And I was watching all of Season 1 today and just had to pause it near the end of Masks when Robin's all staring at the Slade mask. I had to wonder, when he was all glum telling Starfire, "everyone else has" after asking her if she wants to yell at him, too, what had happened in between the time when Beast Boy cracked his little attempt at humor and the time when Starfire walked into the Archive Room--a.k.a., Robin's office.
And thus this was spawned. Hurrah!
So, read on and review!
"Well...at least he didn't get the chips."
Robin trembled with self-loathing. He wanted to turn around and punch Beast Boy in the face. Couldn't the changeling see that this wasn't a time for humor?
"Let's go home," he finally said, after the flames had begun to die down and the haunting glow splashed across his face diminished. Starfire heaved a disappointed sigh and flew off without them, but to spare the time and tension of flying with each other, Raven teleported them to the Tower.
Robin knew what they were waiting for, but he couldn't bring himself to say it. He wasn't sorry that he had gone behind their backs the way he did, and if he could go back and do it over again, the only thing he would change would be to distance himself from the rest of the Titans further.
Then again...he had spread it all out for Slade to see, hadn't he? It might as well have been him without the mask, after all. He'd left behind a trail of obvious clues, both for Slade and for his team, and it was only a matter of time before someone figured it out. Unfortunately for him, Slade had done so first.
Cyborg cleared his throat, and Robin lifted his head. "Hunh?"
The bionic teen was fighting to keep calm, but quickly losing the battle against his anger. He had clearly already said this and his temper rose with every syllable he repeated. "That was you? The whole time under that mask, it was you?"
Robin returned his gaze to the floor as Raven deadpanned in.
"Why didn't you tell us, Robin? What were you thinking?"
He still didn't answer. He deserved for them to yell at him, and he had no right to defend himself. Besides...if he did apologize, he would only be lying, and with an empath on the team his lie would not go unnoticed. It would damage their trust further, and he couldn't risk that. So he simply stood there, staring at the floor fists clenched at his sides. Raven and Cyborg were both in front of him, with Beast Boy sitting solemnly on the couch, trying to think of something lighthearted to say in spite of the mood.
The teen tuned back in to the whirlwind of words being hurled his way. Raven had just interrupted Cyborg—something she never did. She was stressed, and he knew her well enough to see when she was slowly beginning to tip over the edge, suppressed emotions leaking out.
"—Robin, don't you realize that we could have killed you? All it would have taken was one wrong move on either of our parts. We weren't holding back."
Beast Boy muttered something under his breath, and the three turned to look at him. He smiled faintly and repeated, "At least we know now that you really do have a fashion sense underneath the traffic light."
Raven's expression didn't change, but Robin heard something in the kitchen shatter. Cyborg glared at the green boy, who stood and glared back.
"What? Would it be better if I made things worse like you guys and said what I was thinking? Fine!"
He stalked up to Robin and poked his chest, eyes burning through Robin's mask. "Oh, yeah, big deal. You could have been killed. You would have deserved it, too, but then you did all that stuff to us? To Star? We could have been killed just because you had us following you around whenever you were getting yourself deeper into this mess! What were you thinking?"
Raven's head twitched and Robin took it that she agreed with the Shapeshifter, but she said nothing to confirm it.
As Beast Boy prowled away, Cyborg turned to yell again. "Robin, because of you the Titans are gonna start falling apart. If we can't trust you, how are we supposed to know that we can trust the rest of us?"
He opened his mouth to say more, but took note of Robin's blank expression. He shook his head with a frustrated growl and followed Beast Boy's path out of the room, leaving Robin and Raven the only occupants there.
She stared evenly at him, hardly blinking. She was still waiting. When he said nothing, she finally did.
"Robin, I've trusted you ever since I've known you. I respected you and stayed out of your mind on behalf of that respect. If you're going to turn into a threat, I won't have second thoughts about invading your mind and ensuring our safety."
Having said all she needed to say, the empath sank into the floor with a last look at the Boy Wonder.
Robin heaved a defeated sigh and walked to the Archive Room. He needed to file reports on what he had learned, work to get rid of some of the guilty energy boiling inside of him.
However, once he was inside the dimly lit room, he didn't go near the files or the computer by the door; instead, he went to the desk in the center of the room and took the polished orange and black mask into his hands. He couldn't stop staring at it, as though expecting the mask to tell him how to mend what he had done wrong, or how to finally solve the mystery that was eating away at him, day by day. Who was Slade?
Did any of it really matter now? The others were right; he had broken their trust, and it was unlikely that the team would ever function the same way again.
He had burned his bridges and hurt the ones he cared about the most.
There was no going back.
Cackles Wahaha.
One of the things that inspired this was Robin's little "Line between Good and Evil" speech in Red X. Unfortunately, I don't own any of that season yet, and don't know when I will, but that was just a totally chilling, brilliantly written speech. And the special little visual effect of him standing in the middle of the circle with the rest of the Titans with their backs to him...Drools TENSION, PEOPLE. TENSION.
So...like, love, hate? REVIEW! 8D