"Hey man, you want another piece of pizza?"

Danny looked up at Cyborg's expectant face. "Hmm? Oh, no thanks. I already had three."

Cyborg looked disappointed. He set the plate down on the countertop and slid it over to Danny. "C'mon man! I mean, even BB is still going!"

Danny, not sure of how to respond to that, spared Beast Boy a glance. A glance that wasn't short enough. The green skinned boy was currently in the middle of attempting to stuff two pieces of extra cheese into his mouth while taking a swig of his drink. The attempt, as noted by a spiteful Robin, failed.

Danny paled slightly and turned back to Cyborg, flinching as a squelching noise floated over from the general direction of Beast Boy. "Ah, definitely no thanks."

At that moment, Starfire floated over. "Oh, friend Danny, do you find the pizza", the word came out of her mouth jagged and foreign sounding, "unsatisfactory?"

"No, no, Star. I'm just…full."

Starfire regarded him with a worried glance. "I believe this is unusual. My other male friends consume at least five pieces of pizza at each meal it is served!"

Danny opened his mouth to reply, but fell silent as Starfire flew away. He crooked an eyebrow at Cyborg. The huge teen just shrugged.

She returned, not a moment later, with a bowl of sickly orange looking paste. "Sometimes I find that the food on this planet does not satisfy me, as well! I always keep a bowl of Mik'aben Yorgluk nearby. It reminds me of my home planet, and it helps heal wounds in the throat."

She floated above the ground excitedly, staring at Danny with and odd look on her face. An awkward ten seconds later, Danny realized Starfire expected him to do something with it.

"Oh! Ahm…well, let me try some!" even to Danny, his enthusiasm sounded very forced. Starfire, though, had commenced in a delighted squeal halfway through Danny's hesitant sentence. She slathered on the paste, and then continued to watch as Danny took a bite.

Danny chewed thoughtfully. "Almost as good as the Golorbian Schwashbook." He commented through the food.

Starfire smiled and floated back to Robin.

Well, that was that, Danny guessed.

It wasn't long before an unmistakable gloomy mood settled like a thick dust over the young heroes. Raven was gone, Robin hated Danny, and Danny was having a crisis of faith. At least with appearances, anyway.

Cyborg was the first to turn in for the night. Then went Beast Boy, then Danny.

As he plodded to his room silently, a sense of dread worked its way back into Danny's system.

There were so many things wrong right now.

Danny entered his room and flopped onto the bed.

Raven was gone. Gone! As in, poof! Vlad could have taken her anywhere. Danny had some sort of collar bestowed on him by none other than the fruitloop himself, and last but certainly not least, there was the issue of the black mass crawling under his skin.

My life is just so screwed up.

Agh!

Danny stood up and walked to the bathroom. He stared at himself in the mirror, not bothering with his old rules of avoiding his reflection.

Almost at once, he noticed his pale complexion giving way to the black film. It slithered under his skin in a mocking way.

Oh, he was so pissed at it.

No matter.

Danny ignored that as he leaned forward, trying to glean more from his own morbid expression. His red eyes…his fearful face…

And there it was.

A woozy sort of haze washed into the room, and Danny's reflection changed.

It was Jazz again.

She looked so afraid. It was painful for Danny to look at, but he did. Jazz didn't seem to notice him at first, but when she did, it was as if Danny was the only person in the world.

"Danny!" she cried, clutching a marbleized notebook to her chest. There was a stubby pencil tucked behind one of her ears. "Danny, I need you! I have to get away from this place! It's a nightmare."

Danny pushed himself even closer. "Where is that place, Jazz? Where are you?"

Jazz blinked and shot him a confused look. "You mean you don't know? Everyone's been yelling at me, asking why you won't help, and all the time I didn't know either. But it's because…you don't…know."

At this point, Jazz had tugged her pencil from behind her ear and was making a note in the book. Danny was just confused. She stopped suddenly, and raised her eyes quickly to meet Danny's.

"Danny, listen. We aren't stuck in here. We can leave…sorta. More like flash around projections of ourselves. I don't want you to believe anything any other 'Jazz'es tell you. Some of them, that will be coming out soon, they're the worst parts of me. My worst thoughts. Even right now, I'm not totally here. I'm just not a negative emotion, you see? I can't put word out for any of the others. I suppose they'll be appearing soon too. I don't know what they'll be saying. I don't know what they'll want. I'll try to be there too, Danny. As much as I can."

A tear was sliding its way down Danny's cheek. She couldn't be there. Because she was gone.

"Danny, don't think like that! I'm not gone! I'm not. I'm just…we're just…"

Jazz's face faded back into Danny's.

Well, what a meeting that was!

Danny slowly exited the bathroom, mulling over what Jazz had said. Or, more realistically, what some part of his conscious had said. She had mentioned other would be appearing soon too. What others? More of his family and friends? More of Sam…

Danny wasn't sure what he felt about that. He wasn't keen on putting himself through emotional turmoil just to satisfy some deep portion of his mind, but he couldn't exactly stop these meetings. They just happened.

And if Jazz and everyone else weren't gone, then where were they? In the ghostzone somewhere, perhaps? Maybe they had transitioned over to ghosts.

No. His parents would never let that happen, even in death.

Then what the hell was going on?

Whew! Man I pumped that one out…sorry for the delay. Realistically, I'm expecting another update soon, so don't worry. I appreciate all you guys stickin' with me through this!

Sorry if this chapter is a bit filler-ish. And short.

Love ya! (REVIEW:F)