Disclaimer: All copyright and credit goes to the original creators of the Teen Titans, Batman, and the DC Universe. This is for entertainment purposes only! I do not own any of the characters!

A/N: Happy belated Thanksgiving everyone! I hope everyone had a good/fun holiday!

Thanks for all the reviews on the last chapter! I appreciate all the feedback/support! For those who were uncertain about the JLA, they are not going to play a huge role in the story. I really haven't ironed out all the details in the plot, but this story will always focus on Robin and Slade as the main characters.

With that, here is the next chapter.

I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 17

Amongst the Pouring Rain

A ragged breath tore through his lips as his boots thudded on the thick concrete. He jumped, throwing opening the hatch and heaving his thin body up. Wind clawed at his face as he inhaled a shaky breath trying to push the memories away. But he felt them. They hung in his mind, pressing against his thoughts like painful daggers.

He slammed the hatch shut and clicked his retrieved utility belt around his waist. He stumbled forward, heavy waves of emotions rushing through him.

Hold it together, Robin.

The boy raced off the edge of the building, clutching his ribs as pain danced across them. He flipped, launching his grappling hook and soaring from building to building as the wind whipped his face. He rolled to a stop on one of the rooftops as his emotions slammed into him.

Hold it together.

The thought offered no respite for the boy as he staggered toward the edge of the rooftop. His life was crumbling down around him as everything he had sought to erase was being pulled back into his mind. Pain so raw and pure shot through his body and the boy cried out, falling to his knees.

Hold it together.

Robin clenched his hands on the concrete, feeling the dirt and gravel bite into his skin. A shudder tore through his body as the burning behind his eyes grew into a fiery pain. The boy blinked, biting his bottom lip. He could see everything. Every horrible memory he had tried to hide was sitting before him, taunting him, mocking him, shouting at him.

He turned his head away.

Robin doesn't cry.

His arms shook.

But Dick Grayson does.

Trembling hands clutched at the mask around his eyes and in a fluid motion he tore it off. Wind whipped at his bare eyes as the boy blinked, staring numbly at the fabric in his hands. Tears fell from his eyes, and the boy let them fall. He didn't try to hold them back like he had done so many times before. He didn't try to hide them. He exposed them for the entire world to see. The skyline blinked and fluttered as he shut his eyes. Here he sat, defeated and alone, defenseless against the cruel world before him.

Robin gripped the edge of the flat rooftop, feeling the grime and dirt rub against his hands. Dark clouds circled overhead blocking out the sunlight as an ominous rumble of thunder sounded in the air. Let the storm come, Robin thought bitterly. Tears continued to stream down his cheeks, and onto the shadowy ground. Let it come…

A terrible cry broke free from Robin's lips, and he buried his face in his cape. A huge crushing weight constricted his heart. It was over. He was done. He was alone with the nightmares of his past, left to deal with the consequences of failure. His hands slipped into a pocket of his utility belt and grasped the shattered remains of his communicator. The shards brushed against his skin as the emptiness in the still air surrounded him. Thunder rumbled overhead, beckoning the rain to come from the sky brewing with darkness.

He had no one else to ask for help. The Teen Titans were powerful crime fighters, but they had never faced a villain like the Joker before. The boy slammed his eyes shut and tried to drown out the viscous and psychotic laugh that echoed through his haunted mind. His first encounter with the villain had been one that he had never wanted to relive, yet no matter how hard he tried to forget that fateful day, it stayed with him. Just beyond the vast recesses of his mind…

When he had been just starting out as a vigilante, Batman had tried to shelter him from the more violent villains. He had only been eight after all, and Bruce had been wise enough to try to protect what little innocence he had left. But protecting him meant making him stay behind, and his eight year old mind had quickly warped the facts of reality. Whenever Bruce had pushed him aside, benched him, or told him to go home, it had been for his protection, but he had taken it the wrong way.

Every time Batman had pushed him aside, Robin had grown more defiant with the man. As years passed, he had begun to resent the man that had taken him in. He had never understood how malevolent and twisted some villains could be therefore he had never listened.

So when Batman had only done the best for him, he had seen it as the worst.

Thunder rumbled overhead and Robin pulled his cape tighter around him. He remembered that bone chilling night. That night everything he knew changed, and all of his innocence had been burned away into ashes. The Joker had broken out of Arkham again, and the psychopath had been on a rampage through the city. He had begged and pleaded with Batman, claiming he could handle the crazy clown, but the older man had been adamant that Robin stayed behind.

And I should've listened, the boy thought bitterly.

He let out a long breath and rose to his feet, rubbing the tears out of his eyes. His hands pulled his cape tighter around his shoulders as he gazed out across the skyline. Lights fluttered and blinked, and there was an eerie silence that surrounded the boy. A sigh escaped his lips as he wiped a few stray tears off of his cheeks and stepped forward, standing on the edge of the building. He couldn't change what had happened in the past, but he could prevent it from repeating itself. And that meant keeping the Titans from getting involved.

Robin turned, centering his body and began walking around the perimeter like he was on a tightrope. He spread his arms out, feeling the wind tickle his fingers and run through his hair.

It seemed that's all his life consisted of - losing people he cared about and dealing with the pains of moving on. A dry chuckle broke through his tear stained face. And Slade thought he didn't know how cruel life was. How wrong the man was. How utterly wrong.

Robin had learned at a very early age how cruel life was. His parents had been snatched away from him, and his innocent eyes had been burned by the cruelty and injustice of their deaths. He had been thrust into a foreign world with a man who didn't quite understand his troubled and unique mind. He had been hardened by villains who haunted his dreams.

A sharp crack of lighting flashed in the air.

His mind had never moved on, but his heart had. His heart had moved on – finding a new group of friends and forging a new family from the ashes of his past. But that didn't mean he had ever forgotten his parents and that didn't mean he had ever gotten over their deaths. Through all the years, all the months, and all the weeks, the boy had never forgotten that day. He had never forgotten their smiling faces, their sweet laughs, and their strong yet gentle hugs. He had never forgotten their dying breaths, their horrible screams, and their pained yet peaceful faces. Robin pulled his cape tighter over his head as he felt a rain drop hit his wilted, raven locks. He pressed the mask back over his eyes.

He was so lost.

The peaceful surroundings did little to calm his inner turmoil. His eyes flickered over to the shut hatch, and rested there. He should have never gotten Slade involved. He should have never asked the man for help as he had only proven all of his fears to be true. His mother had been wrong. Some people never change.

The thought was like dead weight in his lap. He had fallen into an abyss, too deep and suffocating to escape.

Bruce would be so disappointed in him.

"We need to talk, Robin."

The words made the boy flinched as he whirled around, his heart hammering in his chest. Lighting flashed in the air, silhouetting the man standing before him in a cloak of darkness. Panic slammed into the boy, overriding any other thought in his brain. He couldn't do this right now. He couldn't face Slade, not like this, not after the things the man had said. Finely honed instincts took over his body as yanked three bird-a-rangs out of his pocket and chucked them at the man. He turned around.

And ran.

"Robin!"

He heard his name echo in the darkness as he flipped into the air and shot his grappling hook toward the next building. Thunder roared above him as he swung up onto the next roof and landed gracefully on the hard concrete. His feet ghosted across the rooftop as the clouds finally broke, and rain began to empty onto the thick ground.

Get away. Get away. Get away.

The thought drummed in his head as his feet beat against the ground. The rain grew in intensity and started to pour around him as Robin's breathing came quicker and faster. A bitter chill nipped at him through the thick rain and each raindrop felt like a sharp pellet of ice against his skin. Through the heavy downpour, he heard the masked man land behind him. Robin forced himself to keep moving. He flipped off the edge of the building and repeated the same process again.

Run. Flip. Land. Repeat.

Thunder rumbled above as villain chased hero.

Robin rolled onto a rooftop and swore as he recognized it. The masked man had driven him back to his haunt. How had he been so careless as to not recognize this? A terrible feeling began to form and expand in his stomach. The rooftop looked so long ahead of him. With each step he took, he felt like he moved ten feet backwards. The boy's feet thudded against the roof and pounded on the ground in rhythm with the thunder above him. The edge of the rooftop grew closer, and the Boy Wonder prepared himself to jump.

Through the roar of the rain, Robin heard a thin whistling sound. Before he could react, a cold wire wrapped around and around his legs, binding them together. His momentum continued to carry him forward, sending him skidding across the ground on his arms. He stopped inches away from the edge of the rooftop and let out a groan as the fierce pain in his ribs and head slammed into him. A stinging sensation traveled up and down his arms, and Robin lifted them off the ground to see blood dripping from the fresh cuts on his forearm.

The rain crashed around him in a deafening roar. He blocked out the pain, determined to get away from the presence closing in on him. The boy heaved himself up, breathing heavily as he fumbled around his utility belt searching for another bird-a-rang. Heavy footsteps approached him, but Robin ignored them, completely set on his task. His shaking hands pulled out a bird-a-rang and moved to cut the wire around his legs.

ZING

The bird-a-rang flashed out of his hands as a metal disc embedded it into the roof. Seconds later a second wire whirled through the air and painfully latched around his wrists. The Boy Wonder swore as the wrathful presence grew closer to him, his panic constricting his chest. With a cry of fear and frustration, Robin tugged and pulled at the wires only to have them bite deeper into his skin. His eyes stayed glued to his wrists as his doom approached him from the thundering rain.

A feeling of helplessness crashed down around Robin. He was eight years old again watching his parents' die. He was sitting in the Batcave watching Bruce lay unconscious from his wounds. He was staring at the controller that determined whether his friends lived or died. The wires burned against his skin. There was nothing he could do. He was to face this alone.

"Just go ahead Slade! Kill me! Go ahead! You were right! Heroes all face their end eventually," Robin shouted through the downpour. Hot tears trailed down his face as the masked man moved closer to him.

He had failed.

Batman would be ashamed of him. The man would frown upon his submittal to death. He had always taught Robin to never stop fighting, to never stop believing in the good in the world, to never give up. A choice. That's what Batman always said. He had a choice to rise above this, to become stronger, to accept the consequences, and continue on. He had a choice whether or not he rose before good or fell before evil.

It was his choice.

It always had been.

Tears streamed down Robin's face as he clenched his hands together. Batman wasn't here anymore. It was just him. And the Boy Wonder had finally decided he was done fighting. Slade had haunted his life for so long, had pervaded his every hour, and had ruined his sanity. Robin no longer cared if he lost to the man. He no longer cared what the man did to him.

He was done.

"I'm not going to harm you, Robin."

Slade's silky voice floated to him through the dense storm. The masked man's heavy footsteps stopped a few feet away.

Robin let out a dry laugh that ricocheted through the air. It slashed through the storm with a wicked edge and wrapped around the helpless boy.

"Then let me go, Slade! You're not going to help me, and I need to get back to the Titans."

Thunder rolled from the sky, and lightening flashed behind Slade, illuminating him in a blinding light.

"No, Robin. We need to talk," Slade replied taking a step closer to the boy.

"About what, Slade? That you're a psychopath? That you want to kill me?" Robin cried keeping his eyes on the ground as the tears continued to fall down his face. The droplets blended with the rain, and Robin looked up at the crying sky. At least there was something in the world that pitied him.

A presence moved closer to Robin and the boy shied away, pushing himself toward the edge of the roof.

"Just let me go, Slade. Please…I can't…I can't do this anymore," Robin whispered looking out into the skyline. The stormy clouds swirled above the buildings, blocking out all sunlight and shadowing the city in darkness. He hunched over, drawing his knees to his chest as he stared down at his boots.

A hand reached out and grabbed Robin's chin, making the boy flinch. However he didn't resist as the hand pulled his face forward. Robin closed his eyes willing the tears to stop. Even though Slade wouldn't be able to differentiate the salty drops rolling down his cheeks from the rain drops in the air, he still felt the need to stop the unyielding river streaming from his eyes. Tears were a weakness, and they made Robin feel even more pathetic in the presence of this man.

The masked man leaned in closer to him until they were inches apart, and still Robin refused to open his eyes. He refused to face the specter that haunted his every step. He refused to look at that condemning eye. He refused to face his enemy. He refused to face his fear.

"Open your eyes, Robin," Slade said. The words were not laced with an underlying threat or commanding tone. They were softly, almost reverently spoken. They were odd coming from the man before him, and Robin almost – just almost – did as the man said. But he stopped himself, not willing to give Slade anything more.

The two were locked in a battle of wills as the storm continued to crash down around them. Robin's eyes remained glued shut as the rain continued to pound on his small frame. Each raindrop struck his skin with an icy force and slid off of his body, rolling onto the concrete ground.

"Let me go, Slade."

"Then open your eyes Robin."

A growl of frustration bled through the boy's lips as he tried to yank his head away. The man merely tightened his grip on Robin's jaw, and the boy let out a muffled cry of pain. He tried to wrench his legs up, but soon found them to be pinned down by another strong hand. Robin heaved in a frustrated breath of air.

"Open your eyes."

The boy let out a small sigh that was barely noticeable in the thick wall of rain. His last effort of resistance walked out of his body as he realized his attempt at refusing the man was futile. Slade always got what he wanted in the end. Always.

And that's what scared Robin the most.

Sure the man lost some battles. But he always somehow manipulated events to his favor. He was always ten steps ahead of every turn, twist, or bump in the road, and Robin was always ten steps behind. The Boy Wonder let his shoulders slump in defeat as he came to this acceptance. He was naive to think he had ever been ahead of Slade. The truth was, he never had been, and he never will be.

Robin's eyes fluttered open, and the hand around his chin reflexively tightened.

His eyes locked on the masked man.

"Slade…" Robin gasped.

The masked man who was no longer masked.

Lightning flashed nearby, illuminating the discarded mask in shadow of light. Robin's eyes traveled up and down the man's face, absorbing every detail. He looked to be in his late thirties despite the fact that he had snow, white hair. The controversial mystery among the Titans of his one eye was finally solved. A black eye patch covered his left eye, and a white jagged scar protruded under the piece of material. Seconds passed as Robin memorized every crease, line, and wrinkle of the man's visage. Even without the mask however, Slade's face was a blank canvas that betrayed no emotion.

"Slade Wilson to be exact," the man mused softly. The corner of his lipped twitched as he watched the boy's reaction with mild amusement.

"B-but why? Your mask…" Robin whispered, his body growing numb. This wasn't happening. In all of his years, he had only dreamed that he would see Slade without his mask. But this wasn't his dream. This was real. The man was truly in front of him.

"I don't need it anymore."

Robin gazed at the man before him, and stared deeply into his gray eye. The eye that had struck fear into the core of his heart seemed changed. Its gray color was lighter, softer, and smoother. It stared back at him through the pouring rain, and Robin found himself drawn to it. It beckoned him forward and pulled him out of his terrified state of mind.

"The words I said were a mistake. How I handled this…" Slade paused searching for the right word, "…this unusual situation was wrong. I realize this now, Robin," Slade said as he continued to hold the boy's chin with his hand.

Robin opened his mouth and then shut it, unsure of what to say. What was the man trying to do here? Was he really trying to mend the roads he had personally burned into piles of ashes? What did the man expect? That Robin would go along with him now? That because he removed his mask, Robin would suddenly see him as a good person?

The boy's eyes hardened under his mask as he stared at the man in front of him. Thunder rose inside of his heart and echoed around him. Here was the man who had haunted his every waking hour. Here was the man who had destroyed his city. Here was the man who tormented his life.

Did Slade really think one halfhearted conversation would fix anything?

"So that's it? I'm just supposed to forget it? I'm just supposed to forget everything you've done and said to me? I'm just supposed to pretend it never happened!" Robin shouted his voice building momentum like a rock tumbling down a mountain.

Slade took a deep breath, and dropped Robin's chin. The man adverted his eyes from the boy and looked out over the skyline. Robin watched as the man flexed and released his gloved hands and as a sigh escaped his lips.

"I'm not asking you for your forgiveness. I'm asking you for your cooperation, Robin," Slade said, his single eye narrowing slightly.

The cold rain beat down on Robin's warm skin chilling the heat that was rising in his body. Anger and distrust rolled off of him in seething waves as he glared into the ground. "I'm done cooperating, Slade," Robin mumbled, turning away.

"You'll be killed without my help, Robin."

The man rose to his feet and glanced down at the boy before walking to the edge of the rooftop and crossing his hands behind his back.

The truth in the words echoed in Robin's ears, but the boy's anger quickly drowned it out.

"Like you care whether or not I live. Since when was my safety your concern!" Robin spat out through the rain, his words dripping with venom and disdain.

The man whipped around as lighting flashed in the sky.

"It became my concern when you showed up half -DEAD in my haunt," Slade roared, his voice booming over the thunder. The boy flinched as Slade's eye focused on him and darkened with a deep and fiery irritation. Fear coursed through Robin's veins as everything around the man reeked of anger – the air, the rain, the thunder – it all shouted at him that Slade was seriously going to kill him. He had never, not once in all of his time with the man, heard him yell. Slade was always calm, collected, and calculating, not ravenously angry as he was now. Just when Robin thought the man was going to snap, Slade turned away and rubbed his jaw, letting out a deep breath.

"That didn't seem to bother you before…" Robin muttered under his breath.

The man whirled around in a flurry of anger. His eye was as dark as the air around them as he honed in on Robin.

"I have never tried to kill you!"

Robin scoffed in disbelief and threw his bound hands in the air.

"Oh yeah right, Slade. Are you forgetting the whole hallucination episode where I almost destroyed myself?" Sarcasm dripped off of Robin's tongue as he spat the words at the man's feet. "Or how about the countless times you have pummeled me within inches of my life? That doesn't count?"

Within a flash, the man was standing before him. Robin jerked back instinctively as the man grabbed his chin in a tight hold. Slade's dark eye bore into him as an aura of power and fury washed over Robin. The man was absolutely livid.

"Now let's get one thing straight shall we. If I wanted you dead, you would be. Understood?"

Slade's voice was barely audible above the roar of the rain. It slithered over to Robin, so smooth and sharp that the boy felt it could slice through the sky itself.

"Do you understand me, Robin?"

The grip around his chin tightened, but Robin's fierce gaze didn't waver for a moment. He would not back down anymore. He was done with the mind-games, the plots, and the illusive comments. He was done shrinking away from the man. He was done biting his tongue. He was done with everything.

His heart drummed in his chest as all the countless emotions he had repressed over the years, boiled up. Tears rushed up to his eyes and rolled down his cheeks. The boy hardened his mouth into a firm line as he let everything go. All the barriers fell down in his mind.

He would leave nothing left unsaid.

"Then why do you bother with all the plots, the tricks, the underhanded deals, the constant threats towards Jump? What's the freaking point of constantly messing with MY LIFE?"

If the outburst surprised the man, he didn't show it. Slade gazed into the boy's livid eyes as the rain beat down around them. The man's thumb brushed against the edge of the boy's jaw, tracing it softly as his eye grew slightly distant. Thunder rumbled overhead, and the hand around his chin suddenly tightened as Slade's eye hardened.

"Because you would have made the perfect apprentice."

Robin jerked his head away as he threw his bound hands up and smashed them into the man's face. Slade made no move to block the blow as it connected and threw the man back.

"Would you SHUT UP! I'm not ever going to be your apprentice." Robin broke off at the end as his tears bled into his voice. Here it was again. The same old thing the man had thrown at him for the last years of his life. The same old fear that kept him awake at night. The same old terror that haunted his steps. He dropped his eyes to the floor. "Why can't you understand that?"

The man rubbed his jaw, his eye holding an odd light in it. "I'm not one to take no for an answer."

Robin pulled his knees back up to his chest and buried his head as a silent sob racketed through his body. Everything inside his body felt as if it had been shredded. He couldn't think. He couldn't move. He couldn't stand. All he could do was sit, cry, and hope the man would leave him alone.

But as minutes passed, he still felt the man. His presence was near, never moving, never speaking; he was just there, a waiting specter of the storm. Robin clenched his fists together, digging his nails into his skin. The small pain helped him clear his mind, until only one question remained.

"Why?"

He looked up and found the gray eye gazing at him.

"Why me?" Robin whispered, a deep pain and torture behind the words, "Why me? You could have any other apprentice you wanted, but you choose me. Why?"

Thunder rumbled overhead as Slade merely gazed at him. He was standing roughly five feet away, but Robin felt as if the man was right next to him, breathing down his neck, taunting him, mocking him.

You hate losing as much as I do, one of the many qualities we have in common.

"I think you know why Robin," Slade said while taking a step forward.

I am the thing that keeps you up at night.

The man paused, searching for the boy's eyes hidden under the mask. "You've known it since the day we first encountered each other."

The evil that haunts every dark corner of your mind.

"We're similar, you and I."

"I'm nothing like you," Robin muttered while turning away. His parents' faces flashed before his eyes and the boy clenched his hands together, repeating the statement to himself. "I am nothing like you."

Rain continued to pound on the ground around the pair as Slade took another step forward.

"That's where we disagree."

Robin's head snapped up as he glared at the man and said, "That's where we will always disagree."

The man's face was blank as he turned away from the boy and gazed out across the skyline. His eye was unfocused as he stared towards the countless number of buildings beyond Robin while his body remained inhumanly still. Robin shook his head, shifting his body under the bonds that held him down.

"I don't understand…" the boy muttered under his breath.

"Understand what, Robin?"

The boy snapped towards the man, surprised he had heard the comment over the roar of the rain. But Robin soon rolled his eyes. Of course, Slade heard him. The blasted man is an omnipotent psychopath.

"Why you continue to torment Jump? Why you always find a way to cause trouble? Why you never seem to be able to breathe without plotting something evil?" Robin said while sending the man a death glare.

Only the rise and fall of Slade's chest signaled to Robin that the man was still alive.

"I'm breathing now, aren't I?"

"Probably planning how to murder me in my sleep," Robin mumbled under his breath.

The man shifted, but did not turn to look at him. His voice rolled through the storm. "No, Robin. Despite your childish expectations, I do not spend every waking minute planning different ways to murder you."

Robin didn't respond to the comment and instead glared at the man's white hair. Thunder rumbled overhead and the boy sighed, pressing his head against his knees and gazing back down towards the ground. He missed the Titans. He missed the Tower. He missed the corny jokes Beast Boy would crack at the most intense moments. He missed Raven's sly comments. He missed Cyborg's laugh. He missed Starfire's warm and soothing smile.

He wanted to go home.

"I am a mercenary Robin. I do what needs to be done. You and the rest of the Titans merely get in my way…"

"It's my job to get in your way," Robin muttered dryly.

"Yes I am well aware of that," Slade responded with a glint in his eye. He slowly turned and studied the boy on the ground before him.

Robin shifted as he felt the scrutinizing gray eye hover over him.

"You've gotten better."

The words were spoken so softly Robin almost missed them. The younger boy's eyes snapped to the man in confusion.

"I've gotten better?" Robin repeated incredulously.

The man in front of him shook his head and paced towards the edge of the roof, deep in thought.

"Not just you. The Titans as well. When I got to Jump, your team was a ragtag group of teenagers."

Slade's eye flashed toward him briefly. Lightning illuminated him in a silhouette as he spoke his next words.

"They still are, but they've gotten better. You especially have improved."

Robin gazed up at the man as his thoughts tumbled down around him. His mind dragged him back to when he first came to Jump. He had been a complete and utter mess and knew little to nothing about how to command his own team. Sure he had had some experience with the Justice League and Batman, but nothing prepared him for the mountain of responsibility that came with the Titans. With the Titans there was no one besides himself to clean up their mistakes. Every action came with a consequence. That was a lesson Robin learned the hard way.

And then Slade showed up, and Robin's world had been flipped upside down. He second guessed every decision, he over-thought every action, and he always tried to predict what Slade would do next. It shredded him to pieces. It divided him from his team and isolated him with the very thing he feared – defeat.

But after the apprentice fiasco, he grew stronger. Sure the hallucination stunt was a minor setback, but Robin eventually recovered and he eventually stopped second guessing everything he did. He embraced the role as a leader and took on the responsibility wholeheartedly. He stopped thinking of himself as Richard Grayson and instead came to know himself solely as Robin. His team viewed him with respect and deference, but there was always a light and effervescent atmosphere in the Tower. Robin never demanded anything less than what was expected, and the Titans never asked for anything more.

Robin looked up at the figure before him with a question in his eye.

"Have I improved because of you?"

Slade's eye studied him as the rain continued to pound the concrete. The man debated the question for a long time as the wind whipped against his face and as he stared out over the skyline of crumbling buildings.

"Adversity makes you stronger."

It was an axiom Batman had long drilled into Robin's head. But coming from Slade it sounded much different. It didn't sound like the fearless oath Batman fought all his battles with. It sounded dark, laced with an untouchable pain and regret. The words themselves were worn down by the unforgiving fact of life that every hero and villain faced and learned.

Victory always comes at a cost.

"Or it can destroy you," Robin whispered. The thought had slipped past his lips before he could reel it back in.

Slade turned toward him and stared at him directly in the eyes. For a brief moment, Robin felt as if the man could see behind his mask, as if the man could see his blue eyes that were haunted and scarred, as if the man could see Richard Grayson. A soft blurry halo formed around Slade's figure from the unmerciful rain. The buildings in the distance lined up behind the man, and he stood among them – another looming figure in Robin's life.

"The question is Robin: has it destroyed you?"

The raindrops burned.

The wires tore at his skin.

The darkness pressed up against him.

And Robin whispered the only words he knew to be true.

"I don't know."

A/N: Alright, let me know what you think. I hope I got this chapter right...I tried my best!

Until the next chapter,

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!