Heart of Stone: Chapter XIII

Terra turned around to face Slade, glaring at him. "Slade." she said under her breath.

"Terra," he answered as he walked towards her. She backed away while still trying to fire rocks at him, most of them missing. "I see you're beginning to lose control," he continued, amused. "Again."

Terra sent another rock in his direction. Her aim was perfect, but she felt it leave her control and ended up missing him again horribly. "What the hell did you do?" She looked from her hands to him with a mixture of shock, anger and fear.

"Nothing, you're just nothing without me; I taught you control." He watched another failed attempt at an attack.

Come on, you can do this. Just stay calm, remember everything you learned, she said to herself mentally. But it wasn't any use, all her attacks became even more out of her control than the last. This is weird. What the hell is going on? She remembered briefly when Illusion had been trying to hypnotize her. Could that be it? Just stay calm. Terra's eyes glowed yellow as she prepared an other attack.

Beast Boy wandered the cave, trying to find his other companions after he had destroyed Slade's robots. He felt the ground shake slightly and transformed into a dog. It was Terra, and she was near. He sprinted in her direction and saw her fighting Slade.

"Terra!" he called out to her. Huge mistake. She already seemed to be struggling for control like she had when they had first met, but he threw off her concentration even more.

"Beast Boy!" she shouted as her attack missed Slade again and flew in his direction. Barely missing the jagged boulder, he transformed into a crow and flew towards Slade, then transformed into a wolf. He pinned Slade down, but felt the ground shake again. "Beast Boy, get out of here!" she yelled as she struggled to keep the ceiling from caving in. But he didn't listen, just slashed at his enemy who pushed him off, causing him to transform back into his sort of human form.

"What's going on?" he asked Terra, referring to her loss of control.

"I don't know…" she admitted but looked up in fear as Slade walked in their direction and she backed away. Beast Boy turned into a tiger and made for an attack but Slade knocked him away as easily as if it had been a small house cat.

"You were powerful, even stronger than Robin. I was the one who got you there. Come with me; I'll help you regain that control-" He growled in anger as an attack from Beast Boy cut him off.

"She's not going to help you again! You just used her last time!" he shouted at Slade, then turned to Terra and said in a more encouraging voice. "Come on Terra, I know you can do it. Just remember what you did before."

She smiled. "Thanks," she said to Beast Boy. Her eyes glowed yellow as she raises some rocks surrounding her mentally and she pelted Slade with them who blocked them futile with his lower arm.

A few minutes back….

Robin searched the cave, seeing if there were any traces of his team mates or, more importantly, Slade. He sensed someone close by, and heard metallic footsteps. It was either an other one of Slade's soldiers, or-

"Cyborg," he said, somewhat disappointed it wasn't an other enemy.

"Hey, man," he answered, relieved to find someone else.. They both stopped. "Did you hear that?" he asked Robin who just turned around to see it was only Raven and Starfire approaching.

"I am most joyed to see you two safe and unharmed," said Starfire in her usual upbeat tone.

"No sign of BB or Terra?" Cyborg asked them.

"None, although we could all go without Beast Boy for a while," said Raven in a monotone voice.

They felt the vibrating of the ground and walls and nodded to each other before heading in the direction it originated from.

Back to Terra and Beast Boy.

Terra's attack that was intended for Slade had missed again and made impact with Beast Boy's skull. He tried dodging but wasn't quick enough and fell unconscious. She ran to his side and held his limp form.

"They won't take you back now," said Slade, inwardly smirking (not that you'd be able to see it anyway if he were outwardly…) "You're once again an outcast."

"It doesn't matter; the answer's still no. They're not like that. And besides, I'd rather be on my own than on your side again." She rose to her feet and pivoted to look him in the face before her eyes turned golden yellow. She channeled her anger into energy and concentrated this time. Her attacks hit him perfectly, rock after rock. "You've threatened my friends already, and I will NOT let you hurt them again!" she yelled as she sent a heavier wave of rock fragments at him.

Out of seemingly nowhere, a blast of blue energy accompanied by green star bolts hit Slade in the side.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" A colossal hand formed from shadow grabbed at him, but he broke free, despite the near crippling blasts. Robin then leapt at him with his bo, saying to Terra, "Seems you needed some help."

She didn't know whether to be annoyed or grateful. She wanted to take care of Slade herself, but she wouldn't have lasted much longer on her own with her control the way it was going. But she had to get Beast Boy somewhere that he wouldn't get hurt while he recovered. "Star, can you take care of him?" Star nodded and flew over to Beast Boy and knelt down next to him. "I have something else to take care of…" she said, determined to take out Slade.

Stalactites fell from the ceiling and skewered Slade, pinning him to the rough walls of the cave, causing it to vibrate violently. A second later she had wished that she had not done that so quickly as parts of the ceiling began to cave in.

Beast Boy's eyes opened slightly, then widened. "What's going one!" But before he got an answer, he changed into a hawk to evade falling rocks while Starfire blasted ones that threatened to crush her.

Raven created a shield around herself, Cyborg and Robin as the cave down more heavily. Beast Boy landed next to Terra, human again. "Come on, Ter! we have to get out of here."

"Just go! I'll catch up!"

"You sure it's not gonna end up like last time?"

"Terra, come on," Cyborg added on, but Terra ignored him.

"I'll be alright," she insisted, concentrating on keeping their surroundings from caving in, or at least redirecting the majority of the rocks to avoid them.

Robin broke out of Raven's shield and grabbed Beast Boy. "Let's go," he ordered, then turned to her. "We'll be waiting for you, and we're expecting you alive," he said somewhat encouragingly.

Beast Boy resisted. He wanted to at least embrace her in case he never saw her again, but she was too busy concentrating. But he made up his mind: he was going to wait with Terra. "I'm staying here too," he stated. Robin was going to protest but noticed the stubbornness in his voice, so whatever he said would be futile.

"Good luck to both of you…" and with that, he left after the others.

After what seemed like a long time but was really only a couple minutes of struggling, Terra said to Beast Boy, "Who am I kidding? I'm not going to be able to stop this. Just get out of her while you have the chance, I'm not gonna last much longer."

"I'm not leaving without you, even if that means leaving as a ghost!"

"Stubborn idiot…" she muttered under her breath. A rock hit him hard in the gut, forcing him backwards and she made an area of the wall behind him disappear.

Unfortunately, she had not accounted for the fact that they were underground and on the other side was the lake. As water rushed in, she pushed hard mentally on the rock, forcing Beast Boy outside.

"Terra!" he shouted, but was choked by water rushing into his lungs. He transformed into a dolphin, but it was too late, since it had finally caved in. As much as he wanted to go in and save her, he knew that there was nothing he could do and just surfaced. As e reached shore, not too far from the others, he switched back to human. By the solemn look on his face, none of the other needed to ask about Terra.

"Sorry about Terra," said Robin, placing a hand on Beast Boy's shoulder, but he just grabbed his hand and threw it off, not saying anything. He didn't really care, he was just saying that. The others had at least cared somewhat. Although as much as he had, but Robin didn't give a shit. He didn't even try to convince her to get out of there. He was just too used to being a stubborn asshole to not give in.

He just blocked out whatever else any of them had to say and transformed into a large dog and ran back to the tower. There, he could at least choose to be left alone and the others would respect his privacy.

Beast Boy clutched the photo as he curled up into a fetal position. He was in Terra's room. Everything in there reminded him of Terra, but of course it would. He failed to hold back tears, thinking of the memories with her.

Every now and then he heard footsteps pass by and murmurs from his teammates who were searching for him, but he ignored them. They seemed so distant, so irrelevant at the moment.

The door opened and Raven popped her head in, surveying the room and spotted Beast Boy against the wall. She debated whether to notify the others, but decided against it. He probably didn't need everyone pestering him all at once. She walked over and sat down next to him.

"You feel like talking?" she asked. No response. If he spoke about it, he wouldn't be able to hold back any tears. However, she wouldn't take silence as a no. "We miss her too. I know it's tough. You're probably blaming yourself, or us, for it. But just think about it, she wouldn't have been able to make it out of there. She wouldn't have been able to get out without losing concentration and being caved in. She was just trying to save-"

"I should've stayed with her, I should've died too…" he said, although not really to Raven.

"That's a dumb excuse…" It wasn't meant to make him feel better. She was just stating a fact. "I know you're not going to feel better any time soon, but if you need someone to talk to, we'll listen." She put a comforting hand on his shoulder and then got up to leave.

"Thanks…" he mumbled after her, but wasn't sure if he meant it. But maybe he did. She was right, she wasn't lying to him. He had expected something like "You'll get over it soon." But he hadn't expected the truth. He also didn't expect her to care, or any of them for that matter. But they did; she was one of them. He remembered the previous time when she had sacrificed herself for them.

"Terra

A Teen Titan

A True Friend"

The End.

AN: Well, that's it. Review please. I know this one was horrible and I need advice to improve.