Everyone was tired the next morning. Cyborg, Starfire, and Raven were gathered around the table, trying to choke down dry bread with some peanut butter smeared on it: the only food available for breakfast.

Beast Boy showed up in the kitchen at 12:30 in the afternoon, and began happily whipping up some tofu eggs.

"Wait a sec…Robin's not up yet?", he asked, finally noticing his leader's absence.

"Nope", grunted Cyborg.

"You mean…I'm up before…? Maybe I should go back to bed!", he said, almost seriously.

"Wondrous, Beast Boy! You have recovered from your sneezing illness!", exclaimed Star in her usual perky, over cheerful tone.

"Yep! Er…I mean no…I feel terrible, Star", he groaned, holding his stomach. "I really don't think I feel up to doing the dishes today…", he coughed pitifully.

"If you're feeling so terrible, Beast Boy, we should make an appointment with Dr. Brown right away. I'm sure she can give you a nice shot that will clear it up in no time", said Raven dryly.

Beast Boy turned a pale green, yelling, "NO! Er…Would you look at that? Miraculously cured!"

"Right", said Raven, rolling her eyes.

When Robin still hadn't appeared at 1:00, Raven started feeling anxious and decided to check on him. If he was still asleep, it was a miracle; the sounds of Cyborg and Beast Boy fighting over some stupid game drifted into the hallway as Raven made her way to the door marked "Robin". She had casually watched Robin type in his access code, and with a little effort, she remembered it: 102945760. Raven rolled her eyes. Only a para...someone like Robin would have a nine-number access code. The door slid open, and she immediately noticed that the light was still on. Robin was asleep; lying in the same position she had left him in the night before. He looked terrible: he hadn't bothered to change out of his torn and dirty uniform, and all the bruises Slade had given him had had time to develop; he was black and blue.

Raven was so distracted by this that, at first, she didn't notice what Robin was holding in his hand. It was a piece of paper, no, a photograph of- Raven's eyes widened. She put the picture back and hurried out of Robin's room.

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BANG, BANG, BANG!

Robin groaned, his eyes squeezed shut in a desperate attempt to stay asleep.

"Yo Robin! Wake up!"

It was Beast Boy. Eyes still closed, Robin reached down, took off his shoe, and chucked it at the door. It produced a satisfying bang, and Robin heard Beast Boy shriek and take off down the hallway.

"Well that was easy." His stomach growled loudly. "I wonder if I've missed breakfast." Finally opening his eyes, he stared blearily at the clock on his nightstand. "4:30!?! No way!" He tried to jump out of bed but fell back, holding his ribs, his head pounding. He got up, carefully this time, and hobbled out the door.

"Hey Ro….bin." Cy's voice died as he got a good look at his leader. "Dude, are you ok?"

Robin felt anything but "ok" at that moment. "Just peachy", he mumbled, and stumbled off towards the kitchen.

Starfire was cheerfully telling Raven all about a teddy bear that she bought at the mall. Raven was reading, apparently oblivious to the fact that Star was talking to her.

Robin dragged himself over to the fridge, his stomach growling loudly again.

Star looked up when she heard him come in. "Robin!", she gasped, her eyes wide. Robin just continued to search the fridge. "You look…painful", she said, still gaping at him.

"Thanks", he replied, sarcastic bite in his voice, "same to you." He wasn't quite sure why he was being rude to Star, unless it had something to do with his throbbing body or his aching head.

Starfire, fortunately, didn't catch the jab. "You are…not feeling well?", she asked timidly, afraid that if she spoke too loudly, Robin would break.

"Oh, no, Star. I feel just great!", he said while making five peanut butter sandwiches.

"You do?, said Star, shocked. "But-"

"It's called sarcasm, Star. You should look it up sometime", snapped Robin, grabbing the sandwiches and limping out of the room.

"Robin, wait!", she called out, preparing to fly after him.

Raven reached up and grabbed Star's foot. "Let him go", she said firmly.

"But…did you not see him? He looks so…"

"You should have been prepared for this. Slade nearly killed Robin last night. What did you expect?", asked Raven, exasperated at Star's…naivety.

Tears were welling up in Starfire's bright green eyes. "Oh, why won't he let me aid him? I tried to speak with him last night but he…'threw it in my face'."

"He just needs some time alone, Starfire. He'll come around in a day or two."…"I hope", she added mentally.

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Robin had lost his appetite. He stared down at the unreasonable amount of food in front of him, but his mind wasn't on sandwiches.

"Slade got you again, didn't he? You're still not good enough", said a sly voice in his head. Robin tried to block the voice, but it was persistent. "You might as well just end it now. What's the use of living when your life revolves around death? Next time he will kill you, Robin. Next time, there will be no escape."

"NO!", Robin screamed. "Get out! Leave me alone!"

There was a knock on his door. Robin jumped, breathing heavily.

"I should at least pretend that I don't know his access code", thought Raven as she knocked again. "Robin?"

Robin limped over to the door and opened it. "What?", he asked roughly, still thinking about what had just occured. Things like this had happened before, but never…

"Oh I don't know, maybe the fact that you were screaming five seconds ago?" She doubted that Robin would tell her of his own free will, so she allowed her mind to reach out to his, feeling for recent thoughts or images.

Robin didn't even have the energy to lie. If he was going to tell her anything, however, he didn't want an audience. He stepped aside, sweeping his hand inward.

"Well that's a surprise", thought Raven as she stepped inside. She continued to probe his mind, however. "Is everything alright?", she asked, reaching out and touching his arm.

Pain and a flash of images shot through Raven's mind…Slade, Robin crouched on the floor, maniacal laughter…It was all over in a matter of seconds. Raven blinked, trying to clear her head.

"Raven, are you ok?", asked Robin, staring at her in concern.

Raven stared back at him, unsure of how to interpret what she had just seen. Was Slade really back? Was he going to attack Robin again? No, somehow that wasn't it. She had felt strangely as though Slade was already here, as thought the danger lay within Robin himself. But…Cyborg had said that Robin was fine now…

"Raven, can you hear me?", asked Robin, a hint of fear in his voice. He was reminded of another time when something like this had happened, only then it had involved Terra.

Raven snapped out of her trance, still unsure of what to tell Robin… then she remembered his screams, and her fear intensified. "Robin, you have to tell me what happened."

Confused, Robin stared blankly at her.

"Why were you screaming?", she asked again, hoping against hope that he would just tell her. She couldn't risk probing his mind again; if something was controlling Robin, entering his mind could allow it to take over her as well, leaving her powerless to help Robin.

Robin felt sick; he had forgotten what had happened out of fear for Raven. Should he tell her? He could see by the urgent look in her eyes that she knew something he didn't… "Something about me?", he wondered. He opened his mouth to tell her, but quickly shut it again. She would tell the others, and before he knew it, he would be strapped to a hospital bed again.

"I stepped on a thumbtack", he replied smoothly. "Didn't mean to yell so loud. Sorry for scaring you." Robin knew it was a stupid lie, but it was the best he had at the moment.

Raven sighed deeply. He was just determined to keep her from helping him. Why? "I see", she replied. Time for a little guilt trip. "I'm so glad you trust me so much, Robin. It means a lot to me", she said, as sincerely as she could manage.

Robin turned slightly red. He knew she knew he was lying, but he was not going to crack. A repetition of last night's events sounded less than fun to him right now. "Well, if that's all you needed…", he said, motioning towards the door.

Raven blinked; it had always worked for Starfire. Knowing full well that she was being kicked out, she headed straight for the door and left without looking back.

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"Cyborg", said Raven, trying and failing to get his attention. "Cyborg!"

"Huh, what?", he mumbled without looking up from the game. Beast Boy was doing unusually well, and Cyborg knew that if he relaxed at all, BB would have a very good chance of winning.

"Do you think it's possible that whatever Robin inhaled last night might have some sort of…aftereffect?", she asked, voicing her fear.

"Huh? You mean other than a bunch o' bruises and cuts? I guess it's possible…Why?", he asked suspiciously, looking up from his paddle.

Beast Boy seized his chance. While Cyborg was distracted, Beast Boy blew up the half-robot's race craft, thus, automatically winning the game. Cyborg's face fell, and all thoughts of Robin were driven out of his mind as Beast Boy did a victory dance on the coffee table.

Raven, who was pretty sure that she wouldn't get anything else out of Cyborg, headed for her room; she needed to think.

"It's possible" was not exactly the answer she had been looking for. She needed to know, solidly, if there were aftereffects, what these aftereffects were, and, most importantly, how to deal with them. Cyborg hadn't given her anything that she didn't already have.

"You don't have anything to go on", she thought. "You don't even know exactly what's been going on. Maybe you're imagining all this, maybe there really is nothing wrong…"

As much as she would like to, Raven couldn't believe that. Her vision must have meant something, she had definitely not imagined what she had seen…

"You do realize that, if you are correct, the most dangerous thing you could possibly do is leave Robin alone?", spoke Intelligence, an emotion that she had not paid much attention to of late.

Raven gasped, shocked at how stupid she had been. She was racing down the hall, racing against the time that had been lost… "Please be there, please be there…", she chanted over and over again. Not bothering to type in the access code, Raven opened a portal in the wall and passed through it into Robin's room.

"Empty." Fear was choking her…She hated fear… "Let go of all emotion. Being afraid and angry will not save Robin. Focus…"

She was jumping to conclusions. Robin could be anywhere in the tower, there was nothing to suggest that he was gone…

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So, what do you think so far? Let me know what I can do to improve :)

-Dusty