HUGE THANKS to FairieAngelx3o, dude the song is great! (Claps enthusiastically) Seriously, she WROTE a song for this story. Can you guys believe it? Anyway, the song is titled "Broken Memories" and it's amazing. It'll be up in the third to last chapter, so look out for it!
Disclaimer: i don't own TT
Robin sat on the edge of his new bed in the jail cell, thinking. His cell was very small, not made for comfort, and about eight feet by eight feet. There was a cot, and that was about it. It was filthy, dark, and damp, but Robin didn't care.
The countdown started tomorrow. Five days, and he'd be dead. It was kind of hard to believe, so he pushed the thought away. Funnily enough, though, it wasn't death that scared him. It was Starfire.
She was no longer the happy, bubbly alien he knew and loved. How had his anger broken her like this? She was stronger than that. Now she could barely hold herself up. When he was gone, what would she do? Would she care? Would she know?
A guard came and slid some disgusting something-or-other Tamaranian slop into his cell, and Robin stopped him. "I need to talk to Galfore," he said, slowly but clearly. The guard still looked confused. "Galfore. Koriand'r. Galfore," Robin tried. He walked away, and soon brought a scowling Galfore back with him.
"I do not have time for you. Make this quick," growled Galfore.
"Fine. Give me a chance to help Starfire," said Robin bluntly. Galfore narrowed his eyes.
"No. Why would I do that? You would just finish her off!"
"Listen to me. I'm her"--He gulped--"friend. I just want to see her as Starfire again. Please, just give me a chance to make her right. I don't want her to live the rest of her life like this. Let me fix whatever mistake I made."
Galfore sneered. "This will not, by any means, cancel your sentence."
"I don't expect it to. Do what you want with me, just give me my last days to help her," he said, trying his hardest not to sound like he was begging. He'd never die happy, knowing Starfire was Starfire no longer. It was worse than the end of the world, and he'd been there already.
"Fine. If you hurt her any more, not only you, but your whole planet will die," Galfore threatened. Robin nodded. It may not have been the smartest idea to bargain the whole planet Earth, but he honestly didn't see how he could cause Starfire any more mental pain. He'd never hurt her physically...unless he was temporarily insane.
"What happened?" he asked.
"A few straggling Gordanians found her, as she is, near Earth, and they brought her here. She was unconscious. When she awoke, she told me she wanted to forget you." Robin crossed his arms over his chest. This made absolutely no sense. He'd most definitely never starved her. "The Gordanians, as a peace treaty, gave her back to us. Over the years, they have given us much more. We have used a certain kind of technology on her, one that has the power to delve into the mind and do its job there. Thus, we shut down the parts of her mind that had any past memories of Earth, all of which you were in."
Galfore unlocked his cell door, and grabbed his arms roughly, leading him to a different wing of the castle. A large, elaborate door of what looked like purple wood opened, and they were led into Starfire's room. It was almost the same as her room at Titan's Tower, except much bigger. She lay on the bed, her feet where her head should be, as usual. She was pointing at the canopy above her head, muttering things like 'Orion' and 'Dipper.' She frowned, and suddenly screamed. Robin clapped his hands over his ears, his heart wrenching. Starfire was watching him, and her screaming ceased.
"Koriand'r, I have brought a visitor." Starfire's frown deepened, and she pointed at Robin.
"Bad man," she said clearly. Robin winced. "Stay away."
"I know I told you he is a bad man, but you do not have to stay away from him any longer. He is going to be your companion. Is that okay with you?" asked Galfore. Robin shot Galfore a quick glare that the older man couldn't see, but forced a smile at her.
"Hey."
"Cow food," she muttered, attempting to sit up. "Cow food." Galfore supported her, and she stood up as well. Robin grabbed on to her, signalling for Galfore to leave.
"Remember..." Galfore warned.
"Yeah, I remember..." Robin murmured, staring at Starfire's strange-looking face. She stared back shamelessly as Galfore left. Slowly, he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into a close embrace. With a jolt of relief, he realized she still had that 'Starfire smell' about her. It was sugary, spicy, and everything nice...y. Robin loved it, partly because he always had, and partly because it was the only familiar thing he could find about her. He closed his eyes, pretending he was back at Titan's Tower, and that he was just hugging his girlfriend and spending time alone with her just for the heck of it, like he should have. Then he was brought with a crashing halt back down to reality, where he was going to die, and his arms were around Starfire's way-to-skinny waist, and she wasn't hugging him back.
A few tears leaked their way out of his eyes, and he squeezed them shut, burying his head in Starfire's shoulder. His shoulders started to shake, but he refused to cry. Not in front of Starfire. Staring into her face again, he rested his forehead on hers.
"You...and I...speak differently," she said softly. Robin frowned in confusion, and then nodded.
"Yeah. English. It was from Earth, when you lived with the Titans." She did not understand, so he elaborated. "We were...are...were the Teen Titans, a crime fighting team. We lived in Jump City, and protected the people from villains. There's Cyborg, who's a half-robot. He's great at anything that deals with machinery. Then there's Beast Boy, who can transform into animals. He's all green, and cracks lame jokes all the time. Raven, a half-demoness, is an empath. Her powers are controlled by her emotions, like yours, so every time she gets mad, something or other blows up. And then there's you...and me."
"Ray-ven. Cy-borrrg. Beeesst Boy," Starfire tried. Robin nodded, a huge lump forming in his throat. He'd never see those three again. The communicators didn't work when they were different planets away. Starfire shook her head. "I have lived on Tamaran all my life."
"No, you haven't. If you had, would I be here?" Starfire thought about that for a minute.
"Tell me more."
So Robin sat Starfire down on her bed, supporting her, and began to tell her about the adventures of the Teen Titans. He only told her the good times, the funny times, for obvious reasons. Starfire leaned all her weight against him, oftentimes dozing off for five minutes before waking up and listening again. He waited patiently when this happened, positioning her more comfortably around him while she slept. Her small dreams were fitful, and most likely the cause of her waking up.
Then there were her lucid moments, and her confused ones. From what Robin could tell, whenever she muttered incoherent things, she was either trying to remember something or her brain was replacing memories from Earth with made-up memories from Tamaran. He really needed a good look at this machine. Maybe he'd beat it up.
"...And then, you were trying to hide Silkie from us, so when Raven and Cyborg came to check your room, you wouldn't let them in. Apparently it was Gorb-Gorb, the Tamaranian holiday of beating up drapery. You blasted a hole through the tower, trying to cover up." Starfire's eyes narrowed.
"There is no such holiday as Gorb-Gorb."
"Yeah, we figured that out later. Then you started feeding Silkie zorkaberries, but he grew humongous, and--" Suddenly, Starfire drew away from him, and he prepared himself for another one of her attacks. She buried her head in her knees, rocking back and forth on the bed.
"Galfore," she wept. "GALFORE!" Robin hugged her again, calming her down slightly.
"What happened?" he asked softly.
"I was attacked," she sniffed, "by a Xathrend from the Swamp Moons of Drenthax Five." Robin nodded, rubbing her back comfortingly and planting a soft kiss on her lips. "Robin, why would you preform the language transfer if I can already speak your tongue?"
Robin scratched the back of his neck, unsure of why he was so nervous. It was still Starfire, after all. "On Earth, it isn't a language transfer. It's called a kiss, and you kiss people that you hold a specal affection for."
Starfire nodded. "So I should kiss Galfore, then?" Robin's eyes widened and he shook his head furiously.
"No. Um, see, you could kiss Galfore on the cheek or something, but what I did...that's for people who...you know...you're in love with."
"But I am not in love with you," Starfire pointed out. His arms disappeared from around her sides and he brought his knees to his chest, looking away, a terrible feeling of lonliness overcoming him. Starfire plopped down on the bed, too tired to hold herself in a sitting position.
"Yeah, I know. But you were...I think. Maybe you just dated me out of pity anyway." He got up and started to pace far away from her. She watched him interestedly, but Robin didn't look her in the eye. He tried to imagine how much worse it would have been if she had said 'I hate you.' He stopped. Those were his words. He was just beginning to contemplate this when Galfore burst into the room.
"What have you done? I heard her screaming for me!" he yelled. Robin held up his hands to show he was innocent, and Galfore's eyes rested on Starfire, who's expression glazed over. She was losing it again.
Shaking uncontrollably, She grabbed a pillow and sobbed into it, not even stopping when Robin and Galfore came to her side. "I knew you did something! Look! She is dying! And it is all your fault!" cried Galfore frantically. Robin sighed.
"She isn't, okay? If you hadn't shut down her brain or whatever, this wouldn't be happening!" he yelled at Galfore. The big man straightened and looked down at Robin, making him feel much smaller than he really was.
"If you had not chased her away in the first place, none of this would be happening!"
"If you hadn't given her to the Citadel, she would never have met me!"
"I did not! That was her parents!"
"Not my fault, though, now is it?" Robin had him there. Still, the two were acting like children, glaring once more and pretending that argument never happened, they tried to cam Starfire down in vain. "Shh, Star, it's okay..." Starfire grabbed on to Robin and tightened her grip, crushing his lungs, but he didn't care. Her breathing grew even, and the tears stopped coming. Her arms relaxed their death grip.
"Do not let go," she pleaded.
"I won't, Star, I promise." Galfore watched the two for a minute, and, convinced Starfire wasn't dying, walked out of the room. So what if she doesn't love me back? That's not what I'm here for. It's probably better that way, at east then she won't care when I'm gone. I need to help her become Starfire again. That's all, Robin thought furiously. Batman was right. Emotions just got in the way. He needed to focus on the job.
Easier said than done. Old Bats never had the love of his life in his arms going psycho and telling him she didn't love him five days before he was going to die. Hmph.
A servant dropped off food, for both Robin and Starfire at Starfire's door, and Robin had to force feed it to her. She was convinced it was a parasitic worm that would kill her slowly from the inside if she ate it. Finally, Robin came up with the lie that there already was a parasitic worm in her body, and that eating food would kill it. She solemnly promised to eat everything the servants brought by. He found his meal strangely edible, and wondered if it was from Earth. It didn't look like anything he'd ever seen.
Robin left at nighttime, with Galfore leading him to his new chambers, not far away from Starfire's. Soundlessly, he closed the door behind Robin and locked it.
This room was a whole lot better than his jail cell. For one thing, there was a huge tub of steaming water for a bath, and a full size bed instead of a cot. It was squeaky clean in here, and a large window opening up to a balcony overlooked the city. On the bed lay new clothes for him, of Tamaranian attire. The term 'clothes' was rather inaccurate. It consisted of a single loincloth and shoes. Robin decided to stick to his uniform, no matter how grimy. The room was still small, but Robin could live with that. He took off his clothes and sank into the bath, sighing with relief.
After climbing into bed, he heard a scream. It was Starfire, no doubt about it. But it wasn't mindless, she was screaming something.
"ROBIN!"
He tried to open the door, and found it was locked. He fumbled with a lock pick he'd kept in his utility belt, and opened his door. Without a second thought, Robin ran to Starfire's room, where she was thrashing about on the floor, as if she were drowning.
"Star! Star, I'm here!" he said, picking her up. Her eyes were closed. She was sleeping.
"Robin, they are taking me again! They will torture me again!" she cried. Robin's heart practically stopped. She wasn't sleeping, she was remembering. Maybe she was doing both.
"No they won't, Star. I'm right here." She pushed him away.
"You said you hated me...over and over..." she said softly, drifting back to sleep.
"I don't hate you, Star. I could never hate you. Whatever I told you, that was a lie. I love you, Starfire." She nestled back into his arms, and he picked her up and placed her on the bed again. She was so light, it made Robin's arms feel heavy. He laid her gently on the bed, and then slept on the floor next to her bed all night.
Okay, I've got no comments. Uh...Review please?
