Chapter 4

He couldn't see. Everything was dark, and he began to panic as he tried to think of a way out. He was practically blind, stretching out his arms in front of him, hoping to grab onto something, anything that would give him an idea of where he was. Taking small steps, he walked a few paces forward. He froze as all of a sudden, a bright light flashed in front of him, revealing someone he had hoped never to see again for as long as he lived.

"SLADE!" Robin practically screamed. The word echoed, sending a chilling feeling up his very own spine.

"You finally made it, Robin. Good. I have been expecting you for quite a while." The masked villain was calm and collected as usual, his hands linked behind his back. He strolled casually, eyes never leaving his teen arch-nemesis.

"Where are my friends!"

"They're right here, Robin." At this, the Titans leader looked around wildly. Soon, he finally found what he was looking for.

And he did not like what he saw.

Lying in a heap on the floor were Cyborg, Raven, Starfire and Beastboy, various body parts twisted in unnatural angles. Their eyes were open, though they looked glassy and completely devoid of life. Robin looked in horror as they lay perfectly still. His gaze lingered on the shapeshifter for a few moments, before he remembered that Slade was right there, watching.

The masked man tutted. Robin became furious.

"What did you to them!" He demanded, pulling out his bo-staff.

"Me? I did nothing. It was all you, Robin. You neglected them. You let them down. You have been a bad leader."

"No!" Was all Robin could say, and he felt rage inside him, knowing he could not counter that scathing comment.

"They got captured, tortured and killed because of you. It's all your fault, Robin."

"Shut up!" Robin ran towards the man and tried to strike him with his weapon, but Slade simply vanished and reappeared behind him.

"All."

"Your."

"Fault."

"NO!"

Before Robin could speak further, the four titans reappeared in front of him, floating, tears streaming down their cheeks. Slade was nowhere to be seen.

"How could you, Robin?" They were saying over and over. Strangely enough, Beastboy's voice was louder than the rest.

"STOP!" Robin collapsed and fell on his knees, clutching his head. He just wanted them to stop…

"Cyborg… Raven… Starfire…

BEASTBOY!"

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Robin woke up, gasping.

"A dream…" He muttered to himself. 'Just a dream. Though it seemed so real…' He lay back down on his sleeping bag, relieved. He sighed and wiped the sweat off his brow, then collapsed back onto the cloth of the sleeping bag. Closing his eyes slowly, he tried to push the horrifying dream out of his mind.

A few minutes later after freshening up and putting on a clean uniform, he emerged from the tent and began his morning exercises. The echoes of his friends' accusations continued to replay in his mind as he took out his frustration on another tree.

'What was I thinking!' Robin scolded himself angrily as the tree stump suffered another roundhouse kick. He was having second thoughts about the mission…

'I shouldn't have brought Beastboy along with me. It's too dangerous.' For a moment, he felt extreme hatred for a branch sticking out of the stump, so he pulled back his fist and punched it, causing it to fall off.

'I should've gone alone.' Another kick to the middle of the stump.

The mission was not going well, Robin admitted to himself. The radar seemed to be broken, for they were supposed to have arrived at the base a few days before. He felt uncomfortable, wondering why they had not been attacked yet.

'Surely they have landmines, and robots patrolling the area?' The Boy Wonder frowned. 'Unless we're really really far from the base. Maybe we took a wrong turn…'

A wrong turn.

A wrong decision.

"It's all your fault, Robin," Slade's voice said once again, and Robin felt self-loathing inside him.

"Can't afford any more mistakes," He mumbled to himself, and finished with one last kick to the stump, which now resembled nothing more than a pile of scrap wood.

Panting, Robin headed to the spring and cupped his hands together. He scooped up water and drank it, feeling refreshed. But his moment of peace was interrupted when a large amount of water hit him in the face. It splashed all over his shirt and hair as well.

Sputtering, the masked crime fighter hastily wiped water out of his mask, glaring at the direction it came from.

"What's up, fearless leader?" Beastboy greeted innocently, as he floated on his back, resting in the stream.

The feeling of dread and coldness gripped Robin once again. He felt miserable, not able to look at Beastboy in the face without imagining his twisted limbs and pale, lifeless face. So he settled for briskly standing up and turning around.

"Pack up, we need to get a move on. Hurry!" He ordered, sounding harsher than he had meant to be.

"B-But…"

"Now!" Robin felt guilty as he continued to avert his gaze, and proceeded to gather his belongings without another word to the shapeshifter.

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Beastboy felt hurt, betrayed and angered by Robin's actions. When he woke up, the day was beautiful, and he was fully-prepared to spend it with Robin, chatting and conversing freely, and simply having fun. But it seemed Robin had become even more withdrawn than usual.

'I thought I managed to loosen him up… So what the hell happened?' He questioned himself sadly. Looking forward, he watched Robin's back as the caped crusader made sure to keep at least ten paces ahead of him. Every time he tried to start a conversation, Robin would end it with a "We have to hurry, no time for talking." He was beginning to sound like a broken record. And Beastboy was becoming very annoyed by Robin's rude behavior.

"…Are you going to be like that for the rest of the trip? 'Cause it's becoming annoying," He said out loud. Robin didn't reply.

"Look, I don't know what's going on, but, dude, talk to me! What did I do!"

Silence.

Beastboy decided that he had had enough.

"That's IT, Robin, I've had it!" He said loudly, stopping. Robin slowed down for a few paces, but picked up again, still not answering.

"LOOK AT ME!" He was yelling now.

"No time, we have to hurry," Came Robin's weak, hoarse voice.

Beastboy ran to him and soon they were walking side by side. Glaring at his companion, the pointy-eared titan opened his mouth and ranted.

"Rob, I'm sick of the way you've been treating me, lately. What am I to you, some kind of butler who follows you around! Or do you think that I'm so inferior to you that you always have to be ahead of me when we walk!"

Robin stopped in his tracks.

"Get behind me, Beastboy." His voice was dangerous and low as he glared at the changeling. But Beastboy didn't care anymore.

"NO! I'm THROUGH following your orders!" Robin began to walk again, this time much faster. Beastboy did not hesitate as he continued to keep up.

"I said stay behind me, Beastboy!" Robin was yelling now, practically jogging. And Beastboy jogged with him.

"MAKE ME!"

The moment he said those words, Beastboy felt his foot press down on something circular and metallic. It beeped, and both Titans froze.

BOOM!

They yelled in the same manner as they were sent flying in opposite directions, crashing into nearby trees.

It was then that Beastboy finally realized why Robin had stayed ahead of him all this time: landmines.

"LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE!" Robin screamed as he jumped to his feet, glaring daggers at his fellow Titan.

"What I'VE done! ARE YOU CRAZY! YOU WOULD'VE STEPPED ON IT IF I HADN'T!"

"THAT'S THE POINT! YOU SHOULD'VE STAYED BEHIND ME LIKE I TOLD YOU TO!"

"WHAT, SO YOU COULD BE BLOWN TO SMITHEREENS! DUDE, WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!"

"I only wanted to protect you, YOU COULD'VE GOTTEN HURT!"

"SAME GOES FOR YOU! And I thought RAVEN was suicidal-"

They had been taking slow steps forward as both boys faced off against each other. Another step, and Beastboy felt the same metallic circle under his shoe once again. He quickly leapt out of the way as another landmine exploded. Robin did the same.

"DON'T - MOVE!"

"Stop telling me what to do!"

Everything became worse when at least five armed gleaming robots emerged from various shrubs, sporting large guns. They immediately open-fired at the two, who stood mouths open, and then jumped out of the way.

Both boys thought the same thing: 'As if the situation wasn't bad enough…'

"Stay here! I'll take care of them!" Robin jumped and landed on a tree branch. He began jumping from branch to branch towards the commandos while pulling out several birdarangs.

"AS IF- ARGH!" Beastboy had stepped on another landmine and was blown to the sidelines once more. Yelling some more as the robots fired at him, the changeling covered his head with his arms, ducking behind a tree root.

'I can't hide here like some coward,' Beastboy thought angrily, and leapt out in bird form, letting out a piercing cry.

"No! You might get hurt! STOP!" Robin's comments only succeeded in making Beastboy madder and madder. Transforming back into human, he ran, dodging the shots.

"I am NOT some little boy to be taken care of!" He growled, finally reaching his breaking point. Robin looked annoyed as he fought off one of the robots, bo-staff whipping around so quickly that all that could be seen were flashes of silver. The rest of the robots made their way towards him.

Morphing into a lion, Beastboy roared and leapt aggressively onto one of the robots, scratching at its metal shell furiously. The two Titans proceeded to destroy the invaders. At one point, Beastboy came dangerously close to biting the bo-staff in half.

"Watch it!" The Boy Wonder exclaimed angrily.

"Argh! YOU watch it!" Beastboy shot back as Robin tried going for the robot Beastboy had been attacking. In crocodile form, the shapeshifter wagged his tail, signaling for his companion to get out of the way.

There were several more instances wherein both boys came dangerously close to accidentally striking each other. By the end of the battle, various machine parts littered the ground, smoke rising from them. Both titans looked worse for the wear: their clothes were singed, skin decorated with several bruises and bleeding cuts. They had barely won. The forest was silent as only the sounds of breathing could be heard. The worst part was that the battle only succeeded in sending their tempers skyrocketing to a whole new level.

"What was that!" Robin demanded sharply once he caught his breath. "I told you to stand back."

"You can't order me around." Beastboy glared hard at the masked leader.

"If we're going to finish this mission you HAVE TO follow orders!"

"Well, maybe we'd actually make progress if you stopped acting like you're king of the world!"

They were bickering again.

"MAYBE we'd make some progress if you stopped acting childish!" Robin shot back. Beastboy drew closer to him, his glare looking even more venomous.

"Stop treating me like a kid!" Memories of Mento and the Doom Patrol telling him to stand back still stung.

"Beastboy, if you haven't noticed, we're fighting a dangerous bunch of maniacs here! You're going to HAVE TO get serious!" Their faces were inches apart.

Eyes blazing, Beastboy pushed Robin back.

"I KNOW what we're dealing with!" He screamed.

"Then quit playing around!" They were shoving each other now.

"I'M NOT!

"YES! YOU! ARE!"

Before Robin could even blink, a green-and-black striped tiger was on top of him, saliva dripping down its mouth and onto Robin's uniform. It growled menacingly, and the former sidekick couldn't help but feel a little afraid. Teeth clenched, he brought up his right arm, trying to push the tiger away from his face.

"GET OFF- AH!" Robin gasped and bit back a sharp cry of pain as the tiger unexpectedly sank its fangs into Robin's arm. It transformed back into Beastboy, though the green-skinned titan continued to growl and glare at him.

Robin was extremely angry now.

Yelling, he swiftly punched the changeling in the face, and Beastboy was sent flying a few feet away. It was then that both boys realized what they had done. Beastboy slowly got up, eyes wide. He tried to ignore his nose and lips, which were both bleeding from Robin's punch. The Titans leader was still on the ground nursing his arm.

"Robin! Oh God…" He rushed to his side, filled with fear.

"I'm SO sorry!"

"S'okay…" The other boy replied thickly, staring down at his arm, then at Beastboy's bloody face. "Sorry about your face…"

"It's nothing. We should get ourselves cleaned up… Crap, I might have given you rabies…"

They both stood up and went to get their bags, which they had flung to the side when the robots came. Bandages and alcohol were brought out to clean their wounds.

"You okay? Is anything broken?" Robin asked softly, looking up from his arm which was half-wrapped in gauze.

"No, no, I think I'm alright…" Beastboy responded, just as uncomfortably as he wiped off some more of the blood. Most of what remained on his face was dried, as both his nose and mouth had stopped bleeding.

The silence that followed was even more awkward.

"So…"

"Beastboy…" Robin was frowning, looking guilty (Beastboy noticed) as he stared at the ground.

"I'm… Sorry for being a jerk."

"Well… Ah…" The point-eared hero was at a loss as what to say, so he chewed his lip softly, so it would not bleed.

"It's not your fault, I was being an idiot…" 'And you sound like one now!' Beastboy scolded himself.

"…Beastboy?"

"Yeah?"

"I noticed that… Well, we don't exactly get along as well as we should. I mean… The last battle…"

"You mean the one where you told me stay back and hide?"

"I didn't want you to get hurt."

Beastboy stood up from the rock he had been sitting on, and walked slowly towards Robin.

"You don't trust me, Robin. And to tell you the truth, I don't trust you much either."

"I know," Robin sighed and placed his head in his hands. "…But I just can't help but worry."

Beastboy placed a hand on his shoulder.

"We all do."

Beastboy was getting annoyed by the deafening silence, so he spoke once more.

"Look, Rob, I know this is getting cheesy and all, but… How 'bout we promise to trust each other from now on?"

"Trust?" Robin's brows furrowed as he lifted his head from his hands. He curiously stared at his companion.

"You know… Be more friendly to each other. Walk side by side. Share jokes. That kind of stuff." Beastboy may have sounded confident, but on the inside he was screaming at himself, berating himself for saying such drivel.

"That sounds… nice."

Beastboy's eyes lit up instantly, and he allowed a wide smile to grace his features.

"Dude! Awesome! This is gonna be sweet!" He proceeded to talk about things they were going to do, and Robin could have sworn he heard 'braid', 'hair' and 'like Starfire and Raven', but decided to ignore it. As Beastboy continued to plan and scheme, he decided to make an announcement.

"Um… Beastboy?"

"…And then Immortus will be all 'AH, give back my underp-' huh?"

"Since we trust each other and all, can I tell you something?"

"Yes?" Beastboy couldn't help but sound too eager.

"We're lost."

End Chapter

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Guh. As usual, I'm not satisfied with this chapter. I know, the blow-up seems really weird and out of place… I think. Sorry about that.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed the third chapter though! I was pleasantly surprised. Everytime I got a review alert, I'd get nervous, thinking that chapter 3 would be ripped apart and eaten. Heh.

Sorry if this chappie came out later than expected. I'm really busy with school. But yeah.

Keep writing to Cartoon Network to save Teen Titans!

…And please review.