Crow
Chapter 5- Inside the mind of a Crow
Raven found herself in a dark world similar to the one beast boy and Cyborg had found when they had wandered into her mind except Crows' was more structured and more labyrinth like than her own. She found that even though she could fly it didn't seem to help much although there wasn't really a way to tell she swore she was going in circles somehow. Somewhere she heard Crow call out to her
"RAVEN!" He yelled but the cry seemed to echo from all directions.
"Crow! I'm here!" She yelled looking around for a sign of him he had to be here somewhere…but why didn't he begin next to her?
But what appeared soon after was not what she expected two crow's came to her one marked as crow had been and the other appeared as he had when he first arrived.
"no…he's tricked you dragged you in here too…" the unmarked one said
"Never mind him he's the reason I'm like this! I don't know what he is but he isn't me! Raven believe me!" the other said
Raven was lost confused even she didn't know what to do both of either of them could have been the real Crow
"Oh come on! He's marked with the mark of the evil one! He can't be anything else!" the unmarked Crow said
"But if that were true then why wouldn't I have just destroyed everything instead of asking for help?" the marked one asked he seemed to be straining.
"He brought you here to trap you Raven! You're the only one who could possibly stop him! So instead of fighting he chose the sneaky route." The unmarked one spoke he seemed desperate.
Raven looked toward the one with the marks. "You seem to be having a problem…"
"Yes…he is trying to prevent me from talking to you so he can do what he wants. Remember when I asked you to come? I was straining then too."
Raven was beginning to believe him until the other spoke
"Lies! He is labored now because as I said I'm trying to put him back in his box!" the other Crow stated
"Raven…please…I don't know if I can keep this up" the marked one spoke with much difficulty
"Liar…you're the one that's winn…ungh…" The unmarked one said but was cut off suddenly doubled over he fell to the ground.
"Crow!" Raven called out
"he's not the real one…can't you see?" The marked one asked
still she went down to him
"Raven….just think about this…in all the time you've known me….when have I ever actually asked for help?" the unmarked one said and suddenly she knew it was him Crow would never have asked for help not even from her the last time she had done this for him he had been against it even then.
She turned to the other "Reveal yourself demon..I know what you are now." She said sternly.
"Wha? But…I" He began stammering as she levitated up to him.
"oh screw it….I tried playing nice now it's time to get ROUGH" he said transforming no longer did he resemble crow but instead he resembled her father…
"….father?" She said in disbelief.
"Yes…he's in me too…" Crow said finding his way up beside her.
"welcome to my world." She said sympathetically she knew her father was not easy to deal with especially when he got inside your head.
"you both belong to me! So Stop resisting!" Trigon(Raven's father that's his name if you look it up) said
"WE belong to no one!" Crow Yelled back.
"insolent cur…your parents died for this you WILL do as I say!" Trigon replied as he swated Crow to the ground with a serious "umph"
"My…parents…." Crow said getting up slowly.
"You…it was you….you killed them that would explain how the weakling escaped…you possessed him and killed everyone…so I would take vengace and the seed of darkness would be planted…" Crow suddenly realized.
"Exactly boy I also knew you would lose control and destroy Azarath I hated that place and with it gone I was no longer bound there and now it's Earth's turn." Trigon said
Crow didn't know what to do he was feeling such rage such hatred but that was exactly what trigon wanted…but he didn't care
Crow flew at him his darkness once more revealing itself. Raven suddenly recovering from the shock that her father had killed Crow's parents and planned the destruction of Azarath
"Father!" She yelled unleashing wave after wave of magical energy upon him while Crow fought forming his energy into weapons Trigon wasn't really affected though only having to use one arm to block Raven's attacks and Crow he could fight with simply a hand swatting at him like a gnat. Eventually they both were thrown back.
"Hahahaha is that all boy? Is that the extent of the darkness within you? You'll need more…dig deeep show me, show me all of it!" Trigon yelled. Beams coming from his eyes and shooting toward them Crow pushed Raven one direction and dove the other.
"Crow…this is your mind…use it to your advantage" Raven told him.
"I..can't…I'm not strong enough I hit him with all I had…he's taken over too much of me." Crow said
"No…you're wrong. You can do something." Raven said
"like what? I didn't divide my emotions like you did so what am I supposed to do?" Crow asked
"in our minds…size DOES matter it's a subconscious idea." Raven said and suddenly he understood he needed to be Trigons size to win in the world of the mind.
Crow grew in size rapidly until he was in fact BIGGER than trigon. Raven followed suit but was only able to grow to equal size.
"let's do this" Crow said
Trigon went at them full on Raven was hit first and stumbled Crow swung and nailed Trigon shortly after sending him to the left side of his daughter Raven levitated him while Crow lashed out Trigon wound up flying back landing on and completely crushing the labyrinth.
"Yes…that's it! Keep it up! Both of you!" Trigon said getting up.
"Get out of my head!" Crow screamed forming a sword and leaping toward him Trigon was slashed in two and the fight was over. But this was only the start…what they destroyed was a mere extension of the actual demon Trigon. The real thing would prove much more difficult to defeat especially without the benefit of being inside their own minds. Still it was a task Raven and Crow were up for.
Crow turned to Raven "we…did it?" he said as if looking for assurance and she gave a nod as a reply.
Crow let out a sigh of relief. "Unbelieveable…" He muttered
"What is?" Raven turned toward him
"the fact that was probably the easy part…" He replied
"hm…you're probably right…It was like…he wanted us to win…like he wanted to see how powerful we were…still I don't see what purpose that serves." Raven said thinking.
"Well…perhaps this is his way of strengthening us to serve his purpose…after all we can only get stronger through battle…and that was definitely a battle…"
"…maybe…in any case…let's get back to the conscious world shall we?" Raven said
"Right…of course" Crow agreed and a few moments later Raven's conciousness was back in her own body the first thing she noticed were the others gathered in the doorway.
"Uh….hey what's up?" she tried being casual."
But the looks especially robin's demanded an explaination.
"I…" she began but Crow spoke up first.
"she was in my head…now if you don't mind GET OUT OF MY ROOM" He boomed when it came to people being in his room Crow was worse than Raven combine that with the fact that he didn't like crowds and we'll…you get the point.
the other titans scattered like bugs when a light is turned on. All except Robin, who simply stepped back once standing precisely outside the threshold of the door.
"I'm out" he said defiantly crossing his arms.
"Robin…" Raven began. Getting up and walking slowly towards him
"Yea?" He asked arching a brow
"We need to talk" She said dragging him off as the door closed behind her.
Crow sighed and sat back leaning against the wall his bed was next to he closed his eyes starting to relax... "what next?" he said and at that instant as if he had asked for it someone knocked at his door
"Come in…" He said reluctantly after a moment of hoping they would just go away.
To his surprise it was Blackfire that had come.
"you?…what do you want?" he asked having only opened one eye to see her then closing it again.
"nothing really…I was just curious is all." She replied standing casually in front of him.
"well?" He asked
"Well what?" she said confused
"you said you were curious so that implies you had a question." He said simply opening his eyes and looking up at her annoyed.
"right….you really don't like me do you?" she asked
"honestly I could care less either way about you…you're just another extra to me." He said coldly
"hmph…" she shook her head. "fine…I wanted to know what's really been going on around here…something tells me you know more than the others do." She said frankly
"heh…you'd be right there…but the question is…is that a good thing or not? And then secondly how much would be knowing too much?" He said answering her question with a riddle. But Blackfire understood it was similar to a saying in the underground if her criminal life had taught her anything it was that knowledge could kill you.
"Are you saying if you told me that I would be in danger?" she asked
"exactly…why do you think none of them know the whole story? Raven is the only one who knows much of anything besides me. And besides even I don't have all the answers…" He said.
"okay…tell me one thing…who's side are you on?" she asked
"what side are you on?" he asked turning her own question back at her
"how can I even be on a side when I don't know what…oh…" She said suddenly realizing what he meant.
"Exactly." He said closing his eyes again.
"well then I'll be going…ya'know we're more alike than I thought…maybe we should have another chat like this sometime…" She said
"Yea…sure" was Crow's only reply as she left.
Blackfire returned to her room only to see trigon was waiting for her except at this moment he wasn't large or anything in fact he was about 5'7" wearing a suit and shades likely to blend in until he wanted his presence to be known
"Master trigon…Why are you here?" She asked
"It's about time you reported Blackfire…what do they know?" he asked impatiently
"not much…most of the Titans are fairly lost on exactly what's happening or how to deal with it however…Crow on the other hand knows far more than he's willing to tell…and Raven knows a good deal as well. Robin is probably the next most knowledgeable." She told him
"And what of your sister?" He asked turning to her
"She is…as airheaded and naive as ever…I doubt she can even begin to comprehend just how serious things are." Blackfire told him
"I see…you've done well now I want you to bring Crow to me…alone I don't want the rest of the titans involved yet." He told her
"Understood" She replied
"Good…I expect to see him in the next couple of days Blackfire…"
"A couple days? But…he doesn't trust me yet I believe I started off fairly badly with him."
"hm..that is a problem…fix it afterall when the world ends you two will be getting fairly close I imagine. Seeing as only a select few will survive."
"Yes..sir…" Blackfire said reluctantly she had no idea how to get close to Crow her latest attempt went fairly well but one conversation didn't change things.
Having said his piece Trigon vanished fading into darkness.
Blackfire sighed. "Damn..just when I finally talk to the guy Trigon goes and asks me to bring him in…" though she'd never admit it Blackfire was intrigued by Crow he was different than the others walking a very fine line between good and evil occasionally corssing it to either side but never straying too far from the middle. Much like herself. He lived for himself he didn't take sides or have loyalties except to Raven but even that was about to change.
End Chapter 5
Well…I didn't introduce Blackfire for nothing ya know the end is coming soon! I've decided to do the multiple endings so next chapter will be the branching point for all these endings