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Coffee Fairy Twins - Chapter 3 - Shadows of what could have been

Summary:

Marinette always knew that she was a fairy and that Tom wasn’t her biological father. But he was her papa and he adored her and she never felt the need to know her biological father. But she never knew that she had a twin brother. Tim never knew he had a twin sister. He also never knew that the people he thought were his parents kidnapped him as an infant or that it was his biological father who adopted him. And since he had no idea that he was a fairy - or that fairies existed for that matter - he seemed like an ordinary human to almost everyone (immortal megalomaniacs may be an exception). Sabine never knew that the child she thought was taken from her was still alive. And Bruce? Bruce never knew that his parents hadn’t been fairies (or maybe he didn’t want to know) or that one of his Robins, who he thought to be human, had a lot more in common with him than he thought.

But it might only take a nightmare and a shiny new pair of wings or two to change all that.

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An immense power rippled through the magic veins that span the globe. Alfred was an old fairy. Well, maybe not by fairy standards, he could barely claim an age of half a millennium. Still, it was an impressive age as a fairy living amongst humans and not in the Otherworld.

Nevertheless it was rare to feel a ripple like that when he wasn’t attending a Blessing Ceremony. He felt as if he couldn’t breathe right after the ripples hit Gotham and it was pure willpower alone that brought him from the medbay, where he had restocked some of their supplies, over to the bat computer to answer the questions that would doubtlessly come.

“Agent A? Can you hear me?” his son’s voice already asked. He could hear the concern that told him, someone else had already unsuccessfully tried to contact him.

“I’m here, I just had to get over from the medbay,” he answered in a calming manner. Everyone else fell silent. It was practically already the answer they had sought.

“So, you just felt it as well?” Dick wanted to know.

“I have,” he confirmed. His breath had returned but there was still a tingling feeling in his body. The kind of feeling one would get in a numb limb when the feeling returns. “Maybe this is a sign to end patrol early for tonight.”

Gotham had the dubious pleasure to be located on a hub of the magical veins. One of the reasons everything just went batshit crazy as Jason once described it. A ripple like this one would lure the craziest of Gotham’s Rogues out of the shadows.

“The disturbance occurred at 00:07 am, it’s too early to return on a saturday night,” Bruce decided and even though his children loved to disagree in any other case, they hated cutting patrol short more. Alfred sighed internally. “As you wish, sir,” he answered and resigned himself to attempt to balance the ripples as fast as he could. It was always easier if he had the other fairies in their family near. Bruce, his son, even though he still had no idea, that his parents hadn’t been fairies, Dick, Jason, who came back as a fairy after his death, probably thanks to the hub of magic veins, and Damian, although their youngest was only a half-fairy and concerningly unbalanced himself. It happened when the fairy-parent didn’t introduce counter-measures. A strong bond to a fairy companion, who also supported the not-fairy addition to the relationship would be ideal. Although a confidant, willing to support the relationship would also do it. Of course, this needed the willingness to be open with another fairy.

And willingness to be open and therefore vulnerable with someone else was not something his son excelled at. You could say he was allergic to it. If Thomas and Martha had been there longer …

He missed his old friends. Alfred had lived with the Wayne family for many generations due to a debt he owed once. And after that he stayed. The hub was one reason.

There were many magic hubs around the world, some smaller, some larger, although the one under Gotham was without a doubt one of the largest. Almost comparable to some in Ireland, which was the country with the most magic activity. Hubs were places with a lot of magical energy that could be used to open portals to the Otherworld most Fairies lived in. Fairies and magic users with special talents could even use all this energy to travel to parallel worlds with their own human and fairy worlds.

The Gotham hub had been corrupted even before Alfred came here. And it only seemed to get worse and more unstable the longer nothing was done. He had the theory that some sort of current carried every taint from all over the world - and since hubs connected to other worlds as well, maybe even from there - to Gotham. And years ago some fairy hunters found a way to use the magic. This was what had cost his companion her life.

Vega had been magnificent. Alfred had never been easily impressed but Vega did so again and again. She had been kind and peace-loving and in her burned a determination he had only ever seen in her and their son. Vegaon on the other hand once told him that she had been inspired by her grandmother. After Azelio had become queen, she had done everything to make sure most humans thought fairies didn't exist. It was the best protection for their kind.

Alfred would argue she used the rivalries between fairy families and fairies and humans to take this position, but she just had the willpower to do what Alfred himself would have wanted to do, so he didn't think too much about it. The only exception Azelio had made were the families of blessed guardian knights. The knights were originally human but received a fairy blessing which gave them some magical powers and a prolonged life span. Knights could live as long as the fairy who blessed them, if they weren't killed and even killing them was a lot harder than killing a normal human. In the many years since his friends Thomas and Martha had been killed Alfred had often wondered if he could have changed their fate, had he been more persistent. He had offered them to bless them. He had wanted to one day properly introduce them to Vega. He just knew they would have become a close-knit group.

But Vega had been killed by hunters, right here in Gotham. They had used the tainted magic to rip apart her mind into tiny shreds until there was nothing left of her except the weapon they wanted.

The pain of losing a companion is immeasurable, he was told, but Alfred wouldn't agree. He didn't lose Vega. She was taken from him. And he measured the pain in dead hunters. He didn't regret their deaths, but looking in the mirror afterwards he couldn't help but regret what this turned him into. Many years later he would see the same pain in Bruce after Jason was taken from them. And he feared to see his son repeat his own experience until Tim pushed into their lives to prove he could out-stubborn Batman himself. Alfred loved all his grandchildren, but he couldn't help but feel especially grateful to him. Tim had saved Bruce and brought him back to him twice now. He wasn't just the boy who figured out Gotham's best kept secret, but the Robin who saves Batman - even from himself.

Looking back, he didn't have all that much time to regret anything, because it was 1924 and some thug shot Martha and Thomas Wayne for some measly dollars and a pearl necklace. Suddenly he had to be there for his 8-year old son who had no idea he was his father. He had to become his father figure instead of his butler or family friend.

"Thinking of me?"

Alfred opened his eyes, not knowing when he had closed them and turned to the voice. His mentor and confidant walked from the shadows. Considering he didn't see her car anywhere he could only assume she came here by shadow walking.

"Good evening, Leslie," he greeted, for once not bothering to hide his exhaustion. She would understand more than anyone. When he was born, the changeling tradition was very different from the one today. He didn't know who his biological parents were. And back then they hadn't figured out things like the Blessing Ceremony during which young fairies got their wings. Weird things started to happen around him and one night he had awoken from a sleep filled with nightmares that would make Jonathan Crane envious and in the first light of the rising sun he had seen the giant wings he now had. The family he worked for at the time chased him away and when he showed up at the house he had been raised in, his older brother almost decapitated him with an ax.

He had roamed about, cold, hungry and lonely, until Leslie found him and taught him everything. Years ago, when he couldn't bring himself to tell Bruce about his parentage, he asked her if she was his mother. "I've always preferred being a mentor over being a mother, Alfred," was all she told him. It wouldn't have changed anything anyway.

Alfred didn't know his parents, but he knew Leslie and she was there when he needed her. After Vega was taken from him, she decided to stay in Gotham to help with the steadily increasing strain the tainted magic caused.

"When are the others coming back?" she asked casually as she sat down on a chair near him. "They're not," he answered, too tired to formulate a full sentence.

Leslie was silent but Alfred could feel her gaze and finally assumed a proper seating position.

"Batman decided it's too early to return on a Saturday night," he explained. Leslie scoffed.

"Do you know what caused the disturbance," he tried to change the subject.

For a moment his old mentor seemed as if she wouldn't go for it, but then she gave him a vague nod. "I heard there was a Blessing Ceremony in Paris. Rumors say Azelio and Omaru planned to attend which would make sense since we could feel the magical explosion all over here. This would at least explain the disturbance coming from the east. But there was another disturbance coming from the west, just as strong as the one from Paris. They clashed over Gotham which is probably why you're so exhausted. Gotham's taint and a clash of two powerful magical awakenings would do that."

"How big is the chance that two fairies had their awakening at the same time?" he wondered. Not very likely. But not entirely impossible.

"Considering the power we could still feel here they probably were able to complete the whole ritual from midnight to sunrise. When did the sun rise in Paris today?"

Alfred turned to the Batcomputer and looked it up. "06:07 am. Batman said the disturbance occurred at 00:07 am and Paris is 6 hours before us." So it was the most reasonable assumption that they had felt the disturbance of the ceremony in Paris, just …

"Twins have to have their awakening at the same time. But they are also at the same place."

They were both silent as they had the same thought. “Except when they're not in the same place. There might be a reason why they wouldn't be together,” she finally said softly what they were both thinking. Alfred massaged the bridge of his nose. This wasn't his problem. He now knew what caused the disturbance. He would relay that information and be done with it. Why should it be his problem if there were powerful twins who for some reason didn't share their Blessing Ceremony?

“Do you know where the other awakening was if the queen and the king both were at the one in Paris?” he asked. At the same time something about this felt strange. Separated twins and both of the leaders only joined one ceremony? Was it possible they simply didn't know about the other twin? And who had their awakening that both leaders were there? Usually only family members and invited friends would celebrate a Blessing Ceremony. Were the twins the children of one of their children? He didn't know much about the King's family, but his grandmother-in-law had a few children and some of them had children as well. But he thought most of them lived in the Otherworld. Although, Vega had at least one sister who loved exploring the human world. The Blessing Ceremonies in this family had never been big occasions, so he wasn’t sure what was normal. Bruce had only wanted Leslie and him there, Dick could barely be convinced to come back to the manor for his ceremony and Jason had his awakening when he was with the League of Assassins. And Damian would probably be too unstable for the next few decades. Today, usually a fairy would be deemed an adult according to the place they lived at before the Blessing Ceremony would be initiated, but especially half-fairies could be too unstable and in that case the magical awakening would be pushed back if possible.

Something about that thought tickled something in Alfred’s subconsciousness. He just didn’t know what or why.

“Don't worry. I’m sure if that fairy was alone, another fairy close by noticed the disturbance and will help them. Just like I helped you. And maybe they won't even have to chase after the newly winged fairy,” Leslie replied dryly. Alfred didn’t even react to this any more. She liked to remind him when he worried too much in her opinion that had he stayed where he was, she would have found him within a few days after his awakening. But she was probably right. If it was too far away for them to make out where the new fairy was, they couldn’t do anything. There probably was another fairy closer than them.

Alfred opened the fairies-only com line and told them what he had learned from Leslie. Bruce just gave a noncommittal grunt, Dick sounded excited about the idea of twins having their magical awakening at the same time and Jason expressed his sympathy for the twin who wouldn’t want to have their awakening with both of the fairy rulers there. Damian demanded they should both attend his ceremony as well and Alfred closed that line on his end just as Dick reminded Damian that the ceremony was for family and friends.

He obviously couldn’t tell them that Azelio might agree to come, since Damian was her great-great-grandson.

“Is everyone out tonight?” Leslie asked. She had sat down next to him and he felt her magic weave around and straighten out the tangled up magical veins, cleansing what she could at the same time.

“Yes, except for Tim. He is at the Titans Tower to celebrate his birthday with his friends,” he told her as he let his own magic flow out and follow the veins to reach as far as he could as fast as he could.

“Has Bruce finally told Tim and asked him to become a knight?” Leslie asked, unknowingly hitting a sore spot. Alfred tensed at that. It was an ongoing discussion amongst the fairies in the manor. Should they tell Tim and ask him to become a knight? Cass had become a knight after her 18th birthday. It would give Tim added protection and every vigilante could use that. Also, since he went out alone to bring Bruce back from the time stream Tim had drifted a bit away from the family. Telling him and asking him to become a knight might pull him back to them a bit.

Yet, Bruce still didn’t want to hear about it.

“Bruce still thinks Tim might be able to stop with the vigilantism and he doesn’t want anything to hold him back. He thinks, because he wasn’t pushed into it, he would one day be able to get out.”

“Alfred, please excuse me, but Bruce is an idiot.” Leslie shook her head slightly. “Tim won’t quit. Yes, nobody pushed him into this life, he could have easily lived as a normal civilian, but Tim chose this. He went out at night long before Bruce was part of his life. If you ask me, Bruce would quit before Tim would even think about it.”

“You know that, I know that, I’m sure even Tim will tell you that. But we both also know how stubborn Bruce can be. I can only hope that nothing happens to him before Bruce comes to his senses. Because if Tim isn’t there, I don’t know who would be able to pull Bruce back again.”

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