Chapter 17

Harry stood at the end of a shadowed hallway. Voices, whispers, echoed. Harry got a good look at his surroundings, uncertain how he got here. The only thing Harry could say was completely certain, was he had been sent here for some kind of purpose.

Something was very wrong here.

From the shadows, a familiar face appeared. Harry craned his neck into the shadows.

"Nora?"

Nora Darhk, who Harry had not seen since the events of Biayla and Quarac, and the entire conflict, stepped out of the shadows to face him. Her eyes flashed with darkness when she moved over. And yet ,some tiny bit of regret also flickered through them.

"You shouldn't be here."

Harry guarded himself from the attack. The side of Harry's head began to thump and he walked closer towards Nora. Something about the hallway reeked of unpleasantness. And not just unpleasantness, but fear, decay, and anything else. Harry rushed Nora.

A barrier of pure malevolent magic sent Harry back.

"The end times are here," Nora whispered grimly.

A flash of light emitted around them. Harry appeared outside, in a graveyard. From afar, Harry's team appeared before them. Flashes of green light erupted from around him. Explosions from the darkness, as the members of the Team crumbled to dust one by one.

Loud insidious laughter echoed from around. Harry approached the source of it.

"You should have left while you had the chance."

Harry dove towards the source of the laughter. A mysterious vortex swept Harry in and made him feel as if he had been drowning. Coughing, twitching madly, Harry fought through the darkness, before it had a chance to consume him.

"Harry!"

Back inside of one of the training rooms, Harry had been on one knee. Blood dripping from his nose. M'gann stood by his side, and Kara from the other. Kara had been halfway out the door to get help. She returned back when it was obvious Harry snapped out of it.

Bending down, Kara looked Harry straight in his blood shot eyes, concerned. She never saw him this rattled and it terrified her.

"What is it?" Kara asked.

"I saw Nora Darhk," Harry said.

"You...saw...how?" M'gann asked.

"That's not the only thing I saw," Harry said.

Harry lifted himself up to a standing position, breathing heavily. He pinched his nose. Kara and Megan looked grim, they had rarely seen Harry so shaken. So, needless to say, it was unnerving both of them.

"I saw the end," Harry said. "Of everything."

Harry did not want to believe Nora Darhk would have brought on the end of days, or anyone would have for that matter. But, their encounter flashed in the back of Harry's mind. Harry wiped the remaining blood off of his face. From upstairs, came Helena, Mareena, and Whitney, with Donna following.

"Just a dream," Harry said.

"Oh, no, I don't think it was," Megan whispered to him.

Harry nodded, maybe not. The fact was Nora was not the one Harry worried about. The mysterious, demonic presence who guided her, like a puppet on a string. Harry had a great deal of concern about that one.

"Are you sure you're going to be up for attending Raven's party?" Whitney asked.

"Yeah, I need to be there," Harry said.

Something told Harry, he really needed to attend that party. There had been not a shadow of a doubt, not a question in his mind attending Raven's party would be the right thing to do. Helena, Mareena, and Whitney all exchanged nervous looks. Donna walked across the room and grabbed Harry by the hand to lead him out of the headquarters.

"We don't want to be late."

"I'm so glad you could make it!"

Kory bounced down the steps, in her usual bubbly manner. Harry arrived, with Helena, Donna, Whitney, Mareena, Megan, Artemis, Sara, Zatanna, Thea, Raquel, Jesse, Anissa, and Kara. The entire gang had been at the party. Kory, Rebecca, Dawn, and Holly all greeted them with smiles on their faces.

"We should be on our guard today," Helena said.

"Oh?" Rebecca asked.

"Harry had an encounter with Nora Darhk, and….I don't know how to explain it," Helena said.

Rebecca could tell by Helena's demeanor it was serious, and Harry appeared to not be acknowledging what happened. Megan and Donna stood by his side, with Kara close by, and all of them expressed levels of concern. Even though Harry tried to act like nothing was wrong.

"So, how are you doing?" Rebecca asked.

"I'm better now," Harry said. "I don't know what it's all about...but I'm keeping my eyes open. And the second I sense something off, I'll be the first to know."

"Good," Rebecca said. "Raven should be coming down right now."

"I can't believe she would be late for her own party," Dawn said.

"Oh, not everyone does parties," Holly said.

"Yeah, not everyone, especially you," Dawn said.

Holly could sympathize with Raven not being the most excited about her party. Holly had been down the road of having a couple of rather dismal parties in the past. The only good thing is that today was a bright and sunny day, perfect, without a cloud in the sky.

"Well, at least Raven got a beautiful day for her birthday," Whitney said. "Better than my sixteenth. You know with all of the snow?"

Harry just nodded. Yeah he remembered that day, it was a good day. They finally brought down Count Vertigo for good and his execution last month had been justice well served.

"Here she comes," Artemis said.

Raven walked down the steps and Kory moved over. One could see the contrast of their personalities, it was night and day between the two of them. Kory grabbed Raven by the underside of her forearm and marched her down the steps.

"Come on, don't you want to say hello to our friends?" Kory asked.

"Yeah, hello everyone," Raven said in a sardonic manner. "I would like to thank you all for coming. So, it's my birthday. Sixteen years….just seems like yesterday….but, it's just really another day."

"But, it's not every day that someone turns sixteen," Kara said with a smile.

"And besides, it is a beautiful day outside, you should enjoy it," Dawn said.

Beauty is fleeting, Raven thought grimly. She peaked at the clock. Twelve hours. Perhaps she could get through this day. Perhaps Raven had been paranoid, perhaps her father was not coming to use her to invade this Earth, in the next sixteen hours.

"Let's get some cake before Whitney hogs it all," Artemis said.

"Hey, let the birthday girl have a piece first," Whitney protested. "And then I'll hog all the cake."

"You go ahead, and help yourself," Raven said.

"Oh, but it's a tradition that you blow out your candles," Kory said. "Did you ever even have a cake before...with the monks, of...Azar, wasn't it?"

"Oh, the Monks of Azar?" Zatanna asked. "My Dad turned me about them….."

"Yeah, they were a family," Raven said.

Up until her mother had just told Raven she needed to go out and make peace with what was going to happen one year ago. Raven walked over to the cake. She tried to put on a happy face, for the sake of her friends.

"Make a wish," Rebecca said.

Oh, her wish, Raven really wished today would have never come. But, unfortunately, she could not do it. Raven looked at the candles. An image in her mind flashed back to the candles on her cake blowing out and then Trigon's loud, insidious laughter thumping about in her head.

Raven blew the candles out.

Time passed.

Thankfully, nothing happened and Raven just smiled. Kory moved over to cut the cake, with Whitney taking a particularly large piece and Jesse doing the same.

"Good stuff," Jesse said.

"Even better now that we kept Kory out of the kitchen," Rebecca said which caused Kory to swat her on the arm very playfully with a laugh.

Raven took a piece of the cake and smiled. She ate it and Harry leaned into her.

"Wrong flavor?" Harry asked.

"No,' Raven said.

"Something's bothering you," Harry said.

"No," Raven replied. "No more than something's bothering you."

Raven, being an empath, had been able to pick up on certain thoughts, and she could tell Harry had seen something which disturbed him. What was so disturbing that it rattled Superman shook Raven's skin to the core. He tried to focus on the cake, enjoying it, savoring it.

Eleven hours, forty-five minutes. The clock ticked slowly by and Raven hated to admit it.

A loud boom echoed, which caused Harry and Kara to both jump up. Mareena and Zatanna appeared to be hypersensitive to something as well.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Raquel said. "It's…."

"Nora," Harry said.

Before the rest of them saw Nora, Harry sensed Nora arrive, and she was not alone. An army of large magical golems arrived at the tower, lead by Nora Darhk. Who just reeked of dark magic, as if someone dark force controlled her actions.

"Harry?" Megan asked.

'Nora, I know you can hear me,' Harry thought. 'What the hell are you up to?'

'You should leave,' Nora tensely said. 'He's coming.'

Harry was not going to leave. The Team and the Titans prepared to go into battle. Raven moved her way to the front of the line.

Eleven hours, forty minutes, thirty-nine minutes, really at this point, it did not matter. Raven was about ready to meet this situation head on. Trigon had infected Damien Darhk's daughter, or maybe Darhk made a deal with Trigon that he went back on. And Trigon made him pay the price.

Superman dropped down in the front. Nora shifted herself, visibly annoyed he showed up.

"This isn't about you," Nora said. "This isn't about your Team. This is about her….little Raven, you know what your destiny is."

"What is she talking about?" Nightwing asked.

The magical golems lined up and prepared to go into battle. Nora perched on the shoulder of the largest one, peering down at them. Something unsettling came about her eye.

"Oh, you didn't tell them, birthday girl," Nora said. "I come, representing a powerful demon known as Trigon. Over sixteen years ago, Trigon sired an heir, to be used as his portal to come to Earth and conquer it."

"You made a deal with him," Raven said.

"That deal was made before I was born," Nora said. "My father met with Trigon, and for passage through a demon realm, he offered a deal. His first born child. But, only should anything happen to him. Only if he died. Of course, Trigon ensured my father would sire a child at the first opportunity. My father worked tirelessly, chasing immortality, feeling that if he lived forever, then I would never have to serve Trigon."

If anything the Titans knew from their past dealings with Damien Darhk was he loved to talk. Therefore, they needed to keep Nora talking. Raven clutched her hand together.

"Enough games," Nora said. "Give me Raven, now."

"We won't hand her over," Mareena said.

Mareena stepped over the line and sensed something, something else unsettling. A familiar magical signature, Klarion's, and it had entered Nora.

"You don't have any choice," Nora said. "I will crush you."

Anissa took in a deep breath and smashed one of the largest golems to knock them down. Starfire came up to the sky and beamed it down.

Nora rose up and signalled for her magical army to attack. Nightwing and Robin worked in perfect harmony, taking down the legs of one of the monsters, while also detonating an explosive in its head.

A beam of light had been dodged by Supergirl. The beam exploded part of a large arch and sent rocks flying to the ground.

Superman came down from the heavens and Nora blocked his punch with a shield. The two looked at each other.

"You should make a choice," Harry said. "Would you be Trigon's puppet forever?"

"I tried to defy him before!" Nora yelled. "I tried to take Klarion's powers, but now Trigon has control of them."

Nora took half a step back and Zatanna swooped in from behind. The magical seal wrapped around Nora and almost trapped her. Nora busted out of the attack.

Her golems fell one at the time, thanks to an amplifying spell formed in tandem by Harry and Mareena. The Earth which they had risen from consumed them once again.

Nora magically choked Zatanna to a knee.

"Foolish hero, you want to end up like your mother," Nora said.

Zatanna struggled out of the grasp of Nora. Megan popped up and slipped into Nora's mind.

'We can help you.'

'OUT!'

Nora attacked Megan's mind with images Mars burning to the ground, the White Martians, the Green Martians, all of them bursting into flames. Megan surrounded by them all, chanting it was her far.

Rocket dodged the attack and came up. Kid Flash and Jesse Quick ran circles around the attackers below her which allowed Raquel to absorb the energy firing them them. However, the bounce back knocked her all the way down off of the ground. Superman caught her and landed her on the ground.

"Right, dark magic is not like other energy," Raquel said. "Good to know."

Zatanna and Mareena hundled next to Harry. Harry tore his eyes away from the Team and the Titans fighting them.

"We're not going to be able to stop Trigon," Harry said.

"Trigon will arrive during my sixteenth birthday," Raven said.

"But, what if it's no longer your sixteenth birthday?" Harry asked.

Mareena and Zatanna caught Harry's meaning and nodded. If they could not stop Trigon, they could stall him. Harry flashed a bright light into the ground and frozen all of the golems in place. He also frozen Nora in place as well. Her magic had been powerful and caused Harry's nerve endings to stab with white hot knives when he tried to hold her into place.

Back in the tower, Zatanna and Mareena formed a protective barrier around Raven.

"That won't stop them," Raven said.

"No, not stop, stall," Zatanna said.

Ten hours and fifty-nine minutes on the clock. Raven doubted it was even possible to stall Trigon that long, but she would trust them, trust them the best she could. Her heart raced a little bit.

Nora broke free from Harry's bindings and swept the members of the Team, along with the Titans down. She made her way to the tower to knock it down and get Raven from inside. The two magic-users on the inside.

Harry flashed in front of her and bound the runes of the protective barrier to him. Nora stopped short.

"Let them go," Nora said.

"You can only free Raven, if you harm me," Harry said. "But, I don't think you want to do it."

Nora stared at Harry, incensed at what he pulled. She struggled. She needed to deliver the portal, unless she be trapped along with Trigon, tormented by her own past failures forever.

"I'm desperate, you have no idea what I'm going to do….."

Zatanna activated a rune stone next to Nora which transported her away from the tower and to the other end of the world.

"She'll be back," Raven said.

Nora collapsed down onto the ground, in Siberia. The daughter of Zatara sent her halfway across the world? Did they really think this would stop her?

"Oh, child, you hesitated. You should have killed them all."

Trigon's voice thundered down in the back of Nora's head.

"Nine hours to achieve your goal. And if you fail, your heart's desire will be lost forever. How does that make you feel to be so weak, pathetic...and so lost?"

Nora rose up in defiance. The symbols glowing into her body, burning every single nerve ending of her body. Oh, she really wished to rip Trigon in half, but he was much too powerful now, and he had her. He had her. All it took was one word to send Nora into her eternal torment.

"They took advantage of your weakness," Trigon said. "I see your thoughts...your fears...you love him."

Nora could not allow Trigon to keep believing that. Those who she loved suffered. Her best friend, her mother...the only reason why her aunt was safe, because Nora kept Marina completely and utterly out of the loop and Trigon had no reason to target her, at least Nora gave Trigon no reason.

"I don't love anyone!" Nora shouted. "I just see Superman as a tool….useful for….well it doesn't matter anymore, when you succeed?"

"If you see him as a tool, then you realize tools are meant to be disposed of when they no longer have a use," Trigon said. "Therefore, you will return, and let nothing stop you from delivering my portal. Do you understand me, Nora?"

"Y-yes," Nora said.

"Kill him if he gets in your way again."

"YES!"

Nora deeply resented Hadrian right now for what he forced her to do. Rising up to a standing position, Nora crossed her arms and disappeared in a blink of an eye.

She knew now what must be done.

Raven rocked back and forth. The images of darkness pouring into her head. The Titans, the Team, everyone struggling with the forces of evil. Trigon sitting atop a throne made of the bones of his enemies, and then, nothing.

The windows around the tower iced up.

"She's back," Raven said.

And Nora returned from the depths with even more fearsome creatures then the golems. Hideous, wraith like monsters, with skeletal fingers, sucking the life out of everything they touched, when they approached the tower. The glow around Nora protected them from most of their effects.

The Titans and the Team moved over, only for all of them to collapse down to the ground. Harry got the closest and he looked at up Nora.

"The road through Raven is through me," Harry said.

"Then, I'm not responsible for what I'm about," Nora said.

"That's your problem," Harry said. "You never take responsibility for your choices."

"Don't...don't talk about things that you don't understand," Nora said. "You have no idea what I've lost."

Nora conjured a glowing Kryptonite dagger and closed her eyes, before lunging forward. A glowing dome appeared between Nora and Harry. Raven appeared, out of the barrier.

"You will make this entire city decay just to get to me," Raven said. "I'll come….if you leave my friends out of this."

"Raven," Harry managed.

"You shouldn't do this!" Rebecca yelled.

"You can't!" Kory yelled.

"I have to," Raven curtly replied. "I must. It's time to embrace my destiny."

The magical barrier had prevented the Team and the Titans from advancing forward. Harry recognized a signature far different from Nora's.

"I'm sorry you have to go through this," Raven said.

Nora did not react. She just put a hand on either side of Raven's face and murmured something. A chant of some sort and it caused the symbols on Raven's body to light up. The glow of energy erupted around them.

Laughter echoed and the entire world glowed red. Raven's barrier dropped, freeing the assembled group of heroes and also absorbing them. Raven faded from existence and had been replaced by a large, hulking, demonic red figure who towered like a sadistic giant over them.

"NOW, WHILE HE'S STILL ANCHORED!"

Harry, Zatanna, and Mareena lead the charge, bombarding Trigon with every single attack as the final anchors holding Trigon back snapped free.

Nora stood, stoic, unblinking. The demonic wraiths fled at the sight of Trigon. Creatures designed to decay life vanished.

Trigon deflected his attacker's best assaults like ping-pong balls. They all crashed down to the ground. Trigon stepped forward and surveyed them, almost like ants. And to them, he was.

A deflection of magical energy erupted from the surface. At the last possible instant, Nora snatched Harry's hand just as the wave of energy hit them.

On the ground, there was nothing. Nothing, but the ashened footprints of those who tried to foolish defy them. A torn cape futtered to the ground along with a spark being left behind.

The final binding snapped and Trigon appeared on Earth. He spread his arms, turning the tower into a throne fit for someone of his stature to rule on. The skies turned as red as blood.

"As it should be," Trigon said in triumph.

Silence followed, eerie and unwilling silence. Trigon turned around, unaware of the flicker of light which emitted from behind him.