Author’s Note: Hunnnh… Might be an inspiration for further stories. Probably a pre-episode as to how this would have come to BE.
Legalities: Batman and Robin are not mine, they’re DC’s!
Rating: PG or PG-13
Continuity: Comic
A Knight Of Snow
By: Carmen Wayne
FADE IN
EXTERIOR: GOTHAM CEMETARY--NIGHT
Scene starts as the CAMERA PANS across the snow-covered graveyard. SOFT WINDS and leaves ROLL about on the icy ground. The CAMERA SHIFTS FORWARD, through the ancient looking gravestones as a soft snow begins to fall, and continues to do so as the scene moves under a stone bridge and across a frozen river, up a hill and around a mausoleum, to a certain area where a black figure sits on it’s knees, silent. Enter ROBIN, the Boy Wonder, kneeling before a grave with two grand pillars on each side that reads “JANET DRAKE”.
(soft sigh)
Robin gently dusts at her headstone, brushing away light
snow. Things are on his mind, after
everything that’s happened. He speaks in
a soft WHISPER to the gravestone--
I quit Young Justice today, mom. Got to thinking… is it really all that worth it? I mean… how can it be? Always getting into trouble with the law, no one trusts me… No one trusts me in Gotham either. Not dad, not Bruce, not Steph. Then again… I don’t trust any of them.
He looks upwards to the cold, black skies as the falling snow grows thicker.
Dick had it easy, you know? No parents to worry about, and he got to tell the Teen Titans HIS secret. I… I care for them, mom. Kon and Cassie especially.
They don’t understand… How--How could they? I gave my entire LIFE to Batman. And he struck three years of loyalty into the mud and just…
He trails off, thinking of Stephanie. FADE INTO a DREAMLIKE atmosphere, showing STEPHANIE BROWN AKA the SPOILER, talking to him in silent words the viewer/reader can only imagine. But the memories are obviously fond ones as the quick thought FADES BACK to Robin, who is staring at the ground, smiling ever so faintly.
I love her, you know. If it’s possible for a child TO love.
With a slight smirk, almost as if hearing his mother comment on that, he looks at her name.
I’m not delusional. I’m only sixteen, that’s too young to know much of anything. But there is one thing I have learned… It is possible for people to grow up too fast, no matter what path of life they take. I’ve seen SO much… too much…
Slowly he rises to his feet, his hair now damp from melted snow, and now gathering the white across his short black locks.
I was foolish, you know. To think I had the heart to handle being at the side of Batman. I HAVE the heart to be Robin. Just not to be at the side of him.
Robin feels like hitting something, and his tensing shoulders shows that. In an attempt to calm himself, he shakes out his hair with his hands and tries breathing in deeply through his nose and out his mouth.
It amazes me, mom. Am I, like, the only sane one left out of all of them? Honestly? After all this time, it seems like I’m the only one WANTING to keep two lives. Wasn’t that the point of these masks anyway?
He SIGHS in sorrow.
(sighs)
With that sigh, Robin paces close to the gravestone and drops right in front of it. Feeling his emotions get the best of him, he shudders (though he’d blame it on the cold later).
ROBIN
It’s been a long… long time since
I’ve done this… but it always made me feel better when we did, mom…
Gently he rests his hands on either side of his mother’s name and bows his head, closing his eyes.
Our father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our daily trespasses as we forgive our trespassers. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the glory, forever. Amen.
He starts chuckling a bit, not quite sure why he said that. He wonders why he said it, wondering if it’s a sign that maybe he should reconsider beliefs he has. But soon he recognizes, in his scientific mind, how absurd the thought of God is and comments aloud.
You can’t even hear me… why do I even try?
That’s when a voice cuts in from behind, softly WHISPERED:
Sometimes faith is the only thing we can rely on.
Alarmed, Robin spins around, snow fluttering from under him. Standing there, tightly wrapped in a jacket is WONDER GIRL, alias CASSIE SANDSMARK. Her slightly-beyond-shoulder length hair is down, covering her cheeks.
Wonder Girl! How--
Wonder Girl holds up a hand.
Relax… it’s not exactly hard to recognize faces.
So… no one TOLD you? But--
We’re not dumb either.
Now, I NEVER said any of you were dumb…
He slowly rises to his feet.
But how did you find me?
Actually, I didn’t… I just… prayed to Hermes for direction, and I was brought here.
But I thought he was a messen--oh… He was the guardian of travelers…
Was? I talk to him frequently, thank you.
Oh… That’s right, I forgot.
(sigh)
Sorry. But… Cassie… You didn’t answer me. Not completely.
He begins to pace towards her to meet her with a foot distance between them.
What are you doing here?
Wonder Girl looks at the ground, silent a long moment. Something is obviously wrong as she looks up at him, almost ready to cry.
Is it true that once you lose your innocence, you can never get it back?
Robin’s eyes soften visibly, even from behind the mask. It doesn’t seem to matter how she got there, or how she knew anything, for now that question is turning over and over in his mind.
You want the God honest truth?
If… you could… be so kind, yes.
Her voice is weak due to emotional turmoil that goes without saying. Robin inhales deeply.
(deep breath)
No. No, you can’t. Not unless your mind erases itself completely of everything you’ve ever experienced…
Wonder Girl nods slowly, not replying. Her eyes trail over his shoulder to the gravestone he was kneeling before, and then back to Robin.
She must have been something else.
Robin blinks, not expecting that. His face is blank, not sure how to react.
Wha--how do you mean?
To have had such a good guy like you, she must’ve been wonderful.
He can’t help but smile at that. He turns to a side and looks that way, allowing her a clear eye-path to it. His smile is there because he’s no longer concerned about what she may or may not know. This is the first time in a long time he’s even thought of his mother, or spoken to another person about her.
She was the best. I could do no wrong in her eyes.
Wonder Girl lays a hand on his shoulder and squeezes gently. She thinks back a moment to the last conversation they had regarding Young Justice, and the things he said versus the things she said.
You care more than you let on, don’t you…?
…Yes. Because you all always slap it back in my face.
I… I’m sorry… But we just care for you so much, Robin. You don’t understand that. We just don’t want you being hurt.
Robin grits his teeth ruefully at that and shrugs her hand off his shoulder.
You remember when Granny Goodness had us in those machines, Cassie?
She flinches visibly, remembering that.
How could I forget? Why do you ask?
What did you see happening?
She looks at the snowy ground, silent a moment as she thinks back to the horrid, surreal images that even now seem to haunt her dreams.
I saw my mother being murdered. In so many… HORRIBLE ways.
Robin doesn’t want to continue, but now has a point to make.
ROBIN
What about Anita? Empress?
WONDER GIRL
Her father burnt before her eyes,
all the while cursing her as a freak.
ROBIN
Secret didn’t see anything… Cissie?
WONDER GIRL
Something having to do with her
parents… I think, she’s not being very
cooperative.
ROBIN
Impulse?
WONDER GIRL
Himself dying, over and over.
And what about Superboy? What did he see?
Tana dying over and over.
What… did you see… Robin?
You want to know what I saw, Cassandra?
He paces back to his mother’s grave marker and sits down close in front of it. Eerily enough in his mind, he feels comfortable and safe there, but has not forgotten what he has to say.
I saw you and I saw Kon-El.
WHAT?
I saw you, Cassie. And I saw Kon.
He begins to slowly trace the gold imprints spelling out his mother’s name, his eyes looking almost beyond the stone itself.
And I saw Granny Goodness doing horrible things to both of you. You begging for me to save you before Granny Goodness incinerated you… Kon being ripped apart by parademons after cursing me… And I couldn’t do anything, Cassie. I tried, but every time I DID try, I’d fail and it’d just happen… and then it’d repeat… over and over… You and Kon, you and Kon, you and Kon…
He looks over at Wonder Girl, who is just staring at him with wide eyes. She’s not moving, letting him speak.
I thought all of you were my friends. But Kon-El deliberately disobeyed my orders, and you all gladly followed him. So, you know what?
He stands fast and walks over to her, glaring at her. Not with hatred, just with anger.
ROBIN
You want to follow Kon-El so bad?! Go ahead! He IS “Super” boy!
Wonder Girl is utterly surprised by now.
Robin, I--
I thought you were my FRIENDS! I have no FRIENDS! Everyone’s betrayed me, kept secrets from me, and that’s fine! Do what you want!
He storms away fast from her, shaking now in cold, pain and anger.
I don’t care anymore! I don’t care what you know, or what you think you know. From this point on, I’m working alone…
He continues off. Wonder Girl just remains there, watching him. She never knew he could be so hostile. And never did she imagine that he’d be so hurt at something like that. After he spirits into the shadows, she turns to look at the grave. Silently, she lifts into the air and glides over to it. Kissing the tips of her index and middle finger, she places it to the cold stone.
Rest in peace, ma’am. And be proud. You’ve got a good young man for a son…
She continues to stand there, silent as the snow continues to fall. With that, the screen FADES TO BLACK.
THE END