A/N: Hello, dear readers. Again, I own nothing related to the Teen Titans, but I may start reffering to my laptop as "Victor." In any case, thank you all so much for the feedback, I promise I'll address the few questions that got brought up soon, but I just had to post this chapter, the Muse spoke and I absolutely love the ending, it caught even me by surprise.

Raven was having hard time getting up from the tile floor of her shower. She sat there, arms wrapped around her legs as she stared through the tile in front of her, water cascading down the wall over her head and drenching her back and hair. She could not honestly describe how long she sat there or what thoughts passed through her head, all that mattered was the pounding of her racing heart and the steady dripping of water from her bangs. The alarms could have sounded, apocalypse could have threatened, even had Trigon himself ripped the roof off of Titans tower and peeled back the ceiling to attack her, nothing could have stirred her, nothing would have penetrated the literal and figurative fog around her in that time.

Once the water chilled, steam settling to fat droplets and converting her skin to a tapestry of goosebumps did Raven regain awareness enough to rise. She moved gingerly, robotically, paying no mind to the cracks in the shower tiles or the freezing chill of the water crashing over her. Her eyes remain wide and dilated, looking nowhere but straight ahead as her hands completed the task of washing her. The shampoo had long since rinsed from her black tresses, but the body wash rested undisturbed where she always left it, so it was retrieved, lathered into a washcloth, and returned without incident. Later, Raven stepped out of the shower, grabbed her towel to dry off, and wondered idly if she'd washed her legs.

Then, when she stepped out of the restroom into her own room, she wondered when she'd healed her side, or gotten dressed, because both had happened but she could remember neither.

As she crossed the room she wondered when the bookshelf had broken, splaying her collection of poetry across the floor.

And finally, as she stared into her reflection, she wondered why she was going to Nevermore.

The portal opened, and Raven stepped onto a metal catwalk over what appeared to be an infinite warehouse of computer bays. The air was cold and the lights were dim, and a the dull whirring of computer hard drives permeated the air.

"Hello Raven," Raven turned to see Reason, yellow cloak standing in stark contrast to the grey environment.

"Where are we?" Raven questioned, "and why am I here?"

Reason's snort was half a chuckle, and she offered half a grin to match. "This is my domain, though not part of it that I pay much attention to."

"What happened to the library?"

Reason pointed up. "Next level up, but it's temporarily shut down."

"Why?"

Reason just stared at her. "You couldn't handle it."

"Excuse me?" Raven was incredulous.

Reason looked out over the humming servers, formulating her answer as she rested her elbows on the railing. "The library is your center of conscious memory and thought," she began. "You shut it down because you didn't want to think anymore."

"I didn't want to feel anymore," Raven argued. "They were running rampant, putting ideas in my head…"

"Oh please," Reason cut her off, turning to stare her down. "You were feeling just fine until Garfield knocked on the door. Thinking fine, too, thank you very much."

"Wait, you're saying you were involved in that?" Raven was flabbergasted, and a little mortified.

"Myself, Timid, Affection, and Happy, yes."

Raven seemed unable to process this revelation. Knowledge sighed, "Raven, I have many facets. Reason, knowledge, and yes, Imagination, are among them."

"There was no Reason in that!" Raven

"But there was plenty of thought. Your thoughts, I might add," the yellow aspect quipped.

"What?" Raven was incredulous.

"Well, unless there was some mind-control element in play none of us knows about, those thoughts were entirely your own."

"Affection must have…"

"No no no," Reason cut her off. "Your Affection certainly provided the inspiration, but you and I chose to go that direction."

"I don't remember ever choosing…"

"The door."

"What?" Raven was just confused this time.

"The door opening and closing when you were in the shower. You heard it, dismissed it, and then the Affection in you wondered 'what if it wasn't Silkie?' In that moment, you had a decision to make. You could have chosen Reason, but you chose Imagination." The yellow doppelganger folded her arms. "And then you couldn't handle the results, and shut down the library so you wouldn't have to think about it."

Raven's head was spinning. "That's not, it can't be…" She steadied herself on the railing.

Knowledge was unrelenting. "Think about this. When Garfield asked to join you in the shower, did it even occur to you to say no?"

Raven tried to remember, but the fact that nothing came to mind was answer enough.

"And every moment after, you knew something was off, didn't you? He'd never actually try that on us, and you wouldn't let him if he did, so why did it take someone banging on the door to make you realize it wasn't real?"

Raven's eyes were closed tight, desperately trying to think of a rebuttal…

"I'll tell you why," Knowledge persisted. "You wanted that fantasy. You refused to act on any of your desires, as Brave would have you do, so you sought out exploration and satisfaction through imagination. You chose imagination over reason, allowed us to suspend disbelief, and when you faced the realities of what you dreamed of you shut down conscious thought so you wouldn't have to process and accept it."

Knowledge's voice grew softer. "But you forgot something. When your rational thought shut down, your emotions didn't, did they? You could still feel everything under your skin, humming like these machines, even as you ignored them." Knowledge indicated the facility around them. "This is your subconscious memory, the place you store how to breathe, your muscle memory, and the subconscious thought related to emotion. Much of your daily decision-making happens here. All the things you don't think about, you just do? That's subconscious thought, and it's like a computer running background programs that let you surf the internet. So much happens behind the scenes that if you tried to control it all consciously you'd die, because you can't focus on that many things at once."

Raven found her gaze drifting over the incredible banks of automation as Knowledge continued, "And emotions operate here. You can't communicate or process them without conscious thought, of course, but you can certainly finish taking a shower or healing yourself without their interference. And as for why you're here? You're here because you knew that you needed answers, so you came to me."

Raven shook her head as though breaking off cobwebs. "Okay. Okay, fine. I admit it, I was overwhelmed. I didn't realize that was in me, and the idea of what could have happened if it hadn't been interrupted... it terrified me." She stopped to take a breath. "So I shut it down." She narrowed her eyes in frustration. "That still doesn't tell me what I'm supposed to do about it."

Knowledge smiled. "Two things: One, take a nap."

Raven stared at her, incredulous.

"I'm serious," Knowledge put her hand on Raven's shoulder. "You're exhausted. You released so much energy with Overload, stayed up way too late working through a very complicated emotional knot, and then woke up early to have that knot retangled. Physically and emotionally, you're exhausted, and that left you particularly susceptible to emotional influence like the fantasy and the energy spikes that have torn up your room. You just got a shower, now go get some sleep."

Raven nodded wearily. It was true, every muscle in her body cried out for sleep.

"Second, once you're rested, come back to the library and we'll talk it out. I'll speak for the emotions, save you that exhaustion, and we'll figure this out, okay?"

Raven nodded, accepting the logic intrinsically. "Thank you."

Knowledge smiled. "I'm welcome."

Raven just slipped through the floor to her waiting bed in the Tower, and Knowledge knew she'd be asleep- reducing reason to almost nothing- in minutes.

From the computer bays a Raven-like voice called out. "Wow, was that fun or what?"

Knowledge grinned. "Yes, Affection, that was thoroughly enjoyable."

"By the way," the voice called back "where did you come up with the details for all that? The massage, his posture, it was PERFECT!"

"Oh," the metaphor for memory dismissed, "Raven got into those romance novels when she was seventeen, still has a few under her bed for those rainy days." She started walking back to the staircase, headed for her library. "I pulled some of the ideas from their more tame passages, though it's a shame I didn't get to explore some of the heavier concepts. We're not quite ready for that yet."

She could hear the lust in the voice, even through the computer-like interface. "Oh don't worry, she's falling asleep. Dreams are the perfect chance to let imagination and lust roam free. She got a taste of it last night, but she rarely remembers dreams." The voice paused in anticipation. "Just means we have to make it more memorable."

Reason's cloak rippled, fading to a lighter, pale yellow shade that indicated Raven had lost consciousness and only certain facets of knowledge could be accessed. Imagination grinned toothily, "I think I can help with that..."

The team normally did lunch independently, following their own late-morning and afternoon schedules and appetites, so nobody took much notice of Raven's absence after training. Cyborg spent the time doing "preventative maintenance" on the T-ship until he traded places in the kitchen with Starfire and Nightwing, who had finished their program and were headed out to do a seminar with the JCPD on identifying Metahumans in emergency environments (Nightwing was the keynote speaker). When Cyborg was washing his dishes, Changeling made an appearance, grabbing a protein bar and challenging the cybernetic wonder to a round of Gamestation. Cyborg agreed, and over the next few hours the two managed to break another three records, though none quite so lofty as the Titan's challenge course. It was only during the third hour of gaming that Changeling broke the routine.

"So, you know how they're remaking Cretacious Planet?" He led, neither man taking their eyes form the simulated combat in front of them.

"Yeah, looks like it's going to be pretty good," Cyborg replied dismissively. "They haven't released a trailer yet, have they? Are they even done with casting?"

"Yeah, they got the casting done," Changeling grimaced as his character took damage. "They're about to start filming on an island not too far up the coast, some private landowner wants to turn it into a theme park/resort after they use it, so they got a discount to use it and leave the set pieces when they're done." He paused to execute a particularly complex combo.

"So we're getting a theme park nearby soon too? Awesome." If Cyborg suspected that this conversation was leading somewhere particular, his voice didn't betray it.

"Yeah, but right now it's all about the movie," Changeling sat back as they completed the level and waited for the next to load. A false indifference creeped into his voice "Which I've been invited to consult on."

Thatgot Cyborg's attention. "Wait, what? They want you to consult on a summer blockbuster? How'd you get that gig?"

Changeling grinned at his friend's dumbfounded expression. "How many people do you know who can actually become a triceratops or Velociraptor? Or tell you how they'd act in a certain situation?" Cyborg thought about it and bobbed his head at the point. "Also, I may have saved their zoologist's life three weeks ago..." Changeling added slyly.

Cyborg accessed his memory banks… "Wait," his voice sounded incredulous. "The hot chick in the hotel fire? The one with really blonde hair, like white-blonde?"

"Yup, that's her," Changeling replied, grinning. "Turns out she graduated from Jump Central University with degrees in genetics and zoology last year and got picked up to work on the film. She pitched the idea to the director after I flew her down from the 16th floor as a pterodactyl, and he gave her permission to offer me six figures just to look over the script before they start shooting, more if I have to help them re-write or shoot the film."

"Well, all right!" Cyborg was excited for his friend. "Look at you, Mr. Big Shot, working on a multi-million dollar movie, and with a lovely lady, to boot."

Changeling laughed and shook his head. "Down, Cy, down. It's just an offer at this point, I haven't taken it, I haven't even talked to Nightwing about it yet."

"Psh," Cyborg dismissed, "what's there to talk about? It's a great opportunity, shouldn't take you out of action much if you're just consulting, and it's always nice to have some money in the bank."

As a general rule, the Titans didn't have much need for money. Nightwing managed the team's finances and expenditures, though they never really asked where the money came from. For personal spending, the Titans each received a small salary from the city in order to list them as private security consultants. Cyborg also licensed some of his minor patents to the military or research labs to fund his expensive technology needs (though he also got grants from Star Labs every now and then), and Starfire and Raven both had endorsement deals (well, Raven had the Japanese gum company, Starfire had half a dozen cosmetics and apparel companies fighting to fund her love of shopping), but Changeling and Nightwing operated with so little overhead outside of their hero identities that occasional checks from their "other teams" (the Doom Patrol and the Batman, respectively) were enough to support their free time.

Though changing that situation certainly held an appeal.

"Besides," Cyborg continued, voice growing mischievous, "There's a lovely young woman who loves animals, weird genes, and being rescued by green men in the picture. It's like you were made for each other."

Changeling just laughed, letting the good-natured teasing slide. "Well, it'd certainly be nice chance to get out of the tower without having to arrest someone." He paused, considering. "You know what, I think I'm going to go email her back, tell her I'll review the script." He hopped up, jumping the couch and making his way to the door. "Then I've got some errands to run in town, probably hit that new vegan place for dinner. Care to join me?"

"Man, ain't nobody wanna join you at a tofu bar."

"Your loss," Changeling called as the doors slid closed behind him.

Cyborg chuckled, shaking his head as he powered off the Gamestation. Good to see the green bean getting some feminine attention. He sobered a little. Just hope this one turns out better than the last.

Changeling released a deep breath as the door to his room slid shut. I knew Cy would latch on to the zoologist piece. He felt a little guilty, manipulating his friend like that, but every ounce of what he'd said had been true. The thing he hadn't mentioned was that he'd received that offer two weeks ago and initially declined it, worried that it would pull him from his "day job." Now, with the events of the past 24 hours, he was happy the offer was still available. Working on the movie will be fun, and make an excellent excuse to disappear every now and then, he reasoned as he fired up the Titan's secure email server. For tonight though, "errands in town" will have to do.

With that, he focused on the email at hand.

To: Rose.w

Ms. Wilson, is the offer to consult on Cretaceous Planet still open?

-Changeling

A/N: Mwahahaha, I love that twist! for those of you who don't know, Rose Wilson is the daughter of Slade Wilson, and a villian (to the best of my knowledge) in the TT comics... She goes by "Ravager." So, what do you think? Drop me a review, this could go any number of directions and I'd like to hear which one you guys would like to see most.

-TwistedPremise