Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the second bookin the series of "The Life Heroic" stories. For those of you not familiar with my work, I would recommend reading the first book of this series, entitled "A Night At The Opera."

For those of you who are lazy, please know that the following pairings exist in this story arc: Robin/Starfire, Aqualad/Raven, Beast Boy/Terra, Cyborg/Bumblebee, Speedy/Jinx, Mas y Menos/well...we'll see.

Please feel free to review this or any of my stories, I welcome the comments. As always, I don't own the Teen Titans.

That said, I proudly present to you...

The Life Heroic

Book Two – Between Life And Burning Space

Chapter One: Seven Days Makes One Weak

Aqualad gritted his teeth and finished the last of his coffee. Well, technically it wasn't his coffee, it was Robin's…it was the cheap stuff. He hated it, but it was what was there. He had yet to get down to Jump City Coffee and Tea service to buy a bag of Kenyan roast. For the last week he had been too busy taking care of Raven and fighting with the west titans against whatever came up. The current fighting force consisted of Cyborg, Beast Boy, Terra, a very tired Aqualad, and an equally tired Robin.

He looked across the table to Robin, who had fallen asleep face down on the table. Robin had been looking after Starfire just as diligently as Aqualad had been looking after Raven. Apparently, neither Azarathians nor Tameraneans were immune to the scourge of the flu.

Muffled by the wood of the table came the Boy Wonder's voice. "I told her to get the flu shot, I told her a hundred times. I should have used more pull as leader, but she hates needles and she got those big, doleful eyes whenever I brought it up. She played me like a fiddle."

Aqualad rubbed his bloodshot eyes. A few days ago Raven, in her fevered state, had mistaken him for one of her father's minions. It had taken a whole lot of sweet talking to get her to release him from the black energy that she had pinned him to the wall with. He had checked on her this morning, she was still asleep but it appeared that her fever had finally broken. With any luck, his trials were at an end and he would finally be able to get a decent night's sleep.

There was the sound of a cough from the door and Robin bolted straight upright, Aqualad turned quickly and relaxed when he saw Starfire standing there, wrapped in a bright pink blanket. Robin got up and walked over to her. "Starfire, you should be in bed."

She looked miserable, her red hair was dulled by days of bed rest and she was unusually pale, despite her fever. "I know, love Robin, but I woke up and you were not there beside me and I was scared." She shivered beneath her blanket. "And I am not feeling at all better."

Robin had covered the distance to her and had wrapped her up in a hug before lifting her in his arms. She rested her head against his shoulder and coughed hard a few times. He turned to Aqualad to tell him to cancel combat practice for the day but before he could say anything he noticed the look of shock on the Atlantian's face.

"Robin, she's coughing blood."

By that point, the pool of liquid on Robin's shoulder had seeped through his spandex uniform. He looked down and saw a small trickle of red from the corner of her lips. He was in total shock. For the first time in his life, he didn't know what to do. He stood there helplessly as Aqualad passed by him and pressed the button on the tower communications system.

"Titans, emergency! Cyborg, report to the infirmary. Beast Boy and Terra to the living room. Raven, stay in bed." He closed the channel and turned to Robin, who still cradled Starfire in his arms. "Go now, take her to the infirmary."

Robin nodded and ran, almost hitting Beast Boy and Terra on his way out. The green changeling turned to Aqualad. "What's up with him?"

Aqualad had seated himself at the computer screen. "Starfire is sick."

"Dude, everyone knows that. She's had the flu all week."

"It's not the flu, Beast Boy. She just started coughing blood."

Neither Beast Boy nor Terra could speak for a few seconds. It was Terra who recovered first. "What can we do?"

A chime from the screen in front of them interrupted their discussion. The logo of the Teen Titans was replaced by that of the Justice League, and then by the visage of a winged girl. Beast Boy looked stunned. "That's Hawkgirl."

The girl smirked at the recognition. "Yes, that would be me. What seems to be the problem?"

Aqualad spoke up. "Aqualad here, I need to get into the Green Lantern Corps medical database. Starfire has been ill for the last week, we thought it was the flu. She just started coughing blood this morning."

Hawkgirl looked at the seated titan. "You think her sickness might be Tameranean?"

"I don't want to take any chances."

She nodded and pressed a few buttons on her side of the connection. "Very wise. Okay, you have full access into the database. If it does turn out to be something you can't handle, we stand ready to assist you. Do you need anything else?"

Aqualad thought for a second. "I don't know if this is a good idea or not, but maybe tell Batman what's happened. If this is bad, Robin's going to need all the support he can get."

She nodded somberly. "Good thinking. Consider it done. Hawkgirl, out."

The connection was terminated and all were quiet. Terra shifted back and forth, her hand in Beast Boy's. "So…what do we do now?"

Aqualad sighed and rubbed his eyes again. "You two start searching the medical database. Try to cross reference her symptoms against any illnesses, first Terran, then Tameranean, then any planet that has trade relations with Tameran, then the rest of the galaxy. I'm going to call over the east titans. We're going to need everyone for this."

Beast Boy and Terra nodded and ran to the library. Aqualad opened another channel. The familiar scene of his home tower's living room came up. In the center of the screen stood the pink haired witch.

"Aqualad, what's up? Miss us already?" She was cheerful at first, but quickly matched his somber expression. "What's wrong?"

"It's Starfire. I don't think she has the flu. I think it's something much worse. I need you guys over here fast. I have a feeling things are going to get worse before they get better."

Jinx nodded. "I'm on it, we'll be there for lunch. Jinx, out."

The connection closed again and Aqualad collapsed against the keyboard in front of him. The adrenaline rush had left him and he was even more tired than before. He felt a pair of cold, smooth hands on his back and sighed. "Raven, I told you to stay in bed."

"Hush. You're worse off than I am." She took his hand and led him to stand up. He looked into her soft violet eyes before kissing her softly. She walked him to the sofa and he collapsed onto the soft pillows. She covered him with a blanket and sat down beside him. "Sleep now, my dear. I will keep watch for a while."

Aqualad was asleep before she finished speaking.