Alyss took one look at what she was wearing and winced. It was far too skimpy for her tastes. She looked back up at Xzuk and she started to cry.
"I-I'm sorry Xzuk." she said, walking slowly towards him. She felt Fear banging around in her head and she stopped and dropped to her knees, clutching her head and pulling at her hair, hard.
"Stop it! Please!" she begged.

Xzuk dropped with her and put his hands on her cheeks.

"Look at me."

His eyes flashed a blue tint.

"You can do this. Shut her out..."

Alyss sobbed harder and shook her head. "No, no, no." she begged her mind. Fear was getting bored. Alyss pushed her back further and Fear became angry and began replaying Alyss's memory back to her.
Alyss fought her best but eventually the two of them clashed and she gasped loudly before falling into unconsciousness.


(I'm going to sleep now, I'll have her wake up in the morning. Take her wherever you want really.)

She'd done really well...

Xzuk picked her up and put her on the bed and covered her up.

Goodnight...

He turned back to Blademaster.

"Thank you for not hurting her. I'm gonna stay here tonight. I need to meet Slade... and make a compromise. And He'll be here at some point..."

He knew this would sound a bit strange, but he hoped that Blade would understand.

Alyss awoke, the light from the windows straining her eyes. She saw that she was still in the hotel room and Xzuk was asleep still. She crept out of bed and into the bathroom. She began to put her her usual clothes and she leant against the wall in the bathroom and sighed. She grabbed a piece of notepaper from her pocket and started scribbling words, but kept crossing them out.
'I'm sorry.' was all she ended with. She left a little S sign in the bottom of the corner and left it on the corner of the mirror. She looked up into the mirror and saw Slades face staring back at her. She nodded at him and he beckoned a hand to her. She turned and looked at the real Slade. "I'm coming." she whispered.
She took his hand and they began to sink into the floor.

You're far too weak. And once again. You've failed.

Xzuk's eyes flew open again.

What the hell?

...She was gone again...

He found the note later. It was strange... He wasn't angry... or sad... just.... numb..

"Ugh... Damn... not again...."

He projected a Rolling Stones song from his mind and played it wherever he walked.

Anyone remotely close to him could only hear 'Start Me Up'. Xzuk smiled at the reactions and kept searching for Alyss.

Alyss walked down the street, following Slade's directions. She was to go past the...wait....where was it again? Alyss groaned and lent against a wall, frowning.
She took out her communicator and just as she was about to press the S button she heard 'Start Me Up.' coming from around the corner. She peered around the bend and saw Xzuk at the end of the street. She stood, frozen for a moment then took off in a run.

He was busy laughing at the reactions when he heard someone take off in a b-line away from him.

Might be that other chick... or it may be Alyss...

He took off after the sound.

"Stop!"

Alyss turned around and saw him start running after her. She looked ahead and turned down an alleyway. She gasped as she dropped her S Communicator on the street. She stopped for a moment, debating whether to go back for it. She shook her head and began to back up, to pick it up. She plucked it from the ground and dropped it into her pocket. Xzuk was much closer to her now. She just prayed she wouldn't trip.

She dropped something... This was definately Alyss.

"Please stop! Why are we running anyway!?"

He stopped realizing she'd ran into an alley...

Does she know where she is?

Alyss heard him shout behind her and she realised she'd come to a dead end. That's when she realised where she was. She began breathing harder and her mouth hung open. She gulped and looked up. It was daytime, she could do this.
She heard Slades voice in her mind. 'Control it. You are safe.'
She breathed in but the terror in her mind was already registering. Her eyes turned blacker and she began to shake. She clutched the communicator and shook her head.
"J-j-just stay away! Xzuk, I'm n-not a Titan! Just let me go! I-I'll....hurt you if you don't go away!" she stammered.

"I'm not trying to make you a Titan!"

He saw she was losing composure and stretched out a hand.

"Just... get out of the alley... please. It's not where you belong."

He sighed a little as the words took time to register... it was as if he hadn't spoken them... They'd just happened.

Blademaster countered by having metal wrap around Fear's body. "Thyr to attck when you can't move!!" She was wrapped completely in meatl with only her head showing

Oh no...

He turned and saw Blademaster behind him... He'd made a mistake... But... everyone does...

"Blade... That's Alyss... and she's in the spot where her nightmares began..."

Xzuk took of towards Alyss. He had to get her out of the alley before something horrible happened.

Alyss cried out, surrounded by metal. She whimpered slightly and shut her eyes. C'mon.....c'mon. You can do this!
She opened her eyes and the alleyway turned completely dark. Rain began pouring from the sky, she was creating the nightmare again but for real, not just in her head. She phased through the metal and dropped to the ground beside it. She heard someone ahead of her, running towards her. It was him. She got up and began to run away, but fell again and splashed down into a puddle. She curled up and began weeping, clutching the S communicator. She couldn't call him, he would think she was weak.
The person was getting closer.
Alyss shivered and closed her eyes. Thousands of scares and phobias started pouring out of her, spiders, dead rotting corpses, fire and lots more started piling up around her, totally real and not shadowy.