The Third Planet

Chapter 1: Volatile Times

Characters: Robin, Red X, Raven, Cyborg, Starfire, Beast Boy, Batman, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, Superman, Flash, Green Arrow, Speedy, Kid Flash, Aqualad, Batgirl, Alfred Pennyworth.

Pairing: Robin/Red X.

Genres: Tragedy, Romance, Hurt/Comfort, Humor, Mystery, Paranormal, Science-Fiction, Supernatural.

Warnings: Possible 'M' interactions, male pregnancy.

Description: The Teen Titans had broken up when Robin turned sixteen, it had been for the best, but so much had changed after that. Now only two of them were alive. Raven was busy working in a library and Robin was still a superhero in Jump City. After Starfire's funeral, Robin decides to go to Gotham for a year or two... but nothing good can ever come in Gotham City. With Robin seeing things and the depression becoming too much to bear, he tries to leave Gotham City, only to be attacked by Poison Ivy on the way. He manages to get away, but not without a bit of damage to his body from an odd seed as a 'Farewell Gift' from Ivy herself (And Harley Quinn). But now, Robin is in desperate need of help, will Red X be able to help? Will Batman approve? Will that seed change Robin's life forever? One thing is certain, faith can move the tallest of mountains. The only question is, is the mountain leading the faithful to a promised land or to there graves?

Robin POV

A/N: This was a story that's been on my mind for months and is a Christmas present to every single one of my followers, favoriters, reviewers and readers, you're all so amazing. Also, a few months ago I went to Yomacon (It was today in this time but I'll post this in December). By now, I'll hope to have finished An Angry Mercenary, A Lonely Girl And An Innocent Robin and also I'll Be Fine. Please R&R!

~Third Planet~

Robin POV

I stare at the gloomy sky with little to no interest, my unmasked eyes searching for answers as I try to avoid looking at the black and gold lined coffin that now sits on a platform in front of me as I sit in a fold out chair on a cold fall day, the wind whips through the air and licks at my bare hands, sending small shivers through my body. I hear crying around me, mostly from Raven who sits to my left while Batman squeezes my arm protectively to my right, as if his grip could save me from Starfire's fate. I try to make my mind tap out of this situation, its in no offense to Starfire, but its too hard to be in this place, with these superhero's, about to bury my third team member. I had sworn once to never leave them, to save them from death and evil, but I couldn't save any of them.

Cyborg had been first, it had been a real tragedy then. It had happened three months after we all left the team to go are separate ways in crime fighting or just plain living as normal people like some of us wanted to. Cyborg had tried to take on an alien invasion beside the Justice League during yet another invasion upon earth, but things had gone wrong and Cyborg had been ripped apart in an explosion... I had heard him scream for me to help, he had been in so much pain in his death and I had seen it and heard it all. I had tried to somehow run into the rubble, but Batman had held me back and kept me from hurting myself.

I hadn't cried at that funeral, Beast Boy had blamed me for Cyborg's death and I agreed with him. So, of course, Beast Boy had gotten careless and had been tortured to death by Brainiac as revenge for taking him down back when I was thirteen during the Brotherhood of Blood battle. I had been a witness to his death as well, I had been captured and forced to watch... he screamed for me too, his green eyes had been begging for me to save him, but I hadn't saved him and I had let him bleed onto a concrete floor in a warehouse in Africa.

Starfire, really, was the only titan who hadn't died as a superhero, no, cancer had killed her in the end. It turns out, lung cancer is far more dangerous and deadly to a helpless alien like Starfire. I had seen her a few days ago, she had just smiled at me and told me to hold on for her. She had loved me, I knew that for years but never returned those feelings for her... she promised to wait for me. She even creamed for me, as the cancer ate her alive, she screamed for me to make it stop and save her. Maybe that's why I'm struggling not to cry as I try to keep my thoughts from my old team, who knows, all i know is that right now, Batman is trying to talk to me.

"Are you alright, Robin?"

I blink a few times, tears slipping from my baby blue eyes that everyone thinks comes from my mother as Batman shakes my shoulder. the funeral is over, its time to say goodbye to her.

"Robin, its going to be okay." Batman promises as he forces me to my feet, finally breaking me out of my thoughts.

I rub my eyes with my shirt sleeve and glare at the ground as I walk up to Starfire's coffin with a bitter silence in the air. "Its never been okay." I whisper in a dying voice.

Batman bites back a sigh and follows me as I stand by Starfire's coffin, praying in my native Romanii language, tears still falling from my eyes as the man simply pats my back like a caring father like him would. "I'll make it all okay Robin, I'm never leaving you again."

I give Batman a soft glare as I turn to meet his icy eyed gaze. "Never promise me that, dad. You know you'll die before me, we both do. Please... never promise me that."

"Gotcha." Batman says, getting the message that I'm still in my own little world until he finally says to me, while I'm now on my knees praying for Starfire's safe travel to heaven: "If you really want to, you can stay with me in Gotham for a years or two. I know you've been through alot this year on your own, burying three teammates who you saw as family is never easy, but I can help numb out the pain. It will be rough but... I want to help you forget for awhile about your troubles."

For a few minutes I simply sit there, on my knees, half way between listening to Batman's voice and half way between screaming Starfire's name as I practically see her walking into an angels arms, whispering she'll wait for me while I beg her not to in-case I find someone else in my life. Finally, I respond to Batman instead of screaming like an idiot. "I'd love to." I spit out in a breaking down voice.

As I stand, I collapse into my fathers arms and sob until my throats raw and aches with my awful sorrow. He picks me up, despite me being seventeen now, and carries me to the bat-mobile where he keeps me from heroes who all ask the same awful question that makes me cry myself to sleep most nights.

"Why did they die so horribly?" They ask.

"Why didn't you save them, you were there leader after all." They say to me.

Through all of the questions and taps on the window, I can practically see Starfire and Beast Boy at my side in the back of the old T-car with Cyborg at the wheel and Raven riding shotgun. They're laughing and joking, saying how villains are SO predictable... did they predict being tortured to death or blown up, I wonder. Suddenly, Beast Boy is asking me what I think, smiling that admittingly adorable smile that could make anyone feel better.

"Well, I think villains are all to a certain degree predictable but never completely predictable, BB." I respond.

When no one answers me or agrees with me, I frown and am about to tap Starfire's shoulder, almost feeling her warmth of her body seeping into my approaching, innocent hand that is pale from hiding beneath a glove everyday and most nights. It reminds me that my team was always upset that I skipped out on sleep, and for a minute, I think that they still are upset with me as my minds illusions start to talk without me, ignoring me as I feel tears forming in my unmasked eyes that I only showed any of them after Cyborg died. As I stare at my friends, who aren't really there, I hear Batman open the drivers door, and for a moment, i panic and think he's about to sit on Cyborg.

"Don't!" I warn as Batman opens the door. "Cyborg's sitting there!"

Batman looks at me, like I'm a crazy nutcase or something. "Richard, no one else but you and I are here in this vehicle." He tells me, as if instructing a child how to tell there left hand from there right hand.

I shake my head, still in the blissful illusion as it slowly fuzzes up in my head, making me panic. "Guys, don't go, we were still talking!" I scream as I try to reach out for my friends, who I see exit the car and start to walk away. "Come on, we can get some pizza at Pizza Palace like usual, my treat!"

"Richard, there dead, none of your team members are here." Batman says as he moves to my door, opens it and grabs my hands easily, trying to hold me back from running after them. "Calm down, you're safe here."

"COME BACK! I'M SORRY THAT I NEVER TOLD YOU MY NAME OR NEVER SLEPT FOR LONG, I'LL DO BETTER! PLEASE COME BACK, I NEED YOU!" I scream as I flail uncontrollably in Batman's grip, who struggles to keep me still as I start kicking him in the chest while he's hunched over my frail frame.

Batman struggles to keep calm. "Dickie bird, its okay, everything is okay now. We're going home, okay?" He tells me as I start to calm down, getting too tired to fight back anymore. "We'll eat some dinner when we get home, I'll even ask Alfred to make your favorite, fried chicken right?"

He keeps talking to calm me down, for as long as I can remember, Batman's voice has been able to calm me down from any breakdown or freakout. "I failed." I whisper, my eyes lost out the window of the car as I still feel somewhat in that dream world.

"You didn't fail, Dick." Batman responds.

I turn to him, my face reading a look Batman has seen me wear only on the very day of my mother and fathers death, when he had seen me that night in custody he had seen this look. "I failed my team, I let them down... I couldn't save them. They all screamed for me, you heard Cyborg scream... Beast Boy and Starfire did too, they begged me to save there dying souls." I whisper sadly, turning away again. "And I let them die."

The rest of the ride is silent.

By the time we arrive in the bat-cave, I'm wiped out and can't even gather the energy to stand, with that said, Batman carries me bridal style up the stone stairs. This reminds me of when I was around six or seven, before I became Robin I would sneak out of my room at night and wait for Bruce in the bat-cave in his computer chair, then when he'd get home, I'd pretend I was asleep so that he'd carry me up to my room and tuck me in before going to bed himself. It feels so long ago, back when my life was just a tad bit more simple. I was the circus freak that had lost his mama, papa, aunt, uncle and cousin in a horrible accident, then I became the hero Robin as Batman's faithful sidekick, throwing in ridiculous puns and making fun of every villain I fought like the innocent little boy I was. I miss it all so much, but those days are long gone... one day, I'll have a little child of my own. Whether there a boy or a girl, I will be a father to them like Batman and my late father were to me. I'll carry my child up the stairs of are house or mansion and rock them to sleep when there scared, I'll teach them to fight and how to be a hero when they need to be. I'll be there papa.

I get so lost in my thoughts, I don't come out of it until Bruce has to drop me off in my room to hopefully dress in something else that isn't this stupid suit. I hate suits, ever since I was a little kid i have hated suits, probably because there so tight and restrain me from doing acrobatic tricks when I'm bored. I quickly change into a large black sweater with white knitted bats on it and long black sweat pants, it still is the day of Starfire's funeral after all. As soon as I'm dressed I hurry to the kitchen where the smell of fried chicken is already fresh in the air and almost ready to eat. I smile to myself and hurry to the stove where I see Alfred, are faithful and awesome butler, frying chicken like a master chef. I look over his shoulder and smirk, I used to do the same thing as a kid except I was way shorter so I'd just peer over the edge of the stove using a stool. I would giggle usually, mostly because Alfred would scold me by saying I could get hurt if I was too close to the stove, I never listened, but I think Alfred liked it when I watched.

"Up to your old tricks, are you, master Dick?" Alfred asks me as I peer at the frying chicken that cracks and pops from the grease.

I put on a sly smile, trying to forget my troubles. "Oh, you know me, Alfie."

He glares at me for that, I know all too well that he hates it when I call him Alfie instead of Alfred. I had started it because I had heard an old friend of Alfred's call him Alfie and had heard Alfred yell at him for it. So, being the seven year old I had been at the time, I called Alfred by Alfie none stop. I know it bothers him, but I think that's what made it more fun for me as a little kid living with two men on a huge hill high above a crime polluted city. Growing up, I had always loved pranks and jokes, maybe that's why I rarely got mad when Beast Boy pranked me when I was twelve?... NO! Don't go there, god, I gotta stop thinking about them. I sit at the table with a small sigh, getting lost and drowned in my thoughts. Suddenly, dinner is placed smoothly in front of me, I've lost alot of my appetite but I still eat.

As soon as I'm finished and head up to my room, stopping as Bruce stands before me with a fatherly look to his presence. "Richard... I think you need to give up crime fighting now."

Not this bullshit again.

"Look Bruce, I'll be fine, remember?" I tell Bruce, trying to look anywhere but into his cold, icy eyes that send shivers into me.

"The last time you told me that, you said that Starfire would be fine, that it was only a cold and that everything would be okay." Bruce accuses.

Okay, THAT was a low blow, even for Bruce.

I shove past him, going to my room. "I don't care what you say Bruce... you're like a father to me, and I can respect you to that level. But when it comes to crime fighting? No way, I'm staying as Robin, you know I am."

He looks at me, taking in how old I've gotten and how much I've grown. I'm still not very tall, but my maturity from that ten year old boy who ran away seven years ago and only started talking to him four years ago has increased dramatically. He knows that I've changed, I'm not as obsessed with justice and that villain Slade as I was when I was twelve years old, a child not knowing that my whole life would be turned upside down in four years. We've grown to respect each other further and understand how one another feels, but he can tell that I'm still bitter about our fight all those years ago, no matter how much I hide it.

He even replaced me after only two years, finding a poor boy in the streets and pretty much promising justice for his fathers murder caused by Two-Face. I at first had refused to even like Jason Todd, my replacement, but I grew to see him as my baby brother... even though he was only three years younger then me and much taller then me. However, death seemed to want to destroy in all sorts of places and stole Jason too, letting Joker murder him in the pitch black of night. I had blamed myself and Batman at first, but over time, I numbed it out. Meanwhile, Bruce recently adopted a new brother... he's nice. But still, he's not Jason. Despite that, I have tried to act cool around Timmy, but still, there's obviously tension between us, not that we can exactly control that.

"I do know that, but... just take care of yourself, alright?" Bruce asks me, but it sounds almost like begging to me.

"Yeah... I'll do that." I respond, just wanting to get out of here as soon as possible.

Bruce suddenly looked back at me, smiling sadly. "By the way, Roy, Garth and Wally are visiting tomorrow. They just called an hour before the funeral."

I nod, feeling a dread enter me. "Sure." I whisper, he probably can barely even hear me. "I'm going to bed... night Bruce."

"Night, Richard." He responds very plainly, turning right back around and leaving as if he hadn't just talked to me like I was only four years old.

I hurry up the stairs, my shoe covered feet flying as I dash to my room. Before I can reach it though, Tim is there in the hallway, blocking my path with his twelve year old body. He's a bit shorter then me since he's five years young then myself, but its clear that he's growing faster then I expected. He watches me, his emerald green eyes piercing into my baby blue pair.

"You okay?" Tim asks as he loses the macho look and goes for a more innocent approach. "I heard you and dad talking downstairs, you sounded depressed."

Ah, that's one of the other reasons I was struggling to get to know Tim Drake, he called Bruce 'Dad' or even 'Daddy' sometimes. I wondered secretly if he always did it, or only when I was around, just to show how grateful he was to Bruce for saving him from living on the streets like he did with Jason. I try to think of a way out of this confrontation, but its no use, he'll get me to talk, he's just like that. I hate to admit it, and I really hate to, but Tim is probably the smartest kid in his manor. I had pretty good grades in school while Jason's sucked, but Tim, he's getting straight A's with no problems. Well, he obviously has been struggling to make friends since he still has the look of a street thug to kids at school, but he really is a good kid and will make friends in no time.

"I'm cool, Timmy." I say politely as i sneak by, but before I can get into my room, Tim is standing next to me, looking up at me with questioning eyes.

"You're lying again, Richard... you can talk to me ya'h know. Don't worry, I won't snitch on you to dad, I swear!" Tim promises, he reminds me alot of myself at his age, but less happy.

I smirk, ruffling his hair as I start to enter my room. "Good night, Timmy. And yes, if I have an issue, I'll tell you, birdie."

Tim just chuckles before running off, allowing me some peace and quiet.

~Third Planet~

A/N: If I'm right, the chapters for Third Planet will definitely be longer then my usual chapters for stories just because this one is far more serious and romantic then my others, but it will still get its funny moments. And yes, there WILL be flashbacks of when all the Teen Titans were alive so that the Beast Boy, Cyborg and Starfire fans can get some screen time for there favorites. I hope your at least interested, please R&R!

~Supercasey.