Song: Bullet
Artist: Hollywood Undead
Lyrics in Italics.
Robin sat at his computer, looking for deals on wedding cakes for Jinx and Wally while Jericho tried to talk Bruce into giving them some money for a ring. He was happy to have something to do besides sitting around all day in the darkness of his room. He would have gone to the book store to see Anny, but when he had called her she said she had too much school work to go. She had sounded a little stressed out; he assumed it was because of her school work.
As he was scrolling through the hundreds of different wedding cakes Jericho walked into the room with a triumphant grin spread across is face.
"You get the money," Robin asked, not turning around to see the look on Jericho's face. He then found his chair being spun around to face the curly haired boy. He noticed the neat stack of bills in the blond kids hand and smiled.
"So how much did he give you?"
"Three thousand dollars," Jericho signed excitedly, doing a little happy dance. Robin was quite impressed; Bruce usually didn't give amounts that large unless it was for a charity.
"How'd you get that much," Robin asked, now curious. Jericho smiled innocently; rocking back and forth on his heals a little.
"I might have threatened to tell the Justice League about how bad I kicked his butt on you Mortal Kombat game." Robin sighed, the little bit of Slade in Joey was only ever used when he was getting stuff like money to buy this ring. It was bad to black mail, but it was used for a good cause. Oh the grayness that consumed him. If Superman knew about Jericho's dad, well, he didn't want to know what would happen.
"So I guess the question now is simple, what ring are you going to buy?" This was probably one of the most important questions of any mans life, especially Jericho's. Buying a wedding ring is a very important job that takes some people months, because depending on the ring, you may or may not be getting married. So if Jericho was to get the wrong ring, then he would not be getting married. Plus he would have to work with Kole for the rest of his life.
"This one." Jericho showed him a picture of a blue diamond set into a silver band that was incrusted with smaller pink diamonds. Robin could already tell that was the perfect ring, no questions asked. Then he noticed the price next to it.
"You know that's going to take up all of our budget, as in no special way to ask her." Jericho shrugged.
"Look, Kole and I have been going out for a few years and she knows sign language. If I'm going to ask her to marry me then I want it to be just me to ask her, not with a fancy elaborate set up, but just me. Does that make sense Robin?" It made perfect sense to him. Jericho didn't want to hide behind lights and jellybeans, he didn't want to feel like he tricked Kole into saying yes with a large set up; he just wanted it to be him. Plain old, perfect Jericho asking the question.
"I get it buddy. You go get the ring and the girl, I got work to do." Jericho nodded and turned to leave before turning back around and hugging Robin.
"Thanks for letting me stay here. You helped me a lot with the whole Kole thing; I hope you find love some day. I won't be coming back, by the way. I'm going back to Jump to help out the gang, and ask Kole the question." With a smile Jericho left, leaving Robin completely alone. He sighed
"I hope I can keep love some day Jericho, I hope I can keep it." Before going back to work on the cake.
…...
My legs are dangling of the edge,
The Bottom of the bottle is my only friend,
I think I'll slit my wrists again and I'm gone gone gone gone.
My legs are dangling of the edge,
A stomach full of pills didn't work again,
I'll put a bullet in my head and I'm gone gone gone gone.
Anny was where she always was when she needed to clear her head, sitting on the edge of Gotham point. The cliff was about three miles south of the city, and the greatest party spot in the area. But that wasn't the reason she was here, no, not even close. She was here because she was pregnant and didn't want to be. She was here because she was not having a kid at twenty-one, and she couldn't afford a legit abortion. So now she was pondering what exactly she was going to do.
Gone to fare and yeah I'm gone again,
It's gone on too long, let me tell you how it ends,
I'm sitting on the edge with my two best friends,
Ones a bottle of pills and ones a bottle of gin.
I'm twenty stories up, yeah up at the top,
I'll polish of this bottle, now it's pushing me off.
Asphalt to me has never looked so soft.
She took another drink of her vodka, finishing the bottle off, and then reaching for the next bottle. Maybe, she thought, maybe I can get drunk enough it will die and then I can get rid of it without Robin knowing. She chugged the vodka as fast as she could, finishing off that bottle as well. She tossed it over with the other six, sitting there not knowing where she was anymore. She was suddenly scared because she could no longer feel her legs, then she remembered they were hanging of the edge of the cliff. She knew she was not drunk enough, curse her high alcohol tolerance. But she was still prepared, and pulled bottle of valumes out of her jacket pocket.
"Prescription strength muscle relaxer, a single pill could knock a sumo wrestler out," she mumbled softly to herself before twisting the top off. She popped all fifteen of them into her mouth and swallowed, hoping the baby would just die. Sitting there for fifteen minutes Anny felt herself getting drowsy, but not falling asleep. She finally pulled a pocket knife out of her shoe. She stared at the sharpness of the blade, wondering for a second why she had grabbed it, but then she remembered, she wanted to die. Slowly she lifted it to her wrist and made a long deep cut, enjoying the distant sensation of pain as her blood spilled across her arm and onto the ground. Before she could slit her other wrist she passed out, embracing the darkness with open arms.
…
I bet my momma found my letter, now she's calling the cops,
I gota take this opportunity before I miss it,
'Cause now I hear the sirens and they're off in the distance.
Harley was driving like a mad woman, speeding twenty miles over the limit down the highway, bobbing and weaving through traffic. Her mind was on one person, Anny. She had been to her apartment to take her out for some girl time only to find an envelope taped to her door that said "For Harley," next to a couple other ones made out to other people. Inside the letter it told Harley exactly what had happened and what had lead to that point. As soon as Harley had finished the letter she knew exactly where Anny would go to do it, the cliff. So now she had to get there before Anny died.
"Don't worry Anny, I'm on my way. Your going to be ok," she whispered to her self, taking a the sharp turn that lead to the cliff.
…
Believe me when I tell you I've been persistent,
'Cause I'm more scarred, more scarred than my wrist is.
I've been trying too long, with too dull of a knife,
But tonight I made sure I sharpened it twice.
I never bought a suit before in my life,
But when you go to meet God, you know you wana look nice.
Anny was dreaming now. She was dreaming about the past three days, the past three days of hell. Three days ago she had found out she was pregnant, so she had come to the cliff to think. She had decided to not see Robin until she had figured out how to get rid of the baby without him knowing. She had called him and told him she was going to be swamped with school work for a while. After that she had gone to the abortion clinic to find out exactly how much it cost. It was too much for her to afford, so she just went home in distress.
On day two she went back down to the trailer parks of her youth to find an ill legit abortion clinic, only to find it cost more. So she decided to cause it herself and went partying. She found herself getting drunk, but something inside her made her stop short. So she went home, missing her class, and spent the rest of the day thinking while music blared in the back ground. That turned out to be the wrong thin to do all day, because she kept thinking of the worse outcomes, so she knew one way to get rid of the baby. She ended up sleeping on that idea after cutting her arms, a habit she had picked up in high school, and made it better, or worse depending on how you look at it.
And then this morning she took every single dollar she had in her house and bought more vodka than any one person should consume in a week, and more pills than any sane doctor would prescribe. Of course when you get them illegally you can get that much. She had the knife in her shoe incase someone attacked her while she bought the pills since the dealer was known to be a little shady. Then she had driven to the cliff, her favorite spot in the whole world, and then things had spiraled out of control.
She didn't really want to die, that was the vodka and pills talking. Why had she slit her wrists? Why was she trying to take her life? Because she was distressed, worried, and willing to take drastic measures, and those three things together can lead to bad things happening. In this case, Anny was going to die an unwanted death.
So if I survive then I'll see you tomorrow, yeah I'll see you tomorrow.
Harley drove as far up the cliff as possible before getting out and running to the edge. When she got there she found Anny, dressed up in her party out fit, lying in a pool of her own blood. Knowing an ambulance wouldn't get here in time Harley picked her up and carried her over to her car and laid her in the back seat. She then proceeded to rush as fast as she could to a hospital, hoping beyond all faith that she survived.
…
My legs are dangling of the edge,
The bottom of the bottle is my only friend,
I think I'll slit my wrists again and I'm gone gone gone gone.
My legs are dangling of the edge,
A stomach full of pills didn't work again,
I'll put a bullet in my head and I'm gone gone gone gone
Robin was napping after having found the perfect cake fore Jinx and KF's wedding. He hadn't had a nightmare all week while Jericho was her, and he hoped that would continue. Of course he wouldn't get that lucky, because he got probably the worst one of all.
(Begin dream)
Robin was back in Jump, Raven and Starfire were still alive, and he was drinking again. He was sitting on the top of their apartment building with a bottle of whiskey in his hand. He went to take another swig only to find it was empty. Disgusted by the thought of an empty bottle he smashed it, leaving the jagged pieces of glass everywhere.
We hit the sky, there goes the light, no more sun, why's it always night?
When you can't sleep, well, you can't dream,
When you can't dream, well, what's life mean?
We feel pity, but don't empathize
The old are getting older watch a young man die.
Robin looked out at the lights of Jumps night life. He knew that people were being hurt right now, and he was powerless to stop it. SAW had taken his strength, his will. He could no longer sleep without whiskey, because without it he would dream. He would relive the nightmare of Beast Boy and Cyborg's deaths, and how he was the cause of it. He wondered, would the city be safer if he was dead? If he was dead would SAW leave his city and friends alone?
A mother and a son and someone you know, smile at each other and realize you don't,
You don't know what happened to that kid you raised,
What happened to the father who swore he'd stay?
I don't know 'cause you didn't say,
Now momma feels guilt, yeah momma feels pain,
Robin was thinking, where had his life gone wrong? What had lead him to this point? The answer was really simple, when his parents had died. If that had never happened then he never would have been in the gang, he never would have met or "betrayed" SAW, and he would have never had to worry about his friends dying.
Of course after that Bruce and Alfred had been his family, and yet Batman had pushed him away. Bruce slowly began to be Batman more and more until one day he was gone, and Batman was all that was left. Alfred tried to help, tried to bring Bruce back, but it was all in vain because Batman drove him away. Batman drove him to Jump, and to all his problems.
When you were young, you never thought you'd die,
Found that you could but to scared to try,
You looked in the mirror and you said goodbye,
Climbed to the roof to see if you could fly.
Robin looked over the edge of the building, staring down twenty stories to the ground below. He knew what had to be done, what he needed to do to save his friends and city. It was something he defied as a kid on the high wire and trapeze, and something he was embracing now.
"Fly little Robin, fly," he mumbled to himself before jumping off the edge.
(End Dream)
So if I survive then I'll see you tomorrow, yeah I'll see you tomorrow.
Robin woke, feeling the icy sweat rolling down his face. He woke up like this every time he had a nightmare, and he hated it. The feeling of being drenched in his own sweat felt too much like being covered in his own blood; which corresponded with almost all of his dreams. But this was all his faulty, and he probably deserved it. But hey, at least he was still alive, for now.
Oh I wish that I could fly, way up in the sky,
Like a bird so high.
Oh I might just try.
I wish that I could fly, way up in the sky,
Like a bird so high,
Oh I might just try,
Oh I might just try…