Chapter 52 Purple Glow

Was it a good or bad thing that Raven felt horrible consuming her double? It was for a good cause, but it did involve eating an actual, living person. Did that mean she was bad... actually, you know what? She didn't want to spend a lot of time thinking about this. What she did made her feel horrible, but she didn't want to think about it nor did she wish to analyze the implications. Eating Raven had already been uncomfortable enough.

"Well." Beast Boy stepped closer to Raven, placing his hand on her shoulder. "That be…."

"I know; I know what it be." Raven stood in place, battling the guilt over what she just did. Sure, Raven had encouraged her, but even with that in mind, she felt like she committed a mortal sin. Especially when one took into account everything that the two Ravens had been through together. Hiding from Trigon, having the heart-to-heart, bringing each other up from the depths of despair… well, okay, it was mostly Raven bringing Raven up from the depths of despair, but the point still stood.

"How do you feel, Mama?" Beast Boy asked. His tone of voice made it clear he expected something grand something borderline world-shattering. Raven was about to speak up, crushing his dreams in the process, when…

"Woah." She looked down at her hands. The black aura that so commonly appeared whenever she used her telekinetic abilities was present once again. Not only that, but she sensed a change within herself. The feeling was in her veins, flowing through her and making her feel as though she could conquer the world. This was it. These were Raven's powers being awakened in her.

"I feel… good." She flipped her hair. "More like myself."

"Good." Beast Boy patted her on the back. "So… you think you can eat the rest of the Ravens?"

Raven looked at the others, still maintaining the shield. Feeling a sort of high over having the power running through her, her guilt from eating her double morphed into excitement. If she ate all the Ravens, she'd be unstoppable. She'd have more power than she ever thought possible, more than enough power to go after Hexagon. The world would be safe. The multiverse would be safe. All because of her.

So, she smiled. "Oh yeah."

And with that, she got right to work. Flying over to the Ravens, she ate each one of them whole. Part of her felt guilty while doing this; there was this little voice in her head saying that she was technically taking the lives of all these girls. And was she? Well, yeah, probably; one didn't just get swallowed whole and walked away just fine. Well, unless they're a circus performer, but…

Gah, that didn't matter! The Ravens would be fine, and even if they weren't, this was completely necessary! This was the one thing that could save the multiverse, the one way that everything could potentially turn out fine. Hexagon was in the process of destroying everything, everything Raven loved and everything she hated. He couldn't do that. He wouldn't get a chance to do that.

CHOMP! CHOMP! CHOMP! More and more Ravens were consumed, and more and more power filled Raven. By the time she ate mermaid Raven (who, funnily enough, had been completely useless when fighting this battle on land), her power levels were beyond what she had ever hoped or dared to dream. It felt like there was a fire in her demon-human blood. She felt like she was ascending into Godhood. Which… she might be. No person in the history of the multiverse has experienced these power levels. No person, dead or alive, could say they had this type of spirit within them, this kind of determination. Because that's what Raven was: determined. She hadn't been before, but now that she was making progress towards what some might view as an unachievable goal, she felt as though could and would do anything.

Thus, when the last Raven was eaten, Raven couldn't help but smile. She looked down at her hands, which had black vapor swirling around them. But that wasn't all. Her whole body glowed purple too. She could say with full confidence that she had never experienced something like this before. Seriously, never! She smiled, laughing at the sensations within her, the feelings and emotions that came with this sort of thing.

"Mama?" Raven turned to see Beast Boy running up to her. His jaw dropped, and the purple light she glowed with reflected in his eyes. Despite his shock, Raven just felt better. She felt more complete than she had since… holy crap, since her gem originally cracked!

"Mama? Are you okay?"

Raven grinned. "I'm better than okay." She rose into the air. It felt natural to do so, it felt right. The purple around her grew brighter and brighter. Laughter came out of her mouth like it never had before. "I'm doing this!" She rose even higher, the powers within her growing more and more. "I'M DOING THIS!"

The light grew even brighter.

…

Robin grunted as he looked at Hexagon. He was so close to breaking the shield. The doom of each Titan from each multiverse was getting closer. All of them were going to experience the exact same fate; dying at the hands of a terrible, horrible, monstrous demon fusion ever. Not a good fate. Not what the Titans needed. Not the way the Titans deserved to be remembered.

"This is it," Robin said. "This is the end."

That sentence made Robin determined. "No." He stepped toward the edge of the roof, closer to Hexagon. Despite his own doubts and worries from earlier, he knew he couldn't just sit idly by. "We're going to stop him."

Robin raised an eyebrow. "Uh… how? How in the world could we actually do that? Have you SEEN Hexagon! He's huge!"

"Yeah, he's larger than your head." Robin laughed while Robin gave him the stinkiest of stink eyes. "Sorry, I'm just trying to help us feel better. You know, humor can take the edge off things."

Robin sniffed. "Well, first of all, if either of us is going to rely on humor, it's going to be me." He faced Hexagon's back. "Second, I still don't see how we have ANY chance of fighting Hexagon."

"Which is why we aren't going to." Robin blinked as Robin pulled some birdarangs off of his utility belt. He gave his double a serious face, one that he hoped would convey the severity of the situation. "We just need to distract him."

Robin's eyes grew wide. "D… distract him?"

"Yes." Robin turned his head, all at once feeling a whole slew of emotions. "If Hexagon focuses his attention on us, that might give all the other Titans time to escape and think of a plan."

Robin gasped. "But… that would be suicide! It would be stupid!"

Robin flashed him a sparkling grin. "It would be heroic is what it would be."

Robin frowned. The gears turning in his head were visible for all to see. He looked past Robin, at the demon who was so close to achieving his goal. He looked like he wanted to say a million things, and yet couldn't say a single word. He looked like he wanted to run and hide… yet knew there was truth in Robin's words.

"Wouldn't that be the best thing to do?" Robin asked. He stepped over and put his hand on his double's shoulder. "Wouldn't that be the best way for two Robins to go out; by defending the world and helping out his friends?"

Robin's frown got deeper. A kind of solemn mood appeared in his expression, one that Robin knew through their short time together was so unlike him. He reached for his own birdarangs, pulling them off with a seriousness that made it clear he knew. He knew how this was going to end. He knew how it needed to end.

He turned toward his double. "Let's do this."

Robin grinned. With both of them taking deep breaths, they hurled the birdarangs at Hexagon. They exploded, sending fire shooting off the back of his head. Hexagon grunted, turning to glare at the two Robins.

"You two again." He turned away from the shield and aimed his two left fists at the Robins. They only barely managed to jump out of the way in time, with Hexagon's fists leaving a crater in the roof they just stood on.

Despite this, Robin just grinned at his double. "So?" The two continued running away from Hexagon, who aimed fist after fist at the rooves that they stood on. "You know, as someone who defeated Trigon before, this really takes me back."

Robin snickered. "I'm guessing defeating your Trigon is a lot more impressive than defeating mine."

"Eh, probably. That just might…"

Before he could finish his sentence, Hexagon shot a flaming fireball at them. The Robins shrieked as it landed, and the went flying face-first onto the top of another roof. Robin grunted, trying his best to get up. He reached for his double.

"Robin…" he only barely managed to stand up and walk over to him. "Robin, are you alright?"

As Robin helped his double up, said double coughed and put his hand to his head. Robin cringed when he saw a lump the size of an orange forming. "I… I'm… I…."

"This is the end of the line boys," Hexagon's voice boomed. He held his four hands together, and a fireball grew in between them. Bigger and bigger it grew, its orange glow making Robin's heart pounded. He looked down at Robin, who looked more terrified than he ever had before.

"This looks like the end!" Robin said as he wrapped his arms around Robin's waist. Honestly, even though the gesture would clearly embarrass his double if he were in any other state of mind, he didn't denounce him for it. In fact, he patted him on the back as he looked up at Hexagon. He knew it would end like this. He had distracted Hexagon, and now, they were going to experience the consequences that came with that decision. Hopefully, it wouldn't be in vain.

"HYAAH!" Hexagon shot the fireball at the Robins, with Robin cringing, closing his eyes, and bracing himself for the hot, painful, powerful impact. He waited with bated breath, but… it didn't come. It didn't come, and the Boy Wonder was all the more confused because of it.

"What….?" He opened his eyes and gasped. "Robin, look!"

Robin, who had been whimpering and cowering, opened his eyes and gasped. A black and purple aura encircled them, keeping them safe from Hexagon's blast. Robin couldn't help but grin. Robin, on the other hand, was completely and utterly stupefied. And, incidentally, so was Hexagon.

"What?" Hexagon asked. "What is the meaning of…?"

The sound of the buildings scraping against the pavement wrang through the streets. Both Robins and Hexagon turned their attention there, gasping at the sight. The creature that had pushed the buildings apart… what words were there to describe it? It was a big, black dragon, with glowing white eyes and purple energy wings. Purple fire escaped from its mouth, and it had spikes running down its back that glowed the same purple as everything else.

Robin gawked at that. "Is that… Raven?"

Hexagon, seemingly just as confused, turned toward the dragon with a raised eyebrow. "What are you supposed to be?"

The dragon stayed silent before smirking. "What? You don't know a flock of Ravens when you see one?" Robin felt giddy beyond all comprehension to hear it talk with Raven's voice, and he only grew more giddy when he heard her say. "We are… The Unkindness."

Robin beamed. Oh, this just got interesting.