-Stay Close.

You don't raise heroes, you raise sons. And if you treat them like sons, they'll turn out to be heroes, even if it's just in your own eyes. ~Walter M. Schirra, Sr.

Heavy-

The cape, the cowl, and the fitted armor felt so damn heavy.

But Dick was willing to pile that weight upon that which was already cast upon his shoulders. He could deny the facts no longer, Gotham needed a Batman, and somewhere deep with his heart he knew he needed Batman too.

Alfred stood to the side, equally proud and pained about seeing his eldest grandchild don the mantle of the bat. Dick had read the subtle, bodily message all day. The trusty butler had buried enough members of the Wayne family; the list did not need to be added to. Should Dick fail to meet that expectation, death would be the least of his problems in comparison to the wrath of the stately English man.

Registering a nearly silent pitter patter of feet Dick turned in a swirl of blackness toward the staircase. An iron fist seemed to seize his heart, clenching it in a merciless grip. Everything looked so different from behind the cowl, it was like there was a vision setting for sinister and it never turned off. The uniform he'd had commissioned for Damian suddenly seemed to paint a glaring target on his little bird's chest. Such a thought robbed him of his breath, a weakness he would have to overcome. Had Bruce been alive Dick would have shamelessly apologized for all the hell he must have put the man through.

Damian shifted from one foot to another and if Dick didn't know better he might have thought the kid wasn't ready to face what Gotham had spiraled into. But they didn't have a choice, not this far in. Opening his arms, cape cast backward he welcomed the solid embrace Damian hit him with, thin but muscular arms wrapped around his middle.

"Don't go, please don't go." The plea was so softly spoken it was only because of the cowl's mic system that Dick caught it.

"I have to, we have to." They were Batman and Robin; they had to answer that fading batsignal before it blinked out altogether and plunged the sinking city into utter darkness.

Before launching the child into the greedy maw of the unknown, Dick hugged him firmly to his chest.

"Stay close my baby bird, stay close."

Instead of the annoyed snarl Dick had expected, a reassuring promise dropped from between his Robin's lips instead.

"Always."

AN: So last night's double upload was a total fail, blame the internet trolls that broke my connection about two seconds after I uploaded chapter 15.

I hope you liked the brief conclusion to 'All My Brothers.' However a little Robin told me something about a sequel lurking about, perhaps by the title of 'All My Soldiers.' ;)

One last shout out to all of my truly amazing reviewers, love you guys, and stay tuned.