Terra's Titan Christmas
Terra had never had a real Christmas before. At least, not like the ones she sometimes saw in the Christmas specials on TV. Now she finally had a home, a family, and a chance to experience it the way she always imagined. She looked over at Beast Boy.
The two of them were strolling through a sleepy little forrest, some distance away from Jump City, with the intention of picking out a tree for the Tower. When the Titans had mentioned needing one, Terra exitedly pointed out that she had once passed through this same forrest during her travels. She decided not to bring up decorating a particularly handsome tree by herself one night with a string of lights she had stolen from a local hardware store. I did leave some cash on the counter, but still... she mused.
"How about that one?" Beast Boy's voice shook her from her memories and brought her back to the present. "Huh? Oh!" She looked to see which one he was pointing at. It was a decent thing, not the grandest she had seen here. "Um.. It's alright, but I think we can do better!" She jabbed at his arm playfully. His face lit up. Terra's stomach fluttered a little. His smile always made her feel funny... She cleared her throat pointedly.
"You know, I've never had a real Christmas," She mused.
"What do you mean?" Beast Boy asked.
"I've just... never really had a home to have a Christmas in, you know? I mean..." She was afraid of sounding like too much of a sob story. "I've just been, you know, traveling a lot. I don't settle much. So usually I just spend Christmas on my own." She threw in a casual smile for good measure.
"Well, now you get to spend it with us!" Beast Boy grinned widely. "Oh, Oh! Wait!" He suddenly leaned forward, catching himself with his hands in the snow. Terra watched as his neck stretched out, antlers sprouted from his hair, and his body warped before her eyes.
"Oh!" Terra cried. Beast Boy had morphed himself into a genuine Christmas caribou. Well, genuine aside from the fact that he was completely green. He let out what Terra guessed must be a self-congratulatory bellow, and cocked his head toward his back. She laughed, jogged over to him, and swung herself up on his back.
Beast Boy let out one more bellow and took off. Terra had to throw her hands around his neck to avoid sliding off into the snow. His stupid caribou-noise was so funny she couldn't help cracking up, and feeling the icy wind whipping around, seeing the trees fly by... This was a whole different kind of running. This was a different kind of freedom. This wasn't escaping or hiding. There was no crushing guilt to try and put out of her mind. She wasn't trying to convince herself that the next place would be different, that she was going to redeem herself and make up for whatever damage she'd just done.
And there it was. Standing apart from all the other evergreens in the middle of a clearing was the proud tree she'd decorated alone several Christmases ago.
"Stop!" Terra shouted. Beast Boy stumbled to a halt, nearly landing snout-first in the snow. Terra leaped from his back and ran over to her tree. "This one." She murmured. She would have known this tree anywhere. "This is the one."
Beast Boy morphed back and came up quietly behind her. "Wow..." He breathed. The two of them stood staring up at it for a few peaceful moments. The December sun was just beginning to drop beind the soft, snowy hills, throwing peircingly bright pinks and oranges through the sky, and through the rich, dark needles of the tree. Just then, the wind billowed through the clearing, whipping up an icy kind of dust from the drifts on the ground. The particles made the air sparkle as they caught the light from the sunset. It was a magnificent scene.
Terra felt herself swell with happiness. Tears stung her eyes... Or maybe it was just the cold. She went to steal a glance at Beast Boy, wanting to see him taking in the beauty...
He was already looking at her.
Terra's breath caught in her throat. She could feel her face flushing with heat, and she tried to blink back her tears. His expression was full of wonder. Like he'd just witnessed a miracle.
"Terra..." His voice cracked a little. Terra tried to respond, but her mouth felt so dry...
"I..." His hand lifted from his side, hovered at her arm. His eyes were locked on hers. "I... I'm really glad you're... having Christmas with us."
His hand fell back to his side. His face relaxed from an awe-inspired expression to one of slight sheepishness. Terra could help but grin. She looked down at his gloved hand, paused, and took it in her own. The fabric swished as their fingers delicately interlaced. She gazed into his face for a moment, smiled, and looked back up at her... their tree. She could feel Beast Boy staring at her, but she couldn't bring herself to look away from the branches.
The sun had set. A velvety blue now replaced the pinks and oranges in the sky. Terra let out a deep breath.
"Shall we?" She sensed Beast Boy nodding next to her. Their hands broke apart, and Terra held hers at arms length in front of her, palms pointing toward the earth around their feet. A surge of energy pulsed through her, yellow light glowed around her gloves, and the ground began to crumble in a crude circle around them and the tree. Snow shuddered and then drifted down on the two as the evergreen, it's roots, and a large chunk of frozen dirt clumped to the tree rose into the air, Terra and Beast Boy with it.
She relaxed as they rose higher into the air. The hard part was separating the dirt, especially when it was so hard and frozen. Now they were flying up, up, above the tops of all the other trees. Terra crouched at the edge of the clod and then let her legs dangle over the edge. Beast Boy follwed suit. With another deep breath, they dipped a little in the air, (Beast Boy nearly lost his balance and fell) and then glided off, with the tops of the evergreens reaching for their boots.
"I wish to wake her!" came a muffled sing-song voice through Terra's bedroom door. Starfire...
"No! You got to wake up everybody else!" Beast Boy. Terra blinked and squinted at her window. It wasn't even light out, yet...
"Terra?" Beast Boy's squeaky voice seemed to tiptoe through the crack in her door. She pushed the covers bunched up around her face to peek over at him. His pointy ears were drooped in submission, tentative. When he caught sight of her blue eyes peering over her blankets he perked up, ears included.
"Hey!" he cried, a little too loudly. He morphed into a green puppy and bounded over to her bed, leaping happily next to her pillow.
"Ack!" Terra yelped. His cold wet nose on her face shocked all the sleepiness out of her. He yipped happily and sniffled at her cheek. "I'm up, I'm up..." She groaned.
"Come on! Christmas!" Beast Boy urged, shifting back to normal, but still crouched on his now-human haunches.
"Coming..." Terra croaked. She laid flat on her stomach and snaked her arm through the sheets, reaching over the edge of the bed. Her fingers groped at the floor until she felt what were hopefully a pair of pajama shorts. She managed to get her ankles through the right holes underneath the blankets and pulled them up to her hips. The tank top she'd slept in would have to do...
Beast Boy hopped off the bed, but hovered until Terra slipped out herself. The second her stocking feet touched the floor, Beast Boy snatched her hand, and the next thing she knew they were down the hall and in the living room.
The tree stood solidly at the front of the room. The decorating job the Titans had done was a hodgepodge of random items they'd found around the Tower. Starfire was the only one who had had anything like normal decorations to put on it. "Traditional tamaranian jewelry" she had called the silver baubles and green gems hanging from the branches. Cyborg had scrounched up some spare bulbs and wires from the garage to suffice as lights. Raven had cut a handful of delicate paper snowflakes that seemed to include ancient runes and symbols, but the effect was nice, nonetheless. Beast Boy had ventured to suggest hanging a few of Robin's red boomerangs and throwing stars before a steely glare from Robin himself silenced him.
"Wow, guys," Terra yawned. "The tree really looks amazing." The Titans all stared at her. Maybe she was still half-asleep. Calling their random collection of odds and ends "amazing" was a bit of a stretch. "But there's something missing..." Though she'd never had a "real" Christmas, she'd seen enough tv specials and shop windows to know that every tree had something at the very top...
"Oh, don't worry about that," Robin smirked. Terra was about to ask what was so funny, but Beast Boy cried, "Present time!"
Robin, Cyborg, Starfire, Raven, Beast Boy and Terra all meandered over to the circular couch, flopping onto it sleepily. Beast Boy morphed into a large green octopus and snatched a present with each of his tentacles. One by one he passed them around to each of the Titans. A few weeks before they had all drawn the name of one other Titan to buy or make a gift for.
terra-robin
robin – raven
Cyborg tore into the green wrapping paper of his gift and pulled out something purple and slimy.
"Err.." He wrinkled his nose, "Thanks, Star..."
"It is a Flagorbian Velbner plant!" Cried Starfire excitedly. "It produces a most beauteous flower and a wonderful aroma to be enjoyed by all!"
"Dude!" Beast Boy yelped, mostly back to normal except for his arms. The tentacles sprouting from his shoulders (which he had evidently used to open his gift with much more efficiency) were closed around a small plastic cartrige. "Zombie Doomsday Bloodbath III?! Cy!" He actually looked close to tears.
"What can I say, man? I know you too well!" Beast Boy flung himself from the floor to Cyborg, wrapping all eight tentacles around his head for what looked like an unpleasant kind of hug.
The paper-tearing and unboxing continued. Raven had found a intricate silver bracelet for Starfire at an antique shop. Raven showed little emotion as she unwrapped a crimson leather journal from Robin, prompting him to nervously tell her that she could return it if she wanted. She assured him it was "perfect." And Terra watched anxiously as Robin opened the new watch from her, but he seemed pleased enough. She would have liked to give him some fancy new gadget or weapon, but she hadn't really been saving up very well lately... "It glows in the dark when you hit the top button," she mumbled lamely.
"Terra, you haven't opened yours!" Beast Boy squeaked indignantly. Terra's eyes droped to her lap, and she realized he was right. She had been much too busy watching everyone else to even remember her own gift. Watching their faces as ribbon and wrapping tumbled onto the floor, drinking in the feeling of belonging, of family...
"Go on! Open it!" Beast Boy seemed like he might burst if she waited another second. She bit her lip with excitement and tore gleefully into the mess of wrinkled paper and scotch tape. At least he had tried to make it presentable by slapping a bow on the top...
Something silvery-white glistened from the nest of wrapping. She pried more carefully through the paper and tape, until the thing was completely unearthed. There, practically glowing in the wad of crumpled paper, sat a beautiful, glittering star. It was made up of intricate white lines, resembleing the interwoven structure of a snowflake. She touched it delicately, as if it might shatter like a fragile ice crystal under her fingers.
She could feel everyone staring at her as she lifted it gingerly from her lap and cradled it in her hands. "This is..." She breathed, "This is incredible..." Terra looked up and instantly locked eyes with Beast Boy. The look on his face was... he was just glowing. The slightest smile twitched at the corner of his mouth, and his eyes seemed to positively glitter with anticipation. He had made it. Of course he had made it. Visions of the work he must have put into this flashed through her mind. All for her. Just for her.
Her stomach fluttered like the night before, and she could feel tears welling up again. She blinked them back as quickly as she could, and cleared her throat.
"Beast Boy, this is amazing!" She murmured. "I just... I don't know what to say..."
"You really like it?" He beamed.
"I love it!" And she burst out laughing.
Beast Boy smiled even wider and lunged toward her. The next thing she knew she was sitting on his shoulders, feet dangling at his chest. He began shape-shifting underneath her, stretching taller and taller, and when she looked down he had transformed into a full-grown girraffe! Sitting at the very top of his neck, she was as high as the top of the Christmas tree. He leaned carefully forward as to not let her fall, and brought her as close to the tree as he could.
She looked down at the beautiful star in her hands one last time before stretching out to place it carefully on the topmost sprig. It was perfect. The perfect topper to the perfect tree. She watched as it grew higher and higher above her head, until she felt the floor against her feet again.
All six Titans admired the tree, and just then the first golden morning light began filtering through the windows. The glittering star, and all their other odds-and-ends decorations caught the soft light, and the whole room seemed to glow.
Terra felt a gentle hand reach for hers, and fingers intertwined. She made to steal a peek at Beast Boy, but he was already looking at her. His expression was soft and sleepy, but most of all, happy.
"Merry Christmas, Terra." He said.
"Merry Christmas," Terra replied. She let her head rest on his shoulder, and squeezed his hand tightly.
I'm home, She thought. I'm home.