I do NOT own Teen Titans

Time: Immediately following the previous chapter.

A Fight Close to Death,... Raven,... Rage,...

He became the beast, a humanoid creature of immense power. If he hadn't been consumed by the raw fury that coursed through him, he would have wondered why he was still aware; why the form obeyed his command to tear the hated figure before him to pieces. Or, at least, why it tried to. His charge was met with a huge fist formed of black energy. As it closed to crush him, he took on the form of a humming bird that flew between the fingers. Then he was the beast again, racing along the arm attached to the hand, howling as he ran.

His arm was raised to slash the offending creature in front of him, when blasts of black magic tossed him back. Landing on his feet, he stared at his enemy with pure hatred pumping through his veins. Four glowing red eyes amidst a dark red hood stared back; there was a snarl on her face. His rage increased and he charged again. The black hand was easily sidestepped this time, and his slash left four thin trickles of blood running down her cheek. That she remained alive was due only to the step she'd taken backwards. He moved to follow, to strike again. A sphere of the dark energy enclosed him, and he pounded on it. It refused to budge. Driving his claws at it, they ripped through. Suddenly the barrier was gone. Breathing hard, he stared at the foe who'd nearly trapped him. He wondered what her flesh would taste like.

Somewhere in her mind she knew this wasn't the way it was supposed to be, but the rage that consumed her was everything; there was no room for anything but the all-encompassing fury. She struck at the raging beast with her dark magic, anticipating its demise. It escaped, and that flamed the fury within her. Not only that, but it almost got close enough to hurt her before she blasted it backwards. It landed on its feet, unharmed, and charged again. She felt its claws swipe across her face, and disbelief ran through her. Forming a barrier she tried to trap it. With it pinned she could easily kill it. Only it pierced the barrier and came at her once more.

He had raw strength and speed. She had access to immense reserves of dark magic. Both clashed time and time again.

He circled around the arm that reached out, having quickly adapted to the attack. It was long ranged and powerful, but was telegraphed by the movement of her own arm. With the adrenaline pounding through his veins, his reflexes were fast enough to avoid it. Running along its length once more, his eyes never wavered from her. Her hands rose to send bolts of energy at him, and he swerved just in time. He was so close, but she faded into the ground.

He jumped away from the spot where he'd been. Staying there, he'd learned was dangerous. He crouched down, opening all his senses. A heart beat about twenty steps behind him made him dodge randomly to his left. As he turned to face the half demon, black energy struck the ground where he'd been. He panted, watching.

She reached up to touch her face again, trying to regain control of her senses. But the fury within her was like nothing she'd ever felt before; there was no reasoning with it. Her hands rose and her rage took on physical form to crush the beast that stood before her. Reaching for more power she drove it forth; not a hand this time, but a wall that nothing could escape.

It nearly got him. The wall left nowhere to run to, and was high enough he wouldn't have had time to fly over it. With at most a second to formulate a plan, he crouched low, and changed into an amoeba that fell into a crack in the ground. As the wall rush over him, he returned to his beast form, howling.

She stared, not believing what she saw. How had it avoided being crushed by the wall? That it had only incensed her more, and her hands rose, pointing. Bolts of energy slammed forth, creating craters on the ground. That she alternated with ripping up large chunks of rock, and smashing them down wherever the hated shape shifter might be. Power poured from her, unheeding of anything but the need to destroy.

Dust whirled through the air, and the shape shifter smiled viciously. He moved back out of range of the ongoing destruction, waiting. The fury of the monster he wished to destroy didn't waver, and more dust rose to block his sight. Launching himself forward, he turned into a White-throated Needletail. Striving for all the speed he could, he soon hit a hundred miles per hour. He raced through the cloud of dust, taking a chance the random destruction wouldn't strike him, and emerged on the other side. His surprise was total as he transformed into a T-rex. Colliding with his red-clad foe, he slashed with his claws and tried to bite her. His velocity as he passed sent her flying, and he transformed into an amoeba that fell to the ground.

The raw outpouring of energy stopped. Rising to one knee, she peered around her. The dust cloud she'd created had acted as a smoke screen; how stupid she'd been. She had more than a scratch now. Blood poured down from her skull. If not for the brief instant the beast had had to strike, she would be missing her head. Several ribs were broken, and one of them jabbed into her right lung. Her right arm hug limply. Across her chest and broken arm there were huge slashes. Blood was starting to pool around her. If her ability to fight had depended on physical strength, she would be easy prey now.

The flow of blood stopped, and she pushed the pain to one side. There was still a fight to finish. She took to the air and started blasting the ground from a safe distance.

The ground rippled beneath him from the barrage. Eventually she would strike where he was. He had two options. Fight or flee. Given the rage that drove him, the later was disregarded without a thought. He peered up from the crack where he'd taken refuge, and considered his options. The demon was only looking down, paying no attention to what was above her. He wondered just how large this place was. Turning into a mouse he took off, scampering along at ten miles per hour.

The place was huge. Two miles away from where the four-eyed emoticlone was still pounding the ground, he transformed into a sparrow and took to the sky. Eventually he changed into a Golden Eagle. As he'd several times told the rest of the team, the size of his shapes depended on his own size and the DNA that he used for the shape. Male Golden Eagles were smaller than the females. But he'd searched a long time to find the largest male he could. There were always abnormalities within nature, and he'd found a male that weighed in at sixteen pounds. Given his own small stature, when transformed he was thirteen pounds. Above average even for a female, let alone a male. Spreading his wings, the fearsome predator of the air prepared to hunt.

The impact from above shocked her; the talons slashing at her eyes caused panic. Hands tore at the thrashing bird, and tossed it from her as she blasted it with dark energy bolts. With her one remaining good eye she took aim and flung all she could at the offending creature. It fell from the sky. She fell too. The movement had caused her broken ribs to finally puncture her right lung. She impacted on the ground with violent force, breaking more bones. She lost consciousness.

The final bolt of dark magic had hit him full in the chest. His wings barely served to glide him to the ground. Dying, he switched to the form of a worm, and sought to hide. Such damage wouldn't kill the lowly invertebrate, but he would be a long time recovering.

Raven struggled to cope as the war raged within her. Rage might be an emoticlone, but she was still a part of Raven and the energy she used came from the same body. The injuries she suffered mean damage, even if not as severe, to that body.

At first she'd thought the battle would be brief. That Beast Boy would die swiftly beneath the out-of-control fury she felt coming from the emoticlone. Yet it had lasted for what seemed like forever. And while she didn't know if the shape shifter had been hurt, she knew Rage had been. From the agony in her own body she knew ribs had been broken, along with an arm. Then, as the fight continued, she felt her face become a mass of scratches and a lung collapse. Suddenly she felt over a dozen bones in her body snap. Thankfully her own body actually suffered only one eighth of that damage. There were eight emoticlones, and when one was hurt that was the fraction of damage and pain her body took. In this case, that was bad enough. The red-clad emoticlone had to be near death. She wondered if that mean Beast Boy was still alive, that he'd won the fight.

"Friend Raven?" Starfire asked, looking at the violet-haired girl who rest on a bed in the tower clinic.

"The fight's stopped." She told the orange-skinned Titan. "I'm not sure what happened, but Rage is pretty badly hurt."

"And friend Beast Boy?"

"I'm not sure. I can only sense when my emoticlones get hurt." Her voice was impassive. She'd had enough of letting her emotions run out of control.

"Are you now able to enter the domain of Rage?" The alien asked with a voice full of worry.

"I wish. But the seal is still in place." Raven replied.

"What can we do? Should we enter this Nevermore friend Cyborg spoke of?"

"I don't know. And Rage's domain is separate from Nevermore. It wouldn't do any good." She tried to keep from crying, forcing her voice to sound apathetic. Of all the Titans he was the one who had reached out to her the most, and now he might be dead at her hands. "I don't even know if I should go into a healing trance." She added, managing to make her voice sound calm only with great effort. "If he's still alive healing Rage might not be a good idea."

"What happens to you if Rage dies?" Starfire wondered, worrying over Raven as well as Beast Boy.

"I don't know. Much as I hate her, it probably wouldn't be good if she dies." The violet-haired girl intoned, staring at the ceiling.

"You must heal yourself, friend Raven." The orange-skinned Titan spoke. "You are both my friends, and I do not wish to see either of you hurt."

"I know what Rage's fury is like." Raven said, not entirely paying attention. "This time it was so different. Usually she's in control of it, but what I felt wasn't normal. Not even for her. She wanted to kill." Her eyes widen. "How stupid of me. That's what I should do. First heal, and then meditate until no trace of anger or hate gets through to her. She's the evil part of me, but she's no killer. Even at my worst, I've never felt the desire to kill. Neither has she. I should be helping her remain in control."

"That is good. You know what you must do." Starfire sounded excited. "Then friend Beast Boy will be saved, and all shall be well." She smiled.

"If it's not too late." Raven replied. "If he's still alive." She stretched out flat on the cot, and entered a healing trance.

Her body nearly healed, she rose from the ground. This is bad. The red-clad emoticlone thought, looking around. There were signs of the battle everywhere, but the shape shifter was nowhere to be seen. She could feel the Raven who controlled their body enforcing tranquility. Too little too late. She thought. Even in the beginning it wouldn't have mattered. The fury Beast Boy had felt had interacted with her own innate sense of anger. They'd built on each other, and run out of control. Why that'd happened she didn't know. She just knew it had.

Walking along the ground she spotted the wing of a bird. Her frown intensified. There was no way he could've survived. Her final attack, even as she'd fell, had finished the job the fury had demanded she do. Reason had come to her too late. She stared at the severed limb, wondering what would happen now. Raven, she knew, wouldn't take this well.

On reflex she erected a shield of black energy. A huge cobra with its mouth wide, fangs dripping venom, was smashed on the other side. A rattling sound accompanied by a hiss came from it. It then vanished into a humming bird that swiftly retreated. She took to the air, getting out of striking range of the shape shifter. It seemed he'd not only survived, but was also quite capable of carrying on the battle. And they think he's the weak one. She mused to herself, looking at the destruction she'd wrecked below.

She could sense the fury coming from him, and it tried to fan the heat that was always at the core of her being. Sometimes that heat was but a small flicker; mostly that was the case. But sensing anger or hate would feed it. When Raven felt true fury, that was when it ran out of control. Now, it was the rage that came from the shape shifter that was threatening to overwhelm her. She hoped Raven didn't cease her meditations any time soon.

"Why are you so angry." She yelled out across the landscape. There was no response. "This wasn't meant to be a fight to the death." She added, at the top of her lungs. "I didn't know bringing you here would cause that sort of reaction." She looked around, nervously including glances at the sky. It was amusing that she, the embodiment of rage within a half-demon, could feel such fear.

He heard the words, and wondered if they were true. Why bring me here if not to ... He let the thought freeze in his mind. Why had he thought Raven would try to kill him? Why did he feel such overwhelming fury? He took human form within yelling distance of Rage, but far enough he would have time to react if she attacked. He said nothing.

She sighed in relief. She could sense the fury in him dwindle, and become something she could handle. Still he didn't speak, and the enmity didn't entirely disappear. "I'm Rage." She spoke. "Or Anger, or Hate, if you prefer. But I think you already knew that. When Raven feels those feelings they are intensified within me, and I in return fan them in her. I didn't know that would happen with you." She paused. "It's not in my nature to say this often, but I'm sorry."

"Why am I here?" He demanded.

She gulped, and struggled to keep the anger in his voice from affecting her. No wonder Raven meditates so much. She mused to herself. "Curiosity." She replied. "I had the chance and took it. "Plus it's in my nature to fight. But I'm a part of Raven and it's not in her nature, nor mine, to kill. What happened before was not what I desired."

"She hates me that much?" He asked.

She blinked. "There's no hate in her for you. Why would you think that?"

"I'm here? Aren't I?"

"True. Mainly because you were within my reach when I had a moment of freedom. She's worried sick about you."

He frowned at that, wondering if he should believe it. "How do I get out?" He asked.

Now it was her turn to frown. "Two ways. Either you defeat me, or I defeat you. A fight, but not one that kills."

"Why not just let me leave? We've already fought."

"But no winner was decided. And the seal on this place requires there be one. I wanted to keep her out, so the spell I used is quite complicated." She studied the shape shifter. Despite the battle, his wounds were gone. There were massive scars, but she knew Raven would fix those. "Do you hate Raven?" She asked, still wondering at the fury he'd expressed towards her. He was quiet for a long time, and she feared that he might.

"I don't think so." He finally replied. "I'm not sure what I feel towards her anymore."

"If it helps any, she's worried about you. She'd condemning herself for letting me free long enough to bring you here."

"Hrmph." He wasn't sure what he felt. He looked around at the landscape, careful to keep Rage within sight at all times. It was dark with just a blood-red moon, but it wasn't the sort of place he would have expected someone like Rage to live. It was rocky in places, but between those spots there were flowers. He looked up again, wondering how they could survive with so little light.

"It's not a moon." Rage explained, seeing his look. "It's the sun." She shrugged. "It's the best I can do. The flowers I choose for their ability to adapt to this sort of light."

"You made this place?" He asked.

"No. Raven did. But after she left me here I made changes. Even for me nothingness is lonely."

"What did you do to Doctor Light that scared him so much?"

"I didn't do anything." She frowned. "That was depressing. I like a good fight as much as Brave does, but he just started screaming. I think he was afraid of the dark, so I let him go. Luckily I didn't have the seal in place, or else things could have turned out bad."

"Guess that's why he's so obsessed with lighting up the world." Beast Boy mused.

She floated down to the ground and sat cross-legged. She was pleased when the shape shifter approached her, and sat no more than thirty feet away. She would no longer have to yell, and she could see him clearly. In her mind she could sometimes hear the other emoticlones talking about him. They found him interesting, and so did she. Now that the danger was over with, she was glad he'd been the one within reach during her brief moment of freedom. If she was right, he would become not just important but vital to Raven.

"When do we fight?" He asked.

She shrugged. "I'm in no hurry. It's very rare that I get someone to talk to. The last person was that Doctor Light, and all he did was scream. Not exactly a very stimulating conversation."

"You're definitely a part of Raven." Beast Boy mused. "You say she doesn't hate me?" He asked.

"No. Right now she, and all the other Titans, are worried about you."

He raised an eyebrow, expressing disbelief.

"Emotions are strange." She added. "And friends can be taken for granted. You should talk to Knowledge after you leave here. She would be able to express things better than I can."

"I very much doubt Raven would allow me in her mind." He mused. "Should I ever develop a death wish, I will ask her to let me."

Rage smiled. "She would at the worst yell at you."

"Hrm. Sure." His sarcastic tone would have done the topic of discussion proud.

"You're angry at them." She noted. "Very very angry."

"I am." He admitted, after a few seconds of thought.

"I guess I can understand that." She mused."I am the embodiment of anger within Raven. But I think some of it may be misplaced."

"Oh?" He looked at her.

"You're the one who chose to eat meat, knowing the fury you were feeling doing so. You could've refused from the start."

"I was afraid." He admitted. "At the time, I was more afraid I would have to leave the team than I was disgusted over eating meat. But in time that changed. It took a while for the disgust to overwhelm the fear."

"Loneliness is a fearsome thing." She admitted, looking around. Taking a deep breath she turned her attention back to the shape shifter. "You heard Raven say it would serve you right after Starfire asked if you were going to be dismissed from the team?" The fury that came from him made her clench her teeth as she struggled to maintain control.

He nodded. "I did."

Rage nodded. "She was angry at the time." She informed him. "But not at you. You were just a convenient target for her to take it out on. The rest were doing it, so that's what she did."

"Angry?"

The emoticlone wondered how much to tell him. She shrugged and decided it didn't matter given he'd seen Raven with the poster of Robin. "She's jealous of Starfire and Robin. That leads to anger. That's why she's been so harsh with you recently. You're a convenient target for her to take it out on. She didn't even realize her comments had ceased to be merely sarcasm that you found amusing, and had instead become sharp thorns that ripped your flesh." She clenched her teeth again and wondered at the anger that came from him. Surely her words should have soothed him. Knowledge was better at this than she was. But still he was sitting and talking with her.

He felt the emotions that rushed through him, and became aware of just what they were. "Jealousy." He muttered to himself.

"What?" The red-clad emoticlone asked, puzzled.

"I saw her with the poster of Robin, and I was jealous." He admitted. "That might be part of the reason I was so angry when you drew me into this place. That and what you just mentioned." He blinked, realizing what he'd just said. "I really hope she didn't hear me say that." He added.

"She didn't. While we can share what she sees and hears, it would be too confusing for her to see and hear all that the eight of us see and hear. Unless it's something like pain that draws her attention, she's clueless as to what we're doing." She smiled. "And I won't tell her. At least not yet."

"Not yet?" He dared to ask.

"While I'm not the evil she thinks me to be, I am not the most responsible emotion either." She smiled at him. "Don't worry so much. She won't hurt you even if she knew. Sure she would throw a tantrum, but she would actually be flattered. She doesn't think herself very pretty."

"Why not?"

She shrugged. "Better to ask Knowledge or Timid that. Unlike anger, it's not something I understand."

"Which once again involves me having a death wish." He mused, smiling back at her.

For some reason her heart started to beat faster. "She's worried." Rage spoke again, ignoring the strange sensation. "It isn't something I would normally care about, but given how difficult it is to maintain control of my senses with you here, we should fight and get it over with. It needs to be done while she's trying to maintain tranquility."

"Okay." He stood.

"Just to make sure you put your all into it, I will make a deal with you." She added, still sitting.

"Deal?"

"Trust me, you've got plenty enough power. But if you win I will tell you two things that will help you learn a few new tricks."

"If you can do that then why didn't Raven ..."

"She didn't see you fight just now. I bet you learned a few things there too?"

He nodded. "I can control the beast, so I can use it now. And given it was life-or-death situation, I really pushed my limits. It's been a while since I did that. I'd become too complacent."

She smiled and stood. "Let the fight begin." She simply said, regretting that he would be leaving so soon. Her face felt weird from the rare attempt at smiling, but somehow it suited her current mood.

End of Chapter.

Thanks to guest on the advice regarding Starfire's speech. I will "try" to make her sound more like she normally does.

Anger seems more like Knowledge than I'd planned for her to be. But the main part of their conversation was on anger, and she would be very knowledgeable on that particular subject. She would know what causes it, and how people react when they feel it. Plus she would know more about Raven. As for her smiling. Why not? If an emoticlone like Brave can, why not the rest of them.

Wonder who will win the fight, and just what can Rage tell Beast Boy that can help him learn a few new tricks. Why would she think he would be vital to Raven's future.

And Beast Boy jealous?

Thanks to those who read and review.