Bonjour tout le monde !

Eh yes, why not a bit of my mother tongue (French), for a change ? ;)

So there was I, having finished one of my "magnum opuses" and considering starting a new fiction, and teasing Skychild101 about her long-awaited update… Guys, shudda shut my mouth : she sent me her chapter completed the very next day ! That'll teach me a lesson about teasing canado-serbian authoresses ! XD

She left me wz mysteries to unwind, didn't she ? But hey, where's the challenge in co-writing, if the other doesn't bring in her/his fair share of unexpected, eh ?

Alright, I'll try to do good. I promise I will. (*cross fingers behind my back*)

Oh, and Coldplay fans… did ya hear about December 4th ? Chapter VII on the way ! Big Up to all Coldplay fans around ! (no offense intended to other fans, duuuuh ! ;P)

Okay, gonna keep it shut now… ^^

N'JOY!

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"Gosh, you look… really tired, Raven !" exclaimed Samantha as the empath sat at the table of the common room.

The recipient of the remark turned puffed up eyes towards the yellow member of the MBC.

"I know. Didn't have such a good night. Found it difficult to fall asleep. Can't guess why exactly. Been a long time since I last had sleeping issues, but guess it was just a one-time problem. Pretty sure next night will go just fine."

And as Raven talked, Sam could notice how she slowly nictated, but at such a point that it almost looked like slow motion.

And also that she didn't bother to build complete sentences, omitting the subjects of the sentences each time… as if being too tired to speak correctly.

"Are you sure ?" insisted the black female, decidedly not liking it.

"Mmmm-mmmh" just as slowly confirmed the gothic girl, smiling a weary smile.

"Look, Rae, you seem almost exhausted to me, so if you're feeling that tired, you could really use some rest today. I mean, we totally understand, y'know, no big deal !" pertinently observed Jinx.

"Nice of you, Jinx, but I'm not going to take a nap while some enemy is harming people by preventing them from dreaming. I can hold my ground against fatigue, don't worry."

Beast Boy leaned towards Danny's ear.

"She can be really stubborn… no, scratch that : she is really stubborn ! If you manage to make her change her mind, I buy you a drink !"

But even despite weariness, the empath's hearing remained sharp… and she turned incensed eyes to the shapeshifter !

Her glaring gaze, through half-closed eyelids, remained on him for several seconds, enough for the green boy to gulp and sheepishly laugh, before ending up staring at the opposite wall, as if it had suddenly become pretty interesting…

"You sure you'll be okay, Rae ?" asked Cyborg, always as protective as an older brother." I don't wanna sound insistent, but…"

"…but you still DO sound insistent anyway…" the cloaked female continued his sentence. "No offense intended, though. I know you care a lot for me, Cy. Yet I can ensure you I'll be alright. Trust me, I will."

There was a brief mute moment, then Robin concluded that topic.

"If Raven deems herself physically okay, then I see no reason to force her back into bed."

There were nods around the table.

"No one should ever be forced to stay aside if that person wants to take part !" pertinently remarked Cathy, more serious than her usual self.

"You are right indeed, dear fellow alien !" Starfire backed up. "Nobody should be forced. We should all be free to do whatever we want to."

"Hum… how about we come back to our current inquiry ?" proposed Christopher.

Robin turned his gaze to him, then to the enchantresses.

"Did you find anything useful about that issue ? Or any way to cure the sleep-deprived victims ?"

"Hell no ! I've been checking a bit everywhere, and could find as many solutions as gold nuggets in the park…" said Jinx.

Danny made a "pffff !", shaking his head.

"You, just open your mouth to mock and you'll have your ass handed to you !" yelled the Bad Luck Titan.

"Quiet !" screamed Raven, massaging her temples, eyes closed…which instantly silenced Jinx. "And no, I didn't find anything neither. We may be wizards, but we can't find all solutions…"

The Boy Wonder was rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"Cyborg, Chris, can you examine this morning the shard I brought yesterday ?" he finally spoke up.

"Sure we can, but do you have any idea as to where it could possibly come from exactly ?" inquired the MBC Tech.

"Not a clue, Chris. I found right on the street. Sam and I examined it and noticed that, while looking like a piece of dark glass, it definitely was way heavier than standard glass. So heavy, actually, that it seemed to be metal rather than glass. We've never seen anything like this, and wondered if it could be.. alien stuff !"

"And since there's a possibility that this "dream abduction" originates from aliens, then it is fair considering the possibility that this shard is somehow related to our current investigation" explained Sam, her arms crossed over the table's edge, her golden eyes regularly coming back to Raven, to check on her condition.

"We'll start analyzing it in a moment, and hopefully we'll draw something relevant from it !" announced the half-robot.

"What do we do meanwhile ? Keep on patrolling ?" asked Danny, in a tone that left no doubt as to his lack of enthusiasm.

"I think it would be a good idea to try to get info about the victims. First of all, learn how they are feeling, if there is improvement in their condition, if they are out of trouble at all. Then, if there is a possibility to interrogate them, try to see if they can recall anything at all from their issue : the conditions in which it happened, the memories they might have from their dreadful night, the exact feelings they had after waking up… I know this might sound vague somehow, but we must make the best of just any potential clue, any apparently secondary detail : every possible track must be exploited when we've got nothing at hand to start with… apart from that shard !" explained Robin, gritting his teeth as he spoke, realizing how little they indeed had.

"Let us hope we can soon find something…" the Tamaranean declared, voicing out everyone's expectation.

"I'm sure we will ! Good always finds a way against evil !" assertively exclaimed Cathy, smiling a confident smile.

The others would have liked to be just as convinced as she was, be even optimistic about the outcome… but when one is empty-handed, how can one feel comforted enough to actually show confidence ?

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Cyborg stood up from his chair.

He had finished preparing the microscope, and was going to fetch the enigmatic shard to analyze it.

A minute later, the unknown fragment was right under the powerful magnifying lens, and the human eye of the half-robot was stuck to the other end of said lens.

That eye didn't remain in place for even two minutes.

"You gotta see that, Chris !"

The blunette, who was checking the first data he had got from his substance analyzer, after scanning the shard with it, turned towards his fellow Tech.

"I'm coming, Cyborg !"

Less than two minutes later (again), the freckled boy was also removing his eye from the upper side of the lens and turning towards the African-American teenager.

"No way ! What's that ? Never seen such a molecular structure ! I've been observing countless things through a microscope, in my life, but I swear I've never come across something… like that !"

"Eh, same here, Man ! I don't use this microscope every single day, but one thing's for sure : this is the very first time I get to see such a strange nano-pattern !"

The MBC genius was holding his chin and the lower part of his face in his hand, visibly thoughtful.

" Do you think the same thing as me ?" he finally uttered.

"If you think what I think you think, then yes !" replied the robotic teenager.

They both laughed at that before resuming their seriousness.

"I've checked the results of my own analysis, on my substance analyzer, and it confirms what the microscope shows…" Chris informed Cyborg.

"Let me guess… you've never seen such results in your whole life ?"

"Exactly. That data is just… it's just crazy !"

The muscular Titan nodded, knowing how his new friend felt.

"We gotta inform the others."

This time, it was Chris's turn to nod.

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"So, Madam, what can you recall from that night ?" asked the blue-eyed blonde with a friendly smile.

The patient took a good look at her and sighed.

"I'm afraid I won't be of much help, because I can't recall anything at all. Just that I turned around and around in my bed, and… that's it."

"So, you did not experience any pain at all ? Or any other physical phenomenon ?" asked the other girl, a red-haired teen with curiously green eyes.

The patient turned to her and shook her head.

"No. nothing special."

"And how did you feel in the morning, after waking up ?"

Cathy already knew the answer to that question, since Chris had explained it to them all, but she nevertheless wanted to confirm it with the patient.

The lady's stare seemed to get lost in the vague as she remembered.

"Well… I felt very tired… really very tired… and I still do, as a matter of fact."

"And did you not feel… hum, anything else, that morning ?"

Starfire had almost been about to ask the woman if she had not felt somewhat empty, but at the very last second had recalled what Robin had said : that the patients should NOT be aware that the Teen Titans and the Monster Buster Club were already informed about their experience and their symptoms after the terrible night.

"I also had a pretty bad headache… and… Uh, wait… yes, I did have a strange impression… it was as if I was… missing something, you know ? Well, in fact… it was even more than that : I had the strange sensation that I was… empty ! I know, that sounds so weird… but as far as I can recall, that's how I felt ! Empty ! As if someone had stolen away my memories."

Cathy leaned forward as an idea popped up in her mind, triggered by that last sentence.

"Since you mention memories, did you notice any disappearance of memories ? Did you have any difficulty at all in recalling anything ?"

The lady pondered this for a moment.

"No, I don't think so. I don't remember having any trouble in remembering things. Yet I still had that strange impression that something had vanished from me. As if someone had come in during the night and stolen something from my mind or my body."

"And why are you staying in that hospital ? You cannot go home now ?"

The woman almost seemed liked she was about to burst out crying.

"I wish I could go home. But it's continuing. It's CONTINUING !"

Cathy exchanged a perplexed gaze with Starfire before turning back to the patient.

"What do you mean ? What is continuing ?"

The poor victim couldn't repress tears any longer.

"I'm still exhausted every time I wake up. I still have that awful headache. And I still have that sensation of emptiness. Every single day. Every goddamn single day !" she choked out between sobs.

This time, the look the two aliens shared between them was a frightened one…

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When the six Titans and the four MBC's sat around the large table of the common room, that evening, none of the faces looked pleased.

Robin looked at each in turn then gave an approving nod to Sam.

"Alright, we will share the day's results. And if you don't mind, I will give first Robin's and mine's feedback. We have checked the city's video surveillance footage from previous nights and liaised with the police most of the day. As regards video, we couldn't come up with anything substantial up to now. Whoever is behind this sure knows how to act sneaky and make themselves discrete. And as for the police reports, they all state a generalization of the phenomenon, each time with identical symptoms. So we now know that this evil is spreading around Jump City, but not who is the guilty one, not how he proceeds exactly and not how we can counter his nefarious deeds and cure people." She turned to the sorceresses, who were sitting side by side. "Thank you again to Raven and Jinx for spending so much time in their spell books and trying so hard to find a magical formula to revert the curse, or what looks like a curse of some sort."

"You're welcome !" replied Jinx.

"No problem !" added Raven on her side.

Sam couldn't help biting her lip, as she noticed that the empath looked at least as tired as she was in the morning… if not more.

She was about to ask the Azarathian if she all the same felt any better – although it didn't appear much likely… - yet at the last second, she reconsidered it and preferred to remain silent. For the time being, at least.

"So… who's next for reporting their own results ?" asked Robin.

"Dibs !" the Pink Titan said, raising her hand.

"Okay, Jinx. We're listening to you."

"So Raven and I went to interrogate one of the victims, but we didn't learn more than what you guys told us." She glanced at the pair of techs. "That is, that the victim slept really bad, turning around in her bed several times, that she woke up very tired and with an intense headache, and that she felt really empty, as if she had been siphoned of a great part of her personality, together with her body strength. That's it."

"Hum, that doesn't brings us further than where we currently stand…" observed Sam, somehow stating the obvious. "Cathy ? Danny ?"

"We had identical results. Nothing more… uh, actually yes, one more thing, but that isn't of much help as regards our identifying the culprit : our patient said that she now woke up every single morning with the same exhaustion, the same headache and the same emptiness feeling. So it's repeating day after day !" summarized the Rhapsodian.

"Well, same thing for our patient, actually. Sorry for failing to mention it." Raven reacted.

The golden orbs turned to Sam's spike-haired teammate.

"Nothing to add…" he spoke up, somewhat disappointed that he, THE Danny, couldn't come up with something better than his friends, and therefore prove his invaluable efficiency.

"We did all this for nothing…" added Beast Boy, sighing a long sigh.

"It's not for nothing. We're conducting an investigation, so we have to check all potential tracks, look through even the secondary details, and there is a great probability that we'll come up with few or no results. It's part of the deal, if I may put it that way. But we don't really have a choice about being successful : we must accept failures and not cease our search. So no, it isn't for nothing that you went to ask these people. We had to make sure there wasn't more to learn from them." Boy Wonder explained.

"And what about you, Chris and Cyborg ? Any luck with the analysis of that shard ?" the MBC leader wanted to know.

The Titan Tech put a glass container with the shard in it down on the table, a little towards the center, for all to see, then he cleared his throat.

"We found out that this strange item isn't something produced by humans. We've examined it through a microscope, and its structure is a mix of black and dark grey rhombuses, interspersed with minuscule black spheres. We have never seen anything like this before. But there is more…"

And Cyborg then went silent, turning to Chris to have him pursue the explanation.

"After choosing a more powerful lens to look at the shard, we could notice that there was another structure embedded in the first one. It's made of tiny dark blue triangles and… it's liquid. We noticed that when moving the fragment : the triangles were moving to and fro, just like a liquid in a container that had been moved. So there definitely is something else, something liquid inside the shard. Now how did it get inside ? That's a good question ! And neither do we know how to get it out to have a look at it and study it more efficiently. We have tried various devices and weapons, but nothing managed to break that fragment and thus grant us access to that mysterious liquid…"

"A liquid ? What could that be ?" asked Cathy, looking just as puzzled as the others.

Chris shrugged, arching his mouth downwards in the typically embarrassed expression.

"And it would be of alien origin ?" asked Starfire, visibly interested by the perspective.

"Yup. That thing here doesn't look the least like human-made stuff. That seems enough to us to deem it alien matter !" answered Cyborg.

"Maybe we could try one of our weapons on that stuff ?" proposed the Jock.

"I have already tried all of our MBC gear, Danny, and as you can see…" Chris motioned to the enigmatic dark piece of alien substance "…to no avail !"

Robin was thinking it over.

"Raven, Jinx, perhaps one of you two could give it a try ?" he proposed.

"Sure, why not ? Hand over the alien stuff, Metal Man !" teased Jinx.

"Here, Pinkie !" he replied, just as teasing, as he stretched his arm to her.

She grabbed that weird fragment and, after turning it between her fingers, to have a closer look at it, she glanced at her fellow enchantress.

"Mind if I give it a try first, Rae ?"

"Knock yourself out !"

The half-closed lids of the empath slightly worried those present, mostly Robin, Starfire, Cathy and even more Sam, who had quickly learned to enjoy the company of the Dark Titan.

Jinx shut her eyes for a few seconds…and as she reopened them, they were bright pink !

A pink aura became visible around the hand holding the shard…

…and within a couple of seconds, a faint crack could be heard !

The tiny fissure spread around the mysterious item, and Jinx set the object back upright while pointing towards the glass container with her other hand.

"May I have the container, please ?" she asked.

Raven immediately encased the desired object in her black magic and levitated it to her fellow magic user.

"Thanks, Rae !"

The pink-haired female put the now broken shard above the container and used her other hand to grab the upper end of the fragment.

Then, holding both parts of the broken shard together, to avoid their separation, she turned the alien item in horizontal position, pulled her hands apart and…

"Damn ! What's that ?"

Cyborg indeed couldn't believe his eyes as he saw the thick dark blue liquid slowly come out of both halves of the broken fragment and gather in the container, eventually filling a good third of it.

"Soooooo creeeeeepy !" exclaimed Danny as he experienced goosebumps.

"It looks like paint…" commented Cathy.

But on closer inspection, they all could notice, inside the matter, several faint glows, whose light actually kept coming and going slowly.

"I don't think paint would emit inner radiance." pertinently pointed out the gadget boy of the MBC. "I've never seen anything like this !"

"Well done for managing to break the object, Friend Jinx !" Starfire congratulated her pink-eyed teammate. "But how did you do that ?"

"Bah, 'twas nothing, really ! I just used my bad luck vibes to alter the structure of the object. Alter it in a negative way… by making that structure unstable, fragile. And eventually rising its fragility level to its maximum, which made the shard finally break. All of this thanks to Bad Luck. Eh, ya know, some just have the knack, when others don't…" replied the addressee of the compliment, smirking and slightly turning her head to glance sideways at the duet of machos out of the corner of her eyes, an ironical sparkle in her pink orbs.

Said machos both had ill-tempered gestures as they glared at her, huffing and sighing.

Sam and Robin, as for them, didn't breathe out a word, didn't make any movement, settling for an acute observation of the unknown liquid displaying those stupefying inner glimmers that continuously disappeared and reappeared.

The Titan Tech turned to gaze at the MBC Tech.

"Guess we'll have more analyses to conduct, eh, Chris ?"

"Looks like it indeed, Cyborg…"

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The Tower was asleep.

Bodies were tired of all the walks and interviews, minds were tired of all the examinations and discoveries… they all needed some rest.

And even if some had difficulties to fall asleep – the two leaders, of course… always alert and preoccupied about the day's major event ! -, they eventually all ended up in Morpheus's arms.

Their night unraveled harmoniously…

…except for a certain sorceress, who kept on switching position in her purple bed !

She got up three times, to either drink herbal tea or go to the restroom, desperately hoping that she might find sleep at last...

Yet she had a hard time getting to it.

Extremely hard.

But a last, her tormented organism, exhausted, collapsed into an extremely delayed sleep.

And daybreak finally came.

Samantha entered the kitchen and approached Raven, who had her back to her and was putting away a tiny red box, in the cabinet right in front of her.

The empath half-turned and almost jolted as she noticed someone was there, not too far behind her… which she would normally have sensed, but her current exhaustion disrupted her empathic and extra-sensitive abilities…

"Good morning, Raven." the African-American female softly greeted her dark friend.

"Good morning to you too, Sam…" slowly said the pale girl, visibly with a slight effort.

The golden gaze lowered on the grey hand, not failing to notice the two capsules nested in it.

"Headache ?" the black female asked, recognizing the pills and therefore mentally linking them to the corresponding body trouble.

"Headache, yes. A pretty bad one."

That being said, Raven swiftly put her hand to her mouth and hurried to swallow water right after.

"Are you feeling less tired today ? I really hope you are !" sympathetically said Sam.

But the quick headshake of the Azarathian shattered her friend's hope.

"Oh gosh ! Raven, that can't be good ! You're still as weary ?"

The gothic Titan was still not facing her interlocutor, remaining in profile.

"Possibly even more than before. I've tried to find a spell for this in my grimoire (1), yesterday evening, but… to no avail, alas !"

Raven finally turned completely towards Sam, to face her for good…

…and the black-skinned one couldn't help taking a step back while putting her hand over her open mouth !

The empath's eyelids were half-closed, and she had such visible bags under her eyes ! Dark great bags !

The eyes themselves appeared… dull, lifeless !

"Raven, you… you look -"

" - terrible, I know. But I'll find a way to get better. I always do."

"Can I help ?"

The sorceress took a long look at the alien fighter and gave a long sigh.

"No, thank you. I'll manage."

Sam swallowed her saliva.

"Are you sure you'll…"

She was cut short by the three nods in a row that she got from Raven.

"Okay… if you're certain… but if you need anything, don't hesitate !"

The healer finally smiled… a weary, effort-needing smile.

"Thank you, Sam."

The meeting of the morning finally arrived.

"We've analyzed that blue liquid and have found something really… disturbing !" started Chris. "When we looked at the screen of the analysis room, to have a close-up of the matter's molecules… images appeared !"

He let Cyborg continue.

"In fact, they were animated sequences. They featured a woman with red curly hair, smiling to a blond child who had brought her flowers. She called him 'my dear little Stephen' as she grabbed the flowers from his hands."

"What ?!" suddenly screamed the young Rhapsodian.

They all turned to her.

"A problem, Cathy ?" Robin asked her.

"The patient we went to interview was a red-haired woman. Her hair was curly. And when we left her, a blond child showed up and ran to her, laughing as he did, and she screamed a happy 'Stephen ! My dear little Stephen !' as she embraced him !"

"Yes, that is indeed what took place !" confirmed Starfire.

There was a long silence as everyone took that in and pondered it.

It seemed to be too much for words.

But after a long, deafening silence, Sam uttered what probably may have been the most important words of the day.

"It makes no doubt that they are the same people. And if these persons appeared on the screen when analyzing that dark blue alien matter, it means that this substance has some link with them. It could be memories, but the presence of these images in that mysterious liquid makes me come to another conclusion."

And after a quick panoramic look, she ended her utterance on the crucial sentences of her speech, the one that would have their recent activities take a decisive turn in the nearest future.

"Guys, I think that this matter is the physical manifestation of dreams. What that shard contained was… the dreams of that victim Cathy and Starfire interviewed, but in a liquid form. So I deduce from this point that the shard was used by the one who steals dreams. And if we manage to find the origin of that alien fragment… then we'll be able to reach and stop our enemy !"

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AUTHOR'S NOTE

1._grimoire : that's another word for 'spell book', and the French word for it is identical. Now, does English originate from French or the other way round…? Go figure, eh !

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First of all, very sad and moving thoughts of mine fly to Paris, where several suicide attacks and shootouts mowed down more than 120 lives. Sorrow I feel for all the families of the disappeared. And alas… the more we continue in time, the worst this world of ours is becoming… almost a shame to be human…

Lord, is that deplorable… and distressing…

Ah damn, really…

.

.

But we have to move on… we always have to, no matter what !

.

.

So I crafted this in less than 5 days. Must be one of my quickest writings ! But since I'm on vacation, fair enough, eh ?

So the shard may probably be related to the "dream abduction"… which naturally makes Robin's discovery, at the end of the previous chapter, a fundamental one for the progression of their common inquiry !

Now… how will they go on ? How will they possibly find the origin of the shard ? And what will happen with Raven ? Will her condition worsen or improve ? By the way… that exhaustion of hers… that intense headache of hers… and these two really shortly after waking up… who among you wants to speak their mind first, dear audience ?

So, that's it for me ! I'll therefore quickly bounce the ball sent by Skychild101 back to her, and hopefully she'll reward us all with another chappy before Christmas comes knocking ! Hopefully so…! (Heard me, Ana ? Get your… fingers back to work ! XD)

Thanks to all those who read, and especially to DRAGONSPIRIT996 for reviewing as well ! Glad ya like what ya found, Mate !

And thanxxxx Passion Pit for three wonderful albums ! Michael Angelakos, blessings on your head ! Big Up to any Passion Pit fan outta here !

Be all fine, Folxxxx, good luck to each of ya for studies, personal challenges and whatnot, take care and… stay tuned !

Peace, Love, Ecstasy !

(Dixxy)