Black Dahlia || Dick Grayson [Titans] ✔️

MESSAGE

I was standing on a rooftop overlooking a dark body of water with splashing, foaming white waves. It didn't look like a place that was meant for visitors, didn't have comfortable furniture or lights, but somehow I got a familiar feeling from it all. A feeling like I'd spent up here, staring out at the ocean and empty street below. A familiarity that brought me towards the ledge and the dark silhouetted figure that sat there.

I came to a stop just a few feet away from them, standing on the ledge so that the toes of my shoes stuck out. Just one strong gust of wind away from plummeting to the dark sea below. Even with that thought, I felt no fear of that possibility.

"Still, literally, living on the edge, I see," the shadowed figure beside me said, sparking more familiarity with me. They looked up at the same time I looked down on them, the moonlight washing over their face and illuminating their features.

His eyes were the same dark color as mine, his jaw square. His hair looked nearly an inky black color, thick and wind tousled. Half his mouth quirked up in an uncertain smile, the slant of his eyes becoming slightly more prominent. He sat with his legs dangling over the side of the building, hands on the ledge holding up his broad shoulders. I would swear I'd never seen in a day in my life, except that I knew I'd known him for the majority of it.

Even if I couldn't remember it.

"Says the guy with half his body on the other side."

He laughed, his deep voice reverberating in the space between us before sobering up. His eyes scanned my face almost desperately, confirming my guess on his identity. "Do you know who I am?" he asked, tone quieter than before.

I looked away as I took a breath trying to keep my emotions in check. "You're my brother," I answered. "Roman."

His sigh of relief was audible. "I told Daniel you'd remember me, there was no way you'd forget your baby brother. But he kept insisting you wouldn't, that you weren't the same Emmy—"

"I said I know who you are," I interrupted, looking over at him tensely. "Not that I remember you, and just like I told Hurricane, I'm not your Emmy."

The relief and moment's happiness that had been on Roman's face just seconds before, suddenly disappeared. It was like a shadow had fallen across his face, extinguishing his light. "Right, yeah I heard," he said briskly. "You go by Madalyn now, right? Or Maddie, as your little boyfriend likes to say."

My teeth and fists clenched at his words. This was it, then; this was the message Dick said we would be waiting for. "Where is he? Jason better be alive, or so help me God—"

"What? Are you going to kill me?" Roman countered, the slightest bit of hurt evident on his face. "You're going to kill me, your brother, the only family you have left, for some weirdo who likes to play dress up? That's what you're telling me right now?"