Chapter Eight: Blackfire
Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans, or "Sushi for Beginners" by Marian Keyes.
Author's notes: sorry it's so short, I just had to give a little attention to Starfire. Also, sorry her feelings might not be in line with what really happens. Anyway, onto Chapter VIII. Enjoy!
Starfire was not getting any better. As a matter of fact, she was steadily growing worse. Three weeks had passed, and it was the beginning of July. Starfire took no interest in eating, washing. . . anything. She stayed in bed, sometimes crying, but more often just lying there, staring at the ceiling.
The Titans were worried.
"If she doesn't get out within a week, I'm calling in a shrink and getting some drugs for her. This can't go on, she's going to end up hurting herself," Cyborg said earnestly. Terra and Beast Boy nodded their agreement.
Things were much harder. With only three Titans, battles were longer and more exhausting. Cyborg had taken over as leader, and Terra and Beast Boy fell back. Summer was a high crime season. Teenagers were out of school, so they had to arrest kids. And if they weren't stealing, there were more people around who could get hurt if they weren't shuffled to safety.
And during summer, the heat went to villains' heads and they became more aggressive. They had battled Dr. Light twice in the past week already. Things would cool down in August, but until then two Titans were MIA and one was down. Cyborg sighed. Things were not looking good for the Teen Titans of Jump City, California.
For the third time that week, they ordered in Chinese and it was brought to Starfire's room on a tray, were she took no interest and made the other three sink deeper into sadness and worry. They walked down the hall unhappily, glaring at Robin and Raven's rooms, which were under lock down.
"If I ever find either of them, I'll kill em." Cyborg vowed. Terra and Beast Boy nodded their resolve.
"I still can hardly believe they did it. They were Starfire's best friends. .. and then they went and did this to her!" Terra shouted, throwing her skinny arms into the still air.
"Seriously, that was really low. I mean, like, even villain low," Beast Boy contributed. He shuddered. If Terra had left him standing at the altar and run off with Cyborg or someone he would've hunted them down and killed them with his bare hands.
The Titans were upset. Everything was chaotic, and spinning slowly out of control. Nothing they said or did was helping their sick friend. They needed a miracle. And they needed it soon, or Starfire might not give herself that much longer to live.
Blackfire sat on a train, listening to the sounds of Earth people. They spoke many languages, argued a lot, got back together a lot and had very busy lives, she discovered. Not that she cared much. She had one goal and one goal only: get to Starfire. After their guardian's return from the wedding-that-never-was, Blackfire had kept an eye on Terran news.
She quickly discovered, via the tabloids, that her sister as not taking it so well. And she became concerned. After all this time, she had done her time and come around. Therapists had diagnosed her with 'agitated depression'. It other words, she was sad and it caused her to act out. Okay, fine. They talked to her, and shoved drugs down her throat, and convinced an angry government to let her back on Tamaran.
Yay, right?
Well, not quite. She never made amends with her sister, and Starfire made it painfully clear that she didn't want to see Blackfire. But Blackfire was determined to find someway into her sister's heart, and here it was. She got off the train, entering Jump City. She had one bag with her, and a little money. She walked down to the street, and hailed a taxi cab.
The driver babbled on happily about the sights in Jump City as he took Blackfire to Titans' Tower. She didn't concern herself with him, but instead paid an abnormal amount of attention to the grass and water they were going by. When the noisy driver at last dropped her off, she flew up an knocked on a window. There they were!
Oh, wait, they didn't look so happy to see her. . .
"Eep!" she screeched as Cyborg blew up the window. They looked at her with deep hatred.
"What do you want, Blackfire, Starfire's already upset enough as it is," Beast Boy growled.
"No! I'm good now! I swear! See?" Blackfire said, holding up a stone slab. Terra summoned it and handed it off to Cyborg. After all, he spoke Tamaranian. The Robot scrutinized it with his robotic eye.
"It's for real," he admitted grudgingly. Blackfire smiled.
"Any-way, I came to see my sister. I've been reading the Terran tabloids, and they say Star isn't doing so good," Blackfire reported, hoping they wouldn't turn her away.
"Yeah, she's really upset about the whole wedding thing. . ." Terra said, her voice trailing off. Blackfire put down her bag and began to march to Starfire's room. The three Titans exchanged looks and followed her.
"Hello!" Blackfire said cheerily as she burst into Starfire's room. The younger alien looked up in surprise. Blackfire was now pulled the curtains open.
"What? What's going on?" Starfire asked, shielding her eyes from the in coming sunlight. Bright!
"Look, I've been keeping up with the tabloids, and you're depressed. I'm here to help you," Blackfire said earnestly. Starfire gave her a doubtful look. "I know the signs, I was depressed. Come on," Blackfire said. Starfire shook her head and looked away.
"Have you been washing?"
"No,"
"Eating?"
"No,"
"Suicidal thoughts?"
"Not yet," Goody, she had those to look forward to!
"See, you're depressed," Blackfire said, sitting down next to Starfire. "Please, let me help you," she pleaded. Starfire sighed.
"Whatever," she mumbled, not caring. Blackfire picked the girl out of bed, and carried her to the adjoining bathroom. With some help from a stunned Terra, they washed the younger Tamaranian and dressed her.
"Now," Blackfire said, "we go out into society. First, we'll get you some drugs and then lunch, okay?" she said almost perkily. Starfire sighed.
"Please, can I just go back to bed? I rather like it there. . ." Starfire said. Blackfire shook her head.
"No more bed for you!" she said. Turning to the Titans, she asked "Are you coming or not?" the three quickly followed the two.
After much hassling, Blackfire achieved getting Starfire some Prozac. The older sister was very delighted with this turn of events, and babbled on about how good it would be for her younger sister as Starfire did her best to ignore her. It wasn't working that well.
Finally, the Titans and Blackfire stopped by a fast food joint to get lunch. Starfire perked up a bit when she saw the little toys. She smiled as she played with them.
"They are so adorable and small," she cooed, picking up a Beanie Baby brand toy kitten. Its bead eyes stared up at her, and its pink yarn mouth smiled encouragingly. For the first time in a month, Starfire grinned.
On their way out, they passed by a salon. Starfire stopped in her tracks, and the Titans held their breaths. She entered, and the other four scurried along behind her.
"Hi, my name is Starfire. I'm with the Teen Titans. Could I arrange a hair cut please?" she asked pleasantly.
"Of course!" the girl at the desk shouted excitedly. She ran back, and after five minutes of frenzied arguing, an elderly blonde woman came out to cut Starfire's hair. The Titans exchanged looks among each other. What was their friend up to?
Starfire followed her to the back of the salon, and inhaled deeply as she stared in the mirror.
"What do you want to do with it, hun?" the woman asked, pleased that she was cutting the hair of Teen Titan.
"Cut it all off."
"What?"
"Cut it off for Locks of Love, and then I'd like a pixie cut," Starfire said determinedly. Robin had always been talking about her pretty hair. No more! Her sister was right for once; something had to change. And this was the beginning. Starfire watched as snippet by snippet her beautiful golden-red hair fell to the ground. At last it was over, and she went out to see the Titans. "What do you think?"
"Your hair!" Terra shouted the first to speak. "What did you do?"
"I cut it, silly!" Starfire said, running her hand through the shortened locks. "Do you hate it?"
"I love it!" Blackfire said to her sister proudly. Terra nodded her agreement. Starfire smiled. She felt better already.
A week later, the Tamaranian princesses bid each other goodbye. As Starfire shut the door behind Blackfire, a look of sadness crossed over her face. Only Cyborg caught it, as Terra and Beast Boy were gone.
"You ok?" he asked, clapping a metallic hand on her shoulder.
"Honestly? My sister's been putting the tooth paste on my tooth brush for the past week and now that she's gone I don't know how I'm going to manage to brush my teeth!" Starfire said, suddenly bursting into tears as all the week's work was undone.
"Shh," he said, holding her. Starfire rested her head on his wide metal chest. Cool and smooth. . .
She looked up and kissed him.
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