Fic: Through a Mirror... | DCU | Bat Family (Jay/Tim[/Dick]) | R | 4/5
Title: Through a Mirror... (Part 4/5)
Fandom: DCU
Characters/Pairing: Overall: Bat Family (w/Jason Todd/Tim Drake[/Dick Grayson]); This part: Jason/Tim, Zatanna, many others mentioned, a surprise character at the end
Rating: R (for Jay's mouth)
Word Count: 1,125
Prompt: For dcu_freeforall: Writer's Choice: Trance; For The 2012 DCU Free For All Autumn Challenge: Séance, Possession, Doorway/Portal; For bradygirl_12's 2012 DCU Fic/Art Halloween Challenge: Crystal Ball, Candles
Summary: Overall: On the night of October 31st, the Wayne Household puts on a Halloween party, for the first time ever. Little do they know what the night will bring when Zatanna gathers them for a séance in the old parlor. This part: After the party, Zatanna leads the family in a séance, and someone unexpected appears.
Disclaimer: DC and WB own everything, the schmucks.
Author's Notes: Follows Through a Mirror... (Part 3). Part of the Together-Verse, in which Jay is Batman, Tim is his Robin (though Damian is a little Robin in training), Damian is Jay's kid, and Bruce is still missing.
Through a Mirror... (Part 4)
The setting couldn’t be more authentic if it tried.
Somehow, Zatanna had turned the old parlor room off the east wing of Wayne Manor into a séance room, complete with a broad, round table covered with a black and silver cloth, a large crystal ball at its center, and an old-style chandelier with actual candles hung from the ceiling. The chairs were even Victorian-style, plush red velvet and carved scroll-work, and when he counted them, he realized there were enough for the entire family: himself, Tim, Dick, Damian, Steph, Cass, Babs, Helena, Alfred, and a handful of others if they decided to join, which-
Turning as the rest of the family slowly filtered in, the party more or less over at this point, he counted them off. Sure enough, everyone who’d probably been invited was there, along with a few others, including Diana and Dinah, Clark’s other half, Lois-who’d come dressed as Starfire, yikes-and Kate’s other half, Renee, the pair of them dressed as Jean Gray and Cyclops.
Jay’s face was starting to hurt with all the face-palming, but he couldn’t help it, slapping himself soundly.
With the room finally filled with the entire family and their closest friends and colleagues, Zatanna motioned to them all to sit, taking a spot at the far side of the table. The light from the dozens of candles overhead and scattered around the room flickered eerily over her face, throwing shadows and lending her an air of doom.
Fuck, Jay just knew this was gonna get even weirder.
“Tonight, the veil between worlds is at its thinnest,” Zee started, her voice low and measured. “Things that cannot otherwise be divined may be easier to see, those that have been lost may be easier to contact. It is my hope that here in this room, together, we just might be able to peer through that veil and find what has been lost to us.”
Around the table, everyone seemed to be holding their breath, waiting for the other shoe to fall.
“Tonight, we will be attempting to reach our dear lost friend, Bruce Wayne.”
~*~*~
It started small and fairly routine, with Zatanna bidding them all to hold hands, then giving an explanation that the crystal ball was a focusing tool, to allow them to clear their minds and think only of the deceased, and for a while, Jay figured Zee was just going the old stage-medium route, and giving them all something to help them deal with the sharp-edged grief that they’d been side-stepping for more than a year now.
But it didn’t take long for that idea to be put right out of his head, when Zee started calling on Bruce’s spirit to come forth while the rest of them recited the bizarre Latin chant she’d given them. Something about the air in the room started to change and shift, mists forming out of nowhere, the temperature dropping rapidly, and the hair on the back of Jay’s neck stood on end, the tingle of electricity starting to buzz along his nerves.
“Bruce, if you can hear us, please come closer. The doorway is open for you to walk through. Speak, and let us hear you.”
The chanting stopped as if all their voices had been silenced without their input, Jay’s throat feeling like it’d suddenly been paralyzed. No one breathed. Dead silence filled the parlor, and Jay felt the sudden urge to get right the fuck out of there. What the fuck was Zee doing, calling things to come forth through the veil between the living and dead? Didn’t she know what kinda crazy shit resided on the other side?
“Home.”
Terror screamed along Jay’s nerves at the whispered word that’d passed between Zatanna’s lips. It wasn’t her voice. It was someone else’s entirely. And it was pained, filled with some kind of horrible agony that spoke of desperation, despair, torture.
Dropping Tim’s and Damian’s hands, Jason shot back from the table, upending his chair in his mad scramble to get the fuck away from whatever the hell was going on here. “Jesus fucking Christ, Zee,” he shouted, pushing a hand through his hair as he shivered. “What the fuck are you doing? This ain’t funny anymore.”
But a chorus of whispered and hissed ‘sit down!’ met him for his trouble, Tim grabbing his wrist and tugging him back to the table. Zee didn’t turn, didn’t look at him, her eyes gone solid white, gaze distant, as another word crossed her lips.
“Gotham.”
His chair righted, Jay couldn’t seem to suppress a tremble as he took up Tim and Dee’s hands again. This wasn’t fucking funny. It just wasn’t. It-
Zatanna finally seemed to come back to herself, at least a little, and her voice was hers again when she said, “Bruce, we hear you. Come home to us. Ecurb, emoc emoh!”
Something crashed elsewhere in the Manor, loud and violent, as if a truck had driven into the house at ninety miles per hour, and instantly the whole family was on its feet, the circle broken for real, leaving Zatanna to slump back into her chair, breathing heavily.
As much as Jay wanted to lead the charge to find out what’d happened, he hung back to help Zee as the others fled, finding her trembling and out of it.
“You okay?” he asked her, helping her up and steadying her with a firm grip on her shoulders. Whatever the fuck had happened, it’d wiped her completely out. Sweat beaded on her forehead, and she looked absolutely spooked. “Talk to me. What the hell just happened, Zee?”
A long moment, and finally Zatanna blinked up at him owlishly. “He’s in the kitchen.”
~*~*~
By the time Jay got there, the family had formed a tight circle around … someone, and he had to muscle his way through the circle to see just what the hell-
Seated in a kitchen chair was what looked to be a homeless man, his hair and beard long and wild, tangled and full of debris. A blanket from the den had been brought out and draped over his shoulders, and Alfred had pressed a mug of spiced cider into his hands. He was shaking like a leaf, his eyes desperately searching, gaze far away and confused as he muttered to himself, strange words that didn’t sound like any modern language crossing his dry, cracked lips.
A few whispers from various family members caught Jay’s ear then-‘finally’, ‘gone so long’, and ‘really him?’-and it finally clicked. The stranger’s eyes weren’t those of a crazy homeless man. They were bright blue and piercing.
They were Bruce’s.
Holy fucking God, it was Bruce.
Zatanna had actually managed to bring him home.
~*~*~*~
Fandom: DCU
Characters/Pairing: Overall: Bat Family (w/Jason Todd/Tim Drake[/Dick Grayson]); This part: Jason/Tim, Zatanna, many others mentioned, a surprise character at the end
Rating: R (for Jay's mouth)
Word Count: 1,125
Prompt: For dcu_freeforall: Writer's Choice: Trance; For The 2012 DCU Free For All Autumn Challenge: Séance, Possession, Doorway/Portal; For bradygirl_12's 2012 DCU Fic/Art Halloween Challenge: Crystal Ball, Candles
Summary: Overall: On the night of October 31st, the Wayne Household puts on a Halloween party, for the first time ever. Little do they know what the night will bring when Zatanna gathers them for a séance in the old parlor. This part: After the party, Zatanna leads the family in a séance, and someone unexpected appears.
Disclaimer: DC and WB own everything, the schmucks.
Author's Notes: Follows Through a Mirror... (Part 3). Part of the Together-Verse, in which Jay is Batman, Tim is his Robin (though Damian is a little Robin in training), Damian is Jay's kid, and Bruce is still missing.
Through a Mirror... (Part 4)
The setting couldn’t be more authentic if it tried.
Somehow, Zatanna had turned the old parlor room off the east wing of Wayne Manor into a séance room, complete with a broad, round table covered with a black and silver cloth, a large crystal ball at its center, and an old-style chandelier with actual candles hung from the ceiling. The chairs were even Victorian-style, plush red velvet and carved scroll-work, and when he counted them, he realized there were enough for the entire family: himself, Tim, Dick, Damian, Steph, Cass, Babs, Helena, Alfred, and a handful of others if they decided to join, which-
Turning as the rest of the family slowly filtered in, the party more or less over at this point, he counted them off. Sure enough, everyone who’d probably been invited was there, along with a few others, including Diana and Dinah, Clark’s other half, Lois-who’d come dressed as Starfire, yikes-and Kate’s other half, Renee, the pair of them dressed as Jean Gray and Cyclops.
Jay’s face was starting to hurt with all the face-palming, but he couldn’t help it, slapping himself soundly.
With the room finally filled with the entire family and their closest friends and colleagues, Zatanna motioned to them all to sit, taking a spot at the far side of the table. The light from the dozens of candles overhead and scattered around the room flickered eerily over her face, throwing shadows and lending her an air of doom.
Fuck, Jay just knew this was gonna get even weirder.
“Tonight, the veil between worlds is at its thinnest,” Zee started, her voice low and measured. “Things that cannot otherwise be divined may be easier to see, those that have been lost may be easier to contact. It is my hope that here in this room, together, we just might be able to peer through that veil and find what has been lost to us.”
Around the table, everyone seemed to be holding their breath, waiting for the other shoe to fall.
“Tonight, we will be attempting to reach our dear lost friend, Bruce Wayne.”
~*~*~
It started small and fairly routine, with Zatanna bidding them all to hold hands, then giving an explanation that the crystal ball was a focusing tool, to allow them to clear their minds and think only of the deceased, and for a while, Jay figured Zee was just going the old stage-medium route, and giving them all something to help them deal with the sharp-edged grief that they’d been side-stepping for more than a year now.
But it didn’t take long for that idea to be put right out of his head, when Zee started calling on Bruce’s spirit to come forth while the rest of them recited the bizarre Latin chant she’d given them. Something about the air in the room started to change and shift, mists forming out of nowhere, the temperature dropping rapidly, and the hair on the back of Jay’s neck stood on end, the tingle of electricity starting to buzz along his nerves.
“Bruce, if you can hear us, please come closer. The doorway is open for you to walk through. Speak, and let us hear you.”
The chanting stopped as if all their voices had been silenced without their input, Jay’s throat feeling like it’d suddenly been paralyzed. No one breathed. Dead silence filled the parlor, and Jay felt the sudden urge to get right the fuck out of there. What the fuck was Zee doing, calling things to come forth through the veil between the living and dead? Didn’t she know what kinda crazy shit resided on the other side?
“Home.”
Terror screamed along Jay’s nerves at the whispered word that’d passed between Zatanna’s lips. It wasn’t her voice. It was someone else’s entirely. And it was pained, filled with some kind of horrible agony that spoke of desperation, despair, torture.
Dropping Tim’s and Damian’s hands, Jason shot back from the table, upending his chair in his mad scramble to get the fuck away from whatever the hell was going on here. “Jesus fucking Christ, Zee,” he shouted, pushing a hand through his hair as he shivered. “What the fuck are you doing? This ain’t funny anymore.”
But a chorus of whispered and hissed ‘sit down!’ met him for his trouble, Tim grabbing his wrist and tugging him back to the table. Zee didn’t turn, didn’t look at him, her eyes gone solid white, gaze distant, as another word crossed her lips.
“Gotham.”
His chair righted, Jay couldn’t seem to suppress a tremble as he took up Tim and Dee’s hands again. This wasn’t fucking funny. It just wasn’t. It-
Zatanna finally seemed to come back to herself, at least a little, and her voice was hers again when she said, “Bruce, we hear you. Come home to us. Ecurb, emoc emoh!”
Something crashed elsewhere in the Manor, loud and violent, as if a truck had driven into the house at ninety miles per hour, and instantly the whole family was on its feet, the circle broken for real, leaving Zatanna to slump back into her chair, breathing heavily.
As much as Jay wanted to lead the charge to find out what’d happened, he hung back to help Zee as the others fled, finding her trembling and out of it.
“You okay?” he asked her, helping her up and steadying her with a firm grip on her shoulders. Whatever the fuck had happened, it’d wiped her completely out. Sweat beaded on her forehead, and she looked absolutely spooked. “Talk to me. What the hell just happened, Zee?”
A long moment, and finally Zatanna blinked up at him owlishly. “He’s in the kitchen.”
~*~*~
By the time Jay got there, the family had formed a tight circle around … someone, and he had to muscle his way through the circle to see just what the hell-
Seated in a kitchen chair was what looked to be a homeless man, his hair and beard long and wild, tangled and full of debris. A blanket from the den had been brought out and draped over his shoulders, and Alfred had pressed a mug of spiced cider into his hands. He was shaking like a leaf, his eyes desperately searching, gaze far away and confused as he muttered to himself, strange words that didn’t sound like any modern language crossing his dry, cracked lips.
A few whispers from various family members caught Jay’s ear then-‘finally’, ‘gone so long’, and ‘really him?’-and it finally clicked. The stranger’s eyes weren’t those of a crazy homeless man. They were bright blue and piercing.
They were Bruce’s.
Holy fucking God, it was Bruce.
Zatanna had actually managed to bring him home.
~*~*~*~