"Master Dick, it's time for breakfast. You have school soon. You'd better be getting ready!" Alfred called from outside the boy's room.

"Five more minutes, Alfred," Dick called back groggily.

"I'll be back in five minutes, Master Dick," Alfred answered with a sigh. The kid had slept through breakfast every day for the last 3 weeks. He was always out with friends or on patrol during dinner. And although Alfred packed both breakfast and lunch to go for the boy and kept dinner warm while he was out on patrols, it was obvious the boy was losing weight, and he didn't have any he could afford to lose in the first place.

"Master Dick, your meals!" Alfred called as the boy hurried around the kitchen and was about to frantically run out the door without any food because he was about to be running late for school.

"Thanks, Alfred, you're the best!" Dick called as he grabbed the food and tore out of the mansion.

Meanwhile, in Star City, a red-haired, freckle-faced speedster had been awake for hours, or maybe days? Unable to sleep, and unwilling to try because of the memories that haunted his every waking moment and only grew more intense in the land of slumber.

***7 hours later***

"Hey, Kid Flash, you're here early!" Dick called out as he came through the portal and saw his friend in the refrigerator. The speedster jumped so hard he slammed his head on the shelf above his head. "Woah, sorry didn't mean to spook, KF," Dick apologized approaching his friend who had spun around to face him. Dick noticed the couple steps backward his friend took before he recovered and plastered a smile on his face.

"Oh, hey, Super Spy, didn't hear you come in," Wally said.

"You feeling okay, KF?" Dick asked concerned.

"I'm feeling peachy, why? I give you some illness?" Wally asked with a laugh.

"You got circles under your eyes the size of the bruise on my knee from a fight the other day. And you didn't hear me come through the portal. It's final, you've lost all your marbles, KF," Dick said with a laugh.

Kid Flash laughed with him. "Well if I've lost all my marbles, you never even had any to lose," the speedster retorted.

"Training is in fifteen minutes, want to share some of my sandwiches?" Wally answered.

"Ha, as if you'd ever share your food. Thanks though, I finished the last of my lunch while I was on my way over. Plus, you need the fuel," Dick answered as he started towards the training area.

Fifteen minutes later, when everyone had gathered for training, Nightwing had already worked up a sweat, and Kid Flash could tell his friend was trembling with fatigue. Black Canary paired Nightwing and Kid Flash together for sparring that day.

As they started to fight, Nightwing realized his opponent was flinching away from every attack sent his way. Yes, normally the speedster dodged, but he never flinched away from the punches in fear before. Meanwhile, Kid Flash noticed his friend's punches packed a lot less strength than they normally did. His form was sloppy, Nightwing's form had been perfected since he was knee-high to a grasshopper, it was never sloppy, even when the kid was half dead. And he was moving slower than normal, and it wasn't just because Wally always moved so fast.

"Alright, that's enough sparring for today. Conor, I want you to spend the next half hour working on strength training. Meghan, meditation, and mental exercises. Artemis, I want four hundred bullseyes...in a row. Kaldur, technique and weapons training will split your next half hour. Kid Flash, Nightwing, I want to see you in my office," Black Canary spit out harshly after forty-five minutes.

"Oh, someone's in trouble," Artemis whispered as the friends moved to follow their teacher.

Once inside the office, Canary motioned for the boys to have a seat and then stared at them for several, awkwardly silent moments. "Do you think sparring for training is beneath you too?" she asked angrily.

"Of course not!" both boys replied in unison.

"So what's with the increasingly sloppy performances from both of you over the last several weeks? Wally, you're not even trying to do any sparring, you're just avoiding attacks like your life depends on it. And not in the skilled technique of evasion, it's just sloppy, basic life preservation. Not a single take-down attempt or hit landed on you in almost three weeks. And Nightwing, your form is becoming increasingly sloppy, and you are never sloppy in your form. Your movements are both slower and weaker. So obviously something is going on, and I demand to know what it is," Canary scolded.

The boys exchanged glances. She was scary when she was mad.

"Sorry," they both answered in unison.

Canary sighed before stating, "I'm not interested in apologies. I need an explanation, now. Would it help if I talked to you separately?"

"Oh, there's no need for that," Dick started, "I've just been a bit overwhelmed with everything I've got going on and haven't been sleeping well. But exams are almost over, and crime rates at Gotham should be going down any day now with how many criminals we've been putting away, so I'll shape up, I promise."

"Wally?" Canary prompted seemingly satisfied with Nightwing's reassurance.

"Sorry, babe, I've just been distracted with some girl trouble. I'll get my mind refocused, promise," Wally tried.

Although Canary looked at them both skeptically, she sighed and said, "I expect to see major improvements from both of you in a week, is that understood?"

"Yes ma'am," the friends answered in unison.

"Good, both of you can leave, and go get some rest. Handle whatever it is to handle and come ready to work tomorrow."

They did as they were instructed.

"Wanna come over to my place?" Dick asked as they headed for the Zeta tubes.

"I like that idea," Wally answered with a grin.

Dick went through the Zeta tubes first, but when Wally went through, he found his friend trying to shakily pull himself to his feet.

"What happened, Nightwing?" Wally asked worry evident both on his face and in his voice as he pulled his friend to his feet.

"Got dizzy. Really dizzy. Wally, can you help me to Leslie's office please?" Dick asked weakly.

"Yeah, yeah of course, but we gotta change into our civvies first," Wally answered already helping his friend change.

After he'd also changed, Wally started helping his friend navigate the streets of Gotham. Dick's legs gave out causing him to almost fall to the ground for the fifth time and Wally was over it. He picked up his friend, and his mouth dropped open for a second at how light the boy was. There was no way the boy weighed much over a hundred pounds. Quickly shutting his mouth, Wally figured now wasn't the appropriate time to address the issue and he took off down the streets in a flash.