(A/N) I wanted to thank everyone who has reviewed once again. dr.evil99, I was especially taken aback by your review. I only think it's fair to point out that since I'm the writer, I can have them end up in situations that I have knowledge of, which is how I can do the little details. Regrem Erutaerc, you always ask questions that would spoil future chapters, don't stop asking, just don't expect me to answer either. ;-)

Disclaimer – I don't own the Teen Titans, some guy with lots more money than me does. Lucky punk.

Tamed – Name Dropping – Beast Boy impresses while Raven stresses. Ego and envy invade.

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"This place is kind of random." Beast Boy said, as he walked next to Raven. They had come to Bravery's home and she had let them in only to disappear just after they had entered. There were all sorts of obstacle course style tasks that they kept having to cross to continue down to where Bravery had said she would meet them. The rope swing over the mud had been fun, so Beast Boy did it twice. The exercise stations and sparring dummies they had seen along the way all looked well used, but the thing that made it so random for Beast Boy was the sounds of animals and monsters that came from out in the distance. It was kind of creepy.

"I think we're almost there, she said we'd see that kick bag over there when we were close. I haven't been out here in a while." She said pointing off to their side. Raven didn't really like her brave self's area. It always seemed like it was unnecessarily dangerous and too much work. When they came around the side of the latest obstacle, a number of log-like things that you had to go over quickly to avoid being rolled off of, they saw a clearing that opened into a small arena with seats on all sides and several archways behind it.

Beast Boy eyed the arches; they all looked exactly the same. "Where do those go?"

"Bravery isn't afraid of anything, she's the only one of my emotions that willing wants to see all of the others, so those go to each of the others' realms." She counted the freestanding portals in her head. "There's only six. Think she knows why we're here?"

Beast Boy grinned. "Probably."

Bravery decided that this was a good time to make her entrance and dropped down, landing in a low crouch on the ground in front of them. Beast Boy had been startled, but Raven acted like it was routine for people to just fall out of the sky in front of her. The green robed emotion stood, smiling confidently at the changeling in front of her. "Hello, Beast Boy. Long time no see."

"Eh, heh…uh, hi." Beast Boy's mind was having an argument with itself. Part was glad to see this part of Raven that looked at him with so much confidence in herself, but the other part felt like he was being sized up before she would attack him. The two sides argued more about what an attack from her would be and whether or not it would be a good thing. "You got a nice…uh…place." Lame! How could he have thought that would be a good thing to say to her? It was like trying to get up the courage to talk to Raven all over again.

"It suits my needs. Wanna spar?"

She looked hopeful and hungry about the idea. It was a bit unnerving, so Beast Boy was glad when Raven stepped in.

"We didn't come to play. I need to talk to you, and I invited Beast Boy along because I wanted him to be here for it." Raven scolded herself over the warm feeling her face had when she talked about Beast Boy.

"Are you sure sparring wouldn't be better? It'd be a lot more exciting to watch than us talking."

"I'm sure. You know why I'm here?" Raven asked, sitting down on one of the stone benches that were the seating for the mini arena.

Bravery sat in the air, floating in a lotus position. "Something to do with us rejoining?"

Raven sighed and relaxed a little more. "Yes, I think you would agree that it shouldn't be difficult for us to rejoin. I listen to what you suggest more than most."

Bravery smiled like she had just won a contest of some sort. "To a point, that's true. However, wouldn't you agree that in certain areas, I'm almost as locked up as Anger is?"

"Like what?" A small feeling of alarm coming with the resistance her brave side was showing.

"With certain emotions, you block my work completely. You rarely listen to me when I'm assisting Affection or Happy. It's mainly with Timid and Anger that you and I almost rejoin. Are you sure you're ready for the full package?"

Bravery had asked this last part with such a satisfied smirk that Raven was starting to wish she had accepted the sparring invitation since it would have meant she could soften up this smug self-image a little. "I can handle it just fine. Or, are you just stalling because you think you can't keep up with Intelligence's pace?" This time Raven was giving off her own little smirk in triumph. She knew the overconfident emotion never liked being shown up, let alone being told she was hiding from it being noticed.

"I can handle whatever you throw at me. You're the one holding me back. I don't think you're ready for me. I mean, you want me to believe that you are, but you're always heading off to meditate when the better thing would be to face whatever it was that upset your balance. It's harder, but in the end when something is hard to do it builds the most strength."

"Since when did action girl go sage?" Raven said, eyeing her suspiciously.

"Unlike you, I'm not afraid of any of the others. But, they won't do what I want to do unless I do what they want to do and most of them want to talk. Wisdom was one of the better fighters since she learned from our previous fights, but you gotta pay the piper…she'd talk for hours with me if I let her. Anger's the only one who'll just spar with me, but she always gets out of hand if she starts to lose. I may be immortal in here, but I still don't like being beat up." She grimaced a little, but swept it aside with a stoic look of determination.

A stunned Raven asked, "She beats you up?"

With a confident grin blazing, Bravery replied, "Only some times. She just keeps escalating the fight till it's a full out brawl. Sometimes she wins, sometimes I win. A real battle is good for you every once in a while."

"I guess…so, will you let me try to fuse with you?"

"Why should I? You're still afraid to face anything coming from Affection or Happy. What Kind of bravery is that?"

"Bravery's not about not being afraid, it's about doing what you need to even though you're scared." Beast Boy's eyes widened when he realized he'd just kind of butted in, but it was too late for him to take it back. He just covered his mouth looking back and forth between the two Ravens.

Bravery smiled approvingly at Beast Boy. "That's right, but it's Raven here who needs to figure that out."

"Haven't I been doing that? I went on the date even though I was terrified. I've asked him the things that I was scared to know the answers to. I even kissed him. I don't know why it scares me so much, I just know I like him…a lot, and I don't want to be afraid of him. I need you with me if I want to be able to face all of this until it stops scaring me." She kept her eyes locked on Bravery; too nervous about what Beast Boy would be thinking about all of this and about how he would be looking at her. She was happy that she had only blushed a little when she had talked about having kissed him.

"That's what I was looking for." She smiled at Raven. "We can begin whenever you want, I'm ready."

Raven stared for a bit but then started to close her eyes and concentrate. She stopped after only a second or two. "Beast Boy?"

"Uh, yeah, Rae?"

"I don't know what this will do to me, taking in two emotions in the same day. Remember that I really do like you a lot, and that I do want to go on our next date…it just might take a few days before I act like it again."

He could hear the worry in her voice. "I already told you I was going to be stubborn about this whole thing. Don't worry, I'll still be here when you're yourself again."

She smiled gratefully. "Good." This time, when she closed her eyes in concentration she didn't stop. The familiar feelings of lifting into the air, the windless wind, and the feeling of someone circling at high speed came and then the flash of light that she could see even through her closed eyelids. "What color am I now?" She asked, keeping her eyes shut as she drifted back to the floor. She liked it when he told her instead of just looking down; it like a little adventure to hear him say it before she looked for herself.

"Is pea soup a color? 'Cause that's what it looks like."

"Pea soup a color? I don't think so, but it's an acceptable description." She said looking down at her leotard. "It looks like a dark olive green."

"OK, so, what do we do now?"

"We leave, of course. The next fusion may take a few days."

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A few days had passed and Raven was getting annoyed by how unreasonable Timid was being. Every time she had gone through her mirror to talk to the quivering manifestation, Timid had said as little as possible and didn't seem to be even slightly ready for rejoining. Every time she started talking, Timid would only say that Raven wasn't ready…and for Raven not to be mad at her for saying so.

Having given up trying to persuade the grey one, Raven was using a nearby tree as an attack dummy to use up some of the energy she had that seemed to always be present. It was during a punch that managed to knock some bark off of the trunk, she had used her powers to shield her hands and feet from the blows, that Beast Boy had called to her.

"Rae! Come here, quick!"

She was still breathing heavy when she saw that Beast Boy was holding his communicator. "What is it? And why do you have that? We still have plenty of food." At least he looks happy about whatever it is, she thought.

Beast Boy was grinning madly as he turned the communicator so that it faced Raven. "It's the guys, they called to see how we're doing."

"Beast Boy insisted on getting you before he would tell us anything." Robin's calm voice came through while he, Starfire, and Cyborg jockeyed for position on the screen.

"Aw, man! You guys look great! What's goin' down y'all?" Cyborg was easily pushing the others out of the way so that he could speak to his friends who had temporarily become islanders.

Raven smiled at the actions of her friends. She didn't realize how much she missed them until now, seeing them in the tower's common room. "Nothing much, Cyborg. Just getting in some fighting training…I don't know what Beast Boy was doing when you called."

"I was reading about…"

"You were reading?" Cyborg seemed suddenly giddy. "You been reading the whole time?"

Beast Boy eyed him suspiciously. "Every day, like I said I would…why?"

His question was answered in a different way as Cyborg held a hand out to Robin who grudgingly slapped some money into the tin Titan's hand. He held it up so that Beast Boy and Raven could see it was a twenty. "I told Rob that you would stick to what you promised, he didn't quite believe me. Good thing he doesn't know you always keep your promises."

Beast Boy grinned at this. "Now Robin will know why I don't ever promise to clean my room." Cyborg's laughter allowed him to be caught off guard as Starfire forced him out of the way.

"It is glorious to see you, friends! I am most pleased that friend Robin allowed us this privilege!" She looked close to tears or close to a full bout of mania…Raven was reserving judgment till she saw a little more.

"Hey, Starfire. How's it been being the only girl?" Raven knew that this was the main thing Starfire would want to talk about. She had seemed so upset at being the lone female. Plus, she missed the red head and wanted to hear her voice for a bit.

Starfire's smile dipped a little, but came back quickly. "I have been managing. The boys have been accommodating to me, but it is not a very good substitute for having another female. I am still greatly looking forward to when you will be rejoining us here at the tower!" She still had her smile, but Raven was sure one of the tears that had been in her eyes had escaped as she had quickly left the camera's view. Robin stepped into the vacant spot.

"Hey guys, it's good to see you again. I put in this call so we could all talk to you a bit, but I also wanted to find out your progress. You know, get an update on things."

Beast Boy's smile exploded along with the words that flowed out of his mouth. "Dude! It's so cool! I can control the Cullen totally now!"

"The Cullen?" Robin's stare had gone blank. It had been an impressive feat for him to have a stare that wasn't blank with his mask on, and now it was gone.

Raven answered his curiosity. "Cullen is the name we gave to the creature that he changed into. I got tired of calling it the beast. Seemed kind of silly."

Robin allowed half of his smile to show. "I guess that makes sense, but it doesn't really need a name. It's Beast Boy, just another version of him. How's your training been going?"

Raven frowned slightly. "I'm a little less than halfway there."

"Almost halfway, not bad. Beast Boy, did you want us to come pick you up and somebody else stay with Raven, so you can get off the island? Since…well, you're done so quick."

Raven's frown had deepened at Robin's words, which had not gone unnoticed by the changeling. "Naw, I need to stay and work on some of the other stuff you gave me still. I still have stuff I haven't even tried yet, and I'm not as fast at changing as I think I can get."

Robin's face went almost neutral. "Oh, OK. Just, when you want to come back, just let us know."

"OK, how are Hot Spot and Wildebeest doing? They gonna be good Titans for that Titan's North thing?"

Robin smiled a little tiredly. "They'll be fine for it, I just hope they don't fight as much there as they do here. They argue about almost everything…except for movies, which is really weird. They like documentaries and Adam Sandler type stuff."

Beast Boy had a good chuckle at this. "That is weird. Anything else you need from us?"

"Nah, just keep up the good work. Hmm…but, since you're done with your main task Beast Boy, why don't you add some combat training into the mix? Maybe you can get as good a leg up in that as you have with everything else. And Raven, keep working hard. I know it's not easy, but you're making progress. Progress means you'll get there eventually."

"Thanks, Robin." The sarcasm going unnoticed by the two boys. "Tell Star we'll be home soon enough, and tell Cyborg I was glad to see him too."

"Ditto that for me, dude." Beast Boy said ecstatically to Robin.

"Will do. Hope to see you guys back at the tower soon. Later." And with his last words still fresh, the image faded from the communicator.

"That was cool that they gave us a buzz like that. I didn't realize how much I missed them."

Raven tried to let go of how she was feeling towards Robin right then, but it wasn't quite working. She at least managed to not let Beast Boy see. "Yeah…I'm…going to go back to talk to Timid some more. You coming?" He was still smiling from the talk with the rest of the Titans…didn't he realize how disappointed Robin had seemed about Beast Boy being done and her not having even gotten halfway yet? It felt like he was trying to console her about the slow pace she was on.

"I'd love to."

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"Come on, she's around here somewhere. She's too scared to go anywhere else without somebody going with her." Raven and Beast Boy had been searching the maze for ten minutes already with Raven calling out for the shrinking violet in grey. "Ugh, why can't she just say where she is?" Raven's frustration was leaking out, though nothing had been covered in a black aura without Raven wanting it to happen for quite a number of days now.

Beast Boy felt intimidated by Raven's slowly worsening temper. "Why're you getting so worked up about it? It's not like she can escape your head." He laughed a little and hoped that Raven would lighten up with his joke too.

"Not now, Beast Boy. I just want to get this over with. She's been practically running from me every time she's seen me. I keep having to corner her just so she'll talk to me."

"Why's she running away?"

"She's Timid, the part of me that gets scared and feels sorry and panics. It's just what she does."

"So…" Beast Boy was seeking to understand a little better. "If she's the part of you that's afraid, why're we stalking her through a maze, trying to corner her?"

Raven stopped and rolled her eyes letting them carry her gaze to the sky. "Beast Boy?"

"Uh, yeah?" This felt exactly like when he had interrupted her meditation before they'd come to the island. That had never been a good thing to do.

"Just shut up for a while, OK?" She started massaging the bridge of her nose. "The last thing I need right now is you acting like Robin."

"What'd Robin do? He just wanted to say hi and see how far along we were."

Raven laughed emptily. "Yeah, and he was so pleased with how far along I am that he spent the rest of the time talking to you and patting you on the back about you being done with everything."

Beast Boy didn't like what she was suggesting. "Hey, he was glad with what you've done, he was just giving you a little pep talk for the rest of what you have to do."

She folded her arms in front of her. "Great pep talk. Raven, you're not as far along as we thought you should be, but don't worry, you'll make it. That's a real comforting talk. Makes me want to just get going as fast as I can."

"He didn't say that!"

She suddenly looked very upset. "Well he should have! It would have been a lot easier if he had just come out and said what he was insinuating by all that junk! 'Progress means you'll get there eventually.' How condescending! He saw that you had already finished and when he saw that I wasn't even close yet, he passed judgment."

"It's not like he expected you to be done already. He wasn't comparing us."

"Are you sure? It sure felt like that to me. And why shouldn't he? Why shouldn't I have been further along? I'll tell you why, because you only had one piece to put back into place and I had NINE! I'm doing fine! And, I will be done VERY soon, so just tell bird boy to lay off me next time he decides to give us a little ring!" She was breathing hard from all the yelling she had just done, but she didn't bother to try and hide it. She could do anything Beast Boy could. Robin would feel stupid once she was calling him next week for them to be picked up. Raven would have kept berating their leader if she hadn't spotted Timid peeking out from around a corner at them looking very worried. "Timid! Stay where you are!" Raven bolted after Timid and had her by the arm before the grey doppelganger could finish her retreat. "Come on, you and I are rejoining, whether you're too scared to or not. Beast Boy, can you hold on to her for a second so that she can't get away while I'm concentrating?" She looked expectantly at him.

"No."

"Wha…why not?" Didn't he understand she needed to finish this merger so that they could be that much closer to going home?

"You're not acting like yourself. You're trying to do stuff just because you think you have to prove something. Bravery and Intelligence coming in at the same time have messed with you. I'm not gonna help you force Timid if she's not ready." He kept his face stony even though Timid smiled weakly at him, her arm still in Raven's grip.

"WHAT? Fine, you won't help me become whole, that's just fine. I'll do it without you." She encased Timid in one of her force field spheres. Timid looked close to tears and just hugged her own knees as she rocked back and forth in the bottom of the floating ball.

"I'm not gonna watch this." He turned to head around the nearest corner, but before he finished heading out of sight he turned back around. "Raven, in a few days this…well, whatever it is, is going to finish wearing off. I feel sorry for how much you'll regret this when that happens." Having said his piece, he finished rounding the corner. He didn't go far, just far enough that he wouldn't be able to see. He wanted to be able to hear it so that he would know when it was over.

Having watched him walk off and after hearing Timid whimper for him, Raven started to doubt what she was doing. But, she remembered what Robin had said and the way he had acted, and the determination returned. She lowered her head, concentrating hard on the fusion. Everything was happening the same as it always seemed to, and then it was over. The bright flash of light had brought Beast Boy back from around the corner, and with him came a very sad look in his eyes. She looked down at her now faded green/grey cloak and smiled in a very self-satisfied way.

Beast Boy thought she looked smug about the whole thing. He was just about to make some crack when another flash of light caused him to shield his eyes and turn away. When he looked back Raven was on the ground, looking sore with a very teary eyed Timid slinking away from her towards him.

"Thank you for trying to help her. I'm sorry she treated you like that." She had said everything in little over a whisper, so Beast Boy had had to lean in to catch everything. "And I have a message I have to pass on to you. I promised, so I have to."

She was blushing the most crimson red color Beast Boy had seen anyone ever blush in his life. She leaned in to him and quickly gave him a small kiss. He felt his own cheeks flare up and laughed nervously. Timid had smiled shyly at him when she heard Raven stir behind her. Turning a worried face back towards Beast Boy she gave him one last small smile and was quickly around the corner.

Beast Boy walked over to Raven and helped her to her feet. She looked disoriented and she was staring around her as if she was trying to figure out where she was. "Beast Boy? What just happened? One minute, I'm checking out what color my outfit was and the next I'm waking up on the floor."

His eyes held a sadness he couldn't hide from her. As she caught hold of what his eyes were saying her own sadness came onto her face. "You tried to fuse with Timid and it didn't last because you were forcing it instead of listening to her. The bond broke pretty quickly. She already ran away." He wanted to hold her, he was almost sure she would need it, but he wasn't sure if the emotion-boosted ego would let him, so he waited.

"Oh." Stupid! How could she keep herself in control if she couldn't even keep the little she had right then from tipping the scales? She wanted to give up. She wanted for Beast Boy to hold her and tell her everything was all right, but she had been mean to him. She'd yelled at him. She'd even been upset that he had done so much while it felt like she wasn't getting anywhere. Robin had only made her actually say something about it. "I'm…sorry. I think I should just stop for today." She felt so tired; having the merger crumble like that had sapped her pretty badly.

He watched all the forcefulness that she had been over dosing on lately drain from her, her shoulders drooping forward. It looked safe, but it was always hard to tell what was safe with Raven. Beast Boy decided to risk it and walked forward and gripped her tightly in his arms. "It's OK, we can stop. You're just still coming down from the last two. You'll be able to join back with Timid in no time. You'll see. Besides, what good is being brave if you're not afraid of anything? Come on, let's go back to camp."

"'K." She had gotten what she wanted, and it did make her feel better, he seemed to have a knack for it, but she still felt bad about everything. "I really am sorry, I was just feeling like I was being told I was falling behind, like I wasn't measuring up. I don't like that feeling."

"Don't worry about it. We already talked about this, you already fired a preemptive strike." This time, she did smile a little at his joke, and they walked out of the maze, Raven keeping his arm around her like a security blanket.

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(A/N) You know, it takes me roughly two hours to write one of these chapters, the main reason I don't have more than one written in a day is because of all the distractions I allow for. In the end, the writing is spread out over the free spots I have during a day, and I end up goofing off so that it's more like six to twelve hours with a whole lot of over things mixed in to get a chapter out. I also always reread it before I put it up to make any last minute changes and to catch some of the mistakes that the spelling and grammar checker might have missed. Keeps me busy, that's for sure.