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New chapter! Those are always fun. I should probably warn you, someone gets stabbed in this chapter. Not like the last stabbing, which was a Keyblade-stabbing. Someone gets sword-stabbed. In the chest. Oh, that's a spoiler. Darn...

Spoiler: Chapter 8: Protecting the Things that Matter

Down in Crime Alley, Xehanort sat waiting behind an abandoned apartment building. The content, patient smile on his face grew to a full blown grin as light gathered in front of him. It took shape first, then details were added. The boy looked mostly the same as he did before, but the white in his hair had spread and the mask that had covered his eyes was gone. No matter. It was inconsequential to the plan.

As soon as he was fully formed, Xehanort strode up to him. “Greetings, my final vessel.” The Nobody simply looked at him blankly. It was too early in his life for him to have more than basic memories and intelligence. Xehanort’s eyes narrowed, and he decided to indulge in a moment of uncharacteristic emotion. “I almost pity you. Empty inside, no heart, no memories, no life. And yet, you live.” He gathered darkness into his hand, retrieving the piece of his heart he had prepared for this moment. “Normally, I would give you a name. However, since you won’t have an identity, a name is useless.” Reaching his hand back, he plunged the dark shard of a heart into the boy’s chest.

The Nobody lurched forward, gasping. The light that most creatures naturally carry within them was suddenly and violently extinguished. Darkness took over his entire being, a sensation not unfamiliar to him, but unwelcome nonetheless. He had been in the dark before. He didn’t want to be there now. Unfortunately, he didn’t have much of a choice.

~*~​

Nightwing blinked the stars from his eyes as they materialized on a rooftop. On Jason’s old apartment’s rooftop. He raced to the edge, the rest of the Bats doing the same to the other sides of the building. Red Robin called softly across the rooftop. North end, on the ground below.

Without hesitation, Nightwing streaked across the building, following his family over the edge. Shooting off his grapple to slow his fall, he was able to watch what was happening below in the seconds it happened.

Xehanort’s hand filling with darkness.

Come on, gravity, work faster!

The hand pulling back.

Terminal velocity clearly isn’t fast enough.

The hand shoving the darkness into his brother’s chest.

No!

Too late, the Bats landed on the ground. They could only watch helplessly as Jason exploded with darkness, teal eyes full of pain. Then, the darkness receded, drawn back into Jason’s body. He blinked, once, twice, and then his eyes turned the same shade of yellow as Xehanort’s.

“How unfortunate. Only a moment too late, but a moment late regardless.” Xehanort’s taunts fell on their ears, but they were too in shock to hear them. Sora landed beside them and summoned his Keyblade. He knew that fighting both Xehanort and Jason would be nearly impossible, but he had to.

A bit of static in Nightwing’s comm. shocked him out of his stupor. “Hello? Testing! Who am I talking to?” Riku’s voice? What was Riku doing on the comm.? A reasonable question, so he asked it. “Oh, I piggybacked onto your signal when you came on the ship. So, tell me who I’m talking to, and then tell me what’s going on.”

“Nightwing. And Xehanort put something dark into Hood’s chest. His eyes are yellow now.” He really hoped that that was fixable and that he could talk to Jason again soon.

Up in the ship, Riku winced. That wasn’t good. “Alright, not as good as we had hoped. If Xehanort hadn’t done that, you could have just given Hood back his heart and that would have been it.”

Crap. Nightwing was still staring warily at Jason. He was standing stock still, which was bad, considering who it was. “So we can’t go with Plan A, what’s Plan B?”

“You fight. Same thing with his Heartless, you fight until you can destroy him.” There was a pause. “I'm not sure what you should do with his heart. If you keep it, he might materialize around it. Or, you might delay his return. I could go ask Yen Sid…”

“Do it. Hood won’t be easy to beat. This’ll take a while.” Silence in his ear. Riku hadn’t even stopped to say goodbye. Quickly, he relayed Riku’s half of the conversation to the other Bats and Sora. They nodded and dropped into ready position.

Across the lot, Xehanort grinned. “Vessel, I have one last thing to prepare. Keep these fools busy.” He disappeared into darkness.

Jason still hadn’t moved. Tension lined every contour of his body, yellow eyes fixed on the ground. Taking a chance, Batman stepped forward, hand stretched out pacifyingly. “Jason…”

Suddenly, he was a whirl of motion. He dived towards them, pulling a gun which didn’t look like his regular guns. The difference was explained a moment later when he squeezed the trigger. The projectiles that came out glowed red and were, based on how many shots he was getting off, unlimited. The Bats and Sora dodged his assault, then prepared for a long battle.

Bullets tore through the air, leaving buildings and pavement cracked and dented. Nightwing was bounding off a variety of objects, performing complex aerial manoeuvres to escape the deadly projectiles. Red Robin had his bo staff out and was dodging what bullets he could while deflecting the rest. He seemed to be trying to shrink into the shadows, retreating into a place where he could collect his thoughts. Each bullet he deflected knocked him a foot back. Their power was incredible. Batman was already retreating. He despised himself for leaving his sons and Sora to whatever monster Jason had been turned into, but he had to keep the small beating light in his hands protected at all costs. This was Jason’s heart, and this time, Batman would protect it like a father should. Meanwhile Sora was also deflecting bullets, waiting for an opening. The darkness emanating off them made him feel sick. He circled Jason, trying to keep the Nobody's attention on him. Robin however, seemed to have abandoned all pretenses of a plan. He was charging forward, almost disregarding his safety. It seemed the little hero was determined to take his enemy face on.

“Todd you coward!” Screamed Damian. “Would you let that man control you this easily? Are you really just giving up without a fight!?”

Nightwing knew that this was Damian’s way of hiding emotions. Robin was so overcome with passionate hidden grief for his brother that he was oblivious to his light footsteps, or the growls of the savage Nobody in front of him, or the bullet that tore into his left shoulder. Robin just sprinted forward, katana raised and ready to attack.

“Robin!! Stop!!” Came Nightwing’s petrified voice from above.

Sora was already on Robin’s heels, as he was closest to the boy at the time. Jason leapt forward towards his attacker, firing his gun almost randomly. Robin ducked and lifted his sword to meet him. Twisting in midair, Jason dodged the blade, and his free hand became surrounded in a cloud of darkness. A shimmering black sword appeared in it, and swirling on one foot, Jason jabbed this new weapon at Robin, who just barely had time to put his own sword behind his head to block as he fell. The resulting clash of metal echoed around the alley way and seemed to bring a new sense of urgency to the atmosphere if that were possible.

Leaping left to doge another bullet, Sora reached Jason's Nobody and swung his Keyblade at his arm, trying to knock away the gun. Jason sidestepped, then ducked and twirled his sword at Sora's legs, who leapt back quickly. Meanwhile Jason was still firing at Nightwing and Red Robin. Robin was up again, and as he charged Red Hood, Sora cast a quick cure charm to fix the kid’s shoulder. As soon as the magic was complete, he bounded forward to stand beside Robin and started to help the younger boy in driving the Nobody back. Jason wasn't losing much ground though. He was catching both his opponents’ swords on different parts of his black blade, and parrying with incredible strength. He seemed completely unperturbed that he was facing two opponents head on. Suddenly he pointed his gun directly at Sora and fired. Sora had to drop to his knees to avoid the surprise attack. In the process, Jason's sword slid off Robin’s, using the force to cut into Sora’s left arm. Jerking back and crying in pain, Sora stumbled to his feet, ready to back off, but it seemed Jason wasn't going to give him that chance. The black sword was glowing wickedly where red blood stained it and was pulsating. Jason slashed at Sora who put his Keyblade in front of him to block. The force of the impact literally lifted him off the ground a few inches and he barely caught his balance as he began blocking more vicious strikes. Robin was trying to attack from behind now, his cape and tunic a blur of colour as he moved. But Jason was matching his movements in reverse. Dodging while all the time attacking Sora and shooting at the others.

Nightwing watched all this proceed with a rising sense of panic. He wanted to wait for a good moment to jump in and attack Jason by surprise, but he would have to leave that to Tim. The situation was deteriorating too fast for his attempts at strategizing to be an option. With a single graceful motion, he soared to a window ledge above the struggling heroes and let himself drop. Landing on Jason’s shoulders he drove his escrima sticks into his brother’s head, gritting his teeth as he did so. Who cared if he wasn't himself, attacking his brother really sucked.

Instead of dropping to the ground like Nightwing expected him to, Jason jerked sideways and threw Nightwing off of him. Landing lightly, Dick turned to see Jason, blood dripping down his face, on all four legs, crouching as if to pounce. An instinctive fury flashed in his brother's feral yellow eyes. Sensing the danger Nightwing back flipped several times. Unfortunately, Robin didn't seem to have anticipated Jason's next attack. He charged forward, taking Hood’s silence to be a sign of weakness, and in that moment Jason pounced. Before Robin really knew what was happening, Jason’s sword was sticking out of his chest.

He stood still for a moment, stunned, his sword held in mid attack. Then with a swift movement Jason lurched back, blood trailing his black sword's tip. Robin didn't make a sound. Just stumbled back a few steps before slumping to the ground. The Nobody raised his gun.

“JASON!”

Like a streak Nightwing rammed himself into Jason, the two flying several feet away. Nightwing blindly punching every part of the Nobody he could.

Sora who had been healing his arm, now ran to Robin, who was barely holding himself up with a shaky arm, blood pouring from his chest. He was gasping and blood ran from his mouth. A bad sign. A really bad sign. “Tt, n-now would be a g-great time to use some of...that healing m-magic Sora.” He choked.

“Right!” Sora said feeling dizzy. “Right, just hold still okay?”

Robin grunted, and Sora lifted up his blade, his voice shaking as he cried, “Courage!”

Robin’s wound began to close as Sora put as much power into the spell as he could. He rarely had to heal such extensive injuries. This was Donald’s expertise. He felt his magic leave him on account of the high level cure with each passing second. Robin’s gurgling breaths were becoming less laboured, more steady. Suddenly a bullet collided with the pavement inches from Robin’s foot. It broke Sora's concentration and the spell ended. It was just as well, he was out of magic. Not a drop left.

Nightwing and Jason were in a desperately fierce battle. Metal and fists moving too fast for Sora to comprehend. All he could tell was that Nightwing was at a severe disadvantage. Jason's sword was glowing such a strong shade of red that it left a trail of faded crimson light as it twisted through the air. But the acrobat was determined. He wasn't letting Jason gain any more ground then was at all possible. Sora knew however, that he had to move Robin out of there now. The kid was too weak to keep on fighting. If truth be told it was a miracle he was alive. And if one stray bullet hit either of them now...

Sora shook his head. No time for gloomy thoughts. The healing was as complete as it could get until Sora could recharge his magic, but at least Robin wasn’t in any danger on that front anymore. Carefully scooping up the boy, he scanned the area, trying to find Batman. If it hadn’t been for Jason’s heart glowing faintly, he knew he wouldn’t have been able to find him. The Bat blended into the shadows better than a Heartless. As it was, he still had difficulty. Robin cradled in his arms, he jumped up and glided over to Batman, figuring it would be quicker and smoother than running. Batman’s eyes narrowed at Sora’s approach, then widened when he saw what he was carrying. “Hey Batman! He’s fine, he just needs some rest.” He landed gently and dropped Robin behind Batman, leaning him against a wall. “I’m going to go help Nightwing!” And with that, he jumped into the fray.

Tim, meanwhile, had been rapidly conferring with Riku, Yen Sid, Mickey and Kairi in a kind of interplanetary conference call. “So you’re saying it’s possible? Because I really don’t think we can beat him.” Red Hood had been a difficult adversary before. Strong, ruthless, incredibly smart, he had been one of their greatest villains. He had calmed down more recently, probably due to him growing a new heart, but he had still been a tough fight. Now though, with him as a Nobody, with Xehanort’s heart beating in his chest, it was almost impossible. If this other way worked…

Yen Sid spoke up. “A method such as this has never before been attempted, but the theory is sound. Kairi’s experiences in Hollow Bastion together with Riku’s knowledge of the four of you during your visit may allow for this course to transpire.” Tim got the sense he was stroking his beard, even though he had never seen the man and didn’t even know if he had a beard.

He nodded. “Alright. Patch into Nightwing’s comm. and explain. I’ll distract Hood.” Hopefully he could hold him off long enough for this to work.

Swinging his bo staff, he managed to catch Jason’s sword before it could connect with Dick’s escrima sticks. “Red Robin, wha- ?” He broke off, probably listening to his comm. Jumping back, with a hand pressed to his ear, he left Red Robin to fight Red Hood.

Tim grunted under the force of Jason’s swing as he shoved the Blade off of his staff. It had gotten a severe power increase when it had stabbed into Damian. Glancing down at where the sword had struck his staff, he was dismayed to see a crack. His staff was solid titanium alloy, to crack it was almost impossible.

He looked back up just in time to see Jason leveling his gun, taking aim. Tim leapt to the side, just as Sora’s Keyblade swept up under the gun and the Nobody fired. The mysteriously glowing projectile slammed into the fifth floor of the building behind them. Sora jumped away, landing next to Red Robin.

“Together then?” He asked.

Red Robin shrugged. “Only way to survive this.” And they launched themselves at Jason.

In the corner of the lot, Batman stood, itching to fight alongside his boys but knowing that he couldn’t. Not with Jason’s heart in his hands. Quite literally. So instead, he gazed at the warm light. So bright. He’d always known that Jason had a good heart. That was a large part of the reason he had taken him in all those years ago. To see it here, bright and shining, only confirmed what he already knew. He knew he couldn’t fail Jason, not again. He went back to watching the battle. He would know if Dick or Tim needed help. If they were in danger, he would jump in, regardless of the danger to himself. He would protect all of his sons.

He watched as Red Robin took over the fight for Nightwing. His eldest flipped back, listening to his comm., then ran back towards Batman. “B, we have a plan.”

Grabbing the necessary items from Batman, Nightwing dashed back towards his brother and new friend. He tossed a set of Batcuffs each to Sora and Tim. Together, they manoeuvered Jason back, dodging him as they lured him to a lamppost. When it was directly behind the Nobody’s back, Sora used what little magic he had recharged.

“STOP!”

Jason froze, unable to move. Red Robin and Sora moved to his sides, clapping the Batcuffs onto his wrists and guiding them quickly behind the pole. They secured the cuffs to the opposite wrists, effectively trapping him there, at least for the moment.

Nightwing, in the meanwhile, was busy concentrating on all the moments he had shared with his brother, the moments he had treasured. Jumping onto a moving train. Talking on rooftops. Movie night, both at the manor and at their respective apartments. Jason’s passion in all things, the way he would take a bullet for those he saw under his protection, the ridiculous way his hair stood up after a good night’s sleep. Every big moment, every small moment, Dick remembered his brother.

Watching carefully, Tim noticed the exact moment when Jason started moving again. “Nightwing, hurry! It’s starting to wear off!” Was it just him, or was Dick glowing a bit? Another moment later, and the spell had worn off. Jason was thrashing against the lamppost. Red Robin could hear the Batcuffs straining against the force, almost ready to pop. Just as the Batcuffs snapped, just as Jason raised his arms to continue the fight, Dick opened his arms and stepped forwards.

Locked in his own mind, Jason was trying to fight his way out. His mind and heart were at war with each other, heart trying to solidify its control, head fiercely trying to remove the invader. He knew he needed a heart, but this one was wrong. He knew what his heart felt like. He had felt its rages, its passion, its longing, its hope, its loss, its joy and despair. This one only felt driven, and driven towards a goal Jason was fairly sure he wanted no part of. At the moment though, he had no choice. The heart was strong, with infinite darkness behind it. Jason believed he walked in the darkness too, but it supported this interloper more than it did Jason. He was just a dead man walking, not worth standing behind. The darkness closed in on him from all sides.

A sudden light burst into existence around Jason. It surrounded him, driving away the darkness, burning into his mind. Memories swamped him, but not his memories. Memories of him living, protecting, memories of standing, not behind, but beside, fighting with him. Joy and laughter. Anger and sadness too, but tinged with hope, hope that the wayward bird would come home once again. Suddenly, he didn’t need the darkness to support him. He had his family. He might always have one foot in the darkness, but he could still walk with his family; in the light.

Sora shielded his eyes. He hadn’t seen this, but Donald and Goofy had told him the story. If this worked, there would be a blinding flash of –

“AGH!” Tim shut his eyes against the sudden assault. As soon as Dick’s arms had closed around Jason, light had exploded around them. A whirlwind of energy erupted, spinning tendrils of light and darkness. They whirled, darkness seeming to gain the upper hand until the light rallied. The darkness faded away, vanishing into nothing. Eventually, the light vanished too, but inwards, towards the brothers rather than away. Finally, all that was left was a battered Nightwing, holding an unconscious Red Hood.

So yeah. Stabbings. Always fun!

It gets quite a bit better later season. There's this scene with Fish and a spoon, you'll get it if you see it. And the stuff that happens with Ed Nigma, much happy. I hated Barbara right up until the end though. Not sure how they're going to make her end up with Jim after that last episode. Honestly. Oh, and the midseason finale with Alfred and Harvey was absolute gold.