Sick Bird.

8. Fading

"Ngh..." Robin groaned and winced in pain as he came to, slowly cracking his piercing blue eyes open under his mask, but immediately shut them again when a bright light flooded his vision, making his already forming light headache worsen to a splitting pain.

"Robin." The gruff, low voice of none other than Batman reached the boy's ears as he slowly tried to open his eyes again.

Luckily, his vision adjusted to the light and his gaze focused on the vigilante sitting next to his bed. The bird furrowed his brows in confusion and tried to sit up on the bed by pushing himself up, but stopped when he felt something tugging at his wrist.

He leaned back against the headboard of the bed and lifted his right arm to see the IV drip.

"...Why am I on a leash?" The bird asked with a frown, his voice sounding a little slurred due to him still being a bit drowsy.

"It's your IV drip." The Bat stated plainly as Robin turned his head back to look at him, dropping his arm back to his side.

"Okay...why do I have an IV drip in my arm?" He asked, but Batman didn't answer the question right away. The Dark Knight brought a hand up and pulled his cowl back to reveal the face of billionare playboy, Bruce Wayne.

He leaned forward in his chair with a serious expression. "Why didn't you tell me you were sick?"

The bird opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it again and looked down to his lap. "It's just a col-"

"No it's not Dick." Bruce interrupted sharply. The blue eyed bird lifted his gaze to look at his mentor, his voice laced with confusion as his almost whispered his next words, "What do you mean?"

The Dark Knight turned in his chair to motion towards the heart monitor. Dick's eyes widened when he saw the slowly fading red line on the screen.

"Your heartbeat is fading and your heart is slowing down Dick. Whatever this is...it's killing you."