Lunatic: Oh check this out, boo-yah.

My grandparents are letting me use their computer, so you all get a chapter!

I was floored by the amount of good reviews! I haven't had one flame, or even a critique. I'm almost starting to worry. Thank you all very much, and I hope continue updating in a timely fashion for you to enjoy.

We've been through this; they aren't mine.

Beast Boy yawned, ears drooping. He was immensely bored. He cared about Raven, but sitting with the unconscious girl in the Med. Lab with nothing to do, was driving him crazy. The occasional blips from the monitors were not helping his mood.

"Cyborg better hurry up before I beat his big metal butt." The shape shifter whined half-heartedly.

He glanced at Raven, her condition quite unchanged. Except suddenly, the monitor for her heart rate increased, startling him.

"Uh-oh." He said nervously. Beside him, Raven grimaced. "What do I do!" He panicked. Beast Boy had a habit of doing that. "Cyborg will know." The shape shifter said out loud. "He has to." He paused suddenly, in the midst of dialing his mechanical friend. "Why am I talking to myself out loud?"

The sounds of a video game in the background met his ears when Cyborg answered his communicator, looking fairly disgruntled at being disturbed. "What? I told you I was taking as long as I want." He snapped.

"It's Raven, her heart thing got all blippy." Beast Boy whined. Cyborg's irritated expression vanished.

"I'll be right there."

Robin was in defensive mode the minute he spotted the speaker. While it was Raven's face who stared at him, it was unfamiliar with its four, glaring eyes and sinister smile. The cape that swirled around her legs was red.

"What's the matter? Aren't you happy to see me?" Her voice sounded like the cries of many, and he resisted the urge to shiver.

What's the matter? Afraid of the dark?

Dr. Light's horrible screams of submission as he vanished beneath her blue cape, echoed in his memories. This was the personality that had sent the villain to an insane asylum. He also remembered Starfire's words of caution, to avoid fighting within Raven's mind.

"Not really." He answered reluctantly. He had no idea how he was going to avoid fighting something that so obviously wanted him dead. It wouldn't need to be anything personal; he had come to the conclusion that this persona of Raven would kill simply because it suited her.

She pouted in a mocking fashion. "Robin, you've hurt me once again." Her eyes narrowed and the pout became an angry frown. "Don't you think you've done that enough lately?"

There was so much hatred in her voice, which echoed with evil. He felt his guilt and sadness once again, but did not let his guard down. She would strike the minute he did.

"I'm here to help her." He answered darkly.

"Don't be naïve, Robin." She spat. "You're only hurting her more. You're hurting all of us." As she spoke, he saw other shapes drifting in the shadows, forming a ring around him. He started to turn, trying to keep his eye on all of them at once.

"That isn't true." He said defensively. Though he didn't know why it wasn't.

"Isn't it?" She had vanished somewhere in the fog and her voice came from all around him. "You're torturing us with your presence. Even they've learned to hate you."

The other personalities were whispering, but he couldn't make out their words. They all sounded angry, mixed with the sound of their natural representations: happiness, sorrow, fear, bravery...

"But why?" He asked angrily. "I haven't done anything." He was finding it increasingly more difficult to focus on the figures around him. The fog seemed to deepen and throb with their anger and indignation.

"Liar!" Rage shouted out with all the intensity of her nature. Her face was suddenly inches from his own, scowling fiercely. "You led us on! You showed us what might have been and took it away! You tortured us with what we couldn't have!" The many facets, their colors blurring in the whiteness of the fog, echoed her screams.

Robin found himself stepping back from her, his defenses dropped as guilt battered his heart. He had never meant to hurt her, even as he was kissing her, showing her what he would never give her otherwise, he hadn't meant to hurt her. His eyes were wide with guilt and dawning horror as he turned, watching as all the colors bristled with hatred. Was the true Raven somewhere there among them?

Blackness enveloped his chest and pinned his arms to his sides. He didn't struggle, but looked down with detached befuddlement. The chaos of the colors, the fog, and his horror at what he had done unintentionally were making him slow to react.

It wasn't until he saw Rage's smiling face as she held him high in the air that he realized he had to fight. Raven would never live with herself if she killed one of her own, even if it was he. And he had to undo what he had done to her.

He struggled, gritting his teeth and trying to free one of his arms. If he could reach his belt, then he might be able to grab something to break her concentration. The Raven in red smiled.

"Struggle to fly little bird, before I break your wings!"

The blackness suddenly tightened, like ropes bound around him. He cried out in pain as breathing became near impossible. It felt as if the dark energy were trying to burrow into his flesh, crushing him beneath its efforts.

Somewhere he could hear screaming besides his own. The agony was so intense, that he hardly realized that it was Raven: somewhere still lost in the fog of her own misery and not among her other personalities. The thought, when it finally came to him, gave him strength.

"Raven!" He was gritting his teeth, fighting against the painful bonds. He had to get out of this and find her, somehow. Rage glared and curled her fingers into claws. The bonds tightened further.

He screamed, legs kicking as he desperately fought. The circulation in his chest and arms was slowing, his breathing coming short and rapid. If it continued, he would quickly fall unconscious. Even now blackness was creeping at the edges of his vision.

He cursed himself for being so stupid. If he had paid attention, if he hadn't of let her words get to him, he wouldn't be in this position, failing miserably against his friend's hatred.

"Raven..." There was little strength left in him as he realized the futility of his actions. These bonds existed in a realm that she controlled. Unless he could distract the red-cloaked figure, he would not be able to free himself.

The blackness closed in slowly.

"I'm sorry."

Raven was grimacing and twisting on her bed in the Med. Lab, as if something were binding her, crushing her slowly. She wouldn't move her arms, as if they were taped to her sides.

"What is she doing?" Beast Boy asked nervously. The look of pain and anger on her face was making him nervous.

"I don't know. Maybe it has something to do with Robin." Cyborg offered distractedly. He was checking to make sure she wasn't headed for anything more serious. So far, she seemed stable. The increase in heart rate was because of adrenaline, which he had no doubt was inspired by something happening in her head.

"Robin, I hope you know what you're doing." Cyborg whispered, not out of concern for Raven, but for the Boy Wonder himself.

It was in that moment, between conscious and unconscious, that Robin managed to open the compartment in his belt that housed explosives. Groaning, he withdrew one of the small spheres and threw it with a twist of his wrist.

If Robin had been awake, he would have seen the look of angry surprise on Rage's face as the explosion raised a cloud of dust and flame. She couldn't see her target, and her concentration, and therefore her grip on him, was lost.

"No!" She yelled, and the mirages that she had conjured faded. Robin fell, his body limp and bruised, and vanished in a portal of blackness. Rage whirled, red cloak fluttering, and headed in an unknown direction, her fists clenched.

Robin fell onto hard ground and winced as the little air left in his lungs was forced out. Gasping, he waited for his strength to return before he could get up and look for danger. He wasn't even sure how well he'd fair if attacked now. Where Rage's power had tried to crush him, he felt weak and painful.

When he finally felt like he could use his arms again, and his breath was coming a little regularly, he pushed himself off the ground and stood. He nearly fell over again when his oxygen-deprived mind swayed dangerously, but his cat-like instincts kept him steady.

He grit his teeth against the soreness of his arms and surveyed the setting. He was standing in the center of the mists. All around him the white haze waited, as if held back by revulsion. In the center of this odd display, was a towering black monolith.

At it's base, chained by her own black energy, was another Raven.

She was wearing white gold, and her head was bowed to her chest. She looked tired and slightly transparent. Her body was covered in lesions, scrapes and openly bleeding wounds.

He took a shaky step toward her. "Who are you?"

She looked up suddenly, startled by his voice. She smiled when she saw him, though it was a slow, sad smile. "I've imagined you before." Her expression changed and became pleasantly confused. He couldn't help thinking that she seemed a little insane. "But you've never been hurt before." She said slowly.

He was getting frustrated, going form place to place like this without really getting any closer to finding Raven. He had just been attacked and the pain had not yet faded, he was massaging one of his arms and remained hunched over his aching chest. Because of all this, he was sharp when he spoke to her. "Answer my question."

She blinked sadly. "My name is Raven, though she would have me deny it." She smiled helpfully at him. Her smile however, slowly faded. She looked away from him. "I'm her heart," she sighed, "and I'm dying."

Robin's face held a mixture of wide-eyed incredulity and sorrowful pity. If this was the representation of Raven's heart, then it was also the part of her that made her love him. The state she was in, had to be a reflection of how he'd been treating her. It was his fault that she was... dying.

"I'm sorry." He said, for the hundredth time. She looked again at him, as if slightly surprised.

"You aren't a fantasy, are you?"

He shook his head, and winced at the headache he was getting.

"Don't blame yourself, then. She's the one doing this." She said simply, and hung back against the monolith. "In fact if I remember correctly, she's the one who threatened to tear me out of her own chest." The broken figure looked at him and smiled against the misery of her words.

Robin could only watch her, caught between a need to move on and sympathy for this part of Raven that hurt the most. He had had no idea that she was suffering this much.

"If you're looking for her," she added, "she's on the other side."

Slowly, he realized that Raven's dying heart was talking about the other side of the monolith. He brightened, now that his goal was close at hand. Releasing his arm, he began to run toward Raven's promised position.

"Thank you!" He yelled gratefully.

Behind him, the shape of Raven's love began to cry.

(Because I may not get on again, I shall continue rather than end it here. But know that I was going to! [Threatens with fist])

Raven mirrored her heart on the other side of the monolith, her head hanging low against her chest, the same bleeding wounds marring the soft gray of her flesh. Robin slowed to a halt when he saw her, watching her sadly.

"Raven?" His soft, hesitant question seemed to echo loudly on the other side of the monolith. She didn't respond.

Kneeling beside her, he put a hand on her shoulder and leaned his head down so that he could see her face. "Raven?"

Her eyes fluttered wearily open. "What do you want?" It sounded like she'd asked the question many times, and never received an acceptable answer. It was frustrated and desperate.

She didn't even appear to see him.

"To help you, if you'll let me." She glanced at him then, the same apathy straightening her features.

"You can't."

He frowned at her. Many times he'd been given the impossible, and always he'd proved them wrong. He wasn't about to let that change. "How do I get you out of here?"

"You can't." She repeated firmly. His eyes narrowed.

"Why?"

"Because, I've done this to myself." She sighed and returned to staring limply at her lap.

"What?" A gust of wind took his voice and made it echo around and around the tall black structure. It sounded incredulous, and sad. "But Raven, why?"

She sighed with exasperation. "I didn't do this purposefully." She snapped. She was glaring at him. "This was completely unintentional."

The situation returned to being something he could handle, something he could fix. "What happened?" He demanded.

This time her sigh was tired. "My head and my heart have been against one another for a long time. While she agreed with me that I could not ever express emotions, for fear of Trigon's evil, it still didn't make her happy. It created a resentment of myself and my father." She lifted her head and gazed into the impenetrable fog. "And then, I- "her expression was stiff, unyielding, "-I... fell in love." She wasn't looking at him.

"With me." His voice resembled hers: monotone.

"Yes."

"That gave your heart... something to hold over you?" He tried hesitantly.

"In a manner of speaking. Love is a more powerful emotion than any other you may have met today. It inspires the others, and betrays me quite often. The stronger it becomes, the less I can control it."

"But how did that lead to this?" He pressed her. She glanced at him with a look that clearly scolded him for being so impatient.

"I tried stifling it instead, denying it existed. It worked, but at a very high price. Denying my own heart created so much pain and friction within the other emotions, that they grew stronger as a result. My powers were wildly out of control." She looked at the undulating fog, her face pained. "That was why I stayed in my room, to-"

"To protect us." He finished sadly.

For a while they sat in silence. He had more questions, like why was she chained to this monolith? How had she lost consciousness? Why hadn't she been eating? But he remembered her scolding glance, and chose to let her continue at her own pace. She obviously needed time to collect herself.

"I spent my time here, in Nevermore." She said darkly, voice had never changed from its usual monotone. "I was trying to discover how I could restore the Balance." Her face tightened with anger and sarcasm. "It seemed the only way I could do that would be to give my heart what it wanted, something I stubbornly refused to do, let alone acknowledge." She refused to look at him, and Robin could easily guess as to what the demands had been. He blushed and joined her in gazing stubbornly at the fog surrounding them. When she next spoke, it startled him.

"After our argument, I realized that hiding in my room and meditating wasn't helping to settle my emotions. I decided that perhaps acknowledging my... affection for you might help to soothe them and perhaps begin a process to... recovery." She leaned back against the monolith and sighed, her face lifted upwards toward the top of the spire. "Unfortunately, I didn't plan on the surge of power and emotion that would accompany it. I was unprepared, and weak from not eating. I couldn't control it, and I was sent here."

Robin was watching her thoughtfully, trying to lead himself to a plausible solution for getting her out of here. He could think about how much pain he had caused her when she was free from her own mind.

"Do you know how to get out of here?" He examined the bonds on her wrists; the shimmering blackness looked impenetrable.

"I have... theories." She said hesitantly. She wasn't looking at him again.

He paused from his examining, sensing the tone in her voice. "...What?"

"I'm assuming I am a reflection of her, of my... heart?" He nodded in answer. Raven cringed. "Then I have to release her. This is all a hypothetical representation. My mind enjoys ironic circumstances in which it can teach me a lesson."

"I think I understand. By binding her, you've denied yourself, and that leads to both of you being chained. No matter how much you want to, you can't change the fact that your heart is still a part of you." She was watching him with an appraising, if not dry expression. He smiled. "So how do I get you out of here?"

Cyborg, Starfire and Beast Boy had gathered in the Med. Lab for the night, waiting for a change in Raven's condition. Beast Boy's lame jokes were keeping Cyborg from sleeping, along with his worry. Starfire was doing her best to understand the horrible attempts at comedy.

"But why does this person knock on the door?" She tried again. Beast Boy sighed, and gave up.

"Never mind Star, it's not important." Cyborg said gently. They were all worried. Both of their friends were in danger.

It made for a very restless night.

"You guys never think my jokes are funny." Beast Boy pouted.

"Dude, that's because they aren't." Cyborg responded angrily. He was stressed, and tired, and Beast Boy was seriously rubbing his nerves wrong. "And what was that plastic you made for dinner?" He snapped, as his stomach growled offensively at the memory.

"It wasn't plastic, it was tofu." Beast Boy responded defensively.

"I know that, I'm asking why you tried to feed it to us! That stuff obviously wasn't meant for eating!"

"Man, just because you eat meat doesn't mean you have to insult the fact that I don't!" He replied angrily.

"Yeah, I eat meat. So why do you keep trying to feed me crap that obviously isn't?" Cyborg yelled.

Starfire came between them, looking distraught. "Friends, please! We mustn't fight, our friends would be most displeased."

"Yes, we would Star."

Starfire gasped, and spun toward the door, where Robin was standing. He looked disheveled, and was rubbing his left shoulder. Cyborg and Beast Boy recovered first.

"Robin! Man, what happened? Is she ok?" Cyborg said eagerly.

"Too much to explain now. Where's the mirror?" Robin said quickly. Beast Boy brought it to him.

"Friend, I wish to know how Raven is doing." Starfire interrupted sternly. The three boys glanced at her, a little surprised by her tone. Starfire blushed. "I am worried for her."

"She's fine Star," he smiled, "she'll be here soon."

All of them stared at him, uncomprehending. "Uhm... dude she's right there." Beast Boy pointed to Raven's limp, unconscious shape, breathing shallowly in the darkness.

"I know." Robin continued sternly. "But I mean she's going to come out of it. You guys should go, she asked me to make sure that this," he held up the mirror, "was somewhere safe, as well as you three."

The other Titans were a little slow to react. "She's gonna be OK?" Cyborg said hesitantly. Robin nodded.

"What about you?" Beast Boy asked suspiciously.

"I'll stay here." Robin's face closed, becoming expressionless and indifferent. The subject was closed. "Go."

Starfire hesitated on the stairs, looking back at Robin with concern. She had never seen such a lack of emotion on his face. He was hiding something from them.

"Come on Star, you heard the man." Cyborg pulled her up the stairs, and she reluctantly followed.

Robin sighed, relieved that they had actually left. He didn't want them to see what had to happen in order to free Raven's heart. He had to give her the opportunity to feel what she wanted to feel. He had to give her what she wanted. In the midst of that lie, before her heart could realize it for its falsity, both Raven and her Love would be released and Raven would destroy the monolith. She would awaken.

They had no idea what the consequences would be.

The mirror would create a connection between Raven's mind and her body; otherwise she would never know when he did his part of the plan. The dark, deceptive looking glass glowered in his clenched fist.

Taking a deep breath, Robin stepped up to Raven's hospital bed. On the white sheets was her unconscious body, unchanged. The dark blue of her cloak was made black in the dimmed lights, the violet of her hair made ebony as it spread around the pale round shape of her face.

Her expression was peaceful, neither apathetic nor joyful. Without her conscious barriers of emotionless expressions and cynicism, Raven appeared vulnerable and beautiful in her own subtle way, like the rose that had hid its thorns for the day.

That desire was rising in his chest again, making his breath shallow.

He understood Raven more than he ever had. Probably more than anyone else ever had as well. She was like his mentor, but with a difference. Batman chose to hide himself in the frozen lair of his home, and perhaps he didn't feel at all, but Raven had these emotions, as strongly as anyone else, and had no choice but to suppress them. The sad sacrifice of it only strengthened his strange affinity for her.

Beneath the longing he felt as he looked at her apparently sleeping face, he also felt a rising expectancy. Raven had told him to expect the worst: her powers may go wildly out of control and threaten everyone in the tower. Danger was Robin's life (another reason they would be perfect!! Ahem); he loved the thrill of it, the uncertainty of battle. Knowing that what he was about to do, and what it could cause, he couldn't help but feel a tingle of excitement.

His hands shook imperceptibly with adrenaline as he leaned in and kissed her for the second time. As was to be expected, there was no response, but he felt a tension spread from the point of contact, down her body. It seemed to continue, out into the room and into the air in sweeping, black strokes.

He opened his eyes and saw that everything around him was black, several objects hovering dangerously. It lasted for a second before suddenly the blackness seemed to explode on itself, devouring and dropping things all over the floor.

A groan from beneath his lips made him pull away, so that their noses were gently touching. Raven's eyes fluttered open, looking glazed as she glanced around. Her violet orbs found his behind his mask and they gazed for a moment into each other. In her eyes, there was nothing.

She put both of her palms flat against his chest and pushed him. He stumbled back, faintly surprised. He had expected many things, but not total apathy.

She sat up, rubbing her head. It felt like something had exploded there. Which technically, wasn't untrue.

"I think it's best if we stay away from one another." She said coldly. Her boots made a soft noise against the linoleum as she swung her legs over the edge of the bed and stood. Seeing the slightly confused expression on his face, she sighed and explained. "I don't know how well I'll be able to control it, if at all. The closer you are, the stronger it is." Her voice was brisk, emotionless.

He nodded, and returned her apathy. All of this, the things that had happened between them, meant nothing. He had simply been helping a teammate and rectifying his mistakes. That was all.

But he had to ask himself, was it really?

Lunatic: Oh dun, dun, dun. It's not over folks. Haha I wish Porky would say that one day.

So what did you all think?