"Guys!" Changling screamed as he ran into the common room with one of his 18 month old twins in his arms.
Robin and Cyborg jumped to their feet.
"Gar, What's going on, man?" Cyborg asked.
"It's terrible! Raven is going to kill me!" Changling was panicking. "She will kill me and then bring me back from the dead so she can kill me again!"
"Changeling, calm down!" Robin yelled. "Now tell us what's going on."
"Well, Rin, Shadou and I were taking a nap on the bed, right?" Changeling began anxiously. "So I wake up and Shadou is gone! Gone! Poof! Disappeared! I don't know how she got out. I mean our room is baby proofed! She can't open the doors or the windows!"
"Have you looked all over the room?" Robin asked. "Under the bed, in the closets…?"
"Dude, how dumb do you think I am? Of course I looked! I even tried to sniff her out. Nothing went past our room. I even flew outside to make sure she wasn't kidnapped or something. No odd scents. It's like she never left the room."
Suddenly Rin, one of Changeling and Raven's 18-month-old children began to cry. Rin had dirty blonde hair and her mother's pale skin. Shadou had black hair a fair complexion. Both had their father's emerald green eyes.
Garfield bounced Rin gently on his hip. "It's okay… It's okay… Daddy will find Shadou and Mommy will never have to know." He looked to his friends with pleading eyes. "Please help me!"
"Okay," Robin began. "Star and Raven will be back in about an hour from their shopping trip. That gives us sixty minutes to do a thorough sweep of the tower. Let's get started. And, Changeling? Please don't lose Rin too. I'd hate to see how Raven reacts if she finds out both the twins are missing."
Changling shuddered at the thought. He imagined his wife's two pairs of glowing, demonic eyes and dark energy coming after him.
The Titan male trio went about their search looking high and low for the missing toddler. They looked through every room, in every closet on every floor. They went through the cars, the equipment and anything else they could find. The sixty minutes was just about up and little Shadou was still missing.
Changeling sat in the common room with his face in the dining table in defeat. "She's gone!" he cried. "We've looked everywhere! How could I lose my own daughter?! Raven will never forgive me…"
"Gar, I know you're really in a tough spot, but I think it's time we call Raven now," Robin told him as Cyborg played with Rin. "She'll be too concerned looking for Shadou to kill you."
"Yeah, man, just get it over with," Cyborg added.
"Okay," Changeling said in defeat. He made his way to the door of the common room to fetch his communicator from his bedroom. "Hello, angry wife; goodbye happy marriage. Anyone know a good divorce attorney?"
The doors opened.
"Now why would you need one of those?" Someone asked. It was Raven! And she was with Starfire!
Changeling yelped, jumping backward and landing on his rear end.
"Nice knowing you, Gar," Cyborg said as he handed Rin to Raven and scooted out of the room.
"Freeze!" Raven yelled.
Cyborg stopped.
"What is going on? Garfield?" Raven looked to her husband.
"Uh…uh…" Garfield stammered. "Nothing, honey, everything is just fine." He gave her a large grin with fangs and all.
Raven was not buying it. "Need I remind you that I'm an empath? I can feel when you're lying."
Changeling broke out in tears. "Raven I'm sorry," he bawled. "The twins and I were taking a nap together on the bed and when I woke up, Shadou was gone! I tried tracking her scent in the tower; Cy, Rob and I looked everywhere. She's missing!"
"Wait, Shadou's gone?!" Raven shouted. A few objects melted in the background.
"Her scent never left the room!" He was on his knees. "Please forgive me, Raven!" He grabbed around her legs.
Raven eyes glowed white as she tried to contain her emotions from destroying the tower.
"Raven," Starfire called calmly, "perhaps you could try to sense Shadou's presence to see if she is truly missing from our home."
"Good idea, Star!" Robin agreed.
Raven exhaled, calming herself. "All right." She closed her eyes and focused on her other daughter. Suddenly she gasped, summoning her dark powers and wrapping herself, Rin and Changeling in her dark powers with no explanation.
They appeared in their bedroom where Beast Boy and the twins were sleeping before.
Garfield rose to his feet, confused. "Um… why are we here?" He asked her.
Raven shifted Rin on her hip. "You told me that when you tracked her, she never left the room, right?"
"Um… yeah?" he replied.
"Well, I can sense her here in the room."
The green man's ears perked up. "Really?" He looked around. "So…where is she?"
Raven attempted to focus on Shadou's location. "The bed."
Their eyes looked towards the bed.
Garfield was confused. "Um…"
"Sing that song you sing when they play with you."
Garfield thought for a moment. "Old McDonald had a farm…" He looked to Raven feeling ridiculous.
Raven urged him to continue.
Blushing the green man continued to sing. "…E-I-E-I-O… And on that farm he had a chicken… E-I-E-I-O…"
Suddenly, a black-haired child appeared on the bed happily clapping her hands.
"Shadou!" Changeling cried as he ran to his daughter and wrapped her tightly in his arms. He smothered her in kisses.
"Apparently, someone learned how to use their powers today," Raven chuckled. "She's phasing."
"Phasing?"
"Blinking her body in between dimensions."
"Oh, you had me so worried!" Garfield said to Shadou between kisses. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!" The green man then stopped, looking at Raven. "So I guess this is the part where you punish me, huh?"
Raven shook her head. "Nope."
"Seriously?"
"There's no way you could have known that she learned how to use her powers for the first time. You were relying on the methods that you already knew to find her. If I were you, I would have done the same thing. But Garfield, next time, call me. If she's using her powers, there's only so much you can do. You can't travel between dimensions like I can."
"That among other things."
They both set the twins on the floor and they started to play.
"So, what do we do? I don't think that I can handle another one of Shadou's disappearing acts," Changeling told her.
"I'll figure out something to let her non-magical parent know that she's playing magic hide-and-seek."
"And Rin? What do you think she'll be able to do? If Shadou is using her powers, it will be a matter of time before Rin learns how to use her's."
At that moment, a large monster appeared in front of them with a giant face, licking its chops.
Changeling and Raven screamed, jutting backwards. And then, the monster was gone, revealing itself to be the small, adorable Rin.
Raven caught her breath. "It was just Rin, Gar," she panted. "She just learned how to use her powers too."
There was no answer.
"Gar?" She looked behind her to see her husband passed out with a terrified expression on his face.
FIN