Through the Years

Chapter Five

I woke up screaming. Sweat dripped from my forehead as I glanced around wildly. I tried to sit up quickly before realizing that I had a slicing headache right above my eyes. I gasped from the pain as I sank back down into the bed. I recognized the bed to be my old bed in my old room after a second of tying to calm my breathing. Gar came rushing in with a mug in his hand, spilling what looked to be tea all over the place.

"Awh Rae, I leave for five minutes and of course you wake up when I'm gone." He sighed as he put the cup down on my dresser. I latched onto his arm as soon as he was in my reach, glad to see his face, even if it did look a little concerned. He sat down next to me on the bed and put his strong arms around me. We stayed like that for a few minutes. Peaceful.

"What happened?" I asked, grudgingly breaking the silence and speaking through my headache.

"Well," he sighed. "We found you in some abandoned warehouse downtown. You were unconscious."

"How long have I been out?"

Gar glanced at his watch. "At least ten hours."

"Where's Azura?" I whispered, even though I was afraid to know the answer. I couldn't remember much from the day before, but I did remember seeing Azura, then feeling my father's presence for the first time in years.

"Rae, when we found you, the whole warehouse was empty. And believe me, we checked the whole area. We were all there, Nightwing even called the police, but still nothing."

"Garfield." I whispered. "I saw her."

"What?" Disbelief was in my husband's eyes. He looked as if he so desperately needed to hear good news. It broke my heart that the news I had certainly wouldn't help his stress.

"I saw her. In the warehouse before you and the others got to me... But she wasn't Azura anymore. Something is very wrong."

"What do you mean, Raven? Talk to me." Deep down, I felt that Gar already knew what I was getting at. He just didn't want to believe it. I don't blame him.

"My father is back."

...

"Okay, say it one more time." Nightwing demanded as he rubbed his temples, trying to make sense of all that was going on. I rolled my eyes; this was at least the third time explaining what had happened in the warehouse.

"Okay. I went in the warehouse. Azura was standing right in front of me, but when she spoke it was my father's voice that came out of her mouth. He said something about finding a new gem. Then I blacked out." I said quickly, trying to forget the memories of the horrid expression on my daughter's face that clearly wasn't her own.

"This doesn't make any sense!" Cyborg suddenly grumbled, slamming his fist on the coffee table in front of us.

"Please friends... Does this mean.. The Trigon is back?" Starfire asked, already knowing the answer. I could tell by the fear in her voice. There was a long pause before anyone said the answer we were all dreading.

"Yes, Star." Gar whispered, squeezing my trembling hand tight.

"What are we to do?" Star questioned. Instinctively, we all turned to Nightwing.

"I... I don't know." He admitted, dropping his head low.

"I thought we defeated him! I thought we never had to deal with him again!" Cyborg complained, mostly to himself. He turned to me for an explanation, the frustration on his face was such an unnatural look on him. Of course I didn't have a solid way of explaining our situation, I thought we had defeated him as well.

"I... I guess that because he's my father, and because there will always be a small fraction of him in my mind, that when I had the kids a part of him got passed on to them..." I said slowly, realizing that what I was getting at made sense. Of course I wouldn't worry much about the demon side of my children, they aren't even half demon like I am. We defeated my father years ago, why would we ever even consider the fact that he could return?