Klaxons blared and red lights flashed inside the Jump City nuclear power plant. Non essential power plant workers were being evacuated while the core team worked feverishly to shut down the runaway experimental Xenothium reactor. In the middle of all the mayhem, forgotten by those present, was Dr. Arthur Light, who was busy packing a lead lined suit case with as many Xenothium canisters as would fit inside.

It was Dr. Light who triggered the reactor meltdown, and he was pleased with the results as no one was stopping his heist in the cavernous reactor room. It was like taking candy from a baby and he hummed happily, oblivious to the multiple alarms ringing in the room. Oblivious, that is, until he heard a familiar voice above the calamitous din in the reactor room.

"Dr. Light! Sabotaging a Xenothium reactor? That's low even for you!" A gravelly monotone interrupted his good mood. He turned around and found himself face to face with the violet haired sorceress.

"I'm not afraid of you, not anymore!" He growled at her.

"You should be, you have no idea of what I can do." She replied.

A light burst shot out from a cannon in of the chest section of his suit. It hit Raven and knocked her off her feet and she fell on her back, convulsing as energy tendrils danced on her body. Dr. Light grinned maliciously as he looked at the remaining four Titans. Within moments sonic blasts, star bolds and miscellaneous bird-a-rangs went flying in his direction. With a hand gesture he summoned an energy shield, which protected him flawlessly.

"I'm no longer a push over; you're no match for me, Titans!" He shouted in a smug tone as he fired another blast, this time at Starfire; which the princess was barely able to dodge.

Dr. Light, still grinning while Raven slowly got back on her feet. He focused on Raven and a smirk appeared on his face.

"Where is your idiot, green boyfriend? Was he too afraid of me to show his face?"

Raven balled her fists. "He's closer than you think, you dullard!"

At that moment he heard a buzzing sound near his ear. He instinctively swatted in the air, but he only found air. The buzzing continued and the Pharaoh of Photons saw the most hideous green wasp he had ever seen; its stinger looked hungry for his exposed skin. He continued swatting at it, still missing.

"Stay away, from me! I'm allergic to insect venom!"

"We know that." Raven droned as she and the other four Titans began to close in on the villain. He did not see them approaching as he phobia of the green wasp had transformed into a full blown panic.

"I said stay away from me!" He yelled as he began to fire with his wrist blasters at the green wasp, which easily dodged his shots while sticking its tongue out at him.

"Good work Beast Boy" Robin muttered to himself as they continued to close in on the distracted villain. "Keep him busy."

Robin produced a bolo rope which he threw at Dr. Light's legs, which became trapped and immobilized. Unable to move his legs, Dr' Light lost his balance and with his arms flailing he began to fall. He continued firing and his last shot missed the changeling by a mile.

His shot did find an unexpected target, a backup cooling tank for the reactor, and it punctured it. Orange gas began to spew from the tank right at the green wasp. Raven watched in horror as the changeling began to sputter before falling to the ground. Raven ran to his side. Before she could pick him up he morphed back into his human form, gasping for breath and looking very pale.

"Cyborg, Gar's hurt!" She shouted, the panic evident in her voice.

Robin was tying up Dr. Light with Starfire's assistance. "We got this under control. Take him to the infirmary! Cyborg! Do what you can!"

The tin man nodded, unable to hide the fear on his face. Raven's black hemisphere appeared and the three Titans vanished.

-( - )-

48 hours later …

The four Titans huddled around the changeling's med station. Cyborg tapped on a panel and heaved a sigh.

"He's stabilized … he's gonna be OK."

Raven stood next to her boyfriend, holding his hand. They were just a few weeks away from their first anniversary as a couple. Their teammates had been quietly speculating how long it would be until the changeling proposed to his now 22 year old girlfriend. He had grown and was now taller than Raven and he had buffed out as well. But lying unconscious in his med station he looked weak and vulnerable. Raven looked towards Cyborg.

"If he's OK, then why isn't his skin green?"

"I dunno, I'm running some blood tests. I'm concerned too."

Raven sighed before leaning over to kiss him on his forehead. As she did that her sharp eyes noticed that the roots of his hair and the faint stubble on his face were no longer green … they were blond.

"Cyborg! Look at this, he new hair growth isn't green."

The tin man's electronic eyes zoomed out as he examined his friend. "You're right, it is blond."

At that very moment Garfield Logan began to stir and he opened his eyes. The first thing he saw were here own indigo eyes. He smiled at her.

"Hey there, mama."

Raven ignored his latest pet name for her. "How do you feel?"

"I feel kinda weird, like I'm not myself."

He looked at his ungloved and no longer green hands. A shriek escaped his lips.

"Rave! What's happening to me?"

"We aren't sure … it's probably nothing. We're running some tests." She replied in an unconvincing tone.

Garfield leaped out of his bed and ran to a full sized mirror in the infirmary. He stared in disbelief at the Caucasian man in the mirror. He closed his eyes and appeared to be concentrating.

"Raven!" He cried out in panic.

She wrapped her arms around him. "Relax, Cyborg says you're OK."

"I'm not OK."

"Gar, your skin pigmentation, it's probably temporary. Relax, I'm here with you, you're going to be OK."

He looked her in the eyes. She could feel the panic emanating from him.

"Raven … I can't morph … I just tried."

Raven felt her own windpipe tighten upon hearing his words. "I'm sure it's just temporary."

He wrapped his arms around her. She looked at Cyborg. "Can he leave the infirmary now?"

"I don't see why not."

She turned back to her lover. "Let's get out of here and go to our room."

-( - )-

The afternoon in their room was a quiet one. Garfield's panic was gone; but what Raven was sensing now was hopelessness. He had spent the entire afternoon trying to morph and failing every time. He eventually gave up and plopped down on their bed, face down.

Raven looked upon his now fair skinned body and began to wonder if perhaps his change was permanent. She recalled the incident years before, when she tried to bottle up her fears and as a result she temporarily lost her powers. She recalled how scared and helpless she felt, how naked she felt.

She looked at her boyfriend, who had now curled up into a fetal position. She kicked off her boots and removed her cape, after which she curled up next to him. He rolled over and buried his face in her chest. She ran her fingers through his still green hair.

"Would you like to like to make love?" She whispered in his ear.

This surprised him, as he was the one who would have to take the first step. He shook his head.

"I'm not really in the mood." He whispered back.

"Gar, no matter what the outcome is; you know that I still love you and I always will."

"I know. What I don't know is why?"

Before she could rebuke him for that remark her communicator chirped. She reached for it and flipped it open. Cyborg's grim face was on it.

"Y'all better come on over to the infirmary, I know what's happened to BB."

-( - )-

The five Titans gathered around the small table in the infirmary. Cyborg had a sheaf of print outs before him. Garfield didn't seem to be fully present and he stared blankly at the table's surface. Raven's body language betrayed her impatience.

"Well? Why is Gar white?"

The tin man heaved an unhappy sigh.

"Well, as we all know BB's powers come from having the Sakutia virus in his body. His parents created a counter serum for the virus, and a side effect of the two fighting each other was the source of his transformative powers."

"Was?" Robin asked.

"Yeah … was. Whatever was in that coolant gas, it destroyed all the Sakutia virus in Garfield's body."

Raven's eyes grew wide. "So … it's permanent?"

"I'm afraid so. I'm sorry B, but there's nothing we can do."

For the first time in the meeting, Garfield looked up from the table.

"Can't you just inject some more Sakutia in me?"

Cyborg shook his head. "With the virus gone the serum your folks gave you broke down, and I don't know how to make more. If I injected Sakutia into you, you'd be dead within 24 hours. I'm sorry man; I wish I could tell you something else."

"So, I'll never be Beast Boy again."

"I'm afraid so."

Garfield dropped his head.

"I know you did your best, Cy. Thanks for trying."

Garfield rose to his feet. "I'll be in my room."

He walked out the infirmary. Raven, who was also in a state of shock, hesitated. Starfire nudged her, and he sorceress followed her boyfriend out the room. They walked back to their room in silence. Raven palmed the door open and they entered together. As soon as she closed the door he fell onto his knees and began to weep. Raven wrapped her arms around him and also cried.

-( - )-

Later that evening …

Robin, Starfire and Cyborg sat down to a simple pizza dinner. Raven and Garfield were conspicuous by their absence.

"I don't think they'll be joining us tonight." Robin remarked offhandedly. He picked up the box with the vegetarian pizza that Raven and Gar would normally share. "Star, would you mind taking this to their room?"

Starfire nodded and was soon on her way. As soon as she was gone, Robin looked at Cyborg.

"So you're 100% sure we can't restore his powers?"

"I'm not even sure his parents could. It was a fluke, Rob. Even if I had the formula for the serum there's no guarantee I could bring back his powers. Heck, I couldn't even be sure I could keep the Sakutia from killing him."

Robin sighed unhappily. "I was afraid you'd say that because we have a problem."

"Problem? What problem?"

"Gar doesn't have powers anymore."

"You never had any."

"True, but I am very athletically gifted. And before you ask, I can't train him to be like me. Gar isn't gifted; he's just an average guy, maybe even below average."

"So you aren't even going to give him a chance? Is that how you treat your friends? Do you have any idea of how devastated he'll be if you kick him off the team? And if you do that, Raven's gonna be really pissed."

Robin glared at the Tin Man. "Of course I'm going to give him a chance. And I'll never kick him off the team. I don't have to. He'll quit on his own."

"And when he leaves, Raven will leave with him."

"Yes, I know." Robin grumbled. "I'm open to suggestions, if you have any."

"I don't know … find him a new job? Didn't Bats give Batgirl a desk job when she became disabled?"

"You know I don't like to talk about Babs."

"So you're blaming yourself? Look, gel hair, it wasn't your fault Babs got shot and it isn't your fault BB lost his powers."

Robin sighed. "Bad things happen to people who are close to me."

"Then make good things happen."

-( - )-

At Raven's insistence he went to have breakfast with the others the next morning. Raven volunteered to cook his breakfast. They were greeted politely by their teammates and they could tell something was afoot. As he sat down Robin handed him a folder.

"What's this?"

"It's a training plan I put together for you."

"A training plan?"

"Listen, Garfield; just because you lost your powers doesn't mean you can't be a superhero."

Garfield opened the folder. The front page had a training timeline. It was three years long. He closed the folder and dropped it on the table.

"I appreciate what you're trying to do, Robin; but let's get real here. I'm an unathletic klutz. I could train for a hundred years and not be good enough to be a Titan."

"Gar, I think you should give this a chance." Raven announced as she placed his plate before him.

"C'mon Rave; I can't even beat you when we do 'no powers' sparring days."

"Because you're lazy and don't train like you should. And you didn't have to when you had your powers. I know you can do it."

He reopened the folder and stared at the timeline. "Three years is a long time"

"Look me in the eyes and tell me you're ready to quit being a Titan." She replied.

"I don't want to quit; but … I don't know if I can do this. I've seen a lot of guys try be like Robin, guys who were really athletic, who crashed and burned."

"There's more to being a non-superpowered hero than being athletically gifted." Cyborg interjected. "C'mon B, I know you can do it."

"Don't call me that, Beast Boy is dead. Now I'm just plain old Garfield Logan. I'll never be an animal again. I don't think that you guys understand what I'm going through. I'm not me anymore. I woke up one morning and found out I was someone else. A nobody."

"You aren't a nobody. You're my boyfriend. I was going to ask you to marry me and I still intend on doing that. I know how much your powers meant to you. I'm an empath, I could feel the joy you felt every time you morphed. But just because you've lost them doesn't mean that somehow you're less of a man than you used to be."

"I know you're right, but I still feel that way."

Robin placed a hand on his shoulder. "Garfield, please give it a try. We don't want you to leave … I don't want you to leave."

Garfield looked at the folder. "OK, I will."

"Excellent! We can start tomorrow at 5AM!"

Raven gave him a red eyed glare.

"Uh, how about you and Raven take a week off …"

She continued to glare.

"make that two weeks off and go away someplace nice and relaxing, and spend some quality time together? Then when you get back, you'll be ready for training."

"I think that would be a great idea." Raven replied.

-( - )-

I was going to make this a oneshot, but I think it will be a short story.

Now, don't discourage me with a lack of reviews. This story could be the turning point in having me come back.