Author's notes:
Well, my first fanfic. Hope you like it.
As for the legal side of things, I do not own Teen Titans or any of their stuff. I just write about them.
Prologue:
Release
The soft plunking of falling water was the only sound. The only source of light was the moon, which shone meekly through the cracks of the cave's ceiling. In the center on a raised Dias stood a figure locked in its final moments, pain and release etched across its once soft features. Its final moments. Her final moments. At least, that's what they thought. A dim light had begun to shine, first in the center of the stone person, then spreading to its arms, its legs, its head and its toes. Eventually the entire figure shown with a dim glow. But the amazing part was just beginning. With the sound of cracking earth the stone began to fall away from where it had been for so many weeks, revealing the person underneath. Without a sound the person crumpled to the floor, lungs that had been aching for breath for so long feasting on the air around her. Eyes that had seen nothing for so long darted across the room, terror compelling their actions. Ears roared with the sound of blood rushing once more through her veins. Limbs held stiff drew in to each other, until the figure had curled into a tight ball of quaking skin. Minutes passed, then hours. As the sun spread its gaze across the city the girl finally stirred, raising herself on trembling legs, and began limping towards the exit…
Part 1:
Rebirth
2 months later
"The girl you want me to be is just a memory"…
She awoke with a start, suppressing a yelp. Brushing the cold sweat off her forehead, she twisted to look at the small clock perched on the shelf above the clump of blankets that make up her bed. 5:30 A.M. – time to get ready for school. Lifting herself upright, she takes a minute to survey the small dilapidated room she calls home. Flaking plaster covering the walls, and one naked bulb clinging helplessly to the ceiling made up her surroundings, with a doorway off to the right that leads to the rusted shower and leaky sink. But this was her life now; this is what she wanted, wasn't it? She thought to herself as she pulled on the starched white shirt and blue skirt which made up her school uniform. Grabbing a breakfast bar and her backpack she headed out of the room, down the ruined staircase and into the cool Jump-city morning. The walk to school was a long one, blocks upon block to walk, from her poor section to the city proper, a 40 minute walk on a good day, 2 hours or more on a bad one. She started down the street, quietly munching on the breakfast bar. The streets were quiet and still, seeming to mimic the emotions and thoughts of the girl who walked down them. To call the area where she lived run-down would be a compliment. Buildings that looked unfit to live in were overcrowded, food that looked weeks spoiled was peddled from cardboard merchant stands at prices the populace could barely afford. This was her life now; this was what she wanted. Wasn't it? Again, that question forced itself to the forefront of her mind, seeming to bludgeon away all other thoughts – thoughts of test she had yet to study for, or homework she didn't do.
Ironically the place she lived in had little crime, being in a quarter of town not know for wealth or affluence, either because criminals knew there was nothing of real value to steal from these poor wretches or because it just wasn't fun anymore to take a torn blanket from a decrepit old woman, or a broken toy from a baby. That was fine with her; she was a normal teen trying to get by, trying to juggle school with working odd hours at convenience stores to scrape together her meager existence. At least she was now. As the walk went on her mind further wandered. It had been three weeks since that day. That day "he" tried to get her to come back. But she was done being special. She was after all, normal. Right? Right, she said to herself angrily, brushing away a lock of blond hair as she walked up the steps to her school – Murakami High.
"OK class, I'm sure we all did our homework, so let's pass that... oh what's this?" Said the teacher, her tone changing from slightly condescending to annoyance at this new disruption. The heavy door swung open, and a new student walked in, a boy. None of the teachers enjoyed having new students, which meant they had to release one of their students to show them around, and where's the education value in that?
"Well then, who want to give the tour to Mr.?" She glanced questioningly at the boy, waiting for an answer.
"Oh, I'm" the rest of his sentence was drowned out, as an announcement rang out over the intercom.
Before the boy could repeat himself the girl shot her hand up, eager to get out of turning in the work she didn't do.
"Very well Terra you show him around, but be back before class is over" sighed the teacher.
"Of course" Terra replied, walking out the door with the new boy in tow. "Not" she said with a smirk once the door had shut.
"So what's this school like?" asked the new boy, his eyes fixed squarely on Terra's.
Before answering, she took a second to size up the person standing in front of her. Average height, average build, everything about this kid screamed normalcy at her. Just the kind of man she was looking for she thought grimly, right?
"It's OK I guess, not much to look at here and we learn on occasion."
"Anything to watch out for around here?" He asked.
"The teachers, they can be anal sometimes."
"Oh…well thanks for the heads up, now let's see the school."
No reaction from him she noticed. Most sophomore guys would have at least sniggered, but he seemed impassive. Well maybe he has above average maturity then.
1 Month later:
"You remembered right?" Asked Terra, sitting opposite the boy who had walked into her class one month ago.
"Of course, one month today. Did you think I would forget?" Answered the boy, now boyfriend.
"No, I was just checking" she replied defensively in between bites of her sandwich.
"I remembered, or my names not…" he was interrupted by the sound of an explosion coming from across the street.
As everyone clamored to see what was happening Terra forced herself to the front, only to see the doors of the jewelry store burst open amidst the crack of gunfire and screams of people.
"No…" she breathed. Nothing like this had happened for so long she could almost pretend she didn't have powers, almost pretend she didn't want to stop them. But she couldn't, even though part of her wanted to. She had worked so hard to be normal, tried to forget "them". Tried to forget "him". And now this threatened to bring her false reality crashing down. While this war raged in her mind, no such thing was happening to the armed, and as the gunfire had confirmed, dangerous thieves. Three strong they were cornered and they knew it. Their plan blown to pieces they were desperate, and a school full of kids makes a good bartering chip. They thundered into the school grounds, up the stairs and through the doors the teachers had not yet had time to lock. With a crash of booted feet, they were upon them, screaming for everyone to get down and put their hands behind their heads. One of the armed men noticed Terra, still standing, and dashed towards her.
"No…" she thought over and over "no". The man reached her, and began dragging her towards the door with one hand holding her, the other gripping a pistol, with the intent of proving how serious they were to whoever would be watching.
"Don't!" the cry drowned out the rest of the noise, overpowering the surrounding chaos in its bid to be heard. Suddenly the man was on the floor clutching at his arm, now bent in an unnatural way. The blur that had caused his injury moved, flinging the weapon into the stomach of another man, knocking the wind out of him and dropping him to his knees. The person never stopped, and charged into the winder man, wrenching his head back and delivering a punch to his throat. The man dropped, gasping for breath. But that had given the third man time to react, and he raced into the fray, throwing the person into the wall, and stopping his assault on his partners-in-crime. As Terra cowered, her indecision still preventing her from acting one way or another, she noticed who the shape had resolved itself into: her boyfriend. Watching in disbelief, tears of frustration beginning to make their way down her cheeks, she stared at his face intently. But it was him; she had seen that face every day for the past month, there was no mistaking it. And new string of thoughts rushed into her head: this isn't like him, he's acting like a hero, why this, why now, WHY HIM? Almost as if in slow motion, the man grabbed for his gun, and began to bring it up. Thousands of thoughts raced through her mind, but one now stood out: I can't let this happen. With a strangled cry of desperation she threw her arm forward, shut her eyes and felt the familiar sensation of power shooting from her hand. A crash followed, followed by absolute silence. She opened her eyes, and looked around. Everyone was staring at her, mouth's hanging open, eyes piercing in their unbelieving stares. Her boyfriend was making his way towards her, his face filled not with disbelief, but with a look of silent victory. He reached her, gently lifted her to her feet, and while brushing a tear off her check whispered:
"We need to talk."
They left the school. No one stopped them. They threaded their way through the city, past police cars racing towards the school, past reporters in vans battling their way towards the scene of their next big break. They walked until they couldn't hear the sirens, could he the commotion, couldn't hear anything. Except each other.
"I" Terra began, faltering to even get one letter out.
"No" stopped her boyfriend, "I should go first. I… haven't been entirely truthful to you. About who I am, or why I'm here." She was not inclined to dispute him; he seemed like an entirely different person. His posture, though mostly unchanged, now gave off a sense of complete control, the set of his shoulders and the way he looked at her reminded her of a…hero.
"I'm no hero" he continued, as if sensing her thoughts "but I am someone who knows one when I see one."
"And you Terra, you are a hero, whether you think you are or not."
"I'm not…I was but…but things…change and..." She replied, struggling to not break down.
"Things change Terra, not people. They just grow. Sure you can try to pretend to be normal, try to be someone you're not, but on the inside you are going through hell each and every day you deny who you really are." Interrupted her boyfriend. "Ask yourself, do you REALLY want to live in a dingy apartment in a run-down quarter, not knowing anything but suffering? Do you really want to live a lie; yes that's what you're doing, for the rest of your LIFE? I don't think so. Because as hard as you try to fight it, you never forgot about the Titans, never forgot about the thrill of doing good…and you never even began to forget about "him", did you?"
"You…knew, but…how…I tried to burry my past, tried to move on, how could you know?" Terra said, her composure beginning to return to her. How could you know how I feel about him? She thought to herself.
"The things I did, I let myself be used, let myself hurt my friends, almost kill them, all for what? Control? Control over a power I don't even want?!"
"A power you think you don't deserve." He corrected. "Greatness is rarely a choice left to us Terra, it is left to fate. And fate has chosen you. I won't deny the things you did were terrible, but you have lived you entire life in extremes, and there were bound to be extreme consequences to parallel extreme achievements. You were a frail girl then in terms of how you saw yourself and your powers, constantly rejected, constantly looking for someone to help you. You were used, though you let yourself be used, but used none the less. But look at what you did, throughout all that, the real you, the one deep down inside began to rebel against what you were being made to do. In the end, your actions were nothing but heroic! Is it in the character of a cowardly person to sacrifice themselves? Is it their character to put the one they love…because I think that's how you feel about "him"… before themselves, even if that means death? NO! It is not Terra. You did not know you would live, yet here you are. Fate has given you another chance to be who you were meant to be…a hero."
"But what I did, it was evil, how can anyone forgive me, or trust me?!" she blurted, and added much quieter "How can I ever forgive or trust myself?"
"Terra, if you really were evil, do you think I would be here now? As for how the others will forgive you, they already have. Trust you? I know one who still dose. And for the others, let your actions speak for you, you have done dozens of evil deeds, but now you must do hundredsof good deeds. That you still express remorse is a sign that you are not evil, merely misguided. And I am here to show you the path you know you want to take. "
"And" he added "do you think you're the only one to have made mistakes? Or live with regret? You're not. In some way, shape or form, all the Titans you are so ashamed to face have been in the same situation as you. And they are still Titans, are they not?" Concluded her boyfriend with a sigh.
She was beginning to go back to the way she was before, he noted. No longer subdued, her emotions were beginning to run back into her, giving her the life they almost took away. She would still need help, her powers though more under control were still a primordial force. The relief she was feeling was evident, even to someone not gifted with the talents he possessed. Tears were flowing freely from her now, not tears of frustration or desperation, but tears of joy.
"So was all this a set-up, some kind of trick to get me to use my powers?" Terra questioned.
"No, that was…unforeseen. But the chance was too good to pass up, it may sound cruel now but it will make sense in time. You just had to use your powers on your own, for a purpose you felt warranted it."
"I understand."
"No" he laughed "but you will soon enough."
"What do I do now?" She asked.
"You know what you need to do… now I must go." He said as he turned around and began walking back into the city.
"Can I at least know your name, your real one?" She asked him, sensing the finality in his statement, as he began to disappear into the crowd.
An answer floated back to her, and for the first time since she had met this boy, it held a twinge of sadness.
"I don't have one."
And he was gone.
She turned around, just now wondering where he had led her. Then she saw it. In the distance radiating in the mid day sun… was Titans Tower.
Well there you have it, the first chapter of my first fanfic. Review please, and I will update it if people want more.
