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slightly-nerdy-rambles · 2 days ago

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Robstar Week Day 1 (and 2): Lost and Found (Prompts: Nostalgia/Vivid)

*slams a hot fresh fic on the table* Guess what week it is, kiddos?

I decided to do things a bit differently this year. I'm kind of swamped with writing projects at the moment, and knew I really wouldn't have the time or brain capacity to do a full seven stories this year. But I still wanted to do at least a few Robstar Week fics, and unlike a normal person who picks out a couple prompts for said fics, I decided to get all of them in by combining prompts to create three "combination days." By sheer coincidence, the fics I settled on writing all ended up following their own theme, which I'm calling "Three Futures." This here is the first future, specifically the bad future from "How Long is Forever?"

I decided that the best way to combine the prompts Nostalgia and Vivid was to play around with the concept of vivid memories. After toying with a few different ideas for that, I ended up landing on the bad future's Nightwing remembering Starfire and how things were back before her timestream disappearance just before he finds her again. Interestingly, a more general version of this fic (HLiF Nightwing talking to Oracle and us kind of exploring his side of things shortly before he finds Starfire) is an idea I've been noodling with for a while now. It was pretty satisfying to finally write it out!

Lost and Found

Nightwing remembered this street.

That was probably a silly thing to think. Nightwing had been patrolling this city for two decades now, so most downtown streets held at least some passing familiarity for him. But this one was special. It was the street where she had first crashed into Earth, so long ago, and had threatened to upend his life in the best possible way.

When he crouched down and studied the pavement beneath its dusting of pale snow, he could imagine that the seam of slightly newer asphalt over there might have been from repaving over the crater she’d made on impact. And at the end where the street split into two, he still recognized the old boarded-up building that had once housed the Titans’ favorite pizza joint, witness to their tumultuous first meeting.

The little smile that had made its way to his Nightwing’s lips faded as he continued to look up at the sad, dilapidated storefront. It still hurt to think of everything he and his friends lost after Starfire disappeared.

It hadn’t happened all at once. At first it was just nerves – everyone on edge as they searched in equal parts desperation and vain for their vanished teammate. They had a pretty good guess that she’d gone with Warp into the future, but without his technology available for study, they simply couldn’t find any way to follow. And with every attempt stymied, frustration and arguments had begun to creep in.

Then the other things, the little things, had started to add up. The incident with Terra, that wanderer they’d found, was the first sign that something was going very wrong. She’d run off less than a day after they tried to take her in, after witnessing one of their bigger fights over the search for Starfire. Beast Boy blamed everyone else for starting the argument and scaring her off.

From there, Beast Boy and Cyborg’s arguments over food and video games and pretty much everything else gradually became less friendly rivalry and “roommate stuff,” and more frustrated and even personal. Then Raven started accusing the others of being too loud, both in reality and in their own heads. And Nightwing – still Robin back then – hadn’t taken the thought of someone “invading” his mind and then complaining about his emotional pain very well.

Starfire had brought the Titans together. And, though none of them realized it at the time, her stubborn optimism and unabashed kindness had played a crucial role in keeping them together. When the team finally fell apart without her, the supervillains seized their opportunity to turn Jump City into their playground. None of the few really nasty ones stuck around long enough to take over completely. And Nightwing (and Raven, Cyborg and Beast Boy, back before they all retreated into their own little worlds) just barely managed to keep the rest from blowing it all up or turning it into some absurd candyland or something. But the damage was done: crime went up, and most of the decent people who could moved away, and the city decayed just as its protectors had.

Nightwing squeezed his eyes shut and tried to shake the melancholy out of his head. Remember why you’re here, he admonished himself. There’d been reports of a strange flying girl wandering around the places his old teammates now haunted, and he needed to investigate. If this was some new would-be supervillain, he wasn’t about to let her harm his friends, estranged or no. And if it was someone looking for help – or perhaps to be of some help, and he’d finally shaken the stupid pride that kept him from admitting he needed it – then he wasn’t about to turn down a meeting.

And then there was the other possibility, the one he hardly dared to hope. A flying girl, seeking out the ex-Titans, and he recalled that somebody had mentioned purple. If it was at all possible… If she had come back to them, after all this time…

In any case, as he continued down the street, he spotted something that looked promising. A single set of boot prints trailed along the side of the road, too fresh for the light snowfall to have covered just yet.

Nightwing frowned thoughtfully as he crouched down again and looked them over. There weren’t a lot of people out and about now, and pretty much never alone. The snowfall, rare enough in winter out here and downright unnatural for what should have been late spring weather, was compliments of the latest mad crook who called himself Forecast. Its continued presence was an easy mark that Forecast was still out and mucking about.

Nightwing stood up and traced the tracks backwards with his gaze. He recognized that direction, too. A couple blocks further down was the old building where Raven had managed to permanently sequester herself away. That was a good sign that he was on the right track, at least.

He ignored the rational part of his mind telling him that it would be easier to just ask the others about their mysterious visitor. Raven he could at least justify by her likelihood of mixing up reality with her hallucinations. Cyborg and Beast Boy, though…

Nightwing was following the tracks forward when his communicator rang. He pulled it up to answer, and Oracle’s face filled the screen.

“How’s the Forecast hunt going?” she asked.

Nightwing glanced up at the dark clouds with a little scowl. “Not good. He’s bunkered down somewhere, but not enough to shut off his little winter wonderland. I’m actually following a lead on something else right now.”

Oracle’s eyebrow shot up. “Oh?”

Nightwing hesitated a moment. “...I think it might be Starfire.”

“Dick.” His friend was shooting him a warning glare now. “You can’t keep doing this to yourself. If I find out you’re spiralling again, so help me I will go to Jump myself and –”

“This is different from the other times, okay?” Nightwing had stopped walking to focus on his communicator. He hoped his expression and tone could properly convey that he meant it, at least enough to keep Oracle from troubling herself with coming all this way to chew him out in person.

Not that he’d mind the company. She was about the last real friend he had left, and that friendship was probably the only thing keeping him sane. But they both had their own duties, and she couldn’t replace everything he’d lost anyway.

Oracle remained wary. “Explain.”

Nightwing sighed. “I caught some reports of a flying girl who matches Starfire’s description, and she’s apparently been visiting the other Ti… my old teammates. I know it’s a long shot to think it’s her, but either way it sounds like this person will be looking for me next. And hey, maybe it’s a new hero coming in to help with the crime here.”

Oracle snorted. “If it isn’t, I think I’m going to put in a good word with the League and see if they can’t send you someone. You’d hardly be the first ‘solo’ hero who could use a sidekick.”

Nightwing nodded absently. He started following the boot prints again, worried that if he lingered too long, the snowfall would cover them.

If he was being completely honest with himself, a part of him desperately wanted the mystery girl to be exactly who he dreamed she was. Starfire had been his closest friend, and he could admit now that he’d developed deeper feelings for her. Maybe even loved her outright, although that might just be rosy-lensed nostalgia talking. He’d hated losing her, hated not being able to fix it. And while he was doing the honesty thing, he knew he had started most of those early arguments about finding her.

Obsessing over her wasn’t healthy – he understood that now. And as Oracle had pointed out more than once, getting her back wouldn’t simply make things go back to the way they were.

But Starfire wasn’t just his obsession. She was his source of hope. When things got overwhelming, when it looked like the villains had finally gotten to be too much and he started to wonder if there was even a point to all this, he remembered her indomitable spirit. Perhaps his most vivid memory from back then was of her final act before she disappeared. It was an act of defiance against a villain who’d spent his entire encounter with the Titans mocking them while all but brushing off their attacks. And if the whole “time travel” business was any indication, it likely meant that, in a way, she was still fighting even now.

Oracle had kept Nightwing from going mad all these years. But Starfire, even just the memory of her, had kept him from giving up. And if there was a chance to find her again, to make at least some of it right, that was something he couldn’t ignore.

…Especially if she had Warp’s time travel tech with her. If this world had been caused by his interference in the time stream, then maybe it wouldn’t take all that much beyond finding her to make far more than “some of” it right.

“Nightwing? Helloooo?” Oracle’s voice cut through his thoughts, and he looked back down at the communicator.

“Hmm?”

“Just call me with an update once you find out more about your mystery visitor, okay?” Oracle was still giving him a suspicious look, but she seemed mollified enough for the time being. “I meant what I said about finding you some help.”

Nightwing nodded and managed to offer her a grateful smile. “Of course. You’re the best.”

“I know!” And with that, she signed off.

Nightwing was trailing the boot prints down another street by now, but by this point he was starting to feel a little foolish. Was following footprints that may or may not be connected to the weird rumors really his best option here? Starfire would have wanted him to just swallow his pride and contact one of the others.

Raised voices and sounds of battle suddenly reached him from the far corner. Nightwing grit his teeth and broke into as much of a run as he could manage on the snow-covered ground. Whether this was his lead or not, he needed to find out and step in before –

He turned the corner and saw her. She stood out, more vivid than any memory, against the dreary decay that her city had become. He saw it in both the bright splashes of color that visually defined her and the fierce passion in her eyes as she stared her opponent down. She was with Warp, still defiant against his arrogance and unafraid to face him alone. She hadn’t aged at all since her disappearance, so long ago.

Nightwing didn’t know how he couldn’t have loved her, back then. He felt mesmerized by this ghost from the past – too young now for them to be as they were before, but filling him all over again with both memory and hope.

Then Warp started talking back to her, and the spell broke. Nightwing couldn’t make out what he was saying from here, but he was mockingly calm and tauntingly held his stolen clock as he spoke.

Nightwing saw the defiance fade in Starfire’s eyes. He snarled, a controlled fury filling him to accompany his spark of hope. Don’t you dare.

With a passionate energy he hadn’t felt in a long time, Nightwing rushed forward and tackled Warp. He threw the time-travelling criminal bodily into a side alley, away from a now startled Starfire. His attempts to follow up were quick and precise, but short-lived as Warp shielded and then phased away. Still, sending him on the defensive would do just fine for now.

Because he could hear Starfire approaching cautiously behind him. He allowed himself a secret little smile. Oracle isn’t going to believe this.

Nightwing caught his breath and straightened up. It was all he could do not to spin around and pull her into what would have been a very awkward hug, but he couldn’t keep a note of warmth out of his voice as he said, “It’s good to see you again.”

#Teen Titans #Robin #Starfire #robstar #robstarweek #writing #prompt #fanfiction #no seriously I have so many writing projects right now #Definitely got the idea of HLiF Terra running away pre-Slade-fight because the Titans started fighting from another fic #but sadly I can't remember the name of it #Why is Barbara Gordon Oracle in this future when she's Batwoman in my main headcanon-verse?#Good question #In my mind it has to do with some butterfly effect thing that probably started with Slade following Terra after she noped out of Jump

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