Ravens brother part 7

Chapter 7-

The nightmare conflict

"Is it dark, or simply misunderstood?" - Malchior

The nightmare jewel loomed into view as team one made their approach, placed on the dark mountain peak, with Starfire carrying Cyborg and the four emotions Wisdom, Jealousy, Headstrong and Humour following in a diamond formation. As they approached Cyborg and Starfire could see why it was called the nightmare jewel, and why Drajo looked so fearful when he was told Malchior had unlocked it.

It was at the very top of the mountain, on a rise above a wide plateau, on a pedestal made of a white stone, that was dripping with blood and the tattered remains of dark green, orange, dark brown, pale pink, pale blue, cyan and silver cloaks, hanging from it, the jewel itself was black, like it was made of obsidian (volcanic glass) and pulsated like a beating heart, the deep sound echoing inside the heads of all who could hear it. The jewel, however was nothing compared to what was guarding it, or what was coming out of it. A dark tide of small, chittering, black creatures were coming out of a dark portal in the middle of the stone and were separating off into small groups. The team landed behind a large boulder on the plateau and saw the events unfolding in front of them. "What's happening, what are those things?" Cyborg asked Headstrong.

"They are Ravens nightmares and fears. The small ones are there natural form, what they look like when you are not thinking about them, the form they take when they are buried in your subconscious. Then they group together and turn into the from of the nightmare or fear they emphasise. Like those ones over there", she gestured to the two large figures standing in the shadow of the jewel, they could not be described as more than dark figures as they were largely hidden by the jewels shadow, she then pointed to a spot a few metres away "Look, it's happening now." A group of the small dark shapes merged together, becoming a big blob of darkness, the blob then expanded upward growing legs arms, a head and sprouting long blond hair, horns, fangs and a forked tail, becoming….

"Terra" Cyborg whispered. In the place where the nightmares stood Terra, or the version of her from Ravens nightmares, Cyborg doubted Beast boy would want to ask this Terra out on a date, with red eyes, scaly skin, horns, a forked tail and wearing her Slade uniform, she was Ravens nightmare image of Terra, this nightmare was obviously from when she betrayed the Teen Titans and joined Slade and tried to destroy them. Raven had told them of how she tried to force her to unleash her rage but restrained Raven so she couldn't use the extra power so it nearly consumed her, the worst of her fears, to be consumed by her rage. Cyborg knew her hatred of Terra knew no bounds.

As they watched the demonic Terra take form, the team didn't notice one of the lesser nightmares sneaking up behind them, however when said nightmare let out a screech so loud it cracked one of Cyborgs monitors.

"Screw the plan (which had been to sneak in as close as possible then contact Wisdom and she would come and seal the jewel without too much trouble) just blast the hell out these things" Cyborg yelled, with a roar the team leapt from behind the rock and ploughed into the crowd of nightmares arrayed before them, within seconds the mob of miniscule creatures were knocked, slammed, blasted and psychically blown into oblivion. With the rank and file gone the team turned to the big playas with Starfire striking first, launching a starbolt at the demonic Terra, the other two had yet to move out from out of the jewels shadow. The nightmare Terra screeched in pain as a starbolt ploughed into her chest, the alien followed through with another one, knocking her back into the jewel itself, her back slamming against it. As soon as this happened the jewel seemed to shudder as if it could actually feel it and its two guards leapt into action.

As soon as they did, Starfire wished she hadn't followed through. Unlike Terra, these two could definitely be considered nightmares in anyone's eyes, one a seven foot white worm with saggy folds of flesh lining its flanks (sides), twenty small blood red eyes on what could pass for its head, an extendable proboscis for a mouth, lined with sharp hooks made of bone but no throat so it couldn't swallow it's prey, but judging from the brown acid dripping from the hooks it seemed to pin the prey in place while it digested it alive. As if this wasn't bad enough the worms friend made it look like a rock star, a massive ogre covered in mouldy green fur, an ape-like face which looked as though it had been smashed with a hammer on multiple occasions, with four arms, holding a spiked club, a serrated knife, a huge rusty meat hook and a whip of barbed wire. All of these had tiny bits of flesh on them and the things mouth was covered in blood, watching through her portal and glancing to the tattered green robes on the jewels pedestal, Timid realised with total horror what had become of the bodies of Bravery and her fallen sisters (in case you haven't figured it out by now, Malchior drained the dead emotions bodies of blood in a black ritual to keep the jewels portal open, the bodies being given to the ogre to eat to cause Raven further heartache). The ogres face twisted in a sadistic, lopsided grin as it saw its new opponents or dinner, depending on how you looked at it and it and its worm friend began to slowly advance. Cyborg fired his sonic cannon at the ogre, the beam hitting the foul creature square in the chest, but when the smoke cleared the ogre was still advancing still with the same sadistic grin on his face.

"We are in big trouble," Humour said, and for once she wasn't joking.

Timid turned to the other portals in front of her, team two still hadn't reached their destination so she looked to the portal that showed team three, already engaged in their battle with Malchior.

Robin hurled a selection of explosive disks and Morbid unleashed a psychic blast. Their combined attack shot towards the dark dragon. Malchior merely smiled and opened his maw, sending a wave of fire towards the two teens; Robin and Morbid's joint attack met the dark dragons fire and melted away under its intense heat. The wave continued to envelop the two and only Pains psychic shield saved them from being incinerated. Malchoir let out a mocking laugh,

"Come now boy, do you really think you can defeat me that easily?"

"Don't call me a boy," Robin yelled as he drew his Bo staff and ran at the dark drake leaping across the river of lava that had separated the two opponents, an act for which Malchior slammed him into the ground with a lash of his tail, the dragon leaned in close

"You're right, I shouldn't call you boy, non-existent is more like it, compared to me, you're not even a newborn"(authors note. Malchior is over a thousand years old whereas Robin is only fifteen). Malchior began to power up a fireball. Too late the boy wonder saw what he'd been goaded into, by listening to Malchiors taunts he had let the drake lure him across the lava river which was now hissing scorching hot steam, separating him from the rest of his team, leaving him too far away for them to help him. He was a dead man; he closed his eyes and awaited his fate.

Back at the council table Wisdom saw what was about to happen. If Raven was freed she would never forgive her emotions for allowing one of her friends to be destroyed. The yellow-clad girl shook the chains in her hand and urged Rage into action. The personification of Ravens anger flew toward Robin at a speed no one could match. In a split second she was upon Robin and intercepted the blast. Robin heard her cry of pain as she was struck by the ball of fire. He opened his eyes and saw Rage, still bound by the glowing green chains, turned to face him, the river of fire cascading off her back.

"Thank you". Rages four eyes narrowed to red slits.

"Don't, I guarantee if this was any other time or place and I wasn't bound by these blasted chains, I'd be ripping your flesh from your bones right about now".

"O.K I'm just grateful that you saved my life" Rage hissed in frustration and telepathically communicated with Wisdom "Sister, I need to become Trigon if I'm to have any chance of stalling Malchior for as long as is needed" Wisdom frowned. "No way",

"Screw you sister, the kid gloves are coming off right now" Wisdom wrapped another length of the chain around her hand "fine but I'll be keeping you on an extremely short leash"

"Fine by me". With that Rage was enveloped by a swirling tornado of red light, Robin could make out her outline and it grew, changing shape.

"What's happening to her?" he asked Hatred, who, along with Morbid and Pain had caught up with Robin and Rage as the steam had stopped hissing just long enough for them to cross the river of lava.

"She is unleashing her full power, she is becoming the person your two friends fought when they last entered this mind, She is becoming Trigon, Ravens father and the source of her pain and hatred, in short the main reason that I and my sister Pain exist". Suddenly the red tornado imploded and there in its place stood the transformed Rage, in her true from, the demon Trigon.

He stood at the same height as Malchior, was strongly built and had skin as red as blood, a stark contrast to his long silver hair, like his lesser form he had four eyes, but these glowed yellow, not red. Like his daughter he wore a belt of jewels around his waist, though his were dark green in colour and wore nothing else save a grey loincloth, he was the personification of evil, the definition of it in its most deadly form. Despite all this Robin was not worried as he saw that around each of the demons legs, arms, his chest and throat, there was a set of glowing green chains, showing that Wisdom was still in control. A smile crossed Malchiors face

"Finally a worthy foe to face me".

"I did not come here to merely face you dragon, I came here to destroy you" Rage/Trigon snarled in her/his deep satanic voice. And with that the two charged toward each other, Trigon and Malchior, demon and dragon, locked in mortal combat.

Wisdom looked through her viewing portal, observing the latest development in this battle; it was a strange twist with Malchior grappling with the transformed Rage, using his front claws versus Rage, who, even with superior strength, appeared to be struggling, probably due to the chains bound to her/him. Both were near the river of lava, with Malchior backed up against it. The other emotions were trying to make up for Rages disadvantage by boosting Rages strength by transferring their energy to her, Robin was also helping by trying to distract the dragon via tossing explosive disks at his back legs, trying to weaken them enough so they would give out and the drake would fall into the river of lava. Wisdom continued to watch, directing Rage via the chains in her hand. Timid would have continued to watch too but a more pressing matter came up. Timid glanced at the last portal and saw Drajos face in it "this is Drajo, we've just arrived at our destination and we have a problem"

"W-what?" Timid asked, afraid her plan was going terribly wrong

"Ravens prison is more heavily guarded then we thought, see for yourself," he gestured behind him. Timid waved a hand and the portals image changed as it moved forward, to about ten feet from Ravens prison, there was Raven, slumped against the glass wall of her prison, her hood down, her eyes red from constant crying, still weakly clawing against the glass wall, there was a despair in her eyes Timid had never seen before, not even just after Malchior had betrayed her. But this was nothing compared to the three things that were standing guard around the glass box. Timid changed the view of the portal and shrunk back into her seat, trembling.

With the first it was obvious where the fear had come from, as it was a nightmare Slade, he was fairly normal, wearing his normal uniform, aside from a few bony spikes sticking out from his forearms, horns and a spiked tail, you would have thought Slade was there in person. The second was pretty obvious too, Beast boy could see it was the monster from "Wicked scary 3" (that's the episode where Raven gets scared by watching the movie and her powers make the monster real), green in colour, purple hair, with tentacles for legs, and four mouths on it's head and red eyes, it may have been an old foe but that didn't make it any less dangerous. The third however was a surprise to both boys, as he already existed in Ravens mind. It was Trigon, or a lesser apparition of him (or so they both hoped). His skin was green in colour and scaly, his hair was shorter than the other one with a saw toothed crest just poking through, his teeth were like snakes fangs and he had a head like a raptor, not unlike that of a certain dragons and he was not dressed in a loincloth, but in a suit of Kevlar, which was ripped in multiple places, complete with ragged wings, not unlike….

"Drajo" Sadness said, with great sorrow in her voice, her eyes damp with tears (this was not unusual for her, since she is the personification of Ravens sadness).

"This is her worst fear, if her father, the person she hates the most and the person she sees as her brother, the person she cares about the most, were to merge into one being, she fears this, though she knows it is impossible, not that in her mind it can and has happened but that when it does she will have to destroy you Drajo".

"Well as charming as this information is it will not get us any closer to freeing my sister, shall we proceed?" A viewing portal opened up in front of him and Wisdom appeared in it. "Yes please hurry, the jewel is still open and it doesn't look like team three can stall Malchior for much longer". Drajo nodded and he let loose a cry of battle, charging through the sparse bushes he had been hiding behind, his team following behind him, Beast boy turning into a rhino, Strength drawing a sword made of black energy, Kindness and Sadness powering up their energy and Drajo creating an icicle, via his icy breath, intending to use it as a spear, Beast boy and Kindness heading for the Trigon/Drajo nightmare, Strength and Sadness heading for the wicked scary monster and Drajo tackling the demonic Slade.

The two forces met and fierce battle ensured. Beast boy slammed into the Trigon/Drajo nightmare, knocking it off its feet and slamming it against Ravens glass prison. Kindness began an archaic chant and the shape shifters eyed grew black as he continued to press the nightmare against the glass cell hoping one of two things would happen, either the glass would break or the nightmare would. The latter seemed to be happening as the titan's horn punctured the creature's chest, sending black blood running down the changeling's horn. After a few seconds Beast boy felt his horn grow warm, after a few more seconds this turned into a painful burning sensation, he swiftly broke off. The nightmare had acid for blood! Backing off from the fight he turned into an octopus, trying desperately to scrape the acidic blood from his body. His opponent however, was having none of it and leapt forward, grabbed the green octopus in an iron grip and began to shake it very hard, luckily for Beast boy he was able to blast the nightmares face with ink and in the confusion was able to wriggle out of its grasp, turning into a pterodactyl he flew out high over the lake of lava which surrounded the island Ravens prison was on. The nightmare grinned and addressed the green titan in a voice not unlike Drajos "so you wish to finish this in the sky. Fine by me" the nightmare extended his ragged wings and took flight, soaring after the titan, catching up to him in seconds, launching a flurry of punches at his head. After about the fifth punch connected Beast boy felt his strength leave him, turning back to his human form, plummeting toward the lava lake far below.

"DRAJO HELP!" He screamed, in pure terror. The drake was locked in a defensive battle with the nightmare Slade, blocking his blows with his icicle spear. Upon hearing his ally's cry he grabbed the nightmare by his chest plate and pulled him in close

"Sorry but I'll have to reschedule this little fist fight, I hope you'll understand" with that he breathed his knock out gas breath on Slade, his head lolled and he was knocked out, Drajo spun around and pitched him headfirst into the lava lake, feeling no remorse. He opened his wings and soared towards the plummeting titan. As he neared the falling shape shifter he saw by the time he reached him, he would be in the lava lake and nothing more than a pile of ashes

"I'm not going to reach him in time" Drajo thought, he stopped, hovering in midair and drew his head back in a massive breath. He then unleashed a massive ice blast, aiming at the lava just below Beast boy, the lava cooled as the icy air hit it, becoming solid rock, he then contacted Beast boy telepathically "Turn into a turtle if you wish to live" the terrified titan did as was told, just in time as Beast boy ploughed into the cooled lava seconds later, his turtle shell protecting him from the worst of the damage. Drajo flew towards the emerald titan with Kindness following right behind him. Beast boy felt the cooled lava beneath his feet grow hot and saw to his horror that the island Drajo had made was sinking. Drajo swooped down and grabbed Beast boys outstretched hand and lifted him off his lava island seconds before if rejoined the molten lake. He flew back to the main island and dropped Beast boy back on solid ground.

"So where did my look-alike go?" Drajo asked the green teenager

"Beats me dude he just vanished" a scream cut through the air and the two turned around to see Kindness with, her soft purple eyes wide with terror, in mid-air directly over the lava, being held, by the formerly missing nightmare with one of his clawed hands at her throat, the madness in his yellow eyes clear to see. Strength and Sadness stopped their battle with the wicked scary nightmare to watch; even that thing was paying attention to its twisted brethren.

Drajo addressed his insane double, it was clear the union of dragon and demon had driven his counterpart mad.

"Let her go you maniac, she has no part in this" the nightmare chuckled manically and leaned close to Kindnesses ear

"Oh no, you destroyed on of my friends so why should I spare one of yours?" Drajo bent his legs, preparing to spring into the air "you leave that island and your friend here takes a little dip in the lava" Drajo cursed under his breath, this maniac was holding all the cards, he would have to try something drastic

"If you spare her, I'll take her place". The maniac thought for a minute, if he were to kill Ravens brother right in front of her, it would break her, stripping her of her will to resist his master, who would richly reward him.

"I accept your deal, come here boy" Drajo flapped his wings and took off from the island.

"HAVE YOU TOTALLY LOST IT" Beast boy screamed at him.

"Don't worry, as soon as Kindness is out of the way, I'll give this nutcase a lava bath" Drajo told Beast boy telepathically who nodded ever so slightly and resumed his act so not to make the nightmare suspicious, ranting on about how crazy Drajo was for doing this. He was just a few meters from his insane counterpart, who was holding Kindness gently by the shoulders, his mouth a few inches from her ear, whispering that he'd cremate her alive if she tried to escape.

"O.K I'm here so release Kindness, this is between you and me now" his demented double chuckled manically and shook his scaled head.

"You know what Drajo its not between you and me, it's about you and me, at least half of it is. I may be half of Trigon but half of me is you, your darker side that is and guess what kid? Your dark side can read minds as well."

Drajo's eyes widened in horror, this psychopath knew about his plan, Kindness was doomed. Before he could even beat a wing his nightmare counterpart grabbed kindness by the neck, twisting her head sharply to the right, then to the left, snapping her neck, the sound ringing out over the island and the volcanic lake, turning the stomachs of all who heard it, the wicked scary nightmare giggled with delight. Strength and Sadness screamed and charged the nightmare, intent on making it pay for its laughter, Beast boy turned into a tiger and bounded off to assist them, he knew Drajo would want to make the maniac pay, the nightmare had just made it very personal.

The Drajo/Trigon nightmare let out a twisted laugh and threw Kindnesses body down into the lava, which cremated the corpse in moments, leaving only a few ashes that were scattered by a warm breeze. Drajo hovered there for a moment, trembling with rage

"You'll pay for that you monster," he snarled in a voice dripping with venom

"Now now I'm no monster. Besides you can't destroy me I'm too much like you"

"You are nothing like me you demented, sadistic maniac," he hissed back with more venom than a thousand cobras.

"Oh but I am like you, you just don't want to admit it. Are you forgetting what you did to that traitor in the civil war, or what you wanted to do my master when you found out what he did to Raven? What I just did pales in comparison to those things, face it boy you and I are identical, mirror images in fact".

"I AM NOTHING LIKE YOU!" Drajo screamed, partly in disgust and partly fear for there was some truth in what his demented double had said. Drajo's insane counterpart flew in closer so his face was only a few inches from Drajo's.

"No you're a worst monster than I could be, you're an example for me to live up to. Who knows, maybe when my lord takes over this mind and gives me a body like he promised I'll go and pay a little visit to Dargthar to go and see Anya, I wonder what kind of a sound her neck will make when I snap it like a twig?" He bent his neck to one side and cracked his knuckles to prove his point.

Drajo completely lost it; he grabbed his demented double by the throat so hard blood was coming out of the cuts his claws made. The nightmare tried to cough up a fireball but only a bloody stream came out of his mouth. The twisted maniac saw that his luck had finally run out.

"Actually Drajo now that I think about it I'm nothing like you, so if you'll just let me go I'll be on my merry way" Drajo leaned in close and whispered in his ear

"This is for kindness" and choke slammed him into the lava. He didn't sink in but bounced off its surface like a skimming stone and landed in a charred heap on the edge of the island.

Drajo flew back to the island, touching down only a few feet from the burnt body of his twisted counterpart. Drajo stared intently at his fallen foe. He was giving off a sickening aroma of burned flesh and bone and didn't appear to be breathing; the drake shrugged and began to walk towards his sister's prison. After only walking a few paces he felt a hand clasp his leg, looking down he saw his counterpart grasping his thigh with his remaining hand, the contact with the lava hadn't improved the Drajo/Trigon nightmares looks in the slightest.

Half of his face was burnt away, leaving a black sticky mess of melted flesh, bone and gristle, his wings were completely useless, one broken and hanging limply to one side, the other non-existent, burnt to a stump. His right leg was partially burnt away, leaving the dark red muscle sinew exposed, almost all his Kevlar armour was singed and blackened, reduced to ashes in some places, with his two remaining eyes he gave Drajo a look of pure, undiluted hatred

"I'm…..not done…with you yet….. boy" he said in a hissing, croaky voice (as half his voice box was burnt away it was a miracle he could talk at all). Drajo yanked his leg out of his deranged, dying counterparts grasp.

"Oh yes you are, you're finished and as soon as I free my sister, you my friend are going back into the nightmare jewel"

"No I'm not" he wheezed.

"Oh yes you are, you're going back in and you're not strong enough to stop it".

"I'M STRONG ENOUGH TO FINISH YOU" the madman screamed as a glowing green light enveloped him and lifted him to his feet, drawing energy from his demon half. His skin took on a reddish tint, his hair turned to silver, his remaining fingernails grew into sharp talons, a belt of Azarath jewels appeared around his waist and two new yellow eyes appeared in the ruined half of his face, their light illuminating his injuries, making the burnt half even more horrific. When the green light faded he stood on his feet, despite his obvious injuries, in a voice like Trigons he spoke

"so Drajo ready for round two?" with that he charged towards the dragon-boy at lightning speed. Drajo was too shocked to defend himself, he just stared and awaited the killer blow.

It never came. Drajo saw a green bull appear from nowhere and slam into his transformed counterpart knocking him into the ground, the bull turned into his green ally who yelled, "Free Raven, I'll hold him off". Drajo nodded and spread his wings and took off, covering the distance to his sisters glass prison in mere seconds. She saw him and began to pound the glass with her fists he could barely hear her voice on his side of the glass, even though she was screaming at the top of her lungs,

"Drajo, get me out of here"

"don't worry I promise I will get you out of that cell" with that he bathed his side of the cell in a torrent of fire which lasted for nearly a minute. As soon as he got his breath back he sent a blast of icy air at the cell, chilling it in seconds, "now I've chilled it, it should be weak enough to break" he thought (authors note: for those of you who haven't or didn't pay attention in your science lessons, if you chill a object made of glass that was very hot seconds ago its molecular structure will be so weak you can shatter it by simply touching it) Drajo then turned around, delivering a devastating spinning kick to the glass wall. He then howled in pain and felt the glass, it was very cold but still as strong as steel. He sank to his knees, a feeling of hopelessness and overcoming him, tears of despair beginning to fall from his eyes.

"Please someone, help me save my sister, I can't free her on me own, I need help" he said softly, out of the corner of his eyes he saw a bright white light and felt something heavy in his right hand. Not pausing to see what it was he rose to his feet and swung it against the glass chamber. The wall shattered instantly. His spiritual sister looked at him, her gaze travelled down from his tear stained face to the object in his hand. Following her gaze he too looked down to see what had set her free. It was a sword. A sword with a four-foot long blade of gleaming silver, etched with strange runes. Its hilt was a dark purple metal; so dark it was almost black. A dark red Azarath jewel was set in the hilt. Unknown to him, across all of Ravens mind Malchiors army of nightmares trembled as they felt the instrument of their banishment reveal itself.

Cyborg looked up and saw the ogre, worm and nightmare Terra cease their attack and begin to tremble in fear. He didn't know why but it was the opening he needed. He, Starfire and the emotions rallied and charged the trio of nightmares, the battle for the jewel had finally turned in their favour.

Malchior shuddered as he felt Ravens release, his gaze turned from Trigon to Robin,

"I can see right through your little plan boy, Raven may be free but as soon as I finish your little training session I'll put her right back in her prison, after she sees her brother destroyed right before her eyes" he snarled, he began to chant a series of arcane words under his breath, the fire in his mouth turning from orange to bright green, he then blasted Trigon/Rage in the face with this new fire. She/he screamed and broke from their little grapple clutching her/his face with their hands. With a flick of his long tail he swept Rage/Trigons legs out from under her/him sending her/him back into the lava stream, Rage/Trigon gave out a blood- curdling scream as she turned back into her normal form, in moments becoming nothing more than a flaming pile of ashes which were quickly scattered by the wind. With Rage out of the way, Malchior turned his attention to Robin and the other emotions. After a few green fire balls, Morbid and Hatred were sprawled on the ground, Pains psychic shield stopped Malchiors green fire from hitting her and Robin, but after a few blasts cracks started to appear in the black energy of the shield as the corrosive magical effects of the green fire took their toll. Just before the shield broke Robin leapt clear, Pain was not so lucky and took the full force of the blast. Robin checked her pulse; she was still alive (Pain is one of Ravens most powerful emotions as she is often felt when Raven goes into battle etc). Before Robin could stand up he felt the dark dragons tail whip around his left leg, it lifted him up and slammed him into the ground. His foe leaned in close

"As soon as I finish off Ravens brother and lock her back in her cell, I'll be back for you boy"

"no…" Robin tried to utter a response but his injuries took their toll and he lapsed into unconsciousness not before seeing Malchior take flight and leave for the final confrontation with Raven and Drajo.

"God help them," he thought as he slipped into blackness

To be continued please review, no flames please