Dick Grayson one shots

This wasn't the plan

It wasn't supposed to end this way, not with real blood, his blood, spilling out across the sand and turning the yellow-brown grains red.

This wasn't the plan.

The plan was to fake Artemis' death... nobody was actually supposed to die.

Dick's vision began to blur as more of his blood soaked into the sand beneath him. The vague shapes of his team members swam into his vision. Their lips moved, but the world had gone silent, preventing him from hearing their desperate shouts to stay awake, to stay with them.

Fatigue came to rest on Dick's consciousness, making his eyelids feel like weights, each breath taking more effort than the last.

Eventually, Dick's eyes drifted closed and his body stilled after a final rattling breath.

He was gone.

Aqualad had killed him.

—

The funeral was short and sweet, the sky bright blue and adorned with fluffy clouds, just how Dick would've wanted it.

Friends and adopted family gave short speeches about his life, but it just felt so wrong to talk about Dick in the past tense.

Eventually the mourners watched as the casket was lowered into the freshly dug grave, and a gravestone was placed to mark the resting place of the last Flying Grayson.

—

Bruce scanned the crowd, looking for a raven mop of hair or a bright red suit. He watched as everyone who had been in space reunited with their protégées and friends, all the while wondering where Tim and Dick were.

Tim finally came up to Bruce, a heavy mood surrounding him as he wrapped an arm around Bruce in a side-hug.

"Where's Nightwing?" Bruce asked, slightly offended that his son hadn't come to welcome him back.

Tim stilled when Bruce spoke the name of his deceased brother, and his head subconsciously turned, allowing himself to see into the memorial garden.

Bruce's eyes followed his son's glance, and his heart stilled when he saw a 3D hologram that looked an awful lot like Nightwing.

As if they had a mind of their own, Bruce's feet carried him into the garden where he stared at Nightwing's hologram in disbelief. "Wha-what happened?" he asked weakly.

"Aqualad killed him," Tim deadpanned.

Bruce fell to his knees in front of his son's memorial. Another son he failed, another he came too late to save.

Everyone politely kept their distance. Averting their eyes and giving Bruce privacy while he mourned, but if they had have looked, they would've seen the Dark Knight cry.

—

Anger was the only thing Jason knew when he came back from the dead. He was constantly drowning in his rage. Angry at the Joker, angry at Bruce, angry at Dick. So he did the only thing he could think of doing. He went after Bruce.

Jason fought Bruce, convinced he needed to kill his adoptive father for everything to be alright again, convinced that he would kill Bruce if he had the chance. But when it came down to it, he just couldn't bring himself to pull the trigger...

Jason stomped through the graveyard, heading towards his own grave, a place where he often went when he needed to think. His own headstone was right next to a large weeping willow tree that offered a great place to sit and think.

As Jason walked through the rows of graves, something caught his eye. It was a new grave, one on the Wayne family plot.

Jason walked closer to investigate, wondering who might be buried there. What he didn't expect, was to see Dick Grayson's name carved into a headstone that rested near his parents'.

Realization hit Jason like a punch to the gut. Dick Grayson was dead.

Tears filled Jason's eyes, and he vowed that he would find whoever did this to his brother and make them pay.