Raven's universe was pain and noise. She wanted to curl up under her cloak until it all went away. She was drained. So tired.

She felt pressure on her shoulder. A hand. I think. She didn't care. Nothing mattered except breathing: inhale, exhale, repeat.

Air had never seemed so precious.

Slowly, the pain in her chest and throat faded. So did some of the noise. It was only as silence fell that Raven realized the noises had been her own pulse and the sound her own breath as it wheezed through her.

Well, if you can't be invulnerable, healing powers are the next best thing.

There were still so many sounds—so many voices…

{Please stop—I only want to get to her!}

Raven opened her eyes. She was on the ground—again. A large black bird with gray eyes stood beyond reach. The creature was a miserable ball of puffed-up feathers, mewling piteously.

Gray eyes…Insecurity...

{Please make her stop! She won't let me near you, and I only wanted…no one likes me…}

A second black bird—raven—stood next to the first. Her feathers were also ruffled, but she stood silently and her eyes were brown. Starfire is protecting you from us.

Why, Sorrow?

{Hate attacked Dr. Light, and when Cyborg interfered, she turned on him. We tried to stop her, but the Titans don't understand-- they think we're all attacking.}

Raven took stock of her position. She was lying on her side, partially curled up on the ground. She caught a glimpse of green light out of the corner of her eye and looked up. Starfire was kneeling over her with a fistful of green fire aimed at the two birds. Her friend's other hand still rested on her shoulder.

"Star--", Raven croaked. She winced at the pain. The word was barely audible, even to her own ears. Starfire gave no response; she wasn't surprised.

"Foul creatures! You will not hurt my friend!" Starfire snarled.

Ouch.

Raven reached up and touched the hand on her shoulder.

Starfire started, then looked down. Relief and joy replaced determination.

"Raven! You are recovering? That is a relief. These birds—"

Raven let her hand fall back to the ground, and left it outstretched. She curled and relaxed her fingers in gentle encouragement to the soulbirds.

"…Raven! What are you doing?"

I'm letting actions speak louder than words, Starfire.

Insecurity was too timid to approach, with Starfire still on the defensive.

Raven looked into Sorrow's brown eyes. It's up to you then.

She watched Sorrow shake feathers back into place and, with as much dignity as bird legs and feet would allow, waddle slowly to her outstretched hand.

The silent bird regarded the confused alien for a moment, then rubbed the top of her head against Raven's fingertips.

Starfire tensed briefly, but relaxed at the display of trust. The light faded from her hand. "I don't understand."

Raven forced herself to relax too. As Sorrow hopped back to Insecurity, Raven offered her hand to her alien friend. She wanted to wait until she could get to her feet without help, but she was needed to clear up the confusion. She put her dignity on hold. Starfire paused, then helped her to stand.

{Don't bother. Everything is in chaos—as usual.}

The thought came from up the nearby tree. Apathy regarded her with orange eyes, then yawned.

That bad, huh?

Raven took in the drama around her. Dr. Light was back on the ground, curled in a trembling ball. Robin and Cyborg had taken up positions on either side of him: Robin griped his staff as he watched the ground, while Cyborg's sonic blaster was at the ready as he scanned the night sky. Intellect was just out of Robin's range, moving twigs and other bits of garbage. Humor shot past, a green eagle in hot pursuit. Far above, two smaller patches of dark wove around a larger: Love and Courage harassing Hate.

Humor. Stop teasing Beast Boy and find a perch.

{I'm not teasing him—I'm distracting him. Hate has him outclassed—and he won't listen to reason-- so I thought I'd keep the Sprout out of her way.}

You're enjoying every minute, too.

Humor crowed from the darkness.

{You Betcha!!}

Humor…

The pink-eyed raven backwinged out of the darkness and settled onto a tree branch. A green feather dropped from her talon and floated to the ground. {You're no fun.}

Raven swallowed hard. She felt only a hint of pain this time.

Let's try this again…

"Beast Boy. Enough."

Insecurity scuttled under Raven's cloak as he morphed into his human form and skidded to a stop under the tree. He turned back to face his teammate.

"But, Raven…"

"She won't do it again." Raven fixed Humor with a hard look. "I promise."

Beast Boy looked unconvinced. He kept an eye on the bird as he backed away. "That was a tail feather", he grumbled.

{No one will deny me vengeance!!} Hate screamed in fury at her attackers. While she was easily three times their size and incredibly agile, Love and Courage were faster and had clashed with her before.

Calm down Hate. It's over.

{NO!!}

Submit.

{Never!!}

Raven prepared to summon her power. If she could blast Hate into submission…

{I don't think that will work.} Intellect looked up from her work, then turned yellow eyes to the sky battle. {You'd only feed her more power and make her harder to stop. Besides, we're all drawing on your powers right now—in order to manifest physically. I don't think you have enough left to levitate.}

Then how do I stop--

{You can't stop me} Hate roared in her head.

If I can't…

Raven turned to her teammate. "Starfire, can you stop Ha—the big one? Without hurting any of the others?"

Starfire smiled. "Can a themoth goobri a chamarak?" she replied, and flew off.

I hope the answer is "yes".

"Raven, what's going on?" Robin pointed to the raven in front of him. "And what does this mean?"

Raven and Beast Boy walked over to Robin. As she approached, she saw "R/VN" spelled out in twigs. Intellect stood over the letters and preened smugly.

{I still think she should've spelled out "NO KILL I"} Humor mentally snickered.

{That would've taken too long. Besides—I conveyed my message.}

{What-- you can't spell?}

Intellect ignored her.

"She's a part of me, and didn't want you to attack her " Raven explained. "I couldn't speak, so she wrote it in sticks."

"Is the big one a part of you, too?" Cyborg had lowered his blaster arm, but still watched the sky as he spoke. "Cuz when I pulled it off the Doc, they all came unglued!"

"Cyborg, remember the first time I faced Dr. Light?"

"How could I forget?"

"She's loose --again. The big one—"

Raven could feel Cyborg's shocked stare.

"She's got four eyes" Beast Boy confirmed.

{Incoming!} Raven couldn't tell who the thought came from—they all sounded alike—but it was from above..

Starfire also shouted in warning, but it was too late: Hate swooped out and struck Cyborg in the chest. The force of her dive drove him backward. He fought to maintain his balance, but tripped over Dr. Light's prone form. The ground shook as he fell on his back, Hate stabbing at his face with her beak. Robin wedged his staff between them, then levered her head away from Cyborg's. She tried to stab at Robin, her strikes as fast as any snake.

{He's Mine! Mine!}

Cyborg's hands reached up to snag her beak, but Hate thrashed to avoid capture. She jumped back into the air and pumped her wings. Dust flew. Cyborg and Robin threw up their hands to shield their eyes…

STOP IT!!

Hate was engulfed in ravens. Some clawed her back. Others pulled at her feathers. One beat at her face.

Hate had enough. Her wings creaked as she strove higher. The lesser birds fell behind, a black cloud in pursuit.

Let her go--for now.

The cloud dissolved into six ravens.

Raven felt something trembling next to her boot. As she parted her cloak, she discovered Insecurity. The bird was even more miserable than before.

{I didn't help. I was useless. She was hurting Cyborg and Robin, and I was too afraid...} Raven guided the soulbird onto her fist then stood again. She stroked ruffled feathers back into place and rubbed her cheek against the back of Insecurity's neck.

"It's all right. Hush now. No one will hurt you", she murmured.

Apathy was first to perch; returning to her tree branch. {What's the point of using words?}

{So that the Titans can understand.} Intellect landed next to Apathy and watched.

Humor returned to her own branch. {I think it's cute.}

Cyborg cleared his throat as he and the other Teen Titans approached. Insecurity started to shake again. Raven draped a fold of cloak over the creature.

Here comes the Inquisition…

Courage landed neatly onto Cyborg's shoulder and looked into his human eye. {Hello again, big guy! Didja miss me?}

Beast Boy squeaked as Humor swooped down from her branch and perched on his head. {'Course he did—but his aim's improving.}

"Green eyes—green cloak?" Cyborg turned to Raven. "This is the brave one, right?"

She nodded. "Courage."

"I greet you, Courage!" Starfire reached out to touch the pleased soulbird, but froze momentarily as Love lighted onto her wrist. She beamed in pleasure, and stroked Love's crest feathers.

Love closed purple eyes in contentment.

{Unconditional acceptance.} She would have purred if she could have.

Raven felt heat rising on her cheeks, and was silently grateful for the shadows her hood threw across her face.

Humor cackled so hard that she fell off Beast Boy's head. He reached out and caught her before she hit the ground. She rewarded him with a wink. {Pink is still my favorite color.}

Beast Boy brought the bird closer and looked in the twinkling pink eye. "Happy?"

"Humor" Raven corrected.

Robin was clearly lost. "What am I missing?"

Raven groped for the right words. "My emotions fuel my powers. To keep them in check, they are…compartmentalized. Individual. Cyborg and Beast Boy had a chance to… meet a few of them once, but they were never formally introduced."

Robin took in the flock. "This has happened before?"

"No--not like this. My…emotions have never taken physical form. But when Dr. Light had me by the throat…"

Raven looked around. "Where is he, anyway?"

{He ran off with his tail between his legs.}

Raven whirled to face Apathy.

What!? When?

{After Cyborg tripped over him.}

Why didn't you say something sooner?

{Nobody ever listens to me. Besides, what's the big deal? He's just--}

--Hate's biggest target.

Apathy shrugged. {So?}

{She'll kill him if she finds him}, Sorrow answered as she landed at Cyborg's feet. {I don't want that on my conscience.}

{Sure wouldn't make his day either}, Humor noted.

"Is there a problem?"

Raven turned back to Robin. "The big raven that attacked--that's my anger. She tried to kill Dr. Light, and she attacked Cyborg for getting in the way. If she finds Dr. Light first…"

"No problem Raven--I'll track him by scent!" Beast Boy set Humor back on his head, and morphed into a green bloodhound.

"I shall search for him from the sky." Starfire began to rise off the ground, but Robin quickly stopped her.

"We'll find Doctor Light--you find Raven's anger. If it was willing to attack us…"

Robin's right--she'd be able to attack anyone.