Shangri-la

Gothic: Now, now, did we all enjoy the last chapter? I've decided, in my infinite wisdom, that this chappie will have a poem in it, one that I wrote especially for this fic. The inspiration for the poem came to me in the middle of the night (what's new there…) and managed to record it whilst hidden under my duvet, with a torch, spare writing book and a pencil. And it was only 10 minutes past 4 in the morning…

Kitty: Basically, she's written a poem for the fic, and it will be worked into the story. (somehow…)

Evil Raven: You won't get a chance to do that! I will kill you all! MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! *cough* *splutter*

Draygion: *in boring business like voice* Gothic does not own the Teen Titans so you will not sue her.

Gothic: I know it's not in the summary yet, but there will be StarxRobin in this chapter…..and later chappies as well! And I'm sorry that it's taken me so long to update, but Christmas and the New Year got in the way, and yes I know that's a poor excuse.

Kitty: OMG! The madness! On with the ficcie! Oh, and although it doesn't say so in the chappie, the poem is called 'Trigon's Daughter'.

~+~+~+~+~

In the centre of a ever going war, death, destruction and fighting going on around them, Robin and Raven were as still as statues. Raven held the sword at just the right angle for impaling him on it, and killing him instantly. Afraid for his life, Robin had frozen, lest she stab him on the already blood stained sword. To Robin's mind, the two were in a different world altogether, the battle around them merely deaf to his ears, the sights barely even there. For a while, all he concentrated on was the steady heartbeats of both of them, and the even light breaths of Raven.

~ Up in the Heavens, sitting upon a cloud.

Rests a mother, her head tall and proud.

A thousand miles away, on the planet Earth,

Evil is coming, Hell its birth.

The people of Earth, unaware,

That evil is showing a deathly glare.

For now is now, and now then,

Evil is coming, it's ranks times ten.

She is the one, Trigon's Daughter.

She will kill them all like lambs to the slaughter. ~

Beast Boy, Starfire, Thunder, Sunstar and Sunafire had been pinned to the floor in the tussle. Wrestled to the ground, and held by more creatures than ever before from the portal, they were powerless against the sturdy creatures.

"Hello?! We need help here?! " Beast Boy squirmed and wiggled trying to get free, every form he tried just being restrained even tighter.

"Please! Somebody help us!" Starfire cried, her starbolts barely even touching the demons.

"Brother! Please aid us!" Thunder shouted as well, his thunder blasts also scarcely hurting anything. "Get off me!"

"Where is Robin?" Starfire asked.

"Battling it out with Raven probably." Beast Boy replied, an attempt to get free landing him face to face with his captor. "Dude, your breath stinks."

~+~+~+~+~

At the centre of the city, Trigon rested upon his throne. He had hoped, after years of slain demons and deathly respect from the lesser minions of the 13th Dimension, that Earth would be a challenge. But now he could see, this had been a waste of his time.

Pathetic humans. And I thought that this would be a test of my true powers and abilities. But it wasn't even a fight worth me taking part in. The only real advantage of conquering, this realm was that it gave me my daughter back. He thought bitterly. And soon it will be known that I, Trigon the Terrible added the planet Earth to the list of obliterated galaxies. Trigon chuckled, and got up from his throne. Striding over to the East of his 'throne room', he looked out across the city, spotting the battle between the Titans and Raven. With careful precision, Trigon located the battle stances of Raven and Robin, both equally motionless, the sword still held at dangers point.

"So she hasn't yet taken him down. Interesting angle, toying with the annoying human, never slaughtering, always playing cat and mouse. " A cruel smile came to his lips. "She will be the perfect warrior, always loyal, and definitely knowledgeable in the arts of anguish and pain."

The demon's evil smile left as quickly as it came.

It was time to claim Earth as his own.

Making his way out of the 'throne room', Trigon began to make his way to the East of the city. It was here, just off the coast, that Titans Tower stood, the only building still standing amongst the remains of the cities other towers and skyscrapers. On the inland, mainly by the shore, the battle between good and evil was still going on, Robin and Raven now circling each other, Robin still at Raven's mercy.

Time for demonic daddy to make his grand entrance. The smile returned, more of a grin than a smile.

The Titans wouldn't know what had hit them.

~ Upon the Earth, man is weak.

Knowledge and wealth all they seek.

Trigon the Terrible, powerful demon.

He will have Earth as demons are dreamin'.

From being held in Hell,

To ringing Earthly bells.

The Titans think, that they can defeat,

But in the end, loss is all they will meet.

She is the one, Trigon's Daughter.

She will kill them all, like lambs to the slaughter. ~

As Robin and Raven slowly began to circle each other, barely moving apart from their feet, the battle going on was beginning to tire. The Atlantisians had mainly been driven into the ground, and Aqualad himself too tired and injured to carry on. The trapped heroes, for the time being, were desperately trying to escape, but were still held down and unable to do anything. Cyborg however, was free, but unavailable, as he was stuck smashing away an onslaught of demon minions and ravens. Moonfire and Sweetfire were also busy, a flock of ravens swooping down to scratch them, Lightning flanking them in the little tussle going on.

~+~+~+~+~

Raven meanwhile, was tired of playing cat and mouse. She advanced on Robin, bearing the sword with both confidence and brashness.

"Well Robin, I think you and me have had enough fun." Raven smirked dangerously. "I think I'll just dispose of you once and for all.

With these words, Raven swung for Robin, catching his left arm. Blood spilled from the fairly deep wound, the temporary pain causing the wonder boy to instinctively hold the gash with his other hand.

"I don't think so. If anyone's going down, it's you." He solemnly replied.

"TITANS!" Robin yelled. "RETREAT! BACK TO TITANS TOWER!" The sudden outburst knocked Raven's concentration, allowing Robin to use those precious seconds to quickly drop kick Raven's ankles and plunge her to the floor. Robin whirled around,  and smashed his way through several demons to reach his friends.

"Get off them!" He cried, kicking and punching the minions off the trapped Titans. "Go! Grab who you can and get back to the tower. I have some unfinished business."

"But Robin! We have lost. The best thing we can do is to all return to the tower so that we can work out how to defeat Raven!" Starfire held Robin, stopping him from dashing off again. Robin didn't struggle. He allowed Starfire to lead him back to the withdrawing allies, Beast Boy wandering, and helping Starfire's sisters. It was when he had helped Sunafire to her feet that he realised.

The Trigon 5 were gone.

"Robin! The Trigon 5! They've disappeared! I can't find them anywhere!" Beast Boy hollered across the barren wasteland that had once been the city, but was now a bloody battle ground, lives lying everywhere. The enemy, having seen that the Titans were retreating, had backed off at a call from Raven, who vanished mysteriously with her army. The portals still shimmered in the air, the swirling red vortex ever spinning and twisting.

"Where could they be? Why would they vanish like that?" Robin pondered.

"That's strange. I can't recall having seen them through the fight. Wondered what happened to them." Cyborg added, whilst rubbing the scratches on the metal plates of his arm.

The battle worn Titans looked across the battle field, the bodies of minions lying everywhere, as well as several corpses of the Atlantisians. The Atlantis army had lost more than ¾ of their soldiers,  their remains lying about the field.

"So many lives…." Aqualad murmured, his head held low as the remaining Atlantisians came to him for comfort. "Why must all this fighting be for one cause?"

"Aqualad, there is plenty more reasons why we are fighting here!" Appalled by his friends words, Robin set out to put him straight. "Raven may be evil, but we are not just fighting to get her back! The world is at stake here. If we allow Trigon to defeat us, the world is doomed." The boy wonder fell onto one knee, the pain from the gash in his left arm hurting all the more.

"Robin!" Starfire dropped beside him, putting one arm around the hurt and defeated leader.

"I'll be okay Star….Just…need to…get my breath back." Robin, unable to hold onto consciousness anymore, fell sideways against Star's chest. Starfire clutched at him, tears beginning to drop from her green eyes onto Robin's ivory black hair. It was a sweet, and sad scene at the same time, to see Star's love for Robin was one of the sweetest things the Titans had ever seen. But to see their leader overwhelmed by the enemy was, worrying.

~ The rain falls, the thunder crashes,

The city lit up in lightning flashes.

Influenced by her father, and told sinful things.

Made to believe that he is King of all Kings.

The murderous glare of the raven bird,

Her view of the world uneven and obscured.

Death to her enemies, and Hell to the dead.

Murdering humans, or imprisoning them instead.

She is the one, Trigon's daughter.

She will kill them all, like lambs to the slaughter. ~

As the Titans crawled back to the Tower, Starfire carrying Robin, the actual weight of the defeat began to settle in. The fact that Raven had crushed them, and played with them as if they were no more than toys filled their heads with very grave, even severely depressing thoughts.

Why can we not overcome this evil from Raven? We are a team, as Robin has said more than once. Are we not stronger as a team, not individually? Starfire was particularly distressed, her green eyes once again filled with tears. With Starfire, it was always in the eyes, her eyes telling far more about how she was feeling than any facial expression, or any words that she might say.

"Come on ya'll, we're almost there! Just a little further." Cyborg encouraged the sad little bunch on, trailing his way up the beach to the pathway leading up to the tower. Everyone dragged themselves forward, Starfire's sisters talking in a strange language amongst themselves. If Robin had been awake, he would of tried to encourage them as well, but nothing could of lifted the miserable mood over all the Titans that night.

Heaving themselves in, Cyborg led the way up the staircases to the main room, Starfire directing herself and several others to the medical wing, where they tended to the various wounds about themselves. Cyborg, Beast Boy, Sunafire, Sweetfire, Moonfire, Thunder and Aqualad made their way to the main room. As they entered, Cyborg looked up, and gasped, dropping the metal plate from his arm that he'd been carrying.

The Trigon 5 were in there, talking amongst themselves. Several laptops were dotted about, as the 4 demons trotted around, going from the main computer as well, searching for info on Trigon and Raven.

"Hey! You dudes have been here! Whilst we were fighting it out with Raven! What have you dudes been doing that was so important?!" Beast

Boy complained.

Firgu looked up. Beside him was Sifria, bent over a laptop. "We have been researching."

"Researching what exactly?" Sweetfire asked.

"How we may be able to defeat Trigon and return our sister to normal. We got our asses kicked out there, and we can't afford to do that again."

"So how are you planning on doing that?" Cy questioned, looking curious as he rooted around on the floor for his metal plate.

"We called in for a little help from an expert." Zuthion added. "Meet Chain."

A sky blue skinned demon came forward from another laptop. She had long black hair, that reached just below her shoulders. Dark makeup made out seemingly human eyes, with likewise black lips, two fangs poking out like Beast Boy's fang. She wore flared black jeans, an accompanying black belt around her waist, and a three-quarter-length t-shirt covered her top half, with a navy blue logo saying 'Demon. What demon?' on it. Strangely enough, the gem on her forehead was red, as was some of the many bangles on her wrists. Two leather bracelets, one on each wrist finished her goth look.

"Hey. You must be Cyborg. I'm Chain." Chain offered her hand in a make of friendship, a smile crossing her face.

"Nice to meet ya. Robin's currently to injured to stand, and Star's loyally not leaving his side. You can meet 'em later." Cy smiled too, as he shook her hand.

"So why are you called Chain?" Beast Boy asked. The demon laughed, then replied.

"I was trained on Azarath to be a fighter demon. That's unusual, 'cause I'm a half demon. Anyhow, I used to beat trainer robots to their death using a chain for a whip. I learnt how to use my chain whip as a good weapon, and when I escaped from the Fighter Demon Camp, I took my chain whip with me. I took the name chain from it."

"Chain here can help us use Raven's current 'status' to our advantage. Believe it or not, but when Raven's not evil, she's an old friend of Chain's." Zuthion added.

"Okay, I'm starting to get confused." Aqualad's look could have been disgust or confusion.

"Raven found me wandering around Azarath after I escaped from the camp. She took me to Arella in the church there, where I learnt that the world isn't all that bad. When Arella and Draygion came to Earth, I figured I would be needed soon enough." Chain's expression was seemingly emotionless, recovering the memories of long ago.

~ Amongst the ruins of mortar and brick.

Lies the lives of mortals, still as sticks.

But the heroes just want to lay their arms down.

And slay their demons, lift that frown.

Tear by tear, they lift their swords.

Ready to fight, like pawns on a board

For now is now, and then is then,

Let battle commence, Raven Vs Wren.

She is the one, Trigon's Daughter.

She will kill them all, like lambs to the slaughter. ~

"So you're gonna help us? How are you gonna do that?" Cy asked once more.

"I know just about everything there is to know about Raven. I will hopefully enter her mind telepathically, and mentally help Raven to fight this evil. If I'm successful, you'll stand a better chance of defeating Trigon."

"Neat…." Beast Boy commented thoughtfully.


~+~+~+~+~

Musings took place for the next 3 hours. People came and went. Starfire visited, was introduced to Chain, and went again. Cyborg went to make repairs. In general, everyone was keeping themselves occupied, whilst trying to think of ways to help Raven.

Trigon had to be destroyed, they all knew that. But still, thinking of a good way to hold Raven off long enough to summon enough power to defeat Trigon was no easy task. Taking Chain's help might be the only way to save the Earth and bring their friend back. Whilst Starfire tended to Robin once more, Cyborg talked with Beast Boy about accepting this new offer of help.

"Com' on man. There's no other way. Raven's powerful enough. Do you really think we can take Trigon himself on?" Cy asked.

"No, I'm not saying that. The only thing I'm saying is that we might be able to return Raven back and then have her help us as well." Beast Boy gravely replied.

"That wouldn't work." A female voice came from behind them. They turned to see Chain there. "Raven's evil because the dark side inherited from her father at birth has been released. The only way to return Raven to normal is to tear the dark side out of her, and the only way to do that is to destroy Trigon. It's either that or we'll be forced to kill Raven." Chain grimly stated.

"But what good will that do if we kill her?!" Beast Boy cried. "Trigon will still be there as strong as ever!"

"Yes he will still be there, but the loss of Raven would decrease his power, making him les dangerous."

"Hey, I thought demons had 13 lives? Wanna fill in the blanks there?" Cy requested.

"No blanks. We'd have to kill her 13 times, or just cut off her head and bury it on holy ground." Chain responded.

"Uh, correction, it'd be 12 times. Raven's already died once at the hands of Slade, and boy did he pay for it. Um, do we have any holy ground left around here?" Beast Boy gave a nervous smile.

"Who's Slade?" Chain retorted.

"Only our resident bad guy when a huge demon bent on destroying the world's not in town." Beast Boy added.

"You might want to work on those jokes."

~+~+~+~+~

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY GOT AWAY?!?!" Trigon was angry, and didn't Raven know it. "I GIVE YOU A SIMPLE TASK AND YOU CAN'T EVEN DO THAT! HOW ARE YOU EVER GOING TO BE SOME USE TO ME ?!?!" Trigon bellowed across his courtroom, the little minion demons running in terror.

"Um, I could help you take over the world. Superheroes really are nasty things." Raven sarcastically muttered under her breath. Trigon's hearing was good. He picked up what she said, and roared a cry that shook Jump City down to the core. The prisoners on the other side of the City and even the Titans heard the thunderous cry that rocked the city.

Eventually, with a grunt of disgust, Trigon sat down again. "We will attack the Tower at dawn." He growled.

With a look of equal disgust, Raven turned towards the East, where out in the bay, she could see Titans Tower. Just wait Titans. I will destroy you, and prove my worth to my father.

Dawn couldn't come soon enough for Raven.

~+~+~+~+~

~ The body lying in snow so cold.

The foreboding evil, of stories untold.

Flying high, up to the red skies.

Soaring down, connected by family ties.

For they will try to return,

But she will never learn.

She is the one, Trigon's Daughter.

She will kill them all, like lambs to the slaughter. ~

Starfire wouldn't leave Robin's side when he awoke. Despite still recovering from his various scrapes and grazes, he seemed okay, appreciating Starfire's endless loyalty.

"Oh Robin! It is good that you are not too badly damaged! Tell me, how are you feeling?" Star excitedly burst out with many questions as soon as Robin's still tired eyes opened.

"I'll be okay Star. Soon. How is everyone else doing?" Robin wearily asked.

"Oh, someone new has come to help us!"

"They have?" Robin now looked even more baffled at the prospect awaiting them.

"Yes! You must come and meet her!" Star's green eyes were alight with excitement, life and love. 

She really has a thing for me. Wonder how I would ever explain it to Batman. 'Oh by the way my girlfriend's an alien.' Wait did I just say that? Robin battled with these thoughts whilst Starfire examined Robin's arm, the cut covered with a crimson crust of dried blood.

"Ya know that's probably gonna going to leave a scar." Robin and Starfire looked up to see the ever trendy Moonfire, who was getting a couple of Band Aids. "But then again, you've been looking after him well, haven't you babe?" She smiled, as Starfire blushed ever so slightly.

"Oh come on, you know it's sooo obvious that Star likes him." Sunafire's warm hearted smile came from the doorway, as Starfire violently blushed a lovely cherry red. "Oh, sorry sis, that is a bit embarrassing." Sunafire sheepishly sauntered into the room, retrieving the book she'd left on the side.

"Come on babe, we'd better go. I think your lover boy is waiting….." Moonfire grinned, and quickly shot out of the room.

"Lover boy?…"Suna thought for a minute.  MOONFIRE! GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE NOW!" Sunafire's shouts echoed back down the hallway, as she realised what her sister had meant, and gave chase.

"What was that all about?" Robin asked. To his surprise, Starfire giggled, then replied.

"Sunafire has, what is it again, a 'thing' for Firgu, correct?" She giggled again, her peals of laughter echoing across the room.

"She has a crush on Raven's big brother?" Robin thought for a minute, then cracked up with laughter as well. The two chuckled together for a while, before Starfire got up to leave.

"I had better go back Robin. Cyborg and Beast Boy are planning on how to defeat Raven." Star smiled yet again, before gathering the pile of books she had left on the table nearby.

"Why do I get the feeling that you've been in Raven room again?" Star blushed, before admitting to it.

"Yes, but only so that we may look up some more information on Raven and Trigon. Perhaps we will find a weakness?"

Starfire held about 10 books as she walked towards the door. As she leant down to press the button to open the exit, several books moved forward nearly slid off, had Robin not caught them.

"But Robin, you are ill yes?" Star asked whilst readjusting her pile

"I was tired, and had a pretty sore arm. It'll take a while for my arm to heal, but I needed a few days rest. I'll cope." Robin gave a warm hearted smile, and took half of Star's pile.

"Come on." He grinned, and led the way out of the door.

~+~+~+~+~

"Dawn has arrived father." Raven hissed.

"And the Titans are still recovering from your last attack on them. Perhaps you haven't failed me. Torturing your enemies, then destroying them is such a lovely way. They are weak now, thanks to your efforts, and now I can easily stomp them out of the equation." Trigon gave a evil, cruel smile.

Yes. I have proved my worth to him. Now he will love me, and give me praise. Raven was pleased with her success. Time to eliminate my only drawback.

Raven's heartless, merciless smirk never left her face as she followed her father to the bay.

It was time.

~+~+~+~+~

~ For now is now, and now is then.

Evil has come, it's ranks times ten.

She is the one, Trigon's Daughter.

She will kill them all like lambs to the slaughter.

Trigon's Daughter. ~

In the main room, people were flicking through books and typing on keyboards. Not much info had been found, although Beast Boy had discovered that Trigon's main weakness was the gem in the middle of his forehead. His other main weakness was his actual head, so they were going to have to aim for the head when they came up against Trigon himself.

Everyone looked up when a huge bang went up outside, and the tower shook violently.

"What the heck was that?" Robin asked whilst scrambling to his feet.

The glass of the main window was shattered in one clean swoop, glass flying everywhere. Trigon's huge face appeared where the glass had been, followed by the shadow of Raven dropping through a portal from the roof.

"Oh no." Beast Boy froze. Raven smiled, then hissed back at him.

"Oh yes."

~+~+~+~+~

Gothic: Okay so that was Jinx's line at the end there, but it goes well with the scene. If anyone would like to see a picture I've drawn of Chain, please leave me a review saying so, and I'll email the piccie to you. ( I'll need your email address for that though…..)

Kitty: We've upgraded yet again. This chappie came to a grand total of 4,073 words. Good huh?

Evil Raven: Either you review, or I kill the Titans and you as well!

Gothic: Oi! Stop threatening my readers! And please review!