Saving Grace

Like a Bird

Starfire had a nightmare of her own that night. She was walking with her back against a wall. A rough, wet wall in fact. She stepped slowly and carefully for the ledge she was walking on was narrow and she had to be patient. While she wasn't at risk of falling, Robin, who was walking in front of her, was. She didn't want to rush him and trip him up.

"Robin," she spoke softly, "do not fear the falling, I shall catch you."

He smiled back at her graciously.

They continued on their way in silence. Star couldn't quite remember why they were doing this. The cavern was dark, her bolts made enough light to see ahead of them. Everything else was pitch black. The ledge looked over a crevasse. As far as she could tell, there was no bottom, just falling forever. But she had no fear, Robin was with her.

No...that wasn't right, Robin was at the hospital...wasn't he? At that moment, the dream version of her friend slipped and fell. Using her catlike reflexes, she reached out and grabbed his hand. Robin dangled helplessly like a leaf in the wind. Star's iron grip was the only thing holding him from slipping into oblivion.

"Thanks Star, I don't know what I'd do without you."

I...love you.

In a weak moment, his hand began to slip from his glove. Before she could pull him up, the grip was lost and he slipped away.

She panicked a moment, not knowing what to do, but then snapped out of it to dive after her best friend. She illuminated her starbolts as bright as she could, only to see...nothing. The darkness went on for miles, and Robin was no where in sight. She couldn't even hear him.

"Robin!" she cried, "where are you?!"

No response.

"ROBIN!"

She spun around frantically, looking in all directions to see if she had passed him. Not a glimmer of yellow, red, or forest green. Robin was gone. She had broken her promise to catch him, she had dropped him, she couldn't save him. It was all her fault. She was lost him again.

Again?

Suddenly, she realized her unbridled joy to fly was gone. And she was soon taking the same path as her beloved bird. She only wished he would forgive her when she hit the bottom.

Starfire woke with a jolt. A hand to her heart, she breathed deeply to calm it's beating. It had only been a dream, and a terribly sad one at that. She wiped her tears and sat up.Robin is not gone, he is merely in the hospital and shall be better soon. She reasoned with herself. She got up and headed down the hall.

In Robin's room, she pulled back the neatly made sheets and crawled in. She buried her face in the pillow and took a deep breath, taking in his scent. Instantly, she felt better, and was soon enjoying dreams of them together, free from a crime filled world.

Back at the hospital, Robin was feeling pretty good, well, as good as one could with as many injuries that he had. He had told Starfire how much she meant to him, and she returned his feelings. When she finally went home for the night, he decided to think things through logically, something he hadn't been doing since this whole mess started. Slade wasn't really there, a part of him knew that, but the hallucination was too strong to prove it right. Something else that he had noticed was that Slade hadn't even touched him since he came to the hospital. Every injury that he had gotten after the rescue was self-inflicted. Not willingly of course. Starfire couldn't see him, even in broad daylight or when she was looking right at him. She said it herself 'He cannot harm me. All this backed up his logical reasoning. Slade wasn't there, but his mind was projecting him. He had gotten so used to seeing him, his mind was making up for his absence.