Gotham's Ghost King

7: Misunderstanding

The sun had started to rise, and Tim was on his way to bring Nico to breakfast.

Knock! Knock!

Not getting an answer Tim slowly opened the door, just to see an empty room and an open window. He rushed downstairs.

"Nico's not in his room!" Tim said.

"He's probably somewhere in the manor." Bruce guessed.

"What if he ran away due to yesterday's talk?" Dick suggested.

Damian sank in his seat.

"Great. I was ready to meet my new brother." Jason added.

"He hasn't run away. He simply went into the garden." Alfred explained.

"Ok then, Lets go find him." Bruce said.

"He most likely got lost. That 'Garden' is a maze." Tim stated.

They all separated and started looking for Nico. Yet he was nowhere to be found.

"No footprints." Tim said.

"No broken leave." Dick said.

"No sign of Nico." Damian said.

"What if he actually left?" Jason added.

"Alfred said he didn't leave." Bruce commented.

"Where is Alfred, Bruce?" Tim asked.

"Maybe he found him. Let's go." Dick said as he headed to the section where Alfred was looking.

Alfred had found Nico on a tree. Alfred was currently climbing his way through the tree.

"Alfred! Did you find him?" Jason asked.

"I, in fact did. He's up here, and he's asleep." Alfred responded.

"Give him to me." Bruce said.

Alfred picked up the passed-out Nico getting a bit of blood on his sleeve.

'Oh! He is way too light.' He thought.

He slowly started passing Nico down to a waiting Bruce. Bruce stretched his arms out to take Nico from Alfred. Bruce had taken Nico from Alfred when he noticed the blood.

"Is he sick?!" Tim said as he as well saw the blood.

"He feels cold."

"What's with the bandages?" Jason said.

Finally, everyone noticed the bandages.

"Are those..." Tim said but drifted off not wanting to say it.

"It's too early to say so. For now, let's go back." Bruce said.

They walked back to the manor in silence. No one knew what to think. It was possible that he...but maybe he would have an excuse.

Dick had already seen the bandages and what worried him was the blood from his nose. Tim felt confused, since they met, even as Batman's computer man, he hadn't gotten any signs of depression or a bad mental state from Nico. Other than when the topic of his camp came up. It bothered him. Tim was really good at that stuff even if he had only met the person, but Nico managed to cover it all up.

Jason didn't know what to think. He hadn't met the kid, but he knew just from looking at him that he had a hard life. The kid looked dangerously pale, eye bags under his eyes, and bandages around his arms. The bloody nose didn't help his case either. 

Damian felt a slight pang of guilt. He had actually thought that Nico ran away because of yesterday's ... chat (Interrogation). Now he saw that same boy and felt guilt. Alfred was thinking about what to cook in order to make Nico gain some weight that he needed. Bruce, well with Bruce you could never know. But right now, Bruce was really trying to help the kid.