Disclaimer: Nope. Not mine.

Troubled Hearts
—The Awakening—
SEVEN

"Like I said, I don't have all the answers you are seeking," Terra paused. "But I can tell you this." Terra looked between Cyborg and Raven and back again in unsteady silence. Then another unbearably silent moment. What exactly is she about to reveal? Raven wondered. "I'm not the only one who has dreams," she said.

Raven was about to ask who else could possibly be dreaming, but then all Hell broke out.

Their whole surroundings seemed to explode after her confession. It was almost as if it was done deliberately to conceal whatever truth or even half-truth Terra was about to unveil. The infirmary was a mess. It was strange, Raven had not sensed an unfamiliar aura and none of Cyborg's tech had indicated an intruder. Nevertheless, the doors had been blasted down and many of the machines had been scathed if not altogether destroyed from the blast.

When Raven could process enough to see what exactly was going on, she looked at the scene before her. The machines connected to her sleeping comrades along with their bodies were still intact thankfully. However, next to Starfire's cot was . . . her double. Then it hit her. It had been starbolts that had damaged their medical facility.

Terra seemed almost unfazed by her former associate's appearance. "I knew you would come," she said with almost no emotion.

"Not to rescue you, I can assure you," this version of Starfire said icily. "You have failed our savior, Slade. As you know, he does not take that lightly. Now, I will carry out your former mission." She pointed a starbolt at the sleeping Starfire's cot.

"You know, those dreams we have. . ."

Starfire lowered her arm slightly at Terra's intriguing sentence. The starbolt vanished.

"Do you really want to keep seeing them?" Terra asked her former companion. It was a peculiar question. It was true; this Starfire lowered her defenses at this turn in their 'conversation', but was that Terra's true intent?

"Of course not," Starfire told her firmly. "They are of a foolish, disillusioned girl so unlike me." Her face became more determined to finish this and she raised her arm to its former position.

"Then why are you doing this?" Terra inquired once again.

"Dreams are pointless. I am merely guaranteeing my survival and showing my master my worth as his apprentice." She now held a starbolt, preparing to strike. "Unlike you, I will become his ideal apprentice and serve him faithfully."

"I won't let you harm yourself." Terra stepped closer to Starfire.

"What's this? Have you been converted already? Believe me, I am only helping myself." Her eyes glowed green, but just as her starbolt left her hand, Terra tackled her and knocked her down. It caused her starbolt to make a hole in the ceiling. Raven was able to use a shield of dark energy to keep debris from harming her companions. Instead, she channeled it down to the sides of the cots.

"I won't let you hurt my friends!" Raven's eyes glowed an ethereal white for a moment as she charged up.

"I can take you both!" The other Starfire challenged.

"We'll see, won't we?" Raven smiled almost evilly. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" She shouted and the three of them sunk into the floor and traveled to the outside of the tower. On the way, Raven used her telepathy to speak into Cyborg's mind, Cy, stay with them. Please. I need you to protect them with the remainder of your power. Also, please continue their treatment. If Starfire comes back, then we'll have an extra hand. I don't even know who Terra is going to fight against, or if she is simply going to wait for both me and that other Starfire to wipe each other out. Please, just keep them safe.

Good luck, Rae. Cyborg thought back to her, although he didn't know if she could hear him or not. He would have to recharge soon since he had stayed up all night observing Terra. However, he was determined not to let Raven down. He would initially be flushing out all three of his sleeping comrades' systems. However, Raven had given him an idea. He just needed one of them to recover. Well, for the moment. Starfire had been the first one to 'sleep' after Raven. Also, because of her alien biology, her immune system was much stronger than a human's, meta-gene or not. This all meant that perhaps, if he focused everything on her, she might recover faster.

It hurt Cyborg to seemingly abandon Beast Boy and Robin, even temporarily. In times of crisis, you are forced to make priorities that might not be preferable in any other situation. They are hard choices, although necessary. He didn't know if it was his half mechanical brain that calculated the best survival rate for himself and Raven, or perhaps it was just his imperfect human heart wanting to live at the possible expense of others' freedom. However, he could only hope they would understand due to the peculiar circumstances.

With that thought clear in his mind, Cyborg shut off the machines that were flushing out the nanobots out of his two male teammates and concentrated everything he had on Starfire. He wasn't exactly religious, but right there he prayed he would make it in time.

On the outside of the Tower, Starfire had flown over to their training grounds. Obviously, she wanted to make the chase harder for the other two. Terra used her powers to summon a rock to soar on behind Starfire. Raven also levitated herself through the various obstacles in pursuit.

However, Raven knew this place better than the other two. She wasn't as fast as Starfire, but she had been through countless exercises here and could manipulate this place using her powers when the other two couldn't. It gave her the advantage.

Starfire wound her way through the rock formations followed by Terra. Raven concentrated. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos," she spoke and flipped the obstacle course on. Starfire was watching Terra behind her when she was ambushed by laser blasts from various heat seeking machines that popped out of the earth. Raven had purposely switched it to her Tamaranean teammate's setting.

Starfire screamed in pain and fury. She fluctuated her flight patterns to try to trick the machines. However, this was a course designed specifically for the Titans. It was used to their various tactics. Despite being different in body and personality, their instinct was the same. She couldn't dodge them all. Although her body was not damaged by the blasts, it slowed her down enough so that Terra and eventually Raven could catch up.

"Starfire, stop!" Terra called to her when she was close enough and grabbed her ankle.

Starfire twisted onto her back in midair so she was facing Terra. "I'm not going to listen to a traitor like you!" She tried to kick Terra's grip loose.

"You're calling me a traitor? You're the one who abandoned me!" Her grip only became firmer.

"You betrayed our savior, Slade. Anyone who leaves their salvation is a traitor," Starfire hissed. When Terra didn't loosen her grip, Starfre flew faster and hurled starbolts at the offender hanging on to her.

Terra summoned pieces of the boulder she was zooming along on to take the blows. It wasn't hard. Slade had made sure she could completely control her powers before using her. Unlike the previous one, she had been chosen. She had been perfected. And then she became as nothing. And this Starfire would only end up the same way.

She would be used, tattered, and then thrown out.

"It doesn't have to be like this, Starfire. Believe me," Terra pleaded with her.

"Do you really think you can convince me to stop trying?" Starfire glared at her with disgust evident in her eyes. "I need it gone. You think, just because it doesn't affect you, that it will be beneficial to not end that process? My process?" She was gesturing her hands emphatically. She couldn't believe the nerve of this failure in front of her. "You don't know the beginning of insecurity, of doubt, of fear!" However, little by little, Starfire's speech became slurred, but no less intense. She shook her head as if to get her act together.

Terra's eyes widened in realization and then dimmed in sadness. It's going to end. . . Just like Raven.

As that thought went through Terra's head, Starfire's body started to shake. Then, with much gusto, as if she didn't want to give in, she summoned a huge starbolt. It was bigger than some of the boulders around them. Both Raven and Terra knew that if they were hit by that, they might never recover.

Raven had become her soul-self and traveled through the training grounds and out of Starfire's shooting range. Terra wasn't as mobile or as lucky.

With one last shout of fury, Starfire unleashed her starbolt upon everything around her. Including Terra. Her once so-called comrade felt her body burn as it fell from the no longer existing rock she had been soaring on. Her vision blurred. She felt helpless. Mortal. Sad.

Starfire was wrong. Terra had felt all those emotions. Insecurity, doubt, and, most of all, the fear. Would she wake up again? Would she even exist? What would happen to Starfire? Would she be free or lost?

She felt herself slip into unconsciousness before she even hit the ground. However, she had one last vision.

"Star," she felt herself kneel before her sleeping friend, "wherever you go from here, please, be happy. I don't want you to end up being the damsel in distress like I was. I know it isn't your style. Please, just, just find your way home." Even in the darkness, she could see her friend's soft red hair. She had it between her fingers. Curiously, she stroked and played with it. She could tell she was about to speak some more, but had no clue where it was going. "And, if you could, please free me too. I know I have no home with the Titans, but I hope that I'll be able to find one somewhere. . . Well, somewhere away from here. Please, my friend. Don't let me cry anymore."

The darkness grew, and she realized her eyes were closed. "Please, if possible, help me find happiness." The plea was pathetic, laughable even, but it was genuine. She was so lost. She felt trapped.

"I enjoyed being your roommate. We both had some trying times, but we always pulled ourselves together. It was good to have a friend like you. If I ever get back to the real world, would you be my friend again?"

"Terra!" Raven screamed as she saw her fall and land hard. She was on her back with her limbs thrown about like a rag doll. Her eyes were wide and glazed over. Blood was pooling around her partially charred skin. Was she dead? But her lips were slightly curled in a smile. . . Perhaps her last one.

Raven didn't have much time to look at, nonetheless examine, Terra. Starfire was out of control. She was slowly making her way to where Terra was, wobbling the whole way like she was under the influence. There was madness and hysteria in her glowing green eyes.

Back in the infirmary, Cyborg heard a loud explosion outside. It reverberated through the walls. He quickly jumped into action. He linked his system wirelessly into the surveillance cameras outside. There wasn't much he could see. Almost the entire training ground was under a canvas of airborne dirt and dust. He switched through various cameras trying to get a good angle of something, anything!

After flipping through various cameras, he came upon a telling one. It was of that other Starfire unsteadily hobbling through the settling dust. Towards. . . a broken and bloody Terra.

"Oh, no," Cyborg whispered in disbelief and horror. How could it have gone so wrong so fast? "Rae, you better be alright," he breathed. Then, while keeping a watch of that scene, he used his cybernetic eye to flash through many other parts of the Tower searching for the girl he saw as his baby sister. The girl he had just gotten back.

After many desperate moments, he found her.

She was flying towards the pair with a look of determination. Her eyes and hands were glowing black. Starfire, unaware or unworried about the threat looming behind her, towered next to Terra's limp form. She clenched a starbolt in her fist until it formed a long threatening lance. It cackled with ever increasing energy being shaped into a single weapon.

"Rae, you won't get there in time," Cyborg lamented. But he knew he could and had to help. Once again syncing into the Tower's security system, he directed multiple missiles to Starfire's weaker points. Locked on, he launched them, "Fire!"

They sliced through the air to their targeted areas.

And connected.

Starfire lurched back from the force of the explosions. The impact wasn't enough to seriously injure her, but she lay flung about on the ground ironically mimicking the girl inverted from her. She was stunned long enough for Raven to reach them.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos," Cyborg read Raven's lips when she spoke and her hand-like dark energy picked Starfire up and contained her. A tear ran down Raven's face. It was not in sadness or fear, but in anger. She was livid. As she walked closer to the slowly recovering girl in her claw of darkness, the pulverized rocks on the ground around her began to vibrate. She was releasing waves of pressurized air due to her unrestrained emotions.

This girl, wearing Starfire's face or not, would pay for this act of cruel inhumanity. Yes, Raven would show her what all the powers of Hell were like. There was no way for her out of this.

"Raven, don't do it," Cyborg said aloud even though he knew she couldn't hear him. "Killing her won't fix anything."

He could see Starfire's eyes were desperately striving to open completely but it was no use. She looked as if she was slowly stopping to function. What was wrong with her? It was good that Raven wouldn't have to worry about getting as seriously injured as Terra, but it also wasn't good that Starfire couldn't protect herself from Raven's dark self.

Raven's eyes were starting to turn red. It was her father's hold starting to take over her. Cyborg hadn't seen her so worked up since the end of the world. The claw was tightening, squeezing Starfire so much that she couldn't breathe.

No, wait. She already wasn't breathing. Her eyes were glazed over. She really was—

Cyborg's bleak thoughts were interrupting by coughing from behind him.

He swung around and saw Starfire, the real Starfire, coughing with her eyes fluttering open. She licked her lips a few times and tried to speak. "W-where am I?" She finally spoke after a moment. She turned her head around with a great deal of effort. "Roy?"

"Star!" Cyborg clamored over to his teammate. His awakened teammate. She was back!

Starfire looked at the dark shape coming towards her. She recognized it as a man, but he was too muscular and the voice too deep to be him. "I broke my promise to you." A single tear slipped from her dim green eyes. "I'm so sorry. . ."

—Fin—

A/N: Sorry this took so long, guys! I have been working on it, truly I have. It's just been taking its time seeing as I am TERRIBLE at fight scenes. That really was what was holding this chapter back from being completed. I am working on "Vacation Troubles" chapter seven. I have a lot of it done. I am just having trouble (oh my goodness, unintentional pun) with the banter. I can't get it quite right. . . And I know it is very important for that story.

Well, comment. What do YOU think will happen next? I wanna know what you think! I can't read your thoughts, mind you. That long distance thing kinda gets in the way.

Signed.
Her Sappiness