A/N - Whew! Okay, so I wanted to wait at least a week to update the story, but I couldn't help myself! So, in this moment of weakness, I've chosen to upload Chapter Two. I hope you guys enjoy it, and if you do, please leave a review or PM me! Who knows, I might just give you a sneak peek at Chapter 3!

Seriously though, I'd like to thank each and every one of you who wrote a review so far, even if it was just a couple of words, I really appreciate every single one of them! Have a cookie for you support!

Disclaimer: I own Teen Titans, a proton accelerator, two llamas, and the state of Connecticut. Just don't tell anyone! ;)!

CHAPTER TWO

She landed gracefully on her feet, floating down towards the rocky islands that made up her mindscape. Nevermore. She'd always thought it was a pretty appropriate name. Its namesake was one of her favorite poems, and at the same time, her most feared. Poe's use of the raven as an evil omen, a messenger of doom, suited her to a T. Of course, after the prophecy was broken, she no longer felt she threatened the mortal universe as an interdimensional portal designed to bring about the wrath of Trigon the Ravager, Skaath, Ddrez, or as she knew him, father dearest.

Still, she had grown fond of the name, and it had stuck. Just like its appearance had stuck. A long, barren path of islands, each with their own distinctive gate, led all the way to her Forbidden Door, the only way out of her mind.

"Here goes nothing," She said softly. She couldn't even convince herself.

She wrapped her cloak tightly around her shivering body, and began to venture forward. She glanced around her, and noticed the sky. She smiled. It was a small comfort that she took, admiring the sparkling stars surrounding her, glowing white instead of their original red. After the defeat of Trigon, he'd lost any influence he may have had in her subconscious. Her powers were still bound to her emotions, but she no longer feared losing control of herself and accidentally bringing forth the apocalypse.

Her comfort quickly faded as she stepped towards the first arch. She knew who's domain it was. She just didn't really care much for her. She was part of herself, sure, but one of the more annoying parts that she tended not to listen too. Whenever she surfaced on the conscious plane, it always got her into trouble. They had a sort of love/hate relationship. On top of everything else, she reminded her of Beast Boy. And Starfire. Combined. Guaranteed headache.

As soon as she'd stepped into the bright, merry, and sickeningly cute realm, she was tackled in an oxygen-depraving bear hug. Yep, her resemblance to Star was only helped by her love of suffocating hugs. At least she smelled like fabric softener and daisies, and not zorkaberries.

"Rae-Rae! Oh, it's so good to see you again! I was wondering when you'd come visit me! It's gotten so quiet in here I can almost hear myself think again!" She giggled as she released her, and stepped back, flashing her characteristic smile. Raven straightened her cloak.

"Happy, I need to talk to Knowledge."

"Oh, you always want to talk to Knowledge or Wisdom, or one of those boring emotions! You never come here just to talk to me!" She pouted, but the playful glint in her eyes betrayed her true feelings.

"And there's a reason for that."

"Yeah? And what's that?"

"Because you're constantly screaming in my head all the time!" She snapped. Her teeth were grinding in annoyance, and she had her best, "scary look" on. It always managed to scare everyone away, especially Beast Boy. Her pink-cloaked clone, however, seemed unfazed. She just smiled and shrugged sheepishly.

Raven huffed and started to walk briskly towards the other end of Happy's residence. She swatted angrily at a passing floating blueberry, ignoring the playful squeak it produced. Happy simply floated alongside her, keeping an even pace. Of course, she was sitting in a lotus position. Upside down. Staring at her. Raven groaned audibly. Even Beast Boy wasn't so impertinent.

"Come on, Rae. You know, if you listened to me more often, you might not be having the problems you've been having!"

She was almost halfway through the colorful hell, but she froze at her clone's words. She slowly turned to face her, narrowing her eyes.

"What are you talking about?"

Happy just giggled before floating down (or was it up?), and phasing through the floor. Raven turned every which way, trying to spot her wayward emotion. She jumped as a small, forced cough behind her caught her attention. She glared at Happy, who was now standing right in front of her, blocky, square glasses on her nose, with a fake nose and mustache with matching eyebrows to boot. She held a purple-covered book in one hand, and with her free hand, she busily flipped the pages, stopping to scan the words every so often as she hummed to herself.

"What are you doing? What is that book?"

"This?" Happy asked, not bothering to look up. "This is a complete recollection of all your dreams, with the exception of nightmares, and including but not limited to, flying dreams, abstract dreams, crazy dreams, friend dreams, bunny dreams, hero dreams, and of course, wet dreams."

Raven paled, her heart sinking. She knew where the emotion was going. She just didn't understand why. Before she could speak, Happy stopped on a specific page, and read with hungry eyes, a blush slowly grazing her cheeks. Once she'd finished, she looked up at her with a coy smile.

"My, my, Rae-Rae. Kinda naughty, aren't we, fantasizing about our dear Beasty?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh come on Raven! I'm inside your head! You can't lie to me about this! I know you enjoyed every second of it!"

"I did no such thing!"

"Yes you did, and I know, because I enjoyed every second of it!"

Raven stared at Happy with unbelieving eyes, her jaw opening in surprise. Her emotion simply giggled, and tossed the book behind her where it exploded in a cloud of purple dust and sparkles.

"I have to admit though, I didn't know you had it in ya, Rae! To be honest, I kinda wanna know if he has it in him, too!" Happy giggled again, but it was no longer as innocent a giggle as it had once been.

Raven flushed, suddenly feeling very exposed. Her anger was bubbling up from her stomach, although it could have just been indigestion, or more likely, nervousness.

"Stop it! I don't know what you're getting at. It was just some stupid, hormone-fueled dream. It didn't mean anything!"

Happy suddenly darkened, her giggling silenced and her expression much more serious than she'd ever seen it. Perhaps because she'd never had a serious conversation with this particular emotion. Still, she had no time to dwell on that, because Happy was now inches away from her face.

"It was not just some stupid dream. It was far from meaningless, and I think you should take this more seriously Raven. Since when is anything that happens in here, meaningless?" She smiled a bit as she said the latter half of her sentence, and Raven felt a bit of relief at seeing her emotion go back to old habits, like smiling, and not looking like something out of her nightmares.

She clutched her chest, feeling her heart beating erratically, her head beginning to spin. She balanced herself against a tree, and slid down the surprisingly smooth bark, until she was sitting with her legs splayed in front of her, and her back resting squarely on the solid wood.

Happy sat down in a lotus position in front of her, watching her with scrutinizing eyes. A few seconds passed in uncomfortable silence, and slowly, she began to feel her body normalize, and her headache diminishing. Happy sensed this, and leaned in a few centimeters.

"Think about it Raven, why would he be the one we chose to be in that specific scene? When there are literally millions of guys to choose from?"

"Yeah, my thoughts exactly." She responded with a grimace.

Happy huffed, giving her a bored look.

"I'm only part of your psyche Raven, so I alone can't give you the full answer. Only you can do that."

A large grin split her face, and Raven was surprised to see her twin blush for the second time in that visit.

"But, that doesn't mean I can't give you my part of the answer!"

Raven cringed at the excitement dripping from her voice, but she listened intently. Maybe she was going somewhere with this.

"I think Gar is great! I love how he's always cracking jokes, trying to get you to smile! He's constantly looking out for us, always concerned, and he always gets so nervous when he thinks he messed up! It's cute!"

She visibly gagged at that, and Happy laughed out loud at her antics. She herself gave a dry chuckle. She'd never expected to actually laugh with her emotions, but she couldn't help it. Perhaps she'd been exposed to Happy for too long already, but she started to find that she didn't mind. Worse, she realized that what Happy was telling her somehow made sense. Suddenly, the girl in front of her stopped laughing, and turned her head down, looking up at Raven with a tiny smile. She looked more like her grey-cloaked sister, Timid.

"And, I guess, more than anything, he's the only one who ever really talks to me. Not me, Raven, but me, Happy. You know what I mean. Sure, I'm always around when we talk to Cyborg, or Star, or even Robin, and I'm always cheering when we bag the bad guys…"

Raven found herself leaning forward, inches away from the uncharacteristically timid girl in front of her. She wanted to hug her, encourage her, but more than anything, she wanted to hear whatever it was she was saying. Her voice had dropped to barely above a whisper.

"But when he's around, I feel like he knows I'm there. I feel like I have a reason to exist, and for a few seconds, I can almost feel like a whole person, not just… a fragment…"

It was heartbreaking. Truly heartbreaking. Her most joyful and unrestrained emotion was giving one of the most depressing speeches she'd ever heard, and it almost made her want to hug her and cry. Almost.

Raven cleared her throat and stood up, quickly pulling her hood over her head. Looking around, trying to shake off the gloomy feeling, she saw the previously cheerful landscape around her had become saturated, painted in varying hues of gray. She looked down at Happy, and she felt her chest tighten, sympathy and guilt taking their toll. She did something completely out of character, and offered the sniveling emotion her hand. She took it with a sincere smile, and lifted herself up. Raven smiled at herself, and quickly, the color began to seep back from wherever it had gone. She felt a dash of envy at how Happy could so easily go from depressed to joyful in a matter of seconds. Then again, it wasn't in her nature to be depressed, so she figured it was natural. Right?

"Thank you." Raven said. Happy looked at her and tilted her head, giving her a curious look.

"For what?"

"For giving me a starting point."

Happy just smiled brightly, and joined her as she began to walk toward the exit arch. They walked side by side in a relatively comfortable silence most of the way. Most. Not all.

"So…"

"…"

"Begging?"

"Quit it." She snapped warningly.

"Just asking! Jeez…"

"…"

"I wonder if he…"

"Happy!"

"Sorry!"

"…"

"Can't wait to find out…" Her emotion said in a suggestive whisper.

Raven groaned, pulling her hood tightly over her head, trying to drown out her other self's voice. She just hoped her other emotions weren't as difficult. Or as randy.

"Nice going salad head!" Cyborg spat at him as he finished up his breakfast.

"Huh? What'd I do?" He snapped at his friend.

"I don't know, but you'd better fix it, and fast! I've never seen that girl so jumpy!"

"But all I…"

"Cyborg's right," Robin cut in, "Raven was acting strange, especially towards you."

"Me? I just offered her some of my waffles!" He waved towards the plate of waffles still occupying the space in front of his seat.

"No, there's something else. Didn't you notice the way she looked at you?"

The truth was, he had noticed. He'd just hoped the others hadn't, but that hope had apparently been dashed. She'd looked at him almost as if she were scared of him, and at one point, her gaze seemed to portray disgust. It hurt more than he cared to admit. It hurt more than he'd thought it would.

"No. What about the way she looked at me? Looked like everyday Rae to me."

Robin frowned.

"Still, maybe you should try apologizing. She was clearly upset with you."

"No fair! She's the one that went psycho on breakfast, and I haven't even cracked a joke since yesterday's battle!"

His friends simply stared at him with disapproving eyes. Or, at least Robin and Cyborg did. Starfire seemed to be looking at him with pity in her eyes. He groaned and slumped his shoulder in defeat. With one last glance at his delicious waffles, he turned towards the hallway and shuffled towards hi doo… I mean, Raven's room.

He didn't understand. Lately, he'd been doing everything he could to try and be more considerate toward the violet-haired empath. He'd avoided getting in her way, he'd toned down his victory dance when she was nearby, and he'd even tried to stop telling too many jokes when she was within earshot. That last one was particularly difficult, but he had done it, all to try to earn some brownie points with someone he considered one of his closest friends.

But if she'd noticed his extra consideration, she didn't show it. And from the events of that morning, he was starting to think that she detested him even more now.

Fortunately, before his train of thought careened into his self-esteem, he arrived at his destination, face to face with one of the most daunting doors within the entire tower. Five little letters formed an ominous message that was more than enough of a warning for anyone who knew what it meant. RAVEN was engraved in large, bold letters, and unlike the other similarly carved names across the towers, this one had a menacing aura all around it. Maybe it was just his sharpened animal instincts, but in any case, it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and calmed himself down. He hadn't done anything wrong. He knew that. She probably knew that. So there was really little, if anything, to be afraid of. With a trembling fist, he tapped against the door. And just as he tapped the third tap, he heard a distinct clattering sound coming from within the room. A metallic clang, muffled by the walls, but not so much that his keen ears couldn't pick it up.

"Raven?"

No answer. The noise in and of itself hadn't been alarming per say. It didn't seem to indicate any real danger, and it hadn't sounded menacing. He would have heard any signs of struggling, or muffled conversation, but nothing reached his ears, and that greatly alarmed him. He gulped, and tried not to think too much. Not a very difficult task. He knocked again, this time rapping his knuckles with some force against the steel frame.

"Rae? You there? Come on, I just wanna talk…"

Still no answer. He was getting nervous. He pressed his ear against the door. Nothing. Not even the sound of rustling pages, or even her breathing. No sounds whatsoever. Now, he was worried.

"Raven, I'm coming in. If you're there, say something and I'll stop… Otherwise…"

He didn't have to finish. He pressed against the door's security panel, and it slid open quickly, revealing an empty room. From the pitch-black darkness, the scents of old books and incense flooded his senses, as well as Raven's own distinct aroma. But beneath all that, there was that ever-present, foreboding sensation. Every animal inside of him was fighting an instinctive war. The predators inside of him told him to burst into the room, make himself as large as possible, and make lots of noise. The prey told him to make himself scarce, and fast. He opted for a good old, cautious approach. He took baby steps into Raven's room, his eyes slowly adjusting to the dim lighting.

There was nothing to really be cautious about. Aside from the creepy, four-eyed masks on a pedestal, nothing seemed menacing. He took another step, and his foot collided with something solid. He looked down and saw a book, just lying a few feet from the entrance. He bent down to pick it up, and as he examined it, he recognized it as the book Raven had been reading that morning at breakfast, it's worn out, brown leather cover sliding comfortably against his palms. He remembered seeing her with the book almost every day for the past couple of days. She'd apparently started it recently, but had already made remarkable progress, as was evident by the bookmark places well beyond the halfway point of the book. He tucked it under his arm, planning on taking a look at it later, in the hopes of perhaps finding some sort of clue as to why she'd acted out that morning.

As his gaze returned to the room, another quick scan identified another object thrown haphazardly on the floor, and his eyes went wide with panic. There, just lying there, seemingly innocent, the object that he was now sure had been the source of the clanging he'd heard minutes ago, stared up at him with its empty face.

Raven's mirror. Oh, except it wasn't just her mirror. It was the portal into her mind, and he'd learned that, alongside Cyborg, very much the hard way. He took a wary step back, knowing full well what that little mirror was capable of. One, he did not look forward to another trip through Raven's psyche, let alone another encounter with her mentally unbalanced clones. And two, he didn't want to think of the consequences he'd have to face when, if, he ever made it out of the mirror.

No way, Raven had already bombed her tea, he didn't need to be her next target. With another two steps, he was back in the hallway. Never taking his eyes off the mirror, half-expecting it to grow legs and jump at his throat, he grabbed the edge of the door, and slowly dragged it across its rails, closing it shut.

If Raven was in her mindscape, he would just have to wait her out and apologize when she was done parading inside her head. As weird as that sounded. It was at that moment that he once again took notice of the thick book he had tucked beneath his left arm. He figured his waffles were probably already cold, or more likely, devoured by Cyborg, and if he went back without having apologized to Raven, no matter the excuse, Robin would lecture him and Cy would give him his stern older-brother look. He glanced at the cover of the book.

It wouldn't have been his first choice, but then again, neither was being green.

A/N - Hey, just out of curiosity, do you guys think I could get away with sticking this story with a T rating? I'm just asking, cause it's not going to get much more explicit than chapter one, and even then, you guys know it wasn't all that graphic. I dunno, I sincerely have doubts. That's why I rated it M, just to be on the safe side, but I'm pretty sure I've read T-rated stories that were more descriptive than this one! Let me know what you think!