The numbness was not complete anymore.
There, on her fingertip! It was a cool, moving sensation.
Air.
Rushing air, that's what it was. She could feel it! She wiggled around and soon her entire fist was out. She clenched her fingers, and thought of how loud they would be snapping could she hear them. She needed to break free. All the way.
She wrenched her arm upwards as hard as she could. The barrier gave, and she could move. Another jerk and the other arm was released. And she then began to desperately tear at the rock that kept her immobile. The stone fell away from her face, and she could breath.
Terra fell to her hands and knees, gasping for air. It was a wonderful, overwhelming feeling. She had not breathed, ate, moved, or done anything for… how long had it been? Surely not that long. Perhaps a week?
Her skin buzzed, and she could feel the clothes she was wearing. It was cold, wrapping around her body, and hanging heavy around her shoulders, wrists, ankles and chest, like a parasite. She gritted her teeth. Slade's cursed uniform. But something was different. It didn't hug her body like it used to, it hung looser. Was it possible that…?
Not daring to believe it, Terra gripped the chest piece and pulled, and to her surprise, it fell away. Rust stained her hand. She eagerly ripped off all of the other pieces and stood up, enjoying the feeling. She was really free. But where was she?
It was a large tower rising from the middle of a gigantic cavern. Strange, looping formations twisted up from the ground and hung down from the ceiling. A decrepit bridge of stone connected her to the wall of the cave. Smashed machinery lay strewn about. Broken glass littered the floor.
Suddenly everything came rushing back at once. The Titans, her betrayal, working for Slade, defeating him, the volcano…
The Titans. Would they take her back? Sure, she had stopped the eruption, but that wouldn't make everything all right again. Would they forgive her? She had tried to kill them, and almost succeeded! She winced as she remembered Beast Boy's face, staring in disbelief and sadness as she closed the canyon on top of him. She would never forgive herself, that was for sure.
Terra then turned to view the spot where she had stood not minutes before, frozen in stone. Beneath it was a small, abnormal square of rock, more polished and smoother than the rest. When she moved closer, she realized that it was a plaque. On it read:
TERRA
A TEEN TITAN
A TRUE FRIEND
Terra's heart soared. They had forgiven her! But why leave a monument? She hadn't been gone for that long.
She pushed the thoughts from her mind. She would deal with that later. As for now, she had to get out of here. She started walking purposefully across the bridge, and was halfway there when she realized that her uniform was in tatters. She couldn't go out in public, not yet.
Taking a detour, she turned left at the door out and went into the small, impersonal room she had slept in while training with Slade. Inside her dresser, she had kept the old clothes she had worn before Slade had designed the suit. She pulled out a tight, black shirt with a golden T on it and tan shorts. Funny, everything was completely coated in dust.
Satisfied now, Terra trudged up the steep slope and soon she was out in the open air. It was chilly, and she could see her breath. She closed her eyes and reveled in the feeling. But then she noticed that something was wrong. She was in the heart of Jump City, why was everything so quiet?
Terra slowly opened her eyes and gasped in disbelief.
The city was in ruins. Half of the buildings on the street were fallen or partially destroyed. The ones that were standing were boarded up and in serious disrepair. Cars lay on their roofs, windows shattered. The pavement was ruptured, revealing the pipes underneath, and the power lines hung useless across the ground.
Terra shook her head and pressed her palms to her eyes, trying to think. Something bad had happened. Maybe an earthquake? Without her, the Titans would have been unable to stop something like that. She had to go and see them. She could help.
She concentrated hard, and soon the familiar, warm feeling bubbled up inside of her. Her eyes glowed gold and she forced a rock out of the ground, making it soar, with her on top of it, down the street.
She began to doubt her earthquake idea as she flew. There were huge craters and burn marks in the earth, and almost every structure had visible damage. And still, there were no people. She turned to look more as she sped over the waterfront and out across the bay. She shook her head again.
Well, at least it'll all make sense when I reach…
Terra's eyes widened as she turned back around.
Titans Tower.
The place was almost gone. Gigantic chunks were blasted off of it, and bits of concrete littered the shore. All of the windows were broken, and the T car was torn in half and scorched.
She felt herself sway uneasily as she stumbled off of the rock and onto the small, rocky beach.
"What happened!?" she screamed at the ruins. There was no response. Her crazed, confused voice echoed off the broken skyline far behind her and bounced back, eerily warped. She stared more, then walked up to the front door.
She didn't know why, but she knocked. Big mistake. At her slightest touch, the whole door fell to the ground in a cloud of dust. Terra coughed and stepped carefully inside. All of the chairs were toppled and coated with a thick layer of more dust. She made her way through the hallways to find more carnage. Every part of the tower was similar, destroyed and dusty. She stepped tentatively into the living room to view the worst yet.
The wall screen was shattered, and cold, misty air flowed freely in. A gaping hole was in the floor too, reaching down several stories. Something that looked suspiciously like blood was splattered across some of the walls. And stuck in the middle of the floor was one of Cyborg's arms. The coating on it was shattered, and circuitry spilled out like guts. It was so bent out of shape that Terra had a hard time telling what it was at first.
Hand over her mouth, Terra backed away, out of the room. She had to know what had happened. She had to contact the Titans somehow. But how could she find out where they were?
Suddenly she knew.
Back down the halls, dodging holes in the floor and rubble collapsed from the walls, up the stairs, under the flickering of an old emergency light that hadn't been shattered, and up to a plain, untouched door. On it was a single word:
TERRA
The former owned swallowed and pressed the keypad. The door slid open silently.
Inside it was pitch black, so Terra allowed just enough of her power to seep out so as to make a golden glow around her hand. Its soft light bathed the walls.
The place was in surprisingly good shape. Only a few small holes marred the mural of a mountainscape that decorated the walls, and the window was only spun with a web of hairline cracks, not completely broken. Sitting on the bed was a small, shiny object. It was the silver box Beast Boy had made for her, untouched. A lump caught in Terra's throat, but she forced in down. Beside the box was goal. Her old Titans Communicator. She sat down on the bed, sending up a cloud of more dust, picked up the communicator, took a deep breath, and turned it on.