Chapter 25:
Tiara and Mana went up to Delphinium's study to report about their encounter with Dick Grayson. She was busy with another paperwork.
"Good timing!" she said to the two.
"Miss, we've come to report about the task you've given us," Tiara said.
"Oh, okay! Tell me what he said," Delphinium gestured them to sit down.
They did as told. Mana started to explain, "He said that Mr. Wayne has been away, settling some matters with the Justice League. He, too, thinks that this is weird of you."
"My choice, but go on…" she replied.
"He said that he will give it to Mr. Wayne once he comes back. He asked us to give this letter to you," Tiara said, handing her an envelope.
Delphinium stared at the handwriting and sighed.
"I have some matters to attend to," she started. "Alone."
"We'll be going back first then. When do you want us to come back?" Tiara asked.
"In three days. Go see if the place is still functioning well," Delphinium ordered.
"As you wish, Miss," Mana obliged and Tiara nodded.
Damian stared out through the window in the tower. They were waiting for Cyborg to wake up. Bruce came up to him. He could see the scar on Damian's face and around his throat. Daphne almost slit his throat. Placing a hand on his shoulder, he smiled at his son. Damian stared.
"She'll be fine," he reassured him.
"I'm more worried about Raven," he replied coldly.
"You don't care about Daphne?" Garfield suddenly asked.
"If we can save Raven, then we will automatically save her as well," he explained.
"I think his back online," Jaime suddenly announced.
All of them went to Cyborg. Damian checked Raven's location. He told them his plan to take out Superman. Bruce was amazed at how absurd he could be. Once they were ready, Cyborg boomed them there. As the portal opened, Jaime, Cyborg, and Starfire were the first to appear. Superman rushed in to eliminate them. They shot some beams before Damian jumped onto him when he was in range. He stabbed the hero with a Krypton. He was soon back to his senses.
"Starfire, you okayed this?" he asked the young woman.
Starfire took a deep breath before replying, "Yes."
"Good call," Superman smiled.
Bruce came up to his comrade. He gave out a smirk. Screams were heard a few times, catching their attention. All of them went to see what was happening. Raven was connected to a circular device which they deduced at the shrine mentioned before. Flash was coming up to them.
Bruce suddenly said, "I'll stop Flash. You handle Wonder Woman," he said to Superman.
"I wouldn't have it any other way," Superman flashed a smile.
"What about Daphne?" Starfire asked, worried.
"What about me?" her voice was heard.
They turned around to see the girl, standing with one hand on her hip and the other holding a kukri. She smirked at them. Damian stepped forward, unsheathing his sword. All eyes were on him.
"She's mine," he muttered.
The other Titans rushed to save Raven. Bruce patted his son's back once. Then, he busied himself with Flash while Superman was saving Wonder Woman. Damian stood still, looking at his servant. She looked different, more confident and had a way with her words.
"You think you can stop me?" she said proudly, taking out her other kukri as well, "I should've just killed you."
"But you hesitated," he smirked.
She growled and charged at him, aiming to slice his head. Damian did well in blocking most of her attacks. He could read them after their encounter at the tower. He swiped her legs but she jumped away and landed behind him. He kicked her right hand, loosening her grip on her weapon. He quickly pushed her before she could grab it. She fell onto the ground.
"You can't separate my babies from me," she said, calling back her kukri which swiftly fell back into her right palm.
"What kind of a device did Delphinium give you this time…?" Damian muttered a complaint.
She stood up. He rushed in as she was about to rush into him. They accidentally banged their head together. Daphne groaned in pain. Damian shook his head rapidly to reduce his dizziness. She was about to grab her kukris again. He pinned her down before she could. She glared angrily. Damian gazed into her eyes through his mask.
"Get off of me!" she screamed angrily.
"Wake up!" he shouted to her.
"You don't even care about her! She's better off with us!" she shouted and laughed.
Damian gritted his teeth. Of course, he cared. He just didn't know how to properly express it. He cares so deeply for her that it hurts when she's not around, it hurts when she's laughing at other people's joke, it hurts when she didn't care to look after him. It hurts whenever he saw that smile of hers, that innocent smile she gave out to others, but not to him. It hurts too much! He screamed in his head. He inched his face closer to her.
"What are you doing?!" she shouted as his lips crashed onto hers.
Soft. He thought, shutting his eyes. I don't want to lose you…
He pulled away and got up immediately. The spirit fled out of her body through her mouth. Daphne cringed before sitting up. She looked up at him, confused.
"Master Damian?" she muttered.
"Let's get going. Raven needs us," he said, glancing up at her.
She nodded, collecting her kukris and sheathing them. Seeing how slow she was reacting, Damian pulled her to run to the others. The grounds were rumbling and cracking as they grouped up with the rest of the team.
"You sure took your time," Bruce whispered to his son.
"I had some difficulties…" he replied, glancing up at Daphne.
Trigon pierced from underground. All of them stared in shock and awe. Thunders could be heard and clouds were darkening in seconds. They watched as Trigon's horns grew longer and the flames around his body were put out.
"Well, this sucks," Jaime remarked.
As he landed onto the earth, wind gushed out. Trigon ignored them, walking up to the first city he saw.
"He'll bring hell on Earth," Raven said.
"How do we stop him?" Cyborg asked.
"There's only one way," she muttered.
"You're going to put him back in the crystal," Damian turned to Raven.
Raven sighed. "In the likely that I can make it there," she muttered.
Cyborg contacted Superman to tell them Raven's plan. He told him that he would be helping the Titans. Damian was busy staring at his servant who was having a hard time dissolving all of this.
"Where's your cape?" he suddenly asked, catching her attention.
"I didn't bring it with me. I don't like that addition to my uniform," she replied.
Raven opened up a portal to hell. They hoped through it one by one.
"I don't feel so good," Garfield groaned.
"The crystal can only be touched by me. He may have escaped it but he can't destroy it," Raven explained.
Jaime looked around. "I just hope he left a trail of breadcrumbs," he said.
They started to walk up to a path. Right in front of them was the place where Raven had placed the sealed crystal. She told them that the place was shielded so she couldn't teleport them instantly inside. They started their walk. Shrieks can be heard from a distant. Hordes of monsters were charging towards them.
"I don't like where this is going…" Daphne sighed, taking out her kukris.
Garfield was experiencing a trance, adapting to the new environment and creating a new beast out of it. Blue Beetle covered him as he growled and groaned in pain. Starfire and Cyborg were fighting as well. Damian, Daphne, and Raven slowly moved forward, killing any wyrms in their way. Damian kept on glancing at both of them back and forth. Daphne was doing fine even though she had just been possessed a few minutes ago. He heaved a sigh of relief seeing her condition.
"Welcome home, sister," a hoarse voice said.
"That's the three demons we fought before!" Daphne exclaimed.
They suddenly merged together, turning into a three-headed beast. It started to unleash a fire beam. The three jumped away. Daphne started to attack it. Damian tried to slash one of its pincers. His servant held his shoulder, earning his attention.
"You should get going with Raven. They're on their way here. I'll be fine," she said, glancing up at Raven.
The hooded girl was busy staring at the building in front of them. Damian turned to look at Daphne. The girl flashed a small smile, nodding to him. He looked down before running to get Raven. Daphne watched them enter the building after Raven released the seal. She sighed. She jumped onto the monster's body, climbing onto the first head she could and attempting to stab it. The monster swung its head around. Daphne gripped onto it for dear life.
"Phoenix!" Starfire called, shooting her green beam at the monster.
Daphne let go of her grip. Cyborg caught her in his arm. She forced a smile at the man. Starfire tended to her.
"Where are Robin and Raven?" she asked.
"They managed to get in," Daphne replied, pointing towards the building.
Starfire nodded. The girl sat up, watching the others fight the monster in front of her. She summoned her kukris into her hands, refusing to back down.
I don't want to be weak anymore.
"Whoa! Are you okay to be moving around?" Cyborg asked the girl.
She nodded, throwing her kukri. It hit the monster's right eye. She summoned it back. She rushed in and threw her bombs. Beetle and Cyborg turned to look at each other. The girl jumped up and stabbed the monster's back. It shrieked in pain. It threw her off course with its left head. Daphne's back hit one of the rocks. She fell onto the ground. She looked up to see her friends struggling to defeat it.
"Master Damian…" she whispered.
She stood up again, rushing in again. All eyes were on her. They wondered what motivates her so much. She succeeded in slicing the monster's middle head.
"That is one crazy girl!" Cyborg exclaimed.
Daphne jumped onto the right head. The monster shrieked as she stabbed its eyes. She jumped away, dodging its pincers.
"You okay, Phoenix?" Jaime asked her.
She gave out a thumb up, forcing a smile. "I'm okay, don't worry," she muttered.
"Why are you acting like this?" he asked, concerned.
Daphne looked away. Shrieks could be heard across the realm. A dark shadow started to engulf all of the monsters around them.
"What's happening?" she asked.
"I think Raven did it!" Beetle exclaimed, delighted.
He helped the girl to her feet. Starfire took her hand. She started flying towards where Raven and Damian were. The others did the same.
"Raven," Starfire approached the two. "Is it over?"
"It'll never be over," Raven started, looking up to Starfire, "Trigon will spend every single minute trying to get out of here, so he needs to be watched every single minute."
"Are you staying here?" Daphne asked.
Raven didn't answer the girl's question. She opened up a portal for them to go back. She backed away after that, telling them that she won't be coming back.
"This is my home," she muttered, hugging herself, "I have to watch him."
She turned her back to them, walking away. Damian stopped her.
"It's not your home," he started, stopping her.
Raven turned to him, waiting for his next comforting words.
"Home is the place where…when you have to go there, they have to take you in," he said, glancing up at the rest of his team.
"Robert Frost," Starfire smiled. "You are full of surprises, Damian."
"You're coming with us," Damian said with a smile.
"We won't let you stay here," Daphne said.
Raven stared at the crystal in her palm. She thought of what to do with it. She turned to them with the sweetest smile. Damian nodded to her. They went back to the tower. Cyborg bid them goodbye and boomed himself back to Justice League's hideout.
"Let's get inside," Starfire said.
"Yeah, there's a lot of fixing up to do," Jaime muttered, chuckling.
"Do you want me to patch you up?" Daphne asked Damian.
"No thanks, I'm good," Damian replied, looking away from her.
Daphne blinked towards him. All of them headed back to their rooms to rest. Jaime updated the tower's defense system. He turned to Daphne who looked as if she was waiting for him.
"I've already restarted the tower's functions and systems. It'll start fixing itself up," he told her.
Daphne nodded. She went to the kitchen. Jaime followed her. She opened the refrigerator and turned back to him.
"Do you want anything?" she asked.
"Grab me a bottle of water, thanks," Jaime replied, smiling towards her.
He was back in his black shirt and blue jeans. Daphne only took off her mask. She wasn't wearing anything except tights under her dress. She couldn't possibly take it off. She handed the bottle of plain water to Jaime. She sat opposite of Jaime, drinking her bottle of milk.
"Are you okay?" Jaime asked.
"Yeah, I'm good…" she muttered and sighed after that.
Jaime looked away, replying, "If you say so."
"I'll cook something up in case they're hungry once they wake up," she announced.
"I'm going to take a nap too then," he muttered, excusing himself.
Daphne nodded. She started to cook some simple dishes after that.
It was midnight when everyone woke up. They went to the living room to find Daphne sleeping at the kitchen counter. Her face was full of soot which who knows came from where. Starfire and Raven looked around the kitchen. Daphne had cooked chicken soup, fried meatballs, and stir fries.
"No wonder she's sleeping," Starfire muttered, gazing at the girl, "I'll put her to bed."
"We should just wake her up to eat with us," Damian spoke up.
"Who knows what time she slept," Jaime said.
Damian turned to him with a stern look. He shut his eyes and sighed.
"Fine," he replied.
He went closer to the girl. All of them watched as he shook her. Her eyes fluttered open. She looked around to see them. She blinked before grinning sheepishly.
"Was I sleeping?" she asked, scratching her head.
"Go change your clothes," he said.
"Damian, let her sleep," Garfield protested.
Daphne flashed a smile at the boy. "It's okay. I'll sleep after I eat with you guys."
She went on her way. Raven and Starfire started serving the dish. Garfield looked angrily at Damian.
"You should let her sleep!" he protested again.
"Too bad for you, she listens to my orders," Damian replied coldly, taking a seat.
"She has her rights too, you know?" Jaime muttered.
A loud thud was suddenly heard. All of them widened their eyes. Jaime was the first out of the living room to go see what was happening. Daphne had fallen unconscious before she could enter her room. Starfire collected her into her arms.
"Is she okay?" Garfield asked.
Starfire brushed Daphne's bangs. Her face flushed, her breathing ragged. The leader of the team placed her right hand on the girl's forehead. She looked towards them, shocked.
"She has a fever," Starfire muttered.
"I'll go get some medicine," Raven announced.
"Dude! This is all your fault!" Garfield shouted at Damian.
"My fault? How is this my fault? The girl has been weak since the first time I met her!" Damian shot back.
Garfield turned to Starfire. He was angry. Starfire shook her head sternly. She didn't want them to fight. Damian excused himself before Garfield could start anything. Starfire picked Daphne up and tucked her in bed.
"Is she going to be okay?" Jaime asked.
"She will. We'll call a doctor tomorrow morning," she replied.
"Why does Damian have to act that way…?" Garfield huffed angrily.
They didn't reply. Raven wiped the sweat off of Daphne's forehead. Her fever was getting higher by minutes. There was nothing they could do at the time.
"Let's just eat and wait for morning to come," Jaime broke the silence.