In Purgatory's Shadow

Chapter 5: False Rebirth

Deep beneath the city streets, two lone teenagers traveled through a dark and winding cave, "It's been a while since I've been down here," Beast Boy said, "But I'm positive this is the right path."

"I'm just glad that I have you here to guide me, I'd be lost down here without you," Isis smiled as she clung affectionately to Beast Boy's arm. Which only served to boost his ego and further twine him around her little finger.

"You know this place used to be the lair of some bad dude. But he was no match for the Green Wonder," he boasted. He then contemplated for a moment, "Hey, are you sure Robin said it was okay to come down here? What if they need us?"

"Don't worry about it, the all mighty leader gave us both a some leave time to visit my sister," she lied, "After all, things have been quiet today in terms of evil doers."

"Well, sorry for being a worrywart, but I'm going to check in just to make sure," he said as he reached for his communicator.

Isis quickly reached her hand over and gripped his. Had he been allowed to use the device, he would have found it rendered useless from the sabotage work Isis had done on it much earlier, "C'mon, Beast Boy. You wouldn't go and spoil this moment we're having, would you?"

"Just a quick call and I'll-" He was cut off as Isis gave him a playful kiss on the cheek.

Pulling away, she grinned seductively at him, "Now what were you saying?"

Cupids danced around Beast Boy's head, "Me? I wasn't saying anything."

Isis pulled the gleefully dazed Beast Boy along the path until they reached their destination. The rusted, old remains of a large steel door, which Beast Boy single handedly rammed off its hinges a year ago, stood before them. "Well, this is the place," Beast Boy announced. The two of them ventured though to stand in the presence of the statue of a girl, the spitting image of the icy diva Beast Boy walked in with. "And here's Terra, your sister, as she looked the very day that she saved the entire city," He breathed an exalted breath, "Doesn't she look wonderful?"

The sound of someone calling his name came so faintly down the path they took that, even with his animal-like ears, Beast Boy didn't acknowledge it.

"Thank you," Isis said as a grin, perhaps too wide, spread across her face.

The call for Beast Boy's name came again and this time her heard it. "Robin?" he asked as he turned around. In this distracted moment he didn't see the crazed look in the girl's eye.

"Thank you for leaving her like this… in a state where she can no longer resist me."

"I could have sworn that I heard… what did you say?" At this point it was clear that Robin was screaming Beast Boy's name as he, and the rest of the Titans, came running down the path. Beast Boy was stuck in between listening for Robin's voice again and paying attention to the disturbing things this girl was saying.

"But mostly… I want to thank you for being so gullible!" She gripped him by the shoulder and spin him around to hold him tightly next to her, "It's been fun playing around with my sister's little boy toy. You've been a real treat!" She kissed him violently, making Beast Boy's mind spin in confusion. Her lips were soft, inviting, poisonous. Something about this felt wrong, but he couldn't bring himself to back away. It was her scent, the feel of her hair, the sound of her laugh, the way her scrawny form captivated him entirely. She was Terra. She was everything he had been mourning forever since he had lost her. Everything about her felt so good, so right.

Isis withdrew her lips, and Beast Boy's head swam in confusion and contentment. "Terra, that was..."

His blonde escort frowned at the comment, her thumb running over the cap of her water bottle and popping it in one swift movement. "You really should learn to tell your girlfriends apart!" She spat, dousing him with the bottle's contents. "Now get out of my face!" She grinned broadly, bringing the full brunt of her powers to bear on him. The water dripping from his clothes solidified in an instant, not only restricting his movements, but also turning him into an easy target for her powers.

Without touching him, she propelled him back towards the entrance just as the Teen Titans arrive, "Beast Boy! Watch out! Isis, she's-" Robin was cut off as the changeling in question came flying through and hit the entire team like a bowling ball. Before the heroes could get to their feet, Isis focused her energy on the rocks above the doorway, willing the water between the cracks to expand and solidify just enough to cause a cave in around the entrance. Locking the Titans out, and her, with her sister, in.

"Beat Boy! Are you hurt? What has the harlot done to you?" Starfire asked as she tried to shake him back to his senses. Frowning at her failed attempt to wake him from either the concussion or the confusion, she resulted in giving him an open hand slap across the face. Her excessive alien strength literally sent his head spinning.

Beast Boy snapped to attention, "W-What's going on?"

"Isis used you to get to Terra," Robin explained as he hastily lifted rocks out of the entrance, "She used all of us!"

"You mean… Raven was right?" He asked, feeling like an idiot.

"I'll save the 'I told you so's for later," Raven said as she used her power to aid Robin.

"Out of the way!" Cyborg converted his arm to the Sonic Cannon, "I'll blast that doorway open in no time!"

"No!" Robin pushed Cyborg's arm down, "An explosion like that would cause a second cave in! We'll have to do it by hand, and quickly! Whatever Isis has planned, it can't be good!"

Beast boy stood up, his aggression taking form, "Beast Boy?" Starfire asked with concern, "Are you alright?"

"No, no I'm not!" And with that he morphed into a gorilla, stepped right up to the cave in, and began flinging rocks out of the way faster than all of his friends combined. In no time he managed to work out a small gap just big enough to see through. Peering through the eyehole, he saw the girl who manipulated him and he let out a loud, beastly roar. The result of which shook the earth and caused gravel and dirt to fall from the ceiling.

"Beast Boy, calm down before you bury us alive!" Robin ordered.

Even though Beast Boy obeyed, he didn't pay attention to the team leader. Returning to human form, but with his eyes still fixated on the gap, he stepped back a few feet and said, "She's mine!" before he rushed the gap, jumped, and morphed into and ant to skilfully pass through onto the other side.

He turned into a wolf as he landed. "Beast boy!" Robin called through the gap, "Wait until we get through before you-" But the changeling didn't listen, blinded by rage, he took off in full force towards the icy witch.

"Don't worry Terra, it'll all be over soon," Isis spoke to her petrified sister as she reached her hands up and cupped them onto the statues cheeks, "At least in this form you won't feel any pain… not that you deserve it." The last part came out with pure malice as a blue light enveloped her eyes. Then, giving more effort than she usually would, the light collapsed inward, becoming glowing dots in the middle of her pupils bursting so much energy that it lost the blue pigment and became a bright white.

Whatever ritual Isis was performing was lost as a green wolf came barrelling down from behind her brandishing it's fangs and snarling wildly. Isis had to break her concentration and the grip on her sister in order to dodge out of harm's way. She didn't have time to get her footing as the wolf bounded off the base of the statue and leaped at her with full force, pinning her to the ground.

"Leave her alone!" Beast Boy screamed as he returned to human form, still holding the girl beneath him by the shoulders.

"You don't even know what you're getting yourself into you little freak!" Isis snarled, "So why don't you just run along and let me get what I came for!"

"I won't let her hurt her." Beast Boy growled.

Isis laughed spitefully and gave a coy grin, "Me? Hurt my own sister? I would never," then her grin became more devilish, "You on the other hand…" And with that she willed the contents in her other water bottle to freeze and expand, bursting the container apart and ploughing Beast Boy right in the side of the gut with the force of a sledge hammer.

Beast Boy rolled off of her, clutching his side in agony. Isis stood up and brushed the dirt from her arms, "Now you can either leave or stay down, but don't interfere again." She then stepped up to Terra to resume her ritual. But then a green tentacle stretched over, twined itself around her arm, and pulled her back. She turned around to face an octopus reaching another tentacle over to wrap around her free hand. "You just don't pay attention, do you?" she yelled as the blue light returned to her eyes and the cylinder of ice she used to attack him earlier levitated off the ground and flew right at her attacker. The ice clocked him right upside the head, sending him spinning back into his human form.

He regained his composure to see Isis, staring him down as she beckoned the ice to her front. Then, without a word, the ice cylinder broke into dozens of dart-like icicles which were let loose on the Titan. Beast Boy screeched and quickly transformed into a gnat to make himself the smallest target possible. Fortunately, he managed to slip through the barrage of icicles, which all shattered against the caved in entrance and fell out of reach.

Isis cursed under her breath as a panting Beast Boy resumed octopus form. She broke from her position, trying to outrun his tentacles. She jumped over the first and ducked under another, but the third caught her square in the ribs. She was flung back against the base of the statue, the wind knocked out of her. Her breath came in chokes, and Beast Boy used the opportunity to return to human form, his own breathing becoming laboured. He advanced on Isis, whose eyes widened as she saw him coming. Her eyes glistened with hatred. She was too close now to lose to the likes of her sister's puny little love slave.

"You know," Isis managed to force out between painful breaths, the burning in her lungs finally beginning to lessen, "you're really... starting to... tick... me... off."

"Good!" Beast Boy yelled at Isis, dragging the girl to her feet. "It's over Isis. You can't fight us without water, and I counted. You're fresh out of the ol' aqua."

Isis glowered at her captor, for the first time, afraid that she was out of options. But as she was being dragged towards the cave-in, she realized she had the green guy exactly where she wanted him. "You shouldn't be so overconfident." Isis spat, trying to get a rise out of him.

Beast Boy tightened his grip. "I'm not going to let you hurt Terra or any of my friends."

"Well then, I guess it's a good thing I don't need your permission!" Isis seized Beast Boy's arm with her left wrist, her eyes smouldering with intensity as she manipulated her power through his body. Beast Boy writhed in pain, his mouth opening and closing in howls of agony. His grip on her fell apart in less than a second, and he dropped to the ground, his back arching, and his body convulsing. Isis stood over her would-be captor, planting a shoe right in the centre of his chest and pressing down with a portion of her weight. "The human body is sixty-eight percent water. Did you know that? I just froze a good amount of that." She grinned. "Now, I'm no expert in biology, but I can't even begin to imagine how much that must sting." Beast Boy didn't respond with ordinary speech, merely a look that flashed hatred as he tried to control his involuntary reactions to what would doubtlessly become a lethal assault. "Now, don't you wish you had just stayed down?" Isis dug the heel of her shoe into his ribs, which made the changeling's eyes bulge.

"Hang on, we're almost through!" Robin yelled from the widened gap.

Isis responded with a devilish smile as she diverted her attention for only a moment to beckon more rocks to fall from above the entrance, setting back any attempt the Titan's had of interfering.

"Now, we want to make sure you're in your Sunday best for the show, don't we?" Isis swung Beast Boy's body up against the stone form of her sister, causing loose dust to fly everywhere. "There we are, front row centre." Her smile was haunting, her voice too reminiscent of the Terra he knew. She was enjoying every moment of this. "Now remember, no flash photography." She slugged him in the stomach. "No interrupting the star of this production." She followed up with a smack to his head, sending dirt clods flying out of his hair. "And most importantly, no calling out to your annoying friends!" She then gripped him by the wrists and forced them down to twin against Terra's. Beast Boy convulsed as his joints cracked. "Now sit back and watch," The blue light returned to her eyes, "The show is about to start."

"Back… off." An ominous voice echoed throughout the chamber.

"I thought I told you not to interfere!" she yelled back at the caved in entrance. But to her surprise, the rocks still held and no one was there. She then looked back in horror as stony a hand came up and gripped her by the face. Losing her concentration on the changeling, whom was now allowed to fall to the ground, Isis struggled to force the statue's hand off her face. Her mouth covered, she could only mumble and twist around, both her hands feverously clawing away at the statue's wrist. The statue, still looking upwards as it always had, now began to shake, gravel crumbling from the joint broken through in its shoulder. Its head began to stagger and convulse until it finally snapped downwards to face Isis, creating a fresh joint in the neck. It's eyes, never closed, suddenly illuminated with a bright yellow light that poured down the body through jagged veins, breathing life into all of its limbs.

"Leave… him… ALONE!" Terra yelled, the yellow light gleaming through her mouth. Two stone pillars jutted out from the far wall behind Terra, snaked around her and hit Isis at full force.

Isis flailed onto the ground, choking for air. She looked up to narrowly dodge a boulder that came at her with such force that it left a crater in its wake. She staggered to her feet only to be knocked down again by another stony attack from the side. Then barely managed to roll off of a slab of rock, which rose from beneath her, threatening to crush her against the ceiling. Landing roughly on the ground, she looked up to see her sister, now broken from her yearlong position, standing above her, her face a stone mask of anger. "Terra," Isis begged, "Please, wait! I'm your sister, remember?"

Terra narrowed her eyes, "I remember," and with that she stretched her arm down, gripped her twin by the neck, and threw her across the chamber, landing near the base where the statue once stood. As Isis hacked and cough to get her breath back, she noticed a frozen wood frog lying where the changeling had fallen. Glaring in hatred, she palmed the incapacitated Titan just as a stone hand emerged from the ground and gripped her foot, sending her flailing like a rag doll across the chamber, past her sister, and slammed against the cave in. She only managed to let out a snarl as Terra zoomed over and wrapped her hands around her sister's neck, viciously pressing her into the rocks.

"Ter…ra…p-pl…ease" Isis wheezed through the strangulation.

A slight flicker of mercy flashed in Terra's rage. "Go away and never come back!" She glowered at her sister before willing the rocks in the cave in to collapse inward, releasing her sibling form her grip and sending her falling backwards through the reopened entrance, the whole ordeal taking the Titans on the other side by complete surprise.

Isis flopped onto the ground then staggered to her feet. She looked at the surrounding Titans with panic and defeat as they simply looked back with shock and confusion. She then turned and ran away into the darkness of the path like a child who was bullied off the playground.

"Wow," Cyborg commented, "Did Beast Boy do that?"

"Um, Cyborg," Raven tapped him on the shoulder and pointed in Terra's direction.

He turned around to observe the golem girl down on her knees, staring at her hands, "What… what happened to me?" she asked out loud, "Why can't I feel anything?"

"Terra!" Robin called, walking towards her slowly. "Terra, you have to listen to me. I can explain everything. It'll be all right."

Terra shook her head back and forth rapidly, knowing that nothing could ever be all right again. She couldn't feel. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't taste, or even smell. Seeing and hearing came to her, but it was as though these sensations were through a filter. She could will her body to move, but she had to push through something that felt like a wall full of jell-o first. She sobbed as she traced the contours of her stony hands, unable to feel even the slightest response. Tears did not fall out of eyes. She stood up and ran towards the wall, repeatedly beating her fists against it in a desperate attempt to feel something, anything. But there was nothing. No pain. Not even a scratch on herself. Terra collapsed against the wall, falling to the floor. "What am I?" She choked, clutching her knees to her chest. "Please, someone tell me what I am!

Starfire crossed the distance between the Titans and poor Terra, sitting down beside the distraught girl. "You are alive." Starfire said simply.

"How can you call this alive?" Terra screeched.

"It is good to see you, Friend Terra. But you must not grieve for your condition. We will find a way to restore you to your normal self." Starfire looked directly into Raven's eyes. "We owe you this for saving our lives. We will return the favour."

Reluctant to bare more weight on the situation, Cyborg had to ask "Um… Where's Beast Boy?"

Shortly after, a battered and bruised Isis escaped to the surface through the mouth of a cave onto the beach. She leaned against the rocks and breathed heavily, glad to see the light again but hate filled that she could not gain what she desired. She then noticed something twitching in her closed hand and opened it to see the frozen tree frog of a Titan was beginning to thaw. But then she focused her energy and made the poor creature freeze over again. "Not quite yet," She cocked a smile, "You may have foiled my first attempt, but Terra will hand the Gaia over to me willingly, and you'll make a very fine hostage."

Author's Notes:
Quick little educational tidbit for those of you who are wondering why Beast Boy turned into a wood frog of all creatures when he was frozen. Well that's because a wood frog, native to Canada (my home and patriot land), is one of a very few species that can survive being totally frozen over and not sustain cell damage when it's thawed. We learn something new every day. Okay, enough of that educational stuff, now onto the actual story. Firstly, we all knew that Terra was going to come back in this story, but how many among you saw that coming? Eh? Eh? That's what I thought! And I guess I've shed just a little more light on that exactly the Gaia is, but it's still mainly a mystery. Well, I hope that Beast Boy's capture and Terra's false rebirth will get you guys excited for the next chapter. Until then, R&R as always.