Broken Bird

by TwinEnigma

Standard Disclaimer - I do not own Young Justice or any of the characters therein. I do not do this for profit, but rather for fun and skills building.

NB: done as a fill for the YJ-anon-meme, for a prompt requesting that Dick was picked up by the Court of Owls and only later rescued and adopted by Batman. De-anoning because meme post getting full

Warnings: Spoilers for Failsafe, Court of Owls arc in Nightwing and Batman; violence, simulated character death

Miss Martian's scream cuts through the air and suddenly something is wrong.

Something is wrong and he can't place it, even as Kid Flash's bellow cuts through the air and Aqualad moves in.

The arctic wind is now harsher, biting into his lungs like razors. The snow is thicker and the sense that things should be cold is now replaced with a true chill that seeps into his bones and makes his limbs feel sluggish and heavy.

Cold, he knows, is an Owl's enemy.

But he is no longer an Owl, he is a Robin, T. m. migratorius, he is a Robin and not an Owl, never an Owl, he is free and he is Robin.

A Robin doesn't need to fear the cold, not like an Owl does.

But there is something wrong and the Owl in him recognizes it, perhaps more keenly than anything in these last few strange years of his strange re-education under the Bat. The Robin in him, however, finds the answer elusive and ephemeral, as if trying to catch a mote of dust in the spotlight. He tunes out everything else, Kid Flash's rage, Miss Martian's tears, and Aqualad's orders to head to the Hall of Justice, and then he listens for the stillness, picturing the silent and familiar feel of the cool marble labyrinth he knows so well.

At the center of the labyrinth, beneath the owl that looms over him forever and ever, he sees the pool of water and the bones of those he's killed. He feels nothing for them, save the first – hatred, grief – and the last – helplessness, frustration, remorse.

Artemis's face cuts through his mind, frozen in that horrible arc as her flesh crumbles into ash, and it feels like he's taken his own knives to his intestines.

It's wrong.

He doesn't feel like this, not anymore. Robin tries and tries, but the Owl's talons are dug in deep and things just aren't… these feelings aren't right for him. When he feels, it's deep, yes, but his feelings are fluttering and twitchy things, scattered and mixed-up, always shadowed by those wings, and never this twisting, singular thing. Even the memories of his family's deaths are but a fragmentary shadow.

Not Artemis, apparently.

The image repeats, the detail perfect, crystalline clarity, and he can feel.

The Owl flutters in his chest, wings beating against his ribcage. Let me out, it says. Trust in me.

Everything is wrong.

They all stand, moving towards the door of the bioship, and as he passes in front of Miss Martian, their hands brush.

The Owl shrieks.

The door is opening, and he can feel the hope coming from the soldiers - palpable, nauseating and thick – and how it suddenly turns to alarm and horror as he turns, the armor of a Talon covering him in damning confirmation. He jabs the metal spike through Miss Martian's throat in a quick instinctive strike, before she can react, because he is the best and she is not expecting it because none of them know what he used to be before Robin, before Batman – Batman was careful, so careful.

The reaction is immediate. Feathers burst from his uniform and the very world around him lurches and seizes, turning into jelly as his target's control shatters.

And then they are back in Mount Justice.

His mouth tastes like sandpaper and he sits up, half expecting to still be in that armor, the weight of his great-grandfather's horrible legacy covering him. There is nothing and for the first time in a long time, he is able to identify the feeling as relief. He stands, turns, and all that is Robin in him trembles with remorse and dread as his teammates, save Artemis, look at him in horror and revulsion.

Batman, alone, is sympathetic.

In his ears, the Owl laughs at him.

Look at how they fear you. You will never be one of them, it says.

He runs and, for the first time in a long time, he knows why he's crying.