Tomorrow Never Yesterday

by lankree

A Titans story focusing on the consequences of love, betrayal, redemption, identity and false prophecies.

56. The End pt 1

The End

Part One

A/N: Sorry about the long update. Real life got in the way.

…

It was a nightmare; it was the nightmare… the only thing that ever kept her awake at night.

She could feel it. Every inch of her body was being taken over. From the ground, from that hard space under her feet, the earth rumbled and cracked, splitting and smashing together like waves crashing against the beach. She tried to calm it, but her powers weren't strong enough. She couldn't find the source of the tremors until the quaking finally stopped. The earth slid up, inch by inch, covering her boots, wrapping around her ankles. She tried to pull herself free, but couldn't. It wasn't the earth wrapping itself around her… it was her becoming the stone again. It was the petrifaction claiming her, the earth calling her back to what she was.

The cold, cold feeling was running up her veins, following the path as more and more of her body submitted to the will of the world. Her heart pounded, drumming in her ears the most terribly sound she knew. Her lungs trembled with the exertion of her breath until the final sweep of the land closed in to devour her.

This was the part where she would wake up and scream. When the seal was finally complete and she was lost again in the dark, unkind space between animation and the other side. But the seal didn't finish. Her eyes shot open instead.

Her psychosis put him in her bedroom. It was what made her hear the sound of his voice. Very few things spooked her, but many things haunted her.

You have had doubts in the past. Made mistakes…

How her mind convinced her body to move confused her, but she could not convince her mind to think about it. It ran without her, it always had. It was the reason why she was dangerous. That control… it had never been hers until she accepted that control was a figment of a darker creation. When she ran before, she was running from that midnight thing in her mind, in her veins. But when she accepted it, everything began to run in the same direction. Fear disappeared.

Failed…

She saw herself in the mirror. Her hair was limp across her shoulders and down her back. Her thick lashes drummed against her cheeks with every microsecond drop over her eyes. Between her rage and depression, she had spent a long time with her eyes closed… she could black out the sight of her loss… but not the sound.

Failed her.

The fault ran through the epicenter of the glass. The wave ran from the southwest corner to the northeast edge, running spider webs through the glass. She opened her eyes and saw a million different blue eyes, all exactly the same in their inflection, but their angles and their size and the face they rested in made them a monster.

You have done unspeakable things… but they pale in comparison to their crimes. They took her away from you. They made you suffer, they made her suffer… she isn't here anymore… but you're entitled to your revenge.

"Yes."

Those million blue eyes blinked.

You suffer now in your loneliness…

"I do."

You should return the favor.

The glass in the mirror gave up and collapsed onto the bureau and scattered against the floor. Her eyes stared down at them before the pull of the earth under her control crushed them into pieces so small they couldn't produce a reflection.

"I will."

…

"Anorsis Indarame Novya Mesis Syph. Boyumami Bortinon Rava Yier. Indorsiles Purbonamen Gaiten Rainen Baoras Vinin Lelled."

Against her grey skin the white flames cast shadows. Candles spun gently in their own lives, highlighting all the stones in the private river of her chambers. The scroll books were all closed except for one, the one she was scribbing in, the one that was the weave of life.

At one point all the flames had been different colors and each of the stones had reacted in vibrant motion creating waves in the private river of her chambers. Before her apprentices stared down at them and wrote the same story in their books. But all the books of her apprentices were closed, her students had left and she was alone with what there was to be seen.

Foresight, the gift of Torch, was a terrible one. It saw everything that had to happen, not just what could happen, but all those things that had to come to be so that the next line of events could continue as it was to be. It was like a plot, the progression of time, and it could rearrange itself, because there was life to the process. The name of that higher power, the thing that drove the absolute of mortality, was called inevitability.

Some called it destiny. She knew that those some were fools, trying to glorify or justify a force that they could not understand. The wheel at work was much too far above their comprehension. The process of inevitability had a drive, an ego that had to be satisfied. The satisfaction that it sought was the end of all things mortal.

Inevitability was choosing Trigon.

In her books, those she had studied religiously as a girl, she had seen the mark of the beast. There were eight layers of Hell, each of them kept by a demon that the monks of Azarath studied and feared and fought against. Those in the four lower levels were those that were fought and kept alive only by those who worshiped in poorer broods, not enough following to provide a threat. The top four, she knew, were the four that were rightly feared and rarely braved against.

Her fingers trailed over the etching of the stone directly in front of her. Girato. Four… wicked. The symbol was that used to mark the fourth and lowest demon king Bruhiki, who was defeated by her teacher. In the scrolls, the four is tied into wickedness… In the scrolls, the three, the Tiprobis, is tied to betrayal and to Isarnes, the second lowest of the demon kings.

Against her palm, the two remaining stones, those that representing the living demon kings, the Great Demon Kings, burned in her palm… but she held them still and watched the energy wave from them. "Doomgaze, the number seven, from the Azarathian code Nyirion, tied to the word evil. His cruelty is not unmatched, but his cleverness is what has allowed him to endure… but his strength of mind cannot hold forever… the survival of his kind is not indestructible."

She dropped one of the stones and let the other's heavy weight carve a mark into her flesh. It would heal, just as some of the wounds the master of that energy had inflected, because it must… But the healing does not erase, nor does it prevent future marks… because all marks by this strength return…

And always through blood…

The river before her was the inlet to the only waters of Azarath. It passed her study room everyday and everyday it flowed just like the blood of mortality…And one day this water will stop as well…

Her slender hands covered the final stone before passing it into the water rushing past her. It sunk to the body and did not move with the slow push of water. Her light eyes watched the energy move the water faster towards where it was already heading. The symbol on the stone was the most terrible in the vocabulary of the Azarathian language.

"Katrien, the number eight, is tied to infinity. It is the word all, the inescapable… the unavoidable… it is the end."

Her candles flickered and moved against the energy of the room. There were thirteen candles, only ten were lit. One had blown out long before she was born. Of the ten living candles, eight of them represented individual lives, one of which was her own. Of the remaining eight, four were still fighting, three of them had done their fights and moved to new battles… and the two remaining candles were things that were being fought for.

Three candles had blown out when the winds of their lives had shifted out.

Kikiyon tu Grave

Schala tu Akane

The Aeromorph Choris

In her books she had collected their names: the names of those whose lives were tied to the candles that wrapped around the two smallest candles in the eyes of Azarath: the planet Earth and the world of Azarath.

The Azar Sabrah closed her book and stood to look at eye level to the two smallest candles in their pillars beside her collection. She had seen in her mind that every one of those candles would burn out and would burn out soon. Already the candle tied to the life of Jericho had begun to wane and the life of his disciple had changed and burned more dimly, but burned none the less.

Sabrah waved her hand gently, pushing back her light green cloak and moved to stand before two unique candles, whose bodies had begun to spin into the other, yet keep separate flames. All her life she had known the life candle of Lethe tu Raven and because of his heritage, she was somehow aware of her young lover, whose blood was tied to the candles that had gone out or were fading. That candle fascinated her, in her mind's eye she had seen him many times, but she did not know his name, his true name, the name that came from Ueno, whose name meant borne… Sabrah had for years, especially in the year where Lethe stood beside her, had wanted to understand what Ueno had borne into the world… and what it would mean for all the tiny candles of the world.

The life candle of the Devine Master had not changed in years, nor had the candle of Astarte tu Jinx.

There were two other candles that had not changed in the years she had been tending to this place, since she understood the obligations of foresight. Sabrah held her hand forward and both those candles came to float into the air from her power. Her green eyes stared at them, with a look to be confused with fascination… which was the opposite of what she felt. Sabrah was familiar with these candles most of all: more than the candles of Azarath and Earth, more than Jericho and Lethe… she knew every detail of these candles, there was no surprise or unforeseeable turns in these flames…

The Flames of Azars…

The Azar Sabrah gently returned the candles and closed the doors of her study behind her as she traveled the halls of her Temple.

Azar Metrion had not died and would not die for some years' time. Azar Sabrah knew this and she knew also that in the design of her abilities, she would not have the full capacity of an Azar's might until the previous Azar was died.

I have been an Azar for time of six full generations of years. I lack nothing for time, the demoncy in my blood provides me with exceptional longevity, however in these six years I have aged far beyond my years. This says nothing for my strength and the strength I can divide between my people. In these years six, I have been nothing if not a poppet and for the reason, I do not know.

She had been known for her gracefulness for many years, it was especially noticed after she became Azar. Sabrah moved in measures akin to sleeping heartbeats and she could not control it: for it was heartbeats that dictated her walk… but the heartbeats were not her own.

In her walk through the corridors, her robes billowed wide behind her, pushed behind her shoulders, the material moved with the wind of her movement's creation. She could not move too fast or perceivably too slow, she walked evenly and forwardly, always in the forward direction.

Her motions brought her to the great hall of her temple. This was the most vast of all her libraries and it was the only one that was living. All of the pages here were open, the others in her smaller collections were past tales, those whose records could not be built upon. Those collections were managed by her monks and many scribes and many apprentices.

This library lived because it followed: it followed the record of Earth and the Ring of Azarath. It recorded births and deaths, valiant struggles and even more foolish fights and it followed the path of candles that determined the fate of other candles which determined the fate of the world.

But this library was living for another reason. Azar Sabrah moved through the volumes and volumes of text that were written and would be rewritten many times before they fell into the dead libraries. There was more than scribes and students in this library. There was more than stories, epics and prophecies amongst the towers of shelves.

There was a constant heartbeat. It was slow, locked in the rhythm of something akin to hibernation. However, Sabrah knew that the lock was the stasis of meditation, one that had lasted six years.

"Azar Metrion… Bura Tun Vireime Indulduran Sorses Vivei… Byiolo Niryx Broynty Crieewde Ywen. Gupin Yores Aganpe Esttei Lomma Omeh." (My understanding of what is and what shall come to pass is… of a quality I can not be satisfied with. Please, expound the mysteries therein.)

Azar Metrion's eyes were silver, though his blood was completely human. The strength of his mind was completely unparalleled, not even the might of Trigon could best it. Those many years ago, when the others had succumb to the illusions of Trigon's power, Azar Metrion had the mental ability to overtake Trigon for the few previous seconds needed to capture him.

And now, Sabrah's green eyes stared unflinchingly into the eyes of her teacher, the fight has come again and yet… I could not see this battle in my mind's eye…Sabrah had not been made aware of the limitations of her abilities until the weaves she thought as cement had moved into an avenue of darkness that birthed light as it continued.

The candle of Schala had burned out, that she had seen. However, in all her meditations, she had also seen the life of bloodline of Jericho end… but that was before the candle of Choris was ever lit.

The candles of life were not an Azar's to light or put out, coax or temper with. They, like the river before her, were inevitability. What did not come from them would show only a world cast in shadow.

But many shadows became avenues of light, even as Sabrah stared at them with her gifts. The light was coming from a source that should not have influenced the creation and destruction of lives… but it had… and had been for years…

Lethe tu Raven.

Sabrah had studied Lethe's life in the hours where she was in the pedagogy of Azar Metrion. She had seen the horrible things that would become of her friend and she had prepared…

But for all those things that she had seen, what frightened her more than what was… was what had yet to come to be.

Her life, the life she created, and the life that would be destroyed under her power: it had influenced the tiny candles that were tied to very valuable lives. But two lives, with whom she was intimately related, did not move at all.

The flames of Azars…

Sabrah knelt, her white skirts fanning out around her body, her green cloak falling open around her figure. She looked nothing like a child, though she sat in a studious position. She was confused, a feeling not associated with those gifted with foresight, and she needed that anxiety calmed by understanding what she could not.

It was one of the many things that her limited foresight was denied to her: the ultimate knowledge of Azar Metrion: who was infallible.

"Why does your candle not tie into Lethe's? You have watched her for her entire life. You nurtured her powers, protected her, raised her… she is more like your daughter than I or any of your other students… yet her life does not bend like yours…"

Azar Metrion continued to say nothing. Her voice was slow in the language of her birth. She had been raised in Azarath, given an Azarathian name to be spoken on an Azarathian tongue. As a child she was called Water by more than by Sabrah, the name tied to the number nine, that meant gifted, that made her the next Azar. Azar Sabrah tu Water let her green eyes meet the silver eyes of Azar Metrion.

"What have you seen that you cannot suffer me to know? I have seen the end of the world. I have seen the death of millions, of myself, of Azarath… what more danger is there for me to be denied?"

Azar Metrion's silver eyes closed and opened exactly once under her gaze. His throat was dry from lack of use. After six years, he spoke exactly one word.

"Hope."

…

"EHH!" Her short battle cry continued as her body rotated to commit her leaping spin kick.¹ Her high heeled boot spun over the ducking head of her sparing partner. Jinx landed in her Art of Phoenix stance, her body low to the ground as her arms rose up and behind her body.

Sakura dashed forward, lashing out with a bruising elbow. Jinx dipped backwards just out of range of the blow and Sakura moved in, dropping low before pivoting on her hands to spring a split-legged, back somersault. Jinx rolled evasively, spinning on her shoulder to the right and emerging in her stance, waving her arms aggressively.

As Jinx swung her hips to sweep her feet from beneath her, Sakura moved swiftly to stop the move. Her body turned, her knees pivoting to give angle to her punch, the blow catching Jinx solidly in the shoulder. The off balanced hex artist could not react to block Sakura's rising fist. The balled up hand of the Xing Yi fighter uppercutted her strongly, swinging her head back towards her shoulder blades. Sakura's rush ended when she secured both of Jinx's hands and wove them around the half-demoness' waist as she spun her. With her arms locked across her front and to her waist Jinx had no leverage to prevent Sakura from dropping between her legs and lifting Jinx to her shoulders. Sakura snapped her hips and suplexed Jinx to the floor. ²

Sakura rolled away from her victim and wiped the sweat from her face. Jinx was an impressive fighter, near or at the level of her brother which was not far from her own level. The art of Sakura's body was drilled into her from the age of nine and in the total seven years that her body was incapacitated by the actions of monsters, her blood could not forget the rhythm of the fight.

When a fight was fair, her body lacked the capacity to lose. She had a drive in the fabric of her spirit that always made her move, gave her tempo, gave her pulse beat that made her entire body a weapon.

To Cyborg it looked like Sakura was standing perfectly still, contemplating the deep thoughts of a martial artist on the way to her summit fight. He moved to Jinx's side and helped the pink haired fighter to her feet. The moon-pale skinned hex weaver shook the cobwebs from her head and watched the martial artist who had defeated her as Cyborg addressed her.

"Man, Sakura!" Even in his age of twenty-six, some aspects of his teenage years remained in his speech. Some things didn't change. "Is there anyone you can't beat?"

"No, there isn't."

Sakura moved and left the training room without so much as a look. She left her weapon and awe-struck Jinx and Cyborg behind her. Sakura walked through the corridor and felt it from the bottom of her feet to the inhale of her lungs: the tower had changed. Other than D'ucel, Titans' Tower was the least of all hers as far as time went. It was her home last, every Titan who ever took claim here had done it before her. And all of them had many more memories echoing through the corridors than she did.

Be that as it was, Sakura still felt the speed of time as all the others did. Star and Foxfire had ended their training earlier than any other the others, but the aggression of their Tameranian art supported their early retiring. She hadn't seen Blackfire and Tempest in hours, but that did not surprise her in the slightest. Those two were strongest when they were together.

Just as her brother and Raven were.

Just as she and Arsenal were…

Except at that moment, she really needed to be alone.

The black haired beauty moved in the forward direction, took the stairs up four flights and turned into her bedroom. The room felt empty. One month and a day ago, Beast King had left the Titans. A month ago, Celine had followed him. Neither had said much before they left. Beast King had said nothing and Celine had only spoken because she had encountered a human being in the path of her Titan hunt. She had left almost everything. A book or two was taken, her pack and personal effects. She had traveled light and in her travels no one had heard from her.

Things changed, as far as Sakura was concerned, in the pattern of months: one month ago the Titans had lost Celine and Beast King; two months ago they had lost Akane and Choris; and three months ago she had lost five years of her life.

It was a combination of reality and the loss of her Holy that made Sakura unstable about the future. So many things had hit her and they had all come so fast she found it hard to breathe. It made it easy to cry.

Arsenal found her sitting behind her door, finishing her cries. It was very close to midnight and in the pit of his stomach he felt as if she needed him. The twenty five year old archer knelt down beside his twenty three year old girlfriend. His gloved hand found her bare one and held it gently as her pitiful brown eyes looked into his masked ones.

"Sakura, why are you crying?"

Sakura couldn't answer the question, even though she had all the words to give him to justify her imbalance. She knew enough about the future to both tremble and rejoice, but the past and the present could only make her shiver.

"Sakura, talk to me. Why are you shaking? Are you… afraid?"

For a few seconds, Sakura considered lying and putting on the façade of confidence she had faked for Cyborg and Jinx not a few hours ago. Her fingers twisted gently in the grip of Arsenal's hold, the slender digits fanned out before balling tightly, never leaving his grasp.

"Five years." She said simply.

Arsenal nodded.

"For everyone else, it was five years… to me it was just three months. I can remember every part of it. I was trapped, Washu had locked my powers and Terra showed me that hers weren't. She trapped me in the earth to suffocate me… but my Holy protected me. She locked my arms and opened holes in her grip so she could attack and I couldn't defend. She wanted to destroy me, the thing that stopped her wasn't me; it was Washu's plot. He wanted me to suffer more than anything Terra's fists could do."

"He put you to sleep…"

"I could have stopped him, he had to let go of his hold on my powers to do it, but with the damage done to my body, my Holy acted to protect my life instead of stop Washu. If I hadn't been injured, I could have broken free."

Arsenal understood. None of them had forgotten the hatred they felt for Terra Nostra. Her machinations were the centerpiece for the plots of Slade and Washu both and without her, their evil intentions would have failed time after time after time. All of them understood that Terra was the twisted Queen's piece that had to be taken from the board to end the game set up by the Slade Syndicate.

"We're going to stop her Sakura. She won't be able to hurt us anymore… and no one will blame you for using the full extent of your abilities to take her down."

Sakura's brown eyes became hidden by her thick eye lashes. The slight slant, half heritage attributed to her mother Asuka, was masked, just as her irises were, the color distinctly Bruce Wayne's. Arsenal felt her fingers weave through his and felt the scratch of her hair against his cheek when she leaned her forehead into his chin. Physical intimacy had come so easily to them and when they both were willing to put a name to what they felt, love had been just as easy. They could read each other, they could see every inch of each other through closed eyes and they knew, somehow they always knew, when the other was shaking with the memory of their pasts. And even though he knew she didn't want to say it, something was running back and forth through Sakura's heart to make her afraid of the future.

…

ºShe was gone for four months and for his purposes, that was just long enough. He packed exactly one bag, pulled on an extra, extra large track suit that by the miracle of miracles had fit, and left the house for the first time in nearly a year and a half. It was mid-afternoon and the sun wasn't out, but around here, it never was.

The way he moved was as confident as it had been seven months ago, before the change had occurred that gave his mind state a reason to be different. Against the backdrop of the dead isle of Brock County his stride seemed out of place. But no one recognized him: he did look different but they all tried not to look.

Victor K. Stone had had an accident. No, that wasn't entirely true. There had been an accident and Victor K. Stone was the only person to survive it… but survived was a relative term. He was alive, biologically, there was still a heart in his matter and half of his brain was the way it was as he had grown up, except now it had a capacity that he couldn't have dreamed of: it had a greater storage for memory… everything in his history was crystal clear.

He moved from the house on Patrick Street, a rundown little place that didn't belong to him. It had belonged to her, but she had made a deal with him, she had moved on and he had moved in… but he had every intention, even in the moment the deal was made, to renege of that deal. He was moving on.

But before he could go, he had to put everything else behind him.

The man would have to go to an institution, Victor knew that from the beginning shakes in his hands and neck and from the stutter he'd developed on top of the nervous twitch. He hadn't taken it well: but then again, what kind of man could kill his wife, daughter, and three sons and not feel something?

"Mom, Anthony, Samuel, Jacob and Annette. They're all gone… and if there was any justice in the world, you and I would both be with them. But you got off with only mental scars and I didn't get away at all."

Victor's blue eyes were his father's and when Dr. Kwame Stone looked at his son, half of his features reminded him of the man he used to be. All his sons had impressive builds, but Victor was bigger, smarter, better than his brothers, than anyone, than everyone. Dr. Stone looked up into the angry machine he had made, taking in the fruit of his intensive labor as it stared back at him with angry eyes.

"I did my best to save your life." Dr. Stone whispered.

"Your best wasn't good enough! Look at me! You made me a monster!"

"I know what I've done. You aren't the monster between us." Dr. Stone's ticks took away the sincerity of his words. The way his head bobbled, how his fingers marionetted as if tugged on by the invisible strings of a greater, more monstrous power, made him look mad, not remorseful.

"I'm sixteen years old, Dad! Look at me! I had my whole life ahead of me! And Mom and Annie, Tony, Sam, Jake! They're dead! And what did you make that was so worth that sacrifice? Huh? What was so important that you could take all of them away?"

"Freedom."

"Freedom? Freedom! What are you talking about?"

Dr. Stone said nothing and in the pit of his stomach, Cyborg understood. Dr. Stone's blue eyes shook in his head as his jaw and shoulders trembled out of his control. Cyborg stared down at his father and saw the twisted mess that he had become… the twisted mess he might become if he stayed in Brock County for another moment longer.

"I don't know where I'm going. I'm just going to go. Maybe to a big city, maybe to another country. Just away from here… away from everything I used to be. I'm not coming back Dad. So take a good luck at what you created… this is what you made your son into. You better be able to live with it… because I have no choice."

True to his word, Cyborg didn't look back once. He walked for days it seemed. He remembered falling asleep and remembered reading a sign that said Welcome to Jump City.

The welcome he got was being caught in the crossfire two kids who liked capes and what could only be called a pile of goo. It hadn't taken long for him to recognize Batman's ward and thus recognized which side belonged to the good guys, which lead to Cyborg committing his first act of super herory.

The dark one, Raven, was impressed with him and immediately offered him a place on their team. He had initially turned it down, not wanting to be a third wheel, but there had been a look on Raven's face that made him change his mind. They took him to their home, which seemed way too big to serve as a birds' nest. Robin told him that they were collecting a team and when Cyborg asked him for what purpose; Robin twisted his mouth in that cocky way that he did and told him that Plasmus was the least of this city's problems.

Cyborg had fit in well, the science behind Titans' Tower gave him a drive to better understand and utilize the powers and limitations of his present condition. The strength of villainy of Jump City gave him distraction and the duties of being a team member let him become something else, something that didn't run, something that didn't have anything to run from.º

…

Bumble Bee's fingers flashed over the keys of the console that Omicron left behind. Her lovely eyes moved from screen to screen, taking in the readings and codes with the familiarity of being Omicron's partner since they were fifteen. At twenty four, she had gotten quite good at it.

"It's totally operational," Bumble Bee began, her fingers never slowing over the keys of the outpost. "It's been modified to monitor Raven, Nightwing, Sparky, Sakura, Arsenal, Star, Tempest, Blackfire, Jinx and D'ucel… I guess she knew that with her gone that I'd stay back to take over the console… She also sent a message to Hot Spot and Kid Flash to come and guard Jump City while we're occupied…"

"She left us her system for a purpose. She did not want us unprepared." Starfire said.

"Or unprotected. The only thing she didn't do was program our next coordinates, because she didn't know them."

"I do." Raven said. Raven had changed clothes, changed mind states and changed attitude. Her whole life she had been calming the destructive power in her arsenal, but now she was prepared to use ever ounce of her demonic heritage to destroy the darkness in her universe. Her short, brown leather skirt fit over her sleeveless gray leotard. The gauntlet on her left arm was dark gray and the protector on her right arm was brown leather as well. Her black boots had gray protectors at the heel. Every part of her garb reflected the true warrior's fight she was preparing for.³ "Slade told me 'let them lead the way' and he pointed to his mark of Scath."

"So what does that mean?" Arsenal asked.

"We're going to the underground temple of Scath."

"You mean that creepy library that makes you glow in the dark?" Cyborg asked.

"For whatever reason, Slade is acting as the highest rank in the minions of Trigon. He has all their knowledge, all their resources and all their fury for this world… all that culminates to one thing, to one place… the place where the highest order works. The pedestal where the Gem was created is where we'll find the end of the Slade Syndicate."

Nightwing nodded his head. His team understood.

"Titans. Go."

…

ºHe rarely knew who to expect when he went to answer the door. In the business of butlery, it was not an unusual affair to have his manor approached by solicitors or warm wishers or those who were particularly annoying; and as a result, he had built up both a sugary manner of dealing with the unwanted and a rather abrasive, though always polite, tone to dealing with those who interrupted his affairs with an appearance that would be nothing more than a nuisance to his master.

Of course, Alfred mused as he moved to answer the door; it was rarer still that someone arrives at the front door without being arraigned at the entrance gates. Whomever it was, was on particularly important business or very good at evading the world's most sophisticated surveillance equipment. If it were the former, Alfred thought it would be rather odd that he wasn't made aware of such a guest previously. If it were the former, he would very much like to meet him.

Alfred moved, in that cool, confident, noble-English manner that he did and answered the door. What he found at the door was a guest of most unparallel esteem at the Wayne manor and it had taken no manner of creativity to understand why he was not informed of said guest's appointment.

She didn't need one.

"Mistress Sakura… you are… well."

Sakura nodded and bowed respectively. "Hai. I am well Alfred. It is very good to see you again."

"Yes, yes it is madam. Please, please come in." Alfred ushered the young woman into the manor. Sakura let him take her bag before the gentlemen led her to her father's study.

Bruce Wayne had one bad habit, which he indulged in the privacy of his study. He chewed on his pens. Alfred told him, as he grew up in his care, that he would ruin his smile. Luckily, his indulgences hadn't mangled his impeccable physique with something so unfortunate as a less than perfect smile.

He only chewed his pen when he was thinking about something that affected his conscious. Not an hour ago he had spoken to Babs Gordon and the conversation had gone as he had expected, which was to, say not well. Bruce Wayne had done his best to appease Barbara into accepting the complications of one Richard Grayson's release from his direct influence. Bruce Wayne could handle terrorists, economical super powers and socialites so wanton and offensive that it was hard to breathe, but one thirteen year old vigilante in training could shake him better than most could hope for.

The Boy Wonder had met Raven on January fifth of the year he turned fourteen. It hadn't taken minutes after Batman's refusal of her proposition for Robin to decide that the opportunity was better suited for the combat equipped, kung fu trained, one man teen army. Their relationship had been shaking, often to the bare bones and when the dark mystic came looking for help, Robin saw it as an opportunity to close the wound by separating themselves enough to decrease their privileges to pick at it. And for the most part, it had worked. They didn't contact one another often; Bruce worried and Robin was loyal, but they respected each other and trusted the other to be the best man each was capable of.

That had been just under a year ago, but it was January again and for the second time in a row, Gotham had been unseasonably warm, but brutally windy. Bruce Wayne stood in his study, an expensive and flat tasting pen resting within the grip of his teeth. He needed to complete his proposal and finalize his agenda before he left for his conference with General Surge Fletcher about the AGU-JL's upcoming infiltration into the H.I.V.E. academy. Bruce had originally considered volunteering the services of Batgirl for the operation team, but after the verbal abuse he had just endured, he concluded that Babs Gordon, as of that moment, didn't have the emotional capacity to participate in such an important mission.

Bruce Wayne was a man who knew very little about very few things; his keen intellect and pension for detail kept him enthralled in his business, all of his businesses, and had for some time. It was that dedication that made personal connections something of a reckless affair. He had been in love once or twice, had great bonds with great people, but simple friendships were something that he found he could not hold onto. He couldn't hold onto Barbara Gordon, even though he had trained her extensively for the last two years, he knew very little about her character. Perhaps, he mused, as he rolled his pen over his tongue, moving the instrument from the left side of this mouth to the right, perhaps it's the complications of the female gender that I cannot fully comprehend.

Perhaps because he lacked the complicated riot of maternal instinct, that he didn't feel the abandons women felt when dear friends and loves went away. Mayhaps it was the result of his personal issues that blocked out the instruction that all women were programmed to express: the desire to protect and covet. Indeed, Bruce Wayne had the opposite instinct: to let things grow. Bruce Wayne had the capacity to push because he had faith. He had faith in one Richard Grayson and until the moment his study door swung open, he had faith in one Sakura Chloe Wayne.

She could have been an angel from the vision she made, though her cheek was a bit dirty and she had a weapon strapped to her back like a traveling demon slayer would. She had features that had once haunted his dreams; the slant in her eyes, the narrowness of her chin and brow and more importantly her eyes, his eyes, that simple shade of brown that was so dark that it was nearly a rival for the night.

"Sakura."

The sixteen year old girl smiled simply. "Father." She dropped her weapon and bowed respectively. As she moved to bend earthward, Bruce Wayne moved forward and when she rose skyward, she found that he was only two feet away from her. Her brown eyes, met his, the same color, different shape, equally hard, but at that moment, equally joyful.

"It worked." Bruce whispered.

"Hai. The Baek Temple's conditioning was successful." She lied.

Bruce grabbed his daughter in a sensitive and fearful hold that surprised them both. Sakura's cheek was crushed against her father's chest; his powerful arms wrapped around her shoulders and held her tightly to him. She couldn't breath, but she had no plans in pulling away.

Two years ago, the Gabriel Jericho had given her a magnificent power and with it, he had given her life. Sakura studied her form, learned the secrets of intense meditation and recognized the gift she was provided had great potential. What she hadn't done was forgotten what she had promised Jericho: to stand strong beside those who were strong.

Bruce released his hold on his daughter, but keeping contact with her; whether his fingers on her cheeks or his palm on her shoulder. He spoke kindly to her, his gaze comforting and strong. The way his body moved as he moved her, to walk her through the corridors of his manor, their manor, as they spoke, was beautiful like art. Bruce Wayne, despite his prowess and legacy for being a playboy was a man who was meant for children: it was why he had been so brave with Richard Grayson and why Sakura Chloe Wayne would want nothing for protection, love and freedom, should she decide to let him go.

They moved though the manor, memories of childhood were strong for Bruce as he traveled through the mansion that had been his for the entirety of his life. For Sakura, memories of her childhood were strong as well, but it had nothing to do with the manor.

"I had a dream." Sakura declared in the first silence of their reunion. "It was prophetic, I believe." She was being dishonorable with her word choice, but she understood that secrets were sometimes necessary and the complications of Jericho's powers required her to be as generous with her recollection of history as possible.

Bruce listened, moving their progression towards the southwestern hall. "What was it?" He asked.

"I had a vision and it told me… that now that I have… recovered, I have great responsibility to combat against the evils present before those I care for the most." Sakura responded.

Bruce Wayne smiled, closing his eyes. "The responsibility of light is why shadows matter." Sakura frowned, but Bruce went unaffected, flipping a switch behind his head that opened Sakura to a world she was only slightly unprepared for.

The letters between Sakura and Bruce over the last three years weren't terribly detailed: Sakura had very little to say and there was very little that Bruce could say about the present state of his affairs, because so many of them were tied into the secretive things he did in the cover of darkness. Sakura often asked about her brother and often in Bruce's replies he would respond that 'Robin was fine'.

She didn't fully comprehend what he meant until she stepped into the Bat Cave.

"We all see images, in our dreams, in our minds or hearts, that come to us… for us to understand what we are meant to be. Many fall to the tragedy of looking the other way or failing to take the steps to fully explore our potential and worse still, some of us forget those images and turn to lives of destruction." Sakura listened to her father's words as she looked through the display glasses and high-tech equipment in his layer. She didn't have much of an appreciation for technology, but to be honest, she felt something akin to awe as she listened to him weave his words. "Sometimes, the only thing separating us from our enemies is a bad day."

Sakura's eyes locked on the emblem of virtue that she recognized even without prior knowledge. The bat suit was locked in a crystalline display, the utility belt and developed weaponry were laid out before her eyes to admire.

"I am vengeance… I am the night… I am…"

"Batman." Sakura finished. "It explains why you are so secretive, Father. Your many lives… it is complicated."

Bruce nodded in agreement before standing side by side with his shorter daughter. She was only a girl, standing at just above five feet seven and growing, though she looked quite small under his six foot plus shadow.

"If your dream led you to stand beside the righteous, it has led you back to me." Bruce responded.

Sakura's brown eyes moved from the display case that was lonely with a singular uniform, to one not far from her vision. It was a display case with three uniforms: first, another Batman garb, to the right a similar garb but decidedly feminine in cut, then to the left, a brightly colored uniform, cut for a male with talents to warrant such a bright outlook. Sakura's eyes were locked on that uniform. Bruce followed his daughter's gaze to the uniforms of Batman, Batgirl and Robin.

"The bright one," Sakura began, "It stands out… It doesn't seem to belong."

Bruce nodded in the affirmative. "Your brother felt the same way."

"Where is he?" She asked.

"He left, a year ago, to direct a team in Jump City."

"Jump City?"

"Yes, a metropolis that is the light to Gotham City's darkness."

"It's the light that I seek." Sakura replied.

In the reflection of the glass, below the rainbow glare of the overhead light striking and staining the glass, Sakura could see the look of… disappointment? on her father's face. "It was a year ago," Sakura began to clarify, "I've had the ability to walk for two years father and before I could even think to come back here, I knew I needed to improve my skill. I traveled, back to China. I don't know what I was looking for. But I found something: two people. A boy and a girl who were my age: his name was Bushido and her name was Jade… they were going to seek someone named the True Master."

"Chu-hui." Bruce supplied.

"You know of her?" Sakura asked.

"I studied beneath her."

Sakura ingested that information. "I traveled with them and spared with them when we were reckless in our travels. Though I could best them, the margin of victory was limited… even more so when I challenged the skills of the Bear, the Snake and the Monkey. When I trained with Chu-hui, that margin wasn't there at all."

Bruce listened thoughtfully, taking in every ounce of his daughter's story as her fingers touched the pane of glass that held in his alter ego. "I know in my heart that I must become an assistance to my brother and the life course that he's chosen. Somehow I know that it is him that I must stand beside… but before I can do that, I have to become stronger for him and in my heart I know, that the only way I can do that is to stand beside you, father."

The man behind the incarnation of vengeance understood. "Has your heart told you how long?"

Sakura shook her head in the negative. "Father, I hope you to feel the anxiety of separation that I have felt for you. The bond of blood, it feels to be a powerful one."

Bruce nodded.

"I feel it through both sides; through you, Father, and through mother. It is why…"

"Don't explain yourself Sakura. You don't need to. I understand. Regardless of where your body rests at night, you are my daughter."

Sakura nodded before turning her eyes upwards again to the locked emblem of Gotham's righteousness. And in that strength, I feel connection, Father. Through each of our skills we must fight the battles closest to our hearts. Your history, your strengths and weaknesses lie within the streets of Gotham City…

Mine lie in the promise to my Dear Brother to always stand.º

…

It felt hot to him. The air, the ground, everything that touched his skin was uncomfortable. He could feel it moving through the platform beneath them, the kinetic energy traveled into his skin, into his nervous system and it stayed put there… but he pressed on.

Nightwing couldn't describe what he was feeling or why. He simply knew that something was happening in the walls and air around him. He didn't know what it was, but had to be ready for it.

This place held memories. This place held truth and this place held consequence. Nearly seven years ago the actions of Trigon and Slade had brought his team to this place, lead them in a foot race towards the truth that had eluded them. And now, it was barely different. Some of the players had changed and for the most part, this time, they knew what it was that they were running to.

They were going to the end.

Their lives were tied to this; the world was tied to the fight they were heading for. But none of them were thinking about the world. Their foot steps quaked the loose stones and dust beneath their feet, those that couldn't fly hammered the noise of their pace as they moved forward, because there was no turning back.

They were all running forward, because the next steps were what held their futures. They had experienced the past, understood the present and moved to the future because no matter what the outcome, the future was what was coming.

Arsenal had opportunity, something he hadn't been afforded much as a child, and he wasn't going to give it up readily. Blackfire had peace, a calm she found readily in Tempest's arms. Starfire and D'ucel had potential, the ability to see things differently. Cyborg, Tempest and Jinx had comfort. Nightwing had hope, that the pain of consequence could be deafened. Raven had memory; that beautiful things could happen, that things could change.

When the Titans were officially the Titans, that is, when Starfire became the member number five, Cyborg had fit into the role of big brother rather easily. He was the antagonistic older brother to Robin, the relatable older brother to Beast Boy, the sensitive older brother to Starfire and the understanding older brother to Raven. But if Victor K. Stone was to be honest with himself, Raven was just as much an understanding sibling to him as he was to her. Raven had the ability to bring Cyborg back to earth. Sometimes he wondered if that relationship went both ways, because it was rare that Raven was in state that left her with her feet far from the ground. The team was running forward and it finally occurred to the cybernetic hero that Raven had been running her entire life, just like he had, except she never ran away. Sometimes she hid, sometimes she tried to pretend, but Raven always met the fight of her life head on. It made her a better woman than he was a man, in truth her life was many degrees darker than his, but instead of breaking, Raven fought, she moved, she challenged the wicked things that wanted to hurt her, hurt all of them and she did it with more than a wounded body; she had a wounded mind and a wounded heart. He had always respected the dark bird, but he was truly understanding her, after years of playing the part, and that meant that he had to be stronger, faster, better and immediately.

Jinx kept a particular hex locked between the grip of the index and middle fingers of her left hand as she moved with the team steadily through the chamber to the gem pedestal. The temple was old, as old as the wars between Doomgaze and Trigon, as old as the epic battles of Azars, as old demon churches went. The power was damaging, and while she didn't have the demonic strength of Raven or Washu or Trigon and Doomgaze themselves, she did have a power, the power to contain the strength of things stronger than her. Between her fingers was a ward, a powerful one that she had only learned a year ago in the libraries of the Azar Sabrah. Jinx had to admit that she did not like this Azar, the one whose name was Water, who was born under the same sign as Astarte herself and had been afforded greater strengths, because she wasn't born with a brother to lose. Jinx's strength didn't lie within the magnitude of her arsenal, instead it lied in the diversity of her powers: her powers could move and change with her attitude and her internal sense of righteousness.

Raven meditated daily to maintain her composure, Jinx exercised her skills in hopes of losing it.

The Titans were a team divided, between the fearful, the vengeful and the merciful, but they traveled together towards one goal. The hollow chambers leading to the highest temple of Scath were littered with shadows that flickered from their bodies in motion. Whether the light was green, blue or purple, the shadows against the walls were black.

Starfire flew to the right to guard the eastern border, Blackfire took the western edge and Foxfire brought up the rear. They were all running forward, all looking to the northern path and none of them thought to protect beneath them.

It was Nightwing. The target was Nightwing and the seeker found him effortlessly. The other Titans has barely reacted to the Earth splitting open and leveling, pushed away by the superior might of cruel, grey magic. It snaked out in a direct pattern, the fan of the magic pushed the others up and outwards, while a single tendril latched around Nightwing's ankle with the intention to pull. Cyborg dove in and tried to rescue Nightwing, but his black crowned head slipped under the earth before the cybernetic fighter could grab a hold.

"Nightwing!"

Raven dove to the floor, inches away from Cyborg's worried face. "Richard!" Her eyes flashed white and a cyclone of her black energy pooled beneath her body, beneath Cyborg's, to the ground through which Nightwing had disappeared. Without hesitation her hand sunk into the platform and pulled. The air around them became thick with Raven's will power, the black magic spooling out and dashing around her team. It was hard to tell if she was struggling, or if the grimace on her face was pure determination. It didn't matter; she had one concern: she would not let anyone else she loved fall victim to the plotting of Washu.

Her movements mimicked something Cyborg and Starfire had seen before. It was a trick used by Slade to vanish from the repercussions of Raven's appearance. Except now it wasn't a run, now it was Washu pulling the team forward at his pace and Raven was having none of it.

Raven's powers worked. Nightwing grabbed hold of Cyborg's outstretched and became free of the lock of Washu's magic. Raven's energy dispersed and the white flare in her eyes sunk away.

"You okay, man?" Arsenal asked.

Nightwing shook the cobwebs from his head before nodding in the affirmative.

"Please be careful." Starfire stated gently.

"Yeah, right… I saw them." Nightwing responded.

"Saw them?"

"Washu and Slade… they're below us waiting at the gem pedestal." Nightwing replied.

"We can cut our danger by going through this floor rather than traveling through the entire temple." Tempest suggested.

"No." Raven stated firmly. "The Slade Syndicate wants us there… and we're going… but we're going at our own speed. I've had enough of falling into the Syndicate's traps."

"Are you sure this isn't a trap? Did you beat Washu's grip on Nightwing or did he let him go?" Arsenal asked.

Raven didn't answer and Nightwing got to his feet. "Maybe we should think about this," Arsenal continued. "Washu is smart and powerful and with Slade on his side too… there's no limit to what he knows and what he could do… That first time, he neutralized your powers Raven. What's going to stop Washu from locking your power again?"

Raven turned to her team, all of them except Nightwing and Jinx were looking straight at her expectantly; Nightwing looked at her from the side. Jinx crossed her slender arms over her chest. "The same thing that prevented him the last time." Raven answered.

"That being?" Tempest asked.

"Me."

The team's collective eye shifted to the pink eyed hex artist. Her eyes were steady and her balance rested evenly on her elevated heels. Standing toe to toe with Raven, it was hard to recognize that there was another strong power on their side. Jinx had always been formidable, as far as the Titans were concerned, but even in their limited engagements they knew that Jinx's abilities could stand up against the might of the Slade Syndicate, but only when they had the element of surprise on their side. Now they had no such thing and it was appreciably difficult to recognize the breath of her powers.

"You can stop Washu?" Blackfire asked.

"Not stop, block." Jinx replied.

She turned on her heel and her movements forward prompted them all to follow.

"My powers aren't measured in magnitude as it is with other demons, especially not in order that you measure Raven's or Washu's. Mine are different because they rely on a different weapon."

"Weapon?" D'ucel asked.

"Do any of you understand the principle of the sword of the mind?" Jinx asked.

Raven said nothing, she knew that Jinx knew that she knew. Cyborg, Arsenal, Tempest and the Tameranians shook their heads in the negative as Jinx expected. She was surprised to see that Sakura and Nightwing knew what she spoke of.

"You know of the Mesamune?" Jinx asked.

"Hai. Our mentor, Feng Law, told us of it as children." Sakura replied.

Jinx's brow furrowed, but went on to clarify for those who knew nothing of which she spoke. "Mesa means to brave. Mune means to know. These two principles, bravery and knowledge, are the great strengths of consciousness in the mind of demons. In man they are one and those of us who are of half demon blood must practice and meditate to make the essence of bravery and knowledge into one piece in ourselves. When this is done, we have reached the maximum of our powers."

"That is a consequence of your birth as well, Jinx?" Starfire asked.

"Actually, no. That is where Raven and I differ and why our powers are so different. I was born with the sword of my mind intact. It was a complication… a flaw in my birth."

"Your twin." Raven responded.

"Yes, because my brother, Tetris, was born, I was not created in the image of most demon sires… Raven was and so was Tetris. They grow, grew stronger as they try, tried to make the Mesamune in their souls. It is much easier to conquer the mind with wickedness rather than valor. It is why Raven has struggled with her powers for so long. She could have easily given into the dark seed of Trigon's power… it is the will of demon blood to conquer, had it not been for the differences in our births, I would have the same struggle."

"What will happen to Raven if she makes the Mesamune in her mind?" Blackfire asked.

"Will you be stronger or more vulnerable?" Nightwing asked.

"I don't know." Raven asked.

"Jinx?"

"I don't know either. Raven and I are different with what we can do and what will become of us… I was a tool of Doomgaze and remain so due to the flaw in my birth. Raven, however, is a weapon of Trigon… she's reusable, unless we brake that hands that wield her." Jinx didn't have to say that it would take much more than a broken hand to end the cruelty of the Slade Syndicate and their masters.

Starfire couldn't help but notice that the phantom fighters they had encountered in their previous sojourn into the temple of Scath were no present. She recalled distinctly that the spirits did not appear until Raven had exited the path. She could not decide whether or not to voice her question to whether it was who Raven was or the strength she possessed that kept the Raphes at bay. She moved forward, her starbolt glowing brightly to lead their way.

The careening boulder was bathed in green light.

The speed and size of the dashing boulder was more than to cripple the fight in all of them. Before Starfire or even Raven could think to react, Sakura moved forward into the direct path of the stone. She inhaled deeply before bending her knees just slightly, giving a fierce pivot of her hips to draw momentum to the balled fist she used to backhand the dashing boulder. The blow was enough to change the course of the giant stone, the condensed mass of earth was hurled to the right, crashing into the chamber wall, splintering into dozens of pieces. Most of the other Titans had watched in awe at Sakura's display of strength, but Nightwing, Raven and Jinx stared straight ahead into the eyes of Terra Nostra.

…

Slade rubbed his jaw thoughtfully as he and Washu waited. From the look on Washu's face, the Titans had fallen predictably into their traps. Washu was not a man of emotion, technically he wasn't a man. Regardless of semantics, Washu was not the kind of creature to let his face project his mindset. However, it appeared that he was pleased immensely with the missteps of one team of Titans.

It hadn't taken any convincing on Slade's part, with the devilish power of his tongue, to convince Terra Nostra that she wanted to fight. The girl grieved vengefully. When she hurt, the whole world felt her wounds. When she lost control, she was more dangerous than anything he had ever seen… and he knew without a trace of doubt that control was the last thing on her mind. All she was concerned with was revenge: for herself, against the Titans. What made Terra exceptionally dangerous was her inability to see the bigger picture. In her mind, she was the queen's piece, she was the mighty, the formidable, the epicenter of the master plan. In truth, she was a pawn with exceptional longevity.

Slade knew exactly why Washu had let Terra move ahead with what she thought was her great plan for vengeance. Washu believed that Terra was going to get herself killed. What he didn't know was whether she'd destroy anyone else. In truth, Washu was concerned with only four Titans: Nightwing and Raven to use, Sakura and Jinx to punish. If the others failed to live, so be it and Slade himself could not summon his humanity to ponder in favor of the others' welfare. His intrigue in the Titans had reached its threshold; he had played enough games, the satisfaction of mentally and physically and emotionally abusing the Titans was on the order of negligible. He had gone far too long without his flesh and blood and he wanted it back.

He wanted it back more than being in the mental darkness of Nightwing, wanted it more than being the nightmare that kept him awake at night. Nightwing no longer possessed the itch of uncertainty and potential that fascinated him anymore.

Neither did Terra Nostra, but the difference between the pair is that he cared whether Nightwing lived or died. With the end of her secondary element, Terra no longer had a true purpose in the Slade Syndicate. Really, there was no longer a purpose for the Syndicate to exist. It was formed to enact a specific plan and with that plan a failure, the union forged no longer had any relevance. Slade knew it and Washu knew it and that was why Slade allowed Washu to push Terra towards the welcoming arms of her demise. Washu no longer saw a purpose in Terra's life. With Nightwing and Raven coming, Washu had all he needed and Slade would get everything he wanted.

…

Blue eyes bored into amethyst. Blue eyes traveled past brown eyes and masked eyes, past all the eyes that were bright and hard and angry. It was hard for any of them to decide, for any of them to know, which among the Slade Syndicate was the greatest monster: was it Washu for his plots, Slade for his plans or Terra for her execution? For some, the scale tipped towards Washu, for others it tipped closer to Slade, but for Sakura and Raven, the balance fell in the eyes of Terra Nostra.

Wrapped in a thick, woolen leotard of brown and red, it didn't take more than a glare to tell them all that she wanted to fight. Against the eerie energy of the temple grounds, her blonde hair floated in the wind. She could have been beautiful if not for the murderous intent in her eyes. The air moved around the Titans, pushing long hair forward as it moved Terra's behind her back.

Time would pass: seconds, minutes, eons and a million different hateful words were exchanged between their eyes. For hard breathing moments, they all stood perfectly still, until Terra pointed a finger at them. She retracted the finger, but not the outstretched arm, instead twisting her fist towards to the ground, her thumb extended. Then she retracted the arm, bringing her fist back towards her own neck running the extended thumb across her throat.

The message was received. Raven stepped forward to accept the gauntlet. Her forward momentum halted when Sakura put her hand on Raven's shoulder to move her out the way. Raven shook her off. Sakura shook her head.

"You're going to need all your strength to fight Washu. You know that, Raven."

"Don't tell me what I know and what I need! I can't let her live." Raven grit out between her teeth."

"Nor can I." Sakura replied. "I have my own prophecy to fulfill."

Raven's eyes became very dark. Jinx moved beside the pair, close enough to speak her words. "Raven, we need to defeat Washu more than this. We may never get this chance again."

Raven's dark look ran over the top half of her face, locking her eyes in shadow. Her hand shot out and caught Sakura's chin in a firm grip. The half-demoness stared into Sakura's eyes until Sakura looked away.

"What will you do?" Raven asked.

Sakura couldn't bare to think what Raven saw or didn't see or what the tiny remnants of Holy in her body had managed to hide from the gaze of Raven. She may not have powers but she had her fists and her righteousness and that was enough.

Sakura turned from Raven's grip to stared back into the treacherous eyes of Terra. She stepped forward by exactly one step and felt the ground explode under her foot. Her stare was steady as she pointed at her opponent.

"No." Terra replied. "I don't care about any of you. I want Raven."

"You can get your chance at her, if you make it through me." Sakura replied. Sakura stepped forward by exactly one step, blocking Raven from Terra's line of sight. "You and me, Terra: just you and me. No warriors. No Titans. No powers."

The other Titans gasped, listening to Sakura's challenge. This wasn't a Sakura they had ever seen before. They had never heard such darkness in her voice, never saw such pride in her shoulders and she had always been a proud fighter. Arsenal's brow furrowed as he dropped the sight of his bow to stare quizzically at Sakura's back. Nightwing stared as well. Sakura didn't move a muscle even as Terra laughed in her face from across the room.

"No powers? Is that your proof? Is that how you think you can prove that you're better than me? Oh, wait, I see! Are your powers getting weaker? Is it still a struggle to control them?" Terra didn't attempt to keep the depreciating laughter from her tone.

Sakura sneered, her knuckles cracking beneath the guard of her gloves. It had been nearly a decade since the last time she had donned leather gloves to protect her hands for a fight that would involve her full fury. The leather cried against itself as the muscles in its bound squeezed and relaxed and squeezed again.

Raven and Jinx listened to Sakura's words over the theatrics of her body. "I want you." Sakura said, pointing again at the wicked geomancer. "Not the earth and my Holy doesn't care for your life. I do… I'm going to do what your fists tried to do to me. You took five years of my life."

Terra laughed again. "What? Do you want them back? Get over it and get over you. Fighting you won't give me any satisfaction at all."

It was hard for the Titans, all of them, to hear Terra speak with an air of sickening superiority. Blackfire wanted to attack, Starfire wanted to charge, Nightwing desired nothing more than to rip her apart for all that she had done to all the people who mattered to him. But they all saw it; they all felt it, that this fight was nothing on the grander scale of the universe, no matter how much it was emotionally tied to all of them.

They knew that Terra was strong; they knew that Terra was wicked; they knew that Terra's hatred of Sakura rivaled only her hate for Raven and the only one of them could stay behind to fight Terra because Washu and Slade were the nightmare they had to erase immediately.

"Fine."

Their collective attention returned to Terra. The geomancer weaved her hips to shift her weight to her left leg. Her right hand dangled loosely at her side as the fingers of her left hand pressed into her hip. Arsenal's brow furrowed, his eagle eye catching the shift in her features, the way her eyes were moving, the read from her body. She's unstable…

"I'll fight you Sakura and I'll destroy you… then I'll crush Blackfire and Nightwing and then I'll go for Raven. I want her to suffer to her last breath. I was going to work my way down the list," Terra raised her palm, "Blackfire," Terra ticked down her pinky. "Nightwing," Terra ticked down her ring finger. "Sakura," Her middle finger dropped. "Raven." When the last finger dropped, her pinky finger rose starting a goodbye wave between each individual finger. "But if you want to hasten your end… You don't value your life do you Sakura? You wouldn't have lost five years if you---"

"Do I have your word as a woman? No powers?" Sakura cut in.

Terra rolled her eyes before nodding.

"Let them pass and we'll fight." Sakura said.

They all understood at the moment that something was wrong when Terra waved them to pass. This Terra was different; this wasn't the sinister, manipulative geomorph that they had once known. This one was driven and mad and just as dangerous. Nightwing stared at his sister who waited for the Titans to make their way deeper into the temple. His worry was plain on his face and the other Titans were in various stages of uncertainty.

Raven's eyes shifted between the woman she hated and the woman she trusted and saw a dangerous situation that was brewing before she even let it begin… because she had to be the one to let this happen. She could go for Terra Nostra and push her team forward to fight Washu and Slade and hope that when she was done erasing Terra from this world that there would be enough fight left in Nightwing and Starfire and Cyborg and the others to stop the destruction of the future. She could take that risk for all their lives or do what she had done with her daughter and believe that Sakura was strong enough to stand on her own. It was the wreck of potential that made Raven stand side by side with Arsenal as she waved the rest of the team forward. Jinx lead the charge cautiously and Nightwing took up the rear.

Raven and Sakura watched their friends move around the impassive guard of Terra.

"She's unstable." Arsenal said, bringing the women's attention forward. "And she never could be trusted."

Raven's purple eyes shifted to Sakura's brown ones. "I've seen her in moments more dangerous than you can fathom, Sakura. I know you're a woman of your honor and for whatever reason; you've chosen this fight, this way. If she uses her full fury of the earth, you won't survive."

Sakura kept Raven's gaze. "I'm not going to throw my life away."

"This won't give the time back."

"And you know that just as well as I do." Sakura replied.

Sakura stared into Raven and Raven matched her eyes. The moon-pale mystic saw something in Sakura's face that she had never seen before, didn't even know what to call it. But it was there and she would have to trust it, endure it, until there was no longer a fight. "What will you do if she breaks her word?"

Sakura looked down very briefly. Her eyes were cautious even under her thick lashes. The brown color was hard in her determination, even as her words broke her heart. "Then it isn't my fight anymore."

Raven didn't fully understand and wouldn't understand until Sakura told her, but from the square in her jaw and the twist of the muscles under her gloves she knew that the half-Japanese, Holy wielder was going to say nothing. She didn't like it, but it would have to be enough. "This fight is more mine than yours, but I leave it in your hands. When she brings her powers, she'll bring my power as well."

Sakura nodded slowly. Arsenal dropped his chin. "I'll stay behind to make sure Terra doesn't use her power."

Raven turned to the agile archer. "What's going to stop her from using them on you?"

"You are." Arsenal replied. He pulled an arrow from his hustler and handed it to her. "That's a tracking arrow. Use a bit of your energy on it. When I shot it, it will find you."

Raven took the golden bolt between her fingers. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos." Her black might pooled around the bolt and changed the color from bright to the color of darkness. Arsenal took the bolt back and strung it against the bow.

"It can travel through Hell and high water and everything in between, Raven. If I shoot it, you'll know."

Raven nodded. Arsenal turned to his girlfriend and Raven turned to her as well. Sakura nodded before turning her gaze to Terra. Arsenal stepped back and Raven closed her eyes before shifting into the pure energy of her soul self and teleporting forward to catch up with her team.

Her motion made the wind sing. Sakura rolled her neck and cracked a few vertebrae before unstrapping her hiraikotsu and pulling it into an offensive grip. Terra wagged her finger.

"Pft. I thought this was a fight of your fists against mine, Sakura. You've got all your protection and you're ready to cheat before we even begin."

Sakura narrowed her eyes at the blond geomorph. Her grip didn't change as she spun her wrist just once to give her weapon the momentum to drive her hiraikotsu, with the turn of her palm, into the bury of the ground to her left. The weapon stood in firmly, the motion displaying rocks and dirt, the weapon standing erect when Sakura relaxed her grip. The martial-arts master stepped forward by exactly one step and stared at her opponent.

"Okuyo?"

She didn't wait for a reply.

…

Jinx was sick to her stomach. Something was wrong. Her feet slowed and the Titans behind her slowed as well. They couldn't feel it, but she could. She could feel something, something she couldn't put a name to, something strong, and something coming their way.

"Jinx, what is it?" Tempest asked.

"You've been here once?" Jinx asked.

"We have." Starfire answered.

"Were these idols always here?" Jinx pointed to the graven images against the walls. They were statues, all dark in gray slabs of stone. The lines of their bodies were hard, their pain filled and angry faces were etched deeply, cut finely with hands that were skilled and calm and patient, as if that horrible grimace was his life's work.

"Not those, no. The ones we saw were different. They were hooded and didn't have faces." Cyborg replied.

"I know those faces." Jinx whispered. "They're the same four repeating faces. Bruhiki, Doomgaze, Isarnes and the mask of Scath. The four demon kings… What have you done?" Jinx whispered into the air.

"Who?" Blackfire asked.

"What are you talking about Jinx?"

Jinx blinked rapidly, trying to clear the fog from her mind. She wasn't sure, she didn't understand, she didn't know why the idols mattered. There was something in the menace of their creation that she didn't know, couldn't know and felt it in the pit of her system that it would kill her if she ever came to know them.

"Jinx?"

"Nothing." The pink haired woman replied. "Nothing."

"I think this place is messing with Jinx too, the way that it messed with Rae the first time." Cyborg posited. He put a hand out to steady the hex artist and found a tension in her shoulder that ran all the way down to the grip of her hand. Without warning Jinx spun free of his grip and threw four paper hexes, one striking each of the demon kings images. The Titans watched worried, after a few seconds nothing happened. Their gazes turned back to Jinx.

Before they could voice their concern, voice their worry, Raven materialized before the group. It didn't take any words to tell her something was wrong. She could see it in Jinx's face as the normally steady half-demoness slumped weakly against Cyborg. The cybernetic crime fighter turned a worried eye between the two moon pale women.

"Raven, do you have any---"

Raven shook her head in the negative as she stared up at the hex marked idols standing stories above their heads. She knew those faces and knew that Washu would know that she and Jinx would recognize the demon kings when they saw them. What she didn't know was what had taken over Jinx's body in such a panic to make her sweat and faint… whatever it was, it wasn't concerned for Raven. Her marks weren't flaring, she didn't feel the hot rush of her demon blood when she was in the temple of her father's followers.

Raven moved forward and her team parted like holy waters. Her eyes scanned back and forth, locking from moment to moment on the idols of Trigon and Doomgaze.

"Raven, what do we do?" Nightwing asked as Cyborg scooped up the weakened Jinx.

"Be very careful." She said simply.

Raven moved forward and cautiously the others did as well. Starfire's starbolt lit the dark corners of their path as she and the others moved forward into powers they could not understand.

…

The fight song was in the air. It was fast and it was heavy. It added to the noise pollution of their grunts, their scuffling feet, their angry yells of war. Arsenal watched with his arrow trained. It was hard for him to stomach when Sakura received a blow, it was even harder to watch when she delivered one because somehow he knew that it would never be enough.

Water in the air moved around them, the pearls of color crashed against themselves, the beads of sweat dancing in the action of their war. Sakura had landed the first blow and the second and third. Her fist and elbows hammered out rapidly in a fluid motion that Terra had expected, but could do nothing about.

Terra wasn't as fast as Sakura, wasn't as strong, but she wasn't stupid and she wasn't helpless. Sakura's fist lashed out and Terra parried, dropping under the blow. Sakura's momentum pulled her forward into the rising uppercut of Terra's right hand. The blow off balanced the martial artist, twisting her body and knocking Sakura to the ground on her back. Sakura spun her hips in an aggressive maneuver, her legs lashing out in an arch to get to her feet, the whorl of her boots kept Terra at bay.

What frightened Arsenal in the exchange of blows was that they said absolutely nothing. In his heart, he couldn't be absolutely sure that Sakura was finding a resolution in the fight. She was battling in a way that he had never seen before. It was true that there were five years where he couldn't know anything new about her, to know the extremes of her desperation, but he loved her and knew her enough to know that this was a war that she had fought once before. He kept his eagle eye trained on Sakura as her body moved to punish Terra Nostra and saw what he had known all along about Sakura: that this woman was a fighter, in every inch and meaning of the word. He didn't know her code: didn't understand why she refused to wield her Holy, why she dared to leave her hiraikotsu behind. But she had done it and any consequences of her actions would have to be accepted.

…

They came in waves, but a single whip of her hand could wash them all away. Raven's leather skirt flapped against her thighs as her body shifted to sweep away the phantoms before her. Her eyes dashed against the cave walls quizzically. She didn't know what she was looking for, but she could feel it. It was coming.

"Starfire, Blackfire, give us more light." Raven demanded.

The Tameranian princesses and Tameran's Foxfire generated larger energy bolts that shot their lights higher upon the cave walls. They could all see that something was wrong, but not a single one of them could know what was happening: to Jinx and to the mind state of Raven.

"Is it Washu?" Tempest asked as he watched Raven's purple eyes and Jinx's pink eyes scan the walls above their heads.

In front of them were the multiple doorways that lead deeper into the temple labyrinth. The last time they were here, Nightwing had somehow known which door was the right one, had felt it in his stomach that there was only one way: and now, at that moment that he knew the path he needed to take, the same one leading to the same place, everything felt wrong, felt different.

"I don't know how he's done it… but Washu's power is influencing this place. He's seeping out of the walls, into the air, playing with our minds." Raven said.

"Washu has strong mental and metaphysical capabilities. He could kill us if he didn't need us alive." Jinx said. Jinx reached into her sleeve and retrieved an arrangement of hexes. She fanned them out to the team. "I suggest you all take one, especially those that Washu thinks are useless. It won't protect you, but it will make it much more difficult for him to destroy you."

Cyborg pressed his into the plate of his body, while Tempest wrapped his around his fist. The Tameranian trio threaded theirs against the lower reach of their backs in exactly the same spot.

"Our center of strength." Blackfire clarified to their inquisitive eyes.

Jinx turned to Nightwing and pressed one into each of his upper side arms. "He said your name in the transmission and given your history with Slade and Washu, you most of all need to be protected." Jinx clarified.

Raven's eyes wavered as the feral eyed demon daughter pressed the guards into Nightwing's uniform. Nightwing looked down at the paper protective curses before looking back to Jinx. "And Sakura?" He asked.

Raven said nothing. Jinx said nothing. Nightwing furrowed his brow then realized they weren't ignoring his question. Something else had come to their particular attention.

…

Terra slammed back first into the cave wall care of a double palm thrust delivered by Sakura. Her eyes closed on impact but opened quickly and openly widely as Sakura lashed forward again. Terra rolled just in time to avoid the punch aimed at her face. The echo of the blow struck Arsenal, even from the other side of the cave. The might of the strike forced a hole into the wall. Sakura pulled her fist back from the cave wound and cracked her knuckles. She turned her eyes to the side and found Terra moving and continued her chase.

Sakura's rush was a string of efficient moves. Her high leg lift caught Terra with her spinning heel smashing into the geomorph's jaw; the spin of her body put Sakura's hips in motion to deliver a thunder stomp with her right foot, cracking the earth beneath her feet and shifting the platform beneath Terra's weight. Terra staggered into a Razor's edge, Sakura's rising uppercut and rising knee both struck, hunching Terra forward into Sakura's war club. The string danced on as Sakura lashed in from underneath for a bow and arrow kick. Terra evaded the sneaking kicks, spinning to the right to avoid the contact. Sakura landed and turned to set herself for another launch. Terra caught Sakura with a spin kick. Sakura staggered giving Terra perfect aim for Sakura's exposed left thigh. The shot ripped a cry from Sakura's lips and put a smile on Terra's face. Terra drew back her left leg to deliver another blow to the abused limb. Sakura caught her attack. Terra's eyes widened as Sakura shifted their balance, standing up and making Terra hop on one foot. The hop lasted only a second before Sakura drew her free hand back and punched Terra square in the face. The force of the blow pulled Terra free from Sakura's grip and dragged her against the cave floor for several feet.

Terra gritted even as the ground smoothed out under her. She lifted her head up to see Sakura stalking forward, the ground jagged and uneven beneath her steps. Terra smirked and up kicked swiftly, bringing her back to her feet. The cave wall had been easy on Terra's back when she slammed into it and brutally tough when Sakura's fist had crashed into it. When Terra's straight kick smashed into Sakura's chest and knocked her to the floor, a jagged fragment of earth had dug into Sakura's spine. When Terra had fell, the ground was smooth and undamaging to her body.

And none of those things had been by coincidence.

Terra smirked as she watched the stone Sakura was using to pull herself to her feet crumble and stagger the fighter. Terra had cheated and had been since the beginning of the fight. All of them were small tricks, easy flexes of her power that didn't even take more than a thought to do. All of them were tiny and hardly noticeable. Arsenal was too far away to see them, but Terra suspected that Sakura did know what she was doing, but the half-Japanese fighter was too proud to call her on it.

It was that pride that Terra relied on.

Sakura's leg shot in an arch shot, aimed at Terra's hip. It was only a matter of dipping the ground just a bit to make the blow less dangerous and easier to tame. Terra caught the offending limb, locking Sakura's ankle in the crook of her arm. Terra smirked as Sakura hopped on her free foot, her eyes locked on Terra's. Before Terra could return the blow Sakura had given her, Sakura's free leg shot in a high arc, delivering an insaguri, the toe of her boot striking the side of Terra's head.

Both fighters fell backwards. Sakura landed on her stomach and rolled quickly in a series of tumbles that gave her enough running momentum to start another string of attacks. Terra held her throbbing head. Her vision blurred and the rage in her power flooded her vision. She could barely make out Sakura running at her with her fist drawn.

But she had seen enough.

She had had enough.

"LAAA!"

Sakura skid in shock as the ground beneath her shook. The ground upheaved around her and Terra and Arsenal in jagged splinters. Arsenal's eyes widened in shock as a boulder slammed into him from the side. He fell over solidly, gripping the bolt firmly against his bow, unleashing it as he watched Terra lift her arms to the air. A column of earth shot under Sakura and Terra like a rocket, raising them from the ground and into the air at least twelve stories. The narrow column waved and tilted under its own weight.

Sakura grabbed fiercely to the side of the column as the earth dropped out beneath her. Her feet dangled loosely, unable to find any purchase in the column body. Her gloved hands generated friction to keep her grip. The sweat poured from her face as she struggled to pull herself free.

"Pft." Terra snorted as she stalked forward. She stepped purposefully, not stopping until the toe of her left foot were on top of the fingers of Sakura's right hand. Sakura gritted her teeth as Terra squatted, keeping her weight on the digits crushed beneath her foot. "Now doesn't this look familiar? Isn't this the part where I drop you to your death? No weapon to save you this time. But at least your pretty Arsenal can watch you die."

Sakura's sneer ran into the hard look of her eyes. She was breathing hard and she knew what was coming.

Terra rolled her blue eyes. "At one point, I thought you and I could have been friends…" Terra muttered. "Then I remembered that friends are just enemies without the guts to destroy you… so, I guess… we never could have been friends after all."

The column shook to splinters and everything returned to the earth. They were too high and Terra was too cruel. She knew that there was no way Sakura could survive the fall. Her eyes looked out Sakura's wide-eyed expression as she dropped and dropped and dropped. Terra watched from the floating stone in her control as Sakura dropped behind the rain of rocks and slabs of stone headed for the earth below.

"Sakura!"

…

Beat, Beat Heartbeat.

It was hard to know who was the first to hear it, but they all heard it eventually, but Nightwing was the one who caught it. The black clad arrow struggled in his hand until he let it go and let it swim through the air to Raven. His masked eyes flashed to hers but could only see her for a second before she split into her soul self and vanished into the air.

Nightwing felt a sting in his heart.

Beat, Beat Heartbeat.

Jinx frowned deeply. Cyborg and the others understood. It couldn't have come at a worse time. They were only a single corridor from Gem pedestal, where Slade and Washu were waiting to deal their future a death card.

…

Arsenal ran forward and shot boulders to pieces trying to get a clear shot to snag Sakura from the air. Terra had other intentions. A boulder smashed into the ground not inches away from the agile archer's feet. The force of the blow hurled the red headed fighter backwards, slamming him back first into the cave wall. He rang the cobwebs from his head and looked up just in time to see the cave become crowded with the wings of a great, black bird.

The screech of her energy drew Terra's attention even as the layer of power blanketed around the cave. A claw extended and caught Sakura just a few seconds before she crashed into the ground. The energy let her go and the woman landed on her hands and knees. Sakura's scream of frustration echoed against the cave as she pounded the side of her fist into the stone beneath her.

Raven materialized in the air not feet away from where Terra floated in the air on her stone. They stared each other down unblinkingly before Terra narrowed her eyes and watched Raven descend to ground beside Sakura. Sakura felt the weight of Raven's shadow on her shoulders. Her breathing stayed hard and the tear slipped down her face as she knew what Raven would say.

Arsenal pulled himself up and retrieved Sakura's weapon before returning to her side. He knelt down beside her, catching her hand before she could slam it into the ground again. Her bones trembled, her chest ran up and down with powerful gusts of air that choked in her throat and mouth.

"Sakura. We have to go. We need to help the others." Arsenal said.

"She cheated, Sakura. You didn't lose."

Sakura shook her head in anger. She never could listen to anything she didn't want to hear. Arsenal pulled her to her feet and Raven stood as well, raising her eyes to the calamity in the sky above them. Raven glared daggers at the enemy in her sights. For all that you have done… I will be the death of you.

"Go join the others. You've done your part here. Keep them safe." Raven demanded.

Sakura nodded, but said nothing as she strapped her weapon to her back. There was nothing to say, no way to fight with words and no manner to catch up with just her fists.

"I do not ask you to fight great battles. I do not wish for you to give your life for the good of many, only that you stand beside others who are strong and good. In years to come, lives will be made and twisted in the flow of the inevitable… in the inevitable future… Holy may fall, but in the moments most desperate, life will always triumph if there is something to shelter it…"

Sakura didn't turn back to look as she ran with Arsenal to catch up with her team. It was why she didn't see the tremor dashing at her from behind. Before she and Arsenal could hear it, to alert them to turn and dive to safety, Raven's hand rose and a black wave intercepted and broke the tremor to a halt. She watched Sakura and Arsenal disappear down the corridor before looking up again into the eyes of Terra Nostra.

Cerulean met Amethyst in a gaze of hatred that made their blood boil.

The silence of the cave was cut in two by the battle cry of two women with the power to destroy the world with their rage. The only thing that would prevent that, was to destroy the other first.

…

Nightwing and Jinx stared forward past the space where Raven had last stood, and saw deep into the swell of the corridor. The other Titans waited nervously for someone, anyone to say something, to get something done.

"Should we go or should we wait?"

"Can we afford to wait?" Foxfire asked.

"Can we pose a threat without Raven?" Cyborg asked.

The answer echoed through the open corridor. His voice traveled in the echo, the venom in his words were menacing and evil and had always been. Nightwing felt his skin crawl with every single sound.

"No," Slade's voice projected simply. "Raven is the only one with the power of destruction… on your side. I don't expect you to win, I don't even expect you to survive… merely to endure. We possess a master plan, for which we only need two of you alive… we're not particularly against the survival of the rest of you, but if you so wish to stand against us, we're not against changing our minds."

Before the Titans could get angry, before they could think, before they could regroup, Nightwing ran forward into the corridor and the Titans followed without hesitation.

End of Part One.

A/N

¹Jinx's spin kick from Final Exam. Jinx really has great voice acting. Both she and Bumble Bee have the best female fight sounds.

²Just play Tekken 5 as Julia Chang or Wang Jinrey and string together all the cool moves you can to get a feel for Sakura's fighting style. The final move was Julia Chang's crossed arm suplex.