The rhythmic dripping of the faucet was the only sound to be heard throughout Wayne manor, despite the normally lively kids that occupied it. Roy sat on the piano bench, unconsciously rubbing the raw places on his wrists. The leather straps had dug in farther than he'd thought.
Dick was perched on the couch, studying the floor. Scarlet was curled up in the recliner, the one Bruce loved to frequent, in a fitful sleep.
Roy looked over at her remorsefully. Since they'd gotten back home in the wee hours of the morning, she hadn't gotten any solid sleep, just drifted between her nightmarish dreams, only to snap awake to an equally as nightmarish reality.
Bruce Wayne had to calm the swarms of press, as did Oliver Queen. Everyone wanted interviews, exclusives, hell, someone wanted to make a short film on what'd happened.
Police reports had come out, and people were fascinated that Scarlet had been able to act so quickly. They couldn't see the state all three 'courageous survivors' as they'd been called on the news, were in now.
They were broken. It was as simple as that. Broken.
He still remembered Scarlet running past the chair he'd been strapped to, fear evident in her eyes. He could've sworn he felt the lacey fabric of the dress brush his fingertips as she ran past, into the next room, could hear the footsteps of Simon pounding after her.
He'd prayed she'd hide.
There was silence for a moment, he remembered, one awful, heart-wrenching moment. And then the laughter, the deranged, hollow laughter that echoed around the place. He'd shuddered.
"You win, Scarlet." Simon had ground out. There was the noise of officers beginning to break down the doors, but Roy's eyes widened. He'd heard that tone, the way the man spoke, he'd seen it before. No- not in front of Scarlet- he couldn't...
The gunshot sounded.
And then the blood-curling scream of a terrified little girl.
"SCARLET!" he'd found new strength, then, thrashing and fighting his bonds like a wild animal, so fiercely that he'd tipped the chair over.
Tears had streamed down Dick's face, god, no, this couldn't be happening, this couldn't be...
The scream died down to silence. That was even more terrifying than the screaming. He didn't know what was happening, who was shot, Scarlet was out of his sight...
Police officers pounded into the room, rushing to assist him.
"Forget about me! Get Scarlet! SCARLET!" he yelled her name again, the desperation of a terrified older brother overcoming him.
All he could hear were her terrified sobs. A moment later Bruce was carrying her out of the room, her sobbing into his chest, covered in blood. He just prayed it wasn't her own.
He jolted awake from his light doze, then, panting slightly. He's been dozing- they all had been- but it was always interrupted by the terrifying flashbacks... They hadn't slept in hours and were on the edges if exhaustion.
"No!" Scarlet screamed, body going rigid in the recliner. "No! Don't! Please!" her terrified shrieking startled both him and Dick, and they both jumped to their feet. A moment later she was thrashing and fighting like she was possessed, probably imagining trying to wrestle a gun away from someone...
"Scarlet! Wake up!" he yelled. She sat bolt upright, panting, tears and sweat trickling down her face. She threw herself at Roy, who caught her, pulling her into his lap and settling into the chair as she cried quietly.
"It's gonna be okay, kid. It'll be okay." he soothed.
He'd finally calmed her again, until only occasional whimpers escaped her. And then- the silence again.
Suddenly, there was a flash of red hair as someone burst into the room. Wally stood, chest heaving, leaning on the doorframe, looking horrified.
"Guys!?OhmygoshI'msosorryIjustheardIranrightoveriseveryoneokay?" he was unknowingly talking incredibly fast, anxiety getting the best of him. He noticed Scarlet said nothing, instead choosing to cling to Roy. He looked towards Dick, green eyes concerned.
"We're alright, Walls. As alright as we can be, anyways." Dick said, sounding exhausted.
Wally nodded, taking them in. They'd all changed into t-shirts and sweat pants, needing to relax, after the hospital had cleared them. Wally's eyes lingered on Scarlet, looking to Dick for an explanation as to what had happened to her.
"The kidnapper killed himself in front of her." he mumbled quietly.
Wally's fists clenched, then, and his nostrils flared dangerously. That sicko, that low-down, disgusting FREAK! Scarlet was nine years old! NINE! There was no way he'd ever forgive this man for traumatizing her like this. But he couldn't get revenge on a dead man- so he promised himself right then and there he'd do the next best thing- he'd lift their spirits.
"EVERYBODY UP!" he declared, clapping his hands and striding over to Roy. Scarlet head had shot up and she looked around, looking miserable...
"Wally, she's barely gotten any sleep..." Roy said, looking hesitant.
"She can sleep AFTER we make pudding, then." he said firmly.
"Wally, is this really the time..." Dick started.
"Upupupup!" Wally whirled, his outburst cutting Dick off. "No one questions until we make THE pudding."
Dick sighed, realizing it'd be easier to just go along with it. The younger ginger led his siblings into the kitchen of Wayne manor, starting to rifle through the cupboards.
"Now where do you guys keep the pudding mix?" he wondered aloud. "Aha! Found it!" he announced triumphantly, setting the box of powder on the table. He seemed to be the only one in the room with any kind of energy at all.
"Come on, guys. It's pudding! It might not help that much, but it has to at least distract you..."
"Wally, do we look like we're feeling up to pudding?" Roy demanded, looking at the ginger, annoyed. How did he not see that they weren't enjoying this?
"Shut up and get me some milk, Harper. The sooner we make pudding, the sooner you can go be miserable again."
Roy muttered some choice words, setting Scarlet down on the kitchen chair and heading for the fridge.
Wally started plugging in the blender.
He carefully measured some milk into it, adding the power and a little Ovaltine for good measure...
"It looks like diarrhea." Dick said calmly, scrutinizing it. The powder had clumped into wet mounds, now, with Ovaltine floating on top of the brown milk...
"That's because the genius forgot to stir it." Roy said sarcastically.
Wally narrowed his eyes. "Stir it, you say?"
"Yeah, stir it." Roy said, crossing his arms.
"BLENDER TIME!" Wally slammed the lid onto the blender and started it on high.
Then, to their astonishment, the chunky mixture began to whirl, mixing, thickening, until it was the consistency of toothpaste. Still, the blender continued struggle and fight to throw around the gelatinous mass, and they all smelled something burning as the pudding was thrown higher and higher into the blender, like an insane, brown cyclone...
And the lid exploded and pudding was flying, buzzing past them like angry hornets.
Roy staggered forward a moment later, yanking the plug from the wall, but the damage was done. He, his siblings, the ceiling, and the kitchen were covered in pudding...
Scarlet giggled. It was that tiny little cackle she'd used when she'd first met him, shy and controlled, but he saw a small spark of the fire that'd gone out in her dull eyes and smiled.
Dick had started to cackle, as well, and then they were all laughing manically at the pudding covered room.
They caught their breath, then, Scarlet licking the pudding from her hand, looking excited.
"You guys wanna play?" she asked quietly.
"Yeah- let's go." Wally sounded excited. They were engaged in it, now, actually wanted play...
Dick and Roy were soon having pillow wars, launching throw pillow nukes from massive couch cushion forts, when they heard the screaming.
"Hold on!" Wally yelled. Scarlet had crawled onto her brother's back, clinging to the ginger, who in turn clung to either side of the mattress they'd somehow freed from upstairs. With a massive flop, the mattress came to a stop and the siblings rolled off it, Scarlet giggling. (Rapunzel Corona- that was for you :))
"Guys- what if we pulled that mattress behind an ATV?" Dick asked. The idea was met with stunned silence.
Five minutes later, the three youngest were screaming, clinging to one another, while Roy whipped the ATV around a curve. Exhaustion had long since been forgotten, replaced by the drive to do something, ANYTHING, to erase those awful images from their mind.
"You guys okay!?" Roy yelled over the wind. He was pushing fifty miles an hour on the quad, though all rational fear had been vanquished by exhaustion...
"FASTER!" Scarlet yelled, and Roy obliged. The mattress bumped across the wet ground like a rock skipping on a pond, mud splashing with every hit, and Scarlet shrieked, excited. The only thing they cared about now was staying on the mattress.
Bruce Wayne and Oliver Queen pulled into the driveway of the manor around seven at night. It was cold, winter, and the sun was setting. But they couldn't get up the driveway- in the beam of the headlights, there were four children, caked in mud, sleeping on a filthy mattress.
It was cold out- some snow had even started falling. Both anxious parents rushed out of the car, finding their children huddled together to ward off the cold- with Wally as well. They were all shivering, all pale, but they were... smiling.
Bruce looked at Scarlet and Dick- who had his sister's head tucked protectively beneath his chin. Both looked... calm. Happy, even. It was a major difference from ten hours ago, when Scarlet had refused to let go of him in the emergency room, screaming and clinging to him desperately, hysterical.
It was so different from hearing all three of the cry out and whimper whenever they'd nod off for only a few seconds, that for a moment, Bruce wondered if it was real.
"Holy crap. They must be freezing." Oliver had torn off his coat and was trying to wrap Roy in it.
"Yeah- but they're actually sleeping. They aren't crying, screaming, thrashing... How the heck did they get the nightmares to stop so fast?"
Just then there was a blur. Barry had arrived, looking flustered.
"Bruce, have you seen..." he stopped, mouth hanging agape when he saw the four curled up, covered in mud, on the ruined mattress.
"Oh my god. I am so, so sorry. Wally must've seen what happened on the news and ran here, I had no idea, we've been looking for him all day. I'll pay for whatever stuff he broke, just please, please don't kill me." He looked nervously at Bruce, gaze imploring.
Bruce smiled. "When he wakes up- well, you should know- before he came here, they were all still traumatized. Couldn't sleep without waking up screaming ten minutes later. He- I think he really helped them." Bruce looked down to the four sleeping children, as did Barry, intrigued.
"You really think so?"
"Yes, I do. Tell his folks that he's one heck of a friend- I don't know anyone who could've helped them more than he did today."
"Yeah, of course I'll tell them." Barry nodded, before bending down, carefully extracting Wally from the pile of sleeping children.
"I gotta go. Everyone's worried, and Iris will bite my head off if I don't call her the minute I got him. I gotta run."
Oliver nodded, and in another blur, Barry, with Wally still asleep in his arms, was gone.
Bruce smiled as the snowflakes continued to fall around them, gathering each if his peacefully sleeping children into his arms and setting them into the back of the car. Everything was going to be alright.
MAILBAG
Linkless Keyblade, chapter 85
I have one small request for the next chapter: Could you have them burn the dress?
I wish. Unfortunately, I'd had this worked out for awhile- and it wasn't going to be some heartfelt reconciliation. It was going to be Wally convincing themselves there's still fun things in the world. Plus- I figured the police would've taken the dress as evidence, so they couldn't really burn it. That being said... wait for the next chapter. :)
LilyEvans2510, chapter 85
I actually cried in this chapter and my parents looked at me weird cause I never cry. I love this story and your writing, your so good at it.
Thanks for writing
Please write more soon
Byeeeeeee
Geez- I'm flattered :). ME being able to make people cry just lets me know I'm succeeding in doing my job as a writer right, so thanks! :)
Dragonfan47, chapter 85
You are WAY too happy about traumatizing people...
Oh, and 2 random questions? Will Tim (as the Wayne's next door neighbor) be in here? And can you do a future (Red Arrow, Arsenal, [Teen] Flash, Nightwing, Nighthawk, Red Hood, Red Robin (Yum) and Robin) meets the past fic? Or maybe the Team (Robin, Sparrow, Artemis, Kid Flash, Aqualad, Superboy, Miss Martian, etc.) meets the past (this fic)? Of course, everyone goes through a mind wipe, and only one report is made, in a Bat-encrypted file that only unlocks at a certain date.
This is a prequel to young justice in a trilogy I've written. So as for Tim- he is introduced in part 3, (search Nighthawk Rising, it's out there). Also- if you're looking for team meets Scarlet, there's the Second Bird- where Scarlet basically joins the team. It's part 2 in the trilogy and already written (yeah, I'm sorta writing this backwards. :P ). Finally, I may consider doing a present meets past fic, but unfortunately, with exams coming up, I'm struggling to update my current fics, so maybe sometime in the future.