The next morning, Beast Boy had not come out of his room, not even for breakfast. Cyborg knocked at the door, “Come on, man. I made your favorite soy-waffles.” but Beast Boy would not come out. He was still far too angry about the way his friends had behaved with him the other day, refusing to believe he did not go into Raven’s room.

“Look, I’ll leave it outside the door for you.” Cyborg called to him, and he left a plate of waffles and a little cup of syrup outside of Beast Boy’s door. Then he returned to lounge to join the others, “He’s not budging.”

The others sighed in dismay. “I hope that he will come round soon.” said Starfire. Robin hoped so too, and then he turned to face Raven, “Start talking…” he told her.

“What?” Raven asked.

“What was the deal with that book? You acted as if it’s really dangerous. Just how dangerous is it?”

Raven twiddled her thumbs on her lap softly, “It’s worse than you think.” And she began to explain about The Dark Prognosticus,

She didn’t know where it originally came from, but according to the monks of Azarath, who raised her, it once belonged to her father, Trigon, before he was sealed away in the underworld. It was said to be a book of extremely dark prophecies and magic beyond imagination.

“One day, the book just appeared, and Trigon began to use the evil powers with in to increase his own malicious might. The more power he gained, the more pages were added to the book, and the powers within it became more and more evil.

Soon, Trigon discovered that he was losing control. The book had become so powerful, it nearly destroyed him.

When my father was imprisoned in the underworld, the monks of Azarath discovered the tome, and realizing that the magic was far too dangerous to study, so they attempted to magically seal the book to prevent it from being opened or read again...

But that book... it actually was resonating, as if was trying to defend itself; almost as if it were alive.

In the end, the monks managed to make a seal, but due to the book pushing back, the seal came with one small flaw: Only someone with heart filled with extreme hatred and darkness would be able to unleash the powers within.

Other than that, the book was pretty much sealed."

The other Titans thought that very frightening indeed. “Then how come you got the book?”

“I am the spawn of Trigon.” Raven explained, “It became my soul-duty to guard the book, to ensure that its magic can never be released. If it is released…I don’t know what unspeakable horrors may happen!”

Now the titans understood why she flipped her lid at Beast Boy the other day; still believing he went into her room and just took it.

“Please…” Starfire asked, “If the book is as horrible as you say it is, why do you not simply destroy it?”

Raven signed, “I can’t. I’ve already tried, again and again, but that book is made a special material. It won’t break.”

“Oh, it’s gonna break, alright…” Cyborg said with a creepy look in his eyes.

Raven decided to let him knock himself out, and got the book from her room.

Cyborg tried everything. He tried cutting it with scissors. The scissors broke, and the book was unharmed.

He tried a buzz-saw in the workshop. The saw blade got bent and dented, but no effect on the book.

Starfire even tried blasting it with her powers, and robin threw his disc-bombs at it. Finally, Cyborg took the book, placed it in the garage, and used a powerful flame-thrower. He blasted such a blaze and didn’t stop until the gas had run out… but the book wasn’t even singed!

“Okay, it’s not breaking.” Cyborg said finally admitting defeat.

The book lay on the floor, wide open, and Robin picked it up. He looked at the strange text written on the pages, “What kind of writing is this?” he wondered. “I don’t know…” Raven said as she took the book back from him, “Not even the greatest Azarath scholars were able to figure it out. The point is: I can’t let this book fall into the wrong hands.”

She then headed for her room to put the book in a very safe place she hoped no one would even think of looking.

As the Titans all walked down the hall, Cyborg noticed the plate of waffles was still by Beast Boy’s room, untouched. Cyborg could only sigh in dismay, “What is wrong with that kid?” he wondered.

Robin was thinking of that too, and he decided maybe they would all have to help Beast Boy try and move on and forget about Terra, to which the others agreed, feeling it was for Beast Boy’s own good.

Twilight found herself walking along a black hall of nothingness. “Hello?” she called out, but no one answered her. “Okay… this is… kind of creepy.”

Suddenly, a light appeared at the end of the darkness. She dashed for it, and suddenly, all before her; a terrible sight met her eyes…!

Ponyville was all in ruins! Buildings were completely shattered and their remains were a blaze. The lands all around were scorched and smoldering. The skies were all red and nasty with chaotic storms and lightning flashing. Worse than that, there was a sign of her friends, or any pony anywhere. Even Spike was nowhere to be found.

“What’s going on here?”

“I am returning…!” a sinister voice hissed along the winds.

“Who’s there?” cried Twilight.

“I will destroy…!” was her only response as the ground around her began to rumble and shatter and she fell through a long spiraling vortex, screaming in the darkness…

…And then she woke up, in a terrifying gasp. She panted heavily as she tried to catch her breath.

“Twilight?” cried Spike as he hopped out from his basket at the foot of her bed “What’s wrong?”

Twilight caught her breath and sighed, “It was just a nightmare. Yet, it felt so real! I could almost actually feel it.”

Spike could only shake his head in disdain, “Now that’s exactly what I was worried about; you’re overworking yourself again. You spent all that time researching the two tomes you didn’t rest well.”

Twilight agreed with him, but that nightmare… She still felt maybe, just maybe, it was something more.

A week had passed, and Twilight seemed to have the same recurring dream every night, only every time she witnessed a different part of Equestria completely destroyed, and that same recurring voice hissing at her… “I am returning! I will destroy!”

She always woke up in a fright, and now she was more than convinced that these dreams were probably some kind of warning.

Not wanting to worry her friends, she wrote a letter to Princess Celestia, explaining about her stress, and the next night, Princess Luna came to see her.

“Now, Twilight…” she explained to her, “Once you fall asleep, I shall visit the dream realm and look into your nightmares. I pray that is all they are.”

“What do you mean?” asked Spike.

Twilight explained for Luna, “Royal alicorns sometimes have premonitions whenever some kind of danger is about to happen.”

“That is correct.” agreed Luna “If this nightmare of yours is accurate, I believe we could be facing some sort of danger.”

Twilight Spike both shuddered at the idea, but it was only just possible Twilight was having just plain nightmares. Still, there was only one way to find out.

Soon, Twilight had fallen asleep, and Spike fell asleep next to her.

Princess Luna had already raised the moon, and saw that all of Equestria had gone to sleep. “Now, I will act…” she muttered to herself, and she slipped off into the dream realm.

So many ponies were having very unusual dreams.

Rarity dreamt that she herself had become an alicorn and was dubbed a new Princess, just like Twilight was.

Ironically, Spike was having the same dream, only… Princess Rarity chose him as her royal consort, to which he was most delighted.

Pinkie Pie dreamt of the world’s biggest cake.

Applejack was dreaming about actually being courted by a handsome stallion farmer.

Rainbow Dash was dreaming about becoming leader of the Wonderbolts.

Fluttershy was having a plain nightmare about being stuck in Discord’s topsy-turvy world again, but that was nothing to be too concerned with.

“Aha!” Luna cried when she spotted Twilight’s nightmare, and she let herself in.

“Princess Twilight…” Luna called to her.

“Oh, good, you’re here.” Twilight said, and she led her down the dark way to the light, where they emerged in a post-apocalyptic Canterlot.

“Oh, my word…!” Luna murmured as she inspected the damage with Twilight.

The palace was all collapsed into a mountain of rubble, and even the mountain it was built on had been destroyed and was now a bigger mountain of rubble. The village was complete demolished, and not a sign of any life anywhere.

Suddenly the sound of wicked snickering was heard, “Here it comes…!” Twilight whimpered.

“I am returning! I will destroy…!”

Luna didn’t like the sound of that voice at all and what it was threatening, “Who are you?” she demanded to know, but the voice only repeated its threat.

“I am returning! I will destroy…!”

“This is usually when the ground crumples.” Twilight said, and surely enough it did and the princesses fell into the darkness, resulting in Twilight waking up in her traditional gasp, which woke Spike up too.

Luna then reappeared next to the bed, and she looked deeply concerned.

“Well…?” Twilight asked.

Still uncertain of what she had seen, but just as horrified, “I must tell my sister this!” Luna said, and she left the Castle of Friendship through the bedroom window, and then disappeared in a dark flash.

Twilight was most disturbed.

While in the human world, all that week, Terra had been finding it harder and harder to concentrate on her schoolwork. She even flunked two more tests which she actually studied for, and this caused her grades to start slipping, much to the discomfort of her friends.

“So you are thinking about him.” Jackie said.

“What?” she asked in confusion.

“Don’t play dumb with us!” sneered Jillian “You were thinking of him again.”

“N-N-No… I wasn’t!” Terra said trying to cover up, but her stammering gave it all away. “What is with you?” Jackie asked “Was there someone between you and that kid? Is that why he stalked you like some twisted pervert…!”

“He’s not a twisted pervert!” Terra protested, but that only gave it all the more away she was thinking about him. However, she did not wish to tell her two friends the whole story. She would have to think back to all the horrible things she ever did that she was trying forget-- how she was once a loner with Geo-Kenetic Powers. Traveling the world, met the titans, had a small relationship with Beast Boy, and then got involved with Slade, sacrificing herself and turning to stone...!

Publicity of this she feared would make her new friends dislike her, and she’d ruin her normal life. Then where would she go? What would she do?

She was so nervous, that her powers began to awaken again after so long and caused the stone-floor to vibrate softly.

“Whoa! What’s going on?!” cried Jillian.

Terra gasped softly, and quickly managed to conceal her powers not wanting them to awaken again, and the floor stopped rumbling.

Terra then just walked off! “Wait… where are you going?” Jackie called, but Terra didn’t answer. The two girls were now really ticked off with Beast Boy for getting under Terra’s skin and messing her up like this. Even though he hadn’t gone near her since the last time, it changed nothing.

“I think we need to fix that kid once and for all!” Jillian suggested, and her friend agreed, and they looked out the hall window, and could see three big, strong, and burly punks hanging out by the construction zone across the road.

This gave the girls a very nasty idea…!

Terra walked far away from the school, clutching her books hard against her chest. She couldn’t even feel the pressure, or even her feet against the sidewalk. Her head was aching, the same aching it had been doing for days!

She couldn’t stop thinking about Beast Boy, no matter what she tried.

She was so lost in her trauma, that she didn’t watch where she was going and didn’t see the light turn red. She got honked at by a truck that came to a screeching halt, “Hey! Watch it kid!” the angry driver shouted at her.

In a small panic, Terra dashed up the street, dropping her school books along the way, and finally she ducked into an alley where she backed herself up against the wall and slid down to the ground clothing her head.

She did all she could to prevent herself from crying. The pain was really getting to her! “Why…?! Why can’t I just forget about him?!” she cried to herself “Do I actually regret what I did?”

She tried to fight it all she could, but the more she tried, the more she began to think back to all those times she wanted to put behind her. They had been plaguing her for the past while since Beast Boy had first encountered her and tried to ask her to come back with him and she refused.

“I can’t do it!” she said to herself “I just can’t go back to what I was!”

Her mind was made up. She would try all she could to get over these thoughts, and continue with her normal life.

Meanwhile, Beast Boy had emerged from his room, where he had spent the week sulking. He had gone to incredible lengths to ignore his friends, whom he was still mad at for wrongfully accusing him.

He simply changed into a lizard so he wouldn’t have to eat too much, or resorted to snacking on the many old and mouldy foods that lay about in his room. At least this way he wouldn’t have to be near his teammates, but he was growing bored with just laying around all day.

Then again, where would he go anyway? All his favorite hangouts were gone, and no other places like them could be found anywhere in the city. The people themselves hardly respected him at all, and he didn’t feel willing to be around people as such.

So he decided to head to the kitchen for a sip of water. There he found Starfire. “Friend Beast Boy…!” she cried with joy, “You have emerged from your room!” but Beast Boy just walked past her not saying a thing to her.

“Beast Boy…?” she asked calmly, “I… I have made something special for you?”

She got out a laptop, and showed him a special webpage on a dating website Cyborg had shown her how to use and work. “What’s this for?” Beast Boy asked.

“I realized that you are still in woe for this girl who has broken your heart, and I do not wish to see you so unhappy. I feel that you are truly deserving of happiness. So cyborg and I have created for you this site on the world of the webs, in hopes you may find a new person whom you can love.”

Beast Boy didn’t know what to think about this. He felt a little flattered deep down, but he knew in his heart that no girl could ever replace his Terra and never would. Not to mention he wasn’t so sure other girls would even give him the time of day from what he had experienced.

He checked over the page, and it seemed pretty neat. And the Interests were labeled…

-Singing and Dancing

-Comedies

-Is a Vegetarian

-A friend of animals

-Loves video games and hit music.

He lips curled a little into a smile, but it didn’t quite get there, “I notice I have zero dates.” He said pointing at the empty inbox.

Starfire noticed this as well, “I am certain you will soon have girls coming in the non-stop, and soon you will have the happiness you desire… just as I do with Robin.”

Hearing her say that only further infuriated him deep down. Even though he was somewhat happy that Robin and Starfire were an official couple, it only burned him more that Terra dumped him in cold blood.

“Beast Boy…?” Starfire called to him, but he had already left the lounge to go back to his room. Starfire was starting to feel more frustrated than concerned. He didn’t even thank her for the thought or give her a smile.

She began to feel that maybe there was more to his upset than met the eye. Something more than just Terra…!

As Beast Boy walked down the hall, he was really upset with all that was happening, and things only got worse as he passed by, what was once, Terra’s old room while the door was open. “What the…?!” he cried when he saw that the place had been converted into a home office.

All the furniture was gone; the walls had been painted over to steel grey. In place of all of Terra’s old things were now bookshelves, desks and computers for studying.

“Beast Boy…” Robin said as he and Cyborg approached him.

Beast Boy turned his livid face to them and snarled, “What the hell have you done?!”

The guys expected he’d behave like this. “Look, Beast Boy… you have to face the facts, and so do we.” said Robin “Terra’s not ever coming back…!”

Beast Boy cringed at those words!

“…We can’t just keep an empty and unoccupied bedroom.” said Cyborg. That’s when Raven came along with a box full of things he recognized all too well. “Hey! This is all my stuff!” he growled.

One of the objects was a stuffed monkey Terra had one for him at the theme park when she lived at the tower; before she betrayed them all to Slade.

There was also Terra’s old butterfly hair comb she used to wear, and even the Heart-Shaped Mirror Box he had made for her as a romantic gift!

He angrily took the box away from her.

“Beast Boy…!” Robin said in a stern voice “This is for your own good. You need let go of the past and move on!”

Beast Boy refused to let go of the box, like a child refusing to give up an old blanket! “These things mean a lot to me!” he thundered “I’m not letting you get rid of them!”

“Yo’ man… we’re not playing with you.” sneered Cyborg “Give us the box!”

Beast Boy still refused, but finally, Starfire snuck up from behind and grabbed the box. “Hey, give me that back!” he roared trying to fight for the box back, but Raven used her magic to pin him up against the wall allowing Starfire carry the box of Beast Boy’s things. She would take them to the city and donate everything to goodwill, hoping people would buy them.

Raven refused to let Beast Boy down until Starfire had returned so he couldn’t go after her. After she let him go, Beast Boy never felt so upset before.

“Beast Boy…” Starfire said trying to approach him gently, but Beast Boy turned and ran for the nearest window, turned into a bird, and flew away! “Beast Boy!” Robin called to him, but he had already gone.

“If he wants to be a big baby, let him go.” Raven grumbled.

Robin sighed, but he felt what they had done was for the best. Beast Boy needed to move on.

“Robin…” Starfire asked, “I have been thinking. Beast Boy has been acting very unusual lately.”

“Tell us something we don’t know.” said Cyborg. “No!” snapped Starfire “I mean, perhaps there is something more that is disturbing him; something more than just the pain of heartbreak over losing Terra.”

There was a long moment of silence, and the Titans began to feel if maybe that was true, but if Beast Boy wasn’t willing to open up to them, how would they ever find out?

All they could do now was hope he would come back after he had some time to cool off.

Next Chapter: A Rough Resignation Estimated time remaining: 4 Hours, 3 Minutes