Clash of the Titans by CidGregor

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.

Chapter 12

For the second time in less than twelve hours, Terra found herself awakening in a hospital bed, looking up into Beast Boy's smiling face. It was, the blonde admitted to herself, a habit that she could definitely get used to.

"Good morning, sunshine," the green titan said with his usual ear-to-ear grin filling his face. "How'd you sleep?"

"Like a rock," she said, throwing him a grin of her own.

"Should've seen that one coming," Beast Boy snickered.

"Mmm…how long was I asleep for?"

"Most of the night," Beast Boy said. He glanced out the window at the darkened sky that was slowly growing lighter. "Looks like the sun's just about to start coming up…you wanna go up to the roof and watch with me?"

"Oh man…I haven't sat and watched the sunrise since…wow…since before I even met you guys."

"So…is that a yes?"

Terra smiled. "With you? Definitely."

The changeling took Terra's hand as she climbed out of bed and led her to the roof. The halls were quiet; it appeared no one else was awake yet. It had been a long night, after all; most of the Titans had very nearly died. And the area around where the Earth Titan had first appeared…those people hadn't been so lucky.

"There were…quite a few deaths…weren't there? Thanks to the Earth Titan?"

Beast Boy gave her a solemn nod as they climbed the stairs to the top floor of the Tower. "A couple of office buildings were dragged down into the fissure that the Earth Titan climbed out of. Thanks goodness it was in the evening, after most of them went home for the day…it could've been a lot worse…still…"

"Bad enough," Terra finished the thought.

They'd reached the door to the roof, but Beast Boy did not open it. He stood still, staring at it for a full minute before Terra became curious.

"Um…Beast Boy?"

SLAM!

Terra jumped as the changeling's fist slammed into the door, an uncharacteristic snarl on his face.

"Dammit, Raven…" he whispered.

"Beast Boy, what's wrong?"

"It's bad enough Raven didn't tell us she knew how to free you all this time in the first place," he said, "but what's worse is that…if she had…if you'd been freed sooner…maybe those people would still be alive today."

"Wh-what?"

"If you'd been there, maybe you could've held up the ground long enough for them to escape…but Raven left you down there…and now all those people are dead…maybe hundreds of them…"

"Beast Boy…"

The changeling sighed. "I'm sorry…I'm just…it's so frustrating…I don't understand how Raven could do something like that to you…how she could be so…heartless."

"Beast Boy…I don't think she did what she did because she was heartless."

Beast Boy stared at her, dumbfounded and disbelieving.

"I'm serious," Terra said. "She did what she did because of the exact opposite. She does have a heart. She cares about her friends…even if she doesn't ever show it, she cares, so much so that…after what I did…when I hurt her…when I hurt all of you…she was hurting so much, she tried to shut the pain out for good…"

"It doesn't change the fact that she had no right to make that choice," Beast Boy growled.

Terra opened her mouth to say more, but a sharp jingle came from the communicator on the changeling's belt.

"Guess someone's awake after all…" he muttered as he snatched it. "What?"

"We're having a meeting," came Robin's short reply. "Main room. Now."

Beast Boy sighed, flipped the device closed and headed back down the stairs. "I guess you'll have to enjoy the sunrise without me."

Terra stood still at the door watching him go, and a tear trickled down her cheek.

Beast Boy…she might not have the right to decide my fate…but she has every right to hate me…all of you do…

A rush of memories suddenly struck the earth maiden…memories of her short time with the Teen Titans, before she'd given them to Slade…memories of pounding her one-time friends into the ground, and worse, enjoying it, enjoying her betrayal of the only friends she'd ever truly had…memories that brought her nothing but guilt and sorrow. She collapsed against the door, her legs failing her, and slid down to the cold metal floor, sobbing.

I'm sorry…Beast Boy…Raven…everyone…I'm so sorry…
The doors slid open and Beast Boy entered the main room to find the other four titans already there, waiting. Robin leaned against the wall of the kitchen corner, a pensive look on his face. Cyborg, sitting on the edge of the couch, looked the same as Robin. Starfire hovered near Robin, her usual buoyant energy suppressed. Raven stood by the window, staring blankly out into the bay. Not a sound was made by anyone, until Beast Boy began to grow uncomfortable.

"Ahem…hey, Cy, you uh…feeling better?"

"Yeah, yeah," the titanium teen answered a little too quickly. "All charged up and ready to go."

"Good…and, um…Rob, Star? You two okay?"

"Yes, Raven did a most wonderful job of healing us," Starfire answered quietly. Robin merely nodded agreement.

Beast Boy stared around the room as silence fell again, and heaved a sigh. "This is about Terra, isn't it?"

"We…need to decide what to do about her," Robin said.

"What's there to decide?" Beast Boy said. "Look, she's sorry, okay? She sacrificed herself to save us and this whole city."

"Right after she gave it over to Slade in the first place, BB," Cyborg said. "Look…I know you two were close…are close…and I want to believe you, man, I really do. But what she did…it's hard to forget."

"I am sorry, Cyborg, but I must side with Beast Boy," Starfire said. "I believe Terra was misled. I believe she is legitimately sorry for her actions. I believe she wants nothing more now than to redeem herself. And in saving our lives by her willingness to give up her own, she has earned my forgiveness, and in my eyes, her redemption as well. That she saved my life again last night only reinforces that feeling within me."

"She likely saved a lot of lives by stopped the Earth Titan," Robin admitted. "And her sacrifice…is not something I will ever forget…but on the same token…I can't forget the evils she committed, either."

"Besides…whatever manipulations Slade may have used on Terra, in the end it was still her own choice to betray us; hers and hers alone," Raven spoke up.

"And when she realized she'd been wrong, she also chose to do the right thing in the end!" Beast Boy countered angrily. "She didn't have to give up her life in order to save the city, but she did it anyway. Isn't that good enough for you?"

"No," the dark girl answered. "She was doing nothing but trying to cover up a problem that she herself caused. That volcano only activated because of her powers. That was no act of heroism, she was saving her own butt."

There was a flash of a green cheetah blurring across the room, and in the blink of an eye a gloved hand was pressing the dark girl against the window glass.

"I AM SICK OF LISTENING TO YOU TALK ABOUT HER LIKE THAT!" he screamed at her, his eyes and face livid.

"Beast Boy, that's enough!" Robin ordered.

The changeling growled and stalked away, fuming. Halfway back to where he'd been, he spun around and jabbed a finger in Raven's direction. "You talk about the horrible things Terra did, like you think you're so much better than her…but you're just as guilty as she is of deception!"

"Say what?" Cyborg asked.

"Beast Boy, what are you talking about?" Robin demanded.

"Go on, Raven, tell them!" Beast Boy said. "Tell them all about how you've known a way to free Terra for months now! Tell them how you decided to hide it from all of us and leave her stuck down there in that statue! Tell them how you would've left her there forever if we hadn't needed her help last night! Come on, Raven, tell them all about it!"

A stunned silence fell over the room and all eyes were on Raven, whose face remained impassive.

"Raven…please, tell us this is not so…" Starfire whispered at last.

Raven said nothing.

"Raven…" Cyborg muttered.

Robin slowly walked toward her, his most intense stare locked on her. He stopped right in front of the dark girl, glaring into her violet eyes, while she glared back into the blank white of his eyemask.

"Is this true?" Robin asked.

Robin fully expected the dark girl to avert her gaze then; it was something of a surprise to him, then, when she held her stare as she answered.

"Yes."

Robin's fists clenched. "Do you have any idea how many codes of heroism you've broken in doing that?"

"No. And frankly I don't care. If you expect to guilt me into some kind of apology, forget it. I made my choice."

"It was not your choice to make!" Robin snarled. "Dammit Raven, this is a human life here! You can't make some executive decision about her fate like that! The least you could've done was let us know that you had a way to free her!"

"Why? So you could let her just come back to us, all forgiven? Let her become a Titan again? Let her betray us again?" Raven retorted.

"As a matter of fact, Raven, I had every intention of putting her in jail, just like any other criminal," Robin shot back. "But what you did…that's…cruel and unusual punishment is what it is."

"And think about it this way, Raven," Beast Boy added. "What about those people that died when the office buildings sunk into that fissure? If you'd freed Terra back when you first found a way to, she might have been able to save those lives!"

"It's pointless to worry about the what-ifs," Raven said, her eyes not leaving Robin's. "There's no changing now what happened then."

"People's lives are NOT pointless!" Beast Boy shouted back.

"Friends, please," Starfire's worried voice floated over. "Do not fight. Nothing good can come of it."

Robin took a deep breath, realizing the Tamaranian was right. "We're not done with this," he said to Raven.

"So back to business then…what do we do about Terra?" Cyborg said.

"She's turned away from Slade. She's saved our lives and this city twice now, with no regard for her own safety. Starfire's right about that much," Robin said. "And…between that and the time she spent frozen in stone…she doesn't deserve to go to jail. I think she's earned her freedom, at the very least."

"Agreed," Beast Boy and Starfire said together.

"Yeah, I'll give ya that," Cyborg added.

Raven said nothing, though it wouldn't have mattered; the others knew where she stood, and she was clearly outvoted.

"The question, then, is this," Robin said. "Do we invite her back on the team?"

There was a silence as each of them considered the question. It was perhaps five minutes before anyone spoke up.

"Look…you all know what my answer is," Beast Boy said. "I think she's earned her place here. And I'm not just saying this because of…y'know…how I feel about her. I really think she's changed. I would trust her with my life."

"I agree with Beast Boy," Starfire added. "Terra has found, with us, the home she has always needed. It would be…wrong of us to deny her of that. I still desire her friendship."

"Even if we didn't let her back on the team," Cyborg added, "Terra would still keep fighting the same fight we are, except she'd be fighting alone. Makes it a lot easier for her to get hurt. It would keep her a lot safer to bring her back to the team…and it's not like we couldn't use the extra firepower…"

"I'm sensing a 'but' coming," Beast Boy guessed.

Cyborg nodded. "To me, BB, what it boils down to is that a team has to be able to trust each other, fully and completely. One hundred percent. Maybe you can say that safely about her…but when I ask myself, can I ever trust her a hundred percent again…I don't have an answer, BB. I just don't know."

"Look, we don't have to decide anything right this second," Robin said. "Let's just take today to think about it, and then…we'll see what comes of it."

The five friends nodded agreement, and dispersed. Starfire headed toward her room, Cyborg wandered in the direction of the garage, and Beast Boy climbed up to the roof where Terra sat watching the sun as it finally began to rise. Raven and Robin were the only ones left in the room.

"Beast Boy was right, Raven…" Robin said quietly. "Too right. If you'd let us know that Terra could be freed…she would've had the power to save those people from dying last night. I said it once already; as far as we're concerned it wasn't your right to make that choice. But you were right too. Whether I approved of it or not, you made that choice, and there's no going back and changing it. I just hope you can live with the consequences that came from that choice."

Without another word on the subject, the Boy Wonder turned away and left the room. Behind him, Raven's eyes flashed a dark, menacing purple.

"Mark my words, human," a monstrous voice poured from her mouth. "When I take over this world…you will be the first to fall."

Somewhere in the dark, red and black cityscape of the empath's mind sat a large cage, watched over by an enormous purple dragon…contained within were several identical figures dressed in a rainbow of differently-colored cloaks…and separated from all the rest, in a lonely corner, was the true Raven. Her cloak was wrapped around her entire body, and her hood was pulled down tightly over her head, covering her face in darkness…so no one could see the single tear trailing down her pale cheek.

(He's right……it's my fault……they died……because of me……)

Author's Note: Dedicated to Miss Rae of Phantasma. Wishing you a speedy recovery, my friend. All my best wishes go out to you.

Cid