Author's Note: Uhm…I think it's either me or it really has been a long time since the last update… (I'M SORRY DIXXY! Uh…here's some chocolate ?) But I promise to make this chapter extra-long to make up for the time loss. Anyhow, let's get going !
(Sixteen)Into the Deep
"Hey… Starfire… Are you alright ?" Robin asked, with obvious worry in his voice.
The green alien blinked a few times before her vision got clearer. The once blurry figures were now visible and she was able to make out who was who.
"Robin ?" Starfire questioned quietly.
"It's alright, Star. I'm here. We're here."
She nodded but dizziness claimed her head… before it all calmed down again.
"What… what happened ?"
"We're not really sure… but I think Raven has the full explanation." Cyborg answered. "But still, we were kind of hoping that you could tell us."
Starfire gazed at the ground with a saddened look. For a short moment, she closed her eyes as she tried to remember what exactly happened to her.
"All I know was that there was a voice inside my head. It convinced me that I had no friends and that you were my enemies…" she explained, with her friends' looks now troubled.
But this situation wasn't the only thing that was on Starfire's mind. Upon waking up, she took a short moment to check her surroundings… and that was when she realized that there was a member missing !
"Where is Chris ?" the alien asked.
A sudden thick silence, which made her frown.
"Uh, that's the thing…" Danny spoke. "Right after we brought you back, Chris suddenly started to feel bad and he kind of just… fainted. We don't know what's going on with him."
Sam bit her lip. She had been rather quiet, unusually quiet, throughout these conversations.
"Perhaps we should analyze his body to find out what's going on…" she suggested. "I mean, if it's dark magic… there's nothing Raven can't do, right ?"
A quick glance at the one she had just mentioned.
"But it depends on just how powerful the magic is…" Raven began. "If it's too powerful magic, sometimes even I can't break it. But I agree with your first suggestion : it would be wise to analyze Chris before starting any magic healing on him."
Cyborg began clicking away on his robotic arm's mini-computer, activating the scanner. He walked towards Chris's unconscious body, knelt down, bringing the scanner closer to him, and began examining the boy.
"What are the readings ?" Sam asked after a minute.
"Well…" the half-machine started "…it's giving me info that his condition isn't too good. Like something is lowering his vital energy level and thus weakening him."
"I'll help out too." Raven stated as her eyes began to glow. Her hands had been activated, charged with her powers, and she then unleashed a small wave of energy that covered Chris's body.
After a while, Raven "powered down" and she closed her eyes for a brief moment before re-opening them.
"Well ?" Cathy asked.
"During the readings, I've discovered that something had been indeed bothering Chris's body, making him get in this current state."
"Can it be…" . Jinx then paused as she was looking for the right word : "…uh, healed ? Fixed ?"
"It can, but I need to find out where the exact spot is, so the healing process can be accurate. Once I do, I should be able to heal him." Raven finished.
She then sat down cross-legged, hands on her knees and eyes closed. Feeling her power channeling through her, she opened her glowing eyes and the wave of energy got transported to Chris and began to work on him.
It took about two full minutes for her powers to die down, which indicated that the process was over.
Everyone was silent as they all watched.
"I've found the source," Raven stated after a while.
She put her now glowing hands above Chris's body… and after a few seconds, something came out from under the unconscious organism ! Something black, that Raven's power had de-attached from the boy's body and which was now enveloped in dark magic and brought into view, for all to see.
"Ew, what is that ?" Cathy asked, disgusted.
But her curiosity was stronger, and no matter how disgusted she was, she still made her way towards the unappetizing creature, but Raven warned her.
"Careful ! Don't touch it !" Raven warned. "Otherwise, you would end up like Chris !"
From what the group could tell, it was a small insect that had more or less the aspect of a leech.
Raven took a breath and pursued the spell by performing the next step, which was to destroy the pesky insect.
After the pest got blasted, Raven pronounced new enchanted words.
"Azarath carmine sanitas !" she chanted, and Chris's body began to glow again, from a dark colour due to Raven's magic. The sorceress let out another breath and stared at the ground, but this made the others get wary. Had she succeeded?
"Well ?" Jinx asked, breaking the unbearable silence.
"He's fine. Chris is fine although, for some time, he will be a tad weak. But he will gradually regain his energy back." she answered.
"Alright !" Danny cheered.
Sam let out a sigh of relief.
"Good. That is good news." She then paused. "Once Chris wakes up, we must get back on track. The more we linger here, the more problems we will encounter."
"Right ! Plus we would make an easy target for the 'Master' if we stay here longer !" Robin stated.
Danny nodded.
"Right. As soon as Chris wakes up, we get going." he concluded, for one making the decision for the rest, like a real leader would.
Chris groaned as his eyes flickered opened. What… had… happened ? The last thing he remembered was getting suddenly dizzy, and then… the black veil had fallen before his eyes. He had obviously fainted. But he didn't know why he felt woozy, and couldn't even guess the reason for that.
As he slowly rose to sit up, trying to gather his thoughts, a shrilling sound broke his inner focus.
"CHRIS'S AWAKE !"
In a matter of seconds, the blue-haired boy received a tackling hug from a rushing somebody. It took him a few more seconds to realize that the rushing somebody was actually Cathy, who was now hugging him nonstop… until the poor boy's skin turned into a nice shade of dark blue, courtesy of the lack of oxygen.
"Cathy, ease up your grip. You don't want Chris to faint again !" a joking voice said.
"Haha, very funny…" Chris squeaked from the suffocation.
"Woopsy ! Uh, sorry !," the Rhapsodian uttered, grinning sheepishly.
"Welcome back, Dude !" Danny greeted.
Chris stared at his team for a short while before deciding he should speak up to know everything about what had been happening, before and after he fainted.
He scooted towards Sam, who seemed to be busy with the A-scan, as though that would help with whatever she was currently looking for.
"Hey, hum… what happened to me ?" Chris asked, which slightly startled the MBC leader, who hadn't seen him approach.
"Oh, Chris !" Sam exclaimed with wide eyes. "H…how are you feeling ?"
The tech shrugged.
"Alright, I guess. Still feeling kind of drained."
The brunette nodded.
"What happened was that, as we could see when Raven healed you, there was a leech-like parasite which got attached to you and… well… you just passed out. But Raven was able to heal you, and I guess you know the rest…" Sam summarized.
Chris gazed at the ground with thoughts running through his head. At least he now knew why his energy level was surprisingly lower than usual. But as he was processing this new information, he suddenly realized that he wasn't the only one who got affected — not by the parasite but by a different danger.
"How's Starfire ? Is she alright ?" Chris questioned.
Sam nodded.
"Yes. She too had gotten into trouble. She seemed possessed by some spiritual demon, yet it turned out she had turned to the dark side after hearing a strange voice tell her we all were her enemies. But we fortunately were able to "convert her back", so to speak..."
And silence came back, which brought Chris to his thoughts and Sam back to the A-scan.
After a while, the Teen Titans reunited with the rest of the group and greeted Chris back, who in return welcomed Starfire back, who herself happened to feel alright.
And since they were a full group once again, the two united teams resumed their long-interrupted walk.
It was a long quiet walk, as no one spoke, each one being lost in their own thoughts. Moreover, there hadn't been any mishaps or dangers so far, which they were grateful for, as all really needed to spare their energy for the real fight, the ultimate battle.
Saying that they weren't afraid of the 'Master' would be an understatement, considering what they had been through, because of him. Cyborg swore that once they would face him, he would make him pay.
"It sure is quiet…," Beast Boy spoke up, as if he felt too uneasy because of the thick, lasting silence and felt the urging need to break it by whatever words he could come up it… no matter how banal they sounded, as long as it helped him escape that unsettling silence for a short while.
Jinx paused as she noticed that it was the first time he had actually spoken, and because of that, she made a remark.
"Hey, you actually spoke after being so uncharacteristically quiet !" she said with a smirk.
Beast Boy scowled.
"I can be deep in thought if I want to."
Jinx let out a small laugh and the two settled for silence again.
"For once, I agree with Beast Boy…" Raven said, somewhat reluctantly. "Because it hasn't been that quiet since we entered that parallel world…"
The changeling paused in his tracks as he stared at the sorceress with eyes wide open. "Woah… you… did you just… agree with me ? You ?"
Raven shot him a look.
"Don't get used to it, though…"
"To be honest, I could honestly use a break from all the fighting. I know it's our job to battle against villains, but still… it can get tiring !" Sam admitted, showing that she was aware that superheroes still were humans and not machines, and that they did need breaks every now and then.
The rest agreed. They had been fighting a lot lately and that could mean only one thing. The 'Master' had been active a lot recently, but now his influence seemed to have died down. But even if all his activities had apparently ceased, this could literally mean that it was the 'calm before the storm'… and that only made the group get some unnerving pit in their stomachs.
As they went further in, the once grey sky turned to total darkness in a second, without warning.
"Woah !," Beast Boy exclaimed, goggling. "What just happened ?"
Raven came forward as she stared at the horizon ahead.
"Total darkness coming unexpectedly… mmmmmh…" She then closed her eyes for a minute before reopening them with a frown. "I feel no light at all."
"Starfire, can you give us some light ?" Robin asked his alien teammate.
The alien raised her hand up, and a green orb appeared in her palm. Cyborg also provided some light.
But the more they continued, the more they started to feel some odd changes.
"Hey guys !," Beast Boy called out. "Is it just me or do I suddenly feel tired ?" he yawned, his eyes drooping with fatigue.
"Yeah, me too." Jinx stated, stretching her arms out. "It's as if my energy suddenly got drained…"
Frowning, Cyborg got to work as he began analyzing what was happening.
When he discovered the substance, he found out that it was too late.
"Wait ! No guys ! Don't go to sleep ! There's something in the air that's making you tired ! STAY AWAKE !" he yelled…
...but it was futile.
"Come on ! We need to stay awake. Guys !"
Raven collapsed on her knees and tried to keep her eyes open. Must stay awake… must… stay… But she couldn't help it and closed her purple orbs, yet she also emitted a dark wave of energy. Due to her being weakened, she only managed to have the black power cover her and Cyborg, but because she didn't have enough vitality to remain standing, she collapsed to the ground.
"Raven..." Cyborg called out, and after walking to her, he gazed through the protective shield with a solemn look on his face.
What is happening ?
And there, up ahead, he saw an ominous temple-like structure with an enormous entrance which had the shape of a frightening mouth just waiting to gobble up any creature venturing too close…
Author's Note: What is happening indeed ? Dun dun dun ! But we FINALLY (sorta) got a glimpse of the 'Master's lair ! What will happen next ? Find out… soon !
