Wounds of Filth

Chapter 9: Violent Skies

By: DeathIsOnlyTheBeginin

DISCLAIMER: I Do NOT Own Teen Titans...Cross My Heart And Hope To Die.

(Enjoy!Read and Review Please!)

Robin studied the sun darkly, watching as it attempted to fight off hordes of vibrant colors, each shade of violent pink, orange and gold engaging forcefully and egger to win the battle of dusk. The war plagued the sky, rays of color scheming across the surveying clouds and tainting them with their hues. Sunset was a massacre the sun had to continuously endure, and Robin almost found himself pitying it. The shades of death reached up towards the heavens, each willing to outlast the other until they all were all equally drowned out by the hard violet of night. The Boy Wonder observed all of this with a dazed expression, his masked eyes somewhat blank and far off.

Raven's voice resounded in his head, the feel of her arms around his neck still ever burning and extreme. He sighed, the heals of his feet clicking against the east Tower wall as his legs dangled over the roof's edge. Headquarters was quite, the remaining members of the team buried somewhere deep inside, and doing God only knew what to keep themselves busy. With a groan of exasperation, Robin buried his face in his hands, his long, gloved fingers working their way through his hair.

They had gone off searching for Raven as soon as each Titan had woken up and eaten. Separating, they had easily scaled the entire city twice; they never found anything and any normal person could effortlessly see the hope dwindling quickly within the team. Robin sighed, exhaustion aching in his muscles as he lifted his head and let it loll back on his neck, eyes catching sight of a few, soft stars glittering in the navy web of evening.

"Where are you?" He whispered quietly, his eyes scanning the sky in search of an answer. A slight, warm breeze whistled through the air, its essence toying with the dark locks of his hair; his only answer. Robin closed his eyes and listened to the sound of the soft wind, relaxing slightly in its presence.

"Robin!"

The flat door of the roof snapped up and landed on the metal loudly, sending a slight vibration through the steal. The leader's head turned quickly at the sound of his name, his eyes landing on the gangly figure of Beast Boy. His teammate's eyes were huge with worry, his breathing coming in sharp pants. Robin swung his legs back over and set his feet upon the cold floor,

"What is it?"

Robert felt his stomach tighten, his sapphire eyes locked onto the sturdy form of his current employer and latest enemy. Slade's eye held a terrible glint as he waltzed into the room, hands linked properly behind his back. With every click of the deranged lunatic's heals, Red X felt his panic expand, his heart racing; he had to protect her...somehow. Blindly, Robert stepped between the hanging form of Raven and her predator, his hands fisted and tense by his sides.

"Stay away from her." He ordered sternly, his eyes narrowed coldly at the man before him. Slade simply chuckled, his eye gleaming with humor.

"Step aside, boy. As I have already told you; this is bigger than the likes of you."

A growl of fury rose in Robert's throat, his teeth bared and fists ready, "I don't care how big it is. I wont let you hurt her anymore."

Slade stopped walking, a smile toying upon his hidden lips. The pair of villains watched each other as though frozen, not a muscle daring to twitch.

"I have no intention of harming her." Slade stated casually, his voice dead of emotion as he took a step forward, leaving but a foot of floor to remain the only distance between him and the boy. Robert snarled and lunged, a fist set in Slade's direction; the elder caught X's wrist easily and flung him to the side without care.

"That was quite rash, Robert. You need to work on that temper of yours."

Red X collided with the wall, his head smacking against the thick steal. Blood seeped from the new crack in his skull, his body sliding down the wall only to collapse into a slumped, sitting position. He head hung forward, unconsciousness weighing heavily upon his shoulders.

Slade smirked in triumph and headed to Raven, halting before her and crouching down.

"Raven," he soothed loudly, his hand reaching up and pushing a curtain of lavender behind her ear, "Wake up."

Raven's eyes amazingly fluttered open upon command, the deep violets catching sight of he whom called to her. She winced as waves of forgotten pain washed over her being, drenching her in remembrance of her new wounds.

"Slade..." She managed to whisper, her head feeling as though a tremendous weight upon her neck. The criminal nodded, his gray eye cold as ever.

"Time to go, pretty bird."

Blood thundered through Robin's temples, his heart racing as he rounded another corner, a cheetah Beast Boy running ahead of him. With a grunt he latched hold of the horizontal railing and flung himself over it, air whistling past his ears as he fell; the stairs would take too long.

Robin's feet met the floor with a hard thud, a slight sting shooting up through his feet and legs; he sprinted on, heading for the front door. A roar and flash of green later, Beast Boy was ahead of him once again, having leapt from the highest stair. The muffled voices of Cyborg and Starfire hummed in his ringing ears, his feet rounding the final corner.

Slade looked down upon the crippled figure at his feet, the tatters of her ruined cape and leotard fluttering in the slight wind as storm clouds lapped upon the sky vast in the distance. Plum shaded hair wisped about her barely conscious face, eyes in likeness of color, half closed.

"We'll be seeing you soon," Slade promised before turning on his heal and walking away, his figure seeming to fade until it disappeared all together.

Raven heaved a sigh of horrendous anguish and utter fatigue before passing into oblivious sleep.

Masked eyes laid heavily upon the broken clump of flesh, ruby staining the cement beneath it. Dark, unruly locks of spiked hair shook in the sharp draft, tickling the very edges of his sights. Robin felt his heart plummet into his stomach, before the later twisted into a knot, suffocating them both. His teammates stared at him with large, seeing eyes, shoulders slumped and heads slightly bowed; He felt like his world was dying.

Raven's body ached his mind, her presence thick in the air and far more humid than the atmosphere of the ever approaching storm. He rushed ahead of the three and knelt beside her, his eyes pulling in her injuries and state of pitiful health.

"Quick!" He barked, throat raw with worry, "Help me get her to the Infirmary!"

1/14/2011:

For writers everywhere, I just want to give a heads up to ANYONE who reads any really old story by me and then feels the need to leave a ridiculous, anon review and rant like some child about how dreadful they think it is - I don't care what you think about anything, so don't waste my time. I'm just going to delete your flame anyway, so you might as well not bother to leave it - however, if you must insist upon posting one, I wish you happiness in your futility.

That being said, if you flame - SIGN IN instead of just popping on here like some coward and trying to rip me up over something I wrote AGES ago (ha!). If you flame and then refuse to sign in and offer up your own writing to back your mouth up, keep your mouth closed. I wrote this story 6 years ago. It's an old, amateur, raw piece of work, and I know that. I was only 14 when I started it - but for 14, I did a damn good job.

It's comical that you think you can judge someone's writing capabilities on the shortcomings of their 6-year-old pieces of work - honestly, that just cracks me up. You should know that despite your high opinion of yourself and your obvious belief that I need your "expertise", I'm just laughing at you. I do not need your praise or acknowledgment to validate myself as a writer, and I don't need your dimwitted, ignorant advice. I write very well and I know it. God bless.