Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans
The morning had started so innocently. No one could have expected what was to come next, when they were all enjoying a delicious breakfast that Cyborg had prepared, and they were sitting at the table together with massive grins on their faces as they shared news and jokes between them. Some of the jokes had even been so hilarious that they could not quit the laughter, and they were in tears and holding their sides, and they even managed to get a couple giggles out of the usually dull and depressed Raven.
Robin and Starfire were being the kissy cute couple as always, feeding each other and calling each other sweet pet names and kissing one another on the nose or forehead, which usually would make the other Titans feel sick and disgusted, sometimes even a little lonely and jealous, but on this particular day they even tolerated them and felt more happy for the couple over anything else. There was no arguments or fights like there was on most mornings at the T-Tower, whether it be from Cyborg and Beast Boy, Raven and Beast Boy or Cyborg and Robin, there was nothing today though, they all got on, even the most unlikely two, Beast Boy and Raven
After breakfast, everyone sat down on the large sofa and quickly agreed on a movie to watch, and they settled down, Raven next to Cyborg, Cyborg next to Beast Boy, Beast Boy next to Robin and Robin next to Starfire. The movie they watched had plenty of jokes and funny scenes to suit Beast Boy and Cyborg, a romantic plot for the couple (who had their arms around each other and were mimicking the kissing scenes every time they happened, which made BB who was sitting next to them feel uneasy, but he did not say anything and they were not about to stop for him anyway) and even included dark and gothic aspects that made Raven put her beloved book down to watch.
Even after the movie had ended the atmosphere was very warm and friendly, as for the first five or ten minutes they discussed how great the film was (Robin and Star getting very hyped up about how great the kissing scenes were, even though they did not really see them since they were sucked into each others' faces for their duration), and then Beast Boy and Cyborg decided to play a video game, and Robin decided to join them while Star cheered them on, even though she did not have a clue about what was going on.
Raven had chosen to stay in the room with them, which was unlike her since she spent an awful lot of time in her room most days, and always disappeared when the boys were playing their video games, but she did decide to continue reading her book the best she could and block out as much of the noise as she could manage. Sometimes she even looked up at the screen and smiled softly at how childish the boys in the tower still were, but she quickly looked back down so that nobody caught her. Yes, this was a very rare occurrence in the Teen Titans tower, but they enjoyed it greatly nonetheless, and did not think of it as odd or strange.
All great things come to an end, sooner or later, though, much to everyone's disappointment. In the middle of one of the boys' many games they had played, the alarm sounded, flashing the whole place in red lights and making Raven jump slightly, who had her nose buried in her book again. Even after the alarm turned off, the boys did not budge, and continued playing their game. From the many years they spent as Titans, they were rather used to this happening almost daily, so it did not phase or interrupt them.
"Robin, Beast Boy, Cyborg, friends, should we not go and help the city?" Questioned Starfire, looking a bit puzzled as to why they did not move an inch from their positions since the alarm went off.
"We will, cutie pie," Robin assured her, his eyes glued to the screen, almost like his lips were stuck to Star's in the kissing parts of the movie they watched.
"After this round," Beast Boy said, also not taking his eyes away from the monitor for even a second.
"After I win this round," said Cyborg, which caused the other two boys to begin arguing amongst each other about who was going to complete the race first. Cyborg used them not paying attention, and sped past them. When he was about to go through the finish line, he shouted happily above them, making their jaws drop, "look, idiots, I've won!" As he said it though, the whole screen went pitch black. All of them started groaning and Cyborg was seriously upset about it since he had just won. Raven was standing next to their console, holding the plug in her hand.
"Raven? Why'd ya had to do dat now?" Cyborg moaned like a little child would.
"Not sure if you noticed through all your nonsense, but the alarm went off, the city is in trouble," she explained, a hint of annoyance in her voice.
"You didn't have to turn off the game, dude," BB complained.
"We were going to help after," Robin joined in, and Raven rolled her eyes. They might be a few years older now, but all three of them acted like kids, even the most mature one who was their leader, Robin.
"Come on, let's see what's happening," she said, her voice returning to its usual monotone again. Reluctantly, they stood up and began making their way to the T-Car, still groaning, but then they started a race to see who would get there first. Raven rolled her eyes again, and Star next to her sighed, and they also started to go down to the garage.
When they first heard the noisy sound of the alarm and saw what the problem was, they had underestimated the situation greatly. All the description told them was that the city was in great danger because of a vicious individual, but they were used to all of that and didn't expect it to be too serious, just their usual rescuing the city thing. To be honest, why would they expect anything else? Lately the police just gave them really stupid and pointless missions, that they knew they could handle but were too lazy or scared, probably from all the years of letting the Titans do all of the criminal work. They had complained to them many times, and they said they would not repeat it and do a bit of the work to protect the city, and to be fair to them, they had kept their promise for a while, but now they thought they went back to their old ways.
Their description also did not give them much reason to worry or jump to conclusions, it was short and that was what they usually had to deal with. But now, they regretted for underestimating it. Now, they were all in great danger, let alone Jump City or the police. They were all wounded and out of breath by the time the battle barely begun.
"Just surrender, Slade!" Robin shouted, a fresh open wound running across the length his forehead and blood dropping down his face. Sweat flattened his black hair and made it messy and glossy, and his clothes were filthy with a mixture of dirt and blood, not all of it belonging to him. As he opened his mouth to pronounce the words, a few drops of red blood managed to make their way into his mouth, filling it with their overpowering metallic taste. His breathing was heavy and uneven. There was a strong breeze blowing into his face, but he barely felt it as he felt so humid and airless. Around him all that could be seen and heard was broken cars beeping and the path and buildings were destroyed.
They were by the sea on the concrete above, the salty blue waves threatening to come onto the city from all the chaos going on. Slade was floating a few meters away from them above the furious water, obviously weak and harmed however still refusing to give up or admit to it and remaining calm. The rest of the team were in a similar state to Robin if not worse; Raven had her arm terribly damaged, causing her to be in an incredible amount of pain and loosing blood rapidly, holding Beast Boy's shoulder with her good arm for support which he did not seem to mind. Her cloak was ripped at the ends, and blowing in the wind. Beast Boy had a cut down his cheek that left a stream of blood down the rest of his green face, though it was not as large and painful as Robin's wound, though their uniforms were in similar conditions. Starfire and Cyborg were probably the least hurt, having small cuts and bruises over them, but no where near as severe as their other teammates. The salt in the air stung their eyes and noses, making everything even more difficult than it already was.
"Never," Slade replied calmly over the loud sound of waves crashing against concrete, keeping his composure over everything. "What good would it bring to me?" He asked, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Please, do you ever feel sorry for all these people of the Earth you are harming?" Star cried, desperate to somehow get through to the villain. Slade did not answer for a few moments, as if pondering the question she had given him.
"No, being honest," he finally answered, not seeming the least phased. Robin gritted his teeth from all the hatred he had for that one man. The Titans had many, many enemies, but Slade was their biggest one, at least to him, and the one that caused Robin to get most frustrated and angry. Star did not seem satisfied by his response; she was certain he felt at least a tiny bit of sympathy for the humans, but she did not speak again.
"Slade, you'd do yourself a favor by giving up, you're already weak," Robin shouted across the way again.
"But so are you," he pointed out, and the Titans could not argue with that no matter how much they wanted to.
"You leave us no choice," Beast Boy now spoke, then looked over at Robin for approval. Once he got it in the form of a single nod, he transformed into a pterodactyl, causing Raven to stumble as her support vanished, but he noticed that and let her climb onto his back. Satisfied that she was on properly and holding tight, the olive green pterodactyl launched itself into the air, with the severely wounded mystery girl on his back.
He flew high, higher then Slade, and flew in bug circles for a few moments, as if trying to figure out the right position to begin his attack in. Eventually he seemed to have made up his mind, as he suddenly shot down at a blinding speed, aiming for their enemy. As he got closer, he opened up his large jaws, revealing many small but dangerously sharp teeth, all prepared to clench down on Slade. He was so, so close, when a voice ahead of him made him slow to a rapid halt in the air, almost provoking Raven to fall off. The voice that stopped him... It sounded so strangely familiar, he had definitely heard it somewhere before. Who was it? He could not figure it out as the seconds raced by, but then it struck him.
When it did, he completely forgot how to flap his wings to keep them up. His heart seemed to have completely stopped. They begun to plummet down to the sea beneath them, but Beast Boy snapped out of his daze just as the freezing cold liquid touched his feet, and he propelled them back into the air letting Raven have a moment to recover and get a good grip again, stopping once he was at the same height as Slade was. Slade and...
"Beast Boy! Don't listen to him!" Terra screamed, but Slade quickly covered her mouth, taking away her ability to communicate with them. Some metal object was being held to the side of her head, and it took him a minute to figure out what it was since the speed of his heart made his vision blurry, and he almost lost control once again when it did, but somehow he managed to keep them up.
"Come any closer, and I'll pull the trigger," Slade threatened heartlessly, his finger on the trigger, looking ready to pull at any moment.
His heart felt like it was being grabbed by Slade's cold, cruel hand and then slowly being torn away from him. The pain he felt inside of him was unreal. It was even worse than when Terra had betrayed them and when she refused to return to them and lost her memory of them. Now, the first time he laid eyes on her in such a long time, it was under these terrible circumstances. He hasn't realised how much he really missed her - all he wanted to do now was fly over to her, rip her out of Slade's grip and be with her forever, but he knew if he did that she would be dead before he even reached them. Another thing he realised at that moment was that it wasn't only Terra that had forgotten him, eventually he had forgotten about her too, he hardly ever thought about her now. Regret filled him, how could he forget about a person as beautiful as her?
What he assumed was the love of his life, whom he hadn't seen in two years, had a deadly gun held to her head, and he could control whether it was going to be fired or not, and of course he absolutely loathed having that responsibility. He had two choices; attack Slade and defeat him whilst also killing Terra, his one true love, or listen to their team's biggest archenemy and allow him to get away when they had a perfect moment to get him now, but Terra would be kept alive that way. If he chose the latter he knew that the team would hate him and not forgive him for a long while, and he would be in bundles of trouble with all of them, especially Robin. However, he knew that if he killed Terra by allowing Slade to pull that trigger, he would never be able to forgive himself. What was he supposed to do?
He gulped and shut his eyes for a few seconds. His head felt dizzy and he could not concentrate. At one point he even thought he was about to be sick. If he didn't have poor Raven on board he would have most probably fainted by now.
Suddenly, the life or death decision had been made for him, against his will. Robin had made a massive leap, and kicked Slade hard in the side of the face, then started falling to the ocean, only to be caught by Starfire and swiftly put back onto the safe ground. Something else fell at the same time though. And this was not caught. It was not put to a safe place. Slade had pulled the trigger, even though it had not been Beast Boy to make the move. Beast Boy let out a loud cry as he saw the love of his life cascading down then plunging beneath the surface of the ice cold water, the loud sound of the shot still echoing in his ears. He would remember that sound for the rest of his life, he was certain of that.
He flew down immediately after her, but of course it was already too late. Her golden locks could be seen being dragged away by the current and he felt like he was a bottle being filled with nothing but sorrow, grief and pain until it was overflowing with those emotions. He had completely forgotten about Raven still sitting upon his back, clinging onto his neck for her own dear life. Slade had disappeared again and was nowhere to be seen and Robin's attack proved to be useless anyway.
On the edge, everyone stood speechless from what they had just witnessed. Starfire clearly had tears filling her eyes, and they were about to fall down her cheeks. Cyborg's mouth hung open, he could not believe his eyes and what Beast Boy must be feeling now, what would happen to him. Robin was the one who seemed least phased by what just occurred, maybe feeling a bit of pity for Beast Boy but looked proud of himself for making the last move on their enemy.
Now that his worst nightmares actually happened, he had no idea what to do, how to react. Now the love of his life was really dead, and there was no way to bring her back. Now all he wanted to do was go underneath the sea with her, or swap places with her, let her be alive and let him be the one getting taken away by the waves. But he knew that was impossible, as much as he'd love for that to happen.
He felt that with the amount of agony and suffering he was feeling he was going to change back into his human form any moment now, and he knew that he couldn't let Raven drown too, so he flew back to the edge where the other three Titans stood with their heads bowed. Immediately at his feet touched the ground, he transformed back, and Raven let go of him and stumbled, but Cyborg was there to catch her so she held onto him for support. Beast Boy went down to his knees and buried his face in his hands. He was not one to cry in front of everyone, but he could not help or stop himself now, he could not believe what just happened.
All this time he hoped it was just a terrible realistic nightmare, but he knew that it was all real. Robin went over to him and put his hand on his shoulder and asked if he was alright, but when Beast Boy looked at him, his eyes were filled with rage. It was his fault she was dead. He had made the move that made Slade pull the trigger. He did not care about Terra's life or his feelings. He did not care that he would be alone and depressed for the rest of his life. He did not care that the sound of that gun going off would fill his thoughts and dreams from now on. All he cared about was getting Slade. He did not even kill him, so Terra's life came to an end pointlessly.
Beast Boy stood up and yanked Robin's hand off of his shoulder, then he went closer to the sea and stared at it, the wind ruffling through his air and ripped uniform. He shivered from the cold, but he could care less about his own needs right now. Taking a deep breath of the salty air, he turned around to his team.
"I'm going to find her," he announced quietly, his voice wavering slightly. No one replied, they didn't know how to after everything that happened. Nothing moved for a solid few minutes, as if the whole scene had been paused. Since he got no response, Beast Boy eventually sighed, and turned back to the water. The waves had calmed since Slade disappeared, which at least gave him some more hope that he could find her body.
Closing his eyes, he took in his surroundings for the last time using some of his other senses. His nose was numb and could not smell much because of all the salt in the air that made it burn for so long. He could hear the small waves splashing and colliding with the concrete wall along with the howling of the wind. He lifted his hand up to the top of his uniform, then slid it down, feeling all the rips and tears and cuts and bruises he had received that day. He ran his tongue over his lips, and he could taste the blood from the open wound on his cheek, as well as the tears he cried minutes ago.
This was all too much to bear for him. He was not used to being in such pain; he had even forgotten about the massive cut along his cheek and other wounds after the incident, the pain inside of him was so much bigger. He reopened his eyes, and stared at the view in front of him. It was quite beautiful; the sky was a mix of oranges and reds with many purple and grey clouds, and the deep blue sea was reflecting it. He would have loved it usually, but he couldn't even focus on that. What made him feel even worse was that Terra wouldn't ever be able to see what he saw anymore, or feel any sort of feelings, and that was because of his leader, Robin, the person he knew for so many years.
He honestly did not know if he could ever forgive him for this. Suddenly he felt bad for blaming just Robin; it was not his fault entirely. If he had not taken his time on attacking Slade, he would not of had the chance to threaten him with killing Terra, and she would probably still be alive now. Then there was the main culprit. Slade. No one could get angry if he blamed him; it was fair since he was the villain, he was the one who held the gun and pulled the trigger, the one who let Terra die. He felt anger, fury and need for revenge building up in him, but with all the other emotions there, it hurt to add them so he pushed them aside for the time being.
Beast Boy took a deep breath and prepared to transform into some marine animal, but as he was about to jump something interrupted him. Another voice.
"Beast Boy, wait!" Called Raven, letting go of Cyborg and running up to him. "I'll go with you."
"You're badly injured," Beast Boy replied, raising an eyebrow and nodding at her arm.
"It doesn't hurt," Raven lied. In reality, it still brought her incredible pain, but she didn't want to admit it or let BB go alone. He prepared to tell her no, but something in the way she was looking up at him did not let him, so he was forced to reluctantly agree and let her help him, but he reminded her it would not be his fault if her arm got worse.
"I shall go too," Star said, walking over to them as well, much to Robin's surprise. She felt upset with Robin, she could not believe he would allow Terra to die just to get Slade, even more so that he knew how Beast Boy felt about her. She even wondered what he would do if she was in Terra's position and had the gun to her head, would he rescue her or would he make a move? Another reason for deciding to help them was because she felt guilty for aiding Robin, after all she did catch him in the end, but she could not see him fall into the sea and drown, could she? Not wanting to seem selfish, Robin finally made the decision to get along too.
"I'll go as well," he said, and began walking over, but he earned a glare from Beast Boy.
"No that's alright, we have a lot of people already and we need someone to talk to the police," BB explained rather coldly, making Robin stop dead in his tracks. This was when Robin realised exactly how much he had hurt his teammate and friend. He looked at the ground in shame. How selfish and stupid could he get? Over something as stupid as making the last move on Slade he let someone die, and he hurt one of his best friends really badly, and the whole team was mad at him whether they showed it or not. Of course helping them would not make up for what he done in any way. He prepared to turn around and go to the police office, but then Cyborg cut in.
"I'll go to the police, ya'll can find her," he offered, and he also earned a glare from his green friend.
"Are you sure?" Robin asked.
"Course, it don't take dat many people to talk to the police," he replied and winked at Robin. He knew that Beast Boy did not want him to go with them, but he also knew that if they did not make up now he would never forgive him, so Robin returned to the other three, and one by one they all jumped into the freezing sea as Cyborg began heading towards the police station.
Beast Boy had turned into a dolphin since he could move through the water easier and quicker that way and was able to detect things without having to go above the water for many minutes at a time. Robin, Star and Raven were soaking wet and chilled to the bone, but they did their best to not complain and carry on swimming. Eventually it did seem to get at least somewhat warmer because they got used to the temperature and because they kept moving. Robin and Beast Boy had made up, more or less anyway.
They worked hard for hours, looking under every single rock, shell, coral, you name it, they checked it. BB thought he had caught scent of Terra or blood or something that was related to her a few times, but every single time he returned empty handed. Even though the sea was much calmer since Slade disappeared, it obviously had taken her far, and it seemed a bit hopeless to the rest of the Titans, but they did not want to let Beast Boy down, who seemed very determined to retrieve the body.
The sun was slowly sinking below the horizon, and the darkness of the night was soon taking over, and Star was feeling so terribly cold and tired that she had no choice but to leave and go home, which the other Titans did not object to since she could check on Cyborg. Robin reluctantly had to quit too, a good half an hour after his girlfriend, and he swam back to the edge and climbed back then made his way back home. That left Beast Boy and Raven alone, looking for her body in the freezing cold and with darkness against them.
"You can go too, if you like," Beast Boy called to her, changing back into himself temporarily, as she was a few meters away from him. He could not imagine how much her arm probably hurt and burned her, and he did not want it to get infected or anything. She shook her head.
"I'm not leaving until you do," she called back and Beast Boy sighed.
"But I'm not going until I find her."
"Then neither am I." Beast Boy was a little surprised by this, why wouldn't she just listen to her needs and go? But then, if she was the one desperately trying to find her lover's body in the freezing sea into the late hours of the night and everyone else had left her, he would not leave her either.
"As you wish," he replied, shrugging. They continued their search for Terra's body for another hour, until Beast Boy felt cruel for allowing Raven to have her way and make her stay out this long when she was hurt. The others were probably worried sick about them too, so he finally decided to give up, as much as he wanted to find her. "Raven?"
"Yes?" She asked once her head was above the water again.
"Let's go home," he said, and she stared at him as if she was shocked.
"Are you sure? I don't mind carrying on," she said uncertainly, after all these hours and all the pain he felt he wanted to give up now?
"No, let's go home," he repeated, swimming closer to her.
"What made you change your mind?" She asked.
"Let's face it, we aren't going to find her, it's been hours, it's night, it's cold, the only thing we are going to achieve is getting ill," he explained, then grabbed hold of her.
"I can fly, you know," she said, not wanting to seem as tired and weak as she really felt.
"Not in your condition you can't," he said, then held her tighter and turned a dolphin with her on his back as he swam them to the shore. When they got there and she scrambled to the top with his help, he changed into a pterodactyl again so that he could fly with her on his back once again.
Once they got back to the tower, everyone was still awake even though the hour was very late. As Beast Boy had guessed, everyone was very worried about them and they greeted them with towels and began treating Raven's arm as Beast Boy went to the bathroom to wash all the salt off, and then they swapped and they were treating his cheek and other wounds as she had a shower.
Everyone was very tired, and once all the injuries they all headed to bed almost immediately, Robin and Star to their shared room, Cyborg to his own to charge while Raven was still finishing off in the bathroom and Beast Boy went to his room but he did not feel sleepy. He felt far from it, to be exact. He might of seemed to have calmed down during the past few hours, but inside he still felt just as painful and upset. He felt like he would do anything to bring Terra back, but he knew that was impossible.
So he decided to do something else. He decided to come up with a plan to make her death worth it, if she was already dead then the least he could do was make a good reason for it. Plenty of thoughts buzzed in and out of his head, and he felt a bit like Robin usually did when they had a meeting with Slade - obsessive, determined and absolutely crazy.