Chaos and Darkness [ON HOLD]

Chapter 12

A/N: I want to thank everyone who has read this and stuck with me with these poor and slow updates :)

Dick turned around a corner and was just about to go outside when Artemis suddenly came and blocked his exit. 
His blue eyes narrowed as if she was a foe and not someone who was his friend.

Artemis saw this and placed her hands on her hips, she wasn't dressed in her Tirgress uniform right now because she knew that seeing that always set him off, it was the colors orange and black. They were too similar to Deathstroke's suit.

"Dick, come with me okay'' said Artemis but Dick didn't respond. She then turned and began to walk down the hall, now she was out of his sight and she just hopped that he would follow her. 

Moments later, she could see Dick slowly following her as she lead him to the gym. As soon as she entered the gym, Dick froze by the doors.

"Why are we here?" asked Dick, his eyes scanning the room. His blue eyes landed on trapeze and the bars. He used to love them and enjoyed being in the gym so much but right now everything felt distant. 
Everything that made him who he was felt like it had vanished the second Slade had taken him. Pain filled his chest as he stared at them, he then remembered happier times with him parents on the trapeze. A single tear fell from his eyes and Artemis reached up suddenly and brushed it away. 

Dick blinked and looked down at her, he hadn't realized that she moved and now stood right before him.

Her gray eyes scanned his face, as if she was looking for something or someone. Maybe the 13 year old boy who she first met, or the 17 year old who was no longer a child but still held that bright light and joy in him or maybe she was searching for the one she loved, Wally. Maybe she was looking at him to see what Wally saw and loved about him.
But Dick couldn't tell.

"Lets spar'' said Artemis who pulled away from Dick and walked into the center of the room. Dick sighed and looked over the whole room before entering in the gym and slowly walking over towards Artemis.

"I know you. You aren't going to get better by laying in bed all day, besides you have too much energy to stay still for too long'' Artemis said and tossed him a set of escrima sticks over towards Dick.
He caught them with ease and looked down at them in his hands. He loved using escrima sticks. He glanced up at her and smiled slightly as he saw her with a pair as well and her getting into her fighting stance.

Dick made his way over towards the center and got into his fighting stance, gripping tightly onto his escrima sticks. 
Artemis smirked and nodded her head towards him, telling him to attack first. She knew that he needed to be the one to act first, not her because that might only upset him more. He needed to take control and action. He needed to overpower everything so he could have a chance at survival. 

Escrima sticks clashed and the small fight began. 

Every time Dick raised one and brought it down to connect with Artemis' he would see flashes of his time with Slade and that only made him more mad and attack more forcefully, not truly seeing Artemis but Slade and Artemis knew this too.

After about 20 minutes, Dick had Artemis laying on her back with his foot on top of her chest with an escrima stick pointed at her face.

His chest was rising and falling quickly. Artemis laid very still and not uttering a single word, just waiting to see what Dick did next and how he was. Eventually, he pulled back away from her and dropped the escrima stick. He lowered his head for a moment before looked over at her and holding his hand out towards her. She slowly took it and could feel Dick slightly flinch when her hand touched him, as if he wasn't used to any kind of touch that wasn't harmful to him.

"Nice'' said Artemis who grabbed the sticks on the ground and brushed her hair back from her face. She then reached out and gently patted Dick's shoulder before turning and leaving him all alone in the gym.
Dick then suddenly just allowed his legs to give out and let his body crash down upon the gym's floor as he tried to collect himself.

He felt like he had just regained a piece of himself back by sparring with Artemis, he didn't think he would ever feel back to the way he was before Slade. 
Dick sighed and pushed himself up onto his feet and he turned and began to walk towards the doors but stopped in his track and glanced over at the trapeze for a second.

"Îmi pare rău mami și tati. Îmi pare rău că sunt un eșec și o dezamăgire ca fiu. Îmi pare rău și sper că mă poți ierta." [ I'm sorry mommy and daddy. I am so sorry that I am a failure and a disappointment as a son. I'm sorry and I hope you can forgive me.] 
Whispered Dick as he slowly turned and left the gym. 

Off in the corner, Batman lowered his head. He had been alerted by Tim that Dick had ran out of the medbay in an emotional state. He came right away but by the time he came he found Dick and Artemis sparring in the gym. 
He could see all the anger and pain written so clearly across his face as he hurried and sloppy brought the escrima sticks down.

But when he was finally all alone, or at least he thought he was, he spoke to his parents and it sadden Bruce's heart to hear Dick talk like this.
Dick was not a failure or a disappointment as a son, he just hoped that he could be able to help his son to see this again and truly believe it.
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Dick sadly made his way back to the medbay and sat down on the bed with a sigh. He was very thankful for Artemis and all the others for actually caring and wanting to help him out he just didn't know if it was truly possible.

Dick felt worn out from everything that had happened in this day alone, so he laid back on the hospital bed and drifted off to sleep but it didn't last long.

Dick was waken up by a crashing sound. He sat up quickly and looked around the room, the light in the room was flicking on and off. He slowly pushed the blanket off of his body but then suddenly froze when he saw someone walk into the room.

Slade walks over towards Dick and grabs a hold of his face. Dick's eyes were frozen in fear. He slowly moved his hand backward towards the tray on the stand next to him but Slade quickly grabbed a hold of his wrist and slammed it down harshly and Dick could hear a cracking sound and then shooting pain in his wrist and hand. 

"Well, our show down is going to happen, but this time it is too premature. Although it would be the simplest thing for me to kill you right now, I won't. You would only cause me more problems, you would become a martyr, the whole Justice League would rally behind your untimely demise. But I promise you, I have a plan for us, for you my child. You will get your chance to live and I will destroy you." said Slade and then punched Dick in the face, knocking him out of bed and onto the floor. Dick began to push himself up but then Slade kicked him in the gut and pulled out a small blade and slammed it into his shoulder before kicking him in the face.

"I'll see you soon'' said Slade as he slowly began to vanish into the shadows. Dick's vision was blurry as he watched Slade walk away right before darkness cover his whole vision, knocking him unconscious.