The Sparrow and the Song Bird

Welcome to Gotham... I guess

 Dick had always loved opening night of a show.

The thrill was unlike anything he'd ever experienced.

The lights, the audience, the cheers, the energy, the excitement. It gets the blood pumping.

He'd always found it exciting long before he'd been allowed to perform. He'd sit up in the nest during the routine. Always jealous of his cousins that got to perform even though they weren't much older than him.

But finally, he was allowed to join them. Not for the parts without a net, not yet. His father said he wasn't ready. Dick felt he was ready. He'd been doing all of this his whole life. How could he not be? His mother had told him to be patient. Maybe next year. Well, actually not next year. Not ever.

When they came, Dick remembers they stank of bourbon and cigars.

English was new to him and his father, they talked way too fast for either of them to follow. Dick stuck around to try and help translate, just in case. His dad hadn't really caught on the way he had and mom wasn't nearby to help.

But he'd been dismissed when Jack Haley came by and told them to 'hit the bricks', whatever that meant. Dick could tell they didn't like it. He could tell they said offensive slurs and that, whoever they were, they were trouble.

How could they not be?

Dick hadn't caught enough of the encounter. He wishes he'd been more stubborn. Maybe then all of this wouldn't have happened.

He knows that whatever was said had affected everyone.

He'd grown used to nervous energy before a show. All of this was the wrong kind of nervous. The circus was supposed to be in Gotham for three nights. Two had been cut, leaving the one show.

Dick isn't sure what those guys did. He'd been sent to check and make sure the rigging was secure when he saw them messing with the wiring. They ran before Dick got a good look at them.

When he checked it he didn't see anything wrong with it but everyone's mood was enough to make him cautious.

When he'd tried to warn his dad he got told to stop messing around. No one listened to him. No matter who he tried to tell.

Dick didn't know why no one was taking him seriously. He wishes he'd tried harder. Maybe he could've stopped it, then they'd be on their way to New York and that whole encounter would just be a distant memory.

He'd never really believed in luck or anything of that nature. Things had always just been good. Dick had always just been happy, he had lots of great friends and family, he had the coolest jobs, got to see the coolest sights, and just had an awesome life in general.

Had his life been too good?

An old fortune teller that used to be in the circus a few years ago had once told Dick she saw incredible things in store for him but they came from a great loss. When he asked his dad about it he'd told Dick not to listen to her.

Maybe she'd been right. He would definitely count this as a great loss

He'd never seen absolute fear in someone's eyes before tonight.

The netted part of the performance had gone without incident. Then he waited in the nest like he always did.

There was the sharp sound of the wires snapping under the pressure. Dick had heard it before. He'd been practicing in a gym when several wires had snapped and they'd all fallen onto the safety net. Even with it there Dick remembers the terror when he was falling.

His mom had been swinging out to the nest, she was going to land before jumping back out for the big finally.

She didn't make it.