Author's note: I know, it's a bit shorter this time around, but this is where I wanted to leave off, and not give too much more away. More action to come in the next chapter, keep your eyes open, it won't be long in the coming.

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Chapter 19

Silence is Golden

Stephanie rushed about her room, gathering her things in an enormous suitcase that lie open on the bed. Her two roommates stood in the doorway, their jaws hanging open as the frantic brunette dashed from the closet, to the dresser, dug under her bed, and all the while the pile of clothing, makeup, and other personal accessories inside the suitcase grew steadily larger and larger. Finally, with one last armload of random stuff, Stephanie flipped the top of the suitcase over, and began to attempt to close it.

"Twenty-three hours," she kept muttering, "Twenty-three hours."

The well over packed suitcase refused to come even close to shutting, and in the end, it was all three of them sitting atop of it that finally achieved the task.

"So…" Stephanie's red headed roommate wondered, "where ya going?

"New York, for…uhmm…to visit family."

"All of a sudden? That was kind of a quick decision, don't you think?"

Stephanie ignored her. Only one thing ran through her mind.

Jinx released Stephanie's hand, and stepped back away from her. "If you're interested, meet me here tomorrow at the same time, and be ready to leave."

Stephanie nodded slowly. "We're not staying around here?"

A pink head shook slowly. "I don't work here. The city of New York is my place to watch over."

A silent nod was the only answer Jinx got.

"Pack what you need," the pink haired witch continued, "And we'll leave from here tomorrow night."

Stephanie glanced at the clock for the countless time. One hour down from her conversation with Jinx, and still so much to do. Her job, her family that lived here, and of course, Ryk.

She quickly hugged her two roommates, and promised to be back shortly. With that, the soon to be hero-in-training rushed out the door, headed towards a little diner down the road a ways.

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The Titans were still gathered in the main room of the tower, even though the night was growing quite late. Beast Boy yawned sleepily, but managed to stay on his feet for the time. Robin was pacing back and forth, Starfire hovering close behind him, following his trail. Cyborg was plugging away at a computer terminal, searching through criminal databases, and scanning over blueprints.

"A ruby, a power core, and now a brand new metallic compound, capable of withstanding incredible amounts of heat," Robin muttered. "Just what are they planning."

Beast Boy leapt in on Robin's conversation with himself. "Maybe, they're building a really huge gun, using the ruby as a focusing crystal, and the power core as…a power core, and the metal as…" he paused, thinking. "the shell for the gun!"

Robin paused, then continued his pacing. "No, it's not that. The power core that they stole is indeed powerful, but it comes in a slow, steady run instead of a powerful burst that would be needed to power an energy weapon.

Beast Boy had a thundercloud hanging over his head…raining on his parade. "Well, at least he didn't bite my head off about it this time."

I sat silently on the couch, watching the evening news and indulging myself in a fresh cup of coffee. Raven sat off to the side, buried in her book, and nursing a cup of tea. Neither of us seemed too concerned about what the HIVE had succeeded in stealing from various places in the last few months.

At one point, I caught Raven's eyes peeking over the top of her book, glaring at a very loud Beast Boy, her eyes betraying a very annoyed state. Slowly, I clambered back to my feet from the couch, and made my way over to the rambling elf. After whispering a few words into his ear, both of us walked out of the room.

Starfire looked after us for a moment, but soon resumed her pacing behind Robin.

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Beast Boy led me through several hallways and up a few flights of stairs.

"All these rooms are empty." He said, a huge smile on his face. "Dude, why didn't I think of that earlier! Your game room idea is soooo cool!"

I smiled, and calmly walked up to the first door. With a quiet hiss, it slid open to reveal a very intricately decorated room. The walls were painted with a desert scene, a night sky painted across the ceiling, andthe rest of the room to match.

-SLAM-

I stood, staring at the door that had been closed in front of me.

"Any room…EXCEPT…that room."

Looking over towards where the little elf stood, I noticed that his face had grown suddenly very fierce. I stepped back, my hands raised in surrender to him. With my retreat, his face also fell, and try as I might, I couldn't stop the feeling of sorrow and loneliness from washing over me. Something…no, someone very close to my little friend was tied to this room, and from how he looked…

"Sorry," he mumbled, "You didn't know, and I shouldn't have gone off on you like that."

Placing a hand gently on his shoulder, I tried my best to comfort him. "BB, s'ok, ya know? I shoulda asked before I just went barging into rooms."

He shook his head. "You know, you're not the sixth Titan, right?"

I cocked my head. This, I hadn't heard about before.

"There was…" his breath caught in his throat, "one before you, and it's probably time you learned about her."

I nodded, "Let's go find somewhere to sit down. It'll make things easier, k?"

Beast Boy nodded in agreement, and we both made our way up to the roof, where we sat side by side watching the ocean roll in.

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Robin's incessant pacing had finally ended, and he was now drowning himself in a huge helping of video game goodness, trying to keep his mind from the HIVE and their actions at least for a little bit. His thumbs mashed against the buttons, trying desperately to pass Cyborg's bit-graphic car on screen.

Starfire floated across the room, and into the elevator. The numbers wound down to the sub-basement levels before they stopped. Floating slowly, the Tamaranian girl made her way down a single lighted path, and pressed her hand against an access pad on the wall. The door next to the panel swished open, and a long, crystalline object rested silently inside, the only thing in the room.

Starfire stepped wincingly into the room, and in her halting gait, made her way over to the ship from her home planet, a gift her people had given her last time she was there, as a way to return if she ever needed to. Silently, she opened the door to the ship, and made her way inside.

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"Terra was…a gift that no one else could ever understand," Beast Boy all but whispered as we sat atop the tower. "The first time she came here, she couldn't handle her powers, and ran off again without telling us anything. But she came back. The second time, she was very much in control of herself, or so it seemed. The whole team grew to like her. Even Raven could stand her. I…I don't think anyone else cared for her more than I did, though. I truly…I loved her Ryk, and I loved her with everything that I was." A tear rolled down the changeling's face, but he bravely pressed on. "But," he sniffed, "But she betrayed us, Ryk. She was working for that bastard Slade the entire time. Maybe that's…" his face fell, and he refused to look over at me. "That's why we didn't trust you when we found out about your past."

I placed my hand on his shoulder, offering what little comfort I could. I could sense that this was something that haunted the boy to this day, and even though the story had taken a horrible twist, the look on Beast Boy's face was enough to let me know that it wasn't over yet. He still loved this Terra girl. The feelings I had felt coming off of him while Starfire was in the infirmary, the times I had overheard her name mentioned…he still loved her.

"But in the end, she, at least in my eyes, redeemed herself. She gave up her own life to kill Slade."

I knew that this was supposed to be about Beast Boy and Terra, but at the same time, my heart fell heavily. Was that what it took to redeem myself? My own death? If so, why had Raven not let me seek redemption with my fight against Nightmare yesterday?

I snapped myself out of it, and looked over to where tears were welling up in the elf's eyes. My hand reached out to comfort the boy, but I stopped short, leaving him to himself about this one. Even to that point, I never broke my silence.

"C'mon," he said, standing to his feet. "You need to see this as much as much as the rest of us had."

With that, he led the way back indoors, and over to the elevator.

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Stephanie flew in the door to her apartment in a blur, rushing by her roommates, up to her room, and began to drag the overstuffed, over weight suitcase out the door.

"I'm gonna be late!" she moaned, glancing down at her watch, but it didn't stop her from dragging the suitcase along at a breakneck speed.

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Jinx sat atop the gymnastics center, awaiting her apprentice's arrival. Glancing at her watch, she mumbled something under her breath about there only being ten minutes left until her set deadline.

Time ticked on, and finally a shape rounded the corner. Stephanie was huffing and panting under the weight of her suitcase, but still she bravely pushed on.

Jinx barely stifled a laugh at the enormous amount of stuff that the girl drug along behind her. With a leap and a long, drawn out, graceful flip, she cleared the last distance, and landed in front of her struggling partner. With a shrug, she dropped the backpack off of her own shoulders, and held it out towards the other girl.

"Here," she said, holding out the empty bag. "You're allowed to take whatever you can fit in the bag."

Stephanie's jaw dropped. "You've got to be kidding."

With her head shaking, Jinx grinned as she said, "Not unless you want to carry that all the way to New York."

"You…you mean we're walking? But it's over 300 miles from here!"

Jinx smirked. "Your training just started. This is your first session."

Stephanie nodded, and obediently began to sort through her bag. She pulled out the bare essentials, trying to remember that she needed to keep the bag as light as possible. In this fashion, her massive load was reduced to basic toiletries and a few changes of clothing. She picked up the bag, slung it over her shoulder, and stood to face her mentor.

"I'm ready now, but what about my suitcase?"

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Stephanie's two roommates were sitting down in the living room, enjoying some quality laughter with the TV.

-THUD-

The two girls looked at each other, then up the stairs. With a rush up the stairs, they threw open the door to Stephanie's room. There, on the floor lay her suitcase, just as packed and filled as when she had left. The two ran to the window, only to find that there wasn't another soul in sight.

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I stood, staring at the stone statue that was once the Sixth Titan.

'No,' I reminded myself, 'is the Sixth Titan.'

Beast Boy was silent and solemn in the presence of the stone Titan, his shoulders slumped forward in his silent mourning. Terra had given her life to protect him, protect the other Titans, and to protect the entire city.

We stood there for a long moment, before the changeling turned to leave. Slowly, we walked out of the dark cave.

"Beast Boy," I said, but the voice was not my own.

The little elf stopped cold. "Terra?" he said without turning around.

"Beast Boy, I'm sorry," Terra's voice said through my body.

"Terra, I…" the changeling had turned around, and was staring at me now. My stare looked far over his head, out into nowhere, and my eyes were shining a brilliant yellow.

"I'm so sorry," Terra's voice continued.

"Terra…we're still trying to find out how to get you out of there. We will find a way, I promise you!"

"No…I…I don't deserve to. I deserve to stay here…stone solid…forever."

My eyes flashed solid silver, and finally settled back to their normal color. Beast Boy moved quickly to keep me from falling completely as my body slumped from the takeover it had just experienced. My head swam, and I fought for a moment to stay conscious before the entire feeling passed away like a dream.

"C'mon," he mumbled, "let's go home."

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It was the next morning before I could go any further with an idea I had. I knelt in the soft grass out front of the tower, deep in meditation. Releasing my mind, I focused it all into one racing path, instead of the free roam I usually took during these hours. It shot across the water, through streets and alleys, and finally ended up back at a desolate cave in the industrial district.

The twisting river of light looped around the statue, and filled the room with an invisible, supernatural light. The loop spread, and finally collapsed in upon Terra's form.

-FLASH-

My physical body grimaced as my mind was pushed away from the statue by a brilliant yellow light.

"Who are you?" Terra's voice spoke.

The river of light vibrated as my voice radiated from it. "Just a whisper in the wind."

"Unlikely."

The river of colors spun, and finally focused in on one point, until my form appeared there, much in the same way as it had in Raven's mind.

"You?" the feminine voice said.

My image nodded as Terra's form 'stepped' away from the statue. Her long golden hair blew in a non-existent wind, her body still clothed in Slade's apprentice outfit.

"Who are you?"

"I'm the seventh."

"The seventh?"

"Yeah, I joined the Titans not long ago."

"Oh…so you must know about……"

My form nodded.

Terra's form stepped back towards her statue.

"I…I have to go."

"Go where?"

"J-just leave me alone!"

The earthen girl took another step back towards her statue, only to be stopped by my light river wrapping around behind her. "They still love you, Terra."

Her form sniffed, and looked away from where my image stood. "How could they? I betrayed them, I took over their city, I worked for Slade, I tried to kill them…"

"Terra," my form moved swiftly and silently on ghost's feet. "Whatever you did, they forgave you. Their love runs deeper than whatever you did to them. You are a friend…you are family…you are a Titan, and nothing you do could ever separate you from their hearts. I have never encountered a group that cared more for their own than them, and you, Terra, are still bound to their hearts, and I know...i know...that they are still bound to yours."

As I finished speaking, my images mind wrapped its arm around her form. She melted into the first 'contact' she had been able to experience in months, and silently cried ghostly tears that fell through us both, and wet tiny spots on the ground. In that moment, I realized that my silence was just as golden as anything else I could have ever said to her.

"I miss them so much…s-so very, verymuch."