trigons_child | New York City, Saturday Fandom Time

[Follows this.]

Raven felt the tides of each dream turning, and smiled coldly. "I am victorious!" she gloated to Tara and Arella. "One by one, they give into their dark sides. And one by one they fall under Trigon's sway. Trigon has won!" The ground around them began to shake, and stone exploded into smaller shards as a bolt of lightning struck the ground where those trapped in nightmares lay. When the resulting cloud of dust dispersed, they were all standing, eyes gleaming red.

Tara	"But he hasn't," Tara said, glancing to the red-eyed figures with no fear in her voice. Her own eyes had gone black again, Azar's voice very sure and strong within her. "I control them, Raven. You don't."
Raven	Raven gave Tara an incredulous look, unable to believe how serene she was when her friends stood before her, consumed by Trigon's powers. "Are you insane, human?" she snapped. "Within them burns the power of Trigon himself! It is his word they shall listen to! And I speak for him who is master of all!
Tara	"That might be what you think," Tara snapped, head high and posture straight. "But you're just wrong. We understood what was happening. We saw them held by Trgon's will." She stepped toward Raven, gesturing to the red-eyed figures of her friends. "We saw, and we were prepared! And, by forcing these children to kill -- you have sealed your own doom, you who were Raven!"
Raven	"Then you shall have to learn," Raven laughed, utterly confident in her power. She turned to her former friends, now her slaves, and pointed to Tara. "Destroy her! Now!"
Warren	Warren heard the commands, carefully weighing the scene that was played out before him. And, when the order was barked out, he felt compelled to act, to step forward and make use of the strength that his mutation afforded him. But when he swung out, hard and fast, with the solid meat of a wing in a blow that could have easily given a grown man considerable injury, it wasn't toward Tara. When that wing lashed out, it was toward the aberration. Toward that which defiled who they once knew as Raven.
Raven	Raven hadn't expected that at all; they should have obeyed her command and attacked Tara. They'd fallen to their dark sides; she'd felt it! Trigon owned their souls! The blow knocked her off her feet and to the ground, and for a brief moment she was stunned, looking at her supposed minions in disbelief as she struggled to pick herself up, quickly healing the bruises and breaks the wing had done to her. "You turn on me!" she said. "How? How?!"
Anakin	Anakin, eyes flickering from blue to yellow, shrugged. "That is a useless question," he intoned. "You should be much more concerned about if you will survive the next few moments." Then he reached into the Force and extended his hand, palm out. Lightning arced out, aimed straight at Raven.
Kennedy	Kennedy followed where Raven was pointing. "Told you," she said, smile sardonic now. "Told you I always have a choice, didn't I?" Except in a way, she really didn't, this time. Through some mix of training and instinct and emotion... not even close. Kennedy wrapped the fingers of both hands around her sword hilt and raised it, letting out an incoherent half-snarl, half-bellow as she charged in toward Raven for an attack she didn't mean to hold back at all.
Raven	Raven shrieked in pain as the lightning hit her, and then Kennedy's sword slashed across her body. She stumbled backwards, trying to gather her power to lash out against them with the full force of her power. "You are fools!" she shouted. "How dare you attack me! Do you not feel the power! Even now Trigon awakens! The energies he has used in altering this world have been restored! At any moment he will assume his full power, power enough to reduce you to ash with but a blink of his deadly stare! And I, I who am his daughter, I who am heir to the throne of power, I too possess the strength to destroy all who stand in my way. Die, now! Die!"
Arella	"Tara, what are you doing?" Arella cried, trying to run toward Raven and put herself between her and those attacking her now. "You can't let them kill my daughter! If there's even a chance to turn her back into what she was...."
Tara	"Listen to me, Arella," Tara said, moving the woman to the side. "What I do now has been predestined. I will do what must be done. Do not interfere."
Kennedy	Kennedy felt a twinge of apprehension at Tara's demeanor, and horror at what they had to do, but both of those feelings were muted and distant through the nightmare's lingering haze. She lashed out with another hard cut, though this time one meant to drive Raven back toward another member of their group. "You can't kill us, Raven," she declared, stubborn and overconfident as always.
Dinah	Dinah had reached out with her TK, eyes shadowed, and started to squeeze Raven's throat as she held her in place. Tighter and tighter, her face holding an odd smile. "I can only hope that you understand... We're doing what we're meant to do, Raven. The energies that transformed us are Trigon's own." She tilted her head. "Hold. Still."
Raven	Bleeding and choking, Raven struggled to escape. "This cannot be!" she cried. "Trigon, hear your daughter's plea! The usurpers attack! Grant me the strength to destroy them!"
Karla	Karla tilted her head slightly, giving Raven an empty, disinterested smile. "You know, darling," she said conversationally, "each time you attack us?" Bobby had ice under control and Jono had fire, so Karla settled on a whip created of pure Sapphire energy and sent it lashing out at Raven. Where it landed blood flowed and flesh stripped away. "We grow stronger." And the whip lashed out again. And again. And again.
Bobby	During the course of his nightmare, Bobby's ice form had shifted to one that was all spikes and sharp edges. "Do your worst, daughter of hell!" he shouted, flinging a barrage of ice-spikes at Raven. "We relish the power!"
Emma	Emma just laughed delightedly, alight with psionic fire. "All together now, children," she sang, sliding tendrils of power into Raven's brain to force her to hold still, to take away her ability to run. She was going nowhere, not while Emma wanted to play. "Destroy her."
Sookie	Sookie's wings, violet and skeletal and looming behind her, flapped lazily as she twisted her lips in a smile. Purple bolts formed lazily from her fingertips, climbing up her skin before she reached them out to Raven, seeking out pulse points to shock. "It was a nice try," she said silkily, before laughing, each giggle higher and more insane than the last, her brain surging against Raven's and gleefully planting images of her own destruction.
Max	Max's laugh was cold, but no less amused for it. "Let's not be in too much of a hurry, now shall we? I want to enjooooooy this." So saying, he lashed out at Raven with the sensation of pleasure and pain. And he watched her hungrily for her reaction to it.
Arella	"No!" Arella screamed. "Stop it! Don't kill my daughter!"
Karla	"No. Don't. Stop." Karla mocked, giggling. The sound wasn't entirely sane. "Stop, oh stop." Her arm was getting tired, but the way the blood spattered to the ground was almost...artistic. "Oh, Arella," she said with a sigh. "You never were much good at protecting anything. Not yourself, not Azarath, and certainly not Raven." The whip cracked again. "See?"
Tara	"Arella, please!" Tara (or, as it seemed, someone speaking through Tara) said steadily, putting her arms around the woman. "We have to do our work."
Arella	"Heed the girl, Arella! Do as she says!" The voice was close, but seemed to come out of nowhere, and for a moment, confusion eclipsed Arella's horror. "Th-that voice?!" she said. "I know that voice!"
Raven	Raven continued to struggle, lashing out ineffectively with her powers, knocked about by Anakin's lightning, Bobby's ice, Karla's Sapphire whip, the blows of Warren's wings and Kennedy's blade, Dinah's telekinesis, Emma and Max's powers tearing at her mind, and Sookie's power shocking her body and brain. "Father!" she screamed. "I need your strength! Father!" Trigon remained still.
Jono	And then Jonothon stepped forward, looking passively at the scene being played out before him, heedless of the whips and blades, of the lightning and ice, and reached to gently cradle her chin in his hand. //You were right, you know.// He moved closer, pulled her into his arms, so that they were chest to chest, fire licking up in oranges and reds about them both. The same hug he'd given her dozens of times before, as though he was terrified to be near her, and terrified to let go. //I am a monster.// And then he leaned in, pulling her face towards his own, and gave her the one kiss that he'd always been terrified he might give. //But only when I need to be.// Everything between them was fire.
Raven	Raven screamed, an unholy cry of pain and desperation that rolled across the twisted city as Jono's fire swallowed her. When he finally drew back, Raven slumped to the ground, battered and burned and bloodied, quiet and still. Trigon's power lifted from those of Fandom, and they were themselves once more.
Kara	Karla gasped when the power withdrew from her mind, leaving her feeling dizzy and kind of cobwebby. She lifted her hand to her head and stumbled forward, nearly falling. Her eyes went to the ground...to Raven. No. To Raven's body. At first, Karla was almost confused. What happened? How had she--?! And then the memories of what happened--of what she had done--crashed forward, driving Karla to her knees. "No!" she shrieked. "Noooooooooooooooooooooo!"
Dinah	I promise, I'll stop you. She'd told Raven that last year. When she was so worried about what she might do someday. She'd thought it was just a matter of Raven fighting it. Hadn't understood how hard that had to be. Stupid. Arrogant. God, she hadn't believed, and now.... Dinah put a hand over her face, not wanting to look. Not wanting to remember.
Tara	Tara didn't let go of Arella. There was a curious blankness to her face as she watched the scene unfold and her friends react. It was done. Then, slowly, she stepped away and stood. "She is dead," she said, just in case anybody wasn't clear on that part. "Slain by your evil selves. But do not mourn. You had to be evil to kill her -- and she had to die at your hands for the good of the world."
Arella	Finally free, Arella ran to Raven's body with a cry of despair and gathered her up in her arms. "Tara kept saying that...kept swearing my daughter had to be killed," she wept. Not in so many words, but Tara had stopped her from helping Raven at all. "But why? Why?!"
Karla	"I don't believe that!" Karla wailed, glaring at Tara. "There had to be another way! You manipulated us! Used us! Just as Trigon would have! And now Raven is dead and her blood is on our hands!" She staggered to her feet, pointing at Tara. "Don't you dare tell me not to mourn! Don't you dare! Raven was our friend! Your friend! And you forced us to kill her! How could you, Tara? How could you!"
Tara	"It was the only way to defeat Trigon!" Tara answered, sounding a bit wounded by Karla's tone. "He can only fall if his daughter is dead."
Kennedy	"The only way," Kennedy echoed; she was trying to sound tough and impassive, but her voice shook slightly anyway, and didn't carry the strength of conviction behind it. She could rationalize this, right? The Slayer had to defeat demons, and she was... sort of in that category. And Trigon had to be defeated; that'd been something they needed to do. And-- leaving aside what Karla had said, even if there was a niggling little ring of truth to it-- Tara wouldn't tell them to do something evil. She had to believe that, even with that strange, blank look on Tara's face. She swallowed, hard, and forced a nod. "We had to." It was like she'd completely forgotten how to pull off self-confidence. "We had to... right?"
Trigon	A shadow fell across them before anyone could answer that question. Trigon had risen and was taller than ever now, eclipsing the tallest buildings in the city. "SHE IS DEAD!" he roared. "THE ONLY CHILD OF MINE TO SURVIVE HAS BEEN KILLED. KILLED BY YOU! IT IS NOT ENOUGH THAT I NOW KILL YOU. YOU MUST BE MADE TO SUFFER FOR YOUR DEED. I AM WAKE! AND I THIRST FOR VENGEANCE! BEWARE, HUMANS, FOR YOU SHALL NOW SUFFER THE TERROR OF TRIGON!"