OH MAI GAAWD! It's an update! Ö

Let's just get to the chapter, while I still have some readers left.

Thanks to those of you who read, reviewed and/or added my story to their story-alert lists. An especially big thanks to Dr. Numa Numa, my beta. Thank you so much!! You guys are the best!

And as some of you maybe can guess from the title, I've been listening to The Cranberries. ;p It's a damn good song. And I think it fits Raven's situation.

Anyway, let's rock:

3: Zombie

Jump City at 6 in the morning. Not really day, and not really night. – The city is still asleep, yet widely awake. The sun is slowly beginning to rise, and there are still a couple of stars left in the sky. The traffic, which is normally a fearsome roar, is now nothing but a blurred whisper. Not many people walk the streets, and those who do are no more but black silhouettes in the twilight. - These are only small signs of life, but signs of life nonetheless. The town is not dead and the people who live in it are not alone. And they believe this, as long as there is always a little sign of life: traffic noise, voices, lights……

But in a dark room, in which the windows are heavily concealed, in a T-shaped tower, on an aside island, all these signs of life from the city go by, unnoticed…

"He's been here," she whispered hoarsely.

The mage reached out for the dark curtain created by her magic. With long, slender fingers she briefly touched the black screen covering her window, preventing the sunlight from killing her. It was the same kind of shield she used to prevent both herself and her friends from getting killed by loose bullets and devastating blows from enemies.

There was a very simple reason why she had chosen this particular kind of magic protection. Nothing could get through it. Nothing.

An invisible thread tightened around her throat. In the –supposed- impassable field of blackness a set of fine chinks allowed microscopic rays of sunlight to shine through. The holes were oblong and frayed at the edge.

Claw marks.

Raven tried to swallow something and silently pulled her hand back. Someone had been trying to get in while she had been sleeping. She had a very good guess to who it could be.

Her hood was up and covering her face, hiding her emotions away from the world. Underneath it she bit her lip.

That spell was impenetrable to anything - Or so she had thought. The fact that there were claw marks could mean only two things: just to create a hole big enough so that a needle could slide through, incredible strength was needed.

So either the enemy she was up against was unbelievably powerful…

The mage clenched her teeth. From inside the shadows of her cowl a crystal tear glinted as it rolled down her cheek.

… Or her powers were slowly disappearing.

"Guys, I'm telling you. There's something really weird about Raven."

Beast Boy was standing in the living room where all of the Teen Titans minus Raven were gathered. Cyborg, who lay stretched out on the couch, looked drowsily up at his green friend.

"What do you mean?" he asked grumpily, before lying down again, trying to continue his nap.

"What do you mean 'what do I mean'?!" Beast Boy practically yelled at the top of his lungs, gesturing wildly with his arms. "She's acting like a total nutcase!"

"Beast Boy, I agree with you that Raven is acting a little... odd, but I am sure that she is simply tired from all of our heroic doing," Starfire timidly added from behind him, " It has after all been a long time since she had 'a little piece of the quiet' to lie down."

"Starfire, that's called 'a little peace and quiet'," Beast Boy mumbled and put a hand to his forehead in defeat, before he spoke louder: "Look, Raven wouldn't act the way she did just because she's stressed out. Robin, help me out here!"

The shape-shifter looked accusingly at Robin, giving the masked boy an urgent request to say something. Until then Robin had stood in silence by the Tamaranean princess, sending all three of them examining gazes by turn.

"Beast Boy, it's not the first time Raven's been staying in her room for a couple of days," the leader of the Titans explained. "Why are you so upset?"

Robin's answer clearly had the changeling taken aback. For a few minutes he simply stared at his teammates in disbelief. Then with a voice that was slightly cracking he said:

"Robin, didn't you see how she acted yesterday? She was about to eat my hand!"

Robin opened his mouth to give a snappy reply, but fell silent as he didn't really know what to answer. The living room was quiet for a minute, the only sounds being Beast Boy's offended huffs and Starfire's failed attempts to say something to ease the atmosphere.

"Aw come on, BB give it a rest. Remember that time with Dr. Light? We caused some serious trouble just by interfering," said a tired Cyborg from the couch.

"Oh, and I suppose that was my fault?" Beast Boy clenched his hands.

"Well... actually..." Robin began, rubbing the back of his head, clearly uncomfortable by the angry Titan's question. "You were the one who wanted to find out..."

He never finished his sentence, since Beast Boy brushed him off with an offended snarl.

"Fine! If no one cares what's happening to her, I guess it's up to me to help her!"

"How dare you say we don't care?" Robin shouted and stormed over to Beast Boy as if to attack him. Beast Boy got in to a low battle stance, ready to take anything his leader might throw at him.

Starfire's eyes widened and she reached out for Robin in sheer reflex. For a minute she thought Robin was actually going to hit Beast Boy. Fortunately the two just stood for a while, staring each other down, snarling and growling.

The room again fell silent. Starfire looked away from the two hotheads and bit her lip. She didn't know what Beast Boy had meant with 'Raven eating his hand', but she was sure it was some kind of slang used among Earthlings. It had to be. Surely Raven couldn't really have tried to...?

The green changeling finally spoke: "Fine. I'm gonna go talk to her now."

He turned away from Robin's angry stare, but the masked hero reached out after him. However, he didn't need to because instantly Beast Boy again turned towards him and hissed, anger and hurt (or was it simply tears?) shining in his eyes: "And when I get her out of that room, you'll see for yourself just how much I'm overreacting."

Then the green changeling turned and stormed out of the living room leaving the three remaining Titans to stare at the closed door for several minutes.

Starfire was the first to speak after Beast Boy had left: "Robin," she tried calmly and reached out a soothing hand.

"It's okay, Star," he answered, his voice and shoulders shaking. His fists were clenched by his side and Starfire noticed how he clenched them even harder when she placed a hand on his shoulder. She pulled it back immediately, regretting ever reaching it out in the first place. "Beast Boy is just overreacting. He'll be fine."

Starfire stared incredulously at his back. At the moment she was more worried about her leader's reaction than anything. But she decided to play along, anything to calm Robin down.

"Beast Boy has lost many of those dear to him. I can understand why he is worried about our friend. Raven has had many problems in the past."

Robin inhaled deeply, his entire body shaking. This time Starfire dared to place a calming hand on his shoulder. She walked a little closer to her frustrated leader.

"And it has only been a week or so since he started smiling again after the crisis with the girl whom he thought was Terra."

The masked hero exhaled and closed his eyes. It was as if an unbelievable tranquillity was streaming from Starfire, through her hand and over in his body. Robin knew she didn't understand the responsibility he felt for all of them. He knew none of them did. But still, at times he was almost tricked into believing that she understood him fully.

He gave a small sigh and allowed himself to smile a little. "Thank you, Starfire."

"Raven?"

"Go away. I'm not coming out."

A light whoosh made it clear that the green changeling had entered her room. She snarled barely audible and clenched her jaw.

"Please?" Beast Boy's voice was small and hoarse. "It's movie night. I've found a horror movie especially for the occasion…"

What occasion, me getting attacked by some creepy beast, losing my powers, and turning into a cannibalistic monster who takes pleasure in drinking your blood…? Raven thought sarcastically and grimaced.

When the mage didn't answer Beast Boy stepped a little closer. He was used to Raven sometimes acting a little eccentric. Heck, everyone on his team behaved strange now and then, but this was just plain freaky. His dark teammate was sitting cross-legged on her bed with her back facing him. And oddly enough, her sole attention seemed to be turned towards the window. Beast Boy silently wondered if there was anything outside that scared her…

The shape-shifter abruptly shook his head, brushing off the foolish thoughts. There was nothing in this city that could scare Raven. She was daughter of "Trigon, incarnation of evil itself", as she so beautifully put it. No, she was probably just enjoying the night sky. And according to what Beast Boy could see from where he stood, the moon was exceptionally beautiful tonight.

Beast Boy sighed. He wanted so badly to talk about last morning, but he had no idea how to get the conversation started...

("Um yeah, I have this feeling you tried to take a bite of me yesterday, anything you want to talk about?")

His mind was immediately filled with doubt. Should he say anything to Raven, and if so, what should he say? He told himself he was worried but maybe he was simply being an old hen?

But... Raven had been doing something with his blood. And now she just sat, mute and motionless on her bed, only wasting energy on the window, and what was outside it. The snow-white skinned girl in front of him on the bed didn't even look like Raven anymore.

And he hadn't said anything to Terra that one time. He didn't tell his teammates this, but he kept wondering if he maybe had said something to the blonde geomancer, been a little more worried, things wouldn't have ended up the way they did with her.

The green boy stopped in his movements. Robin's words had made an impact on him, more than he wanted to admit. What if it was all in his head? Nothing had really happened yesterday, after all... Maybe it was simply Terra haunting him. The episode could have made him a little paranoid.

A stream of arguments rushed through his mind, making his head spin. He forced the flow of thoughts to stop, and took a deep breath. Raven didn't look his way for even a second. He needed to think this through, and approach Raven carefully. He knew how carefully he had to tread when it came to her.

And maybe he was exaggerating just a bit, when he said that Raven had wanted to eat his hand. She had healed him after all...

As she heard the door behind her close, with a slight "whoosh", and Beast Boy leaving with a despondent "well, you know where to find us if you want to join," Raven closed her eyes and allowed herself to breathe again. All the time Beast Boy had been in her room, she had smelled something. A metallic, warm, sickening, yet oddly tranquilizing, and tempting smell. It was the smell of blood. Beast Boy's blood.

She swallowed something hard. If he had dared walking just a few steps closer…

Instantly her right hand flew up and covered her mouth to stop herself from uttering a scream so loud it would break every window in Jump City. She closed her eyes harder and shook her head violently to get rid of the terrible mental images.

"Oh god. Beast Boy, no," she whispered on the edge of tears. She couldn't let that happen.

She looked at the window again. There was no longer any magic protection shielding her from the world outside, even though shehadn't removed it. It had simply faded during the day. The mage didn't want to think about why. She didn't really care anymore either. If that vampire wanted to take her away, now would be one hell of a great time to do it.

Before the terrible images in her head became reality.

Before she...No! She couldn't let that happen, wouldn't let that happen! She would control herself, and she wouldn't need the vampire's help.

"Beast Boy! Wait! I want to- wait!"

Before her brain even had registered it, she jumped out of her bed to run after Beast Boy. She would tell him what had happened, and they would figure something out. Something. Anything. But the minute Raven got up from her bed, her legs collapsed under her like they were made of rubber. With a yelp she fell to the floor, and seconds later Beast Boy was standing in the door.

"Raven? Is anything okay?" the green teen looked worried down at her and hurried over to help her up.

Raven immediately tensed in his grip. The smell of warm blood, streaming in his veins was suffocating. Saliva gathered in her mouth. She was weak from hunger, not having eaten anything for three days. – Not anything that actually satiated her. And here, just a thin layer of green skin away from her, was everything she needed to restore her strength.

Raven's eyes widened. It only took one bite. One small bite and she would be able to...

"Yes, yes! I'm fine!" she gasped and pushed him away. It resulted in her landing on the floor with a thump.

"Oh Rae, I'm so sorry. Here, let me help you," he muttered in a frantic, apologizing tone and leaned down to help her to her feet. She immediately pushed him away again.

"I'm fine!" she coughed and shakily got to her feet. "Don't touch me, I'm fine, I'm fine!"

"Oh god, get away from me!" the mage screamed inside herself. Tears gathered in the corner of her eyes. She was so hungry. So weak. And the changeling was practically throwing himself at her feet.

What had she been thinking?! To talk to Beast Boy? It was the same as signing his death warrant. She couldn't even be in the same room as him without drooling at the smell of his blood.

Finally she stood tall but immediately reached out for her desk for some support. Beast Boy couldn't quite understand why she didn't just take the hand he offered her.

"I'm fine Beast Boy. Just leave. Please. Just leave," she gasped without looking at him.

"But Raven, are you sure you-" the shape-shifter reached out a hand in an attempt to calm her down.

"Yes," she hissed and shot him a furious gaze, stopping the boy in his tracks. "Just. GetOut"

Beast Boy stared horror-struck at her for a few seconds. Then he shook his head slowly in disbelief, without breaking their eye-contact, turned on his heel, and ran out of her room, his steps echoing as he continued down the hallway.

The minute he was out of sight, Raven collapsed on the floor, tears flowing freely from her eyes. She found it hard to tell whether it was from sadness, frustration, or overwhelming joy that she hadn't just slit her best friend's throat, that she was crying. Maybe it was a combination of all three.

Suddenly her eyes shot open with a sharp gasp. She had let completely go of her emotions. Shouting, yelling, crying, andshe was even about to run like a madman after Beast Boy to tell him about anything that had happened to her the past few days... and yet, her powers had done nothing. Normally at least three windows would have been broken by now, but her powers hadn't caused any disaster, whatsoever.

The tears stopped falling, and instead a few drops of sweat rolled down the sorceress's spine. She was really losing her powers after all.

Since the night where the vampire had attacked her, it had felt as if her mind had begun to slowly dry out. First her behaviour had changed, and now her magic was being dragged out of her.

Raven had a very bad feeling it would not stop there. Her mind would keep on deteriorating until every last bit of her humanity had withered away like small flowers under a desert sun. Terrible thoughts of murdering her best friend formed in her head, and grew like weed. And it would continue like this, Raven was sure, until everything that made her human, that made her Raven, was dead and gone.

The thought made something inside Raven shatter. Inside her, something was dropped to the floor, breaking, like fragile glass.

Clink.

-The Cranberries starts playing in the background-

"...they are fightiiiiing. With their tanks, and their bombs, and their bombs, and their guns, in your head, in your head; they are dyiiiiinnnggg... In your heeeeaaaad, in your heaaddd, zo-ombie..."

I bet one half is wondering why the bleeping hell I insist on making Raven so OOC, and the other half is asking "When will this story actually get started?"

Well, the first question is a little hard to answer without giving too much away, but let's just say that the more broken and hurt Raven feels by this, the more she'll want to break out of it later in the story. And the other question? Well... two more (relatively short) chapters, and Raven is out of her room... 'kay that's enough spoilers for you.

By the way I'm sorry for taking so long about this chapter, but my life has been kinda chaotic lately... Yeah. blahblah. We all know that life sometimes suck, I don't wanna bore you. But I'll try to make next update a little quicker. Don't get your hopes up though... I'm pretty busy atm. I hope you find the chapters worth waiting for.

Looking forward to hear what you guys think. Any feedback, thoughts, critiques, or questions you might have are more than welcome!

Jeg har talt. xD Review, menschen!