Sorry this took so long to upload everyone, but the computer was screwing with me last night. Trust me though, the wait is worth it!

Chap. 35

Faith and Innocence

And just like twenty years ago, the blade didn't hit its target. But this time, it wasn't because Nightstalker couldn't do it. The sword hung in the air, suspended in it's descent by a covering of black energy. The bat turned then, and saw Owl's hand outstretched, her powers holding him back.

"Owl, let go of the sword." He said.

But the young girl shook her head. "No Grampa, I can't. I can't let you do this."

"Katie," he began, hoping for the right words. "There is no other way. This thing is taking him over. When it finishes, River's soul will be extinguished. We don't have time to exorcise it. We have to free Rivers before it takes him over, and this is the only way. If you really care about him, let me do this."

"I do care about him." Owl said, not caring who heard any longer. "And that's why I can't let you do this."

"Katie, what can you do to save him?" Manimal asked.

"I can heal him." She answered simply.

"Absolutely not!" Lightweaver cried out. "Katie this isn't like a wound or a disease. This is a demonspawn, and it's one that has hungered for life for decades! It would take a master healer to do it properly, and frankly Katie, you still haven't mastered it."

"I don't care!" Katie yelled back, her emotions coming through. "I can't let him go like this! I can't just sit by and then live the rest of my life knowing I didn't do anything to help!" Turning back to Nightstalker, she begged, as her eyes began to water "Please, let me try. Don't make me regret."

Now, Nightstalker knew that demon possessions like this were almost impossible to break. He knew that only the very best healers had ever succeeded at what Katie wanted to do, and even then only by the slimmest of margins. He knew that Katie was still struggling with the full range of her healing powers, and that she had little to no chance of success. But as he looked at her, he saw a look in her eyes that he recognized instantly; the look that said love and hope could accomplish anything. He recognized it because once, it had been in his eyes. It had let him ignore everything he knew and go on what he felt, let him go from destroyer to redeemer.And it had given him happiness he never could've imagined. But if he had ignored his feelings, if he had gone with what he knew…..

"Five minutes." He said, as Katie's face broke with relief and happiness. "Any more, and he'll be beyond saving."

"Thank you." Katie said, as the tears rolled down her face.

"Hey guys," Groundquake gasped from the side, as the sweat rolled down both his and Terra's faces. "That sounds like a great plan, but if you're gonna do it, you'd better do it now!"

With that, the rock prison holding Slade began to crack and splinter. Terra and 'Quake tried to hold on as the others prepared themselves, but the strain was too much. The rock exploded outward in a storm of dust and debris that clouded the space between them. The two Earthmovers tried to find their enemy in the smog, but before they could even begin to look, twin blasts of demonfire shot outwards, striking them both and hurling them back. As they fell to the ground, Slade menacingly walked forward, and said, "I hope you have better then that."

"Titans, GO!" Lightweaver yelled, as she leapt forward, the Lightblade extending from her gauntlet. But Slade blocked her attack, and the two began to duel, sparks flying as they struck.

"Come on, we need to buy time!" Terra yelled, as she jumped in to help. Metallix and Groundquake nodded, and they followed, Manimal and Kestrel following behind.

"Move Katie, they can't hold him off for long." Nightstalker said urgently as Katie kneeled down in front of the still struggling Sunblaze. Pulling down her hood, she readied herself, and placed her hands on his chest. Closing her eyes, she let the energy flow out, as Nighstalker silently counted the seconds.

At first, everything was normal. Then Katie gasped as she felt the power of the spawn. When she had healed before, it had been like she was sending out 'threads' to rework the broken patchwork of a person's body. But now, it felt like she was trying to reach a patchwork covered in sludge, blocked from her reach. But then the blockage began to work against her, trying to rip the threads apart and her with them. But Katie pressed on and resisted, as Nightstalker watched anxiously.

00:00

"Dammit, why won't you go down!" Lightweaver snarled, as she twisted to bring the Lightblade down once again.

"Because it takes more then you to stop me." Slade answered, as he caught the blade in his hand. The purity of the blade smoked against his hand, but Slade took no notice. Before Lightweaver could pull the blade out, he placed his hand on her armored chest and infused the fox's body with demonfire. She screamed as the fire reached through, burning both her body and soul. As she began to fall against the strain, Slade tightened his grip and began to increase the flow. But before he could finish, a wave of rock and energy shot forth, throwing him off Lightweaver.

"Well, I haven't felt that in a while." He said, as he rode the impact and saw Terra and Metallix advancing on him. Unfazed, Slade drew up twin blasts of demon fire and shot them at his foes. Metallix threw himself out of the way, avoiding the blast entirely. Terra however, tried to create an earth shield to protect her. But the demonfire was too strong, and the shield shattered as it struck it. Terra was struck by the combination of rock and flame and was thrown backwards onto the ground.

"TERRA!" Metallix yelled, as he stopped to watch. His anger growing, the young boy turned back to Slade. Stretching out his hands, Metallix grew his arms out towards Slade, as his hands grew in size to at least double the size of Slade's body. As the hands landed on either side of the villain, Metallix suddenly moved to slam them together, and crush Slade. But before they could come together, Slade put out his own hands and held the two hands apart with his demonic strength. Undeterred, Metallix pushed back, trying even harder to push his hands together. But he only had determination; Slade had more powers, and many evil ways to use them. The villain allowed the hands to come together a bit more, then when the space between had shrunk enough, he released a wave of demonfire, scalding them. Metallix howled in pain, and in his shock, released the pressure. Slade took this opportunity to fire directly at Metallix, slamming him back onto the ground next to Lightweaver, his elongated arms slowly shrinking back into his body.

01:27

For close to two minutes, Katie had been fighting the sludge. For that time, they had seemed to be evenly matched. But now, Katie was starting to tire under the strain, while the spawn had pressed on hard. The threads felt smaller now, made of thin, weak material that was being torn apart. Sweat rolled down Katie's brow, as she kept reaching out, kept trying to get past it to the patchwork underneath it. But it was getting harder and harder to do, and Katie felt herself tiring out. Soon, she would be unable to go any longer.

01:58

Seeing both Metallix and Lightweaver taken down, Slade turned his attention to the form of Terra. He still owed a debt to the girl to trapping him below the earth, and Slade always paid his debts. He could stop Raven's daughter later; the girl had no chance to stop what was happening to the boy. But the chance to take down Terra, was a much rarer and far sweeter opportunity at the moment.

Slade began to walk towards the girl, but then he heard a sound behind him, a sound like a deep-seated growl. "You are as foolish as your father." He said, as he turned to meet the tiger crouched behind him. But before Slade could fry his young foe, Manimal leapt into the air, ready to pounce on the villain. Slade readied himself, but before he could strike the massive form of the tiger, it vanished in a puff of smoke, to be replaced by a squirrel, of all things. Slade almost chuckled, thinking that this boy was even dumber then his father. But Manimal had a plan. He landed on Slade's shoulder and before the villain could attack, the squirrel began to run around his body, moving to fast for him to attack. Angered, Slade began to twist and turn, trying to strike the quickly moving animal. But Manimal had remembered his first lesson well; it is not the size of the animal, but how well you use it. And this form was one the young boy knew how to use very well, as he darted in and out of Slade's grasp as the villain grew angrier and angrier.

Then Manimal made his move. Running in between Slade's legs, he halted for a split-second, praying that Slade's anger would lead to a mistake. And thankfully it did; as Slade's fist came down to strike the squirrel, Manimal leapt out of the way, and Slade's fist came down hard on two things that squirrels are quite good at guarding. The villain's lone eye widened, as he bent over in pain.

"Oh, did that hurt?" said a voice, as Manimal leapt off and regained human form next to Slade. The villain looked up and walked right into a flying dropkick from Kestrel. He went sprawling back, as the girl landed next to Manimal. The two Titans nodded at each, proud of their teamwork. But before they could plan their next move, Slade flipped back to his feet, and moving with a speed fueled by pain and rage, grabbed Manimal and drove a fist right into the boy's face. He crumpled to the ground, and as Kestrel began to throw a punch of her own, Slade caught and delivered a vicious kick to her face. Kestrel too crumpled, and Slade, speaking in a voice wracked with frustration, "No one…. Does….that to me." Seeing his two foes incapacitated, Slade turned his attention back to Terra.

But before he could, Slade felt a bar pulled against his throat. "You are not going to take her, you undead son of a bitch!" Groundquake spat as he pulled Slade back with his hammer against the villain's throat. But Slade violently bent down, throwing the dog off and forcing him to relinquish his hammer. 'Quake however, twisted in mid air and landed on his feet right in front of the form of Terra.

"How nice. The father protecting his daughter." Slade said, as he and 'Quake began to circle each other. "It would've been nice if you could've done this before, when she needed you."

"Shut up." Groundquake growled.

"You know, I was more of a father to her. I taught her how to use her powers, how to control them. Where were you? Off on some adventure that was more important? Or did you get another woman drunk so you could get a second child and make it up to yourself?"

"SHUT UP, YOU SOUL-SUCKING FUCK!" Groundquake screamed as he leapt at Slade. But the villain sidestepped the charge and 'Quake fell to the ground next to him. The dog instantly turned, but he was too late. Slade launched a fireblast at the now unguarded Terra. Under his helmet, Eddie gasped as he got to his feet and began to run. For the dog, time seemed to slow, as he raced alongside the flames. Sweat seemed to roll off the dog's armor, as he put all that he had into beating the fire. Finally, just as it almost hit Terra, 'Quake whipped around and managed to put his body right in front of the flame's path.

Terra moaned as the light began to come back into her eyes. Slowly, she began to open them, only to be blinded again a second later by the light of ungodly flames. Then, she went deaf a second later as screams of pain filled the air. Yet still, Terra could see as the flames consumed Groundquake's armor. She could hear the screams as they reached his skin and began to burn away his fur. All of this happened in less then a minute, and then he fell to the ground, his body black and burned.

"Eddie!" Terra screamed as she moved over to him. Lifting up his head, she begged him, "Please Eddie, you can't die. You can heal this; you can heal anything." But the dog could only groan, as his head lolled to the side.

"You can't do this to me!" she screamed as she shook his body. "You can't leave me again! I waited my whole life to find you!" As tears began to flow from her eyes, she cried out, "Please Daddy, don't leave me again." But as Terra cried, one of the dog's hands stretched out to grab the earth below him. The touch sent the power of the earth back into its Knight, and slowly, his body began to heal. Terra watched in amazement as the dog's body glowed with power. But before it finished, Terra felt a hand wrap around her head, and then felt a fist ram into her face. As she fell over Eddie's still healing body, Slade said, "You know, I think I'll wait for you. I think I'll take your uncle out first, by killing his granddaughter right in front of him."

02: 45

Katie heard the sounds, as Slade made his way past her friends. She heard his footsteps as he advanced on her and Nightstalker. She heard the hiss of steel, as Nightstalker drew his sword and the clang as he attacked Slade. But she also heard the sounds of bones changing and cracking, of a voice deepening. And she felt the hope that had fueled her begin to fade away.

03:26

"I knew it would be you." Slade said, as she blocked 'Stalker's blow. "You never when to lay down and die."

"And you do?" the bat asked, as he drove his sword down again. But Slade sidestepped the blow, and let the bat's fury and strength drive it into the ground. As Nightstalker struggled to remove his sword, Slade came up from behind, ripped off the bat's helmet, and drove his fiery hands into the bat's eyes. Brett screamed, as blood began to run down his face. Slade increased the flames, and after three seconds, the bat fell to the ground, his face a scarred, bleeding mess.

"Now there's just one loose end to tie up." Slade said, as he turned towards Katie.

03: 45

"Please." She whispered weakly, as Slade drew closer and closer. "Please God, let me do this. Let me save him."

"Don't waste your breath." Slade answered. "God has no power here. And neither do you. And I thought you could be what your mother failed to become. Pathetic."

But if she heard Slade, Katie didn't show it. She kept whispering; "If you can hear me, don't take him. He has so much left. We need him. I need him. I can't live without him in my life. Please God, don't take him yet; I love him too much."

Now, I can't say that any religion has painted the perfect picture of God. I can't say that there even is a God, or if he's just an idea from humanity's mind, born of our fear of the unknown. What I can say is if there is a higher power, and if it watches over us and listens to our prayers, it heard Katie's that night. As Slade came within a footstep of Katie, a white light suddenly poured down from her hands. It spread over River's body and as it spread, his body arched back and a dark voice erupted from his mouth and howled in pain. Slade suddenly grabbed his chest and backed away, staggering as if in pain himself. Behind him, Brett pulled himself up, his eyes already beginning to heal, and watched as the light began to pour out of Katie's mouth and eyes as well, spreading out like the force of an explosion. As the bat watched, the light seemed to wash over him as well, and he felt his wounds begin to seal and close.

The others felt it spread over them as well. They felt their bodies heal, they felt their spirits restored, and their confidence come back. The light began to fade then, as it slowly pulled back into Katie. As it drifted away from the Titans, and left the body of Rivers, Katie felt as if she was being drawn back into her body after she had exited it. As her vision returned, she heard a gasp from below her. She looked down, not daring to hope. What she saw was a boy, dressed in a tattered purple costume, looking around as if he was seeing the world anew. Then he looked up, and he smiled, the grin echoed in the green eyes that she had loved since the first time she'd seen them.

But then, there was a noise to the side of them, a strange, muted roar that caused them both to turn around gasp. Next to them, it's body slowly changing to white, was a small creature that looked like nothing more then a baby Trigon. The creature spat and hissed at them as they looked, but as it's body changed completely to white below the neck, it paused and stared at them with evil in it's eyes.