Disclaimer: I don't own any rights to the Teen Titans or any characters in the DC Universe.


Chapter 7 – Collapse

Beast Boy stopped his walk to stare at the city's skyline, a skyline that the Titans had been protecting for years now. Sometimes he wondered if the city's citizens ever stopped to think that superheroes had personal lives too and that just like any ordinary person their personal lives had their share of triumphs and failures. He stopped and kicked a stone into the bay. He recognized the spot where he was. It's where he first skipped stones with Terra.

Yes, his life was rife with failures, painful failures.

He remembered telling Raven the bad news after she woke up from her healing trance. They were alone in the infirmary and he'd never forget how she reacted, as he had never before seen her do what she did.

She wept. She wept bitterly and had Cyborg not removed the fragile items from the infirmary who knows how many of them would have been destroyed by Raven's out of control emotions.

He comforted her and once she had regained a semblance of self control he led her back to their room, where they rested in the comfort of each other's arms, both unable to sleep that terrible night.

Beast Boy had hoped they would be able to put their terrible loss behind them and move forward in their relationship. He knew that the miscarriage had left a terrible wound in Raven's soul, it was as if part of her soul had been ripped away, leaving a gaping and bleeding wound.

He had been patient with her, knowing that she needed time to heal. All physical intimacy between them stopped and he could tell she did not even wish to be kissed. Raven eventually asked him to temporarily sleep in his old room. While he understood her need to be alone her rejection still had hurt him. Weeks passed by and she made no progress, which began to worry him. He continually asked her how he could help and her standard response was that there was nothing he could do.

He consulted with Starfire and Terra for advice on how to help Raven heal, but they had none, other than to wait and be patient. They did not understand her demonic psyche and were hesitant to offer advice as they feared they would do more harm than good.

After 3 months Raven began to open up to him once again, much to his immense relief, and things slowly began improve for them. She eventually asked him to move back into their room but she still felt distant from him. He knew that pressuring her would accomplish nothing so he backed off. Still he felt that he was walking on eggshells around her. She was as irritable and impatient as in the old days when they were teens.

But an event occurred that removed all doubt that something was very wrong with Raven and the truth came out the next time they encountered Dr. Light, who remembered well how the last time he encountered Raven that he had the upper hand.


"Well, well, if it isn't my former nemesis." Dr. Light laughed at Raven. "I suppose that you're back for more punishment." He said as he attacked Raven with a new and improved photonic whip.

Raven raised her dark shields and with great effort she deflected his attack, which did not relent.

"Leave her alone!" Beast Boy shouted before morphing into a tiger. As he began to jump Dr. Light redirected his attack against the changeling. He struck at Beast Boy and the glowing orange whip wrapped itself around the tiger's midsection, discharging its energy into his body. He morphed back into his human form and let out a blood curdling scream.

"GAR!" Raven screamed in panic, her voice warbling in fear as her husband crumbled onto the floor, quivering from the residual bolts of energy that were still coursing through his body.

Raven then turned to Dr. Light. She had begun to transform and her four blood red eyes were already present.

"You will pay for that!" She growled in a guttural and otherworldly voice as her transformation quickly continued. The other Titans gasped in horror as Raven completed her transformation into a demonic horror none of them could have ever imagined. Her body was slimy and covered in boils, her hands and feet had become scaly claws. She had several rows of razor sharp, serrated teeth in her huge mouth, which dribbled a viscous slime. Her four eyes glowed as if on fire and dozens of strange tendrils emanated from her body.

Dr. Light stood petrified, unable to move.

"Do not worry doctor, I will not kill you. I want you to feel pain, and the dead do not feel pain."

Beast Boy had regained consciousness and saw what was about to happen. He leaped to his feet and ran to Dr. Light, shielding him with his body.

"Raven! Stop!" He shouted at her. "You don't want to do this!"

The otherworldly monster stared at Beast Boy, and it was obvious that she did not recognize him. He felt a lump form in his throat when she addressed him.

"Out of my way, puny human. You will not come between me and my prey!"

"Raven! Please! You don't know what you're doing!" He shouted. "You've let Rage take over! You have to regain control!"

"I see you won't listen." She replied. "Have it your way!"

The monster then attacked Beast Boy, wrapping its strange tendrils, which looked as if they had thorns on them, around his torso. Dark bolts of energy wrapped themselves around him and he began to scream in pain as Raven's demonic alter-ego grinned. The four Titans stared in horror until Robin snapped back to his senses.

"Titans Go!"

They all understood what had to be done. Unless they could stop Raven in her altered state she would eventually kill her own husband.

Starfire attacked first with a volley of star bolts which bounced off the demons thick hide.

"You're going to have to do better than that, Tamaranian!" The demon laughed as it continued to torture the changeling.

"Give us a hand!" Robin barked at Dr. Light. "If we can't stop her she's still coming after you!"

The villain's eyes popped wide open upon realizing that Robin was right and he immediately joined in the fight, hitting the demon with everything he had.

"I didn't know Raven could be so tough!" Cyborg shouted as he shot the demon point blank with his sonic canon, causing it to stumble while it continued to hold on to a screaming Beast Boy.

Robin used his arsenal of Bat Clan weapons against the demon, but they too proved to be ineffective at slowing down the monster.

Terra summoned a boulder out of the ground and it crumbled into thousands of razor sharp shards, which flew at the demon, but merely bounced off its otherworldly hide as the demon laughed.

"Nice try geomancer!" It shouted as several tendrils shot towards the blond who scurried out of harm's away.

"Yo Rob! How do we stop her! She's gonna kill BB by the time she's done!" Cyborg shouted.

Robin was exhausted and out of ideas.

"I don't know." He panted. "I don't know."

At that moment Beast Boy stopped screaming and began to howl instead. As the other four Titans redirected their attention toward him he began to turn into the Beast. Once his transformation was completed he roared and broke free of the tendrils that had imprisoned him.

The demon stared in shock. Robin thought that it even looked repentant.

"Forgive me my beloved. I did not recognize you."

The Beast and the Demon stared at each other while the other Titans took Dr. Light into custody. As the Titans watched Raven and Beast Boy slowly morphed back into their normal selves.

Raven buried her face into her hands.

"I'm so sorry Gar." She wailed as she ran away.


Beast Boy looked up at the sky, as he heard the sound of a jet engine, but it turned out to be an airliner that was headed to the airport. He looked at his watch. The time was near. He opened the manila folder and somberly examined its contents before replacing them in the folder.

Ever since the Dr. Light incident Raven had become estranged from her husband, who for the first time in his life was truly afraid of her. This time they both agreed it would be best if he moved back into his room.

Raven had requested a leave of absence from the team and she was constantly in and out of the tower, often for more than one week at a time. She never told anyone where she went, not even her husband, who continued to be patient and did not pressure her for progress. He spent a lot of time talking with Starfire and Terra, seeking their advice on how to cope with the uncertainty of the situation.

Months passed and there was still virtually no interaction with Raven, who only once told her husband that she was seeking help from wizards and witches from around the world in dealing with her problem. She would disappear for weeks at a time, and had missed Robin and Starfire's wedding on Tamaran. Robin had also changed his identity to Nightwing during this period.

The feelings of loneliness and despair were beginning to take their toll on Beast Boy and he spent a lot of time with Terra now that Starfire and Nightwing were still going through their newlywed phase. He knew better than to burden them with his problems. He tried talking with Cyborg about his feelings but the tin man would just clam up. Terra had the only pair of ears he could unload his woes on.

Then there was that fateful night. Raven had been gone for six weeks. It was a stormy night as she phased into her dark room, where she dropped her small backpack off. She was tired and weary and to make matters worse she had returned empty handed, still unsuccessful in her quest to find a solution to her control problem. The only advice she ever got was "keep on meditating".

Raven smashed a vase that was full of dead roses that Beast Boy gave her just before she had left six weeks ago.

I don't want to meditate! It doesn't work! I want to be able to make love with my husband without worrying about turning into a monster! I want to have a baby! I just want to be normal!

Raven fell to her knees and began to weep. After wiping her tears away she decided she needed to see her husband. She needed a hug, to hear his voice. She knew that he was afraid of her, afraid of what he now knew lurked deep inside her.

But she also knew that he still cared. She stepped into her bathroom to freshen up, washing her face so he wouldn't see that she had been crying. She quickly brushed her hair and walked to his room.

As she arrived she knocked on the door. When he didn't answer she keyed in his pass code. To her immense relief he hadn't changed it and she entered his dark room.

"Gar? Are you awake?"

There was no answer so she flipped the lights on. He wasn't in his bed, which was still made. As she approached she saw that the lower bunk's bedspread had a light layer of dust on it. She levitated to the upper bunk and saw that it had even more dust on it.

Gar, where are you? Why aren't you sleeping in your bed?

Then it dawned on her.

"Nooo!" she said out loud in a fearful voice.


Beast Boy then heard a familiar sound and looked up. It was the Titan's East's version on the T-Ship. Bumblebee had arrived on schedule.

Beast Boy sighed. He felt a sense of dread and sadness in the pit of his stomach. He knew this moment would come, and he couldn't put it off any longer.

He hurried back into the tower.


Next chapter is the finale.