Chapter 8: Clouded

Chapter 8 dedicated to: InkBlotted Chakra

As it turned out, Vyxiis' definition of 'a room with five beds' was really a large room with some form of couch and five smaller rooms attached to the central chamber. The rooms were just large enough for a bed and two chairs in the corner. The beds were different, and the best comparison to be made was like sleeping on a huge disc of jello with a sheet draped over it. The chairs were rather like bean-bag chairs, but they were filled with some form of liquid substance that sloshed around whenever one took a seat.

The couch was an elongated version of the chairs. This pleased the Titans well enough, each thoroughly pleased to find they had at least one door with which to separate themselves from the others. Raven had immediately entered the northernmost room, locked the sliding door and taken up some much-needed meditation. Cyborg and Beast Boy had no such intentions and proceeded to take either end of the couch. Beast Boy sat down on his end. Cyborg belly-flopped onto his. The liquid within the couch rolled out and splashed under Beast Boy's end, sending the changeling up two feet into the air.

"DUDE!" Beast Boy exclaimed upon landing. "My turn!" the green titan belly flopped onto his end of the couch. Cyborg bounced slightly. Beast Boy frowned at the smug look on the heavier teen's face. He tried once again, this time shifting to gorilla mode as he fell. It was a good thing the couch was as durable as it was. Cyborg let out something of a shriek as he was bounced high into the air, a good four feet up. He tumbled back down to the ground and landed with a thud, just missing the cushioning of the couch and hitting the cold black floor instead.

Starfire observed the two as they proceeded to entertain themselves with another pointless argument. She blinked, sighed, and headed towards one of the rooms. Starfire sunk onto the bed and looked at the floor. She had been aware she was no longer romantically interested in Vyxiis for some time, but she had hardly expected to feel as she had when he'd kissed her.

Starfire was honestly aware of an almost… nauseated feeling in her gut. She did not love Vyxiis. She never… she never really had. She'd been thirteen when she was first enslaved and he had been more of a crush than anything else. He had been the one that supported her and helped her get through but… what she had felt… it was not true love she gave, but rather childish adoration lavished on the older boy. He had been fifteen. Star shivered slightly. The two of them had gone through so much together… it had been almost inevitable some form of romance would grow between them, but she had never expected to still look at her as he had all those years ago.

Starfire had not known true love until earth.

She had not known of the desire to be selflessly devoted to one person until earth.

She had not known of the intertwining of love and friendship into one glorious emotion until earth.

Starfire had not known true love until Robin. Her leader. Her protector. Her hero. Her best friend. And now she learned of what it felt like to look the one you love in the eye and find that they did not return any of that sentiment. None at all, it seemed.

Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. Stop. Turn. Repeat. Mindless pacing. Back and forth, Robin crossed the tiny room over and over again. Why hadn't he heard of this Vyxiis guy until now? He let out a low growl at the thought of that-that alien holding Starfire. Kissing Starfire. But then again, Starfire was an alien too. But the heart is not bound by race. Robin continued his walking back and forth. When she'd seen the ship… she'd been so happy. That was the happiest he'd seen her since the shards entered their lives. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair that the mere mention of this 'Vyxiis' had chased all the simmering fears from her eyes. How was it that Vyxiis had succeeded where Robin failed? Robin had tried to comfort her. He had tried to help her in every way he could possibly fathom and yet all Vyxiis did was show up. All it took was a single glance at the guy's ship and Starfire's radiant smile had returned.

Why did he make her so happy?

Why did she let him take her into his arms without questioning him as she had questioned Robin?

Why did it matter?

Robin stopped pacing. He moved slowly to his bed. He sat. He stared at the wall. He watched the pure innocence and utter truth of adolescent affection shatter. Robin shivered as he regarded the new feeling that clouded his already hidden love. Jealousy. Since joining the titans, he had never wanted. The pain of loosing his family was dulled to the point that it was bearable. He had a new family. The Teen Titans were his family. And he had found Starfire. The most amazing being he'd ever met. It wasn't hard for him to acknowledge the fact he had indeed fallen in love with Star. What was hard was acknowledging the fact his love for her made him vulnerable to everything she said and did. So now… it was hard to fathom the idea he had been hurt.

Love between two young people might be considered one of the purest and truest loves on earth. However, there was nothing beautiful and pure and happy about two young men vying for the affections of one young woman; waging a silent war she couldn't see. And so thus was the situation Robin, Starfire, and Vyxiis found themselves in when the dinner invitation arrived.

A servant trotted into the main chamber of the Titans' current quarters. Teen Titans of Earth, are you present? The mentally uttered voice boomed into each and every mind and had them scurrying to the open room and seated dutifully on the couch. The servant smiled slightly. Titans, the honorable Prince Vyxiis had requested that you join him for the evening meal. He also wishes that I present this to the Princess…er… Starfire. He reported, handing Starfire a package wrapped in a large velvet cloth. Starfire smiled sweetly, but again felt the strange sickness in her stomach. Guilt, perhaps, that she did not hold the same feelings for Prince Vyxiis that he held, still, for her.

The servant left. The titans were quiet. All eyes drifted to the lone Tamaranian and her package. "Friends… this is a most wonderful invitation. It is not often that a royal prince invites more than one person to dine with him. You will enjoy it, I am sure. The rules governing the meal are the same as those on earth so you really should have no trouble with it at all…" she said softly, keeping her gaze on the floor. Raven shrugged.

"Sure. When is the 'evening meal' exactly?"

"We have about half of an earth hour," Star replied. That seemed to dismiss everyone because they all sort of edged away and returned to whatever had been their prior activity. Robin, however, hadn't moved. Starfire looked up, met his gaze for a brief moment and then dropped it. Even if you do not love me, Robin… I will always love you. But allow me to consider what has happened to my heart before I speak normally with you again. She sighed softly. Perhaps one day she would actually speak the words aloud, and let him hear what it was that rested heavy on her mind now.

Starfire left the room and wandered listlessly to her bed. She sat on it, waited for the jello-like material to still and then opened the package.

The dress Vyxiis had given her was gorgeous. Breathtaking in every way, made of the finest materials imaginable. A silken gown that fell to the floor in rippling ebony with a top that fastened about the neck with a silver circlet that dangled with obsidian jewels. A slit ran clear up to the hip and was covered with a sheer, fishnet-like material. Starfire stared at it. She looked at the note that had fallen from the folds of the dress. Wear it tonight. A simple message. Starfire returned her gaze to the dress hanging in her hands. She swallowed and sighed and locked her sliding door.

She had no mirror to look at and was completely unaware as to what she must look like. Starfire tugged at the form-fitting silk and bit at her lip. She would have been much more content to remain in her uniform…

A knock at her door drew her away from the edge of the bed. Star slid open the door just a crack and peered out. Robin. He met her gaze, emotionless as he had been earlier. He said he did not care but he acted so cold… "I think it's time to go," he stated blankly. Starfire studied his face for a moment, then nodded.

"Of course…" she slid the door open the rest of the way and squeezed her eyes shut. Starfire winced, anticipating a steely remark. The Boy Wonder didn't seem to be in the best spirits.

"You look nice, Star," he said quietly. The girl was surprised that, rather than receiving a skeptical question or chilling silence, she had received a compliment. One laced with infinite, undeniable emotions. Robin could have deciphered the most prominent of the feelings. Hurt. He had come to the understanding Starfire must obviously think very… highly of Vyxiis but he had hardly expected her to dress so lavishly. He hadn't known she'd even had such a dress at her disposure.

"Vyxiis gave it to me. He told me to wear it," she blurted. Perhaps it had been the fear of him thinking she was out to impress the prince. Robin shrugged.

"That's nice…" he kept his voice neutral, unattached. Starfire nodded, then smiled brilliantly. As she stepped from her tiny room, Robin grabbed her wrist, gently. Starfire's breath caught. "Where are your gloves?" he asked.

"They did not correspond with the dress…" she murmured.

"Starfire, what about the shards. Does he know?" Robin persisted.

"N-no. But I am sure it will be quite alright. He will not see them. I-I promise," Star pulled free from his grasp lightly. Robin stared at where her hand had been.

"Starfire… about Vyxiis… I…"

Prince Vyxiis is awaiting your arrival, Princess. Your other friends are already seated at the table. A servant cut in. Robin gritted his teeth. Starfire looked at him and then hung her head slightly, following the servant out with Robin trailing behind. He watched her form glide down the hall, perfect in her black silk. Perfect, but it wasn't his Starfire.

She entered the ship's dining hall placidly, silently taking the surprised stares of her friends. She sat beside Vyxiis and smiled. "It is truly wondrous to see you again, friend," Starfire said. Vyxiis lifted a single brow. Was he merely a friend now? The alien prince's eyes trailed to Robin for an instant. Was he the source of this sudden change in the Tamaranian's feelings? Vyxiis decided this was likely. He glared. Robin met his gaze steadily back. The leading Titan was doing nothing that should elicit harsh looks from their host.

The dinner began and Starfire found it uncomfortably silent. Beast Boy, Raven, and Cyborg bickered in hushed tones on their side of the table. On either side of her, Vyxiis and Robin held a ruthless staring match, neither sure why the other hated him so much. Finally, Starfire stood. She looked abruptly over at Vyxiis. "It was lovely eating with you, Vyxiis. But I am tired, I believe I shall retire now, if you do not mind," she murmured. Vyxiis smiled, understandingly.

I don't mind at all. It's lovely to be seeing you again, it really is. I hope you will find your bed comfortable. Sleep well. The prince said cordially. Starfire offered a meek grin in return, offered her friends good night and slipped away. Robin watched her. The other titans made moves to depart as well.

Starfire glided down the hall of the space craft, marveling at the various black surfaces. Vyxiis had always had an affinity to the color. Yet he had always seen it so differently. Most considered black to be the color of loneliness… sorrow, but Vyxiis had viewed as a color that signified the freedom of space, the warmth of evening. The only flaw in this thinking was, as she floated down the halls, the ebony colors did not bring such kindly thinking to her. She did not see this onyx as the warmth of evening. The evening had faded on this ship. This was the depth of night.

Starfire did not have the power to sense things as Raven did. She did not have premonitions. Yet, at this moment, the extraterrestrial princess could not help but feel a dark lingering in the air that reflected the black of the walls around her. Starfire heard a soft, mechanical hiss near by. She turned, confused. There were no doors…

"Eep!" Starfire yelped as a hand appeared from a sliding panel in the floor and grabbed her ankle roughly. She was jerked down through the open panel and it slid shut again.

My dear, as I've said… It is a joy to see your pretty face again. Starfire looked around in the dark. No light pierced the chamber save the very soft glow of the shards in her wrists as they seemed to flicker to life. Star took not of this and swallowed. A footstep. Her pulse quickened.

"V-Vyxiis?" she called. Why of course. Are you really so unfamiliar to my… voice? Came the reply in her mind. There was spite in his voice. You know, I tried to tell my father it wasn't true. I tried to tell him that you would never be of use to his great "plan." I tried to protect you, my dear. Despite what you call yourself now, you were still Koriand'r in my mind. However, I now see differently. You are not my Koriand'r. I shall have no regrets in carrying out my father's request. Vyxiis' voice came as a grating whisper in her mind.

"W-What do you want of me? I do not understand… are we not friends? What are you trying to do?" Starfire shivered. Well, princess, let us think back a bit. Let us see if you can put things into place. If I were to tell you that I went after the Psions in an attempt to save you once I learned of your capture, only to find that you had been pulled into one of the largest conspiracies of our time…and I became angry to learn what had been done to you so I sent an escaping Psion rebel with the other half of the said "conspiracy" as far away as possible to keep you safe from having the full key, what would you conclude? That I was on your side? Well of course. But if I were to tell you that my father learned of what I had done and became ambitious… If I told you he used what knowledge of sorcery he had to locate and send this runaway half to you… what would you say to that? Vyxiis fell silent for a little while.

"I would say… your father wants the source. He wants the key united."

Close. You see, my darling girl, I had thought that you and I shared an immortal love. I was going to do everything in my power to keep you from my father's sick little plot. When I found that somehow your sister had ended up with second shard, I went to her and convinced her she did not need the second shard to unlock the power. She was, of course, under the wonderful illusion she was going to rise to great power… so she went and, evidently, found the source. She tried to unlock it. The power demanded too much energy and drained her of all energy, the half key unable to protect her. She perished. The shard remained in her body and I hoped it would not be found.

However, my father did find it. And he sent it to you. He knew that you would end up searching for the power one way or another and inevitably come across Tamaran at some point. I was to meet you here and draw you into the plan. I agreed, but in truth I came and went with the political meeting façade only to see you and let you go unharmed.

"If you are going to let me free unharmed why…"

Starfire, he spit the word out as if it were disgusting. I am obviously the only one who held our love as immortal. It appears you have moved on quite well. Call me bitter, if it pleases you, but I have decided perhaps, in your current state, the best thing I could do for you is coincide with my father's plans. He explained. A light flickered and then jumped on, bathing the room in red light.

"No…" Starfire stared, horrified. Memories danced in front of her vision. Before her sat the machine. The same machine that had tortured her in the Psion's cruel experiments… the machine that had pulsed so much blistering, solar energy into her body that she'd been eternally left to expel the aftereffects in an eternal cycle referred to as her starbolts.

Yes. But the process is somewhat reversed. I will be extracting the energy from you and the shards rather than pushing it in. It should be… somewhat less painful… but I will admit it has the potential to leave you fatally weak. Vyxiis tossed the words out nonchalantly. I really do hope you won't hold it against me, but as I said. I've grown rather bitter since you've returned. Perhaps the most recent victim to your seduction will find your dead body of interest…

"I have seduced no man! Vyxiis, we were friends. Truly good friends. Close friends. Yes, perhaps in our youth we viewed our friendship as more of a romance but it never… it was never really love. Can you honestly tell me you loved me?" Starfire pleaded. Vyxiis stepped into the glow surrounding his machine.

Yes I can. I loved you. But I see now, you are nothing but the typical Tamaranian slut. Royal or not. Your boy, the little bird… his vision is too clouded to see you for what you are. You will learn now what the price is for treading over a royal heart.

"What have I done to make you see me this way…" she whispered. She looked up. There was no escaping from a chamber built by Vyxiis or his people. They were prided for making bonds strong enough to hold the most brawny of aliens.

I am not blind. I see the way you look at him, the way you adore him. It took all of ten minutes to see it. And I see the way he looks at you as well. It sickens me. My dear, I do hope you see where I'm coming from.

"Vyxiis… Robin and I are merely friends… I…"

Yes, indeed. Just friends. Like you and I were?

"Vyxiis. You cannot truly be this bitter. My heart has moved on but that does not mean I do not care for you," she whispered. Vyxiis smirked in the red light.

I am sorry, but the power we could take from you would fuel our planet for years…yes, you really do hold that much power even without being directly tapped into the Psion's power source. I believe that is worth the life of a past love interest. Considering you do not even consider what we had as "real" love anyhow. But do tell me. Is what you feel for this "Robin" real love, my sweet?

Starfire's eyes glowed brilliant jade and two starbolts crackled at her fingertips. "Yes." She made a rush at him, bolts blazing like emerald fire. He dodged each globe of energy hurled at him with gracefully back flips and twirls to the side. Then he disappeared into the darkness. Starfire stood, eyes bright and searching. Footsteps. Starfire whirled around. More footsteps. So close. "AHHH!" Star cried out as she was roughly slammed in the back, between the shoulder blades, and she went tumbling forward, her long dress ripping underfoot. Starfire cried out as she was lifted painfully by her hair, her hole head stinging and cringing against the persistent lifting.

Starfire closed her eyes as a wave of telekinetic force radiated off of her and knocked her free from Vyxiis grip. She stumbled forward, lurching uncomfortably close to the machine. As she turned swiftly to face him, his fist flew at her and she was slammed up against the metal of the contraption. Vyxiis had always been acutely aware to weakness.

He made a wild grab for her wrists and succeeded, hissing audibly in pain as the symbols on her wrists flared and burned at his hands. He did not loose his grip, though, and he wrangled her into the machine holds despite her struggles.

Starfire screamed as loud as she could in hopes of alerting her friends. She would not be able to escape the machine alone. Vyxiis laughed. Silly thing… do you honestly believe that I have forgotten to sound proof every inch of this chamber?

Starfire shuddered and screamed again, shaking as the memories came faster and more insistent. The burning, the pain, the cold metal on her skin. Star choked out another scream as her frightened eyes followed him to the control panel. Wait. Eye beams. Star shot to blistering streams of energy from her eyes at Vyxiis. It threw him from his place. He cursed at her, his voice roaring in her mind.

Star didn't care. She shot at him again as he reached for the button that would bring the device to life. His hand slammed down on the silver button just as her eye beams threw him again. Starfire yelped as the machine hummed awake and she let out random, desperate bursts of telekinetic energy, but there was nothing in the chamber to throw. Nothing to aid her. And then the weakness came, rushing over her as it had the time in the infirmary. Her energy being stolen in massive waves that burst from her body and caused her to double over as best she could in her bonds.

T-T-T-T-T

Robin knocked again on Starfire's door. With a sigh, he pressed the button to open it, just to see if it was unlocked. It was. Robin blinked in surprise and walked in.

"Starfire?" His voice inquired of the empty room. Robin's shoulders slumped. He raked a hand through his hair. "Star, where have you gone? I hope you're alright… I really don't have a good feeling about Vyxiis…" he didn't hear Starfire's desperate sob as the last of her energy was drained and she fell from her bonds, deep in the belly of the ship in the lonely chamber.

Author's Note: Hi... hehe, sorry I posted so late this evening, but to tell the truth I wasn't going to post at all today. I was gonna take Staurday off. Obviously, that didn't happen. lol. I "might" not post tomorrow but who knows. I'll deffinitely post on Monday. If I get enough reviews.. I suppose I may post tomorrow. Not trying to imply anything there or anything... For those of you wondering, Vyxiis (don't you love him!... not) is pronounced vic-sis. Love you all!

Love, Princess Starfire of Tamaran

Titans News: Ok, here's some clarification on season 5. Unfortunately, everything I've heard points to that being their last season. If anything, they may run to season 7. Perhaps if the support for the show continues as it has, then they'll continue. Who knows. There appears to be two posibilities to the theme of season 5. Many expect it to contain a story arc centered on Starfire. Others claim it will be focussed on the Titans meeting other super hero teams like the Doom Squad. I also think the Hive 5 will be making more appearances or something. I don't believe there will be a sixth titan. There might be, but I doubt it. Probably just guest appearances like Aqualad in Deep Six or something. As far as which of the two themes I think will happen... I'm going to guess a possible combination of both? This is all speculation of course...