The sun was just rising as the exhausted Titans all turned in for the "night" after Robin proclaimed that the nightmare was over. Raven and Beast Boy walked down the hallway, hand in hand and stopped in front of her room. She opened the door and they were greeted by the darkness in her room as she had left her drapes tightly shut when she had wandered out earlier, in a hypnotic state, to hand over her security cards to Slade.

The Changeling squeezed her hand and pecked her on the cheek.

"Sleep well, Rae, I'll see you later."

To his surprise she tightened her grip and didn't release his hand.

"Gar, would you mind staying with me … right now I don't want to be alone."

He nervously rubbed the back of his head.

"Sure … you won't be upset if I nod off, though, will you? I'm kind of tired."

She gave him a hug. "How about we take a nap together?"

His pointy ears perked up. "A nap? Together? Uh … sure … but, what will Robin say if we do?"

"What can he say? He and Starfire sleep together almost every night these days."

"They do? Whoa, how do you know that?"

Raven smiled as she pointed at her head. "I'm an empath, remember, I can sense their emotions. Evey night they wait until the Tower is quiet and they think we're all asleep … that's when Starfire sneaks into Robin's room."

Raven paused before continuing.

"And speaking of being an empath … when I came out of the infirmary I could tell that you were really worried, even after the Martian gave me a clean bill of mental health … Gar … what were you worried about?"

The changeling sat down on the edge of Raven's bed and began to fidget with his fingers. Raven sat down next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Gar, what is it?"

"I … I was afraid that maybe … you wouldn't love me anymore."

She startled upon hearing his confession.

"Why would I do that?"

He shrugged.

"I dunno … maybe I was worried that Slade had programmed you to …"

"Garfield Logan! How could you even think such a thing? Of course I love you!"

"I know, it's just that … well … you remember what you said in the restaurant."

She suddenly looked contrite.

"Yes, I remember what I said, and you also remember what I said later? That I was afraid I would never see you again … Gar … that was real … that wasn't some hypnotic suggestion Slade planted in my head."

He nodded his head. "I believe you, but … how did Slade program you like that? I mean, you gotta be the smartest person I ever met … how did he do it? And if he could program you to betray us … well … I was worried that maybe he had programmed you do other things."

This time it was her turn to shrug. "I don't know, Gar, and right I'm too tired to figure it out. Let's go to bed."

He smiled mischievously. "Ooh, that sounds sexy."

"In your dreams, Romeo. Second base is as far your getting … for now." She smirked back at him.

The changeling hopped onto his feet. "Dude! Did you just say what I think you said?"

Raven ignored him as she removed her cape and kicked off her boots. She then pulled back the bed spread.

"Do you want to nap with me or not?"

He quickly removed his shoes, hopping on one foot while removing the shoe from the other foot. He then joined his sweetheart under the bed cover. The young couple embraced each other and settled down. The events of the day soon caught up with them and within minutes they were both asleep.

After an hour had passed Raven woke up by herself. She noticed that she was feeling agitated and quickly decided that some meditation was in order. While her green beau snored away she adopted the lotus position and closing her eyes she began to softly chant her mantra and began to levitate above the bed. She did this for ten minutes, at which point she realized that it wasn't helping. Her mind was still abuzz with everything that had transpired before.

She rose from the bed, quietly so as not to wake him, and began to pace around her room, clearly looking troubled. After a few minutes she concluded that the agitation had to be a side effect of the mental purge the Martian had performed on her. J'onzz was very tight lipped about what he had done inside her mind and Raven decided that perhaps going inside her mind and inspecting the aftermath might not be a bad idea. What he considered a "clean up" might very well be a ransacking from her perspective and conclude that perhaps a visit to Nevermore was in order.

She walked over to her desk and opened the small drawer where she kept her meditation mirror. She retrieved it with hesitation and began to have second thoughts about going inside, afraid of what she might find there. The deterrence did not last, as she knew that it would be best if we performed some mental housekeeping of her own.

She sat down on the edge of her bed and peered into the mirror, seeing her own reflection staring back at her. She focused with the intensity of a laser and whispered her mantra:

Azarath, Metrion, Zinthoooosss …

Raven's point of view instantly switched to the inside of mirror and looking out from the mirror she could see her face in the real world, with her eyes closed, looking as if she was asleep. She then felt the familiar sensation of the dark claw grabbing her and pulling down, deep into furthest recesses of her mind, the mirror's surface receding rapidly into the distance until she was suddenly standing in the familiar barren wasteland that floated in space with a canopy of eerie red stars overhead.

She was in Nevermore.

Her surroundings were familiar and she set out on foot in search of her emotions. After a brief hike she walked through a stone arch and found herself in the green pastures where the "Happy" most often could be found. It didn't take Raven long to find the pink clad representation of her happiness related feelings in the antropomorphisized representation of her mind. The pink clad girl seemed more subdued than she remembered from previous visits and to her surprise "Happy" seemed to ignore her at first.

Raven furrowed her brow and approached the emoticlone, who finally acknowledged her presence.

"Hello Ravie." She greeted her master in a cheerful if disinterested tone.

"You seem unusually subdued. Normally when I arrive you tell me jokes or run around like a child. Is anything wrong? You seem to be less … exuberant than usual."

The emoticlone shook her head. "Nothing's wrong. It's just that now that you don't suppress me anymore, I'm … less hyper."

"What do you mean I don't suppress you anymore?"

The emoticlone shrugged. "I dunno, I always used to be bound up, kept under control. Blowing off steam when you come isn't really needed anymore. Though I wish you would bring BB to visit, especially now that he's our boyfriend. I have to tell you Ravie, you really surprised all of us when you changed your mind about him."

The emoticlone grinned before continuing.

"And the make our sessions! Oh Azar! I know that's not my department, but … wow! Let's just say that Affection, Love and Lust are in paradise these days, especially Lust. She practically did cartwheels when you promised Gar that we would soon have sex with him."

"I made no such promise." Raven retorted in an offended tone.

Raven felt a soft hand on her shoulder and felt erotic desire course through her body. She moaned in anticipation, until she realized what was happening. She turned around and found herself facing another emoticlone.

This one was clad in hot pink and was one of the emotions that she normally kept stashed away under lock and key. That it was out, having free range in her mind was a clear indication that she needed to put her mental house in order.

"Hello Raven." Lust addressed her in a sultry, sexy voice. "So when are gonna do it with him?"

Raven's initial instinct was to chastise Lust, to say something like "Is that all you can think of?" It was, of course, a stupid question. What was Lust supposed to be obsessed with? Knitting?

"I see that the Martian inadvertently set you loose. It doesn't matter; I'll put you away until the time comes to let you out."

Lust grinned at her Master.

"J'onn didn't let me out, Raven. You turned me loose before that. Or have you already forgotten about allowing Gar to caress our breasts while making out? He didn't even have to ask, you told him to go ahead and go for it. And go for it he did, oh Azar, did he ever!" Lust smiled as she closed her eyes, reliving the memory, which Raven of course also re-experienced.

Raven stepped back, clearly shocked. Lust was 100% correct. The metal disarray she was experiencing had nothing to do with the Martian cleaning up her mind.

Raven continued to tour Nevermore, and found that all of her other emoticlones were uninhibited; at least the positive ones were so. Negative emotions, on the other hand, still seemed to be under control, in fact, more so than ever before .

There was one emoticlone that she had yet to see, which surprised her as it was always trying to break free and assert itself in her mind. It was more than a mere emotion; it was the demonic spirit she inherited from her father the day she was conceived. The Bible spoke of Adam and Eve being created in God's image. Raven, unfortunately, had been partially created in her father's image, so much so that at her darker moments she adopted his demonic form, including her father's signature four eyed face.

Raven decided that she needed to see Rage before returning to the real world. She resumed her trek, walking though another arch, which deposited her in front of a dark and foreboding castle, a mental construct she created shortly after defeating her father and into which she imprisoned Rage, deep in a dungeon buried in the castle's bowels.

Raven approached the castle and a drawbridge lowered itself. She crossed it and entered the impressive fortress. It's huge, thick walls represented the mental barriers she created to keep Rage under control. Even with this impressive jail, there was always a risk that Rage could break free. It was a battle that Raven had to fight on a daily basis and was the reason she originally rejected having a romantic relationship with Beast Boy.

As Raven descended the winding stairs into the depths of the castle, it occurred to her that she didn't have to struggle anymore to keep Rage under control. It was as if Rage had given up fighting back. This puzzled Raven to no end, as it was most unlike Rage to simply give up. After a long descent she finally reached the mental dungeon where Rage was imprisoned. It was an impressive cell, with thick stone walls and massive iron bars.

Every time Raven visited Rage she was greeted by the stench of feces as she reached the dungeon, but this time she was not greeted by the acrid aroma. This alarmed her and she quickened her pace to reach the cell. Finally she did.

And found that the cell was completely empty. There was no sign of Rage.

Raven stared incredulously, unable to believe what she was seeing. This meant that Rage had once again escaped. But, if she did, why was she not affecting Raven at all? Was this some sort of trick maybe? Was Rage somehow hiding herself in the cell, hoping to draw Raven into some sort of trap?

"Where is she?" Raven asked out loud.

"There is no Rage." A voice replied.

Raven spun around and saw the familiar yellow clad emoticlone, the one that wore eyeglasses. The yellow Raven pushed her specs back up the ridge of her nose while she stared at her master.

"What do you mean, there's no Rage? Did the Martian do something to her?"

Knowledge shook her head.

"It was Slade, he must have removed her! But why? And how? In theory it's impossible to remove her, it would be like removing my lungs or my heart. She's part of me, she can't be removed."

"There is no Rage. She was never a part of you."

"OK, this is getting old. Will you stop so being so cryptic and explain to me what's going on here?"

Knowledge looked apprehensive for a moment. She paused, as if deliberating on how to explain the situation.

"Explain! Now! I'm not a child! You don't have sugar coat the news, just tell me!"

Knowledge shuffled on her feet before answering.

"Rage was never a part of you."

"You already said that! If she isn't here, then where is she?"

"She is where she has always been … in Raven's mind."

The sorceress froze upon hearing the words.

"Did you say that she was in Raven's mind?"

Knowledge nodded. "That is correct."

"BUT I'M RAVEN!"

Knowledge shook her head.

"No, you are not Raven … you think you are … but you are not."

Raven's jaw began to tremble.

"If I'm n-n-not Raven, then who am I?" She stammered.

Knowledge locked eyes with her.

"You are a clone, a copy created by Slade, for the sole purpose of infiltrating and destroying the Teen Titans. You were given all of Raven's memories to complete the deception, which worked so well that you even fooled yourself."

Beast Boy woke to the sound of a blood curdling scream.

-( scene break )-

Those of you who were guessing that Raven was a clone, you were right!

But, what about the "real" Raven? Does Slade still have her? Is she still alive?

Stay tuned.