Like usual, this piece was inspired after listening to a song. This one was called Beautiful Crime by Tamer. If you've heard it you'd probably agree it's… kind of uncanny how much it fits!

I'm new to writing for Teen Titans, so let me know how I do concerning keeping the characters in character or anything else you have comments on!

Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans. Also, I don't own the song that I'll probably be quoting/referencing a bit in this.

Chapter One
Night Terrors

This was a real nightmare.

Well… not then, anyway. But even with the cheery atmosphere, he couldn't shake the feeling that things would take a turn for the sinister. He had no idea why, but his gloved hands felt clammy, and his throat was dry.

Robin had to take a dee breath to steel his nerves. He could hear the ambient noises of the band playing in the background, along with the chattering and laughing of the masses that were attending Jump Festival. "Do not worry, Robin. If any one of us is capable of the doing of the public speaking, I am sure it is you!" Starfire's voice soothed him as she set a hand gently on his shoulder.

Thank you, Star. But it's not really about the speech as much as…" he scrunched up his eyebrows in slight worry. When she blinked at how he trailed off, he sighed and shook his head. "I just have a bad feeling something's going to go wrong."

The alien princess didn't have much of a chance to reply to the statement, as Beast Boy chimed in, "Ah, I'm sure nothing's gonna go wrong, dude! You're just being paranoid."

Raven sighed at that, "If something does happen, Robin, I'm sure we'll have it covered."

"And now, everybody, if I could have your attention!" came the announcer's voice over microphone from the stage. A pause followed this as he waited for the crowd to fall silent.

"Looks like that's our cue!" Cyborg chuckled somewhat nervously.

"We have the wonderful opportunity of hearing from some fine young folks today! You just might know them. They're coming up on their second anniversary of being established here in this fine city. When there's trouble, you know who to call… Please join me in welcoming the Teen Titans!" The band, brass blazing, began playing again, this time that new melody that had become the Titans' theme song as of late.

Robin felt Cyborg push him from behind to get him moving. He stepped out from behind the curtain, hearing the cheers of the audience, and suddenly the Boy Wonder was struck once again with the horrible feeling that something was not right anymore.

Standing in front of the microphone, Robin began a little shakily with a small laugh, "Good afternoon, everyone… It's such an honor…" The young hero's eyes landed on a face in the crowd, and he felt his heart drop into his stomach.

He reached for his utility belt.

Slade gave him a small wave of his hand in a 'hello' gesture. It was hard to tell, but Robin was very certain that the blink of his eye was supposed to be a wink. Mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water, Robin attempted to warn the members of the audience of the criminal among them. But nothing came out. No one was noticing him.

Why weren't they noticing him?

That was when he realized that the whole city had gone quiet and still. Figures were motionless, not budging an inch. Turning his head to the side to look behind him, he saw that his teammates were frozen in place as well. It seemed that everyone was frozen in time except for him. And Slade.

The man held up a familiar looking detonator in his hand. "A moment of your time, Robin?" he asked innocently.

"Slade! What have you done?"

His surroundings were growing darker. "I've missed you, Robin. I merely wanted to let you know that the offer still stands." Slade said in that same calm tone.

"When are you going to let that go?!" Robin snarled.

Slade's eye looked upward, as if pondering the question in all seriousness. "Hmm. Not until you take me up on it. I'm as stubborn as you are, it would seem. And my patience is beginning to run out."

Before Robin could process it, his surroundings had suddenly changed, and now he was in a building. The walls were nondescript, dark and barely visible as the lights flickered and short circuited one by one down the hallway. Slade stood at the end, bathed in the light of the bulb above him until it too went out. Growling, Robin ran towards the last location he saw the man at.

Robin's breath came out in soft sharp pants as he sprinted down the dark and windowless hallway. Each step with his boots echoed loudly in his ear. He couldn't be too much farther ahead. He had to catch him.

Then the hated voice of his enemy pierced him to the core. Soft, yet perfectly heard over the hammering of his heart and feet. "Why are you running from me, Robin?"

Slade was behind him.

The boy planted his feet in the floor and screeched to a stop, whipping around to look behind him. Nothing. "Don't tell me you're afraid of me. That hurts my feelings."

Seeing a flash of the orange half of his mask in the darkness in front of him, Robin struck out with his fist, but hit nothing but air. Slade laughed softly, but it was also incredibly loud at the same time, like someone had turned up the volume to its max. Robin winced, momentarily covering his ears with his hands. It seemed to come from everywhere at once. He didn't know which way to look.

"It wasn't a rhetorical question, Robin… Or should I take that as a yes?"

Robin growled under his breath, but his pride refused to let him remain silent and ignore the accusation. "I'm not afraid of you! Come out, Slade!"

An unseen force careened into Robin from the side. He was knocked into the wall on his other side. "That is a lie if I've ever heard one. You're afraid of what I can and will do. To your precious city, your friends… to you…" The teen launched his fist into Slade's sternum. Slade didn't even grunt from the force of Robin's blow. It was like punching a brick wall. Robin forced himself not to give into the temptation of rubbing his sore knuckles and swung his other fist. However, it phased harmlessly through the air as Slade was no longer there, and he felt several rapid punches and kicks connect with his face, diaphragm, and back. Slade was holding back, all things considered—he was still able to scramble back to his feet quickly. But it still hurt like none other. Slade was still out of sight.

He immediately stumbled, not from another punch or kick, but from the shifting floor below him. It was like gravity was gradually shifting its pull in another direction. He fell to what was the wall before that, and then to his dismay, began to slide down the hallway as the world tilted. Before he reached a free fall, though, he caught onto a passing doorknob. As gravity continued to shift, the hallway eventually evened out and Robin ended up at where he started, only on what was the ceiling.

Panting, Robin stood up and looked around. He found his target at the other end of the hallway, where he had been moments previously. Snarling, the Boy Wonder charged at his foe. Feigning a left swing, Robin dodge rolled under Slade's arm to get quickly to the man's other side. He swung his leg low, trying to sweep his legs out from under him, but once again hit nothing but air, even though he didn't see him move. It seemed that Robin's vision was lagging—a fraction of a second behind, and Slade was actually three steps ahead of where he thought he was. Crying out in frustration, Robin once again located Slade to his left and aimed his right fist at his single eye. The older criminal grabbed onto the wrist of Robin's extended hand and flung him across the hallway. Robin couldn't help but let out a small groan as his battered body came to a stop several meters away.

Slade's figure loomed ominously above him, larger than Robin had ever realized. His eye seemed to glow in the murky blackness surrounding them, widened in excitement. "You're afraid of how similar you are to me. You're terrified that I will eventually free you from those dreadful inhibitions that tie you down. That you can't do anything to stop it. And what's more… is that you know you will like it."

He had to get up. Robin scrambled to his feet, panting with his eyes shifting anxiously from behind his mask. The walls were quite literally closing in now on the Boy Wonder, though he hardly seemed to notice anything besides the claustrophobic panic it was inducing. It was growing rapidly, his mouth going dry, his heart rate sky-rocketing.

"No... I'm not like you... I don't… I don't want…" Growing flustered with his stuttering, Robin growled and yelled, "I won't let you control me again! I would rather die!"

Slade blinked and then replied, "Oh, I don't think you actually mean that, Robin—"

Enraged, Robin interrupted him with an emphatic, "I do mean it!" Robin charged at the man and tackled him. Instead of falling to the ground, however, the two of them fell into a void as the hallway rotated with them. Gravity now pulled them at full speed down the narrow corridor.

Unaffected by the boy's words, the masked madman grasped onto his wrists as they fell and continued as if the interruption hadn't occurred, unconcerned with their rapid acceleration downward. Was this man ever fazed by anything? "—But even if you did, you never had a choice, did you? This was going to happen ever since you left Gotham," Slade drew out his bo staff and dug it into both sides of the barely visible wall. They continued downward with inertia for a few meters as the staff gouged a long scar in the wall. Eventually, Slade came to a stop while Robin fell another twenty feet before hitting the ground on his back.

"Since you left Bruce." Robin heard the gasp before he realized it had escaped from his mouth. Slade let go of the bo staff and fell the rest of the way to the ground, landing on his feet. "What? You didn't think that I knew, Richard?" Slade feigned shock, holding his gloved hand up to his chest with a wide eye in a mockery of innocence.

"So, what now, Slade?" The teen inwardly scolded himself as he heard his voice crack. "Are you blackmailing me?" He shoved himself to his feet as quickly as he could muster as Slade slowly circled around him from a distance.

"Did you grow tired of his rules, Robin?" Slade ignored his question entirely. "Tired of him treating you as a child and underestimating your abilities?" He let out a low laugh. "I'm not surprised. I certainly would, after all."

I'm not like you.

Choosing not to verbally acknowledge the comparison again and give Slade the satisfaction, Robin gritted his teeth, "Like you are any better."

"I am better. Unlike Batman, I know how to help you become so much more, what you were meant to be! I won't hold you back like he did. Your place is at my side because I understand you where he doesn't. You know this, Robin."

"You 'won't?' Why are you talking like it will happen again?" Robin ran toward him, swinging his own bo staff at Slade. Slade had somehow gotten his own staff back, which he used to parry at the last second. Robin grunted, "You're planning something, aren't you?"

Slade chuckled in response, "I don't know, am I?" He easily knocked the Titan away with a sharp kick to the sternum, sending him to the ground where he rolled back several meters.

"You're always up to something. Well, it won't work, Slade! The Titans and I will take you down! I'm a hero and you take pleasure in harming others. My place is far away from you because you could never understand me!"

"You can deny it all you want, Robin. However, you know deep down that it is true. When the sun sets, we're both the same."

"Robin!" came Star's voice. It echoed around them, but Robin couldn't find her no matter which way he turned.

"Rob! We need your help!" That was Cyborg.

Their surroundings melted, like paint running down the canvas of some dark and terrible abstract mural. A horrific scene unfolded as the haze dissipated. Jump city was glimmering in the distance, lit up like a Christmas tree. The sun was low in the sky, the smoke in the air turning it a bloody red as it began to sink below the horizon. His friends were fighting to escape from a cloud of darkness that ultimately swallowed them whole—first Beast Boy, then Cyborg, Raven, and finally ending with Starfire. Robin felt his blood run cold as he ran a few steps toward them, arm outstretched in an attempt to save them. He could hear their screams as the cloud enveloped both him and Slade as well.

"Robin! Help us!" There was Starfire's voice again, this time more insistent, but noticeably farther away.

"Star! Where are you?!" Robin shouted into the void, desperately turning on the spot to gaze in each direction. They were choking on the ashes in the distance, coughing and screaming. "Cyborg? Beast Boy?! Raven! No! No!"

Once he had made a 180, Slade's silhouette appeared as he stepped out from the dark cloud that surrounded him, his features becoming more pronounced as the distance between them decreased. Robin instinctively stepped back from the older man as he approached him, his hands held behind his back.

His voice was still low but had a little of a manic edge to it this time. "The sun will set on this 'hero' phase of your life soon. Consider that a promise—from me to you, apprentice."

"No…"

The smoke was beginning to clear, revealing the devastation it had wreaked on the city, as well as the sun, still traveling steadily downward.

Slade's gray eye twinkled maliciously from behind his mask as the pupil slid to the side to glance at the horizon, then went back to Robin. The dying rays of sunlight reflected off his mask. "I suggest you enjoy the evening while it lasts. You're already half in the shadows, Robin." The madman's gaze lowered slightly from Robin's face, breaking eye contact.

Robin followed Slade's gaze down to his chest and gasped, stumbling backward in shock. The setting sun had cast a brilliant orange glow over the left side of his clothing, the right side cast in a dark shadow.

Half in the shadows, half burned in flames.

Just like Slade.

The clothing shifted between his normal red, yellow, and green, and that horrid uniform he had hoped never to see again. He blinked desperately, rubbing at his eyes to try to dispel the illusion. It had to be an illusion… right? Robin could feel the oppressive weight of the metal collar at his neck, and he felt like he couldn't breathe.

"No…" Robin whispered.

As he stood staring numbly at the masked criminal, the thought occurred to him like a horrific epiphany. Slade chuckled lowly, as if reading his thoughts. And he very obviously agreed. It seemed the longer and more fiercely he chased after Slade, the more he realized that he should probably be the one running away from him.

So he did.

Robin surprisingly woke up neither flailing nor screaming. His eyes snapped open, wide as saucers beneath the mask, his heart pounding in his chest. He had been lying on his side at the time, so he found himself staring in the direction of his desk. A dream… it was just a bad dream. Slade didn't know his identity, or Batman's. He wasn't Slade's apprentice. Jump City was still okay. His friends were still okay.

He didn't have the chance to truly calm down, though. As he gazed into the darkness, he felt his blood run cold as he caught a glimpse of orange hovering in his peripheral vision.

The young superhero gasped and sat bolt upright, turning on the lamp on his bedside table and looking directly at it before realizing that it was just his mask that was hanging on the wall among the various newspaper clippings.

Robin finally allowed his muscles to relax as he groaned in a mixture of both relief and anger, rubbing his eyes with his hand. Shoving himself from the bed, he walked over to the offender on the wall, scrutinizing it carefully. Wait… had it always been crooked like that? It was tilted, turned to appear like it was cocked to the side. Who moved it? Great, now he really was paranoid. He violently took it off the nail, glaring at it momentarily. The single cat-like eyehole on the orange half seemed to leer smugly at him even when there was no eye occupying it.

Robin resisted the sudden urge to violently chuck the mask across the room.

"I should have known it was a bad idea putting this there…" Robin muttered drily. "Honestly, what was I thinking?"

Dreams such as this one weren't all that rare, even over a year after the fact. They'd grown less and less over the months but had resurfaced everytime the one-eyed devil reared his head. While not outright threatening him and telling him that he was going to try to regain him, Slade had taken to teasing him by making mentions of the apprenticeship, more and more in the past few weeks in the 'chats' he arranged with the Titans.

It made Robin nervous.

His eyes lifted from the mask to the newspaper articles plastered across the wall. All of the numerous headlines commenting on the various nefarious misdeeds the man had been behind. All this effort, this viciousness that slipped out when the man was involved… this fixation, on bringing the criminal to justice? At the same time that he chased after Slade, he just as much wanted to flee from the very sight of him. Especially after the whole apprentice fiasco. There were few people who could evoke such raw fear from him. And he felt truly at a loss at how to beat him, how to outsmart him, when he seemed to be three steps ahead at any given moment.

And the fact that Slade seemed just as fixated on him, even after more than a year? Well… that was even more terrifying.

You and I are so very much alike. It seems only natural that we should be partners.

Betrayal. Destruction. Revenge. We really do think alike.

You're becoming more like me every second.

"I'm not like you." Robin shook his head. There were a few moments of silence before he returned his gaze to the heavy metal mask in his hand. "I know you're up to something. And we… I… will stop you. I have to." He softly set the mask down on his desk.

Robin slowly went back to the bed, straightening out the sheets that he had kicked off the bed during the nightmare. He crawled under the covers and turned the lamp off, lying down on his back as he stared at the ceiling. It was already nearly five in the morning, and he was still anxious; he probably wasn't going to sleep well if at all if he tried going back to sleep. He considered going back to the desk to continue researching his leads.

Another day, Robin. Another day.

When was that day? When he realized his heartbeat was picking up again, Robin got back out of bed and headed back to the desk.

Slade's voice was echoing in his head again, in that usual low and calm tone as he taunted him.

When the sun sets, we're both the same.

*picks up and caresses a giant mallet with the word 'SYMBOLISM' painted across the head*