Chapter 9: Anger

Chapter 9 dedicated to: PillzBerryDoughFreak1

Raven meditated. Slow. Rhythmic. She reached out and touched the auras of each of her friends as she always did; reminding herself that she had indeed found a home. There was Beast Boy, a warm and flighty pressure at her mind. Cyborg, a struggling soul that felt oddly calm and hardly human. Robin, a dark restlessness that tugged her thoughts. Starfire…

Raven's eyes snapped open with a gasp. Starfire's aura… cut. Gone. Deceased. She levitated with an urgent swiftness, out to the main chamber and her eyes swiveled, searching for…

"Robin!" Raven broke out in an uncharacteristic shout. Robin stepped from Starfire's room, looking rather surprised.

"Rae, are you alright?" he asked, seeing the wide-eyed look on his stoic friend's face. He came over and laid a hand on her shoulder but she swatted it off, obviously interested in something of more importance.

"Robin, Starfire's aura has… gone out." Raven shook her head at her own words as if she couldn't believe it herself. "M-maybe my powers are just… getting weird. Where is she?" the dark girl asked. Robin was staring.

"What do you mean… her aura went out?" he asked quietly. His face drawing tight.

"As in… no longer living…" Raven clutched at the edge of her cloak. Now was the time to show emotion. Now was the time to worry.

"No. We have to find her. Now!" Robin growled, fists clenching.

"You don't know where she is!" Raven asked, the couch shuddering dangerously with ebony energy.

"No, just find her!" Robin insisted. Raven nodded and ran to get the other two boys.

What was going on? How could she be…? Vyxiis. Robin clenched his teeth. It had to be. He hadn't liked the guy to begin with. The titans assembled before them all with large and concerned eyes. Raven had already spoken with them.

"Fan out. Check everywhere. Find her and bring down anyone who tries to stop you. I don't care who it is." Robin barked. There was no further direction needed. The goal was simple. Find Starfire. Or whatever was left of her. Robin didn't like the thought. He shoved it away and ran out of the room and down the first hall he could find. He wanted to say Raven was wrong. He wanted to say that her powers were just on the fritz or something. But he knew Raven was almost never wrong. Not about things like this.

Robin burst into door after door, stumbling on empty labs and unused sleeping quarters. It became increasingly strange. Nobody moved about. No servants walked the halls. The Boy Wonder growled as he lurched into another room, this one obviously used to house some of the servants. Robin's eyes widened as he stopped dead in the doorway. Three servants lay prostrate on the floor, their eyes glassy and open. They were still breathing, slowly, but they were completely unaware.

He shook his head. This was not his concern. Starfire was not in that room either. The Boy Wonder left the room and continued down the hall. He stopped suddenly and turned back. Puzzled. He moved carefully across the stretch of floor again. He stood still. There was something…

He looked down, squinting, and saw the tiny lines that indicated an opening. Robin crouched down, scooting off of what appeared to be a hatch of some sort. He ran his hands over the surface. No indentations to use as a hold to lift it. Robin flipped a small laser out of his utility belt. He flicked it on and tried to cut into the surface but it left a tiny scratch on the metal and no more.

His hand flew back to his utility belt and he flipped open his communicator. "Raven, get over here now." He ordered. Raven stared back, said nothing and broke the connection. Robin stood, waited, and bent back down again, doing his best to pry at the hatch. Still, it was to no avail. The cloaked girl glided swiftly around the corner, staring at her communicator to pinpoint Robin's location, and she nearly toppled over top of him. Robin stood swiftly and pointed at the panel. "Open it. We have to check it out. I think this might be where Star…"

"Azerath… Metrion… ZINTHOS!" obsidian power swirled off of her fingertips and consumed the sliding panel, ripping it up from the floor. She set the black door down with her mental powers and looked over at Robin blankly, having recollected her monotone façade during her search. The young man did not meet Raven's gaze, rather he jumped through the open hole in the floor with grappling hook ready.

Raven levitated over and slowly descended after him, instinct forcing her to act with more caution. It was good she had, for about half way down to the bottom of the chamber (Which Robin had already reached) she gasped and clutched her head in pain. Raven nearly vomited with dizziness and she rocketed back up to the surface, falling into a huddled heap near the hole. So much dark magic… it had nearly overwhelmed her sensitive mind. It would have done the same to any other beings with mentally powered abilities because these individuals were forced to keep their minds open to channel energy in and out of.

This meant… if Vyxiis was down there… if Starfire was down there… at the very least, Vyxiis should be completely unconscious. With Star's new telekinetic ability, perhaps she too was being affected by the dark magic. Unless it was Starfire herself creating the dark magic. The shards…

Robin pulled out a small flashlight and pushed it on; adding more light to the scarlet glow that still illuminated the strange machine center stage. Two figures were sprawled around the machine. One of which was Starfire. Robin's throat tightened as he rushed over. Star's body was still and she was laying face down, her hair splayed around her like a strange auburn halo. Robin grabbed her shoulders and turned her over.

Starfire was not breathing. He stared. She wasn't breathing and yet her eyes were aglow with emerald fire. He felt for a pulse. Nothing. He looked at her wrists. The shards were pulsing, flashing their silver-green light at slow intervals, creating a heartbeat of their own. Robin shuddered; the princess looked like a strangely beautiful phantom. Lying at the foot of the control panel, Robin saw, was Vyxiis. The prince was on his back in the same condition as the servants upstairs had been, albeit a few singer areas of clothing he attributed to Starfire's eyebeams or starbolts.

She had struggled. Robin didn't care about the alien prince. He scooped Starfire up into his arms and clutched her to his chest. Her body was cold. Her head fell back and her hair was tossed from her face. A grappling hook shot out and latched itself to the edge of the hole above and Robin hoisted himself up, Starfire in his arms. Raven looked up groggily from her spot on the ground. "Ugh… you… got her?" Raven mumbled. Robin nodded, freed one arm to help hoist Raven up. She staggered after them, trembling as a new wave of sickness washed over her.

"Raven, hurry up." Robin snapped, cradling Star close to him, pushing away the cold feeling in his gut. Raven moaned.

"I can't… too much magic… I can h-hardly see…" Raven stumbled and collapsed. She clutched her head in pain. Robin halted and looked back.

"Raven I have to get Starfire away from that…"

What? Get her away from that mad-man…? Is that it? Vyxiis appeared behind them, standing back as if repulsed by Starfire's limp form. Servants began to flow from other corridors and stand as an army at the prince's side. The swirl on Vyxiis' forehead flashed with black light. The symbols on the servants' foreheads flashed in what could be assumed as a response.

Robin gritted his teeth. "What did you do to her!" he hissed. Vyxiis sneered.

I have accomplished nothing yet. The stupid girl overloaded the machine. She's managed to wipe out every telepathic being in this ship up till now. Don't ask me how. I'm surprised your empathic friend is still conscious… Vyxiis jerked his head over at Raven and took a step forward. Raven shuddered.

"Stay away from her!" Robin ordered. Vyxiis smirked and continued to advance. Robin snarled and laid Starfire down as gently as possible, propping her against the wall, and then ran at Vyxiis. As Robin pulled out his bo-staff, Vyxiis pulled out a long sword hanging in a sheath strapped to his waist. The two weapons clanged and sparked as they met, the sound echoing through the ebony halls.

Cyborg and Beast Boy arrived to see Robin barely dodge a swift jab of Vyxiis' blade. "HYA!" Robin swung his staff around hard, sweeping it low to toss the prince's feet from beneath him. Vyxiis dodged. Beast Boy ran to Raven's side and helped her up, letting her lean on his shoulder.

The changeling lead a shaking Raven out of the danger zone and the girl almost dropped down as they passed Starfire. Beast Boy kept walking her, taking her around the corner before he let her slide back down to the floor.

Cyborg let his cannon whir to life and shot a wide blue beam at the servants who had begun to crowd in on Robin. The Boy Wonder yelled as he slammed Vyxiis backwards with the butt of his staff. Vyxiis sprung back and swiped at Robin. The ebony-haired boy barely managed to jump over the low-sweeping blade. The servants were pushed back by Cyborg's insistent cannon and Cyborg followed, slowly pushing the further away.

"Ah!" Robin was thrown backwards by a hard hit in the chest by the flat of Vyxiis' sword. Starfire's shards flashed once. Robin picked himself up and charge at Vyxiis, only to be met with a flying kick that sent the boy sprawling. With a snarl, Robin rushed yet again at the alien and with a harsh swing of his staff he knocked the sword from Vyxiis' hand. Vyxiis gritted his teeth and took an opportunity to punch Robin hard in the jaw, sending him to the ground. Blood trickled from the corner of Robin's mouth.

Starfire's shards flashed again and a soft forced kicked at her hair, making it shiver and float up. Her eyes glowed with an even more intense light. Still, she did not breathe and her heart did not beat.

Robin wasn't able to get up off the floor before Vyxiis had kicked him into the wall and rather brutally grabbed him by the ankle and flung him down the hall, sliding across the metal floors. Robin panted and dragged to his feet. Vyxiis smirked and then his grey eyes turned black. Pure black. His face contorted into an expression of utter malice. Robin returned the enraged sentiment. Vyxiis' hands were wreathed in huge, writhing orbs of black that sparked and snapped with red currents.

Robin's eyes widened. It was not my father who sold me to the Gordanians. It was the Psions who had taken me at birth. You shall meet their greatest weapon! I need no shards to kill you! And a pure wave of black power rushed at Robin, screaming at him and leaving no channel of escape. Robin closed his eyes and braced for the impact of the dark product of Psion sorcery.

"NO!" Starfire's yell ripped into the air. Robin opened his eyes and saw green. The previously 'dead' Tamaranian threw herself before the wall of energy before it passed her, her entire body consumed in silver-green light. The light spread to match the same all-consuming size of the obsidian wave and continued to intensify in brightness.

Starfire felt herself consumed by the massive world of symbols that had once taken her in the infirmary. She forced them out. She forced the power against Vyxiis' will. The girl gritted her teeth, her hands seeming to support the wall of green energy combating the ebony death. Her feet slid back as her barrier of energy was pressed, Vyxiis still fighting against her.

Star closed her eyes. Feel it. Boundless Confidence. Alien Strength. Starfire halted her slide and rigidly held the energy fast. Robin stared. Feel it. Righteous Fury. The green light intensified further and heat flew from it like a simmering layer of fire.

Feel it. Unbridled Joy. Starfire strained. Unbridled Joy. Forget the pain. Unbridled Joy… Starfire gasped as the black power began to press in even stronger. Unbridled Joy, flight! You must fly! You must enter your power, not merely exert it… For Robin. Unbridled Joy. Starfire concentrated. Wonderful memories. Nothing.

Pain.

The machine.

Anguish.

Weakness…

Starfire continued to struggle, holding her ground. She must. And then she felt it. Two arms wrapped around her middle from behind. A head perched on her shoulder. A pounding heart beating close. "Starfire, you can do it…" Robin urged, quietly. He mustn't break her concentration, he had to aid to it. She could save them both. He knew it. Starfire bit her lip, drew blood, and squeezed her eyes tighter. She shuddered as Vyxiis aided the black power even further. Robin's arms tightened around her defiantly as another shiver shook through her.

She could not keep this up much longed. Unbridled Joy. Unbridled Joy. Please…

Starfire felt her feet lift from the ground. Robin's arms left her, the sensation remained, engulfing her and protecting her from the pain that teased her shuddering mind. She lifted higher until she floated at the middle of the green barrier of energy, hands still outstretched to hold it. Starfire pulled her hands out to either side. Robin was thrown backwards as she sent a wave of telekinetic force at him, pushing him as far back from the intense heat as possible. To streams of emerald energy flew from her fingertips, laces of jade power snaking from the symbols on her wrists and entwining her hands and flitting at her fingertips. The jade light spread back, up her arms over her shoulders. It covered her in an intricate pattern of brilliant light. Robin still lay on the ground against the far back wall of the dead-ending hall. Same position Starfire had pushed him to. He watched.

The green wall seemed to wrap around, consuming the obsidian power it was holding back. Robin heard shouts from the other titans on the other side of Starfire's green wall. Her energy flowed forth in continuous streams, binding the black power and letting it flow upwards until a massive ball of writhing emerald and black hovered between the princess and the prince. Vyxiis could be glimpsed in similar state, black energy flowing from him instead. Robin took his chance. He ran and darted past the huge, floating sphere and rammed as hard as he could into Vyxiis. The alien was thrown against the wall and for a brief second his eyes flickered grey before returning to the full force ebony.

Robin punched him hard. Vyxiis could do nothing but struggle to hold his concentration. Starfire should have been completely drained of energy. She should have been dead. But now it was a battle, which would hold out longest and continue to combat the two energies? Vyxiis concentration faltered as Robin roared and kicked Vyxiis from behind, sending him reeling forward. Still the black energy flowed out.

Robin took out his staff and brought it down hard over Vyxiis' shoulder. Again, his eyes flickered, lost concentration, and then regained it. Starfire's hair was flying wildly up and she pulsed more power out, sending a controlling wave of jade energy out and into the sphere. Slowly consuming and defeating Vyxiis' obsidian magic.

Robin continued his angry attack on Vyxiis, trying to make him lose concentration as best he could. Everything he did failed. Finally Robin gave a final uppercut to the intensely concentrated Vyxiis with a dark hiss. "She… doesn't… love you!" Robin threw Vyxiis to the ground. The alien's eyes went grey and shocked back to reality. Starfire was nearly overwhelmed as her power quickly consumed the back energy left, no longed combating against another's will.

She remained with her arms out to either side until all the lacing green power had been reabsorbed into the shards. Her eyes lost their flaming glow. Robin looked over from where he'd been hovering over the defeated body of Vyxiis. He ran to her. Starfire fell, her eyes open, and she took in a gasping breath. The first she'd taken since she'd fallen from the Vyxiis' machine. Her heart beat strong and blood coursed its vitality through her veins.

Robin caught her and she exhaled sharply as she landed in his arms. Their gazes locked. The other titans rushed forward to the two, Raven's sickness vanishing as the magic was pulled into the tight confines of Starfire's shards. The servants dropped to the ground. Their mental state was induced by Vyxiis' current state. They were all mentally connected and enslaved to the prince.

"Starfire." Robin said her name as if it were the most precious thing in the world. She continued to simply stare up at him, taking slow breaths as if she'd just come up from underwater.

"Robin… Robin…" she murmured, her gaze disoriented.

"Titans, let's get off of this ship." Robin said. The titans returned to their loaned quarters and gathered up Starfire's uniform. (She was still in the tattered remains of the black gown…)

Robin held her the entire time, despite Cyborg's offers to carry her. "Raven, can you give us a ride down?" Robin asked as they stood at the open door of the craft and looked far down at the Tamaranian ground below.

"Sure," Raven said. She levitated off of the spiraling ship and hovered a few feet out the door. "Azerath, Metrion, Zinthos…" Raven flicked her wrists and two black discs appeared. Robin stepped onto one, holding Star, and Cyborg took the other.

They were taken down easily to the ground, Beast Boy flying after them in humming bird form. Starfire sighed and her eyelids drooped. She snuggled closed to the Boy Wonder and pressed her head to his shoulder. "Thank… you…" she breathed quietly. Robin held her tighter in response. "D-don't take the… T-ship," Starfire mumbled, half awake. "Tell the… guards… I want… Royal Tamaranian… star craft…" she slurred.

Robin looked down at her. "Whatever you say," he murmured. "Cyborg, Starfire wants us to take some Royal Tamaranian Star Craft thing. She says to tell a guard…" Cyborg stopped inspecting the T-ship and blinked. "Well, go tell a guard!" Robin huffed, exasperated. Star shifted in his arms.

Beast Boy and Raven looked up. The changeling was still being assured by a very irate Raven that she was fine now.

Cyborg returned a few minutes later with stars in his eyes. "Y'all… this star craft thing… is AWESOM!" Cyborg pumped his fists in the air and grabbed Robin's cape. Robin struggled to free himself from being dragged to the Royal craft's launching pad. Raven and Beast Boy wandered after him, slightly amused.

The ship turned out to be quite spectacular. It was shaped much like the cliché flying saucers in all of the old sci-fi flicks, but within was a large main room that contained the control panel as well as two rooms that branched off the main chamber that each contained large, circular disc beds similar to those that Star had at home. An intricate half-sphere jutted down from the roof of the main chamber and was a lovely combination of Centauri Moon diamonds, Earth crystal, and Silver. This contraption caught the electric lighting of the craft and reflected it to illuminate the whole room with shimmering light.

The controls were simple to use but offered many options and the defensive systems were enchanting to the android titan. Over all, the ship was quite large… not as large as Vyxiis' ship but more than adequate. Robin carried Starfire to one of the rooms while Cyborg and Raven mulled over the various controls of the star craft. It appeared the craft had a solar sail that could be raised to help power the craft through space should usual power reserves fail.

Starfire was clinging to wakefulness by a mere thread. She looked up at Robin thankfully as he lay her gently on the bed. Star and Robin simply regarded one another in silence for a while.

"Robin… would you stay with me?" Starfire asked meekly. Robin smiled slightly and nodded.

"Of course. I doubt we'll be ready to leave for another half hour or so anyhow," he said, sitting beside her on the bed. Starfire sighed softly.

"Robin, I am sorry… for what Vyxiis attempted to do to you…" she apologized quietly. Robin shook his head and smoothed a few ruby strands back from her face.

"Star, it's not you fault. I just want you to be ok," he assured her. A single tear worked its way to Starfire's eye and fell like a tiny diamond.

"You are… truly a most wonderful…" she stopped, blinked a few times and continued. "Friend," she stopped and closed her eyes, taking in a cool breath of air. She felt Robin's gloved hand brush over her cheek and wipe away the tear.

"Will you let me be more?" he asked suddenly. Starfire's eyes flew open

"W-what?" she stuttered, surprise smashing onto her features despite her weakened state. Robin smiled slightly. He lowered his voice, assuring the others would not hear.

"I, Richard Grayson, am asking you, Princess Koriand'r, if there's any possibility of you letting me act as something more than a friend," he murmured. Starfire stared at him, a lovely little blush rising in her cheeks.

"I… I… would be… honored…" she breathed. Robin leaned over her and gently brushed his lips over hers.

"I'm very pleased to hear that," he said. "Because I hate it when love is one sided,"

"M-my thoughts exactly," Starfire's eyes sparkled with delight. Robin kissed her again, gently, his lips lingering. He was going to stand at Starfire's side through this whole ordeal, no matter what it meant. It had been a promise he'd made to himself often before, but now it had new meaning.

"Ahem, Robin? We would like to launch now, if you're done with your slobber fest… you really ought to let her rest after that whole thing…" Cyborg snickered in the doorway. Robin grimaced and stood from the bed. Star giggled slightly.

"You ok if I go for a minute?" Robin asked. Starfire nodded, smiling sweetly.

"Yes, I believe I shall be just fine," she said. Robin offered an affectionate smirk and then left with Cyborg, the metal titan cracking a few jokes as they disappeared from her vision.

Robin… may this journey prove successful that we may all return in safety and I will never have to leave you.

Author's Note: Haha! Now we get to go find the power source! woot! Erm, I hope this chappie was alright. I have a sleep over to go to... so, yeah. I appreciate all of the reviews you have been giving me, they're really wonderful. The support is great. I hope to get up another chapter tomorrow evening so... keep an eye out.

Love, Princess Starfire of Tamaran

Titans News: A little tidbit about season 5. Supposedly, Beast Boy will team up with the Doom Patrol again at somepoint and help them defeat the Brotherhood of Evil. The Doom Patrol is supposed to be acting as his "parents" or something? Evidently the Doom Patrol members are full grown and come and at some point they fight along side the Titans... I'm guessing this is all pertaining to a single episode? Oh, and Kid Flash is most definately making an appearance, I'm about 99.9999 sure.