Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners and not me. Only this story is mine, nothing else. Please read and review. Helpful reviews welcome, flames shall be ignored and/or deleted. Enjoy.

Stone Prison

By: Demonabyss

Chapter 1: Arrival

My name is Terra. I have done horrible things. I have caused many unneeded pain and suffering in my travels because I could not control my powers. I was always driven away, cursed and persecuted. Then I came to Jump City, where I met the Teen Titans. They took me in, offered me friendship, but I ran away when I thought Beast Boy had betrayed me. My name is Terra. I made the wrong decision and betrayed the Teen Titans. I couldn't control my powers, and I went to the one man who promised he could help me. He was evil and tried to control me to be his weapon. I conquered a city, crushing those that stood in my way. My name is Terra. I was betrayed. The man tried to take over completely, but I fought him, and started a volcano in the process. I sent myself to a rocky grave so I could defeat him and save the city and those who were once my friends. Now I stand here perfectly still, my consciousness stuck in this statue, my mind deteriorating as my powers fluctuate without an outlet. I can feel both clearly in this rock. My name is Terra, and I have absolutely no regrets.

Time passes, but I barely notice it though I have no clue how much time passes. My mind has broken, I barely remember things anymore, and it scares me. As it does, I can feel my powers inside of me, twisting and turning, changing and evolving. I think I'm going to be sick to my stomach, if I have a stomach that is. More time passes, but without realizing it, something has started. My powers are spiking up again, in a way I've never felt before. Then before I know it, I can see again, but my sight is off somehow. What's happening to me? I can see now, as clear as ever, but my sight is rimmed with a thin strange gold glow. All my senses seemed to have returned along with a strange sixth sense, I can't explain it, but they all seemed warped somehow, again I can't explain it. It was then I noticed something else as well, everything was sideways. Wait, am I on my side? When did I fall over? For that matter, why did I fall over? I shouldn't have moved unless something hit me. So, what happened and where the hell did this headache come from?

It was then I noticed something. I could feel. I could feel the earth all around me, above me, below me. I could feel my body move and respond to me. I was free, at least I thought so, but something didn't feel quite right. Pushing myself up, my whole body felt strange in way similar to when I used my powers, but different somehow. Rubbing my eyes to try as gold haze fades away; I realized why my body and powers felt so weird. My hands were stone. My whole body was still stone. Laughter erupted from my lips; it seems fate once again wants to screw with me. I absently notice that my voice is different. It sounds different as well as inhuman with a weird echo to it. Again, one more thing fate decided to screw with. It seems I had become a true Earth demon as Raven once called me. Tara Markov was truly gone, leaving only Terra. So what now Terra the Earth demon?

I navigated my way through the cave to the surface. It was easy thanks to my sixth sense, but now what? I looked towards the giant T-shaped tower where my former friends resided. Could I see them again? Not likely, especially like this. I doubt they would forgive me. Did I want them to? No. They had betrayed me just as much as I've betrayed them. In addition, they have no clue as to what I have done. No idea at all at the pain and death I've caused. Compared to before, what I did to Jump City was gentle; at least it was still standing when I left. No. This was no longer my home; I doubt it ever was. Well, might as well hit the road, not as if I have anything here for me.

(Normal POV)

Summoning a boulder, the stone girl with glowing gold eyes flew off, following the road below her. To anyone looking at her, she was a strange conglomeration of various types of rocks making up what looked like a seventeen-year-old girl. Her skin was smooth and polished, colored yellow and red with it being made of sandstone and shale, the armor like shorts she wore were made of pinkish gray quartzite, and her gloves and boots were made of black basalt. The altered chest armor she wore wrapped around her chest and back, showing her midriff, was made of mixed black and white marble with a stone glyph in gold set in a crystal disk on her chest. The most stunning thing about her though was her hair. Each strand was made out of thin, pure, crystal and her hair reached to her lower back. Too many, she'd be considered a walking work of art. To herself, she was a freak of nature.

Terra rode her rock for a few hours while thinking on what to do next in her new 'life' as it was. She looked down at her hands as she felt her powers working on the boulder she was sitting on. She could feel this was only the tip of the ice burg and much more was just waiting to be tapped into. 'I should probably test them out, make sure they work all right,' she thought as she landed in the middle of the desert. The stone girl looked around, nothing but sand, rocks, dirt, and canyons for as far as the eye could see. Perfect. She absently cracked her knuckles as she went to work.

At first, she started picking up and moving around random sized rocks, coordinating them in various flight patterns. It was so much easier now the slightest thought changed their course to whatever she wanted. Next, she tried manipulating the rocks and changing their shapes. Again, it was remarkably easy; the earth was putty in the hands of her will. It seemed that her powers were just fine and that all the training she had received from Slade was retained, even though he had done some controlling of her powers in the background. Either that or this new form increased all her powers. The stone girl went through each of her earth-based powers one by one, all of them as stronger then before. As she practiced, a strange thought occurred to her, if she could manipulate anything made of earth, and she was now made of stone, couldn't she in theory affect herself?

Going with this train of thought she concentrated on herself as she would a boulder she was about to ride. Slowly, her feet lifted off the ground and in no time, she was floating in the air as easily as if she were lifting one of her rocks. For the first time in a really long time, Terra felt joy. In an instant, she took off into the sky, flying faster then she ever had on one of her rocks. She did aerial maneuvers comparable to what Starfire or Raven could do. Flying low to the ground, she raced, kicking up a massive dust cloud as she did, not caring who saw her, if anyone.

Terra landed on the ground, her kick from being able to fly dying off as she looked at her hands. 'For all the good and power this form may give me, I'm still a walking lawn fountain,' she thought sourly as she stared at her stone hands. Despite the apparent increase in her powers and abilities, she now couldn't be seen lest Slade, the Titans, or some other force try to manipulate her again. 'Damn it, I want to be normal again,' she thought sourly as her mind wandered. Her thoughts formed into an image of what she would look like now if she were human again.

In her mind's eye, she saw herself. Blonde hair, tan skin, a slim form, her worn clothes, and bright blue eyes. As she concentrated on this image, she felt her skin react. A strange rippling sensation flowed through her, as the stone that made up her body seemed to retract itself. Rings of gold colored earth energy pulsed down her body as the stone disappeared, revealing her human skin and clothes. She opened her eyes and was stunned to see her human skin and normal clothes again. However, as soon as she took off her glove and touched her exposed arm she knew something was wrong.

Her skin looked normal and at a light casual touch felt normal, but when she pressed harder, she felt something different. This was an illusion. Her outside may be real, but she was still stone underneath. Despite this appearance and her ability to move, she was still in a prison of stone. As her train of thought wavered, her body started to flash yellow again and revert to her stone form. Panicking, she started to concentrate again on her human form. The glow faded and her skin remained.

'This form is just like me. It is nothing more than a pretty, happy illusion hiding the cold hard stone truth and reality underneath. Damn it!' she thought sourly. Small tears formed on her face that solidified into perfect round crystals as she stared at her hands. She scowled as she let go of the human image, allowing her human form to become the rock creature she truly was. "This is what I am, a monster of rock, a demon of stone, a traitor, a liar, a thief, and a freak of earth. Why? Why does this happen to me? What did I do to deserve all this? DAMN IT ALL!" she screamed as she let her power loose, as well as her love, happiness, sadness, hate, anger, despair, loneliness, and every other pent up emotion on the area around her.

The area for a ten-mile radius erupted into the biggest earth related "natural" disaster ever seen. A massive earthquake, a surface 8.2 on the Richter scale, hit the area as a massive sand storm ripped everything apart, reaching up into the atmosphere. The ground ripped apart as stone, dirt, rock, and debris flew all around the raging earth elemental. She just let everything go, let everything out. Gold colored earth energy erupted from her, causing her hair, rags, and body to float a few feet in the air. A beam of gold energy shot into the atmosphere, coloring the storm into a golden tempest that could be seen easily from space. Terra didn't care if anyone detected her; she didn't care if the Titans or Slade found her again, she didn't care if the world was torn apart by her power, she didn't care about anything at this moment in time. About fifteen minutes and an ungodly amount of destruction later, her body lowered to the ground as she calmed down, the sand storm and earthquake with her. The girl fell to her knees and started to do something she hadn't done in a long time, cry.

"I don't care about friends or family anymore! I don't care about anyone! I don't care if a maniac rules the world! I don't care! I don't care. I don't care," she cried as her yelling died down to pitiful sobs. Her mind turned to how she wanted to be a normal girl, with normal family, normal friends, and most importantly to her, a home. As she did, she absently felt her body change to its human mode just as the rain started to come down. She gripped her shoulders as the water cascaded down her body, soaking her and causing her to shiver involuntarily. The rain added to the grime she was covered in, caking her all over with mud and blurring what little vision she had.

The blonde stared at the ground as the rain fell, thinking to herself. 'Who am I? Am I Tara Markov, the bastard daughter of a queen? Am I Terra, happy wanderer who goes where her feet take her? Am I Terra the Teen Titan, a hero who helps despite setbacks? Or am I Terra, Slade's apprentice and a villain, the one who murders and conquers without any regrets? Who am I, I don't know. I have been all of these people and yet they are all masks made from pieces of the original, if she still exists. I don't know anymore, I just don't know.'

In the middle of her sobbing, she felt something. It was a vibration through the earth. A very large vibration followed by several smaller ones not to far from where she was. A ship had landed with people getting out; most likely to see what the hell had happened. Right now, she had nothing, no friends, no family, no home, and nothing to her name other than the clothes on her back, which were falling apart anyway. Did she want to be found right now? No. 'I may not have much, but I still have my will and my freedom and I'll be damned before I let anyone take those away from me again,' she thought as she relaxed her form and shifted back to her rocky state.

The earth elemental reached out with her senses, finding that the people and ship from before were still there and getting closer. If she flew, she might be seen. "If I can't go over, around, or through them, then I'll go under them," she said to herself and immediately dived deep into the cracked earth she was standing on. She sent out small aftershocks as she swam through the rock like a dolphin through water, deeper into the earth's crust. It was easy for her to navigate through the rock and to move through it. Her powers allowed her to close the tunnel she left behind, thus leaving no "trail" for someone to follow; at least she assumed so.

Terra traveled for some time, unable to tell how long since she didn't need to surface for food or air, being fed naturally be the earth all around her. She also didn't know where she was going; only that it was away from Jump City and from where she had her little breakdown. The only thing she had to go on was the massive amount of vibrations she felt in this direction. Only a city, a good sized one at that; could create these kinds of vibrations. 'I'll start over. No Titans, no Slade, no past, and nothing to hold me back,' she thought as she started to surface.

The girl surfaced just on the outskirts of a city. It was nighttime so it was brightly lit. Taking a deep breath, she shifted to her human mode, the gold glow quickly coming and fading. 'Last thing I need is to start a riot over a walking statue,' she thought amused to herself. She started walking towards the city, seeing a sign as she did. "You are now entering Gothem City Limits. With so many crazies in this town, I doubt anyone will notice me," Terra said to herself out loud, as she continued walking, towards what, she had no clue.