Beast Boy stumbled out of the cathedral and stopped. Even the overcast sky was too bright after the warren underground, and he paused for a minute, blinking while his eyes adjusted.

He heard a shout. Raven had grabbed Rude's arm and they were pushing at each other, scuffling around like two kids in a fight and kicking up dust. Beast Boy sprinted toward them, getting there just as Rude vanished and Raven fell to her knees, retching.

Cyborg's heavy footsteps thudded across the courtyard toward them as Beast Boy helped Raven to her feet. "Are you okay?"

Raven shook her head like she was trying to clear it, an uncharacteristically ugly, sullen look on her face. "Rude didn't want to go." She conjured a glass of water, took a swallow and rinsed her mouth, then spat and threw the glass at one of the statues, where it shattered. "Damn her! She said she was afraid. What does she think I -" she crumpled again, sagging forward as Beast Boy tried to keep her upright.

Cyborg helped them both stand. "Rae. You said you knew what was going on. Help us out here." He pushed her hood back and touched her face, stooping to look in her eyes. "Are you in shock? Did she hurt you?"

Raven stood stock still, staring at him, and Cyborg breathed a quiet sigh of relief as her eyes slowly focused and she seemed to come back to herself. She straighted abruptly, throwing off Beast Boy's arm and raising her hood. "Yes. I'm fine. Thank you. I know where we need to go now." She raised her hands and a sheet of gray energy poured from her fingertips, blotting out the statues, the courtyard, and finally the entire cathedral, until they were surrounded by what looked like glowing, shifting smoke. "Just walk forward."

"Gray?" Beast Boy asked. He glanced at Cyborg, who shrugged. "We're going to -"

"Timid's realm," Raven said quietly. She took a step and the three of them vanished in a flicker of light.

Beast Boy wasn't sure what he was expecting. Stuffed animals? Security blankets? Whatever it was, it was nothing so spartan as this.

They were in a forest of tall, thin trees. Pines were dominant, with occasional young birches and ragged, lighting-blasted trunks. Ancient pine needles were thick on the ground as they padded through the narrow trail that wound through the woods. After a few minutes they came to a clearing - a patch of bare, sandy earth - and a small stone cottage.

Beast Boy shifted into a dog and stood still, trying to sense a presence. It was completely silent except for their footsteps - not even birds or squirrels rustled in the trees or foraged in the pine needles. He smelled no one in the cottage. Shifting back, he said, "There's nobody here."

Raven ignored him, walking past him and pushing open the cottage's oak door. Looking over her shoulder, Beast Boy could see a large front room with a fireplace and one chair, and a shadowed doorway that he guessed led into a back room or kitchen. Aside from the chair, it was completely empty. There were no pictures on the walls, no books, no stuffed animals. Not even half-burned logs or kindling.

"Wow," Cyborg said, following them inside, his voice hushed. "This is it? That poor kid."

Raven half-smiled. "Looks worthless, doesn't it? Just a couple of rooms and a chair. Nobody would look twice. But the most important thing is missing."

Kneeling, Raven reached out and touched the columns on either side of the fireplace. Keeping still, hands on the stone, she whispered, "I'm scared."

Swiftly, she stood and stepped back as the fireplace split apart with a loud grinding noise, revealing a dark staircase.

Raven tapped the top flagstone stair with her foot and said over her shoulder, "Timid's first rule: hide everything. Even your hiding places. Come on." A ball of glowing white appeared in one hand as she stepped down into the darkness. Cyborg and Beast Boy followed. As soon as they were a few steps down the stairs the fireplace slammed shut behind them, leaving them in pitch black except for the sphere Raven held.

Cyborg activated the floodlight on his shoulder, which easily lit the stairs, but Beast Boy was still feeling closed in. "Dude - we're not going to be trapped down here, are we?"

"No," Raven said, letting her own light vanish. "We can always get back to the cathedral, but I'm not sure it's safe. Rage has to be looking for us. She's going to catch up with us eventually. We're almost there."

Beast Boy focused on taking deep breaths, the darkness feeling almost tangible and the stairs endless. "Raven - I really, really don't like this."

Raven stopped. Flattening against the wall, she let Cyborg catch up to her, exchanging a few words with him as he passed. Then she went back up the steps to where Beast Boy stood, working up his nerve to continue downwards. "This isn't like you."

"I'm sorry, I'm trying -"

"It's not your fault," Raven interrupted. She took a deep breath. "It really isn't like you. It's like me." With the same cautious slowness that he had used in Wisdom's realm, Raven rested her hand on Beast Boy's shoulder. He felt a jolt of warmth and surprise that banished most of the fear. "You know me too well. You're picking up on Timid's feelings. If my other Sides were here, it would be balanced out some, but... "

"Dude, I don't know how you can stand it." Beast Boy shivered. "Or she can stand it. Or whatever."

The light around them was ebbing away as Cyborg continued down the stairs, and Beast Boy could barely see Raven as she hesitated. "You - you make it better. When Timid had the sword - you made her act completely against her nature. Her purpose is to contain my fear and your presence gave her courage. I don't know if you realize how much we -" she stopped, then in a more formal tone continued, "I don't know if you realize how much that reflects my regard for you."

Beast Boy felt another jolt.

Raven's voice seemed to fade along with the light. "This is going to end in a fight. Rage isn't going to give up. I really need your help, and I'm sorry that it's so difficult. You'll understand in a minute." More hesitation. "If you want to leave, though, I can send you back."

It was completely dark. Beast Boy stretched out a hand clumsily and bumped Raven's arm. Closing his hand loosely over her wrist, he leaned forward. "I would never leave you."

Raven said nothing. Beast Boy tried again. "I regard you too. I mean, I like you. Well. Actually, I -"

Gently, Raven pulled away, and he felt her withdrawing both physically and emotionally as she said, "We don't have time."

Cyborg's voice floated up to them. "Hey, I finally found the end of these stairs! What are y'all doing up there?"

"Nothing!" Beast Boy yelled, glad his voice was steady. "These stupid steps are creeping me out." He followed Raven down the stairs, not sure whether he was annoyed or relieved at not being able to say what he wanted.

"This is better?" Cyborg asked. "Seriously?"

The stairs ended in a natural cave, with paths leading in all directions. To Beast Boy it looked like something out of the Oblivion video game. The air was damp and stalactites grew from the ceiling. "Dude, who'd want to live here?"

"She's not living, she's hiding," Raven said. "The paths lead to little rooms. They have pillows and blankets and stuffed animals. She hides. And she feels safe. For a little while." Slowly she turned, studying each of the paths that led away into the gloom. "And the safest room would be.. this one..."

The path she chose looked like all the others, but Beast Boy didn't have Timid guiding him. They went single file down a path so narrow it was almost like a tunnel into the rock. Beast Boy steeled himself to shift, not knowing what they would be facing.

He was almost jumping out of his skin as they came to a small chamber at the end of the path, clenching his fists and trying to look everywhere at once. Cyborg shone his light into all the nooks and crannies of the cave, but it was empty. "There's nobody here? But you said -"

Raven put out an arm to block his taking another step, then pointed down, into a corner.

Tangled in a nest of brown blankets, asleep with her arms flung out over a familiar-looking magic book, was a little girl.

Four or five years old. White cloak, white unitard. And she looked like -

Beast Boy felt his mouth drop open. "Raven? That's you - "

"Yes. Keep your voice down." Raven stood watching the girl, her expression unreadable.

"She looks like the little girl who came back with Robin when -"

"Yes."

"But she - she grew up, didn't she? Into you?"

"Her body did. Her - soul - came here. She looks like me but she's different." Raven bent and untangled the girl's clothing from the blankets, then scooped her up. Her quiet monotone didn't change. "She is her father's daughter without her father's heritage. She was not born under a curse." The little girl stirred in her sleep and Raven shifted her weight, keeping her from falling. "She is my saecula saeculorum. A new life for all of us here. A new eternity."

"She's like your sister," Beast Boy offered.

"In a way," Raven said.

"Then why has she been messing everything up? Those are Sloth's blankets, aren't they?"

"I don't know. I think Patience does." Raven turned to Cyborg. "Can you get the blankets and the book, please? We have to get to Patience and return everything where it belongs before -"

The ground began to shake and the air suddenly grew hot. The stone of the cave took on a red tinge.

"She found us," Raven muttered, backing against the wall. By unspoken agreement Cyborg and Beast Boy stepped in front of her, facing out.

A roil of red energy swept through the room and in the midst of it Rage appeared. Alone.

Raven's arms tightened around the little girl. "You can't have her."

Rage snarled. "I don't want her. I have taken Wisdom, I have taken Joy and Affection. I am stronger than you." She glanced around them at the cave and said with satisfaction, "I want the realm. And I will have it. You destroyed my father but I will carry on his work and bring this world what it deserves. You and this brat will be an afterthought."

Cyborg raised his sonic cannon, aiming it at Rage's face. "Say the word, Rae."

"No. She has to go back where she belongs." Raven locked eyes with Rage. "You are going to go back -"

"When you are at your full strength you may conquer me," Rage said. "But you are not. And for the first time, you are going to go where you belong."

Rage's four red eyes flared and black energy poured from them. Still trying to hold the little girl, Raven raised a hand to defend herself but Rage's attack, enhanced by the sides she had absorbed, was like an effortless punch through her shields. Rage's energy surrounded her, with Beast Boy and Cyborg's efforts to stop it meaningless.

Everything became a haze of reddish black as Rage's energy raised up over her, crushing her. Vaguely Raven heard Rage's voice. "You can be a side. You can be a container." Her mocking laugh shook the cave. "I think I'll call you Foolishness."

Raven was drowning. Desperately she tried to teleport, to shift, but Rage's attack was inescapable. She was being swept backwards through a dark tunnel, the light in the cave growing fainter and fainter as Rage's energy swept her away. Just before the light winked out, she heard Beast Boy's anguished scream.

"RAVEN!"