These Black Eyes

by P0ST

The ongoing adventures and experiences of the Teen Titans, as witnessed through the eyes of a silent newcomer.

138. Mortuana part 7

138. Mortuana part 7

"One cannot imagine—in the world of the dead as much as in the world of the living—an existence without the warm faculties of emotion," the storyteller said. The fire dances off of his face as he scans the crowd and continues: "What would it be like to know the definition of a feeling...to know the iciness of sorrow...the numbness of fear...the fire-red heat of anger...or the smooth taste of happiness............and yet not be able to experience each and every one of those?? Only a grand, celestial inhibition could possibly play a part in such a castration of the heartstrings. Only powers exceeding that of the common decency of life could rob from someone her ability to cry, tremble, shout, or laugh. But it is very real. In all of its improbability, the possibility exists. And it exists in her."

The violin and flute hit a sad note.

But the speaker seems strangely numb. Distant. Cold now.

"It was a necessity for the sacred daughter. From her very conception, the seed of evil nestled itself in her soul. Her wicked father tormented her with the blood of family members, and ever since she would have to guard against rage, or else she would release the father's evil essence upon the world. And as we all know, the soul is like a wheel with emotional spokes all contributing to the great rotation. If anger had to be in check, so did the girl also need to guard against happiness and sorrow and fear. The result was a life of stoical necessity. Something nobody would dare ask for. But for her, it was required."

The man's face returns to warmth as his body sinks and with gesturing arms he exhales: "And in our land......... in our land of Mortuana......the girl found that everything was collapsing. Everything was collapsing............and she allowed herself to collapse with it......"

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-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"Jeez, Flipper. You've been having a busy day! I've counted one hundred and eighty people!!"

"Good, because I have counted one hundred and eighty people too...," Tempest nodded. He and Cyborg paced down the length of the tunnel. The Atlantean's eyes kept glowing, because—the entire time—he was magically keeping the huge mountains of water around the huge group suspended "I've counted them a few times, actually. Just to be sure that nobody got lost. But such wasn't likely. We've been stationed down here for the last eight hours or so. I've been making a few trips now and then to check on other possible victims up on the surface. But I stopped doing that about two hours ago with the last group or two that I found. I figured that the sewers were safe...especially if I have control of the water supply to act as shields against.....erm.....whatever these foul beasts are."

An old man and his wife stepped forward, their hands together. "It's b-because of him that we're all here, Mr. Titan."

"He's b-been watching over all of us. We've been safe."

"Yes...."

"We're just so glad to be alive."

Murmurs and relieved sighs.

Cyborg rubbed the human part of his head and looked at Tempest. "Wow, Tempest. You've done.....y-you've done—"

"Good?" the Atlantean smirked.

"Beginner's luck."

"You don't say........."

Cyborg winked. He faced the people. "Is anyone injured? Hurt or anything??"

Tempest gestured: "I already checked up on that. Over on the north side of the pipe is a triage center. I've got three people in casts for sprained limbs. They were driving a truck when everything turned dark and they crashed. It was the second group I found. The first set of people with me helped carry them into the sewers." Tempest took a breath. "These townspeople...they have been working together. It has not all been my doing."

Murmurs.

Commotion.

Cyborg cleared his throat. He stretched his arm out and opened a panel showing an underground schematic of the City. A beat. He tapped the display and uttered: "This is the main reservoir. It leads about one and a half miles west towards the far side of the City. If I'm not mistaken...you could walk the length of the tunnel and then climb up into the outside world. It'll probably be nighttime by now, but I'm pretty sure you'll know when you're outside of the dome---"

"Wait a second...," Tempest's glowing eyes narrowed and he held his hands up. "You mean we can walk out of this....this darkness?"

"Well, Noir and I walked in. That's how we got here," Cyborg said. "Dr. Dark's explosion sucked out all light in the City—yes—but it was all the light in a general radius. There's light and life and everything all rosy and happy outside of this mess, dawg. It's just these lucky victims who happened to be caught in the middle of it!"

"You mean m-my family outside is okay??" a woman uttered.

"The world isn't coming to an end??"

"What's going on here, Titans?!?!"

A murmur rose up.

Cyborg held his hands up. "Listen...LISTEN!! People!" A beat. He lowered his voice some. "You're all gonna be okay. This may look like our City and all, but it's actually a pocket dimension. It'll take a long time to try and explain, but if we simply make an exodus through this tunnel westward, then we'll be in the clear! It's not as bad as you think! Only five hundred people or so were caught in this mess and already—before you guys—we've rescued a good third of them! For the time being, we need to get you out too! Now we gotta be cool and calm about it...but still we gotta do it as soon as possible, allright??"

"Is there a hurry?" Tempest asked. "I thought it'd be wisest to have one of us stay here and then have the others meet up with Robin and the other Titans to—"

"Last time I talked to Robin, he said this place was collapsing," Cyborg uttered.

Tempest's purple eyes widened some. "Excuse me??"

"Yeah. I know. I don't like the sound of it...," Cyborg looked off down the western end of the tunnel. "...so I say let's get these people out of here and into safety. And while we're at it...the same with you."

"But....b-but you may need me!" Tempest exclaimed. "Neptune knows what sort of creatures you might come across down here and—"

"I need you.........," Cyborg pointed, "...........to take these people to safety. In these sewers, you are a one-man army. You control the water that surrounds and protects these people. We don't need a full-on Titan patrol when instead we have you. Got it?"

"I....I desire greatly to help...," Tempest bit his lip. "I want to prove myself and—"

"Listen, man...," Cyborg planted his hands on the Atlantean's shoulders. "A plus. A plus all the way."

"........................," Tempest blinked. "..........am I supposed to know what that means?"

Cyborg simpered. "You've more than proven yourself, Flipper. As the highest ranking Titan present, I'm giving you an order to bring these people you've saved to the light side of our City. We'll meet you there once we've got all the other people out and the black dome is gone. I promise. And believe me......we'll remember what you've done today."

".............," Tempest glanced down the tunnel. A beat. "There is.....something keeping you here, is it?"

Cyborg raised a human eyebrow.

Tempest looked at the android directly. "Or someone?" A beat. "Dr. Dark was after Raven. What became of her?"

Cyborg sighed. He tilted his head down. "I dunno, man. It's all so....wyrd. You know Raven. She's not the emotional type, right?"

"True," Tempest nodded. "And I thought it's all on account of her father and—"

"Yeah yeah yeah," Cyborg waved his hand. "Anywho...she's suddenly going back on all that. Turns out this pocket dimension is populated by living-dead dudes who are more or less related to the practitioners of Azarath."

"Raven's home..."

"Right on. And now that she's kinda with 'her people' again...she's no longer touched by Trigon's curse and she's letting loose her emotions."

"But why??"

Cyborg shrugged dramatically. "I don't know!!" He exhaled. "But I'm going to find out. One way or another."

Tempest smirked. "And.....save some more citizens, right?"

"Er...yeah....th-that....," Cyborg sweatdropped. "Dammit, Flipper...you talk too much now that I've gotten to know you."

"I talk too much?"

"And don't give me that lip!"

"Pfft!" Tempest rolled his glowing eyes. "Go talk to Noir."

"Oh yeah.....good idea, that."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"She was laughing?!?! What the fuzz?!?!?!" Beast Boy's eyes bulged.

Starfire gasped. "Could it be our friend Raven is having the flute?!"

"Flu," Robin corrected. "And calm down, Titans. Those people over there are freaked out enough as it is."

The three superheroes huddled in the corner of the torch-lit train station. Behind them, clusters of anxious citizens gathered around and awaited.....anything. Dimitri, Raphael, and Victor were in another corner.

"She is....apparently losing her emotional shields," Robin said. "I don't know any better way to describe it. She's purposefully, willfully undoing her many years of stoical meditation. In other words...the unemotional and mysterious Raven that we once knew...is a thing of the past."

"Remarkable...," Starfire blinked.

"Dude...that's royally wyrd," Beast Boy folded his arms and pouted. "Not to mention unfair! I was SO just about to figure that girl out, and now she's gotta change on all of us!!!"

"................," Robin and Starfire stared.

"Seriously!! I...I was about to understand her!" Beast Boy stammered.

"................."

"Ahem...so anyways.....why's she doing all of this?"

"Is Trigon no longer a threat?" Starfire inquired.

"So it would seem," Robin uttered. "Raven claims that the curse and threat of his uprising is no longer present in her spirit."

"You don't sound so impressed, dude."

"I'm doubtful of a lot of things, Beast Boy," Robin gestured. "But if you could only see Raven. She seemed so free...so happy....so....so glowing...."

"Hehehehe. Sounds like you looked at her a little too closely—YAAK!!"

Robin finished twisting Beast Boy's pointy ear. He cleared his throat and said: "I'll be the first to say this outright. Raven may no longer be the Titan she once was. In fact, she may no longer be a Titan from now on."

Starfire gasped. "Do you mean....h-her powers? Her telekinetic strength........??"

"With her meditation gone, so would those talents be absent," Robin nodded. "But that's not what I'm getting at. You see....Raven and I founded the Titans to begin with. We both had our different reasons. And I know that a big reason—in Raven's case—was that she needed strong people whom she could trust to combat Trigon if ever he was to use her in entering our dimension. If she no longer has to be concerned with Trigon's curse or controlling her emotions—and if the threat is truly gone—then she wouldn't have to fight alongside the Titans for the very same reason that she helped originate them. Raven is now free to do whatever she wants. And that may or may not involve working with us in the future."

"Man...," Beast Boy folded his arms. "...I've always known that Raven was sick and tired of us. It sorta figures that—once everything is kosher in her head—she'd just walk out."

"Do not jump so hastily to foregone conclusions!" Starfire exclaimed. She clasped her hands together and leaned her head to the side. "Raven is our friend. On multiple occasions we have won her trust. Surely by now she will realize our respect towards her, and I can only assume that a Raven more perceptible of emotions would desire to stay within our presence!"

"Dude...all I can think of is three times the PMSing!" Beast Boy cackled.

"Grrrrrrr," Starfire grumbled.

Robin ran a gloved hand through his hair and sighed. "Anyways.....issues of Raven can wait."

"Dude! She's our friend! We can't just let this whole thing rest—"

"We have more important things right now," Robin said. "Look at all these people!"

"Yeah, dude. I know. I saved them," Beast Boy struck a glistening grin of pride.

"This deep in the center of Downtown, I'm not sure we can make it to the edge of the blackness in time...especially when this whole dimension is on the verge of collapse and I don't know exactly when. Now....," Robin gestured southward. "We can get them back to the Mortuanans' town. The L-Train track dips down to street level and then into the subway system. And the town of the Mortuanans is directly beneath Kobayashi Tower. There's an elevator there that scales up the building and can take us—and the people—to the highest point in the entire City."

"Point being???" Beast Boy gestured.

"I want you to go on messenger duty for me," Robin pointed.

"Wha—me?!?! Dude, haven't I done enough lonely stuff for the day??"

"To those who are given, much is required," Robin quoted. "I want you to fly up, exit the dome through the top, and then summon a helicopter airlift. Complete with metal carrying rack and everything.

"Just what do you have in mind?" Beast Boy gazed suspiciously at Robin.

"We have a lot of people here, Beast Boy," Robin said. "And I want to get them out of the City as quickly as possible."

Starfire blinked. "The air."

Robin nodded. "Something tells me they'll be enjoying starlight soon enough..."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"There we go, Mr. Titan," the woman smiled as she finished tightening the bandage. "Good as new."

I glanced over my bare shoulder. I flexed my arm a bit. The bandage pulled taut. It hurt—of course—but I knew the bark was worse than the actual bite. It was a mere scratch.

I looked at the woman, bowed my head with a thankful smile, and slipped the top of my white jumpsuit back on.

"Freaked us out the first time Tempest got hurt," the volunteer 'nurse' said. "The blood...it glows....so wyrd...."

I nodded. I glanced at my forearm where some blood had run down. It was dry...but a faint silver glow emanated in the darkness and was highlighted through my naked black eyes.

"This place looks like home...," the woman gestured around. "But I'm glad it isn't. I hope we find real hope at the edge of this tunnel."

I nodded. CHIIIING!! I sheathed Myrkblade and stood up with a sigh.

The woman leaned her head to the side. "You and Mr. Cyborg are going back out into the black mess, aren't you?"

I smiled wearily. I nodded.

"It's a good thing you got them peepers, I bet," the woman held a thumb's up. "Care to come by the house sometime and help my husband repair the circuit breakers?"

I chuckled breathily.

She laughed.

I waved and walked off....only to run into Cyborg.

"Hey man...," he held a fist out.

I hit it with mine.

We shook hands.

"You doing allright?"

I rolled my black eyes and emphatically mouthed: 'YES'.

"Cuz you threw me for a loop," the android Titan said. "Ughh.....you've been doing nothing but throwing me for a loop lately."

I simpered.

"I don't get it...why are those creatures letting you consume them? I thought only these undead mediators of Mortuana people could do that!"

I gazed aside softly. I exhaled.

"Something you ain't telling me, man?"

I hand-signed: 'Jonas thinks I have the makings of a mediator'.

Cyborg frowned. "And just because that prissy guy says that, you go all out and put your life on the line for no apparent reason with these poltergeists??"

I quickly gestured: 'But there is a reason'

"And just what is that, Noir?!?! What are you risking your neck for with those spirits?! It's not right!! It's just dangerous!!"

I bit my lip. I hesitated......but then signed: 'I am only trying to understand.........'

"Understand what, dawg? This creeped-out place?"

'No, more than that.'

A beat.

Cyborg exhaled, his face morphing back from frustration to concern.

I rubbed my temple exhaustively and eventually hand-signed: 'I am trying to understand death.' A beat. 'I need to figure out what it wants from me.'

Cyborg's human eye blinked. He was at a loss for words.

So I took the opportunity to add:

'At the same time, I think Raven is trying to figure out what life wants from her.'

Cyborg's gaze fell aside. He clenched his fingers some...then relaxed.

A beat.

"Come on, man....let's go...," Cyborg quietly said with a wave of his head.

"........," I followed him.

In the meantime, the whole crowd of people inside the dim sewer tunnel were standing up as Tempest spoke to the lot of them: "Allright, surface-dwellers!! We are making our way westward to exit this dark domain!! Just follow me and you'll be safe!! I'm encasing us in a protective shield of dense water. Imagine it as an aquatic tank of sorts—or don't imagine it at all. Or just—"

"Just take off, Flipper! Damn!" Cyborg uttered.

A handful of laughs and chuckles.

"Ahem...," Tempest waved at us. "So long, fellow Titans."

I smirked and waved.

Cyborg and I headed down the opposite way of the sewer tunnel. A wall of water parted ways magically, let us pass through, then closed up on itself once we were gone.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

A green pterodactyl landed on the top of the train station. It morphed into a green elf just long enough to salute the migrating people down below. Soon it lifted up in the form of a peregrine falcon and soared towards the pure black sky.

Robin waved. He turned and continued leading the front of the line of people. The two remaining Titans and the three Mortuanans were escorting the huge group of citizens southward via the L-Train track. Buildingsides and roads settled in the darkness thirty feet below the pacing limbs of the line of souls. It was a slow procession...but given that they were heading towards Kobayashi Tower and not the edge of the City, the duration of the trip was certain to be shorter than otherwise. While Robin and Starfire covered the front with watchful gazes...Dimitri, Raphael, and Victor took the rear.

"I-I awoke inside a smashed building not too far away from our prior confrontation with Dr. Light," Starfire said as they marched forward. "It was horrifically dark inside. As soon as I glowed a starbolt with my hands....I-I found myself surrounded by what looked like humans in nurse uniforms with octopuses in their mouths. It is difficult to explain, and I am n-not of the persuasion to willfully describe it either. B-But I retreated from there quickly, and on the way out I caught sight of a golden plaque inscribed: 'The Healing Ward'. I went on a fruitless search for you and my other friends throughout the darkened City, but the closest I could come to was answering the cries of anguished souls in the 'mall of shopping'. I went there and attacked the two horrific demons called 'wraiths', but they overcame me. I do not know how long those unfortunate citizens and I were bound up in such metallic restraints, but I am most...most grateful to have been rescued by you, Robin."

"Don't mention it...," Robin uttered. "We're to get every last person out of this City. Yourself included."

"I understand," Starfire nodded. "But Robin, if you meant to—"

"I was just doing my job!"

Dimitri spoke up from behind them suddenly: "Actually, I was there when the caped hero was in the watchtower, Miss Starfire. He seemed most adamant about running directly to the faint glow of your starbolts in an attempt to save you."

Starfire gasped happily and clasped her hands together. "Was he truly??!! Glorious!!!"

Robin icily turned his head around and glared at Dimitri. "Say...what the Hell are you doing way up here anyways?"

"Oh...do not mind me," Dimitri smiled and bowed backwards. "Even dead muscles must get exercise."

"Mind the rear, please."

"Consider the rear minded."

Robin exhaled in frustration and glared ahead.

".........," Starfire stared at him.

A beat.

"What?" he grunted.

"I must inquire," she blinked her green eyes. "Why are you so hesitant?"

"Hesitant about what?"

"About sharing the true nature of your heroic actions??"

"Didn't I just say that my goal is to save everyone stuck in this dimension that shouldn't be here?"

"Hehehehehe," Starfire giggled. "That you did, Robin."

He looked at her curiously. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing. Hehehehehe."

He frowned. "I mean it!!"

THWUMP!! She hugged him intensely as they walked along. "You are so youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu."

"Gah!! Star!! I'll fall off the L-Train if you keep hugging me like that!"

"Then I shall catch you!!"

"I...erhm.....uh...," Robin blushed. "I could break my neck!"

"No you will notttttttttt."

"Star, cut it out!!"

"Hehehehe!!"

The citizens scratched their heads curiously.

Dimitri folded his arms and smirked.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

The mouth to the subway system rested ahead of us.

After a good forty minutes of cross-city travelling in the dark, we had returned to the point of origin. Mission accomplished. A day's work in two hours.

But neither of us felt victorious for some reason.

An air of dullness followed us. Not a word was spoken....that is to say, Cyborg's voice was quiet and my hands were still.

And no more were we aware of the somber feeling encasing ours souls than when we found ourselves gradually walking to a stand-still in front of the subway.

As if neither of us wanted to go down there.

As if we were both equally sick of this whole Mortuana business.

"I'm wondering....," Cyborg muttered, finally breaking the silence. "Just how in the heck does a dome of pure darkness 'collapse'???"

I shrugged.

A beat.

"I guess we can trust these people....but I really don't like doing it," Cyborg said. "Especially with Raven."

I looked at him.

"I respect the fact that they're so close to her true people and all...but something just gives me an aching feeling. Raven wouldn't do all of this on such short notice. She wouldn't do it at all, man!! She's got a strong spirit and she's in constant control over her own psyche, so I don't see how she could possibly have been coerced into stripping herself of all those emotional shields. Yeah, she's doing all of this willingly. But why?"

Cyborg ran a hand over the natural part of his head.

He sighed and murmured into the dark throat of the tunnel. "What are you doing this for, Raven?? Why are you changing yourself so completely and spontaneously? What do these people have that your friends can't give you? Th-That I can't give you?"

I bit my lip. I wanted to talk him out of thinking like that.....but for some reason, I didn't even touch it.

A beat.

Cyborg sighed.

"You go on, man. I'll be a while."

I looked at him with a twisted expression.

He waved: "Don't worry. I won't go anywhere or nothing. I just want to have some time to think is all. I'll be down soon enough. I've got my floodlight. I'll be fine."

I nodded. I wasn't about to argue.

I turned, and walked slowly down the subway.

Cyborg leaned against a buildingside in the dark, and shut his eyes with a sigh.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

The glow of the underground town greeted me gently.

With all the exercise my bare eyes had gotten, I barely needed to squint as I marched through the torchlight.

Pale gate guards waved at me with gentle, dead smiles as I passed by.

They are always so friendly............so friendly.........

I took a breath and walked on.

I passed under wooden walkways. Over ramps and besides empty bazaars. It was very quiet and hardly anyone was moving or stirring about. As I noticed the torchlights to be fewer and dimmer, it occurred to me that the undeground dwellers must have been simulating 'nighttime'. Indeed, as I glanced up at the tents and shacks set upon the wooden walkways, I noticed many a body silently slumbering within.

So.........the dead can sleep?

I blinked my black eyes.

Then again......since when could the dead walk and talk?

I sighed and slung my metal and flesh hands into the pockets of my white jumppants. I strolled gently, quietly across the empty 'city square' of the place. In the center of the subway there was a round circle of sorts lined on the outside with benches and spots for a crowd to sit. The center of the circle appeared charred, as if many a torch had been lit there on occasion. It struck me as the ruins of an old, greek theatre....before stone masonry was invented.

And the dead have a culture. That's three strikes.

I found myself subconsciously walking to a stop in front of Jonas' tent.

My black eyes gazed towards the shack.

There was no movement from within. Nothing to signify activity. Not even a guard present.

I sighed.

I wonder where she is right now?

I lifted a hand out of my pocket and smoothed a few black strands back beneath my bandanna.

I wonder if there's anything left of her to recognize?

I suddenly realized how extremely tired I was.

The scratch under the bandage ached.

I envisioned a glowing trickle of blood in my head and shuddered.

Before another chill could erupt from my metal prosthetic, I turned and headed towards a comfortably shadowed part of the town--

Grip!!!

"????" I looked to my left. "!!!!"

Raven had me by the arm. And she was teary eyed. The first time I had ever seen her crying.

And cry she did: "'I know very well that there is a fate worse than death. Yours will be oh so trivial'...."

I stared at her. My lips were parted in shock.

She hiccupped. She expounded: "I-I said that to you once, N-Noir. That one night wh-when you were Wyldecarde a-and the T-Titans and I battled you on th-the construction s-site that Slade had rigged to explode. I threatened you, Noir. I threatened you and would have killed you...and Trigon broke free. He m-must have!! Everything in my being senses it. Trigon came l-loose that evening and I woke up safe and sound afterwards, and I-I don't know why. How did you do it, Noir? How did you m-manage to save me from my wicked f-father when all I did w-was summon him by treating you w-with such vehement evil???"

She shook. Her grip on my hand slipped. She started to teeter over, hugging herself.

I rushed to hold her uptight—and when I did so she practically tackled me with a desperate hug. Raven sobbed into my chest. Her tears dampened my white shirt. Her hands trembled around my back.

Sniffs and convulsions and choked breaths.....

".........," I bit my lip. I nervously—gently—parted the hug and held her at arm's length.

She gulped, shuddered, and looked up at me with quivering lips. "I....I-I am so....so sorry, Noir.....I am so sorry that I put you through that.....that I spread my distrust of you to the Titans and made them push you away. I'm sorry that you h-had to become Wyldecarde. I-I truly am. It's all m-my fault..."

I exhaled and shook my head with a horrified expression. I wanted to dissuade her. I wanted to tell her that it wasn't her fault. But she was so.....so 'sad' that I couldn't persuade her of the truth for the life of me, on top of the fact that I was mute.

And then the reality of what I saw before me struck my mind at about the same time Raven said:

"I....I-I have chosen to lift my h-hold on sorrow....," she hugged herself and trembled. "Jonas consumed the barrier a f-few hours ago.....and now everything is so clear to me. I see so much. And I see how c-c-cold I've been. And I see how much I've pushed everyone back and hurt them in the end. All b-because of my stupid curse!! I made my whole life bent around it!! I-I thought I could help people by distancing m-myself from them. But all I've managed to d-do in the Earth's dimension is find s-such kind, caring people who actually care about me a-and I treat them like dirt!!!"

She shook and clutched her blue hair achingly. She nearly shrieked. "I'm such a witch!! A WITCH!!! I hate myself!! I hate myself for ever hurting you, Noir!! I hate myself!! I hate myself!!!!"

"Shhhh!!!" I hissed and grabbed her shoulders. "Shhhhh.....," I gulped. I motioned with my head to the sidelines and gently guided the two of us towards a shadow where a wooden bench was. Like a gentlemen I lowered her to the seat and sat besides her.

She hugged herself and bent over, gasping as more and more tears rolled down her red face.

"My....My m-mother....," she wiped her face with a gentle wrist and shuddered. "She w-wanted to die....when she was pregnant with me." She bit her lip and clenched her wet eyes shut. "She was so overcome with the evil fate that Trigon had forced upon h-her....that she couldn't b-bear having me. And when I-I was an infant...she tried more th-than once tried to slaughter m-me. I-I do not know how she ever learned t-to love me before sh-she was slaughtered....b-but all of my life I've lived with....w-with that branding of banality." She looked up towards the heavens with tears streaming. "Wh-Why am I-I such a t-t-terrible living thing?? Why was I born?? To just be evil?? My mom is d-dead because of me. The very r-reason she wanted to k-kill me has caused h-her life to end. And someday it will t-take my friends away from me too. But these friends of mine....th-they do not want me t-t-to die. At least n-not that I know of. And that confuses me...."

She looked at me. Her blue eyes glistened.

"Why are you and the Titans s-so tolerant of me?" she murmured. "D-Don't you see that I'm a witch?? H-Haven't I creeped you all out enough, g-given you all the c-cold shoulder enough, and endangered y-y-you're lives enough to make you want t-to abandon m-m-me?? Like my mother should have b-before she died because of me??"

I slowly shook my head. My black eyes were round and I couldn't decide between placing a hand on her shoulder or trying in vain to hand-sign to her some consolation which she needed right then and there.

And I found my face leaning back a bit in surprise as Raven's trembling hand traced the edge of my sockets.

"I.....I-I can see my reflection in your eyes, Noir....," Raven spoke. Her sorrowful shivering lessened a bit and her lips were firm. "I could a-always see my reflection in them. Whether you were wearing your shades or not...whenever I was in your presence....whenever I could talk to you....whenever I so much as l-looked at you...I could see myself in your black eyes. And it w-wasn't like things are with the others. N-Nobody would be trying to get me to eat tofu, or to go shopping at a mall, or to go training in the Titan gym, or to w-work on the T-Car. I saw myself. And I-I had a chance t-to think of myself for once. T-To be selfish with someone. And....and...."

Raven's eyes closed.

She lowered her hand from my face.

She took a deep, shuddering breath.

"I was so....s-so very selfish, Noir...," she exhaled. A beat. "I let you trust me. I let you respect me. I-I may even have let you admire me. B-But in the end...I shoved y-you away like garbage. And it w-wasn't so true wh-when I nearly hurt you in those b-battles with Wyldecarde as it was true afterwards. When all felt peaceful. When all seemed serene. Wh-When you were still h-hurting from the sacrifice you made for all of us to survive Slade, and all I did was t-toss you away. After you tasted Trigon because of me, endured my distrust of you, and weathered my indifference.......d-during the vacation the best thing I could do was run a-away and leave you alone when you m-most needed a friend to be selfish w-with for once as you deserve."

By the time she was halfway through saying this, I had my metal hand covering my face. I took a deep, shuddering sigh and then I closed my eyes.

Raven swallowed a painful lump down her throat and shed some more tears. "Y-You.....you hate me.....d-don't you, Noir?"

I earnestly shook my head and waved a desperate hand without looking at her.

"It's a-allright...," she sniffed. "You can hate me. You can—"

".........," I got up swiftly. I dug my hands into my pockets and walked a few slow steps facing away from the dark girl.

A beat.

I breathed slowly. I hung my head.

Silence......

"............," Raven wiped her eyes with a wrist. "If I were brave....I-If I were truly brave.....I-I would let all of you scream and shout and hurt me in some manner that could almost make things feel 'right'. But that isn't possible now. My mother wanted me dead, and y-yet I lived. The world is unfair that way."

I sighed.

No.........

I shook my head at the floor.

No...no...no...no...

I slowly turned around. I looked at Raven with a painfully sincere smile. I breathed peacefully.

If only you knew, Raven......

I ran a shaking hand through my long black hair. Calming down.....

You were right to distrust me after Trigon. You were right to want to hurt me when I was Wyldecarde. You were right to......t-to push me away when we nearly became 'close'......

Raven looked at me, her lips parted as she panted in the exhaustion of her outpouring sorrow. It almost looked like she could understand what I was thinking.

But I knew she couldn't.

You have no idea, Raven, how right and how just and how vindicated you are to have ever decided to keep yourself away from me.

I swallowed and smiled again.

For it is not your place to ever concern yourself with me. It may always have been your reflection that you saw in these black eyes, but you didn't know me. You still don't know me.

I looked off towards the distance. The chill finally caught up with me. My left arm shook some.

Nobody knows me. And if they did...then maybe even Trigon wouldn't look so bad.

I exhaled with a shudder.

The only people who come close to knowing me......are the Dead themselves. The poltergeists......

My mind went numb.

I could have fallen asleep standing up...or died.

Silence.

"............Noir?"

I looked her way.

She was hugging herself. She avoided my gaze as she trembled to utter: "In a few hours......I......I-I don't want any of the Titans to see me. Especially Cyborg......"

I raised an eyebrow.

She sniffed. "Jonas will be rested from the last consumption...a-and by then he will be ready to help me release the n-next and s-second to last barrier."

I blinked curiously.

She looked up at me. "H-H-He will be freeing me to experience rage......"

The chill reached a fever point. I clenched my metal fingers and steadied myself as I looked at her.

"I.....I don't want Cyborg seeing me mad...," Raven bit her lip. "Even with Trigon's curse gone...I don't t-trust myself to be around him then." She closed her eyes defeatedly. "I......I-I really d-don't want to do to Cyborg what I d-did to you..."

I felt a lump in my throat.

She gently cupped her hands over her face and sobbed. "I......I-I have so very little left right now......s-so very little....." Her body shook. She quaked. "I-I-I hate to do it....b-but I must sacrifice it all. And I-I don't want Cyborg to see the angry Raven. I-I don't want his last m-memories of me t-t-to be full of angst and r-remorse like I have forced them upon you!!"

With a shocked expression I mouthed: 'Last memories?'

She brought her hands down, sniffed, and looked tearfully up at me. "When all of the Town citizens are s-saved...and you and the T-Titans have left th-the collapsing dome......I will b-be staying here." She swallowed. "I w-will be staying with Mortuana permanently...."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Cyborg paced around the darkened street.

He had his shoulder flashlight on, but he wasn't making any special attempt to see where he was going.

For once, he let the infinite blackness guide him. And that blackness was guiding him in circles.

The android's human and red eyes fell on his pacing boots.

He sighed.

"I can't shake the feeling that I'm alone...," he muttered to no one in particular. He just talked. He said: "Raven is losing herself. Noir is practically killing himself. And me? What am I doing?"

He shuffled to a stop and folded his arms.

"I'm yapping my mouth off in the middle of the street like a good schizo, that's what I'm doing."

A beat.

A sigh.

A shuffle and......more pacing.

Cyborg grumbled: "I'm thinking only about myself. Raven knows what she's doing. Noir knows what he's doing.....—I think. What right do I have to keep dipping into their heads and telling them what to do and what not to do?"

Silence.

Cyborg ran a hand over his human head. "Why can't I just....leave people alone? Why can't I just trust my friends in what they do and leave them be?"

A beat.

"Or maybe....I-I've never ever truly tried to help them in the first place...," he slurred. His face was long and he exhaled achingly. "Maybe I'm the one who's screwed up and they're the ones doing the right thing." He sighed and gazed upward at nothing in particular. "Noir....Raven....you have far more in common than you give yourselves credit for..."

As he glanced up, something emerged from the darkness. The stretching, wrought-iron skeleton of an L-Train track. And to Cyborg's confusion, the sounds of footsteps and murmuring, human voices lit his ears.

"?????" Cyborg's human eyebrow raised. After a beat, he smiled. "The prodigal Robin returns......."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"I asked for two helicopters to descend through the dome carrying metal cargo cases from steel support cables," Robin explained to Dimitri as they now led the migrating citizens towards the center of Downtown. "Being that the top of Kobayashi Tower is high up...they won't have to descend much into the blackness. Considering the number of people with us, I figure that the two helicopters will be enough to airlift them to safety beyond the reaches of this pocket dimension. It may not be practical...but at least it's the fastest plan I can think of. And Beast Boy was perfect as a messenger to set the whole thing up. Ahem. Anyways, that was my plan. Did you have any questions, sir?"

Dimitri nodded. "No, my friend. Save for one."

"And what's that?"

"What is a 'helicopter'?"

"..............," Robin blinked under his mask. "Tell you what, once we get to the subway city......you just go about getting Ayane and the elevator prepped for extra visitors, okay?"

Dimitri smiled. "Sounds like a deal."

"Allright then."

POW!! CLANK!!!

People shrieked in fear.

Dimitri blinked.

Robin whipped out two birdarangs and gritted his teeth in fighting position.

Something bright and shiny had landed on the edge of the train tracks. Then a titanium body rose up, attached to the launched arm, and stood on the tracks at full height.

"S'up, dawgs? Did you forget your train tickets or what?"

Robin exhaled. "Cyborg, next time you sneak up on us in the middle of a City plagued with darkness..................don't sneak up on us in the middle of a City plagued with darkness."

"Heh...missed you too, Robbie."

"CYBORG!!!!" SWOOOOOOSH-THWUMP!!! Starfire nearly knocked the android off the L-Train track with a monstrous hug. "You are undamaged!! It is glorious to commune with you yet again!!"

"Hehehe...glad to see you're in one piece too, Star."

"Where's Noir?" Robin asked.

Cyborg parted his hug with the Tamaranian. "Down in the city," he said. "We just came back from sending off Tempest with about one hundred and eighty people."

"Whoah, whoah, wait....what's this??" Robin held his gloved hands up. "Tempest and one hundred and eighty people?"

"Yeah, man," Cyborg nodded. "The fish dude got them safely rounded up on his own. He's been hiding out in the sewer system of the City just waiting for you or another high-ranking Titan to come and give him a review or something. Anyway, after Noir and I tackled some badass bone-monster—"

"Bone monster??"

"—don't ask—we had Tempest walk the people safely out through the pipelines into the light side. They should be safe with him manipulating the water in the sewers and all. A job well done, if you ask me."

"How did Tempest single-handedly save so many people?"

Cyborg gestured towards the huge crowd looming on the train tracks. "How'd you save all these people??"

"Actually, they are safe on behalf of Beast Boy's doing!" Starfire beamed.

Cyborg laughed. "Ha ha ha!! You mean B.B. saved these peops' necks all by himself?? Man, is this the Day of the Triumphant Underlings or what??"

"........," Robin glared.

Cyborg cleared his throat. "Ahem.....so....what're y'all doing, anyways? Reenacting the pied piper or something?"

Dimitri—with the flute—smiled. "Actually," he spoke, "...your wonderful leader has a plan for getting these people to safety."

"He does, huh?"

"Yes sir. We are homeward bound...."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Somewhere in the blackest black part of Mortuana...

In the shrouded, nightmarish replica of the City...

A dim aura of light glowed. An aura emanating from a human form.

This human form took a few steps forward. Glowing arms pointed outward and reflected off of a rickety wooden fence.

A crest on the person's helmet glowed.

The fence appeared brightly in the darkness.

A sign read: 'City Landfill'.

And there was a golden plaque erected besides the sign. And on it the black words were etched in:

'The Cats'.

A bearded face smirked.

"Awake......"

The hands glowed brighter.

Blinding orbs of firelight streamed into the heart of the darkened landfill.

FL-FL-FL-FLASH!!!!

"Awake!!!"

There was a stirring sound.

Then sickening chirps.

Like the sounds of a thousand dying breaths on helium.

The landscape shook a bit. Dirt and debris crumbled outward as if from a gale force wind.

The figure took a deep breath, lowered his glowing arms, and leapt out of the way as--

FW-FW-FW-FW-FW-FW-FW-FWOOOOOOOSH!!!!!

Dozens of tentacle-shaped shadows soared out into the black city and merged in with the depths of Mortuana.

Their chirps echoed like a flock of pained bats into the endless night.

And as the glowing form faded....he was laughing with bloodlust.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

At the sounds of a good few dozen marching feet, I glanced down the dark corridor along with a handful of guards.

Robin and Dimitri came walking up the front of the procession from the subway tracks. After over eighty people swarmed up pensively, I caught sight of Raphael, Victor and........Starfire.

I wanted to smile. I really did.

But I didn't.

"Where is Jonas?" inquired Dimitri of the guards. "The Titan leader seeks to speak with the Grand Mediator about enacting a plan to return the lightsiders to their world."

"The Grand Mediator is busy communing with the Sacred Daughter," one of the guards answered. "However, I was informed to leave all decision making to the Titans when it came to the situation at hand."

"Well...sounds like someone trusts us," Robin remarked with arms folded. He had a slight smirk on his face.

Cyborg seemed shifty-eyed.

I noticed.

"This place is wondrous...," Starfire murmured. "Are all of these people—"

"Dead?" Dimitri smiled. "But only in a sense, Miss. Now—if I'm not mistaken—there are a great many people here who need to be assured of continued life. Mr. Robin...if you would care to proceed with your plan?"

"Let's get to the elevator," Robin motioned. "All of you! Come along! No time for sight-seeing!"

The people murmured with a slight wave of unease, but nevertheless they quickly pursued Robin's lead en masse. Their eyes fell all over the curious sights of the underground dwelling place. Mortuanans likewise stared at them with passive interest. It was like two sides of the eternal spectrum rubbing against each other.

While Starfire floated on, escorting the dozens of scurrying citizens, Cyborg trailed behind. At sight of me he lingered to a slow march and stopped dead in his tracks.

"Raven.....y-you've met her, haven't you?" he asked. He must have seen it in my black eyes.

I rubbed the back of my neck nervously and sighed.

Cyborg raised an eyebrow. "You're looking like I did a few hours ago when I got done talking to her," he said. He shrugged. "What's wrong?"

Wrong.........

I bit my lip.

"Noir??" Cyborg asked out of concern moreover than impatience. Although it could just as well have been both.

I glanced off at the passing crowd.

The huddles of humans lingered down the dark passageway. They were bathed in darkness as the two Titans and Dimitri's group lead them towards the elevator.

I glanced at Cyborg once they were gone and hand-signed: 'She is staying'.

Cyborg's face exploded into a frown. "What do you mean.....'she's staying'.????"

I was halfway through hand-signing a reply when the android rushed towards me and gripped my shoulders harshly.

"What's gotten into her head?!?! Why the Hell didn't you try and talk her out of it, man?!?! Raven's staying?!?!?!"

I gritted my teeth and shoved him off me. I frowned, straightened my white jumpsuit, and motioned: 'It is her choice. I could not talk her out of it.'

"The Hell you couldn't!! Y'all are on the same page! Don't you damn tell me you couldn't at least have tried or something, man!!!" Infuriated, he spun around and clenched his fists. "Where is she?? With that Jonas punk, I bet!!" He marched off. "I tell you...I'm gonna have a word with him! If he thinks she can manipulate her into—"

I whistled sharply.

".....," Cyborg spun around.

I stared at him with firm black eyes. I hand-signed: 'She was crying, Cyborg.'

His lips parted. The anger melted away.

'She was crying. She is not the Raven you and I thought we knew.' I was very emphatic when my fingers spelled out the word 'thought'.

A beat.

I sighed. I relaxed my shoulders some and added: 'She is staying here. I do not want that to happen. But I have not wanted a lot of things with Raven. And they have happened anyways.'

"But....but....I'm different, Noir...," Cyborg uttered. His head shook with disbelief and his voice came out in a murmur. "It....it's not the same. You and Raven.....me and Raven........it......it's....."

I firmly hand-signed: 'We are both her friends'.

A beat.

'Nothing more than that. Can you prove to me otherwise?'

"........."

Silence.

Cyborg shuffled backwards until his back leaned against a wooden pillar. He slid down to the ground and propped his titanium arms up on his knees. After a defeated sigh he said:

"Why, Noir? Why? Why'd you and I ever have to team up with someone so smart and so pretty and so mysterious that...that....that we'd be stupid enough to think that we could get to understand more?? Maybe this is the curse that Raven's always yapping on about. It has nothing to do with Trigon. It has nothing to do with some demon invading our dimension or whatnot. It's all about Raven's soul. Her poor...beautiful....lonely soul. You and I peered into the well...and now the well's gotten deeper. You and I can't live in that sort of darkness, Noir. But she can. Why? Why does she always have to end up so alone??"

I took a deep breath. I ran a hand through my black hair and shakily hand-signed: 'Some people are meant to live that way. Some people can not escape that curse. Others can get out of it.'

I smiled gently. The distant torchlight reflected subtly off my black eyes.

I made sure Cyborg was looking when I added: 'I truly believe I have found a way outside of my own curse. I believe I have found that someone. I have moved on, Cyborg. I moved on a long time ago.'

Cyborg blinked. "And 'so should I', right?"

My hands didn't move.

He bound his knuckles together. He inhaled....then: "You and Raven may have had your curses, Noir. But frankly...I don't believe in that. I think curses only exist with people who curse themselves. I know you respect Raven and all, and that's why you're not interfering with this decision she's making. But obviously you know that I respect Raven too." He looked up at me. "And because of that respect...I have always....always...tried to help her get out of her own curse. Think and believe what you want, Noir. But Raven's only hurting herself. And as her 'friend'....I'm not about to let her be alone for friggin' ever!"

He stood up resolutely.

"You and Raven have been beating yourselves up all your lives, I bet. And that may be all and well fine for you. But it's still not fair man. Cuz as things are the way they are....you've got Kara and I've got my best friends and Raven's got nothing. I'm not down with that. And so I'm gonna do something about that, so God help me. You understand that, dawg???"

I slowly nodded. And Cyborg knew as much as I did that I had no place in fighting what he was intending on doing.

Whatever that was...

He walked over and planted a hand on my shoulder. "Noir...without even trying you must already know more about Raven than the rest of us Titans combined. But at the same time......people have the capacity to change. After all......you've changed, haven't you Noir? Then maybe...so can Raven..."

I took a shuddering breath and smiled weakly.

He was right.

He was right......

I glanced off into the darkness and somehow my eyes envisioned the magically wind-whipped fields of Kansas under a starry sky.

I.........h-have changed......

I swallowed.

Is this what you wanted, Ana??

RUMMMMMBLE!!!

I gasped.

Cyborg flinched and spun around.

A few guards gasped and clung onto wallpieces and wooden pillars as the entire subway shook.

After about seven seconds, the shaking stopped.

Waking Mortuanans filed about nervously.

Murmurs of the 'dead' filtered the claustrophobic air.

Torchlights flickered on the sidelines.

"Okay....that's it...I don't need anything else CREEPING ME OUT in this frickin' corpse hole!!" Cyborg grunted and ran a bee-line towards the direction of Jonas' tent.

I was powerless to stop him....not that I even wanted to.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Pale people in fancy dresses and suits of the town mingled nervously in the 'courtyard' of the underground town. Guards formed a solid line in front of the small tent that was Jonas' dwelling place. The Grand Mediator in question stepped out and waved his hands dramatically for all to see. The crowd quieted and a throng of pales eyes rested on him. A pensive Raven stood in his shadow, clutching a cloak pensively about her melancholy form.

"Do not fear, brothers and sisters...," Jonas uttered firmly...loudly. "There is friction between Mortuana and the world of light. The doorway that brought the lightsiders here is collapsing. The poltergeists are running thin from the recent campaigns to rescue those foreigners caught in the black abyss. Because of that, the spirit plains are open to tension between the two worlds. I assure you—once the door collapses completely—Mortuana will be safe. But these frequent tremors shall be inevitable. We can endure them."

The crowd believed Jonas. They trusted him. They all nodded in agreement and sighed in relief.

Until a titanium figure rushed in and bellowed: "Raven!!"

The dark girl shivered.

Commotion. Turning heads.

Jonas glanced over. He calmly blinked. "Ah....the one named Cyborg. Do you wish to—"

"Raven...," Cyborg marched forward...entreating the girl from beyond. He walked no further than the line of guards cautiously minding the perimeter of Jonas' tent. He spoke in concerned desperation: "Raven...please....don't do this."

"I....I-I'm sorry....," she sniffed. A tear ran down her face. "But I have to stay here, Cy-Cyborg..."

A breath escape from the android Titan's throat. Her sorrow was real. It numbed him to see it for the first time in such fashion. He managed to swallow and say: "Please, Raven. Don't give up on us. Don't give up on your friends. These people and all...I know they must seem close to you. They're 'relatives' of Azarath and stuff...but do you truly know them, Raven?? Do you truly want to live the rest of your life here? A living soul surrounded by death? Raven...no one deserves that. At least not right now. Not so early. It's not your time to die yet, girl. Please....give life some more time. Give us some more time! We care for you! We really do!"

"You don't understand...a-and I can't explain it....I-I'm sorry that I had to do this to you...," Raven shivered. "I'm sorry I ever had to do it to you and the other Titans from the beginning. I c-came to you because I needed help. And y-you tried to give me help, Cyborg. You and the Titans. B-But it was not the h-help I wanted. I'm a selfish person, Cyborg. The only w-way I'll ever be happy is if I do this. If I do this on m-my own. I'm sorry....I—"

"I should have answered the door sooner, Raven!!!" Cyborg exclaimed. His voice rang against the subway walls. Silence. Then—with an inhale—he repeated: "I should have answered the door..." He lowered his head, clenched his fists, and sighed. "I....I know that you've hated me for all the times I've tried to 'change' you, Rae. And even I've gone so far as to apologize to you for it. But now that I look back at it...I don't regret ever dictating to you one bit. And you know why??" He looked up. He smiled painfully. "Because you truly wanted to change, Raven. Deep down inside....I was reaching you. And you never admitted it. You never had the courage to admit it. Not until just the other night when you ran to my door and needed someone to....to be with. You were willing to change, Raven. Maybe because you realize that...that doing it the way you've always done it—alone—isn't really the path you feel like taking. And you know what, Raven?" He pointed a strong, Titanium finger. "If you stay here with these Mortuanans...you might think you're changing, but you really aren't. You're losing your emotions and experiencing feelings for the first time—yes—but you'll still be alone. Cuz you'll no longer have friends. You'll just have comrades. Fellow practitioners of some black-shrouded religion far away from anyone who ever truly had a warm place in their heart for you. And all this when for once in your life Trigon's curse is gone!!" He tossed his arms. "Raven...we're your friends. Know that with us....w-with me...you won't ever have to be alone. You can change and that change can be good. Please, Raven. Please.....think about it. Think about it for once without just jumping into the darkness like you've always done!"

By then, the girl's sobs had quieted to a breathy hiccup. She bit her lip, summoned the strength, and looked up across the pale heads of people at Cyborg as she managed: "Cyborg....be...b-be patient...."

He ....

"Be patient...," she hissed. "I......I am doing the best thing." She took a sharp breath. "F-For everyone...."

"No...."

"I have to do this."

"N-No, Raven—"

"I'm sorry I can't explain it to you...."

"Wait!!"

"I must go, Cyborg....," she turned around and walked into the tent like a deflated flower. "I h-have to release rage now..."

"Raven!!" Cyborg surged forward.

The guards tangled with him.

Cyborg struggled for a half second. He then shook his head, snapped out of it, and stepped out of the guards' grasp....panting. He could easily have punched their undead faces in. He could easily have plowed his way into the flimsy tent and entreated Raven one last time.

But he didn't.

And to his surprise—with the gentle tapping sounds of old fashioned boots—he looked up and found Jonas walking towards him.

The pale man stepped peacefully through the line of guards and stood before Cyborg with his hands behind his back. He took a deep breath as he looked compassionately up into the android's face.

"Dear sir....I wish I could simply give her up to you...," Jonas spoke. "I can only imagine how much she means to you and her friends. But this is a decision on behalf of the Sacred Daughter herself. As it stands...it takes the entirety of my powers of meditation to free her from her emotional barriers. I feel twice dead after each time I consume her inhibitions. But I do it because I respect the Sacred Daughter...as so do you respect her. But this is her will. And as it would seem, she wills it for the best of you and the other Titans. I cannot allow myself to argue with her....though, honestly, I have attempted subtly to convince her of the other options available...."

"I know....I know....," Cyborg muttered. He rubbed the human part of his head and groaned. "I'm finding that just about everyone 'respects' Raven." He sighed, turned around, and walked off. "But it's....so hard to respect someone who doesn't even respect herself...."

"........," Jonas stared.

The crowd thinned.

The subway shook one more time from the collapsing dome.

RUMMMMBLE!!

Jonas ignored the tremors. He shuffled about and marched back to his tent and the dark girl's next phase....

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Robin and the second group of citizens riding the elevator reached the top. And they were more-or-less glad to by that point. The tremors had taken place during their ascent, and a good-few of them were relatively.....freaked.

Robin marched up the winding platform to the metal look-out station. "What in the Hell is going on?!?!"

Dimitri, Ayane, and a floating Starfire looked over.

"It is the collapse," Ayane said. "You do not have much time left in Mortuana. If you desire to get these people out of here...it must be done now."

"Not to mean that the collapse is going to take place right this second," Dimitri smiled. "But soon enough to warrant immediate action."

"And immediate action—I can guarantee you," Robin nodded. "Beast Boy should be here any second." He glanced at Starfire.

She shook her head.

Robin sweatdropped. "Should be...." He repeated.

"Fear not, Robin," Starfire cupped her hands together and smiled pleasantly. "I am certain that our beloved changeling will be here in due time!"

Ayane smiled, her pale eyes twinkling. "Her soul glows. She's not from around here, is she?"

"Huh??" Starfire blinked.

"Hehehe...so cute. If I still had warm blood, I'd hug her."

Dimitri rolled his eyes.

"Uh....yeah," Robin scratched the back of his head. He looked Dimitri's way. "Once the helicopters lower here...things will get confusing. I need you and your two guardians to assist in calmly helping the citizens onto the suspended platforms."

"I shall circle the perimeter of their ascending path and see to it that nobody falls off of the building," Starfire said.

"We are more than willing to accept," Dimitri half-bowed.

Ayane blinked her pale eyes. "But do we have enough people to be of true assistance? I mean...Raphael and Victor are good but—"

SWOOOOSH!! CLAMP!!! I ran up and perched on the side.

Dimitri and Ayane jumped.

My black eyes blinked...and I smiled.

Ha! Leave it to me to frighten the dead......

"Noir!! How pleasant it is to see you!!" Starfire beamed.

I waved back pleasantly.

"Couldn't you have at least given us a warning whistle?" Robin folded his arms and smirked.

I shrugged.

I know Kobayashi Tower like the back of my metal hand.

"Any second......Beast Boy should be here," Robin said. "Lord willing."

I nodded.

"Where's Cyborg?"

I pointed 'down'.

"Yeah....but why?"

My eyes trailed off.

"Something tells me we may need him for this...," Robin uttered. "Why don't you go back down there and try to—"

"Don't bother," Dimitri said.

Robin looked his way. "Why not?"

"Because there's a green parrot on my shoulder."

"......," Robin glanced over.

"Squawk!!" the parrot blinked. Hopped down, and turned into a green elf in time to land on the floor. He stood up straight and waved his arms. "Ta daaaa!!"

Starfire giggled.

"Please tell me you performed the simple task I gave you," Robin grumbled.

"Pfft!!" Beast Boy stuck his tongue out. "I'm not THAT hopeless, Robin." A pause. He winced. "Ahem...anyways....they should be here in five."

"Five???" Robin did a double-take. "Couldn't you have given them at least twenty minutes??"

"Dude...do you want to get out of here or not?!?! Sheesh!! Hi, Noir."

Hi, B.B.

"Well we better get this whole thing orchestrated PDQ," Robin punched his fist. "Forget about Cyborg. "Starfire....fly the perimeter. Dimitri...have your men line up along the stairs and help the citizens onto the top platform. Ayane....stay on the look out."

"Sure thing, Mr. Titan. Hehehe...kinda small for a leader, aren't y—???"

"Ahem....NOIR," Robin pointed. "You're with me. We're gonna be all over the place, making sure nobody slips or falls or anything. You got two helicopters to come, right Beast Boy?"

"Aye, sir."

"Great. Two trips it is, then. Starfire...you and Dimitri gather half of the citizens for the first load. Beast Boy...stay up here on the platform. You summoned the choppers....so I'm gonna rely on you to signal them back and forth. Got it?"

"Birds of a feather 'chop' together, dude," Beast Boy winked.

"Whatever. Let's do this."

"Indeed!" Starfire flew off.

Dimitri shuffled off down the stairs.

Beast Boy turned into a green falcon, flew up, and perched on the top of the Tower.

Robin ran off and I followed him swiftly.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Raven took a deep breath.

Once again she was meditatively sitting in a lotus position.

Once again, she was surrounded by a ring of colorful candles and robed figures.

Once gain Jonas knelt in front of her and concentrated.

But this time, there was greater distance between the mediators and the dark girl. And Raven's arms.....were bound. They were tied with velvet cords that were fastened by ropes to a peg driven into the wooden floor. The ropes were short, so that if the girl tried to walk so much as two feet from the center...she'd come to the end of the slack. It seemed rather pointless...but the girl was preparing to free her rage. And she knew it.

She took deep breaths. Tears were still forming at the corners of her eyes. With happiness exhausted and sorrow still lingering, it was an intense battle just to remain focused. And yet—the girl cleared her mind like she had done so on many a prior occasion. She breathed in and out and readied herself for the procedure to take place.

So it was with quite a bit of awkwardness that Jonas uttered: "Dear Raven....sacred daughter....I respect your will. I shall do that which you—the prodigy of Azarath—requires of me. But as always—the offer remains. I shall not force this consumption upon you. If you so desire to back out of it, we Mortuanans will—"

"I-I know what I must d-do...," the girl sniffed. She swallowed a lump down her throat and shuddered. "And I-I need your help."

Silence.

"Very well....," the Grand Mediator nodded. "Are you prepared....to experience anger freely for the first time?"

She bit her lip. "It w-won't be the 'first' time...."

"......."

"I-I'm ready...."

Jonas nodded.

He chanted. He waved his hands. The candles glowed. The fires blended. Hums filled the air. Smoke and mist. Darkness shrouding down. Like an obsidian ghost....

Raven's hands tensed under the velvet cord.

Her face tensed.

Jonas leaned forward.

The world spun.

His mouth opened.

Red vapor streamed.

And.....

"!!!!!" Raven's eyes popped open in four scarlet places.

Spiraling.

And...

A heart on fire...

-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-

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"Kill it!!!"

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"I'd rather die than see what that monster put inside of me!!!"

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-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"Slow and safe, people. Move it along. Don't worry if you have to take some time. Keep close to the building side. That's it. Easy now...."

Dimitri was the perfect crowd controller....for a dead person.

I eyed from a glass ledge above near Kobayashi's peak. I held my weight with my metal hand on the structure and my other hand resting on Myrkblade. Shapes of people passed before my black eyes. They filed orderly up the winding passageway towards the Mortuanan platform at the top of the building. Hands wrung themselves nervously and many a nervous gaze fell upon the utter darkness falling around the cylindrical ascent like a black soup. Unlike all of the rescued 'crowds' I'd seen previous, these people were utterly nervous and fearful to the point that they could barely smile. It made some sense. They were in the blackness of Mortuana longer than anyone else caught in the blast wave of Dr. Light's device. I assumed they'd be thanking us Titans much later....after they could actually see the light.

Robin was perched on the far side of the building behind me. He was similarly keeping a watchful gaze on those walking up and towards the platform on top. Dimitri, Raphael, and Victor paced themselves between the crowd...escorting them. Ayane kept a lookout for the crowd. Beast Boy kept a lookout for the first helicopter. Starfire flew all around and kept everyone safe under her gaze. She glanced at me in the middle of this 'operation' and smiled with a pleasant wave.

I waved back. But I wasn't smiling.

I felt glad to be in the company of so many of my fellow Titans again. But my mind was busy. I had uneasy feelings settling through my system. I thought of Raven. I thought of Cyborg. I thought of...

"Here it comes!!" Beast Boy's voice echoed from above.

"Where??" Robin's voice echoed back.

"Try looking UP, genius!!!"

I did so. My black eyes narrowed. My empty optics caught the first shadowy semblances of a lowering aircraft before the rotary blades sounded off.

And they truly did sound off.

A wind picked up. A deafening noise filled the black arena. Raphael got finished escorting up the last of the first crowd. Victor and Dimitri walked back down to the elevator platform to check on the second batch of citizens.

Ayane and Beast Boy steadied the top group of people who were flinching from the rush of air and thunder.

Robin leapt up to a higher spot on Kobayashi Platform's summit and cupped a pair of gloved hands over his mouth: "Beast Boy!! Go up and help them lower safely!!!"

Beast Boy nodded, saluted, and albatrossed up into the air.

Robin looked over at Starfire and motioned for her to keep minding the edges of the Tower.

She nodded and flew around in a green streak.

The air got louder and wilder.

My black hair whipped behind me like an obsidian windsock.

I gritted my teeth and held an arm in front of my face.

The helicopter lowered into view. And it was a huge sucker. A cargo carrier....capable of suspending a tank.

But instead it was suspending a huge, metal square floating on wrought-iron chains. Its descent was slow....steady....alien. The loudness and immensity of the huge craft only further highlighted the wyrdness of it 'being here' in this universe. With my black eyes, I saw beyond the darkness into the tinted windows of the metal beast and saw two uncertain-looking pilots doing their best to keep their wits in tact as they lowered the giant bird into the obsidian domain. What's more, they had to deal with a green elf suddenly perching on their front nose and gently signaling them to inch the craft lower and lower.

And lower they did. Slowly. Safely.

Soon the platform reached the edge of the platform...and settled down.

Ayane signaled Robin. Robin signaled Beast Boy. Beast Boy signaled the pilots.

The helicopter stopped and hovered in place. A sigh of relief seemed to settle over the deafening scene. Robin and Raphael dashed over—marching against the wind—and pulled down the metal 'gates' of the platform. Robin motioned for the people.

"All right!!!" he shouted. "One at a time!! Nice and easy!!!"

The people nervously marched forward. They settled on board the platform one by one. Finally...there were some smiling—howbeit stressed faces.

And still...I was numb.

And I was quiet.

And I was gazing past the chaos with a feeling that I couldn't quite put my finger on....

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"TERRA!!!!!!!"

Raven shook. She leaned back and forward. She clenched her teeth shut and gritted her teeth.

"Terra!! You BITCH!!! Do you have any idea how much you HURT MY FRIENDS?!?!?!"

She tugged and pulled at the velvet restraints. She writhed and panted like a mad animal. Sweat poured down her brow and her lungs exploded and imploded.

"You betrayed us!!! Slade made you!!! Slade....SLADE!!! I hope the afterlife is an agonizing PLACE FOR YOU!!!!! You tore everyone apart!!! You used Robin!! You used Terra!! You used Noir!!! Noir shouldn't have killed you. He should have MADE YOU SUFFER!!! RGHHH!!!!"

Jonas and the mediators were silent. They hung their heads and kept their distance as the dark girl convulsed and shook and screamed.

Raven's eyes flashed open. All four of them. Red and glowing.

"Slizzath....Slizzath, I know you aren't dead. I know you live inside Tempest. Rrghhh....I know what you want to do to him someday because it's what my father wants to do with ME!!!" She shook and twitched and growled. "RRGGHHH!!!! You contemptuous spirit!! You are not powerful....you are PATHETIC!!! I dare you...I just DARE YOU to try and consume me someday!!!! I will show you pure and utter darkness!! I shall show you the blood that drips from my father's mangled hands!!! I will show you what it tastes like to experience pure loneliness in the dark for fear...f-for fear of the world collapsing all because of you!! NNnnghhHH!!! I AM A DEMON!!!!! By Azar I SWEAR I will tear you all APART!!!! RAAAUGH!!!"

Raven yanked at the bindings. She fell over. She panted. A pained look came over her sweat-stained face. She curled up into a fetal position. She shivered.

"Juris........"

A chill swept over the room.

Jonas and the other Mortuanans glanced up.

They knew that name....

"Jurissss...," Raven slurred. Her four red eyes flickered. She gnashed her teeth. "It was you who made my mother hate me. It was always you spreading lies....making my mother believe that I was the absolute bane of the world. You never...ever trusted me. And so you took it out on Azarath. You summoned Trigon! You showed my father the way in through the gates and because of that the blood of righteous people are on your filthy hands, you wicked fool!!!" She inhaled...inhaled...inhaled........and exploded. "MY MOTHER IS DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU, JURIS!!!!!!!!!!" She deflated, recoiled, inhaled, and—"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!!!!"

Raven shook all over. She pounded the ground. She grunted...shrieked...and bellowed till her throat was sore.

And then she panted.

And her face melted.

And the four red eyes faded...blinked...sizzled into two blue orbs.

Her lip was quivering.

She stared past the floor and past the rage and past everything swirling around her.

In a haze she slurred: "Dr. Light.....Dr. Light....Dr. Light......"

Jonas leaned his head to the side.

The girl exhaled. "Dr. Light.....wh-what are you doing here??"

Silence.

She shut her eyes.

"I can see......I....I-I can see.......I can see......"

She rambled.

She quivered.

"Titans...........f-friends...."

She passed out.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"Okay!!" Robin waved his gloved hands. "Take 'er up!!!"

Beast Boy held an 'okay' symbol. He pointed 'up' to the pilots and leapt off, morphing into an owl in mid-air and gliding down towards the tower.

The cargo helicopter lifted up. The metal platform dangled some...but the ascent was slow and soon the people were gently airlifted up and out of the utter blackness. A few children in their parents' grasp waved.

Starfire smiled and waved back.

The helicopter lifted up beyond even my vision...and the deafening noise disappeared.

Time for phase two.

I watched Robin as he turned and faced Ayane and Raphael.

"Okay. Let's get the second group up here!"

Ayane nodded. "Way ahead of you." She motioned to Raphael. The young man dashed down the steps and worked with Dimitri and Victor in escorting the fresh crowd of remaining lightsiders up the steps.

"Glorious!" Starfire exclaimed. "Our time in this dreadful place is coming to a close!"

"Yeah...," the owl landed and morphed into a perching green elf. "What say we catch the second helicopter lift and get the respectful Hell out of here?"

"Some of us can leave, sure," Robin nodded. "But there's still Raven and Cyborg to account for."

I shuddered from where I was perched.

"Noir??" Starfire leaned her head to the side from where she hovered. "Is there something disturbing you?"

I sighed. I tried a smile.

She looked worried.

"Starfire. How about you go down and check on Cyborg? It'd be good to touch base with him."

"And what of Raven?"

"That's gonna be more delicate," Robin remarked. "I'd better go and see about her."

"What about the rest of us?" Beast Boy asked.

"I frankly wouldn't mind if you, Noir, and Starfire took off with the last group. I should stay. Cyborg and Raven are my responsibilities."

"Robin! Please, you must not travail upon this place any longer!" Starfire insisted. "At least allow us to remain with you until we can safely escort you and the others out of this City before the collapse—"

"I think it'd be best if the most of us who can get out do get out," Robin said. "It'd even the odds of our complete survival."

".......," Starfire hovered depressingly as the line of people marched up beneath her.

"Noir?"

I looked at Robin.

"You okay with that plan?" he asked. "With leaving now?"

"......," I looked off into space. I thought of Raven. I thought of her tears. I thought of what she told me and what I told Cyborg and what nobody else knew.

A beat.

I looked at him....and nodded.

I caught a black body in the corner of my vision.

"?????" I glanced down the height of the tower.

Nothing.

"......."

"Hey, don't look now," Beast Boy said. A beat. He smiled and pointed up: "But look now."

Robin and Starfire and Ayane tilted their heads up.

The air started whipping again. The noise of rotor blades filled the air.

The second helicopter.

"Shall I go communicate with Cyborg now??" Starfire asked.

"Never mind that, Star," Robin said. "Just go with this group of citizens. I'll be coming out of Mortuana with Cyborg and Raven soon. I promise."

I bit my lip.

Starfire nodded solemnly and went about flying a ring around the crowd and keeping a safe eye out for every citizen.

Beast Boy flapped up as a dove and again perched on the front of the helicopter, prepared to give signals to help the pilots lower.

The helicopter came down.

Dimitri, Raphael, and Victor prepared the citizens.

Ayane watched over everything.

Robin whistled and shouted commands to Starfire and Beast Boy on the fly.

I watched cautiously from my perch.

Everything was going like clockwork.

Exactly like clockwork......

My black eyes narrowed.

Something......doesn't feel right...

I blinked.

Raven? What has--

A string.

"!!!!"

I spun around this time.

The twitching end of a shadow shimmied past my gaze and into the blackness of night.

My lips parted.

Another string. A rope.

I spun the other way.

Again...a fleeting shadow.

And....

A whining.

A whining??

I looked at the other Titans.

They were oblivious.

But oblivious of what??

The whining was there. And it increased. And it shocked me that I could hear it above the roar of the helicopter blades. And then I realized that I wasn't hearing it. I was feeling it. Vibrating through my bones like a chilling symphony of chirps.

No......not chirps.

Something more helpless.

Painfully innocent.

I shuddered. I could see my breath. I was having the chills...but it wasn't from my metal arm.

I realized that I was the only one that far down the Tower on my perch. Everyone else was on top of Kobayashi Tower's summit. Robin and Dimitri opened the gates to the metal platform and people started filing onto it. They weren't affected by the sensation at first. But gradually, the citizens started shaking more. The flutist and his guardians started fumbling more. Ayane's pale white eyes twitched.

Beast Boy seemed suddenly agitated from his perched location on the helicopter's nose. His pointy ears lifted upwards. He could hear it too.

Or at least feel it...

I stood up straight on my perch. I panted. I waved my flesh and metal arms and mouthed something for Robin to see.

But he didn't. Instead, he was looking all around as if overcome by the same thing I had been overcome with moments ago.

The sudden array of chirping sounds above the helicopter noise.

No......not chirping...

Mewing......

I shuddered.

Then---

SWOOOOSH!!!

Something bright streaked by me.

I did a double-take.

A blindingly white object flew up the tower, pulsed, and appeared in the form of a tall man in a black outfit and a crested helmit. "Rrrrghh!!" he spun with a karate kick flying across Robin's cheek.

WHAP!!!!

"Ugh!!!" Robin fell hard to the rooftop of Kobayashi Tower.

"Robin!!!" Starfire loaded two starbolts and dove down.

The intruder spun around. Bearded mouth snarling, he raised his hands above his head and summoned a huge orb of light which he promptly launched at the Tamaranian girl. "HA!!!!"

FLASH!!!!

"Nnngh!!" Starfire flew back from the impact and sailed down into the darkness below.

"Nobody leaves....," Dr. Light murmured....then with an insane volume he bellowed: "Nobody escapes the RECKONING!!!"

"Guardians!!" Dimitri shouted. "Protect the lightsiders—"

"RAAAAAAAUGH!!" Dr. Light aimed two arms out and shot a pulse of light at the helicopter.

Citizens gasped and ducked.

Dimitri stood his ground. He tensed his body as the pulse flew directly at him.

"!!!!" I tensed.

FLASH!!!!!

Dimitri flew back from the impact. His body struck the dangling cage hard. CLANG!!!

The suspension cords shook. The citizens gathered on the platform gasped and stumbled. One or two nearly fell off the side. Beast Boy slipped from the front of the helicopter with a gasp, swiftly turned into a bat, and flapped towards Dr. Light...shrieking.

"Cowards!!! Face it....face the endless darkness!!!" the villain shouted. He raised his arms this time—but instead of summoning a light blast, he produced an orb of pure blackness and flung it mercilessly at Beast Boy.

SWOOOOOOSH!!!

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"..............," Cyborg stood in a dark subway corridor besides steps leading up to the street level of the City. His arms were folded and his human and red eye stared listlessly into the nearby wall.

A beat.

RUMMMMMBLE!!!

The ground shook momentarily....then quieted.

Cyborg barely glanced up. He sighed.

CRASH!!!!!

This time the ground REALLY shook.

Cyborg gasped. He shone his floodlight up the stairs and saw dust just beginning to settle. He rushed up on titanium feet and gasped. "Star!!!"

The Tamaranian had landed from an unearthly plunge. A huge crater formed in the asphalt where she now lay. "Ooohmmff...," she sat up, rubbed her head, and then shook it.

Cyborg knelt by her side. "What on earth happened?!?! You allright?"

"I am...but Robin and the others are not!" Starfire floated up. She gritted her teeth as a furious glow of green shimmered out of her eyes. "Dr. Light is attacking!! He is ruining the evacuation!!"

"No shit?!?! We gotta do someth—"

"Rrraugh!!" the Tamaranian warrior soared straight up into the blackness.

"Wait up!! Star!!!" Cyborg stretched a hand outward. "Give me a lift!! I can help!!"

But she was gone.

"Damn!!" he gritted his teeth. A beat. "Huh??" he craned his neck.

Outward from the darkness he heard the echoes of high-pitched noises. Like chirps...infant cries. The multitude of sounds emanated from some deep, dark murk of the streets.

"The Hell is that??" he breathed. A beat. His fists clenched. "The Hell I'm gonna find out..."

And he charged into the darkness with his floodlight.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"Ooof!!!" Beast Boy landed hard on the rooftop of Kobayashi Tower. He winced, his body smoking with black trails.

THUMP!! Dr. Light....or Dr. Dark planted his boot down in the small of the changeling's back. "The biggest mistake you ever made, child....," he smirked and charged two glowing fists of black. "....was ever allying yourself with that blue-haired witch." He chuckled. "Allow me to educate you...." He made to kick the helpless elf off into utter darkness.

Thump-Thump-Thump-Thump-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-CHIIIIIING!!!!

SLASH!!!!!

"AAUGH!!" Dr. Dark lurched forward as a stream of blood flew from his back.

I paused with the upswing of Myrkblade, took a breath, and spun my body around with a swing of the wooden length across the man's wounded spine.

THWAP!!!

Dr. Dark tumbled towards the edge of the Tower but caught himself at the last second. He gritted his teeth and smiled evilly at me. A trickle or two of glowing silver blood ran down from his crested helmet and settled on his nose.

"Looks like everyone wants to be dark these days...."

I frowned and twirled Myrkblade into a threatening position to strike.

Dr. Light twisted his neck, cracked a few joints, and flexed his fingers upon standing up. "Well come along, wicked one. Let's see if you're cold enough to scare me......"

I took a breath. SWOOOOOSH!! I blurred at him with Myrkblade trailing---

FLASH!!!!! His crest lit up.

"!!!!!!!!" I forgot I was bare-eyed.

THWUMP!!!! I literally plunged down onto the surface of the rooftop. I winced all over. My black eyes were on fire.

"Ha ha ha ha ha!!" he marched towards me. "This one's afraid of the light!! How pathetic!!"

I struggled to my knees. I saw stars. The faintest outline of his black jumpsuit faded in and out before me.

"Don't you know what far more terrible fates there are in this universe??"

I frowned.

Don't get me started now, you son of a b---

FLASH!!!!!

ARGH!!!!

I covered my black eyes with a metal hand.

SWOOOSH-WHAM!!!

He kicked me hard in the chest.

I toppled over, wheezing. My eyes melting inside out.

"I hope you get used to being blind...," he sneered over me. "Pretty soon...you'll have nothing left to see—"

"RAAAAUGH!!!" WHAM!!!

"OOF!!!" Dr. Dark shifted to the side from Robin's jump-kick.

The Boy Wonder landed, whipped out two birdarangs, and snarled: "You picked a bad time to piss us off!!"

"On the contrary, Robin," Dr. Dark charged up a hand of pure obsidian. "It's way past your bedtime. Lights out."

"Nnghh!!" Robin flung the two birdaraings.

SW-SW-SW-SWISH!!!!

Dr. Dark stretched his hand out with a black pulse.

CR-CRACK!!! The birdarangs shattered.

The dark pulse banded out in a black explosion.

"AUGH!!!" Robin was tossed back. He collapsed into Dimitri and Raphael.

Ayane and Victor rushed forward in a desperate attempt to tackle the villain.

Dr. Dark created a spherical shield of black just in time to hold the Mortuanans off. FLASH!!!! "No one can understand the power that I possess in this land...."

Beast Boy stirred. He stood up, clenched his fists, and charged the villain in the form of a shrieking velociraptor.

Dr. Dark spun around and produced a 'club' of black energy in his glove. "One time...I was tossed in here by a very wicked girl. I was shown what it truly was like to be alone."

SMACK!!! Dr. Dark batted the changeling back.

SWOOOOOSH!!! Starfire flew back up from the dark streets below. Gritting her teeth, she charged an array of green bolts and launched them at the villain. "Raaugh!!! Yah!! Ha!!!"

Dr. Dark swung his arms with black streaks, deflecting the energy blasts. "You see, Titans....my device wasn't the first doorway into Mortuana. Raven was. That witch is a part of this place through and through. Her evilness thrives in here!!" He stepped back, charged a huge bullwhip of black, and snapped it at the Tamaranian. "The same evil I dish out upon you is that which she subjected me to!!"

WH-PISSSH!!!

"Ugh!!" Starfire was shoved back from the impact. She smashed through a rusted facsimile of the Kobayashi satellite dish and tumbled onto a ledge.

Blinking painfully, I stood up and teleported my way towards Dr. Dark.

Somehow he was ready for me. He twisted around and gripped me in a limb-numbing hold. I winced in his grasp as he held a hand over my face.

"That witch is the foil of you!! And right now—even though you don't know it—she is the very reason why everything is collapsing!!" FLASH!!!

I let out a silent scream, blinded. My eyes could have been bleeding for all I cared. He tossed me like a ragdoll corpse across the rooftop and prepared a huge pulse to launch at the prone helicopter.

"And soon...she will be the reason why everything you fight for will fall inevitably for the merciless fate of darkness!!"

"You know....you should really shut the Hell up."

Dr. Dark glanced over.

Robin aimed a grappling hook from where he was suddenly perched up above. "Even in the darkness, you only give yourself away."

POW!!! SWIIIIIISH—THWAP!!

The cord wrapped around Dr. Dark's body. The villain's glowing arms were pinned to his side. He grunted and struggled.

Robin held his breath and ran down the opposite side of the tower. He held tightly to his end of the grappling hook cord, sped his legs against the building side, and used his weight and the cord's slack to lift the villain off his feet.

"!!!!" Dr. Dark gasped and twirled.

Robin 'ran' around the Mortuanan observation platform, kicked off against the structure, swung around, and slammed a metal-tipped boot into the flailing villain's side.

WHAM!!!

"AUGH!!!"

SNAP!!!

The cord broke.

Dr. Dark went tumbling across the precarious rooftop of the tower.

The people in the suspended cage flinched.

Robin landed. He tossed away what was left of the grappling hook and in its place produced a birdarang. He ran murderously towards the villain and flung the sharp object down. "Rrrrgh!!!'

SWIIISH!!

Dr. Dark rolled to the side.

CHTING!!! The birdarang's sharp end struck the ground where Dr. Dark's head would have been.

SWOOOSH!! The villain lifted his foot up.

WHAP!!!

Robin was uppercutted. He stumbled back.

Dr. Dark leapt to his feet, charged a pulse with two palms, and flung it point blanc at Robin. "YAAAUGH!!!"

Robin leapt the blast, flipped, and landed on the other side of the villain. He flew his fist into the man's bleeding back--

GRIP!!! Dr. Dark caught Robin's glove from behind. He reverse kicked.

THUMP!!!

Robin bent over.

Dr. Dark spun with a heavy punch.

Robin ducked.

Dr. Dark shoved his weight forward.

He and Robin grappled on the edge of the building. Struggling.

At around this time, I was standing up, muttering mute cuss words, and refastening my white bandanna around my black eyes. With the appropriate blinders on...I gripped Myrkblade tightly in my flesh hand and extended my metal hand out. I let murk drift out into the dark expanse. I 'felt' around with spatial sense. I picked up on Starfire's and Beast Boy's pained bodies. Dimitri and Victor struggling to join the fight. Ayane and Raphael watching worriedly. The metal platform, the metal chains, the hovering helicopter. The dozens of worried bodies. And finally...the grappling forms of Robin and Dr. Dark.

I took a breath...and rushed over the blind landscape.

SWOOOOOSH!!!

I swung Myrkblade up.

Dr. Dark sensed me. He gasped and brought his right hand back with a black energy charge in time to grip the tip of my sword.

CLANK!!!!

I couldn't spill blood...but I did free up Robin some.

"Rrrgh!!" Robin punched with an uninhibited fist.

WHUMP!!!

Dr. Dark was struck hard in the gut. He bent over.

WHAM!!! Robin uppercutted his fiercely.

Dr. Dark flew back towards me.

I sensed the inclination of his body and aimed Myrkblade just right.

SLIIINK!!! My blade was caught between his skin and his black jumpsuit. I hoisted him over me like a pumpkin launcher towards the edge of the building.

Dr. Dark righted himself at the last second and skidded to a stop on smoking boots just barely at the edge.

Robin and I charged him simultaneously. I blindly and him with full rage.

Dr. Dark crossed his arms and charged a huge pulse of black.

I sensed it.

FLASSSH!!!

The orb flew at us.

I jumped it.

Robin slid under it.

We both converged as a slashing/punching one on the villain's figure.

SWOOOOSH!!!

He leapt up. He flipped over us. As he came down from behind, he launched two quick bursts of black. FL-FLASH!!!

Robin was struck hard and went flying over the edge.

CLANK!!! I stuck Myrkblade hard into the building's surface, held my weight by it, and reached a blind hand out in time to catch Robin's arm. YANK!!! I held him, dangling.

Helpless to avoid Dr. Dark's volley.

"Ha ha ha ha!!!" he bellowed and aimed at us.

FLASH!!!

A pulse of green.

"Ugh!!!" he flew back from Starfire's blast and slammed into the edge of the metal platform. The object jolted. The helicopter lurched. The people gasped.

"YAAAAAH!!" Starfire let out a war-cry as she soared at the man with a huge starbolt glowing.

"By all means...," he smiled. "Let out your rage!!" He suddenly cloaked himself in pure obsidian.

Starfire found herself sailing straight towards the innocent people.

"Eeeek!!"

She flung her starbolt safely into the black recesses of Mortuana and stopped barely in time to avoid slamming into the metal platform.

Dr. Dark materialized behind her. He gripped her harshly from behind, spun, and flung her into the platform. "HA!!"

SMACK!! Starfire slammed heavily into the metal side. The people gasped as the platform shook.

I struggled to hoist Robin back onto the rooftop. He clutched onto the building side with his free gloved hand and grunted: "Get 'em out of here!!! Make them go! Now!!"

Beast Boy hopped up, panted, and waved emphatically at the helicopter.

The panicked pilots inside nodded. They started to lift up.

Dr. Dark spun about and noticed this. His eyes widened for a second....and then he snarled evilly. "No. NO!!!" he raised two hands....and they were glowing a bright light this time. "You shall not leave!! NONE OF YOU SHALL LEAVE!!"

FLAAAAAASH!!! He shot a huge, pulsing beam out into the darkness. For a second there, a few of us could make out the buildingtops of the immediate structures around us. Dimitri and the other Mortuanans were powerless to stop the villain...as if the brightness was too much for their natural eyes. Especially Ayane. She shrieked as her pale eyes burned from the searchlight brightness.

And as if in response to the light, the chirping increased. Hundreds of mewing sounds echoing through the night and vibrating into our frames.

I lifted the bandanna from my eyes. I blinked. The stars faded away...and I saw the shadows again. Shadows of ropes. Shadows of streams. Shadows of cords.

SWISH!!

SWISH!!

SW-SWISH!!!

SW-SW-SWISH!!!

Starfire stood up and gasped.

Beast Boy bit his nails.

The helicopter slowly continued its ascent, but the pilots seemed overcome by the same shadows.

And then the shadows took form in flocks around us. They were strings of fur. Smooth, brown fur. They had no beginning and they had no end. They stretched in and out of the blackness of Mortuana around us. Streaming by in the dozens like trains of animal flesh. And lining the ropes of fur were little, tiny cat teeth. And the cat teeth opened sporadically with babyish mewing sounds that made the bones in the ear shiver. Chirping all around us. Enveloping us like some wicked DNA mixture of feline genes and spider silk.

"It looks like someone let the cats out....hahahahaha," Dr. Dark convulsed insanely. "Hahahahahahahaha!!!!"

SW-SW-SW-SWISH!!!

The furred ropes of serrated mouths spun all around us. Closing in like an intergalactic ball of yarn.

Beast Boy gasped and shuddered. He found himself having to hop over the ropes and duck their streaming forms.

The civilians in the metal platform ducked and cried out in horror.

Starfire was the first to strike the poltergeists. FLASH!!! FLASH!! FLASH!!! She barely kept the 'cats' at bay with fiery starbolts.

Dimitri and his guardians rushed over to motion the pilots in the helicopter away.

But Ayane—blinded helplessly by Dr. Dark's bright beacon—wandered over by the side, alone. She covered her pulsing optics with her hands. "H-Help!! I can't....I can't see!! I c-can't see anything!!!"

"Ayane!! Over here!!" Dimitri shouted, panting. "Follow the sounds our voices!!"

"Hurry, Ayane!!!" Raphael joined in.

"Too much noise....the chirping....nnghh....help me!!" Ayane twitched.

And that's when the ropes of fur converged on her.

"Ayane!!!!" Dimitri shouted. He tried rushing into the fray, but it was too late. Victor held him back. "No!!!!"

"AAAAAUGH!!!" Ayane shrieked as she was surrounded by furred strings. The mewing fangs closed in and bit her on all sides. A practical ball of fur covered her pulsing figure and shook and twitched with the consumption of the undead flesh we could no longer see. A soul-shattering shriek—muffled through the layers of feline—warbled outward for a split second and was silenced as dark ooze poured out between the ropes. The fur strings unwound and a meaty pulp sloshed to the rooftop where 'Ayane' once existed.

Starfire shuddered. A woman or two on the platform shrieked. Dimitri's lips quivered.

"Dimitri!! Snap out of it!!" Robin shouted. "You can 'consume' these things!! Do it!! Quickly!!"

"I....I....," the Mortuanan stuttered. His eyes on where Ayane once stood.

And Dr. Dark flung a blast of darkness through the entire mess. FLASH!!!!

"OOF!!" Dimitri and Victor were tossed harshly into the ground.

Robin growled. With a birdarang in one hand and an explosive disc in the other, he ran forward—leapt the branching strings of 'cats'—and charged Dr. Dark.

The villain spun and flung a pulse of blackness. FLASH!!!

Robin rolled on the ground beneath it, knelt, and flung the birdarang. SW-SW-SW-SWISH!!!

Dr. Dark jerked to the side and deflected with a black-charged hand. CLANK!!!

Robin dove forward, flipped over a string of mewing mouths, and flung the explosive disc.

Dr. Dark disappeared with a wave of his glove.

KABOOOM!!!!

The explosion went off uncomfortably close to the helicopter.

The platform shook.

The people gasped and cringed.

The helicopter lifted and lifted...

Robin stood up, panted, and spun around--

FLASH!!! Dr. Dark materialized behind him and shoved the Boy Wonder with a foot to the rear.

WHUMP!!!

Robin stumbled—gasping—into a rope.

SLIIIIINK!!! Three mouths in a row bit into Robin. Glowing blood flew.

"AAAUGH!!!" Robin convulsed in pain.

"Robin!!!" Starfire dove in.

Dr. Dark snickered and aimed a black orb at her.

Then Beast Boy came charging in the form of a ram.

Dr. Dark pivoted and flung the pulse at him.

FLASH!!!

Beast Boy's body flew back.

I ducked as I suddenly charged underneath his blow and slashed Myrkblade at the villain.

CLANK!!!

He suddenly produced a sword of blackness in his glove and deflected.

I pushed against his 'blade' and jabbed at his upper body.

He ducked. He lunged forward at me with his black sword.

CL-CLANK!!! I parried. I pivoted my body, shifted my weight against him, and shoved him back.

He hopped backwards over a rope.

I slashed at him.

RIIIIP!!!

I snapped a 'cat' string in two.

Fanged mouths mewed in agony.

Dr. Dark jerked to the side.

I slashed forward at him again.

SLIIIINK!!!

Another rope shredded.

Black blood splattered.

Dr. Dark jumped back, spun, and spiraled at me with two shadow rapiers.

CL-CLANK!!! I deflected, slid back dangerously close to a string of furred fangs, and raised Myrkblade in time for his next charge.

But he didn't perform it. For suddenly he was gone. Truly gone. In a wave of black he disappeared.

I panted.

"Nnghh....the helicopter...," Robin moaned bloodily above the noise.

I glanced at him. He lay wounded in Starfire's arms. I looked up at the chopper. My black eyes twitched.

The ropes were rushing up towards the aircraft. They started constricting around the metal body and pulling the thing down. Bloodlust mews filled the air. The pilots scrambled over the controls in vain. The helicopter started to shake and jolt as it was pulled down. The people inside the platform cried in fear.

I gritted my teeth and ran helplessly towards the mess with Myrkblade.

This is all going to Hell in a hand basket.

I panted.

Or maybe we're already there......

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Cyborg jogged across the black streets.

The chirping sounds increased.

His human eye narrowed.

Something emerged from the blackness.

A mass of twisting fur.

Fanged 'ropes' flew up into the air like giant tentacles...mewing insanely.

In the meantime, the sphere of animal hair slithered across the low streets like a giant, hairy slug.

"What in the blue Hell....," Cyborg murmured. His red eye and his floodlight traced the black journey of the ropes up...up....up.... "They're converging on Kobayashi Tower...."

SW-SW-SW-SW-SWISH!!!! The murderous tentacles shook and quivered diagonally upwards in an endless fashion. The fur slug slithered on.

The android gritted his teeth. He punched his palm into his fist and growled. "You're not gonna royally screw everything up! Not now, punk!!"

On heavy boots he stomped towards the horrific poltergeist. He flicked his thumb and a panel opened in the small of his back. His core was exposed...sparking with electric ferocity.

The fur slug jerked and seemed to 'face' the Titan momentarily.

"That's right....I'm comin' for ya....," he raised two sparking fists. His red eye fluctuated. "Raven and Noir have had their spotlight....now it's time I risked my neck for once!! Leave...my friends...alone!!!!"

Half of the furred ropes jerked and rushed on him, mewing hungrily.

Cyborg slammed through them with a metal fist. "RAAAAAUGH!!!" he charged through the chaos and into the slug with a swinging fist.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZTTTT!!!!!!!

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

SLASH!! SLASH!! SLASH!!

I gritted my teeth and swung Myrkblade madly at every rope and string of fangs that I could find. Besides me, a green bear slashed its claws at the stringy bodies of the poltergeist and growled.

But the ropes kept converging more and more on the helicopter. They started biting into the metal structure with merciless fangs. Sparks flew. Metal scraping sounds filled the air. Then--

ZZZZZZZZZTTTTT!!!!!!

I gasped.

The green bear turned into a confused elf.

Dimitri and his guardians looked up wearily.

Starfire blinked.

We all watched as a blue energy pulsed through the catropes. Sparks danced between the fangs and fur burned with a sizzling odor. The myriad of ropes shook, convulsed, and withdrew from the Tower's summit. They let go of the helicopter and retracted into the darkness below.

I panted. I looked at Starfire.

The girl was holding a barely conscious Robin in her arms. "H-He is injured...," her lips quivered. "I fear for him if he stays here!"

I nodded. I pointed firmly towards the metal platform.

Starfire nodded. She lifted off in a heartbeat, the Boy Wonder draped across her grasp.

I turned to Beast Boy.

He panted. "Something's up! Lemme go check it out with you!!"

I shook my head.

"What?!?! Dude!! Didn't you just see what happened?! That murdering Dr. Dick is on the loose and—"

I gripped him by the shoulder. Firmly...not painfully. I slowly shook my head and pointed to the platform.

"......," Beast Boy bit his lip.

A beat.

He shakily said: "You get the others out, okay?? Raven and Cyborg...you get them out safely!!"

I nodded. I pointed at the platform as the helicopter took off.

Beast Boy morphed into a crane and flew up to join the aircraft and its cargo lifting away into the darkness.

I took a deep breath and faced the edge of the Tower's summit.

Raphael stood up straight as the deafening noise lessened finally. "M-Mr. Titan. What do you intend to do—"

SWOOOOSH!! I swan-dived over the Tower's edge.

"Mr. Titan!!!" the Mortuanan guardian gasped, his arm outstretched.

Too late......

I was gone.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

SWOOOOOSH!!!

I plunged down the height of Kobayashi Tower.

I gripped Myrkblade tightly.

Air kicked at my black hair like a thin cape.

My black eyes narrowed into the darkness through which I plummeted.

I ...concentrated...

FWOOOOSH!!

My legs blurred, meeting the buildingside rushing past me. I streaked down. I became aware of a blue glow bright and real before me in the streets.

I narrowed my optics.

A burning smell filled the air.

Sparks danced upwards towards me.

I gasped.

I met the street.

I blurred onto the concrete and skidded to a stop, shading my eyes.

My mouth fell agape.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!!!!!" Cyborg was wailing in agony. He had plunged his fist into the center of the furred creature's sluglike base....and he had purposefully overloaded his energy core.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!

Blue energy throbbed through the twitching creature. Sparks burned the fur and soon the poltergeist curled into a melted mass of ashes and littered fangs.

"NNnghhhh," Cyborg sparked, groaned, and fell to his knees. THWUMP!!!

I rushed over and tried to hold him up.

He fell face-first into the asphalt.

I panted.

CHIIING!!!

I sheathed Myrkblade.

With a strain, I turned him over. He lay on his back...facing up at me. Only the human half of his face stirred. The red eye pulsed over and over again as he groaned, looked at me, and muttered: "C-C-Couldn't let you be the hero this time, Noir....," he wheezed. He coughed. He smiled weakly. "Gotta save your appetite for a rainy day."

I looked at him in shock.

He coughed again and stared up into the blackness. "Are the others...s-safe??"

I nodded shakily.

"Good...," he wheezed. "...just in time too." His human eye shut. "Lights out....."

And the glow of his red eye faded. His body went dull as he powered down and lay silent.

And I didn't know what to do.