The Second Curse: A TT Fanfic-CHAPTER 26

A/N: This is Chapter 26 of my OC Teen Titans Fanfic, The Second Curse. If you have not done so, please read the Prologue first, and then the chapters that precede this one. Note: there is no First Curse; this is not a sequel to anything. Hope you enjoy! : )

P.S. I can't believe it's been three years since I started writing this story! I never thought it would take this long, to be honest. I'm amazed to have kept readers this long, and that I still love the story as much as I did when I started writing. I'm also surprised I've managed to keep it a secret for this long. No one who knows me knows I write fanfiction. It's like having a secret identity, and I think I like it that way. Sabbath's story is far from over (maybe a little less than half way?), and I don't think I'll be able to stop writing it until it's finished. I want to know how it ends hopefully as much as you all do! So keep reading and I promise to do my best to keep things interesting!

"Who's Brother Blood?" Sabbath asked. She was sitting around the table in the main room of the Tower with the rest of the team (except Beast Boy, who was still washing off the week's stress in the Pacific Ocean). She'd barely had half an hour to relax –which was not nearly enough time to catch up on sleep– before the crime alarm had sounded, accompanied by Robin's voice on the intercom calling for a group meeting. She'd taken off the restrictive bandages that bound her wings and changed into more comfortable clothes, but her hair was still a mess.

"He's the headmaster of HIVE Academy," Cyborg said, sounding confused. "But what's he doin' at the high school?"

"But if he's part of the HIVE, it makes sense that he'd be there. The HIVE is supposed to be infiltrating the school to gain new recruits, right?" Sabbath replied.

"No," Robin said. "Brother Blood never handles his work directly. I'd expect him to have his top students on this job, but I never imagined he'd get so closely involved."

Sabbath looked down at the file lying open on the table. It was some basic information on the HIVE from the mayor, along with additional information on Brother Blood himself that Robin had dug up. She skimmed the man's description once more, trying to get a clearer picture. 'Telekinesis…highly intelligent…skilled physical combat…' Then she found something particularly disturbing. "'Psychic mind control'…?" she read aloud.

"Brother Blood can make anyone do anything," Cyborg said grimly. "Without even lifting a finger."

"Almost anyone," Robin added. "Cyborg's immune to his control because half of his mind is mechanical."

"But I saw what he did to his students when I went undercover at the HIVE Academy. He'd have an entire lecture hall under his control. Their eyes turned blood red, and suddenly they were his slaves."

"And his psychic powers must be what I'm sensing," Raven said. "It's as if he's blocking me. Instead of an emotional overflow from the students all I can hear is white noise from his interference." She reached one hand to her temple, as if just remembering the migraines summoned a phantom pain.

Sabbath continued to flip through Brother Blood's file. She came upon a picture, and looked closely to see if she'd seen him anywhere at school. For a minute she thought his eyes looked familiar, but then decided against it.

"How does this aid us in our finding of the HIVE agents?" Starfire asked.

"I don't know yet," Robin said. "But now we have something solid to give to the mayor."

"And we can narrow our search to just the adults, now, right?" Sabbath asked hopefully. "So we don't have to join any clubs to watch the students?"

"No," Robin said. "We can't rule anything out just yet. Blood's not the only HIVE agent in that school. We need to find them all."

Sabbath crossed her arms and leaned back in her seat, hearing the barred doors of her fate slamming shut. There was no getting out of it now; she'd have to join the chemistry club. She grumbled irritably to herself, but didn't say anything more.

Just then, the double doors slid open, revealing a Beast Boy Sabbath finally recognized. "Hey dudes," he said cheerfully as he walked over to the group. "What'd I miss?"

"An important meeting about the mission," Robin said. "Where were you?"

"I told you, I went for a swim," Beast Boy said, taken aback by the Boy Wonder's rough tone. His hair was still wet, a testament to his excuse. "What happened?"

"Raven says some HIVE guy is at the school, and Robin's still making us join clubs," Sabbath said crossly. "So in other words, not much."

Robin remained quiet for a moment, and Sabbath could tell he was trying to decide whether or not to say anything to her. Apparently he decided against it as he kept his attention on Beast Boy instead and said, "Brother Blood is somewhere in that high school."

"So what? He's just some old fart," Sabbath said. Unable to sit still any longer, she stood from her seat and headed for the exit. She half hoped someone would try to stop her, but wasn't surprised when the only sound in the room was that of the doors sliding open. She walked to the elevator and took the short ride up to the roof. She'd forgotten about taking a nap and was now in no mood to deal with her hair. Stepping out onto the rooftop of the Tower, she took a minute to stretch her stiff wings. She'd felt physically and mentally confined all week, and now all she could think about was getting out and blowing off some steam. Finally, she flicked her wings out to their full span and took flight.

The sun was setting now, so she headed east into town, if for no other reason than to avoid being blinded by the harsh, orange glare. The strong rain from earlier had stopped, and the clouds were nearly cleared. The city smelled of wet pavement, and rush hour traffic splashed through the quickly evaporating puddles. The light of the setting sun sparkled off of the countless glass windows and cars below. Looking at the city from above, Sabbath was able to pretend it really was as small and insignificant as it looked.

Pausing to catch her breath, Sabbath came to rest atop one of the many office buildings and gazed down at the city below. She recognized this part of town. 'I just can't get away from you, can I?' Sabbath thought, staring down at the familiar gravel roof of the cheap, public high school a little ways down the street. 'I'm not in foster care anymore, but I might as well be,' she groused. 'Well, ok…maybe that's not totally true. Things could always be worse. But it's hard to feel like things have changed when I'm right back where I started.

Maybe Dawn had the right idea all along. Maybe I need a fresh start. After all, what's really keeping me here?'

Suddenly, a green owl fluttered to land on the edge of a satellite dish beside Sabbath. The bird then hopped down to the black tarp of the rooftop, changed into a familiar green boy and said, "Hey."

Sabbath jumped in surprise at beast Boy's unexpected appearance. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Looking for you," he replied, sounding surprised as if she should've known that already.

"Well, congratulations," Sabbath replied flatly, crossing her arms and turning her attention back to the glittering city below. The sunset was fading, and street lights were beginning to flicker on, block by block. "You found me." She was touched by the shapeshifter's thoughtfulness, but she felt too miserable and lost in her own gloomy thoughts to acknowledge it. Sitting down on a low, metal utility box, not caring that it was still damp from the rain, Sabbath tucked her knees under her chin and wrapped her arms around them, keeping her back to the sun.

"…What's up?" Beast Boy asked after a moment, coming to sit beside her. "You seemed kind of upset when you left."

"I was. Am. I don't know. I just…" at a loss for words, she finally turned to face him. The red light of the setting sun shone warmly on the side of his face, highlighting his features and giving an added glimmer to his eyes. Sabbath blushed and turned away. 'I just…haven't been sleeping that well lately," she said. And it wasn't a lie; her usual nightmares were there to meet her almost every time she fell asleep. She hadn't really used her powers much since going undercover at the school, she hadn't even flown all week, and the Dark Man in her dreams wasn't happy, to say the least.

And the way things looked now, Sabbath was afraid she'd spend the rest of her life on the impossible mission of finding HIVE agents. The only thing they'd managed to come up with so far was that the HIVE's headmaster was at the school, but it didn't even change anything. She couldn't help it, couldn't keep it all in any longer. At last she added, "And this whole HIVE thing is so frustrating! I hated high school enough when it was for real, but at least then I could just keep to myself. Now it's not real, but it might as well be! It's like I'm the new girl all over again but with the added bonus of looking for people that I don't even know what they look like. We're never going to be able to find them and we'll just be stuck in that stupid school forever and…and…" At last she was out of words, and was just left with jumbled emotions she couldn't express, which only added to her frustration.

Beast Boy looked at her and seemed to understand even what she hadn't been able to say out loud. After a moment he responded quietly, "You're not alone in this, Jane. We're all on the same mission together, and we're going to find the HIVE. They can't hide from us forever. And don't take it so seriously, it's only a job. For now, there are more important things to worry about."

"Like what?" Sabbath asked, exasperated. 'What could be more important than the mission?' she wondered, feeling even more stress was about to be piled on her already weighted shoulders.

"An important decision has to be made," he said. He paused a moment before continuing, his tone completely serious, "…Gummy bears…or chocolate-covered pretzels?"

Sabbath just looked at him, totally thrown for a loop. "…What?"

"Tonight's movie night and Cyborg put us in charge of snacks," Beast Boy said. "Now we have to choose, gummy bears or chocolate-covered pretzels."

Sabbath finally began to make sense of what he was saying, and she started to laugh.

"It's an unbroken Titan tradition that goes back to the beginning of time!" Beast Boy insisted. His voice was still serious, but he was grinning now, too.

At last Sabbath managed to pause in her laughter and gather enough breath to reply, "I don't know, that's a pretty heavy responsibility…but I'd have to go with gummy bears."

"Nice choice! But we have to hurry," Beast Boy said urgently as he stood up. "Star and Robin went to get the pizza a while ago, and we still have to go to Marlene's Candy Shoppe half-way across town."

"Can't let the pizza get cold," Sabbath agreed, mock seriousness in her voice now, too. She stood up and stretched her wings. "Lead the way!"

Beast Boy morphed into a green hawk and took flight, heading south towards the heart of downtown. Sabbath paused briefly to look at the city in the quickly fading light of day. The sun was nearly set, but somehow the city sparkled even more brightly than it had before. A hawk's shriek got her attention, and Sabbath turned to see the green bird hovering in mid-air, waiting for her to follow. "I'm right behind you!" she yelled back, jumping from the rooftop and reveling in the feel of the cool sea breeze filling her wings. 'And there's no place else I'd rather be,' she realized as she happily raced Beast Boy down over the bustling city streets, completely oblivious to the quiet blond girl entering the other side of the building she'd just left behind.

The blonde girl looked up, thinking for a moment she'd heard a familiar voice. There was no one there, though, so she pushed the thought from her mind and returned her gaze to the sidewalk in front of her. She stepped through the rotating doors at the north entrance of the building, took the elevator to the fifth floor, and walked to the familiar wooden door that read "Pediatric/Adolescent Psychiatry Dr. Regina K. Halpburn, MD" in white paint on its window. With a sigh, she pushed it open and approached the secretary typing away quietly at the front desk.

"Name?" the secretary asked without looking up from her computer screen.

"Hellingsworth," the blond girl replied. "Dawn Hellingsworth."

The secretary continued to click and type before answering, "Go ahead and take a seat, Ms. Halpburn will be with you shortly."