Author's Note: Just a little note for vanity's sake; the views on my stories are broken, but reviews still work! So if you have a moment to let me know you're there and what you think, it would be appreciated!

Azrath was a peaceful place. Serene. No one would've known from looking at it that it held such dark secrets. Such evil impulses. Thousands of years ago the monks had transcended to another dimension. Physiologically they were human, but their minds had evolved far beyond the constraints of humanity and they had sought refuge from the rabble. The common folk, those who still lacked any form of control over their emotions. Seclusion is a desirable thing when you're so painfully different from those around you. Moving to another dimension was next level though. And still that wasn't enough. It wasn't enough to control their emotions, the leader of the monks, Azar himself, taught them to purge them. Remove them entirely. But emotions are energy and energy has to go somewhere. So as the monks of Azrath cast their suppressed rage, their hatred, and their fear into the void. And, in time, the void cast something back.

It was this concentrated negative emotion that gave birth to the entity known as Trigon. They hadn't meant it, hadn't known this could happen, but the distillation of human emotion into pure malice and hunger takes on a form. In the darkness it manifested, consuming and growing, until it eventually became a demon. Not the sort that fell from Heaven, but a much more malignant kind, the kind that grows inside a person. Trigon was born from the negativity of dozens of repressed monks and the more they felt, the more powerful he became. You can't just get rid of your baser emotions; they always came back. Trigon came back, destroying world after world, until he caught the attention of his creators. They were pacifists, after all, and such violence abhorred them. They couldn't believe so much destruction had come from them, from their hubris and negligence. Azar sealed Trigon away. But that didn't stop him.

Fast forward a few hundred years and Angela Roth was in a dark place. She'd been born there, been raised there, and now, running away from yet another overcrowded foster home, she was festering there. She was 16 and cold and angry. It had been March, which wasn't a noteworthy month. Nothing overly interesting happened in March, like Easter or Thanksgiving. But it was cold in March. It snowed in March. A lot. And Angela, unable to find shelter, was out in the snow. It was so bad she was seriously considering going back to that foster home. They'd take her back- they had to. She'd go back to school, back to peers who thought she was weird and classes she didn't care about. At least she wouldn't die frostbitten and alone. Well, not frostbitten. She felt so alone, so cold and isolated and angry. Maybe she'd already mentioned that. It was hard to keep track.

That's where they'd found her, in an alley somewhere in Chicago, huddled up next to a trash can and buried under snow. They'd taken her in, fed her and clothed her and warmed her up. Her foster families, some of them had been kind. They'd wanted to care but hadn't had time. These people, though, had nothing but time. They told her they were antiestablishment. They didn't really have a code or anything, but they did have a leader. His name was Trigon and, after a few weeks, they'd told her he was a demon. Demons weren't what people said, they were just powerful entities. Like the pantheons of old, gods that wished to be on the mortal plane. They could be generous. They could bring about great change. Angela liked that; in her rage she liked the idea of a world on fire, where all the horrible people would be burned away. They'd sold her on the idea of paradise and she'd agreed. Trigon needed a portal. He needed to plant a seed.

They hadn't been specific about the ritual, hadn't told her what it would entail. At first it was just theatrics, just candles and robes and chanting. Then the portal had opened and he'd emerged. Trigon. At first palatable, human shaped with antlers like some kind of deer. She'd let him touch her, let him undress her. But the longer the ceremony went on the more demonic he became. She'd tried to say no. She'd tried to get away. It didn't matter, her preference wasn't important. They'd lured her into an arrangement none of them were willing to take on and now she had been trapped. He planted his seed, then the cult didn't need her anymore. They just needed the child growing inside her. Angela hadn't liked that, hadn't liked being tricked, so she did what she did best and ran.

That's how the monks of Azrath had found her, on the run and desperate yet again. They'd created Trigon, so of course they felt some responsibility. And they couldn't allow a creature that destroyed everything he touched access to the world of their ancestry. So they'd brought Angela to them, across dimensions into Azrath. They'd offered her safe haven from the cult that hunted her and, more importantly, aid in raising her child. The half-demon. Trigon's gem. Angela knew in the moment it had been conceived that she should kill it. She knew, fatalistically, that no good could come from it. Yet it was just a baby. Just a child not responsible for the circumstances of its conception. Not at fault for the destiny it couldn't avoid. Angela had accepted haven in Azrath and become Arella. And to her daughter she gave the name Raven.

Little Raven was not much of a hazard, but as she aged her powers grew. The monks taught her to control her emotions, the source of her strength, to suppress them. Bury them and force a placid calm across the raging storm of her mind. And Raven, being eager to please, threw herself into it. She didn't understand why she had to be so controlled and composed. They didn't tell her what she was fated to become, the dark origin of her tiny self. No, she had to find that out on her own. Raven was young the first time she'd glimpsed the future, maybe 9 years old. Time flowed strangely in Azrath, in this place without seasons or variation of the daily routine. Even now Raven wasn't 100% sure of how old she was. But she knew she'd been young, impressionable, and what she saw left a significant impression.

It was a world she'd never seen before, vast and diverse. She saw mountains covered with snow and jungles teeming with vegetation and steam. Endless deserts filled with orange sand and bustling cities brimming with human bodies not unlike her own. Their skin was peachy and their hair earthy shades like brown and black and wheat. They spoke in dozens of languages, most of which she didn't understand, and they moved through life quickly without any of the discipline the monks had taught her. But by and large they seemed happy enough, or at least experienced moments of happiness. They loved. Most of them, anyway. And they did it freely. It was a whole world and it was beautiful. Then came the fire, not from the sky, but up through the ground, splitting the earth. Boiling off the seas and burning everything green into nothing but ash. Where once there was water and grass lava surged to the surface and the people let out piercing screams of pure agony as they turned to stone. Raven was watching this happen yet she got the sense that there was no more Raven now. She was looking into a future where she disappeared. Only the demon, massive, red, horned, with four glowing eyes, remained. His presence brought destruction as he devoured the life around him, transforming what had been vibrant into something hellish. And all the while he laughed, savored the suffering, and his consumption would know no end.

A 9-year old Raven woke up screaming, covered in a cold sweat and shaking so violently her teeth clattered together. It was a violent outburst that had never happened before and would never happen again. The vase on the chest of drawers was surrounded by black energy and crushed into dust. The wood beneath it cracked and splintered. And the walls shuddered with the force of her telekinetic terror. Arella opened the door, only hesitating a moment before going to her daughter's side.

"Raven, what is it," she soothed, tucking a lock of violet hair behind her little ear and pressing her hand to Raven's cheek. "What's the matter?"

"I saw… I felt…" Raven struggled to explain, staring straight forward with wide, indigo eyes. "It was the end."

"It was just a dream, little one, nothing more. You need to get control of your emotions."

"But mother, it wasn't a dream. It was real. I was there."

Arella pursed her lips and smoothed Raven's hair, feeling a fear of her own begin to build in her stomach. Raven still wouldn't look at her. She couldn't even slow her heartbeat down, let alone rein in her emotions. Finally, desperately, she asked for the information that had been withheld from her her whole life. She asked to know what she was.

"Who is Trigon?"

Sighing heavily, Arella consulted the cracked wall for counsel. The monks had warned her against honesty at such a young age. A small child needs to feel hope, even if there is none. Yet Arella could sense what Raven had seen, and she knew there was no way to put the genie back in the bottle. Raven already knew, she just didn't know she knew. Little or not, the truth was upon them. Arella sat down on Raven's bed, by her legs, and took her hands. Rubbed her thumb across the grey skin. She looked… so sad. Raven didn't understand what she'd done to make her mother so sad.

"Trigon is… he's your father, Raven."

"My father," Raven repeated, frowning. "Why have I never met him then? Where is he?"

"He's sealed away. You need to understand… Trigon is evil."

"Evil? But that can't be. Does that make me evil?"

"Oh Raven," Arella sighed again, squeezing her hands. "Yes. I wish it wasn't so, but what you saw was the future. Trigon made you so that, one day, he could use you to enter our world. He seeks to destroy; no amount of destruction will ever be enough for him. You are his gem; one day, you will let him into the world I came from, open a portal to Earth. And on that day it will be the end."

"What are you saying?" Raven shook her small head, tears welling in her big eyes. "I wouldn't do that. I don't want to destroy anything."

"You don't have a choice. I wish I could've kept this from you longer. I wish it wasn't true. But Raven, this is your destiny. The stronger you get, the closer to the end we come."

Raven opened her mouth, to argue, to deny, but in her heart she knew what she'd seen. A world on fire. And she'd seen it because it was unavoidable, because she'd caused it, willing or not. Her body pitched forward in a display that would've mortified the Azrathean monks, her arms encircling Arella as she buried her face into her shoulder. Raven would one day have exquisite control over her emotions, so much so that she could even hold back tears, but she wasn't there yet. Tonight she was just little, and afraid, and hurt. She wept as her mother shushed her, stroking her back. That night Raven learned two things about herself. First, that her destiny was to destroy the world. And second, that she wasn't going to let that happen. Knowledge hardened inside her as she cried and, eventually, when the tears stopped, little 9-year old Raven knew she was going to do whatever it took to prevent this Trigon from entering her mortal plane.

Arella stood by a balcony overlooking the city. Time flowed different in Azrath, but she knew because she'd known time before. It had been 18 years since she'd come here. Eighteen years since Raven's conception. In that time her daughter had only gotten stronger. Maybe it was the demon inside her, maybe it was the human, but she'd developed a powerful rage. Arella was in no place to judge; by the time she'd been Raven's age she'd rage-quit at least four foster homes and been impregnated by the secular Satan. She had no room to talk about rage. The monks of Azrath, though, were concerned. They worried at her strength, and the way her powers built year after year. They worried they couldn't hide her from Trigon's influence much longer, that the end was coming. And Raven herself… She had mastered every spell and meditation technique they could throw at her. She was superb in every subject they'd insisted she study, spoke five languages, and could levitate entire buildings if the situation called for it. What more could they ask of her? More than that, what more could they offer her?

"Mother," the teenager greeted, coming up behind her. She wore a navy leotard and hooded cloak. Her face was grey and impassive, the only splash of color coming from the cinnabar stone on her Ajna chakra and her violet hair. They'd had this exchange a thousand times before, but Arella sensed this time something was different.

"Raven," she answered, keeping her back turned and hoping her empathic daughter couldn't sense the sinking feeling in her gut. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I'm not going to mince words," Raven said in a monotone that betrayed none of the trepidation she was feeling. "I'm leaving, mother. I'm going to Earth."

"You can't do that," Arella shot back, dismissive. She rested a hand on the balcony and looked out over the peaceful city. "If you leave he'll find you."

"Only if I lose control."

"You shouldn't take that risk. What's gotten into you?"

"I have to do this. Azrath has taught me everything it can and it still isn't enough. If I stay here the end will come, I know that."

"Have you had another vision?"

"It's always the same. A world drowned in fire. I have to stop it, mother, or at least, I have to try."

"Darling, you can't stop it," Arella finally turned to face her daughter, furrowing her brows sympathetically. "We can only postpone it."

"You don't know that," Raven snapped, letting just a hint of irritation through. "There's a whole world out there, filled with knowledge we can't imagine locked up in Azrath. And there are other demons. If anyone knows how to defeat a demon it's another demon."

"So that's your plan then? Seek out more evil? Then make them spill their secrets?"

"If I have to. I'm going out there to learn what they know. I didn't come here for your approval."

"Then why are you here? Why even bother telling me about this madness?"

Raven tilted her head, just a little, just enough to let Arella know she'd struck a nerve. They didn't have what you'd call a friendly relationship, between Raven literally being demon-spawn and the don't-show-affection philosophy of Azrath. That didn't put them at odds. Raven wanted Arella's approval, even though she said she didn't care, and was hurt that her mother thought her grand plan was madness. Arella was afraid for her daughter. She was terrified. Once she was out in the world she'd be beyond Arella's ability to help. Out of her control. She wanted to embrace her daughter, to hold her close and refuse to let her go, but that fight was already lost.

"To say goodbye," Raven finally answered, making fists. "I came to say goodbye. I'm opening the portal tonight and leaving."

"Raven, please, be reasonable. You cannot change your destiny. The best you can hope for is to delay it."

"I don't accept that," she shot back. "I don't accept that I'm evil, that I can never do any good for this world. I didn't choose to be like this, but I can choose to be better. I need to do this. Please mother- if you can't accept me then at least accept that I need to do this. I need to try."

"You will fail…" whispered Arella, folding her hands in front of her and dipping her chin. "There's no escaping what you are."

"Maybe," answered Raven turning her back on her mother for the last time. "Even so, I have to try."

The world of men was a strange place, a place with bustle and unchecked emotion. A place with economics. She'd figured out pretty quickly that to live here she would need money and that, dressed as she was, she wasn't likely to make any conventionally. So she did what any telekinetic teen would do in a pinch and gambled. Literally, she went to a casino and, with a little starting capital borrowed from a fountain, manipulated her way into enough money to survive for a little while. It was convenient too, because people indulging in vices were also susceptible to demons. No one particularly dangerous or powerful, just enough for her to get her feet under her. Desperate people are more open to extreme possibilities; "it's a demon" wasn't met with as much resistance as she originally feared. It wasn't conventional (people in these situations weren't always looking for conventional anyway), but her soul-self could enter a possessed person and she could defeat the demon in their mind. Concerned loved ones were asked to leave the room during the process and the newly freed individuals never had any idea what had happened. And so, little by little, she started to build a reputation.

With reputation came calls for more serious cases, stronger demons who knew a thing or two. Raven was the most powerful demon currently on the planet, so these others folded easily. Yielding their secrets to her inquiring mind. She learned there was a lot of variety in the demon population, demons focusing on sins, demons that manifested as a type of psychosis, demons who feared God and demons, like Trigon, entirely of man's making. Each had different strengths and weaknesses, different ways to suppress them. Usually the ones that feared God responded to traditional exorcism and she never had to deal with them. People sought her out to look at the others and she quickly became proficient. They told her about the properties of stones and symbols with power, about items imbued with magic and spells that would make the monks of Azerath envious. One even given her some specifics on the purifying properties of sodalite. Another spoke of obsidian. And together, with one of the wards she'd learned, she'd been able to craft an amulet that made her look completely human. Eventually, work started to find her.

"He has these terrible nightmares, nothing helps," a concerned girlfriend was saying. Raven thought her name was Lisa, but that could've been the last client. "And sometimes it's like… someone else is speaking. And his eyes… they… well, you'll see."

"You keep him locked up," Raven asked, fingering her pendant thoughtfully.

"He locked himself up. He said he was going to hurt me but I know my Stephen. He would never do that. I brought in a doctor but he was completely normal for that; he's completely normal when other people visit. But I'm not crazy- I'm just not. You have to see."

Her hand rested on the door, her fingernails bit back to the quick and some of her cuticles raw from picking. There were bags under her brown eyes and her mousy brown hair was a mess around her shoulders. Life can get you down, but it was common for people dealing with demons to be this ragged. Maybe it was gaslighting, but Raven's instincts on this one told her that this wasn't just a demon, but it was a particularly malignant one. Lisa bit her lower lip, thinking, questioning herself and her decision to bring a stranger into their apartment to look at her possessed boyfriend. She insisted she wasn't crazy but now, as she thought about the entirety of the situation, she was questioning that. Raven sensed her hesitation and acted, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"If there's no demon," she reassured. "I will leave. I don't expect anything from you. But if this is supernatural you owe it to yourself and to Stephen to try every option."

"Every option," Lisa repeated, shaking her head.

Then, decisively, she opened the bedroom door. It was dark inside, someone had covered up the windows, and it stank like rotting eggs. Sulfur. Raven stepped into the door frame and frowned. In the dark she could make out a human shaped form sitting on the bed. When he turned his face towards her, though, she knew for sure. He'd recognized her through her disguise, like they always did. He knew instantly what she was and wasn't trying to hide his own nature. Yellow eyes glowed in the gloom. Lisa let out a sort of whimper and pressed a hand to her temple, cradling her head as truth looked her in the face.

"Oh Lisa," he mocked (using "he" because it was not Stephen speaking). "Letting the devil herself into our home? You really must be desperate."

"She's going to help you, Stephen," Lisa said, like she was trying to convince herself.

"She's going to help herself," the demon answered. "Or do you not know what she is?"

"I'll need you to wait outside," Raven said, calmly. "And say outside, no matter what you hear, you need to stay outside. I will let you know when it's all over."

Lisa opened her mouth to protest, then looked into her boyfriend's glowing yellow eyes and closed it again. Whatever she was going to do, it couldn't be worse than letting that- that thing live in Stephen's skin. She nodded in resignation and closed the door. Leaving Raven alone with the demon.

"I take it you know why I'm here. This can be easy," she offered, hands reaching up to remove the amulet that concealed her true nature. Her true power. "Give me what I want and I won't hurt you."

"I've heard about you, half-breed," he sneered, standing. "And I do have something you want. I have information about your future. I'll tell you, if you leave me be."

"That's not going to happen. I won't let you hurt these people anymore. Besides, I already know my future."

"Not this you don't." He smiled and his teeth caught what little light was in the room. "You think you're alone, Raven. You think nothing can hurt you. You're wrong."

"I am alone," she said dismissively, holding up a hand engulfed in black energy as her eyes lit up. Stephen's body levitated off the ground and his arms pressed into his sides. But instead of being intimidated, he laughed at her.

"Maybe for now. But someday soon you're going to love someone. Evil is coming for him and there's nothing you can do to stop it. You'll try to save him, but you'll fail. I can help you with that. I can tell you what you need to know to save him, right now, if you let me keep this body."

"No," Raven rejected him flatly, squeezing him with her mind. "You can't trick me demon, I know your all liars. You'd say anything if it meant continuing to hurt people. Now, get out before I force you out."

"Suit yourself, Raven. You'll regret it. You'll remember me for the rest of your life."

Raven slammed him into the drywall above the bed and tucked her chin dangerously.

"Get. Out."

The demon laughed again, staring at her with those glowing yellow eyes and seeing into a future that gave him joy. He delighted in the suffering of others, in the destruction he caused. Maybe he'd lose this battle, but there was another coming, much greater than him, and nothing she did would stop him.

"Make me."

Raven was staring at herself in the bathroom mirror. It was an irregular occurrence; vanity wasn't one of her vices. She knew what she was and didn't much care what she looked like. She didn't wear makeup, kept her hair short and manageable, and most of the time hid behind an amulet that made her look human. Even though she wasn't. So there was really no reason to look in the mirror, other than to check and make sure she was presentable, let alone stare. Yet here she was. Fascinated by her own appearance. Or, more correctly, wondering what it was about her that could fascinate someone else. She reached up and ran her middle finger over her lips, tilting her head and assessing.

Kori- Starfire, she liked everyone, so it wasn't overly perplexing that she'd befriend Raven. Starfire could befriend a cactus. Their relationship, still laced with secrets, seemed strange enough to Raven. She never thought she'd have friends, but then there was Starfire. And she'd never thought someone would find her attractive, but now there was Garfield. He'd called her pretty. He'd wanted to kiss her, to hold her hand. Starfire made her feel like she didn't want to be alone, but Garfield? For the first time in her life Raven felt like she wouldn't be alone ever again. She felt accepted, desirable, and she didn't understand it. What was this feeling building up inside her, these wild ideas to break him out and join up with these other misfits and save the world? She'd always wanted to save the world, but in a quiet, passive way. Save it from herself. Now Garfield had filled her head with crazy fantasies of being a superhero. Even more outlandish than that, being a person. Being a girl who could tolerate being held and kissed.

Raven took off her amulet, assured that Starfire was long asleep, and set it gently on the bathroom countertop. Her skin faded to grey and her hair and eyes brightened. Violet. Inhuman. Like him, the wrong color, the wrong shape. Freakish. Monstrous. It wasn't possible for someone to love her or for her to love someone else. Emotion was the enemy, the path her father would take through her and into this world. Why, then, as she remembered the feeling of his breath on her skin and his fingers against hers, was nothing happening? Why did the destruction happen only when she pulled away from this feeling of… longing. Her visions told her this was fate, that they would be together, and her heart, such as it was, was all in. Even Garfield was committed, she'd sensed that from him for days. He wanted to be with her and she, as it turns out, wanted to be with him. She wanted to be a girl and fall in love. Only her mind resisted.

She looked at herself, trying to see what Garfield saw, the person she wanted to be. A person no one else could see, not across the distance she placed between them. How had he gotten so close so fast? When had she let her guard down and for what reason. Why did she still feel warm when she thought about him, his green, animalistic body close to hers? What were these goosebumps that crawled across her skin when she thought about her visions and his fingers in her hair? What the hell was going on with her emotions? Raven had never felt like this before, not for anyone, and the moment she isolated that fact the fear came.

It had just been last year, just before she'd met Starfire, that the demon had made his prediction. One day she was going to love someone, and when the darkness came for him she wouldn't be able to stop it. And her visions, too, ended with burning red eyes in that emerald green face, making a grotesque compliment as he pulled his lips away from his fangs in a snarl. Becoming the animal he feared he was as something turned him inside out. Demons know other demons. He cried out for help she was afraid she couldn't provide. Was it Garfield? Was this the beginnings of love? Was she damning him by loving him?

"Demons lie," she whispered to herself.

It didn't make a difference; fear twisted her gut and, engulfing the mirror in black energy, cracked it. Her reflection fractured. Quickly, she grabbed her amulet and put it back on, taking a few calming breaths. Pushing these thoughts from her mind and tamping down the fears and images of Gar's smile alike. She was in control. She could handle anything that came her way. And tomorrow, when she went to see Garfield, she would stay in control.

"Demons lie."