Raven awoke with a jolt. She looked around quickly and saw that the other Titans were fighting Aliens left and right. There were no zombies, but there were things that were shooting electricity all over the place. There were also things that looked like headless dogs. Raven jumped up in the air and shouted, "Azarath Metrion ZINTHOS!" Black energy bellowed out of her fingers tearing apart several enemies.

Robin was using his disks to knock out many of the monsters, and Starfire was countering the flying electricity with her starbolts. When the enemies were finished Robin said, "We can't stay in one place like this; we have to move!"

The Titans followed Robin into the darkness.

THE LONG DARK

They ran through the darkness. Even with the light provided, they could scarcely see. Several more things jumped out of the surroundings. This startled the Titans, but they quickly took the aliens down. They hastened with increasing speed through what looked to be a forest.

It was creepy, and there were noises coming from the domain encompassing them. The hair on the back of Raven's neck stood up. This was scary, even for her.

The noises aggrandized now, and Raven told the Titans to run forward fast. Something came down from above them. All of the Titans were horrified when it did.

It appeared to be a tongue, and Beast Boy was taken by it. Several seconds later ensanguined bones fell.

"OH MY GOD!" Raven screamed, and Robin vomited. The tongue came down again and the Titans jumped out of the way.

"We HAVE to keep moving!" Cyborg yelled. The Titans ran. They ran into several things, and none of them were anything like trees or bushes. Everything the Raven ran into tried to grab at her. Starfire was stuck on a plant that was ripping her footwear off. When they came off she stumbled backward. The ground felt sickeningly gross between her toes, and so with all of her capacity, she ripped her boots back and continued running.

Auspiciously for Starfire, they found a small lake. She washed her feet in it and managed to get most of the grime, and whatever other substance was there, off. She slipped back into her boots and looked around.

The Titans had all stopped. Robin's apparel was already tattered and in some places completely ripped of. Not much of Raven's outfit remained, and there were bloody markings up and down her body. Cyborg was barely damaged, and Beast Boy… She better not think about that.

"What must we do now?" Starfire inquired.

"We find a way to blow this planet up! We have to find the quickest way underground, and then place a detonator." Robin suggested, but in a rather commanding tone.

"That sounds dangerous. What if one of us stumbles and the planet explodes while we are still on it." Raven retorted.

"Yeah. We can't risk loosing another Titan." Cyborg agreed.

"Well, this is bigger than just us. This is the world we're talking about!"

"Our possible sacrifice will be for the greater good." Starfire said in a supportive manner.

"Okay…" Raven started, averse to proceed, "We'll do it." The Titans all swallowed. "Where's the nearest place where we could go underground?" Raven asked.

"About two kilometers from here," Cyborg answered.

Just then something made a sound in the surrounding area. A thing jumped out and the Titans were immediately on guard. This thing was green, with six limbs: four arms and two legs. There was a large, yellow eye in the middle of its body.

"Do not attack!" It said in a slightly metallic voice.

"What the?"

"Our race does not wish to go to war with you. You simply attacked us first."

"That makes sense," Raven said as she lowered her arms, "I zapped them here, and they were only trying to survive."

"Quite correct," The alien continued.

"Can you help us? We are…"

"I know what you must do, but I am afraid I cannot let you destroy our planet. I will not harm you, but I will not help you either."

The thing started to walk past them, but suddenly something green fell from the sky: a pterodactyl.

"Beast Boy?" Raven shouted in disbelief.

"Yep, it's me! I totally saved you guys!" Beast Boy said, pointing to the dead alien on the ground.

"Beast Boy he wasn't attacking us…" Robin said.

"Um… hehe…"

"Beast Boy! You were eaten!" Raven shouted again.

"No! As soon as I got close to that thing I showed him who was boss!"

Raven embraced Beast Boy with much strength. "Um, I'm glad to see you too… Can you stop crushing me now?" He said. Raven let go of him with reluctance. There were rivers flowing out of her eyes.

"All right. We can rest here for the 'night.' Cyborg, can you set your alarm for 6 hours from now?"

"Sure thing, let's get some sleep y'all." But Raven didn't want to sleep. If she slept, what would happen next? Perhaps she would trap the Titans on the planet, or cause it to explode prematurely? No, she would stay awake, no matter how tired she was.

Robin moved over to where he thought Starfire was. "Starfire?" He wanted to make sure.

"Yes?" Starfire's voice answered back. Robin lay down next to her and wrapped his arms around her. Starfire ran her fingers through Robin's hair.

"I wish truly that we come out of this alive," Starfire said.

"Me too," Robin answered, "But this may be the last time we can do this, Star. Let's make it worth it." But just as they were about to touch lips, Cyborg and Beast Boy popped up with a flashlight and a camera.

"Aww MAN! This is GOLD!" Cyborg shouted. Both Robin and Starfire lay pop-eyed for a few seconds and then both started yelling at Cyborg and Beast Boy. "Hey, if we get out of this alive, I just want a few souvenirs," was Cyborg's excuse.

Starfire walked over to them calmly and shot them both with her eyes. She puffed a large amount of air out of her nose and walked back over to Robin. Both were anything but hesitant to continue what they were doing.

Before long Starfire's arms were around Robin and they were in a deep state of courtship. Both parties' hair was already out of place, as both sets of hands had stroked the other's hair several times.

They stopped for lack of 'fresh' air. Robin was concerned for their lives. "I'm not sure if I want to go through with this, Starfire. I don't want to lose you."

"We have yet to see our mission fail," she replied, although she too was doubtful that they would come out alive. With that they lay back down and fell asleep.

When Cyborg came to, he saw Beast Boy peeking over at where Robin and Starfire were.

"Dude, they're not doing anything!"

Cyborg punched him, knocking him out again. He then decided to go out on watch.

Raven was sitting on something with a look of extreme fatigue in her eyes. Cyborg stood next to her, his faced etched with concern.

"You okay?" He asked.

Raven yawned and said, "Never been better."

"You should get some sleep."

"That's not a good idea."

"Why not?"

"What happened last time I slept is what got us here in the first place."

"I don't think it can get much worse than this."

"Believe me, it can…"

But despite herself, as Cyborg walked off, she began to nod off…

DREAMS

Raven awoke, or thought she did, and realized that she there was a blackness that completely covered her surroundings. Not the normal dark they had been experiencing, this was different.

She was extremely cold, and her cloak wasn't doing much considering it was torn in several places. She started looking for the other titans. She found Cyborg, who was standing still. She called his name but got no reply. She walked in front of him. The normally blue circuits were dark gray now.

Her eyes darted around nervously. She continued her search for the others, but she had a deep consternation that she would find the same thing.

She found Robin and Starfire sleeping with their arms wrapped around each other. Both of their faces where white. No! She thought, it seemed that they had suffered a similar fate to that of Cyborg, whatever that was.

She almost didn't bother looking for Beast Boy, but she may as well not have. She found a mutilated Beast Boy with its face almost completely torn off, and bones showing in several places.

Raven woke up screaming. It was only a dream, she thought with mitigation. Cyborg was standing over her with a look of concern on his face.

"Raven! You okay?"

Sweat was pouring down her Raven's face. "I'm fine," she lied, "Just a dream." Apparently nothing had happened, but just to make sure, she went looking.

Starfire and Robin were sleeping with their arms wrapped around each other, but there was full color in their faces. She found Beast Boy holding his head.

"Dude! Cyborg punched me!"

Raven snickered and her blood started circulating normally again. She sat down next to Beast Boy and looked at him with half-lidded eyes.

"Um… hi?" Beast Boy said, obviously uncomfortable with the sudden female attention. Raven mouthed the word "hi" and continued to stare at Beast Boy.

This was slightly odd because usually affection wasn't Raven's thing. But for some reason, she felt extremely attracted to Beast Boy. She didn't say much, she just gave her friend the "eyes," and, to Beast Boy, this said enough.