The Titans searched for hours but they never found her. At around 4AM in the morning, they all dropped into bed and fell asleep. That was when Raven made her appearance in the main room.

"If you thought I wouldn't secretly wait up to catch you, you're sorely mistaken." Robin's low voice confronted her. "Yesterday was your birthday. Did something happen?"

"It's nothing you have to worry about." She said dismissively. From where he stood across her, all he could see was her silhouette.

"Raven nobody cares more about you than us. Why won't you tell us what is going on?" Robin asked gently, the slivers of moonlight dancing on his mask. "Does something bad always happen on your birthday?"

"I thought I had destroyed him for good." Raven's voice dropped to a whisper. "But he keeps coming back to haunt me. He knew everything. He knew I wouldn't die. He had plans for me. Big plans."

"What plans?"

"He didn't expect was that my will would be so strong. His downfall was that he thought I was insignificant." Raven turned around and faced the full moon.

"What plans?" Robin spoke in a whisper but his voice filled the room. Just then, the lights of the main room flickered on, startling Raven out of her wits. Immediately, the refrigerator was covered by her dark energy and it vaporized into thin air. Robin twirled around to see Cyborg standing at the light switch.

"It's just you," Raven backed away from Robin and Cyborg.

"Raven!" Beast Boy's sudden shout from behind landed upon her like a cannonball.

The entire kitchen vaporized this time. Four pairs of eyes stared at her in utter panic and bewilderment. They had seen Raven rip things apart, smash things, and melt stuff, but never before had they seen her vaporize things. They weren't even aware she could do that. Starfire who had been standing behind Beast Boy began to cry. A look of panic crossed Raven's face. She bolted towards the door only to have Beast Boy jump in front of her to prevent from leaving. This time the couch vaporized. Raven glared at Beast Boy her eyes seething with pure, concentrated rage. Balling her hands into two fists of lead, she began trembling as she stood stuck in that one spot. Beast Boy dashed away from her but in his haste, he tripped and landed on the floor with a thud. Raven cringed. They saw her shoulders stiffen and they fled.

When she finally calmed herself and returned to normal, she turned around to see them hovering outside the tower, with Starfire holding Robin and Beast Boy holding Cyborg. All four of them wore petrified expressions on their faces. They were frightened. They were frightened of her.

"Alright Raven," Said Robin when Starfire finally flew him back in. "What's happening?"

"Trigon may have left me as a helpless child in hell, but that didn't mean that he intended for me to stay there forever. He wrote a will, willing that on my next birthday after I had destroyed earth, I will be granted greater power and new abilities, that will allow me to effortlessly conquer the universe in Trigon's name. I am his only half demon child, so this allows me to travel to other dimensions that have powerful protective spells to keep out full demons like Trigon. That's why he's given me such great power, which is a great portion of the power that he has himself."

"So yesterday, you became the most powerful superhero on earth?" Asked Beast Boy in awe.

"Kind of." Raven said sadly. "But because my body is half mortal, it cannot absorb great amounts of power at once. Bit by bit, I will gradually get stronger and so will my powers."

"Wow." Cyborg said scratching his robotic head. "I'm so glad you're on our side!"

"Yeah." Raven's face was wrought in misery. "I'm going to my room."

"She's hurting." Beast Boy shared her misery in his soft emerald eyes.

"The more powerful she gets, the harder it will be for her to control her powers." Robin began to understand her strange behavior. "Which is why she's been meditating even more. She's trying to keep her powers down."

Meanwhile in her room, Raven slumped to the floor on her hands and knees, tears clouding her eyes. Now that her powers were getting stronger, she would have to work even harder to keep them under control. But that was not the reason why she was crying. She had always dreaded the day that her friends feared her. She always knew it was coming, but she didn't expect it to happen so soon. The image of their terrified faces staring at her was burned deeply into her mind. She didn't mind it if she had to meditate longer. She didn't mind it if she had to be even more emotionless than before. But what she did mind was having her friends fear her. She did mind seeing them shrink away from her though she didn't blame them for being afraid. And she blamed him for it. If Trigon hadn't done this to her, none of them would be afraid of her right now. Wearily, she crawled to her bed and surveyed the dark room. A statue had already been vaporized. Knowing that she had to get her emotions under control, she crawled under the covers with the joy of a girl who had just had her worst nightmare realised.

Raven spent the next few weeks alone in her room desperately trying to keep her powers under control. With every passing day, her existing powers grew stronger and every few days, she gained new abilities. She gradually became afraid of going on missions because she was afraid that she might uncover a new ability during the battle and endanger the city. So far, besides being able to vaporize things, she was now able to fire bolts of dark energy that behaved like lightning, short-circuiting all electrical devices around her. Cyborg understandably made sure to stay very far away from her until she had mastered further control over this power, further isolating her from the team.

She wished it would stop but it didn't. Raven also gained the ability of psychic creation, allowing her to create anything she wished with her mind. On top of that, she was granted physical imperviousness. Since she was half-mortal, she could not inherit immortality from Trigon. Instead, she received a lessor form of immortality, namely physical imperviousness.

Raven's existing power of telekinesis also became more advanced. This meant that not only could she pick up huge objects with her powers, she could also alter them as she tossed them at villains. Adonis found out the hard way what messing with Raven meant. When he flirted with her and called her a "pretty bird", a furious Raven picked up a car with her dark powers, morphed it into a huge mechanical snapping turtle and hurled it at Adonis. The titans had a good laugh as the turtle chased Adonis down the beach, snapping it him with its massive jaws.

That was all of her new abilities that the titans knew about. But Raven knew that more would be coming. None of her friends understood the true implication of her words "great portion of the power that he has himself." In actual fact, not only would Raven eventually inherit most of Trigon's powers and abilities; she would also become the most powerful force in the whole universe, next to Trigon. She would not inherit all of his abilities though, since some of his powers only applied to full-demons.

As Raven continued studying her books on demonology, she found that certain spells strengthened certain abilities. These spells had the same effect as 'Azarath Metrion Zinthos' had on her existing powers. But as Raven's existing powers became stronger, she became afraid to repeat her usual incantation because it made her too powerful and she did not want her friends to fear her even more than they already did.

She became her own prison. As she grew more and more powerful, she began to fear that the increased portion of dark powers that she now had would corrupt her. In the past, the evil within her was balanced with her good, half-mortal self. With Azar's help, she was able to suppress her inner evil and ultimately behave like a good person despite it. But since her heightened powers came from an evil source, the amount of evil within her grew along with her dark powers. Raven knew that a day would come when she would be unable to suppress her evil side. Just like Trigon had intended, she would become primarily evil when her evil demonic side overpowered her purer mortal side. When that happened, she would probably have to leave the titans. Already, she was having difficulty suppressing it with meditation. Not wanting her friends to think that she was selling them out like Terra when she became evil, she decided to be upfront and tell them that she would eventually have to leave them.

"Must you leave?" asked a tearful Starfire helplessly.

"Not now, but eventually." Raven replied as calmly as she possibly could. Even Robin was becoming emotional. Just when they thought that Raven had dealt away with Trigon for good, he was coming back to haunt her. Though he had been destroyed, his power was to live on forever through her.

"Can't ya meditate more or somethin'?" Suggested Cyborg hopefully. He still felt guilty about the callous way he had spoken to her the time she ditched their mission and he was doing all he could to make up for it.

"There will come a time when meditation won't work anymore." Said Raven quietly. "With every passing day, my powers will increase. The Monks of Azarath taught me how to control my powers and suppress the evil within me then. But now that Azarath has been destroyed and no one has survived, I have no hope."

"Are you certain that no one survived?" Asked Robin, who always paid close attention to tiny details.

"Yes. Trigon made sure to destroy them all for helping me to resist his influence." Raven replied sadly, forcing herself to hold the tears.

"Rae…" said Beast Boy softly before giving her a hug. Everyone cringed, fearing that something might explode or vaporize. Their actions though subtle were not lost upon her. The table they were sitting at vaporized. Not wanting to scare her friends for any longer, Raven teleported herself out of the room at breakneck speed.

"Ya just had to touch her." Cyborg shook his head disapprovingly.

"Lay off the hugs Beast Boy. She's extra... jittery nowadays." Robin said gravely.

"Maybe we should stop replacing our furniture until she can get her powers under control." Cyborg suggested. He was thoroughly daunted at the thought of having to buy a new table for the third time.

"No. We have to keep things the way they are." Robin declared staunchly. "If we don't, it could hurt her more than we could ever know."

Back at her room, Raven kept studying, trying to push all other thoughts out of her head. She knew she had to find someone to teach her how to control her powers, but the only ones she could go to were demons. While Trigon was the most powerful demon in the universe, many other lessor demons did exist. Unfortunately, most of them only had one or at the most three abilities. Raven knew that by going to individual demons, she could learn how to control her abilities one by one. However, she refused to do that because she knew that those demons could manipulate and corrupt her with their dark magic and spells.

Unwilling to risk such moral corruption, Raven tried searching for other dimensions like Azarath where the pure-hearted would teach her how to control her powers. So far, every effort was met with failure. The citizens of those dimensions either rejected her because of her heritage, or knew too little about demonology to actually help her. How she longed for Azarath and for Azar and for the other monks that had taught her so much.

She thought for days and pored through books like a voracious worm. One day, as she was researching on the afterlife, a thought came to her mind. She remembered that when Azar died, she was said to have entered another plane of existence. Raven realized that if she could somehow locate this plane of existence, she would be able to find Azar, who could help her. With this knowledge in mind, Raven desperately leapt into frantic research on the various planes of existence; trying to figure out which one Azar went to after her death.

The other titans were becoming worried about Raven. Though her increasing powers meant that they were now defeating villains more easily than they ever did before, they were worried about how she now spent all her time holed up in her room. She was becoming increasingly distant and they all knew it was because of what was hanging over all their heads. If Raven could not find a way to suppress her demonic urges and fight the evil within her, she could turn into the next Trigon. If that happened she would turn against the team and possibly destroy the world. It pained them to think that if something were not done, they would one day have to fight Raven, their friend. Knowing that something must be done to help Raven, Robin called Beast Boy, Cyborg and Starfire together for a meeting.

"We need to help Raven. We cannot let her suffer alone." Robin said pounding his fist on the table in frustration. "Yet we know so little about her and her powers."

"Why won't she let us help her?" asked Beast Boy, who looked decidedly unhappy.

"She doesn't want to drag us into this. She doesn't want us to suffer with her. Remember what she did on the day Trigon came? She tried to make our supposed last day on Earth enjoyable, even though she was suffering so much herself." Robin scowled. Nothing made Robin unhappier than not knowing how to solve a problem.

Beast Boy was quite silent and thoughtful, which was rather unusual for him. He sat quietly and listened as Robin and Cyborg brainstormed on how to help Raven. He hated the thought of Raven leaving. He hated the thought of Raven becoming evil. He had always somehow taken for granted that she would always remain as their super mature friend and advisor. But now there was a very high chance that the titans would lose her.

Beast Boy loathed Trigon from the bottom of his heart, though a small part of him was grateful to Trigon. While he hated Trigon for using Raven as his minion and slave, he also felt grateful to him for giving Raven her powers and her life. Without him, Raven would not exist. Without her powers, she would never have become a Titan. Without him, she would never have fled to earth where he could meet her. And although Trigon was the root source of all the evil that he despised, he did feel grateful to Trigon for that. Beast Boy never told anyone, but he had a crush on Raven the day he met her - though his feelings for Terra did complicate things. She was so mysterious, so beautiful and so different. He loved watching her fluid, graceful movements and was fascinated by her vast knowledge of things that he could never hope to understand. He loved her soulful violet eyes, her silky violet hair and perfect body. Her hourglass figure and full chest simply made him shudder. Her silky hair was also the reason why he named the mutant moth larvae that he smuggled back to the tower 'Silkie'. Beast Boy could fantasize about Raven all day if Cyborg had not yelled, "Boo ya!" into his ear. With a yelp, Beast Boy leapt several feet into the air. As he landed on the ground in a very undignified manner, he looked up and was shocked to see Raven in the main room. She had a twinkle in her eye that he had not seen for a long time. Delighted, he jumped up and gave her a big hug.

"Raven!" he gushed affectionately as she desperately tried to wriggle out of his grasp. "You've come out of your room!"

"Yes, I have." She gasped as Robin used his staff to pry them apart. Poor Raven could barely catch her breath before Starfire engulfed her in an even stronger hug. "Let go!" she choked as her pale face became even paler. After Starfire let her go with a lot of begging from Robin, Raven leaned against Cyborg's huge metallic frame for support. "Robin," she wheezed between big gulps of air. "I need you to train me."

"Train you for what?" Robin asked curiously.

"Martial arts, gymnastics and anything physical." She replied finally catching her breath. "I've found Azar's plane of existence!" She continued with a cheer in her voice they had not heard for a long time.

"You found Azar?" Cried Beast Boy as he lunged for her again, only to be tripped by Robin.

"Yes." Raven replied with a rare smile. "And that's why I need Robin to train me. I need to be in great physical shape, or else I won't survive the journey there. I am after all, half-mortal."

"How are ya gonna get there?" asked Cyborg curiously.

"With my soul self." She replied simply. "Now that my powers are stronger, so is my soul self. Because of that, I can now travel to other planes of existence."

"That's great!" Robin's smile came from his heart. No one had any idea how worried he had been about her. If only he knew what was to come.

For the next few days, Raven was put on a strict regime, which included sparring with Robin, lifting weights with Starfire, chasing after Beast Boy as a cheetah and running marathons with Cyborg. It took another few weeks of intense training before Raven finally decided that she was fit enough to make the journey to find Azar.

"I'm... leaving today." She stabbed a waffle with her fork and looked at the floor. This announcement took all the titans by surprise, though it really should not have. They all knew that she would be leaving soon.

"You-you-you're leaving already?" Sputtered Beast Boy as he choked on his drink.

"I don't have much time." Her voiced waxed with melancholy.

"Where are your bags?" He demanded trying to delay her departure as long as he could.

"Have you forgotten that I can create anything I want now?" She gave him the 'are you stupid?' look.

"Oh, yeah." He replied, blushing at his own idiocy.

"We're going to miss you, Raven." Said Robin as he walked over to her. Was he ever glad that he was wearing a mask to cover his eyes! "What time are you going?"

"Now." Raven took the last bite of her breakfast.

"Oh, Raven! Do be safe!" Cried Starfire, who would have given Raven another rib crushing hug if Robin had not stopped her.

"Cya Raven." Said Cyborg giving her an encouraging smile. "Be safe." Remembering those words that she herself once used, Raven smiled. Beast Boy wanted to kick himself for not saying those words first.

"Bye Raven." He said shyly. "I'm gonna miss you." The sad look in her eyes practically crushed him.

"You'll always have a place on this team." Robin pledged. The others nodded in agreement. "Don't worry, we won't replace you." Raven nodded in relief. Though she knew that they were sort of afraid of her, it comforted her to think that they still wanted her around. Wordlessly, she levitated into the air and assumed the lotus position.

"Goodbye, my friends. You be safe too." She said as she closed her eyes. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos," she recited as her soul self enveloped her and all they could see was her black Raven.

"Bye Raven!" They chorused as the raven lingered in the main room for several seconds, before flying out of the tower and disappearing from view.

A deep feeling of emptiness settled upon them and they realized that it was probably here to stay for a long time. Silently, they each returned to their respective rooms, completely unaware that they were being watched.