Last chapter... man, I've been writing this thing since October! What a lazy ass I am... but I've enjoyed it.

I guess it's time to tie everything up. Though I don't really know how long I can make this...

Enjoy!

Kree


The roof. The roof had proven to be one of her precious sanctuaries many times before. Raven had flown to this sanctuary on this dark morning after her failure with Malchior. She did not meditate nor did she sit on the ledge. She just stood on top of the roof, staring up into speckled sky. The violet haired girl was a statue, her breath and heart still, except for when the early morning breeze rippled through her dark blue cape and silken tresses. Her stoic expression was not held with ease, if anyone who saw her might believe, for whatever held her standing was slowly crumbling by the second. Her dark eyes, overwhelmed by the color of the night, was a puzzle of pieces of sadness, of confusion, of anger, with parts of it missing. To look into her eyes was the only way to tell if the adolescent girl felt at all.

It bothered her, seeing him cry. It more than just bothered her, it mocked her to the very tip of sensation in her body. How could one such as Malchior cry, reveal his humanity in his monster identity? And more importantly, why did it have to be revealed to her? She had submitted to the weakness of her heart and failed to destroy him when she had the chance. When would that chance come again? Never?

All because she had fallen for a white haired wizard and his pretty words.

She watched the sunrise, hoping that she would be inspired or possibly rejuvenated by the sight of the celestial body's elevation. Hoping that the illumination would help her spirits rise so that she would be ready to fight him once again. But the light from the sun brought her further into her empty state as she wondered why the world had not stopped for her as everything she was so confident of fell apart.

With the sun came a voice from behind. She was astonished to hear it but she did not flinch at its sound nor did she turn around to acknowledge it. Her heart trembled in its presence but her body made no motion in response.

"Sagira doesn't know you came," said the voice of the young wizard from behind.

She did not speak or nod in reply. What was she to say? Oh fantastic, thanks for covering and bringing me the news!

"I just wanted to make sure you got home safely..."

So that I'd be in a healthy condition to play with later on? Not to mention that it had been hours since she'd left his domain and arrived at Titans Tower. No doubt he already knew of her condition anyway because he was all-powerful-all-knowing-Malchior-of-Nole. She stiffened, even more than she had been before as he continued to speak.

"We're going to Silver City, today," said Malchior. "I thought I might as well let you know early-"

"How dare you," Raven interrupted, her voice barely above a whisper. She turned around and looked into his black eyes, her gaze intense with a mixture of untamed feelings. "How dare you come up here and talk to me as if we were old friends discussing a date later this afternoon."

The white haired young man was now left in silence. His eyes trailed the floor in his hesitation and perhaps even embarrassment.

"How dare you toy with me by alluding that you care about my safety? That you give me this necklace," she tore it off from her neck and flung it into the air, using her magic to smash the small marble into a thousand tiny pieces. An explosion of orange and red mist colored the morning sky and then quickly dissolved with the atmosphere. "...to keep me safe from the Gostulings? Don't you understand what I'm trying to do?" she shouted. "I'm trying to hate you! I'm trying to get you of my life once and for all so that I never have to be hurt by your memory again!" she screamed.

She took a few short breaths, looking at him with eyes, seeking mercy from her horrid state. She walked up to him, tilting her head to the side with a sort of insane little smile. "I love you..." she nodded, still smiling at him. "I love you, I love you, I love you," she repeated quietly and then flung herself around, hurrying towards the ledge of the roof. "Are you happy now? Are you satisfied?" she screamed out to no one. "I admitted it! I love him! I love him even when he lied to me. I love him when he betrayed me. I love him even though I know he has never loved me."

She looked back at him and saw only his thin lips, his pitying eyes on the hysterical girl. "Couldn't you at least be kind enough to be cruel?" she cried. "Couldn't you at least stop torturing me like this and just end it quickly?"

Still, he said nothing and she looked to the multicolored sky. Everything she saw became Malchior in her feverish state of mind. She had lost it, she thought to herself with unusual clarity. She had finally snapped and in front of the young man she so desperately hated and loved. Her sobs took over and thrust her even further into misery, causing a flood of black energy to distort the roof's appearance.

Finally, after a few minutes, she looked back to where Malchior once stood: the wizard was gone and instead, she saw a figure approaching her, the door to tower swinging open with the wind. Raven's red haired friend came closer and closer, her step quickening into flight until finally, she stood before the broken Raven. The wind piked up Starfire's hair and tossed it back and forth gently, adding to the Tamaranean's beauteous appearance. Her green eyes, filled with sympathy, reached out to her friend as did her arms as she wrapped them around Raven.

"Friend, I heard you cry out so I rushed up here to find you." She embraced her crying companion. "What happened?"

"Malchior was here," Raven replied in a somber and steady voice, wiping away the traces of tears.

"Starfire gasped and looked into her eyes, releasing her hold. "And he has injured you?"

"He has always hurt me," she said pulling her glance to the side. "From the day he betrayed me, I have always been injured."

"What happened up here?" Starfire asked.

For a moment, she would not respond as she gazed out into the morning sky. Finally, she turned back towards Starfire with an explanation. "I went to kill him last night. I snuck into the luxury home he and Sagira were staying in. I found out which room was his and looked in," she paused, and saying the next statement in separated syllables, "imagine my astonishment when I saw the terrible Malchior of Nole... crying," she gave a weak smile. "I had been so intent on killing him just moments before but when I saw him, I just couldn't."

"On my planet," Starfire began, "it is dishonorable to kill one when they are off guard in the state of sleeping. Perhaps you felt that it wasn't right to kill him then."

"It's the only way we could have ever of killed him and I really fucked it up," she shook her head. "Because I had to grow a conscience all of a sudden and feel for someone who's never felt for anyone else in his life." she sighed and then clenched her fists. "And you know what? He let me go. He came here to make sure I got home safely. And you know what?" Raven let her fingers relax. "I told him I loved him."

"Oh, Raven-"

"How can you guys trust me? How will you guys ever trust me to kill him now? I let you down so many times before and I'm afraid that I won't be able to keep the promise I made."

"Raven, I believe that you will do what's right," Starfire said sincerely. "Whether it's killing him or letting him love. And you have not let your friends down in the very least."

"I wish I could believe that."

"There is a world to save, Raven. You have contributed to our mission in so many ways. And no one on the team could ask for a better friend."

Without words, Raven thanked her friend with her violet eyes. The two girls sat together on the rooftop until time required them to head down into the central tower room where the planning would begin once more.


"Silver City," Raven spoke in a voice that held no indication of what had happened earlier that day. "Malchior and Sagira will attack Silver City."

The others slipped each other puzzled looks, eying each other from across the room or the couches they sat upon. "How do you know they're going to attack Silver City?" asked Speedy.

"He dropped by this morning and brought the news," she said tonelessly, trying to get through business quickly. "We've got to call in for further reinforcements," Raven declared. "It's the only ting we can do. We'll call them for tomorrow but the only thing we can today is hold them off, weaken them, get rid of some Gostulings, and give em hell." As much as we possibly can, anyway, she thought.

"And that is all we can do?" asked Bumblebee.

"For now, it is."

The teenagers looked at one another and exchanged glances. "Well," Robin shrugged, standing up. "To Silver City, it is."


The Titans did not bother with intricate tactics as they had last time, though they split themselves up in four groups, each one coming from either the north, south, or west of Silver City. ,Wildebeast, Starfire and the Mas Y Menos took the north; Robin, Aqualad, and Beast Boy took the south;Speedy, Bumblebee, and Raven came from the west; and Hot Spot, Cyborg and Jinx, the east. They would close in on the ferocious dragon and wicked enchantress. This had been their initial plan: However, they had not planned on the incredulous amount of Gostulings they encountered when they journeyed through.

The irrepressible fear immediately captured a response from the trio of the east. Hotspot, Cyborg, and Jinx had certainly expected to deal with Gostulings when they approached Malchior at a closer distance, but they quickly adapted to their sudden situation. Hot Spot engulfed the creatures in fire. Cyborg prepared his cannon which had been filled with paint for the occasion and he sprayed the paint all over the Gostulings in front of him as Jinx hit the ground with her pink discs of sorcery. The road immediately split haphazardly, jagged rocks elevating spontaneously, piercing, the undead creatures. Many came at them with their swords and the two fought them off with their own weapons and surroundings. Things were simple enough so far.

Wildebeast, Starfire and the two twins met up with the Gostulings early as well. At first, the Spanish twins exclaimed a few phrases in their natural tongue darting behind the Tamaranean and clinging onto her legs, but she encouraged them forward with a forceful push. With their inhuman agility, the Mas Y Menos sped through the Gostulings, paintbrush in hand, giving the creatures some "form." Wildebeast ran them over. Starfire hit the Gostulings with her emerald starbolts, a battle cry escaping her lips in rhythmic pants. She and the Mas Y Menos began driving them back and obliterating many.

Having not enough available water, Aqualad was at a slight disadvantage. He sat atop Beast Boy the pterodactyl, using the gun Robin designed to shoot a sticky substance that would attach to the Gostulings. Robin used his sword to slash through the Gostulings where the substance fell and he moved quickly through the crowd of Gostulings.

Raven, Speedy, and Bumblebee had been fighting in a similar manner when they noticed that the creatures turned their backs on them and quickly fled deeper into the city. "They're retreating," said Bumblebee.

"Quickly! Follow them!" Raven exclaimed as she carried Speedy in flight. Bumblebee flew closely beside her as a black dragon and sorceress came into clearer and closer view.

In fact, all of the Gostulings had retreated to their masters in the mid portion of the city. There, the Titans caught sight of each other and prepared for the major battle of the day.

"Looks like we've got company," Sagira smiled to the dragon at her side.

The beast nodded without a comment. Sagira did not notice his change in mood.

"I suppose it's my turn," she flew forward, facing the Titans surrounding her.

Raven attacked her first, coming at her in the air with a flood of debris at her tail. She readied the rocks and parts of buildings so she could hurl them at the blonde sorceress but found herself crashing into an orange forcefield, thrusting her at the objects she was carrying. As Beast Boy and Aqualad caught her after her impact, Starfire came at Sagira with her myriad starbolts. Sagira was no fighter and was not very interesting with her technique: she merely put up a shield to absorb the starbolts as they came at her.

Hot Spot spewed the fire from his fingers at the young woman but she sent them back quickly at Wildebeast and the Mas Y Menos. Robin threw a smoke bomb, covering the area in a thick, gray fog. Scurrying up a building and coming at her from the hind, he was able to take her by surprise and wrap his fingers around her neck. With a cry of irritation, she hurled a glassy at the side of his stomach as she struggled for control, sending him across the air and into the arms of the alien girl.

Cyborg and Jinx bulleted their beams of blue and pink but with not much luck. Sagira put up her shield every time to block their attacks. Bumblebee and Beast Boy (after he had set down Raven and Aqualad) assaulted her from the air but to no avail: Sagira bumped the duo off with her shield as if she held an umbrella to prevent her from getting wet.

Speedy took this opportunity to shoot some arrows at the black dragon who was getting no attention. With a snarl, he lifted a claw and the arrows crashed into each other, creating a mini display of fireworks. The arrows had done nothing but irk him in the slightest manner.

Raven chuckled to herself. "At least Malchior was a bit more creative," she said out loud. Sagira glared at her and flew down to where Raven stood. Raven enjoyed her aggravation, every ounce of it. Did this, perhaps, make her just as evil as they? She continued on, regardless. "All you do is hide behind a shield. If you're going to toy with us, at least do it the proper way."

Sagira sent a gust of wind into Raven's chest, knocking her vigorously onto the asphalt. Though the impact crushed a few of her ribs, she got back on her feet. "All right. Let's see if you can fight without the shield." And I doubt you can, bitch. Raven picked up a few cars with her levitation and tossed them at the sorceress. She barely sliced through them with her magic, missing a levitating car bumpers that crashed against her shoulder. Sagira stumbled back, trying to heal herself quickly with her magic, a frenzied look in her eyes. Tearing up the ground beneath the two, Sagira created a long blanket of concrete. With the motion of both her hands, the concrete spun itself around the half-demon girl, tight enough so she couldn't escape but not enough to crush her.

The Titans rushed to her aid but found themselves running at a yellowish shield around Sagira and Raven. The Gostulings suddenly appeared and surrounded themselves around the trapped Titan. Raven swallowed her anxiety and looked upon the sorceress with utmost defiance, even so.

"Sagira, don't let yourself be bothered by this girl," Malchior transformed back, stepping through the forcefield with incredible ease.

"Surely we can afford to kill just one," Sagira's eyes flared. "I'll crush this girl until her organs explode while the Gostulings feed on her carcass."

"Sagira, leave her alone," he said severely, his syllables slow and deliberate.

"Just one, Malchior," she grinned insanely. "Just this bitch."

Suddenly, the Gostulings disappeared from sight. Sagira noticed this instantaneously and tore her eyes away from Raven towards the devoid spaces and then back at Malchior. "Oh yes," Malchior nodded. "They're all gone."

"And why, pray tell, have you stopped powering them?" Sagira asked cautiously.

"Actually," he hesitated with a sly smile. "There's this wild party in downtown New Massen and I'd like to conserve my energy."

Sagira dropped her jaw in disbelief so that an egg might fit the outline of her open mouth. She, however, glances back at Raven, and with gritted teeth, began to finish the murder she had started.

But the blanket of black and yellow dropped to the ground, releasing the Titan. Sagira was startled at her lack of power and inability to kill the violet haired girl. She looked back at the white haired wizard and he simply said, "I gave you an order. I told you to leave her alone."

She stared at him for a long time, trying to put the pieces together and sort them out. Finally, she understood, nodding her head her wide eyes glued to the wizard. She nodded, her a voided expression on her face. "I had no idea the Great Dragon would be like this," she looked back towards Raven. "I may not be able to kill you, Malchior, but I'll certainly gain the satisfaction of killing your wench of a girl."

"Yeah? Well you're dead in two seconds anyway," Malchior cocked an eyebrow.

Sagira laughed. "I'd disappear or conjure a shield before you could administer a killing spell."

"You've no magic," Malchior said softly.

"I have a great deal of magic in this staff," she thrust it forward. "Jegil-"

Malchior's invisible grip began crushing the young woman as she dropped the staff to the ground and began fight for air. "You should have known better than to trust a dragon. You left your staff with me and I transferred its magic into a smaller orb in which a young maiden smashed it and threw it into the seas. You've had no magic all this time. I provided you with the additional magic when you needed it, but you are helpless and hopeless when you oppose me.

He transformed into the magnificent obsidian scaled beast, snatching Sagira from out of the air. A shower of flames poured from out of his mouth, engulfing the once lovely sorceress. She screamed. Her earsplitting shrieks stabbed through the air and into the ears of the Titans who cringed at the sight before them. Layer after layer of skin melted off her body as she aged within the red, oranges, yellows, whites, and blues of the flames. Her young appearance made an abnormally swift metamorphosis through the forms of a middle aged woman to an elderly crone. The fires stripped her of the sagging flesh until the scarlet color of the muscle and blood outlined the form of the woman. Organs oozed with sickening greens, grays, and oranges while the white bone then dissolved into dust. The Titans shielded their eyes through most of it, some of them throwing up at the ghastly display.

Malchior released his grip on the emptiness and on the hearts of the Titans. Sagira was gone.

He assumed the form of a man once more, approaching the dark girl who still sat on the ground in astonishment. At first, it seemed as if he was helping her to her feet again and then suddenly changed his mind and he embraced the teenage girl, burying his face into her orchid colored hair. She trembled under the warmth of his arms, the proximity of her body against his, as his hands clutched her waist and trailed her back. Her heart was one of a mustang, racing through lands it had never known before and enjoying the exhilaration as Malchior of Nole took her in his arms.

"Do you know how long..." he stammered. "...I've wanted to hold you like this?"

No, I will not give into this. She pushed herself out of his hold and then grabbed his shoulders, looking him fervently in the eye. "What the hell have you done? What the hell is going on?"

He seemed to understand that an explanation was needed. "Sagira holds onto life by the power in her staff. I couldn't completely destroy her without extracting the power from it. I had to get a hold of it and the only way was to gain her trust and go along with her plan."

"That is a load of crap," she nodded, her eyes tearing up. "Why would you need to freaking destroy her anyway?"

"To save a lot of trouble," he responded.

"Oh," her eyes widened, her voice twisting into a path of sarcasm. "You sure saved a ton of trouble," she motioned to the Titans. "All right. Let's get on home."

Malchior grabbed her hand. "Raven," he said her name this time with gentleness, something she had missed for so long. She nearly fell to her knees at this sound but she looked at him, her expression falling apart. "I wanted to know what it was like to have the world in my hands," he let go of her, turning his palms into his view and then closing them. "I wanted to have the world in my hands and see if it was worth it."

"Worth what?" she ventured, her chest rising and falling fast.

"I would think you, Raven, to be more intelligent than that."

"No, Malchior. Why don't you enlighten me?"

"You, my dear," he wrapped his arms around her, running his hand over her shoulder. "I wanted to know if it was worth you my dear."

"And was it?" How she kept her voice so steady, she'd never know.

"What do you think?" he brushed his soft lips against her cheek.

Her arms crawled around his body, fitting hers against his as she relaxed in his warmth. "You risked your life, my friends' lives, everybody's trust, and my love, just so you could help us defeat her and see if I was worth it?"

"Yes," he nodded against her.

"You fool," she whispered, meting his lips with hers at last. A simple kiss to wash away the sins and tears of yesterday.


Actually, I decided to do an epilogue and separate the last chapter into two. But yeah. This was way shorter than I had hoped. I don't even know if I got the right effect out.

This is like the first time in three years I have written a happy ending. Hooooooly crap, I'm terrible at em. Especially with the fluff at the end.

On to the epilogue, folks. Thanks for reading.

Kree