AUTHORS NOTE 2015: Hi all! Welcome to the heavily edited and still incomplete edition of '100 Reasons to Stay'. I will be uploading edited chapters daily, and eventually new ones to complete this story. Now, I'm not going to lie, I'm not a fan of this story. Ideally I would take it off FFnet entirely. However, I do have some lovely readers who would hate that, and so I'm just going to revamp this a bit and leave it up for you guys. Some minor plot things may be change, mainly because this story- originally projected to be around 100 chapters, will be around 20 instead. I will try to note changes at the start of each chapter. Thank you for all your support.

This story is post-Season Five, Titans in Tokyo did not occur.

Dedicated to: YOU for bringing me back to finish this story.

Disclaimer: I do not own any portion of the Teen Titans, but I can assure you that if I did, there would have been a Starfire Arc in the original series. But since there isn't….this was born.

Prologue: Reasons to Leave

The city was so beautiful at night, she noted. When it sat still, bathed in moonlight, against the glimmering bay. That was something she would miss dearly.

The view from a top the tower made her want to cry, because no matter where she looked, she could only see the glow of the horizon or the glint of her city. And all she could hear was the pound of the waves or the heartbeat chatter of the people she helped protect.

Yes, if there was one Starfire knew she'd miss, it was the city.

The Tamaranian sat on the edge of the tower, feet dangling off the edge, a pink drawstring nestled in her lap. She felt an unpleasant heaviness around her, a blanket of sadness and she wondered if she had enough joy to fly home.

"X'hal….Why did I ever think I would fit in?" She thought mournfully as she stood up and slung her bag over her shoulder. She sought for her happiest thoughts and used them to drift upwards, towards the familiar moon she often stared at.

"Star….." She heard a gentle voice whisper. A soft, gloved hand grabbed her own, and pulled her down lightly.

"Were you planning on leaving? Without goodbye?" Oh no, no, no, no. She couldn't bear to do this with him.

"Robin….I-…" She struggled for a moment.

Green eyes met masked ones. Starfire felt herself becoming weak at the knees. She pulled out of his grasp and faced the city.

"I thank you for how you've helped me adjust here, and for all the good we've done, but Robin…I fear I am more of a weakness to the team than not."

He gazed at her with an intensity she couldn't identify. Didn't she know how much she meant to the team? To the City? To him?

"What the hell are you talking about? You've done nothing but save lives since you joined the Titans! You're a favorite among civilians—you get along with everyone you know-"

"No, I don't." She said softly.

Robin snorted.

"Yeah? Name a few."

Star's eyes were bright with tears as she shifted the pink bag into her arms. She pulled out a stack of folded papers and handed them to him, sniffling.

"These are the letters I have received this past month alone. I usually do not get so many of the threatening ones but as of late…they've been particularly cruel."

Starfire watched Robin's expression shift as he read through the letters. Her heartbeat quickened as she heard the growl edge up his throat. Angry-Robin was not a presence she was fond of.

The slew of curse words that followed his growl was none too pleasant either. Starfire cringed as he paced furiously before her, the letters becoming crushed in his fist. When he spoke, he was oddly calm.

"Starfire," Robin said, face void of emotion, "Why did you keep these letters? And why were you taking them with you?"

She bit her lip nervously.

"I- I wanted to learn how to improve myself. Perhaps the letters could make me more 'normal' and liked amongst the civilians. And I took them because I worried that maybe…when I reached…" She hesitated, "home, I would do the chickening out and fly back."

Robin glared at her.

"Are you really that stupid?"

Starfire gasped.

"Excuse me? Robin, I am many things apparently, but I do not think I am stup-"

"Well. you're acting like it right now," he snapped. "I mean, what the hell Star? You've got a team that loves you, a city that wants to be you, a weird mutant larvae thing that needs you-"

Her giggle at that did not go unnoticed, nor did the slight float her body had taken.

Robin dropped the letters from his hand and stepped closer to her, taking her hands into his and pulling her down.

"I don't know what we'd do without you. And I really hope we never find out."

Starfire sighed.

"Robin, you are my best friend, and I care for you very much, but you cannot sway me so easily. You can yell at the people to be better behaved towards me, but it is not their fault they dislike me. You can sort the kind mail from the bad and pretend there are only nice letters for me. You can make it seem like the world is in love with me, and it still cannot change the fact that these letters exist. That there are many people that do hate me so."

"There will always be people like that Starfire, you've said so yourself that it's the good that matters in the long run, not the bad."

She hesitated.

"I was wrong."

"Oh, cut the crap, you were not and you know it. You just want to run away." Robin challenged.

"What if I do, Robin? What if I do want to run away, is that so terrible?" Starfire cried out, wrapping her arms around her.

The Boy Wonder softened, as he watched her wipe a tear off her cheek hastily.

"There is only so much a person can take at a time." She whispered.

Robin kicked the crumpled letters off the edge of the tower, watching them land in the rocks below. He moved closer to the girl slowly, pulling her to face him.

"I know. I'm sorry. Just…don't leave yet."

"I can think of a hundred reasons to go."

"I can think of that many more plus one for you to stay with us, Star." He brushed aside a stray lock of hair from her cheek, and wrapped his arms around her. She clutched his shirt tightly, burying her face into his shoulder while wondering when he'd gotten that inch taller than her.

They stood like that for a while, Robin holding her to his self while she cried quietly.

"I am sorry for wetting your sleeve." Her voice was muffled against his chest.

Robin chuckled.

"'s alright, Star."

"Robin, you had better have a good reason for waking me in the middle of the night." Raven said venomously.

The three remaining Titans were sitting on the couch in the commons, wondering what their leader had called them in for.

"Yeah, man. It's 2 AM." Cyborg added wearily.

"Hey- where's Starfire? Why didn't she have to wake up?" Beast Boy whined, flopping onto the floor and curling himself up before shifting into a kitten.

"It's because Robin loooooooooves her."

"Oooooooooh," Beast Boy popped back onto the couch, sharing a teasing smile with the metal man beside him.

"Actually, it's because we all love her."

"Excuse me?" Raven asked, raising an eyebrow. "What's going on?"

Robin sighed.

"Long story short, Star's been getting some pretty terrible letters for the past couple months- bad enough that I found her on the roof tonight with a bag packed."

His team immediately sobered, a silence falling around them.

"I know. Believe me, I know. And there's not much we can do about the letters. Most are anonymous, and Star doesn't want anyone to investigate them or file for harassment charges. We can't announce anything to the public because that risks stronger attacks on her." He paused.

"What we can do is remind her of all the good things Earth has to offer her."

"You might need to remind me too because I'm starting to forget why we save these ungrateful assholes." Raven sneered.

"That's my point exactly. These letters are from a few voices trying to get some attention and make some noise. I'm willing to bet they're from the same people or just a solid group of a few. But they don't represent the entirety of Jump and Star needs to see that!"

"So what do we do?" Beast Boy asked.

"First, we stay with her. If Star wants to go shopping, someone needs to accompany her. If she's night patrolling, there needs to be another Titan out on the field. I'm not risking it."

"Didn't you say she's been getting these letters for a while? Why would someone try to attack her now?"

Robin shook his head.

"It's not about attack, Cyborg, its about her running into something, or hearing someone say something, or her being alone with her thoughts."

He ran a hand through his hair.

"You didn't read those letters, guys. You didn't see how awful they are. And I hope you never have to."

Cyborg fiddled with his arm console, snapping it shut.

"I'm sending a message to Titans East. I think they can spare Bee for the weekend, right? She can come hang with Starfire for a bit."

Robin nodded.

"Good idea. Let's hope Steel City can survive a day or two without her."

The four sat in silence for a moment longer.

"I'll take Starfire watch first." Beast Boy volunteered, rubbing his eye tiredly.

"Alright. Get some rest guys, we'll talk later." Cyborg and Beast Boy rose from the couch, stumbling into the hall towards their rooms.

"Robin," Raven said quietly, "how bad?"

He turned away from her, eyes on the dark windows before him.

"Death threats, rape threats, insults, slurs."

"Azar," Raven cursed, drawing her hood up and muttering under her breath.

"Yeah. My thoughts exactly."

Against her dear friends' wishes, Starfire sat wide awake against her bed on the floor, a lavender binder in her lap.

Her fingers danced against the edge of the book, opening it uncertainly.

X'hal She breathed, eyes wandering over the pictures and swirly notes she had scrawled beside them. October 31st- Tonight was the festive celebration of the monsters and candy. Cyborg went as the wrestler, Beast Boy as 'Peter Pan' (must see the film!), Raven went as a wizard, though I am unsure how her uniform and a wand equated to that being, Robin dressed as a ninja, and Bumblebee sent me a lovely bunny costume. Robin seemed rather embarrassed to stand next to me while I wore it though, especially when Cyborg called me 'Legs'.

Starfire giggled, recalling the appalled look her Robin had expressed upon seeing her in what Raven had explained to be a 'playboy bunny' costume.

She flipped through the book, laughing and blushing all the while, though the tears seemed to remain in her eyes.

She reached the last completed page, touching the picture pasted to it gently. It was of her and Robin, a 'polaroid' he'd called it. They smiled at the camera, almost cheek to cheek, bright laughter evident on their faces.

Starfire smiled slightly. Drowsiness was getting to her at last. She slipped the binder under her bed and crawled onto it, snuggling into the blanket, as she fell into a heavy slumber.

ThankYouThankYouThankYou all for reading and reviewing, and please continue to do so! I hope you guys enjoyed this edition of my prologue.

Check back for more soon! Love,

BluE