I feel like shit, and I blame the painkillers. Stupid, stupid retainers. I'd rather have someone hit me in the mouth with a hammer than this. For those rare few who haven't been put through the hell of orthodontia, I'll tell you what you're missing out on: PAIN.

Moving on. I'm surprised that I like the way this chapter turned out. It was written at some ungodly hour of the night, which must be good for my brain for some reason, because the ideas just poured out. Fun to write, and hopefully fun to read. And, folks, it's LONGER! (Well, not by much… But at least it's something.)

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Zat.

"Ahg!" Robin bent over Cyborg, the exposed tips of wires sparking in his hands. The front panel of Cy's machinery lay to one side, leaving him with a gaping cavity full of pistons and wires in his chest. For the past several hours Robin had unsuccessfully been trying to wake Cyborg up and get him running again, but there were so many short circuits that is was hard to know how to fix even a small part of the extremely complex network. Starfire had started her own project of collecting the smashed Tameranian steel from her cage. She busily swept across the floor, hands full of fragments to add to an ever-growing pile.

Robin sat back from his work to sigh and rub his eyes. "Do you think she's moved at all since we last checked?" he called over to Starfire.

"Hmm…" Star thoughtfully set down her current load and flew across to the flaring pillar of immobile blackness that was—or at least, used to be—Raven. She carefully examined the floor, where a few small scratches had been drawn, and then burst happily upright. "She has retreated two feet this time!"

"Really? That's great!" Robin hauled himself up and trotted over to look. The darkness had indeed receded two feet from the last mark. Robin rummaged in his tool belt and found a small knife, which he snicked across the floor right at the new edge of Raven's magic. "At least she's going faster at whatever it is she's doing," he said hopefully.

"Robin…"

"Yeah?"

"Beast Boy is a good actor."

Robin gave a sad half-laugh. "Yeah, yeah he is. Anyone who could fool Raven like that— and Slade like that…"

"Robin."

He looked up.

"Are you jealous?"

"What! Why would I be jealous?"

Starfire smiled forlornly at his snapping, indignant tone. "Because you are not the one who tricked Slade. Because you took no part in this. Because you never defeated him yourself."

Robin winced, and turned away frowning. "I'm just glad that Slade is beaten. At least, I think he's beaten."

"No," Star shook her head. "You are not glad."

A long, awkward silence rang softly in the huge empty space. The dark pillar of magic they stood by shed a layer of gentle fog, and the alien girl and human boy still stood quiet, letting the gray mist swirl through the room.

After a while, a small orange hand appeared on Robin's shoulder. He turned to find himself staring straight into huge green eyes full of gentle empathy.

"And you know, it is not over yet."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

If the effort had seemed torturous three hours ago, by now it was living death. Raven was losing control. Beast Boy was there, barely, but running out of time. As Raven tried to work faster, each discarded layer became a little larger. Larger… and larger… and larger… and the landslide was about to begin.

Raven tightened her failing hold. Her mind bent like hot iron, brain fevered and reeling. She couldn't feel her body anymore, but what consciousness she had left knew that it would be shaking with exertion. Dying.

Oh, God, I'm dying, I'm dying, I can't do this, I can't…

If she absorbed the magic all at once she would live—and drag Beast Boy with it into hell.

If she let the magic go she might hurt those around her and would certainly die—but Beast Boy would be alive.

Damnit—not much—choice—is there… Raven's mind gasped out. Here goes nothing…

One last time before letting loose the night-magic, she reached out weakly to find the spirit she fought to save. Beast Boy… Suddenly Raven jerked in shock. She could sense two things. One was that Beast Boy's hand was inches away from the border between the light and dark. A single layer more and the others would be able to pull him out! The other thing was something horribly wrong. Some injury… a hurt too grievous to survive.

NO! Raven screamed out, felt her real voice yell, and shaken with shuddering tremors of pain viciously ripped off the one last layer of magic.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Robin and Starfire leapt at sound of the scream grating in a terrifying, endless howl from over their heads. They spotted the speck of green at the same time. With a cry Starfire lunged through the air and grabbed the green hand, hauling Beast Boy out of the darkness in one graceful heave.

She wasn't expecting Slade, as well.

Both figures were unconscious, Slade with his spiked fist lodged in Beast Boy's side, where cracked bone protruded through the torn and bleeding wound.

There wasn't any time for shock, though. The remainder of the black magic suddenly rushed into a focal point high in the air: Raven.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Raven gasped with the shock as all her magic returned to her at once. All the power flowed back through her veins and muscles, soothed her mind and made it laugh and scream in joy. Everything, everything, was coming back, and she couldn't think, only feel the endless cool rush of effortless release.

Smiling, she fell quietly to sleep.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

For a millesecond, Robin stared. All of a sudden, Beast Boy and Slade were there, BB with a wound that made Robin want to puke, the black magic evaporated, and Raven—where was Raven?

"No!" Robin dove forward just in time to catch Raven's falling body, and they ended in a bruised, tangled heap. Extricating himself from the mass on top of him, he examined Raven at first with worry and then surprise. "Hey, Star! Come look at this! Raven's okay, she's asleep… And smiling!"

"Bring her here. We must first tend to- to this." Starfire sounded shaken, and Robin noticed the grave note in her voice. He came to her side as quickly as he could carrying Raven's weight. Turning to look at what Starfire was staring at, he nearly dropped Raven.

The injury was worst than it had looked at first glance. In Beast Boy's side, Slade's fist was cruelly buried. Through the mashed, torn muscle, the broken edge of a rib thrust out, held somewhat in place only by threads of cartilage. The rib must have punctured another organ, because blood trickled out of Beast Boy's mouth in a steady stream, dripping down between his small fangs.

"Oh my god…" Robin and Starfire stood in horrified silence.

"What must we do?" Starfire finally spoke. She seemed to have gathered herself together, and resolutely clenched her fists.

Robin shook himself, picking up on Star's determined attitude. "We've got to wake up Raven. She can heal things like this. I can't perform surgery, I'm not experienced enough. Cy's got the tools, but it's taking forever to rewire him. So it's Raven."

"Alright." Starfire grabbed Raven's limp form from Robin and lay her on the floor. She shook the dark girl's shoulders calling out her name.

"Raven? Raven? … Wake up! Raven, get up…"

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Gasp! Will Raven rise from her trance in time? Will Beast Boy bleed to death? Will my braces actually kill me? Find out in the next chapter!

Hope this was to your liking. Many thanks to reviewers: Mav Gauntlet, Alanna-the-tai-youkai, annoying talking animal, PlAySw/Fire, Green Comedian, scathac's warrior, and Unlikely-to-bear-it. By the way, PlAySw/Fire, if that wasn't a long, detailed review you gave, then I can't wait to see what you think is a detailed review. Thankees!