Clash of the Titans by CidGregor
Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.
Chapter 19
Despite being the last to be drawn into the mirror, Terra was actually the first to appear in Raven's mindscape. She seemed to literally ride a bolt of black lightning down from the red and black sky to land on a hard, rocky surface of stone that seemed to be hovering above an endless oblivion of the same red and black as the sky. But it was unlike any rock she'd seen on Earth. It was a dark gray, almost black color, and made of some strange material she couldn't identify. Experimentally, she focused her powers on it, unsure if she would be able to command control of it. To her relief, the stone responded to her, a small chunk of it glowing gold and breaking away to hover in midair.
"Terra!"
The blonde girl spun around, and spotted a large stone cage just behind her, and inside she saw…
"Raven!" Terra gasped.
It was indeed Raven…the true Raven. She stood at the front of the cage, surrounded by the rest of her emotions, except for the obviously absent Yellow and Red.
Terra ran toward the cage. "Hold on, I'll get you out of there…"
"You can't," Raven cut her off.
"Sure I can! It's made of stone! I just tried out my powers, and they still work here…"
"Not on this cage, they won't," Raven told her. "You can't break it, not on your own. We'll need the rest of the team to help me out of here…where is…"
"Right here," Raven's voice said, but from behind them. Terra glanced backward and saw the bespectacled, yellow-clad Raven standing there.
"Sorry about having to take control of you like that," Yellow said to Terra, "but it was necessary." She turned to her counterpart. "The plan's working so far, Raven. Terra's gotten everybody in here…and I've manipulated the mirror's magic to give us some time to free the rest of our emotions and gather the team together before Malchior shows up. With any luck…this just may work."
"Good. Thanks, Yellow…I appreciate what you've done."
Yellow forced a slight cough. "Isn't there someone else here who also deserves your thanks, Raven?"
Raven said nothing for a handful of seconds, her expression steady as she turned to face the earth maiden.
"Terra…" she began slowly, "I…"
Four bolts of obsidian lightning in quick succession slammed down around them, halting Raven's words as the four remaining Teen Titans appeared from within the strikes.
Terra's heart leapt at the sight. "Guys, you made it! You…"
Terra trailed off then, and stared, dumbstruck, at the team. "You…you're…not…"
"…wounded…" Robin finished, staring at his hands.
It was true. Every one of the Titans seemed in perfect condition. Cyborg's titanium armor was sleek and shiny, every system fully operational. Beast Boy's assorted scrapes and bruises were gone. Starfire's vicious shoulder wound had vanished. And Robin's burns were healed, and his costume was back to normal…
Mask and all… Terra noticed. Robin seemed to realize it as well, for Terra saw him breath an almost invisible sigh of relief as he felt his mask back on his face. His now-shielded stare turned on Terra, and she looked back at him with a sudden pang of guilt. She wasn't supposed to know his secret…but she did. And the way his eyes narrowed as he stared at her now…
He knows, she realized.
The others, too wrapped up in the surprise of discovering their lack of injury, noticed none of their exchange.
"Robin, you are unburned!" Starfire exclaimed, drawing his harsh stare away from the earth maiden as she wrapped him in a bear hug.
"Ack…glad you're…okay, too, Starfire…" he choked out.
Terra felt a hand on her own shoulder, and turned to see Beast Boy's smiling face. Neither of them spoke; they merely embraced, thankful for each other's presence.
"This is…impossible," Cyborg said, staring at his miraculously fixed parts. "How did I get repaired?"
"Technically, you aren't," Raven said, drawing their stares.
Starfire let out a gasp. "Friend Raven! Who has imprisoned you like this?.!"
"Malchior's doing," Raven muttered. "Listen…you're all unharmed because these aren't your real bodies. Your bodies are all right where you left them, bruised and battered. These are our mental selves; your brain's projection of your natural appearance."
"OH! Like in the Matrix!" Beast Boy exclaimed.
"……Sure. Why not."
"COOL! Can I run up walls and defy gravity and dodge bullets, too?.!"
"No."
Beast Boy deflated. "Aww, nuts…"
"What is this place?" Robin wondered aloud.
Beast Boy and Cyborg suddenly seemed to shiver.
"BB and I have been here once before," the titanium teen said. "We're inside Raven's head. That mirror was a portal. It brought us all here."
"What?.! If we're in here, where's Malchior and his Titans?.!" Robin exclaimed.
"RIGHT HERE."
Robin and the Teen Titans spun just in time to notice a burst of dragon flames rushing at them. The team scattered, and the fire plowed into the magical barrier that currently imprisoned Raven.
Robin recovered instantly, drawing out a fan of explosive discs as he turned to face the serpent-like voice. "Malchior…"
Indeed, the monstrous dragon loomed over them all, as red and terrible in his demonic union as ever, but worse in that the wounds he'd suffered in the physical world had vanished, just as those of the Teen Titans had done. Flanking him were the five Titans of Greek myth, all glaring down at the teens as though they were mortal enemies…because, for the time being…that was exactly what they were.
"Get us out of here…fast!" Raven demanded from her prison.
The rest of the Titans formed a wall between Malchior's group and the Raven's, while Yellow summoned her power and unleashed it upon the cage. Inside, Raven and her various other emotions did the same. The attacks from both sides shattered the cage, freeing Raven and her other emotions.
"You ready?" she asked of Yellow.
"Always," was her response.
Raven nodded to the other emotions, who formed a circle around her. They all began to glow with an incredible energy, and flew in a circle around the dark girl, slowly at first, but more quickly every second.
"Hurry up, Raven, they're coming!" Robin shouted.
A brilliant flash of white light and black lightning shone from behind the Boy Wonder just as he finished speaking. He chanced a glance backward, and as the glow faded, he saw that Raven had again transformed. Her assorted emotions were gone…and now Raven stood in robes of a radiant white.
She raised her hands, and black energy crackled in her fingertips. "Everyone, split up and draw them apart from each other," Raven said to her teammates. "One on one. Pick a target and stick with it."
"I'll take care of the Earth Titan," Terra insisted.
"That ugly Cyclops is mine!" Beast Boy said.
"I've got the windbag," Cyborg said.
"And I shall do battle with the molten blob monster," Starfire said.
"That leaves me and the frozen Paul Bunyon," Robin added.
"And Malchior is mine…" Raven finished.
Raven released the energy she'd gathered and fired it at the monstrous Titans. It formed into a shockwave of incredible proportions, sending all of them but Malchior flying in different directions and giving each of the teens ample space to handle the monsters one on one.
"Be careful," Raven warned the team before they split. "Malchior still controls some aspects of my mindscape. He may use that to mess with your heads. If something seems out of place, don't trust your eyes…"
"Got it," Robin said. His staff blurred into his hands and spun in three quick circles. "All right, team! Let's finish this fight once and for all! TITANS, GO!.!.!"
Five of them dashed off in different directions to engage the Titans of myth…but Raven remained where she was, staring down Malchior, and her demon essence that had unified with him.
"This ends, here and now," Raven said.
"INDEED IT DOES, SWEET RAVEN…COME, THEN…LET US SEE WHO IS TRULY THE STRONGER FORCE…WHO ARE THE GREATEST OF THE TITANS…"
And with two explosions of energy, Raven and Malchior launched at one another, faces set in vicious snarls.
The Clash of the Titans had begun.
"You ready to go down a third time?.!"
Terra hovered on a lump of stone high in the air, glaring down at the Earth Titan. Predictably enough, the monster's only reply was a rumbling roar and a swinging fist. Terra rose higher, dodging the swipe.
"I never did like you big dumb brutes," Terra muttered. "RAAAHHH!.!.!"
Thermal-kinetic energy blasted from Terra's palms, blasting away the fist that came at her again. The monster shrieked in fury and swung its other fist, but again Terra blasted it away.
"I'm getting so sick of kicking your oversized behind!" Terra shouted. "Let's finish this for good!"
The earth maiden clenched her fists together and gathered energy. The golden glow in her hands spread up her arms, out of her eyes and down her petite body, through her legs…until every inch of her was radiating with golden light. But it did not stop there. Soon it was more than just a golden outline to her body, but a literal cloud of energy, engulfing her whole body until her form was just barely visible.
The Earth Titan glared with its two bobbing heads at the speck of gold, let out a roar, and swung both hands forward, palms flat. With hardly a warning, the hands sandwiched the girl with a loud SMACK!
The golden glow vanished instantly.
Slowly, the Earth Titan opened its hands…but strangely, there was nothing to be found. No earth maiden gone splat, no trace of her glowing energy…nothing.
The Titan squinted blankly and grunted, trying to see more clearly…
CRACK!
A huge gash appeared in the hand the Earth Titan was staring at. Its beady red eyes widened in surprise as the crack split further, winding its way up the monster's massive arm and through its shoulder…
CRACK!
A second split appeared in its other hand, and traced all the way up the other arm.
CRACK-CRACK!
Two more fissures appeared in the monster's stubby legs and split their way upwards into its massive belly.
The four cracks spread, multiplied into dozens…hundreds of tiny splits along the monster's body, all the way up to its two wide-eyed heads. And once its whole body was engulfed in the tiny fissures…golden light began to trace along the four original splits, gradually spreading out into the Earth Titan's whole body, lighting up every single crack there was.
The Earth Titan bellowed in pain and rage, but there was nothing it could do…
The light shone like a beacon…the monster's body began to rumble and quake, unstable…
"RRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!.!.!.!.!"
For the final time, the Earth Titan shattered into countless fragments of rock and earth, littering the ground with its broken body. And hovering where it once stood was a glowing, golden-haired girl.
Terra was breathing heavily, but otherwise unharmed. She'd done it. She'd won.
"Game…Set…and Match," she said between gasping breaths. "Do me…a favor…and stay down this time…"
She touched down on the ground, her breathing gradually slowing. She glanced around the mindscape, wondering where everyone else was…
A large hand, cold as titanium, suddenly touched her shoulder. Terra smiled. "Cyborg…" she assumed, turning around. "You're okaaYYYYAAAHHH!.!.!.!.!"
Cyborg's body was mangled. Horribly. Circuitry was smashed, the sonic cannon was wrecked, his cybernetic eye was ripped out…but the human side of his face was what truly horrified her. The flesh around his mouth looked like it had rotted away, exposing his bony jaws. His one human eye looked like it has been gouged out, and blood streamed steadily down his face from the gaping hole in which the eye used to be, dripping down his shattered titanium torso.
"You killed me, Terra."
Terra screamed again, backpedaling as fast as she could, until she felt her back hit another soft body.
"You killed me, Terra…"
The earth maiden spun at the voice to find Starfire. Her skin was clammy and pale. Her clothes and hair were soaking wet, and liquid was flowing out of her blank green eyes….whether is was more water, or tears, Terra couldn't tell. If the earth maiden didn't know any better, it looked as though she'd drowned…
Terra gasped and turned away, not wanting to see it any more, but upon turning, her eyes landed on Raven.
"You killed me, traitor!"
Caked mud clung to the dark girl's robe, weighing it down so that it dragged along the ground. More mud poured out of her mouth and her four hollow, empty eye sockets as though it were blood.
Another hand grasped her shoulder and spun her forcefully around, and Terra recoiled at the sight of Robin. How the Boy Wonder was managing to stand, Terra couldn't comprehend, because the bones in his legs were broken so badly the fragments were poking through his skin. Horrible, blue and black bruises covered his body, and a line of blood trickled down the center of his forehead. And the cerulean-blue eyes of Dick Grayson were staring deep into her soul.
"You killed me, Terra!"
Terra backed away, stumbled, got up again, and sprinted away from the horrible sights as fast as she could, her eyes stinging with tears. What…what's happening?.!.?.! she thought in a panic.
"You killed them, Terra…"
Terra's heart nearly stopped right then and there. She knew that cold, mechanical voice all too well.
"…S-Slade…"
And in front of her, horribly, impossibly, Slade strode into view.
"You've done it. You've destroyed the Titans. A fine job…my dear apprentice."
Terra fell to her knees in horror. It can't be…not here…not him…
She tore her eyes away from Slade and looked at herself, and suddenly her Titan uniform was gone. In its place was the cold silver armor bearing Slade's insignia.
"N-no…No!" she gasped. Her eyes darted up again, but Slade was gone…and in his place…stood Beast Boy. Perfectly unharmed, on the outside…but never had she seen the changeling so sad.
"Terra…why?" he whispered.
"I…I didn't…I didn't mean for it to happen…" she tried to say.
"You betrayed us, Terra…you betrayed ME…"
Terra was in shock…this wasn't possible, it couldn't be. Beast Boy had told her from the moment she'd awoken how much he still wanted to be her friend…how he'd forgiven her…this wasn't right…
Don't trust your eyes…Raven's reminder suddenly bubbled clear as crystal in the earth maiden's head. She squeezed her eyes shut and gritted her teeth.
"This…isn't…real…this…isn't...real…"
"You killed me…Terra…" Beast Boy's voice haunted her.
"No! You're lying! This isn't real!"
"You killed us, Terra!" came the collective voices of all the Titans.
"NO! I DON'T BELIEVE YOU! THIS…ISN'T…REAL!.!.!.!"
Her eyes snapped open, and the voices were abruptly gone. The images of the Titans' battered bodies were gone. Slade was gone.
An illusion.
Terra heaved an almighty sob, and for just a few moments, she lay there on the ground, hugged herself…and cried.