Prompt Post - Part Ten
I am REALLY, REALLY SORRY about taking so long, guys, and about not being around much recently. I've been busier than I have in a while, and it just kept slipping my mind between uni applications and volunteering and all sorts- for some reason I thought we were much further off a new post.
If there is anything I haven't responded to, as of now, I'm ( Read more... )
He tiptoed down the hall, using his senses to guide him. He had to admit, he was impressed with himself as he arrived at the breakfast table bump free. A familiar chewing sound greeted him.
"Hey KF! I'm feeling back to one hundred per..."
A hand on his shoulder cut him off. Robin could smell Batman.
"Hey... Batman..." he muttered weakly.
"Robin. Kid Flash is not here. He's on a mission with the others."
It hurt. He knew his face probably showed it too. Robin blinked his useless eyes. Then he turned and ran. He heard metal crashing and glass breaking, but he didn't feel the pain. He didn't feel anything but a deep burning hurt. The hurt of being left out.
/line break/
"OW!"
"Kid Flash," Kaldur's voice broke his trance. "Keep your head in the game."
"Yeah sure. Sorry," the speedster mumbled. But his head wasn't in the game. It was back with Robin. It was back with the sure to be crushed boy. "He's thirteen and already blind," Wally's head provided. "Shut up," he muttered back.
POW!
Burning pain in his thigh. Nice. A bullet wound. Ow. Two more. Ah! So many! Swirling darkness.
"Is this what Robin sees?" KF thought.
/line break/
He woke up in the hospital. An exhausted Flash sat slumped in the chair next to his bed.
"Hey Kid. You alive?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"Doctors were worried for a bit there. Took your friends a while to find you. They thought you were going to slip away, but it turns out all you needed was a good blood transfusion!" Flash's face gave away his sadness.
"What's wrong? Is it Robin?"
"Kid, uh... He's been... retired."
"What?!?"
"Batman won't risk his life having him fight out there blind."
"The doctors can't help?"
"Bats only has a surgeon on hand. No doctors. He won't take Robin to a hospital. Too dangerous for his identity."
"That's not fair. I'll retire too."
The Flash's eyes teared up. Actual tears ran down his face.
"Kid. You kinda have to. The bullet..."
Kid Flash looked down. At his leg. His leg.
Singular.
And he screamed.
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Oh, warnings for censored language...
"Kid! Calm down!"
Wally took a couple hundred deep breathes.
"Oh my f*cking lord..."
"Wally," Flash whispered. "It's going to be alright. We have a prosthetic in the works-"
Might as well be blunt.
"But it won't work the way I work, will it. It won't keep up."
The question was obvious.
"... No it won't. Kid... you're a waste of raw talent."
"Heh. Guess I almost blew myself up for nothing..." KF attempted a joke. All that work. All that work on the f*cking experiment, to try and be a hero, and...
"No, you used your speed while you could. You saved many lives. Like a real hero. But just think, now you and Robin can hang together all the time."
"... Thanks."
The older speedster gave a sad smile and swiped at the wet marks on his cowl.
"I know that doesn't really help does it?"
"No. Not really."
A nurse poked her head in. "Visiting hours are over, sir."
"Well, you need some rest. I'll see you around..."
"Sure, but just one more thing, Flash. Who gave me blood? I can't take non-metahuman blood."
The hero smiled weakly.
"I did. You lost so much, I had to wait a couple hours and give more. It will slow me down for a couple of days, but I'll be fine. It was worth it... for you."
"Oh. Thanks."
The Flash closed the door, leaving the former Kid Flash alone with his thoughts.
It was worth it... for you.
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KF- Wally, (He had to stop that. The sound of pain in Wally's voice when he heard his old nickname burned Robin- Dick's ears.) had seemed to be toying with something. Sitting silently and yet thinking so loudly that Dick could practically hear his thoughts whirling.
They had grown closer. Very close. When Wally needed something, Dick would get up to get it. The ginger's voice guiding him around invisible obstacles. They were the perfect pair.
They never spent a moment apart, lest one need the other.
Artemis was in the kitchen. She dropped a perfectly good cookie on the floor and Wally gasped.
"She dropped an cookie, Dick."
The former speedster had learned to narrate for the acrobat. He explained everything that was happening so the younger boy never felt left out.
"I suppose you want me to get you one?"
The former batboy stood up and stretched before slowly walking toward the kitchen.
"Table to your left."
Dick switched paths flawlessly. They were learning, but Wally knew it wasn't enough for the other boy. He needed to flip, to soar, to fly. A wild bird doesn't last long in a cage. Wally also knew he could help. He just needed to work up the courage.
/line break/
Batman walked into Dick's room and cleared his throat.
"Wah!" The boy leaped off his bed and toppled. Wally caught his arm.
"Sorry. Forgot to warn you there."
The Batman stepped closer. "Wally has been talking to me about something. And I think my surgeon can handle it."
"No," said the acrobat. "You can't take out my eyes! I know they might get infected and stuff, but I need them there!"
"Robin," Dick twitched at the name. "Come here."
Batman picked up the boy and held him close. A breathing mask slipped over his face.
"Breathe in and out, Dick. It's to calm you down."
He did. And he slowly fell unconscious.
"Batman... you tricked me..." he thought.
/line break/
Dick awoke at last. He rolled on his side and grabbed the glass of water on the plain, white table next to him. He looked around at the other two empty beds for Wally. He might need him to... see... for... him...
He could see. It was a little fuzzy, like looking through unfocused binoculars, but he could see.
"I told you I'd get better!" Dic- no, Robin shouted. "I can see!"
"It worked!" shouted Wally from a bed behind a curtain. "Great! I feel so much better now!"
Robin sat up and leaped from him bed, ignoring the tug of his IV ripping from his arm.
"Kid F- Wally! I can-"
Wally was sitting up and grinning at him. But his eyes were closed. Closed.
"How do you like my bleach-free corneas?" the ginger asked, maintaining a wobbly smile.
"Your... your..."
"My corneas. They might be a little blurry, but Bat's surgeon says contacts will clear it up."
"You... but your..."
"Hey Robin," Wally said, pulling the boy closer. "Don't talk about it. Just enjoy."
"But now you're crippled and blind!"
"And now you can continue saving the world."
"But, I don't deserve..."
"I said to shut up. Besides, I was already broken."
"Don't say that."
"Kay," Wally shrugged.
"How could you give up so much..."
"It was worth it... for you."
It was worth it... for you.
A/N: What have I done. And after you were all hoping for a happy ending! I feel awful. Well, I guess it's kinda happy... I'm sorry KF! I love you!
I hope you maybe kinda liked it OP. Sorry if you didn't.
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<3 <3 <3 <3 <3
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