Part 44: Despair

Raven's POV:

It had been an hour, or was it less? Anyway, I felt like it had been an hour since we lost Beast Boy and Terra. We were still searching for the monster and Shadow was still walking by my side. He looked slightly scared, or was that paranoia?

A while ago he had told me that he had lost someone a long time ago. Was it before he became a Zodiac Knight? Damn, I'm asking too many questions tonight.

Anyway, Robin was leading our little search party with Starfire close by providing some light with her Starbolts. Cyborg and Draco were also providing some light (Draco had called forth a fireball and was using it as a torch and Cyborg had that built in flashlight on him). Jinx and Pluto were in the middle while Shadow and I were in the back.

"Shadow?" I said.

"Hm?" he looked back at me.

"Can you tell me what you were talking about a while ago, you know, when you hugged me?"

Shadowcobra's POV:

Damn it! I knew I shouldn't have let that slip! It was just a temporary feeling of fear, fear of loss.

"You mean, when I said I lost a friend?" She nodded. I shook my head and shut my eyes. "I can't, Raven, I just can't."

"You were able to tell me before about stuff in your life. Why not now?" she asked.

"Please Raven…" I pleaded, "I just don't want to talk about it now." She then looked me in the eye, "But I promise you that I will tell you, one day."

I could feel that she felt betrayed by my answer, but I just couldn't tell her about…I shook my head. Can't think about that now. I had to keep my senses alert for the monster because it could attack from anywhere. It wasn't a mirror dimension monster, or was it? I was too distracted to hear the familiar ringing in my ear that signified a monster. Raven said it wasn't, but I had to remember that the Mirror Dimension could manipulate and shape a person's emotions and give it the form of a monster. Even without the similar sense I had to be wary.

Suddenly, I felt a cold chill on my back. I whirled around and held up my hands that were covered in shadow energy, ready to strike down whoever it was.

There wasn't anyone there.

With a sigh, I allowed the shadow energy to dissipate and turned back around. Raven looked at me.

"Is something wrong?" she asked.

I shook my head, "No."

That was when I was wrong.

Starfire screamed as the monster reappeared before us. What chilled us more was that on the surface of its slimy body were the faces of Terra and Beast Boy. They both seemed unconscious. However, that didn't make it look any less eerie.

The monster lunged at the Titans, its tentacles flailing around as it attempted to grab us and drag us into its dark world.

Not when I have something to say about it.

Summoning my armor, I blasted the monster with some shadow energy. Raven blasted the thing too, sending it back a couple of feet. The tentacles wrapped around Pluto and Draco but were cut away by their swords. Jinx helped out by blasting it with some hexes, her eyes glowing bright pink as she did. The monster was also being pelted with Starbolts and sonic blasts as well as some of Robin's exploding disks. The monster decided to make its escape, but not before grabbing the closest Titans it could get its tentacles on. The monster spat out some sort of dark smog around Starfire. Starfire coughed as she was being engulfed in the cloud.

"Robin!" she yelled.

"Starfire!" Robin yelled as he jumped high up into the air, intending to grab her. However, when he went through the cloud, Starfire was gone. We all looked shock as Starfire disappeared into thin air. The monster, sensing our distraction, whipped its tentacle forward and grabbed onto Jinx. Jinx screamed as she struggle to get away.

"Oh my God! It got Jinx!" Draco exclaimed as he rushed forward and tried to grab his girlfriend. Jinx had a look of fear on her face, tear stricken as Draco rushed to her rescue.

He wasn't fast enough.

The monster spat out some more of the black smog and covered itself in it. Draco jumped through, only to touch nothing. The cloud dissipated and it was like there was nothing there.

"JINX!" he roared, enraged as he slammed his fist to the ground. Robin had dropped to his knees, eyes wide.

"Starfire…"

Draco was starting to shoot fireballs everywhere in blind rage, screaming and roaring uncontrollably. I couldn't take it anymore. I walked up to Draco and slammed my fist into his face. Draco looked at me. My helmet's faceplate slid open as I glared at him.

I snarled and bared my fangs as I gave him a good talking to.

"GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF!" I yelled, "YOU'RE A ZODIAC KNIGHT FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE! ACT LIKE ONE!" I let my voice soften slightly as I looked my friend in the eye. "Acting crazy is not going to help anyone, nor will it help Jinx. You have to stay calm if you even want to think of saving her!" Draco stared at me, wide eyed after I finished my little speech. I walked towards Robin who was still in shock and slapped him in the face. He held his cheek as he stared at me. "And you!" I continued, "You're supposed to be Robin, the Boy Wonder, leader of the Teen Titan!" I said with mild disgust in my voice at the behavior Robin was displaying. "Right now, Starfire, Terra, Jinx and Beast Boy need you! We all need you!" I shook my head back towards Raven as I frowned and repeated, "We all need you, Robin." My faceplate slid back into place after I had said that.

Raven looked up to me and commented on my little speech. "You know, you shouldn't be too harsh on them," she said, "You have no idea how they're feeling."

"You'd be surprised," I replied. She looked at me strangely.

"Huh?"

"Never mind." I motioned for Raven to walk with me. She complied as we walked through the dark hallway, following the group in front, looking for our friends and the monster that had consumed them.

However, will we survive?

To be continued…