@punsandtofu
Two years have passed since everything had happened: saving the city, seeing Slade burn in lava, coming back from her stoney grave; to seeing Beast Boy, that last and final time at school. Terra thought she had wanted to be normal, thought giving up the superhero life would make her safe; perhaps safer from the threats of Slade. She thought she had seen the last of him in the fiery embers, but she was dead wrong it seems.
6 months ago, she could have sworn she had seen his silhouette one day from her peripheral vision when she was at her locker. It had made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, and a feeling of cold dread filled her being.
But when she turned around to face him, Slade was gone. And it was just her in the hallway.
Terra thought it was a side effect after everything she has gone through. The whole coming back alive thing. PTSD, she assumed, and had to deal with. Seeing ghosts. It pissed her off. There was another time, more recent and she finally decided that she had had enough and needed to leave Murakami High for good.
It had been study hall period. She stopped to go to the bathroom, and after washing up, she felt it. His presence. His tall shadow loomed over her from behind. Her hands were shaking, and Terra finally had the courage to look up in the mirror to meet the reflection.
Yes. He was there, behind her. Terra let out a shout. “No!” She screamed. She turned around to face him.
“Hello, apprentice,” Slade greeted her with that same smooth voice she knew. He leaned forward, his gloved hand reaching up to touch some strands of her blonde hair. “It seems we are both back from the dead, hm?”
It wasn’t a shadow this time, not like that time in the hallway. He was here, standing, alive. “H--how?” Terra stammered. Her back was against the sink. How? How? How? “I thought you would have missed me,” Slade chuckled. “I miscalculated. Nevermind how. I’ve been keeping my eye on you. And I will always be there, in the shadows, watching you. Know that, dear child.”
Slade was gone. Left the bathroom. Terra was angry at herself, for not fighting back, for being stuck in her fear. Terra let out another yell, this time aggravated. She glared at her reflection in the mirror, and in a moment of anger, punched the mirror. It cracked and spiderwebbed. The pain and burning in her knuckles gave her a moment of clarity: Terra wasn’t safe at the school anymore. And if Slade was back, she needed to tell the Teen Titans; needed to rejoin them so that together, they will finally end Slade once and for all. Terra needed to be there to witness that day.
She left school that day. Dropped out, without saying goodbye to the group of girlfriends she had made. There was some regret leaving them and school behind. Terra wouldn’t be graduating with them; but there was more important things to do than worry about school.
Two years. Two years, and no sign of Slade up until now. Why now? Why was this happening now? What was he planning? Hopefully she’ll figure that out with the Titans.
Okay. Just knock on the door. Ring the doorbell. Shout. Do something. Dooooooo anything. Besides just stand here in the dark like a creep.
Terra seemed frozen, however. Had been, for about five minutes, stuck in negative thoughts. Like she had been frozen when Slade had confronted her. What if they don’t want to see me? What if they won’t believe me about Slade? What if Raven still hates me. I wouldn’t blame her-- The geomancer inhaled sharply. Right. Slade. Terra found the courage to knock on the tower’s door.
. “Hey!” The blonde shouted. “Anyone home to greet an old friend?”
