Author's Notes: I'm working on a couple pieces for Young Justice right now and this was something that stuck with me. It's short, not my usual fare, but I thought I would share it none the less. I hope you like it.
Disclaimer: None of it's mine.
My Father's Eyes
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I watched him fall…
I always watched them, even when my mother insisted I was too young to participate. It was heart thrilling, seeing them fly about one another as if it were as easy and natural as breathing. They were stunning to watch!
He was the catcher. The first to step off the platform and fly in the slender bar stories above the netless ground. He was the strongest, the oldest, the one trusted to be there when the others released and left their very lives in his hands.
He was always there.
For her, for them, for me.
Always for me.
And so he was who I always watched when I wasn't flying.
And it was why, that night, I watched him fall.
I saw it in his eyes first. The rich chocolate eyes that were alight with love and joy as he did what he did best. He felt the wires buck, lifted his eyes to a spot above my head and I followed that gaze. I saw the moment when he saw and recognized the fate that would not be his alone.
He looked away, and those eyes looked at mine and in that instant he spoke a million different things: his fear, his regret, his pain, his grief.
His love…
And I watched him fall.
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I didn't want to move.
Kneeling where he had fallen, where he had laid, and where he had died, I refused to let anyone move me. My uncle was taken, alive but critical. The others covered. But I couldn't allow them to do that to him.
To his eyes that were still looking into mine.
Staring, but unseeing, I didn't want them to close. If they closed then he really was gone.
The world around me roared with silence, the deafening ache of grief shared by thousands of strangers as I wept at my father's side. The hand on my shoulder was there, but unfelt. I instinctively knew Jack Haly's presence but I couldn't bear to look away.
Not yet, maybe not ever.
Then there was another, someone kneeling beside me uncaring of the sawdust, dirt and blood staining the dark slacks. His hand was trembling as it cupped beneath my chin and gently turned my head away from those lifeless eyes.
Azure eyes met my own and behind the unshed watery moisture I saw understanding. I saw pain, regret, loss, and hope. It drew me in, drew me away.
Away from empty brown eyes…
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Darkness swept me away.
Shadowed and black, hiding the shine of brilliant blue in the cool underground, fierce and strong.
He became my pillar.
He taught me to remember; to harness my grief and rage that threatened to overcome. He trained me, body and mind, brought me into his world of justice and retribution, of shadows and night.
As azure burned with righteousness and power they shone with warmth and consideration. They filled me with the need to follow, to mimic, and to become. I would watch, I would learn.
"… and swear that we two will fight together against crime and corruption and never to swerve from the path of righteousness!"
"I swear it!"