Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.

Chapter 10: Memory — — — — — —

I stay on the roof a bit longer, as an old, painful memory surfaces...

— — — — — — —

I check on the storekeeper. He faces away still talking on the phone, perfect.

I stuff jerky into my backpack, when screams cut through the afternoon. I take a deep breath, shove another jerky into my bag, and run outside. Beeps from the shoplifting alarms go off, followed by angry shouts to "get back here."

It doesn't take long for those noises to disappear, in the chaotic remains of a festival gone wrong. People scream and run away from a familiar vertex of wind and rock. A lone teenager stayed behind to film the disaster up close.

Yes, ignore the danger. The camera will protect you.

I snatch his camera and pocket the memory card. If footage of Sara's powers got out, which the teen undoubtedly plans to do for five minutes of fame, it wouldn't end well.

He grabs his camera and eyes the pockets that contains the memory chip. He can try to take the chip back, but he won't succeed.

"Hey, that's mine."

"Not anymore. Now get out of here."

"No way. I am not missing this."

Idiot. He is a total idiot. Well, it won't be my fault if he gets hurt.

"If you want to be a fool, you can be a useful one. Stand next to the mini tornado, and be ready to catch something."

He mumbles something under his breath about a stick and a bottom, yet he complies with the orders.

I run to the other side of the tornado and throw my backpack in a shut put spin style which basically means spin around in circles to pick up speed and release the bag.

The bag sails into the vertex to collide, stun, and move the source of tornado away from the shower of dust and rock that follow, as the vertex falls in on itself.

Across the debris, the teen lies on his back, groaning in pain with a blond girl wrapped in his arms.

"Are you okay?"

In reply he raises a hand with a single digit straight up.

I smile.

— — — — — —

We set up camp in silence.

It isn't until the fire burns that my sister speaks.

In a small voice she says, "It isn't what you think."

"Fine, what happened?" My anger causes a small shake in the ground.

She gets to her feet, tense and ready for a fight. "You're not even giving me a chance to explain."

"We have been over this a hundred times. Do not use your powers for anything. It only makes things worse." She had to stop using her powers. It was too dangerous.

"And we've been over this a hundred times. I don't want to suppress my powers and wait for them to explode like you do. I want to learn how to control my powers. I want to help people."

"How does an earthquake or a mini tornado help? In your attempts to play hero, I always end up saving you."

"I am not some scared little kid for you to take care of."

Thing was I did take care of her.

I did all the stealing, so she wouldn't have to, not that she appreciated it. She would sometimes say, "Stealing is wrong. Go dumpster dive with sharp objects, pests, and who knows what germs only to bring back food that looked safe but really had enough of said germs to cause food poisoning." Those might not be her exact words, but it was something like that.

When she lost control of her powers, I had to snap her out of it and drag her half-conscious body out of town.

Even before Mom and Dad died, I did things to take care of her. Things she won't ever know about. Things I don't want her know.

"You are a scared little girl, who needs someone to take care of you, yet you are under this disillusion you can be a hero. Your 'help' escalates a school grade bully problem, that affects a single kid, to a small scale natural disaster that impacts thousands including the kid you were trying to save, and I am sure that kid would thank you for your 'help'. Grow up, and live in the real world for once."

I realizes our eyes glow yellow with mostly contained power. The ground shakes and a deep crack in the earth draws a line between us.

She moves away. In a softer voice, she says, "It was an accident. I didn't mean for it to happen."

She never does, and we both know it.

She packs up her stuff and walks away.

Our fights often end with her leaving. She always comes back.

Hours pass, and the sun sets.

No Sara.

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A/N Next chapter will be in a day or two. This would be a bad way to end things right before Christmas.