Disclaimer: Still don't own Teen Titans.

A/N: whew Sorry for the delays, but it seemed downright silly to sacrifice quality for speed right about now. Thanks for waiting!

Demon Hunters

Chapter 28: Waking Up

"Raven… I'm sorry." Beast Boy tapped quietly on Raven's door, then, gathering courage, knocked a little louder. "Raven, I'm sorry," he practiced again, waiting for her to open the door. "Raven, I'm…" the door didn't open. He frowned.

"Raven, I'm sorry!" he called, hoping she would hear him.

"I really am. It's not your fault." pause. "Are you even in there?"

Beast Boy banged on the door with his fist, screaming his apology as loudly as he could. "I'M SORRY! RAVEN, I'M SORRY!"

The door didn't open and no reply came from within.

Beast Boy took a deep breath. "Okay, Raven, if you're not going to let me in, I'm going to have to come in, just to make sure you're okay, okay? Okay?" He pressed his ear to the door, but didn't hear anything. "Okay. Raven, I'm coming in, and if you're in there, it's your own fault for not answering."

He shrank down to an ant and marched towards the door, only to find that Raven had sealed it up. She was catching on, he thought with just a little approval. He quickly changed into a fly and flew up to the top of the door.

She's not as clever as she thinks, he thought smugly, buzzing in. He resumed his normal form, his hands covering his eyes in case… well, just in case. "Raven?" he called. "I'm opening my eyes, okay? I'm just here to make sure you're okay."

Slowly, he peaked open one eye, then the other. Then looked around frantically as he realized Raven wasn't in the room. All he found was a note:

I've gone to reclaim what's mine.

-Raven

Beast Boy gulped and ran out of Raven's room. He ran straight to the common room where he punched the emergency button.

The Titans raced into the room. Starfire soared in, a bowl of instant jell-o with bits of popcorn in it in her hands. Cyborg was reattaching his arm. Robin skidded to a halt when he saw Beast Boy by the button.

"If this is another movie…"

"Raven's in trouble," Beast Boy interrupted, holding up the note. "And I think I know where she is."

The Teen Titans burst into the Demon Hunter's lair, only to find Solaris fighting a pack of Demons.

"What happened?" Robin demanded, pushing through the horde to fight beside her.

"We were ambushed," the Hunter said through gritted teeth as she battered a demon to the ground.

"Where's Raven?" Beast Boy growled as he shifted into a rhino and knocked two demons aside as.

Solaris nodded towards where Pax and Raven were, then turned to fight another demon.

Robin gave Cyborg a meaningful look, and Cyborg took up a place on Solaris's other side.

"You've lost a lot of blood," Robin pointed out to the Hunter.

"I can hold my own," she replied with a scowl, but between Robin and Cyborg, Solaris was relatively protected. As if that weren't enough, Starfire flew overhead, throwing starbolts whenever needed.

Seeing that the battle would soon be over, Beast Boy went into the room that Solaris had indicated.

And found Raven slumped against Pax's chest. The boy was still motionless, and for all appearances, lifeless as well. Beast Boy ignored him as he gently lifted Raven's head and held her in his arms.

"Raven…"

She opened her eyes and smiled weakly. "Beast Boy."

"I'm sorry. I wanted to tell you before, but you left-"

"It's okay," she said, still smiling.

"It's not okay!" Beast Boy said frantically. "I was terrible to you! And you could have died, or been hurt, well, I guess you are hurt, and it's all my fault! Wait…" He looked at her critically for a moment, his green eyes wandering over her nose, mouth, hair, and final settling on her eyes. "I'm really upset about this, and you're smiling."

Raven nodded sleepily at him, still grinning.

"So… you got your emotions back?"

She bit her lip for a second, then in a rush, said, "Yes. And that means I can do this now." She didn't kiss him; that would be expecting a bit much, but she threw her arms around him and pulled him down for a fierce hug that rivaled Starfire's life-threatening embraces.

Beast Boy didn't return her enthusiasm, for fear of hurting her, but he did cradle her long after she let go and sank down into a sleepy stupor.

When the battle was over, the Titans and the Hunters limped in to find Beast Boy still holding Raven as she slept.

"Is she okay?" Starfire asked nervously, hovering over her friend.

"I'm fine, Starfire," Raven grumbled, struggling and not quite succeeding in opening her eyes.

"And, our brother?" Lunis asked quietly. After the demons had been defeated, Lunis had been revived. She held the Immortal Blade, just as Solaris held the Blade of the Pure. The Soul Sword was still stabbed through Pax's foot.

"Our brother is dead," Solaris said, reluctantly looking to Raven for confirmation.

"Yes," Raven said, then struggled to stand. With Beast Boy supporting her, she was able to get to her feet. "But not entirely," she continued. "There is a whisper, nothing more, left of your brother. And it is inside my mind."

"He's alive?" Lunis asked hopefully.

"No," Raven said forcefully. She didn't want to give these women hope only to shatter it, but it was difficult to explain. "It's an echo, an imprint, left on my psyche from how closely intertwined our minds were."

"Then we can use that-" Solaris began, but Raven cut her off.

"It's not set in stone, it's… it's a handprint in the sand. In time, it will fade." She saw the disappointment in their faces, and the part of her that was Pax was sad. "But we can try to preserve it," she said.

With that, she mentally asked, -Are you ready?-

She felt, rather than heard, -yes.-

She picked up all the little bits in her mind that were Pax, gathering together the way he had recognized his body, the love he felt for his sisters, even his determination to beat Trigon. She put all of those pieces into a dark bubble of energy, and pushed them out of her mind.

The essence of Pax did not go back to his body; there was no point in that. The body was dead, and there wasn't enough of Pax's psyche left to control it. Instead, it effervesced in the air and formed a silvery outline of the boy.

Thanks, Raven,- he said, in a voice that was air and water in her mind.

"Pax?" Lunis asked, reaching out tentatively with a hand that shook. Her fingers passed through his shoulder and she shivered.

A thudding sound brought everyone's attention back to Raven, who had collapsed into Beast Boy's arms.

"All things considered," the empath said dryly, "It's been a long day. And I'd really like to go home."