Spellfire Chapter 25: Friends and Foes, a teen titans fanfic

A/N: AND HERE WE GO! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA—okay I'll stop now…

Raven, Rorek, Zacroma, and Beast Boy flew from the top of the T-Tower and headed for the bridge. In broad daylight, it was likely they'd be seen coming, but hopefully whoever was guarding that spot would think they were off on another mission and wouldn't sound whatever alarm they might have set up. The rest, Robin's team, had used the underwater exit, so they wouldn't be seen unless someone was keeping a watch out under the water. They'd all been given bubble heads by Malchior, so there wouldn't be a problem with that.

"When we get there we'll need to attack as swiftly and as directly as we can. Likely they've already seen us if they're watching." Raven called.

"How do we get in?" Beast Boy asked, morphing his head back to normal so he could talk.

"There." Raven answered as they neared the tower. She pointed to a window, which was indeed big enough for a grown man to fit into easily. She directed their flight a little out of the view of it so it might not be so obvious, but the moment they neared, she zipped back and barged right in.

She'd expected it to be guarded, expected there to be a cry of alarm, a shout, something. But there wasn't, there weren't even people there. It was obviously an area that was being used for something, but there was no sign of what. Not even a circle.

"There has to be something here." Raven said, getting to her knees in order feel around.

"No, nothing. Crap! I'll bet it's a nighttime only port!" Zacroma exclaimed.

"Change of plans, we're coming down with you guys." Rorek said, pushing the button on his ear set to make it pick up his voice. Raven could hear it in her own set, and she could also hear Robin's reply.

"Alright, but hurry up. We're already inside the cave and I don't know how long we can wait if we want to keep ourselves unnoticed." He said in a hushed voice.

"I'll teleport." Raven said, pressing her own ear set. Everyone joined hands, and, focusing, she transported them easily, since she knew the entire layout in her mind.

"Ouch!" Someone exclaimed.

"Sorry!"

"Ssssssh!"

"Who's that? Is that you guys?"

"Yes." Raven answered. There was a small clicking noise, and suddenly the area was filled with a soft light, coming from Zacroma's hands.

"There." She whispered, allowing the sphere to levitate above them.

"Where'd you get that?" Asked Beast Boy.

"I made it, just now." She answered, as if this should be obvious.

"Okay the passage is pretty narrow for a good while, Rorek and I will take the lead, and if we meet anyone leave them to us for now." Raven told them all.

"Right." Robin nodded.

"Man, I hate it when plans get screwed up." Beast Boy muttered as they started to run, Zacroma's light straying a good ways behind them, keeping up enough that those who couldn't see well in the dark wouldn't trip over the feet of the ones in front of them, but far enough that if someone saw it coming, it'd be too late.

They met no one, none. Not even when the narrow pathway opened up into a large hall with many doors did they see anyone. "Security's slack around here during the daytime." Robin commented.

"Don't let your guard down, it could be a trick, or they could all be in another part of the fortress." Malchior said.

"Uh, okay question, how does she keep building huge fortresses where there should be nothing? I mean, were all these Blood Clan hideouts to begin with or what?" Beast Boy asked.

"That's…a good question." Zacroma said.

"The quickest way to where Judora was last I saw her is through that door." Raven said, pointing to the middle door on the left of them.

"Right."

She lead them towards it, Beast Boy rushing foreward to grab the doorknob. "NO DON'T!" Malchior and Rorek yelled at the same time, but it was too late. A circle of blood appeared on the door, and waves of dark green magic were surrounding it, going up from the handle and then around his arm. He cried out in surprise.

"Beast Boy!" Raven and Zacroma exclaimed, both lunging for him, but both Malchior and Rorek held them back.

"It's no use, you'll just get sucked in as well!" Malchior said just as the darkness drug Beast Boy inside of it.

"No! Beast Boy!" Zacroma exclaimed, slipping out of Malchior's grip and grabbing the door handle, but it didn't suck her in, instead she was able to open it and fling the door to the side. "Beast Boy!" She called into the dark hallway.

A cruel, blood freezing laugh answered her. "Well that was certainly easy. One down, four to go. Better watch your step!" Judora's voice sounded, echoing throughout the hall as her laughter started up again.

"Where are you, coward?" Raven demanded. "What have you done with Beast Boy!"

"Hmmm, wouldn't you like to know? Don't worry, though, I've just sent him to rendezvous with an old friend is all." She answered, and she began laughing again, only this time it faded, marking the end of the 'conversation', if you can call it that.

"What does she mean, 'an old friend'?" Asked Rorek.

"No clue." Raven answered, gritting her teeth together. "Come on, no choice now but to go forward. We'll use another door though." She said, thinking a moment. "This one." She pointed to the far door on the other side. "Retexo!" She commanded in case there was another spell. There wasn't, so she opened the door, and led the way along the hall.

Beast Boy opened his eyes, blinking, and gingerly got to his feet, looking around. He appeared to be outside but, that wasn't right. No, it looked like there was a ceiling really high up because it was dark, and it was currently daytime. So then, why was he surrounded by rocky terrain? He could see a few small mesas, plateaus, and complicated formations that he might have been able to enjoy climbing and exploring, had the situation not been so dire.

The last thing he remembered, was grabbing hold of a doorknob, and then being sucked in, "Crap! I'm not in a doorknob am I!" He exclaimed. "Weird, this isn't exactly how I imagined the inside of a doorknob to look like." He said to himself. He pressed the button on his headset, "Guys? Guys where are you? I'm in some kind of dark room and…hello? Anyone?" he asked. He waited for a response, but got none. "Crap." He hissed.

Then suddenly, the lights all snapped on, illuminating the entire area as brightly as if it were day. Beast Boy had to shield his eyes for a minute, but then he saw something, a figure standing high up on a plateau, looking down at him. It was dark, because the lightening was to their back, but there was no mistaking who it was. Blond hair cascading down her shoulders, the form of a girl wearing a spandex top and baggy parachute pants, with a set of goggles on her head.

"T-Terra!" Beast Boy gasped, unable to believe his eyes. "Terra, what are you doing here!" He exclaimed. He thought he saw her mouth open and close, but he couldn't hear any words. Instead, she rose her hands to the air, and the ground beneath Beast Boy began to shake, and rise, coming over him like a tidal wave of earth. Swiftly, he transformed into a cheetah and dodged out of the way. "What are you doing! It's me, Beast Boy!" He cried, but was only met with another attack, this time of flying chunks of rock. He transformed into an elf, and began to dodge them with ease and grace. "Are you working for Judora now! Is that it? First Slade and now Judora, I thought you learned your lesson!" He cried in frustration, jumping from formation to formation, attempting to get closer to her.

He landed on a platform not far from her, glaring. "What happened, did you sell yourself to Judora in order to obtain freedom!" He demanded, jumping just in time to avoid being sent into the ground with the platform. Another tidal wave was coming at him, but he transformed into a small dragon in order to dodge it in the air. However it succeeded in pushing him farther away from Terra, who rose into the air on a platform of earth.

"Talk to me!" He yelled, turning back into an elf.

But she couldn't, and as the angle of the light put her into greater relief, he understood. He saw her face, stained with still flowing tears, an expression of helplessness, pleading, suffering, and then he saw the snake. Wrapped around her neck, with it's teeth sunk deep into her throat.

"Azarath, Metriom, Zynthos!"

"Animatus, Specula, Aeternitus!"

"Atrum, Exspes, Mortis!"

The three powers combined, one a black wave lined with white, the second fully white, and the last fully black. The powers seemed to merge, first turning silver, and then gold. The effect was disastrous, the blood priests and priestesses who'd tried to destroy them all by combining their spells died in an instant. An entire congregation of the Church of Blood, destroyed in an instant. "Well, that takes care of that for a while. Unfortunately I imagine we'll have demons to face next." Raven said with a frown.

The Titans were able to snap out of being amazed fairly swiftly. "Dang, alright where to next?" Cyborg asked, readying his cannon.

"There." Answered Raven, pointing to a door, which could hardly be called a door anymore, more like a heep of splintered wood that somehow managed to keep the opening from being in full view.

"Alright," He said, kicking it down so that the way was clear. He looked around inside suspiciously, and just as he seemed ready to deem the coast clear, he let out a cry of surprise.

"Cyborg!" The Titans cried, as he suddenly disappeared in a flash of red light. Raven ran to the doorway, and saw a small creature with a bat-like head and a body like some strange hairless monkey climbing up the wall, laughing as it disappeared through the roof before Raven could destroy it with a blast of dark lightening.

"She's picking us off one by one." Robin said, "Until she has Raven alone."

"What do we do!" Zacroma exclaimed.

"Stay close together and—" Raven began, turning around, but suddenly Starfire screamed. That same little demon had thrown a ball of red light at her, and she disappeared the same way Cyborg had. "Oh no you don't!" She exclaimed, "Evincio!" She exclaimed, and a dark thread of power shot from her hand, wrapped around the demon, and bound it before it could get away again.

"Little b$$$." Malchior growled, stamping on the thing until it was a mess of dark blood and black bones. Zacroma spread some holy water over it, and the body vanished in a burst of white flames.

"Crap." Robin muttered, as he and Zacroma shuffled closer to Raven and Malchior. "This is not good."

Raven grabbed Robin's arm while Malchior took Zacroma's. "There's nothing we can do but find Judora, and pray they aren't dead." Malchior said, clenching his teeth.

Cyborg coughed, spitting out the mouthful of water he'd swallowed with much difficulty. Soon, though his automatic system kicked in and flushed it all out for him, allowing him to collect himself and get his bearings strait. Unfortunately, all he could make out was that he was in an indoor swimming pool, but that didn't seem right. It was dark, but he could tell that there was water everywhere. His robotic eye kicked in, and he saw a few turrets, currently gushing water out from all sides. He grimaced, realizing what Judora's plan probably was. But why the heck did she feel the need to drown him? That didn't make much sense.

"We meet again, Cyborg." His entire body went rigid, every sensor in his body had kicked into overdrive with alarm, causing his muscles to broaden and his body to lighten. He turned around, and found himself looking at the form of a man, balding with age and with a semi-ring around his head of gray, pointed hair. His narrowed, bird like face, smirking down at him from atop a high turret, also gushing with water. The light's turned on, and he could see that, while he still had the robotic parts he'd installed in himself, they were now blue, and…altered.

"Blood!" Cyborg exclaimed.

"Incorrect! A demerit for you! You see, I took that name without knowing that it was a much more, involved title. I've learned from this mistake, and as I'm no where near worthy enough to be the true Brother Blood, you now must call me Headmaster, and only Headmaster. Understand?" 'Brother Blood' asked.

"Yeah, whatever, Headcase. What the heck are you doing working for Judora!" He demanded.

"Well, you see that charming woman has offered me the opportunity of a lifetime. I can peruse my experiments with her limitless resources, granting her my findings and all of that, while teaching my own school of priests and priestesses to become great. She even gave me this lovely accessory to wear." He said, pulling down a black collar to reveal a small green and red snake wrapped around his neck, it's teeth sinking into the flesh and seeming to be pulsing, putting something in, or taking something out, it was hard to tell.

"What have you done?" Cyborg asked, shocked with how far even he had gone.

"Not only does it give me a direct connection to Lady Judora, but it allows me to do things like this." He answered, raising the collar back to his neck, and then lifting his hand to the side.

Cyborg turned to see where 'Headmaster' had been looking, and found he was staring down a growing tidal wave (of water this time, duh). Crap…

"Oh dear, this can not bode well." Starfire said to herself, she fitted a bolt of her lightening into her bow, causing it to turn into an emerald green arrow, and looked around her defensively. She was in a very unremarkable room, the only thing it had going for it was the amount of space it seemed to have. She began looking for an exit, but it didn't seem there was one.

Suddenly something came at her from the corner of her eye. Starfire rounded, shielded herself from the disk of dark energy using the bow, and then shot her arrow at whatever had attacked her, but the figure darted out of the way and her arrow only made a dent in the wall. "Who—" She began, but more disks were shooting at her, and she used her bow to defend herself against each one of them. Then a huge blast of energy came at her, one that she couldn't entirely block with the bow. It sent her down, so that she hit the ground fairly hard, but still landed on her feet.

Then the lights threw her assailant into focus, long black hair, glowing red eyes, black tankini top and miniskirt with silver armor underneath. "Blackfire!" Starfire exclaimed, gasping in shock. But there was a difference, instead of the neck armor she usually had on, there was a red and green snake wrapped around it, it's teeth biting into her neck. "You are under the tainted woman's control!" She cried.

Blackfire's teeth clenched as she speed for Starfire, she grabbed her little sister about the shoulders and then threw her into one of the walls. "Good, you figured it out." She said through her teeth. "Now, sister dearest, if you don't get this snake off my neck this instant I am going to kill you. And not just because I want to." She hissed, flying after Starfire with two blasts of energy ready. But Starfire had readied an arrow in her bow, and shot it at her sister. The force knocked her back easily, sending her into the wall this time.

"I shall do my best to save you sister!" She declared.

"How heroic. Watch out, the snake's giving my body a lot of power, which means I'm about to shoot a really powerful attack at you again." Blackfire warned.

"Eep!" Starfire squeaked, flying out of the way just as a huge sphere of black and violet energy shot after her.

"I can't believe I'm trusting her. Not like I have a choice." Blackfire muttered as her body shot after Starfire once again.

"It's a demon." Rorek whispered, taking in the scenes around him by breathing deeply through his uncovered nose, "It has to be, that's not a human scent." He said, putting the scarf back over his face.

"Rosary everyone." Zacroma said, handing some beads to everyone except Raven, who'd since transformed into a demon herself.

"I should probably take care of it myself, but I don't think leaving you alone would be a good idea. Separation will make it easy for Judora to put a circle beneath our feet." Raven told them. "She wants us all apart, save for maybe Rorek and Malchior, and so that's the last thing we need. Her next target will probably be Robin, judging from her pattern so far, that means—"

"Raven, look out!" Malchior cried, lunging after her. But it was too late, the demon, a high demon judging from his more humanoid form and the markings all over his body, had appeared in a flash, grabbed Raven, and disappeared just as swiftly.

"So much for a pattern." Zacroma squeaked, shaking with fear as the same laughter echoed through the corridor.

"True, I was planning to take Sir Robin next, but rosary is such a nuisance, even for a demon as powerful as Shijuko. However this works out rather nicely." Judora said.

"D#$ it!" Malchior swore.

"Ah, ah, ah, staying in one place for too long isn't a good idea." Judora said. The next moment Robin uttered a cry, and the others whirled around to find him being sucked into a circle that had appeared beneath his feet.

"Robin no!" Zacroma exclaimed, she lunged for him, but suddenly found herself being grabbed by something black green in the form of hands.

"Zacroma!" Malchior exclaimed, grabbing her as Rorek tried to destroy the hands with some spells.

"Don't let go." Zacroma cried as her feet began to sink into the wall, in spit of Malchior's hold on her.

"How touching. The years in that book have made you soft, Malchior." Taunted Judora.

"Shut up, b! I swear I'm going to kill you!" He yelled angrily to the ceiling. Now her waist was in the wall. He used his foot to get some leverage, and held on tightly, but soon she was starting to scream as her skin began to tear with the tension. "No!" He cried, Rorek was still trying to destroy the hands, but they seemed to be made out of the shadow, and he couldn't even get a hold on one.

"It's no use, I'm sorry." Zacroma said, she looked at him, tears in her eyes, and let go.

"No!" Malchior exclaimed, but Judora's laughter drowned him out. He and Rorek looked down and saw, to neither of their surprise, a circle appearing in blood. The next moment, they were being transported somewhere else, just like the rest of them. Unfortunately, this 'somewhere else' happened to include Judora as well.

Zacroma flinched, picking herself up off the ground, clutching at the spots in her side where her skin had torn open to hold in as much blood as she could. Thankfully they weren't exactly cuts, and this was possible for the loss of any blood in this place would be a bad thing, especially if Judora got a hold of it and discovered what it really was. She waited a moment, focusing her energy on healing her wounds, and then let herself look up to see where she was.

The sight that greeted her had to be one of the strangest ones she'd witnessed. It looked like she was in some sort of construction site, where only the skeleton of a building had been made and there was lots and lots of more materials about such as wooden boards, tool boxes, and other such items. Except, that everything that was suppose to be metal, had been replaced with what looked to be glass, tempered glass of course, any other would break under such strain. "What tha—" She muttered, staring up in amazement. Then suddenly one of the glass tool boxes right above her moved and would have hit her very hard on the head, had she not been looking up at it. "Oh I get it, lots of stuff to fall on me, correct?" She asked.

"Exactly." Said a familiar, and annoying voice from behind her. Zacroma turned, and found all three of her former partners in crime standing there, each with a snake wrapped around their necks, the teeth digging into the flesh and seeming to suck greedily. Zacroma glared at them all, and then her expression fell and she narrowed her eyes. None of them seemed to appear to be very happy with this arrangement. Well, she certainly wouldn't be either.

"You'd better run, Zacroma," Jinx said, "I don't like you, and I'd be happy to see you go, but this isn't right." She said, as all three of them made their moves. Jinx began making more things fall from above, Gizmo was preparing a laser blast, and Mammoth had unearthed a huge rock he was either going to throw at her, or use to make the whole structure come crashing down on her head.

"If I can, I promise I'll save you." Zacroma said, flying swiftly to get out of the structure as quickly as she could.

Robin grimaced, and gathered himself up, staring hopelessly around the dark room he'd found himself in. Swiftly, he rummaged through his utility belt for a flashlight, but just as he was doing so, the lights came on, and what he saw nearly caused him to drop his sword.

It was Slade, but, he was different. his body turned into shades of red, and an 'S' engraved on his forehead, he looked far more formidable than he use to. Robin was willing to bet anything he'd made a deal with Judora, and that he was currently running on her dark magic. What sort of powers he had, Robin had the feeling he was going to find out. He crouched and clutched his sword in both hands, remembering the stance Malchior had taught him.

"Well, well, well, we finally meet again. I've been wondering when I'd get the chance to show you my new powers." He said silkily.

"Let me guess, you sold yourself to Judora in order to use them?" Robin asked scathingly.

"Heheheh," he chuckled, "Only partly right. You see, unlike the others I have both power and control. Judora was very impressed with the information I was able to give her about you and your little friends, she seemed to think I deserved a more honorable position than having a snake attached to my neck." He said.

"What! What others, what are you talking about!" Robin demanded, his heart pounding in his ears.

"Our dear Terra is one, Starfire's sister Blackfire, Headmaster, and the three top members of H.I.V.E. Only Headmaster has been able to delude himself into thinking he's really in control, the rest have figured it out I believe." He answered, marking them down with his fingers.

"Who's 'Headmaster'?" Robin asked.

"Formerly known as 'Brother Blood', Cyborg's friend. What, do you think you're the only one who gets to die by their past enemies? Well, friend in Beast Boy's case." Slade answered.

"What?" Robin's eyes widened.

"It's a moonless night tonight, and your death will bring the Devil's Daughter back to the Blood Clan." He said. "Now we fight, Robin, but this time, your life means nothing to me." He then formed a sphere of fire in his hands, and shot it at Robin, who was able to block with the sword just in time and jump out of the way of another. "You've improved, I can tell. Too bad." Slade sighed, and then he raised his hands. The ground beneath them separated, and a stream of lava formed there. In fact the entire terrain was becoming like a volcanic danger zone.

Robin grimaced, but found that he wasn't being hurt by the spurts of lava that should have sprinkled him. He took this as a good sign, and focused his attention on Slade. "It's you who dies today, Slade." He said, positioning his sword to the side of him, and then running, full speed ahead. His feet didn't even feel the lava as he crossed over it, causing Slade's eye to widen in shock. He recovered just in time, however, to get his entire arm sliced off by Robin's sword.

"That sword," He gasped, jumping out of the way of another attack.

Robin smirked triumphantly at his long-time enemy, "You like it? Raven made it." He said, and he lunged again.

A/N: And so begins the finale battle, battles, collection of stuff, yeah, ahem, anyways! I told you guys I'd bring those baddies back! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! And yes, evil cliffhanger, I know, but you'll be having a lot of those for a while, unfortunately. Judora's not gonna go down quietly, as we all know. Also very unfortunate, this is gonna be a time period where I might have to go back and redo a few chapters before posting them. I will try to get them out every other day, but I can't make any promises. As you can clearly tell, I'm planning something really big and want to be sure I get it all right.

Samael Archon: Not here! She has left, haha! And I don't know where she is so no point in asking me. And yes, the bad guys are more powerful, obviously.

Silverwinged-Raven: I dunno, maybe I'll keep Judora in there as a punching bag or something, hehehehehhahahAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA—ahem. And yes I know that happens in DBZ, I use to be a die hard DBZ fan, until the bad guys became so ridiculous it hurt to watch it, well, I guess they've always been ridiculous, and the dubbed really sucks. I suppose I have matured past the need for senseless violence, though it's nice once and a while. Ahem, anyway, I would do that, except I have no dragon balls, you see where my problem is here. Sure I could kill everyone, and then have the next one where Raven and Malorek go off to the DBZ dimension to find all the Dragon Balls and wish their friends back to life…but, no. Let's not. It does make a funny mental picture though, can you imagine Raven having Vegita under a binding spell and him unable to do a thing about it because physical strength doesn't do jack for it? And Malorek, whooo! He'd have a field day…okay I'll stop now.

...: Just use a fake name, everyone does! And a half angel can die, obviously because they usually don't live very long, but full angels can't because they're above death or something like that I suppose. And yes, my idea is brilliant if I do say so myself.

Me: AH HA! YOU ARE THE FIRST PERSON WHO HAS CAUGHT THAT! I HONNOR YOU MY BRETHRIN! Yes, he was sorta kinda referring to that, you see at the time they really didn't know, but they had suspicions. Malchior said that, half as a way of saying, 'we lost one girl, let's not lose this one', and half insinuating that Raven was/might have been/could be Avelona. That suspicion was sort of refuted later, of course, and then found to be true. So yes, that was a hint. But no one seemed to have gotten it but you! Congratulations!

Trickster's-Lulaby: This is in response to your review of Chapter 18. Yes, the plot bunnies do seem to congregate under my chair, Yume likes to chase them around sometimes so they get a lot of exercise. Lol. But anyway, most of my stuff turns out as a basic idea, a basic idea that I muse over during times, both at the computer desk and not, and I come up with stuff to put into it. I come up with a plot to this basic idea, then I come up with twists to this plot, figure out ways of making things seem to be different from the way they really are, adding the extra flavor of minor character backgrounds linking, and coming up with things that are sometimes only vaguely hinted at, but are so off the wall or different that no one expects them (Avelona being raised by a drow female and having a drow sister who hated her guts is an example of this). Also, it helps to have your readers spot holes that you can turn to your advantage and merge with the plot. Details, details, details!

Well, that's about it. As for the character death, I told you guys I had a brilliant idea. And a brilliant idea it is. You're gonna have to trust me on this!