Is This How My World Ends?
This is basically after season five is over...
I wonder…
The boy walked up to the doors. The doors he hadn't been in for the last seven months.
…if they're still here…
He couldn't stand the thought of his team falling apart due to his disappearance. The city was doing fine, as far as he could tell. But Kid Flash had been hanging around, as well as Jinx, so there was no telling if the Teen Titans were protecting Jump City or not.
He kept telling himself they were fine. He kept cursing himself every time a horrid thought of the team—his team—entirely demolished because of his stupid mistakes.
He tugged at his cape before knocking. I'm knocking on my own door? He shook his head and waited. After no answer, he opened it himself. He decided it was better to try the common area first. If he went to his room, he'd get scolded afterward, he'd get squeezed to death at Starfire's door, a million questions from Beast Boy, a mood swing from Raven, and Cyborg… Who knows?
He just hoped everything was still normal. If so, he hoped he could slip in without much drama and start his role again.
If I still have one… For all I know, they moved on without me and I'm no longer needed… If that's the case, so be it. I'd rather them move on without me than fall apart waiting.
As he walked up flights of stairs, the Boy Wonder grimaced at the thought of either outcome. Would he just go solo again? Going back to Gotham was out of the question, much less would he ever want to. He could become 'Nightwing,' the identity Starfire had mentioned earlier that could have been his future after Robin had been cast away.
But what if he didn't want to not be Robin? What if Mr. Richard John 'Dick' Grayson liked being Robin? What if he liked being the leader if the Teen Titans and liked being with Beast Boy and Raven and Cyborg and Starfire…?
What would Nightwing say to that?
He'd say you are being a stubborn child. That's what he'd say…
Robin continued to trudge up the stairs and then, silently, slid the common room door open.
He didn't need set foot in the room to know no one was inside.
There were no dishes in the sink or on the table. No trash on the floor or teenagers on the couch. The TV wasn't on nor was the radio. The room was dull and lifeless without a soul to brighten it up.
Robin sighed and turned around. Just after, he ran straight into a metal plate and fell backwards onto the floor.
"Cyborg?" He said with a puzzled look tracing his facial features.
"I A-A-Am Cy-Cy-Cyborg Th-th-three point o-o-oh." The mechanical man appeared to have a tick.
"Cyborg?! What's wrong with you?"
"N-N-Nothing. I-I s-should be a-a-a-a-asking y-you th-that. W-wh-why are y-you in my h-h-house?"
"What?!"
"Y-You are in-in-intruder. M-M-must d-d-d-d-d-d-d-destroy." With that, the thing that appeared to be half-man brought its foot down and it landed square on Robin's chest, knocking the air from him.
Robin tried to lift the metal foot from his chest with no success. But suddenly he heard angry mumbling coming from down the hall.
"Dang. The stupid thing must be on the fritz again. Let me just turn it off and I'll.."
The half-robot stood there for a moment and stared. Breaking the silence, the copy of Cyborg with a tick fell backwards and made a rumbling erupt through the hallway.
Cyborg rushed over to his comrade. "ROBIN!" He quickly scooped the boy off the ground with excitement.
Robin winced and let out a small noise of pain.
"Oh, sorry." Cyborg quickly backed a few feet.
"No, it's okay. I'm just still a little sore."
"From what?"
Robin fell silent. Taking the note, Cyborg let the question go. The shorter boy made a cough deep in his throat. "Where's everyone else?"
"You might need to sit down for this one."
---------------
"What?!"
"I can tell you where two of them are, and you aren't going to like what I tell you."
"Tell me, Cyborg. I need to know."
"I just need you to tell me that you won't blame yourself."
"I can't promise you that."
Cyborg sighed. "After we lost contact with you, everything seemed to go for the worst. The first was B." He slid his hand down his face. "We all knew it was going to happen someday. But we all pretended like it could never happen…"
"Don't tell me…"
"He arrived at an unstable point. I did so many tests and tried so many things but nothing worked. The only thing I could do was suspend his state, therefore making him unconscious. He's in the medical room. Maybe a month later, Starfire couldn't take it anymore. She went searching for you. We offered to help, but that would have supplied one person, and then no one could protect Jump City. Somebody had to make sure nothing happened to Beast Boy, too." He rested his hand on his chin. "Starfire refused, and said for us to stay here and she would search. We couldn't do anything, either. We didn't have as choice.
"After she had searched Earth several times, she decided to look outside the planet, seeing as you were just outside the atmosphere when we lost contact with you. All we got was static about two days after she left the atmosphere." He harshly closed his eyes. "Raven was having trouble keeping up her emotions. Constantly she was meditating so she wouldn't blow up the tower. You disappeared, Starfire vanished searching, and Beast Boy was basically dead… She was having trouble coping with all of it." He sighed once more. "I found her in the medical room locked inside her head."
Robin had bug eyes. He was slightly trembling, and all of his thoughts were fading together, not allowing him to think straight. The string of emotions that were running through him made him feel sick.
While Robin was sitting still, Cyborg took the time to examine his comrade's physical condition. He didn't look like he'd been through any ordinary fight. Dark bruises, burns, scars, and seemingly-fresh cuts lined his bare skin, and who knew what other kind of injuries he had.
"Alright…"
Robin looked up at Cyborg.
"I told our part of the story, why don't you tell me yours?"
Robin's gaze automatically fell to the table. He could hear that thing's voice echo throughout his head, making all other thoughts scamper away. Yes, Wonder Boy, why don't you tell him? I'm sure he'd love to know what is going to come and take you back. An evil laugh sounded, and all was quiet.
Robin squeezed his eyes shut and shuttered. He started to feel dizzy, but tried to focus on Cyborg. "I-I…" But the words stuck to the inside of his throat, and he began to cough. Cyborg's voice sounded distant. "Robin, you okay?"
The blur of colors we was seeing began to fade into a midnight shade, and all went quiet and dark.
