Memories of her haunted his nights, now, flying with her, laughing with her, the playful reckless grace she'd always had all ran together into the memory of Slade's walk towards her unconscious body as he ordered him out of the room with Roy. Her voice echoed in his head now, asking him how he could do this to her...

*whimpers.* You know what sucks the most, EVIL!Dick? Despite Kory's admittedly strong temper, she's one of the ones that would have understood. Oh, sure, she'd be furious at you for turning your back on everything that used to matter to you. But, dammit, she would have understood Blockbuster/Renegade/NeedingSlade.

But, then, if Evil!Dick had thought that anyone was capable of understanding him besides Slade, he wouldn't have landed here, would he?*hugs him, and hurts for him, despite his pain being very much his own fault.*

"Go back to sleep, my own. I'm all right."

*g* See? It's things like this that make me love EVIL!Dick, despite how much he rips out the heart of everyone else I love.

//You know me too well.//
Well, of course he does. He's Roy.

"'kay." God, what the sound of Roy's voice like that did to him, low and sweet and sleep-rough and still trusting him... It was almost enough... but he still remembered her voice like that, too. As well he should. *kicks EVIL!Dick.*

Despite this - I can really and truly feel his pain, as equally strong as I did the Titans' pain in Shared Grief. And knowing that it's DICK GRAYSON, whom I love, does truly hurt, in all the best ways.

As always, I'm in complete adoration of Rose - I would have known she was Merfilly's, because she has that vulnerability/strongness combination that Filly does so well. Also, because she's fun and I like her, and Filly's Rose was the first Rose I could ever say that about.

"It was already too late for me to go back," he told himself again, pressed back against her body,

Oh, honey, whatever helps you sleep. OH - it's not, really, is it? But keep telling yourself that anyway.

Depsite my snarky bitchery - I want it to be perfectly clear how wonderous this peek into exactly what's going through Dick's head is.

Also? The self-loathing and pain were slowly receding from his eyes, replaced with the kind of resolve she would normally see on Renegade's cold features.

I really enjoy the way, in this series - you keep splitting Dick in two - showing that Renegade and Dick aren't one and the same. *nods* It has to be that way.

Also? The logic/reasoning that Rose used to bring Dick out of that depressive state was just spot on perfect - and she is the only one that could. Also, their flirtyness/sibling relationship was adorable.

I also rather adored Rose's flash into the future. Ah, lovely hints of what's to come.


He flashed a smile at her, "Well, where else would we be?" All arrogant confidence and strength in his eyes.

Ah - confident/strong EVIL!Dick. It's the one I lust for. *pets him.* Welcome back, dear.

Also? On the shallow end of the pool? The image of a sweaty, shirtless Dick over-exerting himself in the gym was yummy - despite his agony.

Also? So was the image of him making pancakes at 3 a.m. for his little brother sister.

Also? Slade watching the whole thing, knowing he wasn't the one that could help almost made me feel sorry for Slade. UM, WTF?

Loved, muchly.