Hello again ya'll, sorry about the long time between updates, but i took the Christmas season off. Hopefully everyone had a chance to enjoy the Holidays with their families. Anyways, without further taking up your time, here it is, Part 3 of Welcome to my Nightmare.

Welcome to my Nightmare Part 3

-ZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP-

Gizmo stared down at the cloud of smoke from where his quad of lasers had been focused. He laughed maniacally, tears of giddiness flowing down his face. "I killed her!" he squealed, "I squashed that alien bitch!"

He looked down again, squinting, trying to see through the smoke. All he had to do now was finish off that annoying assassin.

He spotted a pair of silver blades against the wall where I had been struggling to my feet.

"Good," he mumbled to himself, "He's unarmed."

He squinted into the smoke again, and his eyes bugged out. There, in the middle of the smoke cloud, were two figures. One was sitting on her ankles, her hands placed on the ground, her head bowed. The other was 'hugging' her from behind, a single arm wrapped around her shoulders.

"Heh." A drop of sweat ran down the side of his face. "Got 'em both with one shot."

But something seemed to good to be true.

Both with one shot? Superheroes never fell that easily.

A head turned in the smoke, and a pair of silver eyes glared at him. My free left hand rose, holding a fan of four black throwing knives.

Gizmo's eyes went wide, and he fired his jetpack madly trying to put distance between myself and him.

-FWOOOOOOSH-

-SWWIIIIIIIIIIIISHH-

-THWAAACK!-

I released all four blades at the same time, and each found their mark. Gizmo was pinned to the side of the overturned semi trailer by all four of his laser cannons. They had been pinned behind him by four expertly thrown throwing knives, spreading his cannons out in an X pattern behind him.

My fist clenched.

-FLASH-

The Psi-dagger appeared in my shaking fist, yet I did not loosen my grip on the Tamaranian.

Gizmo swore profusely.

Mammoth took notice.

"Nightmare!" the beefy boy shouted, staring at where I knelt, "I think this is our cue to go!"

Nightmare spun gracefully, her wing slapping Cyborg senseless. Her gaze fell upon where I knelt holding the alien girl. It traveled from there to where Gizmo was stuck to the trailer.

Gizmo simpered.

I growled, and held the shimmering Psi-blade out defensively.

Something in that situation caused Nightmare to take notice.

-WHACK-

She backhanded a charging Robin with almost no effort, sending him to a collapsed heap. "Yeah, I've had enough fun for the evening," she purred. "Let's get outta here."

-CLICK-

Gizmo smiled as his skewered weapons unlocked from his pack. He waved, swooped over, grabbed a metal briefcase, and flew off behind a retreating Nightmare. Mammoth smiled his stupid smile, and with a huge bound, was over the fence and gone into the night.

The Titans groaned as they rolled back to their feet. Robin's costume had been torn in several places, a few thin lines of blood decorated his arms and legs, and one arm hung uselessly at his side. Cyborg had a shoulder sparking from a blow he had taken from one of Nightmare's hand-axes. Beast Boy rubbed a welt on the side of his head, and they all stared at where I knelt behind the Tamaranian girl.

"STARFIRE!" Robin stumbled across the distance, holding a limp right arm.

Raven rose from behind an overturned car, her cape tattered and torn, her face and legs bruised and battered. "What the…" she never finished her sentence, her eyes were locked on the happy-go-lucky alien that was shaking and bleeding in my arms.

Starfire's mouth opened and closed as she struggled for the strength to speak. "Why did you save me?" she mumbled, "It is my duty to put my life on the line for you, the Psionics have done enough for us already."

"Don't you get it?" I whispered into her ear, "Koriand'r, I don't want you to be my slave or my protector! You are my teammate, my friend, and I wouldn't give that up for the world."

"But the law…" she mumbled. She squirmed in my grasp, but I held her tight.

"You have to stay here," I whispered, interrupting her. "The one burst went clean through your shoulder, I know it hurts, but bear with it for a bit longer. It is that same pressure that's keeping you alive."

Robin finally limped his way to the scene, followed at an interval by the rest of the team. I scanned the team quickly, picked out the least injured of which and called him over.

"Beast Boy, over here, quick!"

Robin was in a daze. He slumped to his knees in front of the ravaged Tamaranian. "Star…I…I couldn't protect you…why you…why couldn't it have been me…why…"

I let his voice trail off, but reached out with my free arm, grabbed his good hand, and positioned it over her bleeding thigh.

"Robin, stay with me." I spoke firmly into his face, "I need you to keep pressure right here, ok?"

He nodded numbly.

Starfire's green blood still slowly seeped out from under his glove, running down his arm and staining the red material. Robin's eyes fall from the alien girl's face to where my hand has turned a bright shade of green from the wound in her shoulder.

"Ryk," his eyes are now searching mine, "How bad is it?"

I looked him square in the eyes, and spoke to him with my mind. 'I don't know, but don't take the pressure off that leg, she's already lost a lot of blood, and I don't know how much more she can lose."

Robin took the silent conversation much better than I would have thought, and applied a bit of extra pressure to where I had placed his hand. Beast Boy finally arrived at where we sat, and nearly passed out from the sight of all the blood.

-SMACK!-

He slapped himself…hard…across his face, snapping himself out of it.

"Listen to me," I said sternly to him, "I have to get a wrap made up to cover her wounds, but I can't move from where I'm at right now. You have to take over for me here."

The changeling nodded solemnly.

I took one of his hands, and replaced where mine was on her shoulder, then grabbed his other hand and slid it in between her back and my chest.

"Uunnngghh" Starfire groaned painfully from the movement.

The green elf's eyes widened as he realized the severity of the girl's injuries. I pressed down firmly on his green hands, exhibiting the force of pressure I wanted him to keep, and finally slid myself away from where I knelt.

Cyborg, Raven and Robin gasped at the green stain that ran from the chest of my sensor suit and down my left leg.

-FLASH-

The Psi-dagger appeared in my hand once more, and with a flash, I cut my suit in half at the waist. A moment later, and I had removed the top half of suit. The spandex like material would be perfect for an impromptu bandage.

-RIIIIIP-

I tore the fabric at the seams, opening it up so I could wrap her shoulder with it. I doubled it over, tripled it over, and wrapped it across her bleeding left shoulder, keeping Beast Boys hands trapped inside of it. Once I had stretched the material to my satisfaction around her shoulder, I physically pulled Beast Boy's hands out from under the 'bandage'.

"AAAAH!"

Starfire's high-pitched squeak of pain shot tears into the changeling's eyes.

-RIIIIIIP-

I stood up, and removed the bottom half of the pant leg I had just torn off. In another moment I had wrapped the stretchy material around her thigh, and removed Robin's hand as well.

Another squeak from the Tamaranian, but I ignored it and barked at Cyborg to bring the car around. The titanium superhero stared blankly at Star before leaping into action. He flipped open a panel on his wrist, and 'drove' the car there.

I tore the back door of the car open, and lifted the Star from the ground, gently laying her in the back. I literally threw Robin in with her, placing her head in his lap. I yanked open the passenger's door, and glared at Raven.

"Get in."

She stared at me.

"Get….in."

She slowly started making her way towards the open door.

She to was thrown into the car.

Cyborg was the next on to catch my glare.

"Du…de…"

In a blur, he ran to his door, opened it, and climbed in.

"I got the hint dude, no more body tossing."

I nodded, slammed Raven's door closed, and stuck my head in the open window. I looked Raven straight in her eyes. "Do what you can to calm her mind, this might not be the smoothest of rides."

I stood upright, and smacked my hand on the top of the car. "Step on it!"

-SCREEEEECH-

Rubber burnt off from under the car as it sped towards the Tower. I looked after it for a split second before turning towards where Beast Boy still knelt on the ground, his hands covered in the Tamaranian's green blood. His eyes locked on those same hands.

My firm hand fell on his shoulder, and I looked him in the eyes.

His mouth opened, but I stopped him short.

"I know….I know….but I need to ask you one more thing."

He nodded, a fire in his eyes.

"You need to beat the Titans back home, and prep the med facility, ok? I'm not fast enough, and you carrying me wouldn't be fast enough, so go, and I'll catch up when I get there."

He nodded, leapt into the air, transformed into a falcon, and was gone into the evening sky. My gaze fell from the retreating bird to another object still on the ground.

The R-Cycle.

I sighed, walked over and fired up the bike. With a screech of rubber and the roar of the high powered engine, I shot off down the road, doing my best to catch the rocketing T-Car.

-----------------------------

Cyborg exploded into the Titans medical facility, only to find that it had already been prepped for him. Beast Boy ran around the room in a frenzy, setting up a last few things.

"Cyborg!" he shouted from across the room, "good, you're here. The EKG needs to be moved over to Starfire's bed." He pointed blindly at where one of the beds had been meticulously set up.

Cyborg stared at the busy little elf. "Dude, this is……"

"Dude." the little elf snorted, "This isn't like me, I know, but it's not time for jokes. This is STARFIRE we're worrying about, and I'll do whatever I can to help out. Now are you gonna move the EKG or not?"

Cyborg spun and drug the machine over to where Beast Boy had pointed just as Robin walked in the door, gently carrying the Tamaranian. Raven followed behind him, her face all but covered by her cowl.

Beast Boy spun towards where Cyborg stood. "Alright, Cy, the ward's yours. I set up, but that's where my expertise ends."

Cyborg nodded, and motioned Raven towards him. "I could use a cool head right about now."

Raven nodded, and stepped up to the other side of where Robin had lay their injured teammate.

"Everyone else…out!"

Robin glared.

Cyborg glared back. "Out, Robin. I'll let you know when she's stable."

Robin deflated. He turned his sagging shoulders back towards the door and slumped his way out.

Beast Boy stood at the foot of Star's bed. "Cyborg…"

The android turned, glaring at the elf.

"Cy…" a tear ran down his face, "Good luck, and steady hands." The changeling turned, and let himself out of the medical ward.

-CLICK-

The door closed behind him.

Cyborg's shoulders slumped down, and he looked tiredly at the dark sorceress across from him.

Outside the door, I was just walking up, tucking Robin's signature helmet under my arm.

Beast Boy slumped down on the floor next to where Robin sat. "Not again…" he whispered, "don't take her from us too."

My mind instinctively reached out to find what bothered the boy, but I quickly reigned it in. Even so, I picked up a single word, a single name. Terra.

I shrugged it off, took a step towards the two collapsed heroes, thought better of it, turned and walked off. They needed each other right now, not the newbie.

Robin glanced up after the retreating form, but didn't say a word about it. He looked over towards where Beast Boy sat mumbling, and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

"She'll be ok," the Boy Wonder mumbled, more for himself than for the one he consoled. "Cyborg knows what he's doing, and Ryk acted fast enough to contain her wounds right off, she'll be ok."

The Titans leader and their youngest member both leaned against each other, each wishing that one other was with them. Together in their loneliness, apart in their desires.

I sighed outside the door, trying my best to keep the stray thoughts of the other Titans out of my head.

-FLASH-

A certain Tamaranian stepping away from a sleek, crystalline spaceship.

-FLASH-

A blonde haired girl smiling back at me.

-FLASH-

Starfire soaring ahead of where I sat on the R-Cycle.

-FLASH-

Sitting next to the blonde girl as she 'flew' a huge rock across the bay.

-FLASH-

"Starfire…I…"

-FLASH-

"Terra…I…"

-FLASH-

The feeling of a soft hand in my own.

-FLASH-

A soft pair of lips pressed against mine.

-FLASH-

I stumbled and fell to my knees, clamping my hands around my head, and forcibly cutting myself off from the world. The visions stopped as quickly as they had come. I shook my head, but decided that the questions were for another day.

-----------------------

Robin and Beast Boy sat side by side in the tower's main room. Identical stares looked towards the window, but at nothing at all.

"Beast Boy, how did you do it?"

The elf looked towards the boy wonder, his eyebrow rising in question.

"When you lost Terra, how did you do it."

"I try not to think about it."

"I can imagine what you must have gone through, and I don't get it, how did…"

"I don't think about it, ok!"

Robin slumped back away from the changeling's sudden outburst. "B.B….I'm sorry, I just…it's so hard, I don't want her to go too."

"Dude, we're not going to lose Star! If anyone can fix her up, Cy can!"

"But…but…you saw her shoulder…she lost so much blood…it went right through…"

-WHAP-

The snarling elf stood overtop a very surprised Robin, his fist still clenched. The boy wonder's hand slowly made its way up to the reddening bruise on his cheek.

"Get a hold of yourself, man." the elf snapped. "Star's tough, she'll pull through this, and you, the leader of the Titans, should not be sitting here moping about. Why don't you do something constructive, like try to find out what those bastards where after, or where they were taking it, heck, look at the pattern of the HIVE over the last few months, and try to figure out what all they've been gathering up for! The last thing you need to be doing right now is feeling sorry for yourself because a teammate took a round. We all knew the risks when we joined this team, and dammit, so did you!"

Robin looked dazedly at the shape-shifter.

Beast Boy jabbed a persistent finger at the computer console to the side of the room.

The boy wonder rose slowly, and made his way towards the computer. He stopped briefly next to where the little elf stood, and placed his hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Thank you, Beast Boy, for reminding me of who we are, and who I need to be."

The elf swallowed hard. "Robin…"

The boy wonder looked back.

"When we find those bastards, do you wanna hold the little munchkin down, or should I hold him for you to pummel."

----------------------

A pink haired girl perched perilously atop the Empire State Building, a newspaper in her hand. She turned the page, and her cat eyes went wide.

"Oh Ryk, what happened over there?" she whispered.

The girl dropped the paper, and launched herself from her perch and out into mid-air. The paper caught on one of the ledges, briefly showing the page she had been reading. The header on the page was titled: Could the Teen Titans have fallen? Underneath was a single, grainy picture, but it showed a brown-haired character kneeling protectively over a particular bleeding Tamaranian.

-----------------------

I stood in my bathroom, stripped down to my waist. I winced as I pulled a piece of shrapnel out of where it had been embedded in my arm, and calmly finished cleaning the wound. As I bent over the sink, I glanced up into the mirror. A sight caught my eyes, a silver sheen at the very roots of my hair…my namesake. I let a long sigh escape my lips, and reached under the counter to where a bottle of hair dye was hidden, the same color brown that my hair was currently. I stared at the bottle for a few moments, and threw it back under the counter. I would worry about it in a few more days, it still wasn't very noticeable right now.

I exited my bathroom, and walked out of my room, padding barefoot down the hallway towards where I might find a bite of food.

-WHAP-

Raven went face first into my chest as I rounded a corner.

I gasped, surprised.

Raven stood there in shock.

I took a step back.

Raven stared.

I cleared my throat.

Raven jumped, and turned her gaze away from my still bare chest. "I-I-I didn't mean to s-stare," she stuttered out.

I looked back at her and winked.

She groaned, and started to walk away, but paused.

"Raven?"

She stopped, and turned back towards me.

"How is she?"

The dark girl's shoulder's slouched noticeably. "She'll be ok, but she's going to be stuck here at the Tower on a non-duty status for a few weeks."

I nodded, "I just wish I would have seen it coming, Rae. It should have been me taking that shot, I could have, I don't know, at least been fast enough to take the shot for her, not the other way around."

The sorceress didn't answer that one, so I turned to continue on my way. "Ryk?"

It was my turn to look back now.

"Those scars…are they?"

I nodded, "They are from a past life I hate to admit was even mine."

Her eyes kept glancing to my right shoulder, and the peculiar scar that was on it. I saw her try to keep from staring at it, but she was failing miserably. I turned so it was facing her. "Does this one interest you?"

She stared back at the scar, unabashedly this time. "It's design is…"

"Yes, I know, it is a perfect, six pointed star, the Star of David, or the Star of Israel, whatever you want to call it."

"Where did you get it? Did you cut it yourself?"

I shook my head. "I wish I knew. It just kind of…appeared not long after I 'quit' my former job."

"Appeared?"

"Yeah, I remember fighting this one hunter that had come to collect on my bounty, and I don't remember the fight going to well, halfway through the fight, I must have blacked out or something, I don't know quite what happened, but when I woke up, I was back home, and this scar was on my arm. I heard later that the Bounty Hunter that I had been fighting had disappeared, and I didn't know what had happened…"

"……strange."

I smiled at the monotonous tone Raven always managed to display. "Well, if you'll excuse me, my stomach is about to devour my own spine if I don't feed it something."

She nodded, and I walked off, numbly tracing the six pointed star on my shoulder, and mumbling to myself. "Nightmare…what happened to us that night."

-------------------

-CLICK-

Nightmare stands in her room, pulling the door closed and leaning back against it. Her seductive smile fades from her face, and her hands tremble at her side. A troubled breath escapes her lips. She had not expected to run into her old rival again, and even though she had become much more powerful since the last time they had met, she still respected the strength of her opponent. The flash-dagger, or whatever energy weapon he had carried was impressive, but it was his eyes that scared her. Those once cold, murderous silver eyes had changed, and the fire she had seen in them tonight, that protective fury, had instantly reduced her to a fleeing coward.

-FLASH-

Two bodies knelt on the ground, one holding the other from behind. The one being held shuddered a few times, froze, and slowly slumped forward in the second one's grip. The remaining of the two rose, and spun to face a third body, his hair shimmering and morphing from a short, spiky brown to a long, flowing silver. Silver eyes stared coldly before giving way to the same fury that had frightened Nightmare earlier that evening. Red blood stained his black combat armor. A fan of black throwing knives appeared in his hand as he rose.

"You killed her."

The third figure stepped back.

"You KILLED HER!"

The third figure turned to run.

-THWACK-

A single blade was thrown from the fan, and impaled the fleeing figure's arm, pinning it outstretched to the wall.

-THWACK…THWACK…THWACK-

The last three knives were released, leaving the third body crucified to the wall. The silver haired boy walked forward slowly, menacingly, his eyes cold, calculating, and murderous. A final, silver blade was produced. It's length was stained in red from many past victims, and the boy spun it expertly. He stopped at the full length of his arm from the crucified one, and glared.

-SLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINK-

The blade moved with lightning speed, leaving a long red trail down the length of one of it's target's arms. The body tied to the wall screamed in agony, but the cold eyes never wavered.

-SLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINK-

The blade mirrored the slice onto the other arm. Another girlish scream echoed off of the walls.

And the eyes never wavered. The blade followed through in a quick succession, flashing, spinning, and leaving bloody trails across the ground and the walls.

Nightmare huddled in a corner, hugging her knees to her chest. Tears flowed down her eyes, but she couldn't bring a sound from her mouth. She watched as her partner…her sister…was disemboweled by the flashing silver blade.

-FLASH-

Nightmare gripped the sides of her head, and fell into a fetal position on her bed. Tears rolled down her face and she clutched a simple charm that hung from her necklace. It was in this position that she stay, and finally fell asleep, destined to sleep through her alarm, and far to long into the next day.

-----------------------

I stood in the kitchen, staring blankly into the fridge, where I had been for almost the last fifteen minutes. Cyborg sat on the couch, mindlessly playing a brightly flashing game on the screen in front of him.

"Ryk, dude, you ok?"

I looked up from the fridge, and closed the door with a sigh.

"Star's gonna be ok dude, you should probably get some rest, it's been a rough day for all of us."

I nodded numbly, but my gaze trailed away out the window.

"…it was just like last time." I whispered to myself.

Cyborg's enhanced cybernetic ears picked up my quiet mumble. "What's just like last time?"

I shook my head, and slowly trudged my way back out of the room, my stomach still unsatisfied, but forgotten. Raven walked in from the opposite side at the exact same time, and stared after my figure as it disappeared down the hall.

"Hiya Rae."

Raven's deadpan gaze moved calmly across the room to where Cyborg sat. "What."

A single snort of a laugh escaped from the android. He stopped, and then continued. "I'm concerned about what happened tonight."

Raven walked around the couch, and curled her knees up next to her on her chair of choice.

"Something happened tonight, and it triggered something in our newest member, something he really doesn't want to let out, but keeps mumbling about."

"And why are you bothering me with this?"

"Because you'll listen, Rae, and do something about it. You notice more than all the rest of us."

The sorceress sighed, giving in. "So what is it he keeps mumbling about."

Cyborg turned his attention back to his game. "All he says, is 'it was just like last time'. He's said it seven or eight times just while standing there staring in the fridge. I know he didn't want me to hear it, but he couldn't seem to hold it in. I'm worried Rae, I think there's definitely something going on here that we should know about."

-------------------

I stumbled back into my own room, and collapsed on my bed. I stared at the ceiling for a long time, before finally drifting off to a nightmare haunted sleep. Nightmares about two young women I had held in an identical way. One, a red-headed super hero from Tamaran, the other, a blonde girl, my best friend, my older sister. One I had not saved, one was still yet to be decided.

"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth," I mumbled in my sleep, "And a sister for a sister begins a rivalry that killed far to many."