I do not own anything relating to the Teen Titans.

Opening the Closet Door a Crack – Chapter 29

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The three titans turned towards their leader. Beast Boy let out a growl and the hair on the back of his head began to rise. The two girls looked stunned. "Robin?" Raven asked, "Are you all right?"

"Never been better. Have you ever seen anything like this before?" He continued to stare at the ceremony before him.

"Robin, did you not tell me you were not hearing voices?" asked Starfire. "Have you misled us?"

"No, I'm not hearing voices…." The boy wonder continued to stare at the scene in front of him, eyes revealing more of the madness within, unfocused, consumed by the ceremony before him. In a whisper, "it's like my dreams."

"Dreams?" queried Raven. She had not considered this, "What dreams?"

Without removing his eyes from the courtyard before him, Robin began to whisper, "I have done the Dream Quest to Unknown Kadath. Met with Nyarlathotep and seen his beauty. I have seen The Doom that Came to Sarnath. I know why no man may kill The Cats of Ulthar. I have sailed The White Ship and gone Through the Gates of the Silver Key to visit The Nameless City. In my dreams, I have found greatness far Beyond the Wall of Sleep." His voice trailed off.

The shock of these revelations, and the insanity that was growing with every word gave each titan pause. "Robin," Raven continued quietly, so as not to break the trace, "When did these dreams start?"

"Forever and forever." His voice trailed off again. Without looking at the others, he began to walk slowly down the slope of the hill, towards the courtyard, towards the ceremony, to add his voice to the throng, chanting as he went:

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'yleh wgah'nagl fhtagn

In his house at R'yleh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming

Beast Boy turned and coiled, ready to pounce and attack the former leader of the titans. Raven put a hand on his arm. "Don't, he's completely mad. He has no concept any longer of what's going on. What you're seeing isn't what he's seeing. Obviously, the Outer Gods found a different way into his mind. While he was entranced, I took a look. With Victor, they used fear; with Richard, they used curiosity. They realized his mind was too disciplined to response to fear, but the quest for knowledge, that he would succumb to. All of it a lie, but he can no longer tell the difference. The person we knew as Richard Grayson isn't really there anymore."

At that, Starfire let out a sob. "No, X'hal, no. I thought he was strong. I believed that he would be able to resist the Outer Gods. He has always been so strong."

"He's still strong," Raven responded, trying to comfort her friend. "This was the only way they could possibly break him, to get at him through his obsession to know. I'm not sure any human could resist that." At that, Starfire gave a penetrating look at the purple haired sorceress.

"Yes, perhaps you are right."

"Enough," Beast Boy said sharply. "We have a job to do. Regardless of what's happened to the boy idiot," obviously, the changeling still harbored considerably resentment and dislike of the fallen titan leader, "we need to keep this from going any further. Raven," the tone of command was surprising to the Azarathean, she looked towards the green boy who seemed to grow in stature with every moment, "Assuming this ceremony is designed to raise Cthulhu, the next step would be to break it up. If we can knock out enough of these…things" he spat out that last word in a tone of pure disgust, "maybe we can prevent that from happening. OK, go for as many as you can. Titans, Together!"

Falling into habits long engrained by years of training, Starfire and Raven immediately leaped into action. The two flew towards the multitude of Deep Ones inhabiting the plaza. Beast Boy followed, morphing into a gazelle to follow them down to the throng. On the way, they passed the brightly clothed form of Robin, slowly walking down in a trance.

Reaching the bottom, Beast Boy changed into a Tyrannosaurus Rex, whipping his extended tail around, attempting to scatter the creatures. Raven used her black energy powers in a similar way and Starfire, blasting her starbolts into the crowd. With the first foray into the mass, dozens of Deep Ones were knocked down to the ground. However, unlike most battles, these warped versions of amphibious frogmen did not race into battle against the titans. Those that were unconscious, stayed on the ground. They were few in number as it turned out to be quite difficult to knock them out. Those that were simply stunned, rose to their feet and, rather than give battle, simply stood and began their chant once again. After several minutes, with only a very few Deep Ones being knocked unconscious, the three ceased their attack and regrouped.

"Man, what is WITH these dudes, don't they fight back?"

"If I'm reading the mystical portents correctly, they are so focused on their concentration to raising Cthulhu, they do not recognize that they are being attacked."

"Then friends, how long will it take to render all of these creatures unconscious?"

Beast Boy and Raven looked at one another, then at Starfire. "I don't know," said Raven. "Given how many of them, the difficulty of knocking them out, some will probably revive before we've gotten to all of them." She paused.

"Then, I suspect they are all tied closely into this resurrection web. Even if they are knocked out, on a very low level they'll continue to feed their mystic energy into the task of resurrecting Cthulhu."

"Then, the only sure way to prevent them from resurrecting Great Cthulhu is to destroy them utterly. It is time to put aside your human sensibilities and accept that this is a war."

Beast Boy and Raven looked stunned at what Starfire was suggesting. "Uhh, Starfire, you're not suggesting what I think you're suggesting, are you?" asked Beast Boy.

"The Deep Ones must be exterminated."

Beast Boy's face hardened. "No, I won't do that. I will NEVER do that. There's always another way."

"Then you condemn the universe to destruction," she said simply. With that she turned to the nearest Deep One and fired a starblast at him, "I am required by my oaths to do anything and everything to prevent that." The starblast blew a hole through the middle of the Deep One and exited the other side, hitting a second and a third before finally exhausting its force. Starfire began to walk steadily through the crowd, blasting away in various directions at the unresisting creatures. She did not fly as she wanted to conserve her strength for the task that lay ahead, the massacre of the multitudes of Deep Ones.

The effect, however, wasn't what was expected. With the first death, Raven felt a small dizziness, with the second and third, she had to put her left hand to her temple, attempting to keep from falling over. With the next several, the grey sorceress fell to the ground, writhing.

"STARFIRE, STOP! COME BACK, SOMETHING'S WRONG WITH RAVEN!" the changeling shouted out. He rushed to his love's side and lifted her head from the ground. He was trying desperately to get her eyes to refocus. Starfire had looked back without stopping firing, suspecting that this was some ruse by Beast Boy to prevent her from fulfilling her duty. When she saw him bend down to pick her up, she knew there was something amiss. Breaking off the attack, she hurried back and knelt down next to Beast Boy.

"Raven, what is the trouble? What has caused you to collapse?" she asked, torn between concern for her friend and suspicion that this was some subterfuge by the two to stop the killing. After a few moments, Raven's eyes seemed to clear and refocused.

Raven's eyes went wide and she grabbed onto Starfire's arm, "Starfire, you CAN'T kill them!" The princess's face hardened as she realized that she had been tricked.

"NO, you're human morals mean nothing now. It is time for battle."

The Azerathean shook her head, "No, you don't understand, you're only making it worse." At that both Starfire and Beast Boy looked puzzled. The purple-haired girl saw their confusion.

"Look, this is a mystical ceremony designed to focus the Deep One's chi and use it to raise R'yleh and resurrect Cthulhu."

"Uhh, chi?" asked the shapeshifter.

"Their life forces, the energy that all beings have. It can be manipulated and used for various tasks and abilities, some people call it their souls, but there's some debate regarding that." She saw that the Tamaranean was becoming impatient. "Bear with me, this is how all magic works. It uses the chi of people to manipulate energy fields, among other things. "

"In white magic, the chi used either comes from within or from those willing to give of themselves freely. In black magic, it is taken from others, often forcibly. It's also used to impose your will on others. That's how I knew Malchoir was teaching me black magic. With normal magic, I can only encourage things to happen, I can't force it. When I forced Gar to change back, I knew it was black magic."

"What does this have to do with killing the Deep Ones," Starfire was getting more than a little aggravated by this discussion, there was a battle to be fought.

"I'm getting to it. One of the short cuts that black magic usually uses is the unwilling sacrifice of the life force of others. It's called 'blood magic'. Basically, it's a short cut. By the rending of another's chi from their body, you release tremendous amounts of energy. It's at the cost of a perversion of your own chi, but usually practitioners of black magic have already either accepted a corruption of their soul or have traded it away for some extra abilities. White magic also uses it at times, but generally it is a self-sacrificing. This is why some mages are able to perform wondrous deeds at their death, their self-sacrifice basically releases the entirety of their chi to accomplish their task."

"Look, Rae, this is all really interesting, but what does it have to do with these creatures."

"Gar, I need to explain it first so you understand. These creatures have tied themselves into a ritual of black magic where they are focusing their chi into raising Cthulhu. They're doing it the slow way for some reason, I'm not sure why, probably so they will be able to offer themselves to Cthulhu when he awakens. Unfortunately, Starfire, when you're killing them, you're releasing tremendous amounts of energy through the focus their using. And it's going into Cthulhu."

Starfire's eyes widened. "You mean, with every death, we increase the power that's going to Cthulhu?"

"Yes, by tremendous amounts. It's the difference between the drip of water in a sink and turning the tap on full. With every death, you accelerate his resurrection."

The princess looked almost defeated. "How much time do we have? How much more energy is needed to raise Great Cthulhu?"

At that, in addition to the background sound of the chanting hordes, another sound was heard. A slow grinding as ancient stone rubbed against ancient stone, neither of which had moved in eons. The great door that led to the tomb of Cthulhu had just moved. It rather resembled a garage door, slowly swinging up, even though it was one huge slab. The non-Euclidean geometry of the design made the door seem to be rising to the heavens, as if heaven would accept so blasphemous an entity as Cthulhu. While the door had not opened much, it was slow and steady, enough so that the blackness within was revealed. No matter how much light was about, it did not penetrate the inkiness that lay within.

"Not enough," replied Raven in a whisper.

"So, we're too late, Great Cthulhu has awoken?"

Raven paused for a moment, closing her eyes and concentrating. "No, not yet, we're only on the fringes of the awakening. Apparently, the opening of the door takes time and by the time the door is fully open, Cthulhu will be resurrected."

Beast Boy and Starfire stared at the grey girl in horror, eyes wide, mouths agape. Then, the green teen closed his mouth and a look of determination came over his face. He turned towards the great stone door and his eyes narrowed, considering. He began to run towards the door. Changing to a cheetah, he picked up speed. As he approached the steadily rising door, he gauged his distance, the height of the door and his speed. Just before reaching the door, he changed once again, this time to a triceratops, razor sharp horns protruding from the crest of his head, an additional horn on his nose.

And plunged full speed into the stygian darkness where Cthulhu lay, waiting.

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Last chapter, I was so focused on addressing the BB/Raven 'did they or didn't they' issue, I forgot completely about explaining the story that this final arc is based on. Sorry about that.

Obviously, this is based on 'Call of Cthulhu', which is the first of the Cthulhu mythos stories. It made use of concepts and ideas that he had previous utilized, but this was the first real flowering of his world. It was published in 1928 and became the foundation of many of his later stories. It's actually in three parts, the first based on a series of dreams that various sensitive people around the world experience, the second on the 'Cult of Cthulhu' and the third on some sailors who make their way to this malign island and meet up with Cthulhu.

I made use of some of the description of the island in my last chapter, especially the tower and the door to the tomb. I did have to expand upon it as there are some details I needed for my story that were not mentioned (I think HP would understand). In this chapter, the reverie that Robin gives, especially his dreams, is based on the first part of the 'Call of Cthulhu'.

There is one other thing. Lovecraft wrote more than just the Cthulhu stories. He was also a bit of a fantasist, always with a touch of horror. These dealt with mythical lands and legends. During Robin's recitation of the quests he's undergone, there are a number of italicized words and groupings. These are all titles of various Lovecraft stories, mostly the fantasy horror. He wrote, all told, some 68 stories and short novels. As with any writer, some good, some not as good. Overall, I've probably referenced about a quarter of them, one way or another, throughout this entire story.

OK, enough lessons. Now for the thanks. As always, I am grateful for the various readers who continue to stay with me throughout this incredibly extended storyline. Patience my friends, next chapter is the penultimate, then the finale. As for what will happen, hopefully many of you remain uncertain regarding the final disposition of participants. (OK, Cyborg will stay dead, other than that I mean).

As for my very gracious reviewers, my eternal thanks.

Flood125 – Thank you for your appreciation of my twist. I've tried quite diligently to foreshadow all of the twists and turns in this story so that it's a surprise when it happens, but upon reflection the thought is, he warned us chapters ago with this, didn't he. Even if we didn't realize it at the time.

ForceIsStrongWithThisOne – Ah my friend. These are heroes, they always go down swinging. Hell is indeed about to break loose, but, perhaps not in the way you think.

Malconvoker - Yes, you hit on the perfect point. He and Cyborg were the only 'fully human' members of the titans and, therefore, the most susceptible. Again, the plan from the beginning. Thanks for staying for the last few chapters.

Blues32 – Believe it or not, for several weeks, that part troubled me. I was trying to figure out some way to avoid an all out massacre (essentially, taking the easy way out). It finally occurred to me to make it prohibitively dangerous to kill the Deep Ones, but I needed a good explanation. Hopefully, this will satisfy you and not seem like a cop out.

Anon – Thanks for stumbling into the world of Lovecraft. Glad you could join us for the ending.

Ijpowers92 – I'm blushing and extremely grateful that you think so highly of the story. Truthfully, I really liked that opening, thought it gave a "Twilight Zone" feel to the beginning, as well as being in keeping with some of Lovecraft's purple prose.

Soulseekerthe13th – Hmmm, looks like you enjoyed the decent into madness. It's fun and there are no dues. As you can see from above, I cannibalized some of Lovecraft's own descriptions to get to R'yleh. I'd love to take all the credit, but fair is fair, the master was there first.

Kenzie – No, you're correct, Robin went off the deep end. And yet, you are also right in that he sees something the others do not. Unfortunately, it's not real. I agree, the chapter was a little slow as I had to get the titans to R'yleh, and traveling is not the most exciting of storylines. Not sure this one is much better, truth to tell, as, again, there's more explanation than action. Hopefully, you'll still like it.

Novus Ordo Seclorum – As you can see, the darkness of the storyline grows with each passing chapter. You were correct, Robin was covering up and now you can see why and how. As for why the friction between Robin and BB, patience my friend, patience.

Until next time my friends, sleep well.