A/N: This is the next to the last chapter of New Titan or New Enemy, and I will be working on the sequel soon. Also, I am writing a spin off story of this one that will be called Identity Crisis, so keep a look out for that. I do NOT own the Teen Titans, and I hope you have enjoyed this story. I give many thanks to my beta Slytherin-Hunter of Artemis for all of her hard work and patience.
Chapter 20: Paradise Lost part 1
A few months had gone by since Beast Boy and Raven had admitted their feelings for each other. The rest of the team was happy for them. Starfire had even convinced them to go on a double date with her and Robin a few times.
Though everyone was ecstatic about Raven and Beast Boy's relationship on their behalf, members of the team still had their problems. For the past few months, those four glowing red eyes haunted Blackcross in his dreams with a promise of death misery and pain. Blackcross didn't tell the other Titans about it because he didn't want them to worry about him. He also had the sense that out of the six of them Raven would stress out about it the most.
For the last few months the Teen Titans had fought many amateur crooks, since most of the malignant villains they usually dealt with were still frozen and under constant surveillance. This was the reason why every time the alarm went off, the titans thought it would be just another easy battle. Little did they know that their next battle would change all of their lives.
Cyborg and Beast Boy were on the couch playing video games. Raven was also sitting on the couch pretending to read a book but secretly watching her boyfriend. Robin was in the kitchen teaching Starfire about Earth food, and Blackcross was at the table with his head down on his crossed arms, catching up on sleep he so desperately needed. He looked like a pupil asleep in the middle of history class.
Suddenly, the alarm started going off, along with a bright red light glowing around the room. None of the Titans were to concerned. Blackcross was startled awake. Still, they made their way to the main computer. Robin was the first one there as always. "Who's the "threat?" asked Cyborg, making air quotes around the word threat.
"Red X," Robin replied sourly. "He's causing trouble downtown."
"What?" Blackcross slowly came out of his daze. "I thought you were Red X."
"I was, and I created a suit for my identity as him and used Xenothium to power it, but the suit was stolen," Robin answered sullenly, thinking his Red X incident as one of his greatest failures. "We'll talk about this later, right now we need to go stop him," Robin said briskly. Unfortunately, later never came for Blackcross.
Downtown
Red X had broken into Wayne Enterprises. The Titans arrived just as he exited the building. "Give it up, X!" shouted Robin.
"Not a chance, kid," Red X retorted.
"Titans, go!" shouted Robin.
All the titans charged at Red X except for Blackcross.
Instead, his eyes widened at seeing Red X. Memories of his parents death flashed through his mind. Even though it was Robin at the time, it was still the same suit. Blackcross vividly saw his mother get stabbed in the heart by an X blade. He stood in his frozen state.
Red X was proving to be too much for the Titans. Starfire threw her radiant starbolts at him, but he easily dodged them. He even managed to engage in combat with Robin and counter all of his attacks. Raven tried to encase him in dark energy, but he somehow avoided even that and threw a sticky X over her mouth, like his predecessor Robin did before him.
Even Cyborg's sonic cannon and Beast Boy's animal forms proved useless against the agile thief. "It's been fun, Titans, until next time," Red X taunted as he blackflipped off of the struggling Beast Boy and turned to leave.
After seeing the defeat of his team, the memories finally left Blackcross's mind for the moment, and was replaced with nothing but hate and anger. Blackcross's eyes turned midnight black, the same shade they turned when he wanted to murder Robin, but this time it was for a different reason.
Instead of just having two midnight black he had four, like Raven did when her inner demon got free. Red X tried to phase away when all of a sudden a wave of red energy hit him in the back, knocking him out of the air.
Before Red X had time to recover, a tendril of blinding red wrapped its self around his leg and slammed him into a nearby wall. Upon impact, the cracking of Red X's bones could be heard. Blackcross didn't stop there; he continued to slam Red X against the ground, the wall, and anything else nearby.
Red X was starting to loose consciousness. With every hit he took, more bones broke. "Drah Quadralithion Zahron!" Blackcross shouted in his other dementional language.
Raven heard his declaration, and somewhat knowing a little about the language, she translated it to "Go to Hell". A portal opened up behind Red X. Raven started to panic that Blackcross would go through with his promise of sending X to hell. Raven could feel the demonic power taking over Blackcross.
Blackcross released X mentally from his powers, and then continued to physically grab him by the throat and throw him down the portal. Robin was seeing everything he was doing and was shocked.
"BLACKCROSS, STOP!" Robin yelled, trying to get his attention.
The sky started to go dark with storm clouds rolling in out of nowhere. By this time Red X was unconscious. Just as Blackcross was about to throw him into the portal the demonic voice that had been haunting his dreams spoke in his mind. "THE TIME HAS COME. YOU ARE MINE!" said the voice.
A bolt of white lightning shot from the storm clouds and struck Blackcross. The impact caused a shock wave that knocked Red X into the portal, and knocked the whole team out except for Blackcross, who was still being struck by the lightning and screaming in pain and agony.
Blackcross eyes turned back to its normal shade as he fell to his knees from the pain of being electrocuted more than once. As the lightning was coursing through his body, his powers flowed from his eyes and mouth and were being drained into the portal. As soon as the lightning stopped, Blackcross had no powers left. He was now an ordinary human being.
A giant red hand came out of the portal, holding Red X by the throat. Then Trigon fully emerged from the portal. He stood at least 10 feet tall. Trigon tossed a insensate Red X aside and stared down at Blackcross. "FOOLISH MORTAL. YOUR POWERS CAME FROM ME! DID YOU THINK YOU COULD STOP ME?" Trigon smirked. He hadn't had this much fun since what was supposed to be the Earth's last day.
"You are of no more use to me," Trigon spat. He grabbed Blackcross and tossed him against a building. Blackcross was starting to weave in and out of consciousness.
Robin and the rest of the team were regaining their senses except for Raven, who had been the closest to the shockwave. Beast Boy charged at Trigon as a gorilla while Robin threw every kind of projectile he had. Cyborg shot his largest sonic cannon as Starfire threw extraordinary star bolts. The combined force of their powers hit Trigon at the same time, causing a massive explosion.
But when the smoke cleared, Trigon was still standing unscathed. He laughed like a demonic maniac and with a wave of his hand, the Titans were all separately encased in a bubble of black energy, except for Raven and Blackcross.
The energy bubbles then started to electrocute the Titans with red lightning. As the Titans screamed in agony, Trigon mercilessly kept the Titans conscious so they would feel every bit of pain.
Blackcross saw his friends getting tortured and he felt helpless to stop it. In desperation, he did the only thing he could think of. He pleaded to the closest thing to a god he knew about.
"ALBATROSS! Take my mind, my body, or my soul, just don't let him take them away! They're the closest to a family I have left!" Blackcross shouted in his mind as a message to be taken to the god. Nothing happened. Blackcross knew it was a long shot at best. Just like a god to be absent, he thought bitterly.
Suddenly, a ghostly demonic voice spoke in his mind, but not in a threatening way. "Heed me Andrew of Quadralithion, your prayers have been heard, though I am no god. Your pleads have not fallen on deaf ears. I want neither you body or mind, and I will not raise a hand against Trigon."
"Please help me on this one," begged Blackcross.
"Pledge your allegiance to me and my power shall be at your command," said Albatross. "But be warned, shall you accept that Raven is bound to Trigon, so you shall be bound to me also.
"Blackcross swallowed. "I accept," he said.
"For the price you have paid, the power of souls will not control the fate of your family today. From this day forth, you shall be my judgment," said Albatross.
A mysterious fog covered the ground and a spectral figure emerged from the fog wielding a large scythe and dawning a black cloak. Under the black cloak, Albatross wore black body armor, his skin was ghost white, and his eyes glowed gray like the fog. There were skulls on the back of his scythe's blade. Albatross hurled his scythe at Blackcross's heart, and as soon as the blade struck him it sunk into his shirt and vanished. The fog then sucked into Blackcross like a vacuum. It caused his body to convulse and his eyes rolled in the back of his head. Once the fog was gone, his eyes glowed the same color Albatross's were.
Trigon was too preoccupied torturing the Titans to notice, and the Titans were too preoccupied being tortured to notice. Except one whose animal instincts being more sensitive to the supernatural could sense the presence of another demon. Beast Boy knew Albatross was around, he recognized the scent from when he came after Robin. But this time it seemed different, not malicious like last time. Then Beast Boy recognized the smell of four demons in the area; Albatross, Trigon, Raven, and… Blackcross.
Trigon had his back turned so he didn't see Blackcross stand up slowly. He looked pissed and his eyes still glowed gray. Blackcross used his newfound power, which he didn't know how to control yet, and somehow summoned the mysterious scythe Albatross had had.
He then threw it at Trigon with such precision that the blade stuck on him. He let out a roar of pain. Blackcross ran at incredible speed and simultaneously grabbed the scythe before Trigon could recover and flipped him over.
As Blackcross landed in front of Trigon, he used the scythe and slashed it at Trigon's chest, causing Trigon to lose concentration and stagger backwards. The Titans fell to the ground unconscious.
Beast Boy, however, willed himself to stay conscious even though he was in unimaginable pain. As blood poured from Trigon's, chest a small globe of red energy could be seen where his heart should be. Beast boy realized that it was probably his soul and the only thing that was keeping Trigon there, though he didn't know how that could help him.
Trigon let out another roar. "YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE DONE THAT, TRIGETH!" he bellowed.
"I am a Trigeth no longer," seethed Blackcross.
Trigon gave a lazy wave of his hand, and just like he did on the "last" day of Earth with the Titans, a shadow replica of Blackcross appeared. The shadow replica had Blackcross's original powers instead of his new ones.
Beast Boy watched as Blackcross desperately fought against himself. After a long battle with his replica, Beast Boy saw Blackcross fall in defeat, and when the battle was over the replica vanished. Trigon started walking over to an unconscious Raven, the wound he received from Blackcross long since healed. As soon as Beast Boy saw this, he couldn't stay awake any longer. He blacked out.