This chapter never showed up in everyone's alerts...I hope it does now...

Is it Gordania or Gordonia? Sorry if the spelling is wrong, hopefully I'll have the right one next chapter.

Hey! Does anyone know all of Raven's powers? Like, does she have telepathy or not? And can she predict the future? Just wondering. Hopefully I'll be able to work in Raven, Cyborg, and Beast Boy somewhere...

Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans.

"Mother! Father!" Koriand'r cried. Burly Gordonians dragged her out of the castle, while she struggled with no avail. Normally Tamaranians were stronger, but an eight-year-old had no chance. "Help me, please!"

Her parents' faces were pale and set. Her mother could not even look anymore, burying her face in Myand'r's shoulder. A terrible thought occured to young Koriand'r: were her parents okay with this? Did they want her to go? Had they told the Gordonians to come and get her? It was almost like her old k'norfka was threatening her, because she didn't want to eat her okamp'i. "The Gordonians will come get you if you don't!" Koriand'r had always been so scared, she'd swallowed it without a single complaint afterwards. Her k'norfka had been beheaded after someone had found out what she'd been saying to the royal children.

But this time, the threat was real.

Two more Gordonians marched out of an adjoining room, with Koriand'r's sickly sister, Komand'r, in tow. Luand'r began to sob.

"Mommy!" Koriand'r hadn't said that in years. "Daddy, please!"

"Bring them onto the ship." An even more intimidating alien smirked at the two young girls. "They'll be transported to Gordonia immediately."

"NO! MOMMY!"

"Shut her up!"

The last thing Koriand'r heard was her mother's cry of anguish as her head exploded in pain.

The girl beside Dick whimpered in her sleep. She'd been out for almost twenty minutes, now. Dick wasn't sure if he should've kept her awake so she didn't go into a coma or something, but she looked like she needed the sleep. Her hands kept twitching back to random wounds on her arms and legs, as if she could feel them being inflicted all over again.

"Hey...hey, you..." Dick shook her, but she flinched away from him. "C'mon...it's just a nightmare."

His car started to chug, slowing down drastically, but Dick didn't notice. He was busy trying to wake up the now crying girl. He shook her shoulder, wincing from the scars he could feel. "Wake up..."

The car stopped completely as she opened her eyes. "Dammit! Everything just has to go wrong today, doesn't it?" He banged on the sterring wheel, flooring the accelerator. The horn didn't even honk. Everything was on the blink. His gas tank had gone from nearly full to empty in the space of about three seconds.

The girl saw all the lights blinking and immediately took action. She kicked her door open and forcefully dragged Dick through it before he could react. They barrelled out, running until they reached a wooded area a few dozen yards away. "What were you thinking? I can't just leave the car out there!" Dick yelled at her.

The car exploded.

He could feel the heat wave more than fifty feet away. Without thinking, he hugged the girl and pushed her behind him, trying to keep her out of the line of flying debris. He could feel a few pricks on his back, but didn't dare turn around for fear of getting his eye poked out. They shuffled behind a tree, trying to calm their speeding hearts.

"Are you--" She clamped a hand over his mouth as the sound of the blast stopped ringing in their ears. That was when he first noticed the hissing. He felt her body tense up against him in fear, but she quickly recovered her calm. Beckoning to him, she tiptoed deeper into the woods, careful not to step on any dried leaves or twigs. The hissing was still there, almost like three or four snakes surrounding them. Her hand gripped his tightly, almost too tightly. He'd forgotten her strength.

She stopped at a tree and glanced up. Dick paled. No way was he going to climb up there, especially not in an Armani suit...You idiot. It's a matter of life and death. Those snakes don't sound very friendly, funny enough.

The girl went up first, climbing like a monkey. Dick followed, wishing he remembered how to get up those rock walls he used to love as a kid. He got quite a few splinters, but at last, he was a good twenty feet above the ground. He balanced himself out on the thick branch, almost falling over when the girl huddled next to him again. He'd never seen anyone so scared.

Dick was going to say something to comfort her, but decided it was probably not a good idea to give away their position. It wasn't like she could understand him anyway. He embraced her awkwardly, trying not to gasp when he brushed her ribcage. The poor girl was emaciated. He hadn't even known, what with the excitement and the fact that he'd only known her for about thirty minutes. He probably had something in his bag to give her...which had been blown up along with the car.

The hissing was now directly below them. Dick chanced a glance and his eyes widened in shock. Standing below them was a human-sized, scaly, fork-tongued lizard on two feet, hissing and spitting at thin air.

"Gordonians," the girl whispered in his ear, her voice shaking. Was that some kind of animal species? Something that big...it'd probably have been discovered by now, especially if it was hanging out in Nebraska.

The creature left, but they didn't dare move from their spot for the rest of the night.

As soon as dawn broke, the girl jumped down from their spot on the tree. Dick was surprised she didn't break anything. He didn't trust himself to jump twenty feet, so he took the long way down. His clothes had stayed pretty neat, considering the circumstances. She gestured for him to follow her, and they tread through the rest of the forest carefully.

"What the heck is going on?" Dick murmured to himself. As if she could explain anything at all. It'd be nice if she spoke English.

Long before they reached the edge, Dick heard cars. Civilization. Hopefully they could get food and a place to stay, and maybe even a hospital for the girl. It was the first time Dick had considered that since the explosion of the car. Somehow, he didn't think a hospital was what this girl needed anymore.

They trekked out to a gas station at the corner of two intersecting roads. Definitely not what Dick had hoped for, but at least they'd get food.

It was probably a bad idea to bring the girl in with him, if anyone thought he was an abusive boyfriend or something. But where could he leave her? Those lizard things were still out there, he assumed. He turned to her. "Stay here," he ordered firmly, pointing to the ground. Her eyes grew impossibly huge, almost like those puppies on the Animal Shelter commercials with that heart-melting 'why are you leaving me all alone?' look. They were insanely green...completely green, even the whites were green...but it wasn't a bad green...

Dick snapped out of it, taking a couple of steps back to make sure she didn't move. He crossed the street, pulling his wallet out of his back pocket. A little bell rang when he entered the Seven Eleven, and the cashier looked up. "Can I help you, sir?"

"Where's the nearest bus stop? Or even a car rental."

"There's a stop next to this station. Bus comes about once every hour. First one should be here about thirty minutes." Dick checked outside, making sure the girl was still there. "Would you like anything to eat, sir?"

"Yeah."

A T.V. blared over the cashier's head, with a 'BREAKING NEWS' banner covering some guys face. "Yesterday evening, disturbances were spotted all over the state of Nebraska. Strange lights have been seen, electricity isn't working, and animals have been going crazy. Not only that, but a satellite was knocked right out of orbit. Flights were cancelled all over the U.S.A, and are still not running. Most Nebraskan areas are up again, but most people have reverted to superstitious beliefs. Now to you, John." The anchorwoman disappeared from the screen. Now Dick was staring at an anxious looking young man standing in a field.

"Thanks, Melinda. I'm at the home of Bertha and Hilary Swathshamble, on their farm in Nebraska. Tell me, what did you ladies see last night?"

"Hilary and Bertha? Why, they're only a mile from here!" the cashier marveled.

The camera pointed at two older, crazy-haired ladies. "Aliens!" squealed one, her voice high with fear. "And not your cute little E.T. aliens, too! Big, crocodile things! Scared the living daylights outta me!"

"Hilary and me, we hid in t'house, we did. Didn't dare go outside t'whole night, and t'animals were screaming, too. No siree. This mornin', though, we found a cow dead in our barn. Sliced right in half, only t'aliens left us one half."

"It was Beatrice! My favorite cow!" Hilary added.

"Are you sure you weren't hallucinating?" John asked them.

"Sure as t'grass is green," Bertha assured him solemnly. "Big ole nasty aliens. We didn't see any ship, but by golly, that was enough. One came up and sniffed at t'window! We were hiding under our table, had Paul's old rifle out. But they all just disappeared soon enough. Headed for t'forest."

"Shame. Hilary and Bertha, they're sensible folk. Don't kow why they'd believe this alien stuff," the cashier muttered, handing Dick the near bursting plastic bag. "Here you go. Have a nice day." Dick slapped down the money and hurriedly stormed out of the convenience store.

"Hmph. Must be from Gotham," the cashier muttered to himself.

"Here." She stared at the bag in his hand curiously. He opened up the bag, revealing the galore of junk food inside. She needed some empty calories. "Eat as much as you want." He pulled out a bag of nachos, munched on a chip, and then offered her some. She stared only for a second before happily wolfing down all of the chips, cheese, and finally, the plastic casing.

Dick paled. "Uh..." He didn't know it was possible to be that hungry. Would she choke? Would she die? He got prepared to do the Heimlich, but the girl was now prodding the plastic bag. "No! That's not edible either!" She gave him that puppy-dog stare again, but his decision was final. "Eat food. Not containers."

He kept her eating in check, hoping she wouldn't guzzle down anymore plastic. Still, her cup had mysteriously disappeared. He made her follow him down to the bus station, trying to keep her inconspicuous. It would've helped if she didn't have such bright clothing.

The bus came a few minutes later. "Do you go to Omaha?"

"Yep. My last stop. An hour long ride, son."

Dick paid for the two of them and help the girl onto the bus, relieved the driver didn't say anything.

A tiny TV screen played above the driver's seat. Local news said the weather was going to be cloudy, in the high sixties. Then the alien story flashed again, but this time, either Hilary or Bertha had attempted to draw what they'd seen. The girl gasped at the picture. "Gordonians!"

Dick blinked. How had he not made the connection before? The 'aliens' on that farm...those were the things that had been in the forest last night, the things they'd had to hide from after they'd gotten stuck. Although, if his car hadn't blown up, they would probably be--at least--in Illinois by now. Dick groaned. Too many things had happened. He needed to know what was going on, and suddenly, he felt like turning to the alien theory, too, although it could just be teenage pranksters decked out in Halloween costumes..."We found a cow dead in our barn. Sliced right in half." Very disturbed teenagers...?

The girl was shaking, hugging herself to keep from breaking down. She'd been through as much as he had in the past twenty-four hours, maybe more. She might have escaped from an insane asylum or something, but she was still a person. Dick took off his sports jacket, frowning at the tiny tears and wrinkles from being on the run. He wrapped it around the girl's shoulders. "We'll get out of this place, don't worry."

She smiled slightly at him, and for a minute, he thought she could actually understand him. He sat next to her, splitting the last of the food with her. She rested her head on his shoulder and promptly fell asleep. Must be nice, to feel safe enough to be able to get some shut-eye when those weird things are on the loose.

He pulled her closer to him and fell asleep, too.

That was kinda slow, but the next one will have a lot more happening in it.