Fallout

When the sun started setting on the world, a green circle appeared on the Savannah with them. Riku smiled. The ship was done cooling down. "Ok guys, should be good to go!" He and Sora had spent the last hour alternating between sparring with each other and discussing the relative merits of palm wood versus driftwood in raft making. Neither Dick nor Jason had asked to join the fight, preferring to sit under a tree. Which was strange. Jason seemed like he would always be up for a spar and Dick had mentioned earlier that he wanted to go a round with one of them later.

Head shooting up, Dick nodded and stood gracefully. He reached back to grab Jason's hand, pulling him to his feet. Setting both hands on his shoulders, Dick looked Jason in the eye and smiled. When they started forward, Riku turned away, following Sora to the Point.

It happened fast. One moment, the Gothamites were following Riku and Sora to the Point. The next, there was a thud, and Dick's shocked cry filled the quiet evening. Both Keyblade Wielders rushed back to the other two, Jason laying face-first on the ground, Dick kneeling next to him.

"Don't touch him just yet. What happened?" Riku asked, grabbing Jason to flip him over.

Dick, clearly worried he might make Jason worse accidentally, hovered his hands over his brother, wanting to touch him but unable to. "I don't know! He just fell over and – " Dick froze midsentence as Riku finally pulled Jason onto his back.

The lines, which not even a minute ago had been almost invisible, were back, thicker than before. Most of Jason's skin was pitch black now, little bits of pale peeking out like stars. He was sweating, felt much too warm to be healthy and his eyes, visible since the sunglasses had fallen off, were yellow. Shocked, Riku took a step back. "Uh oh."

Dick was still in shock, so it was Sora who ended up asking, "Riku? What happened to him?"

"Xehanort's darkness. It's reasserting itself. Trying to take over again. But it shouldn't be able to do that. It shouldn't have been able to find a mental hold over him…" Riku shook his head. None of this made sense. When he had had his own battle against the darkness, as long as he kept his emotions in check, he could control it. As long as he had a clear, focused goal, he had been fine. And Jason seemed like the most in control guy he knew. Sure, there had been a lot for him to take in recently, but he had been handling it.

Something in Riku's previous statement seemed to jolt Dick. Grabbing his shoulder, he shook Riku, shouting worriedly, "What made you choose this world? Why the Savannah?"

Startled, he answered immediately, "Nothing really. It was closest. Why? Why is the Savannah important?" He had never seen Dick like this, and based on his friend's face, neither had Sora.

Dropping his hand, Dick stared down at his brother, "It looks really similar to Ethiopia, this place on Earth. Where Jason died."

Understanding crashed on Riku like a tidal wave. Oh, was all he could think. Now it made perfect sense. No way would Jason be mentally or emotionally stable when reminded of his own death. While Jason had been sleeping, Dick had told them a brief history of the guy, hoping that the more information they had, the better they, and Yen Sid, would be able to help. He just hadn't mentioned the location.

Coming to a snap decision, he grabbed one of Jason's arms, slinging it over his shoulder. Motioning to Sora to get the other one, they managed to haul him up and start dragging him towards the Point. Dick followed, and they were absorbed by the light.

As soon as they made it to the ship, Sora and Riku gently set Jason down. Riku immediately started issuing orders. "Chip, Dale, we need to get to Yen Sid's as fast as possible. Start us up. Sora, prepare your magic. We're going to need a Stop pretty soon. Dick, you need to hug him."

Sora looked up, startled. If Dick did that then…

Apparently, Dick was thinking the exact same thing. "I can't! It'll hurt him!"

Clearly too upset to be nice, Riku grabbed Dick by the shirt collar. "And if you don't you'll lose him!" They glared at each other for a moment before Dick nodded. Riku continued, "Sora can Stop him so he doesn't thrash too much, but we can't stop him from screaming. I know it'll be hard, but you need to keep holding on until I say so. I'll be watching the darkness. As soon as it's back down to safe levels, I'll let you know and you can let go." Leaning over Jason, still laying on the floor, Riku lifted his eyelids. "Jason's darkness, I know you're in there. You need to fight. Try and loosen the other's hold. It's the only chance for both of you."

They hoisted Jason into a sitting position, and Sora cast Stop. Dick's arms clamped around Jason's now-stiff torso and the light started building. Darkness started lifting off of his skin and screams poured out from his mouth. It was the worst thing Sora had ever heard. Long and drawn out, never seeming to stop for breath, and filled with so much pain. He wished he could cover his ears, but he had to hold the spell. As his magic drained, his eyes wandered back to Riku, who was staring intently at Jason. Suddenly, despite the Stop, Jason moved. His arms bent at the elbow and they grabbed at Dick's hands, trying to pull them off. Sora pushed more magic into it, recasting it as Stopra. Please, let this be over soon.

After an eternity, Riku finally shouted, "Let go!" It was barely audible over Jason, but Dick still heard and practically leapt off his brother. The screams died down, Sora released his spell, and Jason slumped to the ground.

He laid there, twitching as his body slowly realized no more pain was registering. Dick automatically bent down beside his brother, who was now letting out a soft agonized groan. He felt sick at what he had just done. He didn't think he could even look at Jason right now, let alone touch him. But he had to. Dick needed to make sure he was okay. Well, in relative terms at least.

"J-Jay." He said shakily, putting his hand on the other's shoulder as gently as possible. "Jay, are you awake?"

No response. Well, not unless one counted his unsteady breathing. Panic building, Dick tried again.

"Jason, bro, you gotta get up."

This time Jason, stirred. His left arm twitched slightly; not a convulsion, this was deliberate. Then ever so slowly, Dick saw his brother open his eyes before shutting them quickly and grimacing in pain. Frantically, Dick began looking around for his brother's sunglasses before Sora came up beside him and placed them in his hand.

"He dropped them when he fell." The boy said simply.

Nodding his thanks, Dick pressed the sunglasses onto Jason's face and waited, but Jason seemed to have blacked out again. Biting his lip, Dick reached out and ever so gently shook his brother.

"Come on Jay. This is important. Wake up. Please."

That seemed to do the trick. Letting out a shuddering breath, Jason's mind finally cleared itself and he opened his eyes and took in the scene around him. He was in pain first and foremost. Every inch of his body was screaming in protest even from the minute movements of his head. He could taste bile and possibly blood in his mouth, and he felt yet again light headed. Why did these things keep happening to him? At least he wasn't dead... Again.

Jason had half a mind to punch Dick hard in the stomach for what he had just experienced. But he was having trouble breathing at the moment, so maybe it wasn't a good idea. And as he looked up and saw his brother's worried face, he finalized his decision against it. Dick was looking hysterical.

All Jason wanted to do was curl up in a little ball until the pain receded and fall sleep, but he ignored his body's protests and pushed himself slowly forward into a sitting potion, working very hard to avoid conveying how much pain he was in. Upsetting Dick further at this point would really be counterproductive. But it was impossible to hide the violent tremors that ran down his entire body.

"Calm down Dick. I'm here," he said, slurring his words just a bit.

The room then fell into a deep silence as Jason looked at Dick, working to make his expression as reassuring and calm as possible. Riku was standing further back, leaning seemingly unperturbed against the control panel, and only Sora could tell that he was tense. The other Keyblade Wielder stood a few paces behind Dick, concern written all over his face.

The silence pressed on for another few seconds before Dick finally found his voice again. "Jason, I-I'm so sorry." He choked.

Holding up his hand, Jason slowly shook his head. "Don't be an idiot. You shattered that thing's control... I was there Dick. I could see what was happening when it took over. It was like I was trapped in my own body. Sure your hug of death hurt like a bitch, but it's a whole lot better than letting something evil take total control of you. It was all I could do to keep it from attacking you guys." Jason paused then and looked into his brother's eyes. "It was out for blood Dick."

"We're on a direct course to Yen Sid." Riku said quickly. "It shouldn't be more than a couple of hours Jason."

"Good. Because in all honesty I feel like I just got run over by a train. I would love for this to all be over."

Dick suddenly stood up and put a hand over his face. "Oh god Jay. That was awful. I just..." He let his hand drop to his side and stared down at his brother. "Jason." He said slowly. "That... that's not going to happen again is it? I mean, Xehanort's darkness isn't gonna be able to take over again right?"

Everyone in the room stiffened, but no one as much as Jason. Because the prospect of going through what he just had again was terrifying.

Riku walked over to the two, looking thoughtful. "It...shouldn't." He said at last. "I know you're not feeling at the top of your game right now Jason, but if you can manage to keep focused, and in control of your emotions, his darkness logically shouldn't have another chance to take over. Not with your darkness fighting it."

Simply nodding, Jason seemed to consider this for a while before looking up at Dick with an unhappy expression. "I really don't want to say this. I mean really don't... But, um, mind helping me to my room? I'm a bit sore, and I wanna sleep it off."

Bending down immediately, Dick threw one of Jason's arms around his shoulder before hauling his brother to his feet. Jason took in a sharp breath, but aside from that made no protests.

"Well, at least you are learning to ask for help when you need it," he said, smiling slightly.

"Screw you! It was your hug that got me here in the first place." He didn't even regret it. And if he was feeling uncharitable, he also felt like he was on fire. So there.

Dick flinched slightly at that before looking over at Riku. "So, no long term effects right?"

The boy nodded. "Shouldn't be. Nothing dangerous anyway. But he'll be feeling that for a while."

"Oh goodie." Jason groaned.

With that the two started for Jason's bedroom in the back. Sympathy and guilt flickered in Dick's conscience as he felt his brother trembling against him. Progress was slow, as Jason was obviously extremely sore, not to mention exhausted. Eventually however, they made it to the small room in the back and Dick set his brother on his bed gently. It was strange treating him with such carefulness and caution. Usually the guy wouldn't let anyone touch him, let alone help him walk. It was so unlike the Jason he knew. Suddenly Dick felt a passionate rage rear up inside him against this dark monster. It was responsible for all the terrible things that had been happening to his brother. In a moment of blind and abrupt anger, he vowed then and there that he would see to it that the darkness was dead and gone as soon as humanly possible. He would have the old Jason back with all his anger and stubborn pride and thoughtfulness in no time. That was a promise he made to himself, and to Jason.

Looking over at his brother, Dick wasn't surprised to see that Jason was already sound asleep. He had always been good at sleeping after all. Dick walked over and spread some blankets over his younger brother, relived that while Jay was asleep, he wouldn't feel any of the effects from their little stunt.

Satisfied that Jason was as comfortable as he was going to get, and not wanted to wake him up, Dick crept out of the room silently, as only a Bat could, flicking off the lights on his way out. As he closed the door and turned around to meet with Sora and Riku, he desperately hoped that Jason would stay sleeping peacefully like he was until they reached their destination. He didn't think he could handle hurting his brother like that ever again.

Moving almost automatically towards the kitchen, he started grabbing things out of the cupboard, not even stopping to see what they were. It wasn't until he had a pot going that he noticed the cocoa powder, sugar and other things needed to make hot chocolate. Alfred's hot chocolate. The only thing besides omelettes, soup and cereal he could make half decently. He smiled, measuring the ingredients into the water. If there was ever a time he needed some of Alfred's cooking, this was it.

Of course, Alfred had often added "a little extra" to Bruce's hot chocolate to make sure he got enough sleep. Sometimes Tim's too. Only on the days when he knew they could both afford to get the extra few hours but were too stubborn to close the case files. Thinking back to the haunted expressions on the two teens' faces, they could probably use a bit extra as well.

He carefully poured the drink into five mugs (two significantly smaller than the others) and walked back to the cockpit. As he had guessed, Sora still looked a bit shell-shocked, still horrified at what they had had to do. Riku looked the same as ever, but Dick had spent most of his childhood with a man who showed less emotion than a brick wall. The slight tensing of his posture, the tightening of the skin around his eyes and mouth, the way he wasn't looking at anything in particular, yeah, Riku wasn't doing so great either. The chipmunks were sitting on the control panel, Dale visibly crying and Chip trying to comfort him. Silently, Dick distributed the hot chocolate, scientifically proven to make any situation seem less stupidly horrible, and then sat down on the floor, cradling his own cup.

It was a few long minutes before anyone spoke. Tentatively, Sora ventured, "Is he…?"

"Yeah," Dick replied. "He should be fine now. Just sleeping." Sora nodded and the cabin descended into silence again.

Jason bolted awake. His chest, still aching from earlier, heaved. A nightmare, one of his usual ones, plaguing him since he had been resurrected. Crowbars and fire and laughter. They had receded around the time when he had reconciled with Bruce. It was probably Baldie's darkness, trying to destabilize him again. Holding a hand to his chest, he felt his own darkness, waging war. Grabbing his blanket off of his bed, he moved for the door. With a tiny smile, he noted that most of the pain from earlier was gone. Just a few aches and pains here and there.

The ship was dark and quiet. The only lights came from small bulbs lining the floor, and from the control room ahead. Pausing in the doorway, Jason had to smile. It looked like the occupants had had a bit of a powwow while he had been out.

Riku and Sora sat slumped against the wall, shoulder to shoulder and very asleep. There was a squirrel on each of their shoulders, no more awake than the other two. Dick was adjacent, but had slid down so that he was on his side, back pressed to the wall, arm under his head. Mugs littered the floor. Grabbing the one closest to Dick, he gave it a quick sniff. Hot chocolate and… Was that some of Alfred's special sedative? The stuff he used on Batman? Huh. Some of the older stuff – Alfred had long since tweaked the formula so it didn't have a smell – but no less effective for it. If Dick had felt the need to drug them…

Retreating back to the rooms, Jason grabbed the blankets from Sora, Riku and Dick's beds, as well as both of his own pillows. Returning to the cockpit, he tossed Sora and Riku's blankets over their respective forms, then turned to consider Dick. Grabbing Dick's ankles, he pulled him away from the wall, shoving a pillow under his head and tossing the blanket over him. Dick, always a heavy sleeper, simply murmured sleepily and turned over. Jason tossed another pillow unceremoniously next to Dick's, then stretched out on the floor, blanket wrapped around him. With his brother a warm presence at his back, he fell into dreamless sleep.

AN: D'awww. I have to say. I love this chapter. Not because of the horrible horribleness in the beginning, although that was pretty good, but because of the stuff near the end. Hey, is it canon anywhere that Alfred drugs the Bats to force them into proper rest? Because if it is, I want to read that. It sounds hilarious. I've seen it in a few fics.

Arrow has once again declined to comment. So sad. You'll just have to deal with me again. So, as a wonderful and unimaginative sign off, please, read and enjoy!