Author's note: A big apology to all the people that liked A New Nevermore. I wasn't happy with it. It needed redoing, despite how many reviews it got... so here's the new version. It doesn't differ greatly from the first, but it's still better, I think.

Chapter One: Wish Upon A Starfire

It was late at night in Jump City and the Teen Titans were, on Starfire's request, as it had been her turn to choose their Saturday night movie, watching a very sappy romance film about courtly love... where the average Joe of a high school fell in love with the rich, popular girl that would never even give him the time of day until she eventually grew to fall in love with him too... but Robin and Starfire didn't seem the slightest bit interested in the movie anymore.

Raven silently ground her teeth together; not only was she having to endure the cheesiest, most revolting movie that she'd ever seen in her eighteen years of living, but the Boy Wonder and Tamaranian princess had to make out right next to her!

True, they were an official couple now... which the press had had a field day with when they'd found out... and had been ever since the team's trip to Tokyo, but seriously! They'd been at this constantly, as though they were rubbing everyone else's face in the fact that they had partners and no one else did!

Raven took a deep, soothing breath; no need to get frustrated over such stupid things... both Robin and Starfire were finally happy, after all... and she was happy that they were happy... She glanced over at them before quickly looking away again; the very sight burned her vision. Why couldn't they do that in private, instead of around her? Wasn't it bad enough already knowing that she, the wicked half-demon that she was, would be alone for the rest of her life without having to see this?

She glanced in the other direction and saw that Beast Boy had fallen asleep and that Cyborg was chuckling, poking him with a metallic finger. She rolled her eyes, not surprised in the slightest that neither or them were showing any interest whatsoever in the movie. Not that she was either, mind; it was boring the hell out of her.

She couldn't help it; she took another glance at Robin and Starfire... and looked away again as though scolded. Yes, it hurt to watch, but never enough to make her cry. No, she was too strong-willed for that to happen... but still...

She sighed; Starfire was perfect. True, she was an alien that still had much to learn about Earth and always talked in rather upper class-style English, being a princess and everything... but she was still perfect. One, she was beautiful; she was tall, she had ruby red hair that glimmered in the sunlight, she had eyes in two shades of green... lime and emerald... she had tanned skin that, although orange, looked incredibly natural on her and she had hourglass curves. Two, she had an adorable personality; she was the sweetest person on the planet, she was always cutely confused about Earthly words, phrases and customs and she generally lit up any room she walked into. Three, she was no weakling; she was the strongest person on the planet, she had both starbolts and eyebeams and she could fly. Four, she was a princess; she was the second-born to the Emperor and Empress of Planet Tamaran and she had turned down the chance to rule it herself after banishing her sister, Blackfire... not just one country of it, but all of it.

Raven didn't want to feel angry at Starfire... she really didn't... the Tamaranian had been so nice to her over the time they'd known each other... despite how different she was from the rest of the world... but twinges of the emotion pricked at her every time she saw her and Robin making out around the tower. This, she knew, though she hated beyond all reasoning to admit it, was because of a small case of jealousy.

Never, in her life, had she had a boyfriend, whereas Starfire, from what the girl had told her once... and once had been quite enough... had had too many to count. They may have all been suitors from Tamaran, either merely interested in her beauty or her royal heritage, but they were boyfriends nonetheless... and this hurt Raven to think about. True, Starfire had said that she'd never truly fallen in love with any of her suitors, but she'd liked them and they'd liked her back, whereas most of the boys that Raven had ever had a crush on had been absolutely petrified of her... especially whenever she lost her temper and entered her state of demonic possession.

However, while this may have been so, she knew that to truly fall in love could be disastrous. Being rejected could tear her heart to shreds and cause her emotions to surge out of control, leaving her vulnerable for her father, Trigon, to take control of her and make her destroy Planet Earth... so she'd made a strict promise to herself that she would never open up her feelings wide enough to let a boy in. Sure, she'd had that crush on Aqualad for a short time, but that was nothing... she soon recovered... but when that traitor, Malchior, came along, everything changed. Her brows furrowed; he was the only person to ever call her beautiful... and he made her feel the way no one else had ever been able to: special... loved... and normal. She'd actually forgotten her own promise to herself and fell in love with him... probably because she was desperate for someone to complain to about her obnoxious green team-mate and found that they shared the same dark, misunderstood personality... Well, she'd thought that she'd fallen in love with him, but she knew better now. She scowled; she'd trusted him... she'd loved him... then what did he go and do? He betrayed her heart by lying to her. He was a fake... and it had torn her to pieces. She relaxed her frown; thinking about it, that day hadn't been a complete tragedy, had it? Yes, she'd been at her lowest point, but who had helped her get over it with his surprisingly kind and thoughtful words? Beast Boy.

She glanced over at the green changeling a second time, noticing that he was still fast asleep with Cyborg prodding him in the side, and her thoughts lingered on him; before she met Malchior that day, she remembered that he had been the one to start it all off by calling her creepy and hurting her feelings... and yet, she recalled that, on occasion, she would feel something for him... whenever their gazes locked and he smiled at her... She shook her head; no, she didn't want to go down that road. She shoved it roughly to the back of her mind, just like every other time, vowing that the prospect would never be ventured again... She paused; then why was she facing a problem with this method? Every other time, it had disappeared, then, whenever he'd done something completely stupid that would amuse her, it would return, stronger than the time before... She shook her head, slightly rougher than before; she mustn't be plagued by such thoughts.

A while later, once the movie had ended, everyone was retreating to their separate bedrooms for a good night's sleep, Cyborg opting to carry Beast Boy to his, seeing as the green changeling still wouldn't wake up. Seriously, it was like he'd been knocked out with sleeping gas or something.

"Goodnight, friends!" Starfire said cheerfully, waving to everyone around the room. "I wish you all pleasant shlorvaks!"

"Night," Cyborg replied, throwing Beast Boy ungracefully over his metallic shoulder.

"Night," Raven replied, giving a small nod of the head.

Starfire, smiling gleefully as always, flew over to her boyfriend, dropped herself down to ground level and grasped his hand.

"Yeah," Robin said, "night, everybody." The couple then turned to leave.

"You are planning to sleep in your own rooms tonight, right?" Cyborg's teasing voice asked. Robin froze in his tracks. "I mean, I wouldn't wanna be kept up all night with-"

Robin spun around so fast, one could swear that he was Kid Flash. "Finish that sentence and you die, Cyborg."

Cyborg smirked and shrugged his shoulders, almost causing Beast Boy to slide off the one he was lying on. "Hey, I'm just sayin'..."

Starfire looked generally confused. "What is it you are talking about, Cyborg?" she asked innocently. "How may Robin and I keep you up all night?" Raven had to fight down the smirk creeping onto her face; Robin's expression was priceless. "Do you expect the two of us to have a sleepover? That would be fun, but I would not have a sleepover without all of us there." She paused for thought. "And do you not recharge during the night? Would that not mean that we would not keep you up anyway?"

"That's enough, Star..." Robin grumbled before pulling Starfire away, "and yes, we are sleeping in our own rooms. Goodnight."

Just as they exited through the automatic doors, Cyborg burst into a fit of chuckles. "Aw, man..." he said, doubling over in his laughter, "gets him riled up every time."

Raven always liked to meditate first before getting ready for bed, so that's exactly what she was going to do now; as she seated herself on her bed and sat cross-legged, just as she always did before her meditation, she closed her eyes and took deep, soothing breaths.

Just as she was about to begin chanting her mantra, however, a sudden thought struck her, causing her eyes to snap back open; Robin and Starfire's antics as a couple lately were what had been causing her more stress than usual. It may have been routine to meditate at least once every day, but, lately, she'd been having to meditate at least three times every day. That was quite a difference; she hadn't meditated this much since the incident with Trigon. True, the anger she felt these days was nowhere near as strong as it was back then, but still...

She inwardly sighed. What would life be like without these negative emotions? she wondered. What would it be like to never feel depressed or angry?

As these new questions surfaced, her curiosity pecked at her to experiment for herself. She shook her head; no, that would be like a cop-out. Besides, all of her emotions were a part of her; she may not like feeling a few of them, but that gave her no excuse to just get rid of them.

She glanced over at her mirror, which was resting on her bedside cabinet, and her curiosity pecked at her again; just what would happen if she did decide to experiment and take the emotions she didn't like to feel out of her mind? Her mouth twisted; she had no idea what would happen... she'd never tried it before... and that made her curiosity burn like hell.

Unable to stop herself, she unfolded her legs, slid off her bed and walked towards her mirror; it was time to see what her emotions would say about this.

Raven paced back and forth along the rugged terrain, strange rock formations floating past her on every side. She was currently within the confines of her mind and this particular section, where she had assembled a meeting, was the area that reflected her personality; it made her appear harsh and foreboding, yet it concealed much more friendly and welcoming environments that were actually only a stone's throw away.

All eight of her emotions were seated on the floor in a circle around her, observing her in silence, and Raven stopped to look at each of them in turn; each one had its hood up, yet each one was behaving differently. Her pink-cloaked emotion, Happiness, was sitting with her legs up to her chest and her arms around said legs, rocking back and forth with a smile on her face... her purple-cloaked emotion, Affection, was sitting cross-legged, leaning her elbows, which were holding her head, on her thighs and smiling... her green-cloaked emotion, Bravery, was sitting with her legs out in front of her, her knees loosely raised, and was propping herself up by her hands, smirking slightly... her grey-cloaked emotion, Timidity, had her legs up to her chest and her arms folded on top of them with her face barely peeking out above her arms... her red-cloaked emotion, Anger, was sitting with her legs tightly crossed and her arms tightly folded, scowling... her orange-cloaked emotion, Rudeness, had her legs spread out and was propping herself up on her elbows, a glazed look in her eyes... and the remaining two, her yellow-cloaked emotion wearing black-rimmed glasses, Knowledge, and her brown-cloaked emotion, Wisdom, were both sitting cross-legged with her backs straight, at full attention.

"We all know why you have gathered us together, Raven," Wisdom said.

"Yes," Knowledge added, pushing up her glasses, "and Wisdom and I cannot say that we believe it to be a reasonable idea."

"Eh, what's the harm in doing a little experimenting?" Bravery asked.

Timidity shook her head vigorously. "We don't know what would happen," she whimpered. "I'm too afraid to risk it."

"Aw, come on!" Happiness said cheerfully. "Raven just wants to know what it would be like not feeling you or Anger for once! Just for a little while! You can't blame her! And she'll put you both back in her mind soon after, won't you, Raven?"

"Mmm-hmm," Raven relied, nodding.

"Pfft," Anger said, looking away, "how pathetic. Raven's just being a coward by taking the easy way out of her problems. Why can't she stop being such a baby and bite her tongue whenever Robin and Starfire make out?"

Timidity made a whimpering noise and pulled her hood around her face. "You know why, Anger..." she said.

"She is correct," Knowledge said. "You know, because Robin and Starfire's actions do not only cause Raven sadness... but also anger." Anger narrowed her eyes in response.

Suddenly, Happiness giggled. "Such morbid thoughts," she said. "Hey, it's not like Raven isn't happy that both Robin and Starfire are happy with each other... and I know this because I'm happy for them... so why act like she isn't?"

"True," Affection added, beaming. "I feel a great deal of affection in my heart, knowing that Starfire is happy with the boy she's loved for so long."

A sound equivalent to someone throwing up came from Rudeness. "Houston, we've landed in Barf Central," she said, rolling her eyes.

"So, are we gonna do this experiment or what?" Bravery asked impatiently. "I really wanna see what happens! It'll be so cool to finally be able to try it!"

"Yeah!" Happiness agreed.

"Yeah," Affection agreed.

Knowledge and Wisdom looked at one another, continued to do so for a few moments, then looked back at Raven. Clearing her throat, Knowledge once again pushed up her glasses.

"Well..." she said, "it is against mine and Wisdom's better judgement, but, as you are clearly eager to test this experiment yourself, you may as well."

"Yes!" Bravery exclaimed, pumping a fist in the air.

"Yay!" Happiness said, clapping her hands together.

"But on one condition," Wisdom said, silencing the joyful emotions. "You only take out the two emotions that you wish not to feel, then, once you are done, place them straight back in your mind... and, if anything should go wrong, do not hesitate to take immediate action in putting the emotions back."

"Right," Raven replied, nodding in agreement before turning to leave.

Seating herself back on her bed, Raven crossed her legs, closed her eyes and prepared herself for what she was about to do. She already knew the spell that would make this happen, as Malchior had taught her that very spell so long ago and she had read in one of her books that it was capable of plucking selected emotions from the mind if used correctly; she'd just never tried it before, as she'd been afraid of what might happen.

She took another few deep, soothing breaths; she'd meditate first, then attempt what she had never attempted before. Placing her thumbs and fingers together, she began to chant her mantra.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos..." she chanted, "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos..." She felt herself rising off her bed. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos..." She felt herself zone out from the rest of the world in a blissful trance. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos..."

A little while later, Raven felt replenished from her meditation and decided it was time. Snapping herself out of her tranquil state of mind, she lowered herself back onto her bed and glanced towards her mirror. Was she seriously going to do this? She paused for thought before nodding; yes, she was.

Concentrating her magic on the mirror, she lifted it off the bedside cabinet and floated it towards her. Once it was close enough, she grasped the handle of it in the palm of her hand. She then looked intently at it; it was definitely time.

She raised her violet eyes to the ceiling, praying to Azar that everything would turn out okay... and that nothing bad would happen to her. She shook her head; now was not the time to think about that. She'd always wanted to try this and she wasn't about to stop now.

She gripped the handle of her mirror in both hands, staring deep into the glass. Of course, all that stared back at her was a reflection of herself, so that did little to comfort or reassure her. She took a deep breath and began.

"Necronom..." she chanted, concentrating as hard as she could on only taking out Timidity and Anger, which, according to her book, would only take a very restrained amount of this powerful type of magic. However, one wrong move could make her lose control and who knows what would happen then. Suddenly, she noticed her vision becoming clouded with black magic... not like her usual white... and was reminded horribly of her battle with Kardiac that day. "Hezberek..." Her violet hair and dark blue cloak suddenly began to billow in a vicious non-existent wind. Everything in the room was lifted out of his previous position and blown around the room as if trapped in a mini-hurricane. "MORTIX!"

It was then that she felt it; far too much dark magic was being released from her hands and eyes. She could hear everything in the room smashing, crashing and exploding violently; she'd lost control... she, Raven of the Teen Titans, had lost control.

She screamed in agony as she felt the dark magic wash over her; it felt like her entire body was on fire and the flames were licking at her skin, searing it and tearing away the flesh. Tears poured from her eyes and trailed down her cheeks as she willed it... begged it... to stop.

Suddenly, she felt her life flash before her eyes; she saw her mother, Arella, who'd given birth to her, despite what she was... she saw Azarath, her homeland, the place where she'd grown up and learned how to control her emotions... she saw her father, Trigon, the king of all demons and the bane of her existence... she saw her crime-fighting team and best friends, the Teen Titans, who'd always been there for her and had managed to accept her for both who and what she was... she saw Malchior, the first person to ever open her heart wide enough for her to truly see how much she was capable of loving someone... and she saw Beast Boy, the boy who'd always tried to get her to laugh and join in with things she would never normally dream of joining in with... and how, because of his kindness that day with Malchior, she'd hugged him...

As the pain reached a climax, she felt herself being lifted from her bed and carried across the room. Her consciousness slipping, she tried to fight against it... stop herself from being taken away by the force of this dark magic... but it proved too much; her mind and body were equally exhausted and had no energy left to fight. She even felt the mirror slip away from her and land somewhere on the floor from her hand going slack.

More tears dripped down her cheeks; she was so terribly sorry for this... Knowledge and Wisdom had warned her that there might be dangers... yet she'd still insisted on trying it... and, now, she was paying the price.

As her eyes began to close, all willpower completely sapped from her body, she was vaguely aware of someone calling out her name... in a possibly distressed tone... How nice that someone was caring about her... She suddenly felt as if she were being placed into a deep sleep, one that she was vaguely aware that she might never wake up from... and, if she had more energy, she knew that she'd feel rather more panicky about that...

As soon as her eyelids touched the base of her eyes, her body plummeted from its mid-air position and crashed to the floor, most of the pain she would have felt dulled by the anaesthetic-like sensation. The last few sounds she only vaguely heard were a great clatter of objects, rushed footsteps heading in her direction and the same person as before calling out her name, once more in distress... then she fell unconscious.