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Chapter 3

Robin chewed on his rubbery breakfast, his short joy quickly deflating.

"So," he mused. "Your last name is Grayson?"

Grayson nodded.

"Mm-hmm," she said, "same as you.

Robin felt his insides melt and his brain explode. His oath of always keeping his identity a secret in the Batcave replayed continuously in the functional part of his mind.

"Relax," she grinned. "I'm not gonna tweet it on Instagram, or whatever they do these days."

Robin barely acknowledged what she said, but he regained feeling in his finger again.

"Plus," Grayson added, "I mostly forgot your first name. Your secret identity is safe."

"You knew my first name?" Robin croaked.

"Yeah, it's been a while," Grayson said.

She went on experimenting with her stove, as if they had dropped the subject already.

"What's been a while?" he asked, persistently.

Grayson's eyes shot back at him, still protected by her mask but still strong enough to make his skin feel like acid.

Then, she slumped back and sighed, as if defeated.

"Fine," she mumbled. "I guess you should know."

She got up and walked over to sit at the edge of the cot he was eating on.

"Okay," she looked nervous. "Where do I start?"

Robin stared at her, his mouth slightly parted in anticipation, his unanswered question buzzing in his mind.

"Start with my parent," he suggested. "Our parents."

Grayson nodded.

"I was born before you," she said, "about five or six years. We were really poor, I mean like dirt poor. We had to live in the most dangerous places of Gotham, fending ourselves from gang members and villains. Mom and dad were really supportive. They wanted me to go to school, get a good education and a great career. But, I knew what happened when I was gone. Dad got blackmailed to do stuff for gangs, and mom was worked to the bone at the part-time jobs she had. And when you were born, we couldn't even buy diapers. So, naturally, I had to help.

"I met Batman for the first time when I was stealing some food from a grocery shop because we couldn't afford it. I remember he just pulled out a wad of cash and handed it to me. He told me to stay out of trouble from then on and that I was a good kid, just in a bad situation. I owed him from then on.

"I got pretty good at acrobatics, without proper training of course. Running for your life can grant you that, especially if you can't escape on flat ground. I earned some extra money by sneaking around gang meetings and reporting it to the police. There are about a million guys in prison that want to kill me. That was the second time I met Batman. I was hiding in the air vent of a building, listening, until the metal creaked. The gangsters were probably prepared and started shooting the ceiling. I got hit on my arm, thank God it wasn't worse. Batman came and saved my hide. He also scared the heck out of them and put them in jail. I was barely conscious when he took me to the Batcave. I remembered Alfred sewing and bandaging my arm. That was the second debt I owed Batman.

"So, by the time I was nine, I was a lot more mature than most adults. Then, dad got offer from a gang that would've gotten us enough money to rent us an apartment. So, he took the job. He could've died that night. In fact, one guy fell into a vat of that chemical stuff. You know him as the Joker. I decided, I was a burden to my, our, parents. Their whole life revolved around supporting me and you, so I ran away. They were heart-broken, but they were able to save a lot more money.

"When I was living on the streets, I had an okay life, as okay as a supposed orphan could be. I had to learn to use some weapons to fend for myself, something I still regret. I never stopped busting gangs, something else I regret, and one day I saw mom and dad in one of them. I panicked. I heard them planning some scary things with the other members, and I had to do something. I showed myself, and begged them to stop. They were so shocked to see me. They said I was dead, that I left them. Then, the gangsters attacked me. They screamed that I knew t much, some sobbing that they had a family and couldn't go to jail.

"Of course, I had to survive. I would've just ran away, but I couldn't. They were going to kill me. I took them down, one by one. Mom and dad saw everything. They watched and they were horrified. They ran away. When the gang members were gone, I was broken. I couldn't do anything, I just cried.

"Batman saved me, again, that day. I had a knife left in my hand, but he appeared and took it, making sure I wouldn't do anything stupid. He reassured me. He promised me everything would be okay. I never heard such a big lie. He asked me if he could help. I asked if he could erase memories. He hesitated, but he told me there was a serum he had that could erase certain memories. I asked him to get rid of my past, but he refused. Then, I asked him to erase my parents' memories, to erase what they saw me do. He didn't want to, but I begged him. It was all I wanted, all I needed at the moment.

"So, he did. I never existed. Mary and John Grayson have never had a child, until they became part of Hailey's Circus. I was gone. No more me, no more Rachel Grayson. At least according to the world."

Hey hope you liked it! I think I might be moving the story too quickly. Please review!