Chapter Two
The Titans had a somewhat disappointing lunch at their favorite pizza joint. There was no joy when they weren't being entertained by, and nearly pleading, an alien girl to not put mint cream, bananas, and jalapenos on a pizza together. The cheese pizza and meat lovers pizza seemed incredibly boring when it arrived. Robin sipped his water, watching a long string of cheese trail towards Beast Boy's mouth as he crammed another piece down his throat. Down below, he heard the noise of traffic was alive and loud as the day waned into early afternoon. Beast Boy gave Cyborg a side eye as the robot-man piled his meat lovers pizza away without a second thought. Raven ate her pizza silently, occasionally glancing to the distracted leader who had only had two cups of water and no pizza. The sorceress knew better than to go broadcasting in his mind and he was well aware if she was picking at his thoughts. Robin was the only one she could not deceive with her powers. She was the Titan who saw everything, though. Raven herself knew Starfire was acting strange. Raven had watched Starfire fall directly out of the sky that morning. Just like her own powers, Starfire's were derived from emotions. But Robin was the most torn up about the strangeness of her demeanor. He swirled his straw around his cup, watching the ice cubes shift. He recounted that morning of falling through the air with her. They dropped like dead weights. His entire mind was preoccupied with the worst thoughts. Did it have something to do with Blackfire? Was Tamaran in trouble? It had to have been something horrible. He only felt worse when he realized she was at home by herself while he sat in the eccentric downtown pizza joint.
"So Pancake Saturday's are officially on hiatus?" Beast Boy asked, draining his Sprite. "Just like that?"
"Yeah... I guess so," Robin shrugged, placing his head in his hand. He sucked through his straw for the rest of his water. "I'm gonna get a refill. Beast Boy?"
"Oh, thanks, dude," Beast Boy held his cup out. "Can you mix everything together? But go easy on the Coke." Robin went back inside without another word and Beast Boy sighed from his stool, slumping his shoulders. "Man, what're we gonna do?"
"What can we do?" Raven lifted her dark eyes. "We can't fix something that Starfire won't admit is broken."
"Yeah, Rae's right," Cyborg shrugged, dabbing his face of grease. The pizza pan in front of him was empty, the tin gleaming in the afternoon light. "What are we supposed to do? Starfire just needs time to process whatever the heck is going on."
"You know she's sad when she doesn't even feel like flying back home," Beast Boy said.
"She can't fly," Raven told him and both the Titans looked at her with perplexed faces. "When we were flying to find Mumbo, she fell right out of the sky. I had to take them the rest of the way. And she didn't fire a single starbolt during the whole ordeal."
"Well, we gotta do something," Beast Boy brought his fists down on the table. "Starfire can't just lose her powers! She's a Teen Titan!"
"What do you suggest then?" Raven's face remained stoic and still. She set her pizza down. "Cyborg and Robin hold her down so you can play Sherlock Holmes and finally have an excuse to wear that ugly detectives coat you got at the resale shop?"
Beast Boy gave her a look. "I'm just trying to figure out solutions."
"Well, shut up, 'cause Robin's coming back," Cyborg elbowed him. The assumed leader of the Titans seated himself quietly, passing Beast Boy's fizzy monster-soda across the table to him. Robin had brought himself water back again and resigned to only drinking from it some more. "Yo, Robin, those two pieces of pizza have your name on them. Might wanna claim them before Beast Boy does."
"I'm not hungry," Robin told him evenly.
"Not hungry?" Beast Boy echoed, his face clearly hurt by his friend's pain. "But Robin, we just kicked some Amazing Mumbo-butt today! Pizza always takes the edge off."
Robin downed his water and stood. "Then finish it." And with that he turned, heading down the stairs on the far side of the balcony.
...
Robin also walked back to Titans Tower and as he pulled himself around the rigid rocks, he just had to sigh and pause. He could feel the cool mist of the sparkling ocean as it washed up against the sturdy foundation of their home. He didn't like what he was feeling. It was a feeling of anxiety. He prided his whole being on helping all of those around him. But he found himself frustrated in that moment. Robin kicked a small rock, watching it thunk down towards the tide. Starfire was his best friend. They were so close. How could she shut him out like this during an obvious time of need? What was it that prevented her from telling Robin the truth? Was she ashamed? Was she frightened? Whatever it was, Robin was convinced the only way through it was together. But why didn't she think so after leaning on each for so long that she couldn't come to him about this? What wouldn't he understand? Robin's mind was abuzz with so many questions as he tilted his head to observe the massive T structure. It made him feel small compared to everything around him. He took the elevator to the top floor, his arms crossed over his chest, as he listened to the mechanical tracks take him up. Again, he was confronted with a silent hallway. Just down the hall to the left was Starfire's room but Robin could not make himself move in that direction. Instead, he continued straight, deciding he would hit the gym.
It wasn't long before the rest of the crew showed up. Robin heard Cyborg and Beast Boy's voices carry down the hallway as they began putting bets on the next round of Monkey Kart. Robin paid it no mind as he sent punch after punch into the bag, doing quick darts, and bouncing on his feet. Spinning about deftly on the ball of his foot, he landed a kick that just about knocked the entire set down. He paused, his shoulders rising and falling. He didn't feel any better. He raked his hair from his face and turned to grab his jump rope, but stopped short when he realized Raven was standing in the doorway. Her arms were crossed over her chest as she watched his tense movement.
"How long have you been standing there?" Robin asked, snagging the jump rope down and dragging it to the center of a mat.
"Long enough," Raven shrugged, coming further into the room. "Look, none of us know what's going on. We're as in the dark about it as you are. But we have to learn to accept Starfire's time line of things. If she wants to talk to us about it, she will. Beside... you know Starfire. For all we know, a pet she used to have on Tamaran passed away." She watched as Robin jumped up and down, picking up speed with his rope. Raven came to stand in front of the disgruntled leader, his black hair coming loose from its gel and falling to frame his face. "You can be as annoyed or upset as you'd like, but it's no reason to take it out on someone like Beast Boy whose only trying to be lighthearted."
Robin paused from his task, his heart beating rapidly in his chest. "It doesn't unnerve you to see Starfire, of all people, drained of energy, losing her powers, and acting strange within a twelve hour period?" Robin shook his head. "It takes a lot more to drop Starfire out of the sky like that, Raven."
"Sure, in a way it's... disheartening," Raven nodded, bringing her arms out. Her dark blue cloak fell back on her shoulders. "Everyone has off-days."
"It's different, Raven," Robin insisted. "I just have a gut feeling about it. Blackfire's back or... or someone she knows on Tamaran is ill... maybe even dead. Somethings happened up there on her home planet. What if she doesn't think we'd care? Or... or that we don't understand? That's stupid, though." Robin sighed, throwing his jump rope to the mat. "We're a team, Raven. She knows we're her best friends. Why can't she tell us?"
"Maybe for the same reasons you've had before," Raven crossed her arms over her chest again, shifting weight to one of her feet. Robin tensed as he looked at her. "There have been times you didn't want to tell us things or you thought that you couldn't. Starfire may have the same justification."
"I just want to help her, I want her to understand that," Robin said.
"She does understand that, Robin. All of us do."
...
Raven had resigned to reading in the common room as the afternoon began to wane into evening. Cyborg and Beast Boy held boisterous kart racing duels one after the other. They bickered at each other, laughed and yelled, and fist bumped as they unlocked new karts and characters. It wasn't too long before Cyborg was on the winning streak and Beast Boy found himself on his knees, so focused as he tried his hardest to beat Cyborg, but no matter what, the other Titan managed time and time again to win boosts, throw lightning bolts at Beast Boy, and even out drift him. After Cyborg won again, Beast Boy let out a howl of disappointment.
"This is stupid! You're totally cheating, man!" Beast Boy put his hands on his hips. "Show me your palms! You better not be using that adapter that plugs you into the game again."
"Chill out, BB," Cyborg grinned, holding his hands out towards him. "You just don't want to admit you stink at this game."
"I'm the one who introduced you to it!" Beast Boy shouted. "I was perfectly fine at it until you made it your life's destiny to play every waking moment."
"Oh, so now I practice too much?" Cyborg countered with a laugh. "You got a pretty hefty number of hours logged, too. You're just not as good as you think!"
Cyborg laughed again and Beast Boy practically had steam coming out of his ears. "Where's Robin? You may think you're king 'cause you can beat me, but I wanna see you beat Robin!"
"Feh," Cyborg waved his hand and shook his head. He reached for the remote and kicked his feet up onto the coffee table, flipping to a cable show about cooking. "He's been in the gym all afternoon."
Beast Boy sighed at the realization, setting his controller on the coffee table and spreading out across the couch. "This Saturday has been a total dud..."
"Yeah, I almost wish the alarm would go off so we'd have something to go do," Cyborg said as he flipped by a cartoon network and romance movie. "We've been kickin' so much butt, though, it doesn't really seem like anyone wants to mess with us."
The door hissed open and the three Titans on the couch immediately craned their necks. Robin had appeared at the top of the stairs, freshly showed, new hair gel, and a towel dangling over his shoulders. He seemed disappointed to not spy Starfire with them but he was quiet as he came down the steps. Beast Boy sat up, eager to have him in the room. "Robin, perfect timing! You gotta show Cyborg whose boss around here. He thinks he's the ruler of Monkey Karts but he still can't beat your time on Icy Mountain!" Robin came to the back of the couch, watching Cyborg mindlessly channel surf. "Come on, Robin! It's Saturday night! I'll go get the liters of soda from the storage room, pop some popcorn, and we can kick Cyborg's butt all night!"
Robin only shook his head, however, heading to the kitchen. Beast Boy watched with pursed lips as Robin arranged the blender, grabbing his protein shake mix and some bananas. Raven already had her eyes on Beast Boy, practically ordering him not to say anything. Robin began cutting the bananas and the knife to the cutting board was loud in the now quiet space. The young green man, however, couldn't stop himself or his mouth. Beast Boy sprung to his feet and pedaled around the couch, coming to the opposite side of the bar as Robin continued on with his task.
"Robin, man, talk to us!" Beast Boy shook his head wildly. "You act like no one else is allowed to have feelings! It's not your fault if one of us is sad!"
Robin paused from his chopping and looked across the bar. "She's not sad, Beast Boy. Something bad has happened, I can feel it in my gut."
"News flash: your gut isn't always right, Robin."
"Enough!" Raven stood, slamming her book shut. She came around the couch, glaring to each man. "All of you are driving me mad, there hasn't been a single moment of peace here today. What's even more frustrating is all of you are idiots. Starfire is an emotional being. And she's allowed to feel anyway she wants. Just because she talks a lot doesn't mean you're entitled to know everything. Give it a rest. The world doesn't revolve around you."
Robin only glared to Raven before he turned the blender on. The sorceress rolled her eyes. Beast Boy tried shouting over the noise but no one could hear him. Cyborg turned the sound up on the TV. Raven could only rub at her temples about the fragility of men in some cases. The racket continued and none of the men seemed to be backing down. Robin kept churning the shake that was probably very well smooth. Beast Boy kept yelling like everyone could hear his frenzied speech. And Cyborg had the TV at max volume so he could watch the wrestling match in Gotham City. She couldn't stand it any longer. She lifted her slender hand and with one flick, she turned the TV off and pulled the plug on Robin's blender.
"... and you never care when I'm upset but, of course, when it's-" Beast Boy paused upon hearing it was silent. They all looked to the visibly annoyed Raven. A clearing of throat, however, had them all snapping their necks towards the door. Starfire was standing there, holding an envelope in her hand. She seemed rather surprised to see the chaos she walked in on.
"Hello, friends, I hope I am not interrupting whatever social tradition this is," She said, coming down the stairs. "I was coming to ask if the post office is open all times of day, like the Seven Over the Eleven? I need stamps to mail my letter."
"Uh, Star... I don't think the post office delivers to Tamaran..." Beast Boy replied.
"But I found my letter in the mailbox," Starfire furrowed her brow.
"Someone probably hand delivered it," Raven told her. Raven reached for the envelope, looking at the cryptic Tamaran address scrawled in Starfire's loopy handwriting. "Beast Boy's right, though, they won't deliver this."
"Oh..." Starfire sighed, gripping the letter tightly between both of her hands. "I should not have wasted the time to write it then..."
"What does it say?" Cyborg asked. Starfire looked to him first before slowly casting a gaze to all her friends. They all looked at her with a varying degree of pained faces and she knew in that moment, she couldn't delay the inevitable any longer. Writing the letter had been long enough. Starfire twisted the letter in her hand and bit down on her lip.
"Galfore is dead," Starfire said. "You may remember once my sister was removed from the throne, I appointed Galfore as the ad interim ruler of Tamaran. He did a fine job, like he always does..." Starfire had to take a deep breath, the letter crumpling beneath her hands. "But he has passed and Tamaran went to find my brother."
"Wait, hold up," Beast Boy came closer to her. "You have a brother?"
"Yes, he is younger but the heir to Tamaran in times of prosperity..." Starfire tore the letter in half, discarding it on the bar. She rubbed at her swollen eyes for a moment before pacing towards the windows that captured a scene of a dark night with only milky moonlight gleaming over the rippling surface of the ocean. "A few years ago... the Gordanians attacked Tamaran with the sole purpose of destroying the throne and taking control of our planet. My parents thought it would be best if my brother..." A lump grew in her throat as she tried to procure his name. "... Wildfire, was sent away to an undisclosed location for the safety of the throne. And my sister, Blackfire, traded me as a prisoner of war to the Gordanians. It is how we all met... remember?" She looked over her shoulder with wet eyes.
"Where do you tie into this?" Robin had forgotten the blender and protein shake now, approaching Starfire.
"They did not find my brother," Starfire turned to him, her face oozing with hurt. "And there were signs Blackfire was there. She found him, Robin. But now, with both of them missing... and Galfore is dead... I am obligated to take my rightful place on the throne. I must become the Queen... for my people."
There was silence in the common room. Beast Boy tilted his head. "You couldn't be a Teen Titan... and a Queen, could you?"
Starfire lowered her eyes. "I am afraid not, Beast Boy..."
"So, you're gonna do it?" Cyborg asked.
"They are my people," Starfire began wringing her hands together. "And they need someone, Cyborg. The state of Tamaran is fragile. With both my brother and sister missing, there must be order. The letter told me to come at once. I was hoping to secure myself more time but... that is not possible."
"But Star..." Robin shook his head, at an utter loss. "We're a team..."
"I know," Starfire said. "I am sorry."