Yes, this does mention Nightwing dying. But is he actually dead? *evil smirk* I was listening to the song Innocence and When You're Gone by Avril Lavigne which inspired this story. Check out the song, it's really good. Okay, I made some revisions to fit the timeline of invasion. YJ Invasion ended on June 20th. Four months later, this story happens. Dick 'dies' on October 27th, this part with Barbara happens on the 28th.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything

Prologue:

"I'm so sorry."

The explosion went off.

That one sentence echoed in Barbara Gordon's, AKA Batgirls mind. Right now, she was just numb. Just numb. Slowly, almost robotically, she grabbed her keys. She left her room in her father's house. Yes, she stilled lived with her father. She went out the door, and got into her car. She pulled out and started to drive.

She let her mind wander. Some part of her refused to believe that Dick Grayson was dead. Dick Grayson was the kind of person who you would imagine would always be there, no matter what you said or did. God, she had been so stupid. The Team treated him like crap. She treated him like crap. If only she had known how much time she would've had left with him-

She felt tears well up in her eyes. She refused to let them fall. Everything around her seemed to blur. If only Tula hadn't died. If only Kaldur's father hadn't been Black Manta. If only Kaldur hadn't gone undercover. If only Nightwing and Kaldur hadn't come up with that stupid plan! If only Jason hadn't died. If only Ted Kord (Blue Beetle before Jamie) hadn't died. If only the invasion hadn't happened. If only Jason didn't come back evil. If only Wally hadn't died in the Artic. If only they hadn't shunned and rejected Nightwing when he needed them most.

If only-

Damn, she thought, Damn it all to hell.

She remember that day as clear as anything. Batman, herself, and Robin were there. They ended up teaming up with Nightwing because the drug deal they were tracking down was huge. Roy, Red Arrow, was there as well. She wasn't kidding when she said it was huge. He was following a lead for the deal on his end. Cheshire, Jade, was home with Lian.

Then they found Red Hood there, who apparently had decided to crash this drug deal and kill some of them while he was at it. The fight turned into one massive free for all. Then, as if to make matters worse, Damian showed up. Damian had popped up a few days ago. Batman refused to let him out on the field. The kid seemed to only like Batman, and Nightwing.

Barbara had a feeling it was because Batman was his father, and Nightwing was so damn likeable. That was one of the things she loved about his personality. Spoiler, or Stephanie, showed up after him, fuming. Black Bat, or Cass, showed up next. Stephanie had shown up a month ago. She was still pretty new, she hadn't met Nightwing yet. Or Black Bat for that matter. Cassandra had been rescued by Batman from her father, David Cain, who was training her to be an assassin.

Cass hadn't even made her official debut as Black Bat. Neither had Stephanie as Spoiler. Damian was the son of Batman and Talia Al Ghul. He wasn't a hero, period. The only reason he had met Nightwing was because he had taken a hijacked motorcycle (AKA hers) and driven to Bludhaven. She didn't know what Dick had said or done, but when Damian came back he looked to be fighting a smile, and she couldn't detect any malice in the insults he said about Nightwing. Damian kept going on about how that 'imbecile thinks I am his brother'.

Nightwing himself was getting readjusted to the hero world. A week after the invasion had ended, nobody contacted him. Nobody bothered to check up on him. For about four months, he didn't have contact with anyone a part of his superhero life. Then about a week ago he contacted Batman, and tries to talk to Jason. She had a feeling some of what he said got through, because the death toll for Red Hood slowed down dramatically. Barbara is still wondering what happened during those four months he had no contact with anyone.

Back to the fight, things were going pretty well. While investigating the cargo contents, she finds out that they weren't shipping just drugs. It was an arms deal as well. She just about cursed at the sky for the horrible luck she had. There was some drugs, plenty of firepower, and the machine that went missing from S.T.A.R labs. S.T.A.R labs had refused to tell them what the machine was, but they did give them a picture of it.

The lack of information had bothered Batman, so he hacked S.T.A.R labs. There was no information on record for the machine any where. Suddenly, the battle took a turn for the worse. One of the criminals had rigged the trucks to blow up the warehouse they were in. There were five trucks. One unknown machine. A bunch of heroes. One Jason. And about fifty men who had all started to flee when the one seemingly in charge pressed a button.

Doing a quick sweep of the area, and seeing no knocked out men, she started to leave. It took all her concentration to avoid the bullets the fleeing men were firing back at them. Batgirl remembered going out the door, and turning around to see Red Arrow and Nightwing right behind her. The others had already made it. Just then she watched as a gun men got a lucky shot in. She remembered seeing Nightwing fall to the ground.

Red Arrow heard the sound and turned around to help Nightwing back. Everything seemed to be going in slow motion. The gun men were no longer firing at the three of them, the rest of the Bats were taking them down. But they wouldn't notice how Nightwing was hit, and had yet to make it out of the warehouse. He was just standing there, two hundred feet away from her.

She watched as Red Arrow, only fifty feet away from Nightwing, tried to get to him to help him. She was frozen, like she knew what was going to happen before it did. Even with the mask on, Nightwing locked eyes with her. Despite being so far away that he would have to shout for her to hear him, she could read his lips just fine.

"I'm so sorry."

The explosion went off. She remembered screaming, and then nothing. That happened yesterday.

They had no clue what to do. For his collage classes, Dick had, unbeknownst to them, taken summer classes and in-school classes up to the end of September, practically non-stop, and signed up to continue them in February, so they didn't have to worry about that until then. Batman had sent Dick Grayson on a 'soul search' journey-much like the one he sent Jason on when Jason died.

The apartment's still Dick Grayson's, with payments being made on it, but Dick Grayson would never be living there again. After that, Bruce went into a catatonic state. It was like Jason's death all over again, but this time, it didn't seem like he would come out of it. He just sat in the Batcave in his costume with the cowl down.

When Alfred had been told, he had become really pale. Alfred had politely excused himself and went to his room. Tim had changed out of his costume and into normal clothes. He locked himself in his room. From outside his door, you could hear his sobs. Stephanie and Cassandra had no idea how to act, so they just went to their rooms and avoided everyone. Leslie Thompkins, the Wayne family and bat-clan doctor, looked tired when they told her the news. Leslie stayed in her room at the Manor.

Lucius Fox, who covers for Bruce when he has to 'go Batman', and who has worked with Batman and co. to create new tech, hadn't gone to work. He had taken the week off. So had Bruce. Leslie didn't work until next Friday, a week from now. Damian was frozen, like he was on autopilot. It seemed to her that he was trying to act tough and uncaring, but the death affected him, too. She internally snorted. Trust Dick to have a midget ex-assassin for a little brother.

This left Barbara to pull herself together and to tell Cheshire that her husband wasn't coming home. The ex-assassin had looked . . . broken, when Batgirl told her the news. Jade had cradled Lian close, with tears in her eyes. At that point, it was all Barbara could do to not break down in tears because she had seen her oldest friend die before her eyes.

They hadn't even told the Team or the League yet. Man, Dick was like a nephew to Green Arrow, Flash, Superman, Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern 1&2, Zatara/Doctor Fate, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Captain Atom, and Black Canary. Not to mention how Green Arrow, Black Canary, Artemis and the Team would take Roy's death. And at the same time as Nightwing's, so soon after Wally's death.

It seemed to Batgirl that too many people were dying lately. Barbara's car pulled to stop. With a jolt, she looked around. She knew this parking lot, these buildings. She had driven to Dick's apartment building. She doesn't know what made her do it, but it just felt right to be here.

She got out of the car and headed to the building. Slowly she traveled the route to Dick's apartment. When she reached the door, she hesitated before pushing it open. Stale air reached her nose. The place looked the same, as if Dick had just left and was coming back soon. She looked to the right of her and saw the small kitchen. It was in the shape of an upside down U, with the table on the opposite side of the counter.

There was still space to get around, though. The living room and the dining room sort of blended together, with nothing really separating them other then the floor pattern. The kitchen had dark wood flooring, while the living and bedrooms had tan carpets. The living room was nothing special, just a sofa and two armchairs. She remembered teasing him about the green color. saying it was like the color of the couches at the Cave. But the couches at Dick's place weren't a bright green, they were a dark green, almost grey.

Right now, she would be willing to plead on her knees for him to come back, if only to prove he wasn't-wasn't gone. She flicked the lights on and headed further in, shutting the door quietly behind her. She looked at the light, sunshine colored walls. She teased him for the color choice, but he claimed it would add color to the place. She looked at the papers and textbooks cluttered on the table.

His laptop was on the table, too. The school papers were off to the side in a neat stack along with the textbooks. He had just gotten through a big chunk of his second year of collage. She couldn't say the same for his mail, though. It was all over the place, with some ads from companies thrown in. A book was on the table. She squinted to look at the title. It said, The Hobbit. She had to snort at that. Trust Dick to read stories with trolls and magic rings, full of adventure and danger.

She glanced at the kitchen, taking in everything. There were no dirty dishes. Huh. His life at the circus must of gotten him used to cleaning dishes. That and his training from Alfred. As soon as the butler had found out where Dick had moved to after his fight with Bruce, Alfred had marched straight to Dick's apartment and taught him how to 'properly maintain a satisfactory human environment' as he put it.

She headed down the hall. The place had four rooms. The first room on her left was a bathroom. Ew. Looks like training from Alfred struck again, though. The room was clean (the door was open). The first room on her right was a guest bedroom. Jason had claimed it as his own, though. There were posters of rock bands on the door, and 'Jason' had been messily glued on the door in wooden letters. The room to the door was closed, as it had been for a while now.

She had to smile at that. Dick and Jason had grown close, and become like brothers. Often times Jason would spend the weekends at Dick's place, or he would come to Dick when Jason and Bruce clashed. She knew all this because Dick was quite the motor mouth when he wanted to be. That, and she would sometimes visit to annoy Dick. Barbara and Dick had been friends for years, since he was ten and she was ten.

Really, she was only a couple months older than Dick. But that never mattered. They stuck together, fought together, and laughed together. He was her friend. And now he was gone. She felt tears prick her eyes and she used the back of her hand to wipe them off. She would not lose it. Not now. She looked down at what she was wearing to distract herself. Jeans, because it was October and it was pretty chilly in Gotham. Well, Bludhaven now, since that was where she was. She had on a black t-shirt, with sneakers. Nothing fancy.

She ignored her clothes and decided to continue her self-guided tour. The second room on her left was the one Tim had claimed. It, like Jason's, was supposed to have been a guest room, but Tim had come over so much he claimed that room as his own. The name 'Tim' was on the door in neat letters. Tim, like Jason, had become Dick's brother. She hoped he would be okay, but Barbara wasn't even sure she would be okay.

She sighed. The door to Tim's room was shut. Most likely because Tim, like a few Leaguers and the Team, was mad. Honestly, she had a feeling that the only people who would talk to Nightwing and not feel anger, pity, or some other emotion were Bruce, Alfred, Leslie, and Lucius. Selina, too. Oh gosh, they hadn't told Catwoman. She would be mad. Then again, they hadn't told anyone else. They were just in shock, and couldn't bring themselves to say the words out loud.

She turned to the second room on the right. Dick's room. There were no marks on door to symbolize it was his other than his name. It was his last name though, on the door. A lot of people argued with him about having his nickname on the door. Having his first name on the door wasn't even an option. Eventually a compromise was worked out of having his last name, 'Grayson' on the door in neat letters. She remembered how he always told people to call him Dick because Richard was too formal. She put her hand to the door nob. Again, she hesitated, but eventually she just pushed the door open.

The room was the same as he had left it yesterday. The bed was made, there were a few loose shoes strewn about on the carpet. There was a trunk/dresser, which sat the foot of the bed, and was made of dark oak wood. The top had a few papers and other stuff on it. Looking carefully around the room, she looked at the bedside table. It was on the left side, and it only had a book on it.

Looking at the title, she saw that it said The Lost Hero. How ironic, except they didn't live in the world of Percy Jackson. She looked around once more. She realized how tired she was, and how much she wished this was a dream. She grabbed a sweatshirt that was thrown haphazardly on the bed. Other than that, there was nothing on the dark navy sheets.

She put the sweatshirt on. It was red, and it smelled like him. She wished so bad this was a dream. She slowly went on the bed. Barbara felt tears prick her eyes. It all reminded her so much of Dick. In the back of her mind she wonders if this is similar to how Artemis-Tigris now-felt when Wally died. Barbara didn't go under the covers. No, she just lay on top, taking in everything.

She let the tears that had been waiting so long to come out fall, and Barbara Gordon cried. She curled up into a ball on her side, and just cried. How much she wished this were a dream-nightmare, and all of this wasn't real. It didn't work. Gradually, she fell asleep. She can worry about breaking the news some other day. Some other time.

For now, she wanted to rest.

No, this is not a deathfic. No, Nightwing is not dead. Neither is Red Arrow. This takes place a little while after the invasion, by about four months. The ages are the same as in the show. Damian is eight, almost nine years old. Cassandra is thirteen years old. Stephanie is fourteen years old. Yes Wally 'died' in the Artic. No, Mount Justice did not get blown up.

Sorry if any characters are a little off. I did the best I could. I was listening to the song Innocence and When You're Gone by Avril Lavigne, which really helped inspire this story. Check it out, they're good songs. YJ Invasion ended on June 20th. Dick and Roy 'died' on October 27th . I know you guys can do it. Please?

*The Lost Hero is written by Rick Riordon. It branches off the Percy Jackson series.

*The Hobbit is a book written by J.R.R. Tolkien

REVIEW! REVIEW! PLEASE! If you don't like this story, no one is forcing you to read it.