Lalalalalalal—Wait, is someone there? Wow. It's not like there was any sign of it. I mean, I ask for a minimum of fifteen reviews, and I get…. Wait….lemme count…. Two. Two bloody frickin' reviews. And those are from Semine and Senex, both of whom I know in real non-FF life. Wow. Just the thing to make a girl feel loved.

I apologize for bribing you for reviews, but dammit, I'm not feeling loved by my 'net buds! (Not that I have any, but it's nice to fantasize…)

So, against my better judgment (which says to let you all rot in hell for making me sad), here's the next chapter.


Rhea jumped over the still crouching Beast Boy and sat next to Raven. "Wake up! Now-ish, if you please! I've your future self to save, and I can't very well save you if you're possessed now! So snap out of it and stop screwing around with history!"

Raven slowly sat up, blinked once, and turned her head to look at Rhea and Robin. She opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out.

"Okay, would someone tell me what the hell is going on?" Cyborg looked from bird to bird to bird, trying to put clues together.

Robin, still looking at Raven, answered. "I think Trigon's taken her soul… It's like possession…" Rhea nodded slowly. No one was sure, but it seemed that right after they blinked, she wasn't there for a moment.

"Raven, I need you to do me a favor and, if you can, lay back down and go to sleep." Robin waited, hoping against all odds that she would. Raven blinked twice, cocked her head, then closed her eyes and fell back, her breathing slow and regular. Robin let out a breath he had been well aware he was holding.

"Well, we need to stop Trigon as soon as possible to get Raven back." Robin didn't mention that without Raven, they might not be able to stop Trigon. He stood up, brushed himself off, and picked up Raven, throwing her ungainly over his shoulder. "Let's move out."


Hours later, the natural silence of Azerath had not been broken. Beast Boy and Starfire had tried to get Cyborg to talk, but to no avail. Cyborg had been paying attention to instruments on his arm. And talking to Rhea was disconcerting, as she would occasionally pop out of existence. Of course, that was just a trick of the light, but still, it was odd.

So the team walked in silence.

"Uhm, Robin?" Beast Boy piped.

Or, at least, almost silence, Robin thought as he gritted his teeth. "Yes?"

"Well, I wasn't sure if you knew, but Raven's been, sort of… looking at me."

Robin spun around so quickly that Raven's torso flew up. "What? For how long?"

"I dunno. Maybe half an hour." Beast Boy rubbed his ears gently. "Man, you shriek loud."

"Not my main concern right now!" Robin set Raven down on the ground carefully, looking for any other sign of life in Raven.

Rhea, who had somehow been invisible for the exchange, became noticeable again and sat in front of her mother. "Hmmm…." She tapped Raven's skull. "There's something in there… We might make it out of here."

Starfire heard a slight rustle of feathers. "Not to intrude upon the aid of my dear friend, but I believe it is time for us to set up camp. There is an outcropping of rock five leagues west of here." She flew up several feet, picking up Cyborg under the armpits. Beast Boy morphed into a falcon, and Rhea brought up a disk below her and her parents.

Three leagues later, Stafire heard a shout and a slight thump as two bodies hit the ground. She whipped around in mid air, forgetting about Cyborg, and flew to investigate, hoping that Rhea had mastered healing.

When Starfire (toting Cyborg) had arrived where the noise had come from, she nearly cried, from both relief and horror. Robin and Raven were only suffering from a few broken bones, and Raven was rubbing her head with her eyes closed in pain. But Rhea was absent.

After being set down, Cyborg ran the last few feet to where his friends had fallen. "What happened?" he asked, merely to make sure they were conscious and themselves as he scanned them with his arm.

"I…. Don't…. Remember…" Robin gasped out. "Had something to do with….."

Cyborg didn't mind. He was paying attention to his arm, which was saying that a major reality shift had occurred five minutes ago. Too much time has passed, Cyborg thought. We won't be able to detect it anymore… Cyborg's arm beeped again, telling him another reality shift had occurred.

"Why's your arm beeping?" Rhea was standing next to Cyborg where she hadn't been before. "And-OhGod!" Rhea ran over to Raven and Robin, summoning small sparkling auras to her hands. She began to slowly heal them, but she was too distressed to heal more than the bruises and slight fractures. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to, it's just that with mum comatose, I didn't exist, and-ohgoddon't die…" Rhea stopped as a pale hand rested over hers.

"I plan not to." Raven smiled. "Dying is just plain inconvenient. But if you could calm down enough to use your magic, I would be much obliged."

Rhea was dumfounded for a moment, then remembered the blood running down Raven's face, and closed her eyes, muttering, "Azerath Metrion Zynthos."


Yeah, yeah, yeah. Short. Deal! At least it's an update! I mean, I could have just let this gather dust in my computer, y'know!

Waitwaitwait! Don't leave! I still need your reviews! Cos I've no idear where this is going (actually, I've got it all planned out in my head…), and I need support in the form of lies! Lie to me, my precious fans! Tell me I write well! Make me feel lurved!

Okay, you don't have to make me feel lurved, but at least don't make me feel haterd.

Till next update (whenever that may be…)!

This is Kali; sleep deprived and out.