Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans.
--
Robin always wears a mask
In the beginning, he didn't want to.
He came from a family of acrobats called the Flying Graysons. They wore eye masks to decrease the amount of wind that blew into their eyes as they hurtled speedily into the air.
Robin had an instant dislike of masks. It made him feel like an alien, with all those people pointing and asking why he wore a mask.
He used to hate masks.
Then it happened. There was no warning. The cords broke loose, snapping instantly. One acrobat was flung to the ground. But before she could reach the ground, her partner
instinctively grabbed a hold of her arms. The two swayed dangerously over the dead drop beneath them.
The crowd was completely silent, as they didn't know if it was an act or an emergency.
The rope strained under their weight. The two partners looked at each other, engaging in a silent conversation. They would never let one fall. They would fall together.
They were partners, to the death. As the rope creaked violently, the two nodded in silent understanding. Intertwining arms and hands, they braced themselves for the fall they knew
would come. There was no fear as they fell. They had died the way they had always wanted to. In each others arms.
The world seemed to numben in front of Robin's eyes. He didn't see the emergency people. He didn't hear the crowd. All he saw were the faces of the couple who fell. The faces of
his parents.
He didn't cry that night. He didn't cry the night after. The full realization of the loss came after the funeral. It wasn't a really big funeral, just a sort of makeshift one that would be in the
scrap spare minutes before the next circus performance started.
Robin cried himself to sleep that night. He could feel the bitter tears burning their way to his face. They were uncontrollable. Humiliating.
No one wanted a sobbing boy with puffy red eyes. It was pathetic.
He climbed out of his bed, quietly easing his way to the acrobat's room. Masks lined the wall. Robin quickly took one, and hurried out of the room, trying to forget all
the memories he had here.
As he climbed back into bed, he vowed that he would always, always wear a mask.
It didn't matter what other people would think. He wouldn't care about that.
They wouldn't see his grief, his weakness.
Because everybody hates weak.
He was not allowed to show weakness.
--
Robin always wears a mask.
So does Batman.
It's some kind of unspoken thing between many superheroes.
You hide your identity with them.
You hide your emotions with them.
Heroes aren't supposed to show emotions. They're supposed to be strong. They're supposed to be the good guys. Fear is unacceptable.
Masks make you less vulnerable. They make you look a lot stronger than you really are.
But heroes can't show that.
Emotions make you do things. Things you do on instinct than on common sense.
Heroes can't do that. That would be showing a weak spot.
Weakness got you killed.
Weakness got others around you killed.
Heroes are not allowed to show weakness.
--
Robin always wears a mask.
It's always been there, almost like a part of him now.
Although he doesn't have a clear vision out, no one has a clear vision in.
He likes it that way.
It hides all of the dark circles around his eyes when he works sleepless nights tracking down Slade or whoever criminal skilled enough to escape him.
His mask hides all of the worry in his eyes when one of his teammates is dying or suffering.
It hides all of the tiredness and strain he goes through every day.
Some days he just wants to rip off his mask and quit. Some days he wants to be a normal kid without any villains to fight off.
But he can't do that.
He is a leader.
He has people depending on him.
He has his teammates depending on him.
He can't let them down.
That would be weak.
He's not allowed to show any weakness.
--
It wasn't supposed to happen. None of it was.
Even for him, it caught him off guard.
Beastboy was the first one. He was electrocuted by a live wire when the team was sent on a mission to a power plant. Raven healed him long enough for him to
wheeze his last words " I'll miss you guys," he gave the best smile he could give at the moment, trying to reassure his friends. Then he fell into a deep sleep that
no one could wake him from.
Starfire was next. One smart villain had planted an alien disease on one of his weapons than Tameranians had no immunity against. They bad guy was captured
and put in jail, but Starfire grew sicker every day. Cyborg's computers couldn't understand the disease, and none of Raven's spells or powers seemed to have any
effect. Starfire's last wish before she died was to be with her friends enjoying her last moments. They did her best to be cheerful for her, eating pizza, agreeing to
accompany her to the mall of shopping, and even listening to some of her Tameranian folk songs. Raven even tried to crack a couple of jokes. They never left her
side, knowing she would be gone soon. Starfire died peacefully, a smile playing on her lips, as she slowly left.
Then she was gone.
The last three were a quieter group now, and bonded even closer together. They looked out for one another like brothers and sister. They felt that if they were
cautious, it would never happen.
But it did.
Robin kept blaming himself for it, hating himself for it. He had told the titans to split up as they tried to track down one slippery foe who had a knack for escaping
them. Cyborg was the first one who reached their enemy. "I don't want to have to do this." He said, activating his sonic cannon. He leveled it at his opponent.
The villain merely sneered in contempt. " I don't want to have to do this!" He shot lightning bolts from his fingertips, a crazed grin of sick fascination plastered on
his face.
Cyborg could feel his systems shutting down as crackling energy invaded his bionic body. He yelled in pain as the human half of him contracted painfully as the
charge swept through him.
He died instantly.
Raven hardly talked anymore. Robin didn't blame her. There was nothing to talk about. They hardly even saw one another. It was like two strangers living
together. Raven shut herself in her room for weeks at a time, and Robin took out his frustrations on punching bags in the training room. Slowly the two
became distant, and every day widened the gap.
Then Raven collapsed. She had been skipping meals and meditating hard. Her frail body couldn't stand the stress.
Her heart stopped beating completely.
She died.
And Robin was alone again.
But he doesn't foget them. Every morning before anyone else is awake, he visits them. He doesn't say anything. He just relishes the memories of the past. The
times he was annoyed by them, the times he was proud of his team, the times when they were suffering, the times where they were they were healed. The good
times and the bad. The funny times. The embarassing times. The times were they were more than friends, when they were a family.
They still are his family.
They 're just gone.
Just gone.
Robin always wears a mask.
He has to.
It hides his pain.
Even now, he's now allowed to show weakness.