A/N: I Do Not Own Teen Titans in any way, shape, or form.

Chapter 9

A week had passed and the three remaining Titans were each on edge. They knew Slade was about to send them a message or an attack at any moment. And they also knew these could be the last days of their lives. They hadn't seen or heard from Beast Boy since he'd left and it was as if he'd vanished off of the face of the Earth along with Cyborg. Raven had never felt so alone.

She kept to herself, sitting in her room meditating to pass the time. She felt as if she were empty inside; her very soul hollow now. And waiting for Slade to reappear wasn't helping the situation. She just wanted it all to be over and done with already. If she was going to die by Slade's hands then let it happen, stop dragging it out. She just wanted some relief from all of this. Little did she know her relief would come soon enough.

Morning was breaking and she sat upon the edge of the roof sipping a hot cup of tea. The sun's warm rays shined upon her but she felt no warmth. Not even her tea warmed her. She felt cold all over, inside and out. She wanted to be warm again.

"Arella, Trigon, soon I'll be reunited with one of you," she said softly. "I hope it's you, mother. I can't deny that I'd much rather go to heaven than to… well, than to where father's soul dwells. But I fear God won't allow my partially evil soul past the gates."

"Yes, I doubt you'd get very far," said a voice behind her.

She whipped around and there stood Slade, the morning sun shining off of his horrid mask. Raven dropped her cup and stood up, frowning upon this evil man who had no soul. She would feel no remorse killing him, of that she was sure.

"What do you want?" she spat. "Come to finish raping me? Well go ahead, I don't care anymore."

"My dear Raven," his voice chuckled. "Do my ears deceive me or do I actually hear a hint of defeat in your voice?"

"Stop fucking around, Slade," she growled. "I've had enough of this and so has the team. What do you want from us?"

"I want you to suffer," said Slade, his eye narrowing. "I want you to know what real pain is. I want the Titans to be no more. That's what I want."

"Well you've gotten your wish," said Raven. "The Titans are broken, we suffer every day as well as live in pain. You've succeeded, now leave us be!"

"I'm not quite finished with your team just yet," said Slade.

"What more do you want from us?!" Raven practically screamed. "For us to die? Is that what you want? Then kill us already; kill me! I can't go on living like this any longer. You've won, Slade! You've fucking won."

Slade laughed in his throat and walked a little closer to Raven. "You're quite miserable, aren't you?" he said, quite proud of himself. "You're really ready to lie down and admit defeat. I must say, Raven, I never thought you'd be the first to break."

"I've suffered more than anyone else," said Raven, beginning to shake with rage. "How do you expect me to stay strong when I've lost everything? You've taken any hope or chance I had for a normal life away from me. My body is only a shell now; you've tainted my very soul!"

"Then I've done far better than I ever thought possible," said Slade. "But I don't think I've made as much of an impact on the rest of your team as I have with you. And for that, I'm sorry. It's very unfair to both you and them. But, don't worry, I'm about to even everything out."

He quickly raised his hand and backhanded Raven so quickly and harshly she fell to the ground. He jumped on top of her and pushed her onto her stomach, a firm grip on her neck to keep her down. Raven screamed and attempted to resist, but Slade quickly punched the back of her head, stunning her. While she was down he placed a small disk the size of a quarter on the base of her neck; it was adorned with an S. The disk beeped twice and then sank into her skin, disappearing. Once it was in he stood up and took a step back.

"I apologize," said Slade. "But I can't have you using your powers right now."

"You… You… coward," she groaned through a now throbbing headache. She slowly lifted herself off of the ground and got back to her feet. She was dizzy and her vision continually blurred, but she ignored it. "I just told you to kill me; you didn't have to take my powers away."

"That's the thing," said Slade. "I don't plan on killing you; at least, not yet. I'm leaving that up to someone else. Now hold still."

Beast Boy sat lounging on Cyborg's couch, bouncing a paddleball. He was so incredibly bored… and lonely. He wished Raven could walk into the room and tell him to stop bouncing the ball because it was giving her a headache. This whole week had been absolute Hell, and that was because he had nothing to do and no one to hang out with but Cyborg. And one could only play so many videogames to fill the void in their life.

The door opened and in walked Cyborg with bags of groceries. He took one look at his green, depressed friend and sighed. "Man, have you gotten up off the couch, yet?" he asked.

"What's the point?" Beast Boy shrugged.

"Alright, I'm gettin pretty sick of this lethargic attitude of yours," said Cyborg, placing the grocery bags on the kitchen counter. "You've been here for a week and you've only left the apartment twice. Ya need help, B."

Beast Boy ignored him and threw his paddleball aside. He grabbed the remote and turned on the television, hoping something could take his mind off of his life. He began flipping through the channels until he saw large letters that read BREAKING NEWS. He stopped and turned the volume up.

"…o'clock and nine o'clock this morning," said the reporter. "The Titans say this is the work of criminal mastermind Slade who's been fighting the Titans for many years now. At this time the remaining Titans, Robin and Starfire, are investigating the scene where the abduction took place. Now Jump City police have offered their services, but Robin has declined their help claiming:

"The Titans have full control of the situation and at this time any interference from outside authorities would only complicate the situation. Starfire and my self are certain we'll find Slade and make him pay for all of the offenses he's committed."

"Now this is the most recent tragedy to befall the Titans. In the past few months the team has lost Cyborg and Beast Boy, who quit the team for reasons they have not yet disclosed. Many are wondering if two Titans can lead a successful mission and even more are wondering how much longer the Titans can last. Out of five members, two have quit, two remain, and one has been kidnapped and is presumed dead."

Beast Boy felt a cold chill spread through his body and his hairs stood on end. He did the math in his head and the way it was adding up made his heart race. Two Titans had quit; that was he and Cyborg. Two Titans remained; they said Robin and Starfire were working on this case. And one was kidnapped and presumed dead; that meant it had to be…

"What the hell's goin on?" said Cyborg, shocked and scared. He looked to the couch but it was empty and the window was open.

Beast Boy flew as fast as he could towards the tower, praying this wasn't true. The tower came into view and he could see various news crews on the harbor, obviously covering the still breaking news. He just hoped none of them would notice a green hawk flying overhead.

He arrived at the tower and landed on the roof and turned back to his original form, stumbling as he landed. He ran towards the door, but stopped in mid step when he smelt something; the very strong scent of blood… Ravens blood. He sniffed around until he found where it was coming from.

What he found brought him to his knees. There was blood splattered everywhere; smeared by Ravens own hand and dragged about the roof. And nearby lay her broken teacup. And imprinted in the blood was an unmistakable print of the bottom Slade's boot.

"No," he said, looking upon the scene. "No… no, no, no! This can't be happening!" He grabbed his head and nearly pulled his own hair out. Tears welled and fell from his eyes in absolute despair. "Please, God, no. Raven. I'm so sorry."

"Beast Boy?" a sweet voice said behind him. He turned and saw Starfire and Robin. "Please, what are you doing here?"

"Raven… what happened?" he said, crawling to his feet.

"She was kidnapped by Slade and has probably been killed by now," said Robin, bluntly.

"Robin, please, do not say that," said Starfire, with tears in her eyes.

"Where's Slade?" asked Beast Boy, growing angry.

"If we knew that do you think we'd be here?!" snapped Robin. "Now get out of here before I call the police."

"You can't keep me from trying to find Slade, so you might as well let me work with you," said Beast Boy. "Raven's counting on us to save her. She's not dead; she can't be!"

"Well she is!" Robin yelled at him. "Slade wouldn't just give her a bloody nose and then kidnap her, Beast Boy. He beat her to a fucking bloody pulp and is probably going to drop her body off in some dank alley."

"Why would he kill her first?!" Beast Boy screamed back. "If anyone were to die first, it'd be Starfire!"

"Beast Boy!" said Starfire, hurt and shocked.

"She's the one you love and since Slade wants to fuck with you he'd kill her first!" said Beast Boy. "It wouldn't make sense for him to take Raven out. She's alive and I'm gonna find her, with or without your help!"

"Robin, he does have a point," said Starfire.

"No, he's just hysterical," said Robin. "Slade wants us all to die and he doesn't care what order he picks us off in. Raven was just unlucky enough to be on the roof this morning. That's why he killed her first."

"You're such a fucking asshole!" Beast Boy screamed at his former leader. "How can you just give up on Raven?! After all the times she's saved your ass and the team?! Are you so twisted you'd give up on her just to save your own ass and find Slade?! Fine, then I hope you're next, you fucking bastard!"

"That's it!" shouted Robin and he lunged for Beast Boy. "I'm arresting you for trespassing."

"Get your fucking hands off of me!" Beast Boy screamed and fought Robin off.

The two men quickly began to fist fight and soon this turned into an all out wrestling match, just like they'd had not too long ago. Starfire just watched in horror. She couldn't take this anymore.

"Please, stop!" she cried. "Stop the fighting and the harsh words! Raven may still be alive and we must find her!"

But the boys ignored her and continued to fight. Robin punched Beast Boy in his left cheek three times in a row, nearly knocking the changeling out. But Beast Boy had enough of his consciousness left to block the fourth punch and knee Robin in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. He then pushed the unable to breathe Robin off of him. He went to punch him in his still healing nose, but was stopped when a green starbolt blasted the men apart.

"Stop it!" she screeched, floating in the air with her eyes and fists ablaze with green light. "You should both be ashamed! You quarrel and spill each other's blood when you should be working together to save Raven and defeat Slade. Do you not care for anyone but yourselves? Well I care! And I can not stand by and watch this hateful behavior anymore. I am leaving!" And with that she flew off with tears streaming down her beautiful face.

"S-Starfire!" wheezed Robin, who was still trying to catch his breath. "Wait… stop!"

Beast Boy watched silently as Starfire flew away. In a way, he was glad. Finally, Starfire was getting out of here. He really didn't want anything to happen to her. And he was glad Robin was finally feeling a fraction of the pain he felt.

They watched as she began to shrink as she flew into the horizon. Suddenly, something flew in from out of nowhere, grabbed her, and continued on its way. Both men were shocked and alarmed.

"Starfire!" they both cried out.

Beast Boy turned into a pterodactyl to follow after them and, before he could object, Robin had jumped on his back. Not in the mood to start another fight, he ignored the man who'd only minutes before had been beating the shit out of him, and flew after Starfire and her abductor.