Cyborg and Atlas manage to cobble together a delivery truck that we're all able to fit inside. Cyborg insists on driving his "new baby" all the way to Champions Tower. The rest of us sit in the back and talk.

"We need a plan," Arella says.

"Yes!" Robin agrees emphatically. "Will Malchior remember any of you?"

"Atlas and I didn't," Mae offers quietly. She's sitting by herself, crossing her arms. The sadness in her three eyes still stings me with guilt.

"But Mal's a dragon," Arella says. "And magically very powerful."

"Physically too, yo," Beast Boy offers. He's sitting between Tara and my daughter and trying not to look like he's in heaven. I occasionally glare at him because I'm a father. "He's like super dangerous."

"We can take him," Tara offers.

"The objective isn't to take him." Raven glares at her. "We're trying to save him, remember?"

"I am sure that Friend Tara has not forgotten. But we must remember the last time we fought Malchior we were only able to defeat him by returning him inside Rorek's spellbook. Now that we are inside the spellbook we do not have that option." Starfire blinks. "And our time is running out before Raven's spell returns us to the real world."

"He's going to know we're coming," Robin muses. "He'll be able to see us from that tower. We need to distract him while we get our people into position." He looks at Raven. "We have to be prepared to defend ourselves."

She nods, accepting that logic.

"I can do that," Arella says.

"No. No you can't." I glare at her. "I'll distract Malchior."

"I can do a better job of it." Arella looks away for a moment. "Mal … cared for me. If there's anything left of our old friend- no matter how deeply it's buried- he won't hurt me."

"And if you're wrong you'll fry." Raven shakes her head. "I agree with Dad. You shouldn't do it. I can do it. Malchior will remember me."

"Did you just call Trigon 'Dad'?" Cyborg asks over his shoulder.

"Yes. Do you want to make something of it?" Raven glares at him without looking at him. Quite a talent.

"Not me." I swear I can hear a grin in Cyborg's voice.

"You aren't going to face Malchior either," I tell her. "As your father, I forbid it."

"You forbid it?" Raven arches an eyebrow.

I glare at her. "Yes. I absolutely forbid it."

Raven smirks. "What are you going to do- ground me?"

'I'll think of something."

"Raven, we need Trigon and you to be in position. You two are our best hope of subduing Malchior without hurting him. You'd make a fine distraction, but we can't afford you getting injured." Robin crosses his arms and looks at her. "You know I'm right."

"Listen to Robin, mama," Beast Boy urges.

"Mama?" Arella and I both ask.

Raven blushes. Beast Boy looks suddenly nervous. "I'll go keep Cyborg company." He turns into a bird and flies up to the front of the truck.

"Mama," Arella says with a smirk. She looks at our daughter with a raised eyebrow. "Is there something you're not telling us, Raven?"

"Um … no?" Raven covers her face with her hood. "I … need to meditate."

Tara watches the display between us all with a sad look on her face. I catch her eyes with mine. No matter what, we were in this together. I want her to know that.

Tara smiles slightly at me and nods her head.

"We all agree we need a way to distraction," Robin says. "We just have to figure out who and how we're going to do it. Are we agreed on that much?"

"Yes." I nodded my head and my wife and daughter did so as well.

"Then let's figure out how it's going to work ..."

..TT..

"MALCHIOR!"

The woman raises her staff and slams it onto the road in front of the drawbridge to Champions Tower. The ground seems to echo with the force of the blow. She does it again.

"MALCHIOR!"

There's a moment of silence, and then the giant dragon flies out of the town and hovers in mid-air, glancing down at the woman below him. "Who are you, woman? How did you come to this place? What do you want?"

"You know who I am, Malchior." She smiles at him.

The rest of us are getting into position. I can hear Raven whispering her mantra to herself. Atlas is preparing himself for battle. Robin is moving into position. Tara is reaching into the Earth.

I whisper a spell to protect my companions against the first of the dragon. It won't make them completely immune, but it will keep them from suffering permanent damage. If he had not been distracted, he would have sensed the magic before it was finished.

"Woman, you are starting to annoy me." Malchior growled. "How did yo come here?" He pauses. "Raven sent you, didn't she? Why? Are you her enemy?"

"I am not." The woman smiles. "You know me, Mal. We saved each other a hundred times. We fought for each other. We saved each other. We were friends. We were teammates. We were … Champions."

Malchior's eyes glow. Not with his own magic, but with the power of my curse upon him. "No!" he howled.. He roared in anger and pain, clutching his head with his fore claws. "No! You will not corrupt me! You will not control me! I am Malchior! Malchior!"

And he breathes fire upon the woman.

"Oh, Mal," Mae-Eye says with a smile. "You know that can't hurt me!"

And she slams Arella's staff into his jaw, hurling him backwards. She tosses it towards my wife who leaps into the air to catch it before somersaulting back to to her feet. "Mal! It's Arella! We're here- we're all here for you! Remember us! Remember your friends! Remember your family!"

Raven rises into the air. "Malchior, listen to her! Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" She holds out her hands and black energy flies from her hands, binding the dragon's wings.

"We're here, Mal!" Atlas stood up. "The gang is back! Let us help you! Let us help you remember who you really are!"

It was time.

"Malchior!" I hold my staff with both hands in a horizontal position as I levitate myself into the air. "I'm here to help you. We're all here to help you. Don't fight us. You'll remember everything soon."

His dragon eyes widen as they gaze upon me- and a sort of dim recognition. "No! Not you! You're not real! None of this is real- except Raven! She's come here to torment me! To destroy me! I won't let her do that! I won't let her destroy me!" He breathes fire on the dark bonds that hold his wings and takes to the air once more. "I'll destroy you! I'll destroy all of you!"

"We're going to have to do it the hard way!" Robin declares leaping forward to pull Raven out of the way of a fire blast.

"Dude! You tried to roast Raven! That is so not cool!" Beast Boy changes into some sort of bird and then becomes a giant gorilla as he lands on Malchior's back. He begins punching frantically on the dragon's back.

Mal twisted upside down, dropping the shapeshifter from his back.

"Beast Boy!" Mae-Eye flies forward and manages to capture the Titan while the dragon began breathing fireballs all around her.

"It's always the hard way!" Terra gestures and boulders fly into the air, intercepting Malchior's fireballs before they can harm anyone.

"Welcome back to the Titans, Terra!" Cyborg began firing white sound blasts at Mal, trying to force him to break off his attacks.

"What do you mean, 'welcome back to the Titans, Terra'?" Atlas demands as one of his arms becomes a Gatling gun that he uses in tandem with Cyborg's attack. "Terra is totally a Champion now! Right, Terra?"

"Um- I'm still planning on finishing high school!" Terra mutters as she continues her assault.

"We have to bring him back down to ground!" Arella declares. "Otherwise we'll never be able to subdue him."

"I'm on it." Raven wraps herself in her soul-self, a giant black bird, and takes to the sky. She dodges around Malchior as the two of them circle each other, fire and shadow.

"She's going to need help!" Beast Boy cries. He raises his hands to become some sort of reptilian bird- a pterodactyl I'm told later- and starts to wing into the sky.

"She will need help." I haven't done this in years. I don't know if I still can. But it's time.

I call forth my own soul-self.

Raven's is shadow. I am fire.

Hers is a bird of darkness. Mine is a giant of flame.

Raven, he's too strong for you to defeat by yourself. Try to force him to come down. Get him within my reach.

On it, Dad.

With Beast Boy to help her, Raven dives at Malchior, raking his body with shadow claws. He twists and writhes like a boneless snake, trying to sink his claws into her … but whenever he tries he's just reaching into darkness. He cannot hurt her physically.

But his fire is magic.

"Burn, Raven! Burn!"

And with a roar of fire he strikes my daughter and Raven's soul-self flickers out and she begins to fall.

With a screech of dismay, Beast Boy folds his wings and dives after her, snatching her to safety an instant before she hits.

"RAVEN!"

I roar a challenge at the dragon, my heart just as much aflame as my soul-self. "You think you know fire, dragon? I AM FIRE! REMEMBER ME, MALCHIOR! REMEMBER TRIGON!"

Malchior roars his own challenge and dives down at me.

I vaguely remember that I'm here to save him, but the white hot fury over watching him hurt my daughter has placed those thoughts on the back burner. I remember Mal being one of my oldest, dearest friends- but right now all I really want to do is wring his dragon neck.

He collides into my soul-self because I make it solid enough to take the impact. I grab his throat and slam him into the ground. I grip his throat with fiery fists and start to squeeze.

"Trigon!" Arella screams at me. "No!"

"We didn't come here for this, Trigon!" Mae-Eye flies up to the eyes of my fiery soul-self but I ignore her. Malchior had hurt Raven. No one got to hurt my daughter! No one!

Dad! Daddy! Daddy, no!

Raven?

I still had the blazing hands of my soul-self wrapped around Malchior's throat, but I turned my head to see Raven. She was being supported by Beast Boy. Her cloak was singed, but she did not look hurt. Without speaking aloud, she looked into my eyes. We're here to help him. Remember that.

And with that, Raven gestured, and bands of darkness wrapped around Machior's jaws, closing them. "We need to hold him down so Dad can perform his spell."

"On it!" Atlas said. He grabbed Malchior's left leg. "You ain't going nowhere, old buddy!"

"I got the right!" Cyborg grabbed the other leg.

"And I'm on the right hand!" Terra gestured and bands of rock grabbed that limb.

"We have the left, Friend Terra!" Stafire and Mae-Eye grabbed that one.

"We'll make sue the wings aren't going anywhere!" Robin wrapped those limbs in some sort of high tech line that Arella tied together with her indestructible staff.

Malchior's eyes blaze hate at me.

I banish my soul-self and placed my staff against his forehead. I feel the anger start to drain out of me. "I'm sorry, old friend. You didn't ask to become this. Noctis! Lux! Anima!"

The curse is strongest of all on Malchior. It's mixed in with his own magic. It's had over one thousand years of Earth-time to fester in him. I had hated Mal most of all because he had sent Arella to safety- he had denied me my heir.

And he had loved Arella.

"NOCTIS! LUX! ANIMA!" It's so strong. The curse is so powerful. "Guys, help me. I can't do this unless Mal helps."

"C'mon, Mal!" Atlas urges. "We need you back!"

"You were always the best of us, Mal!" Mae whispers urgently. "We need you now more than ever."

"Mal, you loved me once. You saved me. You saved my daughter. We need you to win this fight for us. Help Trigon heal you! Remember who you are. Remember who we are!"

Something … gentle forms in his eyes...

"Please, Malchior," Raven says softly. "Come back to us."

For a moment, we teeter on the brink …

And I hear Malchior's voice in my head. I am Malchior. I am a Champion. And I want to be free of this pain.

And it's enough.

The darkness of the curse roars out of him and into my staff …. for a moment the pressure threatens to shatter it... and then the darkness blasts out of the staff and into the sky.

"Let him go," I tell the others, leaning on my staff.

They do.

Mal sits up. He begins to shrink … turning from a dragon into his preferred humanoid form. A black haired purple skinned young man with golden dragon eyes. Even though it's been a millennium for him, he looks scarcely older than in that form than he did the last day I saw him.

Dragons are very long lived.

"Trig," he said.

"Mal."

"You came back."

"So did you."

"I'm glad."

"Me too."

"Would you mind if I give you a hug? Right now I really want to hug you."

"Go for it."

And as we wrap our arms around each other, I smile.

My family is whole once more.