Disclaimer: Still don't own Teen Titans.

A/N: Well, sometimes things in life just don't work out.

Today's Poll: Did you see this coming?

Demon Hunters

Chapter 26: Showdown

Raven stood facing Trigon in the desolate landscape of what was formerly Pax's mind. Jagged spikes jutted out of the surface at chaotic angles. The space where they stood was somewhat of a clearing. The ground was gravel and dust, but at least Raven could stand with her feet firmly planted.

-Get out of this mind- Raven said calmly, focusing her power.

Her father grinned and grabbed a nearby spike. He hurled it at her.

She dodged to the side and held up her hands to send an energy attack at him… and her power flickered and died.

-Your borrowed powers are no good here-

Raven failed to dodge again and she was sent hurling backwards through Pax's mind. She landed against some jagged rocks, not impaled, but severely cut. She watched her blood drip down and felt the pain biting at her.

-This is real-

-As real as what happens in your mind, my dear daughter.- Trigon threw another rock at her, which exploded at her feet as she jumped over it.

-This is not your mind- she thought desperately. –How can you have so much power here-

Because there's no one here to fight him for it, she realized.

Suddenly the surface began to shake. A crater opened up where Trigon stood, plummeting him down into the ravine it formed. Raven peered over the edge, cautiously, and saw him climbing his way back up.

Raven.

Raven spun around, searching for whoever had spoken. She felt a presence tickle her consciousness.

Who's there?

You don't recognize me? The voice was so faint it was nearly a subliminal suggestion voiced in her own thoughts.

Pax?

What's left of me.

Trigon reached the top and grabbed Raven's cape. He hurled her through the air towards a particularly brutal outcropping of spikes, but they dissolved into flowers as Raven hit them.

Thanks. How are you with me?

We're both empaths. Some part of me must have melted into your mind.

That would certainly explain it, Raven thought numbly as Trigon charged at her again.

You have to go back to your mind, Pax.

I can't. He's there.

Fight him, Pax.

Trigon attacked her, but she managed to duck, then sprint away. She ran, thinking desperately as she went. Trigon had to be stopped… but how?

Raven looked back to see how close Trigon was to her and ran face-first into something fleshy that protested in grumbles about the collision.

Raven turned to find Brave, Happy, and Timid.

"What are you doing here?" Raven asked, bewildered.

"She trapped us here," Timid said quietly, hiding behind Brave's cape.

"Who is she?" Raven demanded, clearly annoyed at Timid's way of dancing around an answer.

"She is coming," Timid said quietly. "And she is almost here."

Trigon appeared in the distance, closing in on them quickly.

"Run!" Happy squeaked, pulling the others after her. Raven followed her emotions as they ran through Pax's mind.

You'd better do something, Raven told herself. No, that was Pax speaking, Raven corrected. It was nearly impossible to tell her own thoughts from what Pax was trying to communicate.
We need to stand and fight, she thought to Pax. You need to fight him for your mind.
She felt his slight fear, but she overpowered him her frustration. You nearly killed me the last time we spoke, and now I find you've been living in my mind for the past few days? You'd better run back to your body!

She felt his consciousness peel away from her and slip into his own mind, just as Trigon caught up with them.

There was a bright burst of light and then Raven found herself facing a monstrous combination of Trigon and Pax. The face was half of each. The torso was a rippling red that belonged solely to Trigon, but he was shorter than he normally would have been, more human-like.

-Let him go, Trigon- Raven said coldly, getting her footing as the world realigned into a half-nightmare reality that was equally Pax and Trigon. The gravity didn't feel quite right, and aside from that, she was only half his size. –Pax! You have to fight him-

-Pax can't hear you.- A dark bolt of power flew towards her.

She rolled out of the way as Brave sprang forth to defend her. –Pax, I know you're in there. Please, help me-

Trigon/Pax stood over her, a dark surge of power in hand aimed not at Brave but at Raven. Happy drug Timid over to stand by Brave, desperately trying to tell her something. Raven gulped as Trigon pushed the emotions aside.

-Pax, please-

Raven.

-Pax. Hold on to something. Find something to anchor yourself, and go-

The creature was about to throw the bolt, but instead it seemed to twist within its own skin. Raven scrambled to her feet and backed away as the creature tore itself in two.

One half became the familiar shape of Trigon and the other shrunk down to Pax's soul self.

-Then help me- she said. –This is your mind. Don't let him push you around.-

With a nod, Pax turned on Trigon and bent his will to beating the demon into submission. Raven guided him, showing him the tricks of how to keep his emotions in check so he could focus.

Pax began changing the contour of his mind. Where Trigon stood, jagged spikes arose, snakes uncoiled, or lakes appeared. Trigon was forced back, up against a corner of Pax's mind that was closed off on two sides by rushing rivers and on the third by a sheer wall of rock that Pax formed just in time for Trigon to run into it. Brave, Happy, and even Timid helped herd him into the center of the rivers until Pax closed the area Trigon was standing on off into an island.

Raven glared at him while Pax kept his concentration on keeping Trigon in check. -You're going back with me, into my body, father.-

Trigon seemed to smile at her. -Perhaps.- He darted towards Timid, hoping to frighten her. Instead, the grey-hooded girl kicked him back in place. Her hood fell back, revealing a cocky grin that could only belong to Brave.

Raven had to hand it to her emotions—they must have switched cloaks when Trigon knocked them aside. She brought her own power to bear on Trigon as the emotions helped her.

Trigon's image rippled and suddenly instead of the monstrous red demon there was simply a familiar girl in a red cloak.

Anger?

"Quick, Raven!" Happy shouted. "Stop her, now!"

Raven nodded. The other emotions would return to her willingly enough; she just had to get anger out so Brave, Happy, and Timid could find the others and come back.

Raven's soul self wrapped around Anger, getting a solid grip. Once she had a secure hold, she pulled, searching for her body. She thought of the blood and flesh that she would return to, forming the image in her mind so she would have something to hold on to. With a deep breath, she jumped out of Pax's mind and sought her own.

And she found nothing but darkness. She tried to double back to Pax's body, but Anger blocked her.

This is a trick, isn't it, Anger?

No answer.

Just darkness.