LoamyCoffee: Huh, hope I can get an invite to that server.
*Blinks* Let me read that back to myself real quick. Did Raven have a moment of stupid just now? Cause I 'm fairly certain Ventus qualifies for ALL of that, yet she is willingly pushing him away, hurting herself emotionally and saying things like that, and going for the Horcrux. The Hell? Unless that was just to keep true to the episode. THAT is quite the excuse from the dragon to avoid Etrigan and Jason, and I don't doubt the actual Rorek might have done that.
Yeah, I figured this was going to be too big for a single chapter. And I am going to actually be livid, if these events convince Raven to distance herself further from Ventus. Not with you, but I am going to be upset with Raven.
Re: Raven's pushing him away initially because she's fated to become the Portal for her father who will destroy the living world; it's a habit she can't seem to break. It's a little easier for her to do this because there are 3 other girls pining for his attention, some more-aggressively than others. Also, she wants someone "just for her", reflective of the Canon (and the Fanon) where she literally walked a mile in Starfire's shoes/feet and bonded with her. The reason she pushes her friends away in both cases, is partly because she ostracizes herself from them, due in part to her "destiny".
That, and Rorek of Nol was a "knight in shining armor" who slew a dragon. Hers is not the only case of a girl falling in love with a fictional character; hers is just one of the few cases where the book comes to life and talks back.
danielsnow: I hope that ventus takes a moment and cuddles the hell out of raven, by force if need be. Sometimes you gotta do what the person needs, not wants.
Re: You know, I think I can work that in.
*TEEN TITANS*
Cue Final Fantasy VII OST - Let the Battles Begin (Battle Theme)
"Uhhhh…" Beast Boy hummed nervously as he and the other Titans caught up to Malchior as he roosted upon Titans Tower, growing larger by the second now that he'd been freed wholesale. "Is anyone else getting a Final Fantasy vibe off this guy? Or is it just me?" he asked tugging at his collar as the evil dragon unleashed a lance of flame very reminiscent of the [Mega Flare], all clouds overhead cleared away by the force of the fiery blast.
"I feel like Square Enix is going to sue someone…" Terra nodded in agreement as the dragon lowered its head, crimson eyes leveling on the gathered Titans.
"Ahhhh, the lonely little girl's friends. Tell me, have you come to kneel before your new lord and master?" Malchior cooed.
"YOU LYING SNAKE! I AM GOING TO SHIT DOWN YOUR GOD DAMNED THROAT!"
"Whoa! Where the hell'd that come from?!" Robin yelped as Ventus utterly leered at Malchior, silver light spilling out of his body like mantle.
"Yeah, what he said!" Terra added, her body and eyes too glowing in gold as the island around them rumbled.
"YOU ARE NOT NICE!" Starfire growled murderously.
"I'm about to go Dungeons & Dragons on your sorry pale ass!" Cyborg growled charging his cannon.
"Teen Titans, Go!" Kitten shouted flying up at Malchior with a right hook that he dodged, only for a giant crystal gauntlet to catch him full-on in the face, broken fangs sent over the side of the roof like at a hockey game.
"Yeah, now you're talking!" Blackfire whooped as she swooped in and struck Malchior with her mightiest backhand, adding Kitten's power to her own.
"Cyborg!"
"Right!"
"SONIC-"
"-BOOM-"
"DRUM ROLL!" the two shouted as Malchior was bombarded with a deluge Cryo Discs accelerated by Sonic Cannon. The majority of the dragon's body coating in ice, Starfire, her sister, and Kitten came in around Beast Boy who struck the Dread Dragon head-on with a T-Rex's headbutt, dislodging Malchior over the side of the roof.
As soon as Malchior was airborne, a giant boulder sheathed in a golden aura riding a rising cyclone glowing brilliant silver struck the Dread Dragon in the back. The rising meteor arcing overhead before Ventus and Terra delivered a 'Seismic Throw' of their own, a cluster of seeker bombs courtesy of Wintergreen from the living room peppered Malchior on the way down, the Dread Dragon striking the shallows just off Titan Island's shores with a deafening- *KA-BOOOOOOOM!*
"Yeah! Let's see you get up from that!" Beast Boy whooped, only for Malchior to get up without a scratch amidst a deluge of water. "Oh COME ON!"
"Look! It's Raven!" Starfire gasped as a shock of white flew at the waterlogged dragon, arcs of black lightning dancing from the mage's fingertips and striking with the fury of a woman scorned.
"Raven! Wait! You can't do this on your own!" Ventus cried as he launched himself off after her, only for Malchior to smack him with his tail, sending him skipping across the bay before he rounded on Raven and caught her in both hands.
"Thank you ever so much, 'sweet Raven'," Malchior chortled as he looked down at her. "I couldn't have done this without you~"
"HRAAAAAAAGH!" Raven bellowed, heart-broken, as she lashed out with black lightning dancing across Malchior's scales even as she caught herself in the blast.
"Foolish child!" Malchior winced, losing patience. "I taught you everything you know!"
"No… You taught me everything you know…!" Raven spat back as a second pair of eyes opened up inside her cowl, leering a hateful red with fangs lengthening.
"And speaking of which~" the Dread Dragon purred. "All of that magic… All of that wisdom… I think I'll take it back now~" Malchior chortled as he used the same knowledge-assimilating spell he'd taught Raven days before, only in reverse, a ray of green light that connected their brows. The black mage gasping as everything she learned over the past week was drained right out of her, her cloak darkened to blue, her leotard to black, and her second set of eyes shuttering.
"RAVEN!" the Titans cried as she was callously tossed aside like garbage, Terra launching herself off her flying boulder to catch her and taking the brunt of the fall, the ground she struck granulating to soften their landing.
"Ventus! How long until Dr. Fate and Jason Blood get here?" Robin shouted as Starfire flew back in, a waterlogged Ventus in her arms.
"Not soon… enough…!" Ventus said shaking himself out of Starfire's grip only to fall to his knees. The teen biting his lip and forcing himself to his feet, he tore his sleeve free and turned it into a sling, his eyes shining silver as he turned the space around his arm into a vacuum, his improvised weapon gaining ludicrous amounts of speed before he chucked it through the air, the piece of rock striking Malchior in the face. "HEY! SALAMANDER! I GOT A BONE TO PICK WITH YOU!"
"Oh, it's you. You know, you were on sweet Raven's thoughts often as I trained her. At least… until she forgot about you~" the Dread Dragon purred tauntingly, only to catch another rock in the eye, followed by exploding discs, sonic booms, energy blasts, and so-on. "Foolish mortals…! No power of this world can defeat me now! Not when I have been empowered by his daughter~!" the Dread Dragon said knowingly as a second set of eyes began to open above his brow, his scales beginning to turn a baleful crimson.
"Maybe nothing of this world can stop you…" Ventus spat as he forced himself forward, "but who says that's all we have?" he asked as he snapped the cord around his neck.
"Venty, wait!" Kitten cried as she spied the band of indigo sliding up his finger.
"In sorrowful day, in misfortunate night! We help those, who need our might! With the lantern power of Abin Sur, we rid your misery, with compassionate light!" he intoned crudely as a brilliant flare of indigo spilled out, even Malchior forced to shield his eyes as the teen's body filled with otherworldly power.
"No…!" Blackfire gasped as the teen's Indigo Tribe vestments fluttered in the wind.
"What is this…?!" Malchior gasped as he locked eyes with the wind-wielding teen, alien sigils flickering before heterochromatic eyes as something completely… alien, looked at him through crimson orbs.
"This… is payback… for what you did… to my… FRIEEEEEEND!" Ventus roared as a green sigil appeared on his forehead and he went through a series of hand signs. "Roar, my youth! DAYTIME TIGER!"
*GROAAAAAAWR!*
"HOLY SHIIIIIIIT!" Beast Boy cried as a massive green tiger shot out, its jaws clamping around Malchior's torso before carrying him away from Titan's Island.
"I'M NOT DONE YET!" Ventus shouted as he shot after Malchior, the sigil on his forehead changing to the color of poisoned honey. "I CAN SMELL YOUR FEAR!" he roared as a giant grimoire-shaped construct manifested and bore down on the metamorphosing dragon from above and below like The Monster Book of Monsters. Malchior, pushing back with all his might, quailed in terror as the Yellow Light of Fear threatened to overwhelm him, the south side of Jump City flying beneath him in a blur before the two of them crashed into the mountainside beyond the city limits, a massive yellow mushroom cloud causing a tiiiiiny nuclear weapons scare among the populous.
*TEEN TITANS*
"Damn…!" Beast Boy gawped as he beheld the mushroom cloud in the distance. "That was one hell of a Star Lord moment right there…"
*SMACK!* "Beast Boy, this is serious!" Blackfire hissed as she slapped him upside the head. "Don't you know what'll happen to him if he keeps that ring on?! If we don't settle this soon he'll…!"
"It's my fault…" Raven rasped, the girl looking incredibly weak and fatigued as Terra helped her into a sitting position. "I wanted a friend so badly that I…"
"You… complete… IDIOT! We're your friends too you know!" Terra screamed at her slamming their foreheads together. "We might not always get along, and we might even think you're weird, but that doesn't change the fact that we're here for you! We've always been here for you! If you'd just let us in then-"
Whatever she was about to say further to Raven was cut short as a golden ankh manifested off to the side, the Titans shielding their eyes as two men stepped out onto their island. The first was a tall man in a dark blue bodysuit that covered everything from the neck down, clad in a golden cape, tights, gloves, boots, and a magic helmet utterly brimming with magical power. The other man looked largely ordinary in stark contrast, clad in an ordinary-looking brown suit, black shirt, matching shoes, with a streak of white through his brushed-back dark-red hair.
"Dr… Fate…? Jason… Blood…?" Raven gasped. While the Titans could only infer of the magic surrounding the two, as a sorceress herself, it was like seeing it in high def.
"Rachael Roth," Dr. Fate spoke floating an inch above the ground. "What happened here?"
"Obviously, the young woman made a mistake," Jason Blood said knowingly as he observed the signs of battle on the island itself, and then the mushroom cloud in the distance, Malchior and Ventus' infuriated roars echoing even to them. "Do not worry, child. Greater minds than your own have been deceived in such a way. What's important is that we-"
*KA-BOOOOOOOM!*
"-not let that happen," he said as the mountainside outside the city, beginning to recover from Fire's rampage, exploded like a volcano sending flaming shrapnel arcing over the city. "Right, time to tag off," he said rolling his shoulders. "Gone, gone the form of man. Rise, the demon… ETRIGAN!" Jason Blood bellowed as a wave of hellfire transformed him into a yellow-skinned demon clad in a tight-fitting red leotard exposing his legs, matching boots, a black cape with a silver disc, and a band of silver discs to match around his forearms. "Come along, Dr. Fate. It's time for this dragon, to have his date!" the now-demon said shooting off with monstrous strength.
"Raven," Dr. Fate said soothingly taking a knee before her, causing the mage to wince before raising her eyes to meet his. "Even if it wasn't 'you and him', something else would've been fated to damn this world." At this, she winced as if struck. "What's important, is that your prophecy doesn't say what will happen after."
"Wait, prophecy? You mean like in Percy Jackson, or Harry Potter?" Kitten blinked.
"We'll talk later," Dr. Fate mused as he conjured another gate and stepped inside. That he left it open for them meant he intended them to follow.
"Starfire, Terra, Kitten, Blackfire," Robin said loudly. "I need you four up in the air and blasting those rocks to gravel. Don't let anything into the city that could kill somebody," he said pointing at all the debris Indigo Tribe Ventus and Dread Dragon Malchior were kicking up. "Beast Boy, Cyborg, you're going to be with me in the T-Ship offering aerial support on both fronts. Wintergreen," he spoke into his T-Comm. "This might be a bit different than her Majesty's Special Air Service, but do you think you could pilot a Javelin?"
"What do you think I was working on when you all went out to space?" the butler questioned. "I'll bring all I have to bear, for Master Valentine's sake."
"That's good to hear," Robin nodded. "Raven-"
"How can you trust me… after what I've unleashed upon the world…?" Raven asked quite pitiably, sounding like she were talking about what was happening now, and something else altogether in the far-off future.
"It doesn't matter how many mistakes we make or how many times we fall down. What's important is that we're willing to learn from them, and having the will to get back up. And Vincent taking up that ring… He got back up for your sake, wielding a power that could very well destroy him. Malchior may have fooled you, but is that any reason to give up all hope?"
" . . . "
*TEEN TITANS*
Cue "No Limit Fallacy" by Brandon Yates
"How…?!" Malchior demanded as he brought up his hands to block another powerful blast kicking up countless tons of debris, the mountainside littered with countless scars, its denizens scattered or killed by the crossfire. "How can one human… one insignificant human… possess such power…?!" he demanded as he weathered a blast of Avarice, ripping his arms free as the scales torn away were consumed by Orange Light.
"Raven… is my friend! MINE! And you can't have her!" Ventus roared with eyes of poisonous orange, head twitching as the madness of Avarice and Compassion leeched into his mind.
"Oh by all means, you can have her. I got all I needed from her, and so much more~" the Dread Dragon purred as his scales turned a more-prominent red, his horns becoming more like antlers, the extra eyes upon his brow widening. "Soon I shall-"
"Bite my shiny metal axe!" Etrigan roared as he came down upon the further-demonic Malchior with a powerful axe blade of Bone Steel. Malchior's left horn/antler cleaved from his head, the Dread Dragon yowled furiously as it fell from his head, regaining its original shape. "It is time to kick, some dragon ass!"
"How absolutely vulgar," Dr. Fate said through radiant light.
"NABU! Damned lich! You just can't stay dead, can you?!" Malchior roared at the familiar helm of Dr. Fate.
"Malchior of Nol, you shall pay for what you did to Rorek!" the Sorceror Supreme roared, his hands weaving mandalas of light, his magic power flaring like the sun.
"Feh! A pitiful excuse for a sorcerer if there ever was one!" the Dread Dragon spat through broken fangs, slowly growing back.
"Your own grave you have dug. I shall soon make you, a fanciful rug!" Etrigan leered, breathing a tongue of Hellfire onto his axe and brandishing it menacingly.
"Malchior, you may have escaped your prison and burned it to ash, but that doesn't mean you're completely free," Dr. Fate said creating a smaller golden ankh, reaching into it, and withdrawing a pythos covered in runes.
"NO!" Malchior cried at the sight of it and its implication. "NEVER AGAIN!"
Unleashing a barrage of fireballs tinged with black flame, Etrigan stepped forward breathing tongues of hellfire of his own while batting others away with his axe. Dr. Fate raising his hands and firing off countless doves of light, Ventus unleashed a Willpower-bolstered cry of- "Morning Peacock!" -, unleashing a deluge of fireballs of his own. The two sides locking into a stalemate, off to the side, Raven stepped through the portal that Dr. Fate left behind, only for her eyes to go wide at what she saw.
"No…" Raven gasped as she beheld Malchior's more-demonic form.
"Yes, sweet Raven~" Malchior cooed even as he breathed fire. "And with this newfound power, greater than any I'd wielded before, I shall-"
"YOU WON'T LIVE TO SEE ANOTHER SUNRISE!" Ventus raged as he dropped to the ground and napalm frothed from his mouth. An aura of crimson red in the form of a massive oriental dragon manifesting around him, its whiskers writhing like banners, with his right leg bent back leaning away from the left, his hands clawed the ground in front of him leaving trails of glass. The air around him boiling, the nearby foliage burst into flame as he roared- "Amass! NIGHT DRAGOOOOON!"
Shooting forward like a gunshot, with a deafening *KRAK-BOOOOOM!* his flying kick struck the Dread Dragon in the chest with the force of a small tactical weapon. Malchior's ribcage shattering into gravel inside his chest, as did Ventus' own striking leg, the Dread Dragon was thrown into a nearby crater causing a small avalanche, while the ring-wielder fell to the ground in a broken heap, his right leg mutilated beyond all recognition.
"VINCENT! NOOO!" Raven cried as she ran over to him, cradling his head in her lap as tears fell from her eyes. "Vincent, look at me…! It's okay…! It's going to be okay…" she sobbed, hoping that to be true as napalm blood burned his flesh to ash.
" . . . All will be well," Ventus muttered as the sigil on his head shifted to blue, his leg glowing brilliantly as it mended itself, the damage from the crimson light of rage carried away like water. At around the same time, Malchior dug himself out from the rubble, a pained laugh turning to chortling as his caved-in chest began to regenerate.
"No… All will not…!" Malchior tried to coo, only for his growing spite to show.
"Malchior… You have something that doesn't belong to you!" Raven raged as her mantle flared to red, a second pair of eyes shining above her brow before she whipped out her hands. Astral claws shooting out and boring into Malchior's second pair of eyes, the Dread Dragon yowled as something latched onto his soul and pulled. Malchior raising clawed hands to rake at them, Etrigan and Dr. Fate attacked his striking arms and forced him onto his back. Moments later what had been stolen was taken back, his demonic features receeding while Raven's own bled back to human, her mantle shifting back to blue before she fell to the ground in a heap, desperately clasping Ventus' hand.
"DAMN YOU!" Malchior growled as he galloped forward, slapping Etrigan and Dr. Fate aside even as they carved sloughs of flesh and scales from his passing body.
"I already lost one master! I SHAN'T LOSE ANOTHER!"
The scream of airfoils cutting through the atmosphere, the howl of missiles and the screech of lasers filled the air as a powerful volley buffeted the Dread Dragon, plowing him face-first into the ground while the T-Javelin cut an impressive U-Turn that'd have killed lesser men.
"Hey, don't leave us out of the fun!" Cyborg shouted as he, Robin, and Beast Boy came in with their own parts of the T-Ship, lasers and sonic weaponry catching Malchior in the broadside and sending him farther up the mountain. Right as the T-Ship parts swooped away from a retaliatory fire blast, a reverse avalanche carried Malchior up even further, a barrage of starbolts peppering him like mortar shells on the way up and staggering him.
"Raven! Venty!" Kitten cried as she swooped down, skidding to a stop as Malchior roared in the background.
"Kit… ten…?" Ventus blinked, his memory of her growing foggier in his thoughts.
"Raven, why isn't this guy going down?" Kitten asked as the fliers and ships they had swooped around Malchior like the biplanes around King Kong in the original release.
"Malchior's an ancient dragon who has accumulated vast amounts of magical knowledge and power," Raven panted, exhausted from ripping her own from Malchior, though all she'd learned in the last week remained lost to her. "Not to mention, the older a dragon gets, the more-powerful they become, and the last nine-hundred sixty-two years still count for it."
"Then we don't need to defeat him. We just have to seal him away again."
"Yeah, but I doubt he'll stand still long-enough for us to use something like the Evil Containment Wave," Raven deadpanned as the pythos in Dr. Fate's hand was flung away and dashed on a nearby boulder.
"Which is where Venty and I come in," she said pumping the fist her Star Sapphire Ring was on. "Venty… That ring of yours lets you soak in the emotions of those around you. What do you feel from me right now?" she asked earnestly.
"L… Love…" Ventus gasped, the sigils in his eyes flickering before, by sheer force of will, he made himself rise.
"That's right! And love is one of the strongest forces in the universe!" the blond nodded as she adjusted her tiara. "Hope you don't mind, but I'm going to steal him away from you for a moment~" she said as a wave of light washed over her, her Star Sapphire uniform transforming into a shoulder-less dress with a split going up the right leg. "Come on, let's dance!"
Cue G Gundam OST - Burning Finger
The Star Sapphire absconding away from Raven toward Malchior with the Indigo Tribesman in her arms, an unheard conversation passing between them, the sigil on his forehead changed from Green to Violet before a brilliant flash of light like a star exploding went off in the skies above them. The light fading, jaws all around dropped from their hinges as they beheld a massive crystalline effigy of the GF13-017NJII God Gundam; aka "Burning Gundam" in the western localization.
"These hands of ours are burning red!" the two of them intoned. "Their loud cry tells us-" "-to grasp happiness!" they continued as they danced atop the crystal effigy's chest, which snapped open revealing a brilliantly-glowing core. "Erupting…!" they roared, the 'God Gundam's' wings flaring out and a mandala forming at its back and its chest opening. "Burning… Finger!" they cried drawing their hands back, the 'God Gundam' following suit, its hands glowing a brilliant red. "Sekiha… Love Love… TENKYOKEN!"
"NOOOOO! THIS CANNOT BEEE!"
One could almost hear the epic orchestral music as the 'God Gundam' thrust its hands forward, a brilliant beam of Violet Light exploding toward Malchior who could only cower at the King of Hearts insignia riding the energy beam with a horrified expression. The sigil bursting into the anthropomorphized form of the King of Hearts itself, the Dread Dragon only just enough time to emit a horrified *SCREEEEEEEE!* before he was overwhelmed, a brilliant mushroom cloud tinged with Violet light erupting from the blast site.
When the dust had finally settled, Malchior was encased in glittering pink crystal like a fly in amber, his body contorted to a final show of horrified agony as the Dread Dragon lay imprisoned once again, this time from a literal 'otherworldly power'.
"Dude…" Beast Boy gawped at the sight of what had just occurred.
"You can say that again…" Robin nodded as the Dread Dragon's new prison glistened prettily, the 'God Gundam' falling away like glass, Ventus and Kitten twirling around in an embrace.
*TEEN TITANS*
The Dread Dragon Malchior was thusly imprisoned in Star Sapphire crystal atop one of the mountains to the south of Jump City. In time it would become a must-see for many hikers who sought to navigate the battle-scarred mountainside which had once served as an epic battlefield. In time further down the line, the "Crystal Dragon" would become a new tourist trap to revitalize the industry after Slade's occupation had canceled so many previously-arranged trips to Jump City, "Home of the Teen Titans".
But that, was a story for another day…
On this day however, the Teen Titans and Justice League members reconvened at the Tower once they had been sure that Malchior was sufficiently imprisoned, his crystal prison digging deep into the mountainside like the roots of a tree. Terra had gone as far as to reinforce the bedrock with her geokinesis, so nothing short of a nuclear strike was going to unlodge that rock.
And though the victory had been great, it did not come without great cost…
"Come on, Venty! Wake up! WAKE UP!" Kitten shrieked as she shook Ventus by the front of his robes, his eyes vacant with Indigo Tribe sigils before them, his body unresponsive save for any attempts to right its footing.
"Dude, is he… Is he really…?" Beast Boy gasped.
"He's… He's gone…" Raven sobbed, cupping his cheek before tearing herself away from him. "He put on the Indigo Ring to fight Malchior… and now…"
"But, I thought he 'mastered himself' with that thing," Robin mused, recalling the lucidity he displayed the last time he'd worn it. "Him breaking the chains on his manacles should've meant something."
"Humans are fluid beings, ever changing," Dr. Fate stated. "It's possible that all the duress of the situation caused him to 'back-slide' into a position that the Ring could… 're-write' him."
"How does that make any sense?" Beast Boy asked.
"From what I can tell, the farther from the 'center' of the Emotional Spectrum a Ring is, the more 'volatile' they become," the Sorcerer Supreme mused. "By the same measure however, the close to the 'center' one is, the more 'inflexible' they become as a Lantern."
"Can't we just take the ring off?" Cyborg asked making a pinching motion with his hand.
"It doesn't work like that," Kitten shook her head. "As long as the Ring Wielder consciously wants to maintain the Ring on their finger… it might as well be a part of their body. If that weren't the case, it'd be much easier to fight a Power Ring-wielder."
"You know…" Blackfire said aloud drawing everyone's attention. "Vincent prepared for this eventuality. Made me promise that if he ever lost himself to that Ring again…"
"What? What did he make you promise?" Terra asked worriedly.
"You'll find out in a minute. Just make sure he doesn't go anywhere!" Blackfire said shooting off into the Tower.
"Sooooo…" Terra hummed nervously, wringing her hands. "What do you think he made her promise?"
"More-importantly, why don't we know about… whatever this is?" Cyborg asked waving his hand at the insensate Titan.
"I'm back, bitches~!"
"Sister, to what has friend Ventus made you vow?" Starfire asked worriedly.
"Holy crap, she's packing heat!" Beast Boy cried as the former dictator affixed the Jewel of Charta to her gorgot, her hair flaring upward and eyes shining red before her power levels normalized.
"Drop it!" Robin shouted grabbing for an exploding disc, only to find his belt depleted.
"I don't know what you're getting in such a fit for," Blackfire said walking toward Ventus boldly, strides like that of an apex predator. "He gave me the Jewel of Charta for this exact happening."
"He did? Why?" Cyborg asked warily.
"He made me promise that if the Indigo Ring ever sunk its claws into him again, that I'd be his 'mercy angel'. Whatever that means. Interlac doesn't always translate," she shrugged while the others, sans Starfire, gasped in horror.
"STOP HER!" Kitten cried after realizing what Ventus had asked of her.
"GO!" Robin shouted hastily as he and the other Titans rushed forward, collapsible staff in hand.
"How utterly adorable~" Blackfire cooed as Robin brought it down on her head with all his might, only for the staff to shatter. The recoil lancing up his arm, the former dictator cupped his face and her eyes shone menacingly before she fired an eyeblast at Cyborg and flung the Boy Wonder into Beast Boy mid-morph. Terra and Kitten leaping forward with their own powers primed, Blackfire closed the gap between them in an instant and sent them pinwheeling with a powerful Double Lariat to the necks, dropping them to the floor before Starfire swooped in.
"I do not know what friend Ventus has made you promise, but if you try to hurt him-!"
*POW!*
"You talk too much," Blackfire hummed as she kneed her sister in the diaphragm and let her drop to the ground amidst the other Titans.
"Aren't you going to do something?!" Raven asked over her shoulder, standing protectively before Vincent as Blackfire stalked forward.
"If this is the young master's wish, it isn't my place to intervene," Wintergreen replied somberly.
"What about you guys!?" the mage snapped at Jason Blood and Dr. Fate.
Before either could speak up however, crimson Starbolts struck them both and flung them back, clothing smoking as the shots stunned them.
"Ow…" Jason Blood gasped through immortal flesh, Dr. Fate sufficiently stunned by otherworldly power.
"Just let this happen, Raven. You'll feel much better for it!" Blackfire ordered as she strode toward her target, all opposition, save one, writhing on the ground.
"STOP THIS! HE'S SUFFERED ENOUGH!" Raven shouted as she raised a domed shield. Blackfire lazily tossing starbolts that made the barrier crack, with her brow furrowing in concentration, Raven imparted a torque on her barrier that made it spin, Blackfire's following projectiles bouncing every which way.
"Oh? A cyclonic barrier? Interesting~!" Blackfire leered with a cat-like smirk before she sunk her fingers into the barrier and tore a furrow into it, her body radiating crimson light as she bulled her way through before tearing it completely in half, Raven flung past Ventus, who stood completely undefended.
"Someone! Stop her!" Raven shouted as Blackfire shot forward right as Ventus finally began to raise his ring.
*SPLURT!*
"GYAAAAAAAAH!" Ventus wailed as he whirled off to the side, his indigo robes vanishing. His flailing turning him to face the others, collective cries of shock and horror sounded from the Titans and Justice League members alike as Ventus held up his right hand, middle finger missing and spurting blood from the base. "SON OF A FUCKING BITCH, EYAAAAAGH!"
"Pwah! There," Blackfire sighed as she withdrew his severed digit from her mouth, Power Ring inert. "Problem solved~"
"No! Problem not solved!" Robin shouted as Wintergreen, looking completely nonplussed, pressed a clean dish towel to his bleeding hand-stump. "Why did Ventus trust you with this and not us, his friends!"
"Oh, Vincent knew that if he got taken over by the Indigo Ring again, none of you would have the stomach to free him from it the hard way; that you'd all sooner leave him a braindead husk in a perceived act of 'kindness', damning him to an eternity of loneliness," Blackfire replied with a flippant smile as she shook the Power Ring off Ventus' finger before tossing the severed digit toward Raven. "That he trusted me, his former enemy with this task instead of any of you, well… That says more about you than it does for either of us," she waved off as the mage got to work re-attaching it with magic.
"Urgh…! I'll admit…!" Vincent said through clenched teeth as he blinked his eyes. "I did not, expect you to come up, with such a roundabout solution…"
"What, you think I'd actually kill you so-easily? After all you'd done for me?" Blackfire faux-gasped, sounding affronted. "No, way I see it, the important thing was getting that ring off your body and cutting off the brainwashing. I didn't have to kill you to get that done, but I still needed the Jewel of Charta to get into the same ballpark. I'm not sure how Indigo Lanterns stack up to their Green counterparts, but you're obviously really strong when you have that thing on."
" . . . Okay, that's fair."
"Wait, you took out a hit on yourself?!" Beast Boy gasped. "Like in Fire Emblem!?"
"I think Blackfire explained it pretty succinctly. If she weren't here, you all would've left me as a braindead husk for the rest of my days the next time that thing took me over," Ventus returned flatly.
"Hey, that's…! That… isn't true…" the changeling trailed off.
When Ventus turned to the others for some sort of answer, they all averted their eyes.
"Yeah… That's what I thought," he said as Raven finished her work.
"So… What're you going to do with that thing now?" Kitten asked warily as she eyed the Power Ring at its place on the table, a bit of blood on it.
Ventus, in response, held out his hand, the Power Ring flying toward him like a Force Pull. The others gasping in shock, the next moment he whipped out a fly swatter and slapped it down onto the counter before putting a cup over it like one would a really big spider.
"Now… Now I'm going to put this in my floor safe until I really need it, and until then try to get by without it," the teen replied as he slid it over to an awaiting saucer, and carried it off to his room.
"So, ummm… Not that we don't appreciate having some heavy-hitters helping us out, but why're you here?" Beast Boy asked the two Justice League members, Jason Blood groaning as he patted the scorch marks on his suit.
"That is not for us to say out in the open," Dr. Fate replied plainly as he repaired his colleague's clothes with a wave of his hand. "If you have a meeting room we could discuss this… delicate matter in private…?" he trailed off.
"Yeah, I have something like that set up," Robin nodded.
"I'll be with you in a bit," Raven stated. "There's something I need to take care of first."
*TEEN TITANS*
"Let's hope I don't need this again," Ventus said looking down at the Power Ring sitting within his replaced floor safe, the teen only relaxing once the door had been shut and he couldn't see the thing anymore. "It would really suck if Blackfire had to do this again," he said rubbing the pale ring on his middle finger where she'd taken it off. "Heh. Clever girl~"
"Vincent… Can I speak to you?" Raven asked poking her head in through the door.
"Of course, Raven. I always have time for you," he nodded sliding his desk chair back into place.
"Kiiinda wish I remembered that earlier," she sighed as she entered.
"Trust me, this will probably not be the last time one of us reaches out to someone outside the team and it backfires," Ventus replied. "I mean sure, 3:3 for me it panned out; that I'm not a braindead space-monk attests to that. But with any of those 'problem children', it could've very easily backfired and made me look stupid too."
"Well, in Terra's case it technically did backfire," Raven said finding the strength to giggle.
"Yeah that's fair… So! What'd you want to talk about?"
" . . . When you said Dr. Fate and Jason Blood were coming in today, was it really to discuss our 'mutual problem', or did you know Malchior would… turn on me?"
"Them coming here had nothing to do with the paper-man," he answered. "With all the crazy shit the League has to deal with on a weekly basis, I had to set up that meeting well in advance. I'd have liked to have more at this 'summit', but hopefully they'll top-down this toward other magic users in the League who might not be willing to take time out of their busy schedules to see me."
"Yeah, that's right, you're… you're basically a step away from joining the Justice League."
"Yeah, but I'll hold off on it until I actually grow into it," the wind-wielder conceded.
" . . . Do you really think we can stop him? My father, I mean?"
"We'll never know until we try," he shrugged.
"Vincent, I…" she paused, eyes going wide as he suddenly embraced her.
"Raven… Don't ask me to let go. You need this just as much as I do, even if you don't want it."
"But I do want it."
-is what Raven couldn't bring herself to say out loud. Instead, she reciprocated the gesture, burying her face into his chest and holding him close.
"I love you."
-were also words she couldn't bring herself to say aloud.
"You're a good friend."
That, she could say out loud.
She ignored the part of herself that was metaphorically kicking herself for "bitching out" as a rather crass part of herself accused.
*TEEN TITANS*
The "War Room" as Robin called it, was built into one of the basement sub-levels of Titans Tower, possessing an array of anti-eavesdropping technology that Wayne Enterprises used to keep certain… aspects of its 'off-the-books' activities a closely guarded secret. It looked exactly like what one would think a War Room to be like; a big table with overhead lighting in a room with little superfluous ornamentation. It was meant to discuss the most delicate of matters, and the Justice League's involvement with whatever Ventus had called Dr. Fate and Jason Blood down for, definitely warranted.
"Robin, you're probably wondering why I called Dr. Fate and Jason Blood here today," Ventus said sitting at the metaphorical "head" of the table, his back against the far wall, Raven sitting at his side with eyes downcast.
"That too…" Robin hummed, taking attendance. 'Ventus, Raven, Dr. Fate, Jason Blood, Cyborg, and me…'
"So when are the others getting here?" Cyborg asked.
"Not invited. What we're about to discuss is a… delicate issue, that if any of them were to let slip could be very… damaging," Ventus answered.
"If this is about what happened with Malchior-"
"It isn't," Raven stated resolutely. "This is about something much bigger, much more dangerous than 'Puff the Magic Dragon'."
"Ha, nice~" Ventus grinned holding his hand up, Raven smiling as she reciprocated the gesture before they turned serious again. "Robin, Cyborg, what do you know about prophecies?"
"Only the patterns I've seen in all the old Greek and Roman myths; that trying to stop them from happening makes them happen anyway, like how Chronos was the architect of his own unmaking, or that trying to make something you want to happen, happen, causes it to come about at a cost one didn't plan for," Robin answered.
"Same, but my source material was Dr. Who and That's So Raven to name a few," Cyborg shrugged. Dr. Who had "fixed points in time" that "had to happen" no matter what or the whole of reality would unravel. Raven (Baxter) could actually see the future anywhere from a few seconds to a few days in advance, but trying to stop something bad from happening made it happen anyway, and trying to make something good happen only made it happen in a wildly unpredictable fashion.
"I take it there's a prophecy about you? About something you'll do in the future?" Robin questioned.
"Yes…" Raven nodded. "My mother, she was an ordinary woman. My father however…"
*TEEN TITANS*
Cue One Punch Man OST - Hero Society
"That's… a lot to take in," Robin hummed once she had finished.
"Damn. And I thought I had daddy issues," Cyborg hummed.
"I'm sorry for hiding this from you."
"No, I understand. It'd be pretty hypocritical of me to be critical of you for keeping secrets, when I have many of my own."
"Like the thing with Red-X?" Cyborg grinned.
"That one technically doesn't count since that skeleton is out of the closet," Ventus hummed, a sentiment Robin was grateful for him expressing.
"But… wait…" Cyborg said looking at the exact wording of the prophecy on the holo-table in front of him.
"The gem was born of evil's fire. The gem shall be his portal.
He comes to claim, he comes to sire, the end of all things mortal."
"If there's a prophecy, doesn't the whole fate/destiny angle mean we're fucked already?" he questioned, Robin shifting a little uncomfortably.
"As hard as this may be to believe coming from me of all people, 'Fate', is not something that is absolute," Dr. Fate stated. "The reason there are three Fates instead of one, is because the future is in constant motion. Outcomes are always in flux. Clotho, the Spinner, Lachesis, the Alotter, and Atropos, the Unturnable. Together, the Maiden, the Mother, and the Crone spin, measure, and sever the threads of fate," he said weaving golden light overhead to form effigies of the Triple Goddesses, each carrying out their allotted tasks. "As counterintuitive as it might seem however, Free Will and Fate do in fact, coexist. However, there are only 'so many ways' one's 'story' can 'end', as a single man cannot push back against the weight of an entire universe."
"So which is it then? Can Raven stop the coming of Trigon or not?"
"Yes and no," Jason Blood interjected. "The possibility exists that the resurrection of Trigon could be circumvented entirely. However, from our own place in the timeline, we have no way of knowing if this event is a 'Fixed Point' in time; an event that needs to happen for the continued propagation of future events. Not until after the event has occurred and reached some form of resolution."
"It'll be up to future generations to decide," Robin paraphrased. "So we basically need to hope for the best, prepare for the worst; do everything we can to stop Trigon from being resurrected at all, but still plan for how to defeat Trigon once he's arrived in case stopping his resurrection wholesale simply isn't possible."
"Correct," Dr. Fate nodded. "Some would think that with such a profound connection to Trigon the Terrible and what his resurrection could mean for the mortal world, that the simplest method of stopping him would be to kill Rachael," he stated, the mage hugging herself to Ventus' side while he interposed himself between the two, Cyborg leaping up to fight while Robin stayed his hand. "However, that is only a stopgap measure, and would more-than-likely make it even more difficult to prevent Trigon from rising."
" . . . The Sons of Trigon."
"Who?" Robin asked, palming an exploding disc under the table.
"I'm not the only child Trigon has sired," Raven answered. "Trigon had potentially sired hundreds of children at around the same time as I; or at least that's what the monks of Azarath told me. What makes me important compared to the others is that I'm fated to become 'The Portal'."
"Isn't there some sort of rune we can write, or spell we can cast to nullify this property?" Ventus asked.
"Yes and no," Raven answered. "Technically, any of Trigon's children could fulfill the role; in theory. However, some are more-suited to the task than others, some aren't suited to the task at all, and in the cases where it's anyone other than me, Trigon might have to leave part of himself behind to compensate whereas with me he can bring the full weight of his power to the mortal world."
"So basically, since you're the most-suitable candidate to fulfill this prophecy, that makes you the 'staging ground' for his invasion basically?" Cyborg asked.
"That is correct," Raven answered. "My own eighteenth birthday is where we approach the 'point of no return'; the point we either have to complete our preparations by, or plan for the worst possible outcome. The actual resurrection itself will only occur once certain celestial bodies have aligned after my eighteenth birthday. While the 'How' and the 'Who' we know, and the 'Where' we can dictate by my own choosing, the 'When' is nebulous since the modern calendar we use today hadn't been invented when The Prophecy was written."
"So we need to make Trigon and his Sons fight on our terms, where we choose," Robin mused.
"Not necessarily," Jason Blood hummed. "While it is true that Trigon has sired many offspring, not all of them were sired with this grand design in mind; a fairly large number of them may have been sired simply because he could, like the Greek Gods of old. Also, the more 'Sons' that Trigon brings into the fold, the more-likely it becomes that they may try to usurp his power at the moment of his greatest vulnerability, since Trigon will have to very briefly abandon his physical form to make the journey to our world through the 'space between spaces'."
"Not to mention, if too many of his Sons are brought together too quickly, assuming they don't conspire to betray their father, they might instead attempt to betray one another, which could do even greater harm to undermine his plan," Dr. Fate stated.
"So it's a tightrope, then," Robin hummed.
"What's the Justice League doing about this?" Cyborg asked.
"What the Justice League does going forward is what we're laying the groundwork for today," Jason Blood stated. "As-powerful as the Justice League may seem, we are not all-powerful, nor all-knowing. We've been caught off-guard before and any of those times could've ended in catastrophe. What's important here is that Ventus, with his ties to the Justice League as a reserve member and Raven herself, had the means, motive, and opportunity to bring this to our attention."
"That being said, this cannot be brought to the League wholesale since this is an extremely divisive issue," Dr. Fate continued. "Some would want to kill Raven outright and delay Trigon, some would want to take her into protective custody, some would want to launch a preemptive strike, and countless other ideas fueled by countless motivations and moral standings would be put forward. If we subject the League to in-fighting, we'll never be able to marshal the forces we need to any singular plan of action."
"Dr. Fate and I knew that Trigon would return eventually, but we didn't know when and where," Jason Blood stated. "Now that we do, we can begin to gather evidence and bring members of the Justice League 'to the table' in preparation."
"But this isn't something that can be rushed," Ventus hummed. "Every other time, world-ending catastrophes snuck up on us. Now that we've got a bead on one, we can plan for it in advance, but we need to do so carefully. If this were to leak to the greater public…"
"Rioting in the streets would be the least of it," Cyborg hummed. "We could have a full-blown inquisition on our hands. And with all the 'Anti-Christ' vibes I'm getting, you just know the crazies would pour out of the woodwork."
"Religiously speaking, my father is a pre-pre-Pagan deity; not Christian," Raven felt the need to correct aloud.
"If this leaked, social media would spread it like a pandemic, so anyone we bring into our circle of trust needs to have the utmost in discipline and discretion," Robin mused.
"Which is exactly the reason we left everyone else upstairs," Ventus nodded. "Beast Boy's a blabbermouth, Starfire's a terrible liar, and Terra, Kitten, and Blackfire are still on 'probation'."
"So this is really happening then… Planning for the end of the world…" Robin mused. " . . . Nothing new, I guess. Batman has plans for every contingency on the Bat Computer. Zombies, Skynet, global flooding… What's one more to the mix?"
"So… You aren't kicking me out?" Raven asked, eyes watering.
"Rae, this is your home, and us, we're your family," Cyborg said placing a hand on your shoulder. "No way in hell are we lettin' you go without a fight."
" . . . Thank you… Thank you so much…" she cried, her cloak flashing a litany of colors before she wiped her tears, and she was back in blue. "I… I won't give up, either. I'll fight this. With all of you."
*Knock*Knock*
"I'll get that," Jason Blood hummed, going to the door.
"Hey guys, what did I miss?" an incredibly-beautiful woman in magician's attire asked coming in.
"Zatanna, glad you could make it on such short notice."
"Dr. Fate, Mr. Blood, if you could take the lead on this…" Ventus hummed while Robin and Cyborg stared slack-jawed at the beautiful sorceress before them.
He was way too tired to go over all this again…
And also to 'admire' how breathtakingly gorgeous Zatanna Zatara was.
Raven may or may not have become self-conscious; it depended on what part of her brain you asked.
*TEEN TITANS*
"So…" Raven hummed once the Justice League members had left. "What happens now?"
"Now, we let the League's magical heavy-hitters do the heavy lifting," Ventus sighed raking his fingers through his hair. "This affects the entire world, so not bringing them in on it would be the epitome of foolishness and arrogance. If it were solely up to Robin, he'd probably want to keep this in-house."
"Hey!"
"Shut up, man, you know it's true," Cyborg huffed.
"Thankfully, since I have a pipeline to the Justice League, and I outrank him, that isn't the case," he continued causing Robin to fume. "Now… we just wait. And not let on that something huge is on the horizon."
" . . . If I fiddle with the coding for the Danger Room, I can probably increase the difficulty settings without anyone catching on," Cyborg hummed. "Get us up to speed before the big day."
"I can start stockpiling supplies," Robin added. "In all likelihood, Batman already knows, and I can trust him to keep a level head, and a secret, on the off-chance he isn't already aware."
"Malchior left all of his books behind in his bid for freedom," Raven hummed, grateful his Conjuration Magic hadn't been undone since technically he hadn't been 'killed'. That Star Sapphire crystal was pretty damn durable… "There might be a 'magic bullet' in there we can use against my father, if not circumvent the prophecy in its entirety."
"Just… don't lock yourself away again," Ventus said reaching out to her, hesitating before Raven reciprocated, fingers interlocking.
"I won't. I need to live for me too, after all," she said smiling softly, Robin and Cyborg exchanging a look before sidling out of the room, closing the door behind them.
"So…"
"So."
"What do you want to do now? I can have Wintergreen bring something to your room if you-"
*Chu*
"I think I might have a better idea~" she purred as her cloak flashed pink, the wind-wielder gulping nervously, pace quickening.
*TEEN TITANS*
AN:
Way-back-when, I had a draft for this chapter that was completely different, but it was loads of fun throwing an Indigo Power Ring into the mix, and the promise that Blackfire made to him to give this story some sense of Continuity. It was also fun throwing in some of the magical heavy hitters of the justice league like Zatanna, Dr. Fate, and Jason Blood/Etrigan; even if the prior wasn't available until after the fighting had ended.
And back then I didn't think anything of it, but re-watching "Spellbound" in preparation for writing this chapter, I couldn't help but think how foolish Malchior was not to destroy the book once he'd escaped. There are loads of other Villains who were smart-enough to destroy whatever containers the Heroes brought to bear, like Demon King Piccolo knocking away the rice cooker before Roshi could complete the [Evil Containment Wave] in Dragonball, and I'm pretty sure Rita Repulsa did something to that space dumpster Zordon sealed her in after getting loose in Power Rangers.
Of course, it was just as much fun expanding upon "Malchior's" interactions with a version of Raven that had been through more than her Canon counterpart, as well as playing off of the inconsistencies that didn't add up.
ALSO! From a narrative standpoint, it just seemed reeeeeally fucking stupid for the Teen Titans not to bring the Justice Leauge in on this. I mean…! The magic symbols for Raven's "panic room" were ones that Beast Boy picked LITERALLY at random! No-one on the Canon roster has any background in magic to differentiate between runes that ward off evil, and runes that turn whoever sets them off into Sweet Rolls! So yeah, it was a joy to finally lay down the groundwork for this epic Teen Titans/Justice League team-up. While Ventus is a Reserve Member for the Justice League, he doesn't have the "clout" to call in the League's heavy hitters at a moment's notice; hence him having to bring in who he could and let them work from their end. If I didn't make him a Reserve Member like Speedy, him getting the League to weigh in on this delicate issue would've been much harder.
Anyway, tell me what you think!