Innocence Lost by CidGregor
Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.
Epilogue
"When Starfire said she was looking right at Slade and Robin fighting, I wasn't sure what to believe…" Raven said. "I knew Star wouldn't be lying, but I couldn't sense Slade at all. Just her, Robin, Rosefire, and Analyst. Then I remembered the trick he pulled with a robotic body double back in Robin's Red-X days, and I realized he'd pulled it again."
She fell silent, staring eye-to-eye with Cyborg. It was a few hours later, and the Titans had returned home from the eventful night, weary but victorious. But Cyborg had demanded to know why Raven hadn't bothered to save Slade from certain death, against every code of justice they knew, and there was no way Raven could avoid explaining herself. It seemed, though, that Cyborg wasn't entirely satisfied with her answer.
"But what if you'd been wrong?" Cyborg said. "What if that really had been Slade in there, and you'd let him die?"
"I wasn't. He wasn't. I didn't," she said simply. "Why worry about the 'what ifs'?"
"I guess…" Cyborg muttered. He looked out the window of the Tower's living room. "Well, in any case, Analyst's back in jail for a long time, and Star and Rosefire are safe. I guess we won."
"Yes…but not without a price."
Cyborg looked suspiciously at his teammate. "What price?"
Raven sighed. "Robin told me last night, just after the police took Analyst…it was Slade's fault."
"What was his fault, the kidnapping? C'mon, Rae, I think we all figured…"
"No…worse than that…Starfire's rape…Slade set the whole thing up, just to get her pregnant…and then kidnap the child, to raise her as his new apprentice. And he took some kind of sick, twisted pleasure in shoving the whole story in their faces. It hit them both pretty hard."
Cyborg was at an utter loss for words. He'd known Slade was evil…but that…that was crossing the line. That bordered on insanity.
"On second thought, maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if you'd let him drop," he muttered. "That's…that's just terrible…"
Raven nodded, but said nothing more for a few moments. The two Titans stared out the window, reflecting on the previous night. The morning sun bathed the city in its dim light, slowly bringing its citizens to life and returning them to their daily routines. For most of them those routines hadn't changed a bit from the day before. But for two of the Titans, life would never be quite the same. Whether that was for better or for worse, Raven didn't know for sure…but about this, at least, she had a good feeling. She believed in Starfire and Robin. As young as they were…as young as they all still were…she believed they would be up to the task of raising a child.
"Should we…y'know…go talk to them?" Cyborg broke the silence.
"Not yet…" Raven said. "Give them some time to sort things out, just the two of them. They need it."
"Yeah, all right…where are they, anyway?"
Raven allowed a tiny smile. "You know how much Star loves watching the sun rise. Where else would they be?"
And she slowly raised her eyes to the ceiling.
Robin sat at the edge of the roof in silence, beside his love as she watched the rising of the morning sun. Rosefire was asleep in Starfire's room in her crib, the baby shower present Cyborg had made by hand. Robin shuddered to think that she might never have gotten to use it…there had been far too many close calls, the last of which Robin still didn't understand entirely how it had come about.
"Star?" Robin voiced his mind. "I have to ask…when Slade was threatening to drop Rosefire…how did you know she would be able to fly back to safety?"
The redhead smiled, her eyes closed. "It is as I said before…with we Tameranians, the power of flight is directly linked to feelings of happiness and joy. A newborn knows these feelings from the moment they come into the world. All it takes to unleash it for the first time is a simple stimulation."
"The funny faces?" Robin guessed.
Starfire nodded. "My powers are almost a mirror image of Raven's. While her powers are controlled by an equilibrium of emotions, mine depend on unleashing them. Joy unleashes flight. Strength is unlocked through boundless confidence. And righteous fury…"
"…for the star-bolts," Robin finished. "Makes sense after seeing that huge blast of it you shot off. I imagine you were pretty upset then…"
Robin shut his mouth a couple seconds too late; Starfire's smile faded, her expression suddenly downcast.
"I…I'm sorry…" Robin said. "I know…none of this has been easy for us…but you've suffered most of all…"
"I am not worried so much for myself…but I fear that Slade has not been deterred entirely in his goal. I fear he will continue to try and kidnap Rosefire and twist her into his apprentice."
"He got lucky yesterday," Robin said. "We won't fall into the same trap again. And now that we're back in the Tower, there's no way anyone's going to get in here to take her away, I can promise you. We'll protect her, Star. What I'm worried about is you. Are you sure you're okay?"
Starfire smiled and nodded, but it was a lie, and Robin saw it. He held his stare on her until she looked away, and it was a while before she spoke again.
"When I was younger, growing up on Tamaran," Starfire she suddenly said, "I always imagined that when I had children, it would be perfect. I imagined having a wonderful husband whom I loved, and who loved me in return. I dreamed of beautiful children to call our own; one, two, or ten, it didn't matter how many…"
She trailed off for a moment, her cheeks flushing a bit. "But most of all…I…wanted to experience true love…how wonderful it would feel to be…joined as one with the man of my dreams…"
Robin's cheeks turned red as well. He coughed slightly and tugged at his collar, feeling slightly embarrassed, but he forgot about that entirely as he noticed the tears that had begun to fall from her eyes.
"But my dream was a lie…" she wept. "It was not a wonderful feeling at all. It…it hurt…I felt nothing but pain…when they…"
She blinked back her tears, but they only appeared anew as the memories began to bubble forward again.
"Starfire, your dream is as true as it ever was," Robin said, very firmly. "I promise you, Star, what those creeps did to you…that wasn't love. That was as far from love as you can possibly get. It was a despicable crime, a mockery of everything that real love stands for."
Robin leaned in closer to her, gripping her hands in his. "Don't ever think, even for a second, that real love is anything like that. Real love is the most wonderful feeling you could ever have…it's…it's what I feel for you, Star. I love you so much…and I would never, ever do anything to hurt you."
Starfire looked at the Boy Wonder through teary eyes. She watched as he slowly brought one hand beneath her chin and lifted her face up. She blinked back her tears again, and this time they stayed there. She leaned in until she could wrap her arms around the Boy Wonder's neck, and the two pulled each other in close and kissed passionately.
Every other thought was instantly and completely wiped from their minds; all they knew was each other, and that they never wanted to let that kiss end. Robin's hands found their way around Starfire's body and into her hair, and almost immediately he wished he wasn't wearing his gloves. Without breaking the kiss he flung them off and buried his hands in the silky-smooth strands of her hair. He could sit there playing with it all day, it was so soft, so perfect. It smelled like…strawberries, fittingly enough.
After what seemed like hours the two realized that they needed to breathe. The broke apart reluctantly. Robin gazed at her through the eyeholes of his mask, and suddenly remembered how much more beautiful Starfire had seemed without it. He pulled the mask off and tossed it aside, and when he looked at her again, she did indeed look more beautiful than ever.
"That was…most satisfying…" Starfire breathed.
"Yeah…" Robin echoed. "I…like your hair…it's really…soft."
She giggled. "Why thank you Robin, I lathered, rinsed, and repeated!"
Robin almost snorted with laughter and slight embarrassment as a brief mental image of Starfire in the shower flitted through his head. He gazed lovingly back at the alien girl, and wondered vaguely why he'd waited so long to tell her how much he loved her…if he had known it would feel this great, he'd have done it ages ago.
"Shall we go inside?" Starfire said. "I am feeling a little chilly now."
Almost immediately Robin flung his cape off and threw it around her shoulders. "There…better?"
"Yes, very much, thank you."
Starfire grabbed Robin by the hand and lifted him as she flew down the outside of the Tower and back through the open window of her bedroom. They landed inside, still giggling, and then Robin headed for the door.
"I'll let you get some sleep…it's been a long day for you, to say the least," he said.
"Yes, indeed it has…good nigh…er…morning, Robin."
Robin laughed. "Sleep well," he said, and left.
Starfire stood staring at the door for a good five minutes afterward, almost melting with joy as she framed the memory of the last few minutes permanently in her head. She turned to Rosefire's crib and looked in at their child…
Our child… she thought happily. It was amazing how much she had come to love this new child in such a short amount of time. She remembered her dream again, thinking of how completely it had come true…her beautiful child, and the man she loved, and…
Her sudden wave of joy faltered again. Her dream was not quite fulfilled, after all. There was still a piece missing.
It hurt so much then… Starfire remembered with a shiver. But Robin said…that was not real…he said real love was a most wonderful feeling…and that he would never hurt me…is he…would he…
All of a sudden determined, she left her room and floated away to Robin's room. She knocked lightly on the door, and the Boy Wonder opened it promptly. He was half-changed into his nightclothes, his mask still off, so that she could lose herself in his eyes.
"Star? Is everything okay?" he said.
"You promise…" she said slowly. "You promise…that you will never hurt me?"
"Of course, Star…I promise," he said. "But what…"
He was suddenly cut off as Starfire pulled him forward into another longing kiss, which Robin certainly did not resist. But this time it was much deeper…much more passionate than before…
She slowly edged forward with Robin until the two were inside the room…and then shut the door behind her.
Not long after, she knew Robin had indeed been right. Loving him was a more wonderful feeling than she ever could've imagined.
Her dream was, at last, complete.
THE END...
Author's Notes: There is still one more chapter...but I warn you, if you can't stand sex for whatever reason, you'd best stop reading now.
This fic is not within the continuity of Sleeping Prince, in case you were wondering. My next extended fic, however, will be. Title is pending, but it will be a BB/Terra story...Hopefully a good one...not enough of those out there. Raven will play a significant role this time as well (and no, not as part of a love triangle), making it my first fic where rob and star take a bit of a backseat, which is too bad, cuz I love that couple. Oh well.
In the meantime, feel free to review, E-mail, IM me, or all of the above and let me know what you thought about my first 'mature' fic. I love getting feedback, or just talking with people, or whatever. Thanks, all, for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it...trust me, I didn't want it to end just as much as you.
Ciao,
JP, aka CidGregor.
