Teen Titans
Fragile Dreams

A/N This is my first real experiment with a perspective other than that of Rae or Robin. Hope it turns out ok. This chapter will probably worry the hell out of some of you. If you think Star didn't like the future last time, just wait till you see THIS future. For obvious reasons, there is a LOT of Starfire in this one and precious little Robin and Rae. Sorry about that… had to happen. I promise there will be quite a few surprises you don't see coming to make up for it.

This one is going to be pretty dark in tone... Much darker than anything else I've written so far.

Disclaimer - Think about it. If I owned Teen Titans, I wouldn't need to be rewriting the show, now would I?

Fragile Dreams Chapter 11 – How Long is Forever?
"Happy Blorthog!" Starfire exclaimed as she burst into the Titan's sitting area a week later. She was still torn up inside by her rejection by Robin, but outwardly she had shrugged it off with typical Starfire cheerfulness. It was a good tiding that today was Blorthog, the Tamaranian festival of friendship. It would help remind her that she still had friend Robin, even if only as a friend.

The Titans completely ignored the Tamaranian, going on with their normal routine. Friend Cy and friend BB were playing some video game, yelling at each other. Friend Raven was sitting off to the side of the room, where it was least noisy, and trying to read a book. She had a pair of nail clippers levitating by her. Lastly, friend Robin was sitting at the table, blasting some heavy metal music on his stereo.

Using her typical cheerfulness again, Starfire wasn't discouraged at all by being ignored. She grabbed a handful of the necklaces, and walked over to the couch where friend Cyborg had just managed to grab the controller away from friend Beast Boy. "Friend Cyborg! I bid you glorious tidings to our friendship on this…"

Star cut off as the metal man cried out and went flying, an octopus tentacle wrapped around him. "You're going to pay for that you little grass-stain!" The green changeling reclaimed the controller, and started laughing as he played.

"Friend Beast Boy!" Starfire began, holding out a necklace to him, "Happiness and greetings for you on this joyful Blor-."

"Cyborg, I'll give you back the controller as soon as Raven over there returns my clippers!"

Raven didn't even look up from her book. "Not a chance."

Starfire's face fell a little, but she quickly perked up and walked towards the team's darkest member. "Friend Raven!" she said, again offering a necklace, "Today is the Blorthog, Tamaranian celebration of happiness and friendshi-" Starfire cut herself off and she saw a vein pop out on friend Raven's forehead.

"Hey, Robin," she said in a voice laden with sarcasm, "Could your music be any louder? I can still hear myself think."

Star walked over to Robin and held out a necklace, but didn't even get to say anything before she was again cut off, this time by Robin, as he turned to the fighting teens. "I only have the music so loud to drown out all the YELLING!"

Poor Starfire stood in the middle of her arguing friends, her placating words and offers of friendship going unheard. Cyborg threw BB over the couch to reclaim his controller, and his leg caught on her necklaces as he landed. As he struggled to his feet, the cord binding them together snapped, and little beads from the necklace were strewn all over the living room. Starfire's plight went unnoticed by the rest of the Titans, who kept on yelling and fighting, until Star had had enough. "STOP IT!" All action in the room instantly ceased, and all eyes went to the usually chipper red head that had just yelled at them. "Friends must not act this way. Especially on Blorthog… do you wish to invite the Raknar?"

BB was the first to recover. "Um… the what?"

Star's eyes closed in memory as she spoke. "On my planet Raknar means 'the drifting,' in which close friends slowly drift away from each other until there is nothing left."

"Dude, we are so not… whatevering."

"Yeah Star, this is just typical roommate behavior. Sometimes, people get on other people's nerves. It's natural." Cyborg said, looking apologetically at the beads littering the floor. "Don't worry, nothing will happen."

As if Cyborg's words were an omen, the alarm suddenly sounded, bathing the room in flashing red lights. "Titans, trouble!" Robin said, grabbing his birdarang as he ran for the door. The rest of the Titans but Starfire quickly followed. Star closed her eyes and dolefully inclined her head towards the ground for a few seconds before following.

Fifteen minutes later and despite her optimistic attitude, Starfire was wondering if this could have gone any worse for the team. The Titans had gotten whooped badly by this new villain who claimed to be from the future, calling himself Warp. As unlikely as his claim of origin seemed, he had the gizmos to back up it up. He carried the clock he had come for in his hands, and was preparing to make good his escape despite the Titan's best efforts to stop him. Starfire decided she was not going to let him get away with this so easily. "See you in the future, Titans!" Warp said, opening a gateway from a shining orb on the chest of his suit.

"No!" Starfire yelled, flying towards the villain and knocking him forward into the gateway, with herself following him in. With the source of the portal gone, it quickly closed, sealing her and Warp tumbling awkwardly through a bright tunnel. The combatants wrestled for the clock as they flew, and Star managed to hit the orb on his chest as they fought, and it detached in the form of a little disk, falling neatly into her hands.

"My regulator!" He yelled, and suddenly the two were torn apart by gut-wrenching centrifugal force. The tunnel vanished, and Starfire suddenly found herself back in a city… but no city she recognized. The buildings were grimy and ill maintained, and the air was polluted and smoggy.

'Where am I?' she thought to herself as she looked around, noticing vaguely that she was holding both the clock and Warp's regulator. Star found a view over the ocean behind her, but her blood ran cold at what else she could see. Staring back at her from the middle of a tiny, god-forsaken island, were the decrepit remains of what was once her home.

Titan Tower. She was in Bludhaven. Somehow, she was in her home. 'Yet this is not my home,' she forcefully reminded herself. 'Where am I?' The confused alien lifted up and soared towards the remains of the tower.

The massive door was open and ajar. "Friends?" Starfire yelled out. "It is I, Starfire. I wish to know you are here!" She walked around aimlessly until she reached the sitting room. "Friends?"

The room was abandoned. Lots of machinery, resembling generators, was laying all over the room. Looking around, there were little tarnished silver globes scattered across the floor... parts of the necklaces she had offered her friends. Star saw a glowing red light turn on in the darkness by where the kitchen was, and it reminded her of Cyborg's eye. "Friend Cyborg?" she asked as the light started coming closer. "Is that you?" As she peered forward, the source of the object became clear: a robotic spider. "Eiiiee!" Starfire screamed, her eyes going green as she jumped into the air and floated backwards. Her hands glowed as blasts of hard light blew the machine apart.

More lights started glowing as more machines activated, and Star moved to attack until a voice came from the hallway. "Hey!" the familiar voice called out, "Who's all up in my tower and busting all of my... Starfire?" Cyborg stopped dead as he walked through the door and saw his old friend standing there.

He looked different. The first thing she noticed about Cyborg was that his usually shining blue circuitry was dark and inactive. She walked close to her stunned teammate, and ran her hand tenderly along the wrinkled skin of the human part of his face. "Cyborg, my friend. I am confused. Why are you in disrepair? What has become of our home? Why have you aged? Where are our friends?" She asked, growing more frantic and emotional with every question.

Cyborg turned, facing towards the window, and gave a sad little laugh. "That's what happens when you go away for twenty years, Star."

"What?" she asked, unable to believe her ears.

"You disappeared, Starfire. After that fight with warp, we couldn't find you." He told her, still looking out the window. "The Titans broke up soon after, Star. Your friends aren't friends anymore."

Starfire floated up, her eyes burning with righteous fury. "This cannot be our future!" She yelled, her hands clenching into fists. "Warp's interference has changed it! We must find him and make it right!"

Cyborg finally turned to look at her again, and Star finally noticed a series of black cables emerging from his back. "I wish I could help, but my systems broke down years ago." He told her with a wry smile, but his eyes expressed his extreme depression. "I can't leave the tower, Star. I'm obsolete… helpless."

Star just stared at him a moment, trying to sort out this puzzle in front of her. "Our other friends. Where are they?"

"No one acts as a hero anymore. Garfield works for a circus now. And Richard is the president of the city's branch of Wayne Enterprises. He won't be much help, though."

"Why will he not, friend? Friend Robin would never let down his friends, would he?"

"He did the whole solo hero thing for a while after the Titans broke up,"he answered, "but he stopped after... well, you'll find out. It's not my story to tell. He hasn't picked up his costume since." Cyborg visibly shuddered, his human eye becoming filled with sorrow as he relived memories he'd obviously rather not have. He turned and practically ran out of the room, leaving Starfire to stare after him.

'But what about friend Raven?'

Star watched as these two punks laughed at her green friend before landing. "No way," he whispered as he looked on at the red haired ghost from the past. The years had not been kind to Garfield. He was terribly out of shape, and the former Titan had lost much of his hair... he was balding early. He sat in his cage, resting on the floor.

"Friend Beast Boy! It is good to see you again! Allow me to free you from..."

"No!" Beast Boy yelled, waving his arms franticly. "Don't! This cage isn't to keep me in, Star. It's to keep all of them out." He turned away from the alien girl, gazing off to the side and giving Star a profile of his face. "Listen to me, Star," he said, his face turning sorrowful, "After the Titans broke up, I tried the whole solo hero thing. Pretty much got my butt kicked. Then, after what happened to Robin... well, lets just say I realized being a hero wasn't all it was cracked up to be."

Star's face fell. "But this doesn't have to be our future. Please help me fix our past to restore our rightful future!"

"I'm sorry, Star. I can't help you. Not who I am anymore." He started to walk away towards the private area of the cage.

"What about Raven? Where is she?"

BB turned back to her, eyes blazing with anger. "With any justice, she'll be burning in hell with her dear father. Now get out of here. And if you see Robin, I wouldn't mention her. Good luck." Without a further word, BB stepped into the private area of his trailer cage and was gone.

Star was shocked at her friend's response. 'Friend Beast Boy was always humorous and kind... why is he now this cold to me?" She wondered darkly as she flew off towards where friend Cyborg had told her Robin lived. "What could have happened to him to turn him so bitter?"

An hour later, Starfire was wandering the streets, brooding uncharacteristically and cursing the world in general and Warp in particular. He had screwed up her world something fierce. Friend Robin, friend Robin, was not happy to see her. Much like Beast Boy, he was very cold: he addressed her with a lack of emotion that made it seem like he was challenging friend Raven to a contest of emotionless and expected to win. After denying that it was his job to help, he simply told her to leave. No friendship, no fond recollections; absolutely nothing - Purely emotionless. As soon as Starfire left his office, she heard sobbing behind her. Apparently, he was also haunted by something.

Starfire was not stupid. Nor was she as naive as she sometimes came off as: she realized that whatever it was that had changed everything in this world, it had been Raven. The missing Titan was the key to everything. Beast Boy hated her, Cyborg didn't want to talk about her, and Robin refused to talk to anyone who might even remind him of her. 'Warp is to blame for all of this,' she thought and she meandered through the broken streets of Bloodhaven. 'Whatever had happened to friend Raven, he is the cause of this changed future.'

So lost in her thought was she, Starfire didn't realize she was in danger until it was too late. A red blast hit her from the side, and as she rolled to a stop she saw Warp emerge from an alleyway. Her eyes glowing green with rage, Starfire rose to meet him, but she was as hopelessly outmatched as she had been 20 years ago. Her Starbolts bounced harmlessly of his force field, as he countered with blasts of red energy from cannons mounted on his shoulders. 'Why is he after me?' Star thought, then she looked down. Belated, she realized she was still carrying both the clock Warp had stolen and the disk from his chest – the vortex regulator.

Starfire dodged left and right as she threw destructive blasts of green light at the villain, but nothing seemed to affect him… and she couldn't dodge forever. A ray of energy impacted against her, and she went sprawling to the ground. She looked up, and saw the gold-clad villain standing over her. She looked into his face…

"You have also become old…"

Warp's expression showed infinite sadness and frustration for a moment, but his calm, arrogant demeanor quickly covered the storm. "That's what happens when someone takes my regulator. Return it, please."

Starfire bolted to her feet, holding the regulator in one hand and powering up a Starbolt in the other. "If you ever want to return to your future, you will repair the damage you have done to our past!"

The time traveler had to laugh. "Silly girl," he said in a condescending voice as he picked the clock up from the ground, "Your future is not broken. You cannot break history, because history cannot be changed. I went back to steal this clock because history said it disappeared, and history said it disappeared because I went back to steal it. Past, Present, and Future… it's all written in stone my dear, unchangeable for all eternity. By anyone." He held out his hand. "My regulator, please." He instructed, and a disheartened Starfire complied. He slapped the component back into place on his suit, and smiled. "Thank you, my dear." He pointed one of his laser cannons at Star, and it glowed as energy began to power up. "Now it's time for you to become history."

As the villain laughed maniacally as his own joke, the kneeling Starfire caught a flash of movement in the corner of her eye. Warp suddenly staggered from a heavy impact to the back of his head. Starfire looked on in amazement as more objects, looking like rocks or pieces of pavement, went flying towards Warp at blinding speeds. It reminded her of Raven, but there was no black aura. After a few more painful impacts, he managed to raise his protective shield and the objects stopped flying. As the villain scanned around for more danger, the ground itself suddenly leapt up at him from under his feat, ripping through the pavement and wrapping itself around him from inside his protective shield. "Leave her alone." A warm but calm and calculating female voice instructed, and Raven turned to the alley Warm had emerged from a few minutes ago. Two eyes blazed like miniature suns in the darkness.

Warp quickly pressed a few button on his wrist and began to disappear into the ground. "Another time, perhaps," He said, and then was gone.

A blond woman appearing to be in her mid thirties walked out of the shadows. The shine in her eyes quickly faded to show deep blue corneas, still practically glowing with a youthful innocence that Starfire found refreshing. Nobody she had met since coming to this time, not even the general population, had any trace of innocence left that she could see. She was happy that it could still exist. She had long blond hair draped over her eyes, and wore a pair of shorts with a black shirt. Starfire didn't recognize her at all… she hadn't a clue who it could be.

Starfire's hands and eyes resume their green glow as the unknown person walked closer. "Calm down, I'm a friend." Her mysterious savior brushed some of her blond hair out of her eyes, and continued to speak in a happy, friendly voice. "You must be Starfire. Girl who was sent to the future twenty years ago, right?"

Star didn't know what to say. "Friend, how do you know who I am? Who are you?"

The mystery girl gave her a little smile. "You don't know me, but I've heard everything about Titan Koriand'r del Tamaran." The blond gave a little bow before continuing. "I suppose pseudonyms and formalities make little sense in a world where the Titans no longer exist. I would be honored if you would call me Tara. It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

End Chapter 11
A/N

I bet you didn't see that coming, did you? C'mon, be honest. You knew I would have someone other than Nightwing be the one to help Star, but you didn't expect it to be her! Did you? Well, perhaps Mysti did and just wanted to spare my ego by missing a guess.

C'mon, you know your wondering why this future is so screwed up and what the hell Raven did to make everyone hate her. The next chapter holds the answers you seek, as Tara tells Starfire the tale that the other Titans wouldn't. The riddle for this chapter ought to be obvious: What happened to Rae?

Lastly, sorry to anyone expecting some real Nightwing/Rae going on in this ep, but you shoulda seen it coming. It doesn't match the tone at all.

Next time on Teen Titans, Fragile Dreams:

-Tara tells Starfire the story of the last twenty years
-The Titans get one last hurrah.
-Richard Grayson has a message for Starfire. Or does he?

Next Episode: Only Impossible