Well, hello world! We are at it again with a new chapter. I wanted to post sooner, but couldn't. So in compensation, other than this one, you might get another chapter soon! (like in the next couple of weeks, instead of waiting like a month).

Now, same warning as the previous chapter before, Titans get hurt sometimes. And sometimes swear a little (or a lot, idk your standards).

Okay, enough little comments, now enjoy!

She felt the familiar pull the mirror made on her, but something was amiss. She could feel it in her bones. Where is this coming from? The energy shifted, making itself more present. Something was lurking in the shadows. Something dangerous. The flashback of her locking the door downed on her. Even if she surfaced quickly, it would be too late. I hope I didn't just seal my fate. Ignoring the knot in her gut, she let herself go into her mind's dimension, trying to keep an eye on her physical body. Prioritize. Focus.

Her mind was split with worry, now over something on the physical plane. Distracted, she kept falling into her mind. She was used to landing upright in Nevermore, but today, everything moved too fast. Once she turned her head, all she could see was the floor getting closer by the second. As a reflex, she cushioned the crash with her left hand. The floor was hard like concrete and immediately began to feel flashing hot pain irradiating from the area. She looked down, making sure this sensation was constrained to her own doing in Nevermore and not somewhere else. She tried flexing her hand but couldn't. My doing. She breathed in slowly and paused, relieved it was from the fall. S he carefully tried to stabilize her fingers, aligning them, and chanted her mantra trying to heal them. The spell was working, and as she was wrapping it up, she felt the floor give in from beneath her. Her reflexes kicked in again and she was able to fly back to the path.

She breathed deeply, trying to calm down her running heartbeat. She had never fallen into the nothingness on Nevermore. I don't want to find out who or what is in there . She inspected her hand; she could close it, but her fingers were slightly crooked. Close enough. Her surface-level calm lasted a few seconds , the energy she felt before had shifted once more. She could feel it closer to her. It was encompassing her. Raven retraced her steps, running to her room, closing the door, locking it, and touching her mirror. I felt this once I touched the mirror. This coming from me. And there is only one source of energy that can set me off like this, Father?

She waited for an answer. Usually, he liked to acknowledge his presence and, of course, torture her psychologically with it. Where are you? She looked around for any sort of indication he could be around but found none, other than the eery energy that remained. Instead, she found little cracks all over Nevermore. They were on the floor, in the arches, on the ravens, and in the vast nothingness. Everything had held on to some damage and truthfully, Nevermore looked abandoned. Telling.

Raven noticed, that as the seconds passed by, the energy seemed to grow. Like a wave, gradually elevating, ready to crash into her. She was tempted to return to the surface, but if this was coming from inside her mind, there was only one real solution. Getting to the root of the issue immediately. How does he still have an influence on me? I need to finish this. She will be damned, more than she already was, if she let her Father do this to her again.

She concentrated once again, and let her soul fully assess the energy that troubled her. It felt dark, and threatening, and was probably coming from the edge of her mind. She needed to get closer to directly pinpoint the exact location. Swallowing her fear and allowing her bravado to lead the way, she hesitantly began walking towards it. The path betrayed her once again, as a chunk of the road fell into nothingness. Catching herself, she decided to float for the time being.

As she was traveling through her mind, the memories of her last meaningful visit to Nevermore ambushed her. Right after she had 'defeated Trigon', she had ventured into her mind to find a weakened Rage. She didn't attack, but neither did she back down. The exchange didn't last long. In the end, she had won, chaining Rage and exiling her to the back of her mind. Time froze. Is this coming from Rage? She is my link to him. Anxiety began building up in her stomach. It feels too close to be her. Did she break free from the chains? If Rage was free, that would explain all her recent problems, but the assumption made her stomach churn. How powerful is she? I can't take on her like this! I need to get in harmony if I want to stand a chance against her.

Her eyes returned to the path with a plan in mind, reuniting with her emoticlones. The first emotion to confront was Happiness but convincing her would be another story. As soon as she crossed the arch of her realm, the pulse of energy grew. How strong is this? Immediately, she could sense that something within was deeply wrong. She called for Happiness, breaking her façade of calm. Instead of being greeted immediately by her over-the-top pink emoticlone, she found herself alone. Raven could feel how the fear settled on her chest, having a harder time breathing. Calm down!

As she walked along the path, she found several glitches around the scenery; a broken field, trees that were upside down, and crumbling pathways, but Happiness's disappearance was her priority. She is the one who is always here. Where did she go? It didn't matter how much she called for her; she didn't get an answer back. Soon enough, she got out of Happiness's realm alone. One treacherous thought crossed her mind. Did…did Rage get to her? She looked back on the path and could see the struggles of neglect, but not indications of confrontation. The thought instead of settling her, uneased her more. Could Happiness even fight back at Rage? A lump made its way to her throat. She wouldn't fight her. She is Happiness.

Running on the assumption, she determined to stop losing time. If Rage got to her, every second counts. Fuck me and my psychopathic need for coldness. How many more are missing? Forgoing her stoic demeanor, she quickly approached the next arch. She was in Knowledge territory, and to her dismay, the realm told a similar story to Happiness's . She called out for her yellow cloaked emoticlone, but same as before, she didn't get an answerback. Her panic was reinforced. Did Rage take her too? Fuck!

Raven took off flying along the vast hallways, combing the space around the path, but not paying attention to what was in front of her. Soon she collided with something. Ready to fight whoever took Happiness, she incorporated herself and found Knowledge baffled at the interruption. An immense wave of relief washed over her when she saw an annoyed Knowledge scowling at her.

"Knowledge, thank Azar! Where is everyone else?" Raven asked her yellow-cloaked emoticlone, as she quickly made room for Knowledge to replenish her personal space. "Sorry." She added.

"Raven, unexpected to say the least. In their respective realms, I suppose?" Knowledge answered in her signature monotone voice, but with her characteristic bite. She fixed her cloak as she regained her air of superiority.

"Happiness wasn't in her realm. Any idea?" Raven asked, upset enough that fear slipped into her tone. She was simmering on the whereabouts of Happiness, not to mention the unnerving energy that had rattled her since the start, and to top it all off, Rage's possible involvement in all of this. Knowledge remained stoic. As I should, what I'm doing?

"Try somewhere else. She is not here." She answered adjusting her glasses on and ignoring Raven's display of emotions.

"Something doesn't feel right. Let's go find her." Raven stated as close to monotone as possible. Knowledge lifted a single eyebrow at the sight of vulnerability. She wasn't good at dealing with emotional displays, she pushed them away forcibly.

"I have other things to do than to deal with whatever is this." Knowledge faltered in her tone, and turned her back on her, walking away onto the depths of her realm.

"Like what?" Raven questioned her distant, yellow-cloaked self, clearly bothered by her. What could be more important than this? Her emoticlone paused in her step and came back to her, stopping a prudent distance from her, not wanting to be touched again. Raven tried reading her face, but it remained expressionless, just as she had learned in the convent.

"I'm trying to find a way to make you understand what is happening to us, that is my priority." She stated monotone. Raven latched onto her words; relief washing over her once again. Good job, unconscious.

"Great. You know what is happening to me." Raven exhaled, saying the words like an answered prayer, more than asking a question.

"You know it too." Knowledge was fast to answer, and this caught Raven's attention. What? Risking sounding like a fool, she decided to ask the obvious.

"Does this have anything to do with the vicious energy in here?" Raven asked, prepared to face whatever mockery Knowledge would throw on her face for not knowing any better.

The yellow-cloaked emoticlone looked at her with a face full of disdain. I take that as a yes. Ignoring the sting of hurt she felt from Knowledge's reaction, Raven tried to connect the dots her most intelligent part had already linked. If the energy is from Trigon, and Rage is both, the geographical source and my link to him, and Happiness is missing, therefore…fuck.

"What did Rage do to Happiness?" Raven questioned her impassive reflection and Knowledge finally broke her poised demeanour. She brought her hand up to pinch the bridge of her nose out of desperation. She is in a mood.

"Rage didn't…why would you? Where did you get such an idea? Happiness is fine." Knowledge tone, pure frustration, took Raven by surprise. She then exhaled and softened her voice. "Please, stop denying reality. We have one big problem, and you keep ignoring it. Raven, you, I, we can't live like this." Raven was disoriented at the sudden change of attitude from Knowledge. Knowledge is not supposed to show vulnerability or emotions of her own. It was a fair question , wasn't it? I'm so out of touch with myself.

"I'm lost. I thought that is what you meant-" Raven was interrupted by a now cold Knowledge.

"Our, problem is being fragmented. Not Rage." She said firmly as if she had rehearsed it several times. What a rollercoaster of emotions she is having. That is not normal. Even though something about Knowledge's erratic emotional responses made Raven worry about her, she figured Happiness and the odd energy must take precedence. She decided to let it go for the moment and refocused her thoughts.

"How do you know?" Raven's question got out gently. Her voice sounded far from her usual monotone. Knowledge breathed deeply, her patience replenishing from being heard, and a little smug smirk appeared.

"I know best. You know it too. So please." Knowledge's plead made Raven want to drop the pretense she was in, but she wasn't ready to let go of her theory just yet. Trigon has been the root of all my problems , Rage her faithful servant. Why would that change now?

"Being fractured, it has worked…" Raven said but stopped, Knowledge's plead had stuck a cord. Where were my thoughts my own before?

"…until it doesn't." Knowledge declared slowly, gently. The thought that lingered on my mind lately , it was Knowledge's , not Rage's .

Raven let her head drop slightly, the burden of her life proving too heavy to bear, once again. Deep down she knew. But she wasn't going to accept it. If she ever did, that meant her life was a lie. A waste of time and energy. That her sacrifices wouldn't mean anything. No, I'm just having a bad day, week, month, and year, and it is all Rage's fault, somehow. Still, she needed to deal with this energy first, but she might as well get a diagnostic from Knowledge for her other problem . Just as a precaution.

"How bad is it?" Raven asked, avoiding Knowledge's stare, trying hard to not reveal what she was thinking yet, but felt ridiculous. Does it even matter trying to lie to her? She knows everything I do.

"We are months away from collapsing. You can see the fractures in here already." Knowledge replied matter of fact and signaled to the many cracks and mishaps in her realm already.

The fractures were one of the first things she had noticed since landing in Nevermore, aside from the energy that made her skin crawl. Raven took the opportunity to inspect Knowledge's realm. She began walking through it, slowly, considering what Knowledge told her. Her realm used to remind her of the halls back in the convent, Zinthos; mixed with the air of the Titan's Tower. The floor was fractured. The walls, full of bookcases from floor to infinity, were in a deplorable state. Wood cracked, shelfs barely hanging or downright broken, and books were torn or missing. And the hallway torches were nowhere to be seen. Knowledge's realm was being plunged into the darkness. Symbolic.

Raven stopped before the darkness and turned to find Knowledge right on her heels. She examined Knowledge's eyes. She managed to see something Knowledge wouldn't admit, worry. She had only seen that look twice before; when she left Azarath and the day before her sixteen birthday. She put her hand on her shoulder to provide some sort of comfort. Knowledge looked away but didn't move away from the gesture.

"How much can we hold it in?" Raven asked gently. Knowledge sighed and shook her head, failing to contain a cruel laugh.

"Sacrificing ourselves is very much our forte." Knowledge said with venom and the words hit Raven directly. She stayed frozen, recounting how many times she had put herself last. Too many to think of…

Knowledge tried to provide an accurate assessment forgoing her feelings about it. "Well…not much. These days, things get out of control almost every day. If we continue, imagine every hour, every minute, and eventually every second. This is only going to get worse."

Raven processed her words. This is only going to get worse, no…No. She let her hand let go of Knowledge's shoulder and began pacing on the barely illuminated hallway, being careful to not step into the darkness. I'm not stepping into that , who knows what lurks in the obscure part of my mind.

"We have to make it work." Raven's resolute voice sounded firm. There was no other option on her mind. Yet.

"How? It is too much on us. If we want to last longer, we need to adapt…" Knowledge said avoiding saying the quiet part out loud, but sensed she needed to say it explicitly. "…fuse." That declaration warranted Raven's immediate attention.

"Everything but that." She said leaving no room for discussion. Knowledge closed her eyes and exhaled deeply.

"Well, then we will become mindless with minimal bouts of sanity." The yellow emoticlone stated, personally, her own worst fear.

"So be it." Raven incanted strongly. She was aware that she would let doom destroy her if that meant everyone else would escape scathe-free. That was the only thing she was certain. No one is getting hurt for this other than me. Knowledge knew it too; she was far too righteous for her own good sometimes. It made sense considering her life.

"I know you don't want to end up like Starfire's recount of Warp's incident…there is a chance to continue living without harming anyone else, including us." Knowledge tried again to introduce fusing into the conversation. If only Raven could wrap her head around not having to destroy herself.

"I'm not fusing with him. I'm not becoming a demon." Raven stated vehemently, disgust written all over her face. Knowledge's face couldn't contain her shock, despite it all, she hadn't come to terms with her own nature.

"It is not him. It is us. Me. You." Knowledge mentioned as if she was explaining this to an infant, but she only had so much patience. "And we are already a demon."

"No, Azar said…" Raven adamantly whispered as she shook her head. Of course, she knew who she was. What she was. Physically. But she always considered herself as not demonic. Granted, her demonic side was deep within her, but it wasn't her. It was separate from her. That was the main idea behind Nevermore, as Azar had explained to her many years ago. The ritual that fractured her mind, was done to separate her from the demonic influence of her Father. That it took a shape that resembled her, didn't matter.

"What if she lied?" Mentioned Knowledge.

"No. She couldn't. Knowledge…I'm not-." Raven trailed off, with utter sadness and denial seeping into her voice. Knowledge stayed quiet, but reached out for her shoulder, as she had done before.

Raven reasoned that her other emoticlones were the real her. They couldn't stay together because her physical form fed on them, and as a child, she couldn't control her magic. They were just collateral damage. Rage, as she had inaccurately given its name when she was a child, was not her. She wasn't demonic. Her soul wasn't tainted yet. Fusing meant she was throwing away everything she actually was. Everything she fought every day so hard against. It would be all for nothing. Fusing meant giving in to her darkest urges, welcoming the darkness, and disappearing in it. It meant losing herself. Stop being her. Giving up.

"I'm not becoming her." Raven said adamantly getting out of her grip. Knowledge understood vicariously why she was acting like this. This line of thought was all that was ever discussed back on Zinthos, but Knowledge had done something she wasn't supposed to and gained a better understanding of herself. Raven would have to do it too sooner or later.

"It is not becoming; it is recognizing her. Embracing all of us." She said, knowing full well that Raven wasn't going to change her mind without further first-hand evidence of the convent's deceit. She had a plan that had both, the potential to make her understand, or the ability to intensify her denial. It was worth the risk. What better than to confront her with Rage? "You should talk to her."

"Are you in contact with her? You are letting her in!" Raven yelled as her eyes locked with Knowledge's. She looked way too comfortable about the situation. She is poisoned. R age got to her. Raven couldn't stifle her anger and accusingly got into Knowledge's personal space. That elected an immediate response from her yellow-cloaked emoticlone, just not the one she expected.

"She is also suffering." Knowledge's voice matched hers, holding her own.

"No. She is the reason for all of this. Azar only knows what she did to Happiness. You don't know her like I do." Raven stood her ground against her rebellious emoticlone.

"You don't." Knowledge quickly responded. The staring contest was won by Raven, as Knowledge folded her arms and turned her back on her once more. "If you are so set on ignoring reason, then run away from the real problem. You always do that. Let's see how that works out." She began to walk away, her plan not over yet, as she was waiting for Raven's predictable response.

She couldn't deal with Knowledge's dismissal of her presence right now, they needed to act like a team. "You are coming with me to find Happiness. I need to become balanced again so that when I see Rage, I can excise her." The statement, ever so sacrilegious, made Knowledge confront her once more.

"Are you hearing yourself? You want to excise Rage?" Incredulity was a colour not often worn by Knowledge, but the idea was abhorrent. Now she was sure, Raven was acting on impulse and ill-pondered emotions. She wasn't thinking. She needed something bolder to make her understand.

"I need to get rid of our demonic heritage permanently. I need you to help me to gather all of us." Raven's plan could potentially work, but only to hurt her. Not that she was going to tell her, she might ignore her again. Her options for the long run were crumbling, and she had one last resort. Accelerate their encounter.

"That is not how it works, but fine. Let me get you to her." Knowledge said, fully aware of what she was going to do, and grabbed Raven's hand. Raven caught what she was referring to at the last second, noticing that she had broken her no-physical touch rule. It was too late, Knowledge had teleported her to Rage's realm.

"Knowledge!" The air shifted, and the atmosphere felt darker. Knowledge had brought her in front of the last one she wanted to confront in this state. I swear, Knowledge is far more dangerous than any other emoticlone, even Rage.

A/N: Well, how the tables have turned. Knowledge taking a hard right and flooring it. I know the cliffhanger was mean but necessary. Next chapter will be up, soonish. Now, any theories on what the energy is from? Or about? What's going to happen between them? Love to read you in the comments.

Alright, till next one!