A/N: Okay. I just came back from the field trip from hell. We went to this mountain place and our teacher told us we could go off on our own and meet back up at the buses at like 12:30. So my friends and I were like, 'cool' and decided to follow our teacher anyways. But then we lost sight of our teacher and ended up joining these other upperclassmen. But I was not about to be ordered around by some upperclassmen yielding a stick and yelling. Hell no. XD So I told my two other friends, "Let's go find our way back to the visitors center." What a mistake that was. We ended up finding this cabin and eating our lunch at about 11 and then we wandered around the forest aimlessly for a total of an hour and a twenty five minutes. Yep. We were tired, angry, delusional and cursing up a storm. Finally, we found the road and had to follow it like a mile back up to the visitors center. That was THE scariest thing I have ever gone through. It was gonna start being like the blair witch project where we all start screaming and shit. We had our cellphones with us, but for some reason they wouldn't work, it was so bizarre. But we found our way back and my feet hurt really bad now.

Well, that is my tale on why this chapter is short. It is because I am worn out and I wanted to leave it at a cliffie for dramatic effect. But enjoy Slade and Robin arguing in slight out of characterness!

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Robin and Slade traveled down the spiral staircase without much talking. Just a few directional nods every now and then, but not much else. It wasn't until they reached the two towering doors, marked with the infamous inscriptions that they exchanged any form of conversation.

"I must warn you…you might not like what you see beyond these doors." Slade warned.

Robin peered at him. "I'll take my chances."

They pushed open the doors without much effort, revealing what looked like an artist's depiction of hell. Fire danced around the few stones that created a temporary ground as hot magma sat bubbling like a dormant ocean. Slade jumped into a small boat that was set-aside for anyone who dared to travel this fiery path. Robin jumped in cautiously after him as Slade began to push them forward, via a large staff. It looked similar to a gondola ride, but the circumstances were much different.

"Why'd you do it Slade? It's not like you to be a lackey for anyone…there had to be some other reason behind this." Robin asked, looking at him.

Slade didn't turn around. "My reasons are my own. Why don't you ask your little drinking partner? Oh, well that's if your not too busy using her like a cheap Brazilian whore. "

Robin ground his teeth and growled. "How the hell did you find out about that?"

He chuckled. Oh how he loved to anger Robin like this. "What exactly do you think goes on when Starfire and I meet? A police style interrogation?"

The boy wonder looked at him wearily. "I would hope it would be nothing more than that."

" Starfire and I…We're…acquaintances." That word rolled out of his mouth with a bit of distaste. He still found it painfully ironic that a superhero and a villain managed to become friends.

"What type of acquaintances?" Robin asked, his suspicion not hiding an inch.

Slade rolled his eye. "Must you always assume it's something sexual?"

"Well, with you and the younger population…it tends to get a little weird."

"Hmm…Well I'll have you know that she's completely devoted to you." A hint of bitterness shone through his tone of voice.

Robin picked this up and smirked to himself very slightly. "Don't tell me you're jealous."

He knew the game the boy wonder was playing. "Actually I am." It was almost a contest to see who could provoke more anger.

"What?" Rob was just shocked, actually. "You've got to be kidding me…"

"I think the same thing to myself every once and a while. But you are so ungrateful; you know that? That girl would jump through hoops for you and you don't even give her a second glance." Slade said crossly.

There was a second of silence as Robin looked at Slade with disbelief. "My decisions are my own…." He said, mimicking Slade's earlier quote. He inspected Slade for a second. "Is that why you're helping us? Because you pity Starfire?"

A single laugh came from him. "Pity? No. That's not why I'm doing this. Is it against the law for me to walk the side of the angels for a change?"

"It should be." He muttered. "No one ever knows quite what to expect from you."

"And I would have it no other way." Slade said with a smirk.

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Starfire, Cyborg and Beast Boy watched Robin and Slade disappear down the staircase, their hearts dropping a good ounce of hope.

"Great, so he leaves us for death?" Cyborg said bitterly.

Star sighed. "No, Robin and Slade know what they are doing. We should do as they requested and go after Trigon."

"What? And get ourselves killed?" Beast Boy said, raising his voice.

"We will be safe. The only reason Slade let me stay behind is because I have this." She held up her hand, the ring of Azar visible against her orange skin.

Cyborg peered at it. "What…what is that?"

"It is the ring of Azar. It will protect us against Trigon's attacks. Now we must go to him while he is weak." She had taken on a persona of Robin almost, very assertive and serious. No longer was she the confused foreigner.

The boys didn't question her as they began to fly towards Trigon's resting place. Starfire was confident they would not be harmed, but she couldn't help but be worried just a little bit. They stopped behind a building, gathering their thoughts and trying to keep out of Trigon's view. Star closed her eyes, repeating to herself that things weren't as bad as they seemed.

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As Slade and Robin paddled across the molten sea, throwing harsh comments at one another, fire creatures, like those from Slade's army, began to rise from the magma with malicious intent. Slade didn't see them, as he was focused on getting to their location, but Robin did.

One leaped in the boy wonder's direction, but he quickly pulled out his bo staff and smashed it. "Slade…Suggest you call off your crones."

He looked back. "What are you talking about?"

More and more of them began to rise from the magma, surrounding the boat. Robin and Slade were back to back in the middle, glancing all around at them.

"Oh…These? These aren't mine…" Slade said, getting a better grip on the pole he had been using to steer the boat.

They split into two unstoppable forces, slicing through the monsters like a knife through butter. Robin showed his acrobatic skill as he leaped from the sinking rocks, taking out anything that came in his way. Slade's actions were more direct, moving at a top speed, as if he had some sort of newfound power. They met up again on a large platform, standing in the stance they were before, surrounded yet again by the creatures.

"Can't you control these things? Get them to back down?" Robin asked, glaring.

Slade shook his head. "No. Trigon knows what I'm doing and he's trying to stop me. It's no use though. This is nothing two old friends can't handle."

Robin scowled. "With comments like that you still wonder why I act so uncouth around you."

"So it's not the whole rape thing?" Slade asked mockingly, chuckling low.

Robin didn't have time to respond as the monsters closed in. They went to work again, this time in perfect synch. Every jump seemed to be controlled by some godly force, as they made not a step out of order. Before they knew it, the area was cleared, leaving only the two men standing side by side.

"You've gotten better." Slade said, dusting his sleeve off casually.

Rob walked forward towards the dark abyss. "Less talking, more walking."

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Starfire flew quickly across the skies, dodging another swipe from Trigon's massive hand. Cyborg was shooting his sonic cannon, but it was no use. She had to remind herself that their objective was not to strike him, but merely to keep him occupied. Beast Boy flew backward from a hit, a green blur passing through her line of sight.

"Beast Boy? Are you harmed at all?" Star asked, alarmed.

He stood up, holding his head. "Nope, I'm just dandy…"

She flew to his side, and Cyborg joined them, catching his fall on his feet. They all looked to Trigon, teeth bared slightly.

"You fools are becoming quite the nuisance." Trigon said harshly, his voice ringing through the air.

Cyborg stepped forward. "Give us your best shot!" He yelled arrogantly.

Trigon peered at them. "I am not going to waste my strength on you. Do you not understand that I can see everything? I know what you and your little friends are up to. They will not succeed."

Star looked at the guys. They were all wearing equally pale faces. Trigon raised his hand, sending a strong blast of magic in their way. They tried to fight it, sliding on their feet, but they were ultimately blown away like a paper bag in the wind. Starfire nearly bit her tongue as she felt herself collide with the ground again.

"Robin…please hurry…" She whispered painfully, staring up at the void sky.

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Robin and Slade walked a long way, sliding down cliffs and avoiding falling pieces of ground. They reached a fork in the road, one leading down and the other elevating slightly.

"Are you prepared for this?" Slade asked.

Rob gave a slight nod. "Yeah. Which way?"

Slade pointed to the higher of the two roads. They walked forward, darkness enveloping them temporarily. When light did come back, it was in the form of flames, rested atop steeples engraved with the mark of scath. The rocky path continued forward, but not for too long. They progressed onward when four of the fire creatures rose from the ground.

"You guys again?" Robin remarked.

Slade went to attack, but Robin held a hand out to stop him. He wanted to handle this. Robin moved forward swiftly, almost magically combining two birdrangs into a samurai type sword. He gave a slight feint to the right and then spun quickly, shredding the monsters like paper. Slade watched the entire thing, amused by Robin's newfound skill.

"Have you been training with the Batman again?" Slade asked, following Robin as he progressed forward.

Rob's mouth went into a wry smile. "What can I say? The man has skill."

As they followed the path, they saw nothing more but the same devastating scene of fire and rubble. But, somehow, as they moved more into a cave of sorts, icicles began to appear on the walls. It was a strange sight, to say the least.

"What the…" Robin muttered, tearing one of the icicles off the ceiling.

Slade peered at their surroundings; it suddenly started to become colder. It was getting a bit darker, but the small glow of magma served as a light to lead the way. They stopped abruptly as something passed by their line of sight, a dark shadow of sorts. The air became deafly quiet as they waited for it to pass again.

"What are you doing here?" A female voice asked irately

They couldn't see her, but her voice was prominent in the darkness. Robin peered further into the shadows, behind a wall of growing ice; he could see the silhouette of a person.

"We mean no harm…just come out and talk to us…" Robin said slowly.

"No! Why should I trust you?" More ice began to crawl onto the walls.

Something clicked in Robin's mind. Her powers, she was the one controlling this ice. Whoever this girl was, her powers were obviously unstable.

Slade spoke up, "We are trying to save the world and we think you might be able to help…"

They waited a few seconds as she debated their words. Finally, she stepped from the wall of ice, into the dim light.

Robin and Slade had to stop and stare at her. She looked not a day over the age of ten; her arms and legs were long and frail, as they were with any adolescent. Her blonde, almost white hair was pulled back into a messy, short ponytail, giving full view to her finely cut facial features. Robin couldn't tear away from her eyes; they were a striking violet color, just like Raven's.

Her eyes widened slightly at the sight of Slade. "You…you look familiar…"

"Well I should. I am your father, after all." He smirked under the mask.

Robin looked at Slade, masked eyes wide. "This…. This is Raven's child? But how is she…"

He glanced towards Robin and then back at the girl. "There must have been some sort of warp in time…. So, tell us your name."

She gulped, rubbing her sleeved arm nervously. "My name's…Rumur…"

"What is it with you people and the letter R?" Slade muttered in Robin's direction.

"No time for jokes Slade. How do we stop Trigon and get Raven back? Does she know?" Robin asked impatiently.

He shook his head. "No…I only thought up to this far…"

"Dammit Slade!" Robin cursed; he looked back at Rumur who was staring at them cautiously. "C'mon, we'll think of a plan."

"I…I'm not going with you…. just go away." She pointed in Slade's direction, eyeing him warily. She obviously wasn't getting a good vibe from him.

Rob smirked. "Good, you already hate him. Just come along with us and we'll explain on the way, okay?"

"What? So I'm just supposed to trust two masked freaks? No thanks, I think I'll take my chances here." She crossed her arms.

Slade stepped forward. "I don't think you understand the situation at hand here. You are the key to stopping this hell hole of a world and getting your…mother back." He said the word 'mother' with the utmost spite to his tone.

"Me? My mom? I…okay, this is really confusing…" She closed her eyes for a second and then inspected the pair again. She would probably end up starving to death if she chose to stay here and she didn't really didn't trust these guys, but what other choice did she have?

"Fine. I'll go with you…" She muttered and walked forward.

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Starfire, Cyborg and Beast Boy were inside one of the remaining buildings. They sat around a table, bandaging up stray wounds.

"Robin better get back soon…I think Trigon is ready to start taking over the universe…" Cyborg muttered.

She looked to the floor. "I believe I have lost hope…Trigon knows what we are trying to do. He has probably destroyed Slade and Robin by means of those creatures…"

"Do you really think we'd let a couple of mindless fire monsters take us down?" Robin asked arrogantly, standing in the doorway.

The three of them looked up to see Robin, Slade and Rumur standing the doorway.

Cyborg stared at Rumur with a questioning gaze. "Whose the new girl?"

Slade put a hand on her shoulder to which she gave an uncomfortable scowl. "This is Rumur…Mine….and Raven's daughter…." He went to elaborate more when the ground began to shake.

The team looked out the windows to see Trigon rising from his post, power crackling through his hands as he growled. Robin's hands went into fists as he looked back at the team.

"This is it you guys. We get one shot. It's either him or us, no in between. Even if we don't make it, we can at least say that we tried. So what if it's the end of the world? We're still here, we're still friends, that's all that matters." His expression was somber as he looked over each of them.

This was either the end or the beginning…and it was up to them to make it happen.

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A/N: Short but dramatic and to the point. I got a little sidetracked while writing this chapter because I'm working on my new SladeStar story, 'Corner of my eye'. Though I PROMISE you I am not abandoning this story for that one. No, of course not, this is my most successful story ever.

Next chapter is going to be the big battle and probably one of the last three. Oh, I get sad thinking about this story ending…Or perhaps it won't end so soon, I have some ideas in my head, but we'll see how it turns out.

But if you guys enjoyed the SladeStar pairing in this story, you should go take a look at my newest fiction. It's in a different perspective, but a SladeStar story nonetheless.

Okay, Friend Responses:

Rose: Muhaha. I knew you would get a kick out of Slade having his body back. But I promise you, once their done with the whole saving the world thing…I will give you your make out scene…with a twist…but you'll get your fill…damn, I better shut up before I give away any other info.

Le gasp! I turned you into a RobRae fan! YEY! YOU HAVE JOINED THE DARKSIDE! Or, you could be like me, a RobRae AND RobStar fan with a preference of one more towards the other. Should I start my ramble on how both of them have their strong points? I think I should. Here we go! (Oh and if you're offended by talk of sex at all…. which is really stupid to even say considering this is you, but my friend Emma gets weirded out by this, just ignore part of it)

Robin and Starfire are like the sweet high school sweetheart couple. They hold hands and kiss under the setting sun and have little picnics on Sundays. Perhaps there is some of Starfire's happiness pudding. Then, when the lights go out at night, they have like gentle 'love making' sex, ya know? The kind where it's more passion rather than the number of orgasms….XDD!

Robin and Raven, however, would be the opposite. They don't need all the mushy stuff to define their relationship. Perhaps a bit of handholding couldn't hurt, but when they gazed into each others eyes, people would just KNOW they were together. They have that sexy, emo couple thing going on. Then, when the moon rises, it gets kinky. Yes, there would still be the elements of 'love making' sex, but with a bit more roughness and the orgasms count ranking pretty high in their priority list. Perhaps a little S&M couldn't hurt…cha know?

Yes, I have WAY too much time on my hands to evaluate fictitious relationships. But, hell, I make myself sound smart sometimes.

And to your musical/fan fiction; that was GREAT. I love how Slade just dissed Cyborg. Yeah, that's right Cyborg, take your mechanical ass and go to one of your…-counts- like five or six girlfriends…pimp. Slade's quote about the one eyed buddies…that's from SOMEWHERE…Oh yeah! Pretty baby! YEEEYY! That has to be one of the greatest parodies ever.

Well, I look forward to your next review. You are truly hilarious Rose. Did you know I named my ipod mini Rose? It's mostly 'cause she's pink (I assign them genders and names) but then I thought of you. My mom's green one is named olive…. Heh. Well, hasta la vista!

Pat: Did you know you're song writing skills are AMAZING? I didn't know it was possible to compose so many lines about kicking Starfire's ass. It's wonderful.

Well, when I went to Hawk Mountain…I didn't see anything on the lines of Hawk Girl OR even any raptors of any kind. I saw a grand total of one squirrel. I named it Eduardo. My friend suggested we eat him when we got lost, but I said we could eat his twin brother Fernando. Yep, I name nearly everything with some sort of Spanish name. Speaking of which, we were Spanish class and we were learning the word for wrestling in Spanish and it was like 'Lucha' or something like that so I go, "Oh like on Cartoon Network that show Mucha Lucha!" and everyone sort of blinked at me. I was like, "Yes. I have no life."

Anyways, why is Robin in a green Speedo a bad image? I don't think it is….now him in those assless riding chaps…that could get weird.

I love to dance. I love to play dance dance revolution at my friend's house. For Christmas, I want the Mario version. It's like, Mario we're going to show the world that you CAN break dance better than luigi and toad combined.

Damn, before I forget, your last review before this where you made the comment about how I should have a boyfriend, thankie! I was very flattered. I mean, I don't go kicking guys in the crotch, contrary to popular belief, but alas, I am alone and left to chase after my best friend who is two years older than me…. but acts like he's twelve.

Mmmk, I better shut up now. But I can't wait to hear from you again! –Large grin-