The closer they get to Hank and Dawn's apartment, the more dread settles inside Aurelia's heart.
She does not dread the bad guys that might be after them. Even her fluctuating magic can handle them. What she is afraid of is seeing them after five years, five years of almost no contact except a few birthday and Christmas cards. What Aurelia is afraid of is seeing Dawn, knowing that her and Dick...it pains her to even think about it.
"So who are these guys?" Rachel asks as they walk to apartment 304.
"Old friends," Dick tells her. "Truth is, I haven't seen them for a long time."
"Neither have I," Aurelia says. She is armed and ready with a dumb joke, to relive her stupid nerves, but Dick takes one look at her and quietly mouths, "Don't say a word."
Uggh.
Why does he have to know her so well?
Dick knocks on the door and they wait. It's quiet for a few seconds as Aurelia mentally counts down to the moment that three old friends will be reuniting. How will it go? How will things be?
How awkward will things be?
The door swings open just as Aurelia hits the number three.
The person who opens it is Dawn, looking just as beautiful as Aurelia remembers, with her striking white hair and dark eyes. She wears a simple top, one that falls halfway off her shoulder. But she looks older and more tired than ever. Aurelia feels a stab of worry for her old friend as Dawn looks at them with surprise. Her eyes fall on Dick first and linger on him for a moment, before they fall on Aurelia.
Aurelia awkwardly waves, offering a quiet smile to her old friend.
"Hey," Dick says, in an unusually soft tone.
"Hi," Dawn replies, still looking and sounding very surprised. Once again, her stare lingers on Dick.
"Hi," Rachel suddenly speaks out, stepping forward and holding her hand. "I'm Rachel."
The blue haired girl suddenly freezes. For a second, Aurelia senses Rachel's dark power rise through her. She glances at the shocked expression on the girl's face and wonders what exactly happened.
"Can we talk?" Dick asks urgently.
"You're about four years too late, but sure," Dawn replies, her expression soft and smiling. She steps aside, making space for them to enter the apartment. Rachel enters first, followed by Dick and then Aurelia.
As Aurelia passes Dawn, Dawn leans to her and says, "I missed you, you know."
"I know," Aurelia answers, as she gently squeezes her friend's arm. "I missed you too."
And it was true; she really did miss hanging out with kind hearted Dawn. But things were far too different now; they were all different people with different goals. Nothing was and ever could be the same as it had been five years ago.
*
Up on the roof of the apartment, Rachel goes to check out the birds Hank and Dawn keep. By Aurelia's guess, they're doves. Obviously. She stands at the back with Dick and Dawn as they watch Rachel.
"She killed someone?" Dawn asks the other two, sounding rather disbelieving. "She's just a kid."
"Whoever they are, they've got people in the department," Dick tells her. "We needed somewhere safe to regroup and think about what I'm gonna do."
"What about Bruce?" Dawn asks.
Dick almost chokes on his coffee and Aurelia coughs into her hand. As if. As if he would ever. The way he talked about Bruce; something had happened, something to irrevocably damage the father-son relationship. And Dick was far too prideful to ask Bruce for help.
"He's no good with kids," Dick says, mildly incredulous.
Aurelia wants to argue. He raised you, didn't he? And you turned out fine...okay maybe you still have a lot of trauma and he did force you to train quite a lot and...yeah, I guess not so fine after all.
"Cop, huh?" Dawn says after a long pause. The light breeze makes a few strands of her hair flutter. "That's one I never would have figured. For both of you."
Aurelia shrugs, following Dawn as she sits on a spacious, metallic bench. "It wasn't something I was wanted to do. But it just happened."
"Yeah," Dick says as he joins them on the bench, thankfully sitting on the other side of Dawn. "How are you?"
"We're great," Dawn says. "Hank's feeling the life a little. Age waits for no man, and all that."
"How bad is it?" Aurelia asks, very concerned.
Dawn lets out a resigned sigh. "Two fractures, three concussions in the last year and herniated disc."
"Jesus," Aurelia and Dick say at the time. But she doesn't even notice that. Hank's injuries sound horrible, much worse than the ones he got when she was still in the Titans. It makes her worry so much. (Should she just magic a badge that says 'worrywort' and stick it to the front of her coat?)
"We're still good out there," Dawn says. "Really good. But one slip-up..."
"You should quit," Dick interrupts her, speaking in a firm tone. "You both should."
"Yeah, you really should," Aurelia adds, letting some of her worry seep into her voice. "Before things get too severe."
"That's the plan," Dawn says, half smiling. "Soon as we take out these gun suppliers he's obsessed with. One more chance to do some good and he promised he's out."
"You could help us out," She suddenly adds, "Both of you."
"No," Aurelia immediately shakes her head. "I don't wanna do stuff like that anymore."
Dick says something similar, almost as if their brains were in sync. "I'm out of the life, Dawn."
Aurelia tenses up as she suddenly feels an all too familiar presence. A presence she recognizes as her volatile friend and former teammate. Hank looks undeniably furious.
"Hey, what the hell are you doing here, Dick?" Hank asks, with an underlying tone of anger. Then, he notices Aurelia and his anger seems to soften, but just a little. "And what are you doing with him, Lia?"
"Hank," Dawn gets off the bench, ready to placate him.
"I had a situation," Dick starts to explain, but Hank interrupts him. Aurelia has the slightest feeling that he will not let Birdboy speak if he had the chance.
"Nice little reunion you got going here," Hank speaks angrily, looking from Dawn to Dick.
"You know it's not like that," Dick says, a hint of something in his voice.
"Sure looks like it to me," Hank nearly yells, but stops when Dawn tilts her head, motioning in the direction of Rachel. She looks at them curiously, before looking back at the birds in the cage.
"What the fuck?" Hank looks at her, semi-outraged but also surprised.
"Can we just go inside please?" Dawn pleads as she walks up to Hank. They share an undecipherable look before Dawn walks to the door that will take her back downstairs. Hank follows her, glancing at Aurelia for just a few seconds as he also walks away.
Aurelia sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. There would be a fight. She's sure of that. "What the hell happened between you guys?"
Dick looks at her, his warm brown eyes hardened like stone. There's no reply as he starts to walk away. Aurelia rolls her eyes. 'I should have expected that.'
Aurelia has experienced tense things all her life. Hell, some magical things she saw at Constantine's House had scared the living crap out of her. But this? This? An unintentional reunion with her old friends, the anger, the betrayal she could sense? This might possibly end up being one of the most tense things she has experienced all her life. The atmosphere is stifling and makes her so uncomfortable that she is ready to run and hide any second.
She is out of place here, not a part of the history Hank, Dawn and Dick share. None of them wants to tell her what happened and she has a feeling none of them ever will. But what the fuck did they all go through?
She stands outside the spare bedroom, eyes shut, trying not to overhear Dick and Rachel's conversation. It wouldn't do her any good. It will only serve as a way to stomp on her weak, little heart. But it's hard to not want to listen.
Just then, her ears catch onto Dick's voice. "When we were kids."
"And Aurelia?" Rachel asks. "When was that?"
"Good night," Dick answers with a tone of finality, ending the conversation and refusing to give an answer. And in some weird way, Aurelia agrees. Her and Dick's relationship isn't something that could be explained in a few short sentences. It was years of their lives that they spent around each others, and years of their lives that they spent away from each other. It was far too complicated, like their love
Aurelia hears his footsteps coming towards the door. Instantly, she steps away leaning on the wall directly opposite the bedroom door. She pinches the bridge of her nose just as the door opens. She drops her hand to her side just as Dick sees her outside.
"Are you going to sleep standing up?" It's a stupid remark, really. But something about it just gets on her nerves.
"What's it to you?"
Aurelia says, wincing when she realizes how loud she was. "Ignore that. I'll manage. You sleep on that wonderful couch."
She offers him an awkward smile and practically runs to the spare bedroom, shutting the door behind her. She shouldn't be this used to running away from him but....
Rachel, who is just getting ready to sleep, watches her with curiosity. "What was that about?"
"Nothing," Aurelia answers as she collapses into the chair next to the bed. As comfortable as sleeping in a bed sounds, she will let Rachel take it. God knows the poor girl needs a good night's sleep.
"That doesn't look very comfortable," Rachel points out as she pulls the blanket over herself.
"Trust me, this is fine. I've slept in places worse than this."
"Like where?"
"In a tree in England. But does it count if it was enchanted sleep? Forget it. Just rest."
Rachel doesn't say anything, not for a while. Then, she suddenly asks, "Why do you and Dick hate each other so much? What happened between you two?"
Aurelia splutters, then closes her eyes as she sighs. She has been sighing a lot lately. "Didn't you see it in his memories?"
"I saw it from his mind. I want to see it from your perspective, but I couldn't. I couldn't access your memories," Rachel almost looked like she was pouting.
"That's good, then," Aurelia says. "My memories can't just be accessed by anyone. And Dick and I...that's a very complicated and very long story. We don't really have the time for that."
"But do you hate him?"
Aurelia takes a deep breath. "Hate Dick Grayson? I..."
That is an answer, too complicated for a few words. It can't be summed up like that. It won't be. She and Dick Grayson are far too complicated. But...
"I could never hate him, even if he does."
Look at me, updating this in the same month 🤭 this was kind of a boring chapter, but the next chapter is definitely going to be a fun one because there's a little 'family' visit coming up. Till then, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below <3 <3