At the World's End

Alexnandru Van Gordon

To quote a wise man:

"...and if you go, furious angels will bring you back to me.

They will bring you back to me." (Rob Dougan – Furious Angels)

And so they did.

WARNINGS/SPOILERS: I don't think I can stress how important it is that you see 'The Apprentice' episodes before reading this ficlet. Having said that, though, I honestly don't think there's anyone in this fandom that hasn't seen them, so I'll give just give you the green light and send you on your merry way...

ALSO IMPORTANT: This is an AU brainchild, in which a certain someone hasn't been saved from a particular villain...*Ahem* Sorry for the odd phrasing—you know, just in case someone hasn't read the 'warning/spoilers' paragraph above.

Disclaimer: I make no claim over 'Teen Titans' or any of their characters.

Sheesh, do I ever gabble. Someone shut me up already!

SUMMARY: He'll see them, he knows, even if it's only in his dreams; in death; at the world's end. He'll see them again...He just will.

Sixty-three days and counting.

Still counting...

He's sitting on a bench in the sparring room, hunched forward, elbows on knees, silently counting down the sunrises and the sunsets until someone finds him, though he would never openly admit that to Slade. The man only recently gave him a digital watch after having confined him underground for weeks on end, another one of the mercenaries deleterious measures to play mind games with his apprentice as he widdled away at his will—the notion of time might've been made by human hands, but its absence is almost enough to drive a sensible man to madness, and Robin would be lying if he said he wasn't beginning to lose track of reality, of the nights and days, of the last moment he saw his friends...

He's beginning to feel as though he's been buried alive.

Something slams shut on the other side of the door, at the far end of the hall... Robin can hear the man's footsteps as he paces closer, steady and controlled, like the internal workings of a clock. Slade fancies that the world turns according to his agenda, that every man, woman, and child are all the gears and levers he can manipulate to work his beastly machine. Robin can almost hear it ticking in the deafening silence Slade leaves him to when he isn't tormenting the Titan himself, and he knows the man will stop at nothing until he gets want he wants, whether it be money or power, or the satisfaction that he's slowly wearing away the sanity of his once enemy and reluctant ally.

Robin can feel a familiar rage bubbling inside him, from the pit of his gut into his heart, and then up through his throat—a scream that wants to break free—but he buries it with thoughts of his friends (their lives) and finishes the flash of fond memories with the image of Starfire, smiling softly; happy...

He doesn't want Slade to know he's still waiting for them, holding out for them, with the hope that they don't suffer for his mistakes. He hasn't seen them since his last mission, when Slade sent him to steal that chip.

Words can never describe how badly he misses them.

The door opens and he rises.

Slade's one eye doesn't immediately fall on him, focused instead on his left hand as he adjusts his glove. He's only recently returned from wherever the hell it is he's been, just in time for their usual match.

"Don't look so glum, Robin. It's not fitting for a boy as vivacious as you."

Robin bites the inside of his cheek to stop himself from scowling. Calmly, he takes up a familiar stance in the centre of the room as he waits for Slade to attack.

"What, no witty comeback?" the man chuckles. "Well now, isn't this pleasant..."

"You ready or what?"

"Ready or what...?" Slade leaves the question open-ended.

"...Master."

"Absolutely. I just thought you'd like to know that your friends are still alive and healthy...and no closer to finding you than they were when you first disappeared."

Again, Robin bites the inside of his cheek.

He can do this. He knows he can. Even if it takes a year—even if it takes a decade—he'll wait for them, just so he can see their smiling faces...just so he can say how much he loved them and that he's so so sorry, please forgive me, please, please, please...

Before he can blink, Slade attacks.

He'll see them, he knows, even if it's only in his dreams; in death; at the world's end. He'll see them again.

He just will.