Seventh Chapter: Parts of Her
I simply stared in horror at her as she advanced toward me. I found myself again wondering what was going on when another voice, the same but different, interrupted us and made me look up.
"Don't hurt him," she said. I widened my eyes. Another Starfire walked toward us, the exact same as the first, only her clothes and eyes were dark blue, not crimson. What's the dark blue stand for? Icy behavior? Rude? A person that often gave people the cold shoulder?
My thoughts were broken as she continued talking.
"Hi! I'm Justice, and this is Irritated. You were asking if we were Starfire? Naw, we're not. Well, actually, sort of. Then again, not really. But on the other hand, we-"
"We are parts of her."
I looked over my shoulder to see yet another Starfire climbing out of the lake, her clothes and eyes grey. Another one? But what did the grey stand for? And why had she been in the lake? It just made her dripping wet, and probably cold, too.
As I thought about that, though, I realized how warm it was in this place. One more question to be answered in time. For now, though, I pushed it away.
"I," she replied to my earlier thoughts, "Am Harmony. Welcome to Starfire's mind."
"Irry posed a great point!" stated Justice randomly. I figured that Irry was Irritated's nickname, since Irritated was not the best name to have.
"What point?" 'Irry' asked.
"She meant to ask how you got in here, and who you are." Harmony said slowly, as if bored.
"Well," I said, not sure of how to talk, not to mention how to react to these strange people.
"Well?" Irry prodded.
"Well… I'm Robin, and-"
"SERIOUSLY!" shouted a voice that made me jump. An additional Starfire, this time themed yellow, bounced over. No, really. She bounced, leaped, and pretty much flew over to us from my left.
"YOU'RE ROBIN!"
I nodded and rolled my eyes. "Can you lower your voice, Miss…"
"I AM-" She paused and quieted her tone. "Sorry. It's habit!" She shrugged as if it meant nothing to her, which I began to suspect was true.
"She's annoying." Irry said sarcastically, and received a whack to the back of her head from Justice.
"Go on," I said, beginning to get annoyed myself. Was I even in Starfire's mind anymore? I mean, think about it:
Starfire was an innocent Tamaranean who loved everything and everyone who was nice to her, and these 'parts' of her, whatever that meant, were… not.
"I'm Bliss!" The yellow-clad Starfire said. "And you…" she held out the 'ooh', "Are Robin!"
"No. Way. I would never. Have guessed."
"Irry," Justice warned. Harmony was simply standing there, gazing across the lake longingly, not paying any attention to the others, or me.
I nodded, despite all of the distractions that were doing flips and backbends in my mind.
"As I was saying, though, Robin, I know who you are!"
Irry opened her mouth, but then closed it again wisely as Justice gave her a fiery glare.
"And how do you know who I am?" I asked slowly.
"Because Starfire –that is, Innocence- talks about you all the time! And Lust loves to rant and rave in her deeeeeep voice about-"
I raised my hand so that it was about chin-level, halting her spiel. "Really, I don't need to know that much. To answer your question from before, I got in here via Raven's spell. I don't know if you know Raven, or Cyborg, or Beast Boy, but it doesn't matter. I'm actually looking for Starfire. The real one…"
There was a silence, and then Harmony raised her arm and pointed out across the lake. "She's there. On that island. Innocence, I mean. Starfire's main feeling, the one who runs this place. If you noticed, the trees on the far side of the lake are fading into our colors. They all were purple and white, for Compassion and Innocence, respectively. Now…" She gestured over across the glimmering lake again. "They're mostly different colors, though about half are still purple. But Compassion didn't have as big as a role, so with Innocence out of it…"
I nodded, and remembered the white, purple, dark blue, and yellow trees. "So, how do I get there? The island, I mean…"
She looked down at the ground, then up at Irry. "Your boat…?"
Irry glared at her and began to walk away. "No. Definite no. And I'm guessing you don't want Lust's boat, but I'm sure Miss Annoying over here-" Justice raised her hand warningly. "I mean, Bliss, would love to hoist you there. And with Justice's help, you won't fall in."
I raised my eyebrows as she and Harmony walked away in different directions; Harmony into the lake, and Irry away from it.
I looked at the remaining two, hoping that they would help. Bliss smiled and flew into the air, then offered me her hand.
Déjà vu! But from where…
The battle. The injury. Cinderblock. The Infirmary. The enchantment. The-
I shook my head. That could wait. I only had two hours from the real world to be in Star's mind, and I had no idea how fast time passed in this strange location in comparison to reality.
"You coming?" Justice asked, also now hovering about me with an extended hand. I smiled slowly and took their hands.
I was lifted off the ground and over the lake. They were great flyers, in spite of all Irry had said, and we reached the island in a few minutes.
The trees here looked almost normal, and the sand under my shoes was normal.
"Where-" I began to ask, but Justice shook her head.
"She's farther in, but you'd better be careful."
"Alright…"
"Oh," Bliss added, letting go of my hand. "You really should be weary. I heard Lust was in there."
She smiled comfortingly, and I couldn't help but smile, too. She truly was part of Starfire.
The two of them flew back into the air, turning their faces to the far edge. Bliss waved over her shoulder at me and poked Justice so that she followed suit.
I laughed and waved, and was about to turn around when a silky, tan-orange hand appeared on my shoulder, moving down across my collarbone and up to my other shoulder where it gripped gently to my uniform. A deep, seductive voice whispered close to my ear, "Hello, Robin."