Geork: Always nice to see another Terra fan. I like Terra, she's a more complex character than most of the others on the show. Thanks for the compliments, and I hope you enjoy this chapter as well.
Lambbaby: I'm glad you're enjoying it. I usually have to be spurred into releasing something, as I'm not very confident in my own writing. Slade as a father is frankly creepy to me, but that's why I did it.
Kayasuri-N: I was hoping to explain a bunch of plot holes in this. As for him cooking in full out evil costume, I agree that it's a scary picture.
TTFAN: Rose isn't dead in this comic, but she's still hidden from Slade's influence. I like Slade when he's creepy, so I'm glad he's coming through that way.
Ruroni Tyriel: I assure you that I'm not stealing your ideas. I haven't read you fic "Penance". I do wish you luck with it, though.
Shadow929: Thanks, I'm glad you like it.
Dr.evil99: A good review, as always. I do hope that I can build a tolerable story around the rather cliche idea, and I'm glad that it's good so far. I want to keep Slade being creepy, without him becoming an outright villain ahead of his time. As for Terra being Terra, or a new person, I'm not even sure yet. It keeps the story more interesting if I don't even know the ending.
A/N: There has been fairly little readership of chapter one, but then again FFN has a weird thing about not listing the first chapter of a new story sometimes. It doesn't matter anyway, of course. Chapter two will hopefully be longer, but I haven't written it yet, so I can't tell you. Hope you enjoy it!
"I'm home, Daddy." Rose closed the door behind her, happy to be home from another day at school. It had been about a week since she'd accidentally moved the bricks in the construction site. Not much had changed in her life since; she had no more memory of her powers, and they hadn't activated themselves again, to her knowledge. Rose stepped forwards into the living room, finding her father there reading over some papers that looked like extremely complex schematics.
"Hello, Rose. Did your day at school go well?" Her father's voice was, as always, calm and even. He asked the question as if he was completely indifferent to her answer, but Rose knew that he always listened. He even seemed to listen to the things she didn't say; he always knew when she was hiding something.
Rose shrugged, sitting next to her father on the small sofa, setting her books down on the table, and picking up one of the schematics, trying to make sense of it. "It was ok. Ashley is still being weird and avoiding me, for whatever reason, and Mrs. Swiess gave us too much homework again."
Slade's voice remained even, though he seemed less disinterested than before. "It has been a few days now that your friend has been avoiding you. She hasn't told you why?"
"Um... I think she just... I don't know. I think she just doesn't like me as much as she used to."
Slade's voice grew a bit of an edge now, though nothing resembling a threat. "What happened between you to cause her feelings to change?"
Rose hesitated. She didn't like to lie to her father, and he was far too adept at seeing through her lies anyway. However, he obviously disliked the Titans, and possibly all metahumans. If he knew that she was--- that she might be one, then would he hate her? Would her leave her? Rose inwardly scolded herself. Of course he wouldn't leave her; he was her father. Rose tried to phrase her sentence delicately. "I... well, I kind of might have some kind of... I think I can... I might be a metahuman."
To Rose's surprise, her father seemed almost completely unfazed by her admission. "Why do you think that you may be metahuman?"
Rose placed the schematics page back on the table, and pulled her feet up onto the couch, turning towards her father. "Well, last week I sort of accidentally moved some bricks that were falling. They were going to hit a construction worker, and I just sort of reached out at them and they moved on their own. At least it saved the worker!"
Slade put his own papers down, and turned slightly towards Rose. "Did anyone see you do this?"
Rose shook her head. "Nobody but Ashley and Shawna, and I made them promise not to tell anyone. Shawna seems fine with it, but Ashley is all weird."
"She's avoiding you." Slade stated this as a fact.
Rose nodded. "Yeah, and she acted like I was a freak or something when it happened."
"Regardless of Ashley's antipathy, what do you intend to do if you are a metahuman?"
Rose hugged her legs close to her body, a little frightened by her father's lack of emotion. "Um... I don't know, Daddy. If I can move rocks, then maybe Beastboy was right about me. Maybe I was 'Terra'."
Her father looked at her from his good eye. "You would believe him simply because you have the same powers? Is it not possible that the Titans have a sort of psychic that can see metahumans, and know what powers they will develop?"
"Raven is sort of something like that, isn't she? People say different things about her. I heard she was a witch, and that she did something mysterious to the city a little before my memories start."
Slade nodded. "That is the impression that most people have. Perhaps it was Raven's fault that your memory is gone."
Rose scooted across the couch, sitting next to her father. She felt really uncomfortable with the conversation. She smiled slightly as her father put a comforting arm around her.
"Rose, I do not trust the Titans. Beastboy seems dangerously obsessed with you, and Raven seems to hold more power than any one person should. I understand your desire to learn more of your past, but I do not believe that they can help you."
Rose reached her arms around her father, hugging him. "Dad, you don't hate me for being a metahuman, do you?"
"I do not hate you at all, my child. However, you must be cautious with your powers. I have heard stories of young metahumans accidentally causing damage with their powers, and I do not wish the same on you. Now, go do the homework that you complained about. I will clean this up and prepare a meal."
Rose squeezed her father a little, smiling happily. "Ok, daddy. Come get me when dinner is ready."
She hopped up from the couch, and picked up her books as she walked to her room. Slade watched her leave, then organized the robotic schematics again, placing them in a folder for later refiling. He then leaned back, thinking. If Terra's powers were truly returning, it was quite possible that events would begin unfolding very quickly. Even in the case that her memories did not return, the Titans would certainly want to 'help' her if they found that she was indeed the same person. Their interference would complicate everything.
The only solution would be to keep people from learning that Terra was a metahuman.
Rose walked casually to school in the morning sunshine. It had taken her hours, but she'd finished all the work for school. Shawna was next to her, but they weren't talking much. Ashley had made an excuse to Shawna, saying that she couldn't leave yet and to go without her.
Shawna finally broke the silence. "So I know you are weird about it but I want to ask anyway, have you done anything else with your... like... meta powers?"
Rose smiled nervously. "Um, not really. I kind of haven't tried. It makes me nervous."
"If I was a metahuman, I know I'd be trying that stuff out all the time. It would be so cool to be able to do shoot fire, fly, and that kind of stuff. Even just moving rocks around like you could be cool." Shawna kept her voice low, but there was no one else on the street at the moment anyway. They were a little early for school.
"But what if I messed up or something? I mean, most the building here at least have stone in them, what if I accidentally broke one?"
"You aren't Wonder Woman, Rose. There is no way you could move a whole building." Shawna looked around, then quickly pulled Rose into a small alley between two apartment complexes. Shawna knelt down and picked up a small rock from the ground, grinning. "Come one, try to pick this up! You know it would be cool."
Rose looked up and down the alley, and then up towards the sky, looking for people. "I don't know... I don't want anyone to see me. I mean, Ashley already thinks I'm a freak."
Shawna rolled her eyes. "Ashley is just stupid. Her dad's car has been picked up and thrown at monsters by the Titans like six times. He's just unlucky I guess. But anyway, come on, I want to see if you can do it."
Rose sighed, looking at her friend holding the rock. "Ok, but don't blame me if I like blow up the world or something."
Rose raised her hands, like at the construction site, and tried to move the rock. Nothing happened. "Uh... maybe it was just once."
Shawna looked at the pebble skeptically. "Maybe it's because the guy was in danger or something. I mean if you hadn't moved those bricks, he probably would have died. You're like a superhero. Come on, try again."
Reaching out to the pebble, Rose focused on moving it. She tried to just want the rock to move, like she had with the bricks. Suddenly, her hands glowed faintly, and the rock hovered an inch or so above Shawna's hand. Shawna's eyes got wide.
"Wow! You so are a metahuman! You picked it up with your mind or something!" Shawna touched the rock, pushing it sideways through the air.
Rose smiled a little. Even though it was strange, and she was still worried that someone might see, it was kind of cool to be able to do this. She concentrated, and the rock moved a little, sliding upwards as if ignoring gravity.
Shawna laughed, then looked around. There was a plastic trashcan that someone had carelessly left outside a few dozen feet away. Shawna pointed to it. "Ok, so see if you can throw the rock at that trashcan."
Rose tried to guage the distance, as if she was physically throwing the stone, and then focused her power a little. The stone sparked yellow and flew through the air. It missed the trashcan by nearly five feet, skittering along the paved alley and into the next street. Terra grinned anyway. "I guess I'm not really good at this."
"So what? It's so cool that you can do it at all. You should so be a Titan or something, even if you had to hang around with that dork Beastboy."
Rose shook her head. "No way, I couldn't be a Titan. They fight huge monsters and evil villains and stuff. All I can do it throw rocks. I wouldn't be any help."
Shawna shrugged. "Still, it's cool that you can do that. Maybe you will be like the next Powergirl in a few years."
"Powergirl? Not me. I don't have the boobs." Rose laughed, walking with Shawna out of the alleyway.
Shawna laughed also. "Yeah, if she wasn't super strong, she wouldn't be able to stand up."
Rose sat in class, idly doodling on her notebook as her teacher droned on and on about physics. She felt strange, knowing conclusively now that she had metahuman powers. It didn't make a tremendous amount of difference in her life, but still just knowing that she was different from her classmates made her feel outcast. Of course, nobody knew besides Ashley and Shawna.
A hundred yards away, on the rooftop of a neighboring building, Robin pulled his small pair of binoculars away from his eyes. He blinked a few times, tired of watching Terra sit in class. It had been a quiet week since the strange monster had attacked, and he'd become interested in investigating Terra's reappearance. Beastboy had come back after talking with her, to help fight the monster. After words, he'd told everyone that she didn't remember anything, and that she didn't seem to want to. Robin wanted to make sure. Terra's powers were dangerous, and if she didn't remember the past, then she probably wouldn't remember how to keep control of her powers.
"Voyeurism, Robin? I expected more from you."
Robin turned quickly, standing as he did so, to face the enemy. He'd recognized the voice instantly. "Slade."
Slade stood roughly fifty feet away, calmly speaking, as if no danger was present. "Very good, Robin; you remember me. It has been some time since we've met."
"What are you doing here?" Robin did not take any chances, he'd already drawn his staff from his belt, and stood at the ready. He knew that Slade could not possibly be here for anything good.
"The same as you, I'd imagine. Keeping an eye on an old... friend." Slade stepped casually forward, looking down at the high school.
Robin kept himself tense, ready for combat. "I won't let you hurt her again."
Slade turned towards Robin again. "And what would you do instead, Robin? Try to restore her memories? Coerce her into joining the Titans again? Force her to fight the monsters and dangerous people that your little team seems to attract?"
"I... don't know."
"Mmm. I am glad see you still think things through, Robin." Slade walked across the roof, stopping at the other end. "Do not do anything foolish, Robin. If the girl wants to see the Titans, she will do so. Otherwise, I would advise leaving her alone. We'll be in touch." Slade stepped off the edge of the roof, and disappeared.
Robin ran to the edge to look, but unsurprisingly saw nothing. He sighed. He didn't know what to do about Terra. Slade may have been right about one thing; forcing or coercing her into joining the Titans again would be cruel. She'd have to come on her own.
Rose entered the cafeteria at school, and immediately knew something was up. No one was being obvious about it, but for some reason half the students were looking at her or watching her, while trying to look like they weren't. She walked over to her normal table, and sat down with Shawna, a little nervous from all the looks.
"Um... what's going on?" Rose tried to look casual as she opened her bagged lunch.
Shawna looked worried. "There are rumors that you are a metahuman. I so promise that it wasn't me, though."
Rose shook her head. "No, she told? I mean, I know that Ashley doesn't like metahumans, but she wouldn't have told anyone... would she?"
"I don't know. She won't talk to me because I still talk to you. She's so stupid sometimes." Shawna shrugged, sipping her coke.
Rose looked around. Murakami high school had a fairly small number of students, and arranged the lunch schedule so that no more than fifty were in the cafeteria at a time. People looked away as she met their eyes; something was definitely going on. Rose saw that Ashley was at another table, talking in a hushed manner with a few boys. The boys were throwing furtive glances her way. Rose decided to find out what was going on directly. She stood and walked over to Ashley, pulling her away from the table by the arm.
"Ashley, please tell me you didn't spread that rumor that I'm a metahuman."
Ashley looked away from Rose, obviously irritated. "Look, I'm not the freak here. You're the one with the dangerous powers, you'll probably be a supervillain or something."
Rose was keenly aware of the other students staring at her; Ashley was speaking very loudly and they all doubtlessly heard. "I'm not dangerous! I can't even do that much! All I do is throw rocks around!"
"Yeah, now. It won't be long before you are trying to take over the world, or smashing houses with boulders, or who knows what. I don't think anyone wants a metahuman here anyway. Look! Everyone is freaked out by you!" Ashley was shouting now; presumably angry at Rose for no other reason than her being a metahuman.
Rose looked at the rest of the lunchroom. Everyone was staring at her. Some of them looked afraid, others were just looking at her as if she was different from them. She was no different from yesterday, but they all were staring. "Guys, come on, I'm not... It's not dangerous, I'm just... I can just pick up rocks. Stop staring, come on."
There was whispering, as people talked about her. She could see the judgment in their eyes; she could see that she was 'different' now. She felt embarrassed and betrayed. She turned towards Ashley. "Why did you do this? I thought you were my friend."
Ashley frowned. "You don't have any friends."
Something about that sentence sparked anger in Rose. She felt her hands form into fists, and she instinctively swung, punching Ashley hard in the nose. Ashley, completely unexpecting of such a sudden attack, fell over backwards, looking stunned. Rose stepped forwards, her vision slightly yellowed. Her eyes were glowing brightly, and her hands shimmered with yellow light as well.
Suddenly, the concrete walls of the school began to shudder and shake. Rose Turned, looking around at the room. She jumped from surprise as the tiled floor audibly cracked. There was a sudden panic, as most of the children ran terrified from the room. Shawna stayed, trying to walk towards Rose despite the slightly vibrating floor. Ashley also stayed, horrified by the situation, and the glowing angry girl standing over her.
Rose looked down at her former friend. Ashley's face was wet with tears, and stricken with terror. She turned towards Shawna, and saw that even her more loyal friend looked worried. She didn't want this. She didn't want to scare people. She felt something slipping, she could feel her powers activating on their own. The stone in the walls felt like a part of her; the floor felt attached to her feet.
"No! No, I have to get out of here! Shawna, Ashley, run!" Rose tried to reign in her powers; she tried to stop the walls from shaking. Rose was only tangentially aware of Shawna pulling the petrified Ashley away, running across the jagged and broken floor. Rose's efforts to stop the walls were failing, as the mortar and concrete began to crack and chip.
Rose focused on a section of the wall for a moment, and it shattered outwards, covering the grass outside with chunks of cement. Rose ran through the hole, hoping she could lessen the damage by her wild powers. She looked around, seeing a small crowd of students, watching the cafeteria shave and thunder. Rose looked down at her glowing hands, and then at the eyes of the students.
She saw fear.
Rose finally stopped running, leaning heavily against a wall and panting. She could still see the eyes of her classmates on her; still feel the stares. She was wet with sweat. She had run for what had felt like hours. Finally, she allowed herself to look around and see where she was.
It was a moment before she could even piece together what the place used to be. The area was scarred by what was obviously metahuman combat. Rose was standing next to a large pile of twisted metal rails and rubble. She finally realized that this used to be an amusement park, though it looked to be long abandoned now. Rose felt strangely at home, though she was fairly certain she'd never been here before.
Rose idly walked around, her legs still sore from running. The summer sun was hot, and the broken and twisted rubble gave little in the way of shade. She walked past the old game shacks, cringing slightly at the rotted plush animals staring at her through vacant glass eyes. Feeling uneasy with the staring eyes, she left the game stands, heading towards the nearest open building.
The crunch of glass under her shoes made her stop, letting her eyes adjust to the sudden darkness inside the building. She was in some sort of fun house; though at the moment it was just a long hallway full of cracked or broken mirrors. She felt uneasy, almost scared, as she walked down the hallway. Broken and fractured reflections of her face and uniform glinted off of the glass shards, giving her the impression of being watched.
Rose stepped into what must have been a large circular room. Now, daylight streamed in from what looked like a recently made hole in the wall. Rose looked into the shattered mirrors, feeling strange. Her reflection was shattered as well, the broken glass giving a distorted look. Rose knelt down, looking at the strange claw marks in the floor. She felt weird, exploring an old ruin so soon after running from her own powers, but the marks on the floor felt significant.
Rose sighed. There was no way to tell what kind of animal left the scratches, nor what kind of combat had wrecked this place. She stepped outside, picking her way through the rubble, and squinted in the bright light. In the distance, she saw Titans Tower, standing defiantly in the middle of the bay. The tower evoked an odd array of emotions, ranging from homesickness to betrayal.
The ground shivered slightly, as Rose felt her powers fluctuate. She closed her eyes, trying to focus and block out her emotion. As she calmed herself, the tremor stopped. Rose looked down at her hands, remembering the near catastrophe at her school.
"I need to get help. I can't control this alone." Rose spoke out loud to herself, then felt a bit foolish for doing so. However, speaking did make her feel a little less alone, and so she continued.
"My father said that he could help me if I needed it. He's not metahuman though, and I... I am, I guess. Shawna doesn't need me wrecking her life by relying on her for everything." Rose sighed.
She looked again towards Titans Tower. "The Titans haven't bothered me in a while. They all have powers too; maybe they can give me some advice or something. Even if dad is right, and they try to force me to join them or something, at least I know that I can tear the tower apart with an earthquake, or something."
Rose stopped herself with that sentence. Why had she thought that? What good would tearing the tower apart do? She shook her head, trying to remove the thought. "Of course, the tower is on an island, and I'm not in good enough shape to swim the whole way."
She sat down for a moment, thinking. There was no ferry to the island, nor any sort of public access that she was aware of. Rose assumed that the Titans just flew there; superheroes could fly, right? If she was a metahuman, maybe she could fly.
Rose stood up, closing her eyes and standing with her arms outstretched. She tried to will herself to fly, like she had willed the stones to move in the alley with Shawna. She tried for a few seconds, but nothing happened. She couldn't help but feel disappointed.
"What a stupid power. I have to be metahuman, and everyone hates me, but all I can do is throw rocks." Rose sat down again, ignoring the dirt getting all over her school uniform. She angrily glared at a small piece of rubble, picking it up with her power. There was no one around anyway, and she was frustrated with the inaccessibility of the tower. She focused, moving the stone around slowly, trying to find a good way to control it. She floated the stone over to her, and smiled a little, feeling a bit more confident.
She reached into her small shirt pocket, pulling out her school identification card. She placed it on top of the stone, and flew the stone around again, trying to balance the card on top. Finally, she brought it back to her, and looked at the card sitting on top of the stone.
Maybe. It was possible. It could be done, if she was lucky.
Rose stood up again, focusing on a patch of concrete walkway. The ground shook slightly as a large chunk of the walkway rose into the air. Rose carefully stepped on to the stone, bouncing a little to test her weight. The rock didn't move while she stood on it. She focused again, moving herself and the rock upwards a little. It felt strange to stand on a moving surface without holding on to anything. Rose knelt on the stone, and then held on to the edges, trying to make herself more stable.
"Well, here goes." Rose focused again, and the stone moved out over the water. She tried to ignore the sudden fear rising inside her, as the water rushed by beneath the stone. She focused on keeping the rock steady, as the speed increased, propelling her across the bay and towards Titans Tower.
Midway across, Rose suddenly realized that she wasn't going to make it. The stone was beginning to crumble away as she moved it. Her handholds were little more than bits of broken concrete, and the earth underneath the layer of pavement was nearly gone. Rose held on as long as she could, but she was only two thirds of the way to the tower before the rock finally fell apart, dumping her unceremoniously into the water.
She sputtered and coughed as she came back to the surface. She began swimming, trying to ignore her straining legs, still fatigued from running across most of the city. It wasn't long before she reached the shore, as it were. Rose pulled herself from the water, standing on rocky coast of the Titans' island. There was a large training course sort of area nearby, but she wasn't interested in that. Instead, she began walking towards the Tower, and then around the wall, hoping to find a doorway.
The front of the tower, or what Rose assumed to be the front, had an enormous set of double doors, nearly fifteen feet high. Rose really couldn't help but feel that the doors were a little pretentious. There was a smaller door set into the wall next to them, however, and Rose felt more comfortable approaching that one. Next to the door was a small keypad, and some kind of slot for some kind of device. Fairly uncertain as to how to react to all this, Rose simply pressed a few random numbers on the pad. The keypad flashed red and played a short buzzing noise, but nothing else happened. Having little other option, she pressed another number, and got the same result. Sighing, she typed another one, fully aware of the futility. This time, however, she heard an alarm sound inside the tower.
Rose stepped back from the door, not wanting the Titans to come out and attack her. A few seconds passed before she heard the alarm cease. The door opened, revealing a pale, short girl with an opaque black leotard and heavy blue cloak on. The girl's fine hair blew gently in the slight breeze, and her face wore an expression of surprise, which was quickly replaced by a look of utter indifference. Her voice, however, still bore a hint of disbelief.
"It's you."
A/N: Ok! Second chapter done. I do apologize for the continuing shortness of these chapters, but I'm having a bit of a hard time finding time to write. Anyway, thanks for reading. Please review if you feel that you have something to say. The third chapter should take no more time than this one. See you next chapter!