A.N. This is a shortie, but I couldn't find a better stopping place. Only one or two more chapters left! R & R, por favor.

Disclaimer: Nothing. That's what I own.

Raven

She hated people. The worst part of being a Titan was the public recognition. Of course, one of the reasons she joined the team was not to be seen as a monster anymore, but she didn't really care if people actually saw that. As long as her heroism was real and true, then it didn't matter how other people looked at her.

In Lenore, for the first time in her life she had enjoyed being in a crowd. So many strangers walked the streets, all so different but all belonging there. Some were there to start a life and some to die; some to love and some to hate; some to begin and some to end. There were so many powerful auras around her, Raven could almost sense pieces of their fates. For once, it didn't matter that she was different, and that she would never - could never belong anywhere. This was nowhere, and therefore she belonged.

That was when she wasn't alone.

Now Raven only saw a street packed with monsters like her, and including her. It wasn't a main thoroughfare; it was suspiciously busy. The throng of pedestrians were Lenore's fingers, grasping at any part of her they could use to keep her trapped. Her heart included, apparently.

Brave facepalmed. Love shook its head. Fear nudged her forward. Knowledge was nowhere to be found.

And then, somehow, someone else was.

"Raven!" came a familiar voice from across street.

Her eyes widened in surprise when she spotted the voice's owner. "Beast Boy?"

"Raven! Wait! Stay right there!" A skinny green figure could be seen weaving and pushing its way through the veritable sea of pedestrians.

The half-demon didn't think she could have moved if she had wanted to.

"Dude," panted Beast Boy, once he was standing in front of her, "I didn't- I mean, I never- I mean, wow. I found you. Are you okay? What happened to you?"

"What happened to you?"

"Oh, this? I woke up hanging from the ceiling, they didn't feed me, they took away my powers with my stone, and decided I needed a wardrobe change. Long story short."

Raven blinked, then resumed her composure. "Nothing."

"What? No way. I know you probably don't want to talk about it, but I really need to know," insisted Beast Boy. It was within his rights, as her knight in shining armor, to know what he had saved her from.

"Nothing else?"

"Well, I breathed a lot, and slept, and my heart beat, and-"

"I escaped. I don't see what else you need to know," Raven replied, fighting not to look away from his brave, naive green eyes.

"Come on, something must have happened. This is Slade and Trigon we're talking about. That's like a double boss level kind of danger," he persisted. "You can tell me."

"You know what I mean."

"I hoped you wouldn't ask about that."

"Beast Boy, I'm fine," she said, then looked into those eyes again and felt too harsh. What had he gone through for her? "But thank you. Thank you so much for coming for me."

He grinned, those pearly white fangs exposed at the sound of her lie. "No problem. But don't think you can get out of telling your awesome escape story. Everybody's going to want to hear it when we get home."

"How do we get home?" For once, Beast Boy had thought farther ahead than her.

The green Titan held up a dark blue, smaller version of the communicator everyone connected with the team carried with them. "The Herald was sort of in on the whole Rescue Raven plan. I'll just, um, call him." Pushing one button really wasn't worth all that fumbling. "Hey, Herald? I got her... yeah. Are you sure?... Okay, okay. Raven, look behind you in five... four... three... two-"

"I see it." A gaping portal had opened to her left. Apparently the Herald's tracking wasn't completely spot on.

Beast Boy's guilt-inspiring grin was back. "Ready to go home?"

"Yeah." As she looked into the void, Raven felt the urge to run away rise unbidden in her throat. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, afraid to chant even mentally lest her subconscious use it as a chance to mutiny. Home. That was Titans Tower, and nothing had happened that could possibly have changed that.

The two Titans stepped through the portal, side by side. Neither looked back.

"I'm sorry."