La Mort de Robin
By: RavenHeart101
Fan: supporter, enthusiast, partisan, booster, addict. Fiction: A literary work whose content is produced by the imagination and is not necessarily based on fact. Put it together and what do you get? Me not owning anything.
Summary: Everyone has a breaking point. Robin's hit his. Therefore, Robin takes a break. He stops being Robin and becomes Richard Grayson once more, moving back to Gotham with Bruce Wayne. What he doesn't expect is to be followed (unknowingly) by one Shane Tyler and his mother. The two are world renown fugitives. Thieves. One of which goes by the name Red X on his own free time. But, while this might be a problem, a bigger and more dangerous problem is soon to emerge when the Titans show their faces in Gotham, mid-chase with a group of villains. They need Robin again. But will Richard done the cape and mask again?
A:N- Written due to peer pressure… -_-
The day wasn't all that much different than the one when Robin arrived in Jump City. It was a nice night, one when the stars where visual and blinked down through the heavy air pollution onto the small, crime ridden area. However, there was one noticeable difference. One that Robin noticed the moment he woke up in the morning.
There was a circus in town. The Haly's Circus to be exact.
The question that plagued all the Titans that day was why, exactly, their fearless leader was hiding out in his room for the duration of the day. They all tried ways to get him out. Beast Boy transformed into a puppy and barked up at the door to get him to come out. No luck. Cyborg pretended to want to play video games with him, Robin being the only real challenge out of the group. No luck. Raven tried to spell the door open, then apologized and asked for someone with sanity to come out and have a conversation with her. No luck. Robin didn't even leave his room when Starfire came with some horrible excuse for food. Nor did he come out with an apology when she started yelling at him to open the door with tears glinting in her big eyes. He only came out once.
The distress alarm woke the Titans from their silence, startling them enough to cause them to jump into standing positions. They gazed at each other in confusion, Cyborg's silver plated "armor" glinting under the blinking of the television reminding him, once again, that he had one. "You coming, Titans?" The familiar voice caused almost all of them to smile, Starfire squealing and enveloping Robin in a tight hug, filling him in on her day. Raven rolled her eyes at the pair making her way towards the door and out behind a struggling Robin and clingy Starfire.
"Where to, Robin?" Beast Boy asked with giddy happiness sugar coating his voice. The masked hero smirked back at him.
"The center of town." The answer, while confusing many of them further, was welcome, many of them reveling in the fact that they could hear his voice once again.
Starfire was the first to ask the question that clouded their minds. "What's there?"
Robin shrugged in response, looking at Cyborg for the honorary answer. "A circus."
Starfire just looked even more confused, Raven looked sarcastically happy and Beast Boy was practically bouncing in his seat. Robin paled, his gloved hands curling into fists at his side. He only hoped that it wasn't as bad as his last trip to the Haly's Circus. "With the lions? And tigers? And the acrobats! And the trapeze artists! I haven't been to one since FOREVER!" Beast Boy's voice shook was excitement at the thought of the circus.
"We aren't going for entertainment." Raven's bland voice spoke up, ending his party.
His happiness visibly fell from his face, his eyes only hosting a small amount of excitement. Starfire gazed at him, her own eyes wide in disappointment. "Oh, but we could stay and watch some of it, could we not Robin?" Her begging voice pushed the boy out of his quite morbid thoughts, her eyes gazing at him in question.
Robin pushed back his fear and nodded slightly. "Sure." A fake smile fell across his features, his gaze quickly returning to the window, fear nibbling at his senses.
Haly's Circus looked just as magnificent as Robin remembered. People in bright suits ran around, gathering equipment and whatnot. And then there were the animals, the clowns held onto their reins, their makeup half gone from the sweat and tears that were falling down their faces. Then there were the police, obviously there to do their job. Robin stood in back of the others, his eyes following the members of the circus's every movement. He briefly wondered if anyone that he had known from when he was younger was there, before shaking his head at the thought, dismissing it quickly. They had at dispersed when he had left, gone to different circuses, the memory of the family that had died being too much for them to bear.
"The people are sayin' that they fell." One officer commented to the Titans. Officer Erick, if Robin remembered correctly. A bit arrogant and not the best officer of the force in Jump City. Then again, no one really compared when you'd been the sidekick to Batman and known a certain Commissioner Jim Gordon for most of your life.
"Do you know who they are?" Raven sounded a little sick as she said it, her gray face gaining a green tinge to it. The Titans weren't ones to get murder cases, usually going after the evil geniuses who want to kill everyone but haven't gotten around to it yet, and petty criminals like Red X who really didn't do much other than steal. This was somehow much more raw. It was something that Robin remembered from his time in Gotham. It was one of the reasons Batman had allowed him to move onto Jump City by himself. Less death. Less impossible to solve murder cases. Less insanity.
The officers shook their heads in sadness. "The acrobats. A family. Damn shame, it is." Officer Erick answered in a quiet voice. Starfire had big tears cascading down her face, and her bottom lip trembled.
Robin decided that it was best if he looked now.
A young family. A mother and, what he assumed was, a father. Both were in red and blue, the circus's new colors, costumes that accented their bodies. The mother had light orange hair that was matted and sticking to the floor from the amount of blood that had poured from her head when it hit the ground. The father had blonde hair dyed pink. Their limbs were twisted underneath them awkwardly. Their eyes were wide open.
He ran.
It was winter when Robin left. There was a short, neatly scrawled note on the desk. There were simply two things (and a very important person) missing. A photo album that used to sit upon the top of the bureau to never be looked at by anyone but the owner of the room. And a laptop. And Robin. The Titans weren't home when Robin left. They weren't home when the boy trudged away with a backpack slugged over his shoulder and silky black hair brushing into his eyes. Robin was gone. Richard Grayson, however, was going home.
The train banged and rolled on the tracks, the sound of the tires lulling Richard to a dense half sleep. The train suddenly lurched upwards and onto Jump City's high reaching old tracks that would bring Richard, and the rest of its passengers, to the airport. His cheek was pressed firmly on the window, his crystal blue eyes sparkling in exhaustion. It wasn't a new, or good, train that Richard was traveling on and he noted, numb to the surprise that used to climb up his spine, that the train was owned by Wayne Enterprises. Just like everything else in the God-forsaken world. Richard pulled the backpack closer to his body, almost curling in on himself, his blue eyes blinking in an effort to stay awake.
The train lurched downwards a tinge, the tourists letting out a shocked gasp and the regular customers briefly letting a smile cross over their lips. Richard just gripped his backpack even closer and slung it over his shoulder once the train pulled to a stop. The doors slid to an open, an elderly couple being the first ones out, nearly getting trampled on in the process. Richard shrugged his way through the crowd, used to the packed subways in Gotham, which really weren't all that different than the packed trains in Jump City. The doors leading into the airport were open for access and Richard happily welcomed them. His ticket was quickly handed to the attendant and he smiled lightly at them, ignoring the look she sent his way when she noticed the small amount of things he had with him. "Have a nice flight, Mister…" She glanced down at his ticket, her eyes widening the amount of an anime character's before glancing back up at him, a bright smile covering her face. "Grayson." Richard smiled back at her, which seemed to cause her to almost squeal in happiness.
"Thanks." He said in false cheer. It seemed to fuel her smile, as it burst into a blinding white that covered her teeth. Richard took the offered ticket, walking forward and onto the airplane. He was one of the last people on, the flight attendant almost looking surprised at his presence. He shrugged off her assistance with a smile, making his way over to his seat in certified First Class by himself. The attendant stared after him in what looked like shock before she went to help the young couple that had just entered.
In all honesty Richard didn't like, nor did he ask, for First Class. The name "Wayne" called for it, however, and, therefore, he had to be seated in it. The seats, however, were definitely much more comfortable than the ones in the other parts of plane. His forehead fell against the window, his straight hair flattening against it and his blue eyes staring as more and more people tried to find the plane that was theirs. His eyes flicked to the people in First Class with him. Needless to say he was gaining many odd looks.
A business man sat in the row beside him, trying to discreetly look at him through his horn rimmed glasses. Then there was a woman with prime and primed nails sitting in the row in front of him. She obviously didn't care much for discreet as she was twisted in a way that must have been uncomfortable to stare at him. Then there was the rich old couple sitting in the very front, both looking at him as if he was some sort of scum on the bottom of their shoe and didn't deserve to be where he was. These looks… this kind of curiosity… Richard welcomed the familiarity. He didn't try much to fit in with the wealthy crowd, something that Bruce was silently proud of him for.
Speaking of Bruce, Richard was unsure about how things were going to be like between him and his guardian once they re-met. When Richard-no Robin- had called him after running from the scene at Haly's Circus Bruce hadn't asked any questions, just granted him use of the trust fund in his name to buy himself a one way ticket back to Gotham. It was unusual, something so un-Bruce like that Richard had a feeling that the older man had planned on bringing him back home soon anyway. The two hadn't exactly parted on the best of terms. Bruce begging him, in his own way, not to go and Richard saying that since he had a new Robin know what would be the point of having two. It was a long and tiring argument that lasted all of two years and lead to Bruce giving up and giving in, Tim taking Richard's place as Gotham's Robin and Richard moving to Jump City to help the Titans. The only real contact the two had since then was through the communicator. But even that was just as Batman and Robin and was strictly professional.
The plane took off, the other members in First Class finding him not as interesting as they had once thought and turning back to their original occupations. The old couple talking to some new members about their trip and how wonderful the Hotel was. The businessman going back to his laptop and prattling away on the keys. The woman in the seat in front of him went back to filing her nails and drinking a glass of red wine. Richard shook his head at them all, pulling out his ipod and picking a random song, plugging his ears with the headphones and settling down for a small nap, feeling at home once in the air.
By the time the plane landed it was dark outside, the darkness eating away at all the light that seemed to fill the plane when they were in the air. They all exited, no one but Richard and the businessman planning on staying in Gotham for much time. Once in the airport once more Richard collapsed into one of the disgustingly uncomfortable chairs and threw his head into his hands. The idea of being back on the ground wasn't one that Richard took lightly. The feeling of being alive was with him for so long, and then it was gone, in the snap of a finger. Richard didn't like that much. When he was in the air he was free. On the ground he was chained again. Chained in like an animal. It did something to his mind. He hadn't felt this need desperate need for freedom in so long that when the chains came back he didn't know how to move in them.
"Dick?" The voice was familiar and oddly welcome. But Richard didn't look up until the name was repeated twice, not used to his name being said after spending two years being referred to as "Robin". He blinked up at the man who had uttered his name, his black hair falling haphazardly into his blue eyes. Bruce Wayne wasn't one for physical affection, or a show of anything physical other than fighting (and even that was Batman not Bruce Wayne), and Richard had a feeling he wasn't going to start now.
Richard scrambled to his feet, picking his backpack up with a shaking hand. His guardian looked good (well when didn't he?) and not a year under thirty five. The man's own dark hair was cut stylishly and his dark eyes sparkled with life that Richard remembered oh so well. Richard had seen that spark come to life when fighting. He'd seen it spark to life when he was happy. And he'd seen the spark disappear with disapproval. But now… now it was at an amount that Richard hadn't seen in so long and he had to restrain himself from attacking his guardian in a fierce hug. "Bruce." A smile was threatening to find its way across his face.
And then Bruce Wayne smiled a smile so unlike the ones usually thrown in the public's way as he pulled his ward into a tight hug. The scent of Bruce was one that Richard welcomed. He hadn't realized just how much he missed his guardian until this moment, tears forming in his eyes before he pushed them back. The hug was short, yet full of so much that Richard felt as though he was home once again.
A flash of light crossed Richard's vision along with an onset of voices. They were nearly too close, nearly too much for him to process. Then he remembered who he was. He was Richard Grayson, son of the deceased Mary and John Grayson, and ward of Bruce Wayne. The attack of voices belonged to reporters here to see the arrival of Bruce Wayne's ward and they had just seen some of the best footage in the world, and yet not one of them had taken a picture. "Come on." Bruce muttered, gripping Richard's arm and pulling him toward the exit and through the crowd of Gotham's reporters and into the parked limo that sat at the entrance. Richard fell into the limo with a look of shock upon his face. Then he smiled.
He was home.
What'd you think? Should I carry on or not?
