Disclaimer: Me no own Teen Titans.

Notes: Constructive criticism wanted! However, no flames, please. Thanks to all who reviewed! It keeps me writing

"Words"

"Thoughts"

Chapter 2: Her Thoughts

Since dinner had ended, the seemingly unemotional empath had been up on the roof of Titan Tower. She was meditating, not at all an unusual activity for her. However, there was a slight difference this time. Normally, she wore no expression when in her trance-like state, but this time she had a slight frown on her lips. It was as if there was something very troubling on her mind. She rarely, if ever, spoke her inner thoughts aloud, so it was not out of character for her to have kept any concerns she had to herself. The only instance where she really voiced any worries were when they dealt with a crime or case the team was dealing with at the time. Seeing as the current issue failed to fall into that category, she kept it to herself, as she preferred to do.

None of the others seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary with her that evening. They were too caught up in Beast Boy's sudden decision to take on a quieter role. All the better for her. The less they noticed about her right now, the less questions she would have to answer. She did not want to satisfy any curiosity they might have. Not now. The Titan found that she already had enough to deal with within her own mind. That is why she had come up to the roof in the first place, to be alone with her thoughts.

As of late, Raven had begun to observe what she believed to be suspicious behavior from several of her emotions. It was not that they were acting altogether differently from how their names implied they should act, but it was as if they were keeping something from her. How they could do this, she was uncertain. They were her emotions, in her mind. Secrets could not easily be kept from her when it concerned them... could they? It appeared they were trying to, whether or not they could. Still, the young Titan thought she had a good idea about what they were attempting to hide, or rather, who they were attempting to hide. A new emotion was lurking about her mind. At least, she thought it was new, but she had yet to be able to identify it. The other Ravens had not leaked to her who it was, but she intended to find out.

As composed as the empath acted right then, it was hard to tell anything was bothering her. This "new" presence was disconcerting, in a way. She thought she would at least be aware of any major differences within her own mind. Somehow or other, the change had been so subtle at first that nothing had called her attention to it. She kept turning the possibilities over and over again in her head, but nothing seemed to surface that would help her figure out what was going on. It would not have been all that troubling if it were not for the fact that keeping her emotions in check was not so crucial to controlling her powers. This is what made her want to meditate, especially after dinner.

It had been noticeably different to her than most times, and this was not simply because of the changeling's silence. (Why he kept re-entering her thoughts over the past several weeks was something she still refused to admit to herself.) There was nothing unusual about the way the other Titans were behaving. What was different had been herself. For some reason, Raven had found herself taking several glances of her green teammate. Of course, she had managed to at least slightly convince herself that it was because of their conversation that afternoon and then his quietness that followed. Regardless, her own actions bothered her in a way that she could not quite explain, or chose not to explain. Either way, it only added to the many questions that were clouding her mind.

Just as she was beginning to feel her thoughts going in circles, she was jerked out of her trance by the opening of the roof door. It had not been that loud, but being slightly on edge due to the nature of her thoughts, it caught her attention. Opening her violet eyes, Raven turned her head toward the source of the sound to see who it was. She forced herself to keep the mild frown from disappearing, not wanting to let on that her mind had been on the figure in the doorway for at least the past several minutes. Although, she insisted to herself that he was just indirectly on her mind.

"Hey, Raven," the shape-shifter greeted his teammate as he left the doorway and walked toward her.

As he moved closer, she did allow herself to notice that he had grown in the past few years. If she remembered correctly, he was now a few inches or so taller than she was. Focusing back on his words, she replied, "I was trying to meditate. Why do you want?" It was not like it was unlike her to be rude every now and then.

Overlooking the tone in her voice, he continued on his path and took a seat on the roof's edge, feet dangling listlessly over it. "Just wondering..." His voice trailed off there, not finishing his train of thought.

"Wondering what?" Raven questioned impatiently, one eyebrow slightly raised above the other. She did not want to seem overly interested, so she settled for acting more or less irritated that she had been interrupted.

"Why you are acting differently," he replied easily, or so it appeared.

She turned her gaze away from him before asking, "What makes you say that?"

His shoulders rose and fell in a slow shrug before he spoke, "Well, since when have you ever been concerned about how I spend my time? ... and what was so interesting about me at dinner?"

Raven remained silent for the following several seconds before looking back over at Beast Boy. "It was unusual for you to be so quiet," she finally said in a matter-of-fact manner.

Frowning slightly, he made a dissatisfied expression. "Yeah, but what about..." He was cut off when she abruptly stood up, wordlessly letting him know that the conversation was over.

"I told you I was trying to meditate. It seems my room would be a better place," she spoke over her shoulder as she walked through the open doorway. In another second, she had disappeared completely.

The changeling watched her go with an unreadable look in his emerald eyes. Then, with a sigh of exasperation, he turned to watch the sun finish setting. It was better than following her and thereby bringing her wrath upon him.

Closing the door behind herself, the empath continued into her room and over to her dresser, where her mirror lay as though waiting for her. Picking it up, she took a minute or so to study it before gazing into it intently. The next moment she found herself looking around at the expanse of her mind. She knew which of her emotions she needed to seek out, but where to find her was a better question.

"Hiya, Raven!"

Cringing inwardly at the far-too-chipper voice, the Titan slowly turned to see a copy of herself in a pink cloak standing a few feet away from her. "Hi, Happy," her voice sounded less than pleased. "Have you seen Knowledge?"

"Nope!" Happy grinned widely and rocked back and forth on her feet, obviously hiding something. "But I know what you want to ask her!"

Sending her a mild glare, Raven then asked, "And how do you know that?"

The pink-cloaked emotion giggled, "Because, silly, I am a part of you!" Her smile widened knowingly. "Oh, and I have a message for you from her... sort of!"

"Sort of?", Raven pressed, although she would rather have just walked off to find the other emotion herself. Happy would probably just follow her if she did, anyway.

"Well, Timid talked to Knowledge but she didn't want to give you the message herself because she's... well... you know, timid!" Happy finished, still grinning like an idiot in Raven's opinion.

"Yes, and the message...?" She was growing impatient, and it was plainly showing in her tone of voice.

"Oh, well, Timid said that Knowledge said to tell you that she was not going to tell you what you want to know. You have to find that out for herself!" When Happy had finished, she noticed that the message had not been all that well received by Raven.

"So then, Timid must know what I wanted to ask. Perhaps I should just ask her," the blue-cloaked Titan replied, violet gaze slowly sweeping the landscape to see if she saw the other emotion.

"Nuh uh," Happy piped up cheerfully, ever the enthusiast. "Bravery was there, too, and she warned Timid not to tell you anything, either!"

A frown creased Raven's features slightly, wondering why the other found this so amusing. "And I suppose this is funny too you because you already know as well?"

"Yep!" There was not a delay in the positive emotion's response nor was there a change in her smiling expression.

Crossing her arms in front of her chest, the empath glared more harshly at Happy. "So, who is she?" The way in which it was said warned of her growing frustration.

Giggling, the pink-cloaked figure began to twirl in numerous circles while saying, "My lips are sealed!" Coming to an abrupt halt, she turned to grin once more at Raven. "Although, I will tell you that it is good to have her around!"

Letting out a sigh in exasperation, the female Titan thought to herself, "That is not much help. She likes almost everyone..." Looking up toward the other, she asked aloud, "Do you know where she is?"

"She was around earlier," Happy said honestly, "but I don't think she wants to show herself yet."

"Just great," Raven murmured before turning to leave.

"Bye bye!", her emotion chirped, arm waving wildly above her head.

The blue-cloaked figure did not respond, and soon she had vanished once again into the confines of her room.

"She was not of much help," she thought to herself, flopping down onto her bed. The only purpose the trip into her mind had served was to frustrate her more. "They know I have my suspicions, but they won't tell me anything..." Sighing to herself, she rolled onto her side and allowed her eyes to close. She would not go to sleep, for there was still too much on her mind for that. Instead, she would allow her thoughts to do a bit of wandering and hopefully come to some kind of useful conclusion.

Night quietly came to Jump City, or so it started that way. However, in a darkened alleyway, next to an abandoned building, amidst the trash piled around the structure, laid a body covered in dark clothing. Visible on the exposed flesh were multiple stab wounds, but the most likely cause of death was the cut along the pale skin of the neck. It would not be too long before the corpse was found, since the building beside it had just caught fire.

Perhaps those who discovered the body would blame the fire, but it was unlikely. The fire had been just to get attention. The killer wanted people to know that someone had died... but why?

Within Titans' Tower, the alarm was sounding throughout the building, calling together the five member team and alerting them to the situation at hand.

It had begun.

- Or Intelligence, either one

Note: Hoped you all enjoyed that! I should have the next chapter out pretty soon, before Wednesday is my goal. Please R&R!