AN: Nope, no ownership yet… deal with it

Five Years Later

The tower looked exactly the same. Of course, the shattered glass of the window she had broken was replaced, but still. She smiled softly as it came into view. She had been longing to see this for five years. Five very long years. She hoped she would still be welcome. She hated how abruptly she had had to leave, but if she hadn't she could have done more damage.

She landed on the roof and felt her smile grow wider. She was home. Now she had to decide on how to make her entrance. She checked to make sure they were all home. She did a mind check and found all four. She also concluded that they were all in the common room. She chuckled at the fact that five years after she left they still all congregated in the common room. She smiled and soon melted through the roof.

They didn't even hear her as she manifested into the room. She watched them for a minute, silently. Starfire and Robin were in the kitchen cooking while Cyborg and Beast Boy were lounging on the couch watching TV. Suddenly, Beast Boy sat up straight and sniffed the air.

"You okay?" asked Cyborg.

"I… I smell…" he said, sniffing. "Something familiar… I smell…" He turned his head and looked behind the couch. His eyes went wide and he felt his heart stop for a second. "R-R-Raven!"

Cyborg turned and his jaw dropped. Robin and Starfire stopped preparing their meal and turned to see her. They all had the same shocked looked on their faces.

"Well… isn't anyone going to say hello?" she asked. She stood with one hand on her hip and a smirk across her face. She was in all white; her boots, her leotard, her cloak. Her figure was now matured and she looked to be a woman. Her violet hair was still pin straight, but fell to her lower back. Her face was different as well. Not just the fact that it was more mature, but there was a spark of life behind her eyes. She even looked natural with a smile, something they had never seen before.

"Raven!" screeched Starfire. Before Raven could say anything, Starfire wrapped her arms around her dearly missed friend and squeezed the bejesus out of her. "We have missed you so much! I thought about you every day."

"That's nice to know," said Raven through her strained lungs. Starfire released her and stood back, clasping her hands in joy. She had matured as well, her body still long and thin, but developed. She had the same long, flowing unnaturally red hair. Her uniform was even more revealing now, but was somehow still tasteful. Well, tasteful to Starfire at least.

"We were wondering when you were going to come back," said Robin with a smile. He was taller now and had the face of a man. Not to mention the body of one as well. His hair was a little shorter, but still quaffed perfectly with just the right amount of hair gell. His suit was no longer the colors of a traffic light, but red and back with yellow here and there. This accentuated his strong muscles. The signature mask remained, as well as his signature serious look.

"I know, sorry it took so long," said Raven. "But I'm back and ready to get back to work if you'll have me."

"Are you kiddin?" laughed Cyborg as he hugged her next. "The team hasn't been the same without ya!" He looked basically the same, which wasn't a bad thing. The only thing that had changed was his face, which was a little more defined. She noticed that the robotic parts that held his face seemed to be altered slightly to adjust to his matured bone structure.

Raven then turned her attention to Beast Boy and her jaw dropped. "Oh my god," she said aloud, obviously shocked.

He was as tall as Robin and had a beautiful body. Still thin, but defined and healthy. His face was sharper now and held no evidence that there was any boy left in him. His hair was a bit longer now, but he made sure to spike it as well as possible. She didn't have the heart to tell him it almost looked like how Robin's hair used to look. But it suited him well enough, especially when it partially fell in front of his glittering, seducing jade eyes. His suit was still black and purple, but the design was completely different. He had no sleeves, revealing his sculpted arms, and had elbow length black gloves that lacked fingers. The black areas of the suit now had purple tiger stripes as well.

"Uh, heh, I thought you'd be surprised," said Beast Boy, scratching the back of his head awkwardly.

"That's putting it mildly," said Raven, her eyes still wide with shock. "When did this happen?"

"About a year after you left," said Cyborg, grinning. "Lil grass stain finally hit puberty."

"Hey, shut up!" said Beast Boy, shoving Cyborg so hard he was actually pushed away from the group. He was certainly stronger now. And his voice was no longer squeaky, but deep and mature. It actually sent a shiver up Ravens spine to hear him talk with such a different voice.

"Raven, you are back to stay, yes?" asked Starfire with hopeful eyes.

"Yes," said Raven with a small smile and a nod.

"Glorious!" said Starfire, hugging her again.

"So what happened?" asked Robin. "I mean, obviously you must have gotten control of your powers."

"Yes, I did," said Raven. "But, before I tell you everything, I'd really like to sit down. I've had a long journey."

They all went over to the couch and sat down, with Raven in the middle. They were all waiting anxiously for her to tell them what had happened the past five years.

"Much better," said Raven, sitting down. "Alright, I suppose I should explain why my powers went out of control in the first place."

"Sounds like a good place to start," said Cyborg.

"Well, it turns out I was going through a sort of demon puberty," said Raven. "When a demon hits this period in their life, usually in the middle of their teenage years rather than the beginning like in a human puberty, their powers are strengthened immensely. Usually, though, the demon is able to quickly adjust to the new powers so that nothing blows up. Unfortunately, for me, I'm only half demon. So that control I should have had was lost."

"Then how'd you become in control?" asked Beast Boy.

"I was lucky enough to find a dimension that knew all about my situation," said Raven. "I cannot reveal the name of the dimension, for fear that my demon relatives will find them, but it was very much like Azarath. When I arrived I learned that they had heard of me. They knew of a girl that had overpowered her father, Trigon the Terrible. But they thought me to only be a myth. You can imagine the look on their faces when I revealed to them that I was real."

"They must have been pretty shocked," said Robin.

"Let's just say all of their beliefs were thrown out of whack," said Raven with a small smile. "Anyway, they told me that the only way for me to take control of my powers was to purify the demon within me. That would give me back the control I had before."

"And how did they do the purifying?" asked Starfire.

"Well, uh, they baptized me," said Raven, slightly laughing. "You see, because I grew up in Azarath, I wasn't aware that some religions performed such an act. If I had known about it I would have done it years ago. Anyway, they blessed me with holy water and the evil that still lingered within me was destroyed."

"Is that why you're in all white?" asked Cyborg.

"Basically," said Raven. "After I was baptized I found that I could show more of my emotions. Not completely, mind you, but I could now show fifty percent of them. Which is a huge increase to what I was able to show before which was more around three percent. Because I could now express myself a little more freely, I could actually feel happiness and that put me in a state of being at peace. That's why I'm now in white."

"Why'd it take you five years to come home?" asked Beast Boy.

"Well… let's just say the baptism took a while," said Raven. "It was more like a baptism/exorcism. And if you now anything about exorcisms they sometimes need to be performed two or three times before the evil within is destroyed. For me, since I'm half pure evil, it took twenty good passes. And in between each exorcism we had to wait three months for my body to adjust. Exorcisms are very draining on both the performer and the poor soul having it performed on. That's why it took me five years."

"And you're sure all of the evil is gone?" asked Robin.

"Yes, I'm sure," said Raven, nodding.

"Well it's good to have you back," said Cyborg.

"Oh, yes, this is a special day indeed!" said Starfire, clapping. "Robin, we must finish preparing our meal so that we may have a celebratory dinner for Raven." She grabbed his hand and led him back to the kitchen.

"I take it they're still together," said Raven with a small smirk.

"Oh yeah," said Beast Boy with a smile.

"Couldn't separate those two if ya tried," Cyborg laughed.

"It's nice to know some things haven't changed," said Raven, looking at the taller, more adult looking Beast Boy.

"Don't worry," said Cyborg. "Beast Boy may have changed on the outside, but he's still the corny little jokester he was five years ago."

"Hey, I resent that!" said Beast Boy. "I'll have you know my sense of humor has matured greatly."

"Oh really?" asked Raven. "Then tell me a joke."

"Gladly," he said with a smile. "What do giraffes have that no other animal have?"

"Baby giraffes," Raven sighed, rolling her eyes.

"No… wait, how'd you know that?" asked Beast Boy, shocked.

"You told me that joke five years ago," said Raven.

Cyborg began laughing and Beast Boy felt rather embarrassed.

"Uh, yeah, I knew that," said Beast Boy, thinking quickly. "I just wanted to make sure you remembered. Heh, some memory you've got there."

"Thank you," said Raven.

"Alright, here's a newer one," said Beast Boy. "It's a riddle. Okay, here it is. For me, I slap you. Because of you, I slap me. Hitting your skin, my blood flows. What is 'you'?"

Raven's small smile vanished and she began to think deeply. She was usually good at riddles, but, then again, she hadn't heard any riddles in five years, so her mind was a bit rusty. She asked him to repeat it, which he was happy to do. She thought hard, but for some reason no answer seemed to fit.

"Do you give up?" asked Beast Boy with a grin.

Raven sighed and said, "Yes, I do. What's the answer?"

"A mosquito," he said, proudly.

Then it all clicked in her mind and she slapped her forehead. "Of course!" she said. Then she turned to Beast Boy and smiled. "That was a good one. You have been working on your jokes."

"Well, I wanted to impress you when you returned," said Beast Boy, relishing the fact that he had actually told Raven a joke she considered good.

"And you actually did," she said. "Good job." And with that she stood up and said, "I'm going to unpack."

Beast Boy watched her leave and then turned to Cyborg. "Thanks for not saying anything, dude," he said.

"No problem," said Cyborg. "I told you you could use that joke on Raven when she returned."

"Yeah, but I was afraid that were gonna tell her that it was your joke and take all of the credit," said Beast Boy.

"Well, it is my joke, but I think you got much better use out of it than I ever could," said Cyborg. "I mean, I know she thinks I'm funny. Just do my chores for the next two days and we'll call it even."

"Two days!" exclaimed Beast Boy.

"Hey, I helped you achieve an impossible goal," said Cyborg. "The least you can do is my fifth of the tower chores today and tomorrow."

"Fine," said Beast Boy, rolling his eyes. "See if I ever accept your help again."

"You say that every time," said Cyborg, ruffling Beast Boy's hair.

"Dude!" he screamed, shooing his hand away and fixing his hair.