Disclaimer: Don't own Teen Titans. There, I said it.

Note: I actually did research for this chapter... although it may not seem like it until the next chappie.

Chapter 4 - Don't Remind Me

It was not until early the next morning that Robin decided to pursue the case in detail. His reason? Two of the Titans had not returned until the early morning hours, both looking extremely drained of energy. The whole team needed rest if they were going to get this case wrapped up as soon as possible. However, that did not mean he let them sleep in at all, that would be a waste of time in his eyes. Yet, three of his friends were already awake by the time he reached the common room. The Tamaranian appeared to have had a hard time sleeping, the circles under her normally sparkling eyes being a dead giveaway. There had been no pun intended in that thought. Cyborg may have managed to get enough sleep to avoid looking drowsy, but this time of day could still be considered early for him. The empath was already brewing a morning cup of herbal tea to help awaken her senses.

Hearing the doors slide open behind him, the masked Titan turned to see Beast Boy sluggishly make his way over toward the counter. His eyes were still clouded with sleep, but he somehow managed to look alert at the same time. The changeling's thin frame was slouched so that he appeared to be the height he had been several years ago, and yet his pointed ears seemed to twitch at the smallest of sounds. Something was definitely up with him; this had been true since the previous afternoon. Last night's events had only added to his odd behavior. The Boy Wonder wanted to inquire as to the cause of it, but he had a hunch that he would only get silence in reply. Better not to waste the energy.

"I'm going downtown," he voiced, getting the attention of the other four teens, "to see if I can find out anything about last night that we don't know."

"In other words, research," Cyborg added, stuffing a few eggs into his mouth.

Upon noticing a nod from Robin, Starfire walked toward him. "I will accompany you," she informed just loud enough for everyone to hear. "I wish for this badness to end as soon as it is possible."

"Thanks, Star," the masked teen gave a slight smile in her direction before returning his gaze to the other three. "Raven, it might be best for you to go down and give the proper authorities the confirmed identities of the two girls," he paused to wait for an affirmative movement from her, and then he shifted his eyes to his partially mechanical friend. "Cyborg, accompany her and see if you can find traces of anything foreign that they may have missed, and Beast Boy, go with them in case he does find anything. If he does, get the scent and return to both scenes to see if you can pick up the same one at either sight. I don't want to overlook anything." His tone left no room for argument.

There was very little discussion that morning before they left to carry out their assignments, splitting into groups of three and two to go their separate ways. It already seemed as though it would be a long day, especially to Beast Boy. He would have rather stayed in the tower, not dwelling on what had happened the previous evening. Not much he could do about it, though. His leader had spoken and he was also not in the mood to be reprimanded for giving him a hard time. Sure, the situation seemed to bother everyone else in some way, but he felt like the only one who was having a hard time coming to grips with the... incidents. He did not even want to think about the actual word used to describe what had occurred. No, that would only make it harder for him.

This is not to say that the rest of the day was not hard enough of as it was. He had to force himself to make it through. Everything seemed like a blur and he had a difficult time focusing on the task at hand. The changeling did want he was told to do, but that was it. His whole self was not in it, despite the seriousness of the situation. He tried to make himself, but his efforts only proved fruitless. At least Cyborg and Raven had done their jobs, which ended up meaning that he did prove useful in joining them Nonetheless, he had been unable to find much of anything. The scents had been washed away by the water and fire. The elements made it hard. Thus, he ended up back at the Tower, awaiting the return of Robin and Starfire. They must have found something otherwise they would already be back.

Everyone else seemed so bent on solving the case, while he simply wanted it to go away. Of course, he did not mention that to anyone. He reasoned with himself that part of the reason he found himself struggling was because a case like this usually went to the police or even the higher-ups. The Titans had been there, and that is why they were now involved.

A sighed passed over his lips. "That's not it," he berated himself, "I just don't want to admit that it makes me nervous... Sure, we've dealt with the end of the world. Somehow, I can handle that but not this. Maybe that's because we knew who we were up against. We don't this time..." This train of thought ran continually through his mind, but he never once voiced it. One reason, he tried to tell himself, was that he did not want to drudge up any painful memories for Raven. Another was that he did not want to admit that the whole thing struck a bit of fear in him.

"Yo, BB!"

His friend's voice nearly made him jump out of his seat on the couch. "Yeah?" The word came out in a tone almost too quiet.

"Robin wants us to meet 'im downtown," Cyborg replied, already turning to leave.

"Oh," was all Beast Boy said in response, climbing over the back of the piece of furniture to follow his teammate.

Two weeks later...

Lounging languidly on the plush sofa, the green Titan held the remote control to their gaming station between his hands. His thumbs moved quickly between keys while his gaze was glued to the large screen in front of him. He had been that way for almost an hour, yet he still failed to show any signs of fatigue. It appeared that his mind was entirely focused on the activity he was currently engaged in. The video game held his attention firmly, although it was only because he allowed it to. Lights flashed wildly on the screen and various noises continually burst forth from the speakers, and he seemed to be taking it all in without flinching. He did not want to think about anything else at the moment. He was content.

Despite his appearance, the past few weeks had been more than eventful. The murderer had struck time and time again, each time similar to the last. They always seemed to be one step behind the culprit, and because of that, the death toll was on the rise. Several of the gruesome images flashed through his mind, causing a grimace to pass over his features before quickly vanishing. None of them he ever wanted to have to see again, but he had a feeling he would. Their hopes were dropping, but they had not given up. He still had not either, but that did not mean much right then.

Raven sat quietly on the other end of the couch, reading. She was relaxing while she could, although it was not because the current situation was difficult for her to deal with. On the contrary, she needed a day to rest in order to work on the case. There had been so many fires lately that last night had been a rarity. There was no crime, as if the criminal was actually allowing them a break. Regardless of the reason, she was thankful for the time being. She had spent the morning in meditation and was now catching up on some reading. It helped her keep control of her powers to rest every now and then. Of course, the others were researching or testing evidence for DNA at the moment. Most of them, anyway. She did not know Beast Boy's excuse for getting out of work.

Book marking the page where she was at, the female Titan laid the book to one side. It was not like she really needed it, for she had read the book many times. She reached down to pick up the empty tea cup that sat beside the couch and rose from her seat. On her way to the kitchen area, she passed quietly in front of her fellow teammate, not even bothering to speed up when walking by the large screen. This earned her a noticeable glare from the changeling, which she decidedly ignored.

Beast Boy was quick to hit the pause button in mid-glare, allowing his gaze to follow the other Titan as she walked toward to sink. "You so did that on purpose," he remarked, his tone hinting that he was not necessarily upset but he was not pleased either.

The violet-haired girl felt the other's emerald eyes on her and turned to look back at him. "You act as if you have not played that game enough to know exactly what came next," she retorted in a bored tone before continuing on her way to the kitchen.

"That's not the point," he countered, looking back toward the screen and resuming his game. He did not want to get into an argument with her at the moment, he just wanted to keep his mind away from their current case.

Upon hearing his reply, Raven raised one eyebrow slightly above the other but finished cleaning up her dishes. When returning to her seat, she crossed behind the couch and around to the other side before sitting down. Why she had not wanted to provoke another response of that manner from him was a mystery even to her.

Lifting the book up in front of her face, she momentarily looked over the top of the binding to study his expression. It was slightly more relaxed than his tone had implied, but there were still traces of something similar to concentration. Hints of irritation were there, too. That was unlike his usual demeanor. "Come to think of it," she thought to herself, "he has been acting different lately." She shook her head and started reading where she had left off, but the idea kept nagging at her. "Why do I even care?", the empath mused silently. When she came out of her momentary discussion with herself, she noticed that she was once again watching him, but he did not seem to be aware of that yet.

It was at that moment that she became aware of something else. That something was exactly how loud the volume was on the television. There was really no way to avoid him noticing if she were to turn it down, seeing as how the remote was on the other side of her teammate. If she tried to levitate it over to her, he would more than likely catch a glimpse of it. "Do you have to keep it so loud?", she finally asked, deciding on a more direct approach.

"You don't have to read in here," came the green Titan's reply, never missing a beat in his game.

"I have just as much right to be in here as you do," she pointed out, her tone carrying a bit more edge in it than before. There was a second's pause, and something occurred to her in that brief amount of time. Or rather, she remembered something. "I thought you were supposed to be out helping Cyborg, anyway," she voiced.

His shoulders rose and fell in a shrug, not appearing to take any offense to her statement. "I needed a break, just like you," he answered. "Besides," he continued shortly after, "Cyborg can handle it."

"We need as many hands on the case as we can," Raven replied, still unsure of her friend's behavior. In the past, Beast Boy usually wanted to assist wherever possible. He did not normally like to sit on the sidelines. "Why is this time any different, especially now?", she questioned herself.

"You're here too, not helping," he countered, eyes still glued on the screen in front of him.

"You know that I needed some time to meditate. If I didn't, it would become increasing difficult to control my powers," she stated, voice firm and once again showing a hint of irritation.

"They are fine without me," Beast Boy restated, choosing to not comment on what she had said.

Opting to not reply, the cloaked female leaned back against the sofa and tried to return to her reading. It was difficult, though. As much as she did not want to admit it, she was beginning to feel something akin to worry for her fellow Titan. His actions told her that something was out of place, but she did not wish to probe for anymore answers right then. "Perhaps later..."

Her brief thought was suddenly interrupted when she heard one of the dishes in the sink explode into countless pieces. She had not realized how much her worry was beginning to show. "I'll clean that up," Raven uttered after a few moments, or once she became aware that her green teammate was looking in her direction. Resolving to try and read later, she went back into the kitchen and began to carefully gather up the many shards of the saucer.

Meanwhile, Beast Boy had watched her go with an almost curious expression. What had caused her to momentarily lose control of her powers? She had not appeared to be angry enough, so there had to be some other explanation. He returned his attention to his video game, which he had paused temporarily when the dish broke. Maybe his responses had annoyed her without him realizing it. "It would not be the first time until I noticed too late...," he reminded himself.

His last words to her echoed in his mind. It was not like he felt useless or thought that the efforts of the other Titans to solve the case were futile. Quite the contrary. He knew there were tasks that they needed his help with, and he was more than aware how much the city needed them right then. Any effort was better than no effort. "So, why do I not feel like doing anything?" There was a short lapse in time before he dared to answer himself, "I just don't want to be reminded..."

Later that night...

A feeling he knew all too well washed over him once again. Another fire, another alarm, and more than likely, another victim. "Joy," the changeling sighed inwardly, looking around at the other four gathered in front of the rapidly blinking screen. He was not sure he was quite ready for another night like the many that preceded this one over the past few weeks. "Yep, just what I need..."

"You know what to do when we get there," Beast Boy heard Robin instruct the team. If the leader said anything else, it just got all mixed together in the green Titan's mind.

The team fled from the tower as they usually did, hoping that just maybe they would be able to find more clues this time around. Raven flew, or levitated as she chose to define it, and Starfire took to the sky as well. The Boy Wonder hopped on his R-cycle and Cyborg, of course, drove the T-car. Beast Boy opted to change into a bird and fly, like the two female Titans.

Forming an image in his mind, he focused on shifting into the animal he pictured. Pushing off from the ground, he leapt into the sky and... fell flat on his face. Scrambling to his feet, he tried again and again, but only succeeded in scraping his skin. He stared hard at his gloved hands, disbelievingly. What was wrong?

The Tamaranian came to a sudden halt when she noticed her friend lagging behind, or rather, not moving forward at all. "Beast Boy, what is wrong?", she called down to him from her position many feet above the ground.

Shifting his emerald eyes to look up at his teammate, he felt his hands begin to shake slightly. With worry laden in voice, he replied far too quietly for her to hear, "I can't change..."

Note: Okay, that's it for Chapter 4! It is a bit of a cliffhanger, I have to admit, but the next chapter shouldn't be too far behind... Hope you enjoyed the update!

TheDashLikes - It did take me awhile, but I was also glad when I finally solidified the plot in my mind. It was a rocky start, I do admit. Hope you like the new development, and there is still much more to come! Thanks for reviewing!

TDG3RD - Glad you liked the chapter, and I hope you enjoyed this one, too. I am trying to leave some cliffhangers, but they should not be too bad just yet... Thanks for reviewing!

BolenPUCR - If all goes to plan, more will be revealed about the culprit in the next chapter. I hope this chapter is a decent update... Thanks for reviewing again!

Note: Please R&R!