Suicide Prevention (Part 2)

Starfire glanced back at the others and put a hand up, her other orange hand with a finger pressed to her lips. They obeyed, slightly hesitant. She turned away from them again, reaching a hand out to grasp the cold metal doorknob. As she pulled it open, a small bust of wind hit her, rustling her hair and pressing her shiny purple skirt against her still legs.

She tentatively stepped out on the rooftop of Titans Tower, raising her head higher. The sun set slowly, spilling the once blue sky with carefree light colors. Orange stained most of the cloudless sky, with pink and purple hinted beautifully here and there. There was a slight breeze which made faint whispering noises as it blew softly. The water shimmered with the sun’s glow; still and peaceful as ever. Starfire felt solar energy seep down to every bone she possessed in her body; causing her skin to shine ever so slightly. The Tamaranian took a long, deep, soothing breath.

A boy stood at the edge of the tower, his masked eyes focused on the setting sun, not wanting to think or notice anything else. The way he had been trained and raised made this wish very close to impossible, his hidden blue eyes were taught to calculate each detail, his mind taught to piece everything together; everything’s a clue to him. As a round of wind picked up again, his black cape rose up gracefully with it, faintly billowing out behind him, giving him the image of a perfect hero. No matter what others thought about him, he knew full well that he was nowhere near perfect; if he really believed that goal was possible for him to attain he would not even be close to being in reach of it.

Starfire watched the boy ponder on his thoughts from afar, a bit hesitant to reach out to him. Would he push her away like all of the other times? She hoped desperately that he would choose to let her in this time, just this once, given the events that had occurred a week before. And if he did not, would she push her way in? She hoped she would not have to make that decision…

Finally making up her mind she began to tiptoe her way to him. If he was aware of her presence he was good at hiding it. Or, he might be aware of it, and not want her there, so he’s choosing not to say anything. There were too many what if’s and maybe’s in this situation; and the girl did not want to risk it. Sadly, she spun around quietly to retreat back into the tower, when his naturally steely voice broke the silence. “Need anything Star?”

Starfire turned back to the boy, making her way timidly, like a lost child, to stand next to him. She searched his face, but it was as plain and guarded as she had ever seen it.

“I am merely making sure you are… alright…”

Robin took a deep breath as three other pairs of footsteps sounded behind him and the girl, never taking his eyes off of the sunset. “I’m fine you guys.”

However the Titans were not entirely satisfied with that vague answer. The kept their ground, silent, until one decided to speak up.

“Why did you do it Robin?”

At this the Boy Wonder turned around to fully face Starfire. He did not answer her; the two merely stayed there and stared at one another. Starfire could not stand the silence any longer; she took a step forward and threw her arms around Robin, burying her head into his shoulder as she huddled close to him. Once Robin got over his initial shock, he raised his arms and wrapped them around her. Then, to both the embraced Titans surprise, Beast Boy stepped forward and hugged Robin as well. No one thought Robin would release his grip on Starfire to hug the changeling; however they were proved wrong. He unlatched an arm around the alien and wrapped it around the green boy; bringing him into the hug.

At that, Raven stepped forward, and Starfire turned her head on Robin’s shoulder so it was resting on her ear. The alien caught sight of Raven hesitantly moving forward; unsure if she should attempt to join in. Before Raven could make up her mind, Starfire leaned over and grasped onto Raven’s wrist, pulling her into the group.

Cyborg watched as his four teammates huddled together, mainly around the black haired boy. He cleared the distance between him and the others in long strides and wrapped his large arms around the entire group in one giant, gentle bear hug.

They did not know how many hours they stayed like that. Robin looked beyond Starfire’s head and noticed the sky was now sparkling with the twinkle of stars covering up each inch. He sighed. “Thanks guys,” he murmured softly.

“That’s what we’re here for, dude,” Beast Boy reeled his head back a bit to look Robin in the mask. He gave him a small smile, and Robin mirrored it.

“Yeah Robin, if you ever feel like that again, just holler,” Cyborg clapped a metal hand on his back lightly. “We’re here to help. We don’t know what was going around in your mind when you did that, but we don’t want you to die, y’know?”

Robin nodded at the ground. “Okay.”

Raven broke away from the group, breaking them apart, but put a hand on her friend’s shoulder. “Don’t do that again. Please, Robin. Don’t ever do that to yourself again, promise me.” The empath’s voice wasn’t her normal deadpan monotone, it was firm and desperate.

Robin looked away as if he was ashamed or embarrassed for what he had done. But when he replied he turned to look the girl in the eye. “I promise.”

Raven dipped her head slightly and took her hand off his shoulder. “Thank you.”

Robin glanced around at his friends. “Thanks for everything, guys. But, can I just be alone a while?”

They all tensed, and he sighed. “Just to think. I won’t do anything, I swear. You can trust me again.”

The tone in Robin’s voice carried the same quality to it when he had promised desperately to the Titans he wasn’t Red X after the mysterious villain had returned. He was telling the truth.

Cyborg sighed and caved in. “Okay, come on guys. Just be careful, Rob, you lost a lot of blood that night.” Three of the Titans left, giving Robin small, reassuring smiles, accompanied by a quick rare hug. However one Titan stayed on the roof with the boy, her crimson hair blowing in the cool, night wind.

Starfire turned to look at Robin and he smiled somewhat sadly. “I’m okay, Star. Really.”

She ignored him, and took a step forward to the boy, planting a hand on his shoulder and one on his chest. She leaned over and kissed his cheek.

She removed her hands and looked at him, leaning back to her original position. “Know you are loved, Robin.”

With those words she turned and exited down the stairway from the roof, leaving the Boy Wonder frozen and alone on the roof of Titans tower.