Disclaimer: All characters are not owned by me and are used without permission solely for the entertainment of fan-fiction readers.

Author's Note: Dick recalls the events that ultimately led to his departure from Gotham City and casting aside his role as Robin.

Chapter 1: The Beginning of the End

Things had been strained between Bruce and me for a while. True, we had never always seen eye to eye, but lately, it had gotten worse. And it wasn't even just about his colossal need to control every move I made as Robin. It had been more the fact that Batman was becoming more and more the person he was, and Bruce Wayne was slowly becoming a sorry excuse of an alter ego.

In my youth, Bruce had been very dedicated to my education. He had sent me to the finest schools, both academically and for the purposes of fine tuning my "other" skills. He had been very strict in his policy that I would not go out on the streets until he felt I was prepared. And his expectations were high, so you can imagine how long it had taken to satisfy him.

Those first few months I had donned the mask of Robin had been like everything I had dreamed it to be. Doesn't every young boy only dream about becoming a super hero and fighting the bad guys? I may not have been a super hero, but never the less, I was happier than I had been in a long time. Being a vigilante had given me hope in the world once again.

Day in and day out, I would eat, breathe, dream, and live for the next night and the next adventure in store for Batman and Robin. And Bruce encouraged it wholeheartedly. Perhaps it had been the breath of fresh air that I as a young boy brought to the every night toils I did not fully comprehend. I had no idea at that point. Not yet at least.

When the incident with Tony Zucco had come around, I was already well into adolescence, about fifteen years old at the time. It had brought back hard memories, and I had felt something I had never known before . . . the sweet taste of revenge. It had shed some light to Bruce's reasoning behind the mask. But I still believed in his fight for justice. How wrong I had been.

Justice can be interpreted in many ways. Bruce's interpretation of justice was that the bad guys always had to pay. They had to pay dearly for their crimes against the city. Every single criminal in Gotham City was paying for the sins committed against Bruce's parents ten fold.

As I began college, I realized that Bruce's commitment to justice was not as I had once thought it to be. True, he did catch the criminals and hand them over to Arkham, but many times he had to hold himself back from crossing the line. And there had been a few times when he had crossed it.

When time finally came for me to graduate, at one of the most important moments of my life, Bruce had not attended. That had showed me that he was truly lost to the mask. The fact that he barely showed interest in his son anymore and would only converse with me when we were in costume, spoke volumes. He was no longer the Bruce I had known as a young boy, eager to show me the way.

The product of this was rebellion. I began to fight his suffocating hold on me and Robin. I would avoid him on patrol, or go off on my own many times. He would yell and try to law down the law, his law. But I would only push him farther away and my anger grew. It all kept building up until one night when we were cashing the Joker.

We had uncovered a plot of his to ransom the city using some sort of contraption that would destroy the city if used. We tracked him down to a warehouse near the docks and had attacked. Somehow, things went wrong and the Joker escaped. But, Batman had sent me to follow one of his henchmen for leads. But he led me back to his house where his wife and child were awaiting him.

I hesitated to continue my investigation when Batman arrived and crashed into his home. Blinded by his determination to catch the Joker, he had roughly questioned the man in front of his family. His son had tried to stand up for his father, but Batman had brushed him aside. I was outraged.

"Don't do this . . . not here, not like this", I had pleaded.

Batman had ignored me, continuing with his interrogation.

I couldn't watch anymore, "Fine! I'm out of here!"

And I had vanished into the night, leaving behind a fuming Batman.

Back at the cave, he had yelled and lectured me, but I was beyond caring anymore. I didn't want to hear it. Words were exchanged, tempers flared, and I walked out.

I had gone to Barbara, hoping to express my frustrations to her. But once again I had been hesitant. How could I explain to her what I was going through without revealing my secret?

"What's wrong Dick? You can talk to me", she had said.

If only I had listened to her.

Overwhelmed by my inability to communicate my feelings to her, I had stormed out, leaving a very confused Barbara behind.

I had gone back to my dorm room to think. I knew that it would be impossible for Bruce and I to talk out our differences. We were way beyond that now. I knew I could never accept how he dealt with our nighttime activities any longer. What to do? I lay there pondering my predicament, trying to find a possible solution.

At that point, picking up and leaving was the last thing from my mind. I couldn't leave Barbara alone. She was the one thing keeping me sane. She was the only person who could understand me, even though she didn't know half of what I was really going through. She was the only one who bothered to try. She loved me. And I had loved her.

If only I had known that was the beginning of the end for me. I wouldn't have believed it then.

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I know it's not very long, but I just wanted to get the story started. The chapters to come will get more in depth with character interactions and action. R&R!

- Lady Artemis -