An: In which I should finish/do things but I'm distracted by things like this. Anyway, it's brought on by the desire to merge Comic canon of DC's main worlds (like fifty-two and Rebirth) with Young Justice. I felt Black Manta angst, throw in some Kaldur and Jackson Hyde are brothers raised by Black Manta (David as he's called here). And boom. Like Foundlings: The Remix, this isn't linear in any fashion or form. Some chapters maybe, but mostly nope. It goes as muse dictates.
Anyway, enjoy.
The Water Is Too Deep To Wade In.
It was a strange moment. One suspended in eternity with the silence alternating between the machinery humming along. It is 'night' and the skeleton crew on the Manta flyer continued their work.
He's awake but only because his two young sons couldn't sleep. One feared the unknown and the other could sense his twin's distress. In a way, that's heartwarming. It comforts David to know that Kaldur'ahm and Jackson would have a close bond. They would need it in the future.
For now, however, the boys refused to sleep. Therefore, so did he as he tucked them in. He had told stories of wondrous adventures in the seas and battling pirates for treasures. He had even exaggerated, perhaps a bit much, about defeating Aquaman once in a while. Kaldur'ahm listened avidly to it while Jackson curled up more, hugging close the old stuff star that had been mended more times than the boys lived. Starro had belong to David, once. A long time ago. A lifetime ago. If only-
"What're you humming?" Jackson hadn't spoken much or looked at him but his curious tone did make David smile slightly. The boy was sensitive, he knew but in time that would change.
"This song?" David pondered it for a moment, his brows rose with the scars across his face pulled slightly. "It is an old song from the surface that our people sang. A religious song."
"Religious?" Kaldur's brow wrinkled in confusion. The child asks more questions than not. "Do we have one?"
"No." It was complicated. David, himself, had seen gods, fought them, and other manners of unworldly creatures. He can't quite deny their existence but he can't bring himself to care much of their power other than wanting it for himself. " It's just something that gave them hope. I simply find myself remembering it."
"Why?" Honestly, Kaldur needs to get some sleep as did his brother but of course, the child wants answers.
"Comfort, I suppose." David answered watching them, "Lay down and I'll sing it to you as my father had to me."
The boys, always obedient, do so, watching him intently with large eyes. Eyes that often weighed more than anything else he's ever experienced. Those eyes that often had him second guessing himself and the need to avenge his own father. What would his father say to him about raising these boys like this? To continue pursuing Aquaman in this blood feud and never letting them see their mothers? Well, one couldn't.
The thoughts were turning down a dangerous path now. Enough so that Jackson had said, "Dad?" with such a concerned look.
He shook his head, "It's alright, Jackie. Get some rest. Both you and Kal have things to do. Close your eyes now." He waited a beat before leaning back in his chair. The words were hard to remember. It's been so long since he's heard them sung. So long since he's ever stepped into a black church.
The memory of which now surfaces as when he was once a boy, very young, and his father deign to join him and his mother to a revival, as it was called. The music had been loud, the voices reverently calling upon a mystical force known as God and Jesus to intervene in someone's life. He never took it much to heart. He never really believed as his mother had and her parents before her.
But for all his agnostic ways, David couldn't deny that there was a certain power; a feeling that comes when a group of people sang so wholeheartedly. Caring not whether they were part of the choir or in the pews. Where someone would suddenly cry out and others dance saying they caught 'the holy ghost'. Where the music swelled and the organ wails along with the human voices and the sounds of drums match heartbeats.
It's in this, he remembers the words that came to him haltingly. His voice unused to this, he had to clear it and try once more. This time he invoked the power of it, a deep resonating sound.
"Wade…in the water. Wade in the water, children. " He sang softly, opening his eyes slightly, watching his boys, "Wade, in the water. God's a-gonna trouble the water."
The song itself had many version, many renditions, but this one he knew well now. He can picture it clearly as ever. His mother dress so well with her hat large, like a crown upon her head. His father dressed in a suit with his to match. He remembers it was the last time they had gone together as a family. Last time he had a family whole before she-…
No, he can't think about that now. Maybe later when he wasn't with the boys. When he could be alone and by himself will he think about it at all. It was a tangled mess of thoughts, feelings, memories he hadn't wanted to open right now. So why had he thought of this song that encompasses it all?
He didn't know.
Still, he sung it, the chorus and ad-lib other verses he recalled from other places to make the song longer. Soon enough, both boys were fast asleep and he could leave them for the night.
After he left, closing the door tightly behind him, he breathed out and walked purposely towards the bridge where he would implement the next phase of his plans. He might not be a god in any sense of the word, but he was going to trouble some waters himself pretty soon.