Jason was dead.

Jason was dead, and Bruce was working hard in the cave, probably going to kill himself from work overload in the next few days. He wouldn't even leave to go to Wayne Enterprises, or even when Alfred demanded he take a break.

But Alfred probably didn't have it in him to put up a proper fuss about it. He was sad too.

Jason was dead, and Tim was crying like he couldn't stop. Dick would cry later, he was sure of it, but not now. Right now, he had things to do, places to be.

Because right now, Young Justice had disbanded and Jason was dead. Dick's brothers and sister had moved on, and his true brother was in an unmarked grave on the outskirts of Gotham because Jason Todd, the adopted ward of Bruce Wayne, had simply run away: he hadn't died.

He ran away because it was too much of a coincidence for Robin, the Boy Wonder, to die the same night as Jason Todd. People would notice, people would feel twice the grief, and the Bats couldn't have that, now could they?

But it didn't matter to Dick, because Jason Todd was the one who was dead, but Robin wasn't. Robin wasn't dead because Tim was crying over an old black and yellow cape that had once been Dick's, but now stained with someone else's blood. Dick didn't want to know if Alfred was going to try and clean it or just get a new cape. Tim probably would never put that cape on anyway.

And Dick didn't care, what cape he wore. Dick didn't even care if he even wore a cape at all, or if he just went to school on Monday pretending like his brother wasn't dead, simply run away, and never stepped out onto the streets of Gotham at night again.

In fact, Dick would be really ok with that.

But he knew that wasn't going to happen.

No, Tim would go to school on Monday and roll his eyes at his stupid brother's ridiculous antics, playing the perfect part as he nodded in slight grief when his peers gossiped about how the Boy Wonder had been rumored to have been killed by the Joker. Tim was good like that, he could do it perfectly.

And even more, Tim would be out on patrol in the next two weeks, with some rigorous training Bruce was no doubt setting up as they sat here, Tim crying and Dick thinking, and be ready to fill the shoes of Robin, just like Jason had when Dick got tired.

Dick wasn't tired of being a hero, but he had grown tired of being the Boy Wonder as he was so obviously not a boy anymore. He was a teenager, and he'd donned a black suit and followed invisibly behind Batman and Robin, working on hacking from a distance and practicing his stealth. Once Jason had become used to being Robin, he'd even gone his own way, patrolling Crime Alley all night alone while giving the new Dynamic Duo their space and sometimes heading home early to Mt. Justice and watching a movie with Wally or one of his teammates.

He was Robin at Mt. Justice, and with the League, but Jason was Robin in Gotham.

And now he wasn't, because he was dead.

And Young Justice had decided to split a week ago, deciding they could be heroes on their own. Oh, they'd keep in touch, lend a hand when needed, because after all they were still family, but they would go their own ways.

And then Jason had died.

Dick didn't even tell his team about his real name yet, no one but Wally knew he had a brother, that he had two.

He could call Wally, tell him what happened… but the speedster was busy. He wouldn't bother him right now.

Not that Dick was upset his friend had moved on somewhat.

Barry Allen had wanted to take a step down from being Flash— just a little bit—he wanted to work as the scientist he was, and focus more on that instead of constantly being called off-world by the League. Fastest man alive or not, he couldn't be in two places at once.

Well, unless he gave Wally his suit and pretended he was.

Wally was still KF most of the time, but when Barry needed a break, the scarlet suit was still in use. But that meant Wally was busier than ever.

And Dick was happy for his best friend, because this was exactly what the young speedster had always dreamed of, and he was truly ready for it. This was how the progression of the title should happen: with tradition and happiness.

Not like this.

Not with the old owner of the cape in an unmarked grave and the new replacement crying in broken sobs.

It was nearly two am when Tim had finally stopped crying, and both brothers glanced as Dick's laptop beeped.

Everything was set then.

"What is that?' Tim asked in a whisper.

Dick didn't answer, but packed up the computer in the bag beside his desk and slung it over his shoulder. He stood over his brother and offered him a hand.

"Come on," He said gently, just as quiet at the whisper. "Let's go for a walk."

Tim didn't respond but took his hand and let himself be guided out Dick's bedroom and through Wayne Manor, out onto the dark basketball court.

Three brothers had once played their heart outs here. But it was dark now.

"Where're you going?" Tim asked miserably, not looking up from the ground.

Dick sighed heavily. Of course Tim would figure it out. He was the new Robin after all, and he knew his brothers like that back of his hand.

Well… he knew Dick.

"Don't know." Dick said honestly.

"You're not coming back…" Tim realized, his voice nothing more than a breath.

"I'll always come back for you, Timmy. Be it an end-of-the-world situation, or a dad's-getting-on-my-nerves-and-I-want-to-talk-to-someone situation, just remember our code and nothing will stop me from getting back here, go it?" Dick said firmly, and Tim nodded weakly.

Dick sighed again, gently taking Tim's chin and lifting his head to look in his eyes.

"You know why I'm leaving?" He asked softly.

Tim's eyes filled with water involuntarily, and he made to look away in shame, but Dick held him there. Slowly, after a few tears had fallen, he nodded.

Dick smiled weakly, pulling the smaller boy into a hug. "I love you Timbo, you hear me? Don't let dad get you down. Don't let him push you away either."

"Just come back and visit you idiot," Tim mumbled against Dick's midsection where his face was buried. "In one piece, please." He added so softly, he almost didn't hear him.

Dick chuckled softly. "Will do. I'll try my hardest."

"Find another team or something," Tim mumbled. "Keep them safe so they can keep you safe."

Dick looked down at his brother, who looked up at him just to make sure he didn't think he was joking.

"That's… actually not a bad idea." Dick allowed. "Maybe I can find Beast Boy. I hear he quit the Doom Squad. M'gann will be worried about him."

"Right…" Tim said offhandedly.

"Hey…" Dick said, catching the smaller boy's attention again. "I will be back. Not for dad, for you. I promise, heaven and hell could not stop me, understand?"

Tim nodded before looking miserably back down at the ground.

Dick sighed. This would not be an easy goodbye, no matter what he did.

"Listen, Tim…" Tim looked back up at him with sad eyes. Dick sighed. He was sighing a lot tonight. "Look… in about an hour or so, dad's gonna be pissed. Not just pissed, but pissed at me and he'd going to have some pretty good reasons, beyond simply finding out I'm gone."

"He probably already knows you're out the door." Tim reminded him, and Dick smiled at the truth in that statement, but didn't elaborate.

"Yeah… but he doesn't know about this next bit. And… and I'm not ashamed of it either. I'm doing this for Jason, understand? So when dad goes ape shit… just…"

"Just do it for Jason." Tim said in a surprisingly stern voice. Dick looked at him and saw his pale blue eyes suddenly lit up with fire. So, Tim probably guessed what Dick was going to do, and was behind him a hundred percent.

"Dad won't approve." Dick reminded him.

"And Dad would never have the balls to do it." Tim said in the same steely voice. He looked Dick square in the eye. "So you do it."

Dick stared back for a moment.

He nodded once. "Keep yourself out of trouble then."

"You first." Tim nodded back.

"By little brother," Dick smiled, grabbing him in one last hug and the jogging away and easily jumping the fence blocking the court.

"Bye…" Tim whispered, staring at the empty court left behind.