"This is it," Fate said, hovering his hand above Dick's chest. "This is the end. I estimate that he has 1-2 days left if we're lucky."

Bruce took a shaky breath, a feeling starting to gather deep within his chest that he couldn't quite describe. "We have to save him," he said, clenching his fists in determination. He wasn't about to loose Dick right as he got Jason back.

"Bruce," Clark said, trying to calm the man's Daddybats side. "The only way we can save him is to find Salt... and nobody has any idea where he is."

Bruce glared at Clark before turning to Barry. "Star labs could retask their satellites to search for energy that matches what Dick is giving off right?" He asked.

Barry scuffed his toe against the floor. "Theoretically... but when we tried that before the energy was too weak..." he said.

"I think it's plenty strong now," Bruce replied, looking back down at his son who was still glowing.

Dick's face looked so peaceful lying there on the med bay's white bed, but his silence seemed so wrong...

"I'll have to take him in..." Barry said, trailing off when he saw Bruce's tiny nod. "Be back in a flash."

There was a gust of wind, and then both Barry and Dick were gone.

A few minutes later another gust announced the return of Barry and Dick.

"They're looking," Barry said. "If the satellites pick anything up they'll let me know."

Bruce let out a tense breath and nearly fell into the seat next to Dick's bed.

"We have a good lead... we'll find him," Barry said, trying to reassure his colleague.

Bruce took a deep breath, glad that no one could see the tears gathering in his eyes from under his mask. "I'm scared," he finally mumbled.

Barry's eyes widened... he had to have misheard... Batman doesn't get scared.

"I'm scared that I'll loose him again," Bruce finished, watching the gentle rise and fall of Dick's chest. "And if I do it'll be all my fault... I was the one who pushed him away, and I was the one who he used his magic to save."

Barry didn't quite know how to reply, so he was glad when he was interrupted by Tim and Jason entering the room.

"How is he?" Jason asked quietly.

"Stable for now... but... but if we don't get Salt to reverse this then he's not going to wake up," Bruce said, his voice hitching.

"But we just got him back," Tim said, his voice thick with tears.

"I know..." Bruce said, resting his head in his hands.

"Isn't there anything else we can do?" Jason asked, looking over at Barry.

Barry shook his head sadly. Unfortunately there wasn't anything that any of them could do.

—

The call came at 2:47AM. The star labs satalite had gotten a hit on Salt's location.

Bruce immediately called in the rest of the league. Of course he'd prefer to simply work alone, but he wasn't going to take a chance on not capturing Salt.

Tim was tasked to watch over Dick while the rest of the leaguers climbed aboard various ships and set off to find Salt.

It had only been about a half hour when Dick's vitals began to drop. His breathing became uneven and ragged, and his blood pressure started to slowly drop.

Tim desperately did every thing he knew to try and keep Dick stable, even going as far as to set up another IV with fluids to hopefully help raise his brother's blood pressure.

A few more minutes and Dick's temperature started to go crazy, spiking to fever range then falling down to near hypothermia.

Not knowing what else to do, Tim called Batman, begging for the man to pick up.

As soon as the line connected Tim started shouting frantically into the phone, begging Bruce to hurry up and get back so he could fix the eldest.

"We're almost there," Bruce reassured. "Just keep doing what you can."

"A-alright," Tim said through his scared tears.

True to his word, Bruce was back at the watchtower within a few minutes, dragging Salt behind him on his way to the med bay.

The other leaguers had dropped Bruce and Salt off at the nearest zeta tube and were still flying home.

Salt chuckled when he saw Tim desperately trying to keep Dick alive. "So the little protégé finally got his wings clipped," he chuckled.

Bruce growled and shoved him forward. "Fix this right now," he demanded.

"Hmm... and why would I do that?" Salt asked.

"Because I'll kill you if you don't," Jason said, pulling out a gun.

"Hood," Bruce said, the warning tone in his voice not as firm as he would've liked, because in all honesty he was tempted to grab the gun and shoot Salt himself.

Salt hummed. "I'm not in the mood to listen to your senseless threats. I am the one with the ability to fix what I've done to this poor sad hero. Which stands to reason that I'm the one who should be making the demands."

The room was silent for a moment before Bruce spoke. "What do you want?" He asked.

Salt chuckled. "That's more like it," he said. "You seem very desperate to get your son back, like you'd be willing to do anything to get him back... but would you take his place?"

Bruce barely had to think about it before he was nodding his head. Of course he'd take Dick's place if he could.

"Good," Salt said, snapping his fingers.

A bright flash of blue light filled the room. Jason and Tim cried out, covering their eyes from the blinding brightness.

A sinister cackle filled the room and Jason opened his eyes to see Salt sipping from a small teacup.

Tim's scream followed by a thud was enough to draw Jason's attention away from the sorcerer.

The glowing blue lines were receding from Dick's skin, but they seemed to be appearing on Bruce's...

Jason's eyes widened as he watched Bruce's eyes slowly fall closed as his breath became more shallow and uneven.

Tim cried out again, falling to his knees at Bruce's side and shaking his shoulder, trying to get his adoptive father to respond.

Jason clenched his jaw and turned towards Salt. Before the other man even knew what was happening Jason had fired off a shot, hitting him directly between the eyes.

Salt's body fell to the ground, his tiny teacup shattering and spilling his tea across the ground.

Jason knelt at Bruce's side, feeling for a pulse. There was none.

At this point the blue had completely covered Bruce's skin and his entire body was bathed in an unearthly glow.

"Tim clung to Bruce's limp arm, tears spilling down his cheeks as he begged the older to stay with him.

The glowing flashed brighter for a split second before it faded altogether.

Jason's breath hitched as he watched Bruce's body slowly flake away, turning to dust before simply disappearing altogether.

All that was left of the seemingly invincible Batman was his empty suit.

—

Dick stood in front of Bruce's hologram, tears running steadily down his cheeks. This was all his fault. Bruce had sacrificed himself to save him.

It had only been a few weeks since it had happened, and Dick was still deep within his grief, but regardless... he was the Batman now. He had to be strong. This was the only time he'd actually allowed his tears to fall freely...

Dick fell to his knees, the weight of the burden he now bore seeming as if it would crush him.

To the world nothing seemed to have changed, but to him nothing would ever be the same again... because Batman was gone.

The end