The Beginning of the End

Sometimes the truth is worse than the lie...

Chapter 2: The Truth

Raven woke with a fright, sweat dripping off her face, her head felt like it was on fire and noticed it will still dark outside and in the new moon phase. "Uh? What time is it?" she looked over at her clock on her side table and after squinting at the hands realized it was only 10:03, she had been asleep for three minutes. "It seemed so much longer than that! So much happened…Are my eyes deceiving me?" As if to answer her question the alarm started to blare.

"Titans, trouble!" she could hear Robin yell.

'He'll be coming to wake me up…' she thought to herself as she put her blue cloak back on. 'He's coming to take me to my destiny…'

There was a knock on the door and a concerned voice followed, "Raven, can I come in?" it was Robin.

A little taken back that he wasn't just coming to wake her up, she answered, "Why? What do you want?" maybe she was still a little cranky.

"I sent the others on a simple mission to deal with Mad Mod, he's off trying to hypnotize the local Pizzeria into an English pub…" a smile slid onto his face and he chuckled. "I think they can handle it without us." He managed another laugh before getting a serious look on his face.

"What do you want to tell me, Robin?"she said after a few seconds of viewing his mind, "Or should I say, what do you want to ask me?"

Used to this tactic of mind reading Robin was completely unfazed and continued his interrogation, "You haven't been yourself lately, Raven. You're always tired, you always want to be alone and you always seem to keep to yourself a lot more than you used to, even when we first became a team…" he lets this sink in then continued. "But, the thing that caught me off guard is when another one of yourselves had to take over to finish a battle…You've never done that before." He paused and let Raven have her turn.

"I'm just not feeling to good lately…" she started but she was cut off.

"You're lying, Raven, you're an empath you can heal your self. Something inside of you is affecting you and it's not physical…" he once again let these words sink in, but there was still no effect on Raven. "It's either spiritual or mental, but I'm guessing a mixture of both," still no effect on the young witch. "Is there something you're not telling us, Raven? Friends don't keep secrets from friends…"

This broke her shell, but with Timid Raven out of commission she still couldn't show how much this hurt. "Robin, I…I…need to tell you something. Something all of you need to know. It's just…just…It's just I don't know how…"

"Raven, if you tell me I will help. You just have to let go," he said trying to help ease the burden.

"Robin, I've told you before there are things inside my mind that no one can see, that no one should ever see…" she said gravely.

"I don't care if I should, I am…Whether you want me to or not," and he skillfully knocked her out with a gas bomb in his clenched hand, and made a dive for the mirror on the desk in front of the mirror.

The gas only lasted a minute and Raven regained consciousness; she had fallen onto her bad and was getting up when she met the face of a boy in a mask. A little groggy she still managed to say, "Robin, what was that for?" and then when her eyes fell onto the mirror grasped in his hand she gasped, "No! Robin, you can't! You'll die; I'll tell you what the matter is…" and finally admitting defeat she started her tale.

"You know I was born on Azarath, right?" Robin nodded, having been told the entire story after Starfire and Raven had switched bodies. "Well, I was raised by the priests there and in particular, Azar, the head priest," Robin nodded slowly and allowed her to continue.

"The reason that she…that she…watched me so closely was…was that…I am…I am…" but she could not continue; she was started to feel very tired again. Robin sat beside her and but his arm around her to steady her.

"Tell me, Raven, I need to know, you need to let me know," and he kept his arm around her to keep her steady ready for anything, or so he thought.

"Robin, I am a half demon, I am the daughter of Trigon the Terrible…" she would have cried if Timid wasn't gone.

Robin removed his arm quickly and looked down at the ground and after a few moments of awkward silence he started, "So…lemme get this straight. You're a half demon, who is on the good guys' side…" he looked at her for reassurance.

She nodded, looking at the ground,so he continued, "Then, you're technically a demon, per-say and that's where your powers come from, your demon father, Trigon?" she once again looked away and nodded again. "So, why is it bothering you more than usual? If you've always known you were a half-demon? I know that's not the part that's bothering you…"

"Robin, when I was born on Azarath, the priests looked into my future, I was trying to tell you this on my birthday remember? At the church?" he nodded slowly cringing as he remembered Slade's disruption of the peaceful sanctuary.

"Well, what I was talking about was the Prophecy that was told on the day of my birth…The Prophecy as it was known, is about to be fulfilled…" she was shaking uncontrollably now but knew that any emotion would trigger the demon inside her to awake, she couldn't let that happen. 'Never' she thought to herself. 'He will never come out!'

"Raven, Raven! Calm down! I need you to remain calm…It's going to be alright," when she opened her eyes she realized that her room was in chaos, everything was thrown around and Robin was taking cover behind a chair trying to deflect the flying objects. A book was flying at him when Raven finally gained back control and the book dropped to the floor.

"Raven, what's going on? Are you finally falling apart?" Robin cried his voice etched with concern. He didn't want to lose another friend.

"Robin, its worse, the Prophecy, my father knows the Prophecy. He's going to control me, he's going to destroy the world, Robin…and I'm going to be the one he uses to do it…" she let these words sink in and watched Robin's reaction.

First his eyebrow shot up as if he didn't follow, then he caught on and started to drop his jaw and finally his brow furrowed as he tried to decipher what this meant, "But, Raven, that means…" he couldn't bring himself to say it.

Raven knew exactly what he was going to say, "Yes, Robin, I am going to turn evil, and I am making you promise that you will do whatever it takes to stop this from happening," from under Robin's mask tears started to slide from underneath it.

"Raven, I couldn't, we couldn't…" he shook his head in anger. "No, I won't let this happen!" He crumpled to the floor crying.

Raven moved toward him, but he only pushed her away, "Robin, please understand, I don't want this either, but it's the only way…" but she was cut off.

"No, Raven, it's not the only way. We're the Teen Titans, we can do anything, even the impossible, we've done it before, and you're no exception. We're not going to lose you. I can promise you that," he said determinedly.

"Robin," she started mournfully. "You and I both know that that will never happen…but it's alright. I was able to do a lot of good with the Titans, and I am truly grateful I got to meet such great people and make the best friends of my life," she moved closer to Robin and fell to the ground on her knees. "I'm going to miss you all…" and she embraced him like she had Beast Boy so long ago. The hurt was too much to take on her own she needed comfort.

Robin returned the embrace and they sat and he cried. They sat there for an hour, and that's all they did, Robin cried and Raven just felt the comfort of Robin's care and concern.

"Raven," Robin started.

"Yes, Robin?" she answered.

"We need to tell the others…" he said back.

"Are they back, yet?" she replied.

"They will be soon, like I said I think they can handle Mad Mod by themselves, they should be back in any minute…" his voice trailed off and he broke the embrace and picked himself off the ground extending his hand down to Raven to help her up.

She gratefully accepted it and she was pulled to her feet, "Thanks, let's go to the living room, I need some food…"

He smiled and said, "Herbal tea?"

She replied back, "Nope, breakfast."

Robin a little stunned, "But it's nearly midnight!"

Raven smiled with her eyes slyly, "That's what I always have whenever something wrong happens, breakfast for dinner. Ever since a little experience I had with Cy and Beast Boy…" she thought back on those memories of them helping her fight off her inner demon. She wished that they could do that again, but this was much more powerful, this wasn't Raven's inner demon; it was an actual demon, the reincarnation of evil, it was Trigon, and he finally had access to her mind. So sending them in there would be like sending them to their execution.

"Whatever you want, Raven," he said shaking his head as he opened the sliding door. They made their way down the hall and turned the corner passing the stairs to the basement on the way. At the end of the hall lay the giant sliding door to the living room with the kitchen nook.

"Um…I feel like waffles," she said playfully yet she was dead serious as she reached for the instant waffle maker. She pushed a few buttons and wha-la! Instant waffles. "Evil beware, we have waffles," she said repeating her infamous line from its first introduction to the team when Cyborg had gone crazy updating the Tower.

Robin let out a little laugh, "You know what? That line never gets old."

She smiled inwardly to herself not being able to show any emotions, "I tend to think so," she said as she made her way to the chair on the side a little ways out of the TV while Robin took up the couch and turned on the television to the channel guide.

"So…" trying to lighten the mood. "What do you want to watch? Wicked Scary?" he said sarcastically.

She only glared teasingly.

He flicks some more but doesn't see anything he likes, there was a Clash of the Planet's Marathon, but that was Beast Boy's favorite show and right now Raven needed something of her own. He starts to think, "Raven, when you finish, you want to head downtown? We could go to that poetry place you like…" he lets his voice trail and wait for her reaction.

She finishes off the last of her waffles, and poured herself some tea to wash it down, swallows and after a moment of awkward silence, "Robin…" thinks before continuing, "I just need to get out, but I don't want to… not yet…" She stares off in the direction of the paneled window to the side of the big screen TV.

Robin remains silent, and shuts off the television, leaning back into the sofa with his hands behind his head, breathing out deeply, trying to imagine what Raven must feel like right now.

She slowly stands up and walks over to the sink to put the dishes in and goes off to stand in front of the window, "Robin, you're like a brother to me, we started this team, you're the leader…" she takes a deep breath, never taking her gaze off the window, her reflection mixed with the image of the city.

"Raven, I…" He doesn't know what to say, so he's quiet for a moment as his gaze slowly drifts to the city, from a different perspective, him being at a different angle than her.

As an empath she sense that he's looking out, searching for whatever she was and she tries to answer, "Robin, no matter how you look at something, it's still the same. You can take a picture of this city, cut it to shreds and lay them out on a table, but it's still the city, just being looked at differently," she sighs before continuing.

"You look forward, trying to do the best you can at the present, attempt to put the past behind you, but it's still there and it drives you forward, looking for answers…" She allows this to sink in before starting again. "Me… well, I too look to the future but only from stand point of what's been said in the past…" She turns slowly towards Robin.

He doesn't break his gaze from the city so she's talking to the back of his head, but he's listening intently.

"I've known when the end will come… I know the signs; I know the fate of this world, my world, your world… our world, Robin… Earth is doomed… and there is nothing we can do, but wait… wait for the end of the world…" with that she falls to her knees.

Robin hears the body fall and turns around, jumping over the top of the couch to cradle her in his arms, and as he watches her closed eyes, he finally sees a single tear fall from her eyes, it wasn't Timid's doing, it was all her own… her human side, it was her tear, her apology to the world for what she was destined to do.

With that, silence falls to the tower as Robin the Boy Wonder cradles Raven, the daughter of Trigon, trying to let her know it's alright, and she just lets him hold her, she was too emotionally drained to do anything else… She opens her eyes for a moment to see his concerned face, his eyes covered by his trademark mask, and she let's another tear fall before closing her eyes and lets sleep finally envelope her.

"It is okay, Raven, I'm here, we're all here, we won't lose you… I will not let this happen, I promise…" the dark haired boy tells himself, making a vow that he might one day regret.