Chapter 4

It was dusk by the time Beast Boy returned from the carnival grounds where he helped pick up all the damage he had caused in the fight with Slade's bot. He rubbed his shoulder and let out a long yawn as he made his way to his room, stopping only when he heard three familiar words being hummed.

"Azarath Metreone Zinthos..."

He grinned slightly and turned to the main hall. The doors slid open and there Raven was hovering in the center of the room. Beast Boy chose not to disturb her so he made his way to the kitchenette and poured himself some of the tea from the kettle and slurrped it, leaning on the counter and watching Raven medditate.

"Can you at least try to slurp quieter?" She asked, eyes still closed.

"Sorry. I didn't think you knew I was here."

"Please," she sighed as her feet touched the ground and she walked to pour herself some tea. "I could hear those loud feet of yours from a mile away."

"Why are you so moody?"

"I'm never moody," she said as she tilted the kettle and no tea dripped out. She didn't move a muscle except for her eyes which glanced up at Beast Boy.

The green Titan turned pink and chuckled. "Oops... guess I kicked it. Here, I'll make more." He grabbed the kettle and walked to the sink where he began pouring more water. The door opened and Starfire and Robin entered.

"Glorious news!" Starfire said in her cheerful spirit. "I've convinced Robin to emerge from his room and join us for our dinner of leftover pizza!"

"Wow, Star," Beast Boy said in a surprised tone. "Getting Robin to leave his room during a Slade investigation? I'm impressed."

"Just while I wait on Cyborg to finish running tests on that tape," Robin Said grumpily then he noticed Raven. "Did you find what you were looking for today?"

"What?" Raven's eyes widened.

"After we spoke this morning you seemed distracted. I was worried so I checked your locator on your communicator. You didn't seem to have a set patter on where you were heading then spent some time at the corner by the school. I figured you were looking for something."

Raven's eyes shifted to Beast Boy but nobody said anything for a moment until she responded, "No, I didn't."

"Which school was it?" Beast Boy asked Robin.

"Why does it matter?" Raven said before Robin could respond. "I just needed some alone time and I got it. Robin, how could you track me like that. Aren't I entitled to some privacy?"

"I was just worried about you is all."

"Robin?" Starfire said softly. "Is it fair though, to watch Raven without her knowing?"

"Look I'm sorry, but I just wanted to make sure everything was alright. Here, show me your communicator."

The alien girl reached into her pocket and pulled out the titans communicator and passed it to Robin.

"I'll show you how you can do it. THen will it be more fair?"

"I suppose..."

"No," Raven said. "It's still weird. You're like a stalker."

Robin just rolled his eyes and pressed a button. The T on the communicator projected a holographic screen that showed a map of the city with small dots everywhere.

"Oh look!" Starfire said. "There we are!" She pointed to four dots clustered over Titan's Tower.

"There's Cy!" Beast boys said as he leaned in to see. He pointed out a small dot also in the Tower but a little apart."

"Still creepy," Raven said then looked to Robin to smirk at him. The slight grin faded when she saw his eyes narrowed under his mask. "Robin?"

"If all those dots are us... then who is that?"

All four of them looked and saw a small dot, the same color as the others, hovering over the main road and moving in the direction of the tower.

"Well it must be another titan," Beast Boy said. "We gave tons of these communicators to others. Could be a member of Titans East coming to see us."

"No," Robin said bluntly. "I color coded this markers. The other Titan groups wouldn't be the same as ours... unless they were a member of the Jump City titans."

"But there are only five of us," Starfire said.

"There used to be six," Robin commented and gave her a look. Nobody said anything after that knowing what it meant. The kettle on the stove began to whistle, but still nobody moved.

"Terra's communicator... it's still in operation?" Beast Boy said quietly.

"And whoever has it... is headed this way," Robin said as he handed Starfire's communicator back to her and stood. "We should get ready for them."

"Get ready?" Beast boy sounded surprised. "But Robin, what if it's Terra?"

"Terra doesn't want anything to do with the Titans," Raven said.

"How would you know!" Beast Boy shouted. "She could still have it. She could have found it. She could be walking here because she figured out who she really is. A Titan!"

"It may not be her Beast Boy," Robin said in a cautioning tone. "When Slade made me his apprentice he wouldn't let me touch my titan's communicator. In fact, he usually kept it in his own pocket."

"Robin, stop with the Slade conspiracies," Raven said in an exhausted sigh. "Isn't it possible that Starfire's communicator is just messed up? That those little dots are wrong?"

Just then, the Titans doorbell rang. The loud bell rang through the entire tower and Robin looked back to Rave. "I doubt it..."

The bell rang again accompanied by banging on the door as all the Titan's approached it. Cyborg's clanging boots were heard as he sprinted up the hall. "Yo! Are we expecting someone?"

"Just get ready," Robin said as he pressed the keypad to release the lock. All titans braced themselves as the door flung open and the blonde teen, still in her school uniform, stumbled in, practically falling into Beast Boy.

"Terra," the green changeling said tenderly as he braced himself to catch her. "What are you doing here?"

"You!" She said, still panting, as she spotted Raven. "This is your fault! He saw you talking to me."

"What are you talking about?" Robin asked giving a side glance to Raven.

Terra faced the team leader as she caught her breath. "I told her to leave me alone. I told him to leave me alone," she said motioning to Beast Boy. "I'm sorry if I remind you of this... Terra person you knew, but I'm not her!"

"Raven, what is she talking about?" Beast Boy asked. "You spoke with her?"

When Raven didn't respond beyond a stare. Terra nodded and said, "This morning. She saw me leaving the dinner last night and wanted to know what I was doing there. I should have reported you for stalking."

"Still tattling on the Titans, I see," Raven mumbled but received no empathizers. All she saw was a sea of stern eyes.

"You lied to us," Starfire said.

"He knows you've been watching me," Terra mumbled with a harsh tone. "Now I'm going to lose my sponsorship."

"Who?"

"I don't know his name," She sighed. "The day Beast Boy came to school was right after I received a letter from my sponsor saying I needed to stay away from him... that he would distract me from my studies."

"Is that why you were so cold to me?" Beast Boy asked but Terra didn't respond as she continued her story.

"This morning I found a letter stuck to mailbox from him and today in sixth period, the principal pulled me from class to say my sponsor was threatening to pull my funding."

"So why are you here," Raven sneered. "Looking for a hand-out?"

Both girls locked eyes but Robin stepped between them. "Terra... or whatever your name is... maybe we should talk privately."

"Fine. But when I leave here, this whole thing better be cleared up. I'm not going to lose my education because the Teen Titans are in denial that their friend Terra is gone."

"I'll come with you," Beast Boy said and started walking beside her.

"No!" She stepped away from him and her shout echoed through the tower. "Leave me alone! You're the one who started all of this. I was doing just fine until you showed up. Just stay away from me!" She turned on her heel and marched up the hall, Robin in tow after hesitating to see if Beast Boy was ok. The green titan was just standing still, eyes wide, skin looking the palest shade of green. He watched as the girl he swore was his old friend walked away with Robin.

"I... I'm sure she is only distressed, Beast Boy. The shouting was not intended to hurt you," Starfire said reassuringly only Beast Boy didn't seem to hear her.

"Yea, buck up buddy. She'll come around. Sound's like she's just confused," Cyborg said.

"Or maybe she just isn't Terra," Raven said as she sighed, clearly tired of this entire ordeal.

"Is that why you went to see her today?" Beast Boy finally asked, tone colder than usual.

"I wanted to make sure that..."

"That what? That she wouldn't remember she was a Titan? That she wouldn't come back and steal your thunder?"

"Steal my thunder? Beast Boy, I don't care about Terra or what happens to her."

"Then why would you go see her this morning? Why do you hate her so much?"

"I don't hate her. I just don't trust her."

"Trust? Those are pretty strong words for someone who just lied to their entire team about where they were this morning."

"I didn't-"

But before Raven could defend herself, Beast Boy was halfway up the hall, steps purposed and stern. Cyborg and Starfire gave disappointed glances to their team mate before following him and leaving her standing alone.