Robin resolved to, somehow, alter the decor of his mind. The apartment he was currently seated in looked like it had been a dumpster for the last six months. Such a large amount of paint had peeled from the wall, there were more paint chips on the floor than on the wall. The moldy carpet was soggy no matter where he stepped, and Robin didn't even want to know where the smell was coming from. He had decided to sit in one of the few chairs in the kitchen, not because it was cleaner than the rest of the room, but because the floorboards beneath the carpet groaned as of they could give way if Robin took one more step. Robin glanced at Red-X, who was rooting through an overturned refrigerator in search of anything edible.

"This can't be the best place you could have found," Robin muttered, examining the rotting table where he was seated.

Red-X poked his head out from the refrigerator, examining what appeared to be a tinfoil-wrapped burrito. "It's not," Red-X replied, removing a small section of the tinfoil to peer at what it contained. "I just don't want you two at my place." Red-X removed his mask, revealing the carbon copy of Robin's face. Robin winced, still not comfortable with the fact that at least a dozen versions of himself were running around with his face. The fact that they each were actually a part of his subconscious didn't make him feel any better.

Red-X took a tentative bite out of the burrito, turning back to face Robin. "Besides, we needed to get to the closest apartment we could find. Stopping your girlfriends heart doesn't exactly make her portable."

Robin glanced behind him, studying the door that separated the one bedroom from the rest of the apartment. Raven hadn't regain consciousness since her teleportation attempt had gone drastically wrong. Two hours had passed, and Robin was still worried about her condition. Then, Red-X's statement caught up to him.

"She's not my girlfriend!" Robin cried. Lowering his voice, wary of waking up Raven, he repeated, "She's not my girlfriend."

Red-X shrugged indifferently, taking another bite out of the burrito. "Whatever," he said, chewing his long-expired burrito slowly. "I'm just saying, she wasn't easy to bring here."

Robin nodded. Usually, Raven wasn't a burden at all. She could fly, for crying out loud. Unfortunately, a heart attack has the tendency to make the most agile hero into a lump more closely resembling a sack of potatoes. Robin had lost count of how many times they had accidentally smacked Raven's head against a doorframe, piece of furniture, or the side of a model space shuttle (don't ask). They had managed to carry her into the apartment and dump her onto the bed, praying that she wouldn't remember how many times they had dropped her by mistake.

That had been two hours ago. Robin was about to stand up and check on her when the door to the bedroom creaked open. Raven walked into the kitchen, rubbing her head. Glancing up, she saw Robin, half-out of his seat, and Robin, with half of a burrito crammed into his mouth. Red-X's mask sat on the table, staring up at the ceiling.

"Red-X?" she asked, glancing at the Robin with the burrito stuffed in his mouth. He nodded, hurriedly swallowing the remainder of the burrito.

"You were the one spying on us from the top of the building?" she sighed, pulling another seat over to the kitchen table.

"Yep," Red-X confirmed, plopping down into his chair and throwing his feet up onto the table.

"Probably a reflection of one side of Robin personality?" Raven guessed, pushing Red-X's feet off of the table.

Red-X turned to Robin, gesturing towards Raven. "See? She gets it."

Robin winced, looking down at the table. "I'm not exactly used to seeing the residents of my own mind."

Red-X shrugged. "Fine. Red-X, representative of Impulse and Experience, at your service."

Raven raised an eyebrow, surprised. "Two? Usually there's a single representative for each emotion."

Red-X chuckled. "Yeah, there definitely used to be more. But that was before Boy Wonder here decided to go through therapy for the third time in a row." Red-X tossed the leftover tinfoil from his burrito at Robin, who caught the ball before it hit him.

"It wasn't my fault the third time," Robin insisted, tossing the tinfoil into the wastebasket. "After Slade came back from the dead, the other Titans forced me into it. They thought I was going to go through some kind of relapse with my Slade… issues."

"Can you blame us?" Raven asked, turning her attention to Robin. "The entire reason Red-X exists is that you wouldn't let go of your Slade problems."

"The point is," Red-X interrupted, "Robin's mind is built to be efficient. After therapy, half of the population faded, leaving the remaining emotions with twice the work we used to have. I've been working myself to death recently."

Robin looked at him, confused. "Working? I only base my decisions off of impulse a few times a month."

"Yeah, it was perfect that way," Red-X sighed. "Work only a couple times a year, and reap the benefits. After the 'Great Fadeout' though, I was stuck with Experience. Every time you think, fight, or even breathe, I have to do the heavy lifting. Impulse was easy. I'm not exactly loving the new deal."

Raven shook her head. "Enough about Robin's emotions. We need to find what caused Robin's suicide attempt."

Robin nodded, remembering the initial goal of their mission. "Have you seen anything? You seem to know a lot about my suicide attempt."

Red-X picked back up his mask, staring at the design thoughtfully. "Two things, kid. One, I know about your suicide attempt because I literally live in your head. It's not exactly news to me. Two, I don't know anything about who or what caused it. You lost memory around the point of 'the incident', right?"

Red-X took Robin's silence as agreement.

"Okay, well, something else was controlling you at the time. We, your emotions, thoughts, whatever, reset. Only a few of us have any idea what's behind this."

"A few of you," Raven mused. "Any idea who might know what happened?"

Red-X started to open his mouth to respond, then quickly shut it. "Um, I'm not sure, actually. Could be anyone." Red-X mumbled, avoiding eye contact.

Raven and Robin exchanged a look of disbelief. Did Red-X honestly believe he could fool them? Beast Boy came up with better lies than that pathetic attempt. Red-X noticed their doubting expressions, and his resolve weakened.

"Okay, maybe I do know one or two. Just don't tell them I sent you. I owe some of them favors." Red-X muttered, glancing nervously out the window.

Robin pulled a miniature pen and notepad out of his utility belt. "Who do you know?" Robin demanded.

"Jealousy, maybe. No, wait, he disappeared along with the others." Red-X glanced upwards, running through a mental list of Robin's emotions. "Rage wasn't active at the time. Definitely not Joy, I haven't seen him in a while. Possibly Fury, but he's usually with Rage. Passion, maybe?"

Red-X paused, a slow grin creeping across his face. Robin was once again surprised how both he and Red-X shared the same face, but looked nothing alike in expressions.

"Red," Red-X announced.

Robin stared at him, confused. "Red?"

"Go talk to Red, he can help," Red-X insisted. Snatching the pen and paper out of Robin's hands, Red-X began to scribble down a few notes. "He's usually at this address," he explained, handing the paper back to Robin. "Trust me on this one."

Robin wasn't entirely comfortable with trusting Red-X with anything more than petty theft, but he slipped the note into his belt. "Okay, we'll try to find Red. Anything else you can tell us?"

Red-X pushed back from the table, getting to his feet and snatching his mask from the table. "Only a bit of advice," he replied, walking towards a window at the edge of the kitchen. "Even if you find whatever caused this mess, you're not coming back out of here the way you were."

Robin stood up, startled. "Wait, what do you mean?"

"You're not coming back out of here the Robin you were, or not coming back at all," Red-X continued, throwing up the window, allowing a gust of the cold night air to chill the room. Red-X began to pull down his mask, but then paused, glancing back at the two. He turned and stared down towards the street, leaning on the windowsill. "Some advice for you too, Raven," he muttered, surveying the night from the window.

Raven stepped forward, confused. "What, that I'm not going to be the Raven I used to be? That cliché has been used too many times."

Red-X shook his head. "No, something simpler," he murmured. Suddenly, he turned around to face Raven, and gave her a quick kiss. Raven's appalled expression was only matched by Robin's look of both humiliation and absolute fury.

"Call me sometime," Red-X chuckled, before pulling on his mask and diving out the window, disappearing from view.

For a moment, the room was completely silent. Then Robin made a noise midway between a choke, a gasp, and a strangled cat. "Raven, I… he wasn't… I didn't mean to…" Robin stammers faded off as he tried desperately to think of a way to make the situation any less awkward.

Raven stood in silence, staring out the window where Red-X has made his timely escape. Finally, she turned to face Robin, her face eerily calm.

"It's okay, Robin," she said indifferently. Robin stepped back in surprise, his predicament apparently solved. "You can't control the emotions and thoughts in your mind."

Robin's eyebrows shot up. He'd almost expected Raven to attack him because of Red-X's rash actions. "Seriously?" Robin asked, bewildered.

Raven shrugged. "If I knew how to control my emotions, Rage wouldn't have gotten loose in my mind, and Happy wouldn't have laughed at Beast Boy's stupid jokes. You don't need to apologize. I know you didn't mean for it to happen."

Robin blinked. "Okay, cool," he replied, digging the piece of paper Red-X had handed him out of his belt. "We should probably find whoever this 'Red' is, though."

Raven nodded in agreement. As she turned towards the door, she called over her shoulder, "Oh, and Robin?"

Robin continued to study the paper in his hand. "Yeah?"

"Try to keep the rest of your emotions away from me."

Robin didn't answer, reading the scrawled note at the bottom of the paper. "Keep Raven away from Red at all costs!"


Apparently, Robin's subconscious came in neon. The motel standing before Robin was adorned with a flashing, scarlet VACANT sign, causing the entire block to light up a pinkish hue every few seconds. Robin glanced back down at the crumpled slip of paper in his hand. 13 Eros Avenue. Apparently, Red preferred living in a cheesy motel than anywhere else. Go figure.

Robin reviewed the advice scribbled on the paper once more. "Claim to be me (Red-X)", "Don't mention my debt", and the most ominous of all, "Keep Raven away from Red at all costs!"

The instructions didn't exactly reassure Robin that this 'Red' was helpful. He sounded more like a mafia boss than a friendly motel attendant. Robin stood in front of the bright orange door alone, trying to work up the nerve to knock. He had convinced Raven to stay back, supposedly on "Guard Duty" nearby. Robin didn't want to explain Red-X's slightly embarrassing instructions to Raven, so he had to practically beg her to stay outside. Unfortunately, Raven's powers were severely limited within Robin's mind, causing her not to appear an ideal candidate to be much of a guard. Robin knew he must have sounded incredibly suspicious, but it was the only way to keep Raven away from the building.

Robin sighed. He wasn't going to progress if he just stood on the doorstep. Besides, the sooner he finished this lead, the better. Robin began to knock on the door. He had barely tapped the door when the entrance flew open, a replica of Robin standing in the doorway. Scratch that, not a perfect replica. Robin could see why they called this emotion Red. The boy was a few inches shorter than Robin, making him look almost childlike. His uniform was completely scarlet, with the exception being the cape, which was a bright white. Even the white eyes of the mask had been dyed scarlet, completing the look. Red stared at Robin, apparently looking straight below his eyes. The two stood in the doorway for almost a full minute before Red spoke up.

"Who is it?" Red asked expectantly, smiling slightly. Robin was surprised by how different Red's voice sounded in comparison to his own. Red's voice sounded much cheerier and childish, as opposed to Robin's more serious tone.

"I'm Robi-" Robin began to introduce himself, before correcting his statement. "Um, Red-X."

Red's face broke out into a wide grin. "X! How are you doing?" Red exclaimed, ushering Robin into the motel's lobby. Red must have been colorblind, as the decorations were incredibly garish. Bright orange couches were positioned against the lime-green wallpaper, sitting upon the red shag carpet.

"Sit down," Red requested eagerly, gesturing in the general direction of the sofas. Robin sat down uncomfortably, studying the bizarre decor of the lobby. Red paced around the lobby, feeling around for the tables and desks. "I know I left a teapot around here somewhere…" Red muttered.

Glancing around the room, Robin noticed a tray with the teapot and teacups sitting on a table nearby Red. "To your left," he suggested. Red fumbled for the teapot, brushing his hand against it several times. Finally, he grabbed the handle, presenting the teapot triumphantly to the wall opposite Robin. "I'm over here," Robin reminded him.

Red blushed. "Oops."

After watching Red struggle to pour the tea into a teacup, Red's affliction dawned on Robin. "You're blind!" Robin exclaimed, standing up to help Red pour the tea.

Robin could tell Red was rolling his eyes behind his mask. "Yes, yes, you've certainly mentioned that fact enough, X. I've heard your routine, 'love is blind', yadda yadda yadda."

Robin almost dropped the teapot. "Wait, you're Love?"

Red nodded absentmindedly, clutching his teacup. "Yes, yes, we've been over this," Red said as he took a long, slow sip of his tea. "You're voice sounds different, by the way. Did the big man choose a different form for Impulse? Do you have a new costume?"

Robin glanced down at his bloodstained, mud-splattered ensemble. "Something like that."

Red waved off the statement. "No need to describe it, I can take a look in a moment."

Robin sat back down on the sofa, placing his untouched teacup onto the floor beside him. "Aren't you, uh…" Robin began.

"Blind?" Red finished. "Don't worry, my other form has normal sight. You're not the only one who was assigned another form at the 'Great Fadeout', X."

Red chuckled as if the two of them were sharing a private joke. Robin glanced around the room awkwardly. "I actually had a question to ask," Robin explained.

"Well, what is it, then?" Red asked cheerily. Red always seemed to keep a perpetual smile one his face, as if he always found his surroundings amusing.

Robin explained the event surrounding his attempted suicide, attempting to weave the story to fit Red-X's point of view. Red listened intently, occasionally taking a sip out of his teacup. Setting down his drink, he stared at Robin, confused.

"I can see why you'd want to know why the big man tried to off himself, by why did you come to me?" Red inquired.

Robin placed his teacup on a nearby table, just as confused as Red. "I was told-," Robin began before correcting himself. "Um, I thought you might have an idea of what happened."

Red shook his head, bewildered. "Even if I were in control at the time, I would have been reset like you had, X," Red explained.

"In control at the time?" Robin asked warily.

"Yes, I believe I already told you. I have two forms, Love and L-"

Red suddenly ceased speaking, shivering as if the room temperature had dropped thirty degrees. "Oh dear," Red mumbled. "It appears my time is up."

An odd transformation began to Red's appearance. He seemed to grow a few inches, matching Robin in height. His scarlet uniform seemed to darken, causing the hues to become blood red. The white cape completely shifted colors, turning as black as night. The mask inverted colors, black eyes in a red frame. The newly transformed Red leaned back on the sofa, stretching.

"Aaah, that's better," Red sighed. Robin was astounded. Red's voice and mannerisms had shifted. His voice seemed to have gone through puberty in ten seconds, causing it to sound closer to Robin's normal tone than the previous Red's. Red still kept a perpetual grin on his face, but the underlying tone of the smile had shifted. Rather than an "I'm glad you're here" smile, this appeared to be an "I know something you don't" smirk.

Red stood up, glancing around at the grotesque decor of the motel. "God, the other me needs to give up trying to decorate," Red muttered, strolling over to a mini-fridge concealed behind the front counter. "You want anything, X?" Red asked absentmindedly, snatching a root beer from the fridge. Robin shook his head weakly, studying the new Red. Rather than the kindly, gentlemen-like Red Robin had met earlier, this incarnation reminded Robin more of the Red-X he had encountered earlier. That wasn't reassuring.

Red glanced up from the fridge to study Robin. "Yeah, your outfit definitely changed," Red decided, popping the lid of his soda. "Let me see."

Robin stood up awkwardly, allowing Red to take a quick overview of his outfit.

"Unoriginal," Red concluded, falling back down onto the couch.

"What?" Robin asked, slightly offended.

"You look almost just like the big guy. Plus some bloodstains and mud. At least your Red-X appearance was interesting."

Robin sat back down, unable to decide if he were more offended by the insult or unsettled by Red's sudden change of attitude.

"Anyway," Robin began. "I was wondering…"

"Yeah, yeah, the suicide," Red interrupted. "I heard you when the other Red was talking."

"Uh, yeah," Robin replied, slightly taken aback. "Were you, um, conscious at the time?"

Red waved off the question. "Yeah, of course I was. The SDS are always up and running."

Robin frowned. "The SDS?"

Red sighed like he was tired of answering the question. "You know, the Seven Deadly Sins. We're always functioning, no matter what happens."

Robin almost fell off the sofa. "Wait, you're telling me you're one of the-"

Robin was interrupted when the door was suddenly thrown open, revealing a worried Raven. "Robin," Raven warned. "Something really bad is coming up the street. It'll be here in a few minutes."

Red stood, staring at the new arrival. Robin swore under his breath. When he assigned Raven to guard duty, he never thought she'd actually see anything.

"You are definitely too pretty to be part of Robin's mind," Red decided, sauntering up to Raven.

Raven rolled her eyes, obviously tired of Robin's subconscious flirting with her. "Not interested," she snapped at Red, extending a hand to push him away.

To Raven's surprise and Robin's mortification, Red not only caught Raven's hand before it hit him, but gave it a light kiss. "Will you at least grant me your name before you completely reject me?"

Raven glanced between Robin and Red. "Don't tell me," Raven groaned.

Robin opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out. It was Red who spoke up first.

"The name's Red," Red began. "Very pleased to meet you."

Raven yanked her hand out of Red's. "We don't have time for this," Raven growled. "There's a small army marching up the street towards this building. Apparently, one of the Robins is leading them."


(Note: I do not own Teen Titans)