Teen Titans: The Abyss Gazes Also

A/N: The Abyss Gazes Also was the first fanfic I ever wrote, for Teen Titans or any fandom. While I still love the basic idea (something I think really should have been dealt with more in the show after being set up by "Nevermore"), looking back on it now it could best be summed up as rough around the edges. Therefore along with my current writings I'm going back and revising it (which shouldn't take away from my other ongoing fics, if anyone who's reading this is following them). Therefore, I present The Abyss Gazes Also v. 2.0!

Prologue: Premonitions

Raven stands in the heart of fire and darkness, looking down at a city that is no more. The buildings have been gutted by flames, the people turned to stone statue caught forever in the throes of agony. The land is barren and lifeless, and the sky is so choked by ash and smoke that the sun cannot be seen, assuming it exists anymore at all. The only light comes from the sea, where what was once water is now molten stone.

Mocking laughter echoes through the air, and then a voice speaks, as deep and terrible as the infernal depths from which it springs, a voice that shakes the earth. "WHAT YOU HAVE CONCEALED, YOU SHALL BECOME!" it thunders. "YOU HAVE NO OTHER CHOICE! YOUR DESTINY WILL BE FULFILLED!"

Raven listens to the voice, but she does not cower, as she might once have done. She is no longer afraid of it, or of its owner. After all, none of this is real.

This happened almost a year ago. Her father, Trigon, the Lord of Darkness, had blasted the land and scorched the sky in his effort to bring all things into his domain, but he had failed- because of her. All he was now was a harmless nightmare.

"I'm not afraid of you," Raven says simply, staring into the smoke-filled sky. "Not anymore. You don't have any power over me now. You're just a figment of my imagination."

"Am I?" the voice asks from behind her. It has changed- it now sounds like Raven's own voice, but with a strange echoing quality to it, as though the speaker is not entirely real. Raven turns slowly to stare at the voice's source r- not her father after all, but a slender figure in a hooded red cloak, like herself in every way, except that this girl has the four glowing eyes of a demon and a twisted smile to match.

Raven knows this figure, for it is herself- or rather, that part of herself that was born to evil, the thing that she has practiced meditation all her life to control. It does this, sometimes, appears as her father. Beast Boy and Cyborg had seen it do that once, many months ago.

"You are nothing more than a creation of my mind," Raven tells her dark double, refusing to be intimidated. "You don't have any power over me, and you gain nothing from being here. Go away and let me sleep."

"Go away?" The demon figure asks, its tone mocking. "I cannot "go away". I am part of you- forever. You may have defeated Father, but you've always known, deep down, that the one thing you fear the most is yourself. All that you accomplished was to delay the inevitable."

"The thing I've learned about the inevitable is that it's not always what you think it is," Raven replies. "The prophecy came true for Trigon just like he wanted, and he still lost."

"Think about it logically, Raven. I know you can- we both know you're the smart Teen Titan. You can't bottle me up forever. Sooner or later you'll lose control, and I'll get out. I already have, a few times. I don't think that poor Dr. Light will ever forget me."

Raven suppresses the surge of anger she feels watching her counterpart smirk. Anger is what it wants her to feel, she reminds herself, what will give it power. So instead she gives it peace and calm, closing her eyes and focusing while murmuring the name of the home she has lost- and the demon and the dreamscape waver and then fade away into nothingness…

Raven came awake with a start, breathing heavily and still not able to shake her demon-self's words from her mind. Quickly pulling herself into an upright position, she gazed around her room for a moment, taking in the books and magical objects, reminding herself that this, not the blasted landscape of the dream, was real. For all her mocking words, the demon did not exist as anything but a mental construct the sorceress used to keep her emotions orderly and under control.

"Just a dream, Raven," she said softly to herself as she curled back up on the bed. "Nothing at all to worry about. Just a dream…."

But as the night passed and she tossed and turned sleeplessly, she couldn't shake the feeling that it had been something more.