Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans or anything related to them. The story idea is also completely mine and any story similar to it is pure coincedence.
Chapter Two
She greeted the rising sun with the same optimistic attitude she had always had- that today would be the day she would figure out the mystery behind his desertation. Stretching gracefully, she made her bed with haste, as always, then ran to the kitchen. Wanting nothing to distract her, she brought her breakfast to his- her study. She quickly returned to the computer, opening the file on the case that had started it all- Slade's fake chronoton detonator. Every time she opened this file, she could feel her heart being tugged out, but it was a neccessary sacrifice if she wanted to save him.
When she watched the footage of herself and the others leaving him behind, she let the tears fall freely. She could not help but feel responsible. If she had stayed behind to help him, maybe this all could have been prevented. So caught up in her memories, she almost missed the most crucial element of the case, when she and the others were hit by the blaster. Ever since that fateful day, she had had a feeling that there was more to that ray, but she could not quite put her finger on it.
A knock at the door interrupted her thoughts. Glaring at whoever it was through the steel door, she paused the footage just as the ray fired, though not on purpose. She answered with a curt, "Yes?"
"Um, Star? It's my day to do the dishes, and I was wondering..." It was Beast Boy. Glowering, Starfire stalked back to the table and grabbed the plate, still carrying half of her breakfast. She shoved it towards him, then asked, "Is there anything else you require, or may I go back to my work?"
Faltering, Beast Boy shook his head, so Starfire slammed the door in his face. Honestly, why couldn't the others understand how much it meant to her to save Robin? Why wouldn't they just leave her alone? Just as she was about to return to the computer, a siren went off, and this time it was Cyborg who opened her door. Sighing, she rose from her chair and almost dejectedly asked, "What now?"
"It's not Robin this time, Star. It's something or someone else," Cyborg said immediately.
Supressing a sigh of relief, she ran down the hallway, declaring, "Trouble!" despite the fact that her teammated were fully aware what the lights meant. They boarded the T-car, Starfire and Cyborg sitting in the front while Raven and Beast Boy sat in the back.
"If it's not him, who is it?" Raven asked.
"I don't know. There were reports of a monster chasing a young girl, but that was it," Cyborg replied uneasily.
Starfire opened her mouth as if to speak, but thought better of it. She wanted to ask Cyborg why he had found it neccessary to call her from her research for such a small case. He still needed her help, and she wasn't going to let anyone stand in the way.
"We can take him down easily. This will be a piece of cake compared to-" Beast Boy stopped himself in midsentence, sparing Starfire the pain of remembering the past mission.
She hadn't wanted to fight him, but her mind told her it was neccessary. As much as it had pained her to, she had managed to push her emotions aside for a while in order to fight. In her mind, she wasn't truly fighting him, but fighting someone else. Truthfully, the Robin she knew was long gone, replaced by someone she did not know. This Robin was the one she fought, but the other was a boy she struggled daily to revive, to save from the pains she felt he was going through.
They pulled up to the site to see a huge cloud of dust, but not much else. The dust cloud seemed to be moving, though, so they followed it to a dead end in the rocky valley. Out of the cloud came a giant scorpion, its tail curled and ready to strike the young blonde girl it had trapped against a wall.
"Titans, go!" Starfire declared, readying her starbolts, but she was stopped in her tracks as the girl did something strange. A yellow glow eminated from her eyes as she grunted, raising her arms. To Starfire's further surprise, a large chunk of rock became dislodged from the cliff and came crashing down onto the giant bug, crushing it and killing it instantly.
"Wow," Beast Boy said in amazement.
The girl brought herself up to meet the group of teenagers and landed a few feet in front of Cyborg, who began to introduce himself. "I'm Cyborg, and we're-"
"The Teen Titans!" the girl finished for him, her eyes wide in amazement. "Let's see...Starfire, Cyborg, Raven, Beast Boy..." she cut off and began to look around for the missing Titan.
"Robin is no longer with us, if that is who you are looking for," Starfire said stiffly.
"Oh," the girl straightened up, her face pink with embarassment. "I guess I'm a little bit more behind the times than I thought."
Starfire turned away angrily, "You are behind by no less than a year. Tell me, how is it that you were unaware of Robin's departure?"
"Well, I've been wandering the world for some time. I haven't really had a place to stop and read the paper, even if I had the money to buy one," the girl answered, her eyes downcast.
"So, do you have a name?" Raven asked finally, breaking the silence that ensued.
"Oh, my name's Terra," the girl said, brushing a strand of hair off her face.
"Terra..." Beast Boy muttered, his heart thumping in his throat.
"So, do you have a place to live now?" asked Cyborg, eager to have a real conversation.
"Oh, I mostly hang out in caves and stuff..."
This time, Starfire spoke with concern in her voice, "Oh, you should stay with us, then! You need nourishment and shelter. Otherwise, those monster bugs could create quite a dreadful infestation!"
Cyborg, Raven, and Beast Boy smiled behind Starfire. They were glad to see their friend showing compassion and love, something they had thought she had lost long ago.
Perhaps there was hope for her after all.
Inside, though, the girl was debating with herself. One part of her was feeling, a strange concept to her lately, other than those feelings of depression and anxiety. Yet another part was worried. Worried that Terra would attempt to fill the void in her heart that Robin had left, worried that the others were too accepting, worried about whether the girl was trustworthy. How true these worries would soon prove to be.
Once they had returned to the tower, she immediately locked herself in her room while she could hear the sounds of her friends welcoming party for the new girl. Glaring, she logged back on, finding the picture exactly as she had left it, but something was different. Because the computer was so meticulous about details, it had shown every particle of the beam. After having looked at many hours of footage, her eyes had becom accustomed to the screen, and she could catch any small detail. She increased the magnification on the picture until all she could see was red on the screen. There. In the center of the screen. A black dot. It may have been nothing, but for the first time in a year, she had something solid to go on. Excited, she increased the magnification as much as the screen could, but all she could discern was that the got had a silver "S" on it, similar to the discs Robin now carried around.
"Starfire?" a voice outside her room asked. Terra.
"What is it that you require?" she asked absentmindedly, her focus on the Slade-dot.
"Um, the others want to know if you would like to go out for pizza," Terra replied nervously.
She rubbed her temples, thinking. A good rest would do her good, as she had seen when Robin had been obsessed... The memory brought tears to her eyes, but she shook them off. Finally coming to the conclusion that her body needed nourishment if she were to continue on this case, she replied, "I am on my way, please wait for a moment longer." She saved the latest finding to a file marked IMPORTANT, than opened the door, leaving the gloomy room behind. As she walked she could not help but wonder if she was wasting precious time for Robin.
At the pizza parlor, Starfire tolerated her friends arguement over a pizza topping. It irked her that Terra seemed to be taking Beast Boy's side on everything, but she did not speak up. It was good for the boy to have such relations. She knew all to well that one's feelings should be expressed before it is too late, for how quickly life can dissolve before one's very eyes without presenting the opportunity to do anything. Raven took Cyborg's side in this argument, not out of any feelings like those that were evident between Beast Boy and Terra, but because she simply "did not eat fake meat".
"Just order something!" she spoke up finally after the fourth round of arguing. This brought the others to silence, and they stared at her in amazement. "I suggest two pizzas. We are all capable of eating that much, are we not? One shall be vegetarian and the other pepperoni." She glared at the others as if daring them to challenge her.
"I guess a compromise will do," Cyborg admitted finally, then stopped a passing waitress to place his order.
Starfire sat back in her chair, grateful that it was finally over and that she could think clearly now. What was that mysterious dot on the screen? Had she discovered a major clue, or just another dead end? Sighing dejectedly, she wondered why she was even attempting to solve a puzzle this complex, and yet she pressed on every day, never wavering in her faithfulness in Robin, knowing that there must be a reason behind the madness, for if there was no such reason, she would surely go mad. Surely there was a reason. Surely...