Fallen Angel

Mari pov-

It was finally time to put operation Birthday Girl into action.

I was really excited, though I felt bad for not being able to attend dinner nor the presents. Hopefully this would be enough to make up for it and get my niece to forgive my absence.

The concert was going to be held at the huge park that Gotham had, since it was the only place big enough to have it take place, and I wanted it outside for a specific reason. That reason being that there was going to be several food shacks there with the concert so that people could eat freely, and I had personally made sure that there was going to be a few clothing stands full of winter clothes, blankets, pillows, and other things that were specifically for the street kids of Crime Alley, which was The Red Hood's territory.

Jason had taken me there over the past week so that I could meet all of the Gotham street kids that he protected, and all of the working girls as well, and after surprisingly quickly gaining their trust and being held as the favorite for them, I had told them my plan of getting them a LOT of free food, clothes, and other things that I knew they were going to need, and that I was planning on buying a couple of the huge buildings that were in Crime Alley, because Jason and I had thought about making a huge hotel kind of building for all of them, a safe haven for them to live in to go to that was off of the streets and protected from any bad things that came for the kids. But, what I didn't tell Jason, was that I was actually planning on buying all of Crime Alley. I had the money for it, so I didn't need to worry about that, and I was going to see if Tim, Dick, and Dad would be able to help me get what I had planned done. It was going to be my Christmas present for Jason, and I was planning on buying Crime Alley and the Narrows so that I could get the poor part of the city back up with the rest of Gotham. I wanted everyone that lived there to not have to worry about safety, food, power, having a safe place to sleep and keep warm, and not have to worry about anything bad happening to them.

I was also setting up an education program for Crime Alley, that way those who didn't have but wanted an education so that they could get jobs would be able to with no problem, and that was also unknown to Jay. However, I had told Alfred of my plans, and he was so proud that he had tears in his eyes, and he said that he would help me to the best of his ability.

I was brought out of my thoughts when my phone alarm went off. The concert was going to start in a few minutes, and I was ready to go, as were my friends. Chloe, Nino, Alix, Kim, and our other two friends, Luka Stone and Kagami Tsurgi, had arrived to do the concert with us, and Luka, my older cousin, had collaborated with me to make my concert the end of his world tour that he and Jagged have been on for the past few months, and Jagged had come as a surprise guest, and he and Luka were also going to perform at the concert as well. Jason didn't know that Jagged was here, as my dear older brother was his biggest fan, so I was going to surprise him with that, which Uncle Jagged and Auntie Penny had eagerly agreed, wanting to meet their old friend, my Dad, again and meet my family.

What could I say? I had a plan for EVERYTHING.

A bitch has to be prepared for the unexpected.

Anyway, I was walking with my band of friends across the stage to get to our places, listening to the entire crowd go crazy and scream out their cheers and chants, and I smiled my million watt smile, taking in the praises from the audience. My friends got to their usual places, Luka standing next to me with is favorite guitar, and he sighed contentedly. Once the crowd quieted down, I grabbed the mic, tested it, then spoke.

"Hello Gotham City!!" I shouted, and my crew all waved as the crowd went wild again. I caught my family's eyes, and I saw Jason stand a few rows behind them, little Mar'i on his shoulders with the most excited smile I've ever seen on her face. My impossible to challenge bright smile got impossibly brighter, and I saw a lot of people squint when I did so.

The title of Gotham's Sunshine was MINE.

"I can guess that you all know that I have an awesome concert planned for everyone, but, this time, I'm going to be doing a few things differently. To start, I have a couple of guest singers that will be singing up with me later on. And yes, Luka is the first one. I- don't look at me like that, Luka, I can feel you giving me a look- The next one is a surprise. The next thing I'm going to be doing, which is my favorite surprise, will be revealed halfway during the concert. And, when the concert is over, I have a lot of announcements to make, so I would like to ask if everyone can stay here so that I can tell you. The end is a huge surprise, and my family didn't agree with it at first, but I managed to convince them to see it from my point of view, so, that's that.

"But anyway, enough with my boring chatter, because that's not what you guys came here to watch and listen to for the next 4 hours. On with the show! Oh, and don't forget to stick around afterwards!" I said, and then the concert began.

~ ~ ~

2 hours later, I finished my last song of my new album and patiently waited for the crowd to quiet down.

The sleeves of the hoodie I was wearing, which was Duke's Signal hoodie, were pushed up to my elbows, and I was thankful that I had chosen to wear my black skinny jeans to go with the yellow hoodie and not leggings due to the slight chill wafting through the air. My long hair was up in a tight high ponytail, which was starting to hurt my head and hair, so I put my microphone in its stand and took the ponytail out while I talked to my band about the next phase of my plan, my long slim fingers massaging my hair to give it a break for a while.

Luka smiled. "Just wait until they find out Dad is the next guest. The crowd is going to go insane." he mused, and Alix nodded while I took my time to put my hair back up in it's ponytail after a few moments, and I swore when the hair tie snapped and flew to the other side of the stage. Chloe and Nino laughed, making me glare at them as I let my arms down, letting my hair loose again, and went to go retrieve the broken hair tie.

As I reached the edge of the stage, The part of the crowd that I was next to started calling my name, and I heard a baby start crying at all of the noise. I looked through the little part of the crowd and saw a woman trying and failing to get the baby to quiet down, and the man she was with clearly wasn't helping. So, being my helpful self, I spoke up.

"Hey, miss? Do you mind if I try? I may be able to soothe your little one." I kindly said, and she literally melted in relief. "Oh, thank you! I'm so sorry, I can't get her to stop crying. I don't know what's wrong. She's been changed and fed, and she has special headphones on so that the noise wont hurt her ears or head. Daniel can't get her to stop either. Her name is Madison, and I'm Sarah." She quickly said, coming up to the safety gate and carefully holding Madison up to me, and I knelt down to one knee so that I could carefully grab her and stood up, bringing the baby up to my chest rocking the crying infant. By now, the crowd had gone deathly silent while watching me, and I didn't see my family among MANY others recording me on their phones as I walked around the stage, rocking Madison and singing to her the lullaby that Mom would sing to me as a little girl, followed by the lullaby that Jason still does sing to me whenever I have a nightmare and/or can't fall asleep.

I stared down at Madison with a look of my own motherly love, and had a soft and warm smile gracing my face as the girl eventually stopped crying and looked up at me in curiosity and wonder, and her pretty brown eyes sparkled with wonder and happiness. She smiled and cooed up at me, her arms reaching up to play with my hair and face, and I smiled more at her and started talking to her, making her squeal with happiness and laugh. I let her play with my hand, completely forgetting about where I was, and I giggled when she put my fingers in her little mouth and gave me a 'what?' look.

Just holding this little girl made me want one of my own, maybe, later on in life, have 4 or 5 kiddos running around the manor, make Dad a grandpa of a few more kids, give Mar'i a few cousins to hang out with later on.

Madison brought me out of my thoughts by talking in her own little blabber and nonsense, and I played with her and blabbered back to her. I almost laughed, because she looked so serious expectant while she played with my hands, and I held a nice conversation with her for a few minutes before heading back over to her mom and dad, who were smiling at me. I used the stairs this time so that I could safely give Madison back to her parents, and when she was returned to Sarah's arms, the little girl wouldn't let go of Duke's hoodie.

Giggling, I took it off, revealing my yellow and black Batman tank top and scarred shoulders and arms from Tom and my classmates, and I gave it to Madison, who yelled out in pure happiness, making me laugh and smile my million mega watt smile at her. "You can keep this, Sweetheart. I can make my older brother another one, and now, you can proudly say that you own Signal's actual favorite hoodie, which has his cologne in it still. I owe him a favor, anyway." I said, giving her a kiss on the cheek and jumping back onto the stage, landing on my toes.

I looked up to see Chloe and Luka both holding up their phones, and I simply smiled and blushed, hiding my face and laughing as I went back to my microphone. Chloe came up to me and whispered in my ear, "You were totally thinking about having kids of your own one day, weren't you?" she asked, and, not realizing where she was going with this, I nodded.

But then I saw her smirk evilly. "I'm sure that your little farmer boy would love to have kids with you, once he finally steps up to the plate." she said, and my face went from my light white complexion to a dark red. "CHLOE!!" I screeched, feeling my face on fire, and my best friend grinned. "What? We all know that you have a thing for Jon. You two make it painfully obvious." she teased, and my face burned redder than Jason's helmet. "Chloeeeee, shut UUUPPPPPP!!!!!" I complained, making the blonde laugh as I shoved her away from me. "You know it's true, Maribug! You can't deny it!" she said, and I hid my face in embarrassment, knowing she was right.

She was lucky that I loved her as my sister, otherwise I would kill her.

I regained my composure, sending Chloe a side glare that made her smirk, and I grabbed my microphone again. "Chloe, I'm going to kill you." I said, and she grinned. "You love me too much to even think about it, little sis." she said, and I stared at her blankly. "No deserts of anything I make at home for you for a month." I deadpanned, and she paled. "WHAT!? NO, YOU CAN'T DO THAT, MARINETTE. YOU TAKE THAT BACK!!" she yelled, and I smirked.

"Anyway, skipping the drama for later, it is finally time for the first surprise of 2. The first, in order for any of it to make sense to all of you, I will be revealing my name. Then, The real surprise can begin." I said, and I smiled knowingly. "My name is Marinette Jakayla Todd-Wayne, and I am the youngest and biological daughter of Bruce Wayne, my Dad, and Sabine Cheng, my mother, who died a long time ago here in this city. I'm guessing that all of you know who my family is, but for those of you who don't, I'll tell you. And, I actually have them all here today, too. My brothers and sisters are Dick Grayson, Stephanie Brown, Damian Wayne, Tim Drake, Duke Thomas- I'll make you a new hoodie and have it to you by tomorrow, Duke, don't worry!- Barbra Gordon, and Cassandra Cain. Then there's my Grandpa, Alfred Pennyworth, and my mom figure, Selina Kyle. Dad, hurry up and ask her to marry you, already! I bet my entire pride and confidence for this, Old Man, and Mom is very nicely and patiently waiting for you to get confidence. Anyway, then there's my AMAZING niece, Mar'i Grayson-Wayne, and finally, my favorite family member.

"He has been with me ever since I was 3 years old, and I had met him on a really cold and snowy day in December. So, basically, I grew up with Sabine until I was 6, when she was murdered by my step dad, Tom Dupain. No one knew, except Sabine, that I was Bruce's actual daughter, and Tom had quickly figured it out when I grew up looking like Bruce and not having any of Tom's traits. So, because he hated the fact that I wasn't HIS child, he abused me and Sabine while we lived in Gotham, and abused my brother, who I had convinced Sabine to adopt when him and I became best friends and already inseparable over the first meeting, where I had rescued him from freezing to death in a box in an alley. But, he is the best brother any kid could ever dream of having." I said, looking Jason in the eye as I continued to speak, watching his shocked face from where he stood with Mar'i and Roy.

"His name is Jason Peter Todd-Wayne, and he's the best thing that has EVER happened to me in my entire shitty life. Jason is not only my big brother, but he stepped up as my parent when Sabine wasn't able to and Tom refused. He-' I sniffled and wiped tears away with my hand. "he taught me everything that I know. He taught me how to be kind to everyone, no matter what, and when to not be kind to them anymore after they've hurt you to a certain degree. He taught me how to read, write, to run and dance and sing, sarcasm, because we all know that everyone has to learn that, how to fight, cook, draw, different languages, he schooled me with everything he knew, how to survive on the streets when Sabine died and Tom kept kicking us out of the house, and way too much more to explain. Jay... Jay is the most important person in my life, and I may not know how to properly show it because of getting kidnapped by Tom and taught to be emotionless and numb, but I really do love you, and I want you to know that from the moment that I met you all those years ago, you have been the one and only thing keeping me going, keeping me with the will to live and fight through everything that I've been through, and that I wouldn't have wanted to make it from when I turned 4, and I would have ended it all if I hadn't met you. You... you saved me from a lot of things, took all of the beatings, starvings, and pain for me when you didn't have to, and I don't deserve having a brother like you. You are the best brother I've ever had, and I want you to know that nothing will EVER be able to replace you in my heart. Not even our other ridiculous brothers and sisters who always fight pointless fights to try and be my favorite sibling. Still love you all, though, but I love Jason a whole lot more." I said, and I earned a lot of 'aww's from the crowd as I wiped my eyes again.

Jason was staring at me with love, shock, appreciation, and understanding in his teal eyes, and I gave him a watery smile, which he returned with a watery one of his own. "Um, -sniff- a-anyway, today is a very special day for someone that I know. Can Mar'i Grayson-Wayne please come to the stage? JayJay, Roy, escort the princess, please, so that she doesn't get hurt on the way up here." I instructed, and the trio, Mar'i looking so shocked and excited, obeyed, the girl now in Jason's arms and hugging his neck. Dick and Bruce looked at me in surprise and a look that said they were clearly going to lecture me later, but I didn't notice as I stared at the ground, lost in thought about my past. I honestly wondered what Sabine would say if she could see me now. Would she be proud? Would she have ever told me that Bruce was my father? What kind of life would I be living if she hadn't been killed? Would I have been able to stay with Jason? Would I have met my friends, or be standing where I'm standing right now, or would I be in an alley with Jason, or still in Wayne Manor with him?

I hadn't realized that my bracelet was going off as I blankly stared at the floor, deeply lost in thought as I overthought everything (again) like I usually do, and I came back to reality when I felt something wrap around me and a voice talk to me in my ear. The smell of cologne, Old Spice, leather, and gunpowder filled my nose, and I immediately knew who it was. "Jason...?" I asked, wanting to be sure.

Jason hugged me tighter before releasing me after a moment and pulling away. "Pixie Pop, you okay? I've been calling your name for 20 minutes now, and you were zoned out again." he quietly asked, worry clear in his teal eyes, and I nodded with a half smile. "Y-yeah, I'm okay. I'll talk to you about it later, Papa." I whispered, pulling him into another tight hug. "I think Bruce is going to kill us later, Pix. Wanna take Birthday Girl out for a late night ice cream after the concert, or do you have something else planned?" Jay asked, and I shook my head. "No, I'm going to go home, then get Kitty Alfred and go to bed. I'm tired right now, and the concert is only half over." I said, yawning. My big brother ruffled my hair. "I can tell. Now, let's get this show done, because I don't want you passing out from exhaustion again." he said, pulling away.

I nodded. "My turn to knock your boots off, Jason. Prepare to be a proud old man and big brother." I said with a smug grin, then playfully shoved him out of my way so that I could get to the mic, smirking at the look on his face.

And when the concert began again, the look of raw pride and fatherly love on my brothers face was glowing almost as bright as the smile I wore, and I was getting more and more confident and dangerously happy at the similar looks of my family and friends, and from little Mar'i, who was having the time of her life.

Maybe my friends were right all this time. Maybe I should have left Tom all those years ago and tried reaching out to Bruce like they said. I was glad that I was with my family now, and glad that I could actually live like a normal human like everyone else.

But, alas, everyone knows that happiness never lasts long, and everything comes to an end eventually. I was just trying to prevent the bad feeling that haunted me at night from coming and ruining everything like it always did, because this time, I had a reason to fight back.