Nothing Changes, Everything Does
"May the dreams of your past be the reality of your future." --Anonymous
The day was hot and bleary; heat mirages glanced off the top of Titan's tower like a desert, and the sleepy eyed citizens of Jump City went about their days. A pale young woman sat quietly at the edge of the heat soaked rooftop, her shoulder length purple hair dampening with sweat. Her breaths were deep, calming, quietly retreating to her own inner sanctum. Her own world.
Raven sighed peacefully. It had been a long time since she had done this. Meditated properly.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Inha--
"Waaaaaaaaaaah!"
Despite herself, the empathy's teeth grinded. She clenched one fist, then let her air out with a hiss.
Maybe it will just…
"Waaaaaaaaah!" the wailing continued, slightly muffled by the two floors of concrete between her and the child.
Raven pressed her fingers to her temples, and contemplated going to help Starfire. Unnecessary, in the end, but she should be checking on Corbin soon. He was a late sleeper, like his father, but suffered occasionally from vivid and terrifying dreams. That was like his mother.
And then there was Llin. Little Llin. One of the quietest, most thoughtful children anyone had ever seen. People said she acted ten times her age, always having a reason for everything, speaking slowly and reasonably. She smiled often, a bittersweet smile, as if she had seen too much in her three years on the planet. Llinos laughed even less, but when she did, it was enchanting. Her laugh made the people around stop to hear the noise like wind chimes in a spring breeze.
Wayne continued to scream, snapping the image of her green skinned, purple haired daughter from Raven's mind.
"My god, that kid's power is going to be a sonic scream," a familiar voice said from behind her. The purple haired woman turned around slowly.
"I didn't hear you come up."
"Maybe I didn't want you to."
"And why would that be?" she asked playfully, striding over to him and putting a pale finger on his shoulder.
The young green man paused a second, taking in her beautiful face, the soft sound of her voice.
"You've changed so much," Changeling said quietly, pulling her chin up to his with a finger.
"In a good way?"
"Yeah…I mean, of course. I'd like to think it was all me Rae, but…" suddenly words seemed to fail him. The confident woman standing before him was so different from the Raven he had known ten years ago. He could still see the shy, lonely girl, swallowed by her blue cloak, pulling away from the world. But that girl was only a memory, a fading glance at days not many cared to remember.
At the time, Garfield had been her light. He had lit up her world and her heart. And he still did, every time he made her lip crick or her face crack into a grin he had pulled her a little further out of sadness.
"I know," Raven said quietly, putting the finger from his shoulder now to his lips, "you've changed too. I was just thinking about…everything. Feels like so long ago you would follow me up here like a little puppy and…"
"Hey, hey now, don't go hating on the puppies," Changeling joked. Raven's lip twitched involuntarily.
"By the way…Star says she wants to get Joy a puppy," the pale empath said, turning with her husband towards the metal door.
Nightwing rolled over on his side, moving his arm to where his wife was supposedly lying. His fingers met air, and he sat bolt upright instantly. Despite the fact that it had been quiet for the last few days, the leader still maintained his combat ready instincts. However, with a newborn and a five-year-old, it was quite possible she had just gotten up to stop Wayne from falling out a window or eating the drapery.
"Waaaaaaaah!"
Dick Grayson sighed, and swung his legs around the side of the four poster, sliding on a t-shirt over sweats.
He glanced in the mirror, and held his gaze there for a second. Almost everything had changed, and yet nothing had. His hair was longer, brushing down in a shiny layered cut that hit the nape of his neck at its longest point. The same black and white mask given to him by his mentor so many years ago. Features that were still handsome, although more gentlemanly now than the boyish attractiveness of ten years ago.
Dick Grayson was looking at Nightwing, and yet there in the mirror was Robin. Robin in his green and red uniform, spiky hair, boyish grin.
Probably no one but him had remembered.
Heck, no one but him even knew the date.
But August 1st was the day when everything had changed for him.
The day he had met his team, the Titans.
Seventeen years ago, to the day.
His musing, however, was interrupted by a loud, anxious voice coming from the room adjacent to his.
"Dad!" the little girl's voice cried.
Nightwing opened the sliding door into the room his daughter and son shared. Wayne wasn't in his crib, a bouncy child with scarlet hair hopping nervously on the bed.
"Yea sweetie? What's up?"
"Daddy," Joy said, plopping down with the momentum from a bounce on the bed, "I'm hungry."
"Where's your mom?" Dick asked, "and stop bouncing, Joy. That's what the trampoline in the training room is for."
"You know, if you would just get me a trampoline in my room like I wanted I wouldn't have to…"
"I told your mom that we should. She just thinks you might flip over Wayne and hurt yourself or something," her father said patiently. He wanted to encourage acrobatics at the earliest age, like he had done in the circus, but Star wouldn't agree to it.
"Aw, Dad, c'mon, I won't get hurt! Watch this!"
Despite himself, Nightwing grinned and moved to spot her. Her thin little body bounced three times on the bed to gain momentum, her pink bob flying every which way. Then she flipped backwards twice, her feet never touching the mattress, gravity seeming to have no power over her for a second.
Her dad grabbed her out of the air and threw her on the bed, tickling her mercilessly. Joy screamed and giggled in delight, before he finally relented.
"Nice work, kid. Next time work on incorporating a kick into it though," Dick said encouragingly, leading her out of the room by her hand.
"Ok, dad. So I can kick the bad guys?" Joy asked earnestly, her little face tilted admiringly up at him while they walked.
"Exactly. They'll never know what hit 'em. Let's go get some breakfast."
Ok, this was originally a one shot (heh, heh) but that is clearly a lost cause. They are just too much fun to write about! And I haven't introduced all the characters yet, but I can tell you some cool reasons for my kid names.
*Not introduced yet.
Corbin=little raven or little blackbird
Llinthos=a green gemstone in Welsh
Wayne=Batman's last name, duh!
Joy=Well, Starfire did have a pick of the names…
*Abelle=Spanish word derived from "bee" (guess whose kid this is…)
*Zongmeng (Zong)=nimble, speedy
*Ahti=Finnish god of magic (note: brother of Zong)
And, fyi, I don't really care if you think the names are weird. I dislike writing about people with boring names. It's more fun to type "Zongmeng" than "Alex" or something.
Please review if you like! Or even if you don't!
