Chapter Ten: Hands Of Hate

Although Raven's eyes had met with Robin's for that brief second, as she fought with Slade the barrier between herself and the other Titans quickly dropped away to nothingness. Slade let out a small noise that was presumably one of pain as she hit him off the wall, ignoring all but the fight.

"Raven! Please, you've got to just hear me out…." Robin was desperate, running toward the fight with full speed and a low voice, wishing there was some way to make her listen to him. "Raven!"

She didn't even look up. "You're a bastard. You killed Cyborg… You refuse to bring him back…. You deserve to die, damn you!" She hit him again with more force than ever, which somehow cracked the side of Slade's mask, splintering the metal just along his jagged cheek-line with a shape unseen in most metal fragments.

Slade let out only a small moan in reply.

"What's the matter?" She spat hatefully, her emotion –choked voice coming out heavy and dark, standing over him with literal power radiating from her. "Can't you get up anymore and face the reality of what you've done now?"

Slade didn't answer her. Instead, he lay there on the ground, blood actually coming from the cracked side of his face, laying in a small puddle on the ground. "You… This is all in vain…"

"Shut up!" Raven kicked him away from her again.

"Raven, you can't…." Robin couldn't stand it anymore, and instead grabbed her by the left shoulder and tried his hardest to pull her back. However, she resisted his touch and thrust him back, throwing him away from her and instead slamming him into something else, jumped on him so that her feet landed against his chest, causing a nasty metallic crunching noise.

His low moan said it all- He truly was defeated. Robin looked over at his arch enemy, still trying to pry Raven away from him, but he felt the resistance from his own heart, and a part of him wondered if it wasn't better for him to just die now, quickly and painlessly.

"Raven, please stop!" Beast Boy had latched himself onto Raven's other arm and tried to pull her back. However, now both of her arms pinned, she seemed to become more aware of her ability to move her legs, and kicked Slade in his chest again, then again.

Again and again, refusing to stop until he was gone and dead…

Raven's POV…

I hate him. I hate this damn…. I can't wait to kill him. I watch my own legs slam him again and again, slamming against his chest as I fight to break from my friends. Starfire grabs my arm too, but I don't have the heart to throw her off too… She's been too good of a friend for that.

At the same time, my anger wants to be in total control. I can hear Robin screaming- Telling me what I should and shouldn't do, how this will affect my life, telling me that Cyborg is still able to come back- but I don't listen to him, not really.

All that's important to me now is seeing to it that Slade dies in any way possible, even if I have to soil my own hands. We all do stupid things in the name of love, after all, myself included.

And I know I'd do anything to have Cyborg back. I loved him, and Slade…He pushed me to this, to this point of breaking. He has to die for that, to suffer for that.

I wonder vaugly if my eyes are glowing red under the hood, if Slade is afraid of me yet, because I hear his defenseless cries, his need to scream out in pain and tell me how very sorry he is. I know he'd do anything in his power to remidfy the stituation, to save his own worthless life.

But that's all his life is to me is worthless.

And I will kill him.

"Raven, think about it for a second! What would Cyborg do if he could see you like this, if he could see how much you hate this man right now? No life is worth this anger! Please, Raven…. Would you want Cyborg to see just how far you'd go if it meant you could have him back!"

"Cyborg is gone! Don't you understand that? He's gone and it's over with, Robin!"

"Friend Raven, we can save your boyfriend! Please, do not cause another death in vain…." Starfire, still clutching to Raven's left arm and Robin's waist, was standing there behind her own boyfriend, doing her best to support him.

Which, for some odd reason, set Raven off. "Stay out of this!" She screamed, slamming Slade to the ground yet again. He was looking tired and worse for wear, and Robin almost felt a form of pity for the bleeding

"You're going to kill him! Is that what you want, Raven! Is it?" Beast Boy was now shouting too, trying his hardest to keep her from dealing anymore near-fatal blows, yanking her away. "Do you want to have the death of someone on your hands!"

"….No." She answered simply, trying to check the anger and pain in her. "But Cyborg isn't coming back! It's over, and I'm going to kill him!"

"No! Raven, we can save Cyborg.! You can't let someone else die in vain, not after that poor woman sacrificed herself for you and for our cause!"

"….What?" Raven asked, as if coming from a deep trance and looking over at Beast Boy's face.

Instead of an answer, Robin flaunted the blueprints, which made Raven's taunt face relax slightly. "You got those… for us?"

He nodded. "I'm your leader and Cy…. Is like a brother to me. The sooner we get him back on our side, the sooner we can get life back to normal. Raven, you deserve that….Unless you think you don't?"

Raven was silent for a few moments, her expression now unreadable, her emotions long since past the point of any form of control. "Cyborg…" She clenched her fist and looked down at it. "Cyborg, I…." Her eyes locked on the downed form on the floor. "What have I done!"

"Raven, calm down. It's over." Robin was very simple, trying to distract her while he too looked over at Slade, who had closed both eyes and appeared to lay very still, as if unsure of how to proceed to get the Titan's attention.

He could only let out a grunt of pain.

"I almost took another life… Another life with the right to life, and I almost killed…." She buried her head in her hands while looking over at Robin, who couldn't find the right words to say.

That was when he heard Slade let out a broken gasp for air. "Death… Would be most welcome…. Kill me…"

"NO!" Robin shouted. "I may hate you, but you can't die…. You are inclined to die, yet you have a right to life, the same as I do."

Slade didn't respond, and Raven could hear his breath growing more and more shallow as she ran for the exit. "Right to life…" She muttered. "What claim to life does a murder have?"I guess I'll just have to ask Cyborg.

That was, as the remaining three Titans looked on, Slade stopped breathing. He had had his right to life, but it had somehow ended with his more pressing need to fall at the hands of hate.

Raventhedarkgoddess: Bad update, sorry. Two in the morning and I'm sugar-high. Anyway, let me know what you thought.