The Choices We Make

"Do you think it will ever be all right again?" Asked the woman who stood before him. She was dressed in the most bizarre white cloak he'd ever seen, and she stood over the wreckage of something, although it was hard to discern just what. "Do you really believe my father is gone and Slade is vanquished? Do you really believe that I'm okay? Do you think I'm not hiding anything?"

Her voice was hollow. "You pass me every day like nothing happened, but everything has changed. I don't know how to make you understand how my life is falling apart…"

"Raven…" He said, stretching his hand forward. "Raven, everything is okay."

"Everything," she said, inclining her head so that it touched her outstretched palms, her hair growing longer by the moment, "Is not okay. I'm nothing but a demon-possessed, emotionless shell destined to die alone…"Her eyes slowly began to turn black, and all at once he realized that something about her birthmark had possessed her, that even though the threat was past, she was haunted.

"You're not alone! Raven, please… I'll never leave you alone!" He reached out to grab the gothic girl's wrist and found it slipping through his grasp, and suddenly she screamed and began to fall. The wreckage resembled, strangely enough, many masks of Slade, and he stood on the edge, torn between whether to leave or take the plunge after her.

He wanted, more than anything, to be the one to keep a promise to her, any promise that would drive away the devastation of the unfilled prophecy in her life..

Robin sat bold upright in his bed, clutching at his sheets, which balled against his bare fingers. He was very much alone, with nothing to suggest a disturbance in his room. Still his thoughts had disturbed him, and he swung his legs over the edge of the bed.

Raven.

Lately he could not seem to get her off his mind. The why was a total mystery to him, although he supposed it had something to do with the events that had recently taken place. He spent the majority of his time these days hunting obsessively for Slade. Slade, it was said, was rising again. Slade, it was said, would target them until he had exactly what he wanted.

Robin needed to find out where Slade was in order to protect them all.

More often than not, he was terrified of Raven. The night she had found out, her voice had gone deadly quiet and she had asked him the question that had started off the firestorm in his brain:

"Why go looking for someone who knows too much about how to destroy us?"

Robin had wanted to counter her question with something but had been largely unable to even speak. It was true that Slade had a way of destroying them from the inside out. He knew things the Titans themselves barely ever realized; he knew of their loyalty and the way they loved one another, he knew of their tainted pasts, and he knew of ways to hurt people that none of the team members dared to dream of.

Robin had almost forgotten what he knew about Raven, until she spoke. Now her birthmark was on his mind. So was her past. Most importantly though, the way she seemed to be avoiding everyone's questions, protesting that she was fine, stayed with him long after he'd decided to sleep.

Tonight, however, was the first night it had invaded his dreams.

He looked down at his hands and reached for his gloves, realizing that his hands had also been bare in his dreams. He wasn't one for dream symbolism, but he assumed it had something to with the feeling of helplessness that was washing over him.

He hated it.

Robin flopped back down on his bed, realizing that something was weighing on his mind, nagging in the back corner, but he could not figure out what. Today, he thought, is important, but why?

Then it came to him; it was his six month anniversary of the day he and Starfire had gotten together. Cursing his own stupidity, he rolled over and reached for a pair of jeans to pull on while he took to the streets; he had not remembered to get her a present until this very moment.

Robin left the house almost soundlessly, although he did pause for a moment outside of Raven's door, listening intently for any signs that she was still awake. As of late, he suspected that she was not sleeping. Her temper had become much shorter and she seemed to be constantly furious at everyone. Upon hearing nothing- he almost wished he would have, for a reason to stop and possibly confront her- he made his way out of the house and into a world that was, largely, still sleeping.

The sun started to come up over the buildings by the time he reached Jump City's shopping district. He flattened his hair, adjusted the collar of his jacket, and attempted to look as calm and perfect as possible. None of the citizens needed to know that their hero by night was a bumbling boyfriend by day.

He walked into the first place selling jewelry that he noticed open and talked with the salesman casually, barely aware of what he was saying. His mind still felt heavy, the thoughts swirling around at an alarming pace, and he barely listened to the man who was talking, pointing out a fine necklace of emerald and glossing over the subject of the price.

"…Take it?" The man asked. "It would be just lovely for that special woman."

Robin studied the necklace more carefully. It had a tiny perfect golden heart hanging from it with a fine emerald center, and it caught the light as he picked it up for a closer look. "It's great," Robin said, fishing the checkbook he hated to carry out of his back pocket. "What do I owe you?"

While writing a check for the absurdly large number the man listed, something in the case caught Robin's eye. It was a tiny golden pendant set with a light blue-purple stone. The color caught him off-guard; he knew exactly where he'd seem that shade of amethyst before.

"How much for that one?"

"Hmm?" Asked the shopkeeper, a jolly older man. "You are changing your mind? I thought that you mentioned your lovely woman loved green?"

"It's for a friend," he said quickly. "Her birthday's coming up." The lie fell rather quickly from his tongue. Robin knew when Raven's birthday was, and it had recently passed them, leaving them with all the chaos that surrounded them. He wondered what he was doing, confused by his own actions, but not willing to let go of something so perfect.

The shopkeeper eyed him quizzically but gave him the new quote, and Robin quickly voided the original check, shoving it in his pocket, and wrote out a new check. The shopkeeper's eyes lit up when he saw the check, and he quickly slowed down in the wrapping of the two necklaces to study Robin.

"So you're him, huh? Very handsome, the defender of our humble city!" The man laughed.

"Shhhh!" Robin cried. "Please… I don't want the publicity."

"You Teen Titans," the man laughed, "Are so humble." He handed the small brown bag over. "I'll keep quiet if you'll…" The man rummaged around in the small space behind the counter for a piece of paper. "Sign this for my daughter?"

Robin hastily put his signature down on the paper. "Thank you for your help," he said, and turned to run out of the store.

"Good luck with your two lady friends!" Called the man, and Robin sighed. His impulsive buy had certainly made it look as though he liked Raven.

But I don't, he reminded himself. I'm worried about her, but I don't like her.

Had he been a little less concerned with Raven and his tangled web of thoughts, he might have noticed the smaller box bounce out of his pocket as he went to climb back aboard his motorcycle, his present to Starfire lost in a puddle as he moved on.

Across town, Slade stood side by side with a young woman. Her blonde hair was tangled, her blue eyes clouded. "Consider this your last chance," he said to her. "One more slip-up and I'll make sure that you really do stay petrified forever. You made a good statue."

"I promise not to fail you," Terra whispered, hugging herself as though she were cold. "I'll do whatever it takes to help you bring the Titans to their knees." Especially, she thought, the one who doesn't care about me anymore. Especially that damn Beast Boy.

The phone rang then, a long tone that caused both villains to jump. Slade reached for it and began to listen, not speaking.

"You're certain? Absolutely certain?" Slade nodded, listening. "Interesting. Very interesting. A gamble for sure, but you know how I like a little risk. Yes. Yes. Goodbye."

Slade looked at Terra, his mouth terribly curled into a smile.

"I have simple instructions for you, Terra. The girl wearing the pendant is the one I want you to kidnap."

"Yes," she said, finding his instructions strange, but assuming the girl would be Starfire since the end goal, as usual, was to have control over Robin. She also knew there could be no failure, for failure would be the end of her. She gulped nervously to herself.

Slade smiled to himself. What Terra did not know was that Slade was unsure of which woman would end up wearing the necklace. Having received a call from old Henry that Robin appeared to have purchased two pendants, Slade was able to deduct, since one pendant was lying in the puddle, that whoever was wearing the remaining pendant would have to be, inevitably, the girl Robin loved more.

And the more he loves them, Slade reasoned, the more I can hurt him.

"Choose wisely, little bird," he whispered, and laughed to himself.