"Forget the times we fought another.

Repeat the days we cherished."

Breath by breath, oh inch by inch, we slip from this reality ruled by pain and hurt and into a dream, the only place where drops of blood spurt bundles of flowers instantly. Where our fingertips paint sunsets on concrete, where tears are only of joy, and where a song is so easy to sing.

Breath by breath, oh inch by inch, Starfire began to slip. Beneath the gas that swelled within her cell, she lied unfolded upon the cold ground, beaming at such a familiar face above, violently screaming her name.

No words she heard—just the slamming of her sister's fists and the dramatic unhinging of her mouth she saw. Her beaming, just beaming, her eyelids began to flutter into a close. A pulse shook her body into a violent hiccup, sending a tear to seep. A burst of a blinding white and all else began to fade away.

"Find what is true even in the dark.

Relive the sight, oh, let it be our wish"

A pain plunged deep the hard heart of an empath. "Starfire?"

*Boom!*

Red was thrown from the distance!

Three seconds Raven! Three. She shot to it level, above the white sand. Two. She lifted the heavy weight of two arms, sparking with black, clasping them suddenly! Three!

"RAH!" She struck down her arms, summoning an up-splash of black goo into a collision of power! Black fused into red, two orbs of swirling color violently gnawing at each other and BOOM! Red and black fireworks shot to the air, flicking heavy lights upon an airborne three drowning in the burst of color.

From the bundle of smoke, she plummeted, hitting the prison-top roof with mighty force. Against the steel's whack, she tumbled forward. Roll, roll, roll, and black out. She called herself to wake, finding herself dangling off the side of the roof. With a heaving breath, she pulled her torso from the edge and from another the plummet, collapsing back into inconstant safety. Covering the pulsing pain, she placed her hand upon her rib-cage.

"Come on!" Her hand glowed with black, reaping the pain from her injury. "You have to heal faster!"

The rumbling of open fire! A flock of gray mist, swirling with ashes, pushed itself across the pink sky, devouring every sense of hue. Soon, oh so soon, the dying world dissolved into black and white—and the shades of gray that lied between the scale.

Scanning his fingertips—oh how gray his pigment had become—Robin recoiled, lashing his head from to the north. In the south, they witnessed the suns struggling to break free of their keepers, misting in gray clouds. To scan the sky, they did to find odd alien birds, three headed and lovely, fleeing from the white narrow desert that straddled the bases of two cliffs that would put the Appalachians to shame. A firework's blast blew from behind, swishing a rush of heat to consume the air around—and from the black-ripped desert, Robin tucked what beat him into sorrow and continued to look forward.

"I can't see her anymore!" Cyborg lunged his head to and fro in search of a black hooded friend. If Tamaran hits the UFE, that's it's—"

"…war..."

*Boom!*

"…three…" Robin croaked, his head stiffly thrown to where the empath fell-the area eclipsed by the blind spot where the three, one flapping desperately despite the angst, could not see. "…two…" The red swarm of violent energy pushed forward, brushing shadows of red upon their faces. His hand clutched his mouth, "…one…"

Suddenly, a black wave shot from the ground! It swung into the air viciously, unraveling like dark fabric, bundling such red tightly and chewing it down furiously! A pause and sound toppled sound, the scene to only wash out in white!

Moments passed and they, the watchers from above, witnessed the raining ashes and an empath rising back into hover, triumphantly.

Oh how their cheers penetrated the aura of darkness that shrouded the war scene! With mighty passion enough to uphold boulders, they soared up the U.F.E ship, flapping through the mist that lurked around each new height. In the clutch of his friend, Robin lifted his arms like wings, delighting in the sailing flight. The wind carelessly tousled his hair like black blades of grass. In a leg's distance, the side of the ship was—running past the team who soared higher… higher… higher.

"Uh Robin!" A hoarse voice sounded, "I think we have a new problem!"

Suddenly, a canon, the same canon that shot the Titans down in space, unfolded from the bow of the ship, positioning into the depths of hell about to break lose. In crescendos of ear-splitting noise, the faint light it provoked blasted into action—ready to go.

"…oh boy…"

"You are the light to me, you must spread it for me now.

Do not let it fade, hold it tight, be the key to light."

A flash of sight—her sister wailing inches above, shaking her shoulders, her strong frame eclipsing the image of the hole blasted into the cross of bars.

A sensation of touch—melted metal dripped down, splattering inky droplets upon the two girls.

A clasp of sound—shouting.

A muffling sound shook through her palm clasped around her mouth. "S-Starfire!" *Cough* "Can you hear me?"

"Blackfire!" A voice fired from afar. "You need to get out of here! The gas! Intake!"

"I'm strong enough!"

A tiny voice, hoarse, solemn, a little scared, but brave, shook, its holder in the arms of her sister. "B-Blackfire…"

"Starfire! I can't undo your bonds without blasting off your hands! Tell me how!"

Starfire hacked violently, the coughing sent jolts throughout her body. Gas swarmed between the two and the girl of red locks that spilled upon the floor lifted her massive weight in her arms to lightly touch the tear-stained cheek of her sister. She breathed heavily and her own tears broke from her green-glossed eyes. Then, her arm fell dramatically upon the floor and Starfire gestured a blink. Blackfire followed her arm and looked up from it. There, upon the wall, a belt swung to the rush of the moment.

"Blackfire!" She took a dramatic turn, wide-eyed at Batman slamming himself against the bars, barking, "Robin's belt! Get Robin's belt!"

In a flightless leap, Blackfire whirled to the far wall, swiped the golden belt from its hook, and scampered back to her sister, coughing violently in the rampage of tamaranean poison.

Batman yelled back, "There is a pick in the second compartment!"

"Pick?" *Cough* "I had to blast through bars! You want me to believe a pick will work?"

Wonder Woman roared forth, "It unlocked Tamaranean cuffs once! It can do it again!"

"Hush my little light you are safe.

The morning will rise to end the night

Let it come up on the sky for us."

Over destruction, grayness, and exploding lights, they soared—hearts heavy. They scanned the arms of the universe and the planet they stood upon. That planet, dying with a rosy hue, was littered with men and aliens labeled in armies of black and purple. The three clutched their hearts, watching the collision of fireworks scar the planet in blinding colors, smoke, ashes… darkness…

Labeled and sorted into groups, those armies were—small, looking as ants. Earth: trained to hate the enemies in purple. Tamaran: trained to hate the enemies in black. Not a name or a face was hated, but a race for a general reason—but because one was tamaranean—because one was earthen. Robin clutched his head.

A memory took Robin back to Tower, lying next to a girl in stillness of a moonlight night.

"When she was three years our junior, a civil war left Tamaran… in… in ruins."

Below the nose of the ship they hovered over, The United Forces of Earth was. The height allowed them to see the sea of black before the prison, their armor highlighted by the explosions in the sky. The yellow lights spat strikes of lightning into the battle field and frantically, they, as two armies perched upon two hillsides that glared another strait in the mouth of their chasms, scanned the sky waiting for damage to be dealt. A great wind blew, hushing chaos into eerie silence.

"A cease fire?" Cyborg blinked helplessly.

"Gives Raven a break, but not sure if I trust this." Robin furrowed in his perch.

Next, he paused and another memory spawned in the depths of his mind.

'…starfire, what is right for me? I don't know what I'm supposed to do now…'

"…Beast Boy…" Robin tapped the side of his friend in flight, then took a deep breath from the skyline. He croaked, avoiding eye-contact of his friends, "I need you to let me down here."

"Robin…" Cyborg reached out and clutched his shoulder, "Not on the UFE. Roak's not gonna listen to—"

"Friends, it must not end this way. There is something I must do, I can feel it."

"We can't keep waiting. I can't let it end this way." He took a deep breath, eyes locked nearby balcony, peaking over the warzone. "There is something I must do. I can feel it."

Cyborg gave a quick glimpse of a grin and nodded solemnly.

"Seems so long ago when she was with us."

Robin nodded solemnly, now on the back of his friend in flight. "And she will be soon." With bravery, he drew up his breath, then looked back to his friend. "Cyborg, I need you to do whatever you can to stop the UFE's canons."

"Robin. You sound like you're going to… What are you planning to do?"

At the cue of the balcony—two got off and one flew into a perch, shifting back into a boy. He grew a voice. "Is this a goodbye?"

Robin huffed into a brief laugh gave a weak smile—one suppressed by sorrow. "No." He took the elbow of his friend. "But I will see you soon. Beast Boy, I need you to distract the armies in any way possible—maybe we can give Starfire enough time!"

"Right!"

Robin stood for a salute—only to be pulled into a crushing embrace against four arms. Slowly, they beckoned from another, finally returning the salute. After a moment, rumbling roared—their feet upon the ship to feel the vibration. They parted, nodding to another—Cyborg on the back of morphed Beast Boy and Robin into the depths of the UFE at the swing of a door.

They—a phoenix and a man upon its back—penetrated the clouds in burst of water, vertically soaring to the ship's top.

"Beast Boy!" Cyborg barked! "Bank left!"

At the maneuver of a ride of a G-force, they swung to the direction—the bird's wings outspread majestically in the running of wind. Tightly, Cyborg clasped his legs against his flight and plunged his torso to that rush, launching his arm to the air. Nearing a Earthen cannon, his own activated. In a breathless flight, oh they drew near! Closer, closer, and!

*BOOM!*

"Booyah!"

An electric blue shot from Cyborg, consuming the scene in a sky blue sparks, fizzing against the ship. Another blast shot! Dead on! Another swing from the right! Out of the smoke, they erupted, Beast Boy flapping frantically. Cyborg to plunge his head below to watch the haze clear away—no good.

At the break of the wind's uproar, they reached the roof, struggling against the sudden change of current. Down upon the surface, they fell and tumbled, feeling the cold lick of the metal while crashing into wooden cargo boxes conveniently placed to break the fall. Pushing himself upon his feet, Cyborg brushed of his scratches, pulling Beast Boy from his fall.

"Looks like we're not gonna be taking them out from the outside, B." He watched the smoke rise to their level. "I've got an idea."

"I will come with you!"

"No, B." His tone was monotone as he placed his hand upon his shoulder. "You heard Robin. Starfire needs you to do stall as much as possible."

"But Cyborg. I-I'm so—How can I—"

"Beast Boy. No one knows how to ruin plans like you." He gave a snicker, then continued again. "P.S. I spy a roof, a bat, and a ball. Be a better batter than me."

"Wha?"

Beast Boy watched his brother go and at the heavy shut of the metal door. He solemnly rose his hand for question and scanned the emptiness around him. No sisters. No brothers. He clutched his head and urged himself to chuck something over the edge in to that war. He paused—waited for a moment, letting the wind stir. Maybe they were not separated, he thought. To fight as one even when apart they were. He had heard them himself—they all had a role in this war. Maybe it was time to find his own. To the cargo box, he looked to that something to chuck and shot the distance a sly grin.

He read the labels aloud: "Fireworks." He rubbed his chin. "Distract the armies as much as possible. I think I can do that."

On impulse, he looked left and looked right, furtively shifting into a green gorilla. With a grunt, he ripped open the wooden crate, carelessly tossing the planks on the floor. Shifting back into a boy, he reached in and grabbed a rock-like solid—small, black, and the size of a fist.

"This?" He eyed it suspiciously. "Explosive?"

He looked around where an empty roof seemed to the blend in with the heavens. He scanned a long wooden plank, slung it over his shoulder, furrowed his brows, and proceeded to the edge, smiling at far off a memory.