Good day everybody! Here's to hoping you're ready for yet more Teen Titan-ic awesomeness, because here's a new chapter! In this chapter, things come an unpleasantly bad timed head between Beast Boy and Terra when the former geomancer picks a very unwise time to try to forcibly bring Beast Boy's focus to some very sensitive matters about their past history. Sound good? I certainly hope so! And that being said, here's me eagerly looking forward to your reading, enjoying, and reviewing!
A/N: But first, just to cover my legal bases real fast, I do not own Teen Titans. And with that out of the way, onward with the story!
Chapter 8:
Tensions Erupt
Three days later, Terra was sitting on a rock by herself on the banks of a river within the forest where she, Aqualad, and the Jump City Titans had set up camp. They had set up camp the previous evening after finally getting just about everything they could do for Steel City at the moment done. And now, at this particular moment, the five Titans, plus Aqualad, were now in the midst of a meeting of some sort in a large clearing a good few feet away from the former geomancer.
The past few days, while stressful at times, had also been quite fulfilling for Terra and the Titans. After all, they had managed to help out quite a lot of people, and they felt very proud and happy of what they'd managed to do. But at this moment in time, however, Terra was not entirely in the best of moods. In fact, she was feeling very tense right now over the way a certain green changeling had been behaving around her.
Terra's eyes narrowed into a venomous glare as she thought of how Beast Boy had behaved in her regard over the past few days. Ever since the battle against Geo-Force in Steel City proper, the shape shifter had spent very little time around her at all, and what little time he did spend with her was never longer than he deemed absolutely necessary as demanded by the circumstances. But whenever he wasn't spending what little time he did spend with her, he was always finding excuses to keep his distance from her.
Over the course of providing relief effort for the damaged city and its inhabitants, there had been plenty of perfectly reasonable and understandable reasons for him to not spend too much time with her, as he was often in the midst of taking care of some task or other that was legitimately of considerably higher importance than having idle chatter. And at least once or twice, in recent times following the relief effort, he had been very clearly seen by her in the midst of meetings with Aqualad and the rest of the Jump City Titans.
However, more often than not by this point, Beast Boy had often been either busy in a task that seemingly could be easily put aside for a later time or blatantly lied about being busy with something when he was clearly not in the midst of any activity whatsoever. This element in particular, was now causing Terra to strongly suspect that Beast Boy was now deliberately going out of his way to avoid her. And now that she thought about it, the fact that she'd now seen him spend an awfully large amount of time in Raven's company compared to the other Titans, or Aqualad, but especially compared to her, did not help to ease away her suspicions or improve her mood.
The former geomancer actually growled to herself as she remembered her most recent sighting of Beast Boy hanging around a little too close to the gray skinned sorceress for her own comfort. "He's mine," she snarled to herself in a low whisper.
She glared in the direction of the clearing where the green boy in question was gathered with the sorceress and their fellow Titans. "He said he was willing to forgive me," she thought to herself. "Yet why is he still blowing me off?" A silent snarl of gritted teeth then came on her face as she then thought to herself, "And how dare he give so much more attention to that statue skinned, demon eyed, witch? I'm the one he had a crush on, not her!"
Then she thought of another detail that she found herself getting even angrier over as she considered it to be a possible other reason behind the changeling's current behavior. "And just because I let Aqualad know all that stuff about my past before I ever told you about them and hung out with him so many times before I ever agreed to that first date, regardless of how disastrous it became, does not mean he has the right to spite me by rubbing his overly close friendship with that jealous hag in my face," she thought to herself bitterly.
And then she remembered how said 'hag' was very much in the same area as the shape shifter at that particular moment, and she snapped. Huffing and puffing in barely contained rage, Terra got up from the rock she'd been sitting on, turned to face the path leading to the clearing where the meeting was occurring, and started storming down that very path. "That's it, I don't care what excuses he tries to throw at me this time," she thought to herself. "He is going to talk with me today, whether he wants to or not!"
. . . . .
Meanwhile, in the clearing where the Titans were in the midst of their meeting, things weren't entirely going very well for the six official Titans anymore then things were going for Terra. Particularly since, for the most part, Aqualad himself was still worried sick about the rest of the Titans East members while Robin and his Titans were trying to assess the situation calmly so as to form a proper plan of attack and rescue. Needless to say, tensions were woefully high.
"I am telling you again," Aqualad shouted in an almost hysterical tone. "We have to go now!"
"And I am telling you, again," Robin growled back in a clearly tense tone of his own. "We can't just go barging onto your island without a plan."
"Oh that's easily remedied," Aqualad grumbled in an almost spiteful tone. "We storm the island, take out Geo-Force and anyone else who may or not may be there with him that isn't one of my friends, release my friends, take out Geo-Force for good. There, now we have a plan, plain and simple!"
"Thank you, General Eisenhower," Raven droned sarcastically.
"I'm serious!" Aqualad yelled.
"So are we," Robin groaned.
"Yeah man, Robin's right," Cyborg agreed. The Atlantean turned his head towards Cyborg with a glare on his face. "Look man," said Cyborg. "I want to save the other members of Titans East just as much as you do. But like Robin said, we need a plan; and by that, I mean a real, actually thought out with care, genuine plan. We can't just go storming in with the first half baked concept that comes to our minds."
"Oh come on!" Aqualad moaned. "Indiana Jones pulls that kind of thing all the time! And the Guardians of the Galaxy were able to get away with that kind of thing more than once!"
"I do not see how the beings that serve as a judicial council for the Green Lantern Corps serve as an appropriate comparison for this," said Starfire.
"Not those Guardians of the Galaxy!" Aqualad groaned in a half irritated, half exhausted tone.
Starfire raised her eyebrow with a clear look of confusion on her face. "Then who were you talking about?" the Tamaranean asked.
Robin put his hand on his girlfriend's shoulder. "I'll explain later Star." He then looked back at the worried Atlantean. "Look Aqualad, I get it, I understand that you're worried about your friends. Heck, I'm just as worried about them as you are. But rushing on over to the Titans East Island with Geo-Force occupying it without a properly thought out idea on what to do won't do them any good. And it especially won't do them any good if it ends with you getting captured and the rest of us getting killed."
Aqualad sighed, knowing that Robin had a fair point, but not wanting to admit to it for fear of letting down his captive friends. "Ok, I guess you're right," he eventually conceded. "But we can't just leave them there with that monster."
"And we won't," said Beast Boy. "Trust me dude," he then continued with his hands stretched to his sides stretched to the sides as if indicating a win-win situation. "By the time we finally do rescue the other members of Titans East, all the time we're currently spending in coming up with a proper plan of rescue will be all the more worthwhile. Like I said three days ago; come Hell or high water, we will save the rest of Titans East."
Aqualad thought to himself, and then nodded to himself in agreement as he realized the sense in what Beast Boy was saying. "We still need to have a plan ready and initiated before the end of the week," he then stated, at this point just for the sake of formality then as a genuine comeback.
"And again," said Robin, still perfectly calm, "we will have them out before then. We've still got two full days after today, and as much as evidence might point against it, we are making progress. All I need to do is just discuss a couple extra matters between the rest of the team and I promise we'll have a plan ready for rescuing our friends and taking out Geo-Force."
Aqualad thought to himself once more, considering his overall leader's statement. "If you say so," he eventually settled on saying.
"Good," said Robin. He looked around at all the other Titans. "Alright team, at this time, the meeting is adjourned. Right now, I still need a little time to think things over. When I'm ready, I'll call you guys over for further discussion. Understood?"
"Understood," said all four of the other Jump City Titans.
"Perfect," Robin responded, clasping his hands together at the same time for good measure. "Dismissed."
At that moment, the videophone built into Cyborg's right arm started to go off, and the partially robotic teenage hero grimaced slightly at the poor timing. A sheepish half smile on his face at the sight of the looks on his friends' faces, he said, "Excuse me," got up from his seated position on the ground, and walked on over into the more heavily forested area behind him so as to allow for some privacy and to avoid further disrupting the atmosphere Robin currently needed.
As soon as Cyborg was at a sufficient distance so as for his current call to avoid further disruptions, Robin looked back at Aqualad and the other remaining Titans. "Once again," he then said. "Dismissed." In silent unanimous agreement, the five teens below age 18 got up from their seated positions on the ground and started moving off in different directions. Robin headed towards the more northern oriented side of the clearing so as to hole himself away at the campsite to think over the details left to be considered for the upcoming rescue mission. Starfire flew over towards the southern end so as to start her scouting shift that had been agreed upon before the meeting had begun. Raven also made her way towards the southward end of the clearing so as to give herself a chance to meditate. Beast Boy chose to make his way over towards the eastward side where Cyborg was positioned, hoping to perhaps gain a couple details that might be helpful for Robin from whatever conversation Cyborg was currently having with the unidentified caller. Aqualad, meanwhile, chose to go out the westward exit of the clearing to check on Terra.
The Atlantean had just turned around to start in that direction, however, when he saw none other than Terra herself enter the clearing through the westward entrance. "Oh hey there," said Aqualad.
Terra nodded politely towards the Atlantean. "Greetings to you to," she responded. Then she looked over towards Beast Boy, her eyes narrowing. "Mind if I speak to Beast Boy?"
A good few feet behind Aqualad, the shape shifter tensed up, his greatly enhanced sense of hearing having allowed him to overhear the entire exchange, and he silently willed Aqualad to say no.
"Not at all, go on right ahead."
Beast Boy mentally face palmed. "Darn you Aqualad," he thought to himself. He did not want to talk to Terra at the current moment, at all. But sadly, it seemed that Aqualad was all too unaware of that fact.
At the sound of footsteps coming his way, Beast Boy crouched downwards as if about to turn into a bird and fly away. "Don't you dare! You are not weaseling your way out this time!"
Beast Boy winced again when he heard Terra shout this. With his eyes closed and his teeth gritted in an almost guilty grimace, he turned his head in Terra's direction. "Can this wait until later? Now's really not the best time . . ."
"That's the problem Beast Boy! No time is ever the best time for you anymore!" Terra shouted.
Beast Boy sighed heavily, turned his entire body around to face Terra, his eyes now open. "Look Terra, I get it, I know I've been distant lately; but please, can we at least save the other members of Titans East before we talk about this? Believe me, I know what you want to talk to me about, and I highly doubt it would be a good idea to let too much drama pop up while the rest of Titans East have their lives at stake. And if you can't wait till then, can we at least speak in private? The other Titans are right here around us within earshot."
"No," Terra growled bluntly. "You lost your shot at this being a private chat five hours ago! And screw the drama, you've put this off long enough! And besides, surely even you know that it will be much healthier for us and your team mates if we just get this out of the way right now instead of making it worse than it already has to be by bottling it up! Honestly Beast Boy, I thought that you were braver then this!"
"Yeah well, being brave doesn't mean you go looking for trouble!" Beast Boy snapped back, his eyes now hardening irritably. "And believe me, I know how to pick my battles, and I've had years of experience in doing exactly that!" He then pointed his finger at Terra and shouted, "And besides, contrary to what you may think, sometimes it's better to keep things bottled up! And believe me, I know that for a fact!"
"Oh a fact you say?" Terra hissed spitefully. "Well what could possibly happen that's so messed up that you would actually want it to be kept bottled up?!"
Beast Boy's eyes, already hardened in anger, narrowed viciously. "Messed up? Oh you have no idea."
At that point, the little argument had attracted the attention of the other Titans, who were now all looking in the direction of the arguing shape shifter and former geomancer. Robin had his right eyebrow raised in annoyance, and was glaring at the two. Starfire had a very painfully obvious look of uncertainty and despair on her face at the sight of her two angry friends. Raven had a mixture of annoyance and worry on her own face, which was quite surprising considering how she usually reacted to interruptions to her meditation. Aqualad had what looked like a sheepish and guilty grimace, clearly now regretting giving Terra the all clear to talk to Beast Boy at the moment. Cyborg, meanwhile, was directing a look of awkward embarrassment at serving as a witness to what he was certain would not be a pretty spectacle. Placing one hand directly to the side of his videophone screen in an effort to reduce the metaphorical damage, he leaned closer to the screen and said, "I'm sorry, could you say that again?"
Terra's eyes narrowed, now even angrier then she was before. "Well maybe I would have some idea if you'd just talk about it! Honestly BB, I thought you were braver then this! You fight against monsters and supervillains that are a million times scarier, and yet you're too much of a coward to open up on a few secrets?! Are you serious?!"
"Ha! Ha-ha! Ha!" Beast Boy laughed sarcastically with a high pitched, yet completely humorless, tone with his eyes directed towards the sky before looking directly back at Terra. "Are you hearing yourself right now?" the changeling then asked in an incredulous tone. "Seriously, do you even know what you just said? Last I recall, you were so terrified out of your wits three years ago about anyone figuring out about how you were at the time secretly unable to control your powers that you were practically breathing fire at me after I was circumstantially framed for trumpeting my mouth off about it to Robin! Yet you're the one calling me a coward right now for being unwilling to give away a few secrets? Oh that is so funny!" As he said the last bit, a very obviously angry look came on his face, complete with every single one his nightmarishly pointy teeth bared in a silent feral snarl.
Terra growled, tossed her hair over her shoulder, and then glared back at the green changeling. "Look the point is, if you can take out savage monsters and twisted psychopaths without a sweat, you should be just as brave about opening up about yourself! And on that same tangent, it shouldn't be that hard for you to devote even a few seconds of your time to have a simple chat with me! And it's not like you aren't capable of doing exactly that for all your other friends here apart from me! Heck, you spent more quality time with that antisocial witch just this morning alone then you ever have with me for the last three days!"
"This conversation is over," Beast Boy snapped bluntly, turning around to walk away, clearly angered even further at the very personal jab the former geomancer had just made at him.
"The Hell it is Grinch!" Terra shouted at the shape shifter's retreating back.
Beast Boy came to a halt so suddenly that it was if he'd been turned to stone, even tensing up with his ears pointing upwards as straight as possible. He whipped his head around to face the former geomancer once more, an absolutely livid look of fury on his face. "WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?!" he roared.
"You heard me!" Terra shouted back. "A Grinch! A disgusting, ugly, cowardly Grinch!"
For what seemed like an eternity, time seemed to stand still, not a single person present daring to so much as breathe. The tension could have been sliced up with a knife. Then Beast Boy's wide eyed mixture of shock and anger morphed into a look of pure, unadulterated, primal rage mixed with absolute burning hate, and he turned his entire body around to face Terra. "That's it!" he shouted. "This is war!"
At that point, Cyborg, having gotten annoyed at the noise once again making things difficult for his call, turned his head to face the two borderline battle-ready teens and yelled, "Could you quiet down!? I'm trying to have a little talk here!"
"STAY OUT OF THIS!" Beast Boy roared, his head whipping around to stare at Cyborg with a savage look of fury on his face. Cyborg reared back, horrified and stunned speechless at the sheer savagery of Beast Boy's voice tone and facial expression. Clearly, this situation was getting even worse then he'd thought.
Robin, however, seemingly quite oblivious to how dangerously angry Beast Boy was getting, stormed up towards him and Terra. "That's enough Beast Boy!" he yelled. "We don't have time for this craziness . . ."
Within the blink of an eye, the boy wonder was sent flying backward by a shockingly strong right hook to the face from Beast Boy, and he bounced on the ground thrice before coming to a screeching halt mere inches away from getting his head pounded against the base of a tree.
Starfire, upon seeing what had just happened to her boyfriend, prepared herself as if about to zoom down towards Beast Boy. But then Beast Boy rapidly turned his head to his left and upwards towards Starfire before she even moved an inch away from her current position, and unleashed a savage inarticulate roar of rage that left the Tamaranean terrified and lifting up her hands in surrender with a fearful look on her face.
Beast Boy let out another angry growl, and then turned his head to face Terra once again, a predatory glare in his eyes and his teeth gritted in a feral snarl. Terra, meanwhile, still had an angry glare on her face and didn't seem at all affected by the fury and savagery that Beast Boy had just displayed in front of her.
Raven, meanwhile, was still hovering in her cross-legged position that she'd been in before her meditation got interrupted by the now very fierce squabble going on before her. But now, instead of the half annoyed and half worried look that she'd had before, her face was now almost white with horror as she witnessed both the savagery Beast Boy had displayed and noticed two major details about him that only went to show just how very serious the situation was now becoming.
The first such detail, which just about anyone could see from getting a good look at the shape shifter's face at the current time, was that his naturally emerald green eyes had now taken on a feral cat-like yellow tone. The fact that his eyes had changed color wasn't too big of a detail in and of itself, since his eyes naturally changed whenever he transformed so that the eyes would match up with the rest of the animal's natural form. However, the fact that they were now yellow while he was still in human form was worrisome because of how it was an appropriately ominous warning sign of him being on the verge of taking on one form in particular that was the absolute last thing that any of them wanted him to assume at this particular moment.
As if to further cement the certainty of what form he was on the verge of taking, Raven could also see another powerful warning sign standing right behind Beast Boy, a warning sign that only she could see. Standing right behind the shape shifter, with the exact same glare of cold bestial fury on its face, was a translucent, almost ghost-like, illusionary full body vision of the Beast. This was especially worrisome for Raven to see, for she knew that usually when Beast Boy transformed, regardless of what form he would take, he would usually just transform in the blink of an eye. However, on some rare occasions, when it came to the Beast, he was capable of slowly transforming on the interior and mental scape, before then seemingly changing in outward appearance. And these specific instances were always able to be detected by Raven whenever she saw the illusionary form of the Beast standing nearby Beast Boy or peeking out from the changeling's back.
And specifically because of the Beast's now increasingly high risk of surfacing, she didn't dare to say a word; for if she were to try to intervene, regardless of whose behalf she tried to intervene for, Terra would very likely shout at her to stay out of her business or tell her off for taking Beast Boy's side. And if either of those two options happened, then the Beast would instantly surface right then and there. After all, as had been very painfully proven in past experience, the one thing that was guaranteed to allow the Beast to seize control and resurface regardless of whether or not Beast Boy was willing was any threat of any form against Raven. And so, she stayed silent, for an appearance of the Beast was the absolute last thing that any of them needed at this particular moment.
Meanwhile, as this was happening, Cyborg, realizing that things were about to get ugly, quickly turned back to the screen of his video phone. "I'm sorry," he whispered to the people on the screen. "Can I call you back?"
And so, at that particular moment, while the other Titans found themselves looking on with looks that ranged from fear, to awkward embarrassment, and even to despair, Beast Boy and Terra remained in their current standing positions in a tense standoff, glaring furiously at each other, with Beast Boy snarling and slavering in rage while Terra had her mouth set in a firm thin frowning line that showed no teeth, her golden hair blowing slowly in the wind in a clear visual showing of how much relatively calmer she was currently feeling compared to the enraged green shape shifter that she'd originally thought for certain would always be her true friend, and possibly more.
For a few seconds more, the two angry teens stared each other down. Then Beast Boy tensed himself up, clenched his fists, and reared his head upwards and back with a look of just barely contained rage on his face. Behind him, Raven could see the transparent copy of the Beast taking the exact same pose and facial expression. Then Beast Boy spoke, and while his voice sounded perfectly normal to Terra, Aqualad, and the majority of the other Jump City Titans, Raven heard his voice as well as that of the Beast meld together to form an almost demonic animalistic voice; for at the same time that Beast Boy himself was speaking, Raven could see the Beast's mouth moving in sync with the shape shifters and hear the creature speaking the exact same words at the exact same time. "I tried to let this conversation have a properly appropriate chance to be made," said the changeling. "I truly did. But it seems that you have your mind made up on it being sooner than it should, so I guess we might as well get this over with now."
"Finally, something we agree on today," said Terra.
Beast Boy's yellow eyes narrowed, the eyes of the illusionary Beast doing the same. "We'd agree on far more these days if you'd just have the patience to wait till a more appropriate time to stage incidents like these!"
"That's the point!" Terra howled. "There's never an appropriate time anymore!"
"Well there would have been one," snarled Beast Boy. "Particularly if you'd waited till after we saved the rest of Titans East! Honestly Terra, do you really think that such frivolous matters as how much time I've spent with you lately is all that important when there are other people, who just happen to be friends of mine I might add, whose lives are at stake!?"
"Clearly, your definition of frivolous and my definition have a world of difference between them," Terra growled spitefully.
"Perhaps you can't hear me?" Beast Boy snarled. "At this very moment, four of my honorary team mates, and good friends of me and the other Titans as a whole, are being held prisoner! And if we don't have them rescued and out of the hands of the dastardly villain that's captured them within the next two days, they could die! Or worse! So forgive me for not really being all that keen on chatting idly with you over less important stuff!"
"Well that certainly hasn't stopped you from having idle chats with that witch sitting not too far away from us right now!" Terra snapped, her finger pointing at Raven in an almost accusatory fashion.
Beast Boy snarled, and tensed up even further, with the Beast now looking especially pissed off and raring to go for a fight. "I have done no such thing, and you know it!"
"Oh really?" said Terra. "You could have fooled me! Over the past few days alone, I've seen you and that hag in very close proximity with each other, chatting away, and similarly canoodling away at times that I know for certain that you could have either been taking part in your quote on quote more important things or, what's really more important right now, talking to me!"
Beast Boy growled. "For your information, we were not 'canoodling' as you put it; rather, we were hard at work in discussing ideas on how to rescue the rest of Titans East, as well as similarly important matters. Never did we, at any point whatsoever over these past three days, spent overly large amounts of time making any conversation over matters that weren't of any immediate importance, thank you very much! And if you had my sense of hearing, you would have actually heard what we said and known this for certain instead of jumping to inane conclusions like a jealous stalker!"
Terra visibly tensed up at the insult, but Beast Boy pointed his right finger at her to keep her from interrupting and shouted, "And even if we had been talking about anything that was of high importance for the current mission, she's still a very good friend of mine, and one that I have a far higher level of trust towards right now then I currently have for you!"
Terra scowled. "Oh sure," she growled. "Go ahead and trust her more than me, even though she's spent so much time insulting you, physically abusing you, hating your guts, and likewise treating you like garbage!"
"My relationship with Raven has never been that extreme!" Beast Boy shouted. "You are blowing it completely out of proportion!" He pointed at Terra again. "And for the record, things have actually improved pretty well between us if I do say so myself, and we're actually pretty good friends now!"
Terra rolled her eyes in mocking disbelief. "Oh sure," she droned. "Because of course it just happened to occur while I wasn't around to witness it, and the fact that I didn't see it happen doesn't necessarily guarantee that it didn't happen."
"Well of course you wouldn't have seen it happen rock head! You were a freaking statue at the time!"
This comment gave Terra serious pause, and she found herself rendered quite speechless as she realized that the shape shifter actually had a pretty good point there. Beast Boy smirked, a smug wolf-like grin coming onto the face of the illusionary Beast as well. The changeling then lifted up his finger, now clearly enjoying his newfound advantage. "They always say to look before you leap," he purred smugly.
Terra glared once more, pointed her own finger at Beast Boy, and then said, "Well even so, that still doesn't change the fact that you've spent way too much time with her these days then you have with me!"
Beast Boy's smug look narrowed back into an angry glare all over again. "Oh, so you're saying that I can't spend time with my friends anymore? Since when has that been a crime?!"
Terra mentally face palmed. "Well ok, it isn't a crime to spend time with your friends. . ."
"Then why is it such a big deal that I am currently spending so much time with Raven then I am with you?!" Beast Boy roared. "She's my friend! And right now, she's a friend that I trust way more than you!" He pointed at Terra once more. "And like I said, right now, I've got more important things to worry about, namely the rescue of Aqualad's direct fellow team mates, then such petty things as discussing past history with you!"
Terra glared at Beast Boy once more. "So that's how it's going to be then? You're just gonna dismiss me as some petty minor concern? Even after everything we once had together as friends? After how you used to feel for me?"
Aqualad, Robin, Starfire, Raven, and Cyborg all gaped incredulously at Terra. Then the Boy Wonder mentally face palmed. "Seriously?" he thought to himself in irritation. "That's what you're concerned about right now?"
Beast Boy visibly tensed up upon hearing this, his fists clenching. The illusionary Beast took on the same position and facial expression, the claws on its hands extending in time with Beast Boy's clenching his fists. "What. Does. That. Have. To. Do. With. This?!"
"It's got everything to do with this conversation!" Terra shouted back.
"How!?" Beast Boy snapped.
"Don't play dumb with me!" Terra yelled. "You know perfectly well how this is relevant!"
"Hate to break it to you," Beast Boy snarled, not sounding sorry at all. "But no I do not see how this has anything to do with what this argument!"
Terra glared, folder her arms across her chest, and then said, "Fine. You want to play the obfuscating stupidity card with me? Fine then, I'll humor you." She turned her head to direct an accusatory glare towards Raven, a clear 'this is your fault' look on the face of the blonde former geomancer. Then she turned her head to face Beast Boy once more. "Two years ago, when I was an active member of your team; heck, even a good few months before then; you were head over heels for me. In fact, you cared about me so much, that even after both being shown the truth about how I was, at the time, working for Slade, and even after I tried to kill you and nearly succeeded, you still forgave me! Heck, you even tried to go after me while I was trying to just leave my old life as a Titan behind and be an ordinary civilian girl at Murakami High School! Yet here we are now, in spite of all that, with you not spending so much as a second showing any concern or even any emotion or similar sign of acknowledgement whatsoever towards me and letting your friends, but especially that witch, hog all your attention!"
For a brief moment, Beast Boy just gaped uncomprehendingly at Terra in shock, clearly stunned speechless at the rant that Terra had just slammed him with. But then understanding came into his eyes as the words finally clicked into his mind, and his narrow eyed glare returned all over again. "That's what this is about?" he then growled. "All this, because of some ill-timed and very poorly founded case of petty jealousy?"
Terra glared, then thought to herself, and then looked back at Beast Boy. "Well now that you put it that way," she then said. "I guess maybe so."
Beast Boy snarled, now looking even angrier then he already had. "Well in that case, the fact that I even fell for you at all in the first place makes me an even bigger idiot then my friends and everyone else already think I am! After all, who in their right mind would want to be romantically linked with a shallow, heartless, unfeeling monster such as you?!"
"You're calling me a monster?!" Terra shouted, scandalized by what she'd just heard Beast Boy say to her. She then pointed at Raven. "She's the real monster here!"
"For your information," Beast Boy growled, now seemingly having an even harder time then before in holding the Beast back, "I'm just as much of a monster as Raven is from the right perspective." He pointed at Terra once more. "But regardless of that, I'm quite simply ashamed and disgusted that you truly think that our old history together is a more important thing for me to worry about then the lives of my friends, and that you'd much rather I spend every waking hour with you and not even leave a second available for my own friends that I've known for far longer than you, and for that matter trust a whole lot more at the current moment! After all, I may not have had the kind of relationship with them that I once thought I had with you, but they at least never consciously and willingly betrayed me!"
"You said you were willing to put that behind you and forgive me!" Terra shouted.
"Yes I did!" Beast Boy yelled. "With time! And right now, I still need time! Heck, considering how your desire for me to forgive you in an even shorter amount of time then I need has just caused you to act, you've just now made the waiting time even longer!"
"Well why should I wait!?" Terra yelled petulantly, seemingly not even noticing or caring how very shallow and bratty she was now making herself sound. "Why can't things just work out the way they always do in the old childhood stories?! It's not fair!"
"It's LIFE!" Beast Boy roared. "It wasn't built to be fair!" He stomped his left foot down, snorting in rage. "Life isn't a fairy tale Terra! And it sure as Hell isn't a cartoon musical either where you can just make a wish, sing a few songs, and dance a few numbers, and all your dreams will inexplicably come true! So let it go!" Snarling angrily, Beast Boy then turned his back to Terra. "I am done with this," he growled.
Terra glared at Beast Boy, mentally snarling in fury. She clenched her fists, stomped her right foot, and lifted her head up in a mixture of anger and haughtiness. "So you're just gonna turn your back on me huh?" she growled. "Fine! Go ahead! See what I care! Heck, I'll bet this is more than just trying to be a good friend to all your pals and team mates! You've already moved on from me in romantic aspects haven't you!?"
Beast Boy visibly tensed up, the illusionary Beast that Raven could still see nearby doing the same. "This has nothing to do with whether or not I'm in love with anyone else you little . . ."
"Just admit it!" Terra snapped, anger now very heavily clouding her judgment. "You've already found some other girl to replace me with and shower in affections! You're already in love with someone else and sold your heart to her just as quickly as you did with me! Let me guess, it's that witch isn't it?!"
Beast Boy leaned forward and downwards as if tensing himself up, snarling ominously in rage. "You leave Raven out of this!" Beast Boy growled.
"I should have known!" Terra howled. "I should have guessed that she'd be the one to get you to forget all about me and dismiss me so quickly as no longer suitable for your romantic needs! Or better yet, maybe I should have just stuck around and made sure that she actually had drowned in that stupid mud three years ago!"
"Don't push me Terra!" Beast Boy snarled, now clearly on the verge of snapping in some form or other.
"Why did I even bother to give you a chance?!" Terra spat. "Why did I even the consider the possibility of you deserving my time when you're just a shallow minded animal who views love as a toy, switches his way from one girl to another like a rooster with hens, and has a heart that changes on a whim as swiftly as the Autumn sky!"
Terra never saw the punch coming, and Beast Boy's right fist pounded into her face seemingly out of nowhere with such force that she was catapulted backwards into the air, only coming to a stop when her head crashed painfully against a tree and she landed even more painfully on the ground on her back. Groaning and wincing in pain, Terra managed to get herself back on her feet and look over towards Beast Boy, only for her eyes to widen in horror at the sight of the changeling still standing in the exact position he'd been at before she'd gotten punched with his fists still clenched and his face contorted in an expression of such beastly fury that the former geomancer couldn't help but feel terrified that he was about to kill her.
Snarling and growling irritably, Beast Boy managed to spit out, "YOU REALLY THINK THAT LOW OF ME?! I THOUGHT YOU WERE BETTER THEN THAT TERRA!"
"Beast Boy," Terra gasped, lifting her hands up in surrender. "Please, just calm down, I am so sorry . . ."
"NO YOU'RE NOT!" Beast Boy roared. "YOU MEANT EVERY WORD! AND DON'T TRY TO LIE AND SAY THAT YOU DIDN'T! WE BOTH KNOW IT'S TRUE!"
Terra winced, Beast Boy's words stabbing deep into her like a poisoned sword. "Beast Boy please," she whimpered, now mentally cursing herself for how deep she'd dug into this situation and desperate to make things right. "Just please let me have a chance to make things right, I'm truly sorry, I mean it."
"GIVE ME ONE GOOD REASON WHY I SHOULD BELIEVE THAT!" Beast Boy roared, his anger not having abated by even the slightest bit.
Terra gulped, now on the verge of tears, and she then quietly whispered, "Because somewhere in there, you still love me."
Dead silence hung in the air after Terra said this, with Aqualad and the other Jump City Titans just watching intently with varying expressions on their faces as they tried to decide what to do and wondered about what would happen next, and Terra looking intently at Beast Boy with a mixture of anticipation and fear as the shape shifter in question just stared blankly at her with his right eyebrow raised and his mouth set in an emotionless frown. The silence dragged on, with the former geomancer becoming increasingly nervous about why Beast Boy still hadn't responded. Before long, Aqualad, Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg began to feel very worried about how the situation would unfold at this point. Even Raven looked visibly nervous.
Eventually, Terra couldn't take it anymore, and she almost shouted in a tone that was just as much filled with despair as it was with fear, "Beast Boy please, say something! Anything!"
For what seemed like an eternity, but in reality was just one minute more, Beast Boy continued to stare blankly at Terra with his eyebrow raised and mouth set in that poker faced frown. Then his eyes narrowed, his eyebrow lowered, and he stated bluntly, "Do I?"
Terra gaped in shock and despair at Beast Boy, speechless at what he'd just said. "Wh. . . what do you mean? You do . . . or at least you did. I'm sure of it."
Beast Boy seemed to think to himself. "I thought I did back then," he then admitted out loud. "Now I'm not so sure." He then looked directly back at Terra, his now no longer yellow eyes narrowing once more. "In fact, I haven't been really all that sure about whether or not I actually loved you back then for a long time now. And I'm definitely uncertain right now whether or not I actually still love you now, assuming I ever did in that way."
Terra silently gasped, the cold and calm tone that Beast Boy was now currently speaking to her in hurting her far more than all his ill-tempered roaring, or even his punch from mere minutes ago, had ever come close to doing. "Don't say that Beast Boy," she then said, now clearly on the verge of tears. "You can't say things like that. You can't! Not to me! You've always had faith in me. Always!"
Beast Boy growled curtly. "You said it best yourself when I was following you around at that school. Things change. People change."
Terra felt her heart plummet even further upon hearing the very same words she'd used during one of the last times she'd encountered Beast Boy before the fateful beach encounter from just four to five days prior to the current moment painfully reflected right back at her. Desperate to get through to Beast Boy and prevent herself from completely losing herself right then and there, she then said, "It doesn't work like that Beast Boy! People don't just change like this in just two or three days!"
"IT'S BEEN FOUR AND A HALF MONTHS!" Beast Boy roared. "AND I'VE HAD THREE WHOLE YEARS BEFORE THAT DAY AT MURAKAMI HIGH TO THINK EVEN FURTHER ON THIS MATTER! I'VE HAD PLENTY OF TIME TO CHANGE TERRA, PLENTY OF TIME!"
The changeling then took a deep breath, exhaled heavily, and then directed a half angry and half pitiful glare towards the former geomancer. "And in all that time, I've come to realize, and only now am I willing to openly admit it, but maybe, just maybe, what I felt for you back then wasn't even actual love. Maybe, just maybe, it was little more than a simple schoolyard crush."
The look on Terra's face said it all. "But, you were so determined to get me to admit that you were telling the truth when you were following me around at school, and you were so happy when I finally confirmed it back at the beach the other day. . ."
"Well for the first situation," said Beast Boy. "Let's just say that there was a small part of me at the time that was still hoping that what I'd felt for you wasn't just a simple schoolyard crush and that something more could be formed between us. As for the second situation. . . well that was before I learned that you'd been lying to me about losing your memory about me and the other Titans."
Beast Boy then sighed, hung his head, and then looked back up at Terra, a facial expression that was still angry, but at this point also tired, now on his face. "Look Terra, we had a little fun back in those other days, but these aren't those days. Maybe I did once love you; maybe I didn't. Maybe I'm in love with someone else now; maybe I'm not. Maybe I know what love is; maybe I don't. But regardless of my status for either of these, now's not the time for me to answer. I need time; and not just to forgive you and let our friendship reach the level it used to be at before the betrayal. I've dealt with a lot of crap over the last few months and years that have followed your betrayal and petrification. Hell, in the years that occurred before we ever even met you, I'd already gone through a lot. And all that, combined with some very serious events from the previous month alone, has given me a lot to think about. And believe me, with all the stuff I have to deal with right now, I'm not kidding when I say that I need time. And I'm sorry to say this Terra, but you're just gonna have to wait. You, me, and anyone else who may or may not be involved deserves better than a rushed and forced decision. And don't say a word about my usual recklessness at jumping to decisions. When it really matters, I am not incapable of thinking things through. And when I do make my decision on this matter you're so insistent on bringing up, trust me, it will be very well thought out, and be made with the absolute highest sincerity and honesty. For whatever you may think about it, or whatever your own heart may be like, my heart, is nothing like, an Autumn sky."
Beast Boy hung his head. "And forgive me for finishing on this note I'm about to end on, but at the current moment, I really, really, really do need time. Because I've already got enough on my plate right now as it is; and the last thing I need is to have yet another piece of drama to sort through. In fact, right now, as you appear to have conveniently deleted from your own mind to the point that I'm now reminding you for the 4th time in a row, the remaining members of Titans East, who happen to be both Aqualad's team mates, and my friends, are being held captive and are also currently at risk of potentially dying or worse. So forgive me for not having you or whether or not I have or ever even had romantic feelings for you, be the first thing on my mind 24-7. Because unlike you, I actually want all of us to walk out of this mess alive and free."
The changeling lifted his head back up, his tired emerald eyes now staring once more into Terra's broken and sad blue ones. "And if you truly cared at all about my happiness and wellbeing, or was anywhere near as good of a friend as I once thought you were, or loved me at all in the way I myself once thought I felt for you, then you of all people would know why I have to wait. You of all people would recognize how important it is for me to make sure my friends are safe and sound before worrying about my own personal matters. You of all people, would understand how important my friends are to me and why I have no other choice but to make you wait for an answer."
The shape shifter hung his head once more, sighing heavily. Terra gulped, her eyes now even closer to tears than ever. "Beast Boy, please," Terra began.
"You're not the Terra I knew," Beast Boy stated, his head still staring down towards the ground and his feet. "You're not my friend."
And with those final emotionally shattering words uttered, Beast Boy took a deep breath, silently transformed into a pteranodon, spread his wings, and looked upwards towards the sky before then flapping his wings, jumping up from the ground and slowly hovering upward before then flying in the direction immediately opposite Starfire as he flew off into the distance over the forest towards the clearing where the Titans had set up camp, a low keening screech reverberating from his throat as he went. For what seemed like an eternity Aqualad and Beast Boy's fellow members of the founding branch of the Titans stared into the sky after him. Then they all looked towards Terra; and found their hearts sinking with guilt, sadness, and shame upon seeing the state she was now in.
The former geomancer was just standing still in the same area she'd been positioned in when Beast Boy had taken off and given her his powerful reason-you-suck speech. And at this particular moment, she had her arms hanging limply by her side, and she was staring upwards towards the sky as tears started streaming freely from her eyes and down her face, her mouth quivering as well as if on the verge of letting out despairing howls.
In that instant, Starfire gently came to a landing and walked over to Terra. Raven even got up from her meditating position and walked over towards the blonde as well. The two Jump City Titan girls walked straight up to Terra, the Tamaranean from Terra's left, and the Azarathian from Terra's right, and placed a hand on her shoulders. "Are you ok?" Starfire asked in concern.
Terra sniffled, closed her eyes, and shook her head side to side. "No," she responded.
Even though the response had been expected, it was still disheartening all the same. "Do you want to talk?" Raven asked. "Because we're willing to talk things out if you think it will help you feel better."
"No thanks," said Terra. She looked over at the sorceress, mentally wincing at how she'd been railing against her spending so much time with Beast Boy and calling her a witch multiple times in a row. "I appreciate the concern Raven. Really I do. But right now, I just need some time on my own to think."
"I'm not sure if that's a good . . ." Robin began before he felt a metallic hand come onto his own shoulder. The Boy Wonder looked to his left in time to see none other than Cyborg, who had somehow managed to silently make his way over to his current position from the area where'd earlier been attempting to take care of his phone call.
"Let her do it Rob," said Cy. "She really could use the time alone."
Terra sniffled, a half sad, and half grateful look directed towards the half robot. Raven and Starfire briefly looked over at the two Jump City Titan boys present, then thought to themselves, and then nodded in agreement before looking back at Terra.
"If you say so friend," Starfire said before lifting her hand from Terra's left shoulder and hovering backwards to give the former geomancer some space.
Raven nodded her head up and down, looked Terra in the eyes, and then said, "Just know that we're still hear if you need us later." The sorceress turned around and walked slowly away in Starfire's direction, removing her own hand from Terra's right shoulder in the process.
Terra nodded, looked over at all four of the still present Jump City Titans, as well as Aqualad, and then sniffled. "Thanks guys," said the former geomancer. "I'll be back later I guess." Then she turned around, paused for a brief second, and started slowly walking out of the clearing back the way she'd come. As she walked further and further down the path and further and further away from the clearing, she showed absolutely no external sign of her rapidly crumbling inner peace and rapidly intensifying sadness. She was not about to let the rest of the Titans feel even guiltier then they already had her be by seeing her break down.
After what seemed like hours to the deeply saddened former geomancer, Terra made it all the way back to the very same river bank she'd been sitting by before storming over the clearing to give Beast Boy a piece of her mind. Upon reaching the 'entryway' to this area, she briefly came to a stop. Then she took a deep breath, exhaled, and walked straight over to the very same large rock she'd been sitting on during the time she'd been in this area before. As she sat there on that rock, staring towards the river just like she'd done earlier that afternoon, she felt her earlier outward façade of stoic acceptance rapidly wavering as she felt tears continue to trickle down her face. Before long, she found herself visibly shaking in her efforts to successfully muzzle away the inner sadness that her mouth was even now struggling to unleash.
Her strength only continued to waver when she heard the sound of cawing crows and hooting owls. She lifted her head, her face visibly showing signs of being on the verge of losing it as she looked around desperately for any visible signs of the birds she was now hearing. While she couldn't see a single crow or owl, she kept hearing the sound of their cawing and hooting as clear as day. And at that particular moment, she couldn't help but feel as if the birds were laughing at her.
Desperate to avoid losing composure and will the seemingly mocking calls of the crows and owls from her head, she looked back down towards the river, only for her strength to further waver when the water seemingly intensified slightly in its flow and she got a clear look at the pebbles on the riverbed. And in that instant, she could almost swear that she could hear the very same tranquilly furious words Beast Boy had spoken to her not too long ago within the trickling of the water. "You're not the Terra I knew," the water seemed to say in a hauntingly realistic impression of Beast Boy's own voice. "You're not my friend."
In that moment, Terra completely lost it. With a heart wrenching wail of sorrow, she leaned her head down further, placed her hands up to her face, and let all her bottled up sadness come pouring from her in the form of waterfalls bursting from her eyes and despairing whimpering sobs spouting from her mouth. And for what seemed like an eternity in her mind, Terra continued to cry and weep over what she'd now done, cursing herself and her temper for pushing away the boy that she'd been so certain that she loved and was loved by in return, and in the process alienating several of her old friends, dismissing several potential future friends she'd never even met yet as unimportant when they were potentially in dire peril, and at this point likely almost completely destroying what little she'd managed to restore in regard to a friendship she'd had with the one person that she'd thought would always support her and be her friend. And in the midst of all these thoughts, she found herself bitterly wishing that she could have just spent the entire half hour or whatever amount of time had passed just sitting at this spot by the river, and that she'd never gone to that stupid clearing. For at that moment, she would have preferred to have remained with the suspicion filled anger at being seemingly ignored then be forced to endure this cold and brutal heartbreak that had now been so cruelly forced into its place.
And just like that, another new chapter done! Once again, here's me hoping that you enjoyed this bit of work and that you leave a respectable amount of feedback! And on that note, feel free to comment on whatever elements you wish. Again, hope you enjoyed!
Coming up next: In the immediate aftermath following Beast Boy and Terra's very unpleasant spectacle, Robin steps up the plate to try to help set things right with the resident shape shifter, and in the process, ends up learning a few additional details as to why Terra's presence is making things slightly difficult for Beast Boy.
