[RED X: YEAR ZERO]

||Universe 17, October 25th 2009, 13:12 PDT, Location: Destroyed Jump City||

"I was raised by my friends! They are my family! This is my home! -And you are not welcome here! Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" There was a bright flashing light, and the world shook. Robin held up his gauntlet covered hand above his eyes, blocking the blinding light. Hope burned inside of him as Raven fought her father, and for a moment- he thought she had managed to destroy him.

Though that hope crumbled when even after she expelled her magic to it's limits- Trigon just laughed viciously. Raven took in a shaking breath as her magic dissipated from the air, her eyes widened, and she trembled. The laughing of the demon became louder, until it was a dull roar in their ears.

"Little girl, you thought you could hurt the person who gave you your powers in the first place?" The demon snarled. "I shall teach you obedience yet, by killing your so called…family- and once I break your spirit- I will kill you too. "

"Don't you lay a hand on them!" Raven snarled. In the Titans' minds, they all heard Raven's frantic cry of 'RUN, I'LL HOLD HIM OFF!' echoing through their heads. None of the titans moved, and she looked panicked. 'WHAT ARE YOU DOING? RUN! PLEASE, HE'LL KILL YOU!'

Starfire's voice came back over the telepathic link. 'Friend Raven, it is our obligation as heroes of earth and as your family; to stand by you in the final battle.'

'We love you Rave.' Came Beastboy's voice inside the link, his mental voice sounding more grim than usual, but determined. 'We're going to be here for you, no matter what happens.'

Cyborg was next. 'That's just what family is for, ain't it?'

Robin smiled to himself wobbly. For the last time, he cried- "Titans Go!"

After that, everything was like static on an old cable television. Except no matter how many times you hit the TV, the reception just doesn't come in any clearer. His mind blocks a lot of the memories of his friends' deaths, because if it didn't, Robin imagined that the grief would kill him before Trigon ever does.

He knows that the blood on his tunic is Starfire's, from when he held her while she was bleeding out in his arms. He knew that she was gone, but his mind blocked the images from him in a way he was simultaneously thankful and angered by. He felt robbed of his final moments with her, but he had a deep feeling in the pit of his gut that he doesn't want to remember those moments.

Beastboy had saved Raven in the end, and afterwards Beastboy got what he always wanted. Undivided attention. He had made a joke in his final moments.

Robin doesn't remember what it was.

When Robin and the others had regrouped, Raven had told them there was still a chance to escape. They just had to get to the Tower.

Cyborg said he'd attract Trigon's attention and keep him busy while Raven was preparing whatever plan she was going to enact. Robin and he had argued until each of their voices were hoarse. Robin wanted to be the one to do it, he wanted to be the distraction- because he knew that this was a suicide mission; and Robin didn't think he could stand to lose anyone else.

In the end, it wasn't up to him. Cyborg had just given him a sad smile and ran back into battle anyway.

When they had gotten to the tower, the feelings hit him in a way that paralyzed him. If Raven hadn't have shaken him out of it, he probably still would have stood, mouth gasping in breath on the verge of hyperventilation as memories of just two days ago flashed behind his eyes. They had been happy…

and now it was the end of the world.

Raven was more subdued than usual; her eyes were so tired. When Robin had asked her where they would escape to, she had cryptically replied- 'Somewhere that this will never happen, I promise you that Robin. We'll be safe there.'

Raven's death he remembers a bit more of, because he remembers the sweet way she smiled at him. The way her tired eyes looked so happy, like she had done something good. 'The portal calls for a blood sacrifice Robin, I was never coming with you.'

Maybe it shouldn't have felt like a betrayal. After all, she had sacrificed her life for his. Given hers so he would live.

He still felt the bitter sting of betrayal anyways. The anger bubbling in his gut at the fact she didn't care about herself enough to live too. How she left him alone.

Down down down. Into the abyss. He doesn't know how long he was falling, all he knows is that it felt like he was going to fall forever. Eventually, his eyes shut. Wistfully he hoped that something went wrong with the spell, that he'd die too.

He didn't.

[RED X: YEAR ZERO]

||Universe 16, October 25th, 2009, 20:32 CST, Location: Gotham City||

With a groan of pain, Robin could feel the ache of every fiber of his body. He did a catalog of his injuries and found that the worst of them were possibly bruised ribs and burns from the fighting. The magic of the portal had left him with a weak tingling feeling in his extremities and a small case of myalgia in his muscles. Though otherwise, he was fine. When he opened his eyes, he blinked rapidly behind his mask. Finding that he was on a roof top. He struggled to push himself upwards, body screaming at him- begging him to just lie down. His exerted muscles were pushed passed the point of exhaustion frequently though, so Robin was able to grit his teeth and ignore the throbbing in his head as he situated himself upright. Instead he focused on the fact that he could hear things other than the crackling of hell fire. That and the fact that he didn't see fire anywhere. Only the dark shadows of night.

His mind was racing, as below he could see pedestrians milling about on the streets below him. Cars honking. The city was alive and bustling with citizens.

The world was alive.

His joy was short lived when he found out where he was, looking over the urban landscape, he saw a sight he had left behind years ago. A city of darkness, where the protector was as broken as the people he fought. From the building he was on, Robin was elevated above the layer of perpetual smog that hung over the city like a dark shadow. Though the air was cleaner up here, the familiar smell of the city around him had his throat clamping up.

Gotham. He was in Gotham.

He shook against the gust of wind that billowed his cape. He rubbed his face wearily and forced himself to his feet, he staggered- the world spinning for a moment, but he stood firm. Raven said she'd send him somewhere else, was he in the past then? Before Trigon appeared? Robin resisted the urge to snarl to himself. One of the many reasons he didn't like magic was it's unpredictability. He had no idea when he was.

She should know better than sending him back in time though, temporal disruptions can have huge impacts and far reaching consequences. Then again, if he had a chance to save the world- he'd take the risk.

He opened his utility belt and reached for his communicator. He could always explain this to his current self and find a way to save his friends. The preparation time might help when trying to find a way to stop Trigon's reckoning. It wasn't the best plan, but for right now it was the only one he had. Flipping the communicator open, he raised it to try and get a signal. "Robin to Teen Titans. Robin to Titans. Do you copy Titans?" There was nothing, not even static. Just a black screen, as if the Titan's network hadn't even been set up ye-

Oh no.

Just how far back did Raven send him?

Hearing the tell-tale sound of a grappling line, he dropped down- he saw a large shadow leap the gap between two buildings not too far away from him- he narrowed his eyes a held his breath until he was sure he didn't see him. Behind, he could see another smaller shadow trailing behind the larger shadow. Was that-?

He took out his binoculars from his utility belt, he zoomed in and saw what was indeed Batman...

As well as a Robin.

He stayed crouched for a long time until the shadows passed, not wanting to be seen. He could feel nausea building in his gut. Did Batman replace him? No, if he was in the past then that would be the younger version of himself. But that outfit- it was completely different to anything he's ever worn as Robin. Dark colors, less flamboyancy and more subdued. Obviously not meant to be as much of a symbol, but more utilitarian. For stealthy combat.

If Raven didn't send him into the past-

He gripped a hand in his hair. Tugging on it harshly. He used the pain as an anchor, to focus.

Raven herself was a being from a different dimension, she had admitted that when her father had appeared. If that didn't convince him, there was always Larry- who had insisted that he was an imp from the fifth dimension and was an alternate version of Robin. That meant that alternate universes were real.

So, was he in one of them now?

He needed to get out of his suit, if there was already a Robin here- then he couldn't upset the balance of things. In the bright red he felt like a glaring symbol of the world he left behind. Here he was nothing. He needed to go incognito before either duplicates of his old mentor or himself saw him and decided to interrogate him.

He was stuck here now; his friends were gone- he had no reason to try and get back to the destroyed world he left. However, was there any reason at all to even bother to keep living in this new world?

He thought back to Cyborg's sacrifice, as well as Raven's. They had died to save him. He breathed deeply and held back the full body shudder that wanted to make him jolt. His life wasn't up for forfeit. Not now, not ever. He owed it to them, to use the gift that they had given him. If he gave up, it would be like spitting in their faces. It didn't matter what Robin felt like, it didn't matter if he felt like he didn't even have the energy to move- he needed to. He had to. For the sake of their memory.

As long as he lived on, they would too in his memories.

With that final thought, he stood and dropped down into the alleyways of Gotham.

Navigation in 'New Gotham' was about the same as the old city. Layout wise, the structural similarity was familiar to him on most levels. Everywhere he looked, it was like a case of déjà vu would smack him right in the face. He remembers events in his mind tied to specific locations, events that likely didn't, wouldn't, or hadn't yet happened in this universe.

Despite the fact that he was in this new world, the call of the hero inside him still spurred him into action all the same when he heard someone being coerced by thugs with switchblades. He used his birdarangs to take out the crooks, staying in the shadows until the would-be victim got their bearings and ran out of the alleyway. Likely to call police.

He didn't show himself during the fight and didn't fight the thugs directly- since he was still in his Robin outfit. He couldn't risk the idea of someone seeing him.

Robin would admit, that the next thing he did was an act of desperation. One he hopes he never has to do again for any reason. He quite literally stole the clothes off of one unconscious mugger's back.

Upon closer inspection, the thugs were high-school aged kids, and he frowned to himself. Poverty rates and harsh upbringings in Gotham were already turning people his age into criminals. Not that he hasn't fought a lot of criminals his age, H.I.V.E comes to mind; but still.. It was something he wasn't used to. Being in Jump City for so long, he forgot how ugly the streets of Gotham could be.

He got changed, the jeans were a big too tight for his taste and were more like skinny jeans. He couldn't tell if the bleach stains and rips in the knees were supposed to be a style- or if the clothes were just that old and worn out. The Letterman jacket and white tee-shirt smelled like cigarette smoke and sweat, which made him visibly cringe. He didn't dare take the shoes- instead he stuck with his own steel-toed boots.

He folded his Robin outfit; the gloves tights and tunic were better off being burned. The cape and utility belt were things he couldn't afford to leave behind. The utility belt for obvious reasons, and his cape for the reasons that it was valuable protection. Not only that, but high-density polymerized titanium was expensive.

When he saw the cape though, he had sucked in a startled breath of air. The ends were frayed and tattered, and the inside of the cape had lost its yellow color- looking faded and worn out. The ash and soot covering it made the inside of the cape look a light dirty grey in color.

His cape in the past had survived getting hit by a blast that had destroyed the engine of a space ship, Hot Spot's fire, and prolonged heat beams. But it seemed that Trigon's hell fire had been strong enough to finally do some lasting damage to the fabric.

Robin closed his eyes, thinking of how many things have been irreversibly changed by the demon. The thought of his friends comes to mind, and he feels the failure like sins crawling along his back.

The sound of a car honking in the distance brought him out of his revere. Right, survival. He needed to focus on that for right now. He pushed away the grief and guilt. If his friends were there, they would tentatively tell him that bottling things up isn't healthy.

…but they weren't.

He took off the domino and frowned as he did so, the spirit gum leaving his skin red and puffy underneath. He rubbed the soreness around his eyes. He folded the mask and put it into a compartment in his belt. He then snapped the utility belt around his shoulders- hidden under the Letterman jacket he wore.

The humidity in the air has caused his hair to rapidly lose its spike. The gel losing it's hold in his hair. As he walked out of the alley and walked past a reflective window, he resisted the urge to frown. He looked like a drowned rat like this. Another reason he hated Gotham. He held his folded costume tighter to his chest, a grimace coming to his face.

His next task was a relatively easy to accomplish. He tracked down the nearest burn barrel that the homeless crowded around. He went to one that didn't have people huddling around it and dropped his uniform into the flames. He watched solemnly as the flames ate up his past.

He then bowed his head and got his bearings.

So, after a night on the street- his mental list was starting to look a lot like this;

First of all, Robin needed a plan. He needed to think things through. First thing is first- information is power. He needs access to the Batcomputer. That would have all the information he'd need and more. Breaking in physically wasn't an option, so that meant he'd have to do it remotely. He'd need a computer, first and foremost. The local library should take care of that easily enough- he'd be able to do it within an adequate time frame if this Batman's mind still worked the same, he'd just have to be careful not to trip any alarms that showed external tampering. Or it was over before it had even begun.

Second, if he was going to be here for any length of time- he needed currency. In this universe, he couldn't siphon funds out of Bruce Wayne's accounts. That would be attracting all the wrong attention, and to be honest- he wasn't sure if he wanted to announce his presence yet or at all. Let alone in such an idiotic manner. Not only did he need currency, but he needed an identity. He wasn't Dick Grayson anymore. He couldn't be. Not when there was most probably already a version of him out there, likely the Robin that is by Batman's side now.

Third- after the source of income problem was fixed, and after he got an alias- he'd need to focus on his goals while here. He knew there was no other option than to be a vigilante, by now it was bred into his bones- heroism was practically coded into his DNA. He wouldn't be able to be normal, he'd go insane. Besides, his friends didn't give up their lives so he could play house. They did it because they cared about him, because they thought he was a good person that would do the right thing- no matter what messed up alternate dimension he ended up in.

He was going to do the right thing.

But he couldn't stay Robin.

The next day, after charming the librarian in the library to let him use one of the computers despite the fact that he didn't have a library card, he went to work. Thinking of the plan he had settled on the night before.

The previous night his thoughts had wandered for a long time as he sat near the burn barrel. The crackle of the fire having melted away some of the chill that had settled into his bones from the cold weather. He'd stayed out there, didn't sleep; didn't even try, he was afraid of what memories would haunt him in his dreams. Instead he'd just let his mind try and wrap itself around his situation.

His eyes had kept being drawn back to the cape in his lap. A certain ghost seemed to linger in his mind when he stared at the tattered fabric for too long. He knows why he feels nausea- because it reminds him of the shadow he used to be. Of the mystery he never solved. The mistake he'd made.

The Batcomputer still ran on a similar network, and still had the same encryption type to the one in his old world. A small thing he was thankful for, since it made his work easier. He checked over his work countless times as he made sure he couldn't be detected or traced. His fingers flying over the keyboard of the computer that was likely older than him. The monitor was one of those old school monitors that was so obtuse and heavy; the table it sat on seemed to creak occasionally from the weight. He doesn't know how he managed to hack the 'better than military grade equipment' Batcomputer with a computer that used Internet Explorer as it's default browser- but he did it. When the Librarian came to check on him, he switched to another tab that was open on some college website. He gave a small smile, and when she was gone- he went back to work.

He read through the information presented to him. Apparently, the Robin in this universe was indeed an alternate Dick Grayson- much of which he'd already assumed. He was surprised because it didn't even look like him. There were similarities of course, their eye, hair, and skin color were the same. Though, this Dick Grayson looked nothing like how he himself looked at his age. Batman was still Bruce Wayne (though he'd assumed that as well). The Bruce Wayne in this universe looked startlingly like his old mentor- the only difference were the eyes. Instead of being a cold and calculating blue- they were a dark unreadable brown. Apparently, Batman had only been around for a decade or so in this universe, which had shocked Robin. Practically none of the league's members had any long term experience. It was startling to find out in this universe, he had almost more than half as much experience as the duplicate of his mentor. The doppelganger Robin meanwhile, barely had three years under his belt.

Hours later, the librarian had let him know she was closing up soon- and he had begrudgingly started to move to shut everything down- though he stopped himself as he had a thought. "I just need a few more minutes, I'm just finishing up with a job resume." The lie came easily, and it bought him some time. The older woman rolled her eyes but nodded before she disappeared into another room, and when he made sure she was gone; he unbuttoned his Letterman jacket. He pulled out the corner of his cape that was bunched up inside, flush between his chest and his jacket.

He pinched the torn fabric of his cape with his pointer finger and thumb, rubbing the material between the pads of his fingers. Feeling the holes and the rips that marred the once pristine fabric. He couldn't be Robin anymore. From what Starfire told him- he had an alter ego in the future…. back on his home world. The thoughts of her made his head spin, and he had to fight not to hyperventilate. He shook his head, as if trying to physically dislodge the painful memories.

She told him he had been Nightwing. Like the story that his world's Superman had told him about the Kryptonian hero named the same thing. His future self must have taken inspiration from it for his new identity. The thought of taking the Nightwing identity for himself was alluring, but he knew deep down it wasn't meant to be. He was here now in this universe, he had taken up a spot he had no right in taking. If it wasn't for the efforts of his friends, he'd likely would have died along with them, he wanted to be as unobtrusive on this world as possible. He couldn't take this Robin's possible future from him because he was running from old ghosts.

He knew there was only one choice. The tattered cape was almost like a sign. A sign he'd be stupid to ignore. If he couldn't run from his old ghosts, then he'd just become them. He'd make the identity something to be revered instead of shunned.

He typed in the words into the Batcomputer search engine network. Looking for any files pertaining to his search words. When the system flashed 'No entries documented' he knew he was on the right track. He shoved his cape back into his jacket and buttoned it back up, he then exited out of the system and erased his presence from ever being there in the first place. He might have made a mistake, but this time- he could stop this version of himself from making the same one.

Red X was going to make a comeback.

This time as a hero.

A/N: Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed chapter one! Oh boy did this one spend a lot of time in the forge. I had originally thought the idea of using an OC as Red X, then I read the Teen Titans/Young Justice Red X Crossover by Hexalys (seriously go read it)- and I couldn't get the idea of TT Robin being forced to don his old mantel in order to survive in a world that is seemingly out to get him out of my head. First I tampered with the idea of Robin losing his memories, to give Red X some of that familiar mystery that he had in the show. Though I realized not only would losing his memories make it monumentally difficult for him to survive, but wouldn't give weight to his decision to be Red X again.

Also! About the AU beginning! Hexalys made a wonderful idea of the Trigon arc which had given me my own idea. I made the decision early on that, if I was going to do a crossover, I wanted TT Robin to be completely alone and no chance of him going home. If he had the option to go home, to stay in character with his personality- he would be obsessively searching for a way to get back. To avoid this; I decided that the Titans' deaths were necessary to push forwards the story. It is HIGHLY unlikely that any characters from TT are coming back in this one unless they are villains. You can count on people like Professor Chang and maybe some people like Mammoth and stuff being in later chapters. After all, he'll need his own rouge's gallery. There might be some oc villains too later on, not sure- but a warning. Right now it is currently a year before the events of YJ season 1. So we still have a way to go before that happens.

I wasn't focusing on the death of the Titans much in this chapter, for a lot of reasons actually. So there's that as well.

Anyways, if you liked the story- then please leave a review down below.