How long had it been? Since she had collapsed here, sobbing, waiting for the fire to claw its way to the outside and finally, finally, kill her. Had it been seconds? minutes? hours? days? She didn't know anymore. She just didn't know.
"Terra...?"
That was Beast Boy's voice! No, she must have been imagining it. He couldn't... be here. There was no way. Shakily, she raised her head. Yes. It was Beast Boy. He had come. Maybe he could save her.
"Kill me," Terra begged him. "Quick! Please."
"What?"
He wouldn't. He was too kind, too caring. He couldn't commit heinous crimes, like killing, even though her life was worth nothing. But... She had caused him so much pain - it would be better for everyone involved if he just killed her. "Come on! Do it! Isn't that what you came for?" Her tone was taunting, but the plea was still there, underneath.
Her suit began to hum and whir again and Terra groaned, longing to just lay down and die. She tried to, she really did, but of its own accord her hand lifted and rocks came from every direction to attack her would-be savior.
"Forgive my apprentice. As usual, she can't seem to control herself." Slade advanced toward Beast Boy. Terra staggered to her feet behind him, her uniform moving her according to Slade's will. "So from now on, I will be controlling her." The metal pieces on her temples pulsed and, suddenly, Terra was a spectator in her own mind. She could but sit in a corner of her consciousness, watching through her own eyes as if seeing a movie on a screen. She was trapped, immobilized, but by what she did not know.
Terra watched as she attacked Beast Boy again and again. He always dodged. He never struck back. Terra heard her own voice, faint with distance: "Come on! Fight me! Or are you too scared you'll hurt me?" Laughter. Her own laughter.
Beast Boy turned and tackled her. His current form, gorilla, had mass more than sufficient enough to knock her over and muscle enough to pin her arms and legs. The shock of the impact freed Terra. It was a curious sensation, one's being swelling to fill their own mind, but Terra found herself able to move and speak of her own will.
"Beast Boy, please! You have to kill me! I don't want to fight anymore."
Beast Boy shrank and she was suddenly staring into a Titan's face, rather than a giant monkey.
"Then stop fighting!" he snapped.
"I can't! Don't you get it? I can't!" Terra cried, tears welling in her eyes. While she had not been in control, she had not felt the pain and had grown used to its absence. That, combined with the hopelessness of her situation, was quite reason enough for the tears to come. "Slade controls me! I can't do anything!"
She screamed and struggled as Slade fought to control her again, but he was far stronger than her. She once again was stranded in her own mind, watching in terror as Slade fought Beast Boy through her. That didn't last long, the watching. A fog closed in around her. She couldn't see. She couldn't think. She couldn't hear. She couldn't feel. Terra had no idea how long she sat there, unable to move, nothing more than a fragment of thought in a body that was no longer hers.
The fog cleared away gradually, until Terra found herself able to see and move. She fought until she was in control again and took stock of the situation. Beast Boy's foot was trapped beneath a boulder. He lay in front of her, helpless, staring at her with large, determined eyes. Terra's hand was outstretched, glowing yellow, and a cone of rock was hovering, point down, directly above Beast Boy's heart. She was surrounded by the Titans. Their words were violent, pleading, soothing, each trying to talk her out of the deed she was about to commit. Only Beast Boy was silent, just looking at her with those eyes...
Terra trembled. She didn't want Beast Boy to die. Slade was rising up in her mind, trying to take control of her again. He would kill Beast Boy if she let him. She wouldn't. She couldn't. Beast Boy wouldn't die because of her.
"Terra! Attack!" Slade snapped, having failed taking over her mind. She looked at him, her eyes as wide as a deer's when headlights blared from no where. She took a deep shuddering breath, listening to the increased efforts of the Titans. She couldn't move for indecision. She didn't want Beast Boy to die. She didn't want the Titans dead. But Slade controlled her and she had to obey his order.
The rock trembled in the air and began sinking toward Beast Boy. Her eyes were locked onto Slade.
"Terra." She hardly heard her own name, so quietly spoken was it. But she heard. Her gaze snapped onto Beast Boy. He was ignoring the deadly weapon that approaching him, instead gazing at her with his heart shining clearly in his eyes.
"NO!" Terra screamed suddenly. She clenched her fist and swung it swiftly around until it faced Slade. The rock swivelled, its point now on Slade, and flew toward him. Slade caught the point and threw it aside. Terra whimpered as pain flooded through her again. Her feet stumbled toward her master, controlled again by his will. She looked at the Titans, pleading with them to end her life, but none of them moved. Robin stared grimly at her, his face betraying nothing. Raven was likewise stony. Cyborg and Starfire had pity in their eyes, but they would not move without Robin's command.
"No!" Terra cried again, forcing herself to stop. She gritted her teeth against the urge to take another step toward Slade, felt the pain intensify more and more until it was unbearable... But still, she would not move. "You can't control me any more!" She ground the words out laboriously, struggling to remain tall and upright, each word a battle in and of itself. The rocks offered no support to her. She would have to do this alone. And she could do it.
Terra regretted taking off the power restraining bracelets. Her powers were running rampant inside her, eager to break out now that they were finally free. She directed her power to the rocks beneath Slade's feet. They crumbled, sending her strong master plunging helplessly into the volcano he had so bravely set up as his headquarters. But the small outlet loosed more energy than just that in the interval before Terra could close it. The ground rumbled. The molten lava that gave light to the hideout sluggishly swirled closer and closer. Glass shattered. The lava oozed in slowly. Terra was barely conscious.
"Terra's powers!" she heard Robin call. "They've triggered the volcano!"
"It's big enough to destroy the whole city! Too big to be stopped," Cyborg added. All Terra could think about was the swirling power inside of her, crashing against her, begging for release.
"Delani Katherine Miller! Pick up this mess right now!"
"But... Rhea...!"
"Rhea, don't be so mean to her. 'Lani, you can't leave a mess everywhere you go. You have to pick up after yourself. Okay?"
"Okay."
"We have to get out of here."
Terra looked around at the volatile volcano. Realization crashed down on her, even as Raven blocked a chunk of the ceiling from crushing the Titans. This was her mess. It was no different from toys left on the ground. She had caused this, and now she had to fix it. Even though she knew Slade was dead now, the fire that he had kindled inside of her would not be quelled. It would kill her eventually, so she might as well clean up after herself.
"Terra, come on!" Beast Boy said, placing a hand on her shoulder. Terra didn't know how he could stand to touch her after all that she had done.
"I can't," she replied, turning.
"What? We have to go! This thing is big enough to wipe us all out!"
"This is my mess, Beast Boy. I have to clean it up. You go. My place is here."
"Terra..."
"If this thing doesn't kill me, I'd die anyway! I want to protect your city... You have to go."
Beast Boy said nothing, but she knew he understood.
"BB, come on!" Cyborg yelled.
The rocks between the Titans the place where Beast Boy stood with Terra had split. The giant chasm would be insuperable for anyone that couldn't fly. Terra dislodged a chunk of rock and ferried Beast Boy over to them. He stepped off and turned to leave.
"Beast Boy..."
Beast Boy froze and turned slowly. There were tears in his eyes when he looked at her. Terra hugged him, cautiously. He was trembling. She was, too, but for a different reason.
"I came into this world as Delani Miller," she whispered, feeling tears stinging her own eyes. "I want to leave it as Delani Miller. Beast Boy, you were the best friend I ever had... I just want you to know that."
She pulled away. Beast Boy gazed at her until the urgings of the Titans grew too insistent to be ignored. "Goodbye, Delani." He turned and was gone.
Terra took a deep breath. The rock beneath her floated up to the center of the volcano, above the lava that was steadily climbing toward her. The Titans had vanished to safety. Terra watched molten magma gathering beneath her, reveling in its destructive beauty.
There had been many times in her life when she had thought she was going to die, and even more when she had wished for the permanent reprieve. Somehow, though, she had never thought of this as the way she would go... Defending her enemies and preserving that which she had fought so hard to destroy.
Terra tapped into her powers and opened herself to the world. Yellow energy swirled around her, more than there had ever been before, more than she had ever known she could possess. Her eyes, though the glow in them was brilliant, were not blinded. She saw the whirlwind starting up, circling like a dog might its master, completely and totally in her command. The rock beneath her crumbled under the onslaught, but Terra did not fall. Her hair floated up as if faced with a high wind and her bandaged form defied gravity as she floated, unaided.
She spread her arms wide, threw her head back, and screamed. The strident sound echoed off of liquid rock. Terra clenched her eyes shut, though it did nothing to block the tears that trickled from them. She was frightened out of her wits but determined to see this endeavor through till the end: hers, the volcano's, both, it didn't matter. The end was the end. Her powers flared briefly inside her, a conflagration greater than any she could imagine. Her life energy flared with it. And then... both dimmed. Her powers were but a candle flame, growing smaller and smaller until they were gone completely. Forever.
She was stone. In an effort to preserve her, and perhaps as payment for all that she had been put through on their account, her powers had encased her in stone. No, she was not encased in it. She was stone, frozen forever, a statue but for the wan life that still flickered weakly within her. Terra couldn't breath. She couldn't think. Couldn't see. Anything. She was not human, but stone.
The life in her flickered... and died.
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Author's Note: Whoo! Glad that's done with. I could end the story here, but I've still got plans for Rhea, Keb, Terra, Slade, and the Titans. Tune in next time for part two!