YOU NEED TO READ THIS:

The first and second scenes are a little traumatizing. Just a warning. It gets intense.

Chapter 26:

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Lex was right. They did let her in with no question. She headed up the elevator and to his office. The door was already open and she assumed the police did a quick sweep over the room before heading to the other rooms in the building. They would do a more detailed search later, but for now, Artemis was alone.

She walked over to his computer and typed in file 1047. A video popped up on the screen and she took a deep breath before clicking the play button. Sure enough it was a video of the Flash museum. Nothing was happening so far until the Flash and Nightwing entered the building. The tape was pixely, but she could tell it was them. There was no sound to the video, but pictures speak louder than words, right?

Just as Luthor said, it took the heroes a minute and a half to find it. Artemis watched with tears in her eyes as Wally furiously tried to disable the bomb. But it was no use. Wally yelled something to Dick, but the video was unclear and fuzzy and she had no chance of deciphering his words. Shortly after that, Dick ran out of the building and true to Lex's words, he didn't even look back. Artemis felt bile rise in her throat and she gripped the side of the table until her knuckles turned white. Wally turned, looking frantically around. With ten seconds left, he sped through the building finding object that would help block the blow of the bomb. Statues and Flash souvenirs were placed around the bomb at lightning speed. But even with lightning speed Wally didn't have enough time to escape, so he threw himself on the bomb in his last seconds.

She wanted to scream out to him and tell him he better get his ass out of there. She wanted to yell at him and ask, "Why do you always have to be the hero?!" But none of that would do any good.

Artemis let out a strangled sob as she watched her Wally explode along with the museum. The video feed cut off and left Artemis with a black screen and a broken heart and one question.

Why would Dick leave him?

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Mary straightened her son's uniform one last time.

"Do I have to wear this costume?" Dick complained.

His mother gave him a stern look, but one that held a smile.

"It matches our outfits and besides," she paused to fix his collar, "you're my little robin in this uniform."

"Please don't call me 'you're little robin' anymore," he said with air quotes. Mary rolled her eyes playfully and stood up from where she was kneeling.

"The show starts in ten minutes. Are you nervous?" she inquired with a grin.

Dick rolled his eyes and huffed, "Mom, I'm nine! I don't get nervous anymore!"

Mrs. Grayson smiled. "Of course not." She ran her fingers through his hair gelled hair. He shied away and gave her 'the look.'

She held up her hands in surrender and said, "Alright, alright!"

At that moment, Mr. Grayson stepped into the room. His eyes fell upon his son.

"Our little robin..." he mumbled with a grin. Dick groaned, "Will you two cut it out!"

His parents just laughed and led him to the trapeze. As they walked down the hallway John whispered something in his wife's ear. Her forehead creased as she frowned. Dick wore a look of confusion as he strained to hear their private conversation, but all he caught was "Tony Zucco again." All he knew about that man was that he wasn't a good one. Mary saw her son's worried expression and quickly changed the subject.

"This is your first time in a show. You ready?" she questioned with an excited smile.

Dick nodded slowly.

"You sure? Because you can always be in the next one," Mary reasoned. John threw his head back and laughed.

"Of course he's ready! He's been practicing for years now!" he said a smile. Mary returned his grin with a nervous smile of her own.

"Okay...if you're sure," she said hesitantly.

Dick rolled his eyes again. "Of course I can do it."

The lady acrobat nodded, though reluctantly. She wasn't too keen on the idea of having her baby hanging from wires thousands of feet high and without a net to catch him if he fell. Her husband kissed her on the cheek and whispered in a reassuring tone, "He'll be fine."

She smiled and nodded more confidently.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" came the ringmaster's booming voice. "The Flying Grayson's!"

The family of three stepped out of the curtains and onto the platform. The trapeze was set at a dizzying height, but the Grayson's had practiced and were ready, but nothing could have prepared them for what would soon ensue.

Mary jumped from the platform, flying through the air. At the last second, she latched herself on the swinging bar. It swung from one side of the trapeze to the other. Soon, John grabbed onto a bar and swung his legs around it so he was hanging upside down. Mary let go of her bar as the audience gasped. As she plummeted down head first, John grabbed her legs.

Dick took a deep breath. This is where he comes in. Besides the fact that he told his mom he wasn't nervous, he really was. But he remembered his parents would be holding him and he had nothing to worry about.

But he did.

It all happened so fast. Two screws fell from above Dick's head and hit the platform beneath his feet with a clank. He looked up to see the two wires holding his parents coming loose. His eyes widened and his head snapped to the acrobats. One more swing from the bar his parents were hanging from and-

"DAD! MOM!" Dick yelled as loudly as he could, but his voice was lost to the crowd. "No, no, no, no, NO!"

The wires slipped from the poles they were once screwed to. Time seemed to slip into slow motion. Dick stood helplessly off to the side.

He saw both his parents faces as the realization set in. They were suspended in midair when Dick found his mother's widened eyes. She reached for him, but it was too late.

"Dick!" she yelled as both her and her husband fell from terrifying heights. Her little robin would be alone.

Dick was paralyzed with fear as he screamed, "NO!"

The crowd gasped before there was a sickening thud and all was silent. Dick practically jumped from the platform as he raced down to his parents.

He fell to his knees as tears sprang to his eyes and blurred his vision of the blood and dead bodies. Dick heard a heart-wrenching scream that filled the circus tent. It took him a moment to realize it was his.

After that all he could hear were muffled sounds of ambulances and yelling people.

But one sound was clear. His mother yelling his name.

"Dick!"

And in a tent filled with thousands of people,

he had never felt so alone.

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Dick woke with a start, his breathing and heartbeat accelerated. Another nightmare. But it wasn't just something his mind made up. It was real.

He looked at the bedside clock. 10:47pm. Artemis still wasn't back. After their fight she left, but Dick just thought maybe she went to the gym to blow off some steam or went for a walk. He wanted to give her some space, but now he was regretting it. She wasn't answering his calls or his texts and no one knew of her whereabouts.

He wanted to tell her what happened, he really did, but he couldn't. She couldn't know. If she found out, she would leave him for good.

Dick got out of bed and walked into the kitchen. His mind was clouded with thoughts of his parents and Artemis that he didn't even notice someone standing right behind him.

"Wow," a voice said as Dick visibly tensed. "Can't say I've ever been able to sneak up on you before. You must be out of it."

Dick whirled around to face his girlfriend. Or he hoped she was still his girlfriend.

"God, Artemis! Don't do that!" he exclaimed with a laugh. But Artemis didn't laugh, she didn't even crack a smile. Her arms were crossed over her chest and a scowl was etched on her face. Dick gulped. Okay...So, she was definitely still mad.

"Listen, Artemis, about earlier-" he started, but she cut him off.

"No, you listen! I know what happened, Grayson. I know what happened that day," she said firmly, but she could already feel tears brimming her eyes, threatening to fall over. She promised she wasn't going to cry, but she felt betrayed and hurt. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't stop the tears that fell down her cheeks.

Dick paled as his eyes widened. His throat tightened at the sight of Artemis crying and he wanted to do was tell her everything was going to be alright, but it just wasn't. Nothing was alright anymore, or maybe it never was, but all Dick could see right then were his parents falling and his best friend being blown up right before his eyes. Memories. Horrible memories. No. Nothing was alright.

He buried his face in his hands and let out an agonizing groan.

"I didn't...I thought...Wally..." he started to ramble.

"You left him in there, Dick! You left him!" Artemis started to yell. "How could you do that?! I don't understand!" She was livid now, her arms flailing and voice rising.

"I thought you were a hero! I thought you were everyone's hero!" She dropped to the ground and wrapped her arms around herself.

"I thought you were my hero," she whispered as her voice broke. Dick cried out to her, but everything she said was true.

"I'm sorry! I'm so, so sorry!" he sobbed.

Artemis glared up at him, no longer looking weak, but angry. "Sorry doesn't bring him back," she said with venom.

Dick reached out to touch her arm, but she slapped it away.

"Get out," she growled without looking at him.

"But, Artemis, I-"

"Get. Out." she repeated. Dick looked heartbroken at her words, but slowly made his way to the door. Once he reached it, he turned towards her. Her back was facing him. She was hunched over and shaking. He bit his lip to keep the pathetic sobs inside.

Artemis felt as if her heart was being ripped out of her chest. She heard the door open and waited for it to close, but before it did...

"I love you, Artemis, and I'm sorry." The door closed and then silence ensued.

She cried ragged sobs and beat her fists against the floor.

No matter how much she wanted to hate him, she couldn't.

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Told you it'd be intense!

Let's see how badly you want to read the next chapter...

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