A/N: Well I've been studying for 5 hours the past two days! (That's 5 hours each day). I swear, if I didn't have stories to work on to de-stress I'd go insane. That being said, the chapter is on time, so enjoy!

Unfortunately, Roy had another nightmare that night. He was in an alley in his old Speedy suit. "Hello?" he asked cautiously, calling out down the darkened alley. There were no sounds anywhere, which was weird. Roy stepped out into the street and gasped. He was in Star. "How- How-" His voice got caught in his throat when he saw the bodies. There were dozens of people scattered all over the street. "No…" His eyes found the red arrows sticking out of the victim's chests. "No… No…" A shiver crept up the back of his neck and Roy spun around, automatically drawing an arrow from his quiver. "S-Superman?" The Man of Steel was floating just above the ground, arms cross over the 'S' on his chest. He glared down at the young archer, shadows hiding a lot of his face.

"Speedy," Superman said coldly. "You're under arrest for murder."

"M-Murder? I didn't-" Roy backed up slowly, trying to figure out what is going on.

"Don't lie to us kid," said a voice from behind. Roy turned his head. The Flash was standing only a few feet away.

"No wonder Green Arrow slaps you around," said Green Lantern, floating down towards them.

"Please… I-I didn't…. I didn't want to kill anyone…"

"Then why did work with him?" Wonder Woman asked, coming out of the shadows, her lasso casting an eerie glow over her face. "Why did you look up to him if you didn't approve of his methods?"

"I didn't know!" Roy insisted as he backed away from the heroes. "I didn't know he killed people!"

"Liar," Superman snarled.

"I really didn't know!"

"Yet you didn't try to stop him," Flash reminded him as they pushed forward, moving Speedy back more. The league had surrounded him on all sides, except for his back, which was covered by the alley.

"I didn't- I tried!"

"Clearly you didn't try hard enough. Unless you liked that he killed people," Aquaman said, emerging out go the shadows.

"No, I didn't! I swear I didn't!"

"Murderer," Superman hissed.

"No…"

"Killer," Wonder Woman said, grabbing her lasso.

"No! No, I'm not a killer!" Despite the fact that he knew it was a bad idea, Roy turned and ran away; darting between Flash and Green Lantern. Deep down he knew it wasn't an effective tactic, they were the Justice League after all, but he didn't care. He had to get away from them. The dark streets were a blur as he ran for anywhere that wasn't the street he'd just been on. When he finally stopped he discovered he'd somehow outrun the League. Roy turned around, only to freeze. "Oh god…" There was a man propped up against the wall of a building with a red arrow sticking out of his neck. It wasn't just any man though…it was the one he'd killed when he left Star. The sight of the blood pooling down his neck and chest caused nausea to build up in Roy's stomach. "Oh god…" Someone suddenly grabbed his shoulder and threw him backward. His head smacked off the building and stars appeared in his vision. He blinked them away to see Batman standing over him. The Dark Knight blended in with the darkness behind him, giving the impression that he was part of the night. His intense gaze seemed to be glowing as he glared at the teen. Roy gulped and tried to push himself against the wall, but it was unyielding; keeping him close to the vigilante. "Batman…" he squeaked.

"Speedy," Batman growled. "You killed this man."

"I…I….I didn't want-" Speedy was cut off when Batman backhanded him. Roy hit the ground with a thud! He tried to sit up, but Batman kicked him in the chest. First, he hit the wall, then he hit the ground again. Batman slammed Roy into the ground by stomping on his back, apparently oblivious to the cries of pain. "Batman please…"

"You're a murderer."

"I know I am."

"You let Green Arrow kill those people."

"I did."

"You killed this man."

Speedy swallowed. "I did…"

"You're a murderer. You're just like Green Arrow. You have no shred of goodness in you and you have no value for human life."

Speedy didn't really have an argument against that. "I'm sorry." Batman didn't say anything. He simply moved his foot and picked Speedy up by his neck. He slammed the teen into the wall again, keeping him pinned there.

"You're a killer Speedy. You're no better than a common criminal." Speedy tried to squirm away, but it was useless.

"'Please…"

"Do you think I should let you go after you killed all those people?"

"…..no." Batman threw him on the ground again, but Speedy didn't try to get up. He didn't even fight back when Batman was suddenly on top of him, hands wrapped around his throat. Far too quickly his lungs started to burn.

"I'm going to lock you up and throw away the key," Batman hissed in his ear. "In Arkham with the rest of the mass murdering lunatics. It's what you deserve." Somehow Speedy managed a whimper and involuntarily jerked his body. In a moment of pure confusion, he fell off something and hit the ground. He started coughing and choking while he tried to breathe. Light suddenly flooded the area and hurried footsteps came towards him.

"Roy," Dick said gently. "Roy, it's ok. It was just a dream." Roy didn't answer. Instead, he just kept choking and coughing. Dick put his hand on Roy's back. "Roy breathe. In… Out… In… Out…" His breathing was shallow and fast at first, but he kept breathing with Dick's voice. Eventually, he was able to breathe normally. Roy collapsed against the bed, resting his head on the mattress. "Are you ok?"

Roy swallowed. He gently rubbed his neck, just to make sure there were no hands wrapped around it. He pulled his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around his legs. "What time is it?" he croaked.

Dick looked at the clock. "3:38."

"I'm sorry I woke you up."

"It's ok. You can't control your nightmares." Roy didn't say anything. "Do you want to talk about it?" Roy shook his head. "Do you want to go back to sleep?" Another head shake. "Ok." Dick sat next to him on the floor. "Are you ok?"

"…..I don't know." The truth of that astounded him.

"That's ok. You'll be ok someday." Roy didn't say anything. "It's like learning the trapeze routines. At first, you mess up a lot and you don't know what you're doing. So you keep practicing and practicing, but you don't really know if you're doing a good job or not. One day though…one day you do the routine the whole way through without missing a single flip. That's when you know you're doing good. You just have to be patient and keep trying until you get there."

Roy looked at him with slight amusement. "I think this is a little different than the trapeze."

Dick shook his head. "I don't think so."

"You just think that because you're from the circus."

"Yup, that's true." Roy didn't smile. Not knowing what else to do, Dick just started taking, telling Roy stories from his life in the circus. He talked for close to an hour and a half while Roy slowly relaxed. Around 5 am he noticed the teen's head starting to lull. "Tired?"

"Hm…"

"Come on." Dick helped Roy stand and his friend practically collapsed onto the bed. He shut the light off and joined Roy under the blankets.

"Dick?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

Dick smiled as he snuggled up next to him. "I should thank you."

"…Why?"

"Usually its harder to talk about the circus, but its easier now. Maybe its because you're so nice."

Roy doubted that, but didn't want to burst Dick's bubble. "Night Dick."

Dick yawned as he titled his head against Roy's shoulder. "It's morning…."

"You know what I mean."

Dick smirked a little bit. "Mhm."

— —

Later that day, Dick took Roy into the gym. "You want to spar?" he asked.

"Um…" Roy crossed his arms nervously. "I don't know…"

"Come on. We can go slow."

"I just…I don't want to hurt you."

"You won't. I take down villains like the Joker and Scarecrow. Trust me, I'll be fine."

"I don't know…"

"Roy, I wouldn't offer if I thought you'd seriously hurt me."

"….ok…"

The two of them walked over to the mats, but were interrupted when Alfred came in. "Excuse me sirs, but Master Bruce wishes to speak to Master Roy," he said.

"You got lucky," Dick said.

"Uh huh," Roy nodded. He followed Alfred out of the gym. "What-what does Bruce want?"

"That is for him to discuss Master Roy. However, I shall assure you that you are not in trouble."

"Ok." Although it didn't help when they walked into the study and Bruce wasn't there. 'Why are we going down to the Bat cave?' Roy wondered as he followed Alfred. He couldn't stop the part of his brain that was compelled to point out how secluded this was; however, another part argued that so far, when Bruce had wanted to talk to him it had only been talking. He swallowed and started clenching and unclenching his fists. Bruce was sitting at the Bat-computer when they came down. He turned around, Roy assumed he'd heard them, and Roy automatically tried to find anger or tension in Bruce's face. There was none though.

"Can you leave us alone Alfred?" Bruce asked. Roy got nervous, but tried not to show it.

"Of course sir," Alfred said. He left the two of them alone in a tense silence.

"I heard you yelling this morning. Did you have a nightmare again?"

"Yes," Roy nodded.

"Do…Do you want to talk about it?"

"Um…Can-can I…not?"

"Yes, of course."

"Thanks. What-what did you want to talk to me about?"

"I have…There's something I want to discuss with you." Bruce considered how to say this, since he didn't want to scare Roy. "I've been thinking a lot about how to help you overcome…Oliver. I think that part of what might be hard is because of what happened as Speedy."

Roy's heart started pounding. "oh?"

Bruce sighed. His skills when talking to Roy weren't getting better obviously. Better to just do what he did best; be blunt. "Roy, do you want to take up being a vigilante here in Gotham?"

Roy blinked. "What?"

"If you want to, and only if you want to, I'll train you to fight crime with Dick and I."

"Why?"

"I think it could help you." Bruce studied Roy's face. He looked….scared? 'Oh no that's not what I wanted.' Not good. "Roy, this is only if you want to. If you don't I would understand. I won't be mad at you."

"I-I…." Roy put his head down and wrapped one of his arms around his body.

"I'm serious. You don't have to answer me right now."

"It's just…"

"Roy, it's ok. I'm only offering this because I know you don't kill criminals. You see the value in taking them alive." Roy started shaking. 'Oh shit. What am I doing wrong?!'

"You don't….you don't understand…"

Bruce furrowed his brow. "What?"

Roy swallowed. "I… I…."

"Roy you can tell me. It's ok."

"No…. I…. No…."

"Why not? Roy I'm not going to hurt you, I promise. I swear I would never hit you." Roy suddenly fell to his knees and started crying. 'Shit, shit, shit!' Bruce knelt down beside him and hesitated. When Dick was upset he usually needed a hug, but Roy didn't like it when Bruce touched him. "Um…." Bruce set his hand gently on the teen's back and Roy jumped, scrambling away. "Roy I'm not going to hurt you."

"Yes, you will."

"No, I won't. Roy, I will never hit you."

"Yes, you will!" Roy sobbed, curling up into a ball. "I did a bad thing!"

"What did you do? Whatever it is I won't hit you."

"I killed someone!"

Bruce blinked. "What?"

Roy whimpered, getting tense. Finally, finally, he'd done something to warrant getting hit. This had to be it. "My last night in Star… I-I killed someone. I shot him in the neck."

Dread suddenly pulled Bruce's chest tight. Oh. That. He swallowed and reached out, but pulled back when Roy flinched violently. "Roy…you didn't kill that man."

"Yes, I did!"

"No, you didn't. Oliver made you."

"It was my arrow! My bow! My hand on the string!"

Bruce sighed. An idea popped into his head and he, uncharacteristically, acted without thinking. He was just desperate to get Roy calmed down and explain to him that he wasn't a murderer. While he searched for the surveillance video of Roy's last night in Star guilt was trying to take over his brain. 'I've been calling Oliver a murderer and saying that he's a terrible person because of it. Meanwhile, Roy thought he was also a murderer.' Bruce shook his head in disgust at himself. 'I'm not qualified to be taking care of him.' He found the video and look at Roy. "Roy come here." The teen stood up and walked over to him on shaking legs, still crying. Bruce gently guided him to sit down. "Watch this." Roy lifted his head. On the screen was a grainy video, but he still knew what it was right away. The angle of the camera very clearly showed his arrow hitting the guy in the neck. He whimpered.

'Is this my punishment? Watching me kill him?' Maybe Oliver had been on to something about Bruce being brutal.

Bruce looked at Roy, but Roy would only look down. "Roy you didn't kill him."

"Yes, I did."

"No, you didn't. Look." Bruce used a special software on the Bat-computer to enhance the video. It focused only on the two archers. He played it again. "See? Oliver forced your hands off." Bruce knelt down in front of Roy and turned the chair so they were face to face. "Roy you didn't kill anyone."

"I killed that guy."

"Even if Oliver hadn't forced your fingers off the string, which he did, you are in no way responsible for what happened when you were Speedy."

"I let him kill all those people though! I made it so they couldn't run! I tied them up so they'd be sitting there defenseless! I'm a killer!"

"No Roy, you aren't. Oliver was manipulating and abusing you. He was making you do it."

"No, he didn't! I wanted to be a vigilante!"

"Did you know he killed people when you agreed to be a vigilante?"

"No."

"Did Oliver start abusing you before you started going on patrol with him?"

"Yes."

"Roy, he tricked you. He manipulated you and abused you so that you would do what he wanted. You were a child, Roy. You still are. You aren't responsible for what happened."

"I still helped."

"You did what you were forced to do."

Roy hiccuped. "I'm still a bad person."

"Why do you think that?" Roy whimpered. 'At least he's stopped crying. Hopefully, that means something good.' Bruce sighed quietly. "Roy I'm not going to hurt you."

"Sometimes…" Roy swallowed. "Sometimes I'd hope we'd have a good patrol because Oliver would be in a good mood afterward."

'Ok Wayne, tread lightly.' Bruce swallowed. "That doesn't make you a bad person."

"I wanted him to kill people-"

"No, you didn't. You wanted to feel safe, which is perfectly normal. You were scared of your guardian, for good reason, and you just wanted to feel safe. Oliver was intimidating and abusing you, Roy. You weren't responsible for what happened."

Roy finally looked at Bruce, the first time in the last ten minutes, and Bruce was briefly taken aback by the confusion and pain in the teen's eyes. "Why?" he asked shakily.

"What what?"

"Why are you still being nice to me?"

Initially, that should've made Bruce angry, but it just made him sad. "Why wouldn't you expect me to?"

"Oliver stopped being nice after two weeks. I think he was just nice at first so I wouldn't try to run away."

"I'm not like Oliver, Roy. I won't hit you for anything."

"I'm a killer though."

"No, you're not. You're not a killer." Bruce had an idea; a possible way to make Roy see sense. "Roy, when I first saw you on the streets as Speedy, I thought you were a killer too. I saw you and all I could think was how horrible it was that you'd been brainwashed by Oliver and that the League now had to deal with another murderous archer." He put his hand on Roy's knee. "Then you did something impossible. You both surprised me and proved me wrong."

"I did?"

"Yes, you did. You looked away. When Oliver killed someone, I saw you turn your head and I knew that you weren't like him. You weren't ok with what Oliver was doing. Deep down you knew it was wrong."

Roy swallowed. "Ollie- He told me that criminals didn't deserve my mercy."

"He was wrong to tell you that. No one desires to die for vandalism or breaking into a car."

"What if they're a murderer?"

"Do you think they should die?"

Roy shook his head. "No. You're not mad I think that?"

"No Roy, of course not. What Dick and I do, it's not always easy. There are some terrible people out there, but we don't kill them. If we start killing we're no better than them."

"…..that makes sense."

"I know you believe that, which is why I'm offering you this. I can train you. I'll teach you how to catch criminals the right way. That way you know, looking back, that every time you resisted Oliver, that you were justified. And every time he hit you, he was the one who was wrong."

"It's my choice?"

"Yes, absolutely. We will only do this if you want to and you can quit at any time. If you decide you want to stop and just live your life, I won't get mad at that. You can stop. I will never force you into this life, Roy." Roy looked away. He mumbled something under his breath that Bruce couldn't quite make out. "What did you say?"

"I just wanted to help people."

It took Bruce a moment to realize what he was saying. "Is that why you became Speedy?"

Roy nodded. "Oliver said that-that I could honor Brave Bow, my dad, by using the skills he taught me to help people."

"You still can if you want to." He half expected Roy to curl up into a ball, as he did most of the time, but he didn't. He still wouldn't look at Bruce, but the lack of being in a ball made the man feel hopeful he might actually be getting somewhere. After a couple minutes of silence, Roy finally looked up at him.

"If I do this, do you think it will help?"

"I do. It helps Dick."

"Does it help you?"

'I was right about him being smart,' Bruce admitted silently. "In a way…" Roy glanced down again. "You don't have to answer me right now Roy. You can think about it."

"No." Roy seemed to sit up a straighter. "I don't need to think about it."

"You don't?"

"No." He sighed a little bit. "I want to do it."

"You do?"

"Yes."

"You're sure? This has to be your choice 100%."

"It is. I want to."

"Only if you're sure."

"I am." Roy leaned forward a little bit.

"It won't be easy. I'll actually have to train you. I won't just bring you out on the streets untrained like Oliver did."

Roy almost smiled and it caught Bruce off guard for a moment. "When do we begin?"