A/N: Yes, ShadowSage2, by whatever alias, it was you I spoke of. I call everyone master. Ask Heather, the Mastamind haha. Anyways, this chapter is up extra soon because, well, to be honest, though this is my least favorite chapter because I feel I could have done better, the next chapter, chapter 12, entiled "No Good Deed Goes Unpunnished" is my absolute FAVORITE. I finished it, and I figured that I had to get it up as soon as possible. These next two chapters are basically the climax of the tale, so hold on tight and enjoy!
Chapter 11: 9:00: Apocalypse
9:00
Starfire stood up and pulled her comrade aside.
"Robin!" she hissed in a tone unlike her character. "What are you doing? We are pleasantly celebrating the consumption of nutrients and you stand and declare that something is amiss! What could cause such an odd exclamation?"
Robin was looking over her shoulder at his three friends sitting at the table, talking quietly among themselves, doubtlessly about him.
"I'm sorry..." he said, his mind obviously elsewhere. Starfire growled in frustration.
"Robin!" she cried again, furiously. But then she sighed and looked down, almost sad. "I do not like arguing with you. Please, Robin, tell me. I thought all this rebellious strangeness was gone from you after our successful victory over Mumbo Jumbo. What has happened since then that has caused you to doubt our friend? Did Raven not save us from the terrible magic snake that had tried to crush us? Did you and she not negotiate peace terms at the site where we apprehended the criminal?"
"I know how it looks," said Robin, looking at Starfire now with a very solemn expression. "But you don't understand."
"Robin," Starfire said, her voice pained. "I want to. I do wish I could understand you. But perhaps there are forces at work I cannot comprehend."
"You're right," said Robin. "There are, Larkin is–"
"I mean," Starfire interrupted sadly, "something wrong with you."
"No." The answer was so adamant, it startled Starfire and Robin explained. "Listen. I've gone through the whole 'Robin's crazy' scenario, because I knew you guys would always throw that back at me, and who knows? Maybe you were right. But the more I thought about it, the more this voice inside me screamed 'No. No, Robin, you're not crazy.' It makes sense to me now, well, mostly, and he's admitted it to me, too. He knows I know and he's given up, and he was going to kill me, Starfire, but then the alarm sounded and now..." Robin looked past her again to the table where his friends were laughing once again, seeming to have forgotten all about Robin's disturbing statement.
"Now what, Robin?" Starfire asked, putting her hands on her hips. "Please, Robin. Understand that I want to believe you. But..." Starfire sighed, and shook her head, looking terribly distressed. "Why, Robin?" she asked finally, the tears surprising her companion. "Why do you force me to make these decisions? You and Raven both, turning me against... against... Robin, I honestly do not know what to believe. You stand here saying that Raven is not what she seems, and Raven is there saying that you are not as you seem... Why? I do not understand. But... perhaps, I am beginning to..." Starfire frowned, staring off over Robin's shoulder.
Robin was suspicious. "What? What are you understanding?"
"Perhaps..." Starfire said slowly, her lips barely moving. "Perhaps both you and Raven... Maybe you are both telling the truth. Perhaps neither of you are what you seem."
"Starfire, that's ridiculous," said Robin, dismissing it instantly.
"Is it?" Starfire snapped. "Is it really so much more ludicrous than your own outrageous claims, Robin?"
"Mine have some basis in fact," Robin returned, a little defensively. "I've done a lot of research on this stuff, all damn day, dammit, and I think– no, I know– that Larkin has taken over Raven's body. All of my research says it has, it's–"
"Robin!" Starfire interrupted. "Why are you so defensive? I am agreeing with you! I am saying that perhaps Raven is not who she appears to be. But perhaps you should take a closer look at yourself and tell me, tell me, Robin! Are you the same person you were yesterday?"
Robin stepped away from her frowning. "No..." he said, slowly. "I'm not."
Rather than reply, Starfire merely folded her arms and looked at him, with those piercing green eyes.
"What do you suppose that was about?" Beast Boy asked his two friends, looking from Raven to Cyborg.
"Let's not talk about it..." Cyborg muttered, staring pointedly at his plate as he took another bight of pizza.
"Why not?" Beast Boy asked, a slight hint of hostility to his tone. "If something's wrong with Robin, I think it's about time we talked about it."
"Nothing's wrong with Robin!" Cyborg said through gritted teeth after he swallowed his pizza forcibly.
"He's right," Raven said at last, her eyes unfocused as she stared at something that didn't exist.
Beast Boy looked to Raven confused. "Wha– but you– he was– and you said– huh?"
Raven smiled at Beast Boy kindly. "Robin is fine," she said. "Just a little confused, is all. He doesn't understand how everything could be right again after we had been so divided. A near-death experience can really get to you. And it helped that extreme pain dulls the senses." She smiled mysteriously. "When that snake was around you, Robin was so blinded by pain, his shields were down and I slipped into his mind undetected."
Cyborg stood up. "You what?" His voice was as quiet and as deadly as the calm before a storm.
"Cyborg sit down," Raven said calmly. "I knew you wouldn't like that. Let me explain."
Calming down, Cyborg nodded and took his seat, then looked at her expectantly.
"I didn't do anything." Beast Boy and Cyborg both looked surprised at this statement. Raven hesitated. "I..." She took a deep breath. "It was normal. There was nothing wrong."
Beast Boy frowned, confused. "That's it!" he declared, throwing his arms in the air. "This has just crossed over into the twilight zone!"
"I agree with BB," Cyborg said, eying Raven suspiciously. "If Robin's not crazy, then why..."
"I don't know," Raven interrupted, obviously beginning to falter. "Believe me, out of all of us, I think I'm the most bewildered." It was probably the most honest thing Larkin had said to them all day.
"Um...?" Beast Boy said, raising his hand. "I have rightfully earned that title, thank you, I would much appreciate it if you didn't steal it from me!"
Raven smiled at him warmly. "OK. But I've been thinking for a while that Robin's head had been damaged when I was fighting Larkin in his head... and now, I go back, and it's just... fine. And I can't do anything to... to help him. And he's been not trusting me and now I can't figure out why."
"Maybe he generally thinks your evil..." Cyborg mumbled.
Raven looked away but said nothing.
"Raven's no more evil than Robin," Beast Boy snapped at Cyborg.
"I know!" Cyborg retorted, defensively. Raven looked up, her expression blank, and their eyes met. Eventually he smiled at her and looked away sheepishly. "I know," he repeated, quietly. "My point is, something Rae did or said made him think... truly think... that Raven was not who she claimed to be."
"Maybe I haven't been," said Raven sadly. "But I'll try to be."
"Hey," said Beast Boy, leaning in really close to his companions. "Did you ever wonder how long it would take for an emu to run across the Australian Outback?"
Raven raised a mocking eyebrow at Beast Boy before hitting him upside the head.
"What are we talking about?" Robin asked with a smile as he sat down. His friends looked at him curiously.
Starfire sat down quickly after Robin, her face obviously less than satisfied. Whatever discussion had passed between her and Robin, it wasn't finished.
Raven smiled at the two recently-arrived Titans. "Beast Boy's odd obsession with fowl."
Robin raised a skeptical eyebrow at the shape shifter, who merely shrugged innocently in reply.
There they were. Sitting there. She'd finally found them.
"So," Abby said, as Ray stared at them out of the car window. "Are we there yet?"
Ray chuckled. "It seems so..." he muttered.
"Now what?" Abby asked.
Ray opened the door and stepped out, his expression determined. "Confrontation. Peace. At last."
He felt her immediately. All his senses flared, warning him that she was nearby. Merely feet away!
He turned around and saw her standing in the street, in the body of that useless son of his.
"Aw, Christ," Larkin said. "Not you again."
The kid merely raised his eyebrows at the teen superheroes.
"Not me again?" he said. "I've been locked in a mental hospital, lost on the subway, dragged into a department store, forced to wear this idiotic hat, running around this stupid city looking for you. And all you can say is 'not you again?'???"
Raven tilted her head at the boy. Finally, she sighed and stood up.
"Fine," she said. "Let's end this."
"Friend Raven?" Starfire said, placing a hand on Raven's forearm. "What is taking place?"
Raven shook Starfire from her reach. "I am not your friend, Starfire," she whispered for only Starfire to hear, her eyes closed as if the words stung.
Starfire drew away, stunned.
Raven stepped away from the table and into the streets. The boy crossed his arms. Behind him, Abby stepped out of the small black Altima, watching them curiously.
"It's time Raven and I settled this once and for all," the person in Raven's body said loudly, staring at the boy in the street. The other Titans rose, suddenly startled, but none of them said a word. The boy was smiling.
"I'm glad you can be a man about this, Larkin," said the boy.
Raven smiled. "Indeed I can."
There was a flurry of energy among the two foes. They both seemed to have identical powers.
"It's like watching two Ravens," Cyborg muttered to Robin, who was watching the fight in confused intrigue.
"Give up, Songbird," hissed Larkin as he trapped the boy against the wall with Raven's own powers. "You cannot defeat me."
"Wanna bet?" little Ray returned, throwing a mailbox enveloped in purple energy at Larkin's head. Disoriented, the man in Raven's body dropped his telekinetic hold on the boy before him and Ray fell to the floor.
"Fool!" Larkin screamed, charging his energy and aiming.
"Raven!" The call was Starfire's and all heads turned, horrified, as the alien ran to the two strange telekinetics fighting in the street.
"Starfire, no!" Ray screamed, but it was too late. Starfire had jumped in front of the boy just as Larkin fired at Ray's feet. Starfire shrieked as she fell through the new hole in the street.
"Starfire!" Larkin muttered, his eyes wide. Immediately he ran to her, trapping her in a black energy bubble and levitating her over to her friends who were watching, awe-struck and terrified from outside the pizza parlor.
"Stay here," the one who looked like Raven insisted. Suddenly, she was knocked off her feet again by the same mailbox that had hit her before.
Face down on the ground, she growled with anger. She turned on her back and propped herself up on her elbows, staring at Ray furiously, who was glaring back with equal malice.
"This is done!" Raven hissed. And without another word, a swarm of black energy, darker than anything that had been released by the telekinetic before, shot out of Raven's outstretched hands and struck the boy, throwing him clear off his feet.
"Ray!" Abby shrieked, running to him.
"Larkin!" Robin cried, almost reproachfully, standing up.
"Raven?" Starfire said, confused.
"Rae?" Beast Boy said, frowning as he stood. "What's going on here?"
Cyborg put an arm on Beast Boy's shoulder sadly and forced him back into his seat. "Sit down, man," he said, watching them.
"Raven just pummeled that little kid!" Beast Boy shrieked, almost hysterically.
Cyborg looked at him, a little disturbed. "That's not Raven, BB."
"Ray!" Abby sobbed as she cradled his small body in her arms. He opened his bloodshot eyes briefly and smiled at Abby.
"Are we there yet?" he asked.
She smiled back. "Yes, Ray."
His smile grew to a grin. "Stupid, fat hobbit."
"Huh?" Abby said with a frown. Ray shook his head and frowned at Abby as if he wanted to say more, but his mouth tried to form the words and he couldn't.
I can't go on much longer... everything is falling down... debris, everywhere... Mother... Angela... Arella... I'm coming home.
No, a voice insisted violently in Ray's head. I won't go down like this. I refuse to.
Raven turned to Larkin's powers, struggling to be released. Inwardly, she smiled.
Time to go out with a bang.
"Ray?" Abby dropped him in fear and stepped away as he radiated with purple energy. Soon, a purple bubble rose him off the ground, tendrils of the energy lashing out with a crack, like flames of the sun. The energy spider webbed out from Ray's tiny body, threads of purple weaving around cars and buildings, avoiding humans and innocents, looping through tunnels and sewer systems, all focused on one being standing in the middle of the street looking horrified.
Larkin stared up at the purple tendrils reaching towards him.
"No..." he whispered. "She can't... this is impossible."
And for a split second
He saw the crimson sky
The owl screech
And the crow fly by
And the Raven perched
Above his door
Softly cooing
Nevermore...
You see, Larkin, she said, This time, the orchid's fighting back.
They watched, transfixed. Robin made a move to do something, but Starfire put an arm on his shoulder and just with her touch, he relented, as if reminded that there were others he needed to protect, should something go wrong. Neither looked at each other. Both had eyes transfixed on the scene before them.
A dome of red emanated from Raven as she tried to fight the invading purple. But it was no use. The rays from the violate sun shattered the crimson shield and Raven screamed an endless shriek that destroyed all their eardrums, louder than thunder, taller than mountains...
But she hadn't opened her mouth.
No one had heard anything.
No sound had escaped her lips as she fell to the concrete street, unconscious.
Simultaneously, the boy surrounded in purple floating in the sky dropped to the ground.
Slowly, the Titans walked over to her and looked down, every expression strangely inscrutable.
"Is it over?" Beast Boy asked tentatively, his voice a mere whisper.
"No." The reply was firm, and could only have come from Robin's mouth.
"So... who is she?" Cyborg asked.
Starfire fell to her knees and lifted Raven's head into her lap, stroking her hair.
"He was–" Robin started, but Starfire quickly cut him off.
"She," she insisted, staring down at the girl in her lap, "was our friend."
Abby stared at the Titans in the middle of the street, not a single one of them paying any heed to the boy unconscious in the gutter of the streets of Jump City. Instead, she was the one that approached him, cautiously at first, but deliberately with a steady stride. He seemed so far away.
She kneeled down and, as Starfire had done with Raven's body, Abby lifted the boy's head– Ray's head, Jordan's head, but nonetheless, just a head– and placed it on her lap. She felt his pulse, but he had long since been dead, long before she had ever met him. And somehow, she knew that.
A strange clarity overwhelmed her. She shivered. Somehow, she knew it all. The past, present and future, all inextricably bound to this moment.
"So," Raven said, staring at Larkin with a grim smile. They stood in the middle of a valley, violate orchids thriving wherever Raven stepped.
"So," said Larkin, barely audible as he lay defeated at Raven's feet.
The girl obviously didn't understand. She laughed. "Come on, Larkin," she said. "Aren't you going to fight me? Or at least throw a crippling insult my way? You're not just going to give up, are you?"
"You have won..." Larkin whispered. "What do you expect me to do?"
Raven's smile faded. "What's changed in you?"
Larkin looked up to meet her eyes. "I stole a body that was too powerful for me."
"I don't understand..." Raven said.
Larkin turned away. "You wouldn't, would you? Now I see. Why you enjoy your emotional prison, never connecting. Because if you did, you would feel as I do. Pain and guilt. You have hurt them more than I ever could by refusing them. I tried so hard to be you, Raven, I succeeded wholly, and accidentally unleashed your memories and bonds to these... these people."
"And Tameranian," Raven added.
Larkin chuckled. "And Tameranian," he acknowledged. "I became you. In fact, I was more you than you ever could have been to them."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Raven asked, half curious, half offended, sitting down next to him in the grass. Birds were chirping all around them as they sat in the shade of a great oak.
Larkin smiled at her and his hand held her cheek, lovingly. "I loved them," he whispered. "I loved them as you love them. But the difference between us, you and I, is that I shared that love with them. And I welcomed their love in return. And we were happy."
"We were happy before you came, too," said Raven coldly, pulling away from his touch. "Do not try to deceive me, Larkin. I know what you were going to do to them."
"Were going to... Oh, Raven, you silly goose, don't get me wrong!" Larkin said, rising. "I intend on fully fulfilling my plans for them."
Raven stepped away from him. "What?" she gasped. "But... but you can't! I destroyed your vessel! It's dead, I'm dead for Christ's sake! How can you–"
"Raven, my silly songbird," Larkin said with a laugh, shaking his head. "You are not dead. If you were, I don't think either one of us would be here right now. You just stunned me into my unconscious."
"You and your damn coma thing!" Raven snapped, furiously. "Why the hell can't your powers kill something when I tell it to???"
Larkin smiled. "Don't fret, Songbird, your worries will soon be over, and soon you shall be at peace."
Larkin drew a sword from the sheathe around his waist.
"No..." Raven whispered. "You... you changed. You weren't like this a minute ago."
"I've made a decision," Larkin said simply, advancing. "A minute ago, I was overwhelmed by emotion, an ugly thing I tried to banish years ago– a thing I tried to save you from. But it seems that no matter what part of your subconscious you chose to send them to, they always come back. And now, I see what I must do with this emotion. Yes. Your friends don't deserve you. And you don't deserve them. They deserve someone who'll love them openly and without fear. They deserve someone to look after them. I love them, Raven, and I will not let you hurt them any longer."
"Even without the physical wounds of insanity, you're still mad," Raven hissed. "You have never known love and you never will. Your twisted mind has never been capable of–"
"I have loved more powerfully than you can ever dream!" Larkin screamed. "I loved you. I took you in, gave you power, and you rejected me. I treated you like my own daughter–"
"While you neglected your own son!" Raven retorted. "Is that how you treat your children, Larkin? Pressure and pain? All he wanted was for you to be proud of him. And you pushed him to the edge and as he wavered there, trying not to fall, you just told him to jump. You really are the most sadistic bastard I've ever come across. And believe me, I've come across plenty! You never loved me. You needed me."
"You're damn right I bloody needed you!" Larkin screamed, tears somehow in his eyes. He got quiet. "You were the only one who could match my skill. And you were only ten years old... You were the only one who had free range inside my head. When you called, I was there. When you were in pain, I was there. I saved your bloody life! Had you gone up against Trigon at that age, you would have surely died! Do you think I wanted to lose you?"
"No," Raven said, her eyes like gray ice. "You didn't want to lose Trigon. You're damn idol for God's sake!"
"True," Larkin admitted quietly. "To lose him would have been a great tragedy–"
"He's a goddamn demon Larkin!" Raven screamed. "A ruthless, unhuman demon!"
"AND WHAT WOULD YOU CALL ME????" Larkin screamed, waving his sword. He took a deep breath and continued. "What do you, Raven... what do you call me?" Larkin looked at his hands. "This?" he said. "This is only a form." He transformed into his snake self. "And this? This is me."
Raven stared at the serpent before her. "You are human," she whispered. "A crazy human, but human nonetheless."
"I am a demon," hissed the snake. "I always was. My mother knew it. She was a demon too. She wore the guise of a human, but she was more evil than anything. But she hated me because she knew I was just like her."
"Larkin..." Raven said, her voice soft. "Larkin, come back to me. I... I'm sorry. Being in Jordan's head... it's given me a whole different point of view of everything. Of the Titans, of life in general, and dammit, Larkin, even you. You're just as much of a victim of life as anyone else on this godforsaken planet."
"Shut up!" the snake roared, smacking Raven with its tail. As she hit a tree, the orchids scattered as the poppies took control. "No! I won't let you trick me! I won't let you have them!"
There was a blast at Raven's feet. The peaceful valley facade crumbled around them and they were in that barren black landscape with crimson skies. Larkin's eyes were flames of hatred as reared his head, bearing his fangs and hissing madly.
"Larkin!" Raven shrieked. "You can't do this! We're on a neutral plane, you'll kill us both!"
"I don't care!" Larkin roared. "For years I have been waiting to exact my revenge on you. But somehow, you have always thwarted me. I will not let you win this time!"
"Is that what all this is about?" Raven screamed up at the beast. "Winning? You told me yourself, you love them! You love them like I do!"
"No, Raven, you are right," said the snake. "I cannot love. I am a demon. And so are you."
With a giant roar, the beast levitated the sword and threw it at the girl, who gasped as she jumped out of the way, her form shifting into a large obsidian bird with angry purple eyes.
"That's it," she screamed. "Time out!"
And with a mighty mental push she forced Larkin out of the plane, forcing him to take on a physical form.
Only there was no physical form for him to take.
Raven quickly returned to her body, but Jordan's corpse lay in Abby's arms, completely inhospitable now that its brain had physically deteriorated inside his small skull.
Instead the fabric of time and dimensions split as a monster took form, making something from nothing, physical from mental, life from death...
Women screamed. Skies turned red. The streets swallowed up parked cars.
Something unnatural was afoot– except it had no feet.
It stood in the center of the destruction, a beast that by all logical means shouldn't exist, couldn't exist, not corporeally... But defying all laws of physics, the impossible monster screeched like a banshee in the middle of Jump City, only wanting one thing.
And that one thing stood, ready for a fight, surrounded by her frightened flabbergasted friends, with only a smile on her features.
"Good boy," she said. "Now play dead."