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Following Shadows - Chapter 3

Raven went to her room about half an hour after the others left. Without anyone else in it, the Tower felt creepy and cold.

Not that it scared her or anything.

Sitting down on her bed, Raven wondered if there was anyway to stop the nightmares. She was sick of dreaming of the early deaths of her teammates, sick of dreaming of hers.

BANG!

Bolting up from the bed, she ran to the door and yanked it open. Whatever the hell that noise had been it had come from the training room. Sliding along quietly, Raven figured that if she could get the element of surprise on her side then she'd have a good chance of beating the crap out of whatever was there.

A chance.

Coming up to the open door, Raven could see that the intruder was big.

VERY big.

She was about to go call the others for back up when he turned around.

"Hello" He boomed.

"Hi" she said dryly. "Are we going to stand here exchanging pleasantries, or are we going fight?"

Smirking, he grinned. "Fight."

************************************

"Whoa, that was one good pizza" Cyborg burped. "Lotsa sauce." They had eaten lunch at the new pizza parlor in Jump City Mall, and were already planning on coming back.

"And lots of animals" stated Beast Boy. "Dude, how can you enjoy that?"

"With a side of fries!" claimed the giant, grabbing the last out of the basket in the middle of the table.

"Animal eater!"

"Shrimp!"

"Heap of rusting scrap metal-"

"Stop it the both of you." Robin interrupted calmly. "There are more important things we have to deal with than topping choices."

"Oh yeah? Like what?" growled Cyborg.

"Like Raven" Surprised, the other Titans threw each other interested glances.

"What is wrong with friend Raven?" Asked a concerned Starfire.

Robin hesitated. "She's become more... reclusive. There's something that's troubling her and...she's refusing to tell let us help her."

"Dark Girl's always been private, Robin. She's not stupid. If she was in serious trouble, she'd tell us." Cyborg stated.

Robin frowned. As the leader of the Teen Titans, he owed a responsibility to each member to help them out when they needed it. And he could tell that Raven needed it.

"As it is an earth tradition to exchange gifts on December 25, I suggest we purchase such gifts in preparation of the holiday." Starfire interrupted brightly, her fear for Raven vanishing with Cyborg's logic.

Thinking really hard (AN: Wow, don't hurt yourself boy!) Robin thought of the perfect gift to help Raven out of her shell. "Yeah" he said. "Let's go shopping"

******************************* 'Where the hell are the others?' Raven thought angrily as she dodged a rack of fencing swords. 'Shopping?'

Teleporting behind the demon she sent a pair of weights his way. He took the blow to the chest, doubled up with the pain, then stood straight back up.

"Shit" she cursed. This freak was unstoppable.

"Damn right Little Lady" he answered.

*Did you just read my mind? * She asked telepathically.

"What do you think?" he sneered.

*That you are one experiment gone wrong*

Lifting his over-sized ham of a fist, he swung at her, hitting her around the head.

Raven went flying across the room, crashing against the wall.

"Are you ready to die?" He quizzed, looming over her.

"Somehow, I don't think she is" And that was the last thing Raven heard before she blacked out.

**************************** "Raven!" Robin cried, seeing the girl pass out. Starfire made to get to her but a wave of power hurled her out the room. Cyborg ran towards the stranger but he was sent flying right after Starfire. Robin went to grab one of his discs but found he couldn't move.

Standing above the unconscious girl, the demon grinned. "What do you reckon? Death by crushing" -here he lifted a foot the size of a small couch over the petite girl- "or death by burning" A ball of fire appeared dangerously close to Raven's head.

"How about you get your ass kicked by an over-grown monkey?" Charging at him, Beast Boy transformed into a gorilla. Taken by surprise, the demon was knocked down by Beast Boy's form. Turning into an elephant, he then managed to push the creature out the window.

"There'll be more!" He screamed, vanishing before hitting the ground. Robin, who could now move, strode over to Raven and picked her up.

"Get the others" He said grimly. "Whatever's going on with Raven, it involves all of us now".