a collection of theories, prompts, shorts, and oneshots, with our favorite character and her interactions with various bats (and others!)
everything is free for you to continue or elaborate on if you wish, but please give credit if you do!
A/N:the cover for this one came out a little weird. oh well.
This is a prompt! You are free to add on to it as you wish, but I will ask that you give me credit.
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The first child of Mary and John Grayson is a girl.
She is born on the outskirts of Paris, France, in the middle of winter. Snowflakes drift gently to the ground outside their tent, joining the ever-growing layer of white on the ground.
Her father nicknames her Blackbird, one of the few birds that can survive the winter.
The second child of Mary and John Grayson is a boy.
He is born three years after the first, in Madrid, Spain. It is the first day of spring. The grass outside is a fresh green, the rays of sun are a warm gold, and somewhere outside, a robin sings.
It is no surprise then, that his mother nicknames him Robin.
Marinette and Richard (or Dick, as he preferred to be called) Grayson grew up flying.
Soaring through the air feels as easy and natural as breathing. Flight runs in their blood, and they can feel the need to fly, the need to be on the trapeze, in their very core.
Of course, they learned other things from the circus. They learned math and physics and basic medical procedures, history as told from the viewpoint of many different countries, and languages. So many languages.
By the time Marinette was six, she spoke and understood Romani and French fluently. Her English was getting there as well, and she knew the basics of Spanish, Italian, German, Russian, and Mandarin. The circus was a huge mix of cultures from all around the world, and she loved it.
However, no matter how much she learns, the need to soar always overcomes everything else.
Once, she asked her father if he and mami were ever scared when they performed. "Doesn't it scare you that there is no net?"
Tăti just laughed and ruffled her dark hair. "What is there to fear? We are Graysons, my little Blackbird. We were born to fly. We spend every moment not in the air wishing we were."
No amount of wishing could stop their parents from falling.
The only thing that stops Marinette and Dick from joining them is her hesitation right before she leapt. Dick, always trusting her, doesn't jump either.
Two seconds later, the lines snap, and their mother and father fall.
All of a sudden, the birds that were born to fly had their wings clipped, and nothing will slow their descent as they plummet, hitting the ground over three hundred feet below with a terrible sound that will haunt her forever.
Dick is crying, his blue eyes impossibly wide and filled with never-ending tears as he pleads and begs for them to wake up, for them to get up and be okay.
Marinette knows differently. There is no way that mami and tătic will ever wake again.
Something drips onto the sand below her knees. She touches her face, and it comes away wet with tears.
There is someone trying to comfort her and her brother. She thinks the man looks a little bit familiar, maybe she's seen him in a magazine, but what does it matter? Her English is fluent, she can understand him, but why should she care?
The paramedics cover their father's body in a white sheet, and they prepare to take him away. Their mother will be next, and then she and Dick will be alone.
That is the thought that makes her snap.
She screams and cries for the paramedics to not take them away, fights against the muscled arms holding her back, fingernails digging in and drawing blood, but they do not let go.
They can't take her parents away, they can't, because then she and Dick will never have their mother's cooking again. They will never hear their father's booming laughter, mami's voice, singing them to sleep, or be wrapped up in one of tătic's bear hugs, making them feel safe and warm and loved.
If her mother and father are gone, they won't be safe or warm or loved.
A small hand tugs on the edge of her costume, and Marinette freezes. Her brother is looking up at her, blue eyes pleading.
Everything clicks back into place. If mami and tătic will not be here, then she is all Dick has left, and vice versa. It is her job now, to make sure that he is safe and warm and loved, but most importantly, it's her job to make him happy.
The first step to Dick being happy is to not show him all the negative emotions swirling around inside her. So she takes a deep, shuddering breath in, wipes the tears away, and pulls her brother into a hug.
She is vaguely aware of the arms that kept her back unhooking themselves from around her waist, and a suit jacket being draped over both their shoulders.
She doesn't really ponder the significance until a week later, when a billionaire steps into the juvenile detention center looking to take them in.
