Chapter Ten:

Terra yawned, her fist rubbing her eyes as she stared at the curtains, drawn in hadn't really moved, staying laid down since she had fallen asleep earlier. Drifting in and out of sleep, Terra laid quietly and tried to wait up for Red X's return. The morning sun was trying to peak up already. The misty shade of blue that touched the curtains, told her so.

She frowned to herself, her fingers clenching the sheets she laid on, before she told herself that there was nothing to worry about. Red X would be back, if not... well, he would. In his own time. Terra had just never been the most patient of people. As she continued to wait, Terra took in a deep breath then softly exhaled. She felt more comforted then the usual, and had Beast Boy and his ... slightly out-of-wack stories to thank for that. She smiled, her whole face brightening while her eyes then closed softly.

We're not that far from Jump City... a few days. Maybe I can drop in on the others... see how their doing. Maybe Star figured a new recipie... or I could catch up with Raven some... she didn't seem too.... mad. Terra listed quietly inside her mind. She wanted some time with her 'girl' friends. She missed them, and needed a break from the male gender. Even if Red X was the only one she really talked too, he could ruin any rep just by being in the same gender. Terra grinned again, then frowned and snorted as she blinked open her eyes. That guy...

I'm not going to think about him. She decided. Every time she tried, her head would start to hurt, and her mind swirl. Something about him confused her, just enough to make every day new... and er... interesting.

Terra's eyes drifted towards closure again, she let out a breath, feeling it's warm essence float around her face before leaving. There didn't seem to be any heat in the room other than her own, and the night had been chilly. She snuggled further into the bed, twisting her lips inside her mouth and wetting them before then breathing out again and pushing her face into the somewhat warm sheets. Her face pained a little from the touch, but she was able to ignore the soreness. Terra did, however, stop moving around in fear of breaking up the scratches over her face further after she noted small streaks of blood striping the sheet.

It was then, that she heard a stealthy opening of the window in the kitchen, her eyes opened, but she didn't move. Frozen stiff, she held her breath and listened. A light amount of weight seemed to trample to the floor, a little reckless, clumsy. That itself put X out of her mind as she tensed her shoulders. Terra continued to listen, foot steps pattered over the floor, a slow sort of walking-jog.

Terra gripped her fingers around the sheets, looking around the room, as light came through the window, she saw the shadow of the lanky figure stalking the room. Her eye brow lifted though, as the cape became noticeable.

"Ouch!!" The oh-too falmilar voice hissed as a box loudly knocked over. Terra sighed, sitting up and rolling over to face the masked boy.

"You took long enough." She snorted, watching as he retaliated against the box that had stubbed his foot, by kicking it over again. Terra rolled her eyes at the immature act and shook her head before cocking a brow up. "And stop picking on the box."

For a moment he just looked at her, then shrugged his shoulders. He then considered the room, as if thinking to himself before giving her a side glance. She could tell a lot was on his mind, even though he tried to hide it so quickly. When you stayed with one and only one person for a while, it became easy to pick up on different vibes of their emotions, or lack there off. It didn't surprise her much when he suddenly brought up a subject. "I'm going for that computer tonight." Red X said simply, not even looking at her as he nubbed the box again with his toe.

Terra blinked, sitting up a little straighter though it pained her back. His sudden bring up, was a little random to her, but the way he said it told her he had been thinking about it longer than just now. "X, have you ever considered what you are going to do with a super computer? It's not like we can actually use it in here, let alone getting it out of there!"

"I'm not going to take it out, I just need to watch this chip on it." He retorted, as if she where stupid.

"Without getting caught?" She scoffed.

"That's the plan."

"You know what," Terra narrowed her eyes slightly, huffing out a breath as she pushed herself to her feet and crossed her arms. "You think your so good, but your going to get caught. Keep up all this stuff, it's going to happen."

"Fine, then, Terra." He spat suddenly. "What do you want me to do?" Red X rounded, facing her with slanted eyes. She stumbled back at first, but then held posture. "What goody-goody two-shoe thing do you want me to pull off so you don't feel like the bad guy? What else do you want to use me for?!"

Something in her told her something was wrong with him... but Terra refused to let a argument go untouched, she couldn't help it. "What is that supposed to mean?!" They both knew this argument was coming anyways, it had been simmering between the two of them, and their more than different ideals.

"You know what that means!" He snapped, "how many times have I put off what I need to do, to help you?! Because God knows you can't defend yourself for shit! Your so afraid your going to hurt someone, you just take the beating!"

"What?! I can too defend myself!"

Red X snorted, then reached out and roughly pushed her shoulder. "Prove it!"

Terra stared at him, stunned. She looked at her shoulder then back to Red X. "What?"

"Prove that your not a wimp, and fight back!"

"I'm not going to fight you!" She yelled, feeling the surprise he had offered her such a thing. "Though I'd sure as hell like too!!"

"And that is why you always need babysitting!!" X jabbed a pointed finger at her, roughly jousting her shoulder again. "Your snobby, cloud minded and so stuck on your past you can't stand long enough to live in the present!!"

Terra blinked, falling into a stale sort of mind as she stared dumbfounded. She hadn't thought herself to be living in the past at all... how many times had she refused herself talking to the Titan's, and fought to keep them off her mind, just so she didn't live in the past? Too many. She swallowed tightly, her fists falling from her chest and clenching tightly at her sides. Yeah, maybe she tried to be the good guy a lot... and she still followed rules most of the time the Titan's had showed her... that wasn't living in the past... was it? Was trying to be like them, keeping her from living now?

That's stupid. She told herself, shaking her head and then looking away. Her jaw tightened as her eyes slanted. The line she was trying to walk blurred a little further to her stale eyes, the exact line was almost impossible to see from her point of view. The balance, was difficult to keep... and she had a feeling that that annoyed Red X.

"Just because you don't mind hurting people all the time," She turned around and faced him, her look had hardened. "Doesn't mean I don't either! You think all this is easy for me?! It's not! You and your stupid mask, and your stupid bullet wound and-"... Terra blinked then looked back at his arm. "X! Your bleeding!" Her fists unclenched as she raised her eyes to his face.

"..Wha?" Red X blinked, his tone completely falling back into the 'way-to-cool' one he was so famous for. He looked down at his shoulder, raising it slightly. "Oh yeah, I forgot about that..."

"You forgot you got shot?"

"Yeah."

Terra sighed, dipping her head down for a moment and closing her eyes. Her pale hair covered her face while she simmered her want to argue everything further. The fight would wait, like it always would. As her bottled emotions found a slightly higher place within her, Terra looked up and caught a deep breath. "Well, let me see it." She stepped closer.

Red X gave her the most complex look he could through the mask as he moved his arm away. "Uh, excuse me, mom, I got it."

Terra gave him an annoyed look before grabbing his arm and yanking it over. She viewed the wound with a raised brow, the rising sun gave her light to see, thankfully. It didn't look too big, but it was bleeding a lot, and his sleeve was soaked. She cringed, peeling one hand back and looking at it. Terra cringed in disgust at the maroon essence clinging to her brown gloved palm, and some on her bare fingers. She looked back up at Red X and hardened her brows. "What happened?"

"Eh, things got rough."

"Yeah, rough." She muttered, pulling his arm out further and reaching to touch the wound. Part of her was snickering on the inside to see a patch of his skin as she pushed a piece of the suit away. The pale, ice-like color was a little weird, but it was blurred eerily by the red. "This needs cleaned."

"I'll get it," Red X made a gesture to pull his arm back away, but Terra held strong and yanked back.

"No, you and your stupid lazy guy ways, you'll probably mess it up."

"I will not!" He defended.

"Just let me do it." She sneered quietly, her face staying tilted to his arm, while her eyes looked up at his skull mask. "Did the bullet go all the way through?" She murmured, her eyes turning back to his stiff arm. Part of Terra couldn't deny the shy feeling in her stomach she got from the tighly fused muscle under her fingers. Before Red X could, or would, answer her question, Terra felt her fingers down the back of his arm. He tensed further under her touch, and Terra humored herself for a moment thinking he might be nervous.

After she felt hte length of his upper arm, with no other open wound found she looked up at him. "X, the stupid bullet is still in there!"

He gave her a sort of annoyed look, the masked eyes slanting. But she felt the light presence around him which ruled out mad, so she guessed just annoyed. "I'll get it," He said again, and again pulling at his arm.

"No, because it needs done right."

"What makes you think I don't know how to clean a bullet wound?" He scoffed.

"I didn't say you don't know how, I said you might not do it right." Terra gave him a tone that set it as final. She gave him a glare, her brows tensing to the center of her face until he snorted and looked away. Nodding in satisfaction, Terra let go of his arm and walked past him into the bathroom. She pretended to ignore Red X as he slumped away, but she only grinned to herself for the victory.

Opening the broken door, and letting it wobble and creek behind her. Terra looked around the small room before ducking down and opening the sink cabinets. A bunch of old junk was gathered under there, and even, Terra discovered with a cringed face and disgust, a pair of old underwear. She yelped and quickly threw the nasty white drawers to the side and shivered. So gross.

She shifted things around, bottles, packages, a tooth brush, until she found what she had been looking for. Terra breathed out relief before pulling out a plastic bag of medical supplies, and a bottle of peroxided. Gathering the items in her arms, Terra stood up and kicked the cabinet door closed. It banged lightly, but went ignored as the teen trampled her way back into the small living area.

"What, don't like doctor visets?" Terra teased with a grin as she observed Red X sitting on the bed with what she guessed was pure annoyance.

"I might feel better if you where an actual doctor."

The grin slipped and Terra snorted towards him. "Oh shut up." She sneered, throwing the items next to her masked companion. He glanced at them, then looked back at her with his same old 'annoyed-that-your-alive' kinda look. Crossing her arms, Terra shot the face back at him. "Well, roll your sleeve up and let's get this over with."

"What?"

"Unless you want me to just rip it off, and you go with some Rambo look the rest of your life."

Red X stared at her, and she knew he was seriously debating showing her even as much of his identity as rolling the god-dang sleeve up. Terra almost had sympathy for him, years of hiding everything he was, seemed to had taken a deep toll on him. But, he was also a difficult jerk, so Terra didn't quite feel bad enough.

"Who died and made you queen, anyways?" Red X snapped, grudedly ripping his glove off then set to rolling the tight black sleeve up.

Terra watched with her hands on her hips, as the sleeve was roughly tugged and pulled upwards. Her face was a light frown, her eye brows easy on her forehead, her lips straight while her eyes had a sort of shady look to them. The sleeve showed what it had always hid, the skin so cold that it glowed lightly in the room. Tight muscles knotted under the skin, light essences of blood had tinkled down and stained a pale color, that showed against the cold already there. She knew that his skin was only so pale because he probably never took the suit off, or at least not often. But a little part of her, a more... mystic sort of thinking, wanted to think it reflected him.

Stop being stupid.She scorned, blinking as her face regained color and her eyes looked back to his mask face. "No one has to die to make me queen. So shut up and let me fix this." But her tone was light, as a small little grin touched her lips. Teasing him that he had rolled his sleeve up, even though he had obeyed. Ah, evil-ness.

"One of these days," Red X started, watching her carefully grab the cleaner and a rag. "Your going to find yourself gaged and stuffed on a bus headed for Canada."

Terra rolled her eyes, sitting on her knee's as she opened the bottle and pressed the rag to the opening. "Yeah, Canada, I'm so scared now."

"You should be, seeing how your such a cold Nazi."

"I am not a cold Nazi! I just don't like the cold." She snapped. "I'm a desert person." Terra ignored his scoff as she tipped the bottle, then set it down and gripped the rag. "Now hold still." Pressing her extra hand to the frame of the bed, Terra lifted the rag and lightly cleaned the area around the wound. Noting it touched into his his shoulder, and cringed. Somehow, he had seemed to stop most of the bleeding, but it was still oozing. Sighing, Terra finished cleaning the area, then set the rag down while her eyes stayed focused.

"This is so gross," She muttered as she lifted her other hand to his arm. Placing her thumps on either side of the wound, Terra knew she was blushing just a little bit. Not sure why, she felt kind of... er... dumb. Trying to ignore it, she lifted slanted eyes to his masked face, finding he was watching closely. "Don't move." She hissed.

"Whatever." He muttered.

Terra slanted her vision, trying to concentrate on the wound and where the bullet would be. Under her touch, she felt Red X tense slightly. Letting out a loud and annoyed sigh, Terra side glanced up at him, "hey, loosen up a bit. Your going to make yourself bleed more." She watched him give her another look of annoyance, before he looked away and muttered something under his breath. But he loosened back up, and Terra nodded in satisfaction then returned to her work.

Terra slanted her vision, trying to concentrate on the wound and where the bullet would be. Under her touch, she felt Red X tense slightly. Letting out a loud and annoyed sigh, Terra side glanced up at him, "hey, loosen up a bit. Your going to make yourself bleed more." She watched him give her another look of annoyance, before he looked away and muttered something under his breath. But he loosened back up, and Terra nodded in satisfaction then returned to her work. Concentrating again, Terra held her breath lightly within her lungs and pressed her thumbs on either side of the wound.

The open red obsence started to blister, but Terra continued to push it with as much ease as possible. While a small lump, she knew to be the bullet, began to move from the pressure. "Almost got it," she muttered.

"Take your time," Red X strained. Though she could easily tell he was over-dramatizing it. "I'm not in pain or anything."

"Good." Terra scoffed quietly, her eyes glancing to him for a split moment then back to her work. "I would just hate to see you in pain." A small grin touched her face again at her own comment, even though the two had a darker sense of humor with the other. She shifted her pressure a little further back, before then pressing back to the surface. Her grin returned quickly as she saw the bullet begin to show itself. "Almost-" she breathed in, before pressing harder, then quickly recoiling as the bullet popped out of the skin and onto the floor. "GOT IT!" Terra shouted, a look of victory as she looked up to Red X with a smirk.

"Congrazts." He muttered, making a gesture to move away. But Terra's eyes turned back to the wound, watching as the fresh blood started to ooz faster. She frowned before grabbing his lower arm and yanking X back to his seat.

"I didn't say I was done. Your bleeding all over the place."

"Well hurry up then!!" He snapped

.
"No, I am going to take my jolly-ol time. Thank you," she hissed back.

"Know what? I am going to repeate those exact words back at you, next time you need my help."

"I don't need your help." She muttered, her words falling under breath as she studied the bullet hole. Taking in a deep breath, Terra quickly grabbed one of the rags she had brought and folded it four times, before then pressing it to his arm. Even under the layers of rag, the bunches of muscle still felt clear to her touch. "Hold that there." She snapped, moving her hand away as Red X grudedly obeyed. Quickly, she pulled out the white bandages, but to her annoyance found no antibiotic cream. Deciding that the hopefully clean bandages would have to work, Terra moved Red X's hand away. The bleeding was still coming, so she made quick work. Wrapping the bandages around his arm once, then twice, and again and again all over. Making a thick layer of protection.

Terra kept her fingers moving, hoping to keep her mind otherwise occupied from straying thoughts. She didn't want the thoughts, the little tint of shyness that touched her every time her fingers brushed against his icey skin. So she worked furiously, her brows squinted towards her nose as her face cringed in the harsh concentration. Terra over did the bandaging just a little, it was thick, but the bleeding had yet to show pass the wraps, so she considered it a success.

Exhaling, Terra backed away and sat down to the floor from her strained position on her knee's. "It'll probably need changed in a few days." She muttered the reminder.

"Whatever." Red X excused, as he quickly pulled his sleeve back down. She guessed his annoyance when the black spandex bulged lightly around the bandage, and the bullet hole showed white now.

"Your welcome," she sneered, turning to face him.

"I never said thank you."

Frustrating. He was just plain frustrating. Well, maybe a little infuriating too... and stupid. Yeah, totally stupid. Terra held her breath as she gave him a harsh look that told all the things she wanted to call him right now. But it went ignored, of course. She could never get back at him, that was part of the frustration of being around him. "Fine, be dumb. See if I care." She muttered, standing back up and looking into the doctoring supplies she had pulled out. She fingered a few things, deciding to stuff a couple rags into her pockets. Which reminded her she still needed her coat back.

Terra stood up and looked around the room, eyeing the corners and whatever, boxes, chairs, lamps. Man this place was a total dump. It only took her a second of actual looking however, until she saw the earth-brown and orange coat limply hanging over a tipped box. She started towards it, when a sudden noise surprised both teens.


Wow, ten chapters already.... and the plot hasn't even really begun, xD!

I'm sorry for the wait everyone. I haven't been in the mode to write a whole lot lately. Now with Christmas not to far away, I really want to work on Salvation some more, LOL! It seriously needs to get done xD! But I just got so many ideas for this one fic, it is hurting my brain... and I got more future scenes written out then presently needed ones, LOL! So yeah, sorry about the slow update! Honest.

Thanks for reading still!! Ya'll rock.