New York City, Friday Fandom time
[Follows this.]
Black storm clouds roiled overhead as the group appeared on the streets of New York, and thunder boomed as lightning split the sky. All the people around them were looking upward in confusion and fear when Raven appeared floating in the air far above, red and terrible.
"Humans, hear me now!" she shouted. "They call me Raven -- and though my mother was born of this earth, my soul belongs not to this planet, but to him who sired me. Universe after universe has fallen before his might. No one who has opposed him has ever survived. Lay down your weapons! Submit to his will or this pitiful planet will soon be little more than a wasted, lifeless husk! He comes, humans! He comes!"
She threw back her head, and her Soul-Self, red now instead of black, rose from her shoulders, growing in size until it dominated the skies. Trigon stepped through it and loomed above the city, straddling two tall buildings. Raven hovered beside him, continuing to speak. "From this moment forth he expects your total subservience and your complete obedience. You will view him with the respect he demands! And you will accept that he is your god, for your meaningless lives are his to play with. Now, bow before your god! Bow before Trigon the Terrible! For if you do not submit, this will be your fate!"
Trigon raised his staff above his head and the world became transformed. The streets shuddered and split, holes appearing to swallow vehicles whole, and buildings groaned and crumbled, their facades turning to cracked stone. Grotesque faces and clawed hands erupted from the stone to decorate the buildings like enormous demented gargoyles. But worst of all, the people, every living being except those who had just arrived from Azarath, became twisted together into living columns of flesh, bodies contorted in agony and faces frozen in silent screams.
Above it all, Raven smiled, arm outstretched as she soaked in the pain and suffering her father had just created. Trigon himself gazed impassively around at his work, then moved to sit atop the former United Nations Secretariat building, which had been reshaped into a throne. He closed his eyes and was still.
Kennedy
It wasn't her New York, but to say that it still hit close to home for Kennedy was, well, painfully accurate, especially having been in the city just two weeks ago.
"Oh god," she murmured, horrified and sick and none of that because she was still covered with demon blood. "Oh god, oh god, all those people, just..."
The look on Raven's face made it a million times worse.
Anakin
Anakin staggered back a step, affected through the Force as thousands of people died.
He'd so not needed flashbacks to Alderaan right now.
Warren
Warren was sodden with his own blood, still slowly healing broken bones here and there, but managing to stand on his own two feet. Right up until he saw that.
And then all bets were off, and his knees were just going to give out under him.
"No, no, no."
Emma
There were two ways to really get on Emma Frost's bad side.
One was to threaten her friends. She didn't have very many of them to start with, and she was distinctly territorial when it came to the ones she did have. The second? You do not fuck with Emma's city. New York was hers, dammit, and she was going to make Raven hurt for this.
Sookie
And Sookie had been doing so well up until this point, keeping her fae side under control.
"Jesus Christ," she murmured, eyes wide as she took it all in. For a moment, she teetered between mourning the city and accepting the wildness that wanted to take over her.
And then she felt the telepathic explosion of pain , and she didn't feel anything but the turning of her stomach. Her knees gave way as she crumpled, absorbing and trying to block it out as best she could, and trying not to be violently ill where she shook.
Tara
For a second, Tara was alone in her head, and she felt the full horror of the situation rise around her. The city, the city where she'd been barely two weeks ago, was just gone, and its people with it. "Oh my God, this isn't" --
And then that strange calm rose around her again. "This is exactly as it must be," she said. "And we still have Azar's protection."
Bobby
So far, Bobby had stuck to his (figurative) guns as far as his usual relentless optimism went. This whole evil-Raven thing was... temporary. They'd fix it. They had to.
But this... this was enough to make him falter, wonder if maybe this time they wouldn't all come out of this okay.
Dinah
It took everything Dinah had not to scream at this. She put a hand over her mouth to keep from vomiting.
Why are there people like this in the universe? she'd asked Leto once. None of his answers, or hers, came close to explaining it.
Raven
Their presence hadn't gone entirely unnoticed. In a burst of black smoke, Raven appeared before them. "My friends," she said, her voice cold. "I am pleased to see you. Trigon has need of you. As his slaves!"
Dinah
"Your father doesn't need anything. Except a babysitter," Dinah snapped before she could stop herself. "That overgrown spoilt toddler doesn't deserve an answer. And when you're done being possessed, you'll know that." There were tears in her eyes from all the suffering she'd seen, but it hadn't changed her opinion of Trigon: take away the power and the size, and he was an evil little kid. No other thoughts but gratifying his ego. No smarts. No subtlety. "No."
Raven
"Dinah," Raven said, turning toward her with a cold smile. "Do you realize all the world is like this? Not just New York, but Metropolis. Gotham. The Dinah of this world and all she loves are in the grip my father's power. And soon you will be as well."
Dinah
Oh, God. Fighting the urge to be sick, Dinah said, "That just makes me want to fight him harder, you know that. You know me. Until I can't fight any more."
Raven
"You will fight and you will fail," Raven said. "You will learn to obey, or you will die. There are no other choices."
Dinah
"Then I'll die. Trying to help a friend," Dinah told her steadily. "And hopefully I'll take your father with me."
Raven
"You will bow before my father as I have," Raven said, unmoved. "You will learn as a thousand other worlds have learned before you. I could not fight him, and neither can you."
Dinah
Something in Dinah wanted to cry at whatever part of Raven had been drowned by this crazy evil obsession.
The rest of her quit talking and threw a blast of TK at Raven, aiming for those extra eyes.
Raven
Raven barely flinched. She did, however, direct a blast of red light from her eyes, all four of them, sending a beam of destructive energy right back at Dinah.
Dinah
Dinah saw it coming, lashed out with her TK, but could only divert it a little; it sent her reeling to the ground, nearly blinded and gasping for breath.
Raven
"Do not fight me, Dinah," Raven said. She rose several inches off the ground and floated closer to her former friend. "Your submission is inevitable, as was mine."
Dinah
Still panting for breath, Dinah closed her eyes. Then screamed, a full Canary Cry, even as part of her cringed that she was unleashing this on her friend.
Raven
Raven flinched back, then tapped into her father's power to protect herself and to lash out at Dinah with a burst of TK. Maybe she wouldn't mind if the twisted remains of a car over there broke her fall.
Dinah
Ow didn't quite cover it. Give her a sec. Just a sec.
Dinah lashed out again as she staggered to her feet.
Barbara Helena Alfred Kyle Gabby Tim Jason Dick Reese Uncle Jim-- The names of everyone she loved who weren't there flashed through her mind. Priestly Tony Momoko Jaime Jak Francine...
If all this did was buy them and their worlds time, it was worth it.
Anakin
"After this is over, we are really going to work on your evil overlord dialogue," Anakin grumbled mostly to himself.
He ignited his lightsaber and gave Raven a glare. "Don't make me use this."
Raven
Raven held her arms out wide and laughed. "You may try," she said. "But you will find I am no longer so easy to kill as the girl you murdered. I will destroy you before you are able to strike me down."
Anakin
"Oh, you don't really know the power of the Force, Raven," Anakin said. "I've never shown you what I'm really capable of."
Raven
"And you have little idea what I am capable of," Raven said, red energy gathering in her eyes. "I have embraced my true destiny. This is what I was meant to be, and you will feel my power."
Anakin
"This was never your destiny," Anakin said sadly, shaking his head. "I'm sorry I didn't save you from this."
Raven
"I am Trigon's child," Raven said. "He has freed me from the burden of my soul, and now I will do the same for you or you will die." The red energy shot from her eyes, arcing toward Anakin.
Anakin
He deflected it harmlessly away using his hand because he could do that, oh, you giant Marty Stu. "There's been enough death."
Raven
"This is only the beginning," Raven sneered. "More worlds will fall to my father's might, and yours will be one of the hands that helps to topple them."
She had no idea about Anakin's resume, but she was quite sure that once she'd forced him to embrace his darker side, he'd be an effective minion.
Raven was in for a surprise.
Anakin
"I'll never agree to that," Anakin said flatly. "Could you kill me for it, little one?"
Raven
"If your death is necessary, so be it," Raven said without hesitation. "Just as you once killed me. But your servitude would be preferable. Within you all is evil, and that evil shall be pledged to Trigon."
Anakin
Anakin snorted. "I'm not really looking for a new boss, and if I were, one that wears pants would be on the list of requirements."
Raven
"You are not without fear," Raven said. She clearly hadn't read the Clone War propaganda. "You will break, or you will die. And then my father will claim another dimension, perhaps the very one in which your wife and child dwell."
Anakin
Anakin's eyes flashed. "Oh, that is never going to happen."
Raven
"Yours will be the hand that strikes them down, I will see to it," Raven said. She closed her eyes momentarily and savored the thought of that.
Anakin
Anakin didn't have the strength to restrain the pulse of rage--and under it, terror--that he felt.
"Never."
Never again.
Raven
Raven drew in her breath in a hiss of pleasure at the rush of emotion. "Yesssssssss," she said. "Give in to your anger. I can taste it."
Anakin
Oh, that was just creepy and Palpatine-like. "Don't do that," he snapped.
Raven
"You cannot stop me," Raven said. "Of all of these" -- she waved her hand to the friends who'd come to stop her -- "I know you will be the hardest to break, but it will be so worth it when my father claims your soul."
Anakin
"Trigon gets nothing more from me," Anakin said, "and he doesn't get you for much longer."
Karla
"That will never happen, Raven," Karla said softly. "And you know it."
Raven
"Karla," Raven crooned. She held out a hand. "Join me, sister." Sister, stepmother, what was the difference?
Karla
Karla wanted to step back, but did not, simply standing her ground. "No. Never. You are not my Raven; you are not my friend or my Sister or my Court. I will never join with you."
Raven
"You will," Raven said, drawing closer. "You will learn to obey Trigon's every command because you fear the alternative. Or you will die."
This creature wore Raven's form and face, though altered as they were, but there was nothing of the girl Karla knew in her voice now.
Karla
"This isn't the first time I've been threatened with death," Karla reminded. "I'm not about to back down just because of that." She gave Raven a smile brittle as glass. "I've never feared death. And less than two weeks ago, you made it impossible for anyone to threaten me with what I feared most."
Raven
"You were fortunate," Raven said with false sweetness. "I never told you what I dreamed before that night. How I lied and said I would take your pain, but instead I used your boyfriend's body to break you. I let you feel that pain, and mine as well."
Her lips curled into a sneer. "If only I had embraced what I was before the night instead of taking your pain and feeling it resonate inside me. I never told you that, either, did I? How I felt every pain I took into myself, every injury I healed. It all stayed in my body to feel over and over again."
Karla
And there Karla flinched. Her dream was too close to nightmares of Karla's own, where she lay speared and broken, screaming where no one could hear or--or no one cared.
And then the rest of Raven's words pierced her heart. "No," Karla whispered. "There were a lot of things you never told me. It's one more thing for me to regret." She reached out to lay a hand on the red skin of Raven's cheek, right beneath her second pair of eyes. "Did you never think that if you had, I could have helped you?"
Raven
Raven raised her hand and placed it over Karla's. "There was nothing to help. This was inevitable. And to think I have you to thank for it, or Jaenelle, to be precise. When her power shattered my shields in Agio, it allowed my true self to begin to become free."
That wasn't entirely the truth, but Raven was more than happy to let Karla think it was. Guilt tasted delicious.
Karla
Raven most likely picked up a fresh wave of it off of Karla after that. "Oh Raven, I wish it hadn't come to this," she murmured. "But I can never, ever join you. I will never be yours or Trigon's and I have to stop you before you do this to any other world."
Her poison was weak and thin, having pumped it into the demon that was attacking Warren. But maybe it would be enough to give the others a chance to attack, too. Looking into Raven's eyes, she sent a pulse of desire, hoping to distract her, before sliding her snake-tooth out and into Raven's cheek.
Raven
Raven hissed in pain, then laughed, keeping Karla's hand pinned against her cheek. She'd expel the poison right back into Karla, but she knew she'd likely have a natural immunity to her own venom, so she hoarded it and kept it for later. Perhaps for Warren.
"Desire and pain, truly a wonderful gift, Sister," she said. "But now I must give you an equal gift in return." Karla's Virgin Night had been less than two weeks ago, but Raven still carried that pain, and now she left Karla feel it.
Karla
Karla wasn't going to give Raven the satisfaction of hearing her whimper, no matter how much she wanted to. The pain sliced through her, settling in between her thighs with a dull ache that reached all the way up inside.
"Is that all?" she asked, offering Raven a sweet, insincere smile. "Had I known that, we could have just cut you out all together."
On the inside, behind her shields, Karla was curling up around the pain. Outside, however, she remained cool and composed. She'd be damned if she'd give an inch.
Raven
"I should have broken you then," Raven hissed, letting the pain intensify before allowing it to stop since Karla wasn't reacting to it. "But then you would be good for nothing but to be my father's plaything. My plans for you require your power."
Karla
Karla drew a long, shuddery breath, the closest she would allow herself to come to crying out with the pain. The relief she felt when it stopped rivaled any pleasure she'd felt.
"You should have broken me," she agreed pleasantly. "Because that's the only way you'd ever get me to submit to you."
Raven
A wave of red energy, designed to hurt and leech strength, came from Raven and flew at Karla. "You will obey the laws of Trigon because you fear his reprisals," she snarled. "You will obey his every command because you fear the alternative. I will release your dark side, and you will crave obedience."
Karla
Owie. That really hurt. Karla couldn't stop the tears that sprang to her eyes, but she could ignore them. She went down to the ground, hugging herself and trying to move past the pain.
Raven was forgetting one pertinent fact: Karla never responded well to intimidation.
"You missed your chance," Karla said in a low voice. "You can never touch me. Not again. No matter what you threaten to this body, you will never touch me."
Raven
"Oh, but you are so mistaken, Sister," Raven said, gliding closer. "I took away one vulnerability, but you have so many, many more. I know your fears. I know what makes you angry and what makes you cry. And I will use those all to make you mine."
Karla's shields were up, but Raven was battering them now, trying to work her way in.
Karla
Karla let Raven bang against her outer shields, building up more barriers behind them, weaving traps of Black Widow Craft within them. For every shield Raven broke through, Karla was going to make it cost her.
"You're awfully overconfident," Karla said. "You should know that if you try to use my weaknesses against me, I'll turn on you just for spite."
Raven
"And I will enjoy it when you try," Raven said, ceasing her banging for a moment to try to confuse and tease Karla with tendrils of pleasure. "Your frustration when you fail will taste delicious, as will watching you become all that you claim to despise."
Karla
Karla bit her lip against this new--and, to be honest, more effective--onslaught. She was used to fighting against pain. Pleasure was an entirely different weapon.
"I have defied your father before," Karla said, panting. "I'll defy you, too."
Raven
"You cannot fight me," Raven said, enjoying the effect her powers were having on Karla. "I have been inside you. I have seen your inner self. Everything you are has been laid bare to me. You will be mine."
Karla
"Sorry, sweetheart," Karla panted. "But prophecy...is the province...of Black Widows. Your magic mirror...is faulty."
Raven
"And you told me this would never happen to me if I had friends," Raven said sweetly. She dampened the sensations of pleasure, pulling back, but replaced it with longing, trying to ignite Karla's carvings for more. "Your ability to predict the future is suspect as well."
Karla
"I told you then that nothing was set in stone," Karla choked out. "But that where you stood with your father, you were alone. You locked us out, Raven! You didn't tell us Trigon was besieging your defenses! You lied and misled and hid crucial information from us! You refused to let us be the friends you needed!"
Raven
If Raven ever recovered from this, she'd have a lot to answer for. But this Raven would milk it for all it was worth. "Why could you not see, Karla?" she said, her voice small and quavering. "I wanted to tell you, but I could not. I prayed to Azar that you would help me...."
Karla
"I am not your Azar," Karla said coldly, reminding herself again and again that no matter what she sounded like, this creature before her wasn't her Raven. "I can't hear prayers you don't voice."
Though considering how helpful Azar and the people of her Realm had been so far, Karla wouldn't be at all surprised if Azar had heard those prayers and just chose not to pass the message on.
Raven
"How could you have not seen the shadows in my eyes?" Raven accused. "The nightmares I was having...the pain I felt every moment of the day. You were too wrapped up in Warren to have time for me. Even when I was there with you that night, my father was there, too, and you were too blind to see."
Karla
Hello, sucker-punch to the gut. How are you? Karla hadn't been expecting you at all, but please don't let that stop you from settling right in.
"He what?!"
Raven
"He tried," Raven said, taking advantage of Karla's surprise to get right up in her personal space. "I pushed him back to protect you." She dropped a hand to stroke Karla's hair. "But now that protection is at an end, and you will be ours."
Karla
"No," Karla said, voice cracking over the denial. "No. You're just saying that to try to toy with my emotions. That is a lie."
Raven
"When have I ever lied to you, Sister?" Raven crooned. "I may have not told you the entire truth, but I have never lied."
Karla
"I don't know," Karla snapped. "Any of the times you said you were fine or that you were just stressed as you were turning into this feels pretty damned dishonest to me!"
Raven
"Perhaps I was unable to tell you the truth," Raven said, deliberately preying on Karla's guilt. The truth really didn't matter anything at all to her now. "Have you considered that?"
Karla
"No," Karla admitted, shoulders slumping. "Were you?"
Right, because asking the lying, murdering, crazy demon for the truth was the best idea ever. Good job, Karla.
Raven
"I could not," Raven lied. "And now it is too late. But there is one thing you can do for me now, Karla, and that is to join me." She tangled her hand in Karla's hair and tugged her toward her.
Karla
The tugging on her scalp brought tears to Karla's eyes, but she rocked back on her heels and tried to pull away.
"I am sorry I didn't realize," Karla whispered. "I'm sorry I wasn't a better friend. But I'm not going to atone for that by becoming your slave. No, Raven."
Sookie
"That's not going to happen, Raven," Sookie said softly, getting up off the ground on wobbly legs. Her skin had begun to glow a soft gold, her fingertips sparking. And for now, she stayed calm, though her eyes flickered with the kind of wildness that had taken her in Fangtasia last fall. "Come home. Or you're going to wish you had."
Raven
"This is my home," Raven said, spreading her arms to indicate the twisted city around them. "This entire world belongs to my father now. And soon your souls will as well."
Sookie
"How're you so sure we all have souls?" Sookie replied evenly. "Or that it'll be that easy?" Her smile twisted, just slightly. "I'd rather die than give you what you're asking, anyway. Take a chance. I'm not afraid." Her eyes flickered for a moment, flirting with the insane, fae side that longed to take over. "Give me a reason to let go."
Raven
"You have a soul," Raven said, eyes (all four) sweeping over Sookie with interest. "Allow me to show you."
She raised a hand and pointed it toward Sookie -- the moved it to the side to point to Bobby instead. Red energy arced from her hand to surround him, sending him crashing to the ground in agony.
Bobby
Fuck, that hurt. Being ice offered little protection when there was that much energy coming right at him.
So he was just going to take a moment... or five... as he tried to pull himself together enough (not literally, at least that was something) to stand back up again.
Sookie
With that one, simple movement, the rage she'd been keeping under control took over. Seeing Bobby crumble might have undone her, but the part of Sookie that would have rushed over to hold him, hide him, or heal him was long gone. In her place was a glowing girl who might have made the Sookie of November and her jar of Talbot look sane.
"Fuck you!" Sookie yelled, her voice coming out so hoarse that it fell somewhere between a sob and a howl. Her hands, without her drawing upon her power or thinking, blazed purple as she raised them and flung bolts of energy at Raven in return. Simultaneously, her mind slammed out strike Raven's shields, breaking her own in the hopes of shattering hers and making her feel what Sookie did.
Raven
Raven staggered backwards, caught off guard by Sookie's power. She quickly created a shimmering red shield of power around her to protect her from the blasts. "Impressive," she murmured. "You have so much rage in you, Sookie. And I will use that to break you and give your soul to Trigon."
Sookie
"Like hell you will," Sookie snarled, shooting another blast at Raven, which bounced off the shield. She didn't care. She would keep doing it. Her hair floated off her shoulders, crackling with static from the electricity centered in her palms, as Sookie's skin itself glowed a soft gold.
"You're not using me, you're not using him, you're not using any of us." She flung her arms out, combining the pulsing blasts from either hand into one huge purple arc, aimed at Raven. "My rage is mine." And as she flung the energy towards Raven, she laughed, her face contorting, her eyes wild. The human girl and her mercy were gone. She was all fae, and gleeful in her destruction.
Bobby
"Girls, girls," Bobby said, having finally stopped doing his impression of a very frosty pancake. "As much as it's giving my ego a boost, there's no need to fight over me."
Raven
"Silence!" Raven hissed at him, though her eyes, dark with hunger, never left Sookie. "You are just a tool, Bobby, but Sookie...she is indeed a prize, one I will relish devouring."
She sent a wave of red energy at Sookie's purple; her rage was strong, but Raven had the power of Trigon in her now. She would be stronger.
Bobby
"You know?" Bobby said, tilting his head thoughtfully. "I think- yeah, I'm kind of a little insulted here." A column of ice formed beneath his feet and grew until he stood at Raven's level. "Whoops," he flicked a hand, and a blast of ice shot out in Raven's direction in an effort to knock her off balance.
Sookie
Sookie had had the power yanked away from her long enough that a little humanity resurfaced. Not enough, but some. Enough for her to remember she cared about things other than hurting Raven. People other than herself.
<< MOVE! >> It was artless, a telepathic battering ram in his head, chased with a wave of desperation and fear with her anger trickling in at the edges. << Hide! Don't piss her off, >> she added, before firing more energy up at Raven.
With another unhinged giggle, Sookie's efforts to communicate with her boyfriend were pretty much concluded, though she did send another dual blast of electricity up at Raven to try and add to the force of his ice.
Raven
"No, stay, Bobby," Raven snarled, sending a blast of red energy at his ice attack to shatter it before it struck her. She reached out telekinetically for Bobby, pulling him in between her and Sookie. That's right, Bobby, you were getting used as a shield.
Sookie
And it took all of Sookie's willpower to force her hands down to the ground in a panic, though her hair still crackled and her hands were still purple, sending sparks at the ground.
And it scared her that, for a moment, she'd considered just trying to go around him, because hurting Raven was that important.
"Fine," she spat, trying to calm herself down. "Put him down now, you win."
[Preplayed with blondecanary, brat_intraining, furious_maximus, furnaceface, glacial_witch, icecoldfrost, justwantsquiet, life_inshadow, longislandiceme, not_a_parakeet, and sith_happened. NFI and NFB but OOC, as always, is welcome.]
Black storm clouds roiled overhead as the group appeared on the streets of New York, and thunder boomed as lightning split the sky. All the people around them were looking upward in confusion and fear when Raven appeared floating in the air far above, red and terrible.
"Humans, hear me now!" she shouted. "They call me Raven -- and though my mother was born of this earth, my soul belongs not to this planet, but to him who sired me. Universe after universe has fallen before his might. No one who has opposed him has ever survived. Lay down your weapons! Submit to his will or this pitiful planet will soon be little more than a wasted, lifeless husk! He comes, humans! He comes!"
She threw back her head, and her Soul-Self, red now instead of black, rose from her shoulders, growing in size until it dominated the skies. Trigon stepped through it and loomed above the city, straddling two tall buildings. Raven hovered beside him, continuing to speak. "From this moment forth he expects your total subservience and your complete obedience. You will view him with the respect he demands! And you will accept that he is your god, for your meaningless lives are his to play with. Now, bow before your god! Bow before Trigon the Terrible! For if you do not submit, this will be your fate!"
Trigon raised his staff above his head and the world became transformed. The streets shuddered and split, holes appearing to swallow vehicles whole, and buildings groaned and crumbled, their facades turning to cracked stone. Grotesque faces and clawed hands erupted from the stone to decorate the buildings like enormous demented gargoyles. But worst of all, the people, every living being except those who had just arrived from Azarath, became twisted together into living columns of flesh, bodies contorted in agony and faces frozen in silent screams.
Above it all, Raven smiled, arm outstretched as she soaked in the pain and suffering her father had just created. Trigon himself gazed impassively around at his work, then moved to sit atop the former United Nations Secretariat building, which had been reshaped into a throne. He closed his eyes and was still.
Kennedy
It wasn't her New York, but to say that it still hit close to home for Kennedy was, well, painfully accurate, especially having been in the city just two weeks ago.
"Oh god," she murmured, horrified and sick and none of that because she was still covered with demon blood. "Oh god, oh god, all those people, just..."
The look on Raven's face made it a million times worse.
Anakin
Anakin staggered back a step, affected through the Force as thousands of people died.
He'd so not needed flashbacks to Alderaan right now.
Warren
Warren was sodden with his own blood, still slowly healing broken bones here and there, but managing to stand on his own two feet. Right up until he saw that.
And then all bets were off, and his knees were just going to give out under him.
"No, no, no."
Emma
There were two ways to really get on Emma Frost's bad side.
One was to threaten her friends. She didn't have very many of them to start with, and she was distinctly territorial when it came to the ones she did have. The second? You do not fuck with Emma's city. New York was hers, dammit, and she was going to make Raven hurt for this.
Sookie
And Sookie had been doing so well up until this point, keeping her fae side under control.
"Jesus Christ," she murmured, eyes wide as she took it all in. For a moment, she teetered between mourning the city and accepting the wildness that wanted to take over her.
And then she felt the telepathic explosion of pain , and she didn't feel anything but the turning of her stomach. Her knees gave way as she crumpled, absorbing and trying to block it out as best she could, and trying not to be violently ill where she shook.
Tara
For a second, Tara was alone in her head, and she felt the full horror of the situation rise around her. The city, the city where she'd been barely two weeks ago, was just gone, and its people with it. "Oh my God, this isn't" --
And then that strange calm rose around her again. "This is exactly as it must be," she said. "And we still have Azar's protection."
Bobby
So far, Bobby had stuck to his (figurative) guns as far as his usual relentless optimism went. This whole evil-Raven thing was... temporary. They'd fix it. They had to.
But this... this was enough to make him falter, wonder if maybe this time they wouldn't all come out of this okay.
Dinah
It took everything Dinah had not to scream at this. She put a hand over her mouth to keep from vomiting.
Why are there people like this in the universe? she'd asked Leto once. None of his answers, or hers, came close to explaining it.
Raven
Their presence hadn't gone entirely unnoticed. In a burst of black smoke, Raven appeared before them. "My friends," she said, her voice cold. "I am pleased to see you. Trigon has need of you. As his slaves!"
Dinah
"Your father doesn't need anything. Except a babysitter," Dinah snapped before she could stop herself. "That overgrown spoilt toddler doesn't deserve an answer. And when you're done being possessed, you'll know that." There were tears in her eyes from all the suffering she'd seen, but it hadn't changed her opinion of Trigon: take away the power and the size, and he was an evil little kid. No other thoughts but gratifying his ego. No smarts. No subtlety. "No."
Raven
"Dinah," Raven said, turning toward her with a cold smile. "Do you realize all the world is like this? Not just New York, but Metropolis. Gotham. The Dinah of this world and all she loves are in the grip my father's power. And soon you will be as well."
Dinah
Oh, God. Fighting the urge to be sick, Dinah said, "That just makes me want to fight him harder, you know that. You know me. Until I can't fight any more."
Raven
"You will fight and you will fail," Raven said. "You will learn to obey, or you will die. There are no other choices."
Dinah
"Then I'll die. Trying to help a friend," Dinah told her steadily. "And hopefully I'll take your father with me."
Raven
"You will bow before my father as I have," Raven said, unmoved. "You will learn as a thousand other worlds have learned before you. I could not fight him, and neither can you."
Dinah
Something in Dinah wanted to cry at whatever part of Raven had been drowned by this crazy evil obsession.
The rest of her quit talking and threw a blast of TK at Raven, aiming for those extra eyes.
Raven
Raven barely flinched. She did, however, direct a blast of red light from her eyes, all four of them, sending a beam of destructive energy right back at Dinah.
Dinah
Dinah saw it coming, lashed out with her TK, but could only divert it a little; it sent her reeling to the ground, nearly blinded and gasping for breath.
Raven
"Do not fight me, Dinah," Raven said. She rose several inches off the ground and floated closer to her former friend. "Your submission is inevitable, as was mine."
Dinah
Still panting for breath, Dinah closed her eyes. Then screamed, a full Canary Cry, even as part of her cringed that she was unleashing this on her friend.
Raven
Raven flinched back, then tapped into her father's power to protect herself and to lash out at Dinah with a burst of TK. Maybe she wouldn't mind if the twisted remains of a car over there broke her fall.
Dinah
Ow didn't quite cover it. Give her a sec. Just a sec.
Dinah lashed out again as she staggered to her feet.
Barbara Helena Alfred Kyle Gabby Tim Jason Dick Reese Uncle Jim-- The names of everyone she loved who weren't there flashed through her mind. Priestly Tony Momoko Jaime Jak Francine...
If all this did was buy them and their worlds time, it was worth it.
Anakin
"After this is over, we are really going to work on your evil overlord dialogue," Anakin grumbled mostly to himself.
He ignited his lightsaber and gave Raven a glare. "Don't make me use this."
Raven
Raven held her arms out wide and laughed. "You may try," she said. "But you will find I am no longer so easy to kill as the girl you murdered. I will destroy you before you are able to strike me down."
Anakin
"Oh, you don't really know the power of the Force, Raven," Anakin said. "I've never shown you what I'm really capable of."
Raven
"And you have little idea what I am capable of," Raven said, red energy gathering in her eyes. "I have embraced my true destiny. This is what I was meant to be, and you will feel my power."
Anakin
"This was never your destiny," Anakin said sadly, shaking his head. "I'm sorry I didn't save you from this."
Raven
"I am Trigon's child," Raven said. "He has freed me from the burden of my soul, and now I will do the same for you or you will die." The red energy shot from her eyes, arcing toward Anakin.
Anakin
He deflected it harmlessly away using his hand because he could do that, oh, you giant Marty Stu. "There's been enough death."
Raven
"This is only the beginning," Raven sneered. "More worlds will fall to my father's might, and yours will be one of the hands that helps to topple them."
She had no idea about Anakin's resume, but she was quite sure that once she'd forced him to embrace his darker side, he'd be an effective minion.
Raven was in for a surprise.
Anakin
"I'll never agree to that," Anakin said flatly. "Could you kill me for it, little one?"
Raven
"If your death is necessary, so be it," Raven said without hesitation. "Just as you once killed me. But your servitude would be preferable. Within you all is evil, and that evil shall be pledged to Trigon."
Anakin
Anakin snorted. "I'm not really looking for a new boss, and if I were, one that wears pants would be on the list of requirements."
Raven
"You are not without fear," Raven said. She clearly hadn't read the Clone War propaganda. "You will break, or you will die. And then my father will claim another dimension, perhaps the very one in which your wife and child dwell."
Anakin
Anakin's eyes flashed. "Oh, that is never going to happen."
Raven
"Yours will be the hand that strikes them down, I will see to it," Raven said. She closed her eyes momentarily and savored the thought of that.
Anakin
Anakin didn't have the strength to restrain the pulse of rage--and under it, terror--that he felt.
"Never."
Never again.
Raven
Raven drew in her breath in a hiss of pleasure at the rush of emotion. "Yesssssssss," she said. "Give in to your anger. I can taste it."
Anakin
Oh, that was just creepy and Palpatine-like. "Don't do that," he snapped.
Raven
"You cannot stop me," Raven said. "Of all of these" -- she waved her hand to the friends who'd come to stop her -- "I know you will be the hardest to break, but it will be so worth it when my father claims your soul."
Anakin
"Trigon gets nothing more from me," Anakin said, "and he doesn't get you for much longer."
Karla
"That will never happen, Raven," Karla said softly. "And you know it."
Raven
"Karla," Raven crooned. She held out a hand. "Join me, sister." Sister, stepmother, what was the difference?
Karla
Karla wanted to step back, but did not, simply standing her ground. "No. Never. You are not my Raven; you are not my friend or my Sister or my Court. I will never join with you."
Raven
"You will," Raven said, drawing closer. "You will learn to obey Trigon's every command because you fear the alternative. Or you will die."
This creature wore Raven's form and face, though altered as they were, but there was nothing of the girl Karla knew in her voice now.
Karla
"This isn't the first time I've been threatened with death," Karla reminded. "I'm not about to back down just because of that." She gave Raven a smile brittle as glass. "I've never feared death. And less than two weeks ago, you made it impossible for anyone to threaten me with what I feared most."
Raven
"You were fortunate," Raven said with false sweetness. "I never told you what I dreamed before that night. How I lied and said I would take your pain, but instead I used your boyfriend's body to break you. I let you feel that pain, and mine as well."
Her lips curled into a sneer. "If only I had embraced what I was before the night instead of taking your pain and feeling it resonate inside me. I never told you that, either, did I? How I felt every pain I took into myself, every injury I healed. It all stayed in my body to feel over and over again."
Karla
And there Karla flinched. Her dream was too close to nightmares of Karla's own, where she lay speared and broken, screaming where no one could hear or--or no one cared.
And then the rest of Raven's words pierced her heart. "No," Karla whispered. "There were a lot of things you never told me. It's one more thing for me to regret." She reached out to lay a hand on the red skin of Raven's cheek, right beneath her second pair of eyes. "Did you never think that if you had, I could have helped you?"
Raven
Raven raised her hand and placed it over Karla's. "There was nothing to help. This was inevitable. And to think I have you to thank for it, or Jaenelle, to be precise. When her power shattered my shields in Agio, it allowed my true self to begin to become free."
That wasn't entirely the truth, but Raven was more than happy to let Karla think it was. Guilt tasted delicious.
Karla
Raven most likely picked up a fresh wave of it off of Karla after that. "Oh Raven, I wish it hadn't come to this," she murmured. "But I can never, ever join you. I will never be yours or Trigon's and I have to stop you before you do this to any other world."
Her poison was weak and thin, having pumped it into the demon that was attacking Warren. But maybe it would be enough to give the others a chance to attack, too. Looking into Raven's eyes, she sent a pulse of desire, hoping to distract her, before sliding her snake-tooth out and into Raven's cheek.
Raven
Raven hissed in pain, then laughed, keeping Karla's hand pinned against her cheek. She'd expel the poison right back into Karla, but she knew she'd likely have a natural immunity to her own venom, so she hoarded it and kept it for later. Perhaps for Warren.
"Desire and pain, truly a wonderful gift, Sister," she said. "But now I must give you an equal gift in return." Karla's Virgin Night had been less than two weeks ago, but Raven still carried that pain, and now she left Karla feel it.
Karla
Karla wasn't going to give Raven the satisfaction of hearing her whimper, no matter how much she wanted to. The pain sliced through her, settling in between her thighs with a dull ache that reached all the way up inside.
"Is that all?" she asked, offering Raven a sweet, insincere smile. "Had I known that, we could have just cut you out all together."
On the inside, behind her shields, Karla was curling up around the pain. Outside, however, she remained cool and composed. She'd be damned if she'd give an inch.
Raven
"I should have broken you then," Raven hissed, letting the pain intensify before allowing it to stop since Karla wasn't reacting to it. "But then you would be good for nothing but to be my father's plaything. My plans for you require your power."
Karla
Karla drew a long, shuddery breath, the closest she would allow herself to come to crying out with the pain. The relief she felt when it stopped rivaled any pleasure she'd felt.
"You should have broken me," she agreed pleasantly. "Because that's the only way you'd ever get me to submit to you."
Raven
A wave of red energy, designed to hurt and leech strength, came from Raven and flew at Karla. "You will obey the laws of Trigon because you fear his reprisals," she snarled. "You will obey his every command because you fear the alternative. I will release your dark side, and you will crave obedience."
Karla
Owie. That really hurt. Karla couldn't stop the tears that sprang to her eyes, but she could ignore them. She went down to the ground, hugging herself and trying to move past the pain.
Raven was forgetting one pertinent fact: Karla never responded well to intimidation.
"You missed your chance," Karla said in a low voice. "You can never touch me. Not again. No matter what you threaten to this body, you will never touch me."
Raven
"Oh, but you are so mistaken, Sister," Raven said, gliding closer. "I took away one vulnerability, but you have so many, many more. I know your fears. I know what makes you angry and what makes you cry. And I will use those all to make you mine."
Karla's shields were up, but Raven was battering them now, trying to work her way in.
Karla
Karla let Raven bang against her outer shields, building up more barriers behind them, weaving traps of Black Widow Craft within them. For every shield Raven broke through, Karla was going to make it cost her.
"You're awfully overconfident," Karla said. "You should know that if you try to use my weaknesses against me, I'll turn on you just for spite."
Raven
"And I will enjoy it when you try," Raven said, ceasing her banging for a moment to try to confuse and tease Karla with tendrils of pleasure. "Your frustration when you fail will taste delicious, as will watching you become all that you claim to despise."
Karla
Karla bit her lip against this new--and, to be honest, more effective--onslaught. She was used to fighting against pain. Pleasure was an entirely different weapon.
"I have defied your father before," Karla said, panting. "I'll defy you, too."
Raven
"You cannot fight me," Raven said, enjoying the effect her powers were having on Karla. "I have been inside you. I have seen your inner self. Everything you are has been laid bare to me. You will be mine."
Karla
"Sorry, sweetheart," Karla panted. "But prophecy...is the province...of Black Widows. Your magic mirror...is faulty."
Raven
"And you told me this would never happen to me if I had friends," Raven said sweetly. She dampened the sensations of pleasure, pulling back, but replaced it with longing, trying to ignite Karla's carvings for more. "Your ability to predict the future is suspect as well."
Karla
"I told you then that nothing was set in stone," Karla choked out. "But that where you stood with your father, you were alone. You locked us out, Raven! You didn't tell us Trigon was besieging your defenses! You lied and misled and hid crucial information from us! You refused to let us be the friends you needed!"
Raven
If Raven ever recovered from this, she'd have a lot to answer for. But this Raven would milk it for all it was worth. "Why could you not see, Karla?" she said, her voice small and quavering. "I wanted to tell you, but I could not. I prayed to Azar that you would help me...."
Karla
"I am not your Azar," Karla said coldly, reminding herself again and again that no matter what she sounded like, this creature before her wasn't her Raven. "I can't hear prayers you don't voice."
Though considering how helpful Azar and the people of her Realm had been so far, Karla wouldn't be at all surprised if Azar had heard those prayers and just chose not to pass the message on.
Raven
"How could you have not seen the shadows in my eyes?" Raven accused. "The nightmares I was having...the pain I felt every moment of the day. You were too wrapped up in Warren to have time for me. Even when I was there with you that night, my father was there, too, and you were too blind to see."
Karla
Hello, sucker-punch to the gut. How are you? Karla hadn't been expecting you at all, but please don't let that stop you from settling right in.
"He what?!"
Raven
"He tried," Raven said, taking advantage of Karla's surprise to get right up in her personal space. "I pushed him back to protect you." She dropped a hand to stroke Karla's hair. "But now that protection is at an end, and you will be ours."
Karla
"No," Karla said, voice cracking over the denial. "No. You're just saying that to try to toy with my emotions. That is a lie."
Raven
"When have I ever lied to you, Sister?" Raven crooned. "I may have not told you the entire truth, but I have never lied."
Karla
"I don't know," Karla snapped. "Any of the times you said you were fine or that you were just stressed as you were turning into this feels pretty damned dishonest to me!"
Raven
"Perhaps I was unable to tell you the truth," Raven said, deliberately preying on Karla's guilt. The truth really didn't matter anything at all to her now. "Have you considered that?"
Karla
"No," Karla admitted, shoulders slumping. "Were you?"
Right, because asking the lying, murdering, crazy demon for the truth was the best idea ever. Good job, Karla.
Raven
"I could not," Raven lied. "And now it is too late. But there is one thing you can do for me now, Karla, and that is to join me." She tangled her hand in Karla's hair and tugged her toward her.
Karla
The tugging on her scalp brought tears to Karla's eyes, but she rocked back on her heels and tried to pull away.
"I am sorry I didn't realize," Karla whispered. "I'm sorry I wasn't a better friend. But I'm not going to atone for that by becoming your slave. No, Raven."
Sookie
"That's not going to happen, Raven," Sookie said softly, getting up off the ground on wobbly legs. Her skin had begun to glow a soft gold, her fingertips sparking. And for now, she stayed calm, though her eyes flickered with the kind of wildness that had taken her in Fangtasia last fall. "Come home. Or you're going to wish you had."
Raven
"This is my home," Raven said, spreading her arms to indicate the twisted city around them. "This entire world belongs to my father now. And soon your souls will as well."
Sookie
"How're you so sure we all have souls?" Sookie replied evenly. "Or that it'll be that easy?" Her smile twisted, just slightly. "I'd rather die than give you what you're asking, anyway. Take a chance. I'm not afraid." Her eyes flickered for a moment, flirting with the insane, fae side that longed to take over. "Give me a reason to let go."
Raven
"You have a soul," Raven said, eyes (all four) sweeping over Sookie with interest. "Allow me to show you."
She raised a hand and pointed it toward Sookie -- the moved it to the side to point to Bobby instead. Red energy arced from her hand to surround him, sending him crashing to the ground in agony.
Bobby
Fuck, that hurt. Being ice offered little protection when there was that much energy coming right at him.
So he was just going to take a moment... or five... as he tried to pull himself together enough (not literally, at least that was something) to stand back up again.
Sookie
With that one, simple movement, the rage she'd been keeping under control took over. Seeing Bobby crumble might have undone her, but the part of Sookie that would have rushed over to hold him, hide him, or heal him was long gone. In her place was a glowing girl who might have made the Sookie of November and her jar of Talbot look sane.
"Fuck you!" Sookie yelled, her voice coming out so hoarse that it fell somewhere between a sob and a howl. Her hands, without her drawing upon her power or thinking, blazed purple as she raised them and flung bolts of energy at Raven in return. Simultaneously, her mind slammed out strike Raven's shields, breaking her own in the hopes of shattering hers and making her feel what Sookie did.
Raven
Raven staggered backwards, caught off guard by Sookie's power. She quickly created a shimmering red shield of power around her to protect her from the blasts. "Impressive," she murmured. "You have so much rage in you, Sookie. And I will use that to break you and give your soul to Trigon."
Sookie
"Like hell you will," Sookie snarled, shooting another blast at Raven, which bounced off the shield. She didn't care. She would keep doing it. Her hair floated off her shoulders, crackling with static from the electricity centered in her palms, as Sookie's skin itself glowed a soft gold.
"You're not using me, you're not using him, you're not using any of us." She flung her arms out, combining the pulsing blasts from either hand into one huge purple arc, aimed at Raven. "My rage is mine." And as she flung the energy towards Raven, she laughed, her face contorting, her eyes wild. The human girl and her mercy were gone. She was all fae, and gleeful in her destruction.
Bobby
"Girls, girls," Bobby said, having finally stopped doing his impression of a very frosty pancake. "As much as it's giving my ego a boost, there's no need to fight over me."
Raven
"Silence!" Raven hissed at him, though her eyes, dark with hunger, never left Sookie. "You are just a tool, Bobby, but Sookie...she is indeed a prize, one I will relish devouring."
She sent a wave of red energy at Sookie's purple; her rage was strong, but Raven had the power of Trigon in her now. She would be stronger.
Bobby
"You know?" Bobby said, tilting his head thoughtfully. "I think- yeah, I'm kind of a little insulted here." A column of ice formed beneath his feet and grew until he stood at Raven's level. "Whoops," he flicked a hand, and a blast of ice shot out in Raven's direction in an effort to knock her off balance.
Sookie
Sookie had had the power yanked away from her long enough that a little humanity resurfaced. Not enough, but some. Enough for her to remember she cared about things other than hurting Raven. People other than herself.
<< MOVE! >> It was artless, a telepathic battering ram in his head, chased with a wave of desperation and fear with her anger trickling in at the edges. << Hide! Don't piss her off, >> she added, before firing more energy up at Raven.
With another unhinged giggle, Sookie's efforts to communicate with her boyfriend were pretty much concluded, though she did send another dual blast of electricity up at Raven to try and add to the force of his ice.
Raven
"No, stay, Bobby," Raven snarled, sending a blast of red energy at his ice attack to shatter it before it struck her. She reached out telekinetically for Bobby, pulling him in between her and Sookie. That's right, Bobby, you were getting used as a shield.
Sookie
And it took all of Sookie's willpower to force her hands down to the ground in a panic, though her hair still crackled and her hands were still purple, sending sparks at the ground.
And it scared her that, for a moment, she'd considered just trying to go around him, because hurting Raven was that important.
"Fine," she spat, trying to calm herself down. "Put him down now, you win."
[Preplayed with blondecanary, brat_intraining, furious_maximus, furnaceface, glacial_witch, icecoldfrost, justwantsquiet, life_inshadow, longislandiceme, not_a_parakeet, and sith_happened. NFI and NFB but OOC, as always, is welcome.]