Disclaimer: Teen Titans do not belong to me but belong to DC Comics.
Doors Left to be Opened
By: David Knight
The school bell at Murakami High School rang for the final time that day. Students were getting out, glad to be out of their tests.
"I swear that geometry test was a pain," Francie said to her blonde friend who just kept walking. "Hey. Hello. Earth to Tara!"
"Huh?" was the blonde girl's response.
"Hey girl you okay?" Francie asked. "I mean, it was kinda cool and all that the new girl in school was getting stalked by one of the Teen Titans, but you look like you're in la-la-land. Everything okie-dokie?"
Tara shook her head. "Yeah. It's just fine." She heard a noise. "There's my ride. See ya in class tomorrow."
Francie watched as he friend got into the black limo that pulled in the street and then left. "You think that since she comes and leaves school in a limo that she'd bring her own food rather than buy from the school cafeteria."
-----
"Are you alright Tara?"
"No. No, I'm not alright Brion," Tara Markov sighed, not able to lie to her own brother, who was in his early twenties and had brown hair.
Brion looked down at his little sister. "What happened?"
"Beast Boy of the Teen Titans came to school. He thought I was a former Titan named Terra. He spent yesterday and today talking about her, trying to convince me that I was her. I told him that I'm not a Titan... but the powers Terra has are just like ours." She looked up into her brother's eyes. "Brion, I need to know... am I her?"
Brion let out a sigh. He should have known this would have happened. He just wasn't expecting it. "Yes. Tara, you remember how I said you were critical condition when I found you six months ago?"
"Yes, and you wouldn't say anything other than that when I woke up in the hospital," Tara frowned, never liking how her brother wouldn't tell her the whole story about how he found her after all those years.
"You were hardened stone. Most of your body at the time had become stone. I had to use my powers to their absolute fullest to reach out to yours and try to use them to 'jumpstart' your life again."
Tara looked at Brion in horror. "Are you out of your mind? You tried to connect to my powers! Brion, they could have killed you! The entire city could have been leveled! Don't you remember what happened..."
"Of course I know what happened to Mother!" Brion snapped, staring her in the eyes. He saw the fear in those eyes and softened his look and lowered his voice. "But I wasn't about to lose you too, Tara. You're all I have left in this world."
"That's not entirely true. You have all of your subjects in Markovia."
Brion shook his head. "My throne means nothing compared to you, little sister," he said kissing her on her forehead and holding her in his arms. A gesture that Tara had long missed. "Ever since the mountains fell that day when your powers went out of control, you blamed yourself for Mother's death."
"Hers and all of the other innocent people the mountains fell on," Tara said sadly. "I know now it's not my fault. Not directly anyway. But I am so scared of my powers. I just want to bury them and forget they ever existed." She paused as she tried to think of Terra, but that was like a different person to her. She had no memory of ever being Terra. In fact as she thought about it, she had no memory at all of the last five years of her life. "I just can't believe that I ever wielded them right."
"Something to think about back in the homeland perhaps?" Brion offered.
Tara shook her head. "We've had this conversation before, brother. I'm not going back to Markovia." She looked out the window and saw Jump City's streets pass her by. "Now more than ever, this place feels like home."
"If this is were you want to live sister, then I won't stop you." Brion said, giving a wry smile. "Just try to come and visit me back in Markovia. As much as I love you, I do have a kingdom to run."
"Better you then the old fuddy-duddies," Tara quipped.
Brion laughed. "Yes, better me than them."
And as Tara laughed with him, she felt that things just as they should be. For now at least.
-----
Half an hour later, Brion left Tara at her apartment. He had to return to Markovia today, despite the fact that he wanted to spend more time with his sister. Ruling is not without its cons. he said to himself as the limousine was taking him to the airport. He pulled out his cell phone and made a call.
"Hello?"
"Garfield Logan found my sister. She put two and two together after he tried to make her remember," Brion said to the friend on the other end. "I had to tell her she was Terra and how I found her."
"But you didn't tell the truth. About how she wasn't a hero."
"I'd rather be shot than tell her that," Brion hissed. "Tara's been traumatized enough Michael."
"Maybe. But one of these days you better tell her everything, Brion. Cause if she ever found out that you knew..."
"I'll file that under advisement," Brion said with dripping sarcasm. He then spoke with out it. "Seriously, Michael. I owe you a debt that cannot be paid. You found my sister."
"You don't owe me anything, Brion," Michael replied. "Look, I know you're going to ask if I can keep an on your sister for a while. Truth be told, you caught me on a good day. I'm almost done with all my current business and I was actually looking forward to a vacation."
"You consider guarding my sister a vacation?" Brion asked, amused.
"Compared to what I've been doing, yes. It is, your Majesty," Michael said with a chuckle. "Have a nice flight home."
Brion let out a laugh as he hung up the cell phone. "Always has to have the last word."
-----
In cemetery, Michael, the man Brion was talking to, was putting his cell phone a way. He was a young man in his mid-twenties, with short white hair and a black leather jacket worn over his black shirt and pants. In his free hand was a bouquet of roses, which he put down on a grave.
Here Lies Adeline Kane Wilson
Beloved Mother and Wife
May God Receive Her in His Kingdom
"She'd be proud of you."
Michael was surprised but let out a smirk. "How did you know I'd come here Bruce?"
Bruce Wayne walked up and left flowers on the grave, as a sign of respect. "Anniversary of her death. I doubt you'd miss it."
"Like you ever miss your parents?" Michael returned. Bruce didn't give a response to that. "You ever going to talk to your kid again?"
"Are you going to ever talk to your brother and let him know you're alive?" Bruce returned in the same fashion.
"Touché, Bats," Michael smiled. "Look in a newspaper lately? Robin is making quite the name for himself, now more than ever."
Bruce's only response was a smirk.
Michael sighed. "Okay Bruce, I give up. Why are you here?"
"We've known each other for about seven years now, ever since that time in Kyoto."
"Yeah I know. The Onishi Cartel. You broke them up. I was just a bonus," Michael said to the man he did owe his life to. Once upon a time, he had been a mercenary, just like his father before him. He took the job of wiping out a drug cartel for an employer. Simple job, he had done a dozen similar ones in his short career. Only thing was that he didn't expect his team to turn on him when offered more money.
Beaten, tortured, and maimed for months, he was so broken down by the cartel that he had forgotten who he was. It was only thanks to Batman that he lived to this day. That and going through four years of rehabilitation so that he could walk again, all paid for by the esteemed Bruce Wayne. It was during those four years that he started to remember who he was, and what he had done. He hadn't liked what he found out. He took time to reflect and start to make changes in his life. It was when he could walk again that he started to hear about what his father was doing now. In the last two years he and his father still hadn't met and it was all his choice.
Michael wasn't sure what he felt. At one point in his life, he worshiped the ground his father walked on. But now, after what he had gone through... now he didn't know. That was a reason why he came here every year. To see her and ask what happened to their family and to say that he was sorry he couldn't be there with her when she died.
"The dead don't speak. No matter how much you want them to," Bruce said solemnly. "Believe me, I know." He looked into Michael's eyes as he handed him a piece of paper.
"What is this?" Michael asked.
"It's the location for where Jericho is right now," Bruce told him. "Go and see your brother while you can Grant. Because if you don't, you might end up paying your respects to more than one grave."
Michael Grant, once known as Grant Wilson, watched Bruce walk away from the cemetery, staring at the piece of paper in his hands, the paper that showed him where his brother was now. All this time he was afraid of what to do… and now after what Bruce said, not seeing him sounded even more terrifying.
Looking over the grave he put his hand on it. "Goodbye mom. I'll tell Joey you send your love when I see him."
With out another word, the son of Slade left the cemetery intent on opening the next door in his life.
For every door that closes... another is opened.
End Notes: That's it. This is a one shot after all. After watching Things Change, I felt compelled to write this story. I borrowed upon old comic facts on the titans, such that Terra/Tara had a brother named Brion. For those of you that know these facts, consider this a treat. I may consider doing a future story if fan response is favorable and I can figure out a good plot line for it.
In the end, I hope you all enjoyed this story. Later.