Beginning A New Chapter

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.

Chapter 6: Returns and Farewells

The Pit

"Okay…" Roadblock sighed as he looked at the three ex-Titans: Terra, Bard, and Raven. "Are you guys sure about this?"

"Yes." Bard answered with a nod. "Some of us have important stuff in there, like pictures and what not. It's best if we grab them before the looters do."

"Okay, but you three are not going alone." Roadblock crossed his arms. "Avalanche, Firestar and Dragonfly will go with you."

"Sure, fine." Terra sighed. "Let's just get this over with." A few minutes later, the group arrived at the destroyed Titans Tower. The basic T-shape was still there, but all the windows were shattered, and all the rooms inside were wrecked.

"Okay, let's split up." Roadblock nodded. "Lance, you go with Tara. Lina, you're with Raven, and Angelica is with Bard." The kids nodded and split up. They entered the Tower, and started to walk toward the ex-Titans' rooms.

"I never thought I would actually get to see Titans Tower up close one day." Lina looked around at the wrecked tower. "A shame it's in this condition."

"Strafire would've loved you, Lina." Raven nodded. "This way." The dark empath led Lina to her room. The room was dark-toned and mystical in theme, with bookshelves filled with magic books, and the like. "This is my room." She looked at Lina. "I recommend not touching anything. Some of the stuff here is very dangerous…" Raven glared at a trunk that bounced with a banging noise coming from within. "Like the book I WILL GIVE TO PYRO TO SET ON FIRE IF IT DOSEN'T STOP BANGING ON THE TRUNK!" Raven snapped at the trunk. The bouncing and the banging immediately stopped. Lina looked at a picture on the dresser. It was of a purple-haired woman in white robes.

"Who's the lady in the picture?" Lina pointed at the picture. Raven turned and looked at the picture, then she got a sad look on her face.

"That's my mother, Arella. I have no clue where she went since Azarath got destroyed." While she was conversing with Lina, Raven started to remember all the good times the Titans had. Unbeknownst to her, Bard and Tara were thinking the same thing.

Begin Flashback

"Okay…" Cyborg sighed. "Can everyone please stay still long enough for this picture to be taken?" The half-human half-mechanical teenager groaned in an exasperated manner. "Beast Boy, Terra, knock it off! This is a picture here! Keep it to PG-13! That goes for you too, Robin and Starfire! AGH! Bard, put the guitar away! And Raven, stop trying to strangle Superboy!"

"WHY YOU LITTLE!" Raven snarled as she strangled the Boy of Steel.

"ACK ACK ACK!"

End flashback

Terra's Room

Terra's room was once decorated to look like the desert, with carpet the color of sand, and walls painted like the night desert sky. Terra and Avalanche were there, sorting through their old stuff. She was also having a memory of the time after the whole betrayal incident…

Begin Flashback

Terra carefully walked up to Raven, who was meditating on top of Titans Tower.

"What do you want?" Raven's face formed a scowl, not even bothering to turn her head at the blonde.

"Hey, Raven…" Terra waved. "Look, I know you don't want to hear something like this from me, but I have to let you know…" The blonde sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. I really am. I'm sorry about…you know…everything." Raven's face softened, but for several minutes, she said absolutely nothing.

"Whatever." Raven finally answered. "I have done some thinking since your revival. And it has led me to realize something: we are too much alike to fight anyway." Terra smirked.

"I knew you would say that." Raven turned to the blonde earthmover when she heard that remark.

"Did not." Terra crossed her arms.

"Did too" Raven got to her feet.

"Did not times infinity." Terra argued. The two girls were unaware that Beast Boy had come up on the roof to check on them, and was watching them.

"Did too times infinity, plus the antlers my father lost when Slade attacked him with that ax." Raven narrowed her eyes.

"Hey, your father doesn't count, ice-queen!" Terra objected.

"Since when, Master of Disaster?" Raven snapped.

"Um, actually…" Beast Boy squeaked in an attempt to calm the two girls down. They angrily turned to the green-skinned shapeshifter.

"YOU STAY OUT OF THIS!" They both shouted angrily at the green-skinned boy.

"Eep." Beast Boy whimpered, staggering away as the two girls continued to argue.

End flashback

Bard's room.

Meanwhile in Bard's room…well, what was left of it, Angelica Jones, aka Firestar, and Bard were scrounging through the room, looking for Bard's stuff that could be salvaged so he can go to his new home. Angelica picked up a photograph, and looked at Bard. He was standing at the window, staring through it in the direction of the sky.

"Hey, uh…you okay?" Angelica asked concernedly, putting a hand on Bard's shoulder. The young ex-Titan turned to the red-haired microwave generator.

"Yeah" Bard finally replied after a long sigh. "I was just…just thinking about a few things…"

Begin Flashback

Bard peeked into Raven's room. The purple-haired empath was sitting on her bed.

"Hey, Raven…" Bard walked into the room slowly, sitting next to his half-sister. "You okay?" Raven sighed.

"Yes…" Raven stared, but she looked at her brother. The half-demon sighed. " No. No…I'm not. I'm not alright. How?" Raven sighed sadly. "How could he? How could Malcior do that to me?" Bard put a comforting arm around Raven's shoulders.

"I don't know, sis. I honestly don't know." Bard sighed. He smiled a little at his sister. "Don't you worry though, sis. What goes around comes around." Raven looked up at Bard and let out a small smile.

"Thanks."

End Flashback

"Hey, Bard…Bard…." Angelica shook Bard gently. "Bard…are you already to go? Hey. Hey, Bard…are you okay?" Bard shook his head, bringing himself out of his reverie.

"Yeah." Bard shook his head in a confirmation. "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. Thanks, Angelica…or should I call you Firestar?"

"We usually only go by codenames on missions." Angelica answered. "It's alright."

"Oh, I see. Okay." Bard nodded in understanding. "In the Titans, Robin never really allowed us to refer to each other by our real names. It got to the point that we started to wonder if we even had real names." Bard chuckled.

"Wow." Angelica shook her head. "That's strict. Must be for security or something. Anyway, we should go. Come on, let's go meet up with the others." Bard nodded and filled a bag full of his stuff. He was about to leave when he heard the sound of movement.

"Wait a second, Angelica." Bard stopped the redhead. "I hear something…like something moving." He pointed down the hall. "Come on." He and Angelica ran down the hall into another room. "It's coming from in here." Angelica grabbed his shoulder.

"Wait, what is this place? It looks trashed."

"This is…or was…Starfire's room." Bard replied. Angelica winced.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have said anything." Bard waved off Angelica's words.

"It's okay. You didn't know." He waved as he pulled and pushed wrecked belongings to the side. He then found the source of the noise, causing him to grin happily and let out a whoop.

"What is it?" Angelica wondered, running to the cowboy.

"Well, I'll be damned." Bard chuckled as he pulled out Silkie, a white-and-light pink oversized mutant maggot. "Silkie, you little monster." Bard chuckled at the happy-looking creature. "How in the world did you survive all that?" Angelica blinked at the maggot.

"What is that?" Angelica pointed at the maggot.

"This is Silkie." Bard introduced. "He was the Titans' unofficial mascot, much to Robin's chagrin. He was Starfire and Beast Boy's pet. Hey, do you think we can bring him with us?" Angelica grimaced.

"I don't know. He looks kind of gross."

"Okay, Silkie ain't pretty, but he's actually very well-tempered. He's also housebroken." Bard suggested.

"Well, in that case…I don't see why not." Angelica shrugged. "You'll have to clear it with Althea and Hawk, though. Do you have all your stuff?" Bard looked at his black duffle bag.

"Yeah, that's everything." Bard slung his duffel bag over his shoulder, and then picked up Silkie. "Let's get out of here." Angelica activated her Joe-Com.

"Lance, this is Angelica. Are you guys ready to go yet?"

"Just about." Lance responded on the other end. "Raven is busy doing something on the computer." Angelica nodded.

"Come on Bard, let's go join the others." Angelica waved. She and bard left to join the others. They found Lance, Terra, Lina, and Raven in the Titans' Common Room. Raven was typing on a computer panel on the wall next to the door.

"Okay, I'm all set." Raven handed Lina a CD. "Give this to Hawk, and tell him to give to the Justice League when we get back."

"Sure." Lina took the CD. "What is it?"

"Terra, Bard, and I made it." Raven explained. "It's a backup of all the information of the Titans' mainframe. For security reasons, I'm going to erase everything on the mainframe." She picked up a small pile of CDs and gave them to Lance. "Take these CDs back home, Lance. They are home movies of the Titans at various times."

"Sure." Lance nodded. He looked at Terra. "Sorry about…you know, everything." Terra shrugged.

"You didn't do anything, Lance." Terra shrugged. "Okay, we're ready."

"Ditto." Bard nodded. Raven nodded at her sibling.

"Very well, then." Raven turned to the computer panel. "Computer, activate command 'farewell'."

"Acknowledge." The computer answered. A countdown appeared on the display. "Erase beginning in five…four… three…two…one…Farewell." The computer display then showed the words, "Mainframe Erased, and what little functioning lights there were in the Tower shut down.

"What was that about?" Lance wondered.

"There were things on the computer that people such as Slade should not get a hold of." Raven answered simply. "This is the safest way to prevent that."

"Let's get out of here." Bard sighed as he looked around. "Man, I never thought the Titans would end like this."

"None of us did." Raven shook her head.

End of Chapter 6

Next: Back to the Pit