Terra and Beast Boy stood on the large, flat and disc shaped boulder as it flew down the Baja California Pacific coastline. There was a full moon that night and he could see where the ocean met land. They were flying low enough to hear the surf crashing below and to smell the ocean's brine, and flew low to not show up on any air traffic control radar systems. They occasionally would pass a small coastal community and since it was dark and the boulder made no sounds other than a soft whoosh in the air no one noticed them pass. Terra would occasionally pull out a hand held GPS system to check their location. After about two hours she pointed up ahead, where the faint glow of San Juanico's street lights cast a pale aurora in the sky.

"It's over there." She announced. "We made it."

"Uh, shouldn't we be careful and make sure your brothers aren't waiting for us?"

"They don't have a clue, but I guess it can't hurt to be careful." She replied as she guided the boulder down to the ground.

San Juanico was a sleepy village of about 800 inhabitants. Terra landed about a quarter mile outside of town, next to the lonely road that led to the nearby town of Cadeje. Once down they walked along the road until they were in the outskirts, where they passed a few shanties where the inhabitants had already gone to bed and were asleep. They crossed paths with a curious stray dog, which Terra shooed away using her powers. Other than the mutt, they encountered no one else as they walked deeper into the hamlet, passing a closed "abarrotes" shop, complete with an old, dilapidated sign with the Coca Cola logo and the shop's name: "La Morenita".

Finally, in the center of the town was a very small plaza. On one side was the town church, and on the other three sides were shops, many of which catered to the American surfers who made San Juanico their part time home, selling surfboard wax, sun tan lotion, surfer clothing and swimsuits. The only thing that appeared to be open at the late hour was a tiny cantina, which was dimly lit and quiet. Its neon sign flickered.

"What a hole in the wall. We're in the middle of nowhere." He whispered, as if afraid he might wake the town. A bunch of insects buzzed around the plaza's lone street light, which hummed also flickered, announcing its bulb's imminent demise.

"I told you no one would know we're here." She replied as she scanned the shuttered storefronts, which all had their corrugated, roll down steel doors closed tight. She pointed at a shop next to the cantina. "Over there, quick, we don't want them to think we're no shows."

Terra scurried off and Gar followed her. Next to the cantina was a storefront with a well kept sign that read "Registro Civil" and had the Mexican national seal on the sign, the eagle eating a serpent, which identified the tiny office as a government agency.

Last year the Titans had a mission in Mexico, invited by the government. Robin made them take a quick Mexican civics class online, a condition they had to meet before being deputized by the Mexican government. Gar recalled that the Registro Civil was the government office where births, deaths marriages and divorces were recorded, and in fact was the only place where one could be legally married. Church weddings could only be performed after the legal wedding at the Registro Civil was done. Unlike in the US, where the individual states handled such affairs, in Mexico it was the federal government who manged it. Gar recalled Raven saying how it was similar to the system on Azarath.

Beast Boy had never given much, if any thought as to where he would one day be married, assuming he ever would, at least not until he met Perdita. For a few days he thought it would be in a cathedral. But now he saw that it would be in what looked like a simple storefront office in tiny town he had never heard of before in a foreign country.

"Is anyone even here?" He asked.

"They told me to knock." She replied.

Before she could rap on the roll down metal door, a middle aged, tanned man with bleached blond hair who was wearing what looked like threadbare surfer duds staggered out of the cantina and almost ran into them. He stepped back, recovering his balance as he was clearly inebriated.

"Whoa, you guys new here? I ain't seen you here before."

"Yeah, we're new in town." Terra replied nonchalantly.

"You're here for the surfing, because there's nothing else to do here, right?" He slurred. "Best damn surfing in the whole world here, completely tubular. Just don't tell anyone about it when you go home. We want to keep it a secret. I've been here twenty years, never told anyone about it when I go home, cause we're all tight here, you know? This is our place."

He then noticed Beast Boy. "Dude, you're green! Didn't anyone tell you not to drink the water here? Next time stick to cerveza, dude … and don't drink the mescal, it'll totally mess you up in the head."

"Yeah, dude, I'll remember that."

The drunk surfer grinned. "You two a couple, cuz if you're not I'll be happy to show the pretty lady the best beaches for surfing."

"Sorry, we're a couple." She replied.

"Bummer … you can't blame a dude for trying, right?"

Gar looked at his fiance. "Terra, are you sure you wanna get married here?"

She responded with a cross look. "What difference does it make? Of course I do."

"Whoa, you kids came here to get hitched? Awesome! We can do a surfer wedding on the beach. With ceviche and cerveza, it doesn't get any better. We've done it before, it's awesome."

"Terra … I was thinking on the way over … I ...I'm not sure I'm ready for this."

Terra's eyes glowed yellow. "What do you mean you're not ready? We have to get married."

The surfer's grin widened. "Dude, you knocked her up? Way to go man!"

"Shut up!" She snapped at the man,. He deferentially backed away.

"Sorry, chicky poo. I didn't mean to offend."

"Gar, we need to do this now!"

"But Terra."

She pulled him close and whispered in his ear. "In half an hour we'll be getting laid on a deserted beach. So get rid of those cold feet, OK?"

She rapped on the metal door, and a man opened it, rolling it up.

"Bienvenidos! Come in, we are ready for you."

"Can I be a witness?" The surfer asked.

"Go. Away." Terra replied in a very curt tone.

Before they could enter the office there was a gust of wind over the plaza. The trees swayed and the bugs around the streetlight fled. They both turned and saw Raven's spectral bird land in the middle of the small plaza and morph into her human form.

"Dude, that's totally gnarly. Who is she? Is she one of those superheroes?" The blond dude asked.

"What is she doing here?" Terra seethed. "Did you tell her?"

"What? No! No way. Why would I do that?"

"You tell me." She grumbled. "You always liked her more than me."

"That's not true."

Raven was now walking towards them.

"What is the meaning of this, Terra?" Raven asked in her deadpan.

"None of your business, witch!"

"You kidnapped him."

"I did no such thing. He came willingly."

"As always, you're a liar and a traitor. Get away from her, Gar. I'm going to teach her a lesson she won't forget."

"Forget? In case you forgot, the last time we fought one on one I kicked your sorry gray butt."

"You guys are the Teen Tritons, right?" The surfer asked.

Gar briefly rolled his eyes, then he turned to the man. "Dude, run, run away as fast as you can. I mean it. It's gonna get ugly here."

The surfer, who was still drunk, understood the nature of the warning and took off. Gar ran in between the two women and extended his arms to block their path to each other.

"Don't fight!" He shouted. "Not here, people could get hurt."

"She wants to take you from me, BB. But I won't let her."

"Terra, I don't want to marry you. I'm sorry."

The man in the Registro Civil office had been watching the whole time. He recognized Raven and figured out that the blond who identified herself to him as Tara Marlov was also the villain Terra . He rolled the steel door shut and discretely left.

"You said you would!" She bellowed at him.

"I know, but, I was wrong. Terra, I'm not ready for this."

"You were ready to marry Perdita!"

"That was also a mistake. Terra, please, don't fight with Raven."

"Why? Are you afraid that I'll hurt her?"

He shook his head. "No … I'm afraid she'll hurt you."

Terra screamed and made a horizontal gesture with her arm. A berm of dirt came to life and swept the changeling aside, like one of the waves at the beach, leaving him partially buried. He morphed into a gopher and dug his way out. The sight that greeted him took his breath away.

Terra's whole body was glowing yellow and she had a horrific grimace on her face. Raven was worse, she had her four red eyes and her dark energy danced like flames on her body. They stared at each other and then as though a starter's gun had been shot, they charged at each other.

Beast Boy watched in disbelief as the two females collided. There were lightning fast kicks, jabs, punches, blocks, spinning kicks, heel kicks. Most were blocked but a few connected. Soon the two girls' faces were bloodied, and Gar silently gave thanks that they weren't using their powers.

The fight was loud and rowdy and people, awaken by the ruckus, slowly began to trickle into the plaza to see what was going on. A sleepy faced surfer said "Is that Raven?" while some of the locals merely pointed at the brawling girls and spoke in hushed tones. The local police constable showed up and when he recognized who was fighting he crossed his arms and did nothing.

The fight appeared to be a stalemate until Terra took the first step and summoned a boulder from a nearby hill, thrusting it at Raven, who used her dark energy to pulverize it. The assembled crowd oohed and ahhed.

Garfield suddenly noticed the throng and became fearful for their safety. Doing his best to remember his rudimentary Spanish, he tried to shoo them away.

"Peligro! Vayanse!" He shouted repeatedly, but no one paid attention to him.

The fight had now escalated to full powers and the plaza was being decimated. The small fountain in the middle was demolished and soon the small statue of Benito Juarez at the end of the plaza was also destroyed. Terra ripped sidewalk segments from the ground and threw them at Raven, who deflected them with a force field.

Gar began to worry that they would level the town, along with its clueless inhabitants who should have been running for their lives. He was now standing behind Raven and was about the get between the brawling women when Terra formed a stone javelin in her hands and threw it at Raven. She easily dodged it but Beast Boy saw that it was headed straight for a school aged girl who had gotten a little too close to get a better view of the battle. A look of sheer horror appeared on his face and he leaped at the child, pushing her out of harm's way. Raven couldn't see what was happening behind her but she saw the look on Terra's face and she turn to see what the Geomancer saw. Raven turned just in time to see the javelin impale the changeling, who fell to the ground.

"Noooooo!" Both women screamed as they rushed to his side, their fight quickly forgotten.

"Raven, tell me you can save him!" Terra shrieked.

Fortunately the spear missed any vital organs, but he was losing blood quickly. The assembled crowd drew near, their curiosity piqued. Beast Boy opened his eyes.

"Don't move Gar, I need to get this spear out of you. Once we do that I'll stop the bleeding."

Raven tugged at the spear, but as she pulled Gar grimaced in pain. She turned to Terra who stood petrified, mumbling "What have I done?" over and over.

"Terra, I could use some help here."

The geomancer didn't seem to hear her.

"TERRA! Dammit, I need some help removing this spear."

Terra snapped back to reality. She nodded and extended her hand. The spear pulverized itself and the dust flew out of his wound. Raven's blue light appeared and the healing process began. There was blood everywhere and Tara stood with both of her hands covering her mouth. Her eyes still betrayed the horror she was experiencing.

The sound of a jet engine was heard above and Terra looked up. It was another Javelin, but this one was from the Justice League. It landed at the edge of the plaza and its gantry was lowered. Terra's face fell when she saw her brother, Prince Brion, attired in his GeoForce costume, disembark. He looked around the plaza at all of the destruction, and then looked at his sister.

"Tara, what have you done?" He asked her in Markovian as the T-Ship also landed.

-(-)-

About 24 hours later, back at Titans Tower …

Raven was sitting in the very same spot Beast Boy did after the incident with Adonis and the Beast. The water in the bay was very still and she could see her reflection in it. She grimaced, stood up and threw a rock at her reflection.

"You stupid idiot. You almost got him killed! And that girl, she could have been killed too. Way to go Raven, you let your feelings get in the way. That town could have been destroyed."

She sat back down and began to sob.

"I'm a horrible person, I've always been one, and always will be." She said as she buried her face in her palms.

"You're not a horrible person. Terra threw that spear, not you." A familiar voice interrupted her pity party. She looked up and saw that it was Gar. His arm was in a sling, but otherwise he looked like he was in good spirits. He sat down next to her. "That spear was meant for you, Rave. She was trying to kill you and she didn't care about what happened to the town ..." His voice faded away and he swallowed hard.

"How did I let her fool me again?"

"She really does love you, even if she is a criminal ... don't blame yourself, it was just bad timing … how are you feeling? I didn't know that Cyborg discharged you from the infirmary."

He rubbed his wounded shoulder with his unslung hand. "It still hurts, but it's getting better, I think. Thanks for saving my butt."

He paused. "I was talking with Perdita on the videophone before I came here looking for you."

"You were?" Raven asked, unable to conceal her surprise that he had a chat with his now married ex.

"Yeah, she … uh … debriefed me on Terra."

"What did they do with her?" Raven asked.

"Well, first of all, they got Dr. Jace to deactivate her metagene, so her powers are gone, again. Hopefully for good this time."

"Was it Dr. Jace who reactivated her meta gene?"

"It was, Terra blackmailed her. Turns out Jace sold her metagene research to Count Vertigo, and Terra threatened to turn her in if she didn't cooperate."

"That's just great, so now the Legion of Doom can create super powered henchman, just what we need." Raven sighed.

"Only if the henchman have the metagene to begin with, only one out of a million have it."

"Which means there are over six thousand potential candidates … great, just great … what about Terra, what are they going to do with her?"

"Perdita says she's in a mental hospital."

"I always thought she belonged in the loony bin. Good riddance." Raven grumbled. What about Jace?"

"She was convicted but her sentence was suspended, she was also stripped of her title, so no more Lady Jace. Perdita also told me that Terra was behind everything, she rigged it so I would run away with her … why didn't I see it? It was so obvious."

"You were hurt and you were once in love with her." She replied listlessly. "It could have happened to anyone. It happened to me once."

"Malchior doesn't count. He was a con man … con dragon … whatever he was."

Raven swallowed hard.

"Gar … I … I could have prevented all of this from happening."

"What do you mean?"

She buried her face in her hands and he waited patiently for her stillborn response.

"Raven?"

"I knew that Terra was going to try to sabotage your wedding. I didn't say anything because I didn't want you to marry her."

"Yeah, Perdita already told me. It's OK, it wouldn't have mattered if you had told us. It was already too late, and to tell you the truth, I'm glad I didn't marry Perdita."

She did a double take. "You are?"

"Yeah, when I really think about it, that life isn't me. I'm a Titan, not a prince or a duke."

"You're far better than any prince or duke."

He smiled appreciatively. "Raven, I do have a question. Why did you come down to San Juanico by yourself and not with Robin, Star and Cy."

Raven looked at his soft, tender and loving eyes. They were so inviting, and she always felt good when she looked into them.

"Gar, this is really hard for me to express, so, whatever you do, please don't laugh, OK?"

"OK, I promise."

She bit her lip. "I'm in love with you. I've been in love with you for a long time."

He smiled. "Perdita also told me that."

"She did!? Is there anything that busybody doesn't tell?"

He shrugged.

"What else did she say about me?"

His smile widened. "Well, she also told me that if I let you get away, that I'm the biggest idiot in the world … and I think she's right. Oh, we also agreed to never talk again, it would be … wrong."

Raven was speechless. He had never seen her look so bewildered in all the time he knew her. She always had a comeback, a smart retort, but not now. She just stared at him dumbfounded. He leaned in, closed his eyes, their lips touched and he kissed her.

"I've been in love with you for a long time too. And I'm not letting you get away, Raven Roth."

She closed her eyes and returned his kiss.

"I'm not going anywhere, Garfield Logan."

The End