The Jest of Robin

18: Missing Bird

Wayne Manor, April 1, 2010, 13:53 EDT

One. He couldn't believe he was actually able to do this.

Two. All of his friends were here.

Three. Wally had a hand on his shoulder.

Four. Babs was holding one of his hands.

Five. Bruce was standing behind him.

Six. He felt surrounded by love.

Seven. He almost felt happy.

Eight. He wanted to laugh.

Nine. He wanted to cry.

Ten. His arm was starting to hurt.

Eleven. He should take more medication.

Twelve. He needed to laugh.

Thirteen. He felt it trying to burst from his lips like a cough.

Fourteen. He wanted the liquid that made him feel as though he was on fire.

Fifteen. Flashes of green and white played in his mind.

Sixteen. His legs were beginning to feel like jelly.

Seventeen. His head was pounding.

Eighteen. His vision was blurry.

Nineteen. His legs gave out.

Twenty. Bruce was barely able to catch him.

Twenty one. He heard all of their voices, but what were they saying?

Twenty two. He felt sounds escaping his lips, but he couldn't tell what it was.

Twenty three. Now introducing the Flying Graysons!

Twenty four. Welcome ladies and gentlemen, to the Falling Graysons!

Twenty five. Where is it? Where's the last bird?

There were supposed to be twenty five. Where is the last one? Vision still blurry, hearing still dulled, he scrambled away from everyone else, crawling on his hands and knees to the white habitat, not caring about how much pain it caused him. His body still shook with laughter and sobs, but he didn't care. Where was the last robin?

Dick looked into the wooden cage, trying to find his missing piece. It was missing, it was missing, it wasn't there. It wasn't in the grass. It wasn't in the house. Where was it? Where was it? He couldn't have messed this up. This was his one thing. The one thing that made him feel close to his family. He had to do this correctly. Where was it? He messed up.

He was a failure. If he couldn't even help one bird, how could he have thought he could help Batman as Robin? He messed up. He was useless. It was gone, and he was laughing, and he was scaring his family. No. He was scaring his friends. But they didn't know that. They just pitied him. Not Barbara, but everyone else. They weren't his friends. They just tolerated him because they had to. As Dick because they had to protect him and watch out for him. As Robin because Batman forced them to. If Robin weren't there, they wouldn't care. They would be better off without him. He was scaring them. He should just leave.

He shouldn't think they wanted to be here with him. Why would they? He messed this up. It was his thing. How would he be trusted with anything anymore? He messed up a simple task. He lost a bird. He messed up-

What was that? Dick opened his eyes again, not really sure as to when he closed them. He could have been hearing things, although right now he was having issues hearing anything, so who knows. There. It happened again. He looked up. There it was.