Night's Shadow || Dick Grayson x Ariana Wayne

Chapter 3

The day of the funeral arrived. Gotham's sky mourned with Dick and the rest of Haley's Circus, raining gently on the funeral procession. Tents were put up to keep the attendees, the coffins and the ground dry.

"Hey little bird, I've been sent over to talk to you." A woman clad in black said with a soft voice as she stood over by Dick.

Dick wiped at his tears as he sobbed. "I miss them so much" he murmured, not really hearing the woman speaking.

The woman then hugged him. "I know... Someone will come around and make it feel better." Dick was shocked but returned the hug. It felt good to be able to have someone there. He continued to cry softly. "Can you do one thing for me?" Dick nodded as he sniffled. "Promise me that when you see my little brother, you'll protect him? Please?"

"Okay, but what's your name?"

"Red."

"Red what?" Childlike innocence filled the question that Dick asked.

Instead of answering Red shook her head. "Just look out for Bruce. And don't worry, you'll see me again sometime." Dick was confused and turned to look up at Red, but she'd vanished.

"Is everything alright Dick?" Ariana walked over wearing a dark blue dress with a black overcoat on top. "I mean, besides the obvious."

He shook his head and looked at her, his eyes were red and puffy from crying. "Just lonely. The others in the orphanage either bully me or flat out ignore me. I hate it there Ari" he confessed and allowed her to pull him into a tight hug. He liked having her there. She gave him a soothing comfort and helped ease the pain of the reality that he was burying his parents.

She saw the loneliness and sadness in the boy's eyes and it broke her heart to see it. She wanted to do something about it. "Let's go see my father. Perhaps you can sleep over for a few nights. It might do some good for you to be with us."

The two kids walked over to where Bruce was standing with Alfred and asked him. "No" was his reply. No explanation, nothing just 'no'. Ari felt like screaming at her father, but wouldn't make a scene, especially at the funeral.

Dick sighed and shook Bruce's hand. "Thank you for everything Mr. Wayne. I really appreciate you covering the cost for my parents' funeral and I'm sure that they appreciate it as well." With that he turned and left, his tears hidden by the rain that started to fall down a bit harder.

Ariana was angry and gave her father a Batglare then stormed off to go sit in the car. Alfred came over not long after with Beth. "I am to take you two home. How about when we get there we have some hot chocolate and cookies?" To which the girls agreed to the offer. Alfred was always good at calming their nerves.

Sayeh came home a few hours later, not long before the sun set below the horizon and she came without Bruce. Ariana knew that it was because her father was busy getting ready for the night job he had as Batman. "Girls, I want you to welcome the newest member to our family." The two girls looked at each other in confusion as a boy walked in behind their mother.

"Dick!" Ariana exclaimed and ran over and hugged him tight. She looked up at her mother with a quizzical look on her face. "But... how?"

Sayeh knelt down on the ground and placed a hand on each of the elder kids' shoulders. "Your father saw how upset you were and I happened to have a friend in the government who owed me a favor. So now young Dick is a part of this family." She smiled warmly and looked to her daughters. "You two will show him around yes? I need to get back to the office and help your father. We'll probably be working late again but we'll be there for breakfast." She kissed the foreheads of her now three children before getting up to go leave.

"Come on! You're getting the same tour I gave Beth a few years ago." She didn't even give Dick a chance to answer before she was dragging him along to see everything. Beth sighed and watched as she was left in the dust by her big sister.

This was only the first incident of Beth being left out while Ariana focused on Dick. With school they spent a lot of time together both before and after the school day. The two did homework and would often go and do some training together. It was upsetting for the youngest child that her friend and playmate was being taken away.

Beth found ways to keep Ari's attention. One evening Ariana found Beth standing out on her balcony. "Beth, what's wrong? You've been acting really strangely since Dick came to live with us."

The small brunette turned and glared at her sister. "Well maybe if you didn't spend every waking moment with him nothing would have been changed! You and I never have time together. And then you, Mom, Dad, and Richard have been training to do the hero thing. I just feel like there's no one who wants me around."

Ariana closed the gap between them and picked Beth up in her arms. "Oh Bethy. Why didn't you say anything? My emotions are still a whirlwind inside." She smiled and looked at her little sister. "Mother and Father are busy so how about we go for a flight?"

"But Dad said no. Its too dangerous." Beth wanted to, Ari could see it in her hazel eyes.

The older sister smirked and spread her wings. "Father is not here. And I am not going to drop you. Do you want to Beth?" The younger girl nodded enthusiastically and Ariana took to the sky. She flew above the woods that encompassed part of the manor grounds. Her hold on Beth was strong, but not constricting. Ari flew about, showing Beth some of the high places she herself liked to go. Private places that no one else knew about. They stayed until the clouds cleared and the girls were given a rare glimpse of the starry sky that few knew existed beyond Gotham's smog riddled sky.

Roughly an hour later the sisters returned to the manor. Ariana landed on Dick's balcony so that they could all have a talk and sort things out. That's when Ari saw a woman inside the room that she didn't recognize. Ari thrust her sister behind her and instantly covered her body with black shadow like armor and manifested two curved daggers and rushed in. "Get away from him! You don't belong here, now leave!" The woman didn't move, but she did deflect the blows that Ariana dealt. The sound of cloth tearing had both Beth and Dick screaming out. Both the woman and Ariana stopped, staring at each other and panting.

"Aunt Red!" Beth went running over and jumped at the woman. Ariana blinked and dismissed her weapons and armor after seeing the woman, 'Red' hugging Beth tight. "Ari, this is our Aunt Red. Auntie Red, this is--"

She was cut off by Red walking over to the eldest Wayne sister. "Ariana al Ghul Wayne. Daughter of Sayeh al Ghul King and Bruce Wayne." Red gave a smile and held her hand out. "A pleasure to meet you. You're quite the combatant, I'm impressed."

Ariana shook the woman's hand, gripping her wrist, a sign of respect and to ensure there was no hidden weapon. "You are as well Red. Not many are able to repel an attack from even a child Grigori. I am impressed as well."

Red nodded and looked to the three of them. "I had hoped to catch the Bat before he left, but I was too late. However I got to meet up with you three sweethearts. We'll meet again another time. I need to get going." With that she ran to the balcony and jumped off. The three kids ran over and looked to see if she was okay, but there was nothing there. Ariana could feel the supernatural aura that was fading quickly, but didn't say anything. It wasn't her place to do so.

"So, you two going to tell me who Red is really?" Ariana was confused and narrowed her eyes at Dick and Beth. The two looked at one another before telling Ari what they knew.