"Where is she now?"
"She has taken to the roof, and she is not talking with anyone…You do not think that it is true? What she said?"
"She really didn't say that you weren't going to be part of the team Star"
"She might as well have" Beastboy pointed out, "She kept banging her head on the door, and then she wouldn't say anything else about it, except that 'it was a mistake, that she was wrong'"
"I think she's hiding something." Cyborg commented.
"No, DUH!" Beastboy remarked.
"I meant about our future!" Cyborg rolled his human eye, "Maybe something happened to us in the future that she's not telling us about."
"Well she didn't really tell us why she needed to get into Slade's base." Beastboy pointed out.
Silence spread through them for awhile after he said this. Would Starfire still be part of the team or not? If not, could they change it? Robin looked around at his team mates. Raven had failed to show up for the emergency meeting, and had done so most likely on purpose. Something was definitely wrong with her and whatever it was, he had a strong feeling that Violet was part of the reason.
He had noticed the horror in her eyes when she had gazed into Violet's mind. He had seen her withdraw into her room, detach herself from their presence as if it sickened her. Had she seen something she wasn't supposed to see?
"We need to find out what she knows, and exactly why she needs to find Slade's headquarters. I'm going to go talk to her."
He left the quiet room; everyone had seemed to have lost the ability to talk. He climbed up the stairs to the roof, where Violet had been seen last retreating and sure enough, there she was, sitting on the very edge of the roof, staring off blankly into the water below.
"Violet? Can we talk?"
She turned and looked at him, but didn't say anything. She returned promptly to staring and let her head slump into her hands, her elbows propped up on her thighs. Robin approached her carefully, suddenly uncertain how he was going to start the conversation. He had planned on asking her straight away, but somehow he couldn't when he saw her sitting there. She just looked so……sad.
He was standing right next to her at this point, "So…mind if I sit here?"
She shook her head simply, not even giving him eye contact. An awkward stillness drifted between them as the wind picked up. It was cold up on the roof.
Robin ventured a question, "Anything bothering you?"
"Yes"
Nothing after that.
"Want to talk about it?"
"Yes"
Again nothing.
"Aren't you going to tell me?"
"No. I'm not allowed to."
"So I guess you can't tell me why Starfire's no longer a Teen Titan in your time either, huh?"
Apparently she did have something to say about Star, as this remark got her talking, "No! I mean, yes! I mean…it's not what you think!"
"Then what did you mean?" Robin thought for a moment, "Was a new room built for Star, and that's why you have her room?…Or what?"
"No! She…well…you see…oh dang it, I can't explain!" she was having a hard time finding a way to tell him without giving away too much information.
She yelled in frustration and grabbed her head, thumping it repeatedly on her lap.
"Violet, calm down!" he firmly held her arm and stopped her, "Okay, so you can't tell me straight out. What can you tell me?"
She suddenly looked away and blushed.
"What's wrong? Did something happen?" his stomach began to knot at the very thought of something happening to one of his friends.
"Um…yes…" she turned even redder.
His eyes widened at this, "What!" then he raised an eyebrow at the color in her cheeks, "Does it have something to do with you?"
She bit her lip then slowly nodded her head in a guilty sort of way, "Well, it's not easy to explain…you see she's…"
"She's what?" his stomach twisted even more the longer he waited.
"She's…she's…" then she paused for a long time and looked at him, contemplating whether or not she was allowed to tell him, and when she was done thinking, she squinted her eyes shut for the worse and said, "…she's missing."
It was like a slap to his face and Robin almost fell off from the edge.
"What do you mean missing! And why would that anything to do with you?"
He had taken the news very disturbed, and his head was buzzing with a sudden explosion of questions. What could Violet have done? If their future really was as messed up as it washe perceived it to be, then what caused it to be somessed up? And most importantly, why was Starfire missing and was she alright?
He was abruptly flooded with worst-case scenarios, all of them ending with crash ends. Everything seemed to be falling around him in pieces and he was beginning to feel faint. And Violet hadn't answered his question.
"Violet?" his voice was a bit shaky, a bit afraid of what news she could bestow on him.
Her legs had been pulled up to her chest by this time and her head was buried in the small space between her knees, arms wrapping around her legs. She said something that was muffled, but it was clear that the tone had been full of……regret?
"What'd you say?"
She lifted her head just enough so that she could be heard, "It's all my fault…"
She slumped her head down again, but not quick enough for Robin to notice the glint from the sun on her cheeks. She was crying, very quietly. He would never have guessed otherwise that she had been had been shedding tears, she had been so silent in making them. He was burning to know more, his insides churning with worry. He had to know what happened and how he could stop it from ever taking place.
And yet…those tears…so many tears and not a single noise. He wanted so bad to ask her, but couldn't, his voice catching in his throat at the sight of her sad form. Her quietness was bothering him. It made him want to do something to make her cheer up.
"It couldn't be that bad? I mean…whatever you did, I'm sure it was an accident."
She sniffed, "No, it wasn't an accident. But it wasn't anything I could control."
He would have said something to this, but she continued to speak, "And now because of me, everything's gone wrong and now S-starfire's missing and it'll be all my fault if she never comes back. It's my fault too that Speedy's mission was screwed and…"
Speedy? What mission?
"…and now even T.E. can't get in. Which is why I have to do all this by myself and I wouldn't be surprised if my parents hated me after I mess this up too."
Why was she suddenly like this, opening up this much to him? Whatever the reason, it made Violet look vulnerable, her face completely wet, still silent…what was it about those silent tears that just got at him? Her present and his future seemed inescapably thrown into chaos; he wanted to wipe those tears up and tell her that everything was okay, even though things were clearly not going to be okay for both her and him. So he did.
"Please stop crying. The other Titans and me will make sure that everything gets fixed. You can count on me and the others." he smiled encouragingly.
She knocked his arm away and stood up, looking at him with such a look of offence and despair, a flicker of hatred for something, or someone, behind her eyes. Was it something he said?
"No I can't."
She stared at him, her eyes narrowed, the flicker growing into a spark of fire. It made him feel highly uncomfortable.
"W-why-But I didn't do anything…"
She seemed to tower over him, her rage beginning to build even more. The spark was now a wave of flames and never had he seen such malevolence.
"I just can't." more tears were streaming down from her eyes where the fire was still burning.
As site-full it was to see someone with both tears and anger coming out of their eyes, it was not very pleasant to be the person that it was aimed at.
"Violet…" Robin just sat where he was, as if petrified.
The anger wasn't directed at him, but is was if she was trying to deliver a message to him. Something that she couldn't, no, wasn't allowed to say with words. As if something was going to happen soon that would scar them all. Something that had already affected her.
She closed her eyes finally after awhile of this and said, "What was I thinking? I should never have come here."
And with this she looked toward the ground and leaped off the building, Robin's too late plea of, "Wait! Don't!" trailing after her.
