Hey Guys, and welcome to Project Revival! So I have to apologize about the two year hiatus. The writer that was allowing me to borrow The Thief had some troubles and since then one thing after another started falling apart. my computer kinda exploded and I had to salvage everything I could. But its Ok because Baconbitz is back! I even had a lucky break on the hard drive that I stored part of the last written chapter on! I am working on the fourth chapter now and Ill be uploading the chapters for FitF at Day or two intervals until Ive caught up. Hope you guys will stick around.

Always Dancing

Chapter One: the Fire is Lit.

The black clouds had twisted and turned around her Friends. They were failing to defeat her father and now they were going to pay for it. Each were slowly torn apart as their screams permeated the air, raping her ears with their incessant noise. Raven watched them with disinterest.

Something is wrong here. They took me in… I should feel something for it. Anything really.

She took in the scene slowly. Something was definitely wrong… Beastboy looked at her with a hatred so pure it astonished even her, not that she would admit that. She had to wait, for soon her father would relax, gain that superior Arrogance. They just had to die and he would trust her, and then she would destroy him.

Then she saw it, the tense shoulder muscles relaxing, hands drooping slightly, and the slightest widening of the smile. No emotions came when she rose from the dirt floor. None came when she reached out and tapped her fathers shoulder. One, however, did come to her when she struck him down. It was close to pride, and not too distant from happy. She searched for the word for a moment as her fathers broken body twitched underneath her. Ah. There it was.

Satisfaction.

Raven woke up gasping and only after a few valuable trinkets had very well been destroyed did she finally gain control of her emotions again. Raven tucked them away as she tried to process the dream. Her heart calmed even when her mind wouldn't, it had been almost two years since the destruction of her father. The fact that she was beginning to dream of him again had nagged at her almost all day and night. She had yet to tell the others, simply because there was nothing concrete enough to tell them.

A frustrated sigh escaped her as she lost it… again. The dream had slipped thru the fingers of her memory. Every time she would get a hold of it, the dream infuriatingly disappeared. At first she had been able to write portions of it down, but the dream escaped so quickly that all she had gotten was that Trigon had returned, and that he hurt her friends. She slowly rose from the bed and decided a shower and tea was in order.

She started to run the water when something caught her attention, it was a wonder Raven felt it in the first place. She exited the bathroom quickly and closed her eyes. Something felt sad… terribly sad. It hid behind a swirl of other emotions but she could see it, like seeing someone thru a stained glass. She could make out emotions all across the board. Fear, anger, joy, and a predatory hunger. A frown covered her face before she cataloged the thought away. It went without saying that she didn't like it when her powers were off and either they were on the fritz, or someone… again she concentrated, reaching out with mind as she assessed the aura. Only a few moments later she came across the conclusion she had been looking for.

"Beastboy." This was not good. She was not looking forward to his pestering tonight… perhaps when she finally came out he would be gone.

It was two in the morning when she finally made it to the kitchen, and to her chagrin Beastboy was there as well. What did surprise her was that he seemed upbeat, completely the opposite of what she had felt earlier. Half of him was bent into the refrigerator, and one foot was tapping a tuneless beat that he seemed to be humming.

"Dum da dee doo, dum dum de doo…. Hey Rae." Beastboy said softly as she quietly approached him. A cocked eyebrow was offered in response.

"What are you doing up so late?" Raven asked as she drifted into the kitchen.

"Getting a snack, what about you?" Beastboy glanced up at her and smiled. This puzzled the female. A blessing and curse, her empathic abilities allowed her to feel the undercurrent of emotions. Beastboy's had always been confusing. It was almost like an onion. Many a time had she been thrown off by his feeling three or four emotions at once. Sometimes it was so completely overwhelming she had to distance herself, and this had been partly to blame for many unplanned trips he had taken to the ocean just outside their home. Beastboy looked up to her, smile still plastered on his face.

"Just getting some tea." Raven said as she pulled out the teapot and filled it with water.

"You know Raven" Beastboy started, and already she could see this dragging on for a while "you don't have to do something to just pop out and say hi." Raven sighed and shook her head.

"You know Beastboy, you don't have to tell lame jokes just to get attention." She retorted, the barb leaving Beastboy seemingly unaffected. Part of her irradiance was his constant raging emotions, and another part was because she honestly didn't find jokes like that funny, and if she verbally lashed him a few times maybe he would stop. A soft chuckle left Beastboy as he finished off his sandwich.

"Wish that were true." Beastboy mumbled as he walked away, only to plop himself on the couch. The comment had not gone unnoticed and Raven had taken intrigue to it. Silence passed until the tea roused each of them from their temporary thoughts.

Don't ask raven, just don't. It will save you so much sleep that you will otherwise lose.

If I don't then he won't get sleep, and if that happens he might screw up if we have to go for a mission.

You're really asking for it, you got lucky, take it and run.

Just shut up.

Fine, but if anyone asks you were too tired to make a wise decision.

… Wow… I'm kind of cruel…

These thoughts did indeed perturb her. After all Beastboy was a friend, and a good one at that. Besides the lack of tasteful jokes and good food, he had been there when raven needed him. There had been many an occasion both on and off the battlefield when Beastboy proved 'worth the effort'. Perhaps just this once she could let it slide and help him out. Raven didn't know if he needed help in the first place, and that was the moment she realized something was indeed wrong.

The whirlwind of emotions were still there , but at a distance. Normally she could tell them apart at least. Now it was like trying to guess the T.V. show on a snowy screen with no volume. The one on the forefront currently was his usual upbeat happy emotions.

Raven did like puzzles, and this had turned into such. Now granted, Beastboy was probably as shallow as they came in the emotional sense. Only once or twice had she felt a deep emotion that was attributed to something real, like when Terra hurt him… both times. Other then that whenever she felt something surprising out of him it had to do with a video game or a harebrained idea Beastboy always seemed to stumble upon. He glanced over as raven sat down and cocked an eyebrow.

"Special occasion?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

"You're sitting within five feet of me and I'm not getting thrown out of a window, or being insulted, or being forced the transform." She half glared at him.

"You haven't done anything to motivate me so far. Don't ruin it."

"Heh, gotcha. So why are you up so late?"

I'm dreaming of my demonic sire coming back and harming everyone.

"I just got done meditating and wanted some tea. What about you?" Beastboy's eyes glazed over and for a moment she caught sight past the veil. He was struggling, and it hurt. She didn't give it away on her face but it did worry her. He seemed to come to a conclusion and smiled.

"New game just came out, and I was thinking of sneaking in solid time on it." Normally she would have let it go, wrote it off and forgot about it. This time was different though. Beastboy was lying. This struck her as odd. After all it was Beastboy. It's not like much could faze him. Even if it could, he was not one to lie. Sure he would dodge the question, or give a half assed excuse, but a boldfaced lie… something was not right.

"You do know I'm empathic right?" Beastboy's ears drooped a little.

"Good point." He twisted in his seat and disregarded his sandwich. After Beastboy got comfortable he closed his eyes. "I'm just having a hard time dealing with a few things." She took in his position and sighed.

"Am I your Psychologist?" she asked rhetorically.

"No, But the doc did tell me to start bringing up issues I have with other people that I trust." This came as a shock to the demoness.

"Doc?" She asked, Though it didn't escape her that he suggested he actually trusted Raven.

"Yeah, don't tell the others. I trust them but if Starfire found out she would try to help, and probably tell Robin. Robin would put me out of commission from missions. Cyborg…. Well actually you can tell him if you want. I think he would be cool about it."

"So… why are you seeing a psychologist?" Raven asked before taking a sip of her tea. Beastboy looked up to her, and for just a moment it seemed like he dropped something of a mask.

"I'm scared Rae. Everyone expects me to be ok but I'm not. Every time I change I can feel more of the animal's instincts, more of what they want. I can't sleep because of it. More and more of the animals are coming out."

"What do you mean?" she asked softly, puzzled. She understood having something underneath that she didn't want to get out. This was Beastboy though… she was beginning to hope that he was as ok as she originally thought.

"I can smell everything in your tea, the new perfume Starfire hid in her room for her next date with robin, and even the fumes from the T car when cyborg was working on it. I can hear everyone talking in different area's of the Tower. You haven't gotten as much sleep as normal. You wake up gasping at night, and your starting to get bags under your eyes. Sometimes I can smell the fear on you. You normally take a shower afterwards and use a lavender shampoo and Dove soap." This left raven speechless.

"It's more then that though, for the past few months I've wanted to hibernate, I almost ate a rat in the alley yesterday, and a week before that I wanted to challenge Robin for the packs Alpha spot." Beastboy seemed almost panicked now. Raven slowly set a hand on his shoulder, it was an unsure gesture, but he needed to be comforted.

Starfires better at this then I am. I don't know how to console people.

Even so Beastboy seemed to calm down for a moment

"I know my jokes seem stupid to you, and I know you think I'm just a pest. At first I did them because I wanted to be accepted, even as a clown I'm still a part of the team. Then it was because even if it was you laughing at me, I just wanted to see you smile… now it's almost the only thing about me I know anymore. I want to eat meat Rae. I want the juiciest steak cyborg could make. I'm getting more vicious with the bad guys. Half the time I'm a predator, and half the time I'm the prey. I'm so tired of getting confused." She nodded slowly, silently Raven considered for a moment how she could help before squeezing his shoulder softly.

"We're a team. More then that we are friends. If you need reminding then just come to me." Beastboy looked up to her, shocked at her proposal.

"You… sure Rae? Your not gonna like… throw me out of a window?" raven rolled her eyes before looking down to him again.

" Yeah Beastboy. Just don't joke about it, otherwise you can go to Cyborg." He smirked.

"For a second I thought someone replaced you with an alien…" he slowly stood and walked to the door. "I think I'm gonna hit the hay." Raven shook her head slowly.

"Beastboy." He turned rather quickly, and his eyes seemed a little too bright.

"Yeah Rae?" she pointed to where he had been at just a few moments ago.

"Don't forget your sandwich." He blushed and chuckled.

"Thanks." He walked back and grabbed it quickly before leaving the room. As Beastboy left raven could almost swear he said something, but she hadn't caught it. Shrugging it off she finished her tea and made her way back to her room.

In the shadows of the cavern a peasant was playing a piano. The chords struck beautifully together. The tune was darker in nature, and spoke of the pain of loss. Trigon had assumed a smaller shape to fit in the cavern with this young lad. His fingers tightened as he watched the floating orb that showed his daughter.

"Relax Trigon, you will be there soon enough." Trigon smiled darkly as his eyes fell onto the peasant and took him in for a moment. The clothing and body spoke of some nobody who had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. However this was no normal peasant. On closer inspection it revealed his eyes were simply bloody holes.

"Good, I will have to pay my dear daughters friends a visit. I will show them the true meaning of torment." The eyeless Peasant chuckled softly, the dark and foreboding nature of this simple gesture would have sent tingles down even Batman's neck. His fingers danced across the keys as his head lulled back and forth to the music.

"Just remember, my master will not stand for you breaking from your part of the bargain. If even such a thought passes behind those four eyes of yours I will make sure the Gestura feed on what little power you have left, until you're an empty shell for which to be used." Trigon snarled at him.

" Isn't that how you got your host, Thief?" The Thief shrugged and another chuckle left his lips.

"I know mere mortals that could crush you into dust for my alchemical tests, Trigon, do not push me." Trigon Grunted. "Trust me Trigon. He is the key to everything."

"How can you be certain? The little changeling does not even grasp his full potential."

"Exactly. We push him until he finds it, and then we take him away. Your daughter hides her emotions, stifles them with her powers. But he holds a very certain place in her heart. If we strike just the right way… well… you will understand soon. Your problem is you never could manipulate like Master. He understands the potential of a pawn; even they can become Queens."