Tomorrow hurts even worse

I own nothing

Robin stared listlesslly at the ceiling in his hospital room, wishing it would collapse and kill him. It had been four days since he had come out of surgury to find himself a cripple, missing a leg and both of his hands. He blinked, and felt a circle of crud around his mask. It had not been removed since he arrived in the hospital, not even to clean him. He wished badly to be able to scratch all the little itches spread out over his skin. Raven had been there often enough, teaching him how to control her demon in him. He lookedd down his body, at the bandaged stumps. The only time he couldnt feel his limbs still was when looking at the bandages. If he closed his eyes he was sure he could feel himself flexing his fingers. He groaned in pain, and a nameless nurses assitant rushed to up the dosage of his pain medication.

God, how much of that had he had in the last few days? Gallons it seemed. He stopped the assistant before she could inject him with more morphine. "No..." He croaked. "Need to feel pain, pain makes this real." He was injected anyway, and tried hard to fight back tears. "You know who I am!" He said angrilly, his voice gaining strength at his outrage. "I'm Robin of the teen titans, fallen in the line of duty. I am not a cripple or invalid, I can make my own choices!" He raged.

"I'm sorry." The young assistant said, backiing out of the room. "But your friends have us under instructions to keep you comfortable."

Robin watched her leave, feeling regret for snapping at her. He wondered if the demon had almost taken control, but then it was hard to tell when hhis mind was this fuzzy. Visiting hours ended a long time ago. He let himself fall into darkness with the medication, if nothing else it helped pass the time between seeing his friends.

He woke up later in the night. Someone as touching him, running hands through his hair. He must have slept right through until visiting hours. He opened his eyes but it was dark in the hospital now, and the medication was in full effect. His vision was terrible. "Raven?" He asked wearilly.

"Not by a long shot."

At the sound of that voice Robins head cleared of fog. He nealy boltedd upright, the name he soke coming out like a curse. "SLA-" A hand was clamped over his mouth, and the same hand forced him back down into the bed. Slades other hand held a scalpel to his neck. Robin glared daggers at the man.

"Be quiet now Robin, this will only take a moment." The blade pressed his skin lightly, but not enough to cut him. "It was a fun game." Slade whispered. "You performed well, better than any adversary I have ever had Robin. For this I respect you." Robin snorted against his hand. He continued. "You lasted longer, and actually pushed me back on several occasions." Slade sighed. "It wasnt supposed to end like this Robin. You were supposed to die, or serve at my side." The scalpel came away from his throat and gestured at Robins body. "This was not in my plan. I would sooner have killed you than subjected you to this." His lone eye caught Robins gaze. "If you want it Robin, I'll release you from this. I'll let you go with the knowledge I respect you. To see you like this Robin, it truly pains me. I will miss you, and would give you back what you have lost if it was within my power." Slades voice was firm, but held none of the vennom he normally used when talking to Robiin. It was un-nerving to say the least.

"I'm not letting you get away that easilly Slade. You'll pay for whatyouve done to me, to everyone." Robin growled when the hand was taken off of his mouth. He then caught Slade off guard. He began to laugh. "I'm going to be out for a good, long time Slade but I'm not done. If I were you I'd use this time as a head start."

Slade looked the boy over, admiring his spirit but at the same time fairly certain he didnt need a head start against a boy with no arms below the elbow and nothing for a leg. "And why would I need a head start against you?"

"Because when I have two legs and two hands again I'm going to kick you in the ass while I choke the life out of you."

Ah, he had gone insade. He ran a hand through Robins hair again. He put the scalpel down and instead reached for Robins mask. "Close your eyes." He commanded, and confronted with being stripped of his mask Robin could only comply.

"What are you-" Robin felt a warm wash cloth dragged acrossed his eyes.

"I'm going to leave you here Robin. I wish you understood how much I regret that it came to this."

Robin felt his mask replaced, but by the time he opened his eyes Slade was gone.

That morning it was Cyborgs and BB's turn to visit him. Robin heard them coming from down the hall.

"I'm telling you Cy, he's already missing the right one. Just let him mount a chainsaw to it like Evil Dead."

"Beast Boy!" Robin yelled when he saw him, but without anger. "We dont fight nearly enough zombies to justify me having a chaisaw for a hand. That and I have better banter than Bruce Campbell."

"No you dont." Deadpanned his friends.

"How long Cy?"

"Few more days man." Cyborg said, pulling up a chair. He took on a serious tone. "Right now we're having problems trying to figure out how to graft skin from the leg you lost onto the new hands. I figured you'd rather an obviously cybernetic leg than hands. You'll have feeling in them, which i figured was important considering how acrobatic you are."

"Thanks, glad to hear it." Robin closed his eyes behind the mask. "I need them to be stronger than mine were originally. I nee to be better, to take down Slade."

Cyborgs lip edged up into a smile. "Already done. You wont be arm wrestling me and winning, but you'll pack a helluva wallup for a shrimp." Robin laughed. He couldnt help it. Cyborgs happiness at being able to help him easilly dwarfed the misery he felt at the loss of what Cy refered to as 'OEM' Parts. "You were pretty strong before, but when you get used to using these babies you'll be about half as strong as I am in brute-strength, and still maintain your acrobatic abilities." Cyborg wiped a hand against his head. "Its gonna be alot of getting used to man. Your going to have to learn to control them like I did, knowing how to pick up an egg and crush a brick in your bare hands and all that. Controlling them is going to be hard."

Robin closed his eyes, reminding himself that he was lucky to be alive. "What about the leg?"

"Easier. Just got to make sure not to jump so high that you hurt yourself landing." Cyborg clapped a hand on Robins shoulder. "I went through all this too man. I went through it alone, really, but I can teach you the things you'll need to know." Robin nodded appreciatively, and Cyborg smile wide. "But we're going to have to start calling you 'Cyborg JR'." Cyborg recieved a kick on the metal side of his head for this. He only laughed. He could have blocked it, but was fairly sure that kicking someone in the side of the head could only be theraputic for Robin. They both looked up as Beast Boy walked back in, not having noticed him leaving.

"Where were you?" Robin asked. Beast Boy smiled sheepishly and took out a piece of paper with phone numbers written on it. He gave the pair of them a lecherous thumbs up.

"Hot young nurses digits." He crowed.

"Nice." Answered his friends.

"Hot flesh licked with flame! Sweat and screams! Nightmares, my dreams!" Screamed Robin from the bed. Cyborg yelped and looked to see Robins eyes were glowing red, and that a second set of eyes had forced themselves through his flesh, rending it right above his original two. Raven had warned him that anything was possible if this happened. Cyborg could only watch as new limbs sprouted from Robins stumps, seemingly made of the same stuff as Ravens soul-self. The demon on the bed sat for a moment, appraising the new appendages before drawing one sharp tallon accross his tongue, cutting it. It looked up at Cyborg appraisingly. The demon took a deep breath, letting it out slowly and obviously liking something he smelled. It fixed Cyborg with an eerie stare. "Metal man, tell me... Is that the sick and dying I smell?" The slow spreading smile on his face spurred Cyborg into action. He threw himself over the demon without hesitation.

"Beast Boy!" He yelled. "GET RAVEN!" Cyborg gripped the sides of the bed, hoping he could hold the demon down long enough for Raven to arive.

Really find myself getting more and more 'into' this story. Sorry about the spelling on some stuff, my keboardd hass developed a terrible double tap habbit.