Edge of Yesterday

I don't own Teen Titans, and I never well. And that sucks.

A/N: The reason behind 'skipping' some days is because the days I skip were exactly identical to the previous chapter. And nobody wants to read the same thing over and over again. That's also why I started on the 'third' repeat of the day.

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Day 1: The Fourth Day

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Starfire woke up with a scream. Instincts kicked in before her mind was fully awake, and rather than bolting out of bed, she fell out of it, falling to the ground tangled in bed sheets.

And for one moment, she simply laid there, eyes wide, glowing green with terror, rage, and confusion, her chest heaving as she gasped in air lost to her in her dreams. It took Starfire a few minutes to completely realize where she was… back in the Titan's Tower. It was in one piece, her friends were alive…

…the reason she thought they might be dead already fading into the insubstantial stuff of dreams.

But still, she could not rouse herself. Her body ached, and she feared that moving would only make it worse. So she didn't. She simply lay there, staring at her ceiling with slowly dimming green eyes, trying to remember what had struck her body so full of fear, why even now, while awake, terror still clung to her limbs like the bed sheets that entwined her.

And she couldn't remember.

The first rays of sunlight were invading her window, and movement could be heard downstairs. Starfire finally forced herself to stand, but she did so slowly and unwillingly. She was shaking- and couldn't make herself stop. It must have been a dreadful dream.

By the time she went downstairs to join the rest of her teammates, chaos had descended happily among her friends. Food was scattered everywhere, plastered against the walls, tables, chairs, windows, and basically everything else- including the Teen Titans. Beast Boy and Cyborg were grumbling and cleaning it up, as Robin and Raven, splotched with eggs, watched sternly. Raven was wiping at her cloak in distaste.

"Good morning friends! Have you partaken of the early morning food fight without me?" Starfire asked, but could not force her voice to be as chipper as normal… she could not make herself sound as she usually did. This upset Starfire as well.

Robin grinned over at Starfire, despite the fact that at the moment, all he wanted on his face was a nasty scowl to scare Beast Boy and Cyborg into cleaning that much faster. "Afraid so, Star," he said, with just a hint of annoyance in his voice. "Not that I think you missed all that much."

"You should be grateful you missed what you did," Raven said dryly.

"May I ask what happened?" Starfire asked cheerfully, glancing over at Robin.

"Ask the two hooligans over there," Robin replied, gesturing over towards Beast Boy and Cyborg, his gesture accompanied by an evil stare in their direction.

"Hey- HEY! It wasn't my fault," Beast Boy snapped, "Cyborg totally started it."

"Whoa, I did not!" Cyborg snapped.

"You did too!" Beast Boy retorted, abandoning his sponge to face off with his friend again.

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Let he who cast the first egg be blamed," grumbled Raven.

All four of her teammates wheeled towards her, eyes wide. "Dude… was that a JOKE, Raven?" Beast Boy demanded, utterly shocked.

Raven's placid expression didn't change. Seemingly deciding that she had waited around long enough, the mysterious half-demon slid back upstairs, her exit made only slightly less ominous by the piece of tofu bacon hanging on the back of her cloak.

There was a moment of silence. "Raven made a JOKE!" Beast Boy exclaimed.


"Yes, we heard it too-" Robin began, when suddenly, the entire tower shuddered.

The roof above them was suddenly wiped away- rubble tumbled down on them as what little was left of the upper floors fell. The four Titans stared up in shock- a massive beast, built out of rubble, concrete, and metal beams loomed overhead, a piece of the Titan's Tower still clutched in it's enormous hands. The majority of the tower, however, was strewn out over island and the surrounding water… the upper floors had been totally demolished.

But Raven… Raven had been upstairs!

"Titans, go!" Robin shouted, and his voice broke the moment of shock which had descended over his teammates. As one, they scattered, as the monster's fist came rocketing down. It hit the remains of the tower, the floors crumbled and the walls buckled, and what was left of the tower fell. But the Titans- four of them, at least- had already gotten to safety.

There's something wrong! I remember this! Starfire's mind wailed. But there was no time for that. She rocketed upwards, starbolts flying freely from her fists. Cyborg's sonic cannon joined her with his bolts of mechanical energy, and the massive, rocky monster was driven backwards.

But not. It stumbled into the water, waves risen by each footfall. Robin leapt onto the monster's ankle to avoid being swept away by the waves-  while there, he pulled a bomb out of his utility belt, snapped it onto the monster's ankle, and leapt off, as far as he could get away- Starfire was there immediately. She caught him and carried him farther away then his leap could have. That saved him, because when the bomb went off, it took a fair portion of the monster's leg, as well- blowing shards of razor-sharp rocks in every direction.

The monster wailed in pain, its voice akin to claws being dragged across a chalk-board… only its voice was deeper, louder, more omnipresent than anything the four Titans had ever heard. It continued to wail as it reached down, trying to snatch Starfire out of the air- but she was much too quick, even when carrying Robin, for the monster to catch.

Beast Boy had transformed himself into a pterodactyl, and carried Cyborg straight up the side of the monster, Cyborg's sonic cannon blasting as they rose. The monster wheeled around to try and strike at the two, but it was bulky, and incredibly slow in its movement, and Beast Boy had no trouble staying behind it. He dropped Cyborg on the monster's back.

"Alright! Prepare to crumble!" Cyborg shouted, an edge of rage in his voice- he knew as well as Starfire where Raven had been when the Tower had been demolished. He fired off another blast of energy, skewering the rock monster through- and then brought down his fist on the creature's head. His mechanical fist crumbled the rock beneath him- the monster cried in pain as the powerful blow rent one of the I-beams that made up its body was bent in two.

Cyborg withdrew for another blow… but his fist was stuck. The I-beams had shattered into knife-like pieces, which were still attached- and even as he tried to withdraw his arm, the metal bit into his circuitry, holding him in place.

One massive fist swung towards Cyborg- with a cry of dismay he ejected his right hand, and jumped out of the way, to the monster's other shoulder. He could only watch in horror as his fist would pulled down into the monster's body, out of sight… his sonic cannon was gone.

Starfire had dropped Robin, and now streaked up towards the monster, starbolts flying from her fingers. Green energy balls peppered the beast's hide- it swung at her, and she just barely dodged. If she could distract the monster from Cyborg, then he could get down, and they could regroup…

The monster was stumbling towards the city proper, and the destruction that the monster caused there would be incalculable. Beast Boy had taken the form of a whale, and rammed the monster's leg- it stumbled, but continued on regardless as if it cared nothing for the green shapeshifter- it seemed more intent on grabbing the elusive half-robot, who despite his size was comparatively nimble next to the massive beast of rock and stone.

The first of many buildings fell as the monster stumbled into the city. Concrete bent and splintered like wood under its feet, and cars were crushed flat. The faces of buildings were scraped clean off of their supports. And through this all, Starfire blasted it with starbolt after starbolt, and her destructive green energy could not slow it down, nor deter it from its quest of catching Cyborg.


Beast Boy dove down towards his friend, intent on helping- in mid-dive, he transformed into a rhino. Horn lowered, he hit the monster directly between its misshapen eyes, and his momentum was such that the creature began to topple over. Before it hit the ground, though, a green Pterodactyl had already snatched up Cyborg, and the two went gliding away from the devastation that was to follow. The monster toppled a building in its fall, covering the city street with debris, its wail of pain and surprise swallowing the senses. But as soon as it had fallen, it was back on its feet, smashing a building in rage at the embarrassment of its fall.

Beast Boy and Cyborg landed not too far away from Starfire and Raven. The changeling's nose was bleeding- not even the rhino's horns could withstand the impact of its massive body on rock, and his nose had broken. Cyborg looked glum- his arm had been destroyed within the innards of the monster.

"What're we going to do?" Beast Boy demanded, sniffling back some blood.


"The harm we are causing it is not enough! We must have a plan," Starfire said, looking intently at Robin.

Robin sighed. "Without Raven, and without Cyborg's sonic cannon, we're a distinct disadvantage," he said quietly. No one seemed upset at Robin naming Raven as a simple asset, for they had yet to believe that she was gone, and so quickly.

"So we need a plan!" Starfire repeated, a bit hysterically.

Robin nodded. "Cyborg, if you and Beast Boy can bring it down, then I can set all of my explosives on it, That should reduce it to rubble-"

The building next to the Titans suddenly shuddered, and began to collapse. And the rock monster was on top of them, massive hand reaching down to snatch them up. Starfire rose in the air to hurl another starbolt at it- it swung its hand at her, knocking her to one side as if she were nothing more than a fly. "Starfire!" Robin shouted, but could not go to her- the monster suddenly grabbed him in one massive fist. In the other it held a piece of the building it had just torn down- it dropped this on the other two Titans.

Cyborg and Beast Boy didn't stand a chance.

The monster slowly lifted the struggling Robin to eye-level, glaring menacingly at him. His struggles were useless against the rock creature's incredible strength- he could not move his arms. And the monster was crushing him.

Starfire slowly lifted herself up onto her elbows. Pain turned her vision red, foggy, and uncertain… but she could see Beast Boy and Cyborg nowhere… and feared the worst.

This is so familiar... something's wrong… I remember this…

Starfire didn't give it a second thought. This was no time for paranoid delusions; Robin was in trouble! Despite the pain that nearly crippled her body, she launched herself off of the ground and rocketed upwards towards the monster, starbolts glowing in her hands and leaving a trail of green energy behind her.

"Release my friend, bad creature!" Starfire shouted, and threw both of her starbolts. The green energy struck the beast's hand just above the wrist- knocking concrete in every direction. It roared in pain  and released Robin. The Boy Wonder plummeted towards the street- Starfire dove after him.

The monster's fist swung towards her- Starfire, too intent on catching Robin before he hit the ground much, much too far below- did not see it coming, and could not dodge. The monster slammed her up against the building; ground her body between its fist and the building.

Pain flared through her body, but not as great as the pain of the knowledge that she… she had let Robin fall… if only her other teammates had been there! But they were not… they were gone…

The monster withdrew his fist, and Starfire fell. Fell.

But unlike Robin, she could fly. She had lost a lot of strength, by now, and her body ached from the beating she had taken, but she was not finished. She rocketed back up towards the behemoth's head, her entire body now glowing with green energy. It was time to finish this… time to finish the monster once and for all.

The two titans struck at the same time. Starfire released a bolt of energy so strong it disintegrated the chest of the beast. But its fist was already coming down- it struck Starfire from above. She was driven to the ground, so fast that her collision with the streets rent the concrete, throwing up debris around her. With a pained moan, Starfire tried to turn her body… but couldn't. She was paralyzed… and a shadow was growing over her head.

The beast was to fall on top of her…

Starfire closed her eyes. It didn't matter. Small pebbles struck her back and head as the beast began to tumble. It didn't matter. She had failed her friends, all of them, in the most horrible way possible. She had let them die.

So her end… her death… It didn't matter.

I remember this…