He felt like a man when he held her in his arms yet he felt less of a man the more he thought about it. How was he, a mere mortal with the superficial power to turn into measly animals, supposed to save her, the all powerful demon queen? The more he thought about it, the more he discounted himself. He had always secretly believed in the superiority of mysticism, sorcery and demonic power over all other powers and abilities. Though he never really expressed it, he actually felt that if the Titans were ever to turn on one another, Raven would easily defeat them all with her powers. After all, while their teamwork had ultimately led to Trigon's defeat, only she had the power to destroy him. Even back then, in terms of raw power, she outmatched them all. Now that she was even more powerful than before, he couldn't see how she would possibly need saving - from him of all people!

"Come with me." Her whisper broke his train of thought. The moment she grabbed his hand, bolts of excitement shot through his body. He squeezed her hand comfortingly before she wrapped them up in her soul self and brought them back to her private chamber; the very one that she had waited in before leaving this plane of existence in order to trick the Curatorians.

"Wha- huh?" It happened so fast that the moment she let his hand go, he started stumbling around the room like a newborn baby goat trying to walk.

"I'm sorry." Raven apologised hastily after he'd slammed his back against the wall and crumpled to his knees. "Now that I'm more powerful everything happens faster. You'll get used to it eventually."

"Right." He whispered softly, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly with his right hand. In his mind, he was wondering, what if I don't manage to save her? What if I can't keep her alive long enough to get used to it?

"I don't know what I was thinking." Her voice was barely audible. She sat down on the edge of the bed with her back to him with her head bowed. He wanted to go to her but somehow, he remained glued to the wall as she poured her heart out. She talked about how as a child, Azar had warned her about secrets and lies and how they were merely the truth delayed. Azar had exhorted upon her that no matter what happens, truth and destiny have a funny way of revealing themselves. She told him how she had never quite believed in it until now because to her, scheming and cunning were the very things that got her out of trouble. All this while, she admitted, she had never expected to get caught in her lies. She had foolishly believed that she was too good for that. That's the thing about good liars. They're so good at it that they're even able to lie to themselves that their lies would hold forever.

That doesn't mean that she had learned her lesson though. He felt a few chills shake him when she said that she intended to continue lying and scheming. The Azarathians had told her that fighting darkness with darkness only creates more darkness. However, when you are part demon and the daughter of darkness, perhaps the only way to reach the light is to use darkness to destroy darkness. She told him that she had no regrets. Should this situation be repeated, she would have no hesitation to do what she did all over again. Had she not lied and schemed, she was certain that the Titans would be long dead by now. It's an imperfect world that we live in, an imperfect world that makes it necessary to do the right thing the 'wrong way' at times and that was how Raven planned to live her life. There's always going to be evil out there. She sounded so sure and he knew she was right.

"Simply because you won't eat the lion does not mean the lion won't eat you." He nodded, agreeing with her completely. He too had read this analogy before. He knew that she was having a moral dilemma in her heart and that whilst she was trying to convince him that evil had to be done for the sake of good, she was actually trying to convince herself too. She needed to justify to herself that she had done the right thing. As for him, he personally saw nothing wrong with scheming, conniving and deceit when it came their survival. That was how things worked in the animal kingdom and that was how he understood the world. Camouflage isn't considered a sin even though technically, you're 'lying' to your predators about where you really are and lying is supposed to be wrong.

Now that he had joined her at the edge of the bed and was looking attentively into her face, Raven explained to Beast Boy what the demons were actually trying to do. She explained to him that the Demenem Decibo would take about eleven hours for the demons carry out, which was why she had no qualms about simply sitting and talking for such a long time. She told him that this basically entailed a process where all the demons channeled their powers through the walls of the Improbus Daemonium. As the place became charged with their powers, the numerous inscriptions on the walls would peel off and clump together to create an energy being called the 'Decibo'. It would be this being that controlled by their collective will, would use its powers to destroy their soon-to-be vaporised queen.

Of course, she didn't intend to let that happen. Of course, she had a plan. She described it as the simplest but most dangerous scheme to date. There wasn't going to be much lying this time; although she seemed sure that she would need to lie in the future. She was wise enough to know when her plan had failed and understood the demons well enough to know that they would never believe any further lies or theatrics she had at this point. The time had come to fight fire with fire - or rather evil with evil. The demons no longer feared her because they thought she was good. It had been their fear of Raven that had prevented them from slaughtering all the Titans a long time ago. Now, that even the restraining fear had run out, she had to win it back the violent way.

"Do you know what a hamster ball is?" She was trying her best to make it easy to understand, although she had her own ulterior motives for adding unnecessary details.

"Yes." He grinned. He had always been fascinated by those things in pet stores. It was essentially a transparent plastic sphere with a rounded lid that looked something like a perfectly round coconut. When a hamster was placed inside and the lid fastened, the ball would be left on the floor leaving the little critter to run around to its heart's content.

"The Decibo kind of works like a hamster ball." Raven explained. "If two hamsters were put in one of those things, the ball would go in the direction that the bigger and stronger hamster ran towards. That's what I'm trying to do. By channeling all of my powers into the Decibo, I can become the biggest, baddest 'hamster' in the place and seize control of the entire being to prevent it from destroying us."

Beast Boy thought about it for a second before nodding and assuring her that she had everything worked out. She seemed far from assured though, mainly because the plan she had described wasn't actually her real plan at all. In order to get him to buy the lie, she decided to slip in a believable loophole.

"There is a catch." She started, unconsciously edging away from him along the edge of the bed. As if he had been struck by lightning, he immediately reached out and callously grabbed a handful of her cloak before jerking her backward and forcefully pulling her onto his lap. Shocked, Raven panicked and began struggling to break free but her demands to be released fell on deaf ears. He kept hugging her from behind with all his might, seemingly oblivious to the fact that his hand was squeezing her breast. She began gasping for breath, not because she was particularly excited about what he was doing but because she really couldn't breathe. Summoning her powers, she blasted him off her and collapsed on her bed, panting for air. Leaping up from the floor as if he hadn't just bumped his head right into the wall, he grabbed her roughly and pinned her against the bed, using his whole body weight to hold her in place. The more she struggled, the harder he held her down. Suddenly, she went completely still and only then did he finally start to think and regret. The woman beneath him was Raven, the woman who owned his heart, not a rabid gorilla from the zoo that had to be held down. He stood up and let her go.

"Why did you do that?" Raven snapped. She looked like she was ready to sign his death certificate. "I asked you to let me go. I told you to let me go. Why didn't you?" He had never seen her this angry in his life. He had never felt worse. The hurt was evident in her eyes expressed with the barbs of anger that ripped through his soul. She felt violated. She hadn't felt ready for this nor had she expected him to act this way. She felt like he had treated her as an animal. The truth was, he had. Seeing her move away from him had triggered the fear of losing her again in his mind causing him to be both rough and rash in his desperation to keep her close. He had never intended to hurt her.

He opened his mouth to explain but this time, he was wordless not because of the magic of the Curatorians but because he really had nothing to say. It had been animal instinct - perhaps uncalled for animal instinct. "I just wanted to keep you close." He finally managed in a small voice. Her face remained unchanged. The silence was now only broken by the clock that he now noticed that she had mounted on the wall. With every click of that ticking hand, his heart sank down another notch. She said nothing. She knew why he had done it. She could sense his emotions. He had nothing but genuine love for her and she knew it yet she was angry. She knew that he truly loved her but he had failed to listen to her and to respect her wishes. What he had done she considered to be normal and acceptable for people in love but he had done it emagainst her will. This she refused to tolerate although she did truly love this man. She just hadn't been ready for any of that yet and that was why she had struggled.

"I don't want you to save me." She said finally, refusing to look at his face. Perhaps she didn't need that loophole after all. "I can save myself."

With that, she was gone.