LOVE WRITTEN IN STONE

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

"Titans, go!"

As Tara wept to herself helplessly after regaining her last memories, Wilbur gazed off into the distance beyond the bars with a knowing glint shimmering in his eyes.

“..You’ll make it out..” he whispered softly. 

“What?” 

“..They’re coming for you as we speak. While you were unconscious I heard explosions and scuffling from somewhere in the building. Slade left to check it out..”

I imagine they’ve already infiltrated the main entrance and are on their way here as we speak…

...

"Beast Boy! Go find Tara! ERRAH!!" Robin strained against his robotic opponent, then he pushed it back with his staff, and holding it like a bat, took it's head clean off. 

"What?? What about you guys??" Beast Boy, now landing on all fours after barreling through a group of soldiers as a rhino, belted confused. 

"As I said, we can't afford to get caught up anywhere! There are too many to continue with us all together. We'll catch up with you!" 

Hesitation kept his feet from moving, but he soon got the push he needed when Raven swallowed him up in her darkness long enough to teleport him a few feet off before she was attacked again, "Go! Find Tara! Bring her back to us!" She commanded as he landed on the floor. 

With clenched jaw and fists, Beast Boy relented and twirled on his heels in pursuit of Tara. "I will!!" Gradually, as Beast Boy fled, he leaned down on his hands and legs and roared as his body changed into a gliding cheetah. It was no surprise at this point that more of Slade’s robotic army came charging at him from all directions of the secret bunker, but Beast Boy didn't have time for them.

‘Get outta my WAY!!’ with a second, more merciless bellow, the cheetah leaped from the hard, metallic floor and morphed into a velociraptor. With his strong neck, it slapped away the oncomers and with his beak, snapped off a couple of arms and legs along the way, gaining speed. ‘Don’t worry, Tara! I’m on my way!’ 

 “So.. The Titans have finally come.” Slade uttered to himself as he stood in the vast room full of screens. He was shown all the areas of his lair that had been attacked and some of those cameras were damaged from the fight now only displaying static. However, the ones that were not played the Titans becoming overwhelmed by his hoard of soldiers with only Beast Boy remaining in the pursuit. Slade chuckled to himself. “But by the time they reach their dear friend, it’ll all be too late.” Briskly, the maniacal villain turned on his heels and marched back to the holding cell where his dastardly plan would take root. 

“They’re coming?? Seriously??” Tara gasped aloud at the glorious news. Her eyes shimmered with hope filling the color back on her cheeks. She could barely let herself believe it. Could it really be true? Had her friends gotten her message? Her heart was pounding against her chest at the very notion of seeing them again, especially Garfield. More tears sprang to her lids, but they were happier ones as she smiled through the breathing mask. “I’ll get to see them again!” she exclaimed. 

The doctor tilted his head, smiling amiably at her. He was relieved she was going to be okay, and he vowed that he would do his best to protect her until her friend's rescue. However, as he made this promise to himself boots clicking closer to the open entrance snapped them out of their phase of excitement. Wilbur jumped in front of Terra protectively and the creature who had been keeping watch over them jerked it’s head in the direction of the footsteps as well. 

The person they hated more than anyone else entered the fray with a brisk pace. He came to the cell and sharply narrowed his one visible eye before opening the cage door. It creaked open on it’s own and he stepped back slightly with an air of calmness that sent Tara’s heart racing with dread.

“Stay behind me.” Wilbur commanded as he stood to his feet. “I may not have any weapons, but you trained me well enough to fight alone.” he spat at his former master holding up his fists.

“You pathetic fool.” Slade reared his head back. “You really think someone as weak as you can take on me? Robin has been training in the sacred arts his entire life and even he is no match for me.”

“Oh, I don’t need to defeat you, I just need to get that trigger away from you and stall long enough for them to escape.” sweat dripped down the doctor’s neck and he was grateful his mask covered the fearful trembling of his lips.

“...Haha..Hahahahah!” without warning, Slade began to laugh madly and it stunned both Wilbur and Tara, who hid just behind him. “Try it then.” he dared after gathering himself.

“Fine!” Wilbur didn’t hesitate any longer, he threw his fist straight for Slade's exposed eye, but was suddenly grabbed from behind, and punched in the stomach by the same force. He wheezed, falling to his knees as his pupils rattled in his eyes. Shakily, he looked up to see the white creature standing over top him with the lights above showing it’s features to the point that only it’s red eyes were visible.

“You see, dear doctor, while you may not value your life, your friend here does, and even though she hates me with every fiber of her being,” Slade came to stand next to the creature and place his hand on it’s shoulder, “She would do anything to save your worthless life, even at the cost of working for me.”

“...Evelyn..” he choked before falling to the floor, unconscious. 

“Wilbur!” Terra squealed, “You monster! I’ll kill you for everything you’ve done!”

“Dying twice by your hand isn’t something I plan to happen,” Slade turned his back with a nonchalant wave of his hand, “Take her,” he said, and instantaneously, the creature snatched Tara in it’s overly long arms and prevented her from struggling with it’s super strength. 

“NO! STOP IT! LET ME GO!!”  Terra’s eyes shone brilliantly as her powers tried to save her, but only a strong aura of wind managed to come from it.

 As she fought and strained to free herself, the creature continued to follow it’s master until they reached the machine. The creature shoved Terra inside and slammed the glass door of the container before she could gather herself. Banging against the glass, Terra screamed as flashes of the past only fueled her terror. 

“Cry out all you want, no one will come to save you, not even your pathetic lover.” Slade leaned invasively at the glass where Terra stared daggers at him.

“Even if you kill me, my friends WILL defeat you!!”

“Not after I gain your abilities as my own.” Crushing his fingers into a fist, he pulled away and took out a vial of bubbling, blue liquid that seemed to pulsate light. Slade went to the creature with this vial while placing it into a syringe cartridge and pushing out a drop of the matter. When it fell to the floor, it melted upon contact, sizzling into thin air. “Now, if you would be so kind?” he gestured to the creature who was staring at Wilbur, struggling to regain his footing now.

“No.. please! Don’t do this!” he rasped, unable to stand. He lifted his upper body onto his arms and reached out his trembling hand.

“Evelyn!” Terra screamed. It snapped the creature's face to turn to her, “Please, get your brother out of here! The Titans can save you! I know they can! Run away while you have a chance!”

“Quiet.” The command may have been hushed, but Slade’s tone could have sent a tiger cowering in fear as the attention of the creature was taken away again to face it’s new master. “She is under my control, as long as those nanites are in her blood, I have complete control over them both.'' Without further delay he took the creature’s arm and shoved the needle into it’s skin, penetrating it's body. 

There was a burst of light that erupted from the entry point, and even though the creature was mute, Tara could undoubtedly tell that it was screaming in pain as it’s body was forced to absorb the fluid. It’s veins popped from just below the skin, radiating a blue light that began to pulsate like a heartbeat. Slade continued to pump the alien with this drug until the entire cartridge was emptied. The creature vibrated as it stumbled, unable to take the pain of it much longer. It seemed to burn it from the inside out as it struggled to hold itself up. With an unsteady motion, it turned on its flat heels and took a staggering step forward until it reached the machine. 

Placing it’s body inside the second glass container only apart from the girl by a metal, box-like object that connected them via tube, Slade shut the door and flipped the switch. At the top of the glass Terra was forced inside, a circular hatch popped open, along with the other glass container the creature was inside. It stretched it’s arm up and through the open hole until reaching the other side where Tara was. She cowered as the arm morphed into a sharp needle, just like what it did to Beast Boy, and slowly made its descent to her. Tara shouted and cried as she fell to the bottom of the canister unable to run. Slade watched on with eager satisfaction as the creature's needle-like arm penetrated the blonde girl's neck and shared part of the drug with her body. 

To say that her scream wasn’t loud enough to shatter a wine glass by the sheer intensity of the pain would have been an understatement. The decibels of her cry cracked the top of the container as her eyes were forced to glow golden yellow along with the inside of her mouth, then down her neck where her veins slowly gained the same color until reaching the bottom of her feet.

There was a blinding flash that exploded from Terra’s body. It spiraled upward, shattering the ceiling until the light from the moon was visible. This devastation shattered the machine into bits, scattering glass everywhere in the room. A cloud of dust fell upon the atmosphere as the blowback from the eruption had sent Wilbur and Slade against the wall. Whereas Wilbur had become trapped under some of the debris from the cage, Slade seemed to come out mostly unscathed as he pushed a workbench that had fallen atop him away.

The noise caught the ears of the green dinosaur as he ripped out the innards of one of the bulkier robots he had defeated. He perked his head in that direction and could faintly make out screams muffled by another source. Spitting out the parts, Beast Boy wasted no time as his legs carried him at blistering speeds.

Laying on the cold, glass-ridden ground, Tara bled from the penetration point of her neck and the cuts she had gained from the blast. Her heart was fluttering, barely pumping the blood she needed through her body as her blurry vision stared at the starry sky shining down on her. The creature emerged from the rubble unharmed. Their body was fluttering with a soft light of sunshine now having taken Terra’s monstrous powers for itself. 

“Yes!” Slade rushed to meet the creature, “At last.” with the notion he had won filling his body with endorphins, Slade reached out to the creature, ready for his transformation.

 Terra coughed up blood that trickled down her lips and neck, meshing with the blood pouring from her wounds. Her body was suddenly gaining a deathly chill. She swiftly found it remarkably strenuous to breathe, even though there was plenty of oxygen now as a fire burned her stomach. Her body was falling apart from the inside, agonizingly slowly. 

The panic of death coming for her forced her to reach out for something, anything, to save her, but as her eyes began to roll into the back of her head and her body began to lose all the feeling in her muscles, Tara realized that there was no one that would be able to rescue her now.

“ERRAHH!” 

There was an electrical flash of light from just outside the opening to the room that illuminated a silhouette of a small figure and the soldier he was fighting against the adjacent wall. With a sound like a boot against a metal ball, the foot soldier's head rolled into the room until it bumped against Slade’s shoe. He stared at it for a moment before his eye was captured by something else. Running into the frame was Beast Boy, panting like he had just run a marathon with an enraged spark in his slitted eyes. His body leaned over unsteady, his jumpsuit was covered in small tears and dirt, and the breathing mask Cyborg had given him produced a steam cloud every time he heaved a breath.

 The changeling glanced around, seeing the damage and chaos left behind by something destructive. The ominous sound of the remaining support beams dangling and creaking above him couldn't have been more chilling than what he witnessed next. He saw the apprentice trapped in the cage, Slade stood with the creature who was in a new, terrifying form, and then to Terra’s seemingly lifeless body strewn on the floor covered in blood and dust from the crash that was just now settling down. 

An unpleasant feeling of nausea rolled in the pit of his stomach. "..Tara?.." His eyes shook and he staggered to walk to her. Unable to keep his legs up, he fell to his knees next to her and picked her up in his trembling arms. Ignoring the new cuts on his knees from the glass, moisture welled up in the corners of his eyes. She was limp against him, her body stained with blood and grime. A painful feeling constricted his chest.

No, he couldn't have been too late. He refused to believe he was too late!

“Terra? Come on, this isn’t funny. Snap out of it! Wake up! Terra!!” silver beads of water dripped down his widened eyes as his teeth crushed against each other. A strained scream of grief barely filtered through the cracks while his head leaned over her, holding her tightly. Viciously low laughter of the victorious villain made his ears twitch. 

“So, has she finally succumbed to the transfer? Pity, I was hoping I could have been the one to squeeze the remaining life from her body, but I suppose I’ll settle for this.”

“..Shut up..”

“You once again failed to protect her.”

“..Shut up!”

“I’m sure she resented you until the end, after all, she died all alone, never knowing you were coming to save her. Hopeless, afraid, and weak .”

“I said..'' heavily, Beast Boy rose to his feet and lifted his head. His sharpened eyes seemingly glowing red from wrath as he sprang from his place and bounded through the shards of glass and various debris on his hands and feet, whaling, “ Shut. UP! ” his screams turned into roars as his body enlarged into that of a ferocious tiger. 

It clung onto Slade, forcing him to stagger back with the weight as monstrous teeth sank into his flesh. The villain howled as the warm sensation of a thick, sticky liquid ran down his waist; he punched the tiger in the nose repeatedly until the shock of the nerves in his nose compelled him to release Slade. 

Beast Boy pawed at his nose as the burning left in the wake clouded his vision with tears. Slade wasted no time as he leaped forward to attack Beast Boy while distracted, however, the hero was able to move just barely in time, transforming into a silverback gorilla. He pelted his chest, screathing and whooping with his lips revealing the keen rows of fangs ready for the kill. 

Before landing a solid blow, Slade’s arm was captured by Beast Boy’s massive fist and flung him around from the left, to the right, to the left again, and finally against a wall. The floor was cracked from the pressure of the assault including the wall Slade was stuck to. Beast Boy relentlessly battered Slade against anything he could think of. With a spin, he sent him flying into the bars of the cage, slightly denting the frame, and cracking one of the bars entirely.

 Stomping, Beast Boy came to stand over Slade’s wounded body and reached to grab him again, but was stunned by a barrage of smoke that exploded in his face. Slade had sent a pellet from his belt flying in his face that blinded the hero upon contact. 

The young hero scratched at his eyes while whaling, and during that time, Slade had pulled himself out of the indentation and popped his neck as if the trauma didn’t affect him. 

“Beast Boy, watch out!” The apprentice warned against the bars as Slade rushed up to gain the upper hand. 

The green hero realized too late as his neck was crammed into a chokehold with the villain straddling his back. Wilbur grimaced and fumbled around the ruble inside the cage. He landed upon a jagged piece of metal, grabbed it, then rushed back to the locked cage desperately hacking away to escape and help, if he could. Meanwhile, The gorilla gagged and struggled to remove the arms strangling him. He almost lost his footing before his body began to shrink until Slade fell back to the ground as a fly buzzed around his head. He flailed his arms, attempting to smack the blasted insect out of the air.

“You think this is a game?!” Slade roared, “Your friend is dying before our very eyes!” taunting wouldn't do him any good as the insect morphed into a twelve foot python slithering around the extended hand of the villain and around his neck tightly. 

Slade struggled to keep the long tooth jaws away from his neck before a third voice echoed in the room. 

“Beast Boy!” It was Robin. He, followed by the rest of the team, filtered into the space and to their shock also noticed Terra immediately. “Raven!” 

“On it!” Raven dashed to the blonde’s side, pumping her magic into her body hoping to save her life as the others followed Beast Boy’s lead and attacked Slade. “Come on, Tara! Don’t die on me, damn it!!”

“R..aven..” her strained whisper was almost unintelligible as the fighting from outside was overpowering, but Raven heard it.

“Oh!” she exclaimed with a hopeful cry. “Terra, I’m here! We’re here!” 

“My.. powers..” faintly, Tara reached out toward the creature. “I .. can’t.. breathe!” 

“Tara..” dread filtered through her tough exterior as she forced more of her magic out despite the strain on her body. She panted, trying to hold back her yelps as the pain was almost overwhelming, but she had to do this, she had to save the girl she loved! She had to.. “Beast Boy!” she screamed. 

The changeling, who had been thrown off his prey, paused before his next transformation and whirled on his toes to face Raven. Her tone frightened him as she continued, “You need to come here now !” He could just barely see silver jewels falling from his friends' eyes making his heart nearly stop. 

“GO!” Robin yelled as he held Slade back with his staff, “Be by her side, we’ve got this!”

“Still as confident as ever I see.” Slade mocked as his face leaned closer to Robin’s. 

“AH!” In the next instant, Robin’s face was nearly punched in on itself by Slade’s fist across his jaw. When the leader regained his footing he commanded again, “Go, Beast Boy!”

Unable to fight the urge, Beast Boy ran to the girl's side and knelt down. His eyes lit up, seeing Terra’s faintly open. "Tara!" He belted excitedly, snatching her hand, hoping to keep any semblance of life from fleeing her body. He ran the pad of his thumb over her cheek and she lazily glanced up at him with a faltering smile. 

"Gar.. You're.. Here.." she weakly uttered. Even her breath was freezing against the air.

"Of course I am! I came to save you!" Her fingers were freezing and her breath hitching every other beat caused him to panic,  griping tighter. 

"She's dying." Raven gravely announced. Her eyes were trembling with emotion as her hands bled over Tara's beaten body shakily.

"What?!" 

"I can't stop it, her life force is fading!" 

"No, no, no, no." Beast Boy shook his head reverently, "I won't let this happen!" 

"Beast Boy! Raven!" The foreign voice caught the other two off guard. They turned to look to where it came from, finding the apprentice pressed against the bars. The creature was weakly next to the cage, unable to move under the intense strain of keeping Terra's powers contained inside it. "Let me out, I can save her!" 

"How the hell can I trust you?!" Beast Boy raised his finger, pointing angrily at the other, "This is all your fault!" His accusations were cut off by the soft coo from below him and a meek grasp around his arm. 

"It’s o-okay.." Terra choked. Beast Boy softened his snarling tone and shook his head. "We .. Can trust h-him."

"But.." Beast Boy glanced a moment longer between Terra and the apprentice. He knew their options were limited and while he didn't trust that guy farther than he could throw him, he trusted Tara more than his taste buds when it came to good pizza. With a reluctant breath, he nodded, "Okay." He nodded at Raven who held her hand up and, with a sharp wave, the door was flung open freeing the doctor.

He ran to the kneeling creature and made sure it was alright, "Look! I'm okay, I'm free! I'm safe!" The creature darted over it’s friend seemingly checking to make sure before the apprentice grasped hold of their hand. "So now you have to give Tara her powers back." Pleading, Wilbur squeezed it's hand in hopes the creature would listen. It took it only a moment to make a decision. 

The creature came to stand over Terra’s rapidly fading body and, at first, both Raven and Beast Boy leaned over her defensively, wary of letting anyone they didn't trust near her in this frail state, but Terra reached her arm between them and toward the creature invitingly. 

"Eve..ylen.." She struggles, "It's o-okay." 

The creature's red eyes peered down at Terra curiously. Wilbur came to sit next to the beast boy and once they made eye contact, his eyes widened in realization. He had seen this man before. It was the kind doctor that had led him to Terra's hospital room so long ago. Too many questions swirled in his mind to make sense of it and, before he could say anything, Wilbur himself blankly met his gaze with his own, startling him. 

"This might be difficult to watch." He stated with a deadpan glint behind his cracked glasses. 

 Instantly, the creature formed it's arm into a needle once again and penetrated the same wound on Tara’s neck. Her body contorted and jolted until fully arching her back. A painful scream echoed around them, followed by another burst of yellow light. The impact rattled the entire lair and brought more of the debris from the crater above down on them. Raven shielded the group with her magic until the chaos ceased. 

There was a moment of apprehensive silence that forced Beast Boy's nervous eyes to focus on Terra. The creature slowly pulled their bloody hand from her skin and stood in silent vigilance as the glow from their body faded away. Wilbur wasted no time and placed his hand over her neck checking her pulse. Beast Boy held himself back, knowing he was still a doctor and he seemed to want to help, but when this was all over, he was going to sock a punch straight across his four eyes.

In the next moment, Terra’s eyes flew open with a startling, long gasp of air. Holding it in for a second, she then released it, panting. She weakly sat up and held her head, her breathing mask falling off her face. Raven and Beast Boy and Wilbur waited with bated breath as Raven’s magical energy remaining in Terra's body started to heal her secondary wounds before their eyes. When Terra’s breathing mellowed into a more steady beat, Beast Boy leaned over her helping her to stay up with his arm around her waist. She leered her slowly blinking eyes up to his concerned expression before a grin slithered over her lips. 

“Garfield.” she reached up and caressed his ear and immediately following the contact, Beast Boy melted into her touch joyfully. He squinted his eyes shut, unable to let Tara see the shimmering welling up in the corners of his eyes. It was in vain as what she said next shocked him so much, his eyes forced themselves open wide. “I love you.” 

“Wh-What?” he breathed aloud before, with all her strength, Terra pulled the changeling to meet her lips against his own.

The moment happened in a rush. So warm and tender her lips felt against his own. There was a brief moment where the young teen nearly lost himself in her inviting aroma as his eyelids slowly fluttered to a close. He could’ve stayed this way with her forever, allowing the love that dripped from her kiss to consume him. However, Tara broke away tantalizingly slowly, forcing his lips to follow her until he regained his senses.  She giggled sheepishly, catching his confused gaze peering down at her just a few inches from her face.

“..I wanted to make sure you knew just in case I die again.” with cheeks made of roses, Tara kept her sapphire gems resting on him. He was unable to look away as a loving smile graced his features. 

“You’re something else..”

“Hehe!” Beast Boy rubbed his nose against her own as they giggled, together at last. Raven smiled tenderly and bowed her head in silent reverence. She was so happy they were finally able to come together. 

Spitting blood from the slits of his mask, Slade growled and rubbed the splatters from the metal with the back of his fist. Starfire aimed her glowing hands at the villain from above. To her bottom right and left were Cyborg and Robin cornering him against a cracked wall. 

"It's over, Slade! You've lost!" Robin snapped, flicking his wrist where he now held five detonators between his fingers. 

"We have defeated you!" Starfire's green star bolts intensified as her proud proclamation filled the air

"There's nowhere left to run." The high pitch of Cyborg’s sonic cannon began to build up power as he aimed directly at their opponent. 

Trapped like a wild animal, Slade screamed madly; all his cool and calculating demeanor had flown out the window. Dodging the open fire unleashed by the cyborg, he rushed to Starfire who aimed her starbolts at him to no avail. He dropped his foot over a metal rod left over from the explosion, caught it in his hand, and twirled it to block her incoming fire before using it to take her out of the air, sending her plummeting into Cyborg, then knocking them both to the ground. Dodging Robin’s hurried burrage of detonators, he grasped his wrist, twisted until something snapped, then sent him flying into a wall. Slade reached down and retrieved a laser gun from one of the fallen foot bots, aimed, and fired. 

The blast seemed to echo around the room as the Titans, the creature, and Wilbur were all still. That was until Wilbur glanced down slowly as a warm liquid began to run down his chest. With shaking eyes he struggled for a moment until falling back to the ground in a pool of blood. The thrump of his limp body hitting the floor made the heroes left standing drop their mouths in unadulterated stupefaction.

“..Doctor?” Terra uttered in disbelief. 

The white creature slowly came to the apprentice’s side and knelt down. With cautious hands, it slipped the man into it’s long arms and stared heavily down at the lifeless face of it’s devoted friend. The body of the creature began to tremble as it’s beady eyes began to shrink in devastation. 

“Oh no..” Terra gasped. “She’s going to lose control!” 

“What?” Beast Boy asked too late as his cheek was almost pushed in on itself when the back of the creature's three-fingered hand flew across it. 

Terra screamed, reaching her weak body forward, but was unable to stand quite yet due to the strain. She watched in helpless terror as Beast Boy hit the ground several times before rolling onto the wall where Starfire, Cyborg, and Robin lay unconscious.

 With steam dripping from his mask, Slade stomped menacingly forward to Raven and Terra. Raven jumped in front of Terra to protect her but was snatched from behind by her cloak as the creature grabbed her. It threw her onto the floor, denting the metal beneath her, then mercilessly sent her flying into the pile he and Slade had made of the Titans. 

“NO!” belted the blonde. She struggled to stand as the alien monster trudged by the lifeless body of it’s friend and slowly made it’s way to the helpless five Titans that were unable to move. Terra tried her best to crawl to them knowing she was their only hope but was immediately stopped as a strong hand slithered it’s way into her locks and yanked her back. “AHH!” she struggled and winced as Slade relentlessly pulled at her scalp and slammed his knee onto her back, pinning her down. 

“It doesn't matter that your powers are back!” his voice seemed to froth death as he breathed in staggered increments, “You’re still helpless to stop their deaths! Now, watch just how worthless you truly are as your precious friends perish before your very eyes!” 

“NOOO!!”

….

“..Are you giving up?”

“...”

“Are you giving up?”

“..There’s nothing I can do.. Slade is right.. I’m worthless.. Always have been, always will be.”

“That’s not true. We never were!” 

“..!!” Terra snapped her eyes up to look above her. She was in a bottomless environment, shimmering and sparkling white as a small girl dressed in a purple gown with her blonde locks tied back to her head grinned at the other below her with large eyes made of sapphires. Terra could hardly believe what she saw. It was herself but as a seven-year-old girl.

“We never gave up! Even when it seemed like the world was against us. There's always going to be people that will need you, so you are never worthless.”

Tears sprung to her eyes as she quickly sat up to face her other self, “But I can't even save the people I have that with! How can I do anything ?!”

Before her very eyes, her seven-year-old version vanished and behind her, a voice more resembling herself spoke, “You are more powerful than you think..” Terra whirled around and was astonished to see herself staring back at her, only this time she was wearing the mark of Slade and a battered suit of armor. Behind her was the faded image of lava and embers flickering all around her as she somberly lowered her head, “It's never too late to try.”

“Now get up!,” again from behind, the same voice spoke, however more hardy and alive. When Tara turned to look, she was staring at the version of herself she wanted to be; a hero. With her hands outstretched she smiles, “Let's go save our family.”

There was a moment, only a moment, where hesitation kept her body restricted. But with a determined breath, she snatched her hands, “..Right!”

When Tara came to, she was still in a dangerous situation with her friend's lives hanging in the balance. She grimaced as Slade’s heavy body only continued to constrict her breath as she said, “You’re wrong!” With a strong burst of wind around them, her eyes burst open glowing golden yellow.

“What?” drawn out, Slade snarled. 

“Terra..” breathed a weakened Beast Boy as the creature had nearly reached them.

“I am weak; but where I lack, my friends will support me, unlike you !!” 

As Raven’s dark magic fueled the fire of passion growing in her heart, Terra’s powers exploded in a threatening aura that consumed her body. The room made entirely of metal began to pulsate, throwing the creature to the ground with its mighty power. Nearby, a shard of metal shook uncontrollably until it dislodged itself and was sent flying toward Slade and Terra. It slipped into her outstretched hand and with a flick of her head, flattened into a razor-sharp knife. In one swoop Terra sliced the blade through her blonde locks ripping it from Slade's grasp. 

“Impossible!!” he bellowed, falling back with the plume of hair tightly enveloped in his grasp with dozens of loose strands feathering down to the floor. 

Terra stood to her feet, her head lowly hanging as her unstable body began to rise into the air. The yellow light around her only seemed to grow brighter as she raised her left hand and snapped her wrist. The creature, who had tried to get up and once again attack her friends, was brought to it’s knees as a piece of the ceiling collapsed on top of it. As the rubble clashed over the Titans, a weak Raven lifted her hands, and spread her dark aura around them to shield the oncoming ruble from falling on them.

Beast Boy watched in astonishment as Terra threw her arms in a circle and then forward with painful screams of pure hate and wrath. Chunk after chunk of metal plating from the floor as well as pieces of the machine and other assorted items came hurtling like a hellish storm on top of Slade one after the other without remorse or mercy. A dark energy began to pulsate and it made Raven reach up to cover her mouth instinctively.

“My magic is consuming her,” she uttered in shock. “If she doesn't stop, she’ll end up killing him, and herself along with him.”

“Raven..” 

She jerked her head to meet Beast Boy’s intense gaze. His emerald eyes seemed to glow as he scowled, holding his shoulder, bleeding from the impact. Raven wavered a moment, before lowering her head in defeat. 

“Go,” she stated, peeling a portion of her forcefield away.

“ERRRAAHH!!” Terra, almost consumed by her hatred and rage, screamed as she floated over the now unconscious body of her greatest enemy. Tearing at her scalp, she arched her back, the aura around her glowing with the force of a sun pulsated as broken bars of the cage formed in an arch behind her. They floated there awaiting the command to be launched into the villain’s flesh.

However, before the deed could be carried out, a hand reached out, and softly grasped hold of her wrist. Snapping her deathly expression of pure hate down at the interruption, her eyes were met with the understanding tenderness in Beast Boy’s. Instantly, her own softened as he forced her into his strong embrace, cradling her tenderly. 

“It’s okay.. It’s okay.”

“...Garfield..” she gasped. 

“Believe me, I want him gone too.. But you can't dirty your hands… please, don’t do it.`` His pleas worked as the wind around them began to mellow out and her body gracefully regained contact to the broken floor. 

“I’m okay,” Tara replied, her eyes still aglow as she pulled away from his embrace. 

“Yeah, but..” his wayward eyes turned to see the bars still hovering in place. 

“Don’t worry. I’ve got this.” she squeezed his hand, smiling. 

Beast Boy nodded and let her go, trusting her with everything he had, “I know.”

“Stand back,” she warned before lifting her hands above her head, with a calm heave, the bars surrounded Slade, encasing him in an impenetrable cage. When the bars were sealed in place, Terra’s body was released from the aura and then fell backward, unable to keep herself upright without the power. 

Garfield nearly missed the chance to catch her as he skidded to his knees with the girl falling into his arms. “Terra?” he lovingly brushed the immensely short bangs from her face that were sticky with blood and gunk. 

“I’m alright.. Just .. needed a rest.” she forced her eyes open, hoping to calm down the boy holding her protectively. 

It worked as he nodded and hoisted her up as he stood. “I’m so proud of you.” he nuzzled his forehead against her own, grinning. 

The Titans stood up surrounded by the wreckage of the battle they had won. Robin was clutching hold of his presumably broken arm and limped over to the duo along with Starfire, Raven, and Cyborg who all had their own battle scars to carry with them. Beast Boy came to meet them halfway and almost passed by the struggling creature, but was however halted by Terra's unexpected yelp. 

“Wait!” 

“What is it?” he questioned, turning his eyes to gaze upon her. 

“..Let me down.”

He reared his head back between the creature and herself with doubtful grunts, “Are you insane?”

“Please, Beast Boy.” her serious eyes shot right through his soul making him falter. 

“..Okay.” he relented, kneeling beside the white monster who was cradling it’s friend protectively and shivering. 

Sympathy laced her crystalline eyes as Terra reached out and caressed it’s shoulder. The creature snapped it’s head threateningly at the two of them, but Terra refused to flinch. She held out her arms and enveloped her shaking limbs around the bulking figure. 

“I’m so sorry..” she choked while hot tears fell from her clenched lids.

Something inside the alien creature broke and melted. A feeling it was only now able to understand because of the human emotions inside it overwhelming it and for the first time, it made a sound. A sob. The red, mechanical-looking eyes on it's strange face shimmered, and out from them fell it’s own tears that flowed like a fall in the summer. It continued to sob, bowing over Wilbur as the droplets of sadness fell to his grimy skin, then down his cheeks. As multiple, salty tears graced his skin, a sound reverberated from his throat.

“..Mmph..” creaking, his eyes slowly folded to open weakly. 

“Uh!” Both Beast Boy and Terra grunted in shock seeing the apprentice still alive. 

The white creature also jerked up and excitedly leaned forward to validate that what it was witnessing was truly happening. With a delicate quirk of his lips, Wilbur reached out and caressed the face of the creature. “H-Hey.. Love..” he whispered, blood dripping from the corner of his lips.

Raven came to the side of the doctor and checked him over with her magical hands. “You’re lucky to be alive,” she stated, healing him with all the power she could muster. “I’ll be able to stop the bleeding, but we should get you to a hospital.” 

“Thank.. You..” Wilbur breathed tiredly, turning his weary expression to the goth next to him. 

“Don’t thank me yet.” she lowly states. 

“That’s right, you still have to answer for what you did,” Robin commented gruffly, standing over the group. 

The apprentice closed his eyes, contentedly. “Oh, yes.. I know. And I’m alright with that.”

The heroes all shared glances amongst themselves before the painful whimper of the girl they had come to save snapped away their attention. “Speaking of hospitals, you need to be seen too,” Cyborg added as Beast Boy stood to his feet with Terra tightly secured in his arms. 

“I’ll be okay.” the blonde replied sheepishly.

“Yeah, you will. When you get treated by a doctor.” Beast Boy stated flatly. He wasn’t fooling anybody with that tough guy act though. He was worried to death. 

Terra only let her smile show as she giggled, “You’re right.. I just.. Need to rest my eyes a bit.. Would you stay.. With me..?” 

Grimacing, Beast Boy heaved a breath, “Don’t worry. I’ll be with you when you wake up. I promise.” resting a kiss over her forehead, the green hero softly whispered that to the girl barely able to keep her eyes open.

“Thanks.. Gar..” with that, the terrible ordeal was over.

…

The team emerged from the lair, victorious at last. In the arms of the creature was a badly wounded, but still alive, Wilbur Peterson who wore a contented smile on his face despite the pain. Around his chest was a bandage keeping more blood from spilling out until he could be seen by a physician. Being dragged along from behind in a makeshift cage was Slade who was still unconscious from Terra’s assault. Terra herself was breathing soundly as her resting body was being carried by Beast Boy, who kept a watchful eye on her once in a while.  

Leading the way were Starfire and Cyborg who both had their own source of light to traverse the deep caverns of Terra’s cave they found themselves in. Directly behind in the middle was Robin and beside him was Raven. Every once in a while, Robin glanced over his shoulder to peer at the creature who was following along as if it were the natural thing to do.

 Robin was suspicious of it to be sure. He hardly knew anything about it; it had attacked his team, and it seemed to be the cause of everything that had happened. He didn’t trust it, but then again, he wasn’t a trusting person to start with. However, he realized that Tara seemed to have some form of understanding of it, and it had been able to save her life, so for now, he decided to let it be. As long as it wasn’t causing trouble, of course. 

“I can see something up ahead!” Cyborg called, his booming voice echoing off the walls of the cave. 

Once the others rounded the corner near the entrance, red, blue, and white lights began to become visible. They were blinding and rather obscene as they pulsated like a heartbeat. Robin ran ahead and emerged from the cave first seeing what he had expected. 

“Don’t worry,” he called, raising his hands, “It’s the police.”

A horde of men and women dressed head to toe in blue and black all surrounding the cave with their cars and hiding behind them with their guns raised for whatever came out all relaxed seeing the Titan leader. They cheered as the rest of the team filtered into the light of their vehicle beams. 

Apparently, the raucous caused by the Titan’s battle was so destructive, the police had been called to the scene along with some fire trucks and ambulances who were just a ways off as their large vehicles were unable to come near the terrain that was littered in trees. By this point, those paramedics had finally made it on foot, carrying all they could from their trucks in case they were needed, their diligence wasn't in vain. 

As Beast Boy exited with Terra tucked firmly in his arms, followed by the creature loyally following them with it’s friend in their arm, the doctors all rushed by the police and went to work. Of course, the other Titans got their fair share of gauze, disinfectants, and casts when the time came to look over their injuries. 

A ways off, as Beast Boy oversaw the paramedics fixing up Terra on a stretcher spread across the grass, he noticed a group of officers holding back some men wearing pantsuits holding what looked like pens and notepads. He sighed dejectedly as this was just another thing they had to deal with. The last thing Tara needed was a crazy news report about what happened, especially if she wanted to go back to that school. 

“She’s good, let's move on.” The woman who had expertly patched up the blonde’s wounds nodded at her other teammates as they quickly went to the next member of the team needing some medical attention. 

Leaving Beast Boy alone with Tara soundly asleep in his arms, he softly ran the tips of his fingers over her forehead with a sour contrast of his face. That was when Raven sauntered up to him and sat on her knees in front of Terra. Beast Boy jerked his eyes to meet her own. She was bandaged around her head, with some bandages over her cheek and under her eye, when she lifted her hands, they too were wrapped up in gauze. A shimmer of panic shook in the changeling's eyes before she spoke.

“Don’t worry, I just used too much of my power. It tore up my hands.” she wiggled her fingers, “but I don’t even feel it.” 

Beast Boy slowly formed a grin before turning his attention back to the girl in his arms. “I’m sure she appreciates it.” 

“I’m sure. Speaking of my magic, I need to remove what she absorbed in the crystal before any more time passes. What happened back there..” Raven’s eyes darkened, “Was because my dark magic was consuming her body. I guess it’s a good thing since it ultimately saved us all from combining with her power, but I can’t let her keep it. It will destroy her.”

Beast Boy nodded, “I get that, but I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”

“I’ll be fine, if anything, regaining my magic will help me heal faster.”

While the younger hero was concerned for the other he regaled as a sister, he could only nod again and trust her judgment...

...

“...” Beast Boy sighed for the hundredth time as his anxious eyes shook from time to time. He replayed it over and over in his mind, the moment Terra almost killed Slade. He was glad she didn’t go through with it, though he wasn't one to talk considering he had tried to kill that bastard himself many times before, with most recent being that time at the amusement park after finding Tara. 

Terra didn’t deserve to dirty her hands like that though, and he was so relieved that she was able to snap out of it and not let Raven’s dark magic consume her completely. Yet he was growing more distressed while Tara remained unconscious. He wanted to tell her so much, he wanted to hug her again, to see those sparkling eyes open and gaze into his own. But, as more time passed, he grew worried. “How much longer?” he blurted aloud. 

Raven, who had been slowly removing her magical essence from Tara’s limp body, only chuckled mildly at her friend’s impatience, “Don’t worry,” she started with a smile, “She’s going to be fine.”

 “..My mind knows that.. But my heart won't stop pounding.” he softly moved his bandaged hand over his chest, gripping the fabric. 

“I know what you mean,” she replied, resting her violet eyes on the blonde. “I’m worried about her too..”

Beast Boy eyed her for a moment before once more blurting his thoughts, “You’re in love with her too, aren’t you?”

Raven was silent as she faintly let her eyes close before opening them again on him, “I think you should tell her again.”

“What?”

“You and her.. You belong together. She completes you, and you her. She is always smiling with you, and there is never a dull moment for you when she enters the room.” Beast Boy closed his lips that had parted from Raven’s sudden change in how she spoke. Her voice was slightly shaking, and her expression was unreadable in the sense that he couldn’t tell if she was keeping it together or not anymore. Her fingers twitched slightly as she continued with, “I love her too much to not want her happy, and that would be by your side.”

“Raven..” he lowered his head, now gazing at Tara as she rested in his embrace. “...She and I will be living in different worlds now that it’s all over. I’m not gonna make her choose her civilian life over me. I know she was happier when the world wasn’t falling apart, free of her trauma, her past.. Even if she didn’t have any memories, she was still content.” his hand lightly caressed her cheek, resting there for a moment. “I don’t know what she’ll want to do now that she’s not in danger…” This wasn’t the first time Raven had seen Beast Boy look so grown up, but it still surprised her. He was maturing,  and it made her smile despite herself. 

“Well, what did she say?”

“Huh?” the confused changeling pondered, once again resting his tired eyes upon the sorcerous. 

“She must have said something before you passed out at the tower. I saw the way you two.. hugged each other back there.” The sly way her eyes struck him made Beast Boy wheeze.

“R-Raven!” he whined with redness pounding heat on his cheeks.

“There must've been some kind of promise. So? What was it?”

Beast Boy heaved a sigh and swiftly darted his eyes away from both Terra and Raven. "She.." 

'When you rescue me, will you go out with me?'

He couldn't repeat it. His throat went dry from the overwhelming feeling burning in his gut. "She.. Asked to go out with me."

"Oh." Surprised, Raven blinked her eyes, then a grin slithered over her lips, "Then maybe you have your answer already." She replied, returning her full attention to regaining her magic. With a strange whisper of air, a burst of mist covered in purple light vanished to thin air. "I'm finished." She stood up, brushing the dirt and pieces of dead leaves from her legs and cape. 

"Wh-where are you--?" Beast Boy was cut off as a soft coo just barely audible below him filled his ears.

"Gar...field…"

"Ah! Tara?" He snapped his attention to her. 

"I'll leave the two of you alone," Raven replied gently before turning to walk away. 

Beast Boy watched her for a moment before hearing Tara call for him again, "Garfield.."  

"I'm here, Tara." He held her closer to his face with a loving smile. "How do you feel?"

Her eyes were hazy and he could tell she was struggling to stay conscious, but she smiled despite that, "Honestly? I'm probably in a lot of pain, but I can't feel anything.." 

"Raven might have done something. She was just here getting the magic from your body… That was wickedly awesome by the way." He chuckled. 

"Who, me?" She felt her cheeks redden. 

"Of course you! You took down that asshole again and now he's going behind bars. You're a hero!" He grinned so big Tara thought his jaw might snap. 

"Hehe.. I did it to save you and the others. I only got my power to that level because you were in danger, not because I'm special."

"You are special, Terra." He cupped her cheek, then rested his forehead on her, "And I'm so thankful you're safe.." Tara felt a droplet splatter on her cheek, followed by another on the other side. She grunted surprised before she felt Beast Boy’s body shaking. "I thought.. I thought for sure you.." He struggled to speak through the grief of keeping his tears at bay. He jerked away and turned his body to furiously wipe away the tears, "Damn it, I promised myself I wouldn't cry in front of her." he muttered bitterly. 

Tara couldn't help a smile tugging on her lips. She reached up weakly, planting her hand on his cheek, and pulling him to face her. "It's taking everything I got to keep my eyes open. We can talk later." 

"Mm!" Beast boy blushed and shyly nodded. "Okay. Rest up, I promise I won't leave your side." 

"Thanks.." Unable to hold out any longer, Tara's head fell against his chest and her breathing slowed. 

Beast Boy let his eyes rest on her as he stroked her chopped hair. She looked so peaceful now and hearing her voice set him at ease too. The crunching leaves on the forest floor caused his ears to twitch however, and he turned to look at the two bodies approaching. It was Robin and Cyborg. 

"How is she?" Robin asked, standing beside the couple. 

"She's going to be alright, but she needs to get some rest." Beast Boy casted his forest green orbs over to the large, armored car holding the creature and recovering doctor for the Titans as by now they had already taken Slade to a high-security prison. "Are we seriously going to take them in?" He asked, a furious edge in his voice. 

"It's what Tara wanted," Cyborg replied apathetically. "I know I can separate the bond between the alien and the sister with his research. The only problem is that I don't like having someone who destroyed my tower working with me in my lab."

"We'll have to just deal with it for now. Out of the five of us, I am the only one that gets where he's coming from.. He just wanted to save his sister; someone he cares about. Slade seemed like the only option, and he will face time for what he did, but let's just focus on saving the little girl." With a tight knit of his hidden brows, Robin crossed his arm around his chest holding the cast of his broken arm.  

Beast Boy knew it was the right thing to do. Yet he couldn’t help the anger welling up and constricting his chest. Terra could’ve died if they hadn’t made it in time, and he needed someone to blame other than himself. With a curt breath through his teeth, Beast Boy stood up with Terra firmly in his embrace. 

“Let’s go home.”

…

Birds and the sound of waves crashing soothingly over the beach aroused Tara from her deep sleep. Her eyes peeled themselves open and the feeling of dryness made her shut them once more. With a whine, she forcibly blinked them open and allowed them to adjust to the light. Her mind and body felt like hell. She was groggy, and sore everywhere. She felt the foreign touch of gauze and bandages over her skin in multiple areas that confused her until she tried to move her neck. 

A sharp pain that felt like a knife stabbing through her flesh made her wince and think better of it. She remembered now. Her kidnapping, the battle with Slade, and her near-death experience. She found herself chuckling at it. She had the worst luck out of anyone.

With a weak sigh, Terra laid in this strange bed surrounded by other machines and a singular window to the right of her. She could make out the sunlight rising just over the horizon.. Or was it setting? Wait, just how long had she been asleep?  She shook her head. No, she didn’t need to worry about that. Her most pressing concern was the Titans and, of course..

“Beast Boy..” she mumbled. 

“..Mm..” 

There was a response and a gentle squeeze against her fingertips. She shot her shocked expression to her left and what she saw melted her heart. Laying his head down at her bedside and clinging to her fingertips was the one she longed to see the most. He was asleep, but he looked as though it wasn’t by choice as she could just barely make out undereye bags formed beneath his beautiful eyes. The last time she had seen those were before they became friends again; when he was torturing himself over her. A painful feeling squeezed her heart as her lip poked out in a pout. 

“Garfield..” She constricted her fingers to clasp around his, hoping to convey her love through his dreams, but it only made his eyes flutter open. 

 The exhausted teen immediately shot his body erect and rubbed his eyes as if he had mistakenly fallen asleep. “Damn.. what time is it?” he muttered hastily.

“I’m gonna guess it’s morning, but I have no idea really.”

“Oh.. yeah I guess that--” before he fully got his sentence out, the beast boy froze. As if he were afraid to look, he timidly pushed his face to peer down at the smiling girl laying in bed. 

“You look like hell.” she giggled meekly, reaching out. “I wanted you to stay with me, not worry yourself to dea--” two lanky arms interrupted her as they swept her into a constricting hug. She could feel his body shake every now and then and trembling exhales of breath ran down her neck. She leaned her head against his with a knowing simper. Her arm that had been holding his hand gently clasped under his arm and hugged him back. “I’m okay,” she reassured

“I know… I just.. Really needed to hear you say it.” he sniffled and cupped her cheeks as he pulled away to gaze into her clear eyes that he adored so much. “You sure you’re alright?”

“Mmhm.” she nodded leaning to his touch, “I’m just fine. A little pain here and there, but what can you do?” 

 “That’s a relief..” the teen bowed his head as if the tension was finally leaving his body and he became exhausted. But before he rested his head, he leaned forward and rubbed his cheek against hers. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

 “Come here, dummy.” With an awkward motion, Tara helped Beast Boy to lay down next to her. He was willing to comply, but the embarrassed flush over his cheeks made him squirm. His shoes fell from his feet and clambered to the floor as Terra tucked the blanket over his shoulder. 

"..Uhm.. I’m not complaining, but is this okay?" He flusteredly muttered between his hands, curling up beside her. 

"Yeah, obviously." She chuckled but was reminded immediately just how badly wounded she was as a sharp pain in her stomach made her wince. 

Garfield immediately sat up waving his hands over her unsurely. "Are you--??"

"I'm fine, stop worrying!" She replied hastily, sitting up as well. Her right hand absently held her stomach as the sudden arousal of her muscles working to accommodate the movement made the pain burn slightly. Beast Boy made a motion to lay her back down but thought better of it. He sat in the bed with his knees facing out. He looked genuinely perplexed as his eyes darted from left to right below him. His ears even dropped. "What is it?" Terra reached out her hand and caressed his cheek. The touch jerked him from his thoughts and he haplessly forced a smile. 

"..I'm sorry." A disheartened shadow casted over his eyes as he looked away. "It's all my fault--"

"Shut up." 

"Huh?"

"Don't ever blame yourself." Terra’s low voice shocked the other teen to the point that his throat went dry. "All you've done for the past year I was petrified is blame yourself and I'm sick to death of it!" As Terra shook her head, the uneven ends of her chopped locks bounced around her eyes. "I could make the argument that it was my fault, but that would make you angry, wouldn't it?" 

"..." Beast Boy’s mouth closed knowing full well she was spot on. 

"So stop it! Don't you dare apologize!.. After all.. We promised we wouldn't blame ourselves anymore, didn't we?" 

"Heh, you're right.." Beast Boy softly took her hand in his and stroked the pad of his thumb over her skin sending waves of excitement down her stomach. "I just can't help it. When the girl you love is in danger and you can't do anything to save her.. It hurts."

"It's the same for the girl." She leaned forward, forcing her body to conceal the twisting pangs in her muscles as she moved. 

"You definitely proved that." Beast Boy's voice drulled into a low whisper as he also leaned forward to meet her halfway. 

When their lips met, it wasn't nearly as intense as the first time. This was a gentle, almost sickeningly sweet, taste that filled them both with such happiness they almost forgot all their woes. His lips were warm, soft, and inviting. Terra almost felt foolish for kissing him with her dried, chapped lips. It made her pull away slightly but his mouth captured her’s again with a more hungry air. It silenced any and all worries she had as they remained that way until the sun finally rose above the shimmering waters of Jump City. 

Three days had passed. 

Tara was bedridden in the hospital wing of the tower as Raven and Cyborg continued to heal her wounds and let her body rest. The ordeal with the creature ripping out her powers almost killed her and the strain of her DNA basically being ripped apart had taken its toll. Tara didn't mind the break though. She was able to spend a surplus amount of time with Beast Boy in that span and of course, the others came to visit her as well when they found the time.

 Between restoring the tower and being superheroes, time was rather short. On one such occasion where Terra found herself alone, she would play around with her old training rocks and a piece of scrap metal hoping to recreate what she did in the caverns, to no avail. Perhaps it really was just a spur-of-the-moment thing after all. 

 As she played around with a couple of stones twirling them around in a circle, one of the only normal doors cracked open and a visitor she had never met before shyly poked their head inside. Tara jumped up startled and immediately tensed her shoulders. The rocks she had been fiddling with formed into a triangle formation, awaiting command, however, a voice from outside the door caused her alarm to falter. 

"Evelyn, you have to knock first!" came a deep voice with a british accent came from behind the fray.

"..Evelyn?" Terra blinked her eyes as a slow gasp came through her lips. Her arm lowered as the girl's head pulled itself out of frame, replaced with the figure of Wilbur stepping forth. He was adorning a half-quarter sleeve, plaid shirt colored a light blue with baggy cargo pants to match. His bright, new glasses slightly fell from his nose before he pushed them back into place. 

"Sorry about that, Tara!" He apologized as he pushed the reluctant girl behind him to come in front. "I just thought you two should meet before I left." his head tilted back slightly as he felt a tug on his hair. A tiny, white version of the alien creature crawled up to sit on his head. "Ah, sorry,  three. " Emphasizing that, he slowly stepped into the room followed by a protective Beast Boy. He shut the door and followed close behind the trio and then came to stand next to her bed with crossed arms. 

 Terra smiled to herself in mild amusement knowing full well that Garfield would have given just about anything to punch Wilbur out, but she was proud he was allowing him so close to her. She reached up and took his hand and immediately it softened his expression. 

 "I'm so happy for you, Dr. Peterson! You and Cyborg were able to separate the creature and Evelyn safe and sound!" 

"Yes! I’m rather relieved that it turned out alright in the end.. Ah.. also, no need to be formal, I mean, our history is … Ehhh.. rather complicated." He cringed to himself as they came to sit in the chairs next to the bed. 

"Yeah, that's true. I guess ‘Wilbur’ will do then." Tara giggled into her palm before glancing to the two smaller ones. Evelyn was an adorable girl who was shyly keeping her eyes focused on her hands between her lap. Her faded, rosy locks were tied back with a purple ribbon and her bangs slightly shielded her face from view so Tara couldn’t really see her beautiful eyes that sparkled like sapphires. The alien was a completely different story. It curiously started at Tara taking in everything it could about her. 

"Evelyn, love, this is Tara. Do you remember her?" Wilbur gently spoke to his younger sister and she hesitantly nodded. "Would you like to say hello?" 

"...H-Hi.." She nervously darted her eyes to meet Terra's. 

"Hello, Evelyn. I'm so happy to finally meet you." Terra stretched her hand out to the other. The sister looked unsure and rather frightened. "Sorry," Terra said, feeling as though she might have overstepped her comfort zone.

"Don't worry! She's still learning to control her own powers." Wilbur replied. "She's been going through some training with Starfire because it seems they have a similar ability when it comes to strength. They've been getting along so well!" As Terra watched the man chatter on, she couldn't help but smile. He seemed so much happier now, genuinely. She was glad for him. "You know, you and Tara are the same age, Evelyn," he mentioned, turning his attention back to his younger sibling. 

"Yep, and I had a rough time controlling my powers too. But you and your brother are together while you train.. Me and my older brother never got that chance to be as close as you two.." By now the alien creature had climbed down the lanky body of Wilbur and was crawling up to Terra. It nuzzled against her as she absently played with it with her index finger. 

"Really?" It was the first time Eveylen looked Terra in the eye. 

"Uh-huh!" 

“Yes, well.. Unfortunately, it won’t be for long.” lonely darkness cascaded over Wilbur’s face before he tried to smile, “I’ll be going to jail soon. I have to atone for all the atrocities I’ve done.”

“..But, what about Evelyn, and the alien?” Tara breathily pondered.

“Your leader mentioned that Starfire was looking into it, as far as returning the alien creature to wherever it came from is concerned. As for my sister, I can’t say at the moment. It’s unclear whether or not I’ll be released from prison, and of course, I can’t take her with me.”

“..She needs a home.” Beast Boy muttered to himself with a knowing sparkle in his eyes. Tara stifled a breath knowing all too well how Beast Boy felt. She turned her eyes down, thinking.

“Well, if she wants to, I don’t see why she couldn’t stay with us.” A fourth, more nurturing voice had spoken, lifting the gazes of all in the room. Standing in the door was a plump woman with a bright, purple pantsuit and long, flowing, ashy hair. 

Terra immediately lit up as she curtly inhaled, “Momma!” 

The woman in question could barely contain her tears as she hurriedly galloped to her adoptive daughter’s bedside followed by a particularly tall, lanky man with a scraggly beard and receding hairline. It was her adoptive father. The pair sat on either side of her hospital bed and embraced their girl without a second thought. It had been far too long. Tara was unable to contain her tears of joy from springing into her tightly shut eyes as she joyfully laughed. 

“I missed you guys so much!!” she proclaimed as they nuzzled each other. 

“We missed you too, pumpkin.” her father agreed tenderly. “I’m so glad you’re alright.”

“I was so terrified of losing you, I was beside myself with worry, but being able to hold you in my arms again has helped to dull that pain.” her mother added with a stiff sniffle. 

“It got scary for a while there, but I’m alright, thanks to my friends.” Tara hummed, pulling away slightly, “But what was that you said earlier?”

“Your friend, Robin, told us what had happened, including the fact that this young lady will be without a home rather soon.” the woman turned her sharp gaze over to Wilbur causing beads of sweat to form on his neck. On a dime, her smile returned as she addressed the other girl sitting beside him, “And that's why we were hoping to adopt her.”

“..Adopt .. me?”  Evelyn gazed up at the rather strange woman with hope. 

“That’s right! It wouldn’t be the first time we have taken in a lost soul such as yourself.” The gentleman spoke, standing with his hand rubbing the top of Terra’s messy hair with a smug chuckle. 

“They may have adopted me, but they’re basically my real parents to me, you’d love it with us! And also, we can go to school together! It’d be great!” Terra sounded so excited at the prospect as she clasped her hands around the skeptical sister’s hands. Evelyn's cheeks flushed over in a pink hue as she faintly nodded. 

“If.. that’s really .. okay… with them…” a smile threatened to spread over her lips as her eyes shimmered. 

“That.. that would be .. so great.” with his hands clenched tightly over his thighs, the young red haired doctor choked on a sob as tears fell from beneath the edge of his glasses. “There are no words.. To repay your kindness.” with his shoulders jolting, he forced his fingertips to grasp his glasses from his face so he could fervently wipe his tears with his wrist. 

“Big brother.” Eveylen softly spoke as she turned to hold her brother’s arm with soothing strokes over his back. 

“I’m sorry.” he shakily rasped, “I just.. I’m so grateful.. To all of you.”  

Terra found a smile tugging at the sides of her mouth. “Of course, the creature is welcome to be with us too. It’ll be fun to have them around until Starfire can find out where they're from!'' The alien didn’t seem too disinterested in the idea, however, it still had a strong attachment to Wilbur, so being forced to part from him left it feeling hollow. 

Wilbur fanned a smile as he gently scooped the creature into his hand and held it close. “Yes, they will be safe with you until then.” the creature softly gripped onto the cloth of his shirt, clinging to him like a baby. “Don’t worry, little one. I love you very much,” he whispered to it, and that seemed to calm it’s torn emotions. 

…

Terra heaved a dreadful sigh as she stood facing her reflection in her heart-shaped mirror. She tugged at the uneven strands on her bangs and, for the first time in a while, felt self-conscious. Standing in her full school uniform, she couldn't help the anxiety rolling in the pit of her stomach. Terra wasn’t one for impressing others by her appearance. After all, she had never worn makeup before and got along just fine. However, having her hair being so drastically short made residual fears build-up from her past that forced her to feel inferior. 

That wasn’t the only issue either. It wasn’t long before the press leaked out the incident at the caverns to the public, despite the best efforts of the Titans. Word spreads fast in a bustling town such as Jump City, and of course, her story was no exception. A copy of the article laid sprawled on her bed describing the event in long detail. Recovering her past and then of course the events that happened that night. Most of the article had nothing but good things to say, but this was the last thing she wanted hanging over her head before returning to her newly rebuilt academy where tension was already high with her class.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

“Haven't heard that in a while,” Terra muttered to herself. “Come in!”

“Have you finished getting ready yet?” 

The voice of someone unexpected forced the girl to whirl on her heels and nearly drop her beloved box. After some fumbling, Tara smiled sheepishly, “Oh, hey Raven! I’m so used to Beast Boy knocking like that I didn’t realize it was you. Wassup?”

With a smirk faded in the darkness of her hood, Raven pulled out a small toolbox from behind her back, “Oh, I just thought that you might want some help.”

“Ah!” 

 ‘She’s the one who cuts our hair. She doesn't like to talk about it much, but she's really good at it! Starfire was the one that introduced her to styling though. She’s been trying to teach me how to cut my own hair, but it isn’t going so well.’

Terra blinked her eyes after recalling what Beast Boy had told her that night. If anyone could potentially fix this mess she had made, then it would be Raven. A relieved chuckle came from her, “That obvious, huh?”

“Well, it is your first day back to school. I figured you might need a bit of a confidence boost.” 

Terra bowed her head, “Raven, you’re a lifesaver.” they both chuckled mildly before the witch of darkness tilted her head. 

“Let's get you fixed up.”..

Standing in the bathroom with a cream towel draped over her shoulders, the young teen found herself sitting on a stool as Raven prepped her slender scissors. “So, do you want me to do anything in particular?”

“As long as it looks even, I think I can handle it.” Tara scratched at her neck bashfully. “I’ve never had it so short before.. It might take me a while to get used to it.”

“In that case, I’ll try not to take too much more off.” running a slim comb through her bobbing strands of sun, Raven gently smiled.

“It’s okay. I appreciate this a lot.” Tara replied. 

“Don’t worry about it.” Raven plucked a spray bottle full of warm water and spritzed Tara’s locks. “Try not to move.” next taking the newly sharpened scissors, Raven began to prod and snip away at the younger’s strands. 

Tara found herself lost in thought as strands of her hair fluttered to the floor. The last time she was at school things went south pretty darn fast.. How would her class view her now?.. Now that the whole city was reminded of who she was, everybody would surely give her a hard time. Was she really prepared for that? 

She remembered her fight with Jason and how awful he was to her and how easily his venomous words poisoned the entire class made her shift uneasily. Raven’s fingers paused as she tugged a strand to be cut. Her grip loosened before her soft words developed Tara’s ears. 

“Are you nervous?”

“..Yeah. But I can handle it. S’not like it’s the first time I’ve been in hot water.”

“You know, you can always become a hero full-time like before. It might help the public view of you lighten up until things cool down in the media.” 

“I appreciate the offer, but like I said, I want to go to school. While I was there, things might not have been perfect, but I found myself missing the everyday normality of just.. Being a girl in high school. It won’t be the same now, of course, but I love being able to learn all these things I never got to before..'' painful memories of her past living within the palace hollowed her eyes momentarily before she blinked them. “But I’ll be over here at the tower practically every day to study and do my homework, and on weekends I’ll be with you guys training and doing hero stuff!”

“Relax, you don’t need to justify your choice with me. I completely understand.” Raven waved her hand as she shook off the other. Tugging a strand of hair between her middle and index, she snipped her scissors and fluffed her hair. “I’m sure it’ll all work out.”

The silence filled the air once more and Tara found herself twiddling her thumbs. “..Raven..?”

“You don’t need to say it.” Raven interrupted. Her voice was much softer than before and it made Tara want to turn her head but two slinger hands snaked around her chin from behind forcing her to halt and, at that point, barely breathe. “Don’t worry about me. I’m alright.”

“..But..”

“My feelings for you are real, and I'll be able to get over them in time. Just continue to make Garfield happy and let him do the same for you.”

Tara hummed as she let her eyes fall shut. Resigning her argument, she merely nodded. “Of course.” 

“..Good.” there seemed to be a hint of sadness in her voice before her hands were removed from her neck, “I’m finished. Have a look.” 

Handing the sitting girl a mirror, Raven stepped back in mild anticipation, clutching the scissors and comb. Terra’s eyes slowly rose as she turned her head left, to right, to face forward once more. 

“Oh, wow. It looks.. So awesome!” the blonde chirped. Turning in her seat, Tara beamed at Raven standing just above her before reaching out and hugging her hourglass figure. “Thank you so much!” 

“...” too astounded to speak at first, Raven bashfully blinked her eyes, resigning herself and relaxing into her embrace, hugging her back. “You’re welcome…”

…

When Terra finally made her way down the stairs to the main hall, all four of the other Titans stood there waiting for her. They all turned their heads to the sound of the door sliding open automatically and were all impressed to say the least. 

Cyborg whistled. “Lookin’ good, rockin’ roller.” he threw a thumbs up as she passed by him. 

“Oh, yes! You look quite enchanting indeed! The cutting of hair ritual is quite befitting you!” complimented Starfire with her hands clasped together. 

“It looks great. I’m happy for you.” Robin added with his newly recovered arm placed over his hip. 

While Tara passed them by, she felt her cheeks flushing over from the embarrassment and rubbed her head. “Thanks, you guys.. Uh.” she halted now standing in front of the slightly taller, green teenager that she now called Garfield. He stood there in a daze, staring at her with softly widened eyes and faint dust of pink highlighting his green pallor. Shifting bashfully, Tara tugged at her bag straps and cleared her throat. “And.. did you have anything to say?..” she coughed up. 

“...” Beast Boy shifted to smile warmly, “Just that you’re beautiful, as always.” 

“Mm!” The hairs on her arms stood up on end as the complement sent her usually pale skin flushing in a deep, red color. Hearing the other members of the team snickering behind her caused her to act rashly. “You’re so dumb.” she blustered hotly as steam nearly puffed from her forehead. 

“Ah!” wounded, Beast Boy gasped as she quickly pushed by him and walked out the front entrance. 

“Hey, lover boy, do you think I'm beautiful,” mockingly leaning down behind the beast boy’s shoulder, Cyborg puckered his lips with an angelic halo over his head. 

Beast Boy quivered before throwing up his fist and socking a punch to his teammate’s face with the back of his knuckles before chasing after Tara. When Cyborg recovered he sighed haplessly. Robin shook his head, “Shouldn’t have done that.” he remarked.

“Eh, he’ll get over it.” Cyborg chuckled, rubbing his pulsating nose.

Outside, the warm air of the fast-approaching summer air bristled by the duo standing on the rocky terrain of the island. Beast Boy fumbled down the hill to catch up to the hot-footing Tara before finally reaching her and throwing his hand over her shoulder. 

“Tara, wait up a sec, wouldja??” he breathlessly requested. 

The girl paused and hung her head. The breeze rushed by them both, fluffing her skirt and tie. “Sorry.. I got flustered back there.”

“It’s okay. I might have been a little weird anyway.” he sheepishly rasped, hunched over to catch his breath. When he stood up, he threw his hands behind his head, “But I meant what I said.”

Tara twisted her feet to face the boy she loved with all her soul. He was smirking knowingly at her and that alone was enough to make her stomach pop with electricity. She grinned, lightly punching his upper back, “Don’t go sayin’ things like that. I’ll get spoiled.” 

They laughed, walking side by side down the hill. “Isn’t that what a boyfriend is supposed to do?”

“..Mmm, that’s a fair point.” Terra playfully tapped her chin, slyly shooting him a glance. 

“Your hair really does look great though. Raven does awesome work, huh?” 

“She really does. It doesn't look nearly as gnarly as it did before.” Terra tugged at her bangs and reflected on the handiwork of the half-demon she called friend. “Gotta hand it to you, you were right. She’s really skilled with those scissors.” 

“Right? Hahah!” The lull in the conversation made Beast Boy huff. “So, you really aren’t going to be a full-time hero anymore?”

The question made Terra halt in her tracks leaving the other beside her to accidentally walk a few paces ahead of her before stopping as well and turning to face her. He watched as her blue orbs connected onto the horizon. “I don’t need to be.”

“Hmm?”

“..I’m sure you remember when I told you about how I tried to be a hero, but my unstable powers always messed it up. I was so desperate to prove myself back then.” the images of her brother and biological father popped into her mind’s eye, “To prove that I could be useful, that I was someone that mattered and was needed. Being a hero with these powers of mine seemed like the best way to do that,” her hands lifted to the level of her face before she closed her fingers into light fists, a confident smirk forming over her lips, “But I’m over that now.” 

Beast Boy was unable to hide the shock on his expression, however, her confidence was contagious and he smiled, “Yeah, you’re much stronger now. Definitely not the same girl we found battling it out with a centipede monster in the desert.” with a fluid motion, Beast Boy gripped onto her soft hand with his gloved one. Her hand felt tiny compared to his, however, it fit perfectly between the wedges of his fingers. 

Things had changed, yet they changed for the better. 

…

When arriving at the school, Beast Boy tightened his grip around her fingers. It brought back painful memories to be here. Yet, his thoughts were whisked away as the girl of his dreams clenched her own fingers against his, reaffirming how far they’d come. He simpered to himself, letting his running mind relax. It was all a thing of the past, after all.

The couple walked onward across the sidewalk and into the shining, grand gates decorated in ribbons and other ornaments to welcome the student body back after the last few months of rebuilding. The students socializing in the courtyard gradually stopped their conversations mid-sentence and stared as the hero couple walked by. By the time they reached the main entrance to the building, the grounds had fallen silent with scattered whispers. 

Terra realized it was going to be a difficult adjustment, but perhaps she had underestimated the power of gossip in a teenage-infested setting. 

“Hey. You’re stronger now.” Beast Boy stated, drawing out all the doubt that had seeped into her mind. 

She grinned and nodded, “Yeah, I know.”

“Taraaaaaaa!!!”

“Are you okay, girl?!” 

“Oh!” suddenly two arms that matched the blonde girl’s size engulfed her following two bodies that shoved her to the ground.

Beast Boy winced as a plum of dirt was left in the wake. When he uncovered his eyes he saw those same girls that had been… less than hospitable to him the first time around. Her friends, Amber and Dionne. Amber, who was slightly shorter than Terra with hair that was a faded shade of red and several brown freckles peppering her face, squeezed her friend that she hadn’t seen in ages tightly. 

“We were so worried about you!”

“Yeah!” the second companion, Dionne, agreed, vigorously nodding with her fists clenched at her side. “When we heard what happened in the news, we couldn’t take the worry anymore!”

“We’re so happy you’re back in school with us!” 

Tara had a look of astonishment on her face before the light in her eyes began to shimmer with emotion. She bit her lip and lowered her head in the group embrace, hugging them both back gingerly. “You guys.. I missed you too!” 

“Heh.” Beast Boy loosely crossed his arms and kept his distance to give them their moment of reunion, but it wasn't long before their wary voices snapped him from his peace. 

“Hey, you .” Amber griped, standing along with the other two. Both her and Dionne stood protectively in front of Tara.  Amber’s hands were sprawled over her hips with her chest puffed while Dionne crossed her arms hotly.

“Eep!” shrinking, Beast Boy felt as though he were in for it. 

“Uhm.. girls..?” Tara piped up, but was shut down.

“Just give us a sec.” Dionne raised her hand. 

The girls simultaneously took a step, then another, until they were toe-to-toe with the gradually nervous hero. He slightly raised his hands in surrender as they leaned forward with puffed cheeks of judgment. After an intense staring contest Amber spoke sternly, “Don’t you dare break her heart.”

“H-Huh?” squeaked the green bean.

“Or we’ll be forced to break your bones.” with a crack of her perfect knuckles, Dionne viciously grinned.

With a rather terrified chuckle, Garfield nodded, “I’ll definitely keep that in mind!”

Satisfied, the two friends fist-bumped each other and grabbed Tara’s individual hands, pulling her along. “Come on! We’ll be late for homeroom!” Dionne relayed as they swiftly pulled her past Beast Boy. 

“Hold up a sec!” Terra forced them to stop just a few feet away and released herself from their grasp. “I’ll catch up with you.” There was a shy blush forming over the bridge of her nose and the signal was picked up by the others. 

“Okay!~ But don’t take too long and remember the rules about PDA!” Giggling, Amber waved before they took off inside the building. 

With a sigh of relief, Tara grinned, turned on her feet, and rushed up to Beast Boy, jumping in his arms with her’s around his neck tightly. He was surprised at the unexpected hug and it took him a moment to collect the new weight he was supporting. Her legs swung as they spun in a half-circle before he gradually let her down on her tippy toes. He cradled her in his arms, taking in her warmth and scent. She did the same, feeling safer than she ever had in her entire life. 

“You’ll meet me after school, right?”

“Duh, you know I will.” breaking apart, Beast Boy lovingly grinned down at her. 

“Don’t keep me waiting.” 

“I’ll do my best.” 

Reaching up, Terra planted a feather-like kiss over his lips and briskly pulled away, booking it for the entrance. Left there in a daze, the love-struck Beast Boy lightly touched his lips and watched her figure disappear into the grand doors to the academy. 

“Damn, I love that girl.” shaking his head, he pushed his hands into his pockets, swooning and gushing to himself. After a few awkward stares from the students, Beast Boy sheepishly grinned. With a swift motion, his body contorted and he transformed into a falcon, zooming away into the sky. 

Terra watched from the window of the hall, seeing the green bird loopty lopping away with a loving smile on her face. With her books firmly in her arms, she was only brought back to reality when her friends lightly tapped her on the shoulder as they walked by. Giggling they rushed together down the stretching, blue halls of the school and into their homeroom class. 

While Terra expected the day to be filled with awkward stares and maybe even some bullying from her peers, she found herself bombarded by people everywhere she went asking her excited questions about her powers and how she defeated Slade. It was alarming at first, but she found herself enjoying it after a time.\

 She felt like the “popular girl' in those cheesy, teen drama movies. By the time she reached her third period class she had talked to most of the student body. She was exhausted already as she slumped into her chair with a long breath. Leaning back, she popped her neck and rubbed her scalp, then forgetting just how short her hair was, flinched. 

"You look great." A boy's voice timidly addressed her from the right side of her window seat and it was someone she recognized. 

She turned to the right of her and made eye contact with Jaired. He was the only one that had defended her when the class ganged up on her and even tried to help her through the burning school before ultimately getting separated. Immediately, Terra smiled. "Oh, this?" She pointed sarcastically as she blew air into her bangs. 

"Yeah! It looks great." He grinned. 

Slamming his books, Carter, Jaired’s friend, plopped down in the chair in front of him. "Damn! You really did cut your hair, Tara-- oh.. Wait should I call you Terra?" 

"Whatever you want. I don’t really care." This wasn't the first time she had to tell someone she didn't mind which name to use. It was probably the hundredth time in fact, but she didn't mind at all. She smiled as if it were the first and nodded. 

"Oh, sweet. Yeah, everyone heard about the fight with Slade. You were freaking awesome!" Carter replied excitedly. 

"But I figured you would become a Titan again." Added Jaired, pushing his glasses up his nose. "..Ah! D-Don't get me wrong! I'm happy you decided to come back!" A faint blush formed under his glasses. 

"Yeah, I couldn't imagine not being here though." She reached into her bag and retrieved a yellow, circular object and presented it to the boys who were practically swooning over it. "I'm still a Titan though!" It was her communicator. 

"So.. Awesome.." Squealed Jaired.

The whispers in the room were all halted on a dime as a terrified cry resounded in the air. The students that were already seated all perked up immediately with Terra standing, hands raised to fight. However, she was rather shocked to see that the source of the scream was Jason, the bully. He too was friends with Carter and Jaired, but they didn't support his terrible behavior. 

"Oh." Terra blinked, lowering her hands. 

"What the hell? Why are you here?" He stepped back, fear twitching his features. 

"She's a student, bro," Carter replied nonchalantly. 

"And she belongs here." Jaired stood to his feet and was going to stand protectively in front of Terra, however she pushed him to sit back down gently. 

"I got this." with an air of confidence, the girl didn’t even bother to glance at her new knight in shining armor.

Unable to hold it back, the flush on his cheeks grew and he fidgeted sheepishly with bashful grunts from just a slight touch. "Y-Yeah, sure." He squeaked. 

"Oh, geez." Carter rolled his eyes and sighed, shaking his head. 

Terra came around to the front of the room as all eyes focused on her figure and stood directly in front of Jason who took a step back. They stared at each other intensely before she held out her hand.

"My name is Terra. I can move earth with my mind. I used to be an apprentice for Slade and I did destroy the city and betrayed the Titans. That's true. All of it." shifting his eyes, Jason grunted in bewilderment. 

"Yeah, so what?" His voice shook. 

"However, I defeated Slade, regained the trust of my friends and became a full-fledged Titan. If that bothers you, then you might want to leave, because I'm not going anywhere." 

Carter and Jaired barely threw their hands over their mouths fast enough to cover their snorts of laughter. Curtly blowing air through his teeth, Jason shifted his eyes to the side before standing tall. "I don't care. Do what you want." He hurried by and shifted to sit in his assigned seat leaving Terra’s hand in the air. 

Her heart had been racing the whole time. Confronting Jason had been what she dreaded the most. However, he seemed more scared of her than she was of him. It made her smile despite herself. Lowering her hand, she turned on her heels and made it back to her desk just as the bell resounded in the school. It was then the petite leader of their classroom, Miss Thompson, glidden inside the door and shut it behind her. 

“Alright, everyone! Please take your seat!” she giddily announced to her class. “I am so happy that you all could be here today! And I am also very happy someone very special could join us once again.” her eyes tilted over her glasses as she indirectly addressed the blond girl sitting near the back of the class.  

When the rest of the class's eyes rested upon her, Terra nervously grinned and waved her hand. “Come on, I’m not that special.”

“Nonsense! You are a hero, aren’t you?” Miss Thompson chirped. “Now, I know you haven't been able to keep track of our online learning class for the past month, so I will exempt you from today’s presentation.”

“What presentation?” absently, Terra asked. Jaired leaned into her from his seat.

“Our Titan reports, remember?”

“Oh, yeah! Well, I mean, I chose to do my report on myself without knowing it was myself, so like.. I could probably still do mine.” it felt like time had passed by her so quickly. She had completely forgotten about that and it made her feel rather silly now.

“Oh, no, no. It’s alright! Maybe you could give us a presentation about what it’s actually like to be a Titan sometime!” suggested the teacher. “Now, who would like to go first?” As usual, silence filled the air, with a soft huff, the lady adjusted her frames, “If you don’t volunteer I’m going to have to pick somebody~” waving her pen like a wand, the curly haired woman grinned mischievously. 

It was then a nervous hand slowly raised up. To the amazement of his two friends and the young heroine, it was Jason. He was shyly avoiding eye contact with anyone and had his head low with his shoulders tensed. 

“Ah! Perfect, someone brave enough to answer the call, haha. Come on up then, Jason.”

With calculating movements, Jason slowly stood to his feet and leisurely walked up to the front of the class. He held a stack of papers that had been stapled together in the typical report fashion while he kept his eyes solely focused on the papers. Once he stood at the front of his peers, their teacher sat down in her own dest near the corner of the room. 

“Alright, state the Titan you did your report on, and of course give us your favorite facts about them and if you could meet them, what would you tell them.” 

The silence that followed made the class begin to stir. Even his friends shared glances amongst themselves. “Is he okay?” Carter whispered behind him to Jaired who honestly couldn’t tell. 

It was then something truly intriguing occurred. Jason's hazel eyes flashed directly into Terra's blue sapphire ones and he kept staring at her until the rest of the class followed his line of vision. Terra was too floored to speak considering that this was the first time he had looked her in the eye since she arrived. 

"U-uhmm.. Jason?" Miss Thompson nervously aired.

"Yeah, yeah.. Okay listen up! I was going to do my report about Starfire for obvious reasons. I didn't really care about the Titan’s accomplishments or what kind of person they were, I just wanted to have a valid reason to Google a smoking hot heroine." This confession caused the slightly outraged teacher, who was usually well-mannered, to gasp appalled. "But..I don’t really think that anymore.” he took a slow breath, calming his nerves.

 “I chose to really think about it after a certain … incident happened about a month ago.” Terra visibly tensed up and straightened her posture. "Then I realized there already was a hero among us, even though I chose not to see them for who they were now, despite their rocky past. So, I did my report on Tara Markov; hero name, Terra. She's a fifteen-year-old girl that was a good girl, gone bad, gone good again. She's someone I've known for a year and she's really good at soccer and softball. Also, she can control the earth with her mind and sometimes steel and other assorted metals. She's a member of the Titans and also a student at Murakami Highschool. Not much was known about her past,  but that doesn't really matter. She's a go get 'em, rocking chick that doesn't put up with anyone's shi-" a sharp grunt from his teacher made him swallow his words before quickly correcting himself, "Shiii..fty behavior. Such as myself. If I had the chance to talk to her, I'd tell her I was sorry for how I treated her, and I think she's an amazing person that deserves to be a Titan for all she's done for us." 

With tears welling up in her eyes, Tara couldn't help the emotional smile on her lips. "..Thank you." She rubbed her eyes, unable to stop the flow of salty beads. "Thank you, so much!" 

…

I always thought my life would amount to nothing but failure and suffering. I had the odds stacked up against me ever since the beginning and had to struggle for everything I ended up achieving. While there are definitely things in my past that left a scar that can never be healed, I wouldn't change any of it, because it ultimately led me onto the road I'm on now. 

I became a Titan. 

I proved to myself that I was worth something and that no matter what stood in my way, I could overcome it. And it isn't like I have to do it alone anymore. If I ever need help, a shoulder to lean on, or even if it feels like the world is crumbling around me, I can always turn to my friends, my comrades, and the people of Jump City that I've vowed to protect. 

"Hey, Terra!" A charming voice called as soon as she entered the door. 

The girl addressed waved nonchalantly with a cheery grin, "Wassup, Carter?" 

"Uh! Your outfit!" Jaired blushed, pointing. 

"Uh? Oh, yeah! The headmaster gave me permission to wear it to school, just in case I got called to battle during the day. He also gave me permission to waive the classes I miss if it is for hero work." Turning slightly, Terra looked over her new heroic costume. 

It was a balck, long-sleeved shirt with a golden T in the middle like before, only this one had a line of the same color going from her high rase neckline that connected to the circle around the signature letter, speeding over her shoulders and down to her belly into a diamond shape. The diamond was cut to see her belly button and on her lower hips was a cut diamond on the other side. She also wore her signature, golden shorts, gloves, and belt. To complete the look, her goggles rested on her pixie hair, and on her feet were her Brogain boots. 

She had gotten several compliments today on the new look and she was quite proud of it herself. She, Raven, and Starfire had worked very hard on it.

"I know I stick out like a sore thumb, but.." 

"No! It's great! You look good!-- ah! Not to sound weird or anything!" Sputtered Jaired until he was thankfully cut off by the sound of books dropping suddenly to the floor. 

"What are you wearing??" It was Jason. He was obviously flustered as he stood there in pure shock and a tinge of red began to dust his cheeks. 

"It’s her hero costume!" Carter smirked, "Pretty cute, huh?~" wiggling his brows, he leaned in his seat teasingly. 

"Sh-Shut up, dork!" Janson frantically bent over and retrieved his books, hurrying by Terra with his shoulders raised to hide his neck. He slowly paused a step away from her with his back turned. 

Terra tilted her head and queried a brow, "What is it?" She pondered. 

"..You .. Look cute.." his words came out like vomit as he slowly sank into his own body.

Unable to hear anything he said, Tara furrowed her brows and leaned in closer with an adorable look of confusion, "Huh?”

Jason hissed, startled, and jumped back several feet, "I said you look cute, damn it! Geez!" he slightly hollered, now arched against the wall. He shuffled to his seat and slammed his things down not caring that it was messy. 

“Thanks!” Tara replied innocently before the bell for class alarmed. She quickly took her seat and sighed, gazing out the window. 

'I wonder what Gar is up to now..’ she found herself smiling, a hint of red on her nose, barely registering Miss Thompson addressing her students.

 “Alright, everyone, I hope you all did your assignments last night because it’s going as your last grade for the year before finals.” the lady started as she picked up a dry erase marker. “Pass them to the front of your row and--”

A foreign chime echoed from somewhere in the room, interrupting the woman. Everyone glanced around and then all landed on the blonde girl still daydreaming out the window. Before long, she felt a nervous tap on her shoulder from Jaired snapping her out of it. 

“Uh?!” she fumbled in her belt and retrieved her yellow communicator buzzing and humming. Flipping it open, the class was as silent as a morgue as they intently listened.

“Terra! We need your help, we got trouble in the downtown sector. You in?” It was the team leader. 

“Oh! Uh--” her eyes fluttered up to meet her teacher who was only smiling at her sweetly. The rest of her class all excitedly nodded at her before she shot a confident glance back at her communicator and smirked, “You know I am!” 

“Great.. Because we kinda came to get you.”

“What??”

“Oh my gosh! They're outside!” a girl that sat in the last seat behind Terra exclaimed, pressing herself up against the window. It wasn't long before the curious class all filtered together in a pile trying to catch a glimpse of the team standing outside in the courtyard all adoring their new uniforms. 

“Settle down! Back to your seats! Oh, forget it.” Having given up, the young woman sighed and adjusted her glasses on her way to sit in her chair knowing full well she’d lost her class. 

Pushing by her peers, Terra slid open the large, industrial window and glanced down at her friends waiting below. Of course, her eyes landed on the one she had been thinking about just moments prior. Garfield was waving at her from below, excitedly. 

“Yo!” he yelled, cupping his lips to amplify his voice up the tall building with his free hand. 

“Hah!” her eyes sparkled with excitement as all hesitation left her body. 

Yeah, this is where I belong. On the road I chose for myself where I can be myself with the people that I love and who love me back.

Tara lifted herself to perch on the window, lifted her hands over her head to grasp her goggles, and was halfway to pulling them over her face when she heard two male voices over the commotions of the students behind her. 

“Good luck!” both Jason and Jaired blurted aloud before slightly elbowing each other with perturbed growls. 

Because now there are people that need me just as much as I need them. People that count on me to save them. 

Flashing a salute, Tara winked, “Don’t worry ‘bout me! I’ll tell you guys all about it when I get back in time for lunch!” With that, the young heroine leaped from the window as the students gawked and awed at her, pushing each other to see her flying from the second story, only to summon two, hand-sized rocks into her palms that glided her to the ground effortlessly. Once she landed, Terra ran up to Beast Boy who held out his arm while half turning on his heels matching her pace.

“Glad you could make it!” with an approving grin, he winked at her as the lady snatched his arm into hers running side by side.

“You kidding? I wouldn’t miss this for the world!” giggling, Tara took the lead as the rest of the team followed closely behind

Nope, not for the world.. 

“Titans, Go!”