First, a note or two:

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.

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. Small parts may present a choking hazard to young children. Do not feed the animals. If you have any suitable food, please give it to the guard on duty (this warning courtesy of Richard Lederer's Anguished English)

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

I regret to inform those of you who have followed this story religiously that I will be starting senior year soon, and thus will no longer be able to update nearly as often. Having said that, I may try to bring the story to a close by chapter 20, if not sooner.

And now, on with the show.

Robin and Cyborg had been searching for what seemed like hours when they finally stumbled upon their quarry. They found Beast Boy sitting in the middle of a field on a tree stump. He had the look of one who had been sitting for days. His usually cheerful face was bedraggled and marked by lines of heavy emotion. He was thin, and his cloths were beginning to look as if they were contemplating merging with the stump upon which he sat. Beast Boy, in short, looked like one who had lost all hope.

He didn't even look up when they arrived. Cyborg and Robin realized that it was probably not the best idea to run up to their friend, slap him on the back, and start joking with him. He looked too frail for jokes. This especially unnerved Cyborg, who could not count the times he had needed to tell Beast Boy to stop making jokes when a situation was inappropriate. So the large metal teen walked up slowly to his small green friend, sat down, and spoke.

"I'm gonna be frank with you, Garfield. We need you back. The Titans are one critical fifth short without you. And Raven –" he looked at the green changeling piercingly "– misses you. She needs you. You are – were – the sole shield between her and Trigon. She can only allow herself the tiniest bits of joy in the world, to protect her from Trigon's rage. You've got to return, Garfield. You're the only thing right now that can keep Raven here and Trigon banished."

Cyborg got up slowly and walked away. He looked back at his friend sadly. Beast Boy heaved a sigh, and continued to sit.

Robin took something out of his pocket. It was one of the communicators that had served as both an invaluable link between the friends and a badge for those five – and their friends – who had been selected to be a part of the Teen Titans. Robin walked briskly over to the stump and put the communicator down, right in the field of view of Beast Boy. He stood right in front of the stump and spoke.

"As you very well know, this is Jump City as well as Teen Titans property. You have missed two missions, Garfield. I will expect you back on duty tomorrow by ten o'clock."

Robin turned away, and he and Cyborg left.

The day flew by, and turned slowly to dusk. And soon after the dusk turned to night, the tree stump in the forest lay deserted.

"And he's back, and I don't know if I can defeat him again," said Raven morosely to Starfire. The two teens were still sitting in the kitchen, and Raven had begun to voice her concerns about the return of her father. She had already told Starfire that she relied heavily on Beast Boy's presence the last time Trigon had attacked her. "You know," she had said, "I'm a sorceress, but I can only read minds, not emotions. I made the mistake of attempting that once with Terra, and I'm not willing to repeat it. But I feel that we are nothing without each other – the whole team, I mean. I think we would retreat much more often without Robin's leadership,

be crushed much more often without Cyborg's strength, and be morose and glum without your cheer and Beast Boy's – though sometimes annoying – joking. I think Robin truly knew what he was doing when he had us five make that pact years ago. But sometimes I think joking is the yang to my yin of seriousness."

Raven now began, however, to voice much sadder concerns. She told Starfire about the last time Trigon had attacked, and about the near-defeat she had suffered. "Again," she reiterated, "I was only able to pull myself together because of the support of the others. You see, Trigon works off pain. He's a demon. It's his nature. And since I am linked to him, he grows stronger with any negative emotion that I feel. That's why I am so reclusive. I figure that if I make no personal attachments, I won't ever be highly disappointed. Brilliant plan in theory."

"But you are also partially human, are you not?" Starfire asked, and Raven nodded. "Thus you cannot escape the desire of the human mind. We have a saying on Tamaran: Joy is only true joy when shared with others. We are social animals, Friend Raven. We cannot survive isolated from our kind – be that physically, mentally, or spiritually. You may have, for your own safety, tried to exclude your self from, as you call them, personal attachments. However, I believe that you are connected to all of us as we are to you.

"But I can't be, Star," replied Raven desperately. "I can't risk the hurt that he feeds off of. He can completely possess me now. Make me do anything. Hurt one of you even. It's like I told Beast Boy: I can't love. It's too dangerous.

Starfire thought deeply for a moment, her chin in her hands. After a while, she spoke. "Then we shall contact Mad Mod, and attempt to retrieve his secret of restraining you in his school. If the situation becomes too dangerous, we can always use such a system.

Raven frowned, also thinking. She looked at Star, and made to get up. "Alright. Much as I hate the idea of being restrained – I already am in my own mind – I see that this is a way of dealing with a present issue."

Raven turned on her heel, and walked out of the room. When she got to her room, she walked in, and began to meditate. She didn't even glance at the gilded mirror on the floor.