Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans. I can't think of any other clever way to say it right now other then, if I owned them, wouldn't there be more then five awesome seasons? I think that's proof enough that I don't own them. Still, just putting it out there: I Don't Own Teen Titans!
Author's Note: Hey everyone! Thanks for all the reviews. Well, here's #7. I've been looking forward to this chapter for so long now, I'm sort of shocked that it's done. Either way, I totally loved how it came out. I think you readers will like it as much as I do too. So, I don't want to keep you waiting. On to Chapter Seven!
What?
Chapter Seven
The chill in the room got to me and I shivered. Hesitantly, I grabbed the clothes off of the dresser and proceeded to put them on. They were baggy. There was no doubt about it. The short sleeves of the shirt almost reached my elbows and I had to roll up the shorts a couple times before they stayed on my waist. The feeling was one that I wasn't all that used to. I normally just wore my uniform to sleep either because I would probably be woken up by an alarm or because I was too lazy and tired to bother with changing.
Even after I put on the clothes, I was cold. I glanced at the bed and went over to the bedside table with the candle going instead. The candle's flame did very little to warm me. My eye followed a drop of water onto the bedside table. I ran my fingers through my ebony-black hair. That was also weird. My hair gel was completely gone and my hair stuck to my head because of the moist shower water. It wasn't uncomfortable. It just isn't what I normally would do with my hair. 'Man, I want to get my hair up again,' I thought.
I stopped at a small knot in my hair. Pulling at it gave me an instance flashback feeling of when Slade had grabbed my hair. It still was fresh in my mind. 'Why had I let him do that? Why had I ducked away in the first place? That was stupid, absolutely stupid. And I did it anyway. What's wrong with me?'
My logical part of my mind answered rudely, 'Well, here's an answer to your question. Slade thinks you're the 'perfect apprentice'. Do I need to go into detail, 'cause I think that pretty much sums it up?'
'Hey, whose side are you on?' I argued back.
'Your's of course, but I'm just pointing out the obviously painstaking truth that you refuse to accept.'
I growled back not wanting to continue the inner argument. Once again, I stared at the bed... and the 'S' emblazed pillow. 'I am not sleeping there tonight.' I bent over and blew out the candle. I went over to a corner of the room and slowly sat down. The floor was cold, so I rested by head and back against the wall and side of the dresser. For a second, I could still feel that backbend. It hurt.
If this was just observation and dinner, my life had literally just turned into a torture chamber. Is Slade's whole thing to scare me into doing everything he asks? I thought he said 'I'd learn to like it'. Didn't that mean he'd make it so I'd like it here? What does he plan to do with me? Is he going to have me plan thefts? Is he just going to beat me everyday? Am I going to get out of this?
As I my mind drifted, I found myself calculating how to get that controller away from Slade. Maybe I could find away to sneak out and tell the... no. He tag me somehow. Maybe he'd leave the controller somewhere and I could...no. He probably will carry it everywhere he goes for a while. What if I got that old guy to... who am I kidding? I can't order him to do anything and he probably wouldn't go against Slade's back. I sigh as I figure that my chances of getting that thing are very slim.
I want to go home. I want to be in my own bed. I want to be in my own room with my own clothes and my own stuff. Even the clothes I wear now aren't mine. I want a window, some form natural light. It's so dark that I can barely see my own feet. I pull my knees up to my chest and hug them tight.
This, this is what I have to look forward to the rest of my life? To be an item of Slade's? I'll be used to do what needs to be done and then put away into storage. Not to mention, I'll probably be mistreated. I already have been.
Where are the Titans? Why haven't they found me? They can get past Slade's decoys, right? Are they all right? Are they looking for me? Are they asleep building up the strength to search? I have no doubt that they're still looking for me. They wouldn't give up on me that quickly. I miss them and the tower.
'Why can't I just...go...home...?'
I think my vision gives. It's dark and then an eerie blue "fin" appears in front of me. I look around to see Beast Boy with his mouth open and drooling. Starfire is leaning on my side. Cyborg has his mouth open and resembles Beast Boy. Raven is leaning against the couch with a book in her hands.
"That...was...AWESOME! Ha ha!" Beast Boy yells with glee. I leaned back and kicked the air out of enjoyment. That movie was awesome. It wasn't cheesy at all. The plot had a little sci-fi, a bit of horror, a side romance plot line, and the comedy aspects rounded it off. The fight scenes were even pretty realistic, but it would never measure up to the real feel of a fight. And you could never get the same amount of adrenaline pumping through your veins from a movie scene than an actual fight. We all knew that. But still it was excellent.
"Man, where did you find that movie?" Cy asks as he searches for the box.
"Oh, yes! It was most enjoyable!" Starfire squeals out from behind me.
I smile. We stare at Raven. "It actually was an okay plot."
We're in disbelief. Raven gave a movie Beast Boy chose a compliment. I start laughing. It feels so good. I love movie nights, from the movie popcorn to the clean up afterwards.
"Well dudes and dudettes, who wants pizza?" Beast Boy shouts in glee.
"Sure," I tell him, "I'm buying!"
They shout out cheers.
"All right, Robin's buying, so I'm driving!" Cyborg yelled through the cheers.
"You always drive," Raven lets out in a monotone.
"Cy, you don't have to drive all of us. I'll take someone on the cycle. Anyone, Star?"
"Um, that would be great, Robin," the Tamaranean said. I thought I heard embarrassment in her voice or maybe she was shy. I hoped that she was, or at least for the reasons that I hoped she was. I blushed, but quickly stopped myself.
"Great. Rae and me will ride with Cy. So, now that rides are figured out, let's go!" Beast Boy said.
"Rae and I."
"What?"
"You said 'Rae and me'. It's 'Rae and I' to be grammatically correct," Raven told BB.
"Oh, who cares?"
"Just telling you."
I rolled my eyes. The group of us got up, grabbing our trash as we went and headed for the door. Pizza and a movie; life doesn't get much better for five teenagers. We are almost at the door of the room when I hear a voice.
"Now Robin, how will you pay for that?" I turned to the side and see that one lone eye looking at me from the shadows inside a hallway, "You don't have the money and I certainly am not paying for it. Besides, it's bad for your health to eat that garbage."
"I have the money," Why did I just answer him like that? Why don't I fight him? Why aren't any of us fighting him?
"That's cute, Robin, but you know that I own you and all your belongings," 'What is he...?' I feel a sonic cannon fire against my back.
Cy's voice fills my ears, "Robin, you traitor!"
"Get away from us!" I stare at them dumbfounded, "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"
I feel her knock me into the windows with telekinetic energy. I get up on my knees and shake my head. I am utterly confused, until I notice the change in my clothes. It's the insignia uniform. 'No. This isn't happening, this isn't...'
"Go with Slade, Robin, go on. You aren't one of us. Otherwise, you wouldn't have betrayed us!" Beast Boy yells.
"No! I didn't! I'm only doing this to protect you! I'm doing this because he'll kill you!" I scream.
They pause, but then they start to shudder. My eyes widen. 'What's going on?' I start to rush over when I feel a hand grab the back of my shirt. Slade throws me against the wall. I shake my head. That really hurt. I hear them start to scream in agony. 'No.' Slade has his finger on the button.
"Disobedience is not a high quality, Robin," I run over to them. I don't know how to stop it. Without many other options I run at Slade, but he side-steps my attack. I growl, but realize that wasn't the best thing to do. I hear them scream, Cy, Rae, BB, and Star...
I don't know what else to do. I run up to him and try to reach for the controller. He grabs my wrist again and knocks the wind out of me with his knee, just as he did on the rooftop. I gasp on the floor and hear their screams become louder and more high pitched. 'What can I do to stop this?'
I crawl over to Slade on my knees, still trying to get some breath back in me. I don't care that what I'm about to do is low and humiliating. I don't care that I'm crawling like a dog to a man lower than dirt and worms. I grab his leg in submission and beg, "Slade no, please don't..."
He hauls me up to look him in the eye, "It's too late for them, Robin."
"Nooooooo," I wail. I willed for what he said to be a lie as he drops me to the floor.
The ground beneath us started to shake. The floor crumbled and I started to fall into an abyss of darkness. I screamed. It felt like my clothes were singeing off somehow, not by fire though. There was a sound in the air and suddenly I felt something sharp wrap itself around my right wrist. I stopped falling and just hung there for a second.
My breathing was fast and rapid. They were still dieing. When I finally looked to see what had grabbed me, I saw a brown whip that seemingly came out of nowhere. There was a pillar of light coming from the hole in the floor above. The only thing was, this wasn't what was below the Titans' main room. It was too dark to be.
A crack was all I heard before another whip wrapped itself around my other wrist. I tugged at it, but it wouldn't budge. I had to get back up there. They were dieing. He had to stop. He was killing them. I decided to try climbing the ropes of the whips, but I heard another crack. Then another, and another, and another. I yelped as I felt two whips wrap themselves around my ankles and two more wrap themselves around my chest and back. They pulled and I was soon suspended in midair by about six or so whips.
I tried to move, but it was like the whips had thorns on them. Every place they touched was like being stung and burned. And that was a lot of places. When I stole a glance at my appearance, I could see all I was wearing was singed shorts and my mask. I yelled. I had to stop him. I have to save them. They're dieing because of me. They can't. They just can't...
I felt something fall on my back, a rolled up whip. It was a sign of captured prey and I knew it. I looked around. Coming into the limelight, was a figure. 'No, not you, please.' Slade chuckled at the despair on my face. He walked right up to me and lifted my chin up to see him. The Titans' screams were becoming unbearable for me to listen to.
Inside, I was tearing myself apart for their agony and pain. They didn't deserve this. I wasn't a friend enough anyway. I should have hung out more. I should have been a better leader. I should have enjoyed their company and not shut myself up in my room for this sick man who wanted me for despicable purposes.
"This is your own fault, apprentice. If you had only obeyed me, they wouldn't have to be sacrificed like this," He told me.
"Please, you can stop it. Please, Slade anything. I'm begging you, just stop. I'll do anything for you if you stop, anything," I pleaded.
"I'm sorry, apprentice. You have to learn," He looked up and so did I. I heard the ground above shake again. Then the rest of the floor crumbled. I saw them falling. They fell right pass me.
Most were in too much agony to even notice me. Raven could only concentrate on pain. Cyborg's systems were going berserk. Beast Boy couldn't morph, let alone fly because he too couldn't concentrate. Starfire was weeping and was too upset to fly.
But Star did notice. She looked at me with those angelic green eyes of hers, almost saying, 'Why did you give into temptation, Robin? You should have worked for him, for us.'
I shook my head 'No'. She couldn't go. She just couldn't. No, this wasn't, this couldn't be happening.
'Good-Bye,' I almost heard her say that. Then she fell quickly like all the rest. I heard the deafening crash of bodies hit the floor. I could almost smell the dirt rise into heaps of dust in the air. There was a sizzling in the background.
They were gone. The Titans were gone. My friends were gone.
I came back to where I was. I felt hot tears run down my burning cheeks. My lip was trembling. My shoulders shook as I sobbed. My arms that were suspended above my shoulders didn't help in the slightest. My breathing was interrupted by deep sobs. My hands and feet were becoming red from the lack of blood flow and the whips' grasp on my body only became tighter. I didn't care. I didn't care how much pain I was in. 'No. No. No. This wasn't happening. They didn't just die. They didn't just...' He had killed them.
I felt a hand on my shoulder, "This is what disobedience gets you, Robin."
I was suddenly furious. I leaped at him, but got being pulled back by the whips around my body. He just chuckled. I growled and screamed. A load of good it did me. I just started crying again. He seemed so amused by it, it hurt. It cut me like a knife.
"Oh, little Robin, what will you do now?" I bit my lip. It felt like he was slowly killing me, from the inside out. And he certainly was not allowed to call me 'little Robin'. Him of all people, he's not allowed to. Still I couldn't bring myself to tell him that, "You going to go back to Gotham after letting your closest friends die? Are you going to go back a failure?"
I was crying so hard I couldn't talk. To be honest, I didn't know what to do. They were gone. I couldn't get over it. I never got over deaths. Not even ones that happened years ago. He had killed them, no I had let him kill them. I had...
"Did you think I'd let you leave, apprentice?" I looked up at him again. If my reddened eyes were visible to him, he would have seen horror in them. He wasn't suggesting what I thought he was suggesting, was he? I shook my head 'No'. He wouldn't. He just wouldn't...
"I never planned to let you go, Robin, even if I did kill them. I'd find other ways to make you obedient," As he said this I felt something move on my back. That something slithered. I felt a forked tongue against my cheek. The thin snake wrapped itself loosely around my neck and slithered up to the top of my head. It turned upside down and looked me in the eye.
The snake alerted itself to Slade as well as alerted me, "You really don't have a choice here, Robin, but I'll give it to you anyway. Do you still wish to be my apprentice?"
Inside my head was screaming 'NO!', but the logical part (which was also very depressed at the moment as I'm sure anyone's would be) said, 'What else is there to do?'
I just hung my head, defeated. He brought my chin up again to have our eyes meet, "It really isn't as bad as it seems, apprentice."
The snake began to tickle me with its teeth, never actually breaking the skin. It was almost as though it were teasing me. Actually, it was teasing me. The venom that dripped from its fangs sparingly onto my skin smelled like something I was not accustomed too. It was a captivating scent that played with my state of mind. The snake then slithered onto Slade's arm, crawled down his leg, and out of sight. For a second, I didn't want the snake to leave. I wanted more. The thought left and I was automatically brought back to the current situation. I felt weak, defenseless, and alone. My life was falling apart in front of me and I couldn't do anything to stop it.
"Then you admit defeat, Robin?" He asked.
"I...I..." I heard the flap of wings. They weren't filled with feathers. Rather the sound was made of something leathery. I looked up and saw the outlines of a single animal flying. Then I heard a hiss. The creature flew away, not wanting to come closer. While I knew that it was flying away from the snake, I felt like it was flying away from me. It felt as though it were abandoning me because I was hopeless. There was nothing that could be done to save me. I was on my own.
"I repeat, do you admit defeat then, Robin, the Boy Wonder?" His voice brought me back.
I knew he just used my full title to humiliate me more. I couldn't go back after I had failed. I couldn't stay here in the city to protect it. I couldn't even protect my best friends. So my answer was,
"Yes."
"What?"
"Yes!" I screamed. 'Just get it over with already. Let the poison be quick, Slade. Just destroy me quickly. Don't drag it out.'
"Good boy. You've finally learned your place." I wept, but he wiped away my tears with his gloved hands, "Oh, you shouldn't cry, apprentice. I promise you this, my boy, you'll learn to like it."
I shook my head out of his grasp. His touch always hurt, always stung, always burned. He walked around me, admiring the prize he had just won. I felt like anything but a prize. If anything I am a retch of filth. He lifts my face up again. 'Would he just leave me to wallow in my misery? Why does he insist on making it worse?'
"Robin, I have so much planned for you. Before long this city will kneel in submission to not just me, but also you. You'll be seen as my successor to everyone, Robin."
"No," I whisper out desperately
"Oh yes."
"No!"
"You can't change what you are now, apprentice."
"I'm not your apprentice! I'm Robin! I'm not yours! I'm not, I'm not!"
He laughed. He just stood there and laughed.
"Stop! Stop it!"
"You will always be mine, Robin," His laugh became rich with enjoyment. My vision started to give way. It danced and my ears were filled with his laughter.
"No. Stop. Stop! Please, no! Please, just...No! Stop! No! No. No..." My heart was exploding, breaking, tearing, burning, shattering. I had failed and I was still his. My best friends were gone. I was lost.
In the distant background, I heard something. It was the sizzling of an acid-burned rope.
A/N: Yeah! Oh, man! I am so happy that I got this chapter done! Overall, it's been my favorite to write so far and it's now a personal favorite. So yeah, since that was Robin's POV while he was sleeping...the question now is how will I do Slade's POV? I'm debating the issue myself too. I have a pretty good idea though, don't worry. I have one thing that I know that I'll do at least. Anyway's how was it? R&R! I can't help but love this chapter. I think that I thought it up about a week before I actually started it and ever since I've been perfecting it in my mind. Now it's out and I'm looking forward to seeing how you guys took it! Thanks again for reading and reviewing!
Rena