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Chapter Twenty-Four

—Dick Grayson—

—Monday—

Dick yawned as he opened the exit door. It led to the exterior of the mountain, near the summit. He had slipped through the zeta tube to Mount Justice under the pretense that he had forgotten some important school notes there. There was a window of maybe twenty minutes before he needed to be back in Gotham, changed into his school uniform and buckling up in the back of the car for Alfred to take him to school.

Other Robin was sitting on the edge of the small, rocky outcropping, watching the sky. It was a nice sky—bright and clear and streaked with reddish clouds—like it was trying to make up for all the past few days it had spent being overcast and stormy.

He looked over at Dick, and the younger boy slapped on a fake expression of shock and reached out like he was about to grab Other Robin by the shoulder, only to stop midway.

"What?" Other Robin asked, unamused.

"For a second there I was worried that you might throw yourself off the mountain to get away from me," Dick explained innocently.

Other Robin's mouth tensed, and he didn't say anything.

Ignoring the please go away vibes he was receiving, Dick sat down next to his counterpart and took off his sunglasses. The mountain was surrounded by so many electronic scramblers and other anti-spy tech that no one would be able to notice them sitting there, much less see their faces. "So…" he began, "must be pretty cool, leading your own team."

"Uh, yeah, it's okay. Someone has to do it."

"I wanted to lead ours. Couldn't quite manage it. I still wanted to, though, even after we put Kaldur in charge. Then I was leader for one mission and I— I screwed everything up. All my friends died, and there wasn't anything I could do. It was just a simulation," he clarified when Other Robin whipped his head around to look at him with masked eyes wide in horror, "one that went wrong. We forgot that it wasn't real. It all felt so real. The fighting, and the fire..."

And the failure. That was real. The guilt. That was real too. The wounds hadn't really existed, the explosion never happened, but those other things lingered.

"Why are you telling me this?" Other Robin asked, sounding tired.

Dick shrugged as he watched seagulls circle in the air over the beach at the foot of the mountain. "I don't know. Making conversation. I can't really talk to Batman or anyone else about it."

"Why not?"

"It's kind of complicated. Have you…" Dick trailed off, fiddling nervously with the drawstring of his hoodie, then tried again. "Have you ever realized that you don't want to take over as Batman when you grow up?"

"I…" Other Robin seemed to be at a loss for words. His forehead crumpled into lines of conflict and he shifted uncomfortably like he was rethinking jumping off the mountain.

"Nevermind. Maybe you haven't. You already act a lot like him."

"Even if I might act like him sometimes," said Other Robin defensively, "it doesn't mean I want to be like him."

"Can you just tell me why you hate him so much? After everything you must have been through together, how can you—"

"I don't," Other Robin interrupted.

"What?"

"I don't hate him."

"Could've fooled me."

"I don't hate him," Other Robin repeated. "I couldn't. Not ever. I can hate the way he acts, and disagree with things he does, and there are moments he makes me so angry that I just want to punch him, but when it all comes down to it… I owe him everything."

The tight knot of anxiety and doubt that had twisted up inside Dick's chest loosened slightly. He felt his shoulders relax as some of the built-up worry disappeared. His relationship with Bruce was not broken, not doomed to fail. He knew he could never really hate Batman. What Other Robin was going through with his Batman must just be a small tiff. Teenage rebellion.

It was colder than Dick had expected outside. He wished that he brought gloves. Dick breathed into his cupped hands and rubbed them together as he sat there and let what Other Robin said sink in.

"But sometimes I wish I could hate him," admitted Other Robin. "It would make it all so much less complicated."

"Speedy said that Batman yelled—"

"Don't listen to anything Speedy says. Half of the time he only talks to hear the sound of his own voice." Other Robin heaved a loud sigh. "I know you're mad that I've been avoiding you. But you want answers that I can't give you. I don't know how different this universe is than ours. I'm not here to tell you what to do with your life. Stay in Gotham and be Robin until you're forty, if you want to. Or quit and lead a normal life. Take over as Batman one day, if that's what you want, or find a new city and be its vigilante hero. Stick with your team and end up leading it one day, or don't. Just… do whatever you want. My life isn't your life. Your choices are all your own."

Dick realized that this was the most Other Robin had ever spoken to him. He felt a small nudge of guilt for his earlier assumptions of his older self as a thoughtless jerk. He had thought that he was being ignored out of spite, or that Other Robin was just being rude.

Other Robin had been a little rude about it, no question, but Dick thought that maybe he would be able to forgive him for it eventually… if he didn't do it again.

"If I met an older version of myself that told me I quit being with the Titans," said Other Robin, I wouldn't be happy. Actually, that sort of happened. But it was an alternate timeline. Completely different. We only split up there because Starfire went missing."

"Starfire, huh?" Dick asked knowingly.

"Uh…" Other Robin winced like he had accidentally said more than he wanted to. "Yeah, she's just—"

"Just your girlfriend?"

"How do you…" Other Robin stared at Dick incredulously for a moment and came to his own answer. "Beast Boy," he muttered darkly under his breath.

"No, it was Raven."

"What? Raven wouldn't—"

"She didn't tell me much that I didn't already figure out by myself. See, she kind of caught me red-handed."

"What are you talking about?"

Tilting his head to the side to shoot Other Robin a smug glance, Dick said, "Let's just say that I've never met an encryption I couldn't decrypt."

"You—" Other Robin growled, but all his grabbing hands found was air. Dick was long gone, already through the door and sprinting with a smirk down the hallway inside.

oOo

—The Team: Kid Flash—

The only reason Wally had popped into the Cave that morning was because he knew there was leftover pizza in the fridge, and he was craving cold pizza for breakfast. He couldn't get it off his mind. It was a need.

He had also hoped that Megan would be around to brighten his morning, but apparently she had early morning cheerleading practice so she and Conner had both already left. And Kaldur, the only one of them who didn't have classes, was out taking a swim. That left Wally having to make small talk with three of the Titans: Raven, Speedy, and Beast Boy.

"So you guys actually don't go to school in your world?" Wally asked through a mouthful of delicious pizza. Even with the unwanted company, he was pretty sure that coming here for breakfast was the greatest decision he had ever made in his life.

"School's for chumps and villains," Speedy said, pouring himself a cup of coffee. "We don't have time."

"Huh."

Then the older Robin stormed in and grabbed Wally by the front of his shirt, totally catching him off-guard and almost making him drop his slice of pizza. These heroes were crazy. "Where is he?" the Faux Wonder demanded through gritted teeth.

Jeez, Rob was still working to master the infamous Bat-glare but this guy had it down pat. "Who?" Wally asked.

There was an echoing laugh, and the edge of a blue jacket disappeared around the doorframe. Rob was here? Wally hadn't known that. He felt a little miffed that his best friend didn't even say good morning.

Jerk Robin let go of Wally and stalked off after the sound of laughter. "When I get my hands on him…"

"Robin," Speedy called after him, "you know he's deliberately provoking you, right?"

"I don't think he cares," Raven commented uninterestedly.

"He's not going to…hurt Rob, is he?" Wally asked, fixing his rumpled shirt.

"Robin? No way," Beast Boy assured him. "He would never..." There was a long pause and the Titans all stopped eating and drinking and gave each other thoughtful looks. "Looked pretty mad, though."

Speedy stood, picking up his coffee cup and a piece of toast. "Maybe we should go make sure things don't get out of control."

"You just want to see them fight," said Wally.

"Yeah, so? Don't you?"

"Ha! You know what?" Wally clapped Speedy on the shoulder. "I like you, parallel Roy." He was like their Roy had been before he tossed his hat and no longer had any time for his old friends.

Speedy didn't reply. He just gave a kind of whatever grimace and downed half of his coffee in one gulp. Wally was used to not getting answers from the Titans, though. It seemed like ninety percent of the time when he talked to them, all he got was silence. Probably just part of their Robin's insistence to keep interdimensional info from being shared, but it got annoying after a while.

oOo

Other Robin finally found him in the mission room. "You have some explaining to do," said Other Robin as he stomped towards Dick, his whole body tense in barely-controlled fury.

Dick dodged out of reach of Other Robin's hand when the older boy tried to grab him. "No, I think you have some explaining to do."

Again Dick dodged, darting behind Other Robin and flipping his cape over his head as revenge for the time he had done it to Dick. Since Other Robin's cape was shorter, he had an easier time untangling it and soon his face was uncovered and even through his mask he was glaring obviously at Dick.

"I'm not surprised that you were so good at ignoring me. Turns out you've had plenty of practice." Somewhere along the line, the attempts to grab and dodges turned into swipes and punches from both of them."Batman, Starfire… You just push away everyone that cares about you, don't you?" Dick asked tauntingly. "Remind you of anyone?"

"You couldn't have it more wrong. You actually have no idea what you're talking about. Don't assume you know anything about me or my life, because you don't," said Other Robin as Dick tried to squirm his way out of a headlock. "I was going to watch the message today, after I was done reading through all that information."

Dick got free by kicking Other Robin in the kneecap, making him double over and bite back a swear. "Were you now?"

"Yes," Other Robin said through a hiss of pain.

Dick crossed his arms and observed Other Robin loftily through his sunglasses. "You should have watched it right away. It's kind of important."

"You shouldn't have pried into something that doesn't concern you at all!" Other Robin countered indignantly, almost shouting now. This wasn't over yet.

As Dick slipped free of an arm twist and retaliated for the shooting pain in his shoulder by elbowing Other Robin in the kidney, he actually felt a bit better. This could be just what both of them needed to work out their frustration.

oOo

"Aww, look," said Speedy sardonically. "They're trying to kill each other."

"My bet's on our Robin," Beast Boy said.

"No, dude, our Robin's way craftier," Wally claimed. "You'll see." As if to prove his point, Rob faked a serious leg injury after being thrown to the ground, and when the older Robin let his guard down and approached the crumpled form, he got kicked in the jaw. Wally wondered if cheering would be in bad taste.

"Betting's no fun unless you put your money where your mouth is," Speedy said.

"So you're not going to tell us who you think's gonna win?"

"I want yours to win. It'll be hilarious."

"What about you, Raven?"

She rolled her eyes like she could not believe that she had decided to follow them here. "I think Batman's going to intervene before it comes to a conclusion."

"What?"

Raven nodded at the holographic computer window that was floating on the other side of the room, which showed Batman's face looking down at the scene with distaste. Oh. Wally cringed. This was not going to end well.

Neither Robin had noticed yet—they were too busy tussling. It was funny to watch. The older Robin had Rob in what looked like a painful wrestling hold. Rob's face was being pressed down hard against the training floor by both of the older Robin's hands. Only muffled complaints could be heard from him as he tried to shake his older self's weight off his back and get out of the pin.

Rob was probably the best teenage martial artist in the world, and his parallel self was the same thing aged up a couple years, but this didn't look like two master fighters matching skills. This was just juvenile scrapping, all elbows and knees, twisted limbs and chokeholds. All it was missing was hair-pulling.

"Enough," Batman ordered gruffly. Identical oh crap expressions crossed over both Robins' faces as they hastily and sheepishly separated, rubbing at their growing bruises and determinedly not looking at each other. "Robin, Gotham. Now."

Rob straightened his glasses, and as he walked to the zeta tube he cast one backwards glance at his older self and gave him a nod. A curt nod, but with no angry frown accompanying it. The older Robin didn't glare back, either. It was like there were no hard feelings between them at all.

Batman wasn't done. He turned his attention to Wally. "Kid Flash, shouldn't you be getting to school?"

"I've still got an hour or two…" Wally said unconcernedly. Batman narrowed his eyes. "But, uh, right. Yes, school. Leaving."

And he did leave, the half-full pizza box clamped under his arm and jealousy hanging over him like a cloud that would follow him for the rest of the day because the Titans got to stay behind and do hero work with Kaldur. Why couldn't Batman let him play hooky?

oOo

—Teen Titans: Jinx—

"Did I ever tell you about how I got my powers?"

"Yes. The story gets more outlandish each time you tell it, Flash-boy. Last time there were aliens involved."

"You jest!"

"And the time before that you got bitten by a radioactive cheetah. Enough said."

"Ha-ha, okay. But did I ever tell you the real story?"

Jinx was dreaming in blue.

She had woken up a while ago, and when she opened her door and heard Wally's voice drifting from the kitchen she decided that that was not how she wanted to start her day and retreated back into the dark bedroom, hiding under the blankets and falling asleep again for another few minutes.

Jinx's plan was to stay in bed as long as possible, until someone knocked on her door. They were supposed to go investigate later. Hours of legwork and following fruitless leads. She wasn't looking forward to it. Daytime investigation had gone disastrously just a few days ago, and she couldn't imagine it going much better this time around.

No one was coming to wake her up, so she pulled the blankets tight around her and dreamed half-awake dreams full of blue:

Blue. The colour of the tracking dot on the small screen, leading them to their target.

There was some blue graffiti on the outside wall of the neighbouring dock-side warehouse. It was a bit too dark to read out what it said, but she remembered that it had been some shade of blue. The two of them had stood beside it, taking shelter in a small alcove from the torrential downpour.

They broke into the building easily, happy to be out of the rain. It was full of machinery and vials and vials of chemicals (some of them blue). A lab or a manufacturing facility. The Brotherhood of Evil—what was left of it—was cooking up something nasty.

Splitting up to investigate was a terrible idea, but it was a big place with several stories and she couldn't keep up with him. He zoomed off. She turned on a nearby computer, thinking of what a jackpot it was to stumble upon this place and how this would prove her to the other Titans.

She tried to access the computer files, glancing away from the blue glow of the screen every few seconds to look over her shoulder.

"Figured it out?" Wally asked. He was back already.

"Almost. I—"

The strike came as a complete surprise, knocking her the floor before she could react or do anything other than silently scream at herself that she was stupid stupid stupid. The side of her face stung from the blow as she struggled to get up on her knees, only to be kicked to the floor again, a pointy heel digging into her back.

Splitting up was a terrible idea.

Hearing the commotion, the real Wally returned quickly and a frantic fight followed. Most of it was a blur to Jinx. Wally and Rouge were both just too fast. High-speed punches and tackles and limbs snapping out like elastic, and glass shattering everywhere. She tried throwing a few hexes but it was difficult to aim and not hit Wally by accident, and she ended up smashing a rack of large chemical vials. Coloured liquid foamed and frothed, spreading across the floor.

Wally was getting tired and Rouge was getting the upper hand. And when Wally skidded to a stop at Jinx's feet, hurt and stirring feebly, Jinx was getting mad.

Too mad, too reckless—and maybe the venture itself had been too reckless. She got a few vicious strikes in, sending Rouge stumbling, but then one hex rebounded and hit some crates by the wall. Angry pink sparks shot through the gaps in the wood, wreaking havoc on whatever was inside.

By the shrill noises that rang through the air, and the hazard symbols painted on the crates, and the smug, wicked look on Rouge's face before she melted herself and disappeared through a crack in wall, fleeing, Jinx knew she had triggered something bad.

She helped Wally up off the floor and ordered him to go, to vibrate his molecules through the walls, but he couldn't. He could barely walk. There was blood on his face and even though he recovered quickly it wasn't quick enough. The screeching sound was getting louder by the second and more and more sparks of interference were being spit out and Jinx knew that it had to be some kind of explosives, some new kind the Brotherhood was working on, and she caused it and it was all her fault and she couldn't drag Wally out of here fast enough and she couldn't abandon him either—

Then he pushed her roughly away—it hurt—and she could see the apology in his blue eyes.

She kept reliving the explosion that happened right after she was pushed and sent flying out of range.

("Simple Newtonian physics," she remembered him explain once. He was always rattling on about momentum and impulse. "F equals m-a, and if there's one thing I have it's 'a'.")

There was a rumbling that shook her to her core. The light was hot and yellow-tinted. It flooded her vision so completely that, at the time, she thought she had actually died.

And then a small flash of blue within the yellow.

Jinx opened her eyes.

Blue. That was new. She didn't remember any blue being in the explosion before. Her mind was tricking her, adding in more clues, skewing the story.

I'm officially going insane, Jinx thought wryly.

No, she wasn't going to let that happen. She refused to go along with it. It was time to wake up and stop smelling the roses. Everyone else could hang on to their theories and their doubts and their hope, but as of now she was letting go of all those ties.

She wasn't holding onto hope, hope was holding onto her. Holding her down, holding her back, and she was not going to spend another day waiting.

So she got out of bed. Stopped hiding. Got changed.

Her dress, the one she had designed and sewn herself and committed both villainous and heroic acts in—though mostly villainous—was hanging in the closet. She ran her hand over the smooth fabric of the skirt (Would it be easy to put it on and go back to things the way they used to be?) then frowned and passed the dress over in favour of more borrowed clothes. It felt heavier than what she wanted today.

Because she did feel lighter. A little happier. The hours of investigation today weren't so dreaded anymore.

She sort of felt like running.

...

End.

Well, this is the end of the document folks. If you find yourself wanting more, then write it! It might be fun to see different endings for this story. I might actually try writing an ending myself. (it would be posted in a separate story so it wouldn't get mixed up with the original work). If you do decide to write your own ending, or even a different fic inspired by this one, include a link in a review so that others can find it. Thanks again to adorable pragmatism for writing this fanfiction, and I hope you all enjoyed!

~Alarose