Disclamier: I don't own any of the characters or plot themes for Teen Titans. The series and characters are owned by DC Comics, Cartoon Network and anyone who is associated with the production of the show.

Spoilers: The Apprentice parts 1&2, this is my version of these two episodes. It is different from the actual episodes and much much darker. In my version Slade did much more to Robin than just threaten his friends. To find out what you will have to read and find out.

Reviews: I love reviews, good, bad, any are good. If you Flame me however I'll just laugh and delete them. Questions submitted by reviewers in their reviews are addressed at the end of each chapter.

This chapter is told from Robin's point of view and takes place before the monologue by the character in Chapter 1.

I lie on the narrow cot that serves as my bed and stare at the ceiling. In truth I'm not really seeing anything because it takes too much effort to concentrate and even if I could concentrate there would be nothing to see that I haven't already seen. Since arriving here I've lost track of time. I only know when Slade shows up to train me as his Apprentice.

At first I resisted with everything I could muster but eventually the fight became too much for my weakened body and I began putting up less and less of a fight. I regretted that I couldn't fight but there was nothing I could do. I was too weak and I didn't have the strength to fight so I began letting them do whatever they wanted to do to me.

I remember when, in the days following my capture, Slade would come to my room and taunt me or tell me how well I would do as his apprentice. I hated him when he told me that I would serve him willingly. I hated him even more when he told me that "Perhaps in time you can see me as a father." I had hissed that I already had a father and I had meant it. I had sworn that Slade would never break me.

Now I'm not so sure that I hate him. All I know now is that when I don't fight him it is less painful for me and I'm grateful for that. I never thought I would admit to be being grateful to a villain for anything. All I know is that when I obey him and listen to him the pain is less.

After weeks of physical and emotional torture I'm desperate for any kindness and I remember the first time he praised me for something I had done. I think it was the first time I gave up without a fight when they came to remove me from my room. I remember him standing over my shaking body with a smile on his face

"Very good Robin." It was so simple and so welcome to my ears. After being told day after day that I was worthless hearing those simple words of congratulations set my spirits soaring. I had felt like a little kid trying to live up to his father's strictest standards and then finally being blessed with a slight nod of approval. It was a lot like when I had first started training under Batman. It had been hard to get his approval. The difference between Slade and Batman was that Batman never beat me. There would be times when I would be bruised and sore from a training session but he never actually beat me.

At the same time that I was reveling in Slade's simple praise, his words had hurt as well. I knew I was so desperate for kindness and that the path of least resistance would keep me alive the longest but I had still accepted praise from a man who was trying to ruin everything I held deemed important in my life.

He was trying to destroy my belief in the forces of good and he was crushing the hope I was holding on to that my friends would find me. For the first time in years I felt completely abandoned and alone. It was a feeling I hadn't felt since I was a kid and my parents had just died. Believe me there is no worse feeling than when the world of a child caves in on them and leaves them struggling with so many emotions that they can't deal with any of them.

What made the feeling of abandonment grow was the fact that there was no end in sight and no outlet to release my emotions. At least when I was a child I had had someone to turn to. Bruce might not have been the best emotional role model but he knew what it was like for a child to loose their parents and he helped me through the worst times.

Now though the only comfort in sight comes from the lips of a madman who is trying to destroy everything that makes me the person I am the person that Bruce and Batman helped me become. I don't want to loose that part of myself but I feel my mind slipping farther and farther away from my body as my body continues to work through every scenario that Slade puts me through. There are days when it is almost as if I am watching myself from a distance. I will see how my movements have changed; they are more fluid and automatic now. There is no thought to them because there is no mind to feel remorse or even care.

I'm vaguely aware that Slade beats me on a regular basis and that I still fail too much for his liking but there are those rare occasions when he praises me and my spirits will soar and another little piece of my soul dies.

There are some nights, after I've been returned to my room, that I will actually cry myself to sleep. I haven't cried since I was a child but I hate what I'm becoming. I hate the constant sting of the wounds on my body and the fact that I'm not doing anything to stop the pain I'm in. I won't scream in front of him though. That is the only dignity I have left and I intend to hold on to it for as long as I can. Batman told me once that screaming was what they wanted you to do and that you couldn't give into them. You couldn't give them what they want and when you did that was when they had broken you.

I'm trying to follow that but I don't know how much longer I can keep it up. It would be so easy to just give up and become Slade's apprentice. All I would have to do would be to break down and allow myself to give into the pain. It would be so easy but I'll hold out until I can't hold out anymore and hopefully I'll be rescued before my will fails me.

Abruptly I'm pulled from my thoughts when the door to my room slides open and Slade enters. Almost without thinking about it I stand as a sign of respect. Much to my happiness Slade nods in approval and motions for me to follow him out of the room. He leads me to the room where he trains me and gives me a complicated list of scenarios to go through. I memorize the list knowing that if I screw up I will be punished and I don't want to be punished, I want to be praised.

The sequence he gave me took nearly two hours to complete and much to my relief I actually got it all right. This time Slade actually claps and congratulates me by placing a hand on my shoulder and squeezing slightly.

"You are doing well this week Robin. Soon your training will be complete. Go back to your room now and I will come get you later." I nod slightly and immediately leave. My mind is reeling from the sheer amount of approval he had given me. He hadn't degraded me verbally, nor hit me and I was on cloud nine. Suddenly my mind comes crashing back to reality and I realize just what I had been thinking. It hurts but I had made it through without a beating and my mind overrides the little voice telling me that I should feel ashamed.

Slade returns to my room later that day to find me lying on the bed. I don't hear him come in until he is looming over me and I feel fear grip my chest as he stands over me.

"You are supposed to stand." I scramble to my feet and stand there shaking as I wait for my beating. He continues. "Maybe I gave you too much praise this morning." I suddenly can't breathe and I feel tears well in my eyes. I have disappointed him and I know it. Slade lifts my chin up and examines me.

"I'll have to punish you. You need to learn that I'm the one in charge. You won't learn to be my apprentice until I teach you." He reaches down to a pouch that hangs on his belt and begins to open it. I immediately back up until I fall over the bed but before I can completely fall Slade reaches out and grabs my wrist to steady me. With an angry sigh he awkwardly throws me on the bed and goes back to the pouch. After a couple minutes of fiddling with it he withdraws a small vial of clear liquid and a needle. With practiced hands he draws out a perfectly measured dose and replaces the vial in the pouch.

Through the whole process I've been watching him. I know what that drug will do to me. It will help to destroy the fragile control that I maintain on my old self. While it courses through me it affects my ability to think and when it wears off it leaves me more and more detached from myself.

I cry out as Slade grabs my wrist and pulls up the sleeve of the thin shirt I'm wearing to reveal the tract marks from where he has given me this drug before. He immediately finds a vein and injects the drug. Almost immediately I feel light headed and disoriented. The last thing I see is Slade standing over me and I can vaguely make out his words as he speaks.

"You will obey me Robin. You belong to me and no one else."

Alexnandru Van Gordon: Your review is definitly the quickest I haveever recieved a review for a story. Thanks very much, I appreciate it. I put up the second chapter just so you wouldn't haunt me 8') I hope you enjoy it. I have to agree with you though, there is way too much romance between Titans. As things stand now you won't see any of it here. I hope you like how I handled things between Robin and Slade. There will be more of it in the next chapter. Keep reading.