Hey guys...sorry about the lack of updates...It seems like forever since I have had time to sit down and work on this, but with life settling down, and me being out to sea once more, I should be able to put a bit more time into all of this. I just hope I didn't lose my flow of things during my Hiatus. Anyways, enough about me, I'll let ya'll get on to the story. Enjoy!

Chapter 21

Dark Separations, Part 2

Robin gently ran a gloved hand through Starfire's hair as she slept, eliciting a small sigh from her. They had both moved to Cyborg's pod, where there was slightly more room, as well as allowing Robin to monitor all the ship's systems. He glanced away from the sleeping girl, running a few basic check s on the systems. His one free hand danced professionally across the controls, until finally, he nodded his head in approval, and returned his hand to the top of Starfire's, where it rest on his leg. A soft moan reached his ear, and a warm breath against the side of his neck let him know she was awake

"Starlight, Star bright, looks like I got my wish last night." He whispered softly in her ear.

The Tamaranian sat up slowly, stretching as best she could. She smiled her usual happy morning smile, but a thought seemed to cross her mind, and her face turned serious.

"Robin?" she asked, "Why do you do so much for me? I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself."

The boy wonder swallowed hard. He could take on the hardest, most seasoned, most dangerous criminals without batting an eye, but this question truly made him nervous. He had been running over and over in his head what he was going to say to something like this all morning, now he just hoped he wouldn't blow it.

"Star…" He swallowed a lump in his throat once more.

"Yes Robin?"

"Star, you mean more to me than the rest of the team…"

She started, and looked at him strangely.

"No! No, not like that. I mean, I care about the team a lot! It's just…ever since you arrived on Earth, I, at first, I took responsibility for you, teaching you about our home planet. You and I both know that we became friends during that time. I've never told you before, but Star, you're the best friend I've ever had. And maybe…maybe it's something more."

He paused for a moment, working up the courage to continue.

"Robin, I think I know what you mean to say…"

The boy wonder shook his head. "I need to finish this…actually say it all. Star, I like you. More than just as a partner in crime fighting, more than just a friend, I really care for you, and if something were to happen to you…I don't know what I would do. I think what happened with Nightmare opened my eyes as to just how much you meant to me, and I had to tell you how I felt, no matter what your response would be. I mean, I don't even know what the customs on your planet are like, with other races and all, especially with on as primitive as my own, but I was…umm…I was just wondering if…umm…if you would be…"

His cheeks turned rosy as he struggled to get the last few words out of his practiced speech.

"Robin."

The blushing superhero looked back towards where she sat, snapping his mouth shut, and silencing his babble.

"If you are asking me to be what earthlings refer to as your girlfriend…" Now it was her turn to blush. "I would be honored, for I too have long cared for you as more than a friend, but I have feared that you would push away from someone that was not of your planet."

"Star…"

"Shhh."

The Tamaranian Princess pulled Batman's Prodigy into a deep embrace, and they sat there and held each other, simply enjoying the touch between the two of them, and watching the stars fly past.

------------------------

An alarm blared, and doors were thrown from their hinges as a 10 legged, 2 armed freak burst from inside of the Jump City Bank. Fang leapt three stories up the side of the building, hissing at the local citizens as they scattered from the area. The bizarre mutant clutched a pair of bags he had helped himself to from the bank's vault, chuckling something about taking his girlfriend on the shopping spree of her life.

"Alright ugly, put the money down, and walk away slowly, and we won't have to lay into your ugly hide!"

Fang looked down the street, and straight at Cyborg's fist as it folded back into the sonic cannon.

"…crap…"

-ZZZZZZZZAAAAAAAAAPP!-

Fang leapt from the building as the blast of sonic energy dug a long pit into the concrete wall.

"You'll pay for that!" the small time crook shouted, and swung himself towards the lone superhero.

"Hey legs," another voice said from behind him. "Why don't you pick a useful animal to imitate!"

Fang turned mid flight to see a scrawny green kid fall from the building above him before turning into a four hundred pound gorilla.

"AAAAAAHHHHH…."

Fang's scream was promptly cut off as Beast Boy collided with him in the air, squeezing the criminal in a bone crushing bear hug.

-WHAM-

The two hit the ground hard, with the unlucky criminal taking the brunt of the fall. The green gorilla stood slowly, holding Fang's eight mutant legs in one hand.

Raven stepped around the corner, muttering her famous chant. A length of police tape was pulled from where it was wrapped around the bank crime scene, and wrapped itself tightly around the ends of the criminals legs.

"I'll remember this, Teen Titans!" Fang hissed. "You'll pay for…GACK!"

Fang's rant was cut off quickly as my fist was firmly planted into his abdomen.

"It's time for the itsy bitsy spider to fall down the spout again…" I said with a smile as I watched the special unit paddy wagon pull up to the scene.

"Ladies…Gentlemen…and Beast Boy," Cyborg addressed the Titans with a wink.

"HEY!" came the elf's response

"…That, my friends," Cyborg pressed on, ignoring his friend's outburst, "Is what we call a perfectly handled apprehension. The people are safe, the criminal was arrested, the stolen goods restored and no collateral…"

-kaWHAM-

A huge chunk of concrete hit the ground from where Cyborg's sonic cannon had dug into the building.

"…damage" he finished with a sweatdrop. "Right, so who's up for…"

"I vote we go home." Raven interrupted.

"I agree," Beast Boy chimed in. "Ryk said he was cooking this afternoon."

Cyborg turned to me, smiling. "So…can Ryk make pizza?"

With a crooked grin, I nodded.

---------------------

Pots and pans clattered as I turned into the virtual whirlwind of activity in the kitchen. Raven sat on a chair, quietly reading her book while Beast Boy and Cyborg clobbered each other in a heated battle of Dead or Alive.

"Raven!" I called out, "Could you hand me the…"

A large pizza dish coated itself in black, and spun like a Frisbee in my direction.

"…Pan? Sure." Raven finished for me.

With a smirk I let my own psionics take control over the flying metal tray, and slid it under the pizza dough I had tossed into the air.

"PH34R M3H L33T N1NJ4 5K1LLZ!" Beast boy screamed out as Ein fell at Hayabusa's feet on screen.

I shook my head, and kicked the door on the oven closed.

---------------------

A strangely familiar planet began to take form amongst the stars as the T-ship floated noiselessly through space. Inside the center cockpit, Robin pecked away at the controls, adjusting the coarse slightly and making the final entries for the approach. Starfire slept against his shoulder once again, under the influence of the heavy painkillers she was on.

"Star…" Robin whispered, gently waking his Tamaranian princess. "Almost home, might wanna wake up."

The girl moaned, and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, blinking her way back into the eternal darkness of space.

"Oh! Tamaran! Gest karade del bunsin k'narglarf" she exclaimed, breaking off to her native language.

Robin stared confused.

Starfire smiled sweetly.

"Eh-heh…it is good to be home." She clarified.

"One of these days, Star…" Robin smirked. "One of these days I'm going to have to learn your language."

"…Robin…" Star said, her voice taking on a nervous tone.

"Yes Starfire?"

"…Robin!"

The boy wonder finally followed her gaze, and his jaw dropped as he saw what had caught her attention. Six sleek Tamaranian fighter ships were rocketing through space towards them.

"…crap…not again."

Robin's hands scurried over the controls as he fought with the ship to bring up the weapons systems as the six fighters blasted past him, close enough to rock the entire T-Ship.

"Robin…they are turning!"

"I know Star…if they make one wrong move…"

The ship's radio interrupted both of them.

"snkt Glorth'nak kbaldna snak'ral Starfire snkt"

Starfire's eyes widened, and she picked keyed up the radio, responding to the call in her native language.

Robin's arms tensed as the conversation went on, but as Starfire began to smile, he relaxed slightly.

"It is the OK, Robin. They are an honor guard sent by Emperor Galfore to escort us to our landing bay."

The boy wonder blew out a long sigh of relief, and settled back into his seat as the "honor guard" of fighters formed up around his ship.

--------------------

The T-Ship settled gently into a landing bay nestled into the lower levels of the strange Tamaranian palace as their fighter escort roared by overhead. Outside the ship, what seemed to be a medical team rushed into the bay, armed with a stretcher and various bags and cases. Galfore thundered through the door behind them, almost brushing them aside as he rushed the still steaming T-Ship.

-PHBISSHHHHHHHH-

The cockpit cracked open, and slowly rose away from the ship. Galfore and the medics stopped abruptly, and waited, expecting the worst for their princess.

Atop the ship, a masked face appeared, and waved jovially to the small crowd, to their annoyance.

"C'mon Star, they're all waiting for you."

The Tamaranian sat there staring at the entourage that had gathered for her return, her usually smiling face almost cross.

"I am not in need of this doting." She huffed. "I am not damaged extensively, I merely need time to heal."

"Star…they're just trying to help."

"I know," she replied, running a hand through her hair.

"Then let's get you down there."

Robin easily scooped up the girl, cradling her in his arms, and stepped up and out of the cockpit. He could see Galfore's teeth clench at her bandaged leg and the sling on her arm.

"Who would dare to…"

"Hi Galfore!" Robin shouted out, interrupting him.

"Robin, who dares to lay their hands on the princess in this manner?"

The boy wonder's glare withered the Tamaranian Emperor, and almost sent the medical team scampering for cover. "Earth problem. For now, we deal with the current situation. My friends back home are dealing with the other one."

Galfore caught the Robin's drift, and also noticed the sidelong glance of the returning princess.

"I do not require medical treatment," she mumbled. "My friends have already taken care of my damage."

Galfore's eyes narrowed, but he motioned away the team.

A silent nod was exchanged between the returning princess, and her otherworldly prince, and he carried her down off the T-Ship, setting her back on her feet once they were on the ground.

The Tamaranian Emperor walked slowly over to where Starfire stood, and cupped her chin in his massive hand.

"Welcome home, Princess Starfire."

---------------------

The sun was settling down into the horizon, casting a calming orange light across the bay, and splashing the front of the tower in color. Beast Boy stood atop the tower, next to where I stood as we both ran through his martial arts training for the day.

…kick…

…punch…

…block…

…thrust…

Each and every move was practiced, and crisp, moving with a sharp precision between the both of us. On one edge of the tower, Raven sat about a foot off the ground, deep in meditation. Surprisingly, even to her, the calls of each move in the cadence of practice behind her never once seemed to bother her.

A quiet beep on her shoulder, and the red flash of the medallion on her cape brought her out of her trance, and she slowly floated to the floor.

"Cyborg's calling," she monotoned as she made her way to the door leading inside.

Both Beast Boy and myself halted in our practice, and hastened our way after her, hurrying down the stairs and to the main room where our stand in "leader" was waiting for us. He began as soon as we had all settled on the couch.

"Well, Robin and Star made it to Tamaran ok, and so far things seem to be going smoothly with them. Rob don't know how long they're gonna be there yet, but he said he'd be keeping in touch constantly about it."

Raven rolled her eyes. "Did you tell him about Fang?"

"Actually, I did, and he was proud of us at how we had handled the situation. Even you, Ryk…who didn't really do anything…"

I smirked, and launched a rubber band off my finger.

"Hey! Where did you get…?"

I smiled, and pointed down at the couch.

"…riiiight, you can find just about anything if you dig under those cushions. Anyways, that's all I needed to talk to you guys about. Right now…" a huge grin came over his face, "It's time to raid the fridge!"

I sat back and smiled, watching as Raven pulled a book from under her robe, and buried her nose in it while Beast Boy and Cyborg stormed the kitchen. I looked around for a moment before finally slumping into the couch and using my telepathy to find the remote. It flew from some unknown corner to my hand, and I kicked my feet up on the coffee table and turned on the screen, surfing for something worth watching.

It hadn't been two hours since we all came in for the meeting with Cyborg, but already him and Beast Boy had headed off to bed. I sat, staring blankly at some random action movie on the screen, while Raven sat next to me on the couch, idly flipping the page on her book.

A motion in front of my face brought me out of my trance, and I looked down to see Raven's feet in my lap as she sprawled herself out across the couch.

"What…"

"You're looking awfully comfortable."

"Yeah, I deserve that once in a while, don't I?"

I chuckled silently. "I thought you had to be careful with feeling to comfortable around people?"

"You're not people."

"Umm…I was last time I checked."

"My father doesn't 'fear' people. Yet he fights me every time I so much as mention you."

"That's new for a demon…never had one that feared me before."

"He doesn't fear you…he hates you. And yet, for some reason, I'm drawn to you. Maybe it is this hatred, and the defiance of a daughter that draws me, but…I don't know…I just don't understand.

"Heh…maybe it was that talk I had with him. He never did really seem to take to well to me. Then again, most parents never took well to me. I've always…I dunno…known too much for their comfort."

A long silence passed between us before any more was said. My TV show was starting to roll its credits, and Raven was just about finished with her book. Smiling, I slid out from underneath Raven's legs, and made my way over to the kitchen.

"Tea?" I asked.

"…sure."

Mugs and tea and coffee floated around behind me as I raided the fridge, searching for something edible left inside. Moments later I made my way back to the couch with her cup of tea in hand, while a cup of coffee and a ham sandwich followed along behind me.

"You drink a lot of coffee you know."

"And you drink a lot of tea. To each their own, I guess."

"…yeah…"

Raven sipped gently at her cup, while I mauled my sandwich.

"…Ryk…"

"Yes Raven?"

"When are you going to tell them?"

"Hmm?"

"That you're dead."

End Chapter 21.