Ficlet: (Un)Armed | DCU | Cass/Steph, Tim | PG-13 | 1/1
Title: (Un)Armed
Fandom: DCU
Characters/Pairing: Cass/Steph, Tim
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 591
Prompt: For hc_bingo: Loss of Vision; For kissbingo: Body: Navel; For au_bingo: Fantasy & Supernatural: Vampires (second fill)
Summary: There's something in the dark that Cass doesn't trust.
Disclaimer: DC and WB own everything, the schmucks.
Author's Notes: Thirteenth in the (Un)Familiar-verse; follows (Un)Wanted. Turns out, I have a pretty eager Cass muse, and she's surprisingly pragmatic about the whole thing. XD
(Un)Armed
There's something in the dark that Cass doesn't trust.
She can feel it watching her, predatory, can see-
But she can't see it, not really. Not with the haze filling her vision, that's been there for so long now. If only she hadn't been there when... when the vampires took her mother's stronghold. One wrong move, and now she's lucky to be alive. Lucky to have gotten away with just scars and a cloud in her vision to remind her of her injuries. Lucky the vampires didn't leave her in total darkness.
Vampires.
The rest of her senses tingling with anticipation-not terror, never that-she turns toward the source of the feeling, body dropping into the fighting stance that was drilled into her practically from infancy. The barest inclination of her head, a snarl forming on her lips, and she dares the offender to show himself.
“Wait!” comes the vampire's voice, his hands out in surrender as he steps out of the shadow in the hallway.
Little more than a gray silhouette in her vision, Cass recognizes Tim, the youngest member of this strange family she and Stephanie have found themselves living with. It unsettles her that it's taken this long to see Tim for what he is, and she can't help maintaining her stance, eying him warily through the haze. She can fight if she has to, even if it might end with her own death; she's prepared to go down as she was brought up, at least.
But an apologetic whimper reaches her ears then, not what she was expecting at all, and the surprise of it catches her even more off-guard than the vampire has; no vamp she ever met has acted that way.
“I'm sorry,” he says softly-again, unexpected. “I didn't mean to scare you. I just... I'm still sort of new to this.”
The confession eases her out of her stance almost involuntarily. He's just a baby.
How could she possibly have anything to fear from such a young one?
Trying to focus on his fuzzy shape, the dim red and black of his clothes, she relaxes and stands. “You can't scare me,” she says. “What do you want?”
Tim seems to fidget, almost curling in on himself. “Bruce... he, um, wanted to know-”
Cass lifts an eyebrow and crosses her arms over her chest, waiting.
“He sent me to find out if you can really fight. Without your... eyes,” the boy explains, dropping his head as if ashamed to have asked.
The question catches her again, and Cass starts to think that perhaps nothing is as it seems here.
That perhaps she isn't what she seems. That this was a test, and she's more than passed.
A smile tugging at one corner of her mouth, she blinks and says, “I can fight.”
~*~*~*~
Later, in the dark of their room, Cass lays sprawled in bed with Steph, absently tracing figures on her girl's belly and dropping kisses wherever she can reach, all the way down to her navel. The last kiss draws a giggle out of Steph, who cards her hands through Cass's short hair.
“So you talked to Bruce?”
Cass nods. “Yes. He said he'd finish training me. Wants me to join the team.”
Steph's smile is clear even in the gray haze. “Will you?”
And Cass can't help kissing her girl's belly button again, just to feel that breathy giggle once more, her whole being feeling suddenly right as her place in this strange makeshift family is settled, returning her to the role she was meant to play from the moment she was born.
“Yes,” she answers gladly, no longer wary of what's in the darkness.
~*~*~*~
Fandom: DCU
Characters/Pairing: Cass/Steph, Tim
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 591
Prompt: For hc_bingo: Loss of Vision; For kissbingo: Body: Navel; For au_bingo: Fantasy & Supernatural: Vampires (second fill)
Summary: There's something in the dark that Cass doesn't trust.
Disclaimer: DC and WB own everything, the schmucks.
Author's Notes: Thirteenth in the (Un)Familiar-verse; follows (Un)Wanted. Turns out, I have a pretty eager Cass muse, and she's surprisingly pragmatic about the whole thing. XD
(Un)Armed
There's something in the dark that Cass doesn't trust.
She can feel it watching her, predatory, can see-
But she can't see it, not really. Not with the haze filling her vision, that's been there for so long now. If only she hadn't been there when... when the vampires took her mother's stronghold. One wrong move, and now she's lucky to be alive. Lucky to have gotten away with just scars and a cloud in her vision to remind her of her injuries. Lucky the vampires didn't leave her in total darkness.
Vampires.
The rest of her senses tingling with anticipation-not terror, never that-she turns toward the source of the feeling, body dropping into the fighting stance that was drilled into her practically from infancy. The barest inclination of her head, a snarl forming on her lips, and she dares the offender to show himself.
“Wait!” comes the vampire's voice, his hands out in surrender as he steps out of the shadow in the hallway.
Little more than a gray silhouette in her vision, Cass recognizes Tim, the youngest member of this strange family she and Stephanie have found themselves living with. It unsettles her that it's taken this long to see Tim for what he is, and she can't help maintaining her stance, eying him warily through the haze. She can fight if she has to, even if it might end with her own death; she's prepared to go down as she was brought up, at least.
But an apologetic whimper reaches her ears then, not what she was expecting at all, and the surprise of it catches her even more off-guard than the vampire has; no vamp she ever met has acted that way.
“I'm sorry,” he says softly-again, unexpected. “I didn't mean to scare you. I just... I'm still sort of new to this.”
The confession eases her out of her stance almost involuntarily. He's just a baby.
How could she possibly have anything to fear from such a young one?
Trying to focus on his fuzzy shape, the dim red and black of his clothes, she relaxes and stands. “You can't scare me,” she says. “What do you want?”
Tim seems to fidget, almost curling in on himself. “Bruce... he, um, wanted to know-”
Cass lifts an eyebrow and crosses her arms over her chest, waiting.
“He sent me to find out if you can really fight. Without your... eyes,” the boy explains, dropping his head as if ashamed to have asked.
The question catches her again, and Cass starts to think that perhaps nothing is as it seems here.
That perhaps she isn't what she seems. That this was a test, and she's more than passed.
A smile tugging at one corner of her mouth, she blinks and says, “I can fight.”
~*~*~*~
Later, in the dark of their room, Cass lays sprawled in bed with Steph, absently tracing figures on her girl's belly and dropping kisses wherever she can reach, all the way down to her navel. The last kiss draws a giggle out of Steph, who cards her hands through Cass's short hair.
“So you talked to Bruce?”
Cass nods. “Yes. He said he'd finish training me. Wants me to join the team.”
Steph's smile is clear even in the gray haze. “Will you?”
And Cass can't help kissing her girl's belly button again, just to feel that breathy giggle once more, her whole being feeling suddenly right as her place in this strange makeshift family is settled, returning her to the role she was meant to play from the moment she was born.
“Yes,” she answers gladly, no longer wary of what's in the darkness.
~*~*~*~