Teen Titans: Divulged Secrets

"My mom, dad, and I were part of a circus act," Robin scoffed at how lame it sounded compared to what he did now. "We were the Flying Grayson, acrobatic gymnasts. We traveled with a couple of different circuses and we wound up in Gotham for a bit. I was never afraid when we were doing our trapeze act; I knew my parents would always catch me. They always did. One night at our show… someone shot my parents during the act. I watched as they fell to the ground, dead before they hit. They didn't catch me that night. I wasn't hurt. But the cops in Gotham… they're worse than Slade. They… took me into custody. I was afraid. I've never been more afraid in my life than I was that night. It was luck that he was at the show that night. The cops took me in their car and we drove to some place in the woods; I don't know, I wasn't really thinking about what was going on. I was numb. But before they did anything, the Batmobile showed up. I probably should have been thankful, but Batman was really different a few years ago. I nearly threw up a few times as that maniac drove to the Batcave, fighting through a whole platoon of cops. He actually punched me to stop me from going into shock over my parents."

Robin was quiet a moment, burning memories of the images of his parents flashing through his mind. But he didn't let the images stay; he wouldn't forget, only keep them safely hidden away.

"Batman told me if I wanted to survive, I'd have to do it myself. One week alone in the cave. I told him he was insane. I really think he was back then. Rats and puddles of water… I held my own for a day at the most. Time was hard to tell in there. It was cold and dark. I probably would have just given up and died. But I discovered a hamburger, fries, and a soda. I thought I was hallucinating. But they were real. For the rest of the week, someone kept feeding me. I know who it was now, and I'm always thankful to him. He's a great guy. Anyway… on the last day of that week, Batman brought me the man who shot my parents. He gave me a choice to kill him or let him live; be an avenger or detective. I wanted to kill him. I wanted to make him feel the pain my parents did the second before their brains were pierced by bullets. I let him live. Part of me regrets that…. We found out he was just a hired gun… for the Joker. I insisted that I go out with Batman and do what he does. Fight with him. But he told me I needed a secret identity first. I came up with… something stupid, but Batman fixed it and I became Robin. He put me through intense training for a while. I deserved it; I had been reckless the first time we went out. I nearly killed the Green Lantern."
Robin stopped again, ashamed at the admission of his mistake with Hal Jordan. But he couldn't leave it there.

"I got better, trained more, stopped being so impulsive. And I noticed Batman changed too. I'd see him smile out in the field. They were small, brief smiles whenever I would do something right. He smiled more when we were just at home together and there was nothing to do. He adopted me. He was a good dad; still is. And we spent a lot of time together. I left him two years ago after a fight between the two of us. I met you guys and you know the rest."

The next part he didn't want to say aloud in a public place. He grabbed one of the napkins and a pen from his belt. He didn't know what was driving him to do all this. Maybe it was because he hadn't been honest with anyone except Bruce and Alfred since he became Robin and the solitude was driving him mad. He'd tried to make Robin his only identity, to let his unmasked self die when he formed the Titans. But even if that self was dead, it deserved some sort of recognition. After all, Robin didn't sleep with his mask on. He slid the napkin to Raven. On it, it read,

"My name is Dick Grayson."