Protecting our leader.

Chapter Twenty-One

P.O.V of Dick.

Robin B01. Guest.
We walked into the mountian as the team turned around to see us.
"Hi." I greeted, "Thought we'd swing by."
"Shouldn't you be at school?" Kaldur asked, ever practical.
"Damian here decided I should skip it for the day." I said, "A day for my mental health."
"You seem to be in much more lively spirits now." Megan observed.
"I should hope so." I replied, "I'm certainly feeling more myself."
By this time I had sat myself on the sofa with Damian and the gaze everyone followed me.
"Are you over your...phase?" Aqualad asked, seeming to choose his wording much more carefully than he should.
"I would like to say so." I said, "But Harley said it could hit anytime and that something like this could just be a short reprieve. She said if I don't get any reprieves like this then I'll be given medication, but this is positive. And I've got to go with the flow. Anyway, where are Wally and Arty, I would just like to check up on them."
The team exchanged a look that instantly made me tense up, but Damian spoke before I could, "What's happened with them?"
His question was answered with silence, and suddenly the penny dropped, "They don't want to see me."
"What?" Damian exclaimed, "Don't be absurd, he's your best friend."
"We're sorry Richard." Kaldur said, confirming my suspicions.
"You're having a joke, right?" Damian said, "You can't be serious."
At that moment mine and the team's phones pinged and we pulled them out. I looked down at the screen to see a text through in out team chat from Wally.
Artemis and I are leaving the team. We will be coming to collect our belongings but after that we will be leaving this life behind in pursuit of a normal one. We'll miss you all.
And that was my reprieve over. The shadow that had been creeping over my mind as I came to the conclusion had engulfed me. It was my fault that they were leaving the team, it was all my fault.
"I guess we're down to four members now." Conner said, sounding much further off than he actually is.
"Three."
They all looked over to me, "What do you mean?"
"I quit." I said again in my dead voice.
"Dick, you're our leader. You can't leave. We need you." Megan said
"Kaldur is leader." I replied, "I'm going to get my stuff. Tell Wally and Artemis when they get back."
And I trudged off to my room, closed the door and collapsed on my bed. I wanted to cry, I could feel the lump in my throat, but my eye's stayed dry. So I lay and did nothing.
There was a tentative knock at the door, "Dick?"
I stayed silent and Damian tried again, "I know you're in there Dick. I'm going to come in in a minute."
I stayed on my stomach on the bed as the door opened and Damian came in and sat next to me. We stayed silent for a moment then it all came out. I latched onto his neck, my tears soaking through his shirt in an instant. We hugged me back, trying to comfort me but I couldn't be comforted. I had driven away my best friend with secrets, secrets that led from one event to another to another. At least now I knew that secrets were a poison, one that effected the keeper and the oblivious. The worst type of poison.

P.O.V of Wally.

We had sent the text in the morning to ensure that everyone knew what was happening when we turned up that evening. I know it would have given Richard an idea to where we would be, but we couldn't just leave our stuff here. Arty had managed to land a part-time job at KFC near to where she attended University and I was to be an apprentice to a laboratory technician and when he quit, if he found me competent enough, I was take over his role. But what hadn't been expected was that Rob would be in the living area with the other members of the team and Damian. They stopped the feeble conversation they were having when the Zeta beams announced our arrival.
"It was an honour to serve with you." Kaldur was the first to break the awkward silence that had filled the room.
"Back at ya." Artemis said, "We're gonna go pack." And she walked off down to her room.
I stayed and looked at Rob a moment longer, taking in his overgrown hair, skinny frame and his blank eyes that held so much sadness. It quickly followed after Artemis, checking over my shoulder that he wasn't following and entered my room. It was mostly packed. Subconsciously I had been packing, half because I wanted to leave, half because I was worried that if I was attacked I'd need to take something with me and grab it quick. I shoved the remains of my room, the snacks on the side and a couple of DVD's on the shelf, and gave a last sweep. Something caught my eye and I went over to the object on my desk. I could now see it was a photo that had been turned on it's face so that I couldn't see the front. I picked it up and looked at the front, a tear pricking my eye. It was a collage of all the best memories I had with Rob. A picture from a month before we started the team, we were at the Justice League headquarters and had trashed the place. There was one the day after the team had been formed, both of us in casts and grinning like lunatics. Then there was us on his fourteenth birthday at the beach, by this time I had got to know his civilian identity, but he never removed his glasses. The pictures continued up until a about a year ago when I began to hang out with Arty more and left him behind. Though we would still meet we weren't the best friends we were before. And now I realise how much I miss that brotherly bond we had shared. I sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the images and a tear slipped down my cheek.
"You ready?" Artemis asked and I looked up to see her in the door.
"Yeah." I brushed away the stray tears and shoved the collage in my suitcase, quickly zipping it shut.
"Alright then," She smiled, "Let's go."
I clasped her hand and we dragged out suitcases down to the living room to see another one already there.
"What's this?" I asked as we stopped.
"Richards." Megan answered sadly, "He's quit as well."
"Why has he quit?" Artemis asked as my eyes widened, this was probably my fault.
"He just didn't want to do it anymore." She explained, "We wanted to see you all off at the same time of you'd just wait a moment."
"Of course." I said before Artemis could protest.
"Thank you. That will mean a lot to him." Megan gave a weak smile and a few seconds later Damian and Rob came around the corner.
"What are you doing here?" Damian instantly growled when he saw us, "I thought you were avoiding Dick?"
"Leave it Dami." Dick said in a dead voice, and something in me cracked.
Rather than flinching away like I had whenever I had seen him before, I walked over to him, breaking away from Artemis and brought him into a hug large enough the squeeze the air from him. He stood frozen for a moment before wrapping his arms around me and burying his head into my shoulder. The rest of the team were just watching, even Damian just stood there in shock. When I pulled away I noticed that Dick's eyes were tear lined, and mine were too. I had let him sink this low and been so selfish as to not think how it had affected him, but I would be here for him now.
"I'm sorry." I said.
"You have nothing to be sorry for." He replied, "It's my fault."
"None of it is your fault." I reassured him, "I just should have been a better friend."
He looked at me then, some emotion returning to his eyes, but then he just walked past me, grabbed his suitcase and left, the Zeta tubes announcing him as a guest.
"Did I do something wrong?" I asked.
"No," Damian was the one to reply, "It's just him. As always, Dickie doesn't like to show his weakness in front of people. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a brother to try and comfort." And so left Damian.

P.O.V of Dick.

I had had to get out of there. Wally had hugged me, and tried to tell me none of it was my fault. But it was an act, no-one cared about me anymore, they just pretended to. I dragged my case as far as the computer in the Bat-cave before dumping it and heading up to my room. I didn't notice the person at my window until they gave a pointed cough.
"What do you want?" I grumbled, turning to the figure silhouetted by the setting sun.
"I want you." Slade said as he slid from the sill and stalked over to me.
I debated fighting back, making some sound to alert the others in the house, but found that I couldn't bring myself to. They didn't need to worry about me.
"Aren't you going to fight back?" Slade asked, now standing an arms length away from me.
"If you want me, take me." I mumbled, "You'll be the only one."
Slade seemed shocked by what I said but he still cuffed me, ankles and wrists, and slapped some duct tape over my mouth as I stood and did nothing to stop him. Then he hit me under the chin and I was whisked away to the land of oblivion.