Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans. I seriously wish I did, but I don't.
Hey, this is my first story ever posted, not my first story written. I would appreciate some feedback regarding my first foray into the writing territory of this sight.
I'm not sure when I started to like the Jericho/Terra concept but it kind of grew on me.
Please note that I will attempt to keep any and all cussing, swearing, and/or inappropriate references out of this and any of my stories. If I do put in any cussing it will almost certainly be fully bleeped out.
I've been reading on this sight for a few years I think and I hope to become a productive member of the website.
Well, I've taken up enough of your time with my blabbering, without further ado; I give you TERRA'S REDEMPTION!
Prologue
Tara Markov, otherwise known as Terra, was having a rotten day. It didn't have to do with her grades, she'd gotten mostly A's and B's at the end of the semester and she was on summer break, its not like she had anyone to disappoint besides herself anyway. No, her school life had nothing to do with her rotten day. She had lied, again. She had always been told that lying was bad, she'd tried not to lie, when she did she tried to justify it but she just couldn't find any way around the fact that she'd broken Beast Boy's heart, yet again, all because of her selfish want for a normal life. Oh yes, she remembered, she didn't want to, but she did. She remembered all the things she did and how she ran from the Titans. Now she was running again, running from her problems, she didn't want to give up the semblance of a normal life she had here, but she couldn't deny that she didn't feel guilty just sitting here, acting as if all she had ever done to her teammates had never happened.
She went out to a Starbucks and ordered some coffee. As she sat she looked out of the window at the skies, half-expecting the Titans to come flying over because of some emergency. But it was a peaceful day and no crimes of note where taking place so the Titans stayed in their tower. It was a busy day for the Starbucks and most of the seats where filled. A boy in a purple shirt with black sweatpants, green eyes, and blonde hair came in and gave a list of what he wanted ordered, Terra guessed he must be mute. After he got his drink he looked around and then walked over to Terra's stall, he motioned to ask if he could sit down since everywhere else was taken. Terra said "sure fine." He sat down and began sipping his drink. After a couple sips he looked at his cup as if he hadn't ever tasted anything like it before.
"What never eaten at a Starbucks before."
The boy nodded as he drank some more. Then he made some motions with his hands "can you understand sign language?" Terra nodded, she'd taken a class in sign language at her school and found she had had quite a knack for it. The boy looked enthusiastic like not many people could understand him.
"Not many people can understand me so I have to write everything down."
"Yeah, not many people were in the sign language class at my school, only about 10 people counting me."
"Where do you go to school?"
"Jump City High School."
"I never got to go to school; I had to live by myself on top of a mountain."
"Harsh, I only recently settled down here, I mostly just moved from place to place."
After realizing that she was saying this to a near complete stranger she shut her mouth hard, she usually avoided talking about her past and that was even with what had been her closest friends. She wondered how this boy had become mute and why he had lived on a mountain his whole life.
"So what's your name?"
The boy got out his receipt and wrote down a word, he slid it over to her and she read the name "Joseph." She got the feeling she had heard that name before but where she had no idea.
"My name's Tara."
"That's a pretty name."
Terra blushed and looked appreciatively at him; no one had ever told her that, she hadn't told her real name to any of the Titans, not even Beast Boy. They both had pretty much finished their drinks and where ready to go.
"Hey, you want to hang out sometime, maybe meet me at the park tomorrow at 10 in the morning?"
"Sure, I'll try and be there."
They both left and went their separate ways. Then next day she rose bright and early and left to go to the park around 9:30. She waited around on a bench and not long after she arrived she saw Joseph walking up to her. They both stood up and walked around the park. They stopped on a bridge with a river running to the ocean going under. Terra amused herself by throwing rocks over the side and watching them splash into the water below. Then Joseph touched her shoulder and suggested something. She grinned and they both got some fallen sticks. On the opposite side of the bridge they both selected one stick each and dropped them over the side. They rushed to the other side and watched to see the sticks come out the other end. When they came it was Terra's stick in the lead.
"Yeah! Woohoo! I won!"
Joseph shrugged good naturedly and patted her on her shoulder. They both continued walking down the path until they came to a very large tree. Getting an idea, Terra began climbing. When Joseph looked at her questioningly Terra said "c'mon, have some fun and climb with me." Smiling, Joseph climbed into the tree after her. They climbed up very high until Terra just sat on a branch and waited for Joseph to catch up. Once he did they both just lounged around on the branch, just enjoying the day.
Then Terra stretched the wrong way and found herself tipping over the side of the branch. She yelled and Joseph shot up from his sitting position. She fell off the branch and was plummeting towards the ground. She wasn't too scared, she knew she could catch herself with her powers but she was a bit sad too, Joseph would probably think she was a freak now, they had been getting along so nicely too. Just before she was about to use her earth powers she felt a hand grab her hand and she stopped falling. She looked up; Joseph was holding her hand and was pulling her up. She realized he must've jumped after her and landed just right in order to catch her hand.
When she was seated back on the branch she smirked and said "you never told me you knew kung fu." He shrugged "my dad taught it to me." She grinned, "He must have been very good to be better than you."
"He was one of the best, he wasn't always the best dad, but he tried. That's why I was on the mountain; he said he wanted to protect me or something."
"Well, I hope I'll meet him someday."
They both climbed down and Joseph tensed as Terra (to him Tara) hugged him "thanks for saving me."
"Uh, n-no problem."
Terra giggled, she didn't even know it was possible to stutter in sign language but Joseph had pulled it off.
"Say do you want to go see a movie tomorrow, like "The Return of the King," I think their reshowing it at the Jump City cinema."
"Sure, tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow."
Over the next few weeks Terra became aware, just how much she liked Joseph, he was smart, funny, kind, caring, and he didn't care that she was an orphan girl who worked as a singer at a bar to support herself. She even found herself forgetting about Beast Boy and the Titans plenty of times. Her life was starting to look a whole lot better, most of her days now were no where near rotten and those that could be classified as such, where always turned into the best days of her life whenever Joseph met her to go to the movies, or take a walk in the park, or even to just get a candy bar out of a vending machine.
But the sad, thing about life is that for the most part, all good experiences have their time, and all things good, except one, must end.
One day, Joseph was late for one of their walks in the park. She glanced at her watch and then heard an explosion far off. She looked and saw smoke rising somewhere far off in the city, no doubt the Titans where fighting some odd villain. She waited 15 minutes and then she heard some huffing and puffing, she turned to see Joseph running up to her and apologizing profusely for being late. She just brushed off his apologies, having already decided to forgive him. They had a fun day, they even went to a game arcade and Joseph for once beat Terra in score at Super Smash Monkeys. They said goodbye to one another and headed home.
The next day, Terra got up and went and bought a newspaper. She glanced at the title page as she sipped some coffee. She looked away at the clock 10:17, about 45 minutes until she was supposed to meet Joseph for a day at the fair. Then her head snapped back as she spewed her coffee all over her room. The headline read "TITANS SHUT DOWN OVERLOAD!" but that wasn't what shocked her, on the picture, as plain as day, was Joseph battling alongside the other Titans. "This explains why he was late yesterday" a little voice in the back of her head said.
She didn't know what to do, she had wanted a normal life, but fate seemed content to continually throw complications related to the Titans into her life like little monkey wrenches. She couldn't just cut Joseph out of her life either, or maybe "Jericho" as the paper called him. She could be reasonably sure that Joseph didn't know she was Terra, he hadn't been around when she'd been a Titan. However she wasn't sure how the others would react if they found out. BB would probably go bonkers with longing. The best path, she concluded, was to simply stick it out and hope for the best.
She met Jericho at the fair. She wasn't sure how to act, say something stupid, but her mind was totally blank. However, she shouldn't have worried; Jericho just smiled and held out his hand. She took it and he led her to a rollercoaster. He looked like he was doing this just for her benefit, indeed he looked nothing short of petrified at the sight of the tall ride. He looked cute and Terra giggled, "we don't have to go on this ride if you don't want to."
He shook his head "no, I have to conquer my fear of heights." Terra shrugged and they both got on the ride. As they where going up to the top of the first hill Terra felt Jericho grab her hand and she squeezed his in return, letting him know she was there. The rest of the ride was spent in pure and abject terror for both Terra and Jericho.
At the final and largest hill, both where shaking in both fear and anticipation. Then they started the ride down at breakneck speed and both screamed, or rather, Terra screamed and Jericho would've if he could've. At the bottom they somehow found that they had grabbed each other and where holding each other closely for comfort. Embarrassed, they let go of each other and got off of the ride.
The rest of the day was a blast, she had so much fun, she even forgot about her misgivings she'd had when she'd seen Jericho in the paper. They where wishing each other when her mistake happened. She had meant to say, "see you later Joseph" but instead she said "see you later Jericho." Jericho stiffened up as he looked at her and Terra was surprised to see fear in his eyes. He sighed and asked "when did you find out?"
"This morning."
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier."
"Why didn't you?"
He looked at her and she could already see some tears beginning to form in his eyes, she felt a wave of guilt for putting him through this pain.
"I like you a lot and I was afraid you'd treat me differently if you found out I wasn't normal like you." On the inside Terra scoffed "if only you knew Joseph."
She smiled and wiped away his tears, "Joseph, or Jericho, whichever, I don't care if you're a superhero or not, I wouldn't care if you where a street rat living in the gutters. I like you for who you are and from what I've seen, you're one of the best people I have ever met in my whole life. I like you a lot too, you're my best friend."
They both smiled and hugged. Then they went their own separate ways after agreeing to meet the next day for lunch.
Jericho got back to the tower and walked up to the common room, practically glowing with pleasure. He joined up with Cyborg who was also heading for the common room.
"Well you look happy man, what are you doing all these times away from the tower, maybe you got a little lady-friend" he said with a malicious smirk as he elbowed Jericho a bit. Jericho felt himself blush and signed "Tara's my friend, it's not like that." Cyborg blinked, "did you say Terra?"
"No, I said Tara, that's her name."
"Oh good, for a minute there I thought you were talking about Terra."
"I've only heard bits and pieces about her, why isn't anyone very eager to talk about her?"
"Well she was the first traitor the Teen Titans had, but in the end she made it up to us. BB liked her a lot, maybe even loved her, but he was heartbroken when she betrayed us. She apparently died when she made it up to us but BB reckons he found her again a few months ago. But she doesn't seem to remember him or us at all."
Jericho was interested in hearing more but out of respect he didn't ask anymore. He was already planning his next date, sorry, meeting with Tara. He grabbed an apple out of the fridge and walked down to his room. He said hi to Red Star, who was also visiting as he walked past. Then he saw a room he'd never bothered to notice before marked "Terra's Room." Out of curiosity he pushed the door open and walked in. He hoped no one would mind. It looked like it had been left completely alone since the Titans incident with Terra. He saw a mirror in the shape of a heart on a bed and picked it up; it was something Tara would like. He looked around some more and found some more odd things, like a toothbrush or a wall decoration shaped like a butterfly, they seemed to be like symbols or remnants of an age past, a time before he had even known about the Titans or the Titans had known about him. They still didn't know squat about much of his past and he preferred to keep it that way since it might not go down too well, especially with Robin, but he wasn't his father and he felt that they didn't really need to go prying into his past unless he allowed it, especially considering how painful it was.
Then he saw a photo and picked it up, his eyes widened. It was a view of Beast Boy and Terra, or Beast Boy and Tara as it were. He slowly walked back to his room and slept a fitful sleep, one thing's for sure; he had a lot to talk with Tara, or Terra, or whoever tomorrow.
The next day Terra got up and did her usual morning chores. Then, come lunchtime, she went to the Burger King that they'd agreed to meet at. She ordered her food and waited for Jericho to get there. He came in and got his own food, then sat down across from her. She was a bit uncomfortable with the way he was looking at her.
"Jericho, is there something you want to tell me?"
He silently got out a photo and slid it over to her. She picked it up and blanched, it was a picture of her and Beast Boy.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
A million ways to react whirled through Terra's head, the thought came up, should she lie? NO! That thought was immediately crushed, she wasn't going to lie again and not to Joseph of all people. Looking down at her food she started off by saying "I guess the same reason you did, I didn't want you to look at me any differently, I didn't even know you where a Titans until yesterday so I felt no need to tell you."
She looked so sad, that Jericho immediately felt guilty and put a hand on her shoulder; she looked up to see him smiling.
"I just wanted a normal life after all the stuff that's happened to me, but I'm finding out more and more that sometimes it's impossible for you to have that. I'm sorry I didn't tell you Jericho, I like you a lot too."
"It's alright I forgive you."
They just sat with their hands in each others for awhile, not caring or even noticing the knowing looks married adults gave them or the disgusted looks little kids gave them. Then, Jericho's communicator beeped and they both jumped. Jericho picked it up and turned it on, careful to keep Terra out of the shot. Robin's face appeared and said "some robots are attacking downtown we need your help." Jericho nodded and put the communicator away. Terra smiled at him, "would you like me to give you a ride, I could get you there a lot faster?"
"Sure, thanks Terra, and don't worry, I won't tell them unless you want me to."
They got down into the sewers to avoid detection and Terra gave him a quick ride on a rock through them to the street Robin had prescribed. Jericho got out of a manhole and Terra followed him, they hugged quickly and Jericho ran to join the fight while Terra stayed in the shadows where no one could see her. The robots reminded her of Sladebots but with alterations. There where about 20 of them and the Titans had their hands full fighting them. Jericho, since he couldn't posses their bodies, used one of Robin's staffs to beat down on them.
Then one of them grabbed Jericho and blasted off with him in tow, another one followed. The rest of the Titans where to busy to follow, and Terra watched in horror as Jericho was carried off.
Jericho struggled against the robot holding him. If he ever got out of this he was going to get a utility belt just like Robin's. As they flew over the park suddenly the robot jerked and headed towards the ground. He twisted out of its grip and suddenly was free falling himself. Just before he hit the ground he saw a hand of dirt come up and grab him. It gently put him back down and he saw Terra manipulating the rocks. He smiled at her and then pointed in fear as a robot landed right behind her. She jerked and a stalagmite grew right up under and through the robot. Jericho clapped as the second robot was destroyed.
"Now I understand why they say you were powerful, you are."
Terra blushed, then said "you'd probably better get back to your friends, they need you." Jericho nodded and ran back to help win the fight.
Robin had called a meeting of the Teen Titans in the common room. "I have examined the wreckage of the salvaged robots and have found that they are a combination of Sladebots, Brotherhood tech, and Hive drone tech." Cyborg growled "so that means someone at least got ahold of one of Brother Blood's cheap replicas of me."
"Yes, but just the fact that all three techs are combined into these robots is very disturbing. It means that either Slade has stolen tech from other villains to create a new series of robots, or we have a new villain who did it himself. I think we should check up on the villains we know the locations of, like Brother Blood in prison, the frozen Brotherhood members and Terra."
"Dude, don't call her a villain!"
"Sorry Beast Boy, I still think we should check on her though, any volunteers?"
Jericho's hand was first into the air so Robin gave him the job.
Terra met Jericho for a walk through the woods the next day. They had a lot of fun. Finally Jericho had to get around to telling her.
"The Titans sent me to check on you."
"What?" Terra said as she looked at him.
"Yesterday after the robot attack Robin had us look in on old contacts, you where one of them, so I volunteered. I know you didn't have anything to do with it the robots so I won't even ask."
"Thanks Jericho, that means a lot to me."
They spent the rest of the day walking through the woods and enjoying the sights and when Jericho got back to the Tower he reported that as far as he could tell Terra wasn't involved.
Well, that's the first chapter of my first fiction published on this sight. I would really appreciate it if you'd drop me a review because someday I'd like to try and publish some of my original ideas and would like to know how good I am at writing, (my only real people to show my work to is my two younger sisters, and on occasion my parents.)
Keep in mind that I don't simply want "you did great" reviews unless it was that good (and I seriously doubt it was) and would like constructive criticism. But flames (I think this is the correct use of the term) are simply mean as they are reviews simply left to tear down the author.
WARNING! Be wary of long update gaps, my interest tends to swing around like a yo-yo. I will try to write consistently but be warned, I may take long times to update.
Well, I hope you enjoyed yourself.
Sincerely, LordGodsServant