Author's Note: Be aware, I went down the angst route with this one. I'm only half sorry.

Disclaimer: DC owns Dick Grayson and Koriand'r. I own nada.

Day 6 - Stay With Me

It was never supposed to happen.

There was a scuffle, a blink and two bangs.

He'd never thought this type of thing would ever occur.

The crime in Bludhaven had been on the decline; steadily falling which Nightwing had been thankful for. The city wasn't clean yet; corruption and brutality, the things that stirred Bludhaven into the toxic location it was, were far from gone.

Just repelled, for now.

His mind had never calculated something like this.

With the crime rates lowering, he didn't think too much of it when there was an alert for a mugging during patrol. They'd been scouting from atop of town hall, him and Starfire, overlooking the city and keeping their senses sharp.

Nightwing's communication device beeped several times before he opened it up,

"Report?" He asked, eyes narrowing behind his mask.

Starfire touched his shoulder and peered down to be informed at the same time.

"There is an assault in progress in the second alleyway of Feather Street." The Al replied in its feminine yet robotic tone. Nightwing exchanged a glance with his fiancé and kissed her fingers on his shoulder before pinpointing the location.

"Let's go."

Getting there had been no problem and assessing the situation took no time at all. There were two hostile men, sneering and waving knives around in front of the poor woman to intimidate her.

Starfire's eyes flared green at seeing how much the girl was trembling and Nightwing had to squeeze her hand to reassure her that the bastards would be taken down.

They bided their time; waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Fortunately, the moment presented itself when the men started pacing, laughing and making crude remarks about what they were going to do to the woman for being 'difficult'.

Nightwing and Starfire dropped down from the rooftop, standing before the woman who looked both shocked and relieved for their appearance. Starfire turned, placed a hand on the lady's shoulder and advised her to run; to get somewhere safe.

The woman had stuttered her thanks, smiling through her tears and done as told.

Starfire turned back to the men with a snarl, igniting her fists with green flames. Nightwing scowled at them, grabbing his escrima sticks from his back and holding them out.

"Ah, shit." One of them cursed,

Nightwing gave him a menacing grin, "You got that right."

With that, he leapt into action, jabbing them with his weapons and diving to evade their pathetic attempts to retaliate. He gave his girl some of the action too of course, shoving one of the men away into her direction to deal with him as she pleased.

He was so caught up in the thrill of fighting, as he usually was that he missed the glint of a weapon and the movement from the shadows.

Nightwing punched his guy in the face several times until he stumbled backwards, knocking over the smelly trash cans. He scurried backwards on his hands before standing and sprinting from the scene.

"Nightwing!" Kory called,

He turned just in time to see the second man run at him with a crowbar in hand. He rolled his eyes behind his mask. It's like these criminals rolled into these situations of theirs without thinking at all.

Grabbing a firm hold of the end of the crowbar, Nightwing yanked the crook forwards so that his fist connected with his jaw. There was a yelp of pain and the crowbar was released.

Nightwing threw the blunt object aside and grabbed the man by the scruff of the neck, turning him in a circle before ending up on the ground. He subconsciously rolled around with the criminal, kicks and punches freely being thrown by both parties.

There was a gasp.

A feminine gasp.

An all too familiar gasp.

Nightwing struggled to see her but his heart plummeted into his stomach. He couldn't get a visual on his fiancé; the thug he was fighting with was blocking his way as his limbs flailed in their tussle.

Why had she gasped?

There was a growl from her and a click.

Two bangs.

Two gunshots.

Dick's eyes widened behind the mask. His mind was screaming to react and he prayed that his worst nightmare hadn't just come to fruition.

He snapped out of his trance long enough to lift his knees to this goon's chest and throw him away, knocking him into the far wall.

Nightwing got to his feet and watched the man he'd just been dealing with run from the scene. He gritted his teeth but turned to Starfire's direction, his heart pounding with adrenaline mixed with fear.

Blindsided, he made no move to stop him as another man rushed past him, throwing several cautious glances over his shoulder as he ran out of the alleyway.

There had been a third man.

There had been a missed target.

"Starfire!?" Nightwing asked, his voice trembling,

Her hand pressed against the wall as she stepped out from the shadows. She looked up at him with a stricken expression, her face pale and her legs shaking.

His eyes roamed over her, searching for injuries and he couldn't miss the bloodied hand pressed to her stomach.

Her blood.

"Kory…" He breathed, shock gripping him,

"D-Dick…" She stammered before she coughed up more blood and fell to her knees.

Dick was at her side immediately, his heart racing and dread knotting in his stomach. She fell back against him and he sat there in the dirty alleyway, holding her.

Kory's hand fell away from her stomach where two angry bullet wounds gushed with blood; thick and warm.

There was so much blood.

She reached and grasped his uniform between her fingers, gasping and struggling to breathe. Two red streaks ran down his uniform from where she reached for him.

"No… No, no…" Dick chanted, settling a shaky hand on her stomach, smearing more blood over his dark uniform.

"Dick… It… h-hurts…"

"I-I know, beautiful… You're gonna be fine… It's… It's okay."

Her bottom lip quivered and hot tears welled in her eyes before rolling down her cheeks. Her breaths were becoming more ragged and he knew she was slipping.

"J-Just… hold on, okay? S-Stay with me, Kor."

"I… I…"

"It's gonna be o-okay." He choked out, making a grab for his communicator,

Dick pulled the thing from his belt and sent an alert to the only person he thought could save his love.

"R-Raven!" He called, "We need help! P-Please!"

"Dick? What is it? What's wrong?"

"K-Kory… She's been shot… She's losing blood. S-So much blood, Rae."

"Wh-What!? Hang on! I'm on my way! I'll be there as soon as I can! Keep her awake, Dick!"

He nodded, even though Raven couldn't physically see him. Tears were pricking his eyes and his grip on Kory tightened as his emotions threatened to overpower him.

Kory was quiet now, just moaning in pain every now and then.

Dick gently brushed her hair out of her face, "You hear that, K-Kor? Rae's on her way. You're gonna be okay."

She offered him a weak smile and with trembling, bloodied fingers, touched his face.

He tried swallowing the mountain in his throat but it just wouldn't disappear. Freeing up one of his hands, he tore his mask away so he could look into her eyes; give her some kind of reassurance.

"Baby, stay with me… Please… Don't fall asleep on me." He whispered, resting his forehead against hers whilst beginning to rock her back and forth.

She mumbled something incoherent and his lip juddered, the fight against his fear becoming more and more difficult.

Kory sucked in several strained breaths and Dick's eyes went wild, praying for her to wait; to hold on.

"Please… Don't leave me… You have to stay." He murmured, his tears spilling over and rolling onto her nearly white cheek.

"Love y-you…"

He gently patted her cheek, making her flutter her eyes open again, "Don't you do that. Don't you say goodbye. You are gonna be fine, o-okay?"

Kory gave him a sad smile, as if his words were merely wishful thinking. Dick shifted his eyes as he stared at her, the hand on her wet stomach, sliding and spreading more blood over his hands.

"Stay awake."

Her eyes fluttered and were getting heavier.

"S-Stay with me, Kory."

His voice seemed so far away; so quiet as she inhaled another breath and although she wanted to do as he asked; she was so tired, so very tired.

She told herself it would be okay to sleep, just for a little while and with that thought lingering in her mind, she allowed her eyes to slide shut.