Harry groaned as he raised himself off the ground following Trigon's latest attack; spitting a glob of blood, Harry raised his fists again as he glared at his hated adversary,
"That all you got?"
Growling with contempt, Trigon stomped forward for a moment before stopping and glaring at his foe.
"Why won't you just die?!"
"Because you hit like a bitch!" Harry sneered back, "And because this is my body, and I want you out!"
"You're not strong enough, boy, to take this body from me," Trigon sneered,
"And you're not strong enough to knock me down!" Harry roared back defiantly, "No matter how many times you knock me down, I'm just going to keep coming back for more until I kick your sorry ass out!"
Trigon glared at Harry for a moment before a thoughtful expression appeared, followed quickly by a cruel grin that made Harry suddenly nervous.
"Let's try a different approach then, shall we?" Trigon said with a smirk before casually waving his hand, sending the room into complete darkness and leaving Harry temporarily blind.
"Do you know what I have learned in my eons of existence, boy?" Trigon's voice asked from out of the darkness.
"Not how to fight like a man, that's for sure!" Harry shouted as he spun around defensively, yet unable to see anything.
"I have learned that there are many ways to kill a being: flesh that burns, bones that break, but to kill a being's spirit is to truly destroy them!"
"And you think you can destroy mine?" Harry sneered, "Good luck with that!"
"Ignorant child, have you not yet wondered why your sister and the rest of those hero scum were lying in wait for you? Why did they begin a sealing spell on you the moment you returned home?"
Harry frowned as he realized Trigon was right, yet quickly shook the thought away and squinted into the darkness.
"It's because they feared your power if left unchecked! And now that I've shown them what your body is truly capable of, they'll never fully trust you again! Because they know that one day, you still turn into me!"
"You're lying!" Harry snarled back, "Raven knows that I would never do that!"
"And if she were no longer around to stop them?" Trigon smirked, "Then what?"
"Shut up!" Harry roared, "You will not touch her!"
"You forget, boy," Trigon laughed from somewhere in the darkness, "I am a demon; I exist everywhere: past, present, and future. And I see them simultaneously! I have seen your future, Harry Potter, and whether you defeat me or not, I still win!"
"LIAR!" Harry denied with all the hate he could muster, making Trigon chuckle cruelly,
"You truly believe that I'm lying? Then allow me to disabuse you of that lie! Behold your future!"
The chamber suddenly exploded with light, forcing Harry to throw an arm over his eyes; after a few moments, Harry slowly lowered his arm, only to gasp in horror at what he beheld.
It appeared as though he was standing in the ruins of what used to be a city; fire roared out of control all around him as building after building succumbed to the raging inferno and crumbled to the ground. The sky above was an angry red-orange, filled with smoke, making it look like Harry had descended into hell. But the worst thing of all was the bodies; hundreds of bodies lay in the street or atop vehicles. A few fell to the ground in heaps as the buildings they were in collapsed, yet even with all this death around him, Harry could still hear screams echoing throughout the city.
"Good God, where am I?!" Harry thought in horror as he slowly backed into a nearby alley, "Is this the future?! What the hell happened?"
A sudden blast shook the ground and made Harry whip his head around for the source; seeing the cloud of smoke not far from him, Harry rose into the air to see what had happened and if someone could tell him what was happening.
As he got closer, Harry saw that the blast had originated from what looked like a battlefield; as Harry got closer, his blood ran cold, and he almost flew out of the air as he saw what was happening before him.
Standing in the center of the battlefield stood an older Harry; he was over six feet and wore black combat pants and a blood-red shirt under a long black duster coat. Future Harry had long shoulder-length black hair that blew with the breeze, and where once his emerald-green eyes shined, now a pair of blood-red ones gazed out.
As younger Harry shifted his gaze to what was going on around his future self, his horror grew. The battlefield was littered with the bodies of dead heroes, and younger Harry felt tears run down his face as he saw a few he knew, including Beastboy, Black Canary, Supergirl, Batgirl, Shazam, Hawkgirl, and a decapitated Batman.
His future self was holding the lifeless head of Flash, not far away, the body lay bleeding heavily; with a sneer, future Harry threw the head over his shoulder before turning to the few remaining heroes facing him. Standing in a semi-circle around future Harry was a heavily wounded Wonder Woman, a Superman who was bleeding heavily and missing his left arm, Starfire, a badly injured Aquaman, Firestorm, and finally, a heavily wounded Green Arrow.
"That's enough, Harry!" Wonder Woman shouted as she lifted her sword at him, "Surrender!"
Crossing his arms over his chest, future Harry glared at the only ones left to stand against him,
"You six are the only ones left," future Harry growled back contemptuously, "Do you really think you have a chance?"
"Even if we don't," Aquaman growled as he leaned heavily on his trident, "We will stand against you in defense of the innocent as heroes should!"
"There are no innocents," future Harry snarled, "Not anymore! When humanity discovered magic was real, and the statute of secrecy fell, any one of them could have stood up and said, 'No, we will not behave like animals anymore.' Instead, they behaved exactly as they always have when confronted with something they don't understand! They slaughtered as many of my people as they could find, including children! And what did you do when my people were being burned alive? Nothing!"
The heroes all flinched as one at future Harry's words, causing younger Harry to stare at his heroes in shock; had they really just allowed the muggles to slaughter the magical world and done nothing to stop it?
"And when they discovered that my sister was magical when they murdered a hero, one of your allies, what did you do?! WHAT DID YOU DO?!"
Younger Harry let out a sob at the words; Raven had been burned alive? And the Justice League just let it happen?
"It wasn't our fault!" Starfire cried out, "We tried to save her! But the humans prevented us!"
"Exactly!" Future Harry snarled, "They kept you from stopping them as they burned someone they considered a hero alive!"
"You cannot punish the whole world for the actions of a few!" Superman snapped angrily,
"Yes, I can," future Harry said with a cruel smile, "I will wipe the stain of humanity from the face of this planet, once and for all! Then the only ones left will be my people, and they will worship me as a god for saving them from your kind!"
"So that's what this is really about, huh?" Firestorm sneered, "You slaughter the world and take power from the survivors? You're no better than the villains we used to fight!"
"You're right," future Harry sneered before disappearing and reappearing behind Firestorm; before the hero could defend himself, future Harry shoved his hand into Firestorm's back, punching his fist out of the hero's chest. Leaning close, future Harry whispered into Firestorm's ear,
"I'm worse than they were."
Firestorm only had time to gasp before future Harry ripped his arm from the hero's body, sending the corpse to the ground in a heap as the other heroes stared in horror.
"Do you realize what you've done!?" Wonder Woman shouted as Firestorm's body began to glow.
"Oh yes," future Harry said with a grin, "I've just won."
As one, the heroes charged toward future Harry, but before they reached him, Firestorm's body exploded in a blinding flash of bright white light, enveloping the entire city in mere moments and making younger Harry throw his arm over his eyes again.
As the darkness returned, Trigon's voice cruelly laughed out at Harry,
"Now, do you see, boy? Whether you defeat me or not is irrelevant; you still become a monster!"
Harry collapsed to his knees in despair as Trigon's words struck him like hammer blows; after what he had just witnessed, how could he possibly argue with the demon?
"That is enough, deceiver!" A voice said softly, yet seemed to echo throughout the chamber, making Harry's head shoot up to see who had spoken.
Out of the darkness
stepped a cloaked figure whose face Harry was unable to see; as the figure spoke again, Harry had a flash of recognition. It was the same voice that had spoken to him when he had been alone in the darkness.
"He belongs to me, demon!" The figure said in a voice so cold that it seemed to freeze Harry's very blood, "And none but I shall have him!"
Raising its hand above its head, the figure snapped its fingers, causing light to flood the chamber and making Harry throw his arm over his eyes again; when he finally lowered his arm, he saw Trigon standing at the far end of the chamber. What surprised Harry the most, however, was the look on Trigon's face; it was a look
that Harry had yet to see on the demon's face: fear.
"How are you here?" Trigon asked in a shocked voice, "You swore that you would never take another, not after what happened to the last one."
"I never thought I would," the figure replied in the same voice, "But sometimes, even I am proven wrong."
"Then I challenge!" Trigon cried angrily, "I challenge for the right to this body!"
"And why should I oblige such a challenge?" The figure replied mockingly, "The boy is already mine! So why should I accept your challenge?"
"Um... Does anyone care that I'm still here?" Harry asked suddenly; wincing as both shouted back simultaneously,
"No!"
"You'll accept my challenge," Trigon snarled, "Because even YOU must follow the rules of the universe, and the rules state that anyone can challenge your chosen to test whether they are worthy of such an honor! And until you officially crown him, he is open to challenge from any who do so!"
"Chosen?" Harry asked in confusion, "Challenge?"
The figure didn't say a word; it just stood and stared at Trigon for a moment before releasing a sigh of annoyance,
"Very well, then. The challenge is accepted."
"Hey, don't accept it on my account!" Harry shouted in indignation as he rose slowly to his feet; the figure then turned to Harry and seemed to study him for a moment before placing a calming hand on Harry's shoulder, which seemed to relax him for some reason.
"Where are we, Harry?"
"What?" Harry asked in confusion,
"Where. Are. We?" The figure asked again expectantly, tilting its head at him as though speaking to a slow child.
"I don't know!" Harry snapped back in annoyance, "In my head?"
"Exactly." The figure replied happily, "We're in YOUR head. And Trigon is just a visitor. He only has as much power as YOU give him."
Harry's eyes widened as he realized the truth of its words; this was HIS head, which meant HE was in control of what went on within it. Closing his eyes in concentration momentarily, Harry gasped in surprise as music began to play throughout the chamber. Realizing that the figure was right, a Grinch-like smile spread across Harry's face as he turned to face Trigon.
"You have the strangest taste in music, child," the figure said as it shook its head wearily.
Cracking his neck, Harry winked at Trigon as he raised his fists,
"Let's try this again, squatter!" Harry said with a smirk, causing Trigon to roar with hatred before he charged forward; after a moment's hesitation, Harry issued a scream of defiance and charged forward as well.
XXXX
Trigon howled with anger as he ripped Dr. Fate off his back and threw the lord of order down the hall; he had barely taken a breath when his daughter hit him with a blast of shadows that sent him onto his back. A moment later, Superman delivered a powerful punch to the demon, which sent him onto the floor and through the floor beneath that as well, finally coming to rest on the third floor he crashed into, quickly rolling out of the way of another powerful punch, Trigon willed his tentacles to turn into a spear and stab the Kryptonian, only to start with surprise as they didn't come out. Growling with annoyance, Trigon lunged forward and delivered two punches to Superman's jaw, rocking his head back and forth; however, to the demon's surprise, Superman looked back at him with a small grin,
"That didn't pack nearly the punch that you used to have; looks like Harry's finally beating you back."
"He won't succeed!" Trigon snarled, "This body is mine! This entire galaxy will be mine!"
"Not if we have anything to say about it!" Superman retorted, delivering an uppercut that sent Trigon back up through the hole that he had just caused and into another punch, this one delivered by Wonder Woman, that sent Trigon flying sideways into another room, via through the wall.
As Superman flew up from the hole, he gazed down at his battered allies; there wasn't one of them who hadn't been badly beaten since this battle had begun, god knows how long ago.
"He's weakening," Superman said quickly, "Harry must be finally regaining control of his body. We just need to keep Trigon distracted a little while longer!"
"Don't let him gain an ounce of momentum, then!" Wonder Woman cried as she lifted her sword, "For Olympus, let's finish this!"
"For Harry," Raven said softly, drawing nods from the others, "Let's send this filth back to hell where he belongs."
Before anyone could add anything further, the wall that Trigon had just been knocked through exploded in a shower of debris, causing the heroes to turn to see a snarling and heavily bleeding Trigon who looked quite deranged.
"I am the conqueror of a million worlds!" Trigon shouted hysterically, "The defiler of innocents! Evil given form! My power is absolute, and I will not be beaten by a bunch of weak mortals! I will kill you all, then resurrect you so as to continue your agony for all time!"
"I think not!" Raven shouted back as she charged; behind her, she could hear the others following suit as they rushed toward what they hoped was the final battle.
XXXX
Trigon had just choke-slammed Harry and was preparing to stomp on his face when the song began, causing the momentary distraction that Harry needed to roll out of the way.
Not wasting a minute, Harry jumped to his feet, delivering a powerful uppercut that knocked Trigon onto his back; as the two fought, Harry saw out of the corner of his eye, the figure watching with its hands folded into its robe.
"This is your time to pay!
This is your judgment day,
We made a sacrifice,
and now we get to take your life!"
Trigon surged forward to grab Harry's face, and Harry reacted instinctively, delivering a powerful punch to his jaw that sent him flying up into the air, where Harry was waiting with a cartoonishly large baseball bat. As Trigon got close, Harry swung the bat with all his might, sending Trigon flying up into the darkness of the ceiling above.
"We shoot without a gun,
We'll take on anyone!
It's really nothing new,
It's just a thing we like to do!"
Trigon roared back down from the ceiling, howling with hatred, his arm extended with the intent to crush Harry like a bug; that plan was swiftly derailed as Harry flew forward in a sudden burst of speed, pushing his powers as he had never done before. The two met in an explosion of energy, which sent Trigon straight into the floor, creating another large crater. In contrast, Harry was sent crashing into the rubble of what was once a pillar. Seeing Trigon groaning with pain and not wanting to lose the momentum, Harry ignored his screaming body and willed himself to his feet. Taking advantage of Trigon's injury, Harry suddenly imagined a giant jackhammer, which then appeared over the hole in which Trigon lay; an instant later, the jackhammer began pummeling Trigon mercilessly as the song continued.
"You better get ready to die!
You better get ready to kill!
You better get ready to run 'cause here we come, oh, oh!
You better get ready to die!"
As the instrumental part of the song began, Harry willed the jackhammer away, allowing Trigon to slowly and painfully pull himself out of the hole in which Harry had sent him; the demon's left arm appeared broken, and as he snarled weakly at Harry, the boy saw that several of the demon's teeth had been knocked out.
"You cannot win, brat," Trigon growled softly, "Even if you beat me, you saw what you become! You will always be a monster, whether I'm the one in control or not!"
Harry paled a bit at the thought that there might be a hint of truth to Trigon's words and that the future that Harry saw might, in fact, be genuine; before he could dwell on it for long, however, Harry felt the figure's hand on his shoulder. Looking up at it, Harry saw the figure nod at him as a feeling of peace suddenly entered him, which he thanked it for with a nod of his own. Turning back to the gasping demon, Harry swallowed down his fear,
"I will never turn into the monster I saw! No matter what this life throws at me, I will not become him!"
Trigon chuckled darkly at that before grimacing as a wave of pain tore through him, which made him gasp for a moment,
"You act as if you have a choice, boy," Trigon smirked once he was able to speak again, "Your fate is fixed. Dread it, run from it; destiny arrives all the same."
"I look forward to proving you wrong," Harry sneered as a doorway filled with light appeared directly behind Trigon, "Now, get out of my body!"
As Harry said the last part, Harry flew forward and punched Trigon in the face with all the energy he had left, sending the demon screaming in anger directly through the doorway, which instantly disappeared once Trigon passed through it.
As the last of his power finally left him, Harry felt exhaustion hit him, almost sending him to his knees. Yet, he was determined to get some answers before he passed out. Turning
to the figure, Harry was relieved to see that it hadn't disappeared,
"Okay, who the hell are you?" Harry demanded, "And what did you mean by chosen? I want answers!"
"You are not ready for them," the figure replied softly, "One day, you will understand, but until then, I must make you forget."
Raising its hand at Harry, the figure snapped its fingers again, causing Harry's eyes to roll into the back of his head as he collapsed to the floor.
Turning away from the boy, the figure walked to a nearby door that lay hidden in the darkness; as the figure approached, the door opened on its own accord, showing a spiral set of stone steps that led down.
As the figure descended the stairs, it stood before a prison cell, behind which sat a dark figure with its back to the opposite wall, its arms resting on its raised knees.
"Do you really think you can hold me forever?" The shadow asked sarcastically, "The boy's emotions caused a crack in my cage once; it'll happen again. And next time, you won't be able to stop me from getting out."
"I have repaired the cracks in your cage," the figure replied softly, "It will hold for now. I am under no illusions about your incarceration; I know you will escape someday."
"Then what's the point in keeping me here?" The shadow sneered back.
"Because you are my chosen's final test," the figure hissed back, "One day when he is ready, he will release you from your cage. And on that day, when he finally kills you, his demonic half, I will know he is ready to be crowned."
"Never gonna happen," the shadow sneered, "The brat's too weak to kill me! So, let me tell you what is REALLY going to happen. One day, I will bust out of here, and then the whole world will burn as I roast marshmallows on its corpse."
"We shall see," the figure sneered back before turning and striding back up the stairs and out of sight.
XXXX
Trigon was on his knees with Dr. Fate and Raven each holding one of his extended arms, while Wonder Woman pulled her lasso, which was around Trigon's neck, as tight as she could, one boot pressed against Trigon's back to keep him down.
While the others were holding him down, Superman delivered one powerful punch after another to Trigon's head, giving the demon no chance to do anything other than snarl in pain and anger at his own helplessness.
Superman delivered one final uppercut; Trigon issued an unearthly howl, which seemed to shake the entire tower and caused everyone in the vicinity to clamp their hands over their ears in pain.
As the heroes watched, black smoke seemed to suddenly come billowing out of Trigon's eyes and mouth as he screamed in pain; after several moments of this, the smoke finally stopped, and everyone stared in shock as the demon's features disappeared and Harry's returned. As Harry began to collapse, Raven suddenly rushed forward, grabbed him into her arms, and held him tight as she quietly cried with relief; her baby brother was safe and whole again.
As if someone had issued a universal signal, the other heroes all began collapsing to the floor one by one as their injuries finally began to make themselves known. The toll that their bodies had taken began to scream at them.
XXXX
Author's Note:
So ends Harry's first Trigon Arc; will there be another? Who knows, but I hope you guys enjoyed how I finished it up. The song "Ready to Die" is the property of Andrew W. K. As such, I claim no ownership of it. The next chapter hopefully will be out soon, and if there is something you liked or didn't like about this chapter, let me know. In case some of you are wondering why I deleted this story and rereleased it, it is because what I originally wrote took me exactly ten minutes to realize how badly it sucked and didn't make sense to the story. So, I deleted it and rewrote it to this, which I hope holds up better. But let me know what you think, all the same. I'm wondering how many of Ya'll will find all the easter eggs I put in the story, lol. See ya soon!