Oh. Em. Gee.
This is it. The last chapter of Remember the Titans – and the last chapter of the entire trilogy.
What a ride it's been. O.o
Thankyou to: DragonPrincess1988 (Batman out of character? Depends on which Batman you're talking about. From Adam West to Tim Burton's Michael Keaton to the Kevin Conroy-voiced animated version, there's a lot of Batman out there…); LoopyLouise123 (nyes, there certainly is Terra… And the Titans probably would have talked about threesomes if not for their prime-time Cartoon Network slot…); Me (how many more twists can this story have? One more.); YamiTai (oh, don't be ashamed, Jonathon-Vaughan's-Biggest-Fan! You're one of my longest-standing readers/reviewers!); Quinn and His Quill (you're physically tired out by this? How do you think I feel, Quinny?!); TheFallenAngel67 (ha, no, it's okay that you didn't write "OMG-SO-SUPER-SPECIAL-AWESOME!!1111!!11!" in your review… Be happy that RTT is ending – I am!); Guardian of Azarath (well, if Raven doesn't lecture Robin about how much of a dumbass he is, who will? :D); SylverEyes (well, yeah, I felt that last chapter needed the whole team in it rather than just Robin, Raven and poor piggy-in-the-middle Star… You are welcome to steal "Bat-condoms", BTW. XP); The Fate of an Amaryllis (I don't think I did kill off the Joker, now that I think about it… I'm sure Slade just knocked him out. Ha, your "Keep it up, Dick!" joke reminds me of an in-joke between Narroch and myself – "I can't get it up!"… referring to an inability to post something up to FFNet when it's being retarded…); Simmie (yes, another twist. Because I'm mean like that…);and IVIaedhros (yes, you're perfectly correct – that is exactly why superheroes should not rut before they hang up the tights.)!
In truth, I've been leading you all around. I remember saying, a very long time, in response to the complaints of more than one Terra-hater, that, in a way, Terra was in fact the most important character in the entire trilogy.
I wasn't lying.
:)
Written in Stone
"I figured I'd find you down here…"
Beast Boy looked up in surprise as Robin's voice broke the tranquil silence of the rocky cavern in which he stood.
"Hey, Robin…" Beast Boy shot him a quizzical look. "What are you doing down here?"
"Didn't know I wasn't allowed."
"It's not that, it's just…" Beast Boy shook his head. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for that to sound… It's just not like you, is all…"
"Beast Boy, she's only been gone for a week. You're the only one who comes here everyday, but that doesn't mean-"
"That doesn't mean you don't care, I know, I know…" Beast Boy sighed. "And it's been a week and two days."
"Sorry…"
The two boys stood side by side and looked up at her; the girl who had been their great friend, and their greater enemy.
At her; Terra.
She still stood frozen in the stance in which she had released the last of her power; her parting gift to a world she had sought to destroy.
Her arms spread wide, her legs apart and braced, her hair whipping around her face.
Every detail of her captured as though she had been carved by the most skilled sculptor.
The rock on which she had stood had formed a pedestal; and to this, Beast Boy had attached a little metal plaque.
TERRA
A TEEN TITAN
A TRUE FRIEND
Robin read it off now and was reminded of the little plaques that the Bruce of the devastated future world had placed beneath the objet d'arts of his dead team-mates he had been able to gather.
"I keep thinking," Beast Boy said softly, "that we could have saved her. If only we'd tried harder-"
"Terra didn't want to be saved, Beast Boy. Trust me on that one…"
Beast Boy shook his head.
"Then what did she want? We gave her everything she could possibly—"
"I think… she just wanted to be liked for who she was," Robin interrupted quietly, basing his opinion on what he had learned of the other Terra. "To not be judged for all the things she had done…"
"But we did!" Beast Boy argued. "We did like her, and we trusted her, and-"
"Did we?" Robin felt guilty now. "No, we didn't, Beast Boy. Not all of us. I didn't always trust her entirely, and Raven…"
Beast Boy looked long and hard at the petrified blonde.
"And, as usual, you and Raven were right," he said, not without a little bitterness.
"It's not something we gloat over…"
"I'm not saying that, it's just…" Beast Boy's pointed ears flicked. "…It's hard. Because I trusted her more than I've ever trusted anyone, and I never believed she could do such terrible things, and…"
"None of us did, Beast Boy. Even Raven and I never thought she could… attempt to kill us…"
Beast Boy put his head in his hands.
"She was so messed up… I never realised while… but she was, she just couldn't see that we…"
"She was misunderstood, that much is for certain," Robin said quietly. "Nobody could understand how desperate she felt every time she lost control of her powers. The only person she could ever really relate to was Raven…"
"And Raven turned her away," Beast Boy finished sadly. "Do you think that if Raven hadn't—"
"You can't blame Raven for this, Beast Boy."
"I know…" Beast Boy sighed heavily. "But do you think everything might have turned differently, if only…?"
If only what?
Robin shrugged hopelessly.
"I don't know, Beast Boy…"
Beast Boy was silent for a while.
"I won't ever forget her…"
"None of us will."
"No." Beast Boy turned his gaze on the Boy Wonder. "No, I mean it. It's okay for you to say that, because she was our friend and all, but I mean it. I will never forget her, for as long as I live…"
"You may not have to," Robin replied quietly. "She's gone, but not… dead… This happened because of her powers; and there must be some way to reverse the effect. I'm sure… S.T.A.R Labs, or maybe even Wayne Enterprises… well, there will be a cure for her. I don't know how long it will be, but…"
Beast Boy shot him a weak little smile.
"Thanks, dude…"
"I mean it."
"I know."
Beast Boy looked up at her again; stone carving of a prodigal phantasm.
"Do you think it hurt her?"
Robin didn't know how to answer that one, so simply replied with;
"I hope not…"
"Me too…"
But it was not Beast Boy who answered; the voice was Cyborg's.
Robin and Beast Boy both turned to him; he was coming down into the cavern via the tunnel, Starfire in tow.
Cyborg and Starfire stopped when they reached their team-mates, both looking up at the stone blonde.
"Poor kid," Cyborg said finally. "It's tragic that she thought the only way to turn was to Slade…"
Beast Boy clenched his fists.
"I hate him," he hissed.
"Welcome to my world…" Robin muttered.
Starfire floated up to Terra's level, looking forlornly at her.
"I am so sorry for her," she whispered, touching the girl's stone cheek. "She was so strong, so gifted…"
"That was her problem, Star," Cyborg said in a low voice. "She was gifted with a power she didn't want and couldn't control…"
Robin looked down at his own hands on that note; remembering the time they had battled in the mine, just days before he had been possessed.
He had looked at her; watched her eyes glow and seen the very earth bend to her will.
And he had envied her.
And she… she had looked at him; stared him up and down, the action devoid of sexuality.
And she had envied him.
He did not envy her now.
"…Anyway, we were thinking about heading down to the pizza place," Cyborg said, cutting into his thoughts. "Well, Star's idea. BB? Robbie? You up for it?"
"Yeah," Beast Boy replied quietly.
"Yes, we shall have a pizza in the honour of our friend Terra," Starfire decided, landing next to them again.
Beast Boy gave a weak little smile and looked up at the frozen girl.
"She'd like that…"
Cyborg threw his arm around Beast Boy's shoulders.
"Then let's go. Robin? You coming?"
"Yeah, but I'll catch you up," Robin replied.
"You're staying here?" Beast Boy asked, sounding surprised.
"Just for a minute. You go. I have my bike outside, I'll meet you there…"
Cyborg shot him a quizzical look, then shrugged.
"Alright, man… You just take it easy. No stressing out looking for remains of Slade down here, okay?"
Robin pulled a face.
"Too much info, Cy…"
"You know what I mean…"
"Yeah, yeah…"
"You seen Raven, by the way?" Cyborg asked.
"No." Robin pulled out his communicator. "I'll call her."
"Okay."
The Boy Wonder and the tall cybernetic teen bumped fists.
"Catch you in ten," Cyborg said casually, walking out of the tunnel with a little wave of his hand.
Beast Boy gave Robin a little glance, then looked at Terra again.
"It's okay, BB," Robin reassured him. "You go on…"
Beast Boy nodded and followed Cyborg out of the cavern.
"You are certain you do not desire us to wait for you?" Starfire asked, turning to Robin.
Robin nodded.
"Positive. Really, I'll be with you in a moment, Star…"
"Alright…"
Starfire gave him a hug; then planted a quick, tiny kiss on his cheek before he could stop her and flew out without a backwards glance.
Robin stared after her, his hand on his cheek.
He was alone for barely a minute when he suddenly felt a shadow fall across him.
In an instant he whipped around, his hand snapping outwards in one fluid chopping motion—
Raven stopped his flat hand from breaking her neck with a barrier of black energy.
Robin stared at her; then withdrew his hand.
"Sorry, Raven…"
Raven raised her eyebrows.
"What, did you think I was Slade?"
Robin scowled.
"You know, it wouldn't have surprised me…"
Raven looked long and hard at him.
"You don't believe he's gone, do you?"
Robin sighed.
"I don't know. I wish I could. But I don't—"
"It's okay. I'm not so sure about it myself…"
Raven swept past him to stand at the foot of the petrified geomancer's pedestal.
"Why are you down here, anyway?" Robin asked, joining her.
"Same reason you are."
"I'm paying my final respects…"
"No you aren't!" Raven snapped. "Don't feign ignorance, Robin. I know why you're down here…"
"Well, here's an idea," Robin replied snippily. "How about you tell me why you're down here, and we'll compare notes and see if your reason matches mine."
"Fine." Raven looked over her shoulder at him, pulling her hood down as she spoke. "I'm down here because I've finally worked out the prophecy. The true prophecy; Seth's one. And that's why you're down here too, right?"
Robin stared at her.
And then, finally, he went to his belt and pulled out a folded piece of paper.
"Yeah," he said shakily, handing it to her.
Opening it, she found written on it, in Robin's neat printing, the real prophecy, word for word;
'When the very Earth itself bleeds;
When vows and promises are broken;
When apprentice shall turn on master;
When such love is the cause, and promise, of a sacrifice for another;
When Said Duplicate Souls are merged with a power beyond a mortal capability;
Only then shall the power within be unleashed, bore by its rightful owner;
Only then shall tyranny reign once more…'
"Where did you get this?" Raven asked him, reading through it.
"Just wrote it down off the top of my head," Robin replied. "I did it the day after we got back from the future… uh, movie reference not intended…"
Raven looked at it again.
"You have a very good memory," she admitted finally.
"Thanks. But…" Robin scratched his hair. "Seriously, Raven, you've figured it out too?"
Raven nodded, looking from the prophecy to Robin and then finally to Terra.
"It's ironic, isn't it?"
"What is?" Robin inquired.
"This." Raven allowed herself a tiny amused smile. "He got the wrong one…"
She looked up at Terra's self-made statue.
"…He got the wrong damn apprentice…"
Robin gave a little smile.
"Yeah… I wonder how everything would have turned out if…"
"Let's not think about it," Raven replied coolly as he trailed off.
"You wouldn't have gotten pregnant," the Boy Wonder pointed out.
"True." Raven looked from the paper to Terra and then back again. "You know, I really do wonder how he got it all so wrong…"
"It does fit me, sort of…"
"Yeah, but not as well as it fits Terra. And let's face it; if it was always meant for her, and not you, that's only logical."
"Mm." Robin nodded again and tilted the sheet towards himself. "Well, let's see… "When vows and promises are broken, when apprentice shall turn on master, when such love is the cause, and promise, of a sacrifice for another…" Seth said that I fitted those three premises in that I broke my vow to Batman when I became Red X and joined Slade, and then I betrayed Slade, and… well, he intended me to die in the portal to save you, so I would have fulfilled the third premise."
"Right," Raven agreed. "It's a little tenuous, but you can see how he got a little mixed up…"
"But the one he wanted all along… wasn't me." He took a deep breath. "It was Terra."
"Yes."
"When did you figure it out?"
"Just last night…"
Robin blinked.
"Hey, me too!"
Raven offered him a wry smile.
"Brilliant minds think alike…"
"…And fools never differ," Robin finished dryly.
He looked up at Terra again.
"It really does fit her…"
"It was written for her."
"Yeah…" Robin folded his arms. "Well, there were four premises, actually, and the first… "When the very Earth itself bleeds"… Her powers triggered a volcano, and the lava… like the Earth was bleeding…"
"Yes, he overlooked that one with you."
"Because it didn't fit. And she made a vow to Slade to serve him, and then she broke it…"
"Premise two in her case," Raven agreed. "Go on."
"You know."
"Say it anyway. Just so I can be sure…"
"Well, she did turn on him, didn't she? She said that he couldn't control her anymore, said… well, she threw him…"
"Yeah… So that's the third premise; "apprentice shall turn on master"…"
"And premise four… she fulfilled that too. She sacrificed herself… for us. For Beast Boy. Because she loved him."
Raven actually smiled.
"I never really liked her," she admitted, "because I just couldn't trust her. But she… she was brave. I will give her that… She knew she would never survive, and yet she still gave her life to undo the damage she had wrought."
"It is ironic, isn't it?"
"Hm?"
"That if Seth…" Robin sighed. "If only he had waited… if only he had just let things play out on their own… his prophecy would have been fulfilled. He… controlled me my whole life, and he… he never needed to…"
He looked at her.
"Funny, huh?" He said, his voice a little sad. "First, I thought I was the "Avenger" – some kind of warrior born to save the world. And then it turned out to all be a lie, and yet… I was still needed. The only reason Seth had made up all those lies and fake prophecies and premises… was because he thought he needed my soul to fulfil the real prophecy. But he didn't, because I… I was never the one that prophecy meant. It was never me and Slade; it was Slade and Terra…"
"Gee, don't beat yourself up over it," Raven put in blithely, her voice low.
"And it's strange," Robin went on forlornly, ignoring her, "because when we were in the future, I remember… the other Terra saying that she couldn't believe she had been staring Seth in the face the entire time, because Seth disguised himself as the seer to trick Slade, and… well, Seth… he was staring her in the face the entire time. Terra was the one he needed, and she… she was there the whole time, and he never realised because he was too busy chasing me…"
"Seth had a very high opinion of himself," Raven put in, "but he was never really as clever as he gave himself credit for."
"But it's just so…" Robin socked his fist into his palm. "It just feels like we wasted our time… Because the prophecy was fulfilled anyway, only Seth wasn't around to know about it, and I destroyed the orb of this time… But if only he'd realised, and kept a low profile, he would have gotten his power back, because when Terra sacrificed herself…"
"Robin, let's be very glad he got it wrong, because if he'd kept quiet about it, we wouldn't have stopped him…"
"But god, Raven…!" Robin pulled at his hair in utter frustration. "Everything he did…! Everything he did to me, all the things…"
He turned on her, still tugging at his ebony spikes.
"He made Slade rape me! And it's something… something that still frightens me whenever I think about it, and something… I still have nightmares about sometimes… I just have to hear the name "Arkham" and my skin goes cold…"
He looked away, shaking his head.
"…And it was all for nothing. I always felt so terrible, thinking it had been done for a reason, but this… this is worse, knowing that there was no need for it… That if only he hadn't mixed me up with Terra, I wouldn't… he wouldn't have raped me…"
He finished the utterance in a very small voice and Raven put her hand on his shoulder; he looked up at her sadly.
"None of it would have happened," he went on; "He needed me to have been raped so that the demon would be able to have greater control over me, and he only needed that so that you would become pregnant with his child. And the only reason he could use me like that… is because I'm a boy. If he gotten it right, and realised it was Terra… well, she wouldn't have been raped and possessed, because Seth couldn't have used her to impregnate you as she's another girl. And maybe… if we hadn't gone to Azarath, maybe Jonathon wouldn't have died, and maybe—"
"Shh." Raven put her fingers to his lips to silence him. "It's no good thinking like this, Robin. What happened did happen; we cannot change it. It is unfortunate that everything that has happened was based on a mistake, but perhaps it was a good thing too. We have suffered for it, Robin; I do not deny it, and you have suffered perhaps more than I have. But the point is that if Seth had realised it was Terra he needed, and had kept quiet about it, knowing he just had to wait for everything to play itself out… We would never have been able to stop him. By now, he'd have murdered the Senate, enslaved Azarath and probably the Earth… But because he tried to control too much, because he was so confident that he let everyone see his cards, because he tried to be a god… We defeated him. "
"Yeah…" Robin sighed as she took her fingers from his mouth, and looked up at the ceiling of the cavern. "But…"
"But what?"
Robin rubbed at his eyes with his hands, exhaling deeply again. He gave a little groan.
"Oh god… I never told anyone…"
"You never told anyone what?"
"Just this… Remember when we… in the church, you asked if I was keeping something to myself, and… I said I wasn't, because…"
"Because…?"
"Because it makes me sick."
Raven looked at him in surprise.
"It makes you sick? What makes you sick?"
"I…"
He tried to turn away and she held him still.
"Robin. Tell me. Please."
"It's nothing…"
"Don't chicken out. Talking helps," Raven pleaded. "Come on… I have felt that something has been troubling you for a while now. If I can help, please…"
"I just… Seth… you know he could control wills, he, uh… he…" Robin floundered.
"Robin! Just say it!" Raven cried in exasperation.
"Ikissedhim," Robin said quietly, uttering it so quickly it all became one word.
Raven blinked at him.
"You kissed Seth?"
"No!" Robin snapped, agonized. "No, you know… it doesn't even matter—"
"Oh." Raven's eyes widened in sudden understanding. "Slade."
He didn't blush; he didn't even answer.
He only looked away.
"You kissed Slade. The night he raped you," Raven reinstated.
"It was… mutual."
"He kissed back?"
"He started it."
"Oh," Raven said again. "Um… you..."
"Don't."
"No, I… You mentioned Seth?"
"He controlled us. He made us do it."
"Why?"
Robin shrugged and gazed intently at the floor.
"Because… he said he… found it funny…"
"He watched?" Raven was aghast.
"Yeah… the whole thing…"
"Azar…"
Robin gave another miserable shrug.
"He said he had to make sure… that Slade…"
"I can imagine." Raven clasped her hands around his. "Robin, I'm… so sorry…"
"It's not your fault."
"It's not yours either," Raven replied firmly. "And please don't think for one moment that it is. Seth sought to destroy you in all kinds of ways; physically, mentally… And while I am sorry for you, I am also happy for you, because you are the one left standing. For everything he did to you… he did not break you. He did not destroy you as he intended."
"And Slade?"
Their eyes met, the gaze – violet meeting azure – intense and unwavering.
"I don't know," Raven said finally, still clasping Robin's gloved hands in her own. "Like you, I would like to believe that he is gone. I wish I could be satisfied with the fact that Terra threw him into the lava. But not a trace of him as been found so far, and so…"
"…We just don't know," Robin finished wearily. "Raven, about… that night in Arkham, with me and Slade… please don't tell anyone."
"Not even at gunpoint."
Robin offered her a wan smile.
"A gun couldn't hurt you, Ray, but thanks anyway…"
"You're okay about it…?"
"No. Like I said, it makes me feel sick. In fact, I was sick in one of the sinks in Arkham… But I do feel a little better about it now…"
"I don't condemn you for it, you know."
"Well, it wasn't something either of us wanted to do," Robin replied softly. He looked at her firmly. "But would you? If I had wanted to? If Seth hadn't been controlling us, and I…? Would you condemn me?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because it doesn't matter."
"Doesn't it?"
"No. Why would it?"
Robin shrugged.
"I don't know. I guess it doesn't. But I'm not."
"You're not what?"
"You know…" He looked at the ground. "…Gay…" he muttered.
"I know." She squeezed his shoulder. "You seem confused about all of this, you know…"
"I'm not confused about my sexuality, if that's what you mean."
"It isn't. It's just… you seem so… uncertain about everything that's happened. Like you don't know how you should feel."
"I'm not sure I do."
"Well…"Raven frowned. "How do you feel?"
He blinked.
"How do I feel?"
"Yes."
"Well… it alternates. I feel happy that everything is sorted out, and then angry that I was used, and then sorry for everything I did to you, and then so wretched when I remember what Slade… did to me…" He looked at her. "How do you think I should feel?"
Raven was very silent for a while.
"Exactly like that, I guess," she replied finally. "So much has happened this past month… well, this year… I couldn't expect you to just be cool about everything. All those different emotions show that you are coping with all the different aspects of what you've been through. And I think… it will make you stronger."
He took his hands from hers and looked at them intently.
"I hope so…"
"Robin, even if you believe in nothing else, you should always believe in yourself."
"And we're back to cereal box dialogue, huh?"
"If it makes you feel better…"
He smiled.
"Somehow, when you say it, it does. And speaking of things you've said…" Robin looked at Terra. "…I guess this is the unhappy ending you foresaw for her?"
"I did not know she would turn to stone. But yes, I did know that she would not redeem and rejoin us…"
"Do think this is punishment or a mercy?"
"Perhaps a little of both," Raven replied thoughtfully. "I would like to think that, although I didn't like her very much, she is at least at peace now. She was a very tormented person, if nothing else…"
"I remember," Robin whispered, "when we left the future… Terra – the older one – she said… that "nothing is written in stone", meaning that we could change our past. Or present, or whatever…"
"And we did. She was right. So what?"
"Don't you see?" Robin looked from Raven to Terra and then back again. "Some things are written in stone. Terra's destiny always was. And here it is."
He tapped Terra's stone leg, listening to the dull solid sound his finger created.
"Terra," he said quietly. "She was born to fulfil a prophecy carved from stone; a prophecy that promised the powers of a terrible being, which were sealed in a stone orb; her powers were to move the earth and manipulate stone. Her name means earth, land, stone. And in her final retribution… she turned to stone. Maybe not everything is written in stone, but Terra is."
He gazed long and hard at Raven.
"She always was."
"Tenuous."
"But true."
Raven smiled.
"Maybe…"
There was silence between them for a few moments.
"Come on," Robin said softly. "Let's catch the others up…"
Raven nodded and together they made for the exit of the cavern.
At the mouth of it, Raven stopped again.
"What?" Robin asked.
Raven looked back at Terra; prostate on her pedestal, a pewter plaque bearing her legend.
"…What do you think her last thought was?" Raven asked softly.
Robin thought for a moment.
"Hope," he said finally.
Raven looked at the Boy Wonder.
"Hope for what? She knew that she…"
"Hope that we would forgive her for everything she had done. Hope that we would not think of her as our enemy, but as our friend. Hope… that we would remember her."
Raven looked at the plaque Beast Boy had left there.
Terra. A Teen Titan. A true friend.
"She will be remembered," she said finally.
"With us," Robin added quietly. "As a Titan."
"Remembered as gods," Raven mused, her voice a little bitter.
"The Titans were never gods, Raven…" Robin replied as they began to walk again.
Through carved stone catacombs, wrought from solidified molten lava.
Carved by her.
They left her alone in the dark with her legend; petrified, arms out to embrace a world that had rejected her.
Ignorant of the destiny that had been stolen from her; she, Terra, had been born something.
Not an Avenger. Not a saviour; not a warrior.
Not a god.
But something.
She would be remembered.
In a distant future, the Teen Titans had died at her hand.
In this time, she had sacrificed her life for theirs.
So many things had been changed; so many things written and rewritten.
So many things gained; and so many things lost.
So many things that, for the Teen Titans, would never be the same again.
The child of the Batman had rewritten history.
The child of the demon Trigon had conceived and carried a demon child of her own; and had yet to fulfil her own destiny.
And the child of the Earth was nothing more than what she had ruled.
What she had wrought.
It was true; nothing was written in stone.
Nothing but the one they had called Terra; who had always seemed so unimportant, so worthless.
Just another girl.
Nothing but her.
END
And herein, my friends, we reach the end of Remember the Titans – which is, alone, almost 300, 000 words. Add to this the additional 100, 000+ words of Asylum and the 200, 000+ words of Black Magic, and you guys…
Well, you've put up with a lot.
:)
Rather than bore you here, I decided to post up another "chapter" after this, expressing my gratitude to all of you who have reached this final milestone.
Seeing as it's highly unlikely that I'll ever make it to the Oscars, it's the next best thing.
RobinRocks xXx