Forever Lost

8

Raven

I tossed and turned in bed as I tried to rid the awful thoughts from haunting my sleep. All day I had been getting images of Starfire beaten and bruised from some sort of torture. It was something I never would have imagined would happen to her; someone so innocent and sweet. How could anyone ever want to hurt her?
It's just a dream Raven, ignore it.
My eyes flicked open and I quickly sat up. As I let my body wake up, I let myself stretch. Maybe if I meditate it would help me relax. I hovered over the floor and let myself fall into the peaceful realm that always got my mind back into a healthy place.
"Azarath Metriom Zinthos..."

BeastBoy

My stomach growled as I ran to the fridge for some waffles. I hummed a random tune as I quickly stuffed them into the toaster with a loud click as they fell inside to be crisped. The hard thing about being able to shape-shift is that I'm always hungry. My metabolism is so fast, like as fast as the Flash. As I waited, my mind wandered to the thought of Raven and I. Ever since that night we did the dirty, I haven't been able to get her off of my mind. She wants to keep us a secret for now just because she said she was dealing with a lot of stuff and didn't need any added pressure.
Maybe I should go talk to her and see what's wrong. Yeah, that's what I'll do after I eat my delicious waffles. As soon as they popped out of the toaster they were already being stuffed into my black hole of a mouth. I swallowed each of my four waffles in three bites before chugging down a refreshing glass of milk.
With a loud belch I finally made my way to Raven's room. I placed my ear on the door to listen and make sure I wasn't interrupting anything important. "Azarath- m- no, no, no!"
I burst through the door to see Raven nearly touching the ceiling with her eyes wide open. Her beautiful purple irises were now shrouded in a bright cloud of white and I squinted as I took in what I was seeing. Her mouth was agape as she panted; trying to get ahold of her thoughts and return to her normal meditation. As soon as I saw a tear roll down her cheek, I knew that she needed me to interfere. In a split second I was pulling at the bottom of her robe. She looked down at me with a confused expression before falling into my open arms. Her rapid breathing and speeding heart rate worried me as I gently sat her on her bed.
It took her a moment to recover, but as soon as she did, I was at her side. "Rae, what happened?"
She shuddered.
"Starfire is in trouble and I don't know how or why. All I know is we can't let her out of our sight." My heart stopped as my mind absorbed her words. Robin is not going to like this.

Starfire's POV

My eyes opened and I squinted at the harsh sunshine coming through the windows. My arm instinctively reached for Robin's familiar figure but it was met with the empty bed. I heard the shower from inside the restroom and realized that he was only washing. Maybe I should join him. I swung my legs over the bed and was about to go in when the sound of my phone grasped my attention. I quickly made my way to my desk and answered without looking at the contact name.
"Hello?"
"Starfire, please I need your help!"
Sullivan.
"Sullivan, what's wrong?"
His breathing was fast and shallow, almost as if he was running. "I was withdrawing some money from the bank and some guy-"
His voice cut off and I heard the phone drop with a thud. "Sullivan? Sullivan!"
A loud laugh was the last thing I heard before the phone hung up. My blood ran cold and my body seemed to freeze as I realized that one of my friends was in danger. "Friends!"
I ran out into the living room where Cyborg was already sat on the couch while Raven and BeastBoy rushed in. Robin was still in the shower.
"Starfire, what's wrong?"
Cyborg's face was full of concern as I looked around at my friends frantically. "A friend of mine is in danger! Would you please assist me in the rescue?"
I already started heading towards the door because I figured they would immediately agree to help. A gasp fell from my lips when a hand tugged me back by my wrist. "Starfire, we can't let you leave."
My eyes scrunched in confusion at Raven's words. "W-what do you mean?"
She sighed. "I mean, you are to stay in the tower at all times." I could feel my cheeks heating up and my hands balled into fists. "Raven my friend is in trouble! I have to go help him!" She simply shook her head no and pulled me back into the living room. All the while I was trying to pull myself out of her strong grip. "Raven no!"
By now, the others were watching us with sad expressions. "What is the reason for this?"
"You just can't."
As soon as she said that, I was teleported to my room and I ran to my door but it quickly locked before I could reach it. I screamed and pounded on the door for my friends to help and I even shot a few starbolts at the door but it did nothing. Raven must have put some sort of spell on it. My mind wondered to Robin only to realize that he was no longer in my shower, he must have left before I got in here.
What about Sullivan? My hands shook and I wiped them on my skirt to try and rid some of the sweat that started to prick my body. Ok Starfire, what can you do? I started pacing and tried to devise a plan as fast as I could. Why would they keep something from me? If I were in danger why couldn't they just tell me? I let my eyes wander to the cloud covered sky as I thought. That's it! I quickly burst through my window in a flash and started speeding towards the first bank I came across. That's when my phone dinged with a message. Attached to the message was a map with a small blue dot. I'm here.
Sullivan.
Immediately, I started flying towards the location that was sent to me. My friends were now starting to text and call me so I shut my phone off and silenced my communicator. If I turned it off and anything were to happen, they would no longer be able to track me so I kept it secured in my pocket.
As I arrived at the location, I took in my surroundings while I found a place to hide. It was a loading dock with shipping crates covering the large area. A large crate hid me from the large building that was in front of me. My breathing started to quicken as I tried to think of a plan. I've never gone on a mission without the consent or help from my friends. I slowly and quietly snuck through the maze of boxes and quickly found myself on the side of the building next to a small window; one just large enough for me to squeeze through.
My hands shakily lifted the dirty window from its locked position and I was surprised when it opened with ease. It took me a moment to slip in, but as soon as I did, I immediately rushed to hide behind another set of crates. The hairs on my neck were now on edge and my stomach felt hollow and almost like I hadn't eaten in a day; which I guess I didn't eat today. This situation reminded me of when I was escaping the Citadel. When I was alone with no one and had to find a way to save my own life. I closed my eyes and tried to listen for any small noise to lead me in the right direction.
Footsteps.
"She should be here by now."
"Patience brother, she will be here soon."
The voices were unfamiliar and my nerves were quickly heightened even more now that it was confirmed that they were expecting me.
Let's just hope that they don't know the full extent of my abilities. A grunt grasped my attention and I snuck closer to the sounds. I was just about to peek over the top of a crate when a pair of hands grabbed my shoulders. A quiet gasp flew from my lips but it was quickly replaced with a sigh of relief when I saw Raven behind me.
"Starfire we need to get out of here, now."
I forced myself to pull out of her strong grip.
"No. I came here to save my friend and that is what I intend to do."
Her face became hard and stern with the intent to take me from this place. She closed her eyes for a moment before opening them with a confused expression. "My powers aren't working, I can't teleport us!"
A creak of the floor made us both gasp and grab ahold of each other.
We turned and a large smile spread across my features as I stood to my feet and ran into Sullivan's arms. "Sullivan! Are you harmed?"
Raven was now standing next to me and she grabbed my arm before pulling me away from Sullivan's grip. "Starfire, lets go, now." Her tone was no longer comforting as she continued to pull me farther from Sullivan.
"No Raven, this is Sullivan!"
"Well your friend Sullivan isn't who he says he is."
My heart dropped when his face twitched a bit after she said that, giving away the fact that she was correct. "Is this true?" I already knew the answer but I didn't want to believe it.
Loud clapping made us all look behind Sullivan to see a tall and muscular man staring down at us. "Very good Raven, you are as smart as they say aren't you?"
I started to feel nauseous now as I realized that I had gotten myself and my friend stuck in some sort of trap.
"Who are you?" I could tell Raven was trying to sound strong but I could hear her voice waver as she took in how large this man was.
"That is of no business to you dear." I felt my body cringe at the name he gave my friend. The man was simply that; a man. There were no distinct signs that he was anything but human as he stared at us with brown eyes. His brown hair was cut almost army style and his muscular arms bulged from the tight black shirt covering his torso. "Where are your friends Starfire?"
I looked to Raven for an answer.
"They're on their way here, and they will be here soon."
A loud crash brought our attention to the front of the building where I could hear footsteps running towards us. "Oh good, just in time for the show!"
He gave a maniacal laugh and clapped his hands together as he jumped up and down excitedly. I smiled when Robin, BeastBoy, and Cyborg emerged from around the corner and stared at us in shock. Robin started to come towards us but he stopped when a knife was suddenly pressed against my neck. "Now careful lover boy, you don't want a headless girlfriend do you?"
I gulped and felt my saliva slide down the back of my throat as I tried to keep calm.
Robin put his hands up and Raven seemed to be trying to come up with some sort of plan.
BeastBoy and Cyborg were frozen in their places as everyone stared at me with concern.
"What do you want?"
The man smiled at Robin's question.
"I only want to please my boss, and possibly enjoy myself a bit along the way."
He grabbed my face and squeezed my cheeks.
"I've dreamt of kissing this beautiful face of yours for years." He inched closer to me but I blasted him with my eyes before he could touch me. I was released from his grip and I flew over to Robin where I hugged him and tried to control my breathing. "Clever girl she is?"
We turned to see the man back on his feet with no sign of injury and out of the corner of my eye I saw Sullivan slip a very recognizable mask over his head, he was Red X.

Hey lovelies I am so so so sorry for not updating! Holy cow, so much has happened since I last updated this book! I am now married and have two cats-  crazy!
If you haven't noticed, right now I am going back through my chapters an proof reading/correcting things. I definitely recommend reading the previous chapters again just because I may have changed some small things.