11

The Teen Titans are property of DC comics and Warner Brothers network.

I

t was our five year anniversary as a team, every one was having fun and lots of waffles, I still couldn't get Cy to try soy milk. (I snuck some in to his eggs any way.) There was still something wrong, I couldn't quite place it but there was something missing. Raven was gone! Duh! How stupid could I be? This was her party more than anyone else's she's the reason we're a team, and she's not here. She's probably in her room reading. There is no way I will allow that. She'll miss the tofu eating contest. (Starfire doesn't know about that yet, or she'd try and cook.)

Somehow I managed to excuse my self from the game. Ok so Cy and Robin were playing, no one was paying much attention to me. I went up to Raven's room, yeah I know mistake. Her tragedy mask was half way out the door not letting it close. That's not a good sign. Weren't both masks attached last time I was here? Rae's room was always so orderly, and there's no way she'd let her door stay open. Now would be a good time to go get Robin.

S

o of course I pushed the door the rest of the way in. The room was trashed. It was beyond trashed; it was wreaked like I had lived there. The bed was turned up side down and had been thrown to the other side of the room; all her old, smelly books were tossed off the bookcase and on the floor and her masks had split in half. The smiling part was lying in the far corner. That wasn't good, not good at all.

There was a quite sound, like a whisper coming form the corner near the mask. It was really…soothing, and calming, like everything around that area was just peaceful.

I crept up to the area but Raven's stupid dark room wouldn't let me see what was making that noise. I picked up a chunk of wood from the floor, it must have been debris from her bed but I really didn't think about it. This would have been a really good time to go get the team. I tossed the wood toward the sound, lightly; I didn't want to break anything. The wood soared right through the wall! I took another step closer and squinted into the darkness. I could just make out a shape on the wall, like a circle. It was one of those black swirl things Raven makes sometime! She never left one open before. I stepped through. I don't have that voice in my head that tells me things are a bad idea.

On the other side, a wave went through me, it was like pure energy. Everything was serene right then. Calm, unmoving, perfect. At first all I could see was purple, and there was a lot of it. It took me a second but slowly I could make out shapes and figures. Lavender flowers that smelled like honey completely coated the ground. Some small trees bloomed the color of Raven's eyes. This was all under a wine sky lit with a bluish sun. I could see why she thought this was better than our party. I hoped to God I wasn't in her head again. That place could be scary.

In the middle of all that purple there was a black dot on the horizon, far from the door way I'd come through. So at least I'd found Raven. She was much larger than her normal body and the long snake like things that used to be her legs curled and lashed around her. A smart person would have left. I took a step forward and my foot hit something under the flowers. It wasn't ground; I cleared away a bit more of the ground cover and saw a beam, like from a house or a tent. Wooden; but it was the good stuff that doesn't compost well.

I brushed away more of the blossoms and found an entire collapsed hut. From the shapes of the lumps under the flowers I could tell this wasn't the only one.

Raven was dangerous now, even I knew that, but could she destroy an entire city? I was starting to have second thoughts about checking out to see if she was ok. But the flowers had covered all the rubble and from what I'd seen the edges had dulled over time. Those ruins were ancient so Raven had only been gone for a few hours; she couldn't have had a part in it.

I kept walking. Then after tripping four or five times, I decided to fly. I morphed into a sparrow and caught up to Raven in no time. When I was close to her, within ten feet, I changed back to human and prepared to defend myself in case she was angry with me for going in to her room or just mad in general. As I got closer it sounded like she was saying something. So I listened closer. There was a small noise like nothing I'd ever thought I'd here from Rea. Her shoulders were not upright with power like when she fought Dr. Light. They were bent over. And she was crying.

I didn't want to get to close, mostly because there were small bits of junk flying around her incredibly fast. On the other hand, she's my friend and she needs me right now. I saw that there was nothing flying really close to her, I never noticed that before, when she loses control she's never hurt. So it would be safe if I could get to her right?

I took a step closer, with in the range of destruction, and shifted into a bee. I thought that would be fast enough to dodge the crap going all around me. I was wrong. When you're a bee, even a small piece of stone is big. The last thing I felt was a rock the size of my head crash in to me. I must have changed back to human because that's how I woke up.

T

he disruption in my energy is the first thing I noticed, my first hint that I had been followed. That disruption was the idiot being hit with a stone. What kind of moron walks though unknown portals? Then again who leaves portals open? I wasn't exactly my self but that was no excuse for leaving the team in danger. I pulled Beastboy into the circle of protection and tried to get my emotions under control. The cut on his head was rather severe and I was in no condition to heal it my self. I gathered some fiori di alimentazione (power flowers) from the area that I had not destroyed and ground them to a paste to be applied to his wound.

As usual he regained consciousness in about a minute. He was obviously embarrassed to have been found out. It was hard to believe that it had only been five earth years since I had left this place for good. How long had it been here?

"What did you think you were doing in my room?" I demanded.

"I…you weren't at the party, I was—we needed a ref for the tofu contest." He tried to cover his feelings, not only did he do it poorly but he seems to have forgotten my empathy. That was bad, I was trying to keep a look of calm but all my emotions were fighting inside my head and each wanted out. Normally it was safe to do that here, but now I couldn't risk Beastboy.

I would meditate once he was safe. That was a given but I had priorities, if he was hurt that would never be ok. I could come here to mourn, there was no one here for me to hurt, though it was embarrassing, when I let it be, to give in to my emotions when everything Azar thought me told me not to. It looked like my mourning this year was over.

Beastboy was coming out of his daze. "You were crying; I heard you." He stopped. "Are you ok? You never cry. I didn't think you did sad."

"I don't," I started. But he had more questions. There are some things about me it's too dangerous for people to know. Why do they keep asking?

"What is this place? How did I get here? Why were you crying? What happened to all the people and houses?" He could give Starfire a run for her money.

I sighed, telling him would be hard. But he was in the safe zone, it wouldn't be dangerous, it would destroy Azarath, but hadn't I already done that?

For the first time I noticed that my soul projection had taken over again. I don't like that form, it's too much of my Father. I don't see how Beastboy can morph the way he does with out wanting his own body back. I settled into my human form. Much more comfortable, and Beastboy was relieved.

"Those questions are difficult; they would take a long time to answer." The roar of my energy around us quieted just a little, some times it is truly better to let go and not worry. The only two people in this dimension were safe so what did it matter is I stopped worrying? No one would get hurt right? I wasn't easy opening up, I'd spent my whole life with my emotions closed off to every one; even me.

"We've got all day. Or night? Or what ever it is here." He said and got just a little closer to me.

I smiled, too broadly, it felt strange on my face but Happy whispered to me that that was normal, I just wasn't used to it. Beastboy seemed taken aback as well. So I started with my story.

"This place is called Azarath. It's where I was born, where I grew up."

"You grew up here? Alone? It's not as…it's not how I pictured it." He cut in.

"Not as creepy? No, it was a beautiful place, once upon a time; there was a major city, right here. We're sitting just about over where the cemetery was."

He gulped but didn't say anything more; I think he was starting to see. "Azarath is another dimension; I must have left the portal open. You walked through it. I don't see how you could be that stupid." Immediately after that I wanted to swallow my words. He probably had just wanted to check on me. "Do you know why I got the team together? Why I formed the Titans then handed them over to Robin?"

He shook his head so hard I thought that I was going to hear his brain rattle. "Five years ago, in your dimension, some…" one? "thing happened here." A beam from the old temple thundered against my force field but did not get though. "I was the only survivor." A tear rolled down my cheek, I knew what it was but it was something I'd only felt once or twice before in my life. Beastboy was just as surprised as I was.

"So this whole place was…" he stopped and swallowed. He was sad, sad for me, sad for my family.

"Destroyed. The thing that was responsible was going to earth and I knew it so I had to stop it." I knew that because he had told me, tried to get me to help.

"And you brought the team together."

"Not at first. I tried to get the adults to help but they didn't want to believe a kid so they blew me off. Then I formed the team."

"But we haven't fought anything that--"

"Not yet, it—he's coming, he told me. I don't think he wants to attack anywhere that I am, but he will. He did. He destroyed this whole planet just to get to me."

"He…who?" his eyes widened granting me a glimpse of intelligence I didn't think he had in him. "Your father?" I could only nod, and cry.

He wrapped his arms around me in a tight hug and I melted into his warmth.

I couldn't do this anywhere else, but I could always have this.

I sighed. "We should go home. They'll miss you."

"We could stay here just a little longer." He responded.

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