It had been—oh, maybe a year since it all happened. Truth be told, I don't miss them. They betrayed me. La'gaan—I shudder every time I think of him. He had physically attacked me. Bart and Jaime turned away, walking out of a video game if I asked to play. Cassie—Cassie was the worst. God knew I had a crush on her. Everything about her was perfect—everything. Her smile, her laugh, her little snort at the end of her laugh—no, I can't. After they knew…after they knew the truth—they shunned me.
Now my true family—Kaldur, Megan, Connor and Arty were still with me. Not Wally. No, Wally—couldn't be. I bow my head slightly, letting the stray tear fall in my coffee. A hand grips my shoulder. I tap it back, then the elbow finds my gut. Then I swat a head. And I get my foot stepped on. And I twist his ear. And soon—we're both rolling around. Him clawing at my cape, trying to choke me. Me—twisting his long ears around.
"Dude! Bro! Stop, ow! OW! C'mon! Man, c'mon—knock it off Jordan!"
"Oh come on Logan!" I tease from my position sitting on his back. He's fidgeting below me. "You can't take this?"
"Diiiiiick! C'mon, let me up!"
"Nah."
"I'm tellin' Megan!"
I let him up, Gar punching me in the chest lightly. He's still only up to my 'R', if even that. Garfield Logan, is the only one who stayed with me. He left the team, yelled at La'gaan, punched Bart in the nose and I'm better sure he chewed on Cassie's favorite sweater for good measure. Gar stayed with me. We've known each other since….forever. We laugh, me punching him right back.
"Dude, when are the others coming home?"
The others went out. I think Cy is in the garage, Star is attempting to garden on the roof—and Raven went off to her favorite book store. I shrug, and then Gar turns into the Gar I know. He rips the mask off my face—then dashing off.
"GAR! Come on man! Knock it off!"
Breakline
I'd do anything for Gar—anything. Even go back to Slade. So, watching Toy Story as a team bonding exercise, I mean—he's my baby brother. Like Wally would—I would.
But I'm not perfect, and I fail. Well, I fall asleep. Normal right? End of a long day of goofing around and you pass out? But my mind's not normal. Nightmares haunt it. All the time. Gar's room is next to mine, he's the only one that knows. I can't be—I won't be weak in front of the others. I can't be broken by them discovering the truth. That I was a puppet. The truth broke my last team, I can't be rejected again.
Breakline
It started with a soft whimper, he was the first to notice. Dick's hand twitched, and he rolled to the side. They had let him take up the whole couch, moving to the floor. Star had wrapped him in a blanket, he looked like a burrito. A Robin burrito. But he rolled in it more, Rob twisted around—more whimpers and moans escaping. Gar knew what was coming, he knelt next to Robin, tracing the backside of the boy's hand in a figure eight, as a fell fledged scream ripped from his throat.
"S-Stop!"
"Rob, Robin—breathe." Garfield ran his fingers through the styled hair, feeling the others crowd around him. "Please calm down."
"What is wrong with friend Robin?"
"He's having a nightmare—Robbie, yo Robbie—come on. Time to get up."
But the cries were pain filled. Growing even stronger with every second—worry festering in Gar's head. Nothing was working.
"Megan, pull him out! Please Meg!"
"Megan? Dude, we don't have a 'Megan'."
"R-Raven! I mean Raven! Get him out!"
"Nu! NU! M-Master please nu!" Actual tears were streaming down his pale cheeks. Raven landed her hands against Robin's scalp was well, chanting under her breath. But her voice was caught in pain.
An odd tugging held onto Beast Boy's mind—it was sharp, painful—and everything changed.
Breakline
It was dark. A short figure was a few feet from them. BB squinted, his mouth hanging open at who it was. It was Robin, he looked like he was about to be sick—he was doubled over.
"Rob!" Gar rushed over—pulling Dick's arm over his shoulder. Robin groaned, as Cy took the other arm. "You okay?"
"Friend Robin, you were having a most horrible dream, you were begging and crying terribly. Please, what is wrong?"
"N-Nothing." He moaned, shaking his head from side to side to wake up.
"Perfectly okay people don't start screaming bloody murder." Raven deadpanned, removing her hood. "Don't lie Robin, I could sense great pain—even more than normal."
"I'm fine." He gritted out. Gar sighed, Rob didn't want to admit his pain. Garfield knew, and he would stick with him. Dick was afraid that if the Titans knew of his weakness and hurt, they would turn. If they knew of his training, they would shove him away. Dick couldn't do that again. Gar went along with it—knowing Rob didn't want to talk about Slade much.
"How do we get out?" Cyborg asked. "No offense man, but your mind's a creepy place."
"We n-need to get to the center. Trust me, it's going to get worse."
Garfield knew it was. The memories, they would be set up like scenes—like little stages, someone wonderful and happy. But the bad ones, the beatings—they would be more. Because he was having a nightmare, the bad thoughts would be pushed forward.
And it was true. The first thing they saw, as horrible. BB swallowed tears hurriedly, Star gasping, halting in horror.
Robin was about, maybe—six. He was as thin as a rail—his head was bowed, arms held out straight from his sides—chained to the walls. His clothes clung to him, drenched in water. He shivered, teeth chattering. Water dropped from what looked like sprinklers. Robin's cheeks were rosy red, while the rest of him was a pale—almost snow white. He coughed, it was a sickening sound—racking his little body.
"Friend Robin…"
"Keep moving, please."
"Come on." Gar helped Robin walk further, trying not to stop again. But they did. The Titans stared at torture.
Cy felt heat rise in his blood as a seven year old version of Robin whimpered, curled into a ball. Rocking back and forth. His eye was swollen, blood spattering against his clothes.
"Be—be good. Must be good. Better. Must. M-Mustn't be bad. No. No bad. Good, perfect. M-Must be perfect. Master will praise me if I'm perfect. Master won't whip me. Won't whip. Must be better, must be better for Master." He whispered to himself—Victor couldn't look anymore.
Raven fared no better, her eye caught by a different Robin, this one around eight. He didn't move, he made no sound. But he stood on his tip toes, heavy looking weights clutched in his hands. That looked painful enough, she thought, but below his foot, someone had tapped sharp needle to stand up. And a few times, Robin's feet would drop, pricking the tender skin. His eyes would flare open, tears burning—but he bit his lip and made no sound.
Tears kept pricking at Starfire's eyes. She watched, horror-bound as Robin—the child she saw no older than five, hung by chains. His chest torn and bloody, his face emotionless and his cheeks wet.
"M-Master." His voice was empty, no emotion carried in it. It cracked, like he had been screaming for hours prior to the moment. "Master please, please forgive me. Please let me down, Master."
Her Robin was emotionless. He seemed to be blocking them, and his memories out. Beat Boy moving along next to him—whisper words she could not comprehend.
A shrill scream carried through the air BB stopped, Robin making him. The other Titans gasping as they saw, for the first time—their leader's tormentor.
"YOU UNGRATEFUL LITTLE BRAT!"
"M-Master please! Forgive me please!"
"SILENCE YOU IDIOT!" BB's grip tightened on his hand, as the little him was thrown to the ground-lying at Slade's feet like a dog, little tears streaming his face. "After all I've done for you, you STUPID boy! I've clothed you, and fed you! Do you forget that, you ungrateful brat!"
"N-No Master!"
"Then you will respect me boy!" He slammed the child down once more, this time-we could hear the snap of bones. And the two cries that followed. A scream of pain and one of anger.
"WHAT? I'M UNGRATEFUL? I DID EVERYTHING YOU ASKED OF ME! I TRAINED TO KILL AND STEAL! I BLEED FOR YOU! I MADE YOU MY GOD! I ONLY WANTED YOUR PRAISE, ONLY YOURS! AND I'M THE UNGRATEFUL ONE?" Dick's voice cracked, as he fell. He became a small ball of emotions. Sobs flying from him.
Star moved next to him, but Beat Boy was there first. He wrapped his arms around him—clinging to his brother. He rocked him, turning from the animalistic looking boy they knew to a normal child, only with green skin and hair.
"Bubby, please don't cry." His voice was soft—Robin's cries cutting through his words. "Please Bubby don't give him anymore."
""And I've lost who I am, and I can't understand, why my heart is so broken-rejecting your love. Without love gone wrong, lifeless words, carry on, but I know. All I know, is that the ends beginning."
BB's voice was soft, Slade's screaming as the scene restarted almost drowning him out—so his voice grew.
"Who I am from the start, take me home to my heart. Let me go, and I will run. I will not be silenced. All this time spent in vain, wasted years, wasted gain. All is lost, hope remains. And this war's not over." Garfield would never stop fighting for Dick. He could feel the cried calming down.
"There's a light, there's the sun, taking all the shattered ones, to the place we belong. And his love will conquer. And I've lost who I am, and I can't understand, why my heart is so broken. Rejecting your love, without love gone wrong, lifeless words, carry on. But I know, all I know, is that the ends beginning." Dick's fear of Slade was coming to an end. BB would make it.
"Who I am from the start, take me home to my heart. Let me go, and I will run. I will not be silenced. All this time spent in vain, wasted years, wasted gain. All is lost, hope remains and this war's not over." Dick's voice joined in with his. "There's a light, here's the sun, taking all the shattered ones, to the place we belong. And his love will conquer all. Yes his love will conquer all."
"Yesterday I died, tomorrows bleeding. Fall into your sunlight." BB tamped off before this line, Robin singing it all by himself. Crystal blue eyes met green, BB smiling at him—lovingly rubbing his hair.
"They know." He breathed out. Terror in his voice.
"And they won't leave. We're in your war now. We'll help you find your sunrise. I promise. I'm staying with you forever Bubby."