Just to let everyone know this takes place when the titans are about 18 years old. I hope you enjoy.

Chapter One: Secrets

The moon shined brightly; its silver light reflecting off of the water that surrounded the Titans' tower. Inside, the Titans had gathered in the common room. It had been only minutes ago that Slade had once again sent them a video message on their large computer screen. His voice had been the only one that rang through the room. His face was covered with a back and red mask.

It had been years and the Titans still hadn't caught him. The one time that they did Slade had escaped from jail in no more than twenty-four hours. This was getting to Robin. He banged his fists onto the keyboard in frustration, jamming them into their places.

"We should have brought him down by now!" Robin yelled, closing his eyes to try to block out the infuriation that was thriving in his mind.

"Robin, calm down. We're all trying here," Cyborg said, standing up from the sofa.

"Yeah, dude. It's not like it's the end of the world or anything," Beast Boy said, trying to sound logical. Robin and Cyborg both looked at Beast Boy with annoyance.

"You want to bet? I wouldn't put it past Slade to try to end the world. It's not like he hasn't tried before." Robin said in a low, dangerous voice.

"Nice phrasing, B.B.," Cyborg said sarcastically. Silence ensued. Starfire and Raven looked at each other; Starfire's green eyes making contact with Raven's violet ones. It was normal for Raven to remain mostly quiet, but it was different for Starfire. She looked at the ground to her left hand side with a worried expression. She quickly glanced up at the three boys. Cyborg was mending the keys that Robin had punched in and Beast Boy had gone to the kitchen to get a snack while Robin paced. Starfire glanced away again, brushing a strand of long red hair out of her face. Her normal carefree demeanor was gone. What remained was a look of subdued shame.

Raven looked over at Starfire. She let out a shallow breath of exasperation. Star, if you look that guilty then they are going to find out. Starfire looked back up at Raven. She mouthed, "Sorry," and did her best to wipe away all traces of guilt that resided on her face. She wrapped her hands around her knees and sat straight up.

"I'm going to bed," Raven finally said in her monotonous voice. Robin stopped in his pacing and glanced at Raven. Lines covered his forehead from the anger that possessed him.

"Alright. I'll knock if I found out anything." Robin replied. He then caught Starfire's blank stare. He was a little apprehensive to confront her since she had tried to attack him yesterday, but the look on her face drove all logical thoughts out of his head. Slade faded from his mind. "Star," Starfire still gazed straight ahead, apparently not hearing him. Raven had stood up, but now she watched Starfire hesitantly. "Star," Robin said again, taking a step toward her.

Starfire jerked herself out of the trance and blinked several times. "Yes?" she asked.

"Are you alright?" Robin questioned. All of the tension about Slade had disappeared from his face. He remembered the promise that he had made to her.

"I'm fine," Starfire said protectively. She knew that the plan depended on her. She averted her gave from Robin's electric blue stare. She prayed he would look away and forget what he saw. This was the only time that she would ever wish that, but she needed him. She needed him to leave her alone.

"Star, I can tell when you're lying." Robin said, furrowing his eyebrows. Starfire was normally upfront about her feelings, but for some reason she was hiding them. " You can tell m-"

"I am going to bed," Starfire said quickly. She knew that she couldn't take lying to Robin anymore. It was different with him. It made her sick to her stomach to lie to him and she could only endure so much of it. She quickly stood. Raven let a little bit of the tension that had been building fall from her face and began to walk to her room. Starfire followed several feet behind. As soon as Raven turned the corner, Robin grabbed Starfire's wrist. His warm hand encircled her slender arm.

"Starfire, you can tell me whatever it is."

"I am tired. That is all." Her breath caught in her chest. The sadness this caused her was infinite.

"…Alright," Robin said, reluctantly letting go of Starfire's wrist. "See you in the morning."

Starfire's back muscles tightened as she responded. "Of course."

Robin stared after her with concern and ran his hand through his jet black hair. "Cyborg," Robin said, getting his attention. "Did you notice anything off about Starfire and Raven? They both were really quiet."

"Maybe they're freaked out about Slade. He hasn't shown his face in several months and you know his threats are pretty good especially tonight. Particularly with those snide remarks about how he was going to kill us. Maybe he just shocked them," Cyborg said, focusing on prying the 'a' key out of its jammed position.

"Raven doesn't scare easily. Starfire doesn't either for that matter, she just doesn't contain her emotions like Raven. It seemed like they were hiding something. Something important."

Beast Boy walked into the room with a plate of tofu and a fork. "I think you're just over analyzing because you love Starfire so much." He took a bite of the tofu. Robin turned on Beast Boy.

"I don't. I just...she's my friend." Robin said impatiently. Beast Boy and Cyborg exchanged unconvinced smiles.

"Sure you don't," Cyborg said with an air of amusement to his voice. Robin rolled his eyes.

"Let's get back to looking for Slade." Beast Boy and Cyborg remained looking at Robin with smirks on their faces. Robin ignored them for a few minutes, but eventually lost his cool. "I don't!"

Cyborg put his arms into the air to surrender. "Whatever you say, man. Whatever you say."

Thanks for reading. Any reviews are appreciated (even harsh ones). Also, if you were confused in this chapter, a lot is answered in the second chapter. God bless.