Don't Fear the Reaper

39) When Does a Ripple Become a Tidal Wave?

A/N: 3 things! Firstly, you guys killed it last chapter with the comments and they literally gave me life. Secondly, I also love this chapter a shit ton, especially the ending. and thirdly, I am so fucking tired rn and have just decided it takes too much thought to edit so... pretend that I made no mistakes lmao

Bruce was exhausted. Everything should have been normal. Percy and Will had left in a hurry two weeks ago. The black haired kid had said that Nico gave him a time and place to meet with him, but he wouldn't tell the Waynes. He said that Nico said to come alone and he wouldn't risk his only shot at seeing by letting them trail him. They had hoped to hear from Percy about what happened, but he hadn't reached out and was apparently ignoring Jason, Damian, and Cass' attempts to contact him.

Once they were gone, everything went back to normal. Barbra had been moved back to her own apartment as soon as she got off bed rest. His children still came and went as they usually did. He still patrolled with Damian. He still got in tiffs with his older children and harassed by the younger ones. Realistically, everything was exactly the same as before he was kidnapped. Everything was the same... except it wasn't.

It felt like stale air permanently hung between everyone in the manor. Sometimes it would feel like it was finally beginning to fade, but then someone would bring up how Barbra's physical therapy was going, or the League of Assassins, or mythomagic, or pride flags, or a million tiny other things, and it would come flooding back in.

They all tried to ignore it or shove it down, but they still felt the aching hollowness in their chests.

It wasn't even the feeling of his absence that made them sick to their stomachs. If Nico had been anyone else, it would be different; they might have just missed him or wished that he would come back for a visit— but he wasn't anyone else.

He was the Reaper.

What made them sick was knowing that he was back with the LoA. He was back to killing. He was back in the hands of Ra's and Talia and that was what made their throats feel as though they were burning with vial every time they were reminded of the kid who truly changed everything.

Every report of a random murder came with the spine tingling shock of fear that they would show up to investigate and see the tell tail signs of another soul reaped by the assassin.

It never was.

Bruce would wake from nightmares that no longer held the bloody images of his parents or children, but rather haunted him with a room full of all the bodies Nico had left behind.

How many were there?

They knew of 185, but there were surly more that they simply hadn't heard of. It wasn't like he was only taking down large political figures, he killed people who committed terrible acts, no matter how unimportant they may seem to the grand scheme of things. Maybe it was only a few more, but maybe it was hundreds. Maybe the room his brain had created to store the bodies wasn't even big enough. Maybe it was a warehouse filled to the brim with bodies, all stained with the sickening black necrotic mark that each of his victims had.

"Master Bruce," Alfred said, snapping the man out of his internalized crisis instantly. "There is someone at the front door."

Bruce blinked at the older man for a long second, his brain taking a second to process what he said. "Do I know them?"

"No sir."

"Do I have a meeting with them?"

"No sir. He came here uninvited."

Bruce's eyebrows furrowed. Alfred was always strict about the 'no solicitors' policy that the manor had. "How did he get through the front gate?"

"I am unsure. It seems to have opened for his car automatically," the man said, his face giving nothing away, as usual.