Chapter Text
Robert James Richardson was born on May 4th, at Gotham General Hospital.
He doesn’t remember that, because babies don’t really remember their birth. But one of his earliest memories is his older sister helping him walk.
“Come on, Bobby! You can do it! Look how fast we’re going!!!”
He found out later in life that Sky had problems with pronouncing her “R’s” until second grade, so she struggled with saying ‘Robert.’ Her parents offered up the various nicknames for Robert, and she chose ‘Bobby’ - as ‘Rob’ already belonged to Batman’s sidekick, Robin, ‘RJ’ was the Jungle Fury Wolf Power Ranger, and ‘Bob’ made him sound like a grandpa. (A logical conclusion as he was named after his grandpa on his dad’s side.)
His best friend growing up was Skylar. He got along well enough with the other kids in his preschool classes, but with how often his parents had to work, he didn’t get to do a lot of playdates growing up. But that was ok, because even though she was five years older, Sky was the best friend someone could ask for!
It was always boring while she was at school, but after school she’d come up with games that they could play while mom worked at the kitchen table. And, they shared a room! Which meant that every night was a sleepover!!! They’d sneak flashlights into their room and make shadow puppets, or have stuffed animal wars. When he had nightmares and was scared to fall asleep - because the shadows in the room moved and obviously there were monsters hiding ready to eat him - Sky would help him out of his bed, and she would make a giant pile of blankets and stuffed animals on the floor by their window, and she would tell him stories like mom’s until he was finally sleepy. He’d wake up the next morning in their little nest, with his sister right there, and he’d know that the day was going to be amazing because his best friend was with him. And she always would be.
Or at least, that’s what he thought.
— ☼ —
Bobby Richardson was four years old when a snake-lady tried to kidnap his sister at the park.
An older kid who had been resting nearby jumped into action as Mommy ran over. The kid pulled Skylar away from the lady, and then played some music and the snake-lady got scared and ran away.
Sky and Mommy had a huddle with the older kid. Bobby was pretty sure the kid had horns, so he wasn’t sure if he should go over too or not. Daddy came over before he could decide and offered to push him on the swings. Bobby loved the swings, so of course he agreed.
The next day, they rented a car and took a road trip out of Gotham to New York. Did you know that the sun actually shines most of the time in other cities? Bobby sure didn’t, but he kind of liked the warmth. Even if it made him squint a lot. They dropped Sky off at a Strawberry Field, apparently it was a summer camp. He could see a bunch of older kids who had weapons like the knights from some of their story books, and some flying horses! He wanted to go there too, but when he asked if he could go with Sky, Mommy got a weird look on her face.
“Maybe when you’re older. But right now it's Skylar's turn.”
“Why is everything for when I’m older?” Bobby asked his dad.
Daddy smiled, but it looked a little different from his normal smile. “It’s because some things are too big for younger kids to handle safely. When you’re older your body and your mind are better prepared.”
Thinking it over, Bobby nodded. “Ok. When I’m older I’ll be ready to come with Sky! And I’ll be a knight too!!”
His parents both got more weird looks on their faces, but all he cared about was that Sky laughed at his declaration and ruffled his hair.
“Of course you will!” She smiled brightly at him, “I’ll teach you everything when I get home so that you can be even more ready.”
“Yeah!”
Sky hugged mom and dad tightly, and then gave Bobby a super tight hug too, and then she headed down the hill towards some teenagers who were waiting for her. She turned back one more time to wave goodbye, and then mom took his hand and they headed back towards the car they were renting and went back to Gotham.
Bobby couldn’t help but come up with all of the exciting adventures Sky would go on at a camp with swords and flying horses and evil snake-ladies. She’d obviously get her own sword, and a shield, because you can’t have a sword without a shield. And she’d learn how to fight monsters. Maybe she’d even fight a dragon!!!
It wasn’t until bedtime that night, when he realized that Sky being at hero-camp meant that she wasn’t there. The shadows and the monsters under the bed knew it too. And he barely slept at all that night, too scared to move or shout for his parents, because if he did then the monsters would see him and they’d eat him before his Mommy and Daddy could get there.
After two days without Sky, Bobby was bored. And frustrated. And ex-haus-ted. Mommy and Daddy had to work most of the day, and games are no fun when there’s only one person. And he still wasn’t sleeping a lot because he had to stay awake so the shadow monsters didn’t get him. AND he couldn’t tell anyone that Sky was at hero-camp, just camp-camp. Because apparently it was a secret.
Finally, Daddy sat down with him one day, and said that he had some new movies they could watch. He pulled out a bunch of dvds and the image on the front showed people holding weird guns and glowing swords. Daddy put in the first disc and sat down on the couch with Bobby for a marathon.
“A long time ago, in a Galaxy Far Far Away…”
Bobby was hooked. He flew through all of the movies, and then discovered there were multiple cartoon tv shows about them, and he was able to watch it ALL throughout the summer.
Even with Star Wars, it was a loooooong summer without his best friend. They couldn’t even call her on the phone because it wasn’t allowed. So instead he drew a bunch of pictures for Sky, and his parents mailed them to her. She would write back, and Mommy and Daddy would read them outloud for him to hear too.
— ☼ —
Dear Mom and Dad and Bobby,
Camp is so much fun! We get to learn archery and swords. And the rock wall has real life lava that comes out of it!
Cabin 11 is really crowded. But Luke says that if I get claimed then I’ll move to a different cabin. But I kind of like Cabin 11. Connor and Travis taught me how to pick a lock the other day! I just need a bobby-pin! I think I'm gonna start wearing some in my hair since it might be a good idea in Gotham.
Clarisse and her cabin are kind of mean. They give swirlies to all of the new kids who come to camp which was super gross. Luke says that if Will and I avoid them they’ll leave us alone.
Will is another new kid at camp. He came just 6 days before me! Which is pretty crazy since my birthday is 6 days before his. We checked cause we are both 9 and we wanted to see who is older. But Beckendorf said that it doesn’t really matter when we talked about it in Beginners Ancient Greek. Silena says that it can matter, but only if we end up in the same cabin. She teaches us how to ride the Pegasuses.
Miss you all, but I am having fun here. Hope you all are good too!
Love,
Sky
Dear Mom and Dad and Bobby,
ME AND WILL GOT CLAIMED!!!!!!!!!!!!
We both got claimed by Apollo at the camp fire last night. That means that Lee is our counselor now. He said he’s gonna teach us how to SKATEBOARD! Which is SO COOL!!!
We even get to share a bunk bed!
Love you all,
Sky
Dear Mom and Dad and Bobby,
One of the Satyrs found some injured birds and brought them back to camp to be healed. Will really wants to try and get them to like him. So of course I have to help him get them to like both of us.
Lee and Silena laughed when they saw us hiding in the bushes. They started calling us Lark and Mockingbird cause those are what the birds are. Will’s mockingbird cause they’re the bird of Texas which is where he is from and I’m lark cause Lee says it kind of sounds like the last part of my name. He started calling me Skylark too, but mainly just lark.
I think he’s doing it to annoy us, but when I said that to him he said that it’s an older sibling’s job to annoy their younger siblings. I thought it was the other way around, but then Michael said that it goes both ways.
I can go all the way down a hill on a skateboard without falling off now! Lee says that I’m learning it really fast which is awesome. Skateboarding is awesome. I really really like it.
I also finished learning a sword move that Luke’s been teaching my sword class! He said I did it really well too!!!
Miss you all. Love,
Sky (lark)
Dear Mom and Dad and Bobby,
We built a battleship - Annabeth says it’s spelled Trireme - because we were learning about them in history class. But the fireworks caught it on fire!!!
And then this morning Luke got a quest!
He has to go and steal a golden apple just like Heracles had to do! Did you now that Herculese is actually Hera-clese? I didn’t know it till Castor told me in history class. Castor and his twin Pollux are Mr. D’s kids. They’re nice, but they don’t talk a whole lot.
OH! And me and Will are twins now too!
We decided that since we got claimed at the same time and that he came to camp 6 days before me but I’m 6 days older that we cancel out and are twins. Lee just laughed so hard that he fell off his bed when we told him, so we think we made the right choice.
Love,
Sky
Dear Mom and Dad and Bobby,
Chiron and Mr. D say that we have to choose if we want to stay year round or not.
I don’t think I want to. Camp is fun, and Will and Lee and Michael are all staying, but I really really miss all of you. Lee’s not as good at helping with bad dreams as you guys are.
I had a really scary one last night. (Maybe don’t tell Bobby what it was about, I don’t want to scare him.)
Luke’s quest didn’t go good, and now no one else is allowed on quests. Annabeth was really sad about it. She’s been at camp for 5 years already and Luke didn’t pick her for his quest even though they are really really close so she was already sad.
Anyway, camp ends on August 20th. Can you please come and pick me up then?
Can’t wait to see you guys soon!
Love,
Sky
— ☼ —
Bobby’s face was smooshed up against the window a whole ten minutes before they got to Sky’s hero-camp, trying to see his sister.
Daddy parks the car at the bottom of the big hill, and it takes forever for mommy to come around and unbuckle him from his car seat. Then she grabs his hand so that he can’t run ahead. Bobby pouts a little bit, but then he sees other kids standing around at the top of the hill and he starts looking for Sky.
“MOM! DAD! BOBBY!”
Sky comes racing down the hill towards them.
”SKY!” Bobby pulls out of his mom’s grip and runs to meet her. They collide in a big hug, and then Sky is letting go and moving around him to hug Mom and Dad too.
She talks to them excitedly for a few minutes, answering questions and assuring them all that she had a really fun time at camp. Bobby’s about to ask a question of his own - a super important one about if she killed any monsters - when someone interrupts him.
“Hey Sky!” An older teen with hair a few shades lighter than Sky’s calls out. He’s standing up at the top of the hill with some other big kids. “You gonna leave without saying goodbye?”
Bobby goes to tug on her shirt to get her attention again, but Sky brushes him off.
“Hang on, not now, Bobby. I gotta say goodbye to Lee and Will!”
Bobby watches as she runs off towards the teen and hugs him goodbye, before turning to a blond kid her age, and something in his belly feels swirly and painful. Sky and Will do a complicated series of hand waves and high-fives before hugging goodbye one last time. The older teen hands Sky her backpack, duffel bag, and a skateboard, and she jogs back down to them.
”Why’d you do that thing with your hands?” Bobby asks as they walk back to the car, trying to ignore the feelings in his belly.
”It’s our handshake.” Sky tells him matter-of-factly.
“Cool! Can I learn it!!”
“No. It’s a secret handshake. Only me and Will get to know it.”
“Why?”
“Cause we’re best friends.”
”Oh.” Bobby looks down at the ground and his face scrunches up a bit. “Then why don’t we have a handshake?”
”I dunno.” Sky shrugs, “We just don’t.”
”I’m gonna make us one.” He declares.
Sky shrugs again, “Ok.”
The entire ride home Sky talks about all of her new friends. They all played games, and sang songs, and did crafts, and skateboarded, and went swimming, and built a boat that blew up during the fireworks, and had a lot a lot of fun all summer. While Bobby was bored alone at home. And even worse, most of her new friends were also her new brothers and sisters. Which meant that Bobby wasn’t the only brother that she had anymore. Which most definitely meant that he wasn’t her only best friend anymore. And he was scared that he wasn’t her bestest best friend because she and Will had a secret handshake and she didn’t have one with him. Even though she was his only best friend.
And when he complained about how Sky was only talking about people he didn’t know, and when he started to cry when Sky kept talking about Will and all the secret-best-friend stuff she did with him all summer, Bobby was the one who got in trouble.
He decided that he was going to be mad at Sky for forever because she replaced him as her best friend.
But that night Sky made the pile of blankets and stuffed animals on the ground, and offered to tell him stories and he forgot to be mad anymore. Looking back on it, he was doomed from the beginning for trying to stay mad. It’s kind of hard to keep negative emotions long when you’re only four years old, and Sky was an amazing big sister, even at the age of nine, so he never really stood a chance at holding a grudge.
— ☼ —
That year, Bobby begins his last year of preschool, which is a big year for him, and Sky is in Fourth Grade.
While Sky still spends a lot of time with him, she has to spend more and more time on homework too. Because apparently when you get older you get more homework. Bobby doesn’t think that’s too bad, after all, his homework (when he has it) is simple things like going on a nature walk through the park, or practicing his ABC’s and Numbers (which he already knows). A lot of afternoons are spent with Mom and Sky doing their respective work at the kitchen table, and Bobby trying to find things to do on his own. Again.
But when Sky is done with her homework she plays with him, just like normal. She teaches him stories and sword fighting like she learned at camp, and also begins trying to teach him how to skateboard - much to their parent’s horror. But Bobby loves it all because it's something he gets to do with his best friend. She also tries to teach him Ancient Greek, but he doesn’t understand the new alphabet quite yet.
That year, Bruce Wayne’s son, Jason, died overseas, and Robin died. Batman got pretty scary after that, and Bobby wasn’t sure if he was his favorite hero anymore. Besides, Green Lantern is nice and isn’t scary. AND he can go into space and can make anything out of his ring, so Bobby’s pretty sure that makes him better anyways.
He says so happily when Ink asked on a day that they were all at the park together. Ink’s favorite is Martian Manhunter because he can shapeshift, which means that he can have Any Tattoo Ever - which is really all Ink thinks about besides skateboarding if you ask Bobby.
Sky argues with him that Batgirl is way cooler cause she does what Batman does, but she’s a girl.
“But Batgirl hasn’t been seen in a while.” Ink points out as he slowly rolls on his skateboard around the bench Bobby and Sky are sitting on.
Sky hums in thought while she clips on her helmet. “True… Then I’ll choose Black Canary.”
”Black Canary is my favorite too!” Bobby bounces excitedly on the bench.
”Didn’t you just say it was Green Lantern?” Ink tilts his head, and then stumbles as he loses his balance and falls off his board.
”I changed my mind.” Sky speaks again before Bobby can, “Kid Flash is my favorite.”
”He’s mine too.” Bobby smiles brightly. He doesn’t understand why Sky glares at him.
”Nevermind, mine’s Wonder Woman.”
Ink pokes her shoulder. ”I thought you hated Wonder Woman?”
“I don’t hate her.” Sky shoves Ink’s hand away, “I just think she should fight more monsters if she’s really a demigod.”
”Maybe she does fight monsters but it’s in places where the news can’t ever see it.”
”Well if she’s really a demigod she would have -“
”Wonder Woman’s my favorite too!” Bobby interrupts before his sister and her friend can start fighting over superheroes. Again.
”You can’t keep picking whichever hero I pick.” Sky glares at him some more, “You have to pick your own favorite hero.”
Bobby pouts, “But I want to have the same favorite hero as you.”
”Well I don’t want you to. You have to pick your own. Why don’t you just stick with Green Lantern?”
Mommy walks back over from where she had been throwing out the trash from the snacks they just ate, and Sky and Ink roll off on their boards, leaving the conversation and Bobby behind.
Bobby pouts for the rest of the time that they are at the park that day. And Sky was still upset with him later that night too. It was the first fight he can remember having with her that didn’t get solved right away.
He turns five, and Skylar goes back to her Hero-camp about a month later, leaving him to spend another summer all alone without his best friend. Not even marathoning all of Star Wars again could fully make up for it - although it did help.
— ☼ —
Dear Mom and Dad and Bobby,
There’s a new kid who showed up right after Summer Session started. He killed the Minotaur!!!
Julia and Malcolm don’t think he actually did, but Will was helping Lee in the MedBay when Percy (that’s the new kid) showed up. And he says that the kid really did it. Annabeth is being weird about him, but Will says she’s been weird about every new kid who shows up after Chiron told her one of them would get her on a quest. Silena thinks she’s being weird because she has a crush on Percy.
But Capture the Flag is tomorrow, and we’re teaming up with Cabin 6 again so I think we’re going to win. That means that Percy is on my team, cause Cabin 11 is also on our team, so if he is special maybe something will happen then?
I’ll let you know if anything does happen.
Love,
Skylar
Dear Mom and Dad and Bobby,
It turns out that Percy is actually a Big Three Kid which means he’s not supposed to exist.
Well, according to Luke none of us are technically supposed to exist, cause most of the gods are married to other gods. Lee says to ignore him and that he’s been weird since they all visited Olympus over Winter Break.
Percy got a quest though! And he’s bringing Annabeth and Grover with him. Someone stole Zeus’ Lightning Bolt! And they have to go and get it back.
But other than that camp has been pretty normal so far.
Miss you all, Love,
Sky
Dear Mom and Dad and Bobby,
Camp is still fun, but cabins are starting to argue a lot. People think that we have to choose sides because our parents are starting to choose sides which is stupid cause Percy and Annabeth and Grover still have time to finish their quest.
There’s been a lot of pranks pulled this year, but they aren’t fun pranks. Chiron’s really mad about it. I can tell that Lee is really stressed too. We’ve been having a lot more people in the infirmary this summer that we’ve had to heal. Will’s been following Lee around a lot, trying to help as much as possible. So I’ve been hanging out with Julia, Malcolm, and Valentina a lot.
Hopefully things calm down soon.
Love,
Sky
Dear Mom and Dad and Bobby,
THEY DID IT!!!!!
Percy and Annabeth and Grover finished their quest and they found the Bolt!!! There was a HUGE campfire to celebrate, and we had a really big party with tons of s’mores! The quest sounds like it was super cool too! I kinda want to go on one now.
People are also being nicer to each other now that the gods are done fighting and we don’t have to pick sides anymore.
The Fireworks are going to be in two weeks. Hopefully nothing catches on fire this year - but we don’t have a Trireme sitting in the lake this year so that will probably help.
Love,
Sky
Dear Mom and Dad and Bobby,
Can’t wait to see you next week at pick up!
Love,
Sky
— ☼ —
Sky runs down the hill towards them. She gives Bobby a hug, but then she gives Mommy a really really long hug.
“Is everything ok?” Mommy asks.
”…yeah.” Sky pulls back from the hug, “Just… really missed you. A lot happened this week.”
Mommy’s face scrunches up and she pulls Sky into another hug. “Do you want to talk about it now, or later.”
”Later.” Sky mumbles into the hug.
”Alright.”
Daddy steps a few feet over when the older teen - Lee - comes over to talk with him. They have a quiet conversation and both send sad looks at Sky.
Bobby notices, but Sky doesn’t. He stays quiet while Sky says her goodbyes to her camp friends. His stomach does the weird swirly thing again when she does the secret handshake with Will . He still hasn’t found the right handshake for him and Sky yet. But Sky still seems sad, and Mommy and Daddy still seem worried, so instead he asks Sky if she learned any new sword moves this summer as they walk back to the car.
Sky gets excited, and begins explaining a move that she used against a new kid named Seth during Capture the Flag one time. The car ride is filled with her stories, and they do their blanket pile again at night. And everything is totally fine.
.
.
.
He’s not supposed to be awake right now. It’s way, way, way, past his bedtime. But he woke up when Sky left the room. And now she’s talking to Mommy and Daddy and he wants to know what the secret is. He misses the first part, but he hears the last part of Sky’s explanation.
“... Luke tried to kill Percy. He really almost died. If Chiron hadn’t done this really really old medicine trick he would have. Lee tried to keep us away from it, but we all work in the Medbay.”
“Luke was your first counselor, right?” Daddy asks.
“Yeah.” Sky sighs really loudly. “He was most people’s first counselor.”
“Is there anything we can do to help?” He hears Mommy ask as she moves back from the kitchen to the couch.
“...no…” Sky says quietly, “Just… Maybe a hug?”
“Of course, Nut.”
Bobby leans out to see Daddy and Skylar on the couch. Daddy pulls her into his lap and gives her a big hug. He leans a bit more to try and see better and trips, catching everyone’s attention.
Mommy puts down the mugs she had been carrying on the coffee table and comes over and picks him up, bringing him back to his and Skylar’s room. “It’s way past your bedtime, buddy. What’s up?”
“Is Sky okay?”
Mommy sighs softly as they sit down on Bobby’s bed. “She’s going to be.” She hesitates, before deciding to say more. “Someone that Sky trusted and looked up to hurt someone else pretty badly. He broke the trust that Sky had in him, and she’s still pretty hurt about it.” She brushes a hand through Bobby’s hair. “It’s going to take some time, but she’ll be okay again. We just have to be patient until she’s there.”
“Oh, okay.” Bobby snuggles into her hug some more, “Can you tell me a story?”
“Of course.” She pauses again, choosing which story to tell.
“Like all constellations, the story of Ursa Major is complex - full of both good and bad. The goddess Artemis once had a very good friend named Callisto, who was a member of her group of Hunters…”
Bobby falls asleep in his mom’s arms that night, and a few weeks later Sky is back to being normal (at least as far as Bobby can tell).
— ☼ —
That school year, Bobby begins kindergarten and Sky starts Fifth Grade. Bobby’s teacher writes home that he is excelling in his numbers and alphabet and spelling. Sky’s teacher writes home that she is not.
It comes up a lot that year. Bobby doesn’t mean for it to, but it just kinda clicks for him in a way that making friends doesn’t.
“Come on, Sky, you know this.” Daddy sighs one night at the kitchen table. Sky has been struggling with her math homework all afternoon. Mommy gave up quickly, unable to give enough time to fully help Skylar work through the problems between her phone-call-meetings, so Daddy had taken over after he got home and made them all dinner.
“But I don’t! ” Sky protests loudly. She’s tapping the table with one of her hands, fingers moving in a frantic rhythm. “I don’t know this! I don’t understand why I have to do this anyways! Why does it matter how many planes take off in twelve hours?”
“Because it’s to help you learn Division.” Daddy sighs again, “It’s a skill that you’ll use in life.”
“Not if I become a professional skateboarder.”
“Let’s try it this way.” Daddy pulls out a blank sheet of paper, “336 planes take off within 12 hours. So to solve it we need to take 336 and divide it by 12 to find the answer.”
Sky sniffles lightly, and begins setting up her equation.
“Good job,” Daddy smiles, “Now, how many times does 12 go into 33?”
“Two.” Bobby says as he pushes his car down the track.
Sky glares at him. “Shut up.”
“Language, Skylar.” Daddy scolds lightly.
Bobby’s not sure why she’s upset with him. “But it’s 2. 12 two times is 24, but 12 three times is 36 so that’s too many.”
Sky growls. Daddy’s face struggles between pride for Bobby and sympathy for Skylar.
“That’s some good math, buddy.” He finally says, “But why don’t you let Sky figure it out.”
Bobby shrugs, “Ok.” And he goes back to his racetrack.
Sky continues on with her math problem but immediately becomes stuck again. Daddy tries to help.
“You’re doing good, Nut, you just wrote the 6 backwards. Yes, good fix. Now, how many times does 12 go into 96?”
Sky stares at the paper.
And stares at the paper.
And then stares some more.
Getting frustrated, she pulls on her hair. “I don’t know .”
“Remember your times tables.” Daddy offers, “What’s the highest one of 12 that you remember?”
“I don’t knooooow.” She whines, “48?”
“Ok, so that’s 12 times–”
“4.” Bobby pipes up again as he starts trying to make his racetrack go over the back of the couch.
“Shut. Up.” Sky bites out at him again.
“Skylar, please use nicer language.” Daddy sighs tiredly again, “And Bobby, please stop trying to help, Bud. You’re just making Sky more stressed.”
“Ok, Daddy.” Bobby grabs his favorite car - based on the Batmobile, sending it flying over the track.
Daddy turns back to Skylar. “Alright, so if 12 times 4 gets us to 48, how many 12’s get us to 96?”
“Umm….” She starts mumbling under her breath, “8?”
“Close,” Daddy smiles tiredly.
“6?”
“The other way, Nut.”
“It’s 9.” Bobby says confidently, “Can Sky come and play with me now?”
“SHUT UP! ” Sky throws her pencil at Bobby. It hits him, eraser side first, right in the middle of his forehead.
It hurts.
Bobby starts crying.
“Skylar!” Mommy and Daddy both raise their voices. Bobby starts crying harder.
“Apologize to your brother!” Mommy says as she crouches down next to him, and gently rubs his back.
“No!” Sky crosses her arms and continues glaring.
“Skylar.” Daddy scolds, “I know you’re frustrated. But that is no excuse to take it out on your brother.”
“Then he needs to stop answering!” She cries, “It’s not fair! ”
“Skylar.” Daddy warns.
“No!”
“Strike one.” Daddy says.
“NO!”
“Strike two.”
“I’M NOT APOLOGIZING!”
“Strike three. Go to your room.”
Skylar shrieks in frustration and storms off down the hallway. “I HATE HIM!” And then she slams the door shut. Bobby just cries even harder.
— ☼ —
The Joker escapes that December, and the whole city goes on lockdown for almost an entire week until he’s caught. The Police Commissioner’s Daughter is badly injured.
.
Bobby can officially stay standing on Sky’s skateboard when going down ramps now.
.
A new Robin Begins.
.
Bobby turns Six and he gets a skateboard!
.
And Sky goes back to her Hero-camp.
.
When they get there, there’s a group of kids wearing full armor up at the top of the hill. Sky looks confused. Mommy and Daddy look concerned. Bobby just wants to look closer at the one girl’s spear because it keeps lighting up with electricity.
Someone mentions that the barrier is weak this year. Mommy and Daddy try to convince Sky to come home with them. Sky refuses.
“I want to help keep camp safe.” She protests, “I can’t do that if I’m in Gotham.”
They argue a bit more, but eventually Mommy and Daddy give in.
Sky goes off, over the hill. Bobby goes off, back to Gotham.
That summer, he watches Star Wars: A New Hope twenty seven times. He would have watched it more, but Mommy said that he could only watch each movie once a day or she would go crazy. And he was limited to how much screens he could watch each day too.
He spends a lot of time on his skateboard, determined to catch up to Sky and show off some new tricks when she gets home.
But mostly he waits for her letters so that he knows what adventures she’s going on at Hero-Camp and waits for her to come home so he has his Best Friend to play with again.
— ☼ —
Dear Mom and Dad and Bobby,
Camp is different this year.
Chiron is being blamed for poisoning Thalia’s tree. Which is complete bull. Everyone knows that he cares about us and he wouldn’t damage the barrier. Or Thalia. But the gods won’t listen.
We have a new Activities Director. Tantalus. Like, the Tantalus from the stories Tantalus. He got brought out of the Underworld just for this. I don’t like him. I don’t think anyone does. Well, except Mr. D. But Mr. D. is weird like that.
…. Maybe don’t read that last line outloud…
Apparently there’s a Chariot Race this year. Lee and Michael are competing in it. But Lee said that me and Will aren’t allowed to enter. Michael said that they were canceled a long time ago because it caused 3 deaths and 26 mutilations. So we’re going to be on medical standby just in case instead.
Percy joined us for sword class one day. He beat all of us. I’m gonna beat him one day. (I hope). He’s been extra moody this year because of Tyson.
Oh, right! Tyson is a cyclops. He’s Percy’s brother. He’s a little scary, cause he’s a cyclops. But he hasn’t done anything yet, so Will and I have just been staying away and leaving him alone.
We also have added in Border Patrols. With Thalia’s tree weaker the barrier is weaker so we all take turns guarding the border, just in case.
I’ll let you know how the Chariot Race goes!
Love,
Sky
Dear Mom and Dad and Bobby,
The Chariot Race was CRAZY.
Will was being really weird all morning about these birds, but we all thought it was just him being anxious cause the race was happening and people had died during the races in the past. But it turns out that he was right!
Wait, let me start from the beginning.
So like, right away, Connor and Travis ran into Lee and Michael’s chariot and knocked them out of the chariot. But then our horses, Sunbeam and Bullseye ran into their chariot, and Connor and Travis got knocked over too. Then the birds started attacking everyone! They were crazy!!!
Percy and Annabeth scared them off with some really bad music, and once the birds were in the air then my cabin was able to shoot them all down. Will was extra scared, because apparently those kinds of birds were his first monster attack. So I kept him safe while he started healing everyone else.
Clarisse ended up winning the chariot race, and she got a quest right afterwards too! And then, everyone woke up this morning and Percy and Annabeth and Tyson were all missing .
Seth thinks that they ran away because they wanted Clarisse’s quest. He wouldn’t stop talking about it in Ancient Greek Class.
Hope you all are good!
Love,
Sky
Dear Mom and Dad and Bobby,
There’s been more border attacks lately. But that’s ok! Because we can handle them. I also have a new sister! Her name is Kayla, and she’s Canadian. AND her mortal parent is her DAD!!!
We don’t really know how that worked out, but Lee thinks that the gods don’t really have actual genders so that it doesn’t actually matter. Malcolm thinks it just worked out like how he and everyone else from Cabin 6 are made - from their mom’s mind . I don’t really care either way, it’s nice to have another sister in the cabin. I mean, out of the 23 of us, only 7 were girls before Kayla, but now there’s 8 of us!
Some of the older kids aren’t back at camp though. Not from our cabin, but from some of the others. And a few have gone missing since Camp began this summer too. Silena says not to worry too much about it, but some of her friends are missing so I don’t know how to help her. Bringing it up probably hurts, which is probably why she’s telling us not to worry about it, so that we don’t bring it up to her…
Lee, and Will, and Michael, and everyone else in Cabin 7 are doing ok right now. And besides the border patrols - and Tantalus - everything is normal.
I’ll make sure to write again soon to update you!
Love,
Sky
Dear Mom and Dad and Bobby,
Chiron is back! And so are Percy and Annabeth and Clarisse and Tyson and Grover.
Clarisse finished her quest to find the Golden Fleece and it’s already healing Thalia’s tree which is awesome! We heard all about her quest, and the stuff that Percy and Annabeth did too, and it was all crazy! It’s way too much to write about, so I’ll just tell you about it in person when you pick me up next week.
We also found out who poisoned Thalia’s Tree. It was Luke.
I don’t think he knew that Thalia’s Tree has her soul inside of it. We can all tell because we can soul sense. It’s one of the souls Lee uses as an example when he teaches us how to sense and track using them.
But, we have a new Guard Dragon named Peleus! He’s just a baby now, but he’s gonna be trained to guard the fleece so that no one else steals it!!
Can’t wait to see you next week at pick up!
Love,
Sky
— ☼ —
When they get to the hill that year Bobby’s eyes are immediately drawn to the baby dragon curled up under the Pine Tree.
As if sensing that he wanted to go and pet it, Mommy places a hand on his shoulder to keep him in place until Sky comes bouncing over to them, overflowing with energy.
“Mom, Dad, guess what???”
Sky proceeds to explain all about how Thalia woke up from being inside of the tree two days ago, and how she’s now staying in Cabin One.
Bobby squints at the tree, trying to picture how someone could have been trapped in there. It’s not super obvious, not like when Han Solo gets frozen in carbonite. But it sounds similar enough.
“Did the bad guys trap her in the tree like they trapped Han Solo in The Empire Strikes Back ?”
“No.” Sky shakes her head, “The Bad Guys didn’t do it, the gods did.”
He didn’t get it. “But why was she trapped in a tree? Why would they trap her if they’re the good guys?”
“They didn’t trap her. They saved her. She was gonna die if her dad didn’t turn her into a tree. We just didn’t know that she could be brought back or we would have done it sooner.”
“Why didn’t he just heal her?”
Thunder rumbles in the distance and Sky sends a panicked look towards the suddenly-cloud-covered sun.
“He just didn’t, ok? Stop asking questions.”
“But–”
“No.”
“Skylar,” Daddy interrupts, “Why don’t you go and say your goodbyes and we can hit the road?”
Sky does that thing that grownups do sometimes - where they look at something really hard with raised eyebrows and the other grownups know what they’re saying - but she looks from Daddy to Bobby and back to Daddy again. Daddy nods, and she bites her lip slightly before running off.
Mommy and Daddy share another grownup conversation look before they turn to him.
“Bobby.” Mommy talks first, “We have to be careful with how we speak about the gods. They have a lot of power, and they don’t like it when people question their decisions.”
“We have to show them respect,” Daddy adds on, “Remember the Golden Rule?”
Bobby nods, “Treat people the way you want to be treated.”
“Right, well we speak of the gods that way too. If we speak nicely of them, they’ll be nice to us. And if we don’t speak nicely of them then they might get angry and use their powers against us.”
“But that’s not the right way to use your powers.” Bobby pouts, “That goes against The Jedi Code!”
“Maybe.” Mommy grimaces, “But unfortunately when someone has a lot more power than you, there isn’t a whole lot you can do to fight their rules. We need to show respect to the gods or they might hurt one of us, or worse, your sister.”
“But… But that sounds like the Empire.”
“It’s different from the Empire buddy.” Daddy says, “This is something that we have to respect. It’s a different culture and a different way of living life. Just because we don’t understand it doesn’t mean that we can’t respect it.”
Bobby was still confused, and his parents could tell.
“Look at it this way, bud,” Mommy kneels down all the way to talk with him, so that now he’s looking down a bit at her . “For right now, you may not understand. And that’s ok. But we’re going to use the Golden Rule when talking about the gods. This might just be one of the things that you’ll understand a bit better when you’re older.”
“When my mind is better prepared to handle it?”
“Exactly.”
Bobby thinks it over a bit. It really does seem like the gods are kinda like the Empire, but Mommy and Daddy and Sky all seem to think that they need to be nice to the gods, and they tend to be right so…
“Ok.”
Mommy lets out a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Bud.”
Sky comes back soon after that, and they all head for the rental car. Bobby sends one last look at the tree before they drive away.
— ☼ —
First Grade is ok. Bobby had been looking forward to it at first, but then he realized that he wouldn’t be in the same building as Sky, and he wasn’t so sure anymore.
Also, the other kids don’t care as much about Star Wars as he does, and they all get to hang out and do playdates more often than him because they’re parents don’t have to work as much. And while they think it’s cool that he can skateboard, they don’t think it’s cool that he always knows all of the answers.
.
A new Batgirl shows up in the news in November. There aren’t a lot of photos of her, but she has a scary mask. Sky thinks she’s cool. Bobby doesn’t say it, but he thinks she’s kind of freaky with the mask.
.
Will Iris Messages Sky during Winter Break that year. Bobby and Sky had been in their room while Mommy was in a meeting in the kitchen.
“Will? What’s wrong?”
“Hi Sky, Hi Bobby. Nothings wrong, but there’s a new kid at camp and his name is Nico and you have to help me cause he’s really really cute and Lee and Michael just keep laughing at me and I don’t know what to dooooooo.”
Sky blinks a few times at the blonde.
Bobby looks back and forth between her and the rainbow image of the inside of Cabin 7 as the silence grows.
Will looks up from where he had face planted into his pillow and turns to face the call. “Well?”
“Why are you asking me? ”
“I don’t know? I thought you’d be able to help!”
“Will. I’m eleven . I’ve never even had a crush before. How could I help you?”
“I’m eleven too.” Will points out, “And that’s not the point. How do I talk to him?”
“I dunno, how you’d talk to anyone else I guess.” Sky shrugs.
Bobby sighs really loudly from where he sits on his bed. Sky shoots him a look before turning back to Will.
“Look, just, treat him like you would any other new camper. You don’t even know if the two of you will get along as friends, let alone boyfriends.”
“Right, right. Ok.” Will nods, “Thanks, Lark.”
“Anytime, Mockingbird.” Sky salutes, “Now go bug your boyfriend.”
“He’s Not My Boyfriend!”
“Not yet.”
“You’re the worst.”
“But you love me.” Sky sends him a big grin.
“Yeah, yeah.” Will grumbles, “See you this summer?”
“Duh.”
They both pretend to do their handshake as if they were in person before Sky waves a hand through the rainbow picture and it dissolves.
.
Another new hero appears in Gotham in February. She wears purple, and calls herself Spoiler, and all of the girls in Bobby’s class talk about her for like, a week straight when she shows up because of how cool her cape is.
.
Bobby’s teacher sends home a note about how Bobby has been having trouble connecting to his classmates, and how he has become really withdrawn in class, refusing to raise his hand to answer the questions even though he knows the answers.
He can’t help but notice that she didn’t mention how the other kids haven’t been letting him play tag with them at recess. Or the fact that they all call him names - even though they don’t really do it when the teachers are around.
.
May brings about his Seventh birthday, and he doesn’t really want to invite any of the kids in his class. All he really wants to do is go to the Arcade with Sky and Daddy, and maybe the skatepark afterwards if they have time.
Mommy and Daddy seem disappointed he doesn’t want to invite anyone from school, but they don’t push it too much. The arcade is amazing, and he wins a lightsaber toy with all of their tickets that they earned.
.
A few weeks later, they drop Sky off at camp again.
— ☼ —
Dear Mom and Dad and Bobby,
We have a new sword instructor at Camp. His name is Quintus. And get this! He has a Pet Hellhound!!! Her name is Mrs. O’Leary and she loves pets and scratches and snuggles. It’s a little weird because she’s a hellhound, but her puppy face makes up for it.
We’re doing a new game instead of Capture the Flag this Friday. Will and I are gonna team up for it! I’ll tell you how it goes.
Ok, now it’s Saturday. So, last night’s game was fun, but Percy and Annabeth went missing for hours. It turns out that there’s an entrance to the Labyrinth in Zeus’ Fist. Time gets really weird in there, so what was only like, 15 minutes for them was like, 5 hours for us.
Some of the counselors are worried that Luke is going to bring an invasion in through the Labyrinth. Chris (who went missing months ago) was found near an entrance a few states away. Clarisse had found him and now Mr. D is trying to help him cause he went a little insane.
Annabeth got a prophecy, and she and Percy and Grover and Tyson are going to be going into the labyrinth. The rest of us are going to be preparing just in case there is an invasion.
Oh! But we have another new sibling! His name is Austin and he likes to play Jazz Music.
I’ll write to you again soon!
Love,
Skylar
Dear Mom and Dad and Bobby,
Percy is dead.
I’m sure you saw that Mt. St. Helens exploded on the news. But the news doesn’t know that Percy and Annabeth were there. Monsters were using the volcano as a forge to make weapons. Percy was still inside when it blew up. We’re hosting his funeral tomorrow. Annabeth hasn’t stopped crying since she got back.
Grover and Tyson are still inside the labyrinth somewhere.
And we’ve begun setting up traps around Zeus’ Fist in the woods. Luke is definitely planning to invade camp.
A lot more kids are gone this year. They all went and joined Luke. Or they died.
I hate him. I don’t get why he wants to attack camp. What did we do to him to make him hate us so much?
It doesn’t matter. I’ll write to you again soon.
Love,
Sky
Dear Mom and Dad
Don’t read this letter to Bobby.
Lee is dead. And it’s all my fault. The invasion happened and there were these giants and one was going to attack me and Lee pushed me out of the way and told me to run and I ran and we found him later after the battle. The giant hit him so hard that he died. Chiron says he would have died on impact, and that he didn’t feel anything. But I keep seeing his face when I close my eyes and he keeps telling me it’s all my fault.
He’s not the only one who died. Castor and Amayah and Dylan and Fern and Bryce and Issac and Nick and –
(Hi Sky’s parents, this is Michael. Sky is ok, and Chiron is letting everyone use the Big House’s phone to call home if they want to, so you’ll probably hear from Sky before this letter actually arrives. I’m the cabin counselor now that Lee is gone. Sky didn’t get hurt too bad, nothing a little bit of nectar and ambrosia couldn’t heal up. She’s been a really big help in the infirmary alongside everyone who’s left from our cabin. We’re doing our best to support the younger campers in the aftermath of the battle, and have been making sure that everyone attends therapy with Chiron - Michael Yew)
Sorry about the tear stains. I’ll be talking to you tomorrow according to the schedule.
Love,
Sky
— ☼ —
Bobby wasn’t supposed to read that last letter. It wasn’t addressed to him, and his parents specifically hid it from him.
It was because of those exact reasons that he found the letter and read it anyways when Mom was in a meeting and Dad was cooking. They thought he was just playing in his room.
There were tear stains on the paper, and the writing got smudged a ton right before Lee took over writing.
Bobby had nightmares that night of the sandy-haired teen that was always on the hill at pick-up and drop-off trying to talk to him. Half of the teen’s face was smashed in, making it hard to speak, and Bobby woke up with a scream caught in his throat.
He didn’t sleep the rest of that night.
Sky wrote a few more letters from that summer, talking about the fireworks display and a giant ant hill and a robot dragon and the normal camp activities.
Bobby didn’t ask to look at any of them. He was ok without knowing if there was anything Mom and Dad weren’t reading to him from the letters. He knew better now.
He didn’t think he wanted to join Sky at Hero-Camp anymore.
— ☼ —
The sky is cloudy this year, when they pull up to the base of Half-Blood Hill. There are less kids hanging out on the hill, and a lot of them have new scars on their arms and legs.
Sky was sitting next to Will at the top of the hill, but as soon as she saw them getting out of the car she was sprinting towards them like she was being chased by the monsters she fought. She goes straight for mom and dad, who encircle her in a big hug. Bobby stays by the car.
Will and an older kid with black hair come over after a few minutes, carrying Sky’s bags and skateboard. Will notices Bobby and sends him a small smile and a wave. The new kid talks with Mom and Dad and Sky, but Will comes over to talk to Bobby.
“Hey, how was your summer?”
Bobby doesn’t answer. He just watches Sky and his parents. Will follows his gaze over to them and sighs.
“She’ll be ok. She’s strong.”
Bobby glares at the ground.
Will side-eyes him. “You know… Sky talks about you like, all the time.”
“... She does?”
“Oh yeah. She’s always going on and on about how smart you are, and how fast you pick up any skateboarding or sword moves she teaches you. Not to mention how into Star Wars you are. You sound like a really cool kid.”
“... You like Star Wars?”
Will laughs. “Uh, yeah I like Star Wars. Which movie’s your favorite? I think I’d pick Return of the Jedi .”
“I like A New Hope .”
“Ah, the Classic. Nice pick.”
Mom and Dad and Sky start to come back over to the car.
Will smiles down at Bobby and holds out a fist. “It was nice talking with you. We’ll have to talk more about Star Wars sometime.”
Bobby hesitantly completes the fist bump and Will’s smile somehow gets brighter. He watches as the blonde goes up to Sky and says goodbye, doing their handshake and a hug before he starts heading back up the hill. For once, there’s not that weird feeling in his stomach when he sees them being best friends.
The drive home is quiet. Sky mainly just looks out the window and daydreams, and Bobby reads the books that he brought with. When they get home, it’s already bedtime, so he starts getting ready for bed. Mom comes in to tell him a story, and then it's lights out. Sky would be in later when it was her bedtime.
Screaming wakes him up.
Sky is calling out to Lee, thrashing around in her bed. The door slams open and Daddy and Mommy rush in. Daddy grabs Sky into a hug, and she wakes up, sobbing into his shoulder. Mommy hovers anxiously, unsure how to help. She glances over and meet’s Bobby’s wide eyes. Offering a shaky smile, she comes over to give him a hug too.
“Is Sky gonna be ok?” Bobby whispers the question, scared to make Sky scream again.
“Eventually, buddy. She’ll be ok eventually.”
They all eventually go out to cuddle on the couch. Mommy tells stories about the stars, and Bobby slips off to sleep, surrounded by his family.
.
Sky continues to have bad dreams. Bobby continues to wake up to her crying in the middle of the night. She doesn’t tell Mom and Dad, so Bobby doesn’t tell them either. But sometimes he’ll get up and offer her one of his teddy bears. Sometimes she ignores him, sometimes she gives him a hug, and sometimes they build their blanket pile on the ground like they used to.
— ☼ —
In September, Mommy calls both of them into the family room to talk.
“I have something to tell you both. I’ve decided to quit my job and enlist in the Navy as a Corpsman.”
“What’s a Corpsman?” Bobby asks.
“It’s a field medic for the Navy.” Sky tells him. “A lot of people from my cabin have been Corpsmen before. Lexi is gonna be one next year after she graduates.”
Lexi was one of her older siblings from camp, if Bobby remembered correctly. Sometimes it was hard to keep their names straight. She had a lot of them, and the ones who repeated in the most stories were Lee, Michael, and Will.
“Why are you joining now?” Bobby’s face scrunches up. “Don’t most people join after highschool?”
“They do.” Mom agreed, “But not everyone does. Some wait until they’re a bit older.”
“But why now?” Sky presses, “Bobby’s right. You’ve never mentioned this before.”
Mommy’s face twitches slightly and she hesitates before answering.
“I’m not fully sure. It just feels like something I have to do.” She sends a look at Sky, “It’s been appearing in dreams a lot lately.”
Sky grimaces but doesn’t press the matter anymore.
Bobby isn’t going to let it drop that easily.
“But doesn’t joining the Navy mean you’re going away?”
“Yes, it does.” Mommy looks sad, “But I’ll have a few months of training before then. There’s a base near Metropolis that I can commute to each day. I’ll still be around for Bedtime every day until I’m deployed.”
“What about us?” Sky’s voice sounds a little weird, “Dad doesn’t get home until dinner time. What are we supposed to do until then?”
Daddy answers. “Well, there are two options. Option A is that the two of you can be signed up for After School Care and I’ll pick you up on my way home from work.”
“And Option B?”
“You're a seventh grader now. You’re responsible, you know first aid, and you and your brother get along well without resorting to physical fights a lot. If you wanted, you could watch Bobby until I get home.”
“Me ?”
“Her ?”
“Yes.”
Bobby looks up at Sky. Sky looks at him. He’d really prefer that she watches him instead of going to after school care. After school care has all of the kids who don’t like to play with him. Her face is closed off, he can’t tell what she’s thinking. Her fingers are tapping on her leg though.
Sky closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. “Sure. I’ll watch him.”
Bobby grins up at her. This is gonna be awesome ! He misses the looks of relief that cross their parent’s faces.
“Thank you, Sky. That’s going to make things a lot easier.”
“Sure,” She shrugs, “Whatever. Can we go to the skatepark? Andi and Ink are gonna be there today.”
“We can do that.” Mommy smiles, “Just let me grab my bag.”
— ☼ —
Bobby’s Second Grade teacher sends home a note before the Parent Teacher Conferences in November.
When they get to school, Bobby sits out in the hallway while his parents go inside. They’re in there for a long time, talking with his teacher, and then he’s called inside too. That’s never happened before. There’s also someone who’s not his teacher - Mr. Cooper - or his parents. She introduces herself as Mrs. Killigan.
“Bobby, do you think that the material you’re learning in school is challenging?” Mrs. Killigan asks once he’s sat down.
He looks at his parents nervously. He’s complained about his homework being too easy a few times, but he knows that Sky has a really really hard time with her homework so he’s not sure how he’s supposed to answer.
“Be honest, it’s ok.” Mommy tells him.
“No,” He tells Mrs. Killigan, “It’s really really easy.”
Mrs. Killigan nods like she was expecting that answer. “If I were to write a math problem on the board, would you like to try and solve it?”
“Ummm,” He looks to his parents again, Daddy gives an encouraging nod, “Sure?”
Mrs. Killigan writes a problem on the board. He solves it.
She writes a different problem on the board. He solves that one too.
This goes on and on. If he gets stuck on one, she helps explain the steps to solve it, and then gives him a slightly different version of the problem, and he’s able to solve it.
Then they move onto Science. Then English. Then History.
“Well done, Bobby.” Mrs. Killigan smiles, “You did an amazing job. You can sit down with your parents now.”
Confused, he sits down in the empty chair between Mom and Dad. They both give him proud looks.
They all sit in that room for another hour as the adults throw around words like ‘gifted’ and ‘advanced’ and ‘skipping grades.’ Mr. Cooper raises concern over the fact that Bobby’s had trouble connecting with kids his own age, let alone kids who are older than him.
Mrs. Killigan counters with a large packet of forms. The Wayne Scholarship.
Apparently all of the questions that he had just answered were a test, meant to see if he would be a good candidate for a scholarship to Gotham Academy. The best school in all of Gotham.
Mom and Dad filled out form after form, after form, after form. Soon, they hand over the packet to Mrs. Killigan and she smiles, saying that they’ll be in touch.
.
The next week proceeds as normal. Sky picks him up from school and they walk home alongside other kids from their neighborhood, and she spends the afternoon keeping him occupied until Dad gets home from work. They set up a schedule eventually, a little bit of skateboarding at the park, go home, do a little bit of self defense training, and then put on a Star Wars movie for Bobby while Sky starts her homework.
Throughout the school year he’s learned how to throw a punch, how to escape a hold, and how to run properly if he ever needed to escape somewhere. And she’s also begun actually teaching him sword moves from her camp.
.
Two weeks later, an acceptance letter arrives in the mail. Bobby’s been given a full ride scholarship to Gotham Academy.
They go out for celebratory pizza and ice cream for dinner.
As it’s Early December at this point, he has the option of starting right away next semester. Mom and Dad talk with Mr. Cooper and the school counselor and it’s decided that Bobby should wait until next school year to avoid having to transfer mid year.
— ☼ —
The holidays and the first few months into the new year go quickly. Until Mom gets the news that she’s being Deployed. She leaves on March 15th. Bobby is inconsolable.
It’s one thing for his sister to disappear for 2.5 months every summer - she’s technically only one state away from him when she’s gone. But with this, there’s no guarantee on when Mom will get to come home for leave. There’s limited ways and times that they can contact her. And she’s his mom.
A few days before the 15th, she takes Bobby to Build-a-Bear.
“Go ahead and pick out any bear you want.”
He wanders the selections, not really feeling pulled towards anything in particular until he sees a bear that’s a deep, navy blue, with the Star Wars logo printed all over it. Before he can really register it, he’s holding one of the un-stuffed bears in his hands and turning to look at Mom.
She smiles at him, and nods, nudging him over towards the stuffing station. He watches as the employee stuffs the bear to his desired cuddliness, and how Mom hands them something to add to the bear’s paw.
Then, the employee leads him through the Heart Ceremony.
“Rub the heart between your hands so that it’s nice and warm,”
He does so.
“Now hold it up to your ear so that your fuzzy friend is a good listener,”
Bobby holds up the heart to his ear.
“Rub it against your knees so that they can always catch you when they fall down,”
He rubs it on both knees, just to be safe.
“And finally, close your eyes, hold it close, and make a big old wish.”
Bobby takes a deep breath, and closes his eyes, hugging the heart close to his chest.
Please, whoever is listening, I wish that my mom is always with me. Even if she’s really far away.
Nervously, he opens his eyes. The employee smiles and hands him the bear.
“Go ahead and place the heart inside, and I’ll sew up your friend so they’re all good to go.”
Placing the heart inside, Bobby shifts from foot to foot as he watches the employee tie off the strings and hand him his bear. On instinct, he squeezes the bear in a tight hug and is surprised when he feels something ‘click.’
From a speaker inside of the bear, his mom’s voice sounds out. “No matter how far we are, we can always share the moon and stars.”
He looks up at her, and she crouches down to meet him.
“I know you’re upset about me going away. But just remember, I’m always going to be with you, right here,” She pokes his head, “Right here,” She pokes the bear, “And most importantly, right here.” She gently pokes his heart. “You know all of my stories about the stars by now. Whenever you miss me, just think of those stories, and I’ll be right there with you as if I’d never left.”
“You promise?”
“I promise.”
.
.
.
A few days later, he’s waving goodbye from the airport entrance.
— ☼ —
Determined to make his birthday special, even with mom gone, Dad and Sky take Bobby to the arcade again. They spend hours there, earning even more tickets than the year beforehand, and Bobby spends most of it on a small lego set that’s on the shelves behind the counter. After, they go out for ice cream.
Bobby bounces in place as he watches his birthday sundae get created, and says an excited “Thank you!” when the college-aged worker hands him the bowl.
“Sure thing kid, May the Fourth be with you.”
Bobby pauses in his bouncing. “May the Fourth ???”
“Yeah, you know,” The guy looks at his face, glances down at the Star Wars shirt he’s wearing, and then back at his face, “May 4th? Star Wars Day?”
Bobby can feel his eyes widen in excitement. “There’s a Star Wars Day ????”
“Yeah.” He smiles at Bobby’s enthusiasm, “May 4th is the official day - ‘May the Fourth be with you.’ But people have also started continuing it onto the 5th - ‘Revenge of the Fifth’ - and some people say the 6th is ‘Return of the Sixth.’”
“Woah…” He turns and runs over to where Sky had already grabbed a table.
He barely hears the other server, a girl around the same age, laugh lightly. “You just made that kid’s day.”
“Guess What???” He slams his sundae down on the table and bounces in place some more. “Today is Star Wars Day! There’s a Star Wars Day! And it’s May Fourth! My Birthday!!!”
Sky laughs at his energy. “That’s crazy, dude!”
“It’s definitely a cool coincidence.” Dad adds as he sits down.
“It’s not a coincidence,” Bobby counters, “It’s the will of the Force! It’s fate! ”
Sky hesitates in taking a bite of her ice cream. “Maybe don’t claim it’s Fate. You don’t want their attention.”
“Who’s attention?”
“.... Nevermind. What flavor did you get?”
— ☼ —
Dad drives them all up to New York a few weeks later. There had been a big argument between Sky and their parents, talking with mom over the phone so that she could be included in the discussion.
Sky wanted to go back to camp. Mom and Dad didn’t want her to go back, not after the battle last year.
“But that’s why I have to go back.” Sky begs, “I can’t just abandon everyone else. This summer is when the Prophecy happens. I have to be there to help. ”
“Skylar. You are twelve years old.” Mom’s voice sounds out over the speaker phone.
“I’m almost thirteen!”
“You are too young to have to fight anything, let alone in a war.”
“You’re fighting in a war.”
Mom splutters a bit from her end of the call.
“I am a corpsman. A field medic. That’s–”
“That’s exactly what I am.” Sky cries. “I’m a field medic. My whole cabin is. We’re the archers and the medics. We stay back from the main fighting and we heal people.”
“Skylar.” Dad reaches towards her, “You’re still just a kid. Your mom and I are just worried about–”
“I’m not just a kid.” Sky throws her hands up, backing away from Dad, “I haven’t been a kid since a dracaena tried to kidnap me at the park. I’m not allowed to be a kid when monsters are always hunting me!”
“Skylar–”
“I get that you are scared and worried but you don’t understand. I have to be there to make sure that no one else dies. If I’m not there then they are down a fighter and a medic and that means that more people might end up dead. I’m going whether you want me to or not.”
She stops and glances over at Bobby where he sits on the couch pretending to read. He doesn’t want her to go. She still wakes up from nightmares from last summer. He watches as something flashes across her face and then she’s facing dad again and Bobby can’t see her expression.
“I’ll run away if I have to. You can’t stop me.”
“Skylar, please. ” Mom sounds desperate over the call. “We just want you to be safe.”
“I won’t be though.” Sky shakes her head, “Not if Luke wins. No one would be. That’s why I have to go. I have to help. Don’t you get that?”
There’s a tense silence before Dad sighs.
“I’ll leave the final decision to you, Emily.”
Mom is quiet for even longer before she sighs too.
“Alright… alright, fine. But if you are going to do this then you are going to find a way to stay in touch with us. And, you are going to do your best to stay away from the fighting. Hell, stay in the infirmary if possible. Do you understand? Promise me.”
“Yes.” Sky sounds relieved. “I will do all of that. I promise.” She holds a hand over her heart as she says it.
Bobby’s pulled out of the memory of the argument as they arrive at the hill. He looks up at the tree that the girl used to be trapped in. The dragon is a lot bigger this summer, visible even from all the way down here.
Once they’ve pulled out all of her bags, Dad pulls Sky into a long hug.
“Remember to keep in touch.”
“I will.”
“Remember to stay away from the fighting.”
“I will.”
“Remember to–”
“Dad .”
“Stay safe.”
“I will.”
Then she turns to Bobby. He latches onto her, scared to let go.
“Hey, I’ll see you in a few weeks. You’ll have to tell me about any new Star Wars facts you learn, ok?”
He just nods silently, still hugging her.
When she pulls back, he insists on doing their latest handshake. He still hasn’t found the right one for the two of them, it keeps changing, unlike the one she has with Will, but that’s not going to stop him from finding The One eventually.
Then she grabs her bags and disappears over the hill.
Bobby cries a bit on the way home. Dad does too.
— ☼ —
They get phone calls the first few days she’s gone, but then the letters start arriving, one a day.
Dear Dad and Bobby,
Everyone is doing well.
Love,
Sky
Dear Dad and Bobby,
Today was our day to do dishes - Austin and Kayla almost started a lava-water fight which wouldn’t have ended well.
Love,
Sky
Dear Dad and Bobby,
I beat Seth to the top of the rock climbing wall today. He’s sworn revenge and that we’re racing again tomorrow. I’ll let you know who wins.
Love,
Sky
Dear Dad and Bobby,
I lost the rematch.
Love,
Sky
They keep arriving throughout the summer. He’s scared that one day a letter won’t be there. He doesn’t tell dad, but he’s been having nightmares of Sky on a bridge, screaming for someone, and mailboxes that are empty.
.
Bobby hangs out with the Malcolms that summer. Andi, the oldest, is one of Sky’s friends, and dad pays her to babysit him while he’s at work during the day.
There are a lot of kids at the Malcolm household, but Adam also skateboards, and lets Bobby hang out with him at the skatepark even though he’s two years older. The twins, Lily and Michael, who are two years younger than Bobby, like to play pirates at the playground, and love it when he joins in. Andi takes the four of them to the park a lot while her mom stays home with Nick who’s four and Josie who’s almost two.
Lily and Michael are super excited when a new Robin shows up. This one is a girl. They stop playing pirates to play Robin after that - both of them being Robin - and Bobby gets to be Batman when he joins in. Adam and Andi (and Ink, when he shows up) are the Rogues that they have to stop.
It was almost going to be a great summer. Sure, his nightmares were still happening. And he missed his mom. And Sky. But he’s a Big Boy now. He’s Eight . He could handle it. He could just hug his bear and think of Mom’s star stories, or think of Sky’s stories about Capture the Flag and all of the pranks she’d pull at camp, and he would be ok.
Then Sky’s letters stop arriving in early August. Dad calls the Camp’s phone number after two days of no letters, but no one answers. They try Iris Messaging, but it doesn’t work. Dad is about to call out of work to drive back up to New York when the phone rings on the 19th.
“Hello?” Dad answers the phone anxiously.
“Hi, Dad.”
“Skylar. ” He collapses into a seat at the kitchen table. “Are you ok? Is everyone alright? You stopped writing letters. What happened? ”
Bobby hovers nearby, fingers drumming lightly on the table as Dad puts the phone on speaker mode so he can hear too.
“I’m ok.” She sounds tired. “I’m sorry for not writing letters the past few days…. The Wa– …. It happened… We won. Camp has been extended two weeks. Will that be ok? Or should I be ready to leave at the normal time.”
“Skylar–”
“I’m really ok Dad, I promise.” She cuts him off, “I’m just tired. We’re still healing a lot of people and we didn’t get a lot of sleep during the actual fighting.”
Dad sighs softly. “Ok, and you’re alright? Everyone else is alright too?”
“Yeah… I’m fine.” She assures him, “But I only get so long on the phone. Other kids need to call home too.”
“Right, right, of course. You said camp’s been extended?”
“Yeah.”
“Ok, I’ll swap around which days I take off with work.”
“Thank you.”
“I love you.”
“Love you too, Daddy.”
She hangs up before Bobby can say anything. It kinda feels like his chest is shriveling up, but also like his arms and legs are jelly. He’s sad that he couldn’t say anything to her, but he’s also just so, so happy that she’s alive.
Dad takes him to Batburger that night to celebrate that Sky is alive, and they sit on the couch, marathoning the Original Trilogy until Bobby falls asleep.
— ☼ —
This year, Sky is one of the kids who’s helping direct everyone there for pick-up. She’s helping a girl around her age load some bags into the back of one of the Camp’s vans when Bobby spots her.
“SKY.” He sprints over to her.
Both girls whirl around to face him. The one he doesn’t know starts to move, and Sky shoves her back a few steps as Bobby slams into her for a hug. A second later, he feels Sky’s arm jerks out, and there’s a clang of metal behind his back. He loosens his hug, curiosity making him turn towards the noise.
Sky is holding a dagger, and had blocked a hit from the other girl. The girl’s eyes are weird, like she’s looking at them but not looking at them. Sky keeps their blades locked, and pushes Bobby behind her.
“Val?” Sky calls out softly.
‘Val’ blinks slowly, and locks in on Sky and their crossed daggers.
“...Sky?”
She blinks a few more times, glancing around for something, before her gaze lands on Bobby. She blinks one final time before her eyes widen and she jumps backwards, dropping her dagger, and slapping both hands over her mouth.
“ω θεοί μου.” She whispers under her breath, “I’m so sorry, I just saw something coming and I–”
“It’s ok.” Sky also drops her dagger, taking a cautious step forwards and showing her empty hands. “It’s ok, Val. Honest. You’re ok.”
Val is shaking, but lets Sky step closer again and pull her into a hug. The other girl begins to sob into Sky’s shoulder, clutching at her tightly.
Bobby’s not sure what to do. He can feel his shoulders folding in, trying to take up less space from where he stands a few feet away. Dad is hurrying over from where he had been talking to a man in a wheelchair.
A kid who looks like he’s maybe a year older than Sky comes over. He has blonde hair, but he’s not Will. He cautiously approaches, keeping his hands in view and stops about a foot away from them.
“Val? You ok?”
Val takes a few deep breaths and slowly stands up from where she was clutching onto Sky. Shakily nodding, she shuffles over to the boy and he leads her a few feet away, talking softly as they go.
Sky takes her own deep breath and turns to face Bobby.
“Hey,” She gives her own shaky smile, “Sorry about that. You can’t just go running up to people here anymore. Everyone’s really jumpy after The W– …. After this summer.”
Bobby hugs himself as he looks down at the ground. “Sorry.”
“It’s…” Sky sighs and runs a hand over her hair. She has bangs now. “Now you know. Just don’t do it again, ok?”
“Ok.”
Dad finally reaches them, pulling Sky into a hug and grabbing Bobby to add him as well. He squeezes both of them tightly.
“Are you ok? Was anybody hurt? What happened?”
“We’re fine, Dad.” Sky sounds irritated, but she’s hugging him back just as tensely. “Bobby just triggered Val. We’re all a bit on edge still. That’s all.”
Dad pulls back, reaching out to cup Sky’s face and look her over. “Are you sure?”
She huffs a breath, blowing some of the hair out of her face. “Yes. ”
He studies her for a few more moments before finally letting her go. “Ok, alright. You ready to go?”
Sky bites her lip and stares out at everyone else on the hill. Her fingers tap a pattern on her leg.
“Sky?” Dad prompts after she still hasn’t answered.
“I’m supposed to help with everyone leaving.” She mumbles, “It’s a counselor job.”
“Counselor? What happened to Michael?”
Sky looks down at the ground, fingers tapping faster.
“Oh.” Dad looks… lost. “Oh, honey, come here.” He pulls Sky into another hug.
She’s stiff at first, before melting into the hug and hiding her face in his shirt. Her shoulders start to shake, but she doesn’t make any noise. Bobby watches as Dad slowly sits down, pulling her into his lap and rocking gently back and forth. Not sure what else to do, Bobby quietly sits next to them.
Finally, Sky sits up and wipes her eyes on the sleeves of her orange shirt. She untangles from Dad’s hug, and stumbles to her feet. She looks up and locks eyes with someone.
“Be right back.” She whispers.
Bobby turns to watch as she heads over to Will and the man in the wheelchair. She talks with them quietly for a bit before giving Will a really long, hard hug. They don’t do their handshake.
Sky walks back to them, wiping her eyes some more.
“Ok.” She tells dad, “Will and Chiron say I can go. Almost everyone has left already anyways.”
Dad hesitates. “Are you sure? We can stay a bit longer if you want.”
“No. Let’s go.”
The car ride is quiet. Sky dozes through most of it, but she always seems to jerk awake before she fully falls asleep. By the time they’re back in Gotham, she’s almost asleep while standing. They get back to the apartment, and get ready for bed.
He’s woken up a little bit later by Sky’s crying. He looks over towards her bed to see her face shoved in her pillow as she tries to stay quiet. Not sure what to do, he slowly gets out of bed and moves over to her.
“Sky?”
She stiffens.
He reaches out a cautious hand and pokes her shoulder.
She turns around, still shaking as she cries.
“Sorry for, for waking you up.” She hiccups.
Bobby squeezes his Star Wars Bear a little tighter. “Do you want a hug? We could do our blanket pile.”
She smiles slightly. “Sure. Let’s do our pile.”
Together they grab all of their blankets and pillows and stuffed animals and form a little nest on the floor. Sky’s still shaky, but she’s stopped crying by the time they’re done. Bobby snuggles in close to her and offers her his bear.
“Here, you need him more than me tonight.”
Sky hesitantly grabs the bear and gives him a squeeze to hear mom’s recording.
“Thanks, B.”
“Course.”
.
The next morning Sky tells them what happened. She avoids a lot of the details, but they get the gist of it.
There was a War.
A lot of her friends died.
But they won.
And yeah, there was a new Great Prophecy, but the last one took almost 70 years to happen, so they figured they could just go back to their normal demigod lives now that her great-grandfather was gone again.