In a dreamy haze, Terra stirred, her eyes shutting tighter than they were during her natural resting state. In her mind, a nightmare had brewed and was consuming her whole. A light layer of sweat formed on her forehead and she rubbed her nose further into the pillow. Her hands unconsciously moved up to her neck, drawing herself close to her own body in a last attempt at protection.

Robin had taken to watching Slade's screens of a sleeping Jump City, mostly as an excuse not to sit besides Terra as she slept. His mind had become troubled by Slade's last words about Terra and now he was fine with avoiding her, to avoid himself. She can take care of herself, he thought sternly with bent eyebrows. He shoved his hands into his pockets and rested his sleepless eyes back on the monitors. Boring, he commented to himself, how does Slade do this all day and night?

Now Terra's face was towards the black abyss of the ceiling, her eyes still shut. Her mouth was open as her body moved along with her heavy breaths. Her hands clenched at the blanket Robin had shielded her with and squished the fabric into tight bunches in her palms. Her hair was spread across her face and over the pillow, onto Slade's cold floor, but she didn't notice. After a large inhalation, her mouth opened wide into a full scream that echoed through the entire hideout. Her eyes flashed open as soon as the sound left her lips and she stared up to the blackness above her. It was nothing, just the room, just herself, just the ceiling. . . .

Embarrassed at her vocalization, Terra sat up and wrapped her hands around herself and waited for someone to complain to her. You're stupid, she told herself, that was only a nightmare. Though it still lingered in her body and she noticed her hands shaking.

Soon enough, Robin came back into the area, his feet carrying him quickly. "What's wrong?" he asked. "I heard a scream." He continued towards her then sat down on one knee once he was close enough.

His hair gel, Terra noted, was wearing out with time. It looked a little limp, then again, she imagined hers looked equally as bad and therefore she didn't care to mention anything. It was messy and loose strands slipped over her face. She swatted at them but it didn't do much. "I just had a nightmare," she said, her tone defensive. "I'm fine, okay? Go back to whatever you were doing. I'm just gonna go back to sleep."

Robin raised an eye brow and folded his arms. "Terra, you screamed like someone was trying to kill you. That's not really normal, I just want to make sure everything's fine." He turned away, thought for a moment, then offered, "Maybe you could tell me about your nightmare."

Terra sent him a huffy breath and folded her arms as well. She stayed like that for awhile but eventually turned to him, her blue eyes darker than normal. "Fine," she said, "You wanna know? There was fire everywhere and I was stuck at the bottom of some endless pit of it. There was a huge coffin on a rock I was standing on . . ." She trailed off, turned away and closed her eyes. "Beast Boy was standing at the edge of the pit from above, calling my name and I guess he was looking for me. I tried to call back to let him know I was stuck but he couldn't hear me. Then Slade came."

"What'd he do?" Robin asked, urging her to continue.

"He came into the fire pit thing. He was able to walk right through the flames, they didn't hurt him at all. But I noticed Beast Boy saw me then, but he couldn't move because the fire hurt him. He had some burnt marks already, like he'd tried to move forwards but had to stop."

Robin looked away and took a deep breath, trying not to look concerned. "Why did you scream?" he asked. "What happened next?"

Terra frowned and Robin saw tears form at the bottoms of her eyes. "I tried to get away from Slade by running into the flames, but . . . but . . . they only burnt me. I could feel their heat, Robin, it was awful. It was like . . . like hell." She buried her face in her hands, elbows propped up on her knees. "I-I still feel them," she choked out. "Everywhere, all around me, like they're eating me."

Robin bit his lip and and chewed on it without noticing. What was he supposed to tell her? There was no logical reason to assure her that was a normal nightmare. As far as he was concerned, something was seriously scary. "Uh, I . . . I think maybe you just didn't . . . get enough sleep," he said, hoping she'd buy it.

Terra didn't for one second and snapped back, "You asked."

"Sounds like someone's totally lost it," said Rose. Robin and Terra turned to look at her, frowns on their faces. "I mean it. It sounds completely psycho." She shrugged her shoulders then headed off, back to wherever she'd come from after hearing the scream herself. "I'm sorry I got up and came all the way over here to hear that."

Terra narrowed her eyes and wanted to stand up and tell Rose a piece of her mind but her lack of strength stopped her. She felt limp, like a broken doll or a moth without a light to fly near. Slowly, she slid back down onto the floor and let her head rest against the pillow once more. She knew it sounded crazy. She could tell Robin thought it was even a little mad. It wasn't worth telling any more.

Robin tried asking her a few more questions but she was silent and bluntly ignored him each time, pretending to be asleep again. He gave up within about ten minutes and went back to Slade's screens. He noticed Slade, however, was now missing from the scene.

From out of the darkness on the other side of the room, just as Robin left, Slade approached Terra, knowing she was still conscious. "Your dream, my dear, is quite accurate," he said in a sly tone, hiding a smirk beneath his mask. "The Titans are limited on how much they can truly help you, but I, on the other hand . . ." He stopped to put his hand under her small chin, to raise it from the pillow. He wasn't going to let her pull the same ignoring act on him. "I can help you, always."

Painfully, Terra watched him as he spoke but never let him see any kind of agreement in her. "I don't believe you," she said, almost in a whisper. Her eyes were too exhausted to show anger and instead looked lifeless. "You may have helped me control my powers . . . but they've helped me become me, Slade, and that's just what you tried to stop. You tried to make me just like you."

Frustrated with her lack of enthusiasm, Slade removed his hand from her face and let her head drop. She fell without hesitation but used her arms to push herself back up. "I know they couldn't have ever trained me the way you did," she said, a strange type of gratitude in her voice. Her long hair spilled over the pillow's edges and onto the cement. "But they cared for me like I actually belonged with them and no one's ever done that. And I know it was wrong, now, to let you convince me I didn't belong with them. But you were just the first to act like you cared. You were the faker, but they were the truth . . . it just took me so long to realize." Fatigued, she sighed, and let herself descend to the pillow once more.

Author Note: I'd really like to thank all my readers again. You guys are great and I really appreciate all the favorites and reviews.

I apologize for the lack of update for awhile, but I hope you enjoy this new chapter.

Believe it or not, Terra's dream was actually a real dream I had. D: It was scary but at least it inspired something.