Richard felt sad, yet relieved to finally come to a decision, as he made his way across the town en route to Titan's Tower. It didn't take him long to hack into the security and disable it, which seemed odd to him, but he shrugged it off. As he walked in through the door, his jaw dropped.
Starfire sat on the couch, crying into the shoulder of a man unknown to Richard. He snarled as leapt at the man, but fell right through him and the couch. Shocked, he leapt back up as he heard words.
"I j-just…I can't believe he did this…" Starfire sobbed. And although she did a magnificent job of acting the part, her lips were quivering on the edge of laughter.
"Shhh… It's alright," Richard's eyes widened as he recognized Drake's voice.
"What the hell?!" He roared. He took another lunge, and again Sam briefly teleported the two actors and the couch from the room with a grin, just long enough to keep Richard from hitting them.
Then he saw Terra's head poke through the doors. "Guys, come on. It's time," She said solemnly. Sniffling, Starfire released Drake, and the two exited the room before Dick could do or say more. Perplexed, he followed them out.
"Today, we lay to rest two Teen Titans," Drake began, and Robin was shocked at what he saw.
Raven lay in a casket, arms folded across her chest and eyes shut. Her chakra Gem had dulled, and she looked as though she had passed away roughly two days ago, with patches of her hair beginning to fall and her face slightly sunken.
And to her right, roughly five feet away, lay another body: his own. Richard gasped and ran over, but no one seemed to notice.
"We bury Richard Grayson in much turmoil. He died never knowing himself, and for that his friends suffered dearly. Richard was… complicated. He never allowed others into his personal life, and his identity was lost to him because of it.
He was a good leader, and may he find himself on a higher plane," Drake finished. With that, Cyborg and a gorilla gently shut the casket and laid it into the grave, which was then buried. Now buried, Roth slipped off her ring and teleported away from the Tower.
"Next, we bury Rachel "Raven" Roth. Raven was also complicated, and she died as a result of depression and stress, finally taking her own life. She will be dearly missed by all," Drake had to cut himself short because of three things: One, Beast Boy's "crying" was beginning to drown him out. Second, he was afraid of busting out laughing if he opened his mouth again. And finally, in his head, he heard "Just bury me already, jeez."
He nodded, and the two pallbearers shut and lowered the other casket, which was then buried. And, like Roth before her, she slipped the ring that gave her the rotting look off and warped out.
"Terra, if you would," Drake said. Barely managing to keep a solemn face, Terra placed the two stones in front of their respective graves. "
"Rest in peace, guys" She whispered before leaving.
Richard, watching the whole thing, was horrified. What the hell was happening?! Then, again he heard Starfire speak to Drake.
"Why… why did he never be himself? He became so… cold… like he wanted to be rid of everything but his Robin persona…" Starfire began to cry again as Richard's face became pale.
"Is this a vision?" He wondered. It felt as though he had stepped into a hellish future. Raven, dead by suicide? And was that really him that they buried? Even worse, it seemed that he had lost Starfire by doing the very thing he thought he had to do in order to keep her!
"What is this, the ghost of Christmas Future?!" He cried.
"In a sense," Richard spun to see Raven standing in magnificent white robes, transparent. Or so it would seem, thanks to Cyborg's ever-handy rings. As a finishing touch, Cyborg had put a slice mark on Raven's neck to signify that she had indeed killed herself.
"R-R-Raven?" The pale boy was terrified.
She looked into his eyes. "Yes, me. Do you see what has happened? The Titans, your family, has become broken and saddened by the actions you plan to commit, Richard," She said in a voice that could make anyone feel ashamed of themselves. Richard was no exception.
"I…but there's no other choice! I'm doing what I have to! Kori…I can't lose her…" Richard trailed off in desperation. Raven's face remained impassive.
"You see what your actions have caused. You died in battle, Robin," and here Richard's lip curled into a slight snarl, "with Brother Blood, because you had given up half of yourself. He easily took you down because you were so focused on trying to be Robin that you lost the experience, the skills, that you once had," She said.
He was silent for a while. "How can I change… this?" He pleaded, gesturing to the gravestones, at Starfire still sobbing into Drake's shoulder, at Cyborg whose face showed none of his usual enthusiasm, at Beast Boy, who was kneeled by Raven's grave in prayer.
Raven still did not smile in the least. "Some things in life are meant to change. Others are not. Changing that which should not be tampered with… it is dangerous. And it can and will result in tragic consequences if you continue," And with that she was gone.
He was left staring at the spot where his fallen comrade had been. He could feel a lump forming in his throat. Then, suddenly, Raven reappeared.
"I have one more thing to show you," She said simply. He followed her out of the common room and up all the way to Starfire's room. Along the way, Richard noticed broken objects laying about, a result of the disrepair the Tower had gotten into.
"It just cannot be this way," He heard his girlfriend say. Silently, Raven picked the poor boy up with her powers and phased him through the door, following closely. What Richard saw scared him worse than any other sight ever had.
Starfire stood looking at herself in her mirror. You would have thought that she was simply trying on new clothes, save for the Birdarang Sword that she had pressed to her neck.
"Perhaps I shall find him…wherever it is I am destined for," She said to herself sadly. And before Richard could yell or move, she made one swift, final movement and backwards, the sword clattering to the floor.
"NO!! NO! KORI!!" Richard found himself paralyzed by some unknown force, perhaps his own terror.
Raven grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around. "Is this want you want?" She demanded.
"Of course not!" He yelled. Still she remained calm.
"Then do not fix what is not broken, and do not draw a line where it doesn't belong." And with that, in a blinding flash of light Richard found himself standing in front of Titan's Tower, just outside of the security monitor's range.
"What…?" Richard realized he was breathing heavily. He looked at his gloved hands and ripped said gloves off, as well as his eye mask, cape, and everything else that he could without being arrested for indecent exposure.
And, even more confused than before, he ran from the Tower faster than he had ever ran in his life.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
He was back in the hotel room. He, Richard Grayson, sat there, his face unmoving from the anger and terror that had been put in him by that… whatever it was. Kori and Raven, dead by his own actions? Impossible! That image…Kori, falling backwards with a gash across her throat…no. No way.
"It had to have been some sort of sick freakout or something," He decided. But still, he double-questioned his plan of action. If that was indeed a vision, and he continued still with his intentions…
"Ugh! Why is this so difficult?!" He yelled, partly to himself and partly to whatever deity might be listening. Why couldn't he make up his mind? He was either Robin or Richard, and he wanted to make sure he took up the mantle of whichever one his friends, his family, saw and loved. Especially Kori…
He jumped at the sound of knocking on his door. Turning toward the door, he opened it cautiously, wondering who would be visiting him.
"Oh, hey Ji- I mean, Jennifer," He greeted her. She laughed.
"I don't mind being called 'Jinx', y'know. In fact, I kind've like the name," She said with a smile. Then she rummaged around in her pants pocket, clearly struggling to find something.
"Oh, where the hell did he put it… Ah, there we go!" Robin cocked his head in confusion as Jinx procured a piece of paper out from her right pocket. Seeing Richard's face, she laughed again.
"Look, I didn't tell the other Titans about this. Well, okay, I told Wally, but he's the one that got this," She said, handing him the paper. It was a bus pass, a round-trip to Gotham City. "I figured you might want to go back to Gotham and see Bruce," She explained as he gawked at her.
"But… How the hell'd you know who Bruce was?" He asked, perplexed.
"Weaseled it out of Victor," She grinned. "Oh, and Bruce is expecting a call from you confirming whether or not your going," She added as an afterthought. Now Richard was really astounded.
"How the hell did you contact him?!" He cried. Not many people could contact Bruce Wayne unless he wanted to be contacted. How could Jinx have gotten through?
"It's not hard to find the Batcave if you know what you're looking for, Richard. I about got killed when he first saw me, though. Mistook me for frickin' Catwoman because of my eyes," She said sourly. Richard simply stared.
"O…k…. I'll be going now," She said. And with that, she left the room, leaving a dumbstruck Richard Grayson wondering just how in God's name a once-small-time thief like Jinx could have possibly found the entrance to the Batcave itself.
