Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Richard (Dick) John Grayson had always known he was a half-blood.

Well, more like one-third-blood since John Grayson had also been involved in his conception, but semantics.

His godly parent was Zephyros, God of the West Wind. Zephyros was the gentlest of the four winds, signaling the coming of Spring and warm weather and plant growth. He was helpful and kind. (The Harbinger of Spring part was ironic since Dick was born on the first day of Spring. Or maybe that was intentional…)

Dick’s other two parents, Mary and John Grayson, were also helpful and kind. They used their knowledge of the Greek world to guide half-bloods towards the safety of a place called Camp Half-Blood. They helped mortals who were down on their luck. They brought joy through their circus performances and were always willing to pitch in more than their fair share to keep things afloat.

Life in the circus was idyllic. Dick and his older cousin, Johnnie, were the youngest of the crew. When not stuck doing chores, they spent a lot of time playing superhero. Johnnie would be Green Lantern while Dick was Superman.

Johnnie complained about the fact Dick could create wind to actually fly, as they learned when the latter was five.

Mary and John just told him not to do it in public.

It was a happy time, but it wasn’t to last.

The Fates wouldn’t allow it.

Chapter Text

Dick shivered where the rain pelted him on the rooftop. He dared not close his eyes. He’d just see their bodies or them falling.

He’d frozen when the wires had snapped. If he hadn’t, maybe he could have saved them. What good were wind powers if he couldn’t use them to save his family?

The rain lightened and a wind picked up.

Instinctively, Dick knew it was coming from the West.

He turned when his godly parent sat next to him.

“I’m sorry.” Zephryos said. “They were good people.”

Dick didn’t speak, just willed himself not to cry.

Zephryos sighed. “I loved them too, but not even a god can stop what the Fates have willed to happen.”

“Why?” Dick croaked.

“Only the Fates know, but I have been inquiring. Lord Hades has allowed me to inform you that your parents have achieved Elysium for the number of half-bloods they guided to camp.”

“What about Johnnie? And Aunt Karla and Uncle Rick?”

“The Fields of Asphodel. The judges did not find their lives to be significant enough. I’m sorry.”

Dick let the tears fall.

“I have to go before the Olympians notice me missing. But take this. Know that you always have my favor, my son. I know you are destined for great things.”

A gentle wind blew and Dick was alone on the rooftop once more. He opened his fist to see a pendant, a basket of unripe fruit. He swallowed hard before slipping the chain over his head and hiding the pendant under his Juvenile Detention Center jumpsuit. He stared out at the streets, numb with grief.

“You shouldn’t be out here.”

Dick shrugged, not deigning Batman with an answer. He hoped the man hadn’t seen him put the pendant on. He didn’t want to fend off curiosity about the gift.

Batman sighed. “This is the third night in a row you’ve run away from the Detention Center, Richard. I don’t know how you keep managing it, but you need to stay there if you want any chance of getting out permanently.”

“Make your friend work faster.”

“I don’t think the legal system works like that, but he’s working on it. Just be patient.”

“Just go back to being a punching bag.” He must’ve imagined it, but Batman almost seemed to flinch.

“I’m sorry the other boys are taking advantage of you. I’ll see if there’s anything I can do to speed up the process, but you have to be patient.”

Dick didn’t mention how the guards did it too. He doubted that would help his case.

Batman guided him back to the Detention Center and watched carefully until he was sure the boy was inside.

Dick shivered again as the heat hit his soaking wet skin and clothes. He didn’t return to his cell, just sat in the hallway waiting for a guard to find him.

The beatings from the guards tended to be lighter than the ones from his cellmates.

Mr. Wayne seemed kind. He had gotten Dick out of the Detention Center, after all.

But he was never really around. He rarely came to dinner and it was an odd night when he was present in the house during the wee hours of the morning when Dick woke from a nightmare.

Dick had never been in one place long enough to attract monsters. When the first one showed up at Wayne Manor, Dick was kind of glad Bruce wasn’t there to question why Dick’s necklace could turn into a celestial bronze shuriken.

Alfred questioned the gold “glitter” on the floor the next morning though. Dick just shrugged it off as an art project.

Days passed. Dick felt frustrated with the lack of attention from his new guardian. He snuck out more than once to search for his family’s murderer. Even if the Fates had ordained it, Tony Zucco had been the one to murder them.

Batman was very good at finding him and escorting him back to the Manor.

Confined to either the Manor or his new school, Dick felt stifled. Especially since he wasn’t allowed out on the grounds without supervision.

One day, a couple weeks in, he sensed a draft coming from Bruce’s study. It was odd. There weren’t many windows in there.

He entered cautiously. None of the windows were open. Where was the draft coming from?

Alfred found him there and admonished him for entering Bruce’s private space without permission.

Dick started searching for similar odd drafts. He found one in the library. And one in the cellar. And one close to the kitchens.

But he had no clue where they led.

Late one night, after waking from a nightmare at 2 am, he wandered and found the door to Bruce’s study open.

He looked around. No Alfred. No Bruce.

He slipped into the study.

The draft was coming from the grandfather clock against the wall. Dick stared at it.

The time was wrong. It said 9:14.

Dick frowned. He prodded around until he found a loose panel that, upon opening, he discovered housed the winding feature. He started winding the clock. It would probably take a bit to get to 2 something am. But he should be able to get close!

He hit 10:47 and heard a click. The grandfather clock moved to the side. It hid a secret passage.

Well, he did want to know where the draft was coming from.

Dick entered the secret passage, the grandfather clock closing behind him and immersing him in darkness.. He soon found himself on a spiral staircase going down, down, down. It was a lot of stairs. Did whoever used it climb them all often?

Finally, he saw some lights at the bottom. He sped up. He’d just hit the bottom when he clocked the voices.

“I’m just saying, Master Bruce. You need to be around more. The boy needs you.” That was Alfred! And he was talking to Bruce?

Dick took a few steps back up the stairs, crouching in the darkness.

“He needs justice for his parents.” Bruce argued. “I still don’t have many leads for…”

“Master Bruce, you cannot avoid your responsibilities forever. Master Dick is your responsibility. Do not tell me you took him in just to neglect him.”

“What?! Of course not!”

Dick peeked around the corner. Alfred was standing by a set of monitors. Sat in the chair in front of him was Batman?!

He must’ve made a sound because two heads swiveled to look in his direction.

He ducked back into the shadows, hoping they hadn’t seen him.

“Did you leave the door to the cave open?”

“Of course not, Master Bruce. However, I should inform you Master Dick has been… exploring.”

Footsteps coming towards him. Dick tried to scramble up the stairs some more.

Click.

The stairs flooded with light.

Dick turned around. Batman, whose cowl was down revealing Bruce, and Alfred were staring at him.

“There was a light switch?!”

Chapter Text

Training to become Robin was hard, but it was worth it to be actively working on getting Zucco behind bars.

It also helped he saw his new guardian a lot more after discovering the Batcave. He made a game of naming everything according to the theme. Bruce’s reactions to said game were very amusing.

“It’s just the computer, not the Batcomputer.”

“Dick. No. It’s not called a batarang.”

“Isn’t Bat-Bo Staff a bit too much of a mouthful?”

“Batcowl is a step too far.”

“Okay… Batmobile is actually a good one.”

So sue him. It was fun and he was eight.

Weeks passed. Batman finally found a lead on Tony Zucco.

Taking him down was… well… was anticlimactic the right word?

It struck him then more than ever that taking down Zucco wouldn’t bring his family back.

But as he sobbed into Bruce’s shoulder later that night, he knew he’d be okay.

He had a new family now.

Robin scowled as he spotted the Dracaenae ambling towards two cowering brothers. They didn’t seem to be twins, but were clearly brothers. That was rare for demigods.

He didn’t waste any time. He reached under his armor, pressed his pendant twice, and sent the two resulting celestial bronze shurikens straight into the Dracaenae’s neck.

She burst into gold dust, and he leapt down to approach the brothers.

“Are you alright?”

“How’d you do that? We’ve just been having to outrun them!” The younger blurted out.

The elder looked wary. “You’re that superhero sidekick. Robin, right?”

“I’m his partner.” Robin corrected. “But yes.” He surveyed them. “You seen a lot of those?”

“Not that specific type, but weird creatures, yes.” The younger seemed more open than the elder, who elbowed his brother to indicate not to share too much.

Robin fished a business card, printed in dyslexia-friendly lettering, from his belt. “This place can help you learn to handle them. I recommend it. It’s the safest place for people like us.”

“Like us?” The younger questioned.

“This says Delphi Strawberries.” The elder was skeptical. “Why are you sending us to a strawberry farm?”

“That’s just their cover. I promise it’s safe. They’ll help you.”

“There are a lot of reasons a place would need a cover, very few of them good.” The elder said.

“I took an oath to help people when I became Robin.” Robin countered. “I know you don’t trust me, but just give it a chance. Please?”

The younger looked to the elder, who seemed to be mentally debating it. 

“How would we get there?”

Robin looked around and withdrew three twenties from his belt. “Don’t tell Batman. This is from my allowance. It should get you a train ticket at least as far as New York.”

“You’re giving us your allowance?!” The younger gaped.

“You need it more than I do.” Robin shrugged.

Some of the wariness left the elder. “We’ll try it. But if it goes south, we’re telling everyone you sent us there.”

Robin nodded. “The Amtrak station is about five blocks that way. May Zephyros, the west wind, speed you on your way and may Hermes, god of travelers, ensure your safe arrival.”

The elder raised a skeptical eyebrow, but shrugged off the presumably weird prayer. 

He’d find out why Robin had called upon the Greeks specifically when he got to camp.

Chapter Text

Dick was luckier than a good number of the half bloods he crossed. He could read Ancient Greek, but he wasn’t dyslexic. 

He was, however, ADHD. Made it hard to concentrate in school. His teachers also didn’t appreciate his wriggling.

His parents had never gotten him officially diagnosed, but Bruce did. It certainly lowered the number of times he was sent to the office because he couldn’t sit still.

Dick was lucky, and because he was lucky, he chose to look out for those who were less lucky.

Lou Ellen Blackstone was his latest new friend. She was a couple years older than him, but had been held back in kindergarten and first grade because of undiagnosed dyslexia.

Dick went out of his way to defend her from bullies and keep her company.

She liked card tricks. Dick guessed Hecate if he was right about her.

Of course, push came to shove and, near the end of the school year, he found her sitting outside the principal’s office due to a monster attack perceived wrong.

“Lou Ellen?” He approached where she was hanging her head, listening to the principal argue with her dad inside. “What happened?”

She wiped her eyes. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“Try me.”

She told him about the monster attack. How she’d stabbed the creature with a broom handle to get it to not eat her.

“Creative.” Was Dick’s response to her method. “You know, I’ve heard of a place that helps kids who have to deal with those types of monsters.”

She looked at him, tears still streaming down her face. “ Please ! My dad’s at the end of his rope!”

He handed her one of the dyslexia-friendly cards he carried around with him. “Delphi Strawberries is just a cover. It’s actually called Camp Half Blood.”

“A camp?” 

“A summer camp. I think it’ll help. Give it a shot?”

She swallowed and then nodded. “Okay. I’ll talk to my dad about it.”

“Keep in touch? You have my email, right?”

A watery smile came from her at that. “Y-yeah. I got it. And… thanks, Dick. You’ve been a good friend to me this year.”

“Anytime. You deserve a friend.” Mentally, he added his blessing to her. May Zephyros, the west wind, speed you on your way and may Hermes, god of travelers, deliver you safely.

And if Mr. Blackstone later sent a gift basket for helping his daughter? That was neither here nor there.

Chapter Text

Dick internally grumbled in frustration as he externally talked his way out of a detention for being extremely late to class.

He’d been fighting a monster and it had taken longer than the usual passing period between classes.

He didn’t get out of the detention, unfortunately. On the way to said detention, however, he figured out the problem.

Bruce had stuck another tracker on him.

He groaned out loud as he pulled it off his blazer and crushed it. He understood Bruce’s concern. He was still a couple months away from turning 12. But it was attracting the monsters.

There has to be a compromise. He thought to himself as he slipped into the room detention was being held in. Maybe… There’s got to be a way to keep tech from attracting monsters.

“Just sit there and stare at the wall. No phones. No homework. Nothing. Think about what you’ve done.” The teacher in charge told Dick and the other students who’d wound up in detention that day.

I wonder. Maybe there’s a way to solve this problem while benefiting Olympus? The Mist protects the mythological world from mortals and vice versa. If I can…

His mind started to run through what he knew about tech and what he knew about the Mist. He was thankfully still thinking about it when he got home. 

With a few quick words to Alfred, he hurried up to his room and pulled out his phone, which he usually kept off.

He pried the back off of the phone and looked over the pieces.

Then, he started sketching a design.

Lady Hecate, goddess of the Mist, and Lord Hephaestus, god of the forge, hear my plea. Please guide my hand in creating a phone that strengthens the Mist while preventing monsters from tracking me.

He brainstormed for a bit. Sketching and erasing, writing out lists of components and detailing what he needed to build them.

All too soon it was time for dinner.

He was frustrated with the interruption. He was just getting into the groove!

But Alfred just raised an eyebrow and Dick went to dinner without complaining.

He made sure to sacrifice part of his meal to Hecate and Hephaestus as well as his dad. (Alfred and Bruce had long since stopped questioning his sacrifices, realizing it was clearly a religious thing.)

He’d just finished his meal, brain still on his conundrum, when it came to him.

He asked to be excused and barely waited for permission before rushing back to his room.

He took apart his current phone completely, ripping away the wires and replacing them with celestial bronze ones. He built a filter that pushed the Mist through the phone, creating energy while coming out the other side stronger than when it had been sucked in.

He was reattaching the back when he suddenly realized he had no clue where the celestial bronze wiring came from or how he’d come up with the design for the filter.

He detached the back again and made blueprints of his design before reattaching it.

Then, he whispered. “Thank you. Would you like me to get this design patented and sold through Wayne Tech? The more of them out there, the stronger the Mist will get.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a sparkle.

A much, much larger pile of celestial bronze wires had appeared.

Dick grinned. “I’ll get right on it.”

Bruce was very pleased with his design. Due to the celestial bronze wiring and Mist filter, the battery never ran out.

He questioned the special metal on the wires and Dick said he could get a hold of more of it. It had to be that specific metal though.

The phone was patented and on its way out to market by the end of the week.

Dick gave an extra big sacrifice to Hecate and Hephaestus for their help.

That brought Dick to his next task. 

“B?” 

Bruce looked over from where he stood in front of the Batcomputer. He hummed to show he was listening.

Dick took a deep breath. “I’m tired of you putting trackers on me, but… I know you’re not comfortable not knowing where I am. I wanted to propose a compromise.”

He could tell he had Bruce’s full attention now. He steeled himself.

“You can have trackers on me if you let me design them.” 

Bruce stepped towards him.

“I’ll use a similar design to the phones, so the trackers will never die. I’ll even let you inject me with one. But the ones I don’t know about have to stop.”

“I know you’re going to make them deactivatable.” Bruce accused.

“Yes.” Dick didn’t deny it. “But I promise never to deactivate them for more than 24 hours, and never without alerting you of the reason in some way, shape, or form.”

Bruce surveyed him, arms crossed. Dick forced himself to stay still, even as his ADHD encouraged him to squirm.

“Well?”

“I will accept those terms. I want at least three of them on you at all times. One of which is injected.”

Dick breathed out a sigh of relief and then immediately tried to cover it up. “Yes, Bruce. Thank you, Bruce.”

“Names. We’re in the cave.”

“Your cowl’s down.”

Bruce narrowed his eyes.

“Right.” Dick muttered. “Anyway, I’ve got a couple ready.” He pulled them out of his pocket. He’d made six of them. More than Bruce evidently needed.

Bruce walked over. He examined each of the trackers before connecting them to a hidden server connected through the Batcomputer.

Dick held still as Bruce injected one in the back of his neck.

“I feel like a dog.”

“Hn. You’re not a dog. You’re my child. And I’m not letting a kidnapper take you away from me.”

Dick winced, reminded of the numerous times he’d been kidnapped since coming to live with Bruce.

Then, he recognized something else in Bruce’s tone.

“Does this mean you want to go through with adoption?”

Bruce stared at him. Dick deflated.

“Is that a no?”

“I thought you didn’t want that.” Bruce admitted.

“No! I want that!” Dick shook his head. “I don’t want to risk them taking me away from you!”

Bruce continued to stare at him.

Dick squirmed.

“The paperwork’s in my study.”

Wait. What?

Dick stared right back at him, mouth agape in shock.

“How long have you had that drawn up?!”

“That’s not important.” Bruce said hastily. “Just… if you really want this…”

“I do!”

“Okay. I’ll call you out of school and we can file it tomorrow. The judge will likely want to speak with you, but it shouldn’t be a problem getting it finalized at this poi… oof.”

“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.” Dick chanted. “Love you, B!”

He raced up the stairs before Bruce could react.

“Alfred! Alfred, guess what! Bruce is gonna adopt me!”

Chapter Text

They’d been given their mission. All of Manhattan had gone dark. They’d take the Zeta over and find out why. Report back any findings. Stay in contact the entire time.

Robin was the last one through and, as such, tripped over Artemis when he emerged. “What?”

He took in his fallen teammates with wide eyes before swiftly doing a med check on all of them.

They were fine. Just asleep.

He took a couple minutes to hide them within the walls of the Zeta and conceal the Zeta behind him as he exited.

It was mid-afternoon. Robin’s stomach churned as he fingered his belt. Something wasn’t right. Everything was too quiet.

He stepped out into the city proper and wandered. Everywhere, people were sleeping. It didn’t seem to have happened suddenly. Cars were turned off and pedestrians were out of the road.

But there were also signs of battle and… was that…?

Monster dust. He wasn’t looking at a regular battle, he was looking at a demigod battle.

A big one, and one that promised to resume soon, if the evidence around him was any indication.

“Batman to Robin. Robin, can you hear me?”

Robin hesitated. Robin was the mission lead. If he didn’t answer, and nobody else answered, Batman would send someone else through. If Robin did answer, he’d have to answer questions about why he’d ventured away from the team.

“Robin? Robin, answer me!” Robin sighed and put his finger to his comm. 

“Something really weird is going on. I’m going dark to figure out what it is. Bye.”

“Rob…!” Robin ripped out his comm and crushed it under his foot. Communications right now would just distract him, and he didn’t want to become a target before he found Camp Half-Blood’s base of operations, even if he’d designed the comms himself so as not to attract monsters.

It took him about two hours to find it. Really, he only managed because he spotted some Hermes campers raiding a store two streets down and discreetly followed them back.

The Plaza Hotel was guarded by a couple half bloods in armor and Camp Half Blood t-shirts.

Robin eyed them from across the street. He noted the Hermes kids were carrying medical supplies and snacks.

Eventually, he decided waltzing right up to the guards was the best option.

He backtracked to around the corner and made a show of spotting them when he re-rounded the corner and heading towards them openly.

One stared at him wide-eyed while the other leveled his spear at him.

“You’re Robin.” The wide-eyed one said. She waved at her co-guard to lower his weapon, but her co-guard kept watching him warily.

“Yeah.” Robin confirmed. “Batman sent me and a couple others to figure out why Manhattan had gone dark. Of course, they immediately fell asleep. What’s going on? I’m seeing evidence of a demigod battle and, by deductive reasoning, it’s on pause. Not over.”

“If you’re a half-blood, why have we never seen you at camp?” The co-guard demanded.

“Because I can extend my fighting prowess to monsters and never needed to go.” Robin answered simply. “I’m sure you know a couple others who I’ve sent your way though. Um… I think there were these two brothers I didn’t get the names of. Ethan was another. Nyssa? I think that’s what her name was. Who else?” He tapped his chin, trying to think of others. A few more popped to mind whom he hadn’t gotten the names of.

“Do you know your godly parent?” The girl on the left seemed to be fangirling internally. “I can’t believe Robin is one of us!”

“I do. But can anyone tell me what’s going on here?” Robin pressed. “Why is all of Manhattan asleep?”

“I’m not sure we can trust a stranger into…”

“Oh lay off, Jake. We can use all the fighters we can get.” 

Jake eyed Robin skeptically one last time before agreeing. “Vine anyone who comes close, Katie. I’ll escort him to our fearless leaders.”

“Fearless is pushing it.” Katie muttered. Jake sent her a look. “I mean sir yes sir,”

Half bloods stopped what they were doing to stare as Robin passed. Nyssa waved at him and the Hermes thieves, who he recognized now as the two brothers he’d sent to camp but couldn’t put a name to, grinned at him as they passed out their loot (only snacks now. The medical supplies must have gone straight to the Apollo cabin).

They elevatored up to the top floor, where Robin had stayed at some point when in town for civvie business with his guardian. 

The doors opened and Robin surveyed the teens who turned to face him. A dark-haired girl with blue eyes who he recognized as someone who’d turned down his parents’ insistence she and two others go to camp when he was five (she looked like she hadn’t aged as much as she should have), a blonde he thought resembled one of the kids who’d been with the first one (she had definitely aged at a normal rate), a dark-haired boy who frowned at him, and a satyr.

“This guy says you’re the leaders.” He said simply.

Jake frowned. “Katie seemed to recognize him. She insisted we give him a chance. I’ve never seen him at camp. He could be a spy.”

Robin huffed in frustration. “I’m Robin. Batman’s protege? Surely someone in this room has heard of me.”

The dark-haired boy was still frowning, but he nodded. “Thought you stayed in Gotham.”

“Usually do. But my mentor noticed something was up. Sent me and a couple others.”

“Others?” Jake demanded.

“They are fast asleep for some reason.” Robin replied. “What is going on? I gather it’s a big demigod battle. And there’s that big monster making its way across the country if the news is any indication. But can someone fill me in on what’s happening? Please?”

“Do you know anything about the Great Prophecy?” The blonde asked.

“No.” Robin admitted. “I’m rarely involved in demigod affairs beyond sending kids to camp.”

That looked like it sparked something in the dark-haired girl’s memory, but the blonde continued before she could say anything.

“Well, it’s at play here. We’re fighting to stop the Lord of Time from rising.”

Robin mulled that over. “So. Fighting the gods’ dad. What’s the prophecy?”

“A Child of the Eldest Gods, Will Reach Sixteen Against All Odds. And See the World in Endless Sleep, The Hero’s Soul Cursed Blade Shall Reap. A Single Choice Will End His Days. Olympus to Preserve or Raze.” The blonde recited. She glanced worriedly at the dark-haired boy as she finished.

“So… that third line is obvious. I take it one of you is this child of the eldest gods who’s almost sixteen?” The dark-haired boy raised his hand at the question. “Great. So the rest still has to play out. In the meantime, what else can you tell me and what can I do to help? I’m hoping for the former in that ‘preserve or raze’ clause.”

“Good. You’re on our side then.” The dark-haired boy said. He summarized the battle so far and explained his recent meeting with Prometheus. Robin listened intently.

He nodded when he was done. “Okay. Sounds like I’m definitely on your side. Just treat me as another of your fighters. Any cabin will do. My dad’s a minor god, so that doesn’t play much of a factor into where you place me.”

“What can you do?”

“Besides fight? I can create wind. That’s about it.”

Robin was instructed to stick with the Hephaestus and Dionysus Cabins. Since they were lower on people.

He also finally got names, after he pointed out there hadn’t been actual introductions. The blonde was Annabeth, the dark-haired boy was Percy, the satyr was Grover, and the dark-haired girl was Thalia.

Thalia was the lieutenant/second in command of the Hunters of Artemis, which explained her age. 

Dick threw his all into fighting that night. It wasn’t quite the same as he was used to. He wasn’t used to fighting to kill outside of the one or two monsters that typically found him.

But he adapted just fine.

That said, their side was backed up to a protective ring around the Empire State Building when a bunch of centaurs arrived as backup.

They pushed back the enemy with the centaurs’ help and bought themselves more time.

Of course, only a few hours later, the Drakon attacked.

And then, Morpheus lifted his spell outside of the Empire State Building and Olympus as Kronos made it past their defenses despite Hades’ troops best efforts.

And then, not long after that, Typhon arrived. (He was defeated by Poseidon’s arrival, but still).

Robin was really worried about their chances when he sensed something.

Someone was falling.

From Olympus.

He summoned his wind powers and flew, hoping against all hope no one would see him.

He collided full speed with Ethan Nakamura and barely managed to keep the other boy’s neck from snapping from the force.

Out of breath, he slowly lowered the both of them to solid ground. The nearest of which was a ledge near the top of the Empire State Building.

Ethan groaned and opened his eyes. “Wha… I’m alive?!”

“You’re welcome.” Robin quipped.

Ethan’s head spun as he rushed to see who was speaking.

Robin tilted his head. “You’re hurt. Let me get that out. Then, I have some ambrosia you can eat.” He fished out some ambrosia he’d stuck in his belt along with bandages.

“Why did you save me? I’m your enemy.” Ethan winced as Robin took off his breastplate and pulled out the piece of sword that had gotten stuck in his stomach.

“Everyone deserves a second chance. Now stay still.” Robin pressed a large pad of gauze against the wound and wrapped it in bandages. “There! Eat this!” He held out the ambrosia square that had been sitting on his lap.

Ethan hesitated. He took the ambrosia.

“I remember. You sent me to camp when I was 10.” He said. “Did you know that my mother doesn’t have a cabin at camp?”

“I don’t know much about camp besides it being safe from monsters.” Robin replied. “My parents used to send half-bloods to camp before they died. We were travelers, so we came across a lot of half-bloods. I decided to follow that tradition after… After.”

“Batman isn’t your biological dad?”

“Nope. Safer if people think that though,” Robin shrugged. “There’s less adoptions in Gotham than you’d think.”

“Does he… know that you’re…?”

“No. I’m pretty good at hiding it.” Robin paused. “Why did you join the Titans?”

Ethan grimaced. “My mother is Nemesis, goddess of revenge. She didn’t have a cabin at camp. Only the Olympians do. There’s even an honorary one for the queen, but no cabin for any non-Olympians.”

“That doesn’t sound fair.” Robin said. “The gods don’t think the way we do. They’re immortal. They hold onto grudges and beliefs that have long died out. But I believe, with the right push, they can change.” He smiled. “We just have to figure out that push.”

“Does your godly parent have a cabin at camp?”

“You mean is he an Olympian? No. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t care about me. If the Olympians die, the rest fade too. I don’t want my dad to fade.”

They sat in silence for a while.

Just as Robin was going to offer to get them down, the Empire State Building lit up blue.

“What?” They both exclaimed.

Ethan grimaced. “I guess the gods won. They’re sending a signal. Percy Jackson has a thing about blue.”

“I wouldn’t really award this victory to the gods.” Robin said. “It was Camp Half-Blood that did all the work. This was a demigod victory. The gods just benefit.” He paused. “Want me to get us down now?”

“Yeah. Sure. Not looking forward to my punishment though.”

Despite knowing Batman would kill him for the extended radio silence, Robin spent the rest of the week attending funerals at Camp Half-Blood. 

Percy Jackson had apparently forced the gods into an oath on the Styx. Kids were getting claimed left and right, and none of the enemy half-bloods were to be punished.

The camp insisted on doing funerals not just for their side, but for the enemy half-bloods as well. Every demigod body they could find.

It took a while, but Robin could appreciate that everyone was being honored, no matter which side they fought on.

Whether that honor extended to their judgment in the Underworld…

Well, Robin was trying not to think about that.

Still, there was a point when he could no longer delay the inevitable. The Mist was covering up the reasons for the damage for most people but Robin knew there were clear-sighted mortals on both the Team and League. The Atlanteans worshiped Poseidon and Wonder Woman was an Amazon. The latter, at least, had to know what was going on. 

He was about to head back to the Manhattan zeta when, speak of the devil, he spotted Wonder Woman at the Big House.

He snuck closer.

“I know. I’m sorry.” She was saying. “Batman sent a team when Manhattan went dark, but they all fell asleep. Well, most of them at least. Robin’s still missing. If I’d known what was happening, you know I would’ve sent more help.”

“Nothing to be done about it.” Chiron sighed. “We’ve been doing funerals all week. The last ones wrapped up yesterday. I believe Robin was planning to head back today.”

“Wait. He’s here? How’d he get in?”

Robin chose that moment to interrupt. “Hi Wonder Woman. Sorry for my… um… radio silence?” He didn’t mean for it to come out as a question.

“Batman’s the one angry, not me.” Wonder Woman replied. “I’m surprised you were able to get into camp.”

“I helped, so they invited me back for the funerals.” Robin shrugged.

“I see. Chiron doesn’t invite mortals in often, but I can understand it in this case.”

Chiron had apparently caught on and wasn’t about to call him out on his… omission of truth. “Our new oracle was invited in. Perhaps you’d like to meet her?” He didn’t say she wasn’t the only one, but he also didn’t say she was the only one, so Robin counted it as a win.

“Alright. But after that, I’m escorting Robin back to Batman.” Wonder Woman said.

“I don’t need an escort.” Robin spluttered. “I was planning to go back today.”

“If you were planning on going back today, you won’t mind me going with you.” Wonder Woman said. “Unless you don’t want me to ease some of Batman’s ire for you?”

Robin didn’t have a good response to that. “I’ll go say goodbye to my new friends.”

He hurried away.

Ethan seemed upset he was leaving, but understood he wasn’t going to stay as a year-rounder. “You’ll visit?”

“Eventually.” Robin confirmed. “You’ll be alright here.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Not for sure, but I’m choosing to believe it.”

After saying goodbye to Ethan, he went and said goodbye to other kids he’d helped as Robin. He felt bad about avoiding the kids he’d helped as Dick unless they’d connected with him over the last week or so, but there wasn’t much to be done about it. Not without endangering his secret identity.

He especially avoided Lou Ellen. If anyone was going to figure out he was Dick, it would be her.

Finally, he made his way back to Wonder Woman. He’d changed back into his Robin uniform by then. He’d spent the last few days in borrowed clothes and his domino mask after cleaning his uniform to the best of his ability but feeling wrong putting it back on. The borrowed clothes, which included a Camp Half-Blood t-shirt, felt like solidarity with the lost. They were better to wear to the funerals.

Wonder Woman had left her car at the bottom of Half-Blood Hill. She didn’t speak as they got in. Neither did Robin.

They were halfway to the Manhattan Zeta when she finally asked.

“Did you have to kill anyone?”

Robin flinched. 

It took him a moment to answer.

“Only monsters. But some of the half-bloods I injured died. I… I tried to avoid fighting half-bloods.”

“How many died?”

“Hard to say. We found 68 bodies between our side and theirs. The non-human ones turned to dust. Some of the… some of our friends were eaten. We burned empty shrouds for the ones we knew of. There was one extra empty shroud for those we didn’t know of and couldn’t find. We put extra drachmas on that one. Hopefully… hopefully there were enough to get them all across the…” A sob escaped him, catching him by surprise. “Sorry. I… Sorry.”

“I can buy you some more time to compose yourself by driving to a further Zeta Tube.” Wonder Woman offered. “I'm sorry I wasn’t there.”

“You didn’t know.”

“I wish you’d told me.”

Robin paused. “Would you have told Batman if I had?”

Wonder Woman tightened her grip on the steering wheel, before relaxing it. “Not if you’d have explained to me a good reason not to.”

They were silent for a bit as Wonder Woman turned the car towards New Jersey.

“I had three parents.” Robin admitted. “They… all bio. My mom, my dad, and the god of the West Wind.”

Wonder Woman glanced over at him before turning her attention back to the road. “Chiron didn’t invite you in.”

“No. But saying I was invited back for the funerals wasn’t a lie.”

“A clever way of not admitting it then.” Wonder Woman conceded. She glanced at him again. “You can tell him, you know.”

Robin hunched his shoulders. “I’d rather not. Promise you won’t?”

She sighed. “Alright. I understand why you wouldn’t want to, but just think about it, okay? It’s not like he’ll kick you out for it. He loves you too much for that. I promise I won’t say anything before you’re ready on one condition.”

Robin turned to watch her. “What condition?”

“That you won’t be one of those demigods that dies before the age of 18.”

“So I die after 18, then? Or when I’m 18?”

Wonder Woman sent him a flat, unimpressed look. “Long long after you turn 18. Outlive me.”

“Aren’t you, like, immortal most of the time?”

“Robin.”

“Fine. Fine. I promise I won’t be one of those demigods who dies young.”

“Good. I won’t tell Bruce, but I still think you should.”

Robin shrugged as they entered New Jersey.

After about an hour and a half of driving, they entered the Gotham city limits. It was getting dark out. Batman would be starting patrol soon.

They stopped by Batburger and Robin caught on to Wonder Woman’s plan.

“You’re just going to wait for him to come across us on his patrol, aren’t you?”

“I get to mess with him a bit, and you get to hang out with a fellow league-affiliated demigod. Win-win.”

Robin cackled. “Not a win for him.”

“His win or lose is irrelevant.” Wonder Woman replied. “Now what do you say we take this meal topside?”

Chapter Text

Batman was not in a good mood.

First, Robin had cut off contact almost immediately after entering Manhattan. 

Then, the rest of the team failed to answer their comms.

Then, news from Manhattan started filtering out again and it was utter chaos. Eight people died in the havoc.

Next, the rest of the team returned without Robin and with no clue where the boy had gone.

And now, it has been about a week since anyone had heard from the boy and, even if Batman wouldn’t admit it, he was worried.

A glint of gold caught his eye as he was passing Batburger, he merged into the shadows before turning to see…

Wonder Woman. Eating a burger.

He narrowed his eyes.

She waved, looking almost cheeky.

Why was she in Gotham? She knew he didn’t like other heroes in Gotham without his permission, especially metas.

As he drew closer, he caught sight of a pair of familiar swinging legs next to her.

He inhaled. “Robin.”

The boy peeked around Wonder Woman at his stern tone. “Um… hi?”

He was definitely nervous about his scolding. That much was obvious.

Lucky for him, Batman wasn’t about to yell at him in the middle of Gotham where anyone could hear.

“Come.”

His son got to his feet. “Thanks for driving me back.”

Wonder Woman nodded to him as he moved towards where he and Batman typically started their patrols on that particular day of the week.

She caught Batman’s arm as he moved to follow.

“Go easy on him.” She hissed. “He’s had a hard week. I doubt he’s about to tell you about it, but he had a good reason to go dark.”

“I don’t suppose you’ll tell me.” Batman whispered back, cognizant of Robin pretending not to listen nearby.

“What’s shared is up to him. Just… go easy on him. Please?”

Batman restrained a sigh. “I’ll think about it.”

He joined Robin and guided him back to the car with a firm grip on his shoulder, pretending not to notice the kid had held onto his milkshake.

Which, naturally, was the largest size. Robin did not need that much sugar. Seriously, Diana?

“You don’t need to stop your patrol for me.” Robin said softly once they were both in the car.

His tone was contrite, but there was something in the depths of it that was… off.

“Rest assured I plan to go back out after I’ve delivered you home.” Batman grit out.

“Right.”

Batman tried to identify the off element silently. Was he defiant? No. Definitely not. Defeated? That sounded more likely, and there was probably some of that in it too, but Batman was still missing something.

They pulled into the Batcave. Alfred seemed surprised to see him back so soon until Robin climbed out after him.

He was still holding the milkshake.

“Master Batman...”

“Wonder Woman got it for him. Drove him back and took him to Batburger instead of telling me the moment she found him.”

Robin shifted uncomfortably. He didn’t say anything.

“Robin, report.” Batman said.

“No.” The response caught both men off guard.

“Robin, what happened?”

“I’m going to bed.”

“Robin.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Robin.”

Robin glared at him, but there was no heat behind it.

He just looked tired.

“I’m going to bed. Go back on your patrol. I’m fine.”

Suddenly, Batman wasn’t so sure that was true.

In fact, considering the relatively recent Speedy fiasco, he was tempted to get Miss Martian to check Robin’s mind.

Robin set down the milkshake and walked to the changing room, giving Batman the chance to realize his uniform was torn in places.

“Agent A, can you do a medical check when he comes back out?” He asked.

“Of course, Master Batman.” Alfred picked up the milkshake, probably to dispose of it, and then his brow furrowed.

“What is it?” Batman asked.

Alfred popped the cap off and tilted it slightly so Batman could see.

The cup was still almost full.

Chapter Text

Diana had been surprised to hear Robin was a half-blood, even one from a minor god, such as Zephyrus.

Still, that surprise was quickly eclipsed by concern.

It had been almost a month since what the camp was dubbing “The Battle of Manhattan”, and Robin wasn’t improving.

It was frustrating to hear through the grapevine that Batman had taken Robin to Dinah three times and he’d diverted the topic each time (unlike him), that he was avoiding the cave (very unlike him), and that he’d supposedly blocked Wally’s number to stop the concerned texts and calls from coming through (so unlike him she couldn’t speak right away when she heard about it).

Well, that just wouldn’t do. Robin was obviously struggling with what had happened in Manhattan. He’d seemed to be coping when she’d picked him up, but she guessed his true reaction was just delayed.

Well, Batman might not like Metas in Gotham, but she was going to force him to make an exception for Robin’s sake.

Except no force was necessary. When Alfred opened the door for her, Bruce was standing right behind him with relief on his face.

“I can’t get through to him.” He said. “He won’t tell anyone what happened. But you already know what happened, right?”

Unsaid were the words: Please help him.

“Where is he?”

“In his room.”

Diana climbed the stairs.

Dick didn’t answer when she knocked on his door, but she could hear him in there.

She sighed and tried the knob. Locked. Figures. “Dick, it’s me. Diana. Can I come in?”

A moment’s pause, then shuffling. The lock clicked, and Dick peeked out the door.

“Struggling?” She asked.

“Did Bruce call you?” He replied.

She shook her head. “I took initiative. But he wasn’t displeased to see me.” She knelt slightly to his height. “May I come in?”

A single nod and Dick moved aside.

Diana entered the bedroom. The room wasn’t very tidy. Fidgets and clothes littered the floor. Schoolbooks were sprawled across the desk and the bed was unmade.

“Has Alfred been in here lately?”

“No.”

“That explains it.”

Dick huffed, picked up a fidget, and curled up on his bed.

Diana closed the door behind her, picked her way across the room, and settled on the bed next to him.

“Talk to me, Kiddo. What’s getting to you?”

“You really need to ask?”

“A lot happened in those few days. I’m not going to kid myself that I know which part is hurting you the most.

Dick sighed and hugged his legs. “A lot of kids died. My age. Not much older. A good chunk younger.”

Diana nodded, but didn’t speak.

The silence prompted him to continue. “I must’ve seen three kids get impaled. About five got swallowed by the Drakon. Silena Beauregard brought in the Ares cabin but died in the process. Some of the kids were whispering that she was a spy, but that she saw the errors of her ways. The hard facts are that she was manipulated. So many were manipulated. So many of those who were manipulated died.” He swallowed. “They just wanted to be recognized by their parents. A good chunk of them wanted their parents to be recognized. And…” He let out a sob. “There was so much blood. Blood and gold dust. It was… I never want to be in a battle like that again.”

“I’d hope you wouldn’t have to be.”

“They already have a new Great Prophecy. It doesn’t sound good. Is it selfish of me to want to stay away?”

“No, Dick. You just want to survive.”

“I sent kids there! I told them about the camp! If I hadn’t…!”

“If you hadn’t, they would have died even younger.”

The dam broke. Diana held him as he cried. She could only think that he was too young for this. He was too young to be fighting such battles.

But there was no avoiding it. He was a half-blood by blood and a half-blood by heart. Fighting alongside the League might not be as bloody as fighting droves of monsters, but it was still gruesome. There was no sparing Dick’s innocence now.

She only hoped he lived to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Chapter Text

The wind gods rarely settled down long enough to have children. 

In fact, Zephyros was quite certain he was the first of his brothers in several centuries to do so.

He hadn’t been able to help it once he’d stumbled upon Mary and John Grayson. 

Both were practically embodiments of his better nature. Humble. Kind. Gentle. Giving.

They’d wanted a child, but John was infertile and Mary had come to terms with the fact it might never happen.

Zephyros determined not to breach the subject after they welcomed him into their relationship. Even if two was now three and he could theoretically bridge the gap, he wouldn’t intrude on that.

John had come to him first. He had been willing to give too much. Zephyros refused.

Mary came to him next. She was too anxious and she hadn’t spoken to her husband. Zephyros refused.

Then they came to him together.

“We understand you are reluctant to help us with this matter…” John began.

“But please, Zeph.” Mary interrupted. “I want this. John wants this. I’ve seen you with the children in the towns we stop in. It’s not that you don’t like children…”

Zephyros hesitated. He told them where he came from. What he was. How that would affect their child. How that would affect their relationship with him. How he would have to leave promptly.

Mary looked at John. John looked at Mary.

Their expressions were heartbroken as they realized they couldn’t have both.

Zephyros hesitated again. “You know I would not be able to stay forever regardless, right?”

“Would they be like you? Even if you don’t raise them?”

Zephyros felt his heart hurt a little. Suddenly, he wanted this too. “The child will be a perfect combination of all three of us.”

Zephyros had always been watching his son. Ever since the day he’d left the circus, he’d watched over the family. When they were lost, he’d watched over Richard. He’d watched over his son.

But now…

Boreus was the first to disappear. Then, Notus vanished. They came after Zephyros next.

He fled across the world.

When Eurus vanished, he felt panic hit him.

What if they needed more than just him?

What if they needed his son?!

And so he sent a desperate plea.

Run, my son. You’re being targeted. Run to camp. NOW.

Chapter Text

Dick packed a duffle. The words from his godly parent echoed in his mind.

Run, my son. You’re being targeted. Run to camp. NOW.

He fingered his pendant nervously, zipped his bag shut, and stepped out into a hallway, footfalls silent. Even packing the duffle might have been lingering too long.

He passed the kitchen and a voice called out to him.

“Rob? What are you doing up?”

Dick stiffened. “Have to go take care of something. You know how it is.” He took another couple steps past the kitchen. 

Wally was in front of him before he could blink.

“Thought Batman wanted you to stay here while Agent A was out of town and he was off-world.” 

Dick pushed him aside. “I need to take care of something.”

Wally zipped in front of him again. “It can wait till morning. After you clear it with Red Tornado.” If anything, that just made Dick tense more.

Wally noticed. “You were planning to leave without telling anyone?! Dude, you’ll get in so much trouble!”

“Well, now you know.” Dick tried to push past him, but Wally grabbed his wrist.

“Dick.” He hissed under his breath. “If you want me to cover for you, I need to know where you’re going.”

Dick hesitated. Then, he pulled his wrist free. “I can’t tell you where I’m going. Not exactly. Somewhere in the state of New York is the closest you get.” He pulled out a sheathed Celestial Bronze dagger. “Take this and keep it with you.”

Wally raised an eyebrow. “A bubble wand?”

Dick exhaled in frustration. “It might look like a bubble wand, but it’s not. If something tries to eat you, I want you to unsheath that and use it like a dagger.”

“If something tries to what ?”

“I really do need to go now. Stay safe.”

“Rob!” Wally protested, but Dick was already out of the room and through the Zeta.

He made it on the last train to Long Island, but something caught up to him just before his stop, and soon he was sprinting away from the train station nearest Camp Half Blood.

A hellhound pounced at him, and Dick leaped up, grabbing a tree branch to swing out of reach. He twisted in mid-air and threw a celestial bronze shuriken at the hellhound.

It burst into dust, and Dick kept running.

“Can’t be much further, can it?” He huffed.

Up ahead, the top of a large statue could be seen over the treetops.

“That’s new.” Dick muttered. He increased his pace.

“Ssssssoonnnnn offff Zephhhhhyyyyrrrusss.” 

Dick didn’t dare look back. He was almost there.

He summoned a spurt of wind to move him even faster.

He could finally see the hill…

Something shot through his leg, and he stumbled and rolled to a halt with a scream.

“HELP!” He shouted, even though he doubted anyone could hear him.

A breeze was kicking up as he struggled to his feet. His leg couldn’t support him, but if he could use the wind…

It was too dark to be able to tell who or what was attacking him. He’d thought it might be a dracanae but was it?

He threw a shuriken in its direction and was rewarded with a howl of pain.

He struggled the last stretch towards the border, spurred on by the wind. 

Something was crunching after him. 

100 feet. 50 feet. 20 feet. 10 feet…

Something roared and grabbed his arm.

Dick tumbled over the borderline and the claw let go.

Panting, Dick looked over his shoulder. A monster was pounding at the border, but it couldn’t get through.

He proceeded to pass out.

Chapter Text

Lou Ellen wasn’t expecting her morning routine to be any different than usual.

She typically got up not long after the Apollo kids to do some stretches and some warm up exercises. Her magic worked best when her body was taken care of.

She was going for a light jog near the border when she spotted something.

No. Someone.

“SOMEONE GET WILL!” She shouted as she raced towards the collapsed individual. She skidded to a halt next to him and was startled to recognize her old friend Dick Grayson.

She’d always thought Dick was just a clear-sighted mortal who knew about camp. Why else had he never come?

But one look at his condition now proved otherwise. He was right inside the border, feverish, and bleeding sluggishly through an infected leg wound. A duffle was still looped over his arm.

Kayla and Austin ran up to them with a stretcher.

“Will’s preparing the infirmary. He must’ve arrived overnight. No satyr?”

Lou Ellen shook her head. “No satyr.”

“Satyr could’ve been killed.” Austin winced. “I doubt he’ll be happy to hear that.”

“Trust me. There was no satyr.” Lou Ellen bit out before digging her arms under Dick’s limp body to move him onto the stretcher.

“Take the duffle. We’ll get him to the infirmary.” Kayla said once Dick was settled onto the stretcher. “And don’t mess with it. Kid’s new.”

“I won’t mess with it.” Lou Ellen muttered under her breath.

Well, usually, she would, but this was Dick’s bag. He’d been the one to send her to camp and he was her friend and he was hurt.

So no, she wouldn’t mess with his bag.

Dick looked small in the infirmary bed.

That was Lou Ellen’s first thought when she entered the infirmary after breakfast. She’d dumped Dick’s bag temporarily in her cabin. No one would dare mess with her stuff, so it would be safe there.

Will looked up at her approach. “You here about the new kid? He developed an infection overnight, but it’s nothing I can’t heal with the help of nectar and ambrosia.”

“How long do you think he’d been laying there?”

“Hard to say. Several hours, at least. I’m surprised the harpies didn’t alert anyone.”

“Mm.” Lou Ellen sat next to the bed and brushed Dick’s bangs out of his face. His hair was messier than she’d ever seen him wear it. She figured that was from the flight to camp.

“Yo! Will! There’s a head counselors’ meeting in 10.” Austin called.

Will huffed. “I’ve got a patient.” 

Kayla snorted. “You almost always have a patient. Relax. I’ll keep an eye on his healing while you’re gone.”

Lou Ellen got up with one last lingering look at Dick. He likely wouldn’t be waking while she was gone. She doubted the meeting would take too long anyway.

Despite being in the Big House, her mind stayed with Dick. If he hadn’t come to camp in all these years, why now? Was his family okay? Was he okay?

She and Will had been the last to arrive. Chiron launched into a briefing.

The four wind gods were missing. Likely captured. Rumor had it the West Wind had last been sighted near camp the previous night before disappearing. They needed to send a quest to find and rescue them.

Lou Ellen nodded along. No skin off her back. She’d never been chosen for a quest before.

“So who goes?” Leo asked. He’d arrived back at camp not a week ago with Calypso by his side. Most people were still angry with him, even after the punch line.

“Count me out.” Nico said, leaning against Will.

Chiron hummed. “Rachel, the spirit of Delphi can typically tell who’s the proper leader of a quest. Hence why things go wrong when the wrong leader asks. Who is in charge?”

Lou Ellen took a sip of her drink.

“Lou Ellen.” Rachel said.

Lou Ellen spat her drink out. “What?! Me?!” They were all looking at her now. “No! No way! That new kid who just arrived is my friend. I can’t just leave him.”

“So choose him as a questmate.” Leo shrugged.

Piper raised an eyebrow as she turned to him. “Without training?”

“Hey. We learned on the fly. Why can’t he?” Leo defended.

Will scowled. “You are not sending my patient on a quest all willy nilly!”

“We’re getting sidetracked.” Rachel cut in. “Lou Ellen, ask.”

Lou Ellen sighed. “Fine. What is my quest?”

Green smoke billowed out of Rachel’s mouth.

“ To the South, seek the wind gods’ track.

Find the source to bring them back.

In the cavern where a price is paid,

When all seems lost, accept the aid. ”

A moment of silence followed the prophecy. Lou Ellen nearly panicked.

“Wait! I didn’t write it down!”

“Relax.” Malcolm was scratching down some last letters on a notepad. He tore off the page and handed it over. “Here. I got it for you.”

Lou Ellen looked at it. “Thanks. I can’t read this.”

Malcolm rolled his eyes and repeated the prophecy to her.

“Choose your questmates and prepare. You’ll leave after lunch.” Chiron said.

Lou Ellen found herself back in the infirmary after they broke up the meeting. Dick was awake when she arrived. He grinned at her.

“Hey Lou! Fancy seeing you here!”

“Jerk. I thought you were a clear-sighted mortal.” She crossed her arms.

“Nope. Nectar fixed me right up. I’m good as new.”

She narrowed her eyes at him.

The smile faded. “Gee. Tough crowd. I’m okay. I just needed to head here suddenly and crossed the path of a monster on the way. I’ve dealt with worse.”

She sighed. She couldn’t stay angry at him. “I’ve got your bag in my cabin. Come on.”

Dick hopped up off the infirmary bed after a last check by Will and followed after her.

“Why’d you need to head here so suddenly anyway? You’ve never come to camp before.” She said.

“I don’t want to talk about it. But now that I’m here, we can spend some more time together.”

Lou Ellen grimaced. “I’m leaving for a quest this afternoon.”

“Really? Can I come?”

She whipped around to look at him. “You don’t even know what it’s about!”

Dick didn’t seem phased. “Can I come?”

“How do you know I don’t already have my questmates picked out?” She had one. Ethan Nakamura had approached her after the meeting wanting to prove himself after having been on the wrong side of the Titan war.

Dick leaned forward. “Can. I. Come?”

Lou Ellen grunted in frustration. “Fine. You can come. That makes three. Just don’t slow us down with your lack of proper training.”

Dick made an offended noise as he stopped in the doorway of her cabin. “You act like you don’t want me to come.”

Lou Ellen tossed his bag to him. “You just got here.”

Dick shrugged. “Thanks for taking care of my bag. I’m going to find a place to hide my stuff where the Hermes kids can’t find it.”

“They won’t touch it in my cabin.”

Dick mulled that over. “Okay. Just let me go through it first.”

“You can come in. I think I have a spare backpack for you to move your stuff into.” She rustled around until she found it.

Dick was already digging in his bag when she handed it over. He transferred what looked to be three metal sticks, a change of clothes, a wallet, and his cell phone into the backpack.

“Cell phones attract monsters.”

“Lou Ellen, I’ve been trying to get you to take one of these for years. I know what you think, but I designed it myself. Trust me when I say it doesn’t attract monsters.”

“What are the sticks?”

“Escrimas and a collapsible bo staff.”

Her eyebrows rose. “You know how to use that stuff?”

“Yes.” He smirked up at her. “So I won’t slow you down with my quote unquote lack of proper training.”

Lou Ellen rolled her eyes and started packing her own bag.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Dick slip something else in his bag, but she couldn’t tell what it was from just her peripheral vision.

An hour later, they were gathering for lunch and a send off.

“You know, I know Leo said to just bring him with you, but I wasn’t expecting you to actually bring him with you.” Piper whispered to her as she passed her table on the way to the Aphrodite table.

She was gone before Lou Ellen could respond.

Lou Ellen pursed her lips. Piper was right. She really should bring someone more experienced, but she hadn’t been able to bring herself to say no when Dick had asked.

Dick sat down next to her after giving a sacrifice to the fire. He hadn’t said aloud who he was sacrificing to, but Lou Ellen figured it was his godly parent.

“You know, it’s rare these days for someone over the age of thirteen to remain unclaimed.” She said conversationally. “Not after Percy Jackson forced that oath from the gods.”

Dick swallowed what he was chewing. “I’m not unclaimed. I’ve known who my godly parent was as long as I can remember. I just haven’t chosen to come to camp.”

Lou Ellen raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t it dangerous for you to know too early about this stuff?”

Dick shrugged. “You know my background. I spent my early years in a circus. Monsters rarely caught up to us.”

“So who’s your godly parent?” Lou Ellen asked.

“A minor god.” Dick replied.

She waited for him to say more, but he didn’t, having swiftly returned to his meal.

Why was he evading the question? Did he think who his godly parent was would affect how she treated him?

She shook her head. He’d tell her eventually. Probably on the quest.

In the meantime, he could keep his secrets. That was fine with her.

Chapter Text

Dick stared out the window of the camp van. Lou Ellen was driving and Ethan had claimed the passenger seat, delegating Dick to the back.

He wasn’t about to tell them he knew how to drive a car.

They’d stopped last night at a campsite somewhere in Maryland. They’d dealt with three monster attacks overnight and now they were driving again.

“Do this many monsters usually attack on quests?” Lou Ellen asked.

“Don’t look at me. Only quests I’ve been on were for the wrong side.”

“If you had to guess?”

“Who’s to say? Ask Percy Jackson.”

Dick snorted. Lou Ellen glanced at him through the rear view mirror.

“What do you think, Dick?”

Dick hummed. He figured they were after him because of his connection to the wind gods, but wasn’t about to say that. 

“I think it’s abnormal. But they could be sent by whoever’s responsible for the wind gods’ disappearance.”

The older two mulled that over before agreeing.

Conversation quieted down again, and Dick returned his gaze to the countryside.

Bruce was supposed to be back from his mission today. He wouldn’t be happy to find Dick missing. Especially after he’d broken their deal about the trackers.

It had been more than 24 hours and Dick had not left a note of any kind.

He hoped Bruce didn’t do anything brash like get the team involved.

“I can’t believe Batman’s having us track down some runaway rich kid.” Artemis grumbled.

Wally pursed his lips, but didn’t say anything.

“I believe Bruce Wayne has long been a heavy supporter and advocate of the League.” Kaldur said. “Batman likely does not want to lose his favor by turning down his request.”

And Dick is Robin. Wally thought to himself. Not that I can admit that to them. He took a sip of his drink.

“Bullshit. I bet they’re fucking.”

Wally spewed liquid all over himself. She did not just say that!

“You bet Batman and Bruce Wayne… are dating each other?” Raquel raised a judgemental eyebrow.

“Don’t look at me like that! Why else would Batman be so concerned about the kid?!”

“You do know Richard Grayson has a history of being kidnapped, right?” M’gann said. “Some of those times, the kidnappers outright tried to kill him rather than asking for a ransom.”

“How do you know that?” Artemis asked.

M’gann flushed. “I follow celebrity news.”

“The point is, we cannot assume this was a runaway situation rather than a kidnapping one. Bruce Wayne has requested assistance finding his kid. Batman asked us to provide that assistance.” Kaldur said. “They are not… dating.”

“Wally, you’ve been awfully quiet.” Artemis said. “I thought you’d be complaining about this task too.”

“I’ve met the kid.” Wally said. “He’s a nice kid.”

“If you’ve ‘met the kid’,” Artemis made air quotes around the words, “do you have any insight as to where he might have gone?”

Don’t reveal you saw him last. Don’t reveal you saw him last.

“Nope.”

“Liar.” Conner didn’t even look up from his laptop as he shot the accusation out.

Everyone else turned to look at Wally.

“Uhhhh.”

“Where is he?”

“What makes you think I know where he is?”

“You just lied when you said you didn’t.”

“Well, I don’t know where he is.”

“Half-lie.”

“Will you quit it?!”

“I will when you quit lying.”

“Ugh.”

“Wally…” There was an edge of anger in Artemis’s voice.

“Fine. He wouldn’t give an exact location, but he did tell me somewhere in New York.” Wally said. “No guarantee he hasn’t left there by now.”

“It’s a starting point. One that it would have helped if you’d told us to begin with.”

“New York is a big state.” M’gann pointed out. “Do you know where he would have started?”

Wally debated with himself. “He probably made it to Manhattan late at night. Wherever he went next, I’m not sure.”

“Thank you, Wally. For finally sharing that, two days after he went missing.”

“Any way you can track him with your magic, Zatanna?” Raquel asked.

“I’ve already been asked that. No. I can’t use my magic to track someone I don’t know.”

Wally wisely didn’t input that she did know him. Had even dated him briefly up until a month ago.

His brow furrowed as an alert came in.

“Um… I don’t think he’s in New York anymore.”

“Oh really? And what makes you think that?”

“League facial recognition just caught him at a gas station near DC.”

Everyone immediately moved to look at Wally’s computer.

“Hey! Personal space!”

“Who’s that guy with him?”

“Dunno. Never seen him before.”

“Run him through the League systems.”

Wally rolled his eyes but complied.

“Ethan Nakamura. Ran away from two foster homes before disappearing. Presumed dead.” Kaldur read out loud.

“What’s Dick Grayson doing with a kid presumed dead?” Raquel asked, crossing her arms.

“Can you run facial recognition on everyone else in the gas station at that time?” Conner suggested.

“Well I can...”

“Now is not the time for can you may you corrections.” Kaldur cut him off.

Wally huffed and pulled up further footage from that gas station starting a couple minutes before Dick was caught on camera.

As they watched, a van pulled up and Ethan and Dick and a black-haired girl got out. The girl started refilling the gas tank while Dick and Ethan headed for the store. Dick was wearing a baseball cap and seemed to be trying to hide his face from the cameras.

Wally switched the view to inside the gas station after catching a still of the girl’s face.

Inside, Dick and Ethan split up to grab snacks. Someone bumped into Dick, causing his snacks to fall and his cap to fall off. Ethan appeared, looking incensed. He looked like he wanted to go after the person who’d bumped into Dick, but Dick evidently talked him out of it. The facial recognition the League systems had caught came a moment later, when Dick glanced towards the till while picking up his cap.

He handed Ethan some money, probably to pay for the snacks and headed back outside.

Wally switched the camera again to see him re-joining the girl. She shrugged as she put away the nozzle and they both got back into the car. Wally caught a better still of her in the process. He ran both stills against League systems as they watched Ethan Nakamura return to the vehicle and the trio drive off. He couldn’t get a good image of the license plate.

He did get a picture of the logo on the vehicle though.

He pulled up the results of the girl’s facial recognition.

“Lou Ellen Blackstone. Homeschooled Gotham resident. Got a Dyslexia-ADHD diagnosis. Attends a private summer camp on Long Island.” Wally trailed off. “Okay. Why is there so much information on her?” 

He had a sinking feeling he knew why. He bet Batman had full background checks on everyone Dick was friends with.

“Back up. Didn’t you say Dick was heading ‘somewhere in New York’?” Artemis asked.

“Yeah…”

“And apparently, Lou Ellen attends a summer camp in Long Island…”

“You think he was headed to meet Lou Ellen.” Conner caught on.

“Maybe he got caught up in something. Meant to be back before Wayne found out, but didn’t quite manage it.” Zatanna tacked on.

Wally looked back at the computer. It was a sound theory. But he felt like they were missing something. Dick had seemed in a rush when he left Mount Justice. If he was simply meeting a friend, why such a hurry? Had Lou Ellen been in trouble?

“Well, they appear to be headed South.” M’gann said. “Maybe we can cut them off.”

“We didn’t get a good look at the license plate.” Zatanna pointed out.

“Maybe we can deduce it from the symbol on the side. Narrow it down to vans owned by that company.” Raquel suggested. She took the laptop from Wally, and started typing.

“This would be so much easier if Robin were here.” Conner muttered. Then, he paused and looked around. “Where is Robin, anyway? I haven’t seen him in two days.”

Uh oh. Wally thought to himself.

The rest of the team looked up. 

“Wait. Two days?” Artemis’s eyes widened. “You don’t think…?”

“Think what?” Wally cut in. “Maybe Batman gave him another mission.”

Conner narrowed his eyes at him and Wally just knew he was about to be called out on another lie.

“It would explain why he told you where he was going.” Zatanna said. She smirked. “And I can use a spell to find Robin.”

Wally looked around at all of them. They all looked both smug and slightly annoyed at the same time.

“Look. Robin told me something urgent came up the other night. He was headed back to Gotham. I’m not sure exactly what was going through his head, but he’s the one who introduced me to Dick. If I knew Dick was running off somewhere, he definitely knew Dick was running off somewhere.”

There’s not anything suspicious about what I just said, is there?

Artemis uncrossed her arms. “Right. He’s probably looking for Grayson too. There’s no way that spoiled brat is Robin. Even with Batman getting some with his dad.”

“Batman is not dating Bruce Wayne.” Wally said.

“Not that we know of. That doesn’t mean it’s not happening.”

“Can we stop talking about Batman’s… you know?” Raquel requested. “I’ve found the symbol. The truck belongs to a company called Delphi Strawberries.”

Wally frowned. The name sounded familiar, but he wasn’t sure why.

“Delphi? Like the Oracle of Delphi?” Artemis asked.

“The Oracle of Delphi is a myth.” Wally huffed.

“Doesn’t mean the farm’s not named after her.”

“Anyway,” Raquel cut in. “I’ve tracked down the license plate numbers for the three vans the company owns. I think I’ve identified which one Grayson and his… friends are using.”

“Set the system to track it and send alerts to the Bioship.” Kaldur ordered. “Let’s see if we can track this kid down.”

Chapter Text

They were driving through the mountains of North Carolina when they lost the car.

Maybe he should rephrase that. They didn’t lose the car so much as a twister came down on them with no warning and Dick yanked Lou Ellen and Ethan out while using his wind powers to launch them out of the twister’s path. 

They landed hard, but they didn’t have time to moan and groan.

The twister came after them, ejecting the car harshly as it changed directions. 

There wasn’t time to bemoan their lost possessions.

They ran.

“Can we really outrun a tornado?!” Lou Ellen exclaimed.

“We can try!” Ethan panted out.

“We need to trick it!” Dick shouted over the roar of the wind. “The Mist!”

Lou Ellen caught on.

She bent an illusion that they were running in a different direction.

The twister fell for it.

They dove into a cave for shelter, and Lou Ellen lost focus. 

Before long, the twister was at the entrance to the cave, sucking all the air out. The trio clung to the rocks.

“What now?” Ethan choked.

Dick turned his head towards the tornado. He took a deep breath and mentally pushed against it with his own wind powers.

The air was getting thinner. Something in Dick snapped.

The twister dissipated, and Dick passed out.

Ethan wasn’t the most competent half-blood.

Although that could be the hits to his self-esteem from facing off against Percy Jackson.

It was very hard to defeat Percy Jackson.

Still, he hated how useless he felt at the moment.

The twister being pushed back had caused a cave-in. He and Dick had landed on the inner side, Lou Ellen on the outer.

Dick must have hit his head or something, because he hadn’t woken up yet.

The longer he was out, the more concerned Ethan got.

He moved another stone. Lou Ellen had been working on it from the other side, but they hadn’t been making much progress.

“Lou Ellen, you need to keep going! Complete the quest!” He called. “This must be ‘the cavern where a price is paid’!”

“You don’t know that!” Lou Ellen called back. He heard her shift another stone, and more slide to take its place.

A groan sounded from behind him. He couldn’t see Dick in the darkness of the cave, but he figured he was waking up.

“Dick, are you okay?”  Ethan asked.

“I think so.” Dick evidently tried to get up, because Ethan heard him thud back down.

“Yeah. You sound fine.”

“Your sarcasm is very much appreciated. I think I just overexerted myself.”

“Overexerted yourself running from a tornado?”

“No. Using my powers. I don’t use them often.”

Ethan paused. His eyes narrowed in thought. “Did you… get rid of the tornado?”

“I think so. If it’s gone, I did.”

“Caved us in in the process.”

“Mm. There’s a path behind us.”

Ethan paused in where he’d been shifting another rock. “What?”

“Dunno where it goes. But I feel a draft. It’s coming from the opposite direction from me of where you are… I think.”

Ethan stood and moved towards the back of the cave, nearly tripping over Dick in the process.

Sure enough, the cave went further back.

“Lou Ellen! We think there might be another way out! We’ll meet you later!”

“Are you sure?!”

“We’ll be fine!” Dick called. “Trust me!”

“Last time I trusted you, you replaced my shampoo with temporary hair dye!”

Ethan couldn’t see Dick, but he was pretty sure the other boy rolled his eyes.

“Trust me to get us out of here!”

A moment of silence followed before Lou Ellen answered.

“If you die in there, I’ll find a way to bring you back from the Underworld just so I can kill you myself!”

“Noted!” Ethan felt Dick grab his arm. “Stay close. I can sense where the air’s coming from, but I don’t want to risk the cost of us getting separated.”

Ethan felt himself bristle at the thought of relying on the other boy, but conceded that he was right. Ethan would get lost if he stayed in there on his own.

He grabbed Dick’s sleeve.

“Lead on.”

Chapter Text

The team had lost track of the van somewhere in North Carolina, so now they were flying over in the Bioship trying to locate it.

“Keep your eyes open.” Aqualad said. “If we fly near the roads, we may see them.”

“Um… what’s that?” Artemis said. They all turned to where she was pointing.

A stretch of the road was torn apart. Trees were strewn away on the ground and leaning out from the path.

In one area, it looked like something had tumbled down the mountain.

“Touch down.” Aqualad ordered.

They disembarked on what had once been the road.

“It looks like a tornado passed through here.” Rocket observed.

“It’s not tornado season, and there’s not a cloud in the sky.” Kid Flash pointed out.

“Maybe it was a Red Tornado wannabe. Like Mr. Twister.” Superboy suggested.

“Or a meta.” Zatanna chimed in. “If there was a tornado here, the path isn’t straight enough to be natural. It looks like it rapidly changed directions more than once.”

Kid Flash saw movement out of the corner of his eye.

He turned in that direction just in time to see a person duck into a hiding spot.

“Heads up. We’ve got company.” He said.

He sped over, but didn’t see anyone. 

“I could have sworn…” 

“Laever flesruoy!” Zatanna cast.

A female voice cursed in another language, and Kid Flash looked again to see Lou Ellen Blackstone where he’d just been looking.

He grabbed her arm before she could try anything else.

“What do you want?” She asked.

“We’re looking for someone.” Artemis crossed her arms. “Someone we’re pretty sure was traveling with you.”

“How would you know who was traveling with me?” Lou Ellen challenged.

“Security cameras.” Superboy said. “Saw you were traveling with two people, actually.”

“We got separated.” Lou Ellen said. “Now if you’ll excuse me…” She stomped on Kid Flash’s foot and slipped out when his grip loosened.

She didn’t get far. The team surrounded her.

“What do you want with Ethan?”

“Ethan is not who we are looking for.” Aqualad retorted. They all could tell she was trying to mislead them.

“Look. I don’t know why you’re here or what makes you think you can get involved, but I have a mission and it doesn’t involve you.”

“Well, we’ve been given a mission too. And we need your help to complete it.” Artemis said.

“Well I’m not helping you. Now let me go!”

Kid Flash’s eyes furrowed. Something was off with her voice.

Suddenly, the girl disappeared again.

“Where’d she go?!”

Zatanna cursed in Italian. “She cast an illusion of herself so she could escape.”

“She can’t have gotten far.”

-Link Established. Should’ve done it before, but it slipped my mind. Superboy, can you hear her?-

- Yeah. She went that way. I’ll follow the sound of her footsteps. You guys follow me. Maybe she’ll lead us to Grayson.-

-Guys, why is she on foot? What happened to their van?-

-Good question, Zatanna. Superboy, Miss Martian and Artemis, tail Lou Ellen. Kid Flash, Zatanna, Rocket and I will see if we can figure out what happened to the van. We will catch up when we are done.-

Kid Flash eyed the broken path down the mountain. He had a hunch he didn’t like.

-Rocket, can you follow that path over there and see what you find?-

-On it.-

The link cut off as M’gann flew out of range. Kid Flash, Zatanna, and Aqualad had split up to cover more ground.

“Zatanna to Team. There looks like there was a cave-in in a nearby cave. There’s signs someone tried to move the rocks. Without much success, I’d gather.”

“Aqualad to Kid Flash and Zatanna. Kid Flash, go to Zatanna’s location. See if you can clear a path through the rocks between the two of you and see where the path leads.”

“Rocket to Team. I found the van… or what’s left of it.”

Kid Flash nearly froze on his way to Zatanna. “Kid Flash to Team. What do you mean ‘what’s left of it?’”

“Rocket to Team. Van’s torn apart and in pieces. I’m not seeing any bodies. I’d guess Lou Ellen wasn’t the only one who managed to get clear. Might explain how they were separated though.”

Kid Flash found the cave and arrived in time for Zatanna’s spell to finish rearranging the rocks.

“It’s dark in there.”

“I think I know a spell that will light the way. Wolg bro, wolg.” A glowing orb appeared in Zatanna’s hand. “Let’s go.”

The orb didn’t light up the whole tunnel, and it wasn’t very bright, but they could see enough they didn’t stumble.

They had gone about a mile when they heard sounds up ahead. 

It sounded like a fight.

With exchanged looks of alarm, Kid Flash scooped up Zatanna and ran the rest of the way.

Hopefully they weren’t too late.

It took a while of stumbling before the tunnel started to lighten. Dick suspected they’d walked over a mile in the dark.

Ethan started to say something, but Dick slapped a hand over the other boy’s mouth and put a finger to his own lips.

Ethan shoved Dick’s hand away, but obeyed the order to be quiet.

They crept closer to the end of the tunnel.

That’s when they heard voices.

“When will our meal arrive? I’m getting hungry.”

“Soon, but remember, you can have the other two, but wind boy is mine.”

Ethan caught Dick’s eye and mouthed “wind boy” in clear confusion.

Dick quickly turned away and crept even closer. He pressed himself to the wall near the edge of the tunnel and peeked around the corner.

An array of monsters lingered near a single human. Dick guessed from her attire and demeanor that she was a sorceress. In fact, she looked kind of familiar.

His gaze caught on a crystal around the sorceress’s neck.

Now that he definitely recognized. He’d seen it in one of Zatanna’s books.

If he had to guess, that crystal was the conduit holding the wind gods prisoner.

He turned to convey his plan to Ethan, just for the older boy to step towards him and promptly trip.

Dick winced, eyes widening in horror as the sound echoed.

“Mm. Dinner time.” One of the monsters cheered.

“Split.” Dick cried out as the monsters rushed them. He summoned his maximum three shurikens and flung them at the nearest three monsters, rolling out of the way of an attack. If any time he regretted leaving his dagger with Wally, now was that time.

His shurikens regenerated quickly, but not quickly enough for him to truly defeat the swarm of monsters.

Ethan was hacking away at them with his sword, but they were swiftly being nudged apart by the crowd.

Dick’s eyes caught on the crystal again. It was inches away now. He felt as if everything slowed down as he processed why.

The sorceress was within reach of him.

He tried to roll away. But she was too fast and grabbed his arm with one hand and his throat with the other.

Dick tried to reach for the crystal with his free hand. Get it away from her. Break it. Something.

But then the sorceress cast a spell, and his movements grew sluggish. 

Before he could really struggle, she was casting another, longer spell while touching the crystal to his heart.

He heard his name being called in alarm.

He wasn’t sure what happened next.

Chapter Text

Kid Flash and Zatanna arrived just in time to see a woman toss Dick Grayson’s limp body away from her.

She was glowing (literally) and her expression looked like she was high off an evil victory. 

They could see Ethan trying to fight his way over to Dick’s side from the opposite end of the cavern.

Some other man or monster or something was approaching the unconscious boy.

“Permission to feast, my lady?”

“Do as you wish. I have no more need of him.”

“Get me over to her!” Zatanna hissed in Kid Flash’s ear.

Kid Flash dumped her next to the sorceress and then sped towards Dick.

At superspeed, everything happens in slow motion. Despite that, all Kid Flash could see was a large jaw slowly closing, engulfing half of Dick’s head.

If something tries to eat you, I want you to unsheath that and use it like a dagger.

Wally didn’t give it another second’s thought. He pulled the bubble wand Dick had given him out and stabbed it into the monster’s shoulder.

The jaw stopped closing millimeters from Dick’s skin and Kid Flash took the opportunity to swiftly but carefully extract his friend from that… thing’s grasp.

On second thought, that bubble wand might come in handy. He yanked it out, ignoring the blood, and sped to the other end of the cavern.

He felt foolish guarding his friend with only a weird bubble wand as a weapon, but he couldn’t leave Dick’s side. Not with the number of… whatever-they-weres all trying to get at the boy.

Ethan was near Zatanna now and they were both fighting the sorceress, whose skin was slowly getting brighter and brighter.

Then, Lou Ellen was next to him. Kid Flash wasn’t sure if she’d lost her tail or not, but he hoped not, he was getting overwhelmed here.

Lou Ellen used her illusions to make it seem like they were elsewhere.

The monsters didn’t fall for it.

“We can smell you, half-bloods. Your little tricks do not fool us.”

“Half-bloods?” Kid Flash echoed uneasily. What were they talking about?

Across the room, the sorceress was getting almost blindingly bright.

Lou Ellen shouted something in another language. It was directed at the sorceress.

Then, there was wind, everywhere. Hot wind. Cold wind. Dry wind. Humid wind. They were getting buffeted by wind.

Then, a gentle breeze was settling by them.

“Lord Zephyros.” Lou Ellen’s tone was both awed and uneasy.

The gentle wind brushed past them.

It almost seemed to be speaking, but Wally couldn’t understand what it was saying.

Between one blink and the next, Dick was gone.

Lou Ellen had almost lost them when she stumbled across the cavern.

It only took two blinks for her to take in the scene.

And even though that sorceress seemed scary close to achieving her goal, Lou Ellen ran for Dick.

The boy was still. Too still. She wasn’t even sure if he was breathing at first, but a hand hovered over his mouth proved he was.

She tried to trick the monsters with her illusions, but it didn’t work.

She glanced back at the sorceress. Would stopping her help Dick?

In Ancient Greek, she called for her mother to guide her spell and cast a disorientation hex. 

It wasn’t much, but it was enough to allow the superhero girl to yank the crystal away from the sorceress’s neck, cast a spell etching a small ritual circle, and cast the ritual breaking the crystal.

Winds filled the room. The wind gods were free, but Lou Ellen wasn’t concerned about that right then.

Dick wasn’t waking up.

A gentle breeze brushed up against her, almost settling.

Lou Ellen swallowed. “Lord Zephyros.” Help him. Please .

“He is beyond my help.” 

She could almost sense the sadness, the grief, in his tone. The god brushed past her and Kid Flash.

“I will plead his case with the Olympians.”

Before she could react, he was gone.

And he’d taken Dick with him.

Stunned, she almost missed the monster swiping at her.

Kid Flash didn’t, and she felt the golden dust fall on her.

“Oh god. Oh god. Did I kill him?” 

She looked up at him quizzically. She’d thought with the dagger…

“I didn’t mean to kill him. Does this make me a murderer?”

“Where’d you get that?” She asked.

“The bubble wand? Robin gave it to me. He said if something tried to eat me, to use it like a dagger. Something tried to eat Dick. So I used it like a dagger. But… what are those things? What…?”

“What do you know about Greek Mythology?”

“It’s not real. None of it is real.” Kid Flash’s eyes were wild. “This… this is just a dream… or… just a dream…”

Lou Ellen realized her mistake. She snapped in front of his face, hearing the crackle of the Mist in the process. 

Kid Flash’s eyes glazed over.

“You didn’t kill anybody. There were a bunch of men here. We helped you overpower them, and they fled. They likely went to lick their wounds. I doubt they’ll be back. Dick wasn’t here. Ethan and I got separated from him. We’re looking for him too.”

“We’re all looking for Dick.” Kid Flash agreed robotically.

Lou Ellen snapped again and the Mist Manipulation ended.

She caught the superhero girl staring at her. 

“What? His mind was breaking.”

“How can a mind break?” Kid Flash asked. “Whose mind are you talking about anyway?”

“Ethan’s. And it was a joke.” Lou Ellen filled in for him.

Ethan made a noise of offense.

She looked at him and could see her concern reflected in his eyes.

Their questmate was gone and the heroes had been searching for him.

What now?

Chapter Text

Chiron wished he could say he was used to heroes going on quests and not coming back.

But one could never “get used” to losing people, especially when those people were kids.

When Lou Ellen Blackstone and Ethan Nakamura returned successful, but missing one Richard Grayson, he felt that sorrow of loss again.

Richard Grayson had only attended camp for less than a day, but that didn’t make his loss any less significant.

Lou Ellen insisted he was still alive. Insisted he’d be back.

They burned a shroud anyway.

A week later, a day after the summer session ended and Lou Ellen was convinced to return to her father for the school year, Chiron approached the Big House to see a visitor on the porch.

He raised an eyebrow. Diana didn’t visit often. The last time she’d been at camp had been to apologize for her lack of assistance in the Battle of Manhattan.

“How can I help you, Diana?” He asked.

“I’m looking for someone.” Diana said. “His name’s Richard Grayson.”

Chiron felt as if the air was stolen from his lungs. It felt like a major coincidence that Diana was here looking for the one hero who hadn’t made it back from the last quest the oracle had issued.

He settled for: “I know of him, but I’m afraid he’s not here.”

“Where is he then? He’s missing. I know he’s a demigod. Son of Zephyros.”

Richard was a son of Zephyros? That explained why he’d wanted to go on the quest. His godly parent was one of the ones missing. But Zephyros hadn’t had a child in millenia. Why now? Was Diana certain he was Richard’s godly parent?

“I can see the wheels turning in your head. You’ve seen him?”

Chiron straightened. “He was here. Almost two weeks ago, he stumbled into camp injured. He was here for less than a day and then convinced a friend to let him join on a quest to save the wind gods. His questmates returned, but he did not. He was not claimed in that time, so I was unaware of the identity of his godly parent. You’re certain his parent was Zephyros?”

“You’re speaking of him in past tense. Did his questmates claim he died on the quest?”

“No. But…”

“Then do not assume he is dead.”

“Diana, he went on a quest and didn’t return. You know what the odds are.”

“It hasn’t even been two weeks.” Diana huffed. “Let me know if he comes back here. If he’s not here now, I have no reason to be here.”

“Perhaps we could catch up? We haven’t spoken in a long time.” Chiron suggested.

But Diana shook her head. “It was good to see you again, Chiron, but I need to find Richard. His father is very worried about him.”

“Very well. I will alert you if Richard… shows up.”

Diana shot him a glare at the lack of belief Chiron had in Richard’s safe return.

In hindsight, he probably should have known something was off about Richard’s disappearance. Between Lou Ellen’s insistence he was still alive and Diana’s unconnected belief of the same, he should not have been caught by surprise when it happened.

When Richard mysteriously appeared in the camp infirmary.

Call it cynicism or call it the Fates…

For once, he was happy to be wrong.

Dick was vaguely aware of gusts of wind and begging. 

Lots of begging.

But comprehension was fleeting. He didn’t know where he was. Why he was there. Who he was with. What those gusts of winds potentially meant…

He was even starting to lose sight of who he was.

Then, his awareness began to level out.

For a while, he floated. Uncertain of what was happening around him.

“Drink.” The word was the first to permeate the barrier between floating and waking.

He must’ve obeyed, because he started to feel hot.

“That’s enough for now. Rest.”

More floating.

Drink. Enough. Rest.

Drink. Enough. Rest.

Drink. Enough. Rest.

Slowly, he could stomach more and more of whatever he was drinking.

It got to the point where he wondered if he was being drugged.

It was with that worry that he struggled his way to consciousness.

It was with great difficulty that he opened his eyes. A large man bustled over. He wore a white coat over a business suit and had a stethoscope around his neck. In his left hand was a large Staff of Asclepius. Dick recognized it from medical symbols and recalled it often got confused for the Caduceus.

“Ah. I was not expecting you to be awake yet. You’re still quite ill.”

“Stah drukin meh.” His tongue felt swollen in his mouth. His surroundings swam like he was looking at a Van Gogh painting.

“Do not equate my medicinal herbs with drugs. I am far above that primitive form of treatment.” The man seemed offended.

“Med-sin?” Dick could barely feel his body.

“You’re quite out of it still, it seems.” The man sighed. “Perhaps I should send you back before I’m accused of going overboard.”

“Whim I?” Dick didn't know this man. Who was he? Where were they?

“Rest, child. You have a ways to go before you are better.”

Lulled by the strange man’s words, Dick’s eyes slid closed.

When he next came to, it was to shouts.

“What the…?!”

“Is that…?!”

“Holy crap! Where’d he come from?!”

A sharp whistle cut through the havoc, hurting Dick’s ears.

“Voices down or leave the infirmary.”

“Right. Sorry, Will.”

“Got it, Will.”

“Oops.”

Dick fought against heavy eyelids.

“Can you hear me, Dick?” 

“Mm.” The small sound was all Dick could manage.

“Can you open your eyes?”

What did it look like he was trying to do? Dance the macarena?

“Okay. I’ve got some nectar here. Can you try to sip it?”

He felt someone sit him up.

The nectar tasted like a dish his mami used to make. It hurt that he couldn’t recall the name of it right away.

He recalled with a start that it tasted almost the same as whatever the strange man had been feeding him.

Huh. So it hadn’t been drugs.

“Someone go send an IM to Lou Ellen. She’ll want to know.”

The next few days passed almost in a blur. Will, it seemed, was the head medic in the infirmary.

“Where adul?” Dick had slurred at one point.

“Greek demigods rarely make it to adult age. Those that do rarely stay at camp.” Will told him. “Our prospects are changing now that we have an alliance with the Roman demigods though. Now rest.”

“Been rest.”

“Well, rest some more.”

The next time he woke, Diana was there, arguing with Chiron in low voices while Will glanced over occasionally in disapproval.

“If you want to argue, do it outside of my infirmary.” The teenage medic scowled as he bustled about.

Diana noticed then that Dick was awake and broke off her conversation with Chiron.

“How are you feeling, Richard?”

“Wanna go home.” Dick mumbled. “Safe to do so?”

Diana shot a look at Chiron, who sighed. “Fine. Take him. But the gods will be watching.”

“Noted.” Diana said. “Richard, can you walk?”

Dick tried to sit up, but fell back down again, unable to hold himself up.

“I can prepare a stretcher.” Will said. “Your car’s parked at the bottom of the hill?”

“Yes.” Diana said.

Together, she and Will lifted Dick onto the stretcher and then carried him out of the infirmary, through the camp, over the barrier, and down the hill to Diana’s car.

“My stuff.” Dick mumbled. “I had a bag.”

“Lou Ellen took it with her when she left.” Will said. “I think she didn’t want anyone to mess with it. She’s been checking in periodically since you were found.”

Dick wanted to ask more about what happened. “Who was the guy with the Staff of Asclepius?”

Will and Diana looked at each other. 

“Did I dream him?” Dick asked. “I was there before I woke up here.”

“I don’t know.” Will said slowly. “You just appeared in the infirmary one day. We don’t know where you were between the quest and then.”

“How long?” The question slipped past his lips before he could stop it.

“It’s October 10th.” Diana replied. “You’ve been missing a long time.”

October 10th. It had been almost two months.

It was concerning to think about.

Luckily, he didn’t have to think about it long. He was asleep again less than two minutes after Diana started driving, before they even reached the main roads.

He woke to hushed whispers. The room he was in was dark, but he recognized enough shapes to realize he was home in his bedroom at Wayne Manor.

The whispers got further away, but the door opened.

“Master Dick, are you awake?” The sound of Alfred’s voice eased an anxiety he hadn’t known was there.

“Mm. Awake. Food?” He muttered, trying to sit up as Alfred flicked on the lights.

Alfred placed the tray down on his nightstand, and helped prop the pillows so he could rest against them.

Dick could see a soup bowl and what looked to be a protein shake on the tray. Not the most filling, but probably all that he could stomach right now.

“We’ve been quite worried about you, Master Dick.” Alfred said, feeding him the soup when Dick’s hand couldn’t quite hold the spoon. “I will leave the questions for Master Bruce. Dr. Thompkins will be here in the morning.”

“Mm sorry.” Dick had so much more to say about it, but he didn’t have the energy.

“I’m sure you are.” Alfred said gently, holding the straw of the protein shake to his lips so he could drink it. “Get some more rest. I’m glad you’re home, Master Dick.”

He was glad to be home too.

Chapter Text

Dick breathed a sigh of relief as the cops finally left. It had been really hard to convince them he didn’t remember anything between leaving home and Wonder Woman finding him. 

Bruce still wasn’t convinced, but that was a problem for Later Dick.

Diana had thankfully told a similar story. She’d found Dick looking confused somewhere near Long Island and he had collapsed as soon as he saw her. That’s all she claimed to know.

Or so she told the cops.

He sighed when she gathered him and Bruce and Alfred in the family room.

“I don’t know what happened. End of story.” He said firmly.

“How fortunate for you then that I do.” Diana said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Dick stiffened. “You don’t know what happened.”

“I know enough. I spoke with Lou Ellen yesterday. Told her you were home safe and asked her to be honest about what had happened on her quest.”

“Quest?” Bruce demanded. “What quest? Is that what they were doing when the Team ran into them?”

“The Team ran into them?!” Dick yelped. “What was the team doing there?”

“Looking for you.” Bruce said firmly. “After you deactivated your trackers and ran away from Mount Justice.”

“It was none of their business!”

“You’ve been missing for two months!”

“Enough.” Diana said firmly. “This has gone on long enough. Dick, tell him about your ancestry, or I will.”

Dick froze. “What?!” 

His eyes flew up to meet hers, desperate to see something that indicated she wouldn’t break her promise to keep his secret, but her mouth was set in a grim line and he was struck with the impression that something had changed. The balance had shifted somehow, and Diana believed Bruce knowing about his godly parent was paramount to whatever was going on.

He swallowed nervously, before quietly telling his story.

Bruce’s lips were pursed by the time he finished. “I’m not happy you kept something so vital to your wellbeing from me.”

Dick ducked his head. “S-sorry. I…”

He didn’t have a good excuse.

Diana spoke up. “There’s more. Some… new developments.”

“What do you mean?” Dick asked. “What else is there? What new developments? I told him about my parentage, about the quest, how I got hurt on the quest and there was a mystery behind how I healed…”

“It’s not a mystery.” Diana said. “Chiron told me what he knows.”

Dick paused, stricken. “W-what does he know?”

“When the sorceress… hurt you… on the quest, she sucked out the part of your being that stemmed from your godly parent. Your divinity. Lord Zephyros begged for the gods to replace it. They said no. In a fit of desperation, he broke a rule and took you to Lord Asclepius.”

“Asclepius, the god of medicine?” Dick asked. “I think I remember bits and pieces of that. Why is taking me there against the rules?”

“Lord Asclepius has the issue of healing too well. He replaced your divinity, but not the same as it was.”

“But that makes sense.” Dick interrupted. “Of course he couldn’t make it the exact same. Why…”

“Let me finish before I lose my nerve.” Diana said sharply. “I’m not supposed to be telling you this.”

Dick lapsed into silence, glancing at Bruce and Alfred, who were both listening carefully.

“The divinity in you is stronger now, and it’s spreading. It’s taking over the part that makes you mortal. Chiron claimed there was discussion of killing you to prevent it from taking, but somehow, you’re unaffiliated with any pantheon now. They can’t make that decision alone, and that’s the only reason you’re still alive.”

“They… they want to kill me?” Dick whispered. “But… I’ve never hurt any of them! And I’ve never done anything to threaten them.” He shuddered. “What do you mean I’m unaffiliated with a pantheon? And… what does it mean that my… divinity is taking over my mortality? It’s almost like you’re trying to say I’m becoming immortal.”

“Dick, that’s because you are. And it’s already spread enough that anything less than multiple gods voting to kill you wouldn’t stop it. I think the reason you’re unaffiliated is because your immortality is tied to your mortality, your life. You point demigod children towards Camp Half Blood, yes. But besides that, the Battle of Manhattan, and the quest, you’re not really involved with the Greeks. You’re involved with the Justice League, which is worldwide and unaffiliated with any pantheon.”

“I haven’t just helped the Greeks.” Dick remembered. “There was an instance where I helped an Egyptian magician. And there was something in Boston that kind of faded from my memory, but now that I think of it… that might have been Norse? I think there was also an incident with I think it was the Hindu pantheon and another with…” He trailed off. “I’ve helped a lot of different pantheons, mostly as Robin.”

“And those other pantheons have noticed.” Diana said. “And they are all watching you. You would be the first god unaffiliated with any pantheon or region.”

Dick’s hands shook. “I don’t want to be a god. What would I even be the god of?!”

“Dick…”

“Don’t!” Dick knocked her hand away. “Don’t! I…”

They were interrupted by the gate buzzer ringing.

“It’s probably one of your friends.” Bruce said, as Alfred got up to go check who it was.

Dick could feel himself trembling. “I… I don’t want to be a god.”

“You don’t have a choice.” Diana said softly. “I felt it was better you know sooner rather than later. You’re the type of person who works better when you have all the pieces of the puzzle. You would have sought out the pieces if I hadn’t told you.”

“We’ll get through this.” Bruce promised. “Together.”

“I’ll outlive you.” Dick whispered.

“Well, I always would have hoped for that. No parents wants to outlive their child. This is just… to a larger extent.”

“I’ll outlive everyone.” Dick’s eyes watered.

Bruce held his arms out and Dick collapsed into his embrace.

“I don’t want this.”

“I know, chum. But we just have to make the most of what we’re given. I’m here to support you. It’s going to be okay.”

“Mister Nakamura and Miss Blackstone are on their way up.” Alfred returned and informed them. “I will settle them in the game room while you compose yourself.”

Dick hummed. He was tired. He didn’t want to have this confrontation now, but Ethan and Lou Ellen deserved to see he was okay.

Well… okay might be stretching it. He was alive.

He washed his face in the restroom and then, since he was feeling unsteady on his feet, accepted Bruce’s help to stumble into the game room.

He plastered on a fake smile that clearly didn’t fool Lou Ellen at all and just made Ethan scowl as he sat down in a free armchair.

“Hey guys. Thanks for checking in on me.”

“Would you like me to stay, Dick?” Bruce asked.

“No. It’s fine.” Dick lied.

Bruce didn’t look convinced, which made sense considering how well they could read each other, but accepted the words and left the room.

“How are you feeling?” Lou Ellen asked. “You gave us quite the scare. Lord Zephyros… he took you away and…” Her eyes watered. “I’m glad to see you alive and conscious.”

Dick’s fake smile faltered a little. “I’m coping. A little out of it, but I’ll manage. Did you guys make it back alright?”

“Obviously.” Ethan scoffed. “Your superhero friends gave us a ride.” 

The smile froze on Dick’s face. “My… superhero friends?”

Lou Ellen rolled her eyes. “Ignore him. He thinks you’re Robin. We managed to salvage some of our stuff from the van before heading back. I figured you’d like yours back, along with what you left at camp.” She handed over his duffle, his phone, and his escrima sticks.

“Thanks.” Dick said, still reeling over her statement that Ethan thought he was Robin. (He was Robin, but that was beside the point!) He took the items from her.

“So how much does your guardian know?” Ethan asked.

“More now than before.” Dick admitted. “I had to share some stuff after what happened.”

“What did happen?” Lou Ellen asked. “Lord Zephyros claimed he’d plead your case with the Olympians, but I doubt they would have healed you.”

“They didn’t.” Dick said. “Lord Asclepius did… from what we can piece together.”

“Lord Asclepius?” Lou Ellen frowned. “I think the seven ran into him. He gave Jason glasses.”

That sparked a lot of questions. Who was Jason? Who were the seven? Where was Asclepius located that someone could “run into” him?

He swallowed down his questions as Ethan spoke up.

“Rumor has it he’s located where he’s located as punishment for healing too well. He’s not supposed to have any patients.”

“Ah.” Dick said. Diana had already told him that. He didn’t have a better response.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Lou Ellen rephrased her question. “What do you remember?”

Dick told them about the bits and pieces he recalled. They snorted as he relayed his accidental insult towards the nectar medicine Asclepius had been healing him with and how offended the god had been.

“And then I woke up at Camp Half Blood.” He finished. “A family friend came to get me and made me tell Bruce about my heritage.”

“That’s not nice of them. It should’ve been your choice.” Lou Ellen frowned.

Dick slumped into the couch a little. None of it was his choice anymore.

Still…

“He needed to know. I’ve kept it from him long enough. I trust him. I was just afraid…”

“Of his mind breaking like Kid Flash’s?” Ethan finished for him.

What? Dick whipped his head up to stare at Ethan in horror.

“He’s okay.” Lou Ellen was quick to assure him. “I used the Mist to alter his perception before it got too far. I think it made that magician girl suspicious of me, but as far as I know, the fix held.”

Dick swallowed. “Y-you’re certain he’s okay?”

“You know, I hear Robin and Kid Flash are best friends.” Ethan said.

“Ethan, enough!” Lou Ellen snapped. “Someone’s mind nearly breaking is not a joking matter, and I don’t want to hear any more about Robin.”

Ethan scowled and looked ready to argue. 

Lou Ellen was bristling.

Dick felt like the world was caving in on him. He needed to make sure Wally was okay. It had been him who gave him the dagger. Him who’d involved him in this business. 

Wally had enough trouble accepting magic! There was a reason Dick had never told him about the gods and goddesses and various pantheons and…!

“Dick.” Bruce’s voice cut through his panic. “Dick, breathe. Take a breath. Yes, just like that. In. And then out.”

The tension slowly faded from his chest. He blinked his eyes and the room swam into focus.

Lou Ellen and Ethan were both on their feet. Neither looked angry anymore. They both just looked concerned.

“You should go.” His voice came out meek. Strained.

“We’re sorry.” Lou Ellen said.

“Please just go.” Dick pleaded.

Lou Ellen swallowed hard and grabbed Ethan by the arm. “Right. Feel better soon. We’ll see you later, Dick.”

“Bye.” Ethan said, looking only slightly repentant.

Then, Lou Ellen dragged Ethan out and they were gone.

“I need…” Dick began, but couldn’t bring himself to say his best friend’s name.

“You should rest.” Bruce said.

Dick shook his head. “They said Kid Flash’s mind almost broke. Because… because he got too close to godly stuff.”

“You want to see him.” Bruce said. “He’s at school still. I think he intended to come over after.”

“Is he okay?” Dick stressed.

“He seemed upset the Team gave up the search. And I believe he asked Miss Martian if his memories had been altered because something was off.”

“What did she say?” Dick asked.

“I couldn’t tell you. I chose to give them privacy.”

“Bullshit. You’re too nosy.”

Bruce sighed. “I was planning to look into it the day you came home, but then I got the call from Diana and you took precedence.”

Oh. That made sense. Still… “I need to know he’s okay.”

“Rest. He’ll be by after school.”

Dick sighed and tried to get up, but his legs shook with the strain, even with Bruce stepping in to support him.

“May I carry you?” Bruce asked.

Dick sighed and nodded.

He was asleep before they even got to the stairs.

Chapter Text

Wally wasted no time Zetaing to Gotham after school. He didn’t have direct access to the Batcave, but it was nothing a quick run couldn’t fix.

A minute or two after Zetaing found him sliding to a stop by the gates to Wayne Manor.

He pressed the buzzer.

“Hey, Alfred.” He said when the man answered. “Can I come up?”

“Of course, Mr. West.”

Alfred buzzed him in, and he ran up the path.

“Good afternoon, Mr. West.” Alfred greeted him at the door. “Master Dick is asleep, but will be eager to see you when he wakes.”

“How is he?” Wally asked.

“He has healing to do.” Alfred said, sounding almost reluctant to clarify.

Wally didn’t push him, accepting that he’d just have to ask that of Dick himself.

It took a couple hours of Wally amusing himself with Dick’s game systems, but finally the younger teen woke up.

Wally became aware of his friend’s state of wakefulness when he heard Dick’s voice as he approached the game room.

“I’m fine, Bruce. I can walk by myself.”

“I’d feel better if you’d let me help you.”

Wally paused the game and sped to the doorway just in time to see Dick trip over nothing rounding the corner.

Bruce caught him and raised a pointed eyebrow.

“…okay. Fine. Point taken. Don’t carry me though.”

“Are you okay?” Wally blurted out.

Dick paused at that. “Wally! Um… I’m fine. Or, I will be. Going theory is that my muscles atrophied a little.”

“Theory?” Wally questioned.

Dick swallowed. “I don’t remember what happened.”

Wally noted his tell. It was hard to make out. Dick was good at hiding his tells, but his eyes narrowed just the tiniest bit whenever he was worried or lying.

Only problem was, Wally didn’t know if he was worried, lying, or worried because he was lying.

“Right…” He settled for. “You don’t have to talk about it right now. They said you’d recover, right?”

Dick’s eyes narrowed in the same way again. He didn’t answer.

Bruce shot him a worried look and answered for him. “Leslie expects him to make a full recovery.”

“What’s the story you’re going with for his disappearance?” Wally asked.

“He convinced the cops he didn’t remember anything. Diana correlated his story, so they bought it.”

“Meaning he does remember some things.” Wally murmured to himself.

Evidently, Dick heard him, as he winced and said. “A few days at the beginning. Not much after I got separated from… a couple friends.”

“Lou Ellen and Ethan, right?”

“I thought you said we didn’t have to talk about it right now.” Dick snapped. He wobbled in place.

“Let’s get you sitting down.” Bruce said. He guided Dick into the game room Wally had been waiting in.

Dick visibly slumped against the cushions in relief once he was sitting. Wally felt a pinch of worry at the sight. How bad off was he?

“It’s fine. Leslie expects me to make a full recovery.” Dick said. He looked at Bruce pointedly, and the man took the hint and left the room. “Sorry for disappearing on you like that.”

“You seemed pretty frantic at the time.” 

“It’s complicated.” Dick shifted to get more comfortable on the couch. “What have I missed?”

Wally filled him in on the missions that had happened while he was gone, careful to stay away from the one mission that was most relevant.

“So business as usual?” Dick asked with a smile.

Wally hesitated. “There is something else.”

Dick’s smile faded. “Oh?”

“Something’s off with my memory.” Wally said. “M’gann confirmed it, but she can’t fix it. And I think Zatanna knows something about it, but she claims she can’t fix it either.”

“Well, what’s off with it?” Dick asked. Wally noticed the narrowing again. He didn’t know something, did he?

“I think it’s been altered. Like, forcefully. M’gann agrees. She managed to heal some cracks in my brain that seemed to coincide but couldn’t confirm whether they were caused by it or just happened around the same time.”

Dick exhaled sharply.

“Dick?”

“But you’re okay?”

The question nearly gave him whiplash. “What part of my memory being messed with makes you think I’m okay?!”

He flinched. 

“I know you didn’t do it. You don’t have that ability.” Wally continued. “Can you use that detective brain of yours and help me figure it out?”

Dick didn’t answer for a long moment. The hesitation was… why would he hesitate?!

“Dick?”

“I’ll… see what I can do.” Dick said, his voice a forced monotone.

Wally’s heart sank as he recognized the lie. 

Dick did know something about this. How? Had he spoken with the person who’d done it? Was he responsible?

More importantly, could he trust him to actually help him figure it out? If Dick was hesitating, was it for a good reason?

Don’t be silly, Wally. He told himself. Dick always had a good reason.

“Wally?” Dick asked.

“Tell me the truth, Dick. What do you know?”

“It’s bigger than magic.” Was the only answer he got.

Wally scowled. What did magic have to do with anything? It was just another form of science that could be manipulated by a specific subset of people.

After a few more minutes of pestering him, Wally reluctantly dropped the subject.

This isn’t the end of it. He told himself. I will figure out what he’s hiding.

He just hoped whatever it was wouldn’t wreck him.

Chapter Text

Lou Ellen didn’t know how to feel about being kicked out so soon after going to check in on Dick.

She blamed Ethan a little, but mostly she was just concerned.

“Why’d you have to get us kicked out?” She complained to Ethan for the umpteenth time.

“Stop blaming me for it!” Ethan snapped. 

“You’re the one who brought up Kid Flash!”

“And you admitted to messing with his head! It wasn’t just me!”

Lou Ellen huffed. “I’m going to meditate some. Don’t disturb me.”

“Disturb you when you least expect it. Got it.”

Lou Ellen sighed. As much as she and Ethan had been arguing lately, they really were friends. And it was good to have a friend with her right now.

What if he really is Robin?  

The thought crept unbidden into her mind as she settled down to meditate. She itched to finally accept his offer of a phone just so she could communicate with him better. Check in on him…

The mist curled in wafts around her mindscape as she sank deeper into meditation.

A polecat appeared in her mind's eye. She mentally paused and then exhaled softly.

“Mother.” She greeted as her mother followed behind the polecat into what was creeping from a meditation to a borderline dream.

“Richard is a good kid, darling.” Hecate said. “I answered his prayer when he sought to create those mist phones. The mist has greatly strengthened as they have proliferated.”

“You’re here to tell me… I should get a cell phone?” Lou Ellen couldn’t help the incredulity in her voice.

“I am here because you must choose a path.” Hecate said. “You are at a crossroads. As is your friend. I cannot predict his path, but he will likely try to push you away.”

“He’s my friend. I want to help him…” Lou Ellen said.

“But?”

“There are things he… doesn’t tell me. I don’t know how to help him.”

“It is your crossroads, dear. Choose your path. Walk it with your head held high. And do not regret.”

Lou Ellen’s eyes popped open to see Ethan crouched in front of her. “Lou? Lou? Lou?”

“What?”

“Finally! I’ve been trying to snap you out of it for the last ten minutes!”

“Sorry. Mom hijacked my meditation session.”

Ethan rocked back on his heels. “Oh?”

“She says I’m at a crossroads. It seems to be related to Dick.”

“You mean Robin?”

For the first time, Lou Ellen forced herself to stop and think about Ethan’s theory.

Dick lived in Gotham, same city as Robin, and Bruce Wayne was certainly rich enough to afford the gear.

It was just… how would she have missed that? Wouldn’t it be obvious?

“Why do you think he’s Robin?”

“Multiple reasons. Besides the whole rich enough to afford it while living in Gotham thing, he has the same wind powers Robin did. Robin admitted he was the child of a minor god, same as Dick, but didn’t say who. Robin hasn’t been back to camp, and Dick had supposedly never been to camp before this summer. But both directed kids there. Dick directed you, among others. Robin directed the Stolls, among others. Neither are very involved in camp, but they both know it’s a safe place. There were other clues, but it just makes sense to me that Robin and Dick are the same person.”

“You’re still making a few jumps there.” Lou Ellen said hesitantly.

“What’s got you denying it? Is it the fact he never told you? My research shows Batman and Robin are among the most secretive of all superheroes when it comes to secret identities. Dick’s already kidnapping bait. Add all Robin’s enemies and he’d never be safe again. I don’t think he’d tell anyone but a fellow superhero who he is and even then the superheroes we ran into didn’t seem to know he was their friend, right? They treated the whole thing like a mission.”

“Kid Flash didn’t.”

“Then maybe he knew exactly who he was looking for, but if Robin hasn’t told the other superhero kids who he is, you’re not alone in seeing them as two separate people. It’s on purpose.”

Lou Ellen grimaced. “I think I’m beginning to believe you.”

Ethan grinned. “Good. Because I’m still mad at him for not telling us.”

“You just told me not to be mad.” 

“I said no such thing. I just said the separation of identity was purposeful.”

Lou Ellen groaned. “We’re not getting revenge on him for not telling us.”

“Not even a little bit?”

“Ethan!”

“Look. Can we just mess with him? Not tell him flat out we know.”

“You already told him you knew.”

“You did. You said I suspected.”

Lou Ellen sighed. “Can we go back to my conversation with my mother? She said I was at a crossroads, but also that Dick was.”

Ethan frowned. “What crossroads is he at?”

“I don’t know. But I want to help him. He’s my friend.”

Ethan leaned back.

“Ethan?”

“I want him to be my friend too.” Ethan sighed. “I just worry I haven’t been going about it in the right way.”

“You definitely haven’t been going about it in the right way.” Lou Ellen confirmed. Ethan shot a glare at her. “Hey. The truth hurts. But you can still remedy it.”

“How? I taunted him into a panic attack and he kicked us out.”

Lou Ellen thought about it. “Well…”

Ethan watched her carefully.

“Don’t shoot the messenger but I have a plan.”

“This was a terrible plan.” Ethan scoffed.

“This was not my plan.” Lou Ellen snapped back.

No sooner had they stepped out the door to enact Lou Ellen’s plan when they’d been snatched by Two Face goons in the ramp up to a gang war.

And look, they could try to break out themselves, but those goons had very big guns and neither of them was very eager to die that young.

Plus, they were far from the only hostages around. Most of the hostages were other kids and teens. Very few adults.

Time ticked by slowly. None of the hostages dared to move and being unable to move was torture on an ADHD brain.

Finally, a thud caught their attention. Someone had just knocked out the guards quietly.

Lou Ellen looked around tensely for their rescuer, startling when someone picked the locks on her handcuffs behind her.

Next to her, Ethan was rubbing at his wrists and watching someone who’d moved passed her.

She turned and saw Robin moving from hostage to hostage, unchaining them all.

She moved to get up, but Ethan stopped her and shook his head.

Only once Robin had freed the last hostage did Ethan remove his hand and they got up alongside the other hostages and moved quietly for the door.

Lou Ellen hesitated when she saw someone stumble out of the corner of her eye.

She turned back and saw Robin was limping. Without thinking, she went back for him.

“Are you alright?” She hissed.

“Fine.” He hissed back. “Get out of here while the coast is clear. I can handle myself.”

But Lou Ellen recalled how he’d barely been walking the previous afternoon. Did Batman even know he was helping? Why would he let him out if he did?

She opened her mouth to say something when Robin launched himself at her.

They both hit the ground as bullets whizzed over their heads.

Thinking fast, she manipulated the mist to make it appear they were making a run for it out the door. The goons fell for it and ran after the illusions of her and Robin.

Robin winced as he tried to sit up and then slumped down again.

“Robin, let me help you.” Lou Ellen whispered. “Please.”

“Batman told me to stay home.” Robin admitted. “He knew I’d overstrain myself. My muscles are still atrophied after a coma. I can’t…” He tried to sit up again and still couldn’t quite manage it.

Lou Ellen caught sight of a bullet graze on his arm, his blood almost sparkling.

She grabbed said arm and looked at the wound.

It was a mix of red and gold.

Robin tried to tug it back, but Lou Ellen shifted to use it to pull him up, choosing to save the observation and subsequent questioning for later.

“Lean on me. One foot in front of the other. They could be back any minute.” She whispered.

Robin gave up the tough guy act and leaned heavily on her as she guided him out a different door than the one everyone else had gone out of, than the goons had gone out of.

Where was Ethan? Had he noticed yet she wasn’t with him?

She got her answer when he found them about five minutes later.

“There you are!” He hissed. “Are you o…?” He cut himself off when he saw Robin.

“I’m fine.” Lou Ellen said. “Robin’s not. He didn’t give himself adequate recovery time from his coma.”

“We know that. We just saw him…”

“Ethan.” Lou Ellen snapped. “We can confront him about that after we get somewhere safe. This alley is not safe and it will be difficult to get home while the gangs are fighting each other full-throttle.”

Robin tried to stand but Lou Ellen placed a hand on his shoulder to keep him sitting.

“We need a plan to get you out of here before we leave this alley. The goons see you’re down and all three of us are done for.”

Robin shifted. He pulled a retractable bo staff and held it out to Ethan. “Here. It can be used similar to a sword, but it’s non-fatal. Your sword wouldn’t work on mortals anyway.”

Ethan took it from him. “Do you and Batman have a safe house closer to here than your home?”

“You’re not letting that go, are you?” Robin sighed. “Let me think. We’re in the Bowery. If I’ve got our location right, we exit right out of this alley and there’s a safe house about eight blocks away.”

“Can you make it that far?” Lou Ellen asked.

“Seeing as one of the gang members shot at my bike with a rocket launcher and wrecked said bike a little over an hour ago, I’m going to have to.” Robin said tiredly. “Ethan, cover for us. Lou Ellen, help me along.”

“I love how you’re not even pretending not to know us anymore.” Ethan said.

“Dude, I helped in the Battle of Manhattan. Are you forgetting about that?” Robin retorted. “Regardless of what you’re going on about, of course I know your names. Or did you forget when I saved your ass falling from Olympus?”

“He’s got you there.” Lou Ellen said, helping Robin up.

They snuck through the streets, keeping hidden as much as possible. Thankfully, Lou Ellen was fond of purple and black and Ethan’s clothes were a dark shade as well. They only had to dispatch one or two lucky goons that spotted them as they weaved in and out of alleys to avoid the gang war.

The safe house was well stocked and Lou Ellen didn’t wait even a second after depositing Robin on the couch before asking where the medical supplies were.

Robin directed her while Ethan locked the door behind them.

“If Batman burns this safe house because I let you two in it, I’m going to be upset.” Robin grumbled. “It’s one of my favorites.”

“What Batman doesn’t know doesn’t hurt him.” Lou Ellen said as she sat down on the couch with the med kit. “Arm.”

Robin held out his arm to her obediently and she dabbed at the wound with some gauze and antiseptic. He didn’t even flinch at the sting of pain.

“Why is there gold in your blood?” Lou Ellen asked. “Most demigod blood is just red.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Robin said. “I…” He straightened and touched something in his ear with his free hand. “Yes, Batman?”

Lou Ellen was close enough to hear a faint sound coming from said ear, though he couldn’t make out what was being said.

“I’m safe.” Robin said. “Um… yeah. Totally. Nowhere near the gang war.”

Ethan and Lou Ellen both narrowed their eyes at him. He shot them a look.

“Uh yeah. I went to KF’s.” Robin continued to lie. “Got caught a little off guard when you called… and of course you looked at my tracker. Why do I always forget about those?”

His friends winced. They were made.

“Fine. I’m in Safe House 2A in the Bowery, as I’m sure you realized by looking at my tracker. I learned my lesson. Don’t plan on leaving for the rest of the night. There’s a bed here. I’ll be fine.”

Lou Ellen deemed the graze sufficiently cleaned and not in need of stitches and wrapped some bandages around it.

“Well, now that I know you’re gonna be checking my tracker periodically, of course I’m not going anywhere. Wait. Are you saying you want me to leave the safe house to return home? I should warn you my bike got wrecked and…” Robin stopped. “Yeah yeah. Stay put. Don’t go running into trouble when your muscles are atrophied. I’m in one piece. I freed some hostages and stopped after that. Why do you need more specific…? Fine. I got a bullet graze on one arm. It’s already treated. No other injuries. Yeah yeah. I’m fine. Literally can’t die, remember?”

Lou Ellen and Ethan looked at each other. What did he mean he couldn’t die?

“No. I’m not trying to counteract that. Stop acting like a mother hen. Yes you are acting like a mother hen. You really want to send Agent A here through an active gang war? Didn’t think so. You can collect me when it’s over. Okay fine. I’ll stay put this time. Don’t be a mother hen. You’ll know if I leave. You’ve got that stupid tracker on me.”

Lou Ellen pinned the bandages in place and let go of his arm.

“Go stop a gang war. I’ll see you when you’re done. Bye.” He pulled a small piece of tech from his ear, muttering to himself. “Glad this is wired like the Mist Phones so it doesn’t attract monsters. I am not in the mood to fight monsters right now.”

“Trust me when I say you wouldn’t be the one fighting them.” Ethan huffed. “What do you mean you ‘literally can’t die’?” 

Robin scowled. “Didn’t mean for you to hear that.”

“You knew we were in the room with you.” Lou Ellen said. “I was literally bandaging your arm while you were talking to Batman, Dick.”

Robin frowned at her. “Did you just call me Dick?”

“Are you going to deny it again?” Ethan asked. “I have a list of reasons why Robin and Dick Grayson are one and the same. Do I need to bust it out?”

Robin sighed. “No. Just… don’t tell anyone else. And don’t let anyone overhear you talking about it. I have a secret identity for a reason and…” He chewed his lip. “Look. It’s not that I can’t die, it’s that I can’t die easily. I told you about Asclepius, right?”

“Yeah?” Lou Ellen said.

“The thing the sorceress took from me was my divinity. The part of me that I got from Lord Zephyros. Asclepius heals too well. It’s why he’s so hard to reach and doesn’t get many patients. He’s the god of medicine and… when he healed my divinity… well, apparently I’m turning into a god.”

“What?!” Ethan and Lou Ellen exclaimed.

“Not by choice.” Robin scowled. “I’d rather stay human slash demigod, thank you very much. But another thing is, they can’t smite me. There are other pantheons I’m on the radar of.”

“Other pantheons are real too?” Lou Ellen asked.

“They coexist.” Robin confirmed. “I’ve helped demigods and heroes from other pantheons. Not just Greek. So now if they want to stop my ascension, they can only do so by getting a majority vote not just in the Greek pantheon, but across all pantheons. The problem is… the only way they can stop it is by smiting me. And the other pantheons… aren’t so fond of that idea. Apparently it’s a lousy way to repay me for my service or something. I don’t know all the details. I’m not even supposed to know about my impending ascension, but Wonder Woman decided I needed to know.”

Lou Ellen frowned. “My mother said you’re standing at a crossroads.”

Robin frowned. “How can I be standing at a crossroads if I don’t have a choice?”

“You do have a choice.” Ethan said. “You can convince the gods to smite you. You could give up and become the god of giving up. Or you could try and turn your focus on what type of god you want to turn into.”

“What do you mean?” Robin asked.

“Do you have an area of focus? Something you think you’re going to be the god of? Can you make an area of focus? Hone your influence?” Ethan said. “You’re not fully a god yet and the slow ascension means you can choose your legacy.”

Robin pondered that. “Wonder Woman said I’m unaffiliated with any pantheon due to my connections to the League. The first god unaffiliated with any pantheon. That means… there’s not any areas that are really already taken.”

“I could see you as the god of protection of the innocent.” Lou Ellen said. “Or the god of heroes.”

“Isn’t Hercules the god of heroes?” Ethan asked.

“Only in the Greek pantheon.” Lou Ellen pointed out slyly. “Maybe the Roman too, but they’re connected.”

“So your choices are… give up, die, or buckle down.” Ethan reiterated. “And personally, I think the first two options suck. That leaves you one course of action that’s really right to take.”

“Buckle down.” Robin murmured faintly, brows creased in thought behind his domino mask. “God of protecting the innocent. Of heroes protecting the innocent.”

He looked at them.

“Thank you. I think… I needed that pep talk. If I can even call it a pep talk.”

Lou Ellen smiled. “You know what I think?”

“What?” Robin asked.

“I think you can better hone your influence with more people.”

Robin frowned deeply. “Who, exactly, did you have in mind?”

“Your hero friends.” Lou Ellen suggested.

Robin opened his mouth in protest, but Lou Ellen held up a hand to stop him.

“Not Kid Flash! We already saw how that went, but your other hero friends. Surely some of them are better at believing in the unknown? That magician girl, for example. And I’m fairly certain Atlanteans believe in deities, so maybe them. Wonder Woman’s probably already on board, of course. I’m sure Batman cares enough about you to help. Who else…?”

Robin was frowning, but he wasn’t immediately denying her idea, so she pushed a little further.

“They’re your friends, Robin. Right? Surely they’ll want to help you.”

Robin sighed. “I’ll think about it. Maybe approach them individually. I don’t want to… I’m worried they’ll take it the wrong way.”

“Only one way to find out, right?” Lou Ellen replied.

Robin gave a small smile. “Yeah. Hey. You should call your dad and let him know you and Ethan are holed up somewhere safe. He’ll be worried what with the gang war and you not being home.”

He dug out a phone and handed it to her.

“Monsters.” Lou Ellen said even as she took it from him.

“Mist phone. Doesn’t attract monsters.” Robin retorted.

Lou Ellen sighed and called her dad, who was relieved to hear she and Ethan were safe. 

Once she hung up, she turned again to Robin.

“So how does it work?” She asked.

Robin perked up. “Celestial Bronze wiring and a Mist filtration system. I prayed to Hecate and Hephaestus and got a large supply of celestial bronze wires. The mortals at B’s company who put them together don’t fully understand how they work and they have to use special tools to be able to touch the wiring, but they really work! I think when the mist comes out of the phone, it actually has a slight smell to it that covers demigod scent. Not completely, but enough to make a difference. With so many mortals using these phones, demigod scent gets heavily covered. Monster attacks go down. Less demigods die. That’s a win for the divine because there’s more demigods to handle their problems for them.” He rolled his eyes. “Not that I support that part, but more demigods making it to adulthood? Huge win for demigods. I think the filtration system also boosts the Mist and protects us and them. It would be even better if I could convince the demigods to adopt these phones, but you know how it is. Even you wouldn’t accept a phone from me.”

“I want one.” Ethan said.

“Really?” Robin asked.

“If it works as you said, it could be a huge boost in communications.” Ethan shrugged. “Not everyone has the drachmas for Iris Messages.”

“I feel bad taking part of Lady Iris’s job away.” Robin drooped a little.

“Convince her to get in on it. She’s the goddess of the rainbow, right? She could have an app.” Lou Ellen suggested.

“Will you take one finally?” Robin asked.

Lou Ellen hesitated. “You know what? Fine. You’ve been bugging me about this for years. I’ll take one.”

“And if it works as you say, we’ll convince Chiron to invest in them for camp. Or at least allow them at camp.” Ethan said.

Robin grinned. “Asterous. I always wanted to not be the only demigod using them. Well, I think the Egyptians jumped on them already. And maybe the Hindu pantheon? Honestly, the Greeks and Romans are late to the game.”

Lou Ellen rolled her eyes. “You said there’s a bed around here? Get some rest. Ethan and I need to have the energy to run from Batman when he realizes we’re in his super secret safe house.”

Robin chuckled, but accepted her help to bed. “He’ll be mad if I take off my mask around you two.”

“We already know your secret ID, Dick.” Lou Ellen said pointedly.

Robin shrugged, grinned, and tugged off his mask.

Even though they already knew, the confirmation felt good.

They fell asleep in good spirits.

Chapter Text

Before he could approach his teammates about his tailored ascension plan, Robin knew he had to get Batman on board.

But that was easier said than done. Batman was upset with him for bringing Ethan and Lou Ellen into a Bat-Safe House, while Robin was upset with Batman for adopting a kid without asking him or Alfred.

And look, Jason wasn’t a bad kid, but it was a bad time to be adopting when Robin might disappear in the next few months through circumstances beyond their control. 

And it felt just a little bit like Batman was preparing to replace him.

Robin really didn’t want to go behind Batman’s back regarding bringing several members of the Team into the fold, but he knew time was somewhat of the essence and he didn’t know how to bring the topic up to Batman and also Jason was in the cave and just generally around more frequently than not and Robin really didn’t want Jason to be part of that conversation.

So after a week passed without an opportunity to discuss it, Robin went ahead with his plan without clearing it with Batman first.

He approached Kaldur first. The Atlantean was familiar with deities. While he was surprised to learn every deity was real, and even more so to learn that Robin was on the brink of becoming one, he didn’t accuse Robin of making up stories and didn’t take much convincing to come on board.

“Alright.” He said simply. “How can I help?”

“You believe me?” Robin had to check. It couldn’t be that easy, could it?

“Why wouldn’t I believe you, Robin? You are not a liar and your tone conveyed your seriousness. Furthermore, it puts the last few months into perspective. Were you the one we were looking for with Lou Ellen and Ethan?”

Robin winced. “Um…”

“I won’t be telling anyone your secret identity, but will it be Robin or Richard who will be known?”

Robin took a deep breath. “Robin, probably. Richard’s likely to disappear after. People won’t… they won’t remember Richard. They’ll remember Robin.”

Kaldur hummed. “I see.”

“I personally want to know more about how we can help you.” Robin startled and turned around to find Conner standing behind them. “Superhearing, remember?”

Robin took a deep breath. “I’m… I’m keeping it to a spare few. Maybe you and Miss M and Zee and Kaldur. I’m worried Artemis will tell Wally but Wally can’t know. He’s… he won’t believe me. And if we try to force him to believe me…”

“M’gann mentioned the cracks in his mind. Is that because he got too close?” Conner asked.

Robin nodded.

“Okay. No one mentions this to Wally. But he’ll know we’re keeping something from him.” Conner said. “He’ll know you’re keeping something from him. He knows your tells.”

Robin scowled at the floor. “If it’ll keep him safe, I don’t care.”

“You do care.” Kaldur countered. “I doubt you want to keep this from him.”

Robin sighed. “You’re right. I trust him. It’s… I don’t want to hurt him. This… revelation could hurt him. Not just hurt him, break him. And I will do anything to keep him from breaking.”

Kaldur placed a hand on his shoulder. “At the end of the day, it is your choice my friend. You’re the one facing immortality. We will support you.”

Robin looked up at him and nodded slowly. “Thank you. Thank you both.”

“I’ll tell M’gann.” Conner offered. “She already suspects, but I can clarify and confirm based on what you’ve said so far.”

“I want to speak with Zee myself.” Robin said. “She needs a clear explanation after what happened in North Carolina.”

Conner inclined his head. “She’s listening to music in her room right now. Not a bad time.”

Robin took a deep breath and headed over there.

The conversation with Zatanna wasn’t as smooth as the one with Kaldur and Conner. She had a lot of questions and wanted to know his reasons and rationale.

But it cleared a heavy load off his chest when she both agreed to support him in tailoring his ascension and agreed Lou Ellen had done the right thing altering Wally’s memory of the events in that cavern.

“He’s not going to accept not knowing the truth.” Robin said hesitantly.

“He’s not. You’re right.” Zatanna agreed. “But I’m on your side and so is M’gann. We’re not going to let him come to harm because he pushed too hard into those moments.”

“Thank you.” Robin said.

“You’re welcome.” Zatanna said.

He returned home in a good mood that was immediately squashed when Batman was waiting for him.

Jason was nowhere in sight.

“You told your secret identity to several members of the Team.” Batman scowled.

“It wasn’t like that.” Robin retorted.

“Wasn’t it?” Batman asked. “Are you that mad about Jason that you’d endanger him by giving away our secret identities?”

“It’s not endangering him! I trust them!”

“Robin…”

“And frankly, if you’d given me the time of day at all this week, I’d have gone to you first!”

Batman narrowed his eyes at him. “You knew I was trying to help Jason settle in.”

“Right. At the expense of your other kid and the limited time we have left.” Robin spat before he could help it.

“Robin.” The tone had warning in it.

“What is the world going to think when I disappear so shortly after Jason was adopted? We could skew it as me being a runaway, but there’s going to be suspicion on you.” Robin said.

“Robin.”

“Don’t. I’m trying to make the most of the situation, B. I can’t stop it. Neither can you. But I can make something of it. And I needed more people on board if it was going to work. I wanted to talk to you first, but it’s none of Jason’s business.”

“And what do you expect Jason to think when you’re gone?” Batman countered. “I know you think I’m replacing you, but I assure you I’m not. And I’d rather your new brother doesn’t think you left because of him.”

Robin deflated. “I don’t know him well enough to trust him with the whole equation. With everything that’s happening.”

“I know. But the only way to counter that is to try to get to know him.” Batman said. “It’s as you said. We have limited time. I think we’d benefit from having Jason on board.”

Robin rubbed his arm. He didn’t know how to respond to that.

“His favorite superhero is Wonder Woman.” Batman shared.

Robin frowned. “Why is that relevant?”

“Because Wonder Woman is a demigod. And that’s a segway.” Batman said. “Talk to him. You’ve been avoiding him outside of designated family times. And half those times, it’s been clear you were annoyed not to have me to yourself.”

Robin sighed. “Alright. Where can I find him?”

“He was in the library last I checked.” Batman replied. “But before you go, I want you to tell me your plan. I don’t know we’ll get another opportunity to speak privately for a bit. I also want to know what you were thinking with Lou Ellen and Ethan. I know you told them too.”

“I didn’t tell them. Ethan figured it out and told Lou Ellen who apparently took some convincing to believe it. They confronted me about it and I didn’t think I could feasibly deny it.” Robin retorted. “They were the ones to suggest… tailoring my ascension.”

“Doing what?” Batman questioned.

“I’m not a god yet.” Robin pointed out. “I can push what my legacy will be before it solidifies. I can tailor what I’ll be the god of.”

Batman’s brows furrowed. “Not completely. You’d have to build it off of something you already have a legacy in.”

“We were thinking… heroes and protection of the innocent.” Robin admitted.

Batman gazed at him for a long few moments. 

Robin started to fidget as he waited for the man to respond.

“A good choice. You’re already a protector of the innocent and you inspired a whole new generation of heroes.” Batman said. “But there’s still the matter of keeping your legacy going.’

Robin hummed. “We can spread stories, but I… if I’m not around.”

“Someone else could wear your colors.”

Robin’s head snapped up. “No! They’re mine! It’s my mother’s name for me and my family’s colors!”

“And they would still be yours.” Batman replied. “But they would be someone else’s too. In your stead. For your sake.”

Robin glared at the ground. He took a few deep breaths.

Finally, he looked back up at Batman. “Is this your idea of bringing Jason into this? He’s not trained. He’s not me either. We don’t even know if he’d want to!”

“He does want to. Not necessarily as Robin, but he’s been inquiring about how he can fight crime too.”

Robin huffed and crossed his arms. “If he’s wearing my colors, I say when he’s ready. And I train him on top of your training. He’s not to go out there unprepared in even the slightest, you hear me? And if there’s any indication he could get badly hurt, you pull him.”

“Robin…”

“I’m a protector of the innocent, Batman. And Jason counts as innocent.” Robin pushed.

“Alright.” Batman said. “He can start training after dinner. I want you to observe his first session. Don’t step in unless I give you the signal. We need to see where he’s at.”

Robin nodded. “I take it we have a deal? We both train him, but I decide when he’s ready?”

“Deal.” Batman agreed. “So long as you don’t wait longer than reasonable. We don’t want to discourage him.”

Robin frowned. “If it keeps him safe, discourage him all you want.”

“Robin.”

“Batman.”

They gazed at each other for a bit longer.

A cleared throat caught their attention.

“Might I ask why you are lingering in this dreary cave when dinner is on the table and awaiting you?” Alfred asked pointedly.

“Sorry, Alfred.” Robin said. “We’re on our way.”

“No costumes in the Manor, Master Bruce.” Alfred said when Batman moved towards the stairs. Robin was in his Robin civvies, so he didn’t get scolded.

Jason was waiting at the table when Dick entered the dining room. Dick hesitated at the doorway.

“I’m not a disease waiting to happen, you know?” Jason scowled. “You don’t have to wait for me to leave.”

Dick sighed. “I’m sorry.”

Jason scowled some more.

“I haven’t been making much of an effort to welcome you, Jason. I’ve been caught up with my own issues and that started us off on the wrong foot. I promise I didn’t think you were… a disease waiting to happen. I’ve just got a lot going on and… I guess I was upset I didn’t have a chance to speak with Bruce privately about it until now.”

The scowl lessened slightly.

“Can we start over? Please?” Dick added.

“Fine.” Jason relented, but still eyed him uncomfortably as Dick moved to take a seat.

“So… um…  what do you like to do?” Dick attempted.

“What do I like to do?” Jason was unimpressed.

“Outside of my acrobatics and training, I’m a part of the mathlete club.” Dick continued.

Jason’s jaw dropped. “The mathlete club?!”

Dick flushed. “Is it that hard to believe?”

“You’re telling me you’re a nerd?!”

“Um… I prefer the term geek?”

“No. You’re a nerd. I’m calling it now.” Jason said gleefully.

Dick rolled his eyes. “Fine. Call me a math nerd. What about you?”

Jason’s grin faded. “Um… I guess I like to read.”

Dick hummed. “Bruce did say you were in the library earlier when I asked. We have a wide selection of books, but some of them might be outdated. We do have a rich guardian though, so if there are any in particular you’d like to read...”

“I’d go to the library.” Jason replied.

“My friend Barbara likes the library.” Dick said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if that turned into her job someday.”

“What? Work at a library?”

“You do know librarianship is a career path, right? It requires a Masters of Library and Information Science degree… according to Barbara’s rambles, at least.”

Jason hummed.

“I could introduce you to her, if you’d like. You two might get along well.” Dick offered.

Jason settled. “Yeah. Okay. I could meet her.”

“I’m glad you two are getting along.”

Dick jumped. He hadn’t heard Bruce enter.

“You realize that’s a surefire way to nudge us towards no longer getting along. Right, B?” He quipped at his dad.

“Hrn. Please don’t.” Bruce sighed, taking a seat at his spot at the table.

They dug in.

After the dishes were cleared, Bruce asked both Jason and Dick to meet him in the Batcave.

Jason was delighted to start training, although he appeared a little wary when Dick didn’t join in.

His fighting style was rough. Survival-focused. Not very fluid.

Dick itched to step in, but Bruce had asked him not to, so he just watched, making sure his arms were uncrossed and his expression was at ease.

Finally, Jason tapped out. Bruce offered him a hand up and he took it.

“Did I do well, Old Man?” Jason asked.

“For a first session.” Bruce said. 

Jason grin faltered a little. “For a first session?”

Bruce did his usual critiques first praise second routine and then turned to Dick. “Thoughts?”

“More flexibility.” Dick said simply. 

“I know you have more thoughts than that.” Bruce retorted.

Dick sighed and turned to Jason. “Your fighting style is very survival-focused. That means you try and get the encounter over with while giving little regard to what else is around you. As a kid on the streets, that made sense. You were focused on you and you alone. As a superhero, you need to pay more attention. If there’s someone behind you, an attack dodged could hurt someone else. If I’d thrown a projectile at you while you were focused on B, you could have easily been incapacitated. Furthermore, spacial awareness will help you with teamwork. Keeping track of your teammates while fighting allows you to know when you can fall back and let someone else tap in and prevent you from both causing and receiving collateral fire.”

“Are you going to be training me too?” Jason asked. There was hope in his eyes. It was clear he wanted Dick’s approval.

“Yes.” Dick said. “Don’t expect me to go easier on you than B. Or to support you going out faster. You don’t go out until we say you’re ready.” He was careful not to reveal it was more of when he said Jason was ready than he and Bruce. And that he’d likely keep him back long after Bruce thought he could handle going out.

“Sweet.” Jason said, the implications completely going over his head.

“Dick, show Jason some exercises to work on while we’re gone. Then go suit up. It’s time for patrol.”

Dick smiled and nodded. Bruce took longer to suit up than he did, so Dick guided Jason in some exercises to increase his flexibility before heading for the changing room.

Going out as Batman and Robin had been rare in the past few weeks with everything going on and the latter recovering from atrophied muscles, but that night they worked in tandem.

Robin made sure to focus more on any victims they came across than any bad guys. It wasn’t much of a change in their routine. He’d always been the comforter.

They arrived home to find Jason had been sent to bed by Alfred. He’d done his exercises for a while before listening in on comms and then heading up.

“I take it the boy will be joining you on your crusade?” Alfred asked, slightly disapproving.

“Not for a while.” Dick answered for Bruce. “But he wants to. He needs to do a lot of training before he gets there. And someone needs to watch B’s back once I’m…” He trailed off and looked away. “He wants to. Even if he doesn’t know everything yet.”

“There is no need for such morbid thoughts, Master Dick.” Alfred said. “You will still be with us once you ascend. Just not in the same ways.”

Dick hummed. He wasn’t sure he believed it completely.

The next few months flew by. Jason was a fast learner. He was almost ready.

On another side of things, Wally had thrown himself into investigating his altered memories. Artemis was helping him, but everyone else was avoiding the subject. It was causing quite the tension within their team.

Things came to a head quite suddenly one afternoon during a training session.

In the aftermath, Robin couldn’t remember everything that had been yelled at him. He knew Wally had been angry about the lack of help with the memory alteration. He knew Wally had at some part started blaming him.

Only the last part of the argument stood out to him.

“You’re supposed to be my best friend. You’re supposed to help me when it matters!” Wally had yelled.

“I’m just trying to protect you.” It had barely been a whisper, but it had enraged Wally beyond the point of no return.

“I don’t need your protection! I don’t need your self-righteousness! I’m ashamed to have ever been friends with you!”

Robin had gone silent. The others had looked horrified, but none of them had stepped in.

“Do you have anything to say for yourself?” Wally had seethed.

Robin had bowed his head, turned on his heel, and run out through the Zeta.

That night he’d been distracted and gotten sliced by a knife.

Back in the Batcave, he’d stared at his blood while Alfred was patching him up.

“What the fuck is wrong with your blood?” Jason stared at it too. “It’s supposed to be red! Not… gold with red specks!”

Alfred finished the stitches and wrapped his arm. Both he and Bruce gave Dick a knowing look.

There wasn’t much time left. The time to tell Jason was now.

So Dick told him. Jason was skeptical, but using Wonder Woman as an example got through to him. He asked what he could do to help and Dick told him about keeping the Robin name alive.

“Do you think I’m ready?” Jason asked.

“Bruce thinks you were ready weeks ago.” Dick admitted. “I’m finding it harder to deny it. Even if you weren’t ready, someone has to be.” He looked at his bandaged arm again. “I don’t know how much time I have left.”

The next night, Jason wore the colors while Dick followed in dark clothes and a domino mask. As Robin, the boy did well.

Dick’s heart ached.

The day after he felt warm all day. He hoped he didn’t have a fever as he headed to Mount Justice for training.

Kid Flash ignored him the whole time. It threw the team dynamic off.

Black Canary pulled Kid Flash aside while Aqualad pulled Robin into a soundproof room.

“He’s mad at me.” Robin said, rubbing at his arms. He felt uncomfortably hot, like a supernova was roving just below his skin.

“Kid Flash cannot handle the truth.” Aqualad said. “We all know that. I overheard Zatanna explaining to Artemis and even Artemis agrees he’s not ready to know all deities are real.”

Robin sighed and wiped at his brow. “I want to protect him. That’s all I’ve wanted for a while now.”

His body felt hotter now.

Aqualad’s eyes widened in alarm. “You’re glowing.”

It hit Robin quite suddenly. “Close your eyes! Look away! Do it now!”

He was quite glad to see Aqualad immediately obey as heat overwhelmed his body.

The build up was over. The time had come.

His last thought as a mortal was that he should have said goodbye while he still had the chance.

Chapter Text

The first thing Aqualad thought once he processed what had just happened was I need an excuse.

He’d been asked to pull Robin aside while Black Canary pulled Kid Flash aside so that they could find a way to get the two to work out their differences.

This would definitely put a damper in that plan.

He took a shaky breath. He needed to speak with Batman and Wonder Woman, but everyone else would want an explanation on where Robin had gone as soon as he left the room. It wouldn’t take much for those in the know to cotton on to the fact Robin’s ascension had finally happened, but the rest… they had more members than just those in the know.

Gods, he was parched. He didn’t do well with heat and the ascension had definitely been hot.

He took another shaky breath. Then focused on evening out his breathing.

After a few more minutes, he exited the room.

Black Canary turned at his entrance. Her brow furrowed. “Aqualad, where’s Robin?”

“He’s no longer in the mountain.” Aqualad said before he fully thought it through.

Okay. Half truths it was. Technically, he wasn’t in the mountain anymore. But gods could appear anywhere. Still, it was true enough.

“Where did he go?” Black Canary asked.

“I didn’t ask.” Aqualad said. Also true. There hadn’t been time, but also he wouldn’t have asked even if there had been time.

Kid Flash scoffed next to her. “So he just ran off rather than trying to face his mistakes?”

“No.” Aqualad said. “He had something else to attend to. Something bigger.”

Miss Martian’s eyes widened. She must have caught on.

“When will he be back?” Black Canary asked.

“He didn’t say.” Aqualad admitted. As if on cue, the Zeta fired up, announcing Batman. “If you’ll excuse me. I need to speak with Batman.”

Batman raised a brow at Aqualad’s advance, but let himself be guided into a soundproof room.

“What happened?” Batman asked once the soundproofing was active.

“Robin ascended.” The words felt fake in his mouth, but Aqualad knew they were true. There was no other explanation. “He went supernova right in front of me.”

“You looked away?” Batman asked.

“Of course. I had no intention of getting brain fried.” Aqualad said. “He also frantically demanded I do so. When I opened my eyes, he was gone.”

Batman let out a shaky breath. “We knew this was coming.”

“What do we tell the Team?” Aqualad asked.

“What have you said so far?”

“That he is no longer in the mountain and that he had something bigger to attend to.” Aqualad shared. “Then, you arrived.”

“I was coming to give you a mission. Robin will not be joining you. The time frame of the mission will give me time to touch base with Wonder Woman and finalize what we’re telling the team.” Batman said. “Thank you for informing me. I will handle the rest.” He pursed his lips. “Now go submerge in some water or drink something. You need rehydration.”

“You said…”

“The mission can wait 15 minutes. I need to speak with Black Canary.” Batman said.

Aqualad nodded. He hurried to take a dip in the pool, drank three glasses of water, and then returned when the fifteen minutes were up to receive the mission with the rest of the team.

He hoped it would be a good distraction from what had just happened.

Artemis didn’t know what to feel. Zatanna had only told her about the Robin almost-god thing a couple days prior and while she didn’t feel Zatanna had any reason to lie to her and she did believe in the supernatural, it had felt almost unreal. 

She’d wanted to believe her and had implied she did. Honestly, Zatanna was right that Wally would never believe it although Artemis was less sure about not telling him being the right choice.

Then Aqualad emerged from that room visibly shaken and the next thing she knew, Robin was gone. 

Officially, he was “on leave” and “would eventually return”, but the looks on her teammates’ faces — those who knew what Zatanna had told Artemis — spoke a different story.

Robin had ascended. He’d passed from their world to one above. If he was even able to return, it wouldn’t be in the same form.

Wally held onto his anger. He stewed. For weeks.

And then, one day, he dared to ask. “When is Robin going to be back again? He can’t avoid our argument forever!”

“He’s not coming back.” Artemis said.

Wally looked like he’d been struck across the face. “What do you mean he’s not coming back? He’s only on leave!”

“So is Zatara.” Artemis said curtly. “It’s an excuse the League uses to leave a placeholder. His secret identity was reported missing. He’s been labeled a runaway.”

“How do you know his secret identity?” Wally asked.

“We went to the same school. I figured it out.”

“Went?” There was a touch of dread in Wally’s tone.

“I don’t think they’re going to excuse his extended absence this time.” Artemis said, shaking her head. 

She left the room to avoid any more questions.

Jason was nervous. Starting as Robin the day before the original Robin had ascended had left a seamless transition between the two of them when it came to patrol in Gotham, but that didn’t extend to the Team, who knew the original Robin had disappeared.

He fidgeted with his inherited gloves and glanced at Batman nervously.

“I’ll go through first and then you step into the Zeta. Put in the codes as I instructed you and I’ll let you through. No need to be nervous.”

“They won’t want another Robin.” Jason whispered.

“Most of them understand.”

“Most.” Jason repeated pointedly. “Didn’t Kid Flash yell at you the other day for replacing him?”

“Robin, it was the first Robin’s decision to give you his colors. Kid Flash’s opinion pales in comparison to that, don’t you think?”

“Kid Flash was his best friend.”

“Which is why this is hard for him to swallow. But it does not take away from your legitimacy, you hear?”

Jason took a deep breath. “Okay. I… I understand.”

Batman sent him one last lingering look before disappearing through the Zeta.

Jason followed Batman’s directions and soon found himself in Mount Justice.

It was just a training session, and it went somewhat okay. But Kid Flash spent half the time glaring at him. The Team was much stronger than him. And Jason spent the entire time slightly overwhelmed.

Aqualad pulled him aside after the session, ignoring Batman looking his way once he did so.

“I would like to welcome you to the Team, Robin.” He said.

Jason fixed a smile on his face. “Happy to be here.”

“If you need someone to talk to, I am… in the know, so to speak. I suspect it hasn’t been easy having your brother… ascend like that. He is your brother, correct?”

Jason appreciated him talking about Dick in present tense, unlike so many others recently. “Yes. He is. I… um…” His voice cracked. “I know he’ll be back. I’ll find a way to see him. But he hasn’t been back yet. I’m guessing we’ll see him more once he answers his first prayer, but…”

“The first prayer should not come from us.” Aqualad agreed. “You did well for your first training session. I’m certain you are doing your brother proud.”

“Thanks, Aqualad.” Jason said softly.

“We have a Team bonding activity planned for Friday. We will be meeting here at the Mountain at 5 pm before heading to it. Don’t let Kid Flash scare you off. You are welcome to join us.” Aqualad added.

Jason brightened. “Thanks for letting me know! I’ll be here!”

It was true not everyone was on his side, but those who mattered were.

He’d take what he could get.

Chapter Text

Dick came to on a cloud surrounded by gods and goddesses and deities of all shapes and sizes. Just about every single one he’d ever met and many, many he hadn’t.

He debated rolling to his feet and standing tall, but ultimately decided a defiant disposition was a bad idea.

Instead, he shifted into a kneeling position, head bowed but lifted just enough he could see the different deities.

“Rise, Robin, Protector of the Innocent, God of Protection, Guidance, Underage Heroes, and Heroes Unaffiliated with any Pantheon.”

Robin gulped down his nerves and got up slowly.

“We understand you refuse to join a pantheon?” A goddess spoke. “Joining a pantheon would provide protection from fading.”

“I… appreciate the offer.” Robin’s words echoed in the mystical surroundings. “But I’ll manage without a pantheon.”

“That does not protect you from the consequences of rule-breaking.” A god thundered. He sounded like Zeus. Probably was Zeus. “All pantheons have rules they must follow. Those that apply to all apply to you as well. You can only appear to those who believe in you. You cannot interfere in the work of the Fates or other pantheons’ equivalents. Nor can you meddle in affairs that do not pertain to you.”

“What does that last one mean?” Robin said sharply. “I intend to protect and guide. That’s what I’m the god of, after all. Can I not inform demigods of their protective places? Or guide those who follow the ways of their deities to where they can learn more?”

Zeus seemed ready to say he couldn’t, but Frey stepped in. “You shall not inform demigods of pantheons they do not belong to. Nor guide godlings in ways they should not know of. Keep your godlings straight. Greeks and Romans go to their camps. Valhalla, Folkvangr and similar are reserved for the Norse. The House of Life for Egyptian magicians. And so on. Understood?”

“Understood.” Robin tried not to dwell on the fact he’d already broken that rule. But that was before he was a god and before he was told it, so…

“Dismissed.” Zeus said.

“Wait!” Robin exclaimed. “How does this work exactly? I don’t know how to god!”

“As you are not part of a pantheon, that is not our problem.” Zeus said.

Robin scowled, but Odin cut in before he could argue further.

“Now, Zeus. The boy has a fair point. If we don’t want him unintentionally breaking our rules, someone needs to teach him how to manifest, how to listen to and answer prayers, and so on.”

In the end, it was the Hindu and Korean pantheons who jointly took on the responsibility of teaching him. The Greeks and Romans had been all in favor of smiting him before he reached godhood, the Egyptians didn’t work the same way, the other pantheons of similar magnitude had too much going on, and the smaller pantheons didn’t want the responsibility.

Weeks turned into months as Dick learned. He chose his 13-year-old self as his main form. Something about that era of his life was comforting to him. The calm before the storm.

He chose to set up his temple or “home base” as he preferred to call it, his seat of power, at the peak of Mount Justice, an unused part of the Mountain that he threaded so only those who believed in him could reach it. He used the Team as a practice ground for sensing who believed in him and who didn’t. Several of his friends were busy spreading the word while others were reckoning with whether or not they believed it themselves. Wally, unfortunately, completely lacked that belief, thinking it bullshit. That hurt.

He didn’t show himself to any of them yet, on his mentors’ advice. They advised to wait until he heard his first prayer before showing himself to anyone.

Finally, he heard his first prayer.

“R-Robin, if what the online forums have been saying are… are true... If you’re really a god who protects the innocent, p-please… please help us!”  

The voice sounded young. Desperate.

Robin focused on what his mentors had instructed him for when this happened. Instead of flashing his whole self over, he sent just a piece of himself to parse the situation.

He found himself in a storage room of an old warehouse. Chained to the walls were a number of children. One little girl, maybe five years old, had her eyes closed and her face tilted towards the sky.

A tear streaked down her cheek and she whispered. “Please…”

Robin spread his essence throughout the warehouse. He found crooks setting up for auction and patrolling the halls outside the room.

His godly abilities allowed for non-lethal sedation and he focused that on the crooks throughout the building. They fell asleep and he focused another part of himself on breaking open all the locks, on both the doors and the chains.

The little girl’s eyes opened and he let himself be seen by the door that he’d just cracked open.

Only by her, as he didn’t want to get in trouble, but he let himself be seen, motioning her to follow.

“Samantha, wait!”A little boy hissed.

“Robin’s here.” Samantha whispered excitedly. “He answered my prayer! Come on!”

The other kids didn’t seem to believe her at first, but as they crept through the halls and saw more and more sedated guards and stumbled across another group of captives Robin had freed (although that group didn’t know it was Robin who’d done it), disbelief made way for belief in every single one of them.

They made it outside just as Batman arrived with a different Robin, with Jason.

Robin let himself fade from view, but watched invisibly as the children crowded Robin, thanking him for saving them.

The two heroes hid their initial confusion well, Jason quickly confirming that yes, it was Robin who saved them.

Batman looked around. Robin felt the strong belief reaching out to him. Batman knew he was still there.

He let a piece of his essence appear on the roof, where none of the children were looking (focused on Jason as they were), and when Batman’s gaze met his, gave a brief wave with a smirk before disappearing again.

Batman smiled softly and turned his focus on the children. Robin let that piece of himself pull back to his home base fully.

Over the next few months, prayers increased significantly. Most of them were from children in danger. A number of them were demigods or otherwise affiliated-with-pantheon children who had heard rumors (Thanks Lou Ellen and Ethan) that Robin could guide them when things seemed off.

The clear-sighted mortal who wasn’t particularly affiliated with a pantheon… well, that had been awkward until Robin had finally settled on admitting he wasn’t sure what he was allowed to tell him. He wasn’t supposed to admit to gods being real if the kid didn’t know which gods or goddesses he already believed in.

It had been enough of an answer and the gods hadn’t put him on trial for it, so Robin had decided it was a job done well enough.

There had also been some fun prayers. And by fun, he meant Jason praying “Oh great Robin in the sky. I need your aid. Why do I have to pray to you to spend time with you again?”

Robin’s mentors, upon consultation, said he was allowed to hint to Jason where his temple was.

It took maybe a week for Jason to find it.

Robin had several pieces of himself out answering prayers, but the main part of himself was there when Jason burst his way in.

“I have FOUND you! FINALLY!”

Robin snorted. “That’s not a very respectful way to address a god.”

“Oh please. Like you’re going to smite me for it? Your own brother?”

Robin snorted again. “Wow. Am I that easy to read?”

“Tell me everything.” Jason said, plopping down a gaming device. “Also, see if you can get this hooked up to the walls of your magic place.”

“I’m supposed to call it a temple.”

“A temple?”

“I prefer home base.” Robin shrugged and magically willed the gaming device to connect to his home base. It easily bent to his commands… but he wasn’t sure he’d be able to disconnect it. He informed Jason of as much sheepishly.

“Whatever. Keep it. B can buy me a new one. What’s your official god title?” Jason fired up the game menu. Naturally, it was the newest Mario Kart. Jason chose Luigi and Robin chose Toadette.

“I am Robin, Protector of the Innocent, God of Protection, Guidance, Underage Heroes, and Heroes Unaffiliated with any Pantheon.” Robin informed him faux-pompously. He punctuated his statement with knocking Luigi off the Rainbow Road with a turtle shell.

“Cool. I’ll make sure to spread that to your growing disciples.”

“I have disciples now?” Robin asked.

“Just like half the kids you’ve saved and a number of the newer Team members.” Jason said. “Don’t you dare call me one. I’m not a disciple. I’m… What am I?”

“I dunno. Priest of the House of Robin? Priests and priestesses are a thing in multiple pantheons.”

“A priest? Ew. I’m too young to be a priest.”

“Dude. I’m the god of underage heroes. An adult hero can’t be my priest. Wait. What do I do once you turn 18?” Robin paused in thought. He sent out another piece of himself as another prayer came in. “Ah. We’ll worry about it in a few years. What’s the date?”

“November 19th, 2013.” Jason muttered.

“Aw. I missed your birthday!” Dick whined.

“You also missed almost 10 months of my life.” Jason shot back. He sighed. “I know you can’t help it. But I miss you.”

“Well, a part of my essence is usually here. If you’re missing me, you know where to find me.” Robin shrugged. “Thank you for all you’ve done to spread my name.”

“Hey. I’m not stopping now. I love getting all the credit for what you do. And watching B flounder when he’s asked how I’m in ten places at once.”

Robin snorted yet again. “Love you, Jaybird.”

“Love you too, Big Bird.” Jason said. “Even if you keep knocking Luigi off the Rainbow Road! Again?! Really?!”

Robin full out laughed at that one. Godhood might have rules, but at least it had workarounds too.