Snow Angels: Waltz of the Tin Soldier
by Smitty
Tim Drake turned the wooden box in his hands. It fit together, slots and L-shaped wedges of wood arranged just so. He'd bought it as Steph's Christmas present. He hadn't wrapped it yet, Christmas still seemed so far away. But now, in Bludhaven, where the skies were gunmetal gray year-round, and the air tasted like frost, Christmas loomed, a cold mockery of the season. The sun had set and it was time to go out, but he couldn't seem to let go of the wood that had grown warm under his hands. It seemed the only thing in his life that was warm. To be honest, he hadn't even thought long about Steph, and that grief had been hijacked by the sucking loss that was his father's death.
He didn't hear the step but he knew she was there. She was waiting for him to put on his gloves, to be ready to patrol. It amazed him that he went out every night, that he managed to pull boots onto his leaden feet and sail through the crisp skies after her. It was rote, he decided. Muscle memory.
It was all he had left. Muscle memory. And an empty box.
Author's Note: Tim had a bad year. Between War Games and Identity Crisis, he lost two of the most important people in his life. And now he's stuck in Blüdhaven with Cassandra Cain..
Snow Angels is a followup to Jingle Bells, my attempt to write 24 200-word ficlets--one per day until Christmas, sort of like an Advent calendar--with characters from around the DCU.