Work Text:
“Has there been any news yet?” Kon asks looking at his father desperately.
The man sighs and puts down the piece of paper he was reading and gives him an exasperated look, “No Kon. Nothing has changed since you last asked me over 6 hours ago. You know that I have sent out multiple search parties looking for them so when I do hear something to do with them I’ll let you know.”
Kon looks away and frowns, feeling slightly embarrassed as well as annoyed, “Sorry… I’m just concerned…”
“I know you are son.” His father says, the exasperated look turns into a soft and knowing gaze, “Unfortunately there’s nothing else I can do for them until we find out where they are. That’s even if they are-”
“Don’t say it.” Kon snaps cutting off what he was going to say. He really would rather not think about any other alternatives to what could have happened to the Wayne Princes and their escape from their kingdom.
It’s been three months since the king of the Wayne kingdom had been killed. It’s been three months since the princes of the Wayne Kingdom have disappeared and absolutely no one seems to know where they have gotten to, it’s like they’ve just vanished into thin air. It’s been over three months since Kon has last heard from Tim.
It’s lucky that they even know that the prince’s are missing at all, the man who had claimed the Wayne Kingdom for himself was very proud of his ‘achievement’ and made it known he was now ruler of said kingdom after successfully killing King Wayne. However, through his pride word had gotten out that the princes had escaped his grasp and were on the run, but that’s as far as word has gotten. No ones found them since.
Being close with the Wayne family his father has sent out search parties looking for the princes. They hope to find them making their way here but with no communication with them they have no way of knowing what the four princes had planned. In the last three months they have had no results in their searches, as each day goes by Kon’s concern and worry grows every day for Tim and his brothers and to what could have happened to them. He tries to not think about the worst case scenario but it’s hard to stay optimistic when it’s been this long.
Kon’s startled out of his thoughts when a hand lands on his shoulder, he snaps his gaze up to find his father standing right next to him wearing a soft smile, “He’ll be okay Kon, they’re all smart and resilient. We’ll find Tim and his brothers and then work out what to do next.”
Kon swallows the lump that’s formed in his throat, “Yeah okay,” he agrees weekly, it wasn’t a secret about who he was concerned about the most between the Wayne Princes.
Everyone who knew him knew about his relationship with Timothy Drake Wayne the third Prince of the Wayne Kingdom. While their relationship wasn’t ideal as being long distance lovers was never fun, but the times they do see each other it was even more precious and intimate. He wouldn’t change their relationship for anything but with Tim currently missing his heart was weighing heavy in his chest and it was incredibly hard to think about anything else.
“Sir.”
He’s snapped out of his thoughts a second time when a new voice speaks out around them. Kon and his father both look in the direction of the door to the room they were in, standing there was one of the royal guards.
His father’s hand is removed from his shoulder as the king straightens up, he gives the guard a hard look, “What is it?”
Normally the guards wouldn’t disturb the king unless it was important or an emergency. “My lord, the Wayne Princes have just appeared on the outskirts of our kingdom, my men have already picked them up and are their way here.”
Kon’s eyes widen at that, he looks over at the king to find the man still staring at the guard with narrowed eyes. “How long ago were they found?” He asks.
“Not long sir,” the guard says without hesitation, “They should arrive here within the next few minutes. However, there is something else…”
Kon doesn’t wait any longer. Before he knows it he’s running towards the guard and flies out through the door into the corridor, ignoring the calls from his father he continues to run until he’s standing outside looking around frantically for Tim and his brothers.
When they don’t appear in sight in the busy court yard he runs over to one of the guards patrolling the palace, “Where are they?” He demands. In the back of his mind he knows he’s being rude and how it isn’t fair to the guard but at the moment he couldn’t care less, he needs to see Tim, needs to know that he’s alright.
Not seeming bothered by his outburst, the guard blinks at him and calmly says, “Your highness, they’ll be arriving within the next minute or so.”
Kon stops himself from swearing at the guard and forces himself to turn around and walk away. He can’t wait a minute! He needs to see them now! He settles for pacing the length of the court yard as he waits, finding the movement helping to somewhat ease he anxiety.
What feels like hours later his father comes out into the court yard, Kon’s more than happy to ignore him but his father reaches out and grabs his arm to stop his movement. Kon glares up at him unhappy with the action but doesn’t comment on it.
“Kon there’s something you need to know-”
Whatever he was about to say gets cut off with a shout of “they’re here!” and Kon’s attention is drawn away from the king over to a wagon being pulled into the court yard. Kon knocks off the hand holding onto him and sprints over to where a small crowd has gathered.
As he gets there people were getting off the wagon, he freezes in place as he only sees three figures climbing down onto the floor. He recognises them immediately of course, despite the state that they’re in where they’re covered in dirt, grime and what looks like blood.
The first one off the wagon is Dick, at a first glance he appears fine. The second one to come off the wagon is Jason and unlike his brother he did not appear fine. There was a large red stain covering his chest and he had an arm wrapped protectively around his middle, clearly in pain. Dick helps him off the wagon and helps stabilize him once he’s on the floor. The third to come off the wagon was Damian, like Dick he appeared to be fine.
Kon looks past the brothers and desperately at the now empty wagon. He doesn’t understand. Where’s Tim? He wasn’t with them. Why wasn’t he there? Where was he?
Finally finding himself being able to move, Kon goes over to the brothers. He takes in their battered and tired forms but just couldn’t help himself and asks, “Where is he?”
All of their gazes turn to him and he could see was crestfallen expressions plaguing each of their faces. Dread builds up inside of him at what that could mean. No, no, no, no, no, no… please no.
“Boys.”
Kon jumps out of his thoughts as his father appears next to him. The Wayne’s attention go from him to the king, their expressions don’t change but if Kon was looking at them correctly he would have said they actually grew darker.
“It’s good to see you.”
Dick’s the one to greet them verbally, though it was quiet, breathless and most of all tired, “Hey Kal.”
Kal looks at each of them, clearly taking in their battered forms and Kon ignores the glance his father sends him when he spots the absence of the third eldest.
“Why don’t we go inside and get you boys looked at.”
They all nod solemnly at the suggestion. His father begins to lead the way back up to their palace, behind him Dick throws Jason’s arm that’s not wrapped around his middle over his shoulders and begins to help his brother walk, Damian takes his place at Jason’s other side and Kon falls in step just behind them.
The first thing they do is send them to the medical room so they all can get checked out. Turns out that they’re all covered in bruises, underweight and malnourished. Jason had the worst injury that required stitches across his stomach and was ordered to bed rest for a good week, of course he protested against it but after some harsh words from both of his brothers he relented and laid back down on the bed they provided for him.
The second thing they did was allow the Wayne Princes to have a shower and get dressed in some clean clothes. The third thing was give them food, they ate like they haven’t in days and by the way they looked it wasn’t an entirely irrational thought.
Once they were fat and full Kon and his father sat down with the three of them in a private room where they had put Jason. Both of them could tell the Wayne’s were exhausted and obviously wanted nothing more than to just sleep but they needed to know what happened.
“What do you know already?” Dick asks, he was perched on the end of Jason’s bed looking at them both expectantly.
Kon shares a look with his father and allows him to take the lead. If Kon opened his mouth to talk right now all of his questions would be about Tim, nothing else. He knows that they need the whole story and how within that story the truth about Tim will come out. As much as he hates it he needs to be patient.
“Not much.” The king sighs. “We know what happened to Bruce, we’re sorry for your loss, and we know how Ra’s Al Ghul has taken over the Wayne throne but beyond that nothing. We knew you lot were missing but we didn’t know what happened to you, obviously having no communication with you we weren’t able to find you. We’re glad you’re here now though.”
Dick swallows at the mention of Bruce and the other two look away darkly. Three months really isn’t a lot of time to get used to someone passing, especially with their circumstances it must be hard for them and Kon couldn’t help but just feel sorry for them.
Turning around, Dick glances at his brothers before looking back at them. He takes a deep breath and lets it out. “So you obviously want to know what happened. I honestly couldn’t really tell you. That day was just like any other, we were all doing our own things then suddenly the alarm started ringing out and we were being attacked. An army invaded the palace despite our own defence.
We all grouped up and fought back, once we were done we went to find Bruce just in time to see Ra’s…” Dick stops for a moment to try and contain his emotions, he swipes at his eyes and lets out a shaky breath before continuing, “To see him be killed. After that Jason and I just took Tim and Damian and ran, we could have stayed and fought but we were out numbered there was just no way… we went on the run then, our first plan was getting here we hope that you’ll help us to take back our Kingdom. But along the way… things happened and it went south but here we are I guess.”
Kon shares another look with his father. He feels terrible for what’s happened to them, of course they’ve heard about what had happened but actually hearing about in some detail from someone who was there was just awful.
“Just one more question for tonight then we’ll let you all rest. What happened to Tim?”
Dick shares another glance with his brothers before looking at them again, this time his gaze lingering on Kon. Of course Tim’s brother’s knew of their relationship, there was no way they could hide it from people like them.
Dick opens his mouth to respond but Jason beats him to it. “The kid was a fucking idiot. He fucking sacrificed himself for us!”
Kon’s eyes widen at that, “What?” He questions weakly as his heart pounds away inside his chest like it’s going explode. Sacrificed?.
“It wasn’t long after everything had gone on, we weren’t even out of the Kingdom’s boundaries when it happened.” Dick starts to explain before Jason could say anything yet again. Behind him his brother let’s out a huff of annoyance. “While hiding, Ra’s guards managed to catch up to us and chased us, they chased us for a long time and we just weren’t able to get away. Seeing no other option Tim used himself as a distraction so we could get away. The idiot got himself captured.”
Kon’s gaping at the young man in front of him. Tim sacrificed himself so they could get away. He gave himself up for his brothers. “Is he… did they… what…” He couldn’t even ask the question that was on the tip of his tongue.
Dick seems to work out what he’s trying to say and runs his hands down his face with a groan. “I don’t know,” he admits looking at him, “We don’t know what happened to him after that, we just know that he got captured because we did what he said to and ran. I made him a promise and I wasn’t about to break it.”
Kon looks away from him and digests what he’s being told. He wants to be angry, he really wants to be angry at the situation, at Tim, at his brothers, basically at everything. But he knows he can’t be. He doesn’t have the right to be. He knows Tim and he knows he’ll do anything for his brother’s and he’s proven it. He can’t be angry at his partner for looking out for his brother’s even if it means giving up his own life, that wouldn’t be fair.
Damn him and his selflessness.
His attentions turns back to Dick when he speaks again, “We don’t know if he was killed, taken as a slave, or taken back to the palace and then killed, we just don't know. But I promised him we’ll get here and we’ll get help.” He’s looking at them with determination now.
His father stands up and grips his shoulder, giving him his own determined look. “And we will help. Bruce and I go way back, if there’s anything I can do to avenge him I’m going to. You boys don’t deserve what’s happened to you and you have the right to be in your own home, I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure you are where you belong.”
There were tears forming in Dick’s eyes but to his credit he doesn’t let them fall, he reaches up and wipes them away with a sniff and looks up at Clark with gratitude, “That means a lot. Thank you Kal.”
“You don’t need to thank me, Dick.” He removes his hand from his shoulder and stands up straighter giving them all a look, “Now why don’t you all get some very much needed rest. Your usual rooms have been prepared for you if you wish to use them, tomorrow we can start to discuss what’s going to happen but for now rest. You all need it.”
Kon takes that as his cue to get up and leave the room, he gives each of them a nod and a small smile before leaving them alone. Tim may not be with them but for the sake of his partner he can be glad that his brother’s are alright.
He follows his father in silence as they leave the room and head down the corridor. Neither of them speak until they get to the main dining area.
“We’re definitely going to help them right?” Kon asks eyeing up the king as he sits down at the head of the table. When his father doesn’t answer straight away Kon feels sudden anger flare up inside of him. “We’ve got to help them! They’ve come all this way, Tim sacrificed himself for them, their father was murdered! We have to help them!”
As Kon catches his breath, his chest heaving up and down his father gives him a pointed look, “Of course we will Kon. We will help them. I at least owe that to Bruce, to try and get his kingdom back for his sons.”
“And we’re going to save Tim right?” Kon demands.
There was a pause before he gets a response, “If he’s in there then yes of course, but Kon don’t get your hopes because-”
“I know,” Kon cuts him off sharply, “I know that there’s a possibility that he may not even be alive at this point but I gotta believe in something dad. Whatever gets decided, when we go and fight Ra’s I’m going with and rescuing him if he is there.” When the king doesn’t answer straight away Kon presses again, “I am going, there’s nothing you can do to change my mind.”
That gets him a raised eyebrow and a knowing smile, “Like I’d be able to stop you from going anyway.”
Kon feels most of his anger melt away, it going as quickly as it came. “Exactly,” He grins back feeling satisfied.
“Now get to bed, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. Hopefully they’ll be more willing to share some more information with us and then we can try and start planning something to try and get control of the Wayne Kingdom back.”
Kon nods his head in understanding and agreement, at least they will be doing something about it. What that something is he doesn’t know yet, but whatever it may be as long as it gets him Tim back and the Wayne’s their home back then he’s all for it.
He bids his father a goodnight and leaves to head for his own bedroom. His mind was reeling with possibilities to what tomorrow could lead to and what it all could mean in the future. Unfortunately he’ll just have to wait and find out.