Hello there faithful readers! This is NeoNazo356, greeting you on the 22nd of July, 2015, a year since Teen Titans: One of Four Elements came to an end, announcing that the Sequel is now up and running. By far my most-successful work to date, you've all been chomping at the bit, and now I deliver unto you, my faithful readers, the sequel you have been waiting a year for.

Previously on Teen Titans: One of Four Elements…

"I don't want to die… *sniff* but this is probably what I deserve," Terra sobbed as tears continued to stream down her face. A moment later however, a hand landed on her shoulder, her eyes going wide when she thought that Slade had somehow crawled back up to exact revenge, only to go to the size of dinner plates as she realized- "Vent! What're you doing down here?"

"I won't leave you alone, not again," he said giving her a reassuring smile.

"But Ven, what if-"

"Then I'll live, and die, with the consequences of my actions," he said as his eyes crinkled with his smile. "Terra, you may not know this, but I've done a lot of bad things in my life. I'll have a lot to answer for when my time comes, but one thing I won't answer for is leaving a friend alone to die."

"Ven… I'm scared," Terra sniffed as she wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face into his chest, the light dying around them as the magma began to finish hardening, cut off from the boiling blood beneath it. "I know I did a lot of things wrong… but I don't want to die…"

"Then don't die," the brunette said reassuringly as he pat her back, making her look into his eyes. Well, eye. "Let's get out of this together, then go home. Alright?" he asked.

"*Sniff* Alright…" Terra said with a soft smile on her face as the magma below finally cooled, and the darkness began to swallow them up. As the blond and brunette began to lose sight of one another to the darkness, a large piece of stone beginning to break away from the ceiling above them, the two slowly got to their feet. Holding hands as the darkness finally swallow them up, the piece of rubble the size of a semi finally broke away from the ceiling before descending towards them, the last vestiges of light beginning to disappear.

A moment later, there was a glimmer of gold and silver, and then…

A few minutes after the team separated…

"How could you just leave him?!" Raven shrieked, still held under Cyborg's arm as he Titans made a mad dash for the surface, the cavern collapsing around them.

"He'll die if we don't go back there and save him!" Beast Boy roared as he tried to escape. Cyborg's grip on him was too strong however, and he was unable to free himself.

"You think I don't know that?!" Robin demanded as he rounded on them. "He's my friend too, but if we don't escape, then none of this will have meant anything!"

"My friends…" Starfire said as she looked into Beast Boy and Raven's eyes. "I… I believe that friend Ventus will return to us. So let us ensure that there are friends to return to, yes?"

" . . . "

" . . . "

"C'mon guys, move it! This tunnel could collapse any second now!" Grey-Wing shouted as she continued to run up the spiraling cavern, the way behind them caving in as they ran.

Barely a minute later, and Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Beast Boy, Raven, Grey-Wing, and Jadework all burst out of the tunnel as it collapsed behind them. The building their exit spilled into shaking, cracks spreading out across the floor, walls, and ceiling, the group of seven converged on a single point, throwing themselves into the open air as the building behind them collapsed.

"Is everyone alright?" Robin asked as he dusted himself off.

"I am without harm," Starfire said as she shook the dust out of her hair.

"We're alright," Cyborg said as he helped Beast Boy and Raven to their feet.

"Nothing's broken," Grey-Wing said shaking debris out of her hoodie.

"I'm fine," Jadework said shaking some debris out of his hair.

"Still… To think Slade's base was under there of all places," Beast Boy said as he looked over his shoulder, the dust settling atop a large hill of debris.

"There's a certain irony in it," Raven hummed, the Pizza Corner's pepperoni-colored umbrellas situated atop the pile. "This is where our Team started out… and it might be where it ends as well…"

"Friend Raven, do not say things like that!" Starfire pleaded. "Our story does not end here! We will continue on! Keep moving forward!"

"Starfire…" Raven croaked tiredly as she sat atop a piece of rubble, bringing her knees up to her chest. "Do you remember the alternate future you were sent to? The one where we all grew apart?" she asked, the alien girl nodding her head. "The reason that happened to the other us, was because in that timeline you had died. It might've been someone else… but one of us still died… and we might still grow apart."

"You don't know that he's dead!" Beast Boy rounded on the mage. "He promised us he'd come back!"

"And how is he supposed to do that?!" Raven demanded, the shadow of her cowl hiding the tears spilling down her face. "Look around you! The shaking's stopped, but Vent won't be walking out of the debris. He's gone… we need to accept that…"

"No way," Cyborg said shaking his head, turning on his scanner as he began to walk around the intersection. "I've seen the guy fight, and we all know who he was trained by. The kid's tough-as-nails, he wouldn't let something like a little rubble stop him."

"You're lying to yourself," Jadework said with crossed arms. "The dead don't come back to life. That is an absolute."

"You do not know that!" Starfire shouted.

"Guys… You need to face facts," Grey-Wing sighed as she took a seat. "It's a miracle that we made it out of there in one piece, but Ventus… he was smack-dab in the middle of it… I don't think he really intended to come back."

"Wait, are you saying he went down there to-"

"To die? Yes," Jadework answered Beast Boy's question. "Whatever wrong he did upon Terra, he obviously felt his life to be appropriate recompense."

"Shut up!" Beast Boy growled as he dragged the ninja down to eye level. "Vent's one of my best friends in the whole world, so I know he wouldn't throw his life away like that!"

Cue "Rise" by John Dreamer

" . . . They managed to stop the eruption," Robin said as he turned over a stone with his foot. "Even if they couldn't save themselves… everything will be able to go back to normal someday…"

"Hey man, don't tell me you think they're gone too," Cyborg said as he continued scanning.

"Cyborg, this isn't a fairy tale, a fanfiction, or a Saturday morning cartoon," the Boy Wonder sighed as he ran his fingers through his spiky locks, a couple of which had been cut on the end of Ravager's katana. "Everyone dies at some point. It's how they live, and how they're remembered, that matters in the end."

"Robin…" Starfire said placing her hand on his shoulder.

"Guys… I'm sorry," the spiky-haired teen sighed tiredly. "If we hadn't waited three days for an ambush, maybe… maybe we could've stopped all this… maybe-"

"There is no way you could have known that," Starfire said placing a hand on his shoulder.

"So that's it then? Not even five minutes, and you all assume he's gone?!" Beast Boy shouted.

"He was my friend too!" Robin shouted, the bottom of his mask misting up with unseen tears. "We didn't always get along, and half the time he drove me up the wall, but... he was still my friend. This isn't only hard on you."

" . . . "

" . . . "

" . . . "

"Goodbye… Vent-"

*GRUMBLE*GRUMBLE*GRUMBLE*GRUMBLE*GRUMBLE*

"What's happening?" Grey-Wing cried as the ground began to shake once more.

"Cyborg! The volcano! Is it-"

"I don't know!" Cyborg shouted at Robin as he looked at his scanner, the ground at their feet shaking. "Something's moving down there, and it ain't the volcano!"

"Then what could it be?" Starfire questioned as she floated a couple inches off the ground.

"You don't think-"

*KROOM*WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH*

A second later and the ground across the street from them suddenly exploded atop rays of golden light, a massive typhoon of wind spilling out of the gouge in the earth moments later. Sheets of concrete, asphalt, and plumbing spewed into the air, the gouge in the earth continuing to widen, and the wind intensify.

*Klop*

*Klop*

*Klop*

*Klop*

Then came the footsteps, slow, but steady, echoing through the quiet city air. Those on the street fell silent, the column of wind spilling out of the earth widening the crack in the ground into a massive, maw, a sphere of raging wind rising from the earth.

Through the dust and the fog, a figure slowly came into view. His features obscured, the rags of cloth that clung to his body rippled wildly in the wind. His gait was tired, more like a shuffle, but he held a hand forward defiantly, fingers splayed. Through the shadows, a pinprick of silver shone.

"Is that…" Starfire said in awe as her hands went to her mouth.

"It is!" Cyborg cheered, Raven and Grey-Wing looking up, the others stepping forward as the sphere of wind tore itself free from the earth.

"Vent! You're back!" Beast Boy cheered, throwing a fist into the air.

"You… you survived…" Raven gaped in shock as she rubbed her eyes.

Grins pulled at everyone's faces as the ribbons of wind began to peel away, revealing he who had risen from the grave. Cheers were about to erupt from their throats and fill the evening air, but it was not to be.

*Thud*

"Vent!" everyone cried as he, and his passenger tucked under-arm, fell to the ground in an unmoving heap.

This chapter is a little on the short side, but that's just because what's to COME is more stand-alone-ish than just this little intro. This chapter itself goes on to confirm Terra's survival from the end of the previous story, a subject that many people have asked about. Of course, if you think things are just going to be that cut-and-dry, you've got another thing coming. The third and fourth seasons (which this story covers) will have noticeable changes to them, and I'm thinking about putting in some content from the comics.

P.S.
The new animation "Teen Titans Go!"… Yeah… I'm not touching that with a ten-foot pole. That means no plot points from the cartoon, or any zany hijinks. The reason for that is simple. In that spin-off, which I REFUSE to acknowledge as canon, all of the characters have become so misrepresented I don't even recognize them anymore. I only HAPPENED to catch a couple episodes while channel-surfing, wondering if it was any good, but seeing how "exaggerated" Terra's evil side was portrayed was a major turn-off for me. Terra didn't join Slade for the sake of it, she joined because she felt like she had no other choice (she felt that lack of control over her powers alienated her, and Beast Boy's supposed breach in trust) and Slade got inside her head (nothing short of brainwashing). Also, there's Raven and her My Little Pony expy, Robin's become a total control Freak, Beast Boy is dumber than usual, Starfire is even MORE naïve than should be physically possible, and Cyborg's anatomy completely undermines the tragedy he went through.

Seriously, I get that with "marketing", they want to squeeze as much money out of an IP/Intellectual Property while it's still relevant, but there should be LIMITS on how far they'll make something fall.

Anyway, here's to the start of another epic tale. I hope you'll all continue to follow me.

P.S.S.
On a similar note, for those of you that don't know, my most-recent stories are out. One of which had a "trailer" of sorts after the epilogue of the previous story. Young Justice: The Hunter is a much darker, more-realistic take on my portrayal of the DC universe tackling real-world issues and how they interact in a world of SPBs/Super-Powered Beings. Giant-Slayer is my attempt to add more realism to the mythos that Monty Oum left behind in RWBY, God bless his soul, my interpretation of how things operate behind the scenes in that kind of world.

Anyway, I hope you'll give THOSE stories a read as well. And remember, Reviews are always appreciated, constructive criticism especially, though Flamers who hide behind Anonymity will be ignored. If you can't even bring yourself to leave a return-address, then you just aren't worth addressing in the first place.