A/N: Hey there! Welcome back to another chapter! Alas, my fears have been confirmed: this chapter has turned out shorter than the last. Much shorter in fact. I admit that there's a lot more detail I could have potentially added in, but I didn't want to mess too much with Jason's origins and what not, since there are a lot of different ways you can work it out. Instead, I've left it rather open ended so as not to terribly offend any strictly canon comic fans. Most of the important facts for this story I have either already laid out or am about to in this chapter, so let's get started!

A/N: We're still doing this? I said get started! Fine, I don't own 'Teen Titans', okay? Now read!

"Whoa, dude, are you okay?"

The question from Beast Boy served to pull Robin somewhat out of the daze that he had been in for the past few hours. It was a wonder he hadn't crashed his motorcycle on the way back to the Tower.

The rest of his team was gazing at him in concern. "Yeah, man, Raven told us you left around six thirty this morning, and it's almost lunch time. What happened out there? You look like you saw a ghost."

The irony of this was so strong that Robin actually laughed, but there was no mirth in it. "Close enough, anyways," he said despondently, sinking down on the couch where Starfire rushed to join him, taking his hand. He considered for a moment exactly what he wanted to say. "I saw somebody I knew who's supposed to be dead."

A hush fell over the room. "When you say 'supposed to be dead'," Raven inquired cautiously, "what exactly do you mean by that?"

Robin looked her in the eye as he replied, "I mean that he actually was dead."

"Hold up," Cyborg broke in. "Who's 'he'?"

"My brother, Jason," he answered sullenly.

"Wait, you have a brother?" Beast Boy cried.

At the same time Starfire asked, "Was it not his death that you returned to Gotham City to commemorate?" Robin nodded miserably. "Then how is it possible that he could now be alive after two years?"

"That's what I don't understand either, Star."

Everyone else was utterly baffled by this point. "Robin, I think you'd better start from the beginning," Raven told him.

He drew in a deep breath. "You all had probably better sit down, then. This is going to take a while."

The others took seats on the couch and the nearby floor as Robin prepared to begin: "It all started when Batman found this kid by the Batmobile one night..."

~#~#~

The team sat in silence for a long time after Robin had finished. He was recovering from telling the story as the rest attempted to process it. They were struggling, however.

"Let me get this straight," Cyborg asked once more. "It turns out that Red X is really your brother?"

"Who died two years ago and somehow came back to life since then?" Beast Boy broke in.

"And his name is Jason?" Raven finished.

Robin nodded in confirmation to all of these questions. "But how?" Cyborg cried out in vexation. "How is it possible for somebody to just come back to life."

"I can think of a few ways," Raven put in. "All of which involve some form of various demonic rituals."

The only response to this rather morbid answer was a weak "oh". Then another silence as Starfire rubbed Robin's back comfortingly, trying to be supportive simply in her silence.

"Dang," Beast Boy finally said, shaking his head. "In one day we find out that Robin has a brother named Jason who was also Robin and died two years ago before coming back to life by a demonic ritual and turns out to actually be Red X - and we still don't know Robin's real name!"

"BB," Cyborg broke in reproachfully. "He's already told us a lot, and it's been pretty hard on him. Don't push him too much -"

"Richard." Startled, everyone looked towards Robin, including Star. "My given name is Richard," he continued, not flinching under their gazes in the least.

"Richard, huh?" said Beast Boy. He was as surprised as any of the others, but his mischievous nature soon took over once more. "So, can we call you Dick for short?"

"Only inside the tower," the Boy Wonder cautioned sternly. Then he softened. "But, sure, if you want to."

"Look, Richard," Raven spoke up in an attempt to refocus the conversation. "We're all a more than a little shocked by everything you've just told us about your brother and Red X, myself included. But I promise you that all of us want to stand by you and support you as we try to figure this out together."

Everyone else nodded and murmured in agreement, and Robin smiled. "Thanks guys."

But the alien princess still bore the marks of a frown between her brows. "Please," she asked, "how does 'Dick' serve as a shortened form of Richard?"

Robin laughed before beginning to explain the appellation to her.

~#~#~#~

He was starting to grow tired.

Red X hated to admit it, even to himself, but the chase through the sewers had been going on for so long that there was no denying it anymore: he was being worn out. His muscles were beginning to ache from the nonstop running, and his lungs burned as he panted behind his mask.

His pursuer, on the other hand, seemed to be hardly out of breath, the shadowy, cloaked figure following him relentlessly through miles of underground tunnel, never letting up the pace and never allowing him a moment's rest. Teleportation was no longer an option either; he had lost all sense of direction from the endless twists and turns, making it impossible to know that he wouldn't be sending himself to suffocate in a wall of concrete. He was starting to wonder whether whoever was chasing him was actually human. No way a real person could have this kind of stamina.

A wall suddenly looming up before him forced him to come screeching to a halt. He had run into a dead end.

Before he was able to even begin contemplating his options, a blast hit him from behind, knocking him to his knees and surrounding him with rings of crackling energy that pinned his arms to his sides. He figured that it was worth risking suffocation to just get out of here, and pressed the button on his belt to activate the teleport, but it simply fizzled out. "Perfect," he growled.

The mystery figure paced leisurely to where X could finally get a complete view of them. Not that there was much more that he could see, though. The figure was dressed in something like a black trench coat that flared out into a full length cloak from the waist down. Their face was hidden deep within the folds of a hood, and black gloves covered the fingertips that peeked out from the sleeves of the cloak. They were shaking their head and clucking their tongue at them. A single phrase was spoken in a low, intimidating tone: "What a pity."

"Pardon?" he inquired, doing his best to appear unimpressed by the theatrics of his assailant. The mask certainly helped at times like this.

They shrugged nonchalantly as they replied in the same tone. "Nothing much. Just that it seems a waste of talent to choose to be nothing more than a petty criminal. With your level of skill, you could have easily been a Titan or some other form of hero, if you wanted to."

"I believe 'if' serves as the operative word in that statement," he shot back coolly. "Why don't you worry about your own life, and I'll handle mine?"

"Disappointing." The figure shook their head. "But then again, did I really expect anything more from Jason Todd?" The name was pronounced so casually, he almost missed it. Then, he really began to panic.

"Listen, buddy," he said, glad that the voice modulator in his suit helped to obscure his fear. "I don't care who you think I am; you're wrong. You know nothing about me."

"Perhaps not," was the unconcerned reply. "Or perhaps I know more about you than anyone else in the world." The tone shifted over this last sentence - he knew that voice. Gloved fingers flicked back the hood, and soft laughter pervaded the tunnels as Jason gaped at a face he had never expected to see again.

A/N: Hey there again! Woo, we've made it this far! The main point of this chapter was to show a cute bonding moment between the team, and to provide a segue into the next really big event in this story (and yes, that is how that word is spelled). Believe it or not, we've reached the point where everything begins to converge! So while this chapter may have seemed a little bland, things are about to get much more exciting! Someone also asked about the age difference between Dick and Jason in this story; it should become more clear later on, but I've placed Jason to be about a year or so younger with Robin a few months shy of eighteen. Hopefully that helps to clarify things. Thank you also, Guest, for the lovely reviews XD And where are you, Poksie?! You were so faithful! 'Til we meet again in chapter eight!