The End of All Things
Chapter 1: Any Change in Time
Whether near or far
I am always yours
Any change in time
We are young again
Lay us down
We're in love
We're in love
In these coming years
Many things will change
But the way I feel
Will remain the same
- Panic At The Disco, The End of All Things
No matter how many years passed, the moon still shone brightly in the night sky, the stars still twinkled, and the cold breeze could still bring back memories of another time, long ago. This was the kind of night that Mayor Dick Grayson found himself in, as he was packing his things to go home. His dedication to the city of Bludhaven was still burning strongly in his heart, just as it was when he was protecting it as a vigilante under the name of Nightwing many years ago. He was now in his late forties, with white hair donning the side of his head. His thick beard covered his face, while wrinkles were slowly appearing on his handsome face. His blue eyes never lost their light though, in the same way that he never lost the hope and the righteousness that burned in his heart even when he was still Robin of the Teen Titans.
As he was about to leave his office, his eyes went to one of the framed pictures on his desk. It was an old picture, but it was one of his most cherished possessions. He was still in his Robin costume and he was smiling with four other superheroes, Cyborg, Starfire, Beast Boy and Raven. Back then, they were called the Teen Titans, protectors of Jump City, and the occasional saviors of the world. They may have gone their separate ways, but he knew that if any of them needed his help, he would be there in a heartbeat.
Little did he know that their paths were going to cross once again.
He clapped his hands twice to turn off the lights in his office but just as they went out, he instantly knew that something was wrong. Suddenly, he heard a thud across his office, telling him that there was someone else in the room. The lights were already closed so he had no idea who entered his office in the middle of the night. "Who's there?" he asked, getting ready to attack the intruder. He may be in his late forties, but he could still put up a fight if needed.
The intruder did not answer him. He just asked one question in a deep and menacing voice "Where's Raven?"
Dick scoffed at the intruder's question before replying, "If I had a dollar for every time I heard that…" Over the years, many people have tried to take his former teammate, Raven, against her will. Since she was the daughter of Trigon, she could be used to summon one of the most powerful beings in Hell. There were a lot of people who wanted to abuse her power, which was why Dick used his own authority as Mayor of Bludhaven to hide her and keep her safe. It also helped that he was a former superhero, so he could defend Raven and himself, if he needed to. He discreetly pressed the panic button in his desk as he said "I don't know who you're talking about. I don't know every person living in Bludhaven."
"The alarm you just pressed is useless." The intruder informed him, knowing that he called for the police to come to his aid. "So I'll ask you again, where is Raven?"
"I don't know who you're talking about. There's probably about a thousand people named Raven in this city!" Dick replied in an exasperated voice, but also reassessing the threat in front of him. This man might be more than he initially expected if he had already disabled his security systems.
"But there is only one Raven." The way the intruder said that name, it told Dick that he knew exactly who he was looking for. And he knew that Dick had that information. "My patience is wearing thin, Grayson. Where. Is. Raven?"
There was only one person who enunciated his name like that, and he was shocked to hear it again after all these years. "Damian?"
The intruder finally stepped out of the darkness to reveal himself as Damian Wayne, the last Robin, Bruce Wayne's biological son. But he went missing for the past few years, and no one knew where he went. Though Dick may have gotten an idea where he went from the ornate robe that he was wearing. It was in a dazzling emerald color, with detailed gold designs curving around the sleeves and the opening of his robe. The gold designs were even on his black body suit underneath his robe, while his feet were covered in dark green shoes. His clothing told Dick that he had gone back to his roots in the League of Assassins, and that was not good news for the Mayor of Bludhaven.
"I know you know where she is Grayson. Tell me and you don't have to get hurt." He threatened the former Nightwing as he came closer and closer to him.
"Why don't you ask her yourself? You're the one who was dating her before you disappeared and left her alone. Do you know how many people have been looking for Raven over the years? How she has been running for her life, trying to find peace against all the crazed cults that tried to use her? I've hidden her in this city because it was the only way she would be safe from all of them. I had to be there for her, to protect her because you disappeared and left her alone!" Dick shouted passionately, throwing stacks of paper at him to get him off-guard. It did the trick as he stumbled a bit from the pieces of paper that obscured his vision. He could see that his words had their desired effect on him as well. Pain was marring his once stoic face at the thought of failing the one girl that he loved.
Dick started running towards the door, knowing that he couldn't even hope to beat Damian with his renewed League of Assassins training. He most likely lost the morals that he had learned over the years and he wouldn't even have a second thought in killing him.
Despite his best efforts though, the distraction was not long enough for Dick to escape. Before he could even reach the door, Damian threw a dagger and it hit the Mayor of Bludhaven right in the middle of his back. He collapsed from the pain, instantly telling him that this was no ordinary dagger. He felt his whole body going numb, and he was fighting to stay conscious as Damian slowly approached him and stood behind him. "You're getting slow in your old age."
"What did you do to me?" he weakly asked, feeling his body slowly succumb to whatever poison Damian had on the dagger.
"I knew you wouldn't tell me where Raven is. So I had to force the information from you." He replied with such a cold tone that Dick couldn't recognize the person in front of him.
"You'll never get me to talk. No matter what you do to me, I will never betray Raven." Despite the poison taking over his system, he could never betray his best friend. He would rather risk his life than put the empath in danger.
Despite his valiant speech, Dick felt weaker and weaker by the second. He was slowly fading out of consciousness and a part of him realized that if help wasn't going to come for him soon, then he would surely die. He reached out to Raven through their bond one last time, just so he could say goodbye to her. But before he could even do that, a dark portal emerged to reveal his savior: Raven, the former Teen Titan, the one woman whom he swore to protect was now here to save him.
Not even Damian's League of Assassins training could prepare him for seeing the beautiful empath again after all these years. She was still as alluring as ever, seemingly in her late twenties but that was just a side effect of her demon biology. She was much older, especially since this was the same Raven that was Dick Grayson's teammate.
She kneeled beside Dick in her purple sweats, checking to see what had happened to him. "Dick! I came here as soon as I felt that you were in distress. How bad is it? Can you still hear me?" she whispered as she touched his face frantically.
"Rae… You shouldn't have come here. He's here… for you…" He replied weakly, as his body ultimately succumbed to the poison, finally making him unconscious.
She didn't have time to comprehend his warning. Raven's eyes glowed white as she laid her hands on him. She used her powers to heal Dick's body from the poison going through his veins. It was a particularly virulent one, and it took most of her power to heal the Mayor of Bludhaven and to make sure he was in a stable condition. When she finally knew that he was safe, her eyes returned to their natural color and she took her hands back from his body. She let out a breath that she didn't know that she was holding once she finally assured herself that he was safe.
"I'm impressed. That was the strongest poison the League had. It would have surely killed him if you hadn't arrived."
Raven looked towards the voice and it was only then that she realized his presence. She gasped at the man standing before her. "Damian…" she breathed out in disbelief.
"Raven." He took a few steps toward her, his hand outstretched as if he was helping her to get up. "You have no idea how much I missed you…"
The initial shock of seeing him again wore off and brought Raven back to her senses. This man poisoned her best friend who has been risking his life to protect her all these years. And it almost cost him his life tonight.
"What are you doing here, Damian? "she asked, as she backed away from him.
"I came here for you." His response was desperate, as he tried to cross the space between them.
"Is that why you poisoned Dick? So that I would come to you?" she asked, anger coloring her tone.
The sudden rage in her voice made Damian stop in his tracks. Even he knew it wasn't a good idea to make a half-demon like her mad. "I didn't know how else to draw you out. And I knew that Dick would never give up your location no matter what I did. So I had to use the bond that you shared to get to you."
"Why? Why are you looking for me after all those years? Weren't you the one who left me alone? You were the one who disappeared on me!" Raven demanded, standing to her full height.
Damian's breath caught in his throat as he fully saw her face again for the first time in years. She was still as beautiful as he remembered. Her dark hair was much longer now, but it complemented her pale skin and her sparkling amethyst eyes. Though she was breathtaking, she was also livid with rage, power pooling in her hands. He brought out his golden bo staff, much like the one her Robin used many years ago to protect himself from the oncoming onslaught of her anger.
"I know I left you before Raven, and that was my mistake. I'm here to correct it." Damian stretched out his hand once again and offered it towards the sorceress. "I know I failed you, so give me the chance to correct my mistake. Let me make it up to you. Let me be there for you as I should have been all this time."
The anger in Raven's eyes were replaced in shock at Damian's pleading voice. Even though he was supposed to be a cold-blooded assassin, he was begging for her to forgive him. He was asking for a second chance, and though a part of her wanted to give it to him, she can't forgive the man who poisoned her best friend.
The power in her hands disappeared as she replied, "You can't just expect me to forgive you after everything that you've done. You can't leave me for years and then suddenly show up and expect things to be the same way as you left them. Not after you poisoned Dick. Not after I spent years fighting for my life, alone." Tears were brimming from her eyes as she continued, "We may have saved the world and stopped the Apocalypse together(1), but so much has changed between us. And that all started when you left me all those years ago."
With that, Raven turned her back towards him to tend to Dick. She needed to make sure that he was okay after he risked his life just to protect her. "I don't want to fight you, Damian. So you'd better leave now because there's no way that I'm going with you." She wasn't facing him as she spoke, so she didn't hear him come up behind her and whisper, "I'm sorry."
Before she even knew what was going on, she suddenly felt a blow against her head, knocking her unconscious. Damian quickly caught her in his arms and held her close to his chest, relishing the feeling of her body pressed against his. If she didn't want to go with him, then he had no choice but to take her by force. He couldn't lose her. Not again.
He carried her bridal style towards the window and using his bo staff, he smashed the glass to create a way for them to escape the mayor's office. He shot a grappling hook and leapt into the night sky, with Raven still in his arms. He was rejoicing internally because he finally had the girl that he loved in his arms once again.
That was until a black batarang sliced through his grappling hook, causing them to fall out of the sky. Before he could even stop himself from falling towards his death, a dark figure shot out and took Raven before his very eyes. He shot another grappling hook to the adjacent building, effectively stopping his fall. He tried looking up to find Raven, but she was nowhere to be found. He cursed in another language as he failed to take back the woman that he loved. But he wasn't going to give up so easily. He had to wait for another opportunity to take Raven away once again. Despite the years that had passed between them, his feelings never changed. Times may have changed but one thing did not.
She was still his.
A/N: Hello everyone! Quarantine has brought me back from the dead. With the new Damian Al Ghul from the Batman Beyond comic, and the upcoming Justice League Dark: Apocalypse War movie(1), I just had to write this new story.
This will be a little different because there are two Robins in the story, and one of them is for sure the Dark!Robin one. This story will be set in the Batman Beyond universe, with mentions of the events from the Justice League Dark: Apocalypse War movie. Anyway, this is just a way for me to manage my anxiety with everything that's happening in the world so I just hope that you guys enjoy it! Wishing you all the best and may you and your loved ones be safe through these trying times.
Love,
Psychic Soul.