Teen Titans – Side Stories and After – Snippets; Foxes Upon Foxes and Magical Girls Galore
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SING ME TO SLEEP
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Ava thought there were monsters in the apartment at night.
Her mom was having the hardest migraine since a counter attack from the villain Stryker (oc) had harmed her delicate ears enough to have the three-year-old in bed right after supper. Her papa was out on his shift fir that evening and would not be home for a good few hours.
Maybe never, as Ava wasn't human enough to forget her real life elsewhere in another time.
She was a spirit….no, she had powers that revolved around the past of a woman called Isa. Isa Rothschild. She was once Ava Rothschild before becoming a Grayson – Anders as their first baby girl. Yet she was adopted into their lives as she needed to be to protect the expecting mother, Kori.
Ava had psychic abilities and could sense things that her parents were aware hurt the girl very badly, emotionally. In her world, there must have been a way to understand such changes, she wondered.
So, yes. In a way, there WERE monsters inside the apartment that she could only see and no one else. She could also do things that kids her age were incapable of, such as levitating to the next rooftop beside her own home to escape the thoughts and feelings of dread that those creatures wanted to gobble up.
Had she only seen the blue and black suited vigilante crouching over across from that new roof, she would have still had a chance to be brave and float back home.
"Uhh! Oh….um...I! -
"Kid...?" He looked flustered as she gawked at the hero from the tv. His face was full of vigor but lines creased lightly across his brow as he spoke to her between settings.
"How did you get up here? By yourself?"
She hid her eyes and shuffled her feet in embarrassment. "I…flew?"
She answered, meekly.
"Oh." He blinked at her. "Where us your mother?" Your dad?"
"Mom is not feeling well….papa is at work." She said with a disheartening sigh. His brow furrowed a bit, but yet out of pity his grapple swung him to her roof with ease. Caught in a spider's web,Ava didn't want to make any sudden movements. Her powers were still not the kind she could control all the time, so her scare and nerves might have her injured if she had to jump back down on her own.
"Is your papa an ok guy? Why isn't he there with you?" Frowned the vigilante, asking the big question; were Ava's parents really being good enough for her sake.
"Mama is having a baby soon, so I'm there with her." She said curtly. "You can go now. I know how to get back down."
"Wait! That's dangerous!" She could have slipped as the slippery drain pipe brought the girl to trip, had this bold male not known how to remedy the situation.
She scrunched up her fists as he clutched her torso, keeping her from going backwards as his grapple line prevented another fall.
"Are…you hanging on tight..." He managed to grunt the question as she nodded quickly with a few bobs of her light-haired skull.
"Good, then…hang on tighter…I have to jump –
"WHA?-
They flew down as Ava nearly screamed at first, before felling her body floating but…not by magic.
By glider!
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The new roof wasn't very far, but Ava realized that the only way to avoid the crash to the ground was to go higher, so now they were a block or two away as the air took them to land a mild distance from her parents' apartment complex.
She gulped as the knight in black and blue finally had them standing, Ava clutching at his chest and a bit shaken from the ride across the city line. "We made it just fine. I'll take you back to your folks, o –
"She looked up at his mask as he leaned over for her-
Ava acted brashly, letting her powers go as the girl's amethyst eyes shattered the mask to fall partly off of the man's face.
By magic, her panic in who had saved her life just then.
"Daddy??"
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She stood back as he knew there was no avoiding it. "Hi, sweetheart…this…."
"You…. you are Night Wing ??"
" Shush!" He put a hand to his lips as she bit her own, whispering despite that bubbling excitement buzzing right through her. Her dad was, was a cool guy!
"I save people all the time, and it's true. This is why you don't see me at night… Ava…we need to get you home."
"Mom knows who you really are, right?" Ava crossed her arms and pushed out her chin. "Then I'm fine! She trusts…. yawn…. you to …be there…"
Dick chuckled and put a hand onto Ava's silver mane, as if to reminder her of how true that was. "I protect as many people as I can, Ava Marie. Why don't you be mommy's hero and keep an eye –
"But…the monsters!" She shook under that reminder of why she'd left.
"Monsters? In the big city?"
"Yeah! They look like shadows and are the worst when I want to go to sleep…. Mama says I can stay with her tonight, but they won't leave me alone…"
"I know Aunt Rachel had taught you a spell, and Isa –
"None of those are any good…." Ava sniffled and rubbed at her now puffy eyes with a hiccup. "I…. ugn…Don't...wanna go… hoome!!"
"No more crying, Ava – Bear…It's ok…." He swept his arms round her while the man's sudden bear hug had Ava's moment to still. She felt, better crying into those colors than anywhere else right now…
"Papa…?"
"Hum?"
"Do you, know any bedtime songs? Like the ones mama sings when I go to sleep?"
Dick picked up his head as Ava looked into his now shattered masked face. "A lullaby? Are you sure –
"If I'm already asleep, I can't see the monsters." She determined with a bob of her childish skull.
"Mama can't cause she has a headache, so I want you to do it! Can you? Pretty, pretty please?"
Dick, was a bad singer in all truth (TT2003 Tokyo movie end credits.) His last impression of a dying mule made Bb's rap battle in Japan look ideal in all manners of speaking to a teen idol trying to hit the big time.
He could do a speech as Bruce had prided him on this technique, but to sing?
"I don't know…how about…" He bit his lip and then it struck him.
"I know only one, but you can't laugh." He told the child with a grin.
"Your Daddy – bear is a little bit rusty in the singing department, but I'll give it my best try. Just for you. Then we'll both go back to mama - bear together. Sound, ok?"
The smile she blessed him with was brighter than any moon bow.
"Yeah! Sing it to me; I wanna hear!"
Dick started to hum. He began recalling a catchy theme from his earlier years, while trying to make it sound more acoustic, more with a slowed down advantage to lull his kid into a calmer state.
She was already so wound up; he knew that it wouldn't be easy.
~ When there's trouble, you know who to caall…from their tower, they can see it aalll…. when there's evil on the attack! ~ He made the kid sway with his words as she went to sit on his knee. Did she know the song from Uncle Vic?
~ You can rest, knowing they've got your back…. cause when the world needs heroes on patroolll; teen titans – go. ~
She was looking pretty woozy as he cradled her and tried to be sure the glider was ready to set off a bit longer back to their flat. He kept up his whisper- singing only to her and for once, Dick sounded a bit more on key than he had in his teenaged years.
~ With their superpowers they uniiite…. never met a villain that they liiked…. they've got the bad guys on the run; they never stop till the job gets done…. cause when the world is losing all controolll…teen titans - go!...~
She was finally closing her eyes as he watched for any night drifters in the air. Like a car ride for your toddler, Dick made being dad of the year look… complex.
He grinned and got into the next verse. She was so clingy that he did want to leave his patrol and hunker down in bed or on the sofa with his family. He could…but….
Not yet.
The night was still in need of a hero.
~ If. Your. Heart. Is black, you better watch out. You cannot escape the team…. when they catch you, there won't be any doubt. You've been beaten by the teeens….by the teeens…. ~
Here they were, all for the sake of getting some rest. "Those monsters won't hurt you anymore, Ava Marie…" Had Dick realized Roku's influence or that he'd manifested from its power (only until Aiden was born) the ability TO create - a way to tell those shadows to back off, the kiss atop her tiny skull was a spell that would keep Ava from having anything but pleasant dreams. He opened the sliding terrace door and whispered one last part of the song's verse to make sure she was ok with not having a half -arsed finish.
~T – E – E – N - T – I – T – A – N – S; Teen Ti – Tans, Let's go!...one, two , three four – go.…."
He had the covers over her head and the light switch at his fingertips. It was time to leave the nest again.
"Teen Titans…. let's go…du – dun…" He chuckled softly, switching on the night light before leaving to door opened just a crack, waltzing back down the hall.
After that time, he'd forgotten the lyrics? Oh well. Maybe Ava would teach them to her new siblings once they were flying or walking in the air…
Dick remembered. Kori could fly.
Flying…. toddlers….
Shaking his head, he let out a yawn.
Close to one am…good thing it was a Saturday ….he could….
Kori was in the next room, resting.
He yawned again.
"Fine…darn body." Dick grunted and undid his zipper in the bathroom, making sure all parts of his gear were hidden from Ava until he'd talked to Kor in the a.m.
Well, it was. Ah, but later. When she was ready to hear him out.
Speaking…of?
He smiled and slipped the covers up a bit to crawl under, spooning next to her without pushing or making her bat an eye. She needed to rest more than he did.
"You…. Came home…. dear Hrnnir…" She sighed and let his hand be guided to clasp overtop her soft, swollen stomach. "I couldn't let you stay here tonight without a friend…I'm here." He nuzzled into her red locks, taking in an inhale before letting it out slowly. "Ava's just fine…so, go back to sleep. It's ok…I'm here all for a day off patrol like I promised."
He hummed the Titans tune to her and she softly giggled up at his goofy grin. "You remember it?" She bunched his hands closer around her middle. Supple, warm…He smiled and kissed her shoulder gently.
"Every verse."
Well, not all of that was a lie. He knew how to improvise and Ava even agreed that his singing voice could NOT cut through titanium.
"I am glad, that you are here…the baby will be difficult…and the doctor and I spoke…it will be two…. I am in fact…." She sighed into the sheets.
"Having "the twins."
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Haaa! So, Dick gets another big shock and Ava learns his secret identity in one night? This was soo cute! I'm bawlin! Falls into the new years arcs one and two. Hope you enjoyed!
