Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans.

Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. People grow old by deserting their ideals. You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubts; as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair.

-Douglas MacArthur

The Stuff Dreams are Made of

01:24

Back in Cyborg's room, the android peacefully recharged his batteries for the new day ahead. As he'd entered sleep mode last night, he had been completely confident that his plans would work as he had expected. After all, he knew his friends well enough, and the prediction software he'd personally designed was more than capable of giving a reasonable guess as to the outcome of his actions.

Certainty is a beautiful thing- just like Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, Michael Jackson, and the Easter Bunny. And just like those four, it has absolutely no place in the real world.

Raven was a lucid dreamer- she was generally aware that her dreams were just that- dreams. It was a necessary precaution that prevented her from destroying the Tower in her sleep, and she was able to remain a lucid dreamer as a side effect of her constant meditation.

Unfortunately, she hadn't gotten much meditation in lately, and her mind was frazzled from the emotional beating she had been giving herself over what she had done to Beast Boy. This factor, combined with her emotional state and plain old bad luck, resulted in a very unfortunate circumstance.

Tonight, Raven wasn't dreaming lucidly. Tonight, Raven's mind was under the impression that the images and sounds flashing around inside her head were real. Tonight, Raven's emotions would be affected by her dreams. Tonight, Raven was having nightmares.

Tonight, the unfortunate changeling inside her head was going to get the scare of a lifetime.

On the couch, the violet haired empath began moaning unhappily.

"Beast… Boy…"

This new realm was easily the most frightening one that Beast Boy had found. He found himself walking down a prison corridor, with rows and rows of empty cells. Each cell was full of graffiti… very unpleasant graffiti. None of it bears repeating, but the general gist was enough to make Beast Boy stop reading almost as soon as he started- such vicious messages could only come from Anger… and they were all directed at Raven.

"What's going on with you, Raven?" he asked himself out loud.

As if in response, the light bulbs over his head blinked out, plunging the prison block into total blackness. The cell doors began slamming themselves open and shut, creating an eerie ruckus to accompany the dark. Then, as suddenly as they had gone out, the lights came back on. All of the cell doors were still, and all of them remained open.

Save one.

Beast Boy's curiosity won over his common sense, and he advanced to the secured cell and peered inside. His eyes went wide as he saw what lay inside. A black-cloaked emotion sat on her bed, her back facing Beast Boy. Sensing that she was no longer alone, the woman turned to face her visitor. Both prisoner and guest leapt back in surprise at the sight of each other. Beast Boy was surprised at her haggard appearance, manacled limbs, and muzzled face. The emotion, however, was surprised that she had a visitor at all- surely, she didn't deserve one.

"Beast… Boy…"

The changeling took a wary step towards the cell.

Raven tossed and turned on the couch, groaning miserably.

In her dreams, the half demon stood as the hapless witness to a horrible crime. She had been sitting invisibly on a laundry machine in the Tower basement, watching Cyborg and Beast Boy joke and laugh with each other. Then a flash blinded her. When she opened her eyes, the laundry room and the robotic teenager were gone- there was only Beast Boy, Raven… and Raven. A very angry looking Raven. The violet haired empath watched in horror as her pissed-off counterpart turned into an eighteen-foot incarnation of rage and fury, tentacles waving menacingly at the changeling as she slowly advanced on him. Without thinking, Raven threw herself between the green Titan and her alter-ego.

"No! Get back!"

Her angry self didn't respond, only continuing her slow march towards Beast Boy. Raven tried to use her powers to fight herself, but found that she couldn't bring them to bear. That left her with only one option- she spun around, grabbed his wrist, and shouted.

"Run!"

"No! Get back!"

Beast Boy halted his advance towards the cage at the sound of the voice. He couldn't tell where it was coming from- obviously not from the black-cloaked Raven, as her mouth was still gagged.

A snapping sound made him forget the voice for a second. He looked around, confused, and heard it again. This time around, it was followed by the sound of chains hitting the floor. Looking at the caged emotion, he saw that her restraints had fallen off, and lay in a pile on the ground in front of her.

"Umm… what's going on?" he asked, backing up slightly.

The emotion's eyes flashed red, and tentacles sprouted from beneath her cloak, reaching for him through the cell bars. Beast Boy was paralyzed with fear, standing stupidly as the angry emotion struggled to remove the bars of her prison and attack him. Suddenly, he felt an urgent pressure on his wrist and heard the voice once more.

"Run!"

The voice didn't have to tell him twice- Beast Boy was off like a shot down the corridor, the muffled screams of his pursuer fading off into the distance. Finally, he reached a portal and jumped through it.

Back in the cell, everything was back to normal. The emotion was once again shackled, violet-eyed, and angry beyond words at who she was. Her back again faced the cell door, and the tears that she wouldn't let anyone see her weep began to flow once more. The lights went out again, and when they returned the cells were all open and empty. Somewhere in the prison, a new piece of graffiti appeared.

Robin lay on his back, staring at the starry sky above. Starfire had long ago fallen asleep, and was currently using him as a surrogate teddy bear. His blush reignited as she nuzzled his shoulder and hugged him tighter.

"Mmmm… Robin…"

Mmmm… Starfire…

Beast Boy was breathing heavily, but he wouldn't let himself stop running- not as long as that grip on his wrist told him to keep moving. After leaving Anger's prison facility, he'd found himself facing a mountain that would have dwarfed Everest. He'd begun to run up the mountain when the approaching rumble of a rock slide convinced him to take flight instead. Soaring into the sky, he made a beeline for the mountain's pinnacle. The flight was tiring, but he was rewarded with another portal at the top. Not pausing to think about which emotion would reside atop a crumbling mountain, he flew straight into the next realm.

A courthouse?

Beast Boy halted, taking the time to study the scene before him. A faceless judge in a white robe rattled off a series of offenses in a disinterested monotone-

"On the count of rudeness in the third degree… guilty."

A strangled sob erupted from the defendant's table.

"On the count of being creepy in the second degree… guilty."

Another sob. Beast Boy began to make his way to the crying figure, but was suddenly halted by the appearance of a two-faced statue in a police officer's uniform before him. Before he could react, four hands grabbed him and tossed him through another portal. The last thing he heard before leaving was the judge's continued tirade against the crying emotion.

"On the count of attempted murder in the second degree… guilty."

The figure sobbed once more.

Dream-Raven was distraught- she'd lost Beast Boy! She had only let go of his wrist for a second, and in that instant he had simply vanished from sight. Frantically, she flew around, hoping beyond hope that she found the changeling before she found him.

And then she saw a shape move in the shadows.

"Beast Boy?"

Four red eyes lit up, effectively answering her question. No, it wasn't Beast Boy. Raven tried to attack, but once again found herself without powers. She turned to run, but something caught her leg and lifted her into the air. She let out a panicked cry as she was sent flying. She hit the ground rolling… and rolled into a hole. Shaking the cobwebs from her head, she took in her surroundings.

Alright, she was in a hole. She jumped. No, she couldn't reach the top. She closed her eyes and focused. No, she couldn't levitate. As a last resort, she tried to climb to the top by digging her hands into the muddy walls. She almost reached the top before her grip failed her, and she fell back to the bottom. Resolutely, she tried again. And again. And again. Each time, she got precisely one foot from the top of the hole before falling back down.

Now I know how Sisyphus felt.

She got back to her feet and tried again. She wouldn't… she couldn't let Beast Boy get caught and killed by her alter ego just because she couldn't get out of a dirty hole in the ground.

Her fingers slipped, and gravity reasserted itself once again.

Beast Boy pulled himself up from the grass, bracing himself for yet another horror. Surprisingly, he found nothing of the sort- just blue skies, puffy clouds, bright sunshine, and a hill with a tree on it. It was almost… no, it was peaceful. And it was certainly a welcome change of scenery from… well, everything. Walking confidently towards the tree, Beast Boy felt a sense of… belonging. He didn't know why, but something just felt right about this place- especially compared to all that was so wrong everywhere else.

Reaching the tree, he looked around. Surely, this realm's resident was here somewhere. Maybe she would know what the hell was going on around here. He took ten steps from the tree before falling through the ground.

The surprised changeling landed on his butt at the bottom of the pit. He wasn't surprised at the pit- the way he figured, something had to be wrong with this place, just like everywhere else.

No, Beast Boy was surprised at the six year-old girl dressed in white staring up at him with wide eyes.

"Umm… hi? I'm Beast Boy… wait, you know that- you're Raven! Gah! Sorry, I'm a little… wait- who are you?"

The girl stuck out her hand in a business-like manner. Not wanting to be rude, Beast Boy shook it.

"I'm Hope, and I think we can help each other out of this mess."