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Another day, another chapter! Again, this one is horribly violent. So incredibly violent. And long. Twice as long as a regular chapter. Long and violent. I mean, no one gets a building dropped on them this chapter, but other stuff happens.

Oh, there's some brackets in there. Just ignore that. Arrow and I edited this really late, so it's just our tired brains trying to make Batman jokes. Ignore it.

Spoiler: Chapter 33 - Endgame

WARNINGS FOR VIOLENCE.

The roof was a large domed structure, with a wide walkway surrounding it so civilians could make the most of the view. It was a popular location for tourists and school trips. It also normally had security guards patrolling to dissuade people from climbing on the rail. Unfortunately, the Joker had never been one for listening to security guards, even if they had been here. He was casually strolling along the rail, whistling something tuneless. In one hand, he held a drink umbrella, as if to safeguard against falling. His normally green eyes were a bright yellow, but that was the only change in his appearance.

Based on all their experiences, once someone had been corrupted by darkness in this way, they didn't normally talk. Sora had seen it in Deep Jungle when Clayton had given in to the darkness. Riku had seen it when Ansem had awakened the darkness inside Maleficent. All of them had seen it in their fights against Croc, Scarecrow, Two-Face and, most recently, Dick and Riku.

So they were all at least a little surprised when the Joker spoke. “You know, I could really learn to love a view like this. Of course, it's a bit dark for my tastes. We need a splash of colour here, and a bit there and, well, everywhere actually. I've already checked though. All the paint stores only have black left. Oh, and there isn't anyone to laugh at my jokes. You know, I don't think I like this view at all. There's no colour, no people and most of all, no Batsy.” Finally, he turned to face them, a particularly manic grin on his face. “I do have a bunch of new friends though.”

At his words, Heartless formed on the walkway. Cymbal Monkeys and Rabid Dogs and Minute Bombs and Search Ghosts and Invisibles, all in variations Sora had never seen before. The colours were random, with no two of the same species matching. The only feature that was shared among all of them was a bright red grin splashed sloppily over the mouth.

The Heartless stood waiting as Joker continued. “Of course, they're not really the laughing type. But maybe a really good joke will get a chuckle out of them.” He raised the hand not holding the drinking umbrella. There was a crowbar in it. “You know, my best joke was when I knocked off that pesky Boy Blunder. And look!” he gestured out, pointing at all of them, “Now I have two birdies to play with. And a few civilians too! That's always good for a laugh. Not sure when Batsy will get back, but he will. He always comes after me. And when he does, I'll have another joke for him to laugh at!” He started laughing and tossed the umbrella. With accuracy that would leave Roy jealous, it smacked into a small button, which was connected to a low level explosive. It wouldn't explode with enough force to damage any infrastructure, but it would hurt anyone standing next to it.

Which the five of them were. “Scatter!” Nightwing yelled.

The Keyblade Wielders jumped straight up and the Bats dove to each side, all of them just barely escaping the explosion. Joker split into two, his regular clown-ish self, and his Heartless, which shifted shapelessly for a moment before settling.

It looked like Joker. Jason swallowed a bitter laugh. Of course. Joker was so evil that he was his darkest self. The Joker's darker half stalked towards Dick, and the never-ending Heartless were keeping the kids busy. That left Joker to Jason. Good old fashioned Joker. The one who had killed him all those years ago.

Well.

Now it was his turn to die.

Red Hood pulled his guns and launched himself at the Clown Prince of Crime.

~*~​

Nightwing dodged the first attack, drawing his escrima sticks in the same movement. The second attack came at him and he spun inside it, slamming the dark Joker in the chest.

This thing was pretty unpredictable. It didn't keep to one shape for too long, sometimes shifting in claws or dispersing into gas, but always inevitably returning to the Joker-esque shape it had taken on at the beginning of the fight. Just in case though, Nightwing pulled on a rebreather. He wasn't sure what kind of gas the dark Joker turned into, but he was willing to bet it wasn't good for his lungs.

He flipped, escrima sticks aiming for the dark Joker's neck, but just before he hit, the monster vapourized again. As he passed through the cloud, laughter filled his ears, loud, insistent, unbearable. He felt sick, his head started spinning and his ear drums threatened to burst. It was gone the moment he hit clean air again, but the effects lingered. There was movement to his side. Instinctively, he tossed a batarang. A smile crept into his face at the distinctive thud of metal hitting Heartless-flesh. It wasn't the same as hitting regular people. Kind of like hitting a water balloon. Stiff outside, mostly nothing inside.

Leaping onto the dome, he gave himself a moment to recover. By the time the dark-Joker reattached its arm (and really, that was not fair), his ears were still ringing but the nausea had passed. Good enough for now. He dived back at his foe, feet first.

Plant a solid hit on the shoulders, redirect the momentum upwards, flip, come back down for another hit, push backwards, knock over dark Joker and land a few feet away, push back and drive escrima sticks into Joker's stomach.

That was the plan anyways, and it worked really well until the last step when dark Joker shifted himself a coat of spikes. Spikes which Nightwing was headed straight for and the one major disadvantage of midair combat came into play. He couldn't change direction. But he could minimize the damage.

His left escrima stick was still ready to strike, he just had to reverse his grip. It still landed in dark Joker's gut, just not as hard as it should have. And the spikes did still stab him in the forearm, but only in a dozen or so places, and only deeply in three. And not in the chest, abdomen, or legs like it would have if he hadn't done anything, so that counted as a win. Sort of.

The dark Joker wasn't showing any signs of slowing down though. It simply shifted from spiky back to its default. Nightwing was starting to see a pattern though. All Heartless had one after all. It could only stay in another form for six seconds before it had to return to being the Joker, for at least half a minute. More than enough time to change the tide of the battle, as Nightwing had just seen, but not enough time to make a difference in the long run. Especially not now that Nightwing had him figured out.

Leisurely sheathing one stick and pulling out a roll of bandages, he started wrapping his arm. Both to stem the bleeding and to... Yes! Dark Joker took the bait, growling and shifting monster-like claws onto its hands. It lunged, and once its claws were almost at his eye, he spun.

He dropped the bandages – they were wrapped tightly enough so that they wouldn't fall off; he'd secure them later – switching his escrima stick to his good hand and hit the button for a charge. He slammed it into the dark Joker's side, and it howled and blurred, electricity arcing between its claws. Nightwing gave a satisfied smirk as it dropped to the ground.

But it didn't dissipate. Instead, it melted into the floor and came up behind him, morphing a joy buzzer into its hand and pressing it against Nightwing's neck. As his muscles spasmed and a scream tore through his throat, he could hear laughing in his ears, as if the dark Joker was chuckling at its own joke. Here, let me return this to you. Nightwing could almost hear the exact words it might have used.

He was saved by Sora blasting across the walkway, Keyblade extended. It smacked the dark Joker full in the face, sending it flying. “You ok Nightwing?”

“Fine,” he gasped. After a moment, he stood up straight and shook out his muscles. “I thought these things kept to a pattern. Why did it change?”

“Ah!” And Sora had that same look on his face when he remembered his Cure spell the first time. Something totally important that he had forgotten to mention. “Yeah, really strong Heartless change their attack pattern when they get weak.”

Nightwing just rolled his eyes. “So whatever pattern it has now will be the one it has until we beat him?”

“No idea. Depends on how strong it is. But looking at it...” He stopped to consider. “Yeah, looks pretty weak. I'd say half dead. Should be the last one, unless it has another form hiding.”

Snorting, Nightwing readied his escrima stick in his right hand, with batarangs between each of his fingers on his left. The dark Joker was finally standing up, and getting closer. “It's the Joker. Wouldn't put it past him.”

Sora rolled his neck and crouched into his fighting stance. “Let's do this then.” And they launched themselves into battle.

~*~​

Kairi risked a glance at Sora. She had told him to help Nightwing, that she and Riku would be fine. It had taken a little convincing, but he had agreed. Right on time too. Whatever it was that Nightwing had been fighting had come back up in a flash and was electrocuting him. Swinging her Keyblade through another three Heartless, she spared another look back. They were up and battle ready. She didn't know Dick well enough to know how he reacted to injuries, but she knew that Sora would fight and fight until he physically couldn't go on anymore. And even then, he would probably Cure himself so he could continue.

Honestly, that kind of fighting couldn't be good for him.

Not that she could talk. She hadn't taken many hits from this fight, but the ones she had were already healed. Riku had told her that they regenerated magic faster when they were fighting, and as far as she could tell, it was true.

Speaking of, Riku had an Invisible creeping up behind him. She dashed forwards and blitzed it. When it actually worked, blasting the Invisible far enough away for it to be less of a threat, she beamed. Sora had been trying to show her that move for a week before he had left for Gotham. It wasn't perfect yet, but it was usable, and that's all she needed.

She moved through the Heartless like water, flowing around them, Keyblade turning them into clouds. Sure, these Heartless were strong. The kinds that normally flocked around Ansem Seeker of Darkness. But Sora and Riku had fought them many times before. They knew all the weak points, the strategies to beat them, which meant that Kairi knew too. When an Invisible threw its sword to the ground, she should jump. A lot. Keep far away from Rabid Dogs, their bark hurts much more then their bite. Long rage attacks are best. Keep out of the Search Ghost's search light.

So she was a little more than surprised when a Search Ghost materialized cymbals and crashed them together. The sound rang through her skull, vibrating through her bones. Then a Cymbal Monkey barked and the two sounds crashed together. All thought whited out. She fell to her knees, hands clapped over her ears. It did nothing. Tears flooded down her face and desperately, she tightened her grip on her Keyblade and shouted “THUNDER!”

The noise stopped. She slumped with relief and wiped at her tears. Or, she had thought they were tears, but the back of her hand was smeared with red. That couldn't be good. Oh well, no time to worry about it now. She cast a quick Cure and jumped back into the fray.

The Heartless were definitely getting weirder. Invisibles didn't attack until they saw her. Rabid Dogs alternated between barking and vanishing, turning into a ring of flames that she had to jump her way out of. A Search Ghost managed to impale her right forearm with a sword. Pain radiated through it, all the way up to the shoulder. Suddenly, her hand popped open, completely unwillingly, and she dropped her Keyblade. She didn't have any strength left in her grip. And she didn't have enough magic to heal yet.

Grabbing it with her left hand, she shot off a Thundaga, spending the last of her magic on it. She cleared the area around her, but she wouldn't be able to heal her arm until she recharged. It would be faster if she fought but she wasn't confident she could fight any of these with her left hand. Working fast, she tore a strip off of her cloak, hoping that it would still protect her if it was slightly shorter. She placed the Keyblade in her right hand and wrapped the material around it, allowing her weakened muscles to keep hold of it. She then continued wrapped the fabric around her arm, making it into a makeshift bandage. She didn't have a belt like Jason or Dick, and all her supplies were in her backpack, which had gotten cut off near the beginning of the fight. This would have to do.

She noticed Riku off to one side. She rolled her shoulders, lifted her Keyblade, and attacked every Heartless in her way.

~*~​

This fight would be so much easier if the Joker would just shut up. The crowbar in his hand was covered in a reddish-brown coating, like old blood, and damn if that didn't make him flinch. But Jason could handle crowbars. Most villains did their nefarious deeds in warehouses, and warehouses were full to bursting with the things. And he could handle the small bombs Joker kept throwing his way. He even tossed a few himself, to keep the psycho from galavanting off and attacking the others. But the laughter. It was the laughter that sent him back to that day in the warehouse. Never mind that it was dark and cold and starting to rain, all things that screamed “Gotham City”. But with each screeching giggle, every halting chortle, he felt the steady thump thump thump of a ghostly crowbar hitting his back, the African sun beating down on his injuries through a window, the dry air filtering into his lungs. Whipping out his gun, he fired off three shots, if only to drown out the laughter with its sharp staccato.

Surprisingly – he had been aiming for the Joker, but the clown was normally exceptional at dodging batarangs and bullets alike – one managed to lodge itself in Joker's shoulder. Giving out a pained chuckle, Joker tossed his crowbar in retaliation. Hood managed to dodge it, but it rebounded off of the dome behind him and clipped him on the back of the head. The Joker walked closer, picking up the metal bar as he went. Hood was still reeling from the blow which, unluckily enough, had hit hard enough to concuss. Already he was getting nauseous.

“Awww, what's wrong Hoodie? Too many party favours?” The clown burst into laughing again and Jason squeezed his eyes shut, not completely closed, but enough that he didn't have to look at the Joker and listen to him at the same time. “You know, I remember this one shindig I went to. There were so many people! Mommies and Daddies and Babies too. But none of them were laughing. It was a weird party. Lots of screaming and crying, definitely not my kind of place. But I told a few jokes, spilled a few cans of gas and soon, everyone was rolling in their seats!” A gloved hand shoved its way into Jason's view and grabbed at his jacket lapels. “Maybe all you need is a bit of laughter, eh, Bird boy?”

Desperately, Jason tried to jump back, to get away from the maniac in front of him. Last time he had fought the Joker, he hadn't had his heart back yet. Now he wished it was gone, if only so that he could stop thinking, so he could finish what he had started when he had first come back to Gotham. But the Joker slammed the crowbar into his leg and he cried out as his stitches tore. And another, in his chest, his side, his back.

Jason. His darkness. Seriously, not good timing. Let me take over. I can fight this without being emotionally affected. It was tempting, but no. This was his fight. And he told his darkness so. Fine. But if your life is in danger I will take over. I will not risk us both for your pride.

Jason was about to reply, but a hoarse scream caught his attention. Nightwing. Suddenly, he was completely present. Standing on top of Wayne Enterprises, in the cold and dark and rain, fighting the Joker and his brother was screaming in pain. He ignored the ache of cracked ribs. He ignored the blood running down his leg. He ignored the heat of yet another explosion to his left. And most of all, he ignored the laughter.

He ignored it all in favour of attending his rage.

He hadn't touched it in ages. Probably ever since he had gotten his heart back. Sure, he had made small dips into it, but none like this. Everything that had gone wrong in his life was because of this maniac, and now, Nightwing was fighting the Joker's twisted dark self and screaming. He dived in head first and everything turned red.

Red Hood summoned an All Blade to his hand and blocked the next swing of the crowbar. Twisting, he sent the metal flying off the walkway, spiraling to the street below. Moving faster than should be humanly possible, he flicked his Blade into Joker's shoulder and dropped it, leaving it stuck in him like a pin cushion. He summoned his second sword and did the same to the clown's other shoulder. At the same time, he squeezed his trigger four times, sending two rounds into each of the Joker's legs. Finally, with the clown pinned to the dome behind him, he pulled his knife.

He pulled back his arm to deliver the killing blow.

Joker was laughing manically, his insane bloodshot eyes driving Jason's anger to an even higher peak. Inside his mind, a fierce battle was raging. His heart asked if killing the man was going to make all the hate and rage and pain go away, or make it worse. The darker side of him was crying for blood. It only took a split second before the all consuming rage won out. With a savage cry Jason swung his knife forward.

“No don't!”

Out of all his allies, Jason didn't expect to hear Riku. But he ignored the boy, his rage focused on the glinting knife already falling towards the madman's heart. Suddenly something rammed into him sending Jason skidding across the wet cement. He let out an angry growl and jumped up, spinning to attack the Heartless who had managed to catch him off guard.

It wasn't a Heartless.

Riku was standing in front of the Joker, turned to face Jason while his Keyblade glinted wickedly in the moonlight. He was panting hard and shaking, scratches and bruises covering the majority of his exposed skin. But Jason couldn't bring himself to care about that. He didn't care about anything. All he wanted was to kill that clown once in for all. For it to be finished here and now. He jerked his knife in front of him, pointing it at his friend.

“Move.” He ordered savagely.

Riku frowned, his teal eyes flashing wary defiance. He lifted his Keyblade into a defensive position. The Joker laughing manically beside him all the while.

“Hood.” He said slowly. “Look at yourself.”

Outrage burned through Jason. He was wasting valuable time. That madman could be dead by now. And Jason was ready to kill him. He needed to kill him.

Red Hood stepped forward, glaring at Riku through his mask. “Last chance Riku. Get out of my way.”

His voice slightly trembling, Riku gave a quick glance over at the Joker before saying. “Look at your hands Hood.” He tried to make the statement come out as a command but it sounded more like he was pleading.

Clenching his knife in a death grip, Jason grudgingly looked down at his hand and froze. Threads of darkness were twisting around him, winding their way through his armour and, now that he was paying attention, in and out of his skin. They then floated into the air like wisps of vapour before being drawn back to surround him again. “What- Darkness?” He stuttered.

“Not your darkness.” Riku corrected as lightning flashed in the dark sky above. “But your hate and rage is attracting it. Don't you feel it? Can't you see? You're losing control. You're letting the darkness win.”

Jason's surprise immediately turned back to a title wave of rage. “It doesn't matter. As long as I can kill him.” He spat, his eyes burning suspiciously. “Who cares what I become as long as he's not around to ruin any more innocent lives?!”

Riku met Jason's eye, then turned to face the Joker. “Then do yourself a favour and take a good look at the man you want to kill so badly.”

Complying readily, Jason whirled around and glared at the madman, laughing as if this entire scene was just a huge hilarious joke. As if the pain he caused others was nothing more then a game. And of course, it was for him. Joker was just that sick and sadistic. Suddenly Jason's eyes widened as he began to comprehend what Riku wanted him to see. Dark threads were twisting off Joker's body in the same way they were twisting off him.

He stumbled back as though he had been hit with a sledge hammer, the realization shaking him to his core. He wasn't bringing closure to his past by killing the Joker. He was becoming him. He was letting his own dark thoughts guide his actions, believing that he would be satisfied as long as he walked in darkness. That thought seemed to finally snap his fatigued brain out of its rage and his body got through to him. He slumped to the ground shaking.

Riku sighed in relief. The hate emanating off Jason was dissipating at last. When he had felt the pure evil coming from Jason he hadn't been sure that he could stop his friend from being consumed by darkness. But in the end he had managed. Who knew his own experiences would end up saving someone else?

Jason glanced up at Riku, his eyes grateful, before a look of utter terror washed over him. “Riku look-!”

Too late, Riku turned around in time to see Joker's Heartless inches from him, his body only registering the pain when he was already on the ground, his Keyblade falling beside him uselessly.

“No!” Jason yelled, already on his feet again, all notions of rest forgotten as his dissipating rage turned to a different, more pure form of anger. He took in the scene in less then a second. Riku writhing on the ground from an unknown wound, the Heartless responsible standing above the boy. It's glowing yellow eyes were locked on him, but he managed to look away, searching for any weapons the Heartless might have. His breath caught in his chest. Sora was in the monster's left hand, its fingers wrapped around his neck. He was kicking and twisting savagely, but his Keyblade was nowhere to be seen, his hands more preoccupied with trying to loosen the iron grip around his throat. Somewhere in the recesses of Jason's mind, he wondered where Nightwing was. If his brother was okay. But his main focus had to be freeing Sora and getting that Heartless away from his two friends.

Putting on a burst of speed, Jason gathered himself when he was a few feet from his new enemy and jumped to the side, his battered nerves screaming in protest all the while. He landed sideways on the wall next to a hysterically laughing Joker, clenching his free hand around his sword hilt and drawing it out of its resting place with the force of pushing off the wall again. The move worked well as the Heartless hadn't expected it. The creature was just turning to face him as he launched himself at it, swinging the All Blade in a wide arc while stabbing his knife at its left arm. The sword missed as the Heartless ducked, but the knife found its mark. It sank satisfyingly deep into the monster's flesh. It laughed at the pain. As Jason had hoped, it dropped Sora. The knife had stopped Jason's frontal assault long enough for him to be in the air for a second before he could find his feet. Unfortunately the Heartless was good enough to use that to its advantage. Even as it stumbled back and Jason let go of his knife, it reached out its hand and grabbed him. Electricity coursed through his body and stars flashed in front of his eyes. Without really knowing what he was doing he thrust his arm out of the Heartless's grasp and stumbled backwards, instinctively raising his Blade for defense. He blinked the light out of his eyes just in time to see it charging once again. He dived right, somersaulting and coming up to swing his sword at its legs as it passed him by. The attack had only managed to graze it, but it was enough to make his enemy stumble. While it righted itself he charged in, but had to twist to the left to avoid another jolt of electricity. The two then circled each other, tension hanging in the air like a heatwave. Jason had to defeat this thing and find his brother. He had to check on his friends. But first things first. Killing Joke(r) might not be acceptable, but killing a Heartless was another deal entirety.

~*~​

Kairi was having a surprisingly good time as she weaved in and out of Heartless, dodging attack patterns and cutting monsters down with her Keyblade. She had never been in a fight like this one before. Apparently injuries had the added benefit of adrenaline. She hadn't even managed to Cure her arm yet, but the pain was little more then a irritation in the back of her mind as she steadily progressed around the army of Heartless. She didn't know where Riku had gone. He had vanished a few seconds ago yelling something about Jason. She hadn't heard him properly, but she knew his absence meant she was left to fight the Heartless on her own. Yes, she should probably be scared, and yes, there were a lot more of them then there were of her, and yes, she didn't have anyone for back up if something else went wrong; But despite everything, Kairi was having the time of her life. She had fallen into a sort of rhythm, weaving in and out of enemies fluidly, while relying on instincts to attack instead of coherent decisions. She felt rather then saw the danger behind her back and rolled out of the way just in time to avoid a strike from a Cymbal Monkey. Springing to her feet, she waved her Keyblade in a wide circle, knocking a dozen Heartless off their feet. She grinned at her own strength. She was definitely getting better at this.

That is, until she was plucked off the ground and into the air by the giant hand of an Invisible. The thing had her by the back of her shirt, and with a mighty swing of its powerful arm, flung her across the roof top. She felt herself crashing through at least a dozen Heartless before landing roughly on the hard ground. Her brain told her she didn't have time to be winded, so despite the new trouble breathing, she forced her sore muscles to spring her to her feet. Eyes immediately locking on the wall of Heartless charging her, she took a step forward to meet them before hearing something that made her freeze. Another shout of pain! Was that Dick?

Kairi dived between the two Rabid Dogs approaching her and dispersed them with a single slash from her blade. Instead of running forward however she veered to the side, towards Dick's voice. Sure enough, after cutting down a monkey and smacking around an Invisible for half a minute she found her friend. Dick was lying on the ground in pain and obviously very agitated. Despite a heavily bleeding arm and what looked like a serious head injury, he was trying to push himself up, dazed but determined all the same. His eyes flashed when she knelt down next to him. The Heartless were almost caught up to her. It was a miracle they hadn't attacked Dick while he was down. The two didn't have much time.

“S-Sora” Dick said, his disoriented voiced laced with panic. “Kairi we need to go help him now.”

Kairi felt her veins turn to ice. She had told Sora to go help Nightwing who had been fighting Joker's Heartless, and now neither him or the Heartless were anywhere to be seen. Of course that honestly wasn't saying much seeing as all she really could see was a thick black wall of enemies encircling her and Dick. Where were they all coming from? Suddenly the pain in her arm became much more apparent to her and she flinched. “Where is he Nightwing?”

“I, I don't know. The Heartless got a lucky hit. I think I passed out for a little bit. Don't know how long. But when I came to they were both gone.”

Swallowing down her panic, Kairi lifted her Keyblade and conjured up all the magic she had regained from fighting. Thankfully it was a pretty good amount since she had been having such an awesome streak the past few minutes. “Heal!”

She wrapped an arm around Dick and helped him to his feet even as the verdant green light danced around them, healing their injuries. A Rabid Dog charged at them and Nightwing lashed out at it, effectively electrocuting it into darkness. Already his eyes were clearing; he blinked a few times, letting the magic do its work. Her arm was starting to feel better too, the bleeding slowing down significantly. The magic stopped before she really wanted it to, but she had to use her Keyblade to fight anyway. The Heartless pounced.

Dick kicked at a monkey and then used the momentum to twirl around, bringing his escrima sticks up to meet an Invisible's sword. Kairi, meanwhile, was dealing with a pack of Rabid Dogs. She had read somewhere that the difficulty with theses enemies was that they often hunted in packs. She was finding that to be true. As she twisted out of the way of the first one, three more came to meet her, biting and snapping at her arms and legs. She sliced through one, kicked another, and ducked to avoid the jaws of a third. An Invisible appeared beside her and she jumped to avoid its low sword swing. A Rabid Dog caught her in mid air, biting her left arm. Great. Now both of them were injured. Either way she merely gritted her teeth and jabbed the dog. It didn't release its bite until it disintegrated. Seeing a break in the Invisible's attacks, she swung at the monster's legs. To her relief it stumbled backwards. She lunged at it, but her aim was off. Stupid injured arm. As it was, she barely managed to avoid its retaliatory jab. Suddenly she felt herself pressing up to something and turned to see she was back to back with Nightwing. The crime fighter was swinging his weapons ferociously, taking on several enemies at once. Kairi always preferred to focus on one enemy at a time. Trying to take on all of them meant she wouldn't be able to defeat any of them quickly.

“I can't see Sora or the Heartless anywhere!” She panted.

“Neither can I.” Nightwng agreed. “One sec.”

With an enormous effort Nightwing swung both his escrima sticks and batted his nearby opponents away, then launched himself into the air with the unmistakable speed and grace of an acrobat. Landing on an Invisible's head and using it as another boost to jump high into the air, he got a good view of the battle field. The next moment Kairi's attention was demanded by shock waves of sound making her once again fall to her knees. This time she was ready though. She flung her Keyblade in the direction of the sound. The pain in her head immediately stopped and despite the throbbing headache, she grinned as she summoned the blade back to her hand.

Kairi was just stumbling to her feet when she felt her wrist being grasped by an unknown something. She yanked back before noticing the hand belonged to Nightwing. He gave her a grim sort of look that told Kairi he had found the others before pulling her roughly into the crowd of Heartless. She ran with him, slashing enemies determinedly all the while.

~*~​

Sora coughed and took huge shuttering breaths as he laid on the ground. He had been close to blacking out when that stupid Heartless had dropped him. He wasn't entirely sure, but he thought he saw the distinctive gleam of Red Hood's swords before he was released. He relished in the huge lungfuls of oxygen he was able to take in. When he had finally caught his breath and his vision ceased being a blurry blob of colours, he quickly pushed himself up, blinking the black spots out of his eyes. He could hear fighting, but in his dazed mind it sounded fuzzy and a long way off. He gazed around, taking stock of his surroundings and saw...

“Riku!”

~*~​

Jason heard Sora's cry, but he couldn't spare the time to turn and look. This stupid Heartless had grown six tail things with swords on the tips and blocking them was harder than it should have been. He pulled his gun and shot one of them close to the base, severing it and three others. It would regrow, it had before, but for now, he had a little breathing room. And he intended to use it.

Carefully maneuvering himself around the remaining tails, he leapt up a wall, using gravity and the force of his own jump to bury his Blades hilt-deep in the Heartless's thick hide. Kicking off, he pulled the Blades out again, grinning at the thing's distorted howl of pain.

And let out his own startled gasp when he landed. The landing had torn a few stitches in his legs. The Heartless swept a claw towards him and he dived backwards, slightly slower than usual. This was going to be a problem.

No time to worry about it though. He dodged beneath another swing, wincing as another two stitched popped. Throwing out a stream of curses in his mind, he fired off four quick shots, each one hitting the Joker-Heartless in the exact center of his forehead. In retaliation, the Heartless sent a claw forward. Jason dodged that one.

But not the one that came up from beneath him.

Twisting, he managed to avoid the worst of the damage. But one of his shoulders was useless now, and he had a hole in his side. Luckily, none in his organs though. That was good.

This was going no where. He had to finish it now, before the Heartless could do any more damage.

Sheathing his gun and allowing his All Blade to vanish, he leapt at the dark Joker's shoulder, where his knife was still conveniently located. Grasping the handle, he used his momentum to pull the blade down and across the Heartless's back. Dark smoke poured from the injury and the thing howled. It collapsed, falling backwards onto Jason.

That was easier than he'd thought it would be.

Hands grabbed at the Heartless above him, lifting it enough for him to crawl out. Dick and Kairi. They were ok. He allowed a small smile to cross his features before turning to Sora and Riku.

Sora was kneeling by his friend's side, but it didn't sound too good. There was a fairly large hole in his chest and by the sound of his breathing, it had punctured a lung. Combined with looked like a fairly large acid burn running down his back.

Sora didn't seem too good either. “I'm trying, but it's resisting the magic! I've never seen this before. What do I...?” He ran a hand through his hair, clearly on the verge of panic.

“Calm down.” Dick ordered. “Can you close the hole a little? Just enough to cover up the lung? Everything else can be healed later.” But Sora shook his head. “Well. That's unfortunate. Jason, do we have anything we can use to cover this?”

He pretty much turned out every pocket, but all he came up with was his driver's license. He did find some extra tape, gauze and disinfectant though. “Just this.”

Dick looked at it, then raised an eyebrow at Jason, who shrugged. He grabbed the square of plastic, poured disinfectant onto some gauze and wiped it down before placing it over the hole in Riku's chest and taping it down. And Jason could immediately hear the difference. What had been breathless, broken gasps a moment ago settled into something more even. “That should hold, but we should really find the Keyhole soon. Sooner we get this done, the sooner we can get him to a hospital. A driver's license is no substitute for proper medical care. Now, let's have a look at that burn.”

Jason let his mind wander. As much as he hated to admit it, Dick had been in much better contact over the years with Batman, and therefore, Alfred. He knew his stuff. Jason knew enough to stitch his own wounds and set bones, but this kind of thing was more delicate. So, he spent his time patching his own injuries and inspecting the others.

Dick was busy being focused on his work. Eyebrows furrowed, masked eyes only leaving Riku to grab the disinfectant or some more gauze. Sora was a nervous wreck. He was still kneeling beside Riku, and Jason could tell by the way his mouth was moving that he was still trying to cure him, despite being out of magic. Kairi wasn't looking too good either. She was crouching, her arms wrapped around her knees, fingers tapping. She was pale and-

A blade launched itself forward, spearing Kairi in the shoulder and pinning her to the wall next to Joker. Jason barely had time to turn, seeing the Heartless he was positive he had killed morphing into something else, before Sora shouted. And Jason saw Dick disappear, then felt himself get boosted into pure energy. And then noth-.

Ok, so I'm a terrible person who totally forgot to post this. I'm sorry, there's really no excuse.
Warnings. Lots. Mostly violence. So watch out for it.

Spoiler: Chapter 31 - Shadow Puppets

Wayne Enterprises slowly drew closer as they worked their way forward. And as much as they tried to avoid it, no one could help but be filled with dread when they saw the huge tower. It was like willingly walking to their doom. Each step brought fear and uncertainty buzzing through their skin. Everyone's instincts screamed at them to turn around, tried to warn them that this place was dangerous. But they stuck close together, latching onto each others' presence like a lifeline. Jason and Riku took the front of the group, refusing to show fear and striding forward with fierce determination. Nightwing hung back with Sora and Kairi, every once in a while giving them reassuring smiles and getting nervous ones back in return. Heartless showed up every so often, clawing their way out of the ground to stop the groups' procession. Whenever this happened, they would all surge forward as one, overwhelming their attackers, while simultaneously learning how to work as a team. Maybe their fear grew the deeper into the city they wandered, but their trust in one another was growing too.

Sora was just starting to think those towers were getting way to close when it happened. Riku suddenly froze, his posture becoming tight and rigid. The three behind him halted immediately while Jason took a few steps more before noticing he was alone and turned around.

“Um, Riku?” Sora asked tentatively. He was starting to get a bad feeling. A very bad feeling.

Riku didn't respond. So Jason tried this time. He stepped in front of his friend noting his glassy eyed expression. Muttering angrily under his breath, Red Hood waved a hand in front of Riku's face. There was no response. Riku didn't even blink. Frowning, Jason put his hand on Riku's shoulder and shook him slightly, Riku's head rocking back and forth with the motion as Kairi came to stand next to Red Hood.

“Riku?” She asked uncertainly. Her friend's eyes ever so slowly turned to look at her. Cold fear shot down her spine, and she stumbled backwards. Riku's eyes were yellow.

“Kairi!?” Sora was by her side in a second, which she hated and loved him for. “What's wro-” He fell silent when he saw Riku's eyes.

“Oh no...” He mumbled under his breath. “No no no!”

Suddenly Jason staggered forward as pain lanced threw him. It hit him fast and fierce, like burning fire licking along his bones. He groaned and fell to his knees, squeezing his eyes shut to deal with the sudden shock. Somewhere in the background he could register panicked voices, but his world was already melded into a white hot mist. The only thing he could fully comprehend was his body's violent tremors as it fought against the stabbing pain. Sound and sight were obviously not registering at the moment, so it surprised Jason when he heard a voice.

Jason, it said simply.

Fighting to form a thought, Jason searched through the haze in his mind for who was speaking. Suddenly his thoughts came together and it clicked.

“D- darkness?” He managed.

Jason! The voice said again. And this time he could hear the urgency in it. Attack. External force. Must stop.

It took him a while, But comprehension spread threw Jason like an explosion. Some kind of foreign darkness was trying to corrupt him! And his darkness was fighting back.

Need...help, the normally monotone voice of his darkness ground out.

And suddenly, Jason knew what he had to do. Desperately trying to ignore the awful pain and gathering up all his will power, Jason focused everything he had on driving out whatever this foreign presence was. He could feel his conscious melding with his darkness, and together they began to slowly, very slowly, regain control. It was like pushing against solid air, facing something they couldn't see, but knew was there. They were winning, it was backing down! And just like that, the world came back into focus.

Jason gasped. He was on the ground, trembling.

Pushing himself up, he checked on his darkness. “Uh, you okay?” He thought at his darkness.

Fine. Came a short answer in his mind as he blinked a few times to clear his head. Then, Thank you for the assistance.

Jason was surprised. His darkness 'thanked' him? “Uh, you totally saved my butt.” He thought sheepishly. “I should be thanking you.”

It was then that the full seriousness of the situation dawned on him.

Kairi and Sora were fighting Riku and Nightwing!

Jason froze, unable to take in what his eyes were telling him. Riku was charging towards Kairi, an angry sneer on his face as he swung his Keyblade at her retreating form. She nimbly twirled around and parried his strike, but the force made her stumble back a few steps. Lunging forward, Riku jabbed at her, and she jumped to the side. Jason caught a brief glimpse of her face, and felt dizzy. Not only was she scared out of her mind, she was hesitant to actually attack. That was all kinds of dangerous. Jason supposed he couldn't blame her, but as he saw her duck a vicious looking strike without taking the opening that followed, he knew something had to be done fast. No one could run forever, and even though she was doing quite well, Kairi was obviously outmatched. It was all she could do to dodge, using her small stature to her advantage.

Just then, something came hurtling towards Jason and he had to back flip to avoid it. The object in question, turned out to be Sora. He was already scrambling to hit feet, a rather dazed look on his face. “Nightwing!” He shouted, jumping backwards, apparently unaware of Red Hood. “What are you doing!? Stop!?”

But Nightwing wasn't stopping. He was charging forward, his eyes set on Sora, yellow through the mask. Despite the fact that his brother was attacking them at the moment, Jason couldn't help but notice the absence of aerial manoeuvres that were so deeply ingrained in Nightwing's fighting style.

Of course, these thoughts all passed thorough Jason's head in about a second, and before he knew it he had drawn his good old knife and was face to face with Nightwing, glaring into those poison yellow eyes. His blade ground against Nightwing's escrima stick for a fraction of a second before the second stick flashed threw the air and he had to duck to avoid it. He moved swiftly to dodge Nightwing's knee to his face, then jumped to the side, sticking his leg out as he went. It absolutely shocked him when Nightwing didn't jump to avoid it and stumbled forward. But the next second the vigilante caught his footing and was heading towards Sora again, who was staring at Jason with a mixture of relief and uncertainty. He met Dick's next strike with his Keyblade, gritting his teeth against the impact. His eyes caught Jason's for a second before he was twisting around Nightwing to avoid getting hit again.

“Hood!” He called while an electric escrima stick tore at the air inches from his face. “You okay?”

Jason almost flinched. The kid was way too selfless. He started running towards them, eager to stop Dick from doing any major damage, though that was pretty unlikely seeing how viciously he was attacking Sora.

“Fine. What's-”

He had to pause as he flattened himself to dodge a kick, then was forced to do a handspring backwards to avoid another.

“What's gotten into them!?”

Sora spoke between blocking Nightwing's strikes. “No. Idea. Help. Kairi.”

Jason wanted to argue, but he knew Sora was right. She had much less experience. He turned, and right on cue, a scream made his blood run cold. His eyes fell on Kairi, pinned against a grimy building wall with Riku drawing back his blade. The sight made him feel sick it was so wrong. Before he knew what he was doing, a batarang was flying threw the air and embedded itself in Riku's hand. He growled a very familiar sounding growl, one that had his own voice overlaid with a much deeper sinister one, as he dropped his Keyblade. To Jason's relief, Kairi took the opportunity to actually slash at him, and he stumbled back, dropping her. She landed on her feet and stumbled to the left, trying to get distance between herself and Riku. Hood was about to charge forward when-

The shadows.

“What?!” Jason thought in response to his darkness's sudden comment. He was already sprinting to get to Kairi before Riku did.

Thankfully, his darkness elaborated. They are being controlled by a Heartless. It is the shadows.

Blood was pounding in his ears with each step. “What are you talking about? The Heartless are always shadows.”

This time his darkness sounded annoyed. They are being controlled. Look at their feet.

Reluctantly, Jason's eyes left Riku's Keyblade for a split second to glance down at his feet. He had to do a double take. Long shadows were twisting along the ground, all conjugating around the boy, and moving to wherever he stepped.

“How do we stop it?”

He came to a stop in front of Kairi just as Riku did. There was a flash and both blades clashed against one another, followed by a second strike, then a third.

Defeat its source. Then drive the darkness out.

Growling while simultaneously ducking under Riku's blade, Jason looked around for a Heartless. The next moment a kick brought him back to his senses as he found himself sprawled on the hard cement. Riku was jumping forward, blade facing down. Jason rolled, barely dodging, then leapt to his feet.

“Where is it?”

His darkness replied quickly this time.

The shadows lead back to it.

Without missing a beat, Jason drew his gun with his free hand and discharged seven bullets in the direction indicated. The satisfying sound of a dissolving Heartless told him he had found his mark.

Unfortunately, Riku was running up at him slashing like a madman, and Jason had to back up quickly to avoid the strikes. He could already tell however that the attack pattern was much more uncoordinated.

“Now what?”

Riku got a hit in, but luckily the blade just scraped against his armour.

We must make contact for a few seconds.

“What, like touch him? While he's swinging a razor sharp blade at us!?” Jason snapped as the razor sharp blade in question flew past his left ear.

“Yes.”

Jason blocked Riku's next slash with his knife, and the two blades once again scraped against each other in a stalemate.

“Kairi!” He shouted. “Come hold his arms!”

To his surprise, Kairi appeared behind Riku in seconds and grabbed his wrists, thrusting his arms back. She couldn't hold him for long. Jason had to act fast.

Desperately hoping his darkness knew what it was talking about, he pulled off his glove and placed his hand on Riku's thrashing head. Instantly his darkness guided him to the foreign darkness that had latched itself onto his friend. Riku's darkness was fighting against it too, and with the extra effort of Jason, it was gone in seconds. Riku immediately stopped thrashing and drooped in Kairi's arms. Jason moved to help her, but noticed she was supporting the unconscious boy just fine. Without a second thought he whirled around to help Sora.

He wasn't doing too good. Nightwing might not be able to use all of his moves right now, but he was still a formidable opponent. Case and point, his escrima stick was charged and raised for a finishing blow with Sora stunned and bleeding from a head injury on the ground. Jason shot forward, his knife intercepting the stick.

Gritting his teeth at the electricity, he slashed, knocking back Nightwing's escrima stick, then kicking him in the stomach. Behind him, he felt Kairi move in, setting a Cure on Sora. Good. He would need both of them on this one. He launched himself forward.

Nightwing was a great fighter, but one of the things that had had them fighting to a stalemate every time was his unwillingness to go for the permanently damaging hits, or the killing blows. In anyone not trained by a Bat, it was irrelevant. Hood, back when he was less than amiable with Nightwing, had used and exploited that constantly. But now, every attack was set on kill. Which rankled a bit. That was Hood's thing. Nightwing was stealing Red Hood's thing.

Blocking a blow that would have shattered his collarbone with his gun barrel, he turned the knife upwards, aiming for the arm. Nightwing turned at the last second and instead of getting a knife through his arm, it just grazed him.

He couldn't believe he was doing this again. He knew that it wasn't Nightwing's fault, or his, that this was happening, but he couldn't help the sick feeling in his gut that again. He was fighting another Bat again and even if he wasn't fighting to kill like he had before, he was fighting to win. For Jason, that was almost the same thing. His turmoil didn't show in his fighting though. Batman and the All Caste had trained him too well for that.

As he fought, Hood raked his eyes around his surroundings, trying to find some way to stop his brother without hurting him. Well, without hurting him too badly.

Well, there was an antiques store across the street. Apparently, they were having a sale on cushions. Grinning at the cliche, he grabbed Nightwing's fist and the escrima stick it held, and launched him through the window.

Sora and Kairi were there immediately, desperately holding down Nightwing's arms and legs. Jason shoved in and clapped his hand on Nightwing's forehead. The older man bucked, trying to throw off Jason's touch, but he held on determinedly. Slowly, much slower than Riku's had, the yellow faded from his eyes and he stopped thrashing. It made sense, Jason mused. Dick didn't have the same darkness that Jason and Riku did.

As the adrenaline from the fight started wearing off, he vaguely wondered about the screaming pain in his leg. He hadn't taken a hit there. But he ignored it in favour of dragging his brother out of the window of the shop and laying him next to Riku. Then, he, Kairi and Sora sat around them, waiting until they woke up.

Now that he had a minute, he checked his leg. And then blanched. Idiot. Sora had told him this would happen, right after that first fight. Fighting when under a lot of stress would partially or completely undo a healing. And here he was, leg bleeding in half a dozen places. If Nightwing, if Dick saw this, he would blame himself, even though it hadn't been in any way his fault. But Sora had also said that when injuries reopened like this, he couldn't heal them again. So he grabbed his backpack, glad that Sora and Kairi were watching the other side of their group and too busy talking to pay any attention to him. He grabbed a needle and length of thread and set to work.

~*~​

Kairi sat next to Sora, helping him keep an eye out for trouble. After a few minutes of silence, she turned a worried look to Riku, then back to Sora. “Sora? Do you think Riku will be alright?”

From the look on his face, he'd been asking the same question. “I don't know.” His voice was uncharacteristically sad, almost defeated sounding. But Sora never gave up. “That's kind of what he's always scared of, fighting against, you know? Giving into the darkness, attacking us again.”

“But this isn't like that. It's more...” She paused, trying to find an example. “Like the time Ansem took him over. He wasn't in control then and he wasn't in control now.” Sora gave her a look and she sighed. “Yeah, he won't see it like that.”

They sat in silence for another moment. She looked back at a slight rustling behind her, but it was just Jason grabbing at his backpack. “Sora?” She asked the question that had been bothering her since they had landed in the Realm of Darkness. “Is this how your adventures always are?” Because if they were, she was never letting him out of her sight again.

Sora seemed shocked at the idea though, which eased her mind a bit. “Oh no. Not at all. This is a lot different. More darkness and blood and pain but...” He smiled at her. “I met Nightwing and Red Hood and Red Robin and Batman and Robin. I think it's worth it.”

She shook her head, smiling. She couldn't help but think back to their last day on the island, before all of this had started. He was so reliable. She had asked him not to change, and he never did.

They sat in silence again, but this was a lighter silence. Cheerier. She was almost disappointed when Riku shifted behind her, but mostly she was happy he was awake.

“Riku! You're awake!” Sora cried joyously, ignoring the way Riku cringed at the noise. Headache probably. “How are you feeling?”

“Fine. I... What...?” He looked around, confused. For a brief moment, Kairi thought he didn't remember. Hoped he didn't. But then his eyes widened and filled with regret. “Sora, Kairi, I'm so s-”

Kairi put a hand to his mouth, stopping the apology before it could form. “Nothing. You have nothing to be sorry for. All that matters is that you're here and none of us are hurt.” He nodded, not completely convinced. That was fine. They could convince him better later. After all of this was over.

Dick opened his eyes before any of them could say anything more. He jumped up, crouching low into a fighting stance, a scary expression on his face. Quickly shoving something back into his bag, Jason stood in front of him, hands out to his sides. Kairi was surprised at the gentle tone in his voice. She'd never heard that from him before. “Calm down 'Wing. You're safe. There's nothing in your head.”

His face stayed scary for another moment before relaxing into confusion. “Little Wing? Where-?” Just like Riku, his eyes widened when he remembered. “Oh no! Did I hurt you? No, I hurt Sora. Sora, are you alright?”

Dick grabbed Sora's head, looking for injuries. Sora let him for a minute, then pulled away. “I'm fine Nightwing. Kairi patched me up perfectly.” At this, Kairi felt a rush of pride. She was getting better at magic. She knew she was.

Kairi's eyes wandered a bit as she listened to Sora and Dick's banter. Both of them were fine. Riku would be ok, maybe not today, but really soon. She would make sure of that. Sora too.

Determination renewed, she focused on the conversation again. Dick was saying something about not knowing Jason could sew. For whatever reason, that got him a bit flustered. “Yeah. The Two Cat shredded my pants pretty badly. You actually got a hit in on the exposed skin, so I thought putting it back together would be better. You know, for protection.”

Dick scrunched up his face. “Nooo... I don't remember hitting you in the leg. I think I was mostly aiming for the chest and head areas.” The idea made him turn a bit green.

“Well you did!” Jason snapped. Kairi didn't know him very well, but he seemed overly defensive. Dick's face fell immediately, which caused Jason's to soften. “I didn't mean it like that 'Wing. I'm just stressed about all this.” Dick still seemed sad, so Jason tried again. “Tell you what. When we're out of this, I'm taking you to Amusement Mile. Games, cotton candy, we'll even ride the roller coaster.”

“And the spinning cups?” There was a definite note of pleading in Dick's voice.

Jason just sighed. “And the spinning cups.” He braced himself just as Dick enveloped him in a hug.

After another minute or two of excited chattering (“Amusement Mile is so much fun and there's fireworks at midnight on weekends and you guys should totally come!”), they packed up and started moving. Jason was limping a bit. Dick must have hit him pretty hard. Stepping back from the group to walk with him, she asked quietly, “Want me to heal that for you? I could use the practice.”

He smiled. “Thanks, but no. Nothing about your skills, but magic can't do anything for this one.” At her inquiring eyebrow, he continued, “Sora told me that fighting stressed with a freshly Cured injury reopens it and that it can't be Cured again. It has to heal naturally.”

She was confused for a moment, but then the horrible realization came in. “Wait, you mean...?”

Jason nodded. “Yup. But don't worry, it's not as deep as it was. I already have it stitched up. Just do me a favour?” She nodded. “Don't tell Nightwing? He'll think it's his fault and get all upset about it.” A wry smile crossed his face. “Then I'll have to take him to Amusement Mile and the circus.”

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Wayne Tower stood before them. The feeling of uneasiness that had been gradually building the longer they stayed in this world had reached an all time high. Sora could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as they stopped to stare up at the towers in front of them.

“So...” Jason looked hesitant. “I guess we just... look around then? Yen Sid didn't really know what we would be facing to unlock the Keyhole, so I suppose that means we have to find it.”

Kairi shuddered in the damp chilly air. How were they going to defeat the master of this place when they barley survived the fights up until now? She looked over at Sora and Riku, who both had determination flashing in their eyes. Kairi was just about to agree with Jason when a sound rang through the air which made her freeze.

HA HA HA HA!

[DOUBLEPOST=1439907923][/DOUBLEPOST]And now for today's chapter! Hooray! Again, sorry about this.

There actually isn't any violence in this chapter. I know, shocker! So weird. But it's a short chapter, just for adding tension, so it's not surprising.

Spoiler: Chapter 32 - Anticipation

Jason and Dick visibly flinched at the noise, their expressions immediately turning grim. Even with the sound echoing from so far above, their eyes betrayed their fear and panic. Kairi flinched. Whatever could make those two scared was definitely dangerous.

“Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that came from the top of the towers. And I'm guessing that would be the Joker guy I read about?” Riku muttered, trying and failing to look composed.

Nightwing nodded stiffly. “No mistaking it. But like the others, his voice sounded off. Kinda hollow and overlaid.” Dick walked over to Jason who was still standing stock still, staring up at the top of the buildings far above. Placing a firm hand on his brother's shoulder, he succeeded in snapping Red Hood out of his trance.

“Hood.” He said sternly. “We can't have you zoning out for this one. We all need you focused, or else this battle is going to end badly, got it?”

Jason stared at his brother with an expression of anger and fear. Riku felt his stomach lurch. What had Dick told him? This villain Joker, he was the one responsible for... for Jason's death. Riku's eyes widened with the realization. No wounder he was acting strange. Riku nearly never felt sympathy, but as the full weight of what they were asking Jason to do dawned on him, he questioned if the guy could handle it. He doubted he himself could, if he were in the same situation.

Slowly, Jason nodded before turning his gaze upon the buildings once again. “I wonder how much he's changed. Every villain we've faced here has been magnified and strengthened by darkness in some way. But darkness and evil just seem to be such a fundamental part of who Joker is, I can't imagine him getting any worse.”

Nightwing shifted so that his cloak was fully covering him again, protecting him from the cold stagnant air. “Guess we won't know until we see him.” He paused, glancing around at their surroundings carefully. “But I would rather it be us sneaking up on him rather then the other way around.” He gazed up into the misty sky.

Riku stepped forward, reading Nightwing's train of thought. “So the question is, how are we supposed to get up there without being seen.”

It was more of a statement then a question, but Riku didn't seem to have an immediate answer, nor did Nightwing. Everyone began to glance around, taking stock of potential ideas.

“Do you think he can see us right now?” Sora asked.

Nightwing's eyes flicked up again nervously. “From that height and with it being so dark? No, he shouldn't.” His tone was definitely not one of confidence however.

Finally, Jason looked up and let out a long breath before turning to the others and speaking. “Don't count on the darkness too much. Those yellow eyes aren’t just for show. It's like having night vision.”

Riku nodded. “True. Even if he can't see us right now, we can't rely on the shadows for cover if we tried a frontal assault. He would spot us in no time. So would any other Heartless up there.”

They were all quiet for a while before Kairi voiced what they were all thinking. “So why not just get to him through the building?” She gave the others a unsure look. “I know it's not the most appealing option, but it's probably our safest.”

Jason nodded. “I think we would have the most success getting up that way too. But you have to remember that any time we go inside, we are trapping ourselves in a sense. There's much less room to fight, and enemies can easily hid behind furniture and walls.”

“True.” Nightwing said. “But I think that's still the smartest option. Besides, if the building is similar to the real Wayne Tower, the elevator shaft should be reinforced glass. We can easily break it if we need to.” He paused, noting everyone’s wary expressions. “So, are you guys okay going this way?”

They nodded, though Nightwing could sense the tension in the group. Especially Jason. His brother was desperately trying to hold it together. Dick almost wished he could tell him to stay out of the fight altogether, but he knew Jason would probably punch him if he mentioned that idea. Besides, what he said earlier was true. They would more than likely need Jay in whatever they were facing. Still, Nightwing knew, by the firm line of his mouth and the way he was clenching his fists, that Jason was scared. He put an arm around his brother's shoulders for a few seconds, giving him a one armed hug and trying to reassure him as much as possible, then turned and trudged towards the plain glass doors shimmering black in the dull light.

Riku and Jason followed with Sora and Kairi taking the rear. The doors opened with an ominous creak, and they entered single file, their senses on high alert for traps or enemies. The front lounge of the building was surprisingly familiar to that of the one in the real Wayne Enterprises. In fact, as Jason took in the scene, he started to suspect their layouts and furnishings were identical. It struck him as odd, since there had been numerous fundamental differences between this world and the real one. The almost seamless similarity didn't help his already frayed nerves.

The entire group ventured forward silently, following Nightwing who seemed to have caught on to the familiar floor plan. They all stayed close to one another, drawing on the comfort that being next to another human offered. Kairi caught Sora's eyes and the two had a silent conversation, promising to stay close. Sora was glad, he really hated the idea that Kairi was here in the first place, but this building in particular was enough to make him want to turn back. He had no idea how Kairi was dealing with it, what with this being her first real mission and all. But that only served to reminded him of how brave she really was, and he couldn't help smiling to himself just a bit as they walked. Suddenly, a weight lifted from his chest that he hadn't even noticed was there. He sighed with the relief. If all he had to do to feel better was to think of his friends, well, that was easy.

Nightwing wanted to avoid the elevator at all coasts. There was no way he was going to get himself and his friends trapped in such a small enclosed space to be picked off by enemies. But as he stopped at the back of the lobby and considered the best way to reached the top one more time, he decided that the elevator shaft was in fact their best bet. Turning back, he addressed the Keyblade Wielders.

“I know you can glide and jump, but I take it you can't fly?”

Sora opened his mouth, then closed it again, not really sure how to respond.

“No.” Riku said, deciding to keep it simple and not over-complicate things. They could fly after all, but not here.

“Okay then. As I said before, getting up this way is the best option. The elevator shaft is made of mainly glass, and I don't think any of us want to walk up 90 flights of stairs. “

“It would be nice to avoid that.” Kairi added helpfully.

“Thought so. That means that we have to get up through here. Me and Jay can use our line guns, they can hold three people easy.

Jason chuckled halfheartedly. “I've seen Batman's lines hold a helicopter before. They'll be fine.”

“Wait!” Riku said catching on. “You want to carry us up there?”

Nightwing shrugged. “Unless you’d rather climb.”

Riku bit his lip conflicted while Sora gave Dick and Jason a huge smile. Robin had pulled him along through the city when they had first met, and it had felt like flying, except even more exciting and dangerous. He was fine with the idea.

Kairi couldn't help grinning as she saw Sora's excited smile and Riku's annoyed scowl. Really it was amazing the two were still friends after all this time with how utterly different they were.

“Well if that's settled,” Jason said walking over to the huge metal doors and slipping his fingers between them, “Shall we?”

The others moved to help him, but there was no need. With a high pitched grinding of steel, Jason thrust the doors open, revealing a second set of elevator doors which he pried open just as easily. He and Dick walked into the elevator carefully, inspecting it for traps or hidden enemies. One could never be sure with how Heartless blended into the shadows. But after a careful inspection they agreed there was no danger. In another minute they had the emergency door unlocked. Jason climbed out first, followed by the Keyblade Wielders who were finding the elevator extremely fascinating. They could easily make the jump, but it took some time for all three of them to emerge. Finally Nightwing clambered out and stood with the others, appreciating the magnitude of the glass walls which stretched up for what felt like miles.

Taking out his line gun, Nightwing nodded at Riku. “Hold onto the actual gun, otherwise the weight won't be distributed properly.” Riku complied, and Dick wrapped an arm around his friend before discharging the gun. It took some time, but when it finally found a hold the line immediately started to retract, and the two went shooting up, followed closely by Jason, who had both Kairi and Sora with him. The entire process only took about three minutes from start to finish, but by the end of it Riku was feeling quite ill. He did not like the sensation of being thrust through the air at high velocities. It was worlds apart from the gentle rhythmic pattern of flying he was used to in Neverland.

Jumping off onto the service ladder as Nightwing instructed, he watched as the acrobat nimbly hopped onto the half a foot ledge in front of the door and pried it open. He still couldn't believe how much balance Nightwing had. Honestly it reminded him of Sora with all his aerial manoeuvres and flips. Sometimes he wished he were that agile, it would be a huge advantage in fights. But he knew his fighting style would never allow for it. He was about strength, not speed.

He jumped through the opening just as Red Hood and the others reached the top. In a matter of seconds they were all through the doors, a large open room greeting them. Rich furnishings decorated the ornate tile floor while large glass windows gave them a spectacular view of Gotham city far far below. Usually it would be full of twinkling lights, but presently was dark and quiet.

“Wow.” Sora breathed, starting to walking towards the windows in order to get a better view.

Kairi grabbed the back of his cloak, pulling him again into line. “Not the time Sora. “ She said with the slightest sliver of humor in her voice.

“This can't be the roof.” Riku observed, taking in their surrounding with mild interest.

“No.” Jason agreed. “We have to walk up a few flights of stairs to get to the actual roof exit.”

Looking around, he wished one of those Points would show up. If they appeared around major events, then one should show up now, right? He would never admit it to anyone, though Kairi and her annoyingly impressive observation skills had noticed, but his leg was killing him. Even now the wounds were throbbing with a growing intensity. It was a distraction he really didn't need during a fight. Especially this one.

Nightwing led them towards a door on their right leading to a steep cement staircase. They climbed up for about thirty seconds, the knowledge that saving the entirety of Jason and Dick's world laid on this single fight waiting seconds away. The tower was well insulated, or at least Jason assumed this one was if it were like the original. But as they ascended, the bone chillingly familiar laughs that used to haunt his every waking hour echoed through the corridor. Desperately he tried to stop the building panic inside him. He needed to breathe. He needed to relax and stay focused, focused on never letting this mad man beat him ever again.

Finally they stopped in front of the doors that would lead them outside, those echoing laughs the only thing piercing the silence. Automatically, everyone drew their weapons, and with a last look at his friends, Dick pushed open the doors and stepped outside.

Alright, so, besides some healing-related pains, this is actually the last non-violent chapter until the end of the fic. Honestly, if you've made it this far without running from all the gore, then you should be fine.

Spoiler: Chapter 30 - Now and Then

The night – if it was night, it was impossible to tell – passed uneventfully. Sora had mentioned that once cleared out of an area, Heartless didn't normally return unless whoever had cleared them left. Weird, but then again, Heartless were mostly instinct. A small Shadow appeared once, but a batarang took care of that. And so Dick sat, watching over his friends and brother. At one point in the night, Jason started shifting, clearly getting into a nightmare. It was something all the Robins, and probably quite a few other superheroes, had to deal with. Dick simply moved closer, laid a hand on his good arm and whispered in his ear, things like “It's ok” and “You're safe” and “I'm here”. Things that had worked with Tim, with Damian, and with Jason.

An hour later, he woke Riku up for his watch. The teen rubbed his eyes, glad to see that his magic was almost fully charged. He sent Dick to bed with the promise that he would heal Jason a bit more and then settled in.

Eyeing the injuries, Riku turned an idea over in his head. So far, all of his healing spells had been area-type magics. Actually, all of his spells were. It was useful in combat when he needed to wipe out six Heartless at once and didn't really have time to aim, but not so much in healing. He wondered if he could do something more precise.

First things first though. Dick had been worried about internal injuries. He had probably gotten it when he had healed Jason the first time, but for this type of thing, it was better safe than sorry. So Riku quietly cast Cure, which should be just enough to clot any and all remaining injuries, and speed up the healing on any which were already clotted. Then he took a quick look around to make sure there weren't any Heartless around.

Concentrating on Jason's arm, he cast Curaga, trying to will the magic to heal only that bone. Slowly, green light began playing over the injury, brighter and more intense than usual. Riku shielded his eyes, By the time the glow faded, he was incredibly pleased to note two things. One, the bone was completely healed. Or, at least the swelling and bruising around the area were gone. He wouldn't be able to tell if the bone was healed without either asking Jason or feeling the injury. He didn't want to do that though; Jason needed his sleep. Having a building fall on a person could be exhausting. The second thing was that the spell had used less magic than normal. Most magic had a minimum cost. Sure, he could extend the duration by using more magic, but every cast would use the same base magic. Using Curaga should have left him about half empty, but he still had three quarters of his magic left. Interesting.

Maybe he should focus his magic more often, rather than just letting it run around willy nilly. If he tried this with a fire spell, could he make something explode? He'd try it out later. For now, he should probably focus on Jason's leg.

This time, he didn't close his eyes, trying to see if there was anything else about the spell that he should remember. Even so, he almost missed the tiny movement. Moving his eyes up to Jason's face, he was shocked at the expression of discomfort. He was about to end the spell when Jason shot awake.

“Ow, what the hell??!” Jason reached out and grabbed his leg with his good hand.

Riku dropped the magic. “Sorry Hood. I was just trying to heal your leg.”

“I can see that. Why did it hurt though? I've been healed before and that felt like sunshine and daisies.” Riku was glad Sora wasn't awake. That sarcasm would have gone right over his head.

“Yeah, I tried something different. Spot healing. What did this one feel like?”

“I don't know. Massive. Intense. Like all four weeks of healing pains had just up and decided to stab me in the leg all at once.” Jason was pulling off his bandages, probably to get a look at the injury. Riku started unwinding them from the bottom, curious as well.

“Huh. And now?”

“Nothing. Pain faded when the light did.” They pulled the last of the bandages off.

His leg was mostly fine. There were still a few scabs, but they were of the “two days away from being skin” variety. There was a long coil of thread stuck to his skin that Jason pulled off and tossed aside, probably from the stitches. Jason whistled. “Alright, that pain was worth it.”

Riku smiled, pleased that his friend was feeling better, even if it was spoiled a bit at causing him pain. “Good to hear. How's your arm? I did that first.”

“Ah, that's what that was. That hurt too, just not as much.” Carefully taking the arm out of his sling, he flexed his fingers, rotated his wrist, bent his elbow. “All healed. A bit stiff, but I can work through that.” He raised his eyebrow when Riku yawned suddenly. “Go to sleep kid. I can keep watch now.”

“But I still have another hour!”

“Yeah, but you probably used most of your magic up again. Go to sleep. I'll keep watch, wake Sora when it's his turn.”

Riku grumbled a bit, but went back to his sleeping bag. He really was tired. Hopefully, his magic would be back completely by morning. Or what passed for morning in the Realm of Darkness.

Jason smiled as Riku's breathing evened out. Leaning himself against a wall, he turned part of his mind to keeping watch and allowed the other part to wander.

He kind of wished Riku hadn't used so much magic healing him. He knew how to fight with an injury, he knew how to fight with only one working arm. Dick's stitches would have held, even if they weren't as tight as Alfred's. Then again, no one stitched as well as Alfred. Years of practice, he supposed, and not just with injuries. Batman certainly didn't sew his first costume. Sure, most of it was Kevlar body armour now, but back before Dick had been Robin, it had just been cloth. Batman had learned quick how bad an idea that was.

Casting an eye over the group, noting blood still lingering on clothing, he couldn't help but feel all of this was his fault. They had to save Gotham because the Heartless had pulled it into the Realm of Darkness. The Heartless had been brought to Gotham by Xehanort. Xehanort had only been there because he wanted Jason. And Jason had only been viable as a vessel because he had been stupid enough to get himself killed all those years ago.

How crappy was it that literally every single thing that had gone wrong in his life since meeting Bruce had stemmed from a single disobeyed order?

Although, thinking about it, Jason probably wouldn't change anything.

Except for, obviously, the situation they were in right now. He didn't want anyone getting hurt because of him. Except criminals. But that was different.

But because he died, Tim became Robin. As much as he had hated the little Replacement a few years ago, the kid had a way of growing on him. Breakfast at Tim's had suddenly become something to look forward to, trading information back and forth, lightly insulting the Demon Brat, and just generally bantering with each other. Sometimes, Tim saved cookies from the care packages Alfred sent over (the island he, Roy and Kori were camped out at didn't really have a mailing address), and if Jason had time and got there early, he would make more than the chopped fruit and coffee that seemed to be all Tim could make. Well, that and waffles from a boxed mix. A boxed mix. Sacrilege. Still, better than Alfred's.

Not to mention, since he had come back, he had an infinitely better relationship with Dick. Before he had died, Dick was busy being resentful over him taking over Robin, busy being mad at Bruce for being Bruce, busy with the Titans, just busy in general. But when Jason had died, Dick had apparently realized that he should treasure the brothers he had.

His relationship with Bruce was still strained, and probably would be forever. Or until he stopped killing people. Same thing really. But they were still better than they had been when he was Robin, when the general feeling in the air had been disappointment. From both of them. Bruce had gotten a lot of practice at being a father since then.

As for Damian... Well, at least he had someone to talk weapons now. There was that.

Plus, he had Roy and Kori, his kind-of-but-not-really teammates. Things had been better since he had met them. Before, he had put up a good act, pretending to be happy and full of life. But it wasn't really an act anymore. All of them had been through crap. But all of them could pick themselves up, dust themselves off and keep going. Sure, it had been tempting to find a hole and lie in it for the rest of their lives, but that wouldn't change anything. Sure, nothing could get worse in a hole, but nothing would get better either. Always better to take a chance, grab life by the horns and punch it in the face, to live and fight like you have something to live for, until you have something to live for. Roy and Kori had taught him that, and he had taught them that too.

The crap they were in right now was still his fault though.

He didn't want his friends getting hurt because of him.

So he would just have to do a better job of protecting them. Simple.

He was glad Riku had healed him now. The better shape he was in, the better chance he had of stabbing a Heartless in the face before they got their claws into his friends.

Speaking of. He flung a batarang out, hitting a Heartless in the place the skull would be if they had a skull. Or bones.

Time was difficult here, but his internal clock was pretty reliable. He gave Sora an extra half hour of sleep, then shook him awake. Shoving his feet into his sleeping bag, he curled onto his side and fell asleep the moment his eyes closed.

Sora was a little surprised when Jason woke him up. Not the waking bit, the Jason bit. When Sora had gone to bed, he had been hurt. Badly. Riku had probably healed him. Sora had never taken that kind of abuse before. No one Sora knew had ever taken that kind of abuse before. Well, there was that one time Goofy had taken the rock for the King and everyone thought he'd died, but it had turned out that he had only been knocked out. Still though. A rock to the head and everyone thought Goofy had died. Jason had had a building dropped on him, massive cuts on his leg, a broken arm and who knew what else. And before Sora had gone to sleep, he had been walking, talking, being alive. Sora knew he couldn't do that. Well, probably not. He'd definitely try, especially if his friends were depending on him.

His friends. He had thought he knew what worry was, before, when he hadn't been able to find them. At least he knew they were probably ok. But now, when he could see them and wrap an arm around their shoulders or hug them whenever he wanted, he was even more worried. He had been there, right there next to them, and he had gotten thrown and knocked out. That seemed to be all he did these days, getting knocked out. And every time he did, terrible things happened. The first time, Jason had lost his heart. Then, the second time, Jason had had to give into the darkness to save the rest of them. And just a few hours ago, it had happened again. Kairi had gotten seriously hurt, so Riku had had to use most of his magic healing her. Sora being unconscious meant he hadn't been able to help with their fight or Nightwing and Red Hood's. Kairi had used her magic to wake him up, and Dick had been hurt, so he had used his magic to heal him, leaving next to none to heal Jason. It seemed like every time Sora messed up in a fight, Jason suffered for it.

Not anymore. Sora roved his eyes around the street, intent on tripling his watchfulness. Nothing would get near his friends, not while he had anything to say about it.

As he kept an eye out, one landed on Kairi. She had gotten hurt last battle. Because of him. He would protect her better. He would. Actually, he would do better than that. He would work with her to protect her. Keeping her safe would be easier if she was by his side fighting than if she was far away from him. Last time they had been separated, she had gotten kidnapped by Saïx. The time before, she had lost her heart. If he had been there, Saïx probably wouldn't have bothered going after her. He had been there when she had lost her heart, but him being there had pretty much prevented Maleficent from getting it and opening Hollow Bastion's heart to darkness. Him being there had prevented a bigger tragedy, and he intended to keep it up.

His shift was over. At least, he thought his shift was over. He couldn't really tell. But it had felt like the right amount of time. Actually, it had felt longer, but again, there wasn't really a way to tell. Carefully, he stepped over Riku to get to Kairi, waking her for her watch. He would get some sleep and tomorrow morning (or tomorrow dark or whatever), he would protect her.

He would protect all of them.

He crawled into his sleeping bag and was lulled to sleep by gentle thoughts of sitting on the Paopu Tree again, all of his friends safe and happy.

Kairi was happy. Well, a bit worried. Was this the kind of stuff Sora and Riku had gone through without her? She didn't think so, but it was possible. But she was with them and she was helping. She had taken down a Dark Thorn almost singlehandedly. Sure, she had taken a bit of an injury to her side. Riku had fixed that really quickly, and then she had gotten to heal Sora. Jason had been a bit harder to heal. Although, based on the small pile of bandages and a sling on the pavement next to him, he was just fine now. Riku probably, or maybe Sora. Sora was smiling in his sleep, as usual. Lazy butt. Riku always had this little crease between his eyes when he slept, like he was thinking of a better way to something. To build the raft, to beat Sora in a race, to pilot the gummi ship, to keep darkness at bay. He was always working to improve himself, to get better. Kairi admired that. She emulated it actually.

She wanted to get strong too. She wanted to be able to fight alongside Sora and Riku and actually have them rely on her, to be useful and helpful. And she knew part of that was to keep smiling. Riku was always so close to the darkness, even before they had left the island. He was better now, much better. Being trusted with the title Keyblade Master had been good for him and he had earned it, a hundred times over. And Sora was always so happy, but he could fall into these moments of depression. Goofy had told her that he had been very sad when they had first met. He had lost hope that he would fine her and Riku. But with the gummi ship, his hope had come back, and his happiness with it. Still though, if anything happened to her or Riku, Sora probably wouldn't recover.

So, she would keep smiling. She would work until she was strong and then she would protect them.

It was impossible to tell when morning was, but everyone started waking up around the same time anyways. Nightwing first, then Riku, then Jason. Sora was last as always. A smile played about her lips. Sora had changed a lot since they had left the island, but some things would always stay the same.

After they had all blinked the sleep out of there eyes, the group simply sat around for a few minutes as if their brains were trying to unfreeze. Jason saw this as a side effect of a very traumatic night and little sleep. Of course, the black murky sky didn't really tell him if it was daytime or not, but his internal clock said they might have gotten 5 hours of rest each if they had been lucky. “First things first,” He said, pulling his backpack towards himself and peering into its depths. “I'm hungry.”

“You're always hungry, Hood.” Nightwing commented, plopping down beside him.

In no time they had pulled out an assortment of food, and were munching away happily. Sora and Riku had gotten themselves into an arm wrestling competition with Kairi acting as judge. Apparently they had both bet their favourite food on the match. Riku dried beef, and Sora, chocolate. Unfortunately for Sora, he lost all three matches rather quickly. Riku wasn't affected by his friends dejected face as he carried away his prize. In the end, Kairi had broken down and agreed to share some chocolate with Sora. The three sat together in a small semi circle, laughing and joking for the first time in what felt like forever.

Dick and Jason sat side by side, grinning and watching this exchange with an air of amusement. It was fun seeing how happy they were, even amidst the rather somber circumstances. With a jolt Dick remembered yet again that the three didn't have to be here. The only reason the Keyblade Wielders had rushed to Jason and Dick's aid was out of pure kindness. Nightwing's smile widened; they really were good people. The kind of people that kept the Bats out on the streets. Fighting the scum of the earth so that kids like these wouldn't have to live looking over their shoulders all the time. Well, the three were Keyblade Wielders and all, but both the older boys couldn't help feeling a surge of protectiveness as the younger three laughed.

After about a half an hour, everyone was feeling better and in much higher spirits. They packed up their things quickly and started yet again trudging through the dark tangle of buildings and deserted streets, trying to avoid darker shadowy areas as best they could. They were all rather sore; magic was only able to do so much after all. But they were with each other, and for now, that was enough.

"Normal".

Also, I got nominated for two of these? What...?

Ok, so you know how I dropped a building on Jason last chapter? Yeah, this chapter describes all the injuries from that. It's not pretty. So yeah. But besides that, no actual violence in the chapter. Lots of Bats being bros though.

Spoiler: Chapter 29 - Stitches

WARNING: DESCRIPTIONS OF INJURIES.

His eyes widened, his breathing quickened. “Jason!” He dived at the pile of debris, pulling bricks away from where his brother lay. “Jason no! I am not losing you again! Jason!” As he worked, the three Keyblade Wielders starting digging as well. Not with the same wild panic that Dick was, but it was pretty close. Dick just hoped, with everything he had, that this time, they wouldn't be too late to save the wayward Robin.

Dick felt sick as he heaved heavy slabs of stone off of where his brother must be buried. How had this happened!? Jason seemed to be fine just a few minutes ago! Hood's fighting style had always been a bit reckless, but managing to topple an entire building on himself? Really?

As the four dug deeper and deeper into the pile, the form of an unconscious Jason began to appear. He was covered in dust and – Dick took in a sharp breath – blood. He had sustained some serious injuries, and Dick wondered if they had been from the fight, or the few hundred pounds of debris piled on top of him. Then he spotted a hint of white under his bloody leg, and even a makeshift sling on his brother's arm like the one he himself had been wearing just a few minutes earlier. So at least some of these injuries occurred during the fight. But his helmet had a long ominous crack running straight down the middle effectively splitting the high tech device in two. If Hood had been hit with enough weight to crack that piece of armour, it meant the helmet had undoubtedly saved him from certain death. Or had it?

“Jason!” Dick quietly half sobbed as he knelt down beside his deathly still brother. He lifted a shaky hand to Red Hood's neck, slipping his finger under his armour to find a pulse. It took him a while before he was rewarded with a weak heart beat, alarmingly weak, but he was alive. Biting his lip to keep from crying, Dick tore his gaze away from his little brother to look back at the Keyblade Wielders, who were now standing a few paces back, staring at the two with a mixture of shock and fear. “He's alive.” Dick said, his shaky voice betraying a title wave of emotions. “But he's weak. I don't want to move him, not sure if he has any internal damage. Can you guys heal him from here!?”

Immediately the three began trudging over the debris to kneel next to Dick and Jason. Dick shot a nervous glance their way. It was obvious merely by their body language that they were utterly exhausted. He didn't know how much a high level healing spell like the kind they had all used cost them, but from their condition, he would venture a guess at a lot. They practically fell next to him, their heads drooping with tiredness, and Dick felt yet another pang of guilt as he watched them. He hated asking his new friends to do this. But he had to. Another glance at Jason told him they really did need to act now.

“I need to warn you 'Wing,” Riku sighed tiredly. “I don't think we have enough magic to properly heal him, even between the three of us.”

Dick had dreaded he would say something like that, but he merely nodded. “Just... do the best you can. Please. I'll take it from there.”

As one, Sora Kairi, and Riku summoned their Keyblades in a wave of light and raised them above their heads. “Cure!”

Instantly, a bright light and that feeling of warmth that Dick had come to love so much enveloped the group. He immediately backed up, making sure none of the healing magic was being directed towards him. He stood a few feet away from Jason and the Keyblade Wielders as they worked, watching with an increased feeling of anticipation as lights danced around his brother's still form. It didn't look like much was happening, and Dick wondered if the spell was even working. But very slowly, Dick actually heard rather then saw Jason's breathing even out, the harsh ragged gasps turning deeper and more rhythmic.

Suddenly the light faded. Kairi bent forward so that her head was pressing against a cold slab of stone, Sora dropped his Keyblade which shimmered, vanishing into thin air, and Riku dropped his head, taking in slow deep breaths.

“Guys!” Dick shouted, alarmed. “Are you-?”

“Fine.” Riku gasped. “Just... need to catch our breaths. Check on Ja-Red Hood.”

Though he didn't like to leave his friends in that kind of state, he hated leaving Jason lying there more. Hopping nimbly across the pile of cement, wood, pipes, and wires, Dick once again crouched down next to Jason, studying his brother's face. Hoping his friends' spell had at the very least taken Jason out of any immediate danger, Dick reached out and gently removed Jason's helmet. It came off easily, but when Dick saw his face, he swore.

The helmet had done its work. Evidently there was no concussion or fractured skull. But a steady trail of blood was running from Jay's mouth, indicating internal bleeding. Dick clenched his teeth and began checking his brother over for any evidence of the injury that could have caused it. With any luck the spell had healed anything as dangerous as internal damage. But how could Dick know for sure? He ran a hand through his hair, a trait he had no doubt picked up from Bruce. It was impossible to properly check Jason over here in a pile of rubble. As much as his training went against it, Dick slid his hands under Jason and heaved him up. He was heavier then he remembered... then again, Dick couldn't remember the last time he had carried Jason like this. Years ago probably, while he was still a Robin.

Making it onto flat pavement once again, Dick bent down and placed his brother on the ground as gently as possible. He hadn't seen anything too alarming in terms of some kind of external trauma. Again, he would just have to hope his friends' healing spell did the trick. He bent over Jason's leg, and started fumbling with the bloody bandages to get a better look. Suddenly Jason moaned.

Dick started and turned to look at his face. Sure enough, the white slits on his domino mask were starting to open. Frowning, Dick moved over to Jason's head.

“Hey, Hood?” He said quietly, “you with me?”

Jason blinked up at Dick confusedly for a few seconds, then began to push himself up, grimacing. Dick knew this drill all to well, and placed a hand on Red Hood's chest, pushing him back down. “Stay put idiot. You've lost a lot of blood.”

Jason grimaced even further as he laid back on the ground. And the pain in his voice was evident when he spoke. “That bad huh?”

Dick glared at Jason, daring him to try getting up again, and then moved back to his leg. “Maybe, haven’t really had the chance to check. Just pulled you out of what was left of that building.”

Jason cocked his head slightly to the left considering. “Huh, that's right. That stupid cat totally collapsed the – OW!” Jason jerked his leg back and glared at Nightwing. “The hell man?”

Despite his brother's glare, Dick was actually relieved at Jason's reactions. He was alert, a very good sign. Unfortunately his leg was still bleeding freely, but it seemed that the magic had helped quite a bit if he was able to glare at Dick like he wanted to murder him. Maybe it had healed whatever internal damage their was, but didn't get to the more minor injuries. Dick hoped so.

“Sorry, your leg's pretty torn up. Gonna need stitches for sure.”

Red Hood sighed. “Wonderful. I don't suppose we have any anaesthetic? Do we even have stitches?”

Grabbing his backpack, Dick rummaged in the pockets before pulling out a small first aid kit, grinning triumphantly. “Looks like the wizard guy came though!” He looked through the small pack for a second, then paused. “Um, except proper anaesthetic. It's a really basic kit.” He gave Jason a sympathetic glance. “Sorry Hood.”

Jason laid his head back down on the pavement, looking the other way. “Just get it over with, will you Goldie?”

Dick nodded. Carefully manoeuvering his brother, he managed to get his pants off so he could get at the injury better. Then, despite the situation, he had to choke down a laugh. “Nice boxers.”

Jason craned his head to look at the Wonder Woman boxers. “Yeah. Gag gift from Arsenal. Honestly though, they're the most comfortable ones I own.” Dick nodded. He could appreciate that.

Nightwing pulled out the necessary supplies, and was happy to find a bit of disinfectant. He poured some on his hands, seeing as there were no sterile gloves to work with (Alfred would have had a fit), and then dropped a generous amount of the liquid on the open leg wounds. Jason hissed and his hands tightened into fists, but other then that he was still. Nightwing was impressed. But then, Jason had always had a very high pain tolerance. Dick started threading the needle like he had done what seemed like a thousand times before now. His hands were shaking slightly from the adrenalin of the previous fight, and he had to take a few steadying breaths before he was ready.

“Um, sorry in advance bro.”

He began his work, quickly pulling the wounds closed, trying both to be quick for Jay's sake, and careful. The injuries were fairly deep, and there were a lot of them. It looked to Dick like Jason had been hit in the same place twice. That was never fun. He knew. Angry red claw marks only big enough to belong to that dog, er, cat Heartless, were crisscrossed along Red Hood's lower thigh and upper shin. Injuries from claws were always messy because they weren’t like blades. They tore rather then cut, and left jagged wounds that were difficult to patch up. By the time he finished, his hands were slick with Jason's blood. He always hated that, but he couldn't do much about it at the moment. He grabbed some bandages from the supplies and wrapped the leg tightly, then glanced at Jason. He looked pale, and was taking deep slow breaths, a pain management technique Dick recognized. Overall however, he didn't seem to be doing that bad. Nightwing pulled his pants back up and crawled up to sit beside his head.

“Well that's done.” He said, taking on as cheerful a tone as possible. “What else hurts?”

“Everything.” Jason growled.

Nightwing nudged his side. “Seriously Hood.”

Jason exhaled a long shaky breath. “Arm, I broke it during the fight, but it feels off again. I think something happened to it when I fell.”

Nightwing nodded, and carefully removed the makeshift sling, and slowly worked to slip off Jason's jacket. After about a minute, the pale skin of his arm came into view, and Dick immediately grimacing at what he saw. Apparently his expression was pretty bad, because Jason lifted his head, trying to get a better view himself.

“Oh, that's lovely.” He moaned.

His arm was bent at such an angle that his fingers seemed to appear backwards, and the skin directly above his elbow was an angry swollen red. The break was nearly a compound fracture, as the misplaced bone above his elbow was clearly visible, but hadn't broken the skin. Thank goodness. Nightwing really wasn't equipped to deal with that.

“I think it's a transverse fracture, which means I can realign it.”

Red Hood stiffened. “You mean...you?”

Nightwing raised an eyebrow. “Uh, yes me. Who else?”

He was slightly hurt by the look of panic on Jason's face. Sure he wasn't the best of the Bats at first aid, but they had all learned enough to be reliable. Bruce had made sure of that. It came with the line of work.

“Don't wimp out on me now.” He chided. “I've done this before and you know it.”

It was hard to tell, but Dick thought Red Hood looked even more pale then a minute ago.
- maybe we can just wait and get Sora to heal it or something?”

Dick rolled his eyes and shoved a thumb behind his shoulder, pointing in the direction of the K.O.ed Keyblade Wielders. “Something tells me their magic is going to be out of commission for quite a while. They just spent every ounce of it fixing you up as best they could.”

Jason fidgeted uncomfortably, gazing over at his friends. He bit his lip, seeming to think it over. Nightwing decided to let him, it was better then arguing. Though he did second guess how effectively Jason could reason what with the stitched up leg and broken arm and who knew what else.

Finally Jason sighed, which made Dick smile as he recognized the defeat in his voice.

“You better know what you're doing.” Jason grumbled,

Inching forward, Nightwing ran his fingers over the arm, making sure he got a feel for what he had to do. “Aw, come on Hood,” He sighed. “You really think I could ever hurt you?”

Jason started to chuckle. “Is that a trick que-?”

SNAP

Nightwing had to jump back as Jason bolted upright, half crying out in pain, half cursing Dick's existence.

“God 'Wing, give a guy some warning won't you!!”

Dick just smiled and pushed Jason back down again, which was a good thing since the sudden change in elevation made him sway.

“Oldest trick in the book!” He chirped happily. “Much better if you don't know what's coming.”

Jason knew it was true, but he still mumbled things under his breath which Alfred would have smacked him for. Dick felt the bone again, sliding his hand across it. He was pleased to find that it, to his knowledge, was completely realigned. Jason didn't know what he was talking about, he made a great doctor!

As Jason muttered angrily, Dick grabbed some rebar from the wreck and placed it along the broken bone, bracing it. He carefully wrapped both in bandages, then replaced the the sling, intercepting a punch from Jay's good arm as he did so, and set about scanning him for any more injuries. Blood spattered his shirt, which was a bit worrisome, but all he found were a few minor cuts from what looked like shrapnel. He cleaned them as best he could with the disinfectant, and only had to stitch up one of them by Jason’s neck which was fairly deep, but overall nothing to worry about. Dick summed up Jason's general good fortune of not being dead to a combination of his protective armour and the others' healing magic.

“Anything else wrong?” Nightwing asked, ignoring the death glare. He was starting to remember how awful of a patient his brother was. Suddenly he felt sorry for Alfred.

Jason pushed himself up, then swatted away Dick's attempt to push him back down for the third time with his good hand. “Nah, I'm good. I busted up some ribs earlier, but I think they're okay now. Must have been that magic like you said.”

As if on cue, the three younger heroes came trudging over, looking awful. Kairi was barely lifting her feet, and Sora seemed as if he was ready to drop down, curl up, and take a nap right there.

Riku was the first to reach them. He knelt down tiredly beside Nightwing and Red Hood, glancing at Jason's leg and arm.

“How ya doing Hood?” He asked, the strain in his voice evident. Both Kairi and Sora dropped down next to the others, looking almost as pale as Jason did.

“Not half as rough as you.” Jason retorted, studying their exhausted faces. “Sorry if I drained all your magic. I didn't know it made you so tired. Will you get it back soon?”

Sora shrugged. “It will probably take time to recharge. Not sure how long, but being surrounded by complete darkness probably doesn't help.”

Riku nodded, shifting into a more comfortable position. “I don't think any of us are in a condition to travel, let alone fight. “

Nightwing nodded and leaned back on his heels. “You're right. I think we should camp out here for a while, get some rest. “

To his surprise, neither Jason nor Sora argued. Even Kairi remained silent, which he thought was weird. He had gotten the impression from her that she didn't back down easily.

Immediately Jason fell back onto the ground, voluntarily this time, and stretched, then winced as he pulled on his stitches. “Guess he's right. Going against whoever the main baddie is in this place as we are is suicidal. We need to rest.”

That seemed to settle the matter, not that anyone needed much convincing, and in a few minutes they were all sitting on small sleeping bags, huddling together against the chilly outside air. One look at any of the deserted buildings was enough to convince them to camp outside, Heartless or not. Jason especially, vehemently refused to take a step inside another building. After having a meal of bread, some dried meat, and fruit, Jason, Kairi, Sora, and Riku curled up and were asleep in minutes. Nightwing had volunteered to take the first watch, and gazed at his companions fondly. Despite all of the crappy things they had been through, he was happy to have them as friends.