The cavern echoed loudly with her every step. The twisted and warped rock formations stuck out at odd angles making navigation difficult for most people. But not for her. She strode confidently through the darkness, she only kept her flashlight on in order to make sure that a stray rock or stone didn't trip her. She never really used the flashlight to find where she was going, she had walked this path many times before and didn't need to see where she was going.
Raven turned another corner and found herself in front of Terra's statue. For a moment she kept her flashlight trained on the plaque, illuminating her name. Almost against her will Raven felt the corners of her lips turn up in a snarl. True friend. True friend. True friend. Did Terra even know the meaning of that phrase? A true friend didn't sell you out as soon as someone else offered something better. A true friend didn't treat you like crap and throw you away. A true friend didn't...
Raven sighed and rubbed her forehead with the back of her hand. It didn't help to hold grudges. Terra was young. She didn't know any better. And it wasn't like she grew up with monks like Raven had to teach her how to control her powers. Besides, all of her friends had forgiven Terra.
"Especially Beast Boy." Raven remarked dryly, eying the bouquets of flowers at the base. It was obvious that the green shape shifter had placed those here as a testament of his affections.
One thing that Raven did notice though was that the flowers looked dry and were actually starting to brown. This was a big contrast than when Raven first started to sneak down here. Back then the flowers were always fresh and vibrant. It had been clear that Beast Boy visited the place often. There was even one time when Raven had come down and found him sleeping on the ground in front of her.
"Guess he hasn't been down here in a while." Raven mumbled carefully taking her bag off of her shoulder. "I wonder if that means he finally moved on?"
Raven shook her head and sighed. She knew that he would never get over Terra. He was too much in love with her and she left him too abruptly for him to get over her so easily. That was why Raven was down here. Even though she felt that Terra deserved exactly what she got, she still told Beast Boy that she would try to bring Terra back. Even if she didn't owe it to Terra, she still owed it to Beast Boy.
Levitating the flashlight to help her see, she began to dig through her bag for the items that she needed. The first was a jar of what looked like sparking, orange sand and poured a small amount into a circle at Terra's feet. In the center of that circle she poured a small amount of granite, a little phosphorus, and the broken fragments of the heart shaped box Beast Boy had made for her. She made sure the fragments touched the outer parts of the circle. The next part was crucial. Raven pulled out four, short round candles and placed them in front of the circle. She lit each one up carefully and stood back. It took her almost a months to find this spell, and another two weeks to find all of the necessary ingredients.
"Traham ad sidera vires, audi vocem deprecationis meæ. Educ in essentia. Educ in vitam. Producebat hercle." She repeated this three times slowly and then three times fast. Raven poured her all of her energy into saying those words. So much so that she was sweating by the time she was done.
By the final time the flames burned through the candles and burned the dry mixture at Terra's feet. The mixture caught fire slowly and starting smoldering. A fragrant smoke billowed forth from the mix and wafted slowly upwards. As is reached Terra's face it began to disperse slowly. That was when the spell finally began to work. The stone started to look a little less gray on her face and the color slowly returned. A strangled gasping came from within the statue and progressively got louder as more and more of Terra's body was freed from its stone prison. Once the transformation was complete Terra's arms dropped limply and she toppled off of the stone base and landed with a resounding thud.
With a wave of her hand Raven opened a dark shadow under her remaining spell material and transported it away. She then pulled up the hood of her cloak and waited. A minute passed. And another. Raven was beginning to worry that maybe the spell was too much or that Terra had simply been dead all along and all she did was change her from one form to another.
"Great." Raven mumbled under her breath. "Beast Boy's gonna flip his lid if he finds out I killed her."
Just when she considered hiding the body though, Terra gave a sudden sharp gasp and started coughing violently. Raven watched silently as she sat up and looked around her trying to gather her bearings. Her wide, usually crystal clear blue eyes were dull and glazed over. Her eyes passed over Raven twice before she spied her among the shadows.
"R-Raven?" She said in a hoarse voice. "W-what's going on? Where am I?"
"The remains of a now inactive volcano." Raven explained calmly. "Apparently when you stopped the eruption you petrified it as well as yourself."
Terra's eyes went wide and she opened her mouth to say something, but began choking violently again. Raven stared at her for a minute before reaching into her bag and tossing her a water bottle. Terra didn't hesitate a moment before tearing off the cap and downing half the bottle in under a minute.
She did however, pause when Raven threw her a sandwich. Terra stared down at it as tears slowly filled her eyes and spilled onto the dirt.
"Why?" she whispered. "Why did you come down here? Why did you free me?"
"The team ," Raven said dryly. "And Beast Boy. They felt like it was the right thing to do."
"But why!?" Terra screamed suddenly, tears running down her face. The ground started to tremble. "After everything I've done? After betraying you guys and almost destroying an entire city?"
The ground shook violently as Terra began to sob loudly. Raven looked around nervously as debris started to rain down on them.
"Terra," Raven said calmly, slowly walking over to her. "You need to calm down. Your powers may still be unstable and you may cause-"
"Aaah!" the hysterical girl suddenly screamed and looked at her arms. They were still warped up in the neuro-cloth that Slade used as part of her apprentice uniform.
"Get this off me! Get this off me!" Terra frantically tore at her clothes trying to get the physical memory of her treachery off her body. The ground's shaking intensified and large boulders started falling within feet of them.
"Terra!" Raven's eyes suddenly glowed black and a glowing black hand appeared and slapped Terra across the face.
Instantly the girl's hysterical crying and sobbing ceased and she looked at Raven with a mixture of shock and hurt.
"You could have caused a cave-in!" Raven snapped letting some of her contempt for the girl come through. "You need to stay calm or you'll kill both of us dammit!"
Terra gave a sharp intake of breath, prepared to argue or even yell at her. Instead she let out a shaky breath and looked away. Raven made her own effort to calm down, reached in her bag a third time, and threw a bundle of clothes at Terra. They were just some simple things she bought at a local thrift shop, just so she wouldn't have to go around wearing the clothes that Slade at given her. Raven didn't really spend much time shopping for Terra, all she really remembered was that she was super skinny and on the tall side.
Raven turned away from Terra and put her hood up. "You don't have to tell any of the others how you got free. Just make something up."
"Wait!" She heard Terra call out behind her, but Raven ignored her and kept walking.
"WAIT!" Large slab of stone suddenly shot out of the ground a mere few inches from her face, nearly taking her nose off. Raven turned slowly and glared at the earth mover. Terra looked at surprise at her own out stretched hand, took a breath, and slowly lowered it causing the stone slab to go back into the ground as well.
"Sorry," Terra licked her lips and took a deep breath. "B-but...I..."
"What?"
"Please," Terra whispered lowering her head. "Please don't tell the others you freed me."
"What?" Raven's eyes widened in mild surprise. "Why? The others have forgiven you. Beast Boy misses you. Why don't you want them to know that you're back?"
"I- I just can't do it anymore." Terra shook her head slowly causing her long blond hair to cover her face completely. "I can't face them. I can't even face myself... not that you'd understand what that feels like."
"Actually, I do..."
Terra raised her gaze a little and gave her an incredulous look.
Raven groaned inwardly, reluctant at sharing anything with this girl she was close to despising. "My father tried to use me to destroy the world. He almost won."
"Oh." Terra went quiet for a moment. "I guess we have more in common than we thought."
"We have nothing in common." Raven growled.
Terra fell silent again and once again Raven turned to leave.
"Erase my memories."
Raven stopped, but didn't turn around. "What."
"Erase my memories." Terra's voice was a little stronger. "Please. I can't face what I've done and I can't go back to the life I was living."
Raven sighed and rubbed her forehead with the back of her hand. A headache was steadily building from the constant flow of depression and self loathing coming from Terra.
"There's a number of reasons why that wouldn't work." Raven sighed in exasperation. "The main one being that everything that happened would just repeat itself. As terrible as everything was it helped you to see what happens when you put your trust in the wrong people. If I erased your memory of what happened then what would stop you from seeking help from someone else for controlling your powers?"
"But I still have no control over my powers." Terra raised her voice stubbornly. "What's to stop me from freaking out and destroying the city with an earthquake? I can't control my emotions like you...but maybe..."
Terra slowly raised her head and stared directly at Raven. "What if... you took away my powers completely?"
"That's impossible." Raven said quickly. "It would take a great deal of magic to completely erase someone's powers. Magic that I certainly don't have."
"Then suppress them." Terra stood up and stumbled towards Raven, her legs shook with each step. "Suppress my powers and I can finally be normal again."
Raven frowned and furrowed her brows in confusion. "What do you mean again?"
Terra blinked rapidly then shook her head. "Nevermind that. Just...please..."
"What about Beast Boy?"
Raven gave a nod of satisfaction when Terra's lips trembled and tears began to well up in those beautiful blue eyes of hers. Raven knew that the mentioning Beast Boy would snap Terra out of it. She knew that the thought of being with the changeling would cause Terra to come to her senses and come to the Tow-
"He'll get over me."
Raven's eyes widened in surprise. "Excuse me?"
"Beast Boy. He'll get over me. He'll grow up, forget about me, and move on. It's a part of life."
This time with Raven slapped her, it was with her own hand. Terra's head snapped sideways and and she fell to the ground. Raven stood over her with her fists shaking in anger. Pebbles were actually beginning to levitate and move around. Terra's selfishness had rocked dented Raven's calm exterior. She felt her eyes grow hot and knew that they were glowing red.
"How dare you?" she said her voice fracturing into two separate ones. "Beast Boy cares for you deeply. You have no idea of the depth of emotion that I feel coming from him whenever he thinks of you. And you act like you don't even care!"
Terra pressed her lips together and took a deep breath. She looked away and then looked back at Raven with calm determination.
"You're wrong," she said quietly. " I do care. I care a lot about Beast Boy's feelings for me and he will always hold a special place in my heart. But I can't go back to that life anymore. I know that it'll probably hurt him and it kills me to never see him again, but this is what I have to do. So please..."
Terra looked up at Raven and stretched out her hand. "Help me."
Raven stared at her a moment before letting out a deep breath and allowing all of her anger to drain out of her. As much as she hated to admit it, part of her was glad that Terra wanted to disappear out of her life, out of all of their lives. And yet... before she betrayed them Raven had truly seen Terra as her friend. A friend who was asking- no begging- for her help.
"I don't know what I can do," Raven sighed and sat across from Terra. She placed her fingertips on the girl's temples and closed her eyes. "But I can try. Now close your eyes and clear your mind of all thoughts..."