Well, it is officially the February Half Term here in the UK – yay, a whole week off school! But there's more to this particular half term, which is why I chose to mention it.

Three years ago, in the February half term of 2004, I started writing a story called Lost in Ecstasy – a.k.a my very first ever Teen Titans fan fiction. The title is a line from Tara's Under Your Spell song from Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Once More With Feeling, while the actual storyline of the fic, since I had seen only Season One of Teen Titans on UK Carton Network, therefore embraced a great deal of conventions from the terrible, terrible Batman and Robin (I had just gotten into Batman via Teen Titans and actually thought it was good – well, I was young…), using an Uma Thurman-esque Poison Ivy (if I rewrote it I would definitely stick to the Batman: TAS version) as my villain. It also chronicled a very wobbly relationship between Robin and Raven – when I say wobbly I mean that pretty much I didn't write it properly. It was OOC. Also interesting to note is that when I stared writing that story I had never even heard of fanfictionnet, and bless my little 15-year-old self… I thought I was the first ever person to come up with the RobinxRaven pairing… How wrong was I…

Well, three years on, and I've come a long way. Apart from the additional 50-odd fics under my belt (both one-shots and additional long fics to the Lost in Ecstasy continuity such as Black Magic and this), the wacked co-writing endeavours between Narroch and myself including the infamous Small Print, the amazing accompanying music videos people have made in conjunction with either my own fics or co-written ones, and all the really cool people I've met and all the amazing stories I've read on here…

I've since discovered that Batman and Robin is utter crap. Yay for me! Best Batman movie for me has to be Burton's Batman Returns; although Batman: TAS is indisputably the definitive Batman. The Batman – don't get me started…

And of course, Teen Titans. (Over) three years it has lasted in my heart… It's officially my longest obsession ever! Dragonball Z was about two months off the three year mark…

Wow, I need a hobby. O.o

Ugh, now that I've talked so much, thankyous will have to be at the bottom.

But yes, as a celebration for my three year mark, there's a nod to Tim Burton's Batman in this chapter. You'll notice it, trust me…

Ooh, and I saw Wicked on the weekend in London's West End! It was pretty…

…well, wicked.

Memories in Black and White

Darkness. Intolerable heat. Dizziness.

Robin opened his eyes, his breath coming in taxed gasps. His face was dripping with cold water, his Lycra t-shirt clung to his sweaty chest, and his head was pounding terribly, as though there was someone playing a drum solo right inside his skull.

"Oh, thank god… Roy, he's come round…"

Terra.

Robin looked up, finding that his head was resting in Terra's lap; the earth-mover was leaning over him, her expression extremely concerned and her sheet of thick blonde hair curtaining around her face. He sat up, shivering uncontrollably even though he felt far from cold. His head was aching fit to burst, and he moaned and put his hands to his temples as he felt one of Terra's hands go to his back.

"Where am I?..." He moaned, closing his aching eyes and curling up against Terra's chest.

She put her arms around him and rocked him slightly, easing the nauseous feeling that was consuming his consciousness.

"Safe," she whispered. "You're okay now…"

He moaned again, shivering and curled up in her lap. He only barely noticed that he was no longer wearing his leather jacket.

"Here."

He heard Roy Harper's voice now, but couldn't bring himself to open his eyes. Instead Terra gently took the glass of icy water from Roy's hand, holding Robin's quivering form to her with her free arm.

"Come on, Robin," Terra coaxed soothingly. "Drink this; it'll help…"

Robin clutched more tightly at her, but ventured up to take a look at what was being offered to him. He clumsily reached for the glass and Roy pressed it into his hand, whereupon he drank it greedily, slopping half of it down his front.

It did help a little, easing his aching head, making his fuzzy consciousness slightly clearer. Roy took the empty glass back and set it down on the floor next to where he was sitting cross-legged facing Terra.

"Where am I?" Robin asked again, feeling better now.

"My place," Roy answered. "My pad above the bar. I used to share it with Garth, before… well…"

Robin nodded in understanding, easing himself back from where he was curled up in Terra's lap. He fell back into a sitting position and looked dazedly around, still quivering a little.

It was a nice place, quite large, with burgundy painted walls and red carpet, but it looked as though it had seen better days; certainly it had been abandoned when Roy and Garth had moved in. Everything was all in the one room, with one small closet as the only adjoining room; the bed, sunken with quite a few broken springs, was in one corner, while a cracked black leather sofa resided in the middle of the room. Again there was a home-made stone grate in place of a central heating system, an orange fire roaring within it, giving heat to the otherwise-freezing room. And at the furthest end of the room… was a vast glass tank, empty, with a similarly empty oxygen pump lying inside it. But this tank was not only a sad memory of the man known to his friends as Garth – or Aqualad, as Robin knew him, or even Pallais; it seemed to have become a shrine to all of the members, both dead and still living, of Batman's Titans.

There were photographs stuck all over it, but Robin couldn't see them too well from here. He struggled to his feet, still weak and dizzy, and made his way over to it. Terra and Roy exchanged glances, then swiftly rose and followed him.

Robin reached the tank, Terra and Roy coming to his side moments later. There were all sorts of photographs, even whole group ones of the entire team together. There was one of Harley and Ivy, the former with her arms flung around the latter, hugging her green friend tightly to her form blissfully; the green friend in question didn't look very enamoured. There was one of Barbara Gordon, looking fabulous in the tight Batgirl uniform Robin recognised from the case in the BatCave, giving a "friendly" noogie to a young black-haired boy in a red and black Robin uniform that the current Robin assumed to be Tim Drake. There was one of Bruce and Clark out of uniform, Clark with a powerful arm slung around Bruce's shoulders, Bruce wearing a faint smile that looked somewhat forced. There was one of Roy – in a red and gold uniform which Robin supposed was the heritage of Arsenal – with his arms around Terra, who looked a bit wary of the redhead's smug expression. There was another of Bruce in uniform but with the cowl down, an extremely bored expression on his face and Talia on one side of him, Catwoman on the other. This photograph had certainly been taken on candid camera, as Catwoman was actually scratching at Talia's face, while Ra's al Ghul's beauteous daughter was behind Bruce's strong form, a look of contempt on her long dark face.

Robin ran his gaze over them still, searching for a picture of his older self. He soon found some, near the top of the glass case; there was one of Nightwing with his arms around the slight form of Batgirl, who was gazing lovingly up into his masked eyes. There was another of his older self sandwiched in between Roy and Garth – Robin recognised the older version of Aqualad right away – on what appeared to be Roy's black leather sofa, his arms slung over each of their shoulders, and yet another of himself and Bruce both out of uniform. His older self didn't wear his mask 24-7, Robin noted as he gazed at the older incarnation of himself; very tall and strong, with a longer, thinner-shaped face than he had now, and flowing ebony hair that fell halfway down his back, not forgetting the brilliant blue eyes that contrasted against the black t-shirt and blue jeans combo he was wearing.

And in this photograph, the smile on Bruce Wayne's face was genuine.

"Some of these are seriously old," Terra said softly from behind him.

Robin nodded vaguely, noticing something;

"There aren't any with Two-Face in them," he pointed out, turning to Roy and Terra.

Roy snorted with hidden laughter.

"With a mug like that-"

Terra elbowed him sharply, interrupting him.

"Harvey was… well, let's call him "camera-shy", shall we? Basically, he hated being photographed – he had a bit of an inferiority complex because of his face. Once you got used to it, it didn't bother any of us. But I think it still bothered poor Harvey."

"He used to be really handsome, you know," Robin said vaguely. "I can remember him before he was ever Two-Face, because he was Bruce's friend. He always used to turn up at Wayne Manor with his girlfriend Marian in tow and Bruce was always genuinely pleased to see him, 'cause I think Bruce used to fake being happy to see most people. Maybe it was 'cause Harvey was the only honest lawyer in Gotham – he was Gotham's DA – but Bruce would crack open the sherry and just sit and talk to them all night, but me an' Alfred would get bored so we used to slope off to the library and sit in the stacks and read…"

"Yeah, Harvey was lovely," Terra mused. "You know, after Bruce superglued his coin to the floor. He just used to act like Harvey Dent, except for his annoying obsession with the number two. I mean, if something wasn't in a pair, Harvey practically hyperventilated over it."

"He liked taking photographs," Roy chipped in mildly. "Almost every single one of those photographs was taken by Harvey. He used to develop them himself in that weird solution stuff, and he was always so proud of them – he just never liked being in them."

Robin nodded, his insides twisting at the melancholy and sadness laced within their voices. Somehow, he had to change this, alter this future by going back and altering his own past.

He had to resurrect the Teen Titans; or, more so, to prevent them from ever dying in the first place.

He turned to them, his head still not perfectly clear, wiping the sweat from his brow; he was still very hot, too, and slightly dizzy.

"What happened back there?" He asked firmly, looking from Roy to Terra and then back again.

Roy and Terra exchanged glances. Then;

"Johnny Rancid." They both said it together.

Robin raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I know."

Terra raised both of her blonde eyebrows in response.

"Do you, Robin?" She snorted. "I don't think you do, actually."

Robin was puzzled, but at that Roy placed a hand on Terra's shoulder.

"Terra, don't," he said mildly. "It wasn't his fault, we should have warned him about Rancid…"

Robin cocked his head.

"Warned me?... You knew Johnny was there? What, is he a regular or something?"

Roy smiled thinly.

"Something like that," he muttered darkly.

Robin shook his head.

"I don't understand…"

"Robin, somehow he got you to compete in his little "challenge", right?" Terra cut in.

Robin blinked.

"How do you-"

"Because he does it with everyone in that club," Terra interrupted again, sounding impatient. "Every single guy who has ever been in that club has fallen victim to Johnny Rancid and his little gang at one time or another. Although frankly Robin, I thought you would have had a bit more sense…"

"Okay, okay, I was dumb," Robin sighed. "I know, I shouldn't have done his stupid little drinking challenge, 'cause I obviously couldn't have even hoped to beat him…"

Roy and Terra looked at one another, then turned back to him, shaking their heads simultaneously.

"No, you don't quite understand," Terra reinstated. "Look… Roy's right, it wasn't your fault – we should have warned you about Johnny Rancid – but I didn't think we'd be gone as long as we were; the place had really caved in, took me a while longer than I had hoped…"

"Do you remember what happened?" Roy pressed.

Robin frowned as he attempted to remember the chain of events right up until…

…Everything had gone black…

"I… I passed out, I think…" He wrinkled his nose as he concentrated harder. "I don't know, I can't really… um, I think I sat down at the table… Yeah, and then Johnny drank his first glass, so then it was my turn, but as soon as I drank mine it felt like I'd been hit over the head or something… I think I fell out of my chair, but I can't remember anything else."

Terra was nodding vaguely.

"But nothing after that?"

"No, I think I've already said that I passed out," Robin replied scathingly. "Unconscious people generally don't remember things that happen while they are unconscious; that's why they call it unconscious."

"Don't be smart, you little wise-ass," Terra spat irritably. "I don't think you realise the seriousness of what happened back there. You were in a very bad state, and-"

"Terra," Roy interrupted hurriedly, his voice hushed as he grasped hold of her upper arm. "Perhaps we shouldn't… just leave it, okay? He doesn't need to know…"

At that – hearing it even though Roy had intended for him not to – Robin immediately went on the alert.

"Tell me what?" He demanded sharply.

Roy stifled the swearword that involuntarily escaped his lips as best he could as he turned back from Terra to look at Robin, the expression on his handsome face pained.

"I… Robin, I'd really rather not… I think…" Roy floundered several times before Terra came to his rescue;

"Robin, Johnny's little gang is a prime example of the "scum" in Roy's club," she said, her tone clipped and final.

She smiled grimly as she visibly saw the colour drain from Robin's already ashen face. She felt sorry for him, knowing from years before, that day in the diamond mine, when he – or rather, the older, deceased version of her own time – had told her what Slade had done to him in Arkham Asylum, but she did not let any of that sympathy or pity creep into her hard voice. It was vital he understood what kind of new world – what kind of terra nova – in which he now found himself, and if she allowed him to sob on her shoulder he would not understand the coldness, the hopelessness, of this newer Gotham City. Gotham had always been a dank, creepy, rat-and-crime-infested hellhole, but now it was infested – and indeed, ruled – by the biggest, most cruel, malicious and evil rat of all; Slade.

And under Slade's tyrannical rule of almost the entire USA – even though he preferred to work from Gotham, maybe because the city always had, and always would, cultivate despair and darkness – evil festered and terror prevailed. Slade had transformed the city into his work base, choosing it over the demolished, abandoned Jump, or the glossier, bigger, richer and more expensive – even though it too was ruined – Metropolis, probably because crime had always been a part of the Gotham City lifestyle. It didn't take much to control the population; a population already terrified by the ever-permanent spike in the crime rate. Beneath the poor façade, the paper-thin mask of everyday life; people living in festering ruin, turning to crime and prostitution simply to feed themselves and their families, the drug-traffickers living it up like the fat-cats of society that they were as they siphoned from the thousands beneath them paying as much as they could afford at a time merely for an escape…

Behind a mask that struggled to disguise it, Gotham City was Hell on Earth.

And Slade revelled in it.

Robin felt ill as he looked at her.

"Wait… they… they…"

"No," Terra sighed. "No, not quite… I mean, they didn't… Look, they didn't get around to it, because Roy and I interrupted them before they could try anything. But their intention was to… well…"

"Tell me, Terra!"

"Okay, basically, Johnny's not as dumb as he looks," Terra told him flatly. "And he has a new special little power he acquired in an accident a few years back."

"Like?" Robin pressed.

"I'll field that one," Roy cut in humourlessly. "Neither of us know how or what happened, but Johnny Rancid is a bit like Poison Ivy – he's immune to all poisons and toxins. They basically have no effect on him whatsoever, and unfortunately it includes alcohol. Johnny can not only never have to worry about dying of alcohol poisoning, but… he can drink as much as he wants, pints and pints and pints, and not even get tipsy. He simply isn't able to anymore."

"A useful power," Terra mused blackly, "and one Ivy put to good use for our cause many a time, handling allsorts of poisons and chemicals without ever having to worry about getting poisoned or something. However… Johnny unfortunately wastes his on the little scam he and his gang have created."

Robin had a nasty feeling about where this was leading, but kept quiet.

"You know about the "challenge", Robin; you fell for it, like so many others," Terra continued, an almost-malicious edge to her voice now. "Most guys think they can beat him, you know, some of the really hard drinkers. But… they can't, because Johnny simply cannot be affected by the alcohol. So he'll easily drink the other guy under the table with the strongest liquor he can get hold of – and sometimes it really, really strong, like the one he gave you – and then, when the other guy's unconscious, he and his little gang go through his pockets and everything, and sometimes they… Well, poor idiot's unconscious, doesn't have a clue what's going on; meanwhile, Johnny's nasty little friends are using him as a sex doll…"

Robin shuddered, turning to Roy.

"And you let him?" He demanded incredulously.

Roy folded his arms, his expression bored.

"Robin, believe me… when I first got this place up and running, about seven or eight years ago, I used to be like you. I truly cared. But after living in this dump, after seeing what Gotham City has become, interacting every single moment of every freaking day with the scum and filth it breeds… I just let them get on with it. Nothing I say or do will change them or their ways. If they don't do it in my club, then they'll do it in someone else's club, and that would lose me business. Johnny's gang are regulars – they come in every single night of the week – and they're also publicity, because people want to take Johnny on and try to beat him. A lot of people come into my club simply because of Johnny Rancid. It's not my responsibility if they want to be stupid and let themselves in for what will inevitably happen."

"I was stupid, and you didn't let him do it to me," Robin pointed out.

Roy snorted.

"I don't care if he does it to other Gotham scum," he replied bitterly. "But you're not Gotham scum, Robin, and anyway, it wasn't your fault. You didn't realise."

"So you just let him do it? You just walk right past him and look the other way?"

"No, no, no…" Roy was shaking his head violently. "If I catch him doing it I give him a sock on the jaw and kick him out for the rest of the night. There's nights I've left him unconscious from the beating I've given him, and Terra will tell you the same thing. What I'm saying is that I don't watch him to see what he's up to. If something happens when I'm not looking then that's not my problem. But if it happens when I am looking… well, Johnny comes off the worst, and so does his foul little gang."

Robin nodded, his mouth a tight little line.

"I bet Nightwing didn't let him off with it," he muttered blackly.

Roy actually laughed now.

"Dick? Hell no! Dick used to prowl around watching him like a hawk, waiting for the first chance to pounce on him and slug him one." Roy sighed nostalgically. "You know, he always did have a grudge against Johnny, and I have to say I think the feeling was pretty mutual…"

Oh, it is…

"So… what happened?" Robin asked carefully, not exactly sure that he wanted to hear the answer.

"Well, you passed out after your first glass, from what we could gather," Terra explained expressionlessly. "Roy and I came back up from the basement to find that you were gone from the bar, even though your iced tea was still there. We figured you'd gone for a walk, but then Roy got a bit worried when he remembered that he had definitely seen Johnny's gang come in that night. So we went looking for Johnny's table and we found him sitting at the table drinking, seeming quite innocent. But… his little gang gave him away, because they were on the floor clustered around… well, you." Terra nodded sharply in Robin's direction and he flinched as though she had struck out at him.

"Eww, they hadn't… you know, stripped me or anything, had they?" He dared to ask, shuddering at the thought of it.

Terra smiled grimly, a wave of gold hair falling forwards and obscuring on blue eye.

"Halfway," she replied in a hushed voice. "They'd taken off your jacket and gone through the pockets but hadn't found much, and they had unbuckled your belt but hadn't been very interested in the weapons in it. One of them was just unzipping your fly when Roy dislocated his jaw with his fist."

Robin winced as he looked once again at Roy Harper's tall, powerful form, imagining what it was like to be chop-sockeyed in the mouth by him.

Ouch.

"So… they didn't take anything?" He asked tentatively.

Terra shook her head, an odd expression on her beautiful, half-obscured face.

Robin breathed a sigh of relief, putting a hand to his chest in a dramatic show of the emotion.

His blood ran cold.

"Necklace," was all he could squeak in an extremely strangled voice. He looked down at the black Lycra t-shirt stretched comfortably across his torso, feeling across it desperately.

It was gone…

"My necklace," he tried again, still sounding as though someone incredibly strong had him by the throat. "It's gone… oh my god, I…"

And as he watched her, Terra – her face completely deadpan – reached into the back pocket of her leather pants and extracted the Blood Diamond with the grace and superiority of any magician pulling a rabbit from his hat. She dangled it in front of his face, swinging it back and forth like a pendulum before his half-amazed, half-pissed off expression.

"You took it?!" He stormed, snatching for it desperately.

Terra jerked it out of his reach irritably.

"Okay, first, what's with the Gollum act?" She asked, sounding extremely bored. "The way you're acting, it's like it's the "one ring to rule them all" or something." She mockingly rubbed the crimson diamond against the side of her face, the one blue eye he could see narrowed, and hissing "My presssss-ciousssss" in a brilliantly-accurate imitation of Gollum.

"And secondly," she went on, reverting back to normal instantaneously, "I didn't take it; one of Johnny's pals did, and I smacked him one to get it back for you." Her blue eyes narrowed again, but this time she was not imitating Gollum. "But no need to thank me, you ungrateful little wretch."

"Give it to me," Robin pleaded, reaching for it again.

Terra prodded the tip of his nose, leaning in to him.

"What's the magic word?"

"Please?" Robin wheedled, his voice becoming so high-pitched in his desperation that, next to Terra, Roy winced.

"Jeez, give it to him, T," he told her hurriedly.

Terra snorted and tossed it carelessly into Robin's outstretched palm.

"Where'd you get it, anyway?" She asked offishly. "I mean, it's real pretty and all, and it looks really valuable, but… it just doesn't seem like your rap, necklaces and all that."

"It's not," Robin agreed, unclasping the glittering silver chain with gloved fingers that were, for some reason, shaking slightly. "Usually, I mean."

"Did Starfire give it to you?"

Robin blinked and looked up from the red jewel.

"No… What makes you think that?"

Terra shrugged.

"Oh, nothing, I just… You just seemed to be… I don't know, really protective of it, like someone special gave it to you…"

Robin snorted with laughter.

Seth, special? Yeah; special in the evil, scheming, freaky way…

Terra raised an eyebrow.

"Ohh-kaay… I'll take that as a "no", then?"

"Right."

Terra frowned.

"Odd… I swear Star – years ago, I mean – once told me something about a diamond. Her sister gave it to her as a present or something. I thought that maybe that was it."

"Oh, no, no…" Robin shook his head firmly, remembering that time a few months back, when Starfire's older sister Blackfire had turned up at Titans Tower unannounced for some "together" time with her little sister.

Of course, if memory served, the real reason for Blackfire's visit had been far from wanting to catch up with some sister-bonding time; Blackfire had been on the run from the Centauri Moon System Police Force after committing a string of high crimes throughout the entire moon system. Unfortunately for Starfire, she and her sister bore a very uncanny resemblance – aside from the fact that Blackfire had jet black hair in place of Starfire's flaming red – and Blackfire had deliberately led the police chasing her to Earth in the hopes that they would arrest Starfire instead, thinking her to be her older sister.

And it had almost worked, Robin mused grimly, apart from Blackfire's one vital mistake; she had given Starfire a present on her arrival, a beautiful and rare green diamond native to the Centauri Moons, named, rather appropriately, a Centauri Moon Diamond. So when the aliens chasing poor Starfire had proclaimed that they were in fact Centauri police looking for this seemingly-mysterious "Tamaranean girl" whom they thought to be Starfire, it hadn't taken any of the Teen Titans very long to piece together that the girl they were looking for was in fact Blackfire. "Blazin' B", as nicknamed by a smitten Beast Boy, had been to the Centauri Moons unquestionably, because she had gotten Starfire's necklace from the system; she had told Starfire that herself.

"That was a Centauri Moon Diamond," Robin corrected. "And Star threw that away once she realised what her sister was really like. This is a Blood Diamond."

Terra smiled humourlessly.

"And I always though Raven was the creepy Goth one." She snorted. "Blood Diamond… Woo, morbid."

Robin shot her a wicked Jack Nicholson eyebrow as he clasped the Blood Diamond back around his neck. Terra seemed both impressed and somewhat amused.

"Good Nicholson," she remarked.

Roy snorted, feeling left out.

"Right, good Nicholson," he echoed. He smiled knowingly at Robin. "But can you do the Michael Keaton eyebrow?"

Robin shook his head in puzzlement.

"Don't encourage him," Terra sighed, punching Roy on the shoulder before he could demonstrate the "Keaton Eyebrow".

"You always put me down, Terra," Roy sniffed dramatically, putting a hand to his forehead in a "dying swan" action.

"I wish I really could put you down, Harper," Terra muttered under her breath. "I mean the kind with a needle. At least maybe then you'd give me some peace…"

Roy grinned good-naturedly, hearing her perfectly clearly.

"I wouldn't count on it."

Terra sighed deeply and resignedly.

"Robin, I am officially giving him to you," she said, looking directly at Robin. "Congratulations."

Robin shook his head violently, raising his hands in a gesture of surrender.

"I don't want him," he replied hurriedly.

Roy snorted, folding his muscular arms.

"Would you still say that if I told you that I had a look at your stupid clock?" He drawled.

Robin blinked, turning his full attention to him.

"You did?" He asked, puzzled. "When?"

"When you were lying out for the count on my floor with Terra fawning over you," Roy bit out, sounding irritated.

"And?"

"And I've concluded that it is indeed broken," Roy finished drolly.

Robin's masked eyes narrowed.

"I could have told you that, and I don't know the first thing about clocks," he said contemptuously.

Roy shook his head.

"No, you don't understand me," he said, his voice still somewhat expressionless. "It's like you said; that clock was broken before you even "borrowed" it from the museum. I don't know how it even got you here…"

Robin cocked his head and Roy sighed.

"Look, come back over here and I'll show you."

He gestured for Robin and Terra to follow him and he led them back across his apartment to the bed, which was jammed at the far end. The Clock of Eternity was perched on the pillows, still ticking and the pendulum still swinging as though it was working perfectly.

But it wasn't, even though Robin had known that before Roy had even touched it.

"See, look," Roy said chirpily, picking up the clock as he reached the bed, Robin and Terra close at his heels. He removed a shining gold back plate that he had already unscrewed and showed the clock to them. Inside Robin and Terra could see hundreds of tiny silver gears turning, minute springs performing their purpose…

"We're looking," Terra responded flatly, raising a blonde eyebrow. She straightened up, shrugging. "So what?"

Roy's expression became very deadpan.

"There's a gear missing," he explained expressionlessly. He pointed to a tiny gap in the clockwork, signalling the apparent absence of a gear.

Terra and Robin exchanged a glance, then both leaned in closer for a better look.

"Where? I can't see-"

"No, wait, I think-"

"Oh, yeah, I see it now-"

"Where? There's no gear missing, Roy-"

"Yes, look, he's right-"

"Roy, your head is missing a gear-"

"Oh, for petesakes!" Roy snapped irritably, snatching it out of their reach. "Are you both blind, or just stupid?"

Terra grinned.

"Ooh, touchy," she mocked him happily.

"You can fix it, right, Roy?" Robin asked, hoping that Terra wasn't going to put the archer into a really bad mood.

Roy gazed at him fixedly.

"No," he replied levelly. "I can't. Not without the correct gear. I've checked out my supplies, tried to replace it, but it's a specific shape and size; I'd say it's exclusive to this clock. Unless we can find the original gear, or at least find a replacement for it, we're snookered."

Robin stared at him, speechless.

"You… you can't…?"

Roy shook his head grimly.

"Afraid not, kid, at least not as soon as you would have liked. I can maybe try to make one myself, following the pattern of the other gears in the clock, but it could take me days…"

Robin's face lit up nonetheless.

"But… you can fix it?"

Roy offered him a weak smile.

"No promises, kid, but I'll try."

Robin breathed a sigh of relief, looking from Roy to Terra and then back again.

"I mean… no offence or anything," he said hurriedly. "It's not that I don't like hanging out with you, but…"

"This place is a dump," Roy finished cheerfully.

"And you don't belong here, Robin," Terra added, her voice soft. "This isn't your world. You have to go back and stop all of this from happening."

Robin nodded.

"I know. And I will."

"Hold up," Roy cut in emphatically. "I have to fix this dumb clock first; otherwise, Robin, you ain't going nowhere."

Robin nodded vaguely, knowing it as well as he did.

"I'll stop Slade," he promised recklessly, reaching up and taking the Clock of Eternity from Roy to get a closer look at the working gears inside it.

"Hey, be careful with it!" Roy reprimanded him, half reaching out for it as Robin grabbed it from him. "You've already broken it enough…"

"I didn't break it," Robin replied snippily. "It was busted before I even broke into the museum to get it; you said so yourself."

"You broke into the museum?"

Terra and Roy said it together, both equally stunned. Robin returned their gaze, his masked eyes innocently wide.

"What?"

"What are you, some kind of juvenile delinquent?" Terra asked incredulously. "Robin, you're supposed to be one of the Teen Titans, as if I need to remind you. You're supposed to stop criminals from breaking into places."

"Oh, right, what was I supposed to do?" Robin asked, irritated. "Go up to some security guard and say "Oh, hey, don't mind me; it's just that I need to borrow that super-priceless clock to go back in time and save the world. I'll bring it back, it's just that my time-machine is playing up". Yeah, I really think they'd have bought that, whether I'm "supposed" to be one of the good guys or not."

"So you broke into the museum." Terra seemed grimly amused by the revelation that Robin the (Good) Boy Wonder had it in him to break into a museum and steal something.

Robin smiled sparingly in reply.

"I've broken into a lot of places in my time, believe it or not."

Terra pressed her first finger onto the tip of Robin's nose, making him blink.

"Oops, there goes your nose, Pinocchio," the earth-mover said lightly, laughter gracing her voice.

"I forgot how to laugh," Robin replied coldly, pushing her finger aside with his raised left palm. "It's true. I was Slade's apprentice for like, twenty-four hours, and in that short space of time I broke into two high security buildings, one of them being Wayne Enterprises. The device Slade wanted me to steal from there was too heavily guarded, but the first building didn't have a very sensitive security system."

Terra's blonde eyebrows were raised in understanding now;

Slade.

It figured.

"What did you steal from the first building?"

"Some kind of mini laser cannon; he strapped it onto my arm as a weapon."

"Did you shoot anyone with it?" Roy chipped in, sounding interested.

"Star." Robin massaged his own dark hair as he said it, the unpleasant memory coming back. "Fortunately it takes a hell of a lot more fire power than a crummy laser cannon to knock Starfire off."

Roy shrugged wryly.

"Nightwing never mentioned that," he acknowledged, not sounding especially perplexed or indeed surprised. "The whole being Slade's apprentice thing, I mean."

"It's not something I regularly bring up in conversation," Robin agreed. "I didn't do it willingly – he had to blackmail me, in fact – but it still aches when I think that… that I betrayed them…"

"Well, we all know what Slade is like, Robin, believe me," Terra said levelly, putting her arms around him and pulling him to her. "Perhaps no-one knows that better than I do."

"I know, I…"

Robin trailed off and sighed, not knowing how to finish his sentence; instead he just let Terra cling to him, knowing that it was at least giving her a little comfort. Roy stood aside, his arms folded, perhaps feeling left out, but not showing it; not wanting to rock the boat. Truly he was something of an outsider within this moment hanging in time, for even though it was he and Terra who had withstood the fifteen years of hell, they who still stood together, alive unlike so many of their friends, team-mates, lovers…

Even that aside, it was Robin, and only Robin, who could connect with her now, only he who could know how it felt to be corrupted by Slade, to be violated, used and abused by him.

Lovers they were not, nor had they ever been, in this time or in Robin's fifteen years previous, but between them was a bond, or a chain, something that could never be between Terra and Beast Boy or Robin and Starfire, or indeed, Robin and Raven…

Two apprentices; one master. He had corrupted them both, hoping to take them under his wing, teach them by his way, turn them into killers as effective and deadly as himself. And then, when they had rebelled against him, he had gone all out to hurt them, raping Robin, turning him into a monster, and then finally killing him, only for him to somehow be resurrected again; and then when Terra had betrayed him also, in this time after he had forced her to kill the Justice League, he had trapped her when she was at her most vulnerable – alone, afraid and desperate, carrying a dead man's child and scared to tell the one person she could really trust in fear of how he – Roy Harper – would judge her. And then, when Slade had gained her trust once again, he had brutally torn her unborn child from her womb and murdered it, then left her for dead too.

Roy Harper had suffered at Slade's hand, just as every single person in Gotham City had. But he or no-one had suffered half as much as either of Slade's one-time apprentices had.

Which, on looking back at all these memories (perhaps photographs rendered in black and white), seemed cruelly ironic.

But somehow not altogether illogical.

This was Slade.

And that was how he worked.

TT

Abrupt ending because, as usual, this is only a third of the true full chapter.

Next chapter; a cataclysm! Something MAJOR important happens! Don't miss it! Well, I suppose, you can't miss it, exactly… But you know what I mean…

There are also some Terra/Raven dynamics in there. Agh, you'll just have to read…

Thankyou to: Quinn and His Quill (I think Naruto is a bad influence. You just said you're contemplating suicide – as far as I've heard, Sasuke is emo. I think you should stop watching for the benefit of your health, you so-called "Narutard"…); TheFallenAngel67 (aww, I don't know if it's the best fic ever, but thankyou… And actually, you haven't written anything wrong so far…); Guardian of Azarath (did I repeat some lines? Oops, sorry…!); Me (maybe one day you'll tell me who you actually are… And stop throwing sweets!); Coolteenzz (This is like watching a movie? Well, thanks to you and Flying02Fish, there are actually watchable version of Black Magic, at least! I know you said you were going to do a Remember the Titans video at some point so I really can't wait to see that…); YamiTai (yup, that Slade… he's such a pest… Well, we're back with Roy, Terra and Robin in the future, so I hope you're happy!); Simmie (yes, as harsh as it sounds, Terra is technically getting everything she deserves. I like her, but she did choose to betray her friends, unlike Robin, who was forced. I am glad you're calm now, though… O.o); Kami-Elf (Titans East? Um, well, this fic is set in Season Two, and Titans East didn't form until Season Three… I expect the members are around, they're just not a team yet. That's my reasoning…); KGdiva (heyyy… you read Small Print, right?Wow, well, I'm really glad to have you "aboard" this fic too! Jeez, you battled all the way through Asylum and Black Magic to this point? That's impressive. But anyhow, I'm glad you like it so much, and thankyou for all your kind comments in your review, and that you enjoy it from here onwards!); Seductive Angel (hello, I've missed you for a while now. Welcome back… when you get to this point!); and CrazyInsomniac (yup, Terra is weak. I think that's probably part of the reason why so many people don't like her – she's so infuriatingly feeble-willed. I was proud of that last chapter I wrote, but it came out quite sad…).

And, well, I expect some others will catch up at some point…

Ugh, TTYS!

RobinRocks xXx