A/N: This is a trial run of the first two chapters of a Teen Titans fanfic I am considering writing. Please read and review. If Reception is good then I will continue writing.
1#: Stranded
Robin's head pounded as he swam slowly back to consciousness. What had happened to give him such a headache? His body ached from lying on what felt like hard stone for hours. Slowly he opened his eyes to see the night sky. He must have been out for a long time. The last thing he remembered, he and the other Titans had been fighting Mumbo and that had been mid afternoon. Still something seemed off about the what he was seeing. The stars seemed...red? That couldn't be right.
He sat up quickly and immediately fell back again as spots exploded in his vision. He must have hit his head really hard. He tried sitting up again, more slowly this time and looked about. He appeared to be sitting on a floating island of rock in a black abyss, which was studded with red pinpoints of light which he took to be stars. All around there were other floating islands, some bigger than his, some smaller, some barren and some with leafless, dead looking trees. On one distant island he thought he could see small black birds sitting in one of the trees.
Robin closed his eyes and rubbed his temples, trying to think of how he had got here...
}0{
"Titans GO!" yelled Robin as they ran into the bank where the criminal magician Mumbo was siphonning money into his top hat. The Titans all charged. Cyborg fired his sonic cannon, only to have Mumbo vanish within his top hat and reappear a moment later once the danger had passed. Beast Boy leapt at Mumbo in the form of a wolf before finding a muzzle had materialised on his snout.
For every attack they made, Mumbo seemed to have a counter.
Until she joined the fight.
"Azerath. Metrion. ZINTHOS!" Raven yelled. A massive hand formed of dark energy rose from the ground and grasped at Mumbo. Mumbo raised his wand to defend himself, only to have it crushed against his body. There was a flash of light as the wand snapped and suddenly Raven's own shadow summonings were thrashing about, out of control. Mumbo was hurled away by the detonation caused as the two magics collided. The other Titans turned and ran as Raven tried desperately to reign in the forces raging around them. Robin stayed near, waiting in case she needed his help. Suddenly the darkness pulsed outwards, straight towards him. Before he could react it swept over him and he had ended up...where?
}0{
Here.
Robin glanced around and then carefully rose and looked around once again. A short distance away he saw a thin broken piece of wood. Mumbo's wand. He walked over to it and carefully picked it up, sliding it into his belt. It might be useful later.
He walked over to the edge of the island and looked around. There didn't seem to be any way off. As if in response to his thought, hundreds of small pieces of rock rose out of the darkness and fused together to form a path leading towards a distant rock. Beyond that he could see more path forming, stretching endlessly into the distant darkness.
}0{
"What happened there Raven?" asked Cyborg as they strode into the tower.
Raven sighed inwardly. It was just one of the many questions they had been asking for the whole journey back to the tower. "My guess is that my powers mixed with the magic released when Mumbo's wand broke opened some sort of portal and Robin got pulled into it."
"Uh...so where did Robin go?" asked Beast Boy.
"I don't know."
"But you must know!" shrieked Starfire, her voice on the edge of hysteria. "He could be hurt, he could need our help."
"I don't know okay!"
"Then you must find out."
"I will if you just leave me alone long enough to do it!" yelled Raven. On the wall nearby one of the monitors exploded. The empath lifted her arms and shadows rose from the floor and covered her. When they had dispersed, she had vanished.
}0{
Robin looked at the path ahead of him with some scepticism. It looked solid enough, but the fact that he had seen it form before his eyes, coupled with it's narrow width and his unsteady steps following his injury made him doubt whether taking the path was a wise course. On the other hand, he could see no other means to leave the rock he currently occupied, so it seemed that wisdom might have to take a back seat to practicallity in this venture.
Sighing, Robin reached into his belt to retrieve his bo-staff, extending the weapon to it's full length. Using the staff to support his unsteady, clumsy movements, he set off down the path.
}0{
Two days had passed since Robin's disappearance. Tensions were high. The criminals of Jump City seemed to have worked out that something had changed and were becoming bolder. Beast Boy, Starfire and Cyborg had managed to keep things under control thus far, but it was exhaustive work. Without Robin's strategic insight they were at a distinct disadvantage and Raven was occupied constantly seeking a way to bring him back.
None of them were certain how long they could keep it up.
Raven tore through her books. She knew that it had been the combining of Mumbo's magic with her own that had resulted in Robin's disappearance. What she did not know was where he could have gone. She did not know the origins of Mumbo's own abilities and as the criminal had slipped away while they searched for Robin she had had no chance to question him on the matter. Even the wand, Raven's only other potential source of information, had vanished. She was reduced to searching through all her books in the hopes of hitting upon a potential lead.
With a growl of frustration Raven slammed the tome in front of her closed. She was getting nowhere. Crossing her arms and sitting back she glowered about the room, as though looking for something she could break. Her eyes came to rest upon a small table of twisted black wood. The table top held a scattering of rounded white stones, small enough to fit comfortably in the palm of her hand. Each stone was inscribed with several strange symbols that had then been highlighted with charcoal. Through the use of a simple spell she had found in one of her tomes, each stone held a memory. The stones varied widely in content, some were memories of things she had enjoyed, others were memories of loss, while still more were things that she felt should simply not be forgotten.
Raven got up and moved over to the table and began to sift through the stones, looking for one in particular. As she touched each one she saw the briefest flash of the memories contained within: eating pizza with the other Titans, reading alone atop Titan Tower, sprinting through the halls of Titan Tower as her fears pursued them, flying on a moonlit night, the burning wreckage of the world after her father Trigon had manifested on the mortal plane. At last she found the one she was looking for and grasped it tightly.
}0{
She was once more the frightened child in the ruined church. She sat there, dwelling on what she had done. She was filled with guilt and shame over what she had done. In unleashing her father she had doomed the only home she had left. She had destroyed the lives of billions. She deserved far worse than this exile in a place of fire and ruin. She would remain here eternally.
A sound at the entrance of the ruin made her look up. She carefully peered out from behind the piece of rubble she was huddled behind.
She saw colours, red and yellow and green. She saw black hair, sitting in untidy spikes. She saw the mask that hid his eyes.
He had come for her, as he had a hundred times before. For a moment she felt hope. The deep crushing despair and guilt would return soon, but for one moment she felt hope.
}0{
Raven dropped the stone quickly back onto the table, not wishing to watch further. Never the less, the memory stayed in her mind. He had braved unknown dangers in coming to that damned place, to pull her back towards the light at her lowest ebb. She could do no less. She would find him.
She quickly walked back to her desk and picked up the tome she had closed earlier opening to the page she had been on before, she began to read.
She would not give up.