Teen Titans

Rain Song

A fanfiction by Adam Hardin

When two worlds cross together by an awesome evil, a team of friends must try to stop them. If not, the world will be obliterated. Should they succeed, however, it will cost them dearly.

Rated M for Mature reader content; you've been warned.

When it rains I don't mind
Let me stand here all night
Did she take her own life
Let me know she's alright

And every time it rains
I feel her holding me
And every time it rains
Are the angels crying

I'll stay strong, I'll be fine
Carry on with my life
I still stare at the sky
Pray for rain, all the time
Why'd you run? Did you hide
Why'd you leave, no good bye
When the clouds, take the sky
Does the storm give you life?

And every time it rains
I feel her holding me
And every time it rains
Are the angels crying
And every time it rains
I feel her holding me
And every time it rains
All the angels cry for me

I'll never be the same
I'll never be the same
be the same
be the same
be the same

And every time it rains
I feel her holding me
And every time it rains
Are the angels crying
And every time it rains
I feel her holding me
And every time it rains
Are the angels crying

Chapter One:

Cure My Tragedy

The depths of my mind… they're quite astounding. I don't know what it is like for most people, but inside my head is a whole other dimension. My emotions are actually personified representations of what they are, each one an exact duplicate of me, each one with a unique color. When I meditate, I see them, they see me. We converse daily – I have to keep in touch with myself to maintain control of my powers. Otherwise, entire areas would be torn apart by the smallest agitations. However, I kept my emotions secret. Those not close to me would first see me as rather cold; this was not entirely true. I just… I don't know. I'm not the type that gets very emotional in front of others, especially my friends. Many a times inside the tower, holed up inside my room or on the roof, I let go. My sobs echoed through Jump City from high atop the Tower, or reverberated off the hallways of the inner sanctum. It felt good to let go, but it was also very dangerous, as my powers were fueled by my feelings.

Sometimes… I just wished that I could be a normal human rather than the sorceress that I was… but, I suppose, we all have our reasons for existence. For me, it was to be a portal for my father, Trigon, the devil himself, to make his presence known on this planet. But, he has been dealt with… maybe Divine Intervention played a part in that. My feelings on God are still mixed and confused, and I have yet to find someone willing to discuss it with me. My friends, well, I don't really know if they themselves know anything about God, the Bible, or any faith practice for that matter. Someday, hopefully, someone would explain it to me. I tried reading the Bible once, but it didn't really make sense to me… I guess I didn't know where to start. Being a Titan, it's hard to make friends with the outside world.

God it gets so lonely…

I meditated silently, chanting in my mind "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos," centering my energy. There, in the void of my inner, deepest thoughts.

And then it happened.

A flash of light and the voice of a woman calling my name.

It wasn't the first time: it had been reoccurring several times over the past few weeks. At first I thought of it as a nuisance and attempted to block it out, but to no avail. "She" kept calling my name, like she was wanting help or to draw my attention. After I concluded that this indeed was a serious draw for attention, I had attempted to call back to her. Each time, I couldn't get through. But, she would always end with, "Don't worry… I'll try again later!"

This time, it was different. This time, it felt like she was closer, no more than a few feet away. She was calling, "Can you hear me!"

"Y…yes!" I called back, anxiously hoping that this time would be successful.

"Yes! Yes, I can hear you!"

Finally.

"I must warn you, Raven! He's coming! I know it sounds clichéd, but your planet is in danger! This is like nothing you've ever faced before!"

Taken back, I managed to ask, "Huh? How did you know my name? What sort of danger are you talking about?"

Her voice called back, "Hello? Can you hear me?"

"Dammit… I CAN HEAR YOU! CAN YOU HEAR ME! WHO ARE YOU!"

"Hello? Hello, hello? You need to get ready! He's coming…! He's…"

Abrupt silence. Energy surged through my body; I screamed in pain and fell out of my floating trance. I landed hard on the plush carpet of the living room and fell down the steps to the lower level where the couch was located. My nose began bleeding as I tried to pick myself up. Robin and Cyborg ran in from a side room after hearing the commotion. Upon seeing me on the floor, bleeding, nonetheless, they ran over and hoisted me to my feet.

"Raven, what's wrong? What happened?" asked Robin.

I groaned and reclined onto his shoulder, weakly saying, "Something… something's coming…"

Just as the last words passed through my lips, the alarm went off.

"Looks like we've got trouble," Cyborg said. "The local university's archeological and biological research center just got an unwelcome guest."

Robin looked down at me, "Can you make it?"

"I'll try," I said as I pulled my cowl over my head.

With that, the boy wonder yelled, "Okay, let's go!"

Cyborg had the gas pedal to the floor as we hauled ass down the road towards Jump City's Collins University. I sat in the backseat so I wouldn't get carsick; I was still kind of weak and nauseous from my episode during meditation. Starfire sat next to me and kept her eyes on the road ahead; Beast Boy occupied the front passenger seat. Robin was beside the car on his motorcycle. I rolled around in my mind about who the mysterious woman was that kept haunting my meditation; more or less, what the hell was she trying to warn me about? Nothing could've been possibly worse than fighting off my father and bringing the world back to its normal state. Could there…?

I didn't want to know.

The peaceful suburbs of Jump City flew by us in a blur as Cyborg swerved and dodged oncoming and passing vehicles.

"Who do you think it is this time? I mean, there really isn't much interest at the local college," said Beast Boy.

"I don't know," Cyborg replied. "News hasn't said anything about any important new discoveries or experiments beings conducted. Chances are this is just some bad guy wanting desperately for a fifty-five gallon drum of whup-ass to be poured on him."

"I hope you are right, Cyborg," Starfire said, nervously keeping an eye out for any suspicious characters.

I looked out the window at the evening sky above. The sun was starting to set, giving the clouds an orange glow. I longed to be out on my own, not having to put some dumbass back in his or her rightful place. Reality snapped back in when we arrived on campus. The building that reported the alarm was actually a small compound on the edge of the university. Here, numerous research events took place on artifacts and other beings found during excavation tours. A lot of interesting things had turned up over the past few years; a lot of the money that funded it came from Wayne Enterprises in Gotham City a few miles north across the state border into New York. I didn't recall anything recently of interest, like Cyborg said, so maybe it was somebody like Plasmus trying to get his hands on some radioactive materials. I know a lot of that stuff is used when studying half-life and Carbon-14 dating.

The science building itself was about four floors high and made out of tan bricks. The office areas were well windowed and viewable; the other parts of the building, however, let little light in, if any. The entrance doors seemed to be ripped from their hinges and thrown aside. Cyborg put the car in park and killed the engine. We got out and surveyed the area.

"Where is everybody?" Beast Boy asked.

Cyborg pondered as well, "Don't know, don't they have night classes?"

Robin approached quickly, saying, "Come on! People are hurt! Titans, GO!"
We ran towards the entrance, careful not to slip on the shattered glass that littered the concrete walkway and grassy rest area. In one of the side windows, a female student's lifeless body had a giant shard sticking through her abdomen. On the ground were a few laboratory associates; their white smocks thick with their lifeblood. Starfire gasped and covered her mouth as I sunk back deeper into my cowl.

Astonished, Robin asked, "Who… who the hell done this?"

"I don't like the looks of this, man," Cyborg said. He configured his scanners, saying, "I'm not picking up any live beings around. Whoever did this is probably deeper inside the building."

Starfire quivered. Out of consideration, I put my arms around her as we slowly walked towards the massacre. The young Tamaranian buried her face into my shoulder and began to weep softly; Starfire is desperately afraid of death or the act of dying. She has gotten better – it used to make her throw up.

God help her if she puked on me.

Robin gently rolled one of the bodies over. The look on the young man's face was absolute fear.

"So… how'd he die?" Beast Boy asked.

"Looks like somebody sliced his neck open," Cyborg said. "I see a few holes in him, too."

Starfire whimpered, and muffled by my shoulder said, "Oh… oh… please stop talking about it!"

"Let's go!" announced Robin.

We ran inside the research building. The front lobby was once a clean cream-colored wall and waxed floor entryway. Not anymore, as blood was splattered rather profusely. I scanned the area and witnessed more bodies in all sorts of positions.

"Here," I said to Starfire. "Take my cape and cowl. You can hide your face in it because this is pretty gruesome."

Starfire swallowed hard and agreed. I removed my articles and affixed them to Starfire who immediately pulled the hood over her head. Cyborg walked around the receptionist counter and gently rolled the lifeless receptionist out of the way. His eyes widened, "Holy shit! It's Slade!"

Robin immediately got beside him to look at the security monitor, "We've got to get to him. Titans, GO!"

Robin took the lead as we ventured deeper into the facility. On the floor was a giant trail of bloody footsteps; the hallways were littered with corpses. It got so bad that I myself closed my eyes and held onto Starfire for support.

"He's on the top floor!" Robin yelled.

Frantically we stepped over the fallen victims and through the narrow corridors. We came upon the stairwell and elevators. The blood trails went up the stairs.

"You three take the stairs. I'll take Starfire up the elevator. It'll be easier on her," I said.

"Sure you're going to be all right?" Cyborg asked.

"We'll be fine," I replied. "Now go!"

The three boys nodded and crashed through the doorway to the stairs. As they clamored up the blood soaked steps, I called the elevator. Starfire stepped aside into one of the classrooms and vomited violently. I stood behind her and held her hair and cape back as she coughed and gagged.

Starfire turned and weakly asked me, her emerald eyes tired and watery, "Raven, has Slade ever killed before…?"

I sighed, "I don't know, Star. It'll be over soon, just…"

The ceiling crashed as about four of Slade's bots made their descent from the floor above. Before Starfire and I could react I was knocked back into the hallway. I crash landed into a glass case showcasing three-dimensional atom representations of common chemicals. I slammed onto the floor as I witnessed Starfire get knocked back into the cement wall. She landed onto a shelf of beakers and flasks. I immediately scrambled to my feet and took control of some of the desks inside the classroom.

"Have a seat," I gritted as I slammed the chairs into two of the robots. The chairs carried them into the windows and tossed them outside. Starfire bounced back and used her star bolts to incapacitate the rest. We scurried back to the hallway.

"Are you okay?" I asked Star.

"I am fine," she said. Suddenly, she gasped, "What's that?"

I turned just in time to see a red panther-like creature slam into me, knocking me into another glass cabinet. The creature leaped off me – its whip-like red tail connected at the back of its neck – and growled and Starfire. Starfire didn't hesitate once to blast it, taking its head off. The creature's body fell over, dead. I pulled myself up and brushed off the broken glass. I was cut in numerous places, but other than that, damage was minimal.

"What the hell was that?" I asked.

Starfire began to panic, "I do not know and I do not wish to know! Here comes more!"

Three more panther-like creatures leapt out of the stairwell and into the hallway. Without warning, they commenced their attack. One of there tentacles grabbed me and drained some energy. I let out a yell as Starfire grabbed the long extension and tossed the creature to the other end of the building. The other two pounced on my friend as if she was their quick snack.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" I yelled as I took control of the creatures. I tossed them hard into the side wall and then into the opposite wall before slamming them into the floor. After I released my grasp from them, the creatures were motionless.

Starfire screamed, "Raven! We must go to the roof at once! I am utmost concerned about our friends!"

I grabbed her arm and ran towards the elevator, "Then hurry!"

We got inside the car as more creatures could be heard clamoring down the stairs. I pressed the door-close button on the elevator car's control panel. The panthers leapt into the hallway just as the doors slid shut. They began to ram their bodies into the door, making large dents in the metal. I immediately pressed the button for the fourth floor. The elevator began to rise. Starfire stayed close to me and hid under the cowl. Even though we were in a moving elevator, the sounds of a raging battle echoed throughout the whole place. A small chime sounded and the elevator doors slid open. Starfire and I stepped out into the hallway. The whole floor was torn apart: large gaping blast holes in the walls, a lot of Slade's robots were lying every which way, and more blood splatters and their once owners. Not enough Clorox in the world could clean this mess up.

Starfire looked up and gasped, "Look, Raven! There's a hole to the roof!"

I grabbed her arm, "Then let's go!"

We flew up into the hole and onto the roof of the building. The rest of the team had their hands full with Slade's robots. I quickly scanned the area for Slade himself as Starfire went to help our friends. I started to run towards the battle before I was caught in a clothesline of somebody's arm. My whole body went vertical before I slammed into the hard, rocky roof of the science building. I slowly opened my eyes into the iron mask of Slade himself. His one visible eye focused on me. An extremely long, slender sword was in one hand, and what looked like a human head… almost…

"Good to see you again, Raven," he said in that sly, cunning voice. "I'm glad to see that you're doing well."

"Fuck you," I said as I leapt to my feet.

Slade backhanded me across the face, saying, "Such a horrible thing to say, my dear child."

I fell backwards into Robin, who was running to engage his sworn enemy for life. We both fell back to the ground.

Slade boasted, "This is it, Titans; this is going to be the battle of a lifetime."

Robin gritted his teeth, "What are you talking about?"

Slade merely laughed, "Oh Robin, you'll find out soon enough. It seems the greatest weapons are right under our feet."

On that note, the mysterious villain back-flipped off the roof, and behind us a giant roar was heard. Beast Boy and Cyborg threw off the last of Slade's robotic goons, turned, and screamed in terror. The roof shook violently with a thunderous step of a mighty creature. I turned around as Starfire and Robin looked in awe. Behind us, a gigantic blue dragon – about the size of two transfer trucks with fifty foot trailers each side-by-side – roared. Beast Boy turned into a Tyrannosaurus Rex and roared back as Cyborg and Starfire began to take pot shots at the creature. Unfortunately, the laws of gravity and physics took over as the support beams in the roof gave way to the immense amount of weight. I couldn't unleash my powers fast enough as we fell through each floor below us. My section of the roof stopped on the second floor; Robin warily tried to make his way towards me to check on me. Everybody else was fighting on the ground floor and in the entryway.

"You okay?" Robin asked as he helped me up.

I brushed my hair with my hand, "I'm fine. The others need help!"

Robin leapt through the wreckage to get to the others. I took a step and stumbled a little, pain starting to make its way up my legs and side. I fell to my knees and tried to concentrate enough to use my healing powers. I managed to ease some of the pain, but the cuts and bruises still remained. I got up and flew through the wreckage to the battle below. The dragon blew a large napalm of fire breath, scorching the nearby trees and grass. Beast Boy ran around with his ass on fire as Robin threw one of his ice boomerangs. It hit the beast in the mouth and froze it shut for a few seconds before the heat melted it away. In retaliation, it swung around with its huge tail and smacked Robin back into the debris. Cyborg stepped up and began his attack on the creature beside Starfire.

I asked aloud, "What the hell is happening… where are these creatures coming from?"

Cyborg turned his head, "WE COULD REALLY USE YOUR HELP RIGHT NOW, RAVEN!"

"Yes, please!" Starfire yelled.

Beast Boy turned into a rhinoceros and rammed the creature. The dragon was slammed into what was left of the building; coincidentally, it was now really pissed. Now was my chance: "AZARATH METRION ZINTHOS!"

Large pieces of the roof and walls of the now defunct science laboratories came into the air under my control and crushed the mighty blue dragon's head. I slammed the pieces down with such velocity that a wind powerful enough to be classified as a hurricane brushed through the area and pushed everyone back. The dragon's body – what was sticking out from under the debris – convulsed and shook violently until it lay still. Everyone gathered together around me.

"BOOYAH!" shouted Cyborg. "We kicked that big thing's ass!"

"Yeah," said Robin. "But where did it come from?"

Beast Boy jumped up and down, "Hello? He roasted my butt! Do you know how much Preparation H I'm going to have to buy? Geez…"

"Can it," I said. "Look, there's something I've been meaning to tell you: lately when I've been meditating, I've been contacted numerous times by a strange woman. I don't know what she looks like, but today she said that the planet's in danger, like nothing we've ever seen before. Slade was holding something strange, too."

"Yeah, he was holding some sort of head. Looked almost human," Cyborg said. "And he had that long-ass sword, too."

Starfire pushed the cowl back from her head, saying, "Yes, it looked most lethal."

"I've seen that sword before," Robin said. "We should check the museum. I think that's where I saw it. Titans, GO!"