A/N: A new mini-story to pass the time. I've gotten writer's block for my other three Titans stories, so I decided it was high time to start another one!

This should take place somewhere after "Haunted" and before "The End."

Dark Days

By: Sarah Shima

Part I

The invitation came two weeks before the event. Wrapped in an expensive envelope and sealed professionally, it had been stuffed haphazardly in the Titans' post office box in Jump City along with reams of fan mail and death threats. While the Titans' P.O. box number was supposed to be classified, there always seemed to be a leak and they would suddenly find themselves swimming in letter after letter.

Beast Boy, having once written a letter to Robin's first group of Titans, felt it his duty to open and read all of the mail, a way of making up for the shame of his own actions. He also responded to the letters from young meta-humans who felt out of place in life.

Beast Boy generally liked reading fan mail, especially fan mail directed at him. What he really could not stand was Robin fan mail, which just got on his nerves.

So when Beast Boy tossed a week's worth of mail on the floor of the living room and began sorting through it, he piled anything labeled to Robin in a large stack and left it for last.

After he had gone through the various letters that either praised, or criticized the team and individuals, he moved his attention to Robin's mail. The first five letters he opened were all from girls who wanted to know whether he was single, and if he would date them. The next bunch were death threats from various enemies and psychos (Robin always seemed to get the most of those). After rifling through the rest of the mail, Beast Boy's fingers came to rest upon the dignified envelope. Curious, he read the outside. It was addressed simply to Robin, and the return address was that of City Hall. "Maybe Robin has a parking violation," Beast Boy chuckled, picturing a police office sticking a ticket on the R-Cycle for being parked in a fire lane.

He turned one of his fingers into a claw and slid it underneath the envelope, effectively ripping it open. Beast Boy then slid the letter out and unfolded it. He quirked up one eyebrow as he read the contents.

"Hey Robin!" he called through the Tower as he started down the hall towards the evidence room. "Robin!" he yelled. As he walked through the Tower, various Titans popped their heads out of their rooms, curious. Starfire, Raven, and Cyborg all ended up behind Beast Boy as he looked for Robin.

"I believe he is in the gym, and asked to not be disturbed under any circumstances," Starfire informed. "Why is it that you seek for Robin? Is it an emergency?"

"This," Beast Boy said, holding the envelope up tantalizingly in front of them. "Betcha want to know what's inside, right. Well too bad! Robin's eyes only amigos; that's the way it goes."

"Why, what is it?" Raven asked. Beast Boy only shook his head in response, and ended up at the door to the gym.

He pushed the release, and the door slid open to reveal Robin in exercise clothes, in mid-air, performing a back-flip across a pair of high bars. He caught the bar and turned his attention to the door as his teammates crowded in. Releasing his hold, he flipped once on his way down and then landed cleanly on his feet.

"What's going on?" Robin asked, reaching for a towel to wipe the sweat off of his face.

"Dude, where did those come from?" Cyborg asked, staring at the high bars, and the trapeze swings hanging from the ceiling. He noticed that the normal equipment had been pushed into one corner.

"I take them out sometimes to practice, why?" Robin said calmly.

"You know, we have plenty of room to set this stuff up permanently," Cyborg said, wondering why he would hide his practice equipment. Although, Cyborg was quite curious about Robin's selections, especially the trapeze set. Last time he checked, those were not standard martial arts training equipment.

Robin only shrugged in response, peeved that he had been interrupted. He set aside specific times to work out and not be disturbed. And that was when he pulled out his aerialist equipment – or rather, the computer system he installed in the gym set it up for him. Whatever it was that made them walk in now had better be important.

"What do you need?" he asked impatiently.

"This came for you," Beast Boy said quickly, handing the letter to Robin.

"A letter?" Robin asked. What could be so important about a letter? Robin unfolded the expensive paper quickly, noted the Jump City seal at the top, and then scanned over it.

"So, what does it say?" Cyborg asked.

Robin cleared his throat and read aloud:

To Robin,

In two weeks, Jump City will be playing host to an international

gymnastics competition. This is a great honor to the city as

many other cities and countries were vying for it. As such,

I would like to personally ask you to perform a short

acrobatic routine on equipment of your choice to open the

competition and to showcase just what Jump City has to offer.

I hope that you will strongly consider this offer, and I

assure you that security will be of the highest caliber for the event.

Please respond at your convenience.

Sincerely,

John Walsh

Jump City Mayor

"They want you to perform?" Cyborg asked, leaning over Robin's shoulder and reading it just to be sure he had heard correctly.

"Sounds that way," Robin said, rereading the letter. For a moment his mind flashed over a series of his fondest memories. The days when he had been an aerialist in a circus act with his parents. They were called "The Flying Grayson's" and were the headliners for Haly's Circus. They traveled all over America and Europe, performing at packed fairgrounds. The lights and audiences always energized him, and Robin had to admit, he had loved the attention. He could only imagine what kind of energy there would be in a packed stadium…

Robin stopped himself from considering it. That was a different life, and a different time. Richard Grayson, the youngest person to ever perform the quadruple back-flip would have been able to awe audiences his whole life. However, the murder of his parents, becoming the ward of billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne, aka Batman, and the subsequent creation of his superhero life had ended any chance of that. When he started school in Gotham, Bruce had absolutely forbade him from showing off at all. Robin on the other hand was a different story. He could perform any feat he wanted when behind the mask.

Robin shook his head; that would be too dangerous, putting himself in a crowded stadium. No matter how good the security was, there was always a chance that someone would try and seek their revenge on him then and there.

"Wonderful!" Starfire exclaimed, pulling Robin out of his musings. She had seen some of his acrobatic moves during battles, and was always awed and fascinated by them. He was so talented. "Will you perform Robin?" she asked.

"Of course he won't," Raven responded curtly. Starfire turned to Raven with a questioning glance. "It's too risky. Robin has a lot of enemies, and he should not appear in public like that, it would be dangerous."

Robin frowned. Even though he had thought the same things only moments ago, they sounded different coming from Raven. While he knew she was just trying to look out for him, he silently wondered when she had become his surrogate Batman.

"But…" Starfire began. She stopped when she noticed Raven staring oddly at Robin. Starfire turned her gaze to him as well. He had walked away from the group and was punching a code into the computer system inside the gym. Machines sprang to life and moved his equipment off to the side where it could barely be seen. Wordlessly, he folded the letter back up and stuck it in the envelope, and then turned and walked away.

Robin headed back to his room, his head hung in annoyance and aggravation. As the door slid firmly shut behind him, he dropped down onto the bed. Staring up at the ceiling, he absentmindedly peeled the mask off of his face and let it drop to the floor.

He hated that he had to wear the mask around his teammates, his friends. He hated that he had to hide his identity from them, even to the point of practicing his aerials in secret. (With the group of them, how long would it be before one of them put the pieces together and figured out his identity?) But he had to. There was no guarantee that the Titans would all stay in the team/loyal – Terra was a good example of that – and he was not only protecting himself, but Bruce as well.

Sure the original Titans, Donna Troy/Wonder Girl, Wally West/Kid Flash, Roy Harper/Speedy, and Garth/Aqualad knew his real identity, but they also knew Superman's identity. And really, if someone's identity was to be revealed then Clark Kent would have far more to lose. Bruce did such a good job of keeping everyone at arm's length that an enemy would be hard-pressed to find someone to use against him.

No, that was not fair. Bruce did care about people, in his own way – a weird way, but that was Bruce for you.

Robin – no, the mask was off – Dick was just in a bad mood, and why shouldn't he be? It was that time of the year again after all: the anniversary of his parents' murder.

Eleven years.

God, had it really been that long? It seemed like only yesterday he was watching them fall from the trapeze rigging, seeing his mother's dead eyes staring back up at him. He just wanted to throw himself down there to join them. But instead he was hauled off to the Juvenile Detention Center – there were no open foster homes he could go to. And after that, it was off to Wayne Manor, to track down his parents' killer, and then to become Robin.

Everything that had happened to him in the last eleven years made circus life look tame in comparison.

He sighed aloud. Two weeks until the anniversary, and everyday was pulling him further down into his depression. God knew he was allowed to wallow for a while; the death of Bruce's parents basically gave him a free pass for mood swings for the rest of his life. While at the Manor, Alfred and Bruce knew to tiptoe around him for the weeks around that day, but here… The Titans would have no idea what was wrong with him. And then they would push for answers, and…

He cut his thoughts off, there was no sense in wondering about it now; he would deal with them when the time came to deal with them. He had resigned himself to sticking it out as best as possible, when his eyes suddenly spotted the envelope again.

He grabbed it without sitting up and read it over again. He smiled as he pictured himself accepting. It would certainly piss Bruce off. Batman and Robin were not even allowed to leave the cave until well after dark. Robin had broken that rule when he came to Jump City, being a different type of place; vigilante presence was needed in the daytime hours as well as at night.

He laid on the bed for a while longer, forcing himself into a sort of meditation so he would not think about anything. However, his reverie was broken by a voice he was usually glad to hear – except for today.

"Robin!" Starfire called through the metal door. "It is time for dinner!"

"Thanks Star, but just save some for me, okay? I'll be down in a little while!" he called through the closed door to her. She seemed to pause uncertainly, and then he heard her footsteps heading back to the kitchen.

He could not stand to be around people now. That's right; his 'dark days' had begun in earnest.

Across the city, in a dimly lit office, two men sat across from each other. One, his back to the windows; was completely in shadow, while the other was illuminated by a small tableside lamp. "Has he received the letter?" the man in shadow inquired, staring at his employee.

"Yes," the man responded curtly with a nod of his head.

"Good, now all he has to do is accept the offer," the boss said, a smile etched on his face that revealed crooked teeth.

"Are you sure he will, sir?" the employee asked, glancing quizzically at him.

"Of course he will. Just wait and see. Then we will have him exactly where we want him.

"I'm going straight to the top in Jump City, and no little bird is going to stand in my way. He'll be eliminated, permanently."

A/N: Yeah, me and my weird continuity are taking over. Forget anything the series has shown you about Aqualad and Speedy, really, it'll just make it easier - but they won't even be in the story, so w/e.

Anyhow, I hoped you all enjoyed the first chapter, and I would love to know what you thought!

Sarah Shima