Chapter VIII: Never-dying Bonds
Jack led the Ludiquil and Tamaranians through the empty streets of Gotham, using magic to find his brother. Suddenly he stopped, and the forty soldiers as well.
"I know where he is," Jack said, and they continued to the auditorium.
In Slade's lair, Robin was chained, and next to him Starfire was in a metal chair, strapped. Slade stood in front of them, his hands behind his back. Today he was going to get Robin as his apprentice, along with his girlfriend.
"So, Robin, are you ready to accept my offer to be my apprentice?" Slade asked in his usual voice.
"Screw you, Slade," Robin spat at him. Slade produced a button and pressed it. Electric shocks went through Starfire, and she screamed in pain, while it echoed through out the small, metal room. Robin felt Starfire's pain and grunted with it. Slade smiled to himself. Robin would surrender through pain, and through that his girlfriend was being hurt too.
At this moment, that's exactly what Robin was thinking. He wished that Starfire hadn't gotten captured, so that she wouldn't have to feel this pain. I hope Robin is okay.
Robin's brain went ka-boom. Why had he just heard that thought? While he had admitted to himself that sometimes he could be considered crazy, this was going too far. He never talked to himself in the third-person. And the voice that said that sounded like Starfire's, but what was she doing in his brain?
Starfire found herself gasping for breath. Slade had stopped it, and he said, "I'll leave you two to think it over." With that remark, he left.
Starfire sighed to herself. Suddenly, now that the pain was gone, Starfire felt...something funny. It was a confused feeling. Why did she feel that? Starfire also sensed something. What did she sense? Was it danger, fear, love? She looked over at Robin. I really hope he is okay, she thought.
There it is again! What the hell is it? Why am I hearing Starfire's voice? Maybe she's...mentally talking to me? Wait, what the hell am I thinking? Okay, so it's my best theory. Maybe if I try to talk to her. Starfire?
Starfire heard Robin's voice inside her. Who is there?
Starfire? Is that you?
Yes, it is Starfire. Who is there in my head?
Star, it's me, Robin
Robin! Why do we talk to each other in our heads?
I don't know, Star. Maybe the link has changed so that we're talking telepathically
So, we do not have to talk to each other with our mouths?
It seems that way
But why do I feel funny and sense something?
Robin stopped dead in his thoughts on that thought. He knew exactly what she was describing. He knew because he'd been living with it for two years now.
Because, Robin started, You're feeling and sensing me, the way I sense and feel you
Starfire was caught by surprise on this one. I am sensing Robin? Sure enough, she sensed him right next to her, and she felt a sudden feeling of wonder. He was right.
Lover Robin, you are correct! I do feel and sense you! But why did the link do this?
I don't know, but at least we're closer now Robin smiled at her. Starfire felt his happiness, and she couldn't help but be happy too, and smile back.
Beast Boy was cradling Raven against his shoulder. Raven's stomach wound was still in bad condition, and she occasionally fainted. Right now, she was looking up at the ceiling, her cloak having fallen off her head.
Fayrii was next to the cell, having stopped dragging his butt ten minutes ago (with relief to the prisoners, the noise eventually got on one's nerves after the first hour). He was watching BB and Raven, and thinking to himself. Why had he been ordered to attack them? For being bad guys, they sure are...sensitive. Except for the big, fat man with the cape. Fayrii turned his attention to Slade's desk. In it he had seen some white, tough toilet paper like the one on Raven's stomach. Cautiously, Fayrii trotted over. He now faced the challenge any demon pet might have: opening the drawer. It had a simple knob, but Fayrii in his current condition forgot he had hands. So, he used his tail instead. He wrapped it around the knob, and pulled. Out opened the drawer.
Fayrii stood on his hind legs (Or to us, his knees) and looked in the drawer. There was the super toilet paper. Fayrii picked it up with his tail and closed the drawer. He trotted back over to the cell. Beast Boy saw him sitting there with the wound dressings on his tail.
"Hey, can I have that?" Beast Boy asked with not much hope, pointing to the fresh dressing (remember, he saw Fayrii stab Raven, so he's not too hopeful, even if Fayrii is under mind control). To his surprise and delight, Fayrii rolled the dressing past the bars. BB immediately picked it up and took off the old dressing. He started to wrap the new one, but accidentally touched Raven's wound in the process. Raven gently groaned, and her hand on his shoulder slid down his back. She tried to withdraw it quickly when winced as it came into contact with the cuts on his back. Beast Boy finished putting the dressing on.
"Thanks," Raven said, as BB moved her falling head back onto his shoulder.
"No problem," Beast Boy said as he smiled at her. She managed a small smile back before passing out into a light sleep.
Fayrii watched them, just as he had watched Robin and Starfire from a crack in the wall (although Slade didn't know it). Faintly, a poem came into his head, one he had been taught by a soldier, although Fayrii currently had no recollection of him:
Love is not an object,
It is a never-dying bond,
That is always at work.
One never knows when it strikes,
Or when it leaves the soul.
It comes with patience,
It comes at one glance.
But one can always be certain,
That it is a never-dying bond.
Fayrii suddenly stopped to think to himself. Where did that come from? He didn't remember, although it seemed to fit these four villains.
Wait, his master Slade had said that villains feel no emotion except hate. Then why was a love-sick glance all over these four faces, ones he had been told were evil? Nothing was making sense. His master seemed darker to be the minute. Fayrii silently thought to himself that he would watch his master more closely.
Although no one, not even Fayrii knew it, the mind-control of a whole year was starting to wipe off, because Fayrii was starting to join the Titans' side, inch by inch.