Third Person; False Betrayal
There were very few heroes left standing. The majority of them were in shackles and unconscious. Starfire's eyes started to open. 'What in the name of Xäl…?' she thought. Then all at once, the last 24 hours came spiraling back to her. She looked around wildly for her friends. She realized then she was at the foot of a thrown, where the demon that had betrayed her was sitting.
"How could you do this to us?! We were your friends! We loved you!" she yelled up at the demon, a tear streaking down her cheek. The black haired girl merely laughed.
"Foolish mortal. Love does not exist. Look around you. Where do you see love? There is nothing but-" the demon stopped short. Her eyes widened, and she grasped her throat, letting out a horrible scream and falling from her thrown.
Third Person; True Betrayal
After Raven vanished Theron moved to the side of the pit and began repeating incantations.
"Theron, what are you doing?!" Galya asked, moving forward.
"Doing what should have been done long ago. Stay out of my way, Galya, and maybe I'll spare your life." Wordlessly, Galya lifted his arm and blasted Theron from behind.
"Agh!" Theron fell inches from the pit. The flames were rising in violent torrents now. "You idiot! How dare you? We both know I am the more powerful fighter."
"How about we find out, Theron," Galya seethed, and battle ensued.
Third person; Search
Raven rematerialized in what looked like a room made in the core of a volcano.
"Trigon! Show yourself!"
"Ah, Daughter. You've returned to me."
"Show yourself!" Raven repeated, spinning around wildly. There was a deep chuckle.
"Foolish child. I'm in you. I always have been. How do you think the mortal Coman began to resurrect me?"
"That's a lie! I hadn't seen Coman for years until yesterday! Where are you?! I'm going to end this now!" Trigon laugh echoed through the chamber again.
"To end this now you'd have to end yourself," Raven sat down on a bolder and said her mantra once, symbols radiating from her. Her astral self spiraled into the deepest abyss of her head. Before her stood a very real Trigon. "No matter how thoroughly you destroyed my physical being, my astral body will always thrive inside of you."
"Not anymore," and Raven unleashed any morsel of power she had on the entity of her father.
Third Person; Defeat
Theron and Galya were letting loose every bit of borrowed power they had, and Robin had started to stir. Theron was tossed on the other side of the room from Galya.
"You're the worst kind of evil, aren't you, Theron?!" He yelled across the room.
"No, I am," a voice radiated throughout the chamber. Raven came into view in the thick of the flames. She threw out her right arm and Theron flew up against the far wall. There was a sickening scream and a crack. Theron's limp form slid down the wall. Raven looked back at Robin. "How are you?"
"I need to get out of here," he said weakly.
"You do. Galya, we need to leave, and I need your help," the demoness said, turning to the last living Magistrate of Azarath.
"Of course," he said, nodding his head. His arms rose, a red sphere engulfing the three of them. They transported to the forest Raven had woken in. Standing before them were two trees, forming an arch, a sheet of pure white light stretched between them. "Your world lies beyond that," he said, gesturing towards the arch. He then dropped to his knees at Raven's feet. "Child of Azarath, I will not ask for forgiveness. I have done terrible things. I could have tried to stop the other magistrates from destroying our realm, but I did not. I was a coward when our world needed courage most, and now you are paying the price for it. You should kill me now, for my life means nothing anymore."
"Galya, I will not kill you. You were manipulated into doing what you did, and in the end made the right choice. I still need your help. Killing you would be a pointless sin. Please, rise. Your journey does not end here," Galya looked up, stunned. He stood and the three of them walked through the portal.
Third person; Rapture
The shackles holding the numerous heroes shattered. The demon rose from the ground, a hiss building in her throat. Starfire followed her gaze and saw one of the most glorious things. Raven and Robin descended from the clouds. Robin felt better immediately after leaving the nether-realm, and was ready for action. Raven, on the other hand, had never felt so drained in her life, but she knew what she had to do, and wasn't going to rest till it was done. Renewed hope coursed through the blood of the heroes still on the ground. They all let out a ferocious battle cry as one, and continued their attack of the intruding demons. In the thick of the chaos, Raven and her evil counterpart locked eyes, the rest of the mayhem vanishing in their minds. Nothing existed but the other. The red cloaked demon shot from the ground, Raven met her halfway, the collision deafening.
A smoking crater was now embedded in the earth where the other demon had just been standing. Ten feet below ground level, Raven stood over her opponent.
"You are the last remnant of Trigon, and you will be destroyed," Raven said. The demon laughed, and blasted up from the ground, taking Raven with her, and crashing them both through the side of a building. Raven sent the other demon flying backward with a powerful hit of her black energy. They collided again in midair. Raven grabbed the black haired witch by the arms, spun her around several times and sent her sailing through three building. The other demon let out an unnatural scream and flung herself at Raven again. Raven used her momentum to slam the other girl into the ground. Raven hovered in the air, 40 feet above the other demoness. Her eyes went black, her hair and cape were swept up in wind caused from her powers.
"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" No one could see. The light pulsed, with energy, almost as if it were alive. Finally, it subsided. The heroes looked around, confused. Raven stayed hovering in the air, staring down at the smoking hole where the black haired demon had been. She then fell from the sky, unconscious. Robin caught her, and looked around for Galya.
"Galya, she wants you to banish the remaining demons!" Robin yelled over the violent battles that had picked up where they had left off. Galya nodded, and silently raised both hands above his heads. The world erupted in red light. Robin dropped to the ground and clutched Raven to him. The demons vanished, the black clouds with them.
***
The world was devastated. Millions of people had lost their lives, and the world had lost several heroes. People weren't sure if they should rise from the ashes or mourn for their losses. No one was exactly sure what or how it happened, but they wanted someone to blame. There were several rumors, one involving a titan. It spread like wild fire.
***
Third Person; Aftermath
The Titans and their guest were sitting in the living room of their partially destroyed tower.
"So, Coman was sending demons through the inter-dimensional mirror and they were manipulating the resonating power of Trigon I still carried to create that demon?" Raven asked.
"Yes." Galya confirmed. Beast Boy shuttered.
"That must have been what I thought was in your room, Raven," the changeling reminded her.
"And what I saw and tried to attack," Robin added.
"Yes, well, after the mirror broke, Coman realized that we would actually have to get involved and gather the energy of your father ourselves. Luckily, that was the worst thing we could have done,"
"That explains a lot of the precognitive dreams I had been having before hand," Raven said in an afterthought. It then occurred to Raven she had forgotten to ask the other titan's something. "How did you all contact me once I was in the nether realm?" They looked at each other, confused.
"We had no way of contact once you were gone, Rae" Cyborg said. Raven's eyebrows drew together.
"But you all were telling me to keep moving forward, even when I wanted to-" she caught herself before she said "kill myself", but Starfire still knew what she was talking about.
"So that was not a dream?!" it was more of a statement than a question. It was her turned to be looked at with a puzzled expression. "Well, the night before the envasion, I thought to sleep in Raven's room…in case she was to return and need assistance," she lied. "But, I had a dream that Raven was in a cemetery, and a mountain pass, and indeed our voices were heard in her head, but we were not present," she raced through the end of it.
"I hate to say it, Raven, but I think the voices you heard, except for mine, were…imaginary," Robin said hesitantly."
"Oh," was all Raven could manage.
"But that reminds me," Robin's voice now had a hard edge to it. "We need to talk later," Raven grimaced, realizing what he was talking about.
"I got the TV hooked up, y'all!" Cyborg yelled. They looked up to see that an international news station was on the giant screen. There was a large crack through the middle of it. Horrible images of countries all over the world were panning across the monitor. It then went back to an anchor, and for once, she wasn't dressed up in the least. No makeup or anything.
"The worst part of the envasion seemed to have been in Jump City, California, a city known worldwide as the home of the Teen Titans. Sources report that the envasion is linked directly to one of the resident "heroes. It is said that the demoness known as Raven is responsible for this inhumane attack on Earth," the woman reported.
"That's slander!" Robin yelled, outraged. No one else said anything, but continued watching the broadcast.
"The battles only raged for twelve hours, but it has agreeably been the biggest catastrophe in the history of Earth. Entire nations lie in ruin. We are not sure if the U.N. is assembled, or even if all the members are still alive. We can only hope. God speed," and the screen went black.
"This is most terrible," Starfire said so quietly, almost as if to herself.
"Raven," Galya said. "There is something we can do…" The expression on Raven's face changed immediately.
"Galya, I don't know how much longer your powers will last, and if they don't and we attempt that, you'll die. I don't even know if I'm powerful enough to do that," she said shaking her head.
"I'm willing to risk it, and you know as well as I do that you are powerful enough," he said, a grin spreading across his face.
"You're crazy! And I don't know how much power I have anymore. My powers stemmed from Trigon, and now that I've destroyed every last bit of him, I don't know if I still have them. I could very well be risking my own life as well," she said.
"We'll just have to find out," he said.
"If this puts Raven's life in danger, it's not happening," Robin said fiercely.
"Do you not wish to pull your world from the ashes of chaos? It won't bring back the lives of the dead, but it will restore your world to how it was before the envasion started."
"Yes, but…"
"She will live. She is pure of heart, and this will work," he assured Robin. The Boy Wonder did not look convinced.
"Raven, you said you don't know if you have you powers anymore?" Robin asked.
"I have no idea. That demonic wanna-be was the last trace if Trigon, so there's a good chance I could have rendered myself powerless by destroying her."
"Well, there's a really simple way to find out. Try using your powers first," Beast Boy said simply. Raven frowned, but couldn't think of anything to say, so she did as he suggested.
"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" A book on the other side of the room lit up white and zoomed into the telekinetic girl's hand. "Huh," she said. She held her other hand out, palm up. White flames erupted from it.
"They may have changed color, but they are still yours to control and command," Galya said, beaming. Raven didn't acknowledge that he had said anything and picked up the book back up. She rifled through its pages till she found the one she wanted then looked back up at Galya.
"Are you sure it's worth risking your life?" He nodded without hesitation. "Okay then. Let's go."
They all made their way up to the roof. The left wing of the tower was completely gone.
"Do you know the incantation?" Galya asked.
"Yes." The two Azrathians stood across from each other. They lifted their arms, palms forward to the other and closed their eyes.
"Angelus Addo Orbis terrarum Denuo Phoenix!" they chanted together, a swirling bridge of white and red energy gaped the space between them. From the middle of the bridge a giant bird shaped figure erupted and cried out, thousands of trundles of light shot from its beak and covered the world in light. A song came from the midst of the light. Every mortal on the planet fell to their knees, as they were forced to relive every memory of the world they ever had. The blinding song went on for a few more moments, and then faded. Raven looked around, amazed. Everything had been restored. The empath's face split into a grin, and she ran forward to hug Galya. He smiled and returned the hug.
"Thank you so much, Galya! I can never repay you!" She said into his chest, tears streaking down her face. He chuckled.
"We'll call it even." Raven pulled away and turned to her friends. She was shocked to see them on the ground clutching their head.
"What's wrong?!" she asked running towards them. She pulled Robin's hands away from his head. He looked up with a shocked look on his face. He looked out over the bay to the restored Jump City, and then back to the purple haired girl in front of him. Without a word he pulled her to him and kissed her deeply. They were both surrounded in trundles of white flame. His put his mouth to her ear then.
"You amaze me," he whispered. She smiled at him.
"Glorious!" Starfire beamed, shooting into the air.
"We should start keeping track of how many times you single handedly save the world, Rae," Cyborg chuckled. Raven blushed.
"I didn't do this by myself, Cyborg. You know that," she turned back to Galya then. "You have quite the job ahead of you now," she said. He didn't look the least bit confused.
"You are right, young one," he said, smiling. "And I must return to Azarath to start. But this is not the last time our paths will cross."
"No, it is not. Good luck, Galya," Raven said.
"To you as well," he said, and with that, vanished in a sphere of red energy.
"Where is he going?" Robin asked, coming from behind Raven and taking her hand.
"He's going to rebuild Azarath. It will be a home for those in need. Like my mother," she said.
AN, So, I think that, other than the epilogue, this is the end of No, I'm Not Afraid, At Least Not To Die, I'm Afraid To Live And Not Remember Why. I may be wrong, though. I addressed my absence on my profile, but again, I'm sorry. I should have the epilogue up very soon. And if this is the end of No, I'm Not Afraid, don't worry. I already have ideas for two new projects. This is not the end of The Messenger. Fer sure. So, review please! And just so everyone knows, I'm totally up for writing a request story. I love you guys for reading!
Sincerely,
~Raziel's Messenger~