Trigon towered over Raven in all of his unholy might. His white hair, red skin and four red eyes, the mere mention of his name inspired terror in those who had only heard of him. Raven fell back a step and she heard the infant in the crib behind her squeal in terror.

"YOU CANNOT KEEP ME FROM THAT WHICH IS MINE. I WILL HAVE THE CHILD, HE BELONGS TO ME." Trigon said, taking a step forward.

Raven was beginning to panic; she wasn't strong enough to fight her father and she was alone, she would never be able to take him down. She wanted to run, to vanish, to hide, to...

...Drown in darkness.

Raven turned her head; that had been no thought of hers and yet it was what she wanted. She put a hand to her head as it began to pound. Trigon wasn't moving, why wasn't he moving? Her headache grew worse and she could feel the emotions within her rage against their prison, begging for release. Hate, anger, pain, anguish and...

...Sorrow.

Raven shut her eyes putting her hands over her ears; these thoughts weren't hers, these emotions weren't hers. As an empath she could feel other people's emotions and now she was being crushed under the weight of a thousand despairing thoughts.

"Get out of my head." She gasped, trying to force the imposing thoughts away.

...Want to disappear, to vanish, to be consumed by the darkness...

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" She screamed.

The world around her literally shattered like glass, the pieces vanished into nothingness and she fell as there was no longer anything to support her. She plunged into an ocean of darkness and she did nothing to prevent it. Her body grew heavy, her mind clouded; all she wanted to do was to close her eyes and sleep, let all the troubles of the world take care of themselves. Her eyes widened and she refocused her thoughts, this lethargic feeling would have her lose her self in the darkness, becoming just another shadow in the black ocean. She began to swim through the waters, though in actuality she was not moving. The waters were made of the remnants of souls, of people who had long given in to their self- destructive desires and faded away to nothing. Their voices, their thoughts were loud, but Raven was looking for ones who had yet to bee absorbed... at least she hoped they hadn't been absorbed by the dark yet. She flowed through the dark, listening for thoughts that would be disconnected from the rest. She past by thoughts which were echoes of people who had once been here, but were not there anymore.

...I'm the fastest man alive, can't stop running, gotta keep moving...

She felt these thoughts were supposed to be moving much faster than she was supposed to be able to perceive, but she could still somehow understand them.

... I'm the last of my kind, I don't belong here, why do I stay?

Alien thoughts, not even in English, but again, Raven could understand them.

...Lois... I'm the only one who can save her, but I can't make it, I wont be around forever, who'll protect them if I can't?

...He's human and I'm not, it could never work out, I should just leave...

...I'm more than just a ring or battery, aren't I?

...Hera, give me strength, I can't do this alone...

She passed these thoughts; she didn't have time to deal with echoes. The darkness was fathomless and endless; there was no way she could find them in here.

No! Can't think like that, I WILL find them. She thought.

In the instant she thought that, she found them.

...It'll be my fault if they're hurt...

...I don't want to be alone, don't send me away...

...I'm not a machine I'm human...

...Why did they die? Why did I have to live?

She could feel them, their hurts, their pain and their despair. She could help them, she could break the darkness' hold over them, but she would have to take their pain into herself to do it and at that thought she recoiled. She couldn't take that kind of pain; she never wanted to feel the pain of others, not their emotional pain anyways.

...Raven...

She heard the voice and turned. This wasn't a shadow of the dark, it didn't belong to a person, nor was it an echo of one who had been here; rather, it was more like a memory. Raven didn't know how she knew it was a memory, she simply knew. She couldn't see who it was, but she knew the voice was Azar's, her mentor. She remembered Azar teaching her about healing others by taking on their pain. Thinking of it the darkness seemed to light up as that very scene replayed itself before her. Somehow, she felt as though she were watching someone else's memory and not her own. She saw herself when she was young, unlike the others of Azarath, she was meditating, not praying. Her teacher, Azar, a woman of great intelligence, wisdom and patience was teaching her to use her powers.

"Raven... I have taught you how to defend yourself with your powers, how to focus your emotions, how to read the emotions of others and now I have taught you how to heal." Azar had said.

"Is there more I must learn?" The young Raven asked eagerly.

Raven remembered this particular lesson, it was the last time she'd seen Azar, the day before she first met her father Trigon. She'd only been about seven at the time.

"Every day is a learning experience, child. Even I have yet to learn everything. I am going to teach you how to heal the hearts and minds of people."

"Their hearts?"

"Yes. Wounds to the heart and mind are perhaps the most grievous of wounds as there are no physical marks and a person can be destroyed by those wounds, falling prey to their own darkness."

"How can I heal that kind of hurt?" Young Raven asked, a bit nervous.

"You share their pain, help them to understand it, help them through it. Even if it is only for a brief time, it can do a great deal of good."

"I... I'm not sure. I don't want to feel that kind of pain." Raven replied.

"All beings feel pain. You are strong and you can help people who are hurt. I have taught you how to deal with this pain, child. So fear not, you will be able to withstand it." Azar said gently.

The images faded and Raven remembered something about that day: there had been someone there, spying on them. Why hadn't she remembered that little detail until now? She couldn't say. She shook her head, clearing her mind of distractions. The other inhabitants of this place were gone, she couldn't save them, she had to save her friends. She spread her arms and began to chant.

"Azarath Metrion Zynthos..." She incanted over and over again.

Black and white energy poured out of her eyes and mouth as she brought her full power to bear to free her friends' minds. Light began to spread out from her body and one could see the rest of the Titans illuminated in the darkness. The strain, the pain, it was growing too much for Raven, she felt her head would burst. She only needed to hold them for a second longer, then she could bring them all out of the dark. The light grew brighter, engulfing all the Titans.

Raven opened her eyes slowly; she was so tired and could barely keep her eyes open. Bringing all the Titans out of their own private darkness had taxed her strength and endurance to their limits and beyond. She wanted to close her eyes and sleep, but couldn't because some noise was keeping her up. She focused on the sound, finding it was in fact a song, one she remembered well: it was a sort of lullaby that Azar sung on occasion. She looked around and found that she was cradled in Crow's arms as he sung Azar's song.

"W... where did you l... learn that?" She gasped.

Crow looked down on her and almost smiled, or so it seemed.

"So... you're awake. Congratulations, you were able to escape the darkness... barely. Your strong, but you'll never be ready for when He comes... he was right, I guess I'll have to take matters into my own hands." Crow said.

Crow lay her gently on the ground and turned to leave.

"W-wait... who are you? Tell me your name at least." She called out to him.

"My name?" He pondered. "Fair enough. My name is Morgan... Morgan Crow."

As he disappeared, Raven looked over to her friends. Starfire was curled up and sobbing uncontrollably, Beast Boy was sitting staring blankly at nothing, Cyborg was sitting up and stared at his hand as though if he were to look away it would vanish and Robin, he was lying down looking up at the stars.

-------------------------

Crow handed the piece to Slade, who examined it carefully.

"Excellent work... You were actually able to hurt the Titans." Slade said as he handed the device to his white haired buttler. "Wintergreen, take this and put it with the others, I have some matters to discuss with our friend here.

Crow looked at Slade; he didn't care what the mercenary, tactical genius wanted, only what he said he would provide him with.

"What more do you want?" Crow asked.

"In light of your darkness based abilities, I have a... special request for you.


Word from the Author: Can you guess who this chapter's special guest stars are? More importantly, can you guess who wasn't there? Sometimes what isn't said is more important than what is. Sorry if chapters aren't coming out as fast as you, my faithful readers, would like, but I would like to remind you that I work during the week and am working on two other stories at the same time as this. In the meantime, you could always check out the other stories I've written. It shouldn't matter if you haven't seen those game series, except in one case. My one shot stories really need more reviews. As Mad Mod would say 'Patience my duckies'.

Teen Titans Facts: The Titans fought Trigon twice, once in his home dimension, trapping him there (The New Teen Titans (first series) #5-6, 1981), and once on Earth. That second time, he was able to release the evil in Raven, and she stood as his second as he began remaking the Earth in his twisted, hellish image. As the Titans battled on against impossible odds, the soul of Azar guided Arella and Lilith (Omen) through preparing the unconscious Raven for her destiny. Raven's soul, cleansed of her father's evil, became a conduit through which the souls of all of Azarath came to corrupt Trigon with purity and "destroy the Destroyer of Worlds" (The New Teen Titans (second series) #1-5, 1984-1985).