NINETEEN.

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━ END OF THE EARTHxix

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END OF THE EARTH
xix. second chances
┈┈┈┈┈┈┈୨♡୧┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

     HERE'S WHAT PEOPLE DON'T MENTION ABOUT COMING BACK FROM THE DEAD: IT HURTS. Having your heart linked up with another's, being dragged back from the edge of oblivion, is agonizing, lighting every single one of Tara's veins on fire, like lightning dancing throughout her bloodstream.

     It also requires a trip to the med bay by a freaking out Dick Grayson and a hovering Raven.

     She doesn't remember much. She knows that she was dead, knows that her heart came to a standstill. She was there and then she was not, a mere afterthought of the universe.

     Until she wasn't. Until her chest was on fire and violet light surrounded her, until oxygen filled her lungs once more. Blood started to pump around her body and the world blinked back into existence, no longer a memory, now her reality once more.

     Tara sits upon the cot, wincing as Dick slides a needle under her skin. Needles, medical equipment in general, tend to remind her of how she received her powers, of all the pain that came along with that, and try as she might, she can't fully convince herself that the Titans don't want to hurt her.

     Between a mix of her and Freya's rambled explanations, she's pretty sure that Dick and the others have pieced together the truth, figured out that the Tara Markov they met was a lie designed to kill them, slowly and painfully.

     She's honestly expecting to be told to leave any second now.

     Dick pulls away, a strained smile stretching his lips. "You seem fine, but we're gonna keep checking up on you. Don't even know what Freya did back there..."

     Tara shrugs. "Your guess is just as good as mine."

     Raven takes her palm into hers, frowning the entire time. Tara's skin is as cold as ice and the feeling of another person's warmth is foreign, completely and utterly off.

     She doesn't move, though, not until Raven herself pulls away.

     "You're alive", she says, "though I don't know how."

     "What about Freya?" Tara asks. She knows they're gonna kick her out, knows she's never gonna see any of them again, but she needs to know. If Freya's hurt ━ or worse ━ she has to find out.

     "Passed out", Dick tells her. "Green Lantern's taking care of her."

     Tara shuffles awkwardly in her seat, scowling at the ground. "And... and Deathstroke?"

     Dick shares a look with Raven, a million emotions crossing his expression. "Dead."

     "I'm not sorry."

End Of The Earth  ◦ Tara Markov | ✓Where stories live. Discover now