Raven felt the gazes of the hooded figures on her, but no one had anything to say, except the one in the orange cloak.

"You blew that, didn't you?" sneered Rude, pushing back her hood. She looked like Raven, except for a lip curled in contempt and narrowed, angry eyes. "Maybe you ought to switch cloaks with her –" she pointed to Timid, a slight figure in gray who cringed, mumbling apologies – "and leave the team! Obviously you don't -"

"Shut up," said Raven dangerously, moving forward.

Wisdom stepped between them. "I said we'd decide, not fight. Rude, stop. Timid, calm down, nobody's going to hurt you. Brave, Joy, there is to be no fighting." Wisdom's lieutenants – Joy in pink and Brave in green – nodded. "Who will speak for helping Beast Boy?"

"I will," said Brave fiercely. "He fought for us and we have to fight for him. If we don't we're cowards."

Joy nodded. "I will! He tells funny jokes."

Raven rolled her eyes.

Affection, in a purple cloak, laughed softly. "I will. I care for him." Raven glared. Affection smiled back, unperturbed. "He needs us. And in our way, we need him."

Rude made gagging noises. Wisdom looked at her. "Who will speak against helping Beast Boy? Do you?"

"I do!" Rude spat. "He doesn't respect us. He wrecks our things and acts like a jerk."

"I-I-I-I – " Timid started but couldn't finish; she kept stuttering as everyone watched her. Wisdom waited patiently. "I do. We might get hurt. He might get hurt. Those screaming people – it's dangerous. We shouldn't."

Rage growled, flickers of red showing inside her hood as she lifted her glowing eyes – all four of them – and stared at Raven's other sides. "I do. He helped trap me, shut me away. This life is false and limited but I have as much right to it as you." She looked at each of them in turn until her eyes rested on Timid. "And more right than you," she snarled, and Timid hid behind Brave.

Only one of Raven's sides hadn't answered. Sloth, in brown, stood watching lazily. Wisdom raised her voice slightly. "And you, Sloth?"

Sloth shrugged, then burped. Joy giggled. "Slug stays neutral."

Wisdom's eyes swept the group. "A tie." She said to Raven kindly, "No wonder you can't decide."

"You'll notice," Raven pointed out, "That a decision still hasn't been reached."

"I have yet to vote," said Wisdom. "And I say we help him. Regardless of what we feel about him, to not help is to damage our team, and that we cannot do. Raven, you have to assist."

Vote taken, decision made, there was nothing more to discuss. Raven nodded and backed away, feeling her focus shift back to the external world. The last thing she saw wasRude shaking her head angrily and Rage hissing, while Timid cowered behind Brave.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Robin, of course, was aware of none of this. He just saw Raven standing still, swaying a little, occasionally mumbling. Abruptly she snapped to attention and said clearly, "All right."

"All right?" He said cautiously. "You'll help?"

"Yes," she said, already walking through the doors of the ward.

"Now?"

"Starting now," she replied, "Before I lose my nerve."

Inside Raven's mind, Timid wailed.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

It had been less than two hours since Cyborg had given Beast Boy the last dose of sedative, and he was reluctant to try again so soon.

"You don't have to," Raven said, settling in the chair by the gurney, "He won't need it. And besides, it makes him too emotional."

Cyborg lifted one eyebrow and asked dryly, "Says who?"

Raven ignored this and said to Robin, "If we're both not back in an hour, something's wrong. Use one of those ammonia pills."

This time, since she knew what to expect, Raven was neither shocked nor overwhelmed by the screaming figures. Watching them with her newfound knowledge, it made sense that they might be the thoughts of the millions of people in Jump City. It was even possible that they were echoes of Beast Boy's own thoughts. That would explain that his putting more energy into trying to hear them could make them even worse.

Beast Boy was still asleep on the couch, still under Raven's cloak. (Raven had noticed that she had reappeared in Beast Boy's mind without one, but had conjured up another. If she didn't have enough skill to make herself a cloak in someone's mind, she said to her selves wryly, she didn't have any business teaching anyone anything.)

Raven put a bubble of energy around herself and the couch and sat down beside Beast Boy. Tapping Beast Boy's forehead with two fingers she said briefly, "Wake up."

Beast Boy rolled over and yawned, then opened his eyes. "Raven! Have you left yet?" His eyes flickered to outside the energy field, where the screaming humans continued their endless crawl over the glass. He tensed and forced himself to look away.

Raven pretended not to notice. "Yes. We think we know what's wrong. How do you feel?"

Beast Boy sat up and threw out his arms in a wide stretch that knocked Raven's hood sideways. "Whoops – sorry. Dude, I feel great! I got to sleep, really sleep – I felt like I hadn't in years! When's breakfast?"

"Not yet. Listen." Raven explained what Robin and Cyborg had discovered.

Beast Boy's mouth hung open. "Dude! I did this to myself? By turning into a gorilla too many times? So I can't turn into a – but what if –"

"Don't ask me," Raven snapped, "I don't know any more than you do. The point is, this will wear off if you don't use your powers for a while." We think, she added silently. "And until then –"

Beast Boy suddenly became gloomy. "Until then I have to listen to the voices? No way, it'll make me crazy again – I can't-"

"No," Raven said, cutting him off, "Until then I – I teach you. I show you how to control it. Until it stops."

Beast Boy stared at her. "You? Teach me? Like how to meditate and everything and Azarath Metrion Zinthos and all that?"

Raven grimaced. "Yes."

He kept staring at her. Then suddenly, Beast Boy fell back against the couch and started laughing, laughing so hard he could barely breathe.