Disclaimer: Still don't own any of these characters or anything else remotely related to them.
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Titans Tower: East.
It had been a full day since the events stemming from the chase around the tower that ultimately ended in the ninth floor Zen garden. Terra had fainted from exhaustion and lack of nutrients and a small case of shock. She was back in the medical ward, same room as last time. It had been over twenty-eight hours since she fainted and she showed no signs of waking up yet.
The Titans hooked her up to an IV in order to make up for her lost nutrients. They did a check-up on her vital functions and everything seemed stable for the most part. They took turns checking up on her on regular intervals of time and hooked her up to a monitor to signal any change in her vitals or if she would wake up.
They did all this mainly so that they could all avoid what just happened a day ago. It was hard on all of them, especially on their new guest. Terra was now soundly asleep once again. Thankfully for her, it was a dreamless sleep. No haunting memories or delusional nightmares.
For the moment though, the members of the Titans East were having lunch.
In the main room the Titans gathered around the table to eat. Today's meal was a platter of good old, Italian style pasta. It was Bumble Bee's turn to make lunch today and she decided this was a nice change of pace. The regular pace being Aqualad constantly complaining that there being traces of seafood in everything that Speedy orders out.
As they were eating, they found enough time between forkfuls of pasta to discuss current events.
Aqualad started. "Okay. What I'm trying to raise here is the issue on what were gonna do with her. I mean, she's supposed to be this tragic heroine that lost her way and betrayed an entire city, but at the last minute redeemed herself by making the ultimate sacrifice. How do you talk to someone like that?"
"She's not only that, Aqualad," replied Bumble Bee, "Remember that she's also a lost person in search of meaning. She spent nearly her entire life running away from her mistakes."
"I know how to deal with lost people, believe me. But this girl is beyond just being lost. It's like she doesn't even know she was born. She has to find the right path to follow but i don't think she knows what the path looks like or where to find it…or if it even exist."
"All the more reason we should help her."
"So, you really want to keep her with us here, Bee?"
"You mind or something?"
"I don't particularly mind myself, How about you guys?"
The twins swallowed their pasta and said: "No tenemos ningún problema con eso."
"What about you, 'William Tell'?" asked Aqualad towards Speedy.
Speedy put down the glass he was drinking from to reply. "I'm cool with that. God knows it would be nice to have a fresh new face in this dump. Besides, were all for 'helping the needy' right, and I can see that that girl is in need of a lot of things."
"But can we really give all the things she needs? I don't remember anyone of us having a degree in psychology here."
"Mmmfff mffmf mmfmfm mf fmmfmmfmf mfmf," said the twins.
"How many times have I told you to stop talking with your mouths full?" said Speedy, "Swallow…"
The twins swallowed and spoke clearly. "No preocúpate, nos las arreglaremos de algún modo," said the twins.
"…I guess that didn't really help that much," said Speedy realizing how scant his Spanish skills were.
"They said that we'll manage somehow," said Bumble Bee, "But I don't think it's that simple guys. I don't think she's that simple."
"If we decide to keep her with us, she could turn out to be quite a handful, ya know?" said Aqualad.
"Still we can't leave her out on her own," said Bumble Bee, "she's not the only piece of the puzzle here, ya know."
Aqualad looks towards Bumble Bee. "You're talking about Brother Blood and Professor Chang, huh?"
"Yep."
"Guess you're right. We can't totally forget about those two and the fact that we found Terra in their custody at first. There are bigger things happening here than just us and her."
"But some how I can't agree with our earlier theory about her," said Speedy.
"¿Cuál? ¿Uno sobre su ser su cómplice en su plan malvado? Eso parece muy improbable, amigos," said Más and Menos.
"That's right guys," concurred Bumble Bee, "she's no accomplice to those two lunatics. If anything, she's their unsuspecting victim in this whole thing. More likely they've been, or at least planning on, using her from the start."
"But 'how' and 'for what' are the bigger questions here, Bee," said Aqualad, "Blood always had this knack for going big when it comes to evil schemes and all. We still have no idea what he's really planning and how soon it's gonna take place."
"We don't know a darned thing about this, Professor Chang guy either," said Speedy, "Well we do know that the guy is a big weapons dealer in the underworld so whatever they're planning would most likely involve something that goes 'Boom!' you get what I'm saying, guys?"
"I guess that's one way of looking at things. Plus, since we know that Terra's involved, we can form a whole new batch of theories."
"Guess that gives us all the more reason to keep her around," said Bumble Bee, "and to keep her away from Blood and Chang as best we can."
"So we really are gonna keep her around, huh?" inquired Speedy, "Well if she's as lost as we say she is, that probably is the best coarse of action."
Aqualad grins at Speedy. "Ya, know, Speedy, you seem really anxious on keeping her here with us. Is it really all because of what we said about Blood and Chang or something else…?"
Speedy nearly chokes on his pasta.
"Yeah he's got a point," said Bumble Bee, "I mean, you were really nice to her especially after all that running around yester day. Never knew you had it in you."
"Hehehe, nosotros también la idea de que tú eras tan amable, el Sr. arco y flecha," said the twins with an accent.
Aqualad and Bumble Bee giggled. A vein popped-up on Speedy's temple.
"Hey, quit it!" he said, "Look I was just being nice. Is that so unusual?"
Everyone else said 'yes'.
"…" Speedy stared at their smiling faces then frowned, "Okay, so I was a bit out of character, so what? I simply couldn't stand that look in her eye, that's all."
"What look, man?" asked Aqualad.
"You know? That look."
"Dude, I seriously don't. What look are you talking about?"
Speedy sighed. "You guys know how I grew up, back in Star City, right. The streets were mean there. And when I swung around looking for baddies to beat up, most of the time, I don't just see villains. I also see their victims, the people villains rob, or hurt, or just play around with. And all those people have that same look I saw in that girl."
"Wait, I think I know what your getting at there, Speedy," said Aqualad. "I kinda know that look too. I think we all do, right guys?"
The rest of the team nodded in agreement.
"She had that same look," continued Speedy, "That look of fear, uncertainty, being lost, and utter hopelessness. That kind of look usually haunts you in your sleep. That's the real reason I want to help her. To me it's no different than helping the little guy who's being robbed in some dark alley."
"I'm goin' with Speedy on this one," said Bumble Bee, "she needs our help. What kind of Titans are we if we just throw her out on the streets. It's our obligation to that poor girl. Moreover it's our duty as Titans to protect those who are in trouble."
"Es determinado, finalmente. Protegeremos a la doncella justa de la tierra de cualquier daño a toda costa. Ése es nuestro deber como los héroes del Este de Titans," said Más and Menos.
All of the Titans nodded in agreement. At the same time, that particular issue was finally closed. The five heroes momentarily continue their meal, their plates almost completely empty now. At some point another thought passed through Aqualad's mind.
He spoke out as he finished his plate. "One more thing you guys."
Everyone looked at him as they were also finishing up their dishes.
"What about the other Titans in the west?"
Everyone froze for a moment. Though it was Aqualad that voiced it out, it was a question in everyone's minds. Terra's former team. Do they know about this? The Titans East knew that the chance of that was highly unlikely and it's more likely that the Teen Titans from Jump City have absolutely no involvement in this case whatsoever.
But how would they address the situation if that's the case. Do they keep her a secret? Do they tell them about her, about Professor Chang, about Brother Blood? Do they even have the right to say anything?
"I don't think this is the best time for that, Aqualad," said Bumble Bee, "Last time I checked on those guys, they were in the middle of something big and they actually had to leave their city. Something about 'old friends needing some help' or something like that."
"Do we know if they're back?"
"I don't know, sorry."
"Well in any case," spoke out Speedy, "I think it would probably be best if left that decision to her."
Everyone thought about that for a minute, then they all generally agreed.
"Es correcto. No tenemos derecho de interferir en asuntos personales," said Menos.
"Si lo hacemos, podemos hacer los temas peor para ella y todos nosotros," said Más.
"Okay, I guess that clinches that issue then," said Aqualad, "Now let's focus on the more present issue. Who's gonna go down to the medical ward to replace her sandwich?"
"Not it!" said Speedy almost immediately.
"You're learning…"
"That's okay I'll do it," said Bumble Bee as she was getting up from her seat, "Besides, it's Speedy's turn to wash the dishes today anyways."
"Huh? Hey!" objected Speedy to no avail.
Bumble Bee soon went into the kitchen to fetch an untouched plate of pasta, still a bit warm along with a fork and a cool bottle of water. Speedy started to gather the dirty dishes, while mumbling in grief, and hauled them away into the sink area just as Bumble Bee was leaving the room with the fresh plate of pasta. Aqualad and the twin speedsters were left alone on the table.
"Well that leaves us with some free time," Aqualad looked down on the twins, "What do you guys wanna do?"
Más and Menos looked thoughtful for a moment then said the one of the few English word they know: "Cartoons!"
"…Fine. Just as long as it's not that stupid, talking, yellow sponge."
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In the medical ward, room M-03.
Terra moans as she stirs back into consciousness. She blinks her eyes once, twice to remove the haziness in her vision. She slowly sits up and fully opens her eyes when her sight was fully sharp once again. She carefully looked around to take in her surroundings. In the first few seconds of observing, she already recognized the room she was in. It was the same room she woke up in God knows how long ago. She looked down on herself and also noted she still had the same gown and pair of shorts.
Terra tried to recall the events that lead her back here. She could vaguely remember five unusual characters that were chasing here and she tried to fend them off but she eventually fainted from the lack of energy. That ending thought immediately caused her stomach to rumble.
It was then that she noticed the one thing that was different in the room. Sitting next to her bed, on the table was a plate. On the plate was a pastrami sandwich. She stared at the thing for a long while. The only thing she could think of doing was taking it and chomping it down. She seemingly failed to notice that there was already a little mold on the bread but she didn't seem to care.
She reached for it and grabbed it with both hands. She held it close to her face. She could probably smell mold but again she didn't care. She opened her mouth agape and was about to take the sandwich in when suddenly from the door…
"Don't eat that!"
Terra immediately pulled the sandwich away from her face. She looked towards the door and saw the vaguely familiar form of Bumble Bee though she didn't know her yet. Terra quickly placed the offensive sandwich back on its plate. She looked up at Bumble Bee a little fearfully. Bumble Bee saw this and quickly apologized.
"Um…sorry about startling you like that," said Bumble Bee, "It's just that sandwich has been there for like a whole day now and it's getting' kinda rancid…"
Terra had a surprised look on her face. She looked down on the sandwich only now noticing all the mildew and mold that have build up on it. She lost her appetite immediately. She looked up at Bumble Bee with a slightly disgusted look.
"I'm…sorry," Terra muttered, "it's just that…I'm really…hungry and all…"
"Still, you shouldn't eat things that have already caught a little mold, it'll only make you sick even more."
"How long has it…been since I…fainted?"
"Over a whole day. I could understand why you're so hungry."
Terra blinked once or twice. A whole day? She must have been a lot more worn out than she thought. At that time Bumble moved to the table and picked up the plat with the sandwich and set down a new plate. One full of steaming pasta topped with a thick red tomato sauce as well as a bottle of water. Terra looked like it like a ten-year-old looking at his first birthday present.
"Well if you're hungry, you can have this instead," said Bumble Bee, "It's a lot fresher, that's for sure---"
Terra never waited for Bumble Bee to finish. She already grabbed the plate of pasta and the fork and began shoveling heaps of pasta in her mouth like an animal. Bumble Bee was taken by surprise and took a step back while sweatdropping.
With in a few moments the plate was already empty. Terra placed it back down on the table in a hurry as she was actually choking on her food. She immediately reached for the bottle of water next to the plate, uncapped it, and chugged it down. Bumble Bee sweatdropped a bit more.
After emptying the bottle in less than five seconds, Terra placed it back down next to the empty plate. Almost immediately afterwards, she went wide eyed and placed a hand over mouth. She then bent downwards looking like she was going to be sick. Bumble Bee became concerned and tried to place a hand on Terra but immediately drew back when Terra gave an exceptionally loud burp that rocked the room.
Bumble Bee sweat dropped a lot more.
Terra looked back up again and showed Bumble Bee that half her face was covered in tomato sauce. Bumble Bee instinctively reached for a nearby towel and handed it to Terra. Terra took with curiosity. She soon realized how dirty her face was then proceeded to wipe herself clean of the remaining tomato sauce.
"Uh…Thanks," said Terra while handing back the towel to Bumble Bee.
"You're quite welcome," was all Bumble Bee could say then.
"Um…can I ask…where am I? And who are you guys?"
"Oh, um well let me give you the gist of everything you need to know right now. You can call me Bumble Bee. I'm the leader of the Titans East. You are in our tower, located in Steel City. WE don't know exactly how you got here except through a couple of really bad guys we managed to get you away from and everything else, you probably already know."
"Titans East? Steel City? I've never heard of…"
"We were after your time. After you were---" Bumble Bee stopped herself in the middle of her speech. She dare not mention any of those past events to her. She's been through enough, the poor girl. She looked down at Terra who had a slightly saddened expression on her face. A change of subject was needed.
"Anyways, since you're here what do you say we meet the rest of the team?" said Bumble Bee.
"Oh, um…sure."
Terra slowly swung around her legs to the side of the bed so that she could get down. Bumble Bee stopped her with a palm. Terra looked up at Bumble Bee curiously.
"Um…you know what? Wait here and I'll get you a better change of cloths, okay?"
Terra looked down to remind herself what she was wearing. She blushed a bit. "Oh…sure thing."
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Back in the main room.
Speedy was done with the dishes and was sitting on the rounded couch along with Aqualad and the twins. They were watching some old Looney tunes cartoon. The twins watched the show intently but Speedy and Aqualad looked as if they were bored to tears. Speedy yawned constantly and Aqualad was half-way to unconsciousness, almost drooling.
"Couldn't this network find anything better to show?" rhetorically inquired Speedy.
"What do you expect them to show at one in the afternoon?" replied Aqualad.
"No sabemos cuál es su problema con esta demostración. ¡Decimos que es gran diversión a mirar! ¡Éste es arte de la televisión si había siempre cualquiera!" said Más and Menos.
"To each his own, guys," said Speedy.
They continued to watch this show for a few more minutes waiting for Bumble Bee to arrive with some kind of news. She's been gone longer than expected but the team didn't care to wonder at the moment. A little later Bumble Bee actually came back through the door but the boys were to distracted to notice immediately.
Bumble Bee walked up to the couch area and coughed loudly. The boys finally turned their heads to acknowledge her.
"Do you guys plan to just lay around all day like that?" inquired Bumble Bee.
"You gotta better idea?" asked Speedy.
"Yeah. How about welcoming our new guest properly?"
Bumble Bee pointed behind her. The boys looked. They saw Terra standing nervously behind Bumble Bee. Gone were her hospital gown and shorts and replacing them was a more conservative set of garments.
Terra was now wearing a simple, white, t-shirt for a top. She had on a pair of bell-bottom blue jeans and a pair of sandals on her feet. Her hair was pinned to one side so that it wouldn't get in the way of her face.
She stood there blushing as the boys stared at her for a few moments.
"Um…hi," she said.
A split second later, Más and Menos were both in front of her. Buena tarde nuestra huésped honrada, Señora Terra. Recepción a la torre de los Titanes del este. Estamos Más y Menos, los gemelos más rápidos en este planeta en su servicio. Hágase por favor en el país, insistimos."
Terra nearly jumped backwards in surprise. Her heart must have skipped a beat when those two suddenly came at her like that. She nervously smiled back at the smiling twins in front of her. She was sweatdropping as she tried to come up with a respond to that. Luckily, Aqualad stepped in for her.
"Alright, cool it you two," he said to them, "Give her some room will ya."
The twins stepped aside to allow Aqualad to have his word. "Sorry about those two, they're a little hyper you see. Incase you didn't catch that, their names are Más and Menos." Aqualad pointed at the twins respectively. As for me I'm---"
"Aqualad, right?" said Terra out of the blue.
"…Um, .yeah. How'd ya know?"
"It's just that…Starfire has a ton of posters in her room with you in it that's all," she said with a blush and a hint of humor.
The rest of the Team giggled as Aqualad turned a little flushed. "…Ahem, to continue, over here is Speedy."
Speedy walked up to Terra. "Pleasure to meet you."
Terra looked at Speedy for a good long time remaining absolutely silent. Speedy grew a tad bit uncomfortable with every lingering second Terra was looking at him. The others seemed equally curious as to why Terra suddenly became silent. Speedy broke the tension himself.
"Cat got your tongue, or something?"
Terra snapped back into reality. "Oh, sorry. I guess I…just wanna thank you…for what you did for me…um, yesterday, ya know? You saved me…I guess."
"Huh? Oh! That, well don't worry about it, ehe. It's just what I do. Besides I'm a sucker for damsels in distress. I'm sure any self respecting hero would have done the same."
"I…also wanna say sorry. I must've caused you guys so much trouble yesterday."
"Oh, it's no biggie, right guys?"
The rest of the team nodded in agreement. Aqualad stepped up to her to say something. "We could kinda understand why you would have reacted that way. I mean, waking up to a strange room in a strange building full of strange people would give anyone a good scare."
"Exactly," said Speedy, "…wait, who you calling strange?"
"This was totally my bad," continued Aqualad, "I should have been friendlier with you when we met in the hallway. Sorry to give you a scare like that."
"Acepte por favor nuestras apologías más profundas. éramos culpables también.," said Más and Menos.
"Oh don't worry, you guys, everything's cool," said Terra, "Besides, I…have a lot more to thank you guys about. You guys…might have very well saved my life the other night."
The four boys raised their eyebrows in curiosity.
Bumble Bee stepped in to explain. "Um, she's talking about the time we raided that exchange between Blood and Chang's men. I told her about that on the way here."
"Oh, that," said Speedy, "We were just lucky to have found you, and you were lucky to have been found by us. Besides, whoever you may be, those two characters are the last people you wanna be with, believe me on this."
"Speedy's right, Brother Blood and Professor Chang are nothing but bad news," concurred Bumble Bee, "But don't worry about that, you're with us now. We'll keep those crooks away from you anyway we can, whatever the cost."
"Gee, I can't thank you guys enough for all that you're doing for me," said Terra.
"Usted puede contar en nosotros, nuestra señora. No se preocupe aslong como estamos aquí," said Más and Menos.
"We're Titans, that's what we do," said Speedy.
Terra's smile was lost. Again a flood of memories was triggered when she heard that last line. That's what Titans do: they protect the people. Protect the people. The things she did, or at least remember doing, she couldn't bear the thoughts of it. The team was growingly concerned as the saw the change of expression on her face.
"Sorry, I shouldn't have said that," said Speedy.
"No, it's okay, just that I…" Terra broke off.
"Don't worry about the past Terra, that's the last thing you should do," said Aqualad.
Terra looked at him like he was crazy. He was telling her to forget about it which for her was an impossible task. Could anyone else just forget after going what she had gone through. No, it would be impossible. It would be crazy to even try.
"I can't just forget about my past, ya know," she said, "The things I did, the people I've hurt… you don't just throw away those kinds of memories."
Terra turned her head down and looked at the floor. Everyone in the room turned into a somber mood. They couldn't find anything to say to her in order to lift her spirit, or their own. Everyone except Aqualad that is.
"I never said anything about forgetting," said Aqualad.
"…Then what do you want me to do?" asked Terra.
"Move forward. That's all. People make mistakes, some big, some small. But mistakes are a fact of life we can't escape no matter how hard we try. They are our past and there is nothing we can do to change these things. All we can do is keep moving forward. The true measure of anyone's strength is how much they are willing to pick themselves up after they fell down. Terra, you may have lost everything, but that only means you have everything to gain. All you have to do is step up."
Terra listened intently to Aqualad's short speech. She thought about it carefully. Could she justify herself just like that, despite her past? Is she capable of just moving forward? Even if she was willing, would she be able to exert enough effort to achieve anything?
She was weak, she knew that. She couldn't stand to be weak so she kept looking for avenues to escape looking weak. There in lies all the mistake she ever made. She thought she could become stronger by joining the Titans. She lost faith in them for a stupid reason. She thought she could become stronger joining Slade. She was just used then thrown away. What was left for her was nothing but a shattered life not worth putting back together.
"All you have to do is step up, Terra," continued Aqualad, "and you don't have to be alone."
Terra looked at him in the eye. He was smirking. She looked around her. Soon everyone followed Aqualad's lead and wore small smirks on their faces. Terra started to get the gist of everything that they were about to say to her.
"You're probably thinking that your life is pretty much over," said Bumble Bee, "But that also gives you an opportunity to start over."
"We can all learn from our mistakes in the past," said Speedy, "Like it is said: what doesn't kill ya' can only make ya' stronger."
"Sí, sí, ¡eso es correcto!" said the twins.
Terra looked thoughtful for quite a while after That. The Titans knew to wait patiently and not rush her. This was her call and no-one else's. After a while she raised her head back up, wearing a smile.
"…I think…I might just give that a try."
The rest of the Team wore bigger smiles. Everything turned out okay after all. As corny as it was, they probably wouldn't have it any other way.
"Well since we're all starting over, I say that warrants a re-introduction," said Speedy.
"Yeah, you're right," said Terra, "Hi, my name's Terra, nice to meet you all…"
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Author's note: Not much action in this chapter, but don't worry. I'm planning plenty of action in the upcoming chapters plus a whole lot of twists in the story. In the meantime. Comments? Suggestions? Violent Reactions? Send them all my way if you want. Pls. R&R