Trust... [A Robin Love Story]

Chapter 21: The Return...

Author's P.O.V

Krystal angrily paced back to her room and clenched her fists, ready to hit something.

"Hello, daughter." Said an eerily familiar voice. She turned around to find Slade leaning against the wall beside her door. Her eyes were wide in shock and her body was paralyzed from fear.

"Father... What are you doing here...?" she managed.

"I'm pretty sure that you've had enough time to play around. It's time for you to come home." he said, taking a step closer to her. She subconsciously took a step back.

"Come on now. Don't make me do this the hard way. Don't they cause you nothing but sorrow? They don't even know who you really are." He said deviously as he gestured around her room.

"They don't know how broken you are. They can't fix you, Krystal." he continued. Her tears had begun streaming as she took small glances of the photographs that she threw on the floor. As much as she hated to admit it, he was right. There would be small moments that she felt like she belonged but it never completed her. There was always something missing, and because of the trouble that she's been having with Robin and Starfire, it's been blurring her mind even more. Now that she thought about it, her mind wasn't as messed up as it was when she was with Slade. Before, all she had to do was to follow his orders and things would go back to how things were before. No pain, no worry, no nothing.

She felt nothing.

Her eyes rolled back into her head and she passed out. He didn't want to have to do this to her but he made the chemically engineered fungus spread even further and making her suffer. He removed anything that came from the Teen Titans and carried her back to his new hide out, leaving the Teen Titans none the wiser. His plan was working just the way he wanted it to. He laughed deviously to himself as he began to access the information the she gathered and was stored into the subdermal chip that he implanted her with.

"Has any of you seen Krystal? I haven't seen her since last night." Beast Boy asked around while everyone was eating their breakfast on the table. Everyone shook their heads except Robin, he simply pushed his plate and walked back to his room. Starfire was pissed by his demeanor so she flew after him. Robin threw his shoes on the floor and sat on his bed with a defeated sigh. Shorty after, Starfire came in.

"Starfire, not right now-"

"Robin, ever since Krystal became a member of the Teen Titans, you have been acting very strange and I personally take this to great offence." She cut him off as she walked up to him.

"I know alright? I just have a lot to think about right now." He said, standing up and turning his back against her.

"When we first decided to take our relationship seriously, you promised that you would share your burdens with me. I would help you whenever you needed me..." she said as she started to get teary eyed.

"Well that was before, Star. Right now I'm just not so sure. There's just so much going around." he said, trying to be sympathetic.

"So what are you trying to say??" she asked, struggling to choke back her already overflowing tears.

"I just can't handle this right now, Star. I'm sorry. I need time to myself." he said as he walked towards the door.

"Have you fallen in love with her, Robin? Please tell me the truth." she asked him before he walked out the door.

"I can't say, Starfire." he said.

"Then does that mean that we still have a chance?" he question ended up sounding more desperate instead of hopeful. He couldn't help but sigh.

"I don't know." he said bluntly then exited the room before she could ask any more questions. Starfire was dumbfounded and no words could come out of her mouth. Robin was actually just about to head to the roof to clear his head but before he could, the Titan alarm went off. He took a deep breath then put a hand through his hair in annoyance. They gathered in the main hall then head off to help whoever was in need.

~Meanwhile, at Slade's Hideout~

"Data transfer complete. Confirmation to delete all data?" the computer said. He smirked under his mask as he tapped the 'yes' button with delight. And with a flash, all her memories were erased from the first night that she spent at the tower all up to the moment that she passed out before he took her back to his hideout. It was as if nothing happened and she forgot all her worries and precious memories that she had made with her new family.

"There. Just like it used to be." he said to himself as he switched over to another monitor with a girl with yellow hair, running away from a huge scorpion that was chasing her in the desert.

"It's all falling into place. My plan is working perfectly." he said as he left the infirmary to let Krystal get her rest. Slade had already laid out the foundations of his master plan and he couldn't help but chuckle in wretched excitement.