There is darkness. Terra opens her eyes, and is surprised to see that the sun is shining, streaming through her bedroom window and onto her bed, warming her feet. She tries to sit up, but she cannot. She begins to panic - after all, wasn't this the same thing that happened in her dream, not three days ago? She hears a high-pitched beeping noise, but she cannot determine where it is coming from. If only she could sit up; if only she could move her head, then maybe she would better understand what exactly was going on. She tries to calm herself down; regulate her breathing, slow her heart, and succeeds. She actually thinks that it feels kind of nice, warming her feet while lounging around in bed at whatever hour it is. It's something that she used to enjoy every chance she got, but that was a long while ago, and she's grown accustomed to living off the land. Well, she had, before all of this mess happened. She hears a knock on the door, and it slides open. Cyborg stands in the doorway, smiling, the sun gleaming off his metallic parts like a lens flare in a picture. "How'd you sleep?" He asks.

"Alright, I guess." Terra responds. "I should have woken up at six after six. Why didn't I..."

"Raven told me about what happened. I had a mild sedative and a muscle relaxant running through your bloodstream."

"Where is everyone?"

"They're here. Can't move, can you?" Terra shakes her head. "It'll wear off. There's breakfast out here if you want it."

"I'll be out in a few minutes." Terra says, yawning. Cyborg nods, and closes the door. She thought that it was really sweet of him - not only him, everyone - to check on her and see if she was alright. They were all that she had. She tried to think, but found that there was something blocking her mind. She shrugged it off, and she began to gain the feeling back in her arms in legs. Suddenly, there was a shooting pain up her back, and it was so intense she fell backwards onto her pillow. She was glad that it wasn't as bad as what she had gone through before, but it had still hurt a fair amount. She knew that she would be all right. Raven had promised her, and after all, didn't Raven keep all of her promises?

"Alright, Tara, now I need you to breathe in, slowly." Terra complies. Cyborg and Raven were running a medical exam; well, not an exam, a checkup, if you will, to see if there were any ill effects from the medication Terra had taken over the night. "That's good, now breathe out. Great. How's the blood working coming, Rae?"

"It checks out. She's fine." Raven replies, toiling over a monitor.

"What about her back?"

"She pinched a few nerves. It'll be alright." Terra sighs. It was a sigh of relief, but she still had no idea what was going on. All she knew about anything was that Trigon was evil, and if she wasn't careful, she would be his puppet. She sighs again, this time in sadness. There were a great deal of things she had been insecure about, but she had hoped that this wasn't one of them. She knew nothing about her fate, but if what Raven had once said to her, and if what she had seen was true, then she knew only one thing - that Trigon could bring around the end of the world, and he was going to try and use her some way to attain that goal. She shudders. It was like revisting a past memory, one full of pain and hate and anguish. She was still just a kid, not even a girl of fifteen, and she questioned why she felt the way she did. Would things have been any different without her powers? She didn't think so.

"Tara? Hello, anyone home?" Cyborg asks, snapping her back to reality. She was so deep in thought she failed to notice that they had finished.

"Sorry, Vic. I just have a lot to think about." Raven nods. Somehow, Raven understood, but there was a deep pain inside Terra, a strong emotional pain, and she had no idea how she was going to get it out. She wonders if anyone else knew her pain, and then quickly thought that they did. They had all lost their parents. Well, most of them had, at least. They had grown up strong, and Terra was sure they had done their parents proud. Terra then felt something hard to describe; like a block in her mind, removing all conscious thought. She struggles to think through it, and succeeds somewhat, but her thoughts are faint, almost distant. Her vision begins to cloud over and she begins to lose focus. Her vision comes back almost immediately, but the block is still there.

"What the hell is going on here?" Cyborg asks, biwildered. Meters were fluctuating, and a series of rapid beeps could be heard to everyone except Terra, who couldn't hear anything over the steady, rhythmic beating of her pulse. She suddenly feels a bit faint, and forces herself to stay awake, though she knows it is only a matter of time. Raven brings herself face-to-face with Terra, Terra's sharp blue eyes staring back at her, sadly, but almost hypnotically.

"Tara, what's wrong?" Raven asks, loudly but almost comfortingly. Terra was able to hear her, even though her pulse and heartbeat resonated through her body, beating in time with one another.

"Rae, I don't feel so good. I think I'm gonna faint." Terra replies, sounding almost tired. Raven pushes the thought from her mind; Terra had a great sleep, and hell, she had been asleep for ten hours. The drugs had really helped, and there was nothing wrong with her. Well, at least nothing that the drugs had caused.

"Raven, I know what the problem is." Cyborg informs her. "Blood sugar. Really low."

"Why didn't I think of that?" Raven asks. "I should have known that." Terra reaches up and shakily put her hand on Raven's shoulder. There is a burning sensation in Terra's chest now, like something was trying to push its way out from the inside.

"Rae, you're great." Terra comforts, then closes her eyes. They flash open as Terra wills herself on. She tells herself that she couldn't fall asleep; she would fight it as long as she could. She couldn't let Trigon come after her, even in her dreams. She thought that Trigon was practically a modern-day Freddy Kruger, and she would have laughed if she could. "I would have died if not for you." Raven smiles. She knows that Terra is right, and feels a certain pride. She was one of the people who helped to save the life of a confused 14-year old girl. She did wonder, however, if Terra had aged any while she was stuck in that stone prison? Raven quickly made a decision; yes, she did believe so. Terra was alive, but only in a coma, but that was a long time ago.

"How?" Raven asks, turning her mind away from her thoughts and addressing Cyborg. "We just checked it when we started this. It was full."

"That's what I'm going to try to find out." Cyborg replies, and goes back to staring at several monitors. "Trigon can't suck the life out of people, can he?"

"I don't think so." Raven responds. For Raven, the phrase "I don't think so" was a way of her saying that she didn't have the slightest clue, at least when it came to Trigon. She hears a loud buzzing sound, and turns around, towards Terra. Terra's out cold. Raven turns back to Cyborg. "What did you do?"

"I gave her ten thousand volts. I couldn't stand to see her suffer." Raven knows this was very true; Cyborg is a very kind and warm-hearted person. He wouldn't do anything unless he absolutely had to. "She was shaking pretty badly. Her body temperature dropped to 92.7 degrees. She was going to get sick if I didn't do something." Raven hopes that they won't have to do what they did before. Not only for Terra, but for Beast Boy, as well.

"We can't carry on with what we did the last time we faced a problem like this. Trigon can control consciousness, which translates to Tara being screwed, but we can't give up hope. We can't keep her under, drugged up or asleep all the time. Gar would be furious."

"I guess you're right, but let me try to talk to him. I'm his best friend." Cyborg replies. He knows that he has to do something, but he's not sure what. He's not entirely sure what Trigon is capable of, but he does know one thing: the love of his friends life could be destroyed, and that's something that he doesn't want on his conscious.

"I can't accept that."

"It could save her life. Damnit, Gar, why are you so stubborn?"

"Because she matters to me more than she matters to any of you." Cyborg had managed to get Beast Boy talking about the possibility, though Beast Boy was fighting Cyborg every step of the way. Cyborg scratches his head with his hand. "We have a special link, a connection, and it's something I wouldn't train for the world. There are no others like her, and I would confess my love from the rooftops so the whole world would know."

"Gar, you're getting a little too thespian there." Cyborg replies.

"Sorry, but what I'm saying is true. Please, Vic. Don't do this." Beast Boy holds his head in his hands, then looks at Cyborg. Tears are welling up in his eyes, and Cyborg knows that whenever Beast Boy is about to cry, he's truly passionate about the circumstances.

"Alright, man, I'll make you a deal. I'll leave her as is for the present, but we're going to have to come to a decision, and I know you love her, but we're not going to have to do what's best for your relationship. We're going to do what's best for Tara. She's part of the team, and a little bit of everyone's responsibility."

"Why is she, though? Why does all this bad stuff keep happening to her? Why not me?" Cyborg pats Beast Boy on the back.

"Now that, Gar, is something that even I don't know." Cyborg gets up to leave. For a single moment, he thinks of what will happen if the worst does occur, and it's not a pretty thought. Terra strapped to a table, motionless, wires running through her body, her heart stopped. Cyborg shudders. It's something that he hopes he will never have to see. He decides that he won't tell Gar. It would break his heart.

Terra opens her eyes. Her head is pounding, and she thinks she can faintly smell her own burning flesh. She shakes it off and clutches her head, which is pounding, resulting in a massive amount of pain. She compairs this headache to what she went through before with Slade, and jokingly tells herself that what she's feeling right now is probably worse. She knows the real answer, though, and it was a hell that she hopes never to relive. However, what's she's in now, with Trigon, this is far worse, or at least everyone else thinks so. Terra looks at it as just another obsticle to overcome. She looks at the clock; 17 after 2. She tells herself that everyone's probably out. She should be out with them, having fun. She shivers. The air in the room became cold all of a sudden. She tells herself that with her life, it's just one weird thing after another. She stumbles into the living room, wiping sleep from her eyes and yawning. She is surprised to see that there is someone there. "How was your sleep, Tara? Anything strange?" It's Starfire. Kind, good-natured, well-meaning Starfire.

"No, Kory, nothing strange." Terra sits down on the couch next to Starfire. "Not this time, at least."

"The others have gone out, so it is just us for the time being. What do you wish to do?"

"Is there any coffee?"

"I believe that there may be some on the counter, but if not I could always call Dick on his cellular phone."

"I'll check. Thanks, Kory." Starfire smiles at Terra, a big grin. It was almost like nothing could get Starfire down. Her spirits were high all the time. Terra walks over to the counter and finds some coffee. She wonders what it would be like to not be Terra, and just be young, happy Tara Markov. To be normal. She pours herself a cup and returns to the couch.

"What's on your mind, Tara?" Starfire asks. Terra stares into her cup, looking solemn.

"Nothing important."

"I do not know what it is like to be... depressed. Can you explain it to me?" Terra looks at Starfire. Why would Starfire want to know? Pain is all it ever is.

"It hurts. A lot. Some days, you don't think you're going to make it, but then do you, and you're not happy or sad or angry about it. You just don't feel anything."

"That sounds horrible. If it is possible, I hope you can overcome it."

"So do I, Kory. So do I."

"Tara, you're shivering." Terra hadn't noticed this until Starfire said it. Terra began to think that she was cold. No, not only cold, freezing. Dear God, she was going to die of hypothermia or something, an unexplainable death that everyone would mourn and yet no one would know the details behind. Terra would then be gone, and the rest could keep on fighting and living, unexplainably. Terra knew that there was a fancy latin term for it, and she begin to remember. Deux ex machina. The god in the machine that would make everything alright, for everyone else, but not for her. Terra feels something warm around her shoulders, and looks up at Starfire, who had draped a blanket over her shoulders.

"Thanks, Kory." Starfire grins.

"Do not worry, Tara. I do not know what it is like, but I am sure that you will be able to overcome it, just as you came over the nerve-controlling... oh, I am sorry." Starfire remembered that Terra did not like to be reminded of her past. She had too many painful memories, and to be honest, who could blame her? She was a spy and a puppet, and just thinking of that was rather disheartening.

"It doesn't matter anymore. Nothing matters to me anymore."

"Perhaps things - good things, like happy memories - would matter if we all went out tonight? Not as the Teen Titans, just as friends?" Terra mulled this over. She realized that in all the time that she had been with the team, she had never just hung out with them. It was one step closer to being normal that she would gladly take.

"Sounds fun. What time?"