Author note: I thought I was going to be able to write a lot over summer, however, as of right now the only time I think I can is at night when everyone is asleep and thinks I am too. (Or in the morning when no one else is up yet.) I'm expected to be extremely social 24-7 unless I'm sleeping . . . which does not agree with my personality, but it will have to. c:
Terra had been browsing the internet for about an hour. It was now midnight and beginning at eleven an hour earlier, she had been staring at the same page. Her eyes were fixed into every pixel that made up the randomly chosen webpage but her brain didn't process any of the information. Her gaze was not on the webpage. It was somewhere in her mind. If anyone knew she was up late staring into space thinking, they would be worried. However, as long as she set it up so it looked like she was reading something, everything would be fine if someone decided to enter her room without permission.
You should try to read it for real, she reminded herself. It'll take your mind off things. She read the first three sentences of the news article over and over. Each time only the first few words made sense. She bit her lip and made one last effort to forget what was plaguing her mind and tried to drown herself in words that had nothing to do with what she was bothered by. She made it a few paragraphs in and gave up. This is useless. She didn't like to read, anyway. But it was her best cover up.
The air in the room felt heavy and her limbs felt numb. She wanted to close her eyes, shut the laptop and roll onto her side in bed, but she knew if she allowed herself to it would only make things worse. The laptop's blinding screen within the darkness of her room was her only escape. She didn't want to think about it. Please, just shut up, let me go to sleep.
Terra imagined his one-eyed masked face peering down at her, disguising a smirk. I thought you wanted to share my control, the imagination Slade said, you should've been more specific about what you meant. Her body felt stiff. She felt the metal and cloth cling to her skin, no matter how hard she tugged at the suit. The sensation of being pulled by an invisible force somewhere inside her followed, even though she tried to keep her feet planted on the ground. She remembered his masked face getting closer, closer, until her chin was in his hand.
Stop it! She broke herself from the memory trance and shut the laptop. She pushed it aside and rolled over. The white light from the screen wasn't working anymore. If it didn't, then what would?
A few knocks sounded and Terra sat up in bed. She turned towards the door and waited a moment before asking "Who's there?" No one should have been up at midnight, unless they couldn't sleep, like her.
"Just me," said Beast Boy. From behind her door, he placed his hands behind his back. Inside his palm was a small bottle of Tylenol. He tried to hide it, afraid Terra would be mad at him for knocking on her door at such a late hour. "I was wondering if you needed s'more Tylenol. Y'know, for your shoulder, since it was hurting earlier." He didn't know what else to say, so he stopped talking.
The door opened and Terra stood before him with her arms folded. Her eyes lacked energy and her posture resembled a flower steam that had been stepped on. "You brought some for me?" she asked, even though it was obvious that was the case.
He nodded. "Yeah." He brought the bottle back into full view.
"Thanks, Beast Boy." Terra looked at him for awhile and then nodded at the bottle of Tylenol. "I think I could use some more. My shoulder's hurting again, but I think this helped the pain." She wasn't lying. It had helped the pain, just very little.
"Do you think you did something to it, to make it hurt?" asked Beast Boy. He handed the bottle to her.
Terra took it and removed the cap. "I don't know." She shook out two tablets and then gave the bottle back to Beast Boy. She watched the tablets for a moment, then mumbled "I've got a glass of water in my room." She disappeared for about a minute to swallow the Tylenol, then came back. She didn't know why she came back, because there was no reason to, besides the fact that she knew Beast Boy was still there. "You know it's like one in the morning, right?" she asked him. He stood in front of her like it was noon. He didn't droop, he didn't look tired.
"Yeah," he said. "I went to bed really early and then woke up. I'll go back to bed later."
Terra sent him an odd look because his story seemed mismatched. She ignored it, though, because her own story was much worse.
"So, why are you up?" Beast Boy asked. Terra had a feeling this question was the entire purpose of his trip to her bedroom with the Tylenol.
"How did you know I was awake?" Terra wasn't going to let him get away with such an easy answer. Plus, she was worried she did something she shouldn't have to draw attention, like talked in her sleep.
"I don't know, it was just a feeling."
Terra nodded and glanced somewhere on the floor to avoid eye contact for a moment. "I just realized," she said, "I shouldn't take Tylenol on an empty stomach. As long as you're awake, maybe we should go grab something to eat in the kitchen." She looked up at him.
They held still eye contact for seconds and then Beast Boy agreed. He started walking and Terra followed. "So, what kind of a snack did you have in mind?"
"Um, don't know," Terra answered, "maybe just some chips or cereal. I'm not that hungry, I just need to eat something."
"Does taking Tylenol without food really hurt you?" Beast Boy asked, referring to "you" as the general public. He didn't know this, so it was a new fact. Part of him was interested in the Tylenol, the other part only wanted to keep Terra talking to him. Awkward silences were not good.
"It makes me sick," Terra said. "I don't know about other people."
Once in the kitchen they settled for peanut butter sandwiches. Both of them spread as much extra-crunchy peanut butter as possible onto their two slices of bread before smashing them together. They threw the dirty knife in the sink and didn't bother with napkins or plates. Instead of staying in the kitchen area, they took seats on the operations room couch in front of the huge picture windows.
Tonight it rained. Small ripples formed in the bay as each water droplet touched the water's surface. Through the darkness the moon glowed but it was soon coated in a thick layer of storm clouds. The city looked sleepy. Most lights were off, but the streetlamps that lined the city's sidewalks still illuminated an otherwise dark Jump City.
"So, Terra?" Beast Boy turned to face her and swallowed a bite of his sandwich. It went down a little hard and he took a breath. "Is Slade what Robin's been worrying about? I mean, after what happened today . . . Robin acted like he wasn't surprised."
Terra didn't look at him for awhile. She wanted to tell him she had no idea and that she thought it was weird everyone kept acting like she knew something she didn't. Something inside her didn't allow her to lie to him, as usual. "Yeah," she said. "But don't tell anyone." Her second comment came out almost all in one word. She turned to him. "He thinks Slade's back, and now he knows for sure." She brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. Her half-eaten sandwich was still in her right hand.
"So, then, does Robin know why Slade's plan didn't work today? With all those robots, I mean, and Robin said Slade was trying to make you-"
"Destroy the city?" She frowned at him and moved her eyes back to the bay through the windows. "I know." She didn't say anything for a few long seconds, but eventually continued. "He doesn't know why, but he thinks it was on purpose. He thinks it was a set up for something else. Remember the probes?" For her, it was odd to talk about Robin's experience with Slade. She only knew what he had told her, but he had explained this to her right before they went to bed.
"Dude, the ones that almost killed us?" Beast Boy asked. "Did Slade put them in us again?"
"No," Terra said firmly. She wasn't amused with his sudden shock. "We don't know what he did. For now, all we can do is guess. For some reason, he dragged us out to the city and staged something. On purpose, he made it work out for us so nothing happened. But that's only what we think. He could've done something worse than anything he said, we just don't know yet." Terra was about to continue, but a sharp pain in her shoulder stopped her. "Ow," she cringed. "You . . . think the Tylenol will . . . kick in soon?" Between words, she rubbed her shoulder in hopes of ceasing the pain. But, it only got worse.
"Terra, you okay?" Beast Boy moved closer to her and set his hand on the shoulder she was rubbing. "What kind of pain is it, like a scratch, or a burn, or . . ."
"It feels more like someone's putting a thousand needles into my skin," she said. Her breathing became heavier than normal, but she didn't let herself cry or whine anymore. She didn't want to look stupid.
"Have you checked it out yet?" he asked. "Maybe you have a thorn in you, or a sliver." He had no explanations for what was going on, but he wanted to help her in any way possible.
"No," said Terra. "I just thought it was sore, like I pulled a muscle."
"Could we look at it?" Beast Boy's eyes met Terra's and he begged her without any more words to let him look. If something hurt that bad, it was about time someone investigated.
"Fine," Terra agreed. She moved her hair over her shoulders and slid down the side of the T-shirt she used as a pajama top. Soon, she felt Beast Boy's fingers on her skin. She was going to suggest more light so he could see, but it didn't take long for him to find something of interest.
"Dude," he said, "this is bad." Beast Boy didn't use his sincere voice for just anything. It took a lot for him to use it, because he wasn't focused and calm by nature.
"What is it?" Terra demanded. "You found something?" Her voice shook because she knew the tone of Beast Boy's words was a bad one.
"You've gotta show Robin," he said. "I don't know what you can do about it, but you've just gotta go tell Robin. Now."
"What?" Terra asked. She turned around to face him and frowned. "He's probably sleeping." She pulled her sleeve back up.
Beast Boy shook his head. "I wouldn't be so sure about that."
"Neither would I."The entrance of a third voice caused Terra and Beast Boy to search the room for the new person. Robin appeared on the couch next to them within a few seconds.
"I woke up to get some water and heard talking," Robin said, to explain himself. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but what's wrong?" Terra couldn't quite tell in the darkness, but it seemed as if a look of pure concern smothered his face.
"You've gotta see this," Beast Boy said, going right back into his sincere mode. He gently pulled Terra back over to him and moved the sleeve of her shirt back down for Robin.
Robin's icy silence made Terra shiver. She felt chills again, just like she had felt after the first time her shoulder started hurting, right after Robin came back from fighting Slade. "Is it bad?" she asked, since no one was talking.
Robin sighed, but his breath came out harsh. He turned away from her shoulder and shook his head. "I knew there was more to that than he told me."