The Stone Chest

Chapter 1

"The Awakening"

The sun was hiding in the horizon and gradually the night was taking over the city; the creepy darkness brought by the night was only attacked by the neon lights spread all over the place. However, there were still streets where the light was out and the darkness could reign fearless. Suddenly the silence was interrupted by the noise of steps getting closer, the noise was getting louder and started to become fearful, and then, a shape appeared from nowhere. A white face, partially covered by black hair, was seeing an abandoned building almost in front of it. The man was tall and his body well built, his green eyes gave to his face a mystical aura making him unique; he was wearing a black pants and a white sweater, which helped to create a paranormal environment around him. He was standing as if he had been waiting for a signal to act until suddenly, he entered to the building.

Inside, the silence was even creepier than outside, if that was possible; despite of the absence of light, the mysterious guy could manage to find his way with making no sound, he walked slowly but firmly hoping to find what he was looking for. In that moment, the scaring calm of the place was interrupted by the sound of canticles. At the beginning the 'intruder' didn't understand any word spoken but when he reached a place near the source he realized that the language used was Latin which he understood very well so he started to listen carefully to every word and using his knowledge he could realize that the people singing were doing an awaking ritual. Then his greatest fear came to the surface, he could not believe what he heard next; those foolish rookies was trying to awake again a being that caused so many damage before it was sealed many years ago. There was no time to waste, the watcher role wasn't good enough and it was important to take action; in that moment he arrived to the center of the construction and could see five monk-like people with black suits who were performing the awakening ritual, but to his relief they weren't finish the ritual yet. The young man prepared himself to enter in action when he heard some words that stopped him.

"It's time for you meeting jail Maximus".

The young man quickly hid behind a wall and could see the face of the person who was in charge of the bad guys and could see his fear. It was obvious that the phrase said a minute ago shocked the leader of the gang who was making the ritual so the young man wanted to know who was responsible for that. A few moments later, five people stopped in front of the monk-like ones and the young man could see them well. One of them was a red haired woman whose clothes he would call sexy, she was hovering and her hands were cover by green energy bolts. "Definitely not human" thought the young man before turning his head to continue his analysis. The second he saw had half of his body covered by metal and he looked as the strongest of the team. To his right was a short and thin adolescent who had a green skin, near of them suspended in the middle air was another woman, her suit made the young man remember the monks of the XV century only that the color was blue instead of brown. Her face was covered and the only things the young man could see was her eyes; her aura reflected complete calm but it was not related with peace but with suppression and that was a very interesting fact of her. Finally, the young man focused himself in the guy who was in the center of the team that just came to the place, there was no doubt at all, that guy was their leader, his costume was the typical comic superhero clothes and the final touch was given by the mask he was wearing. Definitely, a strong power lied in those guys but maybe that power was not enough to stop the being the others were trying to awake. Nevertheless, the new crew arrived just in time to stop the evil plans of the monk-like gang and it wouldn't be necessary he to take part of it so he just dedicated to watch the show smiling because it was the first time in years that other people would be doing his job.

"Thanks a lot for your invitation, you're so kind, but I can not accept it" – Maximus answered with sarcasm.

"Then it'll have to be on the hard way" – Robin said – "Titans go!"

Four of the monk-like people who were performing the ritual suddenly disappeared, and Maximus flied quickly towards Robin who received him with a strong punch in the face that sent Maximus to the floor. However, the leader of the ritual performers did not surrender and began to throw thunderbolts against the Titans but they easily evade all of them. A few moments later, it could be seen that Maximus was not a challenge for Robin and the others. Starfire threw a star bolt against her enemy and the impact was clean because of a disregard of Maximus who ended almost knocked lying no the floor. Soon the other titans joined the girl to capture the leader of the ritual performers and a few moments later, they were standing beside him.

"Why you always choose the painful way?" – Beast Boy asked without taking his eyes off Maximus.

"Because they all are dreamers" – Robin answered.

"Once again I've been defeated my dear young friends, I know that I'm not a challenge for you but you can feel happy now because I'm going to introduce you a person that surely will be a real one" – Maximus said and then disappeared.

"It can't be! Not again!" – Robin yelled with anger.

"Oh man! This kicking his ass and then see him disappear thing is becoming annoying" – Cyborg added.

In that moment, a strong earthquake took over the entire place; in fact, the young man, who had left his hideaway to go after the monk-like people fearing the worst by the fact that only Maximus was fighting meanwhile the others just disappeared, saw his march stopped by the seism. Just a few moments later, the young man saw with horror that his worst fear had become true when the rest of the ritual performers appeared in front of the titans

"Prepare to meet your defeat!" – Maximus said and then disappeared again, but this time the entire monk-like people vanished into a strange vortex that appeared behind them.

A strong energy explosion hit the place and a shape of a normal person emerged from the vortex. He was wearing a black ninja suit and his face was cover by a ninja mask; at the beginning, he did some kind of stretching exercise as he was trying to pull away years of inactivity; After that, he took a look of the surroundings. Robin and the others quickly recovered from the explosion and without a doubt stood in front of the man who emerged from the vortex. Nevertheless, he ignored them all; obviously, he was being distracted by another presence.

"I don't know who you are but if Maximus set you free you must be with the bad guys" – Robin said taking his combat guard.

"Insolent! Shut your mouth out before me!" – The man said and Robin was sent against a wall by an invisible force.

Immediately, Raven, Beast Boy and Cyborg stood in front of the man meanwhile Starfire went towards Robin in order to help him. Cyborg used his sonic cannon to attack and at the same time, Raven moved some pieces of furniture and threw them to the unknown man who easily evaded both attacks, then he moved very fast to reach Raven and hit her hard in her stomach with his left arm, the girl went unconscious and fell. Beast Boy, who had changed into a T-Rex to make his move, had to changed into a human being again to help Raven. From that moment on, only Cyborg remained to fight the mysterious man.

"You're nothing but ants. How did you dare to attack a superior being? Your punishment for that action will be death" – The man said with magnificence and a huge energy attack emerged from his hands towards the titans.

The entire building disappeared because of the attack and the unknown man remained stand in the street, his satisfaction was evident despite of his attack did not kill his enemies.

"So, At the end you decided to take part in the party my dear friend…well, I'll deal with them later and then I'll deal with you" – The man said and then he started to fly and disappeared without leaving a trace.

PPPPPPPPPPPP

In the rooftop of a nearby building, the five heroes appeared from nothing along with the young man who was hiding. The titans noticed the other man and quickly got on guard. Robin, despite of not being totally recover yet stood ahead, Cyborg and Starfire were backing him, to face the enemy. Beast Boy was still taking care of Raven who was regaining consciousness.

"Who are you? How did we got here?" – Robin asked distrustful.

"My name is Connor and I'm not your enemy. You're here because fortunately I could teleport you all before Zarth's attack destroyed you" – Connor answered seriously.

"So that freak is called Zarth?" – Cyborg asked.

"Yes, he's such a powerful being who was sealed so many years ago…I thought he'd never come back but I was wrong…and I hate to admit it but most of this is my fault" – Connor Replied with anger.

"What do you mean by saying that this is your fault?" – Raven asked accusatory while slowly was standing up, helped by Beast Boy.

"I was inside the building before your arrival, I could sense a powerful evil presence that was growing quickly so I decided to check it out. When I get to the place, I could see the beginning of a dark ritual and I confirmed with horror that they were trying to awake Zarth or rather set him free of his prison. In that moment, I decided to make my move and stop them but then you came and it was in that moment when I made the worst mistake ever …I decided to watch your battle and wait for your victory avoiding taking part of it …Nevertheless, I could see that only Maximus was fighting against you, and that the other four ritual makers just disappeared in order to finish their thing. When I went after them it was too late; the rest of the story you know it" – said Connor sighing.

"How do you know all that information about that man?" – said Robin continuing the interrogatory.

"I know just a little part of the story really. According with some books I red, some time ago existed a very powerful man known as Zarth. He wanted to enslave all the powerful beings in order to take over the Earth, but fortunately, he was defeated but since he cannot be destroyed, he was sealed. Until today I thought that all of it was just a dumb legend, but I'm afraid now that this is very real" – said Connor.

"Your story is such a fantastic one. How do we know that you are not an ally of that man? We know more about him than about you" – said Beast Boy while remembering a sad betrayal.

"Well, you don't and I really don't hope you to believe me, but I'll tell you something or rather I'll give you a little advice: If you want to live stay away from Zarth, he's beyond your comprehension" – said Connor while disappearing.

"He's really a strange guy" – said Robin looking the place where Connor was.

"All of this is strange" – said Starfire.

"He knows much more than he said" – said Raven.

"You're right Raven, but for now we have nothing to do but wait. We better return to the tower" – said Robin.

Raven, who had recovered herself a little after the short break caused by the conversation, changed into her soul-self and took everybody back to the tower.

PPPPPPPPPPPP

A man walked very slowly inside a cave, it was as he wanted to take all the time in world to arrive to his destiny; more than a year had passed since that incident and every day after that he went to that place …all the times he just stayed there talking to himself, many times he talked about what happen during the day and other times he just waited for …waited for a nonexistent miracle, waited for either a superior force or being bringing back her who taught him that he could be loved. An angel that taught him that someone around him was capable to give life for him. He always waited for someone bringing back Terra to him. Finally, Beast Boy arrived to the place where his beloved statue was. It still intact despite of time, the same gesture, the same position since that awful day it was like time being stopped in that place. Once again he saw the plaque he put on it and remember that he did that hoping for seeing Terra back because of some kind of magic power but nothing happened neither in that moment nor any moment since. After taking a look of the figure, he decided to sit beside it as he did everyday.

"Hi. Did you miss me? Well, the truth is that I still miss you, everyday since that incident I think of you and I still hope seeing you again …I have not told you this before but sometimes I think that you are still conscious and that you can hear what I say and in the first time, I feel happy thinking that we actually are having a conversation instead of this monologue of mine. Then, I realized with horror that the suffering of you feeling trapped and helpless inside that most be worse that death itself …why did you leave me this way? Why did you face that horrible destiny alone? Why? It was not fair what happened, I know that you made mistakes, many mistakes, but you did not deserve to end like this …Ahhhhhhhhh! I do not know what to do. At the beginning, we all spend a big part of the time everyday looking for a way to bring you back, but slowly the constant failures made us think that everything was lost, that your condition was no reversible and that you'll never be with us again …But I kept the promise I made of never forget you. I believe that while I keep that promise and while you are alive in my heart you'll always be here with us, with me" – Beast Boy had to stop talking because of the crying, he buried his face in his hands trying to hide his emotions from the statue.

"Well, let's talking about happier stuff, today I want to tell you about a weird fight we had, he, he, you're going to love it, there was magic powers and much more…"

Beast Boy continues his chat happier than before and without noticing that there was another person inside the cave looking at him carefully.

"Well, well, well, so this is the place where that fight happened …this is unbelievable. Who would say that the key of victory would be lying inside a stone chest?"

Who is watching Beast Boy inside the cave? What that person means about the key of victory? What knows Connor exactly? The Titans will eat Pepperoni pizza tomorrow? Stay toned and do not miss next chapter.

Author's Notes: Well, although this is not my first fan fics it is the first non-anime fic that I write. Actually I love the series but there are so many things that I wanted to change and so I decided to make them happen. I hope that you enjoy reading my story and see you in next chapter.