I realize that I just miscounted some of the chapters. Oops...Oh well. I'm too lazy to go and fix them, oh and I deleted the author's notes.

Writing this chapter was pretty much hell. I had a crap ton of writer's block when I was writing this, and had no way I could think of to top the previous chapter. That's why I didn't upload anything. Anyhow, the next chapters are gonna be fairly long. I think that there should be 1 or 2, 3 at the most, more chapters left before this story is done. That's including the epilogue and preview for the next story. Maybe I'll just upload the epilogue and preview in the same chapter...
I already knew exactly how this one was gonna end as soon as I started writing this story and I only told 1 person how it was gonna end.

I had almost no direction where I was going with and I had 2 ways that I wrote this out. I first started with the beginning but I didn't like it. So I opened up another document and just started from the middle and it seemed to flow much better till I got to around the end. Then I went back and read over the first draft I worked on, cleaned it up a bit and posted my writing dump and it worked out! Then I just edited it. I was originally gonna write this chapter to be longer but I think that this should suffice.

If you guys notice, the spell she used was the same 1 from Spellbound. :) I couldn't remember if that was before Trigon but yeah...if it's after Trigon, oops.

Also, I wanted the conversations between Beast Boy and Raven to be as natural as possible. I would apologize for the ending conversation between BB and Rae but thinking about it, it gives character development and a deeper sense of his emotions. I strive for complexity.


Chapter 29: Battle for Hope

"Trigon..."

"Hello...my daughter."

The red behemoth's smoldering eyes bore into his Raven's. He took a menacing step forward. The empath balled her fist and sent a bolt of lightning at the giant but it had no effect. She made a small gasp before lifting herself higher into the air and extending her arm. The wind twisted around the demonic emperor which created a powerful whirlwind that blew away the corpses and debris.

"Do you think such pitiful magic would affect me?" Trigon said as he marched forward.

He didn't so much as feel as a tickle. Raven sent her father a deathly glare.

"You took everything from me!"

She extended her hand and used the giant's shadow to hold him down.

"My mother! My home!"

Raven raised her arms above her head and summoned an enormous black celestial bird that she sent at the demon. It circled around Trigon before closing in on him.

"Such insolence is unbecoming of my kin" Trigon said in an unimpressed tone.

He broke the shadowbinding with ease and continued marching. The red giant stood before his daughter and extended his hand out as she floated above it.

"Stay here and contemplate your pathetic existence" he said as he sent an electric current around her body.

Raven's scream echoed across the city as her body plummeted to the ground below.

Her vision grew blurry as she weakly slowed her fall by manipulating the air but landed on the ground with a loud THUD!

+Across the City+

A pair of jade eyes drifted dazedly as a dull pain throbbed through his body. Beast Boy sat up and gripped his head.

"What the hell happened? Ow…"

He looked at the blood on his hand. The shape-shifter looked around and remembered the collapsed building. He remembered that he goaded the wraiths into his trap before the support beams came crashing down on them. But he couldn't remember how he ended up outside.

"I must have gotten thrown out when the building collapsed…"

Beast Boy felt the hair on the back of his neck raise as he looked towards the rift.

"Why do I get the feeling I'm not gonna like what I find…"

He took a deep breath before shifting into a bird; his first transformation in what felt like ages.

The therianthrope soared in the sky, a discomfort in his leg as he surveyed the city. The majority of the city was completely destroyed and reduced to rubble. To make matters worse, the army Trigon brought with him was approaching the barrier.

His eyes then caught sight of the red giant and dived down to a dilapidated rooftop, hoping that the demon would not notice him.

'What the hell?! What the hell?! What the hell?!'

He peered out and ducked immediately, gripping his heart in panic.

"Oh my god…oh my god…oh my god…I'm so fucked…!"

The red emperor halted his step for a second and turned his head toward Beast Boy's general direction.

'Crap! Did he hear me?'

Trigon turned back and started walking again towards the edge of the barrier.

"I hope that barrier holds" he said to himself as he poked his head and looked around.

"I gotta find Rae…"

The former Doom Patrol member morphed into an eagle and flew up into the sky, to scour the area for the enchantress. He kept his eyes peeled for a hint of blue.

His nose caught a familiar scent and he pulled a wide turn towards it. Beast Boy saw a tiny hint of blue and morphed back into human form.

"Rae! Rae!"

He tucked an arm under her and nudged her awake.

"Rae! Rae, wake up!"

The enchantress groaned as a small trickle of blood dripping from her forehead. Her eyes slowly lifted and a green blur formed in her vision.

She blinked a couple of times before jolting and hitting her head on Beast Boy's head.

"Ow!"

"Ow!" They both said in unison as they held their throbbing heads.

"You really are hard-headed Rae!"

"You're one to talk!" she retorted.

"Wait…Beast Boy. You're okay?"

"More or less."

"How did you-"

"It's a long story…"

"Rae…what happened?"

"I…I wasn't strong enough!" she said frustrated. "I couldn't stop him!"

"So what?"

"What?" she said looking at him.

"You don't just give up! You try again!"

"Don't you get it?! It's damn pointless! He's too powerful!"

"You beat him before! You can do it again!"

"I nearly died last time and I lost my powers!"

It took every fiber of Raven's being to stop her from hitting the green man.

The horrors she faced, the traitors, the deaths of many people, the loss of her emotions over the years.

"You have no idea what I went through!"

"I would if you would just goddamned tell me how you feel!"

Raven glared at him, unsure when either of them got to their feet.

"Right. What would be the point? You'd just leave anyway, right?" he asked derisively.

Raven remained silent.

"You just come back into town, drop a bomb on us and waltz out like nothing ever happened! That's not how being a friend works, Rae! You can't just do that!"

"Why are you just getting mad at this now?! This isn't exactly the best time to even be doing this!" Raven fumed.

"And why is that?" a booming voice asked.

The two Titans stood in the presence in someone who gave them a run for their money.

Trigon grinned down at the two.

'How did he find us without even making noise?! Did he teleport here? Is this an illusion!'

"It's rude not to introduce me to your friends, Raven" he mocked.

The trio stood there for a few seconds in silence until Raven reached out her hand.

"Very well!" He sent out a powerful eye blast.

"Beast Boy!"

Raven raised a shield a second before the blast hit the two of them but the blast was too strong and the pair was sent flying hundreds of feet down the street.

"Yaaaah!"

"Craaaaaaap!"

"Oof!"

Raven landed rather painfully on the ground followed by Beast Boy, who landed on her.

"Get off me, you green oaf!"

Both Titans rose to their feet and dusted themselves off.

"Damn, he's strong."

"I told you."

"He has to have a weakness somewhere."

"He doesn't."

"Look, we can stand here and die or we can try and to stop him so he doesn't do this shit again!"

Raven turned her sight back on the enormous red giant.

"Alright, you distract him while I teleport behind him and blast him."

"Is that really the best you came up with?"

"At least its something, and I'm making this up as I go along. Did you have any suggestions? I'm all ears."

"I…nope."

"Alright…let's go!" Beast Boy charged at Trigon.

"Hey! You big red bastard!"

Raven melted into the ground and waited until Trigon's attention was on her teammate.

Trigon looked at the tiny green man in front of him, unfazed.

The emperor approached the charging shapeshifter.

"Do you really think such a pathetic plan would work on me?"

Trigon stuck his hand into the ground, his hand phasing through and a black pool forming around it.

He pulled out his daughter from the portal in the ground.

"Let go of me!"

"Raven!"

The demoness shut her eyes and phased through his hands, and teleported near Beast Boy.

Trigon sent another eye blast at the duo but Beast Boy morphed into a crane while she flew to the right. However, in mid-dodge, she was blasted into a building by a second blast.

Raven shook her head, and crawled out of the building. She lifted into the air and uprooted several buildings, chucking them at the giant. The buildings didn't faze him and shattered but Raven used this to her advantage and lit the rubble on fire. The enchantress curled her fist and the pieces shot back toward Trigon. The flaming pieces encircled him before they closed in but Trigon repelled the attack.

She shot towards him, forming a massive black claw stretching from her hand and attempted to swipe at him but her father swat it away like a fly. Beast Boy, in the form of a humming bird, flitted back and forth as he neared the gigantic red beast. As he landed on the behemoth's finger, he morphed into a leopard and ran up from his hand to his arm and shoulder. Just as he was about to shift again, he was hit with a powerful eye blast from Trigon and sent flying. He plummeted towards the earth but Raven swooped in and grabbed him by the back of his shirt before pulling up and placing him on a roof.

"Are you okay?"

He shook his head trying to shake the stars from his vision.

"Stay here for now."

The umbrakinetic bolted again but halted when she saw him frown and swiped the air, a black rift appearing. Four large black energy balls charged with red electricity formed and shot towards the pair. Raven ran back towards Beast Boy, took hold of him while zipping out of there. Just a second later, one of the orbs smashed into the building, and the two blocks of the area was reduced to a crater.

"Rae! You can let go of me!"

"No!"

Another orb whizzed by them, which missed the two by a foot and leveled another block of the city. The erebokinetic turned her head back at her father and saw another orb flying at her. She dropped Beast Boy and swiveled out of the way while Beast Boy transformed into a White-throated Needletail and curved out of the way of the attack. He was a little mad that she dropped him but he was more afraid of what would have happened if he had been hit. The Azarthian took a second to intercept another orb and concentrated. The orb swirled and disappeared before reappearing beside Trigon's face and detonated. A loud explosion followed by a rush of air swept across the street.

"Did that do it?"

When the smoke cleared, a bruise could be seen on the red goliath and a large frown crossed his features. Raven landed not too far from Beast Boy.

"No…I think we just made him angry."

Dozens of buildings started lifting into the air and Trigon started to levitate. The city began to quake. The ground that Beast Boy and Raven stood on ascended and broke into pieces.

"What's going on?!"

"I think that the dimension will begin closing!"

"Then we gotta beat him!"

"Beast Boy!" Raven yelled, the air and buildings drowning her voice.

"I…I'm glad that you came after all! If I had to die somehow, I'm glad I have a friend!" she yelled.

Beast Boy grinned as he looked at Trigon.

"Like I said! Neither of us is going to die! And you're coming home with us!"

Trigon reached down, his claw-like hands scraped the air and hundreds of fire demons emerged. Then the army swarmed towards the pair. Raven and Beast Boy split off, the shape-shifter morphed into a vulture and landed on a floating building. Several fire demons appeared on the roof and began their assault. Beast Boy morphed into an elephant and stomped, stunning some of them while he swung his trunk. The heat from the demons singed his skin but he continued his attack. This wasn't just about him or Raven anymore; it was all their friends and everyone in this dimension. How many worlds had he enslaved and destroyed? He needed to be stopped. Beast Boy's body just moved as he took down the demons and morphed into a bird.

Raven looked and lifted more buildings into the air to aid her teammate. Then she found herself surrounded by dozens of fire demons. The enchantress fired a crescent-shaped blast that obliterated several demons. She was hit in the back of the head with by a demon but she quickly recovered by flicking her wrist and a telekinetic blast hit ten of them. Raven dodged a swipe from one, grabbed it by the shoulder and launched at on-coming demons. She dove out of the way of another attack when she saw Trigon send several eye blasts at her direction. The blast hit several fire demons and Raven managed to dodge the first set.

Beast Boy was saw his comrade's predicament and morphed into a hawk. Trigon opened up a mini-portal and stuck his fist through it. His fist appeared above Beast Boy, who was caught off-guard, and connected with the bird which caused the him to plummet to the earth below.

"GARFIELD!"

Raven was too distracted by her teammate that the fire swarmed around her in seconds and wrapped themselves around her.

"Let go of me! Let go!"

Her vision directed her towards Trigon, a golden orb with black and blue electricity forming in his hands.

The enchantress struggled but the demons refused to release her. Trigon created another mini-portal and the next thing she seen was his enormous hand holding the energy ball.

Raven let out a scream as she felt every fiber of herself being burned away. The Azarathian, like her teammate, descended to the ground. She lay there, in pain and broken.

Her eyes welled with tears as blood dribbled from her mouth and she sniffed. There was no way to beat him, just no way.

Raven looked over to Beast Boy, who lay unconscious in the dirt. She managed to flip over and crawled over to him.

"Beast Boy? Beast Boy?"

The green man groaned as Raven reached her hand and started healing the wound on his head. His eyes opened and he looked around confused and groggy. He was so exhausted and sore, he didn't remember when he felt like this.

"Stay here and rest for a bit, I'll take cover."

He could only grunt in agreement and tried to get his bearings.

Raven dismounted from her spot and zoomed at Trigon, energy electrified her fingertips. She spun in the air, summoning lighting from the sky which struck her, and she redirected that energy towards the demon emperor. Trigon blasted it away but his daughter wasn't done with her assault just yet, she brought her arms to close to her body and her eyes shone white. Raven threw her hands out and black smoke exploded from around her. Seconds later, the smoke swirled that took the form of thousands of ravens with four red eyes.

"Hyah!"

Raven made a chop-like motion which signaled all the ravens to attack Trigon. The demon emperor scoffed as he blasted away the swarm and swatted them away like flies. They more like an annoyance.

He narrowed his eyes, ignoring the thousands of flying birds.

Raven's eyes shone fiercely white with determination and arms formed fluid motions as she uttered an incantation.

"Necronom Hezberek Mortix!"

Black energy spewed from her mouth that spread to him.

Trigon looked amused.

"Did you honestly mean to take an ancient and withered power like that and use it against me?"

The black energy permeated from Raven's eyes and weaved toward Trigon. He chuckled as the energy began to encircle him while the thousands of ravens cawed and attacked him. As the black incantation closed in, Trigon emitted an reddish glow before it flared out like a flame.

The powerful barrier extinguished all the ravens and her incantation.

Raven heard a cry for help behind her and her head shot back towards Beast Boy. The fire demons from earlier were now terrorizing him but he wasn't completely ready to fight. Raven flew over to him without a second thought, Trigon's mood shifted from arrogance to disappointment and mild anger.

He sent several eye-blasts but Raven nimbly dodged and swerved out of the way. The enchantress sent a crescent-shaped blast at the fire demons as she closed in on Beast Boy.

"Rae! Behind you!"

"Wha-?"

Raven dived and a fireball just missed her by a hair. She hissed as the ball burned a hole through the back of her dress and singed her skin.

"Necronom Hezberek Mortix!"

Black energy oozed out of her mouth and began swallow the ground. Beast Boy looked around and the demons were going swallowed up by the spell.

He then remembered that incantation; he recalled her inciting it once but the terror on the little girl's face. That and headbutting Raven when he was a ram. Beast Boy thought she would not do that spell again after what happened with Malchior and her lack of control with it but she seemed to be having exceptional control with it.

The black ooze immersed the fire demons but left Beast Boy alone. They screeched and screamed, stuck in the ooze, as the ooze quickly retreated back to Raven. It didn't take long before the area was free of demons and Raven landed in front of Beast Boy.

"Are you okay?"

He just nodded before he opened his mouth to ask about her spell.

Beast Boy was unfortunately interrupted by Trigon.

"You would risk your life for such lowly being?" he rumbled.

Raven and Beast Boy took a few steps back, the wind picked up.

Trigon took a step forward, shaking the earth.

A vicious and insidious aura that grew stronger from Trigon as he marched forward.

Raven assumed a battle-position.

"Dammit, I think he's serious now."

"You mean he's just been toying with us?"

"Maliciously."

Trigon grinned and a purple aura smoked away from him.

"What's he planning?"

"I don't know but we'll be ready for it."

"Normally, it is beneath me to confront such lowly beings. However, seeing as you are my blood, I think that it is appropriate that I taught you to respect me!"

Raven and Beast Boy covered their faces with their arms from the debris and wind. The force of the wind began to push them back and the black aura whipped wildly until a bright flash of light blinded them.

When it finally faded, Raven and Beast Boy popped an eye open. What they saw next shocked them; Trigon had not only shrunk but changed forms completely. He now was the splitting image of Raven, only with red skin, long silvery hair, four glowing red eyes, his deer-like antlers and donned a red cloak with a red dress.

A demonic grin stretched across Trigon's face.

"What better way to dehumanize you further than taking your form?"

At the speed of a bullet, Trigon sped towards the pair. Trigon was there a millisecond later and smashed his fist into Beast Boy's forehead. He was knocked back. Trigon whipped around, aiming for Raven's chin, Raven barely moved out of the way before he upper-cutted her. Raven's brain rocked around her skull and the Azarathian went soaring. Despite, being shrunken, he was just as strong, if not stronger. Raven crash-landed face first into the dirt, her head spinning and a loud ringing in her ears.

"Come now, my daughter, you can't be done yet" he mocked as he approached.

"Or would I get your attention better if I killed that companion of yours?"

Raven groaned, as she groggily looked around for Beast Boy. He lay in the dirt across the other side of the area. The enchantress moved her arms and legs, struggling to get up. She felt herself being pulled up by her hair, face-to-face with Trigon.

Trigon squeezed Raven's head as images of the destruction of Azarath and Earth flashed through her mind. She screeched as tears formed her orbs. A second later, she was on the ground, the grip and images halted. All she could see was a green ram as she weakly grabbed onto it's back for support.

Beast Boy morphed back, holding onto his head, obviously suffering from a concussion.

"Rae, Rae, snap outta it! We gotta work together and take this guy down!"

"Beast Boy? Uhn…"

Raven's hands glowed a light blow as she reached up to Beast Boy's head, lessening the concussion before passing out.

"You're both reaching your limits" Trigon taunted.

Beast Boy glanced back at Trigon before he morphed into a pterodactyl and took Raven before flying off.

"Heh, a retreat. Pitiful. Regardless, they'll be back."

The green dinosaur soared towards some buildings. He crashed through window, indifferent as he put Raven down.

"Rae, Rae! C'mon!"

"Uhn…"

"Dammit!" He pounded his fist in the floor. He put his hands to his head, gripping his hair.

"I don't wanna die here" his body mildly quivering. He didn't want to admit it but he was scared, scared to death.

He looked at Raven, a part of him getting angrier and angrier.

'This is Raven's fault. None of this crap would be happening if it weren't for her!'

He balled his fist. He was starting to think Terra was right.

"You set this up, Rae! You come back and bring all this shit with you, and what you're gonna leave after, like this all didn't happen?!" He was on his feet now.

"Robin, Cyborg and Starfire are outside of this godforsaken barrier worried! The city is destroyed! People are dead!" He looked at his feet.

"You couldn't protect anyone!"

His head and body hurt, but that paled in comparison to the amount of the emotion that was spewing from him.

"But I guess it makes sense since you couldn't even say sorry back then. Maybe it would be better if you left after all. Take all your crap with you."

He said angry tears forming in his eyes. He wiped his nose with his gloved hand and looked back down before he dropped to his feet. Several minutes went by, silence between them except for Beast Boy sniffing every now and then.

Raven groaned as she rolled her head. She quietly rose, clutching her head. Her head still spinning slightly, so she used her medical magic to heal her head. That's when she heard Beast Boy sniff and looked around at him.

"Hey" he said curtly, his knees to his chest.

"Beast Boy…did…did you bring us here?"

"Yeah."

"Beast Boy…thank you."

"For what?"

"Saving me, back there."

He looked up at her before internally kicking himself for his earlier outburst.

"I'm sorry…"

"Why?"

"I…I said some stuff to you while you were asleep. I was just upset."

"Beast Boy" she began as she turned her body to him. "In all honesty, I'm not mad. This is all my fault, I brought these catastrophes with me" Raven clutched her hand close to her heart.

Hearing the sincerity in Raven's voice made him feel a little better but he was still quite upset.

"I'm not gonna lie, that does make me feel a little better but I'm still mad."

"I understand."

Raven looked at the floor.

"We don't have much time left…"

"How the hell are we gonna beat him? We threw everything we had at him and I think he just grew stronger!"

Raven stood up, her legs wobbly and she bit back the pain. She braced her knees, her hunched form catching Beast Boy's eye.

"Rae…"

"I'm fine."

Her hands trembled slightly but she shook the fear from them as she approached Beast Boy. She held out her hand to help him up. Beast Boy looked up and caught an emotion that he had not seen in her for a long time; a glimmer of determination and hope.

"Let's end this."

End Chapter.