Yesterday was a really horrible day for me. I don't know why but I felt the sudden urge to see someone in pain. It didn't quite turn out like it did in my head though...
Anyway, don't own the characters of course.
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He should have known better.
Of course something like this would happen today, out of all the days.
But now, it was too late.
There was nothing he could do.
…nothing…
He felt scared….
And more than anything, he felt regret…
…I'm sorry …
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It was hard to believe that everything had started only a few days ago. And nobody would have guessed that it would spiral so far into the abyss of darkness… least of all, the dynamic duo.
Robin had not been on the top of his game lately. The training with Batman was still as exhausting as ever and crime was unusually high forcing the dynamic duo to extend they patrols and spend more time on the streets.
The times in which Robin was not needed, Dick Grayson was busy studying for his semester finals. He knew that if he got anything less than a B on any exam, Bruce would immediately ban him from being Robin until the next exam result was better. And there was no way Dick would let that happen, so he spend the rest of his nights/mornings after patrol hunched over his desk studying.
As a result Dick hadn't slept properly in days and only ever took naps several times during his days. At first it hadn't been a problem but every day his lack of sleep piled up and took his toll on his body.
Eventually even his performance as Robin was beginning to be affected by his lack of energy and he wasn't as fast and aware of his environment as he wanted to be.
Then, one day he made a mistake.
Batman and Robin had split up trying to track down Two-Face. Robin found him first, trying to take over a bank. There were a total of 20 henchmen and 5 hostages.
On a normal day Robin might have been able to distract all of them and safe the hostages, but the lack of sleep had clouded his judgement and he had rushed into the fight. Batman's previous order of "Do NOT engage by yourself" was left ignored. He could do this and he would prove it to Batman.
It didn't take long before he was overpowered. He took down 3 henchmen's but his moves and jumps had become slow and sluggish giving Two-Face and his goons the opportunity they needed to beat him.
Robin had taken a nasty hit on the head and was pulling himself of the ground with a lot of effort when Batman finally arrived. He had not been happy. Two-Face had managed to escape with quite a lot of money leaving nothing but destruction behind.
The drive home to the Bat-cave was tense and quiet, but by far not as bad as the fight they had after they arrived.
"I ordered you to stay put. You were not to engage on your own." Batman growled out as soon as both of them where out of the Batmobile.
"I had to intervene. There was no choice, or else they would have hurt the hostages. I could have handled them, if it wasn't for that one guy."
"Well you didn't handle them. You placed yourself in unnecessary danger, putting your own life on the line and that of the hostages. And in the end you achieved nothing. You got knocked out and they got away with the money."
"I told you, it was just that one guy and some bad timing. Don't you trust me at all?"
"I expect you to follow my orders. How am supposed to trust you if you can't even to that. We could have avoided all your mistakes if you had just waited."
"If I had waited for you –"
"Forget it Robin, because of you we lost Two-Face and the money. You will be banned from patrol until I think you are responsible enough again."
Robin could believe his own ears. If he hadn't been mad at Batman before, he sure as hell was now.
"What? You can't do that. You have no right to do that."
"Like hell I have the right to do that, you are to rash and until you can make the right decisions in the field you will stay away from any patrolling. Do you hear me?"
"I can make the right decisions. You need me. Who will look after your back when I am not around?"
"I don't need your help."
"So what you are saying, that Robin is basically useless?"
"I never had these problems when I was just working on my own."
That one hurt. Robin was so angry he was at a loss of words. The cave had become quiet with nether party saying a word but refusing to break eye contact. After what seemed like forever Robin removed his masked letting it drop to the ground.
"I hate you."
He spat out before turning and running up the stairs to the manor straight to his room. When he arrived he collapsed heavily onto his bed, exhausted and tired after the night's events.
He didn't know it yet, but this would be the last sentence he would ever say to Bruce.
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The following day had not started any better. Usually Bruce and Dick would wake up at around the same time to have breakfast together, before Bruce would have to leave for the office and 30 minutes later Dick would make his way to school.
This morning Dick was in no mood to meet with Bruce so he stayed in bed long after his alarm went off. He could hear Bruce leaving earlier than usual for his work and almost immediately after that Alfred knocked on his door.
"Good morning, young master. You didn't come down for breakfast this morning, is everything alright?"
"Yes Alfred, everything is fine. I will be down in a few minutes."
"Very well then."
Despite what he told Alfred, Dick felt everything but fine. His head had begun to hurt from the encounter with the thugs last night, he was still incredibly mad at Bruce and he didn't get nearly as much sleep last night as he needed. He felt emotionally and physically drained and just wanted to stay in bed all day long.
But despite his tired body he pulled himself out of bed and got ready for school.
School felt like hell to Dick, even though it was just like any other day. At least until the disaster happened. He didn't pay much attention during his classes, his thoughts constantly drifting back to his argument with Bruce yesterday.
Yes he was mad a Bruce. He had no right to act the way he did and take Robin away from him, but Dick had to admit… maybe he was to blame as well. A little at least. If he had talked to Bruce about his sleeping problems, they wouldn't have split up in the first place.
Or maybe Bruce would have benched him before they even left to find Two-Face in the first place. Dick took a deep breath. Bruce was impossible to predict.
But he had to at least apologise for his outburst at the end. He was out of line when he said he hated Bruce. There was no way he could hate him. Bruce had given him so much more than Dick could have asked for. And he had to make sure he knew that.
The rest of the day was very slow.
Dick had nodded off in math class. It was easy anyway and he was just too tired to remain awake, but through that he also missed the commotion which unfolded itself in the hallways of the school. He awoke too late when his classroom door was kicked open and flew across the room. He took too long to realise the army of men filling the room taking a good dozen of children as hostages and pushing the rest of them away into the corner.
The first thing Dick realises is that he is dragged of his chair, his arms are twisted behind him and he is pulled to the front of the room and pushed down onto his knees. By the time he has realised the situation he found himself in and managed to look up, he found himself face to face with Two-Face.
'No… this can't be…'
His eyes darted across the room trying to take in everything at once. He could see his friends and classmates holding back their tears and he could hear the screams from other students outside the door.
There was nothing he could do. Not only was he not Robin right now but even if he were, he could hardly summon enough energy to keep his eyes open yet alone fight off Two-Face and his goons. He hadn't managed it yesterday and there was no way he could do it today.
"Hello, Richard. I am not sure we have officially met, so let me introduce myself: I am Two-Face."
Dick focused his attention back to the man in front of him.
"Yes I know. Now what do you want here? What do you want from us?"
"You, my boy. I only want you. I don't care much about what happened to your class."
"Well, what do you want from me?"
"You might not know it my boy, but your 'daddy' and I used to be good friends way before you came into the picture. But after my… accident, things changed."
"Yeh, obviously you became a lunatic.'
"Maybe so. I lost everything while Bruce was always the lucky one. He had it all; money, girls, power. I think it's about time something bad happens to him."
"I have been kidnapped plenty of times as a means to heart Bruce, but your reason for doing so is the dumbest yet."
"You think? The coin said it was a good idea."
"'The coin said'- you really are a lunatic."
"I wouldn't talk bad about it, after all the coin will be the judge of your fate."
"What do you mean?"
"Here's what we're going to do. I'll throw the coin, if it lands on heads I will take you with me and hold you for ransom, but if it lands on tails… I will shoot you on the spot. What do you day?"
"…can I choose not to play at all?"
"Sorry kid, doesn't work that way. Here we go."
Two-Face takes a step back before throwing the coin up into the air. Dick follows it with his eyes and for a second or two he thinks the coin will never come back down because it just seemed to levitate in space.
But then it came crashing down to the floor. Two-Face didn't catch it, instead he let it drop to the floor where it seemed to dance around before rolling to a full stop.
…tails…
By the time Dick had fully absorbed what he saw and pulled his head back up to look at Two-Face, the gun was already pointed at his chest.
Bang
Everything went black…
He didn't hear the gun go of, he wasn't even sure if he ever hit the floor. There was just one thing Dick was sure of.
…I never… apologised… to Bruce…
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Bruce stood still. He hadn't moved an inch since Dick had declared that he hated him and left for his room. The conversation he had with Dick went out of control. He knew that he shouldn't have said the things he said and regretted them as soon as they left his mouth.
But Dick had disobeyed his direct orders in the field and it would have almost gotten him killed. He wasn't sure exactly what it was but he could tell that lately something had been lying on his wards mind, making him slower in the field.
He had hoped that whatever it was didn't have too much an affect but tonight it had almost cost him his life. And as long as that something was a danger to Dick's life, he would keep him out of harm's way. It wasn't worth the risk.
I hate you
Dicks last words were heavy on his heart. He didn't expect to hear them from his ward. Ever.
Over the years Dick had become his everything, he couldn't bear the thought that he would actually hate him so much …
He turned away from where he was still standing and slowly made his way to the changing area. He would give Dick some time to calm down, tomorrow after school he would talk to him and before anything else, apologise.
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The morning started slow. Bruce hadn't been able to sleep, the concern and guild on his mind had kept him awake for most of the night. He already expected that Dick was probably to mad at him to come down for breakfast the following morning, but he couldn't totally blame him for it.
Seeing no reason to stick around further, he decided to leave earlier than usual for work. For the next 8 hours Bruce would try to forget the nagging feeling on his mind and try to concentrate on his work.
It worked pretty well for most of the day, until just after noon, right in the middle of a meeting with his advisors his thoughts jumped back do Dick.
He didn't know why, but suddenly there was a deep pain in his heart spreading like fire over his entire body. Something was wrong. Something has happened to Dick.
He couldn't quite understand himself know how he knew that something has happened, he just knew. He felt it. Like some sort of connection had just vanished, like something important had been taken from him.
He had to know what was wrong, so without a second thought he ran out of the room, never even noticing the odd looks people were giving him.
Part of him was scared what he would possibly find, but he had to make sure.
Had to make sure his son was alright.
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Alright; now what this is done, I have to say: I quit. I hate writing! My stories never turn out the way the they are in my head. It's just to frustrating.
Also, I apologise for my spelling mistakes. Looking back trough it I found so many... but sadly I have no editor.