Author's Note: WOOHOO! i got four reviewers, that's SO AWESUM! sniff i luv u guys…moving on, at the beginning of each chapter i give a little personal thank you to the new reviews, so i'll do that in a minute. for those of you wondering, i'm doin this fanfic cuz so many people brush Beast Boy off as either a total idiot lovesick for Terra, or a complete hothead who's only still interested in Terra…not that i don't like some of those stories, but Beast Boy is my absolute favorite character on Teen Titans, and i'm getting tired of him being used mostly as a flat character. so i decided to write a fanfic about our favorite green changeling, with the purpose to give his character more depth and emotion. i got the idea for this fanfic after watching the episode "The Beast Within," and immediately luved it and decided to get my idea published on yes, this is a bbrae fanfic, so srry if you don't like them being together—but this story still has A LOT of Beast Boy anguish and some humor, so don't leave just yet!

Pluiesang: hehe, thanx for the reviews, i'm still waitin for u to UPDATE. anywayz, tell me wat sections you feel are rushed and why they're rushed and i'll go unrush them a bit.

TDG3RD: dude, thanx, I LUV U! hope you read this fanfic again…

Dragoon-bane: hey man, thanx and hope u keep reading! Its gets better. smiles mischievously

Smileyfacedudett: yepyep, me kno its awesum!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in the Teen Titans show or comics.

Raven was thrown at least twenty feet from the escape from the explosion, debris from the now-demolished dumpster hitting her face and arms. The wall came up at her, a huge wave of smoke pushing her towards it. Raven yelled something between a strangled wail and raging battle cry before she shot up into the sky and sped a good hundred feet above the alleyway. She watched in horror as the smoke chased people down the street and heard a great grinding noise that jarred her to her bones, and gasped as she saw the street begin to collapse. A flicker of motion caught her eye, a black figure dashing into the smoke back through the alley. Screams echoed throughout the air, and Raven sped towards the people running and scrambling to get off the collapsing concrete and gravel. She scooped up as many people as she could in her magic, dumping them a safe distance away. Soon smoke buried the street and she was working by only sound, listening for screams or cries too close for comfort. Raven paid no heed to her stinging eyes or the tears leaking down her face. Only one thought raced through her head.

Oh God.

It didn't take long for the others to catch up to her, simply running or flying as fast as they could towards the rising column of smoke. When they rounded the corner of the block, all three stopped in shock, watching Raven's form in the sky lift objects and people to safety with giant spheres and shovels of magic. The collapsing street had groaned to a stop, but was very unstable. A huge chasm of black yawned into the middle of the street, leading deep into the sewer network below the city. What had been an alley way moments before was now littered with rubbish, though the two buildings on either side were miraculously still standing, their outlines barely visible.

After a moment of silence, Robin, who had halted beside Cyborg, straightened and looked back towards Cyborg and Starfire, both on the ground and waiting for his orders on what to do. He glanced back at Raven to see how she was faring and saw her gliding down to them.

"What happened?" Robin asked as soon as Raven landed beside the other three, his voice echoing his amazement at the destruction that had happened while he was absent for only a few minutes. He immediately noted the puzzled and helpless expression on her face and grew more concerned. More and more people were starting to crowd on the sidewalks on the other side of the street, realizing there wasn't immediate danger anymore.

"Rae…where's B.B.?" Cyborg spoke, noticing the changeling was missing.

Raven stared at him for a moment, as if trying to comprehend the question. She looked at the team desperately. "He…it…" she said, obviously working to keep her emotions in check. "I—that thing had a bomb," she spat, a surge of anger flaring up inside her. A fire hydrant opposite of the team flew upwards in a spurt of black magic, but no one paid it any notice.

"Damn," Robin swore, swiftly turning away as he absorbed what Raven had just stated. Cyborg continued staring at the wreckage, and Starfire gasped in dismay.

"But—our friend? Is he not 'okay'?" Starfire asked carefully, as if she didn't understand what she was being told.

Raven looked at her, her face blank and feelings monotone again. "I really don't know." The team was silent for a second. Sirens could be heard coming up from the distance. Raven then took a deep breath, a hard look on her face. She gestured towards the alley. "But I know where he went."

No one needed to ask who 'he' was. Robin brought his head up, turning towards the group again. He decided their moment of grief was over…but not that they needed one, as far as he was concerned. He wouldn't accept anything until he had concrete proof. It was his policy.

"Cyborg, you and Starfire go down where the alley way, help anyone that may be down there, and look for where Beast Boy is. Raven, come with me; we're going after whoever did this," Robin ordered, his voice stone. Cyborg nodded, and Starfire gave a small yes. Raven watched him, waiting to go. He darted off in the direction of the smoke, commanding one last thing that he hadn't been able to shout before.

"Titans, go!"

When the small sphere blew up, it had been level with Beast Boy's face. He had had one instant to pray for a miracle, everything moving agonizingly slow, before the whole world exploded. He was thrown backwards like Raven by the blast, but he didn't have anywhere to fly to except straight into the brick wall behind him. His body hit full force, the wall like a sledgehammer driving into his back and the strength of the explosion knocking him out for at least a few seconds. When his eyes snapped back open, the world was swimming in his vision, he was lying next to the wall covered in brick dust and trash from the dumpster, and he realized with dread that the whole alley was beginning to collapse. Though his mind screamed at him to get up and morph into a bird so he could fly away, his body would not respond, as if someone had loaded him up on numbing tranquilizers. He vaguely remembered some random piece of information about shock of the body, and guessed that was what he was experiencing. He stared with frozen eyes at the huge whole opening up before him helplessly, feeling his body begin to role towards it.

Suddenly a cold wave swept through his body, traveling from his face through his neck to his back in moments, leaving his eyes stinging and his mouth full of a brackish taste. Beast Boy snapped back to life again, just as another wave came upon him, and began groping desperately at any kind of debris around him, trying to pull himself up. Stars erupted in his vision, his stomach convulsing without warning so he puked up what little substance that was in it. The alley was rumbling and the cement crumbled underneath Beast Boy, giving way to his weight. He managed to wonder why there weren't any orange fireballs or searing heat before more waves of coldness and nausea swept over him and he tumbled head first into darkness.

It seemed to take forever to hit the bottom of the now massive pit, Beast Boy drifting in a weird, half-dazed state. He clutched his abdomen the whole time, sickness wracking his body with the waves still coming on. When he finally hit the sewer water, its ice-cold jolt brought him back to himself. He sank far into the murky water, then abruptly surged to the surface with a new strength, dodging the chunks of brick and cement that had fallen with him while he fought against the current and gasped for air. Despite his efforts, he was far down the black tunnel when he pulled himself onto the rough outcrop beside the miniature river, choking on dirty water and dust.

"Aarghh," Beast Boy groaned as he rolled onto his back, his face heated and flushed. His eyelids flickered as he struggled to stay awake, the brackish taste still on his tongue. He moved onto his side, meekly coughing up more water as he closed his eyes to slow the swaying motion in his head. The rushing of the sewer water actually sounded comforting if he could forget the fact it was sewer water.

What had just happened?

His eyes snapped open as Beast Boy realized that the whole explosion hadn't been right; if that sphere had been a bomb, it must have broken or whatever—nothing had happened like it did in the movies with spitting fire and mushroom clouds. And he wasn't hurt, at least from what he could tell. But then again…Beast Boy furrowed his brow, but immediately stopped when a deep, grinding pain began at the back of his head and between his eyes, as if someone was rubbing grit against his skull. Something had changed inside him, leaving him with the feeling he had ripped in two and turned inside out. He groaned again, not able to put his finger on the change even though he knew it was there.

A rumble sounded overhead and bits of dust fell onto Beast Boy's head, reminding him that he wasn't in the most secure of places. With another surge of energy, Beast Boy pushed himself up, ignoring the high-pitched ring that had just started in his ears. He put his hand against the slick, slime-covered tunnel wall, leaning into the wall as he absorbed the effects of lifting himself up. He noticed he had lost his glove. Everything was dark, light from street level illuminating shadows farther up ahead where the alley had once been. The water ran by, at least four feet deep, undisturbed by the creaking and faint wails that could be heard. Beast Boy watched a cup and next a piece of metal float by stupidly, still dazed from his fall. He unexpectedly broke out in a coughing fit, his sides heaving as he tried to unclog his throat.

It took a minute for the coughing to calm down, Beast Boy's eyes watering furiously when it did. Squinting his eyes, he stared hard, searching for a way to get out before the whole sewer collapsed. It seemed as if heaven had finally favored him when he saw the prongs and pothole leading up to the street a little ways down the tunnel, opposite of the way he had come. Looking at it for a couple more seconds to make sure it was there, he then started to walk haltingly towards it, afraid if he moved to fast he'd faint.

Every step felt as if he was walking closer to his death, so convinced Beast Boy was that the sewer would collapse any minute because of the ruckus the walls were beginning to make. But soon enough Beast Boy was at the ladder of prongs leading up to the streets, white light from the late morning sun shining on his face and causing him to squint his eyes. The wall suddenly gave a wretched moan, Beast Boy reacting instantly and tried to shift into a bird once more. He gasped when the headache at the back of his head stabbed into his head violently, nothing different or even feathery about his appearance. Puzzled, Beast Boy glared up at the light, but quickly shoved all his troubled thoughts aside when rock started crumbling, falling from the ceiling and walls. Whispering a curse, Beast Boy forced himself to climb up the prongs, knowing he was engaged in a race against the rate he climbed and the rate the sewer decided to fall—so he needed to climb fast.

He scrambled up the ladder, the once distant screams and shouts from the street now very close. As Beast Boy grew nearer to the pothole, he noticed it seemed to have been yanked from its place in the paved street. Sure enough, when he reached the top, he glanced at the side of the hole and saw the circular metal door with cement in tattered pieces still attached to it, lying around it. Starfire or Cyborg had been here, their inhuman strength the only thing that could've ripped it away, with Robin having no superpowers and Raven's handiwork usually disappearing to about twenty feet away.

Beast Boy looked up into the commotion of the street, his eyes already adjusting to the bright light of the day. People ran in the direction he was facing, shouting the names of their friends and family, and clearly trying to escape whatever they had deemed dangerous. One quick look at the smoke streaked sky told Beast Boy that the alley had definitely blown up; he was now too far away to see any extensive damage, though. Instead cars were abandoned on the side of the road, some skidded to a stop or run into the bumpers of others ahead. Letting another deep cough roll from his chest, Beast Boy struggled to climb wholly out of the sewer.

Before he knew it he was being lifted easily out of the pothole, a strong and reassuring grip on his arm as whoever had helped him led him to the sidewalk. Surprised and relieved that someone had stopped panicking enough to help him, Beast Boy turned to say thanks and met the concerned-looking face of a guy around his age. He was a little taller than Beast Boy, with dusty brown hair and dark-brown eyes, his frame slight and athletic. He wore the usual jeans and T-shirt, giving Beast Boy the feeling the explosion had interrupted his Saturday morning at the mall with his friends.

"Hey, man, you okay? I'm not even gonna think about asking you what you were doin' in the sewer, but you look pretty beat up," the guy asked, genuine worry echoing in his voice. Beast Boy nodded, unable to speak. The guy raised a slim eyebrow, shook his head and continued, "Whatever, man. Just don't go that way." He gestured at the direction of the alleyway, and then was gone.

Beast Boy stared at the guy's receding back for a minute longer, unsure of where to go or what to do next. He didn't know where the rest of the team was, and didn't even know exactly where he was for a second. His Titan communicator had unsurprisingly vanished in all the excitement, so he had no way of communicating with anyone either. He could head back to the tower, but what if someone needed his help? He didn't want three freaking lectures from Robin…

As if in answer to his uncertainties, he overheard the conversation between two voices, one very polite and inquiring, the other very agitated and fearful…Starfire's voice sounded so sweet to his ears it wasn't even funny.

"Please, sir, are you sure you have not seen my friend? He is of short length and height, very humorous and—"

"Lady, I haven't seen your little friend, so just let me by. This whole street could fall in any minute—"

"—he is of green color and can change into the animals of your planet—"

"Let me get by, you freak!"

He scanned the crowd, looking for her purple suit and red hair, anxious to know where the others were and what had happened in the alley. His aching head and exhaustion were immediately forgotten when he spotted her over next to a lamppost, interrogating a man in his early twenties who seemed anxious to get away. Beast Boy started making his way through the people running in the opposite direction, starting to wave his arms and shout her name.

"Starfire! Starfire! Over here!"

At the sound of his voice Starfire turned away from the man, who anxiously slipped away in her distraction. Her green eyes searched the crowd eagerly, looking for Beast Boy's familiar splotch of green hair against the tide of redheads, blondes, brunettes, pinks, blacks, purples, and blues. Puzzlement reflected in her eyes after only a second of searching, however, as if she was unable to see him. Beast Boy solved the problem by shouting louder and waving his hands wider. It didn't take long for Starfire to spot him after he exerted his efforts, and she glided towards him though the puzzled and anxious expression was still in place on her face.

Beast Boy immediately sighed with relief as she came to a stop in front of him, and began to speak only to be interrupted by her. "God, Starfire, I'm—"

"Excuse me, citizen of Earth, but have you seen my friend? He is of short length and height, very humorous and he is of green color and—"

Beast Boy stared at Starfire as she rambled on, a slow apprehension beginning to rise from the pit of his stomach. Why didn't she recognize him? He raised his hand so she stopped speaking and waved. "Uh, Star? Yeah, hi."

"Yes?" Her voice echoed confusion in every part. "You have something to say?"

Beast Boy continued to stare at her, unbelieving. "Star, it's me!"

Raven searched the darkened shadows of the nicks and crannies in the city from the air, anxious to find the idiot who had ruined her perfectly fine Saturday morning with an unnecessary explosion that might've killed one of her friends, hurt plenty of innocent people and keep the cops busy to where law enforcement would have to rely on them, the Titans, to clean up crime for the rest of the day when they all could've relaxed. Reading, playing video games, shopping, exercising—just doing whatever, like normal teenagers for a bit. But no, that—that worm had decided to ruin it all, and yes, in case geniuses are scarce in today's world…

Yes, Raven was pissed.

Robin rode below her on the R-cycle, scourging the streets for the criminal at city-level, his tracking gadgets being put to use. Raven heard his voice in her head through the telepathic connection she had just formed between them so they could keep their Titan communicators open for any word of Beast Boy. Raven, I think I have a lock on him; he's moving fast, seventy miles an hour on Berwick Street, two blocks to your left. He's making multiple turns and swerves, to I think he's on a moving vehicle. She looked over as directed, catching sight of a hurtling black four-wheeler as she heightened her sight with her powers. Got him, she told Robin, swooping almost greedily in that direction. Meet me there.

Don't do anything stupid, Robin warned her as he turned onto a back street. Raven nodded, knowing there was no way he could see her nod as she did it. She didn't care.

The black figure was just as before, besides the fact that he was aloft on a vicious-looking black four-wheeler, screaming down the street way past the speed limit. He obviously wasn't worried, his body relaxed. Raven imagined with disgust his face was probably painted with triumph at his eloquent get-away. Well, she thought savagely, I can fix that problem quite nicely. Two seconds later mailboxes and lampposts were flying at the figure and he four-wheeler, veiled in black energy. The four-wheeler swerved off of the street and onto a sidewalk to avoid a particularly well-aimed mailbox, crashing into a building's stairway. Pedestrians screamed and dived out of the way right before the vehicle hit, brick chunks and metal thrown from the wreckage. Raven came to stop above the four-wheeler and put her hands out in front of her. Concentrating, she began quietly then got louder and louder. "Azrath, Mentrion, CENTHOS!"

She drew back her hands and pulled a parked car with her magic to where it hovered directly above the black-clad figure and his four-wheeler, then brought it crashing down, caring very little whether the four-wheeler or the rider survived. To Raven's disappointment, however, the criminal bounded out of the wreckage, running away from the smoking rubble apparently unharmed. A fierce fire leapt up in Raven's eyes, and she drew her hands back once again, ready to smash her rival underneath the weight of a whole building if necessary. Robin, however, beat her to it, pulling out of the ally in front of the running figure on his R-cycle, stopping the figure in its tracks. Raven, he shouted in her head, forgetting she could her him fine, close a sphere around him! The slight surprise of Robin's sudden appearance and the pause in action allowed Raven the little time she needed to get her temper under control, the fire dying out in her eyes as she listened to Robin's order and trapped the figure in an unbreakable sphere of black energy. Robin nodded to her as the figure started beating its fists on the energy surrounded it, and took out his Titan communicator to call the police.

Without warning Raven felt a sharp pain in the small of her back, a wrenching fire traveling up her spine. She let loose a cry of pain and dismay as her back curved into an arch and she watched helplessly as her powers jumped out of control, exploding from her hands. Her sphere prison ripped open, letting the imprisoned figure back into the day, and it didn't waste a minute of time gained from whatever had disturbed Raven's powers. Sprinting at full speed, the figure leaped into the air and two metal black wings shot out of the jetpack on its back, the rockets flaring to life. Robin dived at the figure in vain before it sped away, too quickly for anyone to do anything. Raven was now on the ground, slumped over and moaning softly. The small dart that had caused so much agony to her laid a few feet to her left, dislodged by the struggles and efforts of Raven's powers. Seeing that no one could do anything about the escapee, Robin ran over to Raven and gently helped her to her feet.

"Rae, you fine?" Robin asked softly, supporting her weight as they rose slowly.

"Yeah…" she whispered, still stunned from the pain of the dart but coming back to herself. She cleared her throat and asked her familiar monotone voice, "He got away, didn't he?"

Robin nodded his head and made sure Raven could stand before he went over to the dart and picked it up. He peered at it for a minute, then swiftly pulled out a miniature plastic bag, dropped the dart in, sealed the bag and put the whole arrangement away. He looked up at Raven, who was observing his actions silently. "Yes," he said, enforcing his nod. He glared at the direction the jetpack-assisted figure had taken off in. "And he wasn't working alone."

BEEPBEEP. Raven and Robin both jerked their heads around to stare at each other at the sound of the Titan communicator's call. Then Robin was ripping out his communicator and Raven was promptly gliding over to gaze around Robin's shoulder at the small screen. Robin flipped open the communicator, both Robin and Raven holding their breaths. After a slight pause, the screen flickered and Cyborg's face appeared, looking extremely perplexed and anxious. Robin and Raven looked at each other again, fearing the worst.

"Cyborg," Robin said, his voice as firm as always.

"Did you catch him?" Cyborg immediately inquired, leaning in closer to the screen so his face loomed in their vision.

"No, he got away," Robin answered shortly. "We couldn't stop him; he had a jetpack and an accomplice."

Cyborg's eyebrows rose at the last comment. "That's something we'll have to talk about."

Robin nodded slowly, then finally asked the question everyone was waiting for: "Well? Where's Star?" His voice grew softer. "Did you…find him?"

All three knew precisely who Robin meant when he said "he". Cyborg opened his mouth, then closed it and nodded his head in answer. Raven felt a huge wave of relief sweep over her, and Robin's stature relaxed. "Actually, he kind of found Star. She's behind me with him now. We're sitting outside a shop about a street down from the alley. The communicator will show you our exact location."

"Got it," Robin answered. He prepared to snap the communicator shut. "We'll be right there."

"Wait!" Robin and Raven stared at Cyborg, waiting. His eyes darted to the side, as if he was double-checking something. "There's something you guys should know…"

"Is he hurt?" It was the first time Raven had spoken, so Cyborg and Robin glanced at her with a little surprise.

"Ah…no. But…" Raven and Robin waiting again, now knowing something was up. Cyborg noticed there impatient expressions. "Okay, look, he's not in really bad shape, so don't freak out, but we should get him to the tower as soon as we can. I need to set him up in the infirmary."

"Why?" Robin asked quickly. Raven's slow fear started to return. She felt her stomach turn once.

"I…just, you need to see it for yourselves," Cyborg blurted hastily, stepping back so the two on the other end could see behind Star and Beast Boy behind him. Raven stepped back as well, but in shock, while Robin's mouth dropped open.

Cyborg stood next to a table covered in dust and leaves in front of a small shop with one chair on the opposite side. Star was floating a couple inches above the ground in front of the table, gazing intensely at Robin and Raven. Beside her, in the chair, sat Beast Boy. Cyborg was right, he wasn't seriously hurt as far as Robin or Raven could tell—a purple and blue bruise covered most of his right cheek, a long slice cutting down his forehead, most of his clothes torn with small scratches covering what could be seen of his body. He merely looked as if he had been in a fight. But his face told otherwise, frozen in an expression of disbelief, shock, and very subtle fear. None of these things were what caused Raven's blood to run cold.

It was the fact that his hair was a bright red-orange, and brown freckles painting the white skin across his face and nose, accenting his deep, forest-green eyes.

He was…normal.