Chapter 8:

Once the dream started to melt away from Wally's consciousness, like all dreams do, he noticed a few things:

His legs were really numb.

There was a strange pressure on those numb legs.

That strange pressure appeared to be coming from the black-haired thirteen year old boy curled on those numb legs of his.

Wally remembered finishing the movie and racing Robin to his bedroom to play video games. I bet you can guess who won. You might also be asking why they were playing video games in Wally's room instead of the common room. The red-haired teen had an answer for that, too. The rest of the team had wanted to go to bed, and the two teens were LOUD when they played any sort of game. They decided to take pity on their poor team mates and used Wally's room, mostly because he had a mini-fridge and both boys were snackers.

One thing the teen speedster couldn't remember: falling asleep.

Both he and his best bud had the game controllers in their hands, and his TV was still on, the pause screen blinking expectantly. Wally let his controller drop to the floor. A short groan slid past his lips as he rolled his shoulders. He stretched his arms high above his head, wincing at each loud 'pop'! He couldn't believe he fell asleep in such an uncomfortable position, especially when he was leaning against his uber cozy bed! His attention turned to his legs, and, more specifically, the boy cutting off his circulation for the past-he checked the clock on his night stand- 7 and a half hours. A grin slid easily onto his freckled features.

"Robin?" he said, nudging the boy with loosely clenched fist. "Hey? Buddy? Robby-poo? Helloooo? Robin." The only reaction the older teen got was the younger snaking his arms tighter against the other's muscular legs. Wally chuckled. He ruffled the younger boy's midnight black locks fondly.

Wally noticed a shadow in the corner shift, but by then it was too late.

**(Sorry for the uber lateness, guys. More on that later tho.)**

Superboy, in his room, exactly 16 doors down and around two corners from Wally's room, heard the strangled cry of his red haired friend. He jolted up in his bed, where he had been reading, and listened intensely. Someone—their heart beating slightly faster than normal, Supey could also hear them grounding their teeth and hissing—had Wally pinned to his wall. And from the sound of it, he was choking the clone's friend too.

Panic and worry bit at the edges of Superboy's mind. Robin's breathing was slow but stable.

Supey did what any friend would do—he sprung into action. He tore out of his room (splintering his door in the process of getting out as fast as he could,) and down the hallway. He could hear Wally fighting back, kicking at the wall desperately. The clone could also hear the attacker speaking in sharp, dangerous tones.

Supey finally reached the 17th door, marked boldly with the teen speedster's name, and tore it off it's hinges.

*** Calme-toi mon ange et résister à l'obscurité n'est plus***

The shadow shot forward with inhuman speed and scooped the sleeping teen off of Wally's legs and settled him neatly on the bed. The shadow turned to the red haired teen, anger written all over the man's posture. A glare Batman would be proud of was shot at the teen, and it took him a second to realize

"Batman-!"

Wally was thrown against the wall with the force of ten men. His head bounced against the cold metal twice before he regained control. Stars were in his eyes.

Batman was speaking.

"How dare you-"

Wally ignored this. He was being held up by his neck. That was painfully obvious. The speedster also couldn't cry out for help. Green eyes flickered around for some way to save him. He was running out of air fast.

"-Just a boy! How dare you even look at him in such a manner-!"

Wally had spotted his best friend on his unmade bed. Robin was sleeping soundly. The red haired teen began slamming his feet into the wall behind him, trying to wake the thirteen year old up. It wasn't working. Damned walls were solid steel! His lungs were burning. His freckled hands clawed at the reinforced cotton gloves squeezing his neck.

There was a sharp sound of the speedster's door being ripped off its hinges. The black haired boy sat up on the bed, suddenly awake. He blinked at Superboy, who was standing in the doorway, a look of horror on his face. Robin followed his line of sight, gasping loudly at the sight of his mentor choking his best friend.

And right then, unknown to the three other people in the room, something clicked in that 13year old boy's brain. Something fell into place. He saw with new eyes what Wally had seen that day in the gym. Robin thought of all Wally had done for him, always being there, listening to him, laughing with him. His heart started pumping faster and faster. He remembered the feeling of the speedster's muscled body wrapped around his. A warm tingle started in the acrobat's heart and spread down until it covered his whole body. He felt like someone was pumping pure electricity into his veins. Robin's gaze locked onto the form of his best friend. He knew now. He understood.

**So che ti amo così, ma è troppo tardi?**

Spots swam in front of the freckled teen's eyes. He felt his body go limp. He slowly allowed his eyes to fall shut, hoping that maybe, at the sight of this, the Dark Knight would let him go, or finish him off. The pain was too much. His last conscious thought was a silent apology to his best friend.

**Me he dicho antes, lo siento. Me gustaría poder estar allí para besar tus lágrimas.**

A playstation2 remote was sent flying at the Dark Knight's head, hitting its target before cracking in two and falling to the carpeted floor. The Bat dropped Kid Flash and spun to look at his partner, surprised to see a look of absolute fury on the young boy's pale face. He was standing, the other controller clenched in his hand, his pose threatening to say the least. His chest was heaving with each labored breath.

"WHAT. THE. FUCKING. .SONOFABITCH!" the teen screamed, hurling the other controller. His mentor was so surprised, he didn't even try to block it, even though he had clearly seen it coming. It too hit his head, broke, and fell to the floor next to the K.O. speedster. He fought desperately to find a way to rationalize his actions to his adoptive son. He had never seen the kid so angry before.

Superboy, still standing in the doorway, the door it's self at his feet, was staring at the small boy in awe. And he thought HE got pissed! Supey had never seen the Boy Wonder get so unbelievably angry. Sure, he had seen the kid get mad, but this was different. Even the clone didn't want to go anywhere near him. From the corner of the clone's eye he noticed Wally beginning to regain consciousness. Superboy, glad that his friend was OK, turned his attention back to the Dynamic Duo in front of him with a smirk.

A smirk that melted off his face as soon as he grasped the severity of the situation at hand.

Batman was speaking in hushed, horrified tones (Superboy noticed that this was the first time he had heard the Bat show any emotion other than anger or annoyance) to his partner, who was glaring with such a force that Superboy was surprised the man could look at it head on. The clone noticed the smaller teen get ready to pounce.

That's when instincts took over.

Superboy leapt forward, pushing past the Dark Knight, and stopping Robin mid attack. He heard all the air rush out of the lungs of the younger boy, and quickly apologized. The small hero looked up angrily at the clone for a moment before snapping out of it. He instantly deflated, wrapping his arms around himself and leaning heavily against his team mate.

"Miss Martian." Superboy called, knowing she would hear him. Batman froze. Robin was taking shaking breaths and glancing at his fallen comrade. Superman's clone wrapped a gentle arm around him.

The green martian flew in, a smile on her pink lips. She only had eyes for Superboy. Said clone stared back at her, his gaze wary. Confused, Megan let her eyes fall to the small boy pressed to her crush's side.

"Robin?" she asked quietly, floating forward with concern. Her teammate wouldn't look at her. She followed his gaze, finally noticing Wally.

She gasped in surprise, quickly slapping a hand over her mouth. Tears sprung up in her copper eyes.

"M'gann." Superboy said softly, catching her attention. He cut his eyes over to Batman, then back to her. She understood and nodded.

She linked them up.

'WHAT HAPPENED?' she screeched telepathically at them, making both boys wince. Pain and terror were heard clearly in her tone. In the corner, Wally stirred.

'Batman happened.' Robin growled, surprising his teammates with his anger. Megan's eyes widened.

'Go get Aqualad. He'll help you get Batman out of here.' Superboy ordered, holding the smaller teen closer to him.

'heh…..Big…Daddy Bats….sure does pack a punch, doesn't…..he?' Wally's voice rang clearly in their minds. Shock rippled off all of them. In the corner, the speedster shifted, showing just the barest of smiles.

"Don't you dare ignore me," the Dark Knight spat, noticing the reactions to the unheard conversation the teens were having. He was interrupted by his partner making a small noise of surprise and happiness as he pushed out of the clone's embrace and over to his best friend. Robin rolled his friend onto his back, gently placing the speedster's head on his lap. He was shaking with tears of relief and glee. Wally had a small smile on his face, his eyes half open. He reached forward and captured the raven haired boy's hand in a reassuring gesture.

"Get away from him, Robin." The Dark Knight rumbled, advancing on the two teens. Megan, rage filling her up suddenly, put her green hands out in front of her and quickly closed them into fists.

Batman froze. He glared, struggling against the teen's telepathic hold over him. Said teen waved her right hand in a down ward motion, anger still filling her posture.

Then the great, the mighty Batman collapsed. And the anger filling Megan disappeared as fast as it appeared.

Superboy, Robin and a barely conscious Wally stared at her in shock.

"OH MY GOSH! Robin! I am so sorry! I can't believe I just did that to your mentor! To Batman!" Megan landed on the floor with a small 'fwup' and covered her mouth with her hands again.

"…What did you do to him?" Robin asked, his curious nature leaking threw.

Megan paused. "…I dunno."

There was a moment of silence, then KF and Robin bust into a fit of giggles.

Superboy strode over to his green crush, the tiniest half smile on his face. He placed a gentle hand on the girl's shoulder and nodded out the door. She nodded quickly and flew out of the room, a grin pressing its self deep into her lips. She had sensed that Robin had changed the same way Wally had.

Finally, Robin knew.

**END CHAPTER**

Holy crap guys, I am SOSOSOSOSOSOSO sorry! My computer got really sick over spring break and I spent the entire week typing little bits, only to have the computer shut down on its self! And I don't know anything about computers! *burst into tears* I finally got it to work again on Thursday, and I have been typing like mad ever since. I really REALLY hope this chapter being 2,000 words will make up for the lack of updates. I feel really bad, especially since you guys have been so nice to me!

Please review and tell me if this sucks(I think it does TT-TT) or if you have something you want to add, or something you want to see in later chapters, or whatever!

JE