OMG! I have noticed something incredibly clever on Nevermore (TT Season One)! It could be a coincidence, of course, as actually I would be surprised if WB thought that far ahead, but it is clever nonetheless; you know when "Sad Gray Raven" leads Cy and BB through the maze, and the whole episode is basically about Trigon and Raven's dark side and blahblahblah, right? Well, when they come to the finish of the maze, Raven says "That's the end". Of course, she means it literally, as in the "end of the maze", but is it possibly meant in another way? Possibly referring to Trigon actually being "The End"?

Sorry. I was watching Nevermore (a clever name in itself, although WB would never admit they stole it from Poe) the other day and I heard Raven say it and something clicked and I started shrieking and squeaking and I think everybody thought I had gone mad…

Um, anyway… Thanks for all the reviews, guys! - And glad that's cleared everything up for you, Yami no Kaiba.

So, once again; to YamiTai (no, Robin won't turn evil, I promise; "psycho" is another matter entirely… And I love Ivy too, even though I killed her off OO); to DarkMarkLv (I never said Slade wasn't bad; he's just not as bad as he'd like to think… bless…); to Phoenix Skyborne (well, where would the fun be without a freaky dream, huh?); to Quinn and His Quill (how did the Batmobile get onto Titans Island? Uh, the same way the T-car or Robin's R-cycle do, I would imagine…); to AutumnDynasty (the original proof-reader for Asylum, I might elaborate! And all who like Tales of Symphonia should read Katz o' 100 Tales! It's… cute! -); to Yami no Kaiba (who has given me more reviews than anyone else! - Glad you like Robin's twisted mind, although Haunted sure does back me up on that, y'know…); and to the rather randomly-entitled Le Squirrel, who signed Ch 1 (if you get this far…). You haven't given up on me, have you, Narroch06 and KamiElf?…

Ok, just one chappie tonight, but I'll get more up soon. And this one actually has the Teen Titans in it!

Whoo-hoo!

From Arkham With Love

"He's up to something," Beast Boy murmured as he and Cyborg peeped around the kitchen doorframe.

"Definitely," Cyborg agreed, frowning.

They both knew Robin would kill them if he realised they were spying on him, but neither of them could deny that he was acting strangely. Vague, dismissive, moody and altogether irritable. Warning signs the entire team had come to recognise, all pointing towards the assumption he was "up to something". He got like this when Slade was on the agenda, particularly, but his behaviour had become weird when faced with Poison Ivy and the "Joker Incident" too.

"What y'all think's eatin' him?" Cyborg whispered. Beast Boy shrugged.

"Dunno." He yawned, advertising his pointed teeth. "This is getting boring, though."

"Mm hmm," Cyborg agreed. He could do little else than agree, of course; Robin was sitting at the kitchen table with his nose in a book and seemed completely immersed. He had a bowl of tortilla chips on the table beside him and reaching for one to put it in his mouth or turning the page were the only movements he made.

"What's he reading?" Beast Boy inquired. Cyborg squinted and his mechanical eye flashed.

"Can't really see," he said. "Something by Edgar Allen Poe, I think."

Beast Boy snorted.

"Great, just what we need; another Raven. I swear she's brainwashed him or something…"

"It looks like one of her books," Cyborg went on. "I wonder if she knows he has it…"

They looked at each other briefly, and Beast Boy sighed.

"I think we're at our lowest, Cy," he stated. "We're discussing where Robin stole his book from."

"You wanna go on Super Ninja Fury?" Cyborg asked. Beast Boy nodded and they turned on their heel to leave. A slight shifting noise met their ears and they both stopped dead; within seconds they were both back in their hiding place.

"What's he doing?" Beast Boy asked frantically.

"Watch," was all Cyborg said in reply; so they did both watch Robin as he suddenly snapped his book shut and leaned over the table, his head buried in his arms. He sighed heavily and Cyborg and Beast Boy frowned at each other.

"Should we go and see if he's ok?" Beast Boy asked. Cyborg shook his head.

"No, leave him. He'd be really annoyed if he knew we've been watching him."

No sooner had the half-robot said this than Robin sat up straight again, scraped back his chair, got up and went to the fridge. He swung it open and sceptically scanned the contents, then reached in and withdrew a half-full carton of milk.

"What is he doing?" Cyborg whispered incredulously. "He doesn't even like milk."

This statement was soon amended as Robin leaned against the counter, tipped his head back and started drinking the milk straight from the carton. It was like he was timing himself to see how fast he could down it all, as it was dribbling down his chin and onto his front and the floor. He paused for breath, wiped his mouth on his glove, and then drained the rest of it, tossing the empty carton into the bin when he had finished with a perfect arching shot.

Beast Boy and Cyborg just continued to stare at him from around the doorframe, completely in shock. Cyborg had been right; Robin hated milk, had done since they had made him drink it five times a day in the hospital following his motorcycle crash. He was wiping his mouth again on the wrist of his right glove, then looked down at himself and saw he was covered in milk. At first he appeared confused, as though wondering how it had got there; then he started to laugh, so hard that he ended up clutching the work-counter for support.

"I was wondering when this day would come," Cyborg whispered, half-awed.

"What day?" Beast Boy asked, his eyes still on the hysterical Boy Wonder.

"The day he went completely round the bend," Cyborg finished grimly. "Guess I better go call the loony-bin…"

Beast Boy blinked.

"You're not serious, are you?" He inquired. Cyborg frowned.

"Does he look all there to you, B.B?" He asked the shape-shifter. "He's two circuits short of a hard-drive, that one."

"You mean two bats short of a belfry," Beast Boy corrected. "Jeez, Cy, what're we gonna do with him? Do you think he's really gone completely loopy?"

"I'm ok, you know."

Cyborg and Beast Boy jumped, both turning to find Robin standing with his arms folded and a scowl on his face. Contrary to being mad, he seemed thoroughly all there; well, as near to being all there as he usually was.

"There'll be no need for a straightjacket," he continued icily.

"Wait a second," Beast Boy started, pointing accusingly at the Titans' leader. "You were just… you were over there and now… you're not."

Robin raised his eyebrows.

"Gee, you sure do give Sherlock Holmes a run for his money," he retorted nastily, his tone dripping in sarcasm. He pushed past the shocked Beast Boy, making to leave, but suddenly Cyborg was in front of him.

"What's wrong with you, man?" He asked. Robin felt his heart thunk; the dream-Cyborg had asked him the same thing…

"Nothing," he muttered, looking at the floor. He would look anywhere but at Cyborg, or Beast Boy either. Like Raven last night, he couldn't look at them without seeing Cyborg dismantled and sparking, Beast Boy's broken neck…

"I'm going to my room," he murmured. "Let me past, Cy…"

"Not until you tell us what's wrong," Cyborg reasoned firmly. "Why are you acting all weird?"

"No reason," Robin said evasively. "I'm sorry for being a jerk. I'd like to go now, please…."

He easily ducked under Cyborg's arm but Beast Boy darted forward and caught the back of his cape.

"Oh no you don't," the shape-shifter told him sharply. "You didn't answer us."

Robin didn't even bother turning around.

"I don't have to tell you everything," he said icily.

"No," agreed Cyborg, "but that's the thing, Robin; you don't tell us anything at all. You brood on it by yourself and then you form some break-neck plan that always fails, and we have to come and save the day because you've gotten yourself up to the neck in trouble. And you know what? It could all be avoided if you'd just tell us half of what's going through your mind!"

"Shut up," Robin replied softly. "Just shut up, ok, Cy? You don't know what you're talking about."

"I know precisely what I'm talking about!" Cyborg snapped, losing his temper. He grabbed hold of Robin's shoulders in his huge metals hands and forced him to face him. "I'm talking about you! You're so damn arrogant, you think you can do whatever the hell you want. Whaddaya think we are, back-up! We're a team but you treat us like some kind of chorus-line while you're the star. This whole leader-thing has completely gone to your head, it doesn't make you any better than us; it doesn't give you the right to just shun us as soon as Slade comes on the scene because you have issues with the guy! We've all got powers and you haven't, so, y'know, wake up and smell the coffee, Wonder Boy; you're not all that wonderful!"

"Mm," Robin murmured in reply. He wriggled a bit in Cyborg's grip. "Cy, you're hurting me…"

"So that's it, man?" Cyborg asked him. "That's the only response we're gonna get out of you?"

"Robin, you're our friend," Beast Boy added. "We don't wanna see you get hurt."

Robin sighed.

"You don't understand," he said defeatedly.

"We understand perfectly," Cyborg said dangerously. "It's you that doesn't understand, even after I've just spelled it out for you that you're an arrogant jerk."

Robin was starting to get irritated now.

"I don't need this," he said snippily. "I don't need you insulting me. Let me go."

"So you can what!" Cyborg demanded. "Go off and make yourself some cosy little nest somewhere so that you can brood in peace?"

"Big on the bird acronyms," Robin retorted icily. "Why don't you go and pester Raven instead?"

"Because Raven's not a jumped-up little psychopath!" Cyborg yelled, finally snapping. Beast Boy flinched.

"Cy-"

"Shut it, B.B," Cyborg snapped. Beast Boy was quiet.

Cyborg looked back at Robin, who was studying the floor, tight-lipped and scowling.

"Are you going to say anything?" He asked angrily.

"What's there to say?" Robin answered. "What do you care what the "Not-so-wonderful arrogant jerk" thinks?"

"What do you think?" Cyborg pressed. "Is any of this getting through to that screwed-up brain of yours?"

Robin shrugged, still staring intently at the floor. He was starting to feel sick, probably from the milk, but also from the dream, which was casting fleeting horrible images through his mind like an old flickering movie. His brain was starting to feel kind of screwed-up.

"Why won't you look at me!" Cyborg demanded, grasping hold of Robin's hair as the Boy Wonder tried to pull away.

"Cy, don't," Robin snapped, trying to tug Cyborg off, the result being extremely painful. He wouldn't look, he couldn't look… He kicked his leg out and managed to sweep Cyborg off balance, resulting in the two of them crashing to the floor. Cyborg landed on top of him, knocking the breath from his chest, and they continued to wrestle while Beast Boy tried to drag them apart, yelling at them to stop.

"Oh, may I join your game?"

The three boys froze mid-pile-on; Cyborg had Beast Boy in a head-lock under one arm and the shape-shifter was trying to bite through the protective glass plate over his circuits, while the half-robot had his other vast hand around Robin's neck but was suffering from a fist to the jaw from the smaller Titan pinned underneath him.

Starfire was leaning over them, her green eyes squeezed shut happily and her hands clasped together. Her feet were hovering a few inches off the floor. Her eyes opened when they failed to answer her.

"Please may I join in?" She asked again. "Is it not called the "Piling-on"? I wish to play too."

"Actually, Starfire, we were just finished," Cyborg said, recovering first. He released Beast Boy and Robin, then stood up, dragging the two shorter boys with him. Starfire looked disappointed.

"Oh…" Her eyes brightened again. "I have the post!" She produced three letters from the back of her belt. Robin saw this as an opportunity to flee and was about to slope off.

"There is one letter for the residents of Titans Tower in general," Starfire said happily, "and there is one for you, Cyborg, about a subscription to a magazine of cars." She handed both of the previous letters to Cyborg. "Oh, and there is a letter for you, Robin," she added as she saw him sidling away.

Robin blinked and turned to her, again not looking directly at her. She was the one he felt the worst about.

"Really?"

She nodded and held it out to him. He took it, frowning, and looked at the envelope. On it was scrawled: Robin the Boy Wonder, Titans Tower, Titans Island, Jump City. The stamp was also stuck on crooked and there was a very bad drawing of a bat in the corner.

"Ok, thanks, Star," he said vaguely, wandering away with the letter clutched in his hand.

"Um, Robbie…"

Robin turned back to see Cyborg coming after him.

"Look, I'm sorry, ok?" He apologised. "There was no call for any of that."

Robin shrugged.

"S'okay," he murmured, looking at his feet. "I'm sorry too."

"We cool, then?"

"Ice," Robin replied, more to get Cyborg off his case than anything else. He hesitated, then walked off down the corridor without another word.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the Lord of Looneyville has left the building," Beast Boy said ala Elvis spokespeople as he, Starfire and Cyborg watched Robin make his way through the front room and leave.

"Why is he acting strangely?" Starfire inquired. Cyborg shrugged.

"Dunno, but you just missed the ultimate Battle of the Egos, Star," Beast Boy supplied.

"Stuff a sock in it, B," Cyborg said sharply. "C'mon, how about that Super Ninja Fury match? You can play too, Star."

He led the way into front room and made for the couch.

"That guy should so change his name," Beast Boy stated, sitting down and picking up a handset.

"To what?" Cyborg asked, following suite and gesturing for Starfire to sit down next to him.

"Another superhero persona," Beast Boy said. "Robins are supposed to be cheerful and Christmassy; at least Raven matches her name."

Cyborg shrugged.

"What do you suggest?"

Beast Boy scowled.

"The Incredible Sulk…"

Robin re-read the letter for the fifth time as he slid open the panel to his bedroom, his frown unmoving. It was from Batman. Well, it was supposed to be from Batman.

He went to his desk and sank into his chair, feeling the warmth of the sun intensified through his window as it fell on his body and weaved broken patterns of light across the desk's surface. As was Slade's assumption, the Boy Wonder was indeed a born detective, but even if he hadn't been, he would have seen a mile off that this letter wasn't from Batman. He scanned down it again, making a mental list of the faults.

Dear Robin…

Fault #1 - Batman never wrote "dear".

Come to Arkham Asylum tonight at midnight.

Fault #2 - "Asylum" was spelt incorrectly and scribbled out; Batman never spelt anything wrong, and if he did he would scrap the entire letter and write it out again.

Fault #3 - Batman was precise, and "tonight at midnight" was technically wrong. Midnight was actually the first minute of morning, and Batman would never make a mistake like that.

We have stuff to discuss.

Fault #4 - Batman would never use slang such as "stuff".

Come tonight…

Fault #5 - Repetition of earlier command, another thing Batman simply didn't do. He said things but once.

And come alone.

Fault #6 - Batman wouldn't insist that his ex-sidekick meet with him alone; he would wordlessly expect it.

From Batman.

Fault #7 - "From" was too familiar; Batman never wrote things like "love" or "yours sincerely".

Fault #8 - If the letter truly was from Batman to his ex-ward, then he would have signed it "Bruce", not his caped alter-ego.

There were other things that caught his attention too, mainly the fact that the stamp was crooked; Alfred always stamped and addressed Bruce's letters, and he had stamp-sticking down to a science. And in this instance, the letter and envelope were written in the same writing, which was neither Bruce's blocky scribe nor Alfred's neat fancy one, strong evidence, of course, that Batman hadn't written the letter or had Alfred write it for him. On the contrary, the writing was untidy, with smudge-marks adorning the page by someone not used to writing with an ink-pen, and the paper was cheap and flimsy, not the thick expensive stuff lying in reams in Bruce's study. One last thing was the badly-drawn bat decorating the envelope. Not Bruce's style, to say the least, but in any case, Bruce could draw pretty good. Once, years ago, Robin remembered Bruce showing him his original designs for the Batsuit. Some of them had been a bit far-out, but the drawings themselves had been very good, neatly done in ink, expertly shaded and labelled. Batman certainly wasn't one to draw on his letters, but if he was, Robin reasoned, his effort would have been far better than this scribbly little thing. It was almost as if whoever had actually written this letter was doing everything within their power to convince the Boy Wonder that the Dark Knight was the author.

And not doing a very good job of it.

So, unless Bruce had suddenly had a lobotomy, the Caped Crusader hadn't written this letter.

Robin,

We need to talk. Midnight at Arkham Asylum. See you then.

Bruce.

He nodded as he ran it over in his head. Yeah, that's what it should have sounded like. That was real Bruce Wayne literature. Not this ridiculous effort.

Regardless of which, someone wanted to talk to him. Very badly, it seemed, that they would go to the length of pretending to be Batman simply to lure him there. Meaning, of course, that they wanted his guard down.

Fine. He'd go. If this mysterious perpetrator had gone to so much trouble, who was he to disappoint them? But he wasn't going to be kicked around, if that was what they were hoping for. He'd turn up teamless, as his mystery "pen-pal" had insisted, but not weaponless.

Cyborg's words echoed through his head about not telling them anything; Batman had had this same discussion with him. But he didn't care. They all thought he had flipped; maybe he had. He had no idea why he had suddenly expressed a desire to drink that milk, or why he had felt like reading Edgar Allen Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher. He didn't like milk or the works of Poe. But he had become accustomed to the fact that he did things sometimes that had no meaning, like leaping about in a thunderstorm in the middle of the night (from Robin Goes To Hollywood. Don't ask…), or chasing after Poison Ivy when he was quite clearly under her spell and should have known better. Back then, he should have told them; he had almost died because he hadn't. But for some reason he wanted to distance himself from them, maybe because it made it easier to ignore the dream or the inner terror he felt at his inevitable transformation into something he didn't want to become. Maybe because he hoped it wouldn't feel so bad when he eventually turned on them.

This was, as far as he was concerned, his problem and his fight; the letter was addressed to him and had stated for him to come alone, without the rest of the Titans. Without back-up.

So he would, and so be it what the rest of them thought. They couldn't possibly understand what he was going through, the torment of knowing your destination was everything you had ever fought against. This, at least, might prove to be a distraction.

And who knows? He thought grimly, burying his head in his arms and sliding onto the desk. He could feel the sunlight on the back of his neck and he wriggled slightly at how pleasant it was.

If I get killed tonight, I won't ever have to worry about hurting them…

Actually, I have a question someone might be able to answer for me. I have read lots and lots of TT fan-fics on here, and I have noticed that in a lot of them Starfire refers to the other Titans by putting "Friend…" in front of their names; e.g. Friend Raven, Friend Beast Boy, etc. Why is this? Where did it come from! In all of the Teen Titans episodes I have seen (and I've seen them all, Seasons One through Four, several times each – yes, I am that sad…) Starfire has never once referred to any of the other Titans in this fashion. In Stranded, while in a mood with Robin, she refers to him as "Fellow Titan Robin", but she has never, ever called him "Friend Robin". Does anyone know where this "craze" came from!

Oh, and review, if you like…

Next chapter, Summoning Songbirds, up soon!