Title: Scars tell their own tales
Rating: PG
Genre: Angst, H/C
Word Count: 1,785
Summary: "Do you have any scars from the fights with the bad people?" "I do."
Pairings: None, though I support R/S and BB/Rae, I just didn't include any pairings.
Notes: I actually have no idea when this takes place. I was just going along, minding my own business when this plot bunny hit me, and after spending the whole day sick and watching TT's, I decided to write this up. Hopefully it's not too bad.
"Do you have any scars?" A little girl's voice came from behind him.
He paused, then turned to look at the kid.
"What?" he asked.
"Do you have scars?" The little girl said again, clinging to her raggedy teddy bear, and looking up at him with wide, blue eyes. "From the fights with the bad people. Jimmy says that you would have lots of scars. But I don't see any. And, and, me and Polly were wondering..."
Robin wondered who Polly was for a minute, then realization hit him when he saw her teddy bear. He knelt down, entranced with this little girl, who was so innocent, and whose eyes were so blue, and after a long pause, said, "I do."
She gasped, and he couldn't help but smile at her. After a moment's hesitation, she smiled back at him, delighted she had made her hero happy.
"Can, can we see?" The little girl asked, obviously dying with curiousity and trying to restrain herself at the same time.
Robin leaned in close, and whispered, "Are you brave?"
The little girl squealed happily into her teddy bear and nodded. Slowly, Robin pulled off his right glove and showed her the underside of his arm, while making his right hand into a loose fist. There, lay a slightly raised white line all the way from the left side of his wrist to the right edge of his elbow.
The little girl gaped almost comically. "Can I...touch it?" She whispered, in awe.
Robin nodded, and the little girl reached out her hand and traced it. "Wow." She whispered, running her finger up and down. "It's so long..."
Wondering where the little girl's parents were, he nodded again while faintly smiling. The girl stopped tracing abruptly, and instead held her bear up to her ear, then whispered into its ear, then held it up to hers again again, and then nodded.
"Polly wants to know how you got it," she reported, looking slightly nervous, but going ahead anyway. "I told her it didn't matter, but she insisted."
He sat back on his heels and looked straight at the teddy bear. "Is that right, Polly?"
The girl made the bear nod, and Robin hid his smile, saving it for a more appropriate time.
"Well Polly, you can tell your human, um, what's your name?" He asked her quizzically, feeling like an idiot.
"Madi."
"Ok." He smiled, then addressed the bear again. "You can tell Madi, that when I was about," he paused to think for a minute, "twelve, there was this man who was helping me train to fight the bad people, and we were in, a sort of cave. Anyway, I was tired and didn't think about where to put my feet. I slipped on the rocks, and there was this one rather pointy rock..." He trailed off and looked at the girl expectantly. She understood, and gasped.
"We treated it almost immediately, but the scar's still there." The girl gaped at him, and Robin smiled gently at her.
Of course that was not how the story went at all. It went a bit more like this: Well, Polly, once upon a time there was a drug dealer out late at night, doing...what drug dealers do. You know. Drug stuff. I, being out alone on night patrol, went to stop him from doing his drug stuff, and he happened to have a knife on him. Go figure. He just about sliced my arm open, and knocked me out because I was distracted by the, you know, the large rush of blood coming out of my arm. Fortunately for me, my favorite mentor found me about two hours later almost bleeding to death in some alley. Yeah Polly. I got it treated 'right away.'
"Do you have any more?" She asked, jerking Robin out of his melancholy thoughts. In response, he uncurled his right hand which had been in a fist the whole time. In the center of his palm was a jagged five-pointed star. Madi took his hand in hers without even asking for permission this time, and held it up to her eye to see up close.
"What is it?" She whispered, after having a quick meeting with her teddy bear.
"It's a very bad burn. Bad people," he stopped and gently pulled his hand away. "Bad people caught me, and did it."
Yeah Polly, it was late out and guess what I was doing? Another night patrol. Anyway, I get an alarm about some cult that's making a human sacrifice downtown, so I sent an alarm back to the Titan's Tower, and headed down there myself. Unfortunately, I was outnumbered and they caught me, and let's just say that they set up a date with the red-hot-star-poker and my hand. It didn't work out very well. My hand immediately hated the red-hot-poker that was shaped like a star, but the poker wouldn't let go. Fortunately, the police showed up and saved my butt. My team was ignorant about the whole adventure, and as far as I'm concerned they will stay ignorant.
The little girl was shaking her head even before Robin was finished. "But the bad people never catch Robin. Robin is invincible, and he never loses!"
Robin laughed, not because it was funny, but because Madi was so sure that he could never lose. "Listen Madi, and you too Polly. I'm just human. I'm not invincible, and I'm not infallible. I'm just a normal guy who grew up in an exceptional place, and who had a really good teacher. Do you understand?"
Madi and Polly nodded together. "Do you have more?"
Momentarily confused, Robin cocked his head. "More what?"
"Scars?"
"Yeah, of course." He pulled off his left glove, and Madi gaped again. This time she didn't even try to pretend to consult with her teddy bear, instead just asking him right out.
"What is that?"
Barbed wire, Madi, and lots of it. Long story short, my hand was trapped in it, and I didn't know how to get it off, and rather than go to my teammates for help...I did the stupid thing. The loner thing. I got it off by myself, and paid a terrible price for it. I almost died from the blood loss, until, thanks to our link, Raven figured out what was going on and literally knocked down my door in desperation. She was just in time, and thanks to her healing powers, I was able to have full use of my hand in a week. However, I don't think Raven ever truly forgave me for that.
"It was two gears, you know what those are, right? Anyway, I was helping Raven and my hand-"
"Madi?" A woman across the street yelled frantically. Madi turned automatically, and the woman rushed over. "Madi! Where were you? I though you were lost, or kidnapped! Don't ever leave the store again without telling me and getting my approval, ok?"
Madi nodded, and the lady turned to Robin. He had quickly used the opportunity while she was yelling to stand up and cram his hands back into his gloves.
"Madi, honey, go back into the store and wait for me with Jimmy, ok?"
Shyly, Maddy waved goodbye to Robin, than ran back into the store before he had the chance to wave back, or say anything to her.
"Thank you for looking out for my little girl," the woman began. "I hope she didn't bother you too much. You know she idolizes you, and I'm sure she won't be able to stop talking about this for days. She's such a talkative one, my Madi, and I think she gets it from her Dad."
I think she gets it from her Mom, if you know what I mean.
"It was no trouble at all. Madi was very...enjoyable."
The woman nodded. "Yes. She is." She sighed. "I have to get back to shopping now, if I want to be home in time to make dinner, so if you'll excuse me...?"
It felt weird to Robin, giving approval to an adult. "Go ahead."
She smiled, and started walking away. "It was very nice to meet you, Robin."
"You too."
He stood there for a minute, staring at the doors blankly, when his thoughts were interrupted again.
"Dude!" Beast Boy yelled, coming to a screeching next to Robin. "There you are! We've been looking everywhere for you since," he checked his watch, "two hours ago! Dude, where ya been?"
"Looking for something I lost," Robin answered, turning away from the store.
"Didja find it?"
Robin smiled. "Yeah. I sure did."
Beast Boy nodded, obviously distracted. "Now where was Cyborg, I could have sworn he was right behind me…"
"Robin!" Cyborg ran up out of a alley looking somewhat annoyed.
"Found him!"
"Where have you been?" Cyborg demanded, and Robin shrugged. "We've been looking all over for you, man."
"I was looking for something." Robin repeated. "Found it, too."
He started to say something else, but then realized that Cyborg wasn't paying any attention to him. Slightly confused, he followed his gaze to where he saw the pizza place. Sighing, he pulled out his communicator, which he had been conveniently ignoring until now. There was no answer to either of Raven's or Starfire's communicators, so he left a message.
"Hey guys. Sorry about not being able to find me and everything. I was looking for something, and I found it again. Cyborg just spotted the Pizza place, so we'll probably be home in about an hour. If you get this message before then, feel free to join us."
Later, after stuffing themselves with pizza, both Starfire and Raven separately cornered him and asked him what he had lost, and he simply said, "sight."
I knew it long ago, but I had forgotten why I was fighting. I know now. I am fighting for the innocent children, who don't know the meaning of loss or pain, to protect them. I am fighting for the orphans, to tell them they can make a difference even though it seems hopeless. I am fighting for the widows, making the city a safer place to live. I am fighting for the babies, so they may grow up in a flourishing city. I am fighting for the lost, to show them the way. I am fighting to set an example that good can fight evil and win. I am fighting to show the world that good can be done in the darkest cities. I am fighting, not for myself, but for the people of Jump City, so they can live in happiness.
Because that is what a hero does, no matter how many scars he gets.