“And here we are! Mister Gadling if I may introduce you to the owner of this estate, Lord Morpheus Endelas?'' The portrait of a severe looking man hangs at the top of the staircase, with an ornate golden frame. It is the only thing occupying that wall.
It looks lonely.
“Lord Morpheus? So, if he is the owner of this estate, why is his sister the one rushing to sell it? Where is he?” Hob asks, confused.
“Nobody really knows. He was quite the renowned painter at the time but went missing at the peak of his career months after his only son died in a tragic accident,” Mister Edwards explains.
Hob’s heart clenches in sympathy, as if to lose one’s child seems horrible enough, but to be expected to carry on after such a loss seems unthinkable to him.
“Hold on, missing? Missing implies that he is still out there! Doesn't he get a say in what happens to his state? He could come back and rightfully unleash his wrath upon us for going through with this! Sir, you have to understand that if I am to take up this job offer I need to know I’m not risking my entire career and reputation over it.”
He feels perplexed “Wasn't anyone else concerned about this? How is picking apart a missing man’s home and selling all his worldly possessions to the highest bidder even considered acceptable? What was the Endelas family even thinking? The man lost his only child, surely he just needed some time away?” It didn't seem unreasonable to Hob.
He didn’t like it. Something about this felt wrong.
“It is believed even by his own remaining family, that Lord Endelas killed himself. Saying he is missing is the polite way to not address the fact that no body was ever found! Even before his son’s death he was infamous for his melancholic moods and tendencies towards neglecting himself to the point of damaging his own health significantly. So I’m hardly asking you to do anything immoral here! You are a good man Mister Gadling, and if the thought of taking this job distresses you so much I will accept that and find someone else to do it, but Lady Endelas wants this to be done sooner rather than later and I think you are the best choice for it.”
Hob turns his attention back to the portrait and contemplates for a moment.
He truly did look lonely up there.
“I will give you my answer tomorrow morning, Mister Edwards,” he concludes.
“That’s all I ask for Mister Gadling, for you to consider it. Thank you.” Edwards inclines his head and promptly turns around, heading back downstairs.
Hob looks helplessly at the portrait of Lord Morpheus, already knowing he will take the job come morning.
Damn him and his bleeding heart.
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Ta-dah! illustration that's part of my gothic romance dreamling AU for @dreamlingnation spooky event !! the prompt that inspired this was "cursed painting" the comic pages for the ficlet above are already in the works so stay tuned for that and more!
special thanks to @academicblorbo for helping me edit this, you are the best friend!
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The Firstborn Son
dp x dc | Batman 👻 tw for: dead body, brief reference to human trafficking
(Part II available now!)
****
Once upon a time, there is a boy who dies forever...mostly.
****
Once upon a time, there is a man who wants to live forever.
He does.
****
Once upon a time, there is a daughter born to an immortal man.
"I need an heir," her father commands.
She gives him one.
****
Once upon a time, there is a King.
(He is a dead boy.)
(Most do not know that.)
"My heir, for a hundred years of your power," the immortal offers; the King accepts.
****
Once upon a time, there was a family of acrobats.
There isn't, not anymore, but the son still loves his mother and father, and gravity cannot steal his wings forever.
He sleeps restlessly, and rarely in his own bed. The allure of flying is too much to resist. At night, when the world is quiet, the acrobat joins the black darkness of an endless sky, and claims it as his own.
His guardian is one with the night.
The petit Robin is bright light and spectacle, no matter how well he hides his colors. He is spotted first.
****
Dick didn't really remember waking up from his nap. Alfred had put him down for a cold; his head hurt, and he was sleepy all the time, so B was out without him and Dick was stuck in a too-big bed in a giant, dark mansion, all alone.
Except. At some point, Dick must have gotten out of bed. Because now he's in the chandelier.
Dick doesn't remember jumping to the chandelier. And jumping to the chandelier is hard work; it's not something he could have done in his sleep. It requires weight, heft; the shirking of gravity. The night is dark around him; there are no street lights outside of their windows to light up the hallway. The darkness makes the grand persian carpet so much farther away than it is in the daytime-- entirely, unfathomably far below him. Pale moonlight flickers across cut shards of crystal. It's Dick's own little bird's nest.
Dick and the chandelier gently sway. He doesn't notice the-- the ghost, the illusion-- for a whole minute. It just looks like moonlight, until it doesn't.
It's a body. A boy's body-- not much older than Dick. Suspended, midair.
His heart drops. But Dick doesn't scream.
For a second, there are two boys midair, silent and still in the morning moonlight.
The body raises its head. Hello, Richard.
Dick doesn't move.
I have a question for you. The body blinks sightless eyes. Does your guardian treat you well?
Dick...doesn't know what that means. He rolls his weight forward, careful, so careful not to tip himself over the edge and send him plummeting.
"...Why are you asking?"
I need something looked after, the body says. Its limbs sway in wind that isn't here. It is very precious to me.
"Oh." Well, B is Batman, sometimes. And when he's not Batman, he's Bruce Wayne, and he is in charge of a lot of people. "Yeah, he's respons- reponsbile- he does a good job. Can I see it?" Dick's interest is piqued.
The body stills. And then-- like a zombie clawing its way out of its grave, it reaches through the rotting skin of its own stomach and removes. Something.
It's a baby.
Dick leans so far forward that he almost does go toppling but he's gripping the silver of the chandelier so that he doesn't, and, look! It's a baby! It's so small and tiny and it's still purple!
"He's so new!" Dick gasps, and releases one arm from its death grip to make a grabby hand. The body only floats close enough that Dick can pet the baby's cheek with a careful finger, can feel the softness of the baby's hair.
He is my charge, the body explains. As such, he is precious to me.
The baby is so small. Dick wants to bounce him, like he's seen mamas and papas do with their little ones. "Can I hold him?"
The baby disappears back into the body. It looks like a maggot burrowing back into the corpse it's eating, and Dick is heartbroken and sick about it. No. Not until I know it's safe.
Dick pouts. Also, he needs to know how to get the baby away from the...body. Babies need a lot of light and warmth. A dead body monster can't give him that.
Your guardian played his part in making the little heir, the body says. This baby was given to me by his grandfather. His mother passed him onto her own father, and her father sold him to me.
"Oh no!" Dick gasps. That is one of the things B has had to explain to Dick, one of hundreds of terrible things that happens to people in Gotham. And it happened to B's baby?
Yes. The body floats sightlessly, thin skin sliding over too-pale eyes. I must know if he is safe before I leave the baby in his care. Will you help me?
Dick...doesn't know what that means. He bites down on the soft presence of his lip. (He tastes blood.) "How?"
The body and the baby inside it are still. Quiet. Dick is two stories off the ground, midair, and any wrong motion could be his-- his-- Dick can't even see the ground. It would hurt so much. He's so high up from the distant hardwood floor and with only ghosts to keep him company.
...It would be very scary.
Dick swallows.
Do you trust that he would come get you, if you were in danger?
Dick knows so. He nods.
Do you trust he would be smart enough to find you? Mean enough to defend you? Care enough to comfort you? the body asks.
Dick nods.
The body floats closer. Closer. Until they are almost touching-- limp limbs entangling on the crystalline arms of the chandelier. It would be very scary, if you said yes, the body admits, as heavily weighted as any corpse that cannot help you hold it. But you would be in no danger. Should your guardian succeed, I will entrust him with this precious thing.
One circus boy's fears for the safety of B's baby. It's an easy choice. Dick is Robin. He is always going to pick helping people over maybe getting hurt.
His pinky touches the cold, dead flesh of the body's.
And then Dick wakes up sweating and heaving in bed.
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