[for dick]

[pretty_canary]

(continued from here.)

The walk out to the middle of nowhere was incredibly tense, and nothing Dick said during the trip had helped ease her panic. Not in the slightest. She might not be quite so ready to punch someone, but the fear is practically choking her and she just needs to find out for sure already. If he's right, and her cry is gone...

Comments

[cantstopmoving]

Lifting his hands to cover his ears, Dick drops back to give her space. Her cry won't work and the protection's for her, not him. She won't scream if she thinks she can hurt him, so he does the logical thing and simply nods.

Nothing shows in his face, only quiet confidence. But beneath that, his mind jumps from point to point, thought arcing and flaring like him between buildings. Everything he knows about Dinah. The last time she lost the cry. The cry. Her universe (not much). The island.

When she tries and fails, she'll either crumple or come at him. She's been spoiling for a fight, but she's tired and alone. He watches, stays loose and prepared, but he doesn't have enough data to predict which way she's going to jump.

[pretty_canary]

Good. He's doing what she says without a fight. Nodding at him once, she turns her back and dismisses him from her mind for the moment. Her heart is pounding in her chest in a way that's so foreign to her. This isn't the thrill of a fight, or even the fear that comes from being outnumbered or from facing down a superior enemy. This is primal and horrible and she feels like a little girl again, afraid of a monster in her closet. Her whole body is shaking ever so slightly and she can only hope it's slight enough that Dick doesn't notice it because the idea of looking that weak in front of him makes her want to puke. Especially now.

She takes a deep breath and tries to steady herself enough to do this. Putting it off isn't going to change a single thing. So, she opens her mouth and screams. Screams as loud as she can. The kind of cry that would shatter buildings -- that would kill. And nothing happens. Her hands fly to her throat as no sound comes out but she keeps trying, willing something to happen until she falls to her

[cantstopmoving]

The first four seconds tick by, an eternity, her face going from angry, to scared, to sheer terror. She doesn't give up, but keeps screaming, trying to force the cry to work until it seems she's going to turn herself inside out.

Dropping his hands, he steps forward, before her knees start to crumple. The tears on her cheeks are all the summons he needs, even if she doesn't feel them yet. He's there when she hits the ground, catching her around the waist and behind her head to pull her in to his chest.

Dinah's never been the cry it out type that he knows of, but he can't be anyone but Dick. He can't fix this - and his fury over it balls his fist briefly at her lower back before it flattens out again to soothe and smooth. So he offers warmth, safety, shelter and something solid to shove at, scream at, strike until she wears himself out.

There's only one thing to say: "I've got you."

[pretty_canary]

Her whole body is shaking, fine tremors that she barely feels over the shock of it all. She's so angry. She'd give anything for there to be someone responsible for this, an enemy that she could fight, someone to blame. But if Dick's right then there's nothing. Just the island.

His arms around her feel like the only thing in the universe keeping her from flying apart and even if part of her wants to push him away, she doesn't. Not when she feels so lost. Her breathing is so fast and so shallow she runs the risk of hyperventaliting but she doesn't notice that any more than she notices the tears. She's too hollow to care. So she grips the arms around her waste hard enough to bruise and just holds on.