32 Productions Presents…
A Teen Titan Fan Fiction The Teen Titans in…"A Truth Not Set in Stone"
Chapter Three
Outside Murakami High
Tara was stopped from going home by her duplicate from before.
Tara: Oh hey…uh…feeling better?
Terra: …I…look, this is going to sound really weird…but…I need you to come back to the tower with me so we can test your blood.
Well, she was right. That did sound really weird. Somehow the idea of going to Titan Tower filled Tara with a deep dread. Tara hefted her bookbag.
Tara: …I dunno. I got a lot of homework to do…and…my mom will worry and…
Terra: Come on! Don't you want to know who you are?
Tara: No! I don't want to know! Know why? Because I'm HAPPY this way!
Terra: …please…I need you to do this. I…I might not be who I think I am and I need your help to find out.
Tara: You're not making any sense.
Terra: The reason I look like you maybe because I was MADE to look like you! I need to know…please…it won't take long. If you want, I won't tell you anything about yourself when the tests come back. You can just give the blood and go before results are in.
The stone girl looked utterly desperate. Tara groaned and held her head.
Tara: I know I'm going to regret this…but I'll do it.
Terra: I owe you big for this.
Terra created a large platform. Tara looked at it, confused.
Tara: Do you do that often?
Terra: Yeah.
Tara: …so why aren't there huge holes in the road and sidewalk everywhere?
Terra opened her mouth to answer, but trailed off.
Terra: Er…uh…just get on.
Titan Tower: Main Room
Starfire paused in mid-swoop. She was faced with a conundrum. There were two Terras. She had no idea which one she was supposed to hug in greeting.
Terra: Hey, Star. This is Tara Smith.
Tara: Uh…hey. How's it going?
Starfire: Ah! The girl of whom Beast Boy ranted. Greetings to you, friend who resembles another friend. My name is Starfire and I bid you welcome to our home!
Tara grinned nervously. The girl seemed…alarmingly friendly.
Terra: We're just going to run a few quick tests to see if she's…well…me.
Starfire: Yes, I can see how…PARDON?!
Tara: Can we get this over with? I have a test tomorrow and I really need to study.
Med-lab
Tara held her head as she sat on the edge of one of the beds. The test was taking forever and ever since she started seeing these people her head had started pounding like crazy. Images of places, people, and events flashed in her mind's eye, only to vanish a second later. Yet now that she was there, she was hesitant to leave. It was so very strange. She was so distracted that she jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Turning, she saw that it was Robin. He pointed back to the other room.
Robin: The test results are back.
Tara: Huh…oh, that's great.
Tara got up and followed Robin into the next room. Terra leaned against the wall, biting her finger. The green kid…what was his name…Beast Boy had a hand on her shoulder. Cyborg sighed as he read the slip of paper again.
Cyborg: You two ready for this.
Tara: No, but say it anyway.
Terra: What she said.
Cyborg: …Tara's DNA is an exact match of the sample we took from Terra after she first joined us.
It fell on Terra like a sack of…really, really, heavy things she couldn't lift with her powers. She leaned against the wall and slid down.
Terra: I'm…I'm really…
Tara: …so…wait. If I'm Terra, why don't I have powers or anything?
Robin: Your last act was to deactivate, then seal an erupting volcano. The strain could have blown your powers out.
Tara: Huh…wow…
Starfire thought for a moment.
Starfire: But wait…when Ashley touched Terra, she split into her evil self. If this is not the real Terra…why did she have a completely human looking double?
Raven: The whole concept was a spiritual and mental thing. Mentally Terra thought she used to be human, so her evil counterpart that represented those times would be one.
Tara: …hey…hey, are you okay?
Terra was shaking. Why didn't she just drop it when she had the chance? Her entire world had collapsed around her ears. No returning to human form. Stuck with the memories of what it feels like to touch from someone else. Her life…could it even be CALLED a life? Beast Boy shook her gently, but she remained staring straight ahead.
Beast Boy: Terra…come on, snap out of it.
Tara: …this is my fault. I shouldn't have come here.
Shade: She asked.
Tara: I shou…
The alarm went off. Tara jumped.
Tara: What the hell is that?!
Starfire: The alarm…there is trouble. Please, stay here in the tower until we return to take you home.
Tara: …yeah, alright.
The Titans left…but Terra remained on the ground. Tara nudged her with her foot.
Tara: Hey. Hey, aren't you going with them?
Terra: …why don't YOU go? You're Terra, not me.
Tara: Son of a bitch…
Tara leaned out the door.
Tara: Hey, she's not moving! What do I do?
Robin: Keep an eye on her! We can't wait around!
Mumbling curses to herself, Tara sat down on the desk chair and spun around. While she supposed she should be watching Terra, all she could think about was what had just been revealed to her. So…once upon a time she was a superhero with the power to move the earth. That must have been something else. Yeah…flying around on rocks…fighting bad guys. Wait… She stopped spinning around. Where did Terra go? Swearing, Tara got up and ran out the door. Okay…if this girl was her…then it would think like her. If she wanted to do something…stupid…where would she go?
Tara: (whisper) …garage.
Garage
Like an instinct, Tara navigated the halls to the garage. She found Terra with a huge device in her hands. She turned it and pressed it against her chest.
Tara: Hey! Stop it!
Terra: Shut up…just let me do this.
Tara: No!
Not knowing what else to do, Tara tried to wrestle the device from Terra's grasp. It was hopeless. Terra was way too strong for her. With a quick motion, Terra flung her away. She hit her head and groaned.
Terra: Tell Gar…Beast Boy…I'm sorry.
Tara panicked. She couldn't let it happen. Not right in front of her.
Tara: STOP IT!
Terra froze, unable to move. Tara stared at her own hand in shock. It was glowing yellow.
Terra: L…let me go…
Tara: Let you go?! I don't even know how I'm holding you!
Terra tried to use her own powers to cancel Tara's out, but it didn't work.
Terra: Now you can take my place. Just let them train you and everything will be fine.
Tara: Like hell! I'm NOT a superhero! Maybe I was once, but not anymore. Now I'm Tara Smith, JUST Tara Smith. I don't want to be anything more then that.
Terra turned her head the best she could.
Terra: Do you have any idea what you did? The people you hurt? You should be begging for a chance to redeem yourself.
Tara: I don't remember any of that, and I don't WANT to remember any of it. Don't you understand? I want to just go home and eat leftovers! I want to hang with my friends, met a nice guy, and so on and so forth. And if what you say is true, maybe it's better that I do nothing. Maybe it's better if this Terra stays buried. But you…you're better.
Terra: I'm a freak! I'm an accident! I'm some sick girl's idea of a JOKE! She was laughing her head off about creating me. I'll never be able to feel anything but PAIN! Only if I'm hit hard enough do I actually FEEL anything.
Terra struggled again, but Tara's power held fast. It was starting to cause Tara pain in her head though. She hoped it kicked itself back off soon. If only she could…make her… Terra found herself dropping the device in her hands.
Terra: Stop controlling me!
Tara: Stop being a selfish fool then! Damn it, what about your friends? You think they won't miss you?
Terra: Why should they…when you're around?
Tara: I'm not going to BE around, get it? I don't WANT to live here. I don't WANT to be a Teen Titan! I don't WANT your life! You be Terra, I'll be Tara Smith, we'll both be happy, end of story!
Terra's fists stopped clenching. Finally Tara's words seemed to be getting to her.
Terra: …all I ever wanted since I was created was to be human. I thought that all I needed to do was be cured…but the only "cure" is to take whatever magic animates me away. I'll never be human…not really. And I don't even get many benefits. If I don't have real lungs, why does gas still affect me?
Tara: How should I know? I'm a C student in science. …well, not geology…I've always wondered why that was…now I know.
Terra: It was rhetorical question.
Tara: …yeah, I'm not so hot in English class either. That's one of those school words people rarely use.
Terra: …my god, I hang around Raven too much.
Finally the glow faded from Tara's hand and Terra could move again.
Tara: Look, now that you've got control again, listen to me before you try to punch a hole in your chest. You guys do the impossible every day of your lives. Hell, I just took control of a living statue intent on suicide. You don't do that everyday.
Huffing, Terra crossed her arms.
Terra: Yeah, trying to forget the whole "living statue" thing, remember?
Tara: Sorry. The point is, there's always going to be hope for you. In fact, now that they know you can't be "cured", your friends are bound to try other things now.
Terra shrugged.
Terra: I guess you got a point. …sorry for going loopy like that.
Tara: No problem. Mom says I get a little overly emotional at times too…er…that is Mrs. Smith tells me that…hey…who IS my real mom?
Terra walked over and put a friendly arm around her counterpart.
Terra: Come with me and I'll tell you ALL about home. You see, you're from the small European kingdom of Markovia…
Main Room: One Incredibly Painful Battle Later
The Titans trudged in to the main room. Of all the days for Terra to have an emotional break down, it had to occur when giant stone golems awoke from their exhibit in the museum. Whenever they smashed one, it would move to another, making that one larger and stronger. If they had Terra, she could have molded them into a boulder and tossed them into the ocean or something…BUT NOOOOOOO! She had to have a mental collapse. So instead they had to painstakingly destroy all seven of them. By the time they got to the seventh one, it was bigger then a two story house. They managed to destroy it when Starfire, Shade, Beast Boy, and Raven lifted it up as high as they could and dropped deep in the forest. …all the poor trees. Oh well. It was a small price to pay to make a giant rock creature go BOOM.
Beast Boy: Dude…I'm so sore, my SHOES hurt.
Raven: I'd roll my eyes but I can't feel my face.
Finding Terra, now happy and laughing, only made it worse. She was talking to Tara about…stuff.
Tara: No way! He actually did it?
Terra: No lie! Shade licked the stop sign and his tongue got stuck! We had to get a blow dryer, plug it into Cyborg, and heat the sign up to get him off.
Shade: Hey! You swore to never bring that up again!
Raven stared at him.
Raven: …you licked a stop sign?
Shade: …the snot rag dared me.
Beast Boy: He destroyed the camera though.
Raven: …damnation. I would have liked to see that.
Shade: Whose side are you on, woman?!
Shrugging, Raven plopped down on the couch, letting out an exhausted and slightly pained sigh.
Raven: Whichever amuses me more, I suppose.
Starfire sputtered over to Terra and Tara, just barely flying. She put her arms around the both of them and squeezed.
Starfire: Joyous! Terra, you are not suicidal! Now Raven owes me money!
Raven: …I'll pay you when I get the money, Star.
Starfire's eyes flashed dangerously.
Starfire: You are not thinking of performing the "ducking out" upon me, are you Raven?
Raven gulped and waved her hands in front of her. Somehow the idea of Starfire stalking her for owed money didn't sound fun.
Raven: Oh, Azar, no. I just spent all my money on a book yesterday. I'll stop by the bank tomorrow and I'll get you it.
Starfire put her face right into the pale girl's. There was a brief moment of tense silence before Starfire smiled brightly.
Starfire: Very well! Your idea is acceptable. Now…let us celebrate Terra's return to sanity with the treated frozen dairy products!
Robin: Ice cream?
Starfire: Yes, that is it.
Tara: An excuse to pig out on ice cream? …studying can wait!
Terra: Damn straight.
The others just groaned and sat down. Terra and Tara sweatdropped.
Both: …we'll get it.
Tara: You guys just rest and do…whatever you do when you're not fighting crime.
They went to get the ice cream.
Terra: (whisper) Thanks for not mentioning my…flipping out.
Tara: No problem. Thanks for not mentioning me using my powers.
Terra: A deal is a deal, you know? I'm Terra, you're Tara, we're both happy.
Tara: I couldn't agree more. …okay, why is that spoon stuck to the ceiling?
Terra: Aaah…um…er…vanilla or chocolate?
THE END