Egad! Another update already!
Well, since it's currently school holidays, I've got time on my hands to actually write these things now. The evil supervillains known only as "School", "Study" and "Homework" have been attacking me a lot lately. I've beaten them back for now, but I have a feeling they won't stay down for long...
Anyway, enough about me, I'm sure you want to read today's brand spankin' new chapter, so let's get started!
Disclaimer: It's on the first chapter. I'm not repeating myself.
Chapter Two: Deepest Fears
Nightwing frowned as he again tried to contact the Flash again. The Flash had left a few days ago on League business, and Jinx and Bumblebee were looking after Central-Keystone City while he was away. Nightwing had just finished talking to the girls, and they said they hadn't heard from him since he left. That wasn't entirely surprising, but Nightwing couldn't even pick up the tracking signal from his Titans Communicator. He hoped that the Flash was all right; after all, even the Fastest Man Alive could be taken by surprise...
He heard the door open behind him, and spotted his wife's reflection on the computer screen. Kori hugged him from behind, draping her arms over his shoulders. Nightwing winced as she rested her arm on the gash he'd received earlier.
"Oh! Sorry," said Kori, shifting her arm.
"It's all right," he said, giving her a quick kiss. "So what brings you here?"
"Just checking up on you," she said. "What are you doing?"
"Trying to contact Wally," Nightwing said. "I can't pick up his signal."
"Don't worry," said Kori. "He can take care of himself."
"Yeah, I know," said Nightwing. He yawned. "If I can't pick up his signal by tomorrow, I'll call the League; see what they can tell me."
The door opened again, and Cyborg walked in. "You two about ready to call it a night?" he said.
Nightwing turned off the computer. "Yeah," he said. "We'll have to track Mumbo down tomorrow."
"We can worry about that tomorrow," Kori said. "We need to get some sleep."
"She's right, y'know," said Cyborg, activating the Tower's defence systems. "Don't stay up too late, you two."
"Ha, ha," said Nightwing. "Very funny, Tin Man."
Raven hovered cross-legged in the centre of her room.
"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos," she chanted. She usually meditated before she went to bed; it helped settle her down after a long day fighting crime... or an even longer day putting up with Changeling.
"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos."
Changeling wasn't always that bad, though; he'd been pretty nice to her when it was her birthday last week.
"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos."
The thought of her birthday did make her feel slightly uneasy. The memories of her sixteenth birthday rose up, taunting her with the images of the glowing red tattoos that Slade had burnt onto her skin, courtesy of her father.
"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos."
That night had been one of the worst in her life, and her nights steadily grew worse as the day of the prophecy approached...
The gem was born of evil's fire,
The gem shall be his portal.
He comes to claim, he comes to sire,
The end of all things mortal.
"No," whispered Raven, causing the inner voice of her fear to fall silent. "I banished him, and he's not coming back. I won't let him return..."
Raven sighed. There was no point trying to meditate anymore. She might as well go to sleep...
She frowned. Something seemed... wrong. It was like a sense of impending doom was settling over the Tower. But there hadn't been any major threats since the Titans had returned from the Tamaranean War, as they called it. Raven closed her eyes, and reached out with her empathic powers. From what she could tell, the others were asleep, so why would she... oh. She could sense fear rolling off the other Titans in waves, like they were having nightmares. She briefly toyed with the idea of using her empathic abilities to send her friends feelings of peace, but that idea didn't last long. It would be wrong for her to manipulate her friends' emotions like that. But something still seemed out of place. Why would all four of them have nightmares at the same time?
That was when she sensed something else: a foreign presence, stretching into their minds, forcing them to live through their greatest fears. Raven could almost see it, a pulsating, sickly yellow-green mist, stretching out of the minds of the Titans and away towards Jump City. As Raven tried to find the source, one of the bands of mists faded away. One of the Titans must have woken up from their nightmare...
You run towards your opponent, but he keeps fleeing, never getting any closer or any further away. You can tell he's toying with you, just like he always does. He leaps into the air, landing easily on the dirt below before he continues running. You leap down after him, executing a three-point landing when you hit the dirt. You continue to chase him, before he leaps again, this time landing near four pillars of rock. You jump after him again, rolling as you land. You can't see any sign of him, and you start looking for—
"Dangerous behaviour, Robin," whispers a voice. A man steps out from behind one of the rock pillars. He's wearing a black bodysuit, with gunmetal grey armour plates. His face is obscured by a face-plate. The face-plate is divided into two halves. The right half is a featureless black mask, the other is orange, with an eyehole in it. Both halves have two vertical slits near the mouth.
"You must be very eager to see me," says Slade as he walks towards you. "I'm flattered."
"I'm not here to see you," you growl. "I'm here to stop you!"
You and your nemesis start circling around each other, passing between the stone pillars.
"But how can you stop me, when you don't even know what I'm planning?" taunts Slade.
"Like this!"
You charge at Slade, launching a kick. Slade ducks under your attack, and you follow through with a punch, striking one of the stone pillars. You charge at him, leaping towards him, but he ducks under your attack, and you turn to face him again. He kicks at you, so you backflip out of the way. He walks menacingly towards you, and you back off. He fires off one, two, three punches, and you dodge the blows, leaping into the air. You land and charge at Slade, throwing a punch. Slade, however, catches the blow, much to your surprise. He throws you into the air, but the acrobatic skills from your childhood allow you to flip through the air and push off one of the stone pillars, flying towards Slade fist first. Slade steps aside, and your blow strikes the pillar behind him. You jump up and kick at him again, but he dodges, and your blow strikes another pillar. You charge at him at another punch, and he dodges again, causing you to strike a pillar. You punch at him again, and his one visible eye seems to glow orange as he dodges, and you hit the pillar again. You jump into another kick, but he dodges like always. You chase after him and punch at him again, but he keeps dodging. This time, Slade kicks you, and you block the blow with your forearms. The force of the attack still knocks you back, and Slade charges towards you, launching a punch. You backflip out of the way, and lash out, but Slade blocks your blows. He then punches you in the face, knocking you backwards. You get back to your feet, and reach towards your belt to pull out a pair of bird-a-rangs—
—And you stop. Something seems wrong, but you have no idea what. And why does this seem vaguely familiar to you?
Slade uses your hesitation to his advantage, charging towards you. You leap to the side, rolling as Slade unloads a punch into the pillar that was behind you. You throw an explosive disc at Slade, and Slade prepares to dodge the disc when you throw a bird-a-rang at the disc, causing it to explode, kicking up clouds of dust. You lose sight of Slade in the dust, but you notice that the four pillars are still standing.
"Excellent work, Robin," says Slade, his voice seeming to come from everywhere at once. "We appear to be equally ruthless. Not surprising; you and I are so very much alike."
You reach down to your belt, pulling out a pair of collapsible eskrima sticks. "I don't care how similar we may seem to be—we are not the same!"
You spin around and swing your sticks at Slade, but he blocks the attacks with his bare hands.
"You're a criminal," you continue, starting to circle around him. "Everything you've done has caused people to suffer."
"You've hurt people as well," says Slade. "Remember how you betrayed your team with your Red X scheme?"
"That was a mistake," you say, tightening your grip on the two eskrima sticks. "A mistake that I will never make again!"
"And what about those days you spent as my apprentice?" continues Slade. "You hurt your friends again that time, as well."
"You blackmailed me," you say. "I didn't have a choice!"
"No, you didn't," says Slade. He lashes out with his fists, knocking your eskrima sticks out of your hands. You stagger backwards, and he swings again, striking you in the chest. "You never had a choice, apprentice."
You groan as you get back to your feet. "You're wrong, Slade," you say. "I've always had a choice. I may have made some wrong choices, but I will never betray my friends again!"
As you speak, Slade moves into the centre of the pillars. "Even if the only way to defeat me means you have to destroy them?"
You look at the pillars closely, and realise each pillar has one of your friend's faces carved into it: Cyborg, Raven, Beast Boy and... Starfire...
Calmly, you remove your belt. "No." You stare at Slade's one visible eye. "I'll never hurt my friends like that. Never again."
Slade yells, finally losing his cool, and he charges at you. He leaps into the air, fist drawn back. You step aside, allowing Slade to rush past you. He punches at you again, but this time, you catch his punch.
"And one more thing. My name is Nightwing," you say, before punching Slade in the face with your free hand. Slade staggers back as his mask falls off, and he covers his unmasked face with his hands. He steps too far back, and falls off the rocky mesa you were standing on. You walk up to the edge, but you can't see what happened to Slade. But it doesn't matter to you. It's time to wake up.
Richard Grayson opened his eyes, staring at the ceiling for about a second. He sat up and shook his head, wiping droplets of sweat off his forehead. That was weird, he thought. I haven't had a nightmare like that since...
He shook his head. No point worrying about that now; it was over.
A small groan caught his attention. He glanced at the beautiful young woman who had been sleeping beside him. Kori had a slight frown on her face, and she moved her head a little. Richard's face softened. He'd seen her acting like this before; she must be having a nightmare.
"Hey, Kori," he whispered, shaking her. "Wake up."
Kori doesn't respond. Richard keeps shaking her, and he raises his voice a little.
"Kori? C'mon, wake up, already... Kori? Kori!"
Kori didn't wake up. Instead, a tortured moan escaped her lips, followed by fearful murmuring.
"No," she whispered. "No, please, no..."
Richard frowned. This couldn't be natural. Even when she was in the grip of a nightmare, he would have been able to wake her up by now. And she never talked in her sleep. Something had to be going really wrong. Richard stood up, and pulled out his Nightwing costume. He yanked on the costume with a bit more force than he'd intended, wincing a little as the fabric rubbed against the gash on his shoulder. He pulled his gloves on and slipped his mask on. The last thing he put on was his belt, after making sure it was fully stocked. He opened the door, and saw Raven running towards him.
"Raven!" he yelled. "What's going on?!"
"Someone is attacking us," she said. "Through our dreams."
"What?" Richard asked, confused.
"I can sense someone else's presence," Raven said. "They're causing everyone to have nightmares of their deepest fears."
"Are you sure?" he asked.
Raven nodded. "I can sense their fear," said Raven. "It's really powerful."
"I guess that makes sense," said Richard. "I was having a nightmare, too. After I woke up, Kori looked like she was having one too, so I tried to wake her up. It didn't work."
"I think that the only way to wake up from these nightmare attacks is to either beat our fears or stop them at the source."
Richard nodded. "Any ideas where I should start looking?"
"Whoever is doing this is somewhere in East End," said Raven. "That's as close as I could pinpoint a location."
"I'll head over there now," said Richard.
"I'll go with you," said Raven, but Richard held up his hand.
"No," he said. "Somebody has to watch over these guys."
"But they won't wake up until we beat whoever's doing this—"
"Or until they conquer their fears," said Richard. "And I want you to help them with that."
Now Raven was the one who looked confused. "What do you mean?"
"I want you to go into their dreams and help them," said Richard. "I know you don't like going into other peoples' minds, but you have to wake them up."
Raven was quiet for a second, but she nodded. "You owe me for this," she said.
"Hey, I was the one who gave you hope when you defeated Trigon," said Richard. "I think we're even if you do this."
"Just go and find whoever's doing this," growled Raven.
Richard nodded. "Right. Good luck."
"C'mon, Adonis," you say, waving towards yourself in the time-honoured "bring it on" gesture. "You getting soft?"
Adonis growls. "Why you...!" He charges at you, swinging a punch. You duck, and Adonis's power-suit causes his punch to break a hole in the wall behind him. You morph into a monkey and jump up, climbing over Adonis's shoulder and leaping off. Adonis turns and charges at you, launching a series of punches. You morph into a hummingbird and dodge the blows, but Adonis gets lucky and hits you, knocking you out of the air. You demorph, and get onto your hands and knees as Adonis approaches.
"Well, well," taunts Adonis. "Guess you're not so tough after a—huh?"
Adonis's teeth had started growing, and he soon noticed the fur growing over his body and the bulging in his muscles.
"What's happening...to me?" says Adonis, his voice trailing off into a howl as he morphs into a Beast.
You start to back away, until you feel the familiar sensation of morphing into another animal. But this wasn't your decision—you clutch at your head as pain travels across your body as the involuntary transformation into your own Beast begins.
Adonis rips his way free of his power armour and charges at you. You grab Adonis's claws with your own, and start struggling against him. Adonis releases his hold on your hands and slashes you across the cheek, and you howl in pain. You retaliate by punching him hard enough to send him flying. Adonis leaps back at you, and you match him blow for blow, slash for slash. Adonis punches you in the jaw, and you respond by slashing him in the gut. Adonis tries to slash your face, but you dodge the blow and bite down on his arm, and Adonis screeches in pain. Adonis punches you with his free hand, and you relinquish your hold on his arm, licking the blood off your teeth. All your instincts are screaming at you to spit the blood out, but instead, you can't do anything as you swallow the blood. You charge at Adonis, slashing at him. Adonis dodges and punches you, and you stagger back. Adonis attacks again, hitting you in the shoulder, and you slash at him again, trying to aim for his arm, but instead tearing open his throat. Adonis collapses, holding a paw to his throat as blood oozes out, and you close in for the kill, trying to stop yourself from doing this—
A black wall of energy appears in front of you, and you run into it, rebounding and collapsing. As you get up, the wall dissipates, revealing Raven standing there.
"Changeling, stop!" she yells. "This isn't you! You can control it!"
You want to say something, to tell her that you can't, but your body isn't listening to you. You bound towards Adonis, but Raven steps in front of you.
"Stop, Changeling!" she yells. You tower over her, doing your best to try and move, but your body refuses to do what you command. "Please, Garfield," she whispers, reaching up and gently placing a hand on your cheek. "Don't do this."
You hear a soft moan, and you realise its coming from you. You lift a hand and place it over Raven's as you manage to regain control, muscles and bones warping as you become your normal self again.
"Thanks, Rae," you whisper once you've finished demorphing.
A small smile graced Raven's lips. "You're welcome," she says.
You reach out and hug her, and, slightly to your surprise, instead of stiffening into a statue like she usually did, she responds, wrapping her arms around you. Also to your surprise is that she feels oddly weightless. You let go of her, and you take a good look at Raven, finally noticing that it's not the real Raven standing before her, but a black energy ghost-like copy.
"What... is this...?" you say as you look around. "Some kind of... dream?"
Raven's soul-self nods. "A nightmare, actually."
You nod. "And it's not a normal nightmare, either. If it was, you probably wouldn't be here."
"You're right," she says. "Someone is giving the team nightmares of their deepest fears. Nightwing is off trying to find who's doing this."
"So... You already woke Nightwing up?"
Raven's projection shakes her head. "He conquered his fears alone and woke himself up. You were the first I woke up."
"Oh," you say, and you feel your face heat up a little. "Well... thanks," you say, rubbing the back of your neck. You sober up and look at Raven seriously. "What you did was pretty risky," you say. "I could have really hurt you."
"You wouldn't have hurt me," said Raven quietly, meeting his gaze. "You've never done anything to hurt me before; why would you start now?"
Raven manages to stun you silent as you gaze into her eyes, a rare occurrence. You cough in embarrassment.
"Um... W-we should... we should wake up the other two," you say, turning around to try and hide your blush.
"Y-yeah... right," says Raven. She took a deep breath. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!"
Nightwing tightened his grip on the handlebars of his motorcycle. If he drifted off now, then he'd crash and burn... and most likely be haunted by another nightmare. Growling in frustration, he yanked off his helmet and tossed it aside. The wind whipped through his hair, blowing dust into his face, but he didn't mind—it would help keep him awake long enough to find who was doing this...
Your eyes are closed, and there is nothing but darkness. Yet you still see words floating in your vision.
Biological Components:
Removed
Repairs:
Complete
"Awaken, friend," says a voice. The voice sounds familiar, but, at the same time, wrong. It sounds like it's being filtered through something mechanical. You open your eyes, and your vision comes online instantly. You sit up with a groan, and find that there are cables attached to your chest and shoulders.
"I am glad you are still functional," says a familiar voice. You turn to see the source, and you recognise him.
"Fixit?" you ask, your voice sounding weird. "Am I back at Tito's Junkyard? Why?"
"You were damaged in battle. I brought you here for repairs, but not everything could be salvaged." Fixit's voice sounded like it was tinged with regret.
"Wh-what do you mean?" you ask, your voice rising. "What couldn't be salvaged?!"
The lights on Fixit's forehead glow red, and one of his robots wheeled in a mirror so you could get a look at the repairs Fixit had made.
"Your biological components were too badly damaged to be salvaged, and my knowledge of medicine is limited at best," says Fixit, as you realise that the robot that you see in the mirror is you. "I was forced to use mechanical parts as replacements."
"No," you say, as the full implications sink in. "NO!"
You smash a metallic fist into the mirror, punching a hole through the metal backing. You'll never be able to feel anything again; never feel the breeze against his skin, the sunlight on his face, Karen's sweet kiss on your lips...
You sink to your knees, and bury your face in your hands, wishing you still had tear ducts so you could cry.
"No," you moan. "This can't be happening. It can't be..."
"Vic...?"
You raise your head, looking at your best friend as he started to walk towards him, Raven floating not far behind him.
"Go away," you say, turning away from them.
"Vic, buddy, I'm not gonna leave you like this," says Changeling, putting a hand on your shoulder.
You yank your shoulder back roughly. "Victor's dead, kid!" you yell. "I'm not alive anymore! I'm just a machine..."
"No, you're not," says Changeling. "You're not just a machine. You'll always have your memories." The green-skinned young man pauses. "And you'll always have your heart."
"Wha...?"
"Even though you shouldn't be capable of feeling emotions, you still can," says Raven. "That's a part of you that no machine could ever replace... just like no machine could ever replace you, Victor."
You feel like there's a lump where your throat used to be, even though it's all mechanical, now. "Thanks, guys," you say, wishing your mouth could move so you could smile. Then you noticed that parts of you were glowing.
"What the hell...?" you say, as the light grows brighter. You raise your arm to shield your optic sensors, and when the light fades, things seem different. You look down at yourself, and see that the small bands of exposed skin on your arms are back. You raise a hand gingerly to your face, and feel cold metal against warm skin.
"Wha...?"
"It's just a dream," says Raven. "Well, a nightmare, really, but you get the idea."
You sigh in relief, glad that it was over. "So wait, why are you two here? And why does Raven look like she's made out of that stuff her powers make?"
"These aren't normal nightmares," says Changeling. "Someone's attacking us through them, and Raven is trying to rescue us from our nightmares while Nightwing looks for the culprit."
"Oh," you say. You raise your arm and activate your sonic cannon with a satisfying whine. "Then what are we waiting here for?! Let's go rescue Star!"
"It's not that simple," said Raven. "Getting into your dreams was easy, but Starfire's mind works differently. It's going to be harder for me to get in."
You and Changeling look at each other, and you both nod. You sit down cross legged, and Changeling does the same.
"What are you two doing?" Raven asks.
"You said it'll be harder for you to get into Star's mind," you say. "We can meditate too."
"Yeah, you need all the help you can get, Rae," Changeling says.
"Thanks," Raven says as a small smile reaches her lips. She sits down with you, and the three of you start chanting Raven's mantra.
"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos... Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos... Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos..."
Nightwing leapt off his motorcycle and ran towards the building. It looked like a simple house, just like all the others in this end of town, but Nightwing knew differently. He wasn't sure how he knew, but his instincts told him that this house was hiding the one responsible for all this... and after years of training with the Bat, and even more time on the streets, Nightwing trusted his instincts.
Nightwing grabs an explosive disc and hurls it at the door. The explosion rips the door to shreds, sending chunks of wood flying. He raced inside, pulling out a pair of bird-a-rangs as he did so.
He ran through the open door, and, at the end of the hallway, he saw a woman. Her skin was pale, and she was dressed in sickly green robes, her eyes closed. She opened her eyes and turned to look at Nightwing, and Nightwing saw that her eyes glowed a strange yellow-green colour.
"Nightwing," she said, her voice echoing for some strange reason. "So nice of you to join us."
Nightwing's eyes narrowed behind his mask. "Phobia," he growled. He'd seen Phobia before. She'd been a member of the Brotherhood of Evil, but he'd only seen her with the whole Brotherhood, never alone in combat. Nightwing had no doubts in his mind that if the Brotherhood's original plan of divide and conquer hadn't succeeded, then Phobia would have attacked the Titans on their behalf.
"Why are you doing this?" Nightwing asked.
Phobia smiled. "To kill you, of course," she said.
"What?"
"I'm sure you know how stressful my nightmares can be," said Phobia. "They're so stressful that they can induce heart attacks. And now that both Changeling and Cyborg are awake, I can focus on all my attention on your little Starfire."
Nightwing yelled, and threw his two bird-a-rangs. The bird-a-rangs punctured Phobia's cloak, and pinned her to the wall. Nightwing leapt at her, kicking her in the face. He then delivered a flurry of punches to her stomach. When she tried to block them, he moved up, smashing his fists into her chest. A few cracks rang out between the sounds of armoured fists striking muscle and bone as Phobia's ribs cracked. The beating continued for a full minute, and when it ended, Nightwing stood there panting as Phobia gasped for air, leaning against the wall.
"Nobody tries to kill my wife," growled Nightwing, before he launched one final punch, knocking Phobia down to the ground. Only his iron will kept Nightwing from following suit. Nightwing pulled out his communicator and keyed it to a certain frequency as police sirens started ringing out.
You fire a volley of starbolts at the oncoming hordes of Gordanians, but they keep coming at you.
Behind you, your husband spins his bo staff, blocking the laser blasts, sending them ricocheting back down the streets of Jump City.
"I didn't think there were this many of them left!" he yelled.
"Neither did I!" you reply.
Richard grabs his communicator and activated. "All Titans, come in!" he yells. "Report!"
"There's only me and Ravager left," said Raven as sounds of combat rang out from the communicator. "Everyone else is dead, even... even the kids."
Richard's eyes grow wide, and you gasp. The Gordanians had killed Melvin, Timmy and Teether?
A grunt echoes out of the communicator's speakers. "Raven!"
"I'm all right," she said. "But Rose is dead."
The communicator shuts off, and a black portal appears in front of you.
"We're the only three left," said Raven.
Richard nods, and pulls out a pair of bird-a-rangs, combining them into a sword. He holds the sword in one hand and the staff in the other.
"Are you two ready for this," he asks.
Raven nods, and so do you. "Richard, I..."
"I know, Kori," he whispers. "I love you too."
You grab him by his shirt and pull him towards you for one last kiss, kissing him deeply and passionately, until your ears start to ring from the lack of air...
Kori's eyes snapped open as she woke up, gasping for air. She sat up and looked around wildly, sending droplets of sweat flying. All she saw was the familiar walls of Richard's room. Her breathing slowed, and she looked down at the empty sheets where her husband should be.
"Richard?" she asked timidly. "Where are you?"
That was when she finally realised that there had been a constant beeping all this time. She reached over and grabbed her communicator.
"Hello?"
"Kori?" said a very familiar voice. "Are you okay?"
"Richard! Oh, X'Hal, I just had the worst nightmare," she said, the words coming out in a rush. "The Gordanians came back, and they attacked the city, and everyone came to help and they... everyone was... killed..."
"Shhh," he said. "It's okay, Kori. It's okay. I'll be back soon, all right?"
Kori swallowed. "A-All right," she said, swallowing.
"Okay then," he said. "I'll be back soon. Love you." The screen of the communicator went black as he disconnected.
Richard pulled off his mask as he ran through the halls of the Tower, shoving it into one of the pockets of his utility belt. He yanked his gloves off next, clipping them onto his belt. He opened the door to his room, and his wife leapt out at him, hugging him tightly as she sobbed on his shoulder.
"Shhh," he whispered. "It's okay now, Kori. I'm here for you. Everything's okay now, I promise."
Richard rubbed his hands in soothing circles around her back, holding her as tightly as she was holding him.
"I've got you, Kori. I'm here."
"That was absolutely horrible," muttered Changeling. The members of Titans West had gathered in the common room. There was no way they could get back to sleep after what happened.
"Yeah," said Cyborg. "I wonder why Phobia hasn't attacked us before now?"
"It doesn't matter anymore," said Starfire. "It's over now. We don't have to worry about that happening again."
"Yeah, I hope so," said Changeling. "What do you guys think?" Changeling turned to face Nightwing and Raven, and his jaw dropped at the sight of them.
Nightwing and Raven had both fallen asleep. Nightwing's arm had been resting on the back of the couch, but it had slipped and fallen around Raven's shoulders. Raven had tucked her legs up on the couch, and her head had ended up resting on Nightwing's chest, and Nightwing was resting his head on hers.
"Well, they were up all night saving us," said Cyborg. "I think they deserve some sleep."
Starfire floated through the air and planted a gentle kiss on her husband's forehead. "Good night, Richard," she whispered.
Nightwing's nightmare is based on the beginning of Apprentice Part I. And by based on, I mean, analysed scene by scene for about half an hour as I tried to write down everything that happened. His fears in both nightmares are the same, too: He's scared he'll become like Slade, and he's scared his pursuit of Slade would hurt his friends. As for why he was able to stand up to those fears, well, he was trained by Batman. He's probably been a victim of Scarecrow's fear gas at least once before now.
Changeling's nightmare is obviously based on The Beast Within. I also tried to add a little BBRae ship-teasing in there. Hopefully I didn't go overboard. Cyborg's nightmare is based on one he had in The Sum of His Parts. Starfire's nightmare is more based on her history and the backstory I fleshed out in Titans Reunited, Brother, The Long Goodbye and Titans Alone. Specifically, the Gordanians, or what's left of them, come back and attack Earth to get Starfire, and end up killing most of the Titans as well. I also tried to hint at Raven's fear, and I thought it was a pretty big hint.
As Phobia learnt, you do not mess with Nightwing's wife. If you do, he will beat you within an inch of your life. Ouch. Those few scenes at the end, mostly I wrote them just to add a little bit of fluff after writing nearly nine pages of in-universe nightmare fuel. And what the hell is Wally up to? I know, obviously, but I'm not telling you just yet, so nyah! ;P
-ShortyBoss.
