A/N: Nova is back, all you happy people. Sorry for the lack of activity on my part. So much has happened since the last time I posted something on here, so I've been keeping busy (thanks in part to Hurricane Sandy). What follows next is a story idea I've had for some time now and it serves sort of as a midquel to my first fic: Raven: Soundtrack of My Life. Don't want to come off as if I'm shamelessly promoting an earlier story, but some events and things in here will make more sense if you've read Raven: SOML first.

Secondly, don't really expect to see a lot in the shipping department. While you will see some hints on some pairings, this fic is solely going to focus on the relationship between Raven and Terra as well as their thoughts and morals on the events that shaped Season 2 of the animated series. With that said, onward and forward we go….

CHAPTER 1

Chaos and order.

Honesty and deception.

Good and evil.

Three epic battles that have raged war since the beginning of time, and three opposing sides in which the line that divides them is not often thick and distinct as we think it to be, but rather, it is sometimes thin and blurred. Just think about it. How strange is it to hear of a person carrying out a criminal or dishonest act, only to later learn that he or she simply did it with "good intentions" in mind? What about a thief who – with a skewed sense of 'morals' - only steals from wealthy individuals or from those whose wealth was ill-gotten to begin with? The fact is, because such scenarios even exist, it is clear that it is not always plain to see in black and white terms the concept of what's considered just and what's considered wrong. It is also wise to note that what really makes a person "good" or "evil" are their collective actions, and to not immediately fault or condone a person based on their appearance, their personality or their past or family history. After all, even angels can be corrupted and fall from grace, while those of a lesser than holier alignment may find ways to both redeem and better themselves. This is a story of two teenaged girls who learned this crucial life lesson, two girls who were as different as night and day and yet as similar as the two sides of a mirror...

'You've got to be kidding me…'

Raven scowled. She was tangled up in the sheets of her bed and staring up at her bedroom ceiling, the Tower's klaxon flashing and blaring away as it destroyed the calm of the night. She then glanced over at the clock over on her nightstand to see that it read 5:52 a.m. The dark mage already knew that as a protector of Jump City, there would be times when the going would get very rough for her.

The late nights and tedious missions?

Totally understandable.

The vicious criminals and senseless monsters?

Just came with the territory.

Being woken up out of a very rare sound sleep at the crack of dawn however…

'Seriously. You have got to be kidding me.'

"I second that emotion," groaned Raven's sloth. The brooding sorcereress then resignedly drew herself from the bed and reached out for her trademark cape.

"No, no, no…" whined Sloth. "Bed, bed, bed…"

'Stop it, Sloth,' snipped Raven as she clasped on her cape and lifted up her hood. 'Duty calls.'

"Duty sucks," grumbled Sloth. Raven's happiness however burst out laughing. "It stinks too!" she giggled, earning a chuckle from her sisterly emotion, and an exasperated sigh from her mistress. Raven then phased up through the ceiling and up to the common area…

Upstairs, Robin, the Titans' team leader, was already reading specs off of the Tower's TV/computer console. Raven resurfaced several feet away from him and walked over. "Just got a report in from STAR Labs," replied Robin, his eyes never leaving the monitor, though he obviously suspected that someone else was now standing behind him. "An experiment just escaped from its Metropolis location, and it's believed to be headed our way."

"Joy," murmured Raven, rolling her violet eyes. Just then Starfire and Cyborg entered the room.

"What's going on?" asked Cyborg.

"STAR Labs," said Robin. "Apparently one of their 'little' experiments got loose, and there've been sightings of the creature near Jump City limits." He then looked away from the monitor long enough to access that something or rather someone was missing.

"…Where's Beast Boy?"

Downstairs and deep within his clutter-infested room, the Teen Titan known as Beast Boy was sound asleep in the bottom bunk of his bunk bed. He sighed and mumbled in his sleep as he affectedly hugged and buried his face into one of his pillows. Seconds later, a large black translucent hand came down from the ceiling and snatched him up. Beast Boy screamed as he was quite literally dragged from bed and straight through the ceiling, and he screamed again as he suddenly found himself on the floor of the common area with four sets of annoyed eyes directed at him...

"…What?" he laughed nervously. "What do you mean, 'what'?" retorted Cyborg.

"Beast Boy, did you not hear the call for alarm?" asked Starfire, a bit puzzled as to how anyone could've possibly slept through the Klaxon. Beast Boy however just shrugged.

"Was kinda hoping I was dreaming that," he yawned. "But seriously, dudes. Who starts up trouble at six in the morning?"

"That's beside the point, Beast Boy," said Robin, who was doing his best to remain cool and collected. "When there's trouble, we have to leap into action, no matter how inconvenient it may be for us. Now the creature which just broke out of STAB Labs was last spotted 30 miles southeast of Jump City. Titans, let's go!"

As the light of the morning sun began to creep its way into the mouth of a cavern in the Sonoran Desert, a spindly young teenaged girl who was camped out here moaned. She was never an early riser to begin with, and her less than comfortable surroundings coupled with her sore back did not help her disposition any either. The girl then rolled over in an sorry attempt to go back to sleep, but the faint vibrations rocking the cavern jolted her awake. Seconds later, she reached for her flashlight in her backpack. 'It can't be…' she thought nervously, her light blue eyes darting back and forth as she shone her flashlight into the abyss-like cave. 'I thought I had my powers in check this time. How can there be a quake? Get it together, Terra. You couldn't have started another one in your sleep again…right? Right?'

Terra stopped in mid thought and in her tracks when the sound of something chirping began to accompany the now steadily growing tremors. To be honest, it simply sounded like an insect, but the cave was empty, so Terra dismissed the chirping noise was only being magnified due to the scientific wonder that is an echo.

Or so she thought. Terra's blue eyes grew as large as saucers as a gigantic scorpion was steadily coming into her view. The thing was about the size of two city buses, and it looked very annoyed and very hungry. Terra suddenly turned tail and bolted out of the cave, dropping her flashlight and leaving her backpack behind. She would return later for her belongings soon enough…

…That is to say if she lived long enough…

Some time later, the sun was steadily rising, and the Teen Titans were racing down a desert highway road towards the last cited location of the escaped STARS Lab experiment…

"So what does our latest baddie look like?" asked Beast Boy, who was seated between the girls in the back of the T-Car. "The scientists weren't exactly forthcoming with the details, Beast Boy," said Robin, who rode shotgun. "We were lucky enough that a concerned worker there at the time of the incident overheard what had happened and then contacted us. All that she did say was that we would know it when we see it and that if it were at all possible, we should disarm the creature, not kill it."

"Holy cow…" said Cyborg. Everyone turned to look to the left where Cyborg was looking. Way off in the distance down in the canyon below them, and running for dear life was a skinny teenaged girl with long straight blonde hair. She wore a pair of denim shorts, a light gray long-sleeved shirt with a dark gray crop top with black sleeves over this and a pair of dusty brown hiking boots. However, what had really caught the Titans' attention was her pursuer: a several-ton Arizona bark scorpion.

"Wow…" said Beast Boy, clearly dumbfounded."I think we just found our monster."

"What was your first clue?" quipped Raven.

"Ok, the game plan has changed," said Robin. "Not only do we have to neutralize that scorpion, but now we've got to get that girl out of harms way. Raven, Starfire! Get airborne, and see if you can either get to the girl first or slow that thing down. Beast Boy, you're with them. Cyborg and I'll catch up and then focus on taking that scorpion down."

The girls and Beast Boy nodded as they disembarked from the car. Raven was the first one 'off and running,' and she glided along the canyon's edge as she tried to survey both her surroundings and the best solution for the scene. She knew off the top of her head that certain species of scorpions were more deadly than others. That combined with the scorpion's size would spell disaster for both the Titans and the teenaged girl if it was provoked to use its stinger, and if that didn't immobilize a person for good, those massive pincers would finish the job. Raven accelerated in speed as the scorpion did likewise, nearly completely closing the gap between itself and the girl. The girl then skidded to a stop as she soon realized that she had ran into a dead-end and turned to face the enormous hunter.

"Titans! Go!" cried Robin, as he and the others grouped up on the canyon ledge above the scorpion and its prey. However, before any of them could actually leap into action, the ground began to shake. Raven's eyes panned down to the girl again, whose blue eyes now glowed yellow and she grinned devilishly. Her hair whipped around her as her leather gloved hands also took on the same golden glow, and as she raised them up, the jutting rock just beneath the Titans' feet broke off and began hovering above the scorpion. The rock remained airborne for a scant few seconds and after exerting much effort to hold up her quarry, the girl brought down her hands and the rock plummeted down. After a pain-ridden screech and a slight tail spasm, the scorpion breathed no more.

"She was not in trouble," stated Starfire.

"She was leading it into a trap!" exclaimed Cyborg.

"Question is…" started Robin.

"…Who is she?" asked a flabbergasted Beast Boy.