Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.

"Wait! Stop Greg! I'm sorry! I never realized it before! I love you! I've always loved you!"

Raven rolled her eyes at the woman on the tv and continued reading her book. Honestly, if this is the best those writers can do then I really don't understand how they keep making money…

The scene continued playing out as the man turned grabbed the women and kissed her, which succeeded only in getting a snort out of the purple-haired resident. She stood, and taking her book with her got into the elevator, but just as she was about to push the button for her floor she had an inexplicable urge to go to the medical bay. After pondering on it Raven decided that it was just as good a place to read as any and that she could check on Robin as well.

Robin…

As the elevator made its way up the T-shaped tower and as Raven walked the short distance to where Robin was, she pondered over the last few weeks. No change… no change… NO CHANGE! She swore mentally as the automatic door opened to allow her inside the mini-hospital.

Raven looked over at the Boy Wonder, lying on bed with various machines monitoring him. He looked so pale…

Robin hadn't gotten any better over the last month and the hope that had filled the other occupants of the tower was all but extinguished. Raven knew that things were getting to be too difficult without their leader there to guide them. She remembered that it had been said that Starfire was the glue that held the Titans together, and she knew that in many ways it was true. What she had never thought of however, was that without Robin there weren't any Titans…

Had she ever really appreciated him?

One of the seats next to the bed Robin was occupying groaned softly as Raven slowly sat on it. She looked back over at Robin's face before she subconsciously entwined his fingers with her own and said barely above a whisper, "Where are you Boy Blunder?"

God damn he was tired of this.

Robin ducked as more bullet fire ricocheted against the concrete wall behind him. Chips of the material fell on his back and the snow around him, and he shivered from the cold. He didn't understand how he had managed to end up here – yet then again – he didn't know how he had made it to any of his most recent locales. He would just barely escape an ordeal in one of these endless nightmares before waking up to a whole knew one…

He could feel more than hear the tank grinding through the snow toward him, and he realized that if he didn't move quickly he never would again. So as he heard pot-shots in the distance being taken by snipers he sprinted as quickly as one can when hunched over to the small corner of the nearest bombed out building.

"Er ging hinter dieses Gebäude! Erhalten Sie ihn!"

Shit! They've seen me! Robin searched desperately for a weapon with his eyes and located an abandoned rifle by a pile of red-bricks. He picked it up just in time to hear someone yell out from behind him, "Lassen Sie die Gewehr fallen!"

Robin had not reached the position of being a world renowned superhero by being slow however, and he wiped backwards while throwing himself on the ground as he fired his gun at the opposing soldier.

He saw the man stagger back and cough blood before falling down in a heap. The softly falling snow seemed to almost pool like water as it gently fell on something that had just moments ago been breathing. Robin staggered to his feet while pushing this thought away – he knew that if he was going to make it out of this alive he had to keep moving.

As he ran among the endless fields of strewn rubble he thought back to his encounter in that strange room, and the cryptic message he was now trying to decipher.

(Flashback)

"What?"

The 'man' continued to stare out at nothing, and Robin began to find himself more and more uncomfortable. The fire had begun to die down and the room was getting cold – a sense of foreboding spread through Robin as he watched his companion's eyes focus and turn to him.

"Why are you still here?"

What the…?

"Excuse me?"

"Leave."

Robin didn't know what to say, hadn't the 'man' asked a question only moments ago? Besides, how was he supposed to leave – there were no doors in the room.

"I don't understand."

The eyes of Robin's counterpart smoldered when the statement reached his ears.

"You are no longer necessary – you should have left."

Confusion filled Robin's mind, but suddenly a sharp pain split through his chest as the stranger hit him. More punches and kicks met a startled Robin's body, and while usually he could have simply beaten this other 'Robin' to a pulp – Some unseen force was weighing him down.

"Get out Richard! I don't need you anymore! You're a complication – it's mine now! MINE!"

Drowning in pain, Robin looked up and caught a glimpse of his assailant – and wished he hadn't. The 'man's' pale skin was now peeling off of him, revealing a long dead core.

"What do you want from me!" Richard managed to shout under the hail of abuse – and suddenly it stopped.

And a voice quite unlike any that had been used in the room before answered scornfully with – "I want you to fade away, Richard… Just fade away…"