A/N: I didn't think I'd have the first chapter of this up so fast, but I guess I'm on a roll today. LOL. Hardly writing anything through this week has left a lot of words waiting to be written out. Anyway, this is the extended episode version of "Switched" the episode in which Raven and Starfire switch bodies and have to deal with each other's powers and personal issues. It will have a RobinxRaven slant. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: And so another story begins:

Cyborg: Aw, man, c'mon, do we gotta do this everytime?

Me: Do what every time?

Cyborg: *gesturing* This.

Me: Usually not.

Cyborg: So...

Me: What?

Cyborg: Just say the disclaimer.

Me: Why?

Cyborg: This is why Robin quit.

Me: *raspberry* I don't own any Teen Titans anything.

In a room somewhere amidst the rundown downtown life, in the darkness of an abandoned factor, a small figure was illuminated. On a brightly lit, garish cartoon stage, a wooden Robin marionette dropped into view, dangling from threads before the backdrop of a painted Titans tower.

The small figure waggled a hand and the Robin puppet danced merrily in the miniature stage. "Titans, go!" A squeaky, grating voice mimicked the Titan leader's classic phrase. Puppet Robin leapt spectacularly across the stage and then turned to look back from where it had been moments before.

It was alone.

"Hey!" The Puppet Robin squeaked. "What's going on? Titans?"

At the far end of the stage, four other deformed puppets began to slink out from the shadows.

"What's wrong? Aren't you guys coming?" Puppet Robin pleaded.

Puppet Raven shrugged and wobbled on her strings. "Oh no, fearless Robin, for what is the point? We can't possibly defeat the Puppet King."

"Yes, dear Robin." The Puppet Starfire cooed. "For e is too clever and much too powerful, not to mention so very goody-looking."

Puppet Cyborg danced onto the stage beside the two puppet girls. "Yeah." The squeaky voice tried to deepen itself in likeness to the original titan's tone. "We should probably just surrender now, Robin."

Puppet Beast Boy flailed wildly about the stage and then flopped over. "Dudes, I think we already have." Puppet Beast Boy gestured upward and all of the puppets threw up their arms and fell flat on the stage floor.

Hovering above the makeshift toy stage, with barely a sliver of light to show his face, the small figure was visible as a squat specimen in a red military dress uniform and sash. The head was shadowed, hiding most of the face, but glowing eyes and a small crown were details that stood out in the shadowy interior.

"Bravo, bravo my little darlings." The puppetmaster cheered. "But enough rehearsal." He threw down the crosspieces, the puppets below pitching away to fall of the makeshift stage. "It's time to start the show." The five marionettes tumbled off the stage in a jumble of strung arms and legs.

The eerie silence provided a fading background.

Raven woke to a feeling of delicious refreshment. It took her a moment of lying still and silent to understand why and for what reason. She almost smiled, but that particular notion was squashed when she realized that being awake, meant getting up and out of her comfortable, round bed.

With a moan, she buried her face in a nearby pillow and practiced breathing in and out until her mind cleared into a less scrambled jumble. That was better. That was much better. She rolled over to face the ceiling again, this time, with a clearer mind.

The events of the day before had come rushing back and she hadn't wanted to deal with it yet. It meant a morning of strict meditation. Her head was still a mess from having unwanted guests gallivanting around within. In fact, it had taken more than a few stern conversations with her various selves to keep her personality confined to the usual constraints.

The little relief she'd felt at the fact that Cyborg and Beast Boy hadn't learned too much of her private affairs was a small consolation for the price she was paying to keep the rest of her emotions in check. It was best to keep it the way it was.

Best to pretend that there was nothing happening. That she was growing the slightest bit closer to any one of them. Especially not to the dark-haired, spiky-headed, masked one of them—!

Raven squeezed her eyes shut and her pillows shot up into the air, enveloped in black-white energy, before they streaked across the room and slammed into the bedroom door. She sighed. This was going to be a long and lousy day, unless she could somehow manage to spend the entire twenty-four hours in non-stop meditation.

That thought brought a hint of brightness to her dreary start and Raven slid out from the tangle of navy-blue sheets and towards the private bathroom in the corner. With a wave of her hand, the black-white energy replaced the pillows in their respective places and the bed made itself up in her absence.

Shower. Raven thought, idly. A shower should do the trick…

It did help some, but not as much as she'd wanted. Raven pushed the thought away and continued to maintain the even keel of her inner energies, timed to the rhythm of her breathing. It was working better than the shower had. In the backdrop of black, sprinkled with shimmering stars, there was nothing but silence and a blissful expanse of nothingness.

It was more soothing than she'd ever admit.

Eyes closed, face blank, Raven continued the chant that meant so much, maintaining her position in mid-hover. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos...Azarath Metrion Zinthos..."

Somewhere in the distant nothingness, a faint voice whispered. "Raven?" The calm was beginning to crack at the edges, crumbling into itself as the voice repeated the insistent word, drawing closer and louder. "Friend Raven?"

It faded away as Raven felt her forehead twitch in annoyance. It had all disappeared completely and now that her peacefulness had been shredded into nothingness, she finds the earlier irritation coming back in full force with Starfire's repeated insistence.

"Raven? Please forgive my interruption, but have you seen Robin?"

Raven was jerked back to the present where she was—in the observation deck of the Titan's Tower. "No."

"Oh." Starfire's face fell. She turned to leave, but stopped. "Then perhaps you have seen Cyborg?"

"No."

Starfire turned again and paused in mid-step for the second time. "Then perhaps you've seen Beast Boy?"

The last vestige of patience melted away. "My eyes are closed, Starfire, I haven't seen anyone."

"Ah." The redhead nodded, agreeing with something that she didn't really seem to understand at all. "Then they must be doing the hanging out someplace." She turned again to go, and stopped—for the third time. "Perhaps we should do the hanging out. We never have before, and conceivably it could be fun. We might journey to the mall of shopping, or perform braiding maneuvers upon each other's hair, or..." Her voice trailed off.

Raven was about to explode, her eyes flaring red as black energy flames outlined her head, the grimace inside finally showing on the outside.

Starfire blushed, fiddling with her fingers. "Um, perhaps you wish to be alone?" She inched away from the stewing Empath.

In as dry and composed a voice as she could manage, Raven made herself answer. "How could you tell?"

With Starfire no longer a distraction, Raven began to pull on the familiar tendrils in the corners of her mind to bring the calm back to what it once was. Her inner-projection of the void, empty space slowly reformed in her mind's eye and within a few deep breaths, she was back to finding the usual center.

"Azarath Metrion Zinth-"

"MAIL CALL!" Cyborg's cheery yell filled the calm room.

For the second time that morning, her calm was shattered. A quiet yelp left her mouth as she toppled off her mid-air hover and tumbled to the ground in a tangled heap before the missing three titans. Robin, Beast Boy and Cyborg, with Cyborg carrying a large wooden crate.

Starfire gave a squeal of delight, zipping over to the newly returned trio. "Robin! Cyborg! Beast Boy! You are back! It was...quiet while you were gone."

Raven stood, dusting herself off with undisguised annoyance. "Not that quiet." Her gaze flickered towards the caret and then she grimaced. There was an odd feeling of unsettlement in her stomach and something about it didn't rest well with her at all.

The very fact that she couldn't put her finger on it irritated her even more. If her mind was clearer, perhaps it might've been easier to identify what the problem was.

Perhaps

~*~*~*Thanks for reading!~*~*~