"Star, you know how much you mean to me, don't you?" Robin asked, looking down at the cloth napkin in his lap.
Starfire's eyes widened. "Of course, Robin... I... understand that you had to do it..." she trailed off uncertainly and looked down at her own lap.
"Yeah... it's all political, Star. Don't get the wrong idea."
"I am not getting the wrong idea."
"Well, it just seemed that you-"
"Please, Robin," Starfire interrupted him. "Let us not talk about this any longer. I wish to have a happy anniversary night unburdened by talk of political relationships."
"It's not a relationship-"
"Robin," Starfire said, cutting him off once more. "I said I understand. Please..."
He gazed at her for another moment.
"Really, Star... I... care about you."
"I care about you too, Robin," Starfire said civilly.
He laughed. "I didn't mean it like that. Star... I care about you."
"You mean..."
"Yeah, I do. You mean more to me than anything in this world."
"Robin!" Starfire gasped, a sweet smile grazing her lips, the first true smile since Jump City Day.
…
"Do you expect me to believe that! I do not. That ritual is obviously significant, and I do not think you would have let her if you truly cared about me."
"I told you Star, she did it to me! What could I do? If I make her angry, then the mayor might not let us stay here anymore!"
Starfire sniffed and stuck up her nose. "There are other cities. And besides, the mayor knows how valuable we are. Who would protect his city from the monsters that tend to invade it daily?"
"Starfire, there are issues that you don't understand..." Robin said, angry and annoyed.
"Yes, I know. 'It is all political, Star.' Well, I have seen enough of your kind of politics!" Starfire roared, eyes glowing and standing firm across from Robin.
Robin stood firm back, breathing heavily with rage.
He leaned forward slightly and pointed a finger. "I stand by what I said. You are just being an overly jealous... bitch."
Starfire sucked in a deep breath and glared furiously. "You are a zarbnarf who is flouncing around with a manipulative glempork, and you can both go to halvgaff!"
"That probably would've been a lot more insulting if I knew what you said," Robin taunted.
Starfire's chest heaved with fury. Then she seemed to regain control over herself, and spoke as calmly as she could.
"Robin...you were the best friend I had ever had. It distresses me greatly to see this side of you. I had expected better from you."
"Starfire, I didn't want to date you so early because I knew things like this would happen. I would have to take out some girl, and if I already had a girlfriend there'd be problems. I should've listened to my instincts. But I thought you understood," he said, attempting to speak calmly as well.
"I did understand. I understood until I saw you... doing that... with that girl!" she said, raising her voice at the end.
"I already told you, it wasn't me! She did it to me!"
"I have always observed that it takes two to engage in a ritual of that kind," Starfire sniffed.
"Whatever. You're just jealous."
Starfire went rigid. "Why you... You are a royal glormsnark!"...
I said those things... all of those horrible things... what a terrible girl I am...
You're not terrible. You were angry and irrational... and he said some mean things to you too...
"Starfire, I have to. Don't you get it? If I don't do what the mayor or his daughter wants, we might not have his support in the future. I have to do this. It's not like I want to."
"You do not seem to be very upset about this," Starfire said sullenly, crossing her arms and slouching on Robin's bed.
"Star, come on," Robin said pleadingly, sliding down beside her. She moodily stared straight ahead and didn't look at him. "I am upset. I don't want to see you so angry like this."
"Then why did you say yes?"
"I already told you why. We need his support or we might not be able to keep staying here. Not just the villains cause damage to the city when we fight, and a lot of people blame some of the wreckage on us. And I admit it, we do rough stuff up. The mayor's daughter convinced him to back us up and pay for the costs. She wants to meet me. If I don't make her and her father happy, then we might not be able to keep fighting, you understand?"
Starfire blinked unhappily and didn't answer.
He sighed and looked at the floor. Then he started when he felt Starfire crawl into his lap, wrapping her arms around him. He hugged her tightly back.
"I do not want you to do this," Starfire said sadly. "I have a bad feeling."
"It'll all be okay, Starfire. I promise."
You promised me that it would be all right. It was not all right.
I messed up... didn't I say I was sorry?
No... you did not...
Jump City Day came, and the Titans assembled at the starting point for the parade. The mayor bustled about, making sure everything was ready and securing the last minute details. Then he spotted the Titans standing aimlessly, waiting for direction as where to stand in the parade. He came over with a happy grin and arms spread wide.
"Ah! My superheroes! Wonderful, so glad you could make it."
"Um, yeah, we're happy to be here Mayor," Robin answered politely.
"Thrilled," Raven muttered under her breath, glancing around with her usual blank expression.
"You five will be behind the police force, our city's other protectors," the mayor said, pointing to the large group of officers standing in uniform.
"Oh great... the police just love us," Raven commented dryly.
"Raven, shut it," Robin hissed.
"Oh look, here she comes. Robin, I'd like you to meet Rebecca, my daughter."
Robin stared for a second before blinking and extending a hand with a smile.
Starfire's eyes were glowing bright green, and she was growling slightly.
"Well, she's no Kitten, that's for sure," Raven said, offering her wit once again.
"Damn," Cyborg muttered.
"How come Robin always gets to take out the hot chicks!" Beast Boy complained. Raven shot a dagger glare at him.
Rebecca had dark brown hair and deep brown eyes, high cheek bones and a cute perky little nose, and a cute perky little figure to match.
"Robin! I'm so pleased to meet you. I greatly admire all the work you do for our city; you and your team are just amazing," she said. Her voice was much more pleasant that Kitten's high pitched whining.
"Thanks," he said, beaming.
"You are the daughter of the mayor?" Starfire said, coming up and standing very close to Robin.
Rebecca took a look at the alien beauty standing before her and glanced back at the boy wonder. "I am," she said with a smile. "I was so looking forward to meeting you all."
"Well, that is very nice... but we must be going. We are in the parade," Starfire said, giving Rebecca a fake smile and grabbing Robin's arm to haul him off to stand in their place.
"Star, you're hurting me," Robin complained, her grip tight on his arm.
She glared at him and let go, continuing to walk to her place, where she finally stopped and turned her back to him, crossing her arms with an angry 'hmph.'
See! Look at the way you were acting! You were jealous!
True, perhaps I was jealous. But is it not a compliment? Would you rather I not care at all?
I...
I was afraid of losing you... and I did.
Jump City Day. The day Jump City was founded. And instead of being excited and happy on such a joyous occasion, Starfire was sulking as she flew along behind Robin and Rebecca, who walked in front of the rest of the Titans as the parade ran its course through the main street. Starfire had never found it so difficult to keep her eyes and hands from glowing. It wasn't even this bad during the episode with Kitten. At least then she could plainly see on Robin's face he was not enjoying his company. Rebecca on the other hand seemed to be much more normal, and she laughed with a pretty smile as she and Robin waved to the crowd. Cyborg and Beast Boy followed behind them, also waving and cracking jokes to one another. Raven hovered just above the ground beside Beast Boy with her cloak over her head. She remained expressionless and did not wave. Starfire had found it useless to cling to Robin's side, which she knew would just annoy him anyway, and flew behind them all, arms crossed with a scowl.
When the parade finally ended, Starfire flew back to the ground and watched as people began to migrate towards the fair grounds and midway. The mayor found Rebecca and Robin and suggested they along with the rest of the Titans go have some fun at the fair. Rebecca beamed and grabbed Robin's arm, dragging him along. Starfire stood next to Raven, who gave her a sympathetic look. She could feel the anger radiating off the girl in waves.
"Come friends. We should go to the fair, yes?" she said through gritted teeth. She was losing the battle over her powers.
"Starfire. Calm down. It doesn't mean anything, remember?" Raven said, attempting to help.
Starfire took a deep breath. "You are right, friend Raven. It does not mean anything, and after this horrible night is over everything will be okay, yes?"
"It will be," she said, nodding. Internally, she shook her head. Since when did she care about love affairs?
The rest of the Titans slowly followed behind.
The excited shine in Starfire's eyes whenever she stood at the gate to the midway was absent this time. She glanced around sadly. Robin had taken her here on one of their very first dates. Now he was taking some other girl to the fair...
She gazed at the large Ferris wheel, and recalled a lovely memory of the two of them sitting up there two years ago, watching the fire works and eating cotton candy... it was lovely of course until a space probe had snatched her from her seat, but before that, there had been magic in the air. She had been quite aware of just how attracted she was to Robin. She was still new to the planet and still learning the culture. Robin had been so supportive, and seemed happy to help. She had gazed up at the large contraption with confusion, and wondered why people would want to sit and ride in it. She was trying to get used to the fact that earthlings did not possess the ability of flight. Robin had smiled and took her hand, paid for two tickets and took her on. And Starfire had to admit, even if she could fly higher than the wheel, there was something... romantic, about sitting in the seat with Robin and slowly going around and around while fireworks lit up the night sky.
She blinked at it in sadness, wishing Robin would forget about Rebecca and walk up, smile warmly and extend his hand, inviting her to join him for a ride on the Ferris wheel...
Then Starfire's eyes glowed bright green.
Robin was already on the Ferris wheel. With Rebecca.
Raven and the others glanced at Starfire's sudden threatening behavior and looked up to see what she was reacting to.
"Starfire..." Raven started.
"I am going home. Please, go enjoy yourselves," she said shortly, zipping up and flying off towards the tower before any of them could answer.
Raven watched her fly off, then looked back up at Robin, who seemed to be comfortably conversing with Rebecca.
"This is not going to end well for any of us," she stated.
…
Author's Notes: Hi again. Glad to see you back. I hope I haven't thrown too many of you off with all the random paragraphs, but a few of you asked that it be more straightened out. The thing is, the whole point of the story is for you to be confused at first. I know a few of you haven't seen the movie that I've based this fic off of, and that would be why you don't understand why everything's so jumbled and out of the story time line. It's supposed to be that way. When you watch the movie, it's the same thing. You don't understand what's going on until half the movie is over. It's going to be the same with my story. Keep reading, and I promise you'll understand soon enough. The whole story won't be all mixed up, and it will put everything I've written into order. You just have to be clever enough to pick up hints to the time line in what you read. Doesn't that make it fun though? I hope so.
Review Responses:
Rurouni Tyriel - Oh, thank you so much for reading my story! I know I've been horrible at responding to yours, and I never finished the fan art I wanted to do for your story, and I feel terrible about that. I did see comet hime's work though, and it was very nice that she finished it for you. I noticed she used my Blackfire design, and changed the Ravager a little. Still, it was neat to see that she liked my Blackfire enough to use her. Anyway, I'm so glad that we haven't completely lost touch, and I promise I'll email when I can. Just worked a nine hour shift yesterday, so you can kinda see why I don't have time for internet much…
Bree-2006 - Thank you! I hope you liked it enough to come back for a second chapter.
Angie - Thanks!
clueless90 - I'm glad you like it. I'll try to update as often as I can.
rsfan716 - Glad you like it! I'm sorry it skips around so much, but hopefully my explanation up there satisfies you enough to keep reading.
princesslali2148 - Oh it will definitely be cleared up in later chapters, don't worry. I think really after this chapter the story straightens out and there isn't more skipping around.
eventidespirit - Oh really! You were thinking of making a story based off ESOTSM too, huh? That's cool. It was definitely a way cool movie. I really only borrowed the idea of the main plot however; I wasn't going to try and match up the characters of Robin and Star to Clementine and Joel. And the reason why they have a fight is also different from the movie. I still hope you're interested to read it through to the end though. I had fun writing it. But yeah, Jinx could definitely pull off a Clementine.
Cindy - Oh, I know I know! It's very confusing, isn't it? Good! I want you to be confused! But I will straighten you out if you keep reading…
I forgot this the last time: I do not own the Teen Titans, so please don't sue me.