« chapter vii: A BANSHEE »
Wayne Manor was used to hearing screams echo through its darkened halls, though, the family hadn't heard a girls scream in a while. As Ria thrashed awake, her head reeling from a nightmare and her throat slightly sore from the scream that ripped through it, she tried to catch her breath and gain her bearings. She kept forgetting where she was. That she had an actual bed to sleep in. A bathroom she could use whenever she wanted. Simple things like plumping and pillows amazed her. She hadn't know comfort like this in a while.
Adelaide slowly pushed open the door to her sisters room and wordlessly walked towards her bed and climbed in. Ria opened her arms without hesitation and Adelaide sat in her lap and hugged her tightly. Dabria stroked her hair, clinging to the young girl desperately.
Nightmares. Always nightmares. They never stopped.
"What was it about?" Adelaide asked in a small voice.
"Nothing." Dabria choked out. "It was nothing." Adelaide pulled back a little, frowning at her.
"You don't have to keep protecting me you know? I'm not a little kid."
"You're seven years old." Dabria said with a small smile and a half laugh.
"Yeah well... I've done more things than most seven year olds should do." Dabria smiled and smoothed down Adelaide's hair lightly.
"It was just a nightmare." Dabria said. "Sometimes I don't remember them when I wake up. That used to happen to you a lot you know." Adelaide nodded slowly. "It'll pass." Dabria said, taking a deep breath. "It'll pass." Adelaide yawned in Dabria's lap and she smiled at the younger girl. "Go back to bed Addie. I'll be okay."
"I'm not tired." Adelaide said with another yawn. Dabria laughed and the two girls laid down next to each other. Dabria stroked Adelaide's hair and before long, the younger girl was fast asleep. Dabria grit her teeth. She hated lying to Adelaide.
Truth was, she did remember the dream. And what she remembered, she didn't like.
The dream was a reoccurring one. Something that started happening when she hit fourteen and has continued for four long years. It always starts the same.
Dabria is standing in her apartment, not the one she has lived in with Adelaide, the one she remembers from her childhood, from when her mom was still around. Except Dabria isn't a kid anymore. She's eighteen and has no idea why she is here. Her parents aren't home and theres a knock at the door and Dabria is too afraid to answer. She's afraid because she knows what's on the other side. The first time the dream happened, Dabria had opened the door and all she saw was darkness. Pure evil and hatred and malice. It was like staring into the eyes of the devil. Or at least what Dabria imagined staring into the Devils eyes would feel like.
Then the darkness is rushing forward and trying to consume Dabria. It fills her nose and goes into her lungs and tries to choke her. Sometimes it binds her legs to the ground, pulls her to her knees. Sometimes the darkness wins. Sometimes Dabria isn't strong enough to fight back, especially if the dream reoccurs consecutively. On those nights, Dabria feels herself change. She feels... Less like herself and more like... Something or someone else entirely.
On the days when Dabria is strong enough to win the fight, the darkness screams at her. It howls obscene and murderous threats. The darkness threatens to become her, to kill everything she has ever loved and sometimes, Dabria believes this to he true. She believes it will happen. The darkness is so tangible in her nightmares.
Slipping out of bed, Dabria shakes out her hair and leaves the room. She can't stand the fancy furnishings of it sometimes, though the whole house is pretty fancy, but she just needs to go for a walk. She needs to clear her head. So she slowly roams the halls, heading to nowhere in particular. She passes offices, the library, a den, more bedrooms. As she begins to head downstairs, she sees a light on in the piano room. She frowns. These batboys really take their personas seriously if they're still prowling around after patrol has finished. Dabria steps into the piano room and sees Tim, his back to her as he sits in a large armchair, laptop on his lap
"You okay?" Tim asks without looking up. Of course, he heard her scream. The whole house probably did. Dabria frowns. But how would he know it was her that walked in?
"Shouldn't you be asleep?" Dabria grumbled. Tim shrugged, downing the contents of his cup. Alfred's right, he really needs to stop drinking red bull. It's making him jittery and doesn't exactly give him wings.
"You okay?" Tim asks again. Dabria pushed her tangled hair out of her eyes.
"Do I look okay?" She asked indignantly. Tim just shrugged and didn't turn away from his laptop screen to look at her. Dabria sighed and went to go sit on the armchair on his left. "What are you doing?" Tim pursed his lips and glanced over at her. "What? You cant tell me?"
"I mean... It's superhero stuff. I probably shouldn't. Batman... Bruce doesn't like when we... Tell people about our business."
"I'm sure he won't mind you spilling more trade secrets to me." Dabria said with a heavy sigh, slumping down into her seat. Tim smirked a little.
"It's about a new bad guy in town. We're tracking his movements, seeing where he'll hit next. The computer is running through all the data and I'm basically... Monitoring it." Dabria gave him a funny look.
"Sounds like you don't have to be awake for it to do it's thing." Tim smirked.
"You caught me."
"So you're just watching it... For fun?"
"I guess. I mean, I also hate sleeping." Dabria just glared at him. "What?"
"Shut up, no teenager hates sleeping."
"Okay, i don't hate it. I just..." Dabira arched any eyebrow at him. "Sleep doesn't come easy to me." Dabria rolled her eyes.
"It's a batbrat thing isn't it?"
"No, Damian sleeps like an angel." Dabria scoffed.
"More like a little devil." Tim smirked.
"How old are you by the way? I keep meaning to ask."
"I thought you said you kept up with us in the tabloids." Dabria rolled her eyes again.
"Not that closely batbrat. I don't know everything about you, just that you're dumb enough to reveal your identity to any pretty girl you meet."
"I..." Tim said, trying to think of an argument. Dabria just smirked as he became flustered. "That was the only time I've done that and I've been a super hero since I was like.. Twelve."
"Wow so I should feel lucky then? In what? Eight years, I'm the first girl who makes Tim Drake want to unmask himself." Tim looked away and Dabria could see how hard he was blushing in the low light from his computer and the lamp on the far side of the room.
"That was a good guess but I'm not twenty, I'm only nineteen." The two were quiet for a while. "I think you should... Think about becoming a hero, joining us." Tim finally said.
"You want me to dress up in leather and spandex with you all? No thanks." Dabria said, shaking her hair out, feeling how tangled it was.
"I think... I mean you have great potential to be a hero."
"Potential? Wow." Dabria muttered.
"I'm serious. Your powers seemed to he geared towards stealth."
"Oh yeah, silly me. Making things burst into flames when I'm anxious is super stealthy." Tim grinned a little.
"Okay, maybe not that one but Bruce and I were talking and..."
"Don't talk about me with your dad. It makes me uncomfortable." Dabria said. Tim paused.
"I'll let Bruce know but... Dabria, he also thinks you have a lot of potential." Dabria sighed and stood up.
"What I have is a lot of unresolved childhood issues Tim, not potential."
"So did Bruce, look at him now."
"Unlike you I'm not too keen on idolizing someone who dresses up as a bat to beat up criminals." Tim smirked.
"Just... Think about it. It would be fun to have another girl on the team. Barbara would love you."
"Batgirl?" Dabria said, suddenly interested.
"Yeah she's out of town for the summer. She has this internship in Washington D.C." Dabria frowned.
"Damn... I would've loved to meet her." tim smiled lightly.
"You can if you stick around." Dabria scoffed.
"Don't start again Tim. I want to learn to control my fritzzing powers, sure but I'm not becoming a caped crusader."
"You don't have to have a cape." Dabria snorted and stood up. Tim finally looked up from his laptop at her. She was wearing one of the new pairs of pajamas he had seen Alfred give her, a gift from Bruce. Clothing was one of the only things she willingly accepted from him. Tim wasn't sure why exactly. Maybe a lot of her stuff was beginning to not fit her anymore.
"I'll see you tomorrow Tim, maybe." Dabria muttered, exiting the room.
"Sweet dreams." Dabria laughed.
"Not likely." She said before leaving the room.