munnin: (Default)
munnin ([personal profile] munnin) wrote2010-04-23 10:32 am

Fic - The last ray of light

Title: The last ray of light
Characters: Bernard Dowd.
Fandom: Band!AU
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: All fun, no cash.
Author’s notes: Inspired, bounced off and grammatically rescued by the much beloved [livejournal.com profile] faile_neume 

Summary: A Gotham expat writes of the Exodus and the last days of Gotham.

I remember waking up in time to watch my alarm clock dance across my table and smash onto the floor as the first of the earthquakes hit. As someone who lived though the No Man’s Land quakes, I moved without thinking, huddling in my doorway till the tremor stopped.

I looked out the window and saw the streets below littered with glass and echoing with the blare of car alarms, but the skyline was intact...then. The No Man’s quake had done wonderful things for the city’s building codes. The City of Gotham had been knocked down once before but we’d come up stronger than ever, we were invincible.

Or so we thought.

Over the weeks that followed the city was beset by quakes, floods and fires, each stronger than the last. As friends of mine turned to faith for solace, others turned away, asking themselves what God had against the Dark City.

I was doing my internship as a school counsellor at the time and the news that the government and military were staging mass evacuations came as a relief. The kids I worked with deserved to be safe as the city around us burned. The politicians promised it wouldn’t be like No Man’s, that America wouldn't turn her back on us this time but I had already seen too many die and it was time to go.

I volunteered to help with what the media dubbed the Exodus of Gotham. There were so many kids on their own, sent away by frightened parents or orphaned by the storm. It reminded me of the London blitz, children tagged and labelled so their relatives could find them.

Too many never got found.

Six months later I found myself working for a private practice as a counseling psychologist talking to kids who shared my memories of the Dark City. Most of them just wanted to hold on to that feeling of belonging, of having a home – no matter how distant. They wanted to reconnect with the idea of Gotham.

That’s how the camps started. I wanted these kids to be able to share their experiences, their insecurities and their stories with people who would understand – each other.

I got in touch with prominent Gotham Expats and other people in the field and managed to scrape together enough funding the run the first five day camp. Believe me; we nearly died of shock when over a thousand people contacted us hoping for their child to attend.

With much lobbying, hand shaking and public flag waving, the Gotham Child Relief fund was established and we were able to set up a permanent site at the Mt Hatchet region of Pennsylvania.

The name for the camps came from conversations with the kids. Batman was synonymous with Gotham even before the Exodus. Many of the older kids already wore the Bat emblem on their skin as a flag of citizenship. It was Alex, one of the regulars, who has since graduated to become one of my most trusted camp counsellors, who joked about fitting a Batsignal to the roof in the hope that Batman would show. The lack of news from the city’s protector was often a point of contention with the kids.

I’ve always had a fascination with Robin myself and often wondered what happened to the kid in the tights I grew up following on the news. Did he die defending the city? Did he get out alive? Was he living in another city under a different name or a different mask? Does he miss Gotham as badly as I do? I guess I’ll never know.

So now the Batsignal camps run four times a year for both junior and senior kids. The scattered children of the Dark City come from all over the country to talk, explore and reconnect.

And it’s spreading.

Some of the older kids have formed support groups in their own cities, keeping in touch and fund raising to send Gotham kids from underprivileged areas or families to camp.

It was Alex who first brought the Robins and their music to my attention. Camps always involve a decent amount of embarrassing singing around the fire but that night Alex picked up the guitar and played something all the kids seemed to know. Pretty soon all of them were joining in. Singing songs about Gotham, about familiar places and events, about living so far away from the place that gave them their identity. I pulled Alex aside afterwards and asked him if he’d written them. He laughed at me of course and handed me his mp3 player.

I’d never heard anyone express the things all Gothamites felt as clearly as this band did. In a three and a half minute song they said what it sometimes took all five days of the camp to get out of some kids. It was just there – the passion in the music, the soul in the lyrics, the hope in their sound.

I started using their music as part of the camp counselling sessions the next day and a lot of kids really opened up to it; finding something in the band’s sound and lyrics that they were trying to express in themselves.

First chance I got I started researching the Robins. As you can imagine I was stunned to discover I went to school with the bass player.

So that’s the story Tim. My kids love your music; it’s helped them deal with the single greatest disruption in their young lives. One girl even confided to me that Never Alone changed her mind about taking her own life.

But think what you could do if you came and talked to these kids in person? The difference you could make. I’ve seen the Gotham Survivors board you linked to your website and I have a feeling you might have had a hand in setting it up but...

Come and talk to my kids sometime. I know what it would mean to them.

And I know what it would mean to me.

The Batsignal is on, calling the youth of Gotham together. Answer the call Tim. Come see me sometime.

Dr Bernard Dowd.
Manager / Head Counsellor,
Batsignal Youth Camp.


[identity profile] glymr.livejournal.com 2010-04-23 01:04 am (UTC)(link)
Wow. That's just really awesome. I love the idea of all these people wearing the Bat as their flag, and of the Batsignal still being used. I adore the idea of The Robins coming and playing for the camp. This was so clever and wonderful!

[identity profile] munnin-odanin.livejournal.com 2010-04-23 01:08 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you. I was having a random moment between classes and had to text the idea to Just. I’m glad it worked.

[identity profile] darthbatgirl.livejournal.com 2010-04-23 01:56 am (UTC)(link)
Oh that is just lovely. I just love the way Bernard ended the letter. There was no way Tim would say no to that.

[identity profile] munnin-odanin.livejournal.com 2010-04-23 02:39 am (UTC)(link)
He won't, don't worry. Glad you liked it!

[identity profile] alexiel-neesan.livejournal.com 2010-04-23 08:54 am (UTC)(link)
Oh. Wow.
(I'll find something more coherent to say later. I hope.)

[identity profile] munnin-odanin.livejournal.com 2010-04-23 10:35 am (UTC)(link)
coherent not required ;)

[identity profile] alexiel-neesan.livejournal.com 2010-04-23 10:52 am (UTC)(link)
It gives yet one more dimension to this universe, and another direction. I love it.

[identity profile] faile-neume.livejournal.com 2010-04-23 11:34 am (UTC)(link)
BAWWWWW ;-;

ALSO I MADE YOU SOME PRESENTS! I WILL SHOW YOU THEM IN A SEC

[identity profile] munnin-odanin.livejournal.com 2010-04-23 11:47 am (UTC)(link)
*Hug* I love you! I finally finished yours too. Can you email me your mailing address?

[identity profile] faile-neume.livejournal.com 2010-04-23 11:50 am (UTC)(link)
Look at my latest post! And yes, yes I can!

Yours aren't a surprise because I am TOO EXCITED AND NEED TO SHOW HOW AWESOME I AM!

But I also have something else that is secret and unfinished for you <3

[identity profile] shinigrace.livejournal.com 2010-04-25 10:42 pm (UTC)(link)
This whole universe I have been waiting to see where Bernard is. This is the perfect place for him to be. Answer the call Timmy! <3

[identity profile] munnin-odanin.livejournal.com 2010-04-25 11:52 pm (UTC)(link)
oh he will. I though the same. I was walking between classes and had this sudden thought of 'I wonder where Bernard got to?' I'm glad I could bring him into it.

Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for commenting.

[identity profile] touch-of-grey37.livejournal.com 2010-04-28 01:20 am (UTC)(link)
I cried. Hard.

[identity profile] munnin-odanin.livejournal.com 2010-04-28 01:28 am (UTC)(link)
I'm sorry...*hands over tissues* I'm glad it worked though.

[identity profile] touch-of-grey37.livejournal.com 2010-04-28 03:36 am (UTC)(link)
Oh man, it worked like crazy.

[identity profile] stalinglim.livejournal.com 2010-08-29 02:23 am (UTC)(link)
oh...

oh WOW.

was there a sequel to this?

[identity profile] munnin-odanin.livejournal.com 2010-08-29 02:28 am (UTC)(link)
I always meant to write it but never have. Keep kicking me and I will.

[identity profile] stalinglim.livejournal.com 2010-08-29 02:30 am (UTC)(link)
*kicks gleefully* okay!

[identity profile] joya oscura (from livejournal.com) 2011-07-30 04:49 am (UTC)(link)
Gods, this made me get teary eyed. I would write more, but I'm speechless.

[identity profile] munnin-odanin.livejournal.com 2011-07-30 12:57 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm sorry to make you tear but thank you for such a great complement. *passes the tissues*