Prologue 2: Leaving

As he was preparing to leave the manor, Dick's gaze went to the pictures on his dresser. The large dresser only had four photographs on it. He made his way forward and picked up the first picture on the left.

It was a picture of him and his parents. All three of them were in their red spandex costumes. Dick was sitting in his mother's lap while his father had his large arms wrapped around the two of them. He smiled at the memory. It was the only picture he had of him and his parents.

The second photograph was of his family, or what wally dubbed them as the "Bat" family. Damian, Jason, Tim, Babs, Bruce, Dick, and Alfred were all there. Damian had his arms around Babs, Jason had Tim in a friendly headlock with a grin plastered on his face, Dick was sitting on Bruces shoulder wearing nothing but his favorite Superman footie pajamas, and Alfred was standing with his usual posture behind all the chaos. It was his favorite picture of them yet.

The third photograph was of Young Justice. They had the day off so the team decided to go to Disneyland for the day. They even got Red Arrow to go. They were all dressed in their civies. Megan and Conner were dressed as a matching couple in their blue shirts and matching kaki colored bottoms. Artemis and Roy were dressed in their signature Christmas colors, green and red. Kaldur was dressed in his usual turtle neck, which hid his gills and fins quite nicely. Wally and Dick dressed as their dorky selves in their Batman and Flash attires. It was one of his fondest memories with the team.

The fourth and last photograph was Dick's favorite. It was a picture of Wally and himself on their first official date together. After Wally's plan to go to an outdoor concert together fell through the roof due to rain, Dick decided he was perfectly content with just watching a movie at Wayne manor. During which Tim decided that it would be cute for Dick and Wally to have their picture taken by one of the many secret cameras hidden around the house. At first Dick was peeved but after seeing how well the photo came out, he decided to frame it and keep it in his room as a reminder of how much Wally meant to him. He smiled fondly at the memory yet.

As he looked back at the many memories he shared with his friends and family he knew he couldn't leave without saying good bye. But he could never do it to their face. So he decided to write them all letters.

When he was done he had a total of 8 letters on his desk. Each addressed to every person important to Dick. He glanced at the clock and saw that it was almost 3 in the morning. The rest of the family should have been asleep by then and Bruce was still not back yet. It was the perfect time to make his move.

Dick tiptoed around the halls of the manor, leaving a single letter on each door of the house. One on Tim's door, Jason' s, Damian's, Alfred's, and finally Bruce's. With that done he proceeded to grab the stuff he packed, which included a few utility belts, clothes, money, and his pictures. He made his way down to the Batcave to prep his R-Cycle for his long journey. But before he left he would have to make a few stops.

First stop, Barbara's house. He left his letter to Babs taped onto her window because he knew that she liked to open her windows first thing in the morning.

Next stop, Star City, Roy's apartment. From the looks of his empty house Roy was still on patrol he left his letter on his coffee table, which was currently cluttered with lots and lots of arrows.

And finally, his last stop, Central City, Wally's House. Dick slowly crept into the room of his boyfriends home. His room was messy which made It that much harder for Dick to get in and out without waking Wally. After spending some time navigating through the mess that was Wally's room, Dick was finally able to reach the head of his boyfriend's bed. He was so closed to his face he could nearly count all the freckles that lined Wally's face. He watched Wally's chest slowly go up and down for about ten minutes before he finally had the nerve to take out his letter and place it carefully on his dresser. He was about to leave but he knew he couldn't leave without doing one thing. He tiptoed toward his bed silently once more and pressed a light kiss on Wally's lips. This caused the speedster to stir and mumble.

"Mhm Dickie?" He asked sleepily.

Dick smiled sadly and whispered. "It's just a dream, Wally."

"Just a Dream." Wally mumbled sleepily as he fell back into the world of his dreams.

Dick made his way out of the room but lingered on the window sill for a bit before he finally had the will to leave. Before he left he whispered. "I'll be back soon Wally. I promise." And with that Dick jumped onto his R-Cycle and sped away leaving behind his old life, so he could begin a new one.

Bruce was exhausted by the time he came back from the police station. Commissioner Gordon was able to take care of everything that went wrong that night. But that wasn't what was on his mind. Perhaps he was too hard on Dick. Like Tim said everybody makes mistakes. He would just have to talk to the boy in the morning.

Bruce changed out of his costume and began to make his way toward his bedroom. He was so tired that he almost missed the small letter that was placed on his door. He cocked his eyebrow and eyed the envelope suspiciously. He slowly opened it and read it contents. His eyes widened in horror as the letter began to sink in.

"TIM, JASON, DAMIAN!" Bruce screamed frantically. All at once the occupants of the manor, including Alfred, came out of their rooms.

"Bruce? What's wrong?" The eldest brother asked.

Bruce held the letter up to their face and spoke in a grave tone.

"Dicks gone."