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Tim hasn’t been seen or heard from in months by the time Kon gets back.
Hasn’t been seen by the Titans.
Hasn’t been seen by the Bats.
Hasn’t been seen by the Friggin Watchtower.
This, is cause for concern to say the least.
Well, Kon thinks so.
Bart seems to agree. But everyone else seems to think that Tim may have lost his mind because he thought Batman was alive.
Because that is so far-fetched, seeing as both Bart and Kon, previous corpses, are once again up and moving.
The League at least looked vaguely guilty when Bart pointed this out.
But none of that really matters. Not when Tim could be dead in a ditch.
Cassie asks them to slow down, to take a break. Surely Tim would be back soon and they had just come back from the dead.
Kon hasn’t even looked at his phone yet, just clenches it between his fingers hard enough to hear the superstrength-resistant case creak. The case that Tim had spent weeks designing to make sure that Kon couldn’t crush it, at least not by accident.
This anger seems to be testing his theory to the max.
“Where. Is. Tim?” Kon demands, voice quiet and filled with a suppressed rage he hasn’t felt since he was still wearing leather jackets and tights.
Nobody answers and that’s Kon’s last straw.
It’s been months.
Either Tim has gotten out on his own and stayed out, even from under the league.
Or, more scarily. Tim didn’t get out.
Kon turns on his heel, grip on his phone loosening. The last thing he wants right now is to lose any of the pictures on this phone. Especially when it could be his last memories of Tim.
It’s when he unlocks his phone to go through those pictures, an uncertain grief in his heart, that he sees it.
Multiple texts.
Kon’s heart soars. Maybe it’s Tim. Maybe he’s okay and he’s heard of the return of his best friends.
He opens the texts and his heart sinks.
Voicemails.
A whole lot of them.
Kon’s brows furrow.
Who even leaves voicemails these days?
But, Bart at his side, he clicks on the first one.
“-eep
…
Kon?”
It’s Tim’s voice. And Kon’s heart feels like it is both soaring and stopping. Both at once. Bart’s eyes are wide and his extremities are, for once, still at his sides, staring at the phone in disbelief.
“I…
I am genuinely unsure of what to say here.
You’re…
I don’t even know why I’m leaving this. It’s not like anyone’s ever going to hear it”
Kon’s heart thumps in his chest, the sound echoed through Bart’s flinch at his side.
“I dunno. I feel like it’s important for some reason. I haven’t felt that in a while…
…
Anyway. I am literally in the middle of nowhere.
Got in my car and drove off into the distance trying to find Bruce. Found a few things. A few leads. Ended up being followed by the League of Assassins for a while.
Managed to get myself stabbed and lose an internal organ”
Tim’s laugh is bitter and fake, not even trying to hide the sharp edges that Kon can see in his smile, despite the fact that Tim isn’t even here.
“Anyway. I ended up somewhere in the Desert. Fairly certain I’m back in the US, at least.
Passed a little town called Desert Bluffs. They uh…didn’t seem very nice so I just kept going”
They hear him mutter under his breath
“Like an entire town filled with Joker gas”
Then, he continues
“The sun is setting and I’m getting closer to the next town so I’ll see if I can’t settle down there for the night. Maybe a bit longer. It would be nice to actually speak to another person who isn’t a ninja. It’s been a while”
A wistful sigh.
“Look, I know this is pointless. You’re dead. You, and Bart, and Bruce, and Steph. And everyone else that I’ve cared about.
So I don’t expect you to ever hear this.
But it’s not like I care”
The phone makes a clicking sound in Kon’s ear as Tim finishes off the voicemail.
Without Kon’s input, his phone starts playing the next one immediately, not giving Kon or Bart a break.
“The town is really strange. Weird town but then, who am I to judge, right? I grew up in Gotham” Tim’s voice sounds just as tired as he did in the other one. But there’s a note of something in his voice. Something that wasn’t there before.
“They pointed at me and screamed ‘Interloper’! That’s weird, right?”
Tim scoffs.
“They’ve been weirdly welcoming though.
Apparently, my appearance made a whole segment on the community radio. They must not be used to many visitors.
But they do make good coffee”
“Let’s hope we come back from this”
And a click.
Kon doesn’t bother stopping the concerned look he gives Bart at his side. Doesn’t bother trying to hide the shaking of his hand as the next voicemail plays.
“Town saved! And by the help of…Well. We can’t call them Angels. That’s illegal. But Erika’s, at least. I better head home before Cecil’s broadcast starts. Hey Maureen! Wait up! Are you heading to Dark Owl records? What are the chances that I’ll get mocked if I ask her for Enya?”
It sounds almost like a butt dial. Like Tim forgot he was on the phone.
Tim never forgets.
But then, Kon thinks, Tim’s never really sounded that carefree and happy, either.
The next voicemail starts with a crackle.
“Fuck. I gotta. No. I have to…
Kon?”
It’s the first time that Tim’s ever mentioned his name in these voicemails.
His voice sounds more present than it has been in the last few mails.
A panting breath.
“It’s been a while. I was kinda hoping that you’ve come back somehow”
A haunted laugh.
“The Erika’s spoke to me. Aunt Josie is one of them now, I think. And I dunno. I just started thinking about people I’ve lost and…You. And Bart. And Bruce. And just… It all came rushing back.
I was hoping that you’d be back”
A choked off sob echoes in the silent, empty safe-house.
“I’ve been here a while. Can’t be more than a year. But I’ve kinda…integrated here. I’ve started making friends. Maureen and Carlos and Cecil by association. Steve Carlsburg, who I think is maybe right about a few things.
And…
And nobody’s come to look for me
…
I don’t know how long it’s been. Might have been a couple months? I’ve been working at the school for a while. Trying to teach computer literacy without actually breaking any laws or potentially set up an apocalypse.
And no-one’s been looking for me”
Kon’s eyes tear up and he sees Bart’s eyes do the same.
“Maybe I can stay here?
Like yeah, Five-headed dragons and the Sheriff’s secret police and the Vague but menacing government agency and like. Librarians. Street cleaners”
They hear him shiver in either fear or disgust.
“But…Cecil won’t protect the mayor anymore. Not with Violet dead and…maybe the town could use a vigilante.
Not that everyone in this town isn’t vigilante, but…
Maybe I can gun for the Sherrif’s position? I know we just switched over but I’m fairly certain I can take Sam in a fight”
Tim’s breathing slows, becomes calm once again.
“Look, I can forget again. I probably will. A lot of people forget a lot of things here. But the voicemails will stay. Even if I have to set a timer every day.
Just in case”
That’s the last voicemail.
“Kon?” Bart’s voice is small, uncertain.
“What do we do?” he continues when Kon doesn’t answer him.
Kon purses his lips.
Heading to the window, Kon sticks his head outside of their little lead bubble.
Focuses.
He knows Tim’s heartbeat by now. Knows it very well.
He can’t find it in the US but maybe Tim was wrong. Maybe he wasn’t in the US?
Kon stretches his hearing out further. And further. And further.
But nothing pings like Tim’s heartbeat should.
Kon swallows heavily.
“I can’t find him”
Bart is a blur next to him immediately after the words leave his tongue. “We can get the Titans. Bring in the Bats-“
“No” Kon interrupts before he can think better of it.
“No” he repeats a moment later, voice steadier “I don’t think we should do that at all. Bart, when was the last time Tim sounded happy, do you think?”
Bart stills.
“He was happy with us” Bart says, but his voice has realization and grief written all over it.
“He was” Kon agrees, because he can’t lie to himself like that. Tim was happy with them. But they hadn’t heard him sound like that, like when he was talking to Maureen about Enya, in a long time.
Plus, judging by the way Tim sounded at the start of these messages, the town was good for him.
Well, maybe not with the mind-altering and dragons and…angels?
A few things Tim has said were very concerning.
But, Kon hasn’t heard Tim sound so happy and determined in a plan in some time. Not since his dad died.
And even if it goes against every instinct Kon has, Kon will give him that happiness if that’s what Tim thinks he needs.
And Kon does think Tim was sober enough in the last message to make that decision.
“We leave him where he is. He sounded happy”
-
“And another day draws to a close in the small town we all call home.
As the roosters roar and zookeepers have their little snacks in lion form
Goodnight, Nightvale
Goodnight”