[IN THE END] - DICK GRAYSON - YOUNG JUSTICE

CHAPTER 10B

Again, sorry this is somewhat rushed... Though I guess it's good for y'all if you like updates.  Anyway, comment and keep reading!  Thanks!

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A few more months passed, and November rolled around, which meant Wally's birthday month had arrived.  "So let me get this straight... we're just staying for two nights?"  Richard asked.  "Only two."  Richard moaned.  He was glad that he would see his best friend, but he desperately wished he could have more time.  He stumbled back into his room where he continued to pack, though it didn't take long at all.  He then placed the red duffle by the door and proceed to pace back and forth.  He still needed to figure out what to get Wally for his birthday.  He would think of something eventually.  And when he would, he'd make Batman take him out in the bat mobile to get it.  Besides, right now he had to get there. 

The two finally left the cave and made their way to mount justice so they could celebrate.  However to Bruce's surprise Richard fell asleep.  It wasn't like him to do so at eleven o'clock.  Especially given the situation.  He was about to see his best friend.  The one that he happened to not see for the past three months.  Which, yes, in Richards mind was a long time. 

Even though he fell asleep earlier than usual, things went as they normally do.  A good dream, followed by bad one.  With a thick line of blurs in-between.  He woke up about an hour later, breathing deeply, which left Bruce with many questions.  "Are you okay?"  Bruce asked worriedly.  Richard acted like it was no big deal.  He didn't want Bruce knowing.  "A okay.   How far are we."  Richard hoped that he would get easily distracted.  And that's when he realized he was talking to Bruce... talking to Batman.  "Forty minutes.  But I'm not buying this a okay thing."  He added.  "It was just a bad dream.  No bigge.  I rarely get them."  He lied right through his teeth.  "Is it because your security person isn't here with you?"  Bruce responded remembering that night.  "You're funny Bruce."  Richard said quoting the same thing both he and Bruce said that night.  He remembered it much more. 

The two entered in the middle of the night, as they normally do, silently creeping through the halls.  Richard then entered his room, and sat on his bed, scared to go to sleep.  In the summer he was lucky, he had only woken up trying to catch his breath.  He had yet sit up from his nightmare screaming.  And so he laid on his bed for another hour, till he finally drifted off to sleep.

"Nothing... I was just wondering why I have to wear such bright colors."  A smile inched across her face.  "It's so that all the people can see you.  When I watch you up on those ropes, you remind me of a little Robin."  He smiled at his mother as he crawled into her tight embrace.  Pulling him close to her chest. 

The dream became blurry  as the tone shifted.

"Are these your real parents?"  The voice was deep and filled with hatred.  "You still love em?"  The rapid flashbacks kept changing.  " They are gone Dick!"  The darkness intruded. "Never coming back."  The sentences kept getting louder.  "I'm your family now."  The photo of his parents found its way into the dream.  "I'm your family now."  Those words kept replaying.  And then the photo was ripped, and dropped on the floor like it was nothing. 

Richard woke up screaming, grabbing his chest.  All he could hear as he woke up were the words that soon became faint replay one more time.  "I'm your family now."  Richard was still screaming uncontrollably, trying to calm down.  Tears streaming down his face, he was thankful that the adults were on the other side of the mountain and it was just him and-

Wally sprinted through the bathroom with a flashlight in hand.  Richard was sitting there, still wearing the mask, staring at the photo beside his nightstand.  Luckily, he stopped screaming, though he was trying to catch his breath.  Wally walked towards him unsure of what to say.  But it didn't matter because Richard spoke for him.  "I can't do this anymore."  He admitted, still staring at the picture.  Wally sat down beside him.  "Do what?"  Wally questioned.  "Lie.  It's been ten months.  And you don't deserve this."  He picked up the photo frame.  Wally was waiting for something else to be said.  Was the ripped photo of a woman and a man supposed to tell him something?  He was under the impression they were Robins cousins, or aunt and uncle. 

That's when Richard flipped the frame over undoing the back portion so that the photo could come lose.  "What are you doing?"  Wally wondered.  "Coming clean."  Richard responded.  He pulled away the back piece, taking out the picture.  He set the frame beside him, and glanced at his parents one last time before picking up photo, to reveal another.  Wally nearly collapsed when he saw it.  Richard handed it to him, so he could make sure it was legit.  He looked up from the photo, and to the raven haired boy.  Tears still lingering, he ripped off his mask to prove that it was him.  Wally gave him a huge hug.  "This is the best birthday ever."  Richard looked over at the clock.  It was three-thirty.  He laughed, and then responded.  "And it is indeed your birthday."  Wally came out of the embrace to look the younger boy in the eyes.  "Birthday aside."  He said seriously.  "Now tell me your real story."  Richard gave him a weary smile, unaware if he, himself could make it through tell him about his past.  He looked down at his mask  "I might get a little upset though, and I hate to show how-"  Wally soon interrupted.  "You're a strong Richard.  And I know you don't need a mask to conceal how you really feel.  You're wise enough to hide your emotions on your own."  Then Wally thought back to a conversation the two had just before summer ended.  "I already know your secret; As you've told me once before, even a white rose has a black shadow."  He finished.  A smile grew across Richard's face knowing older boy was right.  "Well people at school define me as the kid that lost their parents when they were young, but there's so much more.  So much..."  He began.  "My childhood died with my parents, and at six years old I was forced to grow up and face the horrors of the real world.  I was put in a delinquency center at first, and I stayed there for about eight months.  Then I was adopted, into an abusive household, where I remained prisoner for three years.  I went to bed every night with tears in my eyes and death in my heart.  And for all that time, being trapped in a child's prison, and anyone's worst hell, I was homesick for a place that I didn't even know existed..."  Richard went on a while longer, explaining his past in great detail, while Wally sat there listening every step of the way.