The End of the World

DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Titans. I don't own Truth or Dare. I don't own Boy George. And I owe the practically-nonexistent plot to a program on the History Channel (love that station!). This is currently a one-shot, and the odds say it'll stay that way, but if I come up with an idea for another chapter I'll let you know.

By the way, I'm not following any particular continuity, so I just threw in whatever Titans I wanted. It was sorta based off the cartoon, but the characterizations are somewhat off for that, at least in my opinion. Sorry if that annoys you… but you could always pretend. Besides, you should be used to continuity breeches if you read my stuff anyway. (shrugs)

Beast Boy squeezed his eyes shut tight, stuck his hand into Speedy's hat and felt around the little strips of paper in there. After a really long time (long enough to make Kid Flash fake a yawn and Robin roll his eyes, anyway), the changeling pulled his hand out and read the name on the paper.

"Robin!" he sing-songed with a toothy grin.

"Hooray," Batman's sidekick said sarcastically, rolling his eyes again. "Remind me again why I'm doing this."

"C'mon, Rob, it's just Truth or Dare," Kid Flash told him. "We're supposed to be having fun. That's why we're here."

"Forget it, guys," Speedy snickered. "Robby don't know the meaning of the word."

Robin immediately deadpanned, "Fun. A noun. Something that provides amusement or enjoyment."

"Ha, ha," said Speedy.

"So Robin," Beast Boy put in, "do you want Truth or Dare?"

"Truth, I guess."

Beast Boy rubbed his chin thoughtfully for a moment or so before grinning evilly and asking, "What are you scared of?"

Robin quirked an eyebrow as the other Titans chuckled in amusement.

"What."

"What are you scared of! Besides answering this question, of course..."

Robin gave him another look, then sat back on his heels and thought about it for a second. He didn't particularly want to answer this question, but then again, the punishment for not doing what you were told involved going to the local karaoke bar dressed as Boy George's character from the 'Karma Chameleon' music video and singing the song in front of everybody there. So.

"The end of the world as we know it."

Insert long pause here.

"…What?" Beast Boy asked after a while.

"When you think about it, the Earth could be destroyed tomorrow and we wouldn't be able to stop it," continued the Boy Wonder.

"We all know the world doesn't end until the sun turns into a red giant, Rob, and that's not for another few billion years yet," Speedy sighed. Now it was his turn to roll his eyes.

"Not necessarily. We could get hit by an asteroid, meteorite or comet long before then. Then, of course, there's the possibility of solar flares wreaking havoc on all our technology, global warming destroying our atmosphere, or gamma rays creating giant holes in the ozone layer and frying everything on the planet surface to a crisp. Not to mention alien invasion, atmospheric deterioration, nuclear war… Then there's the Mayan theory that says the world will end in 2012, and although we don't know how that will happen per se, 2012 is the year when solar activity will once again be highest, and the Earth will complete another 'wobble' on its axis—that's called precession, and that may have something to do with it, though what that is I don't know."

The Titans stared. Kid Flash's eye twitched slightly. Robin didn't notice.

"Of course, if you want to talk about destruction in the very distant future," he went on, "there is the time when the sun will become a red giant and turn the entire planet into a ball of molten lava. And then there's the Big Rip theory, where the universe suddenly pops like a balloon and we're all torn up into our individual atoms and thrown out into deep space."

Another pause.

"That's what I'm afraid of."

Kid Flash's eye twitched again before he whimpered faintly, "Um… if anyone wants me, I'll be hiding in my room… better yet, the closet…"

He was gone within seconds.

"Hey, wait for me!" Beast Boy yelled after him. He immediately turned himself into a cheetah and bounded frantically after the speedster. Robin looked after them, his eyebrows raised in mild confusion.

"Was it something I said?"

The End

Audience, I apologize for this. Profusely. I think I was bored (either that or I was terrified about the world coming to an end after all those apocolyptic programs I was stupid enough to watch). And as for the punishment, well... it was the worst thing I could think of. I mean, have you SEEN that outfit?!! XD