Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.

No flaming please.

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Chapter 6: The Hellish Spit-Wad.

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The Forest of the Dead was the most feared place on the planet. Mostly because of the large amount of evil entities wandering through the dense trees, but the Forest of the Dead was almost completely lifeless. Everything was made of thin layers of glass. A single touch could send a entire tree to the ground. Garfield grimaced at the gates of the Forest."You guys ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," Victor grunted. Once you went in, you couldn't get back out the same way. The doors locked and unlocked from the outside, and the only way out was at the end on the forest.

It took all of five of them to open the heavy, glass gate. Oozing monsters lay on the ground, ready to strike. The monsters and ghosts were the only thing that inhabited the forest. "This place smells worse than my room, and that's pretty hard to do."

"This place is dreadful. What could have done this?" She looked at a large Monarch Butterfly that had been changed into glass. She stroked the beautiful bug and it shattered, cutting her hand in a million different places. Letting out a shriek of despair, she yanked her hand back.

Rich yelped, "Are you okay, Kori?"

She gave nod, but she didn't look alright. Her face was as pale as freshly washed hospital bed sheets. Everyone was on edge. You never really heard true silence, until you were in the Forest of the Dead. There was no weather, only a grey, colorless sky. He murmured, "Was that there before?"

A large, black building stood in the middle of the forest. It was the type of building that would have been shown in a 70's horror flick, all it needed was a little lightening. Richard grumbled, "How should I know? We've never been here before."

"I believe that we should do the checking out of this building." Her voice shook with every word. Everyone was beginning to lose the brightness that had once been reflected in their faces. The Forest of the Dead sucked life out of you, slowly they would turn to glass like the plantation. "Perhaps Rachel is there."

"That's my best bet," Gar said. It didn't look like the building had any guards, but he doubted that they needed any. Even the bravest of warriors fled from the Forest of the Dead. The only thing that kept him going through this horrible place was his love for Rachel, he could not let her down. She was the reason why he got up every morning. "It doesn't look like it will be hard to get inside."

A orb of light flickered in the corner of his eye, and he turned towards the light. It was a old women with teeth as green as a lime, her eyes had no pupils and were filled with unidentifiable emotions. "You have come looking for the girl."

"Do you mean Rachel?" Her eyes flickered with amusement. It was enough to send chills down everyone's spine. "Was she with you?"

"Perhaps," the old women chuckled. "Perhaps not."

"Tell me." He held the old women up by her ragged tunic, but she merely croaked with more silent laughter. She was not threatened by Gar's behavior in the slightest. Her foul breath was strong enough to make his viscous attack stop. "Please, I must find her. Can you tell me where she went?"

She licked her cracked lips, "You must be the man she spoke of."

"Please," he begged. Voices seemed out of place in the never ending silence. It was almost like sound did not exist in the Forest. "You have to tell me."

"Very well." She tilted her head and breathed into his face. His eyes clouded over, and he could feel his own body become paralyzed. "Jade has taken her to the main building, but you will never get inside. You will all die in this place."

"Who is this Jade?" He tried desperately to wriggle out of the hold of her bewitching, horrible breath. She could have easily killed him in a hundred of different ways. "What does she want with Rachel?"

"I am not aware of why she wants your lover, but I know of who she is. Do not take her lightly, she has the power to destroy you." He heard a sharp cracking noise behind them, and he turned to look at his friends in horror. They had begun to turn into glass. There feet had already begun to turn transparent. To his own surprise, his own feet still remained perfectly normal. "You're friends are beginning to change."

"No," he whimpered. The glass was slowly making its way up his friends body's like a deadly poison, eventually covering there heads. "Why is this happening?"

"As long as there bodies are not shattered, there is still hope for them." He was growing angry now. The women was talking to briefly about everything for it to be understandable.

"Start at the beginning," he stated.

"Ah, the beginning. How very long ago it was," she hissed. "Once this planet was covered completely by the human race, there weren't any angels and demons as we call you. We were all human. A man by the name of Tirani Witchuca was born at the rise of the century."

He yelled, "what does this have to do with anything?"

"Patience," she scratched the fungus growing on her upper lip. "Tirani had a deep obsession of giving humans gifts that they did not already possess. He took humans and tested them, finding exactly what it was that could alter the human's DNA. Thus came angels and demons."

"You and your friends are merely prototypes of humans with more complex DNA. Both prototypes lived in harmony until Tirani was murdered by his own daughter, Jade. She was the one who stared the war between the two prototypes because they would never proclaim her ruler. She now waits for the creatures to finish each other off, so she may conquer this place."

"What about my friends," he cried. "What is happening to them?"

"In order for Jade to power her weapons, she uses life force. This is what happens when all the life force has been sucked out of a given area. Your love for Rachel must be keeping you from turning to glass." Her eyes were no longer focused on him. A single robin floated in the sky, but it had already turned to glass and plummeted towards the ground.

"Love?" He always had his head stuck in the clouds, but that sounded like a fairy tale story. "Love can't do things like that."

"You are very wrong," she cackled. "Love contains a type of life force that cannot be manufactured. It's what's keeping you alive."

"My friend loves Kori, but he's still glass." He knew that Richard loved Kori deeply. "Why is he still made from glass?"

"He was not focused upon his love when he entered this place," she bobbed her head sleepily.

He frowned, "I guess that makes sense,"

"Of course," she growled. "There is still hope for your friends, but you will never make it. You will be stuck here for the rest of eternity like me, you fool."

"Wait!" The old women disappeared faster than a crème filled donut. "I'm not finished talking to you!"

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A plate of chocolate truffles were placed in front of her, making it even harder to resist eating the food. There could be poison in everything they served, she would die before her brain realized what happened. "What do you want?"

"So hasty, aren't we?" Jade popped the truffles into her mouth without thinking twice. "These chocolates are delicious, you should really try some."

Jade held out the truffles for Rachel, but she refused. This new villain could have marked the chocolates that were not poisoned. Even though she doubted that Jade was intelligent enough to try that little trick, she didn't want to take any chanced. "No. Tell me what I'm doing here!"

"Why so feisty?" Jade's face was bulging with chocolate. She didn't need any of Rachel's help to finish the chocolate, she could do it on her own. "It's not like you have anything to go home to. I hear you were pretty unpopular with the demon clan."

She was silent. If she even mentioned Gar, Jade could use him to blackmail her. She mumbled, "I have my reasons."

"I see." Jade did not look pleased, and that made her very happy. "Very well. I have a deal for you, Ms. Roth. I want you to return to your people and take control of your race. You will lead them to a great war with the angels, and death will destroy both sides. What do you say? Will you join me?"

This was all some trap. She wouldn't lose a night of sleep, if the demons became diseased and died; however, leading them to their doom would be a different story. "Do you really expect me to lead my entire race into the pits."

"Yes," Jade smiled. "I do."

"Why the hell would I do that?" She wasn't going to have blood on her hands. Watching her father kill made her nauseas, she would never be able to do it herself.

"I will spare your life." Even the most noble of creatures would surrender themselves in fear of death. There wasn't a doubt in Jade's mind that she would come around with a little persuasion. "You don't want to die, do you?"

She growled, "I would rather die."

"You will comply. In the end you will gravel before me like all the others, they always do." Jade's eyes glowed with a maniacal light. "Let's see how cocky you are, after I send you to the pits."

She spit in Jade's face. It wasn't a small amount of saliva, either. The spit-wad had been big enough to cover Jade's whole face and more. That was another hidden gift of her kind, they had unbelievable wads of spit. The demons that practiced spitting could summon enough force in there wads to match the power of a bazooka. Death by spit-wad was never a pretty sight. "You are nothing more than a spoiled child."

"To the dungeons with this one," she screeched. "I want her scourged so badly that she leaves a permanent trail of blood behind her! For Christ's sake, somebody get me a damn towel."

She hadn't meant to lost that much control of herself, it had been her impulsive nature. She knew that she would survive the beating, and she would tell Garfield that she loved him. Her soul would walk the earth forever, if she didn't finish her task before death. "Your beatings will not trample me, Jade. You know this."

"So you say now, but tomorrow you will be marching to a beat of a different drum." A near servant handed her the towel, and Jade tried desperately to clean her face with no prevail. With a frustrated growl, she threw the cloth against the ground. Typical princess behavior. Jade looked like a little five-year-old having a temper tantrum.

"I wouldn't put any money on it," she muttered.

"We shall see." Jade motioned with her hands, and the guard pulled her out of the room. The poor boy couldn't be older then 13, but he was in the middle of so much death and destruction. These were his vital years. Everything around you bent your personality, and turned you into your future self. If he remained here, she doubted that he would change for the better.

"You are very young," she whispered. "What are you doing in a place like this?"

"I would not be concerned about me, dude." His head bobbed as if he were listening to invisible music. She was surprised that such a small boy could manage to carry her. Her wings alone had to be about fifty pounds. "You're going to be slaughtered, man."

"I'll be fine."

The boy put her down on the marble hallway floor. "You aren't scared?"

"No," she smiled. She touched the boys hand and gave him a small smile. There wasn't any time for her to be afraid. Everything had happened so fast; but now, even when she had time to be afraid, she felt no fear whatsoever. This was her story. She was going to make sure that it at least had a semi-happy ending. "I'm not."

"How can you not be afraid?" He sat down beside her. His soft sneakers underneath his uniform squeaked against the marble floor. "You may die."

"I've got something I need to do," she frowned. It was always easier to listen to advice from a stranger. If they didn't know anything about you, it made you feel a little safer. "I also know that I'm doing the right thing. Nothing else matters, even if I do die."

He murmured, "the right thing."

"That's right." His soft eye brows were furrowed in frustration. He looked like a child with a serious constipation problem, but she restrained from laughing. She felt a little bit guilty about toying with this boy's emotion's in order to get free. "The right thing."

"If I let you go," he murmured. "Will you come back for me?"

"You're trapped here?" Gods, the guilt was unbearable. She hated going soft. Everything around her was beginning to make her emotional, and she promised herself that she would hide her feelings no matter how strong.

"Yep." He got off the floor and offered her his hand. "I always have been."

"I promise," she murmured. If she made a promise, she would keep it. This boy was now another roadblock in her plans. She knew that even if she hadn't made her promise, she would have came back for him. "I will come back."

"I trust you," he smiled. "The exit is over there."

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The mud had formed a deep cocoon around his body, he was slowly being sucked into the deep pit. Garfield was in the Forest of the Dead, nobody would ever come save him. Several orbs had formed around the pit, but none bothered to do more than shimmer. "Help me."

A blast of dark energy surrounded the orbs, sending them barreling against nearby trees. He knew the only person who had black energy was Rachel, she had managed to escape on her own. "……….."

He took her offered hand, and buried himself in her arms. He could feel tears of happiness form beneath his emerald eyes. "I thought that I would never see you again."

"You never shall," she said. This was not Rachel's voice. This voice was more sharp than a thousand woman scorned. He tried to pull away, but the foul smell of her breath once again paralyzed him. The old women had been right, he was going to die in this place.

"Who are you?" The vision of Rachel had faded, and was replaced by a beautiful, blonde girl. Her head only reached his belly button, but she still held him captive. His breaths were coming in short, raspy gasps. He could feel his soul being ripped from his body.

More silence. His head was bursting from its seams. It was as if somebody had stuck a auto-inflator in his ear and was trying to blow his head up like a balloon. She merely smiled, exposing more of her very predator-like teeth.

"Gar." He heard Rachel's voice calling his name from far away, but he assumed that it was his imagination. He was probably hallucinating because of his fear.

The creature hissed and back away as the sound of running footsteps neared them. The sound of feet was like a harp, soft and heavenly. He blinked his eyes at the creature running towards him. It really was Rachel, and she was coming to save him. "Rae."

He gave a sigh of relief and fell into a deep sleeping state.

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Read and Review please!

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Authors note:

I am deeply sorry for the delay and the short chapter. We are having our computer room painted, so I can't get to the computer often. It won't be long before I can post regularly.

Cheers!

Ravenmasteroftele!