Teen Titans – ReBel Yell – If I Had Stayed A Renegade –
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The Reluctant Elf
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Holiday scenario where Dick goes out to wander the streets of Amsterdam and has an unlikely encounter with a rather out of place, horned fauna of the season. Both far from home, Dick's empathy tries to shine through. He's been Slade's apprentice as the blood thirty Renegade for about up to his eighteenth, yet you're never too old to do a few god deeds around the time Sinterklaas comes to town. Right? Fluff and reindeer snuffs, this is a ReBeL Yell Holiday special! Iwatch Miracle on 34 forth Street and fell in love. Movie is actually very anti capitalism satire with feminist undertones.. wow..
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Nederland of the west and north sure was pretty this time of year. Not like Belgium, but just as well to let the holly and tinsel show for all its worth. Compared to being in a safe house in the states, Dick knew that coming down hard with Slade glaring at him in disapproval was to be expected as to how they'd ended up in a hostel in a place so far from the California sky line.
It had been at fifteen that Dick's rights were granted to the mercenary and assassin known as the nefarious Deathstroke. Ever since then, Dick's lessons had become harder. Dangerous as they already seemed to get. Slade just drilled him until his eighteenth, until the milestone of his training as the kid wrapped a blanket warmly against his shoulders and rose from the mattress that Christmas eve. In a city, where the night had allowed no one to walk her halls, all in their beds and coy for the next morning, Dick was a foreigner who did not do traditional unless it was for a paying job. Unless it was to get rid of trash off the cobble streets tonight, which it was not. He made certain not to wake his master, the hulking terror still too much for Dick to comprehend, even when he'd grown strong because of Slade's confidence in his forced protégé paying Heed to the first threat on his friends' lives.
He let the door barely click as his boots felt icy cold crunch beneath them. It had snowed, how and when.
Just as he cared not for a real answer to the question, Dick took to burrowing his hands in his pockets. His head down and hood up as the teen still, he still crunched along and waited for someone to confront him.
No one did, as the snow soon started back up, Dick letting his breath seep out to see how cold it had really gotten. Everyone had a place to be, but if he went back….
All that awaited him was that vampire of all his remaining holiday cheer. The man his little bird heart loved to hate. And yet, he was doomed to exist far longer as Dick shuddered into the neckline cowl of his winter coat. He shivered, his gloves not the reason his heart was frozen over from so much bloodshed in such a short period. Slade had taught him the killing art that the Bat refused to, and for good reason. Whenever Dick had lost his temper after a lesson it showed and panic attacks seemed to wear him thinner, until he'd accepted his new role as Renegade. It all made less sense; he was doing this to save lives, but killing? To protect?
A conundrum in his mind as he grumbled, turning down the snowy cobbles as the clap clop of something loud enough to reach him, did in fact. He stilled, heart a bit unsteadied by his previous recollection, a horse? A dog, but…
The sound, was a bellow. Like a large…
His head peeked round to see it off of its lead, a red sleigh lead and silver and gold bells jangling on each facet of the strands as the animal looked to be lost. Animal. As in a very large, brilliant reindeer from far northward. Not from here.
Dick looked on as the deer soon tuned into his curious scent. It moved, Dick waiting to flee as it for some reason would not allow his legs to even buck. "W –
The deer snorted, trotting closer as Dick held out a hand, eyes shut as he tried to worry less about monsters in the skins of animals from fairytales. Of men like Slade not wearing a fox's smile as they put him through more misery for dodging a simple question. He shuddered, his lip trembling as this beast made him fear as before. The men, animals he had slaughtered out of self-defense. Yet, this one was…. different.
"Easy…. don't…."
Yet, the creature was like a horse as its muzzle nudged him, a large snout and large nostrils flares gently to warm his cold palms. Dick felt with his self-hand, fingers tracing back to the lead as if it knew what he was thinking. As if it could read the real him behind the frozen expression Dick used to mask his pain.
"You…. need my help?"
Yet again, the creature bobbed his head, body moving as if Dick…was he supposed to –
The creature presented itself to him, its flank unbidden as the animal wanted Dick….to ride atop him. As if it knew that this was one way to keep his aide from freezing in the cold of December. It was an odd request, an animal with silver bells would bring attention to the police. Or…
But.
He felt compelled even so to help it, to relive the life he'd since left behind to save their own. Just for tonight.
"Okay, you've convinced me…." He brought himself to have one hand to the great elk like deer. It lowered its legs to allow him aboard, Dick moving one leg, then the other gingerly atop it. "Ah…so, just…. hold –
The beast could not wait, as Dick grabbed the reigns it still carried and screamed.
The thing was fast! Right into the street, its feet going a few steps to leap. He gasped. Was it….it wasn't!
"What's going on??" He called to the deer which gave a whine and a bellow as its feet LEFT the ground.
"Whoa!" Dick saw it try harder on the next jump, a stack of crates. They couldn't make it high enough!
"Wait! Too low! We need more, altitude! There!" He pointed to a wall; the crates adjacent as he came too close.
"No, wait! What are y –
The smug deer was no easy target as it pounded the wall. Running up it at a break neck speed that would wound a cheetah's pride. Dick gripped the animal's fur and shut his eyes, until…
Until, he saw the moon, and the sky! The night sky with lights all lit in windows well across it. The people not walking about after dark. As if back in time to some strange universe, Dick had to gasp at the scene below and in his eyes.
He once again spoke of wonder, lived it as he hollered out with glee.
" Yeeah !!! You're amazing! This is…. incredible! Whoo!!!"
His inner child's self-confidence restored, the deer knew it was doing the good work of the Holly King well. The Lord of Winter was worried that one less good soul gone, might lose touch as he too had met a bat in the form of a man. This boy had the scent that fellow had carried years ago. A nose so bright with it, that the deer found its rooftop. A few large hooves beside a gentle soul with a bright face hooded and unforeseen by man's eyes.
Dick was let to stay, to dismount slowly as he saw the man clad in not red, but silver and green holly. "Lad, has your adventure come to an end?"
Dick remembered such a figure, how Bruce had told Robin of his time, him, that there was…a special soul who watched over the good of the young and imaginative on such a month as December.
"Sir, I've never stopped trying…. I'm sorry. He was lost, and…you're him. Aren't you." Dick swallowed as the deer returned to its siblings and family by a great space that looked to be cloaked. A power, preventing man from becoming greedy with their eyes alone.
"You are young yet, so fly free when the time comes to be righteous as you were. I recall a child such as you. His dreams came from his feet being off the ground, never grounded as this life can certainly drag us into the mud without a second glance."
"How…How is he? Them?" Dick nodded, still thinking only of the chance he'd have to ask. "I miss everything about him, about what I can't go back…. you'll have to tell them. Please, Mr. Kringle." Dick pleaded softly. "Tell my family, in some way if you can…. that I'm going to be alright. I'm not going to forget to be a decent dreamer when I'm finally free, to do that. A good person. I'll do all I can –
"Don't look to far into the future, for it can dull and wane as the northern lights, my boy." The great relic walked up to Dick, handing him something inside of a small box. A tiny ring box, one he wanted to recall but could not nor ever should. "When you are given the opportunity, open it. See for yourself that no mortal's future is ever set in stone as you may claim." The elder smiled yet did not show his true face beneath his large hood. "My deer enjoyed dashing your troubles away. They bring joy to all, and banish misfortune. You must do the same, for it was the oath you swore upon that night to not only yourself, but to the rest of humanity. Richard Grayson."
"You'll tell him, then…. that, I want him to be happy. To never lose faith in my return. Is that, ok? Sir..."
The elder placed a snow-white glove atop the boy's shoulder, not to his head for his was not a child in body any longer. "Mr. Wayne has always remained hopeful, there is no need when you have always shown him this with your presence in being truthful. Yet, I will for your sake, deliver one gift to the person who does need that cheer recovered in turn." The man winked, as Dick decided. Whatever was in the box, he was compelled to share it with a dear friend. "I want this to go to her, she needs it more than I do." Dick stood back, head raised high with a lighthearted smile on his face and a grin as the reindeer celebrated their act of raising the good from a frozen someone. "Thank you, you too. Dasher?"
"Prancer, actually. Because you should be flying free. And a good season's warm wishes to you and even, the man you claim is such a bad egg." Chuckled the man as he moved away to let the cloaked sled reveal itself only to them. "My work here is never done, yet you were distressed even when helping a deer such as a magical one." A twinkle in his eye, Dick smiled back at the kindle relic of time and the hearth's warmth upon mankind and beast. "Remember to be good to even those you cannot fathom, for they are your greatest teachers as well. Into the night….and….A silent night to all!! ~~
He took off and became a trail of snow flurries, Dick feeling his feet move to catch up as the child in him reared its head. Waving and smiling while trying not to freeze to death up on an ice-cold rooftop.
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How he made it back to the hostel?
Still, Dick awoke to find himself back in his bed. That was no dream as he saw beside him…
But, the box, it was….
He smiled. It wasn't the only one. He was right!
Dick awoke as a child on a mission, his feet tapping as he realized that his cloths were still on from late last night. It looked as if he'd gone shopping before the man had risen. Another gift that kept on giving, Dick thanked his lucky stars and pulled out the box, knowing what to do with it.
It was a reminder, a reminder of what he'd be….
Slade groaned as Dick stood by his bedside, a smile and a small box in hand.
Or of when you least expect it.
"What's all this? Did you get up before me, apprentice?"
Dick nodded, his true reason a mystery ever since as he put the box outwards.
"Open it, sir."
Slade scratched his beard, yet without wonder in them as Dick had recovered his…
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As it stood, Slade's messy staining of blood marked the graduation not of Renegade, but a bold character that was supposed to exist after he had grown to realize just how much control Slade had never carried.
"Slade, it's over." Dick went to the body, seething through shattered teeth and on its back. Slade refused to part with a small gift even so, a reminder of who had broken his trust. A long-haired brat with a mask of a dark bird, his blue eyes to match the colors of bruises upon his skin tight suit. Not of a mercenary's build. Never, but an acrobat.
"Wh…. why…." Slade rasped as Dick moved the man's hand away. His finger simply bumped the metal pin that was shaped as his emblem.
As Nightwing's .
"You tried to shatter that illusion long ago that I could ever fly free. From you, from myself. I just had to believe that it could happen." Smiled the acrobatic son to the older killer for hire. "I played along, but my heart was always for others. I gave you that pin to remind you, that I'm nothing like you said. We're through." Dick left the bleeding male to lie there, to heal as long as he saw how serious the new vigilante was.
"You…can't…change..." Slade whispered as he refused to rise. "I…. made you…Dick…"
"I never asked you to, sir. And now, I'm finding my own place to call home." Dick turned away, his escrima cleared of the act as Slade grunted by his nose now starting to crack back into place.
Dick wondered if he should have Slade shipped to an ambulance, have his self-worth not turn to the vengeful thought he'd harbored since…since Slade had broken his promise not to harm Dick's family. The newest young Robin and Barbara Gordon. He'd chosen to fight back. Be it his dream or not to rise from the ashes as the sky turned to dusk…
He just had never stopped believing in what he dared to dream, coming true.
Snow began to fall, the same as that night on his ride with Prancer. He could still hear those reindeer hooves atop stone and brick. He could still seek out the moonlit glow of the nighttime ride which had returned him to seal his fate, tonight.
''Good tidings, even so.'' Dick muttered as Slade coughed up another clot. ''To me and my kin, sir. You lied about that. I promised you that they'd never suffer like I did."
''Did…. we….?' Slade gasped, his heaving being torturous to the reluctant do - gooder of this Christmas Eve."
"Didn't I…..protect…..you?..."
Dick arched a brow, his sticks clenched in both hands as he reeled quickly in that rage. "No, they'll accept me, because they know who I am. And now, I know you too. Slade Wilson." Dick lined his escrima to point at the man who'd propped himself up by his elbows with wide shock in that one orb of slate grey.
Once blue with unbridled wonder too, Dick supposed.
"This little bird is all grown up." Dick chuckled and let down his hand. "I'm done, the probes are destroyed and you…. You didn't save me." He told the man with a sneer. "My hope did that, my faith in what's right brought me back. And one day, sir…I hope that you'll feel the same way. Freed from all of that anger. It will only cut you apart in the end. Like snowfall." Dick looked up and smiled in a small gaze at the night air. "It vanishes, come and goes. All of that hatred, just…find a place for it. Find that hope soon sir." Dick turned away, his feet moving back towards the streets as Slade shook his head, dragging himself to stand but…the snow….it, took him away with it.
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"B."
The man by the hearth turned with greying circles about his cheekbones. Beside one the eldest, the younger with darker circles and an unshaven face looked as if Death had spat him back out in a pinch short of a national global holiday.
"Is…. that really you, Master D –
"Alfred, leave us."
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"How long did he have you, Dick."
"Since I was fifteen. The probes were taken out, destroyed. Cy –
"Your secret weapon was….my gift to you, back then."
Dick blinked. "What? What are you talking about, Bruce?" Dick snorted, thinking this just his mentor and father figure being totally melodramatic. "I got out, I worked –
"We had an inside man to get that info across."
Dick thought for a moment. "Who."
"Take a wild guess."
Dick tried to think back. "How long…. when?"
"Last Christmas."
He was nineteen this year when Nightwing had spread its wings. The pin he'd given to Slade was a declaration of –
Dick put a hand to his face. "He??"
"St. Nick was a warrior in olden times. He taught me a thing or two about doing the impossible. You saw him in another guise that night. He wrote back. That pin, Dick. It was something to get Slade's data on the machine. The one you shut down even when we…we never stopped knowing. Chris was sure since he remembers everyone. Name, face." Bruce brushed the hair back from his eyes and thought. "He said that despite where you were now, that you weren't meant to be put on his naughty list. So, he gave you another chance to prove it."
"He checked his list twice. For me, because –
Bruce nearly skated over to his son from the seat by the fire he'd made himself cozy in. He never was, not without his partner, his son; lost for years until that evening.
"Welcome home, Dick."
"Happy Holidays, Bruce." Smiled back that heroic face that had never hung up the mask. He'd always made sure, that all of what he did was to finally return home one Christmas eve like no other."
"Merry Christmas, Mr. Chris."
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Aww, I thought it was cute. Next is more blasts from the past and melancholia! Slade has a secret he just got busted from those lips in a bar outside of Haven. Read on!
