NO CELESTIAL / dick grayson

seventeen, crossroads

SERAPHINA WAS STARING at the pit.

Dick and Tim were by the side, helping tend to Talia's injuries, trying to figure out the best way to move her out safely. Dick raised his head at the sound of her footsteps, offering the faintest of nods in assurance. Talia was fine. Talia would live.

It was time to address the elephant in the room.

The Lazarus Pit bubbled a sickly, fluorescent green. Bruce was right about one thing—it certainly wasn't natural. It didn't look natural, at any rate, even if it might have been naturally generated.

All that time in Gotham searching for a Pit, and Deathstroke had one right here all this time.

"Sera?"

"We could just revive him, you know."

Her voice was quiet. Soft enough that Remiel barely picked up on it. Seraphina was wary of the fact that there were other people around, other people listening.

"Do you want to?"

"Do you want to?"

"I'll do whatever you want," Remiel said quietly. "He's your father."

"We have his body on ice. Base in the middle of the Pacific." Seraphina pinched her nose. "Come. Let's get a little further away. Sit with me, Remiel. In the aftermath of great battles like this one, everything begins to settle in. Let us solve all these issues before we begin celebrating our victory."

Remiel glanced around. At the bodies of their opponents, littered across the ground. All knocked out. A few sporting some harsher industries than the others. But nothing that would kill. Seraphina was playing by Bruce's rules, because she knew that it wasn't all over yet. She still needed Bruce's help.

But Seraphina had already grabbed her arm, and they were walking further away from where the others were. There were a few smoother pieces of stone on the ground, and Seraphina motioned for them to sit.

"You don't really want him back, do you?"

"I don't care," Remiel said softly. "Really, I don't care. Do I think he shouldn't be brought back? Yes. Batman is right about the fact that it's just not right. Someone shouldn't be able to cheat death like that. But he's also you and Talia and Damian's family. I won't stop you if that's what you want."

"If he's alive, I'll never escape."

"You can't escape even when he's dead, Sera."

"No. No. I can at least try if he's gone. But at the same time I feel so guilty, Remiel. He's my father. My leader. He's the reason for my existence, the purpose of my life. And I've used the Pits before too. Who am I to say that he shouldn't be allowed to?"

"He's dead. He can't make that choice. It's those of us who are still living with that choice in our hands."

"Talia. And Damian."

"They don't need to know. What do you want to do, Seraphina? I'll back you up, whatever it is."

"Wouldn't the world be easier if Ra's just stayed dead?" Seraphina asked with a bitter laugh. "But he's my father. My blood. I cannot just let him die."

"If you want to save him, that's alright. I'll figure out a way to get through with Batman."

"It doesn't affect you, does it? You don't care about it. Blood. Blood doesn't matter to you the same way it does to other people." A pause. "You know I know who your real parents are, right?"

"Yes."

"You never asked."

"They abandoned me. I don't want them either."