Chap. 9
Fathers, Sons, and Demons
"Your son?" Raven asked. "It all happened sixteen years ago, when Brett and I first got married." Sara explained. "We'd talked about having a child, but Brett was afraid of what his… nature might do to our child's appearance. He consulted with the first Lightweaver, who was now Gatekeeper of the Tower, and they learned there was about a fifty-fifty chance the child would be born different. We decided to take it. Nine months later, Jeremy was born. He was completely human, and we were so happy. But after I… died… Brett couldn't be a father anymore; just looking at Jeremy reminded him of me. He left the Knighthood and left him with my sister. We haven't seen him since."
"You mean he's still alive?" Raven asked. "Then why…" "Don't we go see him?" Sara finished. "He thinks his father abandoned him, and that his mother is dead. What could we say to explain that? How could we tell him that he's not completely human?" "I-I had no idea." Raven stammered, completely at a loss for words. "It's ok. I can deal with it. It's just harder around this time of year. Thursday is his birthday, you see." "The sixteenth." Raven whispered. "Yes. Does that mean something else to you?" Sara asked. "That's what we were arguing about before. Brett, he was trying to apologize for what happened with Dr. Light and I told him to come to this poetry reading that night. He said that he couldn't, that you needed him then. I just tore into him; I didn't even let him explain. God I feel like such a shit."
But Sara replied, "He said he wanted to." "What?" "After you left, he woke up and I told him what happened. He was enraged, not because you knocked him out, but because of what I said to you. He said that he felt bad enough about denying you the café already, but now he had to apologize for me. I didn't know what he was talking about, but now.." Sara sighed, and sat down. "I've never seen Brett get that worked up about disappointing someone before. He really cares about you, you know." "Yeah, but he loves you." Raven answered. "He drops everything for you." "Are you nuts? If he didn't love you, why he spend half the morning trying to find a restaurant close to that bookstore?" "He did that?" Raven asked, a trace of emotion in her voice. "Yep. And after this morning, he spent the whole ride back in silence, thinking up what to say to you. He wouldn't even let me talk to him about it, and he's never done that before. Frankly, I felt like I had to win him back or something. I think that's why I said most of those things to you."
The two women stood silent then, neither one sure of what to say. Finally, Raven said, "I guess this sounds kinda stupid doesn't it?" "I think so." Sara answered. "Look, I don't know how we're going to get over this," Raven began. "But I do know that we both want Brett back. Do you think you can trust a half-demon enough to do that?" Sara was quiet for a moment, then stood up and said, "Can you trust a half-human enough to do this?" Raven nodded, and the two shook hands, swearing that they would bring this nightmare to a halt.
But at this point, it was one hell of a nightmare. Trigon had taken his new form to the very heart of the city. The demon had been imprisoned for centuries and he had seen the progress of humanity in that time. Now he wanted to burn it to the ground and dance in its ashes. Shrieking his horrible laughter, Trigon sent forth beams of demonfire at the buildings around him. As the explosions hit and rubble began falling, the people ran in terror. "Yes! Flee pathetic mortals! Flee from Trigon!" the monster cried out gleefully as his power sent more waves of destruction throughout the city.
"Well done, master." Slade commented behind Trigon, as the resurrected villain added his own fire to the destruction. "Indeed, my servant." Trigon answered, his eyes glowing viciously. "I have not felt so alive in ages! And once I discover how to unlock this body's shadow powers, I will bring this world to its knees! To think, I was going to settle for my daughter's ability." "Of course master. But do not forget our agreement. I am to have this country when the world is yours." "I do not reward impertinence, Slade." Trigon said, wheeling onto his servant. "But I do reward loyalty. I will give you this land, as we agreed."
Meanwhile, the Titans and BRATS were racing through the highways, trying to reach the city. "So, does anyone have an idea of what we're gonna do when we get there?" Beast Boy asked. "We find this demon and stop him." Robin answered curtly. "Somehow, I'm not comforted." Beast Boy replied. Suddenly, the T-Cars communicator beeped. "Guys, I may have some good news." Bartman said over the wire. "What's that?" Raven asked. "Well, we may not know how to stop this guy, but I don't think finding him will be a problem." "Look!" Starfire cried in horror, pointing to the cityscape in front of them. The heroes gaped in horror. Jump City was burning. Flames leapt out from the heart of the city, seeming to grow every minute. A sane person would have turned around right then and there. But these were heroes, which meant they had to be a little crazy. They gunned the cars' engines, and shot towards the city.
The huge building was covered in flame. One by one, the windows began to explode from the heat. "This is truly glorious." Trigon sneered as he listened to the people inside the building shriek. "This city will be the first of many to fall to me." "They will send armies, Master." Salde said. "How long will it be until you can summon your legions?" "Soon enough. My power grows by the minute. When I am ready, I will summon my hordes through the gateway, and then I will truly be unstoppable!"
"Then we'd better make sure that doesn't happen!" a voice cried from behind them. Both villains turned around to see the Titans and BRATS standing before them. But Trigon just laughed. "This is the first army of man? A group of children and an Elemental? What do I have to fear from this?" "More then you think." Robin answered. "For one thing, you got the rankings wrong." "What?" "Two Elementals, Father." Raven said, as she stepped out from behind the T-Car. "So the bat was smarter then I thought." Trigon said, seeing Raven's armor and the sword. "But truly, do you think you can control such power? Do you truly believe you can destroy me with it?" Raven's only response was to place the Nighstalker helmet on her face. "So be it." Trigon said, and he shot forth his demonfire.
