A/N: In case this isn't clear, this chapter takes place at the same time as chapter three; it is a different perspective. The next parts after this will go further into the day. I will focus on the perspectives of Gordon and the orphan girl as well as Roy and then the last chapter will be a different scene with Roy and Robin in the aftermath of this day in Gotham.

Small and quiet whispers breeze through Robin's mind as he flips the holographic device in his gloved fingers. He isn't glaring at it really. He should be glowering at it, rightly so, since this is the murder weapon of that man…the tool that stole a father from his daughter, but he isn't. He doesn't have the focus to realize what is in his hands.

Dick is alone in his mind. He has blocked everything else out.

He has blocked out the burning eyes of Conner as he watches him closely. He has purposefully ignored the quick glances from Commissioner Gordon in between mad dashes around the crime scene. Most of all, he pretends the little girl doesn't exist.

Robin, if he were to hide in his mind, wouldn't have to turn around and face the truth. It's his fault. There's no way around it this time. He's older…not a circus brat….he's trained…not a civilian…he's a hero…not a victim. He should fight his own battles. He should fight for those that cannot fight for themselves. He should have been her hero. He should have stopped this all from happening.

He hears her even though he has tried to banish her into nonexistence, the calming breathing kanta Bruce has taught him proving useless for the first time. The little girl is crying. A different paramedic is holding her, although perhaps less closely as he is weary of the snot that covers the girl's first caretaker's jacket.

An icy chuckle flows through Dick's body. He suppresses the involuntary shaking as Conner's sad eyes still focus on his body. Dick can stop the trembling if he tries but he cannot block the thought which caused his pain in the first place: Snot? How can anyone be worried about snot when there's so much blood so close?

He smells the red puddle even though he's kept his distance. Bruce couldn't stop Dick from seeing this and smelling this. Robin should have known that preventing these tragedies is impossible.

If Bruce, amazing, courageous and emphatic Bruce, could not stop Dick's parents from falling to their death, couldn't chase their ghosts out of his ward's mind, couldn't make pools of blood smell like roses, then why would Robin have a chance. How can Robin do the impossible for this little girl?

Robin knows he must look so weak and pathetic right now. Morosely, he wonders if he ever truly looks strong with his silly and cheerful fabric flowing in the wind as he dodges a bullet that would rip apart his petite arms without warning.

Without warning a flush of silly, cheerful fabric pours into Robin's vision. Kid Flash grabs his friend and squeezes him tight.

"Are you okay, man?" Wally rubs his back as he hugs him. "I'm such an idiot. I should have…I mean…It's obvious this would upset you and I just didn't..."

Robin leans into the embrace. His nostrils fill up with the sticky smell of sweat that clings to the speedster's clothing and skin. A drop of sweat trickles across Wally's brow. Robin likes this stench.

He figures he likes the smell because sweat means taking action, trying with all your effort, and being able to help. It's a nice lie. Really, deep down, Robin likes the sweat's smell because it dulls the stench of blood.

He pushes away from Wally's hug; his twin fists use Wally's abs as a rebound board. His new distance from his friend cannot be more than half a dozen inches, but it's still distance and that's all that matters. Dick isn't being smothered by pity anymore.

Wally leans back on the balls of his feet. He opens his mouth to speak but says nothing. He growls suddenly and closes the distance between them.

"I want to help, Rob," Wally pleads. Robin's chin is tilted downwards against his chest.

Kid Flash leans his head down and attempts to look into Robin's hidden eyes. Wally wonders if Robin is crying beneath that mask. He could cry all he wanted and his friends would never know…

Wally grabs Robin by the wrist and pulls him back into a hug. Robin squirms in his arms and attempts to worm away but the older boy has speed on his side. Robin cannot make a movement to flee in any thing other than slow motion in Wally's eyes.

Dick hates this. Why is he always the one who without the power to make things better? Wally, brilliant, enthusiastic and hopeful Wally, made himself powerful. He thought about what he wanted and then he went for it; that's why Wally is the one holding Dick together in case he cracks like the piece of glass that he is.

Robin tries to toss Kid Flash's arms off of him, but Wally only hushes him and returns his arms around his friend. Dick wants to laugh at himself again. He pounds his hands helplessly against Wally's chest.

Maybe if he hits him hard enough Wally will feel the pain which Dick feels from having to be comforted. He hopes that if he beats harder on his friend's body, then that physical pain will translate every emotion he is feeling mentally to Wally.

Robin might give in now. He might pretend he doesn't care about what other people think or about responsibility but he was raised too well for such denial. His parents…his Bruce…his Alfred…his Wally and his Conner and his Kaldur and his Artemis and Megan and Roy…they expect more from him. And most importantly, he expects more from himself.

"I'm fine," Robin insists. His voice is raspy and he winces as he hears it. He forces out his words anyways. "I don't need your help," he tells Wally as well as Conner who he knows is listening in.

The redhead searches the smaller boy's eyes. He wets his lips and worries. He doesn't know if Dick is muttering in Romani to hurt him, to show that Wally could never understand what he is feeling, or if maybe this means something worse. Maybe Dick is really just that broken.

"Just leave me alone! I'm not the one hurting here," Robin whispers as Wally embraces him.

Wally wants to help. Wally know that nobody can help unless he gets Dick speaks his thoughts plainly. Wally wishes he didn't have to break this to his friend. Robin, when he learns he is speaking in his mother tongue by accident, will be embarrassed. Wally holds him closer and hopes he won't hide when he explains his problem.

"I don't understand a word you're saying, Rob. You have to calm down and try to think clearly." KF brushes his fingers through Dick's sweaty hair. "I really want to help but," he unearths Robin's face from his lap, "I can't do that when I don't understand what you're saying..."

Wally stresses the words 'understand' and 'saying' so that they ring in the hollow caverns of Dick's mind.

He hears what those words really mean and that scares him. He's afraid to talk. What will keep his next words from being so vulnerable and raw? What will stop him from using the speech which he calls his parents and not his own, having divorced himself from it in an attempt to forget the pain?

Dick doesn't care when Wally gasps as he pushes away from him. He doesn't care that his eyes water more as he wipes his dirty gloves across his lids.

"I just need," Robin pointedly takes more steps away from Wally as he speaks, "to be the hero here."

Robin doesn't know if his words are the right ones. If he is explaining properly or even in English, but he needs to say this all out loud. He needs to know he can admit the truth to himself and the world as long as all ears are open to hear.

"I don't need your help," Dick explains. He turns his head to face the little girl who sits in the medic's lap across the lot. "She needs mine."

Kid Flash doesn't follow Robin's eyes to the little girl. He is left confused and worried as he listens to Robin's foreign words. Wally doesn't know if he can help his best friend so he begins to beg him to help him understand.

"I fight my own battles," Robin replies slowly and forcefully to the other teen's concerns.

Robin looks to the fists which he used to beat against Wally's chest. He pulls off the dirty gloves but they get stuck on the clasp that wraps the broken holo-device to his belt.

He had forgotten that the murder weapon was still on his person. How could he forget something like that? What kind of hero is he?

His body stiffens as he holds in his self-loathing. He lets Wally unfasten his caught gloves without argument. Once Kid Flash has the gloves in his hands, Dick swirls on his boot and rushes away.

He isn't escaping his fears. He isn't fleeing his friend. He isn't running away from himself. He is heading towards the only person that can make him matter anymore. He is looking for the little girl. He will give her hope.

Lost in his thoughts, Robin clips Commissioner Gordon as he passes by.

"Excuse me," he mutters. He stops. The holo-device is still attached to his belt. He unclips it and holds it in his small, bare palms. It's evidence and he's holding it without gloves. He quickly panics and tosses it into Gordon's hand.

"Pardon?" Gordon says to the hero. Robin realizes he isn't speaking English but he doesn't have time to sort that out. He's needed somewhere else. Someone else needs him.

"I'm sorry," Robin apologizes again. The commissioner finds the holographic device in his hands before the boy runs off again.

Robin vaguely hears the commissioner call out to him as he runs off. He doesn't slow his sprint. He's waited long enough.

Robin stops before the ambulance where Mr. Dalca's orphaned daughter is and starts a breathing kanta.

His last thought before he opens his raw throat to comfort her and his shaking arms to embrace her is: I can help her now; at the very least, I must have the power to do that.

"Du' dera," he whispers as he holds her tight, "I'm so sorry, so very sorry."

Dick doesn't care that he starts crying before her.