Dick felt numb. It was like a fuzzy static was flowing through his veins, creating and tingling sensation that he could barely feel. The static rippled through his body and flowed into his brain, white noise piercing his ears and drowning out his thoughts. Dick welcomed it. It wasn't like there was anything important left for him. They were gone.

Replaying relentlessly in Dick's head was the memory of the Titans – new and old – storming out, their betrayed stares burning into his skin as they left. Even Conner had left, in search of information about his past.

They were all gone. He was alone again.

Dick vaguely remembered his legs walking him over to the couch before they buckled and Dick just simply didn't have the energy, or a reason, to get up. Everything he had suddenly shattered in front of him, now he was left to lay in the broken remains.

Time passed in a blur to the point that Dick had no idea how long it had actually been laying there for. The static subsided for a moment, being replaced with a dull throbbing sensation. Dick's limbs felt weak and heavy as he attempted to sit upright and Dick realized that he must have been laying there longer than he thought to become this dehydrated. Or maybe it was because of the dried tear tracks on his cheeks.

Managing to swing himself forwards and off of the couch, he stumbled over to the kitchen. Dick lent heavily on the counter as he clumsily reached for a glass. Everything felt like it was moving in slow motion as Dick shuffled towards the sink.

"What a pitiful sight."

Dick spun around so quickly that the glass slipped out of his hand, shattering into a thousand pieces as it hit the floor. Dick's heart seemed to lodge itself in his throat as he was suddenly face to face with the one person he never wanted to see again.

Deathstroke.

Dressed in his armour and wielding a katana, a deathly silence filled the room as Deathstroke stared at Dick. Dick's brain struggled to comprehend what was happening as he stared at the man in front of him, mouth involuntarily hanging open slightly in shock. Seemingly bored of the silence, Deathstroke spoke again.

"Come on, did you really forget that I compromised this tower? You must be handling this situation worse than I thought."

The familiar sting of sadness spread in Dick's chest.

"Just…leave me alone." Dick mumbled, too tired to even attempt to put up a fight. Deathstroke's grip on his katana tightened.

"You mean like how you left Jericho alone?" He said tauntingly.

"The Titans are gone, what more do you want?" Dick shouted in exasperation. All of the emotions inside of him were bubbling over, becoming wild and uncontrollable. Deathstroke took a step forward.

"I want you to suffer."

Dick ducked right as the katana swung at his head, slicing into the wall behind him. He felt shard of glass digging deep into his knees as Dick knelt on the floor but he didn't care. Quickly rolling to avoid Deathstroke's next blow, Dick shot up off the floor. All of the adrenaline that had suddenly kicked in still wasn't enough to mask the effects of dehydration and Dick had to press a hand against the wall to steady himself.

Before he could decide his next move, a fist slammed into the side of his face, causing agony to flood his body. Dick's vision tilted as he fell to the ground, his phone flinging itself out of his pocket and skidding against the floor. A pair of boots filled Dick vision as Deathstroke loomed over him. Even though Dick couldn't see his face, he could imagine the smug grin forming on his lips.

Dick squeezed his eyes shut and prepared for the final blow when Deathstroke suddenly stepped backwards. He watched as the assassin walked over to Dick's phone and kicked it towards him.

"Call them." Dick froze.

"The Titans." Deathstroke elaborated. "Share your final moments with them. Show them the consequences of your actions."

With trembling hands, Dick grabbed the phone and unlocked it. He could feel Deathstroke's sword hovering in the air in front of him, a constant reminder of Dick's inevitable fate. Since the Titans are – were – a team, all of their phone numbers were connected in a private network so they could all be called at the same time in an emergency. Sparing a glance at the masked assassin in front of him, Dick took a deep breath and pressed the call button.

The ringing of the phone drilled into Dick's skull. The longer it continued, the more dread Dick felt. If no-one picked up, the last time they would have seen each other would be during Dick's confession. What a great last impression, Dick thought bitterly. Deathstroke stayed eerily silent the entire time while Dick kept his gaze glued to the phone. Dick's breath faltered.

The ringing stopped.

Biting back a sob, Dick felt his heart rate spike as he realized what was about to happen.

"Leave a voicemail." Deathstroke ordered.

Pausing for a moment, Dick quickly pressed the voicemail option before it disappeared from the screen.

"Hi everyone-" He hated how shaky his voice sounded. "-I, uh, just wanted to say that…that I'm sorry for everything I've done. For the lies I've told, and the pain I've caused. So please just, just forget about me, okay? Move on with your lives, be happy. I.." Dick's voice cracked as his eyes began to water. "… I love you guys." And all too soon, the voicemail was over.

Dick dropped the now useless phone in front of him, ignoring the tears that now flowed freely down his face. A metal boot stomped on the device and cracked it in half.

Dick tensed, preparing for Deathstroke to deliver the final strike. The assassin's sword rose into the air. Dick lowered his head in grim acceptance. Deathstroke's hand grabbed Dick's shoulder and harshly flipped him onto his back. The sudden movement caused a cough to climb up Dick's throat but it was cut off by Deathstroke's boot pressing down on his neck. Squirming under the pressure, Dick futilely attempted to escape.

Deathstroke lent closer to Dick until their faces were so close that Dick could hear the man's muffled breaths through the metal mask. Everything was deathly still for a moment.

"Goodbye, Grayson."

Before Dick even had the chance to react, a sharp stinging sensation erupted from his stomach. A scream of pure agony tore itself out of his throat as Deathstroke slowly dragged his sword through Dick's flesh, deliberately making it as slow and as painful as possible. His throat grew hoarse but Dick could do nothing but scream.

Colours swirled together as the room titled dangerously. His chest heaved as he gasped for air he couldn't seem to get, each breath feeling like a thousand razor blades tearing up his insides. A puddle of syrupy liquid drenched his clothes and flowed onto the floor around him. It stained his fingers a deep red and, oh god, was that his blood? If Dick couldn't think clearly earlier, he definitely couldn't now.

His eyesight blurred as he felt his eyelids grow heavy. Dick was about to close them when a figure suddenly appeared in front of him. Deathstroke? The figure reached out towards him and Dick feebly tried to push himself away. His hand slipped in the pool of blood causing his elbow to smack against the floor. The figure said something but Dick couldn't hear them, the last of his strength leaving his body.

At least it's finally over now.

He closed his eyes.

A steady beeping noise greeted Dick, the harsh sound worsening the headache that he already seemed to have. He felt almost relaxed for a moment before a jolt of panic shot through him. Dick snapped his eyes open and was immediately blinded by piercing white lights. He squinted at the brightness and went to place his hand over his eyes, but when he went to move his arm a searing pain sliced across his stomach. Grimacing, he carefully lowered his hand.

"Dick?"

The sound of a chair scraping and footsteps walking closer towards him provided a nice distraction from the still persistent beep hammering his skull. A gentle hand was placed on his forearm as Dick blinked rapidly in an attempt to clear his vision. Strands of dark pink hair brushed against his face as concerned green eyes stared into his own.

"K…Kory?" Dick croaked.

As soon as the word left his mouth, a violent coughing fit overtook his entire body. Tears sprang into his eyes while the back of his throat felt like it was being ripped out. Kory used her free hand to rub soothing circles into his back as coughed, stopping when they dissolved into deep breaths.

"Nice to see you're finally awake, Sleeping Beauty." Kory said, the ghost of a smile gracing her lips.

"Kory?" Dick asked again.

His foggy mind whirled as it tried to decipher what was going on. Kory reached over to the side of the bed he was laying on and grabbed a cup half full with water. Dick eagerly accepted it, slowly bringing his hand up once again and shakily bringing the cup to his chapped lips.

"You really worried us you know." Kory said as he greedily gulped down the liquid.

"Us?" Dick asked after he handed the now empty cup back to her.

"The Titans." Dick's stomach flipped.

"After I talked to Faddei, I tried to call you to make sure you were okay. You didn't pick up, and then I noticed you left a voicemail…" Kory trailed off, a strange look flashing across her face for a moment. "I called the others straight away and came back to the tower as fast as I could. When I arrived, you were on the floor and I…" Her voice faded away again.

Dick placed his hand on top of Kory's in what he hoped was a comforting manner. She looked up at him with such pain in her eyes that it almost seemed like she had been the one to fight Deathstroke.

"I thought you'd died, Dick." She whispered. Dick was speechless – he had never seen Kory look so fragile before. At a complete loss for words, Dick said the first thing that popped into his head.

"I'm sorry."

She smiled sadly. "I know."

Kory straightened and put her hands back at her sides. Barely biting back a childish whine at the loss of contact, Dick watched as she quickly strode over to the door. The handle turned and Kory was about to leave when suddenly she stopped. She turned back towards Dick.

"I'm going to tell the others you're awake. They'll probably want to see you, is that okay?" She asked softly.

Despite the fear that was festering in his gut, Dick nodded. Kory exited and the room was drenched in an apprehensive silence. After the way the Titans had all angrily departed not too long ago, Dick could only dread the conversation that was about to occur. Would they still be mad? Would they call him reckless? Incompetent? Did they secretly wish that he had died?

Before his thoughts could spiral any further, everyone quickly crowed into the room: Rachel, Gar, Donna, then Dawn and Hank, Kory, even Jason and Rose were there. The only person who wasn't present was Conner, which isn't surprising, Dick thought to himself, after all, did he even have a phone? They all circled his bed, looking down at him with mixed emotions.

"Dick!" Rachel exclaimed before she leapt onto the bed, wrapping her arms around him and pressing her face against his shoulder. The wound in his stomach protested strongly at the sudden movement and Dick couldn't help the groan of pain that escaped his lips.

"Give him some space, Rachel." Dawn said and Rachel dejectedly backed away. The awkward energy in the room seemed to heighten as nobody knew what to say.

"I'm sorry." Dick said after a moment. Seeing everyone in front of him again, staring at him, made the emotional dam in his head burst and Dick felt himself start to hyperventilate.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so fucking sorry – " Dick repeated, let warm tears fall freely down his face. The Titans were frozen in shock as he continued to cry, all the events of the past couple days catching up to him and overwhelming him.

"Dick, it's okay..." Donna said, clearly unsure how to help. Dick had never broken down in front of them before, he always tried to keep up the fearless leader façade. But none of that mattered anymore. Now there was no team to be led.

"Yeah man," Gar piped up, "everything's fine!"

Dick tried to even his breathing before the uncomfortable atmosphere in the room could swallow them all alive. He was semi-successful, chest still shuddering with each breath he took despite his tears ceasing.

Surprisingly, it was Hank who began talking.

"Look, we were all pretty pissed when you told us the truth about Jericho," Dick flinched, "hell, I still am pretty pissed, but we shouldn't have just left you like that." Hank glanced at the others, as if checking to see if he was saying the right thing. "We all listened to that voicemail you left," Dick flinched harder, "and, well…"

"It made us realize how much you actually care for us. For the team." Dawn continued for him. Murmurs of agreement spread around the room. Dick watched them, surprised.

Donna stepped forward. "What we're trying to say is, we forgive you, Dick, and we still want to be the Titans." Seeing Dick's shocked expression, she quickly added, "If you're up for it again, of course."

Dick couldn't believe what he was hearing, it's almost like this isn't real…

"No…" Dick mumbled so quietly that the others almost didn't hear. "No, this isn't real, none of this is real. You're all hallucinations." He muttered, tugging at his hair.

"What? Dick, that's –"

"Get out of my head!" Dick yelled.

He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to curl into himself, though it was difficult with all of the medical equipment attached to his body. The heart monitor sped up. Dick tore the wires that connected him to the machine off of his chest and weakly tossed them away. A piercing monotone noise began to blare.

This launched everyone into action. Dick could hear the children get ushered out of the room as someone else approached him. Dick swung his fist widely at whoever that person was but he was still so weak that they easily caught his hand. Another person shouted something Dick couldn't hear before a hand grabbed his shoulder.

Instantly, his entire body was flooded with a feeling of calmness. His hand slipped out of the person's hand and landed on the mattress beneath him. Dick's entire body sagged with exhaustion as all of the adrenaline was slowly drawn out of his system. He opened his eyes to see Rachel standing next to him. Black tendrils of power swirled round her arm and down to her hand.

"We're real." She said, tightening her grip on his shoulder. Somehow, he could sense that she was telling the truth. The adults watched the exchange cautiously while Gar, Jason and Rose sneaked back in.

"You're real." Dick echoed. Rachel smiled and Dick found himself mirroring that, too.

"Well, that went well." Hank joked dryly before looking down in shame from the glares being sent his way. Despite himself, Dick huffed out a laugh.

"So…what do you think?" Gar asked excitedly. Dick's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"About the Titans reuniting?" Oh.

Dick swallowed nervously as seven pairs of eyes watched him expectantly. Fog in his head made it difficult to think as he mulled over his reply. He wanted this, he was sure he did, but a little slither of trepidation burrowed into his brain. Experiencing all of them leaving once was hard enough, but the chance of them leaving a second time would definitely be his breaking point.

If he hadn't broken already.

"Well, if it's something you guys truly want, then I guess we can try." The tense air around them all evaporated.

"Whatever, it's not like I need anymore training though," Jason said arrogantly, "after all, I am the new and improved Robin."

"Oh, really? Are you sure that it's not because you are so annoying to be around that no one can put up with you long enough to actually train you?" Rose retorted, rolling her eye. Jason let out an offended huff in response.

"Alright, alright, time to give the poor man some peace, guys." Kory teased and the younger Titans took it as their cue to leave. She turned to Dick.

"Are you sure you're up for this?" Dick couldn't help but smile at her kindness.

"Yeah, I'm sure. It's not like I've had much else going on in my life recently anyway." Kory shook her head good-naturedly.

"Seriously though," Donna chimed in, "if anything like this ever happens again, I will raise you from the dead and kill you myself, got it?"

"And you are definitely not allowed to bottle up your feelings anymore." Dawn said in a serious tone.

"Or drink out of glasses unsupervised." Hank said. "Cleaning up shards of glass wasn't the most thrilling experience in the world."

A feeling of safety enveloped Dick as he could already sense normality returning. He closed his eyes for a moment to let it wash over him and found he struggled to open them again.

Fighting to stay awake, Dick tossed his head to the side and peered up at Kory. Seemingly noticing his struggle, she picked up the blanket, that had laid forgotten on the floor after Dick had kicked it off himself, and pulled it up to his shoulders. The others had already begun to retreat, Donna flicking the light off as she left.

"Get some rest, Dick." Kory instructed. "We'll be here when you wake up." She closed the door behind her. Dick sank deeper into the bed, ready to finally welcome the much-needed sleep. He let his eyes close as he slowly drifted into unconsciousness.

"Nice job kid, try not to screw it up this time."

Shut up, Bruce.