Stars in the Night (MLB/DC)

Prologue

Starfire and Nightwing surveyed the surrounding area with panic, picking up pieces of rubble and calling out their daughter's name. 

The day had started off fairly normal. Well, as normal as it could get for their family of heroes/vigilantes. 

It was Mar'i Grayson's third birthday, and the family of three had flown over to Paris for a day trip. Yeah, I know, rich people… and technically aliens with the ability to fly. 

Their day in Paris had actually been going rather well. They had visited different monuments and museums, and they had even discovered this really cool ice cream cart that gave you ice cream based on your supposed soulmate. (It had freaked Dick out a bit when he and Koriand'r had gotten ice creams with the colors of their alter egos. He's now convinced the man must be some sort of meta.) 

It wasn't until the sun had started to set that things seemed to go to hell. 

Some alien had crash landed and started going crazy, destroying their surroundings in the process. Dick and Kory had immediately changed into the costumes of their alter egos and gone off to fight the threat but not before making sure that Mar'i was safe and would be protected. 

During the battle, a great portion of the city had been damaged, but it still ended within a matter of hours. Sirens could be heard everywhere. People were being rushed to the hospital. Some were searching for family or friends that they had been separated from during the attack. Others were dragging out bodies from beneath the rubble, dead or alive. 

Nightwing and Starfire could practically feel their hearts stop when they arrived back to where they had hidden Mar'i with a fairly close friend of theirs. The close friend was dead, having been crushed by a totalled car that they could only assume had flown their way during the crossfire. Unfortunately, or fortunately, they supposed, Mar'i was nowhere within sight. On the brightside, that meant there was a chance that she was still alive. On the downside, they had absolutely no clue where she was.

And so they yelled and called for her name. They sifted through rubble and debris for hours on end. They had practically upturned the city of Paris looking for her, but they had no luck. They couldn't find her.

Mar'i Grayson was lost. 

****

About a week after the attack, Dick and Kory were losing hope. They had gotten both friends and family to help them with their search, but they had no luck. None of them could find the pair's daughter. It was like she had just disappeared off the face of the Earth. 

And so, they did what they could. They had notified the police, so that they could call them if any new information came in or if Mar'i showed up. They weren't sure if they expected anything, but they'd take even the smallest chances in case she was still alive. 

They just had to have hope. 

*****

In the heart of Paris walked a family of three. The family consisted of a pair of parents along with their five-year-old daughter. They were on their way back from the grocery store to the bakery that they owned. They had been lucky. Other than a few broken windows, their home had been practically unscathed during the attack. They counted their blessings and the parents smiled down at their daughter as she skipped along the sidewalk, rambling about what she planned to draw once they arrived home. 

The three stopped to pause, though, when they heard a creaking sound coming from the seemingly empty road beside them. The mother and father's eyes widened, and they gasped as they watched a small, dusty child climb out of a manhole. The daughter stared in awe at the small girl awkwardly placing the manhole cover (that should have been far too heavy for a child of her size) back where it belonged after she had finally hauled her entire body onto the road.