Part One – Twice Dead
These people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest
qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along
by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead.
They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest
darkness has been reserved forever
Jude 1:12 - 1:13
Chapter One – The Blackest Darkness
Batman going mad after Jason's death and killing the Joker was just the beginning.
Dick took his family to Gotham to try to save was left of the man who once had been kind enough to, in light of tragedy, chose to take in a stranger orphan circus boy as son. But he found out that whatever good once grew inside Bruce's heart, it wasn't able to thrive under Gotham's sunless skies without Alfred's devotional care, and once Jason was also gone, it rotted, unsalvageable.
He took the Rogue's gallery, one by one, a carnage never seen before in the most violent city of the United States. Terror spread through the country and Superman himself swore in live television that Batman was to be stopped by any means necessary. Kory, his Kory, she wouldn't let Dick be the one to have to kill his own father, they had so many angry discussions about it, it broke his heart that his last days with her were the worst they had. In his own grief he had taken her attempts of shield him as doubts of his competence, he pushed her away. And when she started losing her powers and hiding secrets, their relationship broke apart the fights became uglier, they said awful thing they didn't mean to each other. She still went after Bruce without him, but she failed.
Dreams of that night visit him frequently, but in his dreams he saves her, in his dreams he doesn't have to hold her broken, cold body, covered by frost, dull eyes facing forward, the frozen expression of fear preserved forever on her beautiful face.
Rachel was the next to go, she couldn't bear the loss of another mother, and she just gave up, letting the walls the prison holding her monstrous father fall. The portal opened, bringing Trigon back to the world, and, this time, he consumed her.
But not entirely, she'd surface sometimes, and stop Trigon to destroy the entire planet. In the beginning that gave Dick hope. He and Gar fought the entire Justice League to give Rachel a chance, but in a horrible battle, Trigon brought the whole Eastern Europe and North of Africa underwater to kill Superman and Wonder Woman, sinking the Island of Themyscira with them. After that, her moments of lucidity became even scarcer, still, the Earth was not yet gone. There were small communities of resistance everywhere. But most nights, when there was no liquor to make him pass out, Dick wished Rachel would just be done with it all. Oblivion, he thinks, might me better than struggling to survive on scorched earth.
Conner's mind, it seemed, was too new and too fragile to resist the temptations of darkness. The indoctrination CADMUS had used to control him was nothing compared of the murder machine Trigon turned him into. He and Krypto would destroy whole cities in minutes, spreading fear. Dawn and Hank tried to stop him, but he crushed them like flies. And with no Justice League remaining, the only person strong enough to stop him was Donna. She killed Krypto first with the help of Lex Luthor from all people. Conner became even more out of any reach of control then, and to finally stop him permanently, Donna flew him to the remains of Krypton, where he'd be weak enough to be killed by a bomb created by Lex.
She didn't return.
Little by little, it became obvious that Dick was also losing Gar. He became turning into a tiger for longer and longer, sometimes disappearing for days. And when food became scarce, he had to feed from animals, and that did something to him. Gone was the child Dick knew, there was no jokes anymore, and the way he went against Rachel every time they met in a fight, when he had been the one to have faith in her more than anyone, even when things were at the lowest point. Until, after a nasty fight too many, no matter how Dick begged and cried, Gar didn't return to human form, have finally given in to his wilderness. The neon green beast ran away leaving Dick truly alone at last.
His only mission now was to find a way to kill Trigon, send him back to whichever hell he came from. To kill Rachel and relieve them both of all this sorrow.
He had no plans to survive that.
Bruce didn't raise him religious, was himself born of a Jewish woman's womb and every year he lit the lights in her memory, and that was all, he never passed over to Dick any believe of afterlife. So, Dick didn't have any. He never really thought about it before Rachel and her angels and crosses. Even then, he'd not think much of it, joying her in prayer if she asked only because she asked. He remembered of listening her asking Kory about X'hal too. If he could believe in something, was the idea of that he and everyone he ever loved would be reunited somewhere, and some alien goddess didn't look so bad. He still carried a small cheap medal Rachel gave him once for father's day. He had no idea which saint was engraved, but he kept the little memento close to his heart.
A few weeks or months, time was hard to measure when there was no separation of night and day for darkness had covered the entire planet; Lex contacted Dick. He created this rudimentary communication device by radio, that was far from a mobile phone, but worked, mostly. They had been investigating about a weapon in an old CADMUS lab that could help them and told Dick to check if he could find anything, the bastard. Why didn't he do it himself? Because it was probably a trap and Lexie dear wouldn't risk his ass, that's why.
Dick dragged himself to the location appointed, and even though he fully expected a trap, he was not prepared to find Rachel there. What used to be her. Her body was almost entirely consumed. Trigon probably didn't know or care that human bodies need food and rest, despite the fear, and rage, and grief she brought to them all; it hurt to see her like that, only bones and skin. Paler than she ever had been before, head covered by her tethered knitted hoodie, but not much of her purple locks remained.
He plunged towards her, weapon or not, bait or not, he would not squander such a clean straight opportunity to end everything right there. The moment had finally come; he'd kill his daughter or die trying.
She opened her arms, and for a moment of absurdity, he thought she was trying to hug him, as she would do in the past when the both of them were completely different people. But instead time stopped, reality ripped before him, Dick tried to avoid the irresistible pull coming from it, but it was too late. She let a shaky sigh, she was crying, she said, "I'm so sorry", and she was gone.
oOo
When he woke up again it took a while to get used to the bright lights. It had been ages since he didn't have to squint to see through the perpetual darkness. He heard the buzz of conversation around him. He tried to move, but there was something bounding his wrists to the bed under him.
"He's up."
Sound of steps. His eyes were capable of form alongside colour now. And Gar's unmistakable spiky hair, white and red jacket stood before him. Human.
"What is this? Trigon! I will not play your games anymore!"
The illusion pretending to be Gar held his hands towards Dick.
"Hey, hey. Calm down, man!"
"Release me!" Dick trashed his body around, would he never be free of this hell? Wasn't that demon ever done with him?
"Kory!" someone shouted, and that brought Dick's attention.
His heart pounded so hard when he saw her that lodged in his throat making him choke.
Even with a messy dump hair and smudged makeup, she was as beautiful as he remembered.
"Yes?" she asked in a tight voice. She seemed angry, sad, and very, very tired.
Dick blinked once, twice, and then all the memories returned in a torrent of emotions. That was not his Kory.
You've seen our leading lady, and know you know parallel Dick Grayson, next time we'll see how they fare having to deal with each other. The initial idea was to make parallel Dick Grayson, the one from season one finale, but since I didn't want to have to deal with the DickDawn mess, I decided to make my own parallel universe with bits and pieces of what we know and a lot of different bits too. In that universe Dick and Kory were a proper couple, they never parted ways after the Trigon crisis. And when the Joker killed Jason, he stayed dead, that was what started the cataclysmic event. But the spirit of season one will be very strong here.
Saying that, I'll try to keep the updates steady, not everyday, because you know, lmao, but they won't be super far in between either. I'm aiming for twice a week.