Save Your Sin || Dick Grayson [2]

12| Begin Again

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Considering the long night that I had found myself in I expected to be in a deep sleep by now. Instead the desire to flee Gotham and the desire to stay were burning inside of me like twin flames preventing me from even thinking about sleep. The night was getting warmer as the first signs of day break were beginning to shine through. The view of the city from the roof of my loft had always been one of my favorites it now I watched the city with a sense of melancholy.

Just as I was beginning to convince myself that it was time to go back inside the familiar sound of a cape against to wind snapped me back to reality.

"Who do you think you are to continuously seek me out?" I called out as I sat up to face the figure that I knew was lurking in the shadows. In reality I should be surprised, but truthfully some part of me expected this visit. Maybe that was why I decided to come out here to begin with. "No wait.... I know. You are vengeance. You are the night. You are Batman. Does that sound about right? Who did you say that line too again? Was it Eddie or Scarecrow? I really can't remember."

"Why are you staying in Gotham?" Batman asked instead unfazed by my words but having known him long enough I knew that practically nothing fazed him. Especially not words.

Stepping closer to him I found that I needed to look him in the eyes wanting to talk to Bruce Wayne and not Batman. This felt like a conversation that I didn't want to have with a mask, though I was beginning to think that Bruce Wayne was Batman's mask. That maybe Bruce Wayne didn't really exist at all and there was only Batman left. "I need to be here. I need to find her. Why are you here?"

"My boy...Dick," He quickly corrected continuing like he didn't just reveal a major vulnerability. I had never doubted how much Dick meant to Bruce, even if Dick himself didn't see it."he's going to need you. You could help him with training the others."

"I'm sure he can handle it."

"There's also Jason, he seems to have taken a liking to you."

"I seem to have that effect on Robins." I replied but immediately dropped the facade knowing that this wasn't time for games. And truthfully my mind wasn't in a place where I could keep it going for very long, so instead looked at The Batman with curiosity. "Your sending Jason with Dick?"

"His aggression is getting out of hand. Maybe Dick will be able to help him where I can't." He admitted and I couldn't help but feel surprised by his honesty as it was something that Bruce Wayne did not do often.

"Never thought I would live the day to hear The Bat say he can't do something."

"Not as easy as it seems." He replied a slight hint of amusement in his voice, and it seemed that maybe he was dropping his act too. Not much, but enough for me to feel caught off guard by the direction that this conversation was taking.

"I thought you didn't trust me? Why would you want me anywhere near... your boys?"

"I failed you. I don't want to make the same mistake with Jason." Bruce said and I once again couldn't help but feel surprised by his words. This was as close of an apology that I would ever be getting from Bruce Wayne and I found that I was at a loss of words.

For a moment I was overcome with emotions that I couldn't place realizing that this was something that I needed to hear from him. But I still refused to show him how his words moved me by acting indifferent to them. Maybe this was a common trait that Bruce and I shared, or maybe it was a trait that I had picked up from him. "You and Dick really do love to pick your strays."