Chapter Ten
All four boys were watching me with an odd kind of wary curiosity. The youngest, whose name I remembered was Damian, looked outright pissed.
Bruce cleared his throat, pulling their eyes to him. "Everyone, this is Nico di Angelo. He'll be living with us for a while." I saw one of the boys, one of the older ones, shoot Bruce a look. "Nico, this is Dick, Jason, Tim and Damian." Each of the boys nodded at their names.
Jason was the one I thought I recognised. There was something about him that seemed really familiar. He had black hair with a white streak in the front, and cold blue eyes. I looked a little further, to his soul. My eyebrows raised when I felt the unique crumpled-ness of it.
His build and age were similar enough, and combined with his recycled soul, I was pretty sure I knew exactly who he was.
I smirked at him. "Ever died before?" Immediately, the atmosphere in the room plummeted. Jason paled, and the others stiffened. My smirk grew. I was right. Jason and the man with the red helmet were one and the same.
"Almost," Jason answered smoothly. "I'm in witness protection because of it. Most people think I'm dead."
I quirked an eyebrow. "You're in witness protection, so you're hiding in your own home?"
He shrugged. "It's the last place people would think to look for someone who's hiding from something." I hummed. His words resonated a little deeper that I felt comfortable with.
"So I'm sworn to secrecy and all that?" I guessed, looking to Bruce, who shrugged. "We won't make you sign anything if that's what you mean, but we would appreciate it if you didn't let slip he's here."
I nodded, looking around the room again. My eyes caught on the bookshelves, and I studied the titles. I could see some volumes that looked like they weren't in English, but that may just be my dyslexia acting up.
"Where are you from?" Tim asked and I shot my eyes to him.
"What do you mean?" I asked carefully. He looked suddenly scared. "Oh, I didn't mean to offend you or anything, I was just wondering if you're from around Gotham or not?"
I breathed a mini sigh of relief. I wasn't sure what I thought he meant but felt a weight lift off my chest. "No. I've been around a lot, actually. I was born in Italy but moved to America when I was ten. I lived in Los Vegas for a while, then I travelled for a bit before coming back."
He nodded thoughtfully. I could tell he wanted to ask more, but kept quiet. I had purposely left my parents out of the conversation and would be happy if it stayed that way.
Bruce dropped a hand on my shoulder and I flinched. He noticed and gave me an odd look as he pulled it away. "Something came up at the office, and I've got to clean up and head over, so I'll trust you four to give Nico a tour and get him settled as best as possible. I'll be home for dinner, okay?"
When he got his required affirmation, he turned and headed up to the second floor disappearing behind a door beside the second staircase. I heard a shower turn on a moment later.
Dick stood up, taking charge. He smiled brightly. "Hey Nico. I guess the first order of business is to get you a room." He started towards the stairs, and I sighed. This was going to suck for my ankle.
"All the guest rooms are along the right side of the second floor, our rooms are on the left, and Bruce's and Alfred's are on either side of the stairs at the back. This is my room, that's Tim's, Jason is two doors down, and Damian is on the end. You can pick whichever room you like, they're all the same, but we can head out tomorrow and pick up painting and decor stuff for you."
I ended up choosing the one next to Tim's room, one door ahead of Jason. The rooms were all plain, with a canopied double bed, a desk, wardrobe, and dresser. There was a set of french doors that led to a small balcony and another door that led to a private bathroom. I left my bag on the bed so we could continue the tour.
We went back downstairs, Dick still in the lead. I must have been doing a good job concealing my limp because none of them noticed. I was led through the family room, then through another door off the family room I hadn't noticed that led into a kitchen and dining area, with marble counter tops and modern kitchenware.
Through the kitchen was the back patio, a large spacious area enclosed in glass that led out to another orchard of trees, with a pool set into the ground just outside the patio.
A second door across from the kitchen led to an expansive library that spanned across the back right quarter of the mansion, laden with shelves and cosy-looking chairs and couches.
When Dick began to lead me back up the stairs, Damian peeled off, closing himself in his room. Dick sighed. "Don't mind him. He takes a while to warm up to new people. He's... not really good at showing his feelings." I nodded. I understood that.
The third floor was where their gym was. It was huge, and half of it was just like a regular gym, with weights and equipment. The other half was made up of two separate fighting rings, and the furthest area of the room was taken up by state-of-the-art gymnastics equipment. It was impressive.
Dick was in the middle of a monologue about the gymnastics stuff, which seemed to be his, when I blinked and suddenly wasn't there anymore. I felt myself stumble a little, and I could faintly hear Dick calling my name. I blinked again, and I was back in the gym, with Dick watching me nervously. Jason and Tim were speaking quietly behind me, and hadn't noticed anything.
I opened my mouth but my vision flickered, and I was suddenly standing on a road. It was a weird sensation, I could still barely hear the others now calling my name, and vaguely felt my knees hit the floor, but I was also standing in the middle of a highway.
The view in front of me was bare, just a highway stretching out into an empty desert, the sun bright above me, and an old dead tree on the side of the road, about twenty metres ahead of me. I looked around, confused. How was I here? Where was here?
Nico. A voice echoed loudly, which should have been impossible in a desert setting. And, even stranger, it sounded like Hades. "Father?" I asked, feeling slightly stupid for speaking to nothing.
Nico. You are in danger.
"Yeah, I know, the new prophecy- where are we right now? Where are you?"
Here.
"Where is here!?"
Come find me. You don't have long, my son.
"Find you where? I don't understand!"
Come find me.
Hades' voice faded away, and the pavement beneath my feet cracked, splitting to reveal a pitch-black chasm. I lost my footing and fell. Suddenly I was back in the gym, on my knees on the floor, with Dick kneeling in front of me, his hands on my shoulders, supporting my weight as he gently called my name.
I blinked, sucking in a breath and coughing a little. It felt like I had been holding my breath for too long. Dick looked hugely relieved when my eyes focused on him.
"Hey," he said gently. "You with me?"
I nodded, swallowing. "What happened?" I asked. I was still majorly disoriented from whatever the Hades I had just seen. Was it a vision? It felt real, though. Maybe it really was my father asking for help? He only seemed to reach out to me personally when he needed help, otherwise he sent either Thanatos or some undead butler.
"That's what we'd like to know," Dick muttered softly, still supporting me. Bruce rushed into the room, in a suit without the jacket, his tie loose around his neck and hair freshly styled. Tim was hot on his heels, and Jason was nowhere to be seen.
Bruce knelt down in front of Dick and I, observing me with concerned eyes. "What happened," he demanded. "Tim said you collapsed?"
"He was fine one minute, and the next it was like he just went blank. Hardly breathing, no blinking, not responsive, it was like–"
"An absence seizure, maybe?" Bruce suggested.
"I'm right here," I snapped, annoyed by the way they were speaking over me. "And I'm fine. It wasn't a seizure."
"You sound very sure of yourself. What happened, then?" Bruce went to touch my forehead but I dodged his hand.
"I- I don't know." My voice faltered. I couldn't tell them what I had really experienced, they would think I was crazy. And I couldn't lie and say it was anything else, or they would think I had some kind of medical thing going on.
"Has that ever happened before?" Dick asked. I shook my head. "Look, I'm fine. It was nothing, it won't happen again. Can we please move on?"
At that moment, Jason came back in, followed by Alfred. I sighed, using Dick's shoulder to push myself up. Everyone stood with me. "I'm fine." I insisted.
I guess the Fates decided to fuck me over even more, because at that moment, my ankle, which had been heavily protesting the fact that I was forcing it to walk normally, gave out and I would have fallen again if not for Dick, who seemed like he was just waiting for me to collapse again.
"Shit!" I yelped in pain, balancing myself on my good leg. Bruce raised an eyebrow. I sighed. "I'm mostly fine," I amended begrudgingly.
Funny thing: did you know there's a technical term for when you can't get to sleep so you eat instead? It's called insom-nom-nom-nia.