Stitches

His eyes widened, his breathing quickened. "Jason!" He dived at the pile of debris, pulling bricks away from where his brother lay. "Jason no! I am not losing you again! Jason!" As he worked, the three Keyblade Wielders starting digging as well. Not with the same wild panic that Dick was, but it was pretty close. Dick just hoped, with everything he had, that this time, they wouldn't be too late to save the wayward Robin.

Dick felt sick as he heaved heavy slabs of stone off of where his brother must be buried. How had this happened!? Jason seemed to be fine just a few minutes ago! Hood's fighting style had always been a bit reckless, but managing to topple an entire building on himself? Really?

As the four dug deeper and deeper into the pile, the form of an unconscious Jason began to appear. He was covered in dust and – Dick took in a sharp breath – blood. He had sustained some serious injuries, and Dick wondered if they had been from the fight, or the few hundred pounds of debris piled on top of him. Then he spotted a hint of white under his bloody leg, and even a makeshift sling on his brother's arm like the one he himself had been wearing just a few minutes earlier. So at least some of these injuries occurred during the fight. But his helmet had a long ominous crack running straight down the middle effectively splitting the high tech device in two. If Hood had been hit with enough weight to crack that piece of armour, it meant the helmet had undoubtedly saved him from certain death. Or had it?

"Jason!" Dick quietly half sobbed as he knelt down beside his deathly still brother. He lifted a shaky hand to Red Hood's neck, slipping his finger under his armour to find a pulse. It took him a while before he was rewarded with a weak heart beat, alarmingly weak, but he was alive. Biting his lip to keep from crying, Dick tore his gaze away from his little brother to look back at the Keyblade Wielders, who were now standing a few paces back, staring at the two with a mixture of shock and fear. "He's alive." Dick said, his shaky voice betraying a title wave of emotions. "But he's weak. I don't want to move him, not sure if he has any internal damage. Can you guys heal him from here!?"

Immediately the three began trudging over the debris to kneel next to Dick and Jason. Dick shot a nervous glance their way. It was obvious merely by their body language that they were utterly exhausted. He didn't know how much a high level healing spell like the kind they had all used cost them, but from their condition, he would venture a guess at a lot. They practically fell next to him, their heads drooping with tiredness, and Dick felt yet another pang of guilt as he watched them. He hated asking his new friends to do this. But he had to. Another glance at Jason told him they really did need to act now.

"I need to warn you 'Wing," Riku sighed tiredly. "I don't think we have enough magic to properly heal him, even between the three of us."

Dick had dreaded he would say something like that, but he merely nodded. "Just... do the best you can. Please. I'll take it from there."

As one, Sora Kairi, and Riku summoned their Keyblades in a wave of light and raised them above their heads. "Cure!"

Instantly, a bright light and that feeling of warmth that Dick had come to love so much enveloped the group. He immediately backed up, making sure none of the healing magic was being directed towards him. He stood a few feet away from Jason and the Keyblade Wielders as they worked, watching with an increased feeling of anticipation as lights danced around his brother's still form. It didn't look like much was happening, and Dick wondered if the spell was even working. But very slowly, Dick actually heard rather then saw Jason's breathing even out, the harsh ragged gasps turning deeper and more rhythmic.

Suddenly the light faded. Kairi bent forward so that her head was pressing against a cold slab of stone, Sora dropped his Keyblade which shimmered, vanishing into thin air, and Riku dropped his head, taking in slow deep breaths.

"Guys!" Dick shouted, alarmed. "Are you-?"

"Fine." Riku gasped. "Just... need to catch our breaths. Check on Ja-Red Hood."

Though he didn't like to leave his friends in that kind of state, he hated leaving Jason lying there more. Hopping nimbly across the pile of cement, wood, pipes, and wires, Dick once again crouched down next to Jason, studying his brother's face. Hoping his friends' spell had at the very least taken Jason out of any immediate danger, Dick reached out and gently removed Jason's helmet. It came off easily, but when Dick saw his face, he swore.

The helmet had done its work. Evidently there was no concussion or fractured skull. But a steady trail of blood was running from Jay's mouth, indicating internal bleeding. Dick clenched his teeth and began checking his brother over for any evidence of the injury that could have caused it. With any luck the spell had healed anything as dangerous as internal damage. But how could Dick know for sure? He ran a hand through his hair, a trait he had no doubt picked up from Bruce. It was impossible to properly check Jason over here in a pile of rubble. As much as his training went against it, Dick slid his hands under Jason and heaved him up. He was heavier then he remembered... then again, Dick couldn't remember the last time he had carried Jason like this. Years ago probably, while he was still a Robin.

Making it onto flat pavement once again, Dick bent down and placed his brother on the ground as gently as possible. He hadn't seen anything too alarming in terms of some kind of external trauma. Again, he would just have to hope his friends' healing spell did the trick. He bent over Jason's leg, and started fumbling with the bloody bandages to get a better look. Suddenly Jason moaned.

Dick started and turned to look at his face. Sure enough, the white slits on his domino mask were starting to open. Frowning, Dick moved over to Jason's head.

"Hey, Hood?" He said quietly, "you with me?"

Jason blinked up at Dick confusedly for a few seconds, then began to push himself up, grimacing. Dick knew this drill all to well, and placed a hand on Red Hood's chest, pushing him back down. "Stay put idiot. You've lost a lot of blood."

Jason grimaced even further as he laid back on the ground. And the pain in his voice was evident when he spoke. "That bad huh?"

Dick glared at Jason, daring him to try getting up again, and then moved back to his leg. "Maybe, haven't really had the chance to check. Just pulled you out of what was left of that building."

Jason cocked his head slightly to the left considering. "Huh, that's right. That stupid cat totally collapsed the – OW!" Jason jerked his leg back and glared at Nightwing. "The hell man?"

Despite his brother's glare, Dick was actually relieved at Jason's reactions. He was alert, a very good sign. Unfortunately his leg was still bleeding freely, but it seemed that the magic had helped quite a bit if he was able to glare at Dick like he wanted to murder him. Maybe it had healed whatever internal damage their was, but didn't get to the more minor injuries. Dick hoped so.

"Sorry, your leg's pretty torn up. Gonna need stitches for sure."

Red Hood sighed. "Wonderful. I don't suppose we have any anaesthetic? Do we even have stitches?"

Grabbing his backpack, Dick rummaged in the pockets before pulling out a small first aid kit, grinning triumphantly. "Looks like the wizard guy came though!" He looked through the small pack for a second, then paused. "Um, except proper anaesthetic. It's a really basic kit." He gave Jason a sympathetic glance. "Sorry Hood."

Jason laid his head back down on the pavement, looking the other way. "Just get it over with, will you Goldie?"

Dick nodded. Carefully manoeuvering his brother, he managed to get his pants off so he could get at the injury better. Then, despite the situation, he had to choke down a laugh. "Nice boxers."

Jason craned his head to look at the Wonder Woman boxers. "Yeah. Gag gift from Arsenal. Honestly though, they're the most comfortable ones I own." Dick nodded. He could appreciate that.

Nightwing pulled out the necessary supplies, and was happy to find a bit of disinfectant. He poured some on his hands, seeing as there were no sterile gloves to work with (Alfred would have had a fit), and then dropped a generous amount of the liquid on the open leg wounds. Jason hissed and his hands tightened into fists, but other then that he was still. Nightwing was impressed. But then, Jason had always had a very high pain tolerance. Dick started threading the needle like he had done what seemed like a thousand times before now. His hands were shaking slightly from the adrenalin of the previous fight, and he had to take a few steadying breaths before he was ready.

"Um, sorry in advance bro."

He began his work, quickly pulling the wounds closed, trying both to be quick for Jay's sake, and careful. The injuries were fairly deep, and there were a lot of them. It looked to Dick like Jason had been hit in the same place twice. That was never fun. He knew. Angry red claw marks only big enough to belong to that dog, er, cat Heartless, were crisscrossed along Red Hood's lower thigh and upper shin. Injuries from claws were always messy because they weren't like blades. They tore rather then cut, and left jagged wounds that were difficult to patch up. By the time he finished, his hands were slick with Jason's blood. He always hated that, but he couldn't do much about it at the moment. He grabbed some bandages from the supplies and wrapped the leg tightly, then glanced at Jason. He looked pale, and was taking deep slow breaths, a pain management technique Dick recognized. Overall however, he didn't seem to be doing that bad. Nightwing pulled his pants back up and crawled up to sit beside his head.

"Well that's done." He said, taking on as cheerful a tone as possible. "What else hurts?"

"Everything." Jason growled.

Nightwing nudged his side. "Seriously Hood."

Jason exhaled a long shaky breath. "Arm, I broke it during the fight, but it feels off again. I think something happened to it when I fell."

Nightwing nodded, and carefully removed the makeshift sling, and slowly worked to slip off Jason's jacket. After about a minute, the pale skin of his arm came into view, and Dick immediately grimacing at what he saw. Apparently his expression was pretty bad, because Jason lifted his head, trying to get a better view himself.

"Oh, that's lovely." He moaned.

His arm was bent at such an angle that his fingers seemed to appear backwards, and the skin directly above his elbow was an angry swollen red. The break was nearly a compound fracture, as the misplaced bone above his elbow was clearly visible, but hadn't broken the skin. Thank goodness. Nightwing really wasn't equipped to deal with that.

"I think it's a transverse fracture, which means I can realign it."

Red Hood stiffened. "You mean...you?"

Nightwing raised an eyebrow. "Uh, yes me. Who else?"

He was slightly hurt by the look of panic on Jason's face. Sure he wasn't the best of the Bats at first aid, but they had all learned enough to be reliable. Bruce had made sure of that. It came with the line of work.

"Don't wimp out on me now." He chided. "I've done this before and you know it."

It was hard to tell, but Dick thought Red Hood looked even more pale then a minute ago.

"Maybe- maybe we can just wait and get Sora to heal it or something?"

Dick rolled his eyes and shoved a thumb behind his shoulder, pointing in the direction of the K. Keyblade Wielders. "Something tells me their magic is going to be out of commission for quite a while. They just spent every ounce of it fixing you up as best they could."

Jason fidgeted uncomfortably, gazing over at his friends. He bit his lip, seeming to think it over. Nightwing decided to let him, it was better then arguing. Though he did second guess how effectively Jason could reason what with the stitched up leg and broken arm and who knew what else.

Finally Jason sighed, which made Dick smile as he recognized the defeat in his voice.

"You better know what you're doing." Jason grumbled,

Inching forward, Nightwing ran his fingers over the arm, making sure he got a feel for what he had to do. "Aw, come on Hood," He sighed. "You really think I could ever hurt you?"

Jason started to chuckle. "Is that a trick que-?"

SNAP

Nightwing had to jump back as Jason bolted upright, half crying out in pain, half cursing Dick's existence.

"God 'Wing, give a guy some warning won't you!"

Dick just smiled and pushed Jason back down again, which was a good thing since the sudden change in elevation made him sway.

"Oldest trick in the book!" He chirped happily. "Much better if you don't know what's coming."

Jason knew it was true, but he still mumbled things under his breath which Alfred would have smacked him for. Dick felt the bone again, sliding his hand across it. He was pleased to find that it, to his knowledge, was completely realigned. Jason didn't know what he was talking about, he made a great doctor!

As Jason muttered angrily, Dick grabbed some rebar from the wreck and placed it along the broken bone, bracing it. He carefully wrapped both in bandages, then replaced the the sling, intercepting a punch from Jay's good arm as he did so, and set about scanning him for any more injuries. Blood spattered his shirt, which was a bit worrisome, but all he found were a few minor cuts from what looked like shrapnel. He cleaned them as best he could with the disinfectant, and only had to stitch up one of them by Jason's neck which was fairly deep, but overall nothing to worry about. Dick summed up Jason's general good fortune of not being dead to a combination of his protective armour and the others' healing magic.

"Anything else wrong?" Nightwing asked, ignoring the death glare. He was starting to remember how awful of a patient his brother was. Suddenly he felt sorry for Alfred.

Jason pushed himself up, then swatted away Dick's attempt to push him back down for the third time with his good hand. "Nah, I'm good. I busted up some ribs earlier, but I think they're okay now. Must have been that magic like you said."

As if on cue, the three younger heroes came trudging over, looking awful. Kairi was barely lifting her feet, and Sora seemed as if he was ready to drop down, curl up, and take a nap right there.

Riku was the first to reach them. He knelt down tiredly beside Nightwing and Red Hood, glancing at Jason's leg and arm.

"How ya doing Hood?" He asked, the strain in his voice evident. Both Kairi and Sora dropped down next to the others, looking almost as pale as Jason did.

"Not half as rough as you." Jason retorted, studying their exhausted faces. "Sorry if I drained all your magic. I didn't know it made you so tired. Will you get it back soon?"

Sora shrugged. "It will probably take time to recharge. Not sure how long, but being surrounded by complete darkness probably doesn't help."

Riku nodded, shifting into a more comfortable position. "I don't think any of us are in a condition to travel, let alone fight. "

Nightwing nodded and leaned back on his heels. "You're right. I think we should camp out here for a while, get some rest. "

To his surprise, neither Jason nor Sora argued. Even Kairi remained silent, which he thought was weird. He had gotten the impression from her that she didn't back down easily.

Immediately Jason fell back onto the ground, voluntarily this time, and stretched, then winced as he pulled on his stitches. "Guess he's right. Going against whoever the main baddie is in this place as we are is suicidal. We need to rest."

That seemed to settle the matter, not that anyone needed much convincing, and in a few minutes they were all sitting on small sleeping bags, huddling together against the chilly outside air. One look at any of the deserted buildings was enough to convince them to camp outside, Heartless or not. Jason especially, vehemently refused to take a step inside another building. After having a meal of bread, some dried meat, and fruit, Jason, Kairi, Sora, and Riku curled up and were asleep in minutes. Nightwing had volunteered to take the first watch, and gazed at his companions fondly. Despite all of the crappy things they had been through, he was happy to have them as friends.

AN: Well, I'm glad that worked out. Mostly. Maybe I shouldn't have dropped that building on Jason, it's going to be so much work to get him back to fighting fit. Oh well. Too late now. Building got dropped, these things happen.

I wonder if it was an apartment building and if someone is going to come home to their belongings taking up half the street...? Assuming our heroes manage to fix things anyways.

Not much to say about this chapter. Next chapter is the last rest chapter by the way. Some nice character development. Oops. Spoilers.

Read and enjoy and Loxie OUT~!