The screams slowly died out behind her as the rock she grasped onto flew as fast as she could will it. The red rocks became more prominent and menacing, and to the scared little girl they looked to want to cage her in; punish her for all the damage she had caused.
She stopped for a few moments under a rock archway, physically and mentally exhausted. The rocks, normally so comforting and inviting, felt distant to her now, and for a moment she wished she could actually talk with them. Would they comfort her in her time of desperation or would they be angry at her for all the destruction wrought by her hands?
Nudging her way into a tiny crevice out of plain view, she hugged her knees to her chest and began to sob quietly.
"Why can't I do this," she screamed at herself. "Why do I always… always…" The thoughts were too painful; the words refused to form in her brain. The screams of the people killed in the earthquake she had just caused still swam in circles in her mind; the absolute terror on the faces of the innocent people who had died lingered before her face no matter how hard she closed her eyes. She swore she could still feel the earth quaking and trembling from her commands, as if it were trying to tell her something, trying to scream at her to stop.
The sobs were becoming less frequent as time wore on, now replaced by exhaustion. The more she sobbed, the more tired she became; the more tired she became, the more her fear of being hunted down subsided. Sleep came quite easily to the frightened little nomad. Resting on a nearby rock, the sound of the wind rushing through the gorge lulled her to sleep.
The new city towered before her long before it ever fully came into view. Raising her arm and calling a rock to her side, she hopped on it and sailed upwards. The sky that day was a clear blue, and the weather was near perfect, except for mild wind from the west carrying dirt and ash from the tragic, sudden earthquake that occurred the day before.
Even though she had been wandering the Earth for years, she still never quite felt comfortable sleeping on rocks. They held their heat so well during the day, but it always seemed that they lost it instantly once the sun finally set.
Sighing to herself, she prayed she might be able to find a good place to sleep tonight, preferably in a bed. "Bed…" she thought. "Haven't slept in one of those in awhile. I don't really care if it's hard as a … okay, I do care if it's hard as a rock, but it would be so nice just to sleep in a nice, comfy bed…" Tilting her head to the upwards, she regarded the sky, taking in its beautiful blue colour, the same colour as her wild, sad eyes. Flipping her head quickly to one side and then the other, she sighed contentedly as her neck crick-crick-cracked.
Nearing the outskirts of the suburbs, she brought her rock down back to the ground and decided to hoof it, so as not to arouse suspicion. There was really nothing out of the ordinary about a little girl walking through the streets of the little suburbs in the middle of June.
She imagined she was on her way to a friend's house, and they were about to go swimming in her pool. Oh, but she hoped her friend's little brother didn't show up and ruin their fun! Or maybe the friend had an older brother, and the brother took an interest in her. Maybe they joked around together, and watched cartoons together after she and the friend finished swimming. Or maybe the friend wasn't home and it was just the little girl and the brother…
Maybe she was on her way to a softball game. Today they'd be facing their rivals, and she was starting catcher. The game played out before her eyes as she wandered past the identical houses. Bottom of the ninth, tie game, bases loaded, and her personal rival was on third. "She's not getting past me," the little girl thought. She gave the pitcher a signal for a fastball, and it went sailing toward the girl's glove. She lifted her hand to intercept it… but wait, where was the ball? Oh no, the batter hit it! The girl's rival came rounding toward home, and the little girl screamed at the left fielder to catch the ball, or throw it to her. The left fielder picked it up and threw it with all the strength in her. The girl stepped onto home plate, reached up for the ball…
And ran right into someone walking past her on the street.
"OW!" She mentally chided herself for not paying attention to where she had been walking. Doubled over with her right hand on her left shoulder and her left hand on her stomach, she looked up to see whom she had run in to. It was a boy, about her age, maybe a couple years older, staring at her. His head cocked to the side, he wore a quizzical expression on his face as his head and neck seemed to strain themselves to look closer at the girl, but not to seem like he was really trying to stare at her.
"Wow, are you okay?" He had a soothing kind of voice. It seemed honest and sincere, and his expression faded from quizzical to affable as a smile crept across his face. "You were really zoning out there."
The little girl blushed, feeling like a fool. "Yeah… heh, sorry. Are you okay? I'm so sorry I ran in to you like that!"
The boy brushed off her concerns with a flick of his wrist. "Naaah, I'm good. You'll have to hit me a lot harder than that to hurt me." Winking, he mockingly felt his own bicep, flashing her the biggest smile he could manage.
"So, what's your name?"
The little girl tried her best to work up her confidence and smile. "Terra. My name's Terra."
"Cool. My name's Jake. I live in that house on the corner over there." He reached behind him and lazily pointed to one of the larger houses on the block. The yard alone was bigger than any she'd ever seen, and she guessed she could have fit five of the houses she'd lived in with her parents in Jake's house.
Her awe seemed apparent to Jake, as he continued, "Heh, it's a pretty big house, isn't it?"
Terra shook her head, trying to snap herself back to reality. "Uh, yeah. Wow, it's totally huge! How did you get to live in a house like that!"
Jake shrugged. "My dad's a brain surgeon. I guess it makes a lot of money, but he's hardly ever around." His voice seemed to drop as he spoke, and as he searched for a new subject, he squished a ladybug walking by with the ball of his foot.
"No! Oh man, you killed it!" Terra squatted down, hoping maybe she could save the poor ladybug.
Jake stared confusedly at her. "Why wouldn't I have killed it? It's just a stupid bug."
Terra looked up at him, her eyes pleading her case. "But didn't you know? Ladybugs are really lucky! You're really lucky if one comes by you or lands on you." Her head dropped down to look at the poor, squished ladybug. "But you killed this one…"
Jake chuckled to himself, amused at the girl's concern for a worthless little bug. "So, what house do you live in? I've never seen you around here before."
"Uh oh." Terra's face flushed. She always hated this part of coming to new towns. She liked meeting new people and trying to save them, but she hated when they started asking about her. "Well, I don't live around here, actually. See, I'm a superhero!" As she spoke, she jumped up, raising her arms above her head and smiling, trying to seem as cool and confident as possible. Even while she grinned, she couldn't help but feeling like a total fool.
"Whoa, no way!" Jake's jaw dropped as far as his bones would allow, his eyes widened, and he practically squealed he seemed so excited. "I've always wanted to meet a superhero. How come you're coming here?"
Tilting her head to the side a little, she rolled her eyes back and forth, twirling her wrist as she gave Jake the speech she'd given to so many other people. "Well, you know, I'm just going around, trying to find a town I really like. Haven't found any place I like yet, but maybe I'll settle here."
Jake and Terra sat together on the curb of the quiet little suburban street until the sun set. As Terra regaled Jake with tales of her travels, Jake never once lost interest. Of course, Terra left out the mudslides, avalanches, earthquakes, rock slides, and thousands of innocent deaths; she figured Jake wouldn't care for that too much.
A voice from the street called Jake's name into the wind, beckoning him home for dinner. Grabbing Terra's arm, he practically dragged her to his house, all the while telling her how cool she was, and how his parents would love to meet her. "You can stay for dinner, and sleep in our house, and then I can show you around and you can start fighting crime! It'll be the coolest!"
Terra's eyes widened; she struggled against Jake's grip, but he was far too strong. Before she could voice her protest, they'd come upon Jake's doorstep, and he began telling his mom all about his afternoon with Terra. He talked a mile a minute, barely letting Terra get a word in edgewise.
Though she originally felt thoroughly uncomfortable, Terra began to relax a little more as the night wore on. Jake's parents welcomed her into their house with open arms, and his mother in particular took a great interest in her and her well-being. Terra felt a mix of embarrassment and empowerment from all the attention being lavished upon her.
As she helped Jake's mother wash the dishes after dinner, she began to zone out again. She imagined that she was Jake's little sister, and they'd just had a wonderful family dinner together. Dad wasn't going to be on call that night, so after dinner he was going to play catch with Terra. Oh, and of course he told her how proud he was of her for winning that softball game. Mom was proud of her, too, but kept telling Terra to go upstairs, take a shower, and change out of her dirty, smelly clothes so she could wash them. While they washed dishes, the two ladies of the household talked about school, and boys, and giggled at little inside jokes they had with each other. "Terra," her mother said. "Terra, honey… Terra…"
Terra was so caught up in her daydream that she didn't even notice Jake's mother handing her a new plate to dry. When she finally came to, she felt thoroughly embarrassed. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" Her cheeks turned redder than the mountains out the window, and she dropped her face back toward the dish to dry it.
Jake's mother lovingly rubbed her hand on Terra's back, comforting her and not at all phased by Terra's overactive imagination. "Oh don't be embarrassed, sweetie." Jake's mother had the sweetest voice. It was altogether very motherly, Terra thought, and had just the tiniest southern twang. She imagined Jake's mother grew up in the south, and fell in love with Jake's father while they were in college together.
"Here, honey, let's go start some bathwater for you and I'll wash your clothes while you have a good scrub in the tub." At the words "scrub in the tub," her face bunched up into the sweetest, most motherly expression Terra had ever seen. "I wish she was my mother…"
The tub she slid into was larger than any tub she'd ever seen. "It's probably as big as a Jacuzzi," Terra thought. The water was all at once refreshing, invigorating, and while she laid there, her shoulder blades pressed up against the porcelain, she thought that she would never take another bath as wonderful as this again. "Actually, I'll never find a family as wonderful as this ever again." The thought was both uplifting and thoroughly depressing.
As she lay herself down in a bed three times her size, she prayed as hard as she could to and God that would listen that she could just live here for the rest of her life. No more crime-fighting, no more pretending to be a superhero, no more wanton destruction. Ever since her parents died in that first earthquake she caused, she had always been searching for a home where she could just settle down and forget everything she had done.
But it seemed that the Fates had something else in mind for Terra. She was rudely awoken the next morning by the sound of a rumble, then a large boom, followed by a blood-curdling scream from Jake's mother.
"NO!" Terra threw the blankets off of her and jumped from the bed. Finding her clean clothes folded on a chair near the bed, she changed as fast as she could, sloppily tying her boots as she ran from the room in the direction of the master bedroom.
Bursting through the door, she found Jake's father in a struggle with a man whose face she swore she'd seen before. The two of them turned to look at her.
"Run, Terra!"
"That's the girl, get her!"
Jake's father did his best to hold the men back from getting to Terra, who felt frozen with fear. Nothing worked but her brain, trying to figure out where these men had come from. Which city did they live in, what disaster did she cause that destroyed their home?
Surveying the room, she noted that Jake's mother held Jake tightly, trying to shield him from the intruders. She had some sort of gash on her head, and Terra imagined that came from trying to protect her son.
"Terra! Terra, did you hear me! RUN!"
One of the men bashed Jake's father over the head with a post from the bed and turned his sights on Terra. His eyes narrowed in the most sinister manner Terra had ever seen. She felt sick to her stomach. The men looked positively overjoyed knowing that the women were unprotected. One of the men ran toward Terra while the other ran at Jake's mother.
Terra screamed and tore out the floor beneath the one going toward Jake and his mother.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean for any of this to happen!" Tears streaked down her face as she backed up, turned, and ran from her pursuer. Tearing out a chunk of the floor, she jumped onto it and flew up and over the stairs. Grasping the rock for dear life, Terra crashed through the front door.
The rain fell in sheets as she escaped the house, the suburb, the city as fast as she could. High above the ground, she looked periodically behind her to see if she was once again being followed.
Finding shelter once more in a nearby canyon, she screamed into the rain and flung herself to the ground. The shame of having hurt more people who had cared for her, even if only for a day, made the girl wish she could simply melt away; become one with the Earth.
The rain continued for days, as if the Earth and skies were mirroring Terra's emotions. She traveled despondently through the canyons and deserts with no real regard or care for where she was going. The sound of the mud she sloshed through coincided with the beating of her heart, and with every beat she wished for death.
She was more careful now when she traveled, taking more notice of the faces she came across, remembering names, and eavesdropping on conversations, praying none of them were talking about the recent natural disasters.
A new city loomed before the nomad, and once again she repeated her routine of bringing her rock down outside of the city and walking through it, though this time she did her best to blend into the scenery. She was accosted here and there by a few people, but she felt at least a bit relieved that none of them recognized her.
As she wandered, searching for a spot to lay her head for the night, sirens from down the avenue interrupted her thoughts. She watched them pass, debating with herself as to whether or not she could help. "Maybe this time I can do some real good" she thought. "Maybe I can help them and they won't run me out like everyone else…"
Against what resembled her better judgment, she took off running down the street after the police cars.
Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. Pant, pant, pant. She kept pace with the cars for maybe a block, but soon found herself out of breath. Normally, she wouldn't use her powers in the city, but she was on her way to save people! Superheroes always make great entrances, and if she was going to be a good superhero, she needed to act like one. Tearing out a piece of the sidewalk, she sped after the police cars with newfound confidence.
Assuming a half-kneeling/half-squatting position, she held onto the rock and willed herself to fly above the tops of the buildings, eyes keenly trained on the sirens. Now and then she'd take her eyes off the police cars to look at the people whose faces had turned upwards to watch her fly, their features a blur as she flew past.
The cars twisted and turned within the labyrinth that was the city. As she followed them, it felt like they'd been continuing on for hours. The car being pursued just kept on driving and it seemed the police were helpless to stop it.
Her exhaustion began to catch up with her. "That's what you get for being a nomad, sleeping on rocks, always traveling…" As Terra's expression dropped from concentration to sadness, the rock began to curve on a path back to Earth. Realizing she was about to crash into a building, she pulled hard and found herself once again in the familiar skies.
Time just continued to tick past as the police followed the car. Frustrated, she lowered herself toward the city and flew ahead of the getaway car. "It's now or never, Terra." With every ounce of willpower she could muster, she concentrated on trying to create a natural roadblock into which the car could crash. Focused on a part of the street far ahead of all the cars, she attempted to the rocks beneath the street to the surface.
Terra thought she heard a rumbling, very quiet at first. The more she strained, the louder the rumble got; it seemed to come closer with every breath she took. Screaming from the physical and mental exhaustion, she threw everything she had into getting that street to break.
That rumbling sound turned to a roar as the very Earth she had been trying to break collapsed. A giant crevasse formed in place of the street, homes, and businesses. The panic sensor in her brain screamed at her as she watched the faces of the people as they lost their footing, lost their holds on loved ones.
The police cars that had once been following the criminals slammed hard on their breaks to watch her hover there in the sky. They pointed at her and screamed into their radios, calling for backup to arrest her and ambulances to save the people who hadn't fallen into the crevasse.
Coming down to stand on the other side of the crevasse, she looked left and right in a panicked state, trying to figure out what to do. "I'm not going to run away again! I'm not going to run!" She tried to concentrate, she tried to form a plan in a brain occupied with the screams of terrified civilians and the screams of the Earth as it tore itself in two. Find rocks, Terra! Bring them up under the people barely hanging on! Bring them out, be a hero! Be a hero like you always wanted!
Head pounding, she leaned back, screaming from the pain she felt. It was all she could do to pull one rock from the ground, let alone hundreds. The ground trembled once more underneath her, shattering the crevasse even deeper. Those who had held on, waiting for help to arrive now fell into the gorge. In that instant, Terra's mind snapped.
"NO! Not again, not again!" Terra flung herself onto the rock she flew down on, holding onto it for dear life as she spiraled upwards away from the city. She felt the familiar sting of tears on her cheeks; small at first, then it hurt so much she felt she'd burst. The sounds of the city died away as she flew out of earshot, but the rumbling, the screams, the abject terror remained in her head.
She continued to fly from the city, despite the exhaustion and anguish that filled her head. Wafting slowly through the air, she found rest hours later in a cave hours from the city she had torn asunder. Practically flopping to the ground, she fell asleep, her dreams riddled with the images of destruction she'd caused.
Waking a few hours after dawn, she felt no better than when she'd gone to sleep. She wiped the tears from her face that had been shed in her sleep. For a moment, she entertained the thought that her sleep had been more traumatizing than what she'd done yesterday.
Overcome with hunger, she headed toward a small town not far from her cave to try and find food. Going at a leisurely pace, she meandered toward the town at her own pace, deciding not to exhaust herself any more. She tried to amuse herself by humming or skipping rocks; both lost their appeal rather quickly and did nothing to improve her mood.
A rumbling behind her caught her attention. Turning, Terra watched a large shadow make its way into the canyon at a staggering pace. "What is that thing?" She quickly jumped atop a nearby rock to see a giant scorpion making its way toward her.
Terra panicked. She took off running as fast as her legs would carry her, which, to her, didn't seem as fast as she felt she should be going. The thing continued to gain on her, no matter how fast she willed her legs to go. She tried to command a rock in front of her, but all it did was spin around once or twice and break in two as it fell onto the ground.
She screamed in frustration, panting, forcing her body to go faster. Looking back, she saw it catch up with her, claws clacking. Terror filled every muscle in her body, but her tiny frame wouldn't move any faster.
The scorpion reared its stinger, hitting the ground just behind her. Terra flew through the air, losing the little butterfly clip that held her hair back in the process. Dazed, she reached for it, only to have the scorpion strike again.
Terror-stricken, she screamed and took off again. The path ahead was nothing but a straight shot through the gorge; there was no way to shake it. Falling against one of the walls of the gorge, she curled into the fetal position, so scared she couldn't move.
As it had so many times before, her mind seemed to snap. She had somehow calmed down and managed to know exactly what to do. A rock bridge connected one end of the gorge to the other; she would will the bridge away from the gorge and bring it down upon the scorpion.
Rearing its stinger once more, the scorpion delighted in knowing it had caught its prey. During its one moment of hesitation, the scorpion found itself crushed under the weight of natural rock, brought down by the girl it had been chasing.
Both amazed at and satisfied with herself, Terra patted the dirt from her hands and lifted a rock to take her to the top of the gorge. Five people stood there, staring at the strange girl.
"What? Haven't you guys ever seen a superhero before?" She smiled the best smile she could muster as she hopped confidently off of her rock. She immediately recognized the dazed teenagers in front of her, her heart skipping a few beats as the stared in wonder at her.
"I'm Robin," the apparent leader said as he snapped back to reality. "And we're the –"
"Teen Titans! Rock on, it's cool to meet you guys!"
"I'm Terra!"