Azarath to Quasa, Early Wednesday Morning, Fandom Time.
mrs_theterrible
After Trigon and Raven had vanished and the demons had all disappeared, Arella turned to address those from Fandom. "I will return you to your home as my daughter requested," she said. "Unless...." She hesitated and glanced toward the Temple of Azarath, damaged but still standing.
Azarathian
"Arella, Raven sacrificed her life for the life of this world. It is over," one of the robed Azarathians told her, putting a hand on her shoulder.
mrs_theterrible
"She is my daughter and I mourn her loss," Arella said, not entirely convinced.
Azarathian
The Azarathian shook his head. "But Arella, if you leave, you know our rules...."
mrs_theterrible
"I know, but my daughter's friends are right," Arella said. "Raven is my child, and though I will not violate my teachings here, I cannot allow her to be harmed."
Azarathian
"Then take our love with you, Arella, and our prayers. For never again will we meet. I will pray that you tread carefully, and may the peace you have come to know here in Azarath be with you always."
mrs_theterrible
"Come with me," Arella said, her decision made. "We will open the Great Door, beyond which lies the pathway between dimensions. I will act as your guide, for I know the way and I will be able to sense Raven, though I am not certain what we can do once we find her. There is something I may be able to do with my daughter's help -- and perhaps some of your aid as well -- to temporarily weaken Trigon, but he will only open a rift to his home dimension to restore his power. Even if there were a way to force him back through that gateway, he will come right back through. Unless there is something any of you can do to stop that."
oops_mbad
"Closing portals is the family business." Diana said smiling, though her cheerfulness was mostly fake. "I can close the portal. Just give me a few minutes of time, and some chalk."
mrs_theterrible
"You can?" Arella said. "My daughter is fortunate indeed. There may be hope to save her and your world yet. Chalk I can easily provide you."
oops_mbad
Diana nodded. "Family business. Go places, close portals, get attacked by Snow White and the Seven Dwarves."
mrs_theterrible
Or maybe her daughter just had insane friends. But Arella was going to cling to the only hope they had. "Then if your friends can strike Trigon with all their power and force him through the rift, it will all be up to you to close the portal."
No pressure.
oops_mbad
"So no pressure." Diana said cheerfully. "At least there's no chance a volcano will explode this time."
glacial_witch
"You!" Karla whirled around to face Arella, body shaking and her eyes filled with tears. "Now you choose to be a mother. After an entire lifetime of pushing her away, now you realize that she's a person that you should try to protect, not just some extension of the creature that attacked you."
Technically, Karla knew that Arella had always loved Raven, had deliberately cut herself off from her daughter to protect them both, but after just watching her friend fling herself into Hell, she wasn't up to being calm or reasonable about this.
"So what is this?" she railed. "A sop to your conscience? A way to tell yourself that 'oh well, at least you tried' at night when you remember that your daughter's being tortured beyond anything you could possibly imagine? Why couldn't you have reached out and tried to help back when it would mean anything?! You don't deserve Raven! None of you do! All of you on this stupid plane lumped together aren't worth half of her!"
She was hurt and tired and angry and very happy to take it out on all of them. "You say you've found peace and a better life, but you haven't! You've found laziness and complacency and cowardice! Fighting back is hard, so you've decided to give up before the battle's even begun and convince yourself that it's a truer kind of bravery! Well, I'm here to tell you it's not! Truly loving someone--loving someone so much that you'll fight and hurt and still go on to protect them--that's the real bravery! Going willingly into death is nothing compared to that. Raven understood that. The rest of you aren't fit to lick her Darkness bedamned boots!" She spat on the ground in front of Arella in disgust.
mrs_theterrible
Arella couldn't bring herself to look at Karla. "You are not entirely wrong," she said quietly, wrapping her arms around herself. "But you have no idea what happened to me. All my life in Gotham, on Earth, I wanted to feel as if I belonged and to be loved. And Trigon gave that to me until I realized what he was. After that I tried to kill myself. I wanted to die and destroy the abomination growing within me. But I was saved and brought to Azarath and taught a new way of life. They saved me and they saved my child. They nurtured me, taught me, and months later Raven was born. And she wasn't an abomination. A more lovely child had never graced the world...lovely, yet frightening, for though she was raised in the peace of Azarath, her heritage boiled with the rage of Trigon. I never wanted this to happen. I wanted her to stay here and safe for all her life, and I did my best to protect her."
She finally looked at Karla. "I failed. But I will do what I can now to save her as Azarath saved me."
glacial_witch
"Poor you," Karla sneered, trampling all over the nascent sympathy Arella's story had raised. She was so not in the mood for sympathy right now. "It must have been so hard for you, seeing Raven out and alone in that big, scary world. Which was why you sent her away when she and Dinah were here the last time. You remember? When she told you she was going to attempt this ritual? Great show of motherly devotion there!"
mrs_theterrible
"She knew the penalty for leaving Azarath," Arella said. She wasn't used to arguing and it took some effort to try to keep her voice calm. "I had no idea where she was, but I did try to find her. And when she returned, and I realized she'd learned to experience emotions...you have no idea what you've done. If she knows love, she will know hate. If she knows joy, she will know rage. And that is how her father will take her."
glacial_witch
"News flash, sweetheart? Her father's already taken her. And it wasn't hate or rage, but her love for you that enabled him to do so. I just wish you were worth her sacrifice."
Unable to say anything more around the lump in her throat, Karla spun on her heel and walked away.
blondecanary
Dinah watched Karla walk off, then turned back to look at Arella. "I've already said it before, but I think she said it better." She bit her lip. "But I'm glad you're stepping up now."
mrs_theterrible
"I have failed her for the last time," Arella said quietly, determination in her eyes. "I will not fail her now."
blondecanary
Dinah nodded, trying to believe that. "Is there anything you need before we start this? Anything we need to know, or do?"
mrs_theterrible
Arella shook her head. "Only that siphoning Trigon's power will put a terrible strain on Raven and make her susceptible to the demonic side of her heritage," she said. "She will need your help to make sure she isn't overcome by that."
blondecanary
"She has it." Dinah couldn't find anything to smile about right now, but she simply said, "We'll make this right. We will."
joan_notjane
"It's about time you stood up for your daughter," Joan said. She had been growing increasingly angry about Arella's refusal to do anything to help Raven.
mrs_theterrible
"I have always done what I thought was best for Raven," Arella said, almost as if trying to convince herself that that was true. "I love my daughter, and I never wanted her to come to this."
joan_notjane
"Maybe not, but the way you raised her has made it hard for her to prepare for something like this," Joan said. "She's learned a lot about how to use and control her powers in Fandom but she should have been learning that all along."
mrs_theterrible
"I'm not convinced that that will ultimately be the right thing to do," Arella said. "Azar had her reasons for teaching Raven to deny her emotions. But that doesn't matter right now, what matters is finding her and freeing her from Trigon before he twists her into the evil servant he wants her to be."
joan_notjane
"We'll do whatever it takes."
Joan may not have powers, but she had faith. And she knew that the rest of the Fandomites who were present would do whatever it took to keep Raven safe.
mrs_theterrible
Arella led them into the Temple Azarath to a large ornate golden door. With the help of some other Azarathians (who all clearly disapproved of what she was planning to do), she opened the door, revealing a vast cosmos beyond, filled with stars and planets and moving golden stairs. "Anyone who does not wish to go, say it now and I will send you home," Arella said. "Otherwise, follow me. You will be able to breathe, but do not lose sight of of me, or you will become lost forever." She stepped through the Great Door.
longislandiceme
Okay, that was... not a new experience, exactly, but still kind of freaky. And considering the last time he'd been out wandering in space things had ended sort of badly, Bobby- Iceman- sort of had a bad feeling about this, to borrow a turn of phrase (hopefully Anakin and Tahiri wouldn't mind much).
glacial_witch
"This is sort of like what it's like traveling through Raven," Karla mentioned idly. "Except without having to worry about the giant lizard in there."
And then she facepalmed. "How did I get to the point where saying that is normal?" she asked the cosmos at large?
life_inshadow
"I -- I think it comes easy after a year here?" Tara offered dolefully.
She'd been quiet since the battle, feeling overwhelmed and a bit paralyzed by her fear that anything she said or did would only make things worse. She followed Arella carefully, wondering if blinking would count against her.
brat_intraining
"The Fandom learning curve is some kind of tripped-out geometric shape?" Kennedy suggested; she was a little ragged-sounding, but still largely in good humor, and sticking close to Tara as much as possible.
furnaceface
Jono, in the meantime, was more than happy to take up the rear, vaguely aware that under less tiring circumstances, he'd probably be admiring their surroundings a fair bit more.
As it stood, he was more concerned with staying on the moving staircase.
//I don't think there's a word for that particular shape,// he mused, stumbling along behind. //Although I suspect that it's as prone to shifting about as these bloody steps are.//
weetuskenraider
"That just keeps things interesting," Tahiri replied lightly from a few paces in front of Jono. "I knew this wasn't going to be boring."
Don't sound so happy about that, Tahiri.
joan_notjane
"Nothing is ever boring," Joan remarked, trailing behind those with abilities. "I kind of miss boring."
mrs_theterrible
After several hours of leading them through the twisting golden stairs, Arella pointed to a crimson planet looming ahead. "There," she said with a shudder. "Trigon and my daughter are there."
The steps ended at a stone archway, and once they stepped through the interdimensional space and stairs behind them vanished. Now they were on a barren, rocky world that had obviously seen recent destruction. Toppled buildings still burned, and the occasional scream could be heard in the distance.
"Trigon will soon know we are here," Arella said. "We must act quickly."
She led them through the ruins, careful to avoid being seen by the demons still flying overhead, searching for survivors. The minions they found guarding Raven's cell were easily dispatched and the door destroyed, revealing Raven lying senseless on the floor, bound by chains.
longislandiceme
"Raven?" Iceman said worriedly, kneeling down near her and reaching out to touch the chains binding her. Within moments of being exposed to sub-zero temperature, they froze and crumbled to dust. "It's time to go," he added gently, holding out one (de-iced) hand to help her up.
trigons_child
Raven stirred and opened her eyes, looking up in confusion to see her friends there. "You should not have come," she said weakly, but she couldn't help but smile, so relieved she was to see them.
blondecanary
"Told you we'd get here," Dinah said, keeping her voice way down, and smiling back. She held the door open, motioning to them. "C'mon c'mon. Fast."
mrs_theterrible
"We have a plan, Raven," Arella said, drawing closer as Raven shakily got to her feet and left the cell. Raven's face lit up to see her mother there as well. "You and I will try to weaken Trigon. Your empathy will allow you to tap into the evil that is the source of his strength."
trigons_child
"Mother, if I do such a thing I will become lost," Raven said, shaking her head. She remembered her failure with Aphrodite far too well.
mrs_theterrible
"It is dangerous, but it is the only hope we have now," Arella said. "Take strength from your friends. They cared enough to come to this place and save you, and their love will shield you from your father's evil."
loinclothofevil
Trigon appeared in the skies above, flying demons circling above him. "Wife!" he roared. "I should have slain you as I did the others. This time I will not spare any of your lives, no matter how much my daughter begs."
mrs_theterrible
"Now!" Arella said, taking one of Raven's hands. "If you have any love or strength to give Raven, do it now, and I will guide her power to weaken Trigon. He will be forced to open a gateway to his home dimension to take power from. But I cannot weaken him for long. He will fight me, resist me, and his powers far overshadow mine. Push him through it, and then Diana, it is up to you to close the door."
trigons_child
Raven was still dazed, but strengthened by the return of her friends. She sat cross-legged on the ground, eyes closed in concentration as she struggled to tap into her father's power and siphon it away. "My friends, if you have any strength to give me, do it now," she said, "or I will be overcome by my father's power."
brat_intraining
Right, she wasn't trying to go after Trigon again, not right now; she'd be damned if she wasn't going to do something to help, though.
"You can do this, Raven," Kennedy said through clenched teeth, darting to her side. Maybe she could've just sent Raven the support she needed from a distance, but that was more metaphysical than the way she tended to operate worked, and for her, at least, the proximity made sense. She didn't know what else to say, but maybe her stubborn belief in her friends and sheer hardheaded will that they were going to kick some ass and get this over with might be enough.
trigons_child
Kennedy's support meant a great deal to Raven, especially since the other girl had now really seen the evil from which she had been spawned. She latched on to it, taking strength from her.
life_inshadow
Tara spoke a brief incantation -- mostly to steel herself -- and sent as much love and support as she could muster toward Raven in great, warm psychic waves.
It was a new spell for her, but she thought it was working. Probably.
trigons_child
Raven gave Tara a grateful smile. Of everyone there, she felt Tara was the most similar to her (minus the demon side), and she drew strength from her friend's emotional support.
blondecanary
Dinah dropped her shields, as far as she could, reached out and took Raven's hand, and sent Raven all the love and understanding and belief she had inside her. It wasn't as hard as she thought. Memories of the first time she met Raven, with her soul-self flying above; of hugging Raven after the mess with the vampire universe, and what happened with Chuck; promising to stop her (See? I keep my promises, Raven); of being rescued by Raven from Shiva, along with the others, and being so damn grateful to see her; of her relief when Raven didn't hold Black Canary's failure to help Raven against her. Fanfiction and silliness and magic and being high on brownies together and every other good thing from the last year and finally just: Not leaving you. Hang on. We're not going anywhere, Raven.
weetuskenraider
Tahiri dropped all her shields and reached out, pushing a wave of reassurance through the Force; she tried, though she wasn't sure if she'd succeed because she wasn't the empath Ben was, to draw on the others' emotions as well and amplify them as best she could. She'd always been stubborn; she'd heard that from many people over the years in tones varying from love to exasperation, and she was using that to her advantage now, trying to will that stubbornness to Raven -- the strength that had helped her survive her torture at Mezhan Kwaad's hands, helped her keep Riina at bay for so long, helped her get through the merging of her personalities. It was her strength, but if Raven needed that, she'd be willing to lend it to her for as long as it took to get this done.
It was, she thought in a vaguely triumphant moment, an innately Jedi thing to do.
joan_notjane
Joan had no idea if it would help, but she ducked her head and whispered a quick prayer to God to help Raven find the strength to overcome her father.
glacial_witch
Fuck the metaphorical warm fuzzies. Karla had a much better plan in mind. Well, for a measure of good that involved the idea, 'let's take on an angry goddess by pretending to be other people.'
Rather than standing off to one side and lending Raven what little strength she had left, Karla practically stomped over to her friend, hauled her to her feet with Craft, and proceeded to kiss the everlasting Hell out of Raven, dropping every inner barrier she had in the process.
trigons_child
Raven hadn't been expecting that at all. She'd been taking strength from her friends, drawing from Dinah's love and Tahiri's reassurance and Joan's faith, to keep the power she was pulling from Trigon from consuming her, relying on their affection and hope to keep the darkness at bay. It was a risk to open herself to so much evil and cruelty, but she'd learned from her experience with Aphrodite's rage. She needed something to balance it out to prevent herself from becoming overwhelmed.
Karla's kiss radically shifted the balance. The physical contact intensified the emotions, as did the fact Karla was completely unshielded. Her mother still clung to one of her hands, but the other she brought up to embrace Karla, clinging to her and drawing incredible power from the raw emotional contact.
glacial_witch
It was a deep, heavy, and very long kiss, her emotions riding high and cresting over Raven. And when it was finally over, Karla dragged her mouth away and glared defiance up at Trigon. "Sorry, bitch," she growled. "It's not Trigon who lights my fires."
brat_intraining
Okay, that got Kennedy's attention; she was watching the, uh, tonsil-hockey-fest with an impressed look on her face and both eyebrows raised.
"I don't know whether to say 'I knew it,' or 'I didn't know you guys had it in you,' but damn."
Her list of 'things you can accomplish with a kiss' just got one seriously significant item longer.
loinclothofevil
When Trigon realized what his former bride and daughter were doing, he glared down angrily. "YOU CANNOT DRAIN MY STRENGTH," he roared. "I POSSESS LIMITLESS ACCESS TO POWER." He slashed the air with his staff, creating a rift. "I HAVE ONLY TO REACH THROUGH AND ALL MY STRENGTH WILL BE RESTORED."
"Now!" Arella called. "You must strike at him with all the power you possess! Send him through the rift!"
sith_happened
Anakin had had more than enough of Trigon. He reached into the Force and flung him backward into the rift.
furnaceface
All the power that Jono possessed just happened to be coming back to him, after that pause that they'd had to recharge, and, so help him, he was in a mood.
When he unleashed one more psionic blast of flame, this time it was with a reckless abandon that suggested that he didn't much care, at this point, if he was going to have to crawl for the next week. He meant business, and he meant to throw that business square at Trigon, and hard.
weetuskenraider
There was a time when, she and Anakin working together, Tahiri had been able to rip ancient Massassi trees out of the ground and hurl them into space at oncoming ships. On her own she wasn't capable of summoning that kind of raw power (and it suddenly made her miss Anakin more than she had in a while), but she wasn't weak, either.
Drawing on all her positive emotions -- her love and reassurance for Raven and her friends, her faith that they'd make it through this, her confidence that what they were doing was the right thing -- she gathered every bit of Force energy she could summon and let it loose in a hard telekinetic blast aimed directly at Trigon.
psychic_wonder
If power was what Arella wanted, that was something Sam could provide. He took a few deep breaths and then held out his hand, telekinetically pushing Trigon with all the demon blood-fueled force he had left. He knew he'd thrown out everything he could muster when he felt his nose start to bleed, but if this worked, it would be worth it.
life_inshadow
Tara stood beside Sam, also pushing out telekinetically. "We might be stronger if we hold hands," she offered. "At least, that's how it works for me."
It was a weird way to start a conversation, true, but that ... wasn't exactly an issue right now.
psychic_wonder
Sam had had weirder conversations, really, and while he'd never tried Tara's suggestion, it probably wouldn't hurt. "I'll take anything that might help," he said, reaching for her hand.
life_inshadow
Tara took his fingers and squeezed them hard, reaching out with her spare hand toward Triton and concentrating on forcing him away. She wasn't sure how much she was contributing to keeping the demon at bay -- but any scrap of power helped.
psychic_wonder
Sam wasn't sure how much power he had left, but he used it all to push, holding Tara's hand all the while. Maybe it was just the power of suggestion, but he did feel like there was a bit more force behind his actions than before.
longislandiceme
Bobby wasn't gonna think too hard about where all the water he was getting for his ice was coming from (some of those demons were probably feeling a bit dehydrated), he was just going to focus on blasting it all towards Trigon.
glacial_witch
Karla braced herself, closing her eyes and summoning up every spare drop of power she could eke out from her Sapphire. "I will never marry you," she whispered, and opened her eyes to look into Trigon's own. "I defy you till the last."
And hurled a raging torrent of Sapphire energy directly into his face.
blondecanary
An inhale. And a scream that went on for ages, then started again. And again. And again. And again.
And shoving with the telekinesis. Hard, harder than she ever had before, enough to bring her to her knees---
And while she was at it? Dinah threw devil's horns at him. See ya, creep!
loinclothofevil
Being hit by massive amounts of power from his daughter's friends sent Trigon stumbling backwards into the rift. "FOOLS!" he shouted. "YOU ONLY MAKE ME STRONGER! I WILL SQUASH ALL OF YOU LIKE THE INSECTS YOU ARE."
oops_mbad
"Seriously, who write your dialog?" Diana asked, sketching the symbols for closures around the rift with a piece of chalk. "You. Need. A. New. Writer." She said, taking breathes between the words.
"More closing, less bantering." Samuel chided her.
loinclothofevil
Trigon had no idea what Diana was doing, so he took his time, absorbing the power of his home dimension to replace what Raven and Arella had stolen. "AH, MY POWER RETURNS," he said. "AND NOW IT IS TIME TO END THIS." He moved to step back through the rift.
oops_mbad
"Yes, yes it is." Diana agreed, and scrawled in her final symbol before stepping back to force all of her power and attention on closing the rift.
loinclothofevil
"WHAT? NOOOOOOOOOO!" Trigon howled in rage then paid Anakin as the rift began to close, trapping him on the other side.
mrs_theterrible
As Diana was closing the rift, Arella go of Raven's hand. "I am sorry, Raven, this is the only way," she said. She dashed forward and jumped into the tear in space after Trigon.
trigons_child
"Mother, no!" Raven cried, rising to her feet and trying to follow.
mrs_theterrible
The rift was quickly shrinking. "There was never any other way," Arella called. "I knew this is what I had to do. Someone must guard the way to bar Trigon's return. Thus let my sacrifice be for the good of all."
The tear in space closed and vanished as if it had never been, and the sky was quiet. Raven sank to her knees, sobbing.
blondecanary
It would be a lie to say Dinah knew exactly how Raven was feeling. But she'd been somewhere awfully damn close, two years ago.
So she was hugging Raven now, tears spilling over for Raven and Arella both, wordless, squeezing as hard as she could. So sorry, so sorry Raven, I know, she loved you. She really, really loved you.
trigons_child
"Trigon could reopen the dimensional doorway if something did not block his path," Raven wept, clinging to Dinah. Part of her wanted to scream that this couldn't be real, it was just a nightmare, but the pain in her heart was all too real. "But now my mother guards the bridge now," she whispered. "As she must for all eternity."
blondecanary
Oh, god. Fates worse than death... Dinah forced her mind off that path, yanking her mind into another direction and whispered, "We don't have to give up on her either. Somehow. Some way. Some day." She tightened her grip on Raven. The thought, but Raven might not live that long was stifled too, and walled off. "You're safe. The world's safe. There's time."
joan_notjane
Joan moved in to give Raven a hug when Dinah let go.
"I'm so sorry, Raven," she whispered.
glacial_witch
Karla wasn't sure how much of Arella's choice had been motivated by the things she and the others had said. She also couldn't really work up enough emotion to regret it. She'd meant those things and, honestly, if it kept Raven safe, Karla would count Arella's sacrifice a good one.
That being said...she knew the pain of losing a mother. Too tired to find actual words, she just opened a channel between them, letting Raven feel her regret, sympathy, sorrow, and understanding.
trigons_child
Raven was too numb to say anything more, and though she accepted the comfort of her friends, she still felt hollow inside. She finally managed to say one word: "Home." She couldn't bear to be in this place one second longer. Her Soul-Self manifested and swept them all up to take them back to Fandom.
[OOC: Preplayed with the spectacular spectacular blondecanary, brat_intraining, furnaceface, glacial_witch, longislandiceme, joan_notjane, life_inshadow, oops_mbad, psychic_wonder, sith_happened, and weetuskenraider. YAY THE ENDS OF PREPLAY. NFI and NFB, but OOC always welcomed!]