It was a long story, and Dick told it to Wally.

He rambled about everything he could think of: Long nights at the manor; School and classmates; Confronting criminals as Robin; Revisiting his old life at the circus; Learning about Kid Flash.

Culture shock. Loneliness.

And finally, the death of his last remaining relative...

It was dark by now. Dick sat on the ground with red eyes. Wally sat in front of him and listened to everything.

"I had so many chances to see my uncle. But I didn't go because I didn't want to see him. I thought it'd be too uncomfortable... Now I really really want to see him. But I have no chances left. I wasted all that time and I can never make it up to him now..." He was crying. "I'm sorry Uncle Rick..."

"Dick..." Wally breathed.

"I lost my family again, Wally," Dick groaned. "The worst day of my life was when I lost my family and it happened again... It's real now. They're all gone."

He stood up and paced. "I feel like I'm paralyzed just like Uncle Rick was. I wake up, day after day, and it's always the same. What have I done these last three years? I'm not moving to new places. I'm not doing new things. And I'm not getting better! I'm just... stuck here. The first day something different happens, and it's a rerun of the worst day of my life...!"

"You should talk to Mr. Wayne about this," Wally said. "Or Speedy."

"Bruce and Speedy both lost their parents," Dick stopped walking and looked at Wally. "I'm talking to you because you're one of the only people I know who never had anyone die on him."

"Doesn't that make me the last person you should be talking to?" Wally asked. "It'd be better if you talk to someone who understands what you're going through."

"I don't want someone who 'understands'!" he yelled. "I want someone who's still naïve enough to tell me I'll get over it and that everything will be all right again!"

Wally stared at him, but he couldn't say anything.

Dick turned away and walked to the edge of the roof again. He stared at the ground below. "But it won't, will it? I'll never see my family again for the rest of my life... I'll never go back to the way things were... I'll never get a chance to apologize to Uncle Rick... For the rest of my life..."

Wally watched Dick's back as Dick watched the ground. He had been doing that several times throughout the evening. It was Dick's idea to come up to the roof in the first place.

Wally suddenly realized something horrible.

With a look of panic on his face, Wally stood up and took a step to the other boy. "Dick?" he said worriedly. "What are you-"

Dick spun back towards Wally. "I don't want to die," he said quickly. "I really don't want to die. I swear I don't. I don't. It's not like that. It's just..." He glanced away. "Sometimes, when it's really bad... I start to think..." Dick looked Wally in the eyes and shrugged helplessly. "What else is there...?"

Wally couldn't say anything.

"I want to go home, Wally," Dick said with a cracking voice. "But I can't. My home's not in the circus anymore. It's not anywhere... I'm just like my uncle. Just waiting for the end... But I..."

He shuddered. He sniffed back his tears. And then Dick Grayson finally stopped stalling and did the thing he meant to do all along. It made him feel more vulnerable than ever, and he didn't like that, but he laid his heart bare. He told Wally the true, ultimate reason he came to see him.

"Wally... I need help..."

They stared at each other. Wally had never been in a situation remotely like this before. He watched this crying child in front of him, and he wished he knew what to say. Eventually, he stopped caring if they were the right words or not and simply started talking.

"I'm a... I have..." He got nervous, took a breath, and started over. "There are people with handicaps, you know."

"Yeah, I know," Dick said. "My uncle was paralyzed."

"What I mean is... I've been thinking about this a lot, actually..." He struggled to make the words come out the way they sounded in his head. "Superheroes are super compared to regular people, because they have special powers. And I thought, in that case, regular people are super compared to the handicapped ones, because they can do things that are harder for the others. Maybe a 'superpower' is just being able to do something that someone else can't. And if that's true... Well, lately I've been thinking, handicapped people have powers too. Because you know what...? Being alive is a superpower."

Dick watched him in curiosity.

Wally looked him the eyes and said, "When you're alive, you can do all sorts of things that the people who are gone can't. Even if it feels like nothing. Even if it's just... being stuck somewhere and waiting for something good to happen. That's better than nothing, isn't it?"

"But... What if there really is an afterlife?" Dick asked. "What if they're there, waiting for me?"

"Let them wait," Wally shot back. "They'll still be there when you're ninety-something and on your deathbed. There are people here waiting for you."

He didn't argue.

"You have lots of time, Dick. That's what life is, you know," he added eagerly. "People talk about the 'Meaning of Life' like it's some great cosmic mystery. It's no mystery! Life is just time. Every day is a little more time to do something you didn't do before. Or to think of something you never thought of before. Or to just wait for a chance to make things better. You have more things to wait for than just the end. Maybe one day - who knows - maybe there'll be a miracle and you really will get over it and make everything all right again. Don't throw all that time away."

"Things never got better for my uncle," Dick said bitterly. "He finally got a chance to make things better and it killed him."

Wally hesitated. Then he nodded. "Yeah, that sucked. But do you really think it would have been better if he had no time at all?"

That was the question Dick was always afraid of asking.

"Your uncle could still think and talk, right? He could remember the rest of your family... keep their memory alive in the world." Wally shook his head. "I don't think those three years were for nothing. Maybe for a little, but not nothing."

Dick took a deep breath. "You're right... I know you're right, in my head. I know I should keep going... It's just hard sometimes."

Dick turned away, but he didn't look at the ground. He looked at the lights of the cityscape. Wally walked up beside him and followed his gaze.

"All my life I wanted to be a hero like the Flash," Wally said. "I wanted to save people. So if it ever gets too hard for you... If you ever feel like you need a reason to keep going... Tell yourself that somewhere out there is some dumb wannabe-hero who really wants you to live..." He glanced over at him. "...And I'll save you as many times as it takes."

Dick looked up at Wally, and then hugged him.

Kid Flash once raced by and stopped a bullet meant for Robin. And that was nothing compared to those simple words Wally gave Dick now.

"I'll remember," Dick whispered. "I'll remember... everything."

Dick came here for help. He leaped, and a net appeared.

Eventually they pulled away. Dick mumbled, "I should probably go back to Gotham City now, before Bruce worries any more."

"Can you get there on your own?" Wally asked.

"Yeah, I'll just hack the Zeta Beam again." He got out his phone and reassembled it one last time. "But before I go... Now that we're friends who actually know who the other is... Can I have your phone number?"

He took out his own cell phone. "Of course."

They exchanged numbers. Email addresses too. They promised to keep in touch as long-distance friends.

Dick felt like Wally was the first real friend he had made since leaving the circus, and possibly before then too.

"Thank you..."

As the two boys climbed down the fire escape, Wally, who never went too long without lightening the mood, said, "Hey Dick? Don't think this changes anything. I'm still gonna get back at you someday for laughing at me so much."

He smiled. "I'll give Alfred your very best regards."

.

In Gotham City, a light appeared inside an abandoned phone booth. A few moments later Dick stepped outside. He noticed that the blazer of his uniform wasn't where he left it. Taken by a homeless person, possibly. It was late, and had gotten cold. He shivered a little bit inside his thin button shirt, and walked out of the alley.

To his surprise, a familiar limousine was pulled up to the curb. Bruce and Alfred were waiting for him, the former holding his blazer.

Dick walked up to him, and he handed him the blazer. "You knew where I was...?"

Bruce looked down at him with a gentle expression. "I'm a detective and your guardian. I have no excuse for not knowing exactly where you are."

It was safe to assume he realized Dick was talking to Wally, telling him their secrets. As he put on the jacket, Dick asked, "Then how come you didn't try to stop me?"

Just as gently, Bruce answered, "Because I knew you were in exactly the place you needed to be today."

Dick stared at him. Emotionally exhausted as he was, he almost felt like crying again. He hugged Bruce instead. "I'm sorry..."

"It's fine." Bruce rubbed the boy's head. Alfred walked over and hugged them gently as well.

With a tiny bit of resignation, Dick said, "Let's go home," and he meant Wayne Manor.

.

Author's Notes: (Posted 4/9/2017) All that's left is the epilogue.