*Hours ago.*

"Tim? Tim come on, Jason'll be here any minute."

"Just a moment, Dick." Tim mumbled in response, full clad in Red Robin suit attire. Minus the black domino mask that he had already long since switched out the earless cowl for.

Standing in the middle of the batcave, thankfully the suit he wore was enough to  keep his mind away from how cold the cave can usually be. He's been down here in just lounge pants and socks before, and sometimes he's down here in shorts and a pair of sneakers while training. That was mostly in his days back as Robin, before he left to go form the Titans. Something that he heard a rumor about Damian taking an interest in.

Tim can clearly remember coming down to the cave in nothing but a loose grey sweatshirt and a pair of red plaid pajama pants. Probably not wearing shoes or socks, memory can't exactly recall that far. But it was in his Robin days. He'd come down here, probably after a shower or something. On the rare occasion Bruce would be asleep, and just sit in that large black chair of his. Foldng his arms out onto the arm rests, letting his palms wrap around the edge of the arms of the chair. Allowing his fingers to curl over the rims of them, too. Not being able to let his feet touch the ground if his back was all the way to the back of the seat, and not being able to press his back to the seat if his feet were on the ground.

But some nights he would just sit there. Wondering what it would be like if he were Batman, or wondering what it would be like if he never figured out who Batman is. But when it comes to thinking about what it would be like to be Batman, for some reason? Tim always thought of Dick. Always thought that someday, he'd probably see Dick take up the black cowl. Seeing Dick swap out the cape-less black and blue suit for the now iconic Dark Knight's 'caped crusader' suit.

Then, if this was in his early days, there'd be an off chance during a night where he'd glance at Jason's old suit. Sometimes he'd just turn around in the chair and see it out of the corner of his eye, like it's just some ghost wanting to be seen. A kid peeping their head out around the corner of a wall to see if someones still watching. Or he'd be on his way to somewhere off in the cave, probably to go train. And he'd just see it off some reflection, as just a reminder that Jason had probably stood in the same exact spot that he stood in, doing the exact same things.

Then there were the times were he really looked at the suit on purpose. Looked to it in terms for asking for help. Obviously, not getting an answer back. But he'd be given time to think. Mentally asking this shrine of Jason's that he was really only asking himself. Maybe at first he thought the answers were from Jason, but obviously Tim knew that wasn't the case. He'd just been giving himself time to think, with a different surrounding. That surrounding being that Tim's the third guy to fill in the mantle of Robin, and the one before him had died in the line of it all.

As if it's some dangerous warning to him that the same thing that happened to Jason could happen to him. Yes, Tim had his arrogant moments and he's been aware of this. He still does, but it's never been like how Jason has his. But seeing Dick as often as he did seemed to chip away at maybe some of those feelings, in an odd way. But when Jason came back? Those thoughts were different. Especially with how Jason reacted to Tim being Robin when he came back.

He'd do this all while sitting in Bruce's chair. Most of it, anyway.

And he's sitting in Bruce's chair right now, watching the news. It's live, and what he's seeing is probably one of the more disturbing things he's seen on live television.

"I'm Vikki Vale reporting on..." Tim let the words drain through his head, going in one ear and out of the other a he stared at the building being shown on the news. It wasn't shock, not disbelief, not confusion. Maybe something in the mile of those three, sure.

"Tim? What're you watching? Damian's missing right now and-"
"Dick, how many people are out looking for Damian right now?" Tim cut Dick off, his left eye giving off a stressful twitch for a mere split second. When was the last time Tim slept? No clue, not that Tim would know either. He's been living off of coffee and caffeine for the past two days. And the sudden drop as to where the hell Damian could have possibly managed to go? It only added onto that, seeing as one of his few run-away acts concluded in him swimming across the-

"Don't you go to that bookstore?" Dick's speaking cut Tim out of his thoughts, as if someone slid a pair of sharp scissors over a tightly pulled rubber band. The rubber band wasn't cut, no the scissors were only lightly grazed against the band and it would have been enough to make it snap.

"The place is called Birdie bookstore, I went to go check it out because I was bored. I ended up going there a couple times, yeah." Tim replied, watching the helicopter cover the top of the building, showing the ginormous hole in the roof as if someone had strapped a bucket of C4 and hoped for the best of using the roof as a door instead.

"What happened there? And half the league is taking some spare time to look for him. So far we only have one lead and that's connected to Scorn and Wrath." As if just hearing the name Scorn maks Tim mentally feel even more exhausted than he was to begin with.

"Can't get into contact with Colin, he may busy with something else. I don't even think he knows that Damian is missing. Or else he'd probably drop everything to help out, like Jon did." Dick took a seat next to Tim, bringing up two of Damian's closest friends.

"What about Maya?" Tim is fairly reluctant about having her involved in these things, but Damian see's the girl as a sibling. And she's partly responsible for how Damian is today. Not much to say, considering he's still hard to get along with. But it's better now than when he was ten. She's also proven herself on multiple occasions that she isn't anything like her father, the first Nobody.

"I just got into contact with her. She said she saw him right before he went missing, said something about him seeming kind of shaken up over something." Dick replied, taking off the black domino mask he was wearing as some way to show respect for what he was watching on the news right now.

"What you're about to see may not be suitable for children, the scene of the crime taken place may be nothing but seemingly gore filled view, but there was in fact  a survivor. It seems the red-blue blur from Metropolis stopped by to check it out.." Along with some other things the blonde reporter was saying, Tim could only see what was on the screen. Again, spacing out the words and just staring at this mess before him.

There was no body, but it looked as though someone had drained every ounce of blood from someones body and then decided to grab a paintbrush and go mad with it. It made his gut wrench, more than just the fact that this was probably one of the more detailed things he's seen in Gotham.

There was a bunch of cravings all over the wall, like someone had done it with their fingernails. And all it was a simple message.

"We are not even?" Dick read out loud, watching as the camera panned over the carvings in the wall. It was written a few times, but it's not what made Tim's gut keep tightening and twisting in his stomach.

"I knew the woman who ran that shop, I'm kind of an acquaintance of her daughter. It's a family business, that's what she told me. God, she's such a sweet girl." Tim said it like you had been caught in the event or something, like you were there to witness some man with a motive that was based on revenge try to eviscerate your mother.

"Nobody died." Dick stated, but he crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair while the reporter talked about the victim in the crime he's witnissing right now. Talking about how she's a mother, and that she owns the store that had been the place of her attack. Also explained that the mother was expecting, and that she was in Gotham Central Hospital getting the provided care that she needed.

"(L/n)? Where have I heard that before?" Dick asked, all the while Tim was reaching out across the table to see his book that he had left here in the cave the last time he was called down here. Red Harvest.

"Damian, probably. I hear him talking about some of his classmates, apparently (Y/n) is one of them. I didn't know until she said what school she went too, but Damian doesn't talk about his daily lie around the house I assume-"

"Oh, he does. He complains half the time about it. Asking repeatably to go back to being home schooled, or bringing up the fact he technically already has all the educational intelligence plus more of someone who's already gradated."

"Are all of Damian's friends besides one of them like Jon or Colin?" Tim didn't wait to ask the question, putting his book down to look at Dick.

Did Damian have any friends outside of his connections from Robin?

"I stole his phone a couple weeks ago because I needed to use it for something and saw he had a long list of contacts. Some girl named Silverlock, Another one named Fritch, someone named Rivera someone named Mizoguchi?" ick responded, scratching the back of his head with his hand and giving Tim a confused look.

"Everyone in his contact list is titled by their last name?"

"Well I mean, our contact names are insults. The only people I think that he has a first name for are people who he's really close to. Aside from Bruce, because that one is obviously Father."

"What if he's at the school? I know it's ridiculous, but we can't rule anything out."

*Now, your house.*

The sound of hot water running from the shower head would be what Robin woke up to. From there, the bathroom connected to your bedroom would allow the scent of green apple shampoo and sunflower scented bodywash to seep in through the tiny crack of open space you left the door open. Because you know that bedroom window makes a lot of noise if someone tries to open it, and you'd know right away if the vigilante in your bed woke up and tried to sneak out. And your door, creaks about as loudly as the window shrieks.

The warm soapy suds would run down your body from your hair, closing your eyes and letting the comforting hot water run down your back. Weaving your fingers into your beyond sudsy hair, parting your lips and taking a step back towards the running water to allow all the soap from your hair to be washed out.

You and Robin both came out of that harbor smelling like all kinds of dirty. Whatever lived in the waters o the harbor sure didn't get cleaned well. And the pollution in Gotham was in more than just the air. And you're pretty sure that if you didn't wash your hair, it would have started breaking and falling out. You could have also swam right on through the acid, so taking a shower was definitely the plan. For you at least, it's not like you could have stripped Robin completely to nothing and then dumped his unconscious body into the tub. It's bad enough that you had to bring him to your home, and even worse that he's still asleep.

But he awoke to the sound of you turning the water off, opening the curtains, and stepping in front of the bathroom mirror. You stepped on over the ledge of the tub, making sure not to catch your ankle on the rim of it. It's already bad that you might have a slight concussion, you don't need to actually crack your skull by slipping in the bathroom. And to you? Robin's still out cold, you wouldn't know if someone were to come in here after you. How humiliating, if that were the case. You're stark naked, reaching for a towel and rolling your eyes at the thought.

But of course, you only took a shower after completely passing out the second you reached your room. Why? Because you practically carried Robin here. No, not like a princess. Though at moments you could have sworn he was just about s arrogant as one. But more so you pulled his arms over your shoulders from behind and found that while he rested on your back, it was easier like that.

No, it wasn't impossible. And you've probably only been awake for twenty minutes. You can't remember correctly, but you're pretty sure the second you woke up? You went straight to the bathroom and threw up some water from the Harbor you ended up swallowing.

Because you ended up taking out the breathing piece to shove in Robin's mouth when you started to feel his pulse start to slow down under the water. You had both of your hands under his arms while swimming upwards, and you just barely grazed your hnd against his neck for a split second and could have sworn you felt literally no pulse there. Nothing to be felt. So out of shock alone, you yanked out the breathing piece from your mouth and put it in his. Throwing away any and all doubt that it's possible you could have been a little sick from something earlier. Not that it mattered if he was literally dying while all this was happening.

You ended up swallowing a bunch of water from the harbor, and by the time you reached the surface? There was no mouth to mouth needed, but you did about two minutes of chest compression on Robin until you started to see a mouthful of water come out of his mouth. He wasn't waking up, which ultimately scared you. Because you were probably more scared of the idea of having Batman come to your door demanding an explanation as to why Robin is dead, and probably holding you responsible. Ah, responsibility. Tramples the state of mind yet again. You don't even know how you'd take responsibility for another person's life. So you try not to think about it, because you know you've already been responsible for one.

So you try not to think about it.

Now, if you could have done chest compressions on yourself? That'd be nice. But you ended up spitting up water all the way back to the house. You just passed out completely the moment you got to your room, half dropping Robin on your bed and half collapsing your own body onto the floor. How polite of you, giving Robin your bed. You can't wait to find out how horrible the sheets and mattress smell afterwords, that water from the harbor was pretty nasty.

Now getting home, that was the tricky part. Should you take back alley ways or stay on main roads? You did a mix of both. You took whatever place had no people on. Because you're pretty sure there's a lot of people who'd like to get their, quite literally, hands on a helpless and tired girl. Even more so with hands that they'd want to get onto Batman's sidekick. But or different reasons. And you're just as uncomfortable with the second thing as you are with the first. 

You tried to call the police, but your fingers just wouldn't dial up the number. Too blue, too cold, couldn't move. You remember clawing at the edge of the bed right before you went to sleep, feeling as though your nails would just rip right off. Reaching for a blanket, anything. You got one, and you know you couldn't have been asleep for more than two hours.

You had just swam from the bottom of the harbor with an unconscious vigilante in your hands, and then proceeded to carry him back to your house on your back. Why? Because obviously, you couldn't drop him off at a public hospital. You thought about going to Gotham Central Hospital, but there were so many ambulances and news vans there for some reason tonight, that you decided to stop and think about it. By putting Robin in a public hospital, somebody is going to take off is mask. And what were you suppose to do, go through every button on his belt and see which one contacts Batman? You weren't risking your fingers getting cut off by some weird Bat-booby-trap. Nuh-uh, no way. Not today, Robin. Not today.

So yeah, of course you passed out the second you were able too. You didn't want to drop him off by the bookstore, because the only room in there that somebody would be able to sleep in is in Julian's apartment. And the second he see's Robin? He'd call the police, without knowing what to do.

What were you suppose to do, though?! Call the police?! Call Batman?! How the hell does someone even call Batman? It's different from someone just standing on their roof and cupping their hands over their mouth while calling or Superman. 'Cause everyone knows that guy can probably hear a pin drop from a country away.

You stare at your reflection in the mirror, so tired you could have sworn you saw your own eyes blink. Why are you being so salty? Because he's a vigilante? He came to save you, come on. Well, that didn't really work out seeing as the tables ended up turning.

That's when it settled in your head. You saved Robin.

"What the hell has my life turned into?" You ask your reflection, tying the towel around your chest and looking as if you've just babysat nine different toddlers all at once. Eyes tired, the corners of your eyes were a raw pink color. Bloodshot, somewhat of a smudge of dark circles starting to form. You don't even think you're ready to go and look at him. He's laying there, asleep, on your bed!

"I have Robin in my bed and he almost died." You said, leaning forwards on the counter. Looking down and away from your reflection, as if saying all of this stuff out loud makes it any different than having a really weird dream.

"Mom's gonna kill me." You mumbled, wiping your left eye with the back of your left hand. Taking off the towel, wrapping it around your hair before grabbing the red and white robe off of the doorknob and tying the sot fabric around your waist. Sliding your arms into the sleeves, and making sure it was tight enough that your chest wouldn't make the tie any loose. Tugging at the bottom of it, seeing as the fabric went just to your knees.

You gave the towel one last rub over your head before taking it off, seeing as your hair wasn't exactly soaking wet anymore, but mostly just damp-wet.

Time to go deal with your problem at hand, because you can't exactly ignore it and hope he goes away.

Instantly, your mind goes to one thing. What would Lea do? Granted, she wouldn't do anything right. She'd do everything in the most wrong way possible. Sometimes you miss her, knowing she's not really here in Gotham with you. But you ask yourself this a lot, especially with everything lately. What would Lea do? Well, first of all, she'd try to brighten the mood. Maybe even pathetically. 'So no one told you life was gonna be this waaaaay!!' The mental Lea in your mind sang out, grinning and clapping her hands in time. Only making you squint your eyes in annoyance just at the mere thought of having Lea with you in this certain situation.

As your hand wraps around the door, that's already partially just barely opened, you're actually glad Lea isn't here right you this very moment. God knows what she would do.

You didn't take off his mask, even in his sleep. You wanted to, god all knows you really did want to. Who's under that mask? It's not your business to know, unless he wants you to know. And he clearly doesn't seeing as your little attempt to get him to tell you earlier completely backfired.

God, what were you thinking? Were you even in control of your actions back then?

Either way, you're stepping out of this room with the intent to eventually kick Robin out, and then right after that? You're calling your mom. Because this has just been wild, and completely nerve wrecking. Part of you thinks you could have died tonight, another part of you tells you to stop being a little brat about it.

But you were kidnapped, how the hell are you suppose to treat this like it was a normal thing?!

Either way, you're going to get some answers out of Robin. Even if it's not his identity.

Part of you wants to figure that out on your own.