In Purgatory's Shadow

Chapter 2: I'll Wait Forever

"How is he?" Robin asked as Cyborg entered the main room.

"He refuses to come out of his room. Whatever happened; whatever he saw, it's got him in a real mood." Cyborg explained as he leaned on the back of the couch.

"Please Cyborg, what is troubling our friend?" Starfire pleaded, "Is he really seeing of the dead people?"

"Honestly, I don't know. It could be a number of things. For all we know it could be all in his mind. I just hope that the little guy gets his head clear by the time that we're called into battle."

"Hey, has anyone seen Raven?" Robin queried.

"Ah yes, she said that was in need of doing something that she has been putting off for a while." Starfire answered.

In another part of the tower, Beast Boy had his head buried into his pillow when he heard a knock on his door, "I told you guys that I'm not coming out!" he spat.

"Is that how you greet everyone who comes to your door?" The dreary feminine voiced asked from behind the door.

"Raven?" Beast Boy asked as he leapt off his bed and opened the door, "The guys must be pretty desperate if they sent you up here to cheer me up."

"Hardly. C'mon, there's something that I need to show you," She responded before walking down the hall. Beast Boy followed after her out of pure curiosity.

Raven lead Beast boy into her room, a privilege she does not often grant. Beast Boy took this rare opportunity to gaze around at the dark, depressing décor. Raven stopped at her bookshelf, plucked a book from it, and paused for a moment to collect her thoughts before turning to face Beast Boy.

"Beast boy, do you remember when we were still looking for a cure for Terra's condition, and I said that I couldn't find any form of magic that could revive her?" Beast Boy shot her an accusing glare and she shamed at her poor choice of words, "I didn't mean to say that I was holding out on you," She corrected, "What I'm saying is that while looking for a cure, I came upon this spell."

She revealed a book-marked page to him. Beast Boy looked upon the ancient writing and pentagrams with confusion, "Okay, what does it do?" he asked.

Raven stuttered for a bit then sighed, "You may want to sit down," She offered as she used her magic to pull a chair over to Beast Boy. She sat down on her bed as Beast Boy took his seat. "It's complicated, but this spell has the ability to animate stone, but only as a lifeless puppet. It won't work on anything that is alive; that has a soul. Do you understand?" Beast Boy shook his head so Raven continued, "If I use this spell on Terra, and it doesn't work, then that means that she is still in there somewhere and there is hope to revive her… but if it does work then… then… Beast Boy I'm giving you a choice here, a choice to know the answer once and for all! A definitive yes or no if Terra is still alive!"

Beast Boy sat silently, staring at his feet, letting the information sink into his brain. Raven closed the book and placed it on her lap, "Look, it was a stupid idea. I'm sorry I brought it up."

"She won't really be there, will she?" Beast Boy interrupted her, "I mean, she'll be alive… but not Terra?"

Raven sighed, "If you want to get technical about it, she… her body would be like a stone zombie."

Beast Boy nearly became ill at the thought of defiling Terra's body like that, "I… I don't know. I mean, I want to know, but I don't want to do that to her. And what if it doesn't work? Then what? Do we start looking for a cure all over again or do we just leave her like that? I mean, C'mon Rae, what kind of a choice are you giving me here?"

"I'm trying to give you closure… I'm sorry, Beast Boy. I don't mean to sound defeatist, and I promise you, we're going to keep doing everything we can. I just thought that you would never be able to move on until you could know for sure," she got up and placed the book back on the shelf, "The choice is always here if you need it."

Beast Boy stood up from his chair, "You know what Raven? I don't want to move on. I'll wait for as long as it takes. I don't believe that there is nothing in all of science, magic or the entire galaxy that can at the very least shed some light on her condition. So thanks for the offer, but I would never want to mess up Terra's body with a spell like that just to know if all our efforts were a waste of time."

"So you're admitting that there may never be a cure?"

"I admit nothing! When you went and became the portal for Trigon to come and destroy the world, we never once thought that you were dead! Robin even went to the depths of hell itself to rescue you. At the very least, I'd expect the same kind of thing for Terra"

Raven's hair flailed and her room shook, "Stop it! Stop doing this to yourself! Did you ever once think that I'm trying to help you? That maybe the reason why you're seeing Terra around town is because after an entire year you've never gotten over it? You want to know what I think? She's dead, okay? And there's no cure for death. No spell, no science. She sacrificed herself for the good of the city and now she's dead! And if you want proof, I'll march right down to her grave, that's right, I said GRAVE, and use this spell to bring stone zombie Terra straight to your open arms!" At this point, objects in the room began circling like they were caught in a whirlwind.

"Raven, please stop, you're going crazy here!" Beast Boy pleaded to calm the darkness in his friend.

Raven managed to snap out of it and the chaos came to a grinding halt. She put a hand up to her head and sat back down on her bed, "I'm sorry Beast Boy. I shouldn't have let my emotions get out of control like that. I was only trying to help you."

Beast boy was about to respond but then Robin chimed over the communicator, "Beast boy, we have trouble, it's Plasmus! He's… um, what's going on here?"

"Uh, nothing," Beast Boy responded.

"Are… you in Raven's room?"

"Well, um,"

"And what was all that noise we heard? And why is Raven's hair all messed up?"

Beast Boy began to panic when Starfire came on the other line, her image split screening Robin's on the communicator, "Perhaps they were helping each other train though the grappling of wrestle?"

The image of Robin turned to face Starfire, "Starfire, I don't think that…"

Beast Boy interrupted them, "What was that? You said that some villain is doing villainy stuff? Raven and I, uh, we'll be going down together! I mean, we'll be coming together. I mean, uh--I gotta go!" and with that he hung up as quickly as possible.

Beast Boy breathed a sigh of relief then turned around to see Raven staring him down with all the anger she could muster, "You couldn't have made that sound anymore suggestive?" She sarcastically asked.

"Uh, sorry."

"Sorry won't reattach your head to the mangled remains of your body once I get though with you! You're just lucky that we have business to do right now. No get OUT of my ROOM!" She screamed.

"I'm gone!" Beat Boy confirmed as he quickly sprinted out the door.

Raven pulled her hood over her head and breathed deeply to regain her composure, "This is why I don't let anybody in my room."

Down in the streets of the city, the neigh-unstoppable raging pile of sludge, otherwise known as Plasmus, was causing havoc in search of more toxic chemicals to feed his unstable body. A mother and child, attempting to escape from their wrecked car, were nearly doomed at the hand of Plasmus's blind rage. Fortunately, a wall of dark matter came between them and certain death. "Leave them alone!" Raven ordered as she flew in with her comrades. She then willed her creation to swing like a giant door, squishing Plasmus against a nearby building. Before Plasmus could recollect himself, her dark matter morphed onto the other side of him and forced him against another building right across the street, giving the mother and child enough time to get to safety.

"Hell hath no wrath… like a woman who has spent some alone time with Beast Boy!" Cyborg smirked.

Beast Boy sneered at him, "Yeah, and for the good of all mankind. Maybe we should never mention anything about that, ever again!"

Cyborg dodged a piece of Plasmus that flew by, "Deal!" And with that he converted his arm into the Sonic Cannon and joined the fray with Beast Boy following right behind him as a tiger.

Beat Boy leapt up and clawed at Plasmus's arm while Cyborg gave him a healthy dosage from his Sonic Cannon right in the part of his body that most closely resembled his face. Reforming from the attack, Plasmus gripped Beast Boy with his other arm and ploughed him into a wall, attempting to drown Beast Boy in his own gunk. Beast Boy was saved as Starfire fired off a particularly large Star Bolt, severing Plasmus's arm. The gunk around Beast Boy gave slack and sunk to the ground, leaving Beast Boy, in his human form, gasping for air.

Robin came to his side, "You okay, Beast Boy?"

"I almost swallowed some, but I'm okay."

"Good, get back in the fight! Plasmus never goes down easy, especially when he gets his hands on… oh NO!"

They all look on at an overturned tanker truck a block away, which clearly read "Toxic Waste" on the side.

"Titans! Keep Plasmus away from that tanker!" Robin ordered.

Beast Boy leaped off the ground and morphed into a cheetah to outrun Plasmus who was already making a break for the tanker. Skidding in front of the tanker, Beast Boy morphed into a sperm whale to completely cut Plasmus off. Plasmus was further halted by a full assault from both Cyborg's and Starfire's energy attacks. Screeching in pain, Plasmus drained itself into a manhole and shot out from another on the opposite side of Beast Boy and the tanker. Just as he was about to dive at the tanker, he slammed head on into a wall of dark matter. At this point, Beast Boy had returned to human form. As Plasmus oozed to the ground, Raven chanted "Azarath Metrion Zinthos" to enclose the dark matter around the tanker and levitate it away from him.

"Good work Raven," Robin commented.

"Please keep him occupied," Raven requested, "This is very heavy and I need to concentrate."

Relentless in his pursuit, Plasmus flung a chunk of himself straight at Raven while he pulled himself back together. It flew by most of the unexpected Titans. But Robin, with is honed reflexes, tired to kick the sludge away from Raven. But the disembodied sludge corkscrewed around Robin's leg and hit Raven at full force, which caused Raven to lose her concentration. This resulted in the tanker dropping to the street like an egg on the kitchen floor, and Plasmus was all too eager to gobble up the toxic mess.

"Great! No he's fighting on a full stomach!" Cyborg yelled.

"This is not good!" Robin stated, "Everyone! Go on the offensive, we cant' let him get away now!"

Though they tried to follow Robin's orders, Plasmus had become twice as hard to take down, enduring sonic blasts, exploding discs, star bolts, and dark matter. Beast Boy tried to get a few good hits in by morphing into a T-Rex, but Plasmus wrestled him and pinned him to the ground. Trapped under the sludge once more, Beast Boy returned to human form to see Plasmus baring his fangs and drooling over the small, green changeling.

"Beast Boy," Robin yelled as he ran to save his friend. But then something happened that no one was expecting. Out from the direction of the lake, a giant icicle, about the size of a minivan, came catapulting towards the battle and impaled Plasmus through the side of the head. What was more surprising was that a young teenage girl, working with the momentum, splintered out from the icicle and skilfully, landed in a crouched position on the ground. Everyone stood around dumbfounded. Beast Boy managed to scamper to his feet and stutter the word, "T-T-Terra?"

As the girl stood up, Plasmus, with shards of ice in his body, turned to flatten the mystery girl with his giant fist. But the girl dodged under his fist and spun around to face him. "I wonder what your freezing point is?" She smirked. Plasmus then tried to pound her with both fists but then his arms staggered to a halt. She glared at him and a blue light enveloped her eyes. Plasmus's arms then began to crystallize from the shards of ice stuck in his flesh. This then spread to the rest of his body. He struggled to move but the mystery girl strengthened her concentration until he had completely frozen over. She then, out of great effort, ripped Plasmus's frozen body in half, letting the sleeping man within fall to the ground.

With frozen pieces of Plasmus littering the street, the girl stepped up to the Titans, "Hope you don't mind, I just thought you could use some help."

Everyone was still standing around with their jaws on the floor and their eyes as wide as saucers, "Terra?" they all asked at the same time.

The girl scoffed, "Man, people are always getting us mixed up. I'm Isis, Terra's twin sister. Speaking of which, you don't happen to know where she is do you?"

Author's Notes:
Another chapter up, yay. So how did you all like this one? I think I tipped my hat a bit to all you BB/Rae fans out there. And as for the other half of this chapter, what can I say? I just love to write action scenes- I hope I didn't confuse you with all that was going on in it though. Well, nothing more to say at this moment so… R&R, bye.