…T E M P T I N G F A T E…
- Chapter 4: The Plan… or Not
Robin turned every corner as fast as he could, slipping without a care until he got to Starfire's room. He ran to the hole in her room, almost falling out of it. He looked around frantically looking for any sign of Starfire and where she might have gone. The Titans watched Robin with pity in their guts as they continued to stay silent. The only thing heard, as Robin looked down, were the dark, violent waves crashing roughly against the rocks beneath.
"Rob-" Cyborg stepped up and held out his hand, almost telling him to get away from that hole. The Boy Wonder stopped him with a single hand up in the air.
"Don't." Coming to a bend, Robin swiftly swiped his finger down upon the cement wall.
"She hasn't been gone for long, the cement is still warm. And the smoke from the blast is still vanishing into this filthy air." With a quick motion, Robin went to run out the door. "We can still catch up and-"
Paying no attention to the angered gleam in his buddy's eye, Beast Boy grabbed the Boy Wonder's arm and pulled him back. "And what Robin? There's nothing we can do until she tries to get a hold of us to tell that she's okay. I'm sure Raven already tried contacting her through her communicator." Raven nodded, a little surprised at how smart Beast Boy sounded in that moment.
The cloaked girl sensed the extreme outrage protruding from her friend and suddenly got the chills. "Yo Raye, I think I hear the alarm system ringing!" As Raven and Cyborg hurried to the other room, Robin reversed the hold on each other's arms and slammed Beast Boy roughly against the wall.
"Look, Starfire's coming back here, safe and sound at home. And I know this because I'm going to go get her!" Robin snarled.
"Jeez, you don't have to-" Beast Boy winced.
"Listen. What if this exact thing happened to Raven? I know that I'd be the one on the wall. So what if I told you to 'relax, Raven's ok,' and you know she's not? Not that easy to 'relax' is it? Say all you want, but nothing, and I MEAN nothing is going to stop me from getting Starfire." Robin let go and let Beast Boy slide to the ground, shocked. Robin stomped to the living room to see Starfire's face on the screen.
"Star?! Cy, I thought you said it was an alarm."
"Living here for over a year, you really can't tell the difference." Cyborg shrugged.
"Transmission, annoying beeping. Alert System, annoying beeping AND red flashing light." Beast Boy said, just joining them in the living room.
"Friends, please listen." Starfire's voice spoke through, but it wasn't clear due to all the static.
"Starfire, where are you? Are you ok?" Robin asked in a worried tone.
"Robin, please do not worry. I am fine. Well, sort of."
"Were you kidnapped? If those guys hurt you I swear I'll-"
"Robin! I am not hurt. Do not think the worst." Starfire's image was blurring out. "The reason I was taken was because the people of my planet said that there is a way to save my planet from destruction from war against our rival civilization. So a few Tamaranians were sent to retrieve me."
"And that way is…?" Raven questioned. Starfire's face had a look of pure angst. How could she tell the one's she loved, that she would have to leave them for eternity? With a flicker of her sad face on the screen, she built up the courage to just come out and say it.
"I-I have to have a Chrysillisius."
She watched as her friend's gave her blank expressions, then slowly but gradually, they cheered. "That's it? Then after you can come home?" Beast Boy said, getting all excited.
Robin however, didn't cheer. He studied her face with the least amount of happiness in his eyes.
"No." He said softly. The Titans stopped cheering, and Starfire's blurring eyes looked at him sadly.
"Something's wrong." He said, squinting his eyes to a half glare and back, as though the squint would give him a better outlook on this situation.
"Robin, I-" Starfire sighed.
"That may be what's happening there, but that's not exactly what it means here on Earth. You're not coming back," Robin gulped back the thickness conjuring in his throat. "Are you?"
"What are you talking about dude?" Beast Boy glared, a bit shocked at Robin's words.
"Yeah, Robin. What's gotten into you? Of course she's coming back. She just needs to finish up this Christmas party and off to Earth she goes and-" Cyborg was cut off.
Robin let out a rude and harsh laugh from under his bangs as his head was bowed down. His fists clutched together, nails digging through his gloves and into his palms.
"We can only wish." Robin looked up, and Starfire gasped at what his eyes were silently telling her. He wasn't just sad. Sad was just an understatement for his feelings, oh no, he was feeling much more than that.
"Robin!" Her face flickered again. "It is not like I want this to become of me! You have to believe me!"
Beast Boy, Raven and Cyborg looked from the fuzzy screen to the boy wonder with the rueful daze upon his face. "Uhh?"
"So it's true. You won't be coming back?"
Starfire's eyes connected with his, neither wanting to break the invisible bond between them, but she snapped her head to the side, the challenge too tough.
"I…"
The screen flickered off and on several times, before Starfire turned towards them and smiled woefully. "I'm sorry." And finally, at last, coming to an end, Starfire disappeared from the screen.
"What just happened?" Beast boy said confused and a little spooked from that transmission.
The sound of the sliding door open, they turned around to find the tip of Robin's cloak sway into the darkness, then the door closed with a bang. The last of the titans cringed as Robin left.
"That went bad." Cyborg stated the obvious. "Robin!" They all followed him into the dark hallway. Instead of finding him in his room, the Titans found him at a dead end hallway, his head faced down and fists against the wall. Robin kicked the wall pretty hard, causing part of the wall to fire back and hit him back in the leg. He cried out nothing that related to pain and he slid to the floor, leaning his back to the wall, which now had a hole in it.
"What was up over there?" Beast Boy asked.
"Do you guys know what a Chrysillisius is?" Robin asked in a monotone that would usually be heard from Raven.
"A Christmas party! What else?!" Beast Boy exclaimed. Raven slapped her own forehead. She already figured it out.
"If this was a Christmas party, wouldn't Robin be a little happy at least?!" Cyborg yelled, getting ready to start another famous Beast Boy and Cyborg argument.
"Well! Uh-…"
"And as always, Cyborg stumps the chump." Raven said, ending the quarrel fast. "But seriously, do you guys want to know what a Chrysillisius is?"
"Well duh. Starfire's gonna go though it." Cyborg said as Robin winced. Raven gave a sorrowful look towards Robin's direction.
"It's a marriage ceremony." Raven explained simply. Beast Boy's eyes popped open.
"Then why isn't it called a Marrisillisis?! They gotta make everything sound like Christmas now a days don't they?!" Cyborg complained. Raven's attention suddenly perked up and she silently walked to Starfire's room.
"Hey uh, Beast Boy. Listen, I'm sorry about earlier in the room. I didn't mean to get all-" Robin started to apologize.
"No, dude it's cool. I know you were stressed and… stuff." Beast Boy said as Raven returned.
"Not that I know a lot about those Tamaranian people, but do they have scales?" Raven asked, holding up a silver-ish colored scale.
"That's not right. Ok, something's fishy here." Beast Boy said in a 'Sherlock Holmes' way and then chuckled at his own pun.
"Where did you find that Raven?" Robin questioned, getting up slowly.
"Hanging off the ledge of the hole in Star's room." She answered. "I saw it when we first went into her room, but I never realized that it didn't belong until now."
"If I remember correctly, not even Star got scales when she found out she was high in Tamaran. You know, that whole Chrysallis ordeal." Cyborg tapped his chin as he thought.
"Yeah, that's what I was thinking." Raven said, now highly suspicious. "Something is very wrong here."
"And Starfire is in trouble." Robin glared out towards the pitch-black sky as if trying to follow the stars to Tamaran as Starfire had once showed him. "Cyborg, get the T-Sub ready. We're going into space."
"Whoa now, we don't know what to expect from Tamaran especially when something weird is going on… we can't just zoom straight into their atmosphere, we gotta plan something out." Cyborg said.
"…Not that it's the best choice to benefit Starfire's safety, but it's the best bet we have." Raven agreed.
"I'm never heard in 'plan-making' so I'll be watching t.v." Beast Boy plopped on the couch, turning on the television.
"Don't you even care about-" Robin started, until Raven stood in front of the masked teen.
"Look at him. He cares. You can tell. C'mon, let's go plan this out." Raven explained.
"Okay, so what exactly am I supposed to be doing right when i get to my home planet?" She used in her native tongue. Starfire watched the two guards in front of her carefully. She had never seen them before. They didn't speak to her, just gave her glances now and then.
"Are you going to speak to me?" Stafire asked, getting a bit angry that these guards were ignoring her. The two guards looked at each other nervously, since they didn't know Tamaranian and the girl in front of them was practically spilling out the whole Tamaranian dictionary.
"Ahem. This is strictly business, so we use English when on duty." One of the guards said, making a save.
"Oh. Please forgive me. But do I have specific instructions as to what I am to do when I reach my home planet?" Starfire asked again, this time in english.
"To um… introduce yourself to your future husband." The second guard said. 'Zakiyus made a huge mistake hiring two peasants to act as guards.' He thought at the same moment.
Starfire looked out the window and blew her bangs out of her face. 'Something is very shady about these two guards. All guards from Tamaran at least know what I'm saying, even if I do speak Tamaranian.' She sighed and rested her chin on her hands. 'I wish I could have brought my friends.' She took a second look out her window, and realized that they reached Tamaran sooner than she thought.
. As Starfire stepped off the large ship that had carried her through the darkness of space and on to her home planet, she looked onwards and almost cried with homesickness. There she was, after many years, finally back home. Her home. Whispers flew across the City of Tamaran in an instant of the rumors that the princess has come back. Tamaran's princess was back in their presence. They cheered with joy and knowing protection.
A small man with big eyes and soft curls of green hair, raced as quickly as his fat stubby little legs could carry him to the palace. The fat man had vital information for his master, and he knew the faster he went, the faster he would be honored to be graced in his lords presence.
Starfire spotted a strange character and was a little puzzled about why the man was in such a rush as the green-haired man ran up the main tower.
Up in the main tower, the stubby guy put his hands on his knees and took a few breathers. "Master… She…" He paused and took in as much air as he could. "She, the princess of Tamaran, has arrived." The dark figure that was sitting in a chair slowly stood up.
"Perfect." The mysterious man had a dark, but irresistible voice. Almost creepy. "Make sure she gets ready for her homecoming ceremony. We want her to feel welcome, don't we?"
"Yes sir!" He looked at the long stairway and sighed, but ran down anyway. He saw Starfire standing in front of the ship, holding a bag and a green stuffed turtle. He walked up to her, straightening his position and bowed down in front of her.
"Princess, welcome back to Tamaran."
"Thank you."
"I see that-" He stopped and looked at the turtle. "I am sorry for asking, but what is that?" Starfire looked down at the stuffed animal, and reminisced about the day she got it.
Starfire stood in front of a cotton candy stand with Beast Boy and Raven. 'Blue or Pink?' Were the two choices filling her mind. It was a nice cool night and the Titans decided to take the day off and check out the annual fair, which was taking place at Jump City park.
"Star, just take blue." Starfire turned to Beast Boy who was aching to go on a ride. She smiled and nodded her head to the cotton candy man to approve that she wanted blue. Then Raven coughed.
"Blue? Pink is so much better." Raven's eyes went wide, realizing what she said. She shot her sights on Beast Boy. "Mention this again, and I'll take you into my mirror."
"Ok, Ok." Beast Boy said, holding up his hands for defense. Starfire pointed to the pink cotton candy and cheerfully took it from the man. She smiled as she took a bite and turned around, accidentally into Robin.
"Oh! Forgive me Robin!" She apologized as she brushed off a piece of cotton candy that got stuck to his uniform.
"Forget about it." Robin smiled as he held something up. "Here, I won you something." He gave her a stuffed turtle, which was green and had a big head which gave it it's adorable feature.
"Hmm… kinda looks like Beast Boy." Raven commented.
"Hey!… Oh. Yeah, it does. Maybe because it's so cute and cuddle-worthy!" Beast Boy drooled. Raven rolled her eyes.
"No, I meant about the big head."
Cyborg chuckled as he saw the twinkle in Starfire's eyes. "You should've seen Robin, he held the baseball up and pointed at the turtle and said 'I'm winning that for Star.' Then he threw the ball and knocked off all the dang bottles."
Robin blushed and put a hand behind his head. "That's not exactly what I said. I said I was going to win it."
Cyborg laughed. "Like you'd win a STUFFED TURTLE for yourself. Mr. I'm-All-Tough-Since-I-Wear-A-Cape."
"It is of great importance to me." Starfire said, snapping back to reality.
"I see, yes well on to more important matters princess, your chamber I will show." The rat-faced man said, pointing towards the left hall. Starfire couldn't believe how rude that comment was, but her politeness over took her emotions and she refrained herself from snapping at him.
"This is my home planet good sir, and I believe I can find my way back to my Childhood chamber. Thank you." She sniffed stiffly and walked past him with a swoosh.
"Oh ye-yes of course prin-princess." He twisted his sweaty palms together and chuckled nervously. As Starfire walked out of his sight, he stopped all signs of nervousness and gritted out curse words to her in some other language not known to the Tamaran society.
"Not quite appropriate words to our future queen, now are we Ratcliff?" The same mysterious voice spoke out from behind.
Ratcliff squeaked and turned swiftly. "Ma-master!"
"Now if you would excuse me, I must get ready for the big night." Before Ratcliff's master passed by, he put his hand on his servants shaking shoulders firmly, almost painfully, and spoke in the same native tongue Ratcliff used. "Watch yourself. Your last breath is determined by your last blundered word." And with a deadly warning, he was off.
In a different tower, Starfire gazed at the dress that was set for her on the bed. The last time she dressed up was when she was that night of the Winter Ball. She sighed as she picked it up and lay it against the front of her body, seeing how it would look on her vanity mirror. In the reflection, she saw a green cape swaying in the wind. She quickly turned around and rushed to the balcony opening where she saw the cape. Much to her dismay, it was only her curtains.
'I really am homesick.'
"Err, Robin, that plan seems just a taaad bit extreme," Cyborg cringed at the image playing in his head of Robin's plan to get Starfire back. "Dont'cha think?"
The Boy Wonder looked down at his plans and he came to a conclusion, Slaying all the guards that are in their way and blowing up the Tamaran halls to get inside and fighting to the death with Starfire's fiance to win Starfire back, might just be a tad bit extreme.
"Okay, I can't think right now, my mind is going haywire. I need some alone time for a few. Please." Robin said through clenched teeth, his hands clutching the extreme plans tightly into balls.
Pushing their seats back and getting up, Raven and Cyborg both looked at one another. "C'mon, let's go find Beast boy and buy a pizza. No one can think straight on an empty stomach." The hybrid chuckled and dashed out. Raven, on the other hand, walked slowly out, catching the pained thoughts errupting in Robin's mind.
'How could he think about eating PIZZA on such a horrible situation! Immature. So damn Immature. Beast Boy playing games, while Starfire is in Tamaran getting ready to be married off. Raven- well, How could Cyborg think about pizza? Am I the only one that cares about Star? Am I the only one-'
"We all care Robin. But I fear that you are over reacting. Calm down and breathe. While your here making the situation more terrible for yourself, The rest of us try and look on a brighter side. Starfire will come home safe and unmarried. Trust us, Trust her, Trust yourself." Raven mumbled, only loud enough for Robin's ears, and then exited the room.
With all his might, Robin threw the crumbled plan at the wall. "AARGH!"