We woke up later that evening to fight against Killer Moth, his daughter Kitten, and her boyfriend Fang. That was probably my most disgusting fight yet. I even experienced a little bit of fear.

Speaking of fear, Starfire had herself a fright last week. It started out with just a simple zit, but then it became worse. She got these tusks on her neck, and these long, dirty nails, and scale-like skin—it was completely different than the way I'm used to seeing Starfire. Beautiful, flawless Starfire. It turns out, all Tamaranians go through that transformation; it's apparently a symbol of when they get new powers. So, long story short, Starfire can shoot beams through her eyes now.

After my revelation of fear, I have been managing it quite well. I even managed to ask Beast Boy if he would like to go with me to my favorite coffee shop. He agreed, and, in return, asked me if I wanted to join them in a game of volleyball.

That's too much. I would not be playing. As a matter of fact, I would be finishing my meditation. I always meditate on the roof while the sun sets over the horizon.

Unfortunately, they were also playing volleyball on the roof. All that space down on the shore by the beach, and they had to play up here with me meditating? That sounded like a bad idea already.

"Raven, heads up," cried Beast Boy, interrupting my chant.

I didn't even have to turn my head to know that the ball was headed in my direction. I encased the ball in black energy and sent it straight back to Beast Boy, who grunted.

"Thanks. Uh, good save."

Robin asked me, "Are you sure you don't wanna play, Raven?"

"Yes," cried Starfire, "please, you must volley the ball with us!"

"Come on," said Cyborg. "I'll play you with one hand behind my back!"

I wasn't even sure he could hold his own against me with both of his hands. Still, I didn't want to play, and that couldn't be helped. "I can't. I have to meditate."

Only seconds later, Beast Boy was yelling again, "Heads up, again!"

This time, I didn't save the ball. I moved to the side and let it fall over the edge. Despite their screams for it to stop, it went all the way down to the rocks at the bottom of the shore. Maybe next time they'll think of a better place to play their game.

Beast Boy groaned. "I'll get it."

I was surprised when the ball shot past me and landed at Beast Boy's feet.

He looked at me as if he wondered if I had done it.

His answer floated on a rock above us. I wouldn't mistake that killer combination of blonde hair and blue eyes anywhere. "So," said Terra, "which team am I on?"

She still had the same pair of goggles and lanky body. Her wardrobe, however, had changed since I'd seen her last. She now had on a pair of tight shorts, tennis shoes, and a black long-sleeved crop-top that had a "T" on it.

"Terra," Starfire cried, as if none of us could remember who she was. She raced over to Terra and crushed her in a hug. "Hello, long lost friend. You remember me, yes?"

"Of course, Starfire," said Terra in a strangled voice. "I still have bruises from the last time you hugged me." She managed to slip out from underneath Starfire's arms and turned to face Beast Boy.

Beast Boy looked as if he was about to hug her too, and then he stopped. "Terra, you're—I mean, I—How's it—What's up?"

She wrapped her arms around his neck and pinched his cheek. Good thing I just recently meditated.

Cyborg smiled at her as he made his way over to her. "Well, if it isn't my favorite little rock-n-roller!"

She high-fived him. "Cyborg, Robin, what's shakin'?"

"Good to see you again," said Robin.

"Good," cried Beast Boy. "Is he kidding? It's great to see you again! I didn't think I'd ever see you again!"

I'd hoped that I'd never see her again. She's not exactly at the top of my friend's list—she's not even on the bottom. She's just not on it.

"Raven, wake up," cried Beast Boy, as if I hadn't already noticed that she was here. "Terra's back! Isn't that awesome?"

So much for our coffee date, I guess. I'd probably just given him an idea for a place to take her for a date. "Super," I replied in a voice that was probably laced with acid. "Just help yourself to anything in the fridge, and don't forget to lock the door when you leave."

"Actually," said Terra, "I kinda wasn't plannin' on leavin' this time. I'm ready to take you guys up on your offer. I wanna be a Teen Titan!"

No one said anything.

"Got it. Sorry, I didn't realize the offer had an expiration date."

"The offer didn't expire," said Robin, "we're just…concerned."

"Yeah," said Beast Boy nervously. "It's 'cause…well, um…last time, when you kinda freaked out and ran away, you didn't exactly….uh…you weren't completely—"

Looks like we're beating around the bush again. Once again, it's up to me to tell it straight like it is. "You couldn't control your powers," I said. I walked over to her and crossed my arms. I hadn't realized last time that I was taller than her. Bet she noticed now.

Beast Boy looked between us nervously. I'd be feeling awkward too if I was caught between a love interest of mine and my best friend. Fortunately for Beast Boy, I won't be swayed by my emotions. Witches aren't supposed to have emotions, anyway. That's why they have thoughts. Thoughts don't feel.

"Hello," she cried. "That's why I left! Robin said I needed practice, so I've been practicing! Check it out!" She snapped her goggles onto her eyes and jumped onto the rock that she'd entered on.

I watched her fly around on her rocks. So what if she wasn't close to falling off anymore? It doesn't change anything. Anyone can act like they're in control. I do it all the time.

"Dude," said Beast Boy to me, "she really has gotten better!"

"She learned a few tricks," I told him. "Doesn't mean she's any less dangerous."

She ended her show by jumping down onto the roof with us and crushing the four rocks she'd demonstrated with together.

Everyone else was impressed. I wasn't. I didn't trust her. I didn't think she had earned that yet.

"See," she said to us, though I was sure she was speaking more in my direction. "I've got everything under control."

Suddenly we were distracted by the rumbling of an earthquake.

I glared at Terra.

"Wasn't me," she promised.

Inside, we learned that it actually hadn't been Terra. Lucky for her. That would've been enough for me to refuse her entry into the Titans.

"Earthquakes," said Cyborg. "Small ones, but they're happenin' all over the city!"

Terra put her hands on her hips. "Too many to be natural," she stated.

Robin nodded and said, "That's because they're not earthquakes; they're a trail. Something is moving under the city. We need to find out what. Titans, go!"

Everyone but Robin, Terra, and I went out.

Robin turned toward Terra and said, "Are you coming or not?"

"Does this mean I'm on the team," she asked.

No. "It means we could use your help."

I crossed my arms as she ran past me, causing her to bump into me. A swarm of visions filled my head. I saw Terra talking to Beast Boy as she lost control of her powers; I saw Terra crying in the mining caves as she lost control of her powers again; and I saw Slade on a T-communicator.

I shook my head and looked down.

Robin put his hand on my shoulder. "Everything okay?"

I don't know why I didn't say anything. "Can't tell," I told him. "Are you sure it's safe to have her around?"

"Not entirely, but everyone deserves a second chance."

Do they? I frowned, but followed my team downtown. We couldn't take the T-car because now we had an extra member. Someone would have to fly. This left us in a predicament as to who would have to fly; Starfire wanted to be in the car with Robin, Beast Boy wouldn't let Terra fly because he wanted to be in the car with her, and I didn't want to leave Beast Boy and Terra to themselves. In the end, we didn't use the T-car.

A large mechanical worm with a drill for a head broke through the asphalt, causing a bus to be trapped on a rock near the hole. The worm's drill head became a mechanical face with a mouth and teeth and leaned down toward the bus.

I stretched out my hands and used my dark energy to pull the bus to safety. The worm's head slammed into the ground.

"You missed the bus," said Robin.

Cyborg picked up a taxi and said, "Looks like you'll just have to take a cab!" He tossed the empty car into the monster's face; it pulled its head up into the air after the explosion and roared at us.

It leaned its head down towards Beast Boy with its mouth wide open.

Instinct took over for me. I jumped down in front of him, hands spread out, and said, "Azarath, Metrion, Zinth—"

"I got it," cried Terra as she knocked me to the ground. With a small battle cry, she raised her hands up, creating a wall of rock to block the worm.

It fell backwards.

I looked around, expecting Beast Boy to help me up, as he usually did, but he had disappeared. Moments later, I saw him crashing into the worm while he was in the form of a green mammoth.

The worm crashed into a nearby building, bringing up a cloud of dust with him. Before the dust could settle, a red beam of light shot out of the worm's mouth and blasted Beast Boy into the air. He landed on the sidewalk in a heap.

"Beast Boy," cried Terra as she ran over to him. She singled out the chunk of rock they were on and lifted it into the air before the worm could strike again.

Starfire and Cyborg distracted the worm by shooting it continuously.

"Good work, Terra," said Robin as she and Beast Boy joined us again. "Now, help me get in its face!"

She nodded and lifted a series of rocks so that they acted like a staircase for Robin.

He jumped up each of them and threw his exploding devices into the worm's open mouth. As he started to fall to the ground, Starfire caught him and brought him to safety.

The worm expanded as the devices exploded in its mouth, but it was defeated. It chomped its teeth down in an effort to bite Cyborg as a green pterodactyl carried him close to its face.

Robin jumped off of the building and used his grappling hook to latch onto the worm's mouth. He swung onto the worm's back and inserted his metal staff in a small opening the worm's back. When the staff broke off, the worm roared and tried to buck Robin off.

Cyborg, who was now riding a green stegosaurus, aimed his cannon at the worm and blasted its bottom while the stegosaurus rammed its horns into it. It obviously proved to be a bad idea for the stegosaurus, because it retreated quickly.

Terra lifted a rock above her head that could've easily have crushed the bus I had carried off. What was she thinking?

"No," I cried as I stopped her powers with my own.

"What are you doing," she asked me as she struggled to overpower me.

"It's too dangerous," I told her. "Someone could get hurt." I pulled the rock away from her, but she managed to stop it before it had gotten to me.

"I know what I'm doing. Trust me!"

Trust her? She's given me no reason to trust her? Did she just expect it to come when she surprisingly joined the team? I didn't trust her the first time she came around, let alone now.

But I wasn't about to let her hurt my friends. I stood my ground against her, though she did put up a bit of a fight for me.

"Look out," cried Robin.

A blast of red light destroyed the rock we fought over and threw me into the building behind me. When I got to my feet, I immediately found my way over to Terra.

"Way to go," we told each other.

"Come on," said Robin. "It's getting away!"

Sure enough, the worm was digging another tunnel underneath the city. We followed it to the hole and stopped as we anticipated what to do next.

Robin's T-communicator began to beep. He opened it and revealed Slade's face. He had a new mask in place of his old one, but there would be no mistaking him.

My heart faltered. My vision. How had I been right? I wondered if my other visions somehow had a connection to this one.

"Slade," Robin growled.

"Robin," said Slade in a tantalizing voice. "Good to see you again. I do hope I haven't called at a bad time."

"The worm. What are you planning?"

"Well, now, Robin, if you're so very curious, why don't you come down here and find out?" His transmission cut out.

Despite my hesitations, we did as Slade suggested. It was a long time before we couldn't see the surface again, and I doubted we were anywhere close to finding the end of its tunnel.

"That evil worm has left a very long trail," said Starfire. "This tunnel continues for at least two more klinthorgs."

"And we're more than three hundred meters below sea-level," said Cyborg. "What's it doin' down here?"

"Whatever Slade tells it to," said Robin.

Beast Boy was telling Terra something. She looked back at me and then tried to start a conversation. "So, sorry about our little tug of war back there. You know I wouldn't have let anybody get hurt."

Beast Boy probably told her to apologize to me. Can't have his best friend and his love interest at odds, now, can he? "Whatever," I told her. I wasn't about to become friends with her just so that Beast Boy wouldn't be inconvenienced.

All of her politeness melted away. "Okay, look. I don't know what your problem is, but get over it! If I'm gonna be a part of this team, we have to get along."

"You're not part of this team," I told her. "Not yet. And if you endanger my friends again, you never will be. The next time I tell you something's too dangerous, take my word for it!" I left her stunned and confused at my words. I watched as Beast Boy went back to say something else to her. Great.

I stayed by Starfire and Cyborg the rest of the trip down. I refused to be anywhere near Beast Boy, and I didn't want to talk to Robin about it. When we got to the bottom, there were no other tunnels that led out of the large room.

"Dead end," I said.

Robin's T-communicator was still beeping. "Not necessarily," he said. He followed it to the other side of the cave and held it up when it beeped continuously. "I'm picking up a signal from deep inside the rock."

"Way deep," said Cyborg. "Electronics and a heartbeat."

"Slade," Robin confirmed.

"How 'bout we dig down there and see what's up," said Terra. She held up her glowing yellow hands to the rock Robin was in front of, but stopped as another earthquake struck us.

I found myself glaring at her again.

She glared back at me. Her face wasn't nearly as scary as mine probably was. "Are you gonna give me that look every time there's an earthquake?"

Three mechanical worms burst from underneath the ground around us.

"Titans, ready," cried Robin.

The worms passed over us and dug through the earth so that they could continue down their paths.

"Hello,"
cried Beast Boy as he stepped into one of their tunnels, "the good guys are over here! Dude, we got snubbed!"

"Because we are not their target," said Starfire.

Cyborg said, "Three of those worms together could wreck anything in the city."

"We have to stop 'em," cried Terra.

"We have to stop Slade," I corrected. He was bound to have the control for them somewhere.

"Split up," said Robin. "Cyborg, Starfire, Beast Boy—go after the worms. Terra and Raven, we're going after Slade."

Cyborg nodded. "Star, BB, let's move!" They hurried after the worms through one of the tunnels. Beast Boy through one last look at Terra before he disappeared.

"I can make a tunnel on my own," said Terra. "Shouldn't she go with—"

"No," said Robin firmly. "Raven's almost as good at moving earth as you are." It's only almost because my powers extend to far further things than a bunch of pebbles. "We're digging through solid rock. I'm going to need you both."

"Nice try," I told her with a smile. It'll take a lot to get rid of me.

"I've got a fix on the signal: forty degrees down, six hundred meters deep."

We raised our hands together and said, "No problem." It was weird, seeing someone else's hands glow—someone else besides Starfire, that is.

"Is that as fast as you can go," she asked me.

"Not even close," I growled. Her tactic was idiotic. She was moving the rocks further down, while I was moving the rocks away from the rest of the pile I needed to move. She was going faster than me, though.

For now, at least. I hadn't used my secret weapon yet: my emotions. I thought about the anger I felt toward her being here, the jealousy I felt toward the attention Beast Boy was giving her, but most of all, I thought about the intense feeling of distrust that settled within me every time I looked at her.

I pushed ahead of her and reached the end of the tunnel first.

Robin sprinted ahead of me and Terra and looked inside the room. I knew that amongst the technology and construction columns, he was looking for Slade. He headed over to the computer as it emitted a projection of a building that was sinking under.

I pointed to the circle of energy above us as it begun to spin and emitted red lights through the ceiling.

From our T-communicators, I heard Cyborg's voice: "Robin! It's the Tower! They're attacking Titans' Tower!"

"It's not just under attack," said Robin. "It's about to be underground."

Robin tried throwing some of his devices; I tried throwing blasts of dark energy; Terra tried throwing rocks. Nothing worked.

"Not even a scratch," Robin cried. He hurried back to the computer. "If we can't break the drill, hacking this computer's out only shot at shutting it down." Suddenly, he was knocked backward as Slade kicked him in his face. They engaged in battle almost immediately as Slade drove Robin away from the computer.

"Robin," I yelled as I raced after him.

"Hang on," Terra shouted.

"Forget about me," said Robin as he was forced onto an elevator. "Shut down the drill!" He and Slade were lifted into the air.

"Looks like it's just you and me," said Terra.

I ignored her and looked up at the drill as some of the rocks began to shake loose. "We have to hack in." I hurried back to the computer.

"Why hack when you can smash," said Terra as she lifted a large rock into the air.

Was this girl an idiot? "No," I told her as I stopped the rock in its place. "We don't know how this thing works. If you destroy the controls, then we might never be able to stop it."

"Or we might stop it sooner and save our home! Why can't you just trust me?"

"Because you don't deserve it," I told her angrily. "I have to meditate every day to keep my powers under control, and I'm supposed to believe that you can just suddenly control yours? Trust is something you have to earn."

"How? How do I earn it?"

"You can start by trusting me."

She dropped her hold on the rock, and I dropped the rock and returned to the computer. I barely managed to reach the keyboard before another large rock fell from the ceiling and crushed the computer.

The drill increased its power tenfold and spun even faster than before.

"Okay," said Terra, "maybe smashing the computer was a bad idea."

Idiot! All the time she wasted trying to fight me for her stupid idea has now cost us precious time that could've been used to save my friends. If our home goes down, I'll never forgive her.

It started to sink down on our heads. Despair filled me. "We have to go. There's nothing we can do now."

Terra's eyes glowed yellow. "Yes, there is! Trust me!"

Idiot girl! Nothing she does now could possibly earn my trust now. No matter what, I'll still hate her in the end.

She lifted her glowing hands up and pushed against the island as it began to sink down. Her force caused the drills to break off and tumble to the ground around us. Though she was enough to stop the drill, she wasn't enough to stop the island from sinking.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" I cried as I joined forces with her to help save our home. As my power merged with hers in convergence, my head was filled with pictures again.

This time I saw pictures of the Tower being attacked, pictures of Terra turning against us, and pictures of me being buried underneath mud.

When the pictures ended, I realized that we had won. We had managed to save our home. Together. I looked up and saw Robin standing above us with a smile on his face.

Well played, Robin. Well played.

We returned to the Tower to the cheering of our friends. I left them and made my way back to my room. Standing in front of my door was Robin.

"It seems like you two work well together," he said with a smile.

I shrugged. "We had a common cause," I told him.

"Raven, I won't let her on the team without your permission, too. If you don't want her here, say the word."

I could've done it. I could've gotten rid of her. But if I had, then my tale would've been different. Instead, I made a mistake: "She can stay."

A few hours later, I was sent to bring Terra to her surprise.

She followed me down the hallway cautiously. "So…friends?"

No. Never. I will never call you my friend. "Close enough," I lied.

"Sorry we kinda got off to a rocky start."

I was really starting to hate her puns. "Actually, I thought things went pretty well," I lied again. "Took me a year to stop hating Beast Boy." Another lie. I haven't been here a year. I still have almost six months to go. I laughed along with her, as if we had something to laugh about.

I led her into the dark room.

"Um," she said, "where are we?"

"Your room." I flipped on the light, revealing the other Titans as they jumped out their hiding places.

"Surprise," they cried.

"You guys did all this…for me," Terra asked.

"Yeah," said Beast Boy, "since you helped save our home and all, we thought you deserved your own room."

"You also deserve one of these," said Robin as he handed her a T-communicator.

She held it in her hands. "So I'm—"

"A Teen Titan. Glad to have you on the team."

"Aw, yeah," said Cyborg. "Very nice!"

"This is the best thing that's ever happened to me," Beast Boy whispered to me.

"Welcome new Titan," cried Starfire.

"Congratulations, Terra. You earned it," I choked out, though I was far from wanting to say that to her.

Cyborg smiled. "Alright. There's only one way to commemorate such a momentous occasion—waffles!"

I didn't join the Titans. I didn't join Terra.

I don't trust Terra.

A/N: I've yet to decide if I should end it in Season 4 with "The End" (where we all know Raven goes through the end of the world with Trigon) or if I should continue her story all the way through Season 5. Any thoughts?