Disclaimer: I own many Teen Titans comics, as well as Teen Titans DVDs. I do not, however, own the Teen Titans.

A/N: First off, I would really like to thank all the people who have actually stuck with the story. I mean I was shocked that I got any reviews at all (especially since I actually told people not to review). But anyway, I'm really going to try my hardest to keep on track now and get new chapters posted as soon as possible. Also, I know that right now it seems to switch chapter by chapter from Robin to Slade, but that could change soon, so don't get that accustomed to it. Also, flashbacks are in italics, as well as Slade talking…it might be kind of confusing. Sorry.

"Look in the mirror. The face that pins you with its double gaze reveals a chastening secret." – Diane Ackerman

"If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn't part of ourselves doesn't disturb us." – Hermann Hesse

Switched

Chapter 4: Tumbling Slate State

Grating sounds. Metal striking metal. Hisses of steam. And beyond it all a stale, threatening silence.

Robin was standing in the middle of a long corridor. His entire body (except it isn't really your body is it, huh?) was tense as he stood listening for footsteps, and he couldn't see – partially because he now only had one working eye – and because all the lights except the one he was standing under were turned off. He was standing to the side of a door. At last, Robin determined that the old man wasn't around, and slipped off a glove.

He grimaced as he looked at his new right hand. It was completely unfamiliar to him. Robin pressed the thumb of his (Slade's!) hand to a small keypad set to the left of the door, and the door instantly slid into the wall. Remembering how it had taken him two days to figure this out further depressed him. He supposed it had taken him so long because the first time he tried to access a room, and couldn't some part of his mind had screamed, It wasn't like this the last time I was here! and had been promptly shushed. He hadn't even dared look at a door after that. Too many disorienting memories, which had been locked into the very back wells of his mind, were rapidly resurfacing.

Robin walked into the bathroom and the door slid out of the wall behind him. The bathroom wasn't anything like the one in Titans Tower; it was sophisticated with dark wood tones and marble. Robin didn't at all understand Slade's taste. On the one hand, he seemed to enjoy (or at least prefer) simple, stationary things, like roughly cut stone, and his precious gears; on the other hand he liked things to have presence, and maybe dramatic flair. His fighting style was the same way. Sneaking around, but then delivering condescending, cryptic speeches that wouldn't leave your mind no matter how much meditating you did.

Robin slowly slid down onto the floor. He could still partially see the mirror set above Slade's sink. He had been looking in it quite often over the last few days…

"Sir! SIR!"

Robin looked into the screens and screamed. Only one thought was running through his mind.

'That's not my face that's not my facethat'snotmyface!'

"Sir! Slade, what's wrong?" The elderly man ran up to Robin and grabbed his arm. Looking at him urgently he asked, "Sir, are you hurt?"

Robin looked at the man and the scream died on his lips. He slowly formed the words, "What…did…you…call me?"

The old man gazed at him for a moment before answering. "Slade, I –"

He got nothing else out because at that moment Robin slipped from his grip and fell to the floor. Robin's mind was spinning and blackness was rapidly crawling through his vision. He knew where he was. The last thing he saw before he passed out were the gears churning overhead.

Robin's eyes were slightly filmed over now. He'd been going over these memories excessively over the past few days, as well as before it. The break-in. He tried to remember anything that could have caused this Switch between him and Slade but most of it was a blur. He remembered that the evening before the Titans had rented a movie…it had been Starfire's turn to pick…the movie had been a sappy love story…they had eaten pizza…Raven had left halfway through saying she was going to vomit…He didn't watch the movie…. he had been too busy watching Starfire laugh…

They had gone to bed. He had gone to the kitchen to get a glass of water…

Then he had dreamed a nightmare. And woken up in one. He still wasn't entirely positive that he wasn't still dreaming. That's what he had thought back then, and why he had lost control. Luckily, that old man (Who was he really, he said his name was Will, but how does he know Slade?) had somehow blamed the whole thing on the drugs that he had administered, as well as head trauma. Robin didn't care. He had been trying to avoid the old man – Will? – since he had woken up again.

Robin glanced into the mirror again and resisted the urge to smash it. That was not his face. Some part of him kept snidely asking why he was so upset…after all, hadn't he wanted to see Slade's face? Didn't he lie awake at night thinking about it? What it must look like? What Robin wasn't surprised at was the fact that this voice inside his head was Slade's voice.

"Why are you so disgusted, Robin…is it because you actually suspected it to be your face? After all, we are so much alike…"

"Shut up…" Robin murmured and dropped his head onto his chest.

Seeing Slade's face for the first time (except for seeing it in the screens because Robin didn't like thinking about that) in this very mirror hadn't been at all enjoyable, triumphant, or fulfilling. It had been horrible and terrifying. And shocking. Because… Slade was old. There was no other way for Robin to describe it. He obviously wasn't elderly, but Robin had always somehow expected him to be younger.

"Like Bruce, Robin? Do you really compare me that much to your old master? Do you miss having a master? Don't worry, Robin. I'll alleviate that soon."

He was so much older than him, but Robin could never beat him. Never. He would take him down like he was a 10-year-old who had just earned his black belt. And once he beat him, he lectured him like he was nothing but a troublesome child. Even Bruce couldn't make him feel as inferior as Slade had. He hadn't ever let Bruce.

"Bruce couldn't control you Robin. I can. Bruce may have raised you, but he doesn't know you like I do. He only knows the smiling boy from the circus. He may think he knows more, but he doesn't. He never even scratched the surface, did he?"

Slade's hair was white. Robin had shaved off the stubble that had grown while he was unconscious. His face was strong. Robin tried to keep it as blank as possible. He didn't even frown, because he didn't want to see any facial expression on Slade's face. Now that he knew what it looked like, Robin could easily picture the mouth carving into a cold smirk. He never wanted to see that, or even picture it.

"Tell me something Robin…I wonder what Bruce would say if he ever saw your dark side. What would Batman, who lives in the shadows and craves the night, say if he knew about Red X? How would he react if he knew you embraced the thing he most despises?"

"I didn't embrace it…I only did it to catch you. I never enjoyed it. Never." Robin sighed and ran his hands wearily over his new hated face, the face that wasn't his.

Slade's eyes bothered Robin the most. He didn't like feeling or seeing the destroyed eye, even though in some strange way it fascinated him. He wondered constantly how it had happened. Obviously Slade couldn't beat everyone in a fight. Someone, at least once, got the better of him. In some bizarre way, is gave Robin a twisted sense of pleasure. What Robin hated the most about Slade's face though was his other eye. It was slate gray. It was calculating and hard. It was intelligent and cruel. It watched unsuspecting people and helped ensnare them in Slade's devious schemes. It made Robin feel uncomfortable and sick because even though Robin knew that Slade wasn't, couldn't be here, he was looking him in the eye anyway. It made him feel like he wasn't in control.

"You're not in control, Robin. You can be optimistic and lie to yourself, but we both know the truth. Ever since I first set my eye on you, you were never again in control. You – "

"SHUT UP!" Robin jumped up and screamed at the mirror.

"Slade?" A concerned voice came from the other side of the door.

Robin breathed deeply. He stepped away from the mirror and opened the door.

"Sir, are you alright?" Will regarded him coolly, eyes narrowed.

Robin hesitated for the briefest second, then responded in Slade's cold voice, "Of course not, Will. The Titans escaped, but it was narrow. Robin wasn't very impressive."

"Yes, sir. I've brought your morning paper."

"Thank you, Will."

The elderly man nodded and walked away.

Robin watched him, then glanced down at the newspaper. He gasped as the headline blared out at him:

TITANS TAKE DOWN CINDERBLOCK

Robin clutched the sides of the paper with both hands and slowly crumpled it up. There was picture set below the headline. It was a blurry shot of Cinderblock and two figures forcing him back. Starfire and Cyborg. Beast Boy and Raven would have been there too. Robin quickly scanned the article but didn't see his name mentioned anywhere. Slade wasn't there. Good.

Robin released a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. His heart was drumming in his chest. He had thought of the Titans endlessly during the last few days, but this…seeing this…

"I'm going to meet them. I'll let them know what's happened. No matter what."

A/N: Whooo, it's done. Thank goodness. Although, I'm gonna clarify something: For those of you who may have wondered, 'Where's the goatee?', um yeah…it's gone. Not just that Robin shaved it off, but it was never there. Not in this story. Goatees freak me out. And yeah, I got bored so I named all the chapters. I'll probably continue naming them, too. Please review! Thanks.

-PenetratingBlackEyes