I know what you're all thinking - why is she starting another story when she has ten left to finish? Blame the Plot Bunnies, OK? The idea wouldn't leave me alone!

This will mostly be told in third person omniscent or third person limited point of view, but the prologue below is told in the POV's of Robin, Raven, and Beast Boy.

The story will get better, I promise (and I hope!)

Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans

Summary: Beast Boy is acting strange, and the Titans are worried the Beast from before is resurfacing. With violent mood swings, longings for meat, and disappearances, Beast Boy himself is worried for what is to come. He doesn't want to face the darkness in him, but then he realizes he must if he wants to overcome it. And all the while a violet-blue raven will be there to help him along his way. But will it be enough...?

Darkness

Prologue

Robin

It's been a few weeks since my team and I returned from Tokyo. I'm going out with the love of my life – Starfire, the Tamaranean princess. Raven hasn't been meditating as much, and I've noticed she's been feeling a little without her emotions making anything explode – probably because she's free from her father's control. Cyborg and Bumblebee are having lots of phone chats, and sometimes they meet each other when crime is low. There isn't much crime at all, actually – a few bank robberies here and there, and the occasional Dr. Light and alien attacks, but most of the villains we used to fight on a daily basis are frozen with the Brotherhood of Evil in their lair in Paris. Only Slade is still unaccounted for – Beast Boy said he saw Slade and fought him before we headed out to Tokyo, but we haven't seen him since.

Beast Boy's been acting strangely lately. At first I thought it was because he saw Terra's statue was gone, and then actually saw a girl who looked and sounded just like Terra. Perhaps it was Terra, but she just forgot everything after being freed from her stone prison. We don't really know what happened to her, and I know Beast Boy would like to know the truth. But we can't change anything…

Anyway, apparently Terra isn't his issue. He's been a little moody lately, and he's been really intense in battle training without even turning into anything. He's also been disappearing a lot – at least once a week, usually on Saturday. The rest of the team is concerned, too, but none of us are just going to come out and tell him our concerns.

Until Cyborg dared me to ask him what was going on. And he didn't just dare me – he triple dog dared me, and called me Boy Blunder.

Since I wasn't going to put up with not accepting his dare, I (nervously) asked Beast Boy what was going on one morning at breakfast.

"Nothing's going on," he had replied.

"Then why are you disappearing from the Tower at times and acting so weird?" I had asked. I instantly regretted it, but I couldn't take it back.

"It's none of your business!" Beast Boy had exclaimed. He had gotten up, leaving his tofu untouched, and stormed out of the common room.

"I'm just concerned for you, Beast Boy!" I had yelled after him. He stopped at the doors and turned around to look at me. I could see the mixed feelings in his eyes as he responded.

"Don't be," he had muttered. Then, he said something really quietly as he left. I could just make it out:
"You'll just get hurt."

"What did he mean by that?" I asked Cyborg, Starfire, and Raven.

They didn't have the answer, and I sure didn't know what he was talking about, so I went back to my room to ponder it. I stayed in there all day and all night, coming out the next morning.

When I finished thinking, I had only two logical explanations. The first was that Beast Boy was hitting maturity and his powers were changing with him. But that still seemed unlikely. My other explanation scared me.

After helping Aqualad with Brother Blood's underwater sonic resonator a year or two back, my team got into a fight with a villain named Adonis, who is thankfully frozen with the Brotherhood of Evil now. But during the fight, he and Beast Boy had been drenched in experimental chemicals. The day after that Beast Boy had started behaving weirdly. He went into the gym to work out, he was moody, and he even ate meat, something he swore to never do. Then, after an argument with Raven, he went into his room and… we're still uncertain about the details, but we're pretty sure the chemicals took full effect on him. Then he changed into this beast. The same thing happened to Adonis, apparently, though Beast Boy himself couldn't remember. Raven was attacked, and after waking up, she said that Adonis had broken into the tower to attack Beast Boy. She had gone to check out the howl we all had heard, and Adonis captured her. Beast Boy saved her, but he attacked me, Cyborg, and Starfire. It wasn't very pretty, that's for sure.

Cyborg gave them both an antidote, and it worked on both of them, but my second theory is that the antidote either wasn't strong enough for Beast Boy or that the Beast is part of him now, and that it's trying to take over Beast Boy again.

When the Titans heard this theory, they were just shocked – except Starfire. She had something interesting to share with us about this assumption.

She said that when we were fighting Slade and some fire demons on the night Raven was supposed to become the portal so her father could rule, she saw Beast Boy change into the Beast during the fight. After getting knocked out, however, he changed back and didn't use it again.

And suddenly we had our answer.

The Beast was back, and was trying to take over Beast Boy.

Raven

When Robin finally had his theory about Beast Boy, we were all moderately shocked. I, of course, didn't show it as much, but the surprise from the explanation was still there.

I remembered that Beast clearly, even if I hadn't been awake for most of the fighting. It was big, bigger than Cyborg. It was various shades of green in Beast Boy's case, and had long, sharp claws and fangs. It looked like some type of mutated primate, in my opinion.

"Having that thing inside doesn't make you an animal. Knowing when to let it out is what makes you a man."

That's what I told him after Cyborg gave him the antidote, after Beast Boy said that he could still feel it inside him, and I meant every word of it.

But apparently, even though he let it out at a great time, once he did that, he couldn't control it as well.

I understood what he was going through. I had always had to control my emotions because of my demonic heritage, but that was all my life. For Beast Boy, it wasn't quite the same, but the answer was there. He just needed to learn how to control it.

When I came to this conclusion, I realized that I was going to be the one to get him through this – no matter what.

Beast Boy

I kept telling myself I could handle it. I kept reminding myself of Raven's words.

But it wouldn't give up. The Beast wouldn't give up.

It was giving me nightmares. It was trying to influence what I did and what I felt. It was trying to take over me. I couldn't allow it.

On Saturdays I would sometimes go out to a nature park that was seldom visited. I changed into every predator I could think of – tiger, lion, leopard, cheetah, wolf, bear, and others – and hunted the deer and stuff in the park to try and make it happy, but it wouldn't let me go.

I hate it.

I hate what could happen if it did get lose.

I hate myself for being it.

The Beast hadn't bothered me for a while, until right after Slade first came after Raven. After that, whenever we went into battle with Slade, it tried to get out, but I was stronger then, and wouldn't let it. When those fire demon thingies attacked, it tried to get out again, and that time… I let it. But once the whole thing was over, it started to try to get out again. And since the Terra and Tokyo thing… it's gotten stronger.

I don't know how much more I can take. I'm afraid I'm going to snap soon.

No, I'm not just afraid it might happen – I know it will.

I just hope that when it does, Raven is safe.