Chapter 10 is here.
It's better than Chapter 9.
Don't you love haiku?

Hee. Now, the seriousness begins. To celebrate, I will try to act serious for the next few chapters.

Must...resist...idiodicy impulse...

Oh, and remember that girl from the beginning of Book 1? And how I said she'd have a big part? It begins here.

Long paragraph today.

It's writer's critic. Work is never perfect to the author. And actually, I tasted chalk once. It wasn't half bad. -dodges nunchuck-. And this ain't going to end well at all...oh no...I may have to change the rating to PG-13 on account of all the darkness and romance.And SSM, you're a lucky chick/guy that I'll be telling her entire story in this chapter! For more detail though, watch TT. She's only in a few eps, but you'll know when she's there. She has arms and legs. And she's blonde. But if you don't want anything spoiled, don't read this chapter, or at least not the spoiler parts. And I am NOT a Terra lover. I am NOT a Terra hater. I am not on any side of any debate involving her. As for the girl in the dreams,yep, it was Terra! And now you have a peice of dramatic irony to hold on to. And it will end with BB/Rae, though some red herrings will come up. And just in case them BB/Terra shippers have an infinite number of laser-wielding clones of Genghis Khan with jetpacks, I have an infinite number of BAZOOKA wielding COSMO clones...with wings. Ph33r.

Chapter 10: Little Insanities

The Tower was dark as our little team walked inside, silent. They walked into the main room. "Wait here," Robin said, his voice stone cold. "I'll get the flashlights." He walked out, wondering where the flashlights actually were.

The five-minute lull was one of the most uncomfortable Danny had ever experienced. The green one, Beast Boy, keep shooting devious glances in his direction, as if he were a predator that could rear up and attack at any second. Danny tried to keep cool, but he couldn't. He knew he had done something wrong. And it was hurting him every second that nobody explained.

Finally, Robin came back, with at least four or five flashlights. "Now, about Terra..." He sat down and turned on a flashlight. He shone it on his face, and placed the other four in a circle, shedding light on everyone else. A nice little bit of drama.

He sighed. "It's a long story, and we're not that used to telling it. I'll try to start from the beginning."

"One day...we were walking around, doing nothing in particular. We saw this girl...being chased by a giant scorpion. We were going to save her...but then...she moved a land bridge with her mind and crushed the monster. She came to us afterwards. Her name was Terra. She was terrakinectic, meaning she could control the Earth and rocks. She was what you could call a wild child- she lived in caves, with nothing but a Walkman to keep her company. Naturally, we let her stay the night."

"It was the next day that she made the record you broke, Danny. Then...we had to fight an enemy of ours. She lost control, and cost us the battle. We tried to accept her as a Titan, but when I mentioned she needed better control, she got all angry at Beast Boy and took off. We promptly forgot about her for three months..."

He wiped his brow, and let all that sink in. "Then...she came back. She was in perfect control all of a sudden. She was ready to be a Titan. So we accepted her as one...for all of a month..."

He now shined the flashlight directly at his face. "I don't really know what happened. Beast Boy knows, but he's not willing to tell..." He shot a glance at the changeling, which he ignored. "...and we respect that. But, one thing we knew...she had been working for one of our greatest enemies, Slade. She had been taking our secrets to him...bringing us completely to our knees. Then she dissappeared again. This had a big effect on Beast Boy..."

He took a dramatic pause. "Then, she came back again, as a Slade minion. The battle was long, hard and kinda greasy, but in the end, Terra came back to us, just in time for her to be killed by a lava flow. Then again, it killed Slade too, so it wasn't a total loss. A shell of her created by the flow is still in the volcanic crater downtown. We're trying to find a cure..."

"A cure for death?" Danny interrupted. "Isn't that impossible?"

"Yeah, but we try." He turned off the flashlight. "Anyway, Beast Boy took a liking to her, and you beating her record...and being so simple-minded about it..."

He walked over and turned on the lights. "Well," he said in a much lighter tone, "Now that that's over, hey, it's that late already? We've got a big day tomorrow, things to do, people to see..."

Beast Boy was shocked. Even after that rather moving story, they were treating it like it was nothing. They said they were trying to find a cure, but they acted like they didn't care. Considering BB, he was overreacting, of course they cared. But Beast Boy was way too overwrought to care. Right now, he was mad. Mad at the Titans. Mad at those mysterious visitors. Who cared if they were sent by Susan, who had saved their lives at one point? They were insensitive jerks.

He jumped up. "Bodies to be scattered." He stared at them, his eyes boring a hole in them.

Robin turned around. "Eh, what?"

"You jerks should know better. Insulting...her...again."

"What? We didn't-"

"Yes...YOU DID!" He snarled, showing some uneven fangs. "I'm...I'm going to bed." He walked out of the room. As the slidy door slidied open, he punched it. The punch left a good-sized dent. The door didn't slidy close when he walked away.

Everyone looked blankly. "Does...he usually do that?" Danny stammered.

"No. Usually, he's a lot more...not like that." Robin looked just as surprised as the rest of them. "But...he does have a point. We should get to bed. G'night." He walked through the conviently open doors. Danny and co followed him, in a daze for the first time in days. They reached their room...

"AAAAAUUUUGGGHHH!"

Danny left the room in an instant and ran to Robin's, where the scream originated. He looked inside...and saw a disaster. The ususally immaculate room was in such disarray, Danny couldn't even tell it was a room. And Robin was in the middle of it, shocked.

"Who...who did this?" he said, completely serious. "I want to know!"

Danny shrugged. "Fangirls, vandals, your green friend over there, I dunno." He left, ran back into the guest room, knocked everyone else over as he jumped into bed, and tried to sleep, but his guilt overpowered instinct. He was stuck staring at the celing while everyone else got ready for bed, not entirely calm, but not as hectic as he was.

As the clock struck midnight, and the others were drifting in wherever we go when we sleep, Danny at last began to feel drowsy. His eyelids drooped, no matter how hard he battled to keep them open. Finally, he fell asleep,preparing forthe nightmares he knew were coming.

Meanwhile, two beds over, Tucker tossed and turned. It was there...stronger than ever...that girl...uunnhh...

That girl from the past two dreams Tuck's had just to give him a bigger part in the story was screaming wordlessly at something. There was evil laughter...a slam...more screams...two, frightened, blue eyes...

Two eyes that had nearly lost hope.

So, how was my first serious chapter?

-SP