Tear, ¿Morirá?¿Vivirá?
Tear, will he live or die?
The group got to the mall to find people running everywhere in panic. Some were taking advantage of the chaos to loot stores, others running and screaming mindlessly, but what really got the Titan's attention was the bloody scene in the middle of the mall. Bodies were torn into halves, arms here, legs there. A head, or its remains clung onto the side of the marble horse that stood in the center of the now red fountain. The team looked at the gory sight in disgust. All save Maria who looked in disgust at the Titans.
Everyone, including Raven, was paler then normal except for Beast Boy who managed to turn greener then normal. Cyborg grimaced at the dismembered bodies. Beast Boy turned very green before his breakfast came up. Starfire hid her face behind a curtain of red hair and the clef of Robin's neck while Robin hugged her to comfort her. The Boy Wonder was putting on a stone face though he lacked color. Raven was expressionless but for once it wasn't because she choose to be expressionless. This time around it was because she was seeing the carnage of death for herself and not through the romanticized window of a book. All that she had read from fascination and interest about the darkness of death had never shown her the horrors of it.
Laughter broke all the titans out of their shock. All eyes landed on Maria who was sitting atop the marble horse. "Look at you! Princess of the Hells and you look like you're about to loss you're breakfast!" Maria said pointing at Raven. "And the rest of you look like you don't understand what has happened here."
The group looked dumbfounded at Maria, still too shocked to retort to her taunts.
"Fine you babies. If you look around there is no one in the mall here. We have a bunch of devils running amok in the city. And all because you just stood there."
"What!? You mean you saw them and you didn't do anything about it?!" Robin snapped at the girl.
"I didn't see them but I can sense them." Maria said in a very bubble tone. "And here they come!" Maria giggled before flipping off the horse on to the ground.
She never landed on the ground.
Instead four massive white wings had sprouted from her back and she was floating a 10 cm (4 inches) off the ground. Her eyes glowed a blinding white, hair flying everywhere, as two white globes formed in her hands.
Quickly, far too quickly, the team was surrounded by a solid ring of devils. They all were as depicted in the books; red, horns, tails and pitchfork wielding. Each stood about 180 cm (6' 0"), was scantly clad and showed off muscular bodies.
"Go back home or we have to hurt you." Maria said in a very childish voice.
"Or what? You're gonna make us?" A devil called out from the throng. Laughter rippled through the crowd.
"Perhaps." Maria said with a cynical smile.
In a matter of mere seconds the fighting began. It was very one sided in the beginning. Maria had flown higher into the air and hurled a pair of white orbs into the mass of red. The orbs exploded killing several devils and wounding many more. Another pair of orbs flew into the throng, and another and another. The explosions drown out the sounds of the fighting below as well as the sounds of the dying. Blood splattered everywhere and before long Maria's white robes were stained the dark red of the demonic heart.
Beneath Maria the Titans had formed a tight circle to protect themselves. Cyborg was mowing down devils with his sonic cannon. Robin was engaging in hand-to-hand combat with devils. After having captured a pitchfork he was tearing through the devils that came at him. Starfire hovered above Robin and was furiously chucking her own green discs into the crowd in an attempt to lessen the numbers that attacked Robin. Beast Boy was the not vicious of all. He had transformed into an elephant and was trampling the devils under foot and, much like in the days of Alexander, the devils panicked against such a physically large and angry beast.
Raven was frozen stiff, petrified with fear. How the others had over come their shock was beyond Raven. She could sit against the base of the fountain, a small dark blue clad girl hugging her knees to her chest. Perhaps it was because none of them had looked into death as an escape from the horrors of the world. It seemed to be such a peaceful thing to be, without worries or cares, death was a place where Raven would never have to worry about controlling her emotions. But here Raven was being shown the horrors of death; it was not a peaceful sleep but an agonizingly painful sapping away at life. For some it was slow; limbs torn off by blasts leaving them writhing in pain as their lifeblood pumped out of them by their own hearts. Others died quick by painfully nonetheless from grenade like blasts of Maria and Star's orbs or from the scorching blastoff Cyborg's cannon.
In all the confusion of battle no one noticed that Raven wasn't fighting or that no was remotely near her. Fortunately neither did the devils with all the troubles they were having.
Beast Boy was rampaging up and down the mall like the wounded animal he was. Cybrog had at some point mounted the big green creature and was blasting away at the groups of devils that weren't charged down. Robin and Star were fighting together with Starfire still providing aerial support to Robin. Maria continued bombard way, laughing and giggling as she sowed death among the Infernal ranks.
With all the screaming and flying bodies no one noticed that another figure was ripping the Infernal ranks to tatters. With all the attention on the other five combatants none of the devils saw the cloaked figure moving fluidly in a dance of death with his steel quarterstaff.
However the mindless carnage that he was generating did not go unnoticed and the entire swarm turned their efforts on the man. Even with all the damage being caused by the other five the horde managed to drag the man down and stab him bloody with their pitchforks. Foolishly this action only enraged the man and triggered a frightening transformation.
From beneath the pile of stabbing devils emerged a dark red beast. His hard skin shown bright red with his own blood and the darker blood of the devils he had killed. The large spikes on his back and the horns crowning his head added to his intimidating powerful build. His four arms, two of them massive crablike pinchers, were soon snapping bodies in two and slashing others in half with his sharp clawed hands.
Soon the screams turned from cries of pain to cries of panic. The devils realized their mistake too late. Tear had closed the Gate they had come through and had settled into a rhythm of slashing, snapping, and hurling various exploding spells into the quickly dwindling masses.
The pace of the fighting slowed down once the Titans and Maria noticed that they had received help. Maria was even arrogant enough to settle herself atop the marble horse once more to watch the remainder of the battle.
As the fighting died down the Titans, minus Raven who's absence was not yet noticed, gathered back together to wearily watch the Demon dispatch the last of the devils. Beast Boy was laid out on the ground covered in cuts and slowly creating his own puddle of blood. Cyborg was dented, scratched up and his cannon arm was giving off hot wisps of steam. Robin too was cut up from his close fighting and exhausted. The Boy Wonder was breathing heavily and leaning against Starfire who was supporting most of Robin's weight.
The last of the devil had it head torn off its shoulders by Tear. Tear merely looked at the scared expression on the face before dropping the head on top of the body causing it to twitch. Tear then glanced over at the Titans and noticed that only four were present, Di'Candra was missing. Shifting into his human form Tear watched the Titans visible relief that he was a friend and not another enemy.
Raven heard the sounds of battle die down but she didn't move. 'It could just be a lull in the fighting or perhaps the others had di…run away.' Raven reasoned to herself.
"No bad wounds for your first battle. They will be something to tell your children one day." Tear said in an approving tone. The group, in the face of death, had been able to over come their reluctance to kill even if it was for self-preservation. "Head back to the Tower with the wounded. Maria." Tear motioned Maria to help carry Beast Boy and Cyborg while Starfire flew Robin back to the Tower.
Raven heard Tear's deep commanding voice but knew that he wasn't there. She must be hearing voices though Raven briefly wondered why she was hearing his voice.
Looking over the desolate mall Tear spotted Raven's midnight blue hood peeking over the side of the fountain. Tear walked over to the other side of the fountain and kneeled beside Raven. How he found her disappointed him slightly but it gladdened him at the same time. Raven was still sitting with her knees to her chest. She was muttering "He can't be here, he can't be here." over and over to herself totally oblivious to Tear's presence.
"Di'Candra." Tear called to Raven. No response.
"Di'Candra." Tear tried again louder. In the distance he could hear the sirens of the police coming now that all the trouble was over. 'Cowardly humans' Tear thought to himself. 'Better get Raven out of here.'
Tear bent over and touched Raven on the shoulder. Raven flinched and massive blast that sent shook the foundation of the building sent Tear flying backwards. He lands some 3 meters (10 feet) away in his true form.
As he skidded further away Raven could only watch in horror at what she had done. Tear's long spikes were snapping off of his back, his pincers had been blown off of him and his front was badly burned. Finally Tear skidded to a halt, blood marking his passage and slowly seeping out of where his pincer arms had been. They were somewhere in the mall but Raven didn't care where they were. She got up and ran over to Tear just in time to watch him arch him back, reach upwards, and then collapse with his red eyes rolled into the back of his head.
A/N: 1:30 in the morning is not the time to be up and about. Never mind, I'm updating as you can see. 97 reviews. This is really beginning to pick up. Ok Raven hides in a corner when the blood flies. Personally I think it would be about right; people are terrified when they find out war is not all glory and honor. There's a lot of blood and gore involved and it goes against everything they've read out. Same deal with Raven. She reads too many dark and depressing books that glorify death. Well she faced death and hid! The others don't have this problem; they were fighting for their lives!
RedMarch: You missed the point of the last chapter and I bet you will make a comment about Maria that was explained in the last chapter. You and everyone else!
Terra Basher: For you and the vast majority of RobStar fans out there I do have another scene in mind for them. It should live up to the standards that you all love in my scenes with them but first I have some business with Raven and Tear.
Black Malva: Wrong. I explain that Trigon was over thrown by Tear and the Red Hand over 500 years ago. Trigon still has Raven born but he's not a major player in the fight for the Blood Throne. Telir and Candra are and that is why all the fighting is going on. Plus there is Tears agenda that I have alluded to.
A reader: "I shall name you fuzzy and you shall be my fuzzy" since you refuse to let me know your name, made up or otherwise.
Dr. Evans: Interestingly enough I did think about that happening but I don't see it. Maria wouldn't take a shine to either of them and having a father like Tear would make things a bit nerve racking for the guys. I have different designs for her that are ever changing. I was going to have her die in this chapter but decided against it.
Willow182: Thanks for the comment about Tear. I'm a Robin Starfire fan too but there are plenty of fics about them. Still one with my amount of heat in it is hard to find so I am writing it. Thanks for the info but if Trigon was killed when he was ousted how could Raven be born in my fic? And she won't die. I've killed of the major romantic characters in my fics before but Raven is safe.
Voltor: Raven is out of character but you, like everyone else, are failing to see why that is happening. I give explanations about some things but they aren't nice and laid out for you. YOU have to find them!
meditaion6: I write everything with a reason and Maria does play a bigger role in this. Once again Raven is acting the way she is acting because of certain things. I've already explained some of the reasons. You just have to look.
LockDown over and out…