1A/N: Long delay indeed. First I wasn't sure if I was going to continue, then I couldn't find the motivation to write, and now I'm starting to get the motivation to write again but I could wind up in the hospital any day now. I guess ye old Karma is coming back to haunt me. Anyways, this chapter resembles the last one and more than likely will be the last, short chapter before things get going. Just working to establish the setting a little more so don't expect anything too good from this. Actually, its really just not good in my opinion. Well I'll have to say thanks to everyone who reviewed because I did carefully consider your words before I made my decision to continue and honestly, I couldn't leave it unfinished. I'd feel guilty. So even if you guys are the only ones still reading this from now on, it will reach some type of conclusion one way or another.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans, but hey, I think we all knew that already

Trying To Do the Right Thing

Chapter 26: It Will Soon Begin

By: Finalitylife

Raven P.O.V:

Two weeks...that is how long we will have to wait for Titan's East to tie up all their loose ends in Steel City. Two weeks is how long until they will arrive to take over our job of protecting Jump City. Two weeks until we can begin our search for Robin...my Robin.

We very well could just leave the tower to itself, the city to fend for itself, and the fact that we know Slade is busy with Robin makes us almost positive the greatest of threats will not come, but we all know what Robin would say if he was here. He would tell us our duty is always to what we swore to protect...this city, the innocents who dwell here, and the laws that keep everyone safe. He would not abandon this city, this much we know, so we will not either. We will make him proud even when he is not here.

I had somehow senses Robin leaving the city, somewhere in between sleep and a dream I had sensed it, though after that I sensed no more. He had either made it too far away or simply, me feeling anything from him was a one time thing. I didn't know, only knew that he had gone farther away that Jump City.

Titan's East will be here in two weeks, easily able to leave Steel City as there is almost no crime there anymore, coming to a far more beautiful and warm city...a friendlier city and I can't help but think that this will almost be a vacation for them. Thoughts like these only make me think back to the day we spent on the beach, the first time that Robin kissed me...the first time anyone has ever kissed me. Though it had been a result of my overactive powers, I still feel a burning warmth within me, a warmth I so badly want to feel again.

I cringe as my thoughts only drift to my final memory of him, clutching so tightly to his battered body that it actually caused me pain. I would have never let go of him no matter what but at that moment, even after wielding the power to destroy the ultimate evil, I was completely powerless against what had been done...to undue the decisions Robin had made to make life possible again.

He is so utterly amazing to do such a thing for me...for all of us...for everyone. I smile the smallest bit. No wonder I can't help but completely love him.

Though I know the Titan's search for Robin will be delayed still two weeks, I have already started my quest to free him from the dark magic than binds him to that monster of a man. In my possession our books that any dark mage would give his very soul for had they probably not already done so for something else. I have books in forgotten languages possibly only I know, books with words of such vast power that merely thinking them in the wrong situation could decimate the entire tower. Many of these books, these spells are unmatched and unrivaled in their power throughout the realms, and it is within these pages I hope to find a solution to Robin's plight...to make us a family again.

I know it will be difficult for I have little doubt the spell Slade used came from the very source of the darkness itself...my Father, and even these powerful books may be outclassed by the knowledge he wielded from his countless millennia of existence. It doesn't help that all I have to go by is the markings on the ruin stone that was used to complete the binding that I saw when I looked through Robin's eyes during our last encounter. I have such little information though I have almost an unending supply of hope thanks to Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Star...her most of all. She won't let any of us fall...won't let any of us think negatively. I think sometimes we underestimate just how strong she really is on the inside , just not from her incredible alien strength.

Star and I, we are friends again, and that fact truly makes me happy. She fought for me, nearly died for me, never once believing I was evil after she knew the truth of everything who I was. Our friendship had been reforged within the fires of sacrifice and battle, and both our undying desires to see peace for the world...peace for our family.

She told me in one of my more melancholy moments, told me that Robin had indeed made a choice between me and her when it finally came down to it. She never said he chose me, never said she lost, never said she felt anger, jealousy, or hatred. All she said to me with a quiet smile on her face was that in the end, she would be satisfied with having Robin as her beloved friend for the rest of her entire life. We shared a private embrace then, doing our best to find a small bit of comfort in our losses...the loss of Robin though neither of us intended him to be a permanent casualty in this fight against evil.

I flip another page in the darkness of my room, the words appearing nothing more as archaic symbols and scribbles of nonsensical lines. They look like they were written by a madman which in fact they had. Reading these books only reminds me of the fine line between genius and madness...a terrifying line that Slade strolls down every moment of his treacherous existence. I know Slade is only human, but I strong part of me refuses to believe that there is any humanity within him, that this monster could ever be of the same people as Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Robin.

It frightens me terrible to know that what Slade truly seeks is to transform Robin into himself, create someone in his image...a megalomaniacs truest dream...to become his own private god in a way. I hate him...I hate him so very much. Robin please...please be strong enough to resist him...please be strong enough to resist yourself.

I wipe away the smallest bit of moisture forming at the corner of my eye as I plead to the universe for Robin's safety. I know in my heart that Robin will fight Slade as best he can. I know in the very core of my being that Robin will resist the lure of his own shadowed soul, though despite his mistakes in the past, he will be able to control that which is simply a part of him. I know this...know this all...but I don't know if he can fight the twisted magic within in. I don't know if it matters how strong he is because in the end, the choice is no longer fully his. The power is in Slade's hands now and that is truly the last place any power belongs...especially the power over Robin.

I feel my shoulders slowly hunching over more as weariness creeps heavily through my body, though I know I will not allow myself to rest. My mission is far too important for I am the only one of the Titans who can complete this goal. I scan another few lines, being very careful with the words as they do speak of how to break black magic binding spells and as I finish the line, I let out a sigh, though not one of relief. This book says the same thing as all the others...death is the only way.

To free Robin he must die, and that simply will never be an option because none of us could ever take his life, even if his life has become worse than death. Killing Slade, even if we were truly capable of that as well, would not help either because taking his life, would end Robin's as well because of the magic. There just didn't seem to be any solution that didn't involve the reality of never having Robin back by our sides. I just didn't want to think about it at all, but I would not run from the truth as I had done for so many years of my life. I would face what would ever come with strength just as Robin would.

A soft knock on the door is accompanied by Starfire's voice, telling me that dinner is ready. I look over at the stacks of books I have not even gotten to you and then back at the door. I smile slightly as I set the book I am holding down and get up, opening the door to find Starfire standing there with a small smile of her own at seeing my presence.

"I am so glad you will be joining us for dinner Raven." My response is not vocal but rather a grumbling sound from my stomach which slightly embarrasses me though I know Starfire doesn't care.

"A most appropriate answer friend. Let us go eat." She floats away with me following and I still have the smallest of smiles on my face because I am doing my best to appreciate what I have at this moment when really, I shouldn't have anything at all. It would be what Robin wanted.

Two weeks...only two weeks, and then we would leave for our first destination, Gotham City.

Robin P.O.V:

My destination is unclear as Slade finds it unnecessary to mention any of his details to me. I simply follow without question for I have no real choice. These are my orders so there is no other way.

I know we are leaving Jump City, and I know we only travel under the cover of darkness. I do not leave the back of the truck, but I know we only travel at night because Slade only operates at night. I've seen his robotic minions make appearances, but I have not seen Slade for hours, our transport stopping somewhere and Slade leaving to attend to some business. All I can do is sit here and wait, alone with my thoughts.

I would find the fact that nobody seems to notice a bunch of robots and a one-eyed masked man traveling unbelievable except for the fact that Batman and I have had to travel before together under the most extreme motivations and really, it is not that hard to make it from place to another without people noticing. Most the time I think people just don't care because if the problem is not directly in their face, then its really not their worry. We are nothing but a shadow traveling through the darkness just outside perception.

All that matters though is I know the Titans will come looking for me though I imagine it will all be a completely futile effort. I, the protégé to the greatest detective ever known could not located Slade when he was right in my backyard in Jump City, how could one expect the others to find him when he could finally end up half way around the world. It simply seemed like an impossibility, but the Titans should never be underestimated, something they had proven to me time and time again.

Cyborg, Starfire, Beast Boy, and Raven...they would not stop until I was found no matter how long it took, and I only hope that I am still alive when they finally find me...I only hope I am still me when they finally find me.

My greatest nightmare is that I will hurt them again just as I did as Red X, just as I did as the apprentice, though only this time, I will not be restraining myself, will not be holding back. This time they will be holding back, and it will be me who fights with unrelenting will simply because that is what Slade will command and his word is undeniable to me now.

I do wonder if death would be preferable to having to fight my friends again, and a part of me knows the answer to that question is yes. However, I also know that if I fight my friends again, that means they have found me again, and if I see them again, maybe freedom will not be that far behind.

My thoughts are interrupted as the doors to the back of the truck are pulled open by robotic servants, revealing Slade standing there, barely visible in the vague moonlight, though his one eye always finds a way to glisten no matter the lighting.

"We have arrived apprentice." I stand to my feet, my body making a few cracking sounds as I have not moved in hours.

"Which one of your oh so homy and comfortable hideouts have you chosen Slade? Underground lair? Hidden cave out in the wilderness?" I scan the surroundings.

"Ah...the broken down warehouse...a tad bit predictable don't you think Slade?" Slade chuckles amused to himself and an amused Slade is never a good thing.

"Your insolence is a pointless action Robin. All you need to know is that this place will serve quite well for your training. Follow me." I almost hesitate for a second before the burning inside urges me forward. I keep thinking of the word training, a word that I used to loathe when I was growing up with Bruce, but from Slade, that word truly brings fear.