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Stone Prison

By: Demonabyss

Chapter 6: Fears

I am running. How I got here, where or why I'm running, or even when I started to run all escaped me at the moment. But for some reason I don't care. All I care about right now is that I keep running away from whatever it is that is chasing me in this massive gothic citadel. I can hear whatever it was that was chasing me. It whispered my name on the wind streams in the halls. "TeRrA," it cried in a voice like that of the mythical banshee. Fear shot through my body, worse then anything I could ever remember. I could see its shadow on the floor but I couldn't see the thing itself and I wasn't sure if I wanted to. All I did was run on fear and adrenaline induced energy.

The hallways were all the same and blurred as I ran. Dark marble was everywhere with a blood red carpet beneath my feet. Paintings to my left on the walls of people I once knew, thousands of faces glaring at me in such contempt that it were almost unbearable to even glance at them. Soon they started to speak, to yell for my blood and death in a chorus of rage. Why? Why won't they leave me alone? "I'm sorry! I'm sorry damn it! I wasn't my fault! It was an accident! They were all accidents!" I screamed at them. My cries fall on deaf ears as they continue to cry out. To my right, dark windows showing the places I've been, all destroyed and nearly leveled to the ground, burning in flames. Most of the places look like they were hit by an air raid, but I knew better. However, the wave of sound from the living paintings failed to drown out the eerie but piercing cry of the creature behind me. I continued to run not daring to look back anymore.

My running led me to a massive double door way. It was made of black marble and lined with gold. Focusing my powers on it, I opened it, quickly shut and barred it, trapping that thing on the other side. I turn around and suddenly I wish I hadn't shut the door. It was a massive room, like that of a cathedral church, with massive mirrors on the sidewalls and two very large mirrors at the back in a V formation. I cautiously walked up to one of the mirrors on the side to see an image I hadn't wanted to see for some time.

It was a little girl, only about four years old, with blonde hair, blue eyes, and a number of bruises on her body. She was crying, her choking sobs were very quiet but I could hear them clearly, oh so god damn clearly. "Mommy? Please mommy, don't leave me! I'll be good, please mommy! I promise I'll be better! Please!" she cried out again and again for her mother, but I knew she wouldn't come, she never did. In all this time, she never came and I knew she never would.

Unable to watch it, I moved to the next mirror and after one look, I was better off with the first one. It was the same girl, only much older, in shorts, boots, and a black shirt with a yellow T on it. I was barely able to watch as she laughed and enjoyed the company of five strange but familiar teens. It was even harder to watch when the teens weren't looking, the girl took on a look of contempt as she plotted secretly against them. Going so far as to take a knife and stab the short green one in the back. All the while looking like she enjoyed every second of it. I moved on to the next mirror.

Like before, I was better off with the last one. In this mirror I saw the same girl, this time in twisted armor and strips of cloth. I could only see one eye as the other was covered by dark blonde hair. Her eye held coldness, no sympathy or compassion, only the promise of death to those who crossed her or her dark master that stood behind her. All around them both was nothing but ruin and destruction. The girl didn't stare back at me; she stared through me. I moved away.

I came to the two large mirrors at the end of the room. In them I saw two images that I had never seen before. Both were creatures of stone like me and they were both female, but that's where the resemblances ended. The creature to my right was an older looking female made of stone in the same way I was. Her figure put Wonder Woman to shame and her hair flowed down to her lower thighs and made of the purest diamond I had ever seen. She wore armor made of a pure shimmering crystal that shimmered in the light. Her eyes were made of sapphire as she held a gaze of calm tranquility.

The creature to my right however, was the opposite of her. It . . . . . She was a monster. She had a similar figure but it was more muscular with four arms, twisted claws, legs and feet like those of a T-Rex, a tail, wings, and spikes like a dragon, and spiky hair made of black and red crystal. She had a thick hide of natural armor made of jagged rock. Her entire body was made of various types of rock and crystal twisted together in an unnatural way for lack of a better description. Her face held a look of rage and insanity with a set of monstrous teeth and demonic eyes that would make Raven shudder. "What is this?" I asked, fear in my voice.

I got one hell of a response. All the girls in the mirrors responded at once, including the two in the mirrors in front or me. "WHO ARE YOU?" they asked. I back away in surprise. What the hell was going on? There was a sudden rumbling and I turned to the door.

The stone made barrier burst into pieces to reveal a shadowy figure that I couldn't identify. The figure then burst into a mass of shadow, covering and silencing the mirrors as it encircled me. Fear shot through my body, paralyzing it into a stiff state like the very rocks I control. The shadows wrapped around me, like living water, encasing and crushing even my rock solid form. It was hard for me to breathe as part of the shadows in front of me formed into the figure again. It was female with long hair and glowing dark gold eyes. It was smiling a hideous, pleasure filled smile that only the insane would wear. This thing was enjoying my death! The shadows started to crawl up my body and started to cover my face as the last thing I saw was that monster's smiling face and dark gold eyes. I screamed.

(Normal POV)

Terra's scream pierced the night as she shot up from the ground. She looked around and saw no shadow creature, no mirrors, and no labyrinthine castle, none of it. What she saw was a simple cave with the remains of a small campfire and her supplies and bags. 'A dream, it was all a dream,' she thought as she took deep breaths to calm herself down.

Ever since the incident with Static, she thought it best to get away from Dakota as quickly as possible. She had found a small cave in some nearby mountains that had suited her fine. It was good distance from the city, but close enough that she could get to it without any problem and to keep a general eye on it. Most would think she'd head to another town immediately, but she decided to pull something a little different. She had had problems with detectives, like Batman, trying to find her before and knew how to throw them off her trail. She had bought a bus ticket in broad daylight, with all her stuff, and had gotten on. However, she had gotten off a few miles out of town and had gone directly into the wilderness. If Batman was even half the detective she had heard him to be, he'd find out about the bus ticket, trace it, and therefore go to it's location to search for her, which in this case was Las Vegas. It was a simple false trail, but a good one.

Terra's breathing eventually went down to normal. She was used to nightmares, considering what she had done in the past, but none were as bad as that one. Knowing that she wouldn't be getting any sleep tonight, she restarted her fire with a lighter she had bought. She sat on her sleeping bag as the fire blazed to life, its cackling echoing in the night. Staring into the flames, her mind drifted. 'Is this what I'm destined to be? A wanderer, hunted by others to be either a tool or a weapon they can use or abuse? With no home, no friends, no family, no allies, or even a place for me to belong? No, I will not believe that. I refuse to believe that, I didn't when I started out years ago and I still don't now. I know I have a higher purpose out there somewhere. There has to be! I don't care if it's good or evil, I will find it! I will be better, I will be greater, and I will prove to both you and me that I'm not what you say I am father. I swear it!' she silently vowed as she stared at the flames.

In a large T shaped building far from Terra's cave was a sad little green boy. He held a hand to his cheek where a girl on a train slugged him, hard. The physical pain left a long time ago, but the mental was still as strong as ever. Even now, a few weeks after the incident, he still couldn't understand why she had done it. 'I just don't get it. Why did she do that? Doesn't she know that I'm on her side?' he asked himself as he sat on the roof of the tower in thought, which was rare for him. He didn't notice as someone floated next to him and sat down.

"Still thinking about what happened on the train?" a monotone voice asked him. Beast Boy looked and saw Raven sitting next to him, enjoying the view as he had been. When she received no response she took it to be a yes. "Don't beat yourself up over it, you didn't do anything. Remember, it was Terra who hit you, not the other way around," she said logically.

"I know that. It's just . . . . . I don't understand why she did it. Doesn't she know I'm her friend?" he asked desperately. It didn't take Raven's empathic abilities to tell he was distressed and confused. That was easy to understand considering a girl he has (or had depending on who you ask) a crush on knocked him out.

Raven sighed and took a deep breath to steady her self as she gave her explanation. "I don't think anyone can tell you why she did it other then Terra herself Beast Boy. Remember, we've seen two different versions of her personality. One was kind, fun loving and our friend. The other was cold, ruthless, and our enemy. Both were Terra in some sense, but we don't know which one is closer to her true personality," she explained as Beast Boy just sat in silence.

He shook his head as he looked at the small silver heart shaped box in his hands. "But I just don't understand Rae. Doesn't she know she's not our enemy anymore? Doesn't she know we can help her?" he asked with tears brimming his eyes.

Raven's heart just clenched at the sight. Beast Boy was powerful in his own right, but out of all the Titans, he was the most easily confused on complex matters like this. Even Starfire, for all her naiveté, more then once had insight into things others would not expect. "It's likely she does know, but doesn't want our help. She is, in many ways although I don't like to admit it, a lot like me," Raven said in her usual monotone voice. Though if one listened carefully, they hear a slight pang of regret in it.

Beast Boy just looked at her like she had grown a second head or something similar. "Did I hear you right? You and Terra alike? No offence Raven, but I fail to see the resemblance," he said with a slight grin.

A ghost of a smile touched her lips as she continued. "On the surface, me and Terra couldn't be more different. But go beyond that and you'll see we're very similar. Both of us have troubled pasts, extreme power that is difficult to control, and we both wear masks," she explained.

"Masks? I don't get it," the green changeling said as he stared at the Goth.

Raven sighed again. "We both hide who and what we truly are Beast Boy, just as many people do. We hide things about ourselves that we don't want anyone to know, things that are extremely hard for us to show. Remember when I told you and the others about my father?" she asked solemnly. Beast Boy nodded in silence, knowing that had been one of the hardest things in the world for her to tell them that her father was the demon Trigon. "Many people have secrets like that that they don't want others to know just as I did. I created barriers to protect myself when I first met you and the Titans. I was afraid that if you knew who my father was that you would never be my friends though now I know better." She sighed again before continuing. "Like me, Terra has masks to protect herself from others. However, it seems she has far more masks than I do. She probably uses different masks for different situations just like you use different animal forms for different reasons. Why she does, I wish I could tell you, but I can tell you we won't stop searching for her until we have an answer to all of this," she said calmly with a slight hint of a promise in there.

Beast Boy smiled gently at her. "Thanks Raven," he said sincerely.

Raven just silently smiled back at him as she got up to leave. However, before she went back inside, she turned back to Beast Boy. "One more thing Beast Boy, just remember that the next time you see her, just because she's not your enemy doesn't necessarily mean that you're not hers," she said in a serious tone. Beast Boy nodded and turned to look back out onto the ocean, his thoughts as shifting as the waters he watched.

The Question worked at his computer tirelessly doing research on those who had attacked Terra. What he was coming up with, he didn't like. There wasn't a lot of information for him to go on from Terra's description, but he was able to narrow it down. The red flash she saw and the fact that nothing had remained meant only one thing, Zynothium. It was the only substance that could disintegrate matter like that to leave no evidence. Most of all it wasn't cheap. If these soldiers were using that, then who ever they were working for was loaded. There were only a limited number of people in the world who had access to the stuff and who had the tech to use it. If the one chasing Terra was who he thought it was and if they caught her, then they were all in deep trouble.