A/N

Dear I'mawesomedealwithit,

We both know that a computer that fast could only be owned by one person: Slade. And I'm not going to steal anything from him! But you're free to attempt, maybe then you'd stop poking me!

Love Lerah!

Disclaimer: Nothing's mine save for the plot!

Chapter Three: Soul Wars

Robin was awoken by the bright sunrise and he sat up quickly, disoriented. There were no window's in his room, so where was the light coming from? It took his brain a whole second to realize that he was on the roof of the tower, and half-a-second more to remember how he had gotten there. When last night's event's flooded back into the conscience part of the teens mind he blushed. After passing out in Slade's arms from the pain in his head and lack of sleep, he vaguely remembered the mercenary carrying him back to the tower and laying him down gently.

The blush on the heroes face quickly faded and was replaced with a deep frown. Why would Slade do that? Robin had been unconscious, the man could have done anything! Killed him, brought him back to his lair and made him his apprentice again, looked under his mask... With a panic similar to the one he experienced yesterday morning Robin's hands flew up to his face and he searched all around the edges of his mask with his fingers, looking for any signs that it had been removed. There were none, and after a couple more minuets of searching the teen calmed down and came to the conclusion that the man had not seen his secret identity. Now he was even more confused. So had the man simply carried him all the way back to the tower, set him down, and left just like that? That's what appeared to have happened, but Robin still had a heard time believing it.

Still, he supposed that he couldn't do anything about it now. So instead of worrying the teen made his way down the stairs and to the main room of the tower, feeling better than ever. The fog that had clouded his mind yesterday was gone, though he could still feel the threat of it around the corners of his mind. Thinking back, Robin was shocked to find that the pounding in his head had greatly diminished when he had hit Slade for the first time and it had completely disappeared when the man had tried to restrain him. Yes, the hero knew that the villain had only meant to stop his crazed attack, but it had still felt like a hug. Wondering what all of this meant, Robin plopped himself down on the couch and flicked on the TV. Immediately the mind-numbing news came on and the teen sighed contentedly. It was still too early for his normal-acting teenaged friends to be awake, so he could watch "grown-up stuff" in peace.

30 minutes later the first stirrings of the rest of the Teen Titans were heard, and Robin made his way to the kitchen to make breakfast in a sort of apology for being gone all day yesterday. Raven was the first to appear, still groggy from sleep. She rubbed her eyes and once she saw Robin she sighed in relief and plopped down in her seat. The next to emerge was Starfire, and she was entirely too happy. "Good morning, all!" The green-eyed alien sang as she floated into the room. Raven stared at her blankly and Robin mirrored her action. Even though the male in the room had been up before them all, not even he was that awake. After Starfire came Cyborg, who looked pretty cheery even though no one could compete with the red-head who was humming loudly. And finally Beastboy literally dragged himself into the room.

"Dudes, I couldn't go back to sleep even if I wanted too thanks to all the noise you make!" He complained as he hoisted himself up into his chair with his large arm muscles. Robin had always hated him for that, even though he was taller than Beastboy the changeling had developed some pretty decent biceps and what not, while Robin stayed the lithe twig he had always been. Oh, he had muscle, but one could only see the definitions if he didn't have clothing on and it wasn't like the hero went around fighting crime shirtless. The rest of the Titans stared at the green one until he sighed. "Fine, thanks to all the noise Starfire makes."

"But, friend, why are you not excited this glorious morning? Robin is feeling well and he has even made us breakfast!" Starfire beamed as the leader of the titans blushed. So his team had noticed.

"Sorry about that yesterday, guys." Robin mumbled, never one for apologies. "My head was killing me and I just needed some alone time."

"We figured." Raven commented in a dry tone.

"Ya man, it's cool. Just try not to skip out on movie day next time." Cyborg grinned casually while heaping more food onto his plate.

"Ya! Because you weren't there Raven pulled the 'I made breakfast' card and we had to watch some dark thriller!" Beastboy's small frame shuddered as he glared accusingly at the purple-eyed girl. "I'm going to have nightmares for a week!" Raven didn't reply but the corner of her mouth twitched up into a small smirk.

"Awe man, you guys. If I had remembered it was movie day I would have made an effort to be there." Robin said, a pang of guilt stabbing his side. He liked bonding with his team, and it was so much easier to do that with out his head killing him.

"It is quite all-right, dear Robin, for you are here today!" Starfire exclaimed then gasped as she seemingly came up with and idea that excited her. Robin could tell because she began drifting up, out of her seat. "I know! We can to the glorious thing of shopping and buy lots of things!" To everyone's surprise, the leader nodded his consent. Normally he hated shopping trips, but he really wanted to make it up to his team and it also gave him an excuse to find Slade, whom he had some questions for. But it wasn't likely that the villain would just be out-and-about town. Still, one never knew...

The four gifted titans loaded up into the T-car and then sped out towards downtown jump; the human titan following on his R-cycle. Once they had reached the main shopping-drag they got out and began walking along the side walks, trying to blend in with everybody else. That was really hard when one member was green, the other was massive and half-metal, and the third kept drifting up happily into the air with joy. Soon the Teen Titans were surrounded in a crowd of fans. Beastboy was asked to change, Robin to do a back flip, Cyborg to turn his arm into a canon, Starfire to shoot her green bolts, and Raven to use her dark magic.

The five teens tried to remain polite while fighting their way through the multitudes of people. As soon as they had escaped the team turned the corner and his in a dark alley. Robin, who had felt the fog from yesterday start to roll in inside his head, put his face in his hands and took a deep breath. After the other titans shared amused glances from the crowd, they turned to their leader and paled at what they saw. Robin's shoulders were shaking, as if he were crying, but there was no sound.

"Robin? Are you quite alright?" Starfire asked cautiously, reaching out to touch him. The black-haired teen caught her outstretched hand before it touched him, however, and looked up at his team.

"I'm fine. My head just hurts again, that's all." He let go of Starfire's hand and tried to straighten his shoulders, the pain in his head making everything fuzzy.

"Again?" Cyborg said in a worried voice. "Man, maybe there's something wrong with you."

"You should talk to Batman, dude." Beastboy, who thought that Batman was the only one who could help Robin, ever, piped up, but the hero just shook his head. Admitting weakness was not something he liked to do, especially to his guardian.

It was quiet for a moment before there was a low chuckle that the whole team had learned to fear. "Slade!" Beastboy hissed and sure enough the large black and orange figure came into view. The

Teen Titans tensed, save for their leader, ready to leap into action when Robin's voice stopped them.

"No, don't attack." He said quietly, stilling their movements. The four gaped at him and watched as the teen tried to push himself off of the wall with his right hand but ended up keeping it there to support himself. "I...I need to talk to him."

"Dude! It's Slade! Why do you need to talk to him!" Cyborg cried out, not lowering his fists.

"Yes, why should we not commence with the butt-kicking, dear friend?" Starfire asked, puzzled while Cyborg made a sound of disbelief. Only Raven didn't react, she only tilted her head to the side.

"You think he can help." Her statement was affirmed by a small nod of Robin's head. "Understandable."

"Are you sick, boy?" Slade called out, sounding cruel. "There was something off about you last night."

"Last night!" Cyborg shouted, taking a step back. And there it was, that look in his team's eyes when the leader had first told them he was gay. That slight disbelief covered in confusion with a whole-lotto doubt stacked on top.

"Yes. Last night I went out on patrol, came across Slade and we fought." Robin put his free hand over his eyes and sighed, his head making it hard to concentrate.

"And...?" The green titan prompted.

"And I grew tired so I left." Robin tried his best not to actually think of what had happened in reality, which of course Slade screwed up for him.

"Tired indeed." The man smirked and the hero shot him warning glare.

"Regardless, I still need to talk to him, you guys go back on to the tower."

"No!" Starfire called out in alarm. "We would never lead you with such a bad man as Slade!"

"She's right dude, don't trust him." Beastboy put forward his two cents and Robin sighed again. The leader glanced pleadingly at Raven, who seemed to be the only one who understood. She nodded at him before turning to the rest of the titans.

"We need to leave." She stated simply before making her way over to the T-car.

"But..."

"Star, I have my communicator on me, I'll give you a call if anything goes wrong, which I don't suspect it to. I'll be back later." As soon as Robin was sure that the rest of the Teen Titans had left he staggered forward towards his sworn nemesis.

"Something really is wrong with you little bird." Slade was cautious, he really didn't know what was going on and that unnerved him. He was about to ask again when the not-so-small-anymore boy stopped in front of him, grabbed his hand, and brought it up to his own cheek. The silence seemed to stretch on for miles as Slade stood there, feeling Robin's cheek radiate heat through his glove. The hero sighed a defeated sigh and looked dolefully into the villain's gray eye.

"I thought as much." He whispered, feeling the pain slowly ebb from his brain as Slade's hand seemed to cool his over heated skin.

A/N Wow! Longest chapter of them all! Well, the other two weren't really long, and neither was this one compared to some of the other stories I've written but this is just the way it's coming out so this is the way it's going to stay. Sorry if this is a bit of a cliff-hanger, but what can I say? I'm excited for chapter 4 but I'm ecstatic for chapter 5! You'll see why soon enough, review and I'll not only love you forever, but I'll update!