Hello everyone in fan-fic land! This is nekotenshi-hime with another chapter for you all to enjoy! Sorry it took so long to update!
I'm currently looking for a new job before college starts again (boo!) but i do have more plans for this story. So it's not done yet!I have to give a shout out to my good friend Hakuryuken (sorry if i messed up the name) for telling me how much he likes this. And of course a Big, Heartfelt Thank You with Hugs goes to everyone who decided to Favorite or Follow my story. You guys are the best!
Now without further ado I give you chapter 20 of The Truth! :) :) :) Hope you enjoy!
Chapter 20: Fever and Cool Hands
Kiara was overjoyed at the thought of Sensei giving her a special surprise. He had not forgotten what he said before Blood came in and ruined everything. She never would have expected that Robin would be here with them. Magnet was giddy at the thought of meeting Red X again. Kiara chuckled did her sister have a crush on Robin's alter ego? Sensei had warned her though that she should not expect too much from her new friend.
That was the one downside to the whole situation. Robin felt broken with the knowledge that his friends were dead. He almost went on a hunger strike a couple of days ago. Slade had threatened to force feed him if he didn't eat. Robin had mumbled out that if his friends were dead there was nothing for him to live for. To Kiara's surprise Sensei had not yelled or shoved food down his throat, or stormed out the room. Instead he sat next to him and sighed over the smell of the delicious food that Kiara had made.
Wintergreen made a comment on his way to the kitchen for seconds- that she was becoming quite a good cook. It would be a waste to not eat such tempting dishes. Robin stared at Wintergreen and Sensei like they had grown two extra heads. When Robin still refused to eat Sensei asked Kiara and Wintergreen to leave the room. Perhaps if he did not have strangers staring over his shoulder he would feel more comfortable.
Kiara left with a shy smile and said she hoped he would feel better. Robin growled at her as he curled on the bed turning away from the door. Sensei had taken her to the training room because he felt that he had left her alone too much over the past week. Kiara and Magnet did not mind in any way. They loved the intensity and the best part was it varied- they never did the same thing twice. After she had worked herself to exhaustion she decided to peek in on Robin. She found the plate of food outside the door scraped clean. Before she could tip-toe past his room it opened a crack.
He said a quick "Thank you." She gave a big grin while a gust of yellow (happy) and purple (friendship) whipped her hair. Robin sneered at the happy gust and turned away. Kiara asked him if he wanted more and to her shock she received a brief nod. Feeling better than she had in a while she skipped to the kitchen to whip up a new dish she had wanted to try for a month inspired by Native American cuisine. When she went to bed the second plate and the bowl of fresh fruit was outside the door.
No one had heard any word about the Titans. Kiara stopped worrying about her new roommate's reaction to his new living arrangements. She just wanted to enjoy her time with him and her Sensei. Robin's attitude had taken a 180 degree turn. He answered questions with more than just one or two syllables or grunts and groans.
Kiara watched with glee while her new partner danced and twirled around her teacher. Sensei kept asking how he liked being here, what would he like to decorate his room with; did he have any plans for dinner, or would he like to learn computer programming? Robin responded with an attempt to grab his leg and push him off balance.
Slade instead kicked aiming for his head. Robin tried to dive for the floor until he realized he was still holding his leg. Unable to dive or evade he was forced to let go and shield his face with his arms. Slade pulled back on his kick and tripped Robin instead. With a gasp and wide eyes Robin stared at Slade who chuckled. "I suppose you were not expecting that. Care to try again my dear boy?"
"I'm getting a little tired of that nickname- Sensei." Robin dusted off his uniform even though it was not dirty. Slade chuckled again, "Well since you don't want me to use my nickname, you hate apprentice, and you abhor the idea of your civilian name then what am I to call you?"
Robin growled clenching his fists. He did not like the nickname or his hero name and he would try to choke him if used the name his parents gave him so what was Slade going to call him? Angered that he had no answer Robin lunged at Kiara. She was a little off balance but she recovered.
Slade whistled and shook his head. "I thought you and I were fighting little boy. You know I do not like being ignored." Robin had a wicked grin on his face as he pushed Kiara into Slade. She spun around her teacher so he was in the middle. He continued to kick, punch, and dive, swinging around Slade always keeping him in between the two of them. Slade and Kiara were puzzled what was he doing?
Robin taunted Kiara about not being a good girl. And she was no better than one of the Slade-bots who follow orders with blinders on. Kiara got a little offended at that but she stayed quiet. Robin smirked as his taunting unsettled her, "devoted and perfect apprentice, more like a mindless drone. Remind me again I thought he wanted someone with spirit not a robot in a girl's skin isn't that right Sensei?"
"Robin do you have a point behind all these taunts? You should apologize."
"No I don't think I will. Not until she gives me a reason to take back what I said. Don't forget Sensei you wanted this. I cannot be held responsible for my actions because I am following what you wanted." Robin dodged and flipped over Kiara. If he wanted her to get offended or annoyed congrats she was. She pulled her hands to the end of her chain and made an upside down 'C' thus transforming her chain into a silver-red scythe. Robin threw a couple of daggers at her head. She twirled the scythe in front of her.
"Oh shiny, but can it cut anything? I should have figured a girl would have at least one shiny weapon in her arsenal. Tell me Magnet or Kiara or whatever your name is do you even have an original idea in your pretty little head? All I can see is a lonely girl crying out for daddy because she never got that special Barbie doll for her birthday or some such nonsense."
Slade was thinking Robin should stop when Magnet and Kiara charged at the boy in a blind rage. The boy expected this in fact he wanted their anger. The girl and her spectral sister complied with this silent challenge, an unspoken demand for a loss of emotional control. Magnet swung her scythe toward the boy's shoulder. He bent backwards and flipped into a handstand. Magnet was not amused with eyes glowing scarlet. The colorful wind of turquoise (dedication), red (strength), and silver (sincerity) lashed at Robin's clothes. The boy smirked continuing his quiet taunts while dodging sparks of silver-blue electricity attracting metal objects and slashes of a scythe meant to cut him in half.
After the dance went on for another hour; with Magnet and Kiara's irritation growing they shifted the scythe into pink-silver gauntlets shaped like a lion's claws. He was forced to avoid the claws if he did not want a painful shock of lightning to paralyze him. Slade wondered if all this tension would be resolved through a little field trip. Ready to halt any more bloodshed he opened his mouth to suggest a field trip when a pained gasp interrupted him.
The former crime fighter found him-self on his knees covered in sparks while his opponent clutched her arms and neck hissing in pain. He growled at the girl who growled back at him. He leaped on her pressing his sparking fingers onto her bruised neck. Snarling in rage and pain, she kicked his legs out from under him. They ended up in a snarling headlock but the most surprising event happened when he reached up to his face. Sometime during this brawl Magnet had slashed at his face. At the time it seemed of no importance, but now as that mask curled off and fell to the floor in slow motion all his anger and irritation ceased.
Magnet went to bite on him the neck as a sign of dominance but Slade's voice stopped her. "I believe I have figured out your problem, children. You must be suffering from the effects of cabin fever- in short you are both bored. Now do not think I forgot your present Kiara and Magnet, but I do not believe you will mind too much if I extended it to Robin as well. So how about we all calm down, get cleaned up, eat delicious food and get out of this cave? What do you think?"
Magnet exposed her fangs at the boy not quite satisfied, but willing to concede for her Sensei. The boy was too stunned to put up any kind of fight. Without his mask the question of his identity roared in his mind again. A wall of anxiety from trying to avoid maddening questions from people he thought cared about him, but would never see again made Robin desperate. Slade did not need Kiara's aura to know just how vulnerable the little boy was. He had been stripped of all sense of identification, what he thought were constants in his life. This would be Robin's true surrender that would either have him run into Slade's arms or throw him into a psychological breakdown.
Kiara was not sure what was happening right now. Her companion had not felt this broken- even when he had to rely on Slade to break free of Blood's control, not even when he realized his friends were dead. Why was that mask and by extension being a hero so central to his identity? The same questions plagued his mind. Those same questions rushed with such intensity until he was certain he was burning alive. The chaotic emotions threatened to bury Kiara in an onslaught of frenzied nerves and uncontrolled feelings- something she did not want to experience any time soon.
Uncharacteristic of Slade by Robin's point of view he sat on the floor with his arms held out. His eye was curled up in a smile: not sinister, or calculating, or devious but a comforting and sincere smile. This was not something Robin would have expected out of his hated enemy. Kiara hesitated for a moment; was the hug meant for her too? Slade made no move to draw either of them closer or push them away he just waited. Kiara gave a hiccupping cough as tears leaked down her face and she leaped into his outstretched arms.
For the first time in his life he wondered, "Is there a man underneath all that armor? Could there be a human under all those calculations, plans, and manipulations? The better question is do I trust him enough to find out?" He sat there undecided for almost a minute before he crawled on his hands and knees into those arms. The arms felt cool to his inflamed skin in particular on his face where his mask used to rest. He gave a tentative smile to Kiara who returned with a shy smile of her own.
He watched in fascination how she curled into his side, purring and chirping again. She rested her left arm on his chest and held his right with her other hand. Without giving himself time to over-think what he was doing he copied Kiara as best he could. He did not hold his hand but he did rest his arm against his leg.
Slade chuckled and said, "Now is this so bad?" Why his voice was so low, comical in a way and why was it luring her to sleep? He could see Kiara beginning to drift off her eyes blinking in an attempt to stay awake. Was she afraid she would miss some precious tender moment between her new friend and her Sensei? Well she would have to be disappointed.
Slade rubbed his fingers over Kiara's hand and began humming what sounded like Raven's chant in a lullaby form. Kiara lost her battle with her eyelids and she yawned, turning into the crease of his right arm and leg and continued purring and chirping. He further shocked the boy by swaying back and forth in a slow motion which made it hard for him to stay awake. Gathering his courage he asked, "I thought you wanted us to do some kind of errand which will involve some criminal activity and what about eating?"
"All in due time my boy you deserve the rest so please follow Kiara's example and go to sleep." Fighting to retain some measure of dignity he turned away from Kiara and tried crossing his arms but that became uncomfortable in a short time. Forced to turn over he glared at Kiara's sleeping face and her annoying purring of content. Why did she not realize the danger she was in? Then again was she in danger at all? He had never hurt her, he was so livid when Blood attacked her- Robin had not gone out of his way to destroy his friends…
Before he could ask another question the other disappointed voices returned with a vengeance. All the voices of his friends' and Bruce screamed in his head. They slashed, tore, scorched, and blasted any arguments he could try to defend himself with. He almost jumped out his skin to feel the cool metal drying his wet face. The fingertips lingered on his face for a few seconds and he remembered why he had put himself through this torment.
He clutched his arm in fierce grip and began to sob, broken choking sobs that seemed to be ripped from the depths of whoever he thought he was. Kiara stretched her hand to his trying to hold it. At first he flinched away but as the cool hand rubbed his back and he hummed, the boy gave up resisting.
He grabbed Kiara's hand as Starfire shouted that he was cheating on her. The one relief he could hold on to was that he did not hear Alfred shouting at him because Bruce was enough. Not even the Joker could torment him like this. Not that he would ever want to give that maniac the chance to. The next minutes became a blur to him and he did not remember them with clarity. All he remembered was begging Slade or Kiara to not leave him alone. If he knew one or the other was in the room the voices would quiet down.
Kiara curled up in a ball, like a cat, on the left of the bed. Robin was in the fetal position in the middle holding Kiara's lion tail and eagle wing for dear life. Slade and Wintergreen had carried a small couch into the room and Slade took a nap sitting on the couch with his head on the bed. Sometime during the night the girl and boy had reversed their positions so each one was facing their teacher and touching his hand or head at some point.
Wintergreen came into the room an hour later around 8:30 at night. He found Slade in the middle of the bed, Kiara on his right where the window would be and Robin facing the door. He had his arms on both of them. Wintergreen could not help but notice how fragile the kids looked and in particular his old friend. One thought came to his mind.
Has he gained a new life or two weak links in his seeming unbreakable armor?