Fallen Darkly

K.Blacre

Reality of Nightmares

They truly didn't know what to think. They were in Raven's mind. Of course, BB and Cyborg wouldn't have that much wrong with it, seems how they'd been in her mind before. They'd even got to meet her father. Raven took in a breath, letting it out slowly, and stepped from the circle. Szephyn looked at her, as did the others.

"We've got to find my father." She said it plainly, clearly. All understood at once.

"So, where exactly is your father, Rae?" Robin asked.

"He could be anywhere. Just keep both your eyes and ears open." Szephyn lifted up into the air, looking around.

"I don't see anything. And that includes an exit."

"Don't worry." Raven said. "There's an exit. It just takes a bit to get there. Hopefully, we run into my father along the way."

"Um, don't take this as an offense, but it seems like you want to run into him." Beast Boy said.

"Not really, but if we're going to save our world, we kind of need to." She responed.

"I do not mean to frighten anyone, but are our bodies in our world or..."

"Your body is here." Raven quickly said. "Don't worry."

"Where'd your mother go?" Szephyn asked. Raven looked around. The ground beneath them suddenly shook. The rather thin bridge they stood on crumbled underneath them. None of them were prepared for it as the bridge disappeared from above them. Starfire's scream echoed through the darkness. They seemed to be falling forever when they splashed into a river of water (or at least what they thought was water...grins evilly). Raven stood up, looking around. One by one, the others stood up.

"Raven, where are we?" Robin asked, panic seeping into his voice.

"I've never been to this region."

"IT'S YOUR MIND AND YOU'VE NEVER BEEN TO THIS PART!" Beast Boy yelled.

"I've never fallen off that bridge. I always thought it was just bottomless."

"Guess what..."Cyborg said. "It's not." He looked around, turning on his heat scanners. "Well, the good news is that we're all here."

"And the bad news?" Szephyn asked.

"Um, we're not alone." The head of a serpant suddenly burst out from the water, hissing and snarling at the six. They began running as the serpant struck, fortunately catching nothing. Starfire tripped and fell into the water. She suddenly screamed. The others stopped and looked back at her. She looked at them.

"We are not in water at all. This is a river of...blood!" BB scrambled over to her and helped her up. He shifted into a hawk and they both took to the air.

"Hey!" Cy yelled. "Some of us don't have that luxury!" He cried to his friends. The serpant struck bac down, catching Cyborg in its mouth. He cried out as he was lifted into the air. The serpant bit down, wrapping its tongue around Cy's body. It suddenly spit him out, hurtling him to the ground and knocking Szephyn and Robin down.

"I guess he doesn't like metal." Robin said as he crawled from under Cyborg, bringing out his extending staff. He spun it around in his left hand, waiting for the serpant to strike.

"Come on man! We don't have time to screw around!" Cy yelled, pulling Robin with him as he began running again. Raven lifted into the air, her eyes fading to black.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" A burst of black hit the serpant head on, sending it sprawling into the river. It brought its tail from the water, swatting Raven like a fly. She flew back and landed into the river. She quickly caught herself and was about to go back up when Szephyn took the scene. The Titans looked on with wonder as a sword shot from each of his hands. He slashed angrilly at the serpant, leaving several gashes. Cyborg looked down at his right arm. He lifted it up as it turned into the cannon and shot twice, hitting the serpant in the head. It came crashing down to the ground. Szephyn quickly flew away from it, landing among the other five. The body of the serpant suddenly faded into nothing. The darkness around them seemed to change but stayed the same.

"So, we beat it?" Beast Boy asked, looking around.

"I guess so." Robin answered. Raven took a step forward only to find she couldn't move. She looked down at her feet to see that the blood was beginning to bubble. Seph looking down at his feet and tried to pull one up. It wouldn't budge.

"Um, guys. We have a problem."

"What is this problem?" Starfire asked. She looked down at her feet and let out a cry at the sight of the bubbling blood. "This is not good, right?"

"I don't think it is, Star." Beast Boy said, trying to pull his own feet up.

"Is this stuff supposed to bubble like that?" Cyborg asked. Robin poked at it with his staff. The tip got stuck and suddenly began sinking.

"We have a really big problem!" The others looked at the staff. Starfire screamed and began writhing and wriggling. Beast Boy morphed into all the animals he could think of but didn't move. Raven looked back down and noticed that she was down to her mid-thighs.

"Could someone think of something quickly?" She asked. Szephyn wriggled around, trying to fly out of the stuff. He slowly found that the bubbling blood was retreating. A smile grew on his face.

"The more you wriggle the slower you sink!" Robin bent down, sticking his hand into the goo after his staff. He suddenly found that he could move.

"Um, I think I've got a really big problem!" He screetched.

"Raven!" Star cried. They looked over to where Raven had been. Only her hands were visible. Szephyn reached out and took her hands, pulling on them as he wriggled and finally broke free. He lifted into the air, pulling. Starfire lifted out of the goo next followed by BB and Cy. They heard Robin cry out and looked to find he was gone. Szephyn pulled on Raven with all his strength, tears rolling down his face. Her fingers slipped through his and he was thrown back into the air.

"NOOO!" He screamed.

"Robin. Raven." Beast Boy whispered. Tears stung all their eyes as they looked around, helpless to save their friends.

Author's Note: Sorry it took me so long to update. I wasn't really in the mood for a while and then just a whole bunch of crap was going on but I'm back. I hope you're not too sore at me. Well, here's the eleventh chapter. I think I'm going to end up making it longer than I originally planned. Hope you guys don't mind. Well, chat later. I'll try to get the next chapter up quicker this time. Bye!