In the Titan's Tower…

"It's not working, her communicator's off."

"Can you try harder?"

"No, Raven, what part of 'her communicator's off', don't you understand!?"

"Gr…"

Robin and Raven argued with each other in the den as he tried to pinpoint Sara's location.

"What about Max?" Raven asked.

Robin shook his head, "No one's seen him."

"It's been a full day, Robin!" Raven complained, "How long is it going to take?!"

"I don't know!" he yelled back.

"…" Raven bit her tongue and thought it was best not to agitate him in this irritable state - as well as she was in hers. She turned around with a swoosh of her cape and declared, "I'm going to meditate," before retreating to her room.

"…"

In the corner of the room was Beast Boy, who was shaking his leg impatiently as he ran through yesterday's battle in his head.

He remembered everything.

"Raven!"

He ran to his fallen teammate after he turned off his communicator and shoved it into his pocket. "Raven! Are you ok!?" he raised her shoulders, cradling her head in his palms.

Her eyes slowly flickered and she said weakly, "What happened?"

"I don't-"

He looked up again at his surroundings. He saw Max standing a little ways away, with Sara in his arms, slumped towards his chest. She lay motionless in his grasp, eyes closed.

"Man," he said, sounding upset, "I was really hoping no one else'd spot me when I picked up my cargo."

Beast Boy stared at him in disgust, to which Max smirked at. "Guess I gotta get rid of the witnesses."

Beast Boy growled lowly and morphed into a gorilla, setting Raven back on the ground.

Max set down Sara gently and cracked his knuckles. "This is gonna be fun."

Beast Boy charged at him and swung his huge fists. Max caught one of them and flipped him over his shoulder. His back hit the pavement and changed back to his human form. Max's chuckle made him flip up onto his feet. When he smirked smugly at him, Beast Boy growled over his shoulder and morphed into a cheetah. He bolted at Max at breakneck speeds, zigzagging from stride to stride. He tried following his patterns, but every time Beast Boy landed a hit, he would change them. Fed up, Max grunted and punched the ground beneath him. It shot up in shards, and one spike caught Beast Boy by surprise as it lifted him into the air. Smirking, Max said "Got you."

As he reached up to grab Beast Boy, he had already turned into an eagle and flew away from him. He flew circles above Max head, to which he responded by attempting to grab his feet. Beast Boy took the opening and clawed Max's side, drawing three gashes of blood from atop his rib cage. As he winced, Max's eyes pooled to a deep red which made the lines of blood closed, leaving only tears in his jacket.

He stared at him with pure fury in his now-blue eyes. "Y'know kid," he started, "I was gonna go easy on you." His eyes turned yellow as he said, "But now…"

In a matter of second Beast Boy was flung from the sky to the ground, reverting him back to his human form. He held his rib in pain once he heard them cracking. The breath was taken from his lungs and he lay on the ground, trying to ease the searing pain.

Max's eyes flickered green and he disappeared from Beast Boy's blurring sight. The pain had triggered an emotion within him, which forced him to tear up. His tears quickly vanished, though, when he saw Max force Raven to her feet. He soon forgot the scorching pain and his eyes burned with fury. He growled lowly and the primal side of him emerged. His clothes ripped. His sneakers tore apart at the seams. The pupils which were imbedded in his emerald green eyes soon shrunk.

In a matter of milliseconds, he was recognizable as "The Beast" and was gripping Max's throat. When he raised his claw to him, his captive's eyes turned a bright gold as he gritted his teeth, trying to loosen the claws that clenched his throat tightly. Beast Boy was thrown against one of the cargo ships - hard. Whilst staring him down and walking closer to the thrashing Beast, Max held up his hands to the sides and crowbars floated next to him. He shot one towards Beast Boy and his right wrist was soon bolted to the ship. Though when it came to his left wrist, Max drove the crowbar into it like a steak. He cried out in pain and was soon trying to break the grip the metal had on his hands.

"You should've stayed out of this," Max said coldly. He started walking away from him when he heard a snap. The Beast had broken the reinforced steel and he soon ripped out the iron bar that wedged itself between the bones of his wrist. He held the bloodied piece of metal and threw it at Max - who couldn't dodge on time. It got lodged in his shoulder and he winced in pain, trying to pry it out - way slower than Beast Boy had. When it was out and his shoulder had closed, he dropped it and a *clang* echoed in the lot.

"Ok…" Max grumbled, his eyes turning a deep, dark, violet. "Now I'm mad…"

The two charged at each other. After quite some time - and a lot of internal conflict with himself - Beast Boy gained control of his forms once more, and took on his tiger form - only to be slammed to the ground by his throat. His ears started ringing, and his vision blurred with the tears that reminded him he was supposed to be in pain. He closed his eyes tightly as Max raised his fist. He heard a loud thud and he opened his weak eyes. Max was standing outside a protective barrier. The black color indicated that Raven had conjured it. With each punch Max threw at it, it barely moved. But as Beast Boy morphed back into his human form, a crack echoed throughout the shield. Where Max's fist last connected, it started to break. The more his fists beat down on the protective barrier, the more it started to crumble. Two punches later, he had completely broke the black shield and Beast Boy had nowhere left to run. Before he knew it, Robin was in front of him, battling Max in his place.

He had to stop it.

Max had Sara.

He jumped in front of Robin, hoping to stop the fight. But he only failed.

Beast Boy thought harder. "What stood out…?" he thought to himself.

He remembered Max's parting words.

"You know, I wanted to finish this before sunrise. But I guess I'll leave it at this."

Beast Boy's brows furrowed together and he tried thinking of anything that might help him. "Finish what…?"

He remembered Sara's words when they asked her about her hometown.

"Let's just say I'm not on good terms with some of the people there…"

Then his mind wandered to Max's first appearance in Sara's room.

"What was so wrong with staying in Trimph!?"

Beast Boy gasped in his seat and the others stared at him.

"Guys!" he said, "I think I know where Sara might be!"

Meanwhile, in Trimph…

Max had shut the door behind him and Sara, who walked into her old house, smiling in reminiscence.

The house was now almost completely unfurnished, though it still had some traces of human life. The couch was still there, along with the kitchen table and two chairs. The coffee table in the living room was still shiny, as if dust had never collected on it before.

"It must've been four months since I left…" Sara thought in confusion and curiosity. She ran her finger across the wooden kitchen table. "How'd it stay this clean…?" she thought.

Max, who was staring at her back, said, "I still live here…" She turned around and met his gaze. She looked past him and saw a bow and a bag of arrows shrugged against the wall behind him. He followed her gaze and smiled to himself. "I still hunt in the woods." He turned back to her, "Trade meat for berries at the village market."

He took a seat on the sofa, to which she followed, sitting next to him. "Ever since your parents left, word spread throughout the town." He laughed a little and continued. "Some of the elders brought food down to me. I have about three more knitted blankets and scarfs if you need one."

She smiled softly at him.

A far away look returned to his face and his voice wavered as he said, "Nothing could replace you and your folks, though…"

Sara took his hand in hers and held it tightly. Her head found his shoulder as tears formed in his eyes.

"I can't believe I'm choking back tears," he laughed at his weak self.

Sara lifted her head to meet his wavering gaze.

He laughed through his tears. "The town's children depend on me - so do most of the elders…" His eyes met Sara's. "I'm supposed to be a kick-ass legend around here…" he said, his ironic smile fading.

He asked her, "… So why is it I crumble when I'm in front of you…?"

When Sara put her arm around his shoulder, he couldn't stop the tears from flowing out of his eyes.

They sat like that for a while, Max crying into Sara's shoulder, and Sara rubbing his back reassuringly.

Soon, Max fell into a deep slumber, and Sara held him gently, afraid he might break if she didn't.