Disclaimer: Nope, I still don't own the Teen Titans.

Ascension of the Beast

Chapter I

New Year's Day

'Twas the early morning hours of New Year's Day; and all through Titans Tower, not a creature was stirring... well, except for the Titans' resident demidemoness. In spite of all of her attempts to manage her emotions via meditation, Raven had found herself completely unable to fall asleep. The Titans had to be out of the Tower by 3:00 PM, at which point the city was to take over the land in preparation of the renovation of the Tower into a museum in the Titans' honor. As of this day, she would lose her home of five years.

Timid was especially being a handful. 'W-we s-still h-have n-no w-where to g-go,' said the weepy emotion, who then exploded in a tempest of tears. 'W-w-we're g-g-g-going t-to end u-up l-l-living in a c-cardboard b-b-box and w-we're n-never g-going t-to s-s-see a-a-any of our f-friends ag-g-gain', the gray emotion continued while crying.

'Shut up, Timid! I don't have the time to deal with you right now!' Raven thought in reply to her fearful emotion. Raven knew Timid was—for once—entirely justified in her panic, but descending into an emotional mess was not going to help her with her predicament. She hated feeling fear, and wished that Brave would be more vocal; but the green-cloaked emotion was, along with Happy and Wisdom, quite occupied at the moment with lending Timid shoulders to cry on, and could not readily add her part to the discussion. Rude was, of course, little help, and Knowledge was busy trying to find a solution. Rage, on the other hand, was as expressive as ever.

'Stupid ingrates!' the red emotion screamed, 'we should've just let Trigon destroy them!' It was no secret in Nevermore that the reason Raven was losing her home was because the city no-longer wanted to fund a team of superheroes. But what cut worse was the fact that none of the Titans were even getting any sort of parting bonus, and years of living on short budgets had left Raven, together with Cyborg and Starfire, with no remaining savings. While the others had made their own arrangements, Raven was still trapped by her circumstances.

Raven had been searching for jobs for the past three months, but there was nothing available in Jump City which called upon her particular skill set, and every application she turned in either was turned down outright, or never received a reply. Beast Boy certainly was another one who would be unemployed, but his inheritance gave him something to live on and he had his parents' house in Los Angeles to fall back on for a home. Starfire and Robin would also not be finding work on Earth, but this is mainly because they chose to return to Tamaran, where they would become the supreme ruling couple of the planetary system.

Cyborg was the only one who was able to find a job on Earth. His years as the Titans' in-house primary physician had given him experience that was in high demand. Between Beast Boy's screwy genetics and Starfire's alien origins, this experience made him a perfect candidate to join the staff of S.T.A.R. Labs' Los Angeles facility. The extremely close friendship between Cyborg and Beast Boy also played into the metal man's favor, as Beast Boy was more than willing to spare him a room until he could afford a place of his own. Indeed, it had been Beast Boy who brought the idea up as soon as he learned that Cy would also be moving to LA.

'Maybe I should have asked Gar if I could stay with him and Vic for a while,' the empath thought to herself, 'after all, the three of us have had a special bond ever since their little trip to Nevermore.' "And we've grown even closer since Tokyo," she thought aloud. The three had experienced the common bond of being the outsiders to Robin and Starfire's new relationship. Indeed, over time this trio became essentially as close-knit as the couple themselves.

'The grass stain owes us, after all,' Rude interjected, before letting out a burp. It was true—after the Titans first met, Raven learned that Beast Boy had been living in the Park since he arrived in Jump City. Unwilling to abandon him to the elements, the empath allowed him to stay with her in her old apartment while the Tower was under construction. Their time as roommates served as a foundation to the special relationship the two would share over the years ahead.

'B-but what i-if he s-says n-n-no?' Timid asked in reply. 'W-we've been s-so mean to him o-over the y-years, w-what if h-he d-doesn't want to d-deal w-with us a-anymore?'

'For certain, Garfield has always been an enigma to us,' Wisdom added, 'but I do not believe his past actions suggest any sort of grudge. Indeed, his deeds here [in Nevermore], the fact that he consoled us after Malchior hurt us, and the whole Beast incident all seem to show that he cares very deeply for us. I doubt very much that he would say no, especially if the alternative has us living on the streets.'

'Yeah, Rae-Rae,' Happy joined the conversation, 'Beastie Boo is one of our best friends. He's not gonna say no to us. And besides, I don't think I'll be me anymore if he's not there with us, always trying to make you laugh and smile and show more of my side!' Raven cringed at the pink-clad emotion's words.

Rage was oddly silent at this point. Years ago, Raven would have expected that Rage might suggest some act of violence against the changeling, but the manifestation of all of her anger seemed to have a very deep secret. Raven could not tell if the red-cloaked emotion had simply gotten used to Beast Boy or if something else was going on, but for some reason Rage was no-longer quite herself when it came to the green changeling. Rage herself hated that she couldn't hate Beast Boy, but she had her reasons.

'Gar has always cared about us, and he will never allow us to be homeless,' Affection noted in the sweetest voice she could conjure, 'besides, as much as you want to deny it, to be suddenly plunged into silence and solitude after all these years of him and Vic being there to offer their company and try to make you happy will drive you insane. It's bad enough that Dick and Kori are going to be in a different galaxy, do you really want to lose contact with the rest of your closest friends? We need them. Especially Gar!' Affection's words made sense, although Raven was unable to understand why Affection was placing such an emphasis on Beast Boy, while Cyborg had been considerably less annoying over the years.

Timid's mood improved with her sisters' words, and she was finally able to add something constructive to the dialogue. 'H-he has always been th-there to make us f-feel better when we were s-sad or h-hurt,' the gray-cloaked emotion noted. 'He w-was there for us when M-Malchior hurt us. H-he was th-the only one.'

Raven continued to mull it over, but ultimately made up her mind. "I guess it's decided," the violet-haired woman said, to no one in particular, while she stared out the window in the common room, "I'll ask him when he gets up." She then glanced at the time on her communicator. "4:00 AM, this'll take a while," she said to herself, expecting that the changeling would not be awake until at least 11:00. "Now would probably be a good time to get some rest," she said as she began en route to her bedroom; she hadn't slept all night, and today was not going to be a good day to be without sleep.

A few hours later, Raven's sleep was interrupted by a knock at her door. "WHAT?!" she exclaimed in a voice which imparted both drowsiness and mild annoyance, before remembering what day it was. Nearly immediately after the word left her mouth, she remembered the circumstances of her rest.

"Uh, sorry Rae," a familiar voice answered from the other side of her door. "You slept in pretty late and I was wondering if everything's okay," the voice responded. Raven glanced at her clock, which read 11:32 AM; it was probably best that she get up now anyway.

"My name is Raven!" the dark empath began her reply. By now she was used to Beast Boy using the shortened pet form, but still corrected him out of habit and in an effort to maintain appearances—she had her dignity to protect, after all. "I'm fine," the young woman replied, not wanting to tell anyone that she had been sleepless through most of the night.

Raven proceeded to dress herself and after taking a couple minutes to wake up a little and collect herself, she started to leave her room. But as she opened the door, she found her green friend was waiting for her. "What do you want, Gar?" she asked.

Beast Boy didn't have the mechanical ingenuity which Cyborg long thrived on, nor the detective skills that made Robin the Boy Wonder, and he certainly was no empath. However, he also wasn't as stupid as he seemed, and he was surprisingly strong in the area of emotional intelligence. Between his inhumanly strong hearing abilities and his vast EI, the changeling was able to tell from Raven's voice alone that she was under some form of stress (most likely related to the day's move). So he chose to wait for the empath in the hallway, with the intention of continuing his endless mission of trying to keep his friends happy.

"I was just wondering if there was anything you needed to talk about," the changeling stated honestly, "I was also wondering what your mailing address and phone number are gonna be. Me and Cy kinda wanna keep in touch with everyone and you're the only one we're not going to have any contact info for." Beast Boy had (seemingly) unwittingly given her an open door into exactly the subject she wanted to talk about.

"Actually, about that," she frowned as she paused, "can I talk to you in private for a minute?" Beast Boy immediately shot her a look of concern as she gestured for him to join her in her room; although, over the years, all of the Titans (as well as Jinx—who was one of the H.I.V.E. Five at the time—and a number of sladebots) had been in her room at least once, but she was normally still quite insistent that non one should ever go in her room. For her to invite him into her room was very unusual, and he could quickly deduce from the gesture that something was indeed wrong.

"Uh, okay," the green Titan said with a trace of nervousness in his voice. "You know that I'm always here if you need to talk about anything—even if its just to vent," his fang was exposed in one of his trademark disarming smiles as he finished the latter part.

'How do I say this?' the violet-haired woman thought as the door closed. "About my contact info," she sat on her bed as she continued, "I... I haven't really found any place where I could go, and I couldn't find a job..." She cupped her head in her hands as she said it, feeling a combination of embarrassment and despair while trying to muster the bravery to ask the question she wanted to ask. Thankfully, her green friend cut her off and rendered her question moot.

"Why didn't you tell me?" the now-financially-comfortable changeling begged. "The Titans are family, and I'd do anything for any of you. You do know you can always come stay with me and Cy, right? I've got a big house, there's plenty of room." In reality, he was somewhat offended that she hadn't come to him and asked for his help, although he didn't let it show. He could only think of two reasons why she wouldn't have asked: either she thought he'd turn her down, or she wanted him out of her life. The former bewildered him, as he felt she should know by now that he would never do that to her. The latter possibility, that she would rather be homeless than be near him, hurt him deeply. But in this moment it was her troubles that mattered, so he chose to stow his emotional reactions.

"I don't want to be a burden," she confirmed that it was the former possibility that was the case. "I've always tried to be self-sufficient! I don't want to be dead weight," she stated, as some very uncharacteristic tears began to roll down her cheeks. This was certainly one of those moments when she was glad her hood was up.

"Rae-ven," he corrected himself in mid-word, while taking a seat beside her, "do you know how many times you've saved my life? And on top of that, you helped me feel better after that whole thing with the Beast. And let's not forget about the time when I was homeless and you decided to give me a roof over my head, even though you didn't have to!" He cautiously brought her into a chaste embrace while continuing, "you wouldn't be a burden—you've already paid your rent in full for the next... well, eternity." He shot her a reassuring smile.

She knew he wasn't promising something he couldn't deliver when he said that. While his past was still largely an enigma to everyone in the Titan family, it was well-known among the Titans that not only did Beast Boy have the small fortune left behind for him by his biological parents, but he was also the sole heir to the Dayton fortune as well—and, seeing as Steve Dayton was the fifth richest man in the world, it was safe to say Garfield would never be poor. She also knew that, deep in is heart, he would never abandon a friend, especially a very dear one like Cyborg or herself. She realized she should have known all along that she had nothing to worry about, but she also determined that she should not abuse his kindness.

"Thank you, Gar; you have no idea how much this means to me." She stood up and faced him as she finished her statement of appreciation. "But," she added as her voice returned to its more typical monotone, "as soon as I find a job, things will change. I don't care how much you think you might owe me, I am not going to become a freeloader."

"Dude! The day I think you're a freeloader will be the day Big Red gets an NHL franchise!" Beast Boy protested. "Seriously, if you want to pay rent eventually, you can, but don't even worry about that right now. All I care about is that you're not gonna be living out in the cold. I've been there, it sucks." He once again flashed a friendly grin. "I guess we should probably go fill Cy in about the change in plans," the shape-shifter noted while getting up to walk to the door.

"Okay, since I'm going to be going with you and Cyborg, I kind of have a question," the empath said as she and her green friend began to traverse the hallways. "What about my things? You two weren't anticipating that I would be coming with, so is there going to be enough room?"

"There should be," the green man replied, "this one time when I went to Steel City with Cy, we ended up saving this trucker on the way back who was being attacked by a bunch of thugs. He was so grateful that he promised to help us whenever we needed to move anything—well, as long as we gave him enough notice at least." Beast Boy's smile brightened. "Dude's got an eighteen wheeler! Even between all of my stuff and all of Cy's stuff, it's only gonna be half full. We shouldn't have any problem with fitting your stuff in."

The dark Titan's lip curled into an almost imperceptible smile. 'Well, that problem's solved,' she thought to herself as she and her green friend embarked the elevator in their journey to find Cyborg. Of course, that would be a short endeavor, as the cybernetic twenty-something was pretty much where he could usually be found during the day when he wasn't either playing video games, eating, or kicking villains' butts: the garage.

The T-Car had always been Cyborg's baby (as he himself affectionately called it). When the decision to disband the team was made, the Titans decided to leave all of the immovable property on the island to the city. Vehicles were not, however, included in that deal. An agreement was made that Robin and Starfire would take the Space T-Ship, while Cyborg would keep the T-Car. The Sub T-Ship and the Jet T-Ship would be held in common by Beast Boy, Cyborg and Raven. Of course, the R-Cycle remained Robin's, and was entrusted to the care of Bruce Wayne for storage until it could be shipped to Tamaran. Knowing that he and Beast Boy would be leaving for LA in a matter of hours, Cyborg was of course readying his baby for the trip.

Before the chromatically-challenged Titans could even announce their presence in the room, Cyborg spoke to them. "So, Rae's coming with, huh?" Beast Boy and Raven were both taken very much aback by his correct guess, but they could only figure he was about to tease them about their supposed mutual attraction for each other. They were saved from the embarrassment, however, as their communicators came to life a microsecond after Cyborg opened his mouth to answer their unspoken question.

"All Titans report to the Main Ops Room," Robin's voice commanded. On a normal day, the trio would have wondered what this was about, but there was really no surprise in it today. The three made their way to the designated destination without a word; Cyborg's teasing would have to wait for another opportunity.

"Hey guys, take a seat," Robin said as the three entered the room. Raven, Beast Boy and Cyborg wasted no time in complying, the changeling taking his seat between the dark empath and their half-mechanical friend. Starfire remained standing at their leader's side, smiling in a manner that could illuminate the darkest night.

"As you know, today is our last day as a team," the leader began, "but we've always been more than just a team, and, as your leader, I want to tell each of you how much I have appreciated working with you through the years." The Boy Wonder was being uncharacteristically sentimental. He faced his Tamaranean significant other "Star, I can't find the words to accurately how I feel about having fought by your side all these years. From the moment you first kissed me on that day you escaped the Gordonians, to this very moment, you have always had such a big effect on me. I love you, and I anxiously await our life together on Tamaran. I am certain you will be one of the greatest queens in Tamaran's ever had, and I'll be there for you the entire time." He concluded his words to his girlfriend with a short kiss.

"Boyfriend Robin, you make me the happiest woman in the Universe," Starfire replied. She was finding it difficult to keep her feet on the floor as she grasped her future consort in a hug which could have crushed an elephant's ribs. To say that the alien princess was elated would be a supreme understatement. As the Tamaranean released the Boy Wonder from her bone-crushing embrace, he turned his face to the green changeling.

"Beast Boy—or should I say Garfield?—I think we all owe you a bit of gratitude," Robin said, after catching his breath. "Between your unfaltering loyalty to the team, your self-appointed mission to keep all of us from going over the dark side, and the surprisingly great leadership capabilities you displayed when we fought the Brotherhood of Evil, you've always been an irreplaceable member of this team. Not only could we not have been as successful without you as we were, the team itself probably wouldn't exist; it was you, after all, who tried the hardest to get us all to form a team when our paths crossed those years ago. I never really showed you my gratitude—indeed, sometimes I was rather hard on you—but I want you to know I'm sorry for that and you've always been a great teammate and I'll always consider you my friend and brother."

Beast Boy gave a slight smile before giving his reply, "don't worry about Rob. I'm sure you guys would've ended up getting together without me anyway, and the Brotherhood was just an enemy I had a lot of experience with because of my past in the Doom Patrol. And I already forgave you a long time ago for all the times you din't exactly give me the best treatment... I mean, I understand why you were that way most of the time, and you always meant the best by it. And, you know, it's like ancient history and all, but you were the one person who took the time to comfort me the first time Terra left," the changeling shrugged and his smile grew into his trademark grin. "But...if you want to make up for all the times you've been a hardass to me, just remember to make sure the rest of us can all attend your wedding."

Robin gave a short chuckle, his arm draped over his fiancée's shoulder. "Don't worry, you'll all be invited to the wedding and we'll provide transportation. But don't expect it to be anytime soon; we're probably going to be very busy for a while," Grayson noted. "First we'll have to take some time to get Star's reign established, then we're going to have to return to Earth to attend Bruce's wedding..." at that point he was cut off by the changeling.

"Dude, talk about an odd c...ow!" Beast Boy was unable to comment any further on the oddity of Batman's choice of spouse, as Cyborg jabbed an elbow into his rib in an unspoken signal to 'shut the hell up.' No one in the Tower was completely sure of Robin's feelings about the Dark Knight's impending marriage, including the Boy Wonder himself. It was probably best to stop Beast Boy before he had an opportunity to make a joke about it. Robin, on the other hand, simply gave the changeling a look which kind of said 'tell me about it.'

With the changeling's interruption out of the way, Robin continued with what he was saying, "after Bruce's wedding, we'll be setting out to try to locate and retrieve Star's brother, since she (understandably) wants him to be in attendance at our wedding. On top of all of that, we're also going to have to be constantly looking over our shoulders in case Blackfire should decide to return." Robin sighed and concluded that "it'll probably be a year before we get married, at the earliest. But it's going to be one long year."

"Anyway," the masked man ended the digression and turned his attention to Raven, "Raven, I still think of you as being something like a manifestation of hope. I mean, you beat your destiny...you defeated your father and proved, in spite of everything you've ever been told about your life, that you decide your course. I will always regard you as one of my closest friends." Turning his attention to his half-robotic second-in-command, he continued, "you too Cyborg. Just like I feel that we never would have been a team in the first place without Beast Boy's overwhelming desire to make new friends, our team would have never been anywhere near as successful as we were if it wasn't for your technical and medical skills."

Speaking to all of his team, he finally concluded, "four years is a long time. But they were productive years, with good friends, doing things that made a difference. And, you know, every single one of you—no, every single one of us—had an integral part in that. We may have all gotten on each other's nerves from time to time, but we were always a family. Working with you has taught me the value of that; when we first met each other, I was so damn fixated on working alone. But we were always stronger working together—not just from the summation of our separate and individual strengths, but also because we were there for each other between the battles, at all times, for better or for worse. If even one of us chose not to join this team, I'm fairly confident we would all be dead by now."

Starfire took the floor as her beloved finished his words of appreciation for their team. "Every word Boyfriend Robin said applies as well to my feelings," she began to cry. "And though I a filled with much of the joy that I will be returning to Tamaran with him at my side, I worry too that I might lose contact with you, the rest of my dearest friends."

"Don't worry Star," Cyborg replied to the Tamaranean's concerns. "It shouldn't be very hard for us to all stay in contact, especially since Rae, BB and I are all going to be in one place for a while, and you and Rob are also going to be together in one place. If the Justice League is willing to help us out, we might even be able to use the Watchtower to relay signals from our communicators and be able to contact each other individually."

"I'll have to ask them about that," Robin responded. "Most of the JLA's big-wigs will be at Bruce's wedding, so I figure then may be as good a time as ever." Robin then checked the time on his communicator. "Unfortunately, we'll have to wait a while before we'll be able to talk about that. It's getting to be about time for Star and I to get going."

Cyborg, Raven and Beast Boy accompanied their friends as they embarked the Space T-Ship, saying their emotional farewells in the last moments. As the three watched their teammates launch into space, Beast Boy raised a couple important questions.

"It's like 1:30," the changeling noted. "When's the truck gonna be here? And how are we possibly going to have time to load all our stuff?"

"Well," Raven could feel Beast Boy's nervous emotions, and decided to calm him a bit, "I could always just teleport everything into the trailer. It should only take a couple minutes to get your, my and Cyborg's things all into the truck that way, so we can probably leave within ten minutes or so of the truck getting here."

As Raven was answering one of Beast Boy's worries, Cyborg noticed the answer to his previous question. "As for the truck," the metal man pointed toward the city, "it's right there." Sure enough, the eighteen wheeler was parking near the secret entrance on the mainland side of the tunnel connecting the Tower's garage to the city. Within a few moments, Raven was able to teleport the belongings of all three Titans into the trailer, and the friends were ready to go.

"I call shotgun!" the green man-child shouted. Raven didn't have any problem with this whatsoever, as she wanted to rest a bit on the long drive to Los Angeles, and figured it would probably be easier to take a nap in the back seat. Soon enough, the T-Car was on the freeway, leaving Jump City behind with the truck carrying the Titans' property in tow. For the most part, the trip was unremarkable until the T-Car got out of range of Jump City's radio stations. Searching for something to listen to, Beast Boy inadvertently stumbled upon a public radio news station, but the story they were broadcasting at the moment made his heart skip a beat.

Upon hearing the words "...ilitary coup overthrew the democratically-elected government of Lamumba," the shape-shifter froze the dial, not even listening as Cyborg (who had no idea why his green friend would be so interested in a military coup in a small African country most people had never even heard of) protested the choice of radio channels. Listening intently, the facts that he learned in the radio reports captured his full and undivided attention: the coup was launched the previous night, and the country's President was murdered. More importantly, from where Beast Boy's concerns lied, King Tawaba of the subnational Kingdom of Upper Lamumba had very publicly lodged his complaints that the coup was illegal and clearly stated that Upper Lamumba would not cooperate with the illegitimate military regime now in control of the country's central government. A very bad feeling took root at the pit of Beast Boy's stomach.

Author's Notes
I've borrowed some continuity from GuardianSaiyoko's Whitewater shorts (specifically, I borrowed the part about Raven having taken a homeless Beast Boy in as a roommate while the Tower was being constructed from the story "Refuge" and its sequels). I feel it's helpful to establish the "affection and loyalty" end of the BBRae 'Old Married Couple' dynamic early on, to confirm that, through everything and despite all of the apparent antagonism, they're always very close friends, who always have each other's backs. I also made mentions of the Nevermore incident and references to the new dynamic of life in the Tower after Robin and Starfire got together to establish Raven, Beast Boy and Cyborg as a close (and almost codependent) trio.

Don't worry about how soft this chapter might be. There will be some level of danger and adventure ahead. The story's primary Big Bad will probably be revealed in a few chapters, although there will be more than a few hints of where it's going.

In case anyone is wondering about Cyborg's career in this fic: in the DC Universe, S.T.A.R. Labs' facility in LA deals with genetics and disease control. I realize that mechanics or robotics would probably have been Cyborg's strongest point, but one has to admit that dealing with Beast Boy's health needs in and of itself has given him more than enough experience for this field, not to mention having to take care of an alien and a human/demon hybrid on top of it. I don't want to spoil things, but this will also be important to the plot ahead.

Also, if anyone (especially Raven) seems OOC, you've got to remember that this isn't a normal circumstance. She is especially under quite a lot of stress at the beginning of the chapter, and the prospect of potentially ending up homeless will tend to affect a person. I also figured that Beast Boy having a fairly good soft skill EQ (when he chooses to use it) should be well within his character, especially when you add some of his personality from the comics into the mix. Moreover, it should be kept in mind that I'm writing a Gar who is now a legal adult, and who has matured a fair amount over the interceding years (even if he still has a very active inner child).

Annatheavidreader- I'm glad that you like it so far. I agree that Raven would definitely have the shortest stick in this situation, and even if I were to include her siblings in the story, I don't think she'd be particularly willing to join them. I figure that, while you're correct that Gar could always go back to the Doom Patrol, he wouldn't particularly want to deal with the conflict with Steve, so returning to the Doom Patrol on a permanent basis would strike me as an option of last resort for him. Thankfully, Gar has his inheritance from Mark and Marie, so he can be comfortable (for a while at least) without having to rejoin the Doom Patrol; albeit I don't see him going long without at least visiting Steve and Rita—they still are his adoptive parents and there is still mutual love between them as such. As for a rationalization of why the team is disbanding rather than merely relocating: I figure that the Brotherhood had a global network of villains under its command, so freezing them would have had a universal effect. Also, I figure that with the Titans' defeat of the Brotherhood and the formation of a global network of Titans, there would be a chilling effect among the remaining villains, with only the most insane, stupidest or strongest of them wanting to even contemplate facing the them. Since all of the remaining DC Universe villains who are actually formidable are already engaged by other heroes (Joker vs. Batman, Lex Luthor vs. Superman, etc.), there's really no one left for them to fight (or so it would seem). Of course, there's always more to things than they appear ;)

Dynamite403 & I Tear Paper For Fun- Thank you for your feedback. I'm glad to see that reviewers at least liked the Prologue. I hope the rest of the story doesn't disappoint.

Stay Tuned
What's Rage's big secret and why can't she hate Beast Boy? Who's Batman going to marry, and does it have anything to do with the main plot? What the hell is going on in Lamumba, and what is Beast Boy gonna do about it? What does the Beast have to do with everything? How will the 'villainy drought' affect the other Titan teams? Stay tuned for the answers to all of these questions (and more)!