Break Shadow: Chapter 3

Disclaimer: DC COMICS owns "Teen Titans." I own whatever I write/create. Don't steal and don't sue.

Starfire's eyes snapped open, her body jerking into a sitting position. She looked about, her long hair flipping wildly at her speed. The thick sheaf of hair slapped Chaos's face on its roundabout trip, and Starfire spun around again to find the demon sitting beside her. Chaos pulled a loose red hair from its resting place on Starfire's nose and let it flutter to the ground.

"You!" Starfire gasped, jerking away instinctively and standing up. "Where am I? What have you done to me?"

"Yes, me," Chaos said in a conversational tone. "You're at my home, and I've just come here from your world, so I haven't had the chance to do anything to you."

"But what are you planning to do?" Starfire demanded, her hands and eyes lighting with bright emerald.

"Wait for a while, then go to Raven again," Chaos replied. She actually bothered to look at Starfire, smiling at the energy in the alien's hands and eyes.

"What?" Starfire asked curiously.

"I don't feel like fighting," Chaos answered, "so you can put those out." Starfire's head tilted to one side, the lost puppy-dog look getting a chuckle out of Chaos.

"If you are not going to attack me, then what do you intend to do with me?" Starfire asked. Chaos chuckled again, tilting her head to the side. A loud pop rang out, and Chaos let out a happy sigh.

"You're here because I need to piss Raven off as much as I can," she replied. "That means making her think you're dead."

"What do you mean?" Starfire eventually asked.

"People get mad when they think the one they love the most is dead," Chaos said simply. Starfire stared at her. There was a long, long moment of silence. Chaos looked at the girl again, raising an eyebrow at the confusion on her face. She soon turned away, closing her eyes.

"Why would that make Raven angry?" Starfire asked.

"Raven's mad because she thinks you're dead." Chaos reached her arms up and crossed them, massaging her own shoulders. "But because she's sad too, it's controlling the magic that would usually come with the anger. The emotions are tied into her blood. Since she has holy and human blood as well as demonic blood, it allows emotions to buffer each other instead of overwhelm Raven."

"That is not what I meant!" Starfire said. Chaos looked at her again, letting her hands fall away from her shoulders. Starfire blushed, looking down and biting her lip. "What I mean is—why do you say that Raven is angered?"

"She. Loves. You. Clear enough now?" Starfire's blush deepened as she began to twist her fingers nervously.

"Why do you say that Raven—loves me?" she asked.

"I kissed her to make her distracted, and that made it possible for me to read her mind," Chaos explained with a sigh. "I did that to see what she's been up to in the last eight years, and I found that she had fallen in love with you." She gave Starfire a once-over, smirking slightly. "Can't say I blame her." She stood up with a groan, stretching up on the balls of her bare feet. "You should think about how you feel about her."

"How I feel about her?" Starfire questioned. "She is my dear friend."

"Is she more?" Starfire bowed her head when she met Chaos's eyes, wondering.

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"Where. Is. Starfire?" Raven said nothing. Robin's lips pulled back in rage, a growl bubbling out of his throat.

"Where's Starfire!" He reached out and grabbed Raven's shoulders, shaking her furiously. "What happened!"

"She's dead." Pain made Raven's voice flat, but her eyes shone wetly. She closed her eyes, the tears gathering in her eyelashes.

"And you let her get killed!" Beast Boy and Cyborg cringed at Robin's screams. Unsure of what to do, they stood a few feet away from the two others, watching and waiting. They gasped when Robin pulled his fist back. Raven did not open her eyes, but when the punch came at her, black shadows created a shield before her face. The boy wonder's fist slammed into the shield, the magic holding strong.

Robin leapt back, charging forward with a rage-filled shout. He twirled on the ball of one foot, swinging the other around in a powerful kick. Again the shadows appeared, blocking the strike easily. Enraged even further, Robin screamed as he let loose a flurry of punches. Every time his hands drew close, shadows unfolded from nothingness and stopped them. He swung his right hand in a chop aimed at Raven's neck, blind in his anger.

Shadows stopped his hand, and instantly enveloped his entire body. The shadows held him in the air while he struggled and squirmed.

"You let her die!" Robin howled. "You let Starfire die! You let that goddamn monster kill her! It's your fault! We've lost her—I've lost her! I cared about her and you let her die!" Raven looked at Robin, tears slowly finding their way down her face

"Do you really think you were the only one who cared about her?" she asked in a whisper. "I loved her. I loved her more than you can imagine, and Chaos knew that." She sank to her knees, wrapping her arms around herself. "Chaos knew that, and she knew I couldn't say it. It's my fault Starfire's gone." As she began to sob, the shadows around Robin vanished. He stood, watching Raven sob. In the awkward silence, Beast Boy was the first to notice something.

"Raven," he said softly, amazed. "Your powers aren't going all crazy." Raven opened her eyes and looked at her hands. Though her body shook with pain, her magic was calm.

She stared at her shaking hands and whispered, "What's happened to me?"

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Chaos watched Starfire sleep, a smile on her face. The alien heroine had lain back down on the floor of the open deck and fallen asleep after thinking for hours on end. Her brow was still furrowed, as if her thoughts had carried into her dreams.

"And who is this?" Chaos glanced down, seeing the shadow stretching out beside her. She looked back towards Starfire with a small chuckle.

"Raven has a bit of a crush on her," she murmured. The man behind her chuckled.

"Your little blackbird? A love?" The man chuckled again.

"I had hoped she would learn how to love sooner than this. And without my having to hurt her." A silent moment passed. Chaos sighed and shook her head. "I'll wait until she wakes up. By then, she'll have an answer." She leaned back on her hands, watching as Starfire twitched from her dreams. The man put his hand on Chaos's head.

"You're doing well, daughter." Chaos smiled.

"Thank you, father."

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Raven stared at the moon, sitting on the roof of Titan's Tower. She sat where Starfire had last been, hugging her knees. Her tears had stopped, but a few still glistened on her cheeks. After a moment, she lowered her head and closed her eyes.

"What, Robin?" she asked. The short boy behind her waited a moment before sitting down to her right a foot or two away.

"I shouldn't have done that," Robin said quietly. "I'm sorry." Raven could still feel the anger coiling off the young man like massive serpents, and did not answer him. There was some sincerity in his voice, but part of him still desired to hurt her.

"So, you care about Star, too?" he asked. Raven was silent a few moments longer, wishing that Robin's voice had not been so falsely conversational.

"I love her," she replied simply. Robin sighed, but cut it off abruptly. He looked down at the bay, watching the water break in waves and flash briefly as diamonds from the moonlight.

"Why do you say that?" he asked.

"Because I do," Raven said. "Why do you say you care about her?"

"She's beautiful," he said quickly. "She's innocent and brave. How could I not care about her?"

"You forgot to say that she's smart, strong, funny, and just Starfire." Robin nearly scowled, but managed to restrain himself to a frown. There was a long silent pause.

"Would you have given her up?" Raven asked suddenly. Robin did not trust himself to keep his fists to himself if he looked at Raven, so he continued to stare at the water. "Could you?"

"I don't know," he finally replied.

"If it meant her being happy, I'd let her go." Raven sighed and hugged her knees tighter to her chest. "I wanted her to always be happy."

"It sure didn't seem that way." The words had flown out of Robin's mouth, and he hadn't considered stopping them. Uneasy silence prevailed for many minutes.

"I couldn't let anyone get close to me. It sounds so stupid and clichéd, but it's dangerous to be near me."

"Ad now we can get closer to you?"

"I don't know." Robin stood up, turned away, and left. Raven remained, still staring at the moon. They had not looked at each other.

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Dreams are among the few things that all creatures in existence share. It is believed that dreams are ways for the subconscious mind to sort through emotions and memories that would otherwise be misunderstood or ignored. In Starfire's case, if an otherwise unsolvable question is the only thing thought about before sleep, the subconscious dreaming mind will find the answer.

Is she more? The question was locked firmly in place in the forefront of Starfire's mind. Memories of Raven replayed themselves, and Starfire watched them, fascinated. Though gruff at times, she had grown close to Starfire, and Starfire to her. Starfire had seen the kindness behind the shadows, and had often been the one Raven's kindness was given to. As the memories played on, Starfire soon came to realize that Raven's affections, while never plainly spoken, were plainly seen.

She had not laughed at Beast Boy's jokes, but had blushed when Starfire hugged her. She would never train with Cyborg, but would go to the mall with Starfire. She did not coddle Starfire as Robin did, instead helping her and teaching her to become a stronger person.

Raven, Starfire found, was appealing. She was pretty. She was smart. She was brave and strong. The few flaws Starfire found—coldness, distance, anger—were easily shadowed by Raven as a whole. In her sleep, Starfire smiled. She had an answer.

—to be continued—