Beyond Titans (ONC Entry - Teen Titans/Young Justice Fanfic)

Nightmare

He wanted to scream.

He, a child so unafraid of the Joker that he laughed in the man's face was most definitely in that very moment afraid. Robin sat there, his jaw dropped open, his mind processing what was unfolding in front of him. Even after saying John's name out loud, he struggled with believing the person in front of him was, in fact, alive and well.

His breathing – it came in shallow breaths, while his eyes clamped shut.

Only, closing his eyes made things worse, way worse as the memory of that day swam up from the depths of his mind. A shudder ran down his spine, his mind remembering looking down on the bodies of the five other Grayson family members, the way their bodies contorted, how blood seeped out, not to mention how they moved. He remembered seeing his uncle Richard in the hospital bed – still seeing when he garnered the courage to visit the man he assumed his last living relative, but also the funeral where they – Bruce, he and Alfred – buried the other four.

His mind swam, his breath coming in ragged again, his body straining slightly. The funeral was a small affair, with only those Haley personally selected from the circus being there watching the coffins lowered into the cold ground, but he also found himself struggling with how the caskets were closed, the bodies too mangled for such a young child to witness, the undertaker not being able to do anything. Even his uncle was left with scars which wouldn't fade, yet he'd held out hope, which was why Bruce hadn't made the call to remove the man from life support.

That, and there was the fact some might take Bruce doing so the wrong way – that he was trying to prevent anyone from arguing he was preventing the man from gaining custody of his ward. In fact, Robin majorly feared his uncle waking up, of regaining his consciousness only for the two of them to end up in some forsaken place, his uncle unable to have any form of a career with the way the fall debilitated him, but his pride making it so he wouldn't accept help from Bruce either.

"Of course, I don't go by that name anymore. You could say I'm a junior.

To say his stomach was upset was an understatement, but then another memory rose up, one which made his eyes snap open. One of someone falling to their death again, this time in a pit of lava, but being resurrected again, yet in the back of his mind – something told him the person in front of him wasn't the person he remembered from his childhood, which made him want to scream even more, but his mind was already doing this – as it couldn't be happening.

There were things – things in the back of his mind he definitely didn't want to remember – after all, something told him he'd run into this version of Slade Wilson, aka, Deathstroke before, despite having never run into the real Deathstroke, yet thinking of the deaths made his stomach churn painfully while he tried keeping his emotions inside of him, keeping his eyes closed.

He felt a finger touch his cheek, making him flinch, yet the words came out with a strong, defiant tone. "Don't touch me!"

"Come on Little Bird. You weren't bothered with me touching you before."

Robin let his eyes opened, so he might glare at the man in front of him, wishing with all his might that he might disappear, that the nightmare in front of him wasn't real. "I don't want to be your apprentice. I don't want to have anything to do with you."

The man reached out, making Robin flinch, his eyes closing as his teeth ground together. He, someone who wasn't frightened of Joker now found himself frightened of his own cousin, confused regarding why John – someone he looked up to and idolized as a child – would turn out this way, yet in the back of his mind he knew John had in fact gone insane.

"I don't want to hurt you."

"The John from my childhood – he definitely wouldn't hurt me." Robin opened his eyes. "You, on the other hand, you may..."

"Yadah, yadah, yadah." The man let out a sigh. "You're going to say something about same body, different mind, yet there is no getting around the fact that there is only one John Grayson."

"Then why take on someone else's name."

"Because that's what the apprentice does, doesn't he?"

"You're not making any sense, but then..." Robin snapped his mouth shut, not wanting to tell his cousin that he'd gone insane. He'd seen how losing one's insanity changed someone, made them do things they normally wouldn't do.

"Ah, yes, the you've gone insane line, right? I'm not insane."

"I've told you. I don't want to be your apprentice. I don't want to lose my identity."

"I've not lost my identity."

"Yes, yes you have."

"No – well, if you're going to make this argument, then haven't you lost your identity by becoming Batman's partner? How can you make that argument..."

"The John I knew would know. The John I knew would remember the..." Robin narrowed his eyes, watching the person carefully. "If you're really John."

The man tapped his head. "Oh. But aren't I going insane, so I might not remember things like the fact for the longest time only the Flying Grayson family could perform the quadruple summersault, but even now none have come to our level of frequency? Or are you thinking about the pet name Aunt Mary gave you, calling you Robin, Little Bird? I know you backward and forwards, Little Bird."

"I want nothing to do with you. Get that through your thick skull."

"Except you're lying. You came to me, willingly before." The voice continued rattling on, yet the thought he'd come willingly honestly frightened Robin. "Of course, you don't remember. Instinctively, you know you're mine."

"I belong to nobody."

"Except the Batman. I don't like that. I don't like the fact he took you away from me."

"He didn't."

"Yes, yes he did."

"Seriously! You're supposed to be dead John!" Robin didn't like the circles in which the conversation was going, yet he knew he needed to keep Slade talking, but he hoped the man wouldn't turn violent.