"What are they doing here! I thought you were coming here for the week!"

Jinx switched on the communicator on the main room's computer to call Cyborg. She had the three little children sitting at the sofas behind her (and from what she can tell of the very large indent beside Melvin, "Bobby" was in the room with them).
"Well I'm sorry, Jinx," said Cyborg through the computer screen, "But we need to keep the kids somewhere safe while we're helping the other Towers. So far, you guys have made the most recovery from our little incident last week."
"And so you're dumping the kids on us! If you haven't noticed, we've already exceeded the standard amount of Titans in a Tower."
"Look, I don't know what to tell you. We have no one else to watch over them for now and it's only for one night. We'll be over in the morning to pick them up and I'll be here the rest of the week to repair the training room as planned."
"One night! Nobody but only Raven can survive them for more than one hour. And besides everyone's too busy, I hardly have any time to keep my eye on Fenton let alone-"

Then it hit her. The little girl from H.I.V.E. Academy peaked through with an evil smile. Cyborg caught it immediately from the screen.
"Jinx, Jinx I know what you're thinking but don't-"
"Not to worry, Cy," she said in an innocent voice, though her intentions were anything but, "we've got it covered over here. See you tomorrow."
Before Cyborg could protest, Jinx turned the monitor off. She grabbed the communicator from her person and made a call.
"Jinx to Spook, come in Spook, I need you in the main room of North Tower as soon as possible."

"Would please stop calling me Spook."
Jinx jumped in fright as she found that Ophelia had been behind her the whole time she called her.
"Well then maybe you shouldn't live up to your name. I'm sixteen, I would like to have the heart of a sixteen-year-old."

"Pfft" Opehlia rolled her eyes.
"Anyway," said Jinx with an exhausted tone. "Fenton, I believe you've met the youngest members of the Teen Titans."
She motioned to the toddlers on the sofa and Ophelia followed. Her eyes shined sweetly at the sight of the three.

"Aww, little munchkins, I remember you. You were at that party we had last week."
She flew over to then and bent over to be at eye level with them. She pointed at the scowling red-haired boy "You're Timmy Tantrum, name's self explanatory," she then picked up the baby in the blue onesie, "You're Teether, the baby with a bite as big as his tickle spot," she giggled as she tickled the baby's tummy, causing him to giggle. She then floated to the girl in the cape and pigtails, "And you're Melvin, I think you're like the leader of this itty bitty trio, right?"
"I guess" Melvin said with a shrug. She stuck her hand out in the open space next to her and held some unseen thing in the air. "And this is Bobby."
Ophelia looked at the empty space and smiled. She handed Teether over to Melvin before floating over to the dent in the couch known as Bobby. She eyes shined brighter when she inspected the space, and her smile brightened with it. She tilted her head upwards to look at what seemed to be empty space above her eye level.
"Oh yes, hi Bobby," she chimed to the empty space. She flew up and stuck her hand at the empty space. "Nice to see you again, you are a lot bigger than I remember."

"Aww," cooed Jinx, "you're pretending to see Melvin's imaginary friend."

Ophelia blinked in confusion.
"Am I not supposed to see the giant sentient teddybear sitting on the couch?"
Jinx returned Ophelia's confusion with a skeptical glare.
"You're telling me you can actually see the giant sentient teddybear?"

"Of course I can," Ophelia snapped, "it's a giant sentient teddybear!"
Timmy leaned over to Melvin, "What's a centy-ant?"
"I don't know, I don't remember giving him anything centy."
Jinx waved a dismissive hand to end their small dispute.
"Teddybear or no teddybear, you seem to love kids."
"I guess, I mean, I have a cousin their age that I sometimes watch over with her big brother. And these guys are pretty adorable themselves. I mean, look at them, all dressed up in their little costumes. I'm guessing their superpower is being freaking adorable."
Jinx covered her mouth to suppress a giggle. Maybe she should give Spook a warning about the kids and all, just so not to be too cruel and all….but then again, this girl just took down the Brotherhood of Evil single-handedly, she should be able to take care of them without any help whatsoever.
"You know, I just got off the phone with Cyborg and he said that we'll have to watch over them for the night. And since you don't really have anything else to do, I thought you would enjoy spending the day with them."
"Aw thanks Jinx, that's very nice of you but I really have to do some work on my case. It is the reason why I'm here, after all, and I haven't been able to do any investigation since that thing with those fraternity people-"
"I think you mean the Brotherhood of Evil."
"Oh right, thank you – anyway, as much as I want to enjoy spending the day with these little angels, I really need to get some work done."
Jinx picked up Teether and held him up to Ophelia.
"Come on, Phé, don't you think you can spare just one day of your casework to spend with these little angels."
She held Teether close to Ophelia's face. "fey, fey," he chirped innocently. Ophelia leaned to the side and gave Jinx a skeptical glance.
"Why do you want me to watch over these kids so badly? Is there something about them I should know?"

"Oh, nothing really, they're just what you'd expect from three adorable little children with superpowers."
Ophelia's eyes narrowed, flashing like a green fog light.
"You're overselling them to me, and I don't like what I'm inferring from it. Why can't you watch over them?"

"Tch, because I'm busy."
"Making out with your boyfriend at the speed of sound is not busy."
"That's not what I was planning on doing today!"
"I know, you were planning on making googley eyes at Cyborg while he repairs the Tower. It is the reason why you let me and Rose trash the place, isn't it?"
"If you haven't noticed, I'm dating Kid Flash."
"I haven't seen a relationship stop someone from flirting with someone else," she said with a bitter edge, with a grumble she added, "It certainly doesn't stop some people from kissing other people either."
"Ew! Kissy face!" was the response from the three little children the girls were arguing over. Teether tried to struggle his way out of Jinx's arms. "Cooties! Cooties!" he whined.
Jinx's face flushed and gave Ophelia a wicked stare.
"None of that is relevant to the task at hand. Someone in North Tower needs to watch over these little monsters and that someone is going to be you!"
"I've been doing stuff for the North Tower all week! How about I do something for myself for once? "
"You'll get you're downtime once these kids are in bed asleep tonight. Look, if you do this one job, you can have all of next week off to do whatever you've been doing outside of being a Titan."

Ophelia's eyes went from Jinx to the children and back to Jinx. With a grumble and a sigh, she held her hands up in surrender.
"Fine, I'll do it. Tomorrow morning, the kids will up and ready and you will not bother me the next week."

Jinx smiled.

Victory.

"Deal."

She bent down to the children and tussled Teether's hair.

"Ophelia will be watching over you today. You all will have lots of fun, I'm sure of it."

With that, she got up and walked out of the room.

"Take care." Was the last thing she told them before the doors closed behind her.


Seeing as the Tower was filled with weapons, sharp objects and general things that do not belong in sticky little fingers, Ophelia took the three young Titans to the park in Evergreen. She was right to suspect that there was a reason Jinx were overselling the kids, as she found out when she had to pry Teether from the monkey bars.
"Hey, don't chew on that." She chided, "You don't know what's been on it."

As she pulled him away, a good chunk of the metal was ripped out in his teeth. What was left was dripping in baby drool. Ophelia blinked in disbelief.
"One can't help but wonder what it will be like when the permanent teeth set in." She thought aloud.

Her attention was then drawn to the soft screech of bending metal. Melvin and Bobby were sitting on the now crooked swing. Only she could see that the swing set was bending under the invisible bear's great weight.
"Oh dear," said Ophelia. She put Teether down, the child still gnawing on the piece of monkey bar.
"Stay put," She told him, "I'll know if you crawl off."

Ophelia nearly flew over when she remembered that she was in, as her teammates would joke, "civilian mode". She rushed over to Melvin, the girl obliviously trying to swing at her crooked angle.

"Melvin, sweetie," Ophelia said sweetly, " I believe Bobby broke the swing set. Don't you think it will be easier if you had him straiten it back out?"

Melvin shrugged, "I guess."

"Would you please have him fix the swing set?"

"Okay."

As invisible paws went to work, Ophelia raced back to Teether. She found him gnawing contently on the piece of monkey bar he hung onto. She picked him up and held him in her arms.
"Alright sweetie, why don't you give me that icky, nasty hunk of metal that might have harmful germs or lead-based paint, and I will give you…" after looking around to see if anyone was watching, she formed a little plastic teething ring out of her ghost energy. "This little toy completely safe for babies."

Teether looked at the toy in awe, possibly due to her pulling it out of thin air or the fact that it's bright green. He dropped the piece of metal onto the ground (Ophelia barely turning her foot intangible in time before it fell on it) and grabbed the teething ring out of her hand. Ophelia smiled.
"There we go," she cooed, "that's a good baby."

As little Teether was attacking the to with his teeth, Ophelia started to feel tired. And as she felt tired, the ring started to fade out of existence. Eventually, Teether was chewing on air. Ophelia watched this in bewilderment.

"What the-"

Teether noticed that he was robbed of his chewing implement and tears were starting to well up in his eyes. He pierced her eardrums with his outraged screams.
"No, no, no, no, don't cry." She stammered frantically, "Please don't cry."

She rocked and cooed and patted, anything to calm him down. Nothing worked, he kept on crying, and mixed with her exhaustion it led to a serious headache.
"I knew I shouldn't have agreed to this." She said to herself, "This isn't worth a week, this is worth a month. If I see Jinx again…"

She stopped her thought when she realized that another, more powerful set of lungs was crying out. She spotted Timmy sitting by a tree crying up a storm. Being unable to think of anything else, she set Teether on the sandbox and rushed over to Timmy.

"Hey little guy, what's wrong?"
"My…blankie…." He sobbed.
"Your blankie? What happened to your blankie?"
"My...blankie….tree!"
Ophelia looked up the tree next to them with quizzical eyes. Lo and behold, Timmy's little blue baby blanket was caught on a branch high up, way high up. It fluttered in the breeze like a flag, claiming the tree in the name of troublesome meta-toddlers everywhere.

"How did you get that all the way up there!" she said incredulously.

She could not get a clear syllable out of him, he was wailing beyond the point of legible conversation. Ophelia sighed.

"No worries, I'll get it."

Again, she checked if anyone was looking. The coast was clear as far as she could see, but to be sure she turned herself invisible. She flew up the tree and untangled the blanket from the branch. She turned herself visible as she came back down with Timmy's blanket in hand. By the time she reached the ground, Timmy was on his stomach pounding the earth with his hands and feet.
"Hey, hey, stop that." She told him, "Look, I got your blanket, see? Nothing to get upset about."

She held the blanket in front of his face. He immediately spotted the blanket and ripped it out of her hands. He held it to his face like it was a soft kitten. His tantrum was over.

"How about you go and play with Melvin and Bobby at the swings?" she suggested.

Timmy ignored her and kept on hugging her blanket.
"Or you can just stay right there. I'll be at that bench way over there, go there if you need anything. Do not scream."

With that, she headed back to where she had left Teether. Once again, he was gnawing on the piece of monkey bar he had torn off. This time, however, Ophelia waved it off and let him have the chunk of metal. She was too tired to fight with him.

As she had told Timmy, she sat on the bench in near defeat.

"Jinx so owes me for this." She mumbled to herself.

She felt her eyelids get heavy and they were starting to droop shut. Then she felt a familiar presence, though she had great difficulty remembering what exactly the presence was.

"Hey, are you alright?"

Ophelia was startled awake when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She pulled her head up, combing her fingers through her hair to clear her vision. Now she remembered the presence, it was that girl from the fountain the day the Brotherhood attacked. Somehow, she was blanking out of the name. There was something wrong with her insight, she couldn't read it off of her. What was her name? It was something unusual and Shakespearean…
"Hey," Ophelia greeted, "Tamora, right?"

Tamora smiled, Ophelia could tell that she was slow at recognizing her as well.
"Right, and your Ophelia. We met here a week ago before that crisis, I remember."
"How have you been?"
"Very well, thank you. How've you been? How's Casper High?"

Ophelia's eyes widened. How could she know of Casper? She immediately relaxed when she remembered.

"Oh right, Casper, it's not too bad. Though, they have these ridiculous rules about….uniforms and names. The kids there are nice and all, and they only mean well, but I feel like outside those walls is the only place where I can just be me. The real me, the me before I had to leave my home and family."
"Home and family?"

Ophelia's eyes flashed at her slip.
"You know, my home in my old town….. And my friends….. I consider them my family outside of my real family."
"Okay…"

Their conversation was interrupted at the sound of screaming children. Ophelia immediately scanned the area for her charges.

Of course.

Kardiak, that mechanical heart thing she fought the night before, was invading the playground attacking the kids. The thing had been contained for twenty four hours and it had escaped. Where does this city's tax money pay for instead of decent law enforcement?

Ophelia nearly flew over and changed into her Spook get up if she didn't remember Tamora's presence and the Titans' strict rule on secret identities. She turned to the girl.

"Go get help, I'll get those kids out of there."

"How are you supposed to do that?"

"Let me worry about that."

"But-"

She didn't bother to hear Tamora's argument and instead ran towards the creature. A dust cloud was being kicked up from the creature chasing after the children and Ophelia dove into it, turning herself invisible in the process. Two white rings formed out of nowhere and pulled apart from each other, revealing a white haired, purple-eyed ghost girl in a black and white suit. She flew out of the dust cloud with her hands glowing and charged.

Right when it had little Teether cornered, Ophelia tossed a ghost ray at it. It turned towards her, making her think it might have eyes somewhere.

"Hey ugly, what part of me ripping your limbs off and stuffing them inside you did you not get."

The heart beated angrily, shooting one of its tentacles towards her direction. She turned intangible and let it phase right through her.

"Haven't you learned since the last fight that you can't touch me? I guess not since you would need a brain to retain memory."

She turned herself invisible, confusing the creature greatly. She made herself visible behind Kardiak and formed a large mallet with her ghost energy.

"Let me introduce you to a friend of mine: say hello to Mr. Hammer."

She swung it over her head, ready to smash the thing for good. Right when she was about to bring it down on Kardiak, she felt woozy and the mallet flickered out of existence.

"Goodbye, Mr. Hammer." She said in a state of disbelief.

In her state, Kardiak swung its tentacle at her. She wasn't able to turn herself intangible in time and was knocked into a bench a few feet away, breaking it under her. She pulled herself up and rubbed the back of her head where she was struck by the bench.

"- the heck is going on?" she mumbled to herself.

Apparently Kardiak was not done with her as another tentacle was shooting towards her. She dodged out of the way just in time, letting the tentacle demolish what was left of the bench. She charged her hands for another ghost ray, making sure this one was extra strong. The purple ball of light grew larger and larger until it was a sparking mass the size of a beach ball. When she thought it was charged enough, she let it fall from her hands and punted it at Kardiak. It hit it dead on, and it exploded into tiny pieces. Ophelia didn't consider the shrapnel, and scanned the area anxiously to see if the kids were alright. To her relief, Bobby was shielding the young Titans from the falling pieces. She started to walk, but her legs felt like jelly and she fell to her knees. She felt out of breath, like she had sprinted a mile on foot. She had never felt so tired in a fight before, at least not one on one. Something must be wrong.


After she got all the kids to the Tower and made sure they were somewhere they couldn't get killed or where they couldn't destroy anything, she headed straight to the medical ward. She told the rest of the Tower of what's been happening to her and they helped her with the examinations.

"It looks like your energy levels are drastically low." Concluded Kid Flash after looking at the readings from one device.

"How low is 'drastically low'?" Ophelia asked.

Kid Flash handed her the paper, her eyes flashed bewildered.

"That's pretty low."

"Have you over exerted yourself in any way?" asked Argent while monitoring Ophelia's heart rate.

"No, not since that thing with the Brotherhood, but I should've recovered by then. I've recovered from worse in shorter amounts of time."

"Then what do you think it could be?" asked Kid Flash.

"I think I have an idea." Everyone turned to see Ravager walk in. She went to the computer on the opposite side of the room to where everyone else was set up and opened a file. It appeared to be about the physiology of ghosts.

"From what I've read of the files your parents sent over from your world, the ghosts thrives on ectoplasm."

"Well, of course they do, it's what they're made of." Ophelia said.

"It's only logical that you half ghosts depend on it as well to some extent, especially when in recovery. Yet, while ghosts are unlimited amounts of energy, you can only generate so much within yourself, thus you draw ectoplasm from your surroundings."

Ravager then opened a file on ectoplasm levels in different areas.

"Your home world has a heavily ectoplasm-enriched atmosphere, even the air on the Human Plane is thick with the stuff. While our universe has no levels of ectoplasm to speak of, leaving you unable to draw the energy you need."

"If that's true, then why haven't I felt like this in the past weeks I've been in this world?"

"Your body has been running on reserve energy since you've came here, and you never seem to need to use a lot of it until you went up against the Brotherhood. That fight depleted your energy levels and now you're totally dependant on the energies you can generate on your own. Since you've woke up, you haven't allowed yourself to properly recover and thus depleting yourself to a point to where your powers are starting to fail."

Ophelia looked away with a pout. She knew she was right.

"Alright then, Dr. Rose, what do you suggest I do for this?"

Ravager looked at her like she asked the dumbest question in the world.

"Get some rest, you idiot. Stop trying to see how long you can go without sleeping. And it wouldn't hurt to eat something, it will help you look less like a skeleton."

"I do not look like a skeleton! Just because I don't have an hour-glass shape or big squishy meat pillows doesn't mean I'm emaciated!"

"You still need to eat something."

"I do!"

"Then eat more, you need as many calories as you can if you want to use your powers again."

Ophelia crossed her arms. She always hated medical places, the people there were so sure of themselves and their answers.

"Fine, once I finished dealing with those kids, I'll spend my whole week getting my strength back. But now, I have to make sure they haven't destroyed anything, make them dinner, and put them to bed."

She got up to leave but Argent pushed her back down.

"You can't be serious. You can't handle those three on your own, especially not in this state."

"I can and I will, Jinx and I made a deal, and I intend to hold up my end."

"She'll understand once you tell her about this." Said Kid Flash.

"We are talking about Jinx, right?"

"You know, she's not as bad as you think she is."

Ophelia got up and walked to the door.

"I know, I know, she only wants what's best for the team. That's what makes it all the worse. My whole life has been people prodding me, seeing how I tick, seeing how I can be useful to them, and deciding my fate without any consideration on how I feel about it, and it's all because they wanted what was best for their species. And they were more subtle than her."

The door opened in front of her, but Kid Flash blocked her exit.

"She wouldn't let you go on missions anyway, just look at you."

"I can't look at myself, I'm too weak to make a duplicate."

She tried to turn herself intangible to phase through him, but nothing happened. Great, now she can't even use basic ghost powers.

"Just relax, okay? We already finished all our missions for today so we can all help you with the kids. It's not like-"

Ophelia covered Kid Flash's mouth.

"Don't say it!"

"Say what?" he mumbled into her mouth.

"Whatever you were about to say, don't say it. In my world, whenever you say anything like what you were about to say, the universe takes it as a challenge. And the universe is never merciful when challenged."

Kid Flash lifted her hand off his mouth while giving her an unconvinced glare.

"That maybe how it works in you're universe, but it's not in ours. If I say something like, oh say, Kardiak breaks out and attacks children for the third time in twenty four hours, doesn't mean it will happen."

Ravager facepalmed herself and slid down into her chair.

"You just had to say that."

"What? You can't tell me you believe her, it's not true."

"Sadly it is, as we're about to get the alert in three….two…one…"

Right on cue, the alarm went off across the Tower. The door opened behind Kid Flash with Jinx on the other side.

"Kardiak is on the loose for the third time in twenty four hours and is attacking the suburbs, move out!"

She ran down the hall. Kid Flash turned back to Ophelia, who glare at him with an "I told you so" look.

"That would be the universe accepting your challenge."

"Shut up" he said before he ran out of the room in a red and yellow blur. Argent followed him, leaving Ravager and Ophelia the only ones in the room.

"I'm guessing I'm staying here and watching after the kids?" Ophelia said.

"Looks like it," said Ravager, with a smile she added, "But don't worry, I bet Jericho will stick around to help you."

Ophelia blushed and glared angrily at Ravager.

"I don't need his help, he can go and write love poems for Kole for all I care." Then she stormed off.
"That's what he does anyway." Shouted Ravager after her.


After flooding the whole bathroom and adjacent parts of the bathroom, she managed to get all three Titans clean and dressed for bed. She herself had to ditch her dripping clothes and slip into a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt that was much too big for her and towel dry her hair enough not to soak her shirt. The kids took one of the few spare rooms still left in the Tower. She tucked them in, putting Teether between Timmy and Melvin so he couldn't roll off. Bobby sat at the corner of the room, reminding her of an actual giant teddy bear a little girl would keep in their room.

"There, now that we are squeaky clean and have full tummies, it's time for everyone to get some sleep."

She didn't even get to get up before Timmy kicked the covers off of him.

"No sleep!"

Ophelia showed her irritation.

"Yes sleep, everyone sleeps. We all need sleep, especially little boys and girls."

"No bed!"

"Oh come on!"

Melvin climbed out of her spot in the bed and sat next to Ophelia.

"You can't make us sleep without a story."

"A story? Sure, I can tell you a story. What kind of stories do you like to hear?"

Melvin shrugged.

"I dunno, anything I guess. So long as it's good."

"That helps narrow it down."

Ophelia thought about it for a moment. Then she snapped her fingers when the story came to her.

"Wait here."

She rushed out of the room. After a few minutes, she came back with a little blue book that was ragged and faded with age.

"You guys will love this one, it was one of my favorite stories when I was little."

She got the kids back to their original spots on the bed and sat next to them so they could see the pictures on the book.

"' Once when I was six years old I saw a magnificent picture in a book, called True Stories from Nature, about the primeval forest. It was a picture of a boa constrictor in the act of swallowing an animal. –'"

"Boring!" shouted Timmy.

Ophelia pulled her head out of the book in disbelief.

"Boring? It's only the first line of the story, don't you want to hear the rest of it before you decide if it's good or not?"

"Boring! Tell us a better story."

Teether chimed in, chanting "Bad story, bad story,"

Ophelia went over to Melvin.

"I thought you said any story was good."

Melvin shrugged.

"They must have sensed that the story was going to be long. They don't like long stories."

"Alright, let me think of a short one. How about the story about the three little pigs?"

"No"

"Little Red Riding Hood?"

"No"

"Goldielocks and the Three Bears, Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella?"

"No, no, no, no, no,"

The children were making a whole tantrum of no's, irritating Ophelia to no end. She was too tired for this. She spent the whole day taking care of these kids, the least they could do was behave and get to sleep.

Then it hit her, and a wicked smile spread across her face.

"You three better behave and get to sleep, I wouldn't want the Sandman to come get you."

The whining stopped, their curiosity silenced them.
"The Sandman?"

"Oh yes, the Sandman, obviously you've heard of him."

The children looked at her dumbfounded.

"No? Oh dear, I came around just in time! You see, up in the moon, there is a man quite unlike anyone you'll ever meet, and you'd be very lucky if you never meet anyone like him at all. For you see, in the middle of the night, he comes down to Earth and goes into the rooms of little children who refuse to go to sleep. He tosses a handful of his magic sand into their eyes, causing them to fall right out of their little heads. Then, he puts them all in a bag, and takes them back to his home in the moon. There, he feeds them to his children."

She stopped and looked over to the children. They were utterly terrified. Perfect.

"But you don't have to worry about the Sandman, so long as you close you eyes tight and go to sleep, for he never goes after little children while they're asleep."

The children looked at each other, they were absolutely drained of color. Ophelia smiled and got up from the bed.

"Now go to sleep," she told them, her finger hovering over the light switch. "And remember, the Sandman won't get you if you keep your eyes closed."

With that, she turned off the lights, and the doors closed behind her.


It felt like hours, lying on her bed staring at the ceiling. She could not sleep, she was tired but she could not sleep. She was not surprised. She could never sleep alone, not without her dog resting at her feet. She had been this way since she was little, afraid of would come to get her if she was alone. What surprised her is that she could still be afraid of monsters under the bed when those monsters are far, far away.

Frustrated, she kicked the sheets off of herself and sat up. She combed her hair back with her fingers and sighed loudly. Why couldn't she sleep for one night, she needs it. If she wants her powers back, she needs it. If she wants to live she needs it.

"Maybe if I watch a little TV, it'll help me sleep." She said to herself.

She went to the main room of the Tower where the TV was. The people in this world watch a lot of weird shows. There were some that reminded her of what she'd watch at home, and some that weren't even close. Quite a lot of the things she'd watch were about the superheroes around saving the day. It was like her dad's publicity times a thousand. How does this world manage to tolerate all these heroes when her own can barely manage one and fighting for a second? She'll never know.

She felt something drape over her when she realized that she had fallen asleep. She opened her eyes and saw a hand pull a blanket over her shoulder. She looked up to see those hazel eyes look down on her. She smiled.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey," he said back.

"How'd you get all the way here?" she said.

"I walked."

"To another dimension?"

"It was a long walk."

She kissed him and kept on kissing him while she sat up. Was she that tired that she couldn't see anything? She pulled away, her smile fading.

"Why haven't you come to see me until now? I missed you."

"I did too, but after the hospital I got lost. By the time I made it back to Amity, my family moved away and you were gone."

Ophelia held the side of his face.

"I looked everywhere for you. Everyone thought you….that you didn't…."

She casted her eyes down, she couldn't look at him. His held her hand in his.

"I almost thought I wasn't, but I didn't want to stay. I wanted to see you."

Ophelia bit her lip. She pulled her hand out of his and balled up a handful of the blanket on her lap.

"Why, you left me, remember? You said you couldn't be around me, that one of us would…"

She couldn't see anything anymore, the tears blurred her vision. He wrapped her arms around her and pulled her to his chest.

"Shh, it's okay."

"I'm so sorry. You were right, you were right all along. You got hurt and it was because of me."

"But I'm better now, and Pariah's gone, we don't have to worry about any of that anymore."

She couldn't stop crying.

"You were in so much pain, and I put you through that."

He was quiet for a moment, torturing her the whole time.

"Yes, it hurt. It was the most unimaginable pain you can think of. But I would do it all again for you. I care about you, Phé."

Ophelia was quiet.

"That just makes everything worse."….


Somehow, Jericho could not seem to get himself to go to sleep, but it was not uncommon. It was the Wilson family curse, after all. No one in his family ever got a good night's sleep, and he could never tell if it was because of how he and his siblings were conditioned or sleep never came to them easily regardless. His lack of sleep drove Kole crazy when they would stay under the same roof. She refused to sleep until she got him to do so, or until she got too tired to stand and he had to put her to bed. When they ended up living in separate Towers, Kole was worried of him staying up all night without her there to get him to sleep. He helped her calm her down by agreeing to check in with her every night when he was going to sleep and every morning when he woke up. All it did was keep her from worrying, and him in bed staring at the ceiling.

He forgot that he wasn't alone in the Tower, so he was surprised to find the TV on in the main room. Then he found Ophelia curled up asleep on the sofa. She was holding herself like she was cold, so he found an old throw blanket to drape over her. Almost as soon as he did, tears rolled down her face. He never knew people could cry in their sleep, he had seen people cry themselves to sleep but not in their sleep. What could she be dreaming to make her so sad?

Gently, he shook her awake. Her eyes snapped open and she scanned the area to process where she was. Finally, her eyes rested on him. The sadness and confusion transformed into anger, and it was directed straight at him.

"What are you doing, I was asleep!"

Frightened by the bite in her voice, Jericho lifted his hands from her.

You were crying. He signed.

She blinked surprised, and brushed her fingers under her eye. She saw the wetness on her fingers, and he saw her conclude that she had in fact been crying. Ophelia dropped her hand and went back to glaring at him.

"So? I was still sleeping, I needed the rest, I haven't slept in a week."

Is it because you have dreams that make you cry in your sleep?

"Shut up!"

Jericho held his hands up in surrender.

I was just worried.

"Don't be, I can handle myself. Worry about the girlfriend you never see and let me sleep."

A scream rang out from far down the halls. Ophelia got up from her seat.

"Or more like let me see to the kids." He heard her say, not sure whether or not she was still talking to him.

He touched her arm, and she looked back over to him.

You need any help?

"I'm fine, they're just little kids."

Little kids with superpowers.

"But they're still little kids, and human ones at that. You try looking after a ghost kid one time and tell me how hard it is to watch over the little Titans."

You ever babysat a ghost kid?

"I was one, and I've heard enough of my old babysitter's complaints to know that they're nothing compared to a toddler who can fly, walk through walls, disappear, and have super-sensitive skin."

Ophelia winced at the last remark, like she said something she didn't want him to hear. He cocked his head to the side. Sensitive skin?

What does sensitive skin have to do with-

He was interrupted by another scream coming from down the halls. Ophelia turned to it.

"I gotta go see what's wrong."

She climbed over the couch and headed for the door. She didn't stop herself to let the doors open and slammed right into the doors. She fell backwards onto the ground with a loud "Oof!"

At first, Jericho was really worried that she hurt herself, but then he saw she was fine. When he figured out that she had just tried to phase through the door and failed, it became very hard not to laugh. She looked over her shoulder and glared at him. There was a hint of a spark in her eyes.

"Shut up!" she said before getting up and running through the now opened doors.


She raced down the halls and made it to the door to their room when a third scream ran out. This time, she waited for the doors to open before she came in. The three youngest Titans were huddled together in their bed. Melvin had her arms protectively around Timmy and Teether, although it was quite clear that she was no less scared than the boys. They were shaking in their fear. Bobby was standing at the foot of the bed, seeming to ward off something that wasn't there.

Ophelia went to their side.

"Is everything okay?" she asked.
Three pairs of frightened eyes went to her.

"We had our eyes closed, we promise." Said Melvin in a tone that pleaded for forgiveness, "We were even falling to sleep and then he showed up."

"Who showed up?"

"Sandman!" Shouted Timmy.

Ophelia rolled her eyes. Should've seen this coming.

"Sandman?" Ophelia looked around to humor the children. "I don't see a Sandman anywhere, and I've got really good eyes."

"Bobby scared him away," Melvin explained, "But was right here, honest."

"I'm sure he was. But since Bobby scared him away, there is no chance that he'll come back here again, and as long as you go to sleep."

She tried to get up, but the kids screamed at her slightest movement.

"Don't go! What if the Sandman comes back!"

"Bobby seems to have it all under control, don't you Bobby?"

Bobby tilted his head to the side, as if he was confused with her question. He replied with a big grin that showed every one of his sharp, sharp teeth.

"And I'm too tired to be of any use."

"You can be our nightlight."

"Huh?"

It was then she noticed that she was the main source of light in the room. Great, she thought, I can't fly, I can't turn invisible, I can't walk through walls to save my dignity, but at least I can glow in the dark.

"You don't need a nightlight, you won't see a light when you go to sleep. Now, it's way past everyone's bedtime, it's time for us all to go to sleep."

"But what about the Sandman!"

"He'll have to go through me, the rest of the Titans, and Bobby before he can get to you. He sneaks around grown ups to attack small, non-superpowered children so I don't think he'll stand a chance against us."

She had them lay back and pulled the covers over them.

"Now get some sleep, Titans West are coming over tomorrow and I don't want them to see you all haggard."

She walked out and waited a few seconds outside the room. She closed her eyes and saw the children's psyches. They were still scared of the Sandman, but it seemed she had assured them enough for them to get sleepy. When she saw that they were completely knocked out, and their dreams played out like shadow puppets, she left with a smile on her face.


He couldn't let her sleep like that, he had to wake her up. Why did she get so mad at him for waking her up from a bad dream? Did she forget it as soon as she woke up? Or was it one of her best dreams in comparison to what she usually dreams of? If that's true, then what are those horrible things she dreams of?

He tried to stop his train of thought. He knew better than to interfere with someone else's life, but he can't help it. His father told him that his greatest weakness was his heart. He cared too much about other people, even people he doesn't know that well. Kole told him that it was her favorite thing about him, his absolute selflessness and empathy for others. She said it was those qualities that made him a loyal friend and the best boyfriend a girl could ask for. Through her, he saw his qualities made him something greater, better than his father could ever see: it made him a true hero.

The doors opened and Ophelia sauntered back in with a satisfied smile on her face. The smile faded a little when she saw him.

"You're still here?" she said with a cheery voice.

Jericho just gave her a shrug.

"Don't you sleep?"

You're the one who hasn't slept in a week. He signed.

"Touché, Joe, touché. You hungry? I feel like I could eat a horse….my mom would be so mad at me if she heard me say that."

Jericho shrugged again.

Is there anything left in the kitchen?

"Yeah, I remember there being a lot of stuff left after I cooked the kids dinner."

She walked over to the kitchen area and checked the pantry.

"All the junk food is gone, probably because of a certain red-headed speedster." Then she checked the fridge.

"And we've got a bunch of take out. You guys have a scary lack of produce in here…..Oh wait, I think I see some greens….No wait, that's just green stuff. Gross!"

She shut the refrigerator door and went to the freezer.

"Oh look, Bobby didn't eat all the ice cream after all." She pulled two cartons out of the freezer. "Hey Joey, do you want Rocky Road or Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl – strike that, you're getting Rocky Road."

Actually, I'm not a big fan of ice cream.

Ophelia looked at him like he just sprouted a second head.

"You don't like ice cream? How can you not like ice cream, it's ice cream!"

Jericho shrugged.

It just doesn't appeal to me.

Ophelia put one of the cartons back and pulled a spoon out of the silverware drawer. She pulled the top off the carton and dug the spoon in as she headed to the couch with Jericho.

"You've got weird tastes, Joey, next thing you're gonna tell me that you don't like cake."

He gave her a look to tell her the statement may not be too far fetched. This stopped her from sticking the heaping spoonful into her mouth.

"No, really?"

Jericho couldn't help but smile. He quietly laughed.

I'm just kidding.

Ophelia smiled and gave him a playfully shoved his shoulder. She then went to eating her ice cream.

"So, I haven't heard from the rest of the guys for a while." She said between bites. "Should we be worried?"

Nah, this late at night they probably went out after the job.

"They ditched us?"

Could be, then again, sometimes Jinx makes everyone do night patrols after a fight.

"So either they ditched us or we dodged a bullet, or rather you did. Deal or no deal, I highly doubt she'd want me doing field work in this condition."

Jericho smiled.
Who knew that the mighty ghost girl could wear herself out like a battery.

"Hey, saving your sorry butt takes a lot out of a girl, and you guys get yourself in trouble a lot. You guys should have punch cards, save your life eight time and I get a free frozen yogurt."

She stuck another spoonful into her mouth.

You seem to be handling this rather well. Not that I have much experience, but one would think that a meta would freak out once they found their red sun.

Ophelia looked at him confused. She pulled the spoon out of her mouth.

"Red sun?"

Jericho was confused as well.

You know, like how a Kryptonian loses their powers when they're under a red sun.

"Kryp-to-ni-an?"

From the planet Krypton? Superman's people?

Ophelia tilted her head to the side.

"Is he that guy with the magic ring?"

Jericho tried not to laugh.

I sometimes forget that you're not form this universe. A red sun refers to when one finds themselves in a place where their powers don't work. This universe seems to be your red sun, what with the lack of ectoplasm.

"This is only temporary, I just need to rest up, store up on enough empty calories for winter and I'll be back in that ridiculous costume in no time."

They were silent a few minutes, watching television while Ophelia finished the whole pint of ice cream. When she was finished, she dropped the spoon into the empty container and put them on the ground beside her.

"So, Joey, why exactly are you up so late at night?"

Jericho turned his head back to her, his eyebrow razed curiously.

Excuse me?

"I'm sorry, is that too personal a question to ask? It's just…the only few people I know who stay up this late are those who've done night patrols so long that they developed insomnia, like my parents, and then there are people who can't go to sleep because they're afraid-"

Of what?

Ophelia looked away.

"You know, of what could happen to them when they're asleep."

You mean bad dreams?

"A little more than that."

Jericho turned away from her, he signed from where he sat hoping Ophelia could still read it from a profile.

I think I know what you mean. When I first ran away from home, I was always afraid of what would happen to me if I didn't keep my guard up. Obviously sleeping was a problem. Where could I rest that would be safe, what would happen while I was asleep, would I wake up in time before it happened, would I wake up in the same place? It was only when I made a home up in the mountains of Tibet that I could get something resembling a good night's sleep, but even then I couldn't sleep an entire night.

"Why's that, I doubt there are a lot of muggers and child-snatchers up in the summits of northern Asia."

I was never afraid of that. I've been trained by the best to defend myself, plus I have my superpowers. There was only one person I was of finding me, and no mountain would've stopped him.

"You're dad?"

Jericho nodded his head.

You may not think a lot of him, but he is the most dangerous man you'll ever know. When he finds something he wants, he will stop at nothing until he gets it. I actually thought I was safe with the Titans, Rose and I both did, but you saw for yourself how easily he capture them and had us in a corner. If it wasn't for you…

Jericho dropped his hands onto his lap. His eyes rested there with his thoughts buzzing in that fearful uncertainty.

If it wasn't for her…

He felt Ophelia's hand on his shoulder and turned towards her. She was smiling in that sympathetic way Kole does when they talked about their sad little lives.

"Hey, don't think anything of it. The point is I was there, and everyone is still here. Trust me, I've spent my whole life thinking about what would happen if my dad wasn't there to save me, it doesn't do you any good."

Jericho gave her a half-hearted smile.

I guess it's not a good thing to dwell in the past, but Slade is still my present. He's still out there somewhere, planning his next move. Every night, I think of how easily he could come into the Tower and take me and Rose, of what he would do to the others while he was in here. Every night I wonder if I'll wake up in the same bed in the morning, or if it will be the last night I'll ever see the Titans again, the last night I can ever talk to Kole again.

Ophelia hugged her knees and looked out the window besides the TV.

"Yeah, I know the feeling. Believe me, I know exactly the feeling."

I'm guessing your parents having a lot of ghostly enemies does that to you.

"Some not all that ghostly."

There was a pained look in her eyes that gave Jericho the feeling that they were hitting something deep. Although there was a chance that it would an absolutely horrible question to ask, he just had to know.

What's keeping you awake at night?

Ophelia looked at him like he just struck her across the face. She closed her eyes and hugged her legs tighter and closer to herself. Right when it seemed she was about to say something when screams once again echoed down the halls. Both looked back to the door.

"Again? That story must have really messed them up."

Jericho raised an eyebrow at her. He tapped her shoulder so she would look at him.

What story?

That pained look in her eyes has long vanished, and in its place was the look of a guilty child.

"What story?" she parroted back. Another round of screams hit them, this one loud enough to crack the windows in their rooms.

"Oh man, they must be really freaking out. I gotta go calm them down before they bring the whole Tower down."

With that, she raced out of the room. He debated whether or not to follow after her to see if she needed any help, worried that she might snap at him again for trying or not trusting her or whatever's been going on this whole night. About five seconds after the doors closed, he leaped up from the couch and followed after her. It's better to be safe than sorry….well, sorrier than Ophelia would make him.


She made it to the door right when the third wave was starting up. She immediately turned on the light as she came in and inspected the scene. Everything in the room looked as if it had been tossed around by a miniature hurricane. As she had expected, the windows were completely shattered, letting the cold night air barge into the room. On the corner where she last saw Bobby rest was a shaking mass under Timmy's blue baby blanket. Ophelia went over and pulled off the blanket, revealing Timmy and Teether screaming and crying.

"Boys, boys, it's alright. It's alright, I'm right here. Let's get away from the broken glass now."

She picked both of them up and away from the window and set them down on the edge of the bed. The boys calmed down enough to stop screaming, but they were still quite shaken up. Ophelia checked to see if the glass cut them. Fortunately, there wasn't a scratch on them.

"Thank goodness you didn't hurt yourselves."

"…Sandman…" Timmy whimpered.

"Yeah, I know, you thought you saw the Sandman and freaked out. But I'm here now, and as you can see, there is no Sandman here. You're all safe, all three…"

That's when it hit her. She went to the head of the bed and pulled off the covers.

"Where's Melvin?" She told them sternly.

"Sandman" cried Teether.

"Yes, I know, the Sandman is scary, but you need to tell me now: where's Melvin?"

"…Sandman….took Melvin!" Timmy shrieked.

"What!"

She looked around the room more frantically. Under the bed, in the closet, she even checked under the desk and behind the dresser.

"Melvin! Where are you, Melvin? Melvin!"

Total panic was setting in, and it got worse and worse every second she couldn't find Melvin. She turned from the dresser and saw Jericho at the door. He looked worried and confused, but not the appropriate amount like she felt.

What's going on? He signed.

"Melvin's gone."

He didn't even sign anything, the look in his eyes screamed out his shock.

"I don't know, I just found the boys crying in the corner and the room's a mess and I can't find Melvin anywhere."

Jericho looked around.

I don't see Bobby anywhere, he signed, so maybe he's with her and she's safe.

"Or maybe something happened to her and it caused him to disappear."

She held the sides of her head and tangled her fingers into her hair.

"Oh man, what if something did happen to her! That girl, that poor, poor girl. We've got to find her before he kills her."

She was about to run out of the room when Jericho caught her by the arm.

He? Who's he? Who would kill her?

Reading his sign pulled her out of a fog and brought her to where she was. Oh crud, what did she just say?

"I-I don't know who would want to kill her, of if anyone would want to kill her. I mean, she's just a little girl…that's it!"

What's it?

"Kardiak! It attacked us earlier today. It must've gotten out and came here for the kids. And now it's got Melvin. Oh god, what it's going to do to her? What does it do to the children once it takes them?"

Jericho shrugged.

"Shrugging? No shrugging, why are you shrugging, this is not the time for shrugging! The absolute worst time for shrugging!"

She grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him close to her face.

"A four-year-old girl just got abducted by a cold-blooded monster, you are not allowed to shrug!"

Jericho backed away and held his hands up in surrender.

Alright, sorry, no shrugging, he signed, but I seriously don't know what it does with the children it captures, no one does. We usually stop it before we find out. Look, if Bobby's not here, then there's a good chance he's tracking it down right now to save Melvin.

"That's not enough, if it was Kardiak wouldn't have been able to grab her in the first place. We better call the rest of the team to keep an eye out for it." She looked back over to the two little boys sitting on the foot of the bed. "We should also get these two somewhere a little bit safer. I'm taking these two to the main room and calling for backup."

Ophelia picked up Teether and held him with one arm while offering Timmy the other. Timmy hopped off the bed and took her hand. She led them to the door and turned back to Jericho.

"You coming, Joey?" she asked.

He gave her a nod. When she was about to turn back, he help up a hand to stop. Apparently he had one last thing to add before they left the room.

She's six.

"Huh?"

Melvin's six years old, not four.

Ophelia raised an eyebrow. When she got what he was saying her eyes widened.

"Did I say she was four?"

Jericho nodded. Ophelia covered her anxiety with a half-hearted smile and a nervous laugh.

"Honest mistake. Thanks for the correction."


It was strange how calm the boys were the whole way, Ophelia had only known them for a day and she knew that it was unusual for them. The poor things, Kardiak must have scared them into a stupor. Well, Kardiak and her Sandman story.

In no time at all, they all made it back to the main room. She set Teether down on the couch and Timmy promptly set himself down beside him, holding his blanket to his face and thumb in his mouth.

Jericho went straight to the main computer, shutting off the TV and opening up the communication line. In less than a minute, Jinx's face came on screen.

"Jinx to Jericho, what's the problem?"

Ophelia raced to the screen.

"Jinx, we've got an emergency over here-"

"Spook? What are the kids doing up so late? And where's Melvin?"

"That's the emergency, someone broke into the Tower and took Melvin. I think it was Kardiak. It attacked the kids earlier today when I took them to the park. I took it down and it got taken away, but it could've easily escaped and came back here for revenge. You should have the rest of the team keep an eye out while we go out and search for them in the woods."

"Unless 'we' is a singular pronoun in your universe then no." Jinx said, Ophelia could hear the anger buried in her voice. "One of you has to stay in the Tower and watch over the boys. I will not have another child be put in danger. Jericho: you are going out to find Melvin, and Spook: you are staying here and watching over the boys."

"But Jinx, wouldn't it make more sense that I go look for her. With my insight and everything, I would be able to spot them at a much greater distance than Jericho. That and I'm a lot more powerful than him, Jericho's only power requires eye contact and how is he supposed to do that when Kardiak doesn't even have eyes?"

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jericho glare angrily at her.

"No offense to you, Joey, I'm just stating facts."

"And I'm going to state a few more: you don't have your powers to fight Kardiak if you find it. Jericho is one of the most skilled combatants in not only North Tower, but out of all the Teen Titans. He's able to handle himself if his powers fail, much better than you can. You burnt yourself out because you rely on your supernatural abilities and never learned to develop your natural ones. And by these reasons, I order that you stay in the Tower and watch over the two kids you haven't lost yet, and Jericho go finds the one that you did lose. Do I make myself clear?"

"As a summers day." Ophelia said bitterly.

"Good. I'll update you on anything we find. And Ophelia: when this is over, whatever the outcome is, I'm filling out a report and sending it to both to Robin and your parents, and we all are going to have a serious talk about this. Jinx, out."

The screen went black as the communication ended. Ophelia's eyes glowed so brightly they were pure green. She punched the main control panel of the screen, smashing a large hole into it for sparks to fly out of.
"I don't care about that! I want to find Melvin before something bad happens to her!"

Jericho held both her shoulder and had her face him. He didn't use his hands to sign anything to her, but she got the message in his eyes. It's okay, they said, I've got this all under control.

Ophelia averted her eyes.

"How am I suppose to sit here knowing that a child in in danger because of me?"

Jericho tilted his head over to the couch. Ophelia looked over at Timmy and Teether. They were completely terrified, and they had no idea what was going on and it terrified them more. Ophelia looked down at her hand in the panel and pulled it away embarrassed. She went over to the boys and knelt in front of them.

"It's okay, guys," she cooed to them, "We're going to find Melvin and bring her back safe and sound, I promise."


Whatever Kardiak did while it was here, it caused the elevators to stop working. That meant Jericho had to take the stairs all the way down to the exit at the base of the Tower. As he went down, he mused how he was probably the only one in the Tower who doesn't mind taking the stairs. They weren't that bad, at least not to him, the Tower only had twenty floors. He had to remind himself that not everyone lived in a rocky mountain summit before they came here, and twenty flights are a lot to some people.

Halfway to the ground floor, Jericho spotted a light coming from one of the floors. A shadow was shown on the floor before the closing door engulfed it in darkness. He went to the floor and cracked the door open to take a peek. He caught a glimpse of the figure just as it turned a corner. Jericho took out his communicator and sent out a message to the team.

There's someone in the Tower. It might be Kardiak. I'm going to investigate.

He put the communicator away and quietly followed after the figure. He turned the corner right as a door closed. Jericho knew that room, and that door was the only way in and out of it. He's got him now.

He opened the door into darkness. The only lights were the ones of the city on the other side of the lake as well as the blue-white glow of the moon shining in the window. This faint light gave the silhouette of the intruder that Jericho followed. It wasn't Kardiak, Jericho was certain of that. The shape was that of a full-grown man of no unusual shape or size. There was some sort of glint where his eyes were, most likely from a pair of glasses. He seemed to be looking right at Jericho, like he was sizing him up. Jericho let the door close behind and prepared himself for a fight.

"You kids live here all on your own? Where are your parents?"

Jericho didn't move. He doubted that this guy could read sign language anyway.

"Not speaking, eh? I guess I can't blame you. Not a lot of people like talking to strangers, especially kids." The man walked a little closer to him. Jericho could see him better now that he wasn't so much in the light. His hair was white, though he didn't look old. He was wearing sunglasses, despite it being the middle of the night, and an unsettling smile that even took Jericho aback. This man seemed to be inspecting him more closely.

"You've got nice eyes, kid. I don't think I've ever seen eyes like those in a long time. They look sweet, like candy. In fact," He took a handful of Jericho's curls and took a knife to the side of his face. "I could pop them out and eat them right now."

In one quick movement, Jericho twisted the hand that was holding the knife until it clattered to the ground and kicked him square in the stomach. The man went back a couple of steps, and Jericho wasted no time punching him square in the jaw. His sunglasses fell and slide a foot or so away. The man was turned away so Jericho couldn't see his face.

"A fighter. Alright, kid, you wanna play rough…" he turned his head to Jericho. To the blonde Titan's horror, the man has no eyes. In their place, there were two little mouths filled with razor sharp teeth.

"I'll play rough!" he said through his little eye-mouths.

Jericho snapped back right in time to get punched in the gut and thrown across the room. He hit the window and felt it crack behind him. It took him a while to feel the pain, he couldn't remember if that was a good thing or not. He pulled himself up only to be pinned against the broken window with a knife at his throat.

"Now, what should I do with you?" the creature said through one eye-mouth, the other eye-mouth said: "Should I kill you now or let you experience me ripping your eyes right out of you pretty little head."

Jericho didn't flinch too much from the knife as he fought to break free.

"Still not talking, pretty boy?" the creature asked with his real mouth. "Shame, I bet a kid like you has a beautiful voice. I bet you could sing me a beautiful song that only Orpheus could outdo. Don't you want to sing for me, kid? Don't you want to sing for your life?"

The creature pressed his knife harder against Jericho's throat.

"Step away from the boy, monster."

The creature turned, Jericho looked over his shoulder. Ophelia stood in the doorway, leaning against a baseball bat. Her ethereal glow revealed her better than the moonlight. Her eyes shined more than the rest of her, like a cat's. She did not flinch at the sight of the creature's three mouths, which came as a surprise to Jericho.

"Go away, girl," said the creature, "This game is not for you."

"Then we'll have to play a new game," she said, clutching the bat in her hands, "It's called 'let go of my teammate' winner gets to keep all his teeth."

The creature let go of Jericho and turned to face Ophelia.

"You don't want to play any games with me, child."

"No, you're right, I don't. I would rather know where Melvin is."

Jericho looked at her and to the creature. His blood ran cold at the thought of this thing taking Melvin. He almost wished Kardiak took her instead.

"I wouldn't hurt her. There are rules against hurting people like her."

"I don't believe you hurt her, I believe you took her. Where is she?"

The creature left Jericho and sauntered over to Ophelia.

"If I told you that, then I would have to go home, and I don't want to go home yet." He used the knife to brush Ophelia's hair out of her face. "I haven't even started my fun."

Ophelia swung the bat and hit his side. The dropped the knife and put his hands to where the bat hit him.

"I'm going to ask you again: where's Melvin?"

"You're quite strong for a girl your size." The creature said with a grunt. "But I've been hit enough times with a lot worse things then little swing with a stick."

The creature stretched and straightened himself out. There were cracking sounds like bones realigning themselves, but the creature made it seem like it was no different than cracking his knuckles. Ophelia swung the bat again, but this time he caught it in his hand.

"Maybe we should get rid of this before somebody gets hurt." He said in a patronizing tone.

Ophelia yanked at the back and kicked the creature square in the stomach. The blow made him stumble back and he fell into a stack of boxes. Jericho took this window of opportunity; he grabbed Ophelia by the arm and led her out of the room. The door closed behind them. Jericho punched in a code in the keypad by the door and the door locked. Not even five seconds passed before they heard the creature pounding on the door from the other side of the room.

"You think this door is going to keep you safe? When I get out of here, you two are going to be begging for me to end your insignificant lives."

Jericho looked over to her. That bravery she had before was gone now, in its place was fear. There was a certain look in her eyes that told him the fear wasn't really for the creature. It seemed like she wasn't there in the present at all.

He touched her shoulder and she jumped. She turned to him with the bat ready. When she registered he was her friend she lightened her grip on the bat, looked at it, and then lowered it completely. She looked back at him and put her hand on his shoulder.

"You okay?" she asked. Jericho nodded.

Where are the boys? He signed.

"They're still upstairs, asleep. I found this program in the security system that barricades the room until I got back. When I got your message, I decided to go down and help you."

Jericho looked at the bat in her hand. She followed his eyes to it and looked back at him sheepishly.

"What? I can't use my powers and I'm a sucky fighter. The only way I had any chance against anything is with an anti-creep stick."

That's a bat.

Ophelia giggled to herself.

"Oh, right sorry, my family's name for them."

Jericho raised his eyebrow and shrugged it off. He pointed towards the hallway.

"Yeah, we should get out of here." Ophelia agreed.

As they walked, Jericho heard her mumble to herself "I don't remember saying he had teeth for eyes."

Jericho stopped in his tracks. Ophelia noticed and turned to him.

What did you say?

Ophelia gripped the bat nervously and looked up at him with guilty in her eyes.

"You're going to hate me, but do you know the tale of the Sandman?"

The guy who puts sand in children's eyes to give them good dreams?

Ophelia looked confused.

"That's not the story. When I was little, my babysitter told me that if I didn't go to sleep, the Sandman could come and take my eyes to feed it his children in the moon."

Jericho eyes widened.

That's your world's version of the Sandman? What kind of universe do you live in!

"Hey, it's not like your universe is all sunshine and rainbows. You have a giant mechanical heart that steals children."

Then it clicked. Jericho voicelessly groaned.

Please tell me you didn't tell the kids that story.

Ophelia couldn't even look at him.

"They wouldn't go to sleep and thought the Little Prince was boring." She defended in a low voice that he would hardly hear.

Jericho put his hand to his face and let it slide down off of him.

You can't them stories like that, they'll have nightmares.

"Yeah, I know, hence that guy." She said, thrusting a thumb in the direction of where they locked the creature.

Jericho was bewildered.

What?

"I may not have all my powers, but I still have my insight. That thing, whatever it is, it has a trace of Melvin's psyche on him."

You scared Melvin so much that she brought her nightmare to life.

"She brought something here, but I don't think it's really her nightmare. The thing reads a little like Bobby, but there's something else to him. I can't explain it, but he doesn't feel like he came straight out of her head, more like he's using her head to come here."

As much as he tried, he had no clue what she was talking about. He only got the basic idea: that creature came from Melvin and he's the one that took her.

Why would he take Melvin?

"My guess: he needs her to stay tied to the physical world."

So if we find her, we'll be able to take him out of existence.

"Which leads us to our current problem: where is she?"

She has to be in the Tower somewhere. We just need to look around.

"Two people looking for a little girl in a twenty story building, that's not going to take long at all. Doesn't this place have some kind of sensor whatsit that tracks the number of heartbeats or heat signatures or something?"

Jericho shook his head. Sadly, their security systems only indicated when people were coming into the Tower, it doesn't so anything to keep track of the people inside. Cyborg was going to install a new system that could do that when he got here, but that wasn't until the morning if they were lucky.

What about you? Didn't you say your insight could detect a person a mile away?

"Yeah, but that's when I'm in my peak health. And even then, I wouldn't be able to tell if it was Melvin until I'm in the same room. For all we know, that Sandman nightmare may not be the only one."

You need to try.

Jericho could see he was convincing her. He could also see she was trying to convince herself.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. He could see her cornea move under her lids. Her forehead wrinkled.

"I think I have something." She said. "There's someone down in the basement."


With every flight of stairs, Ophelia wished she could fly down. The feeling of dread became worse when she imagined the trip back up the stairs. Why on all the nights to lose her powers did it have to be the one when the elevator was broken? What made it worse, she found, is that she turned out to be very clumsy without her powers to keep her from bumping into things or falling over completely. Nearly every flight she went down, she would slip on a step and slide the next five steps down on her butt.

"Why did he have to keep her in the basement?" she grumbled to herself.

She slipped again, but this time Jericho caught her. Her cheeks felt warm when she noticed her face was too close to his. The very next second, she pushed herself away from him.

"I'm fine." She told him flatly.

Jericho gave a simple nod and kept going. Ophelia followed, keeping her hand ready over the rail.

Eventually, they reached to the basement at the bottom of the stairs. Ophelia closed her eyes and used her insight to scan the floor.

"Aside from us, there's only one other person down here. It feels like Melvin, but so did the Sandman. I'm seeing it that way."

She pointed to the direction of the storage room. Jericho nodded and led the way.

"You know what's bothering me? Bobby is at Melvin's side all the time and I can't sense him at all. What do you think happened to him?"

Jericho looked over his shoulder to her and then turned back to the path in front of him.

"I don't think the Sandman did anything to Bobby. If the two of us manage to take him down, then there's no way Bobby could lose to him."

Jericho didn't say anything. She guessed he didn't want to waste time turning around and signing to her.

They made it to the storage room. Ophelia had never been down here before, only the training room in the floor above, so she was surprised to find the storage room the size of an industrial warehouse. Baffled, she held up a hand, weighing an imaginary item on her palm. "Needle," Then she pointed to the room, "Haystack."

She looked over to Jericho.

"What do you guys keep down here!"

Jericho shrugged.

Do you see her?

Indignantly, Ophelia repeated her previous gesture.

"Needle! Haystack!"

Jericho rolled his eyes.

Do you have a general direction?

"Yeah, but that general direction could stretch out for miles for all I know."

Let's start with the direction and go from there.

Unenthusiastically, Ophelia pointed to the direction where she saw Melvin's psyche. Jericho nodded and motioned for her to lead the way. She sighed and took the lead.

"So this is you're idea to find her, play hot and cold with my powers all night? What if the Sandman gets out of the room? We can't leave the boys alone while he's out there." She stopped by an aisle "I think we passed it."

They turned around and wandered a little ways towards where they came from. She stopped again and took a step back.

"Here," she said, "I think she's down here."

They went down the aisle. Ophelia kept her eyes closed and a hand along a shelf to lead her the right direction. After what seemed like half an hour, she stopped at the end of the shelf. She smiled.

"She's here, right around the corner. I can feel it!"

She darted around the corner and he smile faded. Boxes, crates, containers of all kinds, were stacked altogether in one corner. Even the smallest of the containers was large enough to hide a little girl inside. Ophelia's eyes flashed.

"Great, a haystack within a haystack." She grumbled.

It's only a few boxes, Jericho signed, and with the two of us sorting through them it shouldn't take too long.

Ophelia nodded and gave a half-smile.

"I'll take the left, you take the right."

Jericho smiled and nodded back.

The two spent what felt to Ophelia like hours checking every single box and container. The more empty boxes she opened, the less hope she had in finding Melvin.

"What if my insight is wrong," she said aloud, "what if I've lost too much ectoplasm to use them properly? What if she's not here and we came all the way down here for-"

Ophelia stopped herself when she heard something. There was a sound, muffled and almost quiet enough to not be there at all, but it was there. Ophelia put her ear to the pile of boxes she hadn't gone through and heard the sound clear enough to tell what it was: the whimpering of a small child.

"Melvin!"

Ophelia pulled through the boxes, getting closer and closer to source of the noise. Near the bottom of the pile, there was a metal drum with holes stabbed into the top, air holes, Ophelia thought. With what little strength she had, Ophelia pried open the top of the drum. Inside she found Melvin, curled up into a little ball. She was shaking, Ophelia couldn't tell if it was a shudder or a shiver. She was still asleep, whimpering to something playing out under her eyelids. She was holding something tightly, Ophelia surmised that it was some kind of plush toy despite not being able to see it clearly from her angle and the poor lighting.

An intense wave of relief and joy overwhelmed Ophelia. She felt like she was about to cry. She pulled Melvin out of the drum and hugged far too tightly for anyone to breath in.

"Thank goodness you're alright." She cried out. "I was worried sick about you!"

A tear spilled over when she realized she heard the same exact words coming from her mother for as long as she could remember. Now she knew what she felt like when she wandered off thoughtlessly and got herself in trouble.

Carefully, Ophelia clambered down the pile with Melvin held tightly to her chest. It took no time to reach the ground again.

"Jericho, you can stop looking, I found her!"

She turned away from the pile and all the color drained out of her.

The Sandman was holding Jericho from behind, holding a knife to his throat.

"You two were a lot easier to track down than I thought." Said the Sandman.

"Let him go!" Ophelia demanded.

The Sandman shushed her.

"Inside voices, please, you don't want to wake the child."

The color in Ophelia's eyes flashed back in full vibrancy.

"Let. Him. Go." She said in a hushed tone.

"Oh, no worries, you'll get him back." Said the Sandman through one of his eye-mouths. The other said, "After I have a little fun with him."

"Let go of him right now or you will be wearing false teeth in your sockets!"

Her threat was met by three of the creepiest smiles she had ever seen in her life.

"Not even in your dreams do you have a chance in defeating me, girl. But I like your moxie so I'll cut you a deal: you leave the child with me, where she will go unharmed, and I'll give you back you're boyfriend-"

"He's not my boyfriend!" she protested. "He's someone else's."

With a slight scowl of annoyance, the Sandman spoke again.

"Give me the child, and his sweetheart will get to see him alive again."

"Though he won't be able to see her." He mocked through an eye-mouth.

"And what if I don't?" she asked.

"Then I kill you both inhumanely."

"I never kill girls," said a different eye-mouth than before, "they're eyes just don't taste as good as boys' eyes. But you look like you'll make a delicious exception."

Ophelia's eyes dimmed to a near grey at the thought. Despite her squirming insides, she had a straight and serious face.

"Why should I believe you?" she asked, "What says that you won't kill us anyway?"

"I don't lie. You have my word, everyone will leave here alive so long as you stop looking for the child."

Ophelia looked down at Melvin, still asleep in spite of her surroundings. Ophelia held her tighter and turned her away from him.

"I don't believe you."

The Sandman's smiles grew wider, making her heart stop for a moment.

"Then I guess we don't have a deal." He turned his head down to Jericho, "sorry kid, but this is what happens when you make friends with idiots."

To everyone's surprise, Jericho got out of the Sandman's hold and knocked him down in one swift motion. Ophelia looked at him in awe.

"How'd you do that?"

Jericho smiled, the first time she ever saw him look smug.

I'm a Wilson.

The Sandman picked himself up. The three creepy smiles were gone and replaced with equally terrifying sneers.

"That's it, pretty boy, I'm not playing nice anymore!"

Jericho motioned Ophelia to the boxes before taking a fighting stance.

"No, he wants to kill you. Let me fight him."

More sternly, Jericho pointed to her, then to his eyes, then to the boxes. She got the message, and before she could protest Jericho was already fighting the Sandman. Ophelia rolled her eyes.

"And the thing called me an idiot."

Ophelia knelt down and laid Melvin across her lap. She started to shake her.

"Come on, Melvin, wake up!" Ophelia said gently, trying to hide the desperation in her voice. "You need to wake up right now."

Melvin squirmed in her arms, she groaned a little in protest to being woken up. Ophelia shook harder.

"Melvin, please, wake up!"

Slowly, Melvin's eyes opened. Even slower, she processed her surroundings and what had happened to her. She eyes shot up to Ophelia, both relieved to see her and afraid of what might still be out there. Frantically, she pieced together what she wanted to say with the words she could barely grasp.

"Feelya! The Sandman, it was here! It-"

"It's alright, Melvin, he can't hurt you anymore. He was just a bad dream."

"No it's not, he was here, he made Bobby go away and took me somewhere scary."

"I know, sweetie, I know, but he's gone now-"

"No he's not, he's right there!"

Ophelia looked up to where Melvin was pointing. She was dumbfounded. The Sandman was still there, fighting Jericho…and winning.

"What! But I don't get it, he's just a bad dream. He should've gone away when you woke up."

"He's not a bad dream, he's real! You told me so, remember?"

Ophelia bit her lip. She sighed and averted her eyes in guilt and shame.
"No, he's not. It's just a story people in my world tell children to scare them into behaving. It was wrong for me to scare you with that, and I'm sorry. And now we're all doomed by the product of my horrible trick and your over-active imagination…" Her eyes flashed excitedly. She had an idea. "That's it! Melvin, the Sandman is real, but only because you made him real. You can make him go away, you can make him unreal."

Melvin held onto her plush toy tighter and shook her head.
"I can't, he's too scary. He made Bobby go away."

"He didn't do that, you did. You got too scared and imagined the Sandman in Bobby's place. He's only scary because you made him that way. You can make him go away, you can bring Bobby back, you just have to try."

Melvin shook her head fervently. Tears were going down her face.
"No, I can't, he'll hurt me."
"If he could hurt you, he would've done it already. Listen to me, Melvin, there's a reason he hasn't hurt you yet. You're the only thing that's tying him to the real world, he can't hurt you or he'll rick cutting that tie."

She looked over to Jericho's fight with the creature. The Sandman had a knife poised over Jericho's left eye, and Jericho was using all his strength to keep it away. Ophelia could see his hands shaking. The knife was getting closer and closer to his eyes, threatening to take away his sight as well as the source of his power. Ophelia turned back to Melvin with more urgency as ever.

"You think he has power over you because he's big and scary, but he doesn't. You have all the power here, you can make him go away. I know you're scared, I'm scared too, but part of being a hero is saving the day in spite of that fear. You need to be brave, Melvin, you need to save Joey."

There was something in Melvin's expression that told Ophelia that she was listening. Melvin looked down at her plush toy, and then over to Jericho. The glint of the knife showed that it wasn't even an inch away from his eye. Jericho closed his eyes and tried to turn his head away, only for the Sandman to force his head back and pry his eyelid open. A spark of showed through Melvin. She got up from Ophelia's arms and stood tall like a big person.

"Hey, you meanie, leave him alone!"

The Sandman turned to Melvin, he didn't react much to seeing her awake.

"Go back to sleep, child, you can't do anything to help him."

Melvin looked indignant. She crossed her arms stubbornly and stamped her foot.

"No, you can't tell me what to do! You go away! Go far, far away!"

Ophelia saw the Sandman fading and then realized that it shouldn't be able to turn invisible. The Sandman seemed to notice too and got up from the ground, sparing Jericho's eyes from his knife.

"What are you doing! Stop this right now!"

"No! Go away!"

Ophelia couldn't tell if her was looking at her or Melvin, or if he was looking at all, but whatever he was doing he was pretty far from happy.

"You think that if you wish me away I'll stay gone! I'm everyone's nightmare! I'm the dark mirror of the subconscious humanity dares not look into! I'll be back for you all, and trust me, when I do, this will all seem like a mercy! Mark my words, you will all be sorry!-"

Whatever he planned on saying next went unspoken as the last bit of him faded out of existence. The only thing that was left of him was his knife, which clattered to the floor. There was a weird jerking movement in Melvin's arms. She looked down at the plush toy. With a strange knowing smile, she placed the plush toy onto the ground and took a few steps back beside Ophelia. Now Ophelia could see that the toy was a little brown teddy bear, it's great age shown in its faded spots and patchwork stitching. Suddenly, the bear got bigger and bigger, the stitching became more and more prominent. Life sparked into the bears and Ophelia immediately recognized the creature.

"Bobby!"

Melvin ran up to the bear and jumped up to hug him. He hugged her back and held her up in the air with a big smile. Despite having sharp teeth like the Sandman, there was no sign of malice in his happy expression. Melvin pulled away from the hug with a scolding look.

"Don't you ever leave me again, you silly old bear."


Titans West arrived at North Tower a little after daybreak. Jinx and the rest of Titans North made it home only minutes before their guests arrived. As Cyborg looked over the Tower's systems to see what was still in order and what wasn't, Raven asked about the kids.

"They were perfect angels," said Jinx, "Hardly any trouble at all."

"You sure you didn't have any problems?" asked Robin, "We got reports of Kardiak being spotted around Evergreen. We were worried it would target them."

"Oh, that thing, we took care of it before you even left the children with us. They're still asleep, poor things, so if you want to see them you have to be very quiet."

"This I've got to see." Said Raven, allowing Jinx to lead the way.

Jinx did a very good job hiding her nervousness, only Raven was able to sense it. As they got closer and closer to the spare room where the children slept, the more and more nervous Jinx felt and the more and more worried Raven felt. When they finally reached the door, Jinx hesitated for a moment. But then the doors slid open and they walked in.

The three children were sound asleep in the bed, with Bobby resting not too far away. Ophelia was on the bed too, sprawled out asleep as if she passed out just as soon as they did. Jericho was sitting against the side of the bed asleep. There was something in his pose that gave him the appearance of a guard standing vigil, ready to get up and fight at any given moment. As Raven looked at this, she fought the urge to smile.

"Do you want to take them now?" Jinx whispered.

"Actually, there's no rush. Let them sleep a little more, they look like they're having good dreams."