The book sat in her hands, the page still open to the first chapter, as it had been for the past few hours. Or had it been days? Her days still spanned in agonizing routine, but now she didn't hate it for the boredom – she hated it for the sheer fear. The fear that any moment, the alarm would ring blaringly; the computer would fire off a series of words, describing where and who the villain was. The only difference now was that she was incapable of fighting. Before, she didn't have the chance to – but now, being unable to? What would happen to her, if the other Titans found out? Her powers had to come back eventually. Once her back healed, they had to. She shuffled uncomfortably, unused to the feeling of the bandages covering her back. She'd never had to wear bandages before – she could normally heal herself. She frowned – how long would they take to heal? Perhaps it was different for regular humans than half-demons; she didn't know, she couldn't know. She couldn't ask her friends, it would be an immediate tip-off.

She jumped as the book slipped from her limp hands to the floor with a loud thud. "Damn it, Rae! Not every noise is going to be the alarm ringing!" Gritting her teeth, she bent to pick it up, ignoring the pain that ripped through her as the skin of her back stretched. Grasping the pages in her hands, she sat up quickly, gasping softly. It couldn't be normal to still have this pain, almost two weeks after the incident.

She curled her legs underneath her, rocking gently. What was she going to do when the alarm did go off? It would eventually, and then they'd have to go off and fight another random criminal. The same as any other day, except for one key fact – she had no powers.

She jumped again at the knock at her door. She growled at herself. "Come in and tell me what you want so I can kick you out," she muttered.

The door hissed as it opened, and the masked head slipped through. She was getting pretty sick of seeing that masked face in her mind every few minutes, let alone in person. She instinctively stiffened, preparing to ignore any and all questions pertaining to her health.

"Nice to see you, too." She could sense the rolling of his eyes beneath his mask. "We're going out for pizza, so go get ready. It's some new place they built on the roof of the mall, Beast Boy's been raving about the reviews it's been getting, so we finally gave in."

"I'm not - "

"That's an order." Robin's head disappeared and the door slipped closed again.

She snarled at him before the scowl disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared, her gaze moving towards the book in her hands. She ran her fingertips over the cover softly, keeping her face blank. Normally the book would have hit the door as her powers flung it across the room instinctively; but now, nothing.

Standing up slowly, she placed it back on her bookshelf. She stared at it for a moment before pulling up the hood of her cloak, letting the material mask her face, mask her fears. ~

"What'd I tell you guys? I told you this place rocked!"

"We haven't even ordered yet, Beast Boy."

"We have not? What do these clever containers of black and white hold, then?"

"That'd be salt and pepper, Star. Don't tell me you've been eating them."

"I thought they were quite appealing."

"Says the alien with the affinity for mustard as a beverage."

"Guys, can we just order now?"

"Alright! Tofu pizza, comin' right up!"

"Oh, no. I am not eating that disgusting excuse for a healthy diet of meat lovin'!"

"I'd like a pizza with toppings of mustard, ice cream, and the sticks of bread!"

Silence.

"I think I'll stick with the tofu, less likely to make me blow chunks."

"Meat."

"Tofu."

"Meat!"

"Tofu!"

"MEAT!"

"TOFU!"

"Shut up, both of you! We're just getting cheese!" Raven finally yelled, effectively shutting up both the green changeling and the metal man. There was a moment of silence as she stiffened, feeling the stares of all four of the titans. "What?" she snapped.

"Well, they have this argument every time we go out for pizza -" Robin started, ignoring the indignant protests from Cyborg and Beast Boy, "- and normally a few things have exploded by the time we leave. Namely because they've managed to act like complete imbeciles and piss you off."

"Yes! Last time it was the holders of napkins – falling everywhere, as if the frozen snow were gracing our faces with their cool temperatures. Glorious!" Starfire squealed.

Raven shifted uncomfortably, and she could feel the pressure building up suddenly in her ears, the blood pumping, roaring. They couldn't suspect, but would they? She gets so nervous, not knowing how to reply anymore…

Beast Boy mistook the reddening of her face. "Look out, she's gonna blow!" He yelled, attracting a few glares as he ducked under the table.

A deafening boom rocked the building, and four pairs of eyes snapped to her, and her fear disappeared as her eyes narrowed. "No, it wasn't me, idiots!" She held her hands up defensively as proof.

Another boom, and the building swayed.

"Who the hell is it?" One of them yelled.

"The building's going to collapse!" Another shouted.

"Titans, get out -"

Too late. Another explosion, and the building rocked precariously. Raven hit the table hard, containing her shriek as she watched Beast Boy fly off in his eagle form, and Starfire pull Cyborg up, their figures quickly growing smaller as she flew a few blocks away, within safe distance from the building.

It was all going too fast. What could she do? She couldn't do anything. No. No.

"Raven!" Her gaze fell on Robin, who was miraculously balancing on the edge of the building. Stupid Boy Wonder. "Fly!"

Her heart dropped. "Robin, I can't! I -"

A last explosion and the building fell sideways. She felt the floor disappear from beneath her.

How many stories was this freaking mall? Genius architecture, my ass. Three explosions and the whole goddamn twenty-story modern-fucking mall topples, typical. Falling. Death by falling – who would've guessed? The fucking super-fucking flying demon hero dies by falling off the stupid goddamn mall.

The fucking superhero is having a goddamn conversation with herself as she falls off a building to her death. Typical. I knew I was going crazy.

She screamed as a hand grabbed her wrist, her fall suddenly jerking to a stop. She felt her shoulder dislocate as it was yanked out of place.

"Damn it, Robin, don't I have enough fucking injuries?" She spit, grimacing as she hung limply in midair. She lifted her neck uncomfortably, trying to ignore the pain by focusing on how the hell they weren't falling in the first place.

He looked down at her incredulously – how he even made that expression when he was hanging so high off the ground, she would never know – one arm grasping her wrist tightly, the other holding onto the thin rope that was now hooked to the corner of the crooked building. Another wonderful, ingenious contraption from the bulky belt that held his costume together. "I just saved your life, what are you going on about?"

"You dislocated my shoulder! I'm still healing from the stupid metalloid thing!"

"I'm sorry, should I have let you fall? Be glad I saved your sorry ass!"

"You dislocated my shoulder!"

"Are those the only words within your vocabulary?"

"No. How about 'damn you to hell', do those work for you?"

"Why the hell are we arguing now?"

"Well, you just pulled my shoulder out of its socket and I'm pretty sure my back just opened up, because I definitely didn't just pour some warm liquid down my back. So I'm a bit pissy that you decided to fucking dislocate my arm and reopen my wounds with one blow. Congratulations."

"I just saved your life, you ungrateful -"

"'Are those the only words within your vocabulary?'"

"Ha, you're so clever. If you're so goddamn clever, why don't you use your magical half-demon powers and heal yourself, then fly us the hell off this building like you could have done in the first place instead of standing there like some deranged idiot!"

Any retorts she had died on her lips. Averting her eyes, she maneuvered herself as best she could to look downwards. Cyborg and Starfire were pushing against the building with the help of Beast Boy's Tyrannosaurus Rex form, which explained why the building hadn't toppled to the ground. Evidently the building was pretty heavy, because none of them could seem to let go long enough to get them help.

"Raven?"

She ignored him.

"Raven?" he repeated, confused.

She kept her gaze on the three below, hoping that they'd figure out something.

"Raven!" Silence obviously wasn't going to work. "Just when I was starting to think, 'Wow, this is the most she's ever talked', you stop. What, did you realize that I was right?"

"Shut up." She kept her gaze downwards.

"Or what? I'm the one keeping you from falling to your bloody death."

"I can take care of myself!"

"Bullshit. I saved your life."

"You dislocated my arm!"

"Oh, sorry. Should I just let go, then?" She stiffened as he let her slip an inch. She remained silent, willing every muscle in her body not to grab onto Robin's hand and give herself away. "After all, you can just fly away, right?" Her eyes slipped shut, preventing herself from watching the ground so far beneath her.

"I hate you," she gritted out slowly.

There was a pause, then she yelled as she slid downwards, her eyes popping open. She yanked her face towards him in fear; he was literally holding her entire weight by his fingertips. She spit out a slurry of nonsense words that sounded a lot like pleading and cursing mixed together.

"Why won't you fly?" he demanded.

"Stop it!" Her voice sounded choked.

She screamed again as arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her hands – when had she been able to swing up her other arm to grab his – from Robin's grasp.

"Robin, why is friend Raven doing the crying? And why were you both hanging from the precarious position of high above the ground?" Raven suddenly sobbed as she heard Starfire's voice behind her. When had she started crying? She hadn't even noticed the blurriness in her vision or the liquid on her cheeks.

Robin paused, too, as if he hadn't noticed it himself. She could feel his eyes piercing into her, desperately trying to understand. "Raven?" he questioned softly, still holding onto the rope as if it didn't bother him at all to be hanging almost twenty stories in the air. She turned away from him, wrapping her uninjured arm around Starfire's neck. "Raven, please just answer me." She could hear the mixed feelings in his voice – the guilt at making her cry for reasons he couldn't understand, the confusion as to what was wrong with her that she wouldn't fly.

She was surprised he hadn't yet considered the alternative – that she couldn't fly.

Or use her powers.

Or be a titan.

She couldn't do anything but remain silent. Starfire held her there for a few moments, her eyes flickering back and forth between the two teens. Finally deciding that it was best that she move, she finally lowered Raven to the ground, knowing that Robin could take care of himself now that he didn't need to hold onto her.

Raven contained her gasp of pain as Starfire set her on the ground. Her muscles involuntarily collapsed and she fell to the floor. She stiffened as she heard Starfire's sharp intake of breath.

"Friend Raven! Why is there blood on your tight-fitting garment of clothing? And your arm is severely injured, we must tend to you immediately!" She quickly pushed away Starfire's hands, standing up weakly.

"I'm fine," she muttered darkly, readjusting her cloak to hide the bloodstains on her leotard. She could still feel them; they hadn't closed over again yet, and the blood was slowly trickling down her back.

"So is the situation," said Robin suddenly, having evidently managed to get himself back onto the ground. "There aren't any villains; apparently it was a gas leak."

"So we nearly got crushed, and you guys almost fell off the building because of some stupid air leakage? Come on, we didn't even get to try the tofu pizza!"

Beast Boy was obviously fine; his normal self, not even noticing her.

"Oh, no. We were going to get meat!"

Cyborg seemed to be just fine, too.

"Please, friends! Let us celebrate this victory with Tamaran's traditional yerblart pudding!"

"Aww, Star!"

"As long as it's not that squiggly blue one again, I'm still trying to get it out from under my toenails. Do you know how hard it is to get pudding out from -"

"Don't even start, grass-stain."

"Dear friends, may I inquire as to what was wrong with the last pudding?"

Blinking away the burning in her eyes before it could flood over to join the already-present tearstains on her face, she turned silently to walk away, back to the tower. Who cares if she couldn't fly? What did it matter if her shoulder was still dislocated, and the wounds on her back were still bleeding? She'd find a way to fix it herself once she got back to the tower. Anything was better than being here, with them. With him.

"Where do you think you're going?" Robin suddenly appeared beside her.

"None of your concern," she muttered.

"Like hell it is! You expect me to ignore the fact the fact that you won't use your powers?" She kept her steps steady, wishing that she could go faster. "Just tell me, Raven! We've all accepted your moodiness, your random anger spurts; what's wrong with you? What, did the metalloid make you scared of fighting?"

The anger burst within her, and she swung the hand of her uninjured arm at his face. He caught it easily, but her eyes were wide, stretching the contours of his mask. She'd never physically attempted to hit them before, no matter how angry.

She couldn't keep the tears back anymore, no matter how much she despised her emotions.

"No, you idiot," she hissed at him, pulling her wrist out of his grasp. "I can't use my powers anymore. They're gone."

Spinning away, she slid onto Robin's motorcycle and revved it quickly. She sped away from him, ignoring his piercing stare on her retreating figure.

The wind couldn't dry the tears fast enough.

Gees, has it already been two months since I posted the first chapter? I'm so sorry guys, I've been extremely busy with school and such, and this was a long work in process.

Not entirely sure how happy I am with this chapter, but not really sure what else I would've done to it. Still need a beta reader, for anyone interested! :]

See that review button? It holds a special place in my heart. Would you like to give it a click for me? I definitely appreciated all the favorites, but reviews would be greatly helpful! Perhaps I'll get around to posting the next chapter a bit faster, this time? :P

And of course - Teen Titans don't belong to me. If they did, it would still be airing.

Thanks for reading!

- Nadine