Author's Note: So it has been quite some time since I've actually watched the show; I'll try to keep everything as cannon as possible, but I do reserve the right to use my artistic leeway if need be!
Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans or any merchandise related to it. However, I do own this story yay for me! Clap, Clap, Clap!
"Match over; the winner is: The Earth Goddess!" A loud computerized voice boomed out of the TV as the word winner flashed multiple bright and cheerful colors behind the second player's avatar, while the first player's avatar slumped in the corner of the screen crying with the gloomy word loser above his head.
"Yes; I won~!" Terra shouted happily, fist pumping in victory, before jumping off the couch to do a victory dance.
"Whatever, you only won because of Cyborg's custom car!" Beast-Boy huffed, angry he just lost at one of his favorite video games to somebody who had never even played before and a girl somebody on top of that.
"Now, now BB you never gave any stipulations so you can't take away from Terra's victory; Hi five for wiping the floor with him!" Cyborg cheered as he threw his hand up, which was immediately smacked by the still dancing Terra.
"And why were you telling her about all the side roads? I think I should call that cheating!" Beast-Boy complained further, trying in any way he could to save his wounded dignity.
"Now listen here you…" Cyborg was just about to lecture his smaller friend in the ways of being a good loser, even though he was just as bad of a poor sport when he lost, but it was at that moment that Robin walked into the room.
"Terra; I hate to interrupt, but do you think you could spare me a little of your time?" Robin asked, a grin appearing on his face as his eyes caught sight of the TV screen; his grin only got bigger when he saw that Beast-Boy was the one scowling. "Seems like I'd be pulling you away from a winning streak huh?" The boy wonder laughed as Cyborg and Terra began their happy dance again, having stopped when he came into the room.
"Yeah I can spare some time; I did just finish whoopin' some ass!" Terra said laughingly as she passed the controller off to Cyborg.
"Now it's on!" Beast-Boy said happily; ready to take his revenge on the half human teen for helping out his previous opponent.
"You think you can win?" Cyborg replied with a cocky and arrogant smile that only seemed to fire Beast-Boy up even more, it was within mere seconds of Cyborg taking possession of the controller that the two started a new race against one another.
Terra couldn't help but chuckle at the way the two were acting; frankly she had missed their antics, almost more than anything else… Well there were a couple things she missed more, but those things couldn't really compare to noise boys.
Pushing those thoughts aside Terra wondered what Robin wanted her for; it had been four days since she had been officially crowned a Titan, although it didn't seem like it since there was virtually no crime due to the villains taking a 'we-survived-the-end-of-the-world-holiday' or something, but this was the first time he had pulled her off to the side by herself.
On the second night of her being a Titan Starfire insisted on them having a movie night with Raven, which ended before it began thanks to her and Starfire blowing up the microwave trying to make popcorn. Robin scolded them both then, although Starfire more-so since it was mostly her fault, but Terra didn't remember doing anything particularly 'bad' as of late…
"Okay so I remember how much trouble you had controlling your powers before, so I thought that starting today me and you could have one on one training sessions every day or so to help you learn to better control and understand your powers." Robin said in his professional tone as he turned to face the slightly shorter girl once they entered the training sector; although a smile crept onto his face once he saw that he had startled said girl out of her daydreams.
"Oh, yeah okay cool!" Terra said and she rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment at being caught with her head in the clouds, a light blush painting her cheeks.
"You thought you were in trouble for something huh?" Robin asked with a laugh at Terra's jaw dropping and her near incomprehensible defense of her thought process. "Relax I didn't call you here to scold you or anything; I just want to make sure everyone on the team is at their very best." The boy wonder said this with an air of pride for his team as he handed her a small cardboard box.
The blonde didn't vocally question the gift, although she did raise an eyebrow, only opening it to find a pair of her old goggles inside. "Okay Robin you're the boss; I hope this will help, because I really don't want to screw up again…" Terra said sadly, a wistful look in her eyes as she stared at the accessory in her hands before tossing it into the nearby trash can.
Robin smiled slightly at the display of remorse for her previous self and actions; only reaffirming in his mind that she was finally on their side and for good this time.
"Okay this is going to be a simple exercise to check your reaction time." Robin said as he motioned for her to walk down into the training pit. "I will send the flying stun bots to try and well stun you; all you have to do is destroy them." The black haired boy looked up from his command console and, once he received a nod from the girl, began the test.
Small white and blue disc shaped robots began making their way towards Terra and it was obvious to the girl who had designed them. Taking out the first thirty or so had been no challenge at all, but as the number of defeated robots climbed so did their intelligence.
By the seventieth robot Terra was forced to implement a strategy since simply turning and shooting didn't work anymore. It was by the time that she got into the two-hundreds that things started to go downhill fast; Terra had been using too much of her powers and far too soon after the strain of being reanimated…
"Why do you still challenge me? I will destroy you all!" Terra roared as she started using far less restrain and much larger rocks and chunks of earth to crush the robots; her movements were also starting to lack the skill and grace she had been displaying early, now her movements looked almost feral or untamed.
Her eyes shone with a near blinding yellow as her powers continued slipping through her fingers at unregulated paces, causing fissures and earthquakes to appear in the training room as well as the destruction of much more than just the robots.
"Terra calm down, it's okay I stopped the test!" Robin shouted as he tried to fight his way through the sandstorm the blonde had just created. Terra's eyes began glowing a much deeper yellow, almost orange as she held her head, screaming in agony, as she utterly lost it.
Titan Tower would have surely sunk into the sea due to a massive rip in the Earth's surface, if Terra had not been enveloped in a large black orb right when all her power exploded from her body at once.
"Robin…" Raven nearly hissed as she floated over and caught the now unconscious girl in her arms after releasing her from the orb.
"Raven thank god, look I had no idea that…" Robin tried to defend himself, but the icy glare he received from the hooded girl stopped him in his tracks.
"If she needs to learn control then she will learn it from me; you will stay away from her until she has mastered her powers." Raven said in her cold and monotonic voice as she hovered out of the room holding the unconscious blonde in her arms.
Robin shivered, rubbing his arms to help get circulation back into his body; he never wanted to go through something like that ever again…
"Starfire…?" Terra asked groggily as she sat up in the bed, trying to get her eyes to adjust to the darkness of the room. "Where are we…?"
"We are in friend Raven's room, when I saw her carrying you down the hall after you collapsed I had to come along and watch over you as well." Starfire said happily, glad that Terra had finally woken up; the darkness and silence in the room had started to gnaw at her always sunny outlook on things.
"I collapsed?" Terra asked in confusion; her mind still foggy from the major exertion of her powers.
"Yes; Robin pushed you too far too soon and I had to step in or you would have destroyed the tower and who knows what else." Raven said in her normal emotionless tone, not meaning to upset the other girl, but doing so anyway.
"I'm really sorry for causing you so much trouble Raven…" Terra muttered sadly and for the first time since her reanimation she felt tears bite at her eyes.
Starfire was obviously fidgeting about; she wanted to say something, anything that would appease the situation, but she couldn't find the words to use. Raven on the other hand was completely thrown by the spunky girl's sudden shift in personality; it seemed Terra felt she was truly being a burden on the dark girl.
"No trouble was caused; although you will be doing your 'training' with me from now on so that I may better keep my eye on you." Raven said this with a bit more emotion and even a small smile so to appease the blonde's emotions.
"Okay then…yeah sounds good!" Terra said with a big cheesy grin; Raven could sense that the blonde was still unsure of many things, but Starfire took this as a sign of them being back to normal or as normal as the group of super teens could be.
"Wonderful, but that will be for tomorrow since we have plans for the rest of today!" Starfire cheered as she flew over to Ravens closet and began to rummage about inside of it; this action and her previous statement jumbled any coherent thought in Ravens mind and by the time she regained control of herself Starfire had already picked out an outfit for her to wear.
"Starfire, when did we agree on anything?" Raven asked calmly, trying to keep the anger of her person space being violated under control.
"When we were waiting for friend Terra to wake up and you were meditating I asked if you would like to go to the mall of shopping, the three of us, when friend Terra woke up; I said that if you didn't answer then I would take it as a yes and you did not answer!" Starfire explained gleefully as she floated closer to where the other two sat.
"Ah, but you didn't ask Terra so there is no way we could go…" Raven said pointedly as she cast a glare in Terra's direction, telling her to deny the alien princess; Raven mentally noted that she needed to bring pain and suffering upon Beast-Boy for filling Starfire's mind with useless knowledge.
"Oh, but friend Terra does wish to go with us doesn't she?" Starfire asked as she floated over and proceeded to get right into Terra's personal bubble. The face of adorability that Starfire had put on was quickly bringing down all of Terra's defenses and with one more glance at Raven and then back to Starfire she was defeated.
"Yeah I would love to go…" Terra smiled slightly, muttering in defeat as the perky alien backed up a little and then proceeded to get into Ravens personal bubble and do the same thing she had done to the blonde; the result was the same.
"Oh it will be glorious we shall do the bonding while we look for new clothes, we shall eat of the snack bar and get the cheesy pretzels, we shall go to the arcade and preform the earthly ritual of playing the games, and a glorious time will be had by all!" Starfire's smile was close to blinding as she held up a pair of never before worn street clothes that Raven had stored in her closet long ago…
"WHOA!" Beast-Boy yelled as he, Cyborg, and Robin's jaws dropped at the sight of the three girls.
Starfire's wardrobe consisted of a simple pair of blue jeans with a star bedazzled on the back pocket, a white tee shirt with pink sleeves and a pink heart over her left breast, a brand new pair of sketchers, and a pink and white baseball cap. Starfire's hair was currently in a long ponytail.
Terra chose a very basic pair of deep blue skinny jeans, black tank top, and punk boots. The blonde's hair was left straight with a long bang covering her right eye; she also had a pair of black fingerless gloves on her hands and it was fairly obvious she was trying very hard to not stand out.
Raven was by far the most shocking to see since she never wore anything other than her leotard; the empath had on a pair of skinny jeans as well only hers were a dark black, a deep blue long sleeved shirt that was cut low in the back, and a regular pair of black tennis shoes.
How Starfire got Raven into those clothes will forever by a mystery…
"We are off to have the girl time!" Starfire cheered as she pulled both of the other two girls' out the front door and off towards the mall before the boys even had a chance to collect their thoughts and tell them to have a nice trip or how good they looked...
"I understand flying Terra since we don't want her to over use her powers just yet, but why did you also hold onto me? I can fly on my own." Raven muttered dejectedly as she and her two friends meandered into the mall.
"I thought it would be nice for you to conserve your energy; I know how tired you get when we go out together!" Starfire said happily, holding Raven and Terra's hands as she lead them through the mall as if they had never been there before and might get lost without her guidance.
Terra chuckled at the thought of Starfire pulling Raven through all sorts of shops against the little empath's will; the mental image was actually quite adorable.
"I think I remember Terra saying she was super excited to go in that store; you should go try on clothes with her!" Raven suggested in a sickeningly sweet happy voice which made Starfire almost visibly light up with excitement as she grabbed Terra's arm with both her hands and rocket into said store without a second's hesitation.
Terra was horrified at how quickly Raven had betrayed her and how she was so easily forced into being Starfire's dress up doll.
"Oh I think this would look good on you friend Terra, oh and this as well!" Starfire cheered as she hunted through the different clothes racks with one hand while keeping a firm grip on Terra's arm with the other. Starfire did this to make sure Terra did not get lost; Terra felt like it was so she couldn't get away.
Raven stood near the changing rooms laughing silently to herself at how happy both of them looked; even though Terra had a slight frown due to some of Starfire's choices and a large sweat drop on the back of her head, the blonde looked genuinely happy to be with her friends in the way her body moved and relaxed.
Her emotions; however, were extremely incoherent and now that Raven had time to focus on them she truly saw just how messed up the other girl was inside; much like how she was only days prior…
"I CAN CHANGE MYSELF! STARFIRE!" Terra shrieked as she was pulled into the changing room by the perky alien princess, who then proceeded to strip her down. Raven heard the shriek not the words and after her head jerked towards the booth she did little more than flex slightly to see past the curtain.
And Raven wasn't prepared for the sight; Terra stood there with a deep red blush on her face as Starfire tried to reach around her and pull off her shirt. Starfire was having a difficult time removing the other girl's shirt due to her squirming so the alien ended up doing little more than groping the blonde, which only added to the redness of her cheeks.
But the thing that was burned into Ravens mind forever was the sight of Terra's bottom half clad only in a black and yellow thong.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos…" Raven muttered as she quickly turned her head and tried to regain control of her mind; her emotions were a lot stronger since the fall of her father…no that was wrong, her emotions were now free to be felt since she was no longer under her father's control, but since she didn't know how to deal with emotions she locked them up anyway just like she always did…
So why was that emotion suddenly so hard to suppress?
It took a good half an hour for Starfire to be satisfied with her clothing choices for Terra; a half an hour that Raven spent trying to rid her mind of the muffled moans, quiet meeps, and shrill screams that emanated from the blonde, only to have more of those same sounds invade her ears moments later.
"I shall go and pay for all these lovely new clothes of yours friend Terra!" Starfire said happily as she floated over to the cash register.
"You. Are. Evil!" Terra said bitterly, shuddering slightly, as she walked over to where Raven sat, bright red blush still lingering on her face.
"Survival of the fittest my dear Terra, especially when it comes to outings with Starfire." Raven smirked as she looked up at the other girl, but it quickly faltered as she watched Starfire fly straight towards her while Terra's smile contorted into something truly wicked.
"Friend Terra says you are a big fan of the Dance Dance Revolution and you have been dying to play a few games with me! Come we shall not delay your enjoyment any further!" Starfire said joyfully as she now latched both her hands onto Raven's arm.
The empath paled, which was a difficult thing for her to accomplish due to her ashen grey complexion, as she was pulled away by the redhead; Terra's laugh echoing behind them.
Before Raven knew it she was inside the arcade and placed on the DDR game pad with Starfire taking the pad to her right; Raven swiftly glanced around the room to find that they had already draw the attention of damn near everyone in the mall and they hadn't even started their 'few games' yet…
Terra walked into the arcade and muscled past the crowd to find Raven and Starfire already on their first song, a fast paced cutesy song that did not match Raven's personality at all; never the less Raven was doing pretty good, but nowhere near the level of the alien princess.
"Go Rea, go Star, shake it!" Terra jeered as she pumped her fist to the music, inciting the rest of the crowd to do the same.
"You call me evil!" Raven complained as she tried to keep up with the movements on the screen, but her legs were starting to fail her; she never moved this much, even when she was fighting super villains!
"Survival Raven! You just got to survive!" Terra laughed as she continued to pump up the crowd for her two friends dancing performance.
"If you are having difficulties friend Raven I could come over to your side and assist you?" Starfire asked good naturedly, but that one sentence scared Raven to no end; if Starfire helped her do this stupid dance game she would never be able to reclaim her pride, so despite how much it pained her Raven fought through all three games they were allowed before they had to get off so others could have a turn.
"Truce?" Raven asked out of breath as she slumped into her seat at the food court.
"Truce." Terra agreed as she did the same.
Starfire had wondered off in search of food and snacks for them to eat since it was getting late and none of them had eaten dinner yet; leaving Terra and Raven alone to regroup and recover. The two sat in silence for a while before Terra worked up the nerve to speak.
"Just so you know… You um, uh look really… You did awesome at DDR." Terra face palmed mentally at how dumb she just sounded; all she had wanted to do was complement Raven on getting out of her comfort zone and doing a lot better than most first timers at the popular arcade game, so why did her words come out all jumbled?
"Thanks; although I didn't do nearly as well as Starfire." Raven said with a small smile, laughing inwardly at the other girl's awkward complement.
"I also want to tell you how well those clothes suit you, you look adorable!" Terra said the last part in a cutesy voice, since she was feeling more at ease around the empath, and got her desired reaction; Ravens eyes widened slightly as a faint pink blush spread on her cheeks, while somewhere something small exploded into millions of pieces.
"Well I think you look pretty hot in that thong of yours…" The words left Ravens mouth before she had the chance to even think about what those words implied; Terra's face exploded a bright cherry red and while Raven's wasn't nearly that shade it was still pretty dark for her.
Raven went over and over in her head at how she could have made such a slip up and it kept going back to that one emotion she just couldn't seem to suppress all the way when she was around the blonde girl.
The two sat there awkwardly for a few minutes until Raven felt a huge jolt of pain and fear tingle down Terra's emotions until that was the only thing clouding her mind.
"Did you steal that candy?" A young man no older than twenty-five angrily asked a small girl no older than seven who stood before him with tears in her eyes; Raven assumed they were related, most likely father and daughter.
"I did take it Daddy, but…" The little girl was cut off by a pretty hard smack to the cheek.
"No buts; I raised you better, now come on we are going to go apologize." The man said sternly, almost growling, as he dragged his now bawling child around the corner and out of sight.
Raven didn't approve of the man's actions, but since it was his kid she supposed he could discipline her how he wanted, he could have done worse things. What really got Ravens attention was the pained look on Terra's face; her skin was usually so lively and full of color, but now Terra's face looked quite pale.
"You okay Terra?" Raven asked cautiously, not wanting to upset the girl any further by asking unnecessary or upsetting questions.
"Just bad memories…" Terra whispered as she rubbed her sleeveless arms as if she were freezing to death.
It had happened to all of them at one time or another; a small phrase, a simple word, an action, anything could be a trigger to send you back to a time you don't want to be at. Robin couldn't handle circus tents and don't even bring a pet cage near Beast-Boy; usually they stayed away from those topics altogether, but now that Raven was confronted by one…
"I know I'm really not one who should say this, but talking about it might help." Raven decided she would push a little and try and save her friend from whatever horrible thoughts were currently plaguing her mind.
Terra looked up at the other girl and saw that Raven truly wished to help ease her pain, so she decided it couldn't really hurt telling the empath about her past; it was Raven who was surprised at how easily the blonde opened up to her and confided her secrets.
"I've had these powers since birth you know, when my father found out that I was gifted…well he decided he would take full advantage of that. His 'training' as he called it was just beatings that only escalated after my mother passed away, not like she did much to protect me anyway…" Terra said in such a hushed voice anyone other than Raven might not have been able to hear her.
"My mother died when I was four-ish I think? It's been so long… I was never good enough; I never had enough power for my father's liking, at the time all I could really do was throw some pebbles around so he beat me…every day, multiple times, with anything he could… So I ran away." Terra looked up at Raven with broken eyes, eyes that Raven thought Terra shouldn't be allowed to have.
"But you got away! That's a good thing; you never had to fight your father like I did." Raven tried to comfort her friend, but her lack of emotions and general people skills made her sound like she was putting herself over Terra; the blonde knew better though.
"That's the problem Raven; I never fought him. I know that if I had ever faced him again I could beat him easy; it wouldn't even be a challenge, but he's dead…and every time I think about him all I see is that large man who used to beat me… He scares me so much because all I've ever know from him is pain and I didn't have the chance to prove to him I wasn't worthless." Terra looked up at her violet haired friend and smiled.
"Terra…" Raven tried to find something to say, but couldn't; she didn't think comparing the two was right since she was a half demon and all, but all she could do was continue drawing the comparisons between the two of them and it hurt her.
"Thanks for listening Raven it means a lot to me!" Terra smiled as she stretched backward; popping her back on the chair she was sitting in.
"Friends I have returned!" Starfire called as she fly towards their table. "I have brought my very own creation of pizza, mustard and chocolate!" The alien said happily as she plopped the pizza box down in front of the two currently sitting.
"Mmmm delicious…" Terra shuddered as she took a bite of the pizza much to Starfire's delight.
Raven was confused by her own emotions, she was confused by Terra's emotions, she felt so jumbled inside with all that new information about her fellow Titan that it was driving her insane and yet… She felt so at peace with these two… Maybe 'doing the bonding' isn't so bad, as long as Terra is there to help take some of the load…
Ending Notes: While Slade did help Terra learn to control her powers; she still was unable to completely understand them and then the time she spent in her stone prison pretty much erased anything he had put into her mind including the training.
It seems like it will be a Raven X Terra story after all.
