Chapter Four: Pasts

Terra stepped back further until she was edging at her bed. She looked at Raven like a ghost just revealed itself. The four-eyed demon that nearly killed her was right there, in front of her, and the mere look of Raven's face was enough to spark a rush of fear in Terra. She knew that behind that blank, anti-social girl's appearance was something she learned to fear: a daemoness.

"W-Who are you?" Terra said, but then she realized how useless it was to hide her identity at this moment. She sighed, that clearly was a stupid question now that Raven saw her powers. She sat on the bed. "It's useless now. You've caught me. I'm Terra." She said, looking down.

Raven moved and sat beside her. She didn't expect Terra to give up that easily, but then again she saw her powers. Raven gathered up words in her head. She wasn't exactly sure of what to say when she actually found Terra. It had to be short; it didn't have to be a speech. "Terra, Beast Boy misses you."

"Is that why you're here?" Terra said. Of course, that can't be it, and that sounded selfish. She couldn't give up her life here for one boy, and that reason itself sounded too simple. "For Beast Boy? And I thought everybody misses me…"

"Everybody does. It's Beast Boy who misses you the most." She meant it.

Terra sighed and thought of something to say. She had a convincing reason to return to the Tower. There were necessities, food, hero-duty, and friends who care for her. But there's still something holding her back, and that reason was far greater than the other.

"I can't go back, Raven." Terra said sadly as if memories rushed through her head.

"Why not:?" Raven said.

"I have to go back to Markovia." She said, looking even farther away. Markovia, Raven had heard of it. It was Terra's home, the one she left. She was a princess there, but then she escaped.

"What? Why?" Raven was definitely shocked. Terra was leaving and this kind of news to Beast Boy… it's going to be heartbreaking, she can already tell, this was going to be something too heavy for Beast Boy to bear.

"After I've been released from stone, I looked for the only agent my parent's had in Jump City, named Sergei Zemlya. I found him and he contacted my parents all the way back to Markovia." Terra paused, unsure if Beast Boy could take what she had to say next. "He took me in and my parents gave him money for my tuition fee so that I could study while my relatives back in Markovia make preparations. After my studies are done, I'll take a plane back home."

Raven couldn't take this news in, not because it was painful for her, but it was going to be painful for Beast Boy. She was afraid, afraid that Beast Boy will do something bad, something he couldn't forgive himself for. Terra was leaving and Raven knew she had to do something about Beast Boy. She had to console him.

"I took the moniker Caroline Zemlya to make sure that no one knows I'm royalty from Europe. It was for my safety and my privacy." Terra continued. "Till then, I have to say goodbye to all my old, wild style of life." She made a smile, a fake one.

"But Terra, we'll-"

"Raven, I'm no longer the girl you guys remembered. Beast Boy has to understand that." Terra's voice grew lower, it softened. "I want to start over, to go back where I left off. I want to forget all the bad things I've done, the things I've done for Slade." She looked at Raven, her look brought sympathy.

"There's been so much fear, pain, anger, frustration, and betrayal in the past. Even if you guys can forgive me, I couldn't forgive myself for that. I'm afraid that if I return, all I can see are faces of people I've tried to hurt, I've tried to kill. My mistakes brought all of this among you guys, so I wanted to let go of them and start a life that I've ran away from: the princess life." Terra said, her eyes reflecting that kind of pain back into Raven.

From what she said, Raven began to understand her bit by bit. Raven knew Terra deserved to live peacefully, away from her mistakes and guilt, but then again, away from her friends. She continued. "I'm sorry if I have to go. I want to be happy now, and I hope me trying to be happy doesn't make another sad. Tell Beast Boy that he deserves to be happy, even if it has to be without me."

Raven took every word in, and she knew that later on she'll have to spill this all to Beast Boy. She couldn't lie, she had to tell the truth to him, and this truth was something that will truly bring devastation to Beast Boy's heart. This was more than he could take, more than he could probably understand. Terra was leaving.

Raven sighed for a moment, thinking of everybody's reaction for a moment. "I'll tell Beast Boy about it." She said. Terra smiled and nodded at her.

"Raven…" Terra embraced her, her way of saying goodbye. "Thanks for everything. I don't know what could free me from stone, but I know only your powers could." She squeezed her even tighter.

"Umph… Terra, I'm sure it wasn't my pow- ow!" Terra tightened, almost constricting her. She let go, and Raven took a deep breath, like she had survived a bear attack.

"Raven, I knew it was your powers. I felt a wave of energy, and it felt like yours." Terra said, now with a smile.

Wave of energy that could release people from stone… Raven remembered. When she defeated her demonic father, Trigon, a familiar wave of energy did free everyone from stone. Terra must've been included. The pure power was strong enough to do so. "Well, I guess I did. You're welcome" Raven scratched her head. "Beast Boy's going to miss you, Terra."

"I'm going to miss him too. I'm gonna miss all of you guys." She smiled. "Tell them I said 'goodbye', alright?"

Raven nodded, a smile on her face. She was going to leave soon enough. End of classes is in two weeks, and realizing that, Raven thought it was already so near. Terra was a good friend. Raven understood why she wanted to start over. There was so much pain, betrayal, and regret, but not enough happiness. Terra felt like she had wronged herself and everybody around her, and the only she could possibly forgive is to forget. Raven respected that decision, but for a moment she hoped Beast Boy could too…

"Well, goodbye now, Terra." Raven stood up, preparing to leave.

"Raven, before you go…" Terra said, her voice mellowed once more. "I'm sorry for everything I said when I tried to kill you." She scratched her head nervously and made small fake laughs.

Raven smirked. She had already forgiven Terra for that. "Apology accepted." She nodded. Terra smiled back at her and just when she was about to wave goodbye…

Shouts were heard from the other side of the wall. Terra and Raven heard it. After the shouts, then came the breaking of wood. The two girls were silent. Suddenly, they heard the roar of gunfire, and after so, a scream of pain.

The doorframe flew to the wall, and a wounded figure landed hard on the floor. It was Sergei. He held a revolver on one hand and his body and face was full of bruises and bloody. He looked up to Terra, his eyes red. "Tara, get out of here!" He shouted with the last of his energy. He was dying.

Raven and Terra nearly jumped in shock, but then Terra ran towards her bodyguard's weak body. "Sergei, what's going on?" She said. Sergei gripped her shoulder, pushing his head, attempting to whisper into her ear. Blood had seeped from his mouth, and now his voice sounded wet and disturbing. "The Masked One… " He whispered. Terra's eyes filled with even greater fear. She took a step back.

"Terra! What's going on?!" Raven shouted, her hands now glowing with her dark energy. She assumed battle stance, ready for anything.

From the door, sauntered the psychotic villain. His dark slick armor showed off his tall muscular figure, and his belt was lined with different pockets carrying different armaments. But he had no face, he only had an iron mask, a mask with one gazing eye piece. One side of the mask was brown and the other black, like a part of his face was shadowed to hide him. Three rectangular breathing pieces line the bottom of the mask, but then it showed no mouth. His eye squinted at Raven, a look that brought true fear to this ominous villain.

"Hello, Terra." His eye shifted to Terra, the mere position of the eye made anyone feel like he's smiling. "It's been a long time." His fists clenched. He looked at Sergei.

"Sorry for your bodyguard here. I wanted a painless death for him, but he insisted on dying slowly." He kicked the revolver off his hand, and gave Sergei's chest a good kick with his iron-tipped boot. The sound of cracking bone popped in the room, along with Sergei's blood-curdling shout. "Such a shame, he put up a good fight, but unfortunately, I fought Spetsnaz back in my day. And many of them died."

"Slade" Terra said, her face melting down to fear.

Raven's fight-or-flight senses kicked in her. Slade was here, and the only way to fight him is to be fast. She grabbed Terra from the back and engulfed her in dark energy that could transport her. Unluckily, Slade was quick enough to grab Terra's ankle before her whole body went into the darkness.

"You're not going anywhere, Terra. Not when there's a fifteen million dollar bounty on your life!" Slade shouted. Raven shot another dark blast of energy towards Slade, loosening his grip and allowing their escape. The portal Raven casted traveled into the walls and crept down the apartment.

They reappeared on the street. Terra threw herself out of the portal and Raven emerged after. They looked up and saw a grappling hook swing down. It narrowly missed Terra's head as it latched itself to the wall. Slade then appeared out of the window, sliding down the rope. He was fast as he was deadly.

Raven had to keep Terra safe. Slade was going to kill Terra for a bounty. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" She chanted. Her eyes glowed white and an aura the shape of a raven swallowed Terra inside its body. The summoned bird flew away, taking Terra and Raven to the skies. Slade landed on the concrete, and watched the dark raven soar back to the Titan's Tower. His only eye glared at them, but then, in his mask, he smiled. He was going to play another game with the Titans.

Author's Note: Yep, here comes Slade working as an assassin. You'll know who hired him soon.

I originally planned on Terra leaving to just put Raven and BB together, but after that I ran out of good ideas. So I placed Slade in here because I found more ways of letting the story go on and make more conflict.

Anyway, here are some reviewer responses that I've made to the most notable reviews that I'd been wanting to write back to:

Anna: Aah... Thanks for taking the time to write that :). So yeah, I did read the comics before I went on with chapter 3 because I needed to get more info on Terra beforehand. I set the name Caroline on purpose, well, for reasons stated up there on this chapter. And BB's mistake of not moving on is what drives the story, along with Raven's care. He's still young though, and the young tend to be confused and make silly mistakes that end up being serious problems. As for Raven, I believe she's mostly an introvert so it's unlikely she'd be hooking up any time soon, so I'd have to stick with what we have right now. Don't worry though, more jealousy comes next chap. Again, thank you for the well-thought review :).

Jus Sum Dude: Duddeee... finally, quite an honest concrit. I agree, my redundancy is one big problem in my writing style, mainly because my vocabulary still isn't fit enough. I'm not fully experienced in writing and I've already noticed that mistake back in my novice days , and it's a mistake I've been trying to fix. The thoughts placed in the Author's Note is my decision, but I agree, I should not touch the reader's perspective. It's sloppy, forgive me, my concentration gets interrupted too many times when I write, but that's no good excuse. Anyways, thank you for taking the time to write that review, it's appreciated that my mistakes were pointed out in an acceptable tone :)

Almost forgot, thanks for reading this chapter, please leave a review if you want, fave or follow depends on you guys, concrits are alright and flames unappreciated. See you guys soon.