Hey guys! Just wanted to say hi and a warning that this chapter might be a little bit longer than my other chapters so get ready! Also a big thank you to those of you who reviewed.
The Titans plus Jude and Xander were spread out in the common room. Derek and Alex sat on the couch. Alex's face was buried in her hands while Derek put a comforting arm around her shoulder. Thalia and Desiree were pacing in the kitchen where Jude was sitting on the kitchen table and Xander was leaning against a wall. Tyler was glaring out the window and though it was winter a fierce thunderstorm was brewing outside. All was quiet.
Desiree was first to speak, "What if Fahrenheit isn't back? After all she was having a nightmare, she could have put the person she fears most into the situation just to make it worse."
"It's a good theory but it doesn't explain why her scars have re-appeared," Derek replied, Desiree shrugged.
Alex's head shot up and she shot a look at Desiree with fury in her eyes. "Fahrenheit is back, I can feel it. It didn't seem the same as my other dreams, I could see in this one. The others have just been memories. Trust me, he's back."
"We believe you Alex we're just examining all our possibilities here," Thalia stated.
Xander spoke up, "I have an idea, and it's just a legend though so I'm not sure how much we can trust it."
"What is it?" Derek asked.
Xander rubbed his chin and stared up at the ceiling for a minute before he spoke again, "Well it's been said that The Shaken can bring back the dead if they want, but they have no control over their bodies which could be why they didn't bring my parents back. If they've been watching you, they might think that by using Fahrenheit they can distract you so they can get closer to Thalia." The blonde girl shuddered at the thought.
Jude seeing her reaction quickly said, "But we've never faced anything like this before so it's highly unlikely. My guess would be The Shaken are on to us and are just trying to scare us, no need to be worried. They probably saw Alex's memories of her scars and carved them into arms themselves, and Desiree can heal those right? So I suggest that since tonight is the big night we all go back to bed for a couple more hours so we can be well rested."
Again, Thalia was surprised by his lack of fear, they could very well be dead in a few hours and he was acting perfectly normal. Well normal for Jude anyway. The other Titans nodded, and really what good would staying up half the night do?
One by one they filtered out and each one walked to their own rooms. When Thalia got to hers there was already someone there waiting for her. "Alex? You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Listen Thalia you're the closest thing I have to a best friend right now other than Derek so could I ask you a question?"
Thalia simply nodded, "Go ahead."
Alex sighed, "You do believe me right? You don't think I'm going crazy or anything do you?"
Thalia was shocked at this question, "Of course I believe you Alex, and no you're not going crazy. Don't be scared, we've taken down Fahrenheit before and we can do it again right?"
Alex smiled, "Thanks Thalia, how can you be so confident? Aren't you supposed to get sacrificed or something tonight?"
Thalia smirked, "I guess Jude's rubbing off on me, but yeah I am a little scared." 'pfft, little!? You're practically shaking in your socks!'
Alex laughed, "Yeah I guess so, well I don't think I'll be able to sleep so I think I'm just going to go hang out in the gym for a little while, it's almost six anyway." With that, the night-colored hair girl strutted down the hall to the training room.
Thalia smiled and turned into her room and got back under the covers of her bed. She fell into a somewhat peaceful sleep but she didn't notice that the "S" on her hand was deepening.
"Okay so does everybody know the plan?" Xander asked. The teens nodded in response, each dressed in formal wear. "Alright then, repeat it back to me then please."
Thalia spoke first, "I will teleport myself to my 'home' where Oliver will pick me up a quarter after seven. From there we will go to the dance."
"Where Desiree and I will meet up with them not letting them get too far away," Derek stated.
"I will cover Derek and Desiree if they can't be around," Alex said.
"You, me and Jude will be on the look out for anyone suspicious. If we see anyone, we take 'em down silently," Tyler said with an evil grin on his face.
"Good, good. Now I've let Valkyrie know and she will be there but if everything goes according to plan then hopefully you won't see her," Xander said nodding.
"And we've filled the Titans East in and they'll be ready if we need them," Alex said just as the doorbell rang. Everyone in the room tensed except for her. "Oh relax guys, it's just my date."
Derek stared at his sister in disbelief, "You let your date pick you up here? Are you insane!?"
Alex laughed, "Just a little bit." The doors swung open to reveal,
"Jared, good you're on time!" Alex said. The Titans turned to look at Tyler who's face was twisted into a malicious expression.
"Hey Allie, you look beautiful," the ghost boy said giving her a hug, and she did look beautiful. She had an ebony colored halter dress on along with black stiletto heels. Her hair was pulled up into an elegant knot.
"Thank you." She said simply, "well we should be going know shouldn't we? You're aware of the plan right?"
Jared tapped his temple, "It's all up here." He leaned over to look at Thalia, "No one's gonna get our little witch. Not if we have anything to say about it." Thalia had to smirk at that and nodded a thank you.
"Okay, we'll meet you guys there. Bye" Alex said as she walked out the door, she turned slightly and shot a glance at the fuming Tyler. He thought he saw something in her eye though, longing? Whatever it was made his expression soften. He was next to walk out of the tower.
Derek stuck and arm out to Desiree, "Shall we?" She took his arm and they walked out, her long dark purple dress making swooshing noises that were accompanied by the soft clicking of her silver ballet flats. To be dramatic she tossed her straight shiny hair behind her as the doors swung shut.
And then there were three, Thalia stood there in her red dress, on short sparkly red heels with a black shawl wrapped around her shoulders. Her short blond and red hair was styled in waves tonight. She looked exquisite. Jude stared at her for a couple seconds then said, "So Lil' Red, you want the hunter to walk you to grandma's house, or would you rather go alone?"
Thalia laughed at his cheesiness, "No I will be fine thank you." Jude smirked, "Okay suit yourselves just look out for wolves." Then he and Xander turned to leave.
Thalia sighed and then teleported herself out to the apartment building she had told Oliver was her home. Thankfully no one was around so there was no one to witness her arrival. She didn't have to wait long, Oliver in all his godly beauty came strolling down the sidewalk.
'How can someone so beautiful be evil?' Thalia thought to herself as she stared at him in awe. Once he approached her he pulled her into an embrace and kissed her, Thalia tried her hardest not to melt. 'He's evil, he's evil, he's evil!' When he pulled away he smiled a dazzling smile.
"'Ello love, you look positively beautiful!" He said as he wrapped an arm around her and started to walk in the direction of the school.
"You don't look so bad yourself," she replied. They were silent the whole rest of the way to the school. They turned the coats into coat check, where they said hello to Valerie and her date Sean something or other.
Then they hit the dance floor, Oliver had tried to sneak her away to a corner but just as he was about to, "Thalia!" and then she found she was being hugged by Derek, Desiree hugged her as soon as Derek let go.
Derek then turned to look at Oliver, "I don't think I've seen you around here before, I'm Thalia's friend Derek and this is Desiree."
Oliver stuck his hand out which Derek took both boys seeming to squeeze a little harder than necessary, "Oliver Beckett."
Desiree spoke up next as Derek let go of the other boy's hand, "Well it's a pleasure to meet you Oliver." A fake smile plastered on her face.
Jared and Alex watched the scene from another corner while sipping the school's poor excuse for punch.
"Well that looks as if it's going along swimmingly," Jared said sarcastically as he tossed his empty cup into the garbage.
"You don't think he's on to us do you?" Alex asked as her eyes scanned the room, looking for someone, worry in her eyes. Jared had a feeling he knew who that someone was, and it sure wasn't Fahrenheit.
"I'm not sure but it probably won't help if Derek blasts Oliver's head off," Jared said.
Alex laughed, "Yeah probably not. I'm going to duck out for a couple minutes, you can handle yourself right?"
Jared grinned. "When have I ever not been able too?" Alex returned the smile before disappearing in the direction of the girl's bathroom. Jared went back to scanning the crowd but was soon whipped around to face a very angry looking Tyler.
"Ah Water-boy I was wondering where you'd gone off to," Jared taunted with a smirk.
"Just what do you think you're doing Fenton?" Tyler growled.
"Just what is it you think I'm doing, Logan?" Jared said putting his hands in his pockets.
"Don't play dumb! You know Alex and I aren't together anymore so now you're trying to weasel your way back in," Tyler said as his fists clenched, above the sound of rock music a faint roll of thunder sounded.
Jared said calmly, "Hey calm down! I'm not trying to steal Alex; she called me and asked a favor and me being a good friend okay! Besides, not that it's any of your business but I'm into someone else now." Jared turned away to grab another cup of punch.
"Oh really? Who?" Tyler said as he crossed his arms.
"Erica, okay!? That's why I had been calling Alex, I've never technically asked a girl out before, Alex and I just kinda got together, and she was giving me suggestions." Jared ran a hand through his black hair, a look of frustration on his face.
Tyler was surprised, "No lie?" Jared shook his head. "Then why didn't she just tell me that she was helping you out?"
Jared snorted, "Well you didn't exactly give her a chance to explain did you? And man, she'd take you back."
Tyler was the one laughing this time, "What makes you so sure?" He grabbed himself a glass of punch.
Jared's face was serious, "She cried over you, she didn't cry over me. That's the only time I've heard her cry before and I've known her for most of my life." Tyler wasn't looking at the ghost-boy now, just down at his shoes. Jared continued, "Dude she cares about you a lot. Now stop being a crybaby and try to fix things." Tyler nodded and then walked off.
He brushed past Jude as he was walking, "Anything out of the ordinary?" Jude asked.
"Yeah, Jared's acting like a human being," that made Jude laugh, but his eyes were focused on a different blonde. Oliver took notice of this.
The British boy leaned over and whispered into Thalia's ear, "friend of yours?" and nodded in Jude's direction. Thalia looked and nodded.
"I don't like the way he's looking at you," Oliver said. Thalia again looked over at Jude. Tyler was next to him talking about something but Jude didn't look too interested, he was staring intently at her. She shot him a look and he turned his attention to Tyler.
"That's better," Oliver whispered and chills went up Thalia's spine and she hoped that Oliver wouldn't notice it. He suddenly took her hand in his and that's when Thalia saw it, he had a bright red "S" on his hand too just like Jude said he would. "You thought you could outsmart me didn't you?" Thalia froze, she realized then that Derek and Desiree were nowhere to be seen and she was now in the middle of the mosh pit. "Oh I know about your little plan Thalia, it won't work. You belong to The Shaken now, who's leader should be arriving at any moment now. Until they do arrive I believe an old friend of yours is here, you haven't seen Alex by any chance have you? He's absolutely dying to see her again."
Thalia whipped around, "She's killed Fahrenheit before, and she can do it again."
"Ah yes but dear Thalia, she may be a little distracted," just as Oliver finished this statement a group of tall black-cloaked forms entered the room, they seemed to be chanting almost. With them was a familiar face, he had dark red hair and an ugly red scar in the middle of his forehead and he wore an evil grin: Fahrenheit.
"You see Thalia, resistance is futile. You cannot win," he whispered in her ear. The black forms said something and the black demons that the Titans had encountered appeared. Thalia's classmates started to run and scream but above all of it, one voice rang out:
"TITANS GO!" a blue starbolt shimmered in the air.
Fahrenheit grinned and headed off into the direction of which it came. "Let the games begin."
Oliver started to drag Thalia over to the black figures where he tossed her in front of them. The gym was empty now so she could hear what they were murmuring: "So much power." "Indeed, she will do just fine." "I want to go first!" "Patience brothers, you will all get your share."
The voice that spoke last lowered itself so it was at Thalia's level. She could see it's face now. He looked human, middle aged with bright white hair that wasn't appropriate considering he didn't look that old. His eyes though, were black. They reminded her of Jude's eyes.
As if answering her thoughts the man said, "Yes, the young rebel would have the same eyes as me. All the members of our elite have dark eyes; he doesn't understand the power he could have if he simply joined us."
"Enough of the small talk! We can take her now! Her energy is even stronger than Morgana's was," another one of the figures snapped impatiently.
Thalia wondered slightly who this Morgana was, but not for long because fear overtook her as the figures closed in around her. A voice then rang out.
"How dare you mention Morgana!" and a woman about Xander's age appeared, black energy shooting from her hands. It was rebounded though by the man who had spoken to Thalia. The woman was pinned up against the wall and struggled to get free as the man walked closer to her.
"Now Rowena where are your manners? There's no need for confrontation is there Rowena, or should I say Valkyrie?" the man said as he sauntered up to her. Thalia recognized the name; this was Jude and Xander's friend the one who they weren't supposed to see unless things got bad. She had the same dark eyes that were narrowed and her face was twisted into an expression of utter disgust.
"You have no right to even speak my name you parasite," Rowena snapped before trying to lunge at him. "You have even less right to speak about my sister."
"My dear, I think you forget who I am. I am Rigel the strongest sorcerer in the world," he was interrupted by the snarling woman; "You're only strong because you steal your power from others." This was followed by a smack; Rigel had slapped Rowena across her face.
"Stupid wench, you will pay dearly for that. I was considering saving you but I don't think that will happen now." He fixed a glare on Rowena and then she started choking. Thalia turned away she couldn't bear to watch the woman die.
Then Thalia heard the sound of bodies colliding and the a voice growled, "You will not touch her." Xander had Rigel pinned on the ground, a black lightning bolt at the evil man's neck.
"Ah Alexander, once again you've made a mistake, you have saved the wrong girl, because now the process has begun and you will have no chance of defeating us."
Xander looked over to Thalia with horror in his eyes. Thalia looked down to see that somehow she had become distracted and let the other figures surround her. A black fire was beginning to engulf her.
Fahrenheit left a trail of fire behind him as he walked through the halls, "Oh Titans, I know you're here so there's no sense in hiding. I will find you Alex, and when I do, well I'll just let that part be a surprise."
A red starbolt flew out and was directed at Fahrenheit, "Oh you'll have to do better than that to get rid of me. Show yourselves, now."
"As you wish," a voice came from behind the villain, Alex tried to plunge a bird-a-rang into the man's back but he caught her wrist.
"Trying to be sneaky now are we?" he said as he twisted her arm behind her back. Alex let out a yelp and tried to kick him.
"Okay guys now would be a good time to help me out here," She screamed. There was no answer.
"They can't hear you Alex, they don't care about you," Fahrenheit whispered in her ear, tightening his grip on her arm. Alex formed a starbolt and before he could let go she blasted it into his face. He toppled over to the ground, and Alex placed a black bird-a-rang at his throat.
Fury in her eyes, "I should kill you right this minute."
Fahrenheit laughed, and then kicked his foot at her stomach. Alex lost her balance and fell to the ground. Fahrenheit wasted no time as he pinned her arms to the ground. Alex struggled against him, her Tamoraneon strength not helping at all. Fire started to ignite on Fahrenheit's arms and slowly made it's way to Alex. He leaned down and whispered in her ear, "Goodbye Alex Grayson."
"I wouldn't say good bye just yet," Tyler tackled Fahrenheit from the side, the boy was emitting electricity. He stared the villain right in the eyes, "she's not going anywhere."
Fahrenheit smirked and head-butted Tyler who then stumbled a bit. "Oh I beg to differ young Tyler. The Shaken have promised me that her end will be tonight, hers and all of yours."
"Well I hope you don't mind but we're going to interfere with that plan," a monotone voice from behind the villain said. Desiree and Derek had arrived, a red starbolt in one hand, and Desiree's eyes were glowing black as dark energy surrounded her.
Fahrenheit laughed again, "What can a bunch of teenagers do? Nothing! I'm unstoppable now!" As if to prove his point he let his flames engulf his body.
"Maybe not all alone they can't, but maybe we can help," a voice said water splashing the evil man, dousing some of the flames. He sputtered and turned to Tyler who was still sparking.
"Um smart-one? I'm over here," another water-ball came from behind attacking the man.
To say Fahrenheit was annoyed would be an understatement. "Who did that!? Show yourself!" he roared.
"You asked for it," and a large body fell on the man from above, pinning him to the ground. The body's hand slammed the man's face into the ground. "We haven't met; allow me to introduce the Titans East." Marcus's low voice growled.
The other Titan members emerged from the darkness: Aviator (Monica) ascended from above, Ronin (Jonuchi) sprang out spinning a pair of twin swords, a blue jaguar roared announcing Skylark's arrival (Skylar), and finally Aquamarine (Erica) held a large water-ball in her hand, she was smirking. Specter (Jared) appeared next to her.
Alex walked up to Fahrenheit to stand next to Marcus; she lowered her head to his level, "Didn't expect that did ya?" Fahrenheit just growled, unable to move from under Marcus. "Well Terminator, what should we do with him?" she asked innocently.
Marcus shrugged, "Your town Midnight, your call."
"Hmm, well I'm sure you all want a piece of him right?" her fellow Titans mumbled in agreement. "Well then," she said backing up into line, "Fire at will." All the Titans nodded and started to close in on him. Once they were close enough a loud explosion of growls, starbolts, energy, and all the other powers combined erupted.
Alex took one last look at Fahrenheit, "this time stay dead," and with that she and Marcus delivered a sickening blow to the villain's head. He didn't move, but something did happen, his body shimmered away like dust.
Alex sank to the ground in exhaustion, smirking at Marcus, "Thanks for stepping in there."
Marcus smiled back, "Don't mention it, that's what family does. Hey where's Thalia?" he said looking around.
Six of the eleven faces were over come with horror. "Unfortunately, the fun's not over yet." Alex said starting to run back to the gym, "Titans Go!"
Thalia unsure of what to do started zapping green energy at the flames, but that only seemed to make the flames grow larger. The fire didn't burn, but she could feel her strength draining from her. She faintly heard a laugh in the distance, "That's it girl, the more you use your powers the quicker it will all be over." Rigel's content expression was clear through the dense flames, she could also hear the happy laughter of the other Shaken members.
Then a sickening thud was heard, "Hey Rigel, remember me?" Jude's taunt was followed by a something that sounded like an electrical charge. A masculine scream followed it, whether it was Rigel's or Jude's Thalia didn't know.
"Rebel how nice of you to come, now that you're here you may witness this young lady's death. The pain in your eyes is absolutely delicious, almost as good as when Rowena saw Morgana die. Only this will be better, this one is stronger than Morgana ever was, and after she's gone we will take you three as well. I think I will give yours to Oliver, how does that sound Rebel?" Rigel spat the last word out.
Thalia summoned all the strength she had left to see what was going on. Jude was on the ground secured there by two guards, Xander was shielding Rowena with his body, a lost look on his face. Thalia wanted to help them, they were suffering and later would die because of her, but she couldn't think of a way out.
From the entrance doors a loud crash was heard followed by a bright light of blue and red, and a voice was heard, "Hey you! Let our friends go, and maybe your end won't be painful." Thalia recognized Alex's voice, 'they must have beaten Fahrenheit' that made the young witch smile. 'But now they are going to die too probably.' Thalia wanted to scream at them to turn around but didn't have enough energy to do so.
The Shaken laughed, "What harm could a bunch of teenagers possibly inflict on us? You children bore me, demons attack!" Thalia's eyes snapped open her vision suddenly clear, not only was her team here but the Titans East as well. She saw her team mates get ready for battle as the black demons Rigel had summoned charged them. They sprang into action and scattered across the gym. Thalia heard the clash of steel 'Jonuchi', a echoing slam, 'That must be either Marcus, Alex, Monica or Derek, maybe all of them', one of the pipes broke and water was rushing out followed by the screams of the little demons electrifying, 'Tyler and Erica,' a shout of laughter that turned into a growl, 'Skylar.' Thalia then heard "Azarath Metrion ZINTHOS!" and didn't have to guess who that was. 'We're winning, we're actually winning! Maybe we can beat this.' Thalia's happy thought was soon crushed though, as Rigel looked to Oliver with a serious look on his face and nodded to the boy.
Oliver shouted out something that sounded like it may have been Latin or some other dead language, and to Thalia's horror the black demons began to grow larger and multiply. Jude saw this as well and began to struggle harder under the weight of his captors. Thalia looked out to the battle scene; Alex's nightmare was coming true.
Desiree was fighting three of the demons so she didn't see the fourth especially large one try to take a swing at her, but Derek did. "NO!" he screamed, panic in his eyes as he bolted for the goth girl and pushed her body out of harm's way and put his body into danger. The sound of bones cracking and Desiree's scream filled with agony filled the air. She shouted her trade mark incantation, her eyes had turned pitch black and a great black bird stretched across the ceiling as the black energy took out a bunch of demons but Desiree fell to the ground unconscious next to a knocked out Derek.
Thalia looked around, the other titans weren't doing so well either: Jonuchi and Skylar were sprawled at odd angles on the ground, still conscious but just barely as some of the demons laughed and stuck the two. Monica and her limbs were serving as a human rope in a game of tug of war. A large pile of the black creatures surrounded what Thalia assumed to be Marcus. Jared swooped down in ghost form trying to posses a demon, he got in but the demon cackled, Jared wasn't victorious. Erica was laying motionlessly on the ground a dark liquid pooling around her head.
The last face Thalia looked at was Alex, who was still fighting but scanning the battlefield desperately for a missing face. She ignored her enemy for one second too long, a demon sunk his teeth into her arm and Alex let out a painful scream as blood started to flow down her arm. Her scream might have been from the pain, but it also could have been because she finally found Tyler. The blond angry boy was just about to finish off another monster when he heard Alex scream and turned his head in her direction, away from the demon that was about to deliver a blow to his head. Tyler sank to the ground with his blue eyes closed. Alex looked like she wanted to cry, but anger took over as she started to run toward Rigel, demons caught her and Alex faded away into the crowd, her angry yells were all Thalia could hear. Slowly the shouts became distant until there was no sound at all.
Rigel laughed and turned to her, "Well Thalia be happy that they didn't have to see your weak and worthless hide shrivel up." The words weak and worthless were what made Thalia snap.
She turned her head to Rigel, pure anger and malice dripping from every word, "What did you just call me?" The flames that had surrounded Thalia began to slowly turn green, the whispers of The Shaken members now suddenly became anxious. Oliver whispered something to Rigel who looked completely shocked. Xander and Rowena looked very confused but slowly got to their feet seeing as their guards being dumbfounded had completely forgot about them.
Thalia didn't notice it but the others did, she began to walk towards Rigel, "I asked you a question, now answer it!" The man didn't have enough time to answer before Thalia hexed him with her green energy that now was sparkling. He was sent flying across the room and into the wall where his body left a huge imprint.
Thalia gracefully walked over to him, she focused her eyes on him and he levitated in the air, fear plastered over his face. He kept mumbling "Impossible."
Now it was Thalia's turn to laugh, "Oh it's very possible Rigel, do you know who I am? I am Thalia Taylor daughter of Flash and the amazing Jinx, two of the greatest superheroes who ever lived." She slammed his body into the ground. "I have been mocked my whole life for being weak, and I never said a word because I believed them, but you know what? I am NOT going to take it anymore!"
With that Thalia's pupils became catlike, the ground started to shake, the decorations started to swirl around the room. Rigel's body also started to shake, the other Shaken members stood behind Thalia helplessly. Thalia raised her arms and forced a hex on the sorcerer that was incredible. The green magic coursed through his body and he turned into a black cloud-like form but this time instead of floating away, the cloud disappeared into nothing. Behind Thalia the other members also disappeared for good, the echoing of their screams was the only thing left of them but even that faded away.
The demons cowered in fear when Thalia turned on them, still glowing brightly. She smiled and looked frighteningly like her mother as she hexed a bright light at them, causing them to dissolve into nothing as well. Now that everything was gone, Thalia's body relaxed, her eyes stopped glowing and the green aura around her disappeared. She looked to see Jude, Xander and Rowena staring at her in awe. They were all standing upright now, Xander had an arm protectively around Rowena's waist and Jude stood there smirking his usual smirk before he ran to her pulled her into a tight embrace.
"You did it Thalia! The Shaken are gone! Forever!" He looked so happy, so burden-less, he reminded her of a playful puppy. Thalia laughed before she yawned and leaned into him. "I'm happy, but I'm really really sleepy. Can we go back to the tower?" she asked putting her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes.
Jude shook his head, the happy expression still on his face, "I'm afraid not, most of your friends don't look so good, we're all kind of bloody and bruised, and I wanna get you checked out. I think we should phone a hospital. Xander says there's a special one around, we can go there."
Thalia nodded while yawning again, she was fading fast. Before she drifted off to sleep she looked up at Jude's face and saw something different. His eyes were no longer black.
Wow that was probably the longest thing I've ever written, school papers included! Well only one chapter left I think, review and tell me what you thought!