I've been working on this one for years! Years! Okay, so maybe I gave up on it for, cough, three years, but that doesn't count! I think...
Seeing the people who claimed to be her friends, who had sincerity in their eyes whenever they spoke to her, fall to the ground and slip into unconsciousness was too much for the small girl. The alien girl's eyes rolled to the back of her head as she fell into the pile of rubble. The robotic man made a small noise before he landed face forward. The shape shifter made an attempt to move, but, much to his and Raven's chagrin, he did not make it time and he too was struck by the beam. Even Robin, who was standing nearly a mile away, had been hit and fell to his knees. Raven tried to wake him, shaking and yelling at him, but he did not budge.
This was all her fault. From what Robin had told her, the Teen Titans never failed. They would fight and fight until they reached their limits, and then fight again. They would never quit, no matter what happened to them. They were smart. They were strong. They were brave. They were brave enough to help her. They were brave enough to actually fight her father. They were slick enough to even hurt her father! Trigon, The Incarnation of Evil! It surprised and confused Raven to no end, how they were able to do that, so quickly. It has been years and the nine year old still had no clue on how to even go near Trigon without receiving some kind of injury.
Don't worry, Robin had said. They always would succeed, he had said to her. Always.
But not now. Now, as they lay helplessly on the ground, not moving, Raven could help but think that it was her fault that they were in this position. No, she knew this whole situation was her fault.
The purple-haired girl looked around her. The alien -what was her name? Starfire- looked almost as if she was sitting upwards in a throne, the broken pieces of who-knows-what surrounded her. A few pieces of the rubble had stuck to her arms, legs, and her stomach, blood leaking out of the wounds. Cyborg's head had popped off and rolled a few feet next to him, and she saw that his limbs, one by one, were fading to black. Robin showed no improvement, looking as if he was in a deep slumber. However, the changeling, Beast Boy, looked to be in the worst condition. His uniform was torn from a previous fight, blisters covered his right leg from when a flame touched the skin, and his nose was broken. Scrapes and bruises were visible on his arms. The sight of the others made her heart clench, and she felt a tear roll down her cheek. An explosion of lava erupted near by, the result of Raven's lack of control of her emotions.
She glanced at the scene beyond the fallen Titans. Was she really the cause of this?
Of course I'm the cause of this, stupid! she thought.
It was hard, but she forced herself to believe it. After all, it was what the Monks of Azarath taught her. Demon. Monster. Just a few of the words they had called her. They had told her every gruesome detail about her prophecy, not thinking of her tender age. They spoke about what would happen, to the world and to her, and that there was no way to stop it. They drilled the horrid image into her head until she had no choice to believe it. And they were right. About everything. She had just destroyed the world, she had done Trigon's dirty work, and it was she who had single handedly murdered her friends, and the rest of the planet. The funny thing was, she didn't remember most of it.
But she had to have. Who else had the same destiny of murder and destruction? If someone would have liked to have had this, this burden, then she would have gladly given it up. But because Fate, and the rest of the universe, hated her, she had to live the rest of her life (however long it may be), knowing it was she who had caused this devastation.
Azar would not have been proud.
But there was no time to think of that. Because Raven had forgotten all about her father, and that she had moved from hiding spot to see if anyone was conscious, she was now in plain sight. And now Trigon was moving towards his daughter, the girl's body flooding with fear. He smirked at the look on her face, and stomped closer to her.
"What's wrong, daughter? Afraid of me? You shouldn't be. After all, I am your father," he snarled.
Her fear melted away, and pure anger replaced it.
How dare he say he's our father? Rage roared.
I say we show him who's boss! Brave yelled.
I-I don't k-k-know, you guys. He's v-v-very big! Timid hid behind Happy.
Raven ignored her emotions' argument, and instead focused on the devil in front of her. Adrenaline pulsed through her veins, and she felt a burning hatred towards the one she called her "father".
"I'm not afraid of you,'' she countered.
Trigon let out a hollow laugh. "Such lies," he boomed. "And here I was, thinking I had raised a decent daughter." His laugh echoed throughout the destroyed city, sending shivers down Raven's side.
"The Monks of Azarath raised me," she informed him.
Once again, his ridiculously loud laughter rang in the empty air. Then, all of a sudden, Trigon's antlers seemed to grow back into his head. And then his ears became way too small for his body. Followed by his four eyes reducing to two. One by one, different parts of Trigon shrunk and changed, until his skin was no longer red, and his features were those that resembled a person. Trigon was in his human form.
He slowly approached Raven, a smirk etched upon his handsome face. His eyes showed nothing but pure loathing, and they bore into her very soul. Despite the fact that she was beginning to wonder what the heck she was doing, Raven stood her ground. However, when he had reached her, she had to look all the way up just to see his face. And that made her feel puny and defenseless. Sometimes, it was hard for Raven to forget that she was nine, and not sixteen.
He crouched down to her level. One might think that he was kneeling down to pull her into his embrace, but they would have been dead wrong.
"And it was because of me that they had to teach you." He stood up again. "It was because of me that they had to hide you, because it was I who had bestowed your powers upon you. It's because of I that you have to live with this prophecy. It's because of I that you found your friends. And it's because of I that your friends are dead! It was all apart of my plan, and my plan succeeded! Earth has been destroyed, just like Azarath and your bitch of a mother!''
Trigon began to grow again, red skin replacing his once tanned tone, his loincloth tearing apart. He was now nude and very much taller, causing Raven to step back. Her face remained aloof, but her eyes showed nothing but fear.
Raven! Fight! Brave shouted.
Raven did the opposite. She took off and ran.
Other way, stupid! Rage sneered.
I can't! He's too big! Raven told them.
She dove into a building. Making sure Trigon was not right outside, Raven sighed in relieve. However, her contempt was short lived because she had something to figure out: how to get her powers back.
She sat on the floor and crossed her legs. Usually, she would be at least ten feet off the ground, and possibly in Nevermore, but that was not the case this time. Instead, she remained on the cold floor and was unable to enter her mind. Why did this happen now? Why did fate decide to take away her powers when she most needed them? Raven felt her frustration and anger growing, and paid no attention to the fact that hardly anything was exploding.
Then it happened.
She almost didn't notice it. Raven was floating an inch above the ground. She gasped. That might mean...
Raven concentrated as hard as she could. Her body became encased in black energy. She giggled (a desk flipped over and a light exploded) and flew up into the air. Her happy trance, however, was broken when she smacked against the ceiling. She composed herself, and her face instantly became as emotionless and blank as it was supposed to be. She became intangible and flew through the building. Now there was only one thing left to do, and that was to find the Teen Titans. Or her friends. She'd decide what to call them on the way.
Unfortunately, two minutes later, an excruciating pain shot through Raven's head. She screamed and began plummeting to the ground. A deep chuckling echoed through her mind.
"I'm going to find you!" He said.
Raven's widened. She looked around.
Much to her pleasure, Raven found that her father was looking on the wrong side of the city for her, but they both knew that if he was really trying, Raven would be long gone. But that was something to ponder on later. She crossed her legs, and her soul self flew out. The raven continued to fly throughout the sky until she had found who she was looking for only four blocks away. She mentally grinned. It turned around and returned to her respective body.
She took off at a speed she did not know she was capable of. She was close to them. So close...
Lighting seemed to shoot through her veins. Raven screamed. She collapsed onto her knees, clutching at her arms and doubled over.
This wasn't Trigon's work. Something told her that.
And then, an extraordinary event occurred. Her limbs began to grow at a rapid pace. Had it not been so painful, the girl would have marveled at the spectacular sight. Her body felt as if it was being stretched out. She could have sworn her brain was going to explode from all the swelling. Memory upon memory returned to her, and Raven thought this was some kind of torture. But then it all stopped.
Stopped. As if some force or medication or something had sucked the pain from her body in a second.
Gone was the suffering she had just went through. Standing up, Raven realized she was taller. She examined her now longer arms, wondering how this happened. She reached her hands to her head and ran her hands through the soft locks on it, and noticed that, much to her chagrin, the purple locks that she called her hair was now up to her elbows. However, that was a problem to deal with at another time.
She was older. Raven realized that she was older. She leapt into the air, happy she was free from the younger body. A garbage can exploded, some windows cracked, and Raven's hair frizzed. She smoothed the frizziness down till it was back to normal, and began to pick up a pace. Then she smacked herself on the forehead, revering she could, in fact, fly.
Doing so made her feel do happy, so free from life. She would have flown on forever if it meant escaping this hell she was living. But that was not possible.
She landed next to Starfire. Carefully picking up the alien, Raven took note of the injuries she would need to heel. And that was what she did with everyone else (save Cyborg, who was too heavy for Raven to carry. She lifted him up using her powers instead.). When they were laying side by side next to each other, Raven kneeled down next to Robin, who was the team mate laying the closest to her.
It did not take very long to heal him. He had a few third-degree burns, and some simple scratches and bruises. After using her powers to heal them and the concussion in his head, the Boy Wonder regained consciousness.
"Huh? Wha?" He asked as he sat up.
"Sh, Robin, you need to rest," Raven whispered as she gently pushed him down.
He resisted.
"Raven, I though you were-"
"Younger?" She finished. "I was, but something happened, something even I can't explain, and so here I am. Fifteen years old again."
Robin nodded in response, his brain trying to comprehend what was happening. As he did so, Raven moved in to Starfire.
The orange skinned girl was in a slightly worse condition then her lover. She too had a concussion, and Raven concluded that the changeling probably had one too. Ten minutes later, the taller girl was waking up. Instead of groggily coming back to the world, she looked as if she had woken up from a refreshing nap.
"Friend Raven! It is glorious to see you in a not so younger form!" She grabbed the poor petite girl into a bone-crushing hug.
"Um, Starfire? Can't. Breathe." Raven gasped out.
"Oh!" She let go of Raven. "I do apologize, friend, but it is most wonderful thing to see you back to your old self!"
Raven would have replied, but Starfire had taken off to see Robin. Not exactly a surprise there.
Cyborg was probably going to be the most difficult one to heal. He was a robot, for Azar's sake! The man was mostly mettle! It was impossible for her to-
Unless...
Raven ran over to where his head was before twisting it back on. That didn't do anything. She tried healing his head, but that didn't do anything. She scratched her chin, a very un-Ravenish thing to do, before getting an idea.
"Hey Starfire!" She called.
Said girl glanced over, and at her friend's beckoning hand, immediately raced over to Raven.
"How may I be of assistance?" Starfire asked.
"Can you flip Cyborg over?"
Starfire nodded before flipping the man over with one hand, as if he was a feather. Raven thanked her before setting to work.
His control panel should be right about... Here!
Raven lifted open the square shaped covering, revealing a bunch of multi-colored wires among other things. Raven remembered him saying something about a reboot button.
"If there's ever any emergency, and you can't wake me up, my reboot button is in the Control Panel. It's Purple, it's big, you can't miss it!"
Raven recalled him saying that. She searched, and when she found if, felt stupid for not recognizing it the moment she saw it. She pressed it, and prayed to Azar for the best.
It took a few moments, but the bright blue that had once colored his animatronic parts began to return. Raven sighed in relief, glad that it worked. Just like Starfire, he did not seem the least bit tired like Raven expected, but instead very lively.
"Where the heck am I?" He shouted.
"Earth," Raven replied in her trademark monotone.
"Oh." He looked over to his right, and then down to his left. "Grass Stain ain't lookin' too good."
"I know, which is why I am going to heal him next. So if you could kindly move over, I would like to begin."
Cyborg nodded and did as she told him to.
Raven bit the insides of her cheeks. It was painful just to look at him. His face was scrunched up, as if he was having a nightmare. His uniform was soaked in blood. Clenching her eyes shut, Raven forced the picture out of her mind and started on the changeling.
He was in a much worse state than everyone else combined. His concussion was major. His bruises and cuts were anything but minor. He was in something that was close to a coma. That was what confused Raven the most. It would take a concussion much worse to...
She gently turned his head to the side, and her fear was confirmed. A metal rod, drenched in blood, was sticking out of his head. From the looks of it, the rod was in pretty deep. So he wasn't in a coma, just unconscious. Raven wasn't a doctor, she couldn't perform miracles. However, she could try.
Two gray hands gripped the metal rod. This wasn't a band-aid situation, where you could just yank it out. No, she would have to pull this one out slowly. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead. Her stomach felt as if a million butterflies had been let loose inside of it. She desperately wanted to just close her eyes again, but this was a task too big for her to do that.
Slightly trembling, Raven pulled it out ever so slightly. Beast Boy groaned, a sign that he was not dead, and very much alive. That comforted Raven, to know that he might make it through this. And that encouraged her to pull it out just a little bit more. And repeated. She became too caught up in her mission of removing the metal rod from his head that Raven didn't notice her teammates (well, the conscious ones) were watching her in anticipation to see if the removal would be successful.
After nearly ten minutes of small pulls, the rod was out. Raven discarded it to the side. A fresh wave of blood poured from his head and onto Raven's legs. She bit her lip. Raven had not thought this far ahead. Holding her cape to his head, she called Cyborg over to her side.
"I don't know what I can do to help, Rae," he said to her as he knelt down to her. "I'm not exactly a doctor."
"Neither am I, but you don't see me sitting on the side doing nothing." In was meant to be a snap, but Raven had lost nearly all of her energy performing healing session, and her sentence was barely a notch above a whisper.
Cyborg only sighed in response.
"Now I need you to hold his head like," she took the half-robot's hands and positioned them in the way she wanted them on Beast Boy's head, "this. And don't move them. It'll slow the blood flow from the wound, making my job a little easier."
Cyborg did as he was told and stayed still. Raven took a few deep breaths. She was beginning to feel a little light-headed from using a lot of energy. The pain from everyone's concussions wasn't exactly helping her situation either.
Placing her hands over the injury, her hands immediately became soaked in the red liquid. Raven was never exactly comfortable around blood, so having them cover her hands make her stomach churn. She swallowed the bile that was rising her throat.
Cyborg, noticing her discomfort, asked her if she was feeling alright. Raven nodded in response.
A blue light surrounded her hands. It was rather faint compared to the other times she performed it on her friends, but it would have to do. Sweat beads formed and dripped down Raven's face. Concentration and energy was used and making the petite girl's vision go blurry.
Fifteen minutes later, they were still in this position. Cyborg was still holding the changeling's head, and Raven was putting as much of her energy into healing Beast boy as she could. Robin and Starfire did as much as they could to help, finding water and rags and whatnot. The bleeding had gone fown quite a bit, easing a fee nerves. But they were all growing impatient.
"Friend Raven, I do not wish to be the rude, but why is friend Beast Boy not better yet?"
Starfire cringed, expecting a snap in response. Raven, however, did nothing of the sort. She didn't look up from her "patient", but instead whispered,
"The damage is not just on the outside, Star. His skull has been fractured, and nerves and brain cells have been damaged. Maybe if I was a professional he'd be healed by now, but..." She trailed off, water rising in her eyes.
How could she be so stupid? To think that she'd be able to complete such a task! And with such little energy, too. Raven scolded herself for hoping that she could do something like this. Her level of training in the healing field were so low, it was a mockery.
"Rae, you know we believe in ya, right?"
A metallic hand touched her shoulder. The empath looked up to see Cyborg smiling gently at her. Robin nodded in agreement. Starfire delicately placed her arms around the petite girl and gave her a hug that was much softer than her usual bone-crushing ones. Raven wanted to smile back, wanted to thank them, but guilt and anger tore at her insides.
"But I don't think I can do this! He has been bleeding for who knows how long now, with a metal rod going through his head! I don't have an x-ray machine, I don't know what had been damaged. He might not remember who he is if he wakes up!"
Random objects became encased in black and thrown around. A building shook, it's foundation weak and crumbling. The half-demon's eyes multiplied and became red, her breathing running ragged.
"I don't think I can fix him!" Her voice was deeper, more malicious. "I'm not a miracle worker! Who's to say I didn't mess up with you guys and you're gonna die soon? Huh? How do I know that?!"
Sharp, pointed sticks aligned themselves, and shot right for Starfire. The alien froze, not knowing what to do. Lucky for her, Robin shoved her out of the way, both if them just missing getting stabbed.
"Woah!" Cyborg yelled. "Girl, calm down!"
Raven's head snapped to him. She glared a cold, hard stare that would have normally sent him running, but not this time. The half-robot stood his ground, his arms crossing.
"Calm. Down."
This wasn't a normal thing for Cyborg. If Raven was in a mood, he would let her ride it out and not get in the way. This time was different. His best friend was in danger, severe danger, and there was no time for freaking out. Cyborg walked slowly towards the raging girl, fear not evident on his face. Once again, his hand reached out and touched her.
Raven looked surprised. Why was he not running? People would be screaming in terror by now. But not him. Confusion racked her body, and her eyes became two instead of four.
Robin and Starfire, deciding it was safe, walked over to their two teammates. Raven became normal again, no longer looking enraged and frightening, but instead fragile and scared herself. The tears she had been holding back found there way down her cheeks, and she could not stop them no matter how hard she tried.
More things flew around, some even exploding. Robin decided to take charge before anyone else was put in a life-threatening situation.
"Raven, look at me," he said firmly.
Said girl looked up at him. Her eyes were glassy and big.
"I-It's all m-m-my fault," she whispered.
"No, it's not," the leader said to her. "You couldn't have prevented this prophecy. You couldn't have prevented Trigon's becoming your father. It was completely out of your power. But do you wanna know something? You can keep your emotions in check. Crying is not making us any safer then when you're angry. You need to calm down."
Raven looked around her. He was right. They were in severe danger of getting taking out by whatever was floating around their heads. She took a few deep breaths before reaching a decision that shocked her teammates.
"I'm going to Nevermore."
It didn't take an empath to figure out they were shocked. Not waiting for an answer, Raven rose to her feet and began walking to an open space. Starfire was the one to speak everyone else's thoughts.
"But, what about friend Beast Boy? I'm certain he is no better than-"
"He'll be fine if you take him to the Medical Bay and hook him up to a few IVs." Raven closed her eyes.
"A few IVs? Rae, I don't think that's going to cut it. And besides, your father kind of destroyed the T Tower," Cyborg said.
"It is to my understanding that the Medical Bay is on the second floor, and only floor four and up is in ruin, I'm sure a few things have been salvaged. If you want to help him, do as I say. And besides, Trigon is coming this way. If you're going to leave, I suggest doing so now."
"But what about the-"
"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos..." Raven cut Robin off.
"Lava," he finished. "C'mon guys. I don't know what pain killers are going to do, but Raven has more experience. Let's do this."
Cyborg picked up Beast Boy, and they ran off, hoping Raven knew what she was doing.
Yes, I really did start this when I was nine. They were a few crappy paragraphs though, so I just polished it and added more. I don't know how many chapters this will be, but I felt as if there should be more than what the original episode had. I mean, I lived it, but it didn't do them justice. Please Review your thoughts and CONSTRUCTIVE criticism. If you hate, I could care less.
Love you!