Beast Boy was running towards her before he realized what he was doing, his thoughts pounding in time with his steps as everything seemed to slow down:
Raven is on fire Raven is on fire Raven is on fire
It's not Raven, a small part of his mind said as he ran. It's Joy.
It's Raven, he thought as he shifted into an ape and caught Joy as gently as he could, stopping her and snapping the clasp at her throat. Bitter smoke stung his eyes as he threw the cloak into the air behind him. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed it vanish in a bubble of black energy. Everything here is Raven.
Joy did not seem hurt but she was still screaming so he hugged her carefully, trying to smother any fire that was left. Her voice was growing weaker, and he turned her so he could look into her face. She started to say something, then, failing, closed her eyes and collapsed.
Beast Boy changed back and lowered her gently to the ground as the world seemed to speed up back to normal. Brave and Cyborg were kneeling beside them and Raven was standing a few feet away, wadding up the ruined cloak.
Cyborg touched Joy's face and winced when he felt how cold she was. "Anywhere else, I'd say she was in shock."
"She is," Raven said. She looked at Joy's cloak, sighed, and dropped it, then took off her own, covering Joy.
Lost, Cyborg said, "So, we keep her warm, we call 911, what?"
"We commit to her our energy," Raven said tonelessly.
"Rae, I'm not even sure what that means -"
"We find out what happened," Raven cut across him, "That should not be possible. There is nothing here that could be so destructive, except -" she stopped abruptly and glanced up to where a red-hooded figure was standing next to Wisdom's bench, watching them. "Rage."
Grabbing Joy's cloak, Raven got to her feet and stalked across the courtyard until she stood a few feet away from Rage. Flinging the cloak at her, Raven almost shouted, "That's your fire. You did this."
Rage had automatically caught the cloak but froze at Raven's accusation. "I did not -"
"That is your fire -"
"Her missing fire," Wisdom said. "She did not do this."
"Then who?" Raven asked, really shouting now. "Who could do this?"
Joy's cloak, still held by Rage, burst into flames again. Rage contained them easily, then looked at Wisdom. "This is my fire, but it's in her lands. She's still burning."
"Cyborg," Raven snapped. "Take Joy. Brave, take those two and Beast Boy to Joy's lands." She glared at Rage. "I'll take Timid and you. You're not leaving my sight."
Brave and Raven vanished with their passengers at almost the same time, in quick flashes of blue and green light.
TTTTTTTTTTTTTTT
As soon as they appeared in Joy's lands they were pushed back by a rush of hot, smoky air; the normal hills and flowers were covered with sheets of flame. The same greasy smoke from the courtyard billowed around them.
Raven tried to put up her hood and remembered she had given Joy her cloak. Coughing and wiping at her streaming eyes, she ducked her head and waved at Rage, pointing at the flames, not trusting herself to be heard over the susurrus roar of the fire.
Rage nodded and walked forward, her cloak swirling around her as she disappeared into the inferno. Raven put a shield around the rest of and Beast Boy turned into an albatross and began flapping his wings, trying to keep the smoke away.
It was hard to see through the dark energy of the shield, but slowly the noise diminished and there seemed to be less smoke. After several minutes Raven cautiously lowered the shield and saw Rage standing in a blackened landscape, a globe of white-hot flames dancing in one hand, cinders popping and skittering across the ground around her.
Joy stirred. Cyborg, with Brave's help, set her on her feet and helped her stay upright. Joy took one look at her realm and began to cry weakly. Timid came close to the little group, not sure what to do, and Cyborg put his arms around all of them and said something, his voice a low rumble against the crackles and hisses of the dying fire.
Raven shivered. Beast Boy turned back to himself and said, perplexed, "Dude, she's Joy. I didn't know she could be sad."
"Of course she can," Raven said absently. She was staring around her trying to take in the enormity of the damage. "But it's … it's painful. My sides are here to help me control my feelings, but this kind of – this is damage, I don't know..." her voice faded.
Harshly, Rage said, "Someone planted my fire here." She smiled unpleasantly. "Planted."
"Show me," Raven said.
With Beast Boy following them, Rage and Raven picked their way across the charred ground until they came to Joy's garden. Many of the flowers were missing, but in the center of the garden an entire bed of plants had been cleared away. A scattering of sticks and burn marks edged the dirt.
"I found the heart of my fire here," Rage said. "It had grown."
Beast Boy looked around. There weren't any stacks of wood around, or things that would catch fire, not in this garden. "How? There's nothing here to burn."
"In the cathedral," Raven said. "Rage's fire is built on her emotions, like all our powers here. She got angry, the fire got out of control." She stared helplessly at the churned up dirt, the few broken flowers, and the long scorch marks in the grass. "It doesn't matter in her own realm, but outside..."
"This is not my fault," Rage said.
"I never said it was," Raven returned, her violet eyes glinting dangerously with their own flecks of red, "But if you would stop considering us your enemies -"
"You have made me a prisoner in this place," Rage said, her voice rising. The flames in her hand leaped. "You all have locked me away, so how else should I -"
"Guys! Not the time." Beast Boy said, standing between them. Maybe Cyborg's right, maybe I do have a death wish. "What do we do now?"
Raven took a deep breath and looked away from Rage. "Rage's fire is here. Maybe... maybe the flowers are in Rage's realm."
Rage sneered. "If they are, they're dead."
"Doesn't matter," Raven said shakily. "We have to look. But first we need to see to Joy. And clean up." She sniffed. "Everything reeks of smoke."