I really have nothing to say about this chapter. I really only envisioned the ending for a while. As for the title, get it? Get it? *cricket noises* I thought it was clever.

Chapter 22: Attack on Titan

"I-I can't! I'm sorry!"

That was all he heard before he saw Raven dash off the roof and soar into the sky.

"What the hell?" Beast Boy said confused.

The green shapeshifter contemplated whether or not to chase after her, but decided against it. His eyes fell to the floor in defeat as he kicked an imaginary pebble. Things were going so well and now he ruined them.

'Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Why did I do that? Now she'll never stay! We were so close and I had to go and mess everything up! I'm such an idiot!'

The green man sighed as he tugged his jacket collar closer to his neck as a strong, cold breeze chilled him. He disregarded it until he caught a whiff something unpleasant. The wind didn't smell good, no. The wind carried a hint of death, fire, ash, and smoke. Beast Boy's scanned the area but found nothing; the city just beyond didn't show signs of fire or smoke. So why did his senses pick this up? His communicator wasn't beeping and there didn't seem to be any a moment, the Titan thought he just imagined it but he something in his gut told him trouble was brewing.

But he first had to go tell the others that Raven took off. Dashing across the roof to the door, rushing down the stairs and hall to the other Titans, he was surprised to see everyone in the common room.

"Friend Beast Boy! What news have you of Raven? Has she agreed?"

"I-I don't know! She freaked out and just took off!"

"What do you mean she took off?"

"I don't know! She started acting weird and just flew off!"

"Relax, man. I'm sure it was nothing and she'll be right back."

"It didn't seem like nothing. She looked really shaken up."

"Did you say or do anything?" Robin inquired.

"Well...I...it doesn't matter."

"Should we look for her?"

"If she needs us, she'll give us a ring."

"Well, just to be sure. I'll get a lock on her communi-oh right" Robin groaned.

"What?"

"We didn't give her one. And the one she has is broken" Robin facepalmed, not believing his own stupidity to give her one.

"Well, can we still get a lock on her signal?" Beast Boy asked

"Mm...we can try."

The 5'10" Titan leader rushed up the steps, pressed a button on the wall and a giant black monitor slowly drifted down from the ceiling. A small PING rang as a keyboard slipped at the base of the monitor.

Robin pressed a button and nothing. He presse d it again. Nothing. He clicked several times, nothing. The screen remained blank and dead.

"Here, lemme try" the metallic man said haughtily as he cracked his chrome fingers.

He clicked the power button but it didn't seem to be working. Confused, he removed a latch that attached the buttons to the keyboard. The bottom part of the keyboard had no wires or circuitry but a sleek black bottom. He placed his hand on the smooth surface. Nothing.

"What the-?"

"Is this thing dead?"

"It can't be. I designed it. It should automatically read me but it's not."

Cyborg tried again to get the surface to read his signature, but with no response. To make sure the power was still working, Starfire flew over to the door entrance and clicked the switch. No lights. Most peculiar considering the Titans had their own energy supply.

"I wonder if it's just us?"

"This is getting more and more weird."

"I guess this isn't a good time to mention this then."

"Mention what?"

"Well earlier, right before I came here more specifically, the wind was cold."

"So?"

"Well, it's the middle of summer in California and we're no where near San Diego so that's a thing. Second, the wind smelled weird...it reeked of death and smoke."

The Titans were confused. They thought it could have been from the fights prior to Raven and Terra's but that didn't line up.

"Whatever it is, I don't like it."

"On my planet, such things are usually ill omens."

"C'mon you guys, I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for all of this" the leader said, keeping a cool head.

He heard his communicator go off and flicked it open. "Yes?"

Odd. All he saw and heard was gray static. This went on for several moments. He looked at his team for an explanation but was met with confused looks and shrugs. Before he clicked it close, he could hear something very faint among the static, sort of like whispers.

"Hello...?"

Then he heard the most horrible, ghastly sounds he ever heard in his life.

"Hello? Hello? Is someone there? Is anyone hurt?"

It was eerily quiet until an ear-splitting screech pierced through the silence. It echoed through the room and the leader dropped his device to cover his ears. All the other Titans covered their ears and shut their eyes. Their bodies quaked and they were began to feel dizzy. Batman's prodigy stammered over to the yellow and black object before snapping it shut.

The screeching stopped immediately. The squad shook off the ringing out of their heads as they gathered themselves. That was when they heard another alarm from Starfire's communicator.

"Whatever it is, don't answer it, Star" Beast Boy urged.

"We have to, what if someone is hurt?"

"Hell, I know I am after that" Cyborg said brusquely.

"Just answer it, Star" Robin ordered as he clutched his head, the ringing in his head lessening.

The call was static at first until they heard a feminine voice speak through the static. It was hard to understand.

"...Zzz-koe...zzz-ka"

"Hello?"

Suddenly, it went quiet. Then the static was gone and it was oddly clear.

"Hello?" the disembodied voice asked.

"Yes?"

"Who I am is unimportant but I have to inform you that something terrible will happen to Jump City within the next several hours" it said cryptically.

The Titans looked at each other worried. Who was this person and how did they get in contact with the hero group?

"Who-?"

"Please...just listen. All the events leading up to now have all been connected, which I'm sure all of you have surmised. Right now, the power within all of Jump City is down. Quite a primitive system, I'd like to add."

"Who is this?"

"It is imperative that all of you come to the city immediately. Many people will die."

"Can you tell us where we need to go? Does the city need to be evacuated."

It stayed silent for a moment before answering. "I'll let all of you decide that for yourselves. But at this point, an evacuation would be pointless. The one you seek, foresaw this and has abandoned you."

"You know where Raven is? Where is she?"

"She's-zZZZz..." it said before the connection cut off.

All the Titans looked at each other perplexed. They couldn't just trust the word of a random stranger, especially one who refused to identify himself or herself. Said person could have hacked their communication system. Feelings of conflict arose; should they trust the word of this stranger? Or could this all be some sort of prank, they all thought. At the same time, what if the stranger was right and something bad were to happen under their watch? The fault would fall on them for ignoring a warning, besides the prank wouldn't gain the person anything.
The team of heroes decided it best to take the anonymous tip and investigate, after all what was the harm?
They rushed out the door, uncertain what to make of the mysterious call.

+On the outskirts of Jump City+

Black leather boots landed roughly on the the gravelly terrain before breaking into a sprint. Her purple hair and black cloak billowing around her as she sprinted across a worn out road. She paid little attention to the uneven asphalt of the road, or the vegetation that gave way under her feet. The empath panted sharply as she followed a blood trail from the air but now it was getting harder to see said trail, so she decided she had to follow it on foot. She crouched down and put her hand close to the ground. Her eyes seeing the fresh red droplets that stained the light brown soil.

She broke again into a sprint, tracking it and noticed the blood clustered together more and more. The source wasn't far and she had to hurry. Her ears picked up on the noise of a distant grunt on her right and made her way towards it. Raven's feet came to halt when she saw a shanty house by a small cliff. Her eyes fell to the bloody mess on the ground before the doorway, her face scrunching into a grimace.

"Blood Magic. Typical."

'Mistress, I have a bad feeling about this...'

Raven kicked the door open, her black cloak swinging behind her. The small shanty shook from the force of her kick. She ignored the half dozen red-cloaked figures on her right and another half-dozen on her left. The Azarathian made her way to the middle of the room, eyes full of contempt at the black-cloaked figure in front of her. Silver strands slipped out from the blackness of his hood, his face unseeable. But, Raven could tell he was smiling under his hood. He stood on what looked like an altar, with candles on either side of him.

A homeless man held at knife-point, dressed in rags who smelled of garbage and alcohol, was crying and kneeling by the black cloaked man.

"I knew you'd come" the man smiled.

"Well, you've definitely have my attention" she said as she took a single step forward.

The cloaked men on both sides of Raven materialized black spears and assumed fighting positions. The black-cloaked man raised his hand, halting them.

"Let me take a wild guess...you're one of Trigon's servants and you made some sort of deal with him?"

The cloaked man let out a chuckle. If anything, Raven was perceptive. He had to give her points but she wasn't quite right.

"Close, but not close enough. I am not like that messenger sent to you all those years ago."

"Oh? So you're an important lackey of Trigon's then?"

The cloaked man was not amused. She took a quick look around.

"This is your headquarters? I expected something a little more...different" the demoness said dryly.

"Of course not" the cloaked man chuckled.

"Enough of this" Raven said impatiently as she made a short hop forward to save the homeless man.

The black-cloaked man waved his hand and sent Raven flying across the small shanty. The cloaked men rushed and moved out of the way as her back slammed into the rickety-looking wall. Pain shot through her body as she landed on the floor. She expected to have broken through the wall, but the wall was surprisingly sturdy and she felt like she was hit by a train. Her eyes glanced back at the wall then back at the man dressed in black.

'This place is magically protected! I should have known!'

Her outstretched hand reached to cast a spell to blast the cloaked man back but was too late; the cloaked man slit the throat of the homeless man. The poor man made horrible gurgling noises as he clasped his throat to the stop the bleeding in vain. The man dropped onto the floor, convulsing violently before his body went limp. The crimson liquid poured out of his neck and stained the dark blue carpet a darker shade.

The wind escaped Raven's lungs; yet again, another dead bystander she failed to save. Enraged, she sprung to feet and charged while black energy licked at her hands.

"I see you're still recovering from your previous battles. Pity."

The man lifted his arms, drawing all the blood towards him and created a barrier.

"Blood Magic!" Raven cried in surprise.

The barrier disappeared before she was hit in the chest with a red spell. She was thrown across the room, out the door and landed thirty feet outside with a THUD! The demoness shook her head dizzily and staggered getting up. She watched as the blood ascended to form a craggy ring that all the men rushed into.

"Get back here!" she yelled as she ran towards them.

The last one to stay behind was the one in the black cloak, as he looked back at her.

"How many...how many did you sacrifice?"

He smiled. "Enough."

"How...how are you not possessed?"

He smiled wider and a chill went down her spine. The enchantress didn't want to know the answer. When blood magic is used, it always attracts spirits, more often bad ones than good ones. It didn't matter when or where. If he kept using blood magic but with no hosts, then all the spirits that were summoned would have nowhere to go. That would mean the tension and static would grow to astronomical and be ready to burst, like a can of shaken soda.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Simple: to separate you from the group. By the way, say hello for me."

"What-?"

Raven cursed as he stepped into the portal and disappeared.

She beat her fist into the soil, frustrated. How could she not see this coming? With her clairvoyance, she should have seen this coming. Anger, frustration and guilt fueled her as she continued to beat her fist into the ground. The dust rising up and filling the air, but the empath did not care.

'Useless ass psychic powers!'

"Wait...separate me from the-! No!" Raven yelled in surprise as she quickly got up.

She flew high into the air, noticing the sky slowly turning dark. The empath knew all too well that this was not a naturally occurrence. She turned her head slowly towards the direction of the city and her eyes grew wide.

+Jump City+

The squad of heroes arrived in the main part of town but decided it best to split up to cover more ground. Robin was outside the city hall when he took out his communicator to contact his team mates. To his surprise, it was dead. He shook it, hoping that it would turn on.

'What is going on?'

"Robin!" the red-haired princess called as she flew towards him.

"Starfire! What's going on?"

"I do not know" she said as she landed gracefully. A look of worry and confusion on her beautiful face.

"My communicator isn't working."

"My communicator is not working, as well. I wonder if it is the same for Friends Cyborg and Beast Boy?"

"I checked around and this whole area's power is down."

"You, as well? I flew around the city and noticed that the electricity is down."

"Weird. And no sign of Raven anywhere."

"I do hope that Friend Raven is unharmed" the alien said clutching herself.

The leader's face softened and he wrapped his arms around the princess. He kissed the top of her head as they stood there for a few minutes. Robin looked up to see the sky becoming dark.

"Looks like a storm's rolling in. Kinda fast too."

"That is quite worrisome; it will make it locating Friend Raven harder."

"Yeah."

Their thoughts were cut short when they felt a huge earthquake. It was strong enough to knock the couple of their feet. When it finally stopped, they gathered themselves. Robin dusted himself off when he looked over at Starfire's stunned face.

"What is it, Star?"

The auburn-haired princess was so surprised she could not speak and slowly raised her hand to point.

Robin's eyes followed the general direction, his eyes wide and took a small step back.

A huge vertical fissure had appeared from the clouds to the ground. The ghastly noises that he heard from his communicator earlier could be heard again, but this coming from the crack. The sky only continued to darken as the rift expanded and now high-pitched screeches could now be heard as well.

Whatever the breach in the sky was, Robin did not like it.

All logic was thrown out the window when a roar as loud a bomb shook the city. The rush of air shattered nearby windows as the roar reverberated through the city. Robin and Starfire immediately raised their arms over their faces and shut their eyes. The Boy Wonder didn't think he could be more surprised, but was he wrong. He reopened his eyes slowly and his jaw dropped. What he saw was long, gigantic, red fingers slide through the tear and grasp the edge of the rift. Another BOOM and the crack grew large enough to be able to see the other side.

The smell of death, ash and decay permeated the air and a 60 meters tall shadowy figure could be seen on the other side of the rift. What looked like two sets of glowing red eyes could be visible on the other side of the rift.

"No way..."

End.

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