Chapter 14: Fear of the Truth

Starfire manages to do well against the Gordanians firing at her, avoiding blasts and making her hits.

Despite his own powers being inaccessible, Val-Yor manages to avoid enemy fire and make a shot. This ends when one Gordanian manages to make their shot, hitting him on the back. This knocks him down.

Starfire sees this and flies down. She extends a hand, but Val-Yor knocks it away.

"Don't touch me!" He snaps.

"Why do you persist in your attitude towards me?!" She snaps in response.

"It's your fault Vernathia's turned on me!"

"That was because of you calling me the awful word despite saving your life and world from the Locrix!" She says. "Is your dislike of me so strong that you'd rather accept guaranteed destruction?"

Val-Yor looks away before, begrudgingly, taking her hand.

Once Starfire picks him up, she resumes her fight, worrying for her beloved dealing with her sister.

Blackfire uppercuts Danny. She's been assaulting him with punches after he rejected her advances. Danny finds Starfire's stalking him preferable since she doesn't intentionally hurt him.

He struggles to get up.

"That all you got?" He asks weakly.

Blackfire gives Danny a wicked smirk before she tackles into him. Danny ends up hitting the wall, Blackfire putting her right hand on his neck to keep him from getting away.

"You have amazing potential, lover." She says before kissing him again. Danny makes a muffled shout to express how he doesn't want her mouth on his. Blackfire slides her mouth of his, still giving her smile. "But sadly, I don't have time to play for long. So, let's make this quick."

Blackfire picks him up by the collar and throws him away, Danny slides on the floor. Struggling to get up, Danny looks to where the docking bay is, where Starfire is.

"Starfire…" He says, sounding out of breath.

He attempts to crawl away, but he's grabbed by the foot and pulled away. Blackfire, who pulled him, walks around and kneels down.

"My sister isn't as impressive as me." Blackfire grabs his arm, squeezing it to make him grunt in pain. "See? I can make things more interesting. I'm more handsy." Danny only glares at her. "But before I break you some more, I guess we should see how she's doing."

She takes him by the collar and drags him as she speeds towards the docking bay.

There, despite the greater numbers, Starfire and Val-Yor manage to shoot down their opponents. Blackfire gives a scowl.

"Guess your sister is tougher than you give her credit for…" Danny snarks.

Blackfire growls at him before a smile reaches her face.

"Let's test that, shall we?" Blackfire aims her arm at Starfire. "Hey! Sister!"

Starfire turns, but before she completes, she is hit in the side by Blackfire's purple starbolt. This blast distracts her, allowing the Gordanians blasts to hit her. Each blow is a blast of electricity that shocks her, and it causes her to fall on the floor.

Danny, despite having a black eye from one of Blackfire's punches, stares as Starfire falls.

Val-Yor, despite his bigotry, glares disgustedly at Blackfire for assaulting her own sister.

Blackfire lets go of Danny, walking a few feet away before turning around and showing Starfire, unconscious on the floor, as the Gordanians come and grab her by the arms, lifting her up.

"See?" She says smugly. "Told you."

Slowly, Danny glares at Blackfire. His fists clenched and his teeth gritting, he gets up. His eyes glow.

The device on his arm starts sparking.

Blackfire laughs mockingly.

"Are you forgetting that thing dampens your powers? Do you think you can somehow overpower it? Even I can't do that."

Danny ignores her. Suddenly, his body starts to glow a brighter white that it usually does. The arm dampener starts sparking louder and brighter than usual. Blackfire starts to look rather worried.

"That's not supposed to happen!" One Gordanian shouts.

"What?!" Blackfire shouts as he looks back at him.

"You never told us what he is! We don't know how powerful he could be!"

Blackfire looks back at Danny.

"I'm only going to ask this once." Danny says, in a tone that suggests he's ready to take everyone down here and now. "Put Starfire down and let us go." Blackfire only shakes her head with her cocky smile. "Have it your way."

"Fine by me!" Blackfire shouts. She then grabs Danny the collar again and throws him to the floor behind her. She then lands on top of him, holding him down with her left arm while her right grabs the top of his head. "Just remember, you said I could have it my way!"

Danny struggles to as Blackfire pulls his head closer to hers. She then opens her mouth wide and seals it in a kiss that fills Danny's. Struggling to get out, Danny is unable to shake her mouth off of his. The anger at Blackfire and desire to make her pay for hurting Starfire coursing through him, it causes a spike in his energy, one so powerful that the sparking on the arm dampener stops.

Suddenly, smoke comes from the gadget. It suddenly falls off him in two pieces.

With that, Danny fires from both his hands, getting Blackfire off him and managing to hurt her in the process.

Danny gets on his feet, kneeling in Blackfire's direction.

"Do NOT kiss me ever again!" Danny shouts.

"Ooh…" Blackfire says. "I think you need a reminder who is in charge. Fire!"

The Gordanians aim their blasters at Danny and they fire. In response, Danny creates an energy shield, blocking the oncoming fire.

Annoyed by this, Blackfire charges at Danny. Thinking quick, Danny goes intangible. This causes her to go right through Danny and fly into the Gordanians. This knocks all of them on the floor.

Danny sees Starfire on the floor and Val-Yor closest to her.

"Val-Yor! Get her to safety!"

"I'm not touching her!" Danny glares with his eyes glowing. Val-Yor looks to Starfire, looking a bit hesitant to anger Danny anymore. "But… I can see the need to keep her safe."

Reluctantly, Val-Yor takes Starfire from under her arms and carries her out of the way.

Danny readies himself as some of the Gordanians get up.

"If I remember, lizards don't like the cold!" Since Starfire is unconscious, he doesn't have to worry about using his real powers. So, Danny fires a wave icy energy, freezing many of the Gordanians in their place. Danny notices Blackfire is absent. "Now… where's wicked sister?"

"Right here!" Danny looks up, seeing Blackfire in the air. "Let's see how tough you are now that you aren't being forced to hold back."

Danny floats up and readies himself.

The two throw punches that collide with each other. They then grab hold of each other's hands, trying to push the other back. Danny glares with his teeth clench, Blackfire just has a lustful grin on her face. Not wanting to see her smile any longer, Danny smirks and goes intangible. This causes Blackfire to fall forward as Danny goes behind her and kicks her into the floor. Blackfire pushes herself up and glares at him.

"What's wrong?" It's Danny's turn to give a smug smile. "I thought you liked to play rough?"

In response, Blackfire shoots blasts from her eyes that manage to hit Danny, sending him into the ceiling. Blackfire charges at him, but Danny's immediate response is to go through the ceiling with intangibility. Blackfire crashes into it, looking around furiously.

"Where are you?!" She shouts furiously.

Suddenly, Danny grabs her by the leg and throws her into the floor. She lands facedown, causing her to growl with her eyes aglow. Danny lands on the floor.

"Last chance, leave me and Starfire alone and let us go." Danny says. He hears Blackfire chuckling. "What's so funny?"

"Well…" She gets up. "For one, this proves beyond any doubt you'd make a worthy mate for me, but you clearly prefer my sister, who doesn't even know you're not Tamaranian." Danny's glare starts to falter. "Granted, I have no idea what you are. Still, I bet I'm more accepting than she could be." She gets up and walks to him. "How do you think she'd react? How long have you known each other? How long has she liked you? Do you think she'd think you've been lying to her?" She's now standing in front of his, her hands on her hips. "Do you think it'd just break her little heart?" Danny looks away. "I wonder, do you think she'd reject you? Do you think this would break her heart so badly to realize she was wrong that she'd be upset forever over it?" Blackfire says with a wicked smirk.

Danny just froze and kept to his thoughts.

She's… right. How would Starfire react? Would she be accepting or would she think I've been lying to her. I still haven't even tried to tell her the truth… how would she react to it?

He feels Blackfire's hand on his cheek and she makes him look at her again.

"Join me. I won't reject you. Join me and nothing can stop us."

Val-Yor had brought Starfire around the corner, barely seeing what's been going on as they've been hiding behind some ships. It's only now, once he takes a moment to breathe, does he see something. It's his ship, hiding behind a few Gordanian scouts.

"My ship!" He says. He tries to get up, but the pain from his back returns. "Perfect, now I gotta play babysitter for the princess of troqs while her little boyfriend fights and I can't."

As he groans his predicament, he fails to recognize Starfire waking up.

"What do you say, Phantom?" Blackfire says. "Join me?"

Danny pauses for a moment before his glare returns and he slaps Blackfire's hand away.

"No. Even if what you say is true, you're evil and a jerk."

Blackfire sighs. "I'm not angry… just disappointed. Well, okay, I am angry." She then lunges at Danny. In response, he grabs her hands and they once again start pushing at each other. Her smirk returns, only it's less playful and more sadistic. "I gave you choice, now I'll make you mine!"

"You will not!" Starfire's voice calls out.

The two look to the direction of the voice and in comes Starfire, who flies right into her evil older sister. The sudden rush causes them to collide with a wall, and Blackfire takes the full impact.

"Starfire!" Danny says happily.

Starfire hold her sister to the wall, her hand on her shoulder as she pushes her into it.

"You will not harm Phantom any longer!"

"You little fool…" Blackfire says weakly. "You're so lovesick that you can't see it. He's not-"

She fails to finish her sentence, as Starfire knocks her out with a punch to the face.

She lets go of her sister, letting Blackfire land facedown on the floor again.

Once that is done, Starfire looks at Danny. She walks to him as opposed to fly. Once she arrives, she hugs him.

Danny is taken aback, as it isn't her usual bone-crushing hugs. Whether it's because she's tired or realizes he must be in pain, he doesn't know. Granted, his healing has made most of his wounds, including his blackened eye, healed by now.

"I am… happy you are unharmed." She says softly.

"I'm glad you're okay too, Starbolts." He says.

"Starbolts?" Starfire asks as she looks up at him.

"W-well…" Danny rubs the back of his head. He briefly glances at Starfire before looking away, a blush forms on his face. "You're always calling me stuff like darling, so I figured a nickname would be a good idea. I just remembered the starbolts so… Starbolts."

Starfire smiles. "I am liking the Starbolts nickname."

Once she lets go, Danny and Starfire look at each other, smiling.

"So… now that I've found you…" Danny reaches back for the Infi-Map, only to realize he can't feel it. "Uh oh…"

"What is it?" She asks, her smile replaced with worry.

"I used something to get out here to find you. I think the space geckos took it!"

"I might have an idea where it might be." Val-Yor, despite his pain, comes walking in and says.

"First off, let's take these losers someplace where they can't fight back." Danny says.

"Perhaps we can place them in the cells we were in." Starfire says.

"Good thinking." Danny commends her.

"Before that." Val-Yor interrupts. "I need a word with you, Snowy." He says to Danny.

With an eyebrow raised, Danny nods. Val-Yor walks off, Danny following. Starfire remains behind as she lifts her sister over her shoulder. Once they pass behind a ship, Val-Yor stops.

"What do you want?" Danny asks.

"I'll make you deal." Val-Yor stage whispers at him. "I won't tell her you're not a Tamaranian if you get this thing off my arm. I saw you go through her sister, so I figure you could make this thing do the same."

Danny glares at him at first, but sighs. "Fine, but at least help us get these creeps to the cells."

Once it was all done, Danny and Starfire take her evil sister and the unconscious Gordanians into the cells they were trapped in. Val-Yor turns on the energy bars to keep them inside. True to his word, at least, Val-Yor doesn't say a word to Starfire.

"Now, to find my map."

"Map?" Starfire asks.

"It's how I got here." Danny answers.

"How did a map get you out here?" Val-Yor questions.

"Long story." Danny says. "Shouldn't you be leaving now?"

Val-Yor takes a hint. He's not fond of Danny either.

"Fine."

"But where will we locate your map?" Starfire asks Danny.

"Might be in that weapon's vault we found."

Once Danny pointed to where the vault was, Starfire went to look for the map.

Danny notices Val-Yor heading to the docking bay and decides to follow him.

Once the reach the corner leading to the bay, Val-Yor turns around.

"Shouldn't you be with your troq girlfriend?" He asks.

"Shouldn't you be getting your teeth knocked out?" Danny asks back.

Val-Yor turns around and walks up to Danny. He smiles.

"Why don't we bury the hatchet?" Val-Yor gives Danny a hand. "Put 'er there." Danny only gives Val-Yor a dirty look. "I admit, your girlfriend is one of the good Tamaranians."

"That doesn't exactly sound like a compliment." Danny point out.

Val-Yor just shrugs. Just to make the situation go faster, Danny reaches out.

PUNCH!

Val-Yor punches Danny in the stomach, causing the ghost boy to fall on his knees.

"Sorry…. My hand slipped." Val-Yor claims. He looks down at Danny with a condescending smile. "Been wanting to do that since you did it to me. Your little Starfire caused me nothing but trouble on my homeworld. Apparently, some ridiculous movement is making it wrong for me or anyone else to treat troqs as they should be. Despite that I'm a war hero, they're giving me trouble because of her." He then kneels down to keep looking at the injured boy. "I gave you a fist at full strength, just to show you how I feel about troqs and their sympathizers. This is where you and her belong, with the di-"

Without warning, a white first flies up into Val-Yor's face. It sends the silver man into the ceiling, causing an indent. Once he lands, he cups his chin before putting his hand where the ceiling hit him. Looking up, with a snarling look, he sees Danny standing up as though he was never harmed, with his first up.

"Oops…" Danny says. "Sorry, didn't hold back at much as I thought I did."

Angry, Val-Yor got up and glared at him before he smiles.

"Blackfire has a point you know. Starfire doesn't know what you really are. Do you really think she won't be upset about you hiding what you are from her?"

Danny's glare intensifies. Val-Yor only scoffs as he turns around and heads to his ship.

"Troq lover!"

Danny's fist clenches as he decides to go give the bigot another punch.

"Phantom?!"

Danny looks behind. Realizing Starfire is coming, Danny wanted to do something without her noticing. Remembering he has his full powers, Danny creates a duplicate. Nodding the duplicate flies to Val-Yor's ship. Danny then looks back and speaks up.

"I'm here, Starfire!" She flies in, Danny notices he has the Infi-Map in her hand. "You found it!"

"I had hoped so!" Starfire responds. "Has Val-Yor left?"

Danny gestured to where the aforementioned man went. "Already heading to his ship."

"Perhaps…" She walks past him. "I shall give him my own mind piece!" She says with an annoyed tone.

Realizing she will see another Phantom there, Danny grabs her arm and pulls her back.

"Whoa! Wait!"

"Please do not stop me! I wish to express that I do not wish him any true harm so that you will stop hurting him."

Danny's jaw drops.

"Wait… you knew I was hitting him?"

"Not at first, but I saw the animosity growing." Starfire rubs her arm with the hand not holding the map. "I am the most grateful you choose to defend me, but Val-Yor will not change no matter what you say or do. It is those who do not judge others for what they are that truly matter to me." Danny's look softens, though he notices his duplicate is coming in around the corner, who freezes at the sight of Starfire. "So, I will speak to him and inform him you will no longer cause him pain."

She is about to turn around when Danny speaks up.

"Starfire!" She stops and looks to him. Thinking quickly, he speaks. "I… didn't just do it for you. I did because… well, that's still wrong." Danny looks serious to her. "He needs to know, even if his words mean nothing to you, that doesn't mean it's okay for him or anyone else to say stuff like that." Danny lets go of her. "If you do, it'll just encourage guys like that to say and do stuff even worse. He needs to see the consequences of his actions and that the universe is growing past the narrow minded ways he's so neck-deep in. And besides… your feelings matter to me."

Danny wasn't sure why he said that, but he had to.

Starfire just looks at him. Not sure at first what to say.

"Thank you…" She manages to say. She gives a wide, very loving smile. "I don't think there is any Tamaranian like you."

That got to him. He didn't want to admit it, but Blackfire and Val-Yor were right to point out how much Starfire thinks he's a Tamaranian, so if she learned he wasn't, her heart might break.

What do I do now?

He looks away, feeling a bit hurt by his actions.

"Are you the okay?" She asks.

"Starfire…" Danny says. "There's something I should t-"

Val-Yor's rockets go off.

"Oh, he is leaving!" Starfire says as she starts to turn around. Danny knew one thing that could distract her. "I should perhaps-"

He pulls her back to face him.

He kisses her.

She is surprised at first, but accepts it, putting her arms around his neck to pull him in. Danny puts her hands on her shoulder as he waits for the duplicate to make his move.

The duplicate Danny flies into the original, making the two one again.

He was about to end the kiss when Danny looks to Starfire's face. Despite her eyes closed, he could tell she was happy.

Several thoughts went through his head right there in that one second. He should stop, she should tell her what he is, he should just take her home.

He closes his eyes and deepens the kiss.

He was afraid of the truth.

He was afraid of her learning he's not like her. She'd either be so furious as to go on a near unstoppable rage, or her heart would be in pieces, all thanks to the ghostly energies of his body.

But there was another truth he feared, one he didn't want to accept.

That he has indeed grown fond of her.

He has lost almost all fear of her presence. Her constant hugs and kisses can get discomforting, but he disliked people who harm and disrespected her. He was happy to see her alive and well. Not to mention, he has willingly kissed her already.

During the kiss deepening, Danny's hands go from her shoulders to Starfire's back, pulling her in. Starfire's head tilts to her right, making the kiss complete.

Once they part, they smile in each other's faces. They're both blushing.

"Phantom…"

"Kory…"

"You remember?" Starfire asks.

"Well, yeah. I just wasn't sure when was a good time to call you buy your real name." Danny says.

Starfire smiles again and cups Danny's check with her hand.

She looks at the map. "So how will a parchment meant to inform our location aid us?"

"Huh?" Danny says, too lost in her eyes to pay attention. He then realizes what she said. "Oh…" Danny shows her the Infi-Map. "First, I need you to hold on to me." He takes his other hand out. Starfire holds it. "Take us to Titans' Tower!"

The map glows green and suddenly, without warning, it pulls the two at near lightspeed.

As they are forced through space, Starfire, who is in disbelief in what's happening, holds Danny's hand tighter. In response, he pulls her in and wraps his arm around her. This calms her down.

Within 10 seconds, the two arrive atop Titans' Tower. Landing on the rooftop, Danny and Starfire look to each other and smile. Realizing his arm is around her waist, Danny let's go, blushing and smiling as he scratches the back of his head. Smiling, Starfire kisses him on the cheek. Danny doesn't react with surprise, instead his blush gets brighter and he now looks at her. As they look to each other, Starfire gasps.

"I have now realized, you have not met my friends!" Starfire said. "You must meet them."

Danny's smile drops.

"Wait…" Starfire starts to head to the door that leads downstairs, when Danny grabs her arm. "Wait! Don't!"

"Why not?" She asks.

Danny looks away, feeling upset, before letting go and speaking to her.

"I… can't stay."

"Perhaps, another time?" She asks.

"No." Danny says. "I… I can't come back."

"What?" Starfire asks, sounding saddened.

"I can't keep coming to see you… even though I want to."

Danny didn't want to, but he knew him coming back was a bad idea.

"Why?" She asks, sounding hurt.

"Starfire…"

"Do you not like me?" She asks, sounding hurt.

Danny sighs.

"I do like you. A lot more than I thought I would. " She smiles. "But where I come from, I can't keep coming here." He looks away. "I wish I could tell you more… but I don't know if I can."

Starfire raises her arm and reaches out to Danny.

"Phantom?"

"Starfire?!"

A boy's voice calls out from the door.

As Starfire looks back, Danny takes this moment to turn invisible and fly away from her. Once she looks to him again, Starfire gasps at his disappearance. She looks around and Danny can see worry on her face.

"Phantom?"

He sees a boy roughly his age come out of the doorway. He wears a domino mask and a red and green outfit.

"Starfire!" He shouts as he runs to her.

Starfire looks to him and smiles.

"Robin!"

The two hug.

Danny felt a twinge, seeing her hug another boy, but he knew he can't say or do anything even if he wanted to.

Three more arrive. A large African-American cyborg, a green kid with pointy ears, and a goth girl in a leotard with pale skin. They all look happy to see Starfire. Danny realizes these are the friends she loves to bring up.

"Cyborg! Raven! Beast Boy!"

Danny almost snorted that someone who is a cyborg is called Cyborg.

"Dude! Where have you been?" The green kid Danny assumed was Beast Boy asked.

"Yeah, Star. You've been gone for like 5 hours." Cyborg said.

"It is the long story!" Starfire said with a smile. Despite Danny's disappearance, she was happy to see her friends.

As the rest talk, the girl named Raven looks up. She's looking up with a scowl in Danny's direction. He now notices this and panics.

Can she see me?

He doesn't want to think about it as he flies away as fast as he can.

Raven still looks at him, curious as to who or what he was.

"Raven!" Beast Boy shouts, catching her attention. "We're going to celebrate Starfire coming back! You coming?"

Raven looks to where the odd entity that looked like a teenage boy went to. Whatever it was, she could sense it wasn't a threat, so she shrugged.

"Sure, why not?"

Once he returned home, Danny only had 2 hours to finish his homework. He managed to do it fast before bed.

As he laid in bed, all he could think of was how he shouldn't go back. He knew he shouldn't see her anymore. They literally come from two different worlds. He figured if they never saw each other again, she might one day get over him. He'd never have to reveal he's not an alien like her, but a human from another universe who has ectoplasmic energy in his body that gave him ghostly superpowers. He didn't want to, but he remembered Blackfire's words.

"How do you think she'd react? How long have you known each other? How long has she liked you? Do you think she'd think you've been lying to her? Do you think it'd just break her little heart? I wonder, do you think she'd reject you? Do you think this would break her heart so badly to realize she was wrong that she'd be upset forever over it?"

As much as he doesn't like her, he knew she was right.

As for Val-Yor.

"Blackfire has a point you know. Starfire doesn't know what you really are. Do you really think she won't be upset about you hiding what you are from her?"

Danny sighed and turned around, trying to get some sleep.

Fortunately, he managed to get his mind off his issues with remembering how his duplicate dealt with Val-Yor. It brought a smile to his face.

"At least I gave him a piece of my mind."

In his ship, Val-Yor flies his ship in space, with a black eye, a swollen cheek, and a scowl from how even with his powers restored and a copy with only half his full power, Danny was still stronger than him.

"Troq lover." He says bitterly.

It's not something from the show, but the Shadow Clones of Naruto will give the original ninja the memories of something they experienced once they disappear, so I figured that might be a thing for Danny's duplicates.

As for Vernathia turning on Val-Yor, since we don't know what his race is like, I feel it's easier to assume not all of his race think lowly of Tamaranians. (You'll notice the spelling is getting inconsistent right now, that's because I keep finding it spelled either Tamaranian or Tamaranean)

Plus, we don't really know if he was a great hero. For all we knew, he was just that jerk they put up with because he's too useful.

Anyway, Danny is going to try and keep his distance from Starfire... because that's worked out before, right?