Disclaimer: No, the characters are not mine. And the quote isn't either. They belong to the writers of the comic book and the quote to the show and probably other people who are still not me.

Prologue

"If you join me, if you swear to serve me, if you never speak to your friends again, I will allow them to live. But, if you disobey, even the smallest request, I will annihilate them, Robin, and I'll make you watch!"

Slade had told me those words nearly three years ago. I had never forgotten them. Slade had made sure of that when I had tested him. I had pushed against his limits, but as soon as he threatened the lives of my friends, I had deflated instantly. I would always put my life before theirs.

Always.

I ran my thumb against the crack in the Titan Communicator. Slade had hurled it against a wall one night when he had seen me looking at it. I had done my best to piece it back together, but it would never work again. It was broken, just as my friendship was.

Perhaps I should just end it all. I had nothing to live for. I wouldn't, just because I knew that if I killed myself, I would be killing my friends as well. Slade would kill them just for the pleasure of hearing them scream.

I had thought, once, that I would be able to get away from him. That was when Trigon had made his appearance. Slade had been completely immersed in doing his will, but things had gone quickly from bad to worse between the two of them when Trigon had decided not to honor his end of the bargain.

I had disobeyed Slade severely that night in helping the people I still dared to call my friends. I could not simply abandon them, not when they needed help so badly.

My friends had never known who had saved Raven that day. I took care that they never saw more than a cloaked figure.

I longed to tell them why I had betrayed them, but Slade would have killed them for sure if I had done so. He was still very… displeased with what I had done that night, and he had made sure I had felt his anger for months after the incident.

I was, after all, his apprentice.