The sky was cloudless and the day was gorgeous over a small mining town in the middle of nowhere. The community was small so naturally everyone knew everyone. It was nearly impossible to keep a secret hidden in such a small community. However, It was an ideal place to raise children away from a dramatic city with polluted air and loud noises.
A tall blonde woman stood in a large field filled with wild flowers and tall grass. She walked slowly through the knee high grass as if searching for something. Though, she didn't seem too concerned for what she was looking for. She actually looked like she was enjoying herself on this beautiful day, as if she were playing a game.
A small child nestled herself in the tall grass. She was hiding and trying to breath softly not to give away her location as footsteps started approaching her. The rustle of the grass made her giddy with delight. As the rustle grew louder and closer to her, her heart began to race with excitment. When the noise was almost right on top of her, she couldn't contain herself any more.
"Rrrrraaahhhhh!" The little girl jumped out from her hiding place and shouted as loud as she could at the footsteps that approached her.
"Aaahhhhh!" The woman playfully screamed. She pretend to fall over into the grass as if it were soft as cotton. The little girl then jumped on top of her laughing with a big smile.
"I scared you mommy!" She said as she laughed. This little girl had to have been no more than six years old.
"You sure did!" The woman replied as she laughed with her daughter.
It was just another summer day in paradise for the two of them. But the day went dark as storm clouds moved in blocking the sun. The little girl looked to the sky as rain drops began to fall. When she looked back down the field of grass was gone and so was her mother. Distant voices drifted through the air in mass. They sounded angry and aggressive.
"Terra!" The womans voice shouted over angry mass of voices, "Terra, run! Get as far away from here as you can!" She sounded desperate and horrified for her daughters safety.
Terra stood up quickly and realized she was no longer a child but a young girl around ten years old. In the distance she could see the tall blonde woman trying to stop a mob of people who were looking for her.
"Please! Please don't do this! She's just a little girl! She can't control it!" Her mother pleaded with the mob of people.
The crowd continued shouting as if her pleas meant nothing and continued to move forward towards the brave woman.
"Mama?" Terra called out. Her voice echoed through the air to the woman just before the crowd reached her.
"Baby RUN!" She screamed and the crowd started running in Terra's direction holding flashlights and blunt weapons. It was clear their intentions towards Terra were not friendly in the slightest.
The woman spun around to see her daughter one last time as the crowd grabbed her violently.
"MAMA!" Terra screamed in horror. Her head began to sting with pain as if needles were stabbing her from the inside. This forced her eyes to close as she pressed the palms of her hands to her temples. The pain brought her to her knees and everything began shaking and rumbling around her. She struggled to lift her head back up and when she did her eyes shot open looking to sky glowing bright yellow, letting out an excruciating scream...
Terra woke up with a jolt yet again. She lay on her back breathing heavily as her eyes slowly regained focus to see a dark sky littered with stars above her.
She sat up in bed looking at her surroundings. The morning sun shined into the room and she instantly knew where she was. This was the room Beastboy had shown her when he was trying to help her remember her past. It was her room.
Terra closed her eyes and breathed easy as she began to realize she was safe. The previous night started flooding back to her and she could remember the pain in her head just before the Titans showed up to save her. She put her hand to her forehead thinking about that night and how it was eerily familiar to the dream she just had. After a moment of thinking about the two, she wondered if they were connected. She couldn't know for sure but something told her it was like her other dreams and she was willing to consider any possibilty.
She removed her hand from her forehead and reached across her body pulling the blankets off of her. She still wore her school uniform from the day prior and she shifted her legs from their outstretched position to the edge of the bed, letting her feet fall to the floor one at a time. She sat on the edge of the bed and faint images of her dream tried to refresh themselves in her mind. This was the first time Terra had ever had a dream like this since she came back.
She looked back up at the ceiling. It was painted with a near perfect mural of the night sky. As if Beastboy were in the room with her, she could hear his voice echo through the room...
Stars... because you like to sleep outside.
Shock shot through her and she gasped out loud as she remembered what else had happened last night. She jumped off the bed and went running into the hallway. She desperately needed to know if Beastboy was ok.
In the medical wing of the Tower the hiss of an oxygen tank sending bursts of air every 10 seconds would fill the room over the steady beeping of a heart monitor. The picture was all too familiar only this time a different Titan was laying unconscious.
Beastboy lay shirtless on the hosptial bed with a long tube running from his nostrils to the hissing oxygen tank. The three different monitors were still connected to his chest and showed stable and normal readings. The IV tube was still piercing his left arm and had a slow and steady drip allowing fluids to replenish his body. He had been out cold ever since they found him with Terra 10 hours ago.
Raven sat on his right side monitoring his vitals like a hawk. She was extremely drowsy but refused to sleep. If Beastboy woke up she wanted to be there for him. She spent so much time worrying about him that she didn't even notice it was already 8:00AM.
Raven sighed and looked at Beastboy's face. It looked better than before but he still remained lifeless. She looked down his body and felt a little better to see his bare green chest rising and falling indicating he was breathing. Raven caught herself staring a little longer than normal and began to blush. She hadn't seen Beastboy without a shirt before. He was in amazing shape for his size. He had toned abs and a strong chest. Even his arms had attractive curves as her eyes scanned over his body to his biceps.
Raven was unphased as the door to the medical wing slid open. Robin had entered the room to check on his teammate. He was slightly surprised to see Raven in the room before him. He looked at Raven and her face still held a blush as she didn't look away from Beastboy.
Robin raised an eyebrow before he fully realized what he was seeing. He half smiled and raised a fist to his mouth to clear his throat loudly making his presence unmistakable.
Raven snapped out of her embarrassing trance and her head zipped towards Robin standing in the doorway. Her face turned bright red and she felt even more embarrassed as she wondered how long Robin had been standing there. She blamed her drowsiness for letting her guard down.
"How's he doing?" Robin said pretending he didn't just catch her ogling Beastboy. He walked in and stood at the foot of the bed looking up at Beastboy's vitals.
Raven sighed with relief that Robin was willing to ignore what he just saw. Her blush faded and she went back to focusing on his vitals with Robin.
"He's still breathing," she replied in her somber tone.
Robin looked over to her and realized Raven didn't come to visit Beastboy before him... She never left his side.
"Did you get any sleep?" Robin asked with concern.
Raven knew lying would be pointless. Robin obviously knew the answer to that. He was less asking a question and more implying that she needed to get some sleep.
"No," she answered bluntly, "how could I when he nearly died last night?" She sounded depressed as if disappointed in herself.
"Cyborg said he was hurt pretty bad but that he should be fine," Robin said trying to comfort her, "you know we did everything we could and now we just need to wait for him to wake up," Robin looked down at Beastboy.
He began thinking about what happened last night. He was confused as to why Terra was taken yet relatively unharmed while Beastboy was in a small coma. His eyes glared down at him as he came to one conclusion, "it looks like who ever did this was after Beastboy all along."
Raven thought about that for a moment. It made perfect sense. What better way to trap Beastboy than using Terra as bait? Her blood started to boil and she clenched her fists.
"But why?" She asked rhetorically.
Robin knew she wasn't asking him but answered anyways, "I don't know. Maybe this whole thing has to do with the incident at the school," He put a hand to his chin and looked down, diving deep into thought, trying to piece together a theory, "maybe it was a way to get revenge. Or maybe someone has a grudge against Beastboy..."
But who? Raven asked herself. Who would want revenge on Beastboy?
The silence in room between the two Titans made the room go cold. They had a dozen suspects now. For all they knew every victim from the school hated Beastboy with the media making them look like crazed villains. They both wanted answers but interrogating the victims from the school would only make them look worse. They were stuck.
The silence finally ended when the door slid open again and Cyborg let out a long yawn as he came in to replace Beastboys IV bag. Robin turned slightly and met eyes with Cyborg for a moment before returning his gaze to Beastboy, diving back into thought. Cyborg looked at Robin unsurprised that he was there checking on Beastboy. He then turned to Raven. He wasn't surprised that she was there either but he was surprised she was still awake. Raven was in the same position everytime he had come in to check on Beastboy through the night.
"Man," he said softly to Raven, "you know you didn't have to stay here the whole night. I told you I'd be checking on him every hour to replace his fluids," he began unhooking the old IV bag that hung from the elevated rack above the bed and reached into a nearby drawer grabbing a fresh one to take its place.
Raven remained silent. She had seen Cyborg come and go every hour on the hour like he said he would. He'd check Beastboy vitals, ensuring the numbers didn't change and he remained stable. Then he'd replace the IV bag and return to his room to sleep. However, that wasn't good enough for Raven. She wanted to be absolutely sure he was ok throughout the entire night.
Without taking her eyes off the changeling she spoke to Cyborg, "how much longer before he wakes up?" She asked.
"Who knows?" Cyborg said as he finished hooking up the fresh IV bag and tossing the old one into a nearby container, "he's lucky to be alive at all. Most people couldn't handle that kind of damage to their body."
"Do you have an idea?" Robin asked looking at Cyborg. He was just hoping to get some kind of estimated guess.
Cyborg understood what Robin was asking and looked up at him, "I really don't know," he said. His voice was soft and cold like his friend could be lost forever, "if anything... he should have woken up by now."
The room went cold once more as silence was only broken by the oxygen tank and heart monitor. The three Titans were starting to lose the hope they had gained last night.
After a long moment Cyborg turned to head for the door but before he made his way out he turned his head to the others in an attempt to cheer them up.
"Well we can't help BB if we don't take care of ourselves too," Cyborg said. He put on half a smile and tried sounding optimistic, "I'll make breakfast. I'm sure he'd love to have some pancakes waiting for him when he wakes up."
Robin smiled and agreed with him. He turned and head to the door with Cyborg but Raven remained seated next to the bed.
"Raven," Robin called to her stopping in the doorway, "you... want us to bring you some too?"
"I'm fine," she sounded dark. Raven didn't want to eat but her stomach ached for food. All she knew was the thought of eating made her queasy.
Robin and Cyborg looked at each other with a hint of concern. they both exit the room and the door slid shut behind them.
In the living area Starfire sat at the kitchen table with hands folded on the table in front of her. She fiddled with her fingers thinking about Beastboy in the medical room. She couldn't bare the thought much less stand there looking at him. It hurt her on a number of levels.
The doors to the living area shot open and Robin and Cyborg entered the room to see Starfire sitting at the table alone. She looked back at them but their faces said everything. She didn't even have to ask but she did anyways.
"Please... Beastboy is, awake?" Starfire asked begging for a yes.
Robin looked at her and his heart sank. He lowered his head and walked into the kitchen. Cyborg saw Robin couldn't handle telling Starfire the truth so he decided to speak for his masked friend.
"Sorry Star," Cyborg said with remorse, "he still hasn't woken up yet."
Starfire looked back down at her hands and began fiddling with fingers again. Cyborg saw this and tried to comfort her while Robin pulled out a mixing bowl and began preparing a pancake mix.
"Hey, don't worry," Cyborg said sitting next to Starfire, "this is BB we're talking about. I bet he'll wake up any second now and crack a joke about how he kicked the other guy's butt."
Cyborg looked down at Starfire with a small smile. She looked up at him and returned a similar small smile but it wasn't genuine. She was more concerned Beastboy might not wake up at all. She returned to fiddling with her fingers and her small smile disappeared.
Cyborg saw this and lowered his head as his small smile disappeared as well. He sighed, got up, and proceed to help Robin with breakfast.
The doors shot open again and all their head spun around to the door hoping for good news. And for the most part... It was good news... but not what they were hoping for.
Terra stood in the doorway breathing hard from sprinting down the hallway.
"Beastboy!" She yelled. She looked from Titan to Titan seeing he wasn't in the room, "is he ok?!"
The Titans looked back to what they were doing leaving her with no answer. Terra began to shake with anxiety thinking that meant the worst had happened. Shortly following her question, Robin finished mixing the pancake batter, leaving Cyborg in charge to finish cooking and turned to face Terra.
"Its good to see you're awake," Robin said through a smile, "we were worried about you."
"Where is Beastboy?" Terra asked demanding an answer. She was becoming very anxious and didn't like how they were keeping her in the dark.
"Beastboy's fine," Robin said trying to calm her down, "he's resting in the medical room as we speak." He was trying to assure her that they weren't hiding anything from her.
"Where's that?" Terra quickly respond. She was relieved to hear he was ok but she needed to see for herself.
"Slow down," Robin said raising his hands trying to emphasize everything was ok, "I'll take you to him," he then gestured to the kitchen table where a seat was vacant next to Starfire, "but first I want to ask you a few questions about what happened last night." Robin sounded kind and considerate like he knew she was going through a rough time but this was really important and he needed answers.
Terra felt like she was being interrogated now. Like she was the criminal. It made her feel unwelcome and uncomfortable. She cautiously made her way to the seat next to Starfire and slowly sat down.
Robin sat across from Terra and just smiled for a moment while Cyborg continued cooking. He didn't want to rush her but also didn't know what to say to her. While they sat quietly the tension in the room started to grow until Starfire spoke up.
"I'm relieved to see you unharmed," Starfire said with a gentle warm voice, "I can not express the gratitude I feel for you're bravery yesterday," Starfire almost felt guilty that Terra had to confess to the past she barely remembered just to save them from the police. If she hadn't, not only would she have avoided this entire incident but she wouldn't be facing possible charges for her past crimes, "for your actions I am truly grateful. Thank you." Starfire looked deep into Terra's eyes and tried to stress just how grateful she really was.
"We all owe you for saving our butts," Cyborg agreed. He was now flipping the fresh pancakes in the skillet he was holding on the stove, "I mean... half the dudes in jail were put there by us," he turned around to Terra with a small grin, "can't imagine they'd be happy to see us again." He chuckled and turned back to cooking.
"He's right," Robin add, "you didn't have to do that. So if you ever need help all you have to do is ask and we'll be there for you."
Terra's jaw slightly dropped. She couldn't believe it... Why were they thanking her. This whole thing she felt was her fault. If it weren't for her the Titans never would have been in this situation to begin with. She relaxed feeling a little more welcome but the tension in the room still told her something was wrong. She could only imagine what that meant.
"You shouldn't be thanking me," she confessed, "in fact I should be thanking you. After everything that me and my mom put you through you could have... you should have left me there with that..." She stopped short thinking about what kind of person would do this. Only one word came to mind, "...that psychopath."
"So you know who attacked you?" Robin asked hoping to have all his questions finally answered.
Terra nod her head looking down at the kitchen table where her cast rested, "you told me about him last time I was here," images of last night flashed through her mind when this insane man got right in her face staring her down with his single eye. She didn't remember him completely but it was a horrifying sight that she knew she had seen before, "he wasn't after me," her voice began to tremble as more and more images began flashing in her mind, "I was just the bait... He was after Beastboy." She looked up at the Titans with a serious look that shot fear into Starfire and Robin. Even Cyborg stopped what he was doing and turned around to gauge Terra's face. What he saw was mortifying.
Robins face slowly turned from fear to rage. He already knew exactly who it was but he felt he needed to confirm his suspicion.
"Did you happen to catch his name?" Robin asked sternly.
Terra looked to Robin. Her eyes had widened and looked like they had seen the devil himself. She didn't want to answer that question but she gathered her courage and uttered an answer barely louder than a whisper...
"Slade."