And here it is – the 2nd part of the the two-parter Completed Reunion.
Oh, and is it just me or is each chapter gaining in length?
Terra106 : Thanks. Yes, I don't like that either but, granted, it is a plot device. Rest assured, all is not as it seems.
ColdHeartedPhoenix : Thanks. Here you go.
Rigmus : Yes, I suppose it will be a happy ending. But the story leading up to it will probably not as you would expect.
ShadowHexx771 : Thanks. Slade will get more sadistic as we go along as you shall see in this chapter.
rock n elemental : Thanks.
Please RR. Thanks!
Chapter VIII : Completed Reunion Part 2
But in that instant, I knew what he meant.
"Why, Beast Boy…"
"Why? Because, Terra, things change."
By finally using my name in the conversing, he signaled that the discussion had ended. He took steps back into the darkness and disappeared in the cascades of rain. The mud splattered about.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"She ran this way." Robin had devoted to tracking me down despite the thunderstorm.
"Why would Terra run from her friends?" Starfire's hair soaked in the falling rain.
"She must have seen somebody and either ran to them or from them." Cyborg's face seemed completely serious from his normal mediocre smile he painted upon himself.
"In this thick of a storm, we can't follow her anymore. There's no way. Cyborg. can you track her down?" Raven had retreated her book into her cloak to avoid soaking of the pages.
"No can do. The heavy rain's just disrupting any signal of her. The thunder doesn't help either." With a defeated look, Cyborg quit pressing buttons on his mechanical arm and looked toward his companions.
"Terra, can you hear me? Terra, respond. Where are you?" Robin's final effort proved to no avail either as he continued to scream into his communicator. His effort deemed just as unresponsive.
"If it was Slade, she only fell into another trap," suggested Raven responding to Robin.
"We can only hope now." Robin's hair was soaked with the pouring rain which had ruined his gel. He may have had just lost a Teen Titan.
"No, dear titans, it would seem that you have fallen into the trap." An all too familiar voice whispered the taunt among the four titans as if answering their previous comment.
"Slade…" Robin had recognized his voice and narrowed his eyes intent on locating him.
"Good, you remember me. How long has it been? A year already? I was beginning to think you forgot about me."
"Show yourself!" Starfire had already charged a starbolt in her hands preparing for an inevitable battle. Although she lighted up the proximity, Slade himself was nowhere to be found.
"They say… the best attack is when your opponent does not expect it…"
"Cyborg, use your eye to examine the surroundings"
In response, Cyborg's mechanical eye scanned the surroundings attempting to locate their enemy. Subsequently, he switched his normal mechanical arm into a sonic cannon for an offensive weapon.
"He's nowhere to be found..at least I can't even locate him with my mechanical eye…..ah"
And, coincidentally, Slade emerged from his hiding place and threw his fist directly into his mechanical eye, whilst grunting in the process. Surprised by the sneak attack, Cyborg was knocked backwards by the assault.
"Titans, go!"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The rain still muffled any sound I could comprehend from Beast Boy. Quickly thinking, I knew that a chance to persuade Beast Boy could not be dismissed. Mounting upon a rock, I scoured the proximity where Beast Boy had disappeared.
"Beast Boy. Come back."
I knew there would be no reply but I shouted it out anyways. What could Slade have done for Beast Boy to turn his back to me?
Turning a corner at an alleyway, I was once again found myself on the street. Cocking my head, I searched for any signs of Beast Boy. I couldn't let him return to Slade again. I just couldn't.
My heart skipped a beat when I caught a glimpse of his shadow that revealed itself in the lamp post's light. Shaped as a cheetah, the echoes of his footsteps faded in the distance. But I tried to catch up, nonetheless. Perhaps it was a futile attempt, but something in me kept me chasing after him.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Robin's volleys of kicks and punches were blocked quickly and easily. No matter how furious his efforts were, there was nothing he could do to lay even a finger upon Slade. Backflipping over Robin, Slade wrenched him in an armbar, then throwing him into Cyborg who had readied a sonic cannon.
"Azarath Mentrion Zynthos" a lamp post was uprooted from its resting place and served as a bat against Slade. Easily leaping over it, Slade threw an uppercut knocking back Raven feet away.
"Too easy."
Attempting to catch Slade off guard, Starfire flew high overhead shooting starbolts in an effort to stop Slade's advance.
"Friends! Are you alright?" Starfire leapt downwards to examine Robin's wounds when from the emerging smoke, Slade sprinted out and delivered a blow.
The four Titans began to collect themselves in the skirmish as Slade stood unharmed in the middle.
"Robin, I'm disappointed. Have you let your team soften this entire year? No training at all? Has the Brotherhood of Evil really spoiled you so much?"
Grunting from his multiple bruises, Robin gathered his energy and threw a kick. Catching his leg, Slade swung him to the side.
"Like I said, Robin…"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Beast Boy. Where are you?"
The echoing footsteps continued signaling his pacing movement. I rode overhead with a rock scouring for him. Though at that elevation, the rain blurred my sight, I could make out an outline of a running cheetah. Following the moving shadow, I let out a short gasp when I realized where he was heading.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
A low foot sweep caught an attacking Cyborg off guard followed by a kick in the chest propelling him away.
"What do you want." By this time, Robin's bruises expanded and multiple cuts were evident among him.
"Robin, do you expect me to really tell you my plan? Seriously, I thought you would be smarter than that." Slade's taunt angered Robin into throwing a flurry of fists yet to no effect. Slade caught his fist and pulled him in kneeing him in the stomach then throwing him aside.
Subsequently, Slade took off in a sprint knowing the other titans were too weak to chase after him.
"Titans, go! We have to follow him." Now bleeding from his forehead, Robin seemed more beaten than ever.
"Robin, I'm afraid to say this, but we can't catch him this time. We're too badly beaten. Even then, what would we do if we did catch up to him." Raven suggested with a logical reasoning yet she knew when it came to Slade, Robin wasn't the most rational one.
"Raven's right. We still have to find Terra too. We can't just leave her out there." Cyborg had renewed everybody's memory about Terra and how she had yet to be found.
"Terra will have to wait. Did you forget Slade has Beast Boy. This is the opportunity we were waiting for ever since his kidnap. We can't let it slip!"
"Friend Robin, it is you who will have to wait. Your wounds are most gruesome and need to be attended to."
"If you guys aren't going to help me. That's fine. I'll go myself." With that, Robin pursued after Slade before anybody could protest.
"This can't be good. We don't know where Terra is, and Beast Boy's in Slade's hands. And Robin just ran off to who knows where. We can't even track any of them because of the storm." Cyborg's usually upbeat face reversed to a solemn and worried one.
"We are in the trouble, yes?"
"Yea…"
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
The scenery of the destroyed carnival was less than stellar. Nonetheless, I followed him through the carnival. I saw many things – I saw the collapsed coaster. I viewed the rubble of the House of Mirrors and the various decayed rides that I had once enjoyed. Was it a coincidence Beast Boy lead me here?
Finally, halting to a stop and morphing back to a human form, he lay crouched there with his cold eyes. Emotionless, he stood before me – uncaring and impassive. A gust of wind blew between us. Time ticked slower than usual and a silence passed by as we transmitted an unspoken conversation. I felt lost in his emerald eyes of whose was once my friend – my ally. Those eyes had displayed so much emotion before – before I broke them. Three years ago, they contained a passionate love for me. But now, they shone something of indifference. Once, they had confessed a love for me and now, I just didn't know. Deep in those eyes of double meanings, I knew, I wished, he still did. But I wished of many things…
"Terra, why do you still follow me?" A tear in Beast Boy's eyes had formed. Had I just cracked the surface? Could it really be him in there and not the detached apprentice I previously spoke to?
"I want, I want to know, why you're doing this. Why are you joining Slade? Why do you have to hurt me so much?"
In addition to the downpour, the wind howled between us causing me to shiver. And in the background, the rundown carnival rides tweaked restlessly as we stood in front of the House of Mirror rubble. But I didn't care, I waited for the response.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Robin felt the howling winds chill him as he ran toward Slade into a deserted household.
"Dear child, if you can't defeat me as four, how can you defeat me as one?" Once again, Slade remained hidden behind machinery and gears simply taunting at Robin behind safeguards.
"I'll find a way…" Robin scouted around for Slade and at the same time preparing for any surprise attacks.
"Funny. That is what your friend Beast Boy said. Right before, he was knocked out…"
Robin turned swiftly around and threw a freeze disk in the direction where the echo came from but there was no Slade.
"Where is he! Where is Beast Boy?"
"Dear child, let's just say he's with me now. Even then, how do you expect to save him if you cannot save yourself. You cannot defend yourself, Robin. Not from me."
Halfway through Slade's sentence, Robin threw a freeze disk at the direction of the voice yet Slade continued to speak.
"If that is how you try to defeat me, you are sadly mistaken, Robin."
Frustrated, Robin threw three freeze disks in close proximity at close range again.
"Robin, you are freezing machinery. There is no hope for you, is there?"
"SLADE, SHOW YOURSELF." Robin's face was completely creased in anger and fists clenched. But he could not speak anymore after that. Caught in a headlock by Slade, Robin struggled hopelessly against his arm.
"You insisted…"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Raven, you said you sensed he went this way, right?" Cyborg's voice was hoarse from all the yelling through the communicator due to the weather. They had split up in an attempt to locate Robin.
"Starfire to Raven, he is nowhere to be located over here. Oh, we should not have left him run off on his own. I fear he is in danger."
"He's not here either." Angry, Cyborg punched a hole into the building he was in causing a massive hole in the wall.
"Maybe, we should head back…" Raven had long given up on their futile attempt.
"No, we will find him because our friend, Robin, is in danger. I will search elsewhere." Starfire's order made Raven submit and they continued to scour.
"But, will we be too late…"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Beast Boy, why are you doing this…" I repeated my question once more patiently waiting for an answer.
Another breeze passed us chilling me. Was he simply contemplating on an answer?
But there was none. Instead, Beast Boy, turned and walked away from me avoiding my question.
"Beast Boy…"
He continued to walk away.
An anger erupted within me from his 'no response'. I felt my eyes glow yellow.
"I just want to talk, Beast Boy."
Yet, he didn't care. He kept walking. Finally, I could not control myself, I summoned a small pebble from the rubble of the House of Mirrors and sent it hurtling toward him striking the back of his head. Finally, he stopped and stood still – back turned.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Robin gripped the arm holding him in a headlock and threw Slade overhead where he landed swiftly and balanced. Knowing he had the advantage from Slade's fall, the boy wonder charged with his bo staff striking him between his head and shoulder. However, seemingly undamaged, Slade persisted in throwing punches at him as Robin dodged.
"Robin you are fighting a losing fight."
"Not yet."
Flipping his bo staff overhead and at Slade, Robin primed a blow. And, perhaps, all too soon than he expected, Slade let out a howl of pain and writhed on the ground before his enemy. And right when the titan was about to finish Slade off, a devastating shot impacted the back of his head. Robin's head stung with pain interrupting his thought process. However, the last thing he saw was the exploded wires on the Slade he had beaten down.
"Too slow, Robin, much too slow." Was all he heard before he fell unconscious lying on the floor.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Finally, he stopped and stood still – back turned. Gaining his attention, I began to pour out some of the things that I wanted to explain to him in the alleyway.
"I didn't think it would come to this, Beast Boy. After I sacrificed myself for the city, I'd never thought I'd see you again much less fight you again."
Oh, how I wish I could see his face right now, his emerald eyes.
But I continued to explain. Frustration was set aside by sadness.
"I lied to you that day pretending to humor you. I wanted to run away from all the horrible things that I caused and to start with a clean slate with nothing to be ashamed of. I had to push you aside, Beast Boy just like you are doing now. A-And it was hard for me to let you g-go – to think that I r-really never wanted to see you again."
Pausing, I took a deep breath before explaining again.
"Is it hard for you, Beast Boy? Is it hard for you to let go of me a-after all we've been through?"
I couldn't stifle the tiny sobs reappearing now… Did he truly not love me back…? And yet, there was no answer to my questions. Only silence. Always silence.
Instead of an answer, he continued to walk…he continued to walk away from me despite what I had said – despite what I had confessed. I reached a hand out toward him as if I could draw him back to me and reverse all that had happened. But I knew he would keep walking. Then, riding a boulder, I swiftly intercepted his path.
And as I blocked his path, he stopped walking for the moment.
"It's too late, Terra." He mumbled and then promptly walked around me.
"It's never too late. Remember…?" I hoped to trigger any memory of me. But to no avail.
Stopping for his reply, Beast Boy turned around to face me.
"You're wrong."
Triggering a nerve, my anger exploded and I leapt at Beast Boy pinning him down to the ground. My hands held his wrists back as I lay on top of him in an awkward position. My eyes glowed yellow as his face remained blank.
"Beast Boy… don't do this. Don't go to Slade. I-I love you, Beast Boy. D-Don't g-go. Beast Boy, don't my feelings mean anything t-to you."
And consequently, for once, Beast Boy's face showed shock at the revelation. He no longer struggled breaking my grip on his wrists and for that moment, our eyes locked in a fixed gaze upon each other. And as we became lost in each other's eyes, we both unconsciously leaned in, beginning to shut our eyes upon instinct.
"Apprentice, no!" A receiver wired to the green titan's ears shrieked a high-pitched sound as our lips were an inch away.
Shifting his eyes from my stare, Beast Boy realized his mistake and narrowed his eyes.
"No, Terra. Your feelings; they mean nothing to me."
And my heart stopped. I had just opened up my feelings that I withheld for three years only to be rejected. And it wasn't because of Slade. Beast Boy willingly said it…
I felt my anger multiply with each and every second at his response. From his cold and distant look upon his face to his apprenticeship with Slade, I hated every aspect of him in that instant. Everything about him that moment fueled the frustration within me. And from all that anger, I released one hand pinning down a wrist, raised it, and let it down upon Beast Boy's cheek, slamming his face aside.
"Stop it, Beast Boy…"
I heard a sickening crack inside his mouth as I delivered another blow trying to knock some sense within him. I paused for him to respond as I looked straight into his eyes. He didn't struggle to fight nor did he transform to escape. He lay there with me on top of him taking in the previous blows from my fist. His mouth was bleeding as some of the blood leaked from the sides and onto his lips. He paid no attention, though, just lying there defiantly. Finally, in response, he spat the blood out onto my face retorting my previous blows. The blood and spit upon my face dripped down and stained his 'S' badge.
"I can't." replied Beast Boy.
"Apprentice, report to me at once." Another message was relayed from his receiver.
After a few seconds, he absorbed the message subsequently transforming into a snake to escape from my grip. And with one last glance at me, he remorphed into a pterodactyl and flew away.
Thanks to all who reviewed. Did Beast Boy seem too harsh in this one? Hmm...
And there's a twist coming up too . :
Review please, and tell me what you think.
