Here it is: the climax. Hopefully you guys won't be too mad at me by the end... And since this and the next few are the major angst chapters, there will be swearing. FYI, this is the first time I have voluntarily used swear words in a piece of writing. The one in Anger Management was put there by the co-author.

And don't expect an update too soon. I'm still writing the next chapter. :)

Disclaimer (as usual): I don't own the Teen Titans. But I'm saving my paychecks so I can buy them!

Seconds later, Jinx was pounding on the door, answering the pounds coming from inside.

"Raven?" she yelled, desperate for some sound other than bangs.

"Jinx!" Raven shouted back.

Jinx heard someone grunting, then a loud clunk. There seemed to be some sort of fight going on inside. She looked around wildly, trying to figure out what to do. Her eyes fell on the keyhole of the door.

Jinx reached up into her hair and took out her hairpin, brushing her party hat off in the process. Thanking her good fortune that this place still used keys and not some modern swipe card or automatic locks, she pressed the pin into the lock, desperately trying to unlock the door.

- - - - -

Raven and Malchior were inside the apartment room, both determined to win this fight. Raven was doing everything she could to break Malchior's hold on her, not caring who got hurt in the process, while Malchior was struggling to keep hold of her and not hurt her at the same time. He had her in a bear hug from the back.

"It's too bad I've started self defense lessons, huh Malchior?" Raven asked sarcastically, stomping down on his foot. Hard.

"Hey!" Malchior protested, trying to ignore the pain in his foot.

"Ever since my father hit me, I swore I would never let another person hurt me ever again," Raven said through clenched teeth. Cursing the fact that Malchior was wearing shoes that no doubt cushioned her blow, Raven began reviewing everything her martial arts teacher had taught her in the last few weeks.

She stopped moving, letting Malchior get a better grip on her. Although this sent a chill up her spine, she knew that it was the only way to get a good stance, and stance was key to winning this type of fight. She slid her right foot out to the side and bent both her knees: horse stance.

With this stance she was able to loosen Malchior's grip a little. His grip was now around her shoulders rather than her chest. Before he could adjust to this new stance, Raven elbowed him in the stomach. Completely forgetting that this was not class, she then brought her fist down into a hammer fist, hitting him in his groin, which was the next move in the sequence.

Trying to ignore where her hand had just been, Raven stepped out into a lunging stance, grabbing one of his hands with her own. She turned to face him, pulling his hand to her waist, completely breaking his hold on her. Then she kicked his exposed side, let go of his hand, and stepped back into fighting stance. Her party hat had fallen off and was lying at Malchior's feet.

"And that was Yielding Fire," she told the bruised Malchior standing hunched in front of her. "Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not the girl from the book. I know how to take care of myself."

"Way to go, Raven!"

Raven looked up from Malchior, and saw Jinx standing in the doorway, a pin sticking out of the lock.

"Piece of cake," Raven shrugged. "The boy doesn't know kung fu." Laughing, she stepped around Malchior and went to join Jinx by the door.

- - - - -

"The enchanter's curse is strong," Malchior whispered as Raven stepped back into a fighting stance. "He will work through the girl to try to defeat Malchior. Malchior must be ready to break her, and anyone who gets in his way, if he has any hope of defeating Logan and regaining his throne. Once the enchanter's curse is broken, Rae will remember nothing and become Malchior's queen."

As Raven walked to join her so-called friend, Malchior bowed his head towards them.

"Forgive me, my queen, for this must be done."

"What?" Raven turned, for she had obviously heard. Malchior took advantage of this vulnerable position and dashed over to both of them, shoving them into the room and closing the door once more.

"I have told you already," Malchior was frowning at the two girls sprawled on the floor. "This is destiny. You will remember nothing once it is over." This said, he reached behind him and produced a knife.

He kept his eyes on the two girls, both staring at the blade in his outstretched hand.

"Please tell me you got all the way to knife defenses in kung fu," Jinx muttered to Raven.

"I might be able to make it up," Raven shrugged as she and Jinx began scrambling back as Malchior advanced. "I mean, I know most of the regular blocks."

"We need Robin's karate expertise," Jinx's eyes turned to the door, as if doing so would make him burst through the door.

"Neither of you will be able to stop me," Malchior said, rather enjoying his newfound power. With nothing, he was not intimidating and could easily be taken down, but now that he had a knife, he had two girls on the floor in front of him. They had to listen to him now.

- - - - -

"Look, I know this might not be the best situation," Raven whispered to Jinx, careful to not let Malchior hear, "but as long as we do what he says he won't hurt us. Then when he lets his guard down we'll get the knife and take him down."

"Can you do that?" Jinx looked at Raven, frightened.

"I may have only been taking kung fu for a few weeks, but my instructor told me I've advanced pretty quickly. Besides, I swore that I would never let anyone hurt me again. That's got to count for something."

"Stop talking!" Malchior frowned. Raven and Jinx quickly shut their mouths and turned their attention to him.

"Now, both of you go into my bedroom," Malchior had an evil grin on his face now. As Raven moved to stand up, he took another step towards them, pointing the knife directly at her face. "And I want you to crawl."

"I'll go, but I am not crawling," Raven stood up, putting her hands out, ready for combat. "If you have a problem with that, then I'll take you down again."

Raven was praying with every fiber of her being that Malchior didn't come at her with the knife. She might be able to hold him off, but there was no saying what would happen if he managed to get a few hits in. And now that she was in this kind of situation, three weeks of kung fu suddenly felt like nothing.

"Fine," Malchior kept the knife pointed at her. "But I want both of you to go separately." Then as an afterthought he added, "And put your hands on your head."

Raven seemed reluctant to follow these new instructions, but she shot Jinx a look that she hoped looked confident, and raised her hands to her head.

"You first," Malchior pointed to Raven with the knife.

"I'm not leaving you alone with Jinx," Raven brought her hands back down in front of her. Almost automatically, she bent her knees into a fighting stance.

"Whatever," Malchior rolled his eyes. "You," he pointed to Jinx, "just go. It's down that hallway, first door on the right." Jinx, with her hands over her head, walked slowly down the hallway and into the bedroom.

"Now you," Malchior gestured to Raven. Shooting him a dirty look, she placed her hands on her head and began walking towards his room. She felt the tip of the knife on her back, and looked behind her to see Malchior not two inches behind her.

"Creeper," she muttered. He obviously chose to ignore this, and followed her into his bedroom. Jinx was standing by his closet, obviously frightened by the posters and the number of books Malchior owned.

"Both of you sit on the bed," Malchior insisted, pushing Raven with the knife. Jinx hurried over and sat next to her. The two friends linked arms as soon as they were next to each other.

"Now let's go over some ground rules," Malchior twirled the knife lazily. "The both of you are not to talk. If I hear anything," he stopped twirling the knife and instead pointed it at them again, "you'll be sorry." He walked over towards the bed. Raven and Jinx shrank back automatically, but Malchior was just moving over to the other side. Without taking his eyes off them, he reached down and pulled out a long, black gun.

"What's that for?" Raven asked, trying to keep her voice steady. Jinx was trembling next to her.

"Funny you should ask, my queen," Malchior moved closer to her. "This is the key to freeing you from the enchanter's grip." As she and Jinx looked on, Malchior took what looked like a golden bullet out of his pocket. "This," he held out the bullet "will free you forever."

Malchior loaded the gun with the golden bullet, and then put three more regular bullets in. He cocked it, and pointed it at Jinx.

"What are you doing?" Raven asked, pushing Jinx over so she was not in front of the weapon anymore.

"Just teasing," Malchior laughed. "I would never waste the golden bullet on her. That's what bullet four is for."

Raven looked away from Malchior to look at Jinx. Her friend's face now bore a look of such fright that it scared her. There were tears in her eyes, and she was biting her bottom lip as hard as she could. Raven put an arm around Jinx's shoulders and turned back to Malchior.

"You'll never so much as touch her without getting through me," Raven said, her voice full of anger. "I swear I will kill you if you try." Now if only she was as confident as her words…

Malchior laughed coldly, and walked over to the window.

"Now, neither of you are to intervene, or I swear I'll kill her," he motioned to Jinx with the gun. He peered out through the window, looking down at the group of people below.

"Everything's going to be okay," Raven assured her now trembling friend, wishing she believed herself.

"If I die, tell my mom I love her, okay?" Jinx sniffed, wiping her tears with the hand that was not pinned to her side by Raven's embrace.

"Nobody is going to die, I promise," Raven assured her. She looked around at Malchior, who looked as if he was setting up an angle with the gun.

Raven let go of Jinx, and slid over to the other side of the bed, looking over Malchior's shoulder. She took a deep breath, then asked, "What are you doing?"

Malchior jumped, obviously startled, then turned to look at Raven.

"I'm saving the world," he took up his aim again. Raven followed the barrel of the gun, and found it pointed directly at Garfield.

"No!" she shouted, tackling Malchior from behind, making him pitch forward, almost losing his grip on the gun. The two tumbled down to the floor, Raven trying to wrestle the gun away from him.

But Malchior had an advantage once again. With Raven still grabbing at the weapon clutched in his hands, he turned to gun to Jinx.

"Let go or I'll shoot," Malchior said over his shoulder. Slowly, Raven released her grip on Malchior and sunk back onto the bed. Then, as if struck by a thought, she grabbed at the gun again.

"You won't do it," she insisted, narrowing her eyes at him. "You said you wouldn't waste the golden bullet."

"True," Malchior pulled the gun away with such force that Raven's hands were suddenly clenched on air. "But how do you know the golden bullet will come out first?"

"Damn it!" Raven punched the bed.

Malchior laughed, and situated himself by the window again. He began to aim the gun again.

"Come on, Malchior, you don't really want to do this, do you?" Raven tried to reason with him. "Okay, so let's pretend for a minute that you're right about everything. Then what? You just kill someone and get away with it? The police will show up in ten seconds after you so much as shoot the thing, let alone actually hit someone."

"That's where you're wrong," Malchior turned to look at Raven, smiling fondly. "As soon as I defeat Logan, my real parents will come to take me home. And you will be free of the curse and will stay with me forever."

Raven and Jinx exchanged desperate glances. "Dream come true," Raven whispered sarcastically. Then, she was struck with an idea.

"Hey, Malchior," she tapped him on his shoulder, and he turned around again. "Let's say you don't shoot anyone. What if I promise to break up with Gar and…" here she paused, barely able to continue, "go out with you instead as long as you don't hurt anyone?"

"You would do that to save him?" Malchior looked at her in disbelief.

"Of course," Raven put a hand on his shoulder. "I don't think you're a bad person, and I'd hate to see you hurt someone for something that will never happen."

"But you'd only be doing it to save him," Malchior was frowning again. "It wouldn't be real. I want the real thing, not an actress."

Raven groaned as Malchior turned back to the window.

"Please don't do this," she pleaded. "You don't have to hurt him. I'll do anything!"

Her pleas fell on deaf ears, for Malchior was now lining up the shot, ready to shoot Gar. Feeling tears well up in her eyes, she blinked furiously. She needed to keep calm. There was some way to stop him. There had to be.

"Jinx, get down under the bed," Raven whispered.

"What?" Jinx was obviously confused.

"Just do it," Raven hissed. "I need you to not be in shooting range. I have to save Gar and make sure you're safe too."

Wordlessly, Jinx slid off the bed and ducked under it. Raven turned back the Malchior and watched him level the gun, her heart rate increasing. As she watched, he tightened his grip on the weapon, his finger on the trigger bending slightly. Raven took a deep breath, knowing she had to time this perfectly.

Just as Malchior's finger tightened on the trigger, Raven yelled, "Gar, duck!"

- - - - -

"Where did Raven and Jinx go?" Gar asked Robin and Kori, who were next to him.

"I dunno, man," Robin looked around. "Maybe they had to go get something?"

Gar began looking around, wondering where the two of them could have gone. Then, out of nowhere, he heard Raven yell, "Gar, duck!"

"What?" Gar looked around wildly, trying to figure out where she was shouting from. He turned around, trying to locate her, when he felt the pain.

You may now throw things at me.