"Master Richard you need to clean your room, I'm not a cleaning lady I'm a butler" Alfred complained
"Ok, ok I will go and clean my room" Richard whined as he walked up the stairs towards his room
"He's such a neat freak, it's not even dirty" Richard protested
"I know your there, you may as well come out"
"And if I don't?" a female voice echoed through the room
"You will find out the hard way" Richard quirked
The lights were off and curtains closed; Richard had the upper hand being familiar with his surroundings, or did he? Richard jumped at the shadow only realising that it was an elution, he didn't give up.
"Guess who it is" the voice manipulated around the room
The Riddler's symbol on the roof but the jokers laugh surrounds him.
He wakes with a start realising it was all just a dream but a part of him wants to know what it means. But for now he'll just sit in bed.
'KNOCK KNOCK'
"The doors open" Richard yells out
'The door screeches open and shut'
"JESS?" Richard examined
"Who do you think" she said emerging from behind the door
Richard got out of bed and moved swiftly across the room the meet her with a kiss. Once the kiss broke Dick looked puzzled.
"Aren't you supposed to be dead?" Richard queried
"It was Bruce's idea" the ravishing teenager quirked
"Why?" Richard questioned
"Half the team was in on it, except you, because I didn't want to trouble you with another secret, and Bruce knew that it could have turned out like last time" jess explained
"I KNOW IT'S MY FALT WALLY'S DEAD!" Richard yelled
"I'm only hear because I love you and I want to help you through this, I know how hard it is for you this time of year" jess sighed
"I don't need your help" Richard insisted
"You do, you just don't see it yet" she said walking out the bedroom door
"I SEE EVERYTHING, JUST WITHOUT YOU NOW!" Richard snapped
"ALL YOU CARE ABOUT IS YOURSELF, I DON'T KNOW WHO YOU ARE, YOU'VE BECOME A STRANGER!" jess yelled back
"I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!" Richard screamed
The room filled with silence.
The silence was then broken by Alfred knocking on the door.
"Yes Alfred" Dick growled
"I'm guessing this wasn't a good time but Bruce hasn't returned from his dinner with Selina" Alfred informed
"Ooh who's Selina? Another bat brat" she asked with curiosity
"No, quite the opposite, wait why am I telling you this? Bruce's love life is not for anyone else to know about" Richard held
"Fine if I'm no good to you, I may as well die for good" jess walked out
"WAIT!" Richard roared
"What do you want, you act depressed but then do everything like its normal" jess exclaimed
"I don't need your help, I need your love" Richard sloppily blurted
"Well is that what you want" she supposed
"Yeah that's what I want" Richard smiled
"You should probably go find Bruce" Jessica reminded as she kissed him on their way out
The next day
"Hey, thanks for coming" Richard whispered
"No problem, I'm here for you" Jessica replied
"He was a great friend, the best, I loved him and now it's my fault he's gone" Richard convinced himself
"No that's not true, he was brave enough to jump in and save the world, it's who he is, he died doing what he loved" Jessica persuaded
"Maybe your right" Richard knelt down to place a white rose in front of the grey tombstone. To symbolize peace, serenity, and purity, innocence, humility, reverence and modesty.
Tears fell down his face, his head against his best friend's tombstone as he read the quote from the rock.
"A friend, a lover, a son, a brother he was a great man and he always will be" Richard whispered
Bruce knew how much he meant to Richard so Wally's grave was placed next to Richards parents.
"You know now I have to come here two times a year" Richard sobbed
"You can handle it" Jessica encouraged
That night jess and Richard stayed home eating ice cream and watching depressing love movies.
"Jess" Richard queried
"Yeah" Jess replied
"You remember a point in time when we were dating where I didn't want to be with you" Richard asked
"Yeah and I know why, that's why I came back to help you" Jess admitted
"How did you" Richard
"You should know by now that you weren't the only one, my idols were Batwoman and Mimic besides whenever you and Wally went god knows where, I went to see Zatanna" Jess confessed
"Wait she's playing for the other team? I never noticed, I always thought she was checking me out" Richard exclaimed
"Who was your arm candy whenever the team was around?" Jessica explained
"So she was checking you out, wow"
"It's funny how you don't know who's with who and yet you train with them"
"Well then train with us" Richard exclaimed
"I can't I'm still on a mission, maybe after, when I announce I'm alive to everyone"
"What is this mission?" Richard questioned
"You remember how wonder woman went all loopy. Well that wasn't her it was Metamorpho, so he threw her in there holding cells and took over the amazons, so I've become an amazon and in a relationship with mala" Jessica explained
"Are you crazy, they could find out and kill you" Richard yelled
"It's nothing new and mala is in on it"
"Just… promise me you won't get killed for real"
"Ok"
It's the first time he's put the suit on since the anniversary of Wally's death. It's been nine months since Richard told Wally he loved him. Twelve months of continuous sneaking, kissing and love. The only thing keeping form jumping off any of these Bludhaven buildings was their pact, he remembers it like it was yesterday.
He and Wally were in bed when Wally interrupted Richards deep thought, Wally insisted on knowing what he was thinking about. So Richard told him to promise to never leave him, Wally decided to make a pact instead
"If any of us die the other is not allowed to take their life or anyone else's life in an attempt of vengeance"
And they agreed that they would never break that pact, ever.
…
Tonight was his usual patrol, survey the area, stop a robbery, grab a coffee and repeat. But tonight felt off, Richard knew that if something feels off there's always the possibility something's wrong. So before he turns in he decided to do one more sweep of the city, and sure enough he heard a silent alarm at the bank come though his com link. Not thinking much of it he walked in to see the kid flash, the shock was unbearably real. The red head stared him right in the face, no mercy or innocence left just anger and rage.
He hated himself, how could he let it happen it's all his fault and there's no way to fix this one. The gilt was building up inside until he couldn't take it, he started to attack the robber in a sense of justice. He couldn't see anything, he was blinded with rage and confusion and couldn't stop. This was only the beginning, he had been training with Wally long enough to know that wasn't him.
Fiddling with his phone he kept thinking about the day Wally died over and over again it was like someone hit replay on him memories. There was only one option one that he truly hated, the idea of it made him mad. The only person that could solve this mystery, the dark crusader himself.
Batman.