I would like to apologize for the wait. I've had the majority of this chapter done for awhile but I came down with writer's block for the end. I'm also starting NaNoWriMo. If you don't know what that is, it's basically a challenge to write an original story throughout the month of November. I'm doing it for school, and my friends all know I love to write and are asking me for advice and help for editing (and don't worry, it's not against the rules or anything).
Now, I have to go help my friend edit her story and then study for a quiz tomorrow. I can't promise a date for the next chapter.
Also, I was wondering if you guys want me to work with the episode Performance, or write something that will be more suitable for this story. There is going to be a poll on my profile, but you can also comment your answer if you're a guest (I'm not sure if guests can vote or not).
Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice.
I hope you enjoy!
"Hey Tim!" He greeted the boy, "What brings you the bright and cheery place of the Batcave?" He gestured to the dark, somber looking cave around him.
Tim gave him a grin as he lowered the cowl on his Red Robin uniform. "Here on business. There is this villain in Jump who has ties to Gotham. Mind if I check it out?" Tim asked, even though he knew he would be allowed to.
"I don't mind at all." He then donned a mischievous grin, "Do you want to say hi to Stephanie first? She's upstairs with Barbara."
"Dick, we broke up two years ago. We are just friends." Tim reminded him.
His teasing attitude was not deterred, however, "And there is no problem saying hi to friends. You can say hi to Barbara too. And Damian."
"I need coffee or sleep. Or both. I do not need to talk about my relationship - or lack of - with Stephanie or talk to the Demon child." Tim groaned.
He let out a laugh, "Okay. Then let's say hi to Barbara then get you that coffee. I know you well enough to know you will not go to sleep tonight." Without waiting for a reply, he swiftly exited the room, heading to the house above them.
"You said Stephanie's with Barbara!" Tim called, his voice echoing throughout the cave.
"Exactly!"
He opened his eyes and blinked, disoriented. He finally squeezed them shut, clenching the covers of his bed tightly.
Every single time he woke up, he was confused. He always expected to be in Wayne Manor, with the sounds of Barbara clicking away on her laptop and the smell of freshly roasted coffee in the air. She always got up earlier than him.
He groaned once more as he attempted (and failed) to change his train of thought before he hesitantly got out of bed, trying not to look at his room too much.
He was still staying at the Cave overnight, but he knew that he would have to go back to school soon. The excuse of being sick only lasted so long without raising suspicions.
He was fine to continue his schooling, even though he technically already got a degree (he did an online college, because he was too busy with everything else).
The problem was Barbara.
"Morning Babs." He greeted as he entered the kitchen and landed a quick peck on the girl's cheek.
"Morning Dick." She replied, briefly taking her eyes off of the laptop in front of her. "Late night?" She guessed. "I mean you're up later than usual."
"Yeah, and I have to head over to the office in an hour." He sighed. The rich-boy personality had been getting harder to put up lately, but it had to be done. "Besides, not everyone can get up at an unholy hour like you. The rest of us have to sleep more."
"I'm jealous," Barbara said sarcastically, a grin on her face as he poured his cereal. "Coffee is in the pot." She called.
"You, Barbara Gordon, are a goddess." He called back.
"You'd say that to anyone who made you coffee." She accused playfully, and he shrugged, flashing her a grin. "Also, Jason called. Apparently the League wants you, him, Donna and Raquel to go on a mission tonight. Think you can handle it?" She teased.
"Well I can't deny Jay the pleasure of my company." He said happily, pouring his coffee into a dark blue mug.
"Tell them I'm game."
He grabbed his forehead, cursing under his breath. The memories always were worse when he was waking up. Today, unfortunately for him, was a bad day to wake up. The memories were particularly strong today, for some reason. He didn't know either way, or necessarily care. It just was.
After the mission in Bialya, after seeing Garfield in this world, the real world, for the first time, he thought he would get better. Some part of him did gain confidence with the successful mission, but that didn't mean the flashbacks or the nightmares or his overall fragileness lessened, much to his annoyance.
He just wanted everything to go back to the way it was. He said that to himself constantly, repeating the wish in his mind day after day.
The problem was, he didn't know if he meant before or during the simulation.
He also didn't know if the two words were more intertwined than he or anyone else realized. He knew Tim existed (his parents were very much alive and lived right next to Wayne Manor) and now Garfield. Who else really existed? And would they follow similar paths or deviate entirely?
On some level - some part of him that must have gone completely insane with all that had happened - it was amusing. It was funny how one choice, one simple, seemingly unimportant choice - for them to go through a training simulation or not - could completely change his life. Turn it upside down and leave him not at all like the person he used to be.
Now, he could barely remember what was going on or how he should act to avoid suspicion. Well, more suspicion than what he already had received.
The first time he saw Wolf, he did a double take, wondering how an animal could have wandered into the Cave. Then he remembered - in bits and pieces - the mission with the Brain and Mallah and how Conner had saved the beast and named it oh-so creatively.
He tapped his fingers against his leg, wondering if it would be safe or not to leave the room and not run into anyone. It was Thanksgiving, and he knew, even if no one told him, that he should go to the Manor this afternoon for dinner with Bruce and Alfred. He could handle that. He had to.
Bruce had been so lenient with him, so careful to allow him to heal in his own time. He could tell that the man who was the only father figure in his life wanted to hug him and tell him everything would be okay, but frankly, neither of them knew if it would ever be okay or not again. He knew that it probably hurt the man to see him like this. He had to be there for him, show him that he was getting better.
Even if he wasn't, and it was just a lie.
Sighing, he quickly changed out of his pajamas and into some jeans, a red shirt, and a dark blue sweatshirt. He easily found his sunglasses, and put them on as well.
He was still hesitant about leaving the solitude of his room, but the sheer unfamiliarity of it combined with his only half awake mind (he was not a morning person, simulation or no simulation) forced him to retreat to the also-unfamiliar-but-easier-to-deal-with hallway of the cave.
He took a deep breath before hesitantly making his way through the halls of the Cave, trying to wake himself up. He hated the morning. It was the most painful time of day. He could handle everything better when he was awake and aware.
He didn't have a clear destination in mind when he left his room, but soon he found himself in a room that got increasingly more familiar everyday.
The therapy room.
Officially, it was called the conference room, but the only conference that ever went down was usually Dinah and him talking about how he was emotionally fragile.
Good times. He thought sarcastically as he hesitantly walked into the room. The only sounds he could hear were the water rushing from the water fall and his own breathing. Other than that it was eerily quiet.
He quietly shut the door, mindful of how early it was in the morning. He didn't want to wake Superboy, who had the unfortunate power of super hearing.
The room seemed weirdly different without the comforting prescience of Black Canary. It wasn't a bad different, necessarily, just different.
But, then again, what isn't different? What doesn't seem foreign to me now?
He was just so sick of being confused. Of being weak.
His feet carried him to his normal seat, and he just sat there.
He just sat there.
The water trickled down the rock wall to his right, but he was staring at the wall directly across from him.
He was so sick of being confused.
But was he going to do about it?
"This is useless!" Jason cried and he eyed the bola the younger boy had thrown, which had missed its target by a few feet. "I can't throw this stupid thing."
"Struggling is okay. You'll get better at it with practice." He assured him.
"That's what you said last time."
"Because it was also true last time. And it will be true next time." He sighed, "Jay, you aren't throwing a baseball here. It's going to be tough."
"Tough, or impossible?" Jason grumbled as he went to retrieve the bola.
"Nothing is impossible in our line of work." He said knowingly.
Jason's angered depleted a bit, but was still present, "I still don't understand this thing! I'm not able to throw it good enough for it to be of any use except maybe as a distraction."
He placed a hand on the boy's shoulder, remembering a time when he was that short. It felt like a lifetime ago. "Jason, you can't throw a bola perfectly accurate a day after you started. Are you going to just quit this whole thing because you can't do it now? Or are you going to do something about it?"
Jason considered his words again, before sighing and getting in position to throw the bola once more. "I'm going to practice until I get it right every single time." he said, a new fire in his eyes and a determined tone in his voice.
He let out a smile, "That's the Jason Todd I know."
He jolted awake, and realized with surprise that he must have drifted asleep.
The nightmares must have been taking a bigger toll on him than he had realized. But now, thinking about it, he couldn't remember the last time he got a solid five hours of sleep since the simulation. The rest of the night was his mind drifting between simulation and reality, thinking of all that could have been and all the what-ifs.
A thought sprung to life inside his head, and a small but genuine smile appeared on his face as he mentally connected the dots between the Team and his (sadly simulated) family.
Jason would so be Artemis. Both tough, with rough backgrounds and generate the I'll-kill-you-if-you-tick-me-off aura, but still kind towards those they love and gentle when needed.
And Stephanie is basically M'gann. Both bright and bubbly but can still be serious and a force to be reckoned with.
Tim is Kaldur. They are both calm, collected, and great tacticians as well as fighters.
Conner...Conner would most likely be Damian. Both the quiet type, and seem meaner than they are until you get to know them. Damian had kind, gentler side, that he hid in fear of being rejected for it. Superboy is constantly being rejected by the man he wants to view as a father figure, which just makes him go deeper into a shell of anger. They are both great people, just have bad circumstances about their birth that make them hide who they really are.
And Barbara… His smile died at the thought of the red-haired girl, Barbara would tell me to stop moping around.
The smile came back, because that was so her. He could imagine her saying those exact words.
"Get up and stop moping around, Wonder Boy, there's work to be done."
And she's right.
He took off his sunglasses and rubbed his eyes, wishing once more that things could be simpler. He sighed as he placed them back on, before departing the room. He wasn't consciously aware of where he was going, but as his feet carried him to the zeta tubes and his fingers hovered over the numbers on the keypad, he knew. He just knew.
He was done running.
He tapped the numbers that he had long since memorized and closed his eyes as the machine whirred around him and the computer called out, stating his departure.
When he opened them he was somewhere else. Somewhere excruciatingly familiar, but he pushed that pain aside. No turning back now.
He took a few steps forward hesitantly, before beginning to move quicker. If he slowed down then he might stop. He didn't give himself the time to change his mind.
He easily scaled the staircase and - after typing a password - entered the manor above the Cave.
Alfred was there, dusting while he was alone in the house. The old man turned, curious to see who it would be. Bruce was being Batman doing something with the Justice League up in space.
Alfred didn't expect to see him.
"Hey, Alfred." He said awkwardly, forcing himself to meet the man's eyes. He pushed away all the doubt, uncertainty, and the memories of the past.
Alfred smiled kindly, hiding the surprise he undoubtedly had, "Welcome home, Master Dick. I hope you'll be joining us for dinner."
"Of course."
This is what Barbara would want.
As you can see, he's getting better. He's overcoming that mental block that is cutting him away from everyone who is trying to help. He's not completely fine and dandy, but there is improvement.
Also, I just want to thank you all for the support. You guys are fantastic. No joke. You guys are the reason I love to write.