Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans, or the Red X/Terra pairing . . . even though I invented it. :P
A/N: Yep, the guy that created the Red X & Terra pairing is back! And I have my very first X/T oneshot for you. Featuring (of course) our two favorite anti-heroes!
Enjoy!
THE RIGHT THING TO DO
The first thing she felt was the pain behind her eyes. Bright, blinding light is not met with happiness after one solid year of darkness. The girl shut her eyes and cried out softly, lifting her hand in front of her face to keep the dangerous light out of her eyes. Her blonde hair feel over her face, further obscuring her vision of the light.
"Too bright?" came a voice from above.
Terra looked up to find the person that had just spoken to her, almost forgetting about the light. She opened her eyes and cried out, even louder this time, as bright, white light struck her. She clutched at her eyes and bent down, feeling her eyeballs throb inside of her head.
"Right. Too bright. Hold on."
There was a noise as whatever figure was standing above Terra jumped from one side of the room to the other. A switch was thrown, and she was then aware that the lights had been shut off completely. Terra opened her eyes and darkness flooded her vision.
Perfect. Her eyes were already adjusting to the darkness of the room. She appeared to be in some abandoned warehouse or something; there were crates and boxes stacked high upon the walls, and the roof was about twenty feet high. Rafters extended across the ceiling, and it seemed that that was where the figure had been standing.
All at once, Terra's mind began to race with questions. Where was she? How did she get here? What was going on? Who had spoken?
How was she free?
So, for the first time in a year, Terra tried to speak.
"He–Hello?" she asked. Her voice was very faint, and her throat was both sore and dry. Being frozen in stone for a year will do that. Each syllable was painful . . . but it got the job done. "Where am I?"
"There's water in the crate next to you," came the voice once again. Terra looked over to see where it had come from . . . only to see darkness. Even with her adjusted vision, shadows obscured whoever was talking to her. Still, Terra thought the voice was almost . . . familiar. It definitely sounded like someone she knew . . . but it was different, filtered. Like someone had taken the original voice and revamped it.
Slowly, Terra beseeched the voice. She turned to the nearby crate and, reaching with her hands, felt a pile of water bottles. Grabbing one quickly, she tugged off the cap and drank to her heart's content. When that bottle was empty, she grabbed another, and another, and drank until she could feel her voice return and her throat subside.
"Thank . . . thank you," she said, gasping for breath as she tossed the third water bottle aside. She turned back towards where the voice had come and peered into the shadows. "Who . . . who are you? What's going on?"
"I'm . . . a friend," came the response. "As for what's going on, perhaps I should ask you. Do you remember anything? Anything at all?"
Terra thought about it. "I remember . . . I stopped Slade! I shot him down and . . . and I had to stop the volcano for erupting, to help the Titans and . . ." It hit her then. "The Titans! Are they okay? Is Beast Boy okay? Did they make it out?" Terra moved to get up.
"Calm down," came the voice. "And don't get up, you're too weak." As if to prove his point, Terra fell back down onto her butt. "I told you so. Now will you calm down and listen to me?"
"Alright," Terra answered. "But only if you promise to answer everything for me."
"I will," came the voice. "First of all, you were successful. The volcano is gone now; the Titans are alive and well. However, you . . . suffered a side-effect . . ."
"I know," Terra said, looking down. "I was turned to stone. That much I remember."
"Doyou know how long you were out?" asked the voice.
"No. How long was it?"
There was a pause. Then . . . "It's been a whole year, Terra. I'm sorry."
"Wow . . ." Terra gasped. A whole year? Just like that? She'd been a stone statue for one whole year, while the world went on around her. One whole year. "It's really been that long?"
"Yes."
"And . . . and how did I get free?" asked Terra. "How did I get here?"
"Both answers are the same," said the figure. "It was I." And with that, the figure stepped forward out of the darkness, and into Terra's line of vision.
The figure was a male and relatively tall. He looked like he was just past his teenage years, maybe eighteen or nineteen. But Terra couldn't be sure . . . because he was wearing a costume. A dark, black costume that covered his entire body, from head to toe. Gray gloves covered his hands and his boots were made of pure steel. A red X marking was located on his heart, and a red belt was wrapped around his waist. A tattered black and red cape was draped from his neck.
And over his face, he wore a mask. The mask had a skull depiction on it, one that covered his face. Another red X marking was located over one eye. The rest of the mask was black. And yet, through all of the unknown profile, Terra still found where it resembled somebody.
"Robin?" she asked. The figure laughed.
"Close, but no cigar, kid," said the figure. "You can call me . . . Red X."
"Red X," Terra said, nodding. "And just who are you? Hero or villain?"
"Neither."
"Then whose side are you on?" asked Terra. The figure chuckled again.
"Mine!" Red X turned to a nearby window and looked out of it. It was night time in Jump City; the stars were slightly visible through the warehouse glass. "I was the one who freed you, and I'm the one who brought you here."
"But . . . why?" asked Terra. Her voice grew soft and timid again. "What do you want with me?"
"Don't worry, kid," answered Red X, turning back to her. "I don't want to hurt you, and I'm not gonna make you do anything. All I want to do is . . . talk."
"Talk?" Terra asked. "About what?"
Red X narrowed his eyes as he looked at her. "You. I want to talk about you." He turned and began to walk towards her. "I've heard a lot about you, Terra. I know you were once a Titan, and I know you betrayed them to Slade. I also know you saved them at the last minute . . . which is something not may are aware of in this town. And it got me thinking."
"Excuse me?" Terra said, interrupting him.
"Yeah?"
"Not to be rude or anything . . . but could you help me up? The ground is kinda uncomfortable."
"Oh," Red X said. "Sure, hold on." The anti-hero leaned down and helped the poor girl to her feet. "Steady now," he said, holding her up. With his help, Terra made it to another crate, which Red X helped her on top of. She then took a sitting position there and leaned against another crate nearby.
"Better now?" asked Red X.
"Yep," Terra responded. "Thanks. Now . . . ?"
"Right," Red X said, finding his train of thought. "Now, Terra, you got me thinking. You see, you and me, we're not too different. I, too, have had a few run-ins with the Titans. I guess you could call me an anti-hero. But the thing that I couldn't figure out is that every time I face the Titans . . . I end up helping them in the end."
He turned. "Just like you. You started off with them, then turned against them, then saved them. You helped them in the end, just like me . . . and I was wandering why. What made you do it?"
Terra didn't even think about it. "Well, I guess there were a few reasons. I mean, they were my friends; they took me in, gave me a home. And that's important, at least to me. But the most important reason . . . it was the right thing to do."
"The right thing to do?" asked Red X. "You mean, morally? You did what they would have done?"
"Yeah, I suppose," Terra said, looking at the anti-hero. "That's what you did, isn't it? You helped them out in the end. You must have seen it was the right thing to do. Maybe you wanted to be a hero, too."
Red X stared at her. His eyes narrowed. "No. I refuse to believe that's the answer. I don't play the hero. I only look out for number one: me."
Terra looked back at him. "Then why did you help them?"
"That's why I freed you," Red X told her. "I thought maybe you could tell me."
Before Terra could answer, an explosion was heard outside of the warehouse. Both Red X and Terra turned as one to see fire shoot out of the building next to him. The warehouse shook and crates fell as the explosion echoed throughout the docks.
At once, Terra found her strength and jumped off from the crate. Using her earth-controlling abilities, she summoned a great rock from below her to levitate her off the ground. She was surprised that she could use her powers again so quickly. But there would be time enough to think about that later.
"Come on," she said to Red X. "We have to go stop whatever is doing that!"
Red X looked at her. "Why should I help? It doesn't have anything to do with me."
Terra grunted. "Fine! But I have to go! I'll come back, I promise!"
And with that, Terra flew out of the warehouse on her floating rock. It smashed through the warehouse doors and shot into the neighboring one. Fire and smoke were already mixing together to float into the night air. With one final swoop, Terra dived into the fray.
The first thing Terra noticed was the creature in the middle of the wrecked warehouse. It stood twelve feet tall and was made out of solid, animated stone. Robotics and gears moved it from the inside, but the outside was pure rock. Its arms and legs were huge, but it's head was relatively small.
Terra recognized the monster immediately; it was Cinderblock!
"GRUUAAGH!" cried out Cinderblock as it spied the young, female geomancer. The monster dropped the heavy machinery it was carrying and began to stomp its way toward Terra. It lifted both hands together into a powerful fist and struck her.
Terra jumped back at the last second, allowing her flying boulder to be destroyed. She was still wearing her super-suit, the one Slade had made for her; thus, her own abilities were far more powerful than usual. Lifting both hands into the air, the girl summoned more earth to do her bidding.
At once, two great pillars of rock extended from the ground and plowed into Cinderblock. The monster cried out in pain and landed on his back. Terra used this opportunity to summon a great boulder, bigger than before, from out of the ground. Lifting it over the villain's head, she slammed it down on top of him.
"GRAUUAGH!" cried out Cinderblock once again. The boulder struck and he was then silenced.
Terra breathed out a sigh of relief. 'That was easy,' she thought. 'It usually takes a lot more than that to take Cinderblock down . . . '
It turns out she was right. Before Terra could take another step towards the exit, the great stone giant behind her jumped to his feet and knocked her to the wall with a great, powerful fist. Terra cried out as her body struck the wall and she fell back on the floor.
"DOOOOOOM!" Cinderblock roared. He approached her and lifted up a great bulldozer from the side of the warehouse. Lifting it above his head, he prepared to throw it at Terra, killing her. Terra tried to bring up a pillar or stone to save her . . . a rock, a pebble, anything! But it wasn't working. It seemed as if her powers had finally grown tired.
Terra screamed as Cinderblock prepared to finish the battle, and end her life.
And then, at the last possible second, three red projectiles, all shaped like Xs, sped through the air and struck the stone giant. With a roar of pain, Cinderblock fell back backwards. His grip on the bulldozer loosened, and it came tumbling back upon him. As Cinderblock roared in pain, Terra looked up to see Red X appear on the rafters above her.
The anti-hero jumped from his perch and landed in front of Terra, helping her up. They turned as one to face the giant as he struggled to remove the vehicle from on top of him.
"I thought you didn't like to play the hero?" Terra asked, grinning over at Red X. The young man smiled underneath his mask.
"Doesn't mean I don't know how!"
As one, the two ran at Cinderblock. As one, they dodged his twin fists. As one, they jumped over his form and landed on the opposite side. As one, they extended both hands, palm up and attacked.
They worked as one.
As Terra extended her hands, four great pillars of stone rose from the Earth and wrapped themselves around Cinderblock. The monster roared as the stone hardened around him and froze him to the spot.
As Red X extended his hands, two red Xs shot from his palms and sped towards Cinderblock. The red Xs revealed themselves as laser fire and struck the giant with a great, red explosion.
There was a roar of pain from Cinderblock. And then there was nothing.
Terra took a deep breath and relaxed. She looked over at Red X to see he was putting away three more projectiles he had taken out, just in case. He turned to her as well.
"You alright, kid?" he asked. Terra nodded.
"I am, thanks to you," she said. "You saved my life back there."
"Yeah, I did," Red X said. He looked down at his hands. "Imagine that . . ."
"Why did you do it?" Terra asked him, studying his mask for any facial expressions. "I thought you only looked out for number one. I thought you didn't care one way or the other. Why did you do it?"
"I guess . . ." Red X started, looking over at her. He smirked. "I guess I did it . . . because it was the right thing to do."
A/N: And that's the end, everyone! Hope you all liked it! Not very romantic, I know, but I just had to do another Red X and Terra thing together. And I rather like this one!
So, tell me what you think! Please Review!
And . . . PEACE OUT!