sure which would happen first but she wanted it to be the first. Tears that were hotter than fire seemed to be leaking from her eyes.
"Robin! Release me so that I may return to him!" she begged and yanked at the arm the orange-guard held. He winced as though he wanted to release her but did not. Starfire then let out a pained gasp half way through another call for Robin and toppled forward. The orange-guard was the only one to keep her from colliding with the floor. He held her alone as her eyes drifted blankly into space.
"What is the matter with her?" asked Purefire with sincere worry.
"Maybe she passed out from the excitement of battle?" suggested a foreign voice. Purefire turned on him with disdain.
"Or maybe she's dying of blood loss you moron! Get her to her room immediately, I will go get the doctor," she snubbed and pounded her way through the group. The orange-guard held her tightly in his arms daring any of the others to take her away. He floated with her across the ship to the royal rooms of conference delegates and entered the door quietly. It didn't matter though because Nightfire, Bluefire, and Deepfire leapt up from where they were watching their own TV on their couch.
"Greenfire! What...is that Starfire?" asked the towering Nightfire. Greenfire nodded and floated gently over to the closest bed. "Oh dear Tama! She's bleeding terribly! Get the first aid Bluefire," he ordered and followed worriedly.
"What happened???" demanded Deepfire.
"There was a battle. She escaped and Purefire sent us after her. I believe it was Moonfire that attacked her," he said and placed her gently on the bed. Nightfire bent over her, examining her wound and brushing the hair out of her pale face.
"That son of a -- thank you Bluefire," he added and went to work on sewing up Starfire's wound. Starfire sturred with the first puncture and her eyes rolled distraughtly.
"Why is she here??" asked Deepfire.
"Her room is next door and Purefire had me bring her to her room while she went for the doctor," said Greenfire.
"YOU IDIOT!" barked Nightfire as he suddenly ripped out her stitches. Starfire moaned loudly and tears poured out of her eyes. She was starting to black out when she heard Robin's voice returning her call... 'Starfire!! STARFIRE!!' It was keeping her alive.
"What did you do that for?" squealed Bluefire.
"If she's sent for the doctor and the doctor sees we've sewn her up we will not only be in danger but so will she. Fool!" he snarled and lifted Starfire into his arms.
"R-Robin he-he-help," she stammered through fevered breaths. They all stared at her.
"What does she mean? What is a robin?" asked Deepfire.
"I think it's a bird. Why would she want a bird to help her?" asked Bluefire.
"It's a person!" concluded Greenfire with sudden excitement. "There were two people she found before we caught up to her! One was cloaked in blue and the other was cloaked in many colors, but he was the one she was reaching out for!" he explained.
"That has to be she meant," agreed Nightfire as he moved toward the door. Starfire's hair was dripping with sweat and she was staring at the walls as though it was Cyborg and Beast Boy playing a game. "But she asked for help? He couldn't possibly---"
"Yes he could. He took out four guards with serious injurie before we could pull her away from the other. If there were more like him, the royal guards'll be doomed!" said perkily as he followed the other three men. Bluefire grinned and patted Greenfire on the back while Nightfire carried his cargo as carefully as possible into the next room over and laid her in her bed.
"We need to get in touch with this Robin. You think he's one of the ones she came here with?"
"Possibly. I can look into it," he said.
"Well, I'm sure Purefire'll be here in any second so we should head back, no matter what stay with her and guard her. I don't trust the "queen"," mocked Nightfire. Deepfire nodded in agreement and Greenfire nodded back as he watched them leave the room. Starfire wasn't certain if she had seen any of what she thought she'd seen or heard any of what was going on around her correctly but she was in a bed and was resting. That itself ebbed away her worry for a small moment as she tried to collect her thoughts back together. Having the stitches ripped out caused her much more pain than originally obtaining the injury to begin with.
The room felt like it was spinning for Robin, nearly four miles away on the same ship. Raven's words had thrown him for a loop before but this was the cake. Starfire was a princess???? And Daraow had used them and his message to get to her? So this was all his fault?
"So this is all my fault?" he said aloud without realizing it himself.
"No, we can't say this is anyone's fault. She didn't tell any of us," assured Cyborg.
"But if it hadn't been for that damn machine I had to build instead of spending time with her I wouldn't have lost her!!" he shouted and slammed a fist to the bed where he was sitting. Beast Boy was pouting along with him.
"The point is is she's gone...did she go willingly or was she taken, there's a big difference," he suddenly proposed. Raven had left the part of the kidnapp out.
"She was taken. She fought, I fought. She was still taken. But I was thinking, if Daraow used us to get to Starfire and wanted us to get to Pludunn, why don't we go to this Pludunn for help?"
"Because we can't tell if he is evil or not. Just because Daraow is evil and wants him gone doesn't make him good," pointed out Robin.
"Well then what?" asked Raven irritatedly.
"We wait until morning and confront Daraow. He'll take us to her...or he'll pay with his life," he growled and flopped back on his soft sheets. Beast Boy who was sitting on Robin's bed too, leaned back on his hands, realizing how soft Robin's sheets were compared to his.
"Hey, dude! You've got like silk sheets! and mine are all like wool!" he complained. Cyborg was up in an instance.
"Seriously??? Lemme feel! Hey, they really are soft! Dude you suck!" wailed Cyborg as he and Beast Boy assualted the sheets and rubbed them against their faces. Raven nearly fell off of Beast Boy's bed where she had been sitting. Robin gazed at the ceiling, listening to them.
"Starfire did it. She said she wanted me to sleep on soft sheets so I'd sleep better...she was worried about me," he sighed and closed his eyes. Cyborg took the hint instantly. Robin was ready for some quiet time and probably some sleep. He tapped Beast Boy who, without question, crawled over Robin and went toward his own bed. Robin rolled over on his side, ignoring all the movement in the room. He had been right. She was hurt and scared and desperate to get away. Raven watched him silently for a few seconds before walking over to stand behind him.
"She wanted you. That was where she was going when they hurt her. She was going to tell you she....well that she loved you and her secret when Daraow attacked. Robin, you have no idea what you mean to her...." said Raven encouragingly with a whisper before heading toward the door. She said some goodbyes and goodnights to the others and left. Robin opened his eyes. She had been trying to help Robin's emotions but it didn't work. Now all Robin could feel was guilt for making Starfire think they would stay with her even though she was a princess, guilt for making her feel so left out with that damn computer, guilt for not being around enough to notice what was happening with the one person he cared about most.... He was going to make it up to her, even if it took forever. Someone was going to pay and he was going to show Starfire how much he cared for her too, even if he wasn't sure how yet. Then again, he'd always see her tomorrow at the conference. A wicked gleam entered his eyes as he too formulated a plan to get his beloved away from her captors.
THANKS to SuperHeroLADY and HyDrOmAtIc for your reviews! You guys rock as well!
Raven had let her best friend in any world down once, she wasn't going to do it again. Placing Starfire behind her Raven accidentally pushed her by the open wound on her side and as a result there was dark red blood dripping from her hand. Raven felt a very unusual sensation for her, nausea. She was looking at it when the room filled with the lights of starbolts in every color. Starfire was cringing as she hid behind her friend for support and watched the beautiful rainbows that were beginning to surround them. Her mind was starting to play tricks on her for in the light of a green bolt, similar to her own, and a red bolt that crossed each other she could have swore she saw Robin. A weak hand extended to him as she faintly whispered his name. Raven, who was shielding them with her powers, looked back at her comrade and then glanced over to where she was pointing. Sure as there is night and day he stood watching. His jaw was dangling open and he couldn't tear his eyes away from Starfire.
"Robin!" shrieked Raven, crying for help and for Starfire's sake. She didn't think about the results. Every guard in the room turned on him and began firing his direction.
"Get her out of here!" demanded Robin as he leapt away from the assault, but Starfire refused to move. Raven pushed violently and pulled even more furiously but the red headed girl made no movement whatsoever.
"Robin, he will protect me Raven," she said quietly. Her eyes were going blank.
"Damnit Starfire if you don't move no one will be able to save you because you'll die of blood loss!" she screamed. Suddenly Raven's mind berated her itself to use her healing powers. Raven reached to place a hand over the wound when it was grabbed firmly.
"Get the princess out of here, now!" snarled Aunt Purefire. The guard who had fired orange starbolts helped to take her away. It wasn't as difficult for them as it had obviously been for Raven, who was also being held captive. The soldier who fire yellow starbolts came into Raven's face with a smirk.
"You cannot have her. She is ours and will always be. Anyone who interfers will be destroyed," he said and lifted a hand. Raven tried to focus with everything she had, but it was no use. She turned her head and prepared herself for the blow. Robin chanced a look over to see if Starfire and Raven were handling things just as well as he was. These Tamarans really weren't the best fighters in the world, they were wicked powerful but not very well trained. What he saw was Raven being held while another readied a blow. Raven peaked her eye open and nearly gasped at the sight above her. The blow had been stopped by a very familar gloved hand.
"Destroy this," said Robin and he used the yellow guard's attack on himself. The Tamaranian flew backward nearly six feet, making Raven worry over what that attack would have done to her while Robin took out her other captors.
"Men!" summoned their captain and all the guards retreated with the tall burnette Purefire and a red object hidden in the crowd of soldiers who weren't attacking.
"ROBIN!" screamed a pained voice that made his heart flutter. Starfire...
"Starfire? STARFIRE?!!" he shrieked after them as they retreated but they were gone before he could even reach where they had been. He raced after them. He wouldn't lose her, not again! But they were too fast, their figures were becoming tiny specks in the distance and he was still moving faster than life. He stopped and stared after them. She was gone. Taken once more out of his reach. He fell to his knees and gaped at the carpet of the ship. He had let her be taken away. Raven's hand found it's way to his shoulder consolingly.
"Come with me. I have a lot to tell you," she said and turned on her heel, heading for where Robin had come from. He was absolutely astonished. She wasn't even going to try to go after them. Why? She'd been in the attack before, why didn't she stop them then? Did she actually want Starfire to die? His mind slipped off into space, unconsciously contemplating the treacherous ideas he had just heard himself think. Raven would never do that. She was too honest, too honorable, and too good of a friend to Starfire to abandon her like that. His main corner stone for this was the image of her protecting Starfire before he'd gotten there. He looked back over his shoulder and saw her waiting on him impatiently. She had the answers he needed to get Starfire back....that's where she was. Every bone in his body told him this was the truth. Standing without looking back he followed his darker friend through the hallways and back to his room where Beast Boy and Cyborg were still sleeping.
Meanwhile Starfire was being dragged on her heels, fighting with all her might, to go back to Robin. He could save her, he would love her, he would care what kind of breakfast she wanted instead of making her eat anything!!! Her mind was screaming to be with him while her body was screaming to give out. She wasn't sure which would happen first but she wanted it to be the first. Tears that were hotter than fire seemed to be leaking from her eyes.
"Robin! Release me so that I may return to him!" she begged and yanked at the arm the orange-guard held. He winced as though he wanted to release her but did not. Starfire then let out a pained gasp half way through another call for Robin and toppled forward. The orange-guard was the only one to keep her from colliding with the floor. He held her alone as her eyes drifted blankly into space.
"What is the matter with her?" asked Purefire with sincere worry.
"Maybe she passed out from the excitement of battle?" suggested a foreign voice. Purefire turned on him with disdain.
"Or maybe she's dying of blood loss you moron! Get her to her room immediately, I will go get the doctor," she snubbed and pounded her way through the group. The orange-guard held her tightly in his arms daring any of the others to take her away. He floated with her across the ship to the royal rooms of conference delegates and entered the door quietly. It didn't matter though because Nightfire, Bluefire, and Deepfire leapt up from where they were watching their own TV on their couch.
"Greenfire! What...is that Starfire?" asked the towering Nightfire. Greenfire nodded and floated gently over to the closest bed. "Oh dear Tama! She's bleeding terribly! Get the first aid Bluefire," he ordered and followed worriedly.
"What happened???" demanded Deepfire.
"There was a battle. She escaped and Purefire sent us after her. I believe it was Moonfire that attacked her," he said and placed her gently on the bed. Nightfire bent over her, examining her wound and brushing the hair out of her pale face.
"That son of a -- thank you Bluefire," he added and went to work on sewing up Starfire's wound. Starfire sturred with the first puncture and her eyes rolled distraughtly.
"Why is she here??" asked Deepfire.
"Her room is next door and Purefire had me bring her to her room while she went for the doctor," said Greenfire.
"YOU IDIOT!" barked Nightfire as he suddenly ripped out her stitches. Starfire moaned loudly and tears poured out of her eyes. She was starting to black out when she heard Robin's voice returning her call... 'Starfire!! STARFIRE!!' It was keeping her alive.
"What did you do that for?" squealed Bluefire.
"If she's sent for the doctor and the doctor sees we've sewn her up we will not only be in danger but so will she. Fool!" he snarled and lifted Starfire into his arms.
"R-Robin he-he-help," she stammered through fevered breaths. They all stared at her.
"What does she mean? What is a robin?" asked Deepfire.
"I think it's a bird. Why would she want a bird to help her?" asked Bluefire.
"It's a person!" concluded Greenfire with sudden excitement. "There were two people she found before we caught up to her! One was cloaked in blue and the other was cloaked in many colors, but he was the one she was reaching out for!" he explained.
"That has to be she meant," agreed Nightfire as he moved toward the door. Starfire's hair was dripping with sweat and she was staring at the walls as though it was Cyborg and Beast Boy playing a game. "But she asked for help? He couldn't possibly---"
"Yes he could. He took out four guards with serious injurie before we could pull her away from the other. If there were more like him, the royal guards'll be doomed!" said perkily as he followed the other three men. Bluefire grinned and patted Greenfire on the back while Nightfire carried his cargo as carefully as possible into the next room over and laid her in her bed.
"We need to get in touch with this Robin. You think he's one of the ones she came here with?"
"Possibly. I can look into it," he said.
"Well, I'm sure Purefire'll be here in any second so we should head back, no matter what stay with her and guard her. I don't trust the "queen"," mocked Nightfire. Deepfire nodded in agreement and Greenfire nodded back as he watched them leave the room. Starfire wasn't certain if she had seen any of what she thought she'd seen or heard any of what was going on around her correctly but she was in a bed and was resting. That itself ebbed away her worry for a small moment as she tried to collect her thoughts back together. Having the stitches ripped out caused her much more pain than originally obtaining the injury to begin with.
The room felt like it was spinning for Robin, nearly four miles away on the same ship. Raven's words had thrown him for a loop before but this was the cake. Starfire was a princess???? And Daraow had used them and his message to get to her? So this was all his fault?
"So this is all my fault?" he said aloud without realizing it himself.
"No, we can't say this is anyone's fault. She didn't tell any of us," assured Cyborg.
"But if it hadn't been for that damn machine I had to build instead of spending time with her I wouldn't have lost her!!" he shouted and slammed a fist to the bed where he was sitting. Beast Boy was pouting along with him.
"The point is is she's gone...did she go willingly or was she taken, there's a big difference," he suddenly proposed. Raven had left the part of the kidnapp out.
"She was taken. She fought, I fought. She was still taken. But I was thinking, if Daraow used us to get to Starfire and wanted us to get to Pludunn, why don't we go to this Pludunn for help?"
"Because we can't tell if he is evil or not. Just because Daraow is evil and wants him gone doesn't make him good," pointed out Robin.
"Well then what?" asked Raven irritatedly.
"We wait until morning and confront Daraow. He'll take us to her...or he'll pay with his life," he growled and flopped back on his soft sheets. Beast Boy who was sitting on Robin's bed too, leaned back on his hands, realizing how soft Robin's sheets were compared to his.
"Hey, dude! You've got like silk sheets! and mine are all like wool!" he complained. Cyborg was up in an instance.
"Seriously??? Lemme feel! Hey, they really are soft! Dude you suck!" wailed Cyborg as he and Beast Boy assualted the sheets and rubbed them against their faces. Raven nearly fell off of Beast Boy's bed where she had been sitting. Robin gazed at the ceiling, listening to them.
"Starfire did it. She said she wanted me to sleep on soft sheets so I'd sleep better...she was worried about me," he sighed and closed his eyes. Cyborg took the hint instantly. Robin was ready for some quiet time and probably some sleep. He tapped Beast Boy who, without question, crawled over Robin and went toward his own bed. Robin rolled over on his side, ignoring all the movement in the room. He had been right. She was hurt and scared and desperate to get away. Raven watched him silently for a few seconds before walking over to stand behind him.
"She wanted you. That was where she was going when they hurt her. She was going to tell you she....well that she loved you and her secret when Daraow attacked. Robin, you have no idea what you mean to her...." said Raven encouragingly with a whisper before heading toward the door. She said some goodbyes and goodnights to the others and left. Robin opened his eyes. She had been trying to help Robin's emotions but it didn't work. Now all Robin could feel was guilt for making Starfire think they would stay with her even though she was a princess, guilt for making her feel so left out with that damn computer, guilt for not being around enough to notice what was happening with the one person he cared about most.... He was going to make it up to her, even if it took forever. Someone was going to pay and he was going to show Starfire how much he cared for her too, even if he wasn't sure how yet. Then again, he'd always see her tomorrow at the conference. A wicked gleam entered his eyes as he too formulated a plan to get his beloved away from her captors.