::: Season 6 :::

:: Episode 5 :: The Darkest Illusion ::

Late one morning, the sky outside is darker than normal as rain continues to downpour, canceling any training scheduled outside. Inside the Titans tower, Beast Boy is enjoying his favorite video game. While Starfire and Cyborg are in the kitchen fighting on who should make 'the lunch.' Raven and Robin are locked in deeply, in an intense game of chess. Robin's turns are beginning to take so long, that Raven has time to read her book between turns. Matthaios walks in and notices Beast Boy sitting on the couch:

-Matthaios:Beast Boy! Hey, buuuddy! How's it goin'? How was date number 3?!

-Beast Boy:Oh come on! No one was even their! Soo, HOW DID I DIE?! … Wait, what were you saying?

-Matthaios:This Terra, or Tara chick. Date3. Details. Aaannd, Go!

-Beast Boy:What?! … Oh, well it went better than the 2nd one, that's for sure.

-Matthaios:What happened the 2nd time?

-Beast Boy:Oh…nothing.

-Cyborg:Wait! Beast Boy had a 2nd date…with Terra?! Oh, I want to hear about this!

-Starfire:Oh yay! I love the telling of the romantic stories!

-Matthaios:Rae, Robin. You want in on this too?

-Raven:I can hear you clearly from here, sadly … and don't call me that.

-Beast Boy:Woow, hey! What just happened here?!

-Robin:Quiet! … … *Moves the knight, forward*

* Raven stares at the chess board for a few seconds, than moves her Queen to Robin's side of the board. *

-Raven:Check mate. *Goes back to reading her book*

* Cyborg, Starfire, and Matthaios all sit on the floor in front of the couch, intrigued and anxiously awaiting Beast Boy's story. *

-Robin:WHAT?! HOW?! ARE YOU READING MY MIND OR SOMETHING?! HOW ARE YOU-

-Raven:*Her face still buried in her book* Nope. I don't need to know what you're thinking. I just wait for you to make a bad move before I strike. And you should know that I don't do that without full permission from the person.

Robin sits next to everyone on the floor in frustration and anger:

-Cyborg:Alright BB, looks like we're all here!

-Matthaios:Well, most of us…

* A loud alarm sounds. Everyone stands and faces the TV *

-Robin:It's the crime alert! The story will have to wait!

-Beast Boy: *Sighs in relief* Oh, no. What. A. Shame. I, guess. We. Will. Just. Have, too. Wait. Another. Day. Aww. Well.

-Cyborg:Robin, who is it?

-Raven:*Joins everyone by the TV* Or, What is it?

-Robin:It's Mumbo! He's terrorizing and robbing the city!

-Raven:*Face palms herself*Oh no! What kind of 'lame-fake' magic is he going to try THIS time?!

-Matthaios:*Whispers to Beast Boy* Uhh, I take it Raven isn't to 'fond' of this, "Mumbo" person?

-Beast Boy:*Whispers back*Nope! He used some his magic to turn her into a bunny.

-Raven:You know I can hear you 2.

* Beast Boy and Matthaios jump back startled and in shock *

-Beast Boy/Matthaios:Ooops, busted!

-Raven:And for the last time, ITS NOT REAL MAGIC!

-Robin:We're wasting time here! Let's GO!

The team heads out toward the Jump City. They find Mumbo holding up the "Jump City Bank." Mumbo begins to fill his hat with everything locate within the safe. He grabs the last 3 small bags of cash, than begins to head toward the door, only to be stopped by the Titans:

-Robin: I hope you had finished your withdraw, 'cuz your about to be deposited back behind bars.

-Cyborg:Wow, he's really losing his touch with those 'snappy lines.'

-Beast Boy:Yea that was pretty lame, dude!

-Raven:You know it's bad when Beast Boy finds it lame.

-Starfire:It was not that good…at all.

-Robin:Fine! Someone ELSE can come up with them from now on!

-Mumbo:I got one. Here, pick a card!

* He throws playing cards toward the Titans. They scatter to avoid getting hit *

-Robin:Look out!

The Titans jump and scatter to avoid getting hit by the razor sharp cards. 1 does manage to clip off a small lock of Starfire's hair. She begins to stream up with rage:

-Starfire:You…messed…up…my…HAIR!

-Mumbo:Whelp, I guess I'll 'cash' you later! Tahaha!

Mumbo throws down a smoke bomb and begins to escape through the back emergency exit. He's met just outside by Raven, in the back alley behind the Bank:

-Mumbo:Oh so, you want to see some more of my magic, do ya?! Well, I can't blame you. Watch the master as I-

Starfire comes out screaming in rage as she hits him, knocking him down the alley way, onto the street, and into a parked box truck on the other side of the adjacent street.

-Raven:Surprise. Oh, did I forget to say 'alakazam?!'

-Robin:It's over Mumbo! You can't win!

-Mumbo:Oh, can't I? You are underestimating the ability of my NEWLY founded magical powers. *Begins to chuckle and laugh maliciously *

-Cyborg:New powers?

-Beast Boy:What new powers?!

-Robin:Let's now wait to find out. Titans, G- … What the…?!

* Mumbo has black and white 'static-based' light come from his fingers, stopping the Titans and preventing them from moving *

-Matthaios:What's going on? Who is this guy?

-Starfire:I do not know… But it seems he has learned the new trick, yes?!

-Robin:Star's right…He, he was never able to do this before! Raven, any…any input?

-Raven:It's just another…one of his illusions. We just…just have to figure out…how to break free, like we did before!

-Mumbo:Nope! Wrong again, my little bunny of an assistant!

-Raven:But I'm not- *Mumbo turns her into "Bunny Raven" again* a bunny… Oh come on! Not again!

-Robin:Rea…Raven!

-Mumbo:Now, to dispose of you to make sure I can get away this time! *Closes his eyes and begins to chant* Viens divi trīs! Titānus var redzēt! Četri, pieci, seši! No realitātes tie tiek izmesti![1]

A blinding light surrounds them, before they vanish into nothing. Mumbo, than skips down the street with his 3 bags of cash over hios soulder, whistling with pure joy.

The titans land in a dark room. Everyone is by themselves in their own seperate pitch black room! They look around, calling out for the others but no one is being answered. Everyone eventually finds a small white light. They begin running toward their own light respectfully. Once everyone has reached their own lights, the are blinded by the brightness. They begin to whitness something that seems familiar to them.

Beast Boy runs out, than appears to be comming out of a small tent. He finds himself deep in the jungles, somewhere in Africa. He cant figure out how, or why, but he gets a huge feeling of deja-vu in that moment. He shrugs it off and searches around, looking for the rest of his friends. He sees no sign of human, or animal life anywhere. He still continues on his search.

Meanwhile, the other Titans are still out in each of their own 'worlds' searching for each other. Robin finds himself outside of a local carnival. He wonders around searching for the other Titans as well, but doesnt see a single soul. It's like the whole place was deserted, b ut recently. The rides still looked new and active. He sees a circus tent in the middle of the whole carnival. Confused on why that seems familiar to him, he walks over to it to check it out.

Raven appears to have landed in her how town of Azarath. Confused, she wonders into the city limits. At 1st, it seemed like nobody was around. She instantly suspected that she was in another one of her Mothers 'Illusioned Messages' l;eft by her Mother. As she wonders further into the city, she starts to notice people. The population increases more as she wonders closer to the center of Azarath. She heads up toward her Mother's house, and tries to find out what exactly is going on.

Cyborg ends up on the outskirts of Jump City. Feeling relieved to be 'back home,' he heads into the city on his way back to Titans Tower. Confused on why he doesn't see anyone around, especially on a Friday night when the city is normally congested with high school kids, he shrugs it off and continues toward Titans Tower. When he makes it to the shore, he notices the Tower is gone. Confused, he heads back into the city to try to find the rest of the team, or at least someone so he can try to get an explanation for what is going on.

Starfire finds herself back on her home planet of Tamaran. Confused on why or how she ended up on her home planet, she flies around trying to find her friends, but she comes up empty. She cannot find her friends, or anyone else. She heads to her old home where she was born and raised. Excited for Galfore to greet her, she slams the doors wide open, screaming, "Galfore! Friends! Family! I have come back!" Thinking, than speaking softly to herself, "Although I do not know how I got here… Huh-?" She looks around and doesn't see a single person or animal around. She begins to search the castle, but finds nothing. She walks out onto one of the back patios of the castle. Starfire sees her mother and brother, who looks to be a few years younger than Starfire. "Mother," she cries out. "It is me, Kor-" She hears yelling coming from behind the doors that lead out onto the patio where she was standing. She heads over to see what's going on. She notices her father, yelling at a group of Gordanians, who are working for the Citadel, who attacked Tamaran. Shocked and confused, Starfire stayed in hiding, as she didn't want to get spotted. The arguments die down as Star's mother enters the room from the back patio. She is emotional about letting her son go, but tries to hide it for now. The Gordanians begin to head back to their ship, but they now have a 'guest' that will be joining them. Starfire peaks around the corner and sees an unconscious, slightly younger self, being dragged back to the Gordanian ship. (Speaking in Tamaran) "Mother, Father, it is so good to see you! I thought-" She goes to hug them both but passes right through them. Confused, she turns around and notices them both crying as they begin to walk away. They walk into another room and close the door. Starfire tries to call for them again, but her cries go unanswered. She walks into the room right behind her parents, and notices them lying on the bed, unstill.

Matthaios is the last 'Titan'[2]left. Like Starfire, he ends up back at his home planet. Yet, he seems more confused than Starfire due to the fact his planet was destroyed. He treads lightly, as he tries to someone or something that may fill his mind with some context on what's going on. After walking for about an hour[3] he finds himself right outside a tournament fighting platform. The same one located just outside of his home village. Surprisingly, he sees only a few people around it. He's not surprised at the fact he found people, but that there are so little amount of people in the area. The fighting platforms are the main source of revenue and entertainment. He notices 2 people fighting on the platform. One of them is his dad. In shock and in disbelief, he attempts to call out to him but stops himself beforehand. He doesn't want to distract anyone or interfere. He walks away, heading toward his home village. Once he arrives, he spots his house. He cracks a smile as he sees his Mother outside hand washing the family's clothes.

Beast Boy finally stumbles up along a flowing river. Tired and dehydrated, he kneels down, turns into a wolf, than begins to drink the water from the river. Once he's finished he changes back and cups his hands, places them in the water, than splashes some on his face. He does this 2-3 more times. He notices a small rowboat flowing down the river with 3 people on board, screaming for help. Beast Boy turns into a falcon, and begins to fly towards the boat. As he gets closer, the people on the boat begin to look familiar. One of them catches his eye, it's a kid, who appears to look green just like Beast Boy. He stops for a second as he's in disbelief about what he's seeing. "No!" he thinks to himself, "It can't be! That's… That's me! Which means, those are my parents!" He sees them heading toward a waterfall. He quickly tries to swoop in to tries to save them. Right before the boat goes over the edge, Beast Boy turns into a Pterodactyl and attempts to grab onto the back of the boat. Before he gets there, Kid Beast Boy transforms into a small bird and flies up and out of the boat. Meanwhile, the teen[4] Beast Boy tries to grab onto the back of the boat. He ends up going right through the boat, almost as if it were a hologram. He watches the boat and his parents go off the edge of the waterfall and down to the river below. He sees the boat brake onto a rock, followed by nothing more than a few wooden planks resurfacing. Beast Boy shocked, hurt, confused, and heartbroken, just rewitnessed a suppressed and faint memory from his past. He flies down and transforms back before landing on the shore at the bottom of the waterfall.

Robin walks into the circus tent, and looks around, but sees there are no empty seats in the crowd. Trying to figure out why he too is having a feeling of deja-vu, he looks around. With the show getting ready to start, he finds one empty seats available somewhere in the middle. The lights dim, and the intro begins. An announcer comes on the loud speaker, getting the crowd hyped up and ready for the show before announcing the opening act. The 1st act is a professional lion tamer with control of 3 male lions. With the crowd, Robin included, on the edge or their seats, he performs his act as he normally does. When he's finished, the crowd cheers in amazement. They seem to all be pleased with the 1st act and how the whole thing is going so far. The next act is this is followed by a 5-person mime act, an act where a few people are juggling while on stilts and trying to stay on a pogo stick, and a few balancing acts. One of them being on a unicycle while on a very thin rope. He begins to pedal across. Halfway he starts to lose balance. Somehow, he's able to defy the basic laws of physics and ends up underneath the rope, upside down. He now begins to pedal back towards where he started. He flips himself back up, turns around and now begins to go backwards again, this time back toward the middle. He begins to lose balance, than does a backflip and lands on his index finger facing the right way. He now, with the unicycle still between his legs, begins walking on the rope toward the other end, using nothing more than his 2 index fingers to do so. About 2 hours of entertainment went by, including a 15-man 'Globe of Death' bike act. Where 15 people rode a bike inside a steel 'globe' moving in different directions while trying not to hit each other. The final act was coming up. Robin is still trying to remember why this all seems so familiar. He starts searching his pockets for anything he can find related to all of this. He pulls out a ticket. Everything looks blurry except for the seat and row number, which is the same seat he's sitting in. Noticing the numbers, he tries to figure out why that too seems familiar. It's on the tip of his tongue, but he just can't figure it out. The announcer comes back on to announce the final act, "And now, the moment you ALL have been waiting for! Let's give an Gotham City cheer for the only 2 humans who can defy gravity! Give it up, for-" "Oh No!" Robin thinks to himself. "NOW I remember!" Robin gets up as the announcer announces the final act, "-The Flying Grayson's!" Robin tries to leave quickly, but the crowd stands up and cheers in excitement, preventing him from leaving his seat. He tries to fight his way out, but he just kept going right through them. Although he could not hit or touch them, somehow they were able to hold him there and prevent him from leaving. The act started out as normal. A few minutes in, the act goes sour fast. Mrs. Grayson jumps, while Mr. Grayson swings out to grab her. The rope snaps on him, he grabs her but nothing is holding them up. Robin screams out, "NOOO!" He turns away as he hears a gasp from the crowd followed by a dead silence. Trying to hold back any emotions he may have, he looks around only to see what looks to be everyone frozen in place. His parents are in midair, frozen in place. He jumps down to try and help them before anything bad happens. As he lands on the floor, he looks up and sees his parents begin to fall again. Knowing he won't be able to make it over in time, he's forced to rewatch the most tragic event of his life. He falls to his knees, and looks down as he has every possible emotion running through him at that moment.

Cyborg is still making his way through Jump City. It still can't find anyone. He walks toward an intersection. He finally sees a car and an 18-wheeler heading right for the intersection. The car has a green light while the truck has a red light, but it doesn't seem the truck is stopping. Cyborg notices it, tries to yell at him to stop, but his yelling goes unheard. He jumps in front of the truck and winds up his fist, getting ready to stop the truck himself. He throws the punch but it, and as well as himself, passes right through the truck. Confused, he quickly turns around and sees the car and who's in it. At the last second, he recognizes a slightly younger version of himself and his mother, who's driving the car. He also sees the car get smashed up by the truck. Both the seatbelts snapped apart as he and his mother are thrown from the car. Cyborg is quickly blinded by a white light, than ends up in his parent's lab back at the house. He stares while his dad performs the robotic transplant to Cyborg, saving his life and making him who he is today. Thunder cracks as he now appears on a rainy day, at a funeral looking on from the distance. He stares in pure shock, full of regret as he begins to talk to himself. "This… This is my mother's funeral. I … I, was so disgusted with how I looked, and who I've become, that I never made it. This ate me up inside every day after that, knowing I could never get that back. I was never able to say … *His human eye begins to tear up* …to say goodbye. He walks in closer and tries to witness the funeral. He takes no more than 2-3 steps before everything goes black, and he ends up where he started before.

Raven ends up at her mother's house. Just before she knocks, her mother opens the door and begins to walk out. Raven acknowledges her, "Mother, Arella!" However, her mother just walks right past Raven. She has a look of despair on her face, like she's giving up all hope. Raven calls out, "Mom it's me, Raven!" However, her cries go unheard. She calls out again, but this time she tries to grab her mother's shoulder. Her hand falls through as if she were a ghost. With a confused look on her face, she looks at her mother. Arella is looking up at the sky. "Mom, that are you-" raven looks up, and sees what looks to be the head and upper torso of Trigon. Raven tried to use her powers to stop trigon, but she could not use them. Powerless, she was forced to watch as Trigon destroyed her home, those who raised her as a young kid, and her mother. She's blinded by a white light, than shown the burning ashes of what's left of Azarath. "Why?" She asks herself. "Why am I seeing this? What did Mumbo do to us? Where did he send us? What kind of 'magic' is he using?! She too falls to her knees as everything fades to black, and she ends up in the pitch black, darkened room.

A few people are gathered around the beds of Starfire's parents, weeping in mourning. Starfire, thinking to herself, begins to tear up, "No…This is when my parents had died. After I was captured, and Wildfire left, they could not take the stress any more. Why am I seeing this? How am I seeing this? I was not here when this had happened." Starfire heads back to the ship where she finds Blackfire. She's shaking hands with the head of the Gordanian ship, as 'Starfire' is being placed onboard[5]. "Blackfire!" she yells. As she goes to attack, she finds out her Starbolts, or any of her powers (with the exception of flying) don't work. She flies right toward her and tries to land a punch, but ends up going right through Blackfire as well. Still in a state of confusion, Starfire realizes she's running out of time. She flies toward the ship and, but the ships takes off as everything quickly fades to black. She ends up back in the dark room from where this whole ordeal had begun.

Matthaios begins walking toward his mother. Before he gets there, his father runs past him. Although he can't hear what's being said, he sees many arm movements and hears a lot of yelling. Matthaios tries to figure out what's going on as he runs towards them. He yells out their names but it goes unanswered. He tries to grab his father's arm, but his hand goes right through it. He watches his mother, in shock and panic, run back inside their hut. His father is standing outside yelling, repeatedly, "LETS. GO!" He looks inside and seem his mother scrambling to get a few things wrapped together. She ties it to the collar of the boy that's inside, activates the protection bubble than sends him off. Matthaios, standing outside, watches his father run inside and grab her arm as she watching the kid boy float away. Matthaios' eyes got wide as he just realized what's going on. He turns to his left, while facing the hut, and sees nothing but a 'moon sized' ball of pitch-black-darkness come right at them. Matthaios gets into his fighting stance, and tries to power up, but nothing happens. Confused, he realizes he can't do anything. He looks back inside and sees his father, still having a grip of Matthaios' mother, takes a step towards the door only to be instantly swallowed up and eliminated by the ball. As it hits them, he hears a loud and painful scream coming from them both. Having a higher pitch, his mother's scream seemed to be louder. After, Matthaios reappears in the same dark room he started in.

Beast Boy and Robin are blinded by a white flash before returning to the dark room. Everyone tries to find a way out once again, just hoping this nightmare would end. However, it seems Mumbo has another trick up his sleeve. Everybody does their best to shake off what just happened. Another bright light appears, just as before. Everyone was being skeptical about it, but they had no choice but to walk towards it, due to the fact it was the only way out. Raven tried to meditate in the dark room, and stay away from the light. After a few minutes, it eventually ended up coming to her, blinding her, along with the others, in a bright white light.

*** NOTE ***

1. Translation from Latvian: "One, two, three! The Titans you can see! Four, Five, Six! From reality, they shall be kicked!" I'm not very good at making up languages so I've basically used ones I've never heard of before or ones I know have been around AWHILE! Some words from Matthaios' home planet are a cross from Latin, Romanian, and Italian.

2. Titan is in quotes ( 'Titan' ) because Matthaios doesn't see himself as a Titan yet. Not until he can get the full approval and trust of the WHOLE team.

3. Earth time.

4. This is the 'Main/Real' Beast Boy

5. This leads up to the events of the episode "Go!" from season 5. She breaks out after being captured, on the way back to the Citadel home planet.