The Last Battle

Chapter XII

~ Titans Tower ~

Night had fallen some time ago, and Damian could feel sleep clawing at him, trying to draw him into its sweet embrace. He fought it for as long as he could, before finally succumbing, knowing that his mission would have to wait until he was rested. As he began to orient himself in his dream, he saw that the space he was in was not entirely of his own making. It was somehow both rigid and structured, yet also fluid, like being in an aquarium, the water rising and falling behind the glass in waves.

"Definitely not something I would have come up with, myself," he said to no one in particular. Still though, something about the vague familiarity of his surroundings reminded him of her. Instantly, thoughts of her came to mind, the training sessions where they fought, growing closer as they sparred. The missions they had been on together, fighting side-by-side.

Shaking his head, he moved through the strange structure in his mind, making his way to the center, as he did every night. The further in he went, he saw that the waters became calmer, till he couldn't see them rise or fall. Several species of fish had begun to populate the calmer waters as he made his long arduous journey to the center of the labyrinth.

~ Raven's Mind ~

'This is starting to feel like Trigon's realm again,' Raven mentally and physically shuddered at the thought of those dark months spent fighting against his cruel ministrations. The walls of her mind were made of pulsing red flesh, yet they seemed to lack some of the cruel aura they had exuded in his 'home'. She simply chalked that up to it being her mind, and that these walls were only here because Trigon had forced them to be here.

The path to the center seemed to stand out, as she knew her mind better than she knew her cavern, or the Tower that had once been her home. "I could do this blindfolded," she said, deciding to really test her mind, for if this were really her choosing, she would make it to the center without her sight. Shutting her eyes, she made her way through the twisted halls, never once making a misstep. Her fear at what her mind must be becoming was suddenly halted as she felt rather than saw the halls gradually shift.

'It doesn't mean anything, just keep your eyes closed Raven,' she mentally chided herself though when, despite her constant chastising, she slowly opened one eye. The sight that greeted her didn't make sense. Where before the walls were throbbing masses of flesh, now they were a sheer white, with wide black lines at the top and bottom of the walls. The floors were now solid stone, with similar black lines at the edges meeting the marks on the walls at the corner.

Looking behind her, she couldn't even see a remnant of the horrors of her father's twisted realm, yet this did not fill her with relief. As she slowly made her way further down the corridors to the center of the labyrinth, she remembered where she had seen this. This was just like the Tower.

~ Damian's Mind ~

Stopping at a corner, Damian looked into the clear waters seeing a few sharks circle each other. The sight would not have seemed so strange to him, until he saw their eyes, each wore human eyes, pure orbs of green, much like his own eyes. No, they were his eyes, he was sure of it, though how he knew, he couldn't say. Moving further down the twisted halls, he saw that each of the great predators bore his eyes, searching out their next meal.

'This is foolish, I just need to make my way in, there'll be answers there, there must be.' Picking up the pace, he moved faster, devouring miles in the deep maze as he drew ever closer to the end. For some reason, this only seemed to heighten his feeling of unease, before finally reaching the… end?

The wall before him seemed to mock him, for he knew that the end of the maze as well as his answers were on the other side. Sitting down to meditate for a moment, he took a breath, calming himself as Raven had taught him, finding his center… 'No, this is how I learned from my grandfather, not anyone else!'

~ Raven's Mind ~

Having reached the end of the maze far sooner than she had anticipated, Raven couldn't make sense of the wall blocking her path, a smooth white stone, not unlike the buildings on Azarath had been built of. No, she was sure this was the same stone, it even radiated a clear energy, though she was sure it wasn't something she remembered about her home.

She tried to shift the wall, concentrating on the image of it sinking beneath the floor… nothing happened. "That's strange," she focused on the wall again, willing her mind to obey her desires. Still nothing, a barrier standing between Raven and the center of her mind, an impregnable gate. 'Guess there's nothing for it right now,' she thought, turning her back to the wall, and sitting in a meditative form, her legs crossed, arms resting across her knees.

"Just take a deep breath Raven, focus… center yourself… maybe you took a wrong turn somewhere." Even as she spoke these words, she knew she had not, there was always only one path, a single track that lead to the deepest parts of her mind. Nothing should have changed… yet something had, she'd never had no control of her own mindscape. If she willed it, it could've just been a straight line, but she had come to enjoy the feel of the maze.

Somehow, everything had changed, she knew it, felt it in her very soul, yet she couldn't figure out how or why…

~ Damian's Mind? ~

'There's got to be something here,' Damian was looking over the wall for the fifth time, trying to keep his sanity intact. The short time he had spent meditating only confused him, as images of this 'Raven' continued to intrude, growing ever stronger the longer he sat before the wall. Even as he was combing over the wall for clues, he felt a slight shifting beneath his feet before his barrier began to sink.

"Finally, now I can get out of here." He moved past the wall, ignoring everything but the center of the maze, where he found his communicator, just like it should be. Only, this one looked oddly faded, scratched in several places… this couldn't be his communicator. It didn't matter, he needed to get out, and find Raven.

"This has been… the weirdest… dream." He finally looked around the room, seeing for the first time why this felt so strange to him. Glowing red marks lined the walls, and those walls were just as strange, some were reminiscent of the Tower, others were the fish tanks he'd seen earlier. One section was made of some disturbing substance, pulsating and red, like blood flowed behind them. Another was made of a solid looking stone, clean, pure, almost the same color as ivory.

As he looked to the wall of stone, part of it shifted, falling below the floor, revealing a figure, meditating with their back turned to him. The figure moved to stand…

~ Raven's Mind? ~

Raven heard more than felt the wall behind her sink, moving to stand, she began to feel very uneasy, almost as if eyes were on her. Yet she knew that this was impossible, no one could be here. She turned to the center, her eyes seeing but not registering another person in the room.

As she made her way to the communicator she knew would be waiting for her, she took no notice of the boy standing opposite her. She began to reach for the communicator before she heard him whisper, "Raven?" She looked up, seeing those green eyes, unmistakably his, and felt only one thing… pure terror.

"Damian?.."