The doorbell sounded like a loud gong with a resonating high pitch, followed by a second impact of the bell in a lower tone. It echoed throughout the Tower waking anyone who might have been sleeping. Thunder roared from the storm continuing to pour outside the Tower before the bell rang again.
The door to the living room shot open as Beastboy made his way to the door. He let out a huge yawn as he wore his night cap with a fuzzy ball at the end of the pointed top that dangled on his shoulder.
The doorbell rang a third time.
"Alright, alright! I'm coming!" Beastboy yelled at the door. He was angry to be awake this late at night. He started making his way to the door across the living area as the bell rang again, "do you have any idea what time it is?! How is a guy supposed to get his beauty sleep with some random dude ringing our doorbell all night?!"
He reached the door as the bell rang once more. He opened it with rage ready to scream at who ever was on the other side.
"What?!" He screamed. But his eyes went wide and his face went lifeless.
Terra stood on the other side of the door with a look of fear and regret for coming to the Tower. She began to question her own thoughts on her dreams as she stood in the rain in her pajamas with a green superhero yelling at her. She wore a dark purple rain coat over her pajamas with the hood up. Her right arm was still in a sling and was under the unzipped jacket since she was unable to get her arm through the sleeve.
"Uh... I'm... I'm sorry," Terra said speechless. What was I thinking? She thought to herslef, "I'm sorry," She said again with more confidence. She started to back away slowly before she would turn and jump into a full sprint away from the Tower, "I should go," Terra started to turn to head back out into the dark of the storm when a kind voice called out to her.
"Terra!" Robin shouted. He and cyborg both entered the living area as Terra was about to leave and shouted to her from across the room, "Wow! It's so good to see you doing better!" Robin and Cyborg ran over to where Beastboy stood.
Terra stopped in her tracks feeling better after hearing some welcoming words. However Beastboy was still frozen and looked like a ghost was staring him in the face.
"What's up little rock girl?!" Cyborg said playfully trying to ease her mind.
Terra looked at them confused as to why they were so nice and what Cyborg meant by that.
"Come on in. You must be freezing!" Robin said with a smile.
Terra hesitated but figured she came all the way out here... She might as well get some answers. She stepped in slowly, walking past the frozen green shapeshifter. She starred at him as she walked by with a tiny smile. He was the only one she could "remember" but when she got no reaction from him, her smile turned to a frown and she followed the other two Titans inside as Cyborg turned to the couch to grab a thick blanket from a small compartment beneath one of the couch cushions.
Robin gently helped her out of her rain coat and hung it up next to the door. He closed the door and walked past Beastboy once again who still remained frozen in place. Once she sat on the couch Cyborg wrapped the blanket around her.
"How about something warm to drink?" Cyborg asked her with a warm welcome.
"Um... sure?" Terra said shocked at the hospitality she was being shown from these strangers.
Robin retuned to the couch and sat next to her a few feet away on her right side.
"Are you ok? What are you doing here this late at night? And in this storm for that matter..." Robin asked concerned with an eyebrow raised.
"I... Um..." Terra thought twice before talking to them. She thought for sure her dreams would sound absolutely insane to them. She was about to think of some outrageous lie to get out of there as soon as possible when Cyborg returned with a cup of perfectly heated hot chocolate.
"Not too hot. Not too cold. Shaken, not stirred. Extra chocolate. Just the way you like it," Cyborg said confidently with a big smile. He placed the cup in Terra's left hand and waited for her to try it. He wanted to see if she still liked it the way he remembered.
She gave a small smile back to him and took the cup. She had a sip and her face lit up from the explosion of perfection that Cyborg had made for her.
"This is amazing!" She said almost yelling from excitement. She finished the whole cup in a few gulps and held the cup back to Cyborg with stars in her eyes, "can I have some more?!"
Cyborg chucked with a giddy smile and gladly took the cup and went back to the kitchen to make her a second helping.
Robin turned towards the front door to see Beastboy still standing where he stood earlier when he answered the door. His night cap was slightly tilted from earlier and looked like it was about to fall off. He didn't even consider how Beastboy might feel from this surprise visit from Terra. He started to get worried and wanted to get to the bottom of why she was here.
Robin cleared his throat as Cyborg retuned again with another cup of hot chocolate and sat on the other side of Terra opposite of Robin. Once Terra had the warm cup in her hand, she began sipping at it. As she did Robin decided to ask again.
"Terra," he started again, "do your parents know you're here?"
Terra's excitment for her perfect drink disappeared and she remembered she snuck out of her home to get answers that her adopted mother didn't want her to pursue. She lowered the cup from her lips and placed it in her lap in front of her cast as the thick blanket Cyborg wrapped her in surrounded her. She starred down at the steam rising from the cup.
"No. They don't," She sounded disappointed. Like she let her parents down, "they wouldn't be very happy if they knew I was here. At least... my mom wouldn't be very happy."
Robin's face grew more concerned as if this was somewhat their fault that her parents were not ok with her being at the Tower.
"Then why risk coming here? Is there something you wanted from us?" Robin asked trying to get solid answers from her.
Terra hesitated once more. She still thought she would sound crazy to them but she desperately wanted answers and she would take any risk to get them.
"I... I need to ask you something," she started as she worked up the courage to ask. She took a deep breath and tried to relax as she felt her hand start to shake the cup in her hand, "was I... Were we..." She shift her eyes towards Robin and could see Beasboy over his right shoulder with his back still facing them, "were we... friends?"
Beastboy raised his head further as if jumping from that question. It jolted him out of his frozen state and his cap fell off his head and hit the ground silently. He turned and began walking quickly past the others on the couch towards the door to the hallway keeping his head down, avoiding eye contact.
Terra watched him every step of the way as he made his way into the hallway. She felt hurt that he wouldn't even acknowledge her. After all... He was the main reason she convinced herself to come to the tower in the first place.
Cyborg and Robin also watched as Beastboy silently marched past them without a word. The two made eye contact like they both understood why he couldn't be in the same room as Terra at the moment and decided to focus on Terra for the time being.
"Was it... Something I said?" Terra said worried that she might have scared him off.
"What BB? No! No way! He's just... uh..." Cyborg said trying to comfort her but unsure how to explain.
"I think he just needs time to take it all in that you're actually here... At the Tower again," Robin said softly trying to finish for Cyborg
"Again?" Terra asked begging for clarity, "You mean from when he brought me here last time?"
"Um... no," Robin said unsure what she was referring to, "from when you were part of the team," Robin said trying to be clear.
"So I was a Teen Titan?" Terra asked feeling relieved she wasn't crazy for sneaking out to come to the Tower.
Beastboy was walking quickly through the dimly lit hallway. He wanted to run but he didn't want to make the metaphor of "running away" into a literal action. As he walked down the hallway towards his room Starfire and Raven were walking down the hallway from the other direction. They had also heard the doorbell and were curious as to who their visitor was.
"Friend!" Starfire exclaimed as Beastboy approached them, "who might our guest be at this time in the night?"
Beastboy marched right past them without a word still keeping his head down, still avoiding eye contact.
"Beastboy?" Raven asked quietly feeling an overwhelming mixture of emotions radiating off of him. She instantly knew who was at the Tower. Raven turned towards the door to the living area and she felt a strong surge of anger pulsing through her.
"Beastboy is, ok?" Starfire asked Raven watching her friend fade away into the hallway.
"No," Raven said starting to march agressively towards the door past Starfire, "he isn't."