Chapter Twelve

Terra took up residence in her former room. Not long after arriving there, did she find supplies for showering. She felt sweaty and filthy.

Fortunately, her room had towels and a bathrobe, as well as unopened bars of soap.

'Like a hotel.' Terra thought. She wondered if Beast Boy left them there long ago, just in case she would return.

Pushing those thoughts out of her head, she stripped naked, put on the robe, gathered her things and went to the bathroom.

No one was there when she went, much to her relief. She locked the door behind her, took off the robe, entered the shower, and washed herself with hot water. The rising steam felt good, in contrast to the lukewarm water she had to contend with at her former residence.

She didn't take long in showering, less than ten minutes. After drying off, she put on the robe and went back to her room.

Once there, she took a real good look at things. She noticed that someone put her memorial plaque on the dresser. It looked fairly new, considering where it had been.

Disregarding it, she then rummaged the drawers. Her spare uniforms were still there. And in one drawer, she was surprised to see clean underwear. She wondered if Beast Boy was responsible for that as well.

'Wait, I left those there!' she thought, remembering the distant and vague past she had fought so hard to forget.

She was startled by a knocking on her door. "Who is it?" she asked.

"Me." came a deadpanned reply.

'Raven.' Terra thought.

"What do you want?" she asked, not bothering to hide her anger at the mystic.

"I just want to talk to you."

Terra hesitated. After all, she did hit her not even an hour ago. Still, Terra was curious to see what she came to say. She opened the door.

"Thanks." said Raven as she walked in, past Terra. The geomancer was not pleased with this intrusion.

Raven sat down on Terra's bed, staring at a wall.

"Well, what do you want?" she asked her, closing the door.

"Just a talk." she replied.

Terra scoffed. "Like our little talk we had downstairs? Your friends aren't here to help you now, you know."

"I don't need them to handle you!" Raven hissed. "Besides, I didn't come to fight."

"Okay, so out with it!"

Raven sighed. "You do realize the wrong of what it is you want, do you?"

"What? Of killing Slade?"

"Yes. It won't make you feel any better. If anything, you'll feel worse."

"But at least Slade won't be there to torture me! Or any of you, as a matter of fact."

"If he's put in prison, the same would also be true."

"But in prison, he can escape!"

"That may be true. But at least we'll be ready for him."

"Raven, you have no idea how I feel about this! I have to kill the son of a bitch! He's got to pay for his crimes! And not just against for the crimes he's committed against the law, but also you and your friends, and most of all, me!"

Raven heaved a sigh. "For a time, I might have agreed with you. Did Beast Boy tell you about Slade, me, and my father?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"To bring about the portal, Slade had to grab me and imprint these marks on me. Like a script written all over me. Well, my clothes were ripped up more and more as he did that. The way he touched and grabbed me, as well as the thing with my clothes made me feel as if I was being raped!"

Terra stared at her. "Shit! I had no idea about that!"

Raven nodded. "Mmm-hmm. And after I regained the courage to face my destiny, I fought hard against Slade, mostly for what he did to me. If he wasn't already undead, I'd have killed him."

Terra sighed. "Well, that was your path to follow. Even if you and the other Titans won't help me, I still will hunt down Slade and fucking kill him!"

Raven stood up and paced the room, slowly. After a while, she faced Terra.

"You read much?"

The geomancer blinked in surprise. "What?"

"Do you do much reading?"

"Just school books. Why?"

"Did you ever hear of Moby Dick?"

"That one with the whale? Yeah, why?"

"I read the story once or twice. Good story, even if a bit long and big on detail. Anyway, I'm sure you know what goes on, right?"

"Been a while since I read it."

"Well, Captain Ahab spent years hunting the white whale that crippled him. He spent all this effort and time trying to find the beast. But, in the end, it was the monster, the whale, which destroyed him and his ship."

Terra took a moment to let that sink in. "I guess he didn't know when he should leave well enough alone, huh?"

Raven nodded her head. "Think about it, okay? Good night."

Raven left the room, leaving Terra alone to ponder her words.