Boy Wonder

Not Alone

Ah, okay, I know it's been a while. Like...over a month. Sorry for that, by the way. I'll be honest with you; School. Writers block. Lack of inspiration. Yada yada yada. My mind has been on other things, apparently.

I won't keep you waiting anymore, so enjoy! Even though it's short, and you deserve a longer chapter.

It's a reverse. Oldest is now the youngest, and vice versa. You know the drill.

Disclaimer: AND THE ANSWER IS...no.

~•~

"Birdie! Birdie, wait up!" Jason's call rang uselessly through the Manor.

Richard bolted up the stairs, heading straight for his room. Jason was not too far behind. And behind him, the rest of the family.

When Dick reached his room, he ran inside, slamming the door shut, and locking it behind him.

His body shook as sobs threatened to escape. He wrapped his arms around himself, and clenched his eyes shut. He dropped to his knees at the foot of his bed.

No, he thought, it's not true. Please don't let it be true.

His uncle, the last member of his known family, the only one who survived other than him, but was left in a comatose state, was dead.

The ten year old had lost mother, father, aunt, and cousins at a very young age. And now his uncle, who was in a coma for two years, was taken from him too.

He heard loud knocks on his door. "Dick? Are you okay?" Jason winced at the words that left his mouth. Of course he isn't okay, Todd!

He didn't answer. He was too shocked to answer. The doctors had been telling him for two years not to get his hopes up. That there wasn't a chance that he'd ever wake up again. But Dick didn't want to hear it. He had hope that his uncle would wake up someday.

But that never happened. And now he's gone.

"Dickie, can you please open the door?" A gentle voice pleaded. Still Jason. "C'mon Birdie, please let me in."

"Please leave me alone!" Dick didn't want to talk with anyone.

He heard pounding thuds outside his door. New voices. Concerned. Worried.

"'Bout time you got here!" Jason.

"Is he alright?" Tim.

"Did it look like he was alright, Drake?!" Damian.

Another three knocks on his door.

"Dickie?" Tim.

"Grayson? Could you open the door?" Damian.

"I already tried that." Jason.

"Well I'm trying." Damian.

More thuds. Sounded like only one person this time.

"Locked?" Bruce.

"Yeah. Birdie won't let us in." Jason.

Dick hugged himself tighter. Can't they just leave him alone? He wasn't trying to be rude, but he really needed his space right now.

"Dickie?" Bruce. "I'm going to unlock the door, and we're going to come in, alright?"

No answer. He didn't care. He just needed to think.

He heard a series of clicks and turns of the door knob. The door swung open, and in came his family.

Jason barged in first, pushing past Bruce, and running to his younger brother's side.
He immediately wound his arms around the trembling boy.

"Hey, it's okay," Jason soothed. Bruce was the next and dropped down to Dick's other side. Then Tim. Then Damian.

"No it's not," Dick whispered, shaking his head. "It's not okay."

"Hey, don't say that-"

"Well it's not!" Dick cried. "He's gone! He was the only one left, and now he's dead!"

Bruce wrapped his own arms around his son, his chin on top of the boy's head. "Shh, I know. I know." He rubbed circles around his back.

Dick didn't say anything. He knew Bruce knew what it felt like.

He felt Jason moved behind him, and shuffle him forward a bit. Bruce let go of him, trying to figure out what Jason was doing. Said boy was now sitting behind Dick, arm around him, and Dick resting against his chest.

The rest of the family found comfortable positions to be in around the youngest, even Damian after a while.

"It's alright to cry, Dickie. Let it out," Bruce soothed.

And he did. The barriers broke, and tears streamed down his face. He was comforted until he stopped, they soothed and said reassuring words, but his body was still reacting, so he jumped and trembled here and there.

"You feeling better now, Grayson?" Damian asked kindly.

Dick nodded after a while. "Thanks," he whispered.

"Don't thank us. You're our brother, and you needed us." Tim scolded gently.

"And you're going to be okay, 'kay, Birdie?" Jason hugged him tighter.

Dick nodded. "'Kay." It still hurts, though.

They stayed like that. They ended up falling asleep the way they were. It would surprise the others that Damian actually stayed, but not Dick. Dick had seen a side of him that the others hadn't.

While being the only one left awake in the middle of the pile, Dick thought to himself.

His uncle was now gone. That last member of his bloodline family- that he knew of, anyway- was dead. He was alone again.

He immediately got that thought out of his head. No he wasn't. He had his family, strange and dysfunctional as they may be. And they helped him through everything.

He decided to give into the sleep that was trying to take over his tired mind.

He still has the family he made for himself, and that was enough for him. He would be alright.

He's not alone.

~•~

So for the past over a month, I've been trying to get myself to update another chapter. And that didn't happen. Until now. So I hope this is alright for now.

Whelp, have a great day-night. I'm off.

TBC.

BC, out. Peace.