"What hurts you, blesses you. Darkness is your candle." ― Rumi

Serene- it wasn't a word that Dick got to use very often. It formed nicely on his lips, and rolled gently across his thoughts. Damian and Colin had worn themselves down training that morning and seemed content to waste away the late afternoon with movies and popcorn. Dick normally would have leapt at the chance to enjoy such a luxury with his two boys but there was work to be done down in the cave, and now that it didn't have two preteens bouncing around the stalactites it was high time for him to get started. Surprisingly enough it had been Jason to fill his spot in supervising the tired two, reluctantly bribed by the rare presence of a beer in the manor.

"It's quiet." The voice, deep and familiar stole Dick from his thoughts. He flexed his cramping fingers, swearing internally that he was going to end up with a hardcore case of carpal tunnel. Briefly his gaze wandered away from the bat-computer to eye the archer warily. Roy had slunk down into the cave sometime in the last thirty minutes, and up until a moment ago had been busy decimating the shooting range that he had been nice enough to install. "Don't jinx it for me Harper, if you want noise I'm sure Jay would be happy to oblige." His fingers reluctantly returned to the keys, files flickering past at a near impossible reading speed.

"Jason actually dozed off, I'm sure those two devils have already tattooed various obscenities across his face by now." From the purposely lazy drawl to the red head's voice, Dick got the feeling that he was in for some sort of lecture. Sure enough it wasn't a minute later that the elder launched head first into a slow prattle.

"We've had this discussion before Dick, about this whole brooding workaholic edge you've got going. It wasn't healthy when Bruce did it, and it isn't when you do it. Everyone else in the manor has taken a day to themselves." Roy swung his arms like a flailing chicken toward the security monitors. Steph was baking cookies with Alfred in the kitchen, Cassandra thumbing through the second Harry Potter book on the counter. Colin and Damian seemed to be rather preoccupied with sharpies and Jason's face. And even Babs and Selina looked ill at ease as they played a round of poker in the east den.

Dick opened his mouth to argue but Roy beat him to it. "I know you've got a lot going on bird boy but I think you've earned at least one free afternoon." There was a sense of finality in the archer's tone, one that Dick rarely heard and had never managed to weasel around. "What would I even do with an afternoon off Roy?" Dick rubbed his face tiredly, somewhat frightened by his lack of ideas. He used to beg and plead for these days when he was younger and now he couldn't even fathom the idea of them.

"When was the last time you had your muscles worked over?" Roy eyed the other's stiffness disapprovingly. It had been a common practice to get worked over twice a month in their sidekick days, but at the rate Dick was going Roy hoped that he'd been doing so at least once a week.

"Well if you're offering." Dick smirked as he made to stand. In the time it took for him to take a step in the red heads direction a tremor ripped through the Earth, knocking them both flat against the cave floor. It escalated in only seconds, not enough time to fully grasp the situation, nor do anything about it. Briefly blue eyes clashed against green, both wide with panic. Stone crashed down between them, blocking them from each other's sight. The ensuing downpour of rock knocked Dick into a painless darkness.

"Todd! Todd!—"

"JASON!"

Jolted from his slumber Jason reached instinctively for the gun holstered to his hip, slow to realize he'd stopped carrying in the house. Glancing around for what had woken him his sleep bleared gaze was met by the sight of tumbling shelves and shattering glass, a pair of small boys frozen in the middle of it.

Damian looked about as uncertain as Jason guessed was physically possible for him, the raven haired preteen clutching to the sleeve of Colin's hoodie, a thin bloody streak running down the carrot top's face from his hair line. Launching from the couch with bat worthy skill he hauled both boys into his arms, adrenalin pulsing through his veins as the sounds of destruction filled his ears.

Clutching the two with uncharacteristic desperation, Jason held them flush against his body as he braced himself in the doorway, willing whatever force existed to still the earth beneath their feet.

From under the pasta pot that Cass had quickly helmeted her head with, Stephanie took in the shambles of the kitchen. Taking an uncertain step forward she swiveled her gaze to the awkward pair standing behind her. Cass had Alfred braced steadily in her arms, her ferociously protective gaze looking somewhat ridiculous under the brim of another pot, Alfred similarly equipped with the improvised head gear.

Somewhat rooted to her new location, Steph watched on with quiet gratitude as Alfred extracted himself from Cassandra's grip, though still keeping a hold of her hand. The ever composed butler picked his way across the floor, shards of crystal and porcelain carpeting the pearly tile. As he passed Cass reached out her free hand and their train of pot heads made a careful exit into the eerie silence that engulfed the rest of the manor.

"Sirs, misses— thank heavens." The relief as evident in Alfred's voice when they entered the living room, Damian perched on the couch applying a bandage to Colin's forehead as Jason hovered behind them a half of the broken coffee table braced in his arms as a sort of umbrella over the two should further debris come down. From the far hall Barbara and Selina were making their way towards the slowly assembling group, Barbara brimming with barely surpassed concern and Selina brandishing her whip as she had no doubt struck objects right out of the air to defend them.

After a moment's pause it was Cass that broke the short lived silence, her question sending a tremor of different sorts through them all.

"Di-ick…Ro-oy?"

Once, twice Dick blinked against the harsh light stabbing into the depths of his eyes. It took a minute to adjust to the glare before he could make out the dark juts of stone against a cloudless, bright blue sky. Sunlight stretched its warm arms across rock that had never before seen the light of day, and had never been meant to. Deceiving brightness aside, the air was frigid, a stark warmth slithering down his side.

"Dick?"

The voice sounded far off, a ginger topped head poking into view. "Don't move man, we called for the supes we're gonna get you out in minute." Dick couldn't see the need for such urgency in the archer's voice, if anything he was more concerned with the startling abount of crimson that had painted half of Roy's face. He was blissfully unaware of the fact that he was lying only two feet away from an edge that plummeted into a pitch black realm of the earth, on a ledge just barely wide enough to support the whole length of his body.

For a moment Roy's head lingered within view but with the soft and fading scuff of feet he was gone, leaving Dick alone in the silence.

AN: So. Pot heads. Yeah I don't know. To anyone who's stuck with this story you're incredible and I adore each and every word that goes into your reviews. Oh and, this is the whole "hell on Earth" thing Tim saw in the last chapter, just sayin. :) BTW I hate break lines, cause they hate me .