"I can't join you. People need me."
The boy was sleep-deprived and fear-addled from his latest round of nightmares. Slade knew this, but at the boy's declaration he couldn't help but feel. . . What, exactly? There was a twinge of pity and exasperation at the fact that the boy still clung so desperately to the few threads of loyalty he still harbored for people he hadn't seen for over half a year, but something deeper, something unpleasant coiled in the man's gut.
Betrayal.
The boy had sworn himself to Slade of his own free will, he had chosen to sever his ties to the Titans and the League, and now he was going back on his word.
Slade considered reminding Dick of the oath of loyalty he had taken, but Wintergreen's warning voice (which it would seem had taken up permanent residence in the back of his mind) advised against it.
The man did his best to assuage the boy's fears even as his own threatened to consume him. He realized it was rather paranoid of him to consider a half-awake teenager's second thoughts a betrayal, but still he struggled to quell his growing unease.
This was not part of the plan.
A/N: This occurred to me after I read chapter 23, but before 24 was posted. I couldn't imagine Slade not feeling the slightest stirrings of unrest at that particular statement of Dick's. Then chapter 24 was posted and Dick's reaction to his inadvertent discovery of Slade's super-secret evil plan paralleled so nicely that I had to write this down.
This is insane. I have never before written fanfiction for a fanfiction, but I suppose Northern Star is just that awesome.