Panting. Panting filled Garfield's ears as he ran from his worst enemy, one that was unseen, one that could destroy the team without even breaking a sweat, kill his friends without a second thought. He ran through the forest outside of Jump city, his home, the one place he felt truly accepted and yet could no longer stay. Branches and twigs tugged at his face, arms, legs, and the heavy pack that he held over one shoulder, he didn't dare morph, he couldn't. He ran harder than he had ever had before, constantly throwing glances over his shoulder, not to find his pressure, he knew exactly where he was, he looked to make sure his friends weren't following him. They would only lose the fight, if not their lives, it was the only through that kept Garfield on the move away from his home.

Garfield's animal eyes pierced the darkness of the night, granting him far greater vision than even Cyborgs night vision mode could muster. He felt his enemy growing closer, a mix of dread spread through out his body, bubbling like an acid that he couldn't drain. He could hear the his voice, his graveled, choked voice in his head, come on Garfield, you can't possibly think that i would kill you so you might as well stop running. A branch scraped across his cheek hard enough to break the skin, he could feel the warm blood flowing down his cheek. "IT'S NOT ME THAT I'M WORRIED ABOUT!" He shouted into the night.

Come now, i wouldn't kill all of them and you know that. I would leave the bird to see the destruction you caused. So they will have to kill you, to destroy your every molecule. The graveled voice penetrated his mind, pushing him to run that much further. "NO, I WON'T HURT THEM! I WON'T!" He felt the urge to morph into a cheetah to move away faster, but he knew if he morphed he would be giving into his pursuer.

You can't hope to stop me from taking over, and you know it. That's why you are running because you know you can't even hope to hold me down. At that moment, everything felt surreal to Garfield. For the first time in weeks, he felt calm. It was then that he noticed that the trees had disappeared and he stood atop a hill, he pulled in breath in large breaths, "No i can't stop you." Garfield turned back to the city behind him, his hand reaching for the communicator at his belt. The Titans tower stood in the distance, a single light glowing from the common room, like a monument to the city that it was a safe place, even though he knew it wasn't. "But i know someone who can stop you." He dropped the plastic device in his hand to the ground, it landed with a dull thud. Than turned and continued his not so leisurely run, as the hill melted back into the forest.

-At the Titans Tower-

It wasn't a common occurrence for Raven to be up this late at night, but she had a bad feeling in her gut that she knew only one thing could cure. Tea, piping hot and with one sugar cube. She walked through the halls, leaving the lights off as to not disturb her sleeping friends, she held a magic tome open in one hand, using her other hand as a light source both light her path and her book. She pushed the button next to the door to the common room, the door responded with a hiss as it opened.

Before she knew it she was holding her cup of tea, steam rising out of its small cup. Normally she would just walk back to her room and meditate while drinking her tea, but the odd feeling in her gut wouldn't disappear. That was when she noticed the piece of paper on the counter top next to her. She was not one to be noisy, but that was not to say that she wasn't curious. She lifted the paper and read silently.

Dear Team,

I'm sorry i can't stay. I have to leave you for now, i might return but i wouldn't hold my breath if i were you. I don't know how it got to this point but i can't stay around you guys anymore. It's not you guys, its me. I think all of you are wonderful people and i hope one day i can return to you. -BB

A few feet away a stool exploded into a shower of splinters. That little inconsiderate prick, he couldn't even say goodbye to our faces. Her stoic resolve melted away into a rage. The door hissed open again, she turned to find she was no longer alone in the room. standing in the doorway was her fearless leader, wielding his trusty bo staff. He took a second to assess the danger, finding none (besides a moody Raven) he entered. "Raven what happened i heard something?"

Raven thrust the letter forward, "I'm sorry i broke a stool." She quickly resumed her stoic expression and monotoned voice.

Robins eyes scanned the paper, "I'll miss him. I'll tell the team tomorrow morning, but you should get some rest. Training starts at normal time tomorrow." He turned to leave.

"That's it?" A bit of anger seeped into her monotone. "We're not going to go after him, or even give him a call? You would just give up on him like that without a second thought?" Robin turned back and opened his mouth to speak but Ravin cut him off. "You would let, not only your friend but your teammate, run off with no explanation or warning?" Something else shattered in room, most likely a glass.

Robin looked at her cautiously, "You need to calm down before we can talk about this. How about we talk about it tomorrow, with the rest of the team?" He again moved to leave, not waiting for a response. This time he was allowed to, he disappeared out of the common room and down the hall.

Nearby another glass shattered and Raven, not feeling the walk back to her room, opened a portal under her feet and sunk through. She landed in her bed, laying her head back she allowed sleep to overcome her.

she sat in the common room, a book in her lap and a tea floating just next to her. She looked up to see Beast Boy and Cyborg playing a video game on the window screen. They shouted, joked, laughed, nothing out of the ordinary for the time they didn't spend training or on the job fighting bad guys. Than without warning, Beast Boy disappeared. Just vanished into thin air, and no longer was Cyborg holding a gaming controller. In his robot hand was the T.V. remote, and blaring through the speakers wasn't the game but an afternoon sitcom. The jarring change caused Raven to knock her book off her lap, it clattered loudly to the floor causing Cyborg to look over at her, he gave a curious look than asked, "everything ok Rae?"

She gave him her normal monotone reply, "where's Beast Boy?" She didn't care to beat around the bush.

The half-metal man cocked his head and gave a strange frown, "who are you talking about?" Than darkness filled her vision, the sounds melted away like she was being drug through water. In her state of emptiness, she felt a chill run down her back.

Slowly she began to hear sounds, muffled grunts of exertion. They grew louder and clearer till she felt like they were right in front of her, than a bright light filled her vision. She turned to shy away from its blinding brilliance, that's when she noticed the green grass under her feet. She looked to the source of the grunts to see Robin and Beast Boy sparing in hand to hand combat, she sat on a stone bench slightly overlooking the training arena. A wave of relief washed over her as she let out a deep breath she didn't realize she was holding. Cy's memory must be messing up. She thought, and it calmed her even farther.

She felt content watching the match, normally Beast Boy would have been trounced in a few moves but he seemed to be holding his own. He dived and dodged with the grace of a cat, and the speed of cheetah. Raven leaned forward on her knees, when Beast Boy went on the offensive it happened again. A green and purple gloved fist pushed through the air, but a blue and chrome fist made contact with Robins cheek. The bench she sat on gave a loud CRASH, as part of it exploded into a white vapor.

Both combatants stopped, turned to the source of the crash, then looked to Raven in confusion. "What- What happened to Beast Boy?" Her voice creaked, something was wrong and it unsettled her.

The sparing friends looked between each other, Robin replied, "Who's Beast Boy?" A wave of fear and dread washed over her. She watched as Robin tried to say something else, but his words came out like they where a thousand miles away, underwater. slowly her vision darkened and melted into a void of nothingness.

When she came around she she stood in a warehouse, one that she recognised yet she felt lost. She heard a fairly high pitched squeal from her left, she turned just into to see a bolt of red energy connect with Beast Boys chest, sending him flying into the air. He landed sprawled on his back a few feet away, his attacker appeared from the shadows where he fired the shot. A slade bot.

Raven froze, the slade bot walked up to the changelings body, a bit of steam rising from his fresh wound. The robot leveled the energy weapon at the defenceless heaps head, only to have it grabbed in a tendril of black energy. Raven flung the gun across the room, her eyes grew dark not in blindness, but in power as her body pulled on its demonic heritage. She sent out a clump of dark energy, its target the now unarmed robot. But instead of clamping its arms to its sides like she had wanted, it passed clean through it.

She watched in horror and shock as the slade bot dropped to its knees over Beast Boy's body, it drew back its metal hands and slammed it into the boys nose. A sickening crunch accompanied his next hit. Than just like every other time she had sean Beast Boy, he disappeared into thin air. but the robot didn't stop, it continued to punch the ground like its target was still there. The metal clanged against the concrete floor. a steady resonating thud.

Raven woke with a gasp, sitting up in bed she realized she was dreaming, only to wake short of breath and in a cold sweat. She looked to window, the first hints of light peaked over the water of the bay sending brilliant oranges and purples across the sky. She pulled in rapid, deep breaths as she tried to fill her lungs and stop at least one thing that made her panic. She looked around the room, her candles lay strun about the floor, the mirror on her vanity was cracked in a spiderweb, a few books fell from the case next to the door. Than she heard the fast thudding coming from her door.

She stood, checked herself, finding her body cold and clammy, her hands trembled. She grabbed a cloak from her desk chair and threw it over her body. Crossing the room she pushed the button to open the door. A semi groggy, but fully aware Robin stood with his fist raised in front of the door. "What?" Raven asked, monotoned in spite of everything in her room and her nightmare.

"Is everything ok? I've been hearing weird noises for the past," he looked at his wrist, then realized he wasn't wearing a watch, "I don't know, half an hour. Like glass breaking and wood rumbling."

" It's nothing, just testing out a new spell. It had some… side effects." She looked back at the wreckage in her room. " Should have tested it in the safe room, i'm sorry."

Robin eyed her suspiciously, "ok, meeting in the common room, than training. After that we will look for Beast Boy and make sure he's ok." She sighed, Robin put a hand on her shoulder. She immediately flinched away from the contact. "Everythings going to be ok, but we need to stay in shape in case something arises." Raven replied with a simple nod and Robin walked away.

Raven sunk back into her room, she hastefully replaced the books and candles to there rightful spots on the shelf and floor respectively. After a quick once over to make sure everything was in order, minus the shattered mirror, she sat down in the lotus position amongst her now lit candles. Quietly chanting to herself, "Azarath Metreon Zinthos."

-At a very secret mansion-

Garfield ran through the night, never stopping, never morphing. Under constant mental assault by his enemy. Just as the sun begun to rise on over the trees, casting its brilliance across the sky, he arrived at his destination. The brilliantly hidden and well accommodated HQ of the doom patrol. As he stepped foot on the stoop, the adrenaline that had been pushing him to run through miles of differing terrain, through a sleepless night, vanished in a second. His knees buckled as he approached the door, his breathing became rigid and uneven. He collapsed on the cold stone, his eyelids growing heavy, his muscles screamed in pain all at the same time. He reached out a weakly knocked, before his body felt to heavy to hold up any longer. The last thing he saw before his eyes closed as his body fell into a strong sleep, was the door creaking open and the gasp of a women.

-Titans Tower-

Everyone gathered in the common room for the emergency meeting Robin called. Robin stood when Raven, being the last to enter, arrived through a portal. "Thank you all for joining me on a short notice."

Cyborg interrupted him, "aren't we going to wait for the green bean?"

Robin lowered his head, "That is what this is about. Last night, this note was found, left by Beast Boy." He proceeded to read the letter to the team. "After training we will search for him. We will confront him and help him. Any questions?" No one spoke. "Good, on an unrelated note, training will be shortened by thirty minutes, and will begun on the course in five minutes."

The remaining titans nodded in agreement and left the room, leaving just the fearless leader. He pulled a mug of steaming coffee to his lips, reading over a message he just received. It was the reply to a search query, it gave a location for every Titan in operation based on the location of their communicator. He scrolled down the list till he found what he was looking for, a line reading Beast Boy - outskirts of Jump City. It showed a map of the city, a small red blip on the north side of the city giving a more precise locating. Robin nodded and left the towers common room.

After training, which passed rather uninterestingly, everyone reconvened in the ops center. Robin again gained everyone's attention, "I have run a query on all the locations of all the communicator we have given out. Beast Boy's communicator is on the outskirts of the city, we will be splitting up to cover more ground. Starfire and I will take care of the communications signal, Raven and Cyborg two will be searching the surrounding area for any signs of him. Any questions?"

Cyborg spoke up, "Ya, i got one. Why are you so sure that Beast Boy won't be with his communicator?" He crossed his metallic arms across his chest.

"It's not that i'm sure he won't be, it's that i want to be careful and not waste time, he's already got a large head start on us, i don't want it to get any farther." Robin replied, a hint of annoyance in his voice. Cyborg nodded. "Good, now lets get moving."

They all quickly piled into the T-car in their normal spots, Cyborg behind the wheel, not like anyone else was allowed to drive the T-car. Ever. Robin in shotgun, so he could be his normal overbearing, leader with control over everything, and the two female titans in the back. But without the green member of the team, the normally overcrowded back seat felt roomy and comfortable. Something that should have made Raven happy, but only worsened the feeling in her gut.

-At the communicator site- (you know what i mean)

Robin bent down, grabbing the circular yellow communicator that as standard issue for every Teen Titans member, he slowly turned it over, dreading what he knew what he would find, he found the name Beast Boy engraved into the plastic. He let out a huff and stood upright, indirectly talking to Starfire in the process, "He lost it, or he ditched it knowing we could track him." He strapped it onto his belt next to his own.

"But Friend Robin, why would he have lost it?" Starfire nervously floated nearby, wringing her hands.

"I don't know Starfire, it doesn't look like there was a fight here. No torn up earth, no blood, no anything everything is completely normal. Unless it slipped off his belt, but that's very unlikely. Maybe the others found something." He flipped open his own com and called Cyborg.

-With Cyborg and Raven- (Don't worry i'm not going to keep switching.)

"So Raven, how you holding up?" Cyborg asked, examining the surroundings for any sign of their lost friend. So far they had been looking for nearly a half an hour and haven't found anything.

"You know i hate that term." She replied in her normal monotonous voice, as she floated around a few rocks for any signs of the green boy.

"I know, but you're dodging the question." Cyborg stopped searching and leaned against a tree. Not particularly interested in the search, more in the status of the dark titan.

"I'm not dodging the question, and you should be looking." She hovered above the rocks, doing a cursory sweep of the area with her powers. Coming up with nothing.

"BB left on his own, he can handle himself for at least a day by himself, he wouldn't have left if he knew he couldn't." A branch snapped above him, sending wooden shrapnel raining down over him, he ignored the tiny inconveniences. "And to me you don't appear to be holding up as well as normal."

"I'm fine." She snapped, not entirely on purpose. "Why would i be anything else."

Before Cyborg could reply, his arm started beeping. He quickly picked up the call from their fearless leader. "What'd you find?"

Robins voice played clear as day though the metal man's arm. "We found his com unit, there aren't any signs of a struggle here. What did you guys find?"

"A load of nothing, not even a scratched tree or rock. I don't know how he covered his tracks so well, the only way we could have missed his is if he flew. But if he was flying he couldn't have dropped his communicator. I've checked maps and there isn't anything for miles, just trees and foothills." Cyborg rubbed his temples, while speaking. "Normally BB leaves a trail anyone could follow, but now we have nothing. Maybe he really just wanted to slip away in the night without a goodbye."

"Come on Cy, if that were true then why did he bring his coms? I'm telling you something seems fishy and i don't like it." Robins voice spoke through the com unit in Cyborgs arm. "Has Raven found anything with her powers?"

"Nothing." He felt the urge to look up at the demoness, not knowing where it came from till he found her missing from her spot above the rocks. Calmly he looked around, when he found nothing is when he started to panic, "Raven! RAVEN!"

"Cyborg what's going on? Is everything alright?" Robins voice pulled Cyborg back to reality.

"Ravens gone, i don't see her anywhere." Than a BANG that seemed to emanate from the whole forest at the same time sounded. Cyborgs heart dropped, a sense of dread filled his body. "Raven no." His words barely audible, not even the communicator in his arm picked them up.

Hows that for a first chapter! I had it planned to be 5k words, but god that's hard. I commend anyone who can do that in a reasonable time. Don't expect very fast updates, this is a side project to the book that i'm starting to write with my friend, but that doesn't mean it's done. I will finish this story and i think it's not exactly going to be short.