A/N: So here we are… the endings. It's been fun, guys, and I hope you enjoy them. ;) By the way, I'm not sure WHEN it may happen, but there MIGHT be a sequel to this branching from the BAD ending. It depends on my mood.
Reviewer's Response:
DeathwishJV: Well, I passed the message along to the author of that scene… And you get a dream from Damian in two of the ends, but neither are the dark horrible ones that are probably NORMAL… You'll see. ;)
Hount-Walf: Ahhh! That was the longest chapter! Lol… Well, I'm a firm believer in the whole 'don't drag it out' idea. Here are three endings, ready for your perusal!
Anonymous: Oh, hi there, anon! I'm glad you liked it! :D Thanks for reading it, and I hope you find the endings as good as the rest of it!
Tyra Kinami: Sorry that y story doesn't focus so much on Tim or the other kids… Maybe poking at BlueMoss will get her to write more about his nightmares! Or maybe she'll just be flattered… Well, here you go, endings to find out just what happens to Dick!
pokerfacedcat: :D I'm glad you liked and reviewed all the previous chapters! Here is the end to your suspenseful waiting period! I hope you enjoy!
"There's a remote!"
Damian paused on the retaining wall he had been moving along as he heard Grayson's voice. A remote? The Robin's eyes widened as he realized, he hadn't disarmed the bomb after all. He spun in mid step, turning to go back to Nightwing's side and remedy his mistake.
He was too late. Before his eyes, the bomb detonated, throwing shrapnel, heat, and blinding light, devouring any sign of his acrobatic older brother. Damian dropped on the other side of the wall to avoid whatever would reach him at his distance, already going numb from what had happened.
Nightwing - Dick Grayson - was dead. He had failed to disarm a simple bomb, and it cost them the life of the first Robin. As soon as the realization filtered through his consciousness, the boy angrily deactivated the tracer he knew was on him. Before authorities could arrive on the scene, Damian was running away from his failure, a slight bit of wetness under his mask.
(This scene makes a reappearance! Again, another scene written by BlueMoss, this time because she wrote it before I could. Being the lazy author I am, I didn't complain.)
It was a few hours after the explosion when Dick slowly started to come around. The first thing he felt was pain in his chest. He struggled, but his body felt like it weighed 5 times more than it normally did. Slowly, he opened his eyes. The room he was dim so it only took him moments to adjust to the light. He couldn't move his head but he could see tubes and wires around him. Then he noticed the antiseptic smell of the clinic and the sound of the machines. He was awake. Really awake.
Relief rushed over him as he started to take tabs on his own body. His chest hurt, a lot. It felt like he was drowning but he knew it was only the ventilator forcing him to breathe that was causing this. He also knew that it was blunt force trauma that caused him to go into a coma in the first place, but there wasn't any pain in his head right now. Dick was not looking forward to the headaches after starting to move around, though. It was just as he was beginning to wonder when someone would discover him when Alfred walked in.
He didn't notice the man was awake until Dick lifted his arm to reach for the butler. He gasped. "Oh good Lord..." and rushed to the bedside. Dick was happy to see the man, but really wanted to breathe for himself. He brought his hand up and motioned toward the tube sticking out of his throat. "Yes, of course. Just give me a moment…" In a few minutes Dick was sitting up and coughing between sipping on some water. Alfred was quiet until Dick smiled at him and croaked out a weak "Hey, Alfie."
Alfred surely looked down for Dick just waking up from a coma. "Master Richard... You should know that I am elated at your awakening but..." he trailed off, looking away.
"But what?"
"Master Damian was caught in a bombing a couple of hours ago. He's been missing and the others are looking for him right now."
The bomb. Dick had completely forgotten about that. "But..." But Damian was far enough away from the bomb when it went off. It wasn't even all that big of a bomb, only large enough to take out that bridge support. "He was clear of the explosion."
"Excuse me?"
Dick held up his hand. "It's a long story. Do you have a communicator on you?"
Dumbfounded, Alfred handed his comm over to the man. Dick fiddled with the device until he was sure it was only sending to one person. "Hey O, you there?"
"Dick? You're awake?"
"Alive and kickin'! Well, alive anyway. But listen, Alfred told me about Damian."
"Oh, Dick. I'm sorr-"
"Wait. I know this is going to sound crazy, but Damian was not caught in that blast."
"Dick... How could you possibly know that?"
"Ok, let me explain. While I was knocked out my spirit or something was able to roam around. You guys couldn't see or hear me at all. It was kind of weird, really... But Damian COULD see me. Well, I followed him to the bomb site to keep an eye on him. It seemed like he disarmed the bomb so he left and then I went in to check it out. It was a remote activated bomb, though, and it went off. It didn't hurt me, actually I think it woke me up, but Damian was on the hanger across the field when the bomb went off. There was no way he would have been hit by that blast." Dick could only imagine the look on Barbara's face. Actually it probably looked close to Alfred's: mouth agape and stunned.
"Ok, I'll… tell the others. You get some sleep, some real sleep."
Dick hadn't noticed till now, but he was dog tired. "That sounds pretty good right now."
"Hey, Dick?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm glad you woke up."
"Me too, Babs." With that Dick handed the comm back to a smiling Alfred. Dick lay back, asleep as soon as his eyes were closed.
Damian sat, tracer disabled, in a filthy alley littered with old newspapers and garbage overflowing from a nearby dumpster. He had been sitting here for some time, hidden and sans mask, angrily dashing away tears whenever he felt any fall from his eyes.
A soft high-pitched sound jerked his attention from a crack in the pavement, and he whipped around to face it. Surprised, Damian blinked at the small walking pile of dark grey fuzz that was staring up at him with exceptionally blue eyes. The kitten mewled again, tottering towards the boy a little unsteadily. The current Robin stared at the feline as it climbed over his legs to enjoy the warmth of his lap before hesitantly moved a gloved hand to stroke the soft fuzz on top of its head.
A short time later and Damian was climbing through the window of his bedroom, clutching the grey kitten to his chest – and getting little hairs all over the red tunic – with one hand. The animal had fallen asleep in his hold, purring at first before falling silent as its sleep deepened. He found himself reluctant to put the kitten down, but finally coaxed the tiny claws from their hooked place in fabric and carefully put the fuzzy ball on top of his blankets so he could change out of his uniform.
On the way back to the manor, Damian had made sure to swing by the orphanage where Colin lived, and the boy-identity of Abuse was happy to find a couple small, chipped dishes, a small can of tuna, and a cardboard box that the two boys had filled with some shredded newspapers for the time being, to serve as a litter box. Neither was able to tell if the kitten was really old enough for the food, or trained for the box, but Robin decided to give them a try.
Now he took one of the dishes to the nearest sink - in a bathroom - to make sure that his new kitten had some water for the night. However, it seemed that the kitten was more interested in stealing Damian's pillow for a bed and had curled up quite contentedly. It didn't take long for the young vigilante to join the furball on the bed, where he idly stroked it a few times before gathering it close to his chest.
"What should I call you," he muttered to the kitten. Naturally, the kitten had nothing to say in response. After staring into the thing's blue eyes for a few minutes, Damian nodded. "That's it. You're name is Grayson."
That decided, the young Wayne was able to drift off to sleep with the kitten is his arms. If there was wetness on his cheeks still, it wasn't because he had shed tears...
The next morning, Damian was still sitting on his bed, dangling a string for his new kitten to bat at. He wasn't in any hurry to leave his room, though he knew that eventually, he would have to face the facts. His mistake had cost his family a member, and nothing was going to change that. Well, not without a near-apocalypse at least.
The boy sighed as he jerked the string out of Grayson's reach again. Despite the fact that the name he chose would always keep his failure fresh in his mind, Damian felt that it was suitable, considering the kitten's boundless energy. Playing with it also kept him from dwelling too much on the explosion that had cost the family a pillar of support.
Distantly, he could hear the sound of someone moving in the manor. At first, he wrote it off as Alfred, but two things quickly provided reasons why that was improbable: The pace and sound of the steps did not match the elderly butler's, and he hadn't heard anyone until a few moments ago. Alfred was usually the first in the family to rise so breakfast would be ready for the rest.
Eyes narrowed, Damian left the string on the bed for the kitten to pounce on and padded his way to the door. Slowly, he eased it open just wide enough for him to look out it. After a few moments, he caught a glimpse of purple that was quickly covered by fluid black - a cape - and he relaxed and pushed the door a little more open.
"What do you want, Fatgirl," he deadpanned at the blonde intruder.
Stephanie jumped and whirled around to face him. "Damian! There you are! Everyone's been worried about you ALL night!"
With his arms folded over his chest, the current Robin turned his head away. A few footfalls echoed in the empty house and the current Batgirl's face was near his own. Intent on telling her off, Damian turned towards the girl with a scowl, but before he could say anything, she continued.
"Get dressed again! I have to take you to the Clinic now!"
Bemused, he asked "Why the clinic..?"
"Just hurry up and get dressed!" When he had disappeared into his room again, but seemed to be taking too long for the girl, she urged "Come on!"
Damian rolled his eyes and pulled his costume back on so he could travel with Batgirl without any possible witnesses being curious. After sticking his mask back to his face, he rubbed the kitten's head and left the room once more, shutting the door behind him.
Within minutes, the two vigilantes were off, heading towards the clinic.
Dick looked around the room that was (thankfully) empty for the moment. He wasn't in a rush to explain to all his family about what had been going on while he was comatose, and he was sure that they would stop him from what he was going to do next... Slowly, he sat up, then carefully turned on the bed until he could slide his feet to the floor and push himself up, keeping a tight grip on the side of his bed. A grin spread across his face; he had managed to stand alone. So what if he was supposed to remain on bed rest for a few days... he HATED staying still, and they all knew it.
Okay, so he didn't trust his legs to hold him without leaning on something for support. But it was a start. Well, he hadn't really been out for that long, right? So it shouldn't necessarily take PT to get back to himself, just rest and solid foods. That's what Dick was hoping for, at least.
"...NOT like waffles?" At Stephanie's voice, Dick turned towards the door. There, now he heard two sets of footsteps heading his way, too.
"They are childish and unnecessary carbohydrates." She must have found Damian...Dick smiled to himself. There was no mistaking his little demon brother's voice. He could just see the smirk that must be crossing the boy's face now. "Maybe you should cut them out of your diet too, Fatgirl."
In the next moment, Stephanie had shoved Damian into Dick's room. As Robin's eyes landed on his older brother, the acrobat watched the smirk fade away as the boy's face paled.
"No... No! You can't be-!" Damian was backing up. Hurt flashed through Dick for a moment, before realization dawned. He must have looked back when the bomb went off!
"Dami, it's ok!" the older vigilante was careful to keep a grip on his bed with one hand but held the other out as he tried to soothe the boy. "I'm really here."
"You're here to haunt me for failing, aren't you..." the current Robin whispered. He was calmer now, but his body was obviously still tensed.
Dick shook his head. "No, Damian. I'm not dead." He gave a soft laugh. "Sorry I didn't exactly explain it earlier, but I was actually more of a ghost BEFORE the bomb went off. I was just too... glad that you could actually see and hear me to try telling you then."
Hesitantly, the young Wayne made his way over to him. Dick smiled at him, glad to see that he had relaxed somewhat, though his hands were in fists at his sides...
A moment later, he had fallen back on his bed. Maybe he should've seen that punch coming.
But it didn't matter now, because Damian was hugging him so tightly, Dick was surprised that he could still breathe. Carefully, he wrapped his arms around him to return the embrace and looked up at the doorway with an expectant smile. Stephanie grinned back and hurried over to hug both boys, making sure to squish an indignant Damian between them.
A/N: Wow… Finally finished all three of these… It was pretty daunting, but I wanted to get all three written so they'd all be posted at the same time. Yes, there are similar parts (or flat-out copy/pastes) in these ends, but I figured… If there's similarities, why waste my time to write it all out multiple times when I can alter what was already needed? But I have warned you guys before that I'm lazy. So, thank you, everyone, for reading through to the endings! And for those of you who decided to read all three endings, I offer even MORE thanks! You guys have been lovely, and have encouraged me to write again after several YEARS of writing no literature at all. Well, not like this anyway…
Goodbye for now, and if you decide to follow me into the next fanfiction adventure… I look forward to the journey with you!
Actual Word Count of Chapter: 2292
PS: All responses to reviews after this point will be done by private messages. ;) Thanks again for all your support, faves, watches, etc!