Author's Note: I think updates will slow down soon since I will shortly be returning to the super-nerd organization also known as the IB or International Baccalaureate Program. Ok, so it's the PreIB program, but there you go. In other words, the teachers have promised us sophomores plenty of homework and it probably won't help that I'm taking two Jr. classes as well, so things will slow down. But I made some one a promise that I would finish this, and I intend to keep that promise. If I somehow do end up dead, then I will let you know. Until then, patience is a virtue! And constructive criticism is still welcome!

Disclaimer: Nothing has changed since Ch. 4, but I'm flattered to know you think I know something.

Chapter 5

There he sat, again, in that strange chair in the infirmary. This time, things were quite similar to how they had been during the chemical incident. Raven was floating, unconscious on the examination table, her cloak discarded, her body healing itself. Robin was breathing down his neck, concern written all over his face, but the threat of imprisonment hiding behind his mask. Cyborg was staring at the monitors, frowning. He still didn't feel animalistic in any way, well, no more than was normal for him. If anything, he was more confused and scared than all three of the other conscious Titans put together. Medicine and sweat filled his nostrils, fear inconsistently entering the mix, overwhelming his senses.

"Please believe me, I didn't do anything," he said before Robin could get out his first question. "I just went to see if Raven could figure out what's wrong with me!"

"Beast Boy, calm down," Robin tried to sooth, frankly surprised by his friend's panicked expression. "No one is accusing you of anything. We just need to know what happened." The green changeling looked uncomfortable, fidgeting slightly in his chair. "Look, there is absolutely no way you could have done this to Raven. She's not physically hurt, just exhausted from what the scans show. I just need you to tell me why she was pushing herself so hard."

"I… went to her room," Beast Boy said, unable to make eye contact with the team's leader. "I asked her to go into my head and find out what was wrong with me."

"Why did you wait until 5 in the morning? You could have asked her right after the mission," Robin pointed out, trying to be as gentile as possible. The changeling looked rather like a deer staring into the eyes of a wolf pack.

"I… I didn't think I needed to until this morning." There was a small voice in his head, whispering to him. It spoke of hunters and betrayal, of not understanding that it wasn't his fault. The voice told him of all the reasons he should fear Robin as yellow eyes glinted in the back of his mind.

"Why," probed Robin, maintaining a safe distance from the spooked boy, trying to relay to him that he wasn't a threat. "Did you have a dream or something?"

"No dream," said Beast Boy, his eyes watching Robin as though the Boy Wonder was going to throw him in jail at any minute. Vaguely, he was aware of the yellow eyes' approval. His senses seemed to be growing sharper, or perhaps he was just overly nervous. Whatever the case, Cyborg's voice seemed unusually loud, causing him to wince.

"Rob, you'd better look at this." Robin closed his mouth and walked over to the screen where some fresh scans were being displayed. Beast Boy shivered slightly.

"What am I supposed to be seeing? Is there a problem now?" Robin's voice was impatient as he glared at the changeling's brain.

"There's still nothing wrong," said Cyborg, causing Robin to frown. "But the capillary dilation isn't as wide spread. It seems to be localized in his parietal and temporal lobes."

"Please, what does that mean," asked Starfire as she approached the screen to see for herself.

"Those particular lobes are responsible for sensory information. The parietal lobe deals with pain, temperature, taste, ect. While the temporal lobe works more with memory, hearing, perception and recognition," explained Cyborg.

"So those things are in a state of hyper sensitivity," said Robin, receiving a nod from Cyborg. Beast Boy blinked, tilting his head slightly. "Could that be why Raven passed out?"

"It could," said Cyborg thoughtfully, staring back up at the screen. "If she ran into more neural energy than she was ready for, it could have shorted out her powers. Or maybe it was just overwhelming, there is still a lot we don't know about how she can do what she does."

"Cy," whispered Beast Boy, barely audible. "Does this mean that the… the music… it's all just in my head? I'm- I'm just hallucinating?"

"I really, really hope not B," Cyborg murmured as quietly as he could, turning to face his best friend.

"Why," demanded Robin, a strange edge in his voice.

"Because if they're just hallucinations, then we're at a dead end. They're affecting his behavior in dangerous ways, and I have no idea where they're coming from. If they continue untreated, I don't know what could happen." The words were for Robin, but there was a softness to his tone meant only for Beast Boy. "They could drive him insane."

"Perhaps friend Beast Boy is merely hearing things form a ship out on the ocean," suggested Starfire, hope resonating in her voice. The others looked skeptical, but Beast Boy's face had lit up like a Christmas tree in December.

"Yeah! That could be it," he exclaimed, far louder than he had meant to. "Then all you have to do is make my brain the way it was, you know, un-dilate the thingies, and I'll be okay!" Starfire looked absolutely ecstatic, Robin kept his face carefully blank, and Cyborg just looked sad. "You can fix me, right?" Beast Boy's smile faltered slightly as he stared at his robotic friend. "I'm gonna be okay, right?"

"Sure, of course you are," said Cyborg after a moment of silence, managing a half-hearted grin. "But right now, I think you just need some rest, you look like a train wreck." Beast Boy grinned and got up, looking thoroughly pleased. "Who knows, maybe the problem will have fixed itself by tomorrow." The green boy nodded vigorously, then headed for the door as fast as dignity would allow. He really hated the way it smelled in the infirmary.

"You really believe that," asked Robin as soon as the doors were closed. Cyborg shook his head. "I don't blame you for saying it, I was about ready to go over there and tell him everything would turn out alright."

"That's really something coming from you," sighed Cyborg.

"He looks... very bad. Is there nothing we can do to help?" Starfire was staring at the door, a look of concern on her face. It killed her to feel so helpless.

"The only thing we can do for him right now is figure out what's calling him." Raven's voice made everyone start, they had been quite unprepared. There she sat, her legs still out in front of her and her head held in one of her hands. She looked like she had a really bad headache.

"When did you wake up," said Cyborg, shock audible in his voice.

"Maybe five minutes ago," she replied, sliding off the table and grabbing her cloak. "But there are things Beast Boy really shouldn't hear."

"What do you mean by that," Robin said, still tensed from her sudden appearance.

"This isn't as bad as it's going to sound," warned Raven. "But if we just sit and do nothing, it could get to the point were there is nothing we'll be able to do about it."

"What happened when you went into his mind? What did you find out," probed Robin, stepping towards the empathy so he didn't miss anything. She held up a hand and the ten thousand other questions died on his tongue.

"Beast Boy came to me this morning because he woke up on the shore, drenched in sea water, with no idea how he got there. Remember what happened at the docks?" The Titans nodded. "Well, I'm pretty sure the same thing happened last night when he went to his room, except that time there was no one to stop him. Then when he tried to get back to his room, he wound up in the water again."

"Sounds like you know as much as Beast Boy does," said Cyborg, his arms folded across his chest. "What is it that you didn't want him to hear?"

"I frankly don't care if he hears this or not," Raven stated coldly. "But I found something in his mind, something bad."

"The Beast? The one that came out during the chemicals incident?" Robin was close to an internal panic now; the idea that his friend could be loosing himself to that animal again… it scared him.

"No, Robin," Raven said, trying to be patient. "This was something else, something not-Beast Boy, another presence in his mind. I'm not sure how or why it's there, but it is. And it doesn't want us to interfere with its plans."

"What plans," snarled Cyborg, going into his 'protective older brother' mode.

"I wish I knew, but it threw me out before I could do any digging." Raven rubbed her head with one hand, as if to emphasize her point.

"Do you know what 'it' is?" Robin was trying to give in to this new panic that was brewing in his stomach, but some of it leaked through into his voice. This was one situation where he had absolutely no control, and that made him uneasy. He didn't like to feel helpless.

"All I know for certain is that this thing, whatever it is, is the source of the singing he's been hearing," Raven explained, starting towards the door.

"How much influence does 'it' have over Beast Boy," He asked cautiously, unconsciously slipping back into interrogation mode. "I mean, is he still in control of himself? Or is he just doing and saying what it wants him to?"

"It's not very deeply rooted, not yet anyway," she said, throwing him a sharp glance. "Beast Boy is still in control most of the time. From what I can tell, the singing is what takes control of him, though I'm not sure if that is the right phrase, and the singer has established a foothold in his mind to watch him. So the answer to your question is no, it was Beast Boy who came to my room and asked me for help, and Beast Boy was talking to you just now."

"Could you look around in some of your books," suggested Cyborg, trying not to sound too forceful and get Raven angry. "Maybe there's something about this in one of them." The half-demon turned and nodded at him, accepting his idea, much to his delight.

"But first I need to meditate and make sure I haven't overlooked anything."

"Let us know if you find anything," Robin called after her retreating form. He rubbed his temples, trying to think, to plan. They still had the whole day in front of them, a day that promised at least one attack on the city. So what was he supposed to do with Beast Boy? They couldn't trust him to fight, not with something in his head manipulating his thoughts, but they couldn't just let him hang out around the Tower. He might just decide to get up and leave, maybe even get himself drowned, if someone wasn't watching. "I think we should all take turns guarding Beast Boy," he proposed to the only other people left in the room. Starfire nodded vigorously, but Cyborg looked unsure.

"I don't know, man," he said, staring down at Robin. "I don't want the little guy to think we don't trust him. He's kinda sensitive about that sort of thing." Robin nodded absently, thinking hard.

"We'll be discreet," he said after a moment of tensed silence. "But I don't want him alone in the Tower. We don't know what this thing wants, so we'll have to keep an eye on Beast Boy to make sure it doesn't decide to try and use him to get it." Cyborg nodded slowly, clearly uncomfortable with the idea, but he could see no other options. This was just a bad situation overall, and he hated it with every fiber of his being. But the fact was that all they could do was watch the green Titan and hope that Raven found the answer to their problem soon.