It's all my fault

Summary: The Titans run into trouble with Slade again…and this time, he wins. They go home, but there are only four members of Titan's West (as in, the five we're used to) still alive…Rob/Star.

I'm sorry if anybody acts OOC. I'm bad at keeping people in character. -.-'


The Titan climbed up onto the roof and looked around. There was no one there.

The silent Titan stood almost on the edge of Titan's Tower and looked around. Sinking down, the Titan felt something tears developing, but pushed them back. Something that blew in the wind

'It was all my fault.' The Titan thought as the horrible memory of earlier that day flashed by…


Flashback

Robin fought furiously against Slade's advancing robots. Slade had come back. For some unknown reason, he had attacked a factory. An abandoned one at that.

But Robin couldn't just let him do what he wanted. He couldn't. Slade was up to something, and they needed to stop him.

Unfortunately, the robots had separated all the Titans. Robin was at one end of the one-roomed factory, and Beast Boy, Raven, and Cyborg were at the other. He didn't know where Starfire was.

Just then, he saw through two robot's heads, towards a fire escape. Slade was making his way over there.

"Titans! Slade's trying to escape! Don't let him get away!" Robin cried, fighting off the robots again.

Meanwhile, Starfire had recently been battling two robots in the rafters, but blasted their heads off with starbolts. She had seen Robin in his predicament, and flew down to save him, when she saw Slade watching him from a corner, although she wasn't sure that he was looking at Robin.

Then, before she could react, Slade began running for the exit. Apparently, Robin saw him, because he shouted, "Titans! Slade's trying to escape! Don't let him get away!"

Starfire was torn for a few hideous moments between catching Slade and rescuing Robin. Finally, she turned and flew towards the villain.

Slade noticed Starfire, and before she was less then a yard away from him, he whipped out a silver orb.

Robin, who was only being held back by two of Slade's minions (one holding each arm), saw it, and his eyes widened. "STARFIRE! GET AWAY! IT'S---"

It was too late. Starfire heard him call her name and had turned. When he tried to warn her, she had begun to fly away, but Slade had hurled the orb at her. It hit her back, and exploded.

"AH!" Starfire screamed, and was sent flying into a nearby pipe.

One that had a handle (like one on a hose) on it.

Robin saw, with horror, Starfire hit the pipe and fall to the ground. Something red was on the pipe and Starfire's stomach, and there was a lot of it.

Blood.

The battle seemed to end. None of the other three Titans had noticed that the number of Slade's robots to fight had diminished during the last few minutes of the battle, and now, there were none left.

Robin kicked the robot holding his left arm in the stomach, and threw it into the one on his right. As it exploded, he ran towards Starfire. 'Slade's gone.' He noticed grimly as he held Starfire in his arms.

"R-Robin?" Starfire said, weakly.

"Yes, Starfire, I'm here." He said, gently, but holding back his emotion.

"I am…sorry." Starfire moaned out, and turned her head slightly.

Robin turned it back gently with one hand. "There's nothing to apologize for. I shouldn't have told you to---I mean, I should've---it's all my fault."

"No, it is not, Robin." Starfire said, with a tiny smile. Then, it faded as she began to breath harder. It was definitely more labored.

All the other Titans were so stunned by the turn of events that Robin had to shout, "RAVEN! Hurry! Help Starfire!" before Raven figured it out. As she flew over to help…

THUD! She hit something as hard as a brick wall. Beast Boy and Cyborg caught her and put her on her feet again. Cyborg scanned it. "It's a force field! Slade probably put it up so that we couldn't get to him, but Robin and Starfire had already made it through."

The three Titans fought furiously to break through as Starfire fought for her life.

Robin set her down and felt her forehead. She was burning up.

"R-Robin," Starfire began, "I do not think I will live much…"

"No, Starfire!" Robin said, trying not to yell. "You'll be okay! Just like before. Just like everytime."

Starfire put her hand up to Robin's face. Robin held her hand (which was more frail then before now) gently between both of his hands. "No, I will not be alright. But…please remember…you always were…and always will be…my…best friend."

Starfire's emerald eyes closed as her head---which she had slightly propped up on her own---fell back. Her hand went limp in Robin's, and it slid out of his gentle grip, dropping onto her stomach, where the fatal wound was.

Cyborg had broken through the force field and all four of the other Titans were within a yard of Starfire when she had slipped away.

None of the Titans could truthfully say later that they didn't feel tremendously horrified and saddened. Even Raven had tears developing in her amethyst eyes.

All of the toughness, all of the hope, all of what Robin always had been faded away. Sobs that he attempted to stifle echoed through the otherwise silent room, not counting the normal sounds from inside the factory.

When they were done, a few minutes later, Raven said, "We should leave."

The other Titans agreed. Robin picked up the body that used to belong to the most courageous Titan and followed Raven. Cyborg put his hand on Robin's shoulder before he had moved very far. "I'm sorry, man." Was all he could say.

Robin nodded, composure only slightly returning.

The truth settled in horribly on all of them as they walked to the T-Car: Starfire was truly dead.


Robin felt the tears ready to fall again, but held them back. 'This is ridiculous.' He thought. 'I know she's gone, but…' He couldn't come up with a reason not to mourn for Starfire.

They had taken her body to a morgue. They had already arranged the funeral. It was going to be within a week.

Someone had leaked the information to the media, and it was all over the place. Everyone seemed to know about the dead Tameranean princess, and poor Cyborg and Beast Boy had to deal with the phone calls of people telling them how sorry they were. Raven had helped them at first, but when she nearly caused the couch to explode from the stress, they told her to meditate, which she did.

They had let Robin off the hook about it. Of all the Titans, he had taken it the hardest. He had been wandering around Titan's Tower all day, not once practicing, laughing, joking, eating, or even talking at all. He spent a lot of time looking at pictures of Starfire, and looking at things that reminded him of her, but then, it was too painful. He was trying to get used to the fact that she was gone…but it wasn't working.

'I'm sorry she's gone, Robin…but there was nothing we could've done.' Raven had said. 'We need to move on, and you need to stop blaming yourself.'

'It'll be okay…with time.' Beast Boy had said later. 'That's how it was for when Terra died.'

'I'm sorry, man.'

'She's gone.'

'There's nothing we could've done.'

'We tried.'

'It was too late.'

Millions of other things that Robin had thought or heard that day floated around in his head as he looked at the moon, but the stars twinkling around it only reminded him of how Star's eyes used to shine in the starlight when she was happy.

He turned, his cape fluttering in the breeze. He walked down into Titan's Tower, trying to put his sadness behind him.

But it is never that easy.


Ack, I'm really sorry! Robin was so OOC, wasn't he? And I'm no good at writing angst. I'm such a sap. (embarrassed) I was crying while I wrote this…

Please review, despite this story's badness!