mmmmm did at least the prologue......
The kingdom of Ćirikle was finally welcoming a new baby among their royalty, Crown Prince John and Princess Mary had finally conceived. But there was an unforeseeable blight.
“Mary, you'll be alright,” John promised, more to himself than his wife, holding her hand against his heart. He laid a kiss to her brow. “The physicians are working diligently to find something.”
Mary coughed weakly. Pregnancy had taken a stronger toll on her than anyone had seen before. Sickness, whether from a foreign visitor or his own body, was killing her. Killing their baby. Both of John's adored ones would die if he couldn't find a cure and time was running out.
“We'll find something,” He promised before pulling away, looking at the painted murals around them. He remembered tales from his own mother, a plant that could restore life. A plant that, if real, could restore his wife to health.
Graced by the tears of their god,
Finally, he'd found it. Bruce had found it.
“Here!” He called, watching as all heads turned towards him. “I've found it!”
The royal guard followed him through the thorny bushes into the clearing, lit solely through the faint blue glow of the Moondrop Flower. Bruce thought it oddly suspicious how well hid such a covetous object was, but they had to hurry.
Selina sat beside the plant, moving to clip a glowing petal. A petal that crumbled to dust the moment it hit her palm.
“...What?” She frowned. Bruce watched her try again with similar results.
“Selina,” Bruce kneeled beside her. “What will we do?”
She pulled open her notebook, scouring the pages, landing on the limited knowledge of the flower. Bruce watched her eyes scour the pages frantically.
“Do we have an empty pouch?” She asked, turning to look at everyone. Bruce gave her his. “I'll need to pull it from the root. Apparently, that's why they've all but gone extinct.”
Bruce watched her work carefully, her long, clawlike nails digging into the dirt with practiced ease to extract the whole plant.
“We should return immediately, no telling how long this will live.” Selina said, mouth in a hard line.
John watched as Lady Selina ground the flower head in a pestle, quick and delicate work. Work only the court physician could do. Selina ladled some clean water into the stone bowl and continued mixing until finally, she poured it into a cup and handed it to John.
“There's a rhyme,” Selina explained as John brought it to Mary's lips. “I'll speak it with you.”
John nodded and gently brought the cup to her lips, watching as Mary's eyes opened, blue as the liquid in the cup.
“Flower gleam and glow, let your spirit shine…”
John took a steadying breath as the liquid glowed bright, sliding into Mary's mouth.
“Make the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine. Heal what has been hurt, change the fates design,”
John's voice cracked a little as tears slipped from his eyes. He smiled reassuringly down at Mary as she spent energy reaching for him, her hand landing on his hip.
“Love what has been lost, bring back what once was mine… What once was mine…”
John watched as the last of the liquid flowed from the cup, Mary falling still.
“If it works we'll know tomorrow.” Selina smiled warmly at her.
John wiped an eye and nodded, turning to look at Bruce, standing guard by the door.
“You're dismissed, Bruce. You too, Selina. I'll stay with Mary tonight.”
John sat in the chair beside the bed, gently holding his wife's hand as he fell asleep.
The sound of shrieking filled the room, waking the future king. Mary.
He looked at her, anguish on her face, her hand tight around his.
“Call Selina,” She demanded between panting breaths. “He's here, our baby's here!”
John, still fuzzy from sleep, jumped and ran towards the door, rushing down the hallway.
“Selina!” He called and banged on her door, the woman frantically opening it in her robe. John almost felt indecent seeing her such, but somehow seeing Bruce come up behind her was the thing to make him blush. “Mary's in labor.”
They all rushed back to the room, John taking his wife in his arms and watching her until the moment his son was born, morning light barely flooding the room. His son was born as daylight began, coming into the world crying his lungs out.
“Mary,” John whispered softly as their child was slotted in her arms, his shrieking quieting to a soft grumble in his mother's arms. “He's our baby.”
Mary nodded and gently kissed his forehead, her lips messing up the patch of black hair atop his head. John smiled with a content sigh as he wrapped his wife and baby in his arms, careful not to cause either harm.
“Our sweet baby,” Mary said before looking out the window, the window where a laying Robin had nested, the window where hatchlings cried for their own mother's attention. “Our Robinlett.”
John smiled and nuzzled against his wife's tear stained cheek. “Our Robinlett.”
Slade Wilson looked where the Moondrop flower once was, taken from under his nose. His grove had opened. Thus traitorous grove have let his flower be stolen. By Whom!?
Slade pushed apart the briar covers. His youth and health would decline soon. He'd find where his flower was kept. Or he'd find another flower. But he'd find his way back to where he was before.
The princeling of Ćirikle was born with glowing hair, blue in the moonlight. Soft and plentiful and it wouldn't stop growing. Little Dickie was almost six months now and his hair reached his shoulders. According to Selina that was nearly unheard of for a baby. John supposed it was the flower.
“We should cut his hair soon,” John expressed as he and Mary set Dick down in his nursery for the night.
“Nonsense. I don't care how your father views it, my baby will not have his hair cut until he's old enough to want it,” Mary argued. John sighed. He supposed this is what he signed up for when marrying her. She'd been argumentative since before they'd met and that's part of why John loved her so very much, the first person to ever tell him to shut up and sit down.
“Alright,” John smiled and hugged Mary from behind, holding her stomach. Mary had been intent on working her body back to how it was before, but John would be remiss to say he didn't adore how soft she was. Still, Mary wanted to be as close to her prior body as possible, and she was keeping the exercise light, so John wouldn't intervene. Whatever made his wife happy. “We should head to bed sweetheart, he's already asleep.”
Mary sighed and nodded as they turned to leave, unaware of what lurked.
Slade watched as the Crown Prince and princess finally left their baby alone. Not just their baby, his flower. His health, his youth. Six months was a long time to go without it.
He slid into the room and looked down at Prince Richard. He slept soundly and Slade smirked as the baby didn't move even as he grabbed a lock of hair. He hummed the rhyme, feeling as all the things he'd been deprived of flooded back to him. He grabbed a small lock of hair and snipped it off, watching it dull in his hands like a lifted petal. Dammit!
Suddenly, the babe woke, screaming his lungs out. He heard as people rushed down the hall, the head of the guard no doubt. He really didn't want to face another Wayne. But, the flower would be lost if he ran… unless.
He scooped the baby up and bolted for the balcony door, looking behind him just long enough to see the royals burst through the door, fear in their eyes, the captain of the guard following close behind. And then he ran.