Chapter 4
[Present Day]

Terra shuddered once more, prompting Beast Boy to hold her. He, for once, didn't know what to say.

Edward got up and put his arm around her as well. She looked up at him and he said, "You're doing well, Tara. I know this is very difficult for you to do. I know that the worst is yet to come for you and for us as well.

"This was the tip of the iceberg, I gather?"

She nodded, "Yeah, it was. I was deeply hurt by that idiot. I know he saw me, that's why he shouted that towards my father. The seed had been planted and my powers made things worse over time."

"And, they activated that day," Edward mused, "I'm not overly surprised at that. When Cyborg examined your DNA after your recovery, he isolated those little strands that had been modified and fixed them, as we all know.

"At the time, we thought you had been born with your abilities. This tells me that this isn't a natural mutation. Then again, Beast Boy wasn't born with green skin, pointy ears and the ability to shapeshift, either."

"True," Beast Boy said, "originally I had regular flesh tones and blond hair. If you'll excuse me for a moment…"

Terra let go and Beast Boy raced for his room in cheetah form. He came back a few minutes later with a picture.

In it were two adults and a child of 8 or 9. The child definitely was a much younger Garfield Logan and looking completely human.

"This was a couple of years before I got ill and my dad had no choice but to inject me with an experimental drug he developed to save my life. That is what gave me the abilities I have."

He sighed as the memories came back.

[Whoa!] Raven said, [Sudden flood of emotion from Beast Boy.]

[OK,] Edward said, [Gotta let him work those out as well.]

Terra looked at her boyfriend and pulled him into a hug.

"Still hurts," he muttered.

"Gar," Edward said, "You've gone a long way since then."

"Sure," he muttered, "You weren't there when they were unable to escape a waterfall's pull and told me to save myself. I lived, they died. End of their lives while I have to live with it."

Edward's face darkened for a moment before he composed himself, "No, I wasn't there, dude. You know I would have saved them if I could have.

"But, you haven't had the burden of watching friends and those you called family grow old and die while you stay forever young. Being immortal is as much a curse as it is a blessing. You get to live and see humanity develop, but, the price is sometimes too high.

"You weren't there when my Callisto went insane when our adopted child was killed in a storm. You will never have to suffer a self-imposed exile for hundreds of years because some asshole POPE turned the masses into believing that dragons were out and out evil. You will never have the torture of not having a loved one in your arms nor bed for centuries because she would eventually find out about your secret and betray you to the authorities who, fearing you, would brand you a witch or a sorcerer and try to murder you in cold blood!"

Edward was shaking in barely restrained anger as he struggled to keep from punching a hole through the wall.

Raven got up and embraced her fiancée, soothing him in the process.

"Sorry, guys," she said, "He'll be fine in a few moments."

[Hey, big guy,] Love said through the link, [All that is over and done with. You've got us to love and soon, we'll be together for a very long time.]

[She's right,] Happy said, [Raven's never been happier and, she knows that we won't leave you or try to get you killed. With father gone for good, Raven doesn't have a reason not to show her feelings and we'll protect you.]

Edward sighed, [Thanks girls. I love you as well. You know that, all of you. It bothers me when Beast Boy blames himself for his parents' death when I've seen this entire planet's population being replaced and exploding for centuries.]

"You all right?" Beast Boy asked.

"I'm fine, Gar," he said, "Sorry for biting your head off."

"Don't be," Beast Boy said, "Living as long as you have, we're used to this stuff coming from you."

Terra had also composed herself and while she was kind of grateful for the little break, she had a long way to go.

"Time to continue," she said as Edward went back to normal…

[August, 2005]

Young Tara, by the time another birthday rolled around, was frightened. She had realized that the accident and treatment had changed her, a lot. She had discovered by then her budding terrakinetic powers and that she had no control over them at all. Rocks and stones would simply start floating on their own, especially when she was stressed.

Worst yet, though, was that everyone knew of it, including her father. It had gotten to the point where his new advisors were cautiously wondering if maybe it would be best to send her away for her own safety. But, they heard what happened to the previous advisors: Fired from their posts and exiled because they dared threaten to expose Tara.

So, when it came to his daughter, they treaded lightly, but, they also had to be bold about it.

The issue was forced, though, when Tara accidentally triggered an earthquake in an otherwise stable area. Several buildings were damaged with injuries. Luckily, the injuries were minor and no one killed.

The advisor who was selected by the others went in to see the King.

"Your Majesty?" he asked, bowing, "Do you have a few moments?"

"Of course," he said, "You may approach."

"Begging Your Highness' pardon," the advisor said, "I've been asked by the others to respectfully ask that you reconsider sending Tara away. As you know, she has developed these earth moving powers over the last year and recently, there was an earthquake, which we all felt here in the palace. As this area is typically geographically stable and has been since before the Kingdom arose, we are convinced that she caused it by accident. We've also evidence to that fact, which I give to you for your consideration.

"Sire, we know how protective you are of your children and we have the utmost respect for that. Tara's a sweet child, that's a given. However, we have to think of the safety of your subjects first and foremost. As you know, there were 45 people injured in that quake. We were lucky that those were all minor injuries and that there were no fatalities."

The king looked over the reports and said, "The previous people who held your posts made the mistake of angering me with blackmail. You have presented facts that back up your opinion regarding that recent quake.

"I will have to think about this as I do not wish to send her away right away.

"Thank you for the respect shown in giving me this report. Nothing to pardon as you are presenting your concerns of the Kingdom."

"Please, sire, do not take too long to think about this," the advisor replied, "Tara's power is developing and it's uncontrolled."

Harold sighed, "I know. Dr. Jace warned me that that if her genetic mutation activates, she might not be able to control it, and, there was no idea what the mutation would be at the time. Please, leave me."

The advisor bowed again and left.

Unknown to either of them, Brion overheard the conversation and went to find his little sister. What he would tell her would trigger the chain of events that would lead her to a city 6,000 miles away and an as yet unformed team.

[Tower]

"It sounds like your father was not sure if he should send you away or not," Robin said, "I can tell he loved you if he was caught between you and his Kingdom."

"He did love me," Terra replied, "I'm not so sure about now, though."

"Leave that to me," Edward replied, "I can find out via official channels if he would be willing to see you or at least talk to you."

"I'd like that," Terra said, "The next few months were the beginning of my forced travels, though. My powers were still developing and I had no idea how to even control them fully. When I was calm, I would practice on smaller things, like I did here. But, under times of stress or when I was upset, that's when they would rage out of control."

"I remember the one time," Beast Boy said, referring to when Terra completely lost control of her powers in her first encounter with Slade.

"Yeah," she said, "You risked getting hurt to comfort me that time. But, I was so grateful that you did."

Beast Boy wanted to retort back, but, for once, held his peace. He knew what happened the next day as much as the other Titans who were there at the time.

Terra remembered that as well and blushed.

"It's OK, dear," Beast Boy said. That got a smile out of the geomancer.

[September, 2005]

Tara had been told what had transpired and the more she thought about it, the more she was convinced that she had become a danger. Little did she know: Her father was thinking the same thing.

Well, Tara was in school one day when she was accosted by a group of bullies and taunted.

"Well, look who we have here," one bully said, "A pretty blond who thinks that she's better than us. Bet she doesn't even know how to fight."

"I know how to fight," Tara said, "I do not want to fight you, though."

"Oh," the bully said, "You too much of a sissy to fight?"

"No," Tara said.

"I think you're too chicken to want to fight," the bully said, giving Tara a shove. Tara hit the dirt and before she could react, the others started raining down punches and kicks.

They didn't see until it was too late that Tara's eyes were glowing yellow and the next thing the bullies knew, they were being pelted with rocks. A whirlwind formed around them as Tara's powers exploded out of control and the ground shook hard.

Tara's entire body was glowing yellow and her hair was going all over the place as the bullies realized that they were in trouble. They couldn't get out of the center of the vortex or rocks, gravel, stones and clumps of dirt.

"TARA!" Brion yelled, trying to get his sister's attention, "TARA! You got to calm down."

"Help me!" she screamed, not understanding what was wrong. The bullies, scared out of their minds were yelling as well. They had bumps and bruises forming and those hurt! They wanted out of the crazed girl's reach and the sooner the better.

"It's going to be OK, sis!" Brion yelled, "Calm down and you'll regain control!"

Tara was shaking hard as she tried to calm down. Eventually, the flying materials collapsed and fell back down. The bullies looked at Tara and ran.

One was tripped by Brion and he said, "What did you do to my little sister, you little punk?" He cocked his own fist as he held the bully by her shirt.

"Katrina goaded her and when your sister didn't want to fight, we attacked her," the bully said, so scared she was willing to sing like a canary.

"You idiot!" Brion said, "Look at the damage! My sister already has problems with those powers and you just made them worse! Get outta my sight before I forget a Prince shouldn't hit a sissy girl!" He released the scared girl and went to comfort Tara, who was sobbing.

He gathered her into his arms and started rocking her gently, "It'll be OK, sis." He didn't know, though, if that would be the case. Tara had been provoked and the playground was a disaster zone.

Tara started to calm down as her hair settled back down and her eyes stopped glowing.

By then, a group of grownups had converged on the scene and wanted to know what the heck had happened. They recognized the two kids and Brion said, "Some bullies attacked my sister."

"But," one adult said, "what could cause all this damage?"

Brion didn't want to answer that and at that time, the police had arrived and they had standing orders "If there's an incident with the Royal Family, bring the children to the Palace."

They realized that something major had happened judging by the damage and the fact that the bully's parents were livid that their poor innocent kids were brutalized…of course the kids ran straight home and reversed the story to make it look like Tara had attacked them first.

It didn't take long, though, for the truth to come out. Brion informed the officers that the bullies were the ones that attacked his sister and as those kids already had been in trouble for bullying, the police commander on the scene decided that the bullies needed to be taught a lesson and had them charged with assaulting a member of the Royal Family.

Word got back to the Palace pretty quick and it forced Tara's father to make a painful choice. He would have to send his baby girl away after all.

Hi, Everyone!

OK, made a few corrections to this one. Mainly fixing typos :)

Well, I figured I better get this next chapter of Terra's Story online before a gal in Arizona decided to hang me (J/K). Between this and "Honeymoon in Hawaii", I got my hands full!

Please to leave the words of kindness ;)