A/N: I am so grateful to all of you who took this ride with me and encouraged me with wonderful reviews, faves and follows. I'm super happy with this story and the way it turned out, so I hope you all enjoy it too.

Summary: Dick is awake, but coming back won't be easy or pain free. Perhaps though, it will be worth it. Meanwhile, one of the heroes will have to make a sacrifice. (No character Deaths! Promise. But my version of a cliffhanger)

Flash.

Flashes.

Flashing.

Images of Bruce, of Kory, and himself rush by, behind his dry, sticky eyelids. He can barely keep up as light, sound, and heat invade his body at once, while broken pieces of information filter through.

He's running in the dark, trying to find his way back, but the space is so boundless, and his time in it, infinite, he could be running in circles and wouldn't know. It's the sound of the kids voices that draws him, like the gentle alarm of morning birds singing their morning song, increasing in volume and urgency until…

"Dick?" a voice echoes in the abyss.

Dick opens his eyes, but all he sees is fire, and shoots forward, choking back a sob. "Kory," his stomach coils tight and he holds himself together, barely any strength left in his arms as he does so. Every muscle in his body feels atrophied, as though they haven't been used in months.

His mind is a kaleidoscope of splintered memories and cells, and his nerves clump together in a fist, sending electric; hot and raw, firing through and beneath his clammy, paper thinned skin. It hurts all over, but he needs to see her. "Kory."

"I don't know," Gar's voice becomes clear, laced thick with panic. "Dick – are you okay? Please answer me."

But Dick's tongue is heavy in his jaw and his throat is a dry desert, sore and cracked by hot, broken rocks that sink to his chest every time he swallows. Tears burn at the corner of his eyes, sitting on his lashes when he blinks, and he wipes at his face as he sniffles. "Where is she?" he forces out with sand dust in his throat.

"Dick," Rachel cries. "are you really back?"

Pressing sweaty palms to his ears, he closes his eyes until their voices become muffled hums and wills her to him. Her voice returns to him first, and then her touch, and finally her face. Then the rest, but it all comes at unforgiving speed: Gotham, Dawn, the kid, Hank's death, Bruce – and Kory. Both Korys. Finney comes back too, and Duane – and he remembers Kory breaking his heart – him breaking hers. None of it is real, and yet it is to him. The ache breaks skin, worming into his chest between muscle and bone, shooting straight for the heart.

His breath is ragged and choked now. His bones are crushed inside his skin, made to fit, but it's too tight and twisted, and it aches far and deep. And he can't reach. And he can't escape.

"Breathe," Gar cries. "Please,"

Hands touch his shoulders as he hunches over in pain, but the pressure is too much and he winces, flinching away.

"It's Gar," his voice screeches, and cuts out. "we held on as long as we could,"

Dick finally turns to the teenager and swallows thickly. Among the flames is all neon green and horror and fear, and all he wants to do is reassure the boy, touch him, but he can't find a foothold in this place, this world. Reality dangles in front of him, teasing, floating on the surface of his brain, slowly breaking through the fog, but the two worlds remain spliced together, the one he escaped holding on stubbornly.

"What's wrong with him?" Rachel asks. "What did you do to him?"

"Me?" Finney – Trigon says. "You're the one who sent the alien in there, maybe she broke something."

"She wouldn't," Rachel argues.

Gar takes his hand and squeezes, and the tiny bones spread under the comfort. He watches the boy, studies him, feels the cool of his skin – but he isn't sure. He can't be sure. "Gar?" He blinks away the stars and turns again, finding Rachel this time, a few feet from them. She's dipped in a glorious purple light, the inferno around her shaped like a bird - a raven. "Rachel?"

"Yes," Gar laughs, sharing a hopeful look with Rachel. "Yeah, it's us."

"He's here mostly, but he's also there," Trigon comes close, kneeling in front of them, and Gar practically hisses at him. "his mind is split right down the middle."

"Fix it," Rachel shouts. "Help him."

Trigon shrugs nonchalantly. "He'd resist me now." he says, adding, "you however,"

Dick lulls his head to the side when it grows too heavy, sinking back, but Gar catches him and cradles his head, using his body to keep him sitting upright.

"What do you mean?" Rachel asks. "I can't."

"For the likes of us, the word can't, does not exist," Trigon crosses the short distance keeping he and his daughter apart and cups her face. "Your friend is in pain. He's caught between two realities and it's pulling him apart, cell by cell."

Rachel looks down at he and Gar, and her fists clench.

Dick groans. His skin twitches violently, as though it's peeling back from the bone and a scream tears from his throat. Gar presses down on him, the kid's heavier than he looks, and it's too much – the pressure, underneath it he'll snap, he knows it, but Gar holds on. And please, god, it hurts. All of him hurts.

"Rachel," Gar cries, and a tear spills across his mouth. "Something's happening."

"Can't br-breath," Dick wheezes out, as his body is wracked by deep, hitching breaths. He won't survive in this atmosphere – the air is too thick and too warm, strangling breath from him. Molten heat explodes through his veins and he jerks, and writhes, screaming hard, until his throat grows hot and tight, his voice turning raw as his chest rattles.

Rachel rushes to his side and touches her hand to his cheek, flinching when she feels the heat beating off him. "I'm so sorry," she weeps. "Please, be okay." Both her hands bracket his face and slide up to his temples, and then she closes her eyes.

His eyes fall shut as a cool relief travels through his veins, putting out little fires along the way. The wrecking ball slamming the inside of his skull turns to ash, a whisper of it left in her wake. He can feel her. She moves through him like a chill from the night air, quenching fires and disappearing ghosts. He shivers, too powerless and weak to do anything else.

Every part of his mind she touches cools. The blood stops racing through his body. His heart unclenches, and his body turns soft. Reaching up, he grabs her hands, holding them in place and hopes to god he isn't hurting her, because he needs this relief, this moment of peace.

She moves deeper, beyond the veil of his fractured mind, gently pulling his memories free from the grip of Trigon's multi-sensory prison, untwisting his body inside skin. She cuts through interwoven realties with warm surgical hands, separating his world from the one too stubborn to let go, but when it finally does, a powerful ease descends over him.

And then Kory's voice plays on the inside of him, and Gars, and Donna's – memories he can feel Rachel drawing on. It unties his angry, wrinkled lungs and slips beneath muscle turned rock solid, making them supple again.

His entire body sighs, and he sinks into Gar. When he dares to open his eyes again, he isn't looking through flames anymore, he sees them clear and crisp. Rachel and Gar staring down at him, one with tears in their eyes and the other horror stricken. "I'm okay," he finally says. "thank you. Both of you."

"Bravo, girl," Trigon applauds. "I knew you could do it. You should have more faith in yourself."

Dick glowers at Trigon and his body turns rigid.

"Can you stand?" Gar asks, and cups his hand, pulling him up to his feet when he nods.

He bends his body, rediscovering its elasticity. Fatigue presses into him but he manages to steady on his feet.

"I'm mildly impressed by your mental durability," Trigon stands by the front door like a barricade and with a quick flick of his eyes, he finds Angela at the kitchen door. At her feet is the body of a male in a pool of blood, fanning out from beneath him. His badge is hitched to his belt.

"You killed a cop?" Dick snarls.

Rachel follows his line of sight and her shoulders sag. Gar is avoiding looking over there at all.

"An old friend," Angela offers with a mirthless grin. "Nothing to worry your pretty head about."

A flash of Hank sinks into him, a memory of him bleeding out after taking a bullet that wasn't meant for him. It wasn't - isn't real, but he still feels the warm, sticky blood on his hands, staining his clothes. With a deep breath, he coaches himself out - taking a quick survey of their surroundings. He makes a rough calculation of the distance between the sheriff station and where they are by foot, marks all the exits, windows and possible makeshift weapons, such as the splintered table legs on the floor, and lets Hank slip away. He reasons, his body is a quivering mass of muscle and bone grinding under the skin, but he can't collapse just yet, not until they're in the after.

Trigon steps away from the door with his hands clasped together. "I have to say, your bond with the alien was – a riveting plot twist."

Gar stands a toe in front of Dick and Rachel follows suit, despite his best but mostly weak efforts to stop them. He's supposed to be the one protecting them not the other way around. "After everything you've been through," Gar says quietly, for Dick and Rachel's ears only. "It's our turn to protect you." He offers a sheepish grin. "You should stand back though."

Trigon smiles. "I like this." He confesses, gesturing towards the teens as he threatens to take another step. "Courage is true power."

Gar growls. But it isn't an angry teenager's growl, it's an inhuman, guttural sound tearing free from the deep cave of his chest, from the heart. A sound so loud the walls tremble. And when he unclenches his fists, large green fingers unfurl with vicious nails on the end tipped in blood, his blood.

Dick startles, reeling back as though he's been hit square with a bullet as Gar explodes out of his skin, into a six foot, four hundred-pound silverback gorilla with sharp teeth. "Gar," he chokes out, his eyes wild and searching for the teen inside the beast. To see if it was real, and if it was, to make sure he was okay, and still him. He is shaky on his feet as he moves in its line of sight, and their eyes meet.

Gar turns to him and he knows he's still in there, that it's still him, by the way he holds a protective arm between he and Trigon, the way his eyes soften towards him. He isn't in some surreal dream, thrust into yet another trick – it's the humorous, unassuming, movie obsessed teenager who snores at the back of his car/van, mumbling obscure cult movie references in his sleep. Oh shit, this is crazy, and probably way beyond what he can handle, but if they get out of this, he knows in his bones, he will have to, because that's who he wants to be. That's who he's going to be. The one kids like Gar and Rachel can turn to.

Then Rachel's voice is in his head, soft like a breeze against his skin when she enters, with whispers.

"Beautiful." Trigon breezes out, staring up at the green gorilla. "Absolutely beautiful."

Kory lunges forward with a gasp, her breath harsh in her chest. It takes several moments to figure out where she is (Donna's lap) and when she is, but when it becomes clear as she looks up at Donna, her hands fly up to her chest with relief. "It worked." She pants. Her skin, goose pimpled, shivers against the night air. "He's awake."

"Fuck me," Donna leans over and presses a sloppy, wet kiss to Kory's forehead. "You actually did it." She helps her to sit up and uncurls her feet from underneath her to stand up. "Are you good – can you stand?"

"I don't know," Kory says, but takes Donna's hand anyway, climbing to her feet. "I think I am. I feel – everything feels," she frowns, and looks up. "I don't know."

Donna raises her eyebrow at that. "A side effect that will wear off – eventually," she offers, as she shimmies out of her coat, letting it fall to the ground. "Whatever you did, it messed with this shimmer."

It was Kory's turn to watch her, but with curiosity, or scepticism, she hadn't decided when she noticed the large gold and silver-plated cuffs on each of her wrists. "We went back to the truck," she breathes out, still a little winded. "for your jewellery?"

Donna smirks. "Remember you said that," she stands in front of Kory, holding her arm out and adds, "stand back," before turning back to the shimmer. She steps one leg back and slams the cuffs together, and from it, a pulse of golden energy shudders out, engulfing everything in its path, bringing the house into focus.

Kory feels the air prickle and stumbles onto her backside as it whooshes back.

Donna turns to her and bares her teeth, an 'oops', "I told you to stand back." She says, holding her hand out, an apology. "Shall we?"

"Your apology needs work." Kory takes her hand.

Gar leans onto his giant knuckles, warning Trigon with an earth-shaking roar.

Trigon's lips go thin like a blade as he moves behind the sofa, settling Angela as she rushes to his side with a feather touch to her elbow. "Quite a trick,"

"You're outnumbered," Rachel says. "Kory and Dick's friend are coming any minute, we're going to stop you."

Trigon smiles, and Angela hugs his shoulder. "Isn't this the part where all her friends die screaming?" she asks.

"Don't be so blood thirsty," he frowns at Angela and tuts, turning to the trio, with a winning grin. "Stop me from what? I haven't done anything - yet?

The house begins to rock, everything inside rattling as a rumbling sound rolls over the rooftop, bringing with it a powerful wind that shatters all the glass as it blows through, almost tearing the door off its hinges. Dick dives over Rachel and crashes to the floor, tucking her under him and shielding her from the flying glass and debris.

Glancing up, he waits as it passes, finding Angela cowering behind Trigon, who stands like a statue unharmed, and Gar who stands in front of them unflinching, and powerful.

Footsteps approach, and from the dark night, Donna and Kory emerge, both possessed with rage. The lasso is snaked around his best friend's fist. "Trigon, I take it," she says, dispassionately. Her eyes flit up to the gorilla and her mouth falls open.

"It's Gar," Dick grunts as he stands, pulling Rachel up with him, mostly to disarm Donna before she attacks – as the green, he knows already gave him away to Kory, though it doesn't stop her from being stunned. He swallows and both relief and terror grip him when he locks eyes with her, finally he breathes, and the ache in his chest shakes loose. He wants to feel her and make sure she's real, and her eyes say, me too.

Trigon ties his hands behind his back. "My name precedes me,"

Rachel dusts splintered wood and glass from her clothes. "I'll never join you," she says. "I'll never come to your side. And with my friends here, you can't win."

"Yes," Trigon sighs. "I do see how you'd think the odds are stacked against me. And you definitely have more friends than I imagined possible for a girl with your proclivities."

"I suggest," Dick steps forward, standing in front of Gar protectively, despite his beast mode. "You go back to wherever the hell you came from," he clenches his jaw and fists.

Trigon huffs out a laugh. "I admit. Rarely am I caught unawares, but," pointing between Dick and Kory, he clicks his tongue against his teeth. "this was pleasant to watch," and then he turns to Rachel. "But you were and are especially impressive."

"Get out of here," Rachel warns.

"Oh, come on, baby," Angela coos. "this is what you've always wanted. A family." She holds her arms out. "Well, it's here, right in front of you."

"You stay away from her," Kory shouts, and Gar adds power to the threat with his own roar.

Trigon's eyes are trained on Rachel and she squirms under the scrutiny of them. Dick glances over at Kory, and she looks every bit as beaten up as he feels with the way her posture hangs and her eyes glaze over. She takes a step in and he taps two fingers against his thigh, a signal to stay put. The last thing they need is to irritate the situation. He felt Trigon's power coursing through him, and he knows they are no match without a planned and coordinated attack.

"Come with me," Trigon sings. "It'll be fun. I promise." He curls his fingers and draws her right to him. "I don't think you even know how powerful you are, do you?" he asks, triumphantly, proud to know something the rest of the class doesn't. "The growth and progression of your abilities – your powers, much like the alien's, is fuelled by strong emotion," He smiles then. "and you played to that advantage without even knowing it. Saved your friend from me." A dark shine eclipses the ice blue of his eyes. "Now imagine what you could do – if you let me show you how, as only I can."

Dick edges closer to them, and Trigon's attention lands on him. "He's trying to get inside your head, Rachel. Don't let him."

"How are you feeling, Dick?" Trigon asks with feigned concern. "I imagine yourself and the alien," he turns momentarily to regard her and bows. "Koriand'r, was it," and then turns back to Dick. "are feeling a little worse for wear," he narrows his eyes. "You're in no state to sneeze, let alone challenge me."

"Oh, shut up." Donna interjects. "You may be powerful and ugly as hell where you come from, but you're not the only one in this room with a little juice," she whips her lasso and it burns bright as it comes to life.

"I would prefer to keep this suit," he sighs, tugging on his blazer. "wrinkle-free." He holds both hands up as if to surrender and smiles. "But I guess exceptions can be made." Then slowly, he closes one into a fist, and Dick gasps, wheezing as Trigon evaporates the air from his lungs.

Donna sends her lasso for Trigon and it cuts through the air, lashing its tail around his neck. The force of it sends Angela tumbling back, and before he can untangle it, Rachel is releasing a black tornado to capture her mother in its grip.

Kory screams and her entire body combusts into bright, vicious flames as she shoots everything she has into him. As he catches fire, Gar stampedes through the sofa, ramming him through three layers of wall into the night, leaving plaster and brick crumbling to the floor in their wake.

Gar's roar echoes in the distance, and Dick, after catching his breath, crawls over to the hole, his chest pounding as he breathes in. "Gar," he calls, as Kory and Donna join him. But it's too dark to see a thing out there. "Gar."

Kory slides against the wall and Donna rushes to catch her, steadying her upright. "I've got you."

"Your rope," Kory says, weakly.

"Can you stop calling it that," Donna whines, pulling Kory around her shoulder. "It has a name." with a sigh, she taps her arm. "Sit this one out maybe,"

"I'm going out there," Dick turns to Rachel, taking she and her mother in. "Rachel?" he starts, "let her go." A loud cry pulls his attention back to the hole in the wall. He squints against the night as a small dot flies towards them, growing larger as it draws closer until it comes into focus. He dives out of the way, dropping to the floor as the green tiger comes hurtling through the wall, crashing into the piano with a bone chilling yelp.

"Is he okay?" Rachel asks, cooly. Her stare flickering from black to blue.

Dick eats up the space between he and Gar and kneels, cradling the tiger's head. "Hey," he says, gently, and then looks up. "He's hurt, can you do something?"

"Maybe he's meant to die," Angela sings. "It's the not the first time he's bled out on my floor."

"Shut up," Rachel's voice rattles, her blue lips trembling as the black mass pouring around Angela gets a little smaller.

"Hey," Dick stands up and moves towards her, slowly. "Rachel. Look at me. She just wants you to lose control."

"It's all her fault," Rachel screams and the black veins under eyes, now black holes, pulsate viciously. "She did all of this. Everything she said was a lie. She's a liar."

"Don't give in." Dick holds his hand out. "Listen to me, Gar needs you." He says. "I need you. We all do. Let her go and come help him."

"Rachel, please." Kory calls, weakened, and pouring over Donna limbless. "Help Gar."

Rachel looks between Kory and Dick, and with an exhale, her eyes turn blue – then widen in horror. Dick turns, and the entire wall begins crumbling, brick by brick until there's nothing but sky, and Trigon, levitating towards them.

He lands on his feet and sends Donna flying into the wall with a flick of his wrist. Vines burst through plaster, brick and wallpaper to tie around her arms and legs, pinning her there. Kory falls to her knees, empty.

Sighing deeply, he dusts the dirt from his shoulder, before unbuttoning his blazer, now tattered and burnt. His suit is a mess, but he remains in perfect condition. Donna's lasso still hangs from around his neck, untarnished as he removes it. "Let Angela go, sweet child," he says without sparing her a glance. "that's no way to treat your mother,"

Rachel looks at Dick, asking for permission to hold her, but he shakes his head. His mind splitting in several directions as he plays out as many ends to this scenario as he can conjure, but his mind, still weary, keeps spinning out, and then he has to start all over again.

"No," Rachel says, defiantly, and her eyes turn obsidian black, shining like marble.

"Darling girl," Trigon looks at her with a deep frown, and sighs. "come now, be good." He glowers at her, and his jaw clenches tight, but she doesn't relent.

"You'll lose," Rachel laughs. "you can't control me – just like you couldn't make Dick loyal to you. He was stronger -,"

Trigon bunches his hand into a fist and Dick folds in half, and they all scream as he thrusts him up against the ceiling and pins him there. Terror turns Rachel's face ghost white and her eyes flicker. "I'm sorry, dear, go on."

Dick attempts to pull free from his imperceptible restraints, but it holds him firm, as Trigon closes in on Rachel. Gar lays helpless and panting at the foot of the piano, bleeding, while Donna fights and struggles to break free and Kory fights her own body to stand, as it continues to betray her.

But Dick doesn't panic or get angry, he can't afford to, because while he may be powerless, it doesn't mean he's helpless. Settling back, he closes his eyes and sinks into the deepest recedes of his mind, seeking the voice and wisdom of his oldest friend, Bruce: "Anchors can be memories, thoughts or emotions, but they can be people too." He had said. "Find the anchor that grounds you and let go of the one that pulls you adrift, that's how you win a fight. You have to be five steps ahead of everyone you come into contact with, Dick."

Dick opens his eyes.

"It's you who is stronger than I thought. You see, child," he continues, closing the gap between he and Rachel. He takes her hand into his and she doesn't resist. "I don't have plans for Dick Grayson, I never did. Truthfully, what would I need him for, except maybe, to appeal to you. The girl in you." Reaching up with his free hand, he strokes the back of his hand down her cheek. "But that girl isn't who you really are, is she?"

"Stop it," Rachel whimpers and lets go of Angela.

He pulls away, and looks at the panting tiger. "and there are other ways to win your loyalty."

"Leave him alone," Kory growls.

"I do remember imparting some sound advice when we first met," Trigon says. "Something about lowering one's expectations tonight. Frankly, I'm shocked by all the aggression."

Dick bides his time, but the look on Kory's face, the fire simmering between her fingers gives him pause. It won't work. Nothing but Rachel will. She is the only one who can stop him because she is the only thing he wants – needs. She is his only weakness. "Kory." He calls, but she is drunk on fear and rage.

Kory blasts Trigon with a bolt of fire, but he catches it and sucks it into his body like a black hole, consuming and destroying matter, and disappears the flames. He wags his fingers at Kory and raises his hand as she slinks back when a ropey black substance curls around his arm.

"No," Rachel screams long and loud, until the house is rattling, and the lights are flickering. She falls onto her knees.

Trigon kneels in front of her, lifting her chin up. "Dick was a test," he shares. "a chance for me to see the other you, the real you," and wipes the tears from her cheek with the pad of his thumb.

Angela joins them and lifts Rachel onto her feet. She brushes her hair back, carding her fingers through it, and smiles. "Don't be afraid of it,"

"What test?" Rachel asks.

"I gave you a playground to run free in," he whispers, and points to the ceiling. "a Dick Grayson sized playground, and while this-," he shudders. "emotional wreck's worst fears played out, I watched you." His eyes twinkled. "Your every move. Your every choice."

Rachel cries. "I tried to help him. You wouldn't let him me help him."

"Oh, but you did help him, and me. You used your relationships with them and their relationship with each other to your advantage, placed obscure cues for their subliminal minds to pick up." His laugh is gleeful. "the purple and the water was a nice touch." He gestures picking something from its root. "You plucked her memories like fruit and let them float up to the surface to keep her fragile mind from collapsing under its weight. You showed tremendous restraint."

"I tried-i wanted," Rachel stutters. "I-,"

"Hey dickhead," Donna calls. "Pick on someone your own size."

"Preferably, back in your own dimension," Kory adds, faintly.

And on any other day, breathing free air, Dick would question what he'd done bringing those two together, but there were matters more pressing for the time being. Mainly, the psyche of a powerful demon from another dimension visting upon his teenage daughter. He watched Trigon dance around Rachel with his soft-spoken words and disguised promises and let Bruce's voice coach him: as long as rage dictates to you, the enemy will remain out of your reach. "He's trying to convince you of how similar the two of you are, trying to get into your head, but you're stronger than him. Tell her the truth - tell her you're here to use her."

"I'm trying to tell my daughter a story." Trigon cranes his neck to the side, stretching deep, and squeezes his fist, making Dick grunt in pain.

"Stop it," Rachel cries.

"The alien is a formidable warrior from another world – but inside your playground, just a woman falling for a man." He gazes at Angela. "I'd say the promise of love was more powerful than any fire she could summon," and then he looks up at Dick. "he was a ghost drifting through time, desperate to be tethered to a purpose, to find meaning and he did, and it terrified him. He discovered a strong anchor in the warrior, and his purpose in you." Sobering, he spins Rachel around and let's go. "But you knew that, you felt it even before they did, and you used it. You used them." He slow claps. "Well played. Only a child of mine could win at a game she had no idea she was even playing."

"I'm scared," Rachel whimpers, her eyes ablaze with rage. "I don't want this thing, this dark thing." She looks to him and Angela. "What am I supposed to do, what do you want from me?"

"For you to see how much power you have, given the right motivation." He whistles and the tiger stirs. "Your humanity is your greatest strength."

Gar stands up and shakes his head and his eyes glow red. He stalks towards Kory, growling and hissing at her.

"but humanity is malleable," he whistles again and Gar trots over to his side and sits down at his heel. Trigon reaches down and strokes his head. "and so, it makes yours – your attachments to these humans your greatest weakness."

"Let him go." Rachel cries, defeated.

Dick falls from the ceiling and the air is punched out of him when he lands, bouncing off his chin. He rolls onto his back, coughing, and cups his side. His chest is unbearably tight, and he presses his fingers to his ribs to keep them from falling apart under his skin.

"Oh, you meant the beast," Trigon says, exuberantly. "I don't know, I've grown quite fond of Gar in the brief time I've gotten to know him."

"Please," Rachel makes hesitant steps towards him until they're face to face, and she gingerly circles her hand around his waist. "Dad, please." She pleads. "Tell me something real - about you."

"That's simple." Trigon says, more woeful now. "I just want to get to know my daughter."

"Rachel," Dick coughs, turning onto his side, and pushes himself up off the floor with a hop. He has a twisted ankle to add to the list injuries ailing his already wrung-out body.

"Will you leave my friends alone?" Rachel swallows. "No tricks, or mind games. No control."

Trigon places his hand over his heart. "You have my word." And it almost sounds genuine.

"No," Kory growls, leaning up against the door as she stands. "the girl stays,"

"Kory," Dick says weakly.

"It's okay," Rachel smiles at her, and then turns to her dad. "Let Gar go."

Trigon looks at the tiger and the tiger looks back at him, and then those enchanting red eyes fade away, leaving the big, soft green they all know. He leaps behind what's left of the piano and moments later, his hand shoots up as he braces his weight against the instrument, pulling himself up.

"You can't go," Gar cries, leaning against it for support.

"Are you okay?" Rachel asks.

"It's just a scratch now," he says. "Don't go with him."

"I have to do this. I think I need to." Rachel says, and Angela fixes her hair behind her ear. "This is all because of me. It's the only way to know you'll all be safe." She turns to her father. "You're right. You are the only who can help me, so I'll go with you, just don't hurt my friends anymore."

"Done," Trigon says.

"Kid, do you know what you're doing?" Donna asks.

Rachel nods.

"Rae," Kory cries, her forehead creased with worry.

"I'm sorry for everything," Rachel cries. "I love you, too."

Dick lunges forward and Rachel freezes him in mid-air with her hand, watching every part of him grow stiff as the air solidifies around him.

"You have to let me go," she says with a choked sob. "You can't help me. I need my dad. Please, Dick." She's smiling at him as if it's all okay, but it's not, none of this is okay. And then her voice creeps in his head again, as clear as his own, shushing his worries, telling him she knows what she's doing.

"After you," Trigon bows.

"Thank you. Dick. Thank all of you." She breathes out, pressing her chin to her chest and when she looks up her face has turned to ash once more. Black bleeds into her eyes and veins as she opens her arms, summoning a portal that rips the air apart, swirling with purple nebulous light, its strength pushing her hair and cloak back.

"They're not your family." Dick's voice quivers.

"I know." Rachel smiles, and steps into the portal, disappearing in its light.

Trigon presses his hand against Angela's chest when she moves towards him. "I'm afraid this is where our love affair ends, dear." She pauses, and he kisses her cheek. "thank you, she really is beautiful."

Angela's eyes water. "You said I would stand by your side when you reordered the world." She cries. "I waited for you. I-I killed for you."

"And it was all worth it," he strokes her hair. "you reunited your only daughter with her father." Leaning in, he brushes his lips to hers one last time. "my most loyal servant." And with that he backs away, with a look of pity that makes her shrink.

"Hey, asshole," Dick shouts. "I'll see you soon."

With that Trigon steps back into the portal.

"No," Angela screams, running for the portal and dives through the air as it closes around her arm with a singeing burn before it disappears, sucking all the light and air with it. She crashes to the ground, holding her stub in stunned silence, her eyes almost white like her face and bewildered.

Dick crumbles to the floor, holding his side and Donna unpeels herself from the wall, jumping down and landing solid on her feet. She rushes to his side and snatches his face into her hand to give him the once over. "I'm okay."

"I'll be the judge of that," Donna scowls.

The lights return, abuzz with new, brighter energy, that forces Dick to wince.

Gar steps out from behind the piano with wobbly legs, and Kory rushes to him as he buckles, catching him and falling to the floor with him in her arms.

Donna stands quickly, pulling the throw off the sofa and hurling it at Kory. "Here," she says, smiling solemnly when Kory nods, and then she's kneeling back at Dick's side. She cradles him, and he's too tired and broken to resist the comfort, but his eyes are on Kory, and hers are on him – reality has been clicking in a bit a time, but he's most grateful for the dose of her.

Angela sobers with a gasp, the color returning to her face, and looks down at her amputated arm, screaming until all the blood rushes into her cheeks.

Donna helps Dick into the sofa and stands. "Do I have to do everything?" she groans, walking over to Angela, and slams her fist into the woman's face. She huffs and pulls her top down as she slumps to the floor like a plank of wood. She loosens her belt and kneels down, wrapping around Angela's arm, and huffs when she stands again.

The morning light washes over the room, pastel oranges and yellows shining through the side of the house where the wall was, with not a cloud in the sky.

Donna drops onto the sofa and uses her hand as a visor. "I need coffee."

BANG.

They all flinch as the door slams, splintering under a thunderclap of pressure.

BANG.

The door splits in half and falls off its hinges with Hank standing on the other side, big shouldered, big footed, sandy blonde, Hank. "The Calvary's here," he says, and his voice booms like a giant's. And God, Dick could cry, because it's true, Hank is here and he's alive, so is Dawn.

He and Dawn step in and both case the place, taking in the destroyed living room, a missing wall and an amputee sleeping on the floor, plus a very naked Gar under a sheet, which garners a quizzical brow from Hank. "Well, shit," he says. "What'd you do now, Grayson?"

And Dick laughs, deliriously, uncontrollably, and uncharacteristically for several minutes. He could hug Hank right now because he is so relieved and horrified in the same moment knowing everything he lived through was a lie, but had still happened. That Dawn stands there, when the last time he saw her she was in a coma.

"It's been a long night," Donna exclaims.

Dawn looks at Dick, her eyes growing wide with concern. "Dick, where's Rachel?"

Behind them, Jason comes skidding in, pushing them out of his way and pauses, looking around at each of them before his shoulders deflate. "Did we miss the party?"

"Dick," Dawn shouts. "where the hell is the girl?"

"She's gone," Kory sighs. "Trigon took her."

"Who the fuck's Trigon?" Hank spits, and Dawn gently cups his arm.

"So, what comes next?" Dawn asks.

Dick scoots of the sofa and slowly his arm falls from his side. He hasn't a clue how he's going to pull his unravelled muscle, bone and brain back together, but that's the least of his worries because Rachel has a plan, and he needs all of them to exact it.

He glances over at Kory as she helps Gar up, and then at Donna as she comes to his side and faces Hank, Dawn and Jason, swallowing hard. "We're going to find them – but in order to do that, I'm going to need help, from all of you. We need to work together despite our differences -,"

"I'm in," Jason interjects.

"In what, exactly?" Hank asks.

Dick isn't sure his ready to lead, but he is sure that he doesn't have a choice because Rachel needs all of them. He needs all of them. The words she left in his mind before she disappeared behind the light repeats over and over again: "I know what I'm doing. And I know you're going to find me. All of you. Trust me." And he should tell them. He will tell them, but first this. He breathes in deep. "in this team," he says. "but you're going to have to trust me, otherwise,"

"I'm in," Jason repeats, cracking his knuckles.

"Kid, would you shut the fuck up?" Hank cries. "Jesus." he shakes his head. "He's been juiced up the whole way here. No naps or nothing, just going for hours."

"Hank," Dawn whispers, "come on."

"It's chill, Dawn," Jason smirks. "Really, I'll deflate his blow-up muscles soon as my friend here gets done with his vigilantes call to arms speech."

"I swear to god," Hank growls.

"Hey," Dick yells, and they all turn to him. "Knock it off. Both of you." He says. "We have an asshole to send back to hell before he snaps this world in half and takes a shit on it. We don't have time for this. Rachel needs us. Innocent people need us. So, we either do this together or we sit on our asses and wait for the world to end." he straightens his back, looking each of them in the eye. "I know which one I choose."

Donna smiles at him, teasing, and proud at the same time, and he nods.

The emptiness, the loss of his parents had been hibernating inside of him for so long, he hadn't realized until now, that it wasn't the only thing he had anymore – he had a purpose, he'd always had a purpose. And he had people he cared about too, people he wanted to protect, was going to protect. "So who's in?"

Maybe he didn't need Robin after all. Maybe what he needed was to become something else entirely, something better, and stronger. Maybe he could become more than a vigilante, and make something good out of this band of misfits again. They could become a symbol of hope and justice, maybe even heroes.

/End