Title: Fallen
Author: Rai Maroi

Fandom: Teen Titans
Genre: Romance/Angst/Tragedy
Rating: M, Mature audiences only!
Pairing: Slade/Robin, Slade/Robin/??
Summary: Sometimes all we really need is a way to vent. Both Slade and Robin find that out the hard way.

Note: This, in my mind, is set before the Apprentice Arch. So none of the other Titans have probes in their bodies. Robin is just influenced by his hormones because he's a teenage male. We all know what is mainly on a man's mind. The songs used are not my own. They are products of the wonderful Alternative Rock band by the name of Evanescence. Any and all words are accepted to boost my ego or to help better my writing. I apologize in advance if any of the characters seem OOC. I tried my best. Enjoy!


Chapter One:Everybody's Fool

Perfect by nature.

He had to continue training, continue his exercises, and continue to improve his skills to show that he was the better, the dominant, and the best of the best. He did all this just to impress the one he could never defeat in battle. The man's mind was superior, but there is a limit to the human's knowledge capacity; however, he seemed to ignore this capacity limit. The man seemed to become more intelligent with each battle against the boy.

Icons of self-indulgence.

Maybe it was the age of the man that allowed him a greater knowledge capacity than an ordinary human. Maybe he was using life lessons he had learned and been taught to fight the boy. It couldn't be age. That was on the boy's side. He, the boy, Robin, was agile, but not as much as his opponent, the man, Slade. How, Robin always wondered.

Just what we all need,
More lies about a world that

Robin would spend his days in his room locked up, pouring over article after article about Slade and the Teen Titans' inability to apprehend the man. At night, Slade would appear. Robin would assault him head-on without a plan or thought in mind other than to defeat the man and get him into jail. It was frustrating for the boy. To always be beaten down by Slade, taunted, and then lose Slade's trail, it hurt Robin's pride every time, digging a little deeper with each passing failure.

Never was and never will be.
Have you no shame? Don't you see me?

"Come on, Robin. You can do better than this!" Slade taunted, blocking the boy's bo staff mid-swing with the palm of his hand. The man sliced his hand to the side, making the staff snap into two. He gripped one and Robin the other. Circling, they kept a safe distance from the other. The tips of the broken bo staff merely inches apart, but bodies a good three to four feet from each other.

"Give up, Slade. You won't win."

"O' contraire, Robin, I believe I will." A split-second after Slade finished his sentence, the two struck metal to metal, both on the defensive and offensive.

You know you've got everybody fooled.

One half of the bo staff flung up into the air by a carefully placed attack. The staff landed in an outstretched palm. One half was pointed down at a neck ready to take a life with a simple shove into the throat to crush the wind pipe.

"Robin!" Starfire screamed. Her beautiful green eyes glowed brightly as she soared overhead. Her hands glowing the same bright green as her eyes to let out bolts of light to save her friend from certain death.

Look here she comes now.
Bow down and stare in wonder.

Slade evaded the attack, but could not prevent her from tackling him to the rooftop. Her hands slipped on his armor, not finding a grip on him. He kicked her up off of him over the edge.

"Starfire!"

Oh, how we love you.
No flaws when you're pretending.

"I told you I would win. Try again next time, Robin." Slade threw down the halves to the bo staff. The man was gone before Starfire was on the rooftop once again, but when Robin went to pick up his broken staff, there was some sort of communicator between the two halves. It had Slade's trademark S on it with black on the right and golden copper on the left of the silver S. It was his; there wasn't a doubt in Robin's mind.

Had Slade dropped it? No… It had been in the middle of the two halves to his staff. Slade had to have placed it there on purpose for Robin to find. Why did Slade want him to have a communicator?

"Robin?" The boy turned around to face the girl. She looked so… vulnerable to him.

But now I know she

"I'm fine, Star." Her face became crest-fallen as Robin left without another word said. The boy disappeared before Starfire could reach the edge of the rooftop to watch him leave.

Never was and never will be
You don't know how you betrayed me.
And somehow you've got everybody fooled.

Robin couldn't stop. He couldn't stop running to get away. He needed to get far enough to use a communicator and not his own, but Slade's instead. He didn't want his friends to find him talking with the man. Nervously, he jerked his head side to side to see if he was being followed. Once confirmed that he wasn't being followed, the boy looked down to the device in his hand. The S seemed as if it was grinning at him, mocking him to make the call. The boy gritted his teeth in frustration and flipped the device open.

"You figured it out, Robin," came the man's voice before his image appeared. "I knew you would, but I hadn't thought you would make the call so soon."

"Cut it, Slade. You left this there on purpose. Why?"

"I want to meet you, face to face."

"What for?"

"Oh, Robin. I just want to talk, but it is so difficult when you make so many demands of me. Dock seven. Midnight tomorrow. And come alone." The display screen became black within a moment. It had been set. Neither could change the meeting.

Without the mask where will you hide?

It was well past two in the morning when Robin came back to Titans Tower. It was silent and dark as he crept his way among the halls, trying desperately to not disturb his teammates' slumber. He entered his room and gently shut the door behind him with a soft click. The boy shucked his heavy boots and cape onto a chair. He removed his shirt, tossing it off to some far off corner. He entered his bathroom and turned his shower on for warm water. Reaching into his medicine cabinet, Robin removed a bottle of solvent and a cotton ball. Solvent was poured onto the cotton ball and then dabbed around the edges of his mask. The boy took one end of the mask. With a sudden jerk of his wrist, the mask covering his eyes was removed, leaving a red line where it had been stuck.

Robin rubbed his sore face, turning away from the mirror. Removing his pants, he stepped into the shower. The water beat upon his back gently. It washed away his sweat as well as his worries about anything and everything. Robin lifted his face up, allowing the water to slide down his throat, his chest, between his legs, and into the drain.

Can't find yourself. Lost in your lie.

Gently, the boy hit his head upon the wall repeatedly from frustration. He had to get that man. Get him behind bars where he belonged all along. He didn't understand. Why couldn't he capture the one man that meant the most to him? Slade was the only one… the only one to ever ruffle his proverbial feathers and get away at the same time.

Robin got out of the shower, turning it off. He wrapped a towel about his slim waist and toweled off his hair roughly. He finished drying the rest of himself and slipped into a pair of red robin boxers. Climbing into bed, he tried not to think about tomorrow, Slade, or what was going to possibly happen. It took him, what felt like, twenty minutes to fall into a fitful sleep of unrestfulness.

I know the truth now.
I know who you are.
And I don't love you anymore.

The boy sat with gloom at the table, staring straight forward and thinking about the meeting tonight. What did the man want to talk to him about? Why along? Robin knew the others were asking him questions, but he couldn't bother with answering them. He was much too preoccupied with his thoughts.

Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Starfire all watched with anxious faces as Raven sat down next to Robin. The girl stared at Robin's face for a long time, unmoving. The troubled teen glanced to the side, seeing her, but not completely. When he did, Robin jumped from having Raven so close and he not realize her approach.

"What the! Raven!"

"You are very disturbed, Robin," she murmured. Raven stood and walked away with her cloak flowing around her calves. Robin watched Raven before he chased after her, knowing now what she was talking about. The girl had probed into his mind without him knowing.

"Raven! Wait!" Robin jogged to catch up to her stilled form.

"I won't tell the others. It's your decision to tell them. Not mine."

"Thanks. I… appreciate." A curt nod from the girl and she disappeared past the wall.

It never was and never will be.

Eleven fifty-eight at night. Nearly two minutes left until the designated time needed. There was no sign of Slade anywhere from what Robin found. A minute slowly ticked by, making the boy begin to think this had all been a set-up to lure him away from the true goal the man had in mind. His eyes widened at this thought. If this was true, then his comrades were fighting alone without him! But then, why hadn't Cyborg contact him about new movement by Slade. Oh, that's right.

Robin left his communicator back at Titans Tower.

He mumbled a curse at himself for being so stupid and reckless. The boy's balled fist made contact with a wooden crate. Robin looked down at Slade's communicator he still had with him. Twenty seconds. Fifteen. Fourteen. Thirteen. Twelve. Eleven. Ten seconds. Five. Four.

Three.

Two.

"One…" The communicator in his hand beeped twice as the time struck midnight. Masked eyes studied their surroundings, not finding the other in the area.

"I apologize for my tardiness. You know how we villains are, Robin," came Slade's voice. The boy turned, facing him as the boy took an instinctive defensive position. "Relax. I am here to talk. How many times must I say this?"

"I'm listening." Robin kept on the defensive, ready to counterattack if needed. Slade stepped forward, not making a sound on the wooden planks below his feet. The boy took cautious steps back until his back struck concrete. A nervous glance over the shoulder showed the concrete to be a warehouse wall. Attempting to hide his rising fear, Robin steeled his features of his face and stopped the quivering of his upper lip.

"Don't be afraid, little Robin. No harm will come to you." Slade lifted his hand and ran it through the boy's gelled black hair. The hand settled on the nape of Robin's neck while another hand covered his mouth with a cloth. "No one will be able to save you…"

The boy saw Raven over Slade's shoulder, but she just stood there with her hood concealing most of her face. Her name ran through his mind as he slowly slipped in unconsciousness.

You're not real and you can't save me.

Slade lifted the limp body of Robin up and slung him over his shoulder like a sack of something heavy. The dead weight upon his shoulder slowed him down considerably, but not enough to not lose the tail he had within the next half hour. He didn't understand why his tail wanted to follow him other than the fat that he had Robin. He didn't care to understand.

Within the confines of his warehouse, he set Robin to lie in a chamber made just for the bird he had captured. Locking the door behind him after taking any and all weapons, Slade settled himself into his chair, waiting for his new bird to wake so that they could play a fascinating game. A game of cat and mouse, but not the ordinary version. This game of cat and mouse would be more enjoyable for Slade…

Maybe he was a fool for doing this? Maybe, just maybe… he was a tad bit too obsessive over the boy that… no. It wasn't possible for that to happen. He couldn't be… a fool in love with the boy? No! No! This 'love'… This 'lust'… Desire was to have him within his clutches, on a short least, his apprentice in his way of fighting.

All Slade ever wanted… All he ever needed… was the boy. It was all he wanted, needed. The boy had everything to become just like himself. The boy had potential. And such great potential the boy did have! It amazed Slade, but also, the boy disappointed him. Robin never fully realized his complete ability.

Slade would change all that.

To be truthful, Robin never had to work to get Slade's attention. It had been on him all along. Unwavering. Unrelenting. Unmerciful.

Robin had been the fool all along. He played into Slade's hand without a thought. So… who was everybody's fool in the end?

Somehow now you're everybody's fool.


I'm still working out a few kinks here and there. I won't be updating often, but all the chapters will be up within due time. There are only eleven because this story follows along with the CD 'Fallen', but with the songs here and there. I hope you enjoyed and try to be patient as I work to get the next up!