Weeks Later
I was standing on a building ledge again, looking down at the passing lights of the cars below and wondering what I was doing there.
The last thing I remembered doing was laying in bed with Dick, his long lashes tickling the skin of my stomach as he laid across the bed, watching tv. Weeks had passed since I finally made the full recovery from my return from death, and Dick still spoiled me with domestic moments like that when he wasn't running one search or another for Hurricane.
A shuffle sounded from somewhere behind me and I turned fast, finding nothing. I was literally on top of the building alone, though for the first time I realized that the building was Titans Tower. I started considering that I'd sleep walked up here, somehow getting out from under Dick, when the voice beside me struck the thought out.
"So this is the view your Robin offered up? No wonder Daniel stood no chance. This guy clearly has money." I spun around again, this time so fast that I nearly fell off the edge. Sitting just a few steps away was Roman, not looking at me but the building surrounding us. He looked the same as the last time I'd seen him, if not a little more haggard with dark circles under his eyes and skin pale. "Then again, he's Batman's little bitch, so that would make sense I guess."
"You're dead," was all I could think to say in response. "This isn't real, I'm dreaming." I had to be dreaming because Roman was undeniably dead. Everyone who was there that night confirmed it; what the metal in his throat couldn't have done, the concrete from the ceiling to his head did.
He turned now to look up at me, an amused smile dancing across his face. "You know what I'm capable of, what I did to get you to show up to that warehouse," he said. "And you're still going to doubt that I'm alive?"
"We saw you die."
"No, you saw someone who looked like me die. You saw exactly what I wanted and needed you to see." He laughed, but nothing about it sounded happy. "Trying to keep you all preoccupied was...tougher on me than I realized it would be. You were smart though, you saw it and you were working it against me. I couldn't keep it up for much longer, so I made a decision. If you thought I was dead, you wouldn't come looking for me. And I was right."
I hated myself; I never once considered what he said, that'd he'd have been able to fake his death that night. I allowed myself to be more distracted with my recovery, then with being with Dick again and looking for Hurricane on the side that any thought otherwise didn't have a place in my mind. But it should've because, like he said, I knew what he was capable of. And as much as I prided myself on being smart, I was stupid enough to let that information go unprocessed until now.
For all I knew, the last few weeks I'd spent with Dick and the others was the real manipulation, and I never made it out of that warehouse.
"Don't be so dramatic, sis," Roman said of my unvoiced thoughts. "Your happy ever after is real enough for the moment. I just thought it'd be fun to shake things up for you a bit, letting you know that it won't last. Like you, I had some recovery and planning of my own to do. Soon enough though, things will be better in my favor and when they are, I'm coming for you."
"You won't have to," I replied, my nose flaring slightly, my body tense. "If you and Hurricane are still together, we'll find you both soon enough. We never gave up looking for him."
"Well you probably should," he chuckled. "I'm not dead, but he is."
"Yeah, because I'm going to believe the guy who just admitted to faking his own death."
"Exactly, I faked my death through my powers. But you see, the thing about them is is that I can only manipulate what you see, not create it entirely, especially not on that large a scale of minds needing to be tricked. You saw me die but I needed someone to make you think was me, someone expendable and that you wouldn't notice otherwise."
"Hurricane," I sighed in realization. It explained why we hadn't found any signs of him or his abilities. Gar had suggested that he was maybe laying low for awhile, but it didn't seem to fit with his personality for me. Hurricane being dead made a lot more sense. "All that talk like he was your friend, and you just used him to save yourself like that? I can't imagine what you do to enemies, then."
"Don't think on it too much, you'll find out soon, remember?"
My hands balled into fists at my side. "You couldn't take us on before, what makes you think you'll be able to a second time?"
"You didn't really think Daniel and that wannabe Street King were my only connects, did you? If you want to beat a villain, Emmy, sometimes you have to learn to think like one. And to think like one, you can't let anything hold you back. You told me that once, before you became the stupid twin. You know, before you found that Robin. If you would just let him go, maybe we wouldn't be having this conversation. Maybe you would've already killed me and gotten it right in one try."
"What's the point of telling me any of this, Roman? You had the upper hand, none of us knew you were alive and if you're as well off as you're trying to convey then you easily could've attacked us by now. I mean, that's why we're up here, right? To prove that you know where we are, where to find us whenever you want?" Roman only smiled, making me want to punch him even more. If it wasn't that I knew it wouldn't actually hurt him, I probably would've done it already. "So why are you here?"
Roman pushed himself to his feet, brushing off his pants like he was really left with dirt on them. Even if it didn't kill him, I got the sudden urge to shove him off the roof and watch him drop.
"The upper hand is nice, but a challenge is better," he answered. "Besides, I still need to learn just how far your go. Maybe I can find a way to transfer them before I kill you."
"I wouldn't count on either of those happening, if I were you."
"See you soon, Emmy," was all he said before he disappeared.
I was left staring at the open city sky behind him and then it blurred away to reveal the ceiling in Dick's room. His head was still on my stomach, the occasional flutter of his lashes on my skin telling me he was awake. I let my dream settle in, a nauseous feeling turning in my stomach as it realized the truth. My peaceful moments like these would soon be over and the sudden urge to leave before the danger could find Dick suddenly came crashing back down on me. My body tensed so rigidly, there was no hope of Dick not noticing as he leaned up on his elbow to look back at me over his shoulder. "You okay?"
"I was until I fell asleep," I sighed grudgingly. "Now I'm somewhere between pissed and murderous."
He sat up entirely next to me, focusing in on my face. "What did you dream about?"
"I didn't dream about anything, and yet, ironically, it was a nightmare." I swallowed hard, my hands balling into fists again at my sides and flexing with every other word. "I saw Roman who came with a little message. He's still alive."
Dick's brows knit together, his jaw clenching hard enough I thought I heard his teeth snap. After I told him the real reason behind Roman wanting our reunion so much, he actually wished that I hasn't killed him just so he could've had the honor. "Madds, I saw him dead."
"We saw what he wanted us to see. But it wasn't him; it was Hurricane. He just made us think it was him so he could recuperate and try again." Dick's chest started rising and falling faster as I watched him try to regain control of himself and breathe normally. His anger rose in him so fast that I wondered just how much he'd been trying to keep it hidden from me this whole time. "He's still alive, Grayson, and he's going to come after me again. He won't stop until either I kill him or he kills me."
"You're forgetting one other scenario. He'll stop when I kill him. And this time, I'll make sure it's him."
A chill ran through me from his words, but not out of fear of them or him. More out of concern for what it would do to him in the end because, whether I liked it or not, there would be no stopping him. Dick was as stubborn as I could be and if there was anything I'd learned from our argument that night about Tony Zucco, it was that Dick couldn't be talked out anything soul scarring.
Not even by me.
So, this is officially the end of BLACK DAHLIA. I just want to thank you all so much for the support and reading this story. I didn't think anyone would like it but you guys have shown so much love for it and for Madalyn. Writing this story has helped me with my writer's block and I'm so glad that I stuck with it.
After this ending chapter, I'm sure some of you are going to ask if this means there's a sequel. Truthfully, part of me wants to write one but part of me isn't entirely sure where to go with it. So, until I can detail it out some more and figure all of that out I decided to leave this ending a little open so I can come back to it later or you guys can imagine another battle of the siblings of your own.
If I decided to, would you guys be interested in reading a sequel? Let me know in the comments and let me know what you think of this one as a whole! I'm so nervous that you guys may not have liked it 😅