Hello again! Again, no one was willing to hazard a guess as to the identities of the red creatures. I'll list them in the endnote, in case anyone cares. Anyway, I should warn everyone, this chapter does have character "death" and very mild profanity. It also has unhealthy levels of Japanese horseradish, but we'll get to that later. Disclaimer time!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Teen Titans, Magic: the Gathering, or, despite frequent rumors to the contrary, giant flaming effigies of ffnet writers who don't follow the basics of capitalization and grammar. I do have a few of those writers laboring in my n-dimensional sinuses, but no one misses them. (Just kidding…maybe)

AHEAVYHEARTACLENCHEDFISTAHEAVYHEARTACLENCHEDFISTAHEAVYHEARTACLENCHEDFIST

"As you know," explained the Mox Ruby from the animated remnants of Terra, "I contain and command red magic, the magic of emotion, of passion. When Pentagram gave you the Mox Scroll, I knew you'd come for me eventually, so I began to plan. I'd been inside Terra even since she was petrified, drawn by the immense geokinetic power she used in her final moments. From here, I could create a stronghold that could withstand and waylay the other Titans, ensuring that you two would arrive in my chamber and no others. And then, my plan could come to fruition."

Raven frowned skeptically, "What does that entail?"

The statue stood once more. "The destruction of those who broke you hearts. I knew Raven would have to destroy Malchior's tome to get the Mox Jet. Now the same thing must take place."

Raven's eyes widened. "I have to destroy Terra's statue?"

Beast Boy turned to Raven, his face bearing a horrified look. "No," he said, "I do."

Terra's head nodded. "Exactly. Once that is done, none will be able to interfere with your mutual happiness and joy." Her mouth split in a wide, stony grin.

"But it's not that simple!" cried the anguished shapeshifter. "Terra wasn't some random villain! She was my friend, my," he stifled a sob, "my first love."

The statue wore a look of confusion. "But she deceived you. Betrayed you. Surely you-"

"She redeemed herself in the end!" Beast Boy shouted. Kneeling, he held his head is his hands. "Do you think you're making this any easier? Using her voice? Wearing her face? It's like watching Terra sacrifice herself for us all over again."

Raven knelt down to console him. Even as he wrapped his arms around her, she turned to the jewel. "Terra and I might not have always gotten along, but even I came to trust her."

"Ah," interjected the Ruby, "but Malchior-"

Raven quickly cut it off. "Malchior never made amends for his deception. He didn't become one of us. You're asking Beast Boy to destroy what's left of one of the few people to ever look beyond the green skin, the goofy façade."

The point seemed to have finally penetrated both the literal and figurative rock-hard skulls of the Ruby. "I see…" it said, worry and embarrassment populating its features. "I'm going to have to think about this." With that, the red glow faded from the statue, which resumed Terra's final pose.

BACKWITHTHEOTHERTITANSBACKWITHTHEOTHERTITANSBACKWITHTHEOTHERTITANS

A grand banquet table stood in the center of the grand chamber; aged wood creaking under the weight of the roasted pigs, broiled kavu, and other assorted charred carcasses. Dwarves, humans, lizardfolk, minotaurs, even goblins were seated, and at the head of the table, a rugged, seemingly Japanese man rose and raised his flagon of whatever fermentables the squatters had managed to find underground.

"A toast!" he called, "to honor the passing of my old champions, and the finding of my new one! To Yamazaki Seitaro and Shujiro! To Robin, the Boy Wonder!"

"To the Brothers! To Robin!" chorused about the table, accompanied with hearty quaffs from the flagons.

"Hear, hear!" called two voices near the head of the table. Starfire and her opponent-turned-friend, who she now knew as Balthor, toasted one another's glasses and drank heartily. Much to the dwarf's surprise and pleasure, the slim Tamaranean managed to empty her flask before he did. Turning to Robin, he said jovially, "Say, champion boy. Ye would'n happen ta have a claim on this lass, would ye? She'd make any dwarf a fine wife. A wee bit tall, maybae, but fine indeed."

Robin's response was interrupted by a tremendous belch that received a fair amount of applause from the table, many of those seated connoisseurs of the more amusing bodily noises and functions. "Excuse me," said an embarrassed Starfire, "I am unaccustomed to this beverage." She turned to the barbarian sitting at the head of the table. "Pardon me, Warlord Godo, but do you have any mustard?"

The bandit chief smiled, and replied, "Mustard? Hah, yes, the short ones have told of the stuff. I have something far better." With that, he reached into a pouch at his side, his hand returning with something wrapped in rice paper. He passed it to Starfire. "Try a bit."

The alien unwrapped a bit, revealing a light green paste. Raising a skeptical eyebrow, she rubbed a bit of with her forefinger, and then licked it. Eyes widening in ecstasy, she cried, "What is this wondrous substance? It is as though Blorthog is being held within my mouth, and all have come to celebrate!"

Laughing heartily, Godo replied, "That, fair maiden, is wasabi. Far more potent than any yellow goo." He reached for the package, but Starfire pulled it towards her and growled threateningly, eyes blazing. Retracting his hand, the warlord smiled more uncertainly, then whispered to Robin, "Honorable champion, if she is indeed your woman, I do not recommend displeasing her."

Nodding knowingly, Robin responded, "Trust me, I'm well aware," and watched as Starfire consumed the remainder of the paste in a single gulp, rising into the air with unmitigated glee.

BACKTOTHEMAINSTORYBACKTOTHEMAINSTORYBACKTOTHEMAINSTORY

After a few minutes, the red energy returned to the statue, who said, "After considering your history with Terra, I realize I might have been somewhat insensitive before."

"No, really," drawled Raven.

"Yes," replied an oblivious Ruby, "And for that, I apologize. I realize simply asking someone to destroy the monument to one of their friends is a terrible thing."

"Well," Beast Boy offered, "we discussed a few things, and Raven and I came to an agreement."

"Beast Boy and I agreed that he should be the one to extract you from Terra's statue," Raven finished.

"Really?" asked a disconcerted Ruby. "What happened to 'Terra was our friend, how could you ask this of us?' "

"Terra's been gone for a long time," explained the changeling. "I've said goodbye, but I haven't done it in person. This way, I'll get real closure."

The Ruby rarely used its incredible intelligence, but even it noticed the inconsistency in Beast Boy's otherwise moving speech. "Raven told you the last sentence, didn't she?"

Caught and flustered, the green teen rallied his only defense. "Is that really important right now?" Having silenced the sniggers from the two feminoids, (A/N: female-shaped beings) Beast Boy then assumed the form of a gorilla, and threw a tremendous punch at the statue.

It effortlessly caught the simian fist, with nary a hairline crack in its own structure. Beast Boy returned to human form, and, shaking feeling back into his hand, gave the Ruby a look of annoyed incomprehension. Frowning, the Ruby explained his unspoken question. "Beast Boy, I want you to do this in human form."

"Why? I don't think I can even break the statue unless I turn into something really strong."

"That isn't the point. I can make the statue as hard or soft as I wish. The point is, I don't want you hiding behind a simpler mind while you're doing this. I want to know Garfield Logan, Homo sapiens panmorphia, is the one doing this, not Beast Boy directing the mind of a gorilla or an ox." (A/N: Homo sapiens panmorphia: Thinking man of all shapes)

The changeling sighed, and looked to Raven. "What?" she asked, after he'd been looking at her for slightly longer than she was comfortable with.

He smiled, not his usual toothy beaming, but a subdued grin. "Just reminding myself why I'm doing this."

With that, he approached the statue, which resumed the pose it had taken upon its petrification. The only evidence of magical intervention was the red glow still emanating from Terra's chest. Beast Boy put his arm around the stone neck, and placed his forehead against the statue's. "I'll never forget you, Terra. Thank you, and goodbye." With his other hand, he delivered the first punch, cracking the torso considerably. Pulling himself erect, the shifter delivered another blow, then another, cracking and chipping away more and more stone. Red light flooded out from the cracks. Finally, with a resounding double-handed strike, the stone gave way fully, Terra's arms and head dropping away and shattering on the floor.

In the exposed portion of the statue, where a geokinetic girl's heart once lay, sat the Mox Ruby. Similar in shape to the Jet, but more faceted, in a thicker gold frame, and red, of course, for a moment it didn't seem worth the sacrifice.

You did the right thing, Garfield, it assured him, then fell silent. The psychic voice, at once as kindhearted as a puppy and as intense as a thunderstorm, washed over the changeling with little noticeable reaction.

Plucking the gem from the remnants of the statue, Beast Boy wordlessly handed it to Raven, then embraced her, and finally allowed the tears to come out. She stood solidly, holding him steady as a few tears of her own silently ran down her cheeks. Streams of gravel flowed with the empath's tears as Terra's trunk quietly dissolved.

WITHCYBORGWITHCYBORGWITHCYBORGWITHCYBORGWITHCYBORGWITHCYBORG

Weepingly, the sorceress finished her story. "So, you see, ever since then, I've been trapped in this strange world where everyone's made entirely of flesh and they all treats me like some sort of freak, and, and…" She collapsed into sobs, the tears crackling with static charge. Turning to the cybernetic teen, she continued. "At least you knew what it was like to be all flesh, before being turned into something even you think of as a freak."

Cyborg nodded sympathetically. "At least you felt like you belonged, had others that were part metal." Both were sitting some distance from the banquet, still at the point where they had fought. "

She turned to him. "Yes, but now we have…each other."

Their heads were drawn to one another as though magnetized (which they were, but that wasn't the only attractive force the two felt.) They closed their eyes, pursed their lips, and…

The sorceress dissolved into a cloud of incendiary gas less than a second before the kiss was established. As Cyborg watched the nebulous stuff dissipate, he uttered the only thing that felt appropriate.

"Damn it."

ENDCHAPTERTWENTYTHREEENDCHAPTERTWENTYTHREEENDCHAPTERTWENTYTHREE

Poor Cyborg. He never gets a break. At least, not in my stories. (Heh heh heh.) Now then, the matter of who's what in Chapter 21. Here's the list:

Robin's foes and new lord: Brothers Yamazaki and Godo, Bandit Warlord. Cyborg's foe/love interest: Vulshok Sorceror. Raven's foe: Shard Phoenix. Starfire's foe/drinking buddy: Balthor the Stout. Beast Boy's foe: Laccolith Titan.

If you want, look up the cards at Gatherer. (gatherer . wizards . com, sans the spaces.) Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please review and tell me how you felt about it!