Context: DC oc upset after a fight with Bruce (her father)
The rainy Gotham night drags on, and you find a figure sitting on the ground outside an all night corner shop. She doesn't stand out exactly, dark raincoat on with her hood up, but she's trying to fight back sobs anyway.
She has to be a Gothamite because no one else in their right mind would fight back sobs here and now after the latest arkham breakout. She shivers, cold and coming off an adrenaline high.
When she feels someone approaching, she looks up quickly while searching for whoever it is.
Do you understand that we will never be the same again?
Fandom: DC, Batman specifically
Characters: Ivy Wayne (oc), Bruce Wayne, Damian Wayne, Tim Drake, Jason Todd's Memorial
Relationships: Ivy Wayne & Jason Todd, Bruce Wayne & Ivy Wayne, Damian Wayne & Ivy Wayne
Summary: Ivy comes home after everything that happened in the league of Assassins, and she sees the infamous 'Good Solider' plaque. It doesn't go very well. (Aka: I'm not telling you good job dad this memorial was shit!)
Rating: T
Warnings: cursing, Lazarus pit side effects, bad coping, Good Solider memorial, mental illness, violence, Bruce Wayne is Bad At Communication, Damian Wayne is Bad At communication
Other: If I missed anything, please let me
Also I wrote one of my favorite lines ever in this fic so even if you don't read it please know that I wrote a banger line: "...Bruce Wayne puts his foot in his mouth for breakfast..."
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Ivy lets herself get lead into the bat-cave with a soft smile, watching as Damian sees it all for the first time. The boy looks around in reserved awe, unused to things such as a giant penny or a dinosaur in a cave.
She thinks it's adorable.
She's got an ache in her chest watching her brother too, but that's okay.
Going to the cave without her big brothers is weird. But that's what's happening and she's not going to let it ruin her day. (That would be letting The Assholes win. Ivy doesn't do that anymore.)
She glances to where Tim Drake hovers by the Bat computer in a modified Robin costume with darker colors. She feels a swell of green rushing up and immediately squashes it down.
Robin is magic. It's power.
And Her Robin wouldn't want her punishing the new Robin.
Besides, her problems are far more to do with the adults than the kid.
"Ivy?" Damian prods as he turns to her.
She turns her gaze to her baby brother, "Yes?"
"Where is your suit?" Damian asks.
"Oh, unless they moved it it should be up there." She smiles as she motions to the elevated walkway with a row of suits in tubes.
The suits are all retired or last choice back-ups there, from every hero to have used the Bat Cave as a base.
"Well let us go examine it." Damian declares as he marches them forwards.
The boy moves like a general, not waiting for confirmation simply trusting his will to be followed.
Ivy follows her brother in perfect step with the younger.
Bruce trails after his kids, as of unsure what to do. Which seems fair, he hasn't seen his daughter since she died and he met Damian yesterday.
Ivy snickers when they pass the original Batman suit. The blast from the past is both nostalgic and hilarious.
She'd forgotten her dad had that cowl for a bit. (Thank god he changed it.)
The keep walking past retired or last choice Batsuits before the move into the suits Dick has used.
"What is this monstrosity?" Damian gapes as he stops beside the original Robin Costume.
The original costume is a sigh to behold, bright traffic light colors doing nothing to aid stealth. The glorified leotard with a button up shirt and pixie boots is certainly memorable.
"Ah yeah, Dick said pants took away from his aerodynamics." Ivy says with a snort.
"Those-" Damian screeches in abject horror- " are scaly underwear!"
"I don't know why Dick is like that." She shrugs. "He added pants later. He got cold."
Damian just gives her a dubious look before turning beck to the fashion crime that he just witnessed and pursing his lips.
They keep walking, passing several retired costumes.
Ivy stops to mourn the disco-wing suit, losing the respect of her baby brother for her adoration of the travesty of a suit. (She thinks that's a little rude since it was a little bit of a memorium to other heroes and also Iconic.)
She then says a quick farewell to the slutty titans costumes from That Era. Saying something about 'everyday was a tits out kinda day back then'.
Bruce just makes a face, wondering if this is somehow karma.
They pass a few more costumes, including her own, before stopping at Jason's memorial.
Damian had some thoughts about her costume she designed at age nine, sighting it rather impractical in the bright red but at least it had pants.
The memorial draws the attention of both siblings.
Bruce watches the children, unsure what to expect. Damian has never gotten to meet Jason... Ivy had adored the boy though.
Bruce just- he just hopes his daughter like the memorial. That it brings her closure to see her big brother remembered.
"Jason Todd." Damian reads the name on the plaque, only to continue "Good Solider."
Ivy stiffens, gaze snapping from the ruined suit to the polished metal.
The bloody uniform in the case feels like a slap in the face to everything Jason- and Robin- ever was. A tragic shrine to a death that was unearned and needlessly cruel.
She reads the plaque, 'In memory of Jason Todd. Second Robin. A Good Solider.'
Oh.
She feels her blood start to boil.
"What. The. Fuck?!" Ivy snarls as she whirls around on her dad, fighting the urge to bare her teeth in outright threat.
"Was he not a good solider?" Damian frowns, eyeing the case and wondering why they would bestow such a high title on someone who didn't earn it.
"He was a child!" Ivy snaps sharply as her eyes narrow while staring her dad down.
"Ivy it's just a memorial." Bruce says weakly.
He knows as soon as he says it that it was the wrong thing to say.
Ivy tilts her head slowly, almost predatory. Her eyes almost look green despite them having been a different color her whole life as far as he knows.
She turns back to the memorial slowly, eyes flicking back and forth between the destroyed suit and the plaque.
It's a betrayal to the highest degree.
Ivy can handle a betrayal against her.
This is again Jason.
She has never handled disrespect towards her people well. The fire in her veins demands payment and she can feel the green starting to rise again.
Ivy knows she should probably fight the green but she doesn't think she's wrong to be so upset. In fact- she thinks Jason would understand.
Her vision is starting to blur.
"Ivy." Damian says as he steps closer. "You are blowing this out of proportion-"
Ivy is swinging a fist at the glass before she can decide if she wants to. Green swims fully in her vision.
Her fist connects and cracks the bulletproof glass with a satisfying crunch.
"Ivy!" Bruce gasps.
The horror he feels at both the strength required to crack the case first try and the action in general are rising rapidly.
She likes the sound of the cracking glass. A frenzied- blood thirsty grin pulls at her face.
Green only gets stronger. Her blood starts to boil.
Ivy revels in the sting of her knuckles as she swings alternating punches at the glass until it shatters.
Someone grabs her arm and that's all it takes.
Green overtakes her and she loses herself. She can't see anyone.
She fights whoever grabbed her arm mercilessly. Slamming fists, knees, elbows, and kicks into their form.
Nothing is okay.
And then-
Then she's somewhere else, axe being pressed into her hands.
She can do this.
She feels someone directing her in a task she can't identify. She doesn't know much but her body moves to comply.
Who ever it is calling the shots has to be one of three people, so it's probably no more dangerous for her than usual. No more dangerous than poison.
-------
Damian sits a few feet from his sister, watching her chop the wood he set her up with. He would usually have joined her fight, but it seems bad form to kill their father.
He also doesn’t exactly understand what set Ivy off. The little metal plate seemed a kind memorial. What better to he than a good soilder?
She's been slowing down on the wood chopping for a bit, probably coming back to herself.
He's been out here with her for a few hours now and he still couldn't place the source of her wrath.
"Ivy?" Damian asks.
She turns slowly, eyes still almost glowing. "Dami?"
He ignores the rush of warmth hearing the Arabic term of endearment, knowing he needs to focus on other things. His sister is always too free with affection anyways.
She's not all back, but she's a lot more in control.
She very likely knows who he is and where they are though.
"Are you feeling better?" He asks.
She stares at him, brows knitting. Her memories seem to he returning as her eyes take on the same stormy hue as usual when upset. "Less foggy."
"Good."
"What... did I do?"
"Attacked Father."
"Fuck." Ivy groans.
"What set you off?" He asks. Far less afraid of her Pit Rage than most.
She sighs slowly, looking up to the sky. "Jason's memorial. They put that stupid fucken- Good Solider!"
"I do not understand."
"Good Solider!" Ivy snaps sharply, eyes flickering a toxic green glow and back to green grey stormy seas. "GOOD FUCKEN SO'LD'AH?! MY BROTHA WAS NOBODY"S FUCKEN SO'LD'AH!"
Her accent thickens and morphs into the Crime alley accent she hides. She's got her arms moving with her words.
"That seems to be a high compliment." Damian acknowledges.
"JASON WASN'T A FUCKEN SO'LD'AH! JASE WAS A KID! A FUCKEN KID WHO WENT 'N DIED IN A BLOODY FUCK UP CAUSE BRUCE IS TOO STUPID TA KILL JOKAH!"
"Father's reluctance to killing hardly constitutes a reason to put down the memory of a talented fighter."
Ivy gives him a look that promises she's taking a pound of flesh from someone.
Damian isn't scared though, he is in no danger. Not from his sister.
Instead, Ivy takes several slow and deliberate breaths. She's crossing her arms as she tries to reign herself in
He just waits. He knows it will all come with time.
"Dami," She says, soft despite her anger. She looks to him again, eyes free of Lazarus glow for the moment. She's obviously struggling with her accent when she asks, "If I died, would ya want my memorial ta be like Jason's?"
"What?"
"If I died, would ya want me to have a memorial just like Jason's?" She asks as she tries to fight back the accent further.
She has never liked the looks the accent earns her even though she's not exactly ashamed it is easier to hide.
Damian can not help feeling like this is a simple question. But the way she asks it- careful to phrase it...
He is sure he is missing something.
He clicks his tongue, "Tt, I would never let your uniform be displayed in such dis-repair."
She snorts, "Glad I'm not the only one who thinks it was distasteful."
She's forced most of the crime alley out of her voice.
Damian watches her, trying to puzzle out her distaste of it all.
He agrees the ruined costume is tacky and maybe even disrespectful but the plaque seems respectful and of high praise.
"I can't believe dad." Ivy sighs heavily. "Reducing Jason to a solider. Oh that mother- Jason wasn't a good solider."
"Is the memorial a lie? Was he a bad fighter?"
Ivy gives a startled laugh, eyes falling to her brother. "No. No, Jase... Jase was good fighter, but he wasn't a solider."
Damian purses his lips again. He loathes to admit defeat but if he craves any chance at understanding he must. "If you want me to understand your upset, you must explain it better."
She just sighs. "I'm mad about the phrase good solider. It makes it sound like all Jason was. It's like that all Jase was to dad. A solider."
"So?"
Ivy grits her teeth for a moment.
Then she takes a slow shudders breath, reminding herself as firmly as possible that for every wrong she's feeling right now Damian isn't involved. Remembering that her brother isn't the one behind it and is in-fact just a kid looking for answers.
Damian doesn’t get it, but he does know she's beyond upset.
"If I died and my memorial only said "Ivy Wayne, good solider... how would you feel."
"Angry your name was messed up." Damian huffs. "You are an Al Ghul. Your name is Ivy Al Ghul- Wayne."
She huffs, "Thank you. But if all it said was my name and good solider... what then?"
He does not understand the sudden surge of protest in his mind. If he were with anyone else... He wouldn't even bother trying to untangle it but he's been working on trying to understand feelings with his sister.
So... Damian thinks.
Good Solider... that is high praise and if his sister was memorialized that way in the league it would be an honor.
His sister is a fierce Warrior, one of the only teachers he hasn't surpassed. She's their grandfather's beloved Hawk. She's the only person he's seen hold their own in fights against their mother and grandfather both.
Though, the softer- sentimental part of him that he ignores often disagrees.
His sister is a Warrior... but she is more.
She's the only person who has been truly and unfailingly loyal to Damian as a person and not as an Al Ghul. She sang him lullabies and held him through his most embarrassing nightmares.
Ivy may have taught Damian to throw knives with deadly precision, but she also soothes his tears.
"I would tell stories... You are a Warrior to behold, riati... but I would tell others about you outside fighting."
Ivy gives a bitter sweet smile, the kind she gives when he's said the right thing but it doesn’t help anything. "That's what's wrong, Damian. They've memorialized him as a fighter and stripped away everything else."
"Oh." He says as his brows knit.
"Yeah."
He looks up to her, trying to find the words to express the twisting feeling in his chest. "I am... sorry."
She shakes her head. "It's not your fault."
"I know." He agrees.
"So.... how badly did I attack dad? Is he hurt?"
"Of course he is. You rarely miss." Damian says with pride he doubts he will ever lose.
His sister is amazing like that
"How badly hurt?"
"Broken ribs. Broken wrist. Broken nose." He shrugs. "Not too bad."
"Oh god." She cokes off, blood draining from her face.
"What?"
"I- I am so mad at him but I- I didn't wanna break his nose or ribs or anything."
"He will heal and get over it."
"I don't know that he will... I guess I should go face the music."
"If he makes a fuss I can always seek retribution for you."
Ivy gives a soft smile, "Thank you, bit that's really not necessary. Things are different here."
"We will see. Perhaps you can tell me absolutely Jason later."
"Maybe. I should go see how it's gonna go."
-------
Bruce sits in the cave searching the data base for information on the Falcones with Tim at his side when he hears Ivy coming down the stairs.
Tim stiffens, glancing to Bruce.
He shakes his head to the boy. No reason to react before they know what's going on.
He tenses, though, unsure how this is about to go. He doesn’t want to fight his daughter, but he won't let her attack Tim.
Ivy comes down, arms crossed across her test and shoulders raised. She stares at the floor though, which is a point towards no more physical altercation.
"Ivy?" Bruce asks.
She looks over, face a mix of afraid and angry. "Dad."
"What are you doing down here?"
"I wanted to talk. Maybe explain." She shrugs halfheartedly.
"Oh?" Bruce grunts.
"First of all, that memorial is shit." She scoffs.
"You had no right to wreck it." Bruce says evenly.
She takes a slow breath. "I'm not here to argue."
"Good. Then you know what you did was wrong and you shouldn't have attacked me."
Ivy grits her teeth, eyes flashing the toxic green from before as she takes a slow breath again. "I apologize for attacking you, I thought I was over the pit rage episodes."
"What?" Bruce croaks.
He knows, logically, that his daughter was put in the Lazarus pit. He was unaware she had negative side effects but he should have expected it.
"I got too upset and Pit Madness took over. I know that's not an excuse and I am sorry. Even if that memorial is a blatant disrespect to Jason... I shouldn't have attacked you."
"Pit... madness."
"Yes. I know I fucked up-"
Damian is hurdling down the stairs, sword on his back and a challenge in his eyes. He looks ready for a fight when he sees the hitch of his sister's shoulders.
He's caught by his arm, Ivy moving quickly. "Damian what the hell?!"
Bruce just blinks.
"Father was about to do irreparable damage with his words." Damian scoffs.
"Oh, sweetheart, Bruce Wayne puts his foot in his mouth for breakfast. I'm sure I'll live." Ivy says fondly, reaching out to ruffle her brothers hair as if he wasn't ready to engage in combat with Batman.
Bruce just watches. It's almost reassuring to see his daughter still has a soft spot for children but this is all so weird.
"Go back... you suffer pit madness?" Bruce frowns.
"Sometimes." She shrugs. "I'm working on it."
"So... the attack was pit madness?"
"I know it doesn’t excuse anything. But yes." Ivy says stiffly.
Damian is glaring again, as if challenging Bruce. Even with his elbow in his sister's hand he looks ready to pounce.
Bruce is struck for a moment by a memory. He can almost see Jason holding Ivy by her elbow all those years ago in an attempt to stop the girl from attacking a bully.
"We can talk about the pit madness later. That explains lot. I would still appreciate if you refrained from destroying memorials."
"That memorial was shit." Ivy scoffs again.
"That memorial is for my son."
"That memorial is for a fucking child solider, not Jason." Ivy says shortly.
Bruce flinches a little. His son has never been a solider. His son-
Alfred put up the plaque.
But the looks his daughter gives him is scorching, the kind of look that screams she's not going to forget this. That she will remember this and it's going to be something that cuts a divide between her and the culprit forever.
Bruce is faced with a choice, like he so often is.
He can choose to take the blame, and face likely irreparable damage to his just found relationship with his daughter.... Or He can tell the truth,and turn that firey rage on Alfred, and watch his daughter lose faith in the man who's basically her grandfather.
Bruce makes a choice to save other people, just like always.
"Jason was a fighter." He says stiffly.
Damian clicks his tongue at that. "Tt, clearly you don't understand the concept of empathy."
Ivy has to take a breath at that one. She's been working on Empathy with Damian for- years. In the environment Ra's Al Ghul provided it was an uphill battle both ways and in the rain. But he's come further. He's closer.
Damian is a little better at identifying complex emotions in his mother and his sister.
Bruce is floored, getting that retort from a child who threatened his protege last night is surreal.
Tim chokes on a noise, "What?"
"Damian, go upstairs for me, please. If you want I'll tell you about Jason later."
Damian gives her a considering look, as if searching for answers to a question he hasn't asked. Whatever he finds though is enough.
"I expect as much." The boy says before going back upstairs.
Bruce watches the temperamental boy storm upstairs with a frown. "That was... efficient."
"What was?" Ivy frowns.
"You're good with Damian." Bruce says. Trying to find the words he wants. "He's so temperamental. He challenged me to combat last night."
Tim nods. "Yeah he threatened me too."
"I'll talk to him. But you should understand he was raised by Ra's and Talia."
"I do."
"I don't know that you do. Also, if you ever make another memorial say Good Solider I'm going to feed your balls to a pack of rabid dogs while I make you watch."
"Excuse me?" Bruce gapes at the colorful threat that he can't be sure is actually empty.
"That's a shit memorial dad. Jason was more than a solider and if he saw that it would break his heart."
"Ivy..."
She gives a sharp, predatory smile that screams Talia. Ivy just blinks serenely. "No more child soldiers, Dad. No more shitty memorials."
"Kid..."
"I'm going upstairs because I'm losing my grip. Try to be patient with Damian." Ivy says before she storms back upstairs.
Tim turns to Bruce, frowning. "What was that? Why didn't you tell her Alfred put up the memorial?"
"It'd hurt her worse."
"Oh."
"I'm sorry you had to see that. And I'm sorry Damian threatened you."
"It's not your fault." Tim says. "I just... Don't remember Cardinal being so volatile."
"Some of that is the pit madness. She's doing very well with it all things considered." Bruce muses.
He can recall the way pit madness rots the mind. He knows how easily the Lazarus Pit corrupts completely.
He wonders how much of her control stems from the obvious need to protect Damian?
"She's right... That memorial is shit." Tim mutters to himself.
