Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans

WARNING: There is mild violence, and I do have some blood in here, and, though I don't go into detail, the killing of a deer. If you don't wish to read any of these things, feel free to turn back now. If these things don't bother you, then read on.


Darkness

Chapter 1

Red and green were across from each other on the color wheel for a reason. They were completely opposite. So why was a green shape in the middle of red?

The green shape was a familiar shapeshifter. And the red...was blood.

The green changeling looked in dismay at the blood on the ground, the blood on his tattered uniform, the blood on his bare hands. Hands...with claws. Hideous claws, hiding just below the fingernails that made him seem a little more human.

But he was not. He was a montser.

In a corner, an unconcious girl lay. There was no blood on her dark cloak. None at all. It was as though she had been spared...

The green shapeshifter looked at the girl, a mix of emotions swirling across his face...love, hatred, sadness, pride...

She is yours now, the voice that haunted his mind said. She is ours now, and there is no one left to hurt her.

"They were my friends..." he murmured regretfully. The voice laughed.

They weren't friends. They attacked you. They attacked her. She is yours and only yours! Now you can keep her safe...we can keep her safe...I can keep her safe.

"Get out of my head!" the changeling growled, clutching his head and falling to his knees. The voice chuckled again.

Silly boy. I am part of you. We are one. Embrace me! Live up to your name - Beast Boy!

"NO!" Beast Boy gasped, sitting up in his bed as lightning struck. He looked around the dark space, his breath heavy. He was in his room. Nothing had happened...yet.

Outside his room, four groggy teenagers stood, still sleepy-eyed. "Who wants to check on him?" the black-haired boy with the mask, Robin, asked.

The purple haired girl in a cloak, Raven, shook her head as Cyborg backed up. The Tameranean princess Starfire began to shake her head no, but she saw the horrified look on her boyfriend's face and sighed.

"I shall check on him," Starfire announced, approaching the door that said BEAST BOY. She approached the door, took a deep breath, and knocked. "Beast Boy?" she asked quietly. "Are you having the nightmares? You are alright, yes?"

The door slid open, revealing a messy Beast Boy. "It's alright, Star," he told her. He hesitated, then added, "Yeah, I was having nightmares."

"Beast Boy, are you sure you're alright?" Robin asked, stepping to stand next to Starfire as thunder rolled in the distance. "If anything's wrong, you can tell us. We're only concerned."

"Yeah, you haven't been yourself lately," Cyborg noted. "You've been training more and skipping out on videogames and you're more intense in battle..."

"And what's up with the disappearances?" Raven asked in her monotone. "Even though crime's low, you souldn't get into any bad habits like that. What if we need you when you're not here?"

"Erm...my communicator," Beast Boy lied. "Just...call me then. And I just disappear because...I-I've been training myself, but I didn't want to hurt you guys at all..."

"You were worrying us by doing that," Robin told the changeling. "And we can take care of ourselves in battle, Beast Boy, even if you go T-Rex on us."

"Yes, friend, we have been sick with worry over your well-being," Starfire added.

"Thanks for your concern, guys, but...it's really not neccessary," Beast Boy said again.

"Well, come talk to us if something's wrong, man," Cybrog told him. "We're all friends here. There's no need for secrets."

"We're just trying to help," Raven said, stepping forward. "None of us want to see you get hurt."

Beast Boy looked down, then said, "Thanks, guys. ...Tomorrow, I'm headed out to the park again. That's where I've been going when I disappear. Just...Don't worry, OK? Everything's fine." And he shut the door, indicating the midnight conversation was over.


The next morning, a storm still waged overhead, but Beast Boy went ahead with his 'training' in the park. Robin sighed at the table as Cyborg set down the food.

"He'll be fine, man," Cyborg said, answering Robin's unasked question. "BB knows what he's doing."

"I hope you're right," the Boy Wonder grumbled, taking a bite out of the eggs.

"Maybe one of us should check on Beast Boy and make sure he's alright," Starfire suggested hesitantly.

"You mean spy on him," Raven corrected in her monotone.

Starfire frowned, and tears started to form in her eyes, but Robin put a hand on his girlfriend's shoulder. "She doesn't mean it, Star," he said comfortingly, shooting a warning glare Raven's way.

"Yeah...sorry, Star," Raven apologized. Starfire sniffed, but was no longer crying.

"However, it was an interesting idea," Robin continued, and Raven frowned at the team leader. Cyborg frowned as well.

"Don't you trust BB, Rob?" he asked the Boy Wonder.

Robin hesitated. While he did think of Beast Boy as his younger brother, in truth, he wasn't sure of his view on the changeling. He definitley respected him, for the green teen had powers Robin occasionally envied. However, incidents like the Beast and the Brotherhood of Evil and the Doom Patrol had bruised his trust in Beast Boy - but only by fragments. Robin still trusted Beast Boy with his life.

"Of course I trust him," Robin replied after a second. "I trust him with my life."

Cyborg looked at the masked teen for a moment, looking for anything that would betray what he was really thinking, but Robin had perfected his poker face. After another moment, Cyborg nodded and turned back to his breakfast.

"I'll go and check on him if you wish, Robin," Starfire said, reminding Robin of her thought on checking on Beast Boy and seeing what he was up to.

Again, Robin hesitated in answering. He had wanted to go himself, but a second thought said otherwise. He couldn't send Cyborg - he was too easy to spot. Starfire, too, was very easy to pick out. That left him and Raven, and even though he was a master at stealth, his bright red, yellow, and green costume would stick out like a sore thumb. And thus...

"Raven should go," he said aloud. The other three looked at him in disbelief. Raven opened her mouth to say no, but Robin looked her in the eyes and said, "You will go. That's an order."

Raven fumed, but stood up with a swish of her cloak. "Robin, it's ridiculous!" she exclaimed. "We should trust Beast Boy. We don't need to 'check in' on him. He's our teammate, our friend! We do not need to do this."

"Raven, please, just this once," Robin pleaded.

Raven glared at the Boy Wonder. In her head, Rage was shouting at him, while Timid merely coward behind Happy and Love, who were not very happy at all. Brave and Rude were yelling with Rage. Knowledge and Wisdom, however, were advising her to go with Robin's plan. Raven sighed.

"Alright, I'll do it," she said. As Robin smiled, she reminded him, "but just this once."

"Of course, Raven," Robin said, nodding respectively. Raven nodded back as she used her powers to pull her hood up, and then she flew threw the door after Beast Boy.


Beast Boy soared through the trees as a green eagle. He landed on a sturdy tree branch, shifting into the form of a green mountain lion as he did so. Looking down, he could see a herd of deer passing under him. The fawns were guarded by their mothers in the center, but an old, limping doe was trailing at the back of the herd. He selected her to be his prey - she wasn't going to live much longer anyway.

His prey instincts were screaming at him, telling him it was wrong, but his predator instincts were in control now. As she passed under him, he sprang. He hit the old doe with such a force that it knocked her off of her feet. The rest of the herd scattered as his claws sank in and he bent to break her neck so she would feel no pain...

And then instincts collided with each other. Prey animals were telling him to let her go. Predators were longing for the kill. He hesitated, and then looked at the doe...

...And saw her eyes pleading with him to finish her painlessly. And so he did.


Raven was sticking to the shadows of the trees in the park. She looked down at her communicator again, trying to pinpoint Beast Boy's communicator. Whenever he was in another form, he could still hear his communicator, and it could be tracked, though it was much harder to do so than when he was in human form.

She floated around another tree, tacking the signal, and then stopped short in shock. The dead body of an old doe was laying in front of her. It had not died a natural death, though - something had killed it and had eaten it, evidenced by the hunks of meat missing from it's midsection.

Then Raven heard it - the rustling of leaves made by an animal. She put her communicator away and turned slowly on the spot, looking for whatever it was. She figured that this was what killed the doe, and though animals eating deer was a natural part of life, Raven was sure that she was not a natural item on the menu.

And then there was a heavy weight on her shoulders, knocking her faceforward onto the ground. She tried to scramble out from under the attacker, but couldn't move. She managed to twist her head up...

...To see the shocked face of a familiar green cougar.

"Get off me, Beast Boy!" Raven demanded after a moment. The green cougar leapt nimbly off her, and Raven rose to her feet in time to see the animal shift into a surprised Beast Boy.

"Raven, what are you doing here?" Beast Boy asked her as she dusted herself off. He hesitated, and then asked, "Are you here to spy on me?"

Raven didn't reply, and Beast Boy let out a feral growl. "Robin sent you to spy on me, didn't he? He's such a jerk! Who does he think he is?"

"It was actually Star's idea," Raven said quietly. "She was concerned for you, and...and Robin agreed with her. I told him to come or to send Star, but he sent me...I'm sorry, Beast Boy."

Beast Boy was quiet for a moment, then said, "No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that."

There was an awkward silence between the two of them for a moment. Beast Boy opened his mouth to say something, but Raven beat him to it.

"Look, it's fine. You have every right to be mad at us for coming out here to spy on you. But all of us are concerned for you, Beast Boy. I know something's going on with you - I can feel your emotions going haywire sometimes - but you have every right to keep it a secret from us. I'm sorry."

Beast Boy began to reply, but a beeping interrupted him. Raven flipped open her communicator to see Robin's face in the screen.

"Raven, have you - ? Oh, good, you have found him," Robin said, noting Beast Boy's face looking in at the communicator. "Listen, we've got trouble downtown. Some new villian's attacking innocents. We need you to meet us there, stat."

"We're on our way," Beast Boy and Raven said at the same time. They looked at each other and blushed as Robin nodded and switched off his communicator.

"...Well, let's get going, then," Raven said after a moment, taking to the skies.

"Yeah," Beast Boy said, turning into a green raven and following his teammate to the crime scene...


~Hmm...not bad, right? I'm not actually sure where I plan to go with this next chapter, but I'll try to not take so long in updating this time!

There will be better action and...stuff next time (I think), so I'll just...see you then! ^^; Hope you enjoyed!