The truth
Starfire ran, tears streaming down her eyes to Ravens door. Knocked, but Raven was meditating, and could not hear her over the sounds of the chant. She began to run back the way she came, to get to Cyborgs room. She began to slow down, her heart began to hurt. She slumped up against the wall and put her knees to her chest. Her heart still hurt, but she had just returned from the dead. It began to pass and then she remembered the terrible stinging in her left cheek.
When her heart stopped hurting she stood up, and continued her way back to Cyborg. She was passing the medical room and she saw Robin on the chair with his head in his hands. She stopped, and was about to say something. Then she remembered the throbbing pain in her cheek. Although minutes had passed since it had happened, Robin possessed a brute strength that Starfire thought was humanly impossible. She continued walking, but picked up her pace.
Robin took his head out of his hands when he heard the footsteps, Starfire had passed him, but he still saw her long and beautiful locks pass through the doorway. He stood up and went quickly to the doorway to try and catch her.
"Starfire, wait!" he called out.
But she was either ignoring him, or just couldn't hear him. He stopped and thought that she just needed space. So he went to his room and sat in the dark. Starfire went to Cyborgs room, when she couldn't talk to Robin. She would often try to find Raven, if she wasn't available, she would pick Cyborg.
Starfire knocked on the door, and Cyborg opened it. He saw Starfire, crying, with a red mark displayed brightly across her face.
"Star, are you ok?" asked Cyborg looking at her face.
She shook her head.
"What happened?" he said.
"Robin," she said.
"Wait, Robin did this to you!" Said Cyborg.
"I wish not to talk about this here. Might we go somewhere that no one can hear us?" she said.
"Yeah, come on in," he said ushering her into the doorway.
"Here you can take a seat here," he said gesturing to the bed.
"Thank you very much Cyborg," she said quietly, choking back a few tears.
"So what happened?" He said
"Robin was very mad at me. He treated me as though I broke him somehow. But if I did I did not mean to. Then he got close to me. He scared me and would not let me explain. Then he rose up his hand and he hit me hard across the face. Just like Slade did to me the very first night I was his prisoner," explained Starfire, shuddering at the memory of Slade.
"Starfire, what he did was wrong. But I think you did break him," said Cyborg gently.
"What do you mean? I had just woken up. How could I have hurt my friend so bad that they would hurt me in that time?" asked Starfire.
"Starfire, I don't know if you understand this, but you kissed someone else, right in front of Robin. Let's just say if Robin really, really, cares about someone, he has a tendency to get a bit jealous. Well more than a bit jealous, very jealous," explained Cyborg gently.
Cyborg got up and went to one of his cupboards. He entered in a few codes. Had an eye scan, hand scan, and finger print scan.
"Cyborg, what is it that you are doing?" asked Starfire.
"Secret fridge, don't tell Beast Boy. The only reason I have it is to keep him out," said Starfire.
"How could you possibly think about eating at a time like this?" asked Starfire.
"Not eating, getting something for you. Besides, I'm always hungry, you should know that by now," said Cyborg.
He walked over to her with an ice-pack. Cyborg held it out to her, and she accepted putting it to her cheek. It helped with the sting but made her very cold.
"Anyway, keep going," said Cyborg.
"I was not doing anything with Aqua Lad. I was simply re-learning the English language," explained Starfire.
"Wait, what?!" said Cyborg.
"In Tameran, we are able to learn any language instantaneously. The thing which may confuse you Earth creature is that it is done through lip to lip contact. On our planet, it means nothing but a simple learning experience," said Starfire, regaining her confidence.
"Wait. So you don't like Aqua Lad?" asked Cyborg
"No. I do not 'like' as you say, our friend Aqua Lad. I 'like' someone else," said Starfire, realization sinking in.
"So does Robin know this yet?" asked Cyborg.
"No I was too ashamed to speak to him. I understand that hitting a person is an insult on Earth. But on our planet, it means Troq, but it is said using hands. Not words," explained Starfire.
"You need to tell this to Robin," said Cyborg.
"Ok, I suppose that I should. Thank you Cyborg, you are like the brother I have always wanted," said Starfire.
She got up and gave him a hug. He returned the embrace and she left the room. Putting the icepack on the bed, and leaving Cyborg to being. Well to being Cyborg.
She needed some fresh air just so that she could gather her thoughts together. Starfire walked to the door to the roof. She put her hand on the door handle, contemplating whether or not she wanted to go up. It would be the first time that she would feel the fresh air since Slade. She took a breath and began to push on the handle, but her heart began to thud hard again.
She felt a severe pain in her chest, and sat down by the door. The only person that could help her was her Kanorfga, but he was back on Tameran. He was trained firstly in medicine, that's the only way that he would be allowed to be her Kanorfga. Her heart not only ached from the pain, but from missing her home.
The feeling passed but this time, it lasted longer. She stood up again and put her hand on the door. She shoved it open, and thought that she was alone. Robin would have to wait until another time. She stood on the corner of the roof, breathing in the smell of the air. She looked at the Stars, only a day ago, or more, she feared that she would never ever see the stars again. But tonight, she would journey to them.
Her feet gently lifted off of the ground.
"Starfire, wait!" called Robin from the corner of the roof.
Her feet went down to the ground, and she turned to Robin. The redness on her face had almost completely diminished, and the tear stains on her face only made her glimmer more beautifully. Robin was mesmerized.
"Starfire, where were you going?" he asked
"Oh, I was going nowhere. I simply needed some breathable air," said Starfire. Covering up her true intentions.
"Hey Star?" said Robin.
"Yes," she said walking over to him.
"Are you ok? I really didn't mean to hurt you. I, something weird has been going on with me. Starfire, I almost killed Beast Boy, because my mind. It connected your disappearance, well with the trip to the beach that he had initiated," said Robin.
"Robin. When you hit me, you did exactly as Slade did to me. That very first day, and when you hit me, it also meant something else on my planet. Something you promised you'd never call me as long as you lived," Starfire said as she sat down next to him.
"What, what did I call you? Or what did, what did it mean?" he asked staring into her eyes.
"Robin. On your planet, I understand that it is improper or considered very disrespectful to do that to a person. But, on my planet, not only is it disrespect, but it means something else as well," said Starfire.
Her hair blew gently in the wind. For a moment, Robin thought about what she meant. Starfire was such a happy and bright spirit. What could it mean that would pull her down so far?
"Starfire, what does it mean?" He asked again.
"Robin it is the physical way of calling me Troq," she said quietly.
"Starfire, I am so sorry. I don't, I didn't mean," he stammered.
"Robin, it is okay. I have forgiven you, and I was wrong to not listen to you before," she said.
"Starfire, it was wring for me to do that to you. Jealousy or not. It's hard for me to say, but if you like Aqua Lad, I can't do anything about it," he said sadly.
"Robin, I do not as you say 'like' Aqua Lad. My planets culture is very different from yours. What you saw Aqua Lad and I do, that was not anything to me. That was simply, in easy words, he was teaching me English," she said.
"Because somehow kissing magically makes you learn English?" He said growing agitated and slightly angry, but he pushed it down. He didn't want a repeat of what happened only hours earlier.
"Robin. I have come to understand, from seeing the beings of this world that a kiss means more on your planet than it does on mine. On my planet, lip to lip contact, it is simply the way that we learn any and all new languages," she explained.
"What?" he asked.
"For you humans, you must learn new languages by hand, and it requires very much effort. But the inhabitants if my planet can learn any and all languages if lip to lip contact is made with a inhabitant of any planet which speaks a different language," she explained.
"Oh my, Starfire. I am such an idiot!" yelled Robin.
She put a hand on his shoulder. The anger bubbling inside of Robin, simmered down back to his normal feeling. Then melted away. A feeling so close to fear, but so far away from it at the same time. Something falling into perfection, but also so close to tipping into a disaster. It was an odd feeling. It was electric. It was the same electricity that she had felt that day at the beach, when he was helping her onto the surf board.
He looked at her and smiled his quirky little Robin smile. Starfires eyes lit up. They hadn't felt this level of chemistry for weeks, but they didn't know what it was. Robin thought that maybe he was just hungry. Starfire thought that it was her heart beginning to hurt again, or that she was getting a fear of heights. They were of course on a roof. Sitting on the edge, with their feet dangling over 150 feet in the air, with no railing to protect them from falling on the concrete streets beneath them.
They looked into each other's deep and gleaming eyes. Starfires hair framed her face perfectly. But a single strand had blown into the corner of her eyes, hiding her beautiful complexion. He gently moved the strand away from her eyes and put it behind her ear. He took his hand away and put it back into his lap.
Starfire blushed, making her already perfect rosy cheeks even brighter. She made a small smile and turned her head slightly to hide her reddening face. Robin let out a small laugh and Starfire smiled wider and turned only redder. Robin looked at her taking in every single aspect of her perfect, beautiful body. From her amazing smile down to her color coordinated shoes, she was driving him insane without a single word. With only that dear perfection she so amazingly possessed.
She turned her face back to him. He scooted a little closer to her, and she followed this motion. They're hands were so close, Robins pinkie was touching hers. He moved his finger on top of hers and they sat there like that for just a moment. Robin couldn't bear being so close to her, touching her, but only slightly feeling her. He slid his hand completely on top of hers, she turned hers upside down. Her palm was touching his. He pulled her fingers inside of his and they were perfectly interlocked. It still wasn't enough.
She turned back into his eyes. His perfect eyes. She moved closer to him. Robin turned his gaze to meet hers. They stared into the eternity of each other's souls. She saw every one of his secrets. He saw each of her fears, all of her secrets, all of her memories.
He felt some sort of magnet, pulling him closer and closer to her. She turned as fall as she could to meet him directly. Another half an inch, she would fall and meet the cold hard concrete of the streets below. He leaned his head closer to hers. She slightly tilted her head so that she could meet him. She was close enough to feel his warm breath on her freezing skin.
Within that moment, everything seemed perfect. But a moment isn't an eternity, no matter how much she wanted it to be. She felt her heart pound in her chest and she hesitated. The pounding only felt worse in her chest. She moved back. He retracted to and turned bright red.
Starfire clutched her chest with both hands. She was still teetering on the edge of the room and a small forward motion was all she needed to fall. When she had removed her hand from Robins that was all of the motion she needed. She fell with a scream. He grabbed her hand, she was dangling from hundreds of feet of the ground.
"Starfire! Fly!" He yelled.
She felt the boundless joy of flight in her heart, but it wouldn't work. She tried using her incredible strength to assist him. But she barely felt the strength of a normal human. She only relied on Robin.
"Starfire, fly!"
"Robin, I can't!" She said.
Fear fled through her. She was afraid, tears began to stream down her face. This wasn't regular fear. This was a death defying fear. This was a fear of not being able to defy death.
Robin used all of his strength to pull her up. He got her to the roof. In the last and moist crucial moment when she began to slip, she felt a surge of strength rush through him. He pulled her up, but stumbled backward, and falling onto his back. He had pulled her fast enough that she had defied gravity. She accidently landed on top of him , then got off quickly.
"Starfire, what happened?" He asked, fixing his hair.
"Robin I fear that I am very sick and there is only a single person in this galaxy that can help me," she said.
"Yeah. Anything. Do you need a phone number, or do you want me to get the T-car and take you to a hospital?" he asked.
"Robin, I must go to Tameran"