Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.
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Chaper 2 Too Many Questions
She must have hid behind the rubble, waiting for him to walk by to spring.
"Dude, what is your deal?!" His anger doesn't even phase her. Terra would normally at least flinch if not apologize at his words.
She only repeats herself. "How do you know my name?" She more like Raven than the Terra he knew. He needs a plan which has never been his forte.
He swallows and feels the knife against his throat. "Uh, could you lose the knife?" Wait, she is like Raven. How do you deal with an angry Raven?
The knife stays put. "Just answer the question."
Beast Boy's thoughts wonder back to Dr. Light. Beg for mercy, and hope someone kinder saves him. Dr. Light triggered Raven's temper, getting him dragged under her cape. It was the one time Raven really lost control of her anger. The poor guy pleaded for his life, which either got ignored or encouraged Raven on. Raven would have done much worse, if Robin hadn't intervened. The incident traumatized the villain, and if today's any indication, he still hasn't completely gotten over it. Well, so much for a plan.
Beast Boy turns back to the present, "What was the question again?"
She starts repeating the question at an insultingly slow pace. "How do you know my name?"
His jaw hurts from clenching it. "Hello? You told me it. Don't you remember?" Confusion cracks her mask. "Or not?" Now he is confused.
Realization lights up her face, and he waits to hear what she uncovered.
She shoots him a warm smile. "Okay, just three more questions, and you are free to go." Apparently, she wasn't sharing her discovery.
Her enthusiasms wasn't contagious. "Gee, thanks."
"Are you absolutely sure you've seen me before?"
"I don't know. Maybe that's why I called your name in the first place." Beast Boy yells the last part in her face, but since she is already so close to him, it is impossible yell not in her face.
She shrugs. "I'm just making sure." He glares at her. "Next question do I seem like a different person than before?"
"Well, you didn't attack your best friend for just trying to get your attention."
She gleefully smiles at that and then frowns. "Best friend?" Finally, something gets under her skin.
"The last time I saw you, you said I was your best friend. That is three questions. NOW LET ME GO-"
She interrupts him. "Ow, you knew some of us can't afford a hearing aid. Besides, that doesn't count as a question. It was an escaped thought that just sort of sounded like one."
Beast Boy takes a deep breath, preparing to yell again. She rolls her eyes, but lowers the hand with the knife. A forearm still pegs him to the wall, but with less strength than before. He might be able to escape.
"We both want answers. I'll give you something that will answer yours in enchange. Now please, where was I planning on go the time I told you were my best friend?" The last time I saw her. Something in the way she say it makes her seem like her old self. He doesn't want to say. It will shatter the spell.
"I..." don't know what to say.
It turns out they aren't alone anymore.
"Aw, looks like someone got a girlfriend," says Cyborg. What?
Robin orders, "BB, now!" That is something Beast Boy understands. Time to escape.
He turns into a mouse and scampers away as Robin kicks Terra, knocking her to ground. Beast Boy turns back once he reaches his friends. Robin steps on the fallen weapon.
Cyborg looks bewildered. "They were just kissing... weren't they?!"
"You thought I was kissing her!?" How could he think that!?
Raven looks Cyborg. "You didn't see the knife." Cyborg shakes his head.
Starfire asks, "Knife?"
"This one. Didn't your mom ever tell you not to play with them? " Robin picks up and holds out the confiscated item.
Starfire use a starbolt to provide light to see it more clearly. That's it? With only a two or three inches to the blade, the weapon is more of a pocket knife than something found in a kitchen.
Starfire asks, "Cyborg, can you please turn on your lights?"
"Sure, Star," he replies. The light blinds for a few moments.
Starfire then stars checking Beast Boy for injures. "You appear to be uninjured, yet you do not look well. What is 'the matter,' Beast Boy?"
Beast Boy turns away from her. "I'm fine," he guiltily lies to keep Starfire from worrying and to avoid anymore conversation on the matter. She frowns not buying the lie anyway.
Before Starfire can inquire further, Robin draws everyone's attention. "You need to see this." The four move to stand next to their leader. Under the bright light focused on her, the girl quickly gets to her feet and meets their stares defiantly.
Starfire gasps with her hands over her mouth. "Terra?"
"How is this even possible?" Raven asked skeptically.
No one knows, and no one answers.
Robin moves on and demands, "Why did you attack Beast Boy?"
Terra doesn't back down. "A strange stalker knew my name and chased me down an alley."
Raven looks at him. "Stalker? That would be a new low for you."
Terra continues, " I wanted to know why he knew me, while I've never even seen him before today."
That gets to Beast Boy. "You could've just asked like a normal person!" Beast Boy turns to his friends. "She doesn't remember anything."
"Clearly," replies Raven.
The girl shifts uncomfortably. "I thought you might have been a bounty hunter, and it is better to be safe than sorry."
Robin asks, "Bounty hunters?"
"It is a long story. Anyway, his actions pointed to him being a stalker of some sort." Could she quit calling me that?
"Stalker?" Cyborg tease him.
Beast Boy was fed up. "She doesn't remember us, okay? I'm going back to the tower." He turns his back to go, when a hand grabs his.
"Wait, will you please answer my last question?" It feels like the two of them are alone again, and Terra seemed like Terra again. "You'll never have to see me again." The promise both appeals and horrifies him.
He considers for a second. "Nowhere." Beast Boy didn't want to say "to sacrifice yourself." Plus, it was true. Terra decided to stay in the impending disaster to save the city. Okay, maybe only half true. If there was one thing Terra valued, it was trust, and that lie breached it. However, he still couldn't tell her the whole truth.
Beast focus returns when Starfire whisper, "What was the question?" The others shrug. They all want to see how things would play out in the Beast Boy and Terra show.
The Terra looks crestfallen. "Oh. Um, thank you." She takes off her backpack and digs through her stuff, careful to hide the bag from view.
"Uh, don't mention it?"
She finds whatever she searched for and holds it behind her back. "If you ever see 'your Terra' again, tell her I'm sorry."
Beast Boy is lost. "You're apologizing to yourself?"
The others tense up when she moves her hands out from behind her back, revealing a well worn envelope full of zig zagging creases.
She gives the envelope to him. "Look at it later, okay?" She smiles sadly at him. He understands the meaning instantly. Goodbye and I'm sorry.
Starfire understands it too. "Friend, you just came back. Please do not go yet."
Robin places a hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her. "Star, she doesn't remember us."
Starfire turns on Robin clearly not pleased with his reply. "Then she can make new memories!"
Terra speaks up, "I'm sorry, but I've never been your friend."
Stunned, they watch Terra walk away and out of sight.
"That was interesting," Raven commented.
Concerned Cyborg asks, "Starfire, are you okay?"
"No! How could she say such things? We are friends even if she did betray us." Starfire challenges anyone to contradict her. They know better.
Beast Boy figures now counts as later and opens the envelope. Inside is a photo dated five years ago on the back. He flips the photo over and sees two younger "Terras" smiling with dozens of Christmas gifts surrounding them. "Guys? You might want to see this." He holds out the photo for them.
Robin says, "That wasn't the Terra we knew."
Raven finishes, "That was her identical twin."
"But why are they both 'Terra'? Is it a Earth custom to name identical people the same thing? And why did our friend never mention having a sister?" Starfire squeezes all the words in one breathe.
Robin steps up and tries to answer Starfire's multiple question. "No, it isn't a custom. One of them must have impersonated the other, and 'having a sister' probably just didn't come up."
"So what now? She deserves to know what happened to her sister," states Cyborg.
Rain starts to fall. "Now we go home, and figure everything out. I have an idea," says Robin.
— — — — — — — —
It was a long night.
After returning the the tower, there was much debating. It centered on the state of Terra's condition, what to do with her twin, and Robin's plan involving the first two issues.
The plan was to have the potentially dangerous sister stay at the tower, Raven and Cyborg would try everything one last time to save their friend Terra, and have the Titans try to become friends with the sister, so that when (or if) she knew of her sister's fate, she would have friends to turn to.
The plan contained more than a few holes. The whole thing could easily blow up in their faces. Raven surprised everyone by being the first to switch sides. Once Raven joined Robin, it was only a matter of time before each of the remaining titans agreed to go along with the plan with various degrees of enthusiasm.
Starting tomorrow, Robin would watch the city cameras till the sister passed one, and then the plan would be set in motion.
— — — — — —
