Chapter 8 :The Screaming Statue(3)

By the time the Titans calmed down enough to take in what was going on around them, Naruto had disappeared without a trace. Because of them needing to get Terra back to the tower, Robin decided that they would need to wait until later to find him, though he wasn't sure if he was going to thank him or interrogate the blonde yet. He would decide when they were next face to face.

The moment they were back at the tower, they all rushed to sickbay and Beast Boy gently lay the girl in his arms on a bed. They all stood back as Cyborg ran multiple tests with several different machines. After an hour of scans, he put an IV drip in her arm because she was dehydrated, and waited for her to wake up.

As they were waiting, Robin turned his attention to Raven with a question.

"What was on that paper?"

Taking her eyes off the blonde laying on the bed in front of her, the blue haired girl turned them to her leader with an unreadable expression on her face.

"A very old spell that I had all but given up hope of ever finding. I've been looking for it ever since this happened to Terra. I don't know how he found it."

Deciding to join in on the conversation, Cyborg decided to add in his idea.

"He collects rare books right? Maybe he found it in one of them."

Shaking her head, Raven looked back to Terra without really seeing her, lost in her thoughts.

"I've read all his books, remember? There was nothing in any of them. This kind of information is beyond anything even he has in his collection."

"Maybe you haven't seen all his collection. What if he had others, that are more valuable, kept in a safe place? Remember that guy with the thug when we first met him? If he wasn't the first, maybe Naruto decided to hide the others."

Before they could discuss it further, a moan was heard from the bed and they all turned to see Terra shifting weakly. Slowly, she opened her eyes, looking around the room in confusion. Her eyes stayed slightly glazed over for a minute, not really seeing what was going on. Beast Boy squeezed her hand. Almost instantly, her eyes cleared up and locked on the green teen. She just stared at him for a moment, tears slowly building in her eyes. Without warning, Terra threw herself at the green teen and pulled him into a hug, crying on his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for any of it to happen, I was just so desperate."

Gently patting her on the back, tears starting to build in his own eyes, Beast Boy held her close for a few minutes as Terra continued to cry into his shoulder, apologizing over and over again. It wasn't until 10 minutes later, when she had calmed down enough to stop crying, that the blonde realized that they weren't the only two in the room.

Looking down so that she didn't meet any of their eyes, Terra let a small sheepish smile cross her lips as she rubbed he hands together nervously.

"Um... hey guys."

All the Titans, except Raven, rushed the poor girl and pulled her into a group hug, laughing at the shocked look on her face. At the side of the bed, Raven let a small smile cross her face at the sight of her friends, including Terra, being so happy.

For the next three days, they all stayed at Terra's bedside almost constantly while she recuperated, talking and filling her in on what had happened while she was gone. Luckily, nothing bad happened in the city during those three days to call them away, which meant they didn't have to leave her alone in the tower. On the third day, Terra was able to get out of the bed, though she did need Beast Boy to help her walk seeing, and they moved to the common room.

They sat around the girl as she told them what it was like being turned into stone.

"It was terrible. I couldn't see or hear anything. Even though I could feel my body, no matter how hard I tried I couldn't move an inch. It was like I was floating in some kind of abyss and, after a while, I started to lose track of time. Minutes blended into hours, and hours into days. That was when I started screaming."

As she talked, they all saw how her eyes took on a haunted look to them and her body began to shake slightly at the memory. Because he was sitting next to her, Beast Boy put a hand on her shoulder in an effort to comfort her, getting a grateful smile for his efforts. Letting out a slightly shaky sigh, Terra continued.

"I don't know how long I was screaming, and I know no one could hear me. I didn't need to sleep and ,because it was in my head, I didn't need to stop so I just kept screaming. Then it happened. Out of nowhere, I saw a light. Well... not saw exactly. More like I felt it. I don't know what it was, or where it was coming from, but I knew it was far away. Then it just disappeared. I didn't see it again until just before you guy brought me back. It was so close, bright and warm like the sun. I could feel it wrapping around me like a safety blanket. The next thing I knew, I could move again and you guys were there. I felt the light linger for a moment, then it disappeared like the first time."

They all shared a confused look for a moment, trying to think of what she could have been talking about, not understanding what the light she was talking about could have been. They were all slightly shocked when Beast Boy spoke.

"You don't think... I mean, he was the only other person with us at the time... and he started acting really strange when we showed him the video link..."

Looking at each of them in turn with a questioning look on her face, Terra looked back to the green shape shifter sitting next to her and tilted her head slightly to the side.

"Who are you talking about?"

Deciding to answer her question, Robin leaned forward in his seat with a contemplative look on his masked face.

"Naruto, Raven's boyfriend-"

"He is not my Boyfriend!"

"-was with us when we changed you back. It was actually him that gave us the spell Raven used to free you. He came to the tower a few weeks before and, after he asked about you when he saw the photo on the table, we showed him a live video link we set up in the cave so we could keep an eye on you. After that he started acting weird and left. None of us saw him for two weeks. Then, out of nowhere, he showed up at the door in the middle of the night looking like he hadn't slept in days, told us not to ask any questions and gave Raven a sheet of paper with the spell on it. We came straight to the cave. He was with us but, just as we were leaving, we noticed he was nowhere to be seen."

Shrugging her shoulders slightly, Terra just smiled to herself for a moment before looking up at the group again.

"I guess I owe him my thanks."

Her eyes on the floor, Raven thought for a moment before looking back up to the blonde girl, startling Terra slightly at the intense look being directed at her.

"What did it feel like? The light, I mean. You said it was like the sun, but what else?"

Closing her eye in thought, Terra frowned slightly at the memory.

"I don't know how to explain it. Like I said, it was comforting, but that was what was being directed at me, like it was trying to make me feel better. It was so powerful, like nature itself was concentrated into one spot. I could feel it spreading warmth throughout my body. But... when I felt it in the cave, when it was so close..."

Trailing off, the teens started to panic when the earth user started to cry.

"... It was so lonely, so sad. I think it was comforting me without realizing it, because he couldn't stand the idea of something else feeling anywhere close to how it felt. It held so much pain... I don't understand... how could something so sad and in so much pain feel so good to be around? When you freed me, I wasn't screaming because of being trapped. I was screaming for the light, for its pain."

Pulling the girl into another hug as she cried into his shoulder yet again, Beast Boy looked to his friends with an even more confused look then before Terra's description.

"That don't sound anything like Naruto. He always acts so happy whenever we see him."

Frowning, Robin let out a sigh of frustration, running a hand over his face and shaking his head slightly. He didn't say anything for a few minutes, lost in his thoughts as the others waited to hear what he thought. Nodding his head to himself, the boy wonder stood up from his seat and looked to Raven and held out his hand.

"The only one that can make any sense of any of this is Naruto. It's Monday, so he wouldn't open the store. Do you have his number?"

Hesitating for a moment, Raven nodded her head and passed her mobile to her brightly dressed friend after bringing up the blondes number.

XXX

Naruto was sitting at his usual table in the tea shop, with a book in his hand and a cup of his favorite green tea on the table in front of him. After he had seen the girl was fine, and the Titans were taking care of her, the blonde had discreetly left the cave before flashing back to his home and falling to sleep in his bed. He may be able to function without much sleep, but it still took a lot out of him. The next day, he woke up at his normal time, did his morning workout, got dressed and continued his day like he would any other.

To be honest, he had thought the Titans would be at his shop with a hundred questions. Robin, he knew, would definitely be coming sooner or later with Raven only a few steps behind. But they never came. After three days had passed, there had been no sign of them, including Raven. He assumed they were with the girl, Terra, if he remembered her name correctly, and were waiting to make sure she wouldn't suffer any side effects.

That was fine by him. The longer they waited, the longer he had before he would have to answer their questions, not that he would anyway if he didn't want to.

He had just finished his tea when he felt his pocket vibrating. he pulled out his phone, taking a look at the caller ID. Naruto let out a resigned sigh before answering.

"Naruto here."

"It's Robin. I need you to come to Titan Tower. "

He wasn't surprised that it wasn't Raven, even if it was her phone used to call him.

"I'll be there in ten. Don't get your tights in a bunch, traffic light-san."

"My names not tr-"

Before he could finish, Naruto hung up his phone and made his way down the street, back to his shop to pick up his 'get well' present for the girl.