Now and Then

The night – if it was night, it was impossible to tell – passed uneventfully. Sora had mentioned that once cleared out of an area, Heartless didn't normally return unless whoever had cleared them left. Weird, but then again, Heartless were mostly instinct. A small Shadow appeared once, but a batarang took care of that. And so Dick sat, watching over his friends and brother. At one point in the night, Jason started shifting, clearly getting into a nightmare. It was something all the Robins, and probably quite a few other superheroes, had to deal with. Dick simply moved closer, laid a hand on his good arm and whispered in his ear, things like "It's ok" and "You're safe" and "I'm here". Things that had worked with Tim, with Damian, and with Jason.

An hour later, he woke Riku up for his watch. The teen rubbed his eyes, glad to see that his magic was almost fully charged. He sent Dick to bed with the promise that he would heal Jason a bit more and then settled in.

Eyeing the injuries, Riku turned an idea over in his head. So far, all of his healing spells had been area-type magics. Actually, all of his spells were. It was useful in combat when he needed to wipe out six Heartless at once and didn't really have time to aim, but not so much in healing. He wondered if he could do something more precise.

First things first though. Dick had been worried about internal injuries. He had probably gotten it when he had healed Jason the first time, but for this type of thing, it was better safe than sorry. So Riku quietly cast Cure, which should be just enough to clot any and all remaining injuries, and speed up the healing on any which were already clotted. Then he took a quick look around to make sure there weren't any Heartless around.

Concentrating on Jason's arm, he cast Curaga, trying to will the magic to heal only that bone. Slowly, green light began playing over the injury, brighter and more intense than usual. Riku shielded his eyes, By the time the glow faded, he was incredibly pleased to note two things. One, the bone was completely healed. Or, at least the swelling and bruising around the area were gone. He wouldn't be able to tell if the bone was healed without either asking Jason or feeling the injury. He didn't want to do that though; Jason needed his sleep. Having a building fall on a person could be exhausting. The second thing was that the spell had used less magic than normal. Most magic had a minimum cost. Sure, he could extend the duration by using more magic, but every cast would use the same base magic. Using Curaga should have left him about half empty, but he still had three quarters of his magic left. Interesting.

Maybe he should focus his magic more often, rather than just letting it run around willy nilly. If he tried this with a fire spell, could he make something explode? He'd try it out later. For now, he should probably focus on Jason's leg.

This time, he didn't close his eyes, trying to see if there was anything else about the spell that he should remember. Even so, he almost missed the tiny movement. Moving his eyes up to Jason's face, he was shocked at the expression of discomfort. He was about to end the spell when Jason shot awake.

"Ow, what the hell?!" Jason reached out and grabbed his leg with his good hand.

Riku dropped the magic. "Sorry Hood. I was just trying to heal your leg."

"I can see that. Why did it hurt though? I've been healed before and that felt like sunshine and daisies." Riku was glad Sora wasn't awake. That sarcasm would have gone right over his head.

"Yeah, I tried something different. Spot healing. What did this one feel like?"

"I don't know. Massive. Intense. Like all four weeks of healing pains had just up and decided to stab me in the leg all at once." Jason was pulling off his bandages, probably to get a look at the injury. Riku started unwinding them from the bottom, curious as well.

"Huh. And now?"

"Nothing. Pain faded when the light did." They pulled the last of the bandages off.

His leg was mostly fine. There were still a few scabs, but they were of the "two days away from being skin" variety. There was a long coil of thread stuck to his skin that Jason pulled off and tossed aside, probably from the stitches. Jason whistled. "Alright, that pain was worth it."

Riku smiled, pleased that his friend was feeling better, even if it was spoiled a bit at causing him pain. "Good to hear. How's your arm? I did that first."

"Ah, that's what that was. That hurt too, just not as much." Carefully taking the arm out of his sling, he flexed his fingers, rotated his wrist, bent his elbow. "All healed. A bit stiff, but I can work through that." He raised his eyebrow when Riku yawned suddenly. "Go to sleep kid. I can keep watch now."

"But I still have another hour!"

"Yeah, but you probably used most of your magic up again. Go to sleep. I'll keep watch, wake Sora when it's his turn."

Riku grumbled a bit, but went back to his sleeping bag. He really was tired. Hopefully, his magic would be back completely by morning. Or what passed for morning in the Realm of Darkness.

Jason smiled as Riku's breathing evened out. Leaning himself against a wall, he turned part of his mind to keeping watch and allowed the other part to wander.

He kind of wished Riku hadn't used so much magic healing him. He knew how to fight with an injury, he knew how to fight with only one working arm. Dick's stitches would have held, even if they weren't as tight as Alfred's. Then again, no one stitched as well as Alfred. Years of practice, he supposed, and not just with injuries. Batman certainly didn't sew his first costume. Sure, most of it was Kevlar body armour now, but back before Dick had been Robin, it had just been cloth. Batman had learned quick how bad an idea that was.

Casting an eye over the group, noting blood still lingering on clothing, he couldn't help but feel all of this was his fault. They had to save Gotham because the Heartless had pulled it into the Realm of Darkness. The Heartless had been brought to Gotham by Xehanort. Xehanort had only been there because he wanted Jason. And Jason had only been viable as a vessel because he had been stupid enough to get himself killed all those years ago.

How crappy was it that literally every single thing that had gone wrong in his life since meeting Bruce had stemmed from a single disobeyed order?

Although, thinking about it, Jason probably wouldn't change anything.

Except for, obviously, the situation they were in right now. He didn't want anyone getting hurt because of him. Except criminals. But that was different.

But because he died, Tim became Robin. As much as he had hated the little Replacement a few years ago, the kid had a way of growing on him. Breakfast at Tim's had suddenly become something to look forward to, trading information back and forth, lightly insulting the Demon Brat, and just generally bantering with each other. Sometimes, Tim saved cookies from the care packages Alfred sent over (the island he, Roy and Kori were camped out at didn't really have a mailing address), and if Jason had time and got there early, he would make more than the chopped fruit and coffee that seemed to be all Tim could make. Well, that and waffles from a boxed mix. A boxed mix. Sacrilege. Still, better than Alfred's.

Not to mention, since he had come back, he had an infinitely better relationship with Dick. Before he had died, Dick was busy being resentful over him taking over Robin, busy being mad at Bruce for being Bruce, busy with the Titans, just busy in general. But when Jason had died, Dick had apparently realized that he should treasure the brothers he had.

His relationship with Bruce was still strained, and probably would be forever. Or until he stopped killing people. Same thing really. But they were still better than they had been when he was Robin, when the general feeling in the air had been disappointment. From both of them. Bruce had gotten a lot of practice at being a father since then.

As for Damian... Well, at least he had someone to talk weapons now. There was that.

Plus, he had Roy and Kori, his kind-of-but-not-really teammates. Things had been better since he had met them. Before, he had put up a good act, pretending to be happy and full of life. But it wasn't really an act anymore. All of them had been through crap. But all of them could pick themselves up, dust themselves off and keep going. Sure, it had been tempting to find a hole and lie in it for the rest of their lives, but that wouldn't change anything. Sure, nothing could get worse in a hole, but nothing would get better either. Always better to take a chance, grab life by the horns and punch it in the face, to live and fight like you have something to live for, until you have something to live for. Roy and Kori had taught him that, and he had taught them that too.

The crap they were in right now was still his fault though.

He didn't want his friends getting hurt because of him.

So he would just have to do a better job of protecting them. Simple.

He was glad Riku had healed him now. The better shape he was in, the better chance he had of stabbing a Heartless in the face before they got their claws into his friends.

Speaking of. He flung a batarang out, hitting a Heartless in the place the skull would be if they had a skull. Or bones.

Time was difficult here, but his internal clock was pretty reliable. He gave Sora an extra half hour of sleep, then shook him awake. Shoving his feet into his sleeping bag, he curled onto his side and fell asleep the moment his eyes closed.

Sora was a little surprised when Jason woke him up. Not the waking bit, the Jason bit. When Sora had gone to bed, he had been hurt. Badly. Riku had probably healed him. Sora had never taken that kind of abuse before. No one Sora knew had ever taken that kind of abuse before. Well, there was that one time Goofy had taken the rock for the King and everyone thought he'd died, but it had turned out that he had only been knocked out. Still though. A rock to the head and everyone thought Goofy had died. Jason had had a building dropped on him, massive cuts on his leg, a broken arm and who knew what else. And before Sora had gone to sleep, he had been walking, talking, being alive. Sora knew he couldn't do that. Well, probably not. He'd definitely try, especially if his friends were depending on him.

His friends. He had thought he knew what worry was, before, when he hadn't been able to find them. At least he knew they were probably ok. But now, when he could see them and wrap an arm around their shoulders or hug them whenever he wanted, he was even more worried. He had been there, right there next to them, and he had gotten thrown and knocked out. That seemed to be all he did these days, getting knocked out. And every time he did, terrible things happened. The first time, Jason had lost his heart. Then, the second time, Jason had had to give into the darkness to save the rest of them. And just a few hours ago, it had happened again. Kairi had gotten seriously hurt, so Riku had had to use most of his magic healing her. Sora being unconscious meant he hadn't been able to help with their fight or Nightwing and Red Hood's. Kairi had used her magic to wake him up, and Dick had been hurt, so he had used his magic to heal him, leaving next to none to heal Jason. It seemed like every time Sora messed up in a fight, Jason suffered for it.

Not anymore. Sora roved his eyes around the street, intent on tripling his watchfulness. Nothing would get near his friends, not while he had anything to say about it.

As he kept an eye out, one landed on Kairi. She had gotten hurt last battle. Because of him. He would protect her better. He would. Actually, he would do better than that. He would work with her to protect her. Keeping her safe would be easier if she was by his side fighting than if she was far away from him. Last time they had been separated, she had gotten kidnapped by Saïx. The time before, she had lost her heart. If he had been there, Saïx probably wouldn't have bothered going after her. He had been there when she had lost her heart, but him being there had pretty much prevented Maleficent from getting it and opening Hollow Bastion's heart to darkness. Him being there had prevented a bigger tragedy, and he intended to keep it up.

His shift was over. At least, he thought his shift was over. He couldn't really tell. But it had felt like the right amount of time. Actually, it had felt longer, but again, there wasn't really a way to tell. Carefully, he stepped over Riku to get to Kairi, waking her for her watch. He would get some sleep and tomorrow morning (or tomorrow dark or whatever), he would protect her.

He would protect all of them.

He crawled into his sleeping bag and was lulled to sleep by gentle thoughts of sitting on the Paopu Tree again, all of his friends safe and happy.

Kairi was happy. Well, a bit worried. Was this the kind of stuff Sora and Riku had gone through without her? She didn't think so, but it was possible. But she was with them and she was helping. She had taken down a Dark Thorn almost singlehandedly. Sure, she had taken a bit of an injury to her side. Riku had fixed that really quickly, and then she had gotten to heal Sora. Jason had been a bit harder to heal. Although, based on the small pile of bandages and a sling on the pavement next to him, he was just fine now. Riku probably, or maybe Sora. Sora was smiling in his sleep, as usual. Lazy butt. Riku always had this little crease between his eyes when he slept, like he was thinking of a better way to something. To build the raft, to beat Sora in a race, to pilot the gummi ship, to keep darkness at bay. He was always working to improve himself, to get better. Kairi admired that. She emulated it actually.

She wanted to get strong too. She wanted to be able to fight alongside Sora and Riku and actually have them rely on her, to be useful and helpful. And she knew part of that was to keep smiling. Riku was always so close to the darkness, even before they had left the island. He was better now, much better. Being trusted with the title Keyblade Master had been good for him and he had earned it, a hundred times over. And Sora was always so happy, but he could fall into these moments of depression. Goofy had told her that he had been very sad when they had first met. He had lost hope that he would fine her and Riku. But with the gummi ship, his hope had come back, and his happiness with it. Still though, if anything happened to her or Riku, Sora probably wouldn't recover.

So, she would keep smiling. She would work until she was strong and then she would protect them.

It was impossible to tell when morning was, but everyone started waking up around the same time anyways. Nightwing first, then Riku, then Jason. Sora was last as always. A smile played about her lips. Sora had changed a lot since they had left the island, but some things would always stay the same.

After they had all blinked the sleep out of there eyes, the group simply sat around for a few minutes as if their brains were trying to unfreeze. Jason saw this as a side effect of a very traumatic night and little sleep. Of course, the black murky sky didn't really tell him if it was daytime or not, but his internal clock said they might have gotten 5 hours of rest each if they had been lucky. "First things first," He said, pulling his backpack towards himself and peering into its depths. "I'm hungry."

"You're always hungry, Hood." Nightwing commented, plopping down beside him.

In no time they had pulled out an assortment of food, and were munching away happily. Sora and Riku had gotten themselves into an arm wrestling competition with Kairi acting as judge. Apparently they had both bet their favourite food on the match. Riku dried beef, and Sora, chocolate. Unfortunately for Sora, he lost all three matches rather quickly. Riku wasn't affected by his friends dejected face as he carried away his prize. In the end, Kairi had broken down and agreed to share some chocolate with Sora. The three sat together in a small semi circle, laughing and joking for the first time in what felt like forever.

Dick and Jason sat side by side, grinning and watching this exchange with an air of amusement. It was fun seeing how happy they were, even amidst the rather somber circumstances. With a jolt Dick remembered yet again that the three didn't have to be here. The only reason the Keyblade Wielders had rushed to Jason and Dick's aid was out of pure kindness. Nightwing's smile widened; they really were good people. The kind of people that kept the Bats out on the streets. Fighting the scum of the earth so that kids like these wouldn't have to live looking over their shoulders all the time. Well, the three were Keyblade Wielders and all, but both the older boys couldn't help feeling a surge of protectiveness as the younger three laughed.

After about a half an hour, everyone was feeling better and in much higher spirits. They packed up their things quickly and started yet again trudging through the dark tangle of buildings and deserted streets, trying to avoid darker shadowy areas as best they could. They were all rather sore; magic was only able to do so much after all. But they were with each other, and for now, that was enough.

AN: Arrow: Guys, guys! It's a rest chapter! Everyone is feeling better! And Jason's back to normal... Or is he? -cough cough-

Loxie: Yes. Yes he is. The question is, how long are we going to keep him healthy? That's... questionable at best.

Arrow: Knowing you Loxie... not very long. But you never know. We might spontaneously become nice authors. Right?

Loxie: Maybe at the end of this fic. That's when we'll be spontaneously nice.

Last rest chapter of the fic folks! We're heading to the end now, the final stretch, the last hurrah! So until then, read and enjoy!