Brothers Until Time Shatters

4

Jason's head snapped up when he heard a knock on the door. 

"Jaybird? It's Timmy." 

Jason launched to his feet. For about a month now, Tim had known about Dick's predicament. It had happened during a visit to Wayne Manor to ask Bruce, forever unhelpful, for help. Tim had also been there, trying to puzzle out Jason and Dick's disappearance. Tim, who luckily still had his phone, had promptly called Cass and Stephanie in to help. 

"Tim? What's going on? It's the middle of the . . ." Jason whipped the door open, and his jaw dropped. "Demon?" 

"Hello, Todd." Damian brushed past him into the tiny apartment. "I heard you had the answers to my problem." 

Jason slammed Damian against the wall. "What are you doing here, Demon Spawn? Finally decide to take some interest in your brother?" 

"What on earth are you talking about? You're almost as bad as Drake!" 

Jason paused, his anger abating slightly at Damian's genuinely confused expression. "You don't know, do you?" 

"Nope. Apparently, Bruce didn't tell him like he told us he had." Tim slid inside the apartment, closing the door while simultaneously wrinkling his nose. "I know Bruce didn't want to give you the penthouse apartment, but this place is awful! It literally looks like an apartment out of a horror film!"

"Cool it on the apartment, rich boy, we've got other issues." Jason turned back to Damian. "B really didn't tell you?"

"For the last time what are you all talking about?" Damian shrieked. As if in response to his annoyance, Dick walked into the living room. His vacant eyes found Damian's, and he gave him a genuine smile. 

Jason blinked. "Of course he responds better to you than me," he muttered. 

Damian ignored him, walking over to Dick instead. "Dickiebird?" He stood in front of his older brother, not moving and barely breathing. The physical features were the same as his brother, but there wasn't the life in him that normally defined Dick. 

"Yeah, it's him." Jason sighed. "Have a seat kid, this is going to be a long story."

********

By the end of the story, Damian's mouth was hanging so far open that Tim was conducting a study on how many Skittles he could fit in Damian's mouth before he choked. He was at 598,765 before Damian sucked in a breath to speak and choked, spewing Skittles everywhere. 

"20 second rule!" Jason scrambled across the floor, trying to pick up all the Skittles on the floor before they got too dirty. 

"Dude, that's disgusting. You realize those have Demon slobber all over them, right?" Tim looked both horrified and intrigued.

In response Jason, who had apparently found all the Skittles, blew on them a few times before popping them in his mouth. "Still taste fine."

"Ew." Tim shuddered. "I hope you've gotten all your vaccinations."

"So let me get this straight," Damian choked out, finally managing to clear all the Skittles' pieces out of his windpipe. "Dick has been wiped by the League in a manner that we've never seen before but Father has, though because he didn't tell us about it we were blindsided. And now Dick is stuck in a shell out of which we cannot retrieve him, I was kept in the dark, and we're all mad at Father again."

"Yep." Jason began chewing up his Skittles. "That 'bout sums it all up."

"So why didn't anyone call me? Dick's my brother too!"