Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.

-UR-

"Cyborg?"

The mechanical teenager's eye flickered open, and he frowned slightly as he turned his head. Starfire grinned brightly as she looked down at him, clapping her hands together. "Oh, Cyborg!" she chirped. "I am delighted to see that you are well!" Cyborg blinked once as he sat up, reaching up to rub his head. "Um, what happaned?" he inquired, looking around the white hospital room. Starfire's grin faltered as she looked down at the floor. "Our friend Raven attacked you," she mumbled quietly. "She took Beast Boy and left. Robin has gone after them." All at once, the events came rushing back, and Cyborg cringed, lying back down in the hospital bed. "Any idea what's wrong with her?" he asked, glancing up at Starfire. The Tamaranian shrugged, sitting down on a chair that had been placed near Cyborg's cot. "We are not sure," she sighed, her emerald eyes tracing over the patterns on the ceiling. "Robin believes that it may have something to do with Trigon."

Cyborg let out a low whistle as he grimaced, shaking his head slightly. "Damn," he muttered. "And just when I thought we had beaten all the baddies and were going to be able to relax." "Trigon is not an ordinary 'baddie'," Starfire reminded her friend as she stood up, her shoulders slumped as she floated aimlessly about the room. "I fear he has done something terrible to our friend and that she shall never be the same and that many innocent people will be injured or Raven could possibly injure one of us as she has done to you, and that if she ever returns to normal she will be blamed for terrible things, and--" she stopped when she realized that Cyborg was watching her with an arched eyebrow, and she blushed sheepishly, clasping her hands together in front of her. "I should be shutting up now, yes?" she asked timidly, risking a glance up at her friend. Cyborg smiled and shook his head, then sighed. "You're right, though," he said, quickly replacing his smile with a frown. "If we don't figure out what's up with Rae soon, bad stuff's gonna happen."

-UR-

"R-Raven..." Beast Boy gasped out his friend's name, staring at her with wide eyes as her hand squeezed tighter around his throat. The corner of Raven's lip twitched into a sneer as her crimson eyes narrowed, and she pulled Beast Boy towards her, their faces inches apart. "You are a fool," she stated harshly, then shoved him away, releasing him from her grip. Beast Boy fell to the ground, coughing as he tried to intake as much oxygen as possible. Raven glared down at him coldly, her face void of any form of emotion as she watched the changeling. "Why aren't you attacking me?" she demanded, her hands curling into fists as she stretched one leg out, slamming her shin into Beast Boy's side. The olive-toned boy's eyes widened as he was sent flying several feet away, landing in the sand with a soft thud. "Everyone else has," Raven hissed, striding over to him and repeating the attack on his opposite side. "Why won't you?"

Beast Boy coughed again, one hand holding his side. Warm, sticky blood seeped slowly through his uniform, and his rib cage felt tender and painful. He drew in a shaky breath as he shook his head, pushing himself to his knees and tilting his head back. "I don't..." he mumbled, shaking his head again. He let out a small yelp as Raven's heel connected squarely with his chest, sending him sprawled out on his back in the sand. "You don't what?" the empath snarled, slinking over to him and planting her foot on his breastbone. "If you want to say something, say it before I kill you." Beast Boy stared up at her, silent for a moment as his ribs throbbed painfully. "I don't..." he started again, trailing off for a moment as he watched Raven sadly.

"I don't want to fight you."

His words seemed to startle Raven, who jerked her foot away and backed up several feet, her scarlet eyes narrowed. "Why wouldn't you?" she demanded. "Are you too weak? Are you afraid? You're just a little coward, aren't you?" She walked back towards the shape-shifter, closing the distance between them as she stood over his blood-stained form. "You're pathetic," she hissed, slamming her foot against his chest again. "You're weak. You're stupid. I'm not surprised that you don't want to fight me; you're probably scared out of your little mind, aren't you?" The last sentence was spoken in a mockingly sympathetic voice, and Raven's lips curled menacingly into a smirk. Beast Boy glared up at her, cringing as her foot pressed against his rib cage, pain radiating throughout his torso. "No," he stated firmly. "It's because you're my friend, demonified or not."

Raven shook her head, staring at him incredulously. "You really are a fool," she marveled. "You would place our supposed friendship before your own life? You're afraid to defend yourself because of something so meaningless?" She removed her foot from his chest, kneeling down next to him and bending over him, their faces parallel as she glared down at him. "You humans," she scoffed, shaking her head. "You are all fools. My father was right." Raven arched an eyebrow as Beast Boy slowly shook his head, his emerald eyes staring up into her crimson ones. "You're human, too," he reminded her quietly. The empath jerked back, her face declaring her surprise at his words before she scowled and reached down, tracing her the nail of her index finger along Beast Boy's jawline. She leaned her face closer to his, glaring coldly down at him. "Never," she whispered, "relate me to your pathetic kind. You think you understand, yet you have no idea." She tilted her head to the side, staring down at his throat as she curled her finger around, placing it under his chin. "I could slit your throat right now," Raven murmured softly, her gaze shifting to his face. "Then why don't you?" Beast Boy growled, his eyes narrowing as he glared up at her. Whisps of violet fell into Raven's face as she remained silent, simply staring down at him, before she moved forward, pressing her lips against Beast Boy's.

The changeling's eyes widened a considerable amount as he tried to comprehend what was going on, and then realized that there was no point in trying to do so. The situation certainly was a unique one; he was lying on the beach, one of his friends was in the hospital, and the other friend that had put the first friend there was now kissing him. Raven pulled away, a look of confusion settling across her features as her fingers came up to cover her mouth. "I don't know why I did that," she muttered, scowling. "It was stupid of me. It meant nothing, so don't flatter yourself into thinking that." Beast Boy watched her silently as the empath stood up, sharply brushing sand off of her cloak. "I'm going to spare you for the moment," she explained as she brushed invisible dirt off her shoulder, "but that doesn't mean I'm not going to kill you later, understood?" Beast Boy blinked twice, still feeling vaguely numb as he nodded. Raven frowned, her lips twitching into a slight snarl before she shook her head and vanished into the ground in a flame of obsidian.

Beast Boy painstakingly pushed himself to his feet, cringing as pain shot through his upper body. "Damn," he muttered. Was it just him, or was Raven a lot stronger now? Probably because of the demony... ness, he thought, marvelling at how intelligent he sounded even when he was thinking. The squeal of tires caught his attention, and Beast Boy looked up to see the R-Cycle in the middle of an action-movie-type motorcycle parking job, complete with the sideways skid. Robin jerked off his helmet and dismounted the motorcycle, quickly jogging towards his friend. "Beast Boy!" he shouted, his eyes narrowing slightly as he slowed his gait. "Are you okay?" Beast Boy nodded, wincing as he reached up with one hand to scratch his head. "Er, yeah," he mumbled. "I'm fine." He turned to look at where Raven had been standing moment ago, the memory of her surprised expression still fresh in his mind.

You're afraid to defend yourself because of something so meaningless?

For a moment, Beast Boy wondered if that had been the demonic side of Raven that had said that, or if that was how she truly felt about her relationship with her friends. No way, he silently scoffed. I've heard her talk. We're her family, she said so herself. He looked back at Robin, who was frowning worriedly as he looked at the crimson fluid seeping through the side of Beast Boy's uniform. "Raven did that, didn't she," he growled. It wasn't spoken as a question, and Beast Boy doubted if Robin really expected an answer. Nonetheless, the changeling nodded, looking back at Raven's last position.

"Yeah."

-UR-

Why...?

Raven shook her head as she landed at the edge of the forest on the outskirts of Jump City, her crimson eyes narrowed. Why had she done that? She'd shown actual feeling-- for a human, even. Disgusting. She shook her head, horrified at her actions, and yet confused as well. He was just a stupid, lowly, filthy human. She felt nothing for him except for hatred. She despised him. She wanted him dead by her own hands. It's the bad side, she decided as she trudged aimlessly among the trees. It's the human side that's making me feel this way. I don't care for him at all, I'm just fooling myself.

She groaned, stopped as she leaned against a nearby tree trunk. Raven glanced up, watching the sunlight slipping into the forest through breaks in the tree branches. She still was confused as to how and why she had turned into her demon form, let alone what effects it might have upon her, both physically and mentally.

The chirping of a squirrel caught Raven's attention, and her eyes darted up, scanning the tree branches. She smirked as she found the animal on the trunk of a large tree, and she held out one hand, a dark aura surrounding her fingers. A thick branch broke off of the tree, and it glowed onyx as Raven slammed it against the trunk. With a wave of her hand, the branch fell to the earth, and Raven smiled as she looked at the crimson liquid that had been splattered across the wood.

I just killed a small, furry mammal that makes most people coo and squeal. How can I do that, yet I can't kill that stupid boy?

She shook her head, her smile vanishing as she slammed her fist into the trunk of the tree closest to her, scowling in frustration. One thing was for sure: she had quite a lot of things to figure out before she went back to kill those stupid enough to call themselves her friends.