It had only been a dream. The way she left him in the blink of an eye, the way the very last spark of her beautiful fire went out before he could save her. It had been just noise and pictures in his head, but the fear and the unbearable, punishing grief had been all too real. It tore away the final shreds of anything that made him a human being. What he'd done to Bruce, he'd felt that too, the deafening sound of a cracked sternum shooting up through Dick's body, the depraved thrill of vengeance replacing his despair for a moment that would quickly pass. After that there was nothing at all. He was hollow, the only thing keeping him upright were the demons he'd let in. But it felt better than needing her when she wasn't there anymore. The thought of that threatens to break everything solid that still remains.
It's over now, or as over as it can be. When Rachel wakes she'll remember that her mother is gone, and that her father was never really here, and there's nothing any of them will be able to do to make it right again. Gar can't sleep at all. The fierce kindness and joy in him has been tested far past its limit, and it may take years before he can bring it all back.
And Kory, she remembers things now that she deserves to forget for the rest of her life.
When he first met her, she seemed indestructible, stronger than him, stronger than anyone. She was a warrior in sparkly jewelry, stomping out hatred and evil beneath her thigh-high party boots. What right did they have to will her to the ground with their heavy chains? The fact that she'd been hurt like that, viciously and for so long, was realer than anything he'd seen in Trigon's vision. He'd seen Tamaran with his own eyes when the demons were clinging to him and he was clinging even harder to her. Back at the house, before they won, he saw it all.
He would have killed her after what Trigon did to him. But she reached the part of him he thought he'd lost, the part that thought he lost her, the part that could still question. It was just for a second, but a second was enough. He couldn't cause her anymore pain once he was himself again.
Now they're in the closest thing resembling home they can find. They're both so tired but sleep refuses to come and he's aching for her in a way he can't explain. They'd slept together before, they'd done it in the middle of chaos and in the wake of trauma. But it's different now. He needs to touch her, to immerse himself between her thighs and surround her in his arms. He needs to feel her pretty fingernails clawing at his flesh. It's the only thing that can make the demons stay out.
He's slow and careful about putting his hands on her, and she doesn't recoil, she leans into him, trusts him still. What is this between the two of them? He knows it can't be love, it's been no time at all, but it's deeper than anything he's felt before. It's completely new to him yet it's like he's never been without it, like a part of him was made for her and will belong to her always.
Once they finish, it doesn't take long for Kory to finally be still and resting, a hand over his heart. Maybe she needs to feel its beat as she sleeps the way he needs to feel her steady breath on his neck, reminding him that she's here, a living thing, warm and safe in his bed.