Hey! Sorry about the very, very long wait, but after such a long hiatus, I actually knew what to do with this chapter! You'll be happy to learn that I have indeed finished another chapter of Eventuality. Hopefully, the story will be flowing more smoothly, meaning sooner updates, but then again, we all know how well those hopes have turned out in the past, now don't we?

Disclamer- I don't own the Teen Titans, nor do I own John Smith, the character from whose viewpoint the story is written. He belongs to Phaethon, who is awesome. 'Nuff said.

Anywho, here is the chapter. Hope you enjoy it!

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As I stared into Raven's glowing white eyes, I knew I was in a shitload of trouble.

"What did you do to him?!" she repeated furiously, and I gulped.

"He and Cyborg attacked me… I had no choice!" I hastily explained.

"Like we'd believe that. We know you were hiding in the Tower. We know it was you who planted the false alarm. We know you were here for Tylan. So cut the shit." Robin glared at me furiously.

"But… but…" I was at a loss for words. I had been anticipated? I mean, sure, Tylan knew. He always knew. But how had he warned the rest of the Titans about it?

With a flash of realization, I knew that it must have been when Tylan changed Robin's mind about bringing Cyborg along. Tylan had known he would need the help from Cyborg, the one Titan who was completely immune to my Illusions. And he'd told the rest of the Titans to make it appear as though they'd bought the trick. The degree to which I had been manipulated staggered me.

"Enough buts, Smith. It's time to take you in, and this time, I can guarantee you won't escape death like you did last time." Robin stepped forward, already reaching for his bo staff.

"No!"

Robin stopped, surprised. I did too, for I was not the one who had said the word. It had been Raven, who had stood, silently fuming while Robin had been talking. But now she pushed him to the side as she stepped forward. "It's just you and me, Smith."

That stung. She hadn't called me that since… since… well, I couldn't remember when. Ever since we'd been together, she'd called me "John." Now, to hear her spit my last name venomously… I knew she was not going to spare me this time.

"Raven…" I began, in part to try and forestall her imminent attack, and in part to distract her so I could place a crippling Conviction on her.

The moment I attempted to enter Raven's mind, I was hit with the mental equivalent of a hand grenade to the face. I physically staggered back in shock at the mental power I'd just witnessed. To say she was furious would be an understatement. In fact, livid might just be understating just how angry she was. I knew this would not be easy.

My only chance was to let her spend her power and then use the Conviction to disable her, but that would involve a long, drawn-out battle, and I'd already nearly died today.

Nevertheless, I drew my two electro-knives and powered them on, twirling them around my fingers as arcs of lightning danced over the blades. I moved to attack.

And I was blown off my feet with a blast of pure magic. Raven's two white eyes had transformed into four red ones, and she was covered in a fiery black aura. An aura that moments later began to shed black flames which became four-eyed demon ravens.

The ravens shot toward me, their razor-sharp talons aimed at my eyes. I tore the first two in half with my knives and then whirled away from four more that had come screaming at me from my left. Unfortunately, my spin carried me right into the path of another two, and I barely had time to put my arms over my face to protect it from the bleeding slashes that now decorated my forearms.

I lowered my arms and looked at Raven, but she was still furious, still giving off demonic blackbirds as if they were bees and she were the hive. Faster and faster they came, and my knives danced in and out, slashing them to pieces. But for every one I killed, three more came, and soon my entire torso was covered in gaping slashes, blood oozing from every one.

Suddenly, the black tide stopped, and I chanced a peek between my upraised hands at my assailant. No more ravens were issuing from her aura, but her power was far from spent. She raised her hand, and I braced myself for an impact. I was not disappointed.

She sent me flying across the room into the wall, knocking the wind from me. Then, she picked up a slab of broken wall from my earlier tussle and sandwiched me between it and the still-standing wall behind me. As I dropped to my knees in the rubble, she stepped over, then gestured with her left hand and sent me crunching into the ceiling.

While pinned to the ceiling, I threw one of my knives at her, not aiming for anything vital, mind you, just trying to get the shock into her system so as to break her concentration. The sparking blade stopped dead against a defiant wall of black energy. I threw the other, but nothing came of that either. I now had no weapons and was cursing myself for wasting them like that.

The next thing I knew I was once again crashing to the floor, my impact knocking the wind out of me. "Raven…" I coughed. "Why… why are you like this?" I attempted to split my mind into five fragments, so as to do to her and the other Titans what I had done to Tylan; to dominate them, perhaps even turn them on each other. Getting in Beast Boy's head was easy enough, and Robin was having too much fun watching me get my ass kicked to notice how I slipped past his mental defenses. Starfire… I abandoned that effort, as her mind was too alien to me. But again, when I attempted to delve into Raven's mind, I was blasted back. Even after all the ass-kicking she had given me, she still hadn't reached anywhere close to the limit of her power.

I knew I couldn't crack her control, not with her in raging demon PMS mode. I did, however, manage to make her miss me with the chunk of flying rubble she sent hurtling at me by casting a Haze in the nick of time. Unfortunately, that was to little avail, as the next moment, I was sinking into the floor. I looked down at my feet to see them surrounded by blackness, which was quickly phasing me through the floor.

Once I was up to my neck in floor, I stopped sinking. Raven squatted next to me, and growled down in my ear, "Do you have any idea what you've done to me? What I've been going through because of you and your stupidity?!"

"Umm… no." I replied meekly.

A loud slap to the face was the only answer I got. As my head spun from the sharp blow, another came from the other side, this one with a hint of psychic power behind it, and the next thing I knew was the sweet, painless dark of unconsciousness.

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And there you have it, the latest chapter of Eventuality! If you haven't read the prequels to this story, Duality and Finality, please do so, and review if you so choose. This story makes so much more sense having read both of the previous ones; else, you're left to piece the background together, which is nowhere near the full story. In short, read the other two, I'm hoping that if you liked this, you'll like them. Until next chapter, this is…. *dramatic pause*

Ghostalker