Hello All I was actually planning on making this chapter much longer, but I decided to cut it. Sorry for those you love long chapters haha.

Big BIG thank you to all that review, follow, fav, and send good thoughts.

No OCs in this chapter but next chapter.

Story belongs to PurpleCat5817

on with the show

Chapter 3: Freak

4 Years later.

Only a few things in life were certain.

Death. Taxes, and Change, and nothing changed as much as Titans Tower and it's occupants.

The Titan Power couple, Robin and Starfire (who else), got married about six months ago, and were still very much in that stomach churning honeymoon stage. Robin had ditched the traffic light uniform for a pitch black body suit with a blue bird insignia on his chest, which like the rest of his body, was much broader and muscular, and took the new name Nightwing. Starfire had grown out of her smaller teenage body in exchange for a more curvaceous and mature womenly figure and much longer firey red hair, yet she still struggled with earthly sayings, but her new husband just found it all the more adorable.

Of all the Titans, it was Cyborg that changed the least, at least in a physical sense. Over the years he had upgraded his armor to a more sleek, and newer design, but that was sort of the end of his physical growth. Emotionally and mentally, he was still very much the older brother of the Titan family, but over the years he had sought out some companionship for himself. True being half robot made it difficult, but it wasn't impossible, especially now that Cyborg was enjoying the company of a young blonde women named Sarah Simms. He met her one day while she was in the park with a group of children with prosthetic limbs who basically worship the ground he walked on. They instantly clicked mostly by how well he was with the children, and since then they were on the fast track to love.

That just left the two remaining Titans.

Terra had finally filled out to the point that she could be considered slender instead of sickly skinny, but that was the extent of her physical growth. Mentally and emotionally she was still the bubbly, blue eyed blonde that was a bundle of energy and laughter. Her boyfriend was none other than the green shape changer Beast Boy. It took him about six months to get back into fighting shape (thank you Nightwing), and another year to verbally admit that SHE was gone, but you could never get him to say she was dead. Afterwards he was back to his, usual jokester goofball self, one thing was sure though, the empaths leaving changed him. In what way? No one could say, but it was a guilt that would slowly eat away at him.

Just pile it on! He told himself. He didn't care anymore . . .

All in all, life was pretty good in the tower.

. . . Sorta . . .

While Starfire, Cyborg and Nightwing, were all growing up and moving on, Beast Boy and Terra seemed . . . . Stuck. Granted they were both pleasant company, individually, but get them together and they were insufferable. Either they were fighting-which was rather frequent-or honry teens-which lately was less frequent. Thank god! It was clear as daylight that they were only together for this long because they both felt like they HAD to be together, like some force in the universe kept pushing them to each other, and neither one was happy about it, but they didn't fight it either. It seemed like they didn't know how to live without each other and over time grew dependent on one another relationship whys, even if every other aspect of their lives were going fine. It was an interesting combination, but it worked for them, even if on occasion it drove everyone else insane. It was their life, even if they weren't happy about it.

Over the years everyone in some form or another learned to move on without Raven around. It's funny how a quiet girl like her could create such a void with her absence, but every day they were reminded of her in some way. Someone drinking tea, someone reading, a gothic kid, even someone in a blue hoodie, but at the end of the day they had to move on.

Raven was gone and she wasn't coming back.

Aderyn Taylor finished her morning exercises and hopped into the shower. Surprisingly she lost her baby weight rather quickly, of course it helped that she walked everywhere, but for some reason it just felt better to do some form of combat training or something of that nature. So she would do some yoga or shadow boxing to keep her skills sharp. If anything it helped her feel confident in her ability to protect herself and her daughter without her powers.

She finished her shower and stepped in front of the mirror, a dark towel wrapped around her petite hourglass shape. She hated looking in mirrors. They only reminded her that her entire life was a lie.

Each day she would brush her fake black hair, put a SMALL amount of make-up on her fake fair skin, stare at herself with fake blue eyes, going about her life that she faked having an interest in. She dried her hair turning around to dry her back, looking over her shoulder she caught sight of the dark Azarathean ruins tattooed on her shoulder that kept her from being found by any tracking spell that wasn't from Azarath. She had everything planned out so that she would never be found by her old life. The perfect fake life, for the perfect fake women.

Then why did she silently beg every day for her former friends to find her? For someone to call her by her REAL name.

Raven.

She finished drying off and headed to her room to get ready for her day. The clock read 8:00 A.M, meaning she had about an hour before work, but it also meant . . . .

Raven looked past herself in the mirror in her room and spied a small round blonde curly head peering at her from around the corner. This was their morning ritual. Raven would wake early, exercise, shower then at 8 when she got ready she could see the head of her daughter peeking at her from behind the door. Farah would wake up, creep to Ravens room until she was noticed, then Farah would run and hide and patiently wait to be found. It was adorable until it made Raven late for work every almost every morning.

Raven met the eye of her child in the mirror and as soon as they made eye contact, Farah squealed excitedly and bounced away. Raven walked out of her room, slowly to give Farah a chance to hide, then walked into her small living room. Right away she saw a pair of naked toes sticking out from underneath the purple drapes. Raven smiled to herself and began the game.

"Hmmm I wonder were Farah is." She tapped her chin thoughtfully and paced about her living room. All the while the three and a half year old fought to contain her giggling and failing miserably. "Is she . . . behind the couch!? Is she . . . under the desk?! Is she . . . behind the curtains?!"

Farah squealed with delight and ran past her mother for another hiding spot, but Raven intercepted her before she got to far hoisting her into the air. Farah wiggled playfully as Raven took her to her room.

"I gotta get you ready for daycare!" Raven said over her daughters laughter. Farah instantly frowned and stuck out her lower lip.

"Awe I HATE daycare." Raven set Farah down and she began stomping her feet, which Raven promptly ignored.

Once Farah was dressed, her unruly curly blonde hair combed it was 8:45, and time to go. Raven stood back and admired the toddler, once again falling madly in love with her all over again.

Raven assumed she took after her father before he turned green since Farah had light skin instead of pale, but she still had her mothers small nose and mouth, and her fathers wide toothy smile. Another trait she took from her father were his pointed ears in which case Raven was thankful for Farahs full head of curly blonde hair. Raven was NOT ashamed of her daughters ears, not in a million years, she just didn't Farah to be teased for them, so she kept them hidden. With winter coming up it would be a much easier task, but until then they had to settle for hidding them with her hair. The most eye catching about Farah was her eyes. A dazzling amethyst that looked as if they were mined from the very earth itself that would twinkle with curiosity, innocence, wonder and the slightest hint of mischievousness. That was 100% Beast Boy.

All in all she was perfect.

Raven finished getting herself and Farah ready and left their apartment to go about their day.

Once the two hit the pavement Raven noticed that the car that belonged to James was still in the parking lot. Huh he most not have left for work yet. Raven got a mischievous grin and started to slow her pace confusing the little girl that held her hand.

"Mommy why'd you slow down?" Not that Farah was complaining. Normally her mother tore off to work like a bat atta hell and was difficult for her little legs to keep up.

Raven spoke slowly. "No...thing juuuuuuuust waaaaaaaaaiting..."

"Princess!"

Farah spun around to see their neighbor and close friend James bounding down the stairs towards them. A huge smile on his face aimed directly at the toddler.

"Uncle James!" She ran off towards him with her backpack bouncing as she ran into his arms. He swung her around excitedly, but didn't set her down when he met Ravens fake blue eyes.

"Hey Adi. How are you doing?"

Raven smiled in response to her fake name. "Good. Is it possible you could take me to work and her daycare?"

Farah scrunched her face. "Ew daycare!"

Janes bounced the girl on his hip. "I know EW! Sure I'll take you guys." He led the way to his car, Raven smirking to herself. Her plan was a success. Sure she didn't mind walking, but if James was around he wouldn't hesitate to take them were they needed to go, he even went as far as to buy a car seat for Farah. Raven set Farah up in her small seat with the little girl babbling away and stepped into the passenger seat while James got into the drivers side.

From on outside perspective they were the perfect family. Raven a beautiful 20 year old women with a beautiful little girl and this man who adored both of them. James was the complete package. He was handsome, successful, and sweet, minus the fact that he passed out at the sight of blood, which happened a few more times, he was the perfect man.

. . . . and yet Raven couldn't push herself to pursue a relationship with him. Not that he hadn't tried of course, but she always turned him down. Thankfully that didn't ruin their friendship, but the questioned remained.

Why not?

3 months after Farah was born

Farah was laying on her back chomping merceilessly on a tithing ring in her mout, her large violet eyes taking in this enormous new world around her. She was dressed in a yellow onesie, her legs kicking excitedly a million miles a minute, especially when the man looked down at her and started making funny faces. James loved this little girl like she was his own, and he was also concerned for her like she was his as well.

"Hey Adi, are you sure you don't want me to take Farah to the doctor and have her eyes and ears looked at?"

Raven, who was washing dishes in the kitchen, rolled her eyes at the subject being brought up again for the umpteenth time. In his defense he didn't know that Farah had her eyes and her fathers ears, but after the first 500 times she sad no you'd think he'd drop it.

"No James I told you she's fine." She said making sure her voice was laced enough annoyance to get him to quit asking. She finished the dishes. wiped her hands and headed into the living room, Farahs kicking only getting faster when she spotted her mother.

"You sure?" Raven scooped up her daughter aware that it was time to feed her. "She could have a rare disease or worse?"

Raven chuckled at his naiveté, and made her way to the nursery to feed her daughter. "Like what?"

He followed her into the nursery. "Well you said she came from a one night stand right," she nodded silently even though James didn't believe her for a second, "well what if he was a meta human, or meta human genes or something?"

Raven froze, the action seemed to confuse Farah so she lifted her round head to see what was going on. Raven could feel the contempt and distaste coming off of James when he spoke about meta humans, surprisingly this was the first time the subject was brought up, and now she knew why. His tone was filled with condescension, as if being a meta human was a sickness, and it was making her blood boil. She looked over her shoulder at James, glaring daggers and pulling Farah just a bit closer as if he was going to come at her with pitch forks.

"And what's wrong with that?" She snapped.

James put his hands up. "N-nothing I don't have a prejudice or anything like that," well that was a big fat lie, "it's just that . . . you know I don't want people to look at her like she's w freak, and if it's a disease then she's all good ya know."

Raven felt her inner demon clawing for release and rip apart this MORTAL who dared insult her or her child. As if feeling her mothers distress, Farah began to whimper and fuss. To James she was just hungry, which may have been true, but Raven knew better. They both seemed to feed off of each others emotional states. If Farah was happy so was Raven and vice versa, and if Raven was upset, then Farah would whimper and whine.

"I think you should leave now." Raven said as she attempted to wrangle in her anger. Farah began to cry and Raven began rocking her.

James gawked at her completely unaware of what he had done wrong. "Adi what did I-"

"Please James," Farahs cries were getting louder, "I need to feed her so please leave." Raven went to the rocking chair in the corner letting James know the conversation was over and he needed to leave. Still in shock James bid a quiet goodbye and showed himself out. Raven exposed herself and once Farah found her breast began to fill her empty tummy, her cries slowly drifting away.

The sounds of Farah feeding seemed to calm Raven down, but James's words still weighed heavily on her mind. Sure Farah was the child of two super powered beings, will she have powers? Maybe, and she'd cross that bridge when they came to it, but that in NO way made her a freak. Raven was looked down upon her whole life because of who she looked or who she was, and she would not hesitate to cut anyone out of her life who felt that way about her or Farah, not matter who they were. Raven continued to stare down at Farah a smile creeping to her face. "Your not a freak. Never." Raven leaned back closing her eyes letting the comfort of her child wash over her.

Present day

Needless to say, it took James quite a while to come back from that, but after a while Raven decided to forgive him, but more for Farahs sake. If Raven needed to get Farah food or needed to take her for a check-up James was always there. Although the last time he took then for a check-up, James came with then and asked in passing if anything was wrong with Farah's eyes and ears causing Farah to get a lot of unnecessary and expensive tests. After all of it though Farah was given a clean bill of health, it was just an oddity, they discribed it. It may have eased the man's worries, but Raven stopped speaking to him for almost a year after that, but finally around Christmas time when he showed up at her door with a tree and presents, she had no choice but to let it go.

Still the subject of super powered people was never brought up again, but if they saw something on TV or in the newspaper or magazine about Meta Humans she could feel his animosity towards them. Oddly she didn't feel any HATE, just indifference. Still with this information they could never be an item. He might get a little freaked out if he saw he was dating RAVEN of the Teen Titans. And so he was "Friend-Zoned", but he was the greatest friend Raven and Farah could ever hope for.

James dropped off the two girls and headed off to work, while Raven took Farah to her daycare then left for another "great"(sarcasim) day at work. She couldn't wait for four o'clock to roll around.

. . . .

4:00 P.M.

Even if Raven could scam a ride out of James in the mornings, in the evenings she was left to her own devices, again getting exercise was never a bad thing. She walked the few minutes to her daughters daycare, already getting excited for when she get to see and hold Farah again, and entered the small building. She moved past the parents, siblings, grandparents of whomever were picking up their children and searched for the curly blonde mess that was her Farah. Surprisingly she didn't find her in any of her usual spots, by the toys, the cubbies, or jackets or anywhere, instead found her on one of the small tables in the corner, her elderly teacher sitting with her.

Raven made her way over to them, but froze mid-step. Farah was at the table slowly coloring, her teacher softly rubbing her back in small circles. Raven could tell Farah had been crying, and the sadness she was feeling was palpable, like a bad stink coming off of her. She also had tiny scrapes on her face and arms, and some dirt in her hair. Raven was confused by this, but had to speak her mantra a few times to calm her anger. Instead she put on a small smile and approached.

"Hey sweetie." She greeted Farah. Farah didn't look up at her mother, for some reason Raven felt a small hint of shame coming off of her.

Her teacher, a grey haired elderly women stood up. "Miss Taylor, can I speak to you for a moment?"

Raven was uneasy, but nodded. She knelt down to Farah, noticing more scrapes and mud on her pants. "Farah I'm just going to be over here okay?" Farah nodded, but didn't look away from what she was doing.

Raven walked to the side with Farah's teacher. "Is everything alright?" Raven dreaded the answer. "Is Farah in trouble?"

Her teacher looked surprised. "No, no! Oh heaven's no. We adore Farah. She's super smart, a big helper, and just a pleasure to have around," . . . but . . . "today we had painting time, but poor Farah's hair was getting into the paint so I had to tie her hair back out of her face," Raven's stomach dropped, she knew where this was going, "that's when the other children . . . saw her ears. I think they're the cutest thing I had ever seen, but some of the children . . . they began to tease her a bit."

Raven looked down at Farah and her scratches and scrapes then glared darkly at her teacher, a glare that would make ANY serial killer cringe. "A bit?"

She got uncomfortable under Raven's glare. "Uh. . . well they just joking around and Farah slipped and fell-"

Raven turned on her heel towards her daughter not wanting to hear any more of the teachers excuses for why her daughter was bullied and messy. "Come on Farah, lets go home." Raven helped Farah gather her books while her teacher attempted to speak to Raven.

"You know how kids are, they rough house sometimes, it's nothing to be upset-" Raven stood up holding Farah's backpack in one hand and Farah's hand in the other, then glared at the teacher one more time, making sure her lasers were set to stun and not kill. . . yet. Raven took great pleasure in the fear that she saw in the old women's eyes.

GOD I miss that!

"We'll be back tomorrow . . . but you wont be." She walked out of the daycare center, the older women not planning on coming into work the next day. . . or for a while.

Raven got the full story later that evening when she decided to make Farah's favorite dinner, in the hopes of cheering her up. Macaroni and Cheese with Hot Dogs. Apparently once the other kids saw Farah's ears they wanted to see them some more, but Farah got self-conscious and didn't want them touching her ears, but they were persistant. The kids grabbed at her ears and began pulling at them to see if they were real ignoring her when she told them to stop. When Farah pulled away from their grasp she fell in the playground scraping herself, with the kids still trying to grab at her ears and they didn't stop until the teachers and helpers put a stop to it. Raven's stomach turned with pure hatred and rage by the end of the story, so much in fact that she had to do an emergency meditation session. She called James and had him come by to watch Farah while she did attempted to smother the murderous feelings away.

It was quite a while before Raven was confident enough to venture out of the meditation corner in her room, but by then Farah was fast asleep with her blonde curly head on James's lap.

"Wow I knew you loved meditating, but I didn't know you liked it that much." he whispered with a smile.

She smiled back, feeling a bit better. "As I told you once before, it's something I need to do on occasion for when I'm . . . irritated." Raven took her sleeping child into her arms while James got to his feet.

"Poor thing." he said rubbing her back. "Kids can be so cruel."

Tell me about it, she said to herself. She bid James a good night and took Farah to her bedroom. She quietly laid her down and tried to exit as silently as she could.

"Mommy." The sweet little voice of her daughter caught her attention.

"Yea sweetie? What is it?" Raven knelt down beside her daughter while she stared up at her mother. He purple irises already starting to glisten with tears.

"Am-am I a freak?"

Raven's heart shattered into a million pieces, tears coming to her own eyes. "Farah . . . why would you think such an aweful thing?" She grabbed the little girls hand and rubbed her soft skin with her thumb.

Farah sniffled. "Beca-because of . . . my ears." She pulled her hand away and made an attempt to hide her elongated ears with her hands.

Raven spoke softly trying to comfort her daughter, but the lump in her throat made it difficult. "Sweetie . . . there is nothing wrong with your ears."

Farah sniffled again then reached up to move aside Raven's fake black hair so she could look at her mothers "normal" ears. "But your ears aren't pointy, no one else has pointy ears. Or purpley eyes. Why are my eyes purpley and my ears pointy?"

Raven's heart broke with each tear her daughter shed. She composed herself as best as she could. "Farah honey . . ." She could tell Farah the truth. Tell her who her father is, that her name wasn't Aderyn Taylor, what she really looked like, then her daughter wouldn't feel so . . . out of place. But in the end whose pain was worse? Hers? Or her daughters?

"Your just . . . unique, but there is NOTHING wrong with you." Farah looked at her mother with an odd look in her eyes, as if knowing her mother, whom she trusted, was keeping something from her. Farah let out more sniffling hiccups and turned over to her side away from her mothers gaze.

Raven sobbed. "Farah . . . I love you . . . " Farah mumbled an "I love you" back but made no more other movement. Raven stared at her daughter with water filled eyes for a few more minutes until the little girl cried herself to sleep. Raven stood up and quietly walked out of her daughters room shutting her door behind her. Raven leaned against Farah's door and slid to the ground, her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking with pure sadness, and she sobbed.

She cried all night.

The next day.

Raven wistfully put away the library books onto the shelves, her mind still on Farah. If Raven had her choice she would never take her back to daycare again, but she didn't have a choice. She had to go to work and there wasn't anyone to watch Farah, so she took her back, luckily her "former" teacher had quit, so hopefully no more "rough housing".

Sometimes it's good to be the child of a multi-dimensional demon.

But Raven saw the looks she was getting from her classmates, and strangely they weren't the looks she used to get. People in Azaratah looked at her with fear, these kids, were looking at Farah like she was a sideshow attraction. She wondered if Beast Boy felt this way . . .

More and more she thought about going back to the tower. Farah would fit in, she would have a family, she would have a father.

Then she had a scary thought.

What if Beast Boy and Farah got along great? So great in fact that they spent all their time togther, just Farah, Beast Boy . . . and Terra. Farah looked more like Terra then her after all, then they would be one big happy family . . . while Raven faded away into nothing.

"NO!"

The entire section of books fell off the shelves under the sting of her powers, her knuckles balled into fists at her sides. No . . . Beast Boy took her heart then shattered it, he WAS NOT going to take the ONLY thing she had left. The ONLY thing in this world that gave her any kind of joy. NO! Beast Boy would never know about Farah! He couldn't! Raven wasn't going to let him take Farah away from her to be raised by TERRA!

"Aderyn!"

Raven jumped at the sound of her fake name being shouted by her boss. Mrs. Shwartz wasn't her boss when she was hired but was promoted not long after Raven started working, and she was a Witch, with a capital B. The round faced women looked over the mess of books with huge eyes.

"What on earth!?"

Raven looked down at the mess she caused, and sighed

Crap . . . .

The Underground Powergrid of Jump City

Dr. Arthur Light plugged the enormous cables into his newly upgraded light suit. In a fit of maniacal laughter he drained the city of it's power filling his suit to it's maximum strength.

Triumphantly he stood at the end of the tunnel. "Now my suit is-"

"-perfect! All powerful! Unstopable!"

Dr. Light looked through the now darkness of the underground tunnel, with the light on his chest he illuminated the darkened cavern to see Beast Boy dramatically yelling out words.

"-Unbeatable! Un . . . un . . . "

"I think what Beast Boy is trying to say, is that we've heard it all before." The hero in black stepped foreword. "And just like each time before that, your going down."

Dr. Light chuckled. "Well let's test that theory shall we." Dr. Light shot a beam of light towards the heroes.

"Titans GO!" The Titans scattered, but the tunnel was to small for the six of them to take cover.

"Terra, it's a little cramped in here!" Nightwing shouted.

Terra snapped her goggles on. "Way ahead of ya NW." With golden hands and eyes a slab of solid rock broke from the ground underneath Dr. Light and shot off to the roof of the tunnel. Quickly before he could be flattened, he shot a beam of light creating a hole so he would emerge on the other side, realtively unharmed, but the action cut the cables that were placed onto his back. It didn't matter though Dr. Light made sure his suit was charged and ready to go as five holes appeared in the street around him, then the five forms of the Titans emerged from the tunnel by pillars thanks to the Geomancer.

"Titans GO!" Starfire, and Terra took to the sky, while Robin, Cyborg and Beast Boy (as a Wolf) attacked by the land. Starfire threw a flurry of Starbolts at the villain which he easily blocked with a shield of light and with his other hand created a whip of light wrapping it around the aliens waist. He pulled her towards himself then tossed her away throwing her into the green changeling. Light dropped the shield just as a barrage of small rocks flew in his direction. Using the light whips again he shot them away breaking them into pebbles, however he failed to notice Cyborg coming right surfing on a boulder that Terra had thrown.

"BOO-YA!" Cybrog threw his fist into the villains face knocking Dr. Light away, the metal of his suit scrapping across the pavement. Cyborg advanced preparing to continue his attack on Dr. Light, but Dr. Light threw up his hand letting out an explosion of light as Cyborg's fists came down. Cyborg was blown backwards hitting Terra off of the boulder she was surfing on. Dr. Light got to his feet just as Nightwing and Starfire charged at him. Light shot a blast of light at them, but Starfire grabbed her husband by his hand and flew off into the air, dodging the blast, and throwing Nightwing at Dr. Light. Nightwing threw a few electrical disks at Lights suit and began shorting out his suit as soon as the disks attatched themselves.

Dr. Light had to pull pieces of his armor off with each piece shorting out, then was hit in the chest by a green Ram. Light flew back hitting the wall of a building, but at this point the only piece of his light suit that was still functional was the gauntlets on his hands. He shakily got to his feet, as the Titans surrounded him, but he was more interested in the building behind him, the voices telling him who the occupants were and more importantly, telling him that he had a chance for escape.

Nightwing glared down at the villain. "Well. That was about ten minutes, ready to turn yourself in Dr. Light?"

Dr. Light chuckled to himself. "Now why would I do that. You'll be to busy with other things." Dr. Light charged his gauntlets, but the Titans noticed he wasn't aiming at them and instead hit the building behind him. In a flash of explosive light, the buildings wall imploded inwards instantly setting the place ablaze. The Titans shielded themselves, but were still able to see Dr. Light take off down the road.

"Terra, Starfire go-"

"NIGHTWING!" Nightwing turned to his wife who was floating with a terrified look at the small one story building. Nightwing followed her gaze, his own stomach sinking when he saw what the building was.

It was a daycare.

Library.

Raven was muttering to herself while her boss was looking over her shoulder.

"And once your done organizing the childrens section, you can do a quick sweep of the bathroom-"

"The bathrooms?! I don't clean-" Raven noticed the narrowed eyes of her boss telling her that she sould do what she was told, especially after the incident in with the bookshelves. " . . . yes ma'am." Her boss rolled her eyes at her charge and went about her work, Raven flicking her tounge at her as she walked away.

A sharp pain hit Raven in her chest, knocking the air out of her and causing her to clutch at her heart.

What was that? she wondered. Then it happened again, this time much harsher, then one more time. Raven blinked a few times, then she felt something flowing through her, it was one of the many bonds she had formed, but this one was intimiate, familial, personal to her very heart and soul-

Her head snapped up.

"FARAH!" She was in grave danger.

"Cyborg coordinate with the local Fire Department and get this fire out. The rest of you get those kids out!" Nightwing shouted over the blaring of upcoming sirens.

"What about Light?" Terra asked.

"Forget him, this is more important. GO!" Terra nodded to her team leader and headed for the daycare center. Beast Boy changed into a bull and charged at the front door, creating a large hole that children, teachers, and assistance began filing through. Beast Boy changed back into his human form, the smoke and ash beginning to fill his nose, eyes, and ears disorienting him.

With his keen animal senses being smothered it was difficult for the him to hear the women next to him who was trying to speak to him. " . . . . RE MORE CHI . . . ACK THERE . . ."

Beast Boy shook his head attempting to hear her better. "WHAT!"

More classes pushed past them. "THERE ARE MORE CHILDREN BACK THERE!" She pointed to the back of the daycare coughing and leaning foreward under the smoke.

Beast Boy coughed and nodded, then shifted into a Chipmonk and began scampering under the smoke. Even in this smaller form, he was being overwhelmed by the smoke and heat that danced around him. He zig zagged out of the way of falling debris until he came to the end of the hall were he found a little girl cowering by the door frame, clinging to it for dear life. She was crying and calling for her mommy, but got a little green Chipmunk instead. The little blonde girl looked down, puzzled, then got really freaked out when the Chipmunk shifted into the green Titan. She shrieked in between sobs.

"It's . . . okay . . ." he coughed. His vision was getting blurry and he was having a hard time breathing. "We have. . ." There was a loud crash behind them as more of the ceiling fell causing the little girl to release the door jam and sprint back into the room. "W . . . ait . . " Beast Boy was starting to lose consciousness, but kept his eyes open desperately searching for the curly blonde head of hair of the little girl. He shifted into a Humming Bird and fluttered about the classroom, until he shifted back in mid-air, falling to the ground letting out a fit of coughing. Suddenly he could hear the sounds of coughing, and crying bringing his attention to the coat closet to his right. There, underneath a tiny pink jacket, was the blonde head of hair he was looking for. His consciousness fading quickly as he crawled to the little girl, her cries guiding him until he came to the closet.

"I'm . . . here . . . t . . . "

Raven pushed past paramedics, fire fighters, and police officers, her stomach dropping seeing the daycare center were her child was housed being swallowed in fire.

"FARAH!" Raven pushed by them only to find a strong pair of arms around her waist keeping her back. She squirmed but the arms were powerful, her eyes glowed white looking up at the man that held her and to her surprise, it was her former team leader.

"Ma'am you need to stay back!" Nightwing shouted to the black haired women in his arms.

"MY DAUGHTER IS IN THERE!" Raven yelled. With a tiny push of her power, Nightwing was pushed back, but it was so small Nightwing would never have guess it was dark magic that pushed him away from her. She sprinted towards the building, but then heard the sound of a window breaking, and the form of a burnt changeling. He rolled along the pavement, a large bundle in his arms under a burnt pink jacket.

Beast Boy held the little girl under the jacket as close to himself as he could, keeping his hand over her head making sure she didn't hurt her head when he rolled on the pavement. Finally he came to a stop, burns and broken glass all over her body. He heard small coughs coming from the child in his arms, so he leaned his head foreword to make she she was okay, it was then that their eyes met.

. . . . .

Time stoped.

. . . .

Everything went quiet.

. . . .

Everything vanished.

Now it was just a green shape shifter, and this little girl.

Something clicked inside him like a switch that held him in darkness was finally bringing in a glimmer of light. He felt his empty heart begin to fill with warmth, love, and hope, his lip curving upwards slightly in a smile, tears of joy bushing past the red caused by the smoke, but that wasn't it. Her eyes. They were a deep violet, even through the bloodshot, smoke damaged eyes, he could still see the beauty that was her two amethyst cut diamonds, her blonde curls, her soft skin. She was breathtaking . . .

No really, they can't breath.

Beast Boy began coughing and wheezing, his throat closed off, his lungs not getting air, the little girl in his arms not being able to breath any easier. Two paramedics rushed to their sides and scopped up the child and took her to a nearby ambulance where the black haired hysterical women was waiting for them. Raven watched helplessly as they put her daughter on a nearby stretcher and put an oxygen mask over her tiny face. Raven attempted to push past them, but they held her back, she was to hysterical at this point to use her power to push them away or even heal her child. After a few minutes of breathing clean air, Farah began to breath on her own, albiet weakly, but on her own nonetheless.

The paramedics finally let her mother loose who ran to Farah's side, tears dripping onto her daughters messy dirt covered face. "Ma'am we're going to have to take her to the local E.R. to get checked out." Raven wasn't sure if she nodded, but she found herself being ushered into the ambulance with Farah on a stretcher. Raven glanced out of the back of the ambulance and saw paramedics hooking up Beast Boy to an oxygen tank.

"Thank you Beast Boy . . . " she whispered. "For saving our daughter." Raven couldn't be sure, but she could swear she saw Beast Boy's ear twitch in her direction.

I was going to mention this last time, but Raven's alias, Aderyn, is the Welsh word for bird which is why I use it.

I actually got choked up writing this, having been bullied myself in the past, and know how little Farah feels. Do you think Raven is right or just being stupid?

Read Review. and I'll see ya next time,