WE'RE BAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!! I'm so so so so so super sorry to all my fans who allowed their anger to fester an boil inside of them (Meet the Robinsons, anyone?) anyway, here it is so you can't kill me, because then I won't update again. but just in case that's not good enough of a reason, I will apologize in every language I know. English- I'm sorry!, Spanish-estoy apesadumbrado, French- Je suis desole, Japanese- gomenasai, Hebrew- Slicha, German - Es tut mir leid (haha, that was from an online translator, I don't actually know German) good enough?
here ya go, have a new chapter...
Robin had always had an impeccable memory
Robin always found it odd that things happened to him at the most inappropriate of times. During his parents' funeral, he found himself with the mad urge to laugh. When his sister Eva had been sent to an orphanage in California, the first thing he did was go to the library and read. Even now, as he leaned towards Terra, instead of being in the moment, he flashed back to the most random of childhood memories…
When Robin was 10 months old, he said his first word. He was on a walk with his family in Central Park. His mother had been wearing an old scarf wrapped tightly around her. She clung to her jacket and heaved a sigh, and when she did she could see her breath. It was the last day of fall and they were taking advantage of the cool, but clear weather. Her feet crunched on the dry fallen leaves that were on the ground. She walked in a sort of skip-walk and she looked back at her husband as she did so. He gave her a grin and laughed. His brown curly hair was hidden under a misshapen knit hat. He too wore a light jacket and corduroy pants. He was humming a soft tune to himself and occasionally mumbled words. He was a slightly eccentric man, but that went well with this job in the circus. A little boy of about five years was skipping along next to the adults. He had his mother's straight hair, but his father's ashen shade. His eyes were brown like that of both his parents. He was skipping to a tune that only he knew, as most children often do. Robin himself was in his father's arms, taking a small nap. He was wrapped in a bright red and yellow blanket, and his little head was poking through. He had tufts of black hair sticking up in all angles. His lashes were long and curled, almost too beautiful for a boy. They were the most picture perfect family.
Suddenly Robin's little eyes popped open. He stared up at his father and without so much as a whimper, giggled and said "Ddddd." Robin's father looked down at him and said with his deep sweet voice,
"That's right Rich, say it for me 'daddy' come on, 'daddy." Mr. Grayson tickled Robin under the chin, exciting more giggles from the little boy. Mrs. Grayson turned to look at her husband and son.
"Stop that already." She said in mock annoyance, with her hands on her hips and her head cocked slightly to the left. "You know he's going to say 'mama' first, anyway." Mr. Grayson shook his head. Since Robin was up now and slightly fidgety, the Graysons stopped their walk and found a nice spot on the grass to eat. Robin was now sitting in Mrs. Grayson's lap, being fed some berries by his brother. Robin smiled contently, with red juice dribbling down his chin. That was when it happened. A little blue jay hopped near the Graysons and chirped curiously. Mrs. Grayson looked at her son and said "What's that Rich? A birdy? A blue jay? Yeah?" Robin just stared at the bird, the way it walked and chirped. The way its feathers fluttered from a breeze. Suddenly it flew off without any warning. Robin pointed and said "fwy away buwrdee, fwy away."
When Robin was 3 and a half, they brought elephants into the circus act. Robin was playing jacks outside with his brother and suddenly the ground began to shake. The jacks started scattering and Robin thought it was an earthquake, and Jake did too. Mr. Grayson came outside and said, "Do you boys hear that? They're bringing in our new opening act today. Let's go have a look." So he took Robin by the hand and Jake followed. They came to the entrance of the camping grounds and there stood two massive elephants. Robin got really scared. The elephant turned its head and gave a mighty trumpet blow. Robin started to cry. Jake stood in front of him, like a good big brother should. The elephant stopped trumpeting, but Robin kept on crying because he was so scared. Suddenly Jake took his hand and dragged towards the beasts. Robin tried to pull away but Jake kept on pulling him. They stopped within three feet of the animals and Jake turned to Robin.
"Do you really think I'm going to let anything hurt you?" Robin shook his head. "That's right, so come on, suck it up and let's go meet the new guys." So Robin sniffed and nodded. Jake took his hand once more and led him to where a few people were gathered around the elephant's huge ear. Jake motioned for him to touch it. "It's alright, kiddo, he won't do anything to you." So Robin cautiously stepped up to the grey ear and poked it with his little finger. Nothing happened. Robin was so relieved he touched it again. Again, nothing happened. So Robin sniffled, and made his bravest face and stroke the ear. The elephant made no sign that he felt Robin. Robin poked and prodded and stroked, and still the elephant stayed put. Robin was feeling very brave. He got a devilish smile, and before anyone could say anything (because that look was known by now to cause trouble) Robin gave a mighty tug on the elephant's ear. The elephant turned his head; Robin fell over and started to cry once more.
At age five, Robin became the middle child. His mother gave birth to a baby girl one night in June. Robin was so proud of being a big brother he could hardly wait to meet her. His mom stayed at the hospital for two days before she came back. His dad had gone to get her and Jake and Robin were waiting anxiously for their new sibling. Jake was 9 and a half so he had made Eva a beautiful card, and even swindled the clown out of a few balloons. Robin wasn't old enough to do arts and crafts alone. Let alone swindle. He felt a little ashamed that he had no present for his new sister, even though Jake said he could give her the balloons.
Finally after waiting for forty minutes, A car pulled up on the side of the road, out came Robin's dad, then their mom…. and no one else. Mom and Dad walked up to the two boys and Jake was jumping up and down. Mom bent down and gave him a kiss, and he gave her the card. She oohed and aahed and said it would be Eva's first birthday card. Then Mom bent down to kiss Robin. She saw that he had tears in his eyes.
"What's wrong Rich? Aren't you glad to meet Eva?" Mrs. Grayson was worried that maybe he was having trouble with the idea of sharing parents even more. Maybe he didn't like the idea of a girl in the family, Robin had never been good around girls. Robin just looked at her and said, "You were away for two days, Daddy said you were going to bring us home a sister, but all you brought were blankets." Robin then gestured to the little pink lump in his mother's hands. Mr. and Mrs. Grayson chuckled. They walked into their home and towards the crib that had been decorated for the new arrival. Mrs. Grayson gently placed down the pile of blanket and then motioned for Robin to approach. Robin leaned over the side of the crib and looked in. Under the mass of blankets, there was a little tuft of jet black hair, just like his. He slowly pulled the blanket back, and there was a tiny little head, no bigger than Robin's hand. There were two eyes that were closed, but fluttering, with the same eyelashes that Robin had as a baby. A tiny little pink nose kept snuffling at the cold air in the room. Robin put his hand on the baby's back and suddenly she woke up with a start and grabbed Robin's hand.
"Be careful, Rich, remember she can't protect herself yet. You have to be careful around her, especially her head." Robin nodded. That moment was when Robin vowed to protect those who couldn't protect themselves.
Robin and his siblings were all home-schooled. Even though it was hard because of their crazy schedule, their parents insisted that this one thing be constant. So every day at four, Jake would walk Robin and Eva (when she was old enough) to Mr. Freeman. He wasn't part of the circus; no one really knew how he gotten into the circus but he helped around with the sets, and the acts. He always had good advice and he seemed to be the smartest man, at least he was to Robin. He had started to teach when Jake was old enough and he just continued with all the other kids. He was never strict with any of the kids, and since was Robin was a quick learner, he never got into trouble.
There was another boy who was a year older than Eva, his name was Tommy. Tommy always got into fights with the other kids. He also used to argue a lot with Mr. Freeman, and a lot of them time, he bit off more than he could chew. He had tried picking a fight with Jake who was about 8 years older than him, and twice his size. In general, he was just a bad kid. He took a few classes with Eva and usually caused a lot of trouble, especially if it was Robin's turn to pick her up, as opposed to Jake's. One time as Robin was waiting for Eva to finish her reading lessons, he heard Eva yelping.
"Let go! Stop it! My mommy made my haiwr speshull today! Ow! Stop it!" At first Robin thought she was reading a play or something, but the he realized she should have been done by now and so he ran into the tent. There was Tommy laughing and pulling Eva's little braids. Eva, in her defense, was trying to bite his arm, with little success. Robin got in there and quickly pulled Tommy off of his little sister. Tommy fell back and Eva ran behind Robin. Tommy got up and snickered. He made a face at Eva and made to leave. Robin looked at him and felt anger boil up inside of him. He turned and drew his arm back. His hand connected with Tommy's mouth and he felt his skin break. Suddenly Robin was being dragged backwards by a pair of rough hands. Mr. Freeman was pulling Robin away as Tommy staggered to his feet. Robin looked and saw a nice bruise, and some blood trickling down Tommy's cheek. Tommy swore at Robin, but he ran away pretty fast. Of course Robin was scolded when he got home. And later that day he went to Tommy's tent and apologized. He really did feel sorry; he never meant to hurt him, that much. However, sometimes, right before he went to bed, Robin would remember the thrill of the punch. How good he felt for hurting someone who deserved it, and how the feel of skin breaking under his own fist, didn't bother him as much as it should have.
Robin's parents had started training him at a young age. He had always been good with his balance, and he was one of the most nimble kids of his age. When he was about three, they started him off, teaching him to swing form the trapeze, how to walk on a balance beam. Of course, like everything else in his life, Robin picked up on these quickly. Soon enough he joined the act, only making small appearances, but enough to draw attention.
When it came to costumes for the circus, Madame Holga covered everyone, literally. She had fabrics of all colours and patterns. For the Flying Graysons, it had always been green, red and yellow. When the Graysons brought in "little Rich" to be fitted, Holga decided to try something different.
"Now, I heff tried to mekk a costyume like yhors. Choweva! Leetle boy means leetle cloze. So I change the costyume, and make it like a leetle bird.' Robin had the same colours, but instead of the yellow on the chest, with green shoulders and red tights, he had red on the chest and yellow and green were thrown around. He even got a cool cape!
"leetle Robin vill do great sinks vun day." Commented Holga as she was watching Robin twirl around in his new cape. Mr. and Mrs. Grayson were so proud. From then on whenever Robin would do well at something, they would always say "leetle Robin is doing great sinks." It sort of became a family joke. After a while though, the name Robin just stuck, it became his stage name, and eventually his nickname. The only people who still called him Rich were his parents when they were mad and his sister when she was happy.
When Robin was about 13 the Circus came to a place called Gotham City. They came like they always did, setting up tent on the outskirts of town and starting to practice. A few local kids always came to watch. Robin loved it when they did, because he got to meet a lot of new people that way. Sometimes he would show off, especially when there were girls watching, but mostly he just liked to pay with kids his age.
The show was called for 8:30, with the Flying Graysons up at 10:00. Robin had gone to watch the show in the back of the tent, while his parents got ready. He had a small appearance because of all the homework he had, but, for the first time, Robin would be on the tightrope. He had always been really good at it; there was just not enough time to fit it into the act. Robin was sitting, watching the ringmaster come out in his usual flamboyant manner, when he heard hushed voices behind him.
"I don't have the money yet, I need more time."
"More time? Boss Zucco has been plenty generous with time. I am running out of patience." Robin heard an audible gulp. Although he was trying to hide himself, because he obviously was not supposed to be hearing this, his natural instincts told him to try and get closer to at least see the two men. Robin shuffled behind one of the curtains separating him from this conversation. Robin peeked behind the curtain and had to hold back a gasp. There was Mr. Haley, the circus owner. He was wearing his usual pinstripe grey suit with the blue shirt underneath. It's what he always wore to opening acts. Who he was talking to, however, was what scared Robin. He had seen this man's face on several wanted posters in Gotham. He was Tony Zucco, a mob thug in Gotham.
"Listen to me Haley. If I don't get what I want, I become a very unhappy man, and you do not want me to be unhappy." Suddenly Robin heard the crowd cheering as the ringmaster's voice was heard.
"Laaaaaaaaaaaadies and Geeeentlemen, boys and girls of all ages, please put your hands together for the thrills, chills and spills of the amaaaaaaaaazing Flyiiiiiiiiiiiiiing Graysooooooooooons!" More screams and cheers were heard.
"That's my cue, Haley. I might have my own show for you, to prove what happens when I don't get what I want." Robin got out of the way just in time for Zucco to come walking passed him snickering. Before Robin could even wonder what had happened he remembered that he had to be on the platform in time for his debut. Robin ran up the flights of steps leading to his platform. He heard yells and screams and smiled as he thought of all the kids who were probably awed by the show. As he got up the last flight of stairs, he heard screams that didn't sound like the usual joyful ones he heard. Could something have gone wrong? Robin ran to the platform and looked onto the scene, just as his parents, and Jake who was part of the act, plummeted to their deaths…
Robin did think of the strangest things at the worst times. However, as his lips skimmed Terra's, his mind went blank. As he kissed her, he thought of nothing but her. His hands wove through her silky hair and cupped the back of her head. His other hand held her hand. She too ran her fingers through his hair. He leaned forward slightly and felt her lips part open in surprise. He grabbed this opportunity and kissed her more passionately. All he felt was complete joy. His mind was so blank that he didn't even register a slight ringing in his ears. The ringing got louder and he realized that it wasn't from the daze of kissing her; it was form the sensory alarm, meaning Bruce was probably at his door right then.
PLEASE REVIEW!! (i know oyu hate me for another cliffhanger that leaves you in basically in the same spot as I left you last chapter. Well blame One Tree Hill, their stupid season finale gave me crazy ideas.)
