Nope, still don't own Sailor Moon or Teen Titans.

Chapter Three: The Beginning of The Afterwards

"No way! That's doesn't count as the real me! Besides," a small purple-and-black clad figure crossed his arms indignantly, "I'd already been fighting him for a while. I wore him down for you."

"Man, you know that I would kick your butt. Why won't you just admit it?" laughed another larger form.

The green-skinned changeling known as Beast Boy simply turned away and stuck his nose up in the air.

"Hmph." Peeking out of the corner of his eye towards the table where his teammates were sitting, he quickly forgot the light-hearted disagreement as he lunged for the pan that sat like a prize amidst his friends. "I call lasties!"

His challenger in the argument earlier was also his rival for the most coveted award for their battle against Ultimate Evil: the last slice of pizza.

The two glanced down at their hands, each having half of said trophy, and then glanced up at each other, bolts of electricity almost visible as they both narrowed their eyes in challenge.

A highly amused Starfire giggled at the two, and proceeded to referee a quick round of 'Rock, Paper, Scissors.' She had recently been shown that one did not actually need these items to play, though it had taken her a while to understand why.

Robin grinned as he looked on at the scene, but then frowned as he thought of what was missing: Raven. After a full day of celebration at the Tower, they had decided to go enjoy the fruits of their labor and take the party to the city they'd helped save. Raven had politely declined, saying that she needed to meditate. This was understandable, taking into consideration what had just happened hours before. Robin had relented, but that didn't mean he liked leaving her behind. After all, it was because of her that they were all alive in the first place. He didn't think it was best that they leave her alone right now.

'She really needs to loosen up,' the young fighter mused. Um, hello, Kettle? This is the Pot. You're black. 'Yeah, well…at least I enjoy myself every once in a while,' he thought back dryly. Starfire's ecstatic clapping broke him from his inner dialogue.

"A hard-fought battle and a great victory, friend Beast Boy!"

"You sure you want to eat that?"

"Why wouldn't I want to?" the Winner of the Last Slice glanced warily at his defeated opponent. He slowly focused on the slice of pizza that was mere inches from his mouth. Had Cyborg licked it?

"What! GROUND BEEF? I thought we ordered half cheese, half mushroom."

"That's what the other pizza was. This one was half cheese, half ground beef. You should really pay attention to what you stick in your mouth, you know." Cyborg grinned and reached for the desired slice. "Guess you won't be eating that after all."

Fuming once more, Beast Boy reluctantly handed over the tainted prize. "How can you eat that? It's like eating me!"

"No i's nod," Cyborg replied, mouth full of cow and cheese. "Dhis izen nashdy."

The poor animal lover turned away, unable to look on anymore, and made a noise that sounded distinctly like "blegh." Starfire continued to smile and began to add a generous quantity of mustard to her last slice.

Robin couldn't help but smile at their antics. He was grateful to be able to see another fight over pizza, to hear Beast Boy try to turn them into vegetarians, and even welcomed the sight of Starfire adding an insane amount of mustard to her food, which he frankly found a bit, well…gross. Yes, it was good to be able to enjoy a bit of peace. They certainly deserved it.

Just as he was about to suggest that they all go get dessert, a demanding buzz issued from various spots around the table. The first one to realize what was happening, Robin quickly took up the leadership role that came so easily for him. "Titans, trouble!"

At these words, the others snapped to their senses. Cyborg began pulling up information on his built-in computer interface, trying to locate the source of the disturbance.

"It says that it's coming from…the Tower! Somebody's broken into my tower, with my security in place! It must be Brother Blood. I knew he'd made a back-up of the schematics he hacked."

"It's gotta be Adonis…there's a full moon tonight. I bet he broke out." Beast Boy clenched his fist, remembering what had happened the last time the souped-up wimp had paid them a visit.

"No, it must be our enemy Warp. He must have found a way to revert himself and gone back to the future and has read about The Battle from one of his books. He wishes to attack us when he feels we are most vulnerable," Starfire said sadly, remembering the terrible future that was supposedly in store for them. She still feared it might yet come to pass.

"Slade…" was all Robin was able to growl out.

They all stopped their theories and looked at each other, realization clear in their shocked expressions.

"Raven!"

x-x-x-x-x-x

Minutes before, the quiet island located just off the coast of Jump City had been disturbed by a bright flash of light. Four figures appeared where only jagged rocks had been before, and they slowly looked around at their unfamiliar environment.

One pulled out her computer and began the familiar action of typing, and a taller gave a derisive snort.

"A tower shaped like a 'T,' huh? Well, at least we know they aren't too big on concealment." Jupiter took a few steps toward the soaring building, not wanting to waste more time then was necessary.

"No, wait…" Mercury began, but it was too late. She had wanted them to stay put until she could disable whatever alarms and traps had been rigged to guard against unwary intruders.

Jupiter had stepped across a laser's path, and much to her chagrin, had set off an annoyingly loud, whining alarm. "Oops… heh," she offered sheepishly.

The others, minus Mercury who was frowning at her computer, held their hands over their ears to try and block out the violent sound. "Can't you find a reset button or something Mercury?" Mars yelled over the sirens.

Mercury continued to stare at the print out. Biting her lip, she shook her head. "No. Cyborg did an amazing job with his perimeter security. It's all run on closed circuit. And I mean closed circuit. It can't be tampered with from any outside source. Unless—"

But she stopped mid-sentence when she heard a cry from one of her teammates. Glancing up, she saw that Jupiter had narrowly avoided a metal claw that had reached out from the ground at her feet. Looking around, she saw that there were several more like it, all intent on ensnaring the trespassers.

"Unless what, Mercury?" grunted Jupiter after kicking the metal arm in two and ducking beneath another. The others were dodging the frighteningly fast metal grips as well.

"Never mind! It would take too long to find the right frequency with which to duplicate Cyborg's signal in order to override his programming!" Mercury shouted back, running towards the Teen Titan's headquarters.

"It took you too long to say that sentence," grumbled Jupiter, disabling two more.

Mercury ignored her. "We have to try and find a way in. It's the only way!"

Jupiter and Mars nodded to each other. While Jupiter launched her 'thunder' at the arms grabbing for her otherwise occupied teammate, Mars launched a fireball that cleared the path (and the door) into the stronghold. Taking advantage of the momentary glitch Jupiter's electrical upsurge caused the machines, they all ran into what looked like a long hallway, with overstuffed armchairs alongside a thin maroon carpet.

"Well," Mars commented, looking down at the torn hem of her cloak. "That was fun."

x-x-x-x-x-x

Robin navigated deftly through traffic on his R-Cycle, hoping that whoever was attacking their center of operations wasn't who he thought it was. He stole a quick glance to his side-view mirror, in which the T-Car suddenly appeared. Starfire was flying overhead, gaining a slight lead. Robin gave his ride more gas.

'So much for peaceful,' he thought spitefully.

x-x-x-x-x-x

Raven narrowed her eyes as she tried to focus in on who the intruders were. She could sense that there were four of them, and all were giving off a high-energy signature. There seemed to be something blocking her from reading any more than that. Or someone. Whoever they were, clearly they were not to be underestimated. And though she couldn't be sure, she thought that one of them seemed strangely familiar…

'They're heading to the main room,' she realized. Making up her mind, she seemed to melt into the floor in a puddle of inky black, only to reappear moments later in a hallway off of the dark common room. She was going to find out who had disturbed her meditation, and how they had gotten past Cyborg's newly revamped security system. 'After all,' she deliberated, 'if I can defeat my father, I can take care of whoever these guys are, no problem.'

Somehow she couldn't quite convince herself that it would be that simple.

------

The senshi had indeed found themselves in the Titans' main living area. They all gasped in surprise at the wreckage barely visible in the faint light issuing from the fireball Mars was holding up.

"Do you think there was an attack?" Saturn whispered, glancing around at the devastated room and fearing the worst for her half-sister.

Mercury had activated her visor and was checking data seen only by her. "Though it does look like there might have been some sort of a struggle, there aren't any signs that anyone was 'defeated.' And I don't think those security measures that greeted us had been set off before we got here."

"Maybe they didn't come in through the front door," murmured Jupiter as she dropped into a fighting stance. She wasn't about to take any chances.

"Shh," warned Mars, pulling back her hood and scanning the area with her sixth sense. "There's something near. Something evil." Indicating a dark hallway, she extinguished the flame in her hand and took out an ofuda scroll, murmuring a few words to charge it. The others fanned out, preparing for an attack.

Down the appointed hallway stood a silent Raven, who struggled to hear their whispers. She saw the light fade out. Had they left? Thinking it was alright to chance a closer look, she walked stealthily closer to the entrance.

Mars had sensed the movement, and made to stop it. "Mars," Saturn hesitated. But her teammate had already launched the charm.

The next instant, all Raven knew was pain. Intense, unbearable pain. It felt as if her soul were being ripped in two in the most savage way imaginable. She couldn't move, couldn't think. She could only scream.

Saturn paled and staggered, after which several things seemed to happen at once. Four new beings burst into the room, one throwing a small disk at the red-cloaked figure who had thrown the offending talisman, only to have it kicked away by another figure clad in green.

"Bl…Blackfire?" gasped an innocent sounding girl, and suddenly the room was bathed in jade as her eyes and hands flared with her power. "I do not know how you were able to escape once again, but you will pay for hurting my friend!" she cried, launching several emerald bolts in quick succession. A wall of ice blocked her attack, and the two teams reformed.

"Mars," gasped Mercury, "take—"

But she was cut short when a thick beam of blue-white energy blasted through her quickly formed wall. Mars had gotten the message though, and moved towards the still screaming girl, only to be blocked by a huge crow swooping down on her. 'Stay away from her!' it screamed mentally.

"I'm trying to help her!" Mars bit back, ducking to avoid the sharp talons. The flying creature wavered, clearly shocked she had understood him. Mars used his hesitation to her advantage, and reached out a hand to wrench the scroll off of the still-screaming girl's forehead. Just as she had grasped it, she was kicked hard from behind by Robin, who had used his bo-staff to launch himself over the others. The force caused her to hit her head against the doorway, and she slid down the wall, looking about dazedly. As he made to land another blow, he was suddenly jerked back by his cape and thrown to the floor by a taller girl, who was in turn hit from behind by the remnants of another hastily erected ice wall burst apart by another blue beam. Turning, she threw herself to the side as several green bolts jetted past her, right towards the collapsed form of the girl who Mars had attacked earlier.

"No!" shrieked Starfire.

Mars had recovered by now, and, seeing the angry energy hurtling towards the prone figure, leapt to intercept them while igniting a wall of flame and crossing her arms to block against those few that made it through. The fire dissipated most of them, and those that got past merely succeeded in pushing her back a few inches.

"ENOUGH!" cried the smallest cloaked girl, and her eyes suddenly glowed white. Dark violet ribbons reached out from the floor and ensnared each person in the room, effectively stopping any more attacks and getting their attention. (1)

"Please," she said softly, "we didn't mean to attack her. It was a misunderstanding."

"Why should we believe you?" spat Robin, struggling against his bonds, but to no avail.

"Incase you didn't notice, we tried to rectify our mistake. And I didn't just tie you up."

"Yeah," yelled Jupiter, who was also fighting against the resilient ribbon, "what's up with that?"

Saturn ignored her, instead considering her next words. "We are known as the Sailor Senshi, and we have come to your city on a mission. Something happened that wasn't supposed to; Evil was released that had already been sealed away." As she said this, a tendril wrapped itself around Raven and lifted her still form, bringing her towards Saturn.

"Leave her alone! She's not evil; she's the one who stopped it," yelled Robin, eyes widening at the thought of what this powerful stranger might do to his teammate.

Saturn smiled softly, and made another motion. The indigo strands carried the unconscious girl and laid her down gently on the couch, after which they receded back into the floor. "We know what part Raven played. She was the portal that brought Trigon, The End, and," she interrupted the retort about to issue from Cyborg, "The Afterwards. For your great deeds, we are in your debt." She gave them a deep bow.

"But why is it that my sister fights with you?" queried an unsure Starfire.

Saturn looked confused for a moment, and then nodded in understanding. "Mercury, perhaps a little more light is in order."

Until now, the room had only been lit by the glow of the full moon streaming in through the large bay windows, and the various powers that had issued forth from the formidable teens. Mercury was then released, and she proceeded to punch another series of keys on the small computer that seemed to appear out of nowhere.

"You can't turn on the lights with tha—" began Cyborg with an indignant tone, but he didn't get to finish his statement, as bright lights blazed into life, blinding them momentarily. His jaw dropped to the floor.

"I, um…linked to your system," explained Mercury quietly.

As eyes adjusted to the new level of illumination, the two teams began to take stock of their opponents.

"Dude, what's with the weird hair color?" Beast Boy asked in what he thought was a quiet voice, staring at Mercury while scratching his head with his untied hand. Obviously tact was not one of his strong suits.

"Uh, BB…you're green," reminded Cyborg.

The unobservant changeling opened his mouth to contest, but shut it after a moment's thought. "Oh…heh," he chuckled nervously, arm behind his head. "Of course."

"I am sorry that I mistook you for my wicked sister. I could not see very well, though I did observe you throw something at my friend Raven, after which she started to scream most horribly," Starfire sighed remorsefully, eyes to the ground. Mars nodded, accepting the apology. Starfire gave a small smile.

"If you promise not to attack us, I will release you and we shall explain exactly what circumstances have brought us here, as well as a little more about ourselves. We already know much about you, Teen Titans, and it's only fair to reciprocate."

Robin glanced at his remaining team, all of which looked a bit uncomfortable dangling above the ground as they were. None besides Raven seemed to have been hurt too badly though. He nodded once in agreement, although he continued to eye the tall girl with the ponytail warily.

Saturn unclenched her left hand and everyone was released, with all except Beast Boy landing gracefully on the ground as the ribbons retreated back into the floor after unraveling.

"Ouch," he squeaked up from the ground. Gathering himself up, he walked concernedly towards the still unmoving Raven. "Wha'd you do to her?" he asked with worry in his voice.

It was Mars' turn to look regretful. "I used an ofuda. It's a scroll used to banish evil spirits," she explained. "I…I didn't know it was Raven. I would never have used it if I had, due to her particular…makeup. I only focused on the evil I felt, a mistake that I should never have let happen." Though her expression remained passive, her eyes burned with anger directed inwards. She made her way over to where the young Azarathean lay, pulling out another scroll while Saturn followed her.

"Please, did you not just say that you would not have used this, o-fooda, against her had you known who she was?" the pretty alien asked worriedly.

"This is different. This is to save her."

The remaining Titans looked towards their leader. His face showed a brief internal struggle, but in the end he said nothing. They all looked on as Mars chanted once more and placed the new piece of parchment on the girls' chest. Saturn then took her place and held glowing hands over the scroll.

"That's kinda like what Raven does," observed Cyborg.

"They have a lot more in common than you think," commented Jupiter wryly.

The Titans glanced at each other, unsure whether or not this was a good thing.

(1) Yeah, I know she doesn't exactly have this in her arsenal, but I'm taking my cue from the other authors that mistakenly give her the power of 'Death RIBBON Revolution.' It really fits really well with what I'm trying to do here, so we'll leave it at that.

Woo hoo! Another finished chapter done in record time. I'm spoiling y'all with all of these quick updates. But I still don't know whether or not most of you like it! It's gotten quite a few hits, but hardly anyone has posted remarks. This makes me think that you wouldn't want to keep reading…

I'd love for you to write a quick review for it, be it good or bad. I'd be even more appreciative to those who give actual constructive criticism; I'd really like to know if there's anything I need to fix. The next chapter probably won't be posted as quickly, as I've got reading to catch up on. :( But the story will go on!

Special thanks to Harpygirl91, Aleric, and moon-bunny735 for taking the time to comment on my humble story! Aleric, I hadn't really thought about that, though I haven't forgotten about her beloved Silkie. Perhaps I'll throw in something special, just for you! ;)

Ja ne!

-flarescence

Edited 12/17/2005