Prompt Post -Part One! [CLOSED TO NEW PROMPTS]

Jan 05, 2011 20:30

THIS PART IS NOW CLOSED. YOU CAN CONTINUE POSTING FILLS, BUT PLEASE PROMPT ALL NEW THINGS HEREWelcome to the Young Justice: Animated anonymous fic meme ( Read more... )

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We are One and Two [2/5] anonymous February 24 2011, 00:21:44 UTC
But Robin’s clearly fine. He’s rested. Healthy. Alive.

“Why wouldn’t I be okay?” Robin shoots back and grins. “I wasn’t the one caught up in the Brainiac incursion zone,” he says. “Glad you got out of there.” He punches Wally in the arm where a giant bruise is healing.

“Ow!” Wally says and scowls. “I’m wounded here! Give me some respect; I fought off an alien invasion!”

Robin snickers. Somehow, he had changed the subject entirely, not answering any of Wally’s questions or concerns. If Robin didn’t want to talk, then it’s fine. Maybe it’s too soon and Flash had said that Robin might need a little time. Batman and Robin had shared a bond so close that they didn’t need words to communicate on patrol or missions. Even when the end-of-the-world loomed over them and everyone was frantic to try to stay by their mentors’ sides, those two were different. Unlike the hugs and the telepathy and the nervous chatter that everyone else had been reduced to, Batman had just put a hand on Robin’s shoulder and that was that.

Wally looks at Robin, scrutinizing as well as he can, and thinks Robin isn’t alright. He can’t be alright.

He manages to catch Flash’s gaze and shakes his head.

-

M’gann is doing her best to not look into people’s minds, but she can’t help it. When emotions are high, they bleed into her consciousness whether she wanted to know or not. She’s been feeling a big, heavy feeling in the center of her chest, a black pressure that’s so thick it nearly stops her from breathing the first time she feels it, won’t go away no matter what she tries. It makes her unbalanced and upset easily and she wants the ugly mass in her chest to go away.

Kaldur and Wally had both turned to her to talk to Robin, although she’s certain that both of them had tried and failed. Not in the sense that Robin wasn’t communicative, but their courage to talk about such a sensitive subject deserted them.

Boys. Honestly.

But the last thing she wants is to talk to Robin, much less see him.

The ugly thing settled on her chest is most likely Robin’s and she thinks that if she comes into contact with him, she might keel over and die. Or maybe she’ll bawl her eyes out, whichever is the more likely scenario.

The pleading from her team wins out and she steels herself as she knocks on Robin’s door.

He opens it, wearing his civilian clothes and the reflective sunglasses. He’s smiling lightly.

“Miss M,” he says, his tone light and teasing. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Oh,” is the only thing that escapes her lips. She’s grabbing him and holding him tight, but she doesn’t sense or feel anything dark and horrible from Robin. His thoughts are clear and concise as they’ve always been and in him, deep in his mind and buried in his heart, is a floating, warm sensation. It calms the ugly thing in her chest and she’s wailing because she misses Batman and his silent presence. She’s never going to hear him growl out orders or intimidate all of them during debriefings.

The pressure inside her lifts as she cries and she realizes that it isn’t Robin’s. It’s her own feelings and how terrible she feels about the whole situation.

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We are One and Two [3/5] anonymous February 24 2011, 00:23:33 UTC
If she did something different, if she took another course of action, she might have been able to save him. She had been right there, no more than fifty yards away. She’s a fast flyer, she would have made it. She could have. Probably.

“Megan,” Robin says, awkwardly rubbing small circles on her back. “It’s okay. Why don’t you tell me what’s wrong?”

“I-I’m sorry,” she chokes out. It’s the only thing she can say now. “I’m sorry!”

For a moment, something deep inside Robin twists and jerks and ices over. But Robin just smiles and hands her a box of tissue. “He’s not dead, you know.”

She stops crying and blinks at him, finally knowing what it is that’s hidden deep inside him. The floating, warm feeling from Robin is hope.

-

Superboy doesn’t really know what to think, much less feel, about the whole situation.

Kaldur and Wally are acting strange around Robin. They never bring up anything about Gotham or Batman. Megan is even stranger than the other two. Sometimes she’s practically glued to Robin’s side and other times she refuses to come out of her space ship.

All he can do is arrange the facts that he knows and try to reason with them. Normally, Kaldur would take him aside and talk to him, because the Atlantean always seems to know what’s on his mind despite not being a mind reader. Kaldur’s been otherwise occupied and he’s always talking with Aquaman and some of the other Justice League members, as if trying to iron out details of something. Superboy didn’t give much thought to that.

Wally is always running around, trying to keep busy. Superboy finds it hard to keep up with him sometimes and talking with him sometimes leads to headaches. So he goes to Robin to clear up the fog in his head.

“Why is everyone acting so weird?” he asks the tiny black haired boy in front of him.

Robin is in his civilian clothing, his sunglasses in place. He raises an eyebrow at Superboy’s question and shrugs. “You mean weirder than usual?” he asks in return.

Superboy frowns. “This is about Batman, right?”

Robin stretches from his spot on the couch, his joints popping and cracking, the telltale signs that he’s been sitting there for hours. Hours doing what? Superboy looks around the room and sees nothing in particular that’s interesting. No gadgets, no games, not even the television is on.

“Did they ever teach you about…death in Cadmus?” Robin asks. He rubs at his eyes underneath the sunglasses and the motion lifts them for a fraction of a second and Superboy sees the dark rings under his eyes.

“Yes,” Superboy answers. “Death is the absolute stop of all biological functions for a living organism. What does this have to do about Batman?”

Robin smirks. “Nothing,” he says.

“Then why is everyone acting so weird? Do they think Batman is dead?” he asks because he’s genuinely confused. He wishes that Robin would just give him a straightforward answer instead of walking him towards one.

“Everyone has their own reactions to death,” Robin says. He looks at Superboy and tilts his head. “Do you think Batman’s dead?”

Superboy stares back at Robin. So the reason why everyone’s been on their toes is because they’re afraid of Robin’s reaction to Batman’s death. And Robin is asking him if he thinks Batman is dead. Is this Robin’s reaction? That he has the hope that Batman’s alive? This is why everyone’s been acting strangely around Robin?

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We are One and Two [4/5] anonymous February 24 2011, 00:25:20 UTC
“I don’t know what to think,” Superboy answers honestly. “I don’t feel like he’s gone.” He glances around the lounge, staring at a security sensor in the corner of the room. It’s nearly the same as having Batman watching over them. He can almost see the dark shape hunched over the security monitors in the Tech Room. “He shouldn’t be gone. He’s coming back, right?”

Robin is silent for a moment. “Yeah, he’s coming back,” he says, his voice tiny and quiet. He’s staring at the security sensor too. “He’s definitely coming back.”

-

It’s strange, but Gotham isn’t overrun by super villains or gang wars. Instead, there’s a strange silence that settles on the streets, like the calm before a storm. The Joker’s escaped from Arkham and no one’s heard or seen him for a week; he’s no doubt biding his time. Poison Ivy, Two-Face, Scarecrow, Penguin are also around, but they’re suspiciously quiet too.

Or maybe, Clark thinks, it’s because of the presence of the Justice League.

Diana doesn’t exactly pull her punches. Both Hal Jordan and John Stewart can materialize things the moment they think of them. Barry is too quick to be caught.

No one in Gotham can stand up to them, it’s too easy. At this point, Bruce would be in all their faces, forcing them out of Gotham, telling them it’s his city with narrowed eyes. They’d argue that they’re helping him. He’d point out how they’re severely outmatched.

Who’s Bruce supposed to protect anyway?

Clark bites the inside of his cheek, getting away from the imaginary conversation he’s having with Bruce, as he watches a tiny figure swinging above the buildings, dressed in black and red, a flash of yellow on the chest visible. Flying behind him several paces away is Diana.

He overhears, because he just can’t help it and because his hearing is just too good.

“Robin, stop this!”

“No, you stop it!”

“He would not have wanted this-”

“He’s not dead!”

“Robin, he was my friend too, I-”

“Get out of my city! You’re not helping anyone here. Get out! Get out! And you, Superman, I see you up there! Get out of my city!”

-

The funeral is huge. Every costumed hero is out on the streets of Gotham and every costumed villain is hundreds of miles away.

Superman’s giving the eulogy. The lines around his eyes more pronounced and a crease in his forehead as he frowns continuously makes him look old. Older than he really is. Wonder Woman’s eyes are red, as if she’s been crying, but she stands tall and proud in her red, white, and blues. The Flash is perpetually red and Kid Flash is always yellow. They both seem haggard and sagging a bit, both their effervescent personalities missing.

Robin stares at the empty coffin and avoids looking at anyone, avoids speaking to anyone.

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We are One and Two [5/5] anonymous February 24 2011, 00:27:05 UTC
Superboy is beside him, brows drawn into an identical frown of Superman’s, right down to the crease in the forehead. His arms are crossed over his chest and he looks like he wants to object to Superman’s speech. Miss Martian is on Robin’s other side, eyes suspiciously dry. But she’s already done enough crying; maybe her well of tears has gone.

Robin feels tired. He’s pushed the funeral back as far as he could, reasoned and argued that Batman’s still alive, that he has to be, Brainiac can’t kill him that easily. His pleas had always fallen on deaf ears and sympathetic glances, but no one really listened.

He doesn’t want to be here, not for this farce of a funeral with no body.

A lot of people are looking at him. He knows because he can feel the weight of their stares. He wants to snap at them, tell them that Batman’s not dead, he can’t be because he’s Batman and if he’s gone, where does that leave Robin? They’re Batman and Robin, the Dynamic Duo. The Dark Knight and the Boy Wonder. He can’t just be the Boy Wonder alone, he needs Batman.

He looks at the coffin, the slick black container with the Bat symbol painted on it surrounded by a yellow halo. There’s nothing spectacular about it, it’s a coffin, but Robin-Dick, he’s seen enough coffins of parents and mentors in a lifetime.

The tears just fall from his eyes, welling up behind the mask and he has to take it off before it falls off on its own. He can’t wipe them away fast enough and Miss Martian wraps her arms around him, holding him close, a hand protectively shielding his face from any cameras that might catch his identity. Superboy continues to stand and glare, though he’s edging slowly in front to hide them with his bulk.

There’s a loud roar of a motorcycle engine and he looks up to see a huge man land on the roof of a building not too far away. Beside him is a smaller figure and Superman, in the middle of talking, trails off.

Robin’s heart is hammering at his throat, mask forgotten on the street, and he’s swinging through the air with his grapple and lands on the roof.

Lobo’s saying something in his gruff, scratchy tone and wide grin on his face and Robin can’t care enough why he’s there because next to him, battered and looking worse for wear, is Batman.

“Are you real?” he asks and his voice is tense and strained because if this isn’t, if this is some delusion he’s having, he thinks that he might scream.

Batman doesn’t need to answer, just narrows his eyes until they’re slits in the cowl and Robin takes a flying leap at him, wrapping his arms around the Kevlar armor as far as they would go and clings. Batman is stiff and unyielding, but slowly, he feels the brush of gauntlets over his shoulders as the hug is returned and Robin knows, feels the exhaustion and worry leave him because he’s been right all along.

Batman’s alive. And that’s all he needs.

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Re: We are One and Two [5/5] anonymous February 24 2011, 10:27:50 UTC
oh, wow that was a tear jerker *wipes eyes*
Great Job!

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Re: We are One and Two [5/5] anonymous February 24 2011, 11:39:23 UTC
Fffrick, this is awesome. I spent the whole time reading it wishing I was clever enough to have written it, lol. Really great job. Bookmarking it f'sure!

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Re: We are One and Two [5/5] anonymous February 24 2011, 12:02:33 UTC
oh, that was beautiful. Also ouching. everyone's reactions were awesome, but i loved superboy's the most, i think. ♥

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Re: We are One and Two [5/5] anonymous February 25 2011, 05:37:58 UTC
YOU. YOU ARE AMAZING. <3

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Re: We are One and Two [5/5] anonymous February 25 2011, 08:34:37 UTC
WHAT THE FUCK THIS WAS PERFECT

LIKE SERIOUSLY PERFECT

Usually there's a slight tug somewhere in the story--even if it's just a sentence I think is a little awkward--BUT THIS WAS FUCKING PERFECT.

Also it had Lobo in it, which is awesome. And I snrrk'd over the fact that all Batman had to do was glare at Robin for him to be all like DADDYYYY. Btw, Robin, tackling a man that just almost died or something probably isn't the best idea lol.

Everyone's reactions were just so spot-on, and FUUUU M'gann's reaction was probably my favorite even if I just loved them all because they were all so goddam awesome but her realizing that she's the one feeling so terribly was just so omgffffffflaskjfslkdfj

SO PERFECT ALKDFJALDKJF YOU'VE REDUCED ME TO KEYBOARD MASHING AND CAPSLOCK WITH AWESOMENESS LAKDJFLASDKFJSDKFJDKFKJ

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OP anonymous February 27 2011, 10:53:27 UTC
Don’t worry about it! Trust me when I say that this was definitely worth the wait! <3

He looks at Robin, so young and small that his feet don’t even skim the floor.

My exact thoughts when I read the first paragraph. When I imagine someone drinking milk and swinging their legs on a countertop, I immediately think of a little kid.

I love that Kaldur did a very older brother thing where he smiles at Robin and doesn’t bring up Batman because of the pain it could cause him.

Wally!

Cameras are going off on the observation deck and Wally couldn’t care less if the headlines tomorrow is going to scream about sordid affairs between Kid Flash and Robin.

Lol

Aw, Wally just ran up and hugged Robin, not caring who was watching because that was his friend and he was gonna comfort him, damn it. lol

Batman and Robin had shared a bond so close that they didn’t need words to communicate on patrol or missions. Even when the end-of-the-world loomed over them and everyone was frantic to try to stay by their mentors’ sides, those two were different. Unlike the hugs and the telepathy and the nervous chatter that everyone else had been reduced to, Batman had just put a hand on Robin’s shoulder and that was that.

<3

M’gann’s was heartbreaking. It’s like she hasn’t felt that kind of pain before, so she assumes it’s Robin. But it’s her and she misses Batman, too. And her guilt ;_;

she’s wailing because she misses Batman and his silent presence. She’s never going to hear him growl out orders or intimidate all of them during debriefings.

I really loved this because even though this story is about Robin, you showed that he’s not the only one affected by Batman’s “death”

Oh, Superboy. You and your lack of human understanding <3

Love that he’s so matter of fact about things, how honest he is, and that he doesn’t believe batman is dead. I think that gave Robin more hope. It’s not so hard to believe something when you’re not the only one.

Oohhh, I didn’t expect one from Clark’s point of view, but I’m pleasantly surprised.

Clark bites the inside of his cheek, getting away from the imaginary conversation he’s having with Bruce

Once again, I love that you’re including little things that show that other people are also trying to deal with Bruce being gone.

That last bit with Diana and Dick broke my heart even more ;_;

He wants to snap at them, tell them that Batman’s not dead, he can’t be because he’s Batman and if he’s gone, where does that leave Robin? They’re Batman and Robin, the Dynamic Duo. The Dark Knight and the Boy Wonder. He can’t just be the Boy Wonder alone, he needs Batman.

My heart. Anon, you’re shredding my heart. ;_;

The tears just fall from his eyes, welling up behind the mask and he has to take it off before it falls off on its own. He can’t wipe them away fast enough and Miss Martian wraps her arms around him, holding him close, a hand protectively shielding his face from any cameras that might catch his identity. Superboy continues to stand and glare, though he’s edging slowly in front to hide them with his bulk.

;A;

And then Batman comes back. :'D

“Are you real?” he asks and his voice is tense and strained because if this isn’t, if this is some delusion he’s having, he thinks that he might scream.

Batman doesn’t need to answer, just narrows his eyes until they’re slits in the cowl and Robin takes a flying leap at him, wrapping his arms around the Kevlar armor as far as they would go and clings. Batman is stiff and unyielding, but slowly, he feels the brush of gauntlets over his shoulders as the hug is returned and Robin knows, feels the exhaustion and worry leave him because he’s been right all along.

Batman’s alive. And that’s all he needs.

Gah! I pretty much just quoted the whole ending, but I can’t help it! It was beautiful and heart wrenching and al;kdjfadflk

As the story progressed I could feel Dick’s hope dwindling little by little and just as he breaks, Batman comes back and I can’t properly express how perfect everything was.

Thank you SO much, anon. This was more than I could’ve hoped for! <3

And holy crap, I’m sorry for writing so much.

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Re: We are One and Two [5/5] catt001 March 11 2011, 05:31:17 UTC
*wipes away a tear* Aw! This was so wonderfully sweat! I new it too... Batman can't die. He's NEVER dead. Okay, well... except maybe in fanfiction. And that was probably why I still cried during this (because you can never be 100% sure about the Fanfiction writers. lol!) but the end was just perfect! LOVELY work!

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