Author's Note: Welcome one and all to my first-ever Teen Titans fic. The idea for it struck me at approximately 11:15 last night and wouldn't leave me alone. So I ended up turning my light back on and writing until midnight...enjoy. Lucas, here's a good TT fic for you (I hope.)
StoryWhether bright or melancholy,
Rough and ready, finely spun,
Whether with a thousand players
Or a lonely cast of one
Every story, new or ancient
Bagatelle or work of art
All are tales of human failing
All are tales of love at heart
"Every Story," from Aida, by Elton John and Tim Rice
"I'm sorry, Terra," Beast Boy said to the statue. "I'm so sorry. I'd do anything if it would bring you back. I'd leave the Titans if I had to, if only I could bring you back."
It wasn't the first time he'd said this to her, wasn't the first time he'd apologized for he knew not what. It had been almost a year now since her 'death,' and the thought worried at him that if he'd just said this thing, done that thing, then maybe, maybe she'd still be here with him now, and he wouldn't have to tell his troubles to a stone statue. No; he wouldn't have troubles, because Terra would be here, and everything would be all right.
He spoke to Terra often, nearly every day. He was fairly sure the other Titans knew, though they never said anything. They pitied him. But that was all right. Beast Boy could ignore that.
So he came as often as he could to this place full of so many bad memories. Sometimes he wouldn't speak at all; sometimes he would simply sit and look at her, and wonder, until he nearly drove himself mad with doubt. Usually, though, he did talk to her. He poured out his worries to her as he could not to anyone who was alive. They knew only Beast Boy the prankster, the teller of bad jokes, the comic relief; he doubted they would believe he even had true problems.
He also told her stories. Told her of the Titans' adventures, of the villains to whom they'd brought justice and the wrongs they'd made right. It was only fair that she knew, he reasoned; after all, were she alive, she'd be a Titan today, taking part in said adventures.
Some small part of him recognized that this was not normal, for a teenaged boy to be talking to a statue almost as though he expected it (her) to talk back. But then, Beast Boy had never been normal.
He told her about his life before he became a Titan. The other Titans knew little of these tales. They had some vague knowledge of his background, of course, but that was all. Terra knew him far better than anyone else, and he her. And he did, too, for he'd been right in the end, hadn't he?
"Why, Terra?" he whispered. "Why'd you have to sacrifice yourself? Wasn't there another way?"
This was another question that haunted him. Statistically speaking, he knew there had to be, even if they hadn't been viable options at the time. But there had to have been another way. Surely Fate wasn't that cruel, to have forced them together and then apart again, so soon after they realized what they meant to each other.
But then, that was part of the problem, wasn't it? Even though he knew, knew, how important she was to him, he'd never been able to summon up the courage to tell her. And now it was too late.
"I miss you, Terra," he said, looking up at the stone figure, at the crack that ran from her eye to her chin like a single solemn tear. "More than I know how to say. I miss you so much..." he stood, so that he was directly facing her statue.
He was taller than her, he realized suddenly. And was terrified at the thought. It had never before occurred to him that he might grow old before they found a way to bring Terra back. And what if that did happen? He was almost certain that if such a thing happened, it really would kill him.
His communicator beeped suddenly. No more time to brood. The team needed him. "I'll have to go, Terra," he said. "But I'll be back again, I promise. Soon. Tomorrow." And then, so softly he himself could barely hear it: "I love you."
Turning and walking away, he practiced his usual madcap fanged grin for a moment before becoming a hawk and flying away.
A warm wind stirred through the empty cavern, seeming to carry with it the scent of the desert and the faintest orico tune.
Beast Boy......I love you.
END.
And that's all. I realize it's short, but that's all there is. Sorry.
Just in case anyone's wondering...I believe an orico is the instrument Terra's music is played on.