A/N: Hello again, everyone. I have been sorely inactive on FF due to my hectic schedule and the big collab LoSH fic I'm working on with the rest of the Star Quill Society (you can check if you if you like), but, by virtue of writing in a notebook at the oddest of times, I have managed to produce this. It's another crossover, but the tone is somewhat different from my previous fics. It's not a one-shot, but it is quite short. Anyways, what am I blathering on about? I'll leave you to read now. Enjoy!
Resolutions
Chapter One: Old Friends
It was a clear, sunny day in Jump City, the type that looked as if it'd been designed for heaven itself. The sheer beauty of the day sorely tempted the inhabitants of the city. Employees sat at their desks or behind their counters, wishing they could leave their dull jobs for the glory of being free. Housewives paused between chores to inhale the sweet, fresh air drifting in their kitchen window. Teenagers and schoolchildren squirmed in their seats, longing to be outside the confining walls of their education institutes. It's probably safe to say that the only people who could truly enjoy this glorious day were the Teen Titans.
The five superhero teens lounged in their tower, blissfully free until some villain decided to come along and ruin their peace. But for Robin, his peace would not be disrupted by a villain today, but by a friend.
It started with the soft beeping of his Titan communicator. Robin, who was halfway into a game of chess with Starfire, pulled it out almost absent-mindedly, not even pausing to wonder why the caller didn't contact the Tower mainframe. He didn't even bat an eye when Kid Flash appeared on the communicator's screen. He got his first clue only when Kid Flash uttered one word: "YJ."
Robin stiffened immediately, his hand hovering over his knight. Starfire, intent on the game, did not notice.
Forcing himself to remain calm, Robin mouthed, "One minute" to Kid Flash before closing the communicator. He plastered a smile on his face and turned to Starfire.
"Star?"
Starfire looked up from the board. "Yes?"
"I'm gonna go to the bathroom for a while. I'll be right back."
Starfire nodded. "Okay, Robin."
Robin acted naturally as he made his way out of the hall, but once he was out of sight, he dropped all pretense and bolted for his room, closed and locked the door behind him, and called Kid Flash back.
"Okay, KF; what's the situation?"
Kid Flash sighed and rubbed his nose. "They looked me up", he replied. "Goodness knows how they found me or what they were doing in Central, but this morning Miss M shows up at my door asking if I want to be part of the team again."
"What did you tell her?"
"I said I needed time to think. She told me not to take too long, then she gave me one of those shy smiles. Some things never change. Man, what a crush I used to have on her."
Robin resisted the urge to swear. "KF, you're getting off topic," he reminded his friend.
"Right." Kid Flash pulled himself back from his reminisce. "Anyway, Megan gave me the lowdown on what's been going on since we left. Apparently the League finally cut Young Justice loose. They're completely independent now, although they still work with the League. But they're a team in their own right every bit as much as the Titans now. They're trying to find everyone who left to see if we want to rejoin the group – you know, since most of us left because…" He trailed off.
Because we were tired of being treated like sidekicks, Robin finished in his head. Out loud, he said, "Yeah. I know. What does that have to do with me?"
Kid Flash looked exasperated. "Haven't you been listening to anything I'm saying? They're looking for you, Robin. If they could find me, they'll find you. I didn't tell them about the Titans, but I can almost guarantee they'll know about us once they manage to locate you."
Robin sighed. "There's a lot of history to be sorted out, you know that?" he said. "We didn't exactly part on the best of terms, and the Titans will make things complicated."
"I know," Kid Flash sighed. "But Rob, maybe we should make our peace and let bygones be bygones. It was over two years ago, after all."
"Maybe you're right," Robin agreed. "Grief, this will be messy – but what choice do we have? Tell Megan we'll meet them at the beach outside Mount Justice, and speak to Speedy about this. Tell him he has to go. Then you'd better talk to Jinx."
Kid Flash nodded, his expression rueful. "She is so not gonna like this."
Robin winced sympathetically. "I'll talk to Starfire and the others. You'd better let Speedy know he should discuss this with Titans East as well. I just hope they don't hate us for keeping this from them."
"Who do you mean by 'they'?" asked Kid Flash. "The Titans, or Young Justice?"
Robin smiled wryly. "Both."
*TT/YJ*
Starfire glanced up as Robin re-entered the room.
"There you are," she said, smiling broadly. "I was beginning to wonder if you were ill. You were gone for some time."
"Something's come up, Star," Robin said. He looked around the room. Aside from Raven, who was in her room – probably reading – the Titans were all in the main room.
"Cyborg, Beast Boy," Robin called to them, interrupting their video game. "Can I talk to you for a second?"
"I will go get Raven," Starfire volunteered as Cyborg paused the game.
"What's up, Robin?" Beast Boy asked.
"Let's wait for Raven before I say anything."
It didn't take long for Starfire to return, with Raven in tow.
"What's this all about?" Raven asked with just a hint of curiosity in her emotionless voice.
"Sit down, guys. This will take a while." Robin cast his gaze upwards. This was not going to be easy to explain.
"Okay," Robin began, "here's the thing. You all know I moved here about two years ago, right?"
"Of course." Starfire nodded. "I could never forget that day."
"But I never told you why I came here."
The other Titans looked at each other.
"We figured it had something to do with Batman," Cyborg ventured. "But we didn't want to pry, since you didn't seem to want to talk about it."
"In a way that's true, but Batman's not the only reason I left Gotham. It was the whole Justice League in general, plus some rather big misunderstandings with the others."
Raven raised an eyebrow. "You're not making sense, Robin. Start from the beginning."
"Okay." Robin exhaled. "Let's see…when I was thirteen, I and some other apprentices to League members – well, we'd been trying to get into the League for some time. Then the day finally came when the League agreed to let us take a tour of their Headquarters, as the first step to becoming members. Only, it wasn't the real Headquarters. They didn't trust us with that secret – they thought we weren't ready."
"Hold up," interrupted Beast Boy. "Who's 'we'?"
Robin hesitated before dropping the bombshell. "Myself, Speedy, Kid Flash, and Aqualad."
Beast Boy stared at him. "Dude!" he complained. "You all tried to get into the League? And this was before we founded the Titans? What are we, some sort of second-hand group?"
"No!" Robin denied. "It's not like that – will you just let me finish?"
Beast Boy held up his hands. "I know, I know, wait for the whole story. I'm sorry. Go on."
"As I was saying, we weren't happy," Robin continued. "So we went looking for a mission we could do to prove ourselves to the League. Long story short, we were successful, and Batman decided to make us a team called Young Justice. We were a covert branch of the League."
"You were on a team with Speedy, Kid Flash, and Aqualad before the Titans?" Cyborg asked.
"Not exactly." Robin sighed. This was proving to be more complicated than he'd thought. "Speedy…well, Speedy didn't take the news too well. He cut ties with Green Arrow and went solo. He changed his name to Red Arrow. We tried to get him on the team, but he wouldn't join – but he still ended up working with us anyway. And before we go any further, the Aqualad in Young Justice wasn't Garth. He was Kaldur'ahm, the original Aqualad. Garth took the name when he started out, but by that time Kaldur had changed his name to Aquamarine. Kaldur was our leader. He always said he'd turn over leadership to me when I was ready, but I never was – not while I was with them, anyway."
"And Kid Flash?" Starfire inquired.
"He's the same person," Robin confirmed. "The two of us left at the same time – but I'm getting ahead of myself. Anyway, the original Young Justice consisted of me, KF, Kaldur, Superboy, and Miss Martian. Superboy's a clone of Superman, and Miss M's the Martian Manhunter's niece."
"Wow," commented Beast Boy. "You were hanging around all these people at thirteen?"
"Yes." Robin paused. "Later on we were joined by Artemis, Wonder Girl, Secret, and Arrowette – all girls, if you can believe it. Secret and Arrowette left soon after they joined, but the rest of us stayed – until about two years ago.
"Some of us senior members – Superboy, KF, and me – felt that even though we had surpassed all expectations the League had for us, we were still being treated as sidekicks rather than fully-fledged heroes. I was fifteen at the time, and I talked to Batman about letting us have more independence. He shot me down. I got angry, and then a series of arguments and misunderstandings within the group contributed to my final decision. I left.
"Kid Flash tried to talk me out of it, but I was tired of being treated like an inferior. I refused to change my mind. Eventually KF decided to do the same, because he didn't like it either – but more, I think, because he didn't want me to have to leave alone. Superboy stayed, though.
"So we left. KF decided to stay in Central City to keep partnering with the Flash, but I moved away from Gotham because Batman was one of the main reasons Young Justice was so supervised. I even changed my costume because I didn't want to be reminded of what had happened. Then I came to Jump City – and imagine, the very first day I'm here I get involved with four other teenage heroes and end up founding another group with them. But believe me, you're not second-hand. You guys are the best teammates I could have wished for. Being a Titan gave me the freedom and independence I wanted but never got as a member of Young Justice. When we founded the Titans, I felt like I'd finally found where I belonged." Robin gave them a small smile.
The other four Titans were silent for a while. Then Starfire said, "Robin, I am honored that you have chosen to trust us with this part of your life, but why tell us now?"
Robin bit his lip. This was the part where it got super-complicated. "Kid Flash called me earlier," he said. "He said Young Justice is finally an independent team, and they're looking for all the members who left to see if we want to join up again, now that they're no longer just an extension of the League."
"And will you?" Raven asked.
"No. Maybe. I don't know." Robin sighed. "It all happened so fast. We had a lot of problems, and I didn't resolve anything with them before I left. And I already have a team – but if they're really independent now, there's something in old ties that pulls me to them. We may have had our differences, but we were good friends, and we had a lot of fun." He looked at his teammates tentatively. "I hope you guys don't hate me for that."
"Why should we hate you, Robin?" said Cyborg. "We get that there are some parts of your life that we aren't part of – we've always known that. Of course we wish you'd trusted us with this earlier, and we'd really prefer if you don't decide to rejoin Young Justice, but…" He shrugged.
"But I know how family issues can intrude on your life," Raven put in.
"Yeah, dude, don't worry about it," Beast Boy seconded. "Take all the time you need."
"And no matter what you decide, we'll be here if you need us," finished Starfire.
A/N: Thank you for reading! Please review!
Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans or Young Justice.
