Authors notes: Hold onto your butts, and I hope you all enjoy it. ;)

Updated 18/September/2022 (Tightened up some of the writing.)

Chapter 94

The Will of the People.

Why was this person in her way? Raven tried to step around the larger man who looked at her with a steely cold gaze. She'd tried to enter the tranquillity gardens where she could meditate peacefully. But she'd been stopped by this larger man.

"Excuse me." Raven said, narrowing her eyes at the man, which she later realised might not have been the best idea. He still wouldn't move. "Excuse me," she said a little louder, "I'd like to go in... please." She forced the last word out.

"I'm afraid you've been banned." Banned? But it was the tranquillity garden, it was supposed to be open to everyone.

"Why?" Raven asked, teenage frustration mounting.

"We don't want your kind here." He said.

"'You're kind?'" Raven echoed. She didn't understand.

Raven was conscious some people in the vicinity were turning to watch this exchange. She especially didn't like the looks she was getting from people. This was humiliating. She didn't know what she'd done to make this punishment just, but whatever it was she guessed it must be something petty. Maybe it was the result of saving that baby last week. Maybe the mother wanted to hurt Raven for the humiliation so much, and Raven had shown that merely gossiping about her wouldn't bother her, that she pulled strings to do something that would deeply hurt Raven. Now she was banned from the tranquillity gardens.

Raven gave up and walked off. Attempting to reason wouldn't do any good, Raven understood this, because it wasn't about right or wrong, about morals. It was likely more about being tainted, about mob rule and bullying. A bunch of people who were either very powerful, or very stupid but with connections to power, decided they didn't like Raven and wanted her to suffer. Attempting to argue would do nothing, nobody would support her or help her or even feel sorry for her. It wasn't about reason, or logic, or morals. It was about fashion.

These thoughts just replayed again in Raven's head.

They knew they couldn't outwit her, they knew they couldn't fight her physically, or even with their own abilities. She was too powerful, too unreactive, they couldn't fight her one on one. So they did the cowardly thing, they gossip, they pull strings, they persuade the people to help them bully an individual.

Children laughing echoed down the corridor, and it sounded like a mocking kind of laughter. At her? Raven so wanted to go there and throttle them. But the laughter wasn't for her.

Andra and her goons were attacking another monk. A boy monk maybe a few years younger than Raven was. They surrounded him and gave him no way to retreat.

"Leave me alone!" The boy shouted.

"No, she's gotten to you, and we need to purge this evil from you." They all giggled, whatever it was they were doing Raven doubted 'purging evil' was the reason for this treatment.

"Gandal and Raven sittng in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G." What? It took a few moments for that to register, and Raven's face began to burn red with embarrassment. So did the boys face as they repeated the chant.

"I don't." Gandal protested, "I just don't think bullying her will do any good. It won't turn her good, or change her soul."

"Blasphemy!" and someone hit the young boy over the head.

"She tried to kidnap my little brother." Andra said.

"Down by the lake? No she didn't." Gandal said, "She rescued him from falling down the steps, then it crawled towards her. I saw it."

"Liar!" and Andra smacked him over the head. "Why do you lie? I hate people who lie."

"I'm not lying, I know what I saw."

"Are you calling my mother a liar?" The answer was obviously yes, but Gandal didn't have the strength to look her in the eye and say it. "My mom wouldn't lie about something like that."

"I'm not saying she's lying. But maybe she was mistaken."

"Shut up!" Andra said. "Raven is born from evil. We fight evil, even the spawn of evil. Raven will only learn not to be evil through fire, and her familiars must be purged with pain."

"Leave me alone."

"Burn the familiar, burn the familiar, burn the familiar!"

Raven stood and watched, but didn't interfere. She did want to race in there and save him. She'd never had someone stand up for her like this, especially not a boy.

Small, lanky, but he is kind of cute, though.

STOP IT!

They set upon him and Raven watched from the shadows. She absorbed all of it, took all of it in, but still didn't lift a finger to help him. She could give him support, reach into his mind and help him cope with the pain. But she didn't in case they felt her presence.

Once the boy was beaten and bruised they broke away and left the boy crying his eyes out on the floor. Their work apparently done.

Raven broke from the shadows and approached the boy. She recognised him. He was the young boy who a year or two ago tried to defend Raven before. The one Raven told to insult her, and hate her. Clearly he did not obey.

She stood over the small boy, and hoped her face looked suitably apologetic.

"Get away from me." The boy hissed and backed into the wall. "Leave me alone, they might come back!"

"You stood up for me again, didn't you?" Raven said in an accusatory tone.

"I don't think their treatment of you is right, or fair." He said.

"That was your first mistake." Raven said coldly. "Don't disagree with them."

"But, things will never change if we don't fight them." The boy argued back.

"Things won't change if you do." Raven said, she made no move to kneel down and help the boy up. "They need a bad guy, it makes the world simpler for them. In future, keep your mouth shut. They call me a witch, nod in agreement. They call me evil, do not question it. They beat me, join in. Or you will be the target."

"Don't you care about your treatment?" He asked. "Don't you want your life to get better? Because it won't, if you don't stand up for yourself."

"I've been treated this way my whole life. I can take it. You can't afford it. My life is already ruined, don't ruin yours to help me, because I won't be grateful for it." Raven said, the boy was silent for a second as he tried to think of the words he wanted to say.

"No matter what they say, you have a good heart, Raven." The boy said.

"What did I just say?" Raven bit back at him. "Don't disagree with them!"

The boy stood up, his face scratched, and damaged. His physical form was okay, but his aura was injured and bloody.

"I'll verbally agree with them." He said, "I'll never agree in my mind."

Raven felt her steely face crack a little in an attempt to show what she was feeling. But she pushed it all back into an uncaring expression.

"Perhaps it's better if you learn to." Without another word Raven turned on her heel and walked away from the boy. As she mulled what she'd just said over and over in her head something started to become clear to her.

Life will never improve for you. You will always remain unhappy if you stay here.

But I don't know what's out there. It might be dangerous.

Is it worse than what's in here?

It could be much, much worse. Hell is literally other people.

Your presence hurts people indirectly.

Could there be people who support her? Or at least didn't agree with how she was treated?

Possibly, but they'd be too scared of damaging their reputation to speak up.

I think I'd preferred to stay ignorant of that. Knowing that people see my suffering and do nothing hurts more.

They'll do nothing to help you, and it will never change. Even Azar can't change it. This is your life, now and forever.

There must be better things in the future.

Must there be? Why don't you look?

That is forbidden. Anyway, would I have the power?

You could figure it out. And it is only forbidden because they want to keep control of you. If you can't see what's coming, you won't protest.

Maybe... I wonder how its done.

The first thing Raven became aware of was the whine of the repulsers as the world began to flood back into her brain letting her know she was still alive. She got a really weird image of Drayfus sitting with his head at a weird angle, like his neck was broken. But then he pulled his head down and it snapped back into place like nothing had been wrong. Weird...

Then she blacked out again.

When the fog cleared she opened her eyes to the red emergency lights.

Raven lay on a stretcher that had once hung on the wall, presumably for fallen soldiers who needed medical attention. Ace's jacket propped up her head and the world appeared to be shaking.

Speaking of Ace, her, Drayfus and the irritating Hedgy were gathered at the observation hatch. Light passed over their faces, red light, not red from thee emergency lights however, it was a flickering red light. Hedgy's was a face of disbelief.

"Why did they do this?" Hedgy asked, "Earth Alliance were supposed to free the aliens from the oppression of Safe Harbour, not exterminate them!"

"You told the universe this place was ran by Daleks." Ace stated distantly, Hedgy nodded. "That any who joined Safe Harbour were traitors to their species. You effectively 'othered' all of them. Made them 'not like you.' Inhuman or immoral, therefore an enemy."

"How can you say all that so calmly?" Hedgy asked.

"Because I've seen it before." Ace said, "When you 'other' people, you give society permission to treat them like the dirt on your boot, and be free from any social consequences for it, because to you, to hate them is a moral virtue."

"But nobody hated the aliens. We just hated Big Dog, he was a species-ist!" Hedgy shook his head at what he was seeing.

"Was he?" Ace asked, "Or did your ideology need him to be that?"

Raven sat up as the craft suddenly dropped and landed on solid ground. Raven looked forward into the cockpit and saw the pilot, slumped over, no life signs. The craft must've flown on auto pilot.

"I don't know that much about Big Dog, nor where he came from. But people can change." Ace sounded distant, "Who they are yesterday can be different to who they are today, or tomorrow. We have to allow people to change and grow up. They can't stay your bad guy forever, just because its beneficial to you."

The doors began to open up. The sight beyond was haunting.

Burning, ash and dust. Everything was gone. It was like a biblical apocalypse scene from the bible.

Raven sat up and despite the pounding in her head she stepped out, past the others and out into devastation.

She'd seen this, in her mind. This is what the world will be like when Trigon destroys it.

Ace looked distant and sad, yet calm like she had seen this kind of destruction before and though she wasn't happy about it, almost took it in her stride.

Hedgy felt like he was on the verge of a mental breakdown.

Drayfus... it was still difficult to get a read on that guy.

Raven didn't notice any of this. She went up to an ash clump. It had not too long ago been a child and parent. The parent kneeling down, curling over the child like it could protect it. They were just a burning ash statue now.

"We should find shelter. The fires will be throwing out toxic gases." Drayfus said.

"Why don't we just go back into the shuttle?" Hedgy asked.

"It's programmed to return to Safe Harbours coordinates should the pilot suffer a fatal injury." Drayfus explained.

"Wicked." Ace said with sarcasm.

They began moving away, though Raven stayed still watching, picking out the burning statues wondering which were rubble and which were people.

Ace came up to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Come on, Raven." She said gently. "We need to find shelter."

"One man." Raven muttered.

"Huh?"

"One man. All this devastation is allowed because of the hatred for one man. Big Dog." Raven said quietly. "All because they wouldn't let him be anything other than a monster."

Raven turned and Ace guided her like she was a blind woman. Suddenly the pain in Raven's legs didn't hurt all that much though she still dragged the Dalek sucker behind her.

"Yeah, unfortunately Hedgy was right. Big Dog was, at one point, a species-ist. He has been recorded saying some pretty insensitive things. I know, I checked. He was the, 'They reached down my childs throat and stole the food from their bellies to feed themselves.' Kind of guy. I was about to condemn the man myself until I read a little more. In his thirties he had a genuine shift in his perspective. He woke up and realised the big enemy wasn't the aliens from outside. It was the politicians in Earth Alliance Government and the big corporations constantly driving a wedge between different peoples, and then profiting from it by providing themselves as the solution to problems they created. According to records, he hasn't held a species-ist view in a very long time."

"It didn't matter if he changed." Raven said more to herself, "They needed a bad guy. So they could move freely in the shadows." Raven looked around. "The most evil people try their hardest to look like angels."

"Trust me, if I had a quid for every tyrannical leader I've seen disguise their own agendas behind an angelic image I'd have bought Pluto."

"This happens everywhere?" Raven asked meekly.

"More often than I'm comfortable with." Ace said.

"And when you fight them, they make you out to be the bad guy." Raven said in the same meek tone. "The evil one."

"Yeah, pretty much." Ace said solemnly.

Wheels were turning in Raven's head. But she decided to keep the thoughts to herself. Ace wouldn't like them very much

Sitting in her safe place Raven meditated. Incense sticks burnt, filling the air with its scent. The chemicals relaxed her, helped her open her mind and allow her charkas to come into alignment, or as near an alignment as was necessary for this ritual to occur. She was in the total darkness of the cabinet she'd hid in earlier in the year. She was perched on a soft poof she'd found in the storage room. It was softer than the hard cupboard floor and that comfort allowed her to easily disconnect from the material world, at least until she felt centred enough to levitate off of the floor.

The cupboard brought back memories, and she wanted to hear that soft reassuring voice again, her friend, the voice. But he never came again. He must've been scared off by the other monks. She knew they'd do that. Raven was just not allowed to have friends, and no one was allowed to be friends with her.

A bag outside the cabinet containing a white powder levitated off the floor. Raven had left it there, it was part of the ritual. The bag tipped up, allowing the powder to dribble out. The bag moved, leaving a trail of powder until a perfect circle was drawn out around the outside of the cabinet, but within the acceptable distance to allow it to resonate with her powers. The powder itself was special. A combination of salt, chalk and various crushed minerals to give it the properties she needed for this ritual.

In the darkness it was easy for her mind to touch the flow of time itself. All she had to do was grab a thread of time and her mind will be transported forwards along her timestream, or at least down the most likely branch of time. It was possible to see alternatives too, if she cast the ritual correctly. The world faded out around her, all senses, she couldn't even smell the strong scent of the incense sticks, she was totally un-anchored from the material world.

Will I still be unhappy in the future? She dared to ask herself. Will anything ever change for me?

She hesitated, this was forbidden by the order. But she reminded herself that it was only forbidden so the monks could control her. So she couldn't see where they'd force her life, and maybe rebel against it.

Forwards she pushed. Into the flow of time itself, and she felt herself being projected forwards.

It was like her life, her future life was flashing before her eyes. She couldn't stop to catch more than a glimpse of it, it moved so fast.

A dark chamber with an alter in the middle, metal, books, wood. Somehow all rolled into one. So large, and yet so small. Safe, secure, love? Friendship? Mystery? That wasn't Azarath she was seeing. Many worlds and places flashed before her. Metal giants, a girl with fangs, a tramp who was somehow seven people in one. A fat purple alien girl wearing a tuxedo? A sensation of being squeezed... by big sheets of paper? This was her future? It was weird, but at least it was unexpected. She still didn't feel very happy, but the pain felt a little better.

Cold water, screams, a large ship tilted at a sharp angle. Raven felt the ice cold water lapping at her skin. Then warmth and... Wait, was she in the arms of a boy, was she kissing a boy? No, go back, I want to get a closer look at that! But it was gone. Whatever it was it clearly didn't last long. Possibly just used and abandoned she guessed.

Cold, metal tank things that stank of death, hatred and anger. A fire? But no, it passed quickly. Gun shots. Dread, coldness, sadness. She was more miserable than ever.

A massive headache...? Big, scary people in hoods?

No, forwards, forwards, forwards. I've got to find a happy place some time. Forwards, forwards.

'The console has eyes?' She heard herself say.

An imp creature.

An old man. A really old man in front of a big screen surrounded by darkness and stalactites.

Green, oh so much green.

A mask with glowing eyes.

A snake.

A wolf.

Scary people in big collars.

Faster, go faster!

Four individuals of unique silhouettes, she only got vague feelings and impressions from these people.

Annoying.

Noisy and annoying.

Noisy, gross and annoying.

And tolerable, but still annoying.

But she felt, 'of' them. Raven didn't understand what they meant.

Flashes of orange, green, red and blue. For a brief second she was looking at herself as if from outside her own head, possibly a double, but that double didn't act like her, not nearly as reserved and calm, and had she herself grown taller? And why was her own hair such a vivid red?

More came. Green and blue invading her mind, a boy made of paper, a green imp like shape that shifts forms.

A beast.

A Deathstroke... wait, a what? No, it doesn't matter. Raven felt content in this period of her life, more open, almost happy. But then the images came to an abrupt halt.

Everything went black. It was dark and cold.

Did I die?

Heat. Intense heat. Fire, burning, rivers and seas boiling, earthquakes, volcanos, rivers of lava. Pillars of rock, poorly formed statues, once alive but now dead and burning. This wasn't a vision, it was far too clear for that. She was smaller, running around the depths of this vial place of fire and sulphur. This wasn't just one place. It was the planet, it was the universe. Ghostly creatures inhabited the world now. Monsters, and creatures that'd make Lovecraft turn pale.

She turned, the scene shifted. She was in front of a building... no, not a building, a throne of some kind. A giant throne and there was a suitably giant creature sitting in its seat. Red, muscly, thin faced and with horns, it had a chakra jewel in its forehead similar to Ravens. But it's most distinctive feature were its four, red eyes.

"Daughter of mine..." it spoke. Visions weren't supposed to speak, they weren't supposed to know you were there.

"Far... father?" She trembled in his presence.

"Yes my child." Trigon said, his voice thundering, his four eyes cold. "I am your father, and you will obey me."

Though Raven was scared in a way she felt glad. He was her own flesh and blood, however the way he looked at her she could sense there was no love, no affection for her.

"You are the gate way, you are my portal to release."

"Don't you have anything to say to me?" Raven asked, taking a small step forwards.

"Much must be done for my return. For the future to pass, for you to summon me forth. To allow the prophecy to come to pass."

"Prophecy, what prophecy?" Raven asked. Trigon made little movement, his head just looked around at the lake of lava his throne sat in the middle of.

"The restoration of my kingdom. The rebirth of my empire. The coming of my time. The new age of darkness."

Raven took a step away. "You did this?" Raven asked, horrified. She knew Trigon was a demon, she never imagined the scale of the destruction he'd cause.

"You caused this." Trigon said, he didn't smile. He was unreactive, and that radiated power. "In the end, you will release me, willingly."

"Release?" Raven asked. "No, no I don't want this. I don't want this for anyone."

"You will obey me, daughter. I am you father. Obey me." Raven backed away, she caught sight of her arms. There were burning images all over them. Burning red runes all over her arms. She saw them burning through her skirt, they were on her legs, her torso. Her forehead under her chakra jewel. They pulsated and burnt bright like a warning light.

Raven tried to back away, but her steps probably looked tiny and insignificant to him. "You seek affection from me?" The creature questioned, "I will allow you to live, and you will be... happy." Something in the way he said that put a cold shiver up her spine, like she'd have no choice. Like it wasn't promise, it was an ultimatum.

She ran, she pulled herself out of this vision, further back down the tunnel and grabbed a different thread of time and she headed towards an alternative to what she saw. More devastation, more burning bodies. Only this was Azarath itself. Trigon stood among the burning buildings looking down upon her.

Raven looked around, the same smell of death, sulphur. Still the runes burnt all over her body.

"You feel sorrow for these people?" The creature asked, "Why? They caused you nothing but pain and suffering. Just because you are of my blood. Do you not want your revenge."

She saw a burning form, body frozen in horror. It was Andra. The bitch certainly deserved it, and around her, her goons frozen in stone all trying to shield themselves from what had come. She felt little remorse for them. But then she saw others. She saw Gandal, she saw the mother and her baby. The baby didn't deserve this. Then she saw her... her mother...

"Mother?" Raven asked, she walked up to the statue and felt its cold face. "Why?" Raven shouted, "She was my mother. She's the woman you fathered me with."

"She was merely a vessel to bring you into this world." He said, indicating he had no affection for the woman. "You are the gateway that'll bring me back into this one." And probably viewed Raven in the same way. In some part of her mind she'd imagined he'd at least offer some affection to his own flesh and blood that the monks of Azarath refused to give her. But no, this was worse than hate. It was total indifference to her existence, Raven wasn't a person, she was a tool to be used and discarded.

"NO!" Raven turned back, grabbed another thread and again fell sideways.

A boy, taller than her, but not bad looking. He smelt of pencils. She was in his arms and being squeezed, but in a gentle, affectionate way. She had her arms around his neck in the same gentle, affectionate way. Their lips parted, that had felt so nice, but there was an underlying tension in this scene, she could feel it. Then the runes slowly burnt through her hoodie sleeves. The boys cute face began to bubble like he had very bad acne. Then his flesh began to sag like melting wax. Then his face began to fall off as his flesh literally melted from the bone. Behind the boy was the demon father, holding his hand out, it was glowing with red energy.

More running. More fire, more burning. More alternatives, but she was met with the same thing over and over again, until...

No, this was different. No longer red and hot. This place was dark and cold. She found herself in some futuristic place. Like Azarath, but more bronze in colour than the marble of Azarath, though the darkness robbed it of any glow it may have had. She felt slightly heavier than she usually did, either she'd put on weight or this was another planet. She had a mental sigh of relief when she noticed the burning runes on her body were gone. But then that relief collapsed when she saw the frozen human shaped statues caught in their final moments. The fires had come but had long since gone out in this timeline. The dimensions of this place were warped and twisted, space and time, it was all a tangle. She turned. One statue was horrific, it looked like he'd been halfway through some kind of transformation when the end came. Half his face young, the other half old. Did the guy age to death? No, that wasn't right, the younger form did not look anything like the older one. A shape shifter then, caught between morphs?

Raven looked around. Trigon wasn't here, so at least she'd escaped him. It was silent, it was quiet. Like how Raven liked it.

Footsteps. Running. A childish giggling from an archway. A man came down the steps, running as fast as he could. Suddenly he tripped and rolled down the last few steps. He quickly got up and made for some kind of weird cabinet tucked into the corner. But the door to it shut, and both the man and Raven watched as it was shrouded in darkness. A dark soul. It bent over and began to be crushed down. It's form melted into a very malleable, shiny metal of twisted atoms and dimensions. It was crushed like one might screw up a tin can. The cabinet was now nothing more than a jagged, screwed up piece of metal the size of an apple on the floor.

Then it appeared. A shadow rushed out from the darkness and took the man. It surrounded him and the darkness looked like it was trying to absorb its victim into itself. The creature giggled like a child playing a game, and yet also growled like a hurt beast. The man tried to pull himself away. So many tentacles tried to hold him in place. The creature seemed to delight in the terror the man felt, the pain and the horror as the creature started to rip him apart.

The man began to glow, and he morphed from one form, to another. Brown hair became red, tall became short, tanned became pale. But it didn't stop there. He shifted again. Red hair stayed the same, but eyes became green, he'd grown freckles and a feminine figure. He was now a she? The oddness of this was lost on Raven as the form shifted again, and again and again about a dozen times before he exploded into golden filaments, each one just radiated power, and they all vanished into the creature. Its tongue licked its sharp teeth.

Then it got up and turned to her. Its black cloak parted and she saw the feminine form of a girl. Pale and slender, but with an hour glass figure. Under her hood were four, burning red eyes, and a broad smile filled with the sharp teeth of a monster. Raven thought she was wearing a red bathing suit of some kind under the cloak. But no, the smearing and running gave it away. She was totally naked, and covered in blood.

"Hello, me!" It said with the creepy energy a predator might show when it spotted its prey. "Do you want to play?"

Raven felt sick to her stomach at what she'd just seen. What had just happened? Did she eat that guy? No, not entirely. Absorb some kind of power he had more like. But she'd tortured him before taking it, and she'd delighted in it. Raven had had such dark fantasies before, going after people she didn't like. But it was something else to actually watch it occur in front of your eyes, even if it was at your own hands. Raven was suddenly disgusted by her own dark imagination. The way the creature rubbed her hands over her body, spreading the blood across her hips and breasts just repelled Raven further. This was sick. This couldn't be her? Right?

"Try it." It giggled, "give in. It'll feel good." Runes began to burn through her blood covered skin, and she was fine with them.

Raven wanted to turn and run again.

"Why resist? Father isn't totally heartless. He gave me this place, this realm where I can play with the toys he gives me." Raven backed away, she could hear moans and groans from far away. Many souls, she could feel them, in perpetual torture somewhere on this world. "Doesn't their pain give you so much pleasure?" This was more than just a revenge fantasy, it was something deeper, primeval.

Raven had nothing to say. No come back. Not even a sarcastic quip. She would not accept this was her. Never! But no, this was just another possibility, a version of her she only might become. There must be others, there must be one where she doesn't become this, and where Trigon doesn't happen.

Down the rabbit hole she went again, another thread and again, face to face with that dark creature that had her form. Torturing someone for her own pleasure. Again, moving from place to place to place, she was there.

"I let him out. I released him willingly." The creature said to her. "Once you release him, you'll feel better. It'll all make sense. Trust me, I am you, after all."

"PISS OFF!" Raven screamed at it after hearing this for the umpteenth time.

There has to be one, one where this doesn't happen.

Whiteness. Raven was surrounded by whiteness. There was nothing here, just the white. Where was this place? Limbo? No, it was a pocket dimension of some kind. In the whiteness there was one lonely, white figure. A woman. Maybe about forty. Curled over as if in shame, in depression. Her entire form was hidden under the white cloak. She didn't remove her hood. She just sat and meditated, and did absolutely nothing, nothing. Forever.

'This is the best we could hope for.' She said telepathically to Raven. 'Trust me, I remember looking. There is no other option, and this one was extremely unlikely. It cost me little, but it was everything to me.' Her hand appeared to show a scrap of burnt, green velvet, and a busted walkie-talkie that looked like a large, compact mirror. Raven didn't understand the significances of them.

No, this can't be the best that she could hope for? There has to be something else. Some other version. Either miserable and isolated, or free but insanely sadistic. There had to be other options. Just knowing if the miserable and isolated future wasn't as unlikely as she feared would've been enough. But no.

There wasn't a better future. Fire, brimstone, death. No matter which version of her future she turned to, it was all the same.

"It is destiny my daughter. I am inevitable." The deep voice said. Yes, that much was clear, and she hated it.

There was no point in looking further. She had her answer.

Apparently, in the future she would be happy. Very, very happy...

How long did they wander the burning streets of Safe Harbour? How many corpses did they pass, how much evidence of a once thriving community now in ruins did they see.

Hedgy looked around, then to the three beings he was with.

"I... I didn't mean for this to happen!" He said.

"You didn't do anything." Ace reassured him. "It was Earth Alliance, acting on bunk info. If anyone's to blame it's them. But if there is someone you really need to blame, blame Daleks. The proper Daleks."

Raven looked at Hedgy. She disagreed with Ace. Earth Alliance only attacked Safe Harbour because they easily believed in lies, and Hedgy and his group willingly lie, stretch the truth. Why? Raven was certain she knew. It was all for social recognition, all for being the 'good person'. When someone says someone else is the bad guy, you are expected to prove your moral convictions by being as horrid to them as possible. If you refuse and you disagree then there is no discussion, no exchange of views, or ideas. There is no way the 'bad guy' can be the 'good guy' because if the 'bad guy' is just an ordinary guy trying to live life, then the self proclaimed 'good guys' are now the 'bad guys' under the new framing; and that drives the 'good guys' insane. Therefore such thinking needs to be demonised, it needs to be stamped out, by any means, because the moralistic ends would justify the evil means.

True, that wasn't the reason Safe Harbour was destroyed. Raven reckoned there were deeper, political reasons for why it happened. But Hedgy and his groups' absolute stubbornness to look in a mirror for five minutes and even dare to imagine if 'they' are in fact the baddies gave Earth Alliance all the reasonable evidence they needed to torch the planet.

If Earth Alliance, it's government and its people were as cold about human life as Hedgy is, and Hedgy's group was producing 'evidence' that it was only populated by humans, and worse these demonic 'humans supremacists' then the Earth Alliance government will have the consent of the ignorant Earth people to destroy the planet entirely.

Raven saw another burning body. A child laying in the dirt, it had antennae on its head and it had covered its face to protect itself. The antennae suddenly fell off. The body looked almost human now, just how Hedgy sees things.

All this rushed around Raven's head as her numb mind refused to acknowledged the reality around her, or at least it just let it in a bit at a time until she became acclimatised to it.

"So now what do we do?" Ace asked, and she held her wrist in a suspicious way. Ace had a way off the planet, Raven knew it, but she chose to stay here with them. Or maybe she was stuck here like the TARDIS was, unable to take off. Either way, it didn't matter. They had no food, water, and they were wandering around hell itself.

There was the TARDIS and...

Raven's eyes went wide, moisture collected at the corners of her eyes.

My Doctor... Was he still alive? Doubtful. Likely he perished in the assault too. Raven's eyes narrowed and her eyes rolled to Hedgy, her mood darkened. To hide it, and protect herself from the heat Raven flipped her hood up over her face.

Her mind cleared enough to catch the conversation that was happening around her chattering brain.

"The shuttle isn't space worthy, and even if it was it isn't built for deep space travel." Drayfus hissed. "It'd take years to reach the next planet along, and even that isn't habitable."

"You're an agent from Earth Alliance, don't you have a ship? A way of talking to them?" Hedgy said, pointing up into the sky.

"My craft is... inaccessible." Drayfus said, "it would no longer be capable of flight after this, and any communications equipment I could use would be destroyed."

"So, hoisted by Earth Alliance and hung out to dry." Ace concluded.

"They did what they thought was right." Drayfus said.

"And this is right?" Ace asked, waving her arms wide at the devastation.

"It is... regrettable that it ended this way." Drayfus said. "I don't like it. But it was a card that was always on the table. As you Earth people say."

"Then they're no better than the Daleks." Ace said.

"They... they did it for the safety and security of Earth Alliance citizens." Hedgy said, his voice betraying that he wasn't sure he believed in it himself, "Both the humans, and the aliens." He added, like it made it any different. Hedgy's words echoed in Raven's head, but just the words, not the nuance, nor the tone of voice they were said in. She replayed them over and over again, each time a subtle detail was lost. Until the words didn't represent how it was actually expressed, but fitted with how Raven felt. She didn't even realise she was doing this, she just knew it made her feel better.

The conversation had moved on and frankly Raven wasn't interested in it. She just wanted to seethe and stew because she just wanted to. She didn't want to let go of how she felt. She wanted someone to pay... for everything.

A loud clang echoed and Raven was snapped out of her mood as two large doors parted in front of them. Raven adopted a stance and prepared to use her powers. Something was coming.

Soldiers, not Daleks, but not entirely human. Safe Harbour soldiers, battle scarred and worn. They carried their wounded and moved like a force not yet defeated, but just pushed back. Also following them were civilians, aliens of all shapes and sizes, some carrying children, others old an frail but still helped by the young. They all emerged into the world to see their lives, their homes, their friends and families in flames.

Then emerged Big Dog. His movements were slow and steady. Focused, like he was in a state of flow, but Raven could feel under it real and raw anger.

Then emerged a group with their hands on their heads, being led out by soldiers. The group were all humans, with one or two aliens among them but the group was predominantly human. They were marched out into the devastation and they looked around at the hellscape, and they looked smug and satisfied.

Big Dog turned to them, his one eye burning with hate.

"You've destroyed our lives." Big Dog said in a low voice.

"You frickin' deserved it! OW!" One of the group shouted, but a stone tossed by a blue alien hit him in the head and shut him up.

Big Dog came up to the group. "I had hoped you'd feel some remorse, some shame for this." His voice had an edge of pleading. Which was odd. After all, Big Dog had all the power in this situation.

"Daleks and human-supremacists like you don't deserve our shame nor remorse. You deserve punishment for your bigoted views!" One of them said. Though it sounded like it was said with less conviction than the speaker intended. Like it was all he could say.

"We were in the deep tunnels fighting Daleks. Real Daleks." Big Dog said, "To keep our citizens safe. That included you."

"Liar!" Some shouted with conviction. "You are the 'real' Daleks!" Raven gave this group one thing. They were certainly defiant and totally convinced of their own lies.

"If you had shown remorse, I might be able to stop this." Big Dog said. The aliens around the group began to shout and yell at them. Some threw stones. No one tried to stop it. Everyone was so fed up with them. Big Dog looked away as if conflicted. Caught between the crackle of the fire and the yells of the mob.

Raven watched Hedgy. Slowly he shuffled his feet, as if slowly gravitating back towards his own people. Then a solider took him by the arm and dragged him into the group.

"Oi," Ace protested.

Big Dog then turned to Ace, and he looked like he was tempted to put her in with them too. But he shook his head and decided better of it. He looked to Drayfus and nodded. Then he turned to Raven. His eye was sad like he had something to say, but didn't know how to say it. Raven wasn't interested. She watched Hedgy with fascination. At first he looked uncomfortable, but as the group chanted their slogans it was as if whatever Hedgy had evolved into was being undone. He didn't argue, didn't disagree despite knowing the truth. He just melted away to become one of the group. It was a little creep to watch. It was like Hedgy's mind had been absorbed by some collective creature.

"Hey Hedgy, don't sweat it. We won't let these Daleks win!" Said a tall, charismatic and handsome member of the group, whom Raven guessed was their leader. He looked surprisingly well groomed and clean cut for the camera. Frankly, everything about this guy screamed 'rich kid.'

Looking upon the group as a whole, some were jeering back at the crowd trying to convince them that all this was somehow their own fault, some sat quietly, joining in only when the jeering ones elbowed them into mimicking the behaviour.

"Kill them!" Came the musical tones of an orange alien.

"Yeah, get rid of them!" Yelled another.

The survivors burst out into their demand. One command chanted over and over. "Kill them, kill them, kill them!"

"And so they show their true colours, I knew you were all Daleks." Said the charismatic one, the hypocrisy was either lost in his tiny mind, or he just didn't care. The survivors just chanted back to them.

"Kill them. Kill them. Kill them!"

"Oi!" Ace shouted, "you can't." Some of the crowd began to round on her and demand she be thrown in with them, but Big Dog refused to make that call. He looked to his people, then to Hedgy's group. It was subtle under the masculine, steely composure, but Raven could tell he was shell-shocked and coming to terms with something. Like some deep seated core belief had been shattered and he was struggling with the cognitive dissonance.

"You can't just kill them!" Ace turned to Raven, but the demon girl was still out of it. "Don't become like them. Don't become like Earth Alliance." Ace pleaded with the people of the former Safe Harbour.

"What would you have us do?" Big Dog asked Ace. "We shared our food, we offered them land, we afforded them every right a newcomer to Safe Harbour could ask for."

"We didn't want property! Property is theft!" One of them shouted over.

"They came to this place not to join us, nor to understand it. They came to change it into what these people left behind." Big Dog said, "We tolerated them, we never hated them. But they hate us, and only because we rejected their philosophy, their politics." Big Dog snorted. "They call us Daleks, and yet they're the ones claiming to be the 'superior beings,' they claim to be the 'morally superior beings,' and anything different is wrong and evil." He waved his hands at the devastation. "They think this, all this death and destruction is the just punishment for the crime of rejecting 'them!'"

"It's suitable punishment for a bunch of species-ist human supremacists." Someone in the group shouted, and they all nodded their agreement.

Ace looked to the group on its knees, then back to Big Dog.

"But if you kill them, how are you no better than they are?" Ace asked.

"They don't see us as living sentient beings if we disagree with them. We might as well be a bunch of cockroaches at their feet."

"You are cockroaches!" One of the group jeered.

"Yeah, you are all morally inferior to us!" Shouted another, agreeing.

"You are all part of systematic oppression of the lesser species!" Said another.

"They are clearly willing to die for their cause." Big Dog said. "Perhaps we should leave them tied up. Earth Alliance will murder them anyway." Big Dog said.

"You lie! They would rescue us." The charismatic one shouted.

"How many of your number were eliminated in the bombardment?" Big Dog asked him, his voice was cold and blunt, "They never intended to extract you. Face it. Mummy Government has no love for you, and no further use of you. You're loose ends, and your deaths will add to the tally of 'human supremacists.' Your names forgotten to the hand that writes history."

"Liar!" Someone shouted. "We will be remembered, we will be commemorated. We will be enshrined in history as the ones who died for the revolution to happen!"

Raven listened to all this and decided these people weren't a political activist group. They were a cult of complete loony tunes.

The aliens of Safe Harbour were jeering at them again.

"We are on your side!" One of the group shouted. "People like us brought about your rights."

"The Grop you are!" Shouted an alien. "Our rights were forfeit to you, once we disagreed."

"That's not true!" One of Hedgy's group, a female shouted. But the angry aliens weren't going to take it. Raven could understand why. Those three words were said with total conviction but even the woman knew they disguised a lie. That was what was disturbing to Raven. They knew they were lying, but they each all had total conviction that if they just kept repeating the lie to themselves and enough people would believe it as true, so it would become the truth.

The charismatic one stopped and looked at the survivors, he looked like he was about to make a passionate speech. Perhaps one that would be remembered and if this were a movie would get people on his side. But before he could utter a word however, a girl, a blue alien one came towards him. She looked distant and not entirely present. He slowly knelt down thinking the girl was offering him her sympathy. She came to a stop and pointed at a pile of burning ash. "That was my mommy." The little girl said, "she said if we were nice that you would see the good in us, the good in this place. She said there is no such thing as a bad species, just bad beings."

"I'm sorry, but you're mother..." the charismatic one spoke in a tender voice that talked down to the alien, "was a traitor to her species, she supported a system that oppressed her and..." he never got a finish his sentence. The girl had hawked back and spat in his face.

"You are a bad being." The girl said. "Not a bad human, a bad being."

The guy reared up and reached for the girl, a snarl on his face, a mask of pure hate. He was stopped short by a swift rifle butt in the back of the neck.

Raven felt her head tightly, it still hurt.

Big Dog came up to her, he had her attention.

"What say you, Rashi?" Big Dog said, talking to Raven like she was his guardian of morality, or whatever. "What is the correct course of action? Should I let them live, or should we destroy them?"

Raven stopped listening to the crackling fires long enough to focus on the situation. She looked at Hedgy's little group. Raven's mind did not have kind thoughts about them. A bunch of idiots. Spineless, disgusting cowards, the lot of them. A bunch of moral crusaders without a real demon to fight within arms reach, so they invented them. The sort who'd championed for peoples rights, then hid behind those very same people when people started pushing back. A cult of fools who think if you repeated a lie enough it'd become the truth.

She turned to the survivors of Safe Harbour, people who had their homes, businesses, family's, and lives completely obliterated in the blink of an eye.

She looked to the sky, Earth Alliance ships. They ultimately did the deed. Would they have been able to justify it to people back on Earth if Hedgy's group weren't consistently demonising Safe Harbour? Probably, people were stupid after all.

The demon girl looked to Big Dog, who looked upon her expectantly. He thought she was his guardian angel, and thus she had a sway over his thinking. She didn't want that responsibility, but still...

Finally, Hedgy. The life she was to decide. Various emotions ran through her head about him, mostly negative, a couple blood thirsty. He was no longer an individual, but just a unit member of the group, the party, the cult.

She looked back at the survivors. Like Big Dog they too looked at her expectantly. Raven could easily save Hedgy's group from this punishment, but the survivors won't thank her for it.

Turning back to Hedgy's group. What would their deaths serve, ultimately?

Raven looked into Hedgy's eyes, and opened her mouth to speak, she had made her decision.

Then one final thought interjected.

Hedgy is loyal to his group, and he knows you're the daughter of Trigon. Echoes from the past came. If he lives, he'll tell everyone and use it against you. A cold fear came over her. Then she spoke in a low voice.

"Kill them. Kill them all."

It was like silence had fallen around her. It was like reality had detached from her and from the impact of her words. Raven swallowed and felt her stomach tense up, like her organs were trying to rebel against her. Ace's face fell into horror as Raven uttered the words. Raven felt like she was holding back a flood of... something in her head... a something fighting her, but something she could ignore with her mind being so numb, and she did ignore it as she continued.

"Like Big Dog said, they're too dangerous to be left alive. It doesn't matter how much kindness you give them, it doesn't matter that you treat them, and each other with respect. They don't care, they think your kindness is just a lie to trick them. They're not condemning you for your individual character, nor because you've done anything wrong. They're condemning you because you don't think like them. They detest you because you are not 'like' them. They hate you because you will not allow them to be in charge of you. They're scared of you because you have the freedom to tell them to fuck off, and that is what they hate the most.'" Raven's eyes burnt like lasers. Though she saw Hedgy and his little activist group, in her mind she was just seeing the monks from Azarath. "They'll never leave you alone, no matter how far you run. They'll follow you, they'll go after your family, your friends and they'll eventually get more of you killed. They define themselves as 'good' and by rejecting them you forfeit the right to even be considered 'people'." Hedgy's group became very silent, some muttered agreement. "They're all monsters, and they see you as the enemy. I heard Hedgy say it himself. He thinks you all have less rights than the Daleks." It wasn't exactly what he said, but Raven remembered the pity he'd showed towards the Daleks bullshit plight about being, 'misunderstood aliens who were tired of being oppressed.' " He sees you all as eternal children who can't grow up, who need their guidance, and only their guidance. They are human supremacists' themselves, they just feel guilty of having been born in the 'superior race'" She said with finger quotes. Again, Raven felt something internal fighting her, but she felt committed and she felt she had to see it through, so she forced herself to say it one more time while looking into their eyes. "They're nothing but pests and parasites, who want to be in control, and like any pests and parasites, before they can do any more damage they should be exterminated."

"Yeah, kill them!" Yelled a human. "Exterminate them!"

"Kill 'em." Yelled an alien tongue. "Exterminate them."

"Exterminate them, Exterminate them, Exterminate them!" The survivors were thrusting their fists into the air as they chanted and demanded Big Dog carry out the instruction. "Exterminate them, Exterminate them, Exterminate them!" Raven snorted a laugh at the irony of what was happening. She didn't break her cold stare as Hedgy as he was dragged away with the rest of them to be exterminated.

"No, stop!" Ace shouted and threw herself at the mob, "we should be better than them." She shouted.

"'We'?" Someone echoed, "You're not even from here."

"She's probably one of them."

"Yeah."

"Exterminate her, Exterminate her!" Shouted the survivors and they reached for Ace. But Raven put a stop to that when she used her powers to pull Ace from the assaulting mob and she flung the older woman to the floor at the pale girls feet.

"No, do not kill her." Raven shouted at the crowd, her eyes glowing. "She is no threat to you." The survivors, some of which were unhappy at their moment of passion being interrupted, stepped away and thought better of antagonising Raven. They retreated and refocused their attention on Hedgy and his little band of terrorists, chucking more dirt and stones at them.

"Raven, you can't let them do this!" Ace pleaded.

"Yes I can." Raven shrugged, she didn't care. "See. This is me, letting them do this." Ace tried to get up again, Raven forced her to her knees with her power. "They deserve to have their justice." She finally felt like she was in control for a change.

"They're justice is to kill them?" Ace asked, "Think Raven, think! What do you think Earth Alliance, it's people will think if they found out what Safe Harbour is about to do?"

"I don't care." Raven said coldly.

"Raven, the Doctor won't like this." Ace said, changing tactics, and it worked. Raven swallowed. Ace was right, the Doctor wouldn't like this, he wouldn't like this at all. The Doctor just wouldn't understand what she'd just done. What she did for the people of Safe Harbour. Then her face darkened. The Doctor just wouldn't understand.

"The Doctor isn't always right. He's just a being like any other." Raven growled through her nose as she exhaled. She then sucked on her teeth, she felt cold. Her head still rang with pain. "I'm sick of it. I'm frickin' sick of it!"

"Sick of what?" Ace asked.

"Bullies, the universe over. I hate bullies. Especially the crying ones, who poke you, and poke you, and poke you, and poke you, and the moment you react suddenly you're the bad guy." She ranted. "You're the enemy. You're the one who deserves isolation, ostracization, you're somehow the monster who deserves to be cast into limbo, or given a timeout, just because you reacted the way they wanted you to." Her voice growled with bitterness. "Then you stew in your punishment while the little shits that poked you gets a sundae or some shit to make them 'feel better' when there was nothing wrong with them in the first place. Then when no one's looking, and you're alone they come back for seconds, and people never learn, people never think. And if the roles were reversed, I'd get crucified. I'm sick of it." She snapped. "I'm fucking sick of it!"

"This isn't about Big Dog, or Safe Harbour, is it?" Ace asked in an accusatory tone. "It's about you, all about you."

"Shut up!" Raven snapped, "Shut up and look at them. All that hate, all that anger." Raven forced Ace to look at the survivors. "I know their pain, I know how they feel." Raven didn't notice that her voice had taken on a more inhuman quality to it. "I know what they're going through, and more." Her eyes began to glow red. "I never had everything taken from me by the liars. They've had their civilisation, their livelihoods, their entire culture destroyed. They have more of a right to be angry than me."

"Oh, Sunshine." Ace stood up, Raven's power was only holding Ace by her shoes now, and Ace slapped Raven across the face. "Wake up! They didn't do this!"

Ravens head slowly swung back towards Ace. "They lied, they lied and people died."

Shots rang out. Raven felt through the ether as each and every one of those activist, terrorists got shot in the head. Each one felt like a nail being stabbed into her, yet at the same time with each one gone an unpleasant tension in her soul vanished. The more of them faded away, the more she was at peace. A loud bang, and Hedgy's signature faded out of existence in the ether, and she actually felt happy for once, but still she could not get rid of the sadness. A few more shots and they were all gone.

The survivors had fallen silent too. There were no cheers from them, no cries of victory. It was like the shots had made their demands a little to real to be comfortable for them. There was now only stillness.

"It's too late now." Raven said distantly with a smile. "They're dead. They are all dead."

Raven's lower jaw quivered. She felt so elated, and ecstatic... So why did her guts squirm. Why did she also feel so wretched?

She... felt... sad... She didn't want to feel sad, so she beat it down and buried it. Bottled it up as best she could.

She blinked. She felt it. Two beads of moisture ran from both of her eyes, and down both cheeks.

Father will be so proud...

To Be Continued...

Authors notes: It gives me no pleasure, but this is how I feel Raven would react in this situation giving what is going through her head and what's going on around her. I always saw Raven as the potential villain whom chooses to be good, as such she's probably done a lot of sketchy things in her past that she refuses to talk about, in case people get the wrong impression of her. This happens to be one of those acts. After all, she's a person who fears being judged by her shameful past, rather than the person she is today. As a result she hates people who'd grab a hold of your mistakes and will never let them go, even if you have, or are willing to evolve beyond them.

This doesn't make her a hypocrite however, as she has been shown to grow trust towards people who've made mistakes, but do their hardest to correct them.

The white Raven bit is in partial reference to the episode 'Future shock' I think it's called where Starfire goes to the future. Raven is alone and depressed, yet curiously Trigon hasn't happen either. So something else must've happened to stop him. The green velvet being a clue. ;)

The 'They reached down my childs throat and stole the food from their bellies to feed themselves.' is similar to a lie told by the Nazi part to explain Germany's economic down turn in the 1920's. No prises for guessing who they were scapegoating. But it was to cover over the fact that the German Government screwed up their own economy and their own people. The Nazi party then rose up as the solution to this problem and they were welcomed with open arms by the people, who were not fully aware what it was they were granting power.