(Well, I certainly wrote this chapter fast. I'm not really sure I am happy with it. Tell me what you all think, please? I may end up rewriting it.)
Reviewers:
TribeKitten/Lawn Gnome/ StarfireRobin3Ever/Empress/LuvstarXrobin/Rebekah: Thanks for the compliments. I do love to hear them.
Hyperactive Forever: Well, it Will be fluff…but I promise action as well. I know at least one chapter is going to be nothing but a duel I have planned.
StarRob4Ever: Who said I was ignoring Cyborg? ;) He just hasn't shown up yet, is all. He might. Maybe.
Tamaran Girl: Well, thanks for reading then.
Red Shifting, Chapter 2
Dialogues and Detriments
Robin sighed and reached out to run his hand over Starfire's arm as he watched her sleep. She'd passed out while he had waited for the others to return, and had slept all the way back to the tower. He had given her everything he could think of, and bandaged her eyes…he couldn't tell what was wrong with them, except that they were reddish and bloodshot. She had been complaining they had hurt. He stared at the white bandage, pursing his lips. What she was blind? He couldn't even imagine-
Has she woken up yet?"
The Boy-wonder gave a start, almost falling from the chair, feel slamming into the floor hard enough to make his teeth hurt. He hadn't even realized Raven had entered the room.
"What…no, no she hasn't." He said after a moment, glancing over at the Goth girl then back to Starfire. "She was talking in her sleep earlier, but…not otherwise. She's on a lot of medication though, so I doubt she'll wake up for a while." He sighed and shifted in his chair, adjusting his cape.
"Oh," Raven stared at him for a moment or two, then moved to the opposite side of the bed, setting down the bag she was carrying and reaching out to adjust Starfire's blanket. "Then…maybe you should get some sleep?"
Robin shrugged, fingers twitching as he resisted a sudden urge to help Raven fix the bed. "No. I'm alright…I need to stay here. In case she wakes up."
"I understand, but see…" Raven reached out and touched the shoulder of Starfire's shirt. "She needs a change of clothing, and I am certainly not going to let you do it. Besides, you said she wasn't going to wake up for a while."
"Yeah, but…" Robin stopped and let out a sigh as Raven fixed him with one of her looks. "…Fine. But you'll call me if she starts to wake up?"
The Goth girl actually smiled faintly and nodded, "I'll call you if she hiccups, Robin."
"Thanks Raven." Robin gave Starfire's hand a final squeeze and stood, heading for the door. He stopped and glanced back at the two girls for a moment and actually smiled. "I keep losing arguments to you today, don't I?"
"Mmhmm. But they were arguments you needed to lose." Raven shrugged as she lifted a change of clothing from the bag and laid it out on another chair.
"I guess. Night Raven," Robin reached up to rub at his eyes as he slipped from the room.
"Goodnight Robin."
* * * * *
Using her powers, Raven gently lifted Starfire from her bed and undressed her, eyes slightly unfocused until the red-headed alien was again under her blankets, this time in pajamas. She pulled the chair Robin had been seated in a bit farther from the bed and settled into it, pulling her cloak around herself tightly to double as the blanket it often was. She had fallen asleep meditating on the rooftop so many times she almost couldn't imagine not sleeping in the cloak anymore.
Raven had brought a book, having assumed that she would be successful at chasing Robin from the room, but she left it unopened in her lap. Instead she watched Starfire sleep. And it definitely was sleep, and not unconsciousness, since she could almost hear Starfire dream.
Raven's telepathic powers were not something she enjoyed, particularly since Terra's arrival. Beastboy had been projecting lust like a fourteen year old that just discovered girls, and Terra wasn't much better. Actually, that was a pretty good description for Beast Boy, as long as she stuck 'cute' onto the end and…gah! She glared at Starfire for a moment, eyes narrowed. Damn projectors. She grimaced and tried to lock down on her emotions, practically tasting the run-off from Starfire's dream messing with her thoughts.
She always had weird thoughts about Beast-boy when Starfire was nearby. Some strange telepathic tag-along to Starfire's projections about Robin, probably; none of which mattered either. It just meant Star was dreaming about Robin, probably.
Raven took a deep breath, opened her book and attempted to drown out Starfire's dreams with Edgar Allen Poe. Good old depressing Poe.
* * * * *
Starfire was dreaming. At least, she hoped she was dreaming.
She knew it was a dream, because everything was pitch black, like someone had poured oil over her eyes, but when she had tried to walk around, thinking she simply could not see, she had felt nothing under her feet. She could move, like she was walking, but nothing happened.
"Hello?" She stopped and frowned. Her voice seemed louder then usual, almost echoing, but she could not see anything for it to echo off of.
"Please…is there no one there?" She called plaintively, bringing her hands up to her face and shouting it again. But no one answered. It had to be a dream…she couldn't just be in…darkness. It did not make any sense at all.
"…Robin?" She called in a half whisper as she crouched down, resting her rear on her heels and wrapping her arms around her knees. She did not want to be alone. She was never alone, and…this was just terrible.
Suddenly there was a weight on her shoulders, and she looked up to see Robin standing there, without his mask or costume, a faint smile on his face. His hands on her shoulders drew her up gently. "It's alright, Star. You aren't alone."
"Robin! Oh, I missed you!" She hugged him tightly and he made a little groaning noise before he hugged her back. "But where are we? Why is it so dark? Why do you not wear your mask?"
"I don't need it right now Star," Robin smiled again…she knew his real name, and it almost felt strange to think of him as Robin without his mask, but she barely associated Richard with him at all. And he never called her by anything but Starfire. "And I don't know where we are. Does it matter? We're together."
"Together?" She smiled suddenly at this statement, but then forced herself to shake her head. "But what of the others? And I do not like this dark place. I want to go home." She took a step or so away from Robin and watched him, a small frown settling onto her face. "Do you not also want to go home?"
"I am happy wherever you are, Starfire." Robin whispered, closing the distance between them again, his hands moving to her sides.
She flushed and twisted her hands together, peering around at the darkness, unable to keep her eyes on his face. "T…thank you, Robin. But…we really need to find a way home and I do not think that this is the…proper place for such…declarations and…Robin?" His hands had gone slack around her waist, and when she looked back his face was an emotionless mask.
"I see. So you don't want me around, is that it?" His hands drew away, arms crossing as he stared at her. "Fine," Robin turned and walked away into the darkness.
Starfire just stared after him for several seconds before she realized what was happening and started to run. "No, Robin! Do not go. I did not mean…" But he was gone, and she was again alone. "Please…I need you."
She dropped to her knees again, curled her arms around herself, and sobbed.
* * * * *
Beast Boy and Terra were seated in the lounge, watching late night cartoon reruns when Robin entered, intent on getting himself something to eat before he slept. Halfway back to his room he had realized that he had not eaten since the previous morning, and had developed a sudden urge for waffles.
"Robin!" Terra almost shouted, spinning around on her seat to peer over the back of the couch at the approaching Boy Wonder. Beast Boy did the same thing a moment later, and they both just watched him as he passed without a word into the kitchen.
"Uh…Robin?" Beast Boy glanced at Terra, shrugged, and they both hoped over the back of the couch to follow him. "How's Star doing?" The two were quite surprised to see their leader out of the infirmary.
"She's asleep." Robin was gathering up the ingredients to make waffles, and he didn't look over at them. "Raven made me leave so she could change her clothing. I need to get some rest anyway."
"Raven was changing Starfire's clothing?" Beastboy got a slightly distant look in his eyes, and started to drool before Terra whacked him in the back of the head.
"Focus, BB. Don't need me getting all jealous on you." She said with a little smile and a pointed look. Beastboy just blushed and rubbed at the back of his head.
"Yeah…anyway, Starfire's gonna be okay, right?" The green-skinned boy watched Robin as he started making his waffles.
"I don't know. I couldn't really find anything wrong with her, and I can't ask her what hurts, since she's asleep. Raven thinks she'll be okay, though." Robin shrugged, glancing at the two of them. "You two don't have to stay up and wait, though. I doubt she'll be awake before morning."
"Well…alright. I guess. Goodnight Robin." Terra smiled and grabbed Beastboy by the arm, dragging him out of the room. Robin just watched them go and sighed. Oh great, if Terra was going to start getting jealous, and Raven was already jealous...
The tower would never survive.
* * * * *
Raven's attention was yanked away from her book when Starfire suddenly rolled over in her bed and began projecting enough overwhelming sorrow to almost drown the fledgling telepath.
"Star!" She groaned, her book falling to the floor as she lurched out of her chair and across the short distance to the bed, hands going to the shoulders of the red-headed alien and shaking lightly. "Star, wake up…it's just a dream." She could barely see straight, and the red-head just whimpered.
Raven took a deep breath and closed her eyes tightly, focusing on her powers, focusing on suppressing her emotions and blocking Starfire's sorrow, but it wasn't working. Raven was shocked by how many raw emotions the red-headed alien could feel. And how strong they were, almost like the emotional equivalent of a rampaging elephant. But it didn't matter. She had to wake the other up somehow.
The Goth girl took another breath, focusing, and began slowly projecting her mind into Starfire, searching for whatever bit of her conscious mind was trapped in the dreams, beneath the drugs and the pain. She saw a bright light, dancing and shifting, changing colors rapidly, and it suddenly launched itself at her and exploded.
And she was in blackness.
"Starfire?" She tentatively called out, reaching up to push her hood off her shoulders. Even in her mental projections she always had her cloak on. "Are you here? Starfire?"
"R…Raven? I…no, you should not be here," the voice sounded choked, the words forced between sobs, and Raven turned to find Starfire sitting in a patch of pale green light, arms wrapped tightly around her knees, crying. "You should go home. This is not a happy place."
Raven moved to the seated girl quickly, dropping down to a crouch next to her. "Starfire, what is it? You feel so…horrible. What happened? What were you dreaming?" She reached out hesitantly and placed a hand on Starfire's shoulder.
"Robin came…he…" Starfire sniffed and rubbed at her eyes with the back of her hand. "He told me…he was happy where I was…and it was wonderful but…but I wanted to go home and he got angry and…he left. He left me here alone." She pointed into the darkness, and Raven assumed that was where the dream Robin had gone.
"Starfire, it is just a dream. Robin didn't leave you. He is sleeping, waiting for you to wake up. It is just a dream." Raven squeezed her shoulder lightly.
Starfire looked up, those usually sparkling green eyes hazy and bloodshot, and just stared at Raven for a moment…then suddenly fell against her, crying still, hugging her tightly. Raven froze, then let out a little sigh and put her arm around the other girl's shoulders, rubbing her back lightly.
"He really…he did not leave? He does not hate me?" Starfire whispered after a few moments, and the Goth girl shook her head.
"He doesn't hate you. I had to chase him out of your room so he would get some sleep."
"You are certain? It seemed so real…"
Raven pursed her lips for a moment. "Here…try to wake up. I can show you the way. Then we will call Robin and prove he is still here. Alright?"
"Yes…I will try to follow you." Starfire nodded and rubbed at her eyes again, struggling to control her tears.
Raven stood slowly and offered the other girl a hand up, then turned and closed her eyes, focusing on her physical body. Slowly, she began to rise.
* * * * *
Robin had just put away the last of his plates from his waffles when his communicator went off. Great, there was no way they could handle any emergencies right now. He sighed and tugged it out, flipping it open, and was startled to see Raven on the other end.
"Robin? You're still awake, good," the dark-eyed girl did not sound surprised, and Robin almost smiled. "Can you come back to Starfire's room?"
The Boy-Wonder frowned, "Sure. Is something wrong?" He started back in that direction, thinking maybe he had forgotten something.
"Star's awake."
He broke into a run.
He made it across the tower in under a minute, sliding to a stop outside of Starfire's door and almost leaping into the room when it swished open. Raven was seated in the chair he had occupied earlier, and Starfire was sitting up in her bed, the bandage from her eyes in her left hand and her gaze on her lap.
"Star!" Robin almost tackled her, but then reigned himself in at the last second and just darted to the edge of the bed and sat down, peering at her. She looked up and smiled, reaching up to rub at her eyes…it looked like she had been crying. Robin let out a breath in relief when she focused on him, though. Not blind…thank god.
"Robin…" Starfire opened and closed her mouth several times, seemingly at a loss for words…and then just fell against him much as she had Raven before, hugging him tightly. "You are here."
Robin didn't say anything, he just hugged her back. Raven stood then and quietly exited the room.
A few minutes later the two managed to release their hug, Starfire settling back into a laying position and Robin sitting next to her, absently stroking her forehead, as Starfire described her dream.
"It was awful, but Raven helped me wake up. I feel like I am still sleeping, though. Very strange," she finished the story, turning slightly to smile at Robin.
"That is probably the medication. You shouldn't really even be awake, Starfire." Robin ran his fingers through her hair.
"No…no, I do not wish to sleep." She shook her head quickly and reached up to grab at Robin's free hand.
"You have to, Star." The boy-wonder squeezed her hand and smiled. "I'll stay with you, alright? I won't leave, so you won't have to have nightmares."
"I…I will try. But not yet." She held onto his hand tightly, bringing it down to rest against her stomach, and he just nodded and resumed rubbing her head.
"Oh…how do your eyes feel?" He noticed the discarded bandage and his fears clicked back into place.
"They still are hurting me, but they do not seem to be damaged," she rubbed at them again. "I believe you would call it an…itch? They are…itchy." Starfire smiled the triumphant little smile she had whenever she used a word correctly, and Robin almost laughed.
"Good. We will go see an eye-doctor tomorrow though, alright? He might be able to tell if something is wrong."
"You will go with me?" Starfire was very wary of human doctors. She had heard the others talk of going, but had not needed to herself.
"Of course."
"Then I shall go," Starfire nodded. "Perhaps I will need those glasses things humans wear. They always look so very silly, as though they have very big ey…" Starfire trailed off suddenly, a look of pain tracing across her face.
Robin tensed up and shifted to peer more closely at her. "What is it? What is wrong?"
"The itching is…it is very painful and…" Suddenly her hand was pushing him backwards, her back was arching, and her eyes flared with bright green light, and her eye-lasers blasted a huge chunk out of the wall behind her bed.
"Star!" Robin fell off the bed, landing on his rear hard enough to black out for a second. "Starfire, what is it?"
The two green beams shot out of the hole in the wall and up into the sky, like a strange connecting light from the alien girl's eyes to the stars.
Starfire's hands jerked, gripping at her sheets, her legs pushing this way and that as she struggled. "I…I can not stop them! Robin, help me! I can not make them stop!"
(There probably will not be a new chapter for a few days. Please, tell me what you all think of this. I wasn't feeling this chapter as much as I did the last one…I need feedback or I may lose the story.)