Part 8:

3rd person POV


When the Wayne manor residents and other associates did eventually return, it was, strangely, all at the same time. They were all tired and frustrated, having found no leads to Dick at all. They were all soon caught up on the news by Alfred, who told them that their target was currently asleep upstairs in his bedroom, and had been for the past hour or so. Bruce asked how he had arrived, and his butler explained to him, mentioning the fact that Dick had something to tell them. Bruce thanked him, and they all got changed into normal clothes before Bruce and Damian went to check on Dick. The others, Jason, Tim and Barbra stayed in the kitchen to have some of Alfred's cookies.


Damian, although he wouldn't admit it, was nervous. He hadn't seen his brother in 7 years, excluding their brief exchange a few days previously. He felt that that didn't count.


Bruce was also nervous. Dick had been his son, his blood son, this whole time and neither of them had known it. How would this change things between them?


The door to Dick's room was opened slowly, the entrees not wanting to disturb the occupant.


Bruce smiled to himself when he saw Dick. The 20 year old was draped right across the bed, on his back and fully-dressed, snoring softly. He looked so peaceful lying there, you never would have thought that he was the son of Batman, nor that he could knock you unconscious or kill you, if he wanted to, in at least 25 different ways.


Damian walked up to the bed and looked at his older brother's face for the first time in 7 years, taking note of the changes to his features. His jawline had sharpened, as had his nose. There was a small, almost unnoticeable, scar just below his left eye, and another on his cheek. His face may have matured, but you could still tell it was the same Dick as when Damian had last seen him. He glanced between his brother's and father's faces. Yes, he could definitely see the similarities.


"Father," Damian asked, quietly, "would you mind if I sit with Richard until he wakes up?"


Bruce, slightly surprised, nodded, glad that his seemingly unemotional son was showing affection. He left the room quietly, closing the door behind him, before joining the others in the kitchen.


Dick's POV


I groaned as I woke up and slowly opened my eyes. The room was dark and shady, so I could only vaguely make out my surroundings. I realised that I was in my room at the manor, and my memories from the past few hours came flooding back to me. I wondered how long I had slept for. Judging by the scarce amount of light coming in through the gap in the curtains, it had been a couple of hours. I wondered if everyone was back yet.


My question was soon answered as I felt someone stir in the bed besides me. I turned to the side to find Damian lying there, sleeping peacefully. I smiled to myself. I had really missed him in the 7 years since I'd last seen him, the only person I had missed since I'd left the league.


"Dick," he muttered in his sleep.


I smiled


"I'm right here, Dami" I whispered in his ear.


He stirred again, rolling over towards me, before blinking his eyes open. I smiled at him. He just looked at me in surprise for a moment.


"Hey, Dami," I said.


He caught me by surprise, giving me a hug. I sat up and hugged him back.


"I missed you," he whispered.


"Me too, Dami," I replied, "me too."


Damian and I walked down the large flight of stairs to find the others, eventually ending up in the sitting room where everyone was sitting on sofas, either asleep or, in Bruce's case, pacing up and down. He stopped pacing when he saw Damian and I standing in the doorway. For a moment, we all just looked at each other, not sure what to do. I mean, what do you say when you find out you're actually related to the person you've been living with for almost half your life?


Damian walked inside of the room, glancing at Bruce before seating himself on the sofa next to Barbra, switching on the TV and grabbing a bowl of popcorn from the table. Bruce and I followed him with our eyes as he did so, before looking back at one another.


"Bruce," I began, " I'm sorry, for lying to you when I first met you. I shouldn't have. At the time, I was scared, scared that you would think differently of me because of who I was. If I had to go back and do it all again, I would tell you. And I'm sorry for just leaving like that. I don't know why I did it, I..."


I was cut off by Bruce.


"There is no reason for you to be sorry, Dick," he said, "what you did was completely understandable, both in the present and the past. You don't have to apologize."


He smiled at me, one of the few genuine smiles I had ever seen him give. I smiled back at him, before we both embraced each other in a hug.


"Shall we call it 'truce' then?" I asked.


"Certainly," he replied, "although Alfred did mention that you had something to tell us?"


I shook my head slightly


"It's very complicated to explain. I would prefer to wait until the others have woken up.


Bruce nodded in agreement


"Yes, of course."


He and I both seated ourselves on either side of Damian. I was seated between him and Babs while Bruce was seated between him and Tim.


Everyone eventually woke up about an hour later by Damian shouting at the TV screen, which was currently showing 'Frozen', something about 'emotional trauma', I think. I, meanwhile, was busy laughing at him and Bruce was trying to calm him down, keyword, trying. Needless to say, the commotion woke everyone up.


Now that everyone was awake, I decided it would be a good time to tell them my news. We all decided that the dining room would be a better place to talk, so we all migrated towards it, Bruce sitting at the head of the table as usual.


I was deciding on the best way to break it to them. They were all looking at me expectantly. I cleared my throat, choosing the simplest, but probably most chaotic way to tell them.


"To put most of what I have to tell you in one sentence," I began, "you are now looking at the new leader of The League of Shadows."


1097 words

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