Dick Grayson one shots

Sacrifice P2

Hopefully this was worth the wait...

Dick had always dreamed that he'd go back and join the circus one day, but he never imagined that it would happen like this...

A whip cracked in the air near Dick's head and he raised himself onto his hind legs.

"Good Fang, good," the circus' animal trainer shouted, leading Dick into the next part of the act.

After Dick had been taken by the Joker, he'd been stuffed into a cage for a while, and been forced to intimidate the Joker's enemies, but eventually he'd been sold to the circus to help the Joker pay off one of his many debts.

Dick's life hadn't been horrible with the circus he'd been sold to, but he missed his family, his freedom, and more importantly, he missed being human.

'Wonder if Bruce is still looking for me,' Dick thought to himself. He doubted it. It had, after all, been almost a year. In fact, his birthday was tomorrow. This year, it had conveniently lined up with the circus' trip to Gotham, something that he definitely wasn't looking forward to.

To be so close to his family... and to know that they wouldn't be coming for him. It was almost more than he could bear...

The whip cracked again, lashing Dick on the side and causing him to let out a quiet yowl as he jumped onto the tall platform the animal trainer directed him to.

Dick tried to push all the thoughts about Gotham and his family out of his head and focus on jumping from one platform to another through the large flaming hoops.

—

Gotham was the final stop for the Lunar circus. It was supposed to be the most spectacular show of the entire tour, and Dick spent hours with the trainer as the man tried to teach him a new routine.

The routine was just as boring to Dick as every other one had been, but maybe that was just because he used to do more daring tricks as he swung through the streets and searched for criminal activity. Jumping from box to box just didn't do it for him.

"That's enough for now Fang," the trainer said, winding up his whip and leading Dick back to his train-car cage which was set up where passerby's would be able to see him.

Dick circled the cage a few times before plopping down with a huff and laying his head on his paws.

—

Bruce, Jason, Tim, and Damian wondered through the food trucks, games, and exhibits that were set up outside of the large central tent of the circus.

The mood that followed the Wayne clan was a dark one. Though the circus around them was filled with laughter and smiles, the Waynes were all thinking about their lost brother, the one they would be celebrating if he had still been with them.

"Father, may we go look at the animals?" Damian asked quietly.

Bruce blinked in surprise. Damian had become extremely quiet and reserved since Dick had been taken, rarely saying more than 5 or 10 words in a day, so to hear him say something was surprising.

"Of course Damian," Bruce said, turning with the rest of his family and making his way toward the section where a hodgepodge of different exotic animals were lounging in their various cages.

Damian stopped by a cage housing a large black tiger. One who looked so similar to how Dick had looked when he had been a tiger... but this couldn't be his brother... Joker had killed Dick... he'd even showed them the black pelt...

—

Dick froze when he saw his family standing in front of his cage. He stood up quickly, and chuffed happily, rubbing his head across the bars of his cage.