I wake up in a bed I don't know in a room I don't recognize.

Tara is at my bedside. "Hey, Trey." She's sporting a black eye but doesn't look to have any serious injuries. "Glad you're awake. I was starting to worry."

"My staff?" I hate having to ask about that before Atlas or Mae-Eye, but it's too dangerous to leave my hands for long.

"Right here." She hands it to me. "Raven cleared giving it back to you when she woke up."

"Raven …" I did not want to imagine what my daughter was thinking right now. I had hoped she would never discover I lived.

"Yeah. She's almost as bad at you as Beast Boy is with me." She does her best to look indifferent, but I can see how that bothers her. Beast Boy had been her friend- and she had turned him away. He might never forgive her … or she herself.

I squeeze her hand. "It'll be all right, Tara."

She offers me a weak smile in return. "I hope so."

"Atlas? Mae?"

"Atlas is okay. He's only apologized to me a dozen times for having to beat me up." She grins, and then sobers up. "Mae-Eye … she passed out right after you did. And she's not woke up. The big guy is sitting by her bedside, talking to her."

That didn't sound good. "I should go to her ..."

"You're not going anywhere."

Raven.

She's standing in the doorway, her hood concealing her features. "You're not going anywhere until you admit you're lying."

Tara rises. "Trey's not a liar, Raven. He is who he says he is."

"This doesn't concern you, Terra." Her voice isn't friendly. "Get out."

"No. I'm not leaving him."

"Last warning, Terra. This isn't about you. Don't make it about you."

"Tara, go. I'll be fine. If she wanted to hurt me, she could have done it when I was unconscious."

"Trey-"

"Go, Tara." I smile. "I'll be fine."

She gives me another look and then glares at Raven. "I'll be right outside the door. Don't think you can pull anything on him without me stopping you, Raven."

Raven snorts.

Tara gives me another hopeful look and then walks out the door.

"So you're my father." It's a sarcastic comment- a sneer.

"Yes. When you defeated me, you freed my human self from the Demon Lord. I became who I was before I succumbed to evil."

"You were always the Demon Lord. Don't try to lie to me."

"I'm not. I was always half-human. My mother was a Demon Queen. My father-"

"Lies!"

The room begins to shake.

"Azar told me the truth. Your father was a demon. Your mother was a sacrifice to him. You conquered your world and then made it a living hell before you even grew up. You were always evil. ALWAYS!"

"Did your mother tell you that?"

"You raped my mother!"

"NO I DIDN'T!" And now I'm causing the room to shake too. "I NEVER WOULD HAVE DONE THAT! I LOVED YOUR MOTHER!" And then quieter. "And she loved me."

"Stop lying!"

"I'm not lying. Who told you that story? Was it your mother? Was it Arella?"

"Don't you say her name! You don't get to say her name!" Her eyes are glowing within her hood, and there are four of them. "Azar told me. Azar told me herself."

Azar, not Arella. I felt a strange sense of relief. Arella had not lied about what we had been to each other. "Azar lied."

"She wouldn't lie! She was good!"

"I'm sure she was." I sigh. "But sometimes good lies and evil tells the truth. "Azar wouldn't want you to know who I had been. She would have wanted you to think of me as a monster so that you would find it easier to fight me if it ever came to that."

"She told me that I couldn't win. That you would destroy the world and there was nothing I could do to stop that."

That puzzles me. "She was wrong then too. You stopped me. You saved your world. You did what I couldn't do." I want to say I'm proud of her, but I know that praise from me is the last thing that she wants.

"Say this is true. Say you are what's left of Trigon. Why are you here? What did you do to Mae-Eye?"

"Cured her."

"Cured her of what?"

"She was my friend. They were all my friends. Atlas. Mae-Eye." I pause. "Malchior." Her eyes narrow and double themselves when I say that name. "You know him?"

"Yes. He tricked me. Pretended to love me so that I would release him from the book he had been trapped in." There's pain in her eyes. "He made me think that he- never mind."

"I'm sorry." And I am. The Malchior I knew was quite charming- handsome, even- when he took human form. But he never would have manipulated a girl as he had done Raven- so this is yet another way I have caused Raven harm. "They weren't always evil either. I did that to them."

"You say they were your friends-"

"They were. Better friends than I deserved. They fought beside me. And when I lost my fight against my demonic heritage, they sacrificed themselves to save your mother." I shut my eyes. "And I cursed them because of that and sent them to bedevil her world. It was my revenge against them all."

"And now-"

"Now I'm trying to make up for what I did. I removed the curse from Atlas and he helped me save Mae. Now I'll need all three of them to save Malchior."

Again the double eyes. "He doesn't deserve saving."

"He didn't deserve damnation. That's on me. Every thing he did is because of the curse that I put on him. You want to blame someone, blame me."

"There's still one thing you haven't told me about yet."

"Yes?"

"Tara. Why is she with you? Why do you"- why was there a curious catch in her voice- "why do you care about her so much?"

"She's my friend. When I first woke up … like this … she was there. She was overcome with guilt with what she had done. Just like me."

"So you helped her."

"We helped each other."

"You didn't … make her forget?"

"No. I think she decided to put that life behind her. She had that right."

"She hurt Beast Boy terribly." She sighs. "When she betrayed us- and when she refused to acknowledge who she really was."

"She has the right to choose her own way. He doesn't own her."

"I don't even know why I'm talking to you. This could all be some scheme of yours to regain your power. You could be lying. You probably aren't even Trigon."

"I am Trigon. I wish I wasn't, but I am." I pause. "There's a way you can find out for sure." I raise my arm. "You can take a DNA sample. Cyborg can compare it to yours."

"How do you know about DNA?"

"I'm a sorcerer, not ignorant." I smile. "Your world isn't all that different from the way mine used to be."

"All right. Come on. Let's get this done." She walks to the door. "Your guard dog can come with."

Tara mock growls at her. "Good to see you haven't lost that sense of humor we all loved about you, Raven."

Atlas stays with Mae-Eye while Cyborg runs his tests. Tara goes to keep him company- probably more to avoid Beast Boy than to provide comfort to our robotic friend. I can't say I blame her.

Robin watches me like he expects me to attack at any moment. Starfire stands at his side, but she casts frequent glances at the room where Mae-Eye is being cared for. Raven watches me.

And much to my surprise, Beast Boy watches Raven.

The boy reminds me of Malchior … the Malchior that I had known, not the monster that I had made him become. He's impulsive, emotional. Juvenile. After about 30 seconds with him I'm seriously tempted to hurt him …

And yet … he looks at Raven with a kindness and consideration that's unmistakable for anyone who's looking. I know that look … and it makes me both think more kindly of the boy and also irritates me beyond belief.

He likes her … and not just as a friend.

And from those occasional looks that Raven gives him from beneath her hood- always when he's not looking- I suspect she likes him too.

Cyborg does not give me more than a glance after he takes a sample of my DNA. He does the same to Raven. "This won't take long at all."

"I do not need the computer to tell me that he is Raven's father," Starfire says abruptly. "Anyone who looks at them can tell that."

"I take after my mother," Raven says stiffly.

"I'm glad," I tell her with a smile. "Arella was a remarkable woman."

"And you killed her." The venom is back in her words again, and I can't deny the pain.

"Yes." I cover my face with my hands. "I did. I destroyed my world. I turned my friends into monsters. And I killed the woman I loved. Do you really think I can forget anything that I've ever done, Raven?"

"Enough, Raven." A gentle hand lays itself on my shoulder. "The Trigon-man is not responsible for what the Trigon-demon did. Tormenting him is beneath you."

"Thank you, Starfire." I nod at the alien girl.

"Cyborg, if I am not needed, I wish to go check on the Mae-Eye."

"We're fine here, Star. Do what you gotta."

"Thank you, friend Cyborg." She looks at me again. "Mae has buried herself deep in the self-loathing. She does not wish to live with what she has done."

"I know." I'm not an Empath like Raven, but even I can see that Mae is shutting herself off from the world. But I don't know how to save her.

"How can you feel pity for her, Star?" Beast Boy finally asks. "She tried to eat us!"

"She was not herself, friend Beast Boy. If what the Trigon-man has told us is true- and I believe it is- then she is as much a victim as we were. If we are heroes- if we are good people- then we must help her."

"Go on, Star," Robin says with that gentleness he only seems to show her. "We'll call you if we need anything."

She offers him a smile and then walks into the room.

Robin turns to look at me. "So … one friend forgave you. Another wants to die. What do you think will happen if you cure Malchior?"

"I don't know." If he kills me- if he kills me before I cure him- at least I managed to save the others.

"He's got a lot of power."

"Yes." Dragons only get stronger as they age … and I sent Malchior to Earth centuries in the past. If not for the book he had been imprisoned in, he might have been strong enough to even give my Demon Lord self a challenge. Now … now I could be in a lot of trouble … even if Atlas and Mae help me.

"Sounds to me like you're going to need help."

"I've got help." I hope.

"Dude, he's a dragon! You're going to need all the help you can get!" Beast Boy waves his arms at me. "He's like Godzilla crossed with Gandalf!"

Raven rolls her eyes. "I'm sure he's quite aware of that, Beast Boy."

"And we're done," Cyborg announces.

Raven looks at him anxiously. Beast Boy looks at her like he wants to take her hand, but sensibly stays where he is. Robin is laser focused on me.

"Congratulations," Cyborg finally says, looking straight at me. "It's a girl. He's your father, Raven."

"No," Raven says softly. "Azar lied to me? Why would Azar lie to me? I trusted her! I LOVED her! And she lied to me!"

The Tower begins to shake.

"Raven … Rae … " Beast Boy smiles as he approaches her. "I don't know why Azar lied to you. It doesn't matter."

"It matters!" But the shaking subsides. "And don't call me Rae." She sighs. "I just don't understand. Why would Azar lie to me?"

"We may never know the answer to that." Because I had destroyed Azarath. "But there is one thing I can tell you, Raven."

She looks at me.

"Your mother loved you very much." And so do I. I can't say that to her. I don't have the right for that.

"Maybe this does explain why she didn't talk to me very much," Raven says with a sigh. "Azar wouldn't have wanted to risk Mother telling me the truth. Maybe Azar had a good reason- maybe she was afraid that I would try to free you."

"It worked for Luke Skywalker," Beast Boy observed. "He saved Darth Vader."

"Yeah, but Darth Vader died," Cyborg points out.

"Oh, right." Beast Boy's green colors in embarrassment.

"Never mind that now," I finally say. "I need to get back to Mae. She needs my help if she's going to get through this." Though how I can help her I don't know- but I have to try.

"I'll come with you," Raven says quietly. "She was my mother's friend. You say that she sacrificed her self to save Mother. To save me. It sounds to me like I owe her."

She believes me.

My daughter believes me.

I don't trust myself to speak. I nod at her and gesture for her to lead the way.

Following Raven, I go to face my past- and the friends I wronged- once more.

I had cursed Mae-Eye and then I had cured her. Now I have to do something that may be even more impossible.

Now I have to give her a reason to live.