"Raven, what are you doing?! Stop!" Robin called from across the dark, barren field. Several large, black tendrils were quickly approaching Robin. He threw everything he had at them but it all passed right through the smoky black shapes. Robin stepped back only to realize he was pinned against a large cliff wall. The tendrils struck out at him, first knocking Robin to the ground and then wrapping themselves around him, slowing tightening their grip. The sky above was a dark red and all the grass in the field was dead and gray. Large rocks scattered the field which was really a valley surrounded by large cliff walls on all sides. All of her friends now lay on the ground unconscious and bloody. In the center of the field was Raven, chained to a wooden post. Her normal eyes were closed but above them a pair of red glowing eyes stared down Robin.
"Raven is nothing but a portal now, here to fulfill her destiny and bring forth the end of times." The booming deep voice rang out across the field shaking the Earth.
"Rav-" Robin was cut off as the tendrils tightened around him, squeezing the life completely out of him. The deep voice could be heard laughing all around them.
"No!" Raven sat up with a jolt, sending her blankets flying. She was sweating and breathing deeply. "It was just a dream." She told herself. Nearly 18 years she lived with these powers and still could not control her dreams. She had a nightmare at least once a week now and it was becoming problematic for her. Having calmed down, Raven swung her legs off her bed and headed out of her room and towards the kitchen.
She could just see the first hints of sun peeking out over the horizon, a purplish-pink glow filling the still dark sky. She brewed herself a cup of tea and found a spot on the couch so that she could see out the window and watch the sunrise. She enjoyed early mornings and didn't really need as much sleep as her teammates because of all the mediation she did during the day. The sun had made its way fully into the sky, announcing the start of the day. She finished off her tea and deposited the cup in the sink. She made her way back to her room to get dressed for the day when she noticed something was ... off. She couldn't place her finger on it but she was getting an odd feeling as she approached her room. She slowed her pace as she passed by Beastboy's room, the room right before hers.
She almost made it past the Changeling's room when she noticed light coming through the bottom of his door. Beastboy was never up this early so it immediately struck her as odd that his light would be on. She approached his door and knocked lightly.
"Beastboy." There was no response. "Beastboy?" She sighed and assumed that maybe he had fallen asleep with his lights on. She was about to give up and head back to her room when something inside her told her she needed to check if he was alright. "Beastboy? Open up." On the third knock the door slid open and Raven peaked her head inside. "Yuck." A certain characteristic teenage-boy smell filled her nose as she peaked in the messy room. She directed her attention to the bed to see that it was empty. Her attention immediately went to the window which was wide open. Odd. He must have gone for a fly or something. Still strange that he would be up this early. Raven backed out of the room and let the door slide close. She decided that Beastboy could handle himself and she needn't worry about it.
It was midmorning when she reemerged from her room, book in hand. She headed towards the main room to see Cyborg cooking up some bacon and Starfire and Robin chatting quietly on the couch. The two had been getting extremely close lately, though not to anyone's surprise. Those two had liked each other from the day Starfire stepped foot on Earth. After nearly 4 years of working together as a team it was really about time they acted on those feelings. Now that Robin was 18 Raven felt he was becoming a little more mature and confident with girls. Robin wasn't nearly as awkward around Starfire and actually seemed to be working towards something between the two. Raven approached the kitchen table and sat down opting to avoid the couch and not interrupt the love birds.
"Mornin' Rae." Cyborg grinned as he sat down at the table with his large plate of bacon.
"Morning." Raven opened her book and began reading, indicating she wasn't in the mood for polite chit-chat. Cyborg dove into his plate of food eating quickly and a bit loudly but Raven easily tuned him out. She was just getting to a good point in the book when Cyborg interrupted her.
"Yo Rae?" Raven offered a glance up at the half-robot. "Have you seen the little grass stain, it's not like him to skip out on a meal."
"No." Raven didn't think it was wise for her reputation to divulge that she'd actually been inside the Changeling's room earlier wondering the same thing.
"Eh I'll go check on him, maybe he got food poisoning from his tofu tacos last night." Cyborg left the table, leaving Raven to return to her book. It wasn't long before Cyborg reentered the room however, a slightly concerned look on his face. "Hey Robin, have you seen Beastboy?" Robin didn't even bother to take his eyes of Star in response.
"Uh no I don't think so. Probably in his room."
"I just checked and he's not there but his window's open, he must have gone somewhere?" Raven looked up at the mention that Beastboy was still gone. It was kind of odd for him to be gone for so long, it had been at least 4 hours since she had checked his room. Of course he could have gotten tired and fell asleep on a park bench somewhere. "I'll see if I can call him." Cyborg hit a button on his robotic arm that popped up a small screen similar to the T-communicators the rest of the Titans used. "Cyborg to Beastboy. Where are you buddy?" Cyborg waited for a response but none came. "Cyborg to Beastboy, what's your location?" Still nothing. Robin was now standing next to Cyborg, seeming to have become a bit more worried at the lack of response.
"What's going on, why isn't he answering?" Robin questioned.
"I don't know, you don't think he's in trouble do you?" Cyborg tried to mask his concern but it was still obvious that he cared for the green shapeshifter like a brother.
"Let's give it half an hour and see if he gets back to us. If not, we'll have to go on a search mission." Robin was always best at keeping calm in these kinds of situations and always taking a reasonable approach. It was clear he was still concerned though as he left the room instead of returning to the couch with Starfire.
"Oh I do hope he is ok." Starfire paced awkwardly in front of the couch unable to sit still. Raven stood and decided to check the Changeling's room for any clues as to where he might have gone. She slipped out of the common room without any notice from the others and headed down the hall. Beastboy's door slid open and she entered the room cautiously. She looked around to see if there was any sign of a struggle that would indicate he was taken, though of all the Titans to choose from she couldn't think of why Beastboy would be the first pick. She sighed over the messiness of the room, it was impossible to make any sense of the strewn clothes and trash. She stepped precariously over a pile of smelly clothes to get closer to the window. She ran her hand over the sill gently, searching for some kind of feeling that would help her make sense of his disappearance but found nothing. She felt nothing out of the ordinary and determined it was pointless to stay in his room any longer than she needed to. She made her way back to the main room where Cyborg and Robin now stood in front of the large computer screen looking at a map of the city.
"…and if we hit this button right here it should pinpoint exactly where his communicator, and ideally Beastboy, is." Cyborg hit a key on the keyboard and a red flashing dot popped up on the screen. "Huh, that's odd. He's in the McKinley apartment building downtown. Does the kid know someone that lives there?"
"Doubtful. Let's take the car and head down there and find out what's up." Robin turned and led the team down to the garage. It didn't take long for the team to arrive outside the upscale apartment buildings and Raven couldn't help but feel oddly suspicious about the whole thing. Cyborg hit a button on his arm that popped up a small computer screen. Using his fingers he zoomed in on the blinking dot on the screen.
"Looks like apartment 406." The Titans headed through the lobby and piled into the elevator. Raven could feel the uneasiness of the team as they were all unsure of what they were going to encounter. It wasn't long before the 4 of them stood in front of the apartment door and Robin knocked firmly 3 times. After a few moments the door opened and the team was greeted with someone they weren't expecting. Standing at the door was Terra, alive and grinning smugly at the group of teens. Raven could feel the rage burning inside and had to close her eyes and breathe deeply to keep herself from doing something stupid. Nothing good ever came with Terra around and no matter what they told Beastboy he still seemed to trust her.
"Can I help you?" Terra asked as if she didn't recognize the heroes.
"Terra you are no longer stone?" Starfire was the first to speak. "But why did you not come to us?" Terra looked away briefly before responding.
"Yeah I uh, meant to but I, something came up I guess."
"Terra, we're trying to find Beastboy, do you know anything about his whereabouts? Our radar says his communicator is in this apartment." Robin took a step forward as if to intimidate the girl into speaking.
"He's here." She replied bluntly.
"Well can we talk to him?" Cyborg asked. Terra seemed to hesitate a bit.
"Uh yeah. Follow me." Terra led the teens into the apartment and indicated for them to wait in the living room. None of the titans sat down as they group collectively grew more suspicious. Raven had been looking around the apartment when a shriek from Starfire pulled her attention back. She immediately understood Star's reaction as Beastboy walked into the room. It was Beastboy, but it wasn't; Raven could sense that it was most definitely the young Changeling but he no longer looked like himself. In front of them stood a pale boy completely lacking any green pigmentation in his skin; he looked completely human.
"Beastboy! What has happened?!" Starfire quickly approached Beastboy and touched his forehead as if to check if he was sick.
"Why don't you guys have a seat."