Robin sat within the conference room head resting in his hands as the other, still active Titans filed in as their leader took a deep breath and started in on the situation, "were currently down two Titans both Starfire and Lunatic are unconscious but stable thanks in no small part to Raven's assistance" with that he nodded at the dark teen who sat impassively beside Beastboy we had his fingers gently interlaced with her own, the gesture helped her keep the distress that swirled around her mind at bay, Beastboy piped in "Whats wrong with them? I mean Loony I understand he had his brains smashed in by the chainsaw chick but what about Star? She hasn't got a scratch on her but she won't wake up" Cyborg too that one, "we've had to keep her sedated for the time being, as strong as she is, if she were to become violent we'd be hard pressed to restrain her without hurting her, she seems to be suffering some kind of prolonged mental attack, we're hoping she'll snap out of it in a few hours if not..." Cyborg let the statement hang for a moment before falling silent. "Raven, couldn't you enter her mind and bring her around or I don't know something?" asked Robin massaging his tired eyes as he slumped back into his chair, frustrated that he had no opponent that he could physically strike, Raven shook her head slowly "its not as simple as turning on a light switch, I can't just wave my hand and pop her awake i have to know why she is so troubled and then puzzle out in what way i could help her, what demons I'd need to face so to speak and how best to face them" she sighed at last "I'll try and think of something but I'll need time".

And so down two members each of the remaining Titans set out to take care of the city as best they could under the circumstances, Beastboy began patrols that had him scouring the city all hours of the day sleeping when needed eating when needed and bringing down every criminal he could get his hands on, Cyborg monitored the vitals of his two unconscious teammates making sure their bodies didn't suffer any decline cooperating with doctors and specialists from around the world and a few from well outside it in an effort to patch up his damaged friends, Robin made several calls to Gotham city gathering all the information he could get from his mentor and the Arkam asylum inmate directory, sending all relevant information to Raven who researched her comatose friends condition almost obsessively, tearing through tome after tome, burning incense and meditating near their still forms in an effort to make contact, Lunatic's mind may as well have been an iron box for all that she was able to peer into it, the magnets which startlingly enough continued to function despite the multiple skull fractures he had attained, made getting anything but static out of his mind almost impossible, Starfire however had no such devices in place and her mind yielded to gentle but insistent prods from Raven's own mental whispers.

Raven sat exhausted beside Starfire's bedside, so far almost a week had past and she had finally managed to glimpse the shade that haunted her friends mind and left her locked within herself, sipping her tea and absently scratching the panting beast resting beside her she took a moment to focus her mind on the coming task, memory of her first nearly disastrous attempt to wrest Starfire from the creatures grasp crept into her mind, leaping headlong into her friends mind was much like imursing one's self in a pool of warm water, everything about her extraterrestrial friend was warm and inviting, she was open, caring, and held few secrets she was not willing to share, this time as raven entered her friends mind the warmth had a feverish heat to it a sickly cloying too sweet feel to her friends aura, a sticky dripping voice exhaled moistly into her ear "looks like another tasty fish has entered the pond" and then it engulfed her slithering into every pour, she opened her mouth to scream and felt as though she were drowning and then it was in her. Raven smiled just a bit with pride, the...THING, whatever it was hadn't expected to be attacked from all sides by the myriad fractions of her mind assaulted it, the oily creature could barely scream as it was rent apart by Rage and left to boil away in the light of her fury. This time she would be ready for it.

As she stood up the green wolf rolled to his feet and followed her claws clicking with each step tail swaying in time with her steps, Beastboy's thoughts were dark filled with worry and he nudged the pale skinned sorceress whining softly she stopped and crouched down to her friends eye level smiling a small secret smile and petting his ears whispering "this time I'm ready so don't worry" she kissed the tip of his nose and turning on her heel continued down the hall to the infirmary.

Starfire and Lunatic were exactly as she had left them, Starfire lay sweating and softly whimpering in her bed the guard rail on either side of her bed had been bent and twisted as though made of play dough and not the rather sturdy aircraft aluminum, the orange tinted alien girl whimpers and tightened her grip on the metal frame and they gave a protesting groan before finally giving up the ghost and pulling free of their housing with a startling shriek, she held them for a moment longer before loosening her grip and letting them clatter to the floor, Beastboy crouched behind raven in his human form whistling softly "remind me not to try holding her hand the next time she is at the dentist" he muttered, absently rubbing his hands together in imagined discomfort, Raven gave him a pointed glanced and a slightly raised eyebrow "y'think?" she sighed, as she brought a comfortable chair over to Starfire's bedside and cleared away the twisted metal with a flicker of her "gifts", settling once more into the chair she began to softly chant as Beastboy took up his quiet vigil beside the door once more assuming the form of a great green wolf and curling nose to tail to silently watch over his two dearest friends.

As Raven softly chanted, bringing to bare her rather formidable mental defenses and reinforcing them tightening their borders and double checking to make sure that not a single seam of crack could be found the air around her gained a slight chill, her fragmented selves stood close at hand ready to lend any assistance they could, even Rage, collared and chained between Bravery and Wisdom, stood begrudgingly in attendance, only the enticing offer of being able to lash out against this foe secured her obedience if only for the moment. Raven exhaled and with that action escaped her body and hovered over the room for a moment taking in the auras of her friends Beastboy was a subdued blue obviously out of sorts, understandable given present circumstances, as she turned her gaze upon the two hospital beds she observed the oily slickness polluting their auras, with Lunatics magnetic augmentation giving him that annoying mental static helping him was going to be...difficult, but she could see glimpses of Starfire's radiant aura winking almost teasingly between the slick murk of the creature's stifling presence, the moon between storm clouds.

When Starfire's aura once again shone through the slick murk Raven shot through the gap and plunged into the feverish warmth of Star's mind, it was much like sinking into a pitch black sauna, she could sense just beyond arms reach moving shapes within the moist heat, abruptly the deafening shriek of talons on steel rattled her nerves unbearably, eyes blacker still than the darkness surrounding her watched and waited a slash of sickly yellow teeth revealed its presence as with a gesture more out of instinct than skill she lashed out with her will shattering the smile sending jagged yellow teeth in every direction and instantly dispelling the darkness encasing her, a low agonized moan rattled her heart within her chest as the creature pulled back away from the strange creature that caused it such an unfamiliar sensation, Abruptly Raven found herself surrounded on all sides by impossibly tall trees each stretching up as tall as a skyscraper, laughter exploded around her like a string of firecrackers, people were gathered here hundreds of orange skinned men and women in varying states of comfortable nudity, some lounging beside deep pools of warm water that bubbled up from beneath the broad roots of the great trees, others sailing through the air chasing each other, some where caught and they tumbled through the air thrashing and wriggling as they attempted to get free and continue the game yet others were gathered around various shelves carved into the great bowls of the trees sampling strange foods and remarking on the flavors, everyone seemed to be having a great deal of fun, Raven's face flamed at the sight of so much exposed flesh, Timid, who had tagged along with the others more terrified of being alone than of venturing into a strange mind was mortified and hid behind Rude who was blatantly ogling the replete nude forms of several naked Tamaranian men and women making lewd remarks that had Timid nearly in tears, Raven spared a moment to shoot a scathing glance at her troubling doppelganger, silencing them as she cast her senses out to find her wayward friend, amongst the hollow shades and backdrops of her friend's memories she spotted the huddled form within one of the giant trees, curled around herself, within the bowls of a single sickly tree whose titanic form was decayed and obviously ancient, Raven and her fragmented emotions circled the tree several times and could find no opening from the ground, drifting at last into the air she spotted a small opening barely large enough for a child to pass through she and her doubles drifted down and through the rotting wood.

Darkness and the sweet sent of slowly rotting wood overwhelmed her senses, enormous pale grubs each as big as a city bus chewed noisily upon great chucks of the rotting carcass of the ancient tree, perpetuating the cycle of life and death within the shelter of the behemoth's corpse, ever downward she drifted as scuttling horrors chittered in the darkness, finally at long last within the black heart of the tree she found her friend softly sobbing in the utter dark, relief filled her core as she drifted closer to the curled form of her friend, Wisdom cleared her throat "we are not alone" calmly intoned the yellow clad emotion, as the darkness surrounding the small group of gathered emotions shuddered and collapsed around them Bravery and Wisdom raised their hands summoning a wall comprised of their collective will power and precision, a combination of Bravery's tenacity and Wisdom's keen sense of positioning caused the darkness to break over the barrier like a wave on stone scattering the darkness in all direction, Raven watched as the wisps of oily essence slithered into the wood a sense of foreboding settled like a heavy mantle upon her shoulders, the whole of the tree began to shudder, Bravery grinned madly and nudged Rage "looks like we get to cut you loose after all eh four-eyes?" Rage simply growled as the heavy armored carapace of the giant worm crashed into view, its mandibles wrenched open and as acidic spittle rained down upon the small group of gathered emotions the beast squealed deafeningly wrenching a scream from Starfire, Raven crossed the three short paces to her hysterical friend just as the beast bore down upon them all.

Deep in the recesses of his mind Thomas was alone standing naked before his families' home or what was left of it staring down at the bodies of his parents, he knew that the creatures lurking in the shadows wanted him to be horrified, to weep and scream and tear at his hair, but the magnets kept working their magic, he felt some small amount of remorse, he had long ago come to terms with the disappearance of his mother and father, they very well could be dead, a long sigh escaped him as he looked around the limited land landscape presented him he could comfortably see the edges of the property could walk up to the fence and open the gate but he couldn't cross the threshold he couldn't seem to escape this small burnt out strip of land a frustrated grunt made its way past his lips as he looked down at his naked body, "why the hell am I naked in my own dream?" he grumbled as he wandered about scrubbing his fingers through his hair and feeling very peculiar when he only encountered his scalp and didn't bump his finger on even one of the seven disks that should be there, he stepped over his fathers mauled body and entered the shattered ruins of his once upon a time home, unless he missed his guess the place had been knocked down by some bot or another he could plainly see the giant foot prints here and there, the creatures in the shadows watched and waited unsure of how to deal with someone who just wasn't afraid of them.

-teh notes-
I want to thank all my reviewers for thier positive feedback, and the readers for thier considerable patience with me, my work scedual is hecktic during the summer months and I find that what little time I have is taken up with sleeping, so thank you all for the support this project is sort of an aid to improve my admittedly lacking writing skills so please continue to assist me by pointing out gramar errors, spelling mistakes, etc.

Your in writing Saint
P.S. Thanks much for the kind reviews Bergles