First, a note or two:

Ooooh, sad and depressing chapter. What fun!

This is the second of my stories, and once again, I beg those of you who know everything about the included series not to complain. I am not trying to be as faithful to the comics or TV series as possible, so if you want accuracy, I suggest you look somewhere else.

Again, thanks to YRProcks66 for saving the first chapter.

KEY:

'Blah' thought

"Blah" speech

I don't own the Teen Titans or any of the undermentioned items. Teen Titans is a trademark of some large comic company and Cartoon Network. Warning: Always wear protection when handling stories. If ingested, do not induce vomiting. Call Poison Control Center immediately.

Please review if you've read this story. I will not continue to update unless I get reviews.

Yes, Paralititan is a real dinosaur. It's big. Bigger than big. Bigger than the biggest Big you can think of. Big enough to make Apatosaurus look like a small pocket poodle. 80-100 tons, shaped like a Brachiosaurus, if you know that.

And now, on with the show.

Early the next morning, Robin and Cyborg headed out to look for Beast Boy. They didn't tell Raven what they were doing, since they didn't want her to think they'd been prying. So they said they were going out to investigate some "strange disturbances" and walked out the door.

Starfire, however, stayed behind. She sat on one side of the couch, staring serenely – patiently – at the purple-haired girl on the other side of the couch. Raven had decided to take Starfire up on her offer of help, and was telling the Tamaranian as much as she possibly could about Trigon. She spoke and spoke and spoke, and Starfire merely nodded and listened. As she spoke, Raven felt slightly better. She knew it wouldn't – couldn't – be permanent, but it was still nice while it lasted. She began to feel a little safer, and a little more at ease.

And on a world many miles from where the two girls sat, Raven's father felt his grip on her loosen slightly.

Somewhere out in the forest, near where the Stony Giant's life had been brutally terminated, a boy sat on a tree stump. He had slightly elfish features, and his skin was an unusual green color – not that there is a usual green color for skin. Anyway, this particular green-skinned lad had the strangest of powers: he could transform at will into any animal that he wished. He could, on a whim, sail through the cold breezes as a falcon, feel the raw power of a gorilla, or slip through the very interstices of life as a tiny insect.

Yet today, the boy, who had recently exiled himself from the only ones he knew and loved, was contemplating why he had performed a recent morph. He had only meant, at first, to save Starfire, Robin, and Cyborg from the giant. But she had proven to much for his Tyrannosaur form, and he had resorted to a Paralititan. Not counting his blue whale form, he had never used something that big before. Certainly not on land – it was too dangerous.

And then there was what happened next. Something he had been rolling around in his mind for days. The green boy, as the Paralititan, had kicked the Stony Giant to drive her away from the unconscious body of Starfire. As soon as he did that, he knew, in some small, almost silent corner of his mind, that it was wrong. But the immensity, the power, the near – invincibility – of the Paralititan form was like a drug. He felt elated with this kind of power. On top of this, he felt all of his anger, which had built up over the few days before the arrival of the Stony Giant, pour out over this despicable foe, mother of the one who had at one time tried to wrongfully enslave the boy, and threat to the lives of his friends. He felt this anger, and he could not let these deeds go unpunished. So he brought down his massive foot and crushed the Stony Giant as one might crush an ant walking up one's leg. He had felt relief at what he had done. He had saved them. It would be alright. But then he morphed back to his human form, and saw the small rocky dust that lay upon the ground like giant's blood. The green one's relief turned abruptly to shock, then pity, and finally horror, as he realized in self-disgust what he had so unwittingly done.

Years ago, when the Titans had first formed, and Robin had laid down the rules by which the team would protect the world, one rule stood shining above the rest. Over all things, the Titans were to lead by example. They were not to kill unless no other option existed, and were to at all times to hope for the redemption of those whom they had defeated. The green boy had just savagely violated that rule, and he now knew exactly why Robin had laid it down so long ago. It was a scar upon one's mind – an irrevocable chasm – to take the life of another sentient being. He had not merely ended a life, as one might when killing the mindless automatons of an ant hill, but had also ended a mind. Reidou had a mind, and, though the small boy was not particularly religious, probably a soul. However much he had despised Soto for his treatment, he now realized that Soto was just a kid, probably relatively younger than himself. Soto was a kid – a kid now without a mother.

'That is something no one should have to endure,' thought Beast Boy miserably from his tree stump