Clash of the Titans by CidGregor
Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.
Chapter 22
Malchior was no longer quite as confident as he'd been twenty minutes ago.
He'd been battling Raven to a stalemate the entire time, neither able to best the other. It seemed that within her own mind, Raven's power was stronger…more formidable. No matter what magic he threw at her, no matter how hot the fire he breathed down at her, she was not defeated. Of course, he too was not beaten by any of the attacks Raven used on him…but it was nonetheless infuriating that he was not crushing her under his clawed feet. He possessed her demon essence…the core of her power…and yet, without it, Raven actually seemed stronger than ever. It was as though her demon side had in fact been holding her back, rather than feeding her power; and without it, she could unleash more untold strength than ever before.
"HAH!"
Raven's shout snapped the dragon back into focus just in time to swat away the slab of rock hurled by the girl's telekinesis. Malchior glared at his opponent, who was once again dressed in solid white.
"YOUR CONTINUED RESISTANCE IS BEGINNING TO GET ON MY NERVES, GIRL! GIVE UP THIS FOOL'S GAME BEFORE YOU ARE DESTROYED!"
"Never!" Raven hissed. "If it takes me all day, I will put an end to this nightmare of yours! AZARATH, METRION, ZINTHOS!.!.!"
"NECRONOM, HEZBEREK, MORTIX!.!.!" the dragon screeched in response.
Twin bolts of lightning – Raven's white and Malchior's red – sailed through the air and collided, forming a strange pinkish light as they mixed before their combined explosions threw both fighters backward a few steps.
Malchior recovered first. "RRAAAAUUGH!.!.! YOU HAVE IRKED ME FOR FAR TOO LONG, CHILD!.!.! I PROMISE, WILL DEEPLY ENJOY WATCHING THE TITANS RUIN YOUR WORLD AND EVERYTHING YOU CARE ABOUT…AFTER THEY RUIN YOUR PATHETIC FRIENDS FIRST!.!.!"
"Your Titans aren't going to ruin anyone!" Raven shouted back. "My friends will succeed! We WILL stop you!"
"YOUR FRIENDS WILL FALL!.!.!.!.!" Malchior bellowed. "AND SO WILL YOU!.!.!.!.!"
Malchior reared his head back and belched forth a literal wall of flames, so expansive that Raven had no hope of dodging it.
Blocking, however, was very much within her ability.
Quick as a flash she waved her hands around her body, and a solid white dome of telekinetic energy encased Raven, shielding her as the deadly flames rolled harmlessly off the magic bubble. The flames passed quickly, and as soon as they had, Raven removed herself from the bubble and fired it at Malchior. The burst of telekinetic energy smacked the dragon across the face, drawing a pained roar from him.
"You're slipping, Malchior," Raven sneered. "Face it; you've lost!"
Malchior glared back. "I HAVE LOST NOTHING, GIRL…BUT I PROMISE…VERY SOON, YOU WILL LOSE EVERYTHING…"
Malchior's four demonic eyes flashed red, and for some reason Raven could not look away. The stare seemed to paralyze her body, holding her rigid, unblinking. She couldn't move a single muscle even a fraction of an inch.
Then Malchior's eyes flashed again, and Raven's world went black. Her eyes had been blinded by…something, Raven couldn't tell what. She felt herself fall backward and hit the ground, still rigid as a statue. The last thought she had before losing consciousness completely was something about being left vulnerable…and even that broken thought faded as darkness overtook her.
How long she was out for, she didn't know. It could've been a few seconds, a few minutes…a few hours, even, though she doubted the latter. She was still in the mindscape, she saw as she opened her eyes…
It took a second to realize that she even could open her eyes, and once she did she also realized she was no longer paralyzed. She leapt to her feet and glared and Malchior, who still stood in the same place he'd been before. "What did you do to me?.!" She demanded.
"HA-HA-HA-HA-HA…BACK FROM YOUR NAP, ARE YOU? HA-HA-HA-HA…AND JUST IN TIME…MY FELLOWS HAVE BROUGHT YOU A GIFT…OR RATHER, FIVE GIFTS…"
Malchior gestured behind Raven with one clawed front leg. The dark girl spun, and to her utter horror, the five monstrous Titans that Malchior had summoned stood over her. And each one held a familiar figure limp in one hand.
Raven gasped. "N-no…"
Terra.
Robin.
Starfire.
Beast Boy.
Cyborg.
All of them, battered, broken, bruised, and bloody.
"NO!" Raven cried out.
The Greek Titans opened their palms and let the teens fall from their grasp. Raven's heart leapt into her throat and almost automatically her body leapt into action. White lightning shot from her fingertips and caught her friends' falling bodies in midair. She drew the five of them to her and laid them carefully on the ground, and upon closer examination, she saw the damage was even worse than she had first assumed.
Terra's body was covered in bruises, and one arm and one leg appeared broken so badly that the bone was poking through the torn skin. Beast Boy looked much the same; heavily bruised, bleeding in a few places, and likely some broken bones. Cyborg's metallic armor was dented, wires and circuitry hung limp and dead from exposed panels, and his usual blue glow had faded to black, while his human parts were torn and scraped into a bloody mess. Robin looked like someone who'd been lost on a mountaintop; his skin was pale blue, his uniform covered in frost, and some of his fingers had frozen through so completely that they'd broken off. And Starfire…Starfire seemed the worst of all of them. Her silky-smooth hair had been mostly burned away, intense flames had blackened almost every inch of her once-perfect skin, and the smell of burning flesh infested Raven's senses the moment she got close.
Raven couldn't even bear to look any longer, much less check for a pulse in any of them…for they were all very clearly dead.
"I…I can't…this…by Azar, no…" she whispered to herself. "Not them…not like this…they didn't deserve this…I never should've let them get involved…"
"BUT YOU DID LET THEM GET INVOLVED IN THIS, RAVEN," Malchior taunted. "YOU BROUGHT THEM INTO THIS MIDSCAPE OF YOURS, TO FIGHT A HOPELESS FIGHT AGAINST MY TITANS…YOU SENT THEM TO BATTLE THE GREATEST BEINGS IN THE UNIVERSE…YOU ARE AS MUCH RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR DEATHS AS MY TITANS ARE…"
Raven hugged herself, shivering. Even without Malchior's taunts ringing in her ears, the guilt of her friends' deaths was slamming onto her conscience like two-ton weights.
It's my fault… Raven wept to herself. Just like the citizens the Earth Titan killed…it's my fault…they died…they ALL died…because of me…
"NOW, SWEET RAVEN…" Malchior hissed, looming over her. "I SHALL PUT AN END TO YOU, AS WELL!.!.!"
He reared back his head, drawing breath for another wall of fire, and Raven could not muster the willpower to form a defense. She was spiritually broken…the only friends she'd ever had lay dead before her…and in that moment, she almost abandoned all hope…
"DIE!.!.!.!.!" Malchior shrieked as he unleashed the fire. It rolled toward her in a massive wall, impossible for her to protect herself from…
And then, incredibly, miraculously, the ground in front of her sprang straight up, forming a thick wall ten feet high, shielding Raven from the attack.
"Wh-what…?" the empath gasped. She dared a glance behind her, toward the mangled bodies of her friends…and they were still lying there in a broken heap. But at the same time they were standing right behind Raven, faces set and determined; and Terra was holding her hands out, glowing pale gold, at the wall protecting them from Malchior's dragon-fire.
"Raven? You okay?" Terra asked. "You look like you've seen a ghost or something."
"I…you…but you're…it can't-" Raven whispered, her eyes darting back and forth between the titans that stood alive and well around her and the titans that lay dead just beyond…and suddenly she cut herself off as the obvious truth struck her.
An illusion…he showed me an illusion of my friends dead…and I fell for it hook, line, and sinker…
The flames faded, and Terra's rock shield fell away, revealing to Malchior the six titans, alive and in the flesh.
Malchior screeched in horror and fury. "NOOO!.!.!.!.! THIS…THIS ISN'T POSSIBLE!.!.!.! MY TITANS WERE INVINCIBLE!.!.!.! CHILDREN LIKE YOU HAD NO CHANCE!.!.!.! NO CHANCE AT ALL OF DEFEATING THEM!.!.!.! THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!.!.!.!"
"Better double-check your odds, Malchior," Robin said with a smirk. "The Teen Titans have a knack for doing the impossible. Titans, GO!"
Robin, Starfire, Cyborg and Beast Boy leapt into action against Malchior, but Terra hung back, crouching beside Raven's huddled figure.
"Raven? Are you all right?" the earth maiden probed.
Raven shivered. "It…it seemed so…so real…"
Terra understood. "Malchior's illusions got to you."
Raven shivered again.
"Don't worry," Terra said. "You aren't the only one. Take a minute to recover, okay? We'll deal with Malchior."
Terra stood up, and a circle of rock beneath her broke away and lifted her up to join the battle, leaving Raven to recover.
The earth maiden swooped in front of Malchior's serpentine head, drawing his attention. The dragon spouted a jet of flames at Terra, who easily swerved out of the way. She drifted sideways, drawing Malchior's eyesight away from his flank. Starfire took the opening; she flew through his blind spot at high speed, fist cocked, and plowed it into the side of Malchior's head as hard as her Tamaranian strength could muster. His snakelike neck twisted almost a full one-eighty from the impact, before it coiled back like a spring; his head streaked toward Starfire, gnashing his foot-long teeth.
"EEP!" she squeaked, and flew backward quickly, removing herself from the range of his deadly jaws.
Cyborg joined the fray, firing his fist out at Malchior and trailing a thick cord behind it. The projectile limb wrapped around the dragon's neck, and Cyborg reeled himself in until he was gripping Malchior's rough, scaly dragon flesh. He twisted around and opened his shoulder missile pods, preparing to blast a hole through the dragon's hide like last time, but Cyborg heard nothing but a dull click sound when he tried. He'd emptied his rockets on the Wind Titan.
"Oh dang…" Cyborg muttered. A second later Malchior whipped his neck around, hurling Cyborg off of him and toward the edge of oblivion before Terra caught him on her rock platform.
Beast Boy sped under Malchior's guard as a cheetah, finding himself facing the dragon's soft underbelly. He leapt up and sank his teeth and claws into the unguarded flesh, and clung there until Malchior reared up and clawed at the changeling with his front legs. Beast Boy sprang off, morphing to a bird in mid-air and flew to safety.
"Star, get me up to his head!" Robin shouted. The alien girl complied, snatching Robin's outstretched forearm and hauling him into the air. With his free hand Robin pulled an ice bomb from his utility belt, took careful aim as Star flew near the dragon's head once again, and pitched the capsule of liquid nitrogen straight at Malchior's eyes. It exploded with perfect accuracy across the dragon's face, encasing his eyes with a sheet of ice.
Malchior shrieked and swung his tail blindly forward. He managed to get lucky and smack Robin and Starfire, but fortunately for the two titans it was merely a glancing blow. They spun about in mid-air for a few moments before Starfire righted them, and set Robin gently back on the ground.
Terra flew in from behind, pelting Malchior with jagged rocks as he thrashed his claws and tail, roaring in pain from his frozen eyes and the stinging projectiles. Again, to his luck, the thrashing tail just so happened to hit one of the titans – Terra this time, and much more directly – and hurl her several hundred feet away.
"RRRAAAAAAAAUUUGH!.!.!.!.!" Malchior screamed. Four spots of red glowed behind the sheet of ice over his serpent face, and exploded outward in sharp beams. Four smoking holes had been punched straight through the ice, freeing the villain's eyesight. He glared down at the titans, minus Terra and Raven, and roared again.
"INSOLENT LITTLE CHILDREN! I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED BY THE LIKES OF YOU! BE GONE FROM THIS PLACE! NECRONOM, HEZBEREK, MORTIX!.!.!"
A wave of purple and red energy blasted from the demon-dragon's eyes, washing over the four titans and engulfing them completely. And it was at that moment that Terra swooped back into the fray.
"NO!" she shrieked, flying down to aid her friends, but before she came so much as fifty feet from them, the light engulfing them vanished…and so did her friends.
A strangled gasp escaped her lips before she rounded on Malchior, eyes blazing with gold fury. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO THEM?.!.?.!"
"THE SAME THING I AM ABOUT TO DO TO YOU!.!.!" Malchior roared in response.
A glow of red and purple fired from Malchior's eyes again, threatening to envelop Terra in its light and do to her whatever it had done to her friends. She raised her hands in front of her face, knowing it could do no good…
FLASH!
A blur of white surrounded the Earth maiden, shielding her from Malchior's ray. As both lights faded, Terra turned to the source of the white…and brightened.
"Raven!"
Indeed, the empath had returned, white light fading slowly from her eyes.
"Raven…you saved me…" Terra said.
"I owed you one," Raven answered.
"ENOUGH OF THIS!.!.!.!.!" Malchior interrupted. "WHY CAN'T YOU BE GOOD LITTLE CHILDREN AND DIE?.!.?.!"
Flames rolled again, hotter and more intense than ever. Raven only just managed to get a shield up between the girls and the flames, and the impact blew both girls back against the ground, hard.
"Uunnhh…" Raven moaned. "This isn't good…"
"Tell me about it," Terra agreed. "What…what was that weird light? What did he do to our friends?"
"It's another of the spells he taught me," Raven explained. "He essentially expelled the others from my mindscape and put them back in their own bodies; they're alive, but unconscious…they can't help us anymore."
"So you mean…?"
"Yeah…" Raven said. "It's just you and me, kid."
Terra gulped. "H-how can we beat this thing all by ourselves?"
"I have no idea."
Another volley of Malchior's flames launched at the girls, hotter and fiercer still than the previous blast. Raven's shield was even less able to protect them this time, and the girls were thrown even further back. They landed painfully, bits of skin scraped bloody.
"We can't keep this up…" Raven said. "Malchior's power is actually growing…his anger is feeding my demon side and making him stronger…we don't have a hope of standing up to him if he can tap into the full power of my demon side."
"Then…then we have to get it out of him, right?" Terra said. "We have to get the demon thing, the Red side, out of him and back into you, right?"
"Problem is, I don't see how," Raven muttered, "unless…"
The empath froze up, eyes wide. No…it can't…
Terra stared. "Unless what? Do you have an idea for how to split them up?"
No…I just can't… Raven murmured to herself. It's way too risky…I couldn't ask her to…there has to be another way…
"Raven, talk to me! If you have an idea, now would be a very good time to share it!"
Raven glanced at Terra, and at the great red form of Malchior, and shivered. "There…there is a way…but I can't, it's too risky, I don't want-"
"Raven, think about it!" Terra cut her off. "Look, we're pretty much out of options here. If you think this even has the slightest chance of working, we have to try it, or else we're gonna be dragon food! Now what's the plan?.!"
Raven hesitated for a moment, sighed, and spoke. "There is a spell…one that can remove the demon essence from Malchior and return it to my body…like an exorcism. It's not a process Malchior is likely to survive, either. And even if he does, I can deal with him once he's on his own again. But…"
"But what?" Terra probed.
"…I need…someone…to help me cast the spell."
"Huh?"
"I don't…have enough power to do it myself," Raven admitted. "I need…something more."
"Well, you've still got me! I can give you all the power you need!"
"It's not that simple, Terra!" Raven snapped. "It…it's dangerous. I don't know how much power it might take, especially with how strong Malchior's resistance is sure to be…if I take too much energy from your body, Terra…I…I might…"
Raven trailed off there, but Terra understood loud and clear.
"It might kill me," the earth maiden said softly.
Raven nodded.
"………Do it."
Raven spun to face her, wide-eyed. "Terra, I…"
"You have to!" Terra stopped her. "There's no other way, right? If we don't stop him he's going to destroy the whole damn world! My life's not worth that! You have to do it, Raven!"
"I'm not going to be responsible for any more death!" Raven shouted.
"You won't be responsible for death, Raven. We'll be saving the lives of every living thing on the planet. That…that's something worth dying for, isn't it?"
"But…Terra…what about Beast Boy?"
Terra hesitated.
"He's already lost you once," Raven said. "I…I don't think he can take losing you again, not now that he finally has you back."
Terra looked away, deep in thought. But when she looked back at Raven, her gaze was steady, even though her voice wasn't.
"I c-care about him too much t-to let him die. If I c-can save him by doing this, t-then…I have to try."
"But Terra…"
"Look, if we don't do this, I'm gonna die anyway, and so will the rest of the planet!" she insisted. "At least this way there's a chance I'll survive! Just hurry up and do what you need to do, Raven!"
"Terr-"
"I said, DO IT!" she shouted. "Malchior's coming!"
Raven clenched her eyes shut, took a calming breath, and when she opened them again, her gaze was as steady as Terra's. She pointed her hands at the blonde girl.
"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos," she murmured, and gleaming white runes suddenly traced themselves into existence up and down Terra's arms and legs, across her stomach, and on her forehead. Ignoring the slightly confused look on Terra's face, she hovered cross-legged a foot off the ground in meditative position.
"Stand right behind me," Raven ordered. Terra complied.
Malchior now loomed over them, sneering. "WHAT PATHETIC ATTEMPT AT RESISTANCE IS THIS?"
"Terra…?" Raven murmured.
"Y-yeah?" the earth maiden answered.
"…This is gonna hurt."
Terra gulped, and braced herself for the worst…
"AZARATH, METRION, ZINTHOS!"
Raven's eyes blazed a pale white, and her chakra stone gleamed with more of the same. A thin beam, barely half as big across as her chakra, fired from the stone toward the same spot on Malchior's forehead…but it was stopped short a good ten feet away by a shield of purple and red energy that Malchior planted in its path.
"PITIFUL…" Malchior sneered.
Raven concentrated, and put as much power as she could muster on her own into the beam. It widened and strengthened, pushing forward a few inches, but Malchior strengthened his own shield to match her, and push the beam back again.
"Uunnhh…Terra…it's time…"
"I'm ready!" she shouted.
Raven focused on the runes painted across Terra's body, willing them to activate, and draw the energy from Terra's body.
"AaaahhhAAAAhhh…" Terra muttered as the runes burned. It felt like they were searing her skin with hot irons…but she was handling it…so far.
Raven directed the extra power into the beam, and again it grew in strength and size; it was now twice as big around as the chakra stone. It pushed against Malchior's shield, and made it two feet closer before Malchior could draw the power to push it back again.
"NYAH! YOU ARE FOOLS…YOU CANNOT HOPE TO COUNTER MY POWER! YOUR ATTACK WILL FAIL!"
"Mmmhhh…" Raven moaned. "Need…more power…"
The runes strengthened, sapping more of the earth maiden's energy with a horrid pain. The irons felt white-hot now, and it was all she could do not to scream. She was amazed she was even still standing.
More power flowed into Raven's light beam, slamming into Malchior's shield so hard it forced the mighty dragon back a step. The shield wavered, and for a second the beam came within a yard of connecting, but Malchior too focused more power, and his shield again pushed the beam back…but much more slowly this time.
Malchior snarled. "YOU…YOU WILL REGRET THIS RIDICULOUS RESISTANCE, GIRL! WHEN I…DEFEAT YOU…YOU…WILL…SUFFER!.!.!"
Raven ignored him. "A little…more…" she grunted. The runes flared brighter, and more power flowed into Raven's body…
"AAAAAHHHHH!.!.!" Terra screamed, unable to hold it back any longer. She fell to her knees, shaking…writhing in pain.
I can't draw much more energy from her, Raven said to herself. She can't do this forever…
Again the beam strengthened, and again, it pushed ever so close to Malchior's forehead. The dragon pushed the last of his power into his shield and held the beam at bay…but he was no longer pushing it back. It was all he could do to hold them beam in place less than three feet from impact.
"NO…NOOOO!.!.! THIS…IS IMPOSSIBLE…I WON'T BE DEFEATED BY YOU! NOT EVER AGAIN!.!.!"
But Raven did not push more power into the attack…Terra was suffering. Tears flowed freely from her eyes, her whole body convulsing…but she was no longer screaming.
"Keep…keep g-going…"
Raven gasped and almost lost concentration on the beam. "Terra…no, I…"
"I…can take it…just…a little m-more…that's all…all you need. D-do w-what you h-have to do, R-Raven…"
"Terra…"
"Besides…it's w-what you wanted…r-right?" Terra whispered. "You said…if you h-had the choice…you wouldn't have…brought m-me back…you…you're b-better off without me…r-right?"
"Terra, please," Raven almost begged. "You can't…don't ask me to…"
"Then…I'll do it…myself!"
To Raven's amazement and horror, Terra's power surged, and the earth maiden began feeding the runes all on her own.
The pain…it was indescribable. Like her whole body was encased in a furnace. She would have screamed, if she could…but her mind was slowly blacking out…she was losing consciousness…
Raven drew the surge of power into herself, and focused it on the beam once last time. It flared until it was as big around as Raven's whole head, and slammed into Malchior's shield. The dragon managed to hold it for a fraction of a second longer…and then…the shield fell…and the beam connected.
The shriek of pain that escaped Malchior's lips was almost deafening…and rightly so, the empath knew, for she was quite aware that the sensation Malchior was feeling right now was akin to having one's skull torn in half. The beam's light enveloped Malchior's entire body, and now Raven was not only almost deaf, but almost blinded as well. The light shone for a solid minute, Malchior's screech fading within it…and as the light faded as well, two huddled figures, one large and one small, remained in his place. One, the battered, bruised, and broken form of Malchior's original dragon form, purple and black skin scarred and bloody. The other, Raven's own Red side, scowling with four demon-red eyes at her counterpart.
"It seems…that you have won," the entity muttered.
"Get back where you belong," Raven commanded simply.
Red scowled again. "I will control this body again…someday…"
And without another word Red became a flash of red light, which Raven absorbed into her own body. The white outfit morphed back into the black and blue she had always worn. And at last, she was whole again.
She glared down at the battered form of Malchior. He was unmoving. Dead.
"Be gone from my mind, you insufferable parasite," Raven said. A flash of black escaped her eyes and engulfed Malchior…the same spell he had used on the other titans…and a second later, he was gone.
It was over.
It was finally…finally over.
But at what cost? she suddenly asked herself.
Raven gasped. "Terra!"
She spun around, eyes on the blonde girl. Terra was lying motionless on the ground. The runes had faded without leaving a single mark…but Raven was not fooled. The damage had been done.
"Terra…no…you can't be dead…" Raven said. "You're wrong, this isn't what I wanted! Please don't be dead, Terra…please…"
Raven reached a trembling hand out, afraid of what she would find as she pressed two fingers gently against the blonde's neck…
She felt nothing…
She shifted her fingers, feeling around…searching desperately for…
There!
A pulse. Weak…but there nonetheless.
She was alive.
Raven breathed a gasp of relief. "Don't scare me like that…" she whispered. She scooped the earth maiden up in her arms, and her eyes flashed black.
"Let's get out of here…"
Raven's soul self expanded, wrapping the two heroes within, and together, they left the mindscape behind.