Teen Titans Presents: The End - Part Omni – Armageddon –

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Chapter 3: Cut Threads; of Sworn Enemies Made into Sacred Partners

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"I can't help someone who wants to perish this easily with her teammates."

Raven dragged her fists to the air; her powers had started off as useless even against a man of his caliber. She'd resorted to using the martial arts and self-defense Robin had taught her. If he ever saw her attempts, they'd both be laughing. The one thing that bothered her was, she could still see his face, and Slade saw through her disguised worrying easily.

She was prone to a short life if she couldn't fight to find her answers. Was this true? A way back, he'd said?

"Your demon that started that afterthought." Slade parried a fist as Raven's foot was forced to move, to leap a few inches off the dirty mat with any strength she still had, until she'd felt her body begin to tire. However, Slade didn't.

That terrible kick was something she rolled from, her words even panted out; forming a few protests at his stamina filled new bones, her forehead beaded with a more relaxing sweat than she'd desired.

"I have to stop…. too –

"WEAK?" Slade enunciated, cracking his neck and striding over to her kneeling self with a dissatisfied glance. "Would those goblins and ravens care? Would they give you a five-minute head start to run away, child? You're young, and if you go up against any monster in your state. They will tear you to pieces."

"They…they're my father's…." She ground her hands to the mat and shook her head. Water. He wasn't handing her any?

"Then we can…"

"You're malnourished, wait." Slade moved quickly to lead his boots to the cooler in the corner of his little hole in the ground. "Last one too." He pulled out a strange, slim can from the container "It should help, just until we return to the church for more supplies."

"You, didn't take all of their food?" She sat on the floor as he came to hand her the protein shake, a meal replacement from the pantry. What luck. Popping open the top, she drank it furiously down up until he took it back, tilting his head as if to right a wrong. "Any faster and you'll waste it. Come. When you have a moment, there is something I'll want to show you to, fortify our agreement."

She padded along in her shoes, her only other item besides the tarp and leotard she'd not discarded, yet she'd let her other alter's shade of a dark tan coat the piece to blend into the dead earth. Her shoes matched the same, yet her worry was that Slade's demeanor was too hard to read. Even without a mask, his military persona shown plenty to her, at full power or not.

"I think, that I was scared no sooner because of my ability to remain vigilant. Yet if this is going to work, you'd have to be able to keep up. To not slow us down. The training I can provide will be daily. Starting at five am sharp. In - between meals, we'll discuss our plan of attack to further your education of this new order. As of the time you're deemed fit for a fight for this world, we can travel. Very soon I was going to have to leave Jump city. To find more supplies, eventually. We might even find some survivors, if a see you as a success."

"The league, or –

"IF." Slade reminded the hopeful heroine. "If, they have. Right now, I want you to see this as only the two of us fighting to find the library that your father used as his gateway. There, we may find the answers below us."

"You knew..." She grasped something of that sentence.

She blinked. "You're not going to help me; you're only using me to fix this. Then, what are you going to do once we do change this world back to what it once was?"

"Again, if you seem like a real threat to the plan, this contract between us, or if I'm corrupted by this plane – either must be allowed to proceed in fixing the world we created by our own selfish natures."

"I'M not the selfish one." Raven's eyes lit up, until Slade glared her down. "Go on, then. Alert the incarnations that we're vulnerable, and I'll surely never get that wish." He scoffed arrogantly at her. "Neither will you to see your teammates, ever again."

She gritted her fists, taking a breath as he made sense. "Sorry, but you can't betray anyone if…. if this is too dire. You already tried to get yourself made a general in Trigon's army. Now he's not here, he's left us on a world, that's finished."

"Bringing us back to your self -loathing attitude, princess."

Raven's lips curled, yet there was a strange truth to his hurtful words. "That single, small part of yourself lied; you believed because of others, when the single thread of life you were handed back didn't make you believe in the boy wonder's promises. Eventually, that magic in itself as I have come to find, can backfire because of that wish outweighs the impact of what COULD have defeated your father. You, Raven. You were the reason, you and your self-loathing little emotional council not coming to an understanding. They weren't true to what YOU wanted. Easiest rookie mistake for a powerful mystic. Wouldn't you say?"

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"I, I can fix this. You said the library held the answers."

"They may , or it may be beyond saving, like everything you've touched with your negativity." Slade crossed his arms, knowing well that leaving dark prophecies to unattended teens was an error in the world's cosmic span. Raven had not come to the conclusion she'd hoped because a small thread had become uneven in her last shout against the demon lord Trigon. Everything was gone, but it would remain unless this empath took it upon herself to quiet her racing thoughts again.

"I can, and it will. I promised them and I won't lie to myself if –

"Regrets and indecisive action. The enemy of your magic, my dear." Slade shook his head and went to go for a drink in his cooler. "If you intend to find the answers before they vanish, you'll have to let the only apathetic thing inside of you, out. Just to have that ball of nerves lessened. It is an autopilot – response. To bury the dead-

"No one's really dead." Raven interrupted. "If anything, Trigon created an alternate rift that we can reverse once we stop him for good."

"He's out of this dimension since the last fight, child." Slade popped the clip on his drink. He wasn't a fan of fizzy things after a workout, but he had to restock his waters anyway. "Tell you what." He put down the empty – calorie quick pick me up with a small clack. "We can go to the church, gather rations until I THINK you're ready for the journey. If you can steal this can from me – as a small test of your resolve, I may just consider you half a threat than Robin ever was –

"Robin is a hero, not like you. Never would he agree to what you've just done."

"BUT." Slade picked up the can and smiled lazily her way, trickling her into a false state of awareness. "He was faster than you'll ever be on the battlefield. Monsters or demons, they won't wait. So?"

"A test, then. If I can steal that can…. which I don't see how that –

"Who's the criminal mind, here?" He cocked a brow at her to question. "Raven, this world is more dangerous BECAUSE. If the birds take you, your soul won't come back up."

She paled. "You…what about my magic?"

"We'll get there, princess." He smirked, taking a small sip of his disgusting cola. "Grape. More a chance to take it from my claws. Try as you might, I don't really sleep. With eyes wide open, you'll be graded on how well you can accomplish this task." He rolled over and got up, his eyes on the two bundled sheets in the opposite corner behind Raven and the mat. "It's lights out in a few hours. I'm going to rest a while. It helps."

"Aging hurts I suppose." Raven frowned, looking at the man as he dragged out his makeshift bedding, the man turning back to look at her tarp.

"If you need anything, ask. If you hear a strange noise that sounds like a threat, wake me. I won't be a deep sleeper. And, if the can is stolen." Slade shot her another smirk before winding the sheets into place over his inflatable bedding. "Good luck in earning my approval, empath."

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The can was one test of the many. It had to be a way to get her cozy with the idea of being his –

She shook her head. It wasn't like Robin or Terra. They were using each other. She was opening up the gateway, and he was showing her the way to any answer on how to fix the mess…

She curled up into her tarp, the chill of the night now seeping into her skin. It was February. Not long would it have been someone's birthday on her team. Robin…he was born on March 21. First of spring. ( I think the equinox?)

She nuzzled into the dirtier cloth and had a dream, even in the set darkness of this cellar. Of her friends playing in the park on a dark day…. their bones becoming brittle and her screams for it all to end –

/

A rattle had her waking up with a dry gasp. Raven dragged her body to shift towards the doorway. "No…" She saw the can, tepid as she bit her lip. She had to try, then the crows would back off. She'd be distracted from her emotions. Yes, it could work.

She crawled over to him, his hulking mass a concern if this man, this mad man was a light enough sleeper. She moved her hand, slowly it was just –

"SO…. close…" Sighed the man, his eyes staying shut. Good reflexes. She moved back to her tarp mess, the door rattling as if windy outside if it. "Will they come inside?"

"A talisman of Azar…." Slade half yawned and rolled over, scratching his goatee as the bandana had loosened a bit from his face. She saw a man at peace. His features were not young per se, just well maintained. She wondered if he was human, just different. Not a meta, something in – between.

"Go back to sleep, I'll wake us in a few hours for training…try harder next time, empath." Again, he returned to his rest as she bit the inside of her cheek. The nervous sorceress was as disappointed by her trial as he was pleased to see her attempting to win at this one.

Steal the can. Get out and face her new destiny.

To save the world she had helped to bring to ruin by her unfettered angst.

/

The empath was usually an early bird at the tower. It was in her nature to rise and meditate so she did. However, she had only dreamed of this routine coming to life, as a steel toe nudged her with its cold, rounded touch. "Its time to wake up, princess."

Slade's presence at five am had her realize his test was not off at all. He never slept the way she'd hoped he would. "Want breakfast?"

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He fed her what looked like a can of cooked lentils this time and a protein shake. "I took the honor an hour ago of gathering a few things without you."

Slade had what??

"I, was asleep. You left me. –

"You survived, didn't you." He shrugged and handed her a bottled water. "What could I do, let my body eat through me until you had the nerve to finally rise? I'm an opportunist at best, Raven. Not your care giver." He narrowed his eye at her before going to set himself on the opposite side of the small room. Boxed in with a demon and an assassin. It was no comedy joke she'd not heard of before. "The can, last night."

"I warned you. My eyes and ears needn't be active entirely to know what you're up to. All a part of my training." He chugged down another of his shakes as she wondered how he'd survived on health food for so long. Two to three days, not even a week ago. The world had become, this. "Then, what's the new plan of attack. If I do have no idea how to get that can and beat your test as you say, are you going to fix this world or live in this one all alone."

"I'd have options, you might just have to bear in mind who has the knowledge of this apocalypse's turn. Don't test me while I've been so forgiving with our truce."

"I HAVE TO." Raven shouted, her lip turning up as she took in a deep breath before the birds could come after their hiding place. "You know some spells, yet you might even die without someone to have your back. You don't know all of Trigon's power or what my world was like when it was destroyed. When he first tried to take m…" She shut herself off, his eye waiting to pick her apart some more.

"And, you do… Is what you want me to think." Slade narrowed his gaze at her, leaning into his palm as he watched her wrestle with her past from close up in person. He finally sighed, putting down his millionth can of the week. "You're part demon, Raven. I don't want what Terra did or your leaser to haunt me if you decide to pull a similar stunt for your own freedom to be realized. I don't do partners, you understand. It's either now or never. And I also don't need to take you to the center of hell and back. I could just drag you there against your will."

"I still have my magic."

"And it's not what it used to be. Though, your strength right now is halved. You need me. And I need the key that you once promised, for him."

"I'm not an object, I'm not –

Slade moved, his body too quick as she was soon pulled to the floor, trying to drag his arm from hers. She felt her heart beat as loud as it had during the scathing marks…

Her body fell still, the woman's eyes lit up to black as Slade was shoved off into the cooler. "You…don't get to hurt anyone . I can still –

The screams of birds so loud had Raven crouch to the floor. "I told you, empath. A demon is a beacon to its own kind." He glared at her before rising. "I have to re – seal the locks."

"NO. NO, MORE HIDING." Raven's arms worked up as she moved on by her levitation to the exit. "I'll face what my father cursed me with, and I won't-

The cooler was hardly heard in time. Raven falling back as her healing channeled the pain to lessen unconsciously. He grunted, resting the heavy plastic and metal container down, picking up the unconscious teen and setting her back into her tarp mass bedding. Running a hand through his stark white hair, Slade groaned in a low tone of voice, discouraged by all he was born to witness in these events thus far.

For one; he knew Raven would fight who she was and lose without the control she needed to find her family. To save them all, and he'd be the one once more to –

Slade moved. He had a seal to remake. She could rest, his hands moved as he dragged out the seal of Azar from a safe place on his person. Well, if she did steal the can at some point ten years from now, he could tell her off then. A failure of her role as a hero to this world. Hopefully, that was only a vision of what could never be.

Though, Slade surely doubted that it wasn't.