Good morn-… well, aftern-… uh eveni-… ah, damn : good DAY ! ^^'

Hope you guys are all doing fine, and that life's burden isn't too heavy on your shoulders… but courage, guys, courage : summer holiday is just around the (big) corner of June ! A bit more patience and you'll be having that loooong well-deserved break !

As for me, still fine, despite a few hardships (couple tensions, granny's decease, issue with the principal of my children's school). I'm still "up & running", ready to battle against any obstacles and catch any curve balls existence throws at me (to use a friend's nice metaphor about life's problems).

Are there any fans of Nick Cave (and the Bad Seeds) round here ? In case yes, just know that I've taken great interest in that singer/writer. And yes, you didn't misread : writer as well, as he had 2 novels published, and I'm currently reading the first one, …AND THE ASS SAW THE ANGEL : excellent, but very dark. Well, no surprise there, given the lad's dark universe. And musically speaking, I'm fond of such albums as very nice DIG, LAZARUS, DIG !, the wonderful ABATTOIR BLUES/THE LYRE OF ORPHEUS and the mesmerizing SKELETON TREE, which is a masterpiece of emotion, one of those few records I can regard as dearest to my heart and ears (the final, eponymous track of such indescribable beauty, such overwhelming emotion, such infinite delicateness).

I also decided to re-read my Teen Titans stories (am currently on "8"), just as I had re-read my Monster Buster Club stories a couple of years ago, just out of nostalgia. Not out of self-esteem or pride, but to judge it a posteriori, see what could have been improved, if the story was enjoyable after all, what was the sequence of events at the time and so on… I have a strong link with the past and thus cherish nostalgia, hence the need to dive into the past every now and then, be it via memories or via various deeds.

I all hope that mild weather is also there, present, at your end. Here, we can say that it's already "summer beforehand". How loveable Spring can be ! Best season of all, although autumn has a lot of charm coz of gorgeous colours everywhere, and the melancholy of fallen leaves…

Ok, now, how about I shut it and work on that chappy, uh ? Right, so I'm gonna shut it now. No more words. No more writing this foreword. Nothing. Just silence. Coz you don't want me to babble on and on. So I'll be silent and write the plot. You have my word. And I will stick to it. That's for sure. Definitely. Uh ? What's that ? I should "shut the hell up now instead of continuing chatting" ? Oh… oh yes… sure… I… I hadn't noticed I had continued… sorry, really… I didn't mean to… I feel so sheepish… Uh ? "But shut the f…" ? Okay, okay, shutting it for good… right NOW !

End Joy ! ;)

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(NINETEEN) _ VISIONS _

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Beast Boy was lost in a sea of memories as his wide open eyes remained glued to the car slowly sinking in the river.

Mum… Dad…

He saw silhouettes inside the car… the silhouettes of the two persons he cherished the most, and that a cruel fate had taken from him in his innocent youth…

Please… don't leave me... again…

And as he inwardly begged for this nightmare to end, images drifted in front of his eyes.

He was 3 and his mother was playing with him, and they both laughed so heartily, happy to be together in the warm caress of the sun…

I… I need you…

There he was, at 5, when his father had bought him that green bicycle, his first one, and he was so excited about it, and grinned wide at his parents, repeating his thanks several times in a rushed voice, his heart overflowing with gratitude…

Why… WHY…?

His seventh anniversary, with a surprise trip to Serengeti's nature reserve, in Kenya, which he had enthused so much about, him who loved animals, who was so fascinated by wildlife.

If only you knew… how much I miss you…

And then… the car accident… with the vehicle plunging into water, with his sick mother unconscious after passing out from heat, due to her fever, and his father struggling to undo the fastening belt, which had got stuck…

But no matter how hard he tried, it wasn't sufficient : the car rapidly filled with water, and none of the occupants had enough time to get out…

Soon they would be dead by asphyxia… a horrible way to leave this world…

But just then, something unexpected happened, against all logic : the water of the river turned to mud, and it was now thick mud that was invading the car !

His father started gesticulating frantically as mud quickly reached their faces and was about to suffocate them, while his mother was still unconscious in her seat.

The morpher, taken aback by that sudden change, stared in horror for a few seconds, before a scream escaped his throat.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO !"

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Jinx…

Look at me…

The pink witch, whose pupils had got fully dilated as she focused on her surroundings to try and locate the source of those calls, now somehow sensed that somebody was observing her, and she even felt that the mysterious spy was somewhere on her left.

Her vertical pupils instantly contracted as shock overwhelmed her at the sight of the pale-skinned woman standing a short distance from her, wearing a white dress and a thin veil over her face, blurring her features.

And the woman had her arms raised, half-stretched in Jinx's direction.

"M-Mother ?!"

Jinx… don't call me out loud, but rather communicate with me via your mind… you don't need to voice it, just express yourself by thoughts rather than by words…

Jinx swallowed her saliva as she gazed intensely at the woman who had given her the most precious present ever : life.

Jinx, my little Jinx… You must not feel sorry for me… it had to be so… there was no other way…

But...Mother… I didn't want that ! I never wanted it to happen ! If only I had been more careful… if only I… I…

Jinx… it is not your fault, my dear… you are not responsible…

But-

"Jinx ?" softly called Sam, who had stopped to give a brief panoramic look around them, to try and find out in which direction they should head, and had then turned to her friend, only to find the latter staring, very focused, on her left.

But when the somewhat bossy girl had followed the direction of the witch's gaze, she had the surprise to see… well, as a matter of fact, nothing surprising ! She had scanned the area, but there was just plain landscape there, without anything out of the ordinary.

But what is she observing ?

Only Jinx could tell.

But the girl was so intensely focused right now that Sam hesitated to interrupt that focus.

Mother, I… I miss you ! I miss you terribly…

The pink eyes started to fill, ready to pour the hot proofs of her distress.

I miss you too, Jinx. And I miss hugging you…

The pink-haired teen opened her mouth to reply, but then…

…then horror clasped her heart and squeezed it horribly !

Liquid was pouring from the top of her mother's forehead, dark red liquid that slowly flowed down.

There also was some coming out of the corners of the mouth.

And as her mother slightly lowered her arms, the now terrified daughter could see the red lines on the waists, where more of the same liquid was flowing from.

Come hug your mother, Jinx…

"Jinx… what's the matter ? Why are you crying ? Jinx ?!" asked Sam, now really anxious about her friend's behaviour.

A horrified silence descended upon Jinx as she gazed, with the deepest fright, at the blood rapidly covered most of her mother's face and part of her forearms, red drops continuously staining the white dress, which became always more and more red.

The poor woman was bleeding to death !

And Jinx was the powerless witness of that sight… that horrendous, horrendous sight !

"Jinx... Jinx ! Please, tell me what's going on ! JINX !" half-screamed the African-American.

Come hug your mother who loves you so much…

All that blood… on the face… on the hands… on the arms… on the dress… on the ground…

Her vocal folds were paralyzed… but after long, long seconds of terror, she couldn't take it anymore !

Closing her eyes, and thus escaping from the awful sight of her mum's bloody yet still smiling face, she for once lost it and, her usual cheekiness now miles away from her, she let out a deafening cry of despair.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO !"

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Robin wasn't the type to sigh. He rarely ever did, as he was used to remain collected no matter the situation he had to face.

But as Chris, Danny and him kept walking without really knowing their destination, or rather knowing it but ignoring the way to it, he felt that they somehow were kicking their heels instead of actually progressing.

"I have the feeling that we're not really progressing…" said Chris in that moment, voicing the exact thought of the Titan leader.

"That's exactly what I was thinking right this minute !" exclaimed Boy Wonder, surprised of the coincidence.

But then again, great minds think alike, don't they, dear readers ? Either that or Raven passed part of her empathic power to Chris…

"Really ? Well I guess we're just as frustrated about our going nowhere… or at least not where we would like to !"

Robin's attention was drawn to some place behind his teammates, where he saw somehow stand in the shadows…

Danny chimed in : "Guys, I tell it to you once again : we're lost. It's no use walking if we don't know where we must go."

"That's pertinent, but if we don't move… how do we get out of here ?" remarked the freckled teenager.

The eyes of the young acrobat widened under his mask as the boy recognized the dark figure standing not that far from him, waiting mysteriously in the shadows…

The MBC hothead gave Chris's words a quick thought, opened his mouth to reply… but realizing something at the last moment, he closed it back.

"We can't get out of here if we remain sitting in the same place. We must explore this desolate land if we want to find a way out !" observed the indigo-haired boy.

"Okay, okay, but…"

But the sound of Danny's voice seemed to get always more and more remote as Robin's stare intensified, his mouth slightly opening.

There, behind the two discussing boys…

…there, in the shadow…

…there was a tall figure, standing by the cliff…

.. motionless…

…silent…

…observing him !

But although the face of the mysterious person spying him remained in total darkness, Robin could still identify him from his uniform : indeed, that long cape was familiar, and even more were the two small vertical "ears" on top of this skull.

That's… Bruce ?! But… what is he doing here ?! On this planet ?!

The acrobat squinted, feeling the need to make sure that it really was his long-time friend and not someone resembling him. The signature uniform should have dispelled any doubt, but what made the young boy still hesitate was the incongruity of Batman's presence in this alien world, far away from Earth.

How indeed could the Dark Knight have arrived here ? By spaceship ?

And anyway, what would he be doing here ? Also help fighting the mastermind behind the dream abduction ?

Robin was about to call his mentor when the latter started walking in the direction of his "protégé".

But after a few steps, the Dark Knight abruptly stopped and slightly bent over.

He put his hand to his tummy and a moan rose in the cold air.

Robin frowned, wondering what the matter was.

But there was more.

There was worse.

A muffled scream replaced the moan.

Followed by another one, louder.

And another one, even louder.

"A problem, Robin ?"

The Masked Titan turned to the right and glanced at his the two alien busters to find them staring at him with a hint of worry.

"Wh-… What ? What did you say, Chris ?"

"I was asking you if there was a problem. You are so focused on that cliff that I was wondering whether you had glimpsed something dubious over there…"

The black-haired teenager felt a wave of oddness crash upon him.

"But… But you don't see him ?! You don't hear how he's suffering ?!"

A particularly loud muffled scream.

Robin's head jerked back to Batman.

"Bruce !"

Chris and Danny checked again, but all they saw was the cliff.

Nobody was there.

"Robin, we don't see -"

But the Titan leader didn't listen and, hypnotized by his ailing mentor, took two steps forward.

"Is he turning mad or what ?" whispered Danny to his teammate.

"Mmmmmh… he seems to be experiencing some hallucination… wait, I'll just approach him slowly and talk to him calmly…"

And that's when Boy Wonder saw Batman heavily collapse, falling flat on his face, this time with a perfectly audible scream (yet only Robin actually heard it).

But that was not the worst.

Because the worst, which made Robin shout on the top of his lungs (which in turn made Chris freeze in his steps as he was about to touch Robin's shoulder), was that the Dark Knight's head broke away from the neck in a gush of blood, as if severed by some invisible hand, and came rolling to the acrobat's feet.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO !"

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Raven felt her breath get stuck in her throat and her heart miss a beat, as she looked opposite at…

… herself !

Or rather at a younger version of her, maybe 7 or 8 years old, no more.

Her juvenile self stared back, a mysterious sadness haunting her violet orbs.

There was an awkward silence as the two Raven's observed each other, one of them speechless, the other melancholic.

The wind was softly blowing, gently moving their cloaks every now and then.

The teenage Raven finally felt like she should say something, but was clueless about the topic to choose, about the words to utter.

But it was clear that they couldn't remain that way for long, just gazing at one another in silence, yet when one doesn't know how to start… what to say… then communication is in a dead end.

The teenage Raven swallowed her saliva, hypnotized by her younger alter ego, and finally made up her mind about what to say. She opened her mouth…but the purple-haired child opposite her piped her at the post.

"You wonder what I'm doing here, don't you ?"

The 18-year old certainly didn't expect that.

How… How did she know…?

"I know because I am you, and share your mind, your memory, your intellect, your sixth sense." replied the juvenile self. "I am you, and therefore know what you know, know what you think, know what you'll say next. You don't need to ask me anything."

They fixed their gaze on each other again, silent once more.

"So… since you know I was wondering about your presence here… what can you tell me about it ? About your presence in this place ?" asked the empath to her child version.

Her small self sighed.

"Why did you agree to become Trigon's portal ? Why did you give in, instead of fighting, even at the risk of your life ?" she half-asked half-reproached.

Raven was astonished. She certainly didn't expect such questions, and thus found herself caught off guard.

Yet, true to her emotionless reputation, she rapidly got a grip on herself and replied in the most neutral tone possible.

"I tried to avoid it. I did try, trust me, but that wasn't enough. I knew I couldn't avoid my fate. One can only struggle for so long, but if it proves useless…"

She found it strange to be talking to herself and trying to… convince herself ! There was something slightly schizophrenic about it…

The wind had now picked up and was blowing with more insistence, making not only their cloaks move, but also their hair, under their hoods, as it was now rushing in there.

"But you willingly followed Slade to the ancient library and accepted to become the portal, while your friends had been battling so hard to prevent this. They would have given their life to protect you. And what is their reward ? See you follow Slade instead of fighting him with all you had, just like your friends did."

The tone of the child was harsh, reproachful, merciless to the teenager.

Raven couldn't believe she was actually scolded by herself !

And to be honest, she didn't appreciate the reproaches she was getting.

"I didn't have a choice !" she half-screamed to the child. "Slade would have killed my friends if I hadn't accepted to go with him ! I didn't want Trigon to enter our dimension BUT I also DIDN'T want to lose the persons dearest to me !"

The little Raven was frowning hard at the bigger one, and this severity unsettled the sorceress : she was getting a hard, cold stare from no other than her child version, therefore from… herself !

"Your decision almost cost millions of lives, all that just because you only cared for your own interest, which related to your friends. You have been really disappointing… really weak…" said the younger one, and she closed her eyes and shook her head several times, showing how pitiful she considered Raven's behaviour to save the other Titans from death.

"SHOULD I JUST LET THE PEOPLE I LOVE THE MOST DIE ?! THOSE I CONSIDER MY FAMILY ?!" yelled Raven. "THEY ARE THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO ACTUALLY GAVE ME AFFECTION IN MY ENTIRE LIFE… WOULD IT BE NORMAL TO LEAD THEM TO THEIR DEATH BY REFUSING WHAT WAS ACTUALLY MY FATE ?!" She felt Rage's power swelling within her. "YOU THINK YOU KNOW BETTER, BUT YOU DON'T ! YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO GO THROUGH ALL THAT : I HAD TO, AND HADN'T MUCH OF A CHOICE ! LOVE BONDS ARE MORE POWERFUL AND STRONG THAN YOU THINK !"

She had narrowed her eyes at her young self and was gritting her teeth really hard.

The soft wind had now clearly given in and had been replaced by violent gusts that incessantly beat the cloaks and finally threw the hoods down as the rush of air dived straight into the hoods.

The child bared her teeth and a rumble escaped from her throat, which surprised the teenager, then she lowered her face to the ground…

…and when she looked back up at the Titan that she would become in the future, there no longer were two violet eyes on her face : there were four… and there were blood red !

Raven took a step back as a malevolent grimace misshaped the face of her younger version.

"How dare you raise your voice on me ?!" said a deep, demonic voice.

The sorceress felt her heart sink as she gulped, goggling at her now evil doppelganger.

"No… this is not possible… this is not real !" she said, as she slowly raised her right arm, as if to protect herself.

"Oh yes, it is ! It IS !" calmly said the deep, distorted voice that reminded her so terribly of a familiar monster she alas shared blood ties with.

And that's when a horrible physical change took place : on the sides of young Raven's forehead appeared two bumps, which then started to grow, to swell, becoming gradually bigger and bigger.

The teenage witch, horror-struck, stared at that scaring phenomenon, unable to take her eyes off it, unable to get away, unable to say anything anymore.

And a frightening thought surfaced in her mind.

No… no, it can't be -…

The gusts of wind were now so violent that it broke Raven's balance and threatened to throw her to the ground !

The two lumps of flesh on the tiny forehead became cracked, as something was pushing from underneath… pushing to get out…

"You think it can't be, Raven ?" asked the demonic voice of the younger empath. "And yet… yet…"

No no no ! Please NO !

The Goth, still mute out of fear, felt her level of dread about to reach alarming heights, as she saw something burst out from the two bumps, sending blood everywhere.

"… and yet, it actually IS SO !" screamed the devilish child, as two white antlers covered in blood now adorned her forehead.

The very same antlers that a certain demon lord had on his own forehead.

"THE REIGN OF TRIGON THE TERRIBLE WILL COME !" bellowed the now horrible child, her face a mask of pure hatred.

And this time, the vocal folds of Raven, previously "frozen", produced that scream she had been unable to let out before, because of fear paralyzing her :

"NOOOOOOOOOOO !"

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The trio of aliens stopped.

There was a brief silence, before the third alien – and second alien princess – voiced their common concern.

"Is it just me or is the fog getting thicker and thicker ?"

"It's not just you : I have the same impression !" replied the Rhapsodian.

"And I also have the same !" confirmed the Tamaranean.

Orattir's eyes narrowed at the white ethereal substance that kept on gathering around them.

"That can't be good… What's the matter with all that fog ?" she wondered.

"Mmmmmmh… could it be some trap ?" proposed Cathy.

"I think it could, yes… Like someone has a control over the meteorological elements, and just augmented the mass of fog. It sounds feasible, actually…" reacted the green female.

The fog had accumulated so much that they started having slight difficulties to make out their own bodies as they looked at each other.

"So… what do we do, Friends ? Do we continue to walk in the fog or do we stay here until we can see better again ?" asked a perplexed Starfire.

Silence.

The white mass threatened to swallow them all in its immense vaporous mouth.

"I think we shou-"

But the end of Orattir's sentence never came, blocked away by the sudden rush of the fog, briskly burying them completely inside its white womb.

Inside its white womb.

Cathy squinted her eyes…

...and then she saw…

"G-…Grandpa ?"

Because of the fog, the silhouette was somewhat blurry, but not that much, and the young Rhapsodian could still identify the person opposite as her dear grandfather.

"What are you doing here ?"

No reply.

He simply stood there, motionless, staring at her.

Cathy, who had first been surprised, began to feel uneasy.

It wasn't like her grandpa not to answer.

On the contrary, he always had a nice word for her when he saw here, and he certainly would have answered her when being addressed by her.

But in this case, strangely enough…

"Grandpa…?"

Silence again.

What Cathy hadn't noticed, because of her intense focus on Hugo Smith, is that while she spoke aloud, none of her two friends, who were nearby, somewhere in the fog, asked her who she was talking to. And yet, because they weren't that far from her, they probably had heard her talk and should logically have asked her why she called her 'grandpa', all of a sudden.

And yet, curiously enough, they didn't react.

Didn't say anything.

As if they didn't care or if they… were not there anymore.

That sounded absurd, and yet…

…yet…

"Grandpa, why don't you say anything ?" the young Rhapsodian asked, feeling her anxiety level significantly rise because of her relative's unusual mutism.

He took two steps in her direction, raised his arm, pointed his finger in her direction, slowly opened his mouth…

…and a horrible, strident sound came out of it !

Something that belonged to some monster, not to a human being or even a human-looking alien.

Cathy immediately put her hands over her ears and shut her eyes, screaming on top of her lungs :

"NOOOOOOOOOOO !"

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"BB ! WAKE UP ! EEEHOOO !"

At last, the shapeshifter blinked and got aware of his friend's shouts.

He briskly turned his head at him.

"C-Cyborg ?!"

"Yeah Man ! Cyborg ! Jeez, finally you snap out of it…! Been calling you several times, louder and louder, and had to yell my lungs out to get you back for good !"

"Really ? I didn't react when you called me ?"

"No, Man. Just like I tell you. Must have been something hypnotizing, what you were looking at. What was it ?"

The morpher turned his head at the scene he was staring at as he started answering :

"I was loo-"

But he almost immediately interrupted his sentence, as he had just noticed that the car and river were gone, and that in their place was only the thick fog that surrounded them all this time.

"But… But it was THERE ! I SAW IT ! My parents' car, sinking into water… and then into mud ! Where… Where is it now ?!"

After glancing around for the third time, and still finding nothing, the TTech replied :

"You must have had an hallucination, B ! You are certainly tired and -"

"I swear I SAW IT !"

"Hey, I didn't say you didn't see it, B, but since there is nothing there now, it means it was not real, what you saw. So, a hallucination of some sort."

Beast Boy felt bitter about the whole thing, and still affected by the demise of his parents – even if he now knew it had been some kind of mirage.

"Yeah… I guess you're right… but still… it… it felt so real…" reluctantly answered the green boy, his face giving away sadness as well as distress.

"Look, Mate, I know you are certain you spotted it, but that's precisely the thing with hallucinations : they are so real that we think it's reality !"

And Cyborg put his large hand on the changeling's small shoulder.

"Yeah, I know it's true : it was all an illusion…"

And that's when the fog started to lift…

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Jinx blinked and turned to Sam, who then stopped screaming her name.

"Finally you heard me !" the MBC leader said in a sigh.

"Finally ? Wait… I didn't hear you calling me until now ?!" asked the Pink Witch.

"No, you did not. You simply kept staring over there and didn't move."

As she uttered the words "over there", Samantha pointed to a certain location, and Jinx's eyes naturally followed.

The spot was empty.

Her mother was gone.

"But…my mother… she was just there… in a white dress… calling for me…"

Her distressed look flew from the empty place to Sam and back.

"And then she started to bleed… from the forehead… the mouth… the hands… so much blood…"

The African-American walked to the grey-skinned teen and put her hand on her shoulder.

"It's okay, Jinx. It was a hallucination."

The hex caster swallowed her saliva.

"But it seemed so… so real… I could have sworn she was just there…"

"I know, Jinx, I know. But some hallucinations are so realistic that you may think they ARE reality."

The witch started filling up, which surprised her friend.

"Hey, hey, hey, Jinx ! Please don't cry ! It's over now ! It was like a bad dream, but it's over !"

"I loved her… so much… Sam. My mother… my mother was… everything to me. I didn't… have the chance to… to know my father… as he died before… before I saw the light of day…so my mum was… she was like… the center of the world to me. And she… she was so nice… so caring… so tender… you have no idea…" the pink-haired girl explained through her sobs.

Sam did the only thing she deemed appropriate, given the state of distress her teammate was in : she wrapped her arms around her and hugged her gently, rocking her slowly, whispering words of comfort in her ears.

Jinx held on tightly, crying against her friend, and it was such unwonted to see the usually cheeky sorceress shed tears. She was rarely sad, and when she ever was, she almost never wept.

But her mother… that was a totally different story. It actually was one of the only topics who could make her cry.

"Thank you… Sam… Thank you… for comforting me…" whispered the former criminal once she had regained some control over herself.

"Hey, it's okay, really. That's what friends are for, right ? Helping at their best."

"You are a true friend, Sam !"

"I can say the same about you, Jinx !"

They finally parted and the usually sassy teen dried up her eyes.

"You know, I never saw you cry and, given your temperament, I hadn't suspected that you actually could… You're so dynamic and quick off the mark, using irony and showing self-confidence, that I didn't think I would see you shed tears one day…" confessed the golden-eyed female.

"Oh, I know, right ? I'm one of those strong, tough persons who seem capable to endure anything and always wriggle out of problems, like Raven, Robin… or you ! But everyone has his or her own weaknesses, in the end, and my mother remains a sensitive topic. So, when I saw her before… and with all that blood pouring from her…"

She felt a shiver run down her back and swallowed her saliva, feeling vaguely dizzy.

"Will you… be alright, Jinx ?" asked a concerned Sam, who had noticed her brief feebleness.

The sorceress nodded vigorously.

"Yes. Don't worry for me. I'll be okay. I feel better now, knowing it was all an illusion…"

And that's when the fog started to lift…

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The young acrobat briskly regained focus as he was being shaken by someone yelling his name.

Having "escaped" from his kind of hypnosis, he turned to look at the one who had managed to break the spell and bring him back into reality's realm, and as he did so, he heard another voice nearby : "Look, Danny, you can stop : he is back with us !"

It was Chris speaking, on his left, and Danny, on his right, removed his hands from Robin's shoulders.

"Man, I think I have never shaken anybody that much ! I wouldn't have done it more to get a ripe pear from the pear tree !" said the red MBC member on a joking tone.

Robin blinked, puzzled by those words.

"What ?!" he asked.

Danny cleared his throat.

"Well, all I was saying is that I had to shake you for a while before you came back to us. The pear tree thing was just a meta-… a meta-… uh…"

"A metaphor." completed his geeky friend, who was the most learned of their team along with Sam.

"Yeah, a metaphor, exactly !" confirmed the scarred boy, shaking his raised forefinger once in direction of his buddy.

The masked teenager wasn't really paying attention at the moment, his eyes searching the space in front of him.

"Robin ?" cautiously asked Chris.

"Where is Batman ?" was the reply he got, a question-reply as a matter of fact.

This caught the duo of MBC fighters by surprise.

"Uh… what ?!" asked the spike-haired boy, half-surprised half-amused, thinking it could be some joke.

But Boy Wonder didn't look like he was joking. Even far from it.

"Batman… I saw him here…right here !" He was pointing to a spot a few feet ahead of him. "And he… he died ! Right before my eyes !"

The last part was uttered louder, like the masked hero was about to scream it out. In fact… there was some kind of urgency, if not of frenzy, in his voice.

Danny's right eyebrow rose out of disbelief.

"Are you serious, Man ?!"

"Of course he is ! He obviously is ! Does he look like he is joking ?" somewhat scolded the freckled genius by his side.

Upset replace puzzlement inside Robin's mind.

"Look, I know what you're thinking. But no, I'm not mad ! I swear to God I did see Batman right there, opposite. He came to me, then appeared to suffer at the level of his abdomen – stomach ache or something else, I don't know. He was bent in two from the pain and couldn't utter a single word. Then he got closer and fell. And when he crashed to the ground, his head…"

He couldn't finish the sentence, because of the lump in his throat.

Oh, Bruce… Bruce… I can't believe it… you cannot be "gone"…

Chris and Danny exchanged concerned looks, the second one no longer questioning Robin's sincerity about what he saw. It was obvious he had seen it.

But since they hadn't… it couldn't be real.

Or could it ?

"…his head got severed from his body !" finished the Titan leader on the darkest tone, struggling to stifle tears. He was not one to cry, and would certainly not start today.

Chris laid his hand on the acrobat's shoulder.

"We believe you, Robin. You cannot be making up such a story, not the way you describe it and how it moves you deep inside. But the thing is that… well… we didn't see any of this. We saw you stare in this direction, yes, yet didn't spot anything over there. There wasn't anybody, all the time you kept gazing and talking to Batman. So we didn't see what you see. And to me, this can mean only one thing…"

A brief silence, and…

"It wasn't real, Robin. It was an illusion. I don't know if it's that strange fog that caused it, that fog which suddenly invaded the place, but the hallucination may have been the product of it."

Robin didn't say anything at first and merely kept staring at the spot in which he had initially seen Batman…

…or at least believed he had seen Batman.

"It seemed so real… so terribly real…" he muttered, more to himself than to his two interlocutors.

"I'm sure it was, given the way you talked about it… but it had to be some hallucination, since we didn't see Batman. There was nobody there. And as I told you, I wonder whether it was induced by that weird fog, since things were normal before it turned up…" explained the young tech.

"If I catch the bastard who sent us that fog giving us hallucinations, I swear I'll make him regret to mess around with us !" threatened Danny, shaking his fist in the air to back his words.

Robin was thoughtful for a moment, but since he had no better or more logical explanation about the whole issue, he decided to go for that one.

"Okay, you are probably right. It must have been all an illusion…"

And that's when the fog started to lift…

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

The sorceress slowly opened her eyes.

The sky had turned way dark, but one could still make out the surroundings.

And there was another change in the atmosphere : the wind had now vanished.

It used to blow with always more and more violence when Raven was confronting her evil young self, turning from breeze to tempest… and now, quite unexpectedly, there wasn't even the slightest movement of air around her.

After realizing about these immediately perceptible phenomena – light decrease (due to the now overcast sky) and wind disappearance - , Raven rose from the ground and gave a panoramic look around her.

She was on her own.

But she… she was there ! I clearly remember seeing her over there !

And as she thought this, her eyes indeed were staring "over there", a spot in front of her where the white-cloaked child used to stand… and which was currently deserted.

The empath decided to use her extra-sensory powers to probe the surroundings and thus find out if the juvenile version of herself could be hiding somewhere, or if she had gone for good.

She therefore closed her eyes and focused her powers on the area surrounding her.

Seconds passed.

And when Raven reopened her eyes, she knew with absolute certainty that she was now alone in this mysterious place, alone with fog… and silence.

But I could swear that she was here with me… I remember all the details : her cloak, her face, her voice, her words… and her terrible change !

The stoic teen was the least impressionable of the Titans, and actually of both teams, yet when she recalled said terrible change in her younger self, with the demonic voice, the four crimson eyes and especially the antlers bursting from the forehead in an impressive gush of blood, she couldn't help shivering.

It was actually a combination of dread and revulsion that she felt at the horrible recollection.

Given these negative emotions, she was relieved that her malevolent young doppelgänger had disappeared, but a certain part of her was still more puzzled than relieved at the moment, because there was a veil of uncertainty over the events that had taken place between teen Raven and child Raven.

Although her absence seems to indicate it was all a dream – or rather, a nightmare - , it's still difficult to accept it. It seemed so real… I never had a dream that was as realistic, that it appeared as reality itself and not a simple illusion of sleep. I should be able to accept it, and yet…

But then she remembered what they were here for : put an end to the evil reign of a dark mastermind stealing dreams from innocents.

And this parallel universe being his realm, it was all too logical that it would induce dreaming, produce hallucinations, trigger false impressions.

Perhaps that's the goal of our enemy : create visions horrible enough for us to either get insane or renounce, because of our dread. But it won't work. I must be strong and accept the truth. And the truth is that…

"I know none of it was real. Seemed to be… yet wasn't." she said aloud, as if to demonstrate to some hidden presence that she was stronger than she appeared. "It was all a creation of some unknown origin. Just a smoke screen, no matter how realistic it appeared at first. It was all an illusion !"

And that's when the fog started to lift…

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Cathy blinked.

She had just heard a scream.

And wasn't it her name that had been screamed, somewhere deep in the fog… ?

She pricked up her ears, and got confirmation of her good hearing :

"CATHY ! CAN YOU HEAR US ?!"

This was Starfire.

"CATHY ! WHAT'S THE MATTER ?"

And that, Orattir.

"What…" she started in a normal tone, then realized that she would have to scream as well, given that the fog was still there, and she couldn't make out where her friends were. "WHAT HAPPENED ? WHY ARE YOU SCREAMING ?"

"WE ARE SCREAMING BECAUSE YOU WERE SCREAMING !" yelled the Tamaranean.

Her voice was coming from a certain distance, which surprised the pink MBC member : they all were close to each other in the stone cell where they had freed Orattir, and also had been close only a little while ago…so how come they suddenly were so far apart ?!

"WHAT STARFIRE MEANS IS THAT WE HEARD YOU SCREAM 'GRANDA', SO WE WONDERED WHAT WAS WRONG. WE STARTED CALLING YOU, BUT YOU DIDN'T REPLY AND SCREAMED THAT NAME ONCE MORE. SO WE HAD TO SHOUT AS WELL, SEVERAL TIMES ! AND YOU FINALLY HEARD US AND REPLIED ! BUT WHAT HAPPENED ?" clarified the green alien.

Grandpa…

The word immediately made her recall about her grandfather producing an extremely loud sound, that resembled nothing she had ever heard, and certainly didn't belong to a human… or even to some humanoid alien !

It had been the shriek of a monster.

But a monster that temporarily hid his disgusting aspect under the skin of a human-looking creature.

The Rhapsodian's blue eyes were staring ahead, where she had seen the deceptive being.

It wasn't Grandpa !

She was sure of that.

It was someone – or something – who had assumed his shape to approach her and…

…and why exactly had he screamed while pointing at her ?

"CATHY ? ARE YOU ALRIGHT ?"

Starfire again.

The stretchable girl had hoped that both of her friends would get closer to her, as they walked through the fog, but the voice of the red-haired girl was still as distant as before.

"YES, I'M ALRIGHT. I THOUGHT I SAW GRANDPA BEFORE, BUT IT WASN'T HIM ! HE LOOKED LIKE HIM, BUT IT WAS SOME KIND OF MONSTER… BUT WHERE ARE YOU BOTH ? YOU SEEM SO FAR FROM ME !"

Cathy waited but no reply came.

"STARFIRE ?"

Silence.

"ORATTIR ?"

Nothing.

"CAN YOU HEAR ME ? WHAT'S THE MATTER ?"

No sound but the wind. (A/N : This is a personal wink to British band Editors, who released a B-side called NO SOUND BUT THE WIND… beautiful song, very moving… check it out on YT !)

"PLEASE, ANSWER ME…"

But answer, there was not.

She called twice more… but to no avail. It was as if her two friends had vanished away…

The usually bubbly girl collapsed and started weeping, something she never did. But her being stranded in that sea of fog and having lost track of her teammates was too much for her.

"It can't be real. It just can't. It has to be an illusion. It MUST be an illusion !"

And that's when the fog started to lift…

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Motionless bodies scattered inside a stone room.

Silence.

And finally, two eyes opening.

A body sitting up, eyes looking all around.

"What… What happened here ?" wondered the pink-haired witch, spotting all her unconscious friends lying all around in the room.

She caught sight of the blue cloak by her side and stretched her arm, intending to shake her fellow sorceress, to wake her up.

But by some welcome coincidence, that's precisely when Raven briefly moaned, and hearing this, the bad luck charm stopped her gesture and watched the other grey-skinned female expectantly.

Soon was the Goth back up, returning Jinx's gaze.

"What happened, Rae ? Why did we all fall asleep… or get unconscious ?" asked the former baddie.

"I'm not sure… but all I recall is seeing a younger version of me, who transformed into a demonic creature similar to Trigon. I remember waking up and realizing I was all alone, which brought me to the conclusion that it was a dream… or some illusion."

"You… you also were victim of an illusion ? Because as for me, I saw my mother bleed to death, but it turned out that it was not real : Sam shook me out of it and, of course, my mother wasn't there at all."

Raven pondered this while other teammates began moving.

"So we've both been victims of illusions or experienced a dream… or rather, nightmare. Mmmmh… perhaps the others have as well ? We have to ask them." she proposed.

"Hey, what the hell happened ?" asked Danny.

The sorceresses turned to him, and noticed that Robin had also sat up.

"I've had a nightmare about Batman", said Boy Wonder.

"Jinx had a vision about her mother" said another voice, on the other side of the room.

It was Sam, who also had just woken up and yet already looked pretty alert, not drowsy at all.

"A nightmare… a vision… very strange…" muttered Robin.

"Actually, BB also had a vision… or a nightmare about his parents drowning !" said a new voice.

They all turned to stare at Cyborg, who was leaning on his left arm and was about to sit up.

"But what's happening in here ?!" asked Jinx, to no one in particular.

"Dark magic… it's the evil mastermind perturbing us, unsettling us with nightmarish visions of our loved ones…" explained Raven.

There was a silence as the info sank into their minds and triggered some new thoughts.

Danny, Chris and Beast Boy were now also coming back from the realm of sleep and asking about what had happened or, for the morpher, describing the horrible scene witnessed in his sleep.

Sam had risen from the floor and was turning to look around her…

…and she soon noticed something abnormal.

She frowned and quickly took another panoramic look.

The frown intensified and her eyes narrowed.

"Where is Cathy ?"

Raven had been watching Sam and had also scanned the room right after her, while their friends were getting up… and noticed another odd thing.

"And where is Starfire ?" she asked shortly after Sam.

Robin quickly inspected the room as well, and he added a third question :

"And what about Orattir ?"

All the others turned around to look at the various members of their two teams, and were soon forced to admit the worrying fact : three of their teammates had indeed vanished, and nobody had even the slightest idea about where, when and how that had happened…..

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And… CUT ! (At LONG last !)

Okay, I honestly cannot recall on what date I had started this chapter, but can tell you that it is September 4th 2017 as I type this. Not even sure I can publish this today, in fact probably not, since I still have to re-read and correct the whole chapter before uploading the Word doc, but I guess that chappy should still be up this week.

Before we say each other goodbye for a while, I would like to pay homage to Radiohead, one of my fav' bands and, according to critics and fans worldwide, one the best in the world since 1997. So thanxxxx a lot Radiohead for all your wonderful, innovative, demanding music, and hopefully you'll continue spoiling us with great albums for still another decade or more. And Big Up to all Radiohead fans round here !

Alright, that was it. More than 7'000 words, 25 pages, time to put the final dot. Dear Ana, time to grab your keyboard and continue the adventure.

(UPDATE : Now September 6th as I just finish correcting the Word doc, so this chappy will be up today ! AT LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAST !)

Peace, Love, Ecstasy !

(Dixxy)