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Tim woke up to soft rays of sunlight shining through his bedroom window.
Not to a harsh alarm.
Not to an alert that the world was on fire and he was on call to put it out.
Sunlight.
Relaxing back into the warm spot on his mattress, he closed his eyes and wondered whether or not he should go back to sleep.
“Pancakes are done.”
Tim rolled over and smiled.
Kon.
He was carrying a tray with two plates of pancakes, two cups of coffee, and a bowl of fruit that he set on the bed.
Tim sat up and happily accepted a fork with an orange slice speared on the tines.
“We don't have anything to do today, do we?” He asked, taking a bite.
It was so sweet and juicy.
“Not a thing.” Kon assured.
Perfect.
Yyyyy
Nightwing grunted as he jumped and managed to catch a ride on one of Ivy’s vines as it swung past.
He had to get higher.
He had to reach Red Robin.
The two of them had been ambushed by the surprise team up of Poison Ivy and Scarecrow, and Red Robin’s mask had been knocked from his face almost immediately.
“Ah, ah, ah, birdie.” Ivy taunted with a wave of her hand.
Nightwing’s vine changed course and slammed him into a wall.
“Not yet. We need to see how he reacts.”
Backup had arrived fast, but not fast enough.
Gritting his teeth and trying not to picture what Tim could be experiencing, he pulled out an escrima stick, flicked the switch, and chuckled it at the vine tangled around his brother.
It seized when the electricity hit it and lost its grip, sending Red Robin’s limp body plummeting towards the ground.
Nightwing hurried to catch him.
Yyyyy
“What do you want to do today?” Kon asked as they finished up the breakfast dishes.
“What do you want to do?” Tim replied, drying the last plate with a rag that he then hung over his shoulder, in order to put the plate back in the cabinet.
Kon waited to grab him until the breakable item was no longer in his hand.
“Ahh! Hey!” Tim laughed as Kon lifted him off his feet, hovering so that he couldn't escape if he wanted to.
“I asked you first.” Kon teased.
Yyyyy
Nightwing caught Red Robin, rolling hard before coming to a stop.
When they did, he stayed on top of Red Robin, protecting him as the fight continued on around them.
Red Hood and Robin were in another room battling Scarecrow, while Batman did his best to keep Ivy away from them.
As soon as they were in the clear, Nightwing sat up and checked Red Robin over.
He was breathing, and didn't appear to be in any kind of distress, other than the fact that Nightwing couldn't wake him up.
“Come on. Come on.”
Antidote.
Antidote.
Nightwing pulled out the vial of Scarecrow toxin antidote he was carrying and drew it up into a syringe that he then injected into Red Robin.
It had no reaction.
“Nightwing! Get him out of here!”
Nightwing didn't respond, he just grabbed Red Robin under his arms, hoisted him up onto his back, and ran for the exit.
Yyyyy
The sun shone brightly as they walked down the street, fingers laced together.
There was a grassy hill in the park that was perfect for picnics.
A cool breeze rustled the first red, orange, and yellow leaves and, if they stood still and listened, Tim could hear birds calling.
“This is such a beautiful day.” Tim sighed.
“It is.” Kon agreed.
“Whoa!” Out of nowhere, a sudden, cold gust of wind caught Tim off guard, as it blew in dark storm clouds.
“It's too bad you have to wake up.”
The wind was so loud, Tim wasn't sure he'd heard Kon right.
“What?”
“Wake up, Tim.” Kon repeated, staring at him with an eerily expressionless face.
As quickly as it had started, the strange weather vanished and it was a bright, cloudless day again.
“Tim? Everything okay?” Kon asked, putting the hand that wasn't carrying the picnic basket on Tim's shoulder.
“Um…”
What was that?
What had just happened?
“Y-yeah. I'm fine.”
Yyyyy
Nightwing reached the Batmobile and set Red Robin down across the back seat, climbing in next to him and pulling off a glove.
He had a pulse.
A strong pulse.
That was good, at least.
Now they needed to figure out an antidote to whatever mixture of chemicals they had given him.
“Tim.” Nightwing took off his mask. “I don't know if you can hear me, but if you can, just hang on. We're going to get you back to the cave. You're going to be okay.”
Yyyyy
“You're going to be okay.”
“Hmm?” Tim opened his eyes and looked quizzically up at Kon from where he was laying on the picnic blanket, hands crossed comfortably behind his head.
“What?”
“What did you say?” Tim asked.
Kon just shook his head. “I didn't say anything.”
Tim shrugged and closed his eyes again, moving closer to Kon.
They never got moments of peace like this, and he was going to savor it.
Every minute of it.
Yyyyy
“Any change?” Batman asked as he pulled the Batmobile to a stop in the cave.
“No.” Dick frowned, looking down at Tim.
He appeared to be sleeping peacefully, which was at least better than being trapped in one of Scarecrow’s nightmares, but still terrifying because they had no idea what was happening to him.
“I don't like this.”
“Neither do I.” Batman responded, hefting Tim out of the Batmobile and carrying him to the med bay. “I had Robin and Red Hood stay behind to try and find any notes those two may have left.”
Yyyyy
Kon and Tim walked down the sidewalk, hand in hand once again.
Kids and their parents were flying kites or throwing frisbees in the park and, every now and then, the two of them would stop and point out an interesting or unique design.
“Kon.” Tim pointed up. “Over there. That one's a dragon.”
“Aww. It looks homemade. How about that one?”
“The one that looks like a moth?”
They watched for a bit longer, but eventually moved on and left the park, continuing on their walk.
Tim, allowing himself to smile, leaned his head against Kon’s shoulder.
It felt… perfect.
He never wanted to leave that moment.
Yyyyy
They'd been home for hours when the alarm sounded.
“His heart rate is dropping.”
“What?” Dick jumped out of his seat in front of the batcomputer.
Jason was already moving, checking the machines to make sure they were accurate.
“What happened? He was fine a minute ago.”
“I don't know.” Jason pulled out his phone. “I'm calling Alfred. Where are you on that antidote?”
“It's almost done.”
“Is it ready?”
“Not yet.”
“Then get it ready!” Jason pointed. “Come on, Al. Pick up. Pick up.”
Yyyyy
“What's that noise?” Tim looked around.
“Let go.”
Was that… Kon?
Tim turned to face him, but the motion made him dizzy.
Wait, the wind was back.
As was the darkness, and the cold.
“Kon?”
He'd been right beside Tim a second ago, right?
“Kon!”
Where was he?
It was so dark.
Everything was swirling around.
Where had Kon gone?
“You have to let go.”
“Kon! Where are you?”
His voice sounded so far away.
“Tim, you have to let me go.”
“No!”
Where was he?!
“Kon!”
“Tim!”
Just as suddenly as the last time, it was a bright, warm day again.
Tim blinked and turned, looking for any trace of the dark clouds, but there were none.
He was sitting on the sidewalk, Kon kneeling beside him.
“Are you okay?” Kon asked.
He sounded worried.
“I'm… I'm fine.”
What was going on?
Yyyyy
Tim was alive.
He was on a ventilator, and Jason had had to give him CPR after he stopped breathing, but he was alive.
Dick's hands managed to not shake while he worked solely due to how used to life and death situations he was.
But they were all tense.
From what they could tell, Tim had just… stopped breathing.
“What the hell were those two planning?”
“I don't know, Jason. But they were pretty upset that we took Tim from them before they had time to observe how he reacted to their new toxin.”
“Maybe they had an antidote?”
Dick shook his head. “If they did, Batman would have gotten it out of them by now. And, if I did this correctly, we won't need it anyway.”
“You've got the antidote?”
“I've got the antidote.”
Yyyyy
The instant Tim felt the temperature drop, he spun and grabbed Kon as tight as he could.
He didn't know what was going on, but he knew that, whatever it was, wouldn't take him away from Kon.
The wind whipped faster and faster.
“Tim, you have to let go.”
“No!”
He couldn't lose Kon.
Not again.
“Let me go.”
“No.”
The wind wasn't stopping this time.
Around them, the park blurred, eventually vanishing into the darkness.
Tim held on tighter.
“Tim.”
“No!”
“It's time.”
“No, it's not!”
“You have to let me go.”
“No, I don't! I'm not letting you go!”
The wind picked up, making it harder to hear what was being said.
“It's time to let me go.”
“No!”
“Tim.”
He felt hands on his shoulders.
Holding him.
Just like Kon used to.
“No. Please.” He begged.
“I'm already gone.”
Yyyyy
Tim's eyes shot open and he sat up fast, before either Dick or Jason had the chance to stop him.
“Whoa, calm down. Easy. Take it easy. You're okay.” Dick assured, taking Tim by the arm and rubbing his back.
“Tim, talk to me. How are you feeling?”
Tim just sat there quietly, not responding to either of them.
“Tim, are you alright?”
Tim exhaled and closed his eyes, pushing Dick's hands away from him.
“Hey, what happened? What did you see?”
He didn't respond.
Instead, he pulled his knees up to his chest and curled up tight, silent tears streaming down his cheeks.
“Tim?” Dick asked softly.
“I didn't want to wake up.” Tim whispered.