AN: Last chapter with anything 40k in it, hope it wasn't too much of a story killer. I think it is once again pretty obvious what episodes I pulled the excerpts from
Chapter 7: Back in the Saddle.
"Cyborg do you copy, Cyborg come in." The four remaining Titans gathered around the large flatscreen that dominated the common area, which displayed static before resolving into the humanized face of Cyborg.
"his isn't a good time guys." Cyborg warned in his dark room, "we've got a theory of mayhem test tomorrow and I'm totally gonna bomb.
"...Please tell me you're joking." Robin said, exasperation coloring his voice even through Cyborg's small, arm-mounted communicator.
"Yeah- uh. Look, sorry I haven't checked in. I've been learning their combat techniques, weapons, armor, and we had a dance-" Cyborg explained before Robin cut him off again.
"A dance!? Cyborg, you're there to find out what the Hive is planning, not learning to tango." Robin near shouted, Starfire and Raven both edging their faces on camera.
"I know!" Cyborg pleaded, trying to shush away Robin's objections. "This hasn't exactly been a tea party, ok? I just need a little more time."
"Or maybe it's time we went on the offensive..."
…...
There is no such thing as innocence, only degrees of guilt
It was somewhat strange, Jon thought, that a battleship, one of the most powerful class of warship in the Imperium's arsenal, would have such a large area dedicated to a library.
He was alone in the vast hold, a single glow-globe illuminating his bare, wooden table while barely giving a hint to the vast stacks of leather-bound books, datastacks, computers, and other exotic forms of data storage that surrounded him. Jon's own desk was piled high with tomes and datapads that he was being heavily 'suggested' too to read.
Tomes on warfare, tomes on strategy, tomes on philosophy; he devoured them all. Jon spent the majority of his time here now, when he was not training with the Astartes or inspected for corruption by Inquisitor Atia's leashed witches. The readings were full of little tidbits such as-
An open mind is like a fortress with its gates unbarred and unguarded.
-And they were starting to get to Jon, sinking into a mind unsure of what and who he was. Though he was unaware of it, the conditioning was taking its toll; muddling his conviction and warping his views. To him, they were painful truths, that as much as he wanted to ignore, were beginning to make some sense.
Jon hated it. He wanted to go home, but he did not even know if he deserved to go there.
The rewards of tolerance are treachery and betrayal.
…...
The night sky was an ugly green, lighting up Titans Tower and Jump City in its virulent shade. An immense, purple-black dragon hovered above the Tower, four-limbed with great, bat-wings. It clutched Raven in one of its taloned hands, holding her tightly enough that no matter how hard she struggled, she could not break free
"Oh, dear. You're not going to cry now, are you?" The dragon, Malchior, had a sadistic, taunting voice that slithered into Raven's head telepathically. "I know it hurts, but you'll just have to accept the truth. It's over. I got what I wanted and I don't need anymore."
"It's not over. Not. Yet." Raven replied, her voice dripping with hate.
Malachior laughed, a non-vocalized subsonic rumbling in her mind. "Sweet Raven, You can't hope to defeat me, I taught you everything you know!"
"You taught me spells, but I just learned a curse," Raven spat. A leather-bound book, encased in a bubble of dark energy emerged from the hole Malachior had torn through Titans Tower. The half demon grabbed it from out of the air.
"No!" Malachior roared, unleashing a blast of sorcerous fire. Raven shielded herself with a surge of dark energy, holding back the fire long enough for her to begin the incantation.
"Alduron Enlenthra Nalthos Sola Narisnor!" Raven cried triumphantly. The dark energy snaked its way up the fire stream and wreathing Malchior in black flame. The dragon howled in pain and terror, its body subsuming to the irresistible pull of the curse. It dissolved into a dark shadow that Raven absorbed with the tome before snapping it shut. Malchior was trapped once again.
She floated down to the roof dejectedly and fell to her knees, numb. Her cloak and leotard darkened back to their usual colors, a sign of Raven's own personal misery.
….
Alone in her room, she placed the book containing Malchior's essence in a simple, grey and black chest and locked it shut. Raven looked up as someone knocked on her door.
"Raven?" It was Beast Boy, "It's me, look, I'm sorry." The green Titan said quietly.
"For what? You're not the one who-"
"I'm sorry that he broke your heart.
"I know it was all a lie, but he was the second person that made me feel like I wasn't creepy. And don't tell I'm not
"Ok fine, you're way creepy, but that doesn't mean you have to stay locked in your room. You think you're alone but-
"Stop... Please, just go." Raven whispered suddenly, she was clamming up again instead of opening like she should. She sank to her knees and leaned against a bookcase. "I need to be alone.
"Well... alright, we're here if you need us."
Raven heard Beast Boy walk away and cried softly, realizing she had just driven away someone just trying to be her friend. She was alone again, the bright little moment that Malchior's lies had brought her snuffed out like a candle. The tears were warm and wet on her grey cheeks as she sank further into loneliness. For the second time, a potential positive connection for her was gone.
…...
Jon held the pitted, bronze surface of the idol. He... he knew that girl, that exotic and beautiful witch crying alone in a darkened room was someone he knew. A friend of his, from before he came to this hellhole. He just could not remember what her name was and it shamed him immensely.
He could remember names; Zatanna, Fate, Kyle, Guy, Robin... but not their faces. He could remember faces; the grey, heart-shaped framed by purple hair that haunted his dreams, the face of a close friend, youthful and red-haired, the face of his mother... But not their names...
It hurt him, the confusion. An acidic guilt that only drove him to greater heights in the war he fought.
…...
"Now Cyborg, don't fall to pieces. I have defeated you, but at least you won't be alone." Brother Blood mocked, his own body a fusion of flesh and red cybernetics. "Say hello to your new classmates."
A crippled torso, Cyborg could only shout a denial as both the Titans and Titans east appeared suspended in the cold, Steel City air.
"You should have accepted my first offer," Blood continued, levitating all that remained Cyborg with a red-tinged energy field. "I would have made a man out of you, I still could you know."
"You can take your offer and blow it out your ass-"
"Insolent child!" Blood yelled angrily. "Where is it Cyborg? I've combed through your blueprints, peeled back your armor, stripped off your machinery, but still you defy me!." The insane headmaster began hacking into Cyborg's remaining cybernetics sending painful feedback to the Titan's organic torso and head. "Somewhere in this contraption is the part that allows you to resist!"
Cyborg's eyes snapped open and the energy fiend shifted from red to a bright blue. "It's not in the circuitry is it? It's the machine that resists you. It's me." Cyborg declared triumphant, blasting Brother Blood away in a burst of feedback. "My spirit!"
The hive-bots, robots designed to imitate Cyborg's own design and power, flanking Blood begain to dissolve into their component parts and hovering over to repair Cyborg.
"That's the part you can't break!"
Now fully restored, Cyborg towered over Brother Blood, still surrounded by the blue aura. "I don't need you to make me a man, am I already am one!"
…...
Jon no longer remembered where he was from exactly. The past before his discovery on Skersia was an ocean of confused images, feelings, and people. He felt like he was drowning in an abyss of confusion; battles of astounding violence clashing with remembrances of a shapely, grey-skinned, young woman, complex strategies and blade work vying with memories of high school and friends he had there.
The one constant he had in his life now was the war. It called to him like a mistress of steel and fire, repulsive in its brute violence, yet seductive and black and white morality and sense of righteousness. It and its servants were an anchor in his troubled mind, the only clear thing he could focus on. The Idol of Kulkolth sat untouched in his small room now, an object that reminded him of some innocent past he could no longer attain.
He was stronger now, like a blade tempered in the hottest of forges. The crucible of battle had hammered both his body and powers into peak condition. The scars that cut across his body like faint fault lines were a mute testament to that. A warrior who had found his calling.
It had been little more than seven months since the battle for Skersia, and the last remnants of Jon the paladin, Jon the Teen Titan, were fading away.
…...
"What you have concealed, you shall become!" Slade proclaimed, tearing Raven's cloak from her back and revealing the demonic runes that covered her back. "You have no other choice." The resurrected super-villain and the Titan were atop Jump City's 'space-needle' skyscraper, the time-frozen city below them.
"No!" Raven screamed in defiance, her body wreathed in dark energy as she lashed out at Slade. He snatched her arm contemptuously, unimpressed at her feeble resistance.
"The message will be delievered," he said in a dangerous tone. "Your destiny shall be fulfilled. Tremendous power passed between Slade and Raven, a parting message from her demonic father. Raven's eyes blazed with red light as sections of her leotard were stripped away, revealing even more runes proclaiming doom.
The sky shifted from day to night and back again over and over, the sun and moon twisting through the sky. Raven's hair began to lengthen and grow as simulated time continued to pass. She fell to her knees, clutching herself tightly to see a ruined cityscape, hell had come to Jump City. The Titans Tower sprouted from a sea of lava. Dark avian shapes cawed among the destroyed city, perched upon the petrified forms of civilians and the Titans, corrupt forms dragging them down to the abyss.
"No!" Raven cried out, trying to deny the dreadful vision. The red sky loomed down impossibly upon her.
"Yes... Look at it. Drink it in." Slade said sadistically. "Behold the world you are destined to create. An enormous dark figure loomed in the distance, taller than any skyscraper.
"No! I won't do it! This is just a vision, this can't be real!" Raven whimpered, shaking her head in a vain attempt to banish the vision.
Slade grabbed her by the arm. "This is the future, your future. It began the day you were born and nothing can stop it. This will come to pass, I will make sure of it," Slade promised darkly. "You're going to destroy the world, Raven. It's written all over your face."
"NO!" Raven screamed, her eyes flashing white. Thunder boomed, as the world flashed black and white repeatedly. An enormous avian shape of dark energy manifested above her, screeching in defiance before evaporating. In a flash, the apocalyptic vision of Jump City was banished, replaced by the present, unfrozen time.
Raven fell limp and Slade let her fall off the tower. "We'll be in touch... Oh, and a happy birthday."
…...
Jon sucked in a huge mouthful of air, his eyes wide open as he let the Idol of Kulkoth dropped from his shaking hands. He remembered now, like a faint wind whispering through a maze. The images he had just seen raced through his mind, searing their way back to the forefront spitefully. They triggered a cascade in his mind, like a dam breaching its bulwarks in a torrent of memories.
His parents, long dead and away from his mistakes.
Traci, his first love and ultimate failure.
Zatanna, the powerful magician and his oldest, living friend.
His surviving friends from Catonsville High; Kyle, Guy, Jamie, Courtney.
Kid Flash, hyper-charged speedster and one of his first metahuman friend.
Dr. Fate, the avatar of Order and wise mentor.
And then the Titans; the stern, but welcoming Robin, who was successfully moving past Batman's legacy. The ambitious but cordial Cyborg, who despite his injuries, was becoming the great hero he was destined to be. The naïve, but benevolent Starfire, the alien powerhouse forging her legend on her adopted world. Finally, Raven, the quiet, withdrawn, half-demon beauty he had swore to help. The apocalypse maiden bringing the end of the world with every breath, the one he had just seen covered with demonic runes.
Jon was beginning to think he that he once cared for the dark beauty, everything was so confused in his mind. He dropped the idol and clutched at his head, trying to make sense of his disordered mind. What could make him forget his past so completely, draining him and then filling him up with the teachings of this reality.
"Goddamnit, who am I?" He muttered. His two halves were at war, the better past of becoming a superhero and the dark future of conflict he was being forced into...
Someone had addled his mind, trying to force him down the bloody road as the Imperium's champion...
An alarm began to wail, echoing through the tight corridors of the Emperor's Spear and his room. Jon looked up at the noise, surprised but aware of what it was. It was the call to battle, they were in orbit above the latest war zone. Soon, Anastus or Atia would call him on the intercom-
Wait... Atia...
Jon knew who had wrecked his mind.
…...
"I'm not afraid of you anymore." Raven stated angrily, her voicing echoing through the vast cavern built for a dark purpose.
"You might not fear me," Slade managed to say, "but look who's afraid of you." He melted away through the surrounding rock as Raven turned to see the her friends, the Titans regarding her fear.
"...Raven?" Beast Boy croaked weakly.
…
"The ancient order used the name Skath to protect the true identity of their master. We know him as Trigon." Raven explained, as in Trigon the Terrible, Trigon, one of the one Archfiends of Hell.
"Are you serious? That's who were up against?" Cyborg asked incredulously, the Titans now back in the tower's common area. "Oh, man."
"His cruelty is legendary, even on my world."
"So, what makes you go all glowy-in-the-darky?" Beast Boy asked, dealing with the shock by asking an unrelated and foolish question.
"It's a warning, it means Trigon is coming." Raven continued, "and the way he gets here is through me. I am not just a person, I'm a portal."
"But, Raven, why you?" Robin asked.
"Because Trigon... is my father..." Raven said, finally telling the other Titans what she had told Jon months ago. "Bad things are going to happen soon, really bad things." Raven stood and walked to the window-wall. "And its going to be my fault. I thought I could handle it this alone. I tried... but I was wrong."
Starfire placed a comforting harm on the other teenaged girl's shoulder, causing her to jump slightly. "For confiding in us, we are most humbled." The alien girl stated respectfully.
"I only have one question, how do we stop him?" Cyborg asked.
"We don't..."
"That doesn't mean we still can't try!" Beast Boy said cheerfully, which paled in the face of the coming threat.
….
"The prophecy has been revealed, the portal has accepted her fate." Slade reported, hunched over in a nebolous region that was situated between Earth and Hell.
"You serve me well, Slade. Continue to please me, and I shall honor our deal. I shall return what you have lost." A disembodied voice answer, deep and terrible.
"I am depending on it..."
…...
Jon, dressed in surplus infantry fatigues, stood alone in the Emperor's Spear's observation bay, a glass blister adorning the underbelly of the grand warship. It provided a magnificent view, showcasing the empty star-filled vastness of space and the blue-green gem the fleet was orbiting.
The room was cold, mainly because of how thin the barrier to outer space was. While the temperature barely affected Jon, he still clutched the Idol of Kulkoth tightly and shivered occasionally, mostly from the feedback he received from the bronze idol periodically. After he had broken the conditioning Atia had placed on his mind, he had refused to let the idol leave his person at any time. Jon carried it everywhere, even into battle, and now refused any and all 'corruption' tests by the inquisitor.
Figurative midnight for the real Earth was drawing near, Jon could tell from the flashes his mind received from the idol. The other Titans were preparing defenses against the prophecy but Jon knew it would not be enough, Raven it seemed had given up entirely. He wanted to call out to her, to remind her of his promise and to let her know that he was coming to help her, but he could not. The link only worked one way.
His only hope was this last campaign, upon the world called Morulsian that so resembled Earth. The last remnants of the Chaos forces plaguing this subsector were down on that planet, led by a powerful sorcerer who Jon was certain was Sarnok, the madman who had caused his exile in the first place. Jon could feel the other half of the Idol of Kulkoth on Morulsian, the sensation akin to two powerful magnets being attracted to each other.
The bulkhead door behind him hissed open and a series of loud clunks and the mechanical whine of active power armor heralded Anastus' arrival. The brother-captain joined him at the viewing bay, his armor's humming making Jon's gums itch.
"Beautiful, don't you think?" Jon said with a gesture, indicating the world below them. "I never saw Earth from outer space but I've seen pictures of it; Morulsian's landmasses are all wrong but its pretty similar."
"I would not know, Holy Terra is a hive world now. Any water or vegetations is long since gone." Anastus replied in his deep voice.
"Damn shame..." Jon muttered. He held up his half of the idol, the bronze surface gleaming from the light of that system's sun. "I'm looking forward to going back to my own home."
Anastus stirred at looked over at Jon at that pronouncement but his helm hid all expression.
"I know what Atia has been doing to me, you don't have to play dumb. I know how she's been trying to get me to stay and be her figurehead, but I finally woke up recently." Jon admitted, staring at the idol. "Thanks to this."
Again Anastus said nothing, instead his dark-red eye lenses just stared at him.
"Did you know? What she was doing to my mind?" Jon asked him now, turning to regard the superhuman Astartes. His face was a mix of anger and disappointment.
"Of course, my squads were under her command. I did not condone her actions, but I was under orders." Anastus explained, not a hint of regret or apology in his voice, just the truth.
"Only following orders?' Jon sneered in disgust. He turned and began to walk out of the observation bay. "That's the problem with this godforsaken reality, everyone's always following orders." He triggered the bulkhead door, calling back one last time. "I'm going home, Anastus, and neither you or that old bitch are stopping me."
…...…...
The Titans, with Raven in the lead, were strolling contentedly through Jump City Park, a 900 acre public park that was the jewel of the city. The day was as warm and beautiful as any that could be found on the West Coast, small tufts of cloud waving through an aquamarine sky. They passed the central area where Maxariae had manifested nearly one year ago, causing Raven to shudder at the memory.
"Dude!" Beast Boy had stopped suddenly, his attention caught on something nestled in the grass.
Raven spun around in fear, expecting the worse... Only to see Beast Boy picking up a penny from the ground.
"Find a penny, pick it up, uh... Something, something, something... Good luck! It's my lucky day!" Beast Boy exclaimed happily, and giving a small victory dance.
"Anybody up for a game of extreme Stankball?" Cyborg asked the group, producing a pile of smelly laundry seemingly out of nowhere.
"Ya, sure!" Raven agreed happily, dumbfounding the Titans
"But you hate anything extreme, or stanky..." Beast Boy challenged, confused to say the least.
"Maybe I never gave it a chance?"
"Raven! Would you still have time to join me in the painting of the toenails later today?" Starfire asked animatedly, hovering just in front of her.
"Sounds like fun!" Raven acquiesced, which was extremely out of character for her.
"Ok Raven... What gives? Pancakes, pizza, stank ball, toenails?" Robin asked in a half joking, half cautious tone.
"Yeah, and she hasn't called me stupid all day. Did someone replace Raven with a Raven robot?"
Raven shifted a few feet back from the rest of the Titans, skimming the grass. "I just want everyone to have a nice day today." Raven deflected, sorrow building in her heart. There was a wrenching feeling in her stomach, the sensation a child would get when he knows punishment is awaiting, or the pain of knowing your fate and being unable to change it. "Come on, we have a lot to do before sunset."
As if in answer to her words, the sun began to dim in the sky as it was eclipsed suddenly and impossibly by the moon. The park became shrouded in a foreboding dark, and Raven spasmed in pain as long dormant power awoke within her.
"What's going on!" Beast Boy near squeaked in fright.
"Raven!"
Raven collapsed, demonic red runes appearing all over her body. The other Titans gathered around her.
"Why didn't you tell us? It's happening, isn't?" Robin asked, concern in his voice.
"Please Raven, today is the day? It is..." Starfire began.
"The end of the world..." Raven finished for her, tears welling in her eyes from shame and despair.
…...…...
The fighting inside the dark citadel was the fiercest Jon had ever known. Waves of cultists and traitor Astartes threw themselves at him and the Grey Knights strike-force, now numbering only fifteen including Anastus. The resistance did not stop them though, they blasted the Chaotic forces apart with bolter rounds or cut them down with their blades. Throughout the citadel, secondary teams of elite guardsmen and Astartes from other Chapters made diversionary assaults, as the main bulk of the crusade force battered down the gates and stormed the lower levels. The battle was won, what mattered was finding Sarnok.
They finally reached the huge doors to the sorcerer's inner sanctum after a grueling fight against a trio of terminator elite that left two Grey Knights dead or dying. While the apothecary tended to the gene-seed retrieval, Anastus and and a Justicar, which was equivalent to a sergeant, named Tulerus placed a bundle of melta charges to breach the armored bulk of the doorway.
The charges lit with an actinic flash and the doors melted into slag. Jon led the way, leaping over the molten metal and the heels of his power armor skidding across the black marble floor. He moved ahead of the remaining knights, as they had to wait for the metal to cool sufficiently to avoid injury.
The inner sanctum was dark, filled with a thick fog that smelled of ozone and filth. Jon advanced cautiously, his helmet's built-in sensors and visual enhancers struggling to pierce the gloom. There was a faint glow ahead and Jon headed for it, stepping over desiccated corpses and skeletons of unnatural creatures and mutated humans that littered the inner sanctum. Jon could hear the Grey Knights fan out and search the cavernous room as well, their clipped commands and responses broadcasting from his armor's built in communication systems.
The light resolved eventually resolved itself into a small throne, and atop it was a small, pitiful figure, swathed in a heavy black robe. The figure stirred feebly as Jon approached, the demon slayer magnetically locking his bolter to his armored thigh, confused.
A skeletal face emerged from the cloak and regarded the armored Jon with one cloudy eye. "So, at last you come for Sarnok," the figure said in a dry rasp.
…...…...
"Your friends cannot stop the inevitable, they are doomed." Two pairs of red eyes loomed out of the darkness of Raven's mind, its voice cajoling and sinister. "You really want their last day to end like this." A dark figure lifted Raven up in a taloned hand, and though it was a vision, she could feel the heat from the fires below. "How could you bear to watch them suffer?"
"Don't hurt them..."
"I am not the one hurting them, you are. You know what must be done..." Trigon's voice was dominating, forcing Raven to accept the truth.
"But, father, I don't want too." Raven pleaded, her own demonic heritage manifesting in two pairs of red slits for eyes.
"You cannot hide from your destiny." Trigon said with dread finality, banishing Raven from the soul communion.
…
Outside, the four remaining Titans waged a desperate last stand against Slade's flame demon hordes. While powerful individually, the Titans were outnumbered and overmatched. Robin dueled Slade himself, unleashing everything he could muster against the demonically-infused herald, only to see Slade recover from every attack.
The end came swiftly, the flame demons and Slade overpowering and restraining the Titans.
"Do you really want to spend your last day on Earth fighting?" Slade taunted as Robin struggled.
"This is not my last day!" Robin retorted, rage in his voice.
Slade moved to finish him, fire gathering in his hands, when a voice cried out above the patch of land before Titans Tower.
"Stop!" It was Raven floating down from the tower, her face pale but dead-set. The flame demons released the Titans at her command, obeying their master's daughter. "I will go with you," she told Slade. She had finally given in, despair overtaking her and leaving her bitter and broken.
"We won't let them take you!" Robin shouted, putting himself between Slade and Raven.
"You need to get back in the safety room," Starfire pleaded. "Please!"
"I can't hide from my destiny any longer..."
Raven, hating herself, let loose blasts of black lightning that caused the Titans to jerk and shake in pain as their senses were overwhelmed. She laid each of them down on the ground gently and, unknowingly to Slade and the demons, invested a portion of her power within each of them. "Goodbye, be safe," she whispered to her four best and only friends.
She walked over to join Slade, "let's go."
…...…...
The figure on the throne was a shrunken bag of skin and bones, a far cry from the portly sorcerer that had so destroyed Jon's future. His face was little more than skin stretched over a skull, a bull horn sprouting like some foul growth from his empty, left eye socket. Palsied hands shook as they tried to lift an ebon staff topped with a small piece of bronze.
Jon's heart skipped a beat when he recognized the Idol of Kulkoth's other half, but he resisted the urge to run forward. Instead he approached warily, training the bolter on Sarnok's withered form.
"What in the Emperor's name happened to you?" He asked, sickened by the transformation Sarnok had undergone. He had not known exactly what he would find in this final confrontation, maybe some brutal fight against impossible odds or a vindictive battle against the monster who had brought him here but not this, not some wretch who could barely stand. It all felt anti-climatic.
"What happened? what happened...They abused Sarnok, made us use the idol. Drained Sarnok's power away as sacrifice for dark gods. Ruined us..." Sarnok wheezed, his one eye unblinking and fixed on Jon's armored helm. "Sarnok just wanted to go home, and because of you, Sarnok never will. You ruined me little knight. This universe is dark and grim, no place for Sarnok or you..."
Jon was at a loss. Since he had been exiled to this god-forsaken reality, he had hated Sarnok, wanted to destroy him for his crimes in Jump City and the aid he had lent to the Archenemy. And now, now that Jon had found Sarnok, he felt nothing but pity. They were alike, the paladin and sorcerer. Both beings of power in an unknown reality, both abused and controlled by the factions that had taken them in.
"I... We can go back now with the Idol of Kulkoth completed. You deserve to die in your home realm at least," Jon said softly. Sarnok was a horrible person, entirely corrupt and a murderer, but he did not deserve this. No one did. He leaned down and dragged Sarnok up, the sorcerer little more than a bag of bones in his gauntleted hands.
"No...no...no, I don't leave here. I die here." Sarnok was mumbling, "I've seen this, it happens in three..."
"What are you saying?" Jon asked leaning forward, "I can't hear-."
There was a stuttering blast of gunfire and Jon flinched backwards as Sarnok flew threw the air. The sorcerer was thrown against the small throne and blasted apart by bolter rounds, little more than chunks of wet meat.
Jon spun around to find Anastus walking forward, smoke rising from his storm bolter's double barrels. "Primary threat neutralized," the Astartes radioed to the other knights and they soon gathered. "You had to know we would kill the warlock, Jon."
Jon looked over at the remnants of Sarnok and shook his head sadly without commenting. He reached down and pulled the idol's second half from Sarnok's staff. Taking his half from his belt, he held the two next to each other and they snapped together like magnets. There was a brief glow and the two halves fused together, such a small thing but one that filled Jon's heart with absolute joy.
"Is that it then?"
Anastus and the Grey Knights had surrounded Jon, massive giants in gunmetal grey armor with nemesis force-weapons held tightly. Jon surveyed them warily, not sure how the situation was going to play out. His right hand flexed by his relic bolter, ready to draw it in a moment's notice. There were thirteen left, post-human super-soldiers with blades that made a mockery of even his invulnerability. Jon did not particularly like his odds.
"Yes, I need to go. She needs me, Earth needs me." Jon near pleaded, clutching the idol close to his armored chest protectively. "What happens now?"
The thirteen space marines were inscrutable behind their helms and Jon began to feel a knot forming in his gut. He almost reached for his bolter when he saw Anastus move, who paused for a moment at the small spasm before disengaging his helmet's locks with a snap-hiss and removing it. The marine's face was as it always was, a too-large, scarred block of granite, inscrutable as always. Storm-blue eyes regarded Jon for a long moment before the craggy face broke into an approximation of a good-natured smile.
"This is the part where I vox Inquisitor Atia that the 'Unknown Primarch' disappeared during the battle for the inner sanctum. It will be a shame, but I'm sure her propaganda spinners will be able to cope. I tire of her forcing me into dishonorable actions." Anastus declared, the other Grey Knights lowering their weapons and relaxing a fraction. "You will, however, keep to our own bargain?"
Jon nodded grimly, relieved but slightly worried about the bargain, whose details he had in a small datapad secured in his belt. Technically, once he arrived in his home reality, he could toss the datapad without a second thought, but no, that would not be honorable. Anastus was risking a large amount of trouble for his Chapter over Jon's freedom, he would honor the deal.
The paladin took of his helm now, clipping it his waist and offering Anastus his hand. The Astartes shook it, his armored paw dwarfing Jon's hand entirely. "It has been an honor, all of you." Jon said, addressing the remaining knights, who nodded respectfully.
Jon turned and raised the Idol of Kulkoth, focusing every ounce of his small grasp of magic on the idol. He thought of Earth, of its beaches and forests, of its towns and sprawling cities. His eyes clenched in concentration as he thought of Titans Tower and the rooftop promise he had made to Raven. Jon felt a small twinge from the idol and opened his eyes, happy but not surprised by the appearance of a door of black stone in the inner sanctum.
"Easy once you know how," Jon said under his breath. "Till I next see you, brothers." He waved a final farewell to the warriors he had fought and bled with before opening the black door and stepping through.
For the second time in a year, Jon was gone through a doorway.
…...…...…...…...
Deep below Jump City, Raven stood surrounded by the flame demons in the summoning chamber. While they obeyed her, she knew that if she made any attempt to leave, they would stop her and force her to finish the ritual. The eclipsed sun was visible in the sky and Raven felt nothing but cold despair, everything was coming to the end, and it was her fault.
"It is time," she said with dread finality. "The prophecy shall be fulfilled."
Behind her, there were sounds of battle as the Titans threw themselves at the flame demon hordes. Which rose up as one and restrained them effortlessly, far too many for them to fight. But they had tried to fight anyways, and that was why Raven loved them.
With a gesture, she banished the demons away from her best friends, letting them approach her. "It has already begun, and there is no stopping what is meant to be" She told them sadly, she was given up entirely, embers of hope quenched by a tide of defeatism.
"You're willing to give up on everything, all of because of some prophecy you heard as a child," Robin asked, unbelieving. "What if it's wrong?"
"Robin... I know what I know."
"I don't accept that, you can take control, you can make it not happened!" Robin countered, angry at the casual way Raven just accepted armageddon. Whether it was Bruce's tutelage or his own willpower, Robin would never give up, not till the bitter end.
"I knew my whole life that this day was going to come. I tried to control the dark side of me, I tried to do good things, to fight evil. I hoped that would somehow make up for the horrible things I'm destined to do," Raven explained. She had truly given up.
"But no one knows their destiny. There are things you can't possibly know!"
"There are some things I didn't know... Like how I would make such wonderful friends." Raven said softly, looking at her four friends with deep affection. "All I wanted was to make your last day perfect, instead you spent it worrying about me."
"That's what friends do-"
Raven shifted backwards away from Robin and the Titans. "And as my friends, you have to let me go." She created a vast wall of dark energy, separating the Titans from her. She began to walk up to the giant, stone hand that dominated the chamber, columns rising upwards for her ascent. Behind her the Titans attacked the dark energy force-field, but without avail. They could not break Raven's hold, not here where her powers were at their terminal peak. Raven continued her climb, footsteps towards the End.
She reached the stone hand's palm and assumed a meditative stance, hovering in the air. "The gem was born of evil's fire, the gem shall be his portal."
Below her, on the opposite side of the cavern from the Titans, a black stone doorway appeared and spat out a figure armored in grey and gold power armor. Vapor rose from Jon as he struggled to his feet, holding the Idol of Kulkoth in one hand. The demon slayer took everything in a moment's gasp, "Raven, NO!"
"He comes to claim, he comes to sire, the end of all things mortal." Raven chanted, not hearing Jon's shout. The red runes returned and her eyes shone with power as the power Trigon placed within her for this purpose was given its freedom at last. She screamed in pain as it burst forth. She had one last moment of sight, seeing the armored Jon hurtling at her before an eruption of power grew at her midriff and consumed her entirely. A solitary penny dropped from her hand as the power tossed Jon aside like a ragdoll.
The sphere condensed into a bright point of light before expanding into a fiery portal that crashed down and destroyed the stone hand. An gargantuan god-being burst forth from it, red-skinned and horned.
"The Earth is mine!" It bellowed in triumph, and ended the world.
…...…...…...…...
An: from now on it is an alternate version of season 4's finale and the entirety of season 5. Hope you enjoy it, feel free to leave any questions or comments.
