Fourteenth Chapter: Chaos

I stood silently and still, as if I was suddenly a stone statue caught in the act of surprise.

Irry pushed Harmony out of my way. "You have to. She's been talking about that being the only way to revive her, just in case she does fall ill. And it never occurred to us that you would actually be in here when she did."

I shook my head. "No way. I wouldn't! I couldn't!"

"Do you want to save her?" Irry asked seriously. I stared at her.

"Of course I do!"

"Then, you have to. Hands down! Or else we'll all be gone, or maybe Starfire will be ruled by conflicting personalities- us."

I continued to stare.

"Yes," Harmony chimed in. "You must. As you said before, soon she will be gone."

I thought for a moment, and then realized I had never said that, merely thought it.

"Don't ask," Compassion said lightly, sensing my confusion.

I looked at each of them in turn, and then nodded. "Fine, I will. But does it have to be…"

"Yes, for goodness sake!" Irry practically shouted shrilly. For some reason, though, she seemed more desperate than angry. "You have to kiss her lips! You know, the breath of life!" She stepped toward me and jabbed my chest with her finger. "And you're going to do it, right? You have to! Save us all! Save your friend! Save-"

Her shrieking was interrupted by the cracking and breaking of glass. The window's long pane of glass splintered and then crashed to the ground, strangely not moving toward us at all. To my surprise, a new Starfire appeared, crouched on the floor among the glass, not noticing the drops of blood on her shard-cut hands. "That's enough."

I stepped back and was about to bump into Irry when she unexpectedly moved away and toward the window hesitantly. "Chaos," I heard her whisper in a quiet, worried tone of voice I'd never known that she could possess. "Why are you here?"

Compassion flung herself in front of Innocence and I. "Do not touch them!" she shouted.

The new Starfire, I realized, was different than the others, even Innocence. She had ripped, silver rags of clothes tied onto her figure to cover the bare minimum. They were covered in black splotches that I assumed were dried blood, stained onto the torn fabric in random patches of darkness.

A shiver ran down my spine as she spoke in a cold, precise voice. "I am here to settle your debates. My shadows have disappeared because, without Innocence to counteract them, they cannot exist."

"What?" Irry breathed. The look on her face seemed to argue within itself whether to cower from or embrace the new Starfire.

"You cannot have night without day, can you? You cannot have love without hate, can you? You cannot have land without the water to define what you are able to stand on. You cannot have evil without the good to define what the line between them." She gestured to the unmoving form of Innocence lying among her white sheets. "You cannot have death without life. And to keep that life, You-Who-Are-Dubbed-Robin, you must give that life back to her."

I stared at the new Starfire in awe. What did she mean by-

"So, the question now stands. Will you oblige to the task?"

I blinked, and then heard myself answer, "Yes."