Chapter 6

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Thaliag.2: Thanks! I'm going to try and make more of my chapters longer, I just had a lot of cliffhangers in mind.

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans, or Batman, or the Justice League, or…..yeah. :P

The first sensation he felt was pain. At first, it was just a slight throb. Then, it radiated throughout his entire body, increasing the pain by too many levels. Robin felt sharp stabs of pain in his back and in his ribs, as well as small buzzes of pain across his legs, arms, chest, and face. His unmasked eyes felt light, as though they were the only things that survived the dilemma.

He opened his heavy eyelids and saw a distorted, blurry image of the world. He heard voices calling his name, but they weren't clear enough to register in his mind. He closed his eyes tightly and reopened them, trying to focus on the outside world.

"Robin?" the voice sounded like Cyborg's. His eyes quickly adjusted to the light, and he saw that it was Cyborg, his face filled with concern. "Dude, are you okay?"

Robin nodded. "Yeah…fine." He sat up and instantly felt a sharp, stabbing pain enter his back. He grimaced, and Cyborg laid his hand on his shoulder.

"Take it easy, man, everything's okay." Cyborg reassured him, trying to force him back down. But Robin refused, pushing his arm away half-heartedly.

That's when Robin noticed; Cyborg was staring intently at his eyes. "What?' Robin asked. "What is it?"

Cyborg frowned. "Well…we kinda couldn't find your mask when we found you, so I can...y'know…see your eyes." He explained, stuttering.

Robin sighed. "Great."

He looked around at the room that he was in, and quickly noticed that he wasn't in the Tower. The room looked like a hospital, but it was deserted. A few other beds were around him, but they were all empty, and the room was disheveled.

It began to dawn on him that something was wrong. "Cyborg…what happened?" he whispered, his voice unsteady.

Cyborg sighed and began to explain. "We found you after you crashed into a building. A part of the roof fell on top of you, but it was only enough to damage your skin. Three or four of your ribs are cracked, too. And you've got cuts from the glass just about everywhere."

Robin looked at his body intently. He was wearing boxers, yes, but none of his usual clothing. He saw white bandages around his stomach and part of his chest, as well as a few bandages wrapped around his arms and legs. He could tell that there were a few scratches on his face, as well as one that would probably end up being a scar, right along his cheekbone.

"After we found you, we hightailed it out of there." Cyborg continued. "We came to this deserted hospital. The other Titans came and helped us fight after a while, but we had to hide and gather out strength. None of us were up to fighting after the long journey and the past hours-"

Suddenly, he stopped, as though he said something he shouldn't have. "How long was I out?" Robin dared to ask.

"I-I dunno, it's been a while…" Cyborg responded, rubbing his head. Robin could tell he was avoiding answering the question, and he glared at him for a moment before Cyborg finished, saying, "Forty eight hours."

"I've been out for two days?" Robin exclaimed, just about screaming. He forced himself up and tried to stand. He felt woozy for a moment, and suddenly he was on his hands and knees.

"Hey, hey!" Cyborg said, holding onto the teen's shoulder. "C'mon, man, you got hurt. You can't just wake up and expect to be able to-"

"Because I made a mistake, right?" Robin said steely. Cyborg looked at him, worried. "I didn't see the robot, I should've-" Robin felt himself almost begin to choke on the terror of the memory. It hurt, oh, God, it hurt…

"It wasn't your fault." Cyborg said, shaking Robin's shoulder. "You didn't do anything-"

"Exactly." Robin whispered. "I didn't do anything."

Cyborg shook his head. "Listen, man-"

Robin looked him in the eyes, and Cyborg finally saw it. Robin's eyes were a light blue, and in them, he saw that rough pain that he had been trying to hide all of those years. The disappointment in himself was obvious, but there was a layer of sorrow that he couldn't hide. And underneath it all, it made him seem so…innocent. Not like Robin. Not what he needed to stay strong.

Robin knew instantly that Cyborg had seen too much, so he cut off the connection, turning his eyes away slightly. Robin forced himself back up on the bed to sit with Cyborg's help. "Where's everyone else?" he asked, trying to distract Cyborg.

As if on cue, Starfire, Beastboy, and Raven walked into the room. "Robin!" Starfire cried joyously. "You have awoken!" Starfire launched forward, about to hug Robin with the most force she could, but Raven held her with her dark energy.

"If you give him one of your hugs right now, Starfire, you'll probably break the rest of his body." Raven ordered calmly, and she let go of Starfire.

"So you do have eyes!" Beastboy exclaimed, looking eagerly at the Boy Wonder without his mask.

"Shut up."

A day passed, and Robin reunited with the rest of the Titans with ease, all of them taking careful notice at his eyes besides Kid Flash and Speedy, as they had known what his eyes looked like for years. He had already shown remarkable improvement, and was able to stand without excruciating pain.

"Now what?" Robin asked. "We've got to fight back, right?"

"We already tried that, remember? And that didn't work out so well…" Beastboy pointed out, glancing at Robin for a moment, examining his injuries.

"What if we all work on one robot at a time; take them down one by one?" Robin ventured, knowing it was a long shot, but still…

"They aren't in Jump anymore, remember?" Kid Flash reminded everyone. "They moved on yesterday; they're probably halfway across the country by now."

Robin shot Kid Flash a look, and the rest of the meeting went by unsuccessfully; the only thing the Titans could agree on was the stay put until Robin was well enough to help, as he would only need a few more days to heal completely thanks to Raven's healing powers. He'd have a few scars, but they would fade with time.

After the meeting ended, Robin cornered Kid Flash. "Wally…" he began in a hushed voice, using Kid Flash's real name to signal this discussion was concerning something having to do with their pasts. "When you said they could be halfway across the country by now…do you know if they've hit Gotham yet?"

"Dick…" Wally whispered cautiously, as though afraid to answer the question.

"Well?" he asked rushingly.

Wally sighed. "They got to Gotham while you were still asleep. The whole city's deserted, including Wayne Manor." He explained.

Dick shook his head in disbelief. "A-are you sure?" he stuttered slightly, the news catching him off guard.

"Very." Wally replied, nodding. "We put a tracker on their mother ship, and Cyborg hacked Gotham's cameras. We watched them go in and come out."

"Did you see Bruce?" Dick asked, referring to the Batman, his mentor, by his real name as well.

Wally shook his head. "No, but…he could still be with Superman, or…"

"Yeah, right." Dick scoffed. "He'd have tried to contact us by now."

Silence stretched upon them. "They didn't want me to tell you." Wally whispered. "The Titans don't know you're Dick Grayson, but they know that Batman lives in Gotham. When they saw that the Joining already went through Gotham, we agreed not to tell you…so just pretend you don't know, okay?"

Dick nodded. "Okay."

Bumblebee passed by, and they shut up immediately. "What?" she said, giving Wally a strange look. He urged her on, glancing at Dick. "Oh," Bumblebee whispered, and she hurried out of the hallway.

"So, what?" Dick continued. "We wait until I'm better and tons of people have died? Not on my watch."

"What else are we supposed to do?" Wally asked.

"I don't know, Wally…" Dick whispered. "I don't know."

After the discovery of Bruce's possible demise, Robin's recovery got harder. Nightmares began to plague him; for three nights straight, he would wake up in the middle of the night, Cyborg always left to tend to him.

Although his body was recovering well (he could already do most of his martial arts moves again), his mind was not. Nightmares of Bruce's terrible end refused to let go of his mind, torturing him until he could regain consciousness. Cyborg tried to help him, but Robin refused to tell him what his nightmares were about; telling him would result in Cyborg knowing that Kid Flash had told Robin about Gotham, and everything would go haywire. So he sought someone else's advice.

He approached Raven during the fourth night of his recovery; after waking up from a nightmare which Cyborg had managed to sleep through, Robin had slipped out of the room and entered Raven's.

"Rae?" he whispered, and Raven's violet eyes stared back at him.

"What?" Raven hissed. "Some people have to wake up in the morning for strategy planning, y'know."

"Sorry, sorry…" he murmured. "It's just…I know. About Gotham and everything."

"Who told-" she stopped and closed her eyes. "Wally. Of course."

"You know about him, too?" he asked incredulously. He had already known that Raven knew who he was, as she had been in his mind before and had seen his past.

"Yeah…I have a connection to your mind, remember?" Raven explained. "I saw the memories of Wally in there, too."

Robin nodded. "It's just…I can't stop thinking about it. Is it possible that you could…y'know…" he tried to get the words to come out. "Connect to him or something? See if he's okay?"

Raven rolled her eyes. "What happened to not caring about him?"

He shrugged. "You care about things the most when they're taken away."

Raven looked at him for a moment, and she nodded. "Okay. I can try."

She closed her eyes, and Robin watched as her mind and soul transformed into a white raven and flew, faster than the speed of light, out of her room and far away. Then, moments later, it returned at the same pace, and Raven opened her eyes.

"He's there…somewhere. I couldn't latch on long enough to see where he was, or how he was doing, but…he's alive." She explained.

Robin smiled. "Thanks, Raven." He approached the door of her room, prepared to exit. "See you in the morning, I guess." Tomorrow was Robin's last day of recovery. The next day, they would begin their attack; whatever it would be.

Raven's mouth curled upward, forming a smile. "See you in the morning."

Robin went to sleep peacefully for the first time in four days.

I made this chapter longer; sorry it was a little fluffy, I had to give some time for Robin to recover. I figure next chapter will be planning, I guess, and the next chapter will be all BOOM BOOM POW POW FIGHTING YAAAAAAAAAAH!

Review, please. It keeps my sanity.