OCTOBER 4th, 2010
10:28AM

The hallucinations were getting worse. Artemis was fully clad in her green "Artemis-archer-gear". This could be a random teacher or student. It could be Artemis herself. But it wouldn't be Artemis in her gear- at school. And why was she stained in- was that Blood?!

A nasty cut gaping from her leg. No body can survive a-

Ignore it. Ignore it. It's not real. Bathroom. GET TO A BATHROOM.

"Dick? Are you okay?" Artemis asked. She wasn't sure what was going on, but she knew something was bad.

"F-f-fine." He tried to get around her. It wasn't in Artemis' nature to let something go so easily. She pulled the young boy to the side

"Richard Grayson. What the hell is going on?" She hissed as quietly as he could. That got his attention. "What the hell is going on?"

"Bloo-Bathroom. Get me- bathroom. Gonn-to be sick." He pleaded, still trying in vain to sound, cool, confident while his voice came out in weird fragmented sentences.

Once the two made it to the washroom without being seen, he whipped out his phone and handed it Artemis.

"Can you call my friend Wally."

"Wait a sec...Wally? Wally West?" Artemis and Dick were very different. Grew up in very different lifestyles and were different kinds of people. Dick Grayson was a rich-smart and cocky guy while Artemis came from the hard knocks. So how did he know Wally? Unless...

"Bruce and Alfred out. Wally's the only one...get me home. He... helps me out sometimes."

"How?" Artemis leaned in nice and close, so only he could hear. "As Kid Flash?"

"How do you-"

"Is he your bodyguard or something?"

Dick pouted. "Yes." He groaned. Thank god for Artemis' ability to jump into situations. Now I'm going to be "Dick Grayson, the boy who can't defend himself" and "Robin, the Boy Wonder". "Actually, Wally's a-" his head started to pound and ache. The blood was starting to pool on the floor around Artemis. Why was it ALWAYS him?

"Dick?"

"I'm fine. I actually need Wally- to whip up a formula. To make me feel better."

"Tell me how to do it." Artemis argued, pathetically. She wasn't a chemist.

Dick knew this fact too. "Wally is a chemist genius...He gets nineties on every projects he's every handed in ...And he can run me wherever I need to go. Fast."

"Okay." Artemis saw the pain in Dick's eyes and she carefully stepped into the hallway, avoiding detection.

She scanned through his contact list, starting with Alfred, herself. F's. T's. W's.

Wally.

Ring.

Ring.

Ring.

"Dickie, you caught me at a bad time man-I'm in class." Wally replied, smooth as ever.

"Wally, it's me."

"Artemis? What the hell?" Wally's voice came out in a furtive whisper.

"Richard Grayson-Dick's in trouble."

"What?"

"I need you here. Richard Grayson is sick or something. NOW!" Artemis said through clenched teeth. As annoying as Wally was, Richard trusted him. And she liked the kid, as strange as he was sometimes. Genius, but he was scary smart. And always saying things like she would know what he was talking about.

He needed Wally. And- maybe- she needed him too. Somebody familiar, as she wasn't very good in helping out sick people.

While she was on the phone, she didn't notice the boy who went into the washroom behind her to check on Dick.

"I'm coming. As FAST as I can."

"Okay. I'm in the bathroom on the first floor." Wally lived in Central City, a twenty minute drive from the manor. But thankfully, he had the gift of super-speed. He would grab Dick and get him to safety. Soon.

Meanwhile, Dick looked at the walls of the washroom in horror as they started to turn red and white, shimmering like a mirage. "No-no-no-no-no-"

"Dick?"

"Wally?" He called, his eyes squeezed shut.

"No. It's Paul. Mr. Daniels sent me. You okay, man?"

"Paul. Go back to class. I need to be alone."

"Man, I can't go out on a friend."

"Please. Please go." Dick felt his voice strain in fear.

"Okay. I'll be in class. But I want you to be honest. Don't come back until you feel better."

"I'm going home. Soon." Dick whispered.

Dick opened his eyes again.

"Ladies and gentleman." A loud voice boomed.

"Paul I need to be alone." He moaned distractedly, not even registering that Paul had left and Artemis was now crouched behind him.

"Just me." Artemis reported. But that isn't what Dick Grayson heard. Instead he heard something that made him half-scream in the pain of the particular memory. The fear of loss. The fear of a young boy;

"The Flying Grayson's."

"Dick? DICK! Richard Grayson! What's wrong?" Artemis hissed under her breath, unaware of what he was hearing or seeing. His parents, alive in fear-falling before his eyes.
The safety ropes snapping like twigs in a hot fire.
The Joker looming over him, knife in hand, asking if he wants to see anyone when he dies.
His mother singing a song good night to him only for the last line to remain ominously missing. All of these memories like a soup in his mind.

"NO!" Dick screamed. The events in time was coming faster now.

"A family of acrobatics, all performing without the safety of a net."

Tony Zucco's face leered in on him.

"GIVE ME THE MONEY!" Zucco screamed.

"I don't have any! Please!" Dick yelled. "Don't kill them!"

"Dick!" Artemis put herself and the boy into the semi-prone position that she had learned from Black Canary's life-saving class. Tears were streaming down his face. He was trapped inside his own mind, with Tony Zucco's face and his parents cold, lifeless, faceless bodies.

"Dude?"

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" the boy screamed.

"Wally." Artemis sighed, body curled to secure and protect the younger boy while he yelled and thrashed out in pain and agony. "He won't respond to anything I'm doing."

"Mom! DAD! PLEASE!"

"Dude! Snap out of it. It's the fear gas- wait what am I saying?"

"Fear Gas?" Artemis said. "Who said anything about Fear Gas?! That stuff is toxic."

"This is Fear Gas. Wasn't there a epidemic last night?"

"Yeah, around three in the morning. I saw it on the news. Are you saying Dick had something to do with it?"

Wally face palmed.

"I need to get him out of here." Wally said, hoping to change the subject.

Dick was beyond noticing his surroundings. He was full out screaming in terror. He had to walk through the hall, otherwise kids would notice a very, very, very fast ginger and put something's together. And Dick was giving away the sneaky approach. Soon, somebody would come in the washroom and Dick would yell out things.

And the last thing Dick wanted was a psychologist, delving into his past, possibly figuring out all of him.

So, Wally and Artemis coming to the same conclusion, both panicked.

Wally grabbed a white curtain sheet from the bathroom window, threw it over him. Artemis starred at him, realized what he was doing and tucked it around him and into his pants so it was secure. Artemis then picked up Dick and gently put him in Wally's arms bridal style and the two boys ran out the door, out of the school and as fast as he could.

After all, there's a Bloody Mary myth at every school. As Wally passed a few students, he hoped that the myth would prevail. Or they would believe it was a prank. Dick would have to cover for the aftermath.

Artemis stepped into the girls bathroom across the hall, stood there for a couple seconds and ran into the hall screaming "NO! GHOSTS!" , praying Gotham Academy wouldn't have any serious ramifications.

All the way, Dick was screaming. Problem was some of it was no longer in English.

"Mutti! Tati! Nu! Nu meurt! Mutti! TATI!"

"Dick…Wally... Okay?...It's okay...I'm going to help you."

"BRUCE!"

Wally booked it to the Wayne Manor, ran UP a tree, jumped over the fence and made his way towards the mansion on the hill.

Dick let out one more scream of terror and started convulsing.

"ALFRED!" Wally yelled at the front door, speeding up his molecules to hold on to his friend. "HELP! QUICK!"

Thirty seconds later, he saw the kindly old butler at the door.

"Master Dick! And a phantom?"

"It's me, Wally! I had to pull Dick out of school. He needs the fear toxin antidote. NOW!"

"It's down stairs, sir."

Wally took off running, poor Dick still seizing in his arms. Four seconds later, he was behind the great grandfather clock and running down the stairs.

"Uuuuuuuuugh-humh!" Dick seized.

"It's okay buddy. I've got you!"

"Wally West? What are you doing in my house?" Bruce's voice asked from below in a fainter voice.

"Bruce. Thank god. Dick'sbeengassed. Heneedstheanti-dote. Doyouhaveanyleftover?"

"WHAT?" In an instant, Bruce was up and the active father and seemed to strength a hundredfold. He took a syringe and ran to the cupboard getting fear toxin antidote. "Hold him still."

Wally put Dick down on the bed in the med-bay section and held down his arms, pushing up his right sleeve to get the spot where the needle would enter his arm. "It'sokayDick,it'sokay!"

"Wally." Bruce in one word calmed the speedster who was talking in speed-gibberish. He then injected Dick in his upper arm.

The two watched the younger boy for a moment as his motions started to slow down. "How long was he like this?"

"Artemis called me about ten minutes ago and she sounded pretty panicked about him."

"Dammit Dick. He shouldn't have hidden this from me."

"That's the way he is. Just like you."

Bruce sighed. That was true. Richard Grayson was tough, brave and cunning-the son he had never had, but had the privilege to help raise. But he used his skills to hide his suffering from him. And he suffered. He never wanted this for Dick. He was thirteen years old, still a kid in many ways.

"Thank you West." He said, stoically, quietly, keeping his eyes on his "son" the entire time.

"Did you just say thank you?" Wally asked in disbelief.

"Don't be so surprised." Bruce said darkly.

Wally smiled. This was worth missing history, the call his principal was going to give his parents and the grounding he was bound to get. Then his eyes flew open.

"Bruce? Batman? Mr. Wayne? How much influence do you have over schools?" Wally asked, looking at the superhero.

Bruce just looked at the boy.