Chapter 1: The Titans are Rising

"When there's trouble," Robin smiled with confidence, "you know who to call."

Everyone smiled back at him, everyone, except Raven.

"Who says we have to wait till there's trouble?"

"What?" asked an extremely confused Beast Boy.

"Think about it, two veteran heroes both arrive in a city where an alien race comes to invade? We probably saved a lot of lives and saved this city a lot of damages."

"Hardly call us veterans," Robin mumbled.

"You trained under Batman, correct?" Raven argued.

"Yeah, but-"

"And you worked with the Doom Patrol," she pointedly looked at Beast Boy.

"Yeah," he admitted.

"It's clear you, Starfire, and you, er,-"

"Call me Cyborg, might as well."

"Er, Cyborg. It's clear you two also offer a certain level of strength; you handled yourselves well when we were fighting. I don't know about all of you but there's a possible team here," Raven blushed suddenly. "I'm sorry, I don't usually ramble so much."

"I like it," Beast Boy said, "It would be really nice to be part of a team again, the whole solo hero thing really isn't for me, dude."

"I don't know," Cyborg argued, "I don't really 'do' the whole vigilante justice thing."

"Like I said earlier," Robin agreed, "I just went solo. I'm really not ready to take orders from anyone again."

"Why don't you give the orders then?" Raven reasoned.

"Yes!" Starfire approved, "You had directed us very well in battle, Friend Robin! I believe Friend Raven is making an excellent argument and I am in agreement with her."

"Er, sure," Robin said with a slight blush.

"Cyborg?" Beast Boy begged.

The cybernetic teen sighed, "And just how do you propose we do this whole 'team' thing. You just moved into town and there's no way ya'll are gonna fit at my dad's apartment."

Robin sighed, "Actually, I might be able to pull some strings and get us an actual base-"

"Dude!" BB interrupted, "We gonna get to walk in the Batcave!?"

Robin glared at him.

"What if we were to build this 'base' here, on this island?" Starfire asked.

"That's not a bad idea," Cyborg admitted.

"Dudes! We're totally forgetting the most important part of being part of a superhero team!"

"And what is that, Friend Beast Boy?"

"Team Name!" Beast Boy beamed.

"Teen Titans," Raven suggested quietly.

"What was that Rae?" BB asked.

"Please don't call me Rae, it's Ra-ven, and I said Teen Titans. Could you imagine being compared to such powerful ancient beings? Their only downfall was the birth of Zeus and the Olympians, though I doubt that any of us would be having kids since we're all 'teens' here, I think."

"I'm fourteen, but I'll turn fifteen later this year!" BB said.

"Fifteen" Robin said simply.

"I believe I am approximately fifteen Earth years as well!" Star exclaimed.

"Sixteen" Cyborg said.

"And I'll be turning fifteen pretty soon," Raven added. "Now that that's settled, we could change the name, I mean nothing's set in stone with our little group here."

"I like it," Robin said suddenly. "It's the kind of name that demands respect."

"Plus it sounds cool, too!" BB added.

"Like I said, though, nothing's set in stone here; any of us could back out if we want."

"Do you?" Cyborg accused.

"No," she whispered quietly.

"So we're all in then."

"Um, quick question!" BB raised his hand for effect, "How exactly are we gonna build a base on this island?"

"We'll have to get the right papers, but as far as the construction goes..." Robin's voice trailed off.

"We could build a Tower," Cyborg suggested. "Titans Tower. I used to read 'bout forts and things in school; towers were supposed to be super imposing and could frighten enemies very easily."

"That could work, but let's not try to over use the catchy alliteration, it's giving me a headache," Raven said.

Robin gave a dry laugh, while Star and BB looked confused. "Alliter- what?" BB asked.

"I know just who to go to to help build it," Cyborg said with a grin.

"So that's settled," Robin agreed, "How bout we find a place to stay until then?"

The group, the Teen Titans, all nodded in agreement as Raven got ready to phase them off the island.

Victor Stone, now Cyborg, stood in front of S.T.A.R. Labs of Jump City, recalling the accident that had taken his humanity and nearly his life, so many years ago. Of course, his father's quick thinking was what had saved him, but there were still those days when Cy wished his mother had been the one to be saved, and the resentment towards his father, for not making what Victor thought should have been the right choice, was unbearable some days.

But he was never one to dwell on mistakes of the past for too long. And the building of this tower was the perfect way to start smoothing things over with his father.

Cy walked into the building to be quickly spotted by Dr. Stone.

"Hey dad, long time no see. Look, I got us a project that I need you to help me with."

"What type of project?"

The newspapers had been a-buzz all week with talk of a new team to protect Jump City. The five teens had already been awarded with medals of honor for scaring off the Gordanians, and Jump City was thankful for all the media attention for finally being recognized as an important technology and trade center. Rumors had been spread that Wayne Enterprises was looking into setting up a new West Coast outpost if the arrival of these new 'Teen Titans' had any substance to their rumors, which, as we know, they did.

The Weekly Jump had speculated that Wayne Enterprises was even funding the S.T.A.R. Labs engineers to design the new Titans Tower, but these went unconfirmed, and really, the people of Jump were simply thankful for the protection the superheroes would be offering.

Jump had already had a history of strange villains and lots of crime, but the city had been deemed to small to be of any serious significance, hence, most superheroes opted to protect the bigger cities.

The construction was going much faster than anyone could ever have thought possible, and the Titans had already proven themselves to the police force that they could handle all the really petty theives and common street thugs, Jump City was already cleaned up of any non-metahuman crime, and any of the smart 'baddies' hadn't shown their faces in quite awhile. Of course, the not-so-smart ones did eventually show up to ruin the fun.

Cinderblock had been known to cause some trouble all around Jump, seemingly without any sense of direction or motive other than to simply cause chaos.

Here, the Tower was about two Blocks into its construction, about 2/7 of the way done, and the big behemoth had reared his ugly head to try and slow down the fast working crews.

The crews, being the sensible people that we all know the residents of Jump City to be, cleared out faster than Robin could utter a "Go!" This left the area clear for Cinderblock's path of destruction to be further unhindered by those pesky, yet easily dealt with, bystanders.

Our favorite Titans reached the scene fairly fast, seeing as how they weren't the ones overlooking the construction directly.

"Alright Titans, we need to figure a way to subdue him," Robin stated, watching the behemoth throw some important equipment around.

"Simple," Cyborg offered, "we beat the stuffin' outta him, and send him to that new maximum security prison."

"I think Robin means an attack plan," Raven commented dryly, watching the monster throw some titanium beams together and then into the bay. Now that she had gotten used to her new teammates, Raven wasn't acting as shy as she had first appeared to be.

Cyborg sweat-dropped, "I knew that…"

"I believe the Cinderblock does not appear to be thinking through his actions," Starfire observed as the monster once again rammed his head straight into the unfinished tower.

"Yeah, this dude's got to be a push over. Let's take 'em down!" BB yelled as he lept up to transform into a pterodactyl and commence the battle.

"Wait!" Robin tried to order, but his command fell on deaf ears as Cy and Star joined in.

"C'mon Boy Wonder," Raven said, "If you can't beat them, join them." With that she flew off, hand outstretched toward a black-encased steel beam that was making it's way to Cinderblocks head.

Robin merely glared as he extended a bo-staff to join in the fight.

BB had been knocked aside at first, but was soon back up as a rhino to charge when there was a clear path.

Cy and Star had been using the monster as target practice for their respective sonic canon and starbolts.

Raven's construction beam met it's mark and now their enemy was slightly dazed. Robin threw a couple smoke pellets to further disorient him.

"Beast Boy! Go!" Robin half ordered half yelled across the battlefield.

The green rhino didn't hesitate to plunge headfirst into Cinderblock. After he was down, BB morphed back, rubbing his head.

"Dude, remind me not to do that again!"

"Yeah, wouldn't want to kill what precious few brain cells that might be left," Raven said.

"Yeah, exactly" BB agreed, then realized the insult a moment later with an indignant, "Hey!"

The J.C.P.D. was able to use one of the cranes left over to lift an unconscious Cinderblock onto a containment barge to bring him to the mainland.

Afterward, work continued without a hitch, and by mid-august, nearly a month after the team had first met, Titans Tower was finally inhabitable.

Cyborg was put in charge of giving the other Titans the first ever grand tour.

"May I present to you," Cyborg began, "Courtesy of S.T.A.R. Labs and Wayne Enterprises, the toils of three weeks of nonstop hard work by the great people of Jump City, and yourselves, of course-"

"Take your time, Cyborg," Raven commented.

"I give you, our base, our sanctum, our Batcave-" Robin's mask twitched slightly "-our Hall of Justice, our-"

"Dude! I'm dying over here!"

"Our home, Titans Tower!"

With this the cybernetic teen turned and palmed in the security code.

The gigantic doors opened up with a whoosh and the teens were soon staring into… an empty lobby. A really dusty, debris-filled, empty lobby.

"We're gonna be in charge of cleaning up all the leftover construction stuff, but once we do that we can put some lobby chairs down here."

The team proceeded down a semi-clear path towards the running elevator.

"So back here's the elevator that can take you straight up, nearly all the way to the roof-"

"Dude!" BB interrupted, "Is it like that elevator in the chocolate factory thingy? Y'know, the one that goes sideways and fore-ways and back-ways and any other ways you can think of?"

"Uh, no," Cy said, giving the changeling a look that said 'boy, what have you been tripping on?'.


"Anyways, there's stairs leading to the upper and lower levels-"

"Lower levels?" Robin asked.

"Yeah, the basement for storage stuff, and a hanger-slash-garage area for team vehicles- your R-cycle should've already been moved down there- even a dock area for whenever I get around to building us a T-sub."

"What could we ever need a submarine for?" Raven asked.

"You never know!" Cy said defensively.

Raven merely shrugged in response.

Cyborg started explaining things about the inner architecture and stuff about crossbeams and all the things that would make the impossible T cross section of the tower, well, possible.

BB just looked up in wonder- not even pretending to listen any more.

Star listened intently, but had trouble completely understanding all the words Cyborg was using, she was still very new to Earth.

Raven… was as apathetic as her teammates had come to know her to be.

Robin finally managed to stop Cy's rant.

"How 'bout we just check out the rest of the Tower?"

They rode up the elevator to the 2nd Block.

"This is Beta Block- level 1," Cyborg explained, "Infirmary."

The doors opened to a corridor with several doors running down.

"The Tower's hallway system is fairly simple; the elevator's at the core, so the doors'll open on either side, each corner has a little identifier to remind you what level or block your in, and all the rooms, other than Ops or unused areas, will have the name on the door, like here."

Written out was a simple 'Sick Bay', and inside was enough high-end equipment to run a hospital.

"This is such a waste," Raven said sorrowfully, "It's not like-'

"Duuuude! I really need a bathroom! Now!" BB squeled suddenly.

"Er, down the hall. There's restrooms on every other floor, only problem is, they're only the one person bathtub/shower combo guest types, but our rooms should have private bathrooms for us."

BB was out the door by the word 'hall'.

"Is everything already fully stocked like the infirmary?" Raven asked.

"Yeah, should be. I mean, they left somethings for us to do, like decorate our rooms, and we'll have to set up the Lobby in Alpha Block, but otherwise, it's all taken care of."

"Then like I was saying, it's not like any of us will get sick anytime soon. I have some limited healing abilities, although I can only mostly fix myself, others are harder to heal."

All the rest were staring at her.


Robin shook his head. "You're really full of surprises Raven. Once we get the database running, we should figure out how your powers work."

Raven seemed to pale even more. "I'd rather you not, I know the limit of my powers, thank you very much."

She exited into the hall, so the others felt no other choice but to follow. BB met up with them at the elevator.

Beta Block levels 2 and 3 were also meant to be used as sick bays and they all looked pretty much the same anyways, so the team skipped them.

Levels 4 stored the major medical equipment and Level 5 worked as a crime lab for any major cases the police might hand over to the team.

In Gamma Block, what would've been the first three levels was simply a gigantic gym area full of mega weight lifting equipment and indoor obstacle course stuff. Part of the room was separated into a viewing area near what would've been level 3, so others could observe who's training without interfering.

"This is the 'Danger Room', it's for training exercises inside and on level 2 we have a regular strength and endurance training gym. But here, everything can be set to our own personal work out sessions."

They proceeded to Level 2, which was just as Cyborg said, but there was also a little shower/spa area for after workouts. Level 3, the final level in Gamma Block, was storage for training equipment and replacement/repairs.

"Now to Delta Block."

Level 1 was where the evidence room and other office spaces were set up. Robin had already set aside a space filled with recent news clippings of crime in Jump City and even a few about the Titans that had been printed thus far. Level 2 was entirely dedicated to holding cells and interrogation rooms. Level 3- weapons testing/engineering for Robin's crime fighting equipment and Cy's own update and upkeep. Levels 4 and 5 were security centers, but there was also a special panic room that could be used for psychological testing, this was kept under wraps, though. No one wanted to know why you would ever need to test a superhero's state of mind.

Finally, they reached the top. The Operations-Command Center, A.K.A., the Ops room or Ops, if it needed to be shortened even more.

"We've got the kitchen area here to our right, dining to our left, and entertainment-slash-command center-slash-computer access panels straight ahead. The systems should be online soon, and once they are, we'll be able to contact anyone around the world, or even off world."

"Um, dude, I love a sweet view as much as the next green changeling, but… WHERE'S the TV!?"

"Calm down, B, the window is the TV," Cy proceeded to scoop up the remote on the coffee table and turned it on to prove his point.

"Wondrous!" Star exclaimed.

"Sweet!" BB agreed.

"Cool," Robin commented.

Raven remained silent and uncaring.

"Anyways, the hallways to either side will lead to North Block or South Block- pretty self-explanatory- this whole area of the Tower is the Ops Block. There's some room still in this particular area, that I'm thinking of installing an indoor pool, there's already one on the roof with retractable paneling so it can be covered up with the helipad or sport courts. But anyways, North and South Blocks are still mostly empty rooms and extra space we'll have to fill up some how."

With that, Cyborg shut off the TV and proceeded to one of the side entrances.

"Ya'll can go ahead and claim your rooms, I'm off to find mine right now."

Raven floated opposite of where Cy was heading, and was soon followed by Beast Boy. Robin found himself to be similarly shadowed by Starfire as he made his way to where Cyborg was heading.

Soon Raven found herself a nice room; floor to ceiling windows, a private bathroom right within reach, it was about double the size of a normal room in the tower. Raven was already thinking about tearing out some of the wall to make room for built in bookshelves.

"Definitely has possibilities," Raven mumbled to herself.

Beast Boy, seeing that Raven had finally chosen her room, ran down the hall and down a couple flights of stairs till he was at the bottom floor of the block. Knowing that Raven was only a couple stories above him was what reassured him, for now. He rushed to pick out a nice, spacious room, unaware that the one he had decided on was one of the only rooms without a private bathroom.

Robin had decided on a room that was fairly close to the Ops Block so he could be close to all his teammates. The room still had a pretty decent view of Jump City, heck, all the rooms in this Tower did. But the Boy Wonder had a feeling he wouldn't be spending too much time to enjoy it here.

Star had chosen a room fairly close by, naturally. It was very open, about twice as big as some of the normal sized rooms and had a large, floor-to-ceiling window that seemed to take up nearly the whole wall. It was depressingly blank, though, and Star's mind was reeling with the possibilities of adding plenty of bright and happy colors to it.

Cyborg's room had already been set up for him. Filled with all the spare parts and extra tech that only he would ever need to use. He had also moved all his sports memorabilia, from his time at Jump High School, to a corner desk area. It even had a few pictures taking up space on the wall.

The team regrouped back in Ops to discuss the redesign and budget for their own personal spaces. Plans were made for special order items or anything that couldn't be built with their own equipment, and by the end of that night Cyborg, Robin, and Beast Boy's rooms were completed to their satisfaction, Starfire either had everything that she'd need for the night or had already been ordered what she'd need long-term and was having it delivered to Titan Isle by tomorrow evening, and finally, Raven had spent the afternoon on a trip 'back home' only to come back with a couple mysterious, and strangely ornate, trunks.

When they convened for their first dinner together in the tower, BB asked her about it.

"So, what was in those trunks that you brought?" his voice was abnormally expectant, as if he was hoping for a gift of some sort.

"How to explain…?" Raven asked herself aloud. "Beast Boy, you know that cartoon you were watching this morning? Something about the Grim Reaper and two kids-"

"Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy? Sure.. OH! Do they work like Grim's trunk? Where you can put a whole bunch of stuff in it and it'll never run out of room?"

"Not quite, there's a limit to how much I can fit into it, and it only works with one of my cases. But just like with those kids, the stuff in those cases are forbidden and extremely dangerous if handled incorrectly." She spoke to the group as a whole, "My room is dangerous, and I really do need my privacy, so no one should go poking their heads into there. No one goes into my room."

All nodded in agreement, after knowing the mystic such a short time, none really wanted to cross her.

Later on, Starfire insisted that they all try some of her special 'made from home, traditional Tamaranean Glorg', which was meant to be for 'the welcoming of new friends in a new home'. It really just looked like some Jell-O type goop with floating pink… things in it.

"Wait," Raven said when BB and Robin were about to take a bite, "Let me try it first."

"Why? What could go wrong?" Robin asked, trying to be reassuring.

"I can sense things, remember? Just let me see how it is first, I've got a bad feeling about this." With that, Raven picked up her utensil and scooped up a bit of the Glorg to take a bite.

Swallowing, she took a moment before giving her okay. "Not bad-" suddenly, she stopped, her face growing even paler than before.

"Bathroom!" she yelled as she flew out to the hall, to the nearest one from the Ops room.

A chorus of 'Raven!' was heard as her teammates attempted to follow.

Robin was the first to reach the door. "Raven, are you okay?" Sounds of the telekinetic vomiting could be heard as her body tried to dispel what had gotten into her system.

"Food… poisoning," she moaned from beyond the door, in between retching.

"Star, what did you put in that stuff?!" BB yelled.

"I believe I was able to find most of the ingredients or substitutes around the Tower complex," Starfire explained worriedly.

"I think I remember you picking some mushrooms from outside," Cy recalled, an idea dawning on him.

"Mush-rooms?" Star asked.

"The fungus that was in your Glorg," Robin realized, his own train of thought going down the same as Cyborg's.

"Star, I need you to show Cyborg exactly where you found that stuff," Robin ordered, "Beast Boy, get the infirmary prepped for Raven, we need to find out what was in that stuff."

Everyone left to his or her specified mission.

Robin attempted to reach Raven again. "Raven, you okay now?" The sounds of her retching had stopped and all was quiet within.

"I'm coming in now, okay?" he warned as he overrode the access code and opened the door.

Inside, the toilet had the seat up, flushing away the evidence, while Raven was lying on the floor beside it clutching her unclasped cloak tightly to her shivering form while pressing a hot cheek to the cool tile floor. Her face was drenched in sweat and her lips were barely moving as she mumbled inaudibly to herself.

"Raven!" the Boy Wonder cried as he scooped her off the floor and rushed her to the elevator. Her cloak had fluttered away in his rush and as the elevator made it's painfully slow trek down to Beta Block, Robin couldn't help but notice how light Raven was. She really was very petite compared to the tall Tamaranean, yet she had a very nice figure-

'Wait, where's that coming from?' Robin thought suddenly. He shook his head in an attempt to clear the thought.

Right now his main concern was Raven, not those awesome curves she hid under that cloak of hers-

'Stop, she's a teammate,' Robin chided himself. 'Star's a teammate too, but you weren't going to let that stop you…'

His thoughts switched back to Raven as she snuggled closer to his chest, as if for more warmth. But her forehead was burning up, even hotter than what Robin thought should be possible.

'Must be an allergic reaction or flu or something,' he speculated.

The elevator finally dinged open and Robin hurried to the infirmary where BB had set up most of the equipment. He clearly had no idea what he was supposed to be doing, though, so Robin sent him out to get blankets for Raven.

Star and Cy came in just as Robin had finished up taking a blood sample from Raven, he almost didn't have time to notice how her skin seemed to close up on it's own right after he had taken out the needle, leaving no trace of a scab or scar.

"Just like I thought," Cy began, "Star had accidently used one of those poisonous mushrooms, if you or BB would've eaten it, you'd be dead before it could hit your stomach."

"Star, from now on, if your unsure about anything, anything at all, no matter how dense the question," Robin paused so she could get the full effect of what he was about to say, "Please, just ask one of us first."

"I understand, Robin," she nodded solemnly. And so the torrent of never ending questions began. Little did the masked hero know, how much of a torture he had brought upon himself and his fellow teammates.

"Still leaves one very important question," Cy interrupted as he checked some of the monitors, "How's Raven not affected by the bad mushrooms?"

"That's what I'm going to find out."

BB ran in, blankets in hand.

"What did I miss? Is Raven okay yet?"

"She's fine, just sleeping," Robin reassured as he took a blanket from the changeling and laid in gently upon the ill mystic. "I'm gonna need you guys to leave-"

"No way! Raven's sick! We need to know what's up with her!" BB protested.

"And she can't get any better with all of her team cooped up in one space worrying about her. She needs us to be strong for her while she's recuperating."

"Fine," he griped as Starfire and Cyborg shuffled out with him, each throwing concerned glances at their downed teammate.

Raven was still passed out, but in a very fitful sleep from the sound of things.

Robin took the blood sample and toadstools that had been collected and carefully packaged them to send to Batman. He knew the Dark Knight had an extensive lab and database in the Batcave, even bigger than what the Justice League had.

He scrawled a quick note;

Sick teammate with a toxic substance running through her bloodstream. Need help figuring how she isn't dead by now- appreciated if you could look into it.


Sure, he and Batman hadn't left off on the best of terms, but when the Bats had agreed to help out with the Tower, things did get a little better. Besides, Bruce still had Batgirl there to help him, and he did say something about recruiting another Robin to take Dick's place.

But back to the present, Robin sent off the package, knowing that he'd get a reply soon enough from his former mentor.

Raven eventually awoke, but very disoriented and unaware of her current surroundings.

"How'd I get in here?"

"Oh! You're up!" Robin had been busy with the analysis he had been sent. Not only did Bruce confirm the toxicity of the fungus, he had discovered what Robin supposed must have been the big secret that Raven was trying to keep.

'I'm not really the hero type. Trust me, if you knew what I really am…'

Raven was a half-demon.


"Huh? I'm sorry, didn't quite catch that."

"I asked if you guys figured out what was in that stuff."

"Oh," Robin sighed as he collected his thoughts. "Your hunch was right. Starfire accidently used some poisonous mushrooms for her Glorg, but Raven…" he paused, "That stuff should've killed you. I was really concerned so I looked into it and.. well…"

"No, please tell me you didn't find out-"

"Your, erm, heritage? Kinda. Look, none of the others know, but even if they did, it wouldn't matter. We've gotten to know you pretty well, Raven, and-"

"I guess you guys would've found that out eventually, but that's really not the worst thing about me."

"Oh? Well, whatever that is, I'm sure it's not as bad as you're making it out to be," Robin smirked.

"If only you knew, Wonder Boy," Raven sighed as she rolled onto her side, facing away once more from her masked teammate.

An awkward silence hung in the air, neither wanting to be the first to break it. Eventually Robin broke down, pulled up a nearby chair to sit on, and shuffled some papers out.

"Well, while your still awake, we might as well fill out some of these files," he said cheerily.

"Files?" She asked as she turned once more towards the boy wonder.

"Yeah, you think that this city would just accept a bunch of random superheroes to take care of them? Besides, we want to leave a legacy behind, don't we? Best way for future Titans to know how the original core group handled themselves is to look back on what we can leave behind for them," he explained.

"Makes sense. Are you going to upload this into the Tower system, too?"

"Sure, but if you want, we can put certain security clearances on everyone's info."

"That would definitely make it safer from being hacked, but that doesn't mean that someone still won't find a way."

"Guess that's true enough," Robin smirked as he handed a file and a pen over to her.

Raven sighed as she began to fill out the basic information on the first sheet. "If anyone's going to upload my info, it's going to be me. Like I said, there's still stuff that you guys can't know about me… not just yet anyway."

"You know, secrets aren't exactly the best way to keep friends."

"You think I haven't already lost people close to me?" she asked seriously.

Robin coughed uneasily, trying to clear his throat. He clearly stumbled onto a sensitive subject, and he understood how it felt when someone had pushed a little too far.

"I think everyone here's lost something," he confessed.

Raven sighed, "I guess I'll have to tell most of you in due time, and you are the leader. Can I trust you, Robin?"

Robin tried to show that he was looking her in the eye, even with that mask in the way.

"Of course. You're my friend, Raven. Even in this short time that we've all gotten to know each other, I feel like I've known you guys all my life."

"Okay then… See, I was born in a place called Azarath," she started. "It's like no place that you've ever heard of, it's… I guess… " she struggled to find the right phrase, "In between dimensions? Or maybe universes? Either way, I guess I'm about as alien as Starfire, but I'm still half-human. My mother was from Earth and was brought to Azarath after the monks there had learned of my… conception. I really wasn't supposed to be born, but here I am. Because of my heritage, as you so eloquently put it, I was taught to restrain my emotions. My powers are extremely emotion driven. I can't afford to feel anything too strongly, but that doesn't mean I don't have feelings; I'll deny it anyways, that's how I was raised, but those emotions are still there. Obviously, being a half-demon still has some perks; healing, my limited telepathy, telekinesis, I even have some empathic abilities. I was taught plenty of magic spells and forms, mostly light magic, but Azar, the High Priestess in charge of essentially raising me, she taught me a little of each kind. She said it would make me well rounded and aware of the good and evil in the world.

"I had to take quite a few things from Azarath to charm my room," Robin gave her a funny look here, "For my own protection, and yours," she quickly explained, "Although, I should probably add some security to it. There are things in there that, if handled even the slightest bit incorrectly, could kill us… or worse…"

Robin tried to not think of what worse could mean.

"Huh. With all that you've said, I don't really believe there can be much more you're hiding from me, Raven," the Boy Wonder challenged.

"Trust me, Wonder Boy, there's still plenty that I'm not telling you, and if I have things my way, none of you will ever find out more than just this."

She let the comment hang there as she finished up the last of the files to be stored in a filing cabinet somewhere. Yawning, she shuffled them all together into a folder and handed them to Robin.

"I'll store these in the database when I get enough sleep first," she yawned again, "Stupid toxins. I'm sleeping."

She lay down once more to get that extra shut eye as Robin left to find the others and tell them that Raven was going to be fine.

"So man, what did she tell you?" Cyborg asked eagerly after Robin had placated BB's fears.

"There's a thing called Doctor-Patient confidentiality," Robin smirked, "Raven's going to tell each of you in her own time, but for now, she just needs our trust."

"But-" BB tried to ask, but Robin cut him off.

"Like I said, we've got to wait for Raven to come around."

"Yes, friend Raven has proven to be very loyal to us, as we have proven to each other," Star agreed, "I am confidant that Raven will repay us the trust when the time is due."

"Alright guys," Robin yawned, mostly likely infected by Raven's earlier, "It's been a long day. Let's set up a rotation to check up on Raven overnight while we try to get some sleep."

Cyborg had volunteered to go first and with nothing to do but fill out some of the files Robin and Raven had been working on earlier. He worked quietly in the company of Raven's soft snores, which seemed to swallow up the otherwise silent room.

Cy's silent typing was brought to a halt as a thought suddenly overcame him. It was a memory he had long since forgotten. One of those types that are recalled every few years, only very fondly with no real lasting impression from any of the major details of it. But now Cy remembered so much more…

"Mom, Dad," a young Victor, only age 6 or 7, asked very somberly, "Can I have a little sister?"

The doctors laughed softly at the antics of their only son. After a long day at work, his undertakings could be quite amusing at times.

"Vic, honey," his mother said, "I'm sorry, but it doesn't quite work that way. Your father and I have had this discussion before and we really wanted only one, you."

"But I could take care of her and protect her and make sure she's okay and and and I want to be a big brother!"

His father chuckled a little more. "We'll think about it, Vic. For now, push it out of your mind and we'll get back to you."

Cyborg laughed to himself ever so softly now. It was such a dumb, little kid thing he did and yet, now he had finally gotten those younger siblings, right?

BB was already like an annoying little brother, Robin the headstrong middle sibling, Star was… Star really had her own category, seeing as how Cy hadn't really had much bonding time with her, not yet anyway. But Raven really was like that little sister he had always wanted; heck, he'd already been the first one to reassure her once already, before that huge fight with the Gordanians, and he was the first to volunteer to look after her.

'Never would've figured Lil' Sis would look like this,' he thought to himself. 'And judging from what little Rob gave me 'bout her, well… she may be only half-human, but she's human all the same. She thinks she can take care of herself, but she'll need us, she'll need help, need care, need protection, need someone to check up on her, need a big-'

"…" Raven mumbled suddenly.

Cyborg froze over the keyboard.

Who knew Raven talked in her sleep?

Cy listened for anymore, but was only answered with more soft snores.

"I'll be that big brother for you, Rae. You're already like a lil' sis…"

Starfire definitely found this world to be extremely confusing and at first she was too… proud? Was that the right translation?

Yes, she would not swallow her pride and ask her teammates about the wonders of this new world, but after this incident, Star swore she would learn as much as she could about this world and this new culture, until she knew it just as well as her own.

Setting those thoughts aside, Star kept watch over Raven. Cyborg had explained the basics of the machines and how to read them for signs of trouble. He had also explained how they wanted her to fill out the files, which she had just finished with some difficulty. English was indeed a hard language to write in, and Earth's writing utensils were stranger than the ones Star was used to, but she eventually filled them out to the best of her ability.

Now that she was done, Star checked the monitors for any of those changes Cy had said to look out for, but all seemed calm. 'At least this is a good way to be making the up with Raven,' Star thought, if she was going to be speaking English, she could use all the practice she could get, even if that meant having to think in the foreign tongue. 'X'Hal, I cannot help but feel great…' Star struggled to think of the right word.

"Compunction," Raven mumbled in her sleep.

'Yes, great compunction and remorse for what I have done. Oh, friend, I do hope you could forgive me for this awful accident I have caused.'

"'S okay.. " Raven mumbled as she turned over in the sheets, "…. No big… deal.." She stilled again and fell deeper into her dream.

Starfire found no strangeness in the fact that Raven was clearly talking in her sleep. On Tamaran, it was quite common for small children, though, they usually out grew it. Star figured that on Earth there would be many similarities; the two species anatomies were clearly somewhat similar, so why not sleeping habits as well?

Beast Boy was already bored out of his mind. Sure, he hadn't filled out the files completely and he should probably get on that, but they were just boring him even more. Raven was sleeping so peacefully, her soft snores filled up the silence of the room. Yet, Beast Boy desperately wished that she could wake u-

Raven's eyes shot open suddenly, confusion evident on her face only to be replaced by a glare as she righted herself to sit up.

"Raven?" BB asked tentatively.

"What were you thinking?" she accused in a semi-sleepy voice.


"Just now, what were you thinking about?"

"Oh," he understood what she meant, "I was bored and I really, er, wanted you to wake up?" he finished as if he was begging for forgiveness.

Raven groaned as she fell back into the sheets.

"Great, NOW my telepathy starts acting up," she mumbled to herself.

"Telepathy? You mean you can read our minds!?" BB asked.

"Not entirely," Raven explained, "It takes a lot of my concentration, and usually I can only pick up on the basics of what a person's thinking, but when my powers act up, especially when I'm sick like now, well, my subconscious takes over my telepathic and empathic abilities. It's really embarrassing for everyone."

"Huh, do you know what Cy and Star were thinking while they were in here earlier?"

"No, obviously I was asleep," she cleared her throat quickly as a thought occurred to her, "You guys are keeping watch over me?"

"Yeah, we all wanted to make sure you'd be okay, y'know?"

"That's… nice," Raven commented with a slight blush growing.

The silence lasted a little too long as Raven considered whether or not she should stay and sleep the rest of the night in the sick bay or go to her own room. BB made the decision for her.

"Y'know, they say laughter is the best medicine there is," the changeling started, "I could tell you some jokes I kn-"

"No," Raven interrupted, then continued as she saw BB's crestfallen expression, "Thanks, but I feel a whole lot better. I'm just going to go to my own bed now."

"Oh, okay," BB said, "'Night Raven!"

"Goodnight, Beast Boy," Raven said as she phased out.

"Might as well finish these up," he mumbled to himself, finally getting to work on those dumb files.

Robin came in for his shift, only to find BB struggling to fill out the final file.

"Where's Raven?" the Boy Wonder asked.

"Dude! Don't scare me like that!"

"Where's Raven?" he repeated.

"Oh, I accidently woke her up and she left to go sleep in her room- Said she felt fine!" he tried to add, but Robin had left by 'sleep'.

He made his way up to Raven's room and as soon as he reached her door, he hesitated so he could knock first.

"Raven," he called, unsure as to whether she'd still be up at all.

Eventually, she got up to open the door a crack.

"Much as I love to stay up late into the night, even I need my sleep, Robin."

"Just checking up on you to be sure you're okay," he said.

"Well, I am recovering from ingesting and nearly being killed by a poisonous mushroom, something a normal person wouldn't be living through. I'm pretty sure I'm the best judge of whether or not I'm okay."

Robin smirked, "Well if you're sure you're okay…"

"Goodnight Robin," Raven yawned.

"'Night Raven," Robin replied as she slid the door shut.


Author's Note: Kudos to my awesome Beta: Stormy-chan. I wouldn't be able to do this without you. This first chap's for you! Also, for my friends- you guys know who you are- who usually check over everything I write in "The Notebook" before I even consider typing it up. Thanks guys!

To Everyone, a wise author before me once said- It's a fanfiction crime to read and not review. So drop me a line and tell me how I did!

Update: Okay, I'm obviously a HUGE RobRae person. I can't stand the RobStar pairing. But as a challenge to myself, I'm going to write this story with as much balance between the two pairings. I don't mind BBRae as much, so that will be much easier for me to write. (Don't worry, when the time comes, BBTerra will be dealt with, but that's not for quite awhile, yet) I want this to be a fic that any fan of the series could enjoy. It's all just filling in the cracks and I'm going off of the series as much as possible.
I've recently revised this chap, just more detail added, some grammar mistakes that both my beta and I must've missed (in our defense, this was a really long chap) and little things like that. Hopefully it's a little better than the first time around, but not much has changed.

Well what are you doing still reading this? Tell me how I did and get on with your life! See you next chapter!