Chapter 2

The sun was beginning to set over Jump City; it's orange tones dancing across the waters that surrounded a huge T on an island just off the city.

A large black bat splashed against the main screen in Titans Tower, pulsing in time with the blaring of the Titan alarm.

"It's a secure line," Cyborg commented looking at Robin, awaiting conformation.

Robin gave a swift nod and came to stand in the front of the group. In the years that the Titans had been together, Batman had only ever contacted them once and the last time was not a time that Robin liked to remember. He clenched his fists by his side, hoping that this would be good news at least.

"Batman," he said in greeting as his father appeared on the screen before them.

"Robin," Batman said, returning the greeting before looking at each member and nodding his head. "Titans."

Robin could almost feel Starfire's excitement, it was so palpable. He half expected her to greet Batman enthusiastically and dash off to prepare the Tamaranian dish of greeting, but a quick glance at her out of the corner of his eye proved otherwise. She had a very determined expression on her face as she hovered to his right and slightly behind.

Beast Boy was not so serious. "Dude!" he exclaimed loudly. "This is twice you've called us! Do you need our help? Can we get our own bat symbol now? Think I can get a moped, a black one?

Batman raised an eyebrow at the gabbling green changeling. Cyborg clamped a hand over Beast Boy's mouth, grinning sheepishly and dragged him away from the screen.

Robin rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. "Sorry, about that. What can we do for you?"

"I'm giving you a heads up."

Robin froze. "About what?"

"A few nights ago, we had a major breakout at Arkham Asylum. Someone took out a few guards and busted a bunch of criminals out."

"Do you need help rounding them up?"

"No. Fortunately, I was bringing in a criminal on the night in question. Managed to catch a bunch of them before they got very far. There is a few still out there, but they won't be for long. However, there are two of them that have skipped town and I believe they'll be coming for you."

Robin clenched his hands into fists. "Which two?"

Batman's eyes shifted to Starfire. "Allgera and The WeatherMan."

Robin felt the Titans closing ranks around Starfire. A surge of unbidden anger swept through Robin like fire and he clenched his teeth together. How dare the WeatherMan think he was going to get Starfire! There was no way in hell he was going to allow the WeatherMan to snatch her away again. The fury was overwhelming and with each pound of his heart, it grew stronger. Her cold hand slipped into his and he squeezed it. He must remain strong for her.

"He's not getting his greasy paws on her this time," Cyborg exclaimed, menacingly.

"That's right!" Beast Boy added.

"Do you have any idea on their location at present?" Raven asked, the only hint of her emotions was her glowing eyes.

"No, but Allgera isn't to hard to track. She claims she's the mortal daughter of a fire demon, but I believe she's simply pyrokenetic, which means her heat signature is traceable."

"She's a what?" Beast Boy asked, scratching his head in confusion.

"She's a fire starter," Raven explained before addressing Batman in a more respectful tone. "Did she happen to mention which fire demon?"

Batman looked at her with mild interest. "Chath."

Raven snorted in laughter.

"The name means something to you?"

"Chath is a lower caste fire demon, one who happens to be in the service of Trigon," she explained evenly. "Allgera cannot possibly be his offspring."

"Why not?" Beast Boy asked.

"Trigon doesn't like anyone besides himself to have children. Chath has been neutered."

Comprehension dawned on Beast Boy's face and he paled before clutching at himself. Raven snickered behind her hand.

Batman cleared his throat, drawing the attention back onto him. "Cyborg, I'm sending you through a blueprint for a neutralizer. Build it with the best materials you can and snap it around Allgera's neck once she's contained."

"Thank you, Batman," Robin said evenly, taking control of the conversation. "We'll take care of them and ship them back to you."

"In one piece I hope, good luck," Batman said before signing off.

"I'll set up a city wide sweep of unusual temperature fluctuations and irregular weather phenomena," Cyborg said. Robin turned his head and nodded in agreement, catching Cyborg placing a hand on Starfire's shoulder and giving her a light squeeze before heading for the computer.

"I'll hunt for abnormal psyche, if Allgera is in Jump City, I'll locate her."

"Good," Robin said sharply. "Lock the tower up tight. Let me know if you find anything. We'll be in my room." Gripping Starfire's hand tightly he stalked out of the common room, dragging her behind him. She followed compliantly until they reached the sanctuary of his room.

Robin stormed into his room and released Starfire's hand. He marched to his desk and snatched up a book before throwing it clear across the room. It hit the far wall with a dull thunk before dropping to the floor. It did little to calm his rage. He rammed his hands down on to the desk and clenched his teeth, trying to control his anger. It didn't work; he was loosing himself in a red haze. He dug his fingers in, tried to breathe evenly, but an image of a cold and gray Starfire on the floor replayed in his mind over and over. With a roar, he upended the desk, scattering reports and notes all over the room. He looked at the carnage he had caused, fighting the urge to demolish the desk.

A soft arm encircled his chest from behind, a hand stroked his hair and a chin rested on his shoulder whispering words in his ear. The words didn't matter; it was the tone and the voice behind it that soothed. Inch by inch he pulled himself back from the fury.

He placed a hand over hers around his chest and reached back with his other hand, placing it behind her neck, leaning in to her embrace. He tilted his head back and rested it against her shoulder. She turned her lips from his ear and kissed him lightly on the neck.

"Robin, are you all right?"

His breath escaped from him in a rush. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have reacted like that."

"It is understandable. He hurt your heart very much."

"My heart?" Robin tried to pull away, but Starfire held on to him tightly. He lifted his head off her shoulder and twisted it to look at her. "Star, he almost killed you!"

"Am I not in your heart?" she whispered, her breath warming his neck.

"Of course you are."

"Then when he hurt me, he hurt your heart as well."

Robin was stunned into silence. "I guess so. But Starfire, aren't you worried-"

She placed a finger to his lips, silencing him. "The WeatherMan does not frighten me, Robin. He did not then and he does not now. Last time he took us all by surprise, but this time will be different. I am too full of the concern for you to be worried about him." She said it so placidly that Robin felt somewhat deflated.

"Full of concern…" He swiveled in her arms to face her. "You're not to go anywhere alone, not even to your room. In fact, I don't want you out of my sight until those two are back behind bars."

"I am quite capable of defending myself." She drew away from him, but he grabbed her by the waist and hung on.

"It's not a matter of being able to defend yourself, Star. I know you can do that. It's for my own piece of mind. I will go insane if anything happens to you again and I'm wasn't there to prevent it. I am not going to lose you again."

She considered him, staring at him for so long that Robin began to sweat. Finally she nodded, reached up and removed his mask so she could look into his eyes. "It will be all right d'anthe l'ani. You will see."

Robin tilted his head. "D'anthe l'ani?"

"In your language it means, keeper of my heart."

Robin smiled at her. "I like the sound of that."

TTTTT

Beast Boy slouched on the sofa. "What am I supposed to do?" he whined quietly to himself. Cyborg was commandeering the computer to run his scan, so he couldn't play games and Raven was meditating and needed quiet, so listening to music was out.

"I'd suggest making dinner," Cyborg replied, overhearing. "But then you'd just serve up that tofu junk."

"Tofu is not junk. It's a damn sight tastier than the stuff you call meat. Besides it's not like Robin's gonna let us order pizza tonight, since we're already locked in."

"I've done a sweep of the city, nothing screaming out at me as being them. Robin may let one us go for pizza once he's calmed down." Cyborg pushed away from the computer. "I've set it up to continually scan and feed the results into my arm. We'll know the instant something changes."

"I'm not detecting a pyrokenetic psyche, or demon spawn other than myself currently in the city, not that she is one." Raven floated over to the sofa. "I'll scan every few hours. She's not getting into our city without me knowing about it."

Beast Boy sat up straight as a thought struck him. "What if he's got that shield thingy he put around Starfire?"

"They'd want to stay mobile," Cyborg said, uninterested. "Hard thing to lug about."

"Actually Beast Boy has a valid point for a change. They might have a portable one," Raven remarked, looking at Beast Boy in veiled surprise.

"Something like that would consume a considerable amount of power," Cyborg said, looking at his arm. "I'm not detecting anything that would come close."

"What if it's run on batteries?" Beast Boy asked.

"What's with the twenty questions? Look, I'll set up a scan on the power grid too. Happy?"

"Just trying to be helpful," Beast Boy muttered sulkily, slouching again.

"Then be helpful, go and tell Robin that the scan's all set up and he can monitor it from his room."

"What am I, a messenger boy?" Beast Boy asked, lurching to his feet and moping toward the door.

"Try a carrier pigeon," Raven mumbled dryly before returning to her meditations.

"I heard that," Beast Boy muttered, kicking at imaginary pebbles on the ground.

He wandered down the hallway toward Robin's room muttering under his breath. The door was already sliding open by the time he'd reached it.

Robin poked his head out. "Beast Boy?"

Beast Boy pulled himself up straight and waved a hand, a cheesy grin on his face. "Um… hi?"

Robin raised an eyebrow, stepped out into the hallway and crossed his arms against his chest. "Why are you skulking around in the corridor?"

"Um, Cyborg sent me. He says that the scan's all set up and you can monitor it from your room. He's even going to monitor the power grid in case they have a mind blocky thingy. That was my idea. Ooh, and he wants to know if we can get pizza?"

Robin frowned. "No he doesn't, that would be you asking."

Beast Boy scuffed the floor with his shoe. "Well, can we?"

Robin gave a long-suffering sigh. "Beast Boy, there is a maniac out there with it in for Starfire and you want to go out for pizza. What do you think?"

"Robin," Starfire said as she came out of the room and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Perhaps pizza would be a good idea. I do not believe any of us to be in the mood to do the cooking and we need to keep our strength up."

"If we sent Raven to pick it, she could be back here really fast," Beast Boy said eagerly, seeing he had an ally.

"Don't you think you should ask me first?" Raven asked darkly.

Beast Boy eeped and ducked behind Robin as Raven floated up to the group.

She looked past Starfire at the room beyond. "Redecorating?"

Robin shifted and blocked her view of the room. He pulled Beast Boy out from behind him and gave him a small shove back toward the common room. "Beast Boy, go and order pizza." Ignoring Beast Boy's whoop, Robin turned to Raven. "Raven, can you please escort Starfire to her room and then back here? She needs to gather some things for the night. And if you could grab the pizza when it's ready, that would be great, just take someone with you when you go."

Raven raised an eyebrow and looked at Starfire, who gave a tiny shake of her head. "Ooookay," she said slowly, before drifting off toward Starfire's room, the alien girl floating behind.

TTTTT

Robin dreamed.

He was lying on rocky ground gazing up at an unfamiliar night sky, the chirping of insects buzzing in his ears, a slow wind gently stirring his hair. He sat up carefully, pebbles shifting beneath his fingers, before a few of them clattered down the tall cliff face he was lying next to.

He turned his head. In the very limited light provided by the four waning moons that hung in the sky he could see the edge of the cliff and the nothingness beyond. Something sparkled in the distance as the light danced off it, but he could not see what.

Something sighed, a small soft sound of a breath barely passing the lips. Turning his head, he could make out the silhouette of a person sitting beside him.

"Koriand'r?" called a voice, the sound coming from a distance and Robin twisted his head toward it. A small light dipped and swayed in the darkness, coming closer. "Where are you, child?"

Robin frowned. Something inside him told him that the voice was speaking Tamaranian, but the he shouldn't be able to understand it. And why was it using Starfire's Tamaranian name?

The silhouette beside him stood. "I am here, Galfore."

The small light swished toward them, slowly illuminating the huge hulking man that was Starfire's k'norfka scampering over rocks. As the light came close, Robin began to make out features of the person that stood beside him. They were small, no taller than a child was.

"Koriand'r, you should not be out here alone. Tomorrow is an important day, you must get some sleep."

As Galfore came to stand beside them, the light shone in the person's face. Robin fought not to gasp in shock. It was Starfire as a child! Why was he dreaming of her like this?

"But Galfore, I do not wish to go. Why must I leave?"

Galfore seemed to swell with pride. "You must begin your training with the Warlords of Okaara, where you will learn the way of a warrior and the grace of a governor, upholding the tradition of the royal family. Then-"

"And then I will be given to the Citadel as a prize," the child version of Starfire said bitterly. Robin stared at her. She never mentioned her own people gave her to the Citadel! Or was his mind making it up?

Galfore deflated. "I am sorry, little one. Your father has decreed-"

The dream swirled, twisted and changed.

Suddenly Robin was encased in crushing darkness; the only sliver of light came from a small rectangle box. The stink of sweat and blood clogged the air. Echoing sounds of screaming and moaning. Something panted harshly in the darkness close to him and there was a faint scratching of nails. He spun toward the sound, reaching for his bo staff, but his hands met with empty air.

A clang of metal and Robin was blinded as light swarmed into the room. He blinked and raised his hand to shield his eyes and looked straight into the green lizard-like face of a Gordanian.

He leaped back, surprised and nearly ran into the body of someone that had been standing behind him. The figure profiled by the light was startlingly familiar and Robin drew his breath in shock as he realised it was Starfire. What the hell was going on here? What kind of nightmare was this?

"Come troq," the Gordanian said, grinning cruelly. "It is time for you to scream once more."

"I shall not give you the satisfaction," Starfire snarled and swung her bound arms at him.

"Starfire?" Robin called, his hands reaching out for her. Starfire froze mid swing and turned toward him.

He was jolted awake.

He sat up in shock, drawing in a gasp of breath at the same time that Starfire shrieked and surged upright. She scampered toward the corner of his bed, pressing her back against the wall. She conjured two star bolts and held them directly out in front of her.

"Starfire?" he called softly, getting off the mattress on the floor. He held his hands up non-threateningly, his eyes widening as she swung her arms in his direction. "Star, it's me, it's okay."

She stared at him for a long moment before her eyes cleared. "Robin?" she asked timidly, lowering the star bolts and letting them wink out.

He turned toward his desk and snapped on the desk lamp, illuminating the room in a soft glow. When he turned back toward Starfire, she had slumped against the wall and her knees drawn to her chest. Her face was shining with sweat and her eyes were closed. He crossed the room quickly and crawled onto his bed to kneel before her. "Star?"

"You were there," she mumbled, her eyes remaining closed. "That is the first time you have been there. Why were you there? You should not have been there. Why?"

Robin was utterly confused and he reached out and gripped her shoulders. "Where? Star, you were dreaming."

She opened her eyes to look at him.

A red light began to flash overhead and a loud blaring alarm filled the room. Robin's communicator beeped and he flipped it open without taking his eyes off Starfire. He watched her make the mental shift from a frightened girl to fearsome warrior.

Cyborg's image appeared. "We've got something."