Leaving New Cronus was a sombre time for the Titans, they had almost lost one of their own. Not just anyone was mortally wounded, it was their leader Dick Grayson, known more commonly as Nightwing. The explosion had done more than just take out his leg, but the full extent of his injuries had not been realized until they were heading back home.
The Titans crowded around Dick in the makeshift medbay of the ship, seeing him just laying there injured and knowing that there was nothing any one of them could do to prevent his death.
"Hey, Roy.." Dick rasped "There's something that I want to say… call it a deathbed confession if you will. I know that me and Bruce are at odds with each other, but I've been trying to get along with him, if only for Jason's sake. I just want you to tell him that I miss him, I know that he won't care–hasn't cared about me in a long time but still.." Dick trailed off
"I remember at Donna's wedding I asked him why he adopted Jason but not me, the kid he's raised for nearly ten years, and he gave me one of his typical bullshit answers, ya know about me not really needing him and it's too late now. I'm twenty-one years old I can barely remember my parents and whenever I think of a parent of my father Bruce is the one I think of-. Dick's sentence was cut off with a wet cough
"Dick don't do this, don't strain yourself even more. We're going to make it back soon and you're going to heal, stop with all this death bed confession bull." Roy cut in seizing the moment.
"Come on Roy…. Everyone here knows I'm going to die, Star, Raven, Gar they can all see that I'm not going to make it home. I just need you to tell Jason I'm sorry for the way that I treated him, I took out all my aggression on him. He's only thirteen, Bruce can be such a big headed, bastard, large person sometimes. And don't get on my case about the bad grammar. I'm dying, you can't blame me for slipping up." Taking one final deep breath Dick said "I know he doesn't care about me anymore and now that I'm dead he won't have to pretend he does anymore."
"Are you kidding me" Roy cut in sharply "Bruce does care about you he just can't or doesn't know how to show it. Goddammit, Dick please don't die, even if Bruce doesn't need you we do, we're your family too doesn't that count for something!" Tears were not coming from Roy's eyes "Come on your Dick Grayson the first sidekick the first kid superhero this is not how your story ends."
"Goodbye, and I'm sorry Roy." Dick said in a small voice "This is the end for me." and with that heavy declaration hanging in the air Dick Grayson breathed his last.
It was hard landing back on Earth after the disastrous ordeal that had happened. Roy was the one who volunteered to be the one to tell Bruce that his former ward was dead. He had some strong words for Bruce about everything Dick had told him. Driving up Wayne Manor was nerve-wrenching. The dark Manor always seemed to emit an air of doom and gloom no matter what, probably due to the aloof Bat residing beneath.
Roy decided to just get it over with instead of dwelling and psyching himself out more all he had to do was tell the big bad bat that his son…ward…partner had died on an off world mission on an Alien planet. Roy knew that even if Dick and Bruce were at odds with each other, telling the bat sooner rather than later would be better. If the Batman found out that they had kept Dick's death from him there would be hell to pay later. Roy knocked on the large ornate door and "found it was surprisingly unlocked. Pushing open the door he walked inside noting that the manor was dark and unusually quiet. Usually Jason's voice could be heard echoing through the halls, talking about this and that and whatever, but it was dark and silent. Noting that there seemed to be no one around, not even Alfred, there was nothing stopping him from entering the house, a pit formed in Roy's stomach something terrible must have happened. Racing down to the Batcave he found Bruce still in full Batman regalia sans the cowl.
"What happened!" Roy demanded
"Who do you think you are, Harper, why would I tell you anything? I demand that you leave my house! Why are you even here I don't like outsiders in my city" Bruce roared
"I know something must have happened to Jason, I didn't see or hear from him when I just walked right in the front door with no preamble." Roy said in a surprisingly steady voice "I came here for a different reason but I want to know what happened here."
"Thats none of your business Harper, why are you even here" Bruce cut in snidely
"What, did Jason die or something!" Roy said outraged spewing the most outlandish think he could think of
Bruce stiffened then turned around angrily punching Roy across the face taking him completely by surprise "Don't you dare blame me for Jason's death. Don't you dare".
From his position on the ground Roy blinked "Jason is dead" he repeated slowly
"He's really dead, Oh My God, your kid is dead and you only have yourself to blame. I came here to tell you that on our deep space mission to New Cronus something went wrong. Dick sustained fatal injuries and died. So now I guess you've lost two kids. Oh wait I forgot Dick wasn't your kid just your partner he meant nothing to you, or at least not as much as Jason did."
"Dick thought that you wouldn't care that he died. I guess he was wrong about that, you're sad/upset but not for the right reasons." Roy said coldly standing up crossing the room to face Bruce again
Bruce turned around with surprise written all over his face. All the color leached out of his face and he looked unsteady but Roy couldn't bring himself to care at that moment.
"I..I do care that my-" Bruce stuttered
"Your what! Not your son, you've made that perfectly clear. Your partner,... your ward. Face it Bruce, Dick Grayson was never your son, you never saw him that way. You raised him for nearly ten years but never thought to adopt him, never thought about how he might feel about his place in your life. You adopted Jason right away but threw Dick out at sixteen essentially severing any ties you had to one another. I won't feel bad about saying this next part. You need to know that as he was dieing Dick grayson fully thought that you wouldn't care and he was right you're not sad about any other reason than you've lost another one of your soldiers." Roy yelled
Look, we all know that Dick had anger issues, issues I'm guessing he learned from you if the last few minutes are anything to go by, that's why he and Jason didn't get along at first among a multitude of other valid reasons. Now you only have yourself to blame for both of your kids dying. Well a son and your former ward" Roy said cooly before turning around and leaving Bruce to wallow in his own well deserved misery
Before leaving Roy said one last thing "We're having his funeral at Titans Tower, you know with the people who actually loved him, I don't want you in attendance."