Aww, thankyou all sooooooooooooo much for the birthday wishes last week! HUGS! And what a great birthday present – we are officially over the 100 mark! Hurrah! Triple digits, and there's no going back! AND we did it in a smaller number of chapters than both Asylum and Black Magic!
As for my actual birthday, I got an iPod. Yes, I succumbed to the merchandising campaign. It is blue and so shiny… I decided I wanted one a few weeks back when I went to see The Prestige and saw an ad for the iPod Nano. It is a very cool ad comprising of the recognisable black figures dancing and waving their iPods around, and from the iPods are these streams of coloured light (the same colour as the iPod). You have probably seen it.
Anyway, I like my iPod very much and it looks set to become my newest "second-to-Teen-Titans" obsession, overtaking eBay, which was always an expensive obsession… So I have crammed it full of all my favourite bands – Nightwish, Green Day, Puffy AmiYumi, Dire Straits, The Beatles, Placebo and the King himself, Elvis Presley, as well as a mishmash of other random stuff.
Yes, I like Elvis. I like Elvis very much indeed. I even got an Elvis birthday card and an Elvis calendar and a four-disc Elvis CD collection for my birthday. So sue me.
To my dismay, however, my iPod does not emit beams of coloured light when I wave it around. I have tried, and I was disappointed.
You can also check out one of my other presents; a little fic written by my lovely co-writer Narroch. It's an angsty little Robin-centric piece written especially for me, only it didn't actually go up on my birthday because the site was being S-T-U-P-I-D as usual… It's called Trapeze Terror and can be found as the newest entry on my Favourites List. Pleeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaassssssssseeeee check it out!!! You won't regret it – and anyone who knows their Robin-background-history will be able to conjecture from the title just what it might be about…
Anyway, enough about my birthday! Here's to the first reader/reviewer birthday dedication of Remember the Titans! To YamiTai, a loyal and wonderful reviewer right from Asylum – a very happy birthday to you, today, Sunday 10th December 2006! This is a very special dedication because you are also the first birthday-person (besides me) to reach the one year mark. I dedicated a chapter of Asylum to you last year, so here's to your second dedication! Hope you have a VERY happy birthday! You are 19, right? Thankyou for all the reviews, anyway:)
And thankyou to all other reviewers: Simmie (ah, very observant of you. You are very good at picking up on these things, I have to say – the little things that everyone else tends to overlook. As for Terra, you will hear her story right here and now); LoopyLousise123 (yeah, everyone loves Roy… You'll meet him a bit later on. But if you want Roy right now, I actually wrote a RobinxSpeedy one-shot about two weeks ago which is up, called Get Over Yourself.); Luneko (you're 2nd December? Cool! You should have said, I would have mentioned it… Happy birthday for last Saturday!); Poison's Ivy (what do you mean, I don't have any known characteristics? As far as I know, I am a Sagittarius (the archer – like Speedy). And Scorpio comes after Cancer. Scorpio is the one before Sagittarius. And no, neither Slade nor Red X are in Nevarmore; there is no need for them. Red X is not in this either. So no, blondie is not Red X. Yes, Terra has a huge part I this story, I did warn you. Deal with it. And you're crazy. I love your reviews, but you're crazy… O.o); Guardian of Azarath (ah, yes, I am glad you are enjoying Nevarmore too. thankyou for the birthday wishes!); Syaoran-San (yes, Remember the Titans is a movie. About football. Starring Denzel Washington. And I stole the title.); Half-demon Girl (hey, you're back! Cool! Glad you're enjoying it. Raven will be back soon… ish…); Me (for heaven's sake, it's like the bloody Slade/Robin/enigma thing with you! "Who are you?" "I'll never tell you! Mwa ha ha!"… ARE you ever going to tell me?); Kami-Elf (I don't drink, but yes, I now can legally if I want to. But I don't want to. It's stupid, expensive, full of chemicals and calories, makes you look an idiot, gives you a headache, makes you sick, and did I mention it was stupid? Statistically, university students in Britain put on two stone in their first year of uni because of alcohol. TWO STONE! I know you guys have a different metric system, but that is a LOT. But on a brighter note, yes, I do like your reviews very much! They are very deep and thoughtful – you clearly understand the story very well, and I am glad. Thankyou! And don't you worry about me, I am way ahead of you on all counts… I think you will like what I have coming up…); Quinn and His Quill (I have nothing to say to you about the dice. Nothing at all. Go and find someone who will slap you across the face with a glove, please. Preferably a yellow rubber one.); Seductive Angel (hurrah, you caught up! And you are crazy. But thankyou anyway!); Raven Victoria Grayson (an acid-spitting horse? O.o Where do you get these ideas…? And no, Terra is Terra. Not Robin's kid. Sorry about that…); Ray1 (I love the cartoon version of Terra too. The original comic book version was a B-I-T-C-H. I don't like her at all. But cartoon Terra, while she has her bitchy moments, is much nicer. And funnier too.); and Narroch (oh, you like everything! ;) But yeah, I thought you might like the whole Batman: TAS edge to this future world, and of course, there's always Terra… Thankyou for my present!).
And now…
Batman's Titans
"So… the Titans are all dead here?" Robin asked slowly, accepting the mug of coffee that Terra had just handed to him. She simply nodded, her eyes still glued to him as though she couldn't quite believe what she was seeing.
It had taken some convincing – and an explanation about his time travel, with much gesturing with the Clock of Eternity, which he retrieved from the back of the church – to get her to believe that he really was Robin, not a ghost, and not a figment of her imagination. She still seemed slightly wary of him, but had apologised for being so abrupt and aggressive with him and had taken him to the back room of the church – her home.
It was a large room, with a high ceiling. It was cold, but Terra had started a fire up and the room was gradually warming. It was apparent that she had lived in this church for years. She seemed quite comfortable, to tell the truth, with several changes of clothes, a baptismal font converted into a wash basin, and soap and towels and all the other necessities. She also had an awful lot of blankets and had made herself a bed from them and lots of pillows, with a single duvet for a mattress, and actually it didn't look too bad considering that she was sleeping on a stone floor. She'd also made a grate from rocks and lit fires in it to cook and boil water for washing and things. She had explained that she wasn't a complete recluse; she did go out from time to time, but she had to be extremely careful.
Slade was after her.
And he wanted to kill her.
"Yeah." Terra shrugged and sat down opposite him on the blankets laid upon the stone floor. She picked up her own cup of coffee – both were in cracked cups that had definitely seen better days, and the coffee was merely instant stuff, and not good quality instant coffee at that.
But, funny when you were desperate… back home, in his own time, both he and Cyborg would only settle for the best coffee their funding could buy; growing up in Wayne Manor had given him pretty expensive taste, admittedly. But now that he was cold and hungry and thirsty and tired… he had never tasted anything so wonderful, or so welcome.
"Fifteen years ago," Terra went on, taking a sip of her coffee. She put the cup down and reached for an unopened bag of bread, tearing open the plastic bag. She took out two slices of dry white bread and then offered him the bag. "Here, help yourself."
He gladly complied as she went on;
"Slade got you guys to go to a warehouse, then sent Cinderblock, Plasmus and Overload to kill you. I don't know quite what happened, because I wasn't there, but from what Slade told me, it was Overload that did the killing."
Robin nodded in confirmation.
"Yeah, it seriously hurt…"
Terra frowned at him.
"No, Robin," she said, shaking her head. "You didn't die that day. The other four did; Beast Boy, Cyborg, Starfire and Raven all got electrocuted. But you didn't."
Robin stared at her, his cup of coffee halfway to his mouth.
"Terra, I did," he pressed. "I got electrocuted. I remember it happening. It really, really hurt."
Terra was shaking her head even more.
"In this time, Robin, you didn't die," she said firmly. "You weren't even in the warehouse when the other Titans were killed. I remember you telling me years later that your motorbike ran out of gas halfway there. You had to push it down a back-alley and then go the rest of the way on foot. And when you got there… they were already dead."
"That's not what happened to me in my time," Robin argued. "I didn't run out of gas. I got there with all the others, and Overload killed us. All five of us."
Terra was shaking her blonde head a third time, not being able to comprehend it.
"But if you were killed, Robin, how are you alive? Why are you here now, talking to me?"
Seeing how white she was becoming as she spoke, he hurriedly reassured her that he was not a ghost.
"I can't explain it," he went on. "I died, Terra; I know I did. But something brought me back, and I don't know how or why. It didn't bring back any of my friends; only me."
"But surely events should have run parallel?" Terra stated rather than asked. "Why has history changed? Why did you run out of gas and avoid being killed in this time, but in your own get to the warehouse with the other Titans and be killed alongside them, only to be revived again?"
Robin shook his head in despair.
"I don't know, Terra. I wish I did…" He looked up at her again. "You have to tell me everything, Terra. Everything that's happened since that day the Titans died, even if I didn't."
Terra nodded.
"Ok; hopefully we can start to make some sense out of this."
Robin too nodded in agreement, and Terra pressed on;
"Ok, that day… Beast Boy and the others died, but you didn't. Titans Tower was destroyed by Slade's commandos. I mean literally destroyed, Robin; they tore it to pieces then burned it to the ground. I think the remains are still there on Titans Island…"
Robin nodded again.
"Yeah," he said softly. "I saw it; well, what was left of it…"
"Well, Slade took over Jump easily." Terra hung her head, her long blonde falling forward like a curtain. "And I helped him." Her voice was soft and terribly ashamed. "I don't know what was wrong with me, going with him like that. He's a monster, but I was easily led back then. I thought that I owed him; he led me to believe that I did. And I suppose I did, to a certain extent – he did teach me to control my powers. But… he had a very warped sense of showing gratitude, and I was stupid and weak, and I believed him, I lied to you and betrayed you, and the Titans were killed as a result of it…"
"But you don't work for him now, do you?"
Terra snorted.
"Hell, no! I stopped working for that bastard over ten years ago! I think I was twenty… see, we'd taken over Gotham, and Metropolis; well, you wouldn't believe how easy it was."
"What, with Superman and Batman and the Justice League all still alive?" Robin asked incredulously.
Terra put her head in her hands.
"The Justice League… died… All of them except for Superman and Batman – they weren't in the headquarters when it happened."
"When what happened?"
"When I…" Terra sounded as though she was crying. "When I stimulated a landslide. Killed the lot of them; Wonder Woman, the Flash, Martian Manhunter, Hawkgirl, Green Lantern, all crushed to death before they could use their powers to save themselves."
Robin stared at her, speechless.
"You… killed the Justice League?"
"Not all of them. Not Superman and Batman…"
Robin saw red and got to his feet, furious.
"And what if you had killed Batman, huh?" He snapped, angry and upset that Bruce could have been one of those so carelessly killed by the woman – then a teenager – sitting before him. And Clark too – he liked Clark okay, though he didn't think much of his "civilian disguise", consisting of a pair of glasses. And Wonder Woman, Diana, who had been killed…
"I can't believe you!" Robin shrieked. "You killed the Justice League! You could have killed Batman!" He jabbed at his "R" badge, hurting himself but not caring. "You know why I wear this, Terra? Because I'm Batman's freaking partner! And you could have killed him, and you probably didn't even care!"
"You think I don't care?" Terra choked, looking up at him; her face was streaked with tears. "Robin, there's not a day that gone past since then that I wish I hadn't done it, that I had dropped a mountain on top of Slade instead… They were good people, courageous and powerful, and when I was a Titan they were out our allies in the fight for justice. And I murdered them, Robin. I brutally massacred them when they were least expecting it, like a real coward. How do you think that makes me feel?"
"But you still did it," Robin said coldly, her remorseful words calming him slightly.
"Because Slade told me to," Terra said softly. "And that makes me feel worse, because when I killed the Justice League I didn't realise just how evil he really is. You wouldn't believe the hold he had over me, Robin. And I was stupid, I did everything he said, like I was his weak little puppet… and when I killed the Justice League, he told me that there was no going back. He said that I was as evil and terrible as he was, and that I belonged with him forever, ruling at his side as his apprentice… and I believed him, Robin, I truly did. Even that day, when I killed them, I couldn't believe what I had done. I needed the shelter that Slade offered me, someone that wouldn't judge me by the horrible things I had done."
"I'm sorry, Terra," Robin said softly, sitting down again. "I… can't forgive you for killing the Justice League, but I understand what you've gone through."
"You can't forgive me?" Terra smiled weakly. "Robin, I can't forgive myself, and I assure you, I never will. I can still hear their screams as they were crushed…"
Robin shivered.
"Well, what happened to Superman and Batman?" He asked.
"Ah, well…" Terra actually smiled weakly. "That's where you come in. The Teen Titans were dead, and had been, by this time, for about five years. You had disappeared, so everyone assumed that you had died too. But Slade knew better, and so did I. And then, one day, I was out… well, doing Slade's bidding again, when this guy in black suddenly attacked me. Really tall and buff, seriously good-looking, with this incredible long black hair and a mask… he introduced himself as Nightwing."
Terra winced as she recounted;
"And then he beat the crud out of me. When I came round he was gone. But he'd left a little note tucked under my shoulder; it read "The Titans are reforming. Choose your side wisely"." Terra smiled as she looked at Robin's expression, though she could not imagine that, thanks to Starfire, he already he knew of his future incarnation. "And although it was from this "Nightwing" guy, he'd signed it "Robin", and I knew it was you. I took it back to Slade to show him, because I thought he'd want to know about it so that he could stop it… and he went nuts. He gave me holy hell too; I seriously thought he was going to kill me. He just didn't give me a chance to attack him back. Eventually I managed to hit him with a rock and used the distraction to escape…" Terra was shaking her head now as she spoke. "I never willingly went back to him."
Robin raised an eyebrow.
"Willingly? Which means you-"
"I'll get to that, Robin," Terra interrupted. "So, I walked out on Slade, and I was just wandering around by myself, looking for some sign of this Nightwing guy. As it turned out, he found me, and he was with Batman. He said that the Titans were reforming, a whole new team, and they weren't the "Teen" Titans; they were "Batman's" Titans. They'd been going around recruiting everyone they could get, some old friends, some new ones, and some villains, believe it or not – the ones that knew where to draw the line. Slade was slowly destroying everything, and the villains that joined Batman's Titans could see that everything was going to go bad and be no good for anyone at all. It turned out that those five years Robin had been "missing" he had actually gone back to Batman and trained more. I'm serious, Robin… you're gonna be lethal when you're older. Nightwing was just… I've never seen anything like him. He'd eventually dumped the "Robin" persona for a more adult one, seeing as by that time he was twenty-one. So "Nightwing" was born, and the new team of Titans were born. And I was one of them. Nightwing and Batman explained that they were going to wage war on Slade and take back Jump and Gotham and Metropolis and everything else he had taken over, and they wanted me to join them. Actually, I don't think they were going to take no for an answer anyway, but it didn't matter because I agreed to help take that bastard down."
"So who was on the team?" Robin asked, subliminally taking note of the word "was" there; emphasised past tense…
"Well, there was obviously Batman and Superman and Nightwing, and there was a Batgirl, and another new Robin – little squirt, that kid was, but pretty impressive for a twelve-year-old – and a lot of other people I'd never met, but I got to know them really well. Have you ever met Aqualad?"
Robin nodded.
"Well, he joined us, under the name of "Pallais", who is a Greek or Roman god of water or something. Oh, and… I don't think you've ever met Roy, have you?"
Robin frowned.
"Roy?"
"Roy Harper. He used to work under the name of "Speedy"."
"Speedy!" Robin exclaimed. "Yes, I have met him. Speedy's a great guy…"
"Yeah, 'cause he's your flippin' clone," Terra giggled. "Well, he still shoots arrows, but he's called "Arsenal" now. And let's see, who else?... Bruce, Clark… we all used to call each other by our real names, when we all got really close. Batgirl was Barbara, and Robin was Tim-"
"Barbara Gordon?" Robin interrupted, surprised.
Terra nodded.
"Do you know her already? Nightwing and Batgirl were pretty close, but I didn't know he had already known her…"
"No, I don't know her as Batgirl," Robin explained. "But she's Commissioner Gordon's daughter. Red hair, really pretty…"
Terra sighed, as though jealous.
"Yeah, that was Babs all right…"
"Was?"
"I'll get to it, Robin. Although I'm not sure you really want to hear it… Let's see… Selina Kyle? You know her?"
"Catwoman."
"Uh-huh. Guess that's pretty much it for those who were "good" in the first place…"
"So which villains joined the Titans?" Robin asked, interested in spite of himself.
"A good few," Terra replied wistfully. "Some of them were a little tricky to convert, though. We had Harvey Dent."
Robin blinked.
"Two-Face?"
"Yup. Harvey was a great guy, when he was in a "good" mood. Bruce talked him into it as an "old friend", but Harvey was really difficult to control…"
"So how did Bruce get around it?"
Terra grinned.
"Actually, it was so simple, it was genius," she said, still grinning. "You know Harvey's coin? And he flips it to make a decision, and one side is the "good" side, and the other is the "bad" side, right? Well, Harvey cooperated with us when the coin came up heads, but if it came up the scratched side up, or "tails", Harvey was a pain in the butt and Clark would have to knock him out. So… Bruce got the coin and superglued it heads side up to the floor of the BatCave, our adopted headquarters. And because Harvey was such a precise freak, he was always good from then on, because the coin "told him to be". He did try to pry it up with a crowbar once or twice, but he couldn't get it up."
Robin was laughing as she explained, thinking of deadpan Bruce doing that to poor Harvey; Bruce had a pretty strange sense of humour…
"So, who do we have so far?" Terra asked absently, counting them off on her long gloved fingers. "You, me, Bruce, Clark, Selina, Barbara, Tim, Harvey, Roy and Garth…" She smiled at Robin's expression. "Yeah; Aqualad – or Pallais – had a name almost as dumb as "Dick". Garth…"
"Dick is not a dumb name!" Robin snapped. "A misinterpreted name, granted… and how do you know my name, anyway?"
"Nightwing told me, duh. Ok… well, we had Edward Nygma."
"The Riddler? You're kidding!"
"Nope. The Riddler was an arrogant bastard – he really got on my nerves. But Bruce got on ok with him, and Nygma wasn't stupid. The likes of the Joker went on a rampage after Slade busted up Arkham altogether, destroying almost as much as he did, but the Riddler was one of the sensible ones who knew that a villainous rule by someone as evil and ruthless as Slade wasn't going to do anybody any good in the long run. So Nygma joined us, although I'm pretty sure he was fighting for his own gains, rather than for justice. And Harley Quinn joined us too. At first she went off with the Joker," Terra went on. "But then he gave her the elbow the way he always does so Batman went and got her. She agreed to join us, but only on one condition – that her best friend Poison Ivy joined too. After that Bruce managed to talk Talia into it."
Robin raised his eyebrows over Poison Ivy, but said nothing about it; Talia he could see.
"So, that's Harley, Ivy and Talia added to the list," he said. "Who else?"
"Well, believe it or not… Mad Mod and the Amazing Mumbo."
"Oh, big deal." Robin snorted again. "Those two are lame…"
"On their own," Terra corrected. "But we partnered them up like Harley and Ivy, and… well, they were great together. Mumbo's magic could make Mad Mod's illusions reality, and they used to take down loads of Slade's minions in one swoop. Seriously, Robin," she added, noting Robin's sceptical expression, "they were good together."
"So what happened to everyone?" Robin asked. "What's with the past tense?"
Terra lowered her gaze to the blanket she sat on.
"We were beating Slade back," she said softly. "So he went on the offensive. I mean seriously offensive. He and his minions picked us off one by one, exploiting our weaknesses. Superman went first."
"Kryptonite?"
"Of course. Just when he was least expecting it… I mean, it's always been pretty common knowledge that Superman's weakness was kryptonite, right? I always knew it, even before I first met you guys when we were teenagers."
Robin nodded slowly, feeling terrible for poor Clark and knowing how painful his death must have been for him.
"Is there anyone left?" He asked. "Apart from you, I mean."
Terra nodded.
"Yeah, but most of them were killed. Harley, Ivy and Batgirl were killed pretty soon after Clark was. Some lead on the Joker, and Bruce made the mistake of sending them to deal with it."
"What… what happened?" Robin asked, his stomach clenching. He couldn't have cared less about Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn, but he really liked Barbara, having met her a few times before.
Terra shuddered slightly, and it wasn't the cold.
"I don't know. None of us do. The three of them never came back."
"Then you don't know for sure that they were killed," Robin pointed out, helping himself to another slice of dry bread.
"Yeah we do." Terra shivered again. "We never, ever found their bodies. But the Joker, being the sick animal that he is, plastered loads of copies of this photograph everywhere. It was… really horrible."
"What was?" Robin pressed, getting a terrible sinking feeling…
"I'm sure you already know, Robin. You've had plenty of run-ins with the Joker. Let's just say that the photo wasn't as amusing as the Joker obviously seemed to find it…"
"Smile gas," Robin muttered, putting his head in his hands. Harley was always grinning anyway, but not in the way he could picture now, that horrific leer frozen on her dead face… and Barbara… he even found himself feeling sorry for Ivy.
Slightly.
"Got it in one. Gave me nightmares for a month."
"Is the Joker working with Slade?" Robin inquired.
"Was," Terra corrected. "Nightwing and Batman… okay, I probably shouldn't tell you this, because it might not ever happen if I do, but Nightwing and Batgirl were… you know, together. And when the Joker killed her, Dick – you – just… I dunno, went really weird. I mean, he'd already lost one love in his teens, when Starfire died. I don't think he ever got over Star properly, but he got it together with Babs and he was okay. They really loved each other, and when Nightwing saw that picture… and Bruce flipped out too, when he saw what the Joker had done to three of his team, although I think he, like Dick, was more fussed about Babs than about Harley or Ivy."
"So what did we… I mean, they, do?" Robin questioned.
Terra shrugged.
"None of us ever found out. The next time the Joker showed up Bruce and Dick just disappeared and we couldn't find them. The next thing we knew, the Joker was dead. Neither of them ever said anything, but we all knew they killed him."
"Which one did?" Robin pressed. "Who actually…?"
"Robin, I told you, we never found out. They never even said that they had done it, but they did; I know they did. They were in on it together, but I don't know who actually dealt the death-blow. The others all reckoned it was Bruce, seeing as the Joker was his arch-enemy. But…"
"But what?" Robin whispered.
"But…" Terra sighed. "Look, don't take this personally, because technically it wasn't you, but I think it was Dick. You know, because of Barbara. Even after the Joker died – regardless of whichever one of those two killed him – Nightwing was never the same again."
Robin frowned, considering it. Terra was right, it technically wasn't him that had killed the Joker, or watched Bruce do it – it was his future-self, Nightwing. But… he put himself in his older-self's position. At this time he was not close enough to Barbara to kill the Joker for her, but he imagined that it had been Starfire instead, or Raven, or Cyborg or Beast Boy…
He looked up.
"I think it was me too, Terra," he said finally. "I mean, my future-self. I think Nightwing killed the Joker."
Terra nodded.
"I didn't think any less of Dick for it," she explained. "I was glad he killed him – if it was him, I mean. It could just have easily have been Bruce, but… I just have a feeling that it was Dick. But I never thought of him as a murderer. The Joker deserved to die, and, you know… it wasn't petty superheroes-versus-villains anymore. It was war, and with Arkham none existent anymore, the only other place to send bastards like the Joker was Hell. Which Nightwing did."
Robin nodded in understanding. Strange; the thought of his older-self killing the Joker didn't sicken or faze him at all.
Maybe because he knew perfectly well that he was capable of it.
"Okay, what about the others? Who else was killed?" He went on.
"You seriously want to hear more?"
"I need to hear it, Terra," Robin said urgently. "It's the only way we'll ever be able to make head or tail of this."
Terra nodded.
"Well, I guess the others were pretty simple deaths. Talia and Catwoman were gunned down one night when they were out on patrol together. Funny, those two never got on, but they always seemed to get partnered together."
"Bruce," Robin said simply. "Selina and Talia both have a thing for Bruce. That's probably why they didn't get on; they were competing against each other."
Terra nodded.
"Oh yeah, they were always all over him," she acknowledged. "You know, one clinging onto each arm. Sometimes he wasn't in the mood and would shake them off, but other times all he seemed to want was their attention."
"What happened to him when they died?"
"Well, he didn't kill anyone about it, but he was never the same either. Bruce had it really hard, you know. He never truly got over his parents, and-"
"Neither have I," Robin snapped. "Have you ever seen your mom and dad fall fifty feet from a broken trapeze? Not pretty…"
"Yeah, but you and Bruce are kinda different," Terra pointed out. "Bruce tends to wallow in misery – he simply won't allow himself to be happy, like he thinks he doesn't deserve it. You tend to brood on other stuff, like things you can't solve or can't do. But I'll say this for you, Robin; you do know how to have fun. I don't think Bruce does. And just after Talia and Selina… Wayne Manor was stormed and utterly demolished. Alfred was killed, and "supposedly" so was Bruce. Since then he's let everyone think that Bruce Wayne is dead, so that he can concentrate on being Batman full-time. But he certainly never got over Alfred; he keeps beating himself up that he couldn't save him."
"Wait a second," Robin said sharply, pushing his sorrow for Alfred aside for a second. "You're talking about Bruce in the present tense. Is he…?"
"Still alive?" Terra smiled. "Yeah. There's no getting rid of Batman, is there?"
"Who else is still alive?" Robin asked eagerly.
"I think it's easier to tell you who's dead first. Robin died when…" She saw him raise his eyebrows and frowned. "Tim Drake, if you prefer, Mr Don't-steal-my-name-or-else. You were Nightwing by this point, remember? Anyway, Tim was out on patrol, and someone cut his grappling line. You said about your parents falling from their trapeze, right? Pretty much the same thing happened to Tim, only he fell a lot further. Absolutely splattered on the sidewalk, poor kid."
Robin winced, remembering his parents lying crumpled in a pool of their own blood on the ring floor. It had been awful to look at, but at least they hadn't been splattered…
"Mad Mod and Mumbo were shot like Talia and Selina," Terra went on. "Pretty much exactly the same thing… Harvey and Nygma were shot too. Bruce sent Two-Face and the Riddler around the clubs and stuff to get some information. The gangsters shot the pair of them; we were public enemies by then, Robin, because Slade's commandos used to tear the place apart looking for us."
"I know," Robin replied dryly, and he briefly recounted the whole reason he was in the church in the first place – he had been running for his life from Chester Lambini and fifty-odd other gangsters.
"He was trying to talk me into selling the clock by telling me I could buy drugs and go to prostitutes with the money," he finished in disgust.
"Robin, there are boys your age out there in Gotham who are prostitutes," Terra informed him flatly. She smiled slightly at his expression. "Robin, people are desperate. The only reason people stay in Gotham is because everywhere else is just as bad – they might as well stay here. People will do anything for a few bucks, and I mean anything. The only reason we didn't starve was because Bruce is filthy rich. It's like the old days, you know, where the high-powered people have loads of money, and everyone else has nothing. Think about it; if you lived in Gotham now, exactly the way you are – sixteen, or however old you are – and you didn't know Bruce, how else would you get money?"
"There is no way in hell I would ever be a prostitute!" Robin snapped obtusely.
"What else then?" Terra pressed. "Crime? Slade has destroyed everything, Robin, even democracy. The only way to get money is to be a drug-lord or whatever, or prostitution. You have to give people what they want, and in this day and age, where everything has gone to hell, all people really want is an escape. Sex and drugs are the only way to get out of this rat-infested hell-hole, even if it's only for a little while. If you had taken Chester Lambini's money, as soon as you walked out of that bar, there'd have been drug-pushers and prostitutes – both sexes – pouncing on you. Hell…" Terra snorted as though she was amused, but she clearly wasn't, "you'd have had heroin dealers injecting your vein while you were busy trying to bat off the prostitutes already unbuckling your belt. That's how desperate people are, Robin."
She studied him for a second; he'd seen Gotham the way it was now with his own eyes, yet he still seemed disbelieving.
"Well, think about Jump City for a second," she said slowly. "The way it is in your time. Ever been pounced on by a prostitute?"
Robin seemed to consider that for a second.
"Well… a group of girls asked me for an autograph once," he said thoughtfully. "And then, of course, there was Kitten…"
"But no-one practically dragging you down a dark, filthy back-alley with the intent of fucking your brains out to get your money."
"Well, Kitten-"
"Was not a prostitute," Terra finished flatly. "Whatever you'd like to believe," she added as he opened his mouth again.
"Ok, I guess not," Robin muttered grudgingly. "I still hate her though…"
"Well, people are seriously desperate, Robin. They need money, they need shelter and food and water… Gotham's kind of overcrowded, seeing as everyone who survived from Jump City came here. And that's what Batman's Titans were about – fighting for everything that people had lost to Slade and his rule. But…" She sighed deeply. "…One by one we were cut down. Pallais – or Aqualad, as you know him – went after Harvey and Nygma. His was a… strange death…"
"Strange?" Robin repeated, glad that the conversation had shifted from the topic of prostitution.
Terra nodded.
"Someone found out where Garth was living," she whispered. "We never all lived together, you see; we figured it was safer if we were all spread out. Of course, Harley and Ivy stuck together, and Bruce and Dick and Babs and Tim and Clark all used to stick around Wayne Manor, before it got wrecked. The BatCave always stayed intact though, and after that Bruce and Dick just used to sleep on the floor in there. I always lived in here, and Roy – Speedy, or Arsenal – used to share an abandoned pad with Garth. There was a big pool in there for Garth, with an oxygen pump…" Terra giggled. "The guy had gills, for petesakes…" Her expression saddened again. "But, like I said… someone figured out where Roy and Garth lived, and they replaced the oxygen in Garth's pump with… carbon monoxide…"
"No," Robin whispered.
"Yes." Terra nodded, tears streaming down her face now. "Took him about half an hour to die, we reckon. He didn't even realise he was being poisoned… until he suddenly just collapsed in the water and sank to the bottom. He was the only one home, Roy didn't find him until about two hours later… by then it was too late; he was already dead…"
"And you never found out who did it?" Robin asked.
Terra declined her head.
"No. I wish we had've; I'd gladly have killed the bastard…"
"That still leaves Speedy," Robin pointed out. "And Nightwing. Me."
"Roy is another of us who refuses to bite the big one," Terra said complacently. "There's only Bruce, Roy and I left."
Robin blinked.
"So, I… I mean, Nightwing, is…?"
Terra bowed her blonde head sadly.
"He was the last to die," she explained, her voice catching. "He died about three years ago."
"How?" Robin asked weakly. Perhaps it was arrogance, but for some reason he had expected his future-self to be still alive.
Terra was silent for a very long time.
"Slade," she said finally, her voice so quiet Robin could barely hear it. "Slade killed you. I mean, him. Slade killed Nightwing."
Robin stared at her.
"Slade?" He repeated eventually, his throat dry; he felt like he had been sucker-punched in the stomach.
Terra gazed at him and felt desperately sorry for him. It must have been bad enough for him to hear that in this future, he was dead, that he hadn't been able to "cut it"… To be told that he had died at the hands of his despised arch-nemesis… she couldn't understand how he truly felt.
But she could imagine.
"How?" Robin demanded, getting to his feet, his gloved fists clenched. "Tell me how!"
"Robin, calm down," Terra said softly. "Sit down and stop raising your voice, and I'll tell you. I know this must be difficult for you to hear…"
"Difficult?" Robin laughed bitterly. "Oh no, it's not hard at all, being told your enemy is going to kill you, being told that-"
"Robin, sit down!" Terra snapped, losing her patience. Her blue eyes glowed yellow from behind the thick curtain of blonde hair and a piece of broken stone from the cracked floor rose up at her command, catching the backs of his knees and causing him to crumple.
"Thankyou," Terra said quietly as he righted himself and sat back again, slightly disgruntled.
"Ok, I'm listening," he muttered irritably. "Just tell me…"
"Like I said, it was about three years ago," Terra said calmly, picking up her cup of coffee and taking a sip. "By then it was only Arsenal, Batman, Nightwing and I left of the reformed Titans. Dick got a lead on Slade, said he knew where to find him. So we all got together, planned an assault together, worked out every single detail perfectly together… we really thought it was going to work, Robin."
"And didn't it?" Robin asked softly.
"Well, no, that's the thing; it did," Terra replied pensively. "Roy and I took care of the security and the robot commandos no problem, while Bruce and Dick went straight to the heart after Slade. They found him easily, Bruce said, and started a two-on-one fight with him. But… I don't know how it happened, and neither does Bruce, but Slade managed to knock Batman aside. He fell into a stack of metal cases or something, he said, and they all collapsed on top of him and he got trapped. While he was trying to get free Dick carried on fighting, and he was winning, Robin, he really was. Bruce thought Nightwing had it nailed, but then…"
"But then what?" Robin pressed, leaning forwards.
"Bruce said Slade managed to get a hit in, a really powerful one, and it floored Dick. But Slade didn't fight fair, he didn't wait for Dick to get up again. He simply pulled out this gun, right, one he had hidden away in his belt, and he just emptied it into Nightwing. He shot him to bits, and Bruce had to watch. He said…" Terra put her head in her hands. "He said Slade just wouldn't stop firing until he was out of bullets, and he had to watch him killing him."
"But…" Robin was lost for words. As much as he despised Slade, he could say that the guy did at least fight fair – sort of.
He never used guns.
"I don't understand," Robin said finally, his voice hushed. "That doesn't seem like the kind of thing Slade would do…"
"Believe it, Robin, and believe it fast," Terra replied coldly. "Slade has never cared for Fighter's Honour, believe me. He killed Dick because he was going to win, end of story. Nightwing was a threat, so he disposed of him. That's the way Slade is, although I don't think he ever realised you would pose such a threat to him. I actually think he was more worried about Batman and Superman."
"What did Batman do?"
"He freed himself up while Slade was distracted shooting Nightwing, and then decked him from behind. Slade got him though, too. He shot him in the leg. It weakened Batman, he couldn't win, so he just beat Slade near-unconscious and then got the hell out of there, carrying Nightwing's body. He met us outside and we just went back to the Batcave. After that… well, we buried Dick next to Tim and Alfred and the others – you know, except for Babs and the others we never found – and we were going to try and get on. But… we couldn't, Robin. We couldn't do it without Nightwing. It was just one loss too many…"
Terra sighed heavily, gazing at Robin sadly.
"So we quit," she said simply. "We disbanded the Titans. We admitted defeat and packed it in. Bruce, Roy and I still all keep in touch – you know, we go and see each other and stuff. But we don't fight anymore. We just can't win. And Bruce…" Terra buried her face in her hands.
"What about Bruce?" Robin questioned tersely; he was still in shock from being told that his future-self had been shot to shreds about three years ago.
"Bruce just…" Robin could hear the earth-mover's choking sobs clearly now. "Bruce couldn't take it, he couldn't take another loss. First his parents, then that Jason Todd kid, then Alfred, then Babs, then Tim… all he had left was Dick. And he had to watch Slade gun him down, just as he watched his own parents being shot… he seriously couldn't handle it. It utterly flipped him out…"
"What do you mean, "flipped him out"?" Robin asked warily.
Terra looked up at him, wiping her face on one of her gloves.
"I mean Bruce went mad, Robin," she replied softly. "He's a serious loony. Well, sometimes. He just stays locked up in the BatCave all day and all night, he never, ever goes outside, he just fools around with the computer and his gadgets… and that's on a good day. If you're lucky he'll remember who he is and who you are, although he can be very moody and you have to watch what you say in case you depress him or get him angry."
"And on a bad day?" Robin questioned faintly.
Terra looked as though she was going to cry again.
"On a bad day… he can't remember his own name, he doesn't know where he is, you can't get any sense out of him, he'll talk to people that aren't really there… oh, Robin, it's awful! I hate to see him this way, but there's nothing we can do. The grief and pain simply overloaded him and shattered his sanity. I mean, some days he's ok, though he'll throw a tantrum if you mention Barbara or Alfred or Dick or anyone. He's alright, really, he'll wander around the BatCave and he'll do research on the computer and seem pretty much normal… but then you might come back the next day and he'll attack you because he thinks you're a mad stalker, or he'll cower in the shadows from you because he perceives you as a monster; one time Roy and I went to see him and he thought he was a bat. I mean, he really did think he was a bat, Robin. He was running around flapping his cape and screeching, unsettling all of the bats roosting in the crevices so that they all flew around him."
The thought of Batman skipping around in circles thinking he really was a bat almost made Robin smile, but it was not a humorous perception. Bruce had been driven to insanity by Slade, by intolerable loss and grief; his brain had simply shut down its logical thinking rather than enduring the suffering.
"If he doesn't go outside, how does he get food?" Robin queried, biting back his fury directed at Slade.
"Roy," Terra replied. "Roy owns a club in Downtown Gotham, mostly to keep an eye on things down there, and he obviously has licensing for food and drink. He always orders extra, some for himself, some for me, and some for Bruce. Either he'll take it to the BatCave for him, or I will. Sometimes we go together."
"You have to take me to see Bruce," Robin said firmly. "Please, Terra, you have to. I have to see him!"
Terra frowned.
"I'm not so sure that's a very good-"
"I have to see him!" Robin repeated earnestly, interrupting her. "Please, Terra, please…"
"Alright, alright," Terra sighed. "Tomorrow, okay? Which reminds me, we ought to see about finding you something to sleep on. You need to get some rest."
"In a second, Terra," Robin said quickly, fanning his hands at her in a gesture for her to sit back down again; she had been getting up.
Terra raised her eyebrows at him.
"Listen, squirt," she said sharply, "don't think you can turn up in this time and start bossing me around the way you used to when we were Teen Titans. You aren't leading me anymore, and besides, I'm fifteen years older than you now, so I'm the one making the rules, ok?"
"Okay, fine," Robin agreed, distracted. "It's just that… I hadn't finished asking you questions."
"With all due respect, Robin," Terra replied patiently, "I'm kinda sick of answering questions right now. Can't it wait until the morning?"
"No," Robin said firmly. "We have to talk about… the prophecy and stuff."
Terra blinked at him.
"You know," she said finally, her voice weak," I'd almost forgotten all about that…"
"Well, I haven't," Robin replied irritably. "I'm the freakin' Avenger, aren't I?" He peered very hard at Terra. "That's why he did it, isn't it? That's why he killed the Teen Titans, and that's why he took over the cities and killed all of the new Titans, and that's why he shot Nightwing – because in this time, Nightwing was the Avenger, because he's me."
Terra nodded slowly.
"Yes, I… Robin, we never talked about it, you know. Nightwing just… as far as he was concerned, he…" Terra sighed and trailed off. "It's complicated. We were just so busy trying to stop Slade from taking over everything without the power of the Orb of Azarath, we just… kind of forgot all about it."
"But you helped him," Robin whispered. "In my time, only last week I was in Azarath having a demon exorcised from me. And you helped put it there."
"I also helped to get it out of you again," Terra reminded him wearily. "Robin, I understand that you find it very… important – Dick always did, when he was… well, your age, if that makes any sense. But when he got older, when we reformed the Titans… we had other things to worry about. Slade was a threat even without the orb's power."
"And what about Slade himself?" Robin pressed. "Did he forget about it?"
Terra snorted.
"Are you kidding? He's been obsessing about that stupid prophecy for fifteen years."
"And he still hasn't fulfilled it?" Robin asked incredulously.
"Nope."
"But he killed the Avenger!" Robin burst out. "He killed me… well, Nightwing!"
"Yes, but he never found the key," Terra said calmly. "When I was working for him he used to send me and Cinderblock and Plasmus and Overload out on expeditions to find it, but every time we came back empty-handed. He scoured archives, read all these dusty old books like the ones Raven used to read, he tore museums and excavation sites apart, but he didn't ever, ever find it. I think he's still hunting for it even now, but I don't think he'll find it. Still, you have to give him ten out of ten for persistence, I suppose…"
"And I… I mean, Nightwing… just let it go?" Robin asked sceptically. "After everything that Slade had done in the name of that prophecy? After he… raped him, and put a demon into him, and killed his friends?..."
"He didn't ever forgive Slade, Robin," Terra said softly. "He despised Slade with every singe fibre in his body; I don't think I've ever come across a hatred so terrible and strong as Nightwing's was for Slade. But he just stopped caring about the prophecy, probably because he knew that even if Slade managed to kill him, he'd never find the key."
"Why? Did… did Nightwing know what the key was?" Robin asked excitedly, twisting the Blood Diamond's chain around his finger. "Did he know where it was? Do you, Terra?"
Terra laughed slightly.
"Don't be dumb; Dick was as clueless as Slade was."
"And what if Slade had found the key?" Robin pointed out scathingly.
"Then I wouldn't be here telling you this," Terra replied pleasantly.
Robin sighed and leaned back, enjoying the heat from the fire.
"Everything is just so screwed up," he murmured. "Well, I guess the baby didn't survive, at least…"
He heard Terra choking on her piece of bread and looked up at her again.
"You okay?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Baby?" Terra repeated in a strangled voice, her face white.
Robin felt himself flush red.
"Oh, yeah… see, in Azarath… okay, long story. Basically, I got Raven pregnant."
Terra stared at him, her blue eyes wide. Finally;
"Raven?"
Robin raised his eyebrows.
"What, you were expecting it to be Starfire instead?"
Terra stared at him still. After a very long time she shook her head very slowly.
"You were right, Robin," she said softly. "Everything is screwed up."
"Yeah? How?"
"Because in this time, it wasn't Raven you got pregnant."
Now Robin stared at her.
"What, I got someone else pregnant?" He asked eventually, his voice weak.
Ok, mental note; use contraception…
"Yeah," Terra murmured. "See, in this time, you and Raven… were never, ever… you know, together or anything. It was Star you liked, it was always Starfire; you barely looked in Raven's direction. This is when we were Teen Titans together, I can remember that it was always you and Starfire, never you and Raven."
"So… it was Star in this time?" Robin asked. "I got Star pregnant?"
Terra shook her head.
"No. She died, Robin, remember?"
"Yeah, but Raven's dead, and she's pregnant with my child," Robin pointed out. "You know, in my time."
"It wasn't Star."
Robin frowned.
"Okay… Barbara, then? Batgirl, right? You said Nightwing and Bat-"
"No, it wasn't Babs, either. Although it was a small wonder," she added darkly. "They used to go up on rooftops and I don't think they ever once used a con-"
"Okay, thankyou, Terra," Robin interrupted flatly. "That was something I could seriously have done without knowing…"
Again with the contraception thing… and no rooftops, ever.
"So if it wasn't Babs, and it wasn't Star, and it wasn't Raven…" Robin trailed off and scratched his hair, not enjoying this guessing-game. A horrible thought struck him. "Eww… it wasn't Ivy, was it?..."
"Robin, you'd probably have died if you tried it on with Ivy. If her spit is poisonous, I'd hate to see what would happen to the unfortunate guy who "got lucky"."
"Good point…"
"Alright, Robin, if you must know, in this time… the person you… I mean, Nightwing, impregnated… was me," Terra said softly.
"You?" Robin stared at her, gobsmacked. "You mean… you and me… I mean, the older me, actually…?"
Terra sighed and shook her head.
"No, Robin, it wasn't quite as simple as that. Dick and I, we… never had those kind of feelings for each other. Dick had loved Starfire and then Barbara, and I… had always loved Beast Boy."
"Then why on earth did you-"
"I think I should explain it to you properly," Terra interrupted him quietly. "You need to understand this, because in your time, things… well, seem to be slightly different…"
Robin nodded and sat back, picking up his coffee and showing her that he was listening.
"I can still remember it so clearly," Terra murmured, almost to herself. "It was the night before we were set to launch the assault on Slade. The night before Nightwing died…
Next chapter… opens with a flashback to that "heart-warming" little scene.
Please understand, I am not a RobinxTerra shipper. There is a bond between them, but it is a twisted one of similarity and understanding, not sexual attraction. I only like Terra with one person, and that person is Beast Boy. And as I mentioned at the end of Black Magic one of the pairings in this fic is Beast BoyxTerra. It's not particularly explicit, since Terra is working for Slade, but it is definitely in there.
But I have really pressed down on the Robin/Terra bond in this – and the reason for the NightwingxTerra-ness is because it seems to them that it is the only way they can communicate their mutual sorrow to each other. There is no – I repeat, NO – RobinxTerra in this. Not with younger Terra, and definitely not with this Terra.
Ew, how wrong would that be…?
Nope, the pairings in this fic are; RobinxRaven (main), RobinxStarfire, Beast BoyxTerra, one-sided (older) Speedyx(older) Terra (yes, he's here soon, and you read that right!), one-sided SethxRaven (heh heh heh…) and MarcusxJonathon.
And as usual, poor Cyborg gets left out. But this isn't really a romance fic, so there's no point with putting him with someone for the sake of it. Plus this is set before Season 3, so Jinx/Bumble Bee are not an option.
Not that I would ever use Jinx anyway. I haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate her…
As for Aqualad's older self… I am not sure what he is called, so I used Pallais. This is because he mentioned this name in the Who Was Donna Troy? comic printed in the aftermath of her death at the hands of the Superman robot in 2003. It never mentions his superhero name (he is only referred to as Garth despite being in uniform) but he says "Pallais help us, what do we do now?" or something like that to Wally West. Soooooo… yeah, that's why he is named Pallais.
And in light of this… I drew a picture of Batman's Titans for y'all! You can find it on the DeviantART account shared by Narroch and myself, Avenger of the Abyss, to which there is a link in my profile. The picture will be the newest one on there, so it shouldn't be difficult to locate. Please bear in mind it is over a year and a half old (yes, Remember the Titans is that old – I started writing it when I was 16. I am now 18… O.o) so the colours have gone a bit weird… The only one not on there is Superman. That is because there wasn't enough room for them all so I left Superman off because he would take up more room and because he is not a Batman/Batman related character. I am not too great at drawing him either. But nothing personal, Supes! I do like him, he just isn't on there… Aqualad/Pallais' costume is copied from the Who Was Donna Troy? comic.
Anyway, TTYS! Happy birthday to YamiTai!
RobinRocks xXx