I'm hyperventilating.

And I can't stop.

For every breath is a sulfuric smell.

And I can taste his seed.

And their blood.

The blue titanium shells of Cyborg lie in a discarded circle around me.

Globs of red meat and intestines drape over my hands.

Smoking at the ragged ends.

The scent of the Titan mixes in with the rust around me….but soon fades away with the sounds of his screams.

Which are no more.

Blood and oil drapes over the crimson designs burned into my pale limbs.

It splotches my long blue hair.

It gets under my long, pointed claws and taints my barred teeth.

Four eyes flicker over my brow as I sit here.

Between the fire and the stone.

Shivering.

Soaked in death and titanium ash….

"How did it feel, my daughter……?"

I clench what's left of my real eyes shut.

I shake and I quake……

"Did it taste just like Beast Boy……?"

I bite my lip.

Breath hisses out through my teeth.

"…….oh how they quivered when you sank your fingers into them……when you dug into their meat….."

"……………I am so proud of you…..for making it last so long…..so torturously long…….for each and every one of them…."

Eyes tearing hot….I glare into the red horizon of the wasteland.

"I will NOT kill all of them!"

"You have no choice, daughter. There are only two left now. And when you are done with them…..I shall use my dark powers to resurrect them. I will teach you to slay them over….and over…….and over…..again…..for all eternity, you will be ravaging your friends for EVER….having resisted my entrance into this world in the past….."

I shudder.

I try rubbing the blood and meat off my tattooed arms.

But the oil makes everything stick…

And stain….

And even my tears cannot wash them away.

The heat…

The sulfur….

"You have been a very…..very…..bad child…….All those years you resisted me…..and you knew that this day would come. I do not understand why you fought it. But it matters not. This is your reward……My gift to you….for your brazened spirit….."

I clamp my soggied hands over my face.

I shudder.

I sob…..

"Everything you see….Everything you hear……..My dear Raven…..This is who you are. This is what you were born to be. If you refuse to accept it…..then your only impulse will be to scream at it…..But neither will make a difference…"

I collapse into the pool of my friends.

I twitch and I convulse….Skin numb despite the frothing heat around me.

All I see are….

Buildings….

Mountains…

Seascapes…

Burning and boiling and climbing towards the red heavens.

And nothing but the shadow of my father to cool me in agony of this fire.

"Remember always, my daughter. You and I are one…."

I shudder.

"This Paradise has been made possible through you….My precious door….My one key to victory….."

I collapse into myself….

"Soon your suffering sobs will turn to sing of exaltation in your father's honor. You will pay me the respect I deserve with your heart…..your soul……and with your body……"

I hide my face in my shuddering limbs.

"……your body……bathed in the blood of your kindred friends…….slain infinity times over………And….it…..will….please…..you….."

I bite my own wrists and convulse.

I bite my wrists until the taste of my own blood mix with the oil and meat and sulfur….

Mother, I want to stop existing.

I want to stop existing.

I want to stop existing……

"Yesssssssss…….it will pleasssssse you….."

I want to stop existing………

……………………………please……