the black raven | 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐋𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐒

□ bruce □

Finding Mara like this is overwhelmingly alarming, but I know I can handle whatever she's going to say, arguments put aside.

She barely gets it out, a bomb, and I almost missed it, but with her state, I realized quickly what she had said.

From her sudden screaming I heard when I barged back in here - of which scared me more than I would've liked - to her small frame clinging to the elevator door for dear life, I would've sworn she was dying herself.

But this, this situation is different, because she's not in danger this time, it's not her getting hurt.

Yes, I'm extremely grateful for that, as I stroke her arm slightly, trying to relieve her traumatized mind state, but I realize that she's alone.

Meaning that my son and Alfred are up there, in the Manor. The only reason I know that is because, with Mara's sheer volume from before, both would've come bolting to her side, once again all arguments aside.

I know I have to move, I have to let Mara go, but it's like a force is stopping me.

But I have to.

Her body shakes as I tighten my grip on her when footsteps near -- they belong to Dick.

He kneels quickly as I pass her body into his arms.

I don't know the how, why, or when this happened, but I need to find out, right now.

□ tim □

Dad runs past me, as I sprint past him. I came in just minutes behind Dick, who came in half a minute behind Dad.

When I ran in here, all I heard was a wild boom and looked up to see bunches of bats flying around like crazy, but didn't see anyone. It freaked me out, I'll admit it.

But Mara's crumpled form as Dick turns to look at me, that's truly frightening, as I've never seen her like that before, ever.

And where the hell is Damian and Alfred, and what was that sound? I mean, to me it sounded like a car crash or something, but why the hell would there be a goddamned car crash in the Manor?

"Tim, go with Bruce," Dick's voice brings me back, and I turn back to see him hunched tensely over a computer.

"Wh-why? Hey, is-- Mara, what the hell happened?" I crouch down, putting a hand on Mara's arm, which is wrapped around Dick's neck.

She backs off of him suddenly, and I realize she was hugging him, and see her face.

My stomach knots itself, as I see her red, puffy eyes and worn down looking face, that seems forever modeled with-- well I don't know what.

Grief? Pain? Guilt?

I can't decipher it. She stares at me for a moment, as Dick tries to reach out for her again. She stays put, ignoring him entirely.

"Mara, hey, just-," Dick starts but doesn't get to finish.

Mara looks at him, dead in the eyes, and tells us that the Manor was just blown up, with Damian and Alfred inside. It's scary how suddenly she just went from sobbing, I'm assuming, to sitting up straight while telling us our family was just blown to shit.

And then we're stuck, processing what she's said. Or, at least I am since Dick probably had figured it out.

My mouth agape, I look back to see nobody behind us, but just the sound of a vehicle, a very large one, rumbling in the cave. Then, wheels spin against the cement ground as the sounds get softer and softer, the Batmobile getting farther and farther away from the cave.

I know Mara's looking to the same place I am, I just don't expect her to get up and start surpassing us as she walks. Dick scrambles to get up, but it takes me a moment.

Why the hell aren't we up there, trying to help them? And where the fuck is Dad going?

"Wh- guys!" I blurt out, and it seems to be like I just pulled the trigger of a gun, as out of the blue Mara gets from the stairs of the walkway to the left-wing opening in just under ten seconds, but she doesn't stop.

I don't think she plans on stopping either. Dick had looked back at me as I had yelled out, but as he looked back, knew he had to go follow our sister.

"Shit,"

I get up quickly, scrambling to go to the left-wing, where Mara's probably still running through. I don't know what she's doing or what she thinks she's going to do, but I don't like it.

Oh, for God's sake she's related to Bruce fucking Wayne -- which means she's just as unpredictable as him and just as emotionally present as Damian.

Believe it or not, Damian is very emotional. He gets and shows the extremer sides of his emotions; otherwise known as anger, sorrow, and hatred. Meanwhile, Mara shows the extremities of - from what I've seen - fear, guilt, anger, and sorrow. I guess they kind of bounce off one another, but they are half-siblings, so do I have a say in this? No.

I approach the figures illuminated by darkness in the left-wing, the sound of voices bouncing off the walls.

I'm surprised Mara's talking right now, despite everything she's just witnessed within the past couple of hours.

"Well, what the fuck is he doing?"

"No- listen, Mara, he's trying to help us- !"

"Dick, we don't need help! Damian and Alfred do! For all we know, they could be covered in fucking rubble right now!!"

"So why don't we go and find them?!" I shout, finally coming to a stop between them, slightly out of breath from running around with my adrenaline pumping.

Mara's eyes flick to me, "great, that sounds great, as our dickface of a father decided to go for a fucking joyride..."

She trails off, already running to the waterfall, our only real way out of here, and back up to the Manor itself.

It's easiest to take the elevator, but because of the explosion, it won't work or it'll just get stuck halfway there, or crash downwards as we just reach the top, resulting in our probably injury or death.

But Mara already figured this out, which I applaud her for. She's more clever when she's under great pressure, stress, and emotion rather than if she's not at all.

I don't think that's a good trait to have in general, since it means she's closer to becoming a mirror image of Damian or Bruce, but it might just save Damian or Alfred's lives.

If they're still alive...

Legs moving, arms pumping, Dick and I trail Mara through the forested park, even though we can barely see a thing. But we don't dare stop, not when our family members' lives are on the line. And it shows I guess, as Mara took the lead.

That part of her, the part that she morphed all on her own, I see is from Dad. He has to be in control of everything, has to know everything to be a leader.

Mara doesn't need to be in control of everything or, really, know anything at all to be a leader. She just does it and rolls with the punches, which are pretty fucking hard right now if you ask me.

But she's gone from breaking down, of which I don't blame her for, to a force of determination to be reckoned with. I blame Dad for this, and I know Dick does too.

For making Mara become this person so quickly, so arrogantly, so fucking horribly-- a fifteen-year-old girl who never knew her real father for her whole life, her mother no longer in her life, finding out your whole family has been lying to you from the start, then almost dying. Oh, and most of this is happening with zero room for PTSD.

It's just not how this works, especially not with Dad.

He doesn't work with PTSD. He just won't talk. He won't listen, but maybe with Mara, I remember thinking, that he'll change.

But he hasn't.

And now he's sending Mara on a warpath for self-destruction. Just like he sent me, Dick, Damian, and Jason - literally, since Jason's dead, Mara's got a personal killer, and now Damian and Alfred might be alongside our brother.

And Mara is a Wayne, which means once she gets something in her head, she's got an iron grip on it.

And now, according to Dick, she wants to be trained to defend herself properly, by Dad, and she won't listen to Dick's protests. That means she won't even look my way, since she and Dick are closer than me and her, in my perspective.

So now, even if I try, what can I do?

Mara keeps running, slowing down slightly, with us a little ways behind.

But that's all it's ever going to be.

Mara's ahead, us behind.

Just like Bruce.

This is going to be a nightmare.

But this isn't one I can wake up from, none of us can as Dick and I catch up to Mara, suddenly seeing why she stopped.

And I immediately wish this was a nightmare.

Because the Manor lawn is burnt in places, small fires eat away at the large lawn space. But Mara's not paying attention to that; it's the house itself.

It's not there anymore, not fully anyway. It's half crumpled, half engulfed in flames and black, burning smoke that reaches up and around the Manor.

"Mara, we need to go," Dick places a hand on her shoulder, and she jumps slightly as she does. But she doesn't respond verbally, as she slowly starts walking forward, towards the burning building.

It's a place she used to call home -- no.

It's a place I used to call home. It still belongs to Mara's heart I guess, but look at it now.

Burnt, enflamed, and crumpling.