Chapter Text
The bioship was quiet of conversation, but oh so loud in a thousand other ways. Nightwing’s every shift was tight and waiting to break. Superboy’s huffs replaced any sound ventilation would have made in another ship. Violet’s occasional sob tore through, but let the atmosphere crash back to normal shortly enough.
Tara did not bother to look at the others. She stared out the window at the passing ocean. They might not have judged her, but she judged herself.
The reflection showed Artemis walking towards her. The woman placed a hand on Tara’s shoulder, and she whispered, “Want to sit with me or Violet?”
Tara shook her head. “I just need rest.”
Artemis nodded, and slinked back to her seat. Tara put her head down, trying to get Brion’s harsh words out of her mind and not succeeding at all.
A faint whisper brushed against her mind, time rewind, and Tara snuggled to try and get more comfortable. At some point, the seat belt must have come off.
“Tara, I did not realize you were so tired,” a warm voice said, bouncing her eyes awake. A hand brushed some hair out of her face, and she was staring up in Brion’s warm eyes.
It was only through Shadows training she was able to keep the pounding of her heart off her face. “Ah, sorry. I think I will go freshen up,” she said, walking to the next room.
She looked at her phone. February 14th, 18:34. The past day, the coup in Markovia, all of it was just a dream. She sent off her text to Deathstroke, and went back to see her brothers. She flashed them a smile at their concerned looks, and went along with their conversations.
Perhaps that was just how she wanted Artemis to act. To be accepted, to let herself be weak. But her dream showed just how that would end up, and she knew she would be betrayed at some point.
Tara tried to shove away thoughts about how real the dream was, even as the conversation with her siblings was following the same lines as in her dream before the television showed Baron DeLamb’s coup.
The edges of her vision felt fuzzy for a moment. She breathed in and out carefully, barely aware of the world around her.
“-Tara?” She looked up at Gregor’s concerned face, feeling a warm hand rubbing circles on her back as Brion held out a cup of water for her. “Tara, you can stay here with me if you wish.”
She tensed up at that. “No, I can- I need to go. Brion, you need me there.” She stared said brother in the eyes, pleading as much as she could. “I think you should stay here with Gregor instead.”
They both startled at that. Gregor frowned. “Tara…”
“You know I cannot do that. Not while Markovia is in danger, and with all my training.”
“I am not staying here while you risk your life.” Tara stood up. “If you are going, then I am going.”
Gregor looked between the two of them. “Tara, there is no shame if you are not ready to face Bedlam. We won’t think less of you for knowing your limits.”
“It is not my limits you need to worry about,” she ground out, staring Brion in the eyes.
“Alllright.” Brion took out his phone. “I informed the Outsiders. We can meet at the Premiere Building and come up with a plan to free Markovia. Tara, want to walk with me?”
Brion hadn’t asked that before. He hadn’t needed to. Tara nodded, and followed him onto the streets.
The slight chill took some of the bite from her as it cut into her thoughts. What was she thinking? Brion was here, not mad at her.
But what right did he have to be mad at her? What he did was so much worse.
Tara stewed in her thoughts for a couple of blocks before Brion’s voice cut in. “Tara, are you alright? You know you can talk to me.”
His words were like hot chocolate on Christmas Eve, which only sharpened their impact. Tara rounded on him. “You only want to go because you want to overthrow Gregor.”
Brion blinked, then chuckled. “Funny. But Tara, what is the real reason?”
“That is the real reason.”
This time he staggered back, and fixed her with a deep look. She stared back, noticing the moment his breath hitched and his shoulders rolled back to ceremony formal straightness.
“After everything, you have so little faith in me?”
Tara opened her mouth, but the words of course I have faith and but I saw you got tangled in her throat and nothing came out.
“I see.” His glance swung back to the sidewalk. Gone was the hot chocolate, in was the winter ice. “Let us go to make a plan to save Markovia from a coup, and allow our brother to rule as king in peace.”
Tara nodded, picking up her pace and pushing herself into the Premier Building in the hope that she could leave that conversation behind. When she saw Tigress standing there, she practically melted in relief.
Beside her, Brion folded his arms and explained the situation. It wasn’t long before the planning session broke up the same way as last time, even if Brion was a bit distant to her.
At some point, Tigress drifted over and took her mask off. Those were the eyes of someone who knew and offered her a choice, someone who cared about her and hugged her when everything went oh so wrong. And those were the eyes of the person saying, “Are you alright?” before gently placing a hand on her arm.
Then Tara glanced back at Brion, and at the current intel regarding Bedlam. “I don’t know.”
Artemis nodded. “Understandable. But know that whatever happens, we are here for you.”
Tara nodded with a smile. Artemis flashed one back and something loosened.
Then she caught sight of Brion’s gaze, and everything felt tight once more.
Feeling the slight buzz in her pocket, Tara made as if to get a drink of water and then checked it. It was the same message as last time.
She took a glass of water and gulped it. She had chosen the Team over Slade, had betrayed him. Was this a trap? Would he know just by looking at her? But avoiding the meeting would also be suspicious and make everything worse.
Maybe what happened was just a very realistic dream. Maybe everything would go differently, and she was being paranoid.
“Are you alright?” The voice came from Superboy, who was picking up his own glass of water. “Sorry, didn’t mean to pry, but you seem a bit agitated.”
“Of course I’m agitated!” Tara realized how she said that, and took a deep breath. “I mean, I think I need to go for a walk. To clear my head.”
He tilted his head, then shrugged. “Alright. We’re still waiting to see if the Justice League can be allowed to go into Markovia. That could take several hours, and we’re still processing incoming information and getting things set up with Oracle. Clear your head, and get what rest you can. It’s going to be a big mission.”
Tara let out a breath and genuinely smiled. “Thank you. I will be back soon.” With that she fled the warm yellow glow of the kitchen for Slade’s favorite dark alleyway.
“Well Terra, this is a big moment.”
Tara nodded, staring up at him. She had texted him with the promise that her brothers would be safe and she could kill Bedlam. Slade always kept his promises.
He reached into his pocket, and handed out the comm link. Tara accepted it carefully, feeling its weight as if it burned into her and was a chain around her neck. In a dream, or an imagining, she had disobeyed orders and thrown it aside.
“Nervous?”
“It feels unreal,” Tara said honestly. “But I can do this.”
“Good girl.”
As usual, Tara took a winding path back to the Premier Building. In and out, every breath and step. The comm wasn’t on yet- Deathstroke didn’t need to hear her every breath until the mission began- but it was there.
It wasn’t long until she snuck back into the Premier building, and walked towards her room before staring up at the small little device.
Safety for her brothers, revenge on DeLamb, Slade’s approval, all for the price of everyone else.
They already knew. Artemis and Nightwing at least knew she was a Shadow and in contact with Deathstroke, and didn’t judge her for it. Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Halo wouldn’t judge her for it. The only people who would were herself and Brion.
She snarled. Where did he get off, accusing her of betrayal as he betrayed everyone?
There were faint voices coming from her brother’s room. Listening in would be easy, but Tara did not care to hear his voice right now. She took a pillow and shoved it over her head, blocking out any words from the room next door.
Again, everything was the same. The plan, the fit of the comm in her ear, the angry chattering as Luthor unsurprisingly denied Markovia aid. Reality was a distant haze as she lived in her dream. She began the timed march to the staging area when a warm hand fell on her shoulder.
Tara almost moved into a fighting stance before she realized whose hand it was. Brion waited for her to settle before he took a deep breath. “Tara, I know this is stressful for you. And I am sorry for reacting poorly. But I am not our uncle, and we can beat him together.”
She looked up into his eyes. “I know we can. It is what you might do after that worries me.”
The second sentence had rushed out like a demon out of Pandora’s box, and no matter what Tara knew she could not stuff it back in. The light in her brother’s eyes died a little, and his hand fell off her shoulder. “I see. I do not know why you have so little faith in me, but I suppose that can wait until Bedlam is put back in jail.”
He walked up to the Bioship, clearly reigning himself in. Why was she letting a dream dictate her words?
At least, she prayed it was only a dream.
Terra sighed, and recentered. She had a mission to do.
Alpha beta gamma, to the palace and to the killing fields, plan the same as before. The Bioship flew in, and Cyborg opened up a boom tube for Alpha to enter the palace.
The calm fog of deja vu blunted her rage. She dragged Bedlam towards her, scowling, as another part of her mind told her to brace for a slap.
The slap never came. Brion tackled Bedlam to the ground.
Shock froze her. This was not right. Brion could not pull up lava from the palace floor without destabilizing the building. What was he doing?
Crunching sounds and screams set her heart on fire. In the moment she paused, Bedlam had used his superior strength to crunch Brion’s arm to pulpy uselessness. Before she could process the thought, Bedlam had punched Brion’s head right into the hard granite floor.
His skull was cracked open. Blood flowed. Tara could almost hear her mother going ‘oh, that will stain.’
Tara’s cry of rage shook the entire palace. Slade was saying something, but that did not matter. Beast Boy and Cyborg were fighting Bedlam, but he was hers. She rushed towards him, wanting to crush him, but in her impulse she had forgotten sense.
Bedlam’s sword went right through her gut. She fell next to her brother, unable to tell if the moisture on her face was blood, sweat, or tears. His face was slack and could almost be mistaken for peaceful if it wasn’t for the puddle by his cheek.
Coldness overtook her, and Tara could not keep her eyes open. She closed them, and was in darkness.
The darkness was not empty.
Slow clapping made Tara turn around. She looked down, and saw herself in her hoodie and jeans instead of her Terra costume. She looked up.
There was a man dressed smartly, hands on his jacket that he fluffed out. His hair was styled back, and he smiled at her.
“Hello there. I do believe it is time to introduce myself.”
Tara tightened her fists and simply watched as he strolled around the empty space. He took out a red handkerchief, waved it, and suddenly lights came on to reveal a grand hall. Music started to play.
“No dramatics. Just tell me.”
The music paused, and he frowned. “Well, I’m the Music Meister. Usually I do a song to introduce myself, hence the name. But you don’t want a musical number, you want a do-over. And your first do-over didn’t go so well, did it?”
Ice washed over her. “That wasn’t a dream? I was truly reliving events?”
“Yes, probably should have explained that better. Oh well, no time like the present. And it is a gift- I will give you as many do-overs as you need to get things right.”
Tara could prevent Brion from dying. She could save Markovia and make everything right. Tara grinned. “I- thank you. Very much.”
His dark eyes and knowing smile slithered under her skin. “Don’t thank me quite yet. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if you cursed my name before you get things right.”
Then he was gone, and Tara blinked her eyes open to the sound of her brothers’ voices once more.