A/N: This one was fun and depressing at the same time to write. Raven is being tortured every chapter, I feel so bad. Oh well, she'll get over it eventually. More fun with Robin, Raven and Slade! Also a lot of BG info on Slade. Fun, Fun! As always, R&R

Disclaimer: Still don't own Teen Titans or any of the characters…..

Have at it!

Ch.7 Understanding

Raven blinked, not quite sure what she just heard. "Slade, what are you-" she was cut off when a finger pressed to her lips and his other hand pressed pulled a small lever. Apparently the security room was also a two way viewing room into the main hall. The plaster on the wall slid to reveal an opening to the grand hall. Raven was now painfully aware of how easily they could be seen by the guests.

Slade was quick with his words, noticing a familiar face among the guests. "Here's where your true mission lies." His lone eye looked to the beautiful painting of a famous courtyard in Sicily in the front of the room. The spectator's gasps could be heard and he glanced at Raven. "Take the painting and do a disappearing act. Don't waste time, you have very little."

Eye's widening, Raven heard the yells of security and screaming women. Looking to Slade, she received an expectant prod. Raven knew if she turned into a giant black bird it would be obvious who she was, but Slade was counting on her. She would just have to think of an alternative, albeit quickly.

Eyes steeling toward the painting, she glided smoothly across the air. Refusing to look down, she lifted the painting as best she could, and descended to the ground. Standing with an arm around the canvas, she felt a familiar rush. Looking up, she smirked unknowingly and caught the attention of a man in a black and white mask.

"Stop right there thief!" Robin ran toward the woman cradling the artwork, ignoring the surprised looks from guests. There was something that felt familiar about the thief, and he wasn't quite sure what it was. Perhaps it was just the fact that he had been in their shoes not too long ago, working for Slade. He almost felt bad for the person, almost.

Raven refrained from letting out a gasp as she saw one of her best friends running toward her. It was as if Robin was coming closer in slow motion. Questions plagued her mind relentlessly, one after another. She shook her head in hopes to clear her conscious, if only just to focus for a second. Taking out a smoke bomb, she threw it on the ground before Robin could grab her. She heard the people coughing around her and she figured it was time for her to take her exit. Turning into her infamous black bird, she took off back to the warehouse. She had a lot of questions for Slade.

Once the smoke had cleared, it became apparent that the thief was no longer within the hall. Robin cursed silently, chancing to look up at where the wall had opened. Slade was now no where to be found, and once again Robin found himself using choice words. Looking around to see that no one was injured, he looked over at how different columns were situated one higher than the other. Climbing up the shortest one, he jumped quickly across them and into the security room.

There was no sign that Slade had been there, except for a destroyed security tape on the floor.

Raven felt like screaming or beating something, which ever one was sooner available. Emotions blurred her rational thinking as she stormed through the hallway, griping the stolen artifact. Rage, anger, frustration clouded her vision as she burst through Slade's large double doors to his bedroom. Ripping off her mask, she threw it on the ground in a fit of rage. Red eyes flashed instead of violet ones, signaling to her mentor to tread lightly.

"What the hell is wrong with you?! Why was Robin there?! Is this some sick game to you?!" Raven's free arm was flailing in the air as she yelled at the unmasked man on the bed. She watched as Slade merely flipped a page in the newspaper he was reading. "Are you even fucking listening to me?!" Her nostrils flared as a lamp on Slade's nightstand blew into little shards.

Stopping before turning another page, Slade looked up at his angry apprentice. Studying her face for a few moments, he could finally see past the anger and he was faced with hurt. Setting down the paper next to him, he stood and moved toward Raven. Pulling the painting away from her, he laid it on the floor beside them. His hand reached out and drew her head into his chest. He felt small fists beating at him, but that only caused his other arm to snake around her waist tighter. "Do you really feel that breaking my things is going to make you feel better?" He felt Raven freeze only for a second before going back to fisting his chest. His face leaned up against the side of her head, his mouth next to her ear. "Do it then, destroy them…it won't matter."

Breathing heavily and pounding against the man's chest, Raven tried to stop her self from crying but was unsuccessful. Not crying because she was sad, no…it was more than that. She was now crying because she was frustrated with trying to take on two roles, because she had lost herself along the way, and because no one understood. Her hands went limp against him and she closed her tear blurred eyes. "Why do you do this to me?"

Slade had long forgotten when he had started to stroke violet hair and stopped when he noticed. Lifting her up with surprising ease, he carried her over to his bed. He sat down, pulling her up in his lap. "Be quiet and just listen to what I'm going to tell you."

Moving from her comfortable position on Slade, Raven shifted her head to look up at his face. She recoiled into herself a bit, wiping the half dry streams on her face. Not remarking on how he told her to be quiet, Raven opened and then closed her eyes. Glaring through low lashes, she tried not to stutter. "Tell me what exactly?"

Slade's fingers traced the outline of his eye-patch, "What happened to my eye."

"Damn it!" The door to the Titan Tower slammed shut violently behind Robin. His angry footsteps echoed throughout the empty rooms on his way to the family room. Upon seeing the confused faces of his friends, he couldn't hold his tongue any longer. "Did the alarm go off? Why are you all just sitting here? What the hell is wrong with you?!"

Cyborg was the first to get out of the state of shock that Robin had put them in. "Uh…there was no alarm. What's going on Robin?" He watched as the boy wonder shook his head, rubbing his temples. This only added to everyone's curiosity.

"There was a robbery, at the banquet Raven was going to attend. She was going to see Wilson, but she's here. Wait…right?" His head snapped up immediately, scanning the room. "She can't still be knocked out can she?"

This time, Beast Boy decided to come out with the truth. "Dude, I put her in her room hours ago. She was awake though…hehe." With this he earned multiple glares, but was startled to feel the front of his shirt being gripped. He was now face to face with a very angry looking Robin. "Dude…?"

"Beast Boy! Why didn't you tell me this before? Is she still in there?" Once again Robin's eyes went frantic around the room. Letting go of BB more forceful than planned, he moved toward the hallway.

"How did friend Robin know about this banket of Raven's?" A cross expression was now on Starfire's face as she had flown directly in his path. Not noticing her previous speech error, she continued to speak. "How could you go? That is an invasion of privacy Robin! Friend Raven knows about this, does she not?"

"Of course she doesn't know Star! That's not the point! Did you not hear me when I said there was a robbery?! A painting was stolen, and it had something to do with Slade! No doubt a new apprentice…that bastard." Robin had become lost in his own thoughts, and was unable to hear Starfire's yelling. "It was a girl…she seemed so familiar. Goddamnit! Who was she?!" Brushing Starfire aside, Robin walked down the hall to Raven's room.

He knocked on the door, but there was no answer. He knocked again, this time more feverish, and loud. Getting tired of the silence he was receiving, Robin pushed the button to open the door. Frustrated eyes met the emptiness of Raven's room. He moved in slowly, not really knowing exactly what he was looking for now. She was gone, without a trace.

Raven sat there, her eyes glued to Slade, no more tears running down her cheeks. Her violet orbs were dry, and prodding the man in front of her to tell his story. Really, she wasn't quite sure if she wanted to know, but curiosity often got the best of her. Adjusting herself in his lap, she no longer felt as uncomfortable around him. There would still be awkward moments of course, but not as many. Wetting her lips with the tip of her tongue, she waited patiently. She was ready to hear all that he had to say.

Slade glanced down, noticing that the girl almost looked as though she was starved. She was obviously hungry for the knowledge that he was about to bestow upon her. Opening his mouth, he began to speak of his past. "I was enlisted in the military at a young age. I was the best of my class, and it was obvious to everyone around me. My fellow comrades would often ask me to train them privately, tending to their certain weaknesses. I'd usually do it for a small fee, unless of course they were completely hopeless. I was caught one night by one of my commanding officers."

He noticed Raven's worried expression, but continued. "We had been specifically instructed not to compromise our own training time for others, but he didn't seem to mind. He told me how I was a very valuable asset to the team, and that I was doing a great thing. He told me that there was a new training exercise that was only for the elite. Being the foolish young man I was, I didn't hesitate to agree to it. I came to this supposed elite training and they stuck me in a room, and did experiments on me. Most of these were so horrible that I, myself have trouble repeating them."

Once again Raven's face was laced with worry, but Slade pressed on. "In the end, I was the perfect soldier. My speed had increased as well as my strength; my mind was now capable of only work of a genius. But even with all these new abilities, the treatments had caused psychological damage. I had so much anger pent up over the time of the experiments that I expressed it through violent acts on my tormentors. I was deemed legally insane, and locked up. I escaped easily, and tried to start a new life."

By now, Raven's mouth was hanging slightly agape at his speech. She was amazed with his story, but didn't doubt that it was the truth for a second. A lot of that explained why they could never really hurt him. He wasn't kidding when he said that he was the perfect soldier. Really, Raven found it kind of funny that they deemed him legally insane when he was so brilliant. No doubt he had gone on a killing spree as soon as he saw the people who did that to him. A small part of her didn't blame him for it, but she still knew it was wrong. "That still doesn't explain what happened to your eye."

Looking down at Raven, he pressed a finger to her lips. "You'll shut up and let me finish then!" Earning a glare and a nod, Slade continued. "I was married once, to a beautiful woman named Adeline. She really was wonderful, and we had two children together. The eldest was named Grant and my youngest, Joseph. We were happy together; at least I thought we were for a while." At this, he felt a small smile come to his features, lighting them um for only a split second.

Raven listened carefully, intrigued by only the first few sentences of the second sequence of events. "What happened?" She silently wondered how something so perfect sounding could result in such a horrendous scar.

Slade's smile faltered, and soon he found himself frowning. "One night, I made a business deal with a client of mine and it went horribly wrong. They kidnapped Joseph and I hesitated to save him. I had believed that in not telling Adeline, I was protecting her and Grant. When I eventually did go to rescue my son, they had already begun…to cut his throat. Luckily, he didn't die. He was mute, but I was thankful nonetheless. I brought him back to Adeline, and she hated me for not telling her. I hadn't realized just how much she hated me until she tried to kill me. She shot me in my eye, but I was nowhere near dead. Since my body recovers so fast, I only physically lost my eye. In reality, I had lost so much more than that. Adeline took Grant and Joseph, and left me. I suppose I deserved it." He finished and looked down, feeling small fingers run over the cloth covering his eye. His lone eye watched her carefully, noting every expression that passed through both her open ones.

Resting her fingers on the edge of the patch, she glanced at him for approval. Not seeing anything stopping her, she removed the offending cloth. Her eyes were met with scarred tissue, slightly indented where the socket was. It didn't look as bad as Raven had first thought it would, but it wasn't exactly gorgeous either. Running a light hand over the scarred area, she looked over at his other eye. "Does it hurt?"

Slade shook his head, a stoic face still in place. "Not at all." He ran his index finger over the longest area of maimed skin, but stopped when Raven rolled her eyes.

"Not your eye!" Raven would've laughed if she was in any other situation. All of a sudden, her voice became serious again. "Does it hurt, knowing that someone you loved tried to kill you?"

Slade's expression changed into a sick sort of grin. "I wouldn't be Slade if it did, now would I?"

Raven thought her eyes were going to roll out of her skull at this statement. It figured he would say something stupid like that to avoid the question. But then again, it was kind of true. The girl's eyebrows rose slightly as she thought about it. "I suppose not."

"Hn…" His lips formed a tight line, twitching upward only slightly. His hand rested on her cheek the pad of his thumb slid across her bottom lip, as he felt her involuntarily shudder. He brushed a strand of her hair away from the gem on her forehead, ignoring the pursing of her lips and the dangerous slitting of her eyes. "Now, that's enough sharing for one day. I do believe I am going to vomit if I hear any more."

Once again, Raven found herself glaring daggers into Slade. Unbeknownst to her, a small smile played on her lips as she punched him lightly. Moving out of her warm spot on top of Slade, she shivered slightly. Wrapping her arms around herself, Raven moved toward the door. Turning back, she found Slade still sitting in the same spot, but watching her intently. "I hope you know this doesn't change anything Slade."

Giving a slight nod, Slade's face turned to its usual half interested look. "I was hoping it wouldn't." He watched as she bent down, picking up her two toned mask. "You'll take care to not discard your identity so easily." Slade knew that in some sense he was joking, but in another he wasn't.

Giving a halfhearted salute, Raven let the small smile leave her face. "Yes sir."

"Miss Raven?" Wintergreen rubbed his eyes drowsily, looking at the dark shadow sitting on the barstool in the kitchen. He turned on the flashlight in his hands, aiming it right at Raven's pajama clad form. "What are you doing up so late?" He failed to see the plate of cookies in front of the girl.

"Oh, it's you Wintergreen. I just got hungry, that's all." She looked away from him sheepishly as he finally noticed the chocolate chip cookies. Ignoring him as he shook his head at her, she took a bite out of one of the treats. Raven was curious as to why Wintergreen was out so late himself, but she kept quiet. To say she was more than a little shocked to see the butler sit down next to her would be an understatement. Nonetheless, she sat there silently, eating her cookies.

"I hope that Master Wilson hasn't been too hard on you. He…gets a little out of hand sometimes when he's around others. I am actually surprised with how well things have gone so far." Wintergreen had set up his flashlight so there was only a dim light between them.

By now, Raven had forgotten her curiosity over why he was here, but rather was curious to what he meant. She had never been quite sure what Robin had to go through while being Slade's apprentice. "What do you mean my by that?"

A familiar smile was plastered across the older man's face as he looked to Raven. "Usually, it doesn't last this long without Master Wilson being extremely upset about something. I think he's actually in a better mood than he would be normally." Wintergreen's smile shifted slightly and his hands folded in his lap. "Please don't repeat what I just said to the master…he would be displeased."

Raven gave a slight nod, knowing that what the butler said was most likely true. Reflecting on her earlier conversation with Slade, she looked down at her hands. She had traced his scar with her fingers, and he hadn't minded at all. Raven found it a little strange that the same person back there was Slade. Although, it was obvious that it was the same person, considering the trouble she had to go through to steal a painting. Only Slade would make her go through hell and back just to test her. The only thing that still bothered her was why Robin was there. She had a feeling that for once, it wasn't Slade's fault.

"Miss Raven…may I ask you a question?" Wintergreen was curious as to how Raven was sneaking around so easily. It had seemed to him that Robin had it a little harder considering he was with the titans more often. Until now, the elder butler had held his tongue, but since Slade wasn't around….

Raven's head tilted as she wondered what he could possibly ask. She wasn't exactly one to open up to people, but he had been pretty nice so far. A small part of her wondered if it was about her past, considering it had its own way of biting her in the ass all the time. "Go on."

Giving a grateful nod, Wintergreen thought of a way to express his question the right way. "Well, since you were injured coming in here, wouldn't you're friends be worried about you? I find it interesting that you can spend so much time here without getting discovered. How do you gauge that time so well?"

Blinking a couple of times, Raven's head tilted back to normal position. She felt that it was a strange, yet perfectly logical question to be asking. Surely she was appreciative about the subject matter. Really, for being so contemplative, it was odd that she hadn't thought about this. "I guess I'm not too worried about them. They worry, that's to be expected, but they also know that I value my privacy. Few of them would dare go in my room for fear of being killed, simply put. I suppose I'll just slip back in tomorrow morning as I had done earlier this evening."

Seemingly accepting this answer, Wintergreen gave an understanding nod. "Then well done Miss Raven. I do appreciate you answering my question, I won't say anything to the master rest assured." A smile was present on his face and he noticed one on Raven's as well.

Taking the last little bite of the cookie into her mouth, she thought about what she had said. It would all be fine, she wasn't worried. "Thank you, Wintergreen."

"Were you out of your mind?! Are you fucking insane? No really, tell me now lest I've forgotten!" Robin stood tall; his face red and tired with anger and worry. He had waited in her room all night for her return, and all morning as well. The boy hadn't left for food or shower, he just sat there waiting. Now the event that he had stayed here for was finally transpiring.

"I told you that I just went and stayed the night at a friend's place, that's all you need to know." Stoic in her stance, Raven was as unwavering in her conviction. Her dark spheres stayed planted on the pacing boy in front of her. She had almost laughed at the irony when she found him waiting in her room once again. Raven remembered it was just last night she was telling Wintergreen that everything would be fine. Oh how cruel fate can be.

"All I need to know?" Robin stopped in his erratic movements, becoming completely still. His eyes were transfixed on her unmoving features as he tried to form a sentence. "Friend, hn? Does this friend happen to go by the name of Wils-?" He stopped short, noticing the slight quirk of Raven's top lip. "Yes, of course." It was out of pure hatred that Robin began to laugh. He found it 'funny' that he could hate a person so much that he had never met. Eyes trailing slowly down to Raven's freshly bandaged leg, he snorted. "What's he a doctor? Tell me, how often do doctors get sick?" The spiteful glee left his features as a frown consumed him once more. "How often do they get invites to company banquets in the Leonard trading business?"

At this, Raven's mood changed drastically. Her nostrils flared as she held back a long string of curses. "You! You went in my room without my permission! My private space, you- you!"

"Me, me, ME! Yes, that's right! Even though I was in there, you did this to yourself and you know it! The late nights, not telling anyone where you're going. The fact that you disappear whenever it's most convenient, slipping away unnoticed. You spend a lot of time with this- this guy, to be simply going to dinner and having fucking picnics! The worst part is the secrets Rae! You keep so many secrets you don't tell yourself the truth half the time!" After all the yelling, Robin looked hurt…lost. All his pent up frustration was spent and he still didn't know if any of it got through the girl. His eyebrows knitted together his face a pleading one. "Rae…can't you see I'm worried about you? Don't you understand?"

Raven felt her eyelids droop as her head turned away from the tired boy wonder. She replayed the reels of speech that Robin had just spewed and committed it to memory. "This conversation is over Robin." Her back turned to face him, ignoring his angry gestures and eyes brimming with tears. She did not see any of this, for her mind was made up. "Tell the other's I'll be back in time for movie night." Raven didn't feel as though she should hurt the other titans because of her spat with Robin, it wasn't their fault. The least she could do was prove she was still their friend.

Robin's head bobbed up and down as he wiped the corners of his eyes with his gloves. He glared through fresh tears, cursing Raven's back with everything he could think of. "Why is he so important to you?" His voice was hardly above an angry whisper, but he knew Raven had heard it.

Turning slightly to her right, Raven looked up at Robin. There was a long silence as she continued to try and form a sentence, but really she could only think of one word that fit. "He…understands."

By now the wet droplets behind Robin's mask had dried, and the anger had faded. Standing there in front of Raven, he took a slight step forward, pulling her hand into his own. All while doing this, he kept complete eye contact. "I understand."

Reluctantly and slowly, Raven took her hand away from her friend's. Earning a hurt look, she bit her bottom lip and shook her head. "No Robin, you don't." With that, streams of darkness encircled her until she took on the form of a bird.

The next thing Robin knew, she was gone.