Before The Truth

Ch 26

~Dream~
Dick was wandering through an empty building. 'Such a cliche villain hideout.' He thought to himself as he walked around. Dick stopped when he heard a menacing cackle... It was Bane. Panic swelled within him and his surroundings shifted to become those of the warehouse he had been trapped in.

The familiar surroundings sent Dick to his knees with another round of panic and terror. His eyes scanned the room, looking for the source of that horrible voice.

Bane was nowhere to be found, but there was a dark unmoving mass on the floor.

Dick rushed over to it. His whole body seemed to freeze at the sight before him. Batman lay on the ground, blood pooling around him. Dick reached out a hand and checked for a pulse. Batman's body was cold and unmoving. There was no pulse.

"No... no, NO!" Dick yelled as he watched the blood pool under the dead body of his father figure.

Dick let out a pained cry, begging Batman to wake up, pleading with him not to leave. His cries were interrupted by a cold humorless laugh.

Bane now stood above Dick with a bat in his hand. "You're next ninõ." He said before swinging the bat.
—
Dick awoke in a cold sweat. His throat felt raw from screaming. He lay shivering on his couch, tears streaming down his face.

Bruce was dead... Bane had killed him. Dick tried to convince himself that it was just a dream, but his mind only kept showing him images of Batman's still, bloody form.

Dick grabbed his phone and dialed Bruce's number. The phone rang and rang, seeming like Bruce wasn't going to answer. 'Of course he wouldn't answer...' Dick thought to himself. He was just about to hang up the phone when he heard a voice from the other end of the phone.

"Hello?" Bruce said groggily.

"Bruce." Dick said, relief filling his words. Bruce was alive. It was just a dream.

There was a pause from the other end of the phone. "Why did you call me? At 2:30 in the morning nonetheless."

'I had to make sure you were alright. I just needed to hear your voice...' thoughts filled Dick's head, but he didn't voice any of them. Instead he said, "You ok Bruce?"

"I didn't think you cared." Was the clipped reply.

"I-I just heard something about Bane looking for you." Dick muttered.

"I can handle Bane, Richard." Bruce said in a tone as cold as ice.

Dick flinched when he heard the tone Bruce used. Bruce never called him Richard... Tears welled up in Dick's eyes. He'd called because he had to know that Bruce was alright, but Bruce didn't want to talk to him... he probably hadn't wanted to hear Dick's voice. "I-I, never mind I shouldn't have called you. Sorry for wasting your time... again." Dick said, voice wobbling from unshed tears.

"Dick wait you're not— Bruce was cut off by Dick ending the call. Bruce wasn't dumb he had heard the pain, fear, and sadness in Dick's voice... and yet maybe he was dumb for speaking so harshly to his son when he could tell Dick was in pain.

After ending the call Dick sat on his couch and sobbed. Batman's cold tone echoed in his head, and he felt like he was moments away from falling apart.

Dick was very tired, but he didn't want to fall asleep. He couldn't allow his eyes to drift closed, because he knew that if he did Bane would be waiting to torture him in his dreams.

Deciding that going back to sleep wasn't an option, Dick turned on his tv and switched it to a news station.

"Despite his long absence from the city, it would seem that Blüdhaven officially has its vigilante back." The reporter paused as pictures of him on his motorcycle flashed across the screen. "Nightwing was seen patrolling late last night, after being gone for nearly two months. This begs the questions; Where did he go? And will he stay."

Dick changed the channel with a huff. It's not like he chose to be gone for that long... On the channel Dick had changed to there was a movie playing. It looked interesting enough, so he settled on the couch to watch it.

It didn't take long for Dick to fall asleep. Despite not wanting to, he was genuinely tired and was soon lulled to sleep by the soft sound of the show's characters conversing.

—

When Dick cracked his eyes open the sun was shining brightly through the windows in his apartment. He glanced at his phone to see that it was almost 12:30.

Dick rubbed the sleep from his eyes and sat up on the couch. Surprisingly he hadn't had any more nightmares after he woke up.

Noticing that the tv was still on, Dick grabbed the remote and shut it off.

Dick let out a groan before standing up and walking over to his cupboards to grab something to eat for breakfast/lunch. He grabbed himself a bowl and poured himself a bowl of cereal. 'Alfred would be proud.' Dick thought wryly as he mechanically shoveled the cereal into his mouth.

The conversation he had had with Bruce the night before flitted through his mind. Why had he even called Bruce in the first place? He knew the man wouldn't want his help. Dick was still hardly able to stand up to the common muggers on the streets with his current poor body condition. There was basically a 0% chance of him winning a fight with Bane.

Dick's thoughts turned from Bruce and to himself. He had definitely lost a lot of weight, and most of it was yet to be regained. His muscles had atrophied, and he'd only recently been well enough to start doing some basic exercises.

In an attempt to distract himself from the pit of fear and self pity he was digging for himself, Dick decided to do some exercises in his living room.

Having been given the 'all clear' from Leslie for everything except his knee, Dick pushed himself harder then he had in a while. It also helped that there was no Batman or Alfred standing over him and telling him to take it easy.

After his workout Dick took a long shower. He needed something to do that would keep his mind off of the thoughts that swarmed at the back of his mind, just waiting to surge forward like a powerful wave and overwhelm him. It turns out the perfect distraction was reading a book.

Dick walked into his little office room and grabbed a book off of the small shelf in the corner of the room. He laid down on the couch to read the book, but after a few minutes the book slipped from his grasp and fell gently onto his chest. Soft snores could be heard as Dick dozed peacefully on his couch.

—

Dick blinked his eyes open groggily and fumbled for his phone. He blindly tapped and pressed buttons, trying to get the beeping alarm to be quiet. He ended up taking a few unintentional screenshots, but eventually succeeded in snoozing the alarm by pressing the power button of the phone.

The phone began buzzing again after a few short moments. Dick groaned as he sat up and grabbed the phone, turning off the alarm.

Dick rubbed his sore neck as he glanced at the time. Patrol. That's what the alarm was for.

Pocketing the phone, Dick stood and stretched. His back popped loudly. Dick lamented his choice of the couch over his bed as a sleeping spot for a moment before moving to his bedroom and donning his Nightwing suit.