Sorry, I would have submitted the third chapter earlier except for some reason when I placed the chapters online a while ago I somehow forgot to place this one, and for some reason I was unable to do so earlier... I'll be short, enjoy.

It apparently was a bad idea for them to leave Timothy alone in the tower. He hadn't stayed in the common room as he had been asked but instead had made his way down to the basement beyond where the T-Car had been parked. Once in the basement he found a doorway leading into the solid rock ground and opened it. The doorway led to a tunnel that the titans had build a while ago in honor of Terra. The tunnel led down to the cave in which Terra still stood as a statue.

Timothy followed the tunnel into the cavern and up to Terra's stone body. Gently he placed his hand on the cold stone and opened his mouth. A sound escaped his opened mouth but it wasn't any real form of speech. Even so a small light passed from his hand into the stone illuminating it a brilliant white. After a few seconds the white turned into a golden red and began to ripple off of the stone almost like flame. A few more seconds and the stone began to melt like ice, but before it could get anywhere Timothy looked directly above him and gasped.

On the surface Raven had fallen to the ground, hard, and was trying to get her body to move. The light had not only hurt but had also sapped her energy. Her sluggish movements were pitiful, even when compared to the slow movements of the man with the cane. As the battle raged on around them the man slowly walked towards her, a wicked grin crossing his face. Every so often one of the other titans would be flung towards them but each time they would bounce off of a spherical shield that was invisibly enclosing Raven and the man.

"This I will enjoy, my dear."

"Not if I can do anything about it." Raven said glairing at the man.

"Oh, but you can't. You can't even move." The man said, his wicked smile broadening. "But even if you could I could simply stop you with this crystal." He pointed at the large crystal on his cane. "I can do anything with this." he pointed it at her and she began to lift into the air, her hands and feet being pulled from her body until they were straining.

Raven quivered in pain, a moan escaping her mouth. At the same moment a crack was heard from outside of the bubble. The man turned and saw a flame of brilliant white light. The crystal on his cane began to burn with the same light as did the pendants on the other four people.

As the light began to dim a teen of about fourteen appeared. He was wearing a long silvery cape and a silvery tunic under it. His hair was very long and a golden blond that shined in the brilliant white light. Both of his eyes were closed but as he straightened his body into a standing position they shot open. Suddenly he was moving so fast that for a second Raven and the old man lost track of him. He reappeared between Robin and the boy with the bat.

"If you are going to be a criminal at least be creative and not copy something you saw on television, slugger." The teenager said, his voice nearly lifeless and cold, and pulled the bat from the kid's hands. The kid jumped back and pulled out a pendant which he directed at the teen. The teen laughed and said, "If you really think that will work you are welcome to try."

The kid pushed the pendant at the teen and a light began to shine with a shadow flame. The flame focused on one point and a beam came out of it, which the teen dodged easily. Startled the boy did it again and again the teen dodged it, but this time the teen held the bat so that it was hit. The bat began to burn with a dark flame like the pendant and the teen moved to hold the bat like a sward. With one quick move the teen slashed through the kid and the kid fell backward. As Raven watched in horror the bat moved through the kid's body and there was a sickening crack, then a blood curtailing scream. Raven tried to turn away but just before she did she saw a shadow begin to come out the kid's back. The shadow looked like the kid but slightly transparent and with no color. The bat quickly followed the shadow and the kid fell to the ground as the shadow flew into a building.

"I tried to warn him." The teen said and disappeared again.

This time he reappeared between Beast Boy and the squat man with the ridiculously large guns. They hadn't heard the scream, or noticed anything different, so they were still fighting, at least until the realized that someone was between them. The squat man snickered but then noticed the bat and his face grew dark, he aimed his gun at the teen and began firing.

"Your friend tried something similar." The teen said. "It didn't work." As he spoke the bat was moving at an incredible speed and all of the explosives were being stopped a few feet in front of the teen. "I'll make this quick." The teen said and rushed the squat man. The same thing happened as before as the shadow figure was impaled by the bat but the body was left on the ground. The teen flicked the bat up and the shadow flew into the air.

After a second Raven realized that once again he had disappeared and looked to find him between Cyborg and the rocket launchers. Two of the rockets were in either hand and after a second he squeezed, detonating the rockets. Through the smoke of the explosion the teen appeared and his hand flew into the muscular man's stomach. With one quick slash up the shadow figure was ripped out of the man and he fell to the ground. After discarding the shadow the teen disappeared again and an explosion was heard from where Starfire was flying.

Raven looked towards the sound and saw the teen was in front of Starfire and smoke was trailing from his hands. There was a bright flash and a scream as the teen charged the woman and after a second Raven saw that he was holding the shadow figure out by the neck as the woman collapsed on the ground. A moment's hesitation and the shadow was discarded like the others.

Now the teen was walking calmly towards Raven and her captor. The man spat on the ground, his teeth grinding. "How dare you!" the old man yelled. "How dare you!"

"I understand your anger." The teen said his voice cold as ever. "But only because you have something that doesn't belong to you."

"Oh, you mean this?" the old man said holding up the cane. "Well you aren't going to get it."

"Really..." the teen retorted. "And what is going to stop me?"

The old man tapped his cane against the ground and a beam of light moved towards the teen. Just before it hit him he swung his hand and the beam was deflected. Furious and confused the old man tried it again but the same thing happened. Now fuming and perhaps foaming at the mouth the old man swung his cane into the air and tapped the top against the ground. He raised the cane again and the amulets from the necklaces the others had been wearing flew to the cane. Sneering the old man ripped the crystal off of the cane and held it in both hands.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." the teen said. "You won't be able to come back."

"So what?" the old man said. "I won't need to, I will have unlimited power!"

"Not with that crystal." The teen said crossing the threshold of the shield that the old man had put around him and Raven. "You would need much more to have unlimited power."

The old man spat again and squeezed the crystals together. A dark shadow flame burst through his hands and ran up his arms engulfing him in a dark flame. The man began to lift into the air and he pointed one of his hands at the teen. "Now DIE!" the old man said, his voice more like the crackling of fire than a human voice.

A pitch black flame erupted from the old man's hand and shot at the teen. Raising both hands the teen stopped the flame but some of the backlash flew towards Raven. The teen sidestepped and blocked the flame, since Raven still found herself unable to move. Slowly the teen clapped both hands together; then spread his arms creating another shield around Raven.

"Ah, I see. So you are protecting this girl are you?" the old man said. "Then she will die!"

A dark flash of flame streaked around as the man floated quickly behind the teen and Raven. The old man lifted both hands into the air and a huge ball of shadow flame burst through. Moving both arms down the old man threw the ball at Raven and the teen jumped through the shield and into the flame. There was a blood curdling scream as the teen was engulfed in flame and a lick of shadow burst from both his eyes and his mouth.

Raven felt brilliant warmth run through her body as she saw the teen sacrifice himself to save her and she suddenly realized that she was covered in a brilliant white light. The flame surrounding her seemed to move her towards the teen and she felt herself get up. In one quick movement she was at the teen's side, her hands on his shoulders. The flame from her and the flame from the teen appeared to fight as the teen screamed facing upward, flame still shooting out of his mouth and eyes.

Suddenly it was over and the teen dropped to the ground the shadow flame gone. Yet the white flame still surrounded Raven and the dark flame sill surrounded the old man. In a scream of fury the old man flung both arms at Raven, the flame escaping his body and completely flying at her. Suddenly Timothy was there as he jumped between Raven and the jet of shadow flame. Timothy swung his arms in front of him as the flame hit him and Raven saw the old man's body fall to ashes on the ground. Timothy flew into Raven the flame spreading around them but not touching Raven. Through the heat of the shadows Raven saw the other titans fall to the ground as the shields collapsed, sending shockwaves across the street. Finally Raven collapsed on the ground and passed out.

When she awoke Raven saw the titans standing around her. They were all alright except for a few bruises but as she got up and found Timothy lying next to her she realized that the worst had hit him. The entire front of his body was charred black and he wasn't breathing. Quickly Raven moved her hands over Timothy and began trying to heal him. She could feel some of the wounds mending but most of them were not and she could only feel a thread of life from within him.

"We have to get him to a hospital!" Raven yelled.

The others turned away and tears were coming to Starfire's eyes. Raven knew what it meant, she knew that he couldn't be saved as soon as she saw him jumping to save her but she couldn't accept that he would die. It wasn't fair, it couldn't happen... it couldn't. Focused and determined Raven continued to try and head Timothy but she could feel that it wasn't doing anything.

"Raven, it won't help..." Robin said. "He was hit by the full force of that attack. Nothing could have survived that."

"But I did, and I was directly behind him." Raven said tears beginning to flow to her eyes.

"Raven, you may have been able to survive, without a scratch, but he..." Cyborg trailed off.

"What I don't understand is what happened to that other kid." Beast Boy said. "The teen, I mean."

"Yes," Starfire agreed. "Where did he go?"

Robin pointed to a scorch mark and the ashes that were scattered around it. It was where the teen had been and it was plain and obvious that that was the remains of him. He had saved the others but had sacrificed himself in the process... a true hero. One of two who had done so for the titans.

Something in the pile of ash glinted in the light and Robin bent to pick it up. What he found was a pure white crystal orb. There crystal was completely clear and there was a white shine around it, almost like a small flame. Robin held it up to the light to get a better look but as he did so it fell from his hand and dropped to the ground at Raven's side. The crystal cracked down the middle and when Raven picked it up shattered. An intense white flame shot up from the fragments and the titans, except for Raven, jumped back as the flame flew into Timothy. As the flame subsided they were all able to see that Timothy had been completely healed.

"What happened?" Beast Boy asked.

"I don't know." Robin said. "How did we get here? Where are the bank thieves?"

As he asked this question the others noticed that four of the five gang members were trying to sneak off with the cash they had stolen. Robin and the others dashed after them but Raven stayed behind and looked curiously at Timothy. The others may have forgotten what had just happened, at least that was what appeared to have happened, but she still remembered the entire event. The teen; Timothy's sacrifice, all of it...

After the others caught the criminals they headed back to the tower and Raven placed Timothy in the infirmary. He hadn't yet woken up and Raven was still worried; she knew he was alive and recovering but still, it would have been better if he were awake. At least then she could talk with him...

Later that night Raven went to bed and quickly fell asleep. Again she found herself surrounded by clouds of colors. Very quickly she remembered what had happened in the previous dream and she looked around for the older Timothy. After a few seconds she noticed that a change was happening far below her and she focused on it.

Far below Raven the colored clouds were swirling in circles and slowly becoming solid. As she watched the clouds began for form a ground, grass and dirt along with a few flowers. Slowly the transformation spread throughout the dreamscape and as she watched she saw a small valley appear and a stream cut its way through the valley. On the outskirts of the valley, which was no more than a hundred yards in diameter, a forest was constructed. The forest raised as mountains were formed and a light fog appeared around them.

After a second Raven blinked and she found herself on the ground. She looked at the mountaintops, which were only a couple of stories higher than the small valley she was in. Beyond the mountains she saw gentle clouds and directly above her she could see nearly clear blue sky. The stream was trickling gently to Raven's right and she noticed that to her left, on a small hill in the center of the valley, stood a large tree.

"It's beautiful." Raven said to herself.

"I was hoping you would think so." The older Timothy's voice traveled down to her from behind the tree.

Raven looked directly at the tree and noticed that she could see part of Timothy sticking out from behind the tree. She walked up the small hill and around the tree; when she was able to see him he greeted her with a bow of his head and a motion for her to sit. A blanket had been laid out for them to sit on and Raven sat on the blanket in front of Timothy.

"You still have many questions." Timothy said, his voice flowing rhythmically and matter-of-factly. "I can answer some of them but not all."

"Ok," Raven said. "Why are you so different now? When you are awake you don't speak at all and you seem so... innocent."

"Well, though I can not truthfully say that I am innocent, you are correct in thinking so. The 'Timothy' you know in the waking, or material, world knows almost nothing. I know almost everything that I knew before that happened to us. Because Timothy only really knows how to walk and eat he truly is innocent and the love he feels for you runs deep." The older Timothy stopped there for a second so Raven could process the word 'love'. "I can remember nearly everything from before and I am able to see and understand more than he is... most of the things Timothy and I feel are the same and the difference is only made up in the knowledge that I have and the power that I control."

"Timothy loves me?" Raven asked, apparently still stuck on that. "Loves me... does that mean-"

"We share the same emotions, though he is only able to experience the more shallow side of each. As he grows he will begin remembering things again..." the older Timothy said. "As his powers and energies return his memories will. They will not always make sense because we have many memories that extend over a long time but one memory that will always remain will be you..."

Raven had been blushing slightly at what the older Timothy had said before and the red on her face increased at this. She was feeling warm and in a peaceful state of joy as her face continued to brighten. Rarely had Raven felt this way before, at least not like this and certainly not to this extent. This was a new experience for her and, normally, her powers would have been flaring along with her emotions but they seemed to be gently suppressed by something.

"Why me?" Raven managed to ask, her voice cracking slightly. "Why me?"

"Because of who you are, Raven. You were born of darkness but you wished to be something better, you wished to help people even when it would have been easier to do otherwise. You hoped for more and you brought it to yourself. You are strong, not only in power but in spirit." He paused and took a deep breath. "You are full of love and joy, both of which yearn to be released but are repressed because of your powers. You are kind and caring, both of which are not shown as much as they are because you have to keep your powers in check. You are smart and witty, which you commonly show off. You are beautiful, both inside and out but you feel you must hide from others... many parts of these would quickly attract anyone, but all of it together is a very wonderful package."

"I... I... Really?" Raven stuttered. "I don't know what to say."

"I wish to tell you now, for it may come up a number of times, I am not like the dragon trapped within the book. I ask nothing of you but what you already provide, and what you choose to provide. I whish your happiness; not necessarily your help." The older Timothy said shifting his weight as he spoke. "Your help would be appreciated in the process of regaining what has been lost to me, though, and I would try to repay you as best I could."

"How could I help?" Raven asked, spellbound by the older Timothy's words.

"I cannot say right now. You are under the influence of my words and would likely agree to nearly anything. When I ask your help I want you to have a clear mind for I wish to not take advantage of you." he paused and began getting up. "Raven, in the end I wish to give you something that will make you either very happy or very sad. I wish it to give you joy rather than sorrow but even I cannot truly predict which it will bring." He stood and knelt in front of Raven, his head just above hers; Raven closed her eyes. Slowly he bent down and gently kissed her on the forehead just as she opened her eyes. She looked around and realized that she had woken up.