Rock Bottom
By your one and only xBlack-Waterlilyx
Disclaimer: I definitely don't own the Teen Titans…
Warning: I haven't seen an episode of Teen Titans for a while… so some of the characters may be OOC or not sound like themselves, etc. I've also only seen the first season because of stupid Kid's WB taking the show off of the air. Read at your own risk.
Author's Note: Well, here we go. Not all my stories are happy-go-lucky… in fact some are the exact opposite. My writing style isn't usually like this… but it's not like many of you would know because this is my first story for this account. (I had one a long time ago, but I forget what it was called) I don't write many of these stories… actually, I can't remember the last time I wrote one. Everyone needs to let those pent-up ideas and emotions go once in a while, so I'm going to use this story as my outlet. Also, this story may be slightly disturbing to some… it contains angst galore, in my opinion, and may include some naughty scenes later. I'll rate it accordingly then, of course, so no young eyes find themselves scarred, stuck with mental images, etc. The plot's not all worked out yet, but I have a general idea of how it's going to go. Well… that's all, for now, except that the title's subject to change :P
Background Info: The Titans are all older now… I'd say late teens/early twenties. Terra is a part of the group, too. (I don't know if later seasons explained how she got out of her rock casing, but for now my idea is that her rock power was confined for too long, and exploded out of her body, shattering her rock casing and setting her free.) Beast Boy and Terra are gf/bf and have been dating for a while.
Prologue
A blanket of darkness enveloped the T-tower, muffling all sound as the minutes leading up to midnight ticked on. It was the dead of night, and all of the relatively young heroes were asleep. Well, all, that is, except for one.
Beast Boy stirred in his room uncomfortably. He was having a most disturbing dream of Slade taking Terra away from him. Now he saw her caged up, her eyes glowing with power, but it seemed that nothing she could do would get her out. He tried to run to her, but it seemed that the faster he ran, the farther away she appeared.
Panting and shaking slightly, his heart beating like a drum, Beast Boy's eyes snapped open. He counted to fifty in his head, breaths coming ragged. By the time he was done, his shaking had subsided, though he still had a feeling of unease settled around his shoulders like a cloak.
Wondering what could have caused distant memories to come back to the surface, the green young man paced around his room, his eyes adjusting to the darkness as well as any cats'. It was probably just from eating fried tofu right before bed, he thought.
In the next room, Terra slowly came to, as a result of the loud creaking of Beast Boy's bed. She was a light sleeper, this being part of her wary nature. She had needed to be a light sleeper while she was on the road, and it had caused her to avoid many a bad situation.
Terra hadn't changed much physically in the years that passed since she was first introduced into the Titans. She had gained a little weight on her breasts and around her hip and thigh area. Though this was a change for the better, most would still say that she was as thin as a pencil, almost the same way that she was when she wandered from one town to the next. Her blond hair was a little longer, and she had fashioned it to be layered, not cut just straight across.
That wasn't the only change about her, though… the rest of the Titans would say as well that the biggest difference about her was the mastery of her power. The breakouts and flares of her earthy power were a thing of the past. It was the result of years of hard training with the team, being pushed by Robin, and steady encouragement from Beast Boy and Starfire, bless her sweet soul.
Raven's distrust of Terra had shrunk down to a shadow of its former strength. Now, only a hair remained. Though the two would never become best friends, as their personalities clashed, they both were happy to settle on being good friends.
Getting up and silently putting on a terry robe and slippers, Terra tied the sash for the garment. She padded out into the hallway, quieter than a mouse in socks. She had sensed Beast Boy's unease, as the rock under his floor told her that he had been pacing in his room. He had gone downstairs, the marble steps said softly. He was probably getting a snack. That was so like him.
Knowing she wouldn't be able to sleep again if she tried, she lost the battle with herself and went downstairs. If anything, she would have some company as she made up a pot of coffee.
Looking into the kitchen, Terra's suspicions were confirmed. Beast Boy currently had his head stuck into the fridge, probably raiding it for some of his nauseating tofu.
"Tofu, tofu…" he was saying to himself. "Aha! Here it is!" Triumphantly, he emerged from the refrigerator, clutching a block of the soy-based meat substitute.
Grinning, she stepped onto the tiled floor. He always ate whenever he was stressed, and yet he remained lean. Her smile faltered. What had caused him to come down here?
"Hey, BB," she called, clearly, yet not loud enough to wake anyone else in the tower. "Whatcha up to?"
Seeing her, his face lit up. "Hey, Terra… I'm just eating a little midnight snack." He knew of her hating tofu with a passion. Beast Boy grinned wickedly before saying, "Want some?"
Eyeing it with something bordering on disgust, she declined. "No thanks… I'd take real food over that stuff any day."
Pretending to be offended, he clutched his tofu to his chest lovingly. "Don't take her seriously, she was just joking!"
Rolling her eyes, Terra got the coffee filters out and scooped up some beans from a pot. Putting them into the grinder part of the coffee maker and the filter in the correct place, she pushed start. This would give her a good eight minutes or so with Beast Boy before she was distracted. She sat down at the table across from her green boyfriend, all innocence.
"So what are you down here for?" She asked calmly. There would be no point in making a big fuss about it.
He shifted before plopping a big wad of tofu into his mouth. "I just had a bad dream… about Slade."
She clasped his hand across the table, rubbing it soothingly. "Slade can never get us here. Not now that we've become so powerful."
Seeing the truth in her answer, his heart rate sluggishly returned to normal. No force could possibly hold Terra for long… she was powerful, and had a fighting spirit.
"We were separated…" He went on, uncertainty in his eyes.
Terra smiled sweetly at him. "Nothing will ever separate us, Beast Boy. Our love will always bind us together." She gave his hand a squeeze before letting go, as her coffee was done. The machine was beeping like crazy.
Cyborg came sleepily down the stairs, woken by the smell of French Vanilla, and an irritating beeping noise. Wiping his eyes, he sat himself at the table. Starfire wasn't far behind him. Raven knew they were up, but stayed in her room, meditating. Robin slept right through the whole thing.
"Hey, Cy, Star," Terra greeted.
"Good morning, friends Terra, Beast Boy and Cyborg," Starfire exclaimed brightly, wide-awake even as early as it was.
Raising his eyebrows slightly, Cyborg simply nodded at the group. It was too early for him to talk. He silently accepted a mug full of his favorite coffee from Terra.
The four lapsed into a companionable silence while Starfire turned on the news on the kitchen television. She always liked to watch it early in the morning, and with cable it seemed to be on at least one channel every hour of the day and night.
Surveying the screen, Terra saw a reporter sitting at her desk, leafing through a pile of papers. Terra rolled her eyes; she knew this channel's news and its quality. The reporters here hardly knew what they were talking about; you could even see their eyes reading off of the cue cards the whole time. She liked to laugh about it sometimes. Starfire caught Terra's eye, the alien princess seemed to be glued to the screen. She was watching intently as the camera cut from the desk reporter to a scene.
A police officer was making a young woman say the alphabet backwards from Z, making her walk on a straight line in a heel-to-toe fashion, and asking her ordinary questions like what color the sky was. The woman was obviously drunk, as she failed these simple tasks. Terra knew this station had dull news, but she didn't know they'd sunk as low as to report on a story of the Mayor's daughter being stopped for drunk driving.
As the news reporter said the word "drunk", a crease appeared between Starfire's eyebrows. She was frowning in thought. "Friend Terra… I have heard this term before, but I do not remember what it means. Would you explain it to me?"
Cyborg choked on his coffee. It seemed that he didn't know whether to laugh or gawk at the alien. Terra, in all honesty, wasn't surprised, yet Beast Boy was. The news continued on, forgotten by all.
Smiling slightly, the rock-mover said, "'Drunk' is a state people get in when they drink something with alcohol in it. When people are drunk, they do things they normally wouldn't do, their reaction time is slowed, and their depth perception gets messed up. I personally think alcoholic drinks taste nasty."
"If it's such a bad drink, then why do people use it?" Starfire asked, genuinely curious.
Beast Boy made a face. "You fail to mention that it's a… a social activity, of sorts, to drink, and it's fun. And most don't drink to get drunk."
A smile played on Terra's lips. "If you'd gone to the high school I went to a long time ago, you'd be proved wrong. Thank goodness I left after my freshman year."
"Have you ever been… drunk?" Starfire asked, saying the new word awkwardly as if she hadn't used it much, which was true.
"Once or twice, and on accident. As I told you, I don't like it… it usually happens when I drink too much wine at parties."
"And you, friends Beast Boy and Cyborg?"
"It does funny stuff to my machinery, so, no," Cyborg stated gruffly. He wasn't a morning person.
Grinning sheepishly, Beast Boy answered, "I drink at parties and bars if I ever go to them, but usually not anywhere else. I usually don't have the opportunity, anyway, always fighting crime and such."
Terra stuck out her tongue. "Let's change the topic before innocent Star gets any ideas."
They all agreed with murmurs or grunts, lapsing into silence one again. It was Starfire who broke the silence.
"Friends, let us play the game of the dares and the truths!" She said, one of her favorite games.
Shrugging, the Titans seated around the table had no reason to protest. They had played Truth or Dare many times before, as Starfire couldn't seem to get enough of the strange game played on Earth. There was nothing like it on Tameran. Perhaps that's why she liked it so much.
"I'll go first," Beast Boy said, struggling and failing to hide an evil grin. He surveyed the table of his friends with mock-interest, though he already had someone in mind. His eyes rested on the female across the table from him. "Terra," he said. "Truth or dare?"
"…Dare."
Beast Boy always thought up of the craziest, most ridiculous, and most embarrassing dares. "I dare you to…"
Her eyes lighting up, Starfire leaned over in her seat, vibrant red hair flowing over her shoulder as she whispered into Beast Boy's ear. Feeling anxious, Starfire wasn't as innocent as she looked, and was quite good at thinking up dares, Terra bit on a fingernail.
Beast Boy's eyes widened slightly. "She'd never do that!"
Terra glared at him across the table. He really knew how to get her riled up. Whenever someone said that, it made her want to do whatever they were talking about that much more.
"Tell me," she breathed softly.
"I dare you…" He began dangerously, a malicious glint in his eyes that Terra found sexily attractive, "To wear a sexy sleepwear piece from Victoria's Secret all day on Friday. Even train and fight crime in it, heaven forbid."
Terra stared at him. He knew that she wasn't like Star or Rae, wearing items of clothing that resembled bathing suits (Raven, thank goodness, at least wore a cape with hers). Terra was actually quite modest when it came to clothes, preferring a camisole and pajama bottoms to sleep in versus one of those "slutty" nighties, as she deemed them. To wear one of them from Victoria's Secret, and all day, no less, would be utterly and completely humiliating.
Bracing herself, the rock-moving young woman sighed. "What are the stakes?"
Beast Boy only grinned wickedly at his girlfriend. He was going to like this dare. He knew that Terra would comply, though... if not now, after she heard the steep consequences. "If you don't do it Friday, you have to wear one all week next week."
Narrowing her eyes, Terra thought it over in her head. "I'll do it – on one condition. I get to dare you, and you have to do it no matter what. No stakes, no reward… you just have to."
The shape shifter thought about it. Terra could think of some pretty hard dares – yet he wanted to see her actually fulfill his dare. It was a win-lose situation. "Deal. Seal it with a kiss?"
Before Terra could protest, he leaned across the table and captured her lips with his. She looked slightly dazed when he pulled away.
"Yeah," He stated, smirking, "I usually have that effect on women."
She scowled, though her eyes gave her away. He raised his eyebrows slightly, and it was all she could do to not to bust out laughing. Starfire wasn't far behind, giggling in her bubbly way.
Cyborg rolled his eyes, finally somewhat awake after his coffee. "If we could please move on?"
"Fine with me," Terra replied, shooting daggers with her eyes at Beast Boy. He was going to have to pay, and hard, for what he was going to put her through. But damn,she wasn't that great at thinking up dares, at least she thought so.
Turning to Starfire, she whispered, "Hey, Star, think of any more dares?"
The alien princess thought for a few moments before a nasty gleam entered her emerald eyes. She grinned as though she were a feral cat.
"I ask, friend Terra, have you ever seen Raven drunk?" Starfire asked softly.
Not getting what she was hinting at, a crease appeared on the earthbound Titan's forehead. "No," she whispered.
Smiling as though she knew a secret that no one else did, Starfire only responded, "Do you think that any of us have?" When Terra looked at her inquisitively, Starfire only smiled, raising her eyebrows. It was then that Terra understood.
"Beast Boy," she dared triumphantly, "I dare you to get Raven drunk the next time we all go to a party. All of us have to see it happen, mind."
He paled, staring at his girlfriend in disbelief before glaring at the girl seated at her right. They both utterly confused him sometimes, but then again, was there ever a guy in his right mind that was never confused by girls? "Star! You're supposed to give me the brilliant ideas, not her! Besides, you know as well as I do that it'll be near impossible to even get Raven even close to any alcohol."
Terra only smirked as evilly as she could before getting out of her seat. "I don't see how that concerns me, BB. I fulfill my end of the bargain, and you fulfill yours." She leaned over and kissed him soundly before swiftly walking out of the kitchen and up the stairs to her room, saying goodbyes to Cy and Star. It was time to get some sleep, and worry about her ridiculous deal later.
A/n: Ooh, Terra can be evil sometimes… heh heh heh. Well, how did you like it? Please review and tell me:)