The small boy lifted himself up onto the platform. His entire body was shaking with fear and adrenaline.

"That's it. Now grab the swing." The sound of his father's voice traveled from the other side across the empty space between them.

"I can do it with you one more time if your not ready." The gentle sound of his mother's voice whispered softly in his ear.

"No. You have to let him do it on his own." His father responded, knowing exactly what his mother was saying without hearing her words. He could see the slight uncertainty in his sons eyes. "Dick, you have to try. Even if you are one hundred percent sure you will fail, try anyway. I'm right here. I promise. I will catch you."

Dick held the bar that suddenly felt too big in both hands. He took a deep breth.

"Ready." It was not a question. Dick gave one strong nod. "On three. One. Two. Three!" They both jumped off of their platforms and the small Flying Grayson in training flew through the air. He started to laugh as his fear got swept away with the wind that rushed passed him. His father had done a flip and now had his legs holding onto his swing, his arms out stretched towards his son. "Let go!"

Dick let go of the bar and flew freely until he felt his father's arms wrap securly around him.

"I've got you my little bird." They started to fall towards the net and Dick gave out another laugh before his stomach dropped and he suddenly rememberd that there was no net. He heard one loud scream right before he hit the ground.

"Dad!" He yelled out. Waking up from his horrible nightmare. He tried to get up but something was holding him down. He was in a hospital bed. There were padded cuffs wrapped tightly around his ankles and wrists. He heard the beating of a heart monitor in his ear. That was when he realized that his vision wasn't getting any clearer

"I can't see. Why can't I see?" The small boy started to panic as five blurry shapes closed in around him.

"Do not worry. We are giving you your medicine and everything will be better soon." The Voice told him.

"But I am not sick." He protested when he saw something large and long in one of the, were they doctors, hands. He felt a prick in his left shoulder and his entire arm was on fire. He screamed in pain as it spread across his chest to his other arm. Down both his legs. Up his throat and into his head. His entire body was set a blaze.

"Hush my boy. I know, but it will only burn until the sickness is completely gone. You will emerge from the flames clean and new and ready for your training."

Dick was sure that at any moment he would pass out. He waited for it. Prayed for it. It never came. He just kept burning.

Until he wasn't. Infact he was freezing. Child to the bone. He was shaking from head to toe. He wanted to wrap himself up into a ball but he couldn't.

"Begin the Bath." The voice comanded.

What had felt like an entire pools worth of water came down on his face. Steaming hot. He choked the liquid out until he could take one clear breth. It descended on him again. Harder and hotter then before. And again, and again.

Dick couldn't remember when he had passed out but he awoke to a searing pain in his right arm. Someone was cutting into him. He screamed. Tears streeming from his eyes. They kept cutting into him until he could no longer decipher one cut from the other.

"Begin the Bath again." The Voice comanded once more. For a moment the small boy just lay there, raw and bleeding before the pool of steaming hot water decended on him once more.

"Awaken Alton. The boy is ready."

Dick was now lying on the floor of a larg dark room, alone and naked. Something about him having to earn his dressings and weapons. They said he would come. When Dick had asked who He was, there was no answer, just silance. He lay there for a long time running his hands along his scar riddled body, not really registering it.

"Get up!" A deep growling voice comanded.

Dick looked towards where the voice had come from and saw a huge outline of a person with horns protruding from his head and shoulders.

"I said, get up!"

As the shape aproched, details started to form until the boy realized that the horns where actually bronz eyebrows on a black mask that looked like the head of an owl. And the horns on the shoulders where the handles of swards. The owl-man grabbed him with a sharply clawed hand and lifted him off the ground.

"So you are the one who is meant to replace me?" He threw the small boy to the ground and Dick gasped in pain. "Pathetic!" The bird-man spat at him. "Get up!"

As Dick slowly started to rise, the man came at him and gave him one hard kick in the stomach. The small boy fell back to the ground and spit blood out of his mouth.

"Do not worry. I will not kill you. Yet. Up!"

Dick didn't want to get up but what other choice did he have? Whether he lay there or fought, the guy was going to beat him to the ground. However, if he was going to go down, he was going to go down fighting. After all, he didn't care if he died. He would get to be with his parents if he did. He knew though, that his parents would be disappointed in him if he didn't at least try. So that is what he was going to do, try.

And so he got up. The man knocked him down. He got up again. And again, the man knocked him down. And again and again for days on end. Until Dick was nomb. Until it didn't hurt anymore. His body was bruised and bleeding from head to toe but that didn't make any difference. So after the millionth time being knocked down, Dick got up. He was facing the darknes and the owl-man came up behind him, just like he always did and moved, just as he always had. The movement to knock him down that always seemed to happen too fast for Dick to react had started to not seem so fast. This time, when the man's foot came flying at him, Dick dodged it, before the man knocked him in the head. Dick smiled, despite being knocked back down. He was learning. So he let it happen again and again.

"Knowing how to not get hurt won't get you anywhere!" The man spat. Dick just smiled definitely. It made the man angry. He was always changing up his combination now, but Dick got to know his movements so well, it didn't matter. Not to say he still didn't get hit but it was not nearly as often, or nearly as hard. Dick took his time learning every movement the man made, looking for any signs of a potential weak spot and then he saw it. The owl-mans arms where wide open and Dick launched himself at his face. The man's arms went up as quick as a whip, to block himself. Dick used his fighting partners upper arms to launch himself up and did a tight flip over his head. Just as the acrobat started to unravel he grabbed the cloth on the back of the man's mask with both hands and with the advantage of surprise and gravity, brought him down with him. Dick tried to move out of the way of the falling body as fast as he could and just nearly made it.

For the first time, Dick actually laughed. He did it. But before he could celebrate, the man grabbed him by the neck, lifting him off the ground and the young boy could not breath.

"That's enough!" The Voice comanded. Dick had almost forgot about the Voice, he hadn't heard it in so long. He had become so consumed with this one battle, he had nearly forgotten about everything else.

The Voice spoke again. "Give him a long blade."

The Owl-man put Dick down. "Yes. I will retrieve one."

"No! Give him one of yours."

The man paused. Dick Imagend that under the mask, the skilled fighter looked compleatly dumb founded.

"Now!"

He moved slowly, begrudgingly. He reached behind his back and slid the long blade out of its holster and handed it to the raven haird boy. Dick took it and as soon as he did, the man whipped out his other blade.

Dick dropped his and did three back hand springs until he was out of reach.

The solder growled deeply. "Pick up that sword. Hand to hand is over." It took Dick forever to get the sward back and when he finally did, he didn't like it. Didn't feel quite right in his hands, it was too big for his small frame but he did the best he could. Just like with the hand to hand, he dodged and blocked until he learned the man's moves and than he struck. Unfortunately Owl-man was better prepared this time and blocked it.

"Surprise won't help you this time. You will have to do better."

They kept going until he did.

Everytime Dick got the hang of one thing the Voice would command for him to get another weapon until he had learned at least five different ones. A Long sward. A bow. An axe. A spiked boll and chain, that he hit himself more with, then his partner. And finally, a boomerang. A very sharp boomerang. At first he thought the boomerang was dumb but it quickly became his favorite.

Dick cought the boomerang in his hand once more after the fifth time of slicing his sparing partner in various places. He couldn't help the dark satisfied, closed mouth, smile that spread across his face. Just as he prepared to throw the boomerang once more something grabbed him from behined. He tried all he could to wiggle free but the hold was unforgiving. The armed solder straightened up and dissolved into the shows.

"Begin the bath." The voice comanded for the third time. "Then the Battle will begin."

Dick was shoved violently into a cage big enough for him to stand up in. He was clad in some kind of chain mill armor. It was not the most comfortable peace of clothing the former acrobat had ever worn but he gessed it was better than being compleatly naked.

The wall behind his cage slid open and he could hear a crowd cheering. The cage jolted violently towards the opening, being pulled by four large ropes that were wrapped around four corners of the cage. The cage stopped once it was fully emerged into the huge arena. There were hundreds of people in the seats surrounding the battle field. At least Dick assumed they were people. He couldn't see any of their faces. They where all wearing white maskes.

"GRAYSON!" He could just hear a familiar voice call him from the other side of the field.

He surched until he found Raymond surrounded by a cage just like Dicks. There was a third cage aswell with another boy he didn't know inside it.

One of the white masked people on an outstretched platform stood up and raised both arms above their head. All three cage doors slid open. Dick was shoved out onto the battle field. All three boys just stood there, staring.

"Let the Battle begin!" The white masked person standing called. They let their arms drop and the crowed erupted in an ear piercing cheer.