I turned the corner and headed down the hallway. Beast Boy, whimpering like a puppy, sprinted past me.

"Out of my way! I gotta pee!" he cried.

I walked over to the bathroom and knocked on the door. There was a quiet wince.

"This room of bathing is occupied! Please use a different one!" Starfire called.

"Starfire, it's me, Ciela." I said.

The door opened, and Starfire snagged my wrist and pulled me inside. She locked the door and turned to me, a green hat covering her forehead.

"Let me see it."

Starfire whimpered and slowly lifted the hat off. A large lump sprung out from her forehead.

"Ohhh, I fear it has gotten bigger!" Starfire said, poking at the lump.

"It's all right." I said, forcing down a gag as I grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand away from her face. "This is all a part of your growing up. You'll be fine after a couple of days."

"Then I am... normal?" A relieved smile filled Starfire's face, and she wrapped me in a bone-crushing hug. "Oh, how wonderful! Now I have no need to fret!"

There was another knock on the door. "Is everything all right in there?" Robin called from the other side.

Starfire gasped and stuffed the hat back onto her head.

"Um... sort of." I called. "That's not really dealing with it."

Starfire sighed.


Over the next couple of days, I watched Starfire continue to mutate. Tusks grew on her neck, her finger nails turned long, black and white, and I even watched her lap up a fly like a frog.

I leaned against her door. "Starfire, I told you that this is nothing to worry about."

"Then why is this worrying all that I feel?" Starfire said.

I sighed quietly. "Okay, I'll leave you be. See you later."

I stomped in place, pretending to walk down the hall, making my steps quieter to make it seem like I left. I stopped and leaned my ear against the door.

"I cannot have anyone see me this way." Starfire mumbled to herself. "They'll think me to be a horrible monster. What if they want to get rid of me? Oh... no one must see how hideous I have become."

My fingers tensed against the door as my heart deflated. How could Starfire think like that?

The sirens shrieked in the hallway, and the area flashed red. I gasped and scurried around the corner. A few moments later, Robin hurried up to Starfire's door.

"Starfire, trouble! We need to go!" Robin said.

"Please proceed! I will join you shortly!" Starfire said.

Robin jogged back down the hallway, and I emerged from the corner and walked to Starfire's door. I rested a hand on it for a moment before I hurried to the living room.


I jumped back, stumbling across the 10-yard line of the football field, and a large glob of purple goop splattered in front of me. A small drop hit the toe of my shoe.

"Hey, watch it! Do you know how much these cost?" I shouted at Plasmus, the giant, mutant ooze monster.

Robin pulled out his bo-staff and stabbed it into Plasmus's head. The bo-staff disappeared into the goop. Plasmus spat the bo-staff back out and grabbed Robin. He hurled him across the field, and he smacked into the goal post and fell to the ground.

Cyborg summoned his cannon ray and blasted a hole through Plasmus's head. It quickly reformed, and with a roar, he shot a column of goop that hit Cyborg. He landed a few feet away from Robin. He emerged from the goop and sneezed violently, shooting out purple goop from his nostrils. Plasmus laughed, which sounded like a raspy dinosaur.

While he laughed, Raven flew up behind Plasmus and used her magic to uproot sewage pipes from underneath the field and wrap them around Plasmus.

"Azarath, metrion-" Raven chanted, but Plasmus shoved goop into Raven's mouth to silence her, and he tossed her aside.

"All right, Cyborg, just like we rehearsed!" Beast Boy said as he ran towards him. He transformed into an armadillo and jumped into the air as he rolled up like a ball. Cyborg grabbed him, avoiding Plasmus's arms as he swung at him. He chucked Beast Boy before getting another face full of goop.

Beast Boy spiraled in the air. He turned into a rhino and dove towards Plasmus. Plasmus swiped his hand aside and knocked Beast Boy back and into the drinks table, dousing him in orange sports drink. He wiped the sports drink out of his face while his body was covered in goop.

I looked around at my friends, all covered with gunk. I took a deep breath and propped my sniper rifle into my arms.

Any moment now...

Plasmus vomited goop at me, and I jumped out of the way. A barrage of starbolts hit Plasmus, showering him in bright green energy. Plasmus shrieked as he melted into a pile of purple ooze and slipped down into the sewage below.

"All right!" Cyborg cried.

"Nice work, Star... fire." Robin said as everyone turned around.

Starfire stood behind us dressed in a long, yellow raincoat, matching yellow rain boots, a green hat, blue oven mittens, and a red scarf over her clothes.

"Interesting fashion choices." Raven said.

"Starfire, you've been acting kind of strange lately. Is everything okay?" Robin stepped towards Starfire, and she stepped back with a whimper.

The ground rumbled, and we turned as purple goo exploded from the ground like a volcano. The ooze formed together to recreate Plasmus. This time, several pockets of green sewage lined his forehead and shoulders.

"Ew." Cyborg said.

"I thought it was impossible for him to get any uglier." Raven said.

"He's just a monster. And, like every other monster, he's got to go." Robin said. I sucked in a breath and snuck a glance at Starfire. She burrowed her face deeper into the scarf.

The Titans attacked again. Plasmus squirted sewage from his pockets and aimed at Cyborg. Cyborg moved out of the way, and the sewage hit Starfire, who stood behind Cyborg, like a radioactive tsunami. The sewage knocked Starfire's covering accessories off her body, and she sat on the ground, her mutations exposed. She looked at her giant, hairy feet and gasped.

The violence ceased, and the Titans and Plasmus stared at Starfire. I could imagine what must've been going on in Starfire's head: laughter from everyone within the city as they gazed upon her transformation-in-process. Starfire buried her face in her hands.

"I am sorry you had to look at me!" Starfire said, hugging her arms. "I have... got to go!" She picked up her feet and took off into the sky.

"Starfire!" I called, but she had already disappeared into the stars.


I climbed into my pod of the T-Sub. The lid of glass closed over me, and I buckled in, slid on my headphones, and turned my microphone on.

"Are we sure this thing is ready to fly?" Raven said, glancing behind us at the giant rockets attached to the submarine.

"No! The T-Sub was built for deep sea, not deep space!" Cyborg said.

"I don't care. This is the only way we'll be able to go after Starfire." Robin said. He pressed a button, and the vehicle revved to life. "Main power, on!"

"Defensive systems, active." Raven said.

"Oxygen tanks at maximum." Beast Boy said.

"Fusion thrusters, ready to fire." Cyborg said.

"GPS, ready to tell you what to do." I said.

A hatch opened, and the T-Sub climbed out from underground and at the bottom of the rock that the Tower sat on.

"Titans, launch!"

The thrusters activated, blue fire spewing from the rockets. I sunk deeper into my seat as the T-Sub launched straight into the air, fast approaching the atmosphere.

"Told you she was ready to fly!" Cyborg said, his voice shaking from the bumpy ride. Raven mumbled under her breath.

We broke past the atmosphere and into space. The rockets broke off from the sub. Cyborg pressed a button, and the T-Sub's engines kicked to life and drove us deeper into the starry void.

"Where did Starfire go?" Robin said.

"Just keep driving. I'll let you know when we get there." I said. "We'll save a lot of time by not checking out every planet you guys originally go to. It'll save us a lot of close calls."

"Maybe you should tell a story to keep us entertained." Beast Boy said. "For example, what the heck is going on with Starfire?"

"Starfire is going through her own Transformation. It's a part of the Tamaranean life cycle, and its symptoms are different for everyone who goes through it." I said. I gripped the steering wheel. "Starfire thinks that you guys now see her as a monster, and that's why she left. She... wanted to relieve people from having to look at her 'hideousness'."

"That's crazy! Like we would ever want to get rid of Star!" Cyborg said.

"I tried to tell her that, but... she didn't listen to me." I absentmindedly watched the planets pass by. "She was too overwhelmed by her own negative thoughts to see herself through others' eyes."

My friends remained silent, but I knew they all thought the same thing: Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

I cleared my throat. "Starfire's in trouble. There's an alien that followed her to... that planet! Over there!" I squeezed my finger against the glass, pointing to the silver, black, and purple planet at came into view. Cyborg turned on the turbo engines, and I had to shout over the roar. "During the last phase of her Transformation, Starfire turns into a chrysalis, and the alien that followed her eats chrysalises."

"Gross. Aliens get weirder by the minute." Beast Boy said.

"Says the boy with green skin." Raven said, and Beast Boy glared at her.


As soon as the T-Sub landed, I jumped out of my pod and took off into a run.

"This way!" I called, leading the Titans through the blue forest.

A giant, purple, man-eating plant sprung up from the shrubbery and roared, gnashing its green saliva coated, razor-sharp teeth. I skidded to a stop and jumped back as it rammed its gaping mouth into the ground, filling its mouth with dirt. I pulled out my energy pistols and transformed them into my energy sword. As it lifted its head and spat out the dirt, I swung the sword through its thick stem. The blade cut through the stem like hot butter, and the plant shrieked as its head crashed to the ground. Its roots shriveled up.

Swallowing a deep breath, I pushed myself to continue running. We broke through the trees and into a crystal cave. Light purple and blue crystals jutted from the ceiling and ground.

As we ran, I heard Starfire scream, coming from the direction we were heading. Her scream was clear at first, then it quickly muffled out. We saw a giant, Cironielian Chrysalis Eater hovering over the chrysalis that Starfire was trapped inside.

"Take care of the alien. I'll help Starfire." I said.

Robin pulled out a disc and threw it at the alien. It hit her arm and exploded, diverting her attention from Starfire. She swung her claws at Robin, and he leaped away from them.

I ran towards Starfire's chrysalis. Above me, I heard a roar. I looked up and stumbled to a stop as the Cironielian landed on top of Starfire's chrysalis, her legs covering it like a cage.

"Your friend belongs to me, now! You can have her back once I've finished digesting her!" the Cironielian hissed.

The Titans tried to lead the alien away from the chrysalis, but she remained planted on top of it. She flailed around, swinging her claws at the Titans to keep them away. Beast Boy lunged at the Cironielian, but she leaned back and grabbed him by the leg. Unhinging her jaw, she tried to take a bite out of Beast Boy, but he transformed into a turtle. Cyborg shot a ray at the alien, and she stumbled away from the chrysalis.

"Starfire, are you all right?" I said, kneeling next to the chrysalis.

"Ciela? Is that you?" Starfire's muffled voice called from inside the chrysalis.

"Ciela, look out!" I turned and gasped as the Cironielian lunged at me. Raven's astral magic encased me and Starfire's chrysalis, and she launched us a few feet away. The Cironielian struck her teeth into the ground. Cyborg picked up a boulder and hurled it at the back of the alien's head, catching her attention.

"I'll get you out of here, Starfire." I said. I turned my sword upside-down and stuck the tip of it into the top of the chrysalis. I carved a crack into the top and used my hands to try and pry the shell apart.

"No, please! You will not wish to see me this way. I am... most hideous." Starfire said. "I do not understand why you came to save me."

"We're your friends, Starfire. Why would we ever want to abandon you?" I said. I grunted and pried the chrysalis apart to see her face. "No matter what you may look like, we'll always be there for you. Besides," I grabbed a nearby crystal and held it up to her face so she could see her reflection- her normal, not-mutated, reflection, "you don't look hideous to me."

Starfire gasped and grabbed the crystal. She flew out of the chrysalis and stared at her reflection.

"I am normal!" she cried. A starbolt shot out of her eyes and ricocheted off the crystal and into the ceiling, cracking off small chunks. "Mostly..."

Robin and Beast Boy flew into the wall. Cyborg and Raven were trapped within the Cironielian's claws.

"Since you have stolen my meal, I shall devour you instead!" the alien hissed.

"Unhand my friends!" Starfire cried, shooting an eyebolt at the Cironielian. She dropped Cyborg and Raven and stumbled back. Starfire ambushed the alien with a rain of starbolts and eyebolts, her final eyebolt launching the alien out of the crystal cave, where it would be eaten by one of the man-eating plants.

"Whoa. Since when can your eyes do that?" Beast Boy said.

"Since just now?" Starfire said. She smiled. "Thank you all for coming to my rescue."


We climbed back into the T-Sub and reentered space, leaving the crazy, carnivorous planet.

"Ciela?" Starfire said through the headphones. "I hope you can forgive me for my behavior. I was naive and I believed that our friends would reject me because of my appearance."

I glanced at the dashboard. Starfire had turned off everyone else's headphones, and only ours had the symbols lit.

"Of course, Starfire. I know you were going through a lot. I understand how you feel." I said. "If you ever need to talk, know that me and our friends will always be here for you."

"Thank you, Ciela. I reciprocate those words to you, as well."

I smiled. "Thanks."


"Good morning, Ciela." my mom said as I hurried downstairs. "You're not here to try and negotiate with me again, are you?"

"No. I'm ready." I said, slinging my backpack over my shoulders. No more hiding.