Her breath came in gasps. Each ragged pant ripped through Raven's body as the icy air burned her lungs. She did not care. Garfield was dead. Her tears had dried from the bitter wind hitting her face as she flew feet above the ground, her body unprotected by a cloak or any other garment but her dark top and skirt that Jinx had found for her. None of that mattered the friend she held so dear was dead.

Her mind screamed in agony, but there were no more tears left to cry.

"They murdered him. They were my friends, and they let him die. They all let him die" she screamed out at nobody in particular. The trees were thick, and Raven took a small branch to the face which would leave a welt, but she did not care.

'I know,'

The voice reverberated through her mind and body and the desire to fly left her. Raven glided downward and gently landed on her knees. The cold snow sent freezing aches up her body, but she did not care. She closed her eyes and fell forward, but her face did not land in snow. The warm scent of grass filled her nostrils. Raven sat up and looked about and immediately recognized the field of her reality.

"Touch me," Raven begged. "Please."

Raven felt a hand rest on her shoulder from behind and a warm sensation flood through her of comfort. She snuggled the hand with her cheek as tears began to stream down her face again.

"They killed him, Jason. I...I have his blood on my hands."

"It's not your fault my beautiful Rachel," Jason whispered gently to her. "Those who pulled the trigger and put him into harm's way did."

"It hurts so much."

Raven broke down sobbing while she felt Sovereign run his hands gently through her hair trying to comfort her.

"I understand," he said. "I lost someone once to that meant more than anything to me."

"Heather?" Raven asked letting her mind get distracted by the curiosity of the entity that she had become entangled with.

"No. She was a lovely creature, but it was someone else. Someone much older, like me."

"What happened?"

"I lost her," Jason said quietly.

Raven wanted to press but refrained. As much as she felt kindred with this strange, ancient, interdimensional entity, she knew that she did not know all of his motivations.

"The war is coming, Rachel," Sovereign began, his voice taking on power and certainty. "I can see the strands of fate and time converging. You're going to have to face your friends in the field, and you may not be able to offer quarter."

"I have no friends," Raven spat, hatred seeping into their heart. "all those that stand in my way, stand in the way of everlasting peace."

"That's my girl," Sovereign's voice smiled. "Don't lose yourself in revenge. You may use the power the ring for satisfaction, but I must be let in to enact peace for your entire reality."

"I understand," Raven said with certainty. "I'll see them again. I'll deal with them each. They each will pay for killing my love."

Sovereign was silent, and the world began to shift a bit. Raven tensed up.

"Do not fear, Rachel. I've been channeling my power through your body in your reality. You have risked your life in your grief. You should have frozen to death by now."

The cold began to return, and the feeling of safety began to fade. Raven forced her eyes open and found herself blinking at the snow. Her skin was cold and clammy, and she barely felt the cold. Her head began to swim.

'Your minions have come for you. Let them take care of your body and mind. You will need your strength to break the seal of Millennium.'

"Mistress!"

Raven turned her head and saw the pink and black of Jinx rush forward and scoop her ups. The world was beginning to spin, and the sounds were running together. The massive arms of Mammoth enveloped her, and then consciousness was ripped away.

Robin gripped the "oh, shit" handle of the jeep as it off road through cow paths and up hills while the roar of the ARGUS dropships was making their way towards where Phil Coulson had calculated as the entrance point for Millennium.

Phil had not gone into much detail, and Robin was tired of being left in the dark. Even though they were in the middle of what Wonder Woman had said was an extinction level event, his team, the Teen Titans were still being kept to the side as if they were too young to be involved. Robin did not want to believe that. Batman was obsessive and calculating, but the Titans had stopped Trigon and have faced other monsters. They could help stop Millennium.

"All I know is that he's a giant bug from an ancient dimension that it conquered," Green Arrow said from the driver's seat. Robin started out of his thoughts.

"What?"

"Millennium. You were thinking about him, weren't you?"

"Yeah," Robin said sheepishly. "That obvious?"

"It's alright. I can't imagine what you and your friends are going through. I got a chance to read through some of Iris' files on Millennium before Coulson took off with the records. It's described as a massive machine in the shape of a beetle that comes from an ancient dimension. It met Sovereign and pledged it's undying allegiance to and helped in the first Midnight War."

"First Midnight War?"

"Yeah, He tried to come through in a different reality. There are lists of the realities in questions and ship names for the battles that were fought. Things like Enterprise, Jupiter 2, the Colonel. That stuff was classified, but from what I could see, Iris successfully locked both of them away."

"And now Raven is going to let it back in."

"Not if we get to her first."

Robin looked back towards the road. He was sure they could stop her, but he did not understand why his gut did not agree.

When consciousness returned to her, Raven found herself swaddled in blankets with heat leaching back into her skin and bones. Her head was under a soft pillow while the humm of a space heater told her where the heat was coming from. She began to sit up, letting the blankets slide away and not only discovered that she was completely naked, but every muscle ached with a vengeance.

Jinx's head jerked up from the sleeping bag on the ground, the soft glow of her eyes meeting Raven's own. Jinx looked the same except she had chosen an outfit with a dark top and skirt entirely made of leather but also wore knee boots for added protection. The black material was complemented by her pink hair and the soft glow of her golden eyes.

"You're awake, Mistress! I was so worried."

"It appears you had quite a time undressing me," Raven said with her melodic growl. "Did you enjoy yourself?"

A flush came to Jinx's face, and she quickly looked away.

"What's going on? How long have I been out?"

"You've been asleep for about two hours, Mistress. Blackfire has marshaled the contingent to the coordinates you provided. Scouts report that Iris is about two hours away.

"Then it begins in two hours," Raven sighed. "Everything has changed, Jinx."

Jinx nodded solemnly, standing there like a lost puppy.

"And we should quit fighting are destiny, shouldn't we?" Raven asked looking at the girl whose eyes lit up a bit more. The tone of a confidant had gotten her attention.

"I believe, my mistress, that you did everything you could and nobody appreciated it or helped. The world is still at war, and all heroes do is increase the damage done."

Raven nodded in agreement and then sighed.

"Then it's time for the Raven to die," Rachel said with a sigh. That sigh seemed to carry a weight away.

"Mistress?" Jinx asked, concern filling her voice.

"The persona, Jinxie," Raven laughed. "It's time for Raven of the Teen Titans to die and for another to rise in her place."

"And who shall that be?"

"For this point, I will be known as The Empress," Raven said with finality. "The Dark Raven of peace."

With those words, the last vestige of who she was in the spring slid away. Raven felt the sadness of her old life dying as it was but all it had done was get the boy she had come to love killed and her friends as mortal enemies.

"I'm not going to be an easy master, Jinx," Raven warned gently as she reached out and caressed the pinkette's cheek. "You may face pain and humiliation if you follow me. If you ask me right now, I'll remove the Illumination Lock from your neck and let you get far away before the fight."

Jinx stepped close taking Raven's hand in her own.

"I shall serve you in any capacity, Empress. No matter what you do to me."

Raven nodded and then broke into a harsh grin.

"I've always wanted a slave."

Jinx balked for a second but saw the twinkle in Raven's golden eyes. Jinx kissed her mistress' hand and let it go.

"What shall I do for you, Empress?"

"When we're alone, call me Mistress. I like how you say it." Raven said as the Empress personality took over. She threw back the covers to give Jinx access to her naked body.

"And the war doesn't start for an hour or so. Bring your head over here and show me if you have any talent."

Jinx's eyes lit up and a grin crossed her face. "Oh! Of course, my mistress. I promise you'll enjoy."

The moon had begun to descend towards the horizon, and though the wind was cold, Robin did not roll up the window. His ears tried to listen to any sound outside the vehicle, and he continually checked his comm to see if she had called.

The death of the Luther Corp soldiers, for many, had convinced everyone that Raven had to be stopped even by lethal force. Robin was not going to give up on her. He would never doubt her also if she had her hand around his own throat. One thing was for sure. Robin would die before he gave up on her.