Chapter 14

"I saw everything I hold dear be ripped away from me," said Batman. "My city, my home, my reputation, my family. Everything I stand and live for, gone, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. There was this criminal, Misery, who was dead set on destroying my life, and he succeeded. The last thing he did was kill you, right in front of me."

Robin listens closely and looks at Batman. "Misery?" asks Robin.

"Yes," Batman continues. "Misery is my greatest fear, or rather the pain of misery. The pain of losing everything close to me. That's how to truly destroy me. So when that thug had a knife to your throat, it all just came rushing back."

Robin looks down and then looks back up at his mentor. "That sounds scary," says Robin. "Worse than anything I've ever seen."

"It was terrible. The gas must've been stronger," says Batman. "The dream felt so real this time. What kind of things do you see when you go under?" asks Batman to Robin.

"It's the same thing every time," says Robin. "Me, at the mercy of one of the most ruthless criminals in Gotham, it's a different criminal every time but, the ending is always the same."

"How does it end?" asks Batman.

"You kill them," replies Robin looking at his mentor, then looking away. "You break your one rule because of me, because I screwed up."

Batman and Robin both look at each other. Batman speaks up. "You were right," he says to Robin. "It's good to talk about these things."

"That way we can help each other get through them," says Robin.

"You're my partner Robin, and my son, I will always be there to protect you, but I would never kill, under any circumstances," explains Batman. "You know that don't you?"

"Of course, and I would never expect you to kill for anything," says Robin. "And I may not be as experienced as you but, as long as we stand together, nothing is going tear our family or our city apart. You catch my drift?" asks Robin.

"Yes," Batman laughs.

Batman smiles at his partner, Robin smiles back.

"Let's go home," says Batman as he and his partner glide off into the night.