Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans or Sleeping Beauty.

This story is dedicated to SocialButterfli; without you this story wouldn't have existed. Thanks, amiga!

Chapter 5

"My baby…my poor little baby…what did he do to you?" Cyborg was almost weeping as he examined the wreckage that was once his car.

"Oh, get over yourself, Cy," Beast Boy muttered. "I think we have bigger things to worry about right now. Like what the heck's gotten into Robin. He's gone seriously whacked out nutso."

"My baby…don't worry, everything's going to be just fine…" Cyborg said, as though speaking to a baby.

"Oh, forget it," Beast Boy grunted. He turned to Raven. "How long were we out for, do you think?"

"At least a couple of hours," Raven said. "It's close to dawn."

"Any luck finding Robin and Star?"

"Not yet. Their communicators are being jammed somehow."

"Well, can't you do that…that thing you do? Y'know…the mind thing?"

"It's called telepathy, Beast Boy. It's not that big a word, even you should be able to remember it. And I would use it if you two morons would shut up for three seconds so I can focus."

"Heh…got it," Beast Boy said sheepishly.

Raven turned away from the two boys and closed her eyes, focusing as clearly as she could on her mental image of Robin and Starfire. "Azarath…Metrion…Zinthos…" she whispered, and her consciousness left her body. In spirit form she roamed the city, stretching her senses as far as she could, trying to pick up the mental signatures of her lost friends.

At last she sensed something familiar near the harbor. She dove down, following the sense into a dark house…down a flight of stairs…there!

Raven opened her eyes. "Got them. They're near the harbor."

"All right, Raven!" Beast Boy cheered. "C'mon, Cy, let's go!"

"You'll be up and running again in no time, I promise," Cyborg continued speaking in baby talk to his car. "And I'll make sure to wash you every day, and change your oil every three thousand miles on the dot, and…urk! No, Lemme go! My car!"

For Raven had just yanked Cyborg away from his baby and dragged him along after her as she flew off for the harbor, with Beast Boy flying along not far behind.

"HAH!"

Robin swung with all his might, aiming for Starfire's head, but she flew backward and out of range. Robin ran forward, trying to catch up, but he couldn't while she was flying through the air, despite the low ceiling. Instead Robin took to his projectile weapons, firing birdarangs and smoke bombs and explosive pellets by the dozen at Starfire, who dodged them all easily. But though Robin couldn't hit her, she refused to fight back herself; she didn't want to hurt her friend, not when his actions were not his own.

"Will you just swat that annoying fly, already!" Kitten screamed in the background, and Robin suddenly seemed to redouble his efforts, attacking with much more ferocity and accuracy than before. But still Starfire had the aerial advantage; Robin's options were limited as long as she stayed airborne. And quite abruptly even those limited options were exhausted as Robin reached for another handful of gadgets to attack with, only to find that his utility belt had been emptied.

Starfire took advantage of the short reprieve. "Robin, I know the real you is still in there. You must free yourself from the Kitten's control!"

"The Robin you knew is long gone, Starbrat!" came Robin's reply. "And there's nothing you can say to change that!"

Robin grabbed his grappling hook and fired at straight at Starfire. She flew to the side and out of its way, but she made the mistake of following its path as it dug into the ceiling. When she looked back Robin was already reeling himself upward, aiming a flying kick at Starfire, and finally struck her. Starfire was knocked out of the air, dazed but not badly hurt. Robin jerked the hook free of the ceiling and dropped to the ground, smirking once again.

That control… Starfire suddenly thought, remembering that Kitten had used it earlier. Perhaps if I destroy it, Robin will be freed!

Ignoring Robin for the moment, Starfire dashed toward Kitten. A look of vague surprise struck her before the alien girl snatched the control box from her hand, and crushed it into bits. She spun around looking hopefully at Robin, and was met with another kick to the face from her former friend. Starfire pulled herself to her feet, breathing hard now, but so was Robin; this fight couldn't go on much longer for either of them. It had already dragged on for what felt like hours.

"Sorry, Starfire, but it's not that simple," Kitten gloated. "That remote was just a little bonus insurance. Robin is still completely in my power."

"You…you…you are nothing but an evil witch!" Starfire shouted.

Kitten glared. "A witch, am I? Well I don't care what you say. This witch has your little Prince Charming under her spell for good!"

Under her spell…? The words echoed in Starfire's mind. For some reason it stirred up thoughts of the fairy tale once more. All of a sudden she was struck with surprise by how eerily similar to her fairy tale this whole night had been. Except here it was the Prince who had fallen under the witch's spell, and the princess who would come to save him, to free him from the spell…

And suddenly a light bulb clicked on in her head.

No, that is most absurd, she argued with herself, stunned that she would even think such a thing.

But my only other choice is to fight him, another part of her said. I cannot bear to hurt my friend. If there is the smallest chance that I might stop him without hurting him…I must try.

Robin came forward once again, but his movements had slowed; the both of them were running on empty. But Starfire had one last idea up her sleeve. One last, desperate, insane idea.

I pray this works… she thought.

Robin swung his staff one-handed at Starfire, but rather than dodge it, this time she caught him by the wrist and held him there. He swung his free fist at her, but she caught that too. And with only a moment of nervous hesitation, she gently pulled Robin forward, and kissed him.

"What the…!" Kitten exclaimed, stunned speechless.

It was as wonderful a feeling as Starfire had always imagined, kissing Robin. She held him close to her, firmly but not forcefully, and was relieved to find that he wasn't fighting back or rejecting it. She held the kiss as long as she dared, perhaps a handful of heartbeats, and broke away, gazing at Robin with desperate hope in her eyes and the smell of smoke in her nose…

Wait…smoke…? Star realized, confused. But then she noticed a small pillar of smoke that seemed to be coming from the back of Robin's neck. A second later there was a sizzling sound, like something electronic was short-circuiting. Then suddenly Robin fell to his knees and dropped into Starfire's arms, face-down and unconscious, and she realized why; there was some kind of metallic device stuck to the back of Robin's neck, the source of the smoke.

"This was the cause!" Starfire exclaimed, understanding dawning on her face as she turned to glare furiously at Kitten. "The Killer Moth put this on Robin while they fought, so you could control him, and force him to fight us and to be your boyfriend!"

Kitten was no longer so confident. "Heh…heh…hey, no hard feelings…right…?"

The last thing Kitten was aware of before blacking out was green light. Lots and lots of green light.

"It's your basic mind control device," Cyborg said, examining the broken chip. "This needle here digs into the skin through the back of the neck and latches onto the base of the brain, and the chip takes over all brain function. And this receiver here is for voice-activated commands. It must have been geared to respond to Kitten's voice, and then force Robin to do whatever she told him to."

"Just like in Mega-Horror-Theatre episode twenty-eight!" Beast Boy exclaimed.

"Uh…yeah, that," Cyborg muttered.

The Titans had arrived at the scene to find Starfire waiting for them at the water's edge, Kitten tied up next to her and muttering obscenities, and Robin out cold on a bench. Starfire had explained most of what had happened in that basement to the rest of the Titans…except for the kiss that had saved him. Cyborg had then carefully removed the strange chip from Robin's neck, and now they were preparing to drop Kitten off in jail and get home to a good night's sleep, despite the fact that the first light of dawn was already peeking over the horizon.

"So none of his behavior was his own doing?" Starfire said, relieved.

"Nope. But that doesn't mean I'm gonna let him off the hook for wreckin' my car!"

"Super. Can we go home now?" Raven said.

"I wish to wait with Robin until he awakens," Starfire said.

"BB's gonna drop off Kitten at the police station," Cyborg said, "and I need to get a tow truck to bring the T-car back to the garage. We'll meet you guys back at the Tower."

The two boys headed off, Kitten held in the massive talons of Beast Boy's pterodactyl morph and screaming something about hating heights.

"Uunnh…" a low groan sounded from behind the two girls. Starfire spun around and saw Robin stirring, trying to sit up.

"ROBIN! You have awakened!" Starfire exclaimed, rushing forward and throwing her arms around him. "Are you injured?"

"Unnh…where…where am I?" Robin muttered. "What happened to Killer Moth?"

"He escaped," Raven admitted. "We were too worried about you to deal with him."

"Worried about me? Why?" Robin wondered aloud. He glanced behind him, and gasped. "Dawn? How long have I been out of it?"

Raven narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "What are you talking about?"

"Robin, you have been under the control of the evil Kitten for the last several hours, remember?"

"What?" Robin exclaimed. "Under Kitten's control? I don't remember anything like that."

"You're telling me the last few hours is just a big blank to you?" Raven asked.

"The last thing I remember was fighting Killer Moth…and then he jumped on me, and then…nothing, until just now."

"You…you don't remember…?" Starfire said, but froze with a sharp gasp. If the last few hours was nothing but a blank to him, then that meant…he didn't remember when she…how she freed him…

"Robin, please…you do not remember any of what has happened?" Starfire begged, sadness in her eyes, pleading silently that if anything else he remembered just this one thing. "Not…not even…?"

"Not even what, Star?"

Starfire's eyes began to tear up again almost instantly, and she turned away, not wanting Robin to see it, but she was too late.

"Star, what is it? What's wrong?" he asked.

Starfire didn't respond. She slowly walked away and stood the water's edge, gazing at the moon that was sinking beyond the horizon, gazing out at it with tears falling from her eyes once more. He doesn't remember, she thought sadly.

"Starfire…please, talk to me. What's wrong?" Robin pressed again.

"It is…nothing," she said quietly. Without another word she lifted herself off the ground and flew away toward Titan's Tower, alone.

"I don't understand…what's going on?" Robin wondered aloud to Raven.

"I wish I knew, Robin…I wish I knew."

"…And so, with the evil witch defeated, the Prince wed the beautiful Sleeping Beauty, and they lived happily…ever after…The End," Starfire read aloud to herself, and closed the book. She turned it over and stared at the cover, seeing it in an entirely new light now. For the second time that night, it struck Starfire just how right Raven had been before. Robin wasn't going to give her a happy ending here…he couldn't even remember what they had shared. All she felt was emptiness.

With a sniffle and a tear, she walked over to her dresser, gave the book one last longing stare, and dropped it into the garbage can. She lay down in bed, closed her eyes, and tried to forget that this whole night had ever happened.