Chapter-24 A Glimmer Of Hope?

YAY! So, it's come to this…The fourth to LAST CHAPPIE in this fic…WAAAAHHH! Tears up! ;( I just wanted 2 thank all of u who reviewed and bared with me thru this fic! Luv ya! And about a week or so after this is done, I'll be starting up chappies 4 the sequel to Gizmo's Birthday! And just to let u all in on something, there will be some new places and characters in this fic! We already know about my characters and their planet of Pahora, right? Well, my good friend Cenica (KyuubiSama201) and I were on about seven months ago and she started collaborating characters and planets of her own. And if u read any of her fics, my characters will be appearing there as well! Now then…enjoy the chappie! . PS- Terra luvers who read the last chappie!...I'm sorry I killed of Terra, but hey, I really don't like her that much, plus it was a doable request, AND, it'll tie in with the last chappie in this fic. But still, sorry. Okay…NOW enjoy! Tee-Hee! . (God, that had 2 b the LONGEST damn AN I've ever written! .)…..

It was late in the afternoon, and now that Cyborg and Wykkyd's groups were now reunited, they could really start getting somewhere.

However, for a certain member of the team, getting out, once a primary concern; was merely the last thing on his mind now.

As Beast Boy started at the ominous yet dim patches of sunlight peeking in through the canopy of the trees, he began to think of Terra once more. She always loved days like these back in Jump City.

Almost every afternoon before Steffauri came along, she and BB would go for long walks in the local park, just talking and having a good time.

It just seemed like his life had gone from slow to high speed in little or no time at all.

He was confused, hurt, terrified, a whole medley of emotions could be listed and he'd be feeling them right now. All but one…Happiness.

Would he ever feel happiness again? Would he ever crack a joke, and be proud to be the only one laughing again? And would he ever meet someone as wonderful as either Terra or Steffauri again? He doubted it.

And after all, in his eyes, the whole screw up was his fault anyway.

Suddenly, the changeling stopped in his tracks, and everyone else in the group ahead of him stopped and looked back.

"BB, what's up?" Cyborg asked as BB kept his head tilted towards the ground in silence.

Cyborg then sighed and walked back for Beast Boy, placing a single large hand on his small shoulder.

"Look man, I know how bad it feels to loose someone close to you. And, and stop killin' yourself! I mean, Terra died when none of us were even awake! And you guys were a few miles away! So how can you even think of blaming yourself!" Cyborg thundered as BB remained in his melancholy state of silence for a few moments more.

"Because…She was…Terra. She was special, she was , she was…God! I don't know, we just, had so much going for us. Both times." Beast Boy finished as everyone stared in confusion.

"Both times?" Mammoth bellowed from the front of the group, Beast Boy nodded once.

"Yeah. If your willing to kill a few hours, I'll tell you her story." BB offered, shyly kicking a small stone aside from his left foot.

With that, Cyborg glared at the group, and they all shrugged and sat down beside him in a large oddly shaped circle.

"Alright, well, her name was Terra, she was gifted with tremendous power, and cursed with it as well…she was a dangerous enemy, and a good friend…"

(IMPORTANT AN!- The quote you just read above from BB IS NOT MINE! If you've seen the episode 'Aftershock part-2' it was at almost the end of the episode where he said this at Terra's grave, K? .)

As BB's voice slowly faded into the spring evening, yet another group was beginning to feel the need to rest.

About four miles back, Robin and KF's groups had merged and were about five or six miles behind Cy and Wykkyd's group.

"Phew! Alright, I'm thinkin' we oughta be takin' a breather 'bout now!" Billy Numerous panted as he wiped a few beads of sweat from his forehead, Steffauri caught up to him from mid air pretty quickly alongside her sister.

As the princess passed by Billy, she glared at him evilly. Even though they were risking their every lives out here, she still hadn't forgotten what Billy had said to her back in the manor eight or nine days ago.

And she obviously wasn't in any hurry to forgive him either.

(AN- If you actually did read one of the earlier chappies, I think it was Chapter six, I THINK! But anyways, if u read that chappie, you'll see glimpses of Billy being an asshole to Steffauri…Sorry Numerous fans! ;( tears!...)

Billy then stopped in his tracks, sighed, and then ran over to Steffauri, stopping dead in front of her.

(YAY! Billy's gonna redeem himself! WHOO! Tee-Hee! .)

At first, Steffauri's eyes widened in surprise, but as soon as she got a good look at the grinning Southern boy standing before her, her brown eyes immediately narrowed into a 'death stare,' as she pushed him aside.

"Aw c'mon Steffauri! You don't gotta be like that!" Billy mused in a fake sorrowful tone as Steffauri turned back to briefly face him.

"Oh, I thought you were used to being shrugged off by a girl, or was that just my 'hoity toity royal ways getting' to ya?'" Steffauri mocked angrily as she reminisced on what he'd previously said to her, before turning forward once more.

Billy stopped and walked glumly behind the rest of the group.

Back in the mansion…..

By now, Hirra had wrapped Ammoraye's dead and bloody corpse into an old black rug, the ruffled ends of her black chiffon dress and her short black hair were still poking out on or side of it.

However, the (former) servant paid the body no mind.

She was now doing Ammoraye's previous job, just sitting there, watching the monitors to see how the two large merged groups were fairing.

"They'll never make it out alive." Hirra said to herself as she looked at the people in both groups, filthy, bruised, battered, tired, and they were no where near reaching their destination.

"I have to find some way to help them out of this." Hirra whispered to herself as she turned around in her chair to face her (yet again, former) mistress' dead body, and then back to the monitors.

There was no way that she could physically reach them and guide them out, and there was also no way she'd ever bring the far separated groups together.

As she continued eyeing both the monitors and the corpse repeatedly, she finally knew the only decision left to take…Even, if it meant that all the bad would come back on her.

(AN! Okay, most likely, you all can probably already guess what Hirra's going to do. When you review, post a guess if u want! Cookie 4 who gets it right! .)

Back in the woods…..

By now, Billy was still walking behind Steffauri, and in all his perverted wonder, he was staring at her curves. Tee-Hee! .

Her once mini whitish blue skirt was stained and torn in several places so her light purple 'boy shorts' could be seen.

As Billy continued staring, Mammoth finally noticed and 'politely' explained to him you shouldn't stare at a girl's ass when she's liable to turn around and kill you.

And as predicted, only seconds later, Steffauri turned around and shot Billy another evil glare.

"Ah God! Tha's it! Steffauri! I've been tryin' to tell ya, I'm sorry! I never meant any a the stuff I said back at the manor! Ya'll know that, right?" Billy asked as Steffauri's look finally softened slightly.

Then, she punched him square in the jaw.

"OW! God damn! Wha'd ya do that for?" Billy cried out as Steffauri smiled slightly, offering and hand to help him up.

As Billy took her hand, he noticed a golden ring with a rectangular purple stone with a family's emblem encrusted in it, also in gold, with that, he dropped her hand and fell back to the ground.

"Yer, yer…Yer engaged?" Billy cried out as Steffauri brought her hand back up and examined the ring, before throwing both her hands behind her back.

As Billy got up and dusted himself off, the two began to walk together, and Steffauri removed her ring for a moment, examining it as if it were the first time she'd seen it.

"Well, technically I was engaged." Steffauri corrected as she slid the ring back onto her hand.

Billy raised an eyebrow beneath his black shades.

"Was?" He asked, getting more into what she had to say. (for once.)

Steffauri nodded.

"Yeah, before Kodainma and I met, well, before I was even born, my father promised a wealthy weaponry tycoon from one of our enemy kingdoms that if his next child was a daughter, she'd marry his son." Steffauri began as Billy looked off into the distance and then back to her.

"Wow, tha sucks. So b'fore you were even born they was already runnin' yer life, huh?" Billy asked as Steffauri nodded again in silence before continuing.

"Yeah, my parents had always seen men and women as equals, but they also thought it was best for me as the future queen to have my life planned out for me so I wouldn't stray out of the path, and ,look at me now." Steffauri paused again as she dropped her arms back down to her sides.

Billy was still silent, so Steffauri continued.

"Well, their son's name was Nisai Nashua. Really hot, but a real asshole too. Actually on Pahora, and I suppose here to it's a common combination, huh? Well anywho, Nisai's twenty two, four and a half years older than me, and the week before I went to Earth we renounced our engagement and her married some bitch named Thiaspero. I went to their wedding, and met Kodainma sneaking out with food from the refreshment table." Steffauri finished with a happy giggle.

"So, ya musta been real happy with that Kodainma feller, huh? So, ya'll plan fer the future yet?" Billy asked as Steffauri's eyes suddenly welled up with tears

"Huh?" Billy said to himself as Steffauri suddenly fell behind everyone else in the group. Mammoth the appeared beside Billy ,as he'd heard the whole conversation.

(AN- Again, this is a reference from another early chapter. I forgot which one, but it tells more in depth stuff about Steffauri and Kodainma.)

"Wha's eatin' her?" Billy asked as he and Mammoth continued to walk.

Mammoth sighed heavily.

"Well, before Beast Boy, Steffauri was with that Kodainma dude. And, there was this really bad fever thing going around on her world at the time. And, and she and Kodainma were very much in love at the time but…Kodainma died from that same disease before she came to Earth." Mammoth explained as Billy looked back to the sad girl, his teeth clenched in embarrassment.

"Ah shit." He said to himself.

Now, he desperately wanted to make it up to her, but now, he knew there was nothing he even could say.

AN Time! Whoo! .- Yeah, a little shorter than the last one, but hey , a good chappie none the less, right? So glad ur enjoying this! I basically skipped school for the end half of the day, mostly because my second period teacher's a bitch, and be thankful for that, because if I hadn't there'd be no new chappie! (AHHHH!) Anywho, REVIEW NOW! :D

PS!- There are 2-polls I want you to answer in ur reviews!

What do you think Hirra is going to do that'll cause all the blame to go to her?

Who would you rather see Steffauri with? Mammoth, BB, or Billy?

Pweeze answer these! I actually like doing polled requests like these, and I'd like to hear ur thoughts on it! So Pweeze answer in ur reviews! Thanx! Will update soon! .