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Thirteen Hour Horrors

Chapter 6: 5 AM

5:03 am

The titans, hands full of weaponry, stalked lower and lower toward the tower's basement.

Starfire led them, a green light to follow, while Cyborg kept up the rear shining whatever more light they needed.

The last window they passed showed the lightening of the sky, dawn was to come soon. That could be celebrated once they were all safe.

Robin kept urging them all faster, he kept warning there wasn't much time. Time had been against them from the very beginning.

It wasn't too long until they came across the staircase, the dreaded stairwell Robin and Cyborg had been down just a few hours prior.

"Ready?" Robin had turned to face his small assembled team. Tired faces were drawn in determination, the flowing blood had finally ceased leaving blotches of red across their variety of skin tones.

"Alright." Robin turned back around and pulled open the stairwell door first. It squeaked as he held it open for the others first. Solemnly they followed down the stairs, listening for the sound of yowling fur.

5:19

They knew they were getting near the bottom. Bad energy flowed against them raising their mental alerts. Their footsteps echoed more as well, nearing the vast area at the bottom.

Starfire had slid from taking the lead to slack back near Beast Boy. The two tried to reassure each other, but it did little towards working.

Cyborg moved his cyber eye around searching for body heat. It went a clean sweep across their nearby flooring and came back empty.

"She must be further in." Cyborg noted, at Robin started to stalk into the darkness. Cyborg had to nearly push Starfire and Beast Boy so they wouldn't loose Robin in his determination.

And they kept moving across the darkness aided only by light, and a heat sensor. The further and deeper they went, and more quandaries they met, Raven and the giant army of cats was no where to be found.

"Anything yet?" Robin demanded a bit frustrated and worried.

Cyborg glanced around before pausing in one direction. "Wait, I think I've…yes." Cyborg had turned to his left concentrating through the dark despair. "There something a little ways over there!" He pointed.

Robin, without hesitation took off in that direction, the rest of the titans quickly taking to running after him, the last thing they needed was to loose Robin too.

Just as they caught up, they found Robin bent over something on the ground.

"Robin?" Starfire called.

Slowly, Robin rose and turned to them. A bundle of black was tucked limply in his arms.

The three took a sharp breath, tripping backwards.

"It's dead I think?" Robin moved his arms slightly, searching for its face.

Cyborg was the first to scuffle forward. He sifted his fingers through the fur. But instead of the fur bristling back in place, it seemed to dissipate, small black dust bits coming off and disappearing into the air.

"It's not real?" Cyborg moved his hand up to its face, and turned it to him. Hollow eye sockets made him cringe, but he held his ground. Robin was looking down at the cat as well. He could almost feel it slipping out of his arms, like it was becoming dust.

"Ah." Robin suddenly moved the dead animal away from his body. With the motion, the cats body folded on itself, a layer of black dust falling to the floor. Robin quickly brushed the remaining dust off his gloved hands watching what used to be a demon animal disappear.

"I'm confused." Beast Boy piped up, done watching the strange scene.

"No kidding." Cyborg had begun looking around again. "Not like any of this makes sense anyway."

"Let's keep looking." Robin jarred everyone back into their places before he angrily turned and walked out of the light.

"Someone's touchy." Beast Boy quipped, before getting a harsh look from both Starfire and Cyborg. He swallowed before backing up a little, they were scary when the shadows were just right.

5:23

The team kept moving, occasionally coming across another animal, the further they went the more decomposed they came. At some points one of the titans would lightly kick it, and a dust pile would erupt.

Their spirits were falling quickly, where was Raven?

"There's another that way." Cyborg drawled and pointed. Since he couldn't tell the difference, they had come across every cat along the way just to make sure. They moved in that direction.

"There's another by it too." Cyborg's attention piqued, so far the cats had been few and far between.

Robin lead them closer, and Cyborg caught up to illuminate their findings. In actuality it wasn't two cats.

There was a figure sprawled across the floor, an alive and well cat sitting on their stomach grooming itself.

The violet hair, and cape was a dead giveaway.

Robin was about to rush forward when the rather large cat stopped licking itself and stared back with angry eyes, flashing her teeth.

"Oh man." Cyborg crooned looking Raven over. Her cape was twisted around her in an odd fashion, and her face was turned sideways, eyes closed.

And there was blood, so much of it stained the blue material, smeared her skin, clotted her hair.

Robin stuck his hand behind him still eyeing the cat, Starfire gently placed a large pair of tongs in his hand. He aimed a moment, before swinging around to try and shoo the cat away.

The cat was quicker yet. It leapt, and Robin missed. It leapt forward at Robin and connected with his chest, the momentum sent them both stumbling backwards.

Robin yelled out as the vicious animal started clawing at his costume, connecting as well with his skin. He could hear yells, as he tried to pull the animal off, but the claws were deep.

Then suddenly, Starfire was in front of him, the bottle of water in hand. Before he could protest she dumped it on the two of them.

There was a moment the claws dug in deeper, and Robin gasped, but they quickly fell away. In fact, the entire cat quickly melted away in a black trail of water.

Robin was not to be detoured by this. Ignoring his own injury he moved back around to Raven.

"Cyborg give me some help." He called, quickly kneeling at her side.

Cyborg was there in an instant. He quickly checked her pulse and breathing. "She's not breathing." He rushed and set her neck straight for a clear air passage. Robin moved to her abdomen, pulling her cloak away and, following the lines he placed his palms, one on top of the other, just under her rib cage and pressed sharply four times.

As taught many times before, he moved back to her mouth, and pinching her nose shut breathed air into her lungs twice. He did it without thinking, hoping against everything that she would start breathing.

He did this three more times before he got a reaction. By that time the rest had been on their last nerves. But the resuscitation seemed to work, Raven began to start coughing erratically.

Robin pushed himself back, breathing a deep sigh, his stomach still in bleeding pain. Cyborg took over for her care.

Cyborg carefully eased her to sitting up, so her lungs could expand more fully. She coughed a bit more and strained for breath, her eyes had flung open, looking distractedly about.

Robin pressed his hands carefully over the wound on his stomach hoping to stifle the blood.

5:40

Cyborg had moved around Raven, cleaning some of her cuts and pulling back her hair. She groaned when he tried to tend to some of the larger wounds.

"How is she?" Robin asked after a minutes, the wound on his stomach still sent sharp shoots of pain when he moved.

"Badly injured." Cyborg replied using a bit of her cloak to wipe at a claw mark on her forehead. "She's lost a lot of blood, I would advice a blood transfusion if we weren't so far down."

"I'm fine." Raven tried to push Cyborg away to sit on her own. Her head swirled though, and he had to grab her to keep her from falling over.

"We should probably work on getting back upstairs now." Cyborg added when his eyes had moved over to Robin. Cyborg tried to keep his eyes from Robin's injury, he knew Robin's stubbornness wouldn't let him be helped until the rest of the team was fine.

"Yes, may we please go?" Starfire had moved closer to Raven looking over her with tearful eyes.

"But I-" Raven started to protest, but was silenced when Cyborg placed a hand behind her back, and under her legs to lift her up and carry her. "Let me down!" She hissed tiredly.

"You can barely sit, let alone stand." Cyborg scolded and moved over to Robin.

"Let's try to get out of here quick as possible." Robin added, looking over at his tired friends. He clutched tighter to his stomach.

5:45

And there was light. It was slowly, but surely seeping down the stairs.

Their footsteps hurried, it was almost daylight!

Cyborg still carried Raven, much to her digress, there wasn't anything she could do about it. Cyborg grew weary though, he kept checking his power supply. It was getting dangerous low, but he kept the worries to himself, there were other concerns for now.

Robin finally made it to the door he had left open, he seemed to be limping, but no one dared ask. The beginnings of dawn was sprouting all around them, and it gave Robin, if anything, strength. He brushed back his hair and stepped out of the basement after what seemed like an eternity.

Starfire and Boy followed, both stretching languidly into the light and grinning broadly.

Cyborg, carrying Raven was last. The boy quickly kicked the door shut behind him before grinning with the rest.

"Why are you all grinning like idiots?" Raven asked, eyes still unfocused and head swimming.

"It's daylight." Robin turned, a small smile gracing his scarred face.

Raven squinted before turning to look at the window, so it was. "And that makes us safe?" She asked.

"I think it does." Cyborg added moving over to the couch, carefully he set her down. Raven groaned at the change.

Suddenly, she turned her head to glance into the kitchen, only to remember that the digital clock on the stove didn't work. Moving she turned to the wall clock to see the turning of the hour.

Cyborg seemed to notice as he looked down at his arm. There was the signaling beep. Following it was another beep from the kitchen, and one from the other side of the room.

"Is that-" Robin started but Beast Boy jumped in.

"Dude, why are all the clocks going off? There's no power!" He was examining the clock on their stereo that had started beeping.

And the beeping continued, it moved through every device in the tower that had an alarm, whether it was set or not.

"It is the new hour, yes?" Starfire shouted over the chorus of alarms.

"6 am," Raven croaked, and as she did the noise stopped.

"Okaaay." Beast Boy had bent back from the stereo. "What was that all about?"

And before I get shipping flames, no it wasn't a kiss, it was mouth to mouth resuscitation. He was simply saving her, because I see him as the only one actually knowing how. Yes that's how you perform it as well, I took a medical skills class. This is not a romantic fic, so no grumbling about it ok?

The last omen was…

Black Cats: Black cats have long been believed to be a supernatural omen since the witch hunts of the middle ages when cats were thought to be connected to evil. Since then, it is considered bad luck if a black cat crosses your path.

Thanks for reviewing, now review again!

:Bloody Fae: