Author's Note: I PROMISE I'M NOT DEAD ! I've just been busy with life and stuff. You know how it is. But… HAPPY NEW YEAR ! HOPE YOU GUYS HAD A FANTASTIC 2017 AND HOPE THAT 2018 MAY BE EVEN MORE AWESOME ! ON WITH THE STORY !

(Twenty) Nightmares are Really Bad Dreams

The group resumed walking, each of them wearing a confused look but shrugging off eventually.

Cyborg was doing some calculations on his computer arm, in hopes of discovering some kind of alternate route to reach the villain's lair… but no such luck, alas.

"Man, how hard is it to reach that damn place !?" he suddenly shouted after a moment of frustrated silence.

Raven rolled her eyes at the sudden outburst.

"It's a villain with a twisted mind. Did you really think that he would let you find another route so easily ? Of course he wouldn't. Even if you did, there would be traps and enchantments of sorts, which would make it almost impossible to enter."

He sneered.

"You really know how to boost confidence, don't you ?"

Raven simply shrugged.

"I'm only saying it like it is. I suppose I could have sugar-coated it…"

Cyborg sighed and deactivated his computer. He supposed he didn't mean to give out such a wingding… but all of this was really getting to him ! He just wanted to go home and play video games so that he could humiliate the green butt when he would win.

He made a disgruntled sound as he walked on.

Robin shook his head as he voiced out Cyborg's thoughts (as though the Titan leader knew exactly what his robotic mate was thinking) :

"We're all frustrated and tired, Cy, yet we can't give up now. We've come too close. But I assure you that once we reach the Dream Lord, you can have all of your frustrations taken out on him !"

"Yeah, and I promise that I won't gloat when I kick his butt to the next century !" Beast Boy proclaimed as he smacked his fist into his hand.

Cyborg snorted as he slid next to him, placing an arm around his shoulder.

"Yeah right ! You can't even land a single punch on him, let alone beat him. Besides, sending people to the next century is more Raven's thing, with her voodoo stuff..."

Raven scowled, giving a small growl.

"Do you want me to have you as my first Guinea pig ?!" she emotionlessly asked.

The muscular teen sweat-dropped, raising his hands in surrendering mode.

"I…I'm only joking, Rae !"

Jinx chuckled at their antics as she placed her hands behind her neck.

Beast Boy noticed Jinx walking by and called out to her.

"You've been quiet…" Beast Boy pointed out.

Jinx shrugged.

"Eh, there's really nothing much to say, in all honesty. But now that you mention it, I suppose I could say I'm just enjoying the view."

Beast Boy turned to where Jinx was staring, only to find that the environment was filled with… nothing but empty darkness !

And a sinister feel...

Howling wind could be heard in the distance…

Beast Boy gave an uneasy glance as he shivered.

"Right…" he muttered, avoiding the area.

Raven sighed.

"Anyway, we should get going. The more we linger around here, the more of a trap we could be in."

Robin nodded.

"Raven's right. We should go further in."

And with that definitive statement, the group headed forward.

It was a silent walk as each of them was lost in their own thoughts.

Cyborg frowned as he squinted his eyes, placing his hand on the side of his head. Something has been bothering him. He didn't know what it was, but it sounded like a high-pitch noise had been ringing in his head.

"Alright. Am I the only one who's hearing that high-pitch sound ?" Cyborg asked after a while, and to no one in particular.

Everyone stopped walking and, after giving it a listen, ended up shaking their heads.

Furrowing his eyebrows, Beast Boy morphed into a wolf and, after keeping his ears raised for a moment, he transformed back to human and shook his head.

"Sorry, Cy. I got nothing. Maybe it's your imagination…" Beast Boy suggested. "It could be from the lack of sleep."

Robin stared hard at the ground as though he was trying to break it with just a simple stare.

"If anything else comes up, let us know immediately ! We've got to be more careful !" he concluded.

Jinx nodded as she placed a hand on her hip.

"Yeah, but I'm sure it's a trick from the Dream Lord, so ignore it like always."

"It's kind of hard to when you know you're gonna hear it inside your head !" Cyborg replied, clearly annoyed.

"I'm not picking up any signal on our device." Chris stated, before adding : "Sorry, Cy."

The group resumed walking, with a few of them (especially Raven and Robin) suddenly realizing how it was… a bit too quiet, now. So far, there had been no attacks, no sneaky things that would take them by surprise (with the exception of Cyborg experiencing that odd sound inside his head).

So what could the enemy be planning ? Perhaps some great attack that the group wouldn't expect… and not having any clue about it kind of unnerved them. Both the Dark Titan and Boy Wonder were almost sure that the enemy might well attack now… now that they were semi-vulnerable.

"…so that's what I was saying… Raven ! Robin ! Snap out of it !" Danny exclaimed.

Both of the Titans got wide-eyed as their names got called out. They both gave blank stares then quickly blinked.

"I'm sorry… What did you say ?" Robin asked.

The red MBC member was about to open his mouth but Raven reacted faster.

"He was saying that we should take a rest." she summarized.

Danny stared at her, dumbfounded.

"How'd you—" he started, but having anticipated his question, she cut him to reply :

"Read your mind."

The spiked-haired boy goggled as he thought he had felt a small pull into his mind. He shuddered at the unwelcoming presence inside his head.

"Don't do that again." Danny mumbled, somewhat threateningly.

The empathy smirked as she relished Danny's discomfort.

The Titan leader pursed his lips at the prospect of resting even just for a bit. They could be losing precious time just by stopping for a while, when they could be out there, heading towards the disturbing lair.

"I don't know…" Robin muttered at last.

A hand was placed on his shoulder.

The Titan leader slightly turned his head to the side, only to see a metal arm.

"We've been walking aimlessly for endless hours and so far nothing has come up." Cy remarked. "Except for that odd ringing sound I had heard, but which seems to have stopped. We could use a little rest, Robin."

The addressee bit his lip before sighing, defeated.

"Alright. You have your fair view. I guess we could relax a bit."

"Finally !" Beast Boy and Danny both exclaimed at the same time.

Beast Boy changed into a small dog, curled up on the ground and almost immediately began drifting to sleep.

They all agreed to take turns in guarding. Even though most of them used this time to sleep, some did not, such as Raven, who meditated instead.

However, as minutes passed by, Cyborg kept turning from one side to the other, and ended up shooting his eyes wide open, an unpleased look on.

Groaning, the half-human Titan pushed himself up, muttering in anger as he stared into the distance.

There was that same high-pitch tone ringing in his head; it was almost ear-shattering. It sounded like a whistle but he wasn't sure.

I know I am not crazy.

Getting up, Cyborg proceeded to walk further, but unbeknownst to him, Raven opened one of her eyes and observed her fellow teammate.

Concern first flashed over her face, before her gaze hardened. She felt like she should follow him but it then occurred to her that he probably just needed to "take everything off his shoulder". And maybe that's what he was doing.

Biting her lip, Raven closed her eyes and took a deep breath before letting it out and she was soon sneaking into the mind of her robotic friend.

Yet she soon met some kind of "psychic wall", or mind resistance, followed by a kind of mental whisper :

Don't bother, Rae. I know what you're doing. I'll be fine.

It was Cyborg's voice.

The empath frowned in her concentration, and focused on a reply :

Are you sure ? You just woke up feeling extremely unpleasant.

The inward answer came without delay :

Sorry about that. But I just needed some um… 'extra' air, you know… to get it all out of my chest. I'll be okay.

Raven sighed and concluded :

Fine.

And then the connection broke off, allowing Raven to return to her mediation.

:(/\):

Raven… ? Rae ?

Cyborg sighed.

She must have broken the connection when she said 'Fine' and that was it. He knew he shouldn't have disregarded her like that since he supposed he could've used her help. But since none of them seemed to believe in him, he felt like this was something he should do by himself.

"Alright, you lousy runt. I'm gonna make you show up even if you don't want to…" he muttered as he made his arm computer appear.

He began to click away until a blank screen with small blue dots followed by lines appeared. With this gadget, he was sure he could capture the invisible sound.

He paused.

Maybe he should've brought Chris with him… After all, he was half as good as he was, but Cyborg still considered himself the best tech.

He started to walk almost randomly in order to capture that signal, but the further he walked, the louder the sound got… to the point it was really becoming unbearable !

"Enough !" Cyborg shouted as he placed both hands over his ears and fell to his knees.

As though Cyborg had some power over it, the noise stopped, leaving the large teen panting from the effort.

As he was breathing, on the small frame of the computer screen, a wave started to go up and down.

After a minute, he noticed that wave moving on the tiny screen.

His eyes narrowed.

I knew it would show up...

But as he turned around, he saw something that made him gasp… then scream !

Raven opened her eyes, panting heavily.

There was a disturbing connection… and then it was gone.

"Cyborg, come in ! Cyborg, come in !"

She turned to the side and caught sight of Robin, who was repeatedly talking in his Titans communicator.

"Dude, stop repeating yourself. If he wasn't missing, he would've responded by now." Beast Boy remarked.

Robin shook his head.

"But it isn't like him to randomly disappear !"

Raven frowned.

"What happened?"

Boy Wonder turned to the Dark Titan, but someone else gave her the information.

"Apparently, Cyborg went on a trip then suddenly went missing…" Jinx answered.

The changeling narrowed his eyes at the sudden slightly humorous tone.

"It's not funny, Jinx !" the green one snapped. "What if something bad happened to him while he was gone?"

"Chill out, green bean. I wasn't joking in the first place." the pink-haired one sneered.

"Hmph. It didn't sound like it."

Chris pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Alright, that's enough. Cyborg still has less than 24 hours to be considered officially missing. If he doesn't show up till then... we can be safe to assume that's he's gone."

A disturbing silence fell upon them.

Danny sighed.

"Man, there's gotta be some way to make sure that we stick together and don't get vulnerable !" He paused, before his eyes met those of the cloaked girl. "Hey Raven, since you can read people's mind, can't you track him down ?"

She shook her head.

"I can't. The last time I tried, I met a mental barrier that prevented me to do so."

"Well maybe that 'wall' is gone now and you can track him down…" Beast Boy suggested.

Raven gave a look at the frustrated changeling. He was getting irritated at the fact that they apparently couldn't do anything to find his buddy.

She sighed.

"Fine. I'll try. But I cannot promise you that I will succeed."

While Raven was disconnected from reality, focusing her magical energy on Cyborg's mind, the group started to discuss about another topic.

"We need to find a way to end this now !" Jinx growled.

The others could tell that she was itching for fight.

"Obviously, we can't do that…" Beast Boy muttered.

As Chris was talking about how they needed a plan, Robin turned to the side and observed the calmness on Raven's face.

"...and then we attack him." Chris finished.

"No." Robin suddenly said, and everyone turned to face him. "We're not just gonna go in there upfront. The Dream Lord will expect us and he's picking us one at a time to make us vulnerable. No. What we need is the element of surprise…"

Author's Note :Oooooh ! Robin, what are you up to ? And what happened to Cyborg ? Will they find him ? And this chapter got done during my vacation in Mexico. ^^ I was just in my hotel relaxing, but I got it done ! I was going to finish this before I left for my trip, yet I didn't want to rush it and make it sloppy. What happens next ? Find out when Dixxy takes over ! Toodles !