Beast Boy stuck his tongue out of his mouth as he concentrated on not being eaten alive.

The changeling was sitting upside-down on the titans couch with a game station controller resting in his hands. He was staring at the television screen at an odd angle that was making his neck cramp, but he was too lazy to adjust himself to be in a more comfortable position. Without even thinking much of it, his fingers twitched at all the right times to make his character jump, duck, and hack wildly with its sword.

The Sword of Ember, to be exact, which took almost 100,000 points to get and about one week of his time to make it that far. Sure, Cyborg may have had a bunch of cheat codes that got him force fields and extra health points, but not Beast Boy. He played fairly---well, as fairly as you could play with a giant sword strapped to the back of your character that was as tall as he was.

The flesh eating zombies were punching through the rotten-wooded door, their arms twisted in directions no joint should ever turn. From outside, a zombie threw one of those twisty-chairs through one of the stain glass windows, painted glass shattering everywhere. Finally they began crawling in through the holes in the walls, some missing eyes, some with grayish skin hanging of their bones.

The inhuman scream of a zombie pierced through his eardrums as he slayed The Sword of Ember through a group of the living dead coming to eat his flesh. Blood sprayed over the screen as one of them clawed at his face, and for a moment the characters vision pulsed red. Then half of the screen blanked out.

Great, he'd lost an eye.

Cyborg's character was beside him, chopping away with full HP.

He eyed his health bar and frowned at the warning lights flashing around it. He was almost dead, shit. If only he could just climb up and get higher elevation over---

"AUUUUUGGGGHHHH!!!" His character moaned as zombies ripped him apart and began to feast on him. The end of the world theme music played in the background for a moment before the words GAME OVER---YOU FAIL----ALL OF HUMANITY HAD SUCCUMBED TO THE UNDEAD SCUMB.

Yeah, that's a pick-me-up right after you lose at level ninety nine. Ninety nine. He had almost beaten Cyborg's high score! Ugh!

"Booyah, baby!" Cyborg screamed at the maximum volume of his artificial lungs. Beast Boy scoffed and dropped the control next to his head.

"Dude, that was so fixed! You hacked the game, didn't you man?" Beast Boy accused, narrowing his eyes at the robot currently doing a victory dance in front of the room. Cyborg momentarily stopped gloating to stare at Beast Boy with fake, wide-eyed innocence.

"Me? BB, why would ya say somethin' so horrible 'bout me?" he asked, blinking his only real eye. Then the corners of his mouth twisted into a smirk.

"Dude!" Beast Boy screamed, still upside-down.

Cyborg laughed, wiping the corners of his eyes. "Man, you shoulda' seen your face! Nah, I never screwed with the game---'sides, I wouldn't need to cheat to beat you. I mean, Raven can pro'lly beat you."

Beast Boy sighed. "Well, as long as you didn't---DUDE!" He yelled again once he realized what his cybernetic friend had implied. "I just had a bad run," he whined.

"Yeah, for the past two days," Cyborg retorted. Beast Boy crossed his arms and snorted. He didn't need to hear this. "So what do you wanna do now?" He asked, changing the subject before Cyborg would resume his "in-your-face" dance.

Cyborg's left eye flashed and the whiz of buzzing circuits was heard before he replied, "It's seven-thirty. Whad'a you wanna do?"

Beast Boy let his arms hang off the couch and thought for a second.

And thought.

And thought.

When and idea finally hit him, he jumped off of the couch with excitement. Unfortunately for him, his foot caught on the edge of the sofa and he tumbled to the floor behind it in a heap of twisted arms and legs. Raven stared up from her tea kettle in her spot in the kitchen, looked as if she was going to ask what happened, and then shook her head. Beast Boy quickly untangled himself and brushed dust off of his uniform. He didn't want to look like an idiot after all. Things like that just sort of happened to him.

"I was thinking---"

"You can think? Maybe there is such a thing as miracles," Raven said between sips of her tea. Seriously, he thought, who drinks tea anymore?

Beast Boy shot her a dirty look before continuing.

"---That we should go out. There's a carnival in town this week, and tonight's the last night it'll be here." Beast Boy smiled triumphantly at his genius idea.

"Sure," Robin said from behind a newspaper, "we could all use a break."

"Oh, my first time at an Earth celebration! It sounds most enjoyable!" Starfire squealed from her seat next to Robin, jumping up and clapping her hands. Cyborg raised a fist straight up in the air and let loose a cheerful whoop.

Four down, one to go.

Beast Boy looked at Raven expectantly. She may be creepy and have not one fun bone in her body, but no one could say not to---

"Fattening deep-fried foods, hazardous old rides, and cheap games that were designed to steal your money?" Raven said sarcastically, almost finishing Beast Boy's thought-sentence. Weird…He thought, scratching his head. "Yeah, as fun as that all sounds, I'd rather lay on a bed of rusty nails."

"Aw, c'mon Rae," Cyborg whined, and Raven glared at him once he used her loathed pet name.

"No."

"But---" Beast Boy started.

"No." She turned around to pour the rest of her tea down the drain, her appetite gone. She almost jumped when she felt something brush past her legs. She looked down and saw the adorable face of a kitten look up at her with the widest green eyes an animal that small had ever been created with. It meowed innocently at her and its whiskers twitched longingly. It rubbed against the side of her leg, green fur tickling her calf.

Raven raised one eyebrow at it and picked the strangely colored creature up with both hands. Its ears perked up and it meowed hopefully again. Raven may pretend to have no heart, but not even she could deny how completely cute this kitten was. And, damn it, if she wasn't a cat person. The sandpaper-like tongue of the kitten darted out and licked the side of her face and meowed once more for the full effect.

Raven sighed. "Fine, whatever." Suddenly the kitten transformed into a larger shape, and Raven was then holding a short green boy in her arms instead of a puffy little feline.

"Yeah! Yip--Ouch!" Beast Boy began to cheer when Raven found no more reason to be holding him and dumped him onto the kitchen floor. Beast Boy rubbed his backside before slowly getting up. Then he turned around and flashed one of his self-proclaimed award-winning smiles at the violet-haired girl. "I knew you'd never be able to resist my charms," he said, and his voice cracked in exactly all of the wrong places. Argh, when would his voice hit puberty? This was getting downright embarrassing!

Robin snickered from his side of the room and Raven rolled her eyes, throwing up her hood. "Yes, Beast Boy. Because all women are into green-skinned, pointy-eared, scrawny little elves." Beast Boy frowned when behind him both Robin and Cyborg bust out laughing.

"Shall we be going now, please?" Starfire asked, and Robin nodded his head, still chuckling.

Tch, Beast Boy thought.

And she says she has no sense of humor.

---

The smell of cotton candy and corndogs was heavy in the air when the five titans reached the carnival. Beast Boy breathed in the scent eagerly (not that he'd ever have one of those disgusting murder-meats on a stick--nuh-uh, not him, no siree,) but recognized the familiar scent at once. Memories of his last carnival experience came to mind.

Raven had sent the fortune tellers tent twenty feet in the air with her powers "by accident" and they hadn't been allowed back on the premises for the last five days the fair had been in town. Raven had then said that the fortune teller was just a bunch of blasphemy, setting a bad example for psychics everywhere and that any kind of event that would encourage such stupidity should be blown up.

Well, hopefully nothing would explode this time.

"Wow, it's been a while…" Robin muttered, glancing every so often at the acrobats tent. Starfire's eyes were wide with wonder as she looked from one neon sign to the other, the bright lights of the carnival reflecting of her green orbs.

"I wish to ride the giant spinning circle!" She cried happily, floating an inch off of the ground. She clasped her hands together and gave Robin a lost puppy look that had definitely made the boy wonders heart melt into pudding.

"You mean the Ferris Wheel?" Robin asked in a bemused manner. Starfire nodded her head and pouted her lower lip. Robin shrugged. "Why not?" Starfire let out a shriek of happiness and grabbed Robins wrist, said boy proceeding to turn a light pink color. The alien girl dragged Robin through a crowd of people who looked once at the orange girl and decided not to look back. You never knew what you'd find at a carnival, Beast Boy marveled.

"While they make out on the Ferris Wheel," Cyborg grinned, "how 'bout we go win us some prizes?" Beast Boy raised one fist out and Cyborg willingly punched it. The two made their way through throngs of people and to the nearest game booth. Raven sighed and followed them, having nothing better to do then watch as Beast Boy (as usual) made a fool of himself. It could get quiet funny if he began to make a spectacle.

They went from racing games to whack-a-gopher---which Beast Boy refused to play because he claimed that it was "cruelty to animals"---and hadn't won one thing. Cyborg had even cheated by using his electronic eye to calculate different formulas to figure out how to win, and they still hadn't even managed to get a cheap plastic doll.

"I swear Raven, I'll win you something," Beast Boy promised as he aimed his water gun into the clowns gaping mouth. Raven wondered what kind of twisted game forced children to shoot at a poor clowns head with awfully realistic guns, filled with ammo or not. Raven had opened her mouth to say that she didn't want a stupid stuffed animal from one of these dirty places, but decided that wouldn't stop the already determined Beast Boy even if she whacked him over the head.

A few minutes later, the sky started to fill with brightly colored fireworks illuminating the dark fair. The tents were basked in different colors, from red to orange. "Woah," Cyborg said.

"Dude…"Beast Boy agreed with an open mouth as he stared open at the sky. Raven wanted to add that they were just lighting off highly flammable boxes of explosives and that only idiots with short attention spans would find them "pretty" but she stopped short when she glanced up.

Right before the grand finale, the most dazzling yet of the fireworks came up. It shot through the sky with a fizzing fury, white hot, and with a crack, it exploded into what looked like millions of pieces. It was a combination of green and purple, colors that didn't normally look good together. But in the nighttime sky, with stars lying millions of light years behind the explosions of fireworks, they went together perfectly, brilliant to the eyes of everyone below.

After a moment of total awe, Raven tore her eyes away from the sky. "They're okay," she half-lied when she saw Beast Boy and Cyborg looking at her from the corners of their eyes.

The group finally decided that they would allow themselves to play one more game and then they would find Starfire and Robin. "Whether we have to tear them off of each other or not," Cyborg had said. Beast Boy had stopped in front of a ring toss station and put down a five dollar bill without consulting the other two before throwing the money away.

He was handed three different colored plastic rings. He chucked the first one blindly, hitting the wall and missing the bottle below completely. He threw the second one and it bounced off of the tops of the bottles, missing yet again. He threw the last one and missed once more. "Tough," the man inside the stand said without meaning it, and began to collect the rings.

Beast Boy groaned. "Aw, why didn't I get it?"

"The bottles are angled so that it isn't possible," Raven replied smartly. She glanced at the green boy from the corners of her eyes and saw that he was clutching his head and groaning. He had really wanted to win at least one game.

Raven sighed, and said, "Try it one more time."

Beast Boy stopped sulking long enough to look at her with a strange expression. "But didn't you just---?" Raven glared at him and he wordlessly put down another five dollars. The man grinned at his foolishness, the words "what a sucker this guy is" written clearly on his face. Beast Boy threw the first two and missed. When he was down to only one again, he gripped it in his hand tightly and stuck his tongue out as he concentrated.

Gotta win this for Raven, she heard Beast Boy think absent mindedly.

She shut her eyes for a second. Today was one of those days where she desperately needed to meditate but never had the chance to. Now, without even wanting to, she was beginning to randomly tap in to peoples thoughts. She personally thought that it was an invasion of privacy, but there was nothing she could do. It would wear away eventually.

She hoped.

He swung his arm and let the red plastic ring fly from his finger tips, spinning like a flying saucer. Just as it was about to miss the bottle, Raven pushed it with her mind and tipped it off course, letting it gracefully glide into place through one of the bottles neck.

Beast Boy stared at it for a second, amazed, and then started to laugh at his luck. "Booyah!" Cyborg cheered, and Beast Boy high-fived him while replying with a victorious "Sweet!"

The man behind the counter looked even more shocked than Beast Boy had been, but he handed the changeling his prize nonetheless. "Told ya we'd win you a prize," Beast Boy said happily, handing Raven the giant stuffed chicken the guy over the counter had given him. Cyborg was smirking at him, but Beast Boy failed to notice. Raven tried her best to act annoyed as she leaned against the stand casually, arms crossed.

"A giant chicken," she stated dryly. "I must be the luckiest girl in the world." Well, at least Beast Boy had stopped feeling like a loser. Self-pity tasted almost worse than happiness.

"Titans!" Robin called as he landed in front of the three. "Trouble!" He was radiating waves of concern and worry. Something must have happened, Raven reasoned.

"Where's Starfire?" Cyborg asked with one furrowed eyebrow.

"That's the trouble." Robin broke out in a sprint, and Raven threw down the enormous stuffed poultry to follow. Robin led them to the edge of the pier, where two speeding lights were conflicting with each other. As they got closer, Beast Boy realized that it was Starfire, being chased by some squidy pod thingie.

"No more chasing now please," she screamed as a tentacle reached out to grab her. She flew closer to the titans until she passed through them, and the pod thingie followed like a heat-seeking missile.

"Who's her new best friend?" Beast Boy said sarcastically, and he could have sworn he heard Raven scoff.

"Don't know, but I can't wait to meet him." Robin punched his palm and took on the tone of an over-protective boyfriend. Starfire circled the Ferris Wheel before stopping behind her friends. The pod turned to follow again when Beast Boy jumped up towards it and changed into an alligator. He snapped his jaws at it but missed by inches.

From behind, Raven telekinetically lifted a hot dog stand and threw it at the pod. The pod flew through it, unfazed, and hotdogs and onions went every which way. Beast Boy cringed when one landed on his shoe.

As the pod passed Cyborg, the robot reached and grabbed the pod by the tentacles. He struggled to keep it in place while the pod struggled to keep moving forward. "Don't know what you said to make this thing mad, but it wouldn't hurt to apologize," Cyborg grunted with effort.

"I am…sorry?" Starfire said meekly, but nothing happened.

Cyborg huffed once more before the pod snapped free and went after Starfire again. Robin, playing the over-protective boyfriend role, snarled and snapped open his staff. Beast Boy doubted he'd ever let that thing hurt Starfire if he was within a ten-mile radius. "Yah!" He cried, swinging his staff mightily down onto the pod. It's engine seemed to fail because it began to plummet downwards and it splashed into the ocean below them.

Beast Boy leaned over the railing. "So, did we just win?"

To answer his question, with an explosion of water, the pod rocketed through the bottom of the pier and twenty feet into the air. It circled once more, and Robin immediately jumped into action. He leaped into the air and landed on the back of the pod. He muttered something about an off-switch that Beast Boy couldn't hear before punching straight through the surface and ripping out random live wires. The pod began to convulse and make noises signaling it was losing power when Robin jumped back on to the deck. The pod flew up into the air another hundred feet before imploding and finishing off the fireworks extravaganza with no one the wiser.

"Whatever that thing was, it can't hurt you now," Robin said to Starfire, slightly out of breath.

"But…why did it wish to hurt me at all?" Starfire wondered aloud.

Which was a very good question, Beast Boy thought to himself. He could have sworn that Raven had nodded in agreement to his thought, but he must have been tired from the fight. Having enough excitement for one night, the titans returned home.

---

Raven was going to vomit.

She honestly was going to throw up on her shoes if Starfire got any happier. The taste was so strong that she could almost smell it. She had just proposed to recite the "The Poem of Gratitude, all 6000 verses." Her gratefulness was making her stomach heave.

"I see you haven't changed a bit," someone said from the couch, and all five titans turned to see who the voice belonged to. A girl that looked only a year or two older than Starfire was leaning against the back of the couch. She worse a silver plated outfit with a black tank top and a black skirt that looked similar to Starfire's. Even her hair resembled Starfire's, straight to a T and trailing down to her mid-back, but it was dyed a midnight black color that matched her shoes. Her eyes were what made her look really different. Opposite of Starfire's large green ones, this girls eyes were slanted and purple. "When we were little I was always saving Starfire," she explained a bit sheepishly.

She held out her arms, awaiting an embrace and laughed. Starfire screamed and ran over to hug the stranger. "Sister!" she cried, a smile matching her counterparts.

"Brought you a present," the stranger said silkily, dangling an emerald-colored gem stone in front of Starfire's face. Starfire gasped in astonishment.

"A Centari Moon Diamond? Where did you get---"

"On the Centari Moons, of course," the stranger interrupted. Wordlessly, she began to tie the gem around Starfire's neck, who was grinning ear to ear. "Oh look, it matches your eyes!" She observed, and beamed. As far as Raven could tell, she wasn't a threat.

"You must meet my friends!" Starfire said, and dragged the stranger over to the front of the room with enough strength to damage a normal human beings arm. "I wish to introduce my big sister---"

"Blackfire," the stranger, Starfire's sister, interrupted again. "And since Star said all about the titans in her transmissions, let me guess…" Blackfire trailed off, finger on her chin. "Cyborg," she said, pointing to the robotic teen.

Who else would that name belong to? Raven thought.

"Pleased to meet you, little lady," Cyborg greeted politely, holding out a hand for her to shake. Blackfire accepted it and easily crushed his fingers together as the metal whined in protest. "Little lady, big handshake!" Cyborg rolled his wrist to make sure that she hadn't broken and joints. "Well alright."

---Those'd take me hours to fix! Raven heard Cyborg think about his hand.

Blackfire moved down the line, meeting the half-demon girl's apathetic stare with her own slanted eyes. "Raven." Well, again, not a surprise. She was the only other girl on the team. For a split second she hoped that Blackfire wouldn't be nearly as annoying as Starfire was, or she would drown herself in the lake outside. One Starfire was barely manageable.

Two Starfire's would be just plain suicide.

"I like that gemstone on your Aghsma Chakra."

Wow. This completely tore down Ravens image of Starfire's sister and rebuilt it in a whole new light. She even allowed herself to smile a bit. "You…know about Chakras?"

"I got way into meditation on Altara Prime." She moved down again. "Beast Boy, what's up?"

"Nothin' but the ceilin' baby," Beast Boy replied, pointing heavenward and grinning his grin at her. Blackfire chuckled at his incredibly lame joke, which Raven didn't find funny at all.

"Good one!"

As she moved down the line for the last time, Beast Boy whispered to Raven, "See? She thinks I'm funny." He had a cocky grin on his face.

"Statistically, I suppose someone has too," Raven said sarcastically, and Beast Boy glowered at the side of her head.

What's her damage? Beast Boy thought, irked.

"You're always annoying me," Raven whispered under her breath. She saw Beast Boy twitch a bit but paid it no mind. It wasn't as if he knew she could hear his thoughts…

When Blackfire reached Robin, Raven was assaulted by a tidal wave of jealousy from Starfire. The emotion coming from the orange girl was so strong that Raven actually had to take a step back and cough.

"You okay?" Cyborg asked, and Beast Boy looked down at her with a concerned look on his face. Then it disappeared and he only looked curious. Raven looked up and nodded, returning to her place on line. She picked up a bit of Blackfire's conversation with Robin, who was soaking up the attention like a multi-colored sponge.

"---sk makes you look very mysterious," Blackfire fawned. Another wave of jealousy from Starfire, but Raven managed to smother the coughing feeling. Blackfire inched her face closer to Robin's, who seemed to be completely oblivious to the flirtatious Tamaranian.

"So, beloved Sister," Starfire intervened, wedging herself between a confused Robin and a surprised Blackfire in an attempt to keep her away from the boy of her affections. "What brings you to Earth?"

"Oh, I was in the quadrant," Blackfire answered breezily, waltzing over to the couch. "Thought I'd see if Earthlings liked to party." She effortlessly threw herself onto the couch. "Besides," she sighed, "I needed a rest; nearly got sucked into a black hole on my way here."

She was good, Raven noted with respect.

All three of the male titans flew to her side after looking at each other once.

"Black hole?" Robin asked, leaning against the sofa with both arms.

"No way!" Cyborg shouted, propping himself up with both hands holding up his head. Beast Boy mirrored his pose.

"Cool," the green titan admired. Raven frowned angrily. He was basically drooling himself---they all were. But actually seeing Beast Boy looking at someone with such admiration and such…ugh, was there even a word for the emotions they were feeling right now? Lust? Well, whatever you'd call it, Raven was annoyed by it. By the way Starfire was glaring, Raven figured that she was too.

---so cool! All three boys thought in unison, almost timing it perfectly in their heads.

Blackfire smirked and started her dangerous tale. "Okay," she began, waving her outstretch arm to pantomime flying, "so I'm cruising through the Dreconis Nebula, and---"

"Sister, that area is full of black holes!" Starfire said with a worried expression, cocking her head to the side. "You know travel there is forbidden."

Blackfire and the three boys tripping over themselves for her turned to stare at Starfire, who had yet to realize that no one really cared if it was forbidden or not. In fact, that made Blackfire even more exciting; the fact that she would travel through a place ridden with black holes just for the thrill of it.

She was really good.

"Most fun things in life are. Now, be a sweetie and bring me one of those 'soda's' I've heard so much about," Blackfire said, dismissing her little sister with a wave of her hand. Too easy, Blackfire thought.

Raven felt Starfire's self-esteem plummet, but really couldn't care. She was too busy pretending not to be angry with Blackfire for…being the center of the male population's universe right now.

Not like she cared.

Ha.

Please.

Raven, care about something so trivial?

Tch.

As if.

In a million years.

When pigs fly---

Okay, so maybe she was a bit jealous, but it was something she could squelch easily.

"So, anyway, I'm zooming over Neventorizan, approaching light speed, when all of a sudden," Blackfire resumed, the boys eating up every word. Starfire went to the refrigerator and mumbled to herself about changing, snagging a soda for her sister. She slammed the door angrily and pasted a fake smile on her face as she tried to mask her jealousy with happiness over her sisters arrival.

But Raven knew.

Always wanting to boss me around because she was the heir to the throne!… Starfire ranted internally, and Raven remembered to ask what "throne" she had been talking about without letting her know she had been listening to her thoughts. From what Raven heard in about only ten seconds (Starfire didn't look it, but when she actually started went on a furious tirade, she could do it fast,) Blackfire could be mean, manipulative, and sarcastic.

Hm, Raven thought, my kind of friend.

"Here you are, Sister," Starfire said with false cheeriness, holding out the green fizz. Her fake happiness went unnoticed. Blackfire ignored her sister and went on with her elaborate story, but snatched the soda and chugged greedily after a moment. She paused before belching loudly, the foundation of the tower shaking slightly. Beast Boy, Robin, and Cyborg stared at her with wide eyes.

"'Scuse me," she said airily, crumpling the soda an in her hand as if it was a piece of flimsy paper and tossing it somewhere behind her. Cyborg laughed loudly, and Beast Boy joined in, eyes sparkling.

"Awesome," Robin complimented respectfully. Blackfire nodded in acknowledgement and returned to her story.

---and now she's draping friend Robin over her! Why couldn't it be Beast Boy? Argatha retnu'lik yetis ghork!---

Raven concentrated on not listening---which was very hard because she hadn't had the right amount of time to meditated---once Starfire started to rant in Tamaranian.

Another pang of anger overcame her when she heard Starfire suggest that Blackfire flirt with Beast Boy instead. Why did she care if he wanted to drown in a puddle of his own drool over a girl like Blackfire? He was a teenage boy, she was a very attractive girl. It didn't take a genius to figure out the numbers.

Sowhy did she care?

The microwave behind her exploded with dark energy.

Blackfire stopped and looked over with curiosity on her face. "What was that?" Wonderful, now everyone was looking at her. Raven inched over so that the ruined microwave would be hidden from view. The door was hanging off its hinges and the glass on the front was cracked.

"Nothing," she lied easily, but Beast Boy immediately saw through her.

"Oh, Raven randomly blows things up with her mind sometimes," he explained casually. Blackfire raised an inky eyebrow.

Raven scowled at the green-colored changeling. "No, I do not," she said through gritted teeth.

Just as she said that, a trickle of her powers leaked out and snapped at the fire sprinklers, setting them off. Raven's frown deepened as water came down from the ceiling. Water rolled off of her head and into her eyes, and she blinked once to clear them. Blackfire was smiling and Beast Boy was smirking at her with that one annoying fang poking out.

Ugh, that stupid tooth! She just wanted to yank it out!

"Oh, really?" Beast Boy asked with both eyebrows lifted up. Raven answered him by flipping her wet hair away from her face and glaring, shoulders hunched. She turned and stormed away before anyone could crack a joke about "that loose canon Raven."

Creepy, Beast Boy thought, and Raven struggled to keep an neutral expression even though he couldn't see her face. Starfire gave her a pitting look as she stalked past.

Great, of all people, she was receiving pity from her.

The doors swished open as she walked in front of them, and just as they closed, the sprinklers shut off automatically.

---

"Would you mind telling me," Blackfire began with a strange expression, "why I found these in the main hallway?" From behind her back she produced a pair of purple boxers hanging off her index finger. Beast Boy's face caught fire and he quickly tried to grab them from her but the black-haired girl smirked and held the boxers above her head, holding him off with her free hand easily. From their spot next to him, Robin and Cyborg bent in half and laughed.

"C'mon Blackfire, give 'em back!" he whined, wind-milling his arms pathetically. Blackfire shook her head and laughed.

"Finders keepers, and I found these babies on the floor outside your room," she teased. She pretended to sniff them and gagged. Beast Boy continued to struggle, and she sighed. "Never mind, you can have them." She threw them at him and the boxers landed perfectly on his head so that he wore them like a hat. Cyborg and Robin took one look at him and started laughing even harder, tears streaming down their cheeks.

Beast Boy whipped them off his head and hid them behind his back and out of sight. Once the two other boys had calmed down enough to form proper sentences, Robin suggested that they play video games. They all looked to Blackfire, who shrugged. "I've heard of them, but I've never tried before." Cyborg grinned.

"Then you'll love learning them from the masters." They dragged her away down to the main room. Before he started walking, Beast Boy took his boxers and sniffed them.

They aren't that bad, he thought before chucking onto the floor again.

The three began explaining the controls to her slowly so that she would understand, all fighting for her complete attention. They let her try a demo game and she failed

…horribly.

"It's okay," Robin said in an attempt to make her feel better. "It was pretty hard."

Blackfire bit her lip. "Oh, I'll never get it. Hey, I've got an idea!" She chirped, her eyes slanted even more now as she grinned. "How 'bout whoever loses challenge mode has to buy the team dinner later? You can play me, Cyborg."

The boys looked at each other and shrugged. They could use a free dinner, anyway.

"Now, I'll try to go easy on---"

START!The electronic voice screamed from the game station, and in less than several seconds, Blackfire had kicked Cyborg off of the course and won the game easily.

"--you," he finished with his jaw open, control in hand.

Blackfire grinned wider and dropped the controller in her lap, leaning back and resting her head on the couch. "I'll have one of those 'cheeseburgers'---make that five---and another one of the sodas---maybe three of them."

"But I thought you said that…" Beast Boy started, eyes wide.

"I've played similar training simulations on Tegular One," Blackfire replied. "This went in slow motion compared to them."

Awe.

Total awe.

The only way to describe what Beast Boy was feeling. A girl who had an appetite like a guy and could play video games? And was a kick-butt Tamaranian alien girl?

And was hot?

What else, could she squirt spaghetti out of her fingertips? Shoot marshmallows from her nose? This was too good to be true!

Robin went to go train later and Blackfire said something about going to a poetry club with Raven, so that left Cyborg and Beast Boy to duke it out and play until Blackfire came back, "winner-stays-on"sies.

Dude, though, was she cool or what?

---

Raven sat on her bed and started to chant. She needed to make sure that her powers were under control while she was out, unless she wanted to put the lives of hundreds of mortals in danger. And that's what she was---a danger to society.

No wonder Beast Boy thought she was creepy.

Her eyebrow twitched but she managed to keep from setting anything on fire.

Breath in.

Breath out.

Azarath, Mentrion, Zinthos.

Az---

"Raven, hey, you ready to go?" Raven cracked open an eye and reached out with her mind to see who it was. It was Blackfire, standing in front of the door and prepared to go to Raven's favorite café with her. The Black Rose was dark and gloomy, perfect for someone like Raven.

The half-demon uncrossed her legs and walked over to the door slowly. When they swished open, Blackfire was standing in the opening with her hands on her hips.

She really does look like Starfire…Raven mused. "Yup." The two teens left the tower and began to walk through the city.

"Oh, I just love how quaint these Earth cities are!" Blackfire sang, twirling around to look at the twenty story skyscraper. "That building's almost half as tall as the ones I've seen somewhere in the Mertridian Galaxy." Raven raised an eyebrow at her.

A man in a suit brushed past the two girls, before looking back and giving them a weird look. She knew what he was thinking without even having to read his mind.

Creepy.

Creepy.

Creepy.

Everyone thought she was creepy.

At least she didn't have to hear everyone's thoughts now as they walked past the hooded girl, looked back over their shoulder with a grimace and think freak.

Because that's what she was: a creepy freak. It fit her perfectly.

Freak Freak Freak.

Creepy Creepy Creepy.

That was her, Raven that weirdo that blew things up with her mind.

So what was Blackfire doing here?

The question on Raven's mind was nagging her until she finally had to ask, albeit apathetically, "Why exactly do you want to hang out with me?" Blackfire smirked.

"Raven, puh-lease. Don't even ask me something that dumb. Dark and creepy is totally my style."

That nearly made Raven smile.

"So I've heard that your powers are tied to your emotions," Blackfire said back-handedly. Raven nodded from beneath her hood. Blackfire sighed. "That must really suck for you. It's no wonder why that microwave exploded, what with you being in love with him and all."

"Actually, it is very----what?" Raven stopped in her tracks to stare at the Tamaranian who seemed to not have noticed what she had said to offend her so badly. Raven stopped only a block away from The Black Rose. The streets were empty and the sky was gray, cloudy and setting the mood flawlessly. A newspaper blew by and rolled out across the sidewalk. A car alarm went off in the distance, probably from someone just bumping into a car, and trash cans were lined up in the alley way on the side.

Blackfire turned around and looked at Raven with a confused expression. "Don't tell me you're not in love with Beast Boy?"

Raven felt her emotions leak through but couldn't help herself. Besides, no one was out and Blackfire would be able to defend herself if she went out of control.

"No! Of course not!" The lid of a garbage can shot off five feet in the air before landing with a loud clang and rolling to her feet. "Why would you even suggest something that ridiculous?" Raven questioned, regaining her neutral voice. No emotion, no emotion. Can't show emotion Raven, take it easy.

"Well, I just figured since it seems you talk to him more than anyone else…" Blackfire shrugged.

"You talk to everyone, but I don't see people dropping down in front of you," Raven remarked. Blackfire smirked.

"Not yet, anyway. Robin seems pretty cute. And Beast Boy too, if you're really not into him."

And then she winked and started walking again.

Raven followed and thought that was that. Unknown to her or Blackfire, miles away, a man was just sticking his keys into the door of his car before it was sent straight into the air by some unseen, black, telekinetic force.

Well, what would Raven care about Blackfire?

It's not like she minded her going after the boys---it's not like anyone else would go for Beast Boy, the green, pointy-eared pipsqueak.

Ha.

She didn't care on bit.

---

Raven and Blackfire had come back from where ever an hour later. Raven had stormed up to her room to do…whatever she did in her spare time, and Blackfire had jumped over the couch to play the seven-time-in-a-row winner, Cyborg. She beast him mercilessly again and said, patting his head innocently, that she would be back for the next winner for a real challenge.

Now Beast Boy and Cyborg sat hunched over their game station controls, grunting to each other in their male-to-male language. The racing ships on the screen were zooming past each other, almost taking turns passing the other. Beast Boy was currently stuck behind Cyborg, who didn't miss the opportunity to rejoice.

"You wanna pass me," Cyborg beamed, "but you can pass me, you can't pass me, you can't p---" The screen blinked and a Beast Boy grinned. "Y-You passed me!"

"Tighten the turn, jets, and nitro!" Beast Boy yelled triumphantly, throwing his arms up into the air happily. Finally, he had the upper hand against Cyborg. Beast Boy did a short twirling dance to celebrate and laughed before scrunching his eyebrows and grinning as he concentrated. He jumped back onto the couch next to Cyborg and sat cross-legged, smiling at his success. The electronic theme music blared on.

"Tell me," Starfire said from behind, "have either of you seen Blackfire?"

"Blazin' B? She was here just a second ago," Beast Boy said, still grinning. Then he looked at the screen and his face dropped. Damn, Star made him lose his concentration!

"Aw yeah, back in the lead!" Cyborg, who had previously been leaning forward and scowling angrily, shouted as his ship knocked Beast Boy's off the screen. He laughed in Beast Boy's face and he silently fumed as his fingers pressed down on the buttons harder, as if he applied more pressure the character would go faster.

"What fun," Starfire cheered, "may I join your game?"

"Winner plays Blackfire," Cyborg explained cheerily.

"Yeah, she rules at this game," Beast Boy agreed, still unbelieving that a girl like Starfire's sister could exist.

"I see…"Starfire said sadly, but neither teenager heard her.

Beast Boy frowned and stuck his tongue out the side of his mouth, trying to get back in the lead.

Winner was supposed to play Blackfire.

---

Raven sat on the couch with a leather back book in her hands covering half of her face from view. The three other boys sat on the couch, chatting aimlessly about something. Her eyes kept darting from the pages of Shakespire to Beast Boy, who was still radiating cheeriness and admiration for the new Tamaranian girl.

Again, not that she cared.

His smile was so big---did it always take up so much of his face when he grinned?

"Don't tell me that you're not in love with Beast Boy?"

Love? She would have laughed if that were something she did normally. She didn't have the time or the control to feel emotions like that, let alone something as ridiculously superficial as love. What was love anyway? Just someone enjoying the company of another more than anyone else. There wasn't really love in the world.

Just extreme like.

And she didn't even need to feel that. She was fine without feeling any emotions. So why bother?

She sensed Starfire's forced happiness before she heard her.

"Friends!" She declared. In each hand she held a bucket of popcorn and a collection of rented movies and candies When would she learn? "I invite you to join me in the togetherness of a stay home movie night. I bring you popcorn and non-cotton candies. Tell me, what sort of movie shall we view?"

"Action!"

"Comedy!"

"Sci-fi!"

"Horror."

Starfire looked at the group once before frowning and dropping everything she was carrying. Then she grinned embarrassedly, "Perhaps…a double feature?"

"Forget the flicks kids---we're going out!" Blackfire declared, throwing her arms open at the doorway.

"We are?" Starfire asked meekly. Raven read ahead in her book, hearing only some of the conversation. She felt the groups excitement later on and decided to tune back in.

"---party downtown? Cool crowd, hot music." Ugh, where was the fun in that? A bunch of annoying teenagers grinding against each other? Pass on that.

The others agreed heartily, but Raven went on reading. Who gave a damn about some stupid---

"And it's in a creepy, run-down warehouse…" Blackfire trailed off.

Well, maybe it wouldn't be that bad, Raven decided. She looked up from her page---which was two-hundred and eighty-three as of two seconds ago--- and slammed her book shut. The group began to file out one by one, starting with Cyborg, who whooped happily.

"I am a party animal," Beast Boy said, transforming into a hulking gorilla.

Raven and Robin followed suit, last to go being Blackfire who sort-of apologized for stealing Starfire's outfit. Raven tasted Starfire's sadness as she left but really didn't pay it any mind. She wasn't really Starfire's friend, after all.

She was just regular ol' creepy Raven.

---

The pulsing lights bathing the room in a shower of different colors.

The pounding music wreaking havoc on his ears.

The people dancing up against each other as they bobbed their heads to the beat of the music.

Beast Boy loved it.

He knew he wouldn't be able to hear that well later on, maybe even worse than the time he had suffered from the effect of Cyborg's sonic boom cannon, but he loved the party scene more than anything else. He was, in all sense of the word, a party animal.

"Step aside, Earthlings!" Blackfire cried as she lead the titans to the middle of the dance floor, shaking her hips. "The queen of the galaxy has arrived!" Raven stopped to watch something go on, but he kept going.

This was totally awesome.

"Hahaha!" Blackfire laughed, performing a series of very intimidating dance moves in front of Beast Boy and Cyborg. "Don't tell me you big, tough superheroes are afraid of a little dancing."

"Bet'cha Cy can do the robot," Beast Boy grinned, pointing at his best friend. He started the dance and Cyborg looked down at him once and rolled his eye. Blackfire whirled past and Beast Boy, Robin and Cyborg spontaneously started to dance, too. What was the fun of a party without dancing?

He couldn't see the rest of the group, but what did he care? It was a party, they were probably all having fun.

---

The pulsing lights bathing the room in a shower of different colors.

The pounding music wreaking havoc on her ears.

The people dancing up against each other as they bobbed their heads to the beat of the music.

Raven hated it.

"This party is pointless," Raven said to Starfire in an annoyed tone. The lights were giving her a headache, the music was hurting her ears, and the swarm of emotions was making her stomach turn over. Even if it was in a creepy abandoned warehouse, this party truly had nothing to interest her at all.

"Everything's pointless," a pale boy commented next to her. He had greasy black hair that covered half of his face, and his shirt hung off his body and flowed over his thin shoulders. He had circles under his eyes and a spiked dog collar around his neck and wrists. "Wanna go talk about it?"

Raven shrugged, following him off the dance floor, and deserting her not-friend Starfire. At least now she'd have something to do besides regret ever coming.

He lead her to a secluded spot that was covered with boxes full of who-knows-what. He leaned against one and Raven assumed a similar position with one foot propped up against the side of a crate. They started talking about random, depressing things, agreeing with one word answers or with a roll of their eyes or with a shrug of their shoulders. He seemed okay.

Until he leaned in to kiss her.

---

Beast Boy was strutting his stuff with Cyborg at his side. Robin had left to check on Starfire, but other than that, he was on top of the world. He felt awesome as he danced with the music, looking as cool as he possibly could be. Only one word could describe this party.

Duuuuuuuuuuude!

He waved his arms around in a falling motion and grinned when a tall brunette started to dance closer to him.

Yeah, chicks totally dug his dance moves. It was just a fact of life. Like birds in the sky and fish in the sea, Beast Boy belonged on the dance floor. The entire night was going perfectly. Until he had to hear that voice.

"Get away from me!"

If his ears had been destroyed he would have never heard it, but he still somehow was able to sustain his superior sense of hearing. And he could place that low, sarcastic voice anywhere.

Raven was in trouble.

His instincts fought with each other, the two constantly at war. One part of his brain was screaming that he shouldn't bother, she could take care of herself, and that she was dangerous. But the other part was shouting even louder that he was a superhero and saving damsels in distress was just was superheroes did, even if the damsel was a creepy Goth girl that hated his guts.

Finally, he gave in to the latter one, and he crept closer to where the sound was coming from. He peeked over the side of a crate and saw something that enraged him to no end.

A Goth boy was holding Raven by the wrists and trying to kiss her, pushing her against the wall. Raven was scowling, her eyes already glowing faintly. She looked ready to throw a fit and dump one of those two ton crates on him. Beast Boy felt the same but knew that if she followed through with that she would kill him.

So he did what he usually did and followed his first animal instinct.

Protect.

Raven was just about to mutter her spell when he charged at the greasy haired boy at top speed. He didn't want to hurt him too badly so he refrained from turning into an elephant.

But, ugh, how he just wanted to trample this asshole!

Goth Boy let out a surprised cry when Beast Boy tackled him, and from the corner of his eyes, Beast Boy caught a glimpse of Raven's astonished face.

Beast Boy felt himself snarl in an animalistic manner, a habit of his when he got angry. He dugs his knees into Goth Boy's chest, who widened his eyes in pain. Beast Boy grabbed a fistful of his baggy shirt and brought his pale, sweaty face to his own. "What's your problem, buddy?"

"Beast Boy…" Raven said, still a bit shocked.

"Look, I was just---"

"Just what?" Beast Boy asked angrily, shaking him a bit.

"Beast Boy, get off of him. You might hurt him," Raven said evenly. Beast Boy wouldn't listen.

Goth Boy stuttered and couldn't find the right words to speak right now.

"Just what were you going to do? Huh, you puss-filled fu--!"

"Get off of him!" Raven shouted, using her powers to yank Beat Boy off of the frightened Goth. Goth Boy scrambled up and fled like a cockroach caught in the light.

Beast Boy scowled after him and turned to Raven. "Are you alright? Did he…hurt you?" He said huskily. He couldn't attempt to hide the disgust in his voice as when he even considered that slime-bag laying a hand on her.

"I am perfectly fine." Raven placed on hand on her hip. "I was handling the situation, you didn't need to make him wet himself." Beast Boy rolled his eyes.

"Uh-huh. With him pinning you against the wall like that---toooootally handling the situation there." Raven scowled.

"Shut up, Beast Boy." He obeyed and she sighed heavily. "You didn't need to do that. But, um, thank you."

Beast Boy rubbed the back of his head, suddenly chagrinned at his brute actions. Maybe she could have handled it. "Yeah, well…" His eyes looked everywhere except into Raven's violet ones. He glanced up and stared. "Rae…" He started, pointing at the window on the ceiling. The silhouette of a girl and something large with multiple tentacles shone through the glass. Raven looked at Beast Boy and Beast Boy looked at Raven. Then they both made a break for the stairs.

"Cy!" Beast Boy called back over his shoulder to the shimmying cyber-teen, "Star's in trouble!" Just as he said that, from the shadows long, wiry tentacles reached out a grabbed him. "Whoa!"

As he was being dragged away, he saw Cyborg run after him. Before he could get into a good sprint, another pod rammed right into him and he was thrown to the side.

Raven gasped and activated her powers. She floated eight feet into the air and her hands began to crackle with unused energy. She lifted two crates filled with the heaviest items she could find and tossed them at the pod. Beast Boy continued to grunt and struggle in vain. One crate hit and he screamed as the pod loosened its grip. The other one hit as well, and he landed on the floor with an oof! as the pod let go completely. Raven walked over and looked down at him.

Once again, they were even.

Then she titled her head up and her eyes widened from underneath her hood. She grabbed Beast Boy by the back of his costume and dove out of the way.

A pod dive-bombed through the glass windows above. Glass shattered everywhere and Beast Boy thought of his zombie game. The windows broke the same way, and the pods were just like the zombies. They kept coming back for more, never quite dieing. It was kind of horrifying when he thought about it.

Beast Boy turned around in time to see Cyborg land a punch on one of the incoming pods, sending it crashing through a bunch of crates. Starfire burst out from a box and shot a ray of star bolts at the pod chasing her. It smoldered and went flying towards Beast Boy, who back-flipped out of the way and morphed into a tiger, growling ferociously. He roared and slashed at the pod, satisfied that it flew through a wall at the force of his swipe.

Starfire tried to gain leverage over the pods, but all three circled her and she gasped. She flew them in a figure eight before Cyborg attacked one and began punching it non-stop. He took one by the tentacle and flung it across the room. The other spun at super speed, using it's tentacles as a power saw and cutting shallowly into him.

He went through a wall and dust and debris covered everything. Cyborg emerged with Robin and Blackfire, who were running towards the evenly-matched group.

The pods chased Starfire outside where they trapped her inside of a dumpster and started to carry her away. Starfire shrieked before Robin threw a bird-a-rang and sliced through the tentacles of the pod carrying her. "Teen Titans, Go!" Robin and Cyborg screamed at the same time. Before any of them could react, Blackfire flew straight for them, shooting rays of purple light out of her eyes. She hit the pods in all of the right places, making them combust automatically.

Pieces of the pods were strewn everywhere and a tentacle squirmed as it crackled with electricity before going still. "Aw yeah, good times!" Cyborg shouted happily

"Nice shootin', Tex," Beast Boy complimented.

"Very nice," Raven agreed, and Beast Boy had to control himself to keep from staring at her. Did she just…agree with him? What has the world come to?

"How did you know where to hit them?" Robin asked curiously. Beast Boy had been thinking the same thing.

"Lucky guess?" Blackfire shrugged playfully.

"We could use luck like that---maybe you should join the team," Cyborg suggested.

Even Beast Boy could tell that she was over-doing her excitement when Blackfire said, "Me? A Teen Titan?" She looked over at the dumpster where Starfire was when she answered. Said Tamaranian girl lifted the dumpsters lid and gasped in shock, a banana peel on her head.

What could she be so upset about? Beast Boy wondered.

---

"I'm telling you, Radioactive Man was totally bitten by a wild ferret when he got his superpowers!" Beast Boy said loudly, tossing a chip in his mouth and chewing it violently.

Cyborg snorted. "And I'm telling you that he was dumped into a vat of radioactive jelly. What kind of idiot gets bitten by a ferret? That's like saying you got your superpowers by getting bit by a…a…a monkey! Laaaame."

Beast Boy flinched even though Cyborg had no idea how offensive he just sounded. But that was besides the point. Radioactive Man definitely didn't fall into a vat of jelly. Ew.

"No, Dude, he didn't! He was bitten by a wild ferret that had fallen into a vat of radioactive jelly," Beast Boy argued.

Cyborg rolled his eye. "Whatever, man."

"Whatever my ass." Cyborg squinted at him before turning back to the television, muttering something about "what kind of superhero gets bitten by a ferret? A spider, sure. But a ferret?"

"Blackfire, where're you goin'?" the changeling asked when he saw Blackfire sneaking out the window. Blackfire jerked her head back and frowned before smiling again.

"Oh, nowhere. I'll be right back."

There was a thump from upstairs on the roof. "Did you hear that?" Cyborg asked.

"I didn't hear anything," Blackfire said innocuously. "But I should be going soon." Beast Boy shrugged, now uninterested.

"Uh, we have a door you know," Cyborg said, pointing over his shoulder. Blackfire smirked.

"Yes, but that's the boring way out."

And then she flew out of the room without another word. "It's a shame she's gone now," Beast Boy sighed. "She was pretty cool."

"Pretty hot, you mean," Cyborg smirked, and Beast Boy high-fived him without looking away from the television screen. "If Rae wasn't already into you, she'd probably have hit on you. Well, she was throwing herself at Robin, though…"Cyborg said thoughtfully.

"Yeah, she was all over---What about Raven?" Beast Boy said, cutting off his previous thought and turning to look at his best friend to see if he was serious or just yanking his chain. "I said that Blackfire would probably have hit on you if she didn't know that Raven was into you." Beast Boy blinked, his brain still not able to process this information. He took a sip of his soda and Cyborg tried again.

"Blackfire. Would. Have. Flirted. With. You. If. Raven. Didn't. Like. You," Cyborg said slowly, annunciating his words slowly. Beast Boy blinked again before he finally understood. And when he did, he felt his face flush and he started to choke on his Mr. Fiz, spraying it everywhere. "Gross, man," Cyborg muttered as he jumped out of the way of incoming soda.

"Dude, don't say stuff like that when I'm drinking something!" Beast Boy whined, thankful that his face had returned back to its original green shade. "Besides, she hates me. She thinks I'm some kind of idiot," he countered.

Cyborg disregarded him. "I wouldn't hold that past her, B." Beast Boy opened his mouth to say something sarcastic to him when he felt the tower shake. The sound of a ship crashing into the roof echoed through the halls and the two boys ran for the exit.

"What was that?" Raven called from down the hall just outside her room. No one answered her and they all ran to the spot where the impact sounded greatest. They reached the roof and saw Robin and Starfire standing in the center, watching a space cruiser smolder on the roof.

"Star! Robin!" Beast Boy called as they ran.

"You two alright?" Cyborg asked. Just then, from the ruins emerged two alien thugs, coughing from the dust in the air.

"Titans, get ready," Robin growled, and all five titans assumed a fighting position. From close up, Beast Boy could tell that they were a hulking seven feet eleven, almost three feet taller than him. They were shielded with a red and silver armor with a symbol word proudly on the center of their chests.

"In the name of the Centari Empire, you are all under arrest," the alien thug boomed in a robotic voice. He pulled out a badge to make sure it was known that he meant business.

Four titans gaped at him while Raven stood in the back, un-amused. Did anything ever surprise her?

"Uh, you can't be the good guys---we're the good guys," Beast Boy informed them, pointing to himself and the rest of the team.

"And we are Centari police," the same one said.

"The Tamaranian girl is a liar and a thief. She had committed crimes throughout the entire Centari system!" the second one accused, thrusting a finger at Starfire. Obviously a rookie, Beast Boy knew.

"But I have never even been to the Centari moons!" Starfire cried helplessly. Robin turned to her and eyed her necklace.

A necklace, Blackfire had said, that came from the Centari moons.

"But I know someone who has," Robin said dramatically, untying the necklace and removing it from her neck. Starfire gasped but Robin continued on. "You've been chasing the wrong girl. Where's Blackfire?"

Beast Boy turned his head. "Uh…" He pointed up into the sky, and everyone twisted around to see what he was pointing at. Blackfire was flying up into the heavens, almost breaking out of the atmosphere.

"Don't worry Star, she won't get away with this."

"No, she will not!" Starfire said in a low, threatening voice. She bent her knees and kicked up off the roof at top speed, eyes ablaze. She flew into the clouds and was temporarily hidden before a burst of purple light set flame to the nighttime sky. Beat Boy saw Starfire free fall before she caught herself and rocketed towards her sister again. There was a shower of purple lights and green ones conflicting with each other.

Beast Boy thought back to the fireworks a few days ago, and realized that even though those were deadly star bolts and not just harmless colored explosives, green and purple really did look good together.

Then the lights stopped, and just as Blackfire was about to shoot again, one of the Centari policemen shot a stream of squiggly green gunk at her, encasing her body in it and rendering her useless, from the edge of their ship.

"Blackfire of Tamaran, you are under arrest."

Blackfire struggled against the gunk in vain as she was dragged away.

"Farewell Sister!" Starfire shouted, waving as her sister was restrained. "Even though you did betray and attack me, it was…still very nice to see you!"

"Next time it won't be so nice. I will get out of jail, and when I do, I will get even," Blackfire snarled. Once she was hauled away, Starfire floated down to the roof with her friends.

"That was…most unusual. Not all family reunions go like that, yes?" Starfire asked, and Cyborg shook his head. "Well, at least I got to see her again," she sighed.

"I never figured Blackfire to be so…evil before this. I mean, she seemed perfectly fine to me," Robin said.

"Yeah, 'cuz she was always breathing down your---oof!" Cyborg grumbled when Starfire hit him in the gut, a smile wide on her face.

"I'm just glad it's finally over," Beast Boy groaned.

Trigon be damned if he's not right, Raven silently agreed.

This had been one heck of a week, even for a robot, and alien girl, a half-demon, and ex-acrobat, and a green changeling.

---

Raven walked into her room and was mildly surprised to see a stuffed chicken staring back at her with glassy, unseeing eyes. It was covered with grime, it's feathers encrusted with mud and it had turned a disgusting light-brown color over the time it had spent dumped at the carnival. It's beak was chipped, the tip bent, and one eye was scratched. On the side was a small hole were a puff of stuffing was coming out, pure white compared to the color of the chicken itself.

Raven sighed and walked over to it, picking it up with two fingers to avoid making as little contact as possible with the thing, and held it out an armslength away as if it been soaked in toxic waste. She should have been dressed in a hazmat suit. She opened her window, the cool night air hitting her face and filling her nostrils with a the salty scent the air took on when one lived in a lake. She was about to toss the chicken out the window when she glanced at it once more. It was covered with dirt, battered and worn from all the time it had spen outside. And yet she couldn't bring herself to actually get rid of the stupid thing. No one had ever given her anything in her lifetime. She had been isolated in Azar and on Earth. She hadn't cared much about it when Beast Boy had first handed it to her, carelessly throwing it on the ground, but thinking back on it now, she was just a bit grateful for it.

And it was pretty damned cute once you looked past the mud.

Raven pretended that she hated it for the sake of her sanity and placed it on a chair in the farthest corner of her room. She snuck off to the washroom and snagged a wet cloth to clean it with. When she was finished, it didn't look to bad---almost decent looking, even. For the hell of it, Raven polished the eyes and straightened the crooked beak. She might as well keep it---it wasn't like anyone would come in and see it anyway.

How Beast Boy had managed to get into her room to leave the chicken on her bed was another story.