Woot! Another chapter. Hopefully this one will be longer than the other ones, give something to you guys that will last until I type another chapter.

Well…..here ya go.

Oh yeah. Once again, if there's typos let me know.

Chapter 4

Defeat seemed certain. But they wouldn't give up. They would fight to the death if they had to.

"You might be able to handle two Titans," A tall, buff figure stepped out of the shadows, "but how will you fair against three?"

Half-expecting this, Slade accepted the challenge non-chalantly. "I don't know. Try me."

With a war cry, Cyborg started the battle with a blast from his plasma cannon.

Only grazing his arm, Slade jumped to the side.

The half-robot and the villain were engaged in their fight, allowing Robin and Raven to recuperate some strength. Robin felt his second wind coming, Raven could feel her third.

So, getting up to backup their backup, they outnumbered Slade 3 to 1. They surrounded him on all sides. Punches were landed—and not on the Titans. Slade actually looked like he was having trouble keeping up.

But somehow he got lucky and managed to dodge a punch from Robin. It left an opening and he took it. Shattering a rib or two, he took the teen by his arm and swung him into Cyborg. The two went flying and landed in a heap ten feet away.

This left only Raven to face of the villain. "You know, your girlfriend's really cute." Slade started to mess with Raven's mind.

"Shut up."

"I don't know why she chose YOU. I mean, why not Robin?"

"Shut...up." She said through gritted teeth.

"Ohhhh. Am I making birdie angry?"

The answer was yes. Raven was getting more pissed by the second. She was clenching her fists so tight, her knuckles were turning white. Her face was turning red, and she one could swear there was steam coming out of her ears.

Robin stood up, clutching his broken rib. "Trust me—you don't want to see her angry." He smirked.

"Heh. Like I'm gonna listen to a kid."

"You think too highly of yourself." A voice came from behind him.

Slade turned around to throw a remark at the cloaked girl, "Well-oh…….snap."

A black aura surrounded the girl Titan. It kept growing with every 'Azarath Metrion Zynthos' she uttered.

It was the last thing Slade saw and the last thing he heard was a very loud 'Zynthos.' Then, the black aura shot forward. It consumed him and—like the force of a tidal wave—broke all the bones in his body. He was thrown into the far wall.

Lying useless and unable to move, a certain locket fell out of Slade's hip pouch. Then, a pair of purple boots appeared in front of him. He craned his neck to see a very intimidating-looking Raven. Now comes the hurt.

But none came. Instead, Raven just bent down and picked up the formerly stolen locket.

"Thanks."

"So, what do we do with him?" Robin picked himself off the ground.

"How 'bout you send him to an alternate dimension?" Cyborg suggested.

"No, too boring." Raven considered.

"I say we let the authorities handle him." Robin concluded. "I hear there's a real good federal prison somewhere in the East Coast. In some city called, Middleton."

"What if he breaks out?"

"The place is supposed to be top-security. Heard they're holding some high-threat international criminals there. Plus, he's broken every bone in his body. I doubt he'll be doing anything for a while."

"That's true. Well Slade—looks like you're going on a field trip."

The doors to the back of the police truck closed, a well-restrained Slade lying on a stretcher. He was off to Middleton Federal Prison.

"Good job guys." Robin now sported a new cast for his broken rib.

"Especially you Raven." Cyborg gave the girl a nudge. "'Well Slade—you're going on a field trip.' Priceless."

"No problem. How'd Beastboy do on his part?"

"Little dude went back to the Tower. He's watchin' over somebody who's probably dying to see you right now."

"Great job, Beastboy." Raven commented the non-present shape shifter.

Raven was the first one to step in the Tower. She headed straight for the infirmary, leaving Cyborg and Robin to catch up.

Beastboy was there, watching over Starfire. "Hey." He greeted.

"Hey." Raven greeted back.

"She fell asleep not long ago. Kept asking for you."

"I'm not surprised." Robin finally caught up, Cyborg not long after.

"Should we run some tests on her?" The metal man moved further into the room.

"Nah. In the morning, when she wakes up." The Bird Boy stopped him.

"Ok." The half-robot agreed. He was tired. They all were. "Well, we should all get some sleep then." He stretched. A few of his robotic joints creaked. "Night y'all." Then he left.

"Yeah. We've all had a rough night. G'night." Robin left next.

Beastboy didn't leave right away. "What about you, Raven?"

"I'm gonna stay here."

"Ok. G'night Raven." The green shape shifter stopped at the doorway, "Bet you kicked Slade's butt."

This earned a chuckle from Raven.

"Wish I could've seen it." He left the infirmary to go catch some sleep in his room.

Now it was dead quiet. Only Raven and Starfire were in the infirmary. The only sound there was the ticking of the clock on the far wall.

Now, Raven wasn't about to leave her special some one by herself. So, like a mother watching her child, she pulled up a chair and began her vigilant.

Bright sunlight shone through the room. It awoke only one.

Starfire blinked the sleep out of her eyes. She was disoriented for a few seconds until her eyes fell upon a sleeping Raven resting her head on the foot of the bed.

"Um…Raven?" She tapped the sleeping girl.

There was a slight snort, a sleepy 'five more minutes, Starfire,' then quiet once again.

"STARFIRE!" Raven jumped up from her chair and hugged the aforementioned girl. "Are you okay? Slade didn't hurt you did he?" She inspected for injuries, turning Starfire this way and that.

"I am unharmed and feeling splendid. Although I am a bit starving."

"Good, good." That was reassuring. "Do you remember anything?"

"I remember friend Beastboy taking me back to the Tower." She looked away, "But I do no wish to remember anything before that."

"What happened?" 'Sure, Raven. She doesn't want to remember—but you ask anyways…dork.' She regretted asking anything. She wished she kept her mouth shut.

Starfire hesitated, but Raven had a right to know. "Well…he put me in this room. And it was always dark. There was no food, no water. I was alone. The feeling was most unenjoyable."

"Well, you're not alone anymore. And you never will be."

"I know." The Tamaranean sat in comforted silence, then realized one little fact. "Oh, I hate to tell you this…but, Slade has taken the locket you gave me." That locket meant a lot to her. Along with the ring, it was her most prized possession.

"What? You mean 'this' locked?" The said locket had come out of Raven's pocket and now rested in her hand.

"How did you-"

"I had to beat him up for it—but I got it. Fell out of his pocket." She returned the locket to its rightful owner, fastening the locket herself.

There was a pause.

"I missed you." Starfire broke the silence.

"I missed you too."

They sat there, staring all lovey-dovey at each other. It didn't last much longer until Robin walked in.

"Jump off the love boat you guys. I'm getting seasick." He joked.

"Morning." Raven took the joke quite easily.

"Yes. Good morning, Robin."

"How you feeling Starfire?" He scratched the cast around his arm.

"Splendid. And just a tad hungry."

"I'll go get you something to eat." Raven volunteered.

"I have to run some tests on her first." Cyborg walked in. "Don't worry, they wont take long." Seeing the look on their faces.

He was right. The tests didn't take long. Took about ten minutes, tops. "The only problems I see are dehydration and hunger. But those can be fixed easily."

"Are you sure?" Raven asked.

"Yeah. Slade had her for only two, two-and-a-half days tops. Doubt he had time to do any permanent damage."

"Positive?"

"Yes."

"Not negative?"

"YES. The results say she's fine. Physically and mentally."

No way Cyborg would lie. "Good. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get Starfire something to eat."

"Eat? Wait, I'll go make breakfast!" Beastboy, who apparently just entered the room, ran back out.

"No way, grass stain! I'm makin' breakfast cause I ain't eating no tofu!" It was a race to the kitchen.

"They never change." Robin shook his head.

"Nope." Raven put her attention back on Starfire. "Think you can walk?"

"Of course."

Not of course. Being extremely hungry and dehydrated, Starfire couldn't find the strength to walk. She immediately lost her balance as soon as her feet touched the floor. "Don't worry; I'm just a little tired."

With the support of Robin and Raven on either side of her, the alien girl was able to walk. They took it slow and took their time making their way to the kitchen.

There was something less than a buffet sitting on the table—and Cyborg and Beastboy were still cooking. Like they were racing.

When it seemed that there was absolutely nothing left to cook, everybody dug in. Raven wanted to make sure Starfire regained as much strength as possible. So, she piled everything she could onto her loved one's plate.

"Please, Raven. I am getting full. I assure you that I have consumed each of the four food groups." Starfire was filled to the brim six plates later.

"Oh right. Sorry. I'm just a little concerned."

Cyborg leaned over, "Try A LOT."

The rest of the day was spent helping Starfire recuperate. The girl seemed okay. But if one looked closely, you could see fear in her eyes. Being kidnapped—an experience no one wants to go through. Though he was happy to be reunited with her friends again, she couldn't help but jump at any sudden noise.

And never letting Raven out of her grasp. Raven didn't mind, of course. She wasn't about to let Starfire out of her sight either.

Though right now was an exception. The circulation to Raven's arm was close to none, if not cut off completely already. All the Titan were trying to coax Starfire outside to get some fresh air after being cooped up indoors for so long, but for some reason she didn't want to leave the safety of the Tower.

"Starfire, it's all right. We're just going to get some fresh air." Raven couldn't feel her wrist anymore.

"But I do not wish to go outside. It is dangerous."

"We're all going and we're not going to leave you. Especially me—seeing that you got a death grip on my arm."

"Okay. Just don't leave my side."

"Promise. Now—can you lighten your grip a bit?"

"Oh! Yes. I apologize." Starfire lightened her grip a smidge. Didn't help much.

The sun blinded her eyes. Being locked in a windowless room for two days can do that to you. It didn't take long to adjust.

Seeing all the beautiful scenery. The waves lapping onto the shore, the water—crystal clear and a deep blue color, the sounds of the occasional seagull. It makes you realize how much you appreciate life. As the say: you never know how much you love something, until you lose it.

And she wasn't about to take ANYTHING for granted. No thing nor person. She found a new appreciation for life and how much the little things mattered. Even something as little as-

"Starfire, look." Raven pointed west out onto the horizon.

-A sunset.

One of the most beautiful, natural splendors of the world—if you go to the right spot. They're just like a rose: you don't know how beautiful they really are until you stop to smell them. They're beauty is only appreciated by those who take their time to observe the world around them.

And that's what the Titans did. They stopped what they were doing, forgot about their troubles momentarily, and watched the sunset before them.

Another chapter done. Hope you liked it.

If you noticed, there's a lot of things in this story that you have no idea why they're there and that they haven't been explained. Those things are from my other story that I wrote before this one. I'm going to rewrite it because I wasn't so proud of it. So just wait for that one and all will be explained.

Okay. I'm off to type another chapter. Please review this one.