Author's Note :Woah there ! It feels like it's been forever since I had last written on IE… life's been hectic; working, working, and I've just finished writing a book today ^^ and now, let's get going !
(EIGHTEEN) Mists and Hallucinations
The tunnel was filled with loud noises that came from the group of aliens that were charging towards the heroes.
Robin stared at them for a few seconds before speaking :
"Starfire, get Orattir out of here. There still might be a chance of her getting abducted again !"
"Understood. Please, come with—"
"No" Orattir said firmly. "I want to stay and fight ! If you are going to battle, then I will too ! As the princess, it is my duty to assist those in need."
Robin narrowed his eyes, but eventually nodded.
"Alright. As you wish, princess." he added as he took his fighting stance.
In a matter of seconds, there were green, bluish white, black and pink streaks shooting from every direction. There were also explosions which came from Robin's gadgets as well.
One of the aliens (a two-headed dragon-like creature) appeared in front of Orattir, who smirked. Her eyes glowed an unearthly color and then, all of a sudden, the horrid creature's eyes widened out of fear as it witnessed something right in front of him. It screamed, but it was dead before it hit the floor. Satisfied, Orattir glided away to hunt down the next victim.
For the time being, the heroes seemed to be doing well despite the large amount of unfriendly aliens that continuously came charging at them, as though there was an endless supply to the army.
However, towards the end, the group began to grow exhausted as some of them started to take heavy hits from the strange enemies.
Robin grunted as his back got slammed against the wall, but before the alien had even the chance to attack again, the Titans leader quickly used one of his gadgets and temporarily stunned his opponent.
A second later, he was joined by one of the MBC members.
"There's too many of them !" Sam panted as she struggled to get up.
Robin stared back at the battle scene and saw Raven piling a bunch of aliens in her black energy sphere, crushing them, and there was Starfire who was pulverizing some hideous monster with her eye lasers.
It wasn't until then that he got an idea.
"Raven !" Robin exclaimed. "NOW !"
As though she knew what the leader was planning, the empath quickly summoned her magical shield, that covered the whole group of heroes just as Robin threw a medium sized device that suddenly exploded, blasting the fiends away. Just as it happened, the latter died down quickly and Raven lowered her shield.
Orattir blinked with surprise.
"Wow ! That was really effective !" she exclaimed, amazed.
"Thanks !" Robin replied, nodding with a smile.
"Right then. Let's get a move on before more of those come here !" Sam said, and the others agreed.
They had no desire to encounter those brutes again, and needed to save their strength for the real deal.
"So uhm… anyone knows how to get out of here ?" Danny asked.
As Cyborg was typing away on his scanner, Chris was about to respond… until he raised an eyebrow as he stared ahead.
Without warning, a misty wave had entered the room and quickly begun filling it, triggering everyone's curiosity.
"Uhm, is that thing supposed to happen ?" Beast Boy asked.
The mysterious mist had gathered so swiftly that the room was almost full in no time, which naturally prevented the heroes from leaving the place, all of them gathered in the same corner… and now actually cornered by the mist !
"Here it comes !" Sam shouted.
And then, just like that, the wave washed over them, finishing to drown the room in its white ethereal embrace.
:(/\):
Raven opened her eyes and stared at the darkened sky for a brief second before quickly pushing herself up, eyes widened by confusion.
What just happened ?
The cloaked Titan stared in the vague, pondering the situation, trying to recall…
The last thing she remembered was that unearthly wave coming at them… and then nothing. Wherever that mist had taken them—and perhaps separated them—, Raven just hoped that all were alright.
She paused, a thoughtful look on her grey face.
Maybe, just maybe, it would work…
She sat in her usual meditating position and began to concentrate, muttering her sacred words.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos…"
A few minutes passed…
But Raven finally decided to break the connection since she wasn't picking up anything at all. It felt like something was blocking the link, preventing her from communicating with the rest of the teams.
Sighing, the half demon got up. If she wanted answers, then she would have to start searching for them !
As she was about to take a step, something suddenly whooshed by, followed by a weird laughter.
Raven slightly turned, eyes narrowed, as she stared into the distance.
The sound of laughter slowly faded away.
:(/\):
Cyborg muttered as he hastily typed away on his scanner, trying to find out where he was… or rather, where they were, as it turned out he was stuck with another person : his good buddy and videogame partner, Beast Boy.
While Cyborg was busy typing away, Beast Boy wandered around as he too tried to figure out where they were, but alas to no avail.
"You know, the last time we were in a spooky place, we nearly got eaten by those alien birds…" Beast Boy spoke up with a frown upon his face.
"Yeah, well that place happened to be Raven's mind—which means we knew where we were - but now, I can't get a reading at all !" Cyborg answered.
Beast Boy shot him a smug look.
"Have you ever thought of upgrading your scanner ?"
Cyborg glared.
"Shut it, green butt !"
Beast Boy cackled before Cyborg went back to work.
But after a few minutes, the half machine sighed as he powered off his scanner.
"I've got nothing. Really strange, Man… That means that it's even possible that we're in another dimension or something…" Cyborg said.
"Great… just great…" the changeling muttered. "As long as we don't run into alien birds, I'm fine."
Cyborg rolled his eyes before starting to walk, saying : "Come on. Let's get a move on."
"Yes Sir," the green one muttered.
But just as they were setting out, Beast Boy froze up, his eyes widened out of fear.
It took a Cyborg a minute to realize that Beast Boy wasn't fully with him : physically yes but psychologically no.
"Yo, green butt. Would you hurry your butt up ? We haven't got—" Then Cyborg paused as he turned around and stared at his speechless friend. "Er, Beast Boy ? BEAST BOY ! SNAP OUT OF IT !"
But no matter how loud Cyborg was yelling, the green Titan couldn't snap himself out of it and merely kept gazing forward…
:(/\):
Sam sighed as she stared at the ground, bored.
So far, she has tried to reach the other teams but to no avail. And then there was the issue of her current teammate…
A sudden exclamation was heard, followed by a sigh of frustration, which made Sam sigh as well... but for her, it was out of irritation, not frustration !
"Jinx ! That's enough !" Sam exclaimed. "If it can't work, it can't work ! Don't waste your energy ! You need to conserve it for the real thing."
Jinx huffed.
"You sound like Raven sometimes. But I've got to try one more time ! Maybe I'm doing the process wrong or… or—"
"Or maybe your powers don't work that well in this dimension !" Sam shouted.
Jinx stared at Sam, visibly shocked, as she didn't expect such an outburst of anger.
The African-American made a wince, inwardly blaming herself for lashing out at her poor friend who only tried her best at the moment, and she pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to gather her thoughts to apologize properly.
"Look, I'm… I'm sorry. It's just that this whole mission is making me frustrated. I'm sorry, really."
Jinx smiled softly.
"It's alright, Sam. Perhaps you're right, and it's me being a bit stubborn."
The MBC leader gave a small smile.
"Right then. I think we should at least try to walk around here or something."
Nodding, the two walked until Jinx shivered as an unpleasant feeling went down her spine. She didn't like this one bit since it felt like someone was watching them… but she could be wrong about it.
Jinx…
The young sorceress stopped in her tracks.
She could've sworn she had heard a voice calling her name.
She turned around and stared in the distance with a fixed look before she resumed walking.
Jinx !
This made Jinx gasp as the voice started to get louder, and again she turned around to stare with a hardened look, noticing in the process that Sam hadn't perceived anything since she just continued walking.
Who are you ? Jinx thought.
:(/\):
Danny frowned as he stared at the Titan. He gave out a sigh, rolling his eyes.
"Dude. Would you quit it ? If it doesn't work, it doesn't work."
Robin slightly turned his head to the side to give a narrow glare before he resumed his task, earning an exasperated groan from the jock.
Boy Wonder eventually shut off the communicator and got up, allowing his cape to cover him again.
"Well ?" Chris asked.
"Nothing," the Titan leader answered. "All I'm getting is static. What about you ?"
Chris shook his head.
"Nothing."
Danny glanced around at their empty environment : it was cold and dark—the usual standards of this dimension. He missed the happiness Mother Nature gave them back on Earth.
"Can we get a move on ? The quicker we find a route, the faster we get out of here. This place is depressing." the daring MBC muttered.
Robin sighed : "If only we knew in which direction we must head to…"
Nevertheless, the trio started set out, not knowing where this dimension would take them.
:(/\):
"Orattir… Please, wake up…"
A soft groan, then Orattir's eyes flickered open.
There was a relieved sigh as the alien glanced around at the strange environment.
"How do you feel ?" Starfire asked.
"As if I had slept for an eternity." the second alien princess answered.
Starfire made a small grin.
"That sentence reminded me of a tale of the fairy book that Robin had showed me. It was most beautiful—about a princess who had been cursed when she was little and how she would spend her entire life sleeping eternally once she pricked her finger on the needle..."
"Oh jinkies ! I think you're talking about Sleeping Beauty !" Cathy said excitedly. "Sam showed me that book too."
"Oh, you have read it ?" Starfire asked, delighted.
Cathy nodded, but Orattir, on the other hand, frowned.
"I do not know which you speak of, but it does sound lovely."
Star smiled.
"Oh, it will not let you down. Maybe I could lend it to you once this is all over."
Orattir grinned, nodding.
Cathy got lost in thoughts until she asked : "Uhm, does any of you two have any idea how to get out of here ?"
The two other aliens – all aliens had by chance ended up together when the teams got separated - paused as they gave a sheepish grin.
"Sorry, Cathy… not a clue." Star apologized.
It wasn't until then when Orattir suddenly got an idea.
"Wait—I could try to communicate with the others, but I need your powers to do it, Starfire !" Orattir spoke.
The Tamaranean gave a curious look, hesitating a little but nodded : "Okay…"
Orattir grabbed Star's hands, which made the red-haired shiver from the coldness, the two got into a meditating position, eyes closed, before they began to glow their respective colors : green for Starfire and bluish white for Orattir.
The latter then reopened her eyes, revealing her white glowing eyes, but the connection broke almost immediately, after only a few seconds.
Orattir hissed when a spark appeared, almost instantly withdrawing her hand.
Starfire blinked, allowing the glare of her green eyes to fade away, but her face was etched with confusion.
"What happened ?" Cathy asked with perplexity.
Orattir sighed.
"It failed. The dark magic in this realm is stronger than I had imagined. The Dark Lord of Dreams made one step ahead, once more."
Starfire felt saddened for her poor new friend.
"Do not despair. I am positive that we will get out of here."
"But how ?"
Star looked down at the ground. None of them had the answer to the question…
:(/\):
Raven ran after the sound, eyes narrowed as she stared ahead.
She had no idea who that could be, because of her powers not working for the time being—surely, it couldn't be one of her teammates. It would be almost impossible to have them randomly be teleported here—besides, she tried it out and what she got was that this dimension cancelled her powers.
Nonetheless, she continued to chase the laughter, but the strange thing was that, for some odd reason, the giggle was familiar to her.
But where and how ? She didn't know.
The giggle subdued, silence surrounding Raven once more.
She slowed down to a halt.
She knew she had heard it—either that… or she simply imagined in ?!
No, Raven thought.
She knew it wasn't fake. It had to be, because it felt real in the first place.
Nevertheless, the cloaked Titan resumed her search in order to find the source of the laughter.
"Hello ? Are you still there ?" Raven called out.
There's literally nothing in here, in this realm, and yet I managed to lose track of that presence.
The same laughter reverberated again, gaining Raven's full attention, and as she turned around, staring ahead, there was the swish of a cape, very close to her.
Raven let out a small gasp, as she thought that something had touched her hand… but she wasn't sure since it had happened so swiftly, like a quick breeze.
As Raven continued to follow the track, this time, she didn't lose it, and soon found herself staring at the back of what looked like a white cape.
Curious, Raven extended her hand out to reach out.
"What are you… ?" Raven trailed off, only to open mouth and eyes wide as the figure slowly turned around…
Author's Note :Oooh, what are you indeed ? But of course, that's for me to know and for you to find out ! Now what did Beast Boy see ? More questions arise ! And this is the part where I turn my keyboards to Dixxy—hit it, pal ! What happens next ? Find out..soon ! Toodles !
(Skychild101)
