Robin was sitting in his room thinking of the day's previous events. He shouldn't have let himself be so easily challenged by Slade, he berated himself. As he sat there, deep in his own thoughts there was a knock at the door.
Robin composed himself and schooled his features before standing up and making his way to the door. The door slid open to reveal Raven standing alone in the quiet, dark corridor.
"We need to talk." Raven stated, cutting to the chase. Robin moved out of the doorway and indicated for Raven to enter. The door shot behind her. They both stood awkwardly in his room. Neither was really sure what to say.
Finally, after a minute of uncomfortable silence, Raven spoke.
"I saw all you thoughts, your history." Raven stated.
"I know." Was Robin's only response.
"I saw about how you and Batman split up, I saw you getting bullied and I saw you saying an oath." Raven clarified to no one's advantage.
"I know." Robin said again.
"Why haven't you talked to Batman since?" She asked. There was silence and Raven felt a quell of emotions coming from Robin. She could feel how he tried to enlarge his anger and hatred and was failing.
"I know you're going to try and lie to me." Raven stated bluntly. Robin opened his mouth to protest but Raven held up a hand to silence him. "You don't hate him, you are barely angry at him. You're scared that he will reject you. I get that. I can't say this has happened to me, my dad's a demon but your dad –" she stopped Robin protesting again "- obviously cares for you. I couldn't feel his emotions like I could feel yours but while your mind was clouded with emotions and judgement I saw each scene from an outside perspective. I saw the hurt he tried to hide. I saw the pain you both felt. And I can see the egos that are stopping you from talking to each other."
Robin finally closed his mouth. He didn't know what to say. He knew Raven spoke the truth and there was absolutely no point trying to argue.
"I – " Robin's voice had cracked slightly so he coughed quickly to regain composure, "I don't know what to say to him."
Raven suddenly looked guilty. The emotion was only there for a brief second before she effectively hid it but Robin saw.
"Raven." Robin said nervously, "What have you done?"
Now it was Raven's turn to be uncertain and to want to protest. Instead, she composed herself and looked Robin in the eye.
"I knew you wouldn't contact him yourself, at least, not for awhile... I decided to intervene." Raven said. To anyone else she looked confident but Robin could see the slight shiver of her cloak as her hands fidgeted nervously underneath.
Robin stood there in horror for few seconds before finally coming back to reality.
"When does he get here?" Robin asked quietly.
Just then there was a quiet knock on the door.
"Robin?" Beastboy's voice sounded nervous on the other side of the door. "Um... you might want to come to the living room."
Robin stared wide eyed at Raven for a second. Raven raised her arms in defence.
"I did not expect him to get here that fast." Raven said.
Robin gave a shaky nod and walked to the door. It slid open to show Beastboy with his arm raised ready to knock again while looking in the direction of the living room.
"Tell our guest I'll be there in a moment." Robin said. Beastboy hadn't noticed the door open, he was not paying any attention. He jumped so high he turn into a cat that stuck to the ceiling because of his claws. His fur, tail and body were erect as he clung upside down and he hissed. After a moment to get of the initial shock, and because part of the ceiling gave way, Beastboy fell to the floor and transformed back into his normal self.
"Su – sure." Beastboy said as he dusted himself off. Robin went back in his room and looked at Raven. The look said it all.
"I'll wait for you in the living room." She said. Robin gave a thankful nod, shut his eyes and waited until he heard the door slide shut behind her.
Robin breathed in and out deeply a few times and collected his thoughts. Once he was confident that his legs wouldn't collapse on him while making his way to the living room he left his bedroom and headed to meet his past.
Robin stepped into the living room and noticed the eerie silence. He hid a smirk. Just how Bruce likes it, he thought to himself. Robin then inspected the room around him and saw his team mates sitting uncomfortably on the sofa. Well, his teammates minus Raven. She seemed to enjoy the quiet and took this time to meditate. Beastboy and Cyborg, however, were squirming in their seats. Even Starfire was quiet and looked uncomfortable. Those three were all looking towards the kitchen area. There, surprisingly in a lit part of the room, stood the Caped Crusader.
Robin looked back and forth between his previous mentor and his team.
"I was called." Batman said in a harsh voice. Well, to his team it sounded harsh, Robin knew that was just how Bruce spoke when he donned the mask. He loved making situations awkward and uncomfortable. Finally, Raven opened her eyes.
"I called you." She stated. To everyone around she looked confident and in control, that was because she was. Her quivering teammates were scared of the intimidating figure in the room. Her fearless leader was all but shaking in his boots and the Dark Knight was no better off. Batman glared at her but Raven ignored it. The glare sent Beastboy, Cyborg and Starfire fleeing from the room.
"You two need to talk." She continued. "I've been in his head," she pointed to Robin, "and I can feel both of your emotions. Skirting around this issue is not going to resolve itself. Neither of you is angry at the other for the reasons you presume. Both of you forgave each other. Both of you are hurt!"
The emotions in the room suddenly changed. Now both males were confused. How could the other not be angry at him? Raven had to fight the urge to role her eyes.
"I'm going to leave the room and let you two discuss what's happened. If I hear raised voices or negative emotions I will come back in and summon the might of asarath so beware" Raven concluded before leaving the two other occupants behind.
"Um..." Robin said after a very long awkward silence. "Hi."
In his head Robin was hitting himself for being an idiot. Hi? He thought to himself, Is that all I can say?
On the other hand, Batman was trying hard not to smirk. Robin was just as awkward in tense situations, just better at hiding it from those who didn't know him.
"I guess we should start talking." Batman said in his monotone voice.
"Yeah, Raven gets scary when she's mad." Robin muttered and then quickly looked back to the doorway in case she was hiding there.
Robin then turned back to Batman and gave a slight scowl.
"And take of the damn cowl Bruce. And drop the voice." Robin said in an annoyed voice.
This time Batman did smirk slightly. Only one person ever told him what to do and that was an old butler. Now he was being ordered around by a teen. If the boy scout in blue heard about this he would never hear the end of it.
Batman did as commanded and transformed into billionaire Bruce Wayne in just a slight movement. Robin took off his mask and became Richard Grayson once more, with bright blue eyes that stared right at his adoptive father.
"So what does Raven mean that you're not angry?" Richard questioned quietly.
Bruce took a deep breath. Thought about his response and then looked the boy in the eyes.
"When you left, I wanted to be angry at you. Even when you were shouting at me I wanted to be angry but I couldn't." Bruce answered honestly. He collapsed on one of the kitchen stools. "I finally started believing that you had abandoned me to spite me and started to get angry and, hate is a very strong word but I can't think of any other. Anyway, Alfred realised what I was doing and – um – lets just say that Batman got a black eye from an old British gentleman."
Both Richard and Bruce grinned.
"What about you?" Bruce questioned.
"I was angry at you." Richard blurted out. Bruce's face fell slightly. "I was angry at you but I was also upset. I thought you hated me or were trying to get rid of me or something. I was hurt and it seemed like you didn't even care! After I left I wanted to go back! Heck, after the words left my lips I wanted to take them back."
Richard collapsed into the nearest chair to him and fumbled with the mask in his hands.
"I sometimes would sit there with my communicator ready to press dial but I wouldn't. I couldn't." Richard said quietly.
They lapsed into a comfortable silence, enjoying each other's presence for the good part of ten minutes before either spoke. Finally, Bruce broke the silence.
"I know that this one talk doesn't make anything right." Bruce said nervously, "But I want you to know you are always welcome to come home -" he held up a hand to stop any protesting "- even if you just stay for a day. There are people back at Gotham that really miss you. And I know Alfred want to see you."
"I can work with that." Richard grinned.
"You are also to phone once a week!" Bruce ordered, he was becoming more confident and starting to smile. "And if you have a tricky case you are to contact me."
At the last line both of their smiles dropped. Richard instantly knew that Bruce was thinking about him breaking into Wayne Enterprise.
"Bru-" Richard started. Bruce held up a hand in protest.
"I don't want to know, not yet. I want to know when you're comfortable telling me and not a rushed apology because of guilt." Bruce reasoned. Richard gave him a small smile. Just then a beeping noise came from Bruce's belt. Bruce read the message and his face went stoic.
"I have to go now but we will talk later." Bruce said looking up. Both of them were sad it ended this way and so quickly but they were glad they had talked. Richard gave a nod in response that said all that needed to be said. They gave each other brief smiles and put on their masks. They were Batman and Robin again.
Batman left quickly and Robin walked contently back to his room. He passed Raven's door and heard a slight sound of movement. He stopped for a brief second.
"Thanks Raven." He said quietly. He knew she had heard. He then started heading to his room. He knew Raven was watching him walk with a small smile on her lips. Everything was going to be alright now.
I know I promised a sequel ages ago but what do people think. Is this good enough or the biggest fail you've ever seen?