hi! This is my first Teen Titans fanfiction, so don't hate- hope you like it! I'm currently in Germany, waiting until I can get on my flight to Hungary so... yay!

Nightingale

Chapter 1- The Dreams

This is the story of a girl who'd lost the best friend she never knew she had, a Nightingale who couldn't sing, a Robin who fought the wind, and a group of powerful friends who save the world as their job.

This is the story of Sarelia and the Nightingale.

A scream rang out in the night. Sarelia Shore, otherwise known as Sara, bolted upright in her bed, throat raw from the scream that tore loose from her. She panted; eyes darted around to survey the dimly lit room. Her eyes came to rest on the big, empty bed next to her.

'Empty.' She thought glumly, 'Empty now, empty forever.' Her thoughts strayed to her friend, Katie. They had gotten this house together, the three of them, Katie, Kathrynne and herself. They were the only ones left, the three of them. A month after they moved her, Katelyn started acting weird and they tiniest bit paranoid. She turned her room into a miniature training room, complete with and punching bags and an impressive array of weapons for such a small room.

And then there were two.

Katelyn had disappeared without a trace. There was no evidence of a kidnapping, or a fight. No bodies were found. The police eventually had to quit, they had employed the Teen Titans and the Justice League too late; the trail had gone cold. They all found one conclusion though-

Katelyn had left of her own will. She obviously had an ulterior motive, maybe she had been blackmailed, but it was clear that she had simply up and left.

Leaving behind her hometown, her past, her 'friends', and the lonely graves.

The police said that she might have been suffering from PTSD, from emotional stress. Every one of her relatives had been brutally murdered in front of her, after all, and she narrowly escaped death herself. Nonetheless, Sara couldn't argue. She had been acting strangely before she left.

But, she had left without so much as a note, instead gifting Sara and her sister Kathrynne with nightmares and the great fear of constantly being followed. They had wanted to move. Leave the house just as Katie had. But they couldn't bring themselves to leave behind a place that held memories of her, items that her scent- sweet peas, the ocean, vanilla, chocolate, cherry pie all in one scent unarguably Katie, - her clothes, her house, her bed. Sometimes, on the nights when the night terrors were more lucid and clear, they would curl up in her blue and green bed, the ocean bed, and bury their faces in the pillows and inhale the scent that survived time, never growing old. Maybe that's why they can't leave, let alone live their lives. Maybe if they left, they nightmares would leave too, but what if they didn't? Then they'd wake up to a new, cold house with no memories that they could cling to and pretend she was just out for another one of her lone, late night walks that she was so found of.

This night had been particularly terrifying. I clutched at the blankets, trying to erase the strange images of the silhouette of a man that followed, just out of clear sight. Tall, obviously male, and wearing some sort of iron suit. Then there was a girl who grinned down at me from the trees, her eyes glinting as the moonlight struck them. She met my eyes just as the nightmare faded into mist and her eyes gleamed golden.

I tried instead to focus on the strange girl who kept her face just out of sight. She would perch on a lamppost just above me and lead me through the maze of dead ends and brick walls. Sometimes, laughter would float back to me, carried by the breeze. It sounded just like Katie's would when she laughed at how 'amusing and stupid' we would act.

She wore a mask, oddly enough. It was silver, from what I could see through the heavy tendrils of mist that decorated this place. It covered her eyes and some of her forehead, which in my opinion would rather defeat the purpose if she just came closer. Sometimes, she would do curious things, like leaned against the trunk of the tree she was in, and do something that Katie had been prone to doing. She would take both hands and whistle out a bird's tune. Then she'd run off again, with me chasing her and him chasing me.

There was always something spurring me on- the lamplights that flickered that I now knew meant he was close, too close, the strange girl who always beckoned for me to follow.

Soon enough, the dreams became worse instead of better. There was often blood on the walls, but no bodies. The blood covered the walls and dripped onto the ground- a bloody trail, leading me along. I stopped following the girl, ignoring her silent, but frantic, protests, in favor of this new morbidly interesting turn of events. Eventually, I entered a dark alleyway. Fear coiled tightly in my gut, but I steeled my nerves and took a step forward. Something hit my back. I turned and saw the girl, closer than she'd ever been, then my eyes traced from her outstretched hand to the pebbled that hit me. I looked back at her.

I was surprised, she stood only a few small feet away from me. I took in her mask, looking at the intricate design around the edge. It looked like it was actually silver, but now that I was so close I could see that it had an edge of shiny black and the black was on the silver of the ask too, like a black outlines of feathers.

She shook her head desperately. She pointed at the alleyway and shook her head, trying to dissuade me without words. I turned my back to her and took another slow, hesitant step forwards, fearing what I'd find at the end of this alleyway. I knew, somehow, that I wouldn't like what I would see in there. I turned to head back, looking for the girl who had been sitting on top of the lamppost, as always.

But in her place, was him. A scream tore out of my throat and I bolted, running into the alleyway. Everywhere I looked as I ran, I could see the unending blackness that ate up the right side of his face, sharply contrasting with harsh gold on the left side. The one eyehole in the gold side, the narrowed eye staring mockingly out at me.

The alleyway stretched on and on and on… until I finally came to the end.

I was right. I didn't like what I saw.

I screamed and fell to my knees as I looked upon the sight of Kathrynne impaled on a spike, hanging from the wall. Tears streamed down my face. All I could think was, it's only a nightmare, only a dream, just a figment of my imagination…

But my legendary sixth sense buzzed ominously, warning me of the truth in my tortured mind's imaginings.

I blinked and I was taller, slimmer, and faster, running down the alleyway. Hadn't I just come down here… ? I was at the end of the alley now. I caught a quick glance at myself in the reflective mirror. I saw myself for less than a second, but what I saw made me run faster, spurred on by fear.

I saw Kathrynne's terrified face, and that horrible man's face behind her.

I sat upright, hearing the echoes of my scream. But, slowly, I realized I was still screaming. I cautiously looked in the mirror.

I wasn't screaming.

The sound suddenly stopped, cut off like a light switch. It was eerily silent, the lack of screaming goading me out of bed. It wasn't me screaming, it had to be Kathrynne. She didn't just stop screaming, she screamed and it slowly waned to a quiet sobbing.

I grabbed a flashlight, a strange detachment coming over me and I walked silently over to Kathrynne's room just down the hall. The slightly open door mocked me, drawing me closer against me faltering will. I toed open the door with my foot, wincing at the pitiful howling noise it let loose.

The flashlight dropped out of my hand and shattered on the floor.

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