Pushing too far

Changes

Dick's thoughts: Why?
Nightwing's thoughts: Because.

Dick woke up late in the afternoon, sore all over. "Did you get hurt again?" He thought as he rubbed his head. "No, I didn't. You were drugged, you idiot." Nightwing snapped. "Well don't yell at me. I'm not as strong as you are against drugs." "I know."

A knock sent both voices into silence. "Dick? Are you ok in there?" Roy. "Yeah. You can come in." "Are you an idiot? He's going to ask questions!" "He won't interrogate me. Remember, I'm not you. They'll take it easy on me." "And what exactly are you going to do when they figure out you've got multiple personality disorder?" "I'll work with them. I want to go back, Nightwing. I want to go back to a time where we were happy, as one. I don't want to be this half broken person."

Roy walked into the room. "Hey, Roy." Dick sat up with a groan. "What's got you in here?" "I wanted to talk to you, Dick. Just you and me, like old times." Dick looked at the clock. "You've only got about twenty minutes before you're talking to Nightwing." "Alright. So, before Nightwing started dealing with the ring, how were you with the whole split situation?"

"I...was conflicted. I figured it was time to go back, but by that time it was too late. We argued, fought over what to do. I wanted...needed, to go back. It was time to talk things out. But Nightwing won't. His thought range is, 'How many people can I save without actually getting close to them?' He blames himself more about Wally's death than I do." "I do not!" "Yes you do, now shut up."

"If you had a choice, would you be willing to work with us, to see if this is anything medical?" "Don't!" "Yes." "Stop! If we become one person again, hundreds with get hurt!" Dick winced as Nightwing yelled at him. "You ok?" "Nightwing's not too happy with me right now." "I said shut up!" "Will you be ok?" "Yeah. I've only got about ten minutes of consciousness left anyway."

"What do you want to do about Nightwing?" "Lock him in one of the cells, down in the cave. Watch him, Roy. If you don't, he'll get out and try to go back to Blüdhaven." "Will do. Let's get you down there." Dick grimaced as he stood up, his head starting to pound. "Ok, we might have less time than I thought. Nightwing's getting pissy with me." "I'm not going to go back just because you decide it!" "I'm trying to do what's best for us! For you! In trying to make it so we can fight crime without being hounded by the police!"

"Dick? Did you hear me?" "Huh? No, I'm fighting with him again." "I said, do you have any weapons with you?" "Not while I'm Dick Grayson. I realize it's better to have them, but with my condition, I'd rather not risk anything."

The elevator stopped and opened up. Wait, when did they get in the elevator? Roy led Dick to the cells, holding one of Dick's arms. Dick sat down heavily on the bench, and Roy closed the door. Dick laid down and closed his eyes, planning on resting.

Nightwing opened his eyes to see the Batcave, with him behind bars. "Dammit, Grayson." Nightwing growled as he sat up. No answer. "Ignoring me now?" "No, I'm tired. I'm taking a nap." "You cannot stand more than two days without sleep. "I've been awake for two weeks because of your obsession! Now listen to me: Roy is handling the ring. We need to rest, and we need it severely. So just lay down and get some sleep. There's not a whole lot else to do in here."

"I swear, Grayson." "I did it for us! We're dead on our feet, and you're injured. So lay down, and go to sleep." "You're getting fiesty. What happened to you?" "I'm done blindly following your orders. We need to work together, or we can't be better. You need to sleep, Nightwing. We both do." "Fine. But this isn't permanent. I won't follow every one of your orders, either."

"Wing? That you?" Roy asked. "What does it sound like?" "Who are you talking to?" "Dick. He'd being annoying." "Love you too, Wing." "Oh, shut it." Nightwing flopped back down and turned his back to Roy. Roy opened his mouth to say something, but closed it.

"Look, I'm not going to pretend this situation is perfect, but look at it this way: we can protect more people." "No, we'll just hurt more people. Every time our emotions got in the way, every time we hesitated because we empathised with the criminal, people got hurt, or killed. Look at Wally. He got killed because we weren't brave enough to put ourselves in danger." Nightwing felt tears come to his eyes at the mention of Wally. Wait, tears?!

"That's why we need to go back. Would Wally want us to do this to ourselves? To split up, one emotionless and the other powerless? Is that really what he'd want?" "Shut up." "Nightwing," "I said shut up!"

A tear slid from Nightwing's eye. "I'm sorry, Wing. I shouldn't have pushed you like that." "Let's just go to sleep." "Are you going to be ok?" "I just...need to think. Give me a little time." "Ok. I'm here if you need me." "Trust me, I know." "Good God, he made a joke." "Shut up." "Yes sir." Nightwing got the impression he was fake saluting.