[I do not own Teen Titans or any characters mentioned in this story. I finally got someone to talk to me about this ship, I'm so happy. When I get done with this story I may open another one that focuses on this ship, I really want to.]
Mammoth hated this. He hated being tied down, chained up in some random holding cell like an animal. He'd been treated like a chained animal his whole life - by the ringmaster, by Brother Blood, by most prison wardens.
Mammoth was bone tired. He could barely feel his own arms, and when he tried to move them they ached and groaned in the effort. He had been trying aimlessly all night to break from the black chains his strange looking captors had locked him in. Honestly, Mammoth felt ashamed of himself. There were only two chains, one secured to each of his wrists, connected to either wall. And yet, he wasn't strong enough to break them. He wasn't strong enough to break the chains, he wasn't strong enough to escape, and he wasn't strong enough to save Starfire.
Starfire.
Who knows what happened to Starfire. They could be torturing her, hurting her, making her cry and it was all Mammoth's fault for not being strong enough to save her in the first place.
Mammoth gave in and tried to do what Starfire told him. He sat down, relaxed, and he breathed. He closed his eyes and instead of thinking of everyone who'd hurt him, everyone he'd get vengeance on, he thought of the people he cared about, who he wanted to protect.
Even though it took until several years after the fall of the HIVE, Kyd Wykkyd was the first friend Mammoth made. He listened when no one else would, and tried in earnest to help ease Mammoth's conscious. See-More was the second, the friend that would do everything in his power to make Mammoth happy when he was sad. And then...Starfire. Starfire was the first person he'd ever met to not immediately back away from him, instead approaching him first in most fights. She was his enemy, but she was kind, smart, beautiful, brave, strong, nice - she was in danger.
Mammoth brought his hands together with a cry of determination, the chains snapping as if they were no more than toys. Mammoth didn't give himself enough time to jump for joy, instead already charging his way through the bars of the cage, then running for his life through the hallways of the prison-like area they were in.
He charged straight through any captors that stood in his way, his mind only screaming that he couldn't let Starfire get hurt, no one else could get hurt because he wasn't strong enough.
Mammoth just kept running and running, slowly gathering a medium sized cluster of captors behind him, trying to get close enough to prod him with spears that had electrical wires coming from them. As Mammoth approached what looked like a dead end, he finally caught eye of a familiar head of unnaturally red hair.
Mammoth charged through the bars with a yell of her name, sliding into a crouch next to Starfire and immediately looking around her body for any marks of abuse from their captors.
Both the teens' attention was suddenly caught by a low humming sound, and right before their eyes the bars Mammoth had destroyed fixed and repurpose themselves. Now the dull black bars grew back, but they were a strange color of aqua, and seemed to be charged with some kind of energy that Mammoth didn't really want to test.
Mammoth turned to apologize for everything.
"I'm sorr-"
He was cut short by Starfire wrapping her arms around his neck in a hug, so desperately happy not to be alone anymore.
"...I...U-um…" Mammoth said nervously, his large hands shaking at the fingers as he held his arms away from Starfire's still hugging body.
"I could crush you if we were on Earth, and since your powers are dampened anyway, I don't think you'll hurt me any if you hug me, friend Mammoth." Starfire assured, knowing what it was like to constantly feel excluded and alone by not being able to interact with those with weaker bodies.
Mammoth slowly, ever so carefully wrapped his arms around Starfire, returning the hug and breaking into smiles when he realizes it wasn't hurting her.
"Are you sure your okay?" Mammoth asked after Starfire finally broke the hug.
"I am...adequate." Starfire answered, looking away.
"...What's wrong? You can tell me, I'll listen." Mammoth assured, sitting Indian style next to Starfire and leaning against the back wall with her.
"...I could understand only one word of what our captors were shouting at us earlier." Starfire said, still refusing to look Mammoth in the eye.
"Oh yeah?" Mammoth asked.
"...Slave." Starfire said meekly, determined not to turn and let Mammoth see the tears pricking her eyes. She glared down at the ground, angry at her eyes for betraying her trust.
"...You...you do not know...what it is like. None of the Titans do either, they could never understand. To be...to be treated like filth, to be abused and malnourished and hated for being who you are. To be forced to sit and smile while they scream insults and throw objects at you. To be gawked at! To be marveled as if you are a freak of The Creator's hands! To- To-!" Starfire said, slowly getting louder as her anguish grew.
"I know." Mammoth said solemnly.
"...No! I do not believe you do!" Starfire said indignantly.
"Have you ever been a circus freak, princess? It's pretty similar. Every day they haul you out of the dark little box they keep you in, and they put you on display. And you have to stand there and take it while they laugh and they throw things and they insult your pride over and over and over again because that's your job. You have to sit and smile because your ringmaster doesn't have to feed you. He doesn't have to let you sleep tonight, or let you see your sister ever again." Mammoth said, his voice unmoving, unchanging as he shared something no one knew but Blood. Starfire was stunned into silence.
"...I'm...I'm so sorry." Starfire said, finally turning and letting Mammoth see the tears falling down her cheeks.
"...me too." Mammoth said in a strained voice, tears pricking his own eyes.
They sat in silence for a while after that, just leaning on the same wall and staring at the ceiling, not daring to break the silence and the anguish they were both reliving.
"...Mammoth?" Starfire said in a meek, small voice.
"...Yeah?" He asked, not looking away from the ceiling.
"...I am afraid." Starfire admitted, her voice cracking in between words.
Mammoth slowly, as to give her a chance to move away, picked the alien girl and set her in his lap, hugging her around her shoulders and warming her body that was freezing from the cell.
"Don't be. I wasn't strong enough for Selinda, or for my mom or my dad. But when you're around it's different. I'm stronger with you."
"I'll be strong enough to save us, I promise."
[Being hugged by Mammoth would be so nice, like hugging a giant grizzly bear. Read and Review please!]