He was lying on his back. The metal of the table was chilling and unforgiving. His wrists and ankles were swollen against the restraints. His mind was numb from the threats of pain. His eyes were flashing with the fear of the unknown.

This wasn't new. Starfire had seen it before, but something about this time made it different. Starfire moved to walk towards him, but stopped. Something had her leg. A glowing red chain was tied to her ankle, and she figured that it was of extreme strength.

She stood a few feet away. Trapped and unable to go to him. Helpless to save him. She screamed for him, cried. Like she had before, it made no difference. As she cried, he grew farther and farther away. Her starbolts continually missed their mark.

"No! Let him go! LET HIM GO!"

Slade's sinister laughter drowned her out.

It was only a nightmare. She mused as she awoke. Her Robin was sleeping next to her, head on her shoulder, oxygen mask firmly in place. She ran the back of her hand over his cheek.

"Hey, princess is up. Sleep well?" Cyborg was in the room changing out the IV's.

"As well as I could...I had another nightmare."

He nodded in understanding. "I don't know how to help you there, that's something that will go away with time."

"Do you have them as well?"

"Of course, we all do. This incident hurt all of us. Even Bruce, and we know how emotionless he is."

Starfire giggled.

At the sound of her laughter, Robin's eyes blinked open.

"Oh, good morning sleepy cranium."

"...good morning...Star..."

"I'll leave you two lovebirds alone." Cyborg winked.

Starfire blushed and giggled again, but Cyborg got no reaction from Robin.

"Rob? You okay man?"

Robin swallowed behind the plastic covering and croaked. "...he is still there...same place as yesterday..."

Starfire looked where Robin was staring. "It is okay, he is angry because we will not leave you alone."

Slade came closer.

He can't hurt me...he can't hurt me...

Slade grew closer still, reaching the end of the bed.

Robin swallowed thickly.

He seemed to grow in length, almost like a shadow, to loom over him. The room dimmed and the air became cold. He felt very alone. His breaths came in staccato.

"Stay away..." He warned.

A voice, very unlike Slade, came from his two-tone mask. It was dark and sinister, almost a hiss. "You cannot escape!"

"STAY AWAY!" he screamed as the monster came closer.

The eye in the mask glowed red as hole formed where his mouth would be. The metal transformed into long jagged fangs. The creatures hands slowly rose towards Robin's neck, razor sharp claws drawing nearer.

Robin was petrified with fear. "...what...are you?"

"I am the evil that lives inside you." The voice chided. "Without you, I will run rampant and destroy everything you love!"

The monster attacked at lightning speed, sinking it's fangs into the skin of his face, and clawing at him In between his screams.

"HELP! HELP ME! SOMEBODY PLEASE!" it was becoming harder and harder to breathe. His screams turning into gasps. "...Bruce...Star...Mama...Papa..."

Suddenly two gentle hands grabbed his wrists. Slade disappeared and Starfire took his place. "Robin! Please do the 'snapping out' of it!"

Cyborg was on his other side with one hand on his shoulder. "What was that?"

Tears spilled from his eyes as he grit his teeth. "...you liar..." he seethed.

"What?"

"YOU'RE A LIAR!" he shrieked at star. "You said he wouldn't get me while you were here! You lied! You lied!" He didn't fight her grasp, only let her limply hold his arms. "Leave me alone...go away..."

She smiled at him sadly. "You do not truly wish for me to leave you."

"I don't know anymore!" he choked.

Starfire took him into her arms and rubbed his back soothingly.

Cyborg mouthed to her, 'what just happened?'

She replied, 'I do not know!'

To them, Robin had been staring at that one spot for over a minute before he started shaking. Starfire tried to get his attention by calling his name and snapping her fingers in front of him, but he seemed to be in a trance.

"Stay away..." he whispered. She thought he was talking to her. "STAY AWAY!" he shunned himself away from something. Starfire wondered if throwing invisible punches would help like it had the last time. But it was like he couldn't see her.

"...what...are you?"

Without warning, Robin yanked off his mask and began to franticly scratch his face.

"HELP! HELP ME!"

"Robin! We are here!" she shouted back.

"SOMEBODY HELP ME!"

"What do you need? What's going on?!" Cyborg asked while shaking him.

He coughed violently. "Bruce...Star...Mama...Papa.."

Starfire grabbed his hands to stop him from scratching himself. He starred at her with blind eyes as a little red trickle of blood made his way down his cheek from a scratch before tears filled his eyes.

After that, Cyborg switched the gas in his oxygen mask to a sedative and hooked some sensors to his temples.

"We know that Slade has been captured, and this last attack was an hallucination. What I don't understand is what made him hurt himself."

"So that's why you've got his brain hooked up?" Bruce asked.

"Exactly, I'm going to see if I can find if Slade installed something."

"Umm...I would like to add something..." Starfire spoke up. "I noticed on his neck...the bruises...they are hand shaped...but the thumb is facing down."

"So?"

"If Robin was strangled by another person, the thumbs would be facing up...if he did it himself..."

"So that's why the hospital thought he was suicidal..." Bruce mused. "Cyborg, if Slade is controlling Robin's movements, there must be something in the central processor. And if he's seeing Slade, there could also be one in his optical center."

"Alright, I'll get my scanners on it."

"'Ey Bruce!" Beast Boy butted in. "I could turn into an amoeba and physically check his brain."

Bruce frowned. "No way am I letting a clown like you anywhere near his brain."

"Hey, he went in my head and removed a computer virus."

"Yeah, cool, but you knew what it was. We don't know if this is a microchip or a probe."

"Slade does like probes."

"It's just too risky."

Raven shared her input. "I've checked his mind a couple of times already and he definitely feels Slade. But it's not any kind of spirit or anything."

"My tests ran negative for the toxins he had last time."

"Well at least we narrowed it down."

That evening, the oxygen in his mask was replenished and he woke kind of groggy.

"Awaken Robin, there is someone here who wishes to see you."

He blinked a few times while Starfire helped him sit up. "...wha...?" he came to see the team and Bruce sitting around him. Cyborg was typing something on the computer. "...who...?" his eyes widened in dread when his nemesis walked into the room. He looked at his friends. "Slade...?" he said like a scared little kid. Starfire smiled and took his hand.

"Robin!" the man said threateningly.

Robin braced himself.

He dramatically clutched his chest. "I am so sorry! My ignorance has caused a incredible amount of pain for you, that no mere mortal could understand." Then he put his hand to his forehead. "Oh woe is me! The stupidest villain to mess with such an amazing and beautiful person as you!"

Robin was thoroughly dumbfounded.

"I do not wish for your forgiveness, for I do not deserve it!"

Robin heard snickers from Bruce, Cyborg, and Beast Boy who were looking at the computer screen and his face.

"I only wish to make it up to you, for the weeks of depression I have put you through."

"Are you seeing this?" he asked Starfire. She shook her head.

"I shall do my impressions for you. Behold! A pig! Snort snort oink oink oink! A chicken! Cluck cluck cock-a-doodle-doo! A horse! Naaayyyy! A sheep! Bbbaaaaaaaaa! Beast Boy! Squeak Meow grrr rawr tofu fart!"

"Hey!" Beast Boy cried from the computer.

"And now, I dance!" He started out with some ballet interpretive dance and then ended with Souja Boy.

By time he had ended, Robin was laughing so hard Starfire feared he would tear his stitching. "What...was that?!" he choked trying to catch his breath.

"We finally found what caused your hallucinations. Slade implanted a microscopic computer chip deep in your central nervous system. We couldn't remove it, so I hacked the frequency and gave you that last little jig."

"That's what...this was...the whole time?"

"Yeah, it seems like Slade had a computer somewhere with preset figments in it." Bruce added.

"I created a kill code that will shut down the chip without causing any harm to you."

"...so...?" It was almost too good to be true.

"You won't be seeing Slade anymore. He won't haunt you ever again."

Robin just stared at him for a moment and then threw his arms up. "Praise the Lord!" and then promptly started choking.

"But you still have pneumonia."

"...no dip...Sherlock!"

With Slade out of the way, Robin was on his way to a steady recovery. Two days later, he was off the oxygen, still talking slowly, but he didn't need help to breathe. Bruce decided to stay for a little while and train the team in some new techniques. Besides, he still had to make good on his promised to take them out for dinner.

They moved Robin from the infirmary to the living room so he could look out over the city and watch TV. Cyborg even uploaded a link over the wifi so Robin could be apart of the action during a battle and give out orders. His favorite part though was movie night (every night really). It gave him time to hang out with his friends like a normal teenager. Bruce usually skipped these, opting to catch up on business. There was one certain thing that sealed the deal for him though. Regardless of the movie, Starfire would be asleep on his shoulder before it was over.

At nights like these, the rest of the team would leave them alone, and go to bed. They turned out the lights as they left. He treasured these times. Surrounded but what he loved most. The city lights in the distance, darkness blanketing around him, and the love of his life sleeping peacefully against him. All in the stillness of night.

How many times did his sense of freedom get ripped out from under him? How much false hope had he had? How many of these nights were spent hiding in fear of a man that was gone forever? Robin clenched his fist with the leather of the couch rubbing against his fingers. It wasn't fair, all that time was wasted. All those words that had tumbled through his head, his worry for his friends and family. Worthless.

He sighed. No, it wasn't worthless. Slade had given him a gift. He had renewed his appreciation for what he had, what life he had. He would never again take breathing for granted. He moved the fabric of his shirt back on his arm. The scars beamed through like beckons. A truly hideous sight. He slid his finger tips over the new skin, to feel the smoothness of callous free silk. It didn't match. It was foreign and wrong. It felt too tender and too vulnerable. That's what this was all about. He had been exposed like a nerve. Never again.

Never again.

Early morning. Starfire awoke at the very first glimpse of light through the window. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. Robin was awake and staring into the sunrise.

"Did you sleep well?" She asked softly, stifling a yawn.

"I didn't sleep."

"Please do not say you had another nightmare!"

"No, I didn't. I was comfortable. Sleep eluded me last night. I was thinking."

"About what?" She asked as she cuddled back into his side.

"The voice that spoke without making a sound. The joy in the storm. The hope behind a wall..."

"You are speaking cryptically, I do not understand."

He smiled, "Slade."

"I see..." She turned and looked into his eyes. "Even though he is really gone, he is still causing you heartache."

"Nah, don't worry about it Star. I'm not afraid of him anymore, just pissed."

"Because he...made you look weak?"

"And brought out emotions I planned to keep tucked away."

She was silent for a moment and then spoke solemnly. "Would you have tucked away the feelings you hold for me?"

He was stunned a moment, "That's not what I meant!" He sighed. "I was afraid that you might not feel the same way about me. You were so bright and loving to everyone, I just couldn't tell. I was also afraid for your safety, if a criminal found out how important you were to me...they may try to hurt you."

"And you do not think I could handle myself?"

"I know it sounds silly, but love makes you think irrationally."

"As I have said before, I do not wish for you to come to any harm. I will protect you...and when I am weak, you can protect me."

He chuckled despite himself. "Sounds like a plan."

"Rob...I mean, Richard."

He blinked at the sound of his real name.

"My name is Princess Koriand'r of Tamaran. When I was five, my brother, the heir to the throne was sent away from us for safety. When I was seven, my sister and I were traded into slavery by my father. I lived for nine years with the Gordianians were I was abused and experimented on. That is why my eyes are purely green. My people are known for their ruthless bloodbaths and battles, along with their brute strength. So they had me in deep containment were I was alone and afraid. After years of this, my anger became too much I broke out of the ship...you found me not much later."

Robin held her gaze in awe.

"I understand how you feel. Probably more then anyone else does. Do you remember how many times I awoke you when we first met from my screams? I still have nightmares from then. Robin, you are not alone anymore, and neither am I." Unwillingly, a few tears escaped from her eyes. He pulled her into his chest and stroked her hair.

"And you will never be alone again."

Yay RobStar fluff. Next Chapter will be more exciting. :)

We're coming up on the end people!