Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans

Chapter 3: Tension For All

The smoke eventually cleared and the group reformed together, all trying to wrap there heads around what just happened. The three boys looked at Raven. She kept the hood of her cloak up, hiding her face in hopes that they could not see her fear. Beast Boy saw her slightly shake, even so, she could not tell (as she never had been able to) and seemed to act as if nothing major had just taken place. After a moment, she moved toward Starfire, bringing Robin, Beast Boy, and Cyborg out of their trance.

Cyborg leaned down next to Raven and scanned Star with his robotic hand.

"She'll be fine," he said, "but we should really get her back to the sick bay. I'll take her home in the T-Car."

"Good idea," Robin now said. "Beast Boy, fly home with Raven. She doesn't need to go alone. Cyborg can tend to Starfire when we get back and I'll do some digging on Slade and try to see what he is planning."

"I am not a child, Robin. I do not need to be babysat," Raven told him, her eyes slightly narrowed.

"Robin is right, Rae," Cyborg butted in, picking up Starfire carefully, "we need to make sure Slade doesn't try anything else." Raven rolled her eyes at them both in annoyance, turned, and made her way out of the warehouse with Beast Boy following behind.

"Good luck," Cyborg mouthed to Beast Boy, who chuckled. Soon, Beast Boy turned into a hawk once again, making his way back up to the sky with Raven, flying right behind her at a safe distance as he attempted to read her body language. She kept her cloak around her all the while. Still, Beast Boy could tell that she slightly shuttered. To anyone else, it would not have been noticeable, but he had something no one else had. Animal instinct. Though he could see her shaking, he couldn't tell if it was out of anger, annoyance, fear, or a combination of the three. He assumed that it was the later.

They arrived back at Titans' Tower later than Robin and Cyborg (the streets seemed empty and ready for major rubber. For Robin at least. Cyborg held back for Starfire's sake). Robin was fiddling on the computer with his normal serious face. They both knew that Cyborg was below with the alien girl.

"Cy said that Star should wake up soon," Robin informed them as they walked in, his eyes never leaving the monitor. Beast Boy saw Raven make a beeline for the door.

"Where are you going?" he asked her.

"To my room," she replied coldly.

"It isn't good to close yourself off from us, you know. You almost got kidnapped today! Don't you think you would feel safer-"

"I am not a child. I do not need protected by you or anyone else. I can take care of myself." She looked as if her frigid eyes were piercing through his soul, but he could see the pain behind them.

"Just because you can take care of yourself doesn't mean that I-we-can't help," he said feeling hurt, and turned away from her. She felt slightly shocked at not only his reply, but his tone as well. She looked at him for a short moment more, but she too turned away to retreat in her room.

"That's out job, Rae. To worry," Beast Boy said as the door hissed open, making it so Raven could leave the living room. He was now looking out the window to a dark night while she was still turned from him. She was thankful that their lack of eye contact lacked completely, for she was now blushing.

The closer she got to her room, the more she trembled. As she levitated in, she felt her body in a full fledged panic attack, trying desperately to contain her emotions. She almost ripped off her cloak and through it upon her clean floor. She opened the top drawer of her dresser, taking out a long, skinny, black, rectangular, wooden box with a dead rose with thorns carved on the top of the box. She opened it and rummaged through it carefully, her shaking fingers as they moved broken soda tabs, paperclips, and safety pins aside. Her shaking greatly subsided when she felt the cool touch of the X Acto knife. Still, merely touching it did no justice. She needed it to bite her pain away and force her emotions into submission.

Hoped everyone liked the first three chapters. I should have chapter 4 and possibly chapter 5 up near this time next week? Fingers crossed :)