Teen Titans
Fragile Dreams

A/N Sorry about how long this chapter took. Work sucks. Anyway, I'm also not sure when the next chapter will be up either, so if you wish, post up your email address or email it to me and I'll update you as to the progress of the chapter.

A full month passes between Terra's death and this chapter, in case context doesn't make it clear. All I have to say is... enjoy. All hell breaks loose here. Yeah, there is definitely some bad language here. Stay tuned until the end for a Roster of the Titans East, b/c it will become important. The roster has changed, b/c there are some other Titans I want to bring in and I hate Mas y Menos with a passion… stupid show created characters.

Disclaimer - Think about it. If I owned Teen Titans, I wouldn't need to be rewriting the show, now would I?

Fragile Dreams Chapter 21 - Haunted

Raven looked out on the broken ruins of what used to be a city from high up on a building. She gazed up at the scorched, dark sky and down at the black, putrid water, but nowhere was there the slightest sign of life. The Mark of Scath glowed malevolently in the sky, curving in its signature blend of a '5' and an 'S.' As she watched, a voice began to speak. It began as only whispers, but with each repetition it grew louder and louder. Raven clapped her hands over her ears, but the voice's roar never lessened, increasing to a deafening crescendo as it screamed at her.

"The sky will burn…"

Raven shook her head in denial. 'No…' she thought weakly.

"Flesh will become stone…"

Raven's legs became weak and gave out on her. The empath dropped to her knees, hands still clapped over her ears. Then she began screaming, frantically, desperately, tormented, as she continued the frenzied shaking of her head.

"The sun shall set upon your world, never to rise again…"

"LEAVE ME ALONE! I WANT NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU!"

"This is your purpose, Raven," the haunting voice continued, nonplused by Raven uncharacteristic outburst. "This is your destiny. You've always known this… you have no other choice…"

"No! No no no no no..."

Voices seem to arise from the very ground, chanting at her the prophesy she knew well. "The Gem was born of Evil's fire, the Gem shall be his portal. He comes to Reign. He comes to sire the end of all things mortal."

"NO!"

"WHAT YOU HAVE CONCEALED YOU SHALL BECOME!"

Raven awoke with a start, drenched in her own sweat. The dark girl disgustedly wiped the beads of saline off the gray skin of her forehead, only to realize that even her hair was soaked. "Perfect," she spoke to herself, voice practically saturated with the purest sarcasm.

The dreams were getting worse.

Usually, they came only once or twice per month. Since Terra's betrayal, however… they were happening almost every night, and a month of this mental torture was quickly wearing down her fortitude. Raven sighed. They were only dreams… both she and the Titans as a whole had much more pressing problems to deal with.

Now that the team actually had a chance to consider it, Terra's betrayal was devastating to the Titans. The trust that kept them together as a team had been damaged, and Raven could see it in the way they acted. Cyborg argued with Robin more often, Starfire actually seemed depressed, and Robin was spending more time alone. Beast Boy's... 'excuse me, Changeling's,' dumb jokes had even stopped, and although she considered it an improvement, Raven knew it was a sign of something seriously wrong with him. Her empathy could pick up the pain radiating off him no matter how she tried to block it out. He had been hurt more than anyone.

Raven was also heavily affected. Raven had considered Terra her friend, and had offered her trust... and Terra had spat it back at her. She had been wrong to trust Terra. That simple realization had a profound effect on the demoness. If she hadn't been able to trust of the people she thought she could, was she mistaken to trust someone else as well? Cyborg? Star? BB?

Robin?

No... She had to be able to trust him. He would never hurt her... Never. If Raven was wrong about that, then perhaps death didn't look so bad any longer. 'No... Robin I can always believe in.'

'Then why haven't you told him?' the unwanted emotion asked. Raven was really beginning to hope it had decided to leave her alone. So much for that. 'It's been almost 2 months since you told me you weren't strong enough. Your control grows stronger everyday... but so does your father. Can't you see you need help? Can't you see you need Robin?'

'I thought I told you not to bother me anymore.'

The gold emotion snapped at Raven's unemotional display. "Damn it Raven! You are gambling with the lives of your friends! You can't distrust them anymore that you can stop your feelings for Robin... and denying either won't help one bit.'

Raven glared at the offending unknown emotion in a cold fury. 'Never speak to me again.' Raven opened her eyes, and the presence was gone.

In the darkness of the basement, a single overhead light flipped on. Robin stepped into in, carrying a single evidence box from the shelf. He set it down on the ground and opened it, coughing from the dustiness of the basement. Slade's cracked mask stared back at him.

"He's not coming back, you know."

Robin looked up from where he was kneeling over Slade's cracked mask. Cyborg was standing on the stairs down to the basement, looking at him with a measuring gaze.

"We can't be sure. He was never caught, his body never recovered." Strangely, Robin felt more like he was justifying his obsession more to himself than to his friend.

"Man, Terra killed him! Just... let him go!" Cyborg turned and walked up the stairs, and Robin stared after him. Then the alarm started blaring.

The trouble was Cinderblock, who had suddenly escaped from the new prison the police had just recently built for him... just another waste of taxpayer dollars. 'What's the point of locking these goons up if they just break out again a few days later?' Robin thought to himself while fighting, in a particularly cynical mood. He should have been less cynical and paid more attention to the fight... he might have managed to see Cinderblock's attack coming. Instead, he caught it full on and was sent soaring off into the woods.

"Robin!" Raven screamed as she watched the Titan leader get blasted off the cliff and down into the trees below. 'Nothing you can do now, Raven. Fight now, then go for him.' Raven wasn't sure which of her emotions had given the advice, but she listened.

Robin came too quickly, having no idea how long he had been out. He didn't think that it had been so very long, however... he could still hear sounds of battle from above. He shuddered involuntarily... it was absolutely pitch black beneath the tree canopy. Robin was fumbling with his grapple when lightning flashed, and the world around him was brilliantly lit for a seconds... and as the light faded, the Titan caught motion in the corner of his eye. He spun, dropping the grapple and extending his staff, and then almost dropped it as he caught view of a very familiar masked face disappear through the trees.

Slade.

Robin rushed through the darkened foliage, chasing after brief glimpses of Slade's glistening armor. When his nemesis leapt into the trees above, Robin followed. "FREEZE!" Robin hurled a birdarang at him, but just before it reached the lightning flashed and Robin squinted... and during the instant the Titan could no longer see, Slade moved. When Robin's vision refocused, the sharp projectile was buried in the trunk of the tree Slade had been standing against. Slade was nowhere to be seen.

"You've gotten sloppy while I was gone, Robin," Slade's voice snuck out from behind him like a snake, causing Robin to rapidly spin around to face the masked menace. He fell into a ready position, but Slade's attack never came. Instead, he continued to mock the vigilante. "This will be even easier than I thought."

Robin stood his ground in the darkness, surrounded by the falling rain. His body was swallowed by a light misting as water bounced off his skin and uniform and splattered. "What are you planning, Slade?" Robin snarled out from between clenched teeth.

Somehow, Robin knew he had just smiled beneath that impervious mask. "It's really quite simple, Robin. The city's fault line is still quite unstable from that blonde slut's rash release of energy. Three seismic generators at key points in the city will finish what my former apprentice began."

Robin's masked eyes narrowed to slits. "Not if I take you down first!" Robin charged, but Slade easily eluded his opening fury and willingly lost his perch on the branch, landing in a back flip on the grass. Robin kicked himself towards his archenemy, extending his staff as he flew. He threw the staff towards the armored villain like a javelin. Again, Slade simple seemed to vanish.

As Robin hit the ground, he caught motion out of the corner of his eyes is the fading flash of nature's fury. He whipped his head around, spinning his staff... it was Changeling. "You know, I really hate to interrupt your little nature walk, but Cinderblock's done now. Time to go home."

Robin grimaced. "We're not done yet." His tone left no room for argument.

Changeling quirked an eyebrow and smiled. "What's up?"

Robin didn't smile. "Slade's back."

Changeling's smile faded.

Slade can't be back. It just wasn't possible. 'Terra killed him… I watched him die!' Raven thought to herself as she flew towards the part at the center of Bludhaven. 'I watched as his body sank into the magma!' But somehow, he was alive and threatening the city once again. 'Only Slade,' she thought to herself as she landed.

If Robin was right and Cyborg had calculated correctly, there should be some kind of seismic generator here. She spent a good fifteen minutes thoroughly searching the relatively small area, only to scowl in confusion.

"Where is it?"

"Do not worry Robin. We shall find Slade, and we shall stop him once again."

Robin didn't lighten up any with Starfire's kind words, but instead remained scowling as he continued his trek through the woods. "We don't have any choice." Suddenly his communicator went off. Robin brought it to his face and brought the device to life. "Titans, Report! Have you found the generators?

Cyborg's voice came back at him. "Man, I ain't found a thing. There's nothing here, the bridge is clear."

Changeling was next. "Same report from the docks. This place is as empty as a Britney Spears reality show."

Raven's report was more of the same. "Nothing to report. Everything's quite in the park."

Robin closed the communicator and dropped it in disgust. "Incompetents! I told them exactly where to find them. Why must I deal with su-" Lightning flashed and Robin cut himself off suddenly. He saw a very familiar form silhouetted against the fading light. The boy wonder charged off after Slade, rapidly leaving Starfire behind.

Robin ran through the woods, brushing foliage aside as he sprinted towards the spot he had seen his nemesis… only to find him gone. Instead, he was standing in the center of a clearing in the woods… waiting for him. Toying with him. 'Ok, Slade. I accept your challenge.' Robin charged.

Slade was ready for him. He sidestepped Robin's kick, throwing himself into a spin that caused Robin's second kick to miss as well. In one smooth, practiced motion, Robin detached his drenched cape and threw it at Slade. It billowed open in the wind, blocking Slade's vision of him for a second. In that second, Robin extended his staff and stabbed through the cape… but hit nothing. He caught a whisper of motion behind him and only then realized that the visual block had worked equally well both ways. Slade had moved around behind him.

Robin tried to brace himself for the blow, but nothing could lessen the bone jarring force of the impact. It sent him soaring across the open field, towards the tree line. Catching his breath, Robin managed to force him feet back beneath him and landed in a mostly controlled tumble, ready to meet Slade. Slade, however, just stood there, looked at Robin as if greatly amused. "You'll never be free of me Robin... we are too much alike. You should know that by now. I am the shadow who haunts every dark corner of your mind." Slade charged.

"Robin?"

Robin turned towards the source of the voice, as did Slade. Starfire. Slade turned and ran. "STAR, STOP HIM! DON'T LET HIM GET AWAY!"

At the sound of Robin's voice, a glowing orb of green plasma materialized in her hands and she looked around cautiously, somehow missing Slade as he ran by her barely 5 feet away. Chasing him, Robin was only a few feet behind when Slade vanished into the underbrush. He looked around for a few seconds, but there was no sign of the master villain… he was gone.

Robin grabbed Starfire by the wrist. "WHY!" he screamed at her, "WHY DID YOU LET HIM GET AWAY!"

Starfire just looked confused. She looked down at her wrist in surprise. "You are hurting me…"

"SLADE RAN RIGHT BY YOU! HOW COULD YOU LET HIM ESCAPE!"

Starfire looked forlorn in the darkness, her drenched red hair sticking to the sides of her face. "But Robin… there was no one there."

Robin was confused, but now wasn't the time to wonder about this. Slade was escaping with his finger on a trigger! "I don't have the time for this," he said, and vanished into the forest leaving the Tamaranian staring blankly after him.

"Nothing. We found absolutely nothing."

Raven was absolutely disgusted. Slade had made them all look like idiots, running all over the city and all for nothing. "That's right, Rae." Cyborg said, nodding his head grimly. Changeling only nodded his head to show his agreement.

"I think Slade sent us on a while goose chase." Changeling said just as Starfire floated down in the middle of the group, looking quite morose.

"I am not certain that it is Slade."

Raven looked at Star curiously from underneath the cowls of her cloak, still dry from the use of her soul-self. "What makes you say that?"

"When I was with Robin, he fought Slade. I tried to see him… I truly did… but I could not see anyone."

No one knew quite what to say to that. Raven spoke for everyone. "Well... That's disturbing. Where is he?"

"I'm afraid friend Robin has elected to continue the search… alone…" Starfire continued, staring at the ground. The three Titans exchanged glances and immediately came to identical conclusions. Cyborg flipped open his display.

Robin was wandering the city pretty aimlessly when he found himself in front of the ruins of the old clock tower. Robin wondered if it was truly an accident he had ended up her. He entered the condemned building.

The place was a mess... dust was everywhere and fallen cogs littered the ground and collected in unstable towers. Slade's old throne, however, seemed untouched. He swiped a finger across it: no dust.

Robin heard a sound behind him and instantly came to his combat stance. Ready. In the cracked computer screen before him, he could see the silhouette as a figure jumped between balconies behind him. It had to be Slade. Robin ran for a tower of cogs, leaping from one to another in order to quickly reach Slade's height. Unfortunately, the tower was far less stable than he had thought, and as he reached the top two cogs the pile shifted under his weight and sent him tumbling down the metal mountain alongside of two several ton cogs. Robin hit the floor hard, relying on his fine-tuned combat instinct to tell him where to dodge. He rolled hard left, just narrowly avoiding a much thinner fate beneath one of the gears. The second gear landed harmlessly to the side.

A cold, callous laugh cut the air, a malicious sound Robin had heard only once before. He shivered a little. "You're making this too easy." Robin looked up... Slade was standing on the edge of a balcony about 20 feet above him. Robin snarled.

His grappling hook hit the edge of the platform and he used it to whip his way up to the level where the masked lunatic stood waiting for him. He instantly lashed out in a quick series of blows, but Slade easily dodged them all and the offensive flurry cost the boy wonder his footing. Slade took advantage of Robin's dubious balance and struck back, blowing him backwards to the edge.

Robin fell into a crouch to regain his balance, breathing hard. "Why couldn't Starfire see you!" he demanded to know.

Slade didn't miss a beat, smoothly answering without so much as a twitched muscle. "Surely you're familiar with cloaking devices?"

"I'm familiar with all your dirty little tricks, Slade. That's how I've stopped you before, and how I'll stop you again!"

Slade's one good eye widened it mock surprise. "Why Robin," he started conversationally, "If you've 'stopped me…' then why am I still here?" His mocking words changed into a furious charge, and the bitter enemies went head to head again.

"According to my sensors, he should be close." Cyborg told Raven, walking alongside him in a hallway of the decrepit clock tower. The other Titans were following behind but even the floating Starfire was hard pressed to keep up with the brutally fast pace the empath was setting. As they continued down the hallway, a cry of pain from Robin could be heard.

"Oh yes, he's close." Raven broke into a sprint with Cyborg just behind her. The two came out of the door into the main area as one, followed very quickly by the other two Titans. Robin was impossible to miss - he went flying through the air barely ten feet in front of them as though he were thrown. Upon landing he straightened himself, and started to lash out at empty air before suddenly doubling over and then falling backwards as though his feet had been swept out from under him. He quickly rose and glanced in the direction of the recently arrived Titans.

"SLADE!"

Starfire was the first Titan to react. She thrust her fist in the air, an orb of green plasma lighting up the room like a viridian sun. The darkness vanished under the onslaught of the light... but Slade was still nowhere to be seen.

Robin ran up to them. He was in even worse condition than he had looked from a distance. His uniform and cape were tattered, one of his eyes was swollen, and practically every surface of exposed skin was covered in visible bruises and cuts. He looked like the veteran of a grand melee free for all. "What are you doing here? I told you to find those generators!"

"There are no generators, Robin!" Cyborg yelled back, trying to convince Robin with his sheer certainty. "There is no Slade!"

Robin opened his mouth in shock, speechless for a second. "No Slade? I fought him! Didn't you see it?"

"Robin," Raven started softly, "All we saw was you fighting with yourself."

"My SELF!" Robin yelled, growing more and more agitated. He pulled on his tattered uniform, looking down at it. "You think I did this to myself? Slade's cloaking himself, just like he cloaked those generators! That's why you couldn't see him!"

"Then why could you?"

Robin looked at the empath curiously, seeming to calm himself down a little. "What are you implying?"

Cyborg spoke, and Robin turned his head and attention towards him. "Robin, Slade is dead. He isn't here..."

"I KNOW WHAT I SAW!" Robin started to shout again.

"Robin..." Starfire started from behind Cyborg before Robin cut her off.

"I don't have time for this... I need to stop Slade," he said, pulling his staff out from his belt, "and I'll take down any one of you who tries to stop me!" Robin had barely finished speaking when he felt like a train had rammed the back of his head. He feel to his knees, and collapsed down onto the cement. His head was facing to the side, so he caught a glimpse of his attackers attire... a blue robe. "Raven..." he thought, then everything faded to black.

"Have you found what is wrong with him yet?"

Starfire was pacing the stretch in front of Robin's door in the tower's medical bay rapidly, often glancing over at where Raven and Cyborg worked on the computers filled with their leader's vitals. Raven was typing furiously and didn't answer, just as she hadn't the previous four times Star had asked the question. Her attention was focused on one thing... the well-being of Robin. Nothing else could distract her from that right now.

As with the previous four iterations, Cyborg answered. "Not yet Star. We're working on it."

Barely seconds after Cyborg finished his answer did Raven's keyboard become enveloped by her soul self and thrown across the room. Everyone stared on in awe at the usually stoic girl's explosive display of emotion. "Nothing!" she yelled, practically crying with the frustration of it. "There's nothing here! Everything's just normal."

Starfire was the first to recover, and she also seemed to get angry. "But he is not normal. I can't believe you, of all people, would give up this easily Raven!"

Star's outburst shut Raven up instantly, and as she looked on at the enraged Tamaranian all her anger and frustration seemed to just drain away. Starfire was right... but how did she know? Raven looked around the room and noticed everyone else looking at her, and not in confusion. Everyone seemed to know... even Changeling. She sighed, looking down at the ground. Denial seemed really pointless in the face of everyone knowledge. "Is it really that obvious?"

Starfire had also calmed down in the silence. She walked up close to Raven and grabbed onto her hands, the Tamaranian's bright skin contrasting vividly with the pale gray of the empath's. "No. We're your friends, Raven. You should be more worried if we didn't figure it out."

Robin came to slowly... slowly for him, anyway. It was dark... the room he was in was practically pitch black. He could hear a dull, repetitive beeping from the side... it sounded like medical equipment. He tried to reach over, but he couldn't move... his arms and legs were strapped down. Robin strained against his bonds, but it was no use... there was no slack he could wiggle in, no weakness for him to exploit. He was trapped.

He could hear Raven and Starfire, muffled, yelling at each other through the door. Although he strained his ears, he couldn't hear a word they were saying... SLADE! Everything rushed back to him at once. Slade's return, the generators, the cloaking devices, his disastrous attempt to fight Slade, and finally Raven's blow from behind. He was putting the other Titans in danger here... they couldn't stop Slade because they couldn't see him. It was up to him. Robin renewed his struggles against the bonds.

"That's quite useless, you know." Slade's chilling voice froze Robin mid struggle as the masked mastermind stepped out of the room's deepest shadows. "You're mine now, Robin." Slade lifted some kind of mechanical device covered with tiny blades. Robin had no idea what it was, and didn't think he wanted to find out.

He redoubled his struggles, adrenaline coursing through his body.

Raven didn't quite know what to say to that. Fortunately, she was spared the need to make a decision by the computer calling an alert. Unfortunately, it was Robin's brain activity. "It's off the charts!" Cyborg called out.

Starfire ran over from her pacing position. "What's happening?"

"It's Robin's brain activity," Raven explained, staring at the fluctuating bars in horrified fascination, frozen. "Most humans can't survive levels of stress like that..." As if her words had been a signal, the frantically warning beeps flattened out into a dull, flat hum as the cardiac meter skipped from an elevated heart rate to none at all. That snapped the empath out of it. "ROBIN!"

Raven frantically threw open the door and ran into the dark room, the rest of the Titans following behind her. Robin's bed was empty, binding strapped ripped from tremendous strength, the sensors that had been attached to his head and his chest torn off. The air vent above the room was ajar. Behind the Titans, the door slammed shut. Changeling, the last one in, spun and tried to pull open the double door. It was sealed tight. Then metal plate came up next to walls and windows, covering the ventilation and the exits.

The computer system spoke over the PA. "Complete Invasion Lockdown Initiated."

"Sorry Robin, but if you think that's going to hold us, your sadly mistaken." Raven muttered to herself as she wrapped her soul-self about her like a dark cloak, going ethereal as she pressed against a wall. It took her several long seconds to realize nothing was happening.

"Sorry Raven, but that won't work." Cyborg explained. "After Slade's army got in last time, I prepared a few new security features when I fixed up the tower. This total lockout is one of them... it's designed to completely lockdown the tower in the event of an attack. One of the features as an EM field... that's probably going to stop you from phasing your way out of here."

Raven grimaced. "Fantastic."

"We must get out of here!" Starfire yelled, powering up a star bolt.

"No! Wait!" Cyborg warned, but too late. Star's plasma bolt struck the door and didn't even scratch it. Instead, it reflected back. Raven quickly blocked it with a shield.

Starfire punched the door twice in frustration. "We have to help Robin!" Cyborg gently pushed her aside and starting working on the door himself, with his own tools. Raven tuned them all out. She sat down the bed Robin has just vacated and put herself in a lotus position.

Changeling was the first to notice Raven's actions. "Ummm, Raven? What are you doing?"

"Helping Robin." She answered simply, closing her eyes. She stopped paying attention to everything surrounding her... Starfire's pacing, Cyborg's welding on the door, Changeling breathing nearby her, her own worry for Robin... she let everything go and focused every ounce of her concentration on her chakra, looking ever closer into herself. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos..." Then Raven let go even her sense of self, falling away from this world completely.

Raven's soul-self flew from her body, passing through the reinforced steel plating and EM shield as though it wasn't even there. The dark energy soared through the vents, tracing after Robin's essence. 'robin... where are you? let me see you...' There he was. Standing alone in a hallway, fleeing from something. 'robin, open yourself up to me...'

Robin stopped, looking around in confusion. "Raven?"

'robin, you are in danger!' Raven's soul-self spoke urgently, directly into his mind, 'your heart, your brain... they can't take this kind of stress. you are dying...'

"You can't see him! You can't help!"

'open yourself to me, robin. allow me to see him with your eyes.' Suddenly, Robin's very soul was an open book to the empath. She could see him as he saw himself, could see everything he'd seen as it all rushed by her at once. Raven could only pull out a few images, a few thoughts.

Two circus performers, followed by the spotlight, flying through the air from ring to ring. Thoughts accompanied the images... parents, love, happiness. She could feel heartfelt admiration for the couple, and she could feel sheer terror as one missed a grab. Both performers tumbled towards the ground...

The vision cut off and was quickly replaced by another.

A dark, spiraling staircase down into the darkness of a cave. In the center of the cave stood a man dressed in black, the legendary Batman of Gotham City. A single though from Robin flashed through her head - Bruce Wayne.

As quickly as it had begun, this vision too was replaced, this time by something far more recent.

Raven's own gray skin mere millimeters away from Robin's own face as his lips met hers, connecting them symbolically like their essences were connected now. She never knew she felt so warm. All of Robin's focus was concentrated on a single, closely guarded thought. 'let me know... I must know...' Raven gently pushed the guardian emotions aside, feeling the sum of Robin's thousand emotions pulling him different ways. 'I love you Raven...'

The vision faded. 'no, wait! come back!' But it was too late. As quickly as the flood of thoughts and feeling had come over her, they vanished without a trace. Raven was now inside Robin's mind.

She breathed slowly, gently, in though Robin's body. After two deep breaths she open his eyes and looked around the dim hallway. They were at an intersection of 2 different hallways, with a path in every direction. Slowly, carefully, she turned about, looking for Slade. There was nothing.

'you see, robin? nothing to be worried about.' Raven assured the Titan mentally, still looking around, 'there is absolutely no one h-'

That was the last Raven got out before Slade's fist connected with Robin's face.

Raven went flying backward, losing her purchase on the small bed and tumbling to the floor with the force of Slade's blow. Her soul-self had immediately returned to her own body when she had been attacked. All eyes went to the suddenly collapsed empath as she jumped back to her feet. "SLADE!"

"You saw him?" Cyborg asked, not quite able to believe it. "He's actually real?"

Raven considered that, unsure of what to say. "I don't think so... but he's plenty real to Robin. Robin honestly believes he's fighting Slade... and Slade's winning." The empath turned to look directly at Cyborg. "We need to get out of here, now. I'm going to try and find Robin again." Raven sat back down on the bed and instantly was lost to her meditation again. Only one thought was left. 'Robin loves me?' Then, painfully, she tuned out even that thought and focus on finding Robin.

Robin desperately fought to keep his footing as Slade's deadly onslaught pushed him backwards down the stairs into the basement of the tower. Robin managed to block a kick that would have broken his neck, but paid the price for it: Slade's fist impacted heavily against his side, knocking Robin's blocking staff out of the way like a toothpick and sending it flying out of Robin's sight. Behind him, the dark room became dimmer - The staff must have knocked the sole light on where he had been examining Slade's mask before, causing it to flicker on and off. Robin's air left him in a rush and he slammed against the railing of the staircase and slumped to the ground. He attempted to back flip to his feet, but midway though the motion he realized he wasn't moving anymore... Slade has stepped on his cape! The Titan hit the ground harder than ever, and the back of his head impacted heavily against the grilled floor.

Robin lay there, dazed. He knew he had to get up, but he couldn't think clearly enough to know how or why. A savage impact to his side from Slade's kick brought him back to reality as it sent him falling from the staircase and onto the hard concrete floor ten feel below, back first. He heart a crack...probably a broken rib. Robin coughed onto the gray foundation, and saw his own blood. He slowly rose up on his hands and knees, painfully crawling away from the staircase.

Raven's eyes popped open and she clenched her own side. Her empathetic link with Robin was strong enough that she could feel his pain, his elevated heart rate. Changeling grabbed onto her to keep her from falling off the bed. Starfire and Cyborg were too busy working on the door to see what had happened. "What's going on Raven? What's happening to Robin?"

Raven's breathing was ragged. "He's not going to make it." She practically hissed air in through her lips. "He needs help... now!"

Cyborg looked over. "We're working as fast as we can, Raven."

Raven shook her head. "No. I'll rip this place to pieces to get out before I let him die." Raven again pressed herself against the wall, her violet eyes fading to a shining white. She focused every controlled emotion she could summon to her aid, every trick her mentor had ever taught her, and every ounce of concentration she possessed. "Azarath Metrion ZINTHOS!"

She could feel the barrier between her and the outside pushing back against her. The barrier between her and Robin. 'You are not keeping me from him. Get Out Of My WAY!'

Raven was losing.

'Now isn't this ironic?'

Raven's eyes opened. She was no longer in the medical room with Changeling, Cyborg, and Starfire. She wasn't even in Titan Tower anymore. She was in the blasted landscape of her own mind. Standing before her, to her utter lack of surprise, was her golden-cloaked alter ego. 'How sad,' the emotion spoke, voice dripping with mockery. 'All this for the man you were unwilling to help save for the last several months, including barely 6 hours ago. What could have brought such a change?'

"I never was unwilling to save him!' Raven protested, frantically looking around.

'No, perhaps not directly. But your unwillingness to trust him completely has put him and the other Titans at risk... and you have been unwilling to correct this mistake.'

"I don't have a choice! By getting closer to him, I put him further at risk!" Raven frantically gestured. "I don't have time to argue this now. Robin's dying while we sit here and talk!"

'You are not strong enough to reach him.'

Raven's heart sank with that simple truth. And it was a truth, she knew that very well. She was just trying to deny it, desperate to reach Robin, to do anything she could to save him. Now it seemed her efforts to protect him by refusing to get close to him had backfired horribly, just as Gold had warned her they would. Robin felt for her... she knew that now. But if he was going to die now, that was all meaningless. For the first time almost since joining the Titans, Raven started to cry.

'But together we can.'

Raven's eyes shot open and she was no longer in the wasteland of Nevermore: she was standing in the hallways outside the medical room. Her cloak slowly faded back to blue from its golden color as she oriented herself. She considered trying to open the doors for the other Titans, but decided that there wasn't enough time. 'I'm coming, Robin...'

Robin heard resounding footsteps above him as Slade's steel boots walked on the grilled staircase, navigating its switchbacks as he walked towards Robin. "You should have known better, Robin. You never could beat me."

At this point, Robin was willing to acknowledge the truth of that. He was laying on the floor, battered and broken. The fight was over, and Robin couldn't even delude himself otherwise. He leaned up against the pillar behind him and watched as Slade descended the stairs towards him slowly.

"I am your darkness nightmare, Robin. I am the Sha-"

Mid-monologue, the light Robin's staff had hit earlier flickered to life for an instant over Slade's head...and Slade vanished. Robin's eyes popped open.

The light faded out as quickly as it had arrived, and darkness rushed back in. Slade was still there, continuing his taunt as if nothing had happened. "-dow which falls on your perfect city, the monster that will herald its end."

Robin pulled himself up further, a sliver of doubt materializing in his mind. "My friend..." he groaned out, struggling against the pain in his chest whenever he breathed or spoke, "My friend tell me... that you're not real."

Slade cocked his head condescendingly. "Oh, I'm very real. Could you have gotten all those injuries from someone who wasn't real?"

Another sliver of doubt joined the first in Robin's mind. He actually looked at Slade for the first time since they had started fighting earlier today, and noticed something else. "All these injuries... but you don't have a scratch!"

Robin stood his ground in the darkness, surrounded by the falling rain. His body was swallowed by a light misting as water bounced off his skin and uniform and splattered.

No rain bounced off of Slade.

Robin was fumbling with his grapple when lightning flashed, and the world around him was brilliantly lit for a seconds... and as the light faded, the Titan caught motion in the corner of his eye.

Robin hurled a birdarang at him, but just before it reached the lightning flashed and Robin squinted... and during the instant the Titan could no longer see, Slade moved. When Robin's vision refocused, the sharp projectile was buried in the trunk of the tree Slade had been standing against. Slade was nowhere to be seen.

He threw the staff towards the armored villain like a javelin. Again, Slade simply seemed to vanish. As Robin hit the ground, he caught motion out of the corner of his eyes is the fading flash of nature's fury.

Lightning flashed and Robin cut himself off suddenly. He saw a very familiar form silhouetted against the fading light. The boy wonder charged off after Slade, rapidly leaving Starfire behind.

And finally, The light Robin's staff had hit earlier flickered to life for an instant over Slade's head...and Slade vanished.

Robin's eyed widened, then narrowed.

"I am the shadow who haunts every dark corner of your mind."

Robin pulled himself up to his full height just as Slade reached the floor, holding the circuit breaker beside him for support. "Every dark corner..." he said, staring directly into Slade's face. He closed his eyes. "You're only in my mind... and only in the dark." He opened his eyes again, staring defiantly at Slade just as the light flicked on and off again, causing Slade to vanish and reappear. "My friends are right... you aren't real!"

For the first time in Robin's memory, Slade seemed to completely lose him composure. He roared at Robin like a cornered animal. "I'm real enough to finish you!"

Robin reached over to the circuit breaker beside him. "Lights out, Slade." He threw the switch, and every light in the basement roared to life, bathing the dark room like the sun. Just feet from Robin, Slade vanished... and stayed gone. Robin heard a sound as the top of the stairs, and looked up to see Raven looking down at him from the top. "It's Ok now, Raven. I'm ok..." Robin's vision faded and his legs gave out, but something caught him before he hit the ground again. The last image he saw before unconsciousness claimed him again was Raven's dark, angelic face.

"Well, it looks like Slade had one last laugh."

All the Titans were back in the medical room again, but this time Robin wasn't tied down. As far was Raven was concerned, it was a vast improvement. Cyborg was typing on the computer as Robin was plugged into about 500 different sensors. "That mask downstairs contained a chemical reagent designed to mix with the blood stream and produce hallucinogens. You must have breathed it in when you opened the box earlier today."

Robin nodded, remembering the dust cloud he had coughed in earlier. "It caused me to see, hear, and feel Slade... even though he wasn't there." He looked up at Cyborg. "Am I cured?"

"The injection I gave you a minute ago should neutralize the compound in a hurry. As for your injuries... they'll take a while longer to heal. Thankfully, you didn't break anything, though you probably came close with that fall."

"So it's over?"

"Only one way to find out." Cyborg said as he flipped out the room's light. Robin waited a good while before speaking, but finally convinced himself that Slade wasn't going to appear.

"I guess... I just always worried that I was the only person still concerned about Slade."

Changeling smiled, resting a hand on the Titan leader's shoulder. "Don't worry, Robin. If Slade ever dares to come back here again... we'll be ready for him." For the first time all day, Robin actually smiled.

"Ok guys, lets give Robin some rest," Cyborg instructed, heading for the door. "Robin, I want you to stay in the med bay for tonight... just in case. You probably lost a bunch of bloody today along with a few wicked blows to the head, and I don't want to take any risks." Cyborg left the room and Changeling was right behind him.

All this time, Raven hadn't said a thing. She was just happy Robin was alright. As she moved to leave after Starfire, suddenly Star turned halfway through the door, blocking it. She winked at Raven, and closed the door... leaving Raven still inside.

Terrified, Raven turned around to see Robin looking at her just as nervously as she felt. Slowly, she walked up to him, trying to keep her emotions under control. She sat down on the bed beside him and clenched her hands in front of her anxiously.

For several long seconds, silence dominated the small room. Then they both started talking at once. "Robin..." "Raven..."

Robin laughed. "You first."

Raven didn't give herself a change to second-guess her decision, an opportunity to back out... she leaned forward and pressed her lips against his. Robin went stiff with shock, but slowly melted into the kiss along with her. The kiss was simple and chaste, but both felt absorbed by the warmth and simple beauty of the moment. After long seconds of the contact, Raven finally had to pull away to breath.

Robin was also breathing heavily. "Raven... I-"

Raven pressed a finger lightly against Robin's lips, still warm from their contact. "Shhhhh," she whispered lightly, smiling softly down at him. "I know." She took his hand it both of hers. "We'll talk in the morning."

Robin tightened his grip on her hand. "You promise you'll still be here?"

Raven smiled, a dazzling display of beauty that left Robin feel like he stuck a fork in an electric outlet. She tightened her hands on his and used her powers to pull a chair over to the bed, sitting down in it. "I won't move an inch. I promise."

That was enough assurance for Robin, whose stamina was so drained from the events of today. He lay down on the bed, refusing to take his hand from hers, and fell asleep almost instantly. Raven lightly laid her head down on his chest, feeling his slow heartbeat as he slept. A voice in her head spoke to her as she approached sleep as well. 'It's a difficult lesson, Raven... but an important one. United, a team can be more than the sum of its parts. Never forget that...'

End Chapter 21

A/N So, how do you like that? Next chapter is another interlude, so we take a break from plot and do some more pure character development. YAY! Anyway, as promised, the roster of the Titans East:

Donna Troy- Wondergirl – Team Leader
Garth- Aqualad
Roy Harper- Speedy
Wally West- Kid Flash
Karen Beecher-Bumblebee
Victor Stone- Cyborg – No longer a member

Donna Troy makes 40 times the leader Bumblebee ever could, and Wally West is included because he's simply hilarious and if I'm going to need to write them I want to have a good time with it. Sue me .

Song Warning - Next chapter will feature the song 'Iris' by the Goo Goo Dolls... I suggest you get it to enhance your reading experience.

Next Time on Teen Titans: Fragile Dreams -

-An interlude!
-Fluff!
-Robin and Raven on a date!
-And a definite ominous tone…

-Water81 explodes from the wait.

Next Episode: The Fourth Interlude: Iris