This is the last chapter that will be rated M due to implications of rape and language. After this it'll go back to T. I promise.

XXXXXXX0000XXXXXXX

Chapter Thirty-Six: Evil's True Face

Vaati and his companions whirled around in all directions frantically, looking for the mysterious speaker. "Who are you?" Robin yelled. "Show yourself!"

"Who am I, you say?" the sinister voice replied. "Were you not from my world, I would have been insulted by your complete lack of knowledge. I am the epitome of darkness, the evil that commands the darkest shadows of human nature. The concept of evil was my creation, and the concept of evil sustains me. I am the God of Evil, the Heart of Darkness. But you may call me…"

Suddenly, out of a dark corner of the room, a pair of round eyes glowing like fire emerged, followed by a figure slowly stepping out of the darkness. His skin was black, his wings red, and the heart-shaped mask attached to his face purple and red. "…Majora," the figure finished with a mock bow.

Robin brandished his staff. "Where's Starfire?" he demanded, trying his best to quell the fear he felt rise in his chest.

"Oh, you mean the little girl I've been toying with while waiting for you to come? I don't think that matters, because you'll never see her again!"

The way Majora said that set Robin on edge. "What did you do to her?"

Majora snickered. "You should have been here. Oh, how she screamed. She called your name in the darkness, begging you to save her from the hell I created. And you didn't. You weren't here. She struggled, oh yes, she gave her best, but that only made it hurt more. I hurt her, Robin. I hurt her in ways you couldn't even begin to imagine. And you know what? I enjoyed every minute of it!"

Robin's face went livid with rage and horror as Majora burst into an insane fit of laughter. "I took her innocence! Once a princess, now a filthy, dirty swine! Kyeheheheheheheh! And after a while, she just lay there and took it! Took it like a little…"

"YOU FUCKING SON OF A BITCH!" Robin roared, leaping at Majora in a fit of rage.

"Robin, wait!" Raven yelled, but Robin paid her no heed as he swung violently at Majora, who casually dodged.

Finally Majora grabbed Robin's staff and swung Robin over his head, who let go and slammed into the wall. Majora nonchalantly tossed the staff aside before crossing his arms over his face, causing a pair of long blades to jut out of his wrists. Then he assumed a fighting position and hissed, "Come on! Let's play!"

Everyone assumed fighting positions as well. Majora struck first, flying forward with his left arm outstretched. He reached Vaati in the blink of an eye and slashed at him. Vaati parried the attack, but hadn't counted on Majora's other wristblade, which suddenly cut into his shoulder. Vaati cried out in pain before blasting Majora back with a burst of wind magic. Buster charged at Majora as he was getting to his feet, but the masked fiend promptly teleported to the other side of the room.

Raven sent a flurry of energy beams Majora's way, but he nonchalantly blocked them with his wings before glaring at her with those glowing eyes. Suddenly Raven discovered why they were glowing as a white-hot pair of energy lasers shot out of his eyes, not even giving her enough time to raise a shield as the beams struck her squarely in the chest. Her eyes went wide with shock as she fell backward, and lay still on the ground.

Vaati looked on with a horrified expression. "RAVEN!" he screamed as he ran to her side, forgetting the battle between his teammates and Majora.

He knelt at her side and drew her into his arms. Please, don't be dead. Please, dear Goddesses, don't let her be dead! he begged silently as he shook her. "Raven! Don't die on me!"

Majora turned his way just as he finished sending Robin flying into Buster, slamming them both against the wall. "Ah, don't be a sap," he taunted. "She's not dead…yet! I only hit her hard enough to stun her. I have plans for her later, oh yes I do…"

Vaati looked up at Majora with an expression of pure hatred and fury. This would not stand. He was going to make that masked bastard pay for what he did. And at that moment, a glimmer of the old Vaati returned as he screamed with rage, his body beginning to change. His eyes lost their color and became a milky-white as his body grew taller, and his sorcerer's attire morphed into swirling black robes of darkness. A golden headdress with two great horns sat on his head, and his flowing lavender hair waved in the winds generating around him as a great red eye opened up in his chest.

Robin and Buster widened their eyes in surprise as Vaati Reborn stared down the Mad God of Evil. Majora straightened up and regarded his opponent with a hint of amusement. "Ah, Vaati. That little form of yours didn't work on a child. What makes you think it will fare any better against me?"

"I'm going to murder you."

That shut Majora up as the Fallen One realized Vaati wasn't playing around. "All right then, Wind Mage," he hissed dangerously. "You want to play rough? Let's go!"

In one hand he charged a sphere of dark energy, while with the other, he pointed his wristblade at Vaati, who summoned a team of stone eyes to flank him. Majora hurled the energy ball at Vaati's eye. The stone eyes all fired a narrow beam of energy that dissipated Majora's attack. Changing strategy, Majora leapt forward, his blades raised. Vaati teleported out of his path and reappeared by Robin and Buster. "Watch over Raven," he ordered. "Don't let her get caught in the crossfire. Understood?"

Surprised by the forceful tone, Robin and Buster merely shook their heads as Majora turned around. Vaati whipped his arms around and sent salvoes of fireballs at Majora, while simultaneously shooting lasers out of the stone eyes. Majora managed to block most of the attacks thrown at him, but one stray laser succeeded in streaking into his shoulder, unleashing a grunt of surprise as Majora recoiled. He glanced at the still-smoking burn mark on his body and glared malevolently at Vaati. "You're going to pay for that."

Suddenly Majora's left hand stretched into a tentacle and lashed out at Vaati. Vaati's large eye closed just in time, but Vaati was unable to prevent the tentacle wrapping around him. Majora then sent a burst of dark energy coursing down his arm and into Vaati's body. He then proceeded to swing Vaati over his shoulder into the opposite wall. Vaati slid to the floor, momentarily dazed. Majora reformed his hand and reactivated its wristblade. Vaati shook his head and glared venomously at his adversary as he mentally commanded the eyes to attack Majora's back. However, before they could do so, Majora whirled around and destroyed them all with a broad sweep of his hand. As he was turning around, though, he got a white-hot surprise to his face as Vaati hit him full-force with a wave of fire. Majora cried out in surprise as he backed off, giving Vaati some space as he frantically brushed off the small fires on his body.

Without giving Majora a chance to recover, Vaati hit him with more salvoes of fire energy, then topped it all off with a Razor Wind spell. The combined assault was enough to blast Majora into the wall, creating a large crater where he collided with the surface. Majora struggled to his feet. Sensing victory, Vaati made one final move, summoning up a great beam of energy from his eye and hitting Majora squarely in the chest. Majora screamed in pain and shock before a resounding explosion rocked the foundations of the cavern. When the dust settled, a hole had been carved into the wall, and on the other side was a large pile of rubble, Majora's unmoving wings still visible beneath the rocks.

With his enemy immobilized, Vaati allowed himself to return to his normal Hylian form. Seeing Robin and Buster huddled around Raven, Vaati sprinted over to them, kneeling down alongside them. "How is she?" he asked worriedly.

"She's still alive," Robin answered. "But she took a bad hit."

Vaati knew what to do. He uncorked another bottle of Red Potion and poured it down a barely-conscious Raven's mouth. She coughed slightly as she drank. Slowly the wound on her chest disappeared and her strength returned. As she blinked from the aftereffects, she stood up to face her companions…and was immediately engulfed by Vaati as they shared a passionate kiss in thankfulness of their mutual well-being. As he let go, Vaati whispered, "Don't scare me like that again."

"I'll try not to let it happen again," Raven answered, trying to maintain her snarky composure.

Meanwhile, Robin and Buster had gone over to the door and used their collective strength to force it open, and when they saw what was inside, Robin's face drained of color. There, lying before him, chained to the Obelisk of Earth, looking absolutely pathetic and helpless, was Starfire.

She was an absolute mess, her clothes torn in several places, her hair scraggly, and her body covered in bruises and scars. "My God…Starfire!" Robin uttered before rushing to her side and holding her in his arms. "Starfire! Can you hear me?"

Starfire's eyes slowly fluttered open and gazed at Robin. At once the hope in her eyes was rekindled as she saw the face of the man she loved staring worriedly down at her. "R…Robin?" she managed to whisper as she smiled weakly. "You came…back…for me…"

"Of course we did," came another voice before Robin could answer. "That's what friends are for, am I not correct?"

Everyone looked up to see Vaati strut into the chamber with another bottle of Red Potion handy. "Vaati…?" Starfire whispered as the mage shot a beam of energy at the chains with his free hands, freeing her from her connection to the Obelisk. This caused her manacles to detach from her wrists as well.

Vaati knelt at her side by Robin and uncorked the bottle. "Starfire, this is Red Potion. It will help you recover your strength and heal your wounds. Drink it."

Starfire seemed to understand as Vaati lowered the bottle to her lips and poured it down her throat. She coughed slightly as she swallowed and widened her eyes in surprise at the potion's effects as her strength returned. As her head cleared, the magnitude of what she had been forced to go through hit her full-force, and she burst into tears and held Robin tight, sobbing hysterically. "Oh, Robin! It was so horrible!" she stuttered in between sobs. "He…did terrible things to me! The tentacles…the tentacles…"

Robin just held tight, comforting her as best he could. What Majora had done to her was unforgivable. What he felt towards that masked fiend in the few minutes he'd known him was more hateful than in all the years he had known Slade. Starfire meant more to him than anything, and the knowledge that she had been alone with that monster for so long filled him with such sorrow that he felt tears trickle down his face as well.

Vaati, Raven, and Buster all stood there quietly. Raven and Vaati understood perfectly well what it was like. After all, both of them were essentially the products of rape by demonic fathers. Vaati solemnly closed his eyes and hung his head low. Finally Buster spoke up somewhat timidly, "Perhaps we should get a move on? The others are still in trouble and…"

Vaati shot the Darknut a warning glance, but Robin looked up and said, "Yeah, I agree. C'mon, Starfire. The others are waiting for us."

Robin helped the Tameranean princess to her feet. Wiping the tears from her eyes, Starfire said, "Yes. I will not let Majora's cruelty stop me. I must be strong…I must prove him wrong."

Raven smiled and hugged Starfire in response. Vaati, despite himself, decided to join in, and then all were surprised as Buster wrapped his burly arms around them and lifted them all into the air in his own gesture of affection before letting them go. Starfire couldn't help but laugh, making everyone else smile as well. "Now come on," Vaati encouraged. "Let's get out of this goddess-forsaken place."

The heroes nodded reassuringly at each other before heading out of the cave. It wasn't until they were gone that the pile of rubble started to move. Slowly, the rocks gave way to Majora's terrible form. Staring at the entrance he knew they had left through, he casually brushed the dust and debris off his shoulders. "Yes, you go off and save your little friends," he hissed to himself. "But don't think this is the last you'll see of me. I'll just bide my time and wait until you dispatch Dethl. Once I've gathered enough strength, I'll show you all a REAL nightmare."

A pity indeed the heroes did not hear the maniacal laugh echo throughout the cave.