Shadow Of The Nightshade

Sleep.

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Robin

'Hey!' I gently shook Shadow.

I was a little worried now that she kept on crying.

My shirt almost soaked with tears as she continuously sobbed into my chest.

I had never seen her act so weak before. She always stayed strong. . . even if it was just an act.

My worry couldn't help but grow when I glanced at her wrists.

Did they really push her that far?

'Do you have any way to stop the bleeding?' I pulled away from the crying assassin. A hero and an assassin, can it really work out?

'W-What?' Shadow squinted through her tears to look at my face.

'Do you know how to stop the bleeding?' I repeated patiently, wiping the tears off her face with my hands which only made them red too.

Looking at my fingers, I realized that I was bleeding. Clenching my hands into fists, I placed behind my back and discreetly wiped them.

'Shadow,' I snapped her back to attention when I saw her staring into the air, dazed. Holding up her chin as she furrowed her brows in thought, I flicked her forehead. 'Focus.'

She shook her head and refused to look into my eyes. 'If I died won't... Won't it be better?'

'Do you really think I'm going to let you die? I'm a hero, remember?' I asked humorously, a light laugh leaving my lips as I held her by her shoulders and moved away, only to stumble back into Batman.

'Robin,' he pulled me to him and I coughed, my vision dotted with black.

I saw Lilian frown from the corner of my eye. 'Shadow,' she hissed. 'Do you want him to die?'

'He won't die Lilian,' Shadow assured the girl with a strange calm in her voice.

'We both know your blood is toxic. . . My father died just because he got some of it on him.' Lilian snapped. 'If Robin dies, I won't forgive you.'

Shadow smiled and blinked away the tears in her eyes. 'If he died, I wouldn't forgive myself either, don't worry.'

I was about to tell her to stop saying nonsense when all the pain suddenly vanished, my body filled with a weird, invigorating energy.

'Shadow, you can't die.' As I stared at the scabs on my already healing fingers, I felt a pang of guilt.

Because I knew this had to do with the ring she gave me. She could be healing herself right now if she had it.

'What about Canary?' Bruce asked hurriedly from behind me. 'Will she survive?'

I stood up and turned to face my mentor. 'What happened to her?'

He narrowed his eyes at me. 'She got poisoned by Shadow's blood.'

'Naturally, she'll live.' Shadow said with a frown. 'Of course, you won't if you don't get help.'

'I wore gloves.' He replied blankly.

'And maybe that's not enough.' She said pointedly then turned to the silent Lilian. 'I'm sorry for killing your father, if I had a chance to redo things I wouldn't have. But as of right now I don't regret it.'

'If that's all you have to say, then forget it.' The little girl rolled her eyes. 'I'm bound to you till you die.' She said suggestively and I glared at her.

Shadow's eyes shifted from both of us then she cupped her face in her hands, spreading blood across her cheeks. 'I. . . Would you be happy if I died. . . I mean. . .'

'Hey, you're not going anywhere till I say so.' I reminded her sternly as I pressed my palm against my head, flinching when a sharp pain flared up beneath my skull.

'Stop the bleeding.' It came out as an order and I was thankful for it. I could barely see straight.

'I can't.' Shadow whispered.

'What do you mean you can't?' I snapped in irritation, falling to one knee as the pain I felt intensified and spread.

'Robin,' I heard someone say, their voice faint as the world seemed to fade away.

The walls of the room twisted into a flash of blinding colors and I realized that I couldn't breath. My lungs seemed to catch on fire, my chest burning with unseen flames.

The pain in my head increased to a persistent knock against my skull.

'You need to calm down.' The words seemed to tumble around the space around me, sounding warped and distorted.

When it finally reached my ears I could barely understand but the words seemed to have a soothing effect on the pain I felt.

Soft hands slipped into my hair as I shut my eyes, overcome with unbearable pain as I felt myself tumbled to the ground. And the whole world seemed to fall with me.

'And you call me stupid.' The voice returned after what seemed like an eternity and I immediately recognized it as Shadow's.

Everything seemed real again and I hungrily gasped for breath, my eyes snapping open as I felt her arms around me.

The first thing I saw was the ceiling, shivers running down my spine when her cool fingers played with my hair.

'You shouldn't be so worried about me. . .' She murmured quietly, her chin resting on my head.

'W-What?' I sat up slowly and she shifted to side while my gaze scanned across the room.

'Shadow,' I blinked in confusion when I saw Lilian and Batman sprawled in front of us, a metre away from where they originally stood. The med bay looked like it had been swept through by an hurricane.

'They're fine.' Shadow said exhaustedly and fell against my chest, not really answering the questions brewing in my mind. 'I'm just tired.'

'Shadow. . .'

'I'm alright now, thanks.' She shook her head, indirectly telling me to forget what happened just now. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and just put an arm around her. How typical of her.

'No, you aren't fine, we need to talk.' I said slowly, suddenly feeling drained of all energy. Fighting to keep my eyes open, I stared at her seriously only to see her pout and wink at me.

'We should sleep.' I heard her yawn.

I turned away and hissed. How sly.

How long was she going to avoid this?

Her soft and even breathing was my only reply.

And rather that settling my storming thoughts, I shut my eyes. I can't help but feel that everything is going to get better now.

I was really tired.

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Nope, things are going to get worse Dickie. . .