The carnival rides are roaring in the background. Kids are laughing and enjoying themselves. Terra is also laughing and having fun with her friends from school.
It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and everyone had their favorite summer clothes on. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. It was perfect for a teenager in her youth. Terra wore a huge smile on her face without a care in the world. Life was good.
Terra had just got off a roller coaster with some friends and they were waiting for the rest of their friends to meet up with them to head to another ride just outside the fun house and carnival games. Then a familiar voice from behind her gets her attention.
"Terra!"
She turned and looked in the direction of the voice. She found herself starring at the house of mirrors. Confused as to who was calling her name, she turns back to her friends hoping to ask if they heard it too.
"Hey... did you guys..." Terra gasped before she could finish.
To her horror, she finds that she is all alone now. In fact... no one was around her. The carnival was abandoned. It looked like no one had been there in years though everything was still functional.
She started to feel uneasy and the sky grew dark as if someone had dimmed the sunlight on command.
"Terra!"
The voice called again. It was friendly. Like someone from her childhood was egging her to complete a dare. She started to get nervous. She didn't know who this was after all. But she was getting paranoid and the lonliness was only making it worse. So she started walking towards the house of mirrors to find this friendly voice.
Once inside she saw that many mirrors were shattered but when she entered a circular room surrounded by mirrors they were all in perfect condition. However; her reflection confused her. Or at least... not how it should have confused her. Instead of reflecting a funny or goofy image of herself like the house of mirrors was supposed to, it reflected something else. Something dark.
She could see herself but could barely recognize it was actually her. Her reflection was wearing a slim suit of armor with the emblem "S" on her chest. Her face was fierce with determination and anger even though she herself was not making that expression. What scared her even more was the fact the reflection did not mimic any of her movements. It was as if her reflection was a completely separate person.
Everywhere she looked this other Terra was starring back at her intensely.
"It's your life Terra. It's your choice. It's never too late to change."
Terra looked up at the ceiling. That voice again. It sounded different than before. Like it was lingering in the air all around her. It was so familiar. She could have sworn she heard those words before. She looked back at the mirrors to see the facial expression on the reflection had changed. Her eyes were shut and she looked remorseful. Like she had done something terrible and felt the need to redeem herself.
Terra started walking towards the mirror in front of her...
"TERRA!"
Terra jumped from the volume of the voice and a jolt of fear chilled her body to the bone. She looked around again to see if the voice had an origin. The voice sounded frightened as if in danger. Just as the voice faded, the reflections face went back to fierce but her eyes remained closed. Terra moved closer to the reflection.
She was so close she could nearly see her breath fog up the mirror. Terra's heart was racing and her imagination was peaking with curiosity. But all this was about to turn to unshakable fear.
Her reflection's eyes shot open, glowing sinister yellow. A sight that could strike fear into the heart of the bravest solider.
Terra stumbled backwards as her legs gave out from under her, and she fell to the ground. Panicking, she crawled backwards to the center of the room looking all around her for an exit only to see the reflection in every direction. Her reflection held a hand out towards her, palm facing down, fingers extended, almost as if her hand was controlling something.
"TERRA NO!"
Immediately following those words the ground underneath Terra started to rumble. The reflection grew a dark smirk like she was about to enjoy what happend next. Her hair started to defy gravity and her aura started to glow the same sinister yellow as her eyes.
"NO!"
She closed her hand into a fist and all the mirrors around Terra shattered as the ground cracked in every direction under her and crumbled into a deep and dark abyss that seemed to have no end. Terra shrieked in horror as fell in the darkness.
She jolted awake with a loud and frightened gasp. She sat straight up in bed. She was breathing heavily as beads of sweat rolled down her forehead. Her heart was pounding in her chest. She looked around to find she was in her room. The time read 2:55AM on her digital clock that sat on her night stand next to her bed. She started to calm down when she realized it was just a dream. Reality started to set in. This wasn't the first time she had this dream. She curled her knees into her chest, put her head down and started to cry into her lap.
Why does this keep happening? She thought to herself as she sobbed. Ever since that kid talked to me at school, I keep having the same dream over and over.
Terra may not remember anything from her past but the war inside herself was still far from over.
It's been a week since she spoke to Beastboy. But every day since, she's had the same nightmare.
Back at the tower Raven and Robin were sitting on the couch. Raven with a new book and Robin watching tv. Cyborg was in the garage working on the T-Car waiting on results from scan he used on the mechanical creature to finally produce something useful.
Starfire was in the kitchen cooking food from her home planet. It had a very slimy smell and looked like sweet potatoes mixed with creamy mud
"Friends!" Starfire exclaimed to Raven and Robin, "would you care to try my home world's meal of glargnack? It is most delicious!"
Raven looked up from her book at Robin with a stern you can't be serious look on her face. Robin picked up on that, turned to Starfire and politely declined.
"No thanks, Star. Appreciate the offer though!" He said with a smile.
Starfire was not surprised and didn't press the offer any further and floated with her homemade meal back to her room with a smile from ear to ear.
Raven looked at Robin unsure if she should say anything. But now that they were alone she figured this might be her only chance. She closed her book and spoke up.
"Robin," she started, "it's been a week since Beastboy went berserk on that... thing. He hasn't come out of his room for anything other than food. I'm starting to worry... This is getting serious."
Robin continued watching tv but listened intently to what raven said. He heard the insistent urgency in her voice.
"I agree," he finally replied, "but I have no idea how to help him. We all tried talking to him. He even turned down Starfire when she knocked on his door," he turned to face Raven, his expression was strict and serious, "I think he really might have run into Terra. What else could have affected him to this level?"
As much as Raven hated to admit it, Robin was right. Terra has been the only one who ever affected him on an emotional level like this.
She looked down at her hands holding her book in her lap, "What did you try saying to him?"
"I just asked if he wanted to talk about anything," Robin respond looking back at the tv, "you know me. I'm not the type to intrude on anyones privacy." Robin spoke with a small amount of confusion as to why Raven cared so much about this.
Raven slowly looked back up at Robin, "well you should try harder," Raven shot back with force.
Robins gaze shifted back to Raven with a raised eyebrow. This response took him by surprise, "well... uh... I don't even know what I'd say..." He lifted his hand to his chin pondering how a conversation with Beastboy would have gone if he tried talking to him. He then lowered his hand and looked back at Raven, "have you talked to him? Is there something you know that I don't?"
Raven blushed and realized how she sounded when she put Robin on the spot like that. She looked back down at her hands still holding her book in her lap and asked herself why she said that. She's never felt this way towards a teammate's emotional well-being before. She started to wonder why she was feeling like this.
"N-no." She studdered as she recovered from her thoughts, "I haven't tried talking to him." Her blush started to fade as she sighed and opened up her book, "I kinda wish someone would commit a crime so it would force him out of his room."
Just as she finished that sentence the lights went red and started flashing. Alarms bellowed through the tower as Starfire, Cyborg and Beastboy made their way into the living area where Robin and Raven were. Raven looked up from her book at Robin with an expression that screamed don't even say it.
Robin looked at Raven and smiled, "careful what you wish for." He looked back at the rest of the team, "TITANS MOVE!"