Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans

A/N: This is a repost of my original story, "A Thing of the Past." I screwed up on it and am very sorry. Thank you to all who read it and reviewed. I'll try to post often, but I make no promises.

A Thing of the Past, repost

"Hi Beast Boy."

My eyes widen in shock as my heart skips a beat. It is a voice I will never forget, a voice I thought I would never hear again. It comes from one I had grown very fond of, one who left me more than a year ago.

I see her reflection in the water of the lake that surrounds the tower. I am sitting in our spot, the spot where I found her skipping rocks her first night at the tower. She's just as pretty as I remember her, only her eyes have changed. They have lost their joy only to be replaced by wistfulness. My heart goes out to her. I want to jump up and hug her. I want to tell her how much I missed her. I want to tell her that all is forgiven and forgotten.

But I quickly suppress these feelings. The last time she was here, I listened to my heart and my friends and I were nearly killed. It's the mind's turn to do the talking, and right now, it's telling me to remain cool and cautious towards her.

I flick a pebble into the water causing ripples to obscure her reflection. "I see your skill at skipping rocks hasn't improved," she says quietly. Her lame attempt to lighten the mood. I turn my head away from her, closing my eyes and sighing loudly.

"What do you want, Terra?" I say tiredly. Just saying her name causes my heart to beat faster.

"Can I sit down?" she asks, still using that quiet voice. She's acting so differently, I think confusedly. When I first met her, she was so outgoing, so carefree. Now she was being so quiet, almost as if she were scared. Having betrayed your friends and nearly killing them must change a person, I conclude spitefully.

"It's a free country," I respond coldly. "Besides, I was just leaving." I begin to rise.

"No, wait, please," she says fervently as she reaches towards me. "Just hear what I have to say first."

I wait a moment. "Fine," I reply stonily, resuming my original position.

She sits down slowly, drawing her legs up to rest her chin on her knees as she wraps her arms around them.

We sit in silence for about a minute when curiosity finally gets the better of me. "So, how did you get here?" I try to remain cool towards her, but it's so hard with all these mixed feelings I have towards her.

She sighs and looks ahead towards the now setting sun. "Do you believe in miracles?" she finally asks timidly.

It was the last thing I had expected. I don't believe it for a second. I roll my eyes and give a short bark of laughter. "Yeah, right," I murmur.

She closes her eyes in defeat. Tears begin to flow slowly down her cheeks. She clenches her fists, trying to keep her hands from shaking. I see she's trying to keep her emotions under control, but she's not doing very well.

I feel a small ache in my chest at her grief. I decide to give in slightly to the sympathy I'm feeling for her and try to keep an open mind. Stranger things have happened, after all. "Fine," I say. "Care to explain this miracle?" I try to keep the sarcasm out of my voice but fail miserably.

She begins to rise. "No. This was a mistake," she says shakily. "I knew I shouldn't have come back, but I just wanted to see you and tell you I'm sorry. I'll leave now and never bother you again, you'll never see me again."

She turns and before I know it, I'm standing and holding her wrist tightly. She turns back with a look of confusion that mirrors my own. We stare at each other for what seems an eternity but is really only about a minute when I remember that I'm supposed to be giving her the cold shoulder.

I let go of her wrist abruptly and take a step away from her, looking away as I mumble "I don't want you to go." I clear my throat and add some bitterness to my voice as I continue. "At least not until you answer some of my questions first."

She's been looking at her wrist since I let it go and now she begins to rub it lightly. "Ask away," she responds absently.

I begin to walk around her slowly, maintaining my cold composure, as I make an attempt at an interrogation. "Let's try this again," I say calmly. "Why do you think you were brought back by a miracle?"

She drops her hands to her sides as her shoulders sag. "Why should I even bother? You'll only laugh at me again," she says dejectedly.

I stop walking and turn to face her. Anger begins to well up inside of me. I throw my hands up in the air. "What did you expect, Terra, huh? You've been dead to me for over a year now. Today you're back. Did you think I would welcome you with open arms, huh? Not after what you did. In case you've forgotten, let's review some of our past." Scorn drips from my voice as I count on my fingers. "You lied to me, you betrayed me, you even tried to kill me."

I start to walk around her again as I continue my ranting. "The Titans and I welcomed you into our home. We knew next to nothing about you or your past, and yet we were okay with that. You made me believe that I could trust you. And because of that, I told the others that they could trust you." I can feel angry tears begin to stream down my face but still I continue. "And what do you do? You run off to Slade. You become his apprentice. You try to destroy the city. And through all that, you didn't give a damn about anybody but yourself."

I stopped walking and faced her. Terra had her head bowed, her hair covering her face. Her arms were wrapped around her as though she were cold. I could hear her sniffle every now and then.

"Then, at the very end, you came through for us." My voice had taken on a tone of sarcastic amazement. "You stand up to Slade. You may have even killed him. Rather than destroy the city, you save it. And you leave me."

I stood there, shaking all over. It felt like there was a battle raging inside of me. I closed my eyes tightly as I tried to control myself. I wanted to hurt her so she could feel the pain she had caused me yet I wanted to comfort her as well. I wanted to hit her and hug her at the same time.

Finally, I couldn't keep it in anymore. I threw back my head and cried out to the sky in anguish. The ice I had forced to surround my heart melted. The bitter façade I had worked so hard to maintain finally broke down as I let my true emotions come through. When I ran out of breath, I fell to my knees before her and began sobbing.

"Why, Terra? Why did you have to leave me?" I ask between sobs. I know I must look pitiful kneeling here before her but I don't care. I just want the hurting to stop.

I continue to weep before her when I feel her hand lightly touch the top of my head. I give a small gasp in surprise. She strokes my head gently as I calm down and my tears start to subside.

She kneels down and wraps her arms around my neck, pulling me in closer as I rest my head upon her shoulder. I wrap my arms around her waist awkwardly and begin to hiccup softly. She rests her head atop mine, continuously stroking my head.

"I had to start my redemption somewhere," she whispers to me. "I have so much to make up for. I know that what I did was wrong. I'm so sorry I hurt you so much. I was just so confused." She begins to rock slightly, backwards and forwards. I continue to listen uncertainly, not sure what I should think.

"When I first met you all, you seemed so perfect. You had a home, friends, a city that loved you and relied on you. I had nothing. I had been run out of more cities than I could remember. I just didn't feel like I belonged. Slade offered to help me. When I thought you had told everyone I couldn't control my powers, just like Slade said you would, I felt so betrayed. Slade helped me. It came with a price, though. At the time, I didn't care. I just wanted to be like all of you. Slade convinced me that I could never be like you. He filled my head with lies.

"When I came back as a spy, I was given orders to destroy the Titans from the inside out. I gained your trust. I pretended to be your friend. But the longer I spent with all of you, especially you, Beast Boy, the more I really wanted to be your friend. Maybe even more. I tried to forget Slade. But Slade wouldn't forget me. After that fight we had at the carnival, Slade trained me so hard for our last battle. Not just physically, but mentally as well. He would hurt me when I didn't do what he wanted." Terra began to cry softly.

"I never forgot about you, though, Beast Boy. In the end, I was so tired of being Slade's puppet. I couldn't be like him. I had to stop him. It was time I took responsibility for my actions. That's why I stayed behind to save the city at the end. I had to make sure everyone was safe, especially you. I knew that I wouldn't make it out alive, but I also knew that it was the right thing to do."

She pulled back slightly, arms still wrapped around me, to look at my face. "That's why I believe I was brought back by a miracle. I should be dead right now. Instead, I woke up a few days ago to find myself lying in the cave, alive, though barely.

"At first, I couldn't move. My whole body ached. For many hours, I just laid there, thinking, as I slowly regained control of my body. When I was able to look around, I knew that a lot of time had passed. The lava had cooled and become hard. There were small pieces of rock littered around me. I was covered in dirt and my clothes were in tatters. I didn't know what any of it meant. All I knew was that I had to get back to see you. I found a place to clean up and get some new clothes. And then I came here."

I stared at her blankly. I think I was in shock. She had just poured her soul out to me and all I could do was stare at her. Finally, I looked into her tortured eyes and saw the invisible scars leftover from her experience with Slade. I understood that her pain, though different from mine, was just as severe. This was something she would have to live with for the rest of her life, knowing that what she had done may be forgiven, but never forgotten.

My expression softens. A small smile began to form at the corners of her mouth. We hug tightly. Tears of happiness began to trickle down my cheeks. For the first time in over a year, I felt at peace. I never wanted to let her go.

"Beast Boy," she whispers.

"It's all in the past, Terra."