I'm just an orphaned teen.
"Robin! You're our leader, the one in charge! The one who has to take responsibility for things! The one who shouldn't run away! Why won't you act like an adult?" bellowed Cyborg, after Robin had run from a violent murder scene at a circus on the outskirts of Jump City.
"Because I'm not an adult!" screamed Robin, the first noise he had made since they had found him atop the cliffs overlooking the sea.
"But you're the leader of the Titans, Robin! You have to take responsibility, these people are relying on you to protect them, and you have to show that you can!"
"Hasn't it ever crossed your mind that maybe I need protecting to? I'm only fifteen, Cyborg! I can't do this! I'm a fifteen year old boy that should be annoyed that he's been given detention, not that he's being forced to train yet again for battle. I should be worrying about GCSE's, not about whether I'm gonna live another day. I shouldn't have to panic about my friends lives being on the line. I shouldn't have to do this!"
The floodgates had opened, and no one could close them. The other Titans were frozen where they were. Cyborg had been about to speak on an open transmitter to all the Titans before Robin walked in, so Robin's break-down was visible to all of the Titans.
No one had noticed the Justice League open a communication window just before Cyborg had started ranting, and no one there noticed Batman leave. The Justice League was too busy watching to notice that. Everyone was too busy watching Robin, the fearless Robin, the perfect Robin collapse into a grieving and broken teenage boy.
"This may be your lifestyle choice, but it isn't mine! Why won't you listen to me? Why won't you hear me for once? I wake up screaming from nightmares every night, but do you hear me? No! You know why? Because you are too wrapped up in your thoughts to even dream about anything being wrong with me!
"I watched my parents fall to their death at the age of eight! I have been there when people die, I have seen families grieve, I've watched a six year old boy cradle his little baby sister as he sits in shock by their father's body- and no one go to them! Just like no one came to me as I screamed and shouted and cried from the sidelines where I had been put after I watched my parents' murder.
"I am ready to die, Cyborg. But no one cares. No one ever cares when they have their own problems, do they? What would you do if I killed myself? If I put a gun to my head, if I slit my wrists at night? If I was stood on top of this tower and about to jump off? If I vanished one night and was never to be found again?
"What would you do if I went down to the clifftops right now and threw myself into the waters? It's storming, you know. Even the Atlanteans wouldn't be able to help me."
There was a pause, and then Robin spoke again.
"Catch me if you can."
He ran before anyone could realise what was happening. And then...
... and then chaos walked.
Everyone was talking at once. The Justice League set off to Jump at once, along with everyone else who had watched this take place from afar. The main Titans had already run after him, although they knew they wouldn't catch him in time. They had no idea where he was, apart from on the miles of cliff. They were running a race, a race they know they had already lost.
A race that was lost.
They searched everywhere on the cliff tops, but he wasn't there. The storm got heavier and they had no choice but to give in, for all to go to the Tower, to rest and to search the waters and beach after the storm had eased.
It was no longer a rescue mission. It was a retrieval.
The next morning dawned bright and cheerful- the total opposite to what they all felt.
Then they all froze.
At first they had no idea what they were hearing. Then it became clear.
It was a cry of pure pain and sorrow. No words, just a howl of undiluted pain. And it came from the Batman.
He was knelt on the beach, cradling the still and lifeless body of his adopted son.
Eventually the cry faded, and, once they had got closer, they could hear what the Batman was saying.
"My son, my beautiful son..."