A/N: Yah, that last scene, in the end of the last chapter, is the last of that stuff. Thanks for reviewing, I can't tell you guys how much it has helped me write this story!
The four Titans continued to knock on doors until noon, and still had plenty of blocks to go. Beast Boy whined of an empty stomach, and Cyborg joined in the chant after he heard the reference to food.
"Fine, we will continue later after a short break," Robin said.
"Short? How long is short, dude?" Beast Boy asked, not to happy that he would have to leave the tower, shortly after he arrived.
"How long is to long?" Robin asked back, for spite.
"There is no such thing as "to long" when it involves a break!"
"It is when it involves a fellow teammate," Starfire commented.
"Thank you," Robin sighed. Starfire smiled, grabbing his hand for him to be carried home.
"Ugh," Beast Boy sighed, turning into a bird to fly Cyborg home.
-xXx
Raven was in a deep sleep, a much needed one, considering she was just getting her strength back. But Slade, he lay wide awake, alert as ever. His emotions were still on high, and his plan was coming together. Would he loose Raven, his Raven, after he would tell her what he was doing? Did he want to loose her? He cared about her greatly, no doubt, but his plan could cut the ties between the two.
'Loose her forever and she will never interfere,' he thought to his dismay.
"She already has interfered, and she has changed me. But unfortunately, not all of me," he sighed, softly. He unpeeled the white sheet off his sweaty body, exposing everything to the cooler air. He grabbed his undergarments and pants, and walked over to the bathroom, and turned on the cold water in the sink. Slade looked at his unmasked face and the mirror, and looked horrified as his reflection stared back at him. His ran his finger through the water, checking it's temperature; ice cold. He splashed the water on his face and neck, cooling him down completely. He reached for a towel, and patted his face dry. He walked down the hall to collect his mask that was taken off a few hours ago, and what a few hours it had been.
-xXx
"Instead of knocking on every house, why don't we just find one that stands out oddly," Beast Boy suggested, not wanting to get off the couch.
"He could have dressed the house up normally, us not suspecting a thing. We need to do this Beast Boy," Robin sighed.
"And besides, if the rumors hold true that he is missing an eye, and he does answer one of those damned to hell doors, we can spot him easy," Cyborg thought aloud.
"Very true," Starfire said, submitting herself into the conversation, "Do you think he has family?"
The three men look at her strange, their faces smothered in the 'what the fuck?' look. "What? It could be possible," she continued.
"You mean someone actually like this man? And enough to have family? Ha, Star. Don't make me laugh," Beast Boy said, on the verge of extreme laughter.
"Raven does," Cyborg said, causing everyone to turn to him, "Maybe not enough to conceive his family, but she does "like" him."
Everyone fell silent, pondering the once unthinkable thought.
"A masked man is not only mysterious, but slightly intriguing," Starfire said, turning to Robin, "You know what they are doing with the mask on, but there is a whole side to this person that you don't know. Apparently, curiosity kills cats." Robin smiled at the last sentence, but took what she said about mystery seriously. It wasn't the masked man they feared, it was the man behind the mask.
-xXx
Raven stirred, fluttering her eyes open, to see darkness. She removed the damp cloth covering her eyes, and found that Slade was nowhere to be seen within the room. Also remembering that she had no clothes on, she wrapped the sheet around her closely, and pulled it off the bed until she found her leotard. But, it was not near the bed. Confused, she kept the sheet wrapped around her and headed outside the room to find out where her clothing was. The sheet dragged far behind her, as if she was in a plain, and skimpy, wedding dress, and how beautiful she felt in the sheet. Raven headed down the stairs, towards the kitchen, but he was not there. Did he desert her?
Even more dazed she walked around the house, trying to find him and her clothes. She came across a closed door, and figuring since all the others in the house were open, this could be the room he was in. She grabbed the doorknob and twisted it to the right….
-xXx
"Hello, is this everyone that lives here?" Beast Boy asked yet another family, who only consisted of her and who looked like her son.
"Yes, but erm…."
"Why are we doing this?"
"Yes," answered the woman.
"It's not in the papers?"
"No."
"Odd."
"But why are you doing this?"
"It's a secret," Beast Boy said, walking away, "Have a nice day!" The lady closed the door, and her son looked up at her.
"Who was it?" he asked.
"A Teen Titan," she answered.
Beast Boy turned his head to the left, and came across a bigger house. A big and beautiful house, that was unique to the rest. He walked over to the house, stepping onto the front porch….
-xXx
Nothing. She saw nothing as she peered through the crack between the door frame and the door. Closing it, she opened it a little more, and lights clicked on, revealing many T.V. screens and desks full of paperwork and what looked like unfinished machines. The televisions came on, showing what appeared to be many different angles of the outside and inside of the house. And to her dismay and surprise she saw Beast Boy.
-xXx
Beast Boy pressed the doorbell, and it rang happily. Ironic for Slade, really. After a minute of waiting, Beast Boy pressed it again, but still no answer. He turned into a hummingbird and flew to each of the windows, and still no sign of life. He double checked the windows, paranoid that this was the home of the infamous villain Slade.
As he was flying to the next window, he saw what looked like a female in a white dress, possibly a wedding dress. He saw her running, as if frantic, but no one followed her, so she was not being chased. Beast Boy turned into a hawk and flew into the window with velocity and smashed it, entering the house in a crash. As soon as he crashed into the window, he heard a loud shriek, and more footsteps that sounded bare on a wooden floor. After he regained himself, he started to frantically look around the house for the supposed Raven….
-xXx
"Beast Boy…." Raven's voice trailed off.
'Should I tell Slade?'
Raven shut the door in panic, and stood there, frozen with fear of what to do. Here she was, covered in a white bed sheet, in the house of a man that was her team's biggest foe yet. Who would know what to do. The doorbell rung again, and still she stood there, thinking of all the pros and cons of running to Slade about this. There was a chance he already knew that Beast Boy was here, but not that Raven was up from her deep slumber. Something caught her eye in a window of the hall. The hall was long as it was wide, and the windows were not all that close to the wall she was leaning up against.
'Beast Boy….'
Raven ran as fast as she could up the stairs and to Slade's bedroom, but she skidded to a stop when she realized that it might not be a great idea to be found, if she got found, in his bedroom, with the bed and quilt a mess. On the way up, a window crashed, and she couldn't help but yet, releasing the excitement within her. She dashed, almost tripping, to her room and slammed to door behind her, locking it. A fist angrily started hitting the door, scaring Raven, causing her to curse him away. She didn't know why she was running from the Titans, for they were her friends. Maybe it was the comment Beast Boy made about using her to get to Slade….
"Raven!" the voice harshly called, "Raven get out of here! Go home…it's not safe!"
"Slade!"
"Go home!"
Raven stood away from the door at the comment, and sat down on the floor, tucking the bed sheet to make sure it would not fall away from her body and leave her exposed.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos…Azar…Metr…Azarath Metrion Zinthos," Raven repeated, gathering her emotions together, the fuel of her power, so she can teleport to the tower. But it was so hard, her thoughts were scattered, and uncertainty flooded her mind. Slade's last remark set her straight, to teleport back "home". After her emotions were gathered, a black raven formed behind her, and swallowed her into darkness, making her disappear when the raven disappeared into the floor.
-xXx
Beast Boy dashed down the hallway, passing the staircase, and headed into what appeared to be the living room. He looked around the couches, and under tables, trailing a mess as he tore the room. He headed into the kitchen, opening and closing cabinets with crashes. This enabled Slade to get by with no problem, since Beast Boy was making the most noise. After he stopped messing around with the cooking ware, he reentered the hallway, and heard a knocking noise on a door from upstairs, and started to head towards the stairwell
"Beast Boy? Where are you?" Robin said into the communicator. Beast Boy flinched at his voice, and quickly grabbed the device.
"I'm in the biggest house, Slade's house. Raven might be here," Beast Boy said, and latched his communicator back onto his belt, and headed up the stairs.
-xXx
Once Raven arrived in her room, she collapsed to the floor, her grip loose of the sheet. She could not cry, nor let out any emotion. She felt she was good as dead, not moving on the floor. It was a struggle to breath, never mind force herself to think.
'I have to give Beast Boy more credit about this thinking thing,' Raven thought to herself struggling to a position that wasn't revealing, 'It's tough stuff.'
-xXx
"I'm in the biggest house, Slade's house. Raven might be here," Robin received. Robin's head popped up, looking around in panic. He spotted the house, and started to run towards it, motioning to Cyborg and Starfire to follow him.
"You think you found the home of Slade? And where is friend Beast Boy?" Starfire asked, gliding next to him as he ran.
"Beast Boy found out where Slade is, and Raven is possibly still there," Robin responded.
"Where else could she be anyways?" Cyborg questioned.
-xXx
"What did you do to Raven? Where is she!" questioned Beast Boy, a fire blazing in his eyes.
"I did nothing to your friend. She's not here," Slade answered, turning around from the door, his voice unbridled by the anger of the changeling.
"Where did she go? Where did you put her. If you did anything to her I'll--"
"Kill me? Highly unlikely. But if you want a whim at it…," Slade commented, the expression of only his eye mocking Beast Boy.
Beast Boy shot into the form of a black bear, and roared fiercely, Slade's composure contained. Beast Boy stood on his back legs, and swung his massive paws at his supposed aggressor, Slade dodging everyone, and managed to give a nasty impact to the stomach of the black bear. Almost doubling over in pain, he switched to the lion, king of the jungle.
"Slightly ironic, don't you think? Changing into something with high ranking, only to be beat again?" Slade taunted.
'Man,' Beast Boy thought, handicapped without speech for the moment, 'what is it with this 'ironic word?' Besides his wondering, he once again roared with meaning, anger forcing the sound. He pounced, nails out of their hiding. Slade quickly sidestepped, slamming his foot into the side of the lion, and Beast Boy was pushed to the left. He quickly transformed into a raptor, a hunting genius. The composure that Slade once had was gone, but wasn't ready to admit defeat. But to Robin's disappointment, he probably saved Slade from certain death when his foot slammed into his face. He slammed into the wall, hard, but still showed no sign of loss of strength.
"Get out of my house," Slade said, his voice alive with fury.
"Where's Raven?" Robin said, stepping closer, the other Titans behind him, Beast Boy still a raptor just to keep him on his toes.
"I don't have her. In fact she left just before you showed up. To be frank with you, I haven't the slightest idea where she went." Beast Boy hissed in the background, implying that the answer wasn't good enough.
"Search the house," instructed Robin, "make sure he's not lying."
"This is my house, Robin. I think we should go by my rules," Slade pointed out.
"And what are they?" Robin said, with a cocky attitude.
"You have a problem with me, take it outside."
"Gladly." And with that said, Robin was thrown from the second story bathroom window.
-xXx
"You think we should help?" Cyborg asked Starfire while she okayed an unused closet downstairs.
"Robin is capable of handling Slade while we take car of this quickly," she said, picking up the pace, "Besides, we need to find Raven."
"Right," answered Cyborg, heading for the room with all the monitors.
Meanwhile, Beast Boy traveled to the bedroom, Slade's bedroom. The first sheet that lays on top of the mattress was unruly, ripped from being tucked safely under the mattress. The quilt wasn't even on the bed, but in front of the bed, and the pillowcases were wrinkled.
'No…,' Beast Boy disbelieved, 'It can't be real. That can't be right. Not unless….' The rage in Beast Boy grew from intense, to beyond multiple punches of a person or punching bag. He could not contain his fury, and screamed, letting only a small fraction of his emotion free.
Cyborg and Starfire cleared the basement and first floor, no signs of her. They heard the scream, and immediately went upstairs, following the cry to the bedroom.
"What happened? Did you find friend Raven?" Starfire said in one breath.
"Oh, shit."
"What? What is this shit you speak of?" innocently blind to the scene that lay in front of her.
"Star, look…," Cyborg pointing towards the bed.
"Human reproduction?"
Cyborg sighed, and clasped his hand on his forehead.
Beast Boy was shaking from the intensity, he was playing all the scenes that could have possibly happened in the room, all turning out to play like a bad movie ending. All he could think about was how fragile Raven was now, compared to when she was last at the tower.
"She isn't here?" Beast Boy asked, turning his gaze towards Cyborg.
"No, man. Slade was right, she left."
"Maybe she ran home?" Starfire suggested.
"Yah, let's start heading home, and get Robin out of the fight.
-xXx
Robin's feet were kicked out from under him, and he came crashing down to the grassy lawn. Fighting to win, he got back up, ready to take another blow. The extreme fist fight went on blazing, each far from giving up. Robin saw Starfire above, and stepped away, allowed her to grab him from the duel. Besides, Slade was merely defending himself, the plan would still work, and he would hear of his results later.
'Excellent. Now just wait for your success,' he thought going inside.
-xXx
The Titans burst throw the tower's entrance, screaming Raven's name, but no answer came. All of them figured she would be in her room, and dashed up the stairs to find out. Beast Boy entered the room first, and gasped at her state, she lay limp, clutching onto the sheet for dear life, holding on so it wouldn't fall off of her.
"Raven…," Beast Boy said, bending down and gently placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Get away from me," Raven said, her voice cold and emotionless.
"We need to--"
"Go away!" she yelled, with little energy. Beast Boy jumped back.
"We can help--"
"All you have done is destroyed me! Go AWAY!" Raven bellowed, and the team responded with a jog out the room, but Beast Boy, stayed, stretching Raven's anger to the limit, draining all of her energy.
"And leave you like this? No!" Beast Boy responded.
"Friend, I think you should--" Starfire started.
"No, Starfire. I'm not going to back down," Beast Boy sternly said, turning around to meet her gaze.
"Leave me alone, you stubborn brute, or when I regain my energy and thoughts, I will come after you with hell at my grasp," Raven said, looking up into Beast Boy's loving eyes.
"I will not leave you like this, alone!"
"Beast Boy! Come on man, let's go!" Cyborg yelled, starting to get agitated.
"No! You guys leave!"
"Beast Boy, you're making things worse, leave her alone!" Robin said, motioning for him to come.
"You might have control over this team, but you don't have control over me. I am not leaving!" Robin stood agape at the comment, and left with haste, now eager for Raven to bring hell upon him.
"Why don't you listen to me!" Raven yelled, moving into a more comfortable position on her floor.
"Because, I care."
"If you care about me, you would leave."
"Your to weak, you need attention."
"I need to rest."
"You need to have someone watch you."
"I want you to get out of here."
"…I want you."
Raven looked up at Beast Boy again, and a tear slid down her even paler face.
"I am taken, Beast Boy. Our paths do not cross at that point. We will never be…what you want," Raven said, choking back tears.
"What are you saying?" Beast Boy asked. Raven broke her gaze with his stare, and looked at to dark floor of her room.
A/N: Cliffhanger, I guess. O.o Eek! Over 100 reviews! Gosh, that's tons more than I ever expected. Thanks everyone!
