Fall to Pieces

Chapter Six: Friends

By: Angel Vanilla

Thank you to all of my reviewers, and readers, even if you haven't reviewed. I will probably make a chapter when I get to chapter ten that responds to all the reviews I've gotten since chapter five. Thank you! And I'm sorry I haven't updated in so long.

Garfield Logan resisted the urge to punch the wall. It had been another worthless day. He was no closer to freeing Terra from her stone prison than when he began the search a few weeks ago.

Gar, or Beast Boy, as he was once called, sighed sadly. He had hoped to find a cure quickly, so that he could revive Terra in time for Cyborg and Bumblebee's wedding. Now it seemed he would have to go alone…

"Well, the others should be there!" Gar told himself aloud, attempting to sound cheerful. "Robin, Raven, and Sta—" He stopped. He didn't want to tell himself that Starfire would be there, because there was no guarantee that she would be. None of them had heard from her since she left the tower all those weeks ago.

Gar reached into his pocket, and drew out a small stack of folded papers. Unfolding the top one, he re-read the letter he'd received from Raven.

Beast Boy,

Have you found a cure for Terra yet? If so, wow. You did something useful. If not, start getting depressed about it and, as I told Robin, I will maim you. No exceptions.

Have you heard anything from Starfire? I didn't want to bring it up with Robin in his letter, because I could feel the guilt coming from him. She hasn't tried to contact me, or Cyborg, wherever she is.

I'll see you soon. I want to see Terra too,

Raven

Gar smiled sadly at the letter. Raven had her own unique ways of attempting to cheer him up. She knew that he hadn't found a cure yet. If he had, he would have taken her to see them all. So that was obvious.

Picking up the next piece of paper, he unfolded that as well.

Beast Boy,

I don't think I'll have any time to play the game, even if I got it. Bruce is working me half to death here. It's making me remember what made me leave.

I'm sorry you haven't made any progress on Terra's condition. I've told Bruce to keep his eyes open for anything that may be useful to the cause. Don't give up yet.

And I don't plan on dying any time soon, and I certainly hope you aren't planning to show up unexpectedly. That would probably give old Alfred a heart attack.

See you,

Robin

With a smile, Gar picked up the last paper. It had to be Cyborg's letter.

Hey BB,

How are you, ya little grass-stain? (Just a little nickname from the old days.) Ha! I got Attack of the Ninja Monkey Robots Part 12 this morning, AND I got MegaRobots: Advanced! Beat that!

Have you heard anything about Star? I don't think she went back to Tamaran. Last time she was there (the whole wedding thing) she seemed pretty set on coming back to Earth. We could try and find her…

You still coming to the wedding? It's in a week. And, as I said to Rob, you'd better be there, otherwise I'm gonna hunt you down and… I'll let your mind imagine the possibilities…

Off to play MegaRobots: Advanced,

Cy

Gar finished reading, and felt a moment of panic. The letter from Cyborg had been written four days ago, which meant he only had three days to pack and get over to Steel City, where the wedding was. And Steel City was back in New York. Now Gar was in Silver City, Florida.

Gar groaned, and hit his head on his kitchen table in the corner of his apartment.

"I am so doomed."

While her old friend Garfield obsessed and worried about what he was going to do about his friend's wedding, Briony was already making the arrangements for the closest person she had to a friend at JCU to send her to send her the notes and work from class while she was in Steel City. The almost-friend was the boy in the room next to her, Ryan.

In addition to being her only near-friend in the university, Ryan was also the only one who knew about her being the ex-Titan Raven. Briony found it quite relieving to tell someone about her past. Although she left out the darker parts, of course.

"Thank you Ryan. This is a huge help," Briony told him as she left his dorm for her own.

"You're welcome," He answered, smiling. The Irish boy was always smiling. And between his ever-cheerful attitude and his flaming red hair, Briony couldn't help but think of Starfire whenever she looked at him.

"Have a good time at the wedding, lass. Don't worry about school while you're away," Ryan told her. Briony smiled back.

"I will." Entering her own dorm, she scanned the room, violet eyes falling on the half-packed suitcase on her unmade bed.

Briony smiled happily at the thought of being with her friends again. The smile quickly disappeared as she heard something break in the hallway.

"I can teach you to show emotion without your powers interfering, Lady Raven," A voice said from the closet. Briony closed her eyes and counted to twenty in her mind so that she didn't lose her temper before speaking.

"No, Malchior. I've had enough of your spells."

"I only want to help you, Lady Raven. Besides, I—" Briony opened the closet door, and Malchior abruptly stopped talking.

"I said no." Briony said firmly. Picking up the white book, she threw it in the suitcase.

'I can't leave him here. If someone hears him talking, then he could trick them as he did me.' Briony thought, and began to fold clothes for the trip, heart heavy from the memories of Malchior's betrayal.

Richard Grayson let out an agitated breath, and moved in his seat. The plane hadn't even left the ground yet, and already he was annoyed by the crying child behind him.

'At least I don't have anyone sitting beside me,' He thought. 'Okay, never mind.' He amended as a flight attendant told an unseen figure to sit beside him.

"Thank you." They said to the flight attendant. Rick sat up straight as he heard the voice. 'It can't be…' He thought. 'Why not? She is going to the wedding as well.'

The flight attendant walked away, allowing him a clear view of the one who was to sit with during the three hour plane flight to Steel City.

Richard stared at her as she sat down next to him, in the middle seat.

"Raven?" He asked, knowing it was her. She looked up, violet eyes shining with recognition.

"I'm Briony Eddon. Although I have been told I look like Raven," She gave him a small smile.

"But-"

/Robin/ Raven—or Briony, as she claimed she was called—screamed at him telepathically. /We're not Titans anymore and we're in public! We have to use our real names./

"Right," Rick said, nodding. To any onlookers, it would have seemed he was merely responding to her statement of looking like Raven. He was really responding to her message. "Sorry. You do look remarkably like her though."

She nodded approvingly. "It happens all the time. And you are…?" Rick nearly laughed aloud at the oddity of this question. They both knew each other's real names. (A/N: The only reason Rick said to Bruce, "She said to mail it to her, and when you did, to use her real name. She said you'd know that, too." Was because I didn't feel like saying her name then. So there.)

"Richard Grayson," He answered, pushing up his dark sunglasses.

'Well, it's good to see her again, even if we can't talk about past experiences.' Rick thought, and leaned back in his seat. Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad flight after all…

Angel Vanilla: I'm so sorry I haven't updated in so long! And I'm aware that my timeline for this story is way off. Please ignore that. Reviews are welcome, even flames!