Italics are in thoughts

I do not own the Teen Titans.

By now it was dark outside the tower, and the stars shone in their brilliant landscape, pinpoints of white glitter on a velvet blanket that spread across the sky. The Titans now gathered around Setsuna, the way small children gather around a storyteller in the public library. Beast Boy sat cross legged on the far right of the couch, elbows on his knees and chin in his hands. Starfire sat next to him, back straight, hands on her knees, her expression devoid of anything other than the need of listening to Setsuna. The single mindedness of her gaze was a bit unnerving, and BB kept edging away from her with uneasy glances. Cyborg sat on the left of Setsuna, arms spread out across the back of the couch. He was the most comfortable around Setsuna, because he had her in more classes, and was actually the only one who had known her name from the get-go. Raven sat up curled on the far left, with her nose deep in a book, though she was far from indifferent to the subject. She just didn't feel like staring at the poor girl, like everyone else was doing. Robin had dragged a chair over and had turned its back to face her, so that he could sit across it backwards, chin resting on arms crossed over the back. Of them all, he seemed the most intent on hearing this, because, even though he wasn't staring directly at her (he seemed to be looking somewhere around her midriff, though his eyes weren't in focus at all), he had a look of concentration on his face that he saved for the rarest and the most important of events or problems.

"I'm not terribly sure how to start. I guess you know by now that my house burned down?" She looked around at the nodding faces and continued. "Well, my...urmmm.....step-mother" she grimaced in distaste at having to use this title, "showed up at school to tell me about it. She also came to check and see if my grades weren't good enough to send me to a boarding school while they were looking for a new house. Supposedly it would have been easier than paying for me to stay in the same hotel with them, which is a load of bull." BB nodded fervently. "I refused her flat out. Ever since my dad started going out with her, it's like he's completely forgotten that he has a life other than that woman's wants and needs. I'll simply say that my life at home hasn't been the best ever since she came into it. Now, I'm never at home, because I'm never wanted at home. They give me enough money to keep me out of trouble, and then tell me when not to come home. I've never had them tell me that they wish I wouldn't stay out so late. They actually wish I would stay gone longer, and I might as well forget going home when they have company over. My dad....." her voice choked in anger and she paused for a moment to gather herself. Robin looked on in concern, his brows drawn together. "My flesh and blood father is now ashamed to let his friends know he has a daughter my age. "

"Anyhow," she goes on in a voice perfectly inflected to relay her opinions of each statement, though it wasn't hard to tell she was holding back much more, "That day after school, I went to the house to try and salvage what was left. I had to be careful, so no one would see me sneaking around and think I was stealing. I managed to find a good deal of my clothes that survived the damage, though they were covered in ash and soot. I also gathered as many of my personal possessions as I could carry. After I'd taken everything from my house that I thought I could use, I found myself a phonebook and started looking up possible places to stay. You know, boarding houses or hotels or something like that." The others stared at her aghast. She was only fifteen years old! That could have been potentially dangerous. Especially since the only places that would have disregarded her age in favor of her money were all on the rougher side of town. She could have been mugged or worse............. "I finally found a place that would take me, sometime around three in the morning. I woke up really tired, and way too late to get to school and have it count. Besides that, I still had so much to do. I had to replace the clothes that I'd lost, since most of my shorts got burned, and I needed most desperately to get a strong lock for my hotel room, and start a bank account. I couldn't carry all of my money with me! I spent the next couple of days doing that, plus looking for a job. Yesterday, however, I realized just how hopeless my situation was becoming. As estranged as my father has become from me, I couldn't believe that he wouldn't have tried to look for me. So I went to his company and asked them what hotel my parents were staying at. It turns out that they left their hotel the day before yesterday. Dad quit his job, and they packed up and left. They're gone," her voice was very quiet, "they left me."

Nobody spoke for a while. BB shifted uncomfortably, unable to think of anything to say. Raven, at some point during the tale, had abandoned her book and was watching Setsuna with such rapt attention that she seemed to be trying to see through the girls head. Cyborg's expression was reproachful. Anyone who could abandon their kid like that wasn't worth the paper their birth certificate was printed on. Starfire's large emerald eyes were rimmed with tears, and her hands were clasped together. Robin appeared to have turned to stone; his face was frozen in a look of outraged disbelief. How? How could anyone leave their child to a life on the streets just so they could indulge in carefree make-out sessions? He tried to speak, and couldn't. He tried to clear his throat, and found he couldn't do that either. All he could do was look at Setsuna, her eyes downcast, as though she feared they would find a way to reflect her parent's behavior on her.

"And that's not the worst of it." All eyes snapped back to her, though she had long ceased to look at any of them. "I've started developing....powers. I don't really have any problem controlling them, but it's not easy knowing that you have these amazing new abilities, and there's no one for you to turn to. There's no one who can tell you what you should do with them, or how you should try to develop them, or even whether you should use them in the open or not." She finally raised her eyes to meet theirs. Raven's eyes were full of understanding, for all of that the blank expression had never left her face. Starfire was leaking tears and making tiny, squeaking sounds that were probably her attempt at trying not to bawl out loud. BB still looked at a complete loss, and Cyborg was most likely still thinking of her parents, since the look on his face was disapproving. Lastly, she looked to Robin. Although she couldn't see his eyes, he was staring back at her, his face a picture of compassion and concern. He slowly untangled himself from his cape and chair, and then rose to his feet.

"I don't know about any of you, but I think she should stay the night with us." The others nodded their assent. In some ways, this case wasn't that different from Terra. But terra hadn't really tried to handle her problem. She had run away from it. And unlike Terra, Setsuna willingly admitted that she wasn't sure what to do with her powers. She wasn't lying to anyone, and she had tried her very best to take care of the problem herself. "Starfire, you take Setsuna to one of the guest rooms. I don't expect she's been getting very much sleep in that hotel of hers." Setsuna nodded with a profound look of gratitude on her face, and got up to follow Starfire, who was babbling on about how wonderful it was to have a new friend in the tower. Setsuna's laughter drifted down the hall, clear and rippling, as Starfire began accounting all of the many things they could do the next day (since they had no school), and would Setsuna enjoy perhaps the styling of the hair or the undergoing of the make-over. Robin turned his attention to the remaining Titans.

"Well, what do you guys think? I guess we know how Starfire feels on this subject. And you already know what I'm going to say. I'm not about to let her go back out on the streets, especially when she doesn't really have a way to take care of herself. She's too young to get a job, so nobody would hire her. She'd end up on the streets, she'd stop coming to school, and then sooner or later................" Raven picked up the line.

"Sooner or later she'd wind up dead in the gutter somewhere, or she might become a rape victim. She'd better understand the rules about my room." Raven stood and, with a swirl of her dark cloak, was gone.

"Heh. Raven sure does know how to make an exit." Cy watched Raven go, and then gave his opinion. "I don't know too much about her, though I do see her in school more than any of you guys. She works hard to make sure she gets everything done, and she never holds a grudge. She's rather overwhelm you with her sharp tongue than pound you into the ground, though I hear she used to be in Karate classes before the place got torn down. Might be a practice partner for you, Robin." He glanced slyly at their young leader in time to see a faint blush run across the young mans cheeks. "She's a good kid. I think it'd be cool for her to hang here."

Beast Boy had nothing to say on the subject. He seemed lost in thought, though the others knew that he was probably thinking of Terra.

"Alright then, it's settled. We'll tell her tomorrow, and also see what kind of powers she has. She might be an asset to the team. Right now I think it's time to turn in, though."

Well? Come on guys, I need more reviews than this. Don't be afraid to tell me what you think. If it sucks, tell me why, or if you think some addition to the story would give it some spice, give me a shout. I love getting feedback. More chapters to come soon. Sorry I'm being so slow about it. School, babysitting, and my youngest brother has discovered fire. So much to do, so many burnt fingers to bandage. Review, please!!