A/N: My first fanfic, please review, I need the advice. This is how I think Terra ought to have returned to life. BB/Ter fans can flame me all they want. It never would have worked out. I borrowed heavily from the idea in the comics that Terra was unstable, and considering the ordeal, I think its appropriate in this scenario. I'd really like reviews, even if they are just critiques on how I am long-winded (I prefer eloquent personally).
"Cracked"
Along the rocky shores of the coast lies a city. Not as large as Gotham or Metropolis, the city is still sizable in its own rights, large enough for congestion and crime, anyway. If one were to examine the city from top to bottom, they would see something like this.
The top of the city is the skyscrapers, various fingers jutting out from the forest of iron, steel and rust. The skyscrapers reach for the heavens in the elegant beauty that often accompanies hubris, claiming the skies as their own, perhaps unconsciously representing the goal of mankind from it's very origin. To reach the celestial bodies that have guided them since the dawn of time.
Lower down is the tops and bodies of most of the buildings. Here the hustle and bustle of the city is easy to see. On the high-walks – sidewalks in the air, made to alleviate traffic and used by many Dystychiphobes, being far away from any vehicles – people rush form building to building, unashamedly tripping and pushing people as they make their way to whatever business that is currently occupying their time. People spend days here, without ever having to go to the lower or upper level's of the city. Often citizens of this paticular area of the city will, in their roomy apartments, gossip contempuously about the lower and upper parts of the city with their friends, believing themselves self-sufficient and removed from the rest city.
The bottom of the city, or rather the ground level, is more crowded than the middle level. While the middle-level boasts thousands of civilians, the ground level has millions. The streets are wide and spacious, partly to make room for both cars and people, but mostly to make crime more difficult. While the majority of this area is just as proper and civilized as the upper sectors, there are parts which are not. In some areas the street-lights have not been on for years, and the few windows which are not boarded up have never had a light on the someone on the outside could see. Despite the darkness which permeates such parts of the city, it is impossible to see the stars at night. A scientist would tell you this is because of the large amount of pollution in the air, reflecting light almost like a mirror, preventing it from reaching the ground. A resident of this area would tell you it's the Darkness of the area. Not lack of light, but real Darkness, something tangible. This Darkness doesn't give way to light, it swallows it. No one can say the source of the Darkness, but anyone in the city can tell you of its enemies.
They live in an architectural miracle. A giant T. The plans of the building have long been destroyed. This is probably a good thing since if found, both Math and Physics would feel very embarrassed. The inhabitants call themselves the Teen Titans. They protect Jump City from crime and other evils. Their success does not go unnoticed, but their failure does. Sometimes it's easier to save others than to save one's self. Darkness is a lot easier to hide when no one can see it. . .
Beneath the ground level of the city lies sewers and subways. These have not held living inhabitants in a long time. The sewers, mazes of foul-smelling liquid, also contain toxic waste, and various chemical poisons. Uninhabitable by humans, they are now cared for by machines which patrol the waters. The subways, obsolete by the now popular high-walks, stand as a cavernous testament to the cities history. If there is nothing living in these subterranean levels, minori ad maius nothing could live possibly be living in the caves below.
Sometimes though, logic can be wrong too.
In the caves below the city is a pedestal, one that normally has a statue that declaims some great or noble deed. In this particular case, the statue is also a bubble. From the outside, the bubble is a statue of a girl. Beneath the statue is a plaque and a bundle of roses. The roses were once red with lush green stems, now they are brittle and colorless, having died long ago. The only thing keeping them from falling apart is memories. The words on the plaque read "Terra. A Teen Titan. A True Friend." Like all such monuments dedicated to deeds of selfless bravery and heroism, the statue stands forgotten. Unfortunately not everything forgotten disappears. (In fact most things forgotten do reappear, but only at the most inopportune time. Examples include the missing sock, ball point pens, and embarrassing photos.)
The inside of the statue is a bubble. In the bubble there is no time, an eternity is meaningless to it. Space is also irrelevant. Both cannot be used to accurately describe the bubble. In fact, neither is alive, dead or inanimate. Suffice it to say what is inside was once alive, wishes it were dead, and cannot act. If the realization that she is trapped could have possible occurred to her in her state of absolute stasis, her despair would be unimaginable. Apparently, whatever cosmic forces are at work have some degree of sympathy.
They also have a cruel sense of irony.
After an eternity, after a moment, there is a crack. Just like any other bubble, when a hole appeared, this one burst. Stone crumbles onto the rocky ground, and a girl falls sprawled on the floor, choking and gasping, her lungs desperately clawing for oxygen. Her breath slows down to a calmer pace. Still breathing heavily she looks around, vainly trying to see through the darkness. As luck (or fate) would have it, various glowing fungi who also decided to teach logic a thing or two surrounded the cavern. Slowly the girl's eyes accustome themselves to the minimal light. She has no idea who she is, nor does she bother with such questions like who or why. More pressing in her mind is where was she, and how she was going to get out.
The girl slowly gets to her feet. Her irises wide to absorb as much light as possible, she sees the pedestal. Curious as to why there is an empty pedestal in the middle of the dark, she kneels down to examine it. She reaches for the flowers atop the pedestal, and flinches when it crumbles to dust. Withdrawing her hand, she suddenly notices the plaques. Dtruggling, she makes out the words.
People always try to find the sudden epiphany, the immediate, and total understanding of something. Of anything. In this case it was too much to bear.
The cave filled with hysterical laughter, which winded down into a racking cough. Terra did not do anything except stare at the plaque for a long time. Incredulous, she read the plaque over and over.She remembered what happened now. The details were etched into her mind, painfully detailed. She had saved the city from Slade. More importantly she had saved her friends. All on Beast Boy's behest. Of course her reward was to be trapped inside a rock formation for an unknown amount of time. Perhaps she could have dealt with that had she awoken to find her friends in front of her with anxious faces. She tossed the plaque angrily against the wall. 'A True Friend', she had been just that. She sacrificed everything for one person. Where was he now? Where were her other friends? 'Of course they abandoned me,' she thought, 'They don't need me anymore, why should they have bothered with a statue? I was just a tool.' She shook in anger, unable to control the tears that streaked down her face, falling onto the ground. They had called her traitor, the hypocrites. How dare they? How Dare They? Finally her voice sounded again, not laughing, but weeping. Her voice, sweet and pure, rang through the air, a melancholy tune that would have wrenched the heart of any music afficionado. The sound did not travel long before it was stifled by the Darkness.
In a way, emotions can act like a magnet to people. The sad will always find the cheerful ready to lend a platitude, and the angry will always find the timid to yell at. Unlike a magnet however, it can also attract negative charge to negative charge. The Darkness settled over Terra.
She knew she was not at fault. She was the victim. She had been a vagabond, manipulated by both the Teen Titans and Slade. She had been brought into a feud that did not concern her. And in the end, she was the one to suffer the most. For that, they were all going to pay. She would exact her revenge on each and every one of them. Slade, who had offered her help, but merely dominated her. Robin who had chased her from the Tower the first time she had met the Titans. Starfire and Cyborg, who she had always thought were really her friends. Raven, the bitch who never gave her a chance. And Beast Boy, especially Beast Boy. He would suffer, she decided, he deserved to die for manipulating her heart for his own gains. They would all pay dearly for what they had done to her. She made this vow silently before starting to drill her way back to the surface.