Beyond the Night: Beyond the Team (Young Justice/Teen Titans fanfic)

Free Falling

"Okay. Leaving now."

Zatanna headed back towards the living quarters. All the rooms were the same, but only one already contained the boxes her father had delivered to Mount Justice earlier. The boxes contained things she'd planned to have delivered to her apartment in Gotham, an apartment he didn't know about yet. His helpful attempts felt controlling, oppressive, if not downright irritating.

She purposefully closed the door, thinking nobody would come in without knocking, and took off her shoes hoping to relax.

The sheets and pillows came out first, giving the place a homier feel. On top of her dresser she dropped the stuffed animals she'd gotten at Haley's circus. She frowned, remembering John and Dick got her the toys, but how John let his cousin present her with the stuffed toys. Dick's favorite was the elephant, possibly because on his bed sat another similar stuffed toy.

She let out a sigh, getting out another one of her prized possessions. She wondered how her father would feel, knowing she still had one of their original posters. She pulled the poster out of the tub, taking in the red and yellow stripes. The entire family stood in silhouette, flying through the sky in a color picked for some special reason John never got around telling her about.

She stretched to put the poster up, when the door opened. She startled, turning her head. Zatanna's eyes widened upon seeing Robin step in with what looked like a game. "Zatanna..."

The boy-wonder looked up, his eyes obviously widening under his mask. His mouth opened, and the game slipped from his hands, crashing loudly. A strangled sound escaped his lips, before he turned and tore down the hallway in the other direction. Zatanna sighed, wondering what exactly got into the youngest member of the team.

She set the poster down, watching it curl slightly. Stepping over, she stooped down to pick up the mess Robin left in her room. Much to her irritation, Roy followed suit by barging into her room. "Alright! What did you do to upset Robin!"

Zatanna narrowed her eyes, wishing the young man wasn't such a stick in the mud, particularly when what she saw just a few minutes ago said he was innocent of antagonizing the youngest manner. "I don't..."

"What the hell!" Roy pointed at her poster. "You're the leader of the Teen Titans!"

"What?" Her eye twitched, wondering where Roy came to that conclusion, particularly when she remembered Wonder Woman clearly saying Robin was the one to form Teen Titans.

"Seriously!" With that, he turned on his heels as well. Setting the box down rather than finishing picking up the yellow shapes, she followed after the irritating teenager, only to step on one of the yellow pegs. Zatanna's lips pushed together more from irritation than pain, before following suit, limping the first few steps. Red Arrow remained in her site, turning to look at her. "Don't follow me!"

She took a deep breath, wondering how dense this specific teen could be.

They arrived back in the lounge, where she saw Robin pacing the floor, glancing up at her. Something was off, yet she couldn't place her finger on the reason. Roy prevented her from thinking over the situation by blurting out one of the most absurd assumption ever. Pointing his finger right at her, he said, "She was the leader of the Teen Titans."

Robin let out a squeak, obviously perplexed by this comment for an obvious reason. Wally raised his hand. "So, what made you come to this conclusion?"

"Isn't this topic supposed to be off limits?" Superboy sighed.

"Well..." Kaldur looked at her, almost as if unsure about the situation.

"I am not the leader of the Teen Titans." Zatanna took a deep breath. "However, I'd like to know what your problem is with them."

"They royally messed up, so we can't trust them. Everyone knows that."

"Well, since she didn't know that, she can't be a part of the team." Robin piped up, still pacing.

"I don't trust her, and you've gotten Robin upset."

"Whatever..."

Tornado's voice boomed over the intercom system. "Team, Batman has a mission for you. He says he will debrief you once you're in the plane, but to also get into your cold weather gear."

Robin frowned. "Now?"

"Now." Roy stated, pointing a finger at Zatanna. "You're not coming."

Kid Flash whistled. "You just told the den-mother who's in charge of us not to come along and supervise. Nice going dude."

Roy's eyes blinked, his mouth opening, before slamming shut. The eighteen-year-old stormed off, glaring over his shoulder. Kid Flash sped away, while Kaldur led Superboy away to the changing rooms, explaining the need for their thermal wear. Robin started following after, when Zatanna called out. "Robin, may I speak to you for a second."

The youngest member froze, before turning to look at her. "What about?"

"The rest of the team. They don't know you were the leader of the Teen Titans."

"I don't know what you're talking about, or why you would come to that conclusion."

"Yes, you do."

"Yes, on what part?"

Wonder Woman was right about a certain someone being precious, possibly a bit too much for his own good. Zatanna folded her arms across her chest. "Robin, why does the team not know?"

The boy shuffled from one foot to another, obviously wanting to avoid the topic. "It's complicated. I don't want to talk to you right now. Could we possibly talk about this after the mission?"

"Are you sure you're okay to go on the mission?"

"Why?" The boy hissed at her. "Why would you think I wasn't?"

"Besides the fact the team doesn't know you were the leader of the Teen Titans? Best not say that." However, there was that other thing. "You and I didn't get started on the right foot." She watched him flinch. "I should not have slapped you earlier. You didn't deserve that."

"No. No, I definitely did."

"Robin."

"I'm going to go and get changed now. Bye-bye."

Zatanna took a deep breath, unsure of how to deal with the youngest member, let alone read him.

~B~

"... you're not alone." Cyborg frowned. Obviously, Robin was right now alone, yet his mind found himself struggling to understand why Robin found himself so alone. The team promised to be there for each other, and yet for some reason Cyborg knew Robin felt this way. Which was odd, as Cyborg knew they were in his head, not Robin's, but Raven was nowhere in sight. "What does that mean?"