Identity Crisis

Old Regrets and Memories

"He'll just show up out of nowhere, it doesn't matter where I am or what I'm doing," Tara shivered, "He doesn't say anything except my name, he just repeats it over and over and over in this monotone voice until I can't stand it anymore, and I have to do something anything to get away," she cringed at the memory, "But I can't move, I'm not in control of my own body, and I just..." she couldn't continue, saying it aloud sounded crazy, but at the same time it brought back all the gruesome horror she'd felt. She took a deep breath to compose herself and continued, "I came here because I thought you might be able to tell me something about this." She placed a drawing of the mask on the table.

Robin reached forward and somberly examined the drawing. "Slade," he growled. Beast Boy stood up and examined the picture, eyes narrowed, teeth gritted.

"Do you recognize him?" asked Beast Boy, Tara shook her head.

"No," she said, "At least I think I don't. I thought I remembered something but after he appears it all becomes a blur," she thought for a second, "Wait, Slade... from the stories you told me, about that girl, Terra!" she exclaimed, "That must be where I remembered him from! It totally makes sense!"

"Except for the fact that you keep seeing him everywhere," Raven interjected, "And no one else is. Sound familiar, Robin?" she asked.

Robin's eyes widened with realization as he remembered his own experience with Slade. He'd seen him everywhere, but no one else had. "When do you see him?" asked Robin, it had only happened to him in the dark. But the tower was well lit right now, so that couldn't be the cause.

"Just random moments," Tara shrugged, "I'll be going about my business and he'll just show up."

"Tara, we need to know more than that," said Raven, "You need to tell us everything that's happened to you over the past week."

Tara nodded, "Ok," she breathed as she tried to recall her entire week until then. She told them everything, from meeting Beast Boy up until she started seeing Slade. "I was on a date," she murmured nervously. She saw Beast Boy cringe out of the corner of her eye, and she was flooded with guilt for leaving him at the bus stop that day. She hadn't even spoken to him, at least not until it was too late. "We went to an amusement park," she continued, "We ate some pie, played some games. You know normal stuff."

Beast Boy glanced at her, his eyebrows furrowed. This sounded familiar, It was the only date he'd ever gone on with Tara; the amusement park.

"Then we got on the ferris wheel and he just showed up out of nowhere." Tara finished. The Titans looked at each other, baffled, except for Raven. She was staring straight at Beast Boy, as if she knew something.

"We'll scan you to check for Nano-bots or anything else that might be causing this," said Cyborg, jumping off the couch, "Follow me."

Everyone left the room, except for Beast Boy. He checked that he was alone, then he sighed and sprawled himself across the couch. What Terra said had gotten him thinking, maybe her visions were connected with their first date. Also, about the way things used to be for that brief point of time when everything was perfect. He'd really believed it was gonna work out. After all, everything was going his way, until it wasn't. But Tara was right, it was over, he was just kidding himself thinking that he was important to her. She had a new life now; she had a boyfriend! She was happy, and that's all that mattered

He stalked over to the kitchen to grab a few essentials. Pizza, tofu, syrup, waffles, and five or six ice cream cartons. Then he sat on the couch and started watching whatever was on TV.