TheUbu (I'd be Ubu but someone took it!)

I'm a crazy Canadian and some of my writing may reflect that. Don't be alarmed and run for the hills, I'm sure it won't hurt too badly.

I know I said that I'd be back Thursday with the reviews but I didn't get back until very late on Monday. Instead of everything going as planned, our road trip took a little detour into the interior of British Columbia. It was basically you average 'just out of high school so lets see how far we can get on $300' sorta teen thing. Me, my friends Stephanie, Dan, Mike, and Clair each chipped in $60 and some junk food and hopped in to Dan's old convertible and just drove. Unfortunately, we didn't ration our money as well as we could have and ended up somewhere north of Prince George. (A good distance for us because we live on the mid-east coast of Vancouver Island!) Lacking enough money for gas, and having no bank machine anywhere near us, we had to work for a couple days in a small town to get back on the road.

It was fun and I guess I have a story to tell the grandkids when I get all wrinkly and old. Have you ever tried sleeping in a car with four other people? I have for a week straight! Though in that time I managed to gain a girlfriend! (A hero cookie to whoever can guess who my girlfriend is!) I guess being someone's pillow/bed can do that.

Now that I've done that, my evil little brain is scheming of a Teen Titan story similar to that. Could it be more perfect? Five people, three guys, two girls and I can totally assign a Teen Titan character to each of us! I'm not exactly sure what story I'm going to write after this one now… I had originally planned to do one of those 'Titan leaves for a time to gain control of whatever and comes back a changed person'. Lame right? I know it's been done to death, but this would have a bit of a twist to it. So what do you guys think? Go with the 'Leaves and comes back' story or the road trip one? (I don't know if the road trip thing had been done but it doesn't exactly sound uber original.)

Any and all feedback on this matter would be immensely appreciated!

Oh well, all that fun is over. I'm sure you're all very angry with me for just sort of leaving this where I did, so on with the story!

Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans; any characters contained within are not mine and belong to their respective owners with whom I have no affiliation.

Chapter Ten

Beast Boy sat on the common room couch and watched as Raven turned into yet another animal. So far she'd managed to change into a kitten, a dog, a butterfly, and a mouse. There was a minor problem with the mouse though; she'd actually ended up running and hiding from Beast Boy under the couch. He had managed to coax her out shortly after though.

Now a very dark green iguana sat on the floor. Raven lazily made her way to the couch and reverted back to her normal form before falling heavily to one of the cushions.

"You're doing a very good job." He told her. "Don't worry about the mouse right now. Rodents are always tough to control."

Raven looked slightly deject and Beast Boy could feel her disappointment radiating from her. It was understandable but she should have been happy about the fact that she had come as far as she did.

"So what should I try now?" She asked as she heaved a sigh.

'What should she try now? We can't do anything big in here… How about a bird though? She does need to get used to flying.'

"Do you think you're ready to try flying?" He asked.

"I guess I could try." She smiled. "I think I know just the bird to go with too."

Raven closed her eyes and quickly shrank. A dark green beak replaced her nose and mouth and feathers sprouted all over her body. Her legs became short and scaly and tiny little claws tipped her now avian toes. A few short seconds after the transformation began, it ended and now standing in Raven's place was a small green raven.

Beast Boy held in a laugh at her choice of bird and examined her. Did she have control of the animal's instincts? Right now, she was looking around the room until her eyes fell upon Beast Boy. She froze and just stared.

"Are you in control?"

As soon as he spoke, she let out a gravely croak-like caw and took flight.

'Crap.' He thought. 'I've got to calm her down.'

"Hey Raven." He gently said. "Remember, you're the one in control. Change back."

Raven didn't seem to heed his words because she just flew around the room until she landed on top of the counter. Beast Boy didn't want to spook her into flight again so he kept his distance.

"Where's a bust of Pallas when you need one?" He muttered to himself.

:-:-:-:-:

Raven examined her surroundings; she knew that she was just in the common room, but her animal instincts told her to check for any possible threat. This animal's instincts were particularly strong and she was having a difficult time dealing with them.

Her eyes fell on Beast Boy and she froze. Maybe he hadn't seen her, moving would only alert this larger and possibly dangerous creature to her presence. No such luck, he spoke directly to her.

"Are you in control?" He asked.

She let out a short caw and leapt into the air.

'I'm the one in control here!' She thought.

Despite her attempt to gain control of her animal body, she still flew around the ceiling of the common room, well out of Beast Boy's reach.

"Hey Raven. Remember, you're the one in control." He said in a gentle voice. "Change back."

'I'd like to.' She thought, but her body did not seem to respond.

The animal form she had now taken had decided that the best thing to do was gain elevation, get away from the possible threat on the ground. Though she knew that Beast Boy would never hurt her, the bird's instincts thought otherwise.

'Enough!' She angrily thought. 'I'm the one in control of this body, not some stupid animal!'

And just like that, the natural instincts of the raven backed down and the green changeling was left with total control. After making a final circle of the common room, Raven glided down to the counter and made a somewhat awkward landing. Using her tail feathers to guide her flight to a stop was a totally knew sensation that she'd never experienced; even though there was a part of the animal instincts that told her what to do, it was still incredibly disorienting.

"Where's a bust of Pallas when you need one?" Muttered Beast Boy as he kept a fair distance between himself and Raven.

'Bust of Pallas? So he's actually read that?' Raven thought, a little surprised and amused at the same time.

The green bird then fluttered off of the counter and landed on Beast Boy's shoulder. The pale Titan gave her a questioning look for a moment and she hopped off. She transformed back into the body that she had more or less become accustomed to.

Raven let out a short laugh and leaned up against the counter. "You should try intellectual humor more often. It's a lot funnier than those corny jokes you're always telling."

:-:-:-:-:-:

"You should try intellectual humor more often." Said Raven after she let out a laugh. "It's a lot funnier than those corny jokes you're always telling."

"Yea, I guess so." He sighed.

Beast Boy hadn't been trying to be funny, it just seemed so appropriate for the situation. He wanted to be able to joke around with Cyborg or Robin, play on the game station, or just fall down laughing. He smiled a bittersweet smile at the irony of it. He always wanted to make Raven laugh; he always tried so hard but always failed. Now when he wasn't even trying though, she actually found something he said funny. Not funny like he'd said something stupid, but actually funny.

His days of joking and just fooling around seemed to be over though. So long as he had these powers, he would always be restricted.

'So what if I can't have fun like I used to? I told Raven that I'd take away her pain if I could. Her powers may not have been causing her pain, but she was always forced to ignore her emotions. If having this curse means Raven can be free, then I'll gladly bear it.' He thought.

"What's wrong?" Raven asked as she moved a little closer to him.

"Hmm?" Said Beast Boy as he shook his head to clear his thoughts. "Oh, nothing. Just thinking."

"About what?"

"Nothing important. How about we try some animals that can fight?" He said in an attempt to change the subject.

"Ok…" She replied in an unbelieving tone. "What kind of animals do you suggest?"

"Well there's the grizzly bear, gorilla, tyrannosaurus, rhino, triceratops, wolf, cougar, anaconda…" He counted them off on his fingers. "They don't need to be strong to help in a fight though, sometimes changing into a monkey or a squirrel can be a lot more effective. There's also the 'crush' tactic. All you have to do is fly up over you're target and turn into something like a whale. It'll kind of hurt, but it works."

Raven nodded. "So what should I try in here?"

"I'd say gorilla. They can get a bit jumpy around a lot of people, but it should be the easiest to deal with in here." He shrugged. "Besides, I don't really feel like getting mauled by anything at the moment."

"Maul you? Why Beast Boy, I'm shocked that you think I would ever do such a thing." She shot back, feigning indignity. "You know I'd only maim you a little anyway."

:-:-:-:-:

Dr. Light sat in his home surfing over television channels. It had only been a week since he's been given probation for good behavior and he wasn't all that eager to go back to prison. No, he'd play the good little convict and do what he was told. It's not like he could do much more than that anyway; his suit was confiscated, all of his tools in his lab had been taken as evidence, and he didn't have the money to set up a new workshop.

Sure, he wanted to get revenge on the Titans, especially Raven for what she'd done to him, but he couldn't. He was more terrified than he'd ever been in his life when he was pulled into that darkness. No, it wasn't darkness. Darkness is an absence of light, you need light to make darkness. What was under that cloak was not darkness. Chaos would be a better way to describe it. He could see nothing, all he could do was listen and feel. What he heard would stay with him for the rest of his life. There was screaming, screaming the likes of which he was sure originated from Hell itself. He was also beaten. He couldn't see his attackers, but he was beaten so horribly that all he could do to protect himself was curl up into the fetal position.

It felt like he was trapped there for an eternity but was later told by the prisons physiatrists that it was only a matter if seconds. He was afraid of the dark now as a result. Not some silly child's fear of the boogieman, but a rational fear. He knew there were evils that could harm him from the inky veil of the shadows. He was never afraid before his encounter with the dark Titan so he figured that it must be her. It was she that controlled the evils in the dark. She could still harm him with the darkness.

He stopped idly flipping channels when he saw an image of Plasmus destroying vehicles on a bridge. Sure enough, the Titans came in to save the day. But something was different… Where was the green one? And where was the dark demon for that matter? As the images of the battle ended, there was a brief moment where all of the super heroes appeared.

"What's this? That demon is now green? She can no longer haunt me?" He thought aloud. "I can finally take my revenge!"

:-:-:-:-:

"That was interesting." Said Raven.

She'd transformed into more than two-dozen animals and was quite tired. Apparently rearranging your DNA to make yourself a different creature can take a lot out of you. She felt good though, she had gained control of the animal instincts quicker with each transformation.

"You're doing great. You should rest now, but you're going to have to learn to make the changes reflexively in a fight." Said the pale Titan.

"Sure. Do you want to try making shields and phasing through objects now?"

"I'll give it a shot." He replied.

"Good. Shields aren't all that tough, all you need to do is visualize and think of what you want the energy to do." She explained. "Try thinking about a protective bubble forming around you."

Beast Boy stretched out his arms and muttered his magic words. A dark mist flowed out of his hands and began to form a bubble. It was an odd sight, the only way it could really be described is if a gently stream of water was sprayed into the inside of a fishbowl. Instead of succumbing to gravity and pooling at the bottom though, the water would swirl around and coat the inner surface of the bowl until it was completely covered. Not long after Beast Boy began, the dark mist created a whole bubble that would have looked completely solid save for the slight transparent appearance.

He dropped his arms to his side hand heaved a sigh. The shield he had created vanished from existence the moment he dropped his arms and he began the rub the base of his neck.

"I hate to break the role we're on, but I think I need to sit for a little bit." He said in an almost complete monotone. "My back's really bugging me."

"Should I get some more of the gel?" Raven asked.

Beast Boy turned his face away from Raven to conceal a minor blush but shook his head.

"It's not that bad. I tried healing it this morning but I'm not really sure it worked."

"Let me see it." She said in a tone that sounded quite like an order.

Beast Boy seemed to hesitate for a short moment but complied. He lifted the back of his dark blue shirt up to his head to reveal a still rather large bruise. True, it was smaller than before but it still covered a large area; namely, the base of his neck and the center of his back just past the bottom of his shoulder blades. It was also no longer the deep purple it had been; it was instead a lighter shade of blue with some gray and a yellow along the edge.

"It's not as bad as it was last night." Stated Raven. "Is it sore?"

"Just when I move my arms around. It fine though, really."

Raven bit her lower lip. 'What am I supposed to do? He said he didn't need the gel but he's still in pain…'

"Sit." She said pointing at the floor in front of the couch.

"Don't worry about it. It's not that big a deal, see?" He said as he stretched his arms high above his head, doing his best and failing to conceal a grimace of pain.

"Sit!" Repeated Raven in a more forceful and annoyed tone.

Beast Boy shut his mouth and did as his green friend said. Raven then sat on the couch behind him with her legs to either side of him and placed her hands on his shoulders. She began to gently massage with her thumbs and fingertips and Beast Boy let out a slight sigh of contentment.

"Is that too hard?" Raven asked.

"No." He replied in a sleepy tone. "That's perfect."

Raven smiled as his head lulled slightly. It was funny that something as simple as a little massage could practically put him to sleep.

'He is really cute right now.' She thought. 'But what does that mean? What did Starfire say? Deep down I know what I want… Is that Beast Boy?'

Raven looked down to him again and smiled a little wider. His head was swaying slightly as a result of her massaging him.

'I know that I don't want to be without him, that much I knew from the bridge. I know he's kind, brave, and he'd do anything to protect his friends. I kind of get this sort of warm feeling when he's around… Does that mean I love him?'

It was tough to be sure what she wanted. Did that really matter though? She'd come to terms with as much as she had, that alone was more than enough to give it a shot. And why not? She'd known Beast Boy for years now, he'd never do anything to hurt her. How was she supposed to go about this though?

Raven continued to massage her comrade as she contemplated all of this and suddenly became aware of a warmth on her leg. Beast Boy had actually fallen asleep and had his head resting on her knee as a pillow. She smiled again and tried to hold a laugh in. Yesterday had been pretty action-packed and Beast Boy was right in the thick of it.

"I guess you've earned it."

:-:-:-:-:

Robin grunted as he struck the wall hard and fell to a heap on the ground.

"Robin!" Starfire shrieked.

She quickly flew to his side from the mattes they had been sparring on to find him unconscious. She sat on her feet and gently lifted his head onto her lap. He showed no signs of waking.

"Oh please awaken Robin. I am very sorry for damaging you…"

Robin grunted again and opened his eyes.

"It's alright Star, you just surprised me with that left hook." He said with a small smile. "I think that's enough for now though."

"May we see how Friends Beast Boy and Raven are fairing?" She asked.

"Sure, I don't see why we couldn't."

With that, they picked themselves up and made their way to the common room, some slightly stiffer than others but the made it there all the same. As the doors to the common room opened, they were met with a strange sight. Raven was sitting on the couch with her head resting on the back of it and was sleeping. The tiniest hint of a snore was present in her breathing. Beast Boy was sitting on the floor in front of her and had his head resting on her knee, his arm was also wrapped around the same leg he was sleeping on. He had a pleasant smile on his face.

'This is most wondrous!' She thought. 'I have not seen Beast Boy smile since this switch took place.'

"Awww…" Cooed Starfire.

Robin said nothing but wore a sort of smirk.

"Should we leave them alone?" She quietly asked.

"I haven't had lunch yet. It should be fine so long as we keep our voices down." He said in a similar volume of voice.

Robin walked into the kitchen and began to make himself a sandwich. Starfire sat at the table but continued to watch the two sleeping Titans. She saw and heard Raven's breathing slow and she lifted her head. It didn't appear that she was aware of their presence in the kitchen because she just looked at the darkly dressed Titan seated before her. She let out a pensive sigh and began to run her hand through his thick and slightly messy purple hair.

"Is this what it feels like?" She said in an almost inaudible whisper.

Robin pulled out the chair to sit and eat his sandwich but the noise made Raven aware that she and Beast Boy were not alone. She froze on the spot then slowly turned her head toward the kitchen. Starfire smiled warmly and Robin proceeded to eat his lunch.

"H-How long have you been there?" She asked.

"We arrived in the kitchen before you awoke." Starfire happily informed her. "You and Friend Beast Boy look quite happy together."

Raven quickly turned her head away from them to hid her furious blush.

"I have to go." She said as she attempted to rise.

Her efforts failed though because Beast Boy was still wrapped around her leg.

She shook him a bit. "Hey, wake up."

:-:-:-:-:

Beast Boy could feel someone gently shaking him. Why should he wake up now? He was so relaxed and just wanted to go back to sleep. He was in the state of consciousness where he wasn't exactly awake, but he wasn't asleep either. He was warm and could feel he was holding on to something warm and he squeezed it a little.

The shaking became a little stronger and his eyes reluctantly opened.

"It's about time you woke up." Said Raven.

Beast Boy realized the position he was in and jumped to his feet immediately. Robin and Starfire were giving him funny looks from the kitchen. After a moment of awkward silence, Starfire began to giggle and Beast Boy blushed.

"Uh… Meditate…" He said and promptly left the other three Titans in the common room.

'Chill out man… One… Two… Three… Four… Five…'

By the time he realized where he was going, he was already at the door to the roof. He slowly opened it and was struck with the hot and slightly humid air. There was a gently breeze coming off of the ocean though so it was tolerable. He sat near the edge of the roof and crossed his legs. He'd never meditated in the true sense of the word before but he'd seen Raven do it hundreds of times before.

Clearing his mind, he began to chant those familiar words he'd heard her say so many times before his body began to lift itself off the roof of the tower.

"Azerath Metrion Zinthos… Azerath Metrion Zinthos… Azerath Metrion Zinthos…" He said in a slow and calm voice.

Though he enjoyed being with Raven, it was nice to be by himself. He was absolutely certain that he didn't want to hang around in the common room with Robin and Starfire since they saw him and Raven. He was sure that Robin would have another comment ready about his 'clingy' behavior involving Raven but he'd rather have him say it when she was not around.

He'd hadn't meditated for very long but he felt that his mind had been cleared.

'Raven's probably still in the common room with the others… I wonder what Cyborg's up to.'

No sooner than he finished his thoughts, the metallic Titan in question came through the stairway door.

"What's up BB?"

"Not much. I just came up here to relax." He said. "What are you doing up here?"

"I was going to set up the barbeque. Thought it would be nice to have dinner on the roof tonight." He explained.

"Dinner already? What time is it?"

Cyborg looked at his arm where the time was digitally displayed. "Only 4:30, but I'm trying to get as far away from Star and Rob as possible. I stopped by the training room after you showed up to ask Robin if he wanted to play some game station, but he and Starfire were being sickeningly cute. I mean, they were doing the baby talk thing with each other!"

"They're not doing that all over the place now are they?" Beast Boy asked.

"No, that's not the reason I'm avoiding them either. When I walked in and heard the baby talk, I made a comment that fearless leader seemed to take offence to." Cyborg let out a laugh. "Now he's threatened to make both me and my baby scrap metal."

"So why aren't you protecting your car?"

"Why would I need to? That little spiky-haired punk knows that if he even looks at her funny, I'll knock him back to last Tuesday." He said.

"Uh huh." Said Beast Boy as he approached the stairway. "I'll be in my room, could you please give me a call when dinners ready?"

Cyborg flashed him the thumbs up and he left.

'So what do I do until dinner?' He thought.

He continued on toward his room and thought about taking a short nap. What was the harm? It's not like there was much of anything else to do. He could practice using his powers some more; that would be a more productive use of his time.

He was just about to enter his room when Robin called him.

"Hold on a second Beast Boy."

'Great what smart comment is he going to come up with now?'

"Yes?" He asked simply.

"Here's that jacket I was telling you about." He said handing him a dark jacket. "Like I said before, it's made out of the same stuff my capes are so it can absorb the brunt most hits. It's also really effective at dispersing heat so fire won't be that big a deal."

Beast Boy accepted the jacket and studied it. It was heavier than it looked and was slightly worn, other than that, it looked like a perfectly normal jacket.

"Thanks."

"No problem." He said as he began to walk towards the common room again but stopped. "Oh I almost forgot. Do you think you're going to be sleeping on Raven from now on?"

Beast Boy gave his friend a cold glare and Robin gulped slightly, he continued though.

"All I'm say is that if you are, you may want to take it to one of your rooms." He finished with an amused grin.

"Sure." Beast Boy replied. "We'll do that as long as you and Star keep the baby talk in your rooms."

Robin's grin was wiped from his face so fast that Beast Boy was sure there was muscle damage.

"Cyborg's a dead man!" Breathed Robin as he ran off toward the roof.

Hello again everyone! I am so soooooooooooooooooooooo sorry that this update took so long. I've given my reason above but I was also struck with a terrible case of writers block. I've managed to overcome that troublesome obstacle and my updates should be back to their regularly scheduled times.

All I can say about the road trip is that it was awesome! If you ever have a chance to do something similar, I say jump on it!

I felt that this chapter was ok. An over all C+ anyway. It wasn't a cliffy but I decided to save that for the next chapter. Trust me when I say this, chapter eleven will be awesome with a horribly mean cliffhanger at the end.

As for cans of coke… I needed seven for this chapter! That does sound like a lot but I needed three just to break the writers block. Oh well, I think the brave little guys did there part.

Apparently there's some deal about posting review responses in your story. I don't really know what it's about but I'll hold off until I find out for sure. Either way, you'll know by chapter eleven if I'm allowed to do them any more. Thanks for all the reviews!

Special thanks to acosta pérez josé ramiro for suggesting the Dr. Light idea, I think it will turn out quite well.

Again, it would help immensely if you could give a little feedback on what I discussed at the beginning of the chapter. I appreciate it very much!

Thanks for taking the time to read my story!

P.S. Congratulations to whomever caught the Poe references. Oh 'tis true, I'm a sucker for the classics.