Lost Stars

Chapter Five

-Dick's POV-

I rushed into the hospital. I approached the front desk. On the ride over, my mind started going over every possible situation. Unfortunately, most of them weren't very nice.

"I-I'm Dick Grayson. I'm here for..."

"Victoria Smith?" The desk lady pointed down the hall. I nodded a 'thank you' and ran down the hallway.

I stopped before the door. I took a deep breath as if preparing myself. I didn't know who was behind that door, but I knew for sure it wasn't Athena Thomas. Athena Thomas wasn't a real person. It was always just Nightingale: The Master Assassin. It was never Athena.

I turned the doorknob.

Tears filled my eyes and I cried out. I gasped, covering my mouth as fat, wet tears rolled down my cheeks and onto the hospital floors.

She was there. In front of my eyes. The girl I gave up on was laying on a hospital bed, beaten beyond belief. I never noticed how lonely I had truly been until I was inches from the girl who broke my heart almost two years ago. As I listened to her steady heartbeat over the monitor and her even breaths, I felt at peace. Her even breathing pattern made it feel like she didn't have third degree burns on her abdomen; Like she didn't have whipping scars on her back; Like her arm and leg weren't broken; Like those rope rashes weren't all over her neck. Everything seemed so calm, as if the League of Assassins' brand was printed on her left hand. I sat there all night, just watching her and remembering the girl I used to know. The girl I knew was never this beaten. No, this girl was broken. Damaged. Smashed. Destroyed.

I sat in that hospital chair for three days straight. Bruce was out of town on business and hadn't shown up yet. Doctors came in and out, but I just stared at her. I refused to take my eyes off of her. I feared that if I did, she would be gone again. I didn't even call Barbara to tell her where I was. I completely turned off my phone.

Suddenly, her breaths weren't soft and controlled anymore. They were short and desperate gasps, trying to get air into her collapsed lung. She thrashed and reached for the tube on her vein. Her pants echoed in the room. I ran over and held her arm.

Her eyes were both the same blue color, but they were both bloodshot, making her look like she was bleeding tears. Bruises littered her face as scars crisscrossed all over her skin like tattoos. I knew she wouldn't want to talk, but I didn't care. I couldn't help but stare at that brand on her hand and think about what she must've been through those long twenty months.

She glanced down at my hand and I flashed back to reality. I tore my hand off and stalked back to where I was sitting. I tried to avoid her eyes, but it was of no use. I stared into her bruised face. All I could muster was "Hey."

Doctors suddenly filled the room. They began checking all her charts and monitors and all that doctory-stuff. I just hovered behind them, listening.

The main doctor started to ask her things. "Can you speak, Victoria?" The kind, soft-spoken female doctor asked.

Athena coughed and choked. "I..." She wheezed, her voice coming out quiet and raspy. The doctors handed her a glass of water and she downed it in one sip. She sat up in her bed and cleared her throat. "I...I haven't t-talked in a while," her voice was so raspy and deep, it didn't even sound like her.

"Take it easy, Victoria," one of the other doctors said.

The main doctor smiled. "Do you know how you got here?"

"No," Victoria answered.

"You don't know who brought you here?"

She shook her head.