Chapter Three: Decisions

There was a knock on her door. Raven sighed and sat up, the damp cloth on her head falling to the floor. She didn't want any company at this point, and especially not the loud and intrusive changeling.

"Beastboy, for the last time, I'm okay and I don't want to be disturbed!"

"Glad to hear that, Rae." Cyborg's voice came through the door. "But I need to talk to you."

The half-robot stepped into the dark room as the door swished open. Raven was looking at him with an annoyed expression on her face. Suddenly, Cyborg became a bit nervous. "Uh… I have an idea of who might be in the tower."

Raven's face lost all trace of emotion and she stood up, wrapping her cloak around her tightly. "Oh?" Her voice was forcibly neutral.

"I think it might be Slade." Cyborg held up a hand as Raven opened her mouth to protest. "Yeah, I know we all though Slade was gone, but we've thought that before. I was just wondering if you could do a spell or something to try and see if it's him."

Raven shook her head immediately. "I would be able to tell if it was Slade," she lied "I know it isn't him."

"But-" Cyborg started.

"No!" Raven said. "I know it isn't him and there's no spell I can do to prove it, so please leave me alone, now." Her voice contained barely suppressed anger and a hint of something else that Cyborg didn't recognize. As he stepped back into the hall and the metal door slid closed, the half-robot wondered what was going on with his mysterious teammate.

In the room, Raven sighed. She didn't know why she was hiding this from the others – it wasn't like the last prophecy where she had been concealing it her whole life. They should know that Slade was back again, and they had the right to know about the new prophecy. It was just… when Trigon had disappeared in that glow of white almost a year previously, Raven had assumed that her life-long tormentor was gone for good. Sighing, the empathy walked over to her bookcase, and began a search for something that might help her. It was going to be a long night.

XXX

"I'm worried about Raven," Beastboy said, pacing up and down the garage. "I mean, you talked to her. Didn't she seam weird to you?"

"I don't know, man." Cyborg sighed, closing the hood of the T-car. It was obvious that he wouldn't be getting any work done soon. "She's Raven, you know? Maybe something got loose in her mind again, and she just has to deal. If she needed help, she would've asked us."

"No, she wouldn't!" Beastboy exclaimed. "That's just the point. Raven never asks anyone for held because she thinks we shouldn't be bothered with her troubles. I really think that something's going on here. The last time she was all mysterious and mopey, her father broke free and nearly destroyed the whole Earth. I'm not asking you to go into her mind with me or anything, but please Cy, will you just come with me to talk to her?"

Cyborg looked at the changeling in defeat. Beastboy was usually so Happy-go-lucky that you couldn't really refuse him when he was serious. Putting down his toolbox, the half-robot followed his teammate up to Raven's room.

"Good," Beastboy said nervously. "Now, just go ahead and knock on the door, 'kay Cy?"

"Oh, no you don't!" Cyborg backed away, holding his hands up in refusal. "You're the one who thinks that something's wrong. If either of us are gonna get killed, it should be you."

Beastboy looked at his friend, and then back at the metal door looming over him. Gathering his courage, the changeling quietly rapped his knuckles once against the entrance to Raven's room. For a moment, there was no reply. Then, an irritated voice called out "What?"

"Hey, Raven," Beastboy called nervously through the door. "Do ya think we would talk to you, maybe? Now?"

"Aren't you talking to me already?" she shot back in a monotone. Beastboy began to sweat slightly.

"Well, yeah, but I was thinking more that you would kinda come out of your room. You've been in there all day."

There was a slight shuffling, and the door slid open. Beastboy's fears were immediately confirmed when he caught sight of his fellow titan. Her skin was paler than usual, and she had dark circles under her eyes. The changeling couldn't understand how she had gotten to look so bad in just one day. Thoughts of Starfire's pudding flitted through his mind. He had originally planned to ask her quietly and nicely if something was maybe-possible-in-the-slightest-way wrong, or even could be improved. However, having seen her, Beastboy took Raven's hand in his own and began to march to the common room. Raven was so shocked that she didn't kill him. Cyborg was also surprised beyond belief, but he followed his teammates through the halls, making sure to keep a safe distance.

As soon as they entered the common room, Beastboy let go of Raven's hand. Having spent all of his courage already, he just grinned widely in response to her death-glare, and went to hide behind Cyborg. The half-robot rolled his eyes at his friend's behavior, and called Robin and Starfire on their communicators. Within a few minutes, all five titans were assembled and waiting for an explanation.

"Well?" Robin asked. "Cyborg, why did you call us here?"

"Don't ask me!" he replied, holding up his hands. "BB was the one to drag Raven out of her room. I just followed him to give life support as needed."

With that, Robin, Cyborg, and Starfire split their attention between Raven and Beastboy. The empathy was staring fixedly at the green boy, while the changeling was looking anywhere but at his dark teammate. Finally, with his gaze fixed firmly on the floor, he began. "I noticed that Raven was acting a bit weird this morning when I talked to her. Just now she opened the door, and she looked kinda bad. I dunno. I just thought it was better to be safe than dead."

"Raven?" Robin asked firmly, noting the extreme paleness of her skin and the marks under her eyes. It might have been his imagination, but she seemed to be slightly thinner than before.

Realizing that her friends would keep on pushing until they got an answer, Raven took a deep breath, and came to a decision. "Okay," she said. "I'll tell you what happened last night. But it's not going to be good."

Okay, so now I need your help. I don't know whether or not to make this a "Raven gets sick from her powers and the titans need to go through her memories to help her" or a "Fighting Slade, Trigon, and the demons from hell, as well as Raven herself" story. Whichever one I don't do now, I'll probably do later. Also, if Raven does get sick, ther will probably be some demon fighting as well, but it'll take much longer. So, please vote in the comments, and next week I'll chose the winner!