LUMEN ━━ dick grayson

25 - Lost Magic

Zatanna holds onto a quiet Aurelia as all five of them watch the casket being lowered into the ground.

That is all Aurelia remembers.

Two days after the funeral, she visits the grave again. And she sees him placing a bunch of lily flowers on the gravestone. He looks up. Their eyes meet. For the first time (at least for her), she sees Bruce Wayne with a sorrowful expression, though that changes on seeing her.

Three days pass. Aurelia stays in her room at the old apartment. She doesn't go to college. She does nothing. Later in the day, she visits the grave.

Four days pass. The same routine is followed.

On the fifth day, Aurelia goes to college and pretends she is fine. Her college classmates learn that her aunt has died in the accident and help her to catch up, but leave her alone for the most part. In the evening, she visits the grave.

Six days pass, Same routine. Rinse and repeat.

On the seventh day, she gets a visitor.

The red haired archer is taller than she remembers. He is dressed casually, wearing a zipped up black jacket over dark blue jeans. Roy Harper looks no different than he always does. He acts no different either.

Roy sits next to her, in front of the gravestone. "I heard you quit and left all of Lumière's stuff in the Hall."

"Yeah," Aurelia answers, not meeting his eyes. "It's all there, kept locked away."

"You quit the Titans too?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"It's tainted now, Roy. It's all tainted. The only reason I became a hero was because of her. Now that she is gone, I can't even look at the mask. I am not like you or Wally or Dick. I don't have much of a reason. Besides, with the way I am now, I'm not sure if I can even do some simple magic tricks."

Roy takes her hand and squeezes it gently. "You are powerful; I know you are. I trust you."

"How's Lian? Where did you leave her?" Aurelia asks quietly, barely looking at him. Lian is his daughter, born five months ago out of an unexpected romance with the assassin Cheshire. Roy Harper as a dad was not an image she had ever imagined, but imagined but seeing him with Lian completely changed everything she knew about him. She and Donna had seen him with the baby girl and how gently he seemed to hold her.

"She's doing well; sleeps surprisingly normally," Roy answers. "She's with Dinah today. I think she enjoys that big mansion."

"Are you and Oliver finally talking again?" She feels a little surprised. And she welcomes that, because that distracts her from the grief settling in her heart. "That's news."

"We're trying. After Lian, ya' know," Roy says. "It's gonna take some time."

"Good, good," Aurelia says.

Roy takes in a deep breath and finally says what he came here to say. "Look, you come to Star City and see her. Lian would love that. I know you come here everyday and I know you don't want to stop that. But I think a change of routine will do you some good. Stay with Lian and I. She wouldn't want you to put your life on hold for her and you know that."