A Feast For Kings

Break Me (Like a Dream)

Summary:

Fate seems determined to keep throwing them together. Wen Qing and Jiang Cheng have a chance to talk. This fixes some things. Sequel to Listen to the Ocean (Hear it Break)

Ship: ChengQing

Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence | Post-Golden Core Reveal | Hurt/Comfort

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/63570229

Excerpt:

Wen Qing says nothing as Jiang Cheng opens her cell door. The slow grind of metal on stone is far too loud in the present silence as if only hours ago she had not heard the screams of her people and the sounds of battle.

“Lady Wen,” he greets, surveying the confines of this cell and stares long and hard at the manacles around her wrist and the array drawn on them. 

Qi sealing arrays. She’d designed them herself for risky surgeries where one’s qi could lash out and hurt the physician or patient. The irony of it all feels like a slap in the face. And was most likely Wen Chao’s intention.

As does his presence here. 

“Sect Leader Jiang,” she echoes like it is enough, like it can encompass everything that lies between them. 

---- Read More ----

| Welcome Home, Sweetheart

Hey so actually I might be a little obsessed with how Tim is Dick’s only real brother.

Like hear me out. HEAR ME OUT!

Dick’s relationship with Jason is full of regret and guilt. They might be building something now but their past is full of inflicting rotting wounds (metaphorical and often literal) on each other. Dick started the pattern first when he rejected Jason as Robin. And later Jason raging against Dick after his return. Jason’s semi-valid villain crash out ending with Dick putting him in Arkham because Jason was a straight villain pre-rebirth. And even then it takes rebirth remixed canon to allow Jason some family bonding time. I say they have a handful of months — and even then how often did Dick visit! He didn’t start reconnecting with the BatFam until after the Killing Joke and Death in the Family — they got along before shit got worse.

Damian is Dick’s BABY! That is his firstborn! Dick might have had some adoption tendencies pre-crisis with Jason but they realized that shit with Dick’s (Second? Third?) time in the cowl. Dick saw this small murderous child and was like “I can do it better than Bruce” and did. And yes they might be settling into a brotherly role with Bruce stepping the fuck up.* But I promise you having witnessed siblings with a 10 year age gap — even when the parents are perfect and emotionally available — that older sibling quickly becomes a third parent. With Dick, he was the first second and third parent. No way Damian and Dick could ever just be brothers and I love that for them.

So that leaves Tim! The little baby brother he started calling little brother YEARS before Bruce ever adopted Tim.** Timmy, the freak who broke into his apartment to track him down and drag him back to Gotham. Timmy who Dick follows back to Gotham and — through his growing relationship with Tim — reconnects with his second family.

He spent his early 20s with Tim! He comes into his own as Nightwing with Tim as Robin. He literally grows into his adult self with Tim as his witness.

How many lows has Tim helped him pick up after? How many falls has Dick caught Tim after (metaphorically and literally)?

But that’s the sweet sappy shit.

Tim is the one brother Dick doesn’t have to be responsible with. He eats shitty pizza with Tim. He has movie nights and hang outs and poor-tasting inside jokes with Tim. They race each other across rooftops! They play fight in the streets. Dick booby traps his apartment so Tim can have fun breaking in.*** Dick complains about his messy love life to Tim while Tim mocks him!

THEY ARE BROTHERS YOUR HONOR!

With Jason there is too much pain. With Damian there is too much responsibility. With Tim, Dick gets to be his age and just hangout with his brother!

There is a reason Dick calls Tim his equal. Dick loves his brothers, he’ll always be there for them. But Tim is the one Dick doesn’t have to watch or monitor or hover over. Tim is his brother, not his regret or his child.

20 years in real time and 4 years of comic time put Tim and Dick through the ringer. No Man’s Land. Knightfall. The nuking of Bloodhaven. Contagion. Try to name a tragedy Tim and Dick haven’t witnessed and weathers side by side! But no matter how they fight or have to disappear for the mission, they always find each other and trust each other and believe in each other. Because they are truly brothers!

(So context… I’m very much reading the 90s and 2000s run. I’m like chronologically in 98. I’ve heard modern comics have dropped this FOR SOME FUCKING REASON (they forget Tim exists, I guess). But I refuse to believe that rebirth got rid of their brotherly bond. Just as Tim’s “friendship” with Kon-El transcends timelines so does Dick and Tim’s brotherly bond! They are family bonded through the fires of time and comic book bullshit!)

* How much this is true take with a grain of salt. I’m not reading modern yet. I’ve read some cause Damian just slaps and I love him. But there’s so much!

** Tim was adopted for like a year before being emancipated. WILD! What fatherless behavior!

*** What feral menaces! I love them!!! I just need to scream. Not important. Carry on. ^>^

I personally believe all Robins are relatively interchangeable. Like yes Dick’s style is a little flashier and he loves to add some flourish to his moves when he can. And Tim is a natural born detective who, in another life, went on to become a PI. And Jason’s brutal efficiency is only comparable to Bruce’s. And Damian’s league training is always visible in his sword style.

But all of them have the same access to the same utility belt. They’re all trained by Batman and the Robins before them. They are all natural born leaders (even if the way they present those skills differs by personality.)

All of them can fight with a sword, Damian just loves fighting with a sword the most.

All of them are amazing detectives, Tim is just a bit faster at picking up certain visual clues and suspicious behaviors.

All of them have the capability to be brutally efficient like Batman but that is Jason’s default.

And all of them are superb acrobatics trained in the Flying Grayson’s style, but that is Dick’s bread and butter.

There is a reason every team of note has a Bat. They are the utility tool of the superhero world.

No one Robin is really better or more capable than the other. They just have signatures that mesh with their personalities that they tend to gravitate too.

I want Damian and Tim to be friends so bad. I want chaotic younger sibling energy team up to make everyone else’s life hell! They both have big gremlin energy and 0 chill and poor understanding of other peoples limits.

Stop being cowards @DC, let Tim and Damian wreak havoc!

If you have fics, pls rec and my life is yours!

I’m honestly surprised breakdown cut your hair in the bathroom at 3am and dye it hot pink isn’t more common in Batfamily fanfics.

But Dick definitely grew out his hair for years, researching the right conditioners and at one point giving into those weird hair gummy bear ads on insta. But after a bad night that shouldn’t be considered that bad considering the bullshit he’s put up with in his life, gives himself bangs at 5am in the morning and dyes it Cosmic Purple.

Tim has a manic breakdown and gave himself a rough cut that can only be salvaged by a bowl and Alfred’s sharpest fabric sheers at 3am after Steph’s fake death and he’s crying the entire time.

Jason had a phase where he was dying that white chunk ever color of the rainbow for months in an attempt to feel more in control of his body so he always had dye stains underneath his fingernails until it became stringy and gross and he had to shave his head. (Roy did it). (He hates that it grew back.)

Cass constantly cuts her hair. She tries lace wigs. She dyes it different colors. Always at a salon with Bruce’s credit card. Until one night, she can’t stand to look at herself in the mirror.

She feels numb. It’s been a shit day, week, life. And everyone can tells she’s pissed and she knows and they know she knows. But when they try to ask her what’s wrong she can’t get the words out because words suck and also she doesn’t know. So she just shaves off all her hair and her eyebrows and regrets it as soon as the trimmer touches scalp but it’s too late.

One day I’ll sell my crafts. But for now I’m glad I finished these!

Me: I don't get it. I thought I was doing a lot better than I was a few years ago. I'm like 10 times more on top of things than I used to be. How does everything feel terrible now?

The Tiny Me in OSHA-approved Hi-Vis Gear Who lives in my brain and pulls all the levers: Boss, it's the fascism. You're completely gunked up with cortisol due to the fact that your entire daily life is now underscored with a haunting awareness of the rapid erosion of your rights, dignity, and any and all social safety nets, and you're also bearing witness to the most vulnerable people immediately being persecuted. This creates a natural stress response that basically means you're going to continue having memory and organizational problems, as well as emotional imbalances.

Me: BUT I HAVE A BULLET JOURNAL AND I MEDITATE NOW.

Tiny OSHA Me: BOSS, THE FASCISM.