Nightwing; A Series of Doubts – Give and Take –

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Chapter Alternative Ending – Part Two

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Ghost of a Chance

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He'd dreaded the week of here and now and to the scare of it, there was only one option left.

Dick left the precinct earlier than expected; told the man on the phone he'd be stopping to buy some ingredients for supper in a while after work was let out, yet Slade didn't oblige and said he was busy before then hanging up.

Well, then it had to be a cake he was baking or a somewhat intricate handicraft he was making to be sure the kid didn't forget about him or their time in this city. Dick had time to rest, to shower and to sleep again which was again why Slade was giving him his time off from the man, so they could change the dynamic before the next few days were marked off of Dick's calendar.

Fretting was getting him nowhere, so he contacted the only heroine his mind could fathom, not realizing that he was still connected to her despite cussing out his own family.

"Rae…. I need you…please…. please…" He concentrated, hardest as the café staff asked if he was ok. Dick nodded weakly, saying he just had to meditate over a migraine that his naturopathic doctor had advised on trying out. The lie left him to his own thoughts and as he did so, a voice called out.

~Richard…. you…your aura…what's wrong. I'm here to help –

~I'm in Stockholm, a few days until…. until Slade "claims" me and John still….no real Slade? Raven, hey have to hurry…. Slade saw my future – I end up committing suicide! ~

Raven felt the tumble dry of emotions and single crackle of life in his aura die out; he was telling the truth and her blood turned to ice at the claiming. This Slade was forcefully grooming her friend to be like the Nightwing in his universe, and she wouldn't have it.

~I'm sending word to Titans Europe. We won't let him touch you, I promise. ~

"Don't…. don't promise, anything…He could win, this Slade has no moral ground. No reason to hold back. He's infatuated with what I'm not, and if he dresses me up as a villain…it won't be pretty…" Choked the bird as he walked out of the café and covered his face with a layer of scarves round his throat. "Find him, find John and just…. I don't care if the real one can do anything to stop the faker. I just want to come home…"

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Dick went to have food purchased right after, wiping his memory mentally of the talk with his old teammate before walking in the door to their living room hallway. Slade sat with a leg crossed over his knee on the sofa in their small den. Slowly, Dick made his way to the kitchen counter as he started to unpack all of the items needed to make a light fare of salad and croquettes. He'd do for salmon; it was quite good in the usual market and he couldn't resist a quick meal out of it all.

Squash, onion, a side of asparagus that was still doable and some farro in case the meal wasn't dense enough. Now that he was well enough to work, he didn't always have time to whip up a thought from the oven. He preferred Slade to stay away when he cooked, and the man was relaxed with an eye shut, not moving.

That, was not odd at all. He went to hunt for a frying pan, the idea of being quick just as much. The spices were just herbs and black pepper, nothing –

The sound was intense in one ear as Dick dropped the pan, while Slade's entire body went slack and dead on the sofa, bleeding red into the cushions.

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He froze, instincts going as Dick headed for the door –

"You were so eager to prepare that; who changed your mind, hero?"

Dick didn't speak, the pan in his sights as he ducked and ran for it, the one by the wall in the corner holding up his hand where a pistol made the young cop bound back into the stove. "I…I…. can't…. you can't be –

"I'm alive and kicking. Can't say the same for my replacement."

Dick collapsed to his knees, eyes watering up as he stared at the merc, the true and only. "You…. you came, when? When was it ever you?"

"Do you remember the run in with that guard and Sionas's building permit expiring, in Bludhaven." The man lowered his weapon as Dick nodded, fearful for an answer. "You do, and you remember that person looked, together. Not like a homicidal maniac."

"He…. he came during the time of the robberies –

"Yes, now you know. After that stunt was pulled, I was long gone. According to the alternate from another time line." Slade pulled up his mask and sighed. "You're free to do as you must, Nightwing. Go home, see them and don't remember my face until I'm good and ready to hunt the real you." He told the hero, the boy wonder in Dick just staring blankly back before asking for more. "Did, Constantine find you…?"

"That magician had to travel to places that no mere human could call a comfort away from home. I was sent to the coldest places, the one space in time…You don't need to know it. Go pack, call the Bat."

"This, this can't be real…. I'm dreaming, you're alive and….and there was no way –

"Denial won't get you far from him." Slade shoved a thumb back to point at the mound of dust and ash as he moved to do as the previous outcome.

To pluck out its golden eye as the fiend vanished by the magic of time and order being restored to what it once was. "You forget what tomorrow is?"

Dick looked at the clock, then at his nemesis. "He, he took my accounts. I can't go back to Bruce like this yet."

"Then by all means, be a hero here and see where it takes you." Slade shrugged, the dripping orb still in his grip until it too had disintegrated. "Call your old Bat, tell him you're still in one piece for me, Blue Bird." The man moved to the terrace and pulled back the door of it, his face to the wind as the mask was clicked back in place.

Deathstroke had freed him, he'd been set free and tomorrow…Tomorrow he'd be here with only his thoughts and a desire to stuff his face with a cake worthy of such a miracle. A victory, and on the day, he'd turn nineteen. Dick stood up, the man nodding as he nodded silently back to the merc, the hero he never thought he'd find in this city of a now faded excuse to stay put.

He looked at the food on the table before his stomach began to growl. The food was here, he had money...so, he'd make a different call before the day was over. And he'd bake a smaller cake, just for him as the noise outside was an echo in the moment.

Only the sound of sizzling potato and squash croquets met his ears.

Freedom, would taste just like last year's cake had on his eighteenth birthday.

Only better.

/

The hour after he'd eaten a plate for one, Dick checked over his phone and took to hacking it and removing any restrictions that he could, the first ray of a portal didn't make the hero jolt as his unmasked eyes looked to more than one person in the room.

Wally, Jay, Zatanna, Babs and of course…John and Kori with Bruce.

"I made extra, is anyone ok with having an un -birthday for tonight?"

/

John lit a smoke as Bruce Wayne stayed in his suit, not wanting the Bat to be spotted and scare Dick for a mess of reasons. "You did alright, John." Bruce put a hand to his chin, a thought of how Slade had gotten through to the magi still lingered in the back of his skull.

"I did what any caring person would do, I never gave up on a friend…and the challenge was telling Slade he was still alive."

"Was he, really?"

"Soul – trading." John puffed out a cloud as Bruce raised a brow at the magician. "What was the price?" B was indefinitely suspecting that John had bartered something of a great deal to gather the remains of a man's who was well, rotten all on his own. Even to another anti – hero like Constantine.

"It's a secret, mostly." The man in the trench coat smirked, hoping his low link with Deathstroke was still operational while B said something that he should have to hear.

"Slade, did something outside of his character which has me to think that if it werent for him, Robin would still be in Blud on patrol in another suit. Even if that suit could be Nightwing's."

"Possibility a' that, mate." John agreed. "That Robin in the start of the lad's journey was a battle connected to the life he'd be bound to face; fate is cruel at times, and I know how well a little bit of flesh lost in a cribbage game can turn the tides on one's alternative ending."

"If that fake copy was from a universe where Dick did commit suicide, then who's to say it won't come true in other universes –

"The dead one was responsible, bats!" John coughed roughly at the comment. "Now that he was made to bugger the hell off, we don't know what the future may bring. As far as I know it, your entire clan is cursed to learn this lesson over and over –

"What does that even –

"Dunno." John crushed the cig under his shoe sole and shrugged, eyes shut for any more shocking events to follow them to Sweden. "That can all be up to FATE to decide…"

He walked off, through a portal as the time in his time, in the faux Slade's time was winding down.

/

"Mission was a smash hit, Eli." John cracked his neck as a white hair and white coated teen stared back at him from being a desk. The weather outside was galactic in space, tonight as John cleared his throat, thinking back to the fact that in his time, the true Wing was dead and gone even if that was never his fate in other universes.

"You did well, Constantine. We'll pay you forward on stopping the rouge Jumper as promised…"

"Just glad that none of the others in several universes will be leaping buildings tonight."

John was glad, Dick was a good kid with a bright future. They'd meet again, while the real John was freed of his parasitic guest with a shake of his shaggy mane. "That's all then? Beam me back to London. Chas is ordering in for our bro – versery." He chuckled to the current head of the organization known as The Authority.

"We'll be in touch, get some rest…"

The meeting was adjourned as John's body flew down and to the sofa in his little dwelling. The old pal of his Chas was seated there with a drink and a frown. "How did the job land you?"

"Messy, yet why would he want me at the party meant for teenagers?"

"Friends come in all shapes, Johnny."

"They sure do, Chas." Sighed the exhausted magi.

"They sure as bloody shite do surprise us in the end."

/

A year later, Dick transferred to his fairest of all cities in Blud. Babs stuck around and helped to expand their network. Dick made sure to have the place swept clear of any of the fake's tricks. He got rid of the sofa as a plus, and got a new bed. They other needed to be burned.

Starfire learned from Jason as well that Dick was with Babs, the two just as siblings since Babs already had a crush on someone else. Jason swung round one night and spied a dog of the force on patrol, simply watching Wing take to the air. "Hey, patchy."

Slade looked at Jason from the corner of his one eye, though his head never dared to turn an inch. "You up late bird watching, old timer? Mind if I join you?"

"I had a contract, yet he'd just be a bad stain for my blade." Slade lowered his binoculars and stood from his crouching position. "You started up a team with Speedy –

"Not that, he'd Red Arrow. Starfire is on leave so don't stick your nose around long if you know what's good."

"I don't intend to." Slade moved to shift a bit, seriously needing to ditch the bull dog before it got too anxious and retaliated. "He's gone home, I was afraid he'd just keep running."

"Dick bounces back." Jay said. "He's a softie at heart, but you already knew that."

"Maybe not." Slade said out loud to himself almost. "He's not the hot headed brat that caused my empire to nearly collapse, and yet he became a cop despite guns being the killing weapon he'd never learn to use as my apprentice."

"You're just a bad teacher then, it shows through time and space."

"Can it, kid." Snorted the merc. "His contract was rejected; the hero will get to live another day so…. let me go home and mull over that fact."

"By all means." The mock bow that Red Hood gave made Slade chuckle at the irony of Todd's demeanor.

"If you have me in your sights, we might work well together some day. Keep that in mind."

"I'll take my chances." Jay waved off the idea from his agenda. "If a mega – boss shows up to torment the earth, I'll give it a thought to ping you. Maybe." Smirked the Outlaw, Slade acknowledging with a brief nod before slipping away undetected.

Dick was safe and flying high, Jason sighed. He just wanted to be up there too, his big brother telling him not to fly to close to the sun as it faded into the blackest evening.

For FATE was cruel, strange and mysterious, as that night and many nights before to befall them.

"Happy un – birthday, Nightwing." Smiled the outlaw with a grin to the smiling face of his dearest ally.

"Welcome home, my hero."

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IT was….I got a ton so shoot a request!! For sure going to leave it at that.