I do NOT own Teen Titans

Time: A few days later.

Morning Arrives,... The Pets,... The Oath,... Rebellion's End,...

The battle was futile and could not be won. She sat on her bed, not bothering to levitate. That took energy, which was something she didn't have. Looking around she noted the changes she'd made to her room. Everything within reach of the bed had been removed, least it get destroyed during the fights. The bed itself was demolished, leaving her with just a mattress on the floor. It was shredded, still it was better than nothing. She laid her head back on the remains of a pillow and stared at the ceiling.

She'd known Rage was powerful. What she hadn't known was just how powerful her other emoticlones were. Even Timidity could face her in battle and hold her own. That, to say the least, had shocked her. That the emoticlone that was supposed to be timid in nature would rear its head and dare to attack her was bad enough. That it could match her blow for blow was... Wearily she shook her head. What was happening? She recalled the last fight. The stone maze that was a part of her mind, that was supposed to be hers to command, had shifted at the will of the emoticlone. Walls had formed and disappeared leaving her trapped as Timidity had appeared and disappeared within the labyrinth at will. The emoticlone had hesitated to face her head on and had instead struck again and again from behind. But when forced, finally, into direct battle she hadn't flinched. She'd poured bolt after bolt of energy at Raven, forcing her to retreat. So much for starting with the weakest and working her way up.

They had to have been corrupted somehow by Rage, but there was no sign of it. For all she could tell they were acting alone, or at times forming groups of their own volition. With a few exceptions there seemed to be no reasoning with them. When she was in battle with a villain they would back off for a bit, or at times when she was eating. She guessed they didn't want to die either. She pushed herself to her feet and headed for the kitchen.

There she saw breakfast prepared for her as usual. Given she had no energy to spare for cooking she appreciated the offer. When she'd asked why, Beast Boy had simply said he was trying to learn how to cook and that she made a good guinea pig. There were pancakes this morning along with a cup of herbal tea. On a small plate there rested several strips of bacon. She took a piece and bit in. It was delicious. For some reason the emoticlones were quiet. She guessed even they had their limits. Actually since they were a part of her she knew they did. It just didn't seem that way when she was fighting them.

Two bottles of syrup stood beside the two plates and she picked one, using it to douse the pancakes. She tried them. They were cooked to perfection. She ate slowly, knowing soon as she was finished the battle would begin again. That one of the emoticlones would challenge her. Or worse, they might attack as group. She wondered what would happen to the Raven that was her should they overthrow her. Would she vanish? Or become an emoticlone of some sort? And if she became an emoticlone what would she represent? She took another piece of bacon and nibbled on it. She didn't want to die.

She finished the meal and stood, already sensing the struggle that was to come. Turning she walked towards her room.

"No no no." Robin yelled. "Like this."

Curious she stopped and peered into the training room she'd been walking past. Beast Boy and Robin were there. Watching them spar she realized the green-skinned Titan was getting their leader to try and teach him a few of his more advanced moves. The boy was already an expert at martial arts, but no one could match their leader. The boy was getting tossed around quite a bit.

"Hi Raven." Beast Boy called out, seeing her there. He got his feet. "Given the way this is going I've been thinking about switching my name to Punching Bag." He dodged backwards as Robin came at him and went flying again. He rolled to his feet.

Fast, Raven noted. Just a bit faster and it would have been Robin who went flying. She studied the boy some more, sensing a darkness within him.

"Morning Raven." Robin said, tracking his opponent.

"Morning." She finally replied. Turning away she continued to her room. She felt Rage struggling to take control. Knowledge was with her. That was insane. Why would the other emoticlones want to help the embodiment of evil? Whatever the reason, this was going to be brutal.

Beast Boy flew through the air, pondering his lesson with their leader. The practice was getting him to start thinking about the moves again, trying to relate them to his animal forms and not just his human form. He landed outside a clinic for animals. There were five veterinarians within Jump city and three of them had agreed to a deal with him. They always had animals whose condition they couldn't diagnose. He would switch into an animal form and try to communicate with them. If that helped with the treatment he would later get five dollars. It wasn't big money, but for a job that required so little effort and time it was pretty good. There was a little guilt over taking money for helping, but the extra cash came in handy. And should Terra's memories ever return he would be able to take her places. On dates.

The first few animals were easy. A dog whose owner had switched to a different type of dog food. The animal found it disgusting and only ate when he was really hungry. A cat who had a new neighbour, a dog the woman next door had got as a pet. The sound was something the cat's owner couldn't hear, but the barking was frightening the cat and keeping her from sleeping. A parrot whose owner had decided to become more energy efficient and had installed fluorescent lights. To the bird's eyes the different light was strange. A small dog whose problem wasn't with itself. Its owner had started to smell different and the pet knew death was near. Beast Boy listened and knew what the animal was smelling was cancer. He thought if the owner got treatment they would survive. It hadn't progressed very far, yet.

The final animal was a dog as well, and its story left Beast Boy shaking in a rage. Its owners loved it and made sure it was well taken care of. It had a place inside to sleep each night, and when they left for work in the morning they tied it on with a leash that gave it an entire yard to roam in. It always had a bowl of water and some biscuits. There were places with shade should the sun be too hot, along with shelter from the rain. It was paradise to the small dog. But what the owners didn't know was that when they left for work some neighbourhood kids would wander over with a dog of their own. A huge beast more than twenty times the size of their small house pet. The huge dog was encouraged to chase the smaller one all over the place while the kids laughed. The hunting dog was trained to kill and the smaller dog was used as practice, with the boys letting it be be nearly hunted down before calling off their own pet.

He left the clinic and took to the air once more. He loved being a shapeshifter. All the land and all the ocean and all the air was his to roam in. The thought reminded him of Terra and he automatically calculated how long it would take him to get to the school where she would be. As a White-throated Needletail it would take a mere four minutes. Less if he pumped some of the beast's primal power into the form, making it a bit faster. So close. But he wasn't stupid and knew she wouldn't know him. Whatever spark they'd had when they'd first met was gone, along with her memories. It hurt. As a Peregrine Falcon he raced through the sky. It was perhaps his favorite form since meeting the blond-haired girl who had been a wanderer. That was what 'peregrine' meant, wanderer.

Back at the tower he hunted down Cyborg and convinced him a few video games was better than working. It hadn't been a hard sell. Soon the two of them were joking and roughhousing, accusing each other of cheating every step of the way.

She stared up at the ceiling. Ironic, she thought to herself. It hadn't been Knowledge following Rage. Rather Rage had been following Knowledge. It just got weirder and weirder. Closing her eyes she didn't move. The only good thing about the emoticlones being an aspect of herself was that they drew on the same energy. What left her weakened did the same to them. She tried to lift her head, but failed. Dinner, she decided, was much overrated. She drifted off to sleep.

He retired to his room for a bit. Cyborg had won three times out of five at a racing game. It had been fun and had helped to relieve a lot of the stress he was feeling. But now it was time for something more serious.

Sitting at the desk he used for school work he pulled a laptop out of a drawer. Opening it he activated a program and an image of Slade appeared. Looking at the image he felt the beast inside roar and he blacked out briefly as he struggled for control. Opening his eyes once more he continued to stare at the picture. It was a simulation programmed with all of the villain's moves and known tricks.

Cyborg had taught him, with some difficulty, how to operate the program. He hit a few buttons and another figure appeared on the display. It was him in his human form. Moving it struck futilely at the villain. Not a single blow landed. Soon he was cut down, leaving Slade triumphant on the virtual battlefield. Hitting more buttons he reset the program and restarted it with him in the form of a great ape. Powerful as it might be, it was soon dead at the feet of the psychotic killer. He grounded his teeth together and tried form after form. A panther, a cougar, an elephant,... Nothing could match the demon that mocked all his efforts to kill it.

Sighing he sat back. No animal form on its own could stand against the deranged monster. That was why he needed to learn how to use his forms in combos. Hitting more keys he placed a falcon above the virtual Slade and watched it race towards the ground. When it was just a few feet above the monster he froze the program and switched the falcon's form to that of an elephant and hit continue. Unbelievably the elephant was sidestepped, though the shockwave did send the demonic killer flying. He stood up a few seconds later. The elephant, being dead, didn't move.

Growling he sat back and stared at the screen. Nothing should have been able to dodge that. Striking from above at that speed the simulated sociopath would have had less than a fortieth of a second to avoid the attack. No human could detect a threat and react that fast. But the simulation was based on what they knew about Slade. Could it be wrong? If it wasn't then what could explain the inhuman speed at which the killer could dodge?

Standing he sought out Cyborg again and talked it over with him. Robin joined them. It took an hour before a possible answer came to them. Cyborg had been trying to upgrade the team's vehicles and had been playing around with a program meant to automatically dive the car. It needed to be able to detect and avoid objects. Looking back over the footage they had of the deranged killer they decided he might have something similar built into his armor. If they were right then it would be nearly impossible to land a blow on the psychopath.

Still Robin had fought him and had managed to land a few hit. But, as the leader himself pointed out, none of those had been able to hurt the man. The system might only come into play with attacks that would cause harm.

Frustrated Beast Boy returned to his room and sat staring at the monster on the display. He looked at the window and saw an image of Terra there. He was a Titan, and Titans were heroes. They didn't kill. To him that was irrelevant. When the chance came he would kill and end Slade forever. If it meant his end as a Titan, then so be it. Even if it cost him his life, then so be it. Every creature had a weakness, and he would find Slade's. He closed the laptop and placed it back in the drawer. Raw power was useless against that demonic creature. But that wasn't the only way to fight.

Turning he went and stood at the window. Looking out he wondered how Raven was doing. He was giving her the space she'd wanted and, other than seeing the breakfast he'd prepared disappearing each morning, there hadn't been a sign of her. Strangely enough, as far as he knew, she wasn't even eating lunch or dinner. With his sense of smell he would have known if she'd been in the kitchen at any time other than breakfast. Perhaps she was eating out. Still it was unusual. Despite the anger he felt he had a desire to check in on her. To make sure she was okay. Totally disappearing like that was weird even for her.

And to think of it, even before that her behavior had been strange. Sure she was sarcastic with him and sometimes used her magic to try and knock some sense into him. But her voice just before the fight with Cinderblock and Billy Numerous had been out of character. It hadn't been her usual neutral tone, but one filled with... He shook his head. He wasn't sure what it had been filled with, but it hadn't been normal for her. It had hurt, and normally her words didn't have that affect. Her responses to his antics was usually way funnier than anything he could come up with and he was pretty sure at those times the emoticlone that she called Happiness was laughing her head off. With his ears he could often hear a tiny trace of the emotions she was trying to suppress. She didn't find him funny, but she couldn't resist the openings he gave her.

Feeling like he was snooping he switched into a bat and listened. There wasn't any sound coming from her room so she wasn't meditating. He would have heard her reciting her mantra if she had been. Frowning, he returned to human form. Something was wrong and he should have noticed it earlier. His own emotions during their last argument hadn't been the most stable. They never were when he went to BENS. That was why he went there. Still there was no excuse. At the time she hadn't even been able to answer her own communicator. He'd been so stupid. Turning he headed towards the kitchen.

The nap had restored some of her energy. Unfortunately it had also restored the emoticlones' will to fight. Timidity was allying herself with Happiness and the two were about to rip into her. With a trembling hand she lifted the mirror that gave her access to her inner landscape. A knock on the door interrupted her and she looked up. For some reason the emoticlones that had been about to crush her backed off. She wondered why.

"Raven. You in there?"

He had kept his word for so long, so why was he breaking it now, she wondered. No matter, at least she wasn't being assaulted by those accursed emotions of hers. She rose and answered the door. The smell of pizza made her acutely aware that she'd only eaten breakfast for the last three or four days. She wasn't exactly sure how long it had been.

"I thought you might like something to eat." Beast Boy told her. "You've been cooped up in here for days now."

"I'm fine." She replied, voice void of emotion.

He nodded. "I can see that." His nose wrinkled. Obviously she hadn't taken a shower lately. And her hair was... Well, he needed a better vocabulary to accurately describe that mess. He held out the pizza and heard the sound of her stomach rumbling.

She took the offering and withdrew into her room. He followed and she didn't have the strength to toss him out. Who knew when she would be in the midst of battle again.

"We've been missing you during the movies." He said. It was partly correct. Robin and Cyborg had made no comments, but Starfire was looking a little down. As for himself, he liked the attention he got when he provoked her. Sure it made him immature, but it was still fun.

She made no reply other than to take a slice of pizza and cram it into her mouth.

"So. Obviously you're not okay." He said, looking her over again.

"I'm fine." She mumbled, mouth full.

"Right. That's why you're going to need to shave your head to fix that mess." He replied, pointing at her hair.

"Not important." She started on the second piece of pizza.

"I guess." He shrugged. "Then again you could always keep your hood up to hide it."

"Not important." She mumbled, chewing.

He looked around the room, viewing the destruction. "I just wanted to apologize." The green-skinned Titan finally said.

She looked up at that. "Apologize?" She asked.

"Yeah. For two things really. First is for getting angry with you. It was obvious you weren't yourself when you said I wasn't pulling my weight in a fight." He looked down. "Not sure how true that is but I can try harder."

"When did I say that?" She couldn't remember and wondered if maybe Rage had briefly taken control during the last few days. But then again, some of the things she said was pretty sarcastic and something might have hit a nerve.

He shrugged. "You don't want me to patrol with you anymore. That Cyborg is better. And you said I was going to have to help more than usual back when we fought Cinderblock and Billy Numerous."

She swallowed the pizza in her mouth. "I was struggling to keep my emoticlones under control back then." She answered, hating long speeches. "I needed you to help more because of that."

"Oh."

"And you've been looking down quite a bit recently. I thought you needed a break so that's why I chose Cyborg to patrol with."

"Oh." He said again, feeling relieved. "Not having anything to do just made me feel useless." He explained. "And I've been dreaming about Terra. Which is why I probably looked down."

She considered his words as she searched inside her for any signs of the rebellion. There were none. "What was the second thing?" She asked.

"For breaking my word. It looks like being left alone isn't too good for you." He looked at her hair again and then around at the destruction. "I'll be back in an hour to drag you down for more pizza and a movie. Starfire picked the movie so goodness only knows what we will be watching. You might want to bring a book, just in case."

"I have to meditate..." She started.

"Right. And we can both see how well that's going for you." He replied, with a hint of sarcasm. "You don't even have the energy to throw me out of your room."

"My emoticlones ..." She tried again.

"Are obviously behaving now. Who knows, they're probably just going stir crazy being cooped up in here."

"But ..."

He stood. "I'll tell Starfire you need help with your hair. If anyone can get you back to looking like your usual gorgeous self it's her." He disappeared out the door.

"Don't ..." She started to say, but it was too late as he closed the door.

She picked up the mirror and looked into it, preparing herself for battle. She still had to figure out what was going on. A forest with a yellow sky filled with pink clouds appeared around her. No bolts of energy reached out for her. There was no ambush. What she saw was Happiness rolling on the ground laughing to kill herself. The pink clad emoticlone ignored her and continued to roll around giggling like some idiotic school girl.

"Mind telling me what's going on?" Raven demanded, annoyed at being ignored. Thought it's better than being attacked, she noted with relief.

"He called you gorgeous." The emoticlone squealed, rolling into a sitting position, legs crossed.

"What ... Oh that. It was just a figure of speech." She replied.

"No it wasn't." The pink clad girl, replied defiantly.

"He only has eyes for Terra." Raven pointed out.

"True." Happiness said, no longer sounding so happy.

"So why the rebellion?" She demanded.

"Oh that. It's over with now. Don't worry." The pink clad figure stood up. "Right now you should be more focused on fixing that hair of ours. It's a mess." She disappeared into the forest.

"Aren't you going to tell me what it was about." Raven yelled after the girl.

"Nope." Came the reply.

She stood in the tranquil forest wondering how to react. All that and they were just going to call it quits without even giving a reason. She closed her eyes and focused on being calm.

End of Chapter.