AN: Howdy ya'll! This idea has been stuck in my mind for a while. Tell me what you think! I love, love, love reviews!
RICHARD
Dick Grayson steps onto the platform of the training simulator. The bat cave was remodeled a few months ago, giving the acrobat the perfect outlet for his constant insomnia.
Dodging a holographic Joker, he pushes up against a wall, side kicking the image in the face. Sweating in buckets, his eyelids droop, taking him back to a time and place he'd rather forget…
He jerks awake to the sound of a loud buzzer and the glowing red sign blinking 'YOU LOSE' on the screen. The villain has a gun pointed at his chest, his flickering smile looking as sick as ever. The boy wonder breathes out a sigh of relief that he put the volume on full blast. He mentally gives himself a pat on the back for the idea of using the new equipment as a way to occupy his nightmare ridden mind.
He can't go back to sleep. Sleep is where the falling and the death and the deep, deep regret lives. It's been getting worse lately, but then again, it always does around this time of year. In a few weeks it would be the anniversary of that day again, so all he has to do is keep pushing himself until it comes and goes. If he gets lucky, he'll collapse into a dreamless sleep, waking up in a few hours to become the bouncing, energetic kid everyone knows him as.
But until then, he'll just have to work harder.
His muscles are screaming at him to stop, rest, close his eyes for a few minutes, but Richard ignores them. Instead going to the end of a running platform, and preparing to do some acrobatics to wake himself up. Breaking into a run, he suddenly panics when everything begins to fade to black. First, his hearing goes, then his sense of touch, his eyesight, and then… nothing.
WALLY
Wally sighs in exhaustion as he opens the door to his house. It's been a long day for the speedster, and all he wants to do is collapse onto his bed.
He peeks in to make sure his parents are sleeping before slipping inside and quietly locking the door.
Tiptoeing his way upstairs, he glances into his parents' room to discover that they aren't there. Then he looks outside and sees that the car was gone. That's when he remembers that they're on a business trip until Wednesday. He forgot about the note they left him this morning.
Plopping onto his bed, he doesn't even bother to change before drifting off to sleep. He loves sleep. He can escape from his hectic life for a few hours and his super speed allows him to fall asleep even faster.
But for some reason, it's different tonight. Maybe it's the bruise on his back from when he helped that ninth grader from getting beat up in the parking lot. Maybe it's the thought that he's seen more of the team this month than his own parents. He tosses and turns but can't get comfortable before finally giving up, and sitting up in defeat. Looks like it's going to be another restless night.
Swinging his legs and throwing the covers off, he stands up to make his way downstairs.
Whoa, he thinks when his vision blurs, maybe I stood up too fast. But he knows he's only kidding himself, that's never happened since he got his speed, and it's not going away. Walking out of his room towards the stairs, he has to hold on the banister so he doesn't fall.
He's hit with a wave of exhaustion so hard, he gasps aloud. He runs to the couch just in time to sit down, when everything goes dark. He feels himself falling…
.
.
.
"Oof!" he lands face first on a mat and looks up to find that he's no longer in his living room. "What the…"
Wally stands up and looks around, taking in his familiar surroundings. He's standing on a running platform leading up to a springboard, no doubt used for gymnastics. He takes a step prepared to use his super speed but stops when he doesn't feel the familiar build up of the speed force that accompanies it. He tests his theory and realizes with a spike of panic that it's practically nonexistent.
That's when he sees his reflection. Staring back at him is his best friend, gaping with an open-mouthed expression and stunning blue eyes that can only belong to Richard Grayson. Looking around some more he realizes why it looks so familiar. The creepy bats in the corner, the crazy supercomputer against the wall, the ominous echo his steps make. He's in a cave, but not just any cave.
The bat cave.
Uh oh.
Wally West. In the bat cave. Looking like Rob. He's in the bat cave…
Batman's gonna kill him!
His muscles are screaming and he's ridiculously tired like he's going to pass out at any moment from exhaustion. But that's the last thing on his mind.
His thoughts are frustratingly slow and his reflexes feel sluggish compared to how he's used to. But he has a strange sense of confidence in his abilities like he could do a backflip successfully if he wanted to. He tests the theory and to his delight lands successfully without falling on his face.
"TEN!" He yells out. At this point, he just figures that it's a really realistic dream, so he might as well make the most out of it.
Looking back at the running mat, he gets in position and shoots towards the springboard. Too late, he feels himself falling as his world in encased in black.
RICHARD
"OH SH-" the boy wonder yells before he has a face full of wall. "Ugh…" He puts a hand to his aching nose and pulls it away to find that it's bleeding. Then he looks up and to see a familiar red head. He backflips away, or tries to, and ends up falling on his back. He yelps in pain when and turns around to find it bruised.
"What the heck?" Okay, this is no big deal. He's the boy wonder, partner in fighting crime with the most fearsome hero in Gotham, he can figure out what's going on. Looking around some more he sees some pictures of a young Wally and his parents at the beach, in Las Vegas, at the park. Wow, they really got out of the house.
Wait a second. He looks back towards the boy in the mirror, nose bleeding, shocked expression, green eyes staring in rising disbelief.
He raises an arm, so does the red head. He jogs in place and has to stop suddenly when it inadvertently turns into a sprint. His thoughts are going so fast it's hard to concentrate on one subject and he feels like he hasn't eaten for hours. No way.
No. Way.
But before he can truly comprehend the magnitude of the situation, he feels a familiar pull into darkness and he slumps against the wall as everything goes dark again.
.
.
.
"Ow," Dick says looking up from his face plant on the mat.
He looks around to find that he's back in his own residence and breaths a sigh of relief. I must've just collapsed again, he thinks, and pushes himself to a standing position.
He supposes that not all sleep motivated by exhaustion is dreamless, but it was so realistic, it makes him uneasy.
Pushing it to the back of his mind, he moves on to the balance beams.
Just keep working hard, keep pushing. It's just a few more weeks.
WALLY
"Ugh…" Wally holds on to the wall and rubs his nose.
Looking at his hand with blood on it, and back to the wall he's holding himself up on, his groggy mind puts two and two together to determine that he was sleep running again.
Sighing in defeat, he walks into the kitchen to grab some water, he always has the weirdest dreams when he sleepruns. This one was so realistic though, and he remembers every second of it. Something in the back of his mind tells him that it's strange but he shakes it away. He put the cup in the sink and runs upstairs to bed to try to get some rest. Sweet, sweet super speed, he thinks.
Collapsing on his bed he closes his eyes to rest. Tomorrow's training with the team, he'll need all the sleep he could get.
Weeeelp, there you go! Please tell me if you liked it, or not.
This is inspired by Kokoro Connect. I freaking love that anime. (Summary's inspired by the show, too.)
Oh! And for my other stories, I'm working on it! I'm just at a sort of writer's block at the moment. Sorry about that. Ideas are REALLY appreciated.