Work Text:
Dick remembers how it felt to fly on the trapeze with his mama and tata. It is freeing. It is exhilarating. He is as free as a bird as he flies through the sky. But then they fell and he is alone. Dick remembers a dormitory full of five other boys who like to poke and prod at him. His wings are clipped any nobody likes it when he sings or when he tries to fly. Suddenly there’s a kind looking man who comes and takes him away from the damp, dark dormitory. And suddenly, he’s in an airy, spacy home with lots of windows and light. There’s even a trapeze for him to fly on. Dick likes his new home. It’s not the small trailer where he had once lived with his mama and tata, but it’s not that dank dormitory with mean old ladies who yell at him for smiling.
Dick likes his new home. He’s allowed to fly every day and eventually he’s allowed to fly every night alongside Batman. It’s paradise. Or, as close as he can get when he's still mourning the loss of his parents. But Dick knows that Bruce gets it. He knows that he’s not alone and he won’t be because Bruce promised to always be by his side.
Suddenly, in the middle of the night, he’s stolen from his roost. Dick screams bloody murder and Bruce comes barreling down the hall toward his room. But Bruce is too late. Dick screams even more as he watches one of the dark figures sedate Bruce. Dick tries to scramble toward Bruce, but another dark figure jabs a needle in his neck and suddenly it’s dark again.
When he wakes, he almost wishes he can go right back to sleep. However, sleep is a long time coming. William Cobb tells Dick that he’s his grandfather, or great-grandfather or something. Dick doesn’t really know, but he doesn’t really care either. He just wants Bruce. Every time he screams for Bruce, the punishments increase. Eventually, he just stops screaming. This pleases Cobb. Dick spits in his face and receives a blow to the face and a needle full of cold slush.
He hates the cold slush.
The cold slush makes him feel sluggish and turns his skin a funny color. Dick wishes he had Zitka to make him feel safe again. He wishes he could climb into Bruce’s bed and cuddle until the nightmare has passed. Bruce never comes, no matter how much he bargains with God. Dick knows his mama always prayed to God, but he finds it hard to keep praying when he feels his blood slowing in his veins. His will to pray slowly fades away. Eventually, he stops praying.
Eventually, everything s t o p s……