Crappy but true excuse for shortness of chapter: Went to the dentist and feel like crap. Take it or leave it.
Do yourself a favor and listen to really sad music, will you? It'll help. Enjoy!
He awoke to the feelings of flames licking at his lungs. His chest was screaming at him and he still could not get enough air, but there was no fire. The glow of the fire from above was gone and he could hear things moving around.
Joker was probably coming to dig out his body so he could collect the bounty; or maybe it was whoever had shot the missile. It was probably Penguin. He had more goons and Dick would hear the cackling from the Joker. Instead there was only a lot of shuffling.
"Robin?"
Dick's eyes widened and he attempted a gasp, only to start coughing up blood. Was he hearing voices now? He was dying; of course he was going crazy at the end.
"Robin?" The voice called again, a little more desperate. It was a female, perhaps Babs?
"Babs?" He asked, unsure and willing to take the risk of talking to himself. If he was almost dead, why not?
"Robin!" She cried, the quiver of someone talking through tears was evident, even in mind speak.
No. This was not Babs, it was M'gann! His heart clenched, (or was that his lungs?) and he thought back to his hallucination of Batman earlier. Was it real?
"Robin, are you still with me?"
"M'gann?"
"Yes! Yes, it's me! Oh, you're alive!" She paused for a moment before speaking again. "Are you alright? How badly are you wounded?"
"Batman?" He was hesitant to ask, but he needed to know.
She was hesitant as well, it seemed. "He's here, Robin. You sound weak. Please, tell me how injured you are."
"Sorry." Dick replied. It was the only thing he could really think at the moment. Everything else was pain, pain, and it hurts. He wasn't sure if M'gann could hear his pain, but he would bet money she could.
"Robin? Robin are you still with me?"
"Yeah." Even his thoughts were weak.
"We're going to get you out of there, okay buddy?" Wally's voice surprised him and he felt his lower lip quivering. It had been so long since he'd heard either of their voices.
"Is there anything on top of you? Can you see any light?" That was Roy. Roy was here too? Was it this Roy or was it Arsenal?
He must have taken too long to answer because he was called to again by M'gann.
"No."
"No, what?"
"No light."
"His thought process is slow. He's three questions behind; there's definitely severe blood loss." Did Roy know he could hear him?
"I don't know if he knows this, but I can feel he's in pain." M'gann responded to Roy before addressing her thoughts back to him. "Robin, are you sure you can't see anything? Which end of the alley were you on?"
"Batman?" Robin asked. Had he already asked that question?
"He's here. Do you want to talk to him?"
"Real?"
"Rob, we're real. We're here, okay?" Wally's voice was soothing. Sounded nice, unlike his own breath, struggling against a failing lung and the blood. "Just hold on. We're going to get you out of here and back home."
"Need Batman."
There was a moment of silence. Had Dick passed out again? He couldn't remember. It hurt and he couldn't remember anything. His head hurt and he couldn't breathe.
"Robin?"
He couldn't breathe. It was Batman. Batman was in his head and he didn't know what to say.
"Robin, I'm here."
He didn't sound angry. Was Bruce angry with him? Why would he be mad? He couldn't remember.
"Bat…man?"
"I'm here. Stay with us, alright? You just stay awake as long as you can."
"Sorry." Why was he sorry again? Oh that's right. He killed someone. That's why Batman was mad. Dick needed to apologize so Batman would forgive him. If he was a bad boy Bruce would kick him out of the manor. He needed to be a good boy. He needed to say he was sorry.
"Don't apologize; you just stay alive and awake."
There was a loud noise close to him. It hurt his ears and he couldn't breathe. Where was he? Why was it so dark? Oh, now there's light; blue light and red light and green too. There was darkness. It was reaching towards him and he couldn't move. He wanted to run away. The dark was scary and he wanted to be in the light. Why wouldn't the dark let go?
"Robin, stay with us!"
There was a real voice. It wasn't in his head and it was loud, so very loud. He wanted it to stop. He was being lifted up by the dark and he couldn't breathe anymore; his body refused to even try. He was being lifted into the sky.
It was nice.
The sky was comfortable and warm, he reached out to touch the clouds and found the clouds to be made of something hard. They smelled like Kevlar and they suddenly turned into storm clouds.
Why was the black following him into the sky? He didn't want the black; but it was closing in all around him. Dick was afraid, but the black was gentle, blanketing him in a safety net and taking care of him.
Skylark, I'm not sure if you got my PM I sent you. You didn't reply so I figured if you didn't know, you do now. Thanks again for your amazing review and I'm truly looking forward to your oneshot. You have full permission.
If anyone else is inspired by this and wants to write their own sequel, one-shot, or whatever, I strongly encourage it! You all have permission.
Oh, and sunnydaysz56, what does Bitte mean?