Due to the harrowing event that was the Brain last week, feeling like a failure for failing to fully protect Jump City over the lives that were lost, losing in combat despite her best, and least of all, nearly losing the majority of her beloved hair that Raven thankfully restored, Starfire needed a break. The Tamaranean princess swept the floor, put up the decorations, and set out the bowl of popcorn. Raven came into the kitchen, and inquired,
"Hey Star. How are you the doing?"
"I am the alright. I just cannot wait for Blackfire to arrive. I could use the distraction of our sisterly bond, having the talk of the girls and the brushing of the hairs. Oh, thank you again, Raven. I would hate to think how Blackfire would react if she saw me without this length." Starfire petted her her lovingly, as if it were like a pet equivalent to Silkie that she almost lost.
"You said your hair was important for what again?" Raven questioned. "It was from the time we were trying to be ninjas and you denied Nightwing's idea of cutting it?
"Well, while not every Tamaranean follows it, like Blackfire, growing the hair out is a symbol to my people of good health and good luck. To have it cut in battle, or even worse, willingly, shows that something is wrong. While I'm sure Blackfire chooses to keep it only hip length as a style choice, it does also show a physical representation that she has not had the best life, which is why she abused me and was a villain before our reconciliation."
"Hmm." Raven pulled down her hood, feeling the short length of her bob style hair. "I would just get annoyed by the length, having to put it up all the time, and risking it getting caught everywhere if it's down."
"That is the okay. You are the fine the way you are." Raven smiled sincerely. The doorbell rang, making Starfire gasp. "It is the her!" The warrior princess ran to the elevator. "Joy! Blackfire!" But instead, it was Rose, Terra, and Jinx. She was slightly disappointed, but nonetheless glad to meet her other gal pals for this occasion. "Oh, hello Rose and Terra. Oh, what's that around your neck, Terra?" It looked like she had a mystical tattoo around her neck.
"It's Gaea, princess." The blonde scoffed with an eye roll. "Raven put this curse on me that if I acted out, I automatically get sent back to the trash hole, and have my home taken away for a week. This sucks."
"Stop complaining and come in." Raven retorted just as coldly. The girls came in, just as the guys did from down the hall.
"Oh, the girls are here!" Beast realized upon seeing them, then nervously chuckled as he offered a fist bump to Gaea. "Hey Terra."
"Hey Beast." Terra greeted just as awkwardly with a smile, returning the fist bump, her personality having switched. "Umm, anyway, we have the sleeping bags, Raven."
"And I brought Boom Box!" Jinx held up the sentient music player, which pumped its arms up. "Haha, our first slumber party! I'm so excited!" The elevator dinged again.
"Is Starfire here now?!" The female Titan gasped, before Bumblebee was shown to be inside. "Oh, yet."
"Whoo, slumber party!" The bee themed girl cheered.
"Who is she?" Rose asked.
"That's Bumblebee, a new member at the moment. She's cool." Rose crossed her arms as she retorted,
"Doesn't look so cool." That annoyed Bumblebee.
"Hey, I'm cool!"
"Cool people don't say they're cool."
"Then what, I shouldn't say I'm cool?"
"Yep." She then chuckled." Relax, I'm just messing with you."
"Yeah, you better be jokin'." Bumblebee was still a bit steamed from the exchange.
"Come on girls!" Jinx interrupted this icy cool exchange. "Let's get this slumber party on! Girls night in is on!" She turned on Boom Box to set the mood and let it down so it could sit somewhere good.
"Good luck ladies!" Cyborg cheered as the guys left.
"Don't thinks about us too hard!" Beast joked as the three went down the escalator.
"Now that the boys are gone, let's get our dance on!" Bumblebee cheered as the six females started to party. Or at least... as much as they could. Terra and Rose were struggling to get into the beat.
"Ummm... sorry, I'm just not feeling it." Terra quit after a couple of minutes. "How about some mud masks? I made sure to get the best mud." The girls, except Rose, celebrated. Using her earth manipulation, Terra splattered each of their faces with the masks.
"Oh, this is the delightful!" Starfire giggled.
"See, even if your sister isn't here, we can still have fun." Jinx reassured her friend. Just then, the elevator rang.
"Blackfire?! Oh please be Blackfire!" Starfire wished so far. And lo and behold, it was her, finally!
"Joy! You have finally arrived!" Starfire hugged her sister, whom looked equally happy, but also nervous. "I apologize we started without you! We didn't know when you'd arrive!"
"Hey baby sister, it's okay. Ummm... I have some bad news." A crime alert went off. "Yeah, that. You might say I brought some company I couldn't shake off."
"Hehe, finally, an excuse." Gaea chuckled. "Anyone else up for a fight?" Rose took out her extendable swords with a grin.
"Always."
"Ooh, let's make our masks look like war paint!" Jinx yelled out. Swiping some of the mud off, they looked like female warriors ready for battle.
In Jump City, a storm of fire was ravaging the city, even though it was still recovering. Buildings burned, people were being turned to charcoal, and who else could it be... but Sun Girl, trying to look for Blackfire.
"Where are you, you emo alien!" The fiery blonde yelled as she scorched the area. The seven girls came around via Raven's portal, and looked at the destruction wrought on the city.
"Uh, who is she?" Bumblebee asked Blackfire.
"Sun Girl. Let's just say we had an odd friendship due to sharing common interests. Let's just say we've mutually backstabbed each other."
"Classic Blackfire." Raven rolled her eyes.
"There you are!" Sun Girl spotted her target. "Got some help? They'll burn quite nicely with your corpse." Sun Girl conjured a fireball to attack them all collectively, but Raven countered with her soul-self, sending it as a fist as it punched through the ball of flame. Sun Girl used fire from her feet to propel herself around the attack, but found herself being ambushed by a rock slide from Gaea. While she was able to dodge most of the rocks, the villainess was smacked by the last one, landing on the ground. Shaking her head, the pyromaniac yelled as she sent a plume of fire towards Gaea. The earth manipulator erected a wall of stone from the street, blocking the attack while Bumblebee came from above to fire her stingers. Sun Girl generated a sun around herself to tank the blast, but grunted in annoyance when Jinx caused a fire hydrant to burst and spray her with water. Sun Girl found herself getting overwhelmed by getting slapped with a giant black energy hand, buried under a pile of sand, and stung by Bumblebee's stingers. Just as she tried to burn her way out, Blackfire blasted her in the chest, sending the female villain tumbling back, panting from the damage she was taking quickly.
"Whoo, nobody messes with us!" Jinx laughed.
"Give up. As bright as you burn, we burn even hotter." Raven boasted, but Sun Girl wasn't having it.
"You think you can fight the sun? Okay." She generated more fire around herself, creating another sun. "Now I'm serious." Creating more fire than ever, the pyromaniac blasted Blackfire with her flames, smashing the Tamaranean into a green van. The exiled princess roared with fury as she went on the attack. Ravager tried to get in close and attack with her swords, but Sun Girl generated her own sword hot enough to melt right through Rose's swords. She was too shocked from the loss of her weapons to see the fiery villain grab her face, burnt her face along with her one good eye, and threw the howling Ravager into Jinx. Gaea tried to crush Sun Girl with a boulder, but with all her power, the villainess was able to push the rock right back, hitting the earth manipulator. Bumblebee tried to use her stingers, but they were burning up within the sun surrounding her target before they could reach her.
"She's too hot! I can't get through!" Karen told the others. Sun Girl was about to burn her when Raven formed a shield around the two of them.
"Come on Starfire, we could really use your help here!" Raven pleaded.
"Raven... the truth is... I can't use them right now!" The alien princess admitted before jumping behind a car to avoid a fireball sent her way.
"Huh?! Why not?!"
"I have been under severe emotional turmoil! I have not been feeling the joy, confidence and fury I normally do to sustain my powers. I am the helpless. I am the sorry." The warrior princess cried under cover. Blackfire growled.
"You want me? Fine, come and get me!" Starfire's sister flew up into the air, with Sun Girl following.
"Blackfire, wait!" Starfire called out to her, but they were already too high up. Blackfire fired her black bolts at the incoming Sun Girl, whom responded with her own fire attacks. They fought in aerial combat, fighting in range. But even when the exiled Princess hit her target, the sun around the pyromaniac was too strong to burn their way through. Sun Girl dived, and wrapped her hands around Blackfire's throat, burning the alien and her clothes as they fell like a meteor. "We have to help her!" Starfire pleaded.
"We can't touch her, genius!" Rose argued, unable to open her burned eye.
"We just need to separate her!" Raven proclaimed as she created a portal, sending the two falling from straight down to crashing along the street, the two women painfully grunting as they tumbled along the road. Gaea pulled up a rock pillar to painfully push Sun Girl farther away, giving them some time to recover.
"Blackfire, are you okay?!" Starfire ran to her sister, holding her close.
"I'm fine." The exiled princess coughed, her throat burned, and having gotten some scratches from the tumble. "Just having some hot flashes." She tried joking, before groaning. "Can't really breathe good though."
"Hey, I'm not done with you yet!" They looked up to see Sun Girl, now more irritated than ever, has surrounded herself with an even bigger sun. "I'm going to incinerate you all into ashes!" The pyro villain screamed as she sent massive fireballs flying in random directions, destroying things indiscriminately.
"Titans, GO!" Raven yelled, as she, Jinx and Gaea charged to fight her, being the only ones left who can possibly a challenge.
"Get me close!" Gaea told them. The two girls looked at each other in confusion, but went with it as Raven formed a giant snowball, and launched it at Sun Girl. The fiery villain shouted as she tried to melt the snowball. The sun surrounding her was further attempted to be extinguished by two burst fire hydrants, thanks to Jinx. Sun Girl momentarily retreated to not let her flames be totally extinguished, but she found her throat was grabbed by the stony gauntlet of Gaea, completely encased in rock armor to withstand the fire.
"Die!" The earth manipulator yelled with fury, bearing down at the frightened villain. Sun Girl put her hand against Gaea's armored chest, and blasted as much fire as she could into it. This did succeed in pushing back the golem like armor, but that caused Gaea's hands to clench before being pushed, breaking Sun Girl's neck as she looked horrified from hearing the snap of her own neck, and fell to the ground with a pained grimace.
"Whoa, Gaea, that was a bit much, right?" Nothing. "Gaea?" The armor around said girl dropped to its knees, and then onto its front.
"What's wrong with her?!" Jinx questioned with concern. Raven used her magic to tear off the rock armor, and flipped Gaea over onto her lap to see there was a hole burnt into her chest. Everyone gasped.
"Oh no." Starfire uttered with barely any strength. Gaea looked down at her injury, and growled.
"Crap. A sand or rock clone would've helped. Why didn't I?" Her eyes went from yellow to brown.
"It was me. I made you do it... myself."
"Terra, why?" Raven asked. "Let me heal you." She was about to put her blue glowing hands over the wound when Terra stopped her.
"No. Don't... don't worry about me. I'll be... alright. I want this."
"She deliberately set herself up to be killed while stopping Sun Girl." Rose recognized the reason. "Even I can see when someone's trying to do that."
"Please... let me see Beast."
"He shouldn't see you like this." Raven shook her head, tearing up.
"I want to talk to him. As... as myself. One... last... time." Raven closed her eyes, and snapped her fingers to summon Beast here.
"Huh? Where's-girls? Terra?!" Garfield gasped as he ran to her. "Terra, what happened?! Who did this to you?!"
"That... doesn't matter. I just want to say... I love you Beast. I love you." Terra started crying as she took Garfield's hand. "My only regret... is that we couldn't be together more."
"But why? Raven can save you!" The green shapeshifter cried out, his eyes tearing up as well. Terra shook her head.
"Beast... I want this. I'll... finally be free. I'll be reunited... with my brother... and my parents. Don't worry... about me..."
"Terra, please." The dying girl promptly hugged Garfield.
"You're the best friend... I've ever had." Terra whimpered, before kissing him, savoring this moment as the two gently embraced. Starfire was crying into Blackfire's shoulder, whom looked down solemnly. Jinx and Bumblebee cried silently with threir hands together. Rose just took a deep breath, trying to keep her emotions in. Terra's lips slackened, and her hand went limp in Beast's. He could even hear her heart stop. Terra has passed on.
Nightwing, Cyborg, Beast, Raven and Bumblebee, all dressed in black suits or dresses, stand over a hole in the ground, as they watch Starfire, Blackfire, Rose and Jinx carry a dirt brown coffin towards the hole. Combined, the coffin with Terra inside weighed nothing, but their hearts were heavy. There was a gentle breeze, while the sun shined through spaces between clouds, which was providing a light sprinkle of rain. They gently lay the coffin in the hole, and Nightwing speaks to everyone once they were in place.
"Fellow Titans, what we have here... is a tragic loss. Terra was a young woman just becoming into her prime, but has been cursed for the longest time with a split personality, self-proclaimed as Gaea. In spite of our efforts, Terra was forever a prisoner to Gaea's torments in her head. But Terra was not a villain, despite her actions. She was a victim of circumstance, and if she were in control of her actions from the start, she would've been one of the best Teen Titans I would've known. Beast has something to say to this as well." Nightwing stepped aside, so that Garfield could step up. He took out a peace of paper.
"Her name was Terra. She was gifted with tremendous power, and a curse. She was a dangerous enemy, and a good friend. She was one of the sweetest people I knew, when not under Gaea's control. She didn't want to hurt anyone, and took any measures to keep that promise, despite failing many times. I'm lucky to have known you, Terra, and I'll love what time we've spent together. You may have let someone take your own life, but it was partially for the purpose of stopping a criminal, and to set yourself free. You will be missed dearly." Beast wiped his tears with his sleeve, while Cyborg blew his nose into a napkin. The coffin was lowered in, and Cyborg began to shovel the dirt in. Beast looked at the memorial statue made in her honor, raising a knee over a boulder with her hand stretched out. Below it was a plaque signifying her tombstone.
Terra Markov
Born: July 29th, 1997
Died: August 5th, 2018
A Teen Titan
A True Friend
A/N: Oh man, that gets me right in the feels. I knew this was going to happen in advance, but oof, I still feel like I'm punching myself in the gut while writing this. My mom always felt sorry for how I wrote this Terra, like sympathetic villain doesn't begin to cover it. These are some heavy chapters I've written the past couple of ones. Two chapters that had fights, with tragic consequences. Let me know what you think in the reviews below. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to cry and eat some ice cream.