Terra: Huh? I'm in this fic? How the hell did we go from Slade being inside Raven's head to me?
Me: I have my ways ))
Raven: And I'm none to happy with them right now (death glares)
Me: Yeah, let's get that theme song rolling huh?
When there's trouble you know who to call. Teen Titans!
From their tower, they can see it all. Teen Titans!
When there's evil on the attack
You can rest knowing they got your back
'Cuz when the world needs heroes on patrol, Teen Titans GO!
With their superpowers they unite. Teen Titans!
Never met a villain that they liked. Teen Titans!
They've got the bad guys on the run
They never stop 'till the job gets done
'Cuz when the world is losin' all control
Teen Titans GO! Teen Titans GO!
If your heart is black you better watch out
You cannot escape the team
When they catch you there won't be any doubt
You've been beaten by the teens
Beaten by the teens!
1,2,3,4 GO!
Previously, on Fused...
"Let's go," He said. The elfin changeling entered the doorway, and the rest of the Titans followed suite. As Beast Boy came through, he was presented by a long hallway lined with pictures. "Or would it be a corridor? What's the difference, anyway? Hm. Corridor sounds more dramatic." He laughed quietly to himself and proceeded forward.
Everyone took note of the pictures as they made their way down. "These look almost like a timeline," Robin said aloud. "I was thinking the same thing. But what of?" Cyborg said, confused. "It would seem to be a tale of some sort. We appear to be happy, acting and working the way we always have since forming our team. Now, Beast Boy seems to be particularly happy and playful," Starfire attempted a logical explanation. After a while, they reached pictures of Slade. "Now it appears Slade has something to do with the story. So the Titans are perfectly normal until something occurs to make Beast Boy extremely happy, then Slade appears and..." Starfire gasped, realizing what she was describing.
"It's... it's the story and history of Terra," Beast Boy choked out. "Why the hell is anything related to Terra residing in Raven's mind?. Are these memories?" Beast Boy was confused. He could hear vague voices in his head, as if the walls were echoing the tale.
"Hi. I'm Robin. We're the-" "Teen Titans!" Terra exclaimed. "Rock on! My name's Terra. And you're Cyborg, Raven, Starfire and-" "Boy Beast! I mean, Bast Boo!" Beast Boy yelled nervously. Terra giggled. "Beast Boy?"
Beast Boy closed his eyes, remembering that moment. That was the first time he had had met what would ultimately be the girl who, if even only slightly, would traumatize him for life due to her two-facedness. Shaking it off, they continued on. With the door on the other end in sight, they began to run for it, eager to see what was behind it. Suddenly...WHAM!
"Owww!" Raven cried as she was knocked on her ass by an unexpected force. She fell right into Terra, who fell as well. "What the...? Beast Boy!" Raven cried, recognizing the Fusion body. Terra slunk back into the shadows. She didn't want to be seen until the time was right.
"Raven? Is it really you?" Beast Boy asked cautiously. "Yes, BB. It's me. Here, I'll prove it," She said. She threw her cloak off to reveal her solid, jet-black leotard as opposed to the black and orange the Irrelevants wore. "RAVEN!" Beast Boy shouted joyfully, grabbing Raven in a tight bear hug. Raven gasped for air.
"Beast...Boy...you can let go now. And don't do that again, it's Starfire's job to hug the shit out of people," Raven said with a small laugh. "It's good to have you back, Raven," Robin said with a smile. From the darkness they heard a small "ahem."
"What was that?" Beast Boy asked, ready for a fight. Raven looked down at the ground. "Well...Remember when Terra destroyed Slade and turned to stone? I...she didn't get trapped in it. I took her in and locked her away so I could live with myself and not have to deal with her anymore at the same time. And now...let's just say our current situation requires every bit of help we can get in here. So...well..." She gestured at the shadows.
"Hey guys. Been a while," Terra said, stepping into view.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Everyone except for Raven gaped at the sight of Terra. Starfire did a little more. Her image of kindness fell to reveal the Tamaranian warrior princess side of herself in all its glory. She marched forward, grabbed Terra's black shirt by the collar, and yanked the poor geokinetic up face-to-face. Then, unexpectedly, Starfire let loose with a vicious backhand that sent Terra skidding across the floor. "Starfire!" Robin yelled in shock. He ran forward to restrain her, amazed at what he had just seen the girl of his dreams do. "Note to self: never say no to her," Robin thought.
"You betrayed us and came very close to ending our lives! Worse, you destroyed friend Beast Boy's feelings! It took two months before he could go a day without breaking down over you! And now you appear and talk as though we are back to fully trusting you as a friend?! AND YOU!" Starfire shrieked in outrage, pointing a glowing green finger at Raven. "How DARE you released her into Beast Boy's presence! Have you no concern at all for his feelings, his emotions? Or are you too busy with your own to worry about it?!" Starfire was enraged at Raven. They had almost lost Beast Boy over Terra's actions. And now, when Beast Boy's emotions were already tender while taking tentative steps into Raven's heart, the dark girl had brought back a reminder of his tragic first love?
Beast Boy looked down at the ground. It was her. Where Raven had Malchoir, Beast Boy had Terra. And now, just as he had finally plucked up the courage to fess up to Raven about the feelings that had grown inside him ever since the team formed, the object of his affections basically guts him by bringing her out.
Cyborg was looking tensely at a distance from the scene. He had no real involvement here, having had no special relations with Terra. He was tempted to try and pull his best friend out of the pain that he knew the sight of their former teammate must've caused, but decided that he would probably make things worse. So Cyborg just watched, somewhat shocked at Starfire's actions but most of all at Raven's audacity for bringing her out.
Her mistake hit her like a Mack truck. "Oh, SHIT! Beast Boy... seeing her is going to bring out all the issues he had. And he was reaching out... trying to get my attention. Trying to tell me... I know what he wants to say. And now..." Raven closed her eyes, hating herself for even considering taking this girl in. She could have and should have let her mind and soul die that night. But no, she knew that she could preserve the girl in hopes to restore her to her body if and when they reversed the effects of her final action. But now, all both Terra and herself had done was cause pain.
Terra picked herself up off the floor. "Star...I messed up. Badly. He... said he could train me to control my powers. Afterwards, he said he required payment for his services. That wound up meaning working for Slade. And...he corrupted me. Controlled me, slowly molded my mind to his. I was just a backpacker with awesome, uncontrolled power. I had no idea. I'm sorry..." she whispered.
Raven finally spoke. "I only brought her because as she said, Trigon is gaining power. Slade has him in the palm of his hand, though. Slade wanted me to gather everyone so we could talk about making an agreement with him. He doesn't want to resurrect Trigon, he wants to finish him for good. But Trigon is gaining power on his own, slowly, without Slade's help. And if we wait too long, he'll have enough power to escape from this place and pose a major threat to the outside world. We need everyone we can get," she finished explaining. She looked at Beast Boy, whose expression was undecipherable.
The current Titans leader closed his eyes. "I thought you might have actually given a damn, Raven. I've tried so DAMN hard to try and get close to you. I've been brave to the point of suicidal, going in your room to see you, trying to talk to you face to face, trying to get you do something other than brood on the part of your life that sucks, and so much more. I gave you a shoulder to cry on, a rock to hold onto while you got over him. And now, you go and take the Malchoir of my life and rub her and everything she did to me in my face?!" Tears were streaming down his face.
"I love you. It's clear now that I don't mean shit to you, but I always have and always will love you. But I guess it's not good enough to finally find someone who wants to be with you for who you are. I don't know what the hell your problem is, or what I ever did to you, but it's obvious that you don't want or need me around. Robin, I'm down and out. I quit." And with that, the changeling stormed off, leaving a trail of wetness behind him as he exited through the Forbidden Door in a body that wasn't his.
Everyone gaped, eyes wide in shock as they stared at the small puddle of tears their friend had left behind. Raven closed her eyes, cursing herself in every language she knew. " I deserve to be executed in the slowest, most painful ways possible," She thought miserably. She must have unwittingly voiced that thought, because Robin said "Raven, it was a mistake. He's not going to be able to stay away from you forever. Don't hate yourself for one error in judgment. Accept that you've made a bad move, and salvage what good has come from it," He said wisely.
They walked back down the hall silently. The silence wasn't broken until they had gone. Raven attempted to change her train of thought by focusing on the upcoming events. "Slade didn't tell me where to make the summon at," She realized. Would Slade have already freed the emotions that had been taken? Did they stand a chance of success without Beast Boy? "Damnit Raven! Think about him later. I've already given him about as cold a shoulder as is possible, so being cold about him a little longer won't hurt," She thought bitterly. She broke the silence as they entered Knowledge's library.
"Guys, I'm not even going to bother to try and explain myself. We need to focus on what's at hand and berate me later," She said, looking away. The others, not wanting to say anything, simply nodded. "Alright, Slade wanted me to call a meeting with my emotions. He said he'd free the ones he already had, making it look like the summon was more powerful than his restraints. I need to get a mental connection with him, see if he's ready. Everyone quiet," She ordered.
"Slade," Raven closed her eyes as she searched for him in her mind. Sure enough, he found him in the deepest part of Rage's lair, where Trigon was locked away. "Welcome to Trigon-Death enterprises, Slade speaking," The villain replied humorously. Raven cocked an eyebrow. Slade had always had a twisted sense of humor, but that was the first comment he'd made that she actually found somewhat funny.
"I need to know whether you're in position. I'm ready to summon at any time. I just need to know when you're ready to free my emotions," Raven "said". "All is in order, my dear child. I will release them on, let's say three? Alright. One...two...three," He counted down. The instant she heard "three," she chanted the incantation that brought the physical embodiments of her emotions together. Sure enough, with the rest of them came Knowledge, Brave, Happy, Rude and Rage. Slade came soon after, entering from the connection between Rude and Knowledge's realms.
"Excellent work. Ah, it has been a while," Slade looked at Robin. Robin's face was all suspicion. "And what have we here?: Slade's voice betrayed slight surprise and a large amount of ironic amusement as his gaze fell on Terra. The blonde girl turned away, causing him to smirk. "The apprentice who killed herself 'killing' me. And now you're helping me destroy the very creature that foiled your efforts. Rather fitting, really," he said ironically. Then he cocked his head. "Where is Beast Boy?"
Raven looked down. "Long story short, he left. There were...issues...concerning myself and Terra that he had to deal with," she said ashamedly. She quickly changed the subject. "Now that everyone's here, we need to formulate a long-term plan. I know we can pull it off. We're a force plenty powerful enough to erase all existence and memories of Trigon. We just have to focus that power and discover exactly when, where and how we need to go about using it to obliterate him," She finished.
"Sounds logical, bu-" Slade cut Robin off. "I think we need to clarify something first. We will need to work together, as one team, to successfully pull this off. This means we must trust each other 100 with our lives. I understand that this will be more difficult for some than others, but I am willing to put aside past differences if all of you are," he stated coolly. Everyone knew he was talking mainly to Robin, and looked at him expectantly.
Robin gave Slade a good long look, and finally nodded, extending his hand. Slade shook it, and Robin actually felt a slight smile of hope cross his face that maybe, maybe this ordeal could change Slade. "That'd be excellent, Trigon gone and Slade no longer being a threat and maybe even an asset? This could be quite an opportunity. Make the most of it," he told himself. And with the unlikely alliance made, the meeting commencedWithout Beast Boy.