Mask of Glass

Ch 14

The glass door was covered with scratches, and Dick's fingernails were torn. The restraint Bruce had used to keep Dick upright had also been ripped from the wall of the pod.

Jason wasted no time opening the pod. He caught Dick as he fell forward.

Dick immediately latched on to Jason, wrapping his arms around him and grabbing fistfuls of his shirt.

"I'm s-s-sorry." Dick muttered between sobs.

Jason started rubbing circles on Dicks back, and he lowered himself and Dick to the ground.

"P-please d-don't p-put me b-back in there." Dick cried, grabbing onto Jason even tighter.

Dick's body continued to shake with his heart wrenching sobs as Jason tried to comfort him.

Bruce stood behind the two, guilt weighing him down.

"Shh. It's ok Dickie. We're not putting you in there again." Jason said, trying to comfort his older brother.

Dick continued sobbing for a few minutes before his cries turned to sniffles. "I'm s-sorry." Dick said again, voice hoarse from crying for so long.

"You don't have to be sorry for anything Bud." Bruce said, drawing Dick's attention to him.

"Y-yes I d-do." Dick said, looking up at Bruce with watery eyes. "I-I attacked y-you. I h-hurt Tim."

"Did you do it on purpose." Jason asked.

"N-no. I... I..." Dick took a shaky breath. "When you were s-saying I needed to go into... t-there... I... I... must've hallucinated s-something. I was s-surrounded by owls..." Dick shuddered, hugging Jason tighter as tears began to pour out of his eyes again. He let out a shuddering sob. "I... d-didn't know."

"It's not your fault Dick." Jason tried to reassure his once again sobbing brother. "My PTSD sometimes causes me to have flashbacks and hallucinations." Jason mused, pausing for a moment before turning to Bruce and asking, "Bruce has Dick talked to a therapist yet about everything that he went through?"

"The general public still thinks he's dead." Bruce deadpanned.

"There's still Dinah, or I don't know... maybe talk to him yourself." Jason said sarcastically. "He's obviously not ok... he probably has PTSD."

"N-no." Dick muttered weakly. "I d-don't want to t-talk about it."

"Talkinging about it will help Dickie. Trust me, it helped me." Jason said reassuringly.

Dick just let out a shuddering sigh, not moving or relaxing his near death grip on Jason's shirt.

"I guess I'll add that to the list of things I have to do." Bruce said, massaging his temples. "We should probably go back upstairs. I can hear Ace going crazy." Bruce said, starting towards the stairs.

"Please d-don't leave me down h-here! I promise I won't h-hurt anyone, just don't l-lock me up!" Dick shouted, squeezing Jason even tighter.

"Dickie, we're not leaving you down here or putting you back in the pod. It's alright." Jason said, standing up with Dick still clinging to him for dear life. He walked up the stairs, nearly dragging Dick along with him, as the older man could not be persuaded to let go of Jason, for fear of suddenly finding himself locked in the cryo-pod again.

Jason plopped down on the couch and Dick sat next to him. "C'mon Dick, you can let go of me now." Jason whined.

Dick's hold on him loosened and he whimpered, starting to hyperventilate.

"Nevermind. You don't have to let go." Jason added quickly when he realized that Dick was on the cusp of another breakdown.

Dick calmed down a bit when he heard that.