I do not own Young Justice or any Batman character mentioned. DC does.
Laughter rang through the halls of Arkham Asylum. From her cell, Poison Ivy rolled her eyes and continued to care for the small house plant she was allowed. Two Face did his best to ignore the clown passing his cell and continued flipping his coin. Similar reactions came from almost every inmate that was passed to the psychopath's own cell.
The one different, but completely expected, response to the Joker's entrance came from, who would have guessed it, Harley Quinn.
"Mr J! Mr. J! You're back!"
The enthusiastic blond was jumping up and down in excitement, her pigtails bouncing because of the motion. Her hand was quickly waving at the clown, a huge grin on her childish face.
This only caused the psycho to grin as well.
"Harley! It is good to be home!"
The guard escorting the Joker felt his right eye twitch slightly. This job was going to drive him insane one of these days...
That night, one could find all the Gotham rouges in the beaten up rec room of Arkham Asylum. As usual, Harley was sitting right next to the Joker, a huge smile on her face.
"What did you do while you were out, Puddin'?"
Poison Ivy, despite herself, was also a bit interested in what the clown had been up to, so she sat down next to her energetic friend as the Joker dove into his story.
"Well, I messed around a bit with Batsy's mind. It is just so easy since I killed his little birdy."
Two-Face, who had been glaring into space nearby, turned towards his fellow villain with interest.
"How did you manage that? When we tried to kill the brat, Bats managed to save him. We were so sure the kid was dead, too..."
The Joker rolled his eyes.
"Well, you did have the Bat watching you hitting his kid. He was right there, it was simple for him to break out and save his bird. I, on the other hand, only gave him a tensy little hint of where I was. By the time Bats found the location, his brat was dead and I was long gone."
The maniac cackled wickedly.
Ivy responded in a fierce glare.
"You managed to make Batman freakishly violent, clown. He's more angry than ever, as you should know."
This statement was intensified by the villainess pointing to the cast covering the Joker's left leg.
However, the Clown Prince of Crime did not look phased by this at all, instead smiling even larger.
"Oh, but Ivy, with anger comes mistakes. With Batsy so distracted with grief over his bird's death, he's bound to make some sort of error that could give us an advantage over him."
Harley grabbed the Joker's arm suddenly, as happy as ever.
"See, Ivy, Mr. J is really smart. Now we're sure to beat Batsy!"
Though he stiffened in annoyance when Harley had originally made contact with him, the clown quickly regained his composure and smiled at the girl clutching him.
"Plus, you'd be surprised how funny it is to see the sadness on his face turning suddenly to complete rage when you even slightly mention his little Robin. Right, Scarecrow?"
The man in question, still severely injured from when he had mentioned the lost partner to Batman, scowled at the Joker.
"Heh, maybe he didn't think it was funny. I found it hilarious, though. You should try it out."
Though Ivy had rolled her eyes again, she did file the idea under possibilities for when she got back out.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the city, the very man the rouges were talking about stared at a stone embedded in the cold ground. The gravestone read as the following;
RICHARD JOHN GRAYSON
1998-2012
BELOVED SON AND FRIEND
Staring at the words that he knew was there only made it worse for Bruce. However, he did not move. His dark blue eyes nearly bore holes into the stone.
It also did not help his composure that the graves of his parents lay right next to that of his son. Behind all three graves stood a tall, graceful statue of a beautiful angel reaching up to heaven.
Trying to hold his emotions in, the hero lay down a delicate white rose on Dick's grave. After standing for a moment, an idea hit Bruce, nearly forcing him to sit down.
"Hello, Dick." he nearly whispered, his usually deep voice cracking from the flood of emotions he was holding back. "You've been gone for quite awhile now. A whole month... Alfred and I have missed you. You used to brighten up the manor with your smiles and laughter... It is so much darker without you. The team misses you also. Your friend Wally has been fighting so much harder recently. I think he's trying to honor you. Oliver finally got Roy into some therapy. He's really broken up about you leaving..."
The Dark Knight, usually so calm and composed, took a deep breath, only to come out as a rattling sob.
"Dick, you will always be my son. You may not be with me anymore, but I will always love you. I.. I miss you more than I thought possible. I'm your father, I was supposed to protect you... I let that monster near you, and he took you away from me, from Wally, from Roy, from this whole damn world that is just so darker without you..."
More sobs could be heard from Bruce.
"I hope that you're happier up there. Could you give my greetings to your parents? Tell them that you were the best son I could ever hope for..."
Shaking, Bruce stood, and starting walking to where Alfred waited with the car.
Ten minutes later, a young red head stood exactly where Bruce had spoken to his lost son. Tears openly fell from her face.
Bending down near the grave of her best friend, Barbara Gordan wept for what seemed like the millionth time that month.
"Dick, I don't know if you can hear me, but I love you. I love you more than you could ever know. Not as a friend, either. I honestly love you, but now you're gone, and I just can't move on. Why did you have to leave? Why did you have to go away? I- I miss you! School is horrible without you! Everyone there keeps making up random rumors about how you died, and I just can't take it!"
Large tears fell onto the white rose already placed on the ground.
"Life is horrible without you. You could make any day brighter, Dick, with just one smile. I loved your smile. It just always held so much joy. I- I loved everything about you. Your laugh, your hair, your weird words that made no sense. They all just filled me up with joy. I feel so empty now. Why can't you come back?"
Barbara nearly choked on her tears.
"Why can't you come back?"
That night, Bruce Wayne mourned the lose of his son. Barbara Gordan weeped over a lost love.
The Gotham rouges could only imagine different ways to use this tragedy against the broken father, to twist his emotions to their desires, to hurt him even more.
However, that night, far above where the living roamed, a small, raven-haired boy smiled at those he cared about.
"I'll say hi to my parents for you, Bruce. And Babs... I love you too."
...
Yes, that was Dick talking at the end. HE SPEAKS IN SOMETHING THAT ISN'T A DREAM OR FLASHBACK!
Heh..
I referenced an event from the Robin: Year One graphic novel in this... And, for the first time writing this story, nearly cried while writing.
I'M SORRY FOR BEING SO MEAN TO YOU, BRUCE!
Please review! They give me inspiration to write!