Chapter 27 Fiery Inferno

"Ugghhhh…."

Raven tried opening her eyes, but her eyelids felt heavy. Too heavy really, like they had been replaced with pounds of granite. As she attempted to wake up, a few things became immediately apparent to her. One, there was a squeezing sensation around her body; more specifically everything under the shoulders. Another thing that she noticed was that the gem on her forehead burned. This was highly unusual; she had never felt this sensation in all her years of having the gem on her ajna chakra. It made her worry honestly. What did this mean for her? What did this mean for her inner demon?

That question caused Raven to shutter a little. She thought back, trying to remember if her demon had gotten loose. She…she could just barely recall a scenario. It was when she was in the arena…with alternate versions of the Titans…wait. Alternate versions of the Titans?

Was…was that all a dream? Like, another dream? That would make the most sense, as Raven had dreamt about alternate versions of the Titans before. And them being real? That was a ridiculous proposition, one that almost made Raven laugh. No, the alternate Titans hadn't been real. That was just a second dream she had because she had been obsessively worrying about the contents of her first one. Which meant that, when she was finally able to get her eyes open, she was going to be in her bedroom, with the sight of her black, dismal ceiling there to greet her.

So, she resumed with attempting to open her eyes. It was highly laborious, so much so that Raven wouldn't be surprised if she needed to catch her breath afterwards. Regardless, she still tried. Slowly but surely, her eyelids lifted. She was already ready to start this new day…

"Hello, sweetie!"

Raven shrieked. "D…Dad?" She tried backing away (seriously, Trigon's face was so close to hers she could see his pores), but immediately found that that was impossible. In terror, she looked down. She gasped when she saw a hand grasping onto her, a red one the size of a pickup truck. She looked around, trying to gauge where she was and whether or not she was seeing things. Straight ahead of her, she noticed Raven.

"Hey," Raven said. "Sorry you had to wake up to this."

Sweat formed all over Raven's body. "You…you're real." She hyperventilated. "Which means that this isn't a dream…"

"It is certainly not, small demon child."

Raven's eyes grew wide. That voice…it sounded like her father's. And yet, it was different. Louder, first off; loud enough for the vibrations to cause the center of the Earth to ring. There was also more bass to it, a more malicious and wicked tone. Raven, with eyes wider than the Grand Canyon, looked up at the owner of the voice. She gasped when she saw his four eyes, glowing yellow and feeling like they were boring into her mind.

"Trigon…"

"Yes," said the beast. He tightened his grip around her, causing Raven to gasp. "I've heard so much about you, little miss Raven."

Raven's eyes bounced around the room. Her double, while she did have the same stoic ambivalence that was commonplace with any version of Raven, had very subtle hints of fear in her expression. This was especially true when she looked up at her father; whenever she made eye contact with him, she would cringe and turn away. The fact that she was scared, the fact that she couldn't bear to look at the demon grasping onto her…well, it didn't give Raven the highest of hopes. In fact, it made her extremely scared that the two of them weren't going to get out of this room alive.

Speaking of the room, Raven finally got a good look at it. There was no sky first off, just a large, brown ceiling. Sparks flew about in the air, their source being a large lava lake that stretched as far as the eye could see. That sight triggered something in Raven, making her realize for the first time how exactly hot it was here. It was boiling! She felt like she was baking in an oven! She sweat so much that she could fill twenty bathtubs.

This only made her fear grow stronger. She struggled against Trigon's grip, biting his fingers so that he would set her free. All that did, however, was make the demon wince a little.

"You can fight all you want, little demoness. There is no escaping."

Trigon giggled. "He's absolutely right, sweetie! This is officially the end for you!" He floated down to her, lifting the flap of her hood so that he could get a good look at her gem. "Might as well fork over the rest of your demon."

Raven gasped. "The rest of my…did you steal it from me?"

Trigon laughed again, the sound echoing off the fiery inferno's walls. "Oh, no. I didn't steal it." He looked up at Trigon. "He did."

"Indeed," Trigon confirmed. "The dark powers of a Raven are the only thing that could have brought me back into this plane of existence, and they have done so excellently." He looked down at his right leg, which Raven just now noticed was missing. "Well, mostly."

Raven sniffed. "Well, I suppose that explains how you are able to be here after I defeated you." She cringed as Trigon tightened his grip around her. "But…but why did you want to get this Raven specifically?"

"Well, it's simple really," Trigon said. He floated up so that he was about level with Trigon's head. "Both of us are interdimensional demons, which means that we are able to cross from the different realms of the multiverse at ease. And in all the times I've gone hopping, I've seen countless versions of myself. Countless versions of me that have power beyond recognition.

That is, until I happened upon your universe, dear Raven. I immediately became aware of your world's lack of a Trigon, and it saddened me. Especially so when I learned how powerful he was, and how your entire universe quaked at his might." He floated back down to Raven. "I immediately knew that I was going to have to revive him. Unfortunately, since my power wasn't the one to nullify him in the first place, that meant I couldn't do it myself." He smiled. "Thankfully, I knew just the tools for the job."

Raven's jaw dropped. "So…that time when you came to me about my demon…you were trying to get the power to revive him?"

"Precisely!" He ruffled the top of Raven's head, much to her chagrin. "It was quite a bummer when you refused to cooperate, honey munchkin. So, I disguised myself as the Master of Games, hoping that your love for the fight would inspire you to unleash your dark powers. And the rest, as they say, is history."

"Indeed." Trigon laughed, causing Raven's entire body to quake with a terror that it had never experienced before. "Even with only seventy five percent of your power drained, I am powerful enough to conquer the Earth once again."

THAT caused Raven to struggle against his hold. "NO! You can't do that! I won't let you! I refuse to let you!"

"Oh hush now, daughter. This isn't about you." He narrowed his eyes down on Raven. "This is about you, and the glorious dark powers that you so foolishly keep hidden. There is so much you could have done with that potential, and by extension, there is so much I can do with it too." He lifted her up, holding her close to his hideous face. "Hand over your the rest of your powers to me, Raven."

Raven felt like vomiting, and not just because being close to Trigon's mouth gave her a whiff of his horrible breath. This whole thing was sick! The way that her own father had tried to trick her twice, both in her bedroom and with the battle with the Serious Titans…it actually made her physically ill. Sure, did she expect Trigon to act with all sunshine and rainbows? No. Did she expect him to do some evil things? Oh yes, absolutely. But this was a new low. THIS was so low that it made even her, who was desensitized to evil due to her increased exposure, want to crawl up in a little ball and hide for the rest of time.

With that thought came a realization; she wasn't going to let the Trigons win. She couldn't. Too much was at stake here. If Trigon was strong enough to conquer the planet, giving him the rest of her power would mean he would conquer the multiverse. He would rage and rampage, flatting the ground of her world and burning it down in a hellish blaze. Everything and everyone she knew and love would be gone.

So, she put on her bravest face and faced the Serious counterpart of her father. "No."

"Oh come on, sweetie!" Trigon said. He teleported over to her, speaking with a baby-talking, schmaltzy tone. "You can give your powers to Trigon! Just imagine how much will come of that!" He grinned. "Us Trigons will be so strong, that the entire universe will finally and I mean finally realize that we are a force to be reckoned with!"

Trigon actually snorted at that. "I alone am already feared. Speak for yourself, Little Me."

Trigon flushed. "Oh. No, I just mean…the two of us together will…" He sighed. "You know what? It doesn't matter." He looked back at his daughter. "Give him your powers, Rae rae, or I will make life very difficult for you."

Raven snickered. "You mean you don't do that already?"

"Enough sass!" Trigon started shaking her. "Give! Me! Your! DEMON!" The shaking grew more violent, causing Raven's nausea to return in full force.

"Don't do it, Raven!" Raven cried out. "There's too much at stake here; you need to stay strong!"

"I….know…that!" She tried to make eye contact with Trigon, which was difficult both because of her discomfort looking at him and because of the shaking. "You're…crazy….if you think I'll give you my powers!"

Surprisingly, this caused Trigon to stop shaking her. He held her close to his face, glaring at her with all the hatred in the world.

"You want to be like that, huh?" He lowered her away from him. "Very well. I have more effective ways of getting what I want." He looked over at his interdimensional counterpart. "Trigon, take the Ravens to the cage."

"Ooh!" Trigon squeed. "The cage! Oh ho ho, that is gonna be fun!" He snapped his fingers, causing a rushing feeling to take over Raven as the world went dark. When the rush had passed and she could see again, she noticed that both her and Raven were standing in a cage dangling dangerously close to the lava.

Trigon, floating just outside the prison, laughed. "Oh, you girls are in for a treat! There are so many tortuous ways me and Big Triggy will get you to give in!"

Raven grit her teeth. "In your dreams!" She pointed at the walls of the cage. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" She blinked when nothing happened, fear showing through her stoic mask. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Still, nothing.

"Oh right, I forgot to mention," said Trigon. "The cage neutralizes your powers. You girls have no way of escaping!"

Raven glared at her father. This was horrid. Every last aspect of this scenario was rotten to the core. Why…why did her Dad find so much pleasure and satisfaction in making her miserable?

"Well, ta ta for now, Ravens! I need to go set up the first torture instrument I'm going to use on you!"

With that, he teleported away.