It's January, and as promised…here begins the rewrite of Split Concerns. It was due for a makeover anyway.

Split takes place after…everything. Slade's back from the dead, the Titans defeated the Brotherhood, and Terra's statue is gone. Just makes it easier, doesn't it? I don't anticipate the story getting too bad, so it's at a T rating for now, may bump it up if I feel it's necessary.

Wish me luck!

-Lio

"Another day, Robin. Another day."

Then he hit a button, or twisted a dial, or something, and then everything fell to pieces.

Literally.

That red light kept flashing, slowly, like a heartbeat, giving quick snapshots of everything collapsing around him. Where was the door? Where were the other Titans? They had to get out, gears were disconnecting from however they were hung and crashing and rolling to the ground.

He couldn't see the door anymore. There was too much rubble in the way. The roof was caving in. He was trapped. He couldn't see. The flashing red light was blocked by a fallen gear. He heard someone calling his name, but it was muffled by dust and barely audible over the increasing destruction.

He'd die, gladly, to have been able to follow Slade out of there.

"Robin!"

Robin's eyes jerked open at the sound of Starfire's voice.

"Robin, I noticed you were still awake, doing the work. I, also being awake, was wondering if there was any way I could be of assistance?" She stood hesitantly in the doorway, looking at him questioningly.

Pealing himself off the computer console, he checked the time on the screen. It was 3 AM. He stretched out his stiff muscles and yawned. "That's alright Star, I really ought to get some sleep. I can get back to this in the morning. Or…afternoon." He smiled sheepishly.

At his friendly tone, Starfire seemed to loosen up. "An excellent idea! Perhaps I can assist you then?"

Robin sighed, but smiled. As annoying as it was that his friends that his friends liked to keep an eye on him, Starfire's lack of subtlety was refreshing in a way. He took one last look at the screen before turning it all off with the push of a button. "Sure, why not?" No more secrets. That had been the promise he'd made to himself, and he intended to keep it.

He walked past Starfire to the door, touching her shoulder as he did so. "Thanks for waking me up. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yes, tomorrow. Good night, Robin," she said softly.

"Good night, Star."

Starfire watched Robin disappear through the doors and down the hall, the shadows quickly swallowing his form. Her hand slowly found its way to her shoulder where his had been, and she sighed. He always worked so hard. She knew that that was just what he did, that he liked to, and that more often than not his late nights proved most beneficial for the team.

But none of that stopped her from wishing he didn't worry so much. No, worry was the wrong word. Robin didn't worry, he acted, and that was what she loved so much about him. But sometimes her desire, her need, to see that her friends were happy got in the way of letting them do what they felt the needed to do.

She moved to the computer and switched on the monitor. Images and articles formed a collage dedicated to one man: Slade. She sighed and shut the computer down. She understood the face that haunted Robin's dreams and lurked in the peripherals of his life. But more than anything she wished it were possible for him to live in peace.

Even though she knew it was not.

She retreated to her own room and tried to sleep, only to toss and turn for hours. Finally she gave up and opened the curtains on her windows to let in the new day. The sun was just rising. Breathing in deeply, she closed her eyes and felt the sunlight on her eyelids. Happiness flooded her heart as she counted the things in life she was thankful for: her friends, the safety of the city, the certainty that the sun WOULD rise each morning, the welfare of her friends and family back home on Tamaran…. As the list continued, her boots lost contact with the floor.

She opened her eyes. The city before her glowed with the golden light of the sun. Wouldn't the view from the roof be even more beautiful? Grinning, she opened the window and let her happiness carry her to the rooftop, rising faster as the joy of flight took over.

Raven's eyes snapped open as she felt the presence of another, just in time to see the glowing face of Starfire pop up over the edge of the roof. Wait, what was Starfire doing up so early?

She didn't bother to move out of her meditation position, instead keeping her body several feet off the concrete via levitation. "Well you're up early."

Starfire spun around at the sound of Raven's voice. "Oh, Raven! I did not expect to see you up here! Are you also up to see the sunrise?"

Raven shrugged. "Helps me meditate." Her eyes shifted to the sun itself. It really was beautiful. "Were you the one who finally put Robin to bed this morning?"

Her question elicited a slight failing in the smile on Starfire's face. "Yes. He fell asleep doing more work on Slade."

Raven nodded solemnly and closed her eyes.

"I fear he will never truly be free of him, Raven." The alien princess settled into a similar meditation stance in the air next to Raven, her height above the roof fluctuating slightly with her emotions. "I fear he will always feel that he has to 'be ready'."

"Slade is still out there," Raven returned. "And as long as he is, we DO have to be ready. I understand why you're worried, Starfire. But sometimes…"

"…Robin feels that it is something that he must 'just do'." Starfire finished.

"Yes." Raven felt a pang of sadness next to her, and recognized a similar pang in her own heart. "Though I question how much of his insomnia is because of Slade, and how much he had before." She felt Starfire's questioning eyes on her now, but still refrained from reopening her own.

The alarms on their communicators went off as Cyborg was shoving another piece of pizza into his mouth. Robin was the first to recite the location that triggered their alarms, and then they were off to the scene of the crime.

A very angry man in uniform greeted the Teen Titans at a very sorry looking Wayne Enterprises.

"Couldn't you get here any sooner?" the man hollered, face redder than a basket of tomatoes. "She made off with the device practically hours ago!"

"And I thought PLASMUS got ugly when woken up," Beast Boy muttered aside to Cyborg.

Cyborg just shrugged. "Girl must have been pretty good to get in and out of here so fast."

"And to destroy so much of the building," Starfire added quietly.

Robin's eyes narrowed with silent fury as the man continued to yell. "Just tell us what she looked like, what she stole, and where you think she went."

"Oh, NOW you little kids want to do some real work!" The man crossed his arms. "About her height," he said tersely, nodding to Starfire. "Red hair, pulled back. Lots of leather, all black or dyed orange. Boots with heals. Used guns and explosives. Very acrobatic." He paused to eye Robin, almost accusingly. "Stole a high security chip. No clue where she went."

Cyborg's mind ran over all the information. So she was new, obviously. Maybe a new Hive recruit? Had a certain flair, clearly, so maybe she was on her own. Didn't sound like she had any special powers, which put her on the same plane as Robin, but this break-in proved her quite capable despite that. Well, whoever she was, the Teen Titans would…

That was when he noticed, as Robin dismissed the man and headed back toward the T car, that their leader had adopted a very grim attitude. Uh-oh.

"Hey, Rob, are you—"

"Fine. There's no more for us to do here. Let's just go back." He climbed into the front passenger seat and waited for the other Titans to follow suit.

Cyborg didn't miss Raven and Starfire's exchanged looks. "Hey, guys," he whispered at them before they turned back to the car. "Is it just me, or is Robin acting funny?"

Starfire remained silent, but looked downright droopy and nervous.

"Robin was up late again last night looking over Slade's old files," Raven murmured. "The man said this girl dressed in black and orange. You do the math."

Cyborg's stomach dropped about a mile. "No. No way. He can't…" He trailed off as Raven shot him a dead serious look.

"Robin…does a lot of thinking," Starfire said, though whether it was an explanation or an excuse, Cyborg didn't know.

"Yo, guys, you coming or what?" Beast Boy called from the back seat of the car.

Raven and Starfire walked away before Cyborg could say anymore. With a similar dark expression to Robin's, he took his seat behind the wheel and started the car.

"So…" he began, tentatively, as the car raced through their city. "Any thoughts on the new girl?"

"Jinx's sister?" Beast Boy offered jokingly from the back. Or not jokingly, since Cyborg wasn't sure how serious he was being about that.

The rest of them were silent.

Cyborg risked a glance at Robin.

"Slade." The lanky teen's masked eyes were narrowed nearly to slits as he stared grimly out the window.

If it was possible, the car dropped into even deeper silence.

"Well…" Beast Boy began. "I know we said we never wanted to see him again, but…c'mon, he's the only bad guy we were never able to beat."

While it was true that it turned Cyborg's stomach to know that Slade was still out there, somewhere, with no one to answer to…Beast Boy was right. The only person ever to defeat Slade was Terra, and she died doing it. No matter what Beast Boy said about her missing statue. He had to question whether the Titans really COULD take Slade on. Whether they could handle it.

Whether Robin could handle it.

"So…what do we do?" Starfire asked, quietly.

Silence answered her.

Finally, Robin sighed and sat back in his seat. "Wait. And watch. That's all we CAN do."

"We can research the chip," Raven volunteered.

"Already on my to-do list."

"Extra patrols?" Beast Boy asked shakily.

"In pairs."

But Cyborg knew the truth. Slade was too crafty to be caught. If they were going up against him again, chances are it was going to be on his terms. They were just going to have to make sure they could beat him at his own game

Grim determination set in his jaw. "And Robin?"

Robin looked up. "Yeah Cyborg?"

"That includes you. No going off on your own."

Starfire nodded fervantly, which Cyborg could see since she was just behind Robin.

And Robin actually smiled. Cyborg thought he even heard his leader chuckle a little. "I promise, guys. I promise."