I hope you all enjoy my written bullshit. Titans obviously don't belong to me. Also, I've decided to take things slowly with Raven and Beast Boy, by building relationships with the other Titans (friendship-wise. I don't intend to pair our main heroes all willy-nilly.) Remake of the next chapter possibly next week, maybe a little later—my apologies.

...

They had been a team for...how long now?

Beast Boy stopped and thought, about to take a bite from a ketchup and tofu sandwich.

Huh. It was so weird how time seemed to flit away from him after he joined yet another superhero squad. It was about six weeks since they came together? Yeah, that sounded right—no, wait. Maybe it was seven. Honestly, he couldn't remember.

Sometimes it felt as if he had always been a member of the Teen Titans.

After the alien attack on Jump City, the group of misfits decided that it was best if they stuck around to protect the unsuspecting citizens within. And what better way to do that than to start their own rag-tag team? They might as well, since the town already adored them for saving their hides, and each of the new Titans had no where else to go.

Beast Boy certainly didn't.

He refused to think about the reason why he had previously been homeless. It didn't matter now. All that mattered was that he had new friends, a new city to defend, a new family...

First there was Robin, the team leader. The Robin. As in, Batman's Robin. Beast Boy would admit, chagrined, that he spent the first two weeks on the team a bit starstruck. Growing up on the Doom Patrol, Robin was Beast Boy's idol. Meeting him in person, fighting alongside him, becoming a member of his team—it was a dream come true! But reality sunk in after he had tried to get an autograph for the third time, and Robin awkwardly told him that the hero worship had to stop. "I'm just...me, Beast Boy. I may be the leader of the team, but you're just as much of a hero as I am. We're friends now; equals."

And thus, Robin became a regular crime-fighter, along with everyone else.

Starfire was the girl who had kind of joined the group together in the first place—at least she united them to fight against a common enemy. She was an alien (which wasn't even weird, considering who else was on the team) with a very sweet, fragile exterior. She was confused about a lot of Earthly customs, to an almost comical extent. To anyone else, she would look like a beautiful, if not exotic-looking, female human. But she possessed a frightening level of strength. And—Beast Boy had never told anyone this—he was nursing a slight crush on her. Not a very major one, seeing how she was obviously interested in Robin, but just big enough that he would get clammy looking at her.

He bit into his lunch, pushing the thoughts of the beautiful but never-attainable alien from his mind, and focused on the remaining members of his team. (His team! He'd never get used to that!)

Cyborg. Cyborg was definitely the member of the team he was closest to. He was his first best friend, the first person he could share a joke with, or toss an insult back and forth to. He was older than him by about three years, but treated Beast Boy like an actual person instead of a little kid. Sure, he didn't know how old he was yet, but still. Teaching him how to act cool, or how to play video games was just a bonus to hanging out. Cyborg was like a jock and a tech nerd, all rolled up into one giant mass of robot and human. In fact, with the help of Robin's funding, he had basically built Titans Tower, the giant T-shaped building all five Titans resided in.

Beast Boy chewed thoughtfully, the muscles in his throat working as he swallowed. This sandwich is too dry, he decided, hopping off of the kitchen stool and heading towards the 'fridge for a carton of soy milk. Gah, he couldn't even fathom why his teammates all ate that disgusting processed meat, which hid his precious tofu and soy products.

All five.

Finally, there was the fifth Titan, the Titan that no one knew anything about: Raven.

She was...odd. She kept to herself mainly, and never ventured outside of her room unless the situation called for it. She didn't speak, didn't express herself, didn't laugh. She stayed wrapped up in that cloak of hers and tried to blend in with the wallpaper. Yet, despite how hard she tried to remain unnoticed, she carried an aura of suspicion around her; of fear. She sent his animal instincts raging, screaming that she was a threat to his survival. Beast Boy didn't even know what she was, but her witch powers were impressive, and those spells of her really came in handy during a fight.

If only he knew what she was.

Then again, as much as they ignored the fact, none of the teenage superheroes really knew anything of importance about each other. Raven, however, was even more mysterious.

Speak of the Devil, and she will appear.

The doors to the main room swished open, and in walked none other than the dark mistress herself. A thick, blue cloak hid all but her booted feet. Her hood was up, as always, casting a deep shadow across her face. She strode down the steps silently, glancing at the kitchen where Beast Boy was sitting. He nodded his head in a greeting, but she icily turned and ignored him.

Jeez, he thought, irked, tossing his dishes into the sink. They were already starting to pile up, but oh well, it was Cyborgs' turn to wash the dishes anyway.

Would it kill her to say hello? Maybe it would, he didn't know. Maybe she would say hi, let her guard slip for a second, and then burst into flames.

Ha, that was pretty funny. He'd let Cy know about his musings later.

Now, though, he couldn't help but watch what she was about to do. Raven, as far as he knew, barely ever came into the main room. Too noisy, she once said. Perhaps now that no one else was here to bother her she had decided to brave it; although she seemed peeved that Beast Boy was in the room with her, sharing her oxygen.

She stopped just in front of the large glass windows, staring at the view. It was pretty magnificent, Beast Boy thought. The Tower overlooked the glittering lake below, as well as half of the city. The sun shining through murky clouds, casting the perfect amount of light and shade in the room. Then she lifted her hands, startlingly pale, and removed her hood. With her back towards him, all Beast Boy could see was purple. In a second, Raven had her legs crossed and she sat quietly on the floor. Beast Boy sipped his milk, half-interested. So she came out here to sit? Why not just use the sofa?

Just as he was about to turn away, bored, the girl began to float several feet in the air.

It wasn't shocking—not at all, since he had seen her fly before. Besides, he could morph into animals, for Pete's sake! It wasn't as if something as simple as floating a little was abnormal. But it gained his interest yet again, and it also raised the question: What on Earth is she doing?

Whatever. None of my business, Beast Boy struggled to ignore her, picking at his teeth. If she wants to float there, she can go ahead and do it.

But it was only seconds before curiosity finally consumed him. Here was a girl no one knew anything about, hovering in the near-empty room doing who-knew-what. It was only fair to the rest of the team that he find out what was going on.

As quietly as he could, Beast Boy crept over to her floating body. His ears twitched, trying to keep his footsteps undetectable, and he was half-way across the room when Raven suddenly spoke, her voice completely toneless.

"Sneaking up to me would not be wise."

Beast Boy froze, caught. But..how? He hadn't even heard him, so how could she? He frowned, trying to understand how she had sensed him coming. "I wasn't..."

"Sneaking? Then why were you trying to stay so quiet?"

"I—" He started, the stopped. His mouth hung open dumbly. She had him there.

Damn! What were her powers, anyway?

"Fine, I was sneaking," he admitted, walking the rest of the distance, having given up on stealth. She stayed silent as he stopped beside her. "I didn't want to interrupt..." He hesitated, staring at her-she was floating with her crossed legs about eye level with him. "...Whatever you were doing."

No response.

Beast Boy took a second to take in her appearance, having grown used to her features blurred by shadow and her body hidden under her cloak. The first thing he noticed was her hair. It was a strange shade of violet; she had it cut short. Probably by herself, he judged critically, looking at the choppy, uneven strands that fell unflattering around her face. She had tiny features, all very close together. Between two bushy, black eyebrows—Don't most girls tweeze theirs?—was a red gem. Her skin was a sickly gray, as if she had never seen the sun before. Her body was still mainly hidden by her cloak, but he could see a hint of pale, bare legs.

Wouldn't it be funny if she were naked under there? He desperately tried not to laugh at his own joke.

Not bad, he thought, wincing when he realized how shallow his once-over was. She wasn't a hideous beast, but she wasn't any bit of attractive-she definitely wasn't a Starfire.

Shut up! The normal part of his mind was thinking. Just because you're a teenage boy doesn't give you the right to rate her looks on a scale of one to ten!

Shaking his head, to clear any mean thoughts he had, he continued, "So. What are you doing?"

"You're very nosy, aren't you?" Raven questioned, and if Beast Boy wasn't listening carefully, he could have sworn she was amused.

His ears flattened defensively. "I have a natural sense of curiosity. And I'm not the only one who wants to know what the heck you're doing."

"Meditating." Beast Boy twitched, surprised to have gotten an answer out of the girl.

"Meditating? Why? That's, like, so boring! I could never sit still like that for such a long time," he informed his enigma of a teammate.

Her lips tilted downward a fraction. "Obviously."

"What do you meditate for? Don't you watch TV or anything? Or—"

Raven opened her eyes, and Beast Boy recoiled. She had the widest eyes he had ever seen, and they were such a deep shade of blue they almost looked purple. They were really...nice, he finished his thought lamely. She had nice eyes. And for a second, before she slipped into a sleepy/bored expression, he could see annoyance flash behind them.

"Because I have to," she answered coldly. Having lost all concentration, Raven lowered her feet to the floor. Beast Boy was a bit upset that he was a few inches shorter than she was. She looked back at him, and Beast Boy was flooded with the urge to run away. Her eyes were nice, but there was something hidden behind them, something Beast Boy would never want to face. Something that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. And aside from that, they looked positively...dead. Dead, as if she had seen some unholy horror that stayed with her everyday.

It frightened him. She frightened him.

"Bad things happen when I don't."

With that, she jammed her hood back up, and slouched out of the room, leaving him alone again to contemplate what she meant. The doors swished closed, and Beast Boy shivered. Even though she was gone, he could still feel her presence. It left him feeling ice cold.

...

Raven sat in midair, staring at the empty prison courtyard below her. From her perch, she could see everyone, and everything, that would come or go. It was only a matter of time before the villain that had dragged the Titans out of their Tower would enter the area.

She looked to the side, only for a moment, to observe her other teammates. Teammates. She would never get used to that word. She would never get used to thinking of herself as a member of a team. Much less a team of crime-fighters; Raven always thought that people like the Titans would be plotting her downfall, and yet here she was, floating next to four other outcasts, waiting to pounce on a criminal composed entirely out of concrete. This definitely wasn't what she imagined when she was first sent to this dimension. She had thought...

No. A barrier rose in her mind, blocking any memories that would distract her. That would upset her. She didn't need to remember what her purpose on this planet was. Not now, at least. She went back to staring at the entrance.

She licked her dry lips, tasting rotten milk. She hated not being able to sense the oncoming villain. It was bothersome that after relying on her psychic powers for so long, she could not use her abilities of emotional persuasiveness on him. The others, however, we drenched in feelings.

The taste of rotten milk was brought on by the eagerness of her fellow Titans. Everyone was tense and ready to leap out at a moments notice. Everyone but one red-haired vixen.

Starfire was waiting in the air alongside her; humming to herself, a tune Raven could not recognize. Her long legs were crossed primly, and although she was waiting to beat the hell out of a dangerous escapee, she looked completely relaxed. She was always happy when they were fighting, always calm before a battle. Starfire, Raven suspected, never really understood the perilous tasks the Teen Titans partook in. Maybe she was just stupid and everything seemed like a fun game.

But, then again, could it have been because of her savage upbringing that Starfire enjoy the thought of violence? That sounded more reasonable, but, to find the thought of hurting another person...

Raven snorted. She was not the right person to judge for blood lust.

On her left was Cyborg, clinging to the wall, metal fingers digging handholds into the concrete. Sweat was already glistening on the bald, dark-skinned half of his head. It must have been nerve-wracking to be the only one who wouldn't be able to balance himself on a small ledge, or float silently. He looked like he was trying very hard not to fall. Both his mechanical eye and his human one were trained on the ground, but when he saw Raven watching him, he grinned nervously and winked. The hooded empath blinked in response, and he went back to clutching the wall.

"AH-CHOO!"

Four heads shot towards the source of the noise. Of course.

Beast Boy wiped his nose, smiling sheepishly when the sneeze echoed back. Raven sneered at his unprofessional display. He was lucky that the alarms hadn't yet sounded, and that Cinderblock had yet to stop by. With his stupidity, he could have blown their position and ruined their hide-away.

He sat on his haunches, a predators stance. He was attempting to look mysterious and threatening, but Raven could taste the parchment-like nervousness; he did not want to mess up this mission, not after he had let three bank robbers get away with three thousand dollars last week. They had been apprehended, yes, but it had taken longer than they had expected. Every few seconds, however much he tried to stay dedicated to the mission, his eyes would flicker over to the purple-clad alien girl. His ears twitched and Raven shut her eyes, breathing deeply as she tried not to vomit. She hated the taste of affection-it tasted like pure bleach.

Robin was the most eager. He was staring intensely down, one leg kneeling on the floor, the other bent up into his chest. He clenched and unclenched his fists, prepared. This was always a thrill for him, waiting for the villain before bringing him to justice. But, other than that, Raven could get no other reading from him. His emotions were always hidden, or only partly exposed. The only other person she knew with such impressive self-restraint was herself.

He intrigued her.

Sirens blared, the room bathed in pulsing red light. There were sounds of gunfire and shouts, and the rumbling that followed shook the entire building. It was as if the very Earth was being ripped apart.

"He's here," Robin alerted the team of the obvious, a small smile playing on his lips. Maybe Starfire wasn't the only one who looked forward to a good fight.

Suddenly, all sounds ceased. The alarm quit its shrill whine, the gunfire had ended, and it was as if there had been no destruction moments ago.

The thundering footsteps of the cement man echoed off the walls as he marched indoors to a room full of cells, searching for something. Raven wished again that she could get some form of emotional reading off of him, but was given nothing. Robin glanced at Beast Boy and nodded once.

The hulking monster paused for a moment.

Then Beast Boy taunted, "You know, Cinderblock, normally the bad guys break out of jail." His voice did not shake or betray his anxiousness, taking on a teasing lilt.

Robin followed after him threateningly, "And I can think of five good reasons why you don't wanna' break in."

Cinderblock tuned and his red eyes widened in shock. So he can express emotion, but he cannot feel it? Raven wondered. Peculiar.

"One!" Robin screamed. The short, black-haired boy dressed in bright colors dropped from the sky, yellow cape flowing behind him. He landed in a crouch, composed although Cinderblock outweighed him by tons. He did not move to brush the stray stands of hair from his masked eyes, glaring heavily at Cinderblock instead.

"Two!" Starfire flew down to the ground, silver bracelets shining, hands glowing with green energy. She looked like a...a warrior princess, the most beautiful and fierce thing alive, hair like flames whipping around her. She could see why Beast Boy found her attractive.

"Three!" The changeling announced. A green tiger roared as it pounced after his orange companion, and in a flash transformed into the skinny boy in a purple-and-black jumpsuit from before, his gloved hands balled into fists. A lone fang protruded from his lower lip and his unnaturally pointed ears were perked up. My cue, Raven sighed.

"Four," she said in a less-than-enthusiastic voice. She halted the magical flow keeping her floating and fell, dropping gracefully to her feet. One hand was drawn closely to her body while the other was outstretched forward, in case she needed to strike or cast a spell.

"Five!" Cyborg boomed, lunging towards the rest of his team. One robotic fist was pulled back to punch, the other thrust out to straighten his balance. His left leg was tucked underneath him as he braced himself for the impact.

The five teenagers stood in formation, tense and ready to deliver justice.

Robin narrowed his eyes, making himself the known leader.

"No matter how you do the math," he jeered, "it all adds up to you going down." He raised an eyebrow. "So, are you going to go quietly?"

"Or is this going to get loud?" The cybernetic one finished in a deep voice. Cinderblock answered by letting out a warriors' cry, raising both fists and charging at them.

"Titans, go!" Robin yelled, signaling that it was time to reprimand this criminal. They took off, first Cyborg, Robin, the two females, both levitating, and then Beast Boy, who had shape-shifted into the form of a crow. Robin leaped into the air, landing a spinning kick to Cinderblock's head.

He landed in front of Cinderblock, who turned around to defend himself. Instead, Starfire grinned evilly, her hands and eyes glowing a feral green. "Wah!" she screamed as twin bursts of light bolted from her hands and blasted Cinderblock backwards. Yes, Raven realized, she had guessed correctly. Starfire liked the adrenaline-rush that came from fighting.

Cyborg let loose a cry as her went to punch the villain. Unfortunately for him, Cinderblock wasn't so disorientated that he could not block, so his metal fist connected with his stone one, sending sparks flying madly. The tremor sent Cinderblock back a few steps as he recovered.

The green crow cawed angrily, using his talons to scrape against Cinderblock's shoulders, sending him running.

Running, sadly, right towards Raven. Calling forth her powers, drawing energy into her body, she exhaled deeply. Don't let it overtake you Raven. Control it; use it. She could feel the familiar tingle of magic, and she lifted her arms heavenwards, telekinetically taking a giant chunk of the ground with her. Before he could stop, Cinderblock rammed straight into the barrier she had created. Before he could ram her, Raven floated to safety next to the rest of her team.

Again, the teenagers stampeded, and Cinderblock raised one mighty arm, swinging it with all of his might to defend himself; the move sent Cyborg and Robin flying backwards. Starfire glanced back at her fallen teammates as she sped past them. Frustrated, she bent her arm to send another green light bolt at Cinderblock.

But Cinderblock was prepared this time as she started throwing them randomly, and he reached towards her without any caution for his own well-being. He grunted as they hit him, but he ignored it and grabbed Starfire, who gasped in astonishment. He glared, bringing her close to his face.

She smiled at the stupid villain, and in a calm voice, said, "I am sorry to disappoint you." Her eyes began to glow again, and her pleasant face twisted into a scowl. "But I am stronger than I look."

With a bellow of effort, she lifted her foot and kicked him in the chin, freeing her of his grasp.

Cinderblock stumbled and backed into the closed bars of a cell. The green crow cawed again, dropping downwards as he flew. He transformed into an angry green tyrannosaurus, reared up, and bent his knees. Then he let out a roar and rushed towards him, footsteps heavy. Cinderblock remained unfazed, as if the mighty dinosaur was nothing but an annoyance, bringing his fist down onto his face and sending him soaring through the air.

Pain erupted in the left side of Beast Boy's face, and for a second he thought the entire side of his skull had caved in. Stupid concrete fist. Stupid dinosaur bones.

"Azarath Mentrion—"

Oh, damn. Raven!

Before he could crush her, Beast Boy transformed back into his original human form. Beast Boy screamed as he plummeted downwards, landing on top of the spell-caster. His head hit the floor and he groaned, but the rest of his body seemed fine; Raven had probably cushioned the fall. .

Beast Boy shook his head as he quickly stood up, followed by the cloaked girl.

"Heh," he tried laughing. This was not good; this was so not good. He had just dive-bombed the only member of the team that absolutely despised his existence. She definitely wasn't happy with him now.

Well, when in trouble, always go for comedy. "Watch out for...falling dinosaurs?" His voice cracked in a prepubescent way that annoyed him. She frowned, narrowing her eyes while blowing a stray strand of violet hair away from her face. She looked angry, the only actual emotion Beast Boy had ever seen her exhibit. And he felt his organs shrivel up under her glower.

Sensing that she was not amused by his attempt at humor, he straightened his spine and smiled in a terrified way. Oh, Jeez, she was going to hurt him. Why couldn't he have landed on Starfire or something? That would have been much better than Raven, the scary chick that looked like she was going to blow him up. For all he knew, she was.

"I'm...gunna leave you alone now."

And with that he rocketed away from her, flailing his arms wildly. If he put enough distance between him and Raven, maybe he'd be safe. Not from the rampaging construction-site-wannabee that was Cinderblock, but from the cloaked girl herself.

Cinderblock guffawed. He motioned to move when Robin threw himself onto his back. Cinderblock twisted and turned, trying to throw him off to no avail. He grabbed onto the nearest thing, which happened to be the bars of a cell, and pulled, ripping a rod off to use as a weapon.

"Thrashing only makes me hold on tighter!" Robin promised. Without warning, Cinderblock tried hitting him off his back. This time his attack worked. Robin swiftly jumped from his back and landed next to Cyborg.

"Now there's a good idea," the metal man marveled, turning and ripping a support beam from the building. With shouts and grunts of exertion, Cyborg and Cinderblock continued to sword-fight with the two rods—it would have been totally awesome had it not been one of his best friends fighting. The metallic clangs echoed loudly as the two metal pieces connected with each other, waves rolling off of the point that had been hit. Cinderblock caught one of Cyborg's blows, and Cyborg groaned as he tried to keep from being overpowered. Cinderblock's arms shook as he slowly pushed Cyborg away until he skidded a few feet backwards.

Cinderblock let out another yell as he swung the bar in his hands like a baseball bat. Cyborg never had an opportunity to jump out of the way, and he sailed across the floor once he was hit. The shriek of his metal parts scraping against the concrete floor rang in Beast Boys' ears even after he slowed to a stop.

Starfire floated in front of him tauntingly, Raven by her side. Cinderblock raised his arms to swing again, but the metal beam melted into a useless heap in his hands. Starfire laughed triumphantly at her success, and Beast Boy fought to keep his attention on the fight. Her laugh was just so nice.

Knowing when he was beat, Cinderblock turned and ran from the girls.

Cyborg lay on the floor helplessly until a green-gloved hand offered him assistance. He took it and began to dust himself off when he was upright again. "Wanna give this guy The Sonic Boom?" Robin asked.

Cyborg grinned and raised his right arm. Mechanisms whizzed as his limb transformed into a canon. "I got The Sonic if you got The Boom."

He turned to see his friends face, who smirked and punched his palm with his hand expectantly. The rest of their team members stood to watch the epic Sonic Boom. Beast Boy loved to see a good fight—at least, when he wasn't one of the people actually in the fight.

"Yo, Rock-head!" Cyborg called. Cinderblock stopped mid-step to turn to the teenagers.

Cyborg's arm hummed into activation as he ran. Robin was alongside him and the two crossed paths before crossing again, then running up against the walls of the hallway. They were about to cross upside down once again when tragedy struck.

Their ankles caught.

The two spun out of control while yelling in surprise. Cyborg was thrown into the wall, hitting it with a loud thud. When he fell to the floor, his arm-canon went of and fired at Starfire and Beast Boy, both who scrambled out of the way of the cybernetic blast. There was silence, no sound at all, before noise once returned to Beast Boy. But something was wrong..why was everything so muffled? Oh, man, don't tell me—

Did Cy just deafen me?

Robin was thrown into the opposite wall, grunting at the impact. As he crashed to the floor, one of his explosives flew from his hands and landed near Raven's feet. With five quick beeps, the bomb went off, a white light flashing and temporarily blinding the girl who threw her arms up in a vain attempt to defend herself.

Cinderblock looked around at the fallen heroes and smirked. He proceeded to bash through wall after wall until he was out of sight. Orange-clad prisoners looked around in a dazed manner before cheering happily. "Freedom!" they screamed, making a mad dash for the exits.

Robin scratched his head, wondering what could have gone wrong, before he heard the cheers of the stampeding prisoners. He motioned to his teammates to help him put things right and they nodded in agreement. From his utility belt, Robin withdrew a long staff and readied himself to fight.

The four teenagers leaped into action. Raven joined in, throwing random men in orange jumpsuits off of her. From behind her she heard Beast Boy roar and frighten several prisoners silly. Robin was concentrating too hard to feel anything but determination, and Starfire was still cheery, but getting annoyed at the constant interruptions of their fight.

One man began to creep behind Beast Boy. She saw him, but was kicked in the stomach by a mohawked young man, and gasped at the sudden pain. Beast Boy could handle himself—with his supersonic hearing, he had probably already sensed the man coming. She turned her attention back towards the punk that had slipped away into the riot.

"Gotcha!" A man screamed madly, throwing and arm around his neck and bending his elbow so that he crushed the green boy to his body.

What the—?

Beast Boy gasped before his air supply was cut off by the man with the knife. He hadn't even known someone was sneaking up behind him-the room stank of mold and socks, and because of Cyborgs' wonderful intervention, his hearing was almost as bad as a regular civilians.

He needed to transform into something. Something big that would be able to throw this guy off of him. Like a gorilla. He tried to picture the animal in his mind, but he was starting to see black spots cloud his vision and he couldn't think right enough to shape-shift. His eyes darted from Robin to Starfire for help, but both were busy with their own group of escapees. They were both paying no attention to him at all. This was bad. Very bad.

Raven punched the mohawked criminal in the face, content to have hunted him down, before she turned around to see Beast Boy being strangled by a man with long red hair holding something shiny. A knife, she instantly realized. He has a knife.

Beast Boy's face was turning a color between green and blue as he lost more and more air. The disgusting taste of the mans insanity almost made Raven black out. "Ready, kid?" the man asked as he raised his knife.

Raven was enraged. She was more angry at herself than she was at the criminal; she had seen him heading towards Beast Boy, and she hadn't even called out a warning. She had been too busy with her own group of criminals, and now...She was so utterly angry that she slipped for a moment, and the cell behind her exploded with dark energy, the door blowing off of it's hinges.

Calm. Stay calm.

She struggled to reign in her fury and self-disappointment before she could bring the entire building down. She hadn't lost control like that for weeks.

Creating a force field with her mind, she frowned and mentally pushed it towards the red-haired man. "Argh!" he cried as it smashed into him, like a wave at the beach. He released Beast Boy, who dropped to the floor and gasped. The force field enclosed around his body like a telekinetic straightjacket, and he was forced up against a wall.

He looked down at her, then at the pocket-knife that had skidded across the floor. Bad, angry thoughts clouded her mind. Violent thoughts of tearing his limbs off, ripping him into pieces. He hurt her teammate, wanted to draw blood, tried to carve into his flesh, maybe she should make him feel the same sensation by—

Calm. Stay calm.

Raven blinked, aware of her surroundings. The din of fighting still went on, and she became aware of Beast Boys' presence behind her.

She used her powers to bash his head against the wall, knocking him out.

Satisfied, Raven turned on her heel back towards Beast Boy. He was still slightly scared, but his breathing was back to normal. He looked up at her and coughed. "Wow, he caught me by surprise. Thanks for that."

He grinned that annoying grin of his, one fang poking out from his lower lip, and Raven felt the overpowering urge to smile back. She had nearly gotten him killed; the least he deserved was a smile.

Instead, she offered a hand, a reasonable teammate-to-teammate gesture. Raven felt him shiver as he accepted it, pulling himself up. That was good, she thought. He should be afraid of me.

So why wasn't she happy with it?

"He shouldn't have caught you off guard like that. Make sure I don't have to do that again," she said tonelessly, and his smile fell a little bit. Guilt almost started to form in her gut, but she forced it away. She may not have warned him, but she shouldn't have had to. They were superheroes; he couldn't expect her to keep an eye on him all the time.

She tasted disappointment from him now. And the same ever-constant feeling of fear of her as well.

Two thick-necked men made a break for the exit before she could start to feel bad again, whooping with unfiltered glee. The demon within her enjoyed the feeling of hunting the running prisoners down.

"We're gunna make it!" The blonde one yelled. Before they could escape, the doors that had been previously unhinged were surrounded by a black aura and meshed back into place.

"Huh?" They both wondered in unison.

As the dark aura disappeared, Raven materialized from the doors, scaring both of them. Were prisoners always so easy to scare?She pondered as they both trembled. Their fear tasted like battery acid on her tongue.

"Think again," she told them, suppressing her own self-satisfaction. They quailed at the sight of her, rooted to the spot.

Good, she thought. Everyone should be afraid of me.

The prisoners were escorted back to their cells by the guards one by one in handcuffs as the five Titans watched from the side. Beast Boy morphed back from gorilla form and stood on his hands and knees before returning to human posture. "Jail break? I don't see any jail break!" He squeaked, raising an arm towards the thoroughly upset prisoners. Raven frowned at the bitter taste of both Robin and Cyborg's anger. An argument was about to break out.

"None of us would have seen one if Cyborg hadn't messed up!" He crossed his arms and turned away like a defiant child, which was something Raven never thought she would see from her leader.

"Me? I messed up nothing! You got in my way!" Cyborg shouted, throwing his arms up for emphasis before assuming a position similar to his shorter counterpart.

"You were too far forward and Cinderblock got away because of it!" Robin glared, pointing a finger at his friend.

"You sayin' this is my fault?" Cyborg exploded, glaring back down at the Boy Wonder.

"You want me to say it again?" Robin countered. The two scowled at each other, lightening palpable in the air. Starfire put herself between the two before someone could throw a punch.

"Stop!" She ordered. Raven sighed at her optimism. When people argued, nothing from the outside would be able to calm them down. It was moments like this that made Raven surprised to see her teammate so excited to fight villains when she couldn't even stand her friends shouting. "No more mean talking!"

With a huff, both boy's turned their backs to the other.

"Yeah," Beast Boy agreed, and Raven raised one eyebrow. Beast Boy was the most irritating, annoying member of the team. Was he finally deciding to mature now? "If you two are gunna fight, we need time to sell tickets!"

She shouldn't have hoped for much.

Raven rolled her eyes, amazed that she would have to be the one to stop this nonsense.

"Cinderblock escaped," she stated, removing her hood. People listened to her more often when her hood was down. "No amount of yelling can change that. So stop acting like idiots—" Her eyes narrowed and she frowned disapprovingly at both of them "—and let's go home."

The two boys looked at each other once, snorted like bulls, and then stormed off in opposite directions. Raven watched Cyborg leave with, wondering why people had to be so stupid. This was why she was glad she did not have any emotions; things like petty arguments never happened that way. At least she felt their anger diminish a bit. Maybe there was hope that they could just shut up.

"Loser," Robin muttered.

"Jerk," Cyborg threw out at that exact same time.

She had to stop hoping for simple pleasures.

"What did you say?" They both screamed in at the same time. Their anger increased tenfold now, giving Raven just a slight headache.

"You got a problem, Tin Man?" Robin teased.

"Yeah! It's four feet tall and smells like cheap hair gel!" Cyborg cornered swiftly, and Robin fumed at how his height was criticized.

"Well you're an oversized klutz and your feet smell like motor oil!"

"You're bossy, you're rude, you got no taste in music—!"

Raven and Starfire watched in bewilderment while Beast Boy looked on the verge of breaking down. Their yelling was adding on to her headache, making the back of her skull throb.

"I don't even know why you're on this team!" Robin accused, and all three onlookers' eyes went wide. Beast Boy couldn't really believe that he had went there. Tension was thick, and no one seemed to think it was possible that Robin had said what he just had.

"That makes two of us!" Cyborg spat. "I quit!"

Now Robin went silent, mouth open in shock. Raven wished he was bluffing, but the sureness of his answer was definite. She could taste it.

Beast Boy, meanwhile, was completely floored. Cyborg was his best friend. He couldn't imagine life on the team without him. They had all finally become a family, his new family. He couldn't leave, he couldn't leave the team, he couldn't leave him. Six weeks! He couldn't...

He couldn't imagine what the Teen Titans would be like with no Cyborg to laugh at his lame jokes or shove him while they played video games or come up with various nicknames. Who would wake everyone up early every Wednesday to cook pancakes and bacon-who would he shout with over the smell of cooked meat in the air? Cyborg was like his older brother!

Even as he thought all of this, he stayed silent. Nothing he could have said would have made Cyborg take back his words. He may have thought of Cyborg as an older brother, but now, who knew if Cyborg returned the brotherly love?

They all watched as Cyborg turned his back and stomped out of the room, leaving them all to wonder what had just happened silently.

...

"Hey, this is Cyborg. I'm either in the gym, playing game station, or kicking bad guy butt.

Leave a message."

Beep.

Beast Boy groaned. This had to be the seventeenth message he'd left this morning. He was pacing in the Titans living room, phone pressed to one of his ears. Starfire was stirring some kind of concoction at the kitchen counter, and Beast Boy wondered vaguely what it could be for. Raven was also there, watching a wall full of blinking buttons and lights that Beast Boy didn't care about.

Beast Boy heard the muffled sound of Starfire's spoon stirring the substance within the pot and the shift of Ravens feet. Thankfully, the effect of Cyborg's sonic cannon hadn't damaged his ears permanently. He shuddered at the thought of having regular human senses for the rest of his life.

"Hello, Cy! Pick up! C'mon Cy, pick up!"

Raven glanced back at the agitated little green boy before returning to her search.

"I know you're there, Cy! The phones built into your arm."

He stopped pacing and scowled, clicking the "end" button on the phone and dropping it onto the table angrily. This totally sucked. Not only was Cyborg mad at Robin, not only had Cyborg quit the team, but now he wouldn't even talk to him! This was so totally frustrating!

"Taste," Starfire said innocently, and before Beast Boy could even think of what was going on, she shoved a spoon full of the batter-like substance into his mouth.

It tasted like a combination of glue, onions, and rotten cheese. Beast Boy gagged on it for a little bit, unable to swallow the foul food. His eyes started to tear up, and the muscles in his throat convulsed. He wanted to spit the gunk onto the carpet then brush his teeth for a few hours. It was the most disgusting thing he had ever tasted.

But Starfire was watching him with such a hopeful look. Her eyes were so pretty, so wide and green...

Grimacing, he swallowed, using all of his willpower to keep it down. Oh, God, he could feel the crap slide down his throat. He would have rather eaten live-worms.

"It's...good, Star," he coughed, clutching his chest. He pasted a fake smile on his face, pretending that it was the most delicious of all food.

"Oh, no!" She cried, and the shape-shifter quickly tried to back-peddle. "It is not meant to taste good!"

"No, no! I meant, um," he tried to make up for his mistake, "that is was the nastiest thing I've ever tasted!" At least he didn't have to lie about that.

Starfire sniffled, staring at him with huge, teary eyes and a small pout. "Truth?"

Beast Boy nodded his head vigorously. "Yeah, seriously! It tasted like Cream of Toenail!"

Beast Boy would have chugged the entire pot in an instant just to see her expression brighten up like that again-ugh, well, maybe not all of it.

Rubbing his stomach to keep from puking—he hoped it looked more like a sign of contentment than sickness—he asked, "What, uh, what was that?"

"The Pudding of Sadness," Starfire explained happily without seeming to notice the gruffness of Beast Boys' voice. "It is what the people of my planet eat when bad things happen."

Starfire tasted a spoonful of it herself. She shuddered violently after swallowing it, but held the pot tightly, as if Beast Boy might steal it for himself.

Ha, she wouldn't have to worry about that.

Starfire floated over to Raven, who was pressing buttons every few seconds. "Try; the displeasing taste will ease your troubled mind."

Raven thought that she might force it into her mouth like she had with Beast Boy (who's disgust she could still sense. How stupid people acted when they were in love!) but didn't think that anything could be as bad as the constant flavor of happiness Starfire constantly emitted.

"My mind is never troubled," she lied. "People come, people go. It's pointless to worry about Cyborg." This was another stupid lie. She was worried about her teammate just as much as everyone else was, but she couldn't feel something like that. She couldn't succumb to her emotions. As long as she didn't think about Cyborg, didn't think about the loud robot that brightened up the room when he entered it, didn't think about how angry he had been with Robin, didn't think of where he might be now that he wasn't here anymore...

Somehow, something must have happened, because she heard the screens behind her crack and Starfire began to look at her funny.

"What?" She looked from Starfire to Beast Boy, who had managed a cocky smile. Oh, how she hated that smile, with that one stupid tooth jutting out.

"Your hair went whoosh and you destroyed all those screens."

Raven opened her mouth to say that he was an idiot, that he didn't know what he was talking about, she couldn't do something like that without knowing, but knew he was right. So instead she put up her hood and went for a sarcastic remark to take the attention off of her.

"Whoosh?" She said with a roll of her eyes. Beast Boy nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah, whoosh." Raven sighed at his stupidity. What was it with him and his constant jokes, anyway? He was always trying to be funny, but never was able to achieve it. He was such an odd character, Beast Boy.

He sighed and looked at the phone. "I'm calling Cy one more time today."

Raven watched him dial and pace once more. She actually felt pity for him-not that she would ever say that out loud. He was upset and angry that his best friend didn't even want to talk to him anymore, but everyone was feeling that way lately. Why was it just Beast Boy that she felt bad for?

Starfire said something about bringing some of her Pudding of Sadness up to Robin, and Raven nodded to her without even hearing anything she had said. She turned to go to her room to meditate, the doors swishing open as she stepped in front of them.

The last thing she heard before the doors cut everything from the room off was Beast Boy talking to an automated voice message again.

"Cy, please—"

...

"—Please come back. We all need you. This team isn't a team without all of us together. So...Bye, then."

Beep.

Cyborg sighed, pressing a few buttons on his arm. He hadn't answered any calls in the past two days. He was still kind of miffed at Robin, yeah, but now the only thing that was holding him back was pride. He couldn't come running back after storming away like a child.

It killed him to ignore the rest of the team. Beast Boy, especially. He was maybe a year or so younger, he couldn't tell, but they were already so close. He had left him thirty-two messages begging him to at least answer the phone. But Cyborg just couldn't find it in him to tell Beast Boy he wasn't coming back.

But maybe he would. Maybe he would swallow his stupid pride and come back to the team who needed him-leaving that message sure took a lot of guts. And, besides, he wasn't all that angry at Robin anymore, not after that.

Robin was right. The team wasn't a team without all of them together.

...

The rest of the week went by at a painfully slow rate. Robin went about sulking, and Starfire forced her pudding onto anyone within spitting distance. Raven was happy that she still hadn't tried anything with her-yet. Robin's sadness and guilt tasted like pencil lead to her, and Beast Boy's desperation tasted even worse. The entire Tower seemed downcast now that Cyborg was gone.

She had been reading in her room when the siren went off. She dropped her book and ran to the living room to see what was going on. Beast Boy and Starfire were already there, looking at the holographic map with blinking dots on it. Robin soon followed, apprehension smothering his sadness. "Cinderblock strikes again?" the Boy Wonder asked breathlessly.

"We wish," Beast Boy said grimly. Speak for yourself, Raven wanted to snap—she didn't know why she felt so irritable lately. It couldn't have been because of the mechanical Titans' leaving, could it?—but she remained silent, lifting her hood.

Robin glanced at the map and memorized the street signs and coordinates. "Titans, move!" he ordered.

Beast Boy nodded once and transformed into a bird. The transformation hit him hard, and he bit his tongue to keep from groaning in pleasure. He loved the feeling of transforming, the pop of his bones and the light-headed feeling he would get right before it was finished. He had managed to narrow his time of transformation to less than a second, but still, he enjoyed the short feeling it left him with. He wondered if any of the other Titans enjoyed their powers as much as he did.

Starfire lifted Robin from under the arms and began to float upwards, and Raven began to hover herself. Then, they were off.

It's a toxic waste dump, Beast Boy realized when they reached the area the blinking dot thingies had been on. He wrinkled his nose in disgust at the smell about a mile away; he thought of how lucky everyone else was for not having to inhale the horrid scent. It was the most disgusting thing he had ever had the misfortune of smelling. Rotten fish, human waste, stomach vomit, acid.

Maybe he didn't enjoy his powers so much.

"Ugh, it smells like my room!" he moaned, his voice distorted with a hand over his nose. Raven sniffed the air.

"I don't smell anything," she said dryly. Beast Boy rolled his eyes and saw her that her face flashed an indignant anger before blanking completely. Why did she do that? Why not show emotion, like normal people?

"Hello? Hyper-sensitive sense of smell, anyone?" He pointed to his nose but immediately made a gagging sound and clasped a hand firmly over his face once again. Raven rolled her eyes this time.

When the four entered the waste dump it was already nighttime, the sky darkening. The full moon was out, altering the appearance of things beneath its eerie light, lengthening shadows. What Beast Boy saw then almost made him wet himself.

We so cannot do this without Cyborg.

Standing in front of a conveyor belt was a blob of monster-shaped purple goo. It was over ten feet tall, stealing cans of acid and slurping it down shamelessly as if they were a bottle of Dr. Snepper. With every can it chugged it grew another ten feet. Beast Boy felt like he was going to be sick, and thought that if it was possible, his face would have turned an even darker shade of green.

Mercifully, Starfire ended the chug-fest by blasting the end of one can off. The green liquid poured out of the back and the monster looked through the hole, confused. It used the can as a telescope and stared around until it spotted the four Titans standing in the entrance. As always, Robin had to deliver a snappy punch line before kicking the snot out of the villain.

"That stuff can't be good for you."

Ugh, how did he come up with those witty remarks on the spot like that?

The giant goo-man threw the empty can aside and burped loudly, shaking the foundation of the factory.

Beast Boy smiled, feeling respect for the freaky thing. It may have been one ton of evil, but it could belch with the best of them. "Nice one!"

Robin made a dash towards it, and it spit out purple-colored gunk at him like bullets. Uck. Beast Boy would hate to get hit with one of those. Evading the bullets by cartwheeling away, Robin landed prissily on his feet.

"Star, let 'im have it!"

As instructed, a star bolt flew from her hands and went right through the goo-man.

Literally. It actually went right through him, leaving a gaping hole in his stomach.

Starfire gasped, "Did I let him have too much?"

As if answering her, the hole regenerated, and the goo-man (who Beast Boy thought was more of a plasmatic-being. Some kind of...plasmas.) shot a gigantic glob of his purple crap at Starfire and Raven. Raven could only gape at the oncoming attack, stupefied.

The gunk landed on her like a tub of sticky clay, and smelled worse than the entire toxic waste dump put together. She felt like she was suffocating, like she was breathing the goo into her lungs. She was dying, she had to be, it was seeping into her nostrils, the smell was so horrible, how could she die now—

Starfire pulled herself free first, then heaved Raven back out of the strange substance. Raven gasped in a large amount of air, secretly grateful she hadn't died in the most humiliating manner. Starfire looked down at herself and moaned. "Ugh, I feel like the underside of a Zornion Muck Beetle."

Raven stood up as well, returning to her normal frame of mind, and frowned; sludge dripping from her hair. That was so strange. She had the most constricting feeling in her chest moments before. Had she been...panicking? "Tell me about it."

"Dude!" Beast Boy yelled as he ran away from Plasmas as fast as his legs would take him. "I am not on the menu—Ah!"

Plasmas' gooey fist landed only inched from where he had been standing and he pushed himself to run farther. Faster, faster, can't get squished. C'mon, Beast Boy, move. Plasmas made a distressed gurgling noise and Beast Boy screamed again.

Robin tossed one of his special bird-a-rangs, and he began to tie a rope around Plasmas' legs. Saved, Beast Boy thought happily Robin jerked his head at Plasmas, signaling a take-down was about to occur.

"Maybe the best way to take you down," Robin grunted, and Beast Boy prepared himself to change, willing the stretching of his flesh into a bigger, more dangerous shape, "is to tie you up!"

WHAM!

Beast Boy charged at Plasmas in rhino form, knocking him over flat on his back. Raven hovered over him watchfully as Starfire began to bend metal beams to use as restraints. For good measure, the psychic girl twisted a few around his hulking shape, as well.

Plasmas shrieked inhumanely, grinding on Beast Boys' senses. The sound left the hair on the back of his neck upright, and his bones hollow.

"We did it!" Starfire cheered, so happy she hugged her green teammate. Beast Boy froze, wide-eyed, at the physical contact. Touching. She was touching him. She was hugging him. And he was just standing there like a dork! Before he could even react, hug her in return, or enjoy the soft smell of her strawberry-shampoo and the tangy scent of sweat after a battle, she retracted, bouncing joyfully.

Gah! He was such a spas!

"Nice work, team," Robin agreed. Beast Boy cleared his throat, finding his voice.

"Yeah, didn't think we would pull it off without—OW!" Beast Boy grunted, sharply elbowed by Raven. She glared at him, and in turn, he scowled back, muscles tightening. Animal instincts from inside of his mind barked and screeched wildly at her challenge of superiority, but he realized why she had cut him off in the first place. And was slightly amazed that she actually cared about Robin's feelings instead of just letting him continue on.

Idiotidiotidiot!

Beast Boy rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and giggled, causing her glare to turn neutral again. He had been upset about Cyborg's leaving, but Robin still hadn't been able to come to terms with it; he was probably blaming himself. Beast Boy bringing up the missing Cyborg while he was still grieving wasn't the best of choices.

"We finished just in time," Robin stated, snapping his communicator shut. "Cinderblock's been spotted downtown. C'mon!" The four turned to leave when Beast Boy noticed the gurgling sound behind them get louder.

"Huh?"

He turned around to see Plasmas bloating up so that the beams were sinking into his bubbling body. The beast liquefied itself, only to reform into five separate mini-monsters. Once they were fully-formed, they proceeded to make clicking sounds to each other, as if communicating.

"Uh…heads up," Beast Boy muttered, staring at the grotesque decapitated, misshapen head leading the pack. The mini-Plasmas' rushed them, and the four superheroes did the only thing they could do to retaliate.

They ran.

Robin threw open the nearby doors open, almost falling flat on his face, and the four Titans barricaded the doors. The teens struggled to keep the doors shut as the monsters from the other side threw themselves at it one at a time. They would make it in eventually, he realized. They would make it through the doorway, and there was no way they could win without a fifth Titan to fight with them. Beast Boy was scared out of his mind.

"Four against five—not good odds." He hoped no one else noticed the fear that caused his voice to shake, that it was merely exhaustion setting in.

"Forget the odds; we need a plan," Robin told him in his normally oh-so-commanding voice. Beast Boys eyes were wide with fear and adrenaline.

The monsters started banging on the door harder, and Beast Boy changed his position from having his shoulder against the door to pushing them closed with his hands. His eyebrows furrowed with concentration and the door opened up a crack, allowing a disgusting blob to work its way through. Starfire screamed as the tendril grew longer. Beast Boy peeked through the crack and saw the monsters face grinning at him, still gurgling and clicking. He blanched, hollow inside. He could see some kind of sadistic pleasure in its sulfuric eyes.

"Titans, separate!" Robin ordered, and the four scrambled into different direction just as the doors were thrown open. Beast Boy ran for a few seconds, arms pumping, before realizing that he would be faster as a cheetah. With a thought, he was in cat form now, his paws pounding down on the concrete as he ran. He heard Starfire let loose a barrage of star bolts and ran harder.

He realized without turning around that he was being followed; he could feel its presence behind him. One of the mini-Plasmas' was chasing him, chattering and clicking madly. A tendril reached out and in a flash it was wrapped around Beast Boy, who snarled as his heart beat picked up. He transformed into a gorilla and the tendril exploded around the giant animal. He was about to bang on his chest triumphantly when the mini-Plasmas lunged on top of him.

As he tangled with the smelly goo-ball he hoped that his teammates were better off than him.

...

Raven was happy for one of the many times in her life that she could fly.

One of the squid-like Plasma monsters was chasing her with unnatural speed and grace for a shapeless blob. As she sped down the hall full of boilers and other heavy metal containers, she forced up her psychic powers to help her. Her body felt numb, quickly losing all feeling as magic surged through her being. There was a sudden constricting pain in her chest as it passed through her heart, but it passed after a moment of breathlessness; this happened every time she did not meditate before using her powers so forcefully.

Concentrate. Restrain. Become the hallway.

Concentrate. Restrain. Become the hallway.

The entire hallway was bathed in the eerie black aura and she loosened the screws and bolts on everything she passed with her mind. One after one they fell, sadly missing the monster as it ducked and squirmed before disappearing somewhere. Raven looked back and was delighted to see that it was no longer behind her.

It was in front of her now.

Just as she turned her head back to see where she was going, the squid materialized in her path. She gasped and plowed straight into it. Oh, Azar, how had it managed that?

Raven squeezed her eyes and raised her arms in front of her face as she went through it speedily. It made a squelching noise and shrieked, but she managed to make it through virtually unharmed. She crinkled her nose at the smell, which surrounded her.

How must the others be fairing, she wondered, shaking off a lump of goop from her cloak. Robin was probably doing fine; Starfire should have been muddling by, as well. All that left was...

Beast Boy.

She frowned and threw the squid off of her. He was probably fine-but she couldn't help but wonder. He could be incompetent and immature sometimes. And what if he needed someone to save him again?

Thinking that made her angrier, and she clawed at the squid with all of her pent-up rage. Half because she didn't want to be worried, half because she had allowed herself to get so angry about it.

Subconsciously, she began flying closer and closer to the area where she sensed he was fighting. He was struggling now, which made her fly even faster—which then made her slow down upon realizing her haste. She was leading the squid to her friends, yes, but she needed to see if Beast Boy needed her help-if her team needed her help.

She had to stop this incessant worrying over that idiotic green-skinned moron. Why did it even matter, anyway? He should learn to fight his own battles, protect himself.

Finally Beast Boy came into view. He was in the form of a growling mountain lion, pouncing at the purple little beast. With a flick of his wrist he sliced it in half, giving himself a moment to catch his breath. He morphed back to human form and bent over, hands on knees. Raven stopped flying for a moment and watched him.

Wonderful, he was okay. She had proved it to herself, so she could stop acting like a-

Beast Boys gaze met hers and saw sheer terror lighting his expression; his already wide eyes growing twice as large. She felt a surge of pure animalistic fear come from him, something deeper that anything from his conscious psyche. This felt...stronger, more overpowering than any normal human emotion. She had tasted fear, tasted the acidic sting of terror. This feeling she was sensing within the changeling was even more intense than that; which confused her, for only a moment. Then the reason clicked in her mind. She twisted around before he even started to scream

"Raven!" He yelled to her with one arm outstretched. She raised one eyebrow in confusion and turned her head. Then her mouth dropped, shock registering on a face that normally bore no emotion but apathetic. The plamsa-squid had thrown itself towards her head, ready to clamp its slimy tendrils around and suffocate her. She didn't have enough time to react; calling upon her powers to fly before had tired her, and it would take several seconds before she could defend herself. Several seconds too slowly.

She was going to die. Raven turned her head away and threw her arms up, in a last ditch attempt at guarding herself. She held her breath and waited.

Beast Boy was overcome with the primal sense of protection. Everything else blurred, all of his senses started to work overtime, and voices inside of his head screamed to save Raven. She was a member of his pack, his family, and he could not stand by while she was being threatened. Not even a second after she had thrown up her arms, he burst out running. There was no thought involved, no memory of her rudeness this current morning. He had to save her, no matter what his instincts said. He didn't care that she as scary, didn't care that she didn't even like him, didn't care that he knew nothing about her and always felt on edge with her around.

Right now, every fiber of his being was telling him that she needed him.

Something tackled Raven to the ground, as the plasma-squid shrieked angrily as it soared over her head. She cried as the wind was knocked out of her. She opened one eye a crack to see what had thrown her out of the way, and was completely dumbfounded.

Beast Boy was lying on top of her.

Raven never thought this would have happened. Without even realizing how helpless she must have appeared, she looked up at him with wide eyes-this was just so shocking. For a short moment, all of her emotional walls dropped and she let surprise flit across her face. Beast Boy looked back down at her and grinned, exhausted and proud. His small chest heaved as he breathed heavily onto her face, nostrils flaring. She could feel his rapid heartbeat bang against her chest.

He had...saved her. All this time, she had thought he was the one in need of saving. All this time, she had thought that he was unable to protect himself. All this time, she had thought he was a weak, dead weight to the team. And meanwhile, here he was, throwing himself in danger in order to protect her.

She felt so foolish. They were only teammates in the loosest sense of the word, and he didn't even stop to consider what the consequences of blocking the squid might have been. She was a hypocrite, and the realization made her face flood with shame.

"Guess that makes us even now," Beast Boy mocked cheerfully as he slid from on top of her. She didn't notice that she had taken his hand until he hefted her up.

Raven blinked twice, dazed. "Oh, um, yes. I suppose it does." She felt him want her to return the smile but her face remained passive, the unexpected heat fading. If she started smiling now, it would keep happening, and she did not want that.

Oh, no.

Beast Boy was still facing towards her, grinning with the knowledge that he had successfully saved a life.

Before she could so much as turn around, one of the slime-creatures threw itself at Beast Boy, who yelped in pain.

"Beast—!" Raven couldn't finish her sentence before the squid catapulted itself at her for a second time.

Everything went dark.

...

There was a loud explosion, so bright that Beast Boy could see it through the opaque muck that surrounded him. The remains of the plasma-squid encasing his head was blown off of him and he was on the floor, covered in the goop. He glanced around and saw that Raven and Starfire were also free-how long had he been inside that thing?

He picked himself up so that he was standing on his knees, frowning. This day was a total downer.

Somewhere on the floor, a bald man in a black Speedo snored peacefully as if he hadn't just been a giant slime dude.

Raven covered her nose. "You were right, Beast Boy."

His ears perked up. Raven was instigating a conversation? Didn't she hate his guts, despite that he had saved her life in return. He said curiously, "I always am, but I'd like to know about what this time."

Ignoring his remark, Raven answered matter-o-factually, "It does smell like your room."

His smile fell. He thought that she would at least acknowledge his bravery. She always went around acting like he didn't do anything, and when he finally did...Well, he ended up bested by that thing anyway, so what did it matter? At least they had been saved by-

By who?

"What reeks?" someone groaned. Someone with a deep voice with a city drawl.

Someone who grinned down at his friends, lowering his arm-canon so it was no longer aimed at them. Someone whose blinking red eye and shiny metal exterior never looked so comforting.

"Cyborg!" Beast Boy jumped onto his friend, clinging to him like a toddler to his guardians' leg. Cyborg laughed, and everything about his laugh brought emotions to surface form inside of Beast Boy. All the hurt, all the missing, all the emptiness of the Tower for the past two days came rushing back to the shape-changer, and a frown formed on his face. He ducked his head to keep his friend from seeing his face, to keep Cy from seeing how his eyes were starting to get wet.

Jeez, man up! He thought to himself. Cyborg would make fun of him for weeks if he saw how upset he was. Raven would still think that he was a helpless baby. And, if Starfire saw...

He stomped down any feeling of sadness or hurt-he was good at that-and let the positive emotions he was feeling shine through. Cyborg was back, Cyborg was back, Cyborg was back. They were a team again! His face stung, he was smiling so hard. It was so unbelievable how his life had gone from horrible to back on track in so quickly his head spun.

"I knew y'all loved me," Cyborg smirked, shaking the smaller of the two off. Beast Boy loosened his grip and allowed himself to plop back onto the floor, a bit embarrassed.

"Speak for yourself," Raven replied, wiping slime off of her face. She was trying to seem indifferent, but even Beast Boy could tell that she was glad to see the mecha-man again. She hesitated, before adding, "Welcome back."

The African-American Titan opened his mouth to speak, perhaps to mention something about how he missed Raven the most, just to irritate her, when Starfire rocketed into him. Hard.

He went reeling backwards, struggling to maintain his balance. "Woah! Star!" He grunted. She wrapped her arms around his torso, crushing him in an enormous bear hug. Raven winced beside Beast Boy, as if she could feel his pain.

Beast Boy felt a twang of jealousy, even though the hug meant nothing to either Starfire or Cyborg. He had molested his leg, for the love of God! It wasn't like he had any romantic connection towards Cyborg. Yet, he couldn't help how their closeness made him feel like a loser, sitting in a puddle of smelly goop next to Raven. Starfire never hugged him like that.

Ugh, stop it, he scolded. Now you're acting like a real loser.

"You have returned!" Starfire squealed, her beautiful face brightening the dank room. Even with her hair gunked up with slime and tangled up in knots, it still retained the vibrant color of deep-red that complimented her sparkling green eyes. She was so pretty, Beast Boy thought, staring at her unashamedly.

At least, until he noticed Raven giving him an odd look-to which he whipped his head away and found an interest in the floor. He could feel the blood rushing through his cheeks. Raven hadn't seen him looking, had she? Raven couldn't know, could she?

"Hey," Beast Boy cleared his throat, praying that Raven had just thought he was daydreaming in Starfire's general direction. Praying that she didn't think he was gawking at her alien beauty. Prayed that if she did know, she wouldn't say anything. "Where's Robin?"

"Just called the precinct," their leader announced, closing his communicator with a snap. He stood in the doorway, looking more relaxed then Beast Boy had seen him in days. The masked sixteen-year-old watched his team silently for a moment, then nodded his head outside, where sirens could be heard in the distance.

Two minutes later, a collection of white vans came to a halt outside of the crumbling building. A balding man with white pants and a black T-shirt jogged up to the group of heroes, looking nervous. "We heard that you have a—"

"In there," Robin answered, jerking a thumb behind him. "He's asleep now."

The man shook his head. "I'm really sorry about this. He wasn't supposed to escape."

A group of men dressed similarly to the balding man came from the cars, pouring out onto the concrete. They began to clean the area of all plasma residue, carrying the snoozing form into a rather large van. Beast Boy sighed and looked around.

The five Titans stood outside the waste dump, reunited once again. Plasmas had been defeated, and his human form was being taken back to a lab at this very moment. All was right.

Robin glanced at Cyborg apprehensively. "Look, uh, sorry about—f"

"Yeah," Cyborg smiled, knowing that his ex-ex-friend was never good with apologies.

"So, are we cool?" Robin asked.

"Frosty," Cyborg agreed, raising one fist to him. Robin grinned and bumped his gloved fist to his friends' metal one.

At least now Raven didn't have to taste all the stupid sad emotions. "You made up!" Starfire announced, bouncing up and down. Raven forced herself not to groan in disgust when she saw Beast Boy staring at her chest-that boy was disgusting sometimes. All she could taste from him was lust. "I wish to initiate a 'group hug'."

Raven rolled her eyes at her teammate. Like she'd ever want to hug anyone, especially Starfire. She seemed pleasant, but she had the potential to snap her spine. "Pass," she answered blandly.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Warm fuzzies all around," Beast Boy half-heartedly congratulated hastily. He was trying to put up a tough front but she knew that he was secretly overjoyed that Cyborg had come back. And denying a hug from Starfire must have really been tough for him. "But we still gotta catch Cinderblock!"

Raven was stunned that he was acting so maturely about the situation. She expected him to go over and cling to his friends' leg (again). Maybe she had been wrong about him, in more ways than one, after all.

"No we don't," Cyborg said surely. "Thought I'd bring a present, 'case you were still mad." He raised an arm up to show Cinderblock being hefted away by a crane, a street sign curled securely over his arms, restraining him. Cinderblock grumbled incoherently.

Robin smirked. "Thanks—but there is one thing that's still bothering me." Raven, Beast Boy and Starfire looked at the back of their leader in shock. "Breaking into jail…distracting us with Plasmas…the whole thing sounds a little too smart for Cinderblock."

"I've been thinkin' the same thing," Cyborg agreed. Simultaneously, both Starfire and Beast Boy let out a sigh of relief. At least no one was going to be arguing.

"Someone must have been pulling the strings…" Robin said, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "But who?"

"Well whoever they are, they're no match for the Teen Titans," Cyborg boasted.

"I heard that!" Robin laughed, high-fiving the robotic teen. The Titans started on their way home tiredly, when Raven pulled Beast Boy away from the group and onto the side.

"Hey—!" Raven slapped a hand over his mouth. He was overcome with a horrible wave of fear. What was she going to do? Kill him, eat him, hurt him in anyway? Call him out for ogling Star before?He had no idea what was going through her mind, her eyes devoid of any sign of emotion. Her hands smelled vaguely like Plasmas after the battle. She raised a finger to her lips indicating that he needed to stay quiet. Slowly, Beast Boy nodded his head and Raven removed her hand.

"What up?"

"Look," she began, an hand on his shoulder. He winced at the pressure she applied, and she loosened her grip some. "I'm not really used to doing this kind of thing…I don't enjoy expressing myself." She looked over his head instead of in his eyes. Beast Boy felt his heart pick up again. Showing emotions? What was she going to do? Hug him? His body locked itself in place.

"I just wanted to thank you for saving me before," she said slowly, as if he were a stupid child. "And I am sorry."

Beast Boy blinked. "Um, what now?"

Raven frowned. "I apologized to you, okay? I was wrong about you. I thought you weren't able to handle yourself. But..." She looked away. "After today, I was proven incorrect." She snapped her gaze back to his face.

"If you tell anyone, I will skin you alive." Her threat was empty-she would never seriously hurt a team member-but he had gotten the message. She could taste his fear, his uncertainty as to whether she was kidding or not.

"Oh, er, no biggie. We're teammates; it's what we're supposed to do." He flashed another grin and she rolled her eyes. They turned to catch up with the rest of their friends when Raven started to ask something.

"Why do you..." She trailed off.

Why do you feel so connected to these people?

Why do you let us all think you are useless?

Why do you protect other people, but endanger yourself?

Why do you go about fancying Starfire when you know she doesn't like you back?

Why do you bother?

He looked at her, and she shook her head, messy purple hair shaking with it. "It's nothing."

They walked home quietly; the silence, this time, was comforting.