Toward Healing, chapter 10…the final chapter
Again the scene shifted and they found themselves inside the clocktower once again. This time, however, the building was completely empty, devoid of all furniture and signs of human life, save for the slim redheaded figure that cowered solemnly in the corner, her immobile legs stretched out in front of her.
Cautiously, Helena and Dinah approached their mentor.
"Barbara," Dinah called softly. This was no memory, nor any projection of a future event. They had finally broken through all of the emotional barriers that shielded the woman's conscious self from them. Dinah was confident that at last they might be able to reach her.
"Barbara?" Helena knelt beside her friend, desperately searching for a reaction, any reaction, from her. "Oracle?"
Barbara blinked. A reaction.
"Oracle," Helena repeated as Dinah sank to the floor alongside them.
Barbara's head jerked back slightly and her eyes focused on her protégé's face. "There is no Oracle anymore," she announced in a voice devoid of all emotion.
"What?" Dinah gasped.
"What do you mean, Barbara?" Helena spoke softly, smoothing a lock of red hair out of Barbara's face.
"Oracle is a protector. The speaker of truth to those who would hear. An all knowing, all seeing guide to the hero and guardian to the helpless." Barbara spoke matter-of-factly. "But there is no one left to guide. No one left to protect. No one left who will hear. I failed. I couldn't stop your mother from dying. I couldn't save Canary. I lost Wade. I couldn't protect you or Dinah. I couldn't even protect myself." Barbara paused, her eyes staring fixedly into space. "There is no one left to guide, no one left to protect, no one left to save. Then there can be no Oracle."
"That is not true," Dinah insisted earnestly, clasping one of Barbara's hands between both of her own. "We need you Barbara."
Helena picked up Barbara's other hand and squeezed it tightly. "We're right here with you, Barbara. We haven't left you. We still need you." She pressed Barbara's cold hand against her own warm cheek, trying to anchor the older woman with the contact. "Maybe we don't need a guide anymore. Maybe we don't need a protector."
Dinah started to protest, but Helena cut her off with a look.
"We don't need Oracle. We just need you, Barbara."
Dinah smiled as understanding took hold. She began to speak. "When I came to New Gotham, Barbara, I wasn't looking for a superhero or for someone to train me to be one. I was looking for someone to accept me, to love me for who and what I was. And I found that in you." She paused, her eyebrows crinkling in concentration. "Don't get me wrong, I love being a superhero. But I love being part of your family even more." Tears shimmered in Dinah's eyes as she looked to Helena, silently asking her to continue.
"I feel the same way, Barbara," Helena confirmed. "After my mom died, I was determined to never love anybody ever again. But you made that impossible. I would not have survived without you, Barbara. I owe you everything." Tears began to slowly make their way down Helena's cheeks, but she continued regardless. "Do you remember what you told me when Ketterly was in my mind?"
Barbara did not respond, continuing to stare into space, but Helena knew that she was listening.
"You told me that I didn't have to protect you, but that we have to protect each other. Why is it different for you? You don't have to protect us, Barbara. We have to protect each other. Let us protect you now." She wrapped both arms around her mentor's stoic form. "Let us help you," she whispered into the fiery hair.
Dinah moved to place her arms around Barbara as well. "We love you, Barbara."
The redhead's slender shoulders shook slightly. Then stronger tremors slid through her frame. And then her whole body was wracked by fierce sobs that tore at her lungs and throat. She cried for a long moment, encased in the strong arms of her protégés, her friends.
Suddenly, the manifestation of the empty clocktower fell away and the women found themselves once again in Barbara's bedroom.
A harsh sob escaped Barbara's lips as she was flooded with long-repressed emotions. She struggled to move into a sitting position, fighting to pull air into lungs that were seared with pain. Choked gasps and anguished cries mixed randomly with desperate sobs as the redhead at last released the viselike grip she had maintained on her emotions.
Helena tightened her hold on her mentor as Dinah did the same. Together they soothed and comforted the older woman with softly spoken words and tender caresses. Tears flowed freely down both women's cheeks, tears of sorrow, tears of relief, tears of gratitude.
At long last, Barbara's tears subsided and she relaxed, exhausted, into the arms that held her close. Gently they eased her back into her pillows, holding her close until she fell into a much needed slumber. Before long, Dinah drifted off as well. Helena smiled as she watched them sleep, her mentor and her young partner.
Barbara's bedroom was warm and comfortable as Helena Kyle lay on her back, watching the early morning sunlight filter through the window. There was still much left to be resolved, but they were definitely on their way toward healing.
The End