Starfire and Black diligently worked in his room. Starfire set up a card table and some chairs. She spread her supplies out and allowed him to use what he wanted.
Black sang a sad and eerie song, as if it was a jaunty tune, complete with a small smile and little head bobs. "That there, that's not me. I go where I please. I walk through walls, I float down the Liffey. I'm not here."
Starfire glanced at him, goosebumps prickling up on her skin.
"This isn't happening. I'm not here. I'm not here."
"Your voice is most soothing. Do you enjoy singing?"
He looked at her confused. "Singing? Nah, I don't sing."
"But you were just––"
"Hey, look what I made!" He grinned, and held his project up to his face. It was a mask reminiscent of Robin's, but instead of plain black, it was colored with crayons and had glitter on it. "Guess who I am? Wah wah wah Justice!"
The mask went up in embers as Starfire incinerated it with the eye beams. "That was neither flattering, nor amusing."
"Hey!" He protested, gathering the little pieces left. "I worked hard on that!"
"Perhaps you should learn the art of, how Jinx would say, 'reading the room'."
Black looked around. "There's no words in here, though."
"I do not like mockery of my friends, especially my Robin."
He tilted his head. "Your Robin? Oh! Were you guys a 'thing'? What are they called, courting buddies?"
She looked downcast. "No, we were not. We were only good friends."
"Then…he's not really yours then, is he?"
She scowled at Black. "He had my heart, and still possesses it, wherever he is. Your flagrant disregard of this fact is cruel."
He pooched his lips. "Golly Gee, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I was only trying to understand."
"To put it in a way, he was my most trusted friend and advisor. He explained many things to me when I did not understand."
"Like you're doing for me?"
"I suppose you are correct. Your amnesia has put me in a place I was dependent on before." She huffed, still upset. "I would prefer if we did not speak of Robin. It hurts my heart."
"Okay okay," he rolled his eyes.
"Star," Cyborg called from the communicator. "Gizmo just arrived with the last video. Wanna see?"
"I do not know if I want to see it, but I need to. I shall be there momentarily."
Black watched as she rose from the table. "Where ya going?"
"There has been…a break in the case with Robin. I am going to the ops room. Would you like to come?"
"Nah. I'm gonna keep working."
All the better, Starfire thought bitterly. She was trying to be forgiving and friendly with Black, but knowledge of his deeds and seeing his actions in person made it hard.
Yes, he needed help, but perhaps the Titans were not the ones that should give it to him.
Starfire entered the ops room, spying Gizmo sitting on the couch with a soda. A Dr. Pepper. Those were Robin's.
But she just silently took her place.
"Okay," Raven acknowledged. "Where's Black?"
"In his room," Starfire said shortly. "He has hurt my feelings, and so I will leave him to his business."
"Black? You mean the weird goth wannabe superhero we talked about last time? He lives here now?! Of course, what am I saying! You fart knockers take in whatever stray 'hero' you can find."
"Is that not what the Hive does with villains?" Raven quirked a brow.
"UH. The HIVE is a school for supervillains. Totally different thing!"
"Sure, Gizmo."
Beast Boy shifted into a cat once more and sat beside Star, knowing she appreciated the comfort he gave.
"Y'all ready?"
"The first two seconds got trimmed," Gizmo explained. "That's where the corruption was. The rest looked like it worked fine, but I only scrubbed it."
"Thank you Gizmo," Starfire said softly.
"Oh…yeah. Don't mention it."
When the video started, the camera was at an odd angle, mostly aimed at the ceiling, but they could see the top of the wall, and the underside of a face. The left side. Black hair, still the same gaunt cheeks and dark veins that stood out on his skin.
"Shall we start?...Just like we practiced…what did we practice for?...Because we're sending it to our friends, stupid!"
"He's…talking to himself," Raven grimaced.
"I do not understand," Starfire breathed. "That is Robin's voice, and that is his face…but it is not."
"So is it Robin or not?" Gizmo asked. "It's one or the other!"
"I won't run away no more, I promise," Robin's chilling voice sang.
"There is something very wrong with him," Starfire explained. "Some of the words he speaks, it is like a different person."
"Like a person talking with a puppet," Raven agreed.
"Even when I get bored, I promise. Even when you lock me out, I promise. I say my prayers every night, I promise." There was heavy sorrow lacing his words, but he giggled at the end. "Yes, yes, that was good. They'll like that!...You remember the next one?...Of course!" He tottled away from the camera, the top of his head coming into view every few frames or so. He was dancing. "I resent you calling. I resent your voice. I resent that I don't have a choice." He was really getting into the song, and singing loudly and proudly. Not all the notes were right, but he had joy in his voice. "And yes I am! Yes I am!" He backed up, the back of his head and shoulders in view. He was wearing a hospital gown, so the skin of his back was exposed, and covered in marks.
Beast Boy shifted back into a boy, and stared at the video. He already had the first part of the message figured out.
"I think I've told you once, I think I needed advice. You were such a help, that's very nice. I think I've been here before…Yes I've been here before. But this time I kick down your door!" That last note was outrageously sour as he dissolved into playing the air guitar, complete with singing the notes he was pretending to play, "WWEEEE WWAANN WWAAAAHHH!" Then he started laughing as he dropped his arms. The laughter faded until he was just standing there.
"That was excessive…oh lighten up, would you? We sang it! We rocked it!...it doesn't have to be a good performance…Why are you like this?...because you're a massive doo-doo head and no one likes you!" He chuckled, before his shoulders dropped. "Okay," he turned partially toward the camera. "Last one. Make it count."
He started bobbing his head as he closed his eyes. His voice was soft, slightly seductive. "Troubled words of a troubled mind, I try to understand what is eating you. I try to stay awake, but it's 58 hours since that I last slept with you." He started bouncing on his feet. "What are we coming to? I just don't know anymore. Blame it on the black star! Blame it on the falling sky! Blame it on the satellite that beams me home…"
Beast Boy let out a gasp of horror, "dude…"
"What?!"
He didn't answer, just continued to watch it all unfold.
Robin was moving in a slow sway, his arms up. "I get on the train and I just stand about, now that I don't think of you. I keep falling over, I keep passing out when I see a face like you. What am I coming to? I'm gonna melt down…"
He started air guitaring again, putting his whole body into the song. "Blame it on the black star! Blame it on the falling sky! Blame it on the satellite that beams me home!" He threw his arms out to the side and screamed the last two lines. "This is killing me! This is killing me!"
The door on the other end of the room opened, but the group could only hear it.
"Having fun?" Said a new voice.
"Oh a lot! So so much!"
"I think you're ready to graduate, Patient 8."
"Yes! I knew it!" He whipped around towards the camera, fiddling with it to turn it off, but before the video ended, they all got a perfect shot of his face. Wild eyes, a meaty smile, and a horrible, bloody wound that tore through his right cheek, shoddily stitched and weeping.
When the footage went black, no one could move. No one breathed.
"BB…?" Cyborg asked in a tiny voice. "Did you get…?"
"Yeah," Beast Boy breathed. "I Promise…Yes I am…Black Star."
The door to the ops room swooshed open, and they all turned to look.
Black stood in the doorway, wearing another crudely made mask. "Hey guys, guess who I am?!"