Chapter 8: Castaways

The battle rages on between Raven, Blackfire, and me. It's been weeks since Raven and I arrived at the Saint Francis Monastery…weeks since our first encounter with Blackfire in the office….weeks since I came to the realization of exactly who I am and what I'm meant to do. Blackfire has returned at least once a week to battle us, wear us down so that we won't be able to resist when the time comes. A purple Mark of Scathe burns on Blackfire's forehead, showing her loyalty to the incarnation of all evil…Trigon. The glowing red markings that cover Raven's body have returned to show a sign of the times. Blue markings, identical to the ones on Raven, have become apparent on my body as well.

Fade into song

When there's trouble you know who to call

TEEN TITANS

From their tower they can see it all

TEEN TITANS

When there's evil on the attack

You can rest knowing they've got your back

'Cuz when the world needs heroes on patrol

TEEN TITANS...GO!

With they're super-powers they unite

TEEN TITANS

Never met a villain that they liked

TEEN TITANS

They got the bad guys on the run

They'll never stop 'til the job gets done

And when the world is losing all control

TEEN TITANS...GO!

1...2...3...4...GO TEEN TITANS!

Fade out of song

Blackfire flies through the air at super-speeds with Raven and I on her tail. She all of a sudden turns around and hurls many purple starbolts at us. We dodge to the best of our ability.

"You can't dodge forever," Blackfire says with a laugh.

"She's right Psy," Raven says in exhaustion. "She's wearing us down."

"No," I say fiercely. "We can't give up! We won't! I won't let this happen."

"You might as well accept your destiny boy. It's inevitable," Blackfire says menacingly.

"AAAAAAAAAAARGH!" I let out an angry scream while flying at Blackfire as fast as I can. My fists charged with dark psychic energy. "Why don't you shut your face?"

I catch her off guard and my fist makes contact with the side of her face. She's knocked unconscious and violently falls to the earth below, hitting it with such an impact that she leaves an impression in the cold hard ground.

Raven and I float back down to the ground, and Raven collapses in exhaustion.

"We don't have time to rest," I say as I grab her hand, pull her up, and force her to run.

"Where can we run to Psy? We've already been kicked out of the monastery because of all the destruction caused."

"We'll go anywhere…anywhere but here."

"She's going to find us no matter what. There's no stopping this Psy. It's the end of the world, we have to do this, and it's our destiny."

"You know what Raven? I'm sick of this! Just because you've accepted the fact that this is the end, doesn't mean I have to! We may be twins but we're complete opposites in the fact that I'm optimistic; I'm always looking for the good in things, always trying to find the silver lining. But you, you're always pessimistic. Nothing is ever good enough, everything is always going to go horribly wrong, and you don't even try to stop it!"

"That's a lie! You weren't here the last time the world was coming to an end! You weren't around when I did everything possible to stop it!"

"But you didn't stop it! Because eventually you just gave in, gave up, and quit!"

"Awwww look," comes Blackfire's voice in a mocking tone. We spin around in anger to face Blackfire. "The two twins aren't fighting are they? I think what you two need is a time-out!"

We stare each other down, waiting for the other to make the first move. I quickly speak to Raven telepathically.

"Raven, I've got a plan."

"Well I'm listening."

"You fly straight up, and I'll fly straight at her. She won't be expecting it."

"Alright, let's do it!"

Raven crouches down preparing to soar into the sky, while I crouch down to attack, though I still look like I'm ready to fly as well. Blackfire simultaneously gets ready for an aerial assault, and also prepares to fly.

"GO!" Raven and I shout to each other telepathically.

Raven shoots into the sky, and while Blackfire's attention is on Raven, I zoom full speed at Blackfire. As I reach her, I grab her around the waist and fly with her towards the wall of an abandoned building. As I reach the wall, I pull Blackfire up in front of me as a sort of human shield, and collide with the wall with all my strength.

Raven floats back down to earth and stands staring into the dust and rubble.

"Psy?" Raven asks warily.

"Uuunnngggghhhhh," Blackfire moans as she walks out of the dust.

Raven quickly prepares for the next attack, but a quick black flash comes from behind Blackfire, and knocks her completely unconscious. I stand behind her arm still extended, and eyes still glowing from this last attack.

"Psy, wha…" Raven starts.

"There's no time, we have to go."

"But where are we going to go?"

"Anywhere, and please don't argue with me this time. We just need to go, and go now."

Raven nods, and the two of us fly off into the distance leaving Blackfire's motionless form lying on the ground behind us. We fly for hours, searching for a place to hide…searching for somewhere to stay.

It's been six weeks since our fight with Blackfire, but not six weeks since we've come in contact with her. Everywhere we go, she finds us, and we've been to many places looking for refuge. But no matter where we go, no one wants us around.

We've stayed at an orphanage, pretending to be normal teenagers. But after a few days, my powers unleashed themselves while I was sleeping, and sent many things flying around the room, including some of the other orphans. The next day, Raven's anger got out of control and she made a huge hole in the ceiling. We were quickly asked to leave.

We stayed with a foster family for about a week. This was probably one of the best places we stayed. They treated us well, and we got home cooked meals. But Blackfire found out we were there, and while Raven and I were out, she attacked the family that was housing us. When the family found out that the two of us were the ones Blackfire was after, we were promptly kicked out.

A major train wreck a few weeks ago was because of us. It made it to the national news and everything. Raven and I were staying in a box car for a few days, and the train we were on was heading for Berlin, Germany. Blackfire found us with her new, Trigon-given, powers to track us down, and blew up the train in her attempts to find us. The German government is still confused at how exactly the train exploded.

We actually spent two weeks in a palace in India. Once we got to India, our powers were revered and we were treated like gods. We were put in the royal palace with the king and queen and treated very well. We taught meditation to a few students wondering how we got our magnificent powers. But once the king and queen found out from an "unknown source" that we were the spawns of Trigon the Terrible, we were kicked out and called demons.

Two teenagers, a boy and a girl, very disheveled and dirty in appearance, walk the streets of London. The rain is pouring down on them hard, and they both look cold. The boy has his arm around the girl, in attempts to keep her warm. The two spot a bridge, and curl up in a corner under it. After a few minutes of silence, the girl begins to cry.

"What's wrong?" The boy asks.

"How much longer do we have to live like this? How much longer do we have to keep running?" The girl replies.

"Raven, it's either this…or the end," the boy says back.

"But Psy, this isn't right! It would just be easier to accept this and get it over with! It would be easier to just be done with it," Raven says between sobs.

"Maybe you're right," I say in dejection.

"Finally, so you two are finally ready to cooperate?" says an all too familiar voice.

"Blackfire," Raven and I say simultaneously.

"So, are you two kids ready to finally come with me?"

I look at Raven standing beside me, cold, hungry, dejected. I can't let her live like this. But at the same time I can't let her become the portal. I have a bad feeling that there's something different about this time. Something that can't be undone, something deeper. I look up at Blackfire, with anger burning in my eyes.

"We're not coming with you, not now, not ever!" I yell. I grab Raven's hand, and focus hard on Blackfire. "Raven, are you ready?"

All of a sudden, Raven's head snaps up. There's a fire burning within her. "I've never been more ready Psy."

"AZARATH…"

"And what do you kids think you're doing?"

"METRION…"

"No! You can't!"

"ZINTHOS!"

All of a sudden, a giant black raven, and a giant black tiger burst out of Raven and me. They soar up into the sky, and combine with each other into a dragon of black energy. The dragon flies at Blackfire, who let's out a blood-curdling scream. She tries to fly away, but a flash of lightning from the storm blinds her momentarily and she falls to the ground. Blackfire then turns and tries attacking the dragon instead of running from it. She fires off starbolts mixed with fire at the dragon. But instead of making contact, the fiery starbolts are just soaked into the dragon.

The dragon, which is the combined souls of Raven and me, attacks Blackfire. It picks her up, and flies into the air, flying with her into the clouds, Blackfire screaming the whole way, the dark energy of the dragon burning Blackfire's skin. The dragon releases Blackfire, and she quickly plummets to the ground. Unable to remember the joy of flight, Blackfire continues to drop at an increasing speed. The dragon flies and attacks her multiple times while she falls. She smashes into the ground and lies there, unmoving. The dragon lands on the ground in front of Blackfire, and separates back into the tiger and the raven, which are then pulled back into our bodies.

Raven runs over to check Blackfire.

"She's still breathing," Raven says. "But I think she's in a state of comatose."

"Good, let's get out of here."

Only minutes after Raven and I leave, a burning mark of Scathe appears under Blackfire. It opens up, and pulls her underground.

"You were supposed to weaken their spirits. You were supposed to prepare them for my coming. You were supposed to bring them to me," says the menacing voice of Trigon. "You have failed to do any of this. All you've done is made their spirits stronger, made them more ready to fight my coming, and led them to continue to run from me!"

"No, master, I tried!" Blackfire screams in self-defense.

"SILENCE!" Trigon bellows. "Need I remind you of what is to come if you fail me again?"

All of a sudden, fire engulfs Blackfire.

"If you deny me my son and daughter once more I will not only strip from you the power I gave you, but I will also strip away the very thing that makes you who you are."

Blackfire's screams continue to emit from the flames.

"NO! YOU CAN'T! PLEASE DON'T! AHHHHHHHHH!"

"Yes I can. Fail again and you shall no longer be Tamaranean. You shall become the race you despise the most."

The flames die out, and there stands Blackfire, only now she has become what she most fears. She has become…human.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Now, bring me the gems or your current state will be PERMANENT!"

"Psy, where are we going?"

"To see some old friends, one of them I'm sure you'll be happy to see."

"Do I know these friends?"

"I sure hope so," I say with a chuckle.

Raven and I are riding a train, and this time it's not in a box car. It's actually in a passenger car. I took out all the money I had, and bought two train tickets to a land called Markovia, the home of Prince Bryon and Princess Terra Markov, also known as former Titans, Geo-Force and Terra.

The train arrives in a small town on the border of Russia and Markovia. Markovia is a country that has sheltered itself from the influences of the outside world, so there are no trains that go into this small, middle-aged country. I was in Markovia once before due to my kidnapping. That was over a year ago now. I was kidnapped from my home and my family in America by Count Bedlam, who at the time, was trying to take over the country of Markovia by using me to control his legion of werewolves. I wasn't doing it on my own free will, I was being blackmailed into doing this unspeakable act by Bedlam's lackey, Sage, a woman who was mastered in kung fu, ninjitsu, and karate as well as black magic. In the end, I teamed up with Terra, Bryon, Emerald and Wolfgang to take out Bedlam and Sage, thus bringing Markovia back under the rightful rule of the prince and princess. But the last time I was with them, I didn't know that I myself was a prince. So I knew this would be an interesting reunion. Besides, the time I spent with Bryon and Terra, I heard all about Bryon's love for a certain "angel of darkness", which turned out to be Raven all along.

"Prince Bryon, Princess Terra," a castle guard started. "A young man and a young woman have requested your presence. They are not from this country, but claim to have traveled many hundreds of miles to see you two."

Terra and Bryon look at each other, and then Bryon looks to the guard.

"Did these two happen to say who they are?"

"All they said was to announce that the prince and princess of Azarath have come to meet with the prince and princess of the great land of Markovia."

At the word 'Azarath', both of the Markovs looked at each other in shock.

"Azarath," Terra says in shock. "Isn't that where…"

"Where Raven is from," Bryon answers her question before she has time to finish. "But I didn't know there were a prince and princess from there."

The two ponder this for a minute, and consult each other until they make a decision.

"Allow their royal highnesses to enter," Bryon says formally.

Raven and I have had enough time to clean ourselves up a bit before entering. Raven is still a little unsure of where we are, but I feel that she's slowly figuring it out. The giant doors to the chamber where the prince and princess await open, and we move inside. As we enter, we make it about halfway into the giant room and…

"Raven!" Bryon shouts.

"Bryon!" Raven yells back.

The two run to each other and embrace. Tears stream down Raven's face.

"Oh Bryon, I thought I'd never see you again."

Bryon puts a finger under Raven's chin and lifts her head so that he can look into her eyes. He lovingly kisses her on the lips.

"My angel of darkness, I shall never leave you. Not ever."

I smile when I see the two of them together. But another shout brings me away from the touching scene.

"Psy! Oh my God! Psy, it's you!" Terra shouts.

Terra comes running over to me, looking funny trying to run in a large flowing gown. She hugs me tight, and I return the hug.

"It's good to see you Terra."

"So, you remember me? You remember everything now?" she asks as we pull out of the hug.

"And how do you expect me to forget you?" I laugh. "You're like my best friend. Duh!" We both laugh.

"Come!" Bryon says. "We must celebrate the coming of our friends Psy and Raven. A feast must be had."

The four of us congregate in the dining room, and so much food is brought out that there's no way anyone could eat it all. We laugh, and eat, and catch up on old times, laugh some more, and then talk more.

Hours later, Raven and I meet with each other. We have to talk about how we're going to tell Bryon and Terra about what's going on.

"But how are we going to tell them?" Raven asks.

"I don't know, but we need to tell them. That's inevitable."

"Well no kidding, but how do we go about doing it? It's not like we can just walk up to them and say, "Hey, we're the son and daughter of Trigon, an interdimentional demon, and there's been a prophecy that we're gonna bring the end of the world by bringing him here."

"Well obviously."

"So…what do we do? How are we going to tell them?"

"I…I just don't know. We need more time to think it over. In the mean time we'll just have to pretend nothing's wrong."

"I guess. But I don't like lying to Bryon. He'll know, he'll find out. Psy, Bryon and I have a connection…a soul bind. Over two and a half years ago I cast a spell that made my soul and Bryon's into one. He'll know."

"Well we're gonna tell them, but not now. Let's wait 'til tomorrow, at dinner. Sound good?"

"I guess."

What Raven and I didn't know was that Terra had been listening at the door the whole time. She heard every word, and quickly went to tell her brother.

The next morning at breakfast, Raven and I wake up, and head to the royal dining hall. But on our way there we're seized by many of the castle guards. They bring us to the thrown room of the castle where we are brought in front of Prince Bryon and Princess Terra.

"Bryon, Terra, tell them to release us!" I yell to our friends.

"Bryon, help me!" Raven shouts to her love.

"I'm afraid we cannot help you," Bryon says with tears in his eyes. "It isn't that we hate you, it's that you two pose a threat to our country. We know who you are, and what you're destined to do. And I'm afraid that you can't stay here."

"But Bryon, my love," Raven starts.

"Dearest Raven, my angel of darkness, I love you with all my heart. But you cannot stay here. You and your brother endanger my sister and my country."

"Terra?" I ask, looking for her opinion in the situation.

"I'm sorry Psy. You are and always will be my best friend, but it's too dangerous. Please understand."

"No, I can't understand. You're supposed to be our friends. You're supposed to help us no matter what. But everywhere we go we're treated like trash. It's not our fault we're the children of Trigon! We didn't choose to be like this! The Titans didn't want us around, so they sent us to Saint Francis's. The monks at Saint Francis's didn't want us, so we went to that horrid orphanage," I scream as tears stream down my face. I look over to Raven and she has crumpled to the floor, on her knees crying. "Look at me, look at my sister! Aren't we the same two people? Aren't we the same friends? How can you put us out like this? How can you do this to us?"

"I'm sorry Psy," Bryon says, also crying. "But with the curse that the two of you have, no matter where you go, you'll always be treated like castaways."

"Castaways…yeah," I say bitterly as the tears flow from my eyes. "Come on Raven, we need to go. We're not wanted here either."

I pull Raven up off the floor, her sobs loud enough to be heard throughout the enormous throne room.

"Goodbye my love," Raven whispers.

I wrap my arm around Raven's shoulders, and the two of us walk out of the castle, into a rainy day at Markovia. The doors shut behind us, and the guards lead us out of the country.

Castaways…that's what Bryon called us. And it's true, we continue to run, not knowing what lies ahead of us, not knowing how much longer we have to run before the inevitable destiny catches up to us. But still we run, still we hide, still we fight. We won't give up, we can't. But I still fear that the end is near…it's so near I can feel it breathing down my neck. But I won't give up, not without a good, clean fight.