Author's Note: I am so evil. Just thought I'd get that out there before you guys read the last couple sentences of this chapter. Not so much that the sentences are evil, but the fact that I won't be updating until...whenever. SORRY. Yeah. In other news, I think this will be probably the fifth or fourth to last chapter—seriously. Almost there guys, and I'm not sure whether to be excited or depressed. I have decided, though, that I'm going to go through and edit all of this once I've finished; nothing major, just proof-reading better, touching it up, and removing the author notes in favor for plain notes on the chapter at the end of each chapter. Stuff like that. And I've been itching to write in a certain fandom for a very long time now and I've started working on that fic as well. More on that much later. So that second TTfanfic I was talking about? Not gonna anywhere near the horizon of my future for now. SORRY AGAIN.

Hope everyone had a happy round of holidays! On that note, talk to you later I guess. ;p

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

As the door burst open for the umpteenth time that day, Raven broke away from Gar as if his hand was white-hot, violet eyes jerking upwards and away from Gar's hands. Her heart had been hammering as she had begun to cross forbidden boundaries—and now her heart was sprinting as the door banged against the wall, Kassie stomping into the room with Michael stumbling in after. It took Raven a minute to register exactly who these people were; and as recognition dawned upon her, Kassie had enough time to pull in a deep breath.

"Tell me what the HELL is going on here!"

Raven blinked. Didn't I lock them in a room?

"Kassie? Michael! What…where did you guys go?" Gar's confused voice broke through Raven's thoughts and she turned to answer him—Michael beat her to it.

"It's funny, really." Michael sauntered past Kassie up to Gar, leaning against the wall beside the bed. "Your little visitors here thought we'd be better off locked in some room on some deserted hall than here, with you. Cuz you know, it's not like we're your friends or anything."

"Is that true?" Gar's slightly annoyed face focused on Raven.

Raven shrugged, avoiding his eyes. "Robin's orders."

Michael snickered. "Yeah, he pissed off Kassie pretty bad."

"Pretty bad my ass," Kassie grumbled, crossing her arms. "I was freaking livid for a while there."

"She smacked your Robin pal for a loop," Michael whispered obviously behind his hand to Gar. "Literally. I think she left a mark."

Gar smiled and allowed himself a chuckle—he had noticed how relieved the faces of his two friends had been when they had burst in to find him alive and breathing on the bed. At his laugh, though, they noticed something was still wrong with him—mainly how the smile and laughter didn't quite reach his eyes.

Kassie walked over to the chair Steve had been sitting in earlier and plopped herself down, arms still crossed. She gazed sternly at Gar until he met her eyes.

"So," she began, "you're not from Maine, you nearly died last night, you've been in critical condition for the past fourteen hours, and you just happen to be buddy-buddy with the Teen Titans."

Gar stared at her. He laughed sheepishly. "I guess that's your way of asking for answers?"

Kassie didn't say anything, just waited.

Gar glanced nervously at Raven out of the corner of his eye, and saw she was watching him. Catching his gaze, Raven lifted her eyebrows and gave a barely perceptible, exhausted nod. Go on, she seemed to be saying. They deserve it.

Gar sighed and turned back to Kassie. Michael's attention was now fully focused on Gar as well, as soon as he saw they would finally be getting what they wanted. "You're right," Gar replied wearily. "I'm not from Maine—I've actually lived here the past…six years of my life? Something like that."

Michael's eyes popped and his mouth dropped open as he leapt up from the wall. "You're kidding me!"

Kassie jumped up from her seat almost simultaneously, face excited and eyes wide. "HA! See, I knew it! I told you Michael!! I freaking told you!!!"

Gar and Raven slowly looked at each other, both surprised by the reaction Gar's statement had brought. Clearing his throat, Gar peered cautiously at his friends. "Um…surprise?"

At his voice, Kassie marched over to the bed and gently flicked Gar on the forehead, grin on her face. "You were so obvious it was kinda cute."

Gar shook his head, not quit getting it. "What…?"

"Dude! I can't believe this!" Michael rubbed a hand across his head, unbelieving and talking to no one in particular. He turned to Gar. "Can I like, get your autograph or something so I can sell it online? Oh, and you should date it—it would be even more valuable since everyone thinks you're missing—OH MY GOD, do you think I could claim reward cash or something if I 'found' you? That would take care of college for me—"

"How long have you guys known?" Raven interrupted Michael, realizing what was going on. Gar looked so lost, she felt she had to stop Michael's onslaught or he'd just zonk out.

Kassie's grin grew wider as she answered Raven's question, any previous animosity or hard feelings she might have had against the teen heroine gone. "Ah, I don't know—there were just all these little clues. I'd say it was when that tabloid came out, and when I found out he ran towards that fight instead of away from it; that's when I started thinking, 'You know, this guy ain't completely normal'."

"Tabloid?" Gar echoed.

"Yeah—you should've seen your face when you started reading it," Kassie chirped happily. She had a right to be pleased with herself. "Oh and you know," she added, addressing Raven, "it was adorable the way he got awfully flustered whenever Michael started going on about how hot the Titan chicks were. Especially you." She winked.

Raven went pale, and Gar's blush stood out vividly against his already pale skin. Kassie watched their reaction slyly, feeling even more pleased with herself.

"I can't believe you're a FREAKING SUPERHERO!" Michael burst out.

"Was," Gar muttered, blush fading—he still refused to look over at Raven.

Kassie cocked her head curiously. "Yeah, about that—why the hell are you Gar Logan and not Beast Boy? I always thought you'd be a lot greener in person…"

"Hardy-har." Gar wondered if he should really be telling them all this—he went on anyways. "It's not much of a story, really; I lost my powers. The end."

"A freaking SUPERHERO!"

Kassie ignored Michael. "Lost your powers? Doesn't that...not happen everyday?"

"Okay, so it's a long story—a long, kind of complicated story," Gar admitted. "And one that I don't really wanna talk about."

"A SUPERHERO!"

Kassie raised her eyebrows. "Well, since you're in the hospital and everything, I guess you could take a rain check on that one. But I will—"

"I can't BELIVE you're a FREAKING—"

"OKAY, Michael, we got the picture!" Kassie exasperatedly snapped, but not with complete malice. She rolled her eyes, and then looked over at Gar again, seriousness in her gaze. "I understand you not wanting to tell us the details…but…"

She rose from the chair and walked over to the bed, eyes gentle as she placed a hand on Gar's shoulder and gave a slight, reassuring squeeze. "Whether you're the 'missing green teen hero' or not, know that you still are our friend and we will be there for you if you need us."

"Yeah, you can count on us, buddy!" Michael gave a ridiculous thumbs-up from the foot of the bed.

Gar smiled, not knowing quite what to say. "Thanks, guys."

"No problem," Kassie replied, both she and Michael smiling back. "No problem."

"...So since we're your buddies and all, can I take a ride in the T-car?"

"MICHAEL!!"

It watched.

From its perch on a neighboring building, it could see into the window through the open shades perfectly; it could see the individual shapes moving around inside, and the mechanics of its electronic visor only enhanced and sharpened the image so it could see the individual people moving around inside. The two annoying females joking and laughing, attempting to lighten the mood, pestering the male about light-hearted things as he played along. The brooding one in the corner, letting a smile grace her lips every once and while at the antics of the others. And then, sitting up in the bed, its target, rubbing the back of his head and grinning every once and a while, laughing at the others—his face was more gaunt, definitely more sunken since the last time it had seen him. It knew its mistress would have been giddy at the success her plan was taking on: but it had its orders, and it wouldn't report back to the mistress until later, much later. Later when no one was watching, in that one split second when the figures turned their backs and let their guards down, in that one moment they would regret, that's when it would report—that's when it would do its duty.

To please its mistress.

So it watched.

And it waited.

"Well, I guess it's about time we headed out," Michael commented, glancing at his wristwatch. "We gotta go help the band set up for their gig tonight."

"I still can't believe I'm missing that," Gar sighed. It was the truth, too—just last week when he had found out about a local gig the guys had gotten booked and he had a free ticket to the show, he had been ecstatic. But trust him, of all people, to come down with an incurable, fatal African disease when he was looking forward to having some normal fun-time with his normal, high school friends. Yeah...

"Pshhht, don't fret yourself over it, they'll probably blow it anyways and then be by here sometime around one in the morning to gloat about it," Kassie rolled her eyes, and earned a giggle from Starfire.

"Yes, do not fret, friend Beast Boy," Starfire echoed cheerfully from behind Kassie, clapping her hands together. "Human males do love to gloat!"

Kassie snickered at the twitching looks both Michael and Gar sent Starfire's way, and Raven also looked on with a slight smirk on her face. When Starfire had arrived a few hours ago—about an hour after lunch, actually—to relieve Raven of her guarding duties, the two girls had gotten along very quickly and quite well. That is, Starfire thought everything Kassie said was either funny or clever and ended up laughing at or repeating it while Kassie basked in the glory and awe she was receiving from the alien teen superhero. Michael had been quite put off when his "favorite" Titan had ended up laughing at Kassie's jokes, which usually he was the blunt end of. Gar had been surprised that Starfire seemed to understand the concept of sarcasm when it came to Kassie, but after some time had accepted that living with Raven and Robin must had finally started rubbing off on her.

"Anyways," Michael said, gesturing at his watch again. "Like I said, Kassie and I better get going. And she's right the guys probably will wanna stop in and see how you're doing at some point—they already know you're in the hospital," Michael interrupted himself, seeing the question in Gar's eyes, "cuz Kassie told Benji earlier this morning when he called to find out where she was. We told him you had an accident."

"Yeah," Kassie confirmed with a nod. Then she turned to Raven. "And before you ask, no, we won't let them come at one in the morning—that was a joke. They might wanna come by tomorrow though, okay?"

Raven looked so abashed for a second, Gar wondered if she really had been planning to ask. Kassie just winked.

"Right," Raven spoke for the first time in the past hour or so, straightening up where she had been leaning against the window sill. "I guess I better get going too...but—" She hesitated for a split second. "Before I go, Starfire—I'd like to...have a word with Gar alone for a minute?"

Starfire beamed. "Of course, friend Raven! Come, friends Kassie and Michael, I will off to see you!"

"See us off?"

Starfire frowned at Michael as she ushered him out the door. "Why would I want to see friends Kassie and Michael turned off?"

Kassie laughed, grinned mischievously at Gar, and then the door was shut.

And he was alone with Raven.

And she was alone with him.

Again.

Gar swallowed, feeling his throat itch, and wondered what to say to her to break the silence that was growing between them. He looked up to speak to her, expecting her to still be on the other side of the room...to find a pair of navy eyes not five inches from his face, her weight sinking the left side of the bed down ever-so-slightly.

...Whoa.

"Gar," Raven started rather abruptly, looking firmly into his startled but curious forest green eyes—she had been rehearsing this for the past hour, and knew exactly what she was going to say. Yet, she still found herself distracted if only a little by just how vivid the green of his eyes were in comparison to the rest of his face, which she swore had gotten even more paler—too pale—over the course of the day, and the ever-darkening circles around those eyes, which she swore hadn't been as deep this morning...she quickly shook her head a tad to rid herself of the thoughts.

"Gar," she began again, "I want...to ask you something—and it's okay if you don't want to do it, but I feel it's for the best."

Gar's heart hammered slightly in his chest as she leaned in with her words, and though her tone was monotone as usual, he could still sense the earnestness she was more or less radiating. What was she talking about...?

"I want to establish a link with you."

"...Er—what?

Raven knew she would have to explain. "A telepathic link. With you. That way...I'll know if something happens. Immediately."

Gar stared at her blankly.

"I have one with Robin, and we can communicate with our minds when we need to—it takes tremendous strain to do so, of course, so that's pretty much all we can do. And the link is never always open, only when we need it to be. But mainly, it will let me know if something happens and where...where I can find you."

Gar studied Raven's carefully stoic face. A telepathic link? She blinked, and Gar thought he saw something like anxiousness flash through her eyes. Hm, well, what the hell, why not?

"Yeah, why not?" Gar repeated his thoughts aloud, faint but sincere smile on his face. He almost heard Raven's relief in her quick exhale of breath at his answer. "How do we do it?"

"That's why I needed to ask you beforehand," Raven replied conversationally, looking down at her lap. Gar raised an eyebrow. Raven didn't do "conversationally".

"I establish the link by going into your mind—seeing into your mind."

Gar's smile faded. "My...mind?"

Raven nodded cautiously. She had seen the doubt leap into Gar's eyes at those words; she had kind of been expecting it.

"Like...reading my mind?"

"Not really reading—just seeing. I won't be able to read your thoughts unless you direct them at me, but I will end up seeing some of your memories."

Gar almost didn't respond to Raven's words for a minute—hismind? That was...he wasn't sure he wanted her to do that. But then—it was Raven. He...he trusted her.

Yeah. He trusted her.

"Yeah. I trust you."

Gar found the words coming out of his mouth before he knew what he was doing. Raven's eyes widened somewhat, taken aback by the readiness and fortitude in his reply.

"You...what?"

"I trust you."

There it was again. An open, clear, and strong sincerity in those three words. Raven's expression reverted from startled back to her usual unreadable one, but her insides more or less melted at his words.

"Okay then."

It was Gar's turn to be startled when Raven shifted fully onto the bed to face him directly and sit Indian-style by him. He started to scoot over a bit to give her unneeded room—the hospital bed was more than wide enough for both of them—when he was halted by a soft, gentle hand brushing across his forehead as it came to rest at his right temple. Raven's other hand rested lightly on his left temple. He locked gazes with her quickly, question in his eyes, but she just gifted him with a tiny smile.

"Relax, now. And if you feel me, don't try to push me away—just let me in."

Gar returned her small smile with one of his own, not quite understanding what she meant by the second half of her instructions. He closed his eyes as she shut hers, and he heard the mutterings of her incantation begin. Feel her? he wondered into the darkness of his eyelids. Wonder what she means by—

And then there it was. He felt it—well, her, rather. A faint tug at his conscious. At first he nearly panicked, jerking away from the feeling; but a comforting brush from dainty fingers on his temples and then another, persistent yet gentle tug, and he remembered—Raven was gentle, everything about her. It was her. The tug became more of a caress, and he gave in, letting her through, letting her in.

As had happened at first with Robin, and as she expected, Gar at first backed away from her intrusion into his consciousness; but he had recognized her and let her in much quicker than Robin had, or she had expected, and that surprised her to immobility for a moment. Then, she began the work of memorizing the patterns and lengths of his mind to establish the link—and the memories came. There was nothing she could do to stop them, being in another person's mind and all, so she let them wash over her and engulf her as needed while she continued her work. What she didn't bargain on, however, was the intensity with which the memories did come.

Pain.

PAIN. It flooded through her and blinded her to the world, to the worried cries and angry shouts around her, making her only aware of the liquid agony spreading through her limbs, and everything was green and hot, green and hot—

Falling, falling, a man and a woman—she couldn't see their faces, but, no, she cared for them, she did—mom...mom and dad! They were falling, falling! She reached towards their loving eyes and outstretched arms, but they were falling, FALLING! Too fast, FAST! NO! DON'T FALL!! DON'T LEAVE ME—!

"Freak."

It hurt.

Pain, but different, this time. Freak. Dork. Trouble. Weirdo. All directed at her. No one wanted her, no one knew her. All disregarding eyes. All alone? Yes...she was alone...

This was a strange feeling. What was this? Laughing, laughing and smiling hesitantly with a kind man, big but kind, brown eyes warm and accepting. Happiness! The pen scrolling his signature out on the foster care papers, and he was his for the time being! But how long would that last...?

Overwhelming happiness. Looking around at the empty, new room, but the room that was nonetheless hers at the Tower. The sliding doors opened, revealing Robin and Cyborg, asking if she wanted to go get pizza before moving in—

The new alien girl and a cloaked figure were sitting in the kitchen with her and the guys, Robin firing questions at them, Cyborg listening to the interview intently. She was moving around in her seat, trying to get a glimpse of the cloaked figure's face. She couldn't see into the shadows, but that just piqued her curiosity—

Out on the roof with the mysterious cloaked girl—she had a face! The beginnings of sunlight glanced off her violet hair, making it shimmer in the dawn. Her pale face had a glow, an almost heavenly sheen to it—so beautiful—and those deep eyes—why hiding in a cloak? Why? Frustration. Why wouldn't she talk to her, let her in? She wanted to help. She wanted to help—

Blonde, louder, laughter, bright blues eyes—eyes that turned to hard, cold ice—mirrors, mirrors everywhere—shattering, shattering into a million pieces like her heart, cutting, CUTTING! Pain again, everywhere. NOT AGAIN. Why? Why—?!

Healing—trying so hard, so hard. But someone was there for her, she was being supported...cloak? Long cloak? But she never let her in before. But no questions, just gratitude...

Overwhelming pride, seeing the team lined up beside her. Everyone was there, determined, flawless teamwork, helping and supporting hands. Fighting together, defending—pure happiness, contentment—

Loss. Confusion and betrayal again whittled away at her insides. No use asking why now. Was used to it...she thought. But she can't help but think—why? Why now, why again? Nothing right. Loss, confusion. She missed...she missed them. But one in particular. She didn't feel whole. At loss. LOST. She was aching inside. Trying so hard, but so LOST. Help, help me. I'm hurting, I'm aching. Moving on, trying to. Someone. Her. She could help. Why didn't she...? Help me. SOMEONE HELP—

And the link was set.

"Raven?"

Raven felt confused for a moment, as she always did after delving that deep. Where was she again?

"...Rae?"

Ah. Right.

That was...?

"Rae? Rae!"

Her eyes snapped open at Gar's worried calls, and she was met with the sight of an anxious yet exhausting looking Gar. Blinking, she lowered her hands from his head, taking in and adjusting to the world around her once more. After a minute, she faced Gar squarely—he was still watching her, eyes searching and wary. She gave a hesitant twitch of her lip.

"Alright. It's all set."

"...You're okay?"

"Yes. Are you okay?"

"...Yeah."

Silence.

Raven was assessing him again. Not with worried, concerned eyes like she had earlier in the morning, but rather with a thoughtful, analyzing gaze. He held still, as if any movement would disturb her concentration. He wondered exactly what she had seen inside his head...he gulped and felt his face heat at all the things shecould've seen in his head.

Then, without warning and very suddenly, Raven rose from the bed. About to put her hood up again, she paused, and instead looked back down at Gar. His breath hitched in his throat and his heart leaped in his chest as she tenderly reached her hand out and lightly cupped his cheek, offering him a tentative but genuine smile. In her eyes, Gar noticed, something else flashed for hardly a second—guilt...?

"I'm...glad you're okay."

And then her hood was up, and she was gone.

Cyborg rubbed his human eye blearily, attempting to swat the blurriness away as he stared at the large monitor in front of him. Its dim blue glow lit his workshop and cast flickering shadows across the wall as he stared at the screen intently, completely focused in his work. He hadn't realized dark had fallen outside and he had been working straight for the past ten hours since the Titans had left the hospital, too engrossed with sorting through the data collections, too involved in searching for the telltale glitch in the system that would give the trail of the hacker away. For an amateur, rummaging through the monster computer that basically ran the Tower would be deemed impossible—but Cyborg was far from any amateur when it came to these types of things, and throughout the past ten hours had begun to come agonizingly close to some leads. But whoever had tried to do this, whoever had done this...

They were just too damn good.

From the start, Cyborg had expected the original hacker-trail left had been a fake, too sloppy for someone attempting to actually hack into the Tower's mainframe system. Nobody with an actual brain for hacking would leave such an obvious trail, and anyone stupid enough to leave such an obvious trial wouldn't have the reasons to try to hack into the Tower in the first place; they'd be doing something stupid and novice like hacking into a bank's or a museum's mainframe to steal a priceless artifact or something. Cyborg's suspicion had only been confirmed and heightened when the trail lead to a dead end—and it had been a literal dead end. Not leading even to some computer geek's PC, let alone some elite hacker's: it just stopped. He had wasted a couple hours following the trail, which often times varied between blatantly obvious to painfully complicated, and because of that the whole time Cyborg hadn't known the true caliber of what he was dealing with.

But when it just stopped like that, like disappearing into thin cyberspace...it was unreal. Always, always there was some sort of trail—numbers didn't simply add up to nothing, you know?

Cyborg was spooked. There was no telling what they'd been able to get at in the Tower's system if they had been able to do that.

And so now here he was, scanning every freaking thing he could because he didn't have much else to go on. He was finding himself getting weary, tired. While the computer part of his mind was having no problem keeping up, he was still human—and that part couldn't keep up with the monotony for much longer.

"Doing okay?"

Cyborg nearly jumped at the sound of Robin's voice, and tiredly turned to glance at the team leader currently using one of the numerous computers in Cyborg's workshop to sift through any leads on Beast Boy's would-be personal stalker, or villain, depending on how you looked at it. He had nearly forgotten the Boy Wonder was there—the guy had a knack for fading into the background, which Cyborg suspected he'd picked up from his infamous mentor.

"Yeah, I guess," Cyborg sighed heavily. Robin merely nodded absently, immersed in his own work. Both of the boys fell silent.

Turning back to his monitor, Cyborg forced himself to glare a hole through it as he continued tracked the scan. He refocused his concentration, his computer mind analyzing the results at lightening speeds. Despite his efforts, however, it wasn't long before he found himself daydreaming about a BLT with his name on it waiting in the fridge. Cyborg, man, he chided himself, sitting up and slapping his cheek. Snap outta it! Just keep going! You're already...one...eighth...through the...system—my GOD this is gonna be a looooong night.

From his end of the room, Robin frowned at his monitor screen as he scrolled through confidential files of past student-researchers and faculty at Myer University. He had been able to narrow down the selection to those who had happened to work with or come into contact with Dr. Mark Logan during his graduate program research at the university. Robin had learned to flick past faces and names, instead focusing on the departments each had worked in—any similar to Dr. Logan's he clicked on for elaboration. After discarding yet another possible prospect, Robin's frown deepened as he clicked back through the archives...

Then—there. Another, and this time...a graduate student as well? Robin started—and in the same department as Dr. Logan had been, not to mention under the same research project...! Robin glanced at the face and name: long, midnight-black hair, tanned face, sweetly smiling face, called..."Ragonu"? Interesting—he clicked eagerly, scanning the details, eyes settling on a scanning of two newspaper clips. The first read "Tragedy Strikes—Student Injured In Lab Accident" and the second—the second...

"Suicide Case; Top Graduate Student Found Hanging".

Oh.

Robin sighed through his nose, and clicked away.

Now.

Slip down the rope silently, fly, avoid the lights; snaking, lithely slithering up the wall with both natural and practiced silent stealth. Hook back up, silently tether in. Tap lightly on the window. Freeze. Click. Creak open the window and crawl inside in one fluid motion, silently shutting it barely a breadth behind. Creep up the wall, silently watch the still figures in the room—one snoring lightly, leaning against the wall, splayed out in a chair. The other—yes, that one—hungrily watch the sheets rise and fall gently and tremulously. Drop from the wall, scurry forward silently, then slink—lurk by the pillow, arms reaching forward cautiously yet eagerly, it's the prey, almost there—

A snort. Shifting, muttering. Pull back—then, nothing. Relax. Next on guard again, refocus: yes, its mistress will be pleased, so pleased...

Gar jerked awake in a half-panic, feeling a death-cold grip on his mouth, keeping him from crying out, then the same crushing grasp around his arms and ribs, ripping him silently from the bed, cold pressed against him, all around him, then a sharp prick on his neck, then—

Nothing.

Starfire shifted in her chair a bit, snuggling closer to herself, completely oblivious to the tousled, empty bed and the open window swinging lightly, silently in the night breeze.