Fighting For Their Lives

Even as Raven approached the tower with the short green boy, who had happened to notify the team via communicator that she had been found, walking at her side, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched. She was so deep into that thought that she hadn't known they'd even entered the common room until she became face-to-face with Beast Boy.

"Hellooo? Earth to Raven. What are you staring at?"

She blinked rapidly, and then narrowed her eyes. "Unfortunately, I'm staring at you." She walked around him and back out the door as his annoyingly, perky face fell to one of utter disbelief. Good. Just the reaction she was going for. The last thing she needed was booger-for-brains thinking she actually liked him. That would get immensely aggravating in no time. Just imagining the thought of Beast Boy thinking in her eyes that their friendship meant something important to her made her want to gag. Still, she kept her head high and facial expressions straight all the same as she strolled down the empty corridor.

Okay, so maybe Beast Boy thinking their friendship was something important wouldn't be as bad as she made it sound. She was more afraid of what he and others would think if she suddenly became more friendly-like.

Then, all at once, when rounding a corner, Raven came face-to-face with a blue-eyed blonde about the same height as herself. Raven immediately halted, stopping herself from taking a step backwards from the sudden shock.

The blonde slightly smiled, changing her entire facial expression. Something about it didn't seem right to Raven. Nevertheless, she showed not one sign of an out-of-place emotion.

"Raven."

"Terra. How come you're not with the others? Primarily, Beast Boy?" Raven still didn't trust the girl before her, so why should she have any reason to trust her when she'd been found wandering the halls alone in the middle of the day?

Terra's smile faltered for a split second but soon returned to its original state. "If you must know, I was taking a small tour to remind myself of the building and such. Is there a problem with that, Raven?"

The sarcasm that irradiated when Terra said her name made her skin crawl. "Not at all, Terra."

Raven continued walking past Terra, but soon found an instant slam into her shoulder, forcing her to fall to the ground to her hands and knees. She quickly turned around, still on the ground, to find Terra brushing off her own shoulder. "Wow, Raven. I would've figured you'd have seen that one coming."

Raven stood quickly, setting herself into a defensive position. She knew something didn't seem right, and the blondes actual motives were still yet to be discovered.

"Now, now, Raven. Don't get too feisty. We wouldn't want this whole tower falling into the water, now would we?" The smile on her face was more than enough for even the blindest of people to see that this girl was up to no good.

Wondering what Terra's threat meant, she looked out the window to see in the distance, a small pebble-looking rock coming towards the full-wall window. As Terra's arm closest to the window was raised, the pebble came closer, until Raven could tell that this was no pebble, but in fact some sort of boulder. And as the boulder came closer and closer, Raven could see small rocks being pulled from the ground into the air to add to this immensely sized rock.

As it came far too close, dangerously close, in fact, Raven knew this girl meant business. She did what she would've done in any other situation: she became defensive. More so than she normally would be. She knew if she attacked at the wrong moment, it would look bad on her. It would look like simple jealously and everything else she'd been accused of had gotten to her, which had caused her to attack "poor, innocent Terra." But here she was, threatening to destroy her home; to destroy her friends… If their home was destroyed, that was one story. They'd fixed their home from disasters numerous times. Once more couldn't hurt. But if Terra hurt her friends…Well, the girl would simply regret it all.

"Terra put the rock down. Now." Something deep in Raven's eyes hinted a small gleam of the bright white that burst out when Raven's powers were affected most.

Terra simply laughed. "You actually think I'm scared of you?! This coming from the girl I defeated with her own powers, at that!" Raven almost cringed at the memory. She remembered how she'd promised herself that she'd get back at Terra for that day, and everything else she'd done to her friends. "Wow, Raven. You have lowered your standards. I'm appalled."

Raven looked at the large boulder still coming towards the window. She estimated she had about 30 seconds before impact. She couldn't pull out her communicator; Terra would immediately do everything she could to prevent Raven from calling for help. She couldn't flee either; she'd be made out to look like she was beneath Terra. And Raven refused to give Terra the satisfaction of thinking she was stronger than Raven and her friends.

Raven's eyes glowed bright, pure white, as well as her clenched fists that glowed dark. "Terra, I'll say this only once more. Put down the rock." Raven knew it was no use to bother telling Terra. She wouldn't listen anyway. When Raven peeked once more at the window, she estimated about 7 seconds left until impact.

Terra's grin only grew as she watched Raven's white eyes flash back to purple in shock, and apparently a shortly visible fear, and then back to an enraged white. Inside, it was true. Raven was a little scared. Not for her sake, though. No, not at all. She was scared for the lives of her friends below, who knew nothing of what was about to happen. Raven dared peek once more, and estimate once more, 3 seconds until impact.

At the same time, both Raven and Terra threw their glowing hands and eyes in the direction of the window; Raven was using her powers to push away the unbelievably large boulder, while Terra was using her powers to pull it closer. If Raven couldn't stop it, the least she could do was slow it down so the impact wasn't as harsh. Sure enough, the rock slowed, giving Raven more time to stall its impact. The rock stopped coming forward, but Terra was using her powers to hold it there. What was this girl's motive, anyway? Nothing was making sense. If only she could contact her friends. The last thing she wanted was all of her friends harmed if something went wrong.

"What's your goal here, Terra?" Raven asked as she glared at the blonde next to her.

Terra laughed. "Silly, Raven. I don't have a goal. I just wanted to join the team again!" The unbelievably sweet look on her face was disgusting.

"Liar," Raven practically growled.

"Excuse me? I'm not lying, Raven. I swear! I just wanted another chance. I know I did wrong before, and I wanted to make up for it."

Terra was pressing Raven's last nerve. "Then explain this! Explain why you're trying to destroy my home and friends!"

"Who says I'm trying to destroy anything? This is just a game. Merely a practice. I'm practicing using my powers, and I'm helping you use yours! Isn't it obvious?"

Raven want to slap the girl beside her. "The only obvious thing I see is your second betrayal on us all!" Though her voice kept its monotone level, it was practically filled with acid.

Terra's faced showed utter shock and hurt. "I would never." As Terra looked at the rock they were both keeping in place outside of the window, Raven used her powers to try and pulled it apart to a smaller piece while keeping it in place. "Don't let go, Raven. If you do, something might happen. And I don't think either of us wants to die."

Raven could've screamed. She thought back to what Terra had done to every single one of her friends. How she tried to annihilate her friends, the disbelief she'd caused her team, and the heartache she'd caused Beast Boy.

Raven must've let her guard down even the tiniest bit, because once the thought of her friends crossed her mind, the boulder came crashing through the window. Raven tried to recover fast enough to put a shield up but was thrown against the wall before she could. She was able to, at least, put up a shield to block the remaining flying debris from destroying her. When the last of the debris had seized from coming through the window, Raven let her shield down, along with letting out a gut-retching cough that lasted for longer than a simple 3 seconds.

Once she was done, however, Raven lifted her head to look at her surroundings. No sign of Terra…of course. She should've known Terra would've speedily escaped to save her own life once the boulder was coming through.

Forgetting the traitor, Raven looked at the mess around her. Obviously, the boulder had broken the wall-length window, and had destroyed most of the hallway, but other than that, it seemed Raven had done what she could, and had slowed it enough to not take out the entire tower.

To her right was a small portion the boulder, and to left were piles of debris consisting of rock, glass, and some wood, metal, and other parts included in the structure of the building.

Raven just hoped somebody would find her soon before she choked from all the dust and debris in the air, or worse: Terra came back to finish the job and destroy what was left of Raven.

If she could only get out of this mess. Even if she tried it was practically impossible. She couldn't get out at her left because of the broken wood and glass piled, and she couldn't get out at her right for the boulder was there, blocker the way (yes, a small portion was that large).

As she sat against the wall, she used her powers to starts trying to dig her way out.

The next thing she knew, she heard voices in the distance. She could only have hoped that it was someone on the team, other than Terra. As she listened more closely, she heard more than one voice.

With all of her strength, Raven pushed herself from the floor and onto her feet. She put more force into her power and dug faster.

As the voices drew closer, her knees gave out beneath her, and she fell to the ground. She soon grew dizzy, too. As she sat where she'd fallen, she heard the panicked, yet relieved, voice or someone calling her name.

***

(Beast Boy's P.O.V.)

As he watched Raven walk off through the doors they'd just entered, he stood and stared for what felt like an eternity. They'd just had that talk outside that was practically filled with nothing but honesty. Then again, what did he expect? For them to walk in and everything be like walking through a candy land? Yeah, right.

He shook off the thoughts, turned, and jumped onto the couch beside Cyborg and joined him in one of numerous video games.

As time passed, they eventually switched to a different game, for Beast Boy was winning at most of them, for once. As Cyborg was picking out a new game, Beast Boy looked around and noticed, once more, something wasn't right: Terra hadn't been seen since that morning. When he called her communicator, he got no answer.

He set it down after the seventh time of trying, and was about to start walking back towards Cyborg when he heard a loud crash from upstairs. Everybody in the room froze. Starfire and Robin, who were going over the cookbook again, halted and looked up alarmed, as did Cyborg who was fishing through games.

The next few seconds were a blur to Beast Boy. All he remembered was rushing, slamming, and the panic that was in the air as all four Titans fought to get out and upstairs to where the sound came from. It was too loud to be as simple as someone throwing something. The only thing he could think of was that Raven's emotions were worse than she'd said to him, and they'd snapped and done damage to something.

But as they entered one end of a hallway, and as he saw the thick cloud of smoke consisting of dust and other particles, his theory scared him even more.

He told himself it was probably just some intruder that had somehow gotten past the alarms. He failed to notice two members of the team were nowhere to be seen, that was, until he heard the stomach-turning coughing coming from somewhere within the dust. He looked at the other members of his team, who in turn, returned shocked looks. As they all fought their way through the dust, they came to one of the largest rocks they'd ever seen.

He did what his immediate reactions told him to: he shifted into another form, and started digging away at the loose rocks. Beside him, Starfire used powers of her own to try and decrease the size of the rock, and Robin and Cyborg worked by hand.

The rock was so large; it cut off any possible way for them to get around it. But sure enough, after working feverishly, they made a dent. Beast Boy heard more coughing, and just about that time, found himself a hole large enough to see through. The sight before him was appalling. He saw the violet-haired girl he'd been speaking to earlier that morning, fallen to the ground. The way she looked was horrifying. It looked as though she'd just been in a desert war. She was covered in dust and glass (from the window, he noticed) and she was coughing horribly. Just as suddenly as he'd seen her, before he could even think of saying anything, her name came from his mouth in an almost panicked, yet relieved voice. It happened so fast, he hadn't even realized he'd shifted back to his regular form.

Just as the word came from his mouth, he panicked more. As he feverishly tried pulling all he could at anything he saw, he felt multiple hands from his friends pulling him back, but he fought against them. He wasn't going to leave her for anything. Sure, she sent him through hell and back on a regular basis most of the time, but that didn't mean he didn't care about her. She was his friend. She'd been there for him when things had been bad with Terra. Even if she hadn't, nothing was going to stop him from saving her.

Suddenly, Robin's voice came from somewhere near Beast Boy's ear. "Beast Boy, you need to calm down and back away. Panicking like you are isn't going to get us anywhere. She'll be fine. Raven's a fighter. You know that. Just calm down."

His words enraged Beast Boy. Still being held by his friends, he looked at Robin, anger in his eyes and voice. "You want me to calm down?! How cam I calm down when she's trapped in there?! Who knows what's happened to her! We have to help her! I won't leave her!"

As with most situations, Robin stayed calm and placed his hands on Beast Boy's shoulders, staring him dead in the eyes. "I didn't say we were leaving her. But if you're going to be like this, I'm going to have to ask you to leave and wait somewhere else. Do you understand?" The intensity in his words made Beast Boy understand that he wasn't kidding around, so he only nodded.

His friends put him down and he watched as the three rushed forward and worked to get to Raven. He stayed back and watched. He knew that most chances were that she'd be back to normal in less than a day or so. But he still couldn't help but feel like something was wrong.

He shook the thoughts from his mind and ran forward to help.

***

Finally, once her friends are dug their way through, and Raven had used her powers to set the now smaller rock out into the water, they all rushed forward. They each helped pull her up and steady her, even though they all didn't need to.

She had to hand it to them. They were amazing teammates, and even better friends.

As they got her to the infirmary and checked her over, she couldn't keep her mind off of the scene that had happened right before the hallway was destroyed.

The next thing she knew, she was being torn from her thoughts by the sounds and blinking of the alarms going off.

Within moments, the team was out the door. She tried standing and making her way out with the rest of them, but not even a second later, she found herself being pushed back into the room.

The team hadn't let her leave, as she wasn't fully fit to fight. Instead, Terra showed up at the sound of the alarms and was taken.

They said Terra was now a Titan, again. But Raven still felt like they were already starting to replace her.

When they left, Raven lay down and thought everything over. Eventually, she managed to accidentally fall asleep.

She wasn't sure how long it had been, but she was awoken by the soothing sound of somebody's voice. When she blinked her eyes open, she came face to face with Robin.

He'd been her best friend since day one. He'd been the reason that the Teen Titans were the Teen Titans, and she was grateful for that.

She when sat up, she noticed nobody else was around. "Where's everybody else at?" she asked.

"The main room. We just got back. I figured I'd come see how you were doing alone."

She slightly smiled her appreciation. "Thanks."

"Anytime. So, if you don't mind me asking, what exactly happened back in the hall before we got there?"

She should've expected the question to be asked sooner or later. She was just glad that it was only Robin's questioning she was dealing with at the moment. She knew he'd tell the others, which also made it easier so she didn't have to repeat everything.

As she thought back to what had happened, everything flashed through her mind, almost like a nightmare. She saw everything from the time she left Beast Boy, to the time she went into the oblivion. Finally, her mind settled on the evil smirk on Terra's face.

Something snapped inside Raven, because the next thing she knew, she came back to the present and found Robin's hands on her shoulders, his eyes wide, staring at her, and the sound of something shattering in the distance.

She couldn't believe herself. She was actually losing control over her emotions. And all because of Terra!

When she looked back at the boy before her, she saw the panic and worry in his face.

He stared at her, but not like she was some science experiment. "Raven, what's going on? Are you alright?"

"I…I don't know…" She looked up into his eyes and she knew by the sight of herself, he must really believe her. Hell, she didn't even really understand how some girl could have this much control over her.

She honestly felt like breaking down into tears. This was one emotion she didn't feel like holding back at the time. With everything going on, and nobody else around, this was a time she felt she could let herself show something. Besides, it wasn't like Robin would tell anybody. He'd seen her at some of her worst moments.

The next thing she knew, she was being pulled toward him, and his arms were wrapped around her back. With half of her mind thinking and the other not, she returned the embrace and found one small tear sneak its way from her eye. But no more fell after that one.

He may never know how much she appreciated his sudden embrace, because it showed her that he really cared about what was happening to her, even if he didn't know the entire story. But he still cared. He always had and she was sure he always would.

When he released her, he placed his hands back on her shoulders and stared at her again. "You know, you don't have to hide everything. You should know by now that if you need to tell somebody, I'm here. I promise."

She nodded. "I know."

"Good." He dropped his hands from her shoulders just ask the sounds of her friends was carried down the hall. Within seconds they came through the door..

"They're here," was all she said. He nodded, and stood to let the rest of his team get to Raven.

Starfire and Cyborg were talking, but she wasn't sure what they were saying. She was too busy looking at the small green shape-shifter by the door. He'd walking in but hadn't proceeded in walking any farther. She found that he, too, was looking at her.

For the first time in a long time, she couldn't read the expressions in his eyes or on his face. All she knew was that he was looking right at her. She wished she knew what was going through his mind that made him have such a troubled, yet blank expression. She really did hate fighting with him, even the petty arguments over her meditation versus his tofu obsession.

Suddenly, a blonde haired girl bounced in, grabbed Beast Boy's arm and hand in an affectionate sort of way, put her head on his shoulder while looking up at him, and whispered something to him.

When he didn't reply and continued staring at Raven, the blonde, too, looked at Raven and slightly glared. She fixed her expression and looked back to the green boy she was clinging to. She tugged his arm and pulled him from the room. And he willingly followed her, tearing his gaze from Raven, leaving her alone with her three friends.

She suddenly felt a full blasted wave of emotion overcome her. Sadness, white-hot anger, a slight pang of jealousy. All of that plus more washed over her, drowning her from her sanity for a split second. It broke every single monitor screen in the room, threw objects around, and threw everything back to the ground. Her head was pounding, and her breathing was deep and shallow.

Her friends looked at her in shock. Their eyes wide, mouths gaped. They were staring at her like she'd grown three heads.

She used the power that had restored itself, and disappeared through the floor, and went to her room. She sat on the floor against the end of her bed, brought her knees to her chest, and found more than one tear slowly fall from her eyes. What's happening to me? She thought. Why is this happening? This isn't me, not at all.

I know this story has been pretty much Beast Boy/Terra, and I don't want to give anything away, but just so nobody worries, there will be some sparks showing up in future chapters that aren't Beast Boy/ Terra. But I'm not saying any more than that. :) Haha.

Well, until the next chapter, Review, Review, Review!!! I Love seeing what you guys have to say! It's helping make me a better writer and it also helps me learn how to not take constructive criticism so badly like I have in the past.

Oh, one more thing. Sorry it took so long to update! I've been really busy, but I assure you, I've been writing what I could on the weekends when I was home or sick. Plus, over New Years weekend earlier this January, my parents had a really bad…dispute if that's what you want to call it. They nearly split up permanently. But all is better now. :) So, that's one reason why I didn't write; I was caught up in all that drama. But I should be posting more soon.