Author's Note: Hi, me again. I know, I always have something to say, right? Well I'm sorry for the lack of updates. School's over, work has begun. To my credit, the chapter succeeding this is a long one. And this should be done in ten chapters, eleven tops. And then, I'm focussing on another multi-part story called (temporarily) "Forgotten But Not Gone." A Robin fic mostly, featuring Cyborg and Raven as prominent co-stars... Yes, I know, a shameless plug, but hey, keep an eye out for it. Oh, and some advice for this chapter: don't jump to conclusions.

Chapter 7: You Say Jump

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Name: Tara "Terra" Markov

Activities: Traveling. Wreaking havoc. Etc.

Best School Memory: There's too much too forget, but too little I want to remember.

Favorite Band: Blink 182, Yellow Cab

What You'll Miss Most: Well... There was Beast Boy...

Often Caught Saying: "Rocking!"

Favorite Quote: "A friend is the person who knows all about you, and still likes you." –Elbert Hubbard

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They reached the old cave in a minute seeing as by chance Louis's house had been near the old battle ground. Beast Boy was now resolutely not speaking to Raven who in turn refused to fraternize with Robin and the telekinetic found that the only company she could stand at that point in time was Cyborg and Starfire. But seeing as Robin was always at Starfire's side, she found it difficult to speak at all with the Tamaranian and found herself next to Cyborg, who was leading the way down the old, crumbling tunnel to where their old friend stood, frozen in time.

"Do you really mean what you said, back there?" Raven asked him as they strode on down the dark tunnel. "In the car... about... forgiveness?"

Cyborg smiled at her. "Yeah," he said. "I did. I do, in fact."

She returned the smile, grateful for the friendship she still knew she didn't deserve. You could always count on Cyborg to give you exactly what you needed, regardless of whether you deserved it or not. But she sighed.

"It seems some people are less inclined to forgive than others," she said.

"Well then," said Cyborg. "Are others as inclined to forgive some people as others think they are?"

"Others," Raven snapped, annoyed at his wordplay, "would be inclined to forgive as soon as some people come to their senses."

Cyborg looked over his shoulder at Robin, who was quietly conversing with Starfire. "Well, some people might not come to their senses anytime soon. So perhaps others should take the initiative."

But Raven folded her arms, resolutely. "Sometimes there are more important things to sort out first."

Cyborg sighed, but accepted her words with a nod. "Yeah," he said. "Because, God knows, love is the least important thing in the world."

Meanwhile, Robin continued to worry about Starfire. "Are you sure you're up to this?"

"Robin, I am fine," Starfire repeated for the thirty-second time that hour. "Please, I was upset by Karen's affliction, but I am fine and eager to see our old friend again."

"But you almost fainted–"

"A side effect of my new gift," Starfire said with a weak smile, pointing to her head. "Her future overwhelmed me."

"So you see... glimpses?" Robin asked.

"Sporadically," Starfire said with a nod. "Brief moments of feeling. It's not so much that I see the future, Robin than it is that I feel it. It is difficult to explain."

"I bet," Robin said with a nod and that charming smile he hadn't worn in years.

Though it warmed her, his expression frightened Starfire at the same time. Robin could be their salvation, or he could be their destruction. It all rested on him. She looked away from him and he noticed her unhappiness.

"What's wrong, Star?" he asked her.

"I wish that you would end this foolish feud with Raven," she said in a whisper. She looked up at Robin with pleading eyes. "After all, we are not a true team again until we can all speak to each other without bitterness and sarcasm."

Robin sighed, unhappy with the subject. "Starfire, Raven and I... well, there's more to it than you know."

"And while I am sure that is true," Starfire replied, "I still do not understand how anything could stand in the way of our mission. We must all work together if we are to perform at our best and that means that we must all get along."

"And while I'm sure that's true," Robin returned, "I... I just can't deal with her right now." He sighed and shook his head. "Starfire... I was there when she... I mean, he shouldn't have stayed up there in the first place. He disobeyed a direct order. I told him she wasn't herself, that she was dangerous and to leave with you guys, but he was being stupid and stubborn. I saw her lift him up into the air and... But you know what, I've played that scene over in my head so many times, it doesn't bother me all that much anymore. I've built this ice block around that part of my memory to look on it with cold indifference."

"Then why do you hate her so?" Starfire asked, her voice full of questioning hurt. It infuriated Robin.

"And why do you not?" Robin snapped. "Would you think Star? God knows, you didn't have Beast Boy's last look of baffled horror haunting your mind for fifteen years, but you lost him as I did. You lost all of us, and because of her–"

"I lost everything because of you!" Starfire exploded at last with an angry whisper. Robin was shocked as Starfire continued, calming down, tears in her green eyes. "Robin, I wanted so much to believe that you would show mercy on a friend in need. Because that is what Raven was. You have said it yourself, she was not herself that night. And still, you treated her like a common criminal. Robin, I left because at last my hope for our future had been shattered. I did not leave because I had lost Beast Boy. I left because I had lost you."

Robin was stunned, but this revelation only made his anger at Raven grow. If she hadn't been up there, if she hadn't exploded the way she had, he wouldn't have had to make those harsh decisions. And Starfire wouldn't think he was a monster. But he quelled his anger for the moment and tried to answer Starfire in calm terms. "Starfire, I... I'm sorry."

But Starfire was shaking her head. "No, Robin," she said. "You do not need to apologize to me." She looked to Raven down the tunnel pathway.

"I love how you're trying to see both sides of the story here," Robin said, obviously irritated. "Might I remind you that I didn't kill anyone?"

"Beast Boy has forgiven her," Starfire said. "I do not understand why you cannot."

"That's just it," Robin said with a sigh. "I used to think... that I hated her on BB's behalf, but when he came back, it was like a slap in the face."

"So why do you hate her?" Starfire asked. "You keep avoiding the question."

Robin opened his mouth to reply when he realized he had nothing to say. "I don't know," he said instead. If everyone else could forgive and forget after fifteen years, why was he unable to? Moreover, why was she?

"We're here," Beast Boy said.

She was as majestic as ever, frozen in time by the earth. They all stopped, afraid to approach. She awed them in her stone stupor, catatonic and cryptic, baring a warning to all of her abilities. They wondered a moment how in the world they were expect to raise her, this silent traitor, this grave corpse.

It was none other than Beast Boy who took the first steps towards her, reverently and slowly. He kneeled down at her feet like a pauper before a king, forgetting in a moment her trespasses, forgiven with her sacrifice. He read her plaque and swallowed hard.

Behind him, Raven found a new sympathy for their fallen friend. For a long time, she had despised her and her treachery. But now, a betrayer herself, she bowed her head in remorse. She'd never given Terra the time of day. And now, she was a prestigious demon in her world, with a good array of magic under her belt and where was Terra? Frozen in her earth coffin.

Then, all of a sudden, it occurred to her.

"Magic..." she muttered, a revelation hitting her. She called out to her friend. "Beast Boy, step back! I have an idea."

Unquestioningly, Beast Boy obeyed, walking backwards to join his friends, his eyes never leaving the Terra statue.

Raven closed her eyes and concentrated, using her years of experience for something. Tenderly, she reached out a mental probe to the statue and found that there was, indeed, still life there. She searched the geography of Terra's brain, not delving beneath the surface so as to invade her privacy. But finally, she found her power center and she had to tap into that in order to achieve her goal.

Slowly, Raven raised her hands, which were glowing yellow. Beast Boy gasped and stared at her.

"Raven, you look like..."

But the demon was ignoring him as her eyes glowed yellow and she focused on the rock statue in front of her. Using her borrowed powers, she focused her energy into the rock, flowing into every gap between protons and electrons, avoiding wedging herself between nuclei. Eventually, she was as much the rock as the atoms that made it. And she could control it. She kept her tight focus so no atoms would fly anywhere, also keeping in mind any magical radiation that might occur as a side effect of the spell. It was hard work– but it was working.

Slowly and ever so precisely, cracks began to form in the rock, starting at Terra's head, proceeding to her hair, her shoulders, her arms, her finger tips... Soon the entire statue was cracking. And when there was nothing left to crack, it merely crumbled.

Immediately the girl inside collapsed to the ground, pale and shaking. She was on her hands and knees unsteadily, her hair draped over her head, which was drooped down.

Beast Boy walked up to her and put a hand tenderly on her shoulder.

"... Terra?" he asked, slowly.

She looked up with bleary blue eyes, shook her head, jumped to her feet and ran.

It didn't take long for the Titans to notice that she was swiftly followed by a green panther who was bounding after her down to the mouth of the cave. And they were left with nothing but the silence and tumbled rocks.

He ran for a while in the dark, lacking Cyborg's trusty flashlight to guide him. He wondered how Terra, disoriented as she must be, could find her way blindly through the tunnel. A couple times he found himself tripping on stones or cutting his paws on jagged rocks, but he didn't care. All he cared about was finding her.

And he did.

She was sitting at the mouth of the cave, hugging her knees and staring wide-eyed at the stars above. She kept rubbing them a few times, almost as if she didn't believe it. Near the edge of the world, the sky was turning a velvet shade of violet as the first rays of dawn crept over the horizon.

He took her in then, now in his normal form. She was so small and scrawny, just as he remembered her. She was the same age as any of them, yet younger than all of them. Though Beast Boy too retained his childhood form, Terra was different. He had been around for the past fifteen years, learning and living through a deadman's eyes. Generally speaking, he didn't normally have any form at all, but for all intent and purposes, his old body had been one that was sure to comfort the friends he needed to help.

But Terra was different.

She was born in the same year he had been born and yet she was still fifteen years younger than him. It was like Rip Van Winkle in reverse. And there she was, sitting all alone on the edge of the rock outside the cave, looking up at the twinkling stars, slowly fading with the coming dawn.

She rubbed her eyes again.

"Everything's so... bright..." she murmured, disproving Beast Boy's original disbelief theory. "Even in this light, my eyes feel... Like I shut them tight and haven't opened them in..."

"Fifteen years?" Beast Boy offered.

She looked over her shoulder at him but said nothing.

"You're shivering–" he noted, trying to get closer to put his arm around her, to warm her. But she pulled away from him and he stopped.

"Being trapped in rock can make you a little shakey, you know?" she said with a small laugh. Her hair was dusty and gray, like it was laced with cobwebs. Her clothes looked like she'd washed them in cement. But she was alive.

Beast Boy sat down next to her. "You're back," he said, shakily, finding it hard to believe himself. He laughed, but the emotion felt strange on his lips. "You don't know how much I missed you."

"I might have been dead," she whispered, almost to herself. "I might have been. Hell, I don't even know. It's like I was there only yesterday and then nothing. Not even a dream or a nightmare even, just black. And it was soft. And warm. And there was nothing and I didn't think to care. I didn't know how to care. Nothing mattered. I lost who I was, who I had been... I might have been dead."

"But you weren't," said Beast Boy. "I know that for a fact."

"How?" she asked, tears in her eyes. "How do you know you didn't bring something back that you shouldn't have?"

"First of all," said Beast Boy, "probably the biggest change since you've been gone is... I died. I am dead. So I know what the word means and what it entails. And you, you weren't dead. I would have known. And second of all, we need you. You're back for a reason."

But she was still stuck on the first thing. "You're... you're dead? You can't be, I'm... you're here and I'm talking to... Am I in Hell?"

"Hell?" Beast Boy cried, offended. "Terra, what the hell would I be doing in, well, Hell?"

"I don't know," Terra muttered, resting her chin on her knees. "But I know you'd be in my Hell."

This hurt him probably more than she had intended, but he swallowed it with a grain of salt. "Why?" he said instead.

She looked up at him, then looked away promptly. "I hurt you. Betrayed you. Is there any worse a sin? I deserve Hell. And you'd be there to remind me of what I did every damn day."

"So... you feel remorse?" Beast Boy said.

Terra sighed. "I thought... You can't imagine what I thought. I didn't know... I was afraid. Of you. Slade... I don't know what it was. Maybe it was the whole father figure thing. He gave me security. And I was so scared that I... that I might care about something and I'd lose it. I was so scared I'd lose you that I did. And I tried to tell myself it was a lie, that I lost you long ago and that it didn't matter, I didn't care, and then you said..."

"What did I say?" Beast Boy prompted when she didn't continue. There was a flicker of a smile in her eye but it left as quickly as it had come.

"You said I still had a choice..." she said. "We always have a choice."

This healed any scar that her previous 'Beast Boy means Hell' remark had caused. He took her in his arms and she rested her head on his shoulder. He soothed her with unsaid words and gentle hands as he stroked her hair.

"But it's OK now."

"I betrayed you..." she whispered. "I don't deserve you. I never did. They won't take me back."

"Hey," said Beast Boy with a chuckle. "Why do you think we cracked that stone shell for, to yell at you? C'mon... there are worse things then betrayal."

"Judas and the seventh level of Hell aren't bad enough?" Terra mumbled into his shoulder.

"Nah, that's bad, don't get me wrong," said Beast Boy. "But what's worse is doing it and meaning it. And not regretting. Believe me, we've had our fair share of betrayal. But things always turn out OK in the end."

"They'll never..."

"Listen," he said, rolling his eyes. "You remember Raven? All 'I would never hurt you'– which is true, mind you– but she did end up throwing me to my death off of Titans' Tower."

Terra pulled away from him, looking aghast, but Beast Boy was grinning.

"You see?" he said. "Worse things. She wasn't herself. She went a little crazy. Kinda a long story not even I know the beginning to. But if there's one thing she wishes she could take back, it's that. And I get that. Besides, dying was the best thing that's ever happened to me."

"I swear to God," said Terra, shaking her head. "You are..."

"Wonderful?" Beast Boy finished for her with a grin. "Outstandingly brilliant? Stunningly handsome?" He shrugged. "I know."

All of a sudden the earth trembled and Beast Boy looked at Terra curiously, who merely shook her head.

"Not me, I swear it," she said.

There was a cackle and the two old Titans jumped to their feet and looked, utterly shocked, at what they saw.

"Terra. I've been wondering when they'd wake you up."

Inside the cave, the Titans felt the rumble and heard rocks crashing.

"We'd better get out," Robin said, looking around, "or this thing'll collapse around us."

"Point taken," Cyborg said with a nod.

But when they reached the mouth of the cave they didn't find what they thought they would.

A red vortex swirled before Beast Boy and Terra, who were staring agape at the gap in reality.

"Loki!" Raven cried, her eyes narrowing in fury as Cyborg's widened in fearful recognition.

Hovering on his own stone stood Loki, a Morlin demon with the head of a crocodile and the general body of a lizard walking on two legs. And he was only four feet tall.

"Um... Nasty little beasty you got there, Raven," said Beast Boy with a skeptical raise of the eyebrow.

"Don't underestimate him," Raven snarled. "He's got some sort of Napoleon Complex."

"Do you want another gash to balance out your face?" said Loki with a sneer. But he quickly relaxed. "I've come for the girl, that's all."

Beast Boy stepped in front of Terra, who looked mortified.

"You can't have her," he said, firmly. Terra looked at him with wide eyes.

Raven stepped forward next to Beast Boy. "You heard the ghost. Now get the hell out of here."

"What's the matter, Raven, afraid I'll start a real party?" said the demon with a cock of his eye ridge.

"Whatever you're planning we'll stop it," sneered Raven.

"No way to stop what's already been predetermined," said Loki with a confident smile. "It's called Ragnarok. Ever heard of it?"

"Get out of here!" Raven screamed and a burst of black energy shot out of her hands at Loki, but he countered it with a green force field.

"Oooh, nice try, doll, but it takes more than that to knock me off my throne." He turned to Terra and gave her a toothy grin. "Now, Terra, m'dear, let's talk business."

"Who are you?" Terra asked, totally lost.

"Your savior," Loki said. "If the world's gonna end, don't you wanna be with the one demon who can spare your lonely little life?"

"Hey!" Cyborg yelled, catching Loki off guard. He pointed his rusty sonic blaster at the demon and grinned. "I think Raven said scram!"

The surprised look on Loki's face when the energy surge hit him gave the Titans a hopeful smile. He fell off of his rock, but bounced back as he hovered in the air, snarling at them angrily. "This isn't over," he hissed and disappeared through the portal.

There was an odd quiet. Terra rubbed her elbow nervously.

Beast Boy let out a low whistle. "OK, now that that's over, how about we get Terra back to the tower and get her washed up, explain things a little?"

"Sounds good," said Robin, with a welcomed nod at the blonde girl that seemed a little stiff. "Terra," he said, coolly.

She smiled sheepishly and nodded. "R-Robin..." she muttered. She looked him up and down and then looked him in the eye again with raised eyebrows. "So, um, are you dead too?"

Raven snickered and Robin hit her. "No," he said simply.

Raven closed her eyes and shook her head, stepping forward. She smiled, wanly at the blonde girl, her eyes tired and worn. When she spoke, she spoke softly, in a hoarse but oddly warm whisper. "Welcome home, Terra."

Beside her, Cyborg smiled down approvingly at his half-demon friend. He looked up at Terra, a bit wary himself, but nodded his welcome with a kind glimmer in his eye.

"Terra!" Starfire exclaimed, warmly. "Oh, it will be honorable to fight next to you again."

Terra looked surprised. "H-honorable? Well, that's hardly a word I would have chosen."

"We all make mistakes," said Robin impassively. "If you can prove that what you did was just that, then I guess Starfire's right. It will be honorable to fight beside a great fighter."

Finally feeling at home, Terra smiled at his welcome.

She sat on the couch in the tower feeling overwhelmed. It had taken them about two hours to abbreviate fifteen years and the current situation. To Terra, it sounded like she didn't miss much if it only took two hours to tell all.

Looking around at them all, she deducted they all had their secrets about the past fifteen years. But not many wanted to share. Basically, she knew that Starfire had spent them as some higher being, Raven had gone all demonic and rose to power that way, Cyborg had been to war and back and now worked in a bar, and Robin had been stalking the city, hunting demons. And Beast Boy had been there, watching them all.

They were silent, staring at her and waiting for a reaction, but Terra's head was awhirl with thoughts and missing puzzle pieces. She was expected to help them save the world, but how? Nothing was making any sense.

Everything was so new to her, so fresh... Fifteen years she had been gone! While her friends were older and more experienced, after fifteen years she was still just a girl. She remembered seeing Robin for the first time, and that look in his eyes... Raven looked like a skeleton she was so slender now. Starfire still had her lively spark, but some of the youth was gone from her face. And Cyborg, with his rusted parts... All of it was almost... intimidating. She felt left behind somehow. She was no longer a part of their world.

"So..." Beast Boy finally said, to break the odd silence. "Questions... comments?"

Terra bit her lip and raised her eyebrows. "Actually... could I take a shower?"

The water felt alien to her dry skin. Bits of brown and gray washed out of her hair and into the sink. She felt like the earth had become a part of her and now it was all washing away... She was reborn. Brand new.

The attack had come so suddenly, she didn't even realize it was an attack and not just a splitting migraine. She gasped and her hands clutched for anything on the tiled walls to hold onto. Her nails dug into the plaster between the tiles and she bowed her head, the water drumming in her ears.

"Agh...!" Terra cried, grabbing at her scalp and tearing at her hair as if that was the problem. "Go away!"

Terra.

The voice was booming and omnipresent.

"What?" she whimpered, her eyes bleeding tears.

You are not one of them. You never were. That's why you were drawn to Slade.

"Who are you?" she asked, looking around. She stumbled out of the shower and looked at her self in the mirror.

I am the only thing on this planet that can keep you alive. Think about this logically, Terra. What if the Titans fail? It's impossible to fight Armageddon. Then what will there be? The nothingness. You don't want to die, do you Terra?

The voice hesitated, waiting for an answer, but the blonde girl provided none.

You know I'm right. The science of life was once summed up in one simple phrase. Survival of the fittest. Each living being looks after itself and itself alone. Do you really think they have forgiven you? You will be lost here, Terra. You belong with me. I will make no promises and I will tell you no lies. I look after myself. But you can help me. And in return, I will help you. And I will treat you like an equal.

Terra's eyes narrowed in thought and she bowed her head to stare at the sink. She was confused. "But... why do you need me?"

There is something your powers can help me attain. Without you, it will take much too much time. But it will still happen. I'd just prefer it were sooner rather than later. I will save your life if you simply lend me the use of your impressive talents. And then, you will have everything you ever wanted...

Terra was silent. Her hands clutched the edges of the sink. She looked up, her eyes ablaze with a rekindled flame. A twisted grin wiggled its way onto her face as a sinister idea formed in her tiny little blonde head.

"Well..." she said, wickedly. "You say jump..."