Hi everybody! Hope you're all ready for yet more awesomeness, because here's a brand new chapter! Boy I sure seem to be on a roll with these new chapters, don't I? In this new chapter, the Titans and Tamaranean royal entourage are on their way over to the Vegan System to deal with the Umbrosians' latest plan. But before any major action unfolds, there is just enough time for Starfire to finally tell her Titan friends the full story of her time before her fateful arrival in 'Go!'. Sound amazing? I damn well hope so! Here's to hoping you read, review, and enjoy!
A/N: But first, again, I do not own Teen Titans, or anything else DC based. Believe me, if I owned DC, there is SO MUCH that would be changed for the better around there. And I'd best stop there before I devolve into a ranting lunatic. All that said, onward with the fic people!
Chapter 3:
A Voyage Down Memory Lane
Several hours later, both Galfore's personal royal starship and the T-Ship had long departed from Earth and were now pleasantly cruising along through the vastness of outer space. And while they glided along a respectable distance behind the Tamaranean ship, Starfire couldn't help but wistfully stare at her former caretaker's ship with her chin on her left palm.
Robin, however, kept directing his gaze towards Starfire's compartment every now and then, clearly concerned. As proud as he was of Starfire for being willing to do what she appeared to believe was the right thing to do and concerned about the situation they were on the way to attempting to resolve, he couldn't help but also feel worried about his girlfriend. After all, as he knew all too well, any moments in which she appeared to be in as gloomy of a mood as she currently appeared to be in were never to be taken lightly.
Neither Starfire's continued apparent gloomy mood, nor Robin's continued scrutiny of her, escaped the attention of the other Titans. Beast Boy and Raven, as it so happened, even found themselves both on the verge of trying to talk to Starfire and ask her if she was ok. But they both noticed each other about to try to speak, and paused to allow each other the opportunity to speak first. This unwittingly resulted in an awkward pause.
Robin finally decided to break the awkward silence for both the sake of Beast Boy and Raven as well as to prevent Cyborg from potentially forgetting the seriousness of their current circumstances and making a joke at the two chromatically challenged titans' expense. "Um, Star?" he asked.
Starfire jolted in surprise with wide eyes, and then directed a relatively calm, yet still half gloomy, look towards Robin. The other titans similarly focused their gazes appropriately.
"Forgive me if I'm intruding," said the Boy Wonder. "But, is everything ok?"
Starfire paused, clearly trying to think of just how to respond, and then hung her head.
"Try not to take this the wrong way," said Robin. "If you really don't want to talk about it, then you don't have to. And I won't make you talk if you don't wish to. But with the mood you appear to be in right now, I honestly would like to be absolutely certain that you're alright."
"What he said," Beast Boy and Raven stated in unison, only to promptly wince at the fact.
"Yeah Star," said Cyborg. "Trust us. If you're feeling bad right now about anything, telling others about it usually helps more often then it doesn't. I'd certainly know, considering how much better you felt after you told me and the others about how Val-Yor was treating you two years ago."
Robin nodded in agreement with Cyborg, his gaze still focused on Starfire. Beast Boy and Raven likewise showed their agreement and otherwise kept their focus on Starfire.
After several minutes of silence, Starfire sighed, and hung her head. "Is it that obvious?"
"No offense," Beast Boy began, "but you're Starfire. Subtlety isn't really your style."
Robin narrowed his eyes, but Starfire thought to herself. "I suppose you are right," she admitted. She hung her head once more, and took a deep breath. "If you really want to know."
"Well again," said Robin. "You don't have to if you don't want to, but if you think it's ok to talk to us about whatever's going on, then we won't stop you from talking about whatever's bothering you either."
"Well worry not," said Starfire. She sighed. "For I am indeed willing now to tell you about what is bothering me." She took another deep breath. "And considering just how long it's been since the time we dealt with Blackfire on Tamaran and how well aware I am of the dangers of keeping things stuffed in bottles inside you, I am surprised that I never talked about this before; and that you never asked me about it."
"Well sometimes it's understandable to be reluctant to talk about certain things, even for the most outgoing and open of people," said Robin.
"I would be lying if I were to say that I didn't get curious about your past," said Beast Boy. "I mean, for one, I'm naturally curious about all of our pasts. But hey, considering how I've still been keeping myself so guarded about my own, I thought it would be a little counterintuitive of me to try to dig too deeply into anyone else's."
Raven nodded her head. "Like he said, we were curious, but we figured it just wasn't our place to ask you to talk about it. And besides, you and the others mostly respected my wishes to stay silent about my own past until the year before last year, so we all figured we might as well give each other, you included, the same courtesy."
"Yeah," Cyborg agreed. "And besides, considering how naturally open you tend to be, we figured that you'd just eventually tell us about it. So we didn't feel any need to rush you."
Starfire let out a brief chuckle. "And for that, I am glad." Then she took a deep breath yet again. "But yes, now, I indeed feel willing. Especially if you think it could help me feel better in the current circumstances."
"Like we said," said Robin. He nodded his head. "If you're willing and ready, then so are we." The other titans similarly admitted their agreement to this statement.
"If you say so," said Starfire. She lifted her head, mentally preparing herself for the story she was about to give to her friends about herself. "As you may recall, when we first met each other, I informed you of how my name is Starfire when translated in the English language of Earth. In the original native tongue of Tamaran, my name is Koriand'r." She hung her head. "Blackfire, my older sister, translates to Komand'r in Tamaranean. And our younger brother. . ."
At this point, Starfire noticeably paused, her green eyes briefly turning dull and misty from long bottled up sadness. "Is named Ryand'r, which translates in English as 'Wildfire'."
She steeled herself up, eager to avoid breaking down crying when she'd barely even begun her story. "Our parents were Emperor Myand'r and Empress Luand'r. As the rulers of Tamaran, they were often very busy, and left us in the care of our K'norfka, Galfore. But on the rare moments in which they did personally care for us, it was truly a great treasure." She hung her head. "And it was also not necessary for a genius's presence to tell which of us was the apparent favorite amongst us in their eyes."
"Growing up," Starfire continued, "I was quite the 'spoiled' as the people of Earth would say when it comes to how my parents treated me. Now, they did also love Wildfire a similarly large amount on account of how he was their only son and a lot like myself. But whenever they got the chance, our parents did everything in their power to ensure that I was kept aware of how much they loved me. For with few exceptions, they gave me everything; and I do mean everything. They even named me heir to the throne.
"The cost of this, however, was that Blackfire often continuously got the stick's short end." She shook her head side to side with her eyes closed. "And as you may have guessed, she hardly had, what one might call, the life of ease. For as far as personality goes, she was proud, arrogant, self-centered, and difficult to get to know. Even Galfore, patient as he was and hard as he tried, had difficulty working with her and appeared to enjoy working with me and Wildfire more than he enjoyed dealing with her.
"And her personality wasn't the only thing that worked against her," Starfire continued. "You may have noticed during our visit to Tamaran three years ago, how a considerable number of my people had the same hair and eye color as myself?
"Well as common as these traits are amongst the entirety of our people," Starfire continued, "they were points of considerable genetic pride amongst the royal family. And so, the people were understandably taken off the guard and uncertain what to think when Blackfire turned out to have the less common traits of black hair and purple eyes."
She sighed. "These traits, combined with her difficult personality, naturally brought more than a little perceived hardship upon her in her life; and that hardship only got worse and more abundant for her when our brother and I were born. But it was my getting named the heir to the throne that proved to be the bale of hay that broke the humped one's back."
She shuddered. "I'm not sure if I'd ever before seen her anywhere close to as angry as she was that day. I wanted more than anything to try to comfort her and reassure her that things would be alright. I truly did. But I was kept so busy with tasks that I ended up having to do as part of preparations for my future reign, and so many of our people, particularly Wildfire and Galfore, were so proud and excited for me that I felt like I would break their hearts if I weren't to go along with what they wished."
She opened her eyes. "The fact that I ended up becoming betrothed a few weeks after my being named as the heir certainly didn't help matters either."
"You were betrothed?!" Robin, Beast Boy, and Cyborg all yelled at once. Raven, while much quieter then the three boys, widened her own eyes in surprise.
"Yes," said Starfire. "I was. This was one of the few times my parents chose to stick as close to tradition as possible rather then go out of their way to ensure I'd get whatever was the first thing I believed I wanted. The groom that was ultimately chosen for me was Prince Karras of the southern states of Tamaran. And not only was he a prince, but he was also a high-ranking soldier in the Tamaranean military. And both his parents and mine thought we'd be an ideal match as rulers and lovers."
"How. Nice. Of them," Robin grumbled, his fists clenched.
Starfire continued, unaware of Robin's tight voice. "About three weeks before the wedding was to occur, Gordania declared war on Tamaran." She paused. "With war against the Gordanians now on the horizon, both my wedding to Karras and the coronation that was to follow, were pushed back to occur after the war was over, and eventually done away with altogether after . . . further developments."
Robin found himself guiltily mentally cheering with joy upon hearing the news about the fate of Starfire's prior engagement from before coming to Earth. He managed to steel himself into stopping. "What happened after that?"
"Well when the war began," Starfire responded. "Needless to say, everything was the changed. Everything was chaos and destruction, my sister and I very narrowly avoided potential drafting on account of our being princesses, and the fact that Wildfire had somehow mysteriously vanished from Tamaran several days before the fighting began didn't help matters either.
"For many months, the war continued raging," Starfire continued. "After a while, I was quite convinced that it would still be going on the day my 13th birthday was to be celebrated. But one day, around two months, maybe three, before my 13th birthday, the most unexpected thing occurred. That morning, the Gordanian leader Trogaar and his most trusted generals came to the palace under a flag of truce, requesting a meeting with my parents."
Starfire paused again. After about five whole minutes passed, the other Titans became quite confused. The instant they saw the look on Starfire's face, however, their curiosity became largely replaced with concern as to their friend's wellbeing. For at that very moment, the Tamaranean princess had her eyes shut tight and was visibly struggling to keep herself from breaking down into a sobbing wreck.
. . . . .
(Tamaran, Five Years Prior)
Starfire couldn't help but feel confused, yet hopeful, as she lounged on the supremely comfortable bed in her personal bedchamber. She had to admit, it was quite a miracle that the Gordanians, who for so many months now had been warring furiously against her people, were now apparently calling a truce. And the fact that they'd reached this point left her feeling quite hopeful indeed about how the war could soon come to a relatively peaceful end. But at the same time, with how much time had passed since the requested meeting between her parents and the Gordanian truce party had begun, the 12-year old Tamaranean princess couldn't help but worry about the potential for things not ending quite as well as she was currently hoping.
She sighed, placed her chin on her right palm, and drummed her left fingers across the surface of her bed. At times like this, she found herself wishing she were both old enough and sufficiently trained to be allowed to take part in meetings of such caliber as the one her parents were now involved in right that very moment. That way, she wouldn't have to be waiting bored in her bedchamber while the fate of her home was potentially decided upon in dramatic fashion.
She directed a glance at the closed doors to her bedchamber, sighed again, and then looked at the entrance to the balcony opposite the entrance. "I wish Wildfire were here," she thought to herself. "He always knew how to spin some form of entertainment out of a boring situation like this." She lowered her head so that it was resting on both of her palms. "At this rate, I'd even except Blackfire's company. Even her company would allow for at least some form of entertainment to break the monotony of this boring wait. Or maybe even Karras for that matter." She sighed in boredom, rolled over onto her back, and stared blankly at the ceiling. "By X'hal, why must this truce meeting take so long?"
The sound of footsteps came from outside her bedroom door, and Starfire's eyes widened. She sat up on her bed, turning her head to face the door. "What's going on?" she thought to herself. "Are the truce talks over? Is that my parents coming? Galfore? The Gordanians? What's going on?"
The footsteps finally came to a stop right behind the entrance to her bedchamber, and the doors opened. The young princess's eyes widened, and she smiled in joy at the sight of her parents standing at the door with Galfore right behind them.
She jumped off her bed and flew right to them. "Mother!" she yelled. "Father! K'norfka! You have finished! What's happening? Is the war over? Are we safe now? Will the Gordanians be leaving?"
But then she landed, lifted her face to look at them in the eyes, and her happy smile slowly faded as she finally got a good look at their faces. "Mother?" she asked worriedly. "Father? You look so worried. Is something wrong? Did the truce talks fail?" She briefly felt fear at this thought, for while she had dressed herself in battle appropriate clothing earlier that morning, she was understandably wary of it needing to prove necessary so alarmingly soon after an attempt at achieving peace.
Her father, Emperor Myand'r, sighed, and rubbed his hand wistfully through his curly dark red brown hair, his once proud and equally bushy mustache and beard now seeming to droop under the weight of the gray streaks that had developed. "No my little princess," he managed to say, though with clear effort to avoid stammering. "They did not fail. We have managed to agree to a ceasefire. The Gordanians will depart from Tamaran. All of them. And we have their word on good faith that they will leave our planet and people alone forever more from here on out."
Starfire's eyes widened. "You mean?"
"Yes," Myand'r responded. "The war is over."
"That's wonderful news," Starfire responded. Then she raised her eyebrow, her concern and worry still showing. "But, you, and mother, and K'norfka. . . you all look so sad. Why?"
"Because Starfire," her mother, Empress Luand'r responded, her green eyes so misty with unshed tears that they seemed to turn the exact same shade of gray as the streaks in her long bright reddish orange hair. "This end has come at a terrible, terrible, terrible cost."
Starfire's heart leapt up into her mouth, and she gulped. "What do you mean?" she managed to ask. "What happened?"
"We didn't want to," Luand'r whimpered, sniffling and fighting to keep herself from crying. "By X'hal we didn't want to."
"But the choice was no longer truly ours to make," said Myand'r. He took a deep breath, and shakily exhaled. "In fact, it was taken from and made for us just the previous night without our even knowing." He lifted his head up, mouth tensed shut as if to keep himself from crying. "All we could do," he then said. "Was to give it our reluctant blessing. It was . . . it was the only way left."
Starfire found herself feeling increasingly more nervous. "Father? What are you talking about? What's going on?"
Her father got down on one knee, placing his hand on her right shoulder. "I wish we had more time," he stammered. "I wish . . . I wish that we'd spent the last few months continuing to treat you exactly the way we did before this war . . . before your announcement day as heir even."
Starfire gazed fearfully at her father, gongs going off in her mind in alarm. "Father, you're scaring me," she managed to say. "What's happening?"
Her mother came forward, her father stepping back. Luand'r stared at Starfire for a few seconds, and then gave her a hug while laying her head on her daughter's shoulder. "If there had been any other way, we would have not hesitated to take it." She lifted her head, her eyes now even more on the verge of tears. "I know that your father and I didn't show it anywhere near as often as Galfore; but know this, your father and I do love you, Koriand'r."
Luand'r sniffled, stepped away from her daughter, and turned her head to face Galfore. "Galfore," she then said. "It is your turn. Please, do make it quick."
The heavyset Tamaranean man stepped forward. In that instant, Starfire took one look at her beloved K'norfka's face, and felt her heart sink further. In all her life, she had never seen him looking more on the verge of outright crying as he now appeared to be at that moment.
"K'norfka?" Starfire asked.
Galfore took a deep breath, clearly steeling himself up. Then he placed his arms around the young princess, gently lifted her up, and gave her a tender hug. "Forgive me little one; for I have failed you."
Starfire's eyes widened. "K'norfka! What are you saying? You could never fail me! Never!"
"But I have." Galfore shook his head side to side, his eyes closed in clear regret. "Koriand'r," he then stated. "Listen carefully; and by X'hal, please do not interrupt. I do not have much time, and you need to hear what I am now going to tell you." He lowered her back down to the floor, making sure she'd still be gazing straight into his eyes. "I may not be the one who sired you," he began. "But after all I've done for you and your siblings, I might as well be your real father. And for all that, regardless of what happens after today, promise you'll never forget me. No matter what."
"I could never forget you K'norfka," said Starfire. "By X'hal, I'd never forget you. Never."
"Good. Now secondly, regardless of whatever unfolds after today, you must never allow yourself to give up on your ability to feel joy. No matter what happens little one, never give up on your ability to feel joy. Even in the darkest of times, whatever joy you can feel, regardless of how small, you must grab onto it, hold on tight, and never let it go." He hung his head briefly, sniffling in the process. "X'hal knows you're going to need it."
"Finally," said Galfore, now really struggling to keep it together. "If you ever come across Wildfire. . ." He winced, then seemed to gasp for breath. "Tell him, Starfire. . . tell him I'm sorry."
"Galfore," said Starfire. "What are you talking about? What are you saying sorry for?"
Galfore hung his head, visibly quivering. "Goodbye Starfire."
"It is time."
The four Tamaraneans jolted in surprise, and they all looked towards the direction this new voice had come from. Much to Starfire's shocked horror, a trio of Gordanians that Starfire recognized as the truce party were standing right there.
Trying her best to put on a brave face, Starfire pointed her finger at them. "What are you doing here?" She looked at her parents. "Mother? Father? What are they doing here?"
"Claiming what is ours," growled the large Gordanian in the center, whom Starfire now remembered to be named Trogaar.
He signaled to his two generals, who nodded, and with a clash, followed by a swing, of their staves, Starfire was knocked in the back and sent flying away from Galfore and her parents and landed flat on her face at Trogaar's scaly feet. She lifted her head in time for Trogaar to bend on one knee and glare down at her.
"You've been sold," Trogaar hissed. "You are our property now. Our slave." A smug grin came on his face. "Turns out, you are not nearly as beloved as you thought. Apparently, there was one who appears to have hated you enough to meet up with us last night and sell you to us in exchange for our ceasing this war and leaving your precious planet."
For what seemed like forever in Starfire's eyes, the young princess gaped at the imposing Gordanian leader in disbelief. "No," she managed to say. "No. I don't believe that! I can't believe that! I won't!"
Trogaar chuckled. "You'd better believe it, your majesty," he stated mockingly. "Because it is the truth." He gestured at the area around him, as well as Starfire's still very saddened parents, and the enraged Galfore. "You'd better memorize all this, princess," he then hissed. "Not to mention better hope you've said all your goodbyes. Because from here on out, you will never see any of this again. EVER!"
At a deceptively fast speed, Trogaar straightened back up to full height and turned his back to the still stunned and disbelieving princess. He directed a backwards side glance towards his two generals. "Garzvohg! Yarboth!" The two generals directed their full attention towards their leader, who pointed at Starfire. "Seize her." He started walking away. "Make sure she's brought directly to the ship! And put her with the rest of the prime fighting stock we've gathered to be sold to the Citadel! She'll make a perfect additional fighter to sell once we leave this ridiculous planet!"
"With pleasure," the two generals hissed in unison.
They each grabbed Starfire by a wrist and yanked her up to her feet. She had just enough time to shriek in surprise before she then felt and saw them affix a pair of specially designed cuffs to her hands that both bound and covered them, so she couldn't use her star bolts.
Her eyes widened in horror. "No," she whimpered.
Then she was suddenly yanked forward, her feet dragging on the floor as the Gordanian generals pulled her away from her family and in the direction that would no doubt lead to their main ship. She kicked and writhed in her captors' tight grip as she struggled to free herself from them, shrieking and howling in rage and despair.
About halfway down the hallway, she heard the sound of Galfore and her parents adding their own voices into the mix. Evidently, he'd lost his nerve and wanted to stop her from being taken away. "Let go of me!" he roared. "You can't let them take her away like this!"
"We have to Galfore!" Myand'r yelled. "It's the only way!"
"Like Dahak it's the only way!" Galfore growled. He surged forward, Myand'r and Luand'r just barely keeping their grips on him intact and holding him back.
Trogaar heard this, and his eyes widened when he turned his head. "Hurry up you fools!" he shouted. "We can't let that brute catch up with us!"
"Yes my lord," the generals grunted as they subsequently increased their pace, Starfire shrieking in surprise at the sudden burst of speed in which she was dragged.
"I'll show you a brute!" Galfore bellowed, struggling further against his sovereign rulers' grips. "Let me at them! I won't let them take Koriand'r! I won't!"
"You must!" Luand'r whimpered, tears pouring from her eyes even as she worked desperately alongside her husband to hold the half angry and half despairing Tamaranean giant back from charging madly down the hall. "For the sake of all our people, you must!"
"Move it you idiots!" Trogaar snapped, now a considerable distance away from his generals and brand-new slave. "Move it!"
"No!" Galfore roared. With a single mighty leap, he broke free from Myand'r and Luand'r's grasp. But he'd only made it about five steps down the hall before multiple guards seemed to materialize from thin air and leap upon him in an effort to tackle him. For several minutes, Galfore continued to struggle and attempt to bull his way down the hall despite the multiple guards entering the fray and trying everything they could to bring him down.
In the end, it took 17 guards, plus Myand'r and Luand'r, tackling him all at once for him to be brought down hard upon the floor and pinned there while the Gordanians got closer and closer to exiting the hall with the still screaming and kicking Starfire in tow. And even despite this, he continued to try to struggle out from under them.
"Get off of me you fools!" Galfore yelled. "Doomsday device or no doomsday device, this isn't right!"
"We have to Galfore!" Myand'r bellowed, nearly in tears himself at this point. "Do you really think we'd be doing this right now if there were any other way!?"
"Mother!" Starfire yelled. "Father! Galfore! Please! Stop them! Don't let them take me!"
"Starfire!" Galfore shouted. "Starfire! No!"
"Galfore!" Starfire screamed, her eyes nearly in tears as her Gordanian handlers pulled her further and further away from her beloved K'norfka. "Help me! Somebody please! Help me!"
"STARFIRE!"
. . . . .
(Present Day)
Starfire sniffled, tears streaming down her face as she remembered that terrible day she'd been forcibly taken from Tamaran. "I had never felt more simultaneously saddened, angry, and panicked then I did that day as I was dragged out of the palace and placed aboard the main ship of the Gordanian fleet."
She hung her head. "I remember fighting and putting up a fuss every step of the way that I was dragged by my captors. Even when I'd already been successfully brought onto the ship and was being carried through the hallways towards where they kept the 'fighting stock' they'd gathered, I continued struggling against them."
She took a deep breath. "I still don't know for certain how much time passed in which I was locked away in that ship. But what I do know is that the ship was passing by Earth's vicinity when I finally smashed against the door enough to bust it down. From that point, I was able to break out of the ship, fly to Earth, and the rest, as your kind would say, is the history."
"Star," Robin said, sadness clear in his tone from the weight of what his girlfriend had just confessed.
"Oh, God," said Cyborg.
"Dude," said Beast Boy. "I still can't believe you were sold to those things."
Raven nodded her head solemnly, still slightly in disbelief herself. While she had been somewhat aware of bits and pieces of Starfire's history thanks to the exchange of information she and Starfire had made during their first encounter with the Puppet King, only now was she aware of the things that Starfire had chosen to keep hidden over the course of that discussion.
Now that she thought about it, she now had a strong suspicion of just who had sold Starfire to the Gordanians. This suspicion was strengthened considerably by the fact that Blackfire had been rather conveniently absent at the time that Starfire's parents and Galfore had come to say their goodbyes. Not to mention the timing of all these events seemed to add up disturbingly well to the timing of Blackfire's first visit to Earth.
But at the same time, thanks to her empathic reading on Starfire's emotions, Raven now decided it was best for her to keep silent on her misgivings for now. For as she could tell from reading the Tamaranean's emotions, Starfire, while aware of how much Blackfire hated her now, didn't want at all to believe that her older sister had hated her that much even back then, let alone enough to coldly sell her to the Gordanians in exchange for peace between Tamaran and Gordania.
"To this day," Starfire continued, "I still do not know who was responsible for selling me to the Gordanians. The Gordanians themselves never found it necessary to tell me while I was their prisoner. While I was willing to ask Galfore about it during our visit to Tamaran 3 years ago, his asking if I truly wanted to know was enough for me to know that he still found the subject too painful to talk about. And so I chose to respect his wishes to not discuss it."
Raven, however, now had another thought on her mind. "Starfire?" she asked. "Forgive me if you find this more uncomfortable then what you've already told us. But in light of how Blackfire was empress when we first arrived on Tamaran during that visit, combined with our never meeting your parents that time, I'm assuming something bad must have happened to them while you were gone from Tamaran."
For several minutes there was dead silence between the titans. Starfire finally spoke just as the other Titans, Raven included, were starting to wonder if perhaps maybe they'd now gone a little too far in their curiosity.
"I suppose I should have suspected something along those lines when I received the message to come home from that year from a simple messenger rather than my parents themselves."
She took a deep breath. "But at that time, I suppose I felt so happy about visiting my birth planet after two years of being separated from there and curious about who my apparent groom to be at the time was that I chose not to dwell on that issue."
She hung her head. "It wasn't until I had a talk with Galfore while in my old bedchamber preparing for the wedding that I mustered up the courage to ask him what had happened to my parents." She took a deep breath, and then exhaled.
"What happened?" Beast Boy asked. "Did Blackfire kill them?"
"Beast Boy," Robin growled.
"No friend," Starfire responded. "She did not." She sighed. "Though what did happen to them was not necessarily any the better."
She lifted her head. "As Galfore was able to put it after some hesitation, in the time that immediately followed my departure from Tamaran, my parents hit the bottom of the rock. They were beside themselves with grief over my loss to the Gordanians. And not only that, but they were also similarly in grief over how Blackfire had apparently departed from Tamaran not too long after my own departure, as well as over Wildfire's disappearance from before the fighting began."
"But wouldn't they have hoped that he could still return?" Raven asked.
"Not in their minds," Starfire responded. "In their grief, they assumed that he had been killed by the Gordanians." She hung her head once more, sniffling in the process. "And to make matters worse, they shut themselves away in their bedchambers, and stationed guards outside the doors to discourage all visitors. Not even Galfore was allowed inside to see them while they grieved." She sniffled again. "Unfortunately, this also extended to all the servants, and even the ones responsible for feeding and providing water. And in the end. . ." She whimpered, clearly on the verge of tears. "Just a couple months or so after mine and Blackfire's departure from Tamaran, their grief . . . killed them."
She started crying again, but in a comparatively restrained way compared to earlier in her story. "On rare occasions," she managed to sputter out, "I think about the last time I ever saw them, and feel all too well the pain of how, just that one moment, I had the chance to at least give them a proper goodbye. But that I was too confused and frightened at the time, and in the end . . . I . . . exploded it."
In that instant, Starfire completely lost it. Her arms slammed on the dashboard of her compartment, her head slammed upon her arms, and she broke down weeping. The other Titans remained silent in their seats, saddened and wishing to comfort Starfire, but too uncertain on what to do or say.
Cyborg nodded his head, a tear coming out of his human eye. Raven closed her eyes, hung her head, and sighed. Beast Boy, his ears drooped, stared helplessly at Starfire. Robin also stared helplessly at his girlfriend, wanting more than anything to hug her and comfort her.
Eventually, Starfire finished crying, lifted her head, and wiped the remainder of her tears. "I apologize for that friends." She gazed back into the space outside her window. "All that said, there was another thing Galfore ended up telling me after he gave me the news about my parents."
"What was that?" Beast Boy asked.
"It turns out," said Starfire. "Galfore had known where Wildfire was during the war, and had in fact sent him away from Tamaran before the fighting even began."
The other titans' eyes widened upon hearing this.
"He sent Wildfire away," Starfire responded. She nodded her head. "You see, as he explained to me, in the event that anything were to have happened to me and Blackfire over the course of the war, Wildfire would have been the only one remaining to serve as heir to the throne. He was also not entirely skilled at combat compared to Blackfire, myself, and the warriors of Tamaran's army. And so, for his own safety, he had Wildfire sent to an out of the way back of the water planet that the Gordanians would not have had any interest in exploring, with the plan to call him back when the time was right. And, again for Wildfire's own safety, Galfore took great care to make sure that only he knew of exactly where Wildfire was."
"Well then why didn't he tell your parents about that after you were taken?" Beast Boy asked.
"Beast Boy, use your head," said Raven. "Her parents had placed guards at the entrance to their bedchamber under orders to turn away any and all visitors while they were grieving, remember?"
"You are correct friend," said Starfire. "Galfore explained to me when I asked him the same question as friend Beast Boy, he wanted to tell them. He really truly did. But every time he tried, the guards turned him away. And as a result, he never got the chance. And to make matters worse, several weeks after he'd finished grieving the deaths of my parents alongside the rest of Tamaran, he secretly visited the planet he'd placed Wildfire, only to find that, at some point in the interim, Wildfire had already departed." She sighed. "And to this day, he still hasn't figured out where he is."
"I'm sure I would have loved to meet him," Robin said solemnly.
"You would have," said Starfire, a half-saddened smile on her face. "You all would have loved to meet him."
"I can imagine," said Beast Boy. He nodded his head. "There is one question I'd still like to ask right now though."
"What is it friend?"
"This Citadel place," the changeling responded. "I remember you mentioned it to us the night you first arrived in Jump City after escaping the Gordanians. Specifically, you described it as 'not nice' when we asked you who they were. But, after hearing about it again in your story just now, I can't help but wonder just how bad this Citadel place is."
Starfire shuddered, and shook her head side to side. "Like I said," she began. "Not nice." She looked warily towards the star filled sky outside her compartment. "This race of beings were once the supreme rulers of a vast tyrannical empire that once expanded across at least 22 planets from the same star system as Tamaran. While Tamaran was thankfully not amongst those planets, we always lived under the fear of that fate someday coming upon us. And what's worse, due to the terms of a treaty that was made between their empire's founders and the Guardians of the Universe, the entirety of the Citadel Empire, including Tamaran's solar system, was locked out of the judicial range of the Green Lanterns. And the fact that the Guardians and early members of the Corp were apparently so willing to just allow the Citadel to do as they please without fear of punishment has made my people feel grudgingly respectful at best towards the lanterns and outright hateful of them at worst. However, over the course of several wars and uprisings against them, the Citadel have largely lost a vast amount of the land and influence they used to hold." She looked back towards her friends. "Nowadays, they've mostly been driven off back to the system they used to be confined to before the expansion of their empire. And on their home planet, they've set up a vast arena where they hold intergalactic gladiator matches. And from what the Gordanians said while I was under their custody, I was to be sold alongside a considerable number of other combat capable beings, robots, and animals to serve as one of the latest fighters in that very arena."
"And they get away with it?" Robin asked, disgust clear in his voice.
"Sadly yes," Starfire responded. "For as much as their empire has diminished, their treaty with the Guardians still stands. And under that treaty's terms, any intervention against the Citadel within the borders of their Empire would violate the treaty and incite the Citadel to declare war on the entirety of the sectors under the Corps' protection."
Robin and the other boys sighed grudgingly, and Raven nodded her head in resignation at the injustice of it all.
"But never mind that," said Starfire, clearly working to prop herself back up to her usual happiness. "What matters now is that I wasn't sold to the Citadel and that I am now instead a happy member of the Titans of the people of Earth."
"And we couldn't be happier for it," Robin agreed.
"Yeah, and I'll bet bird boy's especially glad that your prior engagement to that Karras dude is almost certainly no more, considering you're now dating him, not to mention the whole 'almost wedding' business three years ago."
At the sound of this, Robin glowered witheringly at Cyborg.
Starfire found herself giggling. "Also, very true," she managed to say.
Beast Boy chuckled, Raven rolled her eyes, and Robin slammed his face on his compartment's dash board in embarrassment.
All of a sudden, Starfire's gems started blinking, and her green eyes widened. The other titans' own eyes widened as well upon sight of this. Starfire hurriedly drew out her communicator and answered the apparent call. "What's happening?" she asked
"Princess Starfire," shouted the voice of the Tamaranean captain of the guard. "You and your friends must join up with us immediately! We need your help!"
"From what?!" Starfire asked.
"Um Star?"
Starfire turned her head towards Robin, who was pointing his finger toward the area far in front of the T-Ship. "I think I can see your answer to that question."
Starfire and the other Titans looked ahead, and their eyes widened at the sight they found.
The huge royal Tamaranean ship had come to a stop, and was under attack. And as if that weren't enough, the assailants seemed particularly unnerving and out of place. Flying around the Tamaranean ship were a bunch of blimp sized spaceships that seemed to resemble ominous, slightly zigzag shaped black clouds, with two glowing red 'eyes' on the fronts that were firing resplendent red lasers.
But these ships weren't the only assailants. There was also what appeared to be a swarm of what looked like black cloaks made of shadows squirming all over various areas of the giant Tamaranean ship. And as the titans watched, some of these living shadow cloaks raised their 'hands' and sent torrents of what looked like shadowy flame blazing towards whatever their hands were aiming towards.
Starfire fought off her sense of awe and horror at this sight and spoke back into her communicator. "Captain," she said. "These assailants. Are they . . .?"
"Yes," said the captain. "These are indeed the Umbrosians. They have found us."
And just like that, another chapter finished and posted! I hope you all enjoyed what I have to offer this time around. I especially hope I did a good job with properly doing justice to Starfire's origin story retelling in this chapter (especially the flashback; one of my favorite scenes I've written for this story so far). And for those who weren't already familiar with the comic backstory of Starfire, I hope I've allowed you to learn some interesting (and also fairly tragic, among other things) information about our favorite happy go lucky Tamaranean princess. And in case you hadn't already figured out, the words that are in bold during the flashback part of this chapter? That signifies that the characters are speaking in Tamaranean. And furthermore, I do hope that the ending of this chapter leaves you plenty hungry for more. All that said, I again hope that you all enjoyed reading this chapter and leave plenty of feedback (remember, I require an exact minimum of two reviews for this chapter before the next finished and approved chapter gets posted).
Coming up Next: The Titans finally have their very first proper encounter with the Umbrosians.