Alone in the Shadows
by Blue Ten
Summary:
Robin has been alone all his life, even in the presence of his mentor he felt isolated. The Titans take a break from crime fighting to go camping in a beautiful forest and Robin is not too thrilled by the prospect of leaving his city behind. When a bizarre turn of events finds Robin and Starfire lost deep in the woods, can they save themselves from a strange new enemy? RobinxStarfire
Disclaimer:
I do not own Teen Titans.
Chapter 2: By the Fire
The peace and quiet of the lake was swiftly broken as a column of water rose high above height of the treetops. After Beast Boy fell his hippo form into the water, much of the resulting splash was carried far into the sky, raining down several seconds later on the already drenched group. Soaking wet, the Titans glared at Beast Boy who poked his head out of the water and proceeded to point and laugh hysterically.
"When I get in there, you are so dead," Cyborg said as he began to stretch. Seeing his atypical movements, everyone looked at Cyborg with confused faces. "What is it?" he questioned, bringing his motions to a stop.
"Cyborg, can you even swim?" Robin asked, wondering if Cyborg would electrocute himself if he stepped in the water.
"Of course I can. I'm completely water proof." he responded, banging a hand against his metal chest.
"It's just that, you were stretching."
Cyborg's human eye looked upward for a moment as he stood cluelessly. "Huh... oh! Force of habit. Been a while since I swam because I wanted to," he laughed at his own expense. Turning around, he dove in the water and began swimming after Beast Boy who quickly morphed into a dolphin, trying his hardest to get away. The others laughed out loud as they watched this scene unfold. Beast Boy frantically morphed into different sea creatures while Cyborg tirelessly chased after him.
"Oh, this looks like great fun! We must join the chase as well," Starfire giggled with hands clasped together in excitement. Pulling a swimsuit out of her bag, she moved out of view behind a grouping of trees to change. Searching through his bag, Robin decided to swallow his pride and join the others. After all, he had promised Starfire.
- - - - - -
Robin tried to keep his eyes from wandering away from her face, but this seemed to be another battle he couldn't win. Starfire wore a two piece bathing suit, the same glossy purple color as her usual clothes. Although it did not show too much skin, it still brought attention to her form quite well. Standing still, mouth unintentionally agape, Robin felt conflicted. He had always thought Starfire was cute, but never had the word 'sexy' crossed his mind... until now. Starfire, who seemed completely oblivious to the affect she was having on him, turned her attention to Robin, whose face immediately went red.
"Robin, is this swimming suit proper attire for a lake?" she asked. Raven, who stood by them on the shore, held back a chuckle as she saw Robin's reaction.
"...Um ...Yes?" he replied, speechless and trying to find somewhere else to look.
All this time Cyborg had not stopped swimming after Beast Boy, enjoying every minute of his payback. Suddenly Beast Boy came to a quick stop, reverting back to human form. "Wait, wait, waaait!" he screamed, holding his hands up. "Instead of beating me up, why don't you try and beat me at a game of underwater football?" he suggested in desperation, out of breath.
Cyborg came to a stop and lowered his eyebrows. "Don't you mean water polo?" he questioned.
"No, I mean underwater football," replied Beast Boy, lifting a hand from under the water and brandishing a football which he apparently had been carrying the entire time. "See, we can use that rock and that tree stump as the goal lines. And... the area between them could be the field... right?" he continued, pointing to the aforementioned objects across the lake.
"Sure. Sounds more interesting than just swimming around all day," Cyborg agreed, an action to which Beast Boy sighed in relief. "Robin, Starfire! Come on in already, we're gonna get a game started!" he shouted across the lake, holding up Beast Boy's football. Robin, glad to have the subject change, jumped in the water and began swimming to Cyborg and Beast Boy.
Starfire, about to follow, turned to Raven. "Will you not play the football with us?" she asked, motioning a hand toward the lake.
"You managed to get me down here, but that's as far as I go," she replied in a monotone. "I'll just stay here and tell you when Cyborg and Beast Boy cheat," she joked, motioning for Starfire to join the others. Starfire giggled at Raven's comment; nodding, she flew into the lake and followed after Robin.
The four gathered in a circle where Cyborg explained that the game was Beast Boy's idea, so the attention quickly turned to the green changeling. Beast Boy tried clumsily to elucidate on the details of the game; this proved to be rather difficult for him, considering he had only made it up to keep Cyborg from drowning him. "Uh... The rules are the same as normal football... only we're in the water," he pointed at the water beneath him with a graceless grin. "Oh! And no flying, that's just cheap," he finished, figuring it sounded convincing enough. Cyborg and Robin wondered if Beast Boy would follow his own rules; after all, he and Starfire were the only ones who could fly... and they didn't see Starfire cheating on purpose.
"Okay, as for teams... It'll be me and Star, versus you and BB," Cyborg said, turning to Robin. Robin was a little disappointed in the pairings. He had wanted to be on Starfire's team, mostly because the idea of tackling her grated on his conscience. The thought of being that close to her while she was wearing her swimsuit made his face heat up. Quickly, pulled his arms up splashed himself with the cool water, clearing the thought from his mind.
In no time, the game started. As it progressed, Cyborg and Starfire managed to gain an early lead. Robin was just glad that he was able to avoid tackling Starfire by pulling off as many interceptions as he could. Tackling proved to be exceedingly difficult under the water anyway. He knew that if he were actually trying, they could possibly even out the score.
Beforehand, the two teams had decided that the first to thirty points would be declared the winner. Somehow, Robin and Beast Boy managed to bring the scores to a tie; they were on the offense and one touchdown would bring them to victory. Beast Boy, now a dolphin, bolted for the end zone. Robin swam backward, pulling his arm back for the throw as Starfire approached for a tackle. As he released the ball, he realized he had overthrown it; however, all reality slipped away as Starfire completed her tackle and sunk the both of them below the water. Seeing the overthrown ball, Beast Boy dove deep under the water; facing the surface, he sped up and exploded from the water, catching the football in his mouth and landing with a splash in the end zone. Emerging from beneath the waves, Beast Boy held the football over his head triumphantly, a huge grin plastered across his face.
"Marvelous! Does this mean you are victorious--" Starfire congratulated Beast Boy while she and Robin surfaced.
"Hold on! BB, you said no flying!" Cyborg interrupted, confronting Beast Boy.
"I didn't fly. I jumped," Beast Boy replied egotistically.
"...What's the difference!" Cyborg demanded. "That's an unfair advantage and you know it!"
"Tch. You're just jealous 'cause you didn't win."
Beast Boy and Cyborg continued to argue. "I suppose no one is victorious then?" Starfire asked, turning away from the fight to Robin. Robin chuckled and turned his head to the island in the center of the lake, feeling strangely drawn to it. The petals of the cherry blossoms shifted in the wind, creating mesmerizing motions of white and pink.
"Hey Star, I'm gonna go check out that island. You wanna come?" he asked, not taking his eyes away from the trees.
"Yes. I believe I have lost interest in this game," she replied, eager to leave the bickering Titans behind.
- - - - - -
Robin stepped up onto the grassy shore of the island. Turning around, he reached a hand out to Starfire, helping her up; he realized that she could easily fly up by herself, however, it just seemed like the right thing to do. He felt his heart flutter when she smiled as she took his hand. As she walked onto the island, Robin couldn't help but notice that the water had caused her skin to shine and glisten in the sunlight. He quickly turned away, trying not to stare, luckily, his attention was caught by the trees once again.
"Flowers that grow from trees. I have never seen this before," said Starfire, also captivated by the many trees.
"They're called cherry blossoms; sakura. They bloom around this time every year," Robin happily explained.
"They are quite pretty," Starfire reached up and picked one from a low branch. She looked at it closely, admiring the simple beauty of its colors.
"Don't pick any more," Robin advised calmly.
"Why not?" Starfire asked, looking a little disappointed, however, she knew there must be a reason.
Robin examined the blossom closely, "if we come back here tomorrow, you'll see," he said, giving her a smile that seemed to say 'it's something good.' Starfire smiled back. Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, Robin saw a silver wisp swiftly disappear behind a tree. His expression suddenly became serious as he turned his attention away from Starfire to examine the tree trunk. Looking around, he saw that there was nothing.
"What was it?" Starfire asked quietly, having noticed it as well.
"I'm not sure... But... whatever it was, it's gone now. Must've been a bug or something," Robin looked to the sky. The sun was beginning to set, creating a beautiful orange aura about the clouds. "We should head back to the camp, it'll be dark soon." he said, not realizing how much time they had actually spent at the lak. Starfire followed as Robin walked to the shore of the island, where he stopped and looked at the water. "Uh, it's getting kind of cold now... would you mind if I--"
"Of course not," Starfire extended a hand out to him, smiling.
- - - - - -
Nestled in the clearing, the campsite was darkened by the surrounding night. With the moon covered by clouds, the only source of light was the modest campfire which illuminated a small portion of the area with its bright orange, flickering blaze. The Titans had enjoyed a dinner by the fire and had long since returned to their tents to sleep. However, Robin and Starfire stayed outside, sitting across from one another, the campfire between them. Still a little cold from the lake, Robin had a blanket thrown over his shoulders. They had been outside for hours, simply listening to the sounds of the forest at night, enjoying the serene quiet with each other. Looking up from the fire for a moment, Robin noticed Starfire shiver, realizing then how selfish he was being by hogging the blanket.
Robin removed the blanket from himself. "Here," he said, holding it out to her. Standing up, Starfire walked around the campfire to Robin and, taking the blanket in hand, sat closely next to him, placing it over both their shoulders. Robin gulped, "you're not gonna take it?" he asked.
"Then you would be cold," she yawned.
Robin consented, 'can't argue with logic,' he thought. "Hey, Star," he spoke quietly.
"Yes," she answered, yawning once again. Robin felt a weight on his shoulder.
"Thanks," when she didn't answer, Robin looked to his right. Finding that Starfire had fallen asleep on his shoulder, he smiled. He didn't want to disturb her sleep, so he decided not to move. The clouds suddenly parted, revealing the brilliant full moon, which brought Robin's attention to the sky. As he admired the light, Robin suddenly heard the crunching of the forest floor behind him. Turning around, he witnessed a white figure glowing in the moonlight quickly vanish into the woods. Robin was fairly surprised by this and accidentally made a sudden move, waking up Starfire.
"Hm. What is it?" she asked, rubbing her eyes.
"I heard something out there," Robin got up and began walking toward the forest. Starfire followed.
"Should we wake the others?" Starfire asked, walking closely behind him.
"Nah, it's probably nothing anyway... I could use your light though," he said, continuing forward. Starfire nodded and charged a starbolt in her hand.
Robin felt strangely pulled toward the forest with every step he took. Drawn by some unknown force, Robin and Starfire walked into the darkness together.
Author's Note: Something you should know about my previous fic is that I based the last two chapters on a dream I had (Yes, I am very weird), the dream turned out to be better than the original ending, so I revised it. I already have the ending for this fic planned, but I'm still kinda... waiting on a dream :P.
Okay, so you don't find out who the silver haired girl is in this chapter. Next chapter, I promise.
Review kiddies:)
(Edited on 5/23/06)
Changes are relatively in the same areas as the first chapter. Some scenes were extended and various grammar problems fixed.
Next Chapter Preview: Robin and Starfire blindly follow a phantom through the woods, not realizing how far they have strayed from the camp. When they decide to give up the search, they realize, they have gotten themselves lost. The phantom seeks to separate Robin and Starfire in Chapter 3: Lost.