Summary: Post-Birthmark. Can life just go back to "normal" for the Teen Titans? Or will the admittance of the deeply-buried and long-denied make it impossible for Raven to conceal the truth of her destiny?

Author's Note: Writing fic is hard.

Thanks to all my reviewers!

Raven of the Shadows of Azerath: I was SO thinking exactly that. I ended up not doing it in this chapter, though I'm not really sure why. The only thing I'm thinking about is that if she tells Robin, the cat is out of the bag, and as team leader he'd have to tell the others. Something would have to be done. And I just have NO idea what that would be yet.

the-lost-raven: AHHHHH! Okay, okay, I'll start again. I love your enthusiasm. It makes my day. )

Legal Note: Don't own Teen Titans in any form. Wish I did. Don't sue me, NYU has all my money.

"Raven? Hellooooo, Earth to Raven!" Beasty Boy was hooting and waving his hand in front of her face. She turned her head towards him and, her eyes glowing white, caused a claw of black energy to pick Beasty Boy up by his shoulders and push him back into his chair.

"Yep. There she is."

Robin had noticed the distant look on Raven's face, and realized she knew a lot more than she was letting on. He had suspected as much, but the mysterious disappearance of her attention span on such an important matter concerned him.

"Perhaps Friend Raven has thought of a way to beat Slade?" Starfire, always the hopeful one, put Raven on the spot. But Raven lowered her eyes, and furrowed her brow.

"No." She did have an idea, but Raven wondered how much of a victory it would really be. While she could no longer deny her destiny, at least to herself, for the time being she would continue to conceal it from her teammates.

Everyone looked disappointed.

"Yo, why is Slade after Raven? With all that power, what could he possibly need her for?" Cyborg pulled the conversation to a question there could be hope of solving.

Again, Raven lowered her eyes, and waited nervously to see what the Titans would come up with. Instead, Robin inquired, "Raven, do you have any idea why?"

Her breath caught. While she knew her face was neutral, she could feel her eyes begin to betray her. Raven concentrated on her eyes, and suppressed the emotion they contained. Turning to face Robin, she met his eyes. "No."

Shit. She'd lied. She'd had no desire to lie to them. There was a difference between concealing and lying. It wrenched at her heart. But Raven convinced herself it was necessary.

Robin thought. "Raven, you said he was dead?" She nodded. "If something gave him life, perhaps he's dependent on it now. It would have to be some kind of magic. Slade was always a bastard, but never supernatural. His power is from something else. What if he needs Raven for some reason to stay 'alive?'"

"I guess it's a possibility, but we got our butts kicked. Dude, if he wanted Raven for something like that, why didn't he just take her with him when he had the chance?" Cyborg brought up a good point. "Why did he drop her off some building?"

Unanswered questions were becoming the theme of the meeting. And there were so many.

The team was at a standstill. They brain-stormed further, and only hit more dead ends. Robin kept casting sideways glances at Raven, noticing her discomfort. He supposed he couldn't blame her, and felt she was handling the whole thing well, considering. Still, there was something he couldn't put his finger on. After another hour of distracted, tense conversation, no headway was made, and they agreed to adjourn.

Robin went to his room to begin painstaking research–his mind was returning to the Slade zone. Cyborg went to change the oil in his baby, and Starfire entertained herself with the cultivation of her "edible" fungi. Raven returned to her room, and was about to begin meditating, when there was a knock on her door. "Raven?"

Beast Boy. She moved to the door, and opened it a crack, revealing only half her face to him. "What?"

The dark girl had always intimidated him, but regardless Beast Boy felt a connection to her in a way he couldn't explain. Perhaps her mystery fascinated him. Perhaps he wished he could pass some of his happiness on to her. He couldn't understand whatever it was that had happened, but his gut, his instincts–he was an animal, after all–told him she was hiding something. The scant details Raven had filled in for them at the meeting had done little more than raise more questions, and there were holes in her stories that were begging to be filled. Beast Boy had noticed a change in her, too. Raven, whose emotionless exterior rarely varied, was consistently more and more...emotional. The emotion just remained confined to her eyes. He could sense the sadness? No. The hopelessness like a dog senses the moods of his human companion. It worried him, and a sense of foreboding pressed on his heart.

"I was just...worried about you. I know you think you've got to keep up that 'mystery girl' routine, but if you wanted a loyal friend to talk to..." he morphed into a golden retriever and stared up at her.

Raven was about to reply tersely, but when she felt his genuine concern for her, she realized she didn't want to crush his soul. Tension in the Tower was high enough without her fighting with Beast Boy. She opened the door far enough to take a step into the hallway. "It's nothing, Beast Boy. I'm fine."

"I know you're hiding something, Raven. We can stop Slade better if we know what's going on."

She regretted her earlier decision to be gentle with him. Beast Boy continued, trying to let her know she could confide in him. He really did just want to help her, but all she could feel was the pressure of his entreaties. It made her angry actually. How dare he come to her door and confront her like this! If she could stop Slade, she would in a second. She'd tell them in a second. But nothing was ever so simple.

Keep getting angrier, black bird.

NO. That was a voice she knew. Raven could feel anger tear lose a little, and was caught off guard by the ease with which her control was now lost. Deep shit. Deeeeeep shit. Her head was lowered, and she realized Beast Boy had stopped talking. Raven couldn't even tell if he was still there until he spoke again. "Raven? Raven, are you okay?"

She gritted her teeth. She felt one of the runes of Trigon reappear at the back of her neck, right below her hairline. Raven gasped. When she had re-examined the marks on her hands after speaking to Robin, their reappearance had not hurt. But this recurrence was not controlled. And it burned.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos. Azarath Metrion Zinthos..." she chanted. In a moment, she had regained control. The entire incident lasted only two minutes. She was breathing heavily, and her heart rate had sky-rocketed. Beast Boy had placed a hand on her shoulder, and was looking at her, the worry etched on his face like ads on a bilboard.

Raven looked up at him, her face scrunched up and her eyes defiant. "I said I was FINE." With that, she removed herself from his hand and slammed her door in his face with a blast of dark energy.

Beast Boy stood wondering what had happened. When he realized he had been shut out, he slumped his shoulders and retreated down the hall.

How I love writing this! I was surprised how difficult it is to come up with a flowing conversation though. I'm not used to writing dialogue. Got a lot more appreciation for all the fic writers out there though. This whole chapter was going to be discussion about Slade and what they should, but all I realized was that I have no idea what they should, or how any of the questions could answered without Raven just spitting it out. And she wouldn't do that. Even though I really want her to. Weeeee.

Let me know if you think there's any plot problems or anything like that, or suggestions for the future. I'm always open to ideas!