Chapter 3: Destiny

Raven's eyes blinked a few times before she was completely awake. Her soul-self had returned to her body. Then, she realized that Slade was still carrying her. They were flying over Jump City. She knew where he was taking her and she did not want to have any part of it. Immediately, she fought against him. She leapt out of his arms and tried to fly away. 'I need to find the others! I can't do this alone!' Slade was flying after her. Raven didn't want to start chaos in the city, but if she didn't try to stop him, the outcome would be worse. She was picking up cars and lampposts and throwing them at Slade, but he burned his way through everything. 'Ughh! I hate destroying peoples' cars!' Raven thought. ' I can't imagine all the money it'll cost them!'

"I should've done this earlier!" Slade growled. Then, he flew ever faster toward Raven and grabbed her wrists. She could feel a burning sensation where his hands were. She cried out in pain. Then, the burning stopped. She would have dropped to the ground, but Slade still had a hold of her. She was dangling in the air. Slade pulled her up and carried her off. She tried to fight again, but she was not able to. She could not move her arms or her legs. Slade could tell that she was struggling.

"Look at your wrists," he suggested. She looked down and could see a red glowing band around both of them. "A gift from your father," he explained. "While they are in place, the bands will keep your body paralyzed from the neck down and they will also prevent you from using those helpful powers of yours." She knew that he was probably right, but she tried her spell anyway.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" she yelled. Nothing happened. Slade laughed at her attempt.

"Try again. I think it will work," he mocked. Raven stared at him angrily, but kept silent. She could not do anything. She could only hope that her friends would be able to help her before it was too late.


"We should be getting close. Beast Boy, Starfire! Do either of you see anything? " Robin was talking to them through their communicators. The Titans were following Raven's signal from her communicator. It was dark, so that made it even harder to see.

"Negative, Robin. I do not see Raven or…" She squinted her eyes and gave a short gasp. "Robin! I see them!" said Starfire joyfully.

"Dude! Me too!" added Beast Boy. He had changed into an owl so that he could see better.

"Then, you guys, fly ahead. Cyborg and I will catch up. See if you can slow Slade down!" Robin ordered. They did as he directed. Beast Boy and Starfire flew as fast as they could toward Slade. Before they completely caught up, Starfire started hurling starbolts at him. Slade dipped down and landed on the ground. He went into what appeared to be an abandoned building. A thought struck Beast Boy. 'Hey, this is how I found Terra when she was working with Slade. I remember that building!' Starfire recognized it too. She flipped open her communicator and gave Robin an update as she and Beast Boy followed Slade.

"Robin, Slade has entered a building. It is the same one that leads to his previous hideout when he had control of Terra. Beast Boy and I will follow him," she told her leader.

"Good. Keep doing what you're doing. We should be there shortly." Then, he put his communicator away. Starfire landed on the ground and tried to open the door. Beast Boy morphed back to a human and landed beside her. The door was locked, so Starfire blasted it open and flew inside. Beast Boy followed her into the empty room. There was a door on the wall opposite them. Starfire didn't even bother to use the doorknob. She just blasted it open. When she and Beast Boy got to the tunnel that led to the old lair, it was dark inside. There were strange, glowing symbols along the walls that provided little light. They decided to follow them. They could hear heavy footsteps not too far behind them. Cyborg and Robin were catching up. Finally, Starfire and Beast Boy reached the main room. On the far wall, they saw a fiery symbol that looked exactly like the one on Slade's forehead; only this one was much larger. The ground in front of the wall looked like it had been ripped up.

"That's where I came from," said Slade. He emerged from behind a rock and was still holding Raven. Starfire flew up into the air. Her eyes and her hands were glowing neon green.

"Release her!" she demanded. Beast Boy changed into a bear and waved his arms in the air threateningly.

"Starfire, Beast Boy, get out of here!" Raven pleaded.

"No, no. They can stay and watch," Slade smiled behind his mask as he said it. Finally, Robin and Cyborg caught up. Robin was holding a special bo-staff in his hands. It was covered with the same material that made his cape; it could resist fire. The Titans were about to attack, when Slade directed his hand to a black spot on the ground and shot flames at it. Suddenly, a circle of fire surrounded both him and Raven. The flames shot up high. Slade laid her down in the center of the ring and flew out of it. Then, he started fighting with the Titans to keep them away from Raven. Robin immediately ran up and whacked at Slade from every direction, but all of his blows were blocked. Cyborg's arm shifted into a cannon and kept it aimed a Slade, waiting for the right moment. Robin faked a hit at Slade's head and then hit his side with an angle-kick – Slade caught his leg. Robin jumped up, and freed his leg with a back flip. Starfire and Beast Boy were flying over to Raven. When Slade saw this, he shot a fireball at Robin, flew up and grabbed Starfire's ankle then, thrust her towards Beast Boy, knocking them both to the ground. Robin was back up and Cyborg quickly pressed a button on his right arm. Instead of firing a sonic blast, he shot out a net that wrapped around Slade; the net was also fire resistant. After their last fight, Cyborg made some new toys.

"Well done," Slade said coolly. "But this won't hold me." His whole body glowed orange, and then he disappeared. A red streak of lightning came out of the net and stopped in front of Robin, where Slade's form took place.

Anger had been building up inside of her through the whole thing. She hated her destiny, she hated Slade and she hated that she was so helpless. But most of all, she hated her father. It was because of her father that she had to keep her emotions under control. It was the thought of her father taking over her that gave her nightmares every night. She gritted her teeth. The fire was so hot. Beads of sweat were forming on her face. She could feel her anger and hatred swarming inside of her. She had to let it out. It was just too much. She felt something on her wrists. When she looked, she saw that the red bands had disappeared. She stood up, and took deep raspy breaths. She could hear her father's voice in her head. "You will fulfill your destiny. All of your efforts to stop it are useless. You are my daughter! You will never find peace!" She couldn't contain it anymore. She dropped down to her knees, clenched her fists and screamed.

"NOOOOOOOO! AAAAAAAH!" Black energy was shot out everywhere. It mixed with Slade's magical fire. Everyone else stopped fighting and shielded themselves. The fire was now black. It came up off the ground and threw itself at the large symbol on the wall. The symbol turned black and slowly vanished. Raven fell to the ground and the Titans rushed toward her, forgetting about Slade. He slinked away into the darkness and then his whole body burst into flames. Trigon had no more use of him. Beast Boy got to Raven first. He picked her up and held her in his arms.

"Raven. Raven, can you hear me?"

"Is she gonna be okay?" asked Cyborg. Robin put his forefinger on her wrist.

"She's still got a pulse. And it looks like she's still breathing." Starfire had her hands over her mouth. She crouched down beside her friends. Trigon's voice started ringing throughout the room.

"The portal has been opened!" he bellowed. "Because of my daughter, your planet and your dimension are doomed!"


Author's Note: First, I got the idea for Slade to kidnap Raven, but then I thought it would be cool if Trigon kidnapped her. Of course, then I remembered Trigon saying, "The portal must be opened!" in 'Birthmark'. So, I had to change it back. C'mon, what do you think? Review please!