Fic: Relief
Title: Relief
Characters: Tim Drake, Zachary Zatara, several Teen Titans.
Rating: PG
Warnings: Angst. Some talk of injuries but it isn't too descriptive.
Word Count: 1, 374
Author's Notes: For 's Heroes in Haiti Challenge. I didn't feel entirely comfortable writing about being in the disaster itself, but at the same time I couldn't imagine Tim just sitting around while the aid effort went on. So I sort of reached a compromise? We'll see.
Tim’s hands are covered in blood. Every part of Tim is covered in blood. There’s something dripping down his face, but that could be sweat. In a normal circumstance, he’d either brush it away himself, or someone do it for him. But his own hands are busy, holding the insides of a man together, and everyone else is just as busy. As Tim waits for someone to bring him another clamp so he can let go of the artery clenched in his left hand, he takes a moment to view the scene around him. He’s had to block out the sound because the screaming got to be too overwhelming, but to his left Cassie is holding down a woman while Kara cauterizes a gash in her leg. To his right M’gann is floating in the air, her eyes closed tight as she reaches out with her mind, trying to calm everyone in the room, somewhere behind him Tim can feel the crackle of Zach’s magic as he heals.
There are people everywhere. Tim feels as though they’ve gone to war, army doctors in their make shift hospital. But this isn’t war, there’s no enemy here, only victims.
Kon presses a clamp into his hand.
~
The older Titans come later in the day, they’d spent the first few hours as part of a search teams. Tim’s team, even though they weren’t really Tim’s team anymore, had been firmly told to stay in the field hospital, only Jaime, Kon and Atlee had been permitted to go out and search, their powers being too good to not use. Tim had wanted to help, but he knew that he was more use where he was. And his team needed him, even if had left them before, even if he hadn’t been wearing the right costume when he’d shown up. Zach had fixed that for him, saying that his Red Robin costume was too intimidating, and using magic to change it to his Robin costume.
Tim had said it didn’t matter, that they’d all be wearing scrubs anyway, but he’d made the mistake of thinking this was a regular hospital. The basin they’d been cleaning their hands in was full of blood, every now and then Kon or Kara would boil it to kill any bacteria, but the blood was still there. They couldn’t afford to refill it, water was precious, they needed it to clean wounds.
Dick comes straight to him, wipes the sweat off his brow and gives him a quick drink of water. He helps hold a man still as Tim pulls a rod of metal out of his leg.
“You’re doing great little brother,” Dick whispers to him, trying to bolster his spirit, “You’re doing so good baby bird.”
~
The sun is already rising again by the time the place quietens enough for some of the team to slip off and catch a few hours sleep. Despite Mia’s urgings, Tim had decided to stay. Working through the night to keep fevers down, to close wounds that had reopened throughout the day and gone neglected because they just didn’t have time. And to help anyone who came stumbling in during the night.
Tim takes a deep breath, through his mouth, because the air smells like blood and burning, and looks around again. It’s almost quiet, Raven is sitting on the dirt, her eyes open and unstaring, her mouth pressed in a thin line, as she takes just enough of the pain in the room so that the patients can sleep. Tim silently promises to buy her a holiday when all this is over, somewhere silent and deserted.
“Laeh! Laeh! Laeh!” Tim hears someone muttering to themselves, and he knows straight away that it’s Zach, “Why won’t you just heal!”
Tim rushes over to him and crouches down, looking at the little girl laid out in front of Zach, there’s an open wound in her shoulder and a thick piece of shrapnel on the ground next to her. The wound seems to go all the way through, Tim can see sinew and bone, but the girl isn’t crying, she’s asleep and Tim guesses that Zach did that for her. Tim looks to Zach, with his hands open over the wound, and his face drawn in pain, the spell is on his lips but he won’t go through to the girl.
“Z, Z listen to me,” Tim lays his hand on Zach’s shoulder, “Change the spell, just focus on repairing the bone damage okay?”
Zach nods, and then says, “Riaper enob!”
The shattered bone binds together, and Zach sinks a little, resting his weight against Tim.
“Well done Zach, that’s perfect. Now, can you heal the muscle?” Tim coaxes, presses his head against Zach’s, trying to give him some strength.
“Riarep elcsum!” Zat mutters, and the muscle knits itself back together.
“Oh beautiful, that’s wonderful,” Tim presses a kiss to Zach’s hair and then takes the medical kit from his pouch.
He threads a needle and stitches the skin closed, finishing off what Zat couldn’t. When he’s done, he sprays a little disinfectant on the wound, then wraps it with a bandage. Zach is still kneeling beside him, his hands hanging uselessly in his lap.
“Come on Z, you need to rest,” Tim tells him, and nudges him to get him to stand up.
Zach takes a shuddering breath, “No, no, I’m fine. I can keep going. I just need a moment.”
But Tim can see the lie. There are tears of pain streaming down Zach’s face, Tim knows that using too much magic is physically painful, Zach’s shoulders are drooping, his head lolling down onto his chest and his breathing is shallow and weak.
Tim opens his mouth to protest, but Zach is trying to stand up, and halfway through the act he collapses from exhausted. Tim catches him halfway down, and hefts him into a princess carry, his own aching muscles protesting at the movement.
He carries Zach through the darkness and into their tent a few yards away, he lays him down in the bed, removes his shoes and jacket, because Zach had insisted he wear his stage costume, for morale, he’d said.
“Tim?” It’s barely a whisper.
“I’m here Zachary, you’ll be okay, just take some rest,” Tim says, taking Zach’s hands in his own and squeezing them gently.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t do more,” Zat apologizes and it sounds so ridiculous that Tim almost laughs.
But he doesn’t, instead leaning over to press his forehead against Zach’s, “You’ve already done so much. We’ll get straight back in there tomorrow and save even more lives, okay?”
Zach nods and then turns on his side, drifting back into sleep. Tim stays with him a moment, resting his head on Zach’s shoulder, but he knows that he has to go back out there. He’s used to staying up for endless hours, and he needs to be there now more than ever. He needs to watch over their patients, helping anyone who wakes, anyone who cries out in pain, or anyone new who comes to them for aid.
Outside the tent it’s almost peaceful, the sky dark and dotted with stars, no sounds of cars or trains or the hum of electricity. But to the east dark smoke curls in the air, remnants of a long dead fire. To the west he can faintly see the green lights of the Lanterns as they guide the search and rescue long into the night. Somewhere, Clark is up in the air, using his c-ray vision to scour the rubble for survivors. Back in Gotham, Barbara is co-ordinating the relief effort, using helicopters to drop aid parcels where planes can’t reach, and ensuring that everyone has enough supplies of equipment, food and water, and that everyone goes where they are most needed. Diana brought a band of Themyscirans to help move debris and ferry supplies. The JLA, JSA, Outsiders, Titans, Teen Titans and every other meta or trained hero are out in force, doing everything they can to assist with the relief effort.
It’s hell here and Tim knows it, but he wonders what sort of hell it would be like if they weren’t here to help.
Characters: Tim Drake, Zachary Zatara, several Teen Titans.
Rating: PG
Warnings: Angst. Some talk of injuries but it isn't too descriptive.
Word Count: 1, 374
Author's Notes: For 's Heroes in Haiti Challenge. I didn't feel entirely comfortable writing about being in the disaster itself, but at the same time I couldn't imagine Tim just sitting around while the aid effort went on. So I sort of reached a compromise? We'll see.
Tim’s hands are covered in blood. Every part of Tim is covered in blood. There’s something dripping down his face, but that could be sweat. In a normal circumstance, he’d either brush it away himself, or someone do it for him. But his own hands are busy, holding the insides of a man together, and everyone else is just as busy. As Tim waits for someone to bring him another clamp so he can let go of the artery clenched in his left hand, he takes a moment to view the scene around him. He’s had to block out the sound because the screaming got to be too overwhelming, but to his left Cassie is holding down a woman while Kara cauterizes a gash in her leg. To his right M’gann is floating in the air, her eyes closed tight as she reaches out with her mind, trying to calm everyone in the room, somewhere behind him Tim can feel the crackle of Zach’s magic as he heals.
There are people everywhere. Tim feels as though they’ve gone to war, army doctors in their make shift hospital. But this isn’t war, there’s no enemy here, only victims.
Kon presses a clamp into his hand.
~
The older Titans come later in the day, they’d spent the first few hours as part of a search teams. Tim’s team, even though they weren’t really Tim’s team anymore, had been firmly told to stay in the field hospital, only Jaime, Kon and Atlee had been permitted to go out and search, their powers being too good to not use. Tim had wanted to help, but he knew that he was more use where he was. And his team needed him, even if had left them before, even if he hadn’t been wearing the right costume when he’d shown up. Zach had fixed that for him, saying that his Red Robin costume was too intimidating, and using magic to change it to his Robin costume.
Tim had said it didn’t matter, that they’d all be wearing scrubs anyway, but he’d made the mistake of thinking this was a regular hospital. The basin they’d been cleaning their hands in was full of blood, every now and then Kon or Kara would boil it to kill any bacteria, but the blood was still there. They couldn’t afford to refill it, water was precious, they needed it to clean wounds.
Dick comes straight to him, wipes the sweat off his brow and gives him a quick drink of water. He helps hold a man still as Tim pulls a rod of metal out of his leg.
“You’re doing great little brother,” Dick whispers to him, trying to bolster his spirit, “You’re doing so good baby bird.”
~
The sun is already rising again by the time the place quietens enough for some of the team to slip off and catch a few hours sleep. Despite Mia’s urgings, Tim had decided to stay. Working through the night to keep fevers down, to close wounds that had reopened throughout the day and gone neglected because they just didn’t have time. And to help anyone who came stumbling in during the night.
Tim takes a deep breath, through his mouth, because the air smells like blood and burning, and looks around again. It’s almost quiet, Raven is sitting on the dirt, her eyes open and unstaring, her mouth pressed in a thin line, as she takes just enough of the pain in the room so that the patients can sleep. Tim silently promises to buy her a holiday when all this is over, somewhere silent and deserted.
“Laeh! Laeh! Laeh!” Tim hears someone muttering to themselves, and he knows straight away that it’s Zach, “Why won’t you just heal!”
Tim rushes over to him and crouches down, looking at the little girl laid out in front of Zach, there’s an open wound in her shoulder and a thick piece of shrapnel on the ground next to her. The wound seems to go all the way through, Tim can see sinew and bone, but the girl isn’t crying, she’s asleep and Tim guesses that Zach did that for her. Tim looks to Zach, with his hands open over the wound, and his face drawn in pain, the spell is on his lips but he won’t go through to the girl.
“Z, Z listen to me,” Tim lays his hand on Zach’s shoulder, “Change the spell, just focus on repairing the bone damage okay?”
Zach nods, and then says, “Riaper enob!”
The shattered bone binds together, and Zach sinks a little, resting his weight against Tim.
“Well done Zach, that’s perfect. Now, can you heal the muscle?” Tim coaxes, presses his head against Zach’s, trying to give him some strength.
“Riarep elcsum!” Zat mutters, and the muscle knits itself back together.
“Oh beautiful, that’s wonderful,” Tim presses a kiss to Zach’s hair and then takes the medical kit from his pouch.
He threads a needle and stitches the skin closed, finishing off what Zat couldn’t. When he’s done, he sprays a little disinfectant on the wound, then wraps it with a bandage. Zach is still kneeling beside him, his hands hanging uselessly in his lap.
“Come on Z, you need to rest,” Tim tells him, and nudges him to get him to stand up.
Zach takes a shuddering breath, “No, no, I’m fine. I can keep going. I just need a moment.”
But Tim can see the lie. There are tears of pain streaming down Zach’s face, Tim knows that using too much magic is physically painful, Zach’s shoulders are drooping, his head lolling down onto his chest and his breathing is shallow and weak.
Tim opens his mouth to protest, but Zach is trying to stand up, and halfway through the act he collapses from exhausted. Tim catches him halfway down, and hefts him into a princess carry, his own aching muscles protesting at the movement.
He carries Zach through the darkness and into their tent a few yards away, he lays him down in the bed, removes his shoes and jacket, because Zach had insisted he wear his stage costume, for morale, he’d said.
“Tim?” It’s barely a whisper.
“I’m here Zachary, you’ll be okay, just take some rest,” Tim says, taking Zach’s hands in his own and squeezing them gently.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t do more,” Zat apologizes and it sounds so ridiculous that Tim almost laughs.
But he doesn’t, instead leaning over to press his forehead against Zach’s, “You’ve already done so much. We’ll get straight back in there tomorrow and save even more lives, okay?”
Zach nods and then turns on his side, drifting back into sleep. Tim stays with him a moment, resting his head on Zach’s shoulder, but he knows that he has to go back out there. He’s used to staying up for endless hours, and he needs to be there now more than ever. He needs to watch over their patients, helping anyone who wakes, anyone who cries out in pain, or anyone new who comes to them for aid.
Outside the tent it’s almost peaceful, the sky dark and dotted with stars, no sounds of cars or trains or the hum of electricity. But to the east dark smoke curls in the air, remnants of a long dead fire. To the west he can faintly see the green lights of the Lanterns as they guide the search and rescue long into the night. Somewhere, Clark is up in the air, using his c-ray vision to scour the rubble for survivors. Back in Gotham, Barbara is co-ordinating the relief effort, using helicopters to drop aid parcels where planes can’t reach, and ensuring that everyone has enough supplies of equipment, food and water, and that everyone goes where they are most needed. Diana brought a band of Themyscirans to help move debris and ferry supplies. The JLA, JSA, Outsiders, Titans, Teen Titans and every other meta or trained hero are out in force, doing everything they can to assist with the relief effort.
It’s hell here and Tim knows it, but he wonders what sort of hell it would be like if they weren’t here to help.