Though it didn't happen often, Bruce did try to take vacations from time to time. As a reward for the boys having a good school year, Bruce arranged to get out of Gotham for a week and take the boys up to the old family summer house.

The boys' eyes were wide as they pulled up to the two-story cabin. It was one of many in the small summer neighborhood and had been used for Wayne family vacations since the twentieth century.

"Welcome to Wayne Lodge boys." Bruce said as he opened the door. He smiled at his fond memories of the summers he'd spent here with his parents and then Alfred. "There's a lake!" Jason squealed in awe as he pressed his face to the back door windows. "Daddy, Dickie look!"

"I used to get in so much trouble on that lake." Bruce laughed as he joined his younger son. "To be fair, Master Bruce, you used to get in trouble no matter where you went in this area." Alfred told him. "Do you remember the time with the fireworks?" Bruce grinned.

"I remember you almost burnt the Lodge to the ground while playing with the fireworks I specifically told you not to touch." The old butler scolded. "Yeah, I deserved that grounding." Bruce admitted, scratching the back of his head.

"Can we go play by the lake, Dad? Please?" Dick begged. Bruce gave the boys permission as long as they promised to stay together and out of the water.

III

The two of them found the shore crowded with other kids from the neighboring cabins, some swimming, others playing on the beach. A few kids invited them to play soccer, and the boys joined the game with glee. When the game was over, they all sat down in the sand and started talking.

"You guys coming to the campfire fire tonight?" A girl who'd introduced herself as Ramona asked. "It's great!" An excitable boy named Oscar exclaimed. "We do it every year! We go to the community fire pit, and one of the big kids tells this cool creepy story while we make smores."

Dick and Jason glowed at the prospect, and after hours of begging, Bruce allowed them to join in the fun.

The marshmallows and chocolate had all the kids on a sugar high. It was nice to get out of the city and hang out with kids who weren't jerks and just have a good time.

"Alright kiddies, gather round." One of the older boys called. "If you're here tonight, then you are old enough to know the legend of the of The Murderous Witch." He told them in his best spooky voice.

"Hundreds of years ago on these very grounds, there was a small hunting community. They were all normal folks, living off the land and raising their happy little families until the year they got a new schoolhouse teacher.

From the time she arrived, the grown-ups of the town noticed strange happenings. The crops failed out of nowhere. The animals went crazy. The only reason they didn't run her out of town was that the town's children loved her.

Then one fateful night, the parents found all of their children missing from their beds with trails of their tattered clothes leading to the schoolhouse. When they got there, however, there was no sign of their children. Instead, they found the teacher soaked with water and blood.

When she refused to tell them what had happened, the townspeople took her to the square to burn her at the stake. But no matter how high the flames rose, they refused to consume her.

Eventually, the fire became too strong to control, and they burned the town to ashes. And now, centuries later, on summer nights like these, people have sworn that they can still hear the screams of the murdered kids. Some have even claimed to have seen the witch herself floating across the lake."

III

With the youngest of the children adequately frightened, the mob of kids all began heading back to their cabins.

Jason lay awake in his bed, listening to the unfamiliar sounds of nature. He couldn't sleep. Dickie had promised that the story wasn't real, but that didn't stop Jay from thinking about it.

A scream from somewhere outside made Jason sit straight up and stare out his bedroom window. The lights from the nearest lodges were all out, but Jason had a gut feeling that something was off.

Just as he was about to lay back down, a prick of light floating near the lake caught his eye. He watched with bated breath as the light took the form of a person and floated from the shore to the far side of the lake before disappearing into the night.

Jason dove under his blankets and squeezed his eyes shut, certain he had just spotted The Murderous Witch.


It turned out Jason was not the only one who'd seen strange happenings the night before. Several kids talked about the scream in the night and compared notes on whatever it was on the lake.

The boy who'd told the story was trying to tell them it was just a stupid local legend when one of his buddies pointed out that Oscar was nowhere to be found. They'd all seen him at the campfire, and one of the big kids had walked him home and saw him going inside, but the overly energetic boy was gone now.

"The Murderous Witch took him!" Jason yelled with others shouting their agreement. "Just hold on Jase." Dick called to his brother over the noise. "That could've been anything last night."

"So let's check it out!" Ramona suggested. The kids all split off into groups and headed to the other side of the lake. They spent the whole day searching the grove of trees, calling Oscar's name. As the sun began to set, they finally came across a tiny cabin resting at the center of a clearing.

Even from the edge of the tree, they could hear screaming like from the night before. "She's killing him!" An older girl squeaked. "We don't know that." Dick told her, although he was just about certain now that Jason may not have been seeing things. "We have to save him." Jason hissed, and the others agreed.

"We will." Dick resolved. "But we need to go in prepared." The assembled children all agreed to meet back on their side of the lake that night with flashlights and whatever weapons they could find. They were going to bring Oscar home and kill The Murderous Witch.

III

When Dick and Jason were sure Bruce and Alfred were asleep, they climbed out of their bedroom windows and ran down to the shore. All of the kids buzzed with pre-battle adrenaline.

Dick and two of the older kids had been in charge of strategy and began drawing diagrams in the sand and splitting kids into squadrons.

Once they were across the lake, they would surround the Witch's house. The kids under ten were placed on guard duty, much to Jason's chagrin. Everyone else would storm the house leaving no exit unmanned.

The army of children surrounded the hut, and with fearsome battle cries, they busted down every door and window, spilling in from all sides. Only, once they were inside they found nothing but a plane one-room cabin. They even tore the place apart, looking for secret doors of tools of witchcraft but found nothing.

Just as they were about to declare the whole mission a bust, there was a scream from the permitter the younger kids were guarding. The attack squad rushed out and found the little kids huddled together as a hunched old woman yelled down at them.

"What are you little gremlins doing in my house?!" She demanded.

III

Hours later, the panicked parents of the witch-hunting party were doing head counts and scolding their kids for doing something so fool hearty. As it turned out, the hunchback woman was the land keeper for the off-season, and while she was admittedly old and creepy, she was not a witch.

Oscar's mother informed the still unconvinced children that her son was fine. She and her husband had gotten into a fight the night before that had ended in her screaming and him taking Oscar to Disneyland to spite her.

Bruce did not let Dick and Jason out of his sight for the rest of the week. It seemed, like their father before them, they were incapable of staying out of trouble at Wayne Lodge.


A/N Hey guys! Hope you're enjoying my fluff and banter. I'm having a bit of a busy summer so I'm going to be cutting my updates down to once a week. Also I'm trying to get a bit more Daddy-Bats action in so if you got any ideas or suggestions lemme know ;D

Also if you messaged me an idea, rest assured I'm working on it.

Peace ;D