Oh mi gosh... I am so sorry about the horrible time btween updates... they jus seems to get longer and longer...

... im forgetting what i want to say again...

oh yeah... wow... chapter 12 already, i feel the end drawing nearer and nearer, i even planned how the epoligue :D. So yea... im so overwhelmed... 26 reviews... wow... thnk you guys so much for standing behind me evn if i update so slow...

right... my dedication... strodgfrgf, you've been reviewing for as long as a can remember... and i feel bad for not dedicating anything to you...

oh, rite... you will find this a bit predictable... im sosorry for it, but i had to do it for the story to go on.

Wedding Bells

Chapter 12 It was a promise

The bandages were wrapped around his whole middle, but she noticed that some of the blood had seeped through the cotton on his left side, that's apparently where he got cut. Starfire's mind was racing. She seemed to be remembering something. A memory of a memory. She should've known something; something that was missing; something that was supposed to click if she remembered what she was suppose to remember…

Suddenly it came to her. A dark night, sharp things that was sticking out of the ground; 5 in total, the 5th one bloody. Red splotches of blood, Nightwing's blood. And sky blue eyes; his eyes.

Starfire looked up and looked into Richard's eyes. Robin's eyes.

Starfire stared, transfixed. Her mind was issuing thoughts like crazy. Half-formed thoughts were quickly overshadowed before she could make out what it was.

After what felt like a day or two, she was able to stop her mind from running a marathon to figure out that, Richard Grayson was indeed Robin. Suddenly, everything seemed to click. Everything they shared, everything they did as a couple, and everything she had ever thought about Richard Grayson seemed to make sense.

No wonder Richard seemed like her soul mate. No wonder whenever they talked, he seemed to know just what to say to put her at ease. Like he seemed to have known her for a few lifetimes. No wonder nobody else had bonded with her the way he had. She realized now that the only reason she had been with (and dumped) so many guys before were because no one else had been like Robin. And what did he do to her? Took advantage of that!

Suddenly she felt betrayed. And stupid, for not making this obvious connection before.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she said in a soft tone that had a don't-mess-with-me undertone.

Robin didn't answer, it made her even more mad.

"It's not like you didn't have any chance to tell me!" her voice rose angrily.

Still no answer. It made her downright furious.

"You could have told me right now! Or maybe yesterday in the Titans Tower! Or maybe the first time we started going out! Or maybe at Raven and Beast Boy's wedding! Or, come to think of it, why didn't you tell me 5 years ago?" she was mad, but she knew she was also babbling.

"I didn't think I would ever go back to being Richard Grayson, ever." he finally broke the silence to answer in a soft, sad tone.

"Well, you still could've told me! I – I thought… I thought… you trusted me…" Star eventually stopped yelling and her voice level did a fast descendo; she sank slowly to the ground, the back of her eyes burning.

"Star… I – I do trust you. More than anyone, but, I jus never thought that I would ever be called Richard ever again." He sank down to the ground next to her and looked to the sunset, deep in thought.

"No… you used me… took advantage of me." She hugged her knees really tight, she finally gave in to fighting her tears, and they came down like waterfalls.

"Star… Starfire… I- I would never…" Richard finally looked at her. It broke his heart in multiple pieces to see her cry. He looked down at his hands. His hands seemed too big. At last he decided that it didn't matter if Starfire was mad at him; he didn't ever wanna see her cry. He wrapped his arms hesitantly around her, and she buried her face into his shirt.

"But…" sob, sob, "You… did." There was a pause when she tried with no success to stifle her sobs. "W-when you didn't make a single effort to t-try and tell me."

"I- I did try. Last night. I wanted to tell you. But you left just when Beast Boy came through the door. I wanted to tell you right then and there. But… I didn't know why I hesitated so much. I guess…"

He took a deep breath; it helped, a bit. "I guess I was just too scared that I would lose you if you known the truth…" There. He said it. Out loud. He admitted this to her even if he wouldn't admit it to himself. Richard looked cautiously at Star, willing her to understand him like she never understood him before. He watched, with knotted eyebrows, as her face was strategically placed in an expressionless mask.

"Well… Richard… I –I don't know what to say…"

"Star… please… I really, really don't want to lose you to anyone. Like I did 5 years ago…" If Robin had thought this would help him make Star's final forgiving decision, he was wrong, very wrong indeed. In fact, all Starfire want to do was to forget all her suffering she had gone through before she blew up big. And now… the nerve of that guy! First coming along to say that he is not the guy he's been saying he is for those months that she dated him, and then reminding her of the harsh winter she had to endure after everyone in the Teen Titans went their separate ways.

Her eyes lost the misty look; her face dropped the emotionless mask, and her voice rose to a yell once more.

"Richard… Robin – Nightwing… Whatever you call yourself these days, I'm sick and tired of you! You played me like a fool! How long were you going to keep the secret from me if I didn't find out myself! A month? A year? Forever? And what happened to 'I'm never going to leave you, I promise'!"

"I- I… I have never left… you… and I will never…"

"Oh, again with the 'I will never leave you' stuff, this is getting real old!" she snapped furiously, but the more she babbled the more the liquid in her eyes built up. She didn't want him back. And unless she wanted to give in to him, she had better bounce before she broke down and cried, because X'hal knows she will break down if this keeps up. She stood up, brushed herself, and shot daggers at him.

"Richard," she started, venomously, "You are a nasty, lying, and ugly piece of work! I don't know why I ever loved you! I looked up to you… I gave my heart to you! And all you did was manipulate me – " Star's eyes grew brighter as she glared at him for opening his mouth to interrupt. " don't even talk Robin! – I trusted you, and now, I don't even want to see your face again!"

And with that she stomped off, not even bothering to fly simply because she knew she wouldn't be able to summon enough Unbridled Joy for flight. Her raven-colored hair blew out in front of her as she made her way to the Wayne Manor. When she reached there, Alfred let her in, got her SUV, and Star drove out with only a word of thanks.

When Star arrived at her hotel, all she was able to do was drop down to her bed and pick up her cell. That's when her tears started to come. As much as she wanted to lividly hate the guy, the shocking discovery was too much for her. She didn't even know why she wanted to stomp off like that. All she knew was that it had nothing to do with the harsh memories that she wanted to forget. It was something else, something totally different.

He promised he will always be there for her, and now, she felt so betrayed, hurt, and angry. She felt stupid as well, for not making the obvious conclusion of Robin being Richard before.

Star gazed forlornly at the cell phone in her hands. She looked at the contacts without any thought at all. Suddenly her eyes snapped to focus when she saw the number. She had stopped being mad at him long time ago, after they had talked things out… and she knew he would understand. So, she dialed the familiar number.

"Hello?" said the voice on the other end. Starfire felt her eyes tear up at once. She sniffed and tried to stifle her sob.

There was a pause at the other end, then, "Hello? Kory? Is that you? Are you OK?"

"Roy," – sniff, sniff – "Roy, it-its him."

"Kory? Star? Who? Who are you talking about?" the voice at the other end sounded like a mix between panicky and concerned.

"Roy… he lied… he knew… and he never even bothered to tell me… he lied to me. He lied… he doesn't trust me… he doesn't believe I should know…"

"Who? Who never told you what?"

"He used me… I hate him…"

"Star? What are you talking about?"

"I don't want to see him again…" She babbled on. "I can't believe I never saw it… I hate it! Everyone else knew… That's why he was at their wedding… why didn't you tell me? I know you know… you just made up the Red X theory to help your friend…"

"Richard Grayson? Is that who you're talking about? He is no friend of mine!"

"I know you know! You were talking to him! Roy… how could you…"

"How could I what? What about Richard Grayson?"

"Roy… he's Robin."

Robin sat there and felt tears run down his cheeks. How unmanly, he thought with a humorless chuckle, to cry for a girl… Richard had known Batman was clever, but what he said about women being a man's greatest weakness… boy was he right (as much as he hated to admit it).

And damn Raven. And Beast Boy too. They made it sound like this whole ordeal would end like a fairytale if he had just told her the truth. And now, he did tell her the truth, and look where the truth got him.

Starfire hated him. That much was certain.

He should have told her, instead of waiting it out. But why did he not tell her again? Oh, yeah, 'cause he didn't want the rejection.

Richard finally stood up and by that time the sun had already gone down. He made his way toward the Wayne Manor, his mind full of thoughts. He knew he must've looked horrible, but he didn't care. If Starfire didn't care, he wouldn't either. His mind was still blurry when he reached the Wayne Manor. He barely remembered Alfred say it was his turn to do the Midnight Rounds as Nightwing. Vaguely remembered the bath he had taken. And the next thing he remembered sharply enough was the fact that his room was bright from the sunlight that had streaked through his window.

He got up, and was surprised to see that he was wearing bathrobes to bed. Quickly he changed and got down for breakfast… only to find that it was only 7:02 in the morning.

"Up early, Master Dick?" Alfred said bringing Richard his breakfast. Richard only nodded dimly.

"What happened with you and Kory?" another voice asked. It made Richard look up, surprised, that he had not even glanced towards the other end. His hazy mind had thought that he and Alfred was the only ones in the Dining room, but clearly, Bruce was up bright and early too.

"Nothing." He lied swiftly.

Bruce only chuckled. "So why was she all covered in dirt and looked like she was on the verge to crying yesterday? Not to mention you didn't do your rounds at all. I thought fall in Bludhaven was a really busy time of the year, especially for Nightwing and crooks."

"Why do you care? It's not your business anyways." Richard answered curtly as he glanced up slowly from his plate to glare dangerously at his mentor.

"Didn't we all agree that women is a man's greatest weakness. You should not let Kory do this to you. If she does not want you, you should always look for someone else. There is lots of fish in the sea and being a superhero… getting too attached is not good for you. You could get your little Starfire in grave danger. You –" Bruce was cut off with a loud bang as Richard got up so forcefully that his chair tipped off and hit the ground. Alfred shook his head sadly as Richard then proceeded to stomp out of the dining room without a single word, obviously pissed with Bruce's lecture.

Bruce gazed at his protegee's retreating back. Grayson might not get it now, but someday, he will.

Bruce didn't know this, but Richard had taken his mentor's most expensive car to have a little drive around Gotham. But for a well-known reason, his mind still wasn't concentrating on what his eyes saw. So naturally, he didn't drive in that much of a straight line. He kept turning without warning the other riders of the road, he did a lot of illegal U turns, and finally, he stopped at Starbucks to get a cup of coffee.

The minute he walked through the double doors of the café, all heads turned and all conversation was stopped. Everyone's attention seemed to be on the Prince of Gotham and the Prince himself took no notice whatsoever.

"A cup of black coffee. No sugar. No milk. No butter." Richard said in a dull monotone Raven would have been proud of. The attractive cashier raised an eyebrow at him and tried to flip her hair and smile, but, as he was like to everything else, he barely spared her a glance.

He handed the still-smiling-flirtatiously cashier a 10-dollar bill (courtesy of Bruce Wayne) and walked towards an empty table across the room without so much as word. He didn't even bother to wait for the change.

All of a sudden, someone called his name. Richard glared in the direction of the person who dared to disturb his cloud of doom. When he spotted him, Richard couldn't help but soften a bit. Garfield and Rachel was sitting a few tables away from where he was standing, he didn't hesitate to walk towards them.

"Hi ya, Rich, you don't looked so good, what happened?" Garfield said even before Rich took a seat. Richard however, sat down first before glaring up at the happy pair of them.

Richard sighed. "She found out." He said dully, before sipping his coffee.

"Oh," That had captured Raven's attention faster than any villain on the loose could have. "What happened?"

"Oh, just simple stuff. She told me she hated the very gut out of me, expressed the idea forcefully that I had betrayed her, and told me to never show my face near her ever again. Which is just a long way of saying 'she didn't take it very well'."

"Richard, see? I told you should have told her earlier. You were not who she thought you were. Of course she felt betrayed." Raven said in a soft, never-used-before tone. Garfield looked up at her, surprised, and in doing so, he also looked out the large window. What he saw made him even more surprised.

At the top of a 4-story business building, 2 figures adorned the rooftop. The sun, luckily, was shinning behind the café and in the face of the two figures.

Garfield blinked to make sure he was not dreaming. When he had finished, the two figures were still there. They seemed to be talking about something. One of figures had a skull for a face. On the forehead of the skull was a red x. The other figure had only one eye, half his face was orange and the other was eyeless and black. They had not even realized that someone, several feet below, was watching them.

Richard finally stopped talking to Raven long enough the look at the Changeling. It was just out of curiosity for the fact that Gar had not uttered a single word for about three minutes. Rich just thought that he had died out of not speaking. So imagine his surprise when he saw Gar staring at something across the street. When he looked up just in time to see two figures he knew so well turning and walking across the roof and out of sight. Raven, however, was not so lucky.

"What's so interesting up there?" She asked the guys suspiciously.

"Dude… was that Red X with Slade?" Beast Boy asked as if he was uncertain whether or not he was just seeing things that morning.

Richard couldn't answer; all he could do was nod dimly.

Once again thnxx for reviewing...

Samanthe2121, InkBlotted Chakra, april4rmH-town, Sasscreech, Robin's Fair Lady, Punky Starfire, tigerchic121, Atemu's Lover, Valda, Kory-Ana-Star, Anime Chick009,teentitansrocks03,dadyslittleprincess, nevermoreloverslove, Blonde and luvin it, Burgandy Pirate, Cute Starfire, Girl Wonder 2005, MyMonkeyIsOrange, strodgfrgf, inukag1188, deadly-anger, chicagonebananas, ROBIN LOVES STARFIRE FOREVER, ObsidienAngel,

and lastly...

The Crow. LOL you must be a guy... all action no romance... andRaven and Beast Boy?i think that deyhave a prettyok chance...LOL i dunt mind if you think my story sucks... i cant help it if im a helpless romantic...

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