The song lyrics are from Barns Courtney "Glitter & Gold"

Consider this the prequel to "I Quit..."

A/N at the end.

Nightmare

I am flesh and I am bone.
Rise up, ting ting, like glitter and gold.
I've got fire in my soul
Rise up, ting ting, like glitter...
Like glitter and gold.
Like glitter...

Mount Justice

February 4th, 1:26 A.M EDT

Silent and calm. Not a sound to be heard and that is rare. No danger, no pain, no nothing with a world that is just so dark and cold. Hardly does the world full of villains, psychotics, murderers and burglars stay dormant or away, yet it did.

The team were quite surprised with the silence, but they weren't complaining much since with their double lives, school and going days on end with no sleep; this was nice. Their mentors allowed them to stay at the mountain while they took care of the patrol in their respective cities.

Being teens and just wanting to relax Wally suggested a movie marathon of Star Wars. Everyone was on board wanting to just be teens for once. Three movies in, 5 bags of party sized chips, 3 liters of soda and too many boxes of candy to count, everyone was retreating to their bedrooms to sleep. Bidding each other goodnight and to see them in the morning. Knowing full well they were probably going to be back on schedule tomorrow. Evil can only stay at bay for such a short time and they will take every second they have to rest. Well almost all of them…

Do you walk in the valley of kings?
Do you walk in the shadow of men
who sold their lives to a dream?
Do you ponder the manner of things,
in the dark...
the dark, the dark, the dark...

Robin's Room

It was rare for the Boy Wonder to get a full night of sleep. Robin was hoping that his good mood would allow his mind to rest and to not give him any nightmares tonight. Then again when does body and mind truly get along.

I am flesh and I am bone.
Arise, ting ting, like glitter and gold.
I've got fire in my soul
Rise up, ting ting, like glitter...
Like glitter and gold.
Like glitter...

"Mami? Tati? Where are you?" A small five year old Dick yelled.

It was dark, not a soul to be seen within the circus tent. He was confused… not once since he was born was the circus ever quiet. Even at night when everyone is asleep; someone is outside training, practicing or the animals are a rustling.

He was confused until his little ears heard the sounds of voices, yet it didn't sound like voices, more like screams. He was confused on the screams so he decided to walk towards the sound. As he started to walk closer to the sound, the tent slowly started becoming a hallway of mirrors. He started to look around and notice that the mirrors were reflecting him. Yet this time he wasn't five, he was eight, uniformed and all for a Flying Grayson routine. Confused he stopped and looked into the mirror; he held his hand out to touch it.

"DICK!"

He knew that voice. "Mami!"

He started running down the hall and as he did the image in the mirror started changing him into his ten year old self. As he kept running he saw a light and he started running faster. The closer he got, the louder the screams became. The hallway felt like it was never ending. He kept running, running and running until he finally hit the end.

As he exited the hallway, the screams stopped and he say something that has haunted him for years. His family dead… the bodies of his mother, father, cousin, aunt and uncle; broken and bloody. The Flying Grayson dead...

Dick dropped to his knees, with his tears welling in his eyes. "No, no, no! Mami! Tati! Not again! Please anything but this..." he pleaded.

Do you walk in the meadow of spring?
Do you talk to the animals?
Do you hold their lives from a string?
Do you ponder the manner of things
in the dark...
the dark, the dark, the dark...

As he continue to look in horror, he heard footsteps walking towards them. He quickly got up and he saw Bruce, but before he could say anything…

"This is your fault..." Bruce said. Dicks eyes widen… "You knew about Zucco and yet you said nothing."

"No it's not true!" he yelled. Surprised that out of all people would say such horrendous things that he didn't want to hear.

"Yes it is… you saw Zucco and his goons talking about ruining the act and yet you did nothing." He shouted back as he pointed to the black space slowly forming the image of Zucco and his goons talking. "Not saying a single word thinking that nothing could go wrong and looked what happened… They're dead..."

"Shut up!" he yelled as he covered his ears with his hands, not wanting to hear the things he always told himself. And to see his second father figure telling him his faults was heart breaking. He felt like he couldn't breathe.

He immediately snapped out of it when he heard a car door slam shut. He looked around and realized he was in a cop car. No longer wearing his Flying Grayson costume, but all black clothing, shoes and jacket included.

"Don't take him!" he heard. He looked out of his ride side window and realized Mr. Haley was yelling at Commissioner Gordon.

"I am sorry sir, but with no living guardian within the circus and his uncle in a coma. You have no legal documents to allow the boy to stay here. If you try anything you will never see the boy again… " he said as he stepped into the car. As the car started Dick looked back at Haley, the man he saw as a grandfather, looking as well back at him. For a second he saw his pain that he was feeling seeing Dick go away. Dick turned away until he heard,

"Good riddance." His head snapped back up and he saw Mister Haley smiling as the car started to drive away.

Dick was confused, 'What is going on?' he thought…

As he looked around his surroundings he realized he wasn't sitting in a car but in darkness. Then he felt a drop.

He screamed in shock and started falling into the unknown. As he fell he started hearing words that he hated.

"Circus Brat"

"Freak"
"Charity Case"

"Maybe you should have joined them."

"Let me out!" Dick yelled as he closed his eyes. "Let me out! I know this isn't real, any of this!"

I am flesh and I am bone.
Arise, ting ting, like glitter and gold.
I've got fire in my soul
Rise up, ting ting, like glitter...
I am flesh and I am bone.
Arise, ting ting, like glitter and gold.
I've got fire in my soul
Rise up, ting ting, like glitter...

He was no longer falling.

He opened his eyes and realized he was in another dark space. He started to look around confused. It was eerie and he didn't like it one bit.

"Okay, I am totally not feeling the aster." He said while taking deep breathes.

He knew he couldn't just stand there. He had to do something but what. 'Maybe walking around will get me up.' he thought until he heard a sickening roar of pain. He knew that voice from anywhere.

"Wally!"he shouted. Yet when he turned around he saw something that he hopes wouldn't haunt him forever. His friends… bloodied, bruised and beaten. Sprawled in all directions… dead.

"No..." he ran towards them, checking if maybe one was alive, but no one made a move. "Conner… M'gann… Kaldur… Artemis..." whispering as he went and checked on them. As he got to Wally, he kneeled in front of him. As he reached to touch his friend, he was shocked that Wally grabbed his wrist.

In a pained voice, "Why are you here? You are already too late… Can't you see? We are dead because of you."

Robin eyes widen. "Wally, no it's not true! You know I would never leave you all behind!"

"Oh, but you have… Failsafe… don't you remember. You killed us Dick… your friends, right? With your own hands." Robin remained quiet as he continued. "You're a failure Dick… you will never live up to the expectation… you'll never be how you wanted… you are going to end up like Batman whether you like it or not… a failure to him… a failure to us and a failure to your family. You are nothing but a failure Richard and Robin is nothing more but a mistake of a sidekick." He said as he squeezed Dick's hand harder to the point where he actually pain.

'Cause everybody's in the backroom's
spinning up...
Don't know what you're asking for...
And everybody's in the front room's
tripping out...
You left your bong at the door.

"NO!" Dick yelled as he jolted up from his bed. His breath was laboured and rapid while his body was covered with a thin layer of sweat.

'Breathe… breathe Richard… it was nothing more than a messed up dream.' He thought to himself. He put his hand on his chest, feeling his heart race a mile per minute.

He looked around and saw his clock.

4:26 A.M

He groaned as he flopped back on his pillows. He knew he wasn't going to be getting any sleep soon. Not after that mind fuck his brain decided to put him through. But why though? Was it because of the recent failed mission of the apocalyptic scenario? It wasn't anywhere near April and Bruce hasn't told him anything to get his mind to think.

'Cause everybody's in the backroom's
spinning up...
Don't know what you're asking for...
And everybody's in the front room's
tripping out...
You left your bong at the door.

"So what was?" he asked out loud. Nothing came to mind. A heavy 'dis' on the 'aster' and nothing will get it to be cool.

He sighed and got up from his bed. He went to his closet and changed into some black sweatpants and his signature green hoodie. Quickly brushing his teeth he went out of his room and to surprise no one was awake. Then again he was kind of glad because he didn't really feel like talking to anybody at the moment. He went to living room and saw it was still a mess from a couple hours ago so he decided to clean up, hoping maybe it would give him some answers.

"Nope..."He said out loud about 20 minutes later as he was finishing up the living room. He still didn't knew what his dream meant and maybe he wouldn't. Maybe it was just one of those days. As he was grabbing the last little bit of trash, he saw a small picture frame. He picked it up and he smiled.

It was a photo of the team going to Happy Harbor. 'Man was that a fun day...' It was unforgettable really… Wally failing to pick up girls, Artemis winning all the shooter games, Kaldur, M'gann and Connor marveling at all the attractions that were there in that little Happy Harbor. And Dick well… he was making memories. Enjoying the time they had together, while they got to know each other better. He couldn't wait until the day Batman give him permission to tell the team his identity… well minus Wally, but he was his best friend. As he continued to look at the photo, the dream slowly was fading away.

Maybe it was something he didn't have to worry about. After all his friends had his back no matter what. Why question it now? A dream can only tell so much? Right?

I am flesh and I am bone.
Arise, ting ting, like glitter and gold.
I've got fire in my soul
Rise up, ting ting, like glitter...
Like glitter and gold.
Like glitter...
Like glitter and gold...
Like glitter...

Hey guys I just wanted to let you guys know... I am changing the story and I don't really feel too bad about it. I will only feel bad for those who were hoping for this version to continue but when one grows, so do their skills. And to be honest I hate how my 15/16 year old version wrote these fics. I also know that I promised to try and update frequently but it is hard to do so when you are now in college and have responsibility. So within 24/48 hours of publishing this I will be deleting the original "I Quit". By Friday afternoon/evening the new "I Quit" will be up.

Thank you

Stay tune.

R&R