Ignite [Book Three In The "Fire And Lightning" Series]

Chapter Thirty-One- Bittersweet Goodbyes

June 2, 2018. 13:27
Gotham City
~~Emma~~

Rick leaned against the window sill, and I sat in the chair next to the bed, squeezing our uncle's hand.

"Where are you two going, exactly?" Uncle John asked.

I looked at Rick, who nodded the okay to go forward. I took a deep breath, scooting forward in my chair.

"Uncle John, we have something we want to tell you."

"We're sorry to have to keep it from you for so long, but we did it to protect you. You wouldn't have been able to defend yourself if anyone attacked you trying to get at us." Rick explained gently, walking around to the side of the bed.

I squeezed Uncle John's hand one more time. "You see...ever since Bruce Wayne took us in-"

"You two are the freaking Nightwing and Nightingale, aren't you?" 

Both of us were too surprised to respond.

John chuckled, staring at the ceiling. "You two birdies never could hide anything from me." He murmured. He tried to lift his head up, making my heart ache a tiny bit. When we were little he used to talk with such animation, moving his hands especially. Now his hands lay at his sides, unable to move. 

"The nurse likes to put on the TV to give me something to do. About a year after the accident, around the time that Finch and Robin joined Batman, the newspeople showed a clip from a security camera of the three vigilantes trying to stop the Joker.

"And in the background, barely visible on the camera, I could see Finch in her bright yellow uniform. She jumped up in the air, and did a quadruple flip before coming down and knocking out a group of Joker's henchmen."

I blushed bright red and buried my face in my hands. That had been how Mara and Tim had discovered our secret identities too.

Uncle John grinned at me. "Only six people in the world who can do that. Three of them are a performing troupe in Russia, the fourth is lying right here, and the last two are you. Didn't take long to put the puzzle together after that."

Richard started laughing, and despite my embarrassment, I did too.

"Why didn't you say anything?" I asked.

If he could move, John would have shrugged. "It wasn't my secret to tell. Besides, I knew that the two of you would tell me when you were ready.

"So don't worry about me. Go, go save the world. Go be the heroes you were meant to be."

I kissed Uncle John's cheek, and Richard patted his hand. We got up to leave, to go back to the manor and finish packing, but John had one more thing to say.

"Just remember, I'm proud of the two of you. And I know that your parents would be too."

With what must have been excruciating pain, he turned his head to watch us leave, a single tear running down his cheek.

"I love you." I whispered, closing the door behind me.

I sighed and leaned against my muscley younger brother, trying to ignore the fact that he was much taller than me.

"That went well, wouldn't you say?" Rick asked, leading us to the exit in escort position.

"Yes, yes it did." I looked over my shoulder, watching Uncle John's door disappear down the hall.

"I'm going to miss him."

Rick followed my gaze, placing his arm around my shoulders. "I will too, Emms. I will too."