Nightwing: Heartache

Part 1: The Ending; The Beginning

Welcome back friends :) Thank you all so much for your kind words on Nightwing: Heartless and your patience as I worked on this second part.

This story will be posted in six installments, the first twenty chapters are posted along with this announcement. The next installment will be on Thursday, August 24, then August 27, August 31, September 3, and finally September 7. As stated in the description, this story will VERY LOOSELY follow season 3 of Young Justice.

I love these characters with all my heart and I'm so grateful that all of you resonate with my interpretation of them as well. I love this community of fans, readers, and writers, and I know there's a lot of amazing fanfiction out there so thank you so much for picking mine to read.

I hope you're ready for this new adventure. Buckle up, get traught, stay whelmed, be chalant, and as always, like and comment to let me know what you think!

I humbly present Nightwing: Heartache...

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Willa sat on her kitchen island and ate a bag of chips as her superhero friends lifted her boxes to the moving van downstairs. M'gann waved as she lifted five boxes with her mind. Connor followed her with two more boxes that probably weighed nothing to him. He shot her a wink and followed M'gann. Kaldur, quietly lifted more boxes. Willa was warming up to him, she had even explained his tattoos and magic made her uneasy because of General Osanos. He understood immediately and answered all her questions about Atlantis. Artemis followed him with only one box.

Dick walked around the corner and leaned on the island behind him, beside her. "You sure about this?"

Willa nodded, "Boston College will accept all my transfer credits and somehow I got a Wayne Enterprise full scholarship to cover all my expenses." She shot him a grin. "It'll do me good to get out of Gotham anyway."

Dick turned around and rocked back on his heels before looking at her, "would it be wrong to ask you to stay?"

"You wouldn't."

"But if I did?"

"It wouldn't be good for either of us."

Dick puffed out a breath of air and ran a hand through his hair. He knew she was right. She had to leave. Dick, Gotham, they both had too much history, too much pain in it for her to be here, at least for the time being. She surveyed the empty apartment that had never really felt like home.

"Are you going to be okay?" Dick asked, restraining himself from touching her.

Willa paused, thinking over the question. "I'm not going to pretend I'm okay yet," she started, "but I will be. Maybe my wrist can finally heal properly." They both laughed. "I'll be okay," she said again, quieter, more for herself. She wasn't back to who she was before she was taken, and she didn't think she'd ever be that girl again, not fully, but she wasn't the shell of herself either. She would be okay. She would be a different version of herself, but she would heal, with her scars, and eventually be okay.

Dick ran a hand through his hair again and Willa fought to not run her hand through his black tangles. She would miss seeing him do that. "If you ever need anything, just say the word."

"I know," she smiled sadly at him. They both knew it was time. The van was packed and his friends waited for them downstairs, giving them time to say goodbye privately.

"Will-"

"Dick-"

They both looked away, blushing, and laughed awkwardly. There was so much to say but neither knew how to say it. "I don't know what my life would be if we didn't..." she swallowed, "but for what it's worth, in spite of everything that happened, you were my first love. Always will be."