Sorry about the late post. Yeah, I lied about the timing, so sue me.

Actually, no. Don't do that.

Reviews would be nice, though. I'd like to know what you guys think about my writing style, character development, etc. I'm somewhat devoid of editors, now.

College visits and summer work tend to interfere with writing time. I'm back in school now, to boot.

In other news, I just noticed that there is an old story with a similar title and concept to mine that was discontinued about seven years ago after two chapters. Meh, go figure.

I think mine's better. Mostly because I'm still writing it.

But that's just me.


The New Son of Trigon

Chapter Three

August 4, 2005

Teen Titans Tower, Jump City

Raven sat in her bed, dry eyes staring, unfocused, at the slowly rising sun on the horizon. She had attempted sleep several times throughout the night, but her thoughts kept returning to the captive. This man was unique, yet at the same time he was like her in so many ways that she couldn't help but compare him to herself. His own uncontrollable emotions and unrestrained powers drew parallel to the violent, rage-fueled episodes that would overcome her own deeply-ingrained emotional control before the defeat of her father. If someone who had trained for her entire life to control her own emotional state could cause so much destruction when she lost it, what kind of damage could an untrained meta with no understanding of his own, recently acquired powers create if allowed to run free? During the initial fight, however brief it was, she had sensed that he contained much more power than he had displayed, and yet, it was all raw, untapped potential.

Following this train of thought, and taking into consideration his taunting during the fight itself, she arrived at the unavoidable conclusion that had been plaguing her all night. The one question that had stood out among all others in the dark recesses of her mind.

There had to be a connection between him and that dammed demon Trigon, but what?

Based on his story, his own power had manifested just days after the would-be conqueror was defeated.

But that doesn't make sense. if we assume that, somehow, he gets his power from Trigon, then that would mean that...

...the bastard might still be alive...

How? It's the only explanation that makes sense, but how could it? Have these powers always lain dormant within him, or is this truly the first time they have manifested? I need to find out more from him. Maybe if I go back into his mind I can find something, anything, that can help me understand!

Having decided upon a course of action, she stood and shook her head to clear it, stepping toward her closet to dress. No, thinking along these lines would only lead to more questions. For now, she only wanted one thing. She wanted to help him.

She wanted him to understand.


By the time Robin had finished questioning Jaymes about his past, it had been early evening. The Boy Wonder had said a few parting words, mumbled something about "confirming the information," and left for the night. At that point, Jaymes had decided that there was nothing else to do but get some sleep.

Wow...that cot sucked. Still the best night's sleep I've had in weeks, though.

Something felt... different. He felt more relaxed, and less on edge. He almost felt like he could finally let his emotions free again. And yet... something stopped him. It was almost as though he heard a small voice in the back of his mind warning him away from that course of action. Feeling a growing sense of annoyance at both the dull ache in his lower back and the irritating sound originating from the table behind him, he rolled over and swung his legs onto the floor.

Standing, Jaymes stretched his arms to either side, twisting around to relieve the tension in his body. He shot an angry glare at the offending piece of furniture, then turned to regard his cell for the hundredth time since being confined. The room consisted of four glass walls, a metal table and chair, and the implausibly uncomfortable metal cot. He yanked the chair away from the table, turned it around, and dropped in.

Still shaking himself awake, he regarded the small group of items awaiting him on the table. At some point during the night, his captors had seen fit to return a large portion of his possessions, meager though they may be, and to remove the empty waffle plate. Sitting in front of him was a well-read fantasy novel, two t-shirts, his watch, his wallet, a pair of boxers, and the jacket and gloves he had been wearing when he was brought in, but without his bag or his provisions. The tinny beep-ing of the watch's alarm had awoken him.

I guess I can't really call them "captors," since, technically, I asked them for help.

Wait... if they let me keep this stuff, then maybe...

Jaymes' eyes went wide and he lunged for his jacket, shoving his hands into the closed pocket in the inner lining, groping around for what was, without a doubt, his most prized possession.


The first light of the new day filtered in through the tinted windows of the halls of Titans Tower as Raven moved silently toward the holding cells, feet mere centimeters from the ground, cloak lazily thrown over her shoulders. She had flown out of her room in haste, deadset on her goal of aiding the young man in the cell, Jaymes, she kept reminding herself, his name is Jaymes, but halfway to the elevator she realized that she had no idea where to begin. Thus the lack of sleep finally caught up with her, and she currently found herself hovering outside the security door to the cell, hand poised over the keypad, struggling to keep her eyes open even as she tried to focus on what she was doing here.

This is stupid. I shouldn't be this tired after one sleepless night. I've gone days without sleep just to read. Spurred on by her spiteful thoughts, Raven withdrew her hand, inhaled deeply, and settled into a floating meditative position, exhaling as she crossed her legs. She focused on her breathing and, as she had done thousands of times before, began to chant. This time, however, she had a slightly different goal in mind.


Jaymes settled into a cross-legged position, forgoing the chair in favor of the floor, and placing the object he had retrieved from the jacket on the floor in front of him. He breathed deeply for a few moments, not letting the object out of his sight for an instant as, on the third exhale, he began.

"Action is a Reflection of Emotion.

Action is a Reflection of Emotion.

Action is a Reflection of Emotion.

Action is a Ref-"


"-etrion, Zinthos.

Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos"

Raven felt her focus turn inward, to the nearly limitless reservoir of power within her, and as she tapped into that vast energy, she felt her physical body strengthen in response. There was something else, though, some sort of psychic pressure on the edges of her mind, almost as though a part of her was trapped outside of where it belonged. She hesitated, unsure of the implications of such a feeling, and took stock of her own mind.


"-lection of Emotion.

Action is a Reflection of Emotion."

Jaymes continued his meditative chant as steadily as he held his gaze on the object in front of him, at the same time concentrating on the strange new presence he felt near the limit of his senses. At first it was unnoticeable, merely an imperceptible shape in the haze that had surrounded him since he had been put in the cell, but then it had flared up, a shining beacon in the dark fog that obscured everything. So, curious as to what could possibly be so powerful, he reached out to the presence, and pushed.


The pressure was getting stronger. It seemed to be actively trying to enter her mindscape, now. Without her mirror, Raven had been unable to determine if one of her "emoticlones" had somehow been trapped outside of her mind. Only now, as she remembered where she was, did she realize that she may have withdrawn too hastily from Jaymes' mind during the questioning.

Could I have left a fragment of my mind within his own? That could certainly explain this feeling. Or, I could be hallucinating from sleep deprivation, along with the strain of sustaining myself with my own psychic energy. I guess there's only one way to find out.

Steeling herself, Raven turned all of her attention to the anomaly and gradually lowered that section of her mental defenses, preparing her mind to confront whatever it was that seemed to think it was part of her.


Jaymes had been incrementally increasing the amount of strength behind each push against the defenses of the brilliant, psychic light until, finally, the opposition relented, and he was allowed entry within the bounds of the energy source. As he entered, his curiosity jumped, eagerly exploring and probing this strange, yet oddly familiar, mindscape until he came across something that stopped him in his tracks. The entire world shifted around him, becoming dark and foreboding, the ground splitting at his feet only to fall apart into a series of interconnected rocky platforms all hovering at different heights and angels in the strange new area. The light and energy which had seemed so inviting earlier had all but vanished, and he now felt as if he were trapped within a mental prison as well as the physical.

A sudden flash of red caught his eye, and he spun on his spiritual heel to find the source, but there was nothing in sight save rocks and empty space.

Yet another flash to his left caused him to spin again, still seeing rocks and empty space. That wasn't the only thing, this time.

This time, he saw Raven in her usual garb, save one detail.

Her cloak and hood were red.

A panic came over Jaymes as he stood, staring at the Titans' resident hooded psychic, stunned by the latest turn of events.

No! I have to get out of here! I will NOT get stuck again!

Jaymes made one final spin to face the direction he had come from, only to bump into the very girl he had just turned away from, only now her hood had been thrown back and, as her glowing red eyes pierced his soul, he found himself unable to move any further. The red Raven drew back, now hovering several feet above the rocky platform, and threw out her arms, a wave of dark power flowing from her fingertips as she did so, never breaking eye contact with Jaymes. The black energy swirled outward in an ever-expanding spiral as it surrounded the both of them.

Panic turned to fear, then abject horror as the shadowy vortex contracted, swallowing both himself and the red Raven in a blanket of pure Rage.


Craggy rocks and pathways rushed past to either side as Raven sped through her own mindscape, desperately seeking the source of the unprecedented emotional storm that had just assaulted her core self. It had taken a few seconds, but she had recovered quickly enough to realize that, not only had Jaymes managed to reach out to her from within the psychic suppression field of the containment cell, he had been able to bring not just a fragment or a probe, as she had expected, but his entire self into her mind. However, she came to this conclusion too late; he was already within her mind, which meant that each and every one of her emoticlones were now aware of his presence, as well.

That idiot! Making a stupid mistake like this, what was he thinking? Any psychic, even untrained, should know to never take your full being into another without prior consent!

Her silent admonitions went unheard as she continued her hurried flight through the hellish, metaphysical realm. Somehow, she had been dragged into the deepest recesses of her mind when Anger had attacked Jaymes, something she was normally unable to do without the aid of her mirror or another similar magical artifact. Strangely, she had yet to encounter any of her other emotions. Normally they would have greeted her within moments of her arrival, even Timidity, but this time they were nowhere to be found.

A resounding scream interrupted her musings, and she put on one last burst of speed before she circled around one of the numerous, bland hunks of rock and stopped short.

Raven instinctively recoiled, moving back several meters as she could not help but stare at the colossal cyclone of emotional instability within her own mind, somehow having formed without her own mental discipline holding it back.

Once again caught off guard, Raven willed herself into action, moving with renewed energy as she hurtled straight into the storm.


Red.

Black.

Why have you returned?

The question echoed through Jaymes' incorporeal form as swirling mass of hatred continued to shrink with each passing second.

"What is this? What are you doing to me?" He all but shouted, again trying to move, to run, to do anything to escape, and finding himself immobile. The crushing psychic pressure bearing down on him held him still even as his feet left the ground, his body held aloft by the same power that kept him still.

You struggle in vain. You have no right to be here, nor do you possess any power over this mind. You should not have returned. Now I will rend you to pieces and rid this world, and every other, of your corruption.

Jaymes howled in pain as his head was wrenched back, the pain of which felt as real as if it had happened to his physical body, vertebrae grinding until he was face to face with the red-cloaked horror that held him captive. Beneath the bloody garment, her body was shrouded in shadow, and both her and the cloak appeared to stretch on forever, looking as if they had become a part of the violent spiral that encased them.

You were foolish to enter with your entire self, but I suppose that just makes what I'm about to do easier, doesn't it?

A bright, red bolt of lightning highlighted his assailant's face, her eyes wide and full of hate, her mouth twisted in a primal snarl even as she spoke directly to his soul.

Return to the Hell from which you were spawned!

Raven threw her arms out, and roared with an animalistic fury-

"Anger! Stop this!"

-only to be cut off as a dark blue shape impacted her from behind, sending them both careening into Jaymes, and all three of them into the ground just outside of the now rapidly-dissipating storm.

The landing knocked the breath out of him, leaving him a ragged, gasping mess as he tried to regain his composure.

What the Hell? Why does this hurt so much? I didn't even feel anything last time.

At the sounds of fighting, he forced himself to his feet and, painfully, turned to regard his savior.


Well. That hurt.

Raven held her ground, having thrown Anger off to the side after they had hit Jaymes, squaring off against her emoticlone. She spared the terrified young man a glance, but then returned her full attention to Anger.

"What do you think you're doing? Why did you attack him?"

Anger, on hands and knees, brought her eyes up to meet Raven's, their red glow steadily intensifying.

"He does not belong here!" Anger levitated upright, moving toward Raven slowly and deliberately, speaking as she closed the distance between them. "We cast him out before and we will do it again! No more must we fear his power, for we possess it, and he is weak. Whatever pathetic scraps he retains, we will take for ourselves! It is rightfully ours!'

"That is not Trigon! Whatever he may be, whatever it feels like he is, he is not Trigon! He is not my father!" Raven howled, giving her recent fears free reign and granting Anger a brief smirk as she bled over into Raven's normally-calm demeanor. Recognizing what she had just allowed, Raven's head dropped, the hood of her cloak shrouding her face, and her warped expression settled back into tranquil indifference.

That was bad, I can't slip up like that again, not when Anger is like this.

Raven brought her hand to her hood and threw it back. locking eyes with the embodiment of her suppressed anger and rage.

"I can't allow you to do this. Please, Anger, stand down." Raven implored her emoticlone, knowing full well the futility of appealing to the emotions of an emotion. Anger stiffened in response, her body tense and ready for action.


Shock and disbelief warred for dominance on Jaymes' face, the last traces of his fear being overshadowed by the most recent development surrounding his metaphysical exploits.

Two Ravens? Wha- how?

The pieces started to fall together while he contemplated the exchange that the two were having.

Wait. She called it "Anger"...

Could her mind be broken?

Determination quickly replaced confusion, his mind settling on a course of action.

If it is, I have to help.

Nobody should live the way I do.


Anger charged, closing the distance between herself and Raven who, to her credit, didn't so much as flinch. At the last second, when Anger was nanoseconds from making contact with a reckless, full-body tackle, Raven dashed to her left in a blur. Her attacker, now behind her, circled around for another pass, but the teen hero stood fast yet again, gathering her own power for a fierce counterattack. Her intentions did not extend to simply defeating this fundamental part of her consciousness, but to contain it, as she had been doing for her entire life.

Without turning, Raven expanded her conscious mind into her subconscious, immediately becoming perfectly aware of the state of her mind, as well as all activities and stray thoughts happening within. It was as though she had been granted a perfect view of her inner self. She knew exactly who she was at any given moment, and who she could be in the future, so long as she allowed herself the freedom to become it.

Through her omnipotent perception of her mind, body, and soul, she was made painfully aware of one, inexplicable fact.

Jaymes was active again, and not just active.

He was throwing himself between her projected body and Anger.


The dark young man sprinted toward Raven, intent on doing anything within his power to help her. Instead of wondering how or why her mind was split in the way it appeared to be, he focused all of his power and mental strength into a single, specific thought.

STOP!

The command echoed through the mindscape, carrying with it a powerful, authoritarian air. As his astral body skidded to a halt, Jaymes raised his arms in an "X," hands clenched into fists, and his entire being was overcome with pure instinct. A midnight-black mental barrier, framed with a slight red hue, sprung to life before his arms, and spread out to form a protective half-sphere that encompassed both himself and Raven.

Cackling at the pitiful attempt to stop her, Anger continued her charge, increasing the speed of her attack. Rage met single-minded determination in a flash of shadow, sending bolts of energy cascading in all directions and obscuring Jaymes' vision. With the seeming lack of immediate danger, the concentration he had subconsciously been using to hold up the protective shield vanished, as did the shield itself.

Taking a step forward, he drew his arms apart, feeling his own anger well up within him.

"You.."

Another step, and the dark fog began to clear.

"...will not..."

One more, and he was granted a clear view of Anger lying on the ground, panting.

"...harm..."

He drew his arms back, and the energy that had been slowly building up crackled down to his hands and coalesced into dark talons extending from each finger.

"... ANYONE!"

Halting within arm's reach of the red figure, Jaymes glared into her eyes, his own seething with hatred as he forced all of his inner strength into a single, finishing blow, intent on forever destroying this chaotic, fragmented-

-only to feel all of his anger and resentment fade away as a hand came to rest on his shoulder, stopping his attack within a hair's breadth of connecting with Anger. Confusion filled the void, so he succumbed to his curiosity and turned to view the owner of the hand.

"Raven? Wha-?"


Raven was the embodiment of serenity, the majority of her mind perfectly under her control. Her usual blue robes had been replaced by a flowing garment of the purest white. She exuded a confident calm, the likes of which many will never see in their lifetime, that formed itself into a bright aura surrounding her body, keeping the dark, swirling energies of her mindscape at bay.

With Jaymes subdued, she turned her attention to her errant personality fragment and addressed the issue at hand.

"Anger, you must relent. This man is of no threat to us and, though uninvited, he is still a guest in our mind. Cease this meaningless aggression."

Anger glared, unflinching, into the White Raven's eyes, four meeting two in a silent battle of wills fought between two aspects of the same person. Finally, Anger, sighed, and dropped her gaze, then turned to face Jaymes.

"You are lucky, outsider, that you are in her good graces. If not for her intervention, I would have purged your disease from existence. Do not trespass here again, or you will not be so fortunate." With one final, indignant huff, Anger slowly regained her footing, spun about on her heel and strode toward Raven, growling as she did so.

Raven, in turn, stood tall, uncaring as her emoticlone walked straight toward, and into her, vanishing in a small flash.

Jaymes, having no easily prepared or readily available responses, resorted to his usual method of dealing with such situations.

He stared, a confused and exhausted look on the projected representation of his perceived self.

"I... have no idea what just happened. I'm sorry about this. I-"

"That will be all, Jaymes."

"What?"

Raven spared him a final look, then pulled back her hood and raised her hand and gestured toward Jaymes, who was then overcome by a powerful sense of vertigo. Driven to his knees by the sensation, he managed to lower himself to a seated position and cross his legs, stabilizing him and preventing him from falling onto his face.

After a few seconds of focusing solely on stabilizing his breathing, he finally noticed the floor upon which he sat.

Not rock.

Floor.

A muted hissing brought him out of his stupor, and drew his attention to the blue-clad figure stumbling through the door, a ragged expression on her face and sweat rolling down her cheek.

Her breathing mirrored his own, and she shambled over to the table, withdrawing and collapsing into the metal chair outside the cell.

He stood, pulled out his own chair and took a seat opposite her.

She flipped a switch on the outside table, and a faint crackling heralded the activation of the hidden intercom.

"We need to talk."


End notes: I'm just going to say one last thing, my own "parting words", if you will.

Hughes? HUGHES! NO! Why? WHY!