A large rumble in the earth made the demons shriek and send their grotesque bodies to run and hide. Fissures erupted in the rocky ground spewing molten lava around the dark cavern as the roar intensified. Yet, amongst the river of magma and the crumbling rocks, an angel walked through the destruction. His mouth twitched in disgust at the horrified demons frantically running around him.

His feet touched the edge of the fissure and he peered into the fiery lake at the pitiful monster below him. It clawed at the sides pleading for escape. At last the master complied.

"Pathetic demon," the angel called, in a voice too loud and too low then it should have been, "I thought you were powerful!"

The monster screamed in agony and began to claw at the sides of the crevice with more vigor.

"You were the mightiest of my servants," the angel continued, "and yet…" He sneered as the demon roared again. "Here you are, defeated by a mere child."

"She…had…help…" The monster howled, as if every word he forced out caused him pain.

The angel laughed, a dark, evil laugh that betrayed his handsome appearance. "Was it the ring of Azar that was smashed? Or were you referring to other four children that accompanied her?"

The demon was silent, and the angel pondered a bit, his wings twitching as if yearning for flight. But he would never fly. Never again.

After making his decision, he outstretched his arm towards the monster. "Rise, Trigon. It is time to prove to me that you are not at worthless as you have made yourself out to be."

Trigon appeared before the fallen angel and, although he stood more than a hundred feet taller than him, knelt down and bowed his head. "Thank you master."

"Do not thank me yet," the angel leered, walking back to his throne, "Your daughter still needs to be taken care of."

Trigon looked up at his master before hastily forcing it down before he could notice. "What will you have me do, master?"

"Take away her powers."

This time Trigon didn't refrain from keeping his head down. "But master, that means…"

"You have not proven yourself worthy of ruling the earth. You will take back what you have given to her."

"But it could kill her, or create devastating results."

"Is this compassion?" the angel snarled, his eyes, blue, burned to blood-red, "How is it, that my strongest demon, feels this emotion?"

"It is not compassion," Trigon quickly assured him, "I was merely…calculating the odds of annihilating her. Forgive me, master."

The angel placed his hand to his face as if suddenly exhausted. "I tire of your excuses. Find the girl, take her powers, but leave her alive. She still has something I want. Something that you couldn't retrieve."
For a moment, the angel thought he saw relief twitch across the demons eyes. Trigon quickly covered it with a growl. "Consider it done."

The coldest day of winter had forced everyone into their homes. Jump City, although reaching nearly 110 degrees last summer, had become a baron wasteland of ice and snow.

And even as we speak, children and parents huddle around the warm fire and listen to the arrival of the next snowstorm. The brave, (or foolish) were found outside, making their way through the howling wind and the needle-like hail.

"Ahhh, my eyes! I'll never be able to see again!" Beastboy put his hands to his eyes in a fruitless attempt to keep the sharp sting of the snow out.

Cyborg appeared behind him. "It's not so bad. Stop being a sissy," he laughed, whose metal body easily repelled the blizzard weather.

"I find the snow very fascinating," Starfire commented, trying to catch the snowflakes on her tongue. After all, that's what they all did on TV.

The last of the Titans were found lagging behind the others. Raven was huddled in her thick cloak with her hands cupped tightly around her hot chocolate. But to her dismay, the cold air greedily took the heat before she had a chance to enjoy it.

"I don't know why we're even out here," Raven muttered to her leader. She shivered as the wind blew past her.

"Well, I didn't know it was going to this bad," said Robin, who pulled his coat tighter around him.

"Oh, you didn't?" Raven said in a mock voice, "I seem to recall you were there when the weatherman said there would be blizzards and 50 mile-an-hour winds."

Robin only laughed and placed a hand over her shoulder. "I've learned to never trust the weatherman. I'd say there's only 40 mile-an-hour winds right now."
She was supposed to come up with a witty remark. She was supposed to coldly shrug off his arm and shoot back some nasty reply. But for the first time in the day, through the fight with plasmas, through the robbery heist they had stopped, and through the suffering walk to get back to the tower, Raven was warm. She made a sharp intake of breathe then relaxed, and gave a content sigh.

"Raven? Sighing? Who are you and what have you done with my best friend?" said Robin jokingly.

Raven playfully punched him in the shoulder. "Shut up," she shot back. Ok, so not the best of comebacks, she though but this new discovery of warmth was too distracting to think of anything else.

"Ow, that hurt," he mumbled, rubbing his shoulder, "You're so violent Raven."

Raven laughed. It felt good to laugh. It was as if the world had lessoned its grip and for a moment, she could completely enjoy herself.

Unfortunately, the moment didn't last long. A nearby tree levitated in front of them and Raven quickly regained control of herself.

"Sorry," she murmured, the tone suddenly becoming serious. She dug deeper in the folds of her cloak and shivered again, but this time, it wasn't from the cold.

Robin gave a sympathetic smile. "Don't worry about it."

It wasn't fair. Everyone else was able to release their emotions, yet, even after the defeat of her father, she still had to monitor her every thought and feeling. But every effort would be for nothing. Trigon was still alive; she would never be able to fully kill him. He was immortal…

Raven shuddered and stopped walking. "Are you still cold?" Robin asked, although his expression showed that he knew something wasn't right.

"No, I-" She placed both of her hands to her eyes and winced. She felt as if someone had ripped her chakra off her head and smashed it in her face, causing the pieces of glass to wedge themselves into her eyes.

Everything seemed to spin and she reached for a nearby pole to steady herself.

"Whoa, easy." Robin quickly grabbed her arm as she missed and almost fell headfirst in to the concrete. "What happened? What's wrong?"

"I…don't know," she breathed. Her lungs constricted and she found it hard to breathe. Her legs gave out as her muscles painfully tightened. Robin grabbed her other arm and held her up.

Raven heard him call to Cyborg, who quickly ran over and started checking her pulse and heartbeat. Another wave of pain crashed against her and she grimaced. This was too much; she couldn't take the pain anymore.

She almost laughed at herself. So this is how Raven of the Teen Titans was going to die; in the middle of the street from some crazy, unknown reason. Very heroic, she thought bitterly.

Pain erupted from every part of her body, causing her to scream, then everything faded to black.

Read, review, tell me what you think. The next chapter should be up in a few days.

-KN