The gunshot was unnaturally loud as Joker pulled the trigger.
"NO!" Dick yelled as Jason staggered back. He tried to catch him as his little brother went down, but he was too small and weak to hold him up and ended crushed under him instead.
Joker laughed maniacally.
Dick wriggled free from under Jason's dead weight. No. Not dead. Not. Dead. Oh, God, please, not dead. With difficulty he rolled Red Hood onto his back. First thing he saw was blood. So, so much blood. To much. Jason's entire chest was drowning in it. Dick choked and desperately tried to find a pulse on his neck. There was none.
"No, nonononononono," Dick protested, tears springing to his eyes. "Jay, please, please. No."
Joker was still laughing in the background.
"Jay, wake up, please," he shook Red Hood's body desperately. "Wake up! Jason!"
"Jason!" Dick screamed, bolting upright. He was breathing hard, trying to choke back the sobs that threatened to rip from his chest. The fact that he was alone in unfamiliar place and it was so dark he couldn't really see anything didn't help at all and soon he was sobbing, despite his efforts.
It took him a long time to calm down, the oppressive darkness and the feel of cold, empty space around him adding to his feeling of despair and abandonment. When he finally managed to pull himself together somewhat and actually focus on something else than his nightmare, he realized that he was in bed. A quick look around as his eyes adjusted to the darkness revealed, that he was in his bedroom at the manor. He scrambled to his bedside table and turned on the lamp. The light made him feel a little better. Wiping his face on the sleeve of his hoodie, Dick scanned the room with a frown.
The last thing he remembered was being in the Cave on the comms with the rest of his family. Red Robin and Robin just took down Poison Ivy and were waiting for the police to arrive to take her back to prison. Then it was just a sensation of being carried and warmth he now associated with conditions of his wish being fulfilled. Alaila told him he would just know, when someone did what was required. Therefore he expected something along the lines of being zapped, so the warmth was much welcome and pleasant surprise. Too bad he didn't know who was it.
His eyes landed on the old, stuffed elephant on the top shelf. His sudden desire to hold it caused him to scramble off the bed and climb on the desk adjacent to the shelf the mascot was on. He snatched it from it's place and hugged the elephant tightly to his chest with both arms. Yeah, he was feeling a lot better for now.
Carefully he climbed back down and went back to the bed to put on his shoes. Then he walked out of his room. He stopped at the threshold, frozen in fear. And he thought his apartment was bad. It was nothing compared to the manor at night. Dark and even darker shadows along the empty, long corridor. Still and silent. Dick gulped and glued himself to the wall, clutching at the elephant. He slowly started to move along the wall, pausing every few seconds to listen if any monsters lurked around. Nothing. The others were still in the cave or patrol. Otherwise someone would check on him when he screamed and cried. Hopefully.
Eventually he reached the staircase. He briefly contemplated just sliding down on the bannister, but Jason's, not dead still alive not dead notdeadnotdeadnotdead, warning and the dark space changed his mind. Besides he did promise to be good.
Downstairs was actually far better, because there were actually a few lamps on, albeit dim, but still. More confidently Dick tucked his elephant under his arm and strode to the entrance to the Cave. And then stared in frustration at the old clock. How was he supposed to open the secret door now?
"Master Dick, what are you doing up?" came the unexpected voice from behind the boy.
Dick yelped in surprise and quickly turned around, ready to defend himself.
"Alfred!" the kid sighed in relief, putting hand over his pounding heart. "You scared me."
"So I see," the butler replied, corners of his mouth twitching up in amusement. "Is there something you require?"
"I just wanted to see how everyone was doing," Dick fidgeted. "Apparently I fell asleep on the job."
"You didn't miss much," Alfred comforted, opening the door. They started to walk down the stairs. "Master Bruce managed to track down Bane and the others rounded up a few remaining escaped patients. They are looking for Riddler and Joker now."
"Joker," Dick repeated, clutching his stuffed toy harder.
"Yes," Alfred confirmed. "It seems he was the one behind the whole escape from Arkham and he used the others to distract everyone while he disappeared."
"Not good," Dick muttered and sighed. "Anyone got hurt?"
"As of five minutes ago no one even got a bruise," the butler declared proudly. It was rare when anybody got back from patrol without some kind of injury. "Is it enough for you to go back to sleep?"
Dick shook his head.
"I can't sleep now." He sighed resignedly, "though I should. Jason said he will take me on patrol later."
"Did he now?" Alfred asked, a touch of disapproval in his tone of voice.
Oops.
"Yeah?" Dick rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "We made a deal. I stay here today and he will take me out tomorrow."
"I see," Alfred hummed. "In that case, we should find you some costume, don't you think?"
Dick lit up instantly. For the next half an hour he patiently let Alfred take measurements of his new body. Then he shuffled back to his previous station and watched the proceedings on the cases. Barbara had everything under control so he didn't interfere. Soon his eyelids started to drop, but he fought the sleep with everything he had. He wanted to see his family home, unharmed. And Jason. He wanted Jason. But he would probably bail the moment the Bats were done for the night, so Dick had to content himself with video feeds and chatter on the comms to tell him Red Hood was alive and unharmed.
Finally, just before dawn, Batman decided to call it and they started to head back. Dick jumped up from his chair and started pacing to keep himself awake. Soon he got tired and just sat down back and he kept himself from falling asleep by the sheer force of will.
Eventually all the Bats appeared in the Batcave almost simultaneously, making a ruckus with motorcycles and cars. Even Jason, to Dick's delight.
Dick looked at each of them closely while they put their equipment down, checking for injuries. Satisfied, that they were indeed fine, he let himself relax. He yawned widely and slid from the chair, clutching his toy. He heard Stephanie aww in the background as he sleepily made a beeline for Red Hood. He purposefully collided with his legs and raised his hands in silent demand to be picked up.
Jason sighed and complied, inwardly smirking as Batman scowled at the fact that Dick went straight for him, ignoring everyone else, the Big Bad Bat included. Dick immediately wrapped himself around him tightly, the stuffed elephant smacking Jason in the side of his face.
"Can we go home now?" Dick whined tiredly into his neck.
"Don't you want to stay in the manor?" Jason questioned in surprise.
Dick made a series of muffled noises, which were supposed to be a sentence.
"What?" Red Hood asked, laughter in his voice.
Dick just grunted, shifting to get more comfortable and closer to the warmth Jason's neck provided. In the space of one breath and the next he was fast asleep.
"Seriously," Jason shook his head fondly.
"That was the cutest thing ever," Stephanie gushed, replaying the video she just filmed on her phone.
"Yeah," Tim agreed, aiming his own phone at Jason and taking a few photos.
"I have much better angle," Damian announced smugly from behind and above Jason.
"Seriously, guys," Red Hood repeated in exasperation. "Fuck off."
"Master Jason," Alfred admonished, appearing next to him.
"Sorry, Alfie," Jason said quickly.
"Maybe you should stay," the butler suggested. Or more like ordered in his calm, polite way. "It's pretty late for driving after the night you all had."
"Yeah, whatever," Red Hood agreed easily.
He was tired. And the thought of wrestling with sleeping Dick and the car seat and then driving to his safe house or back to Blüdhaven wasn't too appealing.
"Excellent," Alfred stated in satisfaction. "I took liberty of preparing your room for the night. If you would be so kind to return Master Dick to his own bed?"
"Sure thing, Alfie," Jason tossed his jacket on the table along with his gear and left the cave.
He walked to Dick's bedroom to find the door open, lamp on and sheets rumpled. He shook his head and went inside. He sat on the bed and took off Dick's shoes. Then he leaned down to lay the kid on the bed. Or tried to. Dick clung to him even in his sleep and didn't want to let go. Too tired to fight, Jason kicked off his own shoes, turned the lamp off and laid down, tugging the covers over them both.
Sorry for all mistakes. I'm even more sleepy than Dick in this chapter ;p