Summery: Arthur Blessing was far from ordinary boy, and when he crosses paths with Robin, the Titan's life as he know it is going to be turned upside-down as he tries to protect the boy from mysterious assassins and find the secret of what Arthur carries with him.
Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans or The Forever King by Molly Cochran and Warren Murphy on which this fic is based. Nor do I own any of the source material for anything I write that is based off a book.
Book One: The Boy
Chapter One: The Fire
Robin sat at a computer in Titans Tower, punching in commands to scan the city for any criminal activity. So far, there had been very little going on and he was getting restless. He sighed and wiped the sweat from his forehead, swatting the hair from his masked eyes.
"Hey Cyborg, how's it going?" he asked his robotic friend as he walked into the room.
"Everything's fine," Cyborg answered. "No alarms at all. The city's been quiet for the most part."
"I noticed." Robin sighed. There it was again. The strange restless feeling that had nagged at him for the past few days, it was the middle of summer and he knew that he should enjoy the sunshine and the warm weather. But he wasn't enjoying it, outwardly, yes, but on the inside something was nagging at him and the strange feeling wouldn't leave him.
Robin turned and stared at the clock. It was two in the afternoon, he wanted to go out and do something. Maybe it's because there hasn't been an alarm all day, he thought, that's probably why I'm restless. I need to go to the gym.
He headed for the Tower gym and decided to box and kick the punching bag for a half an hour. After he was finished, he headed to the kitchen to get some water. He poured himself a glass and sat down at the table.
"Hello, Robin, are you well?" a familiar voice asked him.
The Boy Wonder looked up to see Starfire staring at him. He smiled at the red haired Tamaranean. "I'm fine, Starfire. How are things?"
"All is well," she replied. "Thus far there have been no calls to us. It is very quiet today."
"I know," Robin said. "And I'm starting to wonder if everything's okay out there."
Unexpectedly, lights flashed green and alarms began to blare. "Trouble! Titans go!" Robin ordered as he headed for the living room. Robin's eyes quickly scanned the screen as he saw where the distress call had come from.
"Something's going on down town. Cyborg, have you got anything on it?"
"There's a police standoff at an old apartment building set for demolition," Cyborg explained. Suddenly, the communicator on the Titan's robotic arm blared to life.
"Titans, this is an emergency," a police dispatcher's voice said. "A kidnapper has a young man by the name of Jeff Brown inside the building. We fear he may attempt to kill the boy if we go inside, please respond."
"We're on our way," Cyborg said.
"Come on guys, we don't have much time," Robin headed out the door quickly. The other Titans followed. They eventually found themselves downtown at the Pleasant Hill Apartment complex; it had been empty for a month now, scheduled for demolition. An unknown kidnapper had a hostage inside the building; he had contacted police using a stolen cell phone and told them unless they gave him $2,000,000 in cash he would burn the place down with the boy inside. He had given them an hour and now it was up, and the police were starting to wonder if the madman would follow through with his threat.
"Still no sign of him," Guard Number Eight muttered. He spotted the Titans as the T Car pulled to a sudden halt in front of him.
"You guys made it," Guard Number Eight said with a sigh of relief. "He's on the fourth floor of apartment 815. We were hoping you guys would get here in time so you could—"
A huge explosion from inside the building cut off his sentence as flames sprouted from within and shot out towards them. Robin moved without hesitation. "Titans, get inside! Find him! Now!" Raven and Starfire shot into the building as Beast Boy transformed into a horse as Cyborg leapt onto his back.
Robin grabbed an oxygen mask from his utility belt and put it on. He rushed into the building, kicking down the door he made his way inside.
Robin scanned the area for any signs of life. He ran to the stairway and began to climb. He could hear his heart pounding as his breaths came in ragged gasps. He knew that his oxygen supply was dwindling because of the smoke, but it didn't matter. He had to find Jeff Brown.
He came to a suddenly stop as he discovered part of the stairs had collapsed. He removed his grappling hook and shot it into the ceiling. Robin used it to make his way safely to the other side. Now he had only three more flights of stairs. He focused on his goal and forgot everything else. He wasn't going to let anything happen to Jeff Brown. He was going to save him; he couldn't fail him and he wouldn't let himself think otherwise.
He made his way up the last two flights of steps with astonishing speed. Robin moved faster than he had ever moved in his life as he kicked down the door. He moved into the living room and came to a dead stop at the sight before him.
Jeff Brown was tied to a chair, bound with ropes and with a gag in his mouth. Robin looked around, trying to find the perpetrator of this crime. He suddenly spotted him and moved forward. The man stood and stared at him, unmoving.
Robin prepared to attack him when suddenly he heard a voice, "You were the best kid," he looked up, but realized the voice he heard wasn't that of the kidnapper. It was the boy's voice!
Robin turned his head to stare at the boy. But what he saw horrified him beyond description. Instead of a boy, there was a dragon, a scaly hide covering anything that he had thought was a human being; surely he was hallucinating. He turned his gaze back on the madman and prepared to attack.
"You're the best there is, and that's why you fail!"
There was a loud noise and Robin was thrown backwards. He hit the floor hard and staggered to his feet. He ran toward the monster still trapped in the chair and reached out, grasping the ropes and ignoring the images before his eyes.
Suddenly, his vision blurred and he saw Jeff Brown before him. He quickly removed the gag, but he knew it was too late. He had taken too long and the boy was dead from asphyxiation.
NO! His mind kept screaming. No, no, no, no, no! He leaned into get a better look at the boy. He saw the red hair, messy and disheveled. The dead boy's eyes were open and fixed on him. Pale, blue terrified eyes that pleaded with him to be rescued, but he was gone.
Robin untied the body and scooped it up in his arms. He began to carry it out of the building. He moved as fast as he could, sprinting down the hallway until he made his way down to the bottom floor. He ran out the door just as the building collapsed.
"Dude! Is he—?" Beast Boy began.
"He's dead," Robin said in a haggard, exhausted voice. "I was too late."
"Robin, I am sorry," Starfire said, tears leaking from her eyes.
"We have to tell the family," Raven said quietly.
"I know," Robin looked at the burning building. "I'll tell them myself."
"This isn't going to look good for us, you know," Cyborg added. "The city officials are going to start asking if we can do our job."
"They can blame me for what happened, it wasn't your fault," Robin felt the grief settle on him like a weight. "It's my fault."
And I'll never forgive myself, Robin thought. He walked over to the family who had just come running up.
"Robin! Robin!" the mother shouted. "Our son, Jeff, is he—?" she asked.
"No," Robin croaked out, his throat suddenly felt dry. "He's dead, I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Tears slid down his face as he gently handed the mother the body of her son. He felt it, the same numb feeling he had felt when he had lost his parents. That paralyzing ache he knew would never go away.
He gazed for one last time at the boy's wide-eyed face. Robin would never forget the pale blue eyes pleading for him to be rescued, or the boy's bright red hair that dangled limply from his shoulders.
Robin felt the tears come as he thought, as he would think for many months afterward; you're the best there is, kid. And that's why you fail.
It was a soggy, rainy Sunday afternoon when they buried Jeff Brown in the Jump City Cemetery. The Titans were there in full uniform. Starfire was in tears and Robin had wrapped an arm around her in a vain attempt to bring her some comfort. But all he could feel was that cold, numb sensation.
He watched as the preacher prayed a prayer and said a few words about the murder victim. Robin felt the grief of the loss just like the family did, but something was different. He couldn't place his finger on what it was, but there was something different about the whole situation, but he didn't know what it was.
The last words he heard before the funeral was finished were, "May his soul find peace in Heaven with Jesus Christ, the Lord and Savior until the resurrection of the dead."
The crowd responded with a respectful "Amen" and they buried the casket in the ground. Soft earth covered the grave as the tombstone read:
Jeff Brown, the boy whose soul soared with angels and loved all who knew him.
He watched as the crowd dissipated and climbed into the front seat of the T Car without a word. The others followed him in silence. Cyborg drove them back to the Tower and they all went inside. Life would go on for the others, but for Robin it seemed as if his life had stopped completely.
The world no longer moved, he felt helpless; how was he supposed to protect a city if he couldn't stop a madman from murdering a child. The days crawled by, slowly, painfully, time slipped past him. Robin began to shut himself up in the crime lab. Even Starfire saw less and less of him; he no longer talked, at least not outside of missions, and an occasional "good morning" or "how are things going?"
Even Beast Boy had lost some of his rambunctious antics when he saw the change in their leader. He still played videogames, but he joked less and became quieter. Raven, well not much of Raven's disposition changed, except she meditated more, hoping her mental connection with Robin would reveal what the source of his troubles were. There was nothing he would tell her, and she didn't feel inclined to ask.
Cyborg and Starfire were the two Titans who virtually remained as they were, Starfire was still cheerful and happy, although she knew it was a mask to hide her concern for their leader, and Cyborg was still as he always was, though he too like Starfire, worried about Robin.
Life went on, as usual. The papers stopped questioning Robin's leadership abilities, the tabloids would stop berating him, and gradually the story of the boy Jeff Brown who died in a fire at the hands of a madman would fade from memory. But not for Robin, he would always remember the strange vision of the dragon, the scales and the voice. He would always see the perpetrator explode before his eyes in his worst nightmares, and he would wake up screaming as he always did. It would be six months before Robin would finally snap out of his brooding state. And the things that would follow would change him forever.