Shadows

1.2 Does He Know?

Lily couldn't remember why the tradition began, but every year on September 6th, she and Dick got together to watch awful movies and make fun of them. It was one of her favourite days, besides her birthday and Halloween.

At the moment she was sitting in the Batcave, spinning around in a chair waiting for him to get back. He and Bruce went out earlier, something to do with Penguin, and the mission was taking longer than expected. So Lily waited, bored out of her mind.

Eventually, her curiosity got the best of her and she turned to the Batcomputer. She knew she shouldn't look since Dick told her it was confidential, but that just made her want to look more.

He should know by now I need to know everything.

She logged into the computer, having memorized it months ago. It took her a few moments to find the files she was looking for but eventually got to them.

She skimmed through the mission details, not finding anything she felt was confidential. She was almost about to give up when she noticed an unlabeled file. She found it strange since everything else was carefully labelled so she clicked on it.

It opened up to a paternity DNA test and Lily's heart stopped. The 'confidential' part finally made sense.

Ra's al Ghul was her father.

She felt bile in her throat as her heart started racing.

This is impossible. Her thoughts ran through her mind. The next thought was "I need to get out of here.

She closed everything on the computer and walked to the zeta tube, feeling numb. Her eyes couldn't focus on anything and she felt like she was going to pass out any moment.

The zeta tube brought her to an alley in Gotham and Lily walked over to a bench to sit down and calm down.

Her uncle must have known, there's no way that he didn't. How could he not tell me?

She needed to tell someone. Usually, that person was Dick, but he already knew and didn't tell her. She felt betrayed.

She pulled her phone out of her pocket which she luckily hadn't left at the Batcave.

"Lily? What the hell?" Artemis' voice said over the phone. She sounded tired and Lily regretted calling her.

"Sorry, did I wake you up?"

"It's fine, what's wrong?'

"I just need someone to talk to, can you come pick me up?"

"Don't you live in Star City?"

"I'm in Gotham." Tears pricked her eyes. "Please?"

"Where are you."

"Um, a park." She heard Artemis groan at her lack of help. "It's by the zeta tube."

"Ok, I'll be there soon."

Lily felt the tears fall down her cheek. She felt stupid for crying, but she couldn't stop. She couldn't believe everyone was keeping this secret from her.

"Lily?" Artemis walked over to the bench. "What's wrong?"

"Everything." She sobbed. "Everyone has been lying to me."

"About what?"

"I just found out who my birth father is." She tried to get her breath back before she had a panic attack. "It's Ra's al Ghul."

Artemis looked at the girl, shocked at what she just heard.

"Wait, seriously?"

Lily just nodded. "And apparently everyone knew and just decided not to tell me."

Artemis hugged the younger girl as she cried.

"You should talk to your uncle about this. Maybe he has a reason he kept this from you."

Lily nodded. "Yeah, I should probably do that."

She didn't want to do that. She didn't want to talk to him ever again, but she knew she would have to eventually.

The two sat in silence for a bit before Lily sighed. "I guess I should go home."

"Yeah, we should leave before we get stabbed."

For a moment she had forgotten where they were – in a dimly lit street in the middle of Gotham City just sitting on a bench, practically waiting to get jumped.

"See you tomorrow at the Cave?"

"Yeah," Lily replied. They said their goodbyes and parted ways.

Lily headed back home, knowing she needed to do it sooner rather than later.

As she entered her house – mansion – she called out her uncle's name, hoping he wasn't asleep. He came up the stairs a few moments later.

"Hey, what are you doing home? I thought you weren't going to be here tonight?"

"Why didn't you tell me?" Oliver's face morphed into a look of confusion.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about my father."

His face fell and she knew instantly that it was guilt.

"I was going to tell you-"

"When? What, you thought I wasn't ready? How could you not tell me this?" Lily knew that she had started to yell at him, but she didn't care.

"I'm sorry, okay. I just thought that it wasn't something you needed to find out about yet."

"You didn't think I should've known that my birth father is a five-hundred-year-old murderer? That's insane!"

"I didn't want you to have to worry about it."

"Does he know?" She asked him, terrified of the answer. Oliver didn't answer immediately. "Does he know that I am his daughter?"

"We don't know."

Lily laughed. She didn't know what else to do. She couldn't deal with this. If Ra's knew she was his daughter, what was stopping him from coming to take her back?

"I...I need to leave. I'm going to stay at the Cave."

She turned around as her uncle called her to come back but she didn't listen. She needed time alone to think about what just happened.

Published: 11/09/21