Birdflash oneshots 2

Night in the woods

Dick groaned as he opened his eyes, unsure of why he felt grass under his head. He didn't know why he hurt, either. His whole body hurt. It felt like everything was revolting against him. He weakly pushed himself up on his arms, trying to keep his vision from blacking out. It looked like he was in some sort of forest, except...the trees were gone. There were a few around him, but other than that, nothing was there. It was all bright light. Where was he? Had he been attacked? Had he been left for dead by a villain? No, that wasn't it. He wasn't in his Nightwing uniform. Maybe he'd been held for ransom. That was a very common occurrence in his life.

Dick forced himself to stand, leaning heavily on a tree. "What...h-happened?" Dick whispered to himself, wrapping his arms around his stomach. Nobody answered him. It was eerily quiet, too. No birds sang. There was no crunching of branches. The only thing that moved was the wind, pushing at him in an attempt to knock himself down. Alright, how did he get out of here? He probably couldn't move very far, so that knocked out long travels. He didn't seem to have a phone, so that was out of the question. Maybe he could run across a village? That seemed unlikely, though. He decided to try his luck and walk through the forest.

Dick blacked out at some point. He wasn't sure how, or when, but he found himself in some sort of abandoned parking lot. Old papers skittered across the ground, getting caught on light poles and rolling through empty spaces. This looked like the parking lot of that old store he and Wally used to go to that closed down about a year ago. He started making his way across the cement, doing his best to keep his legs from giving out underneath him. A thin sheen of sweat covered his body, and although the air seemed sweltering, there were no heat waves rising from the ground. Nothing seemed too distorted, beyond his damaged vision. He had to get out of here.

Dick blinked, and suddenly, he was on Wally's street. There were no houses, no cars, no kids playing in the street, but Dick recognized it. He recognized Wally's splattered mailbox, covered in blue and yellow from the paint war they had. He recognized the old, cracked driveway, which desperately needed to get redone. He even recognized the lawn, with patches of dead grass from the stray dog that sent Brucely crazy. There was the swinging bench that he and Wally had sat on after long and hot days of fixing his house during the summer. The flower bed that Aunt Iris demanded Wally take care of.

Dick sat on the bench, being taken over by a wave of exhaustion. Surely nobody could mind if he took a nap here. He was exhausted, probably sick or injured, or both, and he'd just come a long way on legs that refused to walk anymore. He laid down on the bench, looking up wearily at the bright sky. Where was everything? The houses, the cars, the buildings, the people? Was he alone now? Was he in some separate dimension, never to reunite with the people he loved again? Or was he just delusional, and everything was there? He didn't know. His eyes were too heavy, and his head hurt to think about that. He finally closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep.

Wally was driving home around that time, talking on the phone to Bruce Wayne, who'd just broken the news about Dick's missing status. "No. He hasn't tried calling me. Or texting me. Yes, I'll check after the call. You're sure the trackers aren't working?" Wally had to pull the phone away as Bruce started chewing him out. Damn, he got stingy when Dick was gone. "No, I don't think you're stupid, but this is Dick we're talking about. He might've found a way to get the signal back on. Or maybe he called someone else. Do we even know what happened? Was Dick abducted, or did he just storm off again? Still trying to figure that out. Alright. Yeah, I'll call you if I find him. Hospital if he's hurt, or do you want me to take care of it? Yeah. I'll talk to you later."

Wally hung up, sighing to himself. Dick could be in a million places by now. How the hell was Wally supposed to have seen him? Yeah, he was worried, he was terrified, actually, but Bruce always got on his nerves. It was like he thought Wally was the one to kidnap him in the first place! Instead of actually looking for Dick, Bruce was lecturing Wally for not picking up the phone in the first three rings, which Wally called bullshit on. He knew plenty of times where Bruce didn't answer Dick until the very last ring. Yes, Wally gave him a taste of his own medicine, but he deserved it! He was always so busy harping on Dick for every little thing, and he only started acting concerned when he was missing. Dick was in the hospital? He'd visit for about thirty minutes. Dick had almost been killed? It's the job. Dick had admitted to being depressed and wanted to seek actual help with Dinah? Bruce was suddenly too busy to be a part of his son's life. Wally was sick of it.