"Fetch, boy."
Y/N launched his energy-loaded fist toward Beast Boy, as the foreign red energy charged his way like a cannonball.
Beast Boy shrieked, before quickly morphing into a 7-foot Reticulated Python and slithering out of the way of the blast's impact. He didn't stop there, however. He swiftly made his way towards Y/N, wiring up his leg before moving to his torso, attempting to take a clean bite out of his face.
As expected, Y/N grasped the Python's head, stunning it still as he grabbed its body with his other hand. Beast Boy froze, unable to transform back, coated in red lightning.
"You know, I used to have this one nickname. 'The Mimic' they used to call me." Y/N taunted Beast Boy, not letting up his grasp on the snake.
Raven watched on, petrified to make a move. She knew what he was doing.
"Wanna know why?" The snake couldn't and didn't budge.
He would fulfill the prophecy and murder anyone who stood in his way. He had his priorities straight. He was going to make it hurt.
"I'll take that as a yes."
The snake let out a screeching hiss, as Y/N's eyes glowed red, and absorbed himself in the same red lightning that enveloped Beast Boy.
"Watch your head." He tossed Beast Boy to the floor, as he morphed back to human form.
Then, Y/N mimicked Beast Boy's abilities, and slowly morphed into an over-sized Spinosaurus, with dull gray skin, and scorching red eyes.
"Hey, Beastie Boy," he, unlike Beast Boy, could talk in his animal forms, "Try this on for size. This won't hurt.... for too long."
He staggered toward the changeling, going in for the victorious kill at his fingertips. But Beast Boy thought smart, morphing into a green T-Rex before Y/N could land his attack.
The two prehistoric wanna-be's dueled it out while Raven skillfully dodged the flying machinery and debris that the brawl sent flying catastrophically in all directions.
All she could do was watch. If she dared interfere, Y/N wouldn't need to conquer anybody to get to her - she would be right there at his grasp. She knew she would need to fulfill her destiny, but this day could not be it. She had too many loved ones she was never there for. Too many feelings left to confess. Her life had only just begun.
'Get away from him Raven, before it's too late...'
But then again, if she dominated the playing field, Y/N would be defeated, and the prophecy would be broken. A narrow chance for freedom was at her feet.
Y/N had always been Trigon's way to the physical realm before he had banished to Raven's mind with the help of her Chakra Stone. Y/N's destined task within the Prophecy was to lead Raven to Trigon by corrupting her Chakra stone in a way that only Y/N could do.
A power to the nature of Trigon's was the only thing that could harm Y/N. One right move, and Y/N would return to the omnipotent nothingness of the universe, as a raptured soul.
"Do it, Raven. Punch him down through the 7 circles of hell. It's his life or ours!" Rage chanted within her psyche.
The dinosaurs continued their prehistoric clash, unaware of the timid sorceress. To no surprise, Y/N had very little experience as a dinosaur, which rendered his advanced strength breaking equal to Beast Boy's strategic knowledge.
"Ok, this is getting ridiculous," Y/N roared.
He quickly backed away from Beast Boy, and stealthily morphed into the extinct Titanaboa, the largest breed of snake in recorded history. He kept the grey skin tone and red eyes as he morphed.
Y/N wrapped his long, wiry body around the green T-Rex.
"Now this is what I call a reptile," Y/N hissed, as Beast Boy collapsed under the constriction of the snake's body, and morphed back to his base form.
Y/N, still in his snake form, perched over the changeling's unconscious body. Beast Boy was unable to witness the lifelessness in Y/N's eyes as he drooled in starvation over the soon-to-be corpse of the frail green boy.
"Good night, Beast Boy. Sleep tight," Y/N triumphantly taunted.
He pried open his deadly jaws, revealing fangs that would frighten the toughest of apex predators.
Raven could barely muster up the courage to watch as Y/N went in for the kill.
• • • • • • • •
Being relatively new to Earth, Starfire was vastly unfamiliar with the primitive healthcare protocols that Earthlings would enact in times of need. Given her current emotional state, the lifelessly colored walls, and ambient indistinct chatters sent her psyche into an irrational panic.
The beeping of heart-rate monitors was briefly heard as doors were frantically opened and closed, while patients in various states of consciousness were rushed in and out of their beautified prison cells of death. This hardly seemed like the place that would breathe life back into her friend who was at death's door.
Cyborg trudged into the waiting room, meeting Starfire's gaze as she looked up from her depressed state.
"Cyborg, what is the news?" She asked in a pitifully innocent tone.
"I don't know, Star. They wouldn't tell me anything. Hospitals here on Earth are real strict about the 'privacy' of their patients. I tried my best, but I'm afraid we're going to have to wait." He stated, as he sat next to the grieving Tamaranean.
She frantically tapped her foot absent-mindedly against the cold, concrete floor.
"Do you want something? Could I buy something from the vending machine?" Cyborg consoled.
"The what?" Starfire was still very foreign to many Earth technologies.
"Oh, uh... it's this machine where you put money in a little slot, and you get food. There's soda, candy-"
"No, thank you, Cyborg," she interjected.
Cyborg was quiet for a few moments. It was strange seeing Starfire so broken and emotionless. Due to her outlandishness to the feeling of sadness, outwardly conveying sorrow was something she never quite got the hang of.
"I hope Y/N's doing okay..." Cyborg said, trying his best to keep the 'big brother' facade he had painted during his time with the Titans.
"I do not." Starfire's tone hardened, much to Cyborg's astonishment.
"Star, look... I know what he did, but there was no way he did it on purpose. Not him. The moment it happened he looked like he'd seen a ghost. He'll eventually apologi-"
"I do not care! He harmed Robin! If he truly was our friend, he would have been more careful!" Starfire stuttered as she spoke. While she herself would wear a mask of unbridled joy to hide her own trauma from her days on Tamaran, 'hateful' was not a word that defined her.
She felt that she 'needed' to hate Y/N, and did her absolute best to convince herself of that fact by taking off the mask of 'happiness', and stewing in her own grief.
However, she couldn't bring herself to hate a person such as Y/N. She saw the same sadness in Y/N's eyes that Raven saw when she looked at him during Robin's near-death-scene. There was more trauma within him than the oldest of war veterans, but she couldn't find it in herself to move past the sight of Robin's limp entanglement of flesh.
"Starfire..." Cyborg timidly comforted, "He's not a bad person, I know he's not."
"Did you not betray him the night he first met us? Did you not see the wickedness in his cold heart? You must have, or did you simply give into the superior ground he held over you in the battle with Plasmus?" Starfire accused. She saw it in Robin too. The two macho teens were clearly envious of Y/N's elite strategy, strength, and the natural cadence of leadership among the team.
'Damn, was I that obvious?'
As Cyborg tried to muster up a response, a young female receptionist paced into the waiting room. "Um, Victor Stone?" she called out.
Cyborg stood and approached the clerk.
"Is he okay?"
"That is unclear at this time. However, there are two... people who would like to meet with you urgently. Follow me."
• • • • • • • •
"2 down, 2 to go...", Y/N thought as he began to plunge his venom-drenched fangs towards Beast Boy.
Raven continued to observe from a relative distance. The reality of the situation began to sink in, when she realized that Beast Boy was about to be murdered right in front of her. The halls of Titans Tower would be deathly silent without his innocent laugh, and his terrible jokes that would make Barney the Dinosaur cry.
It grew worse once she that her father was waiting for her, in a fate worse than death. She inevitably decided that she would simply give in to Y/N's mission, no matter what unspeakable things she would be subjected to, knowing of her mother's encounter with him.
"Good night, Beast Boy. Sleep tight," Y/N triumphantly taunted.
Then, just as he was about to strike the blow, Y/N felt a painful burning sensation on the back of his neck, as he was thrown off his balance and morphed back to base form.
"Oh... so that's how you wanna play- ...What?" Y/N gasped.
As Y/N recovered from the pain, he turned around to find the source of the blow.
It wasn't Raven.
"Mother?"
Arella levitated above the floor, "Surrender, Y/N. Do not fall through to the jaws of darkness. Not again."
Y/N ignored her remark.
"Wow, Arella... you've grown..." He spoke with a sleazy gravel.
Raven watched as the two neared each other.
"Raven, stay back my dear," Arella whispered to her daughter.
"Did you miss me? You must have, right?" Y/N teased, "My, my, my, this is indeed a splendid delight. How I've missed the taste of your love against mine, my dear bride."
"Do not be foolish, Y/N. You tricked me once, but never again. I've changed." She attempted to assert the high ground.
'You're pathetic...'
"I can certainly see that..." he eyed her up and down. He was only a few feet away from her, "Perhaps destiny brought us together again, don't you think? I know how much you've craved the appetizer of darkness that touched you that one fateful night. Why don't you come with me, and I'll give you the main course..."
Y/N drew closer to her, and traced his hand down her jawline, leading to her breast. However, before he could cop a feel, Arella's eyes glowed black, and she firmly gripped Y/N's wrist, as he was unable to break free.
'Love sickens at the sight of you...'
Raven gawked in amazement.
"I have a better idea..." she twisted his arm, placing painful stress on his elbow. Then, she fired dark energy at Y/N, sending him soaring across the training quarters, leaving a deep crater in the adjacent wall.
"Stay away from my daughter, and her friends, or else your heart will be put placed in eternal torment."
'A waste of a miracle that was supposed to bring life to a still awaiting soul...'
She was using his own tactics against him.
He recklessly stood, rage filling his eyes, "I'm afraid you're too late for that. Can't you see? Can't you see the purgatory of this life I'm already living?!"
His voice drew more demonic as he spoke. Raven could feel Trigon's presence taking over his soul. If something did not stop him, Trigon would take over entirely, and Y/N would be no more.
'Angels and Demons alike draw back in fear of your name...'
"No love. No companionship. No pity. No chance at any joys of the flesh. I'm cursed, dear Arella. Cursed with the screams of the past until I wither away to the cold hands of destiny."
Raven swore she saw his bottom lip quiver as his guttural demonic voice bellowed throughout the room.
"What's the point in fearing the darkness while it calls your name and opens its arms for you?"
'The creator of destruction itself...'
It was then that Raven noticed something around Arella's neck. A necklace of some sort - a rusted gold chain, dangling an amulet that was carved in the shape of the Seal of Azarath. Embedded in it was an enlarged version of her Chakra stone, which illuminated a maroon light in response to Arella's magic.
Raven recognized the necklace. It was the same device that was given to her by Azar, when she was learning to channel and control her powers. It emphasized her sorceress powers, in order for her to get a better understanding of how to use demonically advanced magical abilities before she grew into them. Having demonic sorcery on your hands while being unable to properly control it was a recipe for disaster.
As far as Raven was concerned, Arella never demonstrated any levels of sorcery at this level. However, the necklace definitely explained things.
'Why not finish off the blow?'
Y/N quickly began to approach Arella, "But since you're so generous to offer, why don't share a little dance?"
He loaded his fist with red energy, but before he could strike, Arella swiftly blasted Y/N with more dark energy, knocking him down to his knees, unable to move. "You're going straight to where you belong..." Once he was down, Arella began to chant a curse.
"Tempirus Futurum Allinos..."
Raven perked up at the sound of the spell. She recognized the words...
Y/N grunted in unimaginable discomfort as she spoke, "Arella... no..."
"Cienedci Avovolli Desterrar..."
She needed to stop her mother. This was a spell that was only to be enacted on the most star-crossed souls in existence. Y/N wasn't one of those. He couldn't have been.
"No!"
"Azarath Metrio- Raven!"
Raven tackled Arella to the ground in a last-ditch effort to save Y/N from whatever ill-fated magic Arella had ignorantly legislated.
The grey demoness panted heavily, in shock of her involuntary action.
She thought Y/N had been saved, but when she turned around to where he once was, he had vanished.
Gone.
"Raven! Do you have any idea of the havoc you could have caused? You of all people should have recognized the evilness dripping from his soul. I knew you were too naive and foolish to resist his acts of seduction..."
"Where is he, mother?" Raven pleaded, her voice coated in concern.
"A place where he will never be found, and be stuck in limbo for all eternity."
"Where is he?!" Raven demanded.
"Purgatory."