Well here we are, April 1st… I dunno 'bout y'all but I've had my poor Dickie-bird stuck in my head all day, so here we are, honoring the fallen Graysons.
So Dick is now Nightwing, Jason is Red Hood, Tim is Red Robin, and Damian is Robin. The team is still around, different members, but the originals still come around quite often, and I guess my poor Wally is Flash now too… Aw…
Damian let out an angry huff as he waited in the team's headquarters with the rest of his idiotic team members, to say he was annoyed would be an understatement, Damian hated when Dick, Nightwing, was in charge of their training, much like today. This had nothing to do with Dick himself, no he cared greatly for his mentor/brother, not that he'd ever admit it, he just hated how much his team members seemed to fawn over and cling to the older hero…
'He's already late' Damian grumbled mentally to himself, sulking as he watched his team chat amongst themselves, waiting impatiently as they continued to look back toward where they expected the days instructor to come strutting through in his usual fashion. It wasn't much longer that they heard the whirring of the Zeta beams warning of an incoming arrival, the team wasted no time rushing over to greet who they thought would be Nightwing, however, it didn't take them long to realize the newcomer was not who they'd been hoping for…
"Hey guys! What's up?" The Flash grinned brightly as he appeared before the team giving them a cheery wave in greeting
"West." Damian replied in a clipped tone, catching the speedster's attention before continuing, "Where is Nightwing? He is due to train us today, has he not returned from his latest mission? I thought he had been with you and Harper? At least that's what that idiot Drake informed me of. Or has that moron, Todd, been making trouble in Bludhaven again?" the youngest Wayne questioned tensely, trying to hide his worry at the fact that his brother had yet to show up for training, 'Grayson has never missed a chance to train the team before…'
"Oh, uh, right…" Wally trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck nervously, he had forgotten that the youngest Bat family member didn't really know about how Dick came to be adopted by Batman and he wasn't sure what to say to the teen…
"I demand an answer, West. Where is my brother?" Damian questioned once again, he was getting agitated now, no Nightwing and no answers…
"He's fine, promise." Wally couldn't help but wince internally at that lie, 'well, it wasn't a complete lie…' "The mission went fine, nothing major to report, we completed it just as expected, no unforeseen complications or injuries. As for the Red Hood possibility, I doubt it." Wally answered fairly truthfully, trying to ease the obviously worried bird, 'Well, obvious to anyone who's been around that bat's as long as he had… and unlike Damian, Jason knew all about Dick's parents and April 1st…'
"If he is uninjured and not dealing with any other situations at the moment, why is he not currently present for the team's training? It is his turn. And why are you here anyways?" the unhappy bird pressed on, giving the hero a glare as he scowled and crossed his arms across his chest as he tended to do when things weren't going his way.
"Look, he asked me to take over y'all's training for the day as he had some personal things to take care of today, concerning with his civilian identity. So if you have any more questions, you're gonna hafta ask him, okay?" the ginger male answered as he gave the ebony haired teen a meaningful look, 'it's not my business to share, so ask him.'
"Fine." Robin answered tersely as he turned and began heading toward the training room, "Hurry up so we can be done with this" 'I have questions to ask my brother.'
It was several hours later when Damian finally returned to the mansion, or more precisely, the cave the stretched beneath the stately manor. Batman had called to give the team a mission just as their training with West had finished, and while it was a fairly simple mission, it had greatly annoyed the young bird that he had, had to wait even longer to question his eldest brother on his odd behavior, not only had he skipped their training, his tracker had shown him to be at the cemetery and the old fairgrounds during the last several hours. Damian had made quick work of informing his Father of how their mission had gone before changing from Robin the Boy Wonder back to Damian Wayne. After eating a quick meal that had been prepared by their ever faithful butler, one Alfred Pennyworth, Damian had wasted no time in heading to his brother's room to question him, only to find the room's light off and the door closed with no sounds coming from within the dark room, frowning, Damian raised his hand to knock to hopefully gain entrance, only to be interrupted by a grandfatherly voice,
"Ah, Master Damian, I'm afraid Master Richard has gone to bed already, much like you should be doing, surely whatever it is, it can wait 'til morning?" The British gentleman's gentleman spoke calmly, but with a sternness that the teen had grown accustom to, leading him to let his arm fall before bidding the elderly gentleman a good night and retiring to his own room to lie awake in his bed with a mind full of questions before he eventually drifted off.
Damian awoke suddenly awhile later to the sounds of a pain filled scream; bolting out of his bed he followed the noise, finding himself in front of Dick's bedroom door. Hesitating for only a split second he busted through the doorway and into the room expecting to find a conflict of some kind, however, what he did find confused and surprised him more than anything else could have, the screaming was coming from Dick as he thrashed around in his bed, tears streaming down his face, obviously trapped in a nightmare of some kind, or maybe a night terror was more accurate, occasionally yelling out in a language that not even he knew despite the numerous languages he was fluent in…
"Mamă! Tată! Nu! Vă rog! Nu sari! Nu cad! Nu mă lăsa!" (Mom! Dad! No! Please! Don't jump! Don't fall! Don't leave me!)
Damian stared in wide-eyed fear, too shocked to respond for a good solid minute before Dick bolted upright suddenly, halting the bone chilling screams, leaving the room in an eerie silence as though neither of them was willing to even breathe. Dick's normally bright, endlessly deep blue eyes were now a dull and faded almost grey colour as a haze seemed to have settled in his blank gaze, as though they were the eyes of a dead man…
"D-dick?" Damian finally asked nervously, scowling internally at the unintentional stutter in his voice, it was a weakness! But it couldn't really be helped, he'd never seen the elder like this before and as much as he would deny it, it had honestly startled him.
"Dami?" the elder asked quietly, confusion evident as he blinked away the memory of his parent's final flight and shook away the sounds of the snapping wires, the wet smack of his family's bodies hitting the dirt floor of the center ring, and the screams of the past.
"Yeah…" the current Boy Wonder wasn't sure what else to say, he wasn't really sure what had happened to cause the former and original Boy Wonder to scream like he had been, and the elder seemed surprised to see him in his doorway…
"What are you doing out of bed? It's late; you need your rest…" Dick spoke softly, exhaustion heavily present in his voice, though whether it was physical or emotional exhaustion Damian wasn't particularly sure
"I was awoken... by screaming… your screams actually…" The younger answered truthfully, unsure of how the elder would react to this statement
"Crap. I'm sorry Little D, I didn't mean to wake you up, just go back to bed, okay?" Dick replied, regret heavy in his voice as he tried to reassure the younger that all was well
"I wish to know what has you so upset, Grayson. You've been behaving oddly all day." Damian spoke as he took a step closer rather than turning back to his own room, he wasn't reassured by the others response and he wanted answers, real answers.
"You haven't even seen me at all today." The former sidekick replied calmly, aware that this was Damian's way of showing he was worried, whether he knew it or not…
"No matter, I know you well enough to know that something is wrong." Damian answered just as calmly as the elder had, trying to hide the worry that had settled in his stomach when he first came in the room and had yet to disperse
"… I know…" Dick sighed quietly after a long pause; contemplating what to do before deciding that Damian deserved the truth after all they had been through
"So will you tell me what has been bothering you?" Damian asked, a bit surprised that the elder had conceded with him so easily, proving that something really was bothering him
"C'mere, I have a story to tell you…" Dick said as he patted the empty spot on his bed, beckoning the younger boy to come join him, with a slight hesitation Damian padded across the room before crawling into his older brothers bed, only to be pulled into his lap and encircled in a warm and loving embrace as the elder began to speak,
"Before I was adopted by Bruce, I lived with my family, in the circus, Haly's Circus, to be exact. My mother, Mary Grayson, my father, John Grayson, his brother, my uncle, Rick Grayson, his wife, my aunt, Karla Grayson, their son, my cousin, John Grayson, and myself, made up the Trapeze act, the Flying Graysons. We were known all over the world, we were the only people in the world that could do the quadruple somersault… which is actually how Tim eventually figured out who Batman and I were… anyways, Gotham was always our biggest show, everything goes, we were all so excited… the day before the show I overheard a man named Tony Zucco threatening Pop Haly to pay protection money, but Pop refused, said he ran an honest business and didn't need any protection… I remember that he left Haly with a vague threat of an accident, but being young and naïve I dismissed any gut instincts I had at the time warning me of the danger… the next day, just as we were about to go on I saw a man waking the opposite direction, a dangerous smirk on his face… I had tried to tell my parents, but it was our turn to go on, so once again I dismissed the thoughts from my head, I had to focus on what I was doing, after all, we always performed "without the safety of a net" as Haly used to announce… we had done everything perfectly… and then in was time for our finale… I had been too young at the time, as it was I had been the youngest aerialist in the world… I was excited to watch the finale though… I always loved watching my family soar above the sky… I remember noticing that the wires had begun to fray, I knew something was wrong, I could feel the dread in the pit of my stomach, our lines were always checked before every performance… I'll never forget the sound of the wires snapping, or the sight or my family's face's as they realized what was happening, and I'll never forget the sound that their bodies made as the hit the ground or the sight of their broken bodies, but most of all, I'll never forget the blood… I had somehow ended up back down on the ground and on my knees in the middle of the empty shells that had once been my family… there had been so much blood, it had been everywhere, but I hadn't noticed at first I just wanted my family back… but life didn't work that way… I didn't understand what had happened at first… No… I had known the second those wires snapped that my family was gone… but as an 8 year old child, denial seemed like it would work… it didn't… It took a long time for me to come to terms with what had happened, Robin was a big part of that… It's what my mother used to call me if you're wondering about the name… Zucco was eventually brought to justice… my uncle Rick had actually survived the fall… but not really… he was in a coma for several years before he finally slipped away… as bad as it sounds, Its probably for the best that he never woke up… he wouldn't have been able to survive being paralyzed from the neck down… it wouldn't have been living, not for a Flying Grayson… Nowadays I'm usually ok most of the time, I've found myself so much to continue living for, a home, a family, friends, all of it… but certain days, I just can't help but relive those memories… April 1st is the worst… it's the day I watched my world shatter… it's the day the Flying Graysons ceased to exist…"
Damian had remained silent through Grayson's tale, resting his head against the others chest as the elder held him close his chin atop Damian's head, he could hear the pain in the voice as he told his story and he could feel the tears dropping from his brothers clear blue eyes as the dripped down to land in his hair, Damian swallowed nervously as he tried to decide what to say and after thinking he realized exactly what he wanted to say,
"The Flying Graysons didn't cease to exist; you're still here aren't you? So they're still around, they're amazing, I know, I've seen them perform. I see them perform every time I see you defy the laws of physics and gravity, every time I see you fly." Damian whispered quietly as he snuggled closed to the warmth of his older brother, hugging him close as drifted off peacefully, Dick sat in shock at the usually prideful bird's words before giving a gentle smile and kissing the sleeping boy's head softly before he himself drifted off to sleep, no longer plagued with nightmares, for once he was able to dream of the happy memories he had of his family…
Bruce Wayne gave a soft smile as he stood in his eldest son's room, watching his oldest and youngest as they slept peacefully, Alfred laid a gentle hand on his shoulder as they each gave the boys a final glance before leaving them to rest and to retire themselves… of course it also didn't hurt that he knew Alfred had snapped a picture of the heart-warming scene…
Damn. Sorry I couldn't actually get this up on April 1st but oh well I guess… this is a sort of companion piece to my other fanfiction, 'April Anniversaries' with is also about Dick dealing with the anniversary of his parents death, but that one takes place when he's still Robin.
Anyways, Read and Review. Peace, Love, and Dick Grayson.