Good morning everybody! Just wanted to let everyone know that I may leave authors notes or comments about certain sections and my thoughts on it, so look out for comments on certain paragraphs!

CW: Unknown Diagnoses, Medical visit, downplaying a situation (let me know if I should add anymore!)

>> 1: Prologue <<

Bruce stepped through the door to see Dick sitting on his bed, staring off into nothing. "Dick," The boy looked up at him. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Yes." Dick nodded. "I feel fine."

"Can I sit down?" Dick nodded and scooted over on the bed. Bruce sat down beside him. "Are you sure you're feeling ok? You know you can tell me if anything feels different, right?"

"Yes, I know that." He said, "I just don't feel anything."

"Anything? You don't feel anything at all?" It had just been his parent's anniversary, and Dick was saying he didn't feel anything?

"Nothing." Dick said, it was almost nonchalant, but it was to monotone to even have a tone of not caring.

"Dick why didn't you tell me this earlier?"

"Nothing was wrong." Dick responded. "It didn't seem necessary."

Bruce set his hand on Dick's shoulder, attempting to figure anything out. But Dick did look like he was telling the truth, that he wasn't feeling anything. He looked like a sculpture, empty and hollow. He'd gone through tough phases of feeling empty after his parents, but this seemed different. Dick looked too empty for it to just be the spiral of grief. Dick had been doing better too, why would this suddenly happen?

"Do you remember when this happened?"

Dick looked over at the window, "After the [redacted] accident." Bruce flinched at the mention of it. He had started to see some oddities in Dick's behavior after he'd gotten Dick home. But his . . . time, with [redacted] hadn't been any different than any other time either of them had spent with [redacted]. What made this time any different?

"Dick . . ." He looked up at Bruce. "Did [redacted] do anything different while you were with him?"

"He [redacted]." The boy sounded like a robot, retelling something that'd normally give him nightmares for weeks without even getting teary eyed.

"It felt," Dick stopped, trying to find the right word Bruce assumed. "Different, like something wasn't right." Bruce watched him, seeing no change in his expression. Those [redacted] did something, nothing else could have.

"We'll figure this out." Bruce put a hand on Dick's shoulder, the boy didn't respond. Bruce felt his stomach clench at seeing the boy so hollow compared to his usually overly energetic self, it just didn't seem right. Nothing about this was right.

"We'll figure this out."

"Mr. Wayne," The Doctor sighed, setting down her clipboard. "This is the oddest case of – well – anything I've ever seen."

Bruce sighed and ran a hand down his face. He sat back  in his chair across from her in the starch white room. "Is there anything that you can explain? Anything at all?"

She pushed her glasses farther up her nose. "There the chance that its Congenital Insensitivity to Pain, CIP for short. But–"

"What's CIP?" Bruce interrupted.

She sighed again. "It's an extremely rare disorder that makes it impossible for anyone with it to feel or perceive physical pain. There are only 20 known cases in the world, and they don't even mention it in most courses. If it hadn't been for a colleague who likes researching odd cases, I never would have even heard of it."

"But?"

"But, it's a Congenital genetic disorder, which means its present since birth. Out of all the very few cases, there has never been a case like Richard's." She looked over at the boy who looked more or less zoned out in his seat off to the side.

"Richard?" Dick looked over at her. "Did you ever feel pain before Bruce brought you here?"

Dick nodded.

The doctor nodded again. "Can I see you hand?" Dick stuck his hand out and she pulled a pen out her pocket. She rubbed it against the back of his hand. "You can feel that, right?"

Bruce watched in confusion as Dick nodded. The Doctor turned back towards Bruce, "Can you hand me that coffee cup over there?"

Bruce grabbed the cup and handed it to her, she handed it right to Dick. "Can you feel how hot the cup is?" Dick nodded again.

"It's warm."

"If you don't mind me asking." Bruce said. "But what did that prove?"

She let go of Dick's hand. "From what I've found on CIP the disorder effects a person's ability to perceive pain. Yet, they still have a sense of touch and can differentiate between temperatures. Dick can do both of those, which could imply that—somehow—he does have CIP."

"Does CIP have any effect on a person's emotions?"

"I was getting to that. And no, it doesn't." She looked over at her computer and pulled something up. "There have been no victims of CIP that have their emotions effected. From firsthand witnesses to other doctors, neurologists, and psychologists who have studied it, CIP has never impacted or taken away a person's emotions."

"Do you have any ideas on what could have happened? They did happen around the same time."

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, Mr. Wayne, but I really don't have any guesses. I'm not a psychologist, I specialize on things I can see, figure out, and fix physically. Emotions . . . they're not physical, and this is beyond something hugs can fix."

She grabbed a sticky note and scribbled something onto it. "This is a good psychologist that some of my trauma patients go to. They come back for check up with better mindsets most of the time. Take him there, they may be able to figure this out better than I could. My number is on there, too, I'll contact you with anything I can find or if something changes."

Bruce took the note, with a stiff nod. "Thank you, Doctor Micks."

She nodded, pushing her glasses back up her nose. "Good Luck." Bruce gave her another nod of thanks before solemnly leaving through room with a silent Dick Grayson trailing behind him.

[Video Scene Redacted]

"Master Bruce I do hope you're not watching that footage again." Alfred said, a tone that was somewhat a warning to get the vigilante to shut off the video.

"I need to figure out what happened there, Alfred. Whatever happened to Dick was because of [redacted]," Bruce stopped the video when there was a clear view of the suspicious [redacted]. "and whatever [redacted] that is."

"I understand your worry and concern, Master Bruce. I, too, am unnerved and concerned for the young Master. But working yourself this way will do nothing for him. You need to be with him, a video cannot tell you anything that Master Dick, himself, can show you."

Bruce didn't respond, closing his eyes for a moment before letting out a deep sigh and resting his head in his hands.

"Alfred," He sighed, every ounce of stress and anxiousness dripping in his voice. "There's nothing. The [redacted] is unknown, there has never been a case of someone losing their emotions like this in known history. There are only 20 cases of CIP today and not a lot of knowledge on it. I have no evidence, Alfred. Nothing to research, nothing useful to help me solve this.

"I don't know what to do."

Alfred set a hand on Bruce's shoulder, "You – we – will figure this out. Master Dick's fate is not out of our control just yet, and there is always something useful to find. Do not sell yourself short due to this setback."

Bruce sighed, sitting back up after adjusting his face. "Thank you, Alfred." The older man nodded before turning back towards the stairs.

Bruce stared at the frozen picture of the [redacted] that he could practically feel through the image.

That was his first step. Find and figure out what that [redacted] was.

Bruce stretched his neck and set to typing.

A knock threw Dick out of his zoned-out state. He stepped off his bed to open to see an impatient speedster about to knock again.

"Wally." Dick greeted, not stepping away from the door as the redhead looked him over.

"Can I come in?" Dick simply side stepped out of the way.

Wally stepped into the room, something felt off. Dick normally kept his room tidy, but now it just felt unused and empty.

Wally flopped down onto Dick's bed. "Bruce told me and Barry that you wouldn't be on patrol for a while but wouldn't say why. So, what's going on?"

"I cannot feel anything emotionally and cannot perceive pain." Dick answered, his voice monotone and cold.

"Can't perceive- what?"

"The doctor called it Congenital Insensitivity to Pain, a genetic disorder that disables victims from feeling/perceiving physical pain while still being able to have the sense of touch and differentiate different temperatures. It is a disorder that is known since birth due to genetic mutation that impairs the NaV1.7 Sodium cha-"

"Ok, but like-" Wally sighed. "What does that mean and what does it have to do with your emotions?"

"It has nothing to do with my emotions." Dick continued. "It only impairs my ability to perceive pain and my ability to smell."

Wally didn't question the smelling. "Ok then what's wrong with your emotions?"

"No one knows. But there is no need for concern over it."

Wally all but flew off the bed to where Dick was standing against a wall and grabbed the younger by his shoulders. "No need for- Dick you don't even sound like yourself. I don't really know what's going on, but this isn't something we just leave be! Your emotions are gone! If you didn't have flesh and blood, you'd be a robot!"

"Nothing is wrong, Wally." Dick said while he was still being shaken. "There really is nothing wrong."

Wally stopped shaking him and just looked at the 10-year-old that had quickly became his best friend. He looked like a doll, or like some other inanimate object.

They needed to figure this out. Dick had so much, almost too much, emotion for him to be like this. It wasn't Dick, it just wasn't.

Wally grabbed Dick into a fierce hug that Dick returned robotically. "We'll figure this out."

Dick didn't respond and Wally felt like he might just explode.

They were gonna figure this out.

They had to figure this out.

Author Notes:

You may have noticed the many [redacted], [name redacted], etc. Those are not a part of the chapter rather purposefully taken away by me to preserve some of the suspense for the rewrite. This was one of the first chapters where I was coming up with ideas for a lot of character and plot development.

But I am ok revealing that Blank!Dick canonically will have CIP, Congenital Insensitivity to Pain. I've done research on this disorder and what is stated above about differentiating between temperatures, feeling touch, the rare number of cases, etc, is true. Where I take liberties is how and why Dick has it. People with CIP are born with CIP, Blank!Dick is not. Which will be explained in the rewrite, but I'd like to save it for now.

As a reminder, because I have gotten comments (that are unnecessarily harsh might I add) about incorrect medical information,

I AM NOT A DOCTOR

Blank!Dick is not the perfect portrayal of a person with CIP. But I've done all the research I can, I genuinely spent hours looking into CIP, not only looking deeply into how it affects the body, but reading and listening to people with CIP's way of coping and dealing with the disorder, how they go about their daily lives. I took that information and either applied it to Blank!Dick, or I purposefully did not apply it to Blank!Dick.

What I want to make clear is that, yes I did my research, yes I tried my absolute best, but I'm still just a high schooler who's never taken a class involving studying the human body, I have no degrees, just my laptop and the joy of researching.

BUT ALRIGHTY FOLKS!

Don't forget to ask questions and leave suggestions in our wonderful suggestions box!

HAVE A STAR STELLAR DAY WEEK MONTH AND YEAR