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The concrete and rocks are digging into Dick’s shoulders. The ground is cold and wet. Dick needs to get up. He lets out a puff of air, watching a cloud expand above him. He can’t stay here. Logically, Dick knows that. He knows that he can’t stay here.
Pressing his palms into the ground, Dick groans as he tries to push himself up. His arms shake underneath him from the effort. He slumps back to the ground. His fingers rest in a puddle. Dick takes another shallow breath staring at the night sky.
There aren’t any clouds out tonight, but Dick still can’t see the stars through the smog of Gotham. Huh, thinking about it, Dick can’t think of the last time it rained in Gotham. Dick presses his hand into the puddle under him again. Huh, a city so sleazy it just produces its own water.
Dick needs to clear his head. He needs to get back to the cave for something. He raises his hand to his face to try to wipe away the grogginess. He dangles his hand above his face, staring as red drips off his hand.
Oh.
He's not in a rain puddle. No wonder it's so hard to keep his thoughts.
Dick wipes at his face. His vision blurs. He presses a hand to his ear, finding it empty. That’s okay. No commlink isn’t the end of the world. He keeps a communicator in his pocket; he just needs to get it out.
He reaches a hand to his utility belt, his fingers fumbling with the zipper. He keeps trying, his fingers slow down, unable to find a grip.
Groaning, Dick rolls onto his side. He tries again to push himself up. This time with a little more success. He looks up. He’s in an empty alleyway. Pulling himself forward, Dick crawls his way to the brick wall a few feet away. Dick rests his forehead into the cold brick, his breath coming out hot.
“Fuck,” Dick whispers. He leans against the wall and looks down at his torso. The Nightwing logo on his torso is a plum color now. “Huh, that looks kinda nice.”
Nightwing shakes his head. “Nope,” he licks his chapped lips. “I need to get out my, um, fuck, what did I need?”
“You’re phone.” A voice says in front of him. Dick looks up to stare at Kid Flash, squatting in front of him. He has his mask pulled off.
Dick smiles, his head leaning against the stone behind him. “Hey babe.”
“Get your phone out, Dick.” Wally urges, not moving any closer to Dick. His face is pulled down in a frown, his eyes filled with concern.
“Jeez,” Dick mumbles, his fingers fumbling with the zipper again. “So bossy.”
Dick’s fingers slip again. He groans, “Why don’t you get it out for me?”
Wally frowns. “I can’t. I’m not here.”
“Oh, right.” Dick drops his hands. His eyes start to slip closed. “That’s okay. I’ll just go with you.”
“No. It’s not time for you to be with me, yet Dickie.” Wally says his voice is laced with urgency.
“Names,” Dick mumbles.
“Babe. Get out the phone. Now.” Wally demands.
“Ugh,” Dick starts mumbling with the zipper again. He pinches the zipper and pulls the communicator out. “I did it, you happy.”
Dick drops the communicator in his lap.
“Turn it on.” Wally urges. “You have to press the button. I can’t do it, Rob.”
Dick reaches his hand out to Wally, trying to grab onto him. “Let me just go with you,” Dick’s voice cracks, “Please. Please. Let me go.”
Wally rocks forward. “Please turn on the device. Please, for me, babygirl?”
Eyes watering, Dick fumbles with the device and presses his thumb onto it, unlocking it. The screen lights up with a bat logo.
“Oracle.” Barbara's voice greets Dick. He stares at Wally, waiting for Wally to say something.
“You have to talk, Rob. You have to say you need help.”
“Nightwing?” Babs asks. “Are you there?”
“Help?” Nightwing asks Wally. He coughs, his body shaking.
“Where are you, N?” Babs asks, her voice is stressed. “I have your last location. But what do you see?”
“Wally. Can we go now?” Nightwing coughs again, his whole body throbs with pain. “Please.”
“No!” Distantly, Nightwing can hear Babs yelling at him. “I have Red Hood and Red Robin racing to your last location. You can not go anywhere, Boy Blunder, okay?”
“You can’t go,” Wally whispers. He reaches his hand out, his touch ghosting over Dick’s cheek.
“Let me go, please.” Dick rasps. He tries to grab Wally’s hand. He can’t feel anything there. He lurches forward. “Please, please, babe. I want to be with you.”
Dick gasps as pain shoots through him. He falls onto the ground. Tears slip down his face. He coughs, choking on something wet in his throat as he cries out, “Wally. Please!”
“Nightwing, you are not allowed to go anywhere, that is an order.”
Dick tries to take in another breath. He closes his eyes and slowly, torturingly so, opens them again. Wally is laying the ground in front of him, his own face being squished into the unforgiven wet ground. Dick smiles softly. He licks his lips and feels something sticky. His voice sticking in his throat as he rasps, “Remember our trip to Canada. We went, uh, went to”
“Snowboarding,” Wally supplies. He rests his hand on Dick’s.
“Yeah, snowboarding.” Dick laughs and falls into a pit of coughing. “You were horrible.”
Wally rubs his thumb over Dick’s hand. “We can’t all be acrobats, doing flips.”
“You couldn’t even make it down the bunny slope.”
“I rocked that bunny slope,” Wally jokes back.
“We spent most of the time inside, drinking um,” Dick’s brain spaced out, his vision darkening.
“We drank all that hot chocolate. I had to have had at least 6 cups. You thought I was going to get sick.”
Dick smiles, he feels something drip against his mouth. “You did get sick. I had to deal with a speedster with a stomach ache.”
“I miss you.” Dick mumbles.
“I miss you, too, Dickie.”
“Nightwing. Nightwing.” Distantly, Dick hears a voice calling for him.
“Who’s that?” Dick asks Wally.
“That’s Oracle, she’s been trying to get you to answer her. You should answer her.”
Dick’s eyes slip shot and he mumbles, “I’ll talk to Babs later. I’m with you right now. You always tell me to live in the now.” Dick smiles softly. “That’s what I’m doing, living in the now.”
There is a loud screeching noise, forcing Dick to peel his eyes open. He hears a thud, followed by quick, heavy footsteps.
“Wing!” A voice calls. Dick pulls his eyes away from Wally as hands press to his side and flip him onto his side. Dick looks up at Red Hood kneeling over him.
Dick smiles at his younger brother. Red Hood rips off his helmet and sets it down next to Dick.
“I’ve reached him, O. It’s not good.” Jason says.
“Hey, Little Wing.” Dick mutters. He pulls his hand out of Wally’s and reaches out towards his brother.
“Shut up, Dickface. Save your energy.”
Dick laughs, blood sputtering from his mouth. “Hey, it’s okay. Wally’s here with me.”
Putting his hand back out, Dick grabs ahold of Wally’s hand again. Jason rips his eyes away from Dick’s torso to follow his brother's hand. A hand stretches out, holding on to nothing. Jason looks back at Dick.
“Tell West to fuck off. We’re having that brotherly bonding time that you’ve been wanting.” Jason growls out, his voice cracking slightly. Another person appears beside Jason. It’s a blurry Tim. Tim starts to pull items out of his utility belt.
“Fuck this is bad Hood,” Tim mutters, cutting away at Nightwings suit. “We need Batman out here with the car. Now.”
“No dip, Sherlock.” Jason retorts. He grabs gauze and presses them onto Dick’s torso. Dick’s vision blacks out and he gasps, lurching forward. Letting go out Wally’s hand, Dick tries to push his brother’s hands away.
“Stop. Stop.” Dick fights weakly. He presses his hands onto his brothers. “Hurts.”
“I know. I know. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” Jason whispers, his voice softer than Dick’s heard it in a long time. He looks up at his Little Wing. His face is blurry to Dick, but Dick can still make out the lines of worry, painting his brother’s face. Dick reaches out to cup Jason's cheek.
“Hey,” Dick whispers, “It’s okay.”
Jason shakes off Dick’s hand. “No it’s not.”
Dick’s hand falls back down onto his torso. Wally is sitting by his head now. Dick looks at him and smiles, ignoring his brothers urgent conversation happening above him.
“Can I go now?” Dick whispers to Wally.
“No!” Jason shouts. Dick looks at his brother, blood is covering half his face.
“You’re bleeding.” Dick says. He tries to push himself up.
“No, I’m not, dumbass. It’s your blood.”
“Oh,” Dick mutters, “That’s okay. I don’t think I need it anymore.”
“Yes you do, Nightwing.” Tim argues from his other side. “You’re not going anywhere with Wally today.”
Dick lifts his hand, but it promptly falls back down. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m okay.”
“No you’re not.” Tim cries. He pulls out more gauze and presses them into Dick’s torso. “You’re dying.”
“It’s not that bad.” Dick whispers. His eyelids are weighing him down. He stares up at Wally. “Let me go. I’ll be with Wally.”
“Keep those eyes open, Big Bird.” Jason orders. “Daddy Bats is going to be here in less than a minute. Okay? I just need you to hold on for one minute. You can’t leave us for West. We need you here. Demon Brat needs you. I need you, damn it.”
“You’re a good big brother.” Dick mutters, he pushes his hand out towards Jason. “You’ll be fine. ”
“I swear to every god there is if you die here, I’ll throw you in the pit.” Jason argues. He chokes on a sob. That gets Dick to open his eyes and look at Jason. Jason never cries. Dick looks at brother.
“You’re bleedin’” Dick mutters. He takes shallow breaths, and it doesn’t hurt that bad anymore. Dick watches as his brother hunches over him, pressing harder into his torso that Dick can no longer feel. Dick slides his eyes back to Wally, who is looking down at him. Dick stares into the green eyes he fell in love with. “I’s okay, Jay. I like gree’.”
A dark shadow covers everything behind Wally. A darkness that brought a calm over Dick.
Dick’s lips curl up. “It’s okay.” Dick stares into Wally’s eyes. “‘m goin’ home.”
Dick feels his body sway around him. He falls into a calm, welcoming the green.