Honestly, I don't know what to say this time. We've been on a long and bumpy road with this story. It's had it's up and its WAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY downs. It's been painful to write and a dear to read. It's both heart warming and heartbreaking to write/read this. We'll go ahead and do reviews now.
Allen Blaster- This is how we do it. Foamy-style.
Rcktkid- Insanity loading in 3...2...1...
Bearhow- I think this is what you're looking for.
liger09- Thank you, it was another reader that gave me the idea for that and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to use it.
KangBoRam- ikr? lol
Adrinsane- I did a lot of research on the Spectre and tweaked him for my purposes.
Guest- oh, the Spectre is quite real, trust me. As for the bond, I never forgot about it, but I intentionally had it forgotten about by the two of them (I don't particularly care for OP characters other than the Spectre and the Beyonder).
RPGPersona- You know, you've been with me since chapter 1 of this roller coaster of a story. Thank you, my friend. I hope the rest of my stories are good enough for your viewing :)
Creepingwillow9- I got a plot twist in this chapter that will blow your mind. ;P
Aqua Rules- It only goes downhill from here lol
Bluedog197- *stalk stalk stalk* jk! lol. I see you get what I was going for with the time travel (flashpoint). I'm certain you'll enjoy this chapter too!
LostDemonessRaven- Yall gonna make me lose my mind, up in here, up in here! xD
Stavie333- Sounds like you'll enjoy this chapter too...*snickers*
Taygon55- I literally have no idea what you were describing and YouTube gave me no answers lol. As for the 'lets retire' schtick, I never actually said they'd permanently retire, now did i? That aside, BB's angle was 'not worthy because he's killed people'. Also, fuck that Cosmic Treadmill. that thing was stupid. and no, there is no Bart (if you're referring to Impulse, that is)
Guest-Thank you! I hope you enjoy this one too.
SueySide- idk about GOD (but you can feed my vanity as much as you wish), but I like to think I have a little talent at writing. Also, heart attacks are bad, mkay?
Rosiejc- 'regular'...right *guilty cough*
Bunnyfire- thank you, I like to think this story is pretty decent. :)
Lord Sicarius- What, like this?
To say that fear permeated every fiber of her being was an understatement. Every iota of her existence trembled in absolute terror. The Spectre was supposed to be a myth, a proverbial boogeyman used to scare young magic users into staying away from forbidden magic such as time travel, life manipulation, and cosmic restructuring. He hadn't been seen in a full millennia, not since he wiped out the Al Bhed civilization and their home dimension for trying to turn their king into a god. There had only been one survivor in that instance, a man named Cid, who was simply visiting Al Bhed to learn their engineering.
And yet here the Spectre was, in this very room with them.
Raven turned her head slowly, dreading what she would find but needing to see for herself the being was a step below the creator of the universe. What she found was not what she expected, but terrifying nonetheless.
He was tall, impossibly so, with an immensely muscular bare chest and arms. A billowing forest green cloak, which matched the pants he wore, hung from his neck and his silvery-grey skin seemed to radiate his cosmic power. Beneath the hood of his cloak she found a pair of malevolent red eyes and a disgusted sneer upon his handsome yet angry face. She noted that he had a little bit of an underbite, which gave her a small bit of comfort to know that God's right hand was not perfect.
This comfort disappeared when a hand, wearing a dark green glove with a black band across the back, reached out and snatched her off the ground. She was brought up to eye level and gazed into his eyes.
Blood red eyes that glittered with the millions of souls this entity had taken over the span of its existence.
"That was not a rhetorical question, child." The being growled, his otherworldly voice shaking her to the very core of her being.
Fearing for her loved ones lives, Raven looked around only to find that she was not in the Doom Patrol's headquarters anymore. She was in a void in space, surrounded by thousands of stars.
Had the situation not been so dire, it would have been beautiful.
"N-no one." The empath stammered, hoping, praying, that only she would be punished.
"Then for what purpose do you meddle with time? Your world's heroes know better than that. Especially the one they call the Flash." He snarled at her.
Raven shook her head quickly. "I don't know what they did-"
"Blatant ignorance is no excuse!"
"I just wanted my baby back!" Raven shouted at the man-god-thing that held her captive.
The Spectre paused, staring at her thoughtfully. "Your child?"
The empath shook her head vigorously. "Yes! I was five months pregnant when a group of villains attacked my boyfriend, my friends, and myself. I lost my baby and a friend in the attack."
"And these…villains?"
Raven paused in thought. "Um…I think three of them lived?"
"Then it sounds like you have achieved justice and revenge for your…child." The Spectre stated. "Thus giving you no reason to interfere with time."
"What good does justice and revenge do if I can't have my baby?" Raven asked, tears forming in her eyes. "How is that supposed to fill the hole in my heart where my child was? How is that supposed to stop my nightmares, my ghost pains, and my broken heart?"
"You are a mortal. Your pain will fade with time. Move on with your finite life and start anew."
Even though she was crying, Raven felt herself getting angry. "It was stupid of me to ask you that. What could someone like you know of pain? Of suffering? Of misery? You, who didn't even attempt to stop Trigon from ascending."
"I was not permitted to interference with that." The silvery man said softly, surprising the girl once more. "Many lives were lost because of that, but many more lived."
"You could have stopped him and saved all of those lost lives."
"I am aware of this, spawn of Trigon." Spectresnarled without warning. "What you do not understand is that balance between good and evil must maintained in the multiverse! And part of that balance is your sire! His very existence is an inherent part of existence as a whole. You defeated his attempt to rise above his place in the order of things because you were supposed to do so. That was the very purpose of your existence. What you did after was of no concern of mine."
"Then why do you stop me from saving my child!" Raven cried out.
"Because to do so disrupts the balance!" The Spectre shouted at her as he shook her. "If you do not understand-"
"The only thing I understand is that if you keep shaking Rae like that that I'm gonna stick my foot up yer ass." An angry voice called out. Both Raven and the Spectre turned to find a very irate changeling glaring daggers at the silver man.
"I was wondering when you'd speak up." Spectre snorted.
"Gar?!" Raven gaped. "What you doing here?!"
The changeling jerked his thumb towards her captor. "I hitched a ride on Ghost Rider's cloak just before he poofed."
"I have never been in the presence of the literal embodiment of the Red before, so I allowed you to follow out of curiosity." Spectre gave them a little shrug. Both teens stared at him in confusion, so he shook his head. "Never you mind. Now-"
"Whaddaya want?" Gar interrupted him again.
"Want?" Raven echoed, looking at the man-god-thing that was holding her. He was staring at her love with a mixture of amusement and disbelief.
"How did you know I wanted something?" He asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.
Garfield snorted. "Gee, for someone as close to God as you are, you don't know much. This is just like the DLC to Dungeonlord 3: King of the Dead. Your character runs into Death, who's furious with you for cheating him out of your soul, so he forces you to do his dirty work to pay off your debt. The more times you die in the main game the more you have to pay him back. In this case, you, Ghost Rider, are Death and we're the players. You want us to do something for you in exchange for you not killing us."
Raven stared at Gar for a good few minutes before glancing at the Spectre, who was staring at him in complete disbelief. Her eyes widened when she realized Gar was absolutely right. There was no way in hell that-
"I don't know why I'm so surprised." The entity muttered. "You never change."
Both teens' faces screwed up in confusion (again) as they spoke in unison. "Huh?"
"Never you mind." The man growled before setting Raven down. Well, down is a subject to be debated, seeing as she was standing on a solid mass of nothing below her feet. If she wasn't used to flying and Nevermore's landscape, she might have panicked.
"So, whaddaya want?" Gar asked again.
"The blood of Trigon."
Raven stared at the man whilst Gar's face scrunched into confusion once more. "Huh?"
"I want the blood of Trigon." The Spectre repeated.
"Dude, you just said you weren't allowed to mess with him, so how the heck can we give you his blood?" the changeling frowned.
"It's quite simple, really. She's already figured it out." The silver man motioned to Raven. The changeling looked at her, but she was staring hard at the entity before them.
"How do you expect me to bring them to you?" She asked with a scowl. "They're scattered across the cosmos. I'd die of old age before I found them all."
"Perform a summoning. And yes, I can provide the power, seeing as I'm just assisting a sorceress." The Spectre smiled darkly at this last part. He enjoyed finding loopholes in his orders.
"Them? Who is them?" Gar asked put his hand on his love's shoulder. "Come on Rae, tell me."
"He wants my siblings, Trigon's other children." Raven frowned. "All six hundred and sixty six of them. Collectively we're referred to as the Blood of Trigon."
"Six hundred sixty three, thanks to…your lover." The Spectre corrected her.
"Woah woah woah." Garfield held up his hands and approached the silver man. "Let me get this straight. It's okay for Rae give you six hundred demons in exchange for not killing us but it's not okay for us to go back in time and save our baby? How the heck is there any balance in that?!"
"The demon's existence became a moot point after Trigon's fall. They served their purpose and now they have none. Removing them works in my favor and ensures that Trigon's revival is delayed for some time." The Spectre said this in such a casual manner that the teens shuddered. He had spoken so offhandedly about it that it was almost like he was talking about gardening, pulling some weeds to save the roses.
Garfield scowled. "Nice way of dancing around the answer, dude."
"Gar, please stop arguing with the demigod." Raven groaned and put a hand to her head.
"Nuh uh, no way Rae, something's really fishy about-"
"I will trade you this in exchange for summoning the demons." The Spectre interrupted him, holding forth an upturned hand. In his gloved palm was a small glowing light.
"And that would be…?" Raven asked.
"That would be a soul."
Gar scoffed. "That tiny thing is a soul? What's it go to dude? A ba…"
The changelings' mouth ran dry as Raven's face filled with horror as a realization struck them like a freight train.
Right there in front of them, within arm's reach, was the soul of their child.
"Where's the body?" She whispered as she inched closer.
The green cloaked man pulled his hand away and shut it, effectively cutting off their view. "Getting the soul was the hard part. Recreating the body is trivial in comparison."
"Then what do you need me to do?" Raven said before he finished speaking. Spectre smiled and it sent shivers down their spines.
"A few drops of blood and the beginning of a summons. I will guide you from there."
Garfield wasn't entirely sure just how long he sat on the floor/not floor of wherever the heck they were. Raven been standing way off to side chanting something for a good while with the Spectre silently watching. When the man-god-thing reached out and placed his hand on Raven's head, the changeling bristled. Something about this Spectre dude was giving him the heeby jeebies and he just didn't like it. When nothing happened, Gar went back to tracing the patterns on the sole of his boot.
Of course, since he wasn't paying much attention he didn't notice the area getting darker. It wasn't until there was a loud crack, like glass exploding, did he look up from inspecting his shoe.
The immediate area around them looked like fractured glass, the cracks spreading out farther and farther as the seconds passed. Within two minutes it encompassed an area the size of a football stadium. A series of cracks flowed around the changeling as well, like he was a rock in a stream. It was more than a little disturbing.
"Uhhh….Rae?" He called out. "This a bit above our usual level of crazy, dontcha think?"
Even though he couldn't see her through this distortion in reality, their bond told him that she wholeheartedly agreed.
Moments later, the world shattered.
Even though there wasn't actually any glass, the sound of it was realistic enough to make Beast Boy cover his head. When it ceased, he lifted his arms and found himself surrounded by hundreds of demons. They were all shapes and sizes, some no taller than him and others the size of skyscrapers. Their skins were all sorts of colors as well. Many had four eyes, but there were more than a few with just two. He noted that jutting fangs and pointed ears weren't uncommon. This led him to the brilliant idea of pretending to be one of them, which turned out to be a terribly smart idea when they all got very angry seconds later.
I'm sooooo glad this bond thing makes me smarter than the average bear. He chuckled as he hopped up and put on a fake scowl. The demons around him didn't spare him a second glance.
"Where the hell are we?" One called out, a car sized brute with four eyes, dark blue skin, and six arms.
"Fuck if I know, never seen this place." Responded another, whom was taller than a semi trailer, spindly limbed with two eyes and an ant-like face.
"Wherever we are, we were summoned here." Something rumbled above them. The changeling and many demons craned their necks upwards to view a demon as large as Trigon himself, though with skin so black it seemed to absorb light, four glowing yellow eyes, and a pair of massive lower canine teeth that jutted out like tusks.
"That would be correct, First Born of Trigon, Disonisus the Light Eater." A female voice called out. Disonisus and every other demon present turned to peer at Raven, who had been standing there quietly. The Spectre stood at her side, hidden in his cloak and as silent as death.
The great black skinned demon rose an eyebrow. "Last born? For what purpose do you summon me, Pride?"
Raven's eyes split into four as her demon half spoke up. "I summoned everyone to discuss the distribution of father's power."
"Bullshit!" A voice snarled. Heads turned to find a man wearing nothing but a hateful look on his face and soap in his hair glaring at Raven. "When we went to get your help, you sicced that crazy fuckin guard dog on us! He killed Gluttony, Wrath, and Greed!"
"Be quiet and let our dear sister speak, Envy." Disonisus rumbled. "I'm sure she has something in mind. Father did not appoint her as Pride for nothing."
Pride looked up at the older demon. He was very old and, from what she understood, a very dangerous tactician as well as an excellent fighter. The thought of crushing such a foe made the half demon smile.
"You're quite right, eldest brother." She nodded at him before smiling wickely. "But the thing is…none of you are getting any of his power."
"You honestly think you can take all of us?" The colossal demon growled.
"Oh, I know I can." Pride/Raven chuckled. "But I don't need to. They're yours now."
The demon's reaction to the Spectre revealing himself was nothing less than a Kodiak moment, so great was their shock. But it didn't last long.
"A quarter of Father's power to the one who brings me the Spectre's head!" Disonisus roared. Six hundred and sixty three demons surged forward simultaneously, eager for blood, glory, and power.
The Spectre merely smiled before a pulse of white energy blasted outwards from him in all directions. The weakest of the demons were instantly disintegrated, their bodies turning to dust and fading from existence. The stronger ones were blown off their feet and sending tumbling dozens of feet away. The strongest of the demons, Disonisus and those close to his strength, were knocked back.
With a roar that shook the very air, Disonisus spat out a billowing white flame that enveloped the Spectre instantly. More demons joined this fiery onslaught, submerging the wrath of God in temperatures that even demons couldn't handle without some serious magical assistance.
When another pulse of white energy blasted outwards, the stronger demons disintegrated and the strongest demons where blown off their feet. Roaring once more, Disonisus leapt up and bounded forward to bring his fists crashing down upon the Spectre.
With bated breath Beast Boy and Raven (who was, thankfully, unaffected by the Spectre's bizarre attack) watched this clash of power. In her condition, Raven didn't have the power to fight all these demons, especially since more than a few weren't too far below their father in strength. She could feed what power she had to Garfield through their bond, but then she couldn't defend herself.
"Is that all the power that you possess?"
Disonisus glared down at the entity before him, who appeared to be completely unfazed by his attack. "No, but I do believe I shall cease toying with you now."
"Too bad, you had your chance." The Spectre placed a glowing white hand on the demon's arm. Said limb immediately began to disintegrate, causing the hellish being to rear back howling. He lashed his foot out, intent on kicking the Spectre to the nearest star.
With a cry of surprise, Disonisus toppled over as his leg disintegrated.
Wordlessly, the Spectre approached the head of his fallen foe.
"You are disrupting the balance!" The demon spat. "You will disrupt the entire multiverse by killing us! The Lords of Chaos and Order will-"
"They will do nothing because the balance will not be disrupted." The Spectre interrupted. "The price has already been paid to keep it balanced."
Before Disonisus could reply, another pulse from the silvery man's hands enveloped him and the demon was no more. The remaining demons surged forward, hoping to catch the Spectre with his guard down.
Within minutes, the only ones remaining were Beast Boy, Raven, and the Spectre.
"Now do you see why I told you to stop arguing with the demigod?" Raven asked in a hushed voice. Her love nodded dumbly, suddenly feeling very frightened and amazed that he had actually done so. When he had done it he had been more frustrated than anything, just so sick and tired of all the bad things that had happened to them. But now? Well, he was grateful the Spectre hadn't blasted him for being mouthy.
Said entity turned towards them. "And now for my half of the bargain."
Both teens tensed visibly as he approached them. He said nothing, but held out his hand. Raven tenderly reached out and the tiny soul fluttered out of his grasp into hers. She brought it in close and gazed into it, feeling the same warmth that was once housed in her own body. A tear slid down her cheek as Gar hugged her.
"We did it." He whispered, unable to tear his eyes away from the glowing essence.
Raven nodded, then looked up at the Spectre. "What about the body?"
"We will address that in a moment." The silvery man said plainly. "But first… I wish to know what you will trade for this."
Both teens stared at him in complete confusion as he held out his other hand, another small glowing soul cradled gently betwixt his fingers.
"What's that?" Garfield asked.
The Spectre raised an eyebrow at him. "The other child?"
"What other child?" Raven asked, a sense of panic forming in her stomach.
"The other child you were carrying? The twin to the one in your hand?"
"I wasn't pregnant with twins…" Raven started to say before a powerful sense of guilt popped up in the back of her mind.
Pride? She mentally called out. Do you have any idea what he's talking about?
Well…n-not really, no…
Pride! What-
"How about you have that conversation where the rest of us can hear it?" The Spectre took a step forward and placed both hands on her head. She gave a little gasp as he started to pull in opposite directions.
Imagine Garfield's surprise when the blood red-cloaked Pride was pulled from Raven, their bodies flowing apart seamlessly like flowing water.
Raven hit the ground hard and immediately curled up into a ball, gasping in pain. Pride did the same thing as Garfield rushed to Raven. His other side was fighting him to check on her other side, so he picked Raven and carried her over to the demoness. He lay Raven face to face with Pride and the two stared at each other in shock.
"What did you do to me?" Raven whispered aloud
"I separated your human and demon halves so that we could all participate in this conversation." The Spectre replied.
"That hurt like a motherfucker." Pride groaned. "How about you put me back in and we forget this happened?"
"How about no?"
"Pride." Raven said suddenly as she sat up and pointed towards the Spectre's reopened hand. "What. Is. That?!"
"That would be the other child we were pregnant with." The demoness said in a low, defeated tone. She knew there was no way out of this.
"What. Other. Child?!" Raven growled as she grabbed her other half by the collar of her leotard and pulled her close.
"The one that I was hiding from you and, more importantly, Beast." Pride said this plainly, no remorse whatsoever in her voice.
"WHY WOULD YOU HIDE SOMETHING LIKE THAT?!"
"Because it would have made him happy to know that he sired not one, but two offspring." Pride shrugged her way out of Raven's grasp. "To be honest, Raven, that was a really stupid question to ask. Beast is Gar's primal side, his instincts. Instincts like that are hunt, eat, mate, and to protect his territory. For him to know he was going to be the father of two cubs would have taken him to levels of happiness most people could never dream of reaching. I wanted to give that to him because he makes me happy. He gave me purpose after spending so much time alone. How could I not repay him?"
Raven stared at her demon half for a long moment before sighing. "I…I suppose I can understand that. But how did you keep it from me? I did the sonograms, the tests, everything. I didn't look like I was carrying twins. How did you do it?"
"I formed a sort of pocket dimension inside of us and placed the baby in there, magically, around the time it would have become obvious that we were carrying two. Then I used my power to shield both children from view, with the other child obviously using more of my strength."
Raven shook her head. "But that doesn't-"
"Raven." Pride interrupted. "We have the power to take down a multidimensional millennia old demonic tyrant. What on Earth, Heaven, or Hell makes you think it would take all of our power to hide one child from prying eyes? That little psycho bitch with the swords? We would have crushed her. Joker and his goons? Sent straight to hell, first class. Atomic Skull? Yeah, his ass would have been dead too. Shit, why do you think I wanted more people around? The more allies we had present then the less power I had to use because enemies would have had to have gone through them to get to us! For crying out loud, Gar climaxed inside us more than a dozen times the first night we lay together! You honestly think that would have resulted in only one child?!"
Raven had no answer, but Pride continued to speak anyways. "That became a bit of a moot point anyways. The thing is, Raven, is that you would have known the moment we woke up from the healing trance during the attack. I was using everything I had left to heal us, including what I had been using to hide the child in the pocket dimension. It was inside our body when we were impaled on the rebar."
The empath stared at her demon side in absolute horror. "Why didn't the Justice League tell me?"
"Because you were already traumatized beyond belief." The Spectre said softly. "They believed that telling you that you lost two children would have sent you over the edge completely."
"Why do you think Grief was so powerful?" Pride said quietly to her human half. "I couldn't hide it from the others after it happened and she overwhelmed us without batting an eyelash."
"You know I haven't spoken to Grief yet." The empath murmured softly. "But…if the others had told me then it would have been feeding her power before I could subdue her…so…that does make sense."
She glanced at Gar, who was standing there with his mouth open, utterly shocked beyond comprehension. Raven had secretly been carrying twins? He had been scared of being a father to one, but now he had to father two?
"Gar?" His love called out softly.
"I-I'm here, Rae." He stammered, stumbling over his words. "I just…hell, I don't know what to say."
"Well…" Raven trailed off for a moment before she grimaced. "Do…do you want it?"
His jaw dropped even lower. "What?! Of course I want it, it's ours!"
"What do we have left to trade?" She asked both him and her demon half. The changeling frowned in thought, but the demoness responded immediately.
"Just one thing." She said softly. Both Raven and Garfield looked at her and she sighed. "Me."
"No fucking way." Gar said immediately. "I'm not letting him take you Rae."
"Not Raven, you idiot." Pride shook her head. "Me. Pride. The demon half of Raven."
"Call yourself what you want, yer still Raven!" The changeling shook his own head furiously.
"Gar-"
"No means no!"
Pride rolled her eyes. "I swear, Gar, you're such a pain in my ass."
The changeling stuck his tongue out as Raven looked at her demon half. "You…you would do that?"
"It goes against the principles of being a demon, yeah. But…I want my babies back. I am you and you are me, so giving the demonic side of us, me, would leave the human side to raise our children." Pride glanced at the Spectre. "Besides, I think the only other thing we could have offered was a certain book that we sacrificed a bit ago. But I don't regret that."
"Pride would be correct, the dragon's book would have been acceptable. That particular dragon had been running from me for a few centuries, so his fate would have been the same either way." The Spectre nodded. "I was aware that you were intelligent, but you exceeded my expectations in reasoning that your demonic side is of equivalent value to a pure unborn soul."
"Pride…are you sure about this?" Raven asked quietly.
The demoness nodded. "Can you think of anything else to trade him? So much of our stuff was destroyed that we barely even had clothes to wear. We lost almost all of our magical items as well. All we have left is the mirror, that old cloak, that one stone, and that ancient wand. So…yes. I can and will do this."
Raven nodded slowly. Those four particular items, while powerful, wouldn't interest someone who guards the balance between good and evil. The red cloaked girl inhaled deeply before turning to the silvery man. "Alright, I-"
"NO."
Both Raven and Pride jerked around to find Gar standing there grasping his head in his hands. One of his eyes was white while the other was alternating between his emerald orb and wild white. His teeth were bared, ears laid back, and a growl rumbling from his chest.
"That appears to be…interesting." The Spectre commented.
"Beast-" Pride started, but was interrupted by a snarl.
"NO."
"Do not tell me what I can and cannot do, Beast." The demoness growled back at him. Garfield/Beast snarled once more before the changeling lost control and the animal took over. The sounds of bones cracking and regrowing, muscle and sinew tearing and reforming, and flesh splitting before reknitting itself back together fill the air for three heartbeats. The Beast then loomed over them, his wild white eyes blazing with his primal fury.
"He-Who-Watches-All cannot have my mate!" He roared.
"Beast!" Pride raged back at him as darkness billowed out around her, enlarging her form to match his size. "There is no other way to get our children back! I must go!"
The Beast slammed his clawed fists into the floor/not floor and snarled once more. "No! Mate goes nowhere without Beast!"
This statement caused quite a hiccup in Pride's mind, which was reflected when she spoke. "…do what?"
"Mate heard Beast. Beast goes with mate."
The demoness shrunk to her original size, a scowl on her face. "Don't be stupid, you're not going."
"Beast is."
"Are not."
"Beast is."
"No, you is not." Pride growled, gritting her teeth after realizing she spoke like him. This nearly caused her to bite her tongue off when she jumped in surprise after the Beast slammed his fists down on either side of her and roared right in her face. She wasn't frightened of him per say, but the idea that she had actually made her mate mad deflated the aspect inside herself in which she was named after. They hadn't fought or argued once after bonding (not a real argument anyways), so this feeling of anger towards her was quite shocking.
Pride would have never admitted it if asked, but she actually wilted in the face of his fury.
She looked at her mate in a mixture of disbelief, shock, and fear from her new position on the floor, where she had stumbled back and fell right on her butt. The Beast seethed above her, a line of drool dripping from his scowling muzzle.
"Beast. Goes. With. Mate." He growled once more.
"You can't." The demoness said in a small quavering voice.
"Beast can and will."
She shook her head. "You don't understand Beast. I'm not going to exist anymore. I have to do this so that the babies will live. I can't take you with me."
"Beast gets tired of repeating self." The behemoth huffed.
"No!" Pride shouted up at him, her voice cracking. "Why can't you understand?! I won't exist anymore!"
"Then Beast will not exist with you."
"That's not how it works you damned idiot! We won't be anything! Nothing! No eating, no drinking, no videogames, no comics, no hunting, no Cyborg, no Starfire, no Robin, no me, no you, NOTHING! JUST A COLD, DARK, AND EMPTY SLUMBER FROM WHICH WE WILL NEVER AWAKEN!"Pride shouted at him frantically. She couldn't let this happen, she loved him too much to-
"Then Beast will sleep with you." He said in a soft, affectionate growl, throwing her off completely. The demoness stared up at him, her voice lost as she realized just what he was saying. It was many minutes before a single blood red tear trailed down from an upper eye.
"Why?" She asked in a broken tone. "Why would you do that? I'm just a demon. It's perfectly fine if I don't exist. But you? You're strong and good, the perfect guardian and the most loyal companion to anyone who needs one. You would give all of that up…for me?"
The Beast leaned down and nuzzled her head. "You are my mate. Beast made the mistake of leaving you alone once before. Beast will NEVER do that again."
More crimson tears followed the first one. "But-"
He placed a black clawed finger on her lips as he looked her in the eye. "Beast will…I… will follow you into the dark…forever."
The demoness bowed her head and tried to stem the tide of tears pouring from her four eyes. "You're stupid, you know that right? Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid!"
The Beast let out a little woof as his form of chuckling before looking up at the Spectre. "Make big Beast and little Beast as you did make our mate in two."
The Spectre, who had been viewing this whole spectacle in amazement, took a moment before answering. "You understand this will hurt…right?"
"Beast does not fear pain, He-Who-Watches-All". The green behemoth snorted. "But He-Who-Watches-All had better return cubs to Little Beast and hooman mate or Beast will return."
The Spectre said nothing in response before he placed a hand on the Beasts chest. He pushed hard against his chest, his hand passing into and through the giant creature. As his limb exited the creature on the other side, a very different looking Garfield came stumbling out of the back of the Beast. He immediately collapsed and Raven, who had silently watched the whole exchange, rushed towards him. In her arms he curled up into a ball, whimpering. The Beast stood still as stone, a low growl rumbling out from him as the only indication that he was in pain.
"You're so stupid." Pride wrapped her arms around the Beasts neck do that he could lift her up. Before turning to face the Spectre, she quickly wiped her face of any remaining tears.
"Are you ready?" The silvery man asked quietly.
The demoness looked up at her mate and he nodded. She turned and faced the godlike being before them as the Beast knelt down and wrapped his huge arms around her protectively. "We are."
As the Spectre placed a hand on Pride's head and one on the Beast's head, the demoness glanced up at her mate. "I love you Beast."
"And I, you, my mate." He replied as he gripped her tighter. The Spectre looked them in the eye one at a time and nodded.
Unlike the disintegration the demons were subjected to, Pride and the Beast simply became transparent. They began to shrink and fade away until they were nothing more than tiny wisps of light in the Spectre's hands. Pride was a red/blue and the Beast was green/red. The Spectre gazed into his hands at the souls before him.
"Never before have I seen a demon weep." He murmured to himself. "How curious."
"Hey! You got what you want, now give us the other kid and their bodies!" Garfield croaked, his body shuddering in pain.
The Spectre's hands closed and dipped onto his cloak. A moment later one came back out, a tiny glowing light in it. He approached the teens and held it out to them. Raven reached out and he dropped it into her waiting hand. She pulled it close and cradled it to her chest, the other soul covered protectively in Gar's right hand.
"You do understand that this will hurt even more, right?" The wrath of God asked them, a bit of concern creeping into his voice. The two exchanged glances, then looked to him and nodded.
"Very well. We shall begin."
Spectre pulled the glove from his right hand, revealing clawed digits not unlike Garfield's. It was a curious sight, but it was pulled from their minds as he knelt down and pulled their free hands towards him. Without warning he scratched both of their palms, leaving deep and bloody gauges in their flesh. Both grimaced in pain but said nothing as he waved the unclothed hand over theirs. Within seconds the blood began to flow upwards towards his, spiraling around it. A sudden pain from their heads caused both to flinch as telekinetically plucked hairs raced towards the strange blood conglomeration before them.
"Dude, what are you-" Gar started to ask before his entire body flinched and his face screwed up.
"Gar, what-" Raven too started to ask before there was a weird squirming sensation in her lower abdomen. It seemed to travel around inside her before exiting from her lower body. A miniscule glowing light came out of her pants leg and flew towards the blood and hair mixture. A similar glowing light shot out of Garfield's pant leg and the two settled in the center of the strange mixture and seemingly combined.
"What the heck did you do, dude?"
"I required a seed and egg from your changed bodies to ensure that the children would be like you as opposed to what they used to be."
"Whoddahadawhatamuss to the what what now?" The boy asked in slight confusion.
The Spectre ignored him and looked at Raven. "This is where the pain starts. I suggest finding something to hold onto."
"-AND THAT IS ABSOLUTELY AND UTTERLY IRRESPONSIBLE!"
Robin stood stock still, praying that Batman didn't see his slight trembling as the older hero yelled at him. The boy wonder had been on the receiving end of the greatest ass-chewing of all times for the past thirty minutes. If it went on any longer he might not be able to stop himself from crying.
It wasn't his fault that he didn't know that the Justice League had classified the Spectre as an SSSSS-rank threat.
But that didn't matter to the dark knight. All that mattered was that they, the Teen Titans and the Doom Patrol, had drawn the entity's attention to Earth and, even worse, attempted to travel through time. If the teens had used a bit more thinking instead of feeling, they would have found out that the Spectre might just destroy the whole goddamned planet to protect the timestream.
Needless to say, Robin almost dropped to his knees and started thanking God when the Spectre reappeared.
When Batman turned to face the Wrath of God, Robin really did drop to his knees and pray.
"Spectre." Batman said in a low, cautious tone.
"Batman." The Spectre replied with a slight nod and a wary glance. He wasn't particularly fond of the dark knight, who always knew much more than he let on. It made the entity slightly nervous, not that he would ever tell anyone that.
"Beast Boy and Raven?" The dark knight asked, glancing down at the Spectre's cloak, which was covering two human-sized lumps on the floor.
The Spectre said nothing as he pulled back his garment. There were a multitude of gasps.
"Friend Raven is with child again! And friend Beast Boy is-"
"Yo! What the hell did you do to my lil sis and bro?!"
"Uhh…Wally, does Raven look a little…different?"
"A bit, but heck, look at BB!"
"What did you do to my kids?!"
"Not much of a grass stain anymore, huh?"
"Calm yourselves." The Spectre said in a whisper that sounded more kin to thunder. The room quietened and he proceeded to speak. "We made a deal. That is all."
"A strange sort of deal, it seems." Batman commented as he knelt down to inspect the unconscious teens.
"It is a strange existence we live in." The silvery man replied as he stepped back. The Titans swarmed forward and gathered up their friends. They were rushed to the medbay, followed by a very anxious Doom Patrol. Batman and Spectre trailed behind them and halted in the doorway.
"What did you do to them?" Batman asked quietly.
"We traded. Blood for blood, in a sense."
"That was a lot more than blood that they gave up."
The Spectre shrugged. "True, but it was not required. It was an option."
"No it wasn't. You knew they'd take it to get the children back."
"Perhaps." Spectre shrugged. "Truthfully, it was quite curious how she even became pregnant. Half demons are sterile by nature. And the changeling's DNA is the epitome of instability. It was a miracle that they even bonded."
"A miracle generally has a something do with higher powers intervening in a mortal's life." Batman turned his head from the sight of Cyborg running scans on his friends and stared at the Spectre. "Did you have anything to do with that?"
The silver man shrugged once more. "For what purpose would I do such a thing? It would not benefit me to do so."
"I see."
"Of course, it was mildly amusing to watch this so called 'Beast' run around killing criminals." The Spectre smiled darkly. "It was quite efficient, if I may say so."
Batman quirked an eyebrow at him. "You were watching that?"
Spectre nodded. "Naturally. I watched everything, including the little reunion the two of them had. It was…something else."
"Yes, it was. Like how Garfield miraculously regained control of his mentality at the last moment."
The Wrath of God glanced at the dark knight beside him, wonder just how much the other man knew. When he spoke, it was slowly. "Yes, that was quite lucky."
"Don't bullshit me, Spectre." Batman said darkly. "I know your hand is in this somehow. I want to know why."
It was a long while before the Spectre spoke, but when he did it sent shivers down Batman's' spine.
"The only thing I will tell you, Bruce, is that there are no such things as accidents."
The End
OKAY, NOW HOLD ON JUST A MOMENT BEFORE YOU PICK UP YER PITCHFORKS AND TORCHES. I HAVE REASONS FOR THIS.
Yes, that means you too Sicarius, put it down.
Okay, now that I have your attention, there are things that I have to say. Let me start with the most important thing.
This story wasn't supposed to be longer than 10 chapters. Yes, you read that correctly. Only ten chapters of this story was planned initially. Everything else was ad-libbed as needed. With that being said, it actually made it more difficult for me to plan things out and connect them together because I threw extra stuff in/extended things for longer than originally intended. It wore me out and I honestly have no more content for it.
Second most important thing.
This isn't the original ending for this story. The original ended the story quite abruptly and left far more questions than answers (not this this one is much better lol). It also had an epilogue that answered a good number of those questions.
Third: There WILL be an epilogue. And most likely a side story involving the Spectre.
Fourth: There was an alternate ending (different from the original ending), which I discussed at length with two other writers, which had Raven being thrown back in time to the beginning of the Titans as punishment by the Spectre. I greatly pondered it and decided I didn't really want to go through the heartbreak of this story again, even if I could bring a better ending about quicker. Besides, time travel is a pain in the ass.
Fifth: This story was not the original story I had planned to write when I started on this site. But I felt rusty at writing, so I made this as my prototype of sorts. This story was nothing more than practice, to be honest.
I'm pretty sure there are a lot of people mad at me now...but that's okay. I went far beyond what I intended with Accidents Can Happen and I'm happy with it (so to speak).
Besides...you guys/gals are gonna love the epilogue.