Damian jabs his sword forward.

His grandfather parries Damian's stab and more as Damian continues to attack relentlessly. The second Damian is pushed back by another defensive blow, his father jumps in with a kick intent to hit Ra's in the gut. The heel of Bruce's shoe narrowly skims the front of Ra's' shirt as Ra's takes a single calculated step backward. That is when Damian jumps back in, sending a fury of clashes at his grandfather's person. His father does not waste the opportunity of Ra's quick distraction to aim another kick for the side of Ra's head. Ra's must adjust himself quickly to avoid damage to his skull. Then he follows up with a quick spin of his body to block Damian's attack to his exposed left.

"Shadows, fall!"

A bright blue light shines in the corner of Damian's eye. Tim's voice and the light made him assume that the spell was successful. He had little time to observe what was happening behind him though- as he could not afford to take his eyes off of his grandfather.

"You think your spell enough to stop my shadows?" Ra's laughs as he avoids Bruce's attempt to disarm him of his sword. "I have more!"

Damian doesn't have to move his head to see that his grandfather spoke the truth. At the sound of such a statement, he sees more than several hands grip at the ledge behind his grandfather. The bodies of shadows followed not long after as they all pulled themselves up. Ra's position, as a man who stood before his servants, looked as if he was the general of an army. It didn't help that the shadows were multiplying by the second.

There is only one way to remedy this situation. Ra's must fall. That is why Damian charges for his grandfather while releasing a roar comparable to that of a war-cry. He and his grandfather engage in an intense bout of swordplay. His father does his best with only his fists, but Ra's has centuries of experience over both of them. He dodges every blow, every slash, until he decides that he's had enough of being defensive. Ra's skill is put on full display as he turns the tides on Damian's assault in a second. Damian realizes his situation is a dangerous one when Damian blocks one of his grandfather's moves. Damian's arms stutter in the air under his grandfather's strength. It is only when Ra's pulls back and strikes again that Damian finds himself falling back on a single knee. He is quick to counter another one of his grandfather's attacks when he raises his sword above his head.

"Stay away from my son!"

Damian's jaw almost drops as a light-fused kick lands on his grandfather's back. Damian is quick to get out of the falling man's way, but Ra's is not one to be surprised for long. The elderly man rolls to recover and shoots to his feet. He is barely given any chance to get his wits about him as Bruce descends on his defenses. Ra's hisses in pain when one of Bruce's fists graze his right cheek. Damian immediately notices how a faint burn mark took form on his grandfather's cheek. Had his father's light done that?

"Must you continue this stupidity?" Ra's ignores the new wound on his cheek and slices at the elf right above the head. Bruce had to duck to avoid it.

Ra's then slices down in a traditional - katana-cutting - movement. Bruce had his hands prepared, one underneath Ra's wrists, while the other falls down and inward at Ra's grip. Ra's falls down upon his knees, sword still within one hand in on the ground as his other is tightly held in Bruce's grip. Bruce then harshly steps on Ra's fallen wrist to prevent his opponent from getting back up.

"I will do what is necessary to keep my family safe," Damian listens to his father counter.

Damian could not lie to himself. He was in awe at his father's fighting abilities.

Damian pulls himself off the ground as he watches his father utter a few words to Ra's. Damian can barely hear what his father is saying and he definitely can't hear him when he sees a shadow creep up on his father behind.

"Behind you!" Damian shouts out.

His father moves quickly. He releases his foot from pinning Ra's hand to the ground and turns sharply with a spinning, hand-glowing, chop at the stupid shadow that had decided to get the drop on him. The shadow had given Ra's enough time to jump back up and slice at Bruce's back.

Damian watches in horror as his grandfather inflicts a nasty, long, cut on his father's back.

"Bruce!" Damian recognizes one of his brothers yelling. He looks over to Grayson where he was trying to get to them through a large group of shadows rather unsuccessfully.

Bruce falls forward in his sudden pain.

Ra's raises his sword above his head.

No. It can't be that easy. He can't just-!

Damian runs for his father's defense, but a pair of flying shurikens stop him in his tracks.

Ra's' arms falter as multiple shurikens are embedded in his arm.

"Talia!" He roars out, without even looking at who had sent the shurikens.

Damian's head flips over to his right. His mother stands there and Damian would have rejoiced if he did not see the bruises and wounds she sported. It's as if she had already gone through a large fight before she had come to their rescue.

Bruce slides his leg across the ground to trip Ra's.

Ra's is not nearly distracted enough to miss this. He hops back to avoid the desperate move.

"Father," Damian watches his mother say, wheezing through injuries, "you cannot continue this."

Ra's turns to face his daughter in utter disappointment. "Do not call me father. You are no daughter, of mine."

Something flashes in his mother's eyes, but it's gone as quick as it comes.

"So be it," she whispers.

Talia runs for her father, quickly pulling out a knife from her belt. It was far from an ideal weapon to be used in a swordfight, but Damian would agree that it was better than nothing.

Damian watches as his mother and grandfather dance a deadly game of blows. He watches as his mother is pushed back. He watches his grandfather use her injuries to his advantage. He purposefully aims at places where his mother is hurt as if he had a map of her injuries within his mind.

He watches as a sword stabs through his mother's shoulder.

She shouts in pain, hand flying to her new stab wound, and that small moment of pain proves to be her undoing. Talia is kicked down onto the ground, knife flying away from her free hand.

"You will not be known in history. If you are, it is because you will be known as a traitor to the glorious Al Ghul bloodline!"

Damian doesn't move. He didn't have to.

Bruce grapples Ra's into a chokehold, preventing him from potentially killing his own daughter.

Damian sees as his father struggles to keep Ra's in his hold and he also sees his father get flipped over Ra's in one smooth action. His father gets slammed into the ground next to his former-lover and then Ra's shoe falls down upon his father's stunned body with enough force for a noticeable crack to be heard.

That had to be his ribs-

Damian can bear to look at this scene no longer.

Ra's blocks one of Damian's angry attacks. A hint of exasperation can be seen in the old man's face.

"Must you all hinder my plans!?"

Damian does not answer his grandfather.

He's just focused on protecting the fallen forms of the people behind him.

The shadows around sweep around Damian.

"I will have you, Damian," Ra's says.

The shadows sweep for him. The only thing that stops them is a sudden light that bursts from Damian's sword. It outlines his sword not unlike how it did once before, and it seemed to cause great hesitation to the shadows around him.

"Prepare to be disappointed," Damian snarks back with a heavy scowl.

Damian allows himself to quickly glance at his parents over his shoulder. His grandfather doesn't try to move against him, not with the new power presented in their fight, and the shadows don't know how to proceed. Once Damian is satisfied with his parent's state, he turns back to his grandfather in anticipation for what might come next.

"I have learned something recently, grandfather," Damian remarks, eyes shifting to all the shadows around him.

His grandfather does not bother to ask what it might have been that Damian learned. The head of the Al Ghuls was too busy focusing on what his grandson had planned. Damian can just imagine the cogs and wheels turning in his grandfather's head.

"I learned a phrase you may recognize."

Damian scowl slips away only to be replaced by the smallest of smirks.

"Maybe you've heard of it?"

Of course he has.

"Dnib taht sdrow!"

The shadows ripple like a wave across the rooftop. All of the background fightings stops to observe the effects of Damian's words on his grandfather's servants. The shadows, collectively, begin to lose their form. When one drops onto the ground to form a shadowy puddle, all follow after it. Then something equally as amazing happens. The puddle of shadow disperses abruptly, shooting off into every direction. Damian can only guess that this was their way of returning to their true owners.

The shadows that linger are only a mild concern. Damian only thinks that they leave to go nowhere because their original owners were deceased in some way.

"You fool!" Ra's roars but he makes no move to hurt his grandson. It might be because his hand is clutching at where his cold heart was hiding. Ra's' twitching expression left Damian remembering his own pact and how it had been cut off quickly, forcefully. Could the same be happening to Ra's? Damian had cut off the hundreds of contracts he held with all of the shadows he summoned on the roof. Damian had no doubt that his grandfather had more, but the shadows that had been severed from his grandfather's rule were enough to give Ra's temporary weakness.

Damian wastes no time.

Damian's whole body begins to glow as he throws himself on his grandfather. His grandfather seems to have no strength to defend against his grandson's advances as his sword falters under Damian's strength.

Damian can barely comprehend that he manages to wound his grandfather several times. He cuts across Ra's chest when his grandfather's blocks only helped prevent mortal, life-threatening injuries. Alongside cuts, there were obvious burns because of the light that he had inherited from his ancestors. The light by itself seemed to weaken Ra's significantly, too. This all adds up until the hilt of Damian's sword bashes against his grandfather's skull.

Ra's slumps to the ground.

Damian breathes heavily, his sword hanging limply at his side.

He was so tired.

Yes. He was tired. Yet, that didn't stop him from feeling absolutely powerful in the way he stood over his grandfather's fallen form. He had done it- He had...

Damian turns to look at his parents once more.

His mother stares at him with a sort of acknowledgment in her eyes. He would have to ask her later.

His father? Damian can't read his father's features.

Damian's eyes dart over to the side where he observes that a different battle had finished as well. Lady Shiva laid on the ground as her daughter held tightly onto one of her deathly pale hands. He ignores the single tear that rolls down Cassandra's cheek as he decides to look over to his brothers.

All of them were returning his stare ten-fold.

And then he returns to his father.

'I did it,' he communicates to his father with his eyes.

His father's eyes widen. It takes Damian only a few seconds to realize that it is not a way of responding to their silent conversation.

"Damian!" He cries out. His voice is nearly on the edge of a shriek, but his father didn't shriek. Why'd he need to do that…?

Damian looks down and sees black ooze falling from his stomach.

All of the Al Ghul's blood looked like black ooze.

The sword that was sticking out on the other side, must have been the problem.

Damian hears his grandfather's slurring words, "If I fall, you must too."

It's silly, probably, to think back on Barbara's words in the moment of his potential death.

"I've had a repeating vision that has been bothering me during your stay. I can never remember much of what I see, but I remember the raw feeling that comes with my dreams. I feel determined, courageous, and powerful. These feelings last until the end. Then I'm suddenly thrown into a miserable pain. The pain is so great that it wakes me up."

He hears everything at once.

He hears, voices sounding like echoes, "Brat!" and three others yell out, "Damian!"

They're all worried about him. Strange. He's never had so many people care about him before. He had been a lonely child since his infanthood. The only one he had ever been allowed to rely on was his mother. It was too bad he'd have to disappoint them.

Damian's hand slowly rises to the sword stabbed through his stomach. He can feel the grip of his grandfather's hand fall from the sword as the man falls back onto the ground. It isn't until a few seconds later, after the shocks wear off, that he feels a severe piercing pain. A cough rattles his body, black ooze spitting out of his mouth, as the strength leaves his body.

Cheshire's energy had worn off too. Great.

The pain was crippling.

'Miserable pain, right,' Damian thinks deliriously, 'this had been what Barbara felt? No wonder…'

Damian feels hands on the side of his arms. Damian looks up to see his older brother looking back down at him. Grayson's eyes were full of an anguish that Damian thought didn't belong there. His older brother deserved to be happy. Safe. He could be now that Ra's was gone. As long as his family was safe… it'd all be okay. All of his efforts would not fall flat. His family would have the happy ending they deserve.

"Don't you close your eyes on me, Dami!" Grayson demands, desperately.

Damian feels a sigh shutter his body and rattle his bones.

The cold he was feeling right now was a different cold. It's not like the kind he knew that came from the shadows.

"I'm tired…" Damian tells Grayson. His older brother's face grows blurry. What a strange look for him.

Damian is only vaguely aware of his brother's shouts and words when his eyes begin to close.

He thinks, exhausted, 'I hope they'll take care of Sunset.'

No more.