A/N: Here's another chapter. Next one should be out real soon but right now I need to finish the next chapter in Trying to do the Right Thing which has become a real process and headache. This chapter came out pretty good I think though the battle scene was not great in my opinion. Seemed too short but I guess it really didn't need to be all that long. It wasn't terribly important though the result of it is. Well that's it.

To my reviewers:

First Commander Miari: Thanks for the reviews. Glad to see another new reader of my story. Glad you like how I portrayed Raven and Nightwing. Both have been fun to write as they especially Nightwing's split personality. Its interesting to write a single character as actually two characters. Hope you enjoy the update.

mysti-eyed: Yeah I update pretty quickly. Might as well while I still have the time to do it. This chapter has more Nightwing/Richard internal struggle so I hope you enjoy it as much as the last chapter's.

DeathsLastBreath: The twist did work well. It really gives more reason to Nightwing's situation. I don't even think I was going to have it when I first started this story but it kind of just appeared and it really went well.

evilsangle: Yeah Richard/Nightwing definitely have their problems but I'm sure they'll get better soon or maybe really, really worse. Either way, it'll all be good.

Cherry Jade: Yeah, Nightwing is pretty dangerous, even to Raven. I'm not sure yet on the Beast Boy question but I'll tentatively say no. He's really not necessary for the direction the story will go and I think it would take too much effort to introduce him. He pretty much could have his own story with his search for Terra's cure but that could be another project but who knows. Hope you enjoy the chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans so lets not try and sue me since I don't have anything to sue for.

Finding Hope Again

Chapter 7

By: Finalitylife

Nightwing kept running and running. Eventually he found himself in the forested area on the outskirts of Jump City. His heart was racing, his mind completely chaotic. A part of him pushed against his desire to flee, his desire to get as far away from here as possible and that part of him was getting stronger. This part of him told him to go back to her, to stop running from who we once were, to become who he was always meant to be. Nightwing had for so long forced that part of himself into dormancy but seeing Starfire's memorial had reawakened it and Raven, that damn Raven, had forced it back to the surface, had fueled its desire to go home. No matter how far Nightwing ran, he couldn't get her words out of his mind, he couldn't get her face out of his eyes, her touch off his skin. It was burning him up. One part of him reveled in this while the other was slowly being consumed by it.

Raven. It had always been Raven. He had always been drawn to the dark girl even in his past life as Robin. He had been drawn to her as she sobbed uncontrollably following Starfire's death, as she faded away. Nightwing still felt himself being drawn to her though it was not of his own accord. She had once been the ice queen, so cold, yet now she was a dangerous flame and still a part of him was drawn to her. Nightwing screamed as the voice within him laughed at his foolishness, getting louder and louder, becoming impossible to block out. He slammed his right fist into a nearby tree in frustration.

"Damn you Richard! Do you have any idea what you're doing? Slade will destroy us if we allow ourselves to become weak again. We won't be able to have our revenge!" The voice responded in his head.

"Revenge is not everything. Hatred is not all we know. We once knew so much more." Nightwing growled.

"And where did that get us! Dead parents. Dead friend. Dead hope. It only brings death." Nightwing smiled triumphantly as the voice did not respond. However, it was just thinking.

"Starfire knew so much more than hatred and rage and she brought us life."

"Shut up! Just shut up!" Nightwing started running again.

"You can't run away from the truth, a truth that I allowed both of us to be blind to, a truth that Raven reminded me of."

"Damn her to hell. Stupid witch. Why couldn't she leave me alone! Why couldn't she stay out of this!"

"Because she is our friend and she still cares. Even after how we treated her she still cares. She has given us something to look to other than Slade and our vengeance."

"I don't need her! I don't need anyone. They are just distractions from what is important. They are nothing but a waste of time."

"You never where able to understand how Starfire was able to give her life for me. I don't expect you to understand any of this either. You are darkness, you are hatred, you are inhuman." Nightwing laughed manically.

"Yes but I am still you Richard. I have always been there with you, hiding in the darkest parts of your mind and I always will be you."

"You are correct but that doesn't mean I have to let you control my life. You are only a part of me, a shadow of who I once was. There is strength in what you are, strength that I've always wanted, that I sought out in my guilt when Starfire died. Strength that Slade worked so hard to teach me. And Raven reminded me of something today. You may make me strong, but we are still far weaker than Starfire was. It is easy to get lost in vengeance, get lost in pain. It is easy to kill but it takes real strength to live for others, to die for others." Again Nightwing laughed, bordering on total insanity.

"Idealistic, weak fool. You know you want me here, you know you need me here. I can give you everything you truly want." Richard laughed.

"Did anyone ever tell you just how much you sound like Slade?" Nightwing snarled and slammed his head into a tree, created a bleeding wound on his forehead.

"Shut up! Never compare me to him! I will kill that monster."

"And in doing so we will become just like him. It is time to step back from the cliff. It is time to go home." Nightwing screamed, refusing to give in and ran off deeper into the forest.

I sat in the infirmary, on the bed that me and Nightwing had slept in last night, simply thinking. I don't know how long I sat there for but I knew it was a few hours. Nightwing had left, that much I knew, but where to I had no idea. He was fighting within himself and I dared not interfere in that. I had been in Robin's mind years ago to save him from himself and I never admitted it but the experience frightened me. Back then, when my father was still within me, my mind had been dark but the darkness was truly contained within my anger. Robin's darkness had been everywhere, within all aspects of his personality. It was not consuming like it was now but lingered there at the edge of what made him. I knew that even if I could go back into his mind now to try and help him, I knew I wouldn't want to. I don't think I would of survived it.

My mind drifted to another thought that I had been mulling over since he had left. Nightwing had said that he had not been able to save his parents. This reminded me of an image I had seen when I was in Robin's mind, of two people falling in a circus. Was that Robin's or should I say Richard's parents? Was it really something so tragic that created Robin all those years ago? It seemed like Robin had been born in tragedy just as Nightwing had been. Would it really take something equally as tragic to curve Nightwing's path toward destruction? I didn't know the answer to that question. I had done everything I could for him though I truly wished I had more time with him. I had done my best to make him realize what he had become and what he should have been, where he should have been. I wanted him to come home, but not as Nightwing but as the person we all knew he could be. It would be what Starfire would have truly wanted and when he finally comes home, I will be there for him, to hold him just as he once held me. I just prayed that it was not too late, that madness and hatred had not taken him too far away.

I was pulled abruptly from my thoughts by the sound of an alarm, one that I had not heard for a long time. It was an alarm that meant the tower was under attack. I engulfed myself in black energy and brought myself to the main room. I typed a few buttons into our main computer and felt my heart stop. Slade-bots were marching toward the tower on all sides.

"Well time to see just how effective the security system is." A smiled as I pushed a few more buttons. Instantly, gun turrets and lasers erupted from the ground around the island and came to life. The first line of robots were destroyed instantly. However, I saw on the monitor that there were just more to replace the destroyed ones. The tower started its lock down procedure as reinforced titanium came down at all the doors and windows and hundreds of weapons came from the walls, ceiling, and floor awaiting any intruder who got this far. I watched on the monitors as the first line of defense was beaten by the growing hordes of robots. Slade was really getting unpredictable. A massive attack like this during the day was not his style. I watched as the robots began trying to cut there way through the titanium barriers as more guns came out of the outside walls of the tower and began decimating their numbers.

"You are not getting inside this tower Slade. Not now, not ever." His robots continued to try and get through the walls of the tower in a futile attempt to most likely get to Nightwing who wasn't even here and in the process were ripped to shreds by the outer guns. However, I felt my blood run cold as my comment to myself was answered by a smooth, cold voice.

"Really Raven. It seems to me that you might be mistaken." I slowly turned around to find the dark figure of Slade standing about twenty feet from me. His one eye seemed to glow in the dark room as it stared at me. I was shocked to notice that the defense weapons in the room had been destroyed. How did he do that without me knowing? I really had gotten rusty.

"I'll concede that the defenses are much improved and that it did cost me quite a few of my robot soldiers, but it was all worth it. They provided a nice distraction for me to sneak in before you locked up the tower so tightly. It's just you and me Raven. What game would you like to play?" I knew he was smiling underneath his mask which only made me angry.

"Well you being such an intelligent person and all Slade, then I'm sure you realize that Nightwing isn't even here and you used this wonderful plan for nothing." My voice was full of venom and sarcasm, much how it used to be when dealing with Slade. Slade laughed darkly as he continued to stare at me.

"My dear Raven, I'm not here for Robin, I'm hear for you." The last part came out low and it made me shiver slightly.

"You see Raven, I still want my apprentice back. He has grown into much of what I desire. The only problem is that he wishes to kill me."

"I think everyone in this world wants you dead Slade."

"I'd imagine so but lets stick to topics that are realistic." I glared at him.

"My apprentice recently revealed to me that he still has one weakness. I had believed he had nothing left to lose and was ready to completely embrace what I had to offer but even I am capable of being wrong it seems. He still has you Raven, doesn't he?" I didn't move, didn't respond, only continued to glare at Slade.

"That is what has brought me here today, to see you. You have a use to me now, something that can help me achieve my goals of the perfect apprentice. I would have preferred to find some way for him to serve me willingly but I can not have that at this moment so I will create a temporary solution. He will eventually come around."

"You know I will never help you Slade so you are just wasting you're time." Slade laughed.

"You really don't have a choice in the matter Raven. The decision has already been made by me." Using the time he had given me, I had reached my energy out around me to various objects around the room. I smiled.

"Well Slade, its not a good decision. Azarath Metrion Zinthos." Instantly, almost every object in the room converged on Slade's standing form. He effortlessly dodged a piece of electronics only to put him into a spot for a chair to slam into back. He stumbled into another impact from another chair. Objects swirled around him like a tornado, as I occasionally struck with something. He would dodge on occasions but I was making quite a few impacts. I was winning. However, Slade managed to toss something at my feet and a blinding light erupted blinding me. My concentration broke, I could hear various objects fall loudly to the floor as I stumbled. I never did recover. I felt an arm wrap around me and something jammed into my neck. It wasn't much longer until I fell into darkness.