Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans.

Note: Sorry for the late update. I wasn't feeling very inspired this summer. I was in an accident and I was using most of my computer time watching anime music videos on youtube. Now that summer is over and I still won't update much. The story will still continue though! Oh, I'm a Spanish 101 student so I'll use the best of my Spanish skills when Mas y Menos (and Terra) are talking. If it looks like I'm writing like a beginner in Spanish, it's because I am. But for those of you who are fluent in Spanish and catch something wrong, let me know how to fix it.

Stone Hearted 5

Different Tower, Different Team

While Terra was recuperating, Bumblebee spoke with the Titans East about the deal with Terra.

"We've got to tell Robin," said Speedy.

"Terra asked me not to," said Bumblebee.

"The Titans West still believe she's stone," Speedy said, "what do you think they'll do once they find her statue missing?"

"I doubt they'll call us for help," Bumblebee said, "but if they do, I'll handle it."

Speedy rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Robin isn't going to be happy about this. You know what the girl did to his team, don't you? How do you know she won't do the same to us?"

"She doesn't look like she's in any condition to try anything, Speedy," Aqualad said softly.

"Si," murmured the twins.

"How did you find Terra anyway?" Aqualad asked. "You said you went to Jump City to get some plans from Cyborg."

"Yeah, I didn't make it to their tower," said Bumblebee, smiling as she rubbed her head. "I'm surprised he didn't…" There was a beep and Bumblebee took out her communicator. "Hey, Sparky."

Speedy and Aqualad put their hands to their heads, with Mas y Menos joking about the relationship between Bumblebee and Cyborg.

"Where are you, Bee?" Cyborg asked. "Did you forget how to find our tower?"

"No," Bumblebee replied with a smile. "Had to return to Steel City. Can't you just fax me those plans?"

"Okay, sure," said Cyborg sadly, "hey, while I got you here…you know anything to make stone weaker without destroying it?"

"Huh?"

Speedy coughed hard, looking at Bumblebee. Bumblebee turned around.

"Hmm, no, they didn't teach us that at the HIVE Sparky," Bumblebee said, "besides, your alias at HIVE was Stone, wasn't it?"

"Well…um…yeah…but that was just an illusion, you know."

"You can come up with something."

Speedy coughed again.

"What's wrong with Speedy?" Cyborg questioned.

"I think the poor guy is coming down with something," Bumblebee glared at the masked titan. "I've got to go, later, Sparky." Bumblebee closed her communicator.

"I can't believe you didn't tell him," said Speedy. "He asked you something about stone. I bet you he's still trying to bring Terra back."

"I told you we can't tell Robin."

"Cyborg isn't Robin!" Speedy exclaimed. "You could've told Cyborg! He's your boyfriend, isn't he?"

Bumblebee flew over to Speedy's face. "Cyborg is not my boyfriend and I told you—we're not telling the Titans West about Terra! Not Robin, not Cyborg, not Starfire not Raven and not Beast Boy!"

"But didn't Beast Boy have a thing for Terra?" Speedy asked. "You should at least let him know."

"No way, especially Beast Boy!" said Bumblebee said. "I'm not telling the Titans West about this and all of you are not to tell them either. Understand?"

Speedy yawned into his hand. "Okay, fine. I'm getting some shut eye." As Speedy left, he muttered, "if my old girlfriend was still around, I'd like to know…"

Bumblebee sighed and set herself down on the floor. "I hope we didn't wake Terra up."

"Where was Terra when you found her?" Aqualad asked.

"She was fighting Black Rose," Bumblebee explained.

"Black Rose?"

"¿Negra Rosa?"

"Black Rose was one of the girls that competed in the Tournament of Heroines," Bumblebee explained, "she went against Terra in the first match. Terra won."

"You think Black Rose was after her for a second match?"

"I thought that at first but it was more than just a rematch, Aqualad," Bumblebee answered. "Black Rose was trying to kill her, from the looks of it."

"Why?"

"No idea," Bumblebee answered. "It doesn't add up. Terra doesn't even know. She didn't say much about it on the way here. We'll ask her in the morning. It's late and we've all had a big day."

"All right," said Aqualad, getting to his feet. "Goodnight."

"Buenos Noches," yawned the twins and they sped to their bedroom.

The next morning Terra woke up to the smell eggs and salsa, and the sight of it. Mas and Menos was standing by her beside holding out her breakfast.

"Buenos Dias, Terra! Como tu domes? (How did you sleep?)

"Mas y Menos," Terra groaned. (So, so)

The twins gasped. "¡Tu sabes sus nombres!" (You know our names!)

"Qué?" (What?)

Terra thought that her names would be something like Gomez or Pedro, or even Rapido Uno and Rapido Dos.

"Disfrutar de tus desanuno!" (Enjoy your breakfast!)

They zoomed out of her room before she can thank them. She took a bite of her breakfast. It was delicious. "Muy bien," she said to herself. "Now that's fast food…"

After she ate, Terra struggled to get up. She fell back down. She was so sore after having her uniform removed and the bruises and cuts Black Rose left her with just added to the problem.

"Whoa, you might want to take it easy for a couple of days," said Bumblebee as she came into the room.

"I don't want to be a burden on you guys," said Terra.

"You're not," said Bumblebee, grabbing a chair and pulling it over next to Terra. "Sleep all right?"

Terra shrugged. "Okay, I guess."

"I know it's hard sleeping in a new place," said Bumblebee, "you're welcome to stay here as long as you like."

"Thanks, but I'd like to go back on my own as soon as I'm able," Terra said. "You know I'm not much of a team player and I don't think your team wants me here either."

"What makes you say that?" Bumblebee said. "You mean what Speedy said yesterday?"

"Who's Speedy? The Robin clone?"

Bumblebee laughed. "Yeah, that's the one. Don't worry about him. He's always complaining about something. Listen; you weren't in much condition to talk last night but I have some questions for you."

Terra nodded.

"Do you know why Black Rose was after you?"

Terra shook her head. "Wish I knew."

"She just attacked you?"

"Well, she pretended to save me from some motorcycle gang," Terra said, "then she just attacked me. She said we had some kind of score to settle. It couldn't have been of the tournament. She didn't seem so mad at me for beating her. She even shook my hand and called me her worthy adversary."

"She could've just been trying to show good sportsmanship," commented Bumblebee.

"Probably," Terra said, "but if she wanted a rematch bad enough, she would've set the time and place and I would've been prepared. I tried fighting back but I couldn't…so I ran. She kept telling me to fight with her." Terra thought hard. "Something was strange about her. It was like she had gone crazy. I think she's been hunting me for a while."

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, she said we had a score to settle," Terra replied, "I have no idea what score that is. It seems more serious than the Tournament of Games."

"Did she say anything else?"

Terra took a breath. "Him…"

"Him?"

"Yeah, she said something about me serving 'him' better, but I have no idea who she was talking about."

"Could you have hurt someone close to her?"

"I've hurt many people," said Terra, "I mean, I never really meant to hurt anybody. They were accidents. Maybe she was one of the people that left the city when I was serving Slade. But if she was…then why didn't she come to fight me then? It makes no sense."

"She's probably still looking for you," said Bumblebee, "it's best that you stay here with us."

"No, then I'll be endangering you guys too," Terra said. "What if she put a tracker on one of us?"

"I found no tracker," Bumblebee answered. "On me or you."

"Then how'd she find me?" Terra wondered. "She must've known I was stuck as a statue for so long. If she wanted to kill me, she could've just smashed my statue into pieces when I couldn't protect myself."

"I guess she wanted to have some words with you."

"But the words she had with me made no sense," Terra said. "I guess she didn't expect me to act so weak and try to run away."

"When did the spell wear off?"

"It was just about an hour or so before my run in with Black Rose," Terra answered. "Say, you're still not going to tell the others about me, are you? I don't want them to know I'm here."

"I won't tell them a thing," Bumblebee said, "but you know, I talked to Cyborg yesterday. I didn't tell him anything—but he wanted to know if I knew anyway to weaken stone without destroying it."

Terra stared. "You can't weaken stone. Unless, well, you turn it into something else. Like mud or something…"

"I think Cyborg asked me because he's still trying to bring you back," Bumblebee said, "the Titans West has been working for a way to reverse the effect since they found your statue."

"They have?"

Bumblebee nodded.

"How—how are they?" Terra asked.

Bumblebee shrugged. "As good as they can be. You know, you can always contact them."

"I can't," said Terra, "not yet. I've caused them so much harm. I don't want to hurt anyone again. I'm feeling kind of tired."

"Okay," said Bumblebee, "you're going to need a few days to get your strength back. I just wanted to ask you what happened. We can talk later."

As the days went by, Terra learned the names and basics of each Titan East member. Speedy reminded her of Robin, except that Speedy had more of a sense of humor, not to mention more vanity. In all the time Terra stayed at the Titans, she didn't witness Robin spend about an hour gelling his hair. Mas y Menos reminded her of Starfire, always cooking for her and even Beast Boy with their jokes. Bumblebee reminded Terra about Cyborg with her knowledge of different gadgets and technology. Terra was quite glad that they had fought in the Tournament of Heroines back then, even though she had lost. Bumblebee was an exciting opponent. Terra wished she had fought her first instead of Black Rose. In fact, now that Terra thought of it, she wished she hadn't fought Black Rose at all. She was too fierce with her. Terra would have rather fought Raven instead. And there was Aqualad. Terra didn't' know who he reminded her of back at the tower. He was probably a mix of all the guys. The way he had ability to speak with sea creatures, Beast Boy could be a sea creature. He was protective of his ocean, just as Robin was of the city. Aqualad also was fun-loving like Cyborg. Terra had never met someone like him. On top of all this, he was very good looking.

'Terra, cut it out,' Terra told herself mentally, every time Aqualad came to mind. She would jus tend up breaking his heart, like she had done to Beast Boy.

When Terra gained her strength, she moved out of the infirmary and into a spare bedroom. It wasn't as nice as her bedroom at the Titans West Tower with the stare-painted ceiling, but she didn't mind. Pretty soon she'll be out looking at the real stars. She'll be free again, once she got the hang of her powers again.

It was the beginning of April and it rained everyday. Someday it was a downpour for hours and other days there were light sprinkles. But nevertheless, every day, there was some rain. It added to Terra's bad mood. She really hated the rain, mostly because it made her power over earth difficult. She was used to the dry desert. She liked the hard and rocky stones. The main reason was because when the rain hit her, it caused some of her body to dissolve into mud. It made her so filthy she couldn't stand it. The rain always revealed who she really was: a monster.

"I wish this rain would stop," she said, gazing through the window. "I want to practice my powers."

"Hey, Terra," said Bumblebee, knocking on the door. "How are you?"

"Okay."

"I have an idea," said Bumblebee, "let's go shopping."

"Thanks, but I'd rather just stay here," Terra muttered, sitting up from her bed.

"I know you're not in the mood to go out," Bumblebee said, "but you need some new clothes. Come on girl, it will do you some good."

"Can't you just get them for me?" Terra asked.

"I don't know what you want," Bumblebee said with a laugh.

"Get me something in red," Terra told her. "I really don't care."

"You want to stay here with the guys?" Bumblebee inquired in disbelief.

"I don't expect to stay here long," Terra said as she got up.

"Where would you go?" Bumblebee asked, folding her arms and cocking an eyebrow.

"I can find places to stay," Terra insisted, "I lived in caves, underground. The Earth's my home and I move the earth. I can make my own little island in the ocean." Terra looked out of her window and stared out to sea with a look of longing on her face.

"You'd stay there all by yourself?" Bumblebee asked. "Won't you get lonely, or bored?"

"I can take care of myself," Terra grumbled, turning around. "Listen, I don't want to be a burden on you guys. Thanks for saving me back there but don't expect me to join the team. I learned my lesson from last time."

"Well if you learned your lesson," Bumblebee said, "then you won't mess up again."

"Hey, Bumblebee, you going out?" asked Speedy. "Could you get me some more gel?"

"Speedy, you can go get your own gel," Bumblebee groaned.

"You're going out anyway, so why does it matter?"

As Bumblebee got into an argument with Speedy, Terra used the opportunity to bail. She decided to go to the computer room and search for new places to stay. Problem was, there weren't many new places to choose from. She had been anywhere and she really didn't want to return to those places. She wanted to start anew but where? All Terra knew was a life of running away. Terra couldn't think. Of course, when she ran away the previous times she didn't have a location in mind. She had always picked a random spot and set up her life there and when something went wrong, she ran away again. All this thinking made her head hurt so she went to take a shower, change into a pair of yellow sweats and go outside to practice her powers. The ground was still wet from the rainstorm. It was raining almost every day now and because of the water moisture in the earth, it was hard for Terra to move it. Nevertheless, she kept trying.

Terra gritted her teeth, planted her feet on the ground and held out her hands. "Concentrate, Terra."

She lifted a basketball sized piece of dirt up, held it up in the air as she brought more dirt with it. By the time the chunk of earth became the size of a beach ball, it crumbled. Terra groaned in frustration.

"I can't get it right!" Terra said.

"You probably shouldn't be using your powers so soon," said a voice behind her.

Terra turned around and faced Aqualad. His arms were folded and his face was serious. "You might strain yourself."

"I can do this," said Terra. "There's just too much moisture in the earth because of the rain yesterday. I'll get it."

"Has it always been a problem for you?"

"What?"

"Water."

"It's kind of hard to move earth when there's water in it," Terra told him, bending down and picking up some earth with her hand. "But I got the hang of it eventually. I was able to use mud once…when I was fighting Raven. I did things with it I was never able to do before."

Terra remembered the fight she had with Raven. Terra was able to move the mud with ease. It was water at first and Terra turned it into mud in instant. She was never able to do that before. She was able to harden the mud into rock. Raven had put up a good fight. She could move the mud just as good as Terra could. In fact, Raven could move anything and do just about anything. Some of her abilities were scary. She saw a side of Raven she wished she never had.

Raven lifted her mud covered head and opened her eyes, all four of them and they were glowing red. She grew nearly twelve feet, black energy raging around. Raven was shouting at Terra with a hateful, low voice mixed with her own. Raven was trying to grab her with black energy and throwing everything at Terra.

"I trusted you! We trusted you! We gave you everything and you treated us like dirt!"

Terra tried not to show it, but she was scared. If Slade hadn't taught her how to really use her powers, Raven would have won. Terra knew that. If Terra had ever fought Raven before joining Slade, Raven would've taken her out easily.

"What about now?" said Aqualad.

"Now what?"

"Your powers," Aqualad said, nodding at the earth, "moving earth with water in it. You can't move it anymore."

"I should still move the earth even if there's a little water in it," Terra said, "it shouldn't be a problem."

"I'll help you."

"I don't need your help."

"Suit yourself," said Aqualad, shrugging and stepping back. "I'll just observe."

"Fine."

Terra cut out a chunk of earth around her feet and lifted herself up. She was doing quite well until she was losing her grip on her power and her chunk of earth started to fall apart. Before it fell apart completely, Aqualad took the water from the earth and Terra zoomed upward. She gasped and looked at him. A ball of water was swirling in his hand and he wore a grin on his face.

"You sure you don't need any help?"

"Well, I guess it couldn't hurt," said Terra.

Terra and Aqualad spent the rest of the day outside, working on their powers. Aqualad helped her bring balls of mud from the ground her and form them however she wished. It was hard for Terra to re-learn everything again. She was grateful to Aqualad, though she didn't' really want to admit it. This used to be second nature to her. She was able to move small solid rocks on her own but the mud was still a problem. How long was it going to take until she mastered her element again?

Speedy ended up accompanying Bumblebee with her trip to the store. He figured that Bumblebee would get the wrong kind of hair gel. They returned with pizza, one half taco for Mas y Menos and the other half supreme for everyone else.

"I hope you like supreme, Terra," said Bumblebee as she set down plates.

"It's fine," Terra said, "I usually get a supreme with extra anchovies."

"Extra what?" Aqualad demanded, spinning around so quickly in his chair that he spun right off, causing the twins to laugh.

"I like anchovies too," agreed Speedy. "Next time we'll be sure to get some…maybe on the side. When they're cooked the juice still gets in the pizza and Aqualad won't touch it."

"Cut it out!" Aqualad muttered as he picked himself up off the floor.

"You're not going to throw up in the pool again, are you?" Speedy questioned.

"I will if you start eating my friends!" Aqualad shouted.

"That must be pretty cool, living in the ocean. " Terra said, stirring her drink with her straw, "out in the sea where no one will bother you and you can't bother anyone."

"That's not all true," Aqualad stated, "Brother Blood built an undersea fortress and a weapon strong enough to wipe out the city."

"Brother Blood?" Terra asked. "Isn't he the headmaster at Hive Academy?"

"Yeah," Bumblebee said, "we thought saw the last of him until he brainwashed us into trying to destroy the Titans West."

"When did this happen?" Terra inquired.

"Like two years ago," Speedy answered.

"This was when I was in stone, wasn't it?"

"Yes," Bumblebee told her, "you were in stone for a long time, Terra. Remember I told you when I saved you from Black Rose?"

"Oh…yeah…" said Terra, rubbing her head. "It just didn't register…two years? I was in stone for two years? The other titans must've really changed." Terra put her slice down.

"You okay?" Bumblebee asked.

"Yeah," Terra said, "I just need to go lie down. I was practicing my powers today and I guess I overdid it." Terra got to her feet, wished the Titans East goodnight and went to her room. Two years she had been in stone. There was a new group of titans, new bad guys, so many things that were new. Terra had missed out on so much. To put it simply, Terra really had been lying under a rock, oblivious to everything. What else had happened while she was a stone cold statue? The world would've ended and she wouldn't even had known it—and it almost did.

"Even if I do go back to the others," said Terra as she got undressed and fell onto her bed, "they've changed. I can't just go back to the way things were. Everything is…so…different…now."

Terra's eyes drooped and she fell fast asleep onto her covers, too tired to get underneath them. How was Terra to deal with all these changes? The thought exhausted her.

"Hey, Terra, " Aqualad said, stepping into her room, "we won't practice tomorr--." Aqualad stopped when he found the blond geomancer asleep on the bed. Because Terra had worked so hard today and made herself tired, he thought he'd tell her they wouldn't have to work the next day. The Atlantean smiled and went to shut her window.

"I'm sorry, Beast Boy," he heard her say. "Please forgive me."

Aqualad turned around and stepped over to her sleeping form. She looked peaceful and so sad.

"I didn't mean it. Don't hate me."

"I don't hate you," said Aqualad, bringing his fingers down to brush her hair.

Aqualad pulled his hand back. He didn't know what possessed him to touch her or to say those words. She wasn't talking to him after all. Aqualad turned and exited the room, Terra's apologies still going out into the night.

TBC