Control

Chapter 4: A Night We'll Never Forget: Part 3

Author's Note: Chapter four! Wow! I can't believe that I wrote this story more than three months ago. Looking back on it now is like an out of body experience, lol, I don't know how to explain it. Nonetheless, though, enjoy this chapter!

The familiar heat of hell haunted Raven. She had never forgotten the feeling of the all too well-known scorching warmth. It terrified her. It reminded her of things she wished she could forget but knew she would never be able to. It made her feel like ending it all.

Her father stood in front of her, his face morphing into a wicked sneer.

"You and your friends will all rot." he spat.

"You'll never get out."

"What makes you think I haven't already?"

"B-because I-"

He chuckled, "Foolish as usual."

She shut her jaw, grinding her molars so hard she thought they would break. She hated him.

"Who should I start with first. Starfire? Nightwing? Perhaps, Damian Wayne?" Trigon smirked.

The shift in Raven's face, when he had said Robin's name gave him all he needed to know. Trigon had struck a nerve. He grabbed Raven by the shoulders, roughly turning her around.

Raven struggled to be free of his grasp but had already been let go. The sight in front of her shocked and scared her all at once. Before her was Damian, on his knees, with his hands bound behind his back. He was hurt, he looked like he had been tortured, and his dark hair fell over part of his bruised face.

Raven rushed over to him, dropping to her knees in front of him.

"Damian." she cupped his face, "I'm so sorry."

The look in his usually bright emerald eyes was distant, they no longer had the spirit they had once possessed, and he offered no response to her.

Trigon quickly dragged her back from him. Raven thrashed against his hold.

"I figured I should at least allow you to watch as I end his useless life."

"Don't. Please, I'm begging you."

Tears gathered in her eyes, threatening to spill over her lash line.

"It's much too late to be asking for mercy."

Before Raven even had a chance to react, Trigon was behind Damian plunging a sword through his heart. His body fell limp to the sandy ground as Trigon removed the weapon.

Raven's breath hitched, "No!"

Watching this scenario unfold, was worse than being set on fire. She wanted to burn, though. She fell to her hands and knees, sobs wracked her body, overcome with grief and anguish.

Trigon jerked her head up to meet his cold eyes, his hand keeping her face in place.

"This could've been somewhat avoided, if you had only allowed me to be free, but remember this daughter. I will always find you. Always." his voice seared into her soul.

And with that, he viciously snapped her head to the side. She felt nothing, nothing at all.

Raven jumped awake, breathing heavily. She looked around frantically at her surroundings, at first not remembering where she was.

"Hey, Raven, are you alright?" Damian asked her.

She breathed a sigh of relief, slouching back into her seat.

It was a dream. Just a dream. It felt more like a nightmare, though. Her heart hammered in her chest, the sporadic thrum, making her feel on edge.

"Y-yeah, it was just a bad dream, that's all." her voice wavered.

He looked over at her, noting the faraway look in her purple eyes. Briefly, he wondered what she had dreamed about, and debated asking her if she wanted to talk about it, but in the end, he decided against doing so.

Raven eyes caught onto the time displayed on the dashboard, it read 2:15 a.m. She turned in her seat to glance back at Donna, only to see that she was dead asleep.

"Damian, you've been driving for a while, maybe we should stop for a little bit."

"I'm fine. We need to keep moving."

His stare was focused on the dark rainy road ahead. Raven hadn't noticed until now that it was raining, droplets fell over the windshield, and splashed down onto the road. She had no idea where on earth they were, but as long as they were far from Jump City, that's the only thing she cared about.

"Okay, well then let me drive," she said.

"No."

Raven released an annoyed sigh, "You're hopeless."

He raised an eyebrow, and turned to look at her, "Says the girl who refuses help from ninety percent of people."

She rolled her eyes, despite knowing he was right.

Suddenly Donna stirred from her slumber, stretching as much as she could in the cramped sports car.

"Is it morning, yet?" she asked.

"Unfortunately, not," Raven replied.

Donna groaned.

Raven saw that the trees surrounding the edges of the road were beginning to thin out, the reason being so that there was a bridge up ahead. She noted that below it was a deep ditch, about fifteen feet down.

Right before they got to the bridge, something from the woods ran straight out in front of the car, disappearing into the woods at the other end of the road. Damian pressed his foot down on the brakes, the car came to a screeching halt. He could almost see Dick's face when he eventually saw the state his inevitably expensive tires were in.

Everyone was flung back against their seats. Raven's heart nearly jumped out of her chest at the suddenness of it all.

"What the hell are you doing, Damian? Are you trying to get us freaking killed?!" Donna exclaimed.

"Something just ran out in front of the car!"

"Did you see what it was?" Raven asked.

"I didn't get a close enough look at it."

They all sat in the car, only hearing the rain pattering against the outside of it. The eeriness set everyone on edge. The three of them exchanged perplexed expressions.

"Are you positive you saw something?" Donna probed.

"Yes."

Almost as though at the words leaving his mouth, a figure emerged from the trees, slowly going to stand in front of the Lamborghini. Raven and Damian immediately recognized the figure as one of the demonic emissaries Trigon had sent after Raven at the carnival. Its red face contorted in malevolence, unsettling the group.

"What is that thing?! And why on God's earth are you just sitting there, run the damn thing over, Dami!" Donna stressed.

"It's a demon. And we can't just run it over, it will follow us. We have to kill it."

"What?!"

"It's undead," Damian said, nonchalantly.

"That's what you're focusing on?"

"Raven and I have fought its kind before. We know how to take it down."

Before anyone had a chance to react, three more of the creatures trickled out from the woods, gathering around the one in front of the vehicle.

"Crap," Raven muttered.

"Life just keeps getting better, doesn't it?" Donna asked sarcastically.

Damian unbuckled his seatbelt, putting the car in park, and reached into one of his pockets, revealing a dagger. The blade glinted in the darkness, the handle was embossed with black and gold, and the sharp edge glimmered with the promise of easily slicing through anything with the ease of cutting butter.

"Never go anywhere unprepared." Damian recited dully.

The team shared a final look before exiting the car.

Raven walked through the rain, it slowly wet her clothes. She wondered how she let this happen, or how it even happened at all.

I told you that I would find you. No matter how far you run, I'll always be right here with you.

She shuddered at his words, trying not to dwell on them too much.

Within a few seconds, the three teens stood together, just a mere few feet from the demons.

"Come with usss, Raven, and we won't harm your friendsss." one of them sneered.

"Never. I won't let him win."

"He's already won. Don't drag thisss out any longer."

Raven stood her ground, not moving, not speaking, she held the undead entities' eyes. It seemed to get the point that she wasn't going to come willingly.

As quick as lightning, one of the demons raced for Raven, she sidestepped, easily dodging his move on her, and kicked him to the ground. It squirmed, trying to move from its vulnerable position, but the thing was too late, Damian had his foot against its chest, and precisely slit its throat, a black substance seeped from the wound, and it temporarily went limp. They both knew that it would come back, and they would just have to keep wearing them down, but they didn't have another choice at the moment. Donna's eyes went wide, seeing first-hand the brutality that Damian Wayne was capable of.

After that moment all hell seemed to break loose, the other creatures raced for the group, some letting out a low growl as they did so. Damian quickly kicked the body of the first attacker away.

"Don't hold back," Damian told Donna.

She nodded, signaling her understanding. She didn't have time to think about what she was doing, because a demon was racing towards her. The red glare of demonic energy crackled across its hands, and swiftly landed a blow to Donna's side. She stumbled back, caught off guard, but regained focus, and punched the thing in the side of the head, knocking it off its feet and hitting it so hard that it landed on the bridge ahead of her. She flew after it, deciding to focus on one at a time, as long as permitted to do so.

Raven released a series of attacks onto the closest demon near her, magic radiated off of her. She was thoroughly sick and tired of her father's games. She didn't relent. Whenever she saw an opening, she took it. If they were going to have any chance of beating these things, they would have to show no mercy.

Damian despised the fact that he only had a dagger, but he knew he could handle anything that was thrown at him, inferior weapon or not. A demonic being fired energy at him, he evaded the not well thought out attack, and moved behind the thing, digging his dagger into its stomach and dragging down, using its surprise against it, he easily snapped its neck, its lifeless body dropping. The demon Raven and him had taken out earlier was back up and running towards Damian, he heard its footsteps and turned around, elbowing it in the side of the head, and plunging the blade into his neck. The thing faltered but only for a second before the wound healed back up. Damian met eyes with the demon and prepared for the next move that it would make.

The fight raged on for what felt like forever to the team. At this point they were all soaked, the rain was cold and brutal, coming down in sheets on top of everyone, making it hard to see. And somehow everyone had ended up on the bridge. Raven could feel her strength wearing thin, along with her magic. Donna was tired and worn out, the group having only fully taken down one of the demons. The fact that Damian hadn't slept in a good twenty-four hours didn't help their case either.

Raven and Donna were both focused on one of their attackers. Raven barraged it with magic, while Donna focused on striking it. The entity soon caught on to their fighting pattern, and when it did so, blasted Donna with energy, forcing her to the ground, the thing charged up for another attack, but before it could Raven summoned what little strength she had, and shot out a stream of magic. Donna quickly got up, and slammed it to the wet ground, bringing her foot down onto its neck with as much force as she could muster. A crack echoed across the bridge, followed by a strike of lightning from the sky above. The blow was enough to fully take out the inhumane thing, it receded back to where it came from.

Raven didn't have time to catch her breath, because the next thing she knew, she was being shot in the back with dark energy. Pain seared throughout her, and she whipped around to see a demonic emissary charging up for another attack, Donna moved to help, but Damian was already kicking it in the side of the head. The thing let out a growl, and assailed Damian, knocking him back at least four feet, so that he was almost at the edge of the bridge. Damian barely had time to get up from the ground before it was grabbing and pulling him to the very edge.

Raven realized what was happening, and started to move towards them, but the other remaining demon hit her with the force of a giant, her head hit the ground, and she swore she saw stars. Her vision went foggy and she could barely hear, the only thing she could recognize was the familiar red form standing over her, gearing up for a final blow. Donna acted fast, taking the opportunity of the thing being distracted by Raven, and slammed its head into the wet concrete, the deafening noise of its skull-cracking brought Raven out of her stupor, she looked up and remembered Damian.

She didn't have time to act. She didn't have time to think. It happened so quickly that she barely noticed the fact that Damian had stabbed the demon in the eye. In a fit of rage, the creature from hell grabbed Damian and flung both himself and Robin over the bridge. Her heart stopped and the only thing she was capable of doing was watching as the boy she cared most about, fell over the fifteen feet drop. He disappeared out of sight.

"Damian!" Raven cried.

She couldn't move for the first few seconds, neither could Donna by the looks of it.

No, no, no. This can't be real.

Fear overtook her, fear of the possibility of seeing his lifeless body lying in a ditch. It made her feel sick to think about it. She couldn't let the fear control her, though.

Raven jolted up from the ground, nearly slipping as she did so, she made her way over to the edge. Her feet slowed as she neared it, not wanting to look over. Donna followed closely behind her, feeling the weight of the situation.

Raven braced herself, and shut her eyes, only allowing herself to do it for a split second, before gathering what courage she prayed she had and looked over the edge. The sight below her messed with her head. The only thing at the bottom was the demon, with his neck bent at an awkward angle. No sign of Damian.

"What the hell?" Donna queried.

Raven didn't know whether to feel relieved or terrified.

Soon enough they heard leaves cracking as though someone was walking on them. They turned to the left to see Damian trekking up the side of the hill, and onto the road, his dark hair plastered to his face. Relief and happiness flooded through Raven. She'd never been happier to see a single person in her entire life.

Her feet start moving on their own accord, running towards him. The rain splashed across the ground, as she raced across it. She practically threw herself at him, wrapping her arms over his broad shoulders, and holding him close to her. Damian hugged her back, returning the embrace.

"You scared the life out of me!" Raven stated.

"I'm alright. The idiot broke my fall."

She pulled away from him slightly, glancing over his face, landing on one specific part of his profile. They were both breathing heavy, each person winded from their endeavors. Raven for one of the very few times in her life experienced desire. She didn't think about the consequences her actions would bring or anything else for that matter. For once in her life, she didn't worry about what would come of incautious events. She didn't allow herself the luxury of thinking before doing.

In an act of somewhat delirium and relief, she eagerly pressed her lips to his, kissing him. Damian seemed a little taken aback at first but whatever original misgivings he may have had completely disappeared when he realized how long he had been waiting for the moment to be able to feel her lips against his own. He pulled her closer, if that was even possible, and kissed her back. Their mouths worked against each other's, lips clashing in a frenzy of somewhat rushed kisses. Raven cupped his face in her hands, reveling in this brief moment of normality, in this moment she felt like they were the only two people in this world, even if that sounded like the most cliché thing she had ever heard. Damian moved his hands to her waist, flitting over the curve of her hips. The storm above them hadn't let up, the rain seemed to be coming down heavier if anything, which meant that both of their clothes were soaking wet, their bodies pressed tightly together leaving little to the imagination. Both of them were hungry for more, not wanting this to end, but despite their wishes, they knew they couldn't do this, not right now at least. Raven pulled back from the kiss first, softly disconnecting their lips.

"Raven, I-" Damian didn't get to finish his sentence.

"Glad you're both not in denial any more." Donna teased.

Damian stepped back from Raven at Donna's mocking words. Raven looked to Donna who was standing just a few feet away, looking drenched and somewhat miserable, along with a glimmer of something she couldn't quite decipher in her eyes.

Damian didn't waste any time walking away from the girls, and back to the car. Raven felt a pang in her heart.

What if he regretted it?

"Donna, please, don't bring this up to the rest of the team. I don't know what I was doing. I just…"

"You just what?" she questioned, willing her friend to recognize her feelings.

"I don't know, alright. Things are complicated."

"Things didn't look complicated to me."

Raven knit her eyebrows together, questioning whether or not the kiss Damian and her had shared was just a moment of passion or something more, something deeper rooted than that.

"But, if you insist on being blind, I'll keep my mouth shut."

"Thank you."

Raven knew it was a backhanded comment, she didn't care. Right now, they had to focus on the task at hand.

Donna internally rolled her eyes, before changing the subject, "Now can we please get out of this godforsaken rain?"

"Yes."

Hours passed by, painfully slow, as the group continued driving. Originally, sitting in a car in soaking wet clothes, wasn't the most comfortable thing, but at this point, they were mostly dry. The drive was silent, they barely talked to one another, not knowing what to say. Specifically, Raven and Damian.

Damian couldn't believe he had let himself be so reckless, especially in a situation like the one they were in. When she had kissed him, he was caught off guard, not expecting to feel her soft lips pressing against his own. He couldn't blame her, though, he had kissed her back. He had wanted to kiss her, that's what scared him most. The fact that he couldn't seem to get a grip on himself, that he felt like he didn't have any control over what he was doing, left him feeling like he was almost spiraling. He always had been in control over himself, and his actions, he didn't understand why what happened a few hours ago had changed that. He questioned what their kiss meant, he questioned what it meant to her. He knew he cared about her, a lot, as was told to him by everyone around them, but whenever the invading thoughts of romantic feelings crept in, he generally pushed them down into the deepening abyss of his mind. He had almost kissed her after she had healed him, but he'd quickly brushed that moment off as something he couldn't describe. Deep down he knew the hard to accept truth about the way he felt towards her, he just couldn't admit it to himself. Damian never let anyone close to him like he had with Raven, not even his own mother and father. Though he hated to admit it, the thought of fully letting someone in, terrified him.

Raven sat in her seat, staring out at the road ahead. Thoughts clouded her head as well. Damian had hardly said a word to her since the bridge incident. She didn't know why she kissed him, maybe it was because she was so relieved to see him, maybe it was because she was overjoyed that he hadn't fallen to his death moments prior to it, or maybe she just really wanted to kiss him. The tension between them over the years hadn't gone unnoticed by her, she knew they had a connection deeper than just friendship, they just never acknowledged it.

What if he doesn't feel the same? What if I ruined our relationship?

All the questions she harbored would have to wait until after the sun came up, even though it was already five-forty, they still had twenty minutes to go, not to mention the fact that Donna was in the car with them. Raven figured Damian wouldn't exactly want to have this conversation with little miss wisecrack in the same vicinity. Still, it didn't stop her from glancing over at him and wishing that she didn't have to wait.

They hadn't passed by any cars in hours, most likely because they were literally in the middle of nowhere, and there was only road for miles, but as they carried on ahead, the group noticed something lying on the road. Damian slowed the car, peering over the steering wheel, and trying to get a good look at the sizeable thing. Donna leaned forward in her seat for the same reason as her comrade. Raven didn't even need to try and figure out what it was, she had known what was on the road as soon as she had seen it, the cloud that emanated off of it felt like death. Her face went slack, and the car pulled to a complete stop. Raven didn't even alert her teammates to what she was doing, she just exited the car as quickly as she could, heading to the gruesome scene.

"What the hell are you doing?" Damian called, following after her.

Donna soon followed suit.

Raven's eyes traveled over the body. It was a man. He was probably in his late twenties she had guessed. His throat was slit, and the cut was so deep she could see bone. She felt sick. The most unsettling thing about the scene was that his face looked petrified, his death must have been horrible, she thought.

Damian's eyes widened as he saw what Raven was standing over.

"Oh my God," Donna stated.

No one knew what to do. They just stood there looking over the victim of this heinous murder.

"We should call the police," Donna said.

"We can't," Damian answered.

"This man probably had a family, or friends at least. We can't just leave him here!"

Damian grit his teeth, internally knowing she was right, and also knowing that he didn't want to have to deal with the guilt of just leaving him here later on.

The longer Raven looked at the man, the more creeped out she felt. The victim somewhat felt familiar to her she just couldn't put her finger on it. Her slight fear turned into paranoia. Like something bad was about to happen. The pit in her stomach deepened, staring into the man's blank expression, and suddenly Raven felt like the main character in a Final Destination movie.

"I think we should leave," she said, abruptly turning around to look at Donna and Damian.

The others both gave her quizzical glares, but neither had time to open their mouths and say anything to her statement.

"Now why would you do that when the fun's just getting started?"

Raven whipped to the side, only to see Deathstroke, standing before her. Her heart dropped, and she immediately took a defensive stance.

"Miss me?" he asked.

"How could you do that to this man?!" Donna ignored his question.

He sighed, "Really? Do you think that low of me? I may be an assassin but I haven't stooped to killing random civilians and leaving them in the middle of a road."

Slade snapped his fingers together, and suddenly the man on the road morphed into a demonic emissary, the knife cut remained though, and he was still dead.

"How noble of you." Damian mocked.

"Still a smartass, I see?"

Damian narrowed his eyes at the armored man.

"I have to admit though, you guys pulled a really good stunt back at the tower, slipping away like that. Too bad your friends couldn't go with you."

Anger flared in Raven, "What did you do to them?!"

"Nothing too bad, I'll leave the real torture up to your father."

"He'll never escape." Raven objected.

"We'll see about that."

Slade released a bout of fire at the three of them, it caught them off guard, but they all were able to easily evade it, quickly stepping back from the heat of the flames. Donna launched herself at Deathstroke, her fists connecting with his body, hitting all the weak points she knew of in armor. Slade stumbled back, dazed by her sudden attacks. Damian followed suit after Donna, continuing to hammer Slade with a vary of numerous combat moves. Deathstroke somehow found a way out of the barrage of kicks and punches and started blasting flames at each of them.

Raven soon got tired of his antics, and just felt like ending this seemingly never-ending battle. She brought forth what remained of her last reserves of power and strength, trying not to imagine the consequences of her using so much of her magic, especially at a time like this, and directed the purple energy onto Slade. The tendrils wrapped around his wrists, pinning him into place, as he struggled against the bonds. Tendrils soon turned into pitch-black chains, with a weight at the bottom, forcing him to the ground on his knees, and bolting him to the concrete. Raven felt like killing him, a dark voice in the back of her mind, prompted her to do so. She knew it was wrong, but she wanted to make him suffer eternally for all the wrong he had done, to her friends, to her family, and to everyone else in the world who was burned by Slade Wilson. She felt her energy darken, and made a chain appear around his neck, he choked, coughing at the force at which it hugged his throat. She made it tighter.

"Raven, what are you doing?!" Damian demanded.

She offered no response, her now dark purple eyes focused on the criminal in front of her.

End him, daughter, and join me. Together we can rule this pathetic world filled with nothing but the cesspools of humanity's filth.

She clamped her jaw shut, knowing she shouldn't listen, but something nagged at her, making her want to end Slade's life just as her father had said. She felt as though she was being drowned in darkness, but not just in any darkness, in her own, she had always known demons were lurking beneath the surface of her calm exterior, but she had pushed them down, deep down into the part of her mind she didn't dare enter. But right now, everything was surfacing. Every single thing she had promised herself not to be vengeful for, flooded her mind.

Raven stared into the eye slits in Slade's mask.

"Do it, little girl. Or don't, your father did say you were weak, said you took after your-"

She choked him harder, not even daring to let him speak of her innocent mother.

"Raven, don't!" Damian stepped in front of her, "Listen to me, don't stoop to his level. Don't become everything you've hated. If you go down this road there's no turning back, and I can't let that happen to you."

Raven looked between Slade and Damian. She felt her powers waning, signaling that she couldn't keep this up much longer.

Don't listen to the boy.

She didn't want to do this, she knew this was all of her emotions coming out, it didn't make it any less hard for her to stop, though. Raven gritted her teeth, and shut her eyes, trying to block out the pounding in her head. Raven recited the words that Damian had spoken to her.

Don't stoop to his level.

With that she released her hold on Slade, and fell to her knees, wondering what the hell she was thinking. Tears spilled down her cheeks and didn't know when she had started crying, all she knew was that it hurt.

Damian crouched down in front of her, his eyebrows knit together.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what I was doing. I just-"

She didn't need to finish her sentence for him to understand, "I know."

Donna rested a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Raven looked up at Damian, through tears that clouded her vision, but she didn't need to be able to see perfectly, to realize that someone had wrapped their forearm around Damian's neck and pulled him away from her. Raven jolted to her feet, about to run after him, but Slade had a knife pressed against Damian's neck in an instant. She could see the edge of the blade digging into his flesh.

"I wouldn't try anything if I were you," Slade said. "You won't need to, though, if you turn yourself over to me."

Raven's eyes widened, her heart pattering irregularly in her chest. She opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out.

"Don't even think about it, Raven" Damian admonished.

Slade, jerked his hand causing the knife to leave a slight cut in Damian's skin. Raven was set on edge, taking in a sharp breath.

"If I go with you, you'll let him go?" she asked, panicked.

"I'm nothing if not true to my word."

"My life isn't worth the world, just run."

"Damian, I can't just let you die." she croaked.

"Oh, how precious someone cares about you for once," Slade remarked, directing his snide comment towards Damian.

Damian reared back against Deathstroke, and Raven couldn't bear to watch the scene unfold, fearing what would happen if Damian made one wrong move, but Slade held tight, not allowing his captive to move.

"Make your mind up," Deathstroke demanded.

Raven didn't have the slightest clue of what to do. She knew both options were a lose-lose, with either choice she was screwed.

Her silence must've made Slade think she had given her answer, "Guess, you've made your choice."

Slade tightened his grip on the knife.

"No, don't!" Raven stepped forward.

A gasp escaped her mouth as Damian shut his eyes, bracing for the coming slit against his neck. Before Donna, Raven, or Damian had the chance to do anything, metal clanged against concrete.

Author's Note: I started my junior year of highschool today *groan*. Summer come back! But don't. Please don't. I hate the heat. Tell me what you guys thought about this chapter and don't forget to favorite and follow!