Updated! 9/27/2018

I cannot stop this sickness taking over

It takes control and drags me into nowhere

I need your help, I can't fight this forever

I know you're watching,

I can feel you out there

Chapter 9

In the end, it had to happen and she had to be the one to do it.

It took a great amount of strength, bravery, and willingness to overcome her fears. No one else's feelings mattered, no one else's opinions held any strength. Not Bruce's, not Damian's, not even Jason's. In the end, it was about her and she was the one who put an end to the entire mess that started on that fateful day.

It was like Robert Frost once wrote in a poem.

Two Roads Diverged in a yellow wood

And sorry I could not travel both

and be one traveler

She had two choices, she could listen to all those telling her to let them handle this or she could just do what she felt she must.

long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Each path had its own benefits and its own repercussions. Neither choice would truly make her happy so in the end, she chose to do what she thought would ensure everyone's safety, even if it would anger some.

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves, no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

And not everyone would be satisfied nor would everyone agree with her choices. And either choice could lead to success or it could lead to a life of seclusion or misery. Either path had the possibility of being the end of her, whether it be because she failed or because she succeeded.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

In the end, she made her choice and she took the path that only she could take, the path less traveled by and as Frost once said;

That has made all the difference.

Earlier

"Robin," Nightwing yelled into his communicator as he chased down Damian who had taken one of the R-cycles to attempt to save his father.

"Robin," he yelled again. "You need to stop! Can't you see it's a trap?!"

The rest of the Titans were told not to interfere and where being kept at bay by Starfire. All were worried for the two bat siblings and of course for Raven, the one the trap was obviously meant for.

"I am not a fool Grayson!" Robin yelled. "I know it's a trap but that's my father who is in danger and my best friend whom that crazed monster is trying to hurt again!"

"I understand that Damian!" Nightwing yelled. "But we can't just walk into this trap, that's what he wants. We both know Raven will try to save you if she thinks you're in danger and that's what he wants! He wants to hurt you and Batman by hurting her! Do you want that?! Do you want him to hurt her, to rape her again?"

Nightwing winced at the overwhelmingly loud sound of the tires shrieking to a stop. He came to a stop next to the young and confused man.

"No," Robin said as he removed his helmet. "I don't want that. I just want to keep her safe. I don't want her to ever go through that again. I want to kill him, I want to kill the Joker."

"I know," Nightwing said to the young man. "Trust me, I know. But we can't do that. We don't kill if we did we would become no better than the villains we fight."

"I know," Robin replied. " Todd's going to have Raven help him kill him and I don't want Raven to become that either. I know she will come to regret it in the future."

"We have to stop her then," Nightwing said to Robin.

"Let's find them," Robin replied with a nod.

"Disembowel him and watch as he bleeds."

Raven cringed at her father's words but ignored them.

"Raven!" Jason yelled. "Fucking let me go!"

Raven stared at the man that she had spelled to the wall. She could feel his utter anger and worry coursing through him. He was also very surprised, he wasn't expecting this betrayal.

If she was being honest with herself, she also had not foreseen her own betrayal to their plans but she couldn't bear to do what they had planned. The way she saw it, she had two paths. Kill the Joker and lose Damian or let the Joker live and forever be in fear.

But deep down she knew she couldn't lose Damian.

She loved him and she was not going to lose him. She knew he would follow her anywhere but she wasn't going to let it become where Damian would have to choose between her and his father. She just wasn't. Damian needed his father and even though he refused to admit it, so did Jason.

She would just have to ensure that the Joker would be trapped and trapped for good but she knew there would always be a chance he would escape.

But if he ever did, she would be ready.

"Raven," Jason said with worry in his voice. "Please don't go alone, I swear I'll help you take him down, I won't kill him. Just don't go alone."

Raven sensed the sincerity in his words but Jason Todd was a man driven by emotions. He was telling the truth now but in the heat of the moment he may lose control and she couldn't risk that. Jason needed Batman too.

"Raven," he pleaded. "Please."

Raven ignored the pleas and then she took out a Titan communicator.

"Raven don't!" he continued to plead.

She turned it on.

"Come in, Robin," she said to the device. "Its Raven, do you copy?"

Raven listened to him an answer.

Robin and Nightwing would be there soon.

Robin picked up the call as soon as he heard her voice.

"Raven!" he yelled. "Are you safe? Where are you?"

"The Joker has set up a trap," she said with her monotone. "I don't want to fall for it. I don't you two to fall for it. We need to come up with a plan."

Robin looked towards Nightwing who nodded.

"Give me your coordinates and we will be right there."

The two batlings made it to the coordinates within 15 minutes.

Raven was alone upon their entrance.

Damian had immediately run to her side and enveloped her in a hug. A very un-Damian gesture.

"We were so worried," he said.

Raven felt incredibly guilty. Damian was projecting such a fierce protective emotion. It was breaking her heart, the idea of betraying them.

"I'm fine Damian," she whispered as she pulled away.

She could sense that Dick was becoming suspicious. She had to hurry.

"Raven," he said seriously. " Where is Jason?"

In the blink of an eye, both men were suddenly enveloped in her dark magic and then attached and trapped in the wall. Jason appearing moments later.

"Raven!" Damian yelled to the young empath.

The young empath currently stood in front of the men she had trapped.

"Raven" Dick yelled with worry. "What are you thinking?"

Jason, who had been unconscious had woken due to the yelling.

"What?" he said groggily. " Dick? Kid? Raven! Dick shes going to try to handle Joker alone!"

"What!?" Damian yelled. "What do you mean alone, Raven don't be stupid!"

Raven cringed as she watched the men struggle.

"Raven don't be foolish," Nightwing yelled. "You can't handle him alone!"

"It matters not whether I can or cannot handle him," Raven said as she began floating. "What matters is that I must do this."

She gave one last look as she prepared to teleport away to what could be her possible death. All three Bat sons yelling at her to stop and think but she ignored their pleas.

"I'm sorry," she said as she disappeared.

"Raven!" Robin yelled. "This is your fault, Todd!"

Jason ignored the angry young teenager. He felt awful for what was occurring.

"Dick," Jason said. "Tell me you have a backup plan. We can't just let her do this alone. She's going to get hurt!'

"I don't," Dick said defeated.

"So we're trapped!" Damian said with defeat lacing his voice.

Damian looked to the men at his sides. He had a pleading look for he wanted nothing more than to escape this trap and ensure Ravens safety. But they were trapped.

"Yes," Dick replied. "We're trapped."

The closer she got to him the more her head hurt but the more she wanted to stop him. She could feel the utter chaos of his mind and it got louder the closer he was. She breathed in and out deeply to try and calm her nerves.

She wanted to stop him and to do that she had to be brave and strong. She had to be smart as well.

But she was beginning to doubt herself.

She stopped at a building, the building he had hurt her in and she could feel him. He was here and he was waiting.

She entered the doors.

"Now isn't this a pleasant surprise!" he said over the intercom. "Hello, pretty bird, here to play?"

Raven gulped and tried to hold back her fear.

"I was expecting the bat brats first," the Joker taunted. "Not my pretty bird but hey I am definitely not complaining."

She tried her best to sense where the Batman was and she could feel him. He was injured but alive. She honestly doubted the Joker would ever truly kill Batman. He needed him. Maybe they honestly needed each other.

That didn't matter for she was going to put an end to this. She needed to put an end to this.

She followed her sense to a door and phased through it. Inside was Batman beaten, bruised, and shackled to the walls. She was relieved that he was still indeed Batman, cowl and all.

He looked up at the noise.

"Raven?" he said confused. " Where are the others? Nightwing? Redhood or Robin?"

"Not here," Raven replied.

Batman had a look of surprise and she felt his worry and anger.

"You shouldn't have come alone!" he said to her as she came and unshackled him. "Go now! You can't handle him."

"That doesn't matter. It has to be done," she said. "I have to do this alone and you are in no condition to fight me on this."

Before he could respond she opened a portal into only she knew where and vanished the Batman.

That was 4/4 bats out of her way.

"I see you missed me," The Joker said. "Couldn't wait to be alone with me again."

Raven ignored him and began to phase through the walls, heading towards the source of the insanity.

She stopped in a room when the feeling got almost unbearable.

It was time and she was terrified but she went in.

He was sitting on a spinning chair, a big smile on his face, and he staring right at her. Right through her.

"Hello pretty birdie," he said. "If your here to play with me then you gotta take off your clothes."

The Joker laughed at his perverted joke causing Raven to wince.

He stood up and began to walk towards her. She stood in her current stance, not allowing him to intimidate her.

He was directly in front of her now.

"Oh how I missed you my pretty bird," he said grasping her chin.

He let his eyes travel down her body but she continued to stand deathly still. she couldn't tell if it was defiance or fear but she told herself it was defiance.

"Cat got your tongue?" he asked as he grasped at her chin once more.

She could feel he was getting annoyed at her refusal to respond and so he grabbed her breast roughly. She winced.

"I missed this you know," he said with his gross smile.

Still, she did not respond causing the muscle in his eye to twitch. He grabbed her by the neck and pulled her up.

"Playing brave little bird are you now," he said.

She could feel him getting angry, getting emotional and now she knew it was time to strike. She was afraid that things would get out of hand or she would fail but it was now or never.

She let a blast of her dark power fling him back and quickly brought her shields up as bullets rained from the ceiling.

"Bad move birdie," she heard him say.

she let her shield down as the last of the bullets shootout and she was immediately tackled by the clown.

"Playtime!" he said as he began trying to rip off her uniform.

"No!" she yelled as he managed to expose her breasts.

She began to panic as she felt him grope her. She could hear him saying things but the words were becoming fuzzy as her fear began to blind and confound her.

She was losing.

"Daughter!" her father's voice screamed. " Let me out. do not lose again! I will not allow this"

She couldn't think clearly as she tried to fight her two demons and she realized they were all right.

She couldn't handle him. She couldn't handle anything.

So she chose the other path.

She felt the tears run down her face. The Joker was hurting her again and she was losing control.

So she gave in to her demon.

"You will not kill him, you will not maim him, and you will not drive him more insane than he already is," she told the side of her that her father loved.

"You will scare him," she said to her demonic side, to her father. "You will back off once he is distracted enough for me to strike. Fair."

"Fair," the horrible demonic voice said.

"Being brave, how cute but you must know that that won't work," the Joker said. " I can taste your fear and I love it."

She was afraid, she could admit that, but she wasn't going to let him rule her like this. She was never going to let him rule her like this again.

Her skin turned red and she sprouted a second pair of eyes.

"Do you," Raven said to him.

But it wasn't her normal voice and the Joker had noticed, causing him to have an unhinged smile.

"Is that daddy dearest I see?!" he laughed. "Here to avenge your pretty little daughter, how sweet. Daddy here for daddies little girl, but she's not a little girl anymore is she."

The demon smirked.

"Perhaps," she said. "But that matters not to me."

In an instant, the power of Trigon was unleashed on the unsuspecting Joker causing him to scream in agony.

The demon enjoyed the scream and Raven couldn't control it. The demon was feeding off the pain the joker was feeling. Trigon loved it. She had to reign him in.

"You promised," she yelled as she tried to reign in her demon.

"He deserves this, he deserves to feel this pain!"

Raven had a hard time distinguishing between her own feelings and the rage of her father. The anger, the hurt, the rage!

But she had to put a stop to it. She could feel the life flowing out of the Joker, she was killing him and she couldn't let it get to something she could not reverse. She just couldn't become a killer.

She wasn't her father.

"NO!" she yelled. "Stop!"

Suddenly she was back in the room and the Joker was gasping for breath on the floor. He was bleeding and she could feel the pain radiating off him. He was broken physically and yet his mind was still the same. Chaotic, demented, and gross. She kicked him in the face, she couldn't stop herself.

He deserved it and now it was time to end this.

"Too weak to kill me eh," he laughed, blood dripping down his chin.

She glared and sent him flying to the wall with her powers.

"Not weak," she seethed. "But you are right. I am not going to kill you. I don't kill."

"Same stupid motto as Batman I see," he said.

"Yes," she said. "Killing would make me the demon I never want to become."

She continued to glare at him.

"So I won't kill you," she said calmly. "But trust me this is worse."

With that, she began to chant the spell that would send him away. Send the Joker away to a dark and desolate world of her creation. Hopefully to never escape.

"Oh, I see," he said as he felt himself be pulled into something he could not see but could feel. "Going to send me away? Banish me to another dimension? You think that will stop me?"

Raven continued the mantra.

"You will never be rid of me, heh," he laughed. "I will always be there in the back of your mind, in your nightmares. I will always be the one who had you first! The first time you let boy blunder touch you, all you will be able to think about is me! How I felt! How I smelled! You won't ever be okay!"

He continued to taunt as she continued her spell but she proceeded.

He screamed as the magic began to consume his body and soul. She winced but continued on.

"You will always be mine!" he yelled. "You'll never stop me!

He screamed and he laughed as the last bits if he vanished but finally he was gone.

She fell to the ground and picked up the little gem she had used to trap the clown. It was over.

It was finally over.

Then it all turned black.

End

I know this was kind of anticlimactic but I feel it fits. It was a drama the Joker wanted, why give it to him?

R and R, one more chapter!