Welp I'm back, 6-7 months later, but who was counting? I wanna preface this chapter by saying this is somewhat Magic heavy. If you've never read any of the DC vertigo line stuff (Sandman, Dreaming, Swamp Thing, Books of Magic, Hellblazer etc.) then there's a solid chance you've never heard of any of these places before.
When I read I like to be able to envision what I'm reading and its easy for me because I've read this stuff before. I hope it doesn't ever get too confusing and I'll probably explain things more at the end of the chapter.
P.s. when you think of the fairies thinking of Midsummer Night's Dream might help out.
Regret. Honestly it was an awful feeling. An awful feeling that Damian had felt way too much over the last 8 or so years in his life. Honestly ever since he came to Gotham and became Robin, regret was definitely one of the only constants in his life.
Whether it was regret over treating Grayson like shit when he was Batman, or regret about killing people, regretting every time he acted up and subsequently disappointed someone, that someone usually being his father.
You see regret was always the worst because it almost always came with consequences. Killing, especially when he had been Robin, was something he always regretted. 1. Because he never wanted that to define him, and 2. Because he knew it disappointed his father and that was always the last thing he wanted to be, a disappointment.
This same regret he had been feeling since his and Cassie's argument. It felt just a little different. He was mad and angry when he went to his room and tried to get to sleep, but rather he couldn't find it in himself to close his eyes and rest. Because as his anger slowly wore off, he found himself regretting his actions, more and more.
He wanted to smack himself for starting the conversation on such a bad note in the first place. True enough he was working with Zatanna on important manners, but he had always planned on ending the call right when Cassie came through the door, it's just that she took so long it really only made him angrier. And he regretted that, not being able to control his anger over something so little.
And then there was the talk itself. It made him cringe every time he went over his words. Being so annoyed with Cass for ignoring his calls and bringing the clone over when in reality her phone had died, and he could admit there was a slight chance he was overreacting when it came to Kon's presence.
Either way it shouldn't have mattered. His father had given him simple and yet great advice, talk to Cassie like an adult. And he had agreed. They both knew he was at times prone to being a little immature and he had been warned against doing just that. And so he regretted it. Regretted ignoring his father's words for what felt like the thousandth time in his life.
He had said some harsh things and really that was what really made him struggle to sleep in the first place. When Cassie didn't react to those last barbs he threw around, it was what made him realize how much of an ass he sounded like in the first place.
He knew at one point in time he had been somewhat wrong and Cassie had also been somewhat wrong and he was prepared to work with her, and yet he couldn't control himself. Now it felt like whatever she had done almost didn't matter. He wished he could rewind time from the moment she walked through the door last night, cause he felt like that was the only way he could fix the situation.
Now he knew along with this immense regret he was feeling some sort of consequence was bound to follow. Maybe he'd go over to Cassie's room in the morning to find her already gone, on her way to Themyscira, not willing to spend a bunch of time fighting when she was already dealing with being pregnant and an Ex who kept coming back.
Maybe he had already failed at working this thing out. Maybe Cassie and him would just raise the kids separately, one in Gotham and one on the Island. Maybe he would be relegated to visiting hours, maybe he had fractured any real chance of making things work between his future children and Cassie.
There was also the worry that he had ruined Cassie's perception of him. He had spent a lot of time insisting she treat him like the adult he was. Only to act like he was 15. Even if she didn't decide to get up and leave, there was always the chance she simply permanently regarded him as an immature teenage boy. And he wasn't sure how he was going to deal with that.
These things legitimately kept him up all night. He might have got an hour or two of sleep. He felt like a mess. Around four he ended anymore attempts at sleep and rather went to the gym and began training however he could only do that for an hour or two before he grew bored and so he went back to his room and began doing more research into the prophecy looking over all the information he and Zatanna had managed to gather.
Still most of the time his mind would just shoot back to things with Cassie. And how he really needed to make things right, and so that's how he decided he would apologize. First thing in the morning.
It was ironic how he had been expecting some form of apology last night, but had now screwed up the situation so bad he now needed to apologize.
With it getting closer to 8:30, Damian decided to make some breakfast, hoping the food would make this a little easier, but he wasn't dumb enough to believe some food could fix everything, but that didn't mean it couldn't help.
By 9:30 he had what felt like the largest breakfast he had ever made and what he had thought was a decent apology. With nothing more to do he grabbed a plate for himself and simply waited for Cassie to show up.
He really didn't have to wait long, it was only 7 or so minutes when she finally appeared. No doubt the smell of breakfast had woken her up. But it seemed his assumption was somewhat wrong. She didn't look like she had just woken up, rather it seemed she had been up for at least thirty minutes or an hour.
It didn't stop her from yawning right before she entered the kitchen and Damian found it hard not to observe her...softer features.
Focus dummy, she won't appreciate you ogling her after everything that happened.
"Morning." He muttered, lacking the confidence he wanted for this situation. Nonetheless, Cassie spared a quick glance in his direction and muttered right back "Morning."
Things were so awkward and it was such a wild contrast from how most of their mornings had gone, and both of the heroes found themselves wishing it were yesterday, yesterday before all of this had happened.
Ten minutes quickly went by and both of them had managed to eat a good portion of their food. Cassie seemed ready to get up and go back to her room so Damian took a deep breath and just forced himself to say what he had been struggling to say since Cassie had entered the room.
"Cassandra I'm...I'm sorry." Damian began grabbing her attention from across the table "This...situation. I can admit a lot of this is my fault. Last night, it wasn't my intention to let things get as far as they did but it did, and I apologize because it was immature of me."
"When...Kon came over I acted in a way that was very unbecoming of me. I don't like him, and it's no secret, but I don't like a lot of people, and I usually don't act like that. I realize I also said quite a few unsavory things an-
"Damian." Cassie interrupted, she finally seemed to come out of her stupor "Stop, just...stop."
"I-
"No!" She shouted just a little louder than she intended to making the both of them wince "I-I can't do this right now. I just can't."
Seeing Damian's kicked puppy expression and struggling to find something to say caused Cassie to sigh and explain herself further "D it's been like 10 hours, if even that. All this stuff is so fresh for me. I mean it was just last night we were yelling at each other and calling each other names. I'm just not ready to hear an apology right now, I'm still...I'm still trying to figure out how I feel about all of this. So, I guess I appreciate the gesture...but I'm just not ready for that. Not right now."
"Makes ah, makes sense...Sorry." He added afterward and wanted to slap himself for even speaking up. If things were awkward before it was truly unbearable now and so Cassie could only last a few more minutes before she couldn't take it anymore.
"I'm just gonna...Yeah I'm going to, going to head out or something." Cassie half muttered, before quickly getting up and rushing to her room.
Five minutes later she appeared once more, this time dressed to leave the house. She rushed towards the door only sparing a glance to look at Damian before heading out needing some space after the events of the past 16 or so hours.
When Cassie had finally left the apartment, Damian allowed himself to sigh and briefly put his head in his hands as he contemplated how he managed to mess another thing up. Actions, Regret, Consequences. It was a terrible sequence that Damian found his life followed all too often.
And after a month and a half he had already messed things up with Cassandra? What is wrong with me?
Still there wasn't anymore time for self-loathing and introspection. Damian had received a text from one Zatanna, and so for the moment. He put on his game face and began to get ready. Even if Cass currently wanted nothing to do with him, he still needed to figure out everything about this prophecy. For theirs and their children's sakes.
WINGDINGS
For Damian Wayne his problems felt innumerable and at the moment unsolvable. For Nightwing, while he most definitely had a lot of problems, problems of the twin baby destroyer variety, he was dealing with it...Kinda.
After getting that text from Zatanna he sat around for a few more minutes before getting up and getting ready. They had been chasing leads all week, admittedly Zatanna had done most of the dirty work, but he was involved every step of the way, and today seemed to be the day actual progress was going to be made.
For he and Zatanna were headed to the land of Faerie in the Dream Realm. Over there was supposedly the confirmation Damian needed for this prophecy.
And so as Nightwing Damian stood on top of the empty Titans Tower and waited for Zatanna to show up. And as he did that he did his best not to think of Cassie's earlier rejection, and instead focus on the task ahead. But it was such a hard thing to do.
Everytime he tried to think of a way he could fix it, he was reminded by the fact that that would require Cassie talking to him, which obviously wasn't in her plans.
His mind was finally forced away from it's turmoil as suddenly blue sparks flew throughout the air and in a moment Zatanna appeared. Zatanna was in her traditional costume, corset, fishnets, top hat and all. She appeared to have a small grin on her face that quickly disappeared when she saw Damian's expression.
"Little Wing, I would ask how you're doing but the look on your face says it all." Zatanna admitted as she approached the clearly sad bat. "Are you sure your okay to do this today, we can always mov-
"No." Damian quickly interrupted her, forcing himself to forget Cassandra "I'll be damned if there's ever a day I can't go on a mission because of some…woman. I'll be fine."
Zatanna rolled her eyes, knowing that Damian probably should take a day or two off, but also knowing that he was one of the most stubborn people she had ever met. She hadn't expected to have to play counselor today, but for her former apprentice she was willing to make some things happen. She would have to be a little sneaky though.
"As long as you're sure Wing." Zatanna settled on saying. She quickly conjured a small satchel out of thin air and began pulling out the Dominion Stones she needed for the ritual "Just give me a few minutes to get the ritual started."
"Of course. I won't get in your way."
"Good and while I do that I expect you to be gathering your essence…You do remember how to do that right?"
"Seriously, I'm offended you even asked." Damian turned to the magician with a frown. Zatanna however simply smirked and placed the stones down in a hexagonal formation. They quickly began to glow red and form a pentagram-esque image in the center. She then began to float herself and hover right over the center of the hexagon, getting ready to prepare the ritual.
"Well can you blame me, my wayward pupil?"
Damian snorted at that and began his own ritual, sitting cross legged on the ground and beginning to focus his energies like Zatanna had shown him so long ago "I was not wayward…I quit, there's a difference."
"Hmm, all I remember was my broken heart. You know to this day I still can't get the others to believe I ever had an apprentice, I can only imagine their disbelief if I told them it was the Boy Wonder."
"They would probably be thinking about someone else." Damian pointed out "And I refuse to believe you were heartbroken, you knew I was going to quit."
"I had a feeling it might happen, but I had thought you had begun to accept that part of you more, but I was wrong. Heartbroken might have been a stretch but you were missed little wing. Now shush I need to focus on the ritual, and you need to focus on gathering your energy. It might be easier for you if you didn't have that storm of emotions stirring within you."
Damian simply grunted in response and began to close his eyes and attempt to focus on the familiar technique Zatanna had taught him over two years ago.
It was interesting. His relationship with Magic, and how that led to his student/teacher-esque relationship with Zatanna. He had never expected to become a conduit of magic but forces beyond his own power made it happen.
When he had realized with some practice he would be able to do some very crazy things he began to learn things online, watching old videos of Zatanna and even Constantine through the JL database. He did his best to look through spellbooks, and he did fine for a while but eventually he wasn't able to progress any further.
That was until he stormed Zatanna's home in Shadowcrest and demanded that she help him learn more. At first he could admit that he was a clear nuisance to Zatanna. Bugging her for days on end, accidently getting the two of them stuck in Gemworld because he wanted to prove to her that he was worth teaching. But during that Gemworld mission they had managed to bond somewhat.
And while during that trip Zatanna had insisted she'd never teach him anything when they got out, that was exactly what she did. She seemed to enjoy having someone to show magic too, and Damian was having the time of his life absorbing everything he could.
Eventually they developed a nice little friendship though Damian would still insist Zatanna was a little too overprotective of her Mentee, but alas things were good at that time. Of course things changed over the course of a year and half and it came time for Damian to renounce magic for good.
After their last trip in Hoboken Damian had vowed to never use Magic again, and left Zatanna somewhat amicably, but until recently they hadn't spoken since that day. It was easier that way for Damian. That way the pull towards his more magical instincts would dull quicker without Zatanna there to remind him of everything he could be.
Plans change however and when Cassie began to talk to Damian about twin baby destroyers and prophecy he understood that he was going to have to look into everything he immediately knew who he was going to go to for help.
He was a little surprised he was able to find camaraderie with Zatanna again so easily, but some things wouldn't change.
…
Cassie. She was the one who was so insistent that this prophecy was real, that there was real danger surrounding the whole thing. That he shouldn't do anything without letting her know as well, that they were gonna be a team. If that were true she'd be here now despite everything. Instead he was working and she was doing God knows wha-
"Focus Damian. Your energies were almost in sync. If thinking about Cassie is going to throw you off that much then you either solve your issue before we go or you better not think about her at all before we go and while we're in Faerie." Zatanna chided her former student.
She didn't need to open her eyes to know that his cheeks would be tainted red with blush. Despite his outward confident demeanor she had never found it hard to tease her apprentice. But she was deadly serious this time, she knew how dangerous this trip to Faerie could be and with him so out of practice he needed to be focused.
"Right. It won't happen again." He told her seriously, and true to his word a couple of moments later she felt his mind, soul, and essence connect. Her part of the ritual was already complete so it was time to get going.
"Alright Nightwing it's time." She called. Nightwing agreed nodding and stood up before flying towards Zatanna who was still floating cross legged in the middle of the ritual circle, quickly Damian took his place across from her.
The orange glow in his eye told her he was ready, and she was sure the blue glow in her own eye signified to Damian she was ready.
"Okay Little Wing. It's been a while since we did one of these. So before we go I'm gonna need you to list out the rules for me." Zatanna told him with a little smirk.
This immediately caused Nightwing to frown "Seriously, I'm 18 now, I thought we agreed we would drop them when I became an adult."
"Yeah well, that was when you were still training. You haven't trained in a while and I need you to understand that I'm leading this."
As expected Damian crossed his arms and scoffed "I'm not saying it." This only caused Zatanna to mirror his appearance, folding her arms and frowning just like him.
"Well then I guess we're not going."
"Seriously?"
"Yes seriously Damian." Zatanna replied "This is serious business, and I trust you'll do well but who knows what might happen. It's for your own safety, if you didn't want to say the rules then you should have been training. Now say them before I pack up and head home."
He glared at her, but by then she knew he was going to say what she wanted anyway "On Missions with Zatanna, she is the undisputed leader of the group and I will follow her command."
"And?"
"Before doing anything I'll ask Zatanna if it's okay first."
"Andddd?"
"If things go wrong I'll turn back and head home for help."
"Now that wasn't so hard was it? Now we can get going." Zatanna spoke cheerily. The rules weren't really a big deal, honestly it almost felt like he was arguing on principle. The only rule he consistently broke while with her was the last one, and it was hard to be angry at his loyalty.
"Finally." Damian spoke before letting out a deep breath and extending his hands. Zatanna extended her own hands as well so their hands were together as if they were giving each other high fives.
Right after their hands connected the stones began to shake, and suddenly in a bright flash of light the two heroes were gone.
WINGDINGS
The Land of Faerie was something that in theory sounded amazing. The story of the Fair Land was drafted years and years ago, when the faerie folk still lived with humans. However when humans stopped believing, the fairies found themselves without a place to live.
Naturally they made a pact with an Archangel and were given their own corner of hell to turn into their domain in exchange for giving them seven of their fairest and wisest to join him in hell every seven years.
Now despite the less than stellar origin story, those involved began to make the Land of Faerie work. The kingdom was united and was generally a nice world. Of course things like that never last forever.
Coups and large scale wars turned the Fair Lands into something far different, far more malevolent as they grew from simple fairies, to goblins, hobgoblins, and redcaps. The land itself was fractured as the Kingdom was split into two. The original Seelie Court, and the Unseelie Court filled with the goblins, hobgoblins and trolls.
During the split into two Kingdoms is when Fairy turned from a generally nice place with decent intentions into a feared Kingdom of mostly tainted magic users whose ideas of playing a trick involved far more death and destruction than normal.
This was the place Zatanna and Damian found themselves in. Really in most cases it shouldn't have been much different from the other adventures they had been on, but the fact of the matter was that Faerie was placed in Hell.
And Damian had died before. He was unfortunately very familiar with the terrain. Entering this realm with his soul intact did him no favors, and so immediately the moment Zatanna and Damian's feet touched down at the edge of the Forest of Faerie, they found themselves surrounded.
Trolls, goblins, hobgoblins, fairies, and even some demons. After all it wasn't often someone with a wanted soul came back to Hell, as that was a surefire way to lose it.
"We've probably got an hour before half of hell is on it's way." Zatanna pointed out to Damian.
"We can make it to Queen Titania in an hour. At the very least if we make it past the wicket most of my suitors won't truly enter Faerie. They'd be breaking a lot of rules." Damian spoke quickly. He and Zatanna quickly found themselves back to back, though neither was truly worried yet.
Despite the rising cries from those who wanted his soul, there was still time to figure out a plan of action.
"They would, but if you noticed a good portion of these guys are from Fairy." Zatanna reminded him. She balled up her fists and was ready to exact a spell at the right moment.
"It doesn't matter Z, once we hit the Market we're basically in the clear anyway." Nightwing insisted.
"You and I both know that's not true. There is nowhere safe in Faerie for you." Zatanna said a little annoyed that Damian was already throwing caution to the wind "But you're mostly right. We don't stop until we get to the wicket. Ready?"
"From the moment we got here." Damian assured her. With a slight nod from Zatanna Damian's hand shot to his utility belt and he threw a couple of smoke pellets to the ground and grabbed his escrima sticks which were glowing orange as they were imbued with his magic. He leapt into the fray and began beating down anyone in he and Zatanna's path.
For Zatanna she had to be quick. She could only spare one quick confusion spell on a couple of their enemies before working on locating the wicket.
Damian worked hard to protect Zatanna, but like Zatanna had said he was out of practice. Fighting wise he was a level above most of those found in Faerie. But to truly take out enemies of this caliber, magic was a must.
And at the moment, while he could summon his natural magical energy, he couldn't conjure spells, not properly, it had been too long, and because of that he was handicapped. It was taking a little too long to defeat some of the demons, and as hard as he was hitting he was finding himself taking a couple hits in return.
A particularly annoying demon shot a fist out at him and Damian adeptly dodged and slammed his escrima in the man's face. Slobber flew from its mouth and landed on Damian's suit, but that seemed to be the only sign that he had actually hurt the demon.
Otherwise the demon seemed to have been ready for that attack and retaliated with it's own attack slashing across his chest and drawing blood.
"Wing are you ok-
"I'm fine Zatanna." Nightwing growled. The entire time he had been doing his best to focus on anything but the chants coming from his assailants. But as blood freely dripped from his large wound, it was like all his senses were intune to their ramblings.
"Your soul is our's demon."
"You didn't actually think you'd make it through did you?"
"We are going to feast on your soul."
"You don't know how long we've been waiting for your return!"
"MINE MINE YOUR SOUL IS MINE!"
It was just all just all too much, he couldn't focus, he found himself getting hit by a second attack, one far more painful than the last. A few more hits and he more than likely was never going to make it out of here.
"We own you demon for the rest of eternity."
As those crowding around Damian began to taunt him, Zatanna left to help her young protege, but none, not even her noticed the twitch of his fingers, or the renewed glow in his eyes.
"Grrm, QUIET." Nightwing yelled, instantly an orange shockwave of magical energy flowed from his body and spread throughout the forest. Zatanna just barely got a shield up in time protecting herself.
But for the demons, the fairies, the trolls, and the goblins, they were simply eviscerated, if you hadn't seen them you would have never known they existed.
With a content sigh Damian allowed himself to fall to one knee and check on his wounds. For now the enemies in his face were silenced, however that attack had done nothing to stop the voices he was hearing in his head.
"You know that attack was strong enough to kill me." Zatanna pointed out after some time. She watched as her former apprentice struggled to gain some form of control physically and mentally. It didn't take much to realize he was losing it. Hell wasn't for the weak minded.
Now Damian was not weak minded, no he had one of the stronger minds she had ever encountered. But that didn't matter as he had died before. And he had died and went to hell. A place that would make the strongest willed humans break. As a soul that once lived in hell Damian was far more malleable to such attacks. So aside from the demons and fairies he had to deal with in the physical realm. The spirits no doubt tormenting his mind were worse.
The effects of this would certainly lessen when they actually got past the wicket and into the Fair Lands. But Zatanna was questioning if it was smart to let her former mentee go on with this. It didn't have to be today.
"I wouldn't have killed you. And you protected yourself. I knew you would." Damian eventually managed to speak. The strain was obviously too much. But his pride would never let him admit that.
"Leah mih." Zatanna spoke and immediately the wounds quickly disappeared and Damian was feeling back to 100% physically.
"You're losing it." Zatanna pointed out.
"I'm not." Damian snarled, only proving Zatanna's point.
"Come on. I've got the location of the Wicket we have to move. If you lose it again, I'm sending us back." Zatanna began to take the lead walking through the thick forest. Damian couldn't be more annoyed but he began to follow Zatanna anyway.
"There are voices in my head, Zatanna. It's not as easy as it looks." Damian told his old mentor angrily.
"Well then make it easy." Zatanna retorted simply, and before Damian could get any angrier, Zatanna spoke again. "So how's work? Dick's told me you have a lot cut out for you in San Francisco."
"I-Pardon?"
"How's work going? You're still pretty young, so how's it like living it up in a huge office huh?"
"I-it's fine. I've been given a fairly big task but nothing impossible. I suspect we'll be fully running in just a couple of months."
"Good, good. I've been thinking about buying some stock, but I wanted to make sure things were on the rise first."
Damian didn't know how to respond to that, as his mind was working overtime to find whatever angle Zatanna was playing at.
"So Nightwing, we didn't talk about it over the phone. You and Wonder Girl? How far along is she?" Zatanna questioned
The sudden change threw him off a little, but he felt like he should have known this was coming considering who he was dealing with.
"8 weeks and counting last time I checked."
"And considering what I heard last night, there's some trouble in paradise huh?" Zatanna said as they pushed through the forest.
"Weren't you the one who said I shouldn't be thinking about her?"
"Yeah, but I think we can spare a few moments. Unless you think you can't control your power?"
He was obviously being goaded by Zatanna for some reason, he just wasn't sure why yet. And so Damian frowned, he went with it.
"Trouble in paradise insinuates there was paradise in the first place." Damian started "I should have expected this, considering the way we got together in the first place."
"I heard a little about that. I didn't really believe Dick, but he said something about a One Night Stand?"
"Basically. It was a moment of weakness that should have never happened. After it happened I didn't hear from her for a month. When she does contact me it's to tell me she's pregnant."
"I'm sure you took it well." Zatanna couldn't help but giggle "You know I never thought something like this would happen to you. Maybe we should have been doing Sex Ed instead."
"Funny." Damian told his mentor with a straight face, however that didn't stop her from laughing at her own jokes.
"So what did you do to get her so mad yesterday. Or should I say what did she do to get you to react so stupidly?"
"She just brought the clone over without saying anything." Damian said with a sigh.
"And this caused you to…?"
"Act like a brat." Damian mumbled, before throwing his hands up in the air exasperated at the situation. "The worst part is, I had a point Zatanna! She brings this guy over that she knows I despise, he instigates and I retaliate and look like an ass, but I don't think she really cared about that."
"No, what she seemed to care about yesterday was the silent treatment you were giving her…Really Wing?" Zatanna questioned, unimpressed with her pupil's tactics.
"I know. And I told myself I wasn't going to do anything stupid. But then next thing you know 2 hours turns to 4, which turns to 8. I make dinner, she's still a no show. I put it away and get on call with you and 4 hours after that she finally shows up. Mind you no calls, no texts, no nothing. We already had a small issue a few weeks ago about letting me know things beforehand, but once again I'm left in the dark. And I get it, I'm not her parent, But I thought we were a team. Or at least trying to be one."
"So her being really late made you give her the silent treatment…I mean somewhat understandable."
"It wasn't exactly the silent treatment. She didn't say anything to me so I didn't say anything to her. If she talked I would have responded."
"Semantics Wing. Something tells me though the story isn't done."
"I wish it was. After you heard her yell at me, I got off and we got to talking. And I guess I didn't react well. At all. She got mad at my aloofness, and I exploded. We disagreed on the clone, she called me an immature brat, and well you can guess what I had to say in return."
"And that's what's got her mad and you worried."
"Well, I couldn't really sleep, I knew I had messed up. I tried to apologize in the morning, breakfast and everything but…she said it was too soon. That she was still thinking about everything before she left, once again, I have no clue where. Now that I think about it, she probably doesn't even know I'm here."
"Well…" Zatanna started after a moment, I won't lie, that does sound pretty bad. Judging by the fact you won't even say what you said tells me you know you overreacted."
"Of course."
"I'm not going to lie Damian if you really did explode on her in Damian typical fashion, then yeah, I'm not sure I'd want to see you the next day either. You're a brat sometimes, and you say whatever comes to your mind. I think I've got pretty thick skin, but seriously when I first started training you, even I was offended by some of the stuff you'd say. It took me a while to get used to it."
"I know." Damian muttered miserably "It's just…how do I fix it?"
"Well you probably have to do what she asks and give her space. I don't know Wonder Girl well enough to tell you how she's going to respond, but in most cases I think you'd get another chance. However if she was as skeptical about this whole thing at the start like you said, well, Then I'm not so sure." Zatanna told him honestly.
This only seemed to make Damian mopier as they walked through the forest. For a moment Zatanna regretted bringing this up, even if it seemed to have taken Damian's mind off of the spirits in his head.
"It was inevitable I guess…This whole thing is just one big mess. The moment Wonder Girl came to the Manor my life as I knew it was over. And I thought I was fine with that. I thought…I thought I was ready to deal with that. The truth is I've always thought that I was more mature than other people my age. And I was in certain ways. Being raised an assassin, some things are inevitable. But in some ways I'm still just a kid pretending to be a man."
"Wing that's fine you're 18-
"But that's the thing Zatanna it's not. Not anymore. A couple months ago this wouldn't have been a problem. But now I've got to be perfect. I'm not allowed to make mistakes, not anymore. I've gotta grow up fast. I've gotta fix Wayne Enterprises, be Nightwing, and be a roommate. In a couple of months I'm supposed to be a father. Me? A Father? It's all one big cosmic joke. I probably won't even see my kids now that Wonder Girl is probably going to move out."
"Nightwing, you've got to relax."
"Everyone's gonna be disappointed in me again. I don't know why everyone thought I could do this. I don't know why I thought I could do this. I've grossly overestimated my abilities. The truth is I'm not ready for all of this. And don't get me wrong, I want to be. I want to be the best roommate I can be to Wonder Girl right now, and I want to be a good father, a good Nightwing, a good businessman. But I've got to be perfect, and lately for these past weeks I've felt my confidence waver like never before. I'm not perfect and this time I'm not sure how to be." Damian admitted
"Okay Wing just calm down." Zatanna told her former protege, she felt kind of bad for bringing all this up, but was beginning to think this was something Damian had needed "Have you ever told anyone you felt this way, other than right now?"
"Seriously?" Damian scoffed "How could I? If I tell Cassie she'll be gone in the morning. The whole point of this is for me to be ready, to convince her. I could try telling the others but the fact is none of them have had to deal with this pressure. And my father well… I've made enough mistakes… I don't want him to think I'm completely incapable. Telling him what happened the other day should have been enough."
"Damian I really do think you just need to take a moment and realize where you are in life. Parenthood isn't easy, especially if you're doing this with someone you don't love. If anyone is expecting you to be perfect especially knowing you're essentially just a kid is a jerk. I'm sure you know Wonder Girl better than me but I don't think she'd get up and leave if you told her these things. It's mature of you to understand your shortcomings and work to make sure they become your strengths."
"You're maturing and maybe it's not as fast as your or even Wonder Girl would like, but it takes two to tango Damian. You both clearly have your faults. But for now work on what you can and control what you can control. Try being a little more patient and a lot less petty. If you do that, well, then I think you'll be just fine."
"If she hasn't already left."
"If she hasn't already left." Zatanna agreed "But for some reason I doubt that Little Wing. I know you want to be perfect in everything you do, and I know that's something that's just ingrained in you and that's fine. Just remember perfection takes time. Not many 18 year olds can do what you do and I think despite your mistakes you should be content with that."
"I guess."
"Chin up kid you're gonna be just fine. You're a good kid, abrasive and a little too much at times, but we've all been there. My last piece of advice? You two need to get to know each other way better. Because when roommates fight, the first instinct shouldn't be to go somewhere else. You should be able to solve that on your own. Like it or not your stories are intertwined for the rest of time. The more you know each other the more tolerable things will get, or worst case scenario things just don't work out. But you have to do your best and try. You get me?"
"Yeah, I think I do." Damian admitted after some time. If he got to know Cassie, really got to know Cassie then maybe this wouldn't happen. He needed to try and create a real bond with her. And of course be less of a kid, and act like the man he told her he was months ago.
"Good, now come on kid, we're here. So put on your gameface. Let's find out if this prophecy is the real deal and then you can go home and figure everything out."
Zatanna opened the small wicket and was about to walk in but Damian stopped her first with a hand on her shoulder "Thank you Zatanna."
"Anytime."
WINGDINGS
"And so I kind of just dressed up and left. I wasn't sure what I could do, but I knew I couldn't be in that room anymore."
"I told you Cassie. He's an asshole. Some people change and he's not one of them." Conner told her with a shake of his head.
At the moment Cassie found herself at the Kent Farm. Currently she and Kon sat on the rooftop gazing at the afternoon sky. She had been there for over an hour now and had just finished recounting the aftermath of her date with Conner. And needless to say he wasn't happy.
She wasn't too happy either. It was hard knowing how to feel about everything. She would never understand the animosity between Conner and Damian, but it did exist, and so she could take some of the blame for "starting" the situation in the first place.
But at the same time. Damian was out of line from the moment he saw Conner. It was ridiculous. And giving her the silent treatment and then insulting her because she was late was the cherry on top.
It hurt more in the moment than it did thinking back on it, and so she blamed hormones for that. It was just annoying because she thought they had been getting somewhere. That maybe these past couple of weeks of breakfast and the office, and dinner, that they were beginning to create something of a friendship.
Now? Well now she was just turned off and annoyed. Immaturity was not cute and this was what she was worried about when she found out she was pregnant. If they couldn't last a month in each other's presence how were they ever going to raise children together?
Would he apologize for something like this every month? Was he ever going to grow up and realize they had a family to try and raise? She knew that everyone thought that she would up and leave at the first sign of trouble, and it was true that she didn't plan on sticking through many more fights like this. But that didn't mean she didn't want to try.
She was trying to make it work because at the end of the day Damian was the father, even if she found herself regretting that day every couple of hours. She wanted to give that family a chance even if it was a longshot. But she didn't plan on sticking around if she was gonna be called a Stockholm patient once Damian got a little annoyed.
"You deserve better than that Cass. Face it, he's not good enough for you." Conner suddenly told her again/
"We weren't dating Kon." Cassie remarked annoyedly as she was brought out of her thoughts "I just want to make things work, is that so bad?"
"It's not, it's very…noble of you Cass. But sometimes things don't work out that way. If you decided to move out no one would blame you."
"You're probably right, but I'd blame myself. I want my children to have a chance to know their father. Despite it all I don't think he's a terrible guy. And I don't want to be the bitch who runs away with the kids, because I know if we stop living together we won't be seeing much of each other and I don't want to seem like that. You know?"
"I guess…" Kon responded. The look he was giving her was unimpressed, but she didn't understand why she hadn't said anything crazy. And it was getting annoying.
"Look I kind of get why Damian's mad, but don't tell me you're mad at me too."
"No, I'm not mad. It's just, it's hard hearing you talk about having kids and knowing that it's with someone else."
Cassie couldn't help but sigh and look down. It was always hard hearing this considering she never meant for this to happen. It was just her luck that the one time she decided to mess around when they had broken up she had gotten pregnant. It seemed Conner always had some fling he went to when things went south, but of course she was the one paying the price.
"I'm sorry…I know this isn't what we wanted." Cassie apologized, however Conner quickly swooped in lifting her chin and staring into her eyes.
"No, It's fine, well errr, Not fine but, we move right? So life isn't how I envisioned it when we were 16. That's okay. If I wanted to be that way then I should have been better back then. I wasn't, but I am here now. And I'm ready to be here for you despite the odds." Conner promised.
"Kon you understand I'm having twins right? With another man. This-
"Yeah Cass, I'm pretty sure I told you I understand." Kon interrupted this time clearly more strained "What I'm saying is, I'm ready to try right now if you are. Because we will never know if we can make this work if we don't at least try."
It was hard to believe this logic considering the fact that they had tried many, many times and this had been the outcome. But she would have been lying to herself if she said she didn't want to make things work with Conner, no matter how bad the odds were.
"Whaddya say Cass, You and me, one last time?" Kon questioned once more. It was probably stupid holding onto hope. But Cissie had said crazier things had happened.
"Okay Kon. You and me, one last time." Cassie put emphasis on the last part. Because if this didn't work out then this was it. No more second chances.
"Perfect." Kon smiled and despite the situation, it was a pure one and Cassie couldn't help but smile back, and when Kon moved to place a kiss on her lips she easily met him halfway.
It was so very familiar. Now whether familiar was good or bad was yet to be determined.
"Now how about we head inside and make it official over some of Ma's famous pot roast? I think a rerun of the office is on."
"I'd like that." Cassie said with a nod. As they headed inside the house Cassie tried not to think of the fact that the Office reminded her of a certain former Assassin.
WINGDINGS
Once you were truly inside Faerie. Once you were past the wicket. Things weren't nearly as bad. The voices in his head had calmed down considerably now that they were on enchanted ground. They barely had to fight anyone else as they made their way to the mainland. And despite being slightly nervous about the situation, this was the best Damian had felt the entire trip.
Now he and Zatanna found themselves making their way to the Queen's palace. But before they could get there, they had to navigate the Marketplace.
"Remember the rules we have here okay? Don't ask them questions, don't ask for favors, we don't accept gifts or foods of any kind. Remember to play nice, good etiquette. Do that and we should be out of here in 10 minutes, maybe less."
"I know Zatanna." Damian groaned. It might have been a long while, but he didn't forget things as important as this.
"I'm just making sure, now let's go." Zatanna pulled him along and they began to traverse the path heading into the market.
The market was like every medieval fairytale come to life. Fairies, goblins, ogres, trolls, stood around and begged anyone who was willing to listen to buy their things. Magical trinkets, special ointments, mirrors, orbs that could see into other realms, jewelry. Half of it was crap, and the other half was legit but more than likely came with a very stupid price like a couple of souls or something.
Most of the time in market it seemed like the idea was to frame someone for stealing your stuff, catch them "stealing" your things and then calling them out for it, making them pay for it with loads of money and in curses. Because the people of Fairy were assholes like that.
They had tried to sneakily hook something onto Damian's utility belt but he easily caught the little goblin in the act and forcefully pushed him back whilst giving his fakest smile "That's not a good idea."
"I'd suggest you leave before we cause a ruckus and have your shop taken." Zatanna threatened the goblin nicely. Luckily aside from that interaction they didn't have to deal with anything else in Market and instead were able to escape curse free and neared the castle of Queen Titania.
As always when walking the path of Faerie there was no way to actually tell where they were going until they reached the palace. Every time the path seemed to differ. This time in their way Zatanna and Nightwing dealt with a river of blood they had to briefly step through.
The river of blood was certainly the nastiest thing they had to go through, but Zatanna was able to use a spell to clean them up fairly easily. The hardest was a cave which was guarded by a giant, at least 30ft tall. He had a helmet similar to one you'd see on Ares but with horns on the side. The man was very muscular and only wore animal skin that seemed to be held up by a belt made of skulls. In his hand blocking the cave was a club with spikes nearly as big as him.
Zatanna and Damian were on guard, ready for a fight, but before they could speak the guardian began "Hold, and declare yourselves."
"I'm Zatanna and this is my friend Nightwing." Zatanna quickly took over.
"State your business."
"We followed the path and it led us here. We plan on going to Queen Titania's palace."
"Leave this place."
"We can't, we must get to the Queen and the Oracle of the court." Zatanna explained easily, seemingly not fearing the monster at all.
"If you wish to pass…You must solve a riddle."
Damian did his best to not look too happy at the prospect, but judging by the side eye Zatanna gave him, it was a little too obvious.
"We accept your challenge." Zatanna eventually told him.
"Very well then. One riddle only. I will ask and you will answer. When there is fire in me then I am still cold; When I own your true love's face then you will not see me; To all things I give no more than I am given; In time I may have all things, and yet I keep nothing."
There was a pause for a moment and Damian gave Zatanna a look as she was clearly working overtime attempting to figure out the answer to the riddle.
"Right…What did you say was going to happen if we answered wrong?" Damian asked
"Then I will hack you into pieces, and hack your small pieces into smaller pieces."
"Huh okay. Would the answer happen to be a mirror?"
"..."
"Enter, then."
Zatanna seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, and Damian simply rolled his eyes as they walked by "I've heard that one before. I would have thought the fairies would have some new riddles but I guess not." Damian said with a shrug.
"Excuse me if I'm happy they had no new material." Zatanna replied, walking through the cavern was easy enough and as they walked out on the other side the Castle was in view.
"Alright this is it Little Wing. Are you ready, do you know what to do?"
"Yes, don't worry. This should be easy enough."
Walking down the path to the large palace, fairies flew around them and watched their every move. They looked at Damian every once in a while, but they were truly worried about Zatanna whose power was obvious to anyone who could feel magic.
For that reason alone the Queen would entertain them, even for a little just to make sure she could get Zatanna out of her realm faster. It wouldn't be good if she wasn't thought to be the strongest in her own realm.
As they got to the front there was another fairy, male if he had to guess. Certainly another one of the Queen's many servants.
"State your purpose for coming to the Queen's palace." The tiny fairy demanded in a voice far too loud for a body of that size.
"We would like to have counsel with the Queen. I wouldn't like to scare but it's possible this realm and many others will be at stake otherwise." Zatanna explained dutifully.
The scornful look didn't leave the small fairy's face, but it did seem like he was listening at took a moment longer but eventually he confirmed it "The Queen says you may enter."
"Thank you sir." Zatanna said politely and she even bowed for good measure though everyone knew it was for show. Damian didn't bother, instead simply nodding at the fairy. He was so close to confirmation and he could hardly wait any longer.
Entering the palace, he expected they would have entered into a sitting room or something like that, but instead they were instantly transported to the Queen's own quarters.
In the room was Queen Titania alone laying on a couch, in what Damian could only describe as a provocative manner. The green woman held a flute in her hand and took a long sip of her wine before fixing her crown and standing up. When she stood a glimpse of her body was shown for Zatanna and Damian to see. Whether it was accidental or on purpose he wasn't sure yet.
Either way it was clear she was in one of those moods.
"Queen Titania. It is a pleasure." Zatanna greeted giving a polite bow once again. A frown quickly formed on Titania's face.
"I unfortunately can not say the same." Titania told her plainly. Before Zatanna could say anything else, Damian swiftly intervened.
"My Queen. It's an honor to be in your presence again." He knelt and took her hand giving it a small kiss, when he looked at her face there was a small smile there and internally Damian was doing the same thing.
Got her.
"My my Demon. It really is a pleasure. The last time you were here I was under the impression that it was to be your last." Queen Titania spoke with a fondness that was slightly worrying to Zatanna.
"Well desperate times my lady." Damian spoke to her as he stood up to his feet. He gave Zatanna and was surprised to see her nod, giving him the permission to keep leading this mission.
"Just how desperate?" Titania questioned, and for the first time she sounded slightly serious.
"Desperate enough to seek council with your oracle." Damian admitted. Titania was clearly surprised, eyebrows raising to the sky, soon enough however she had a smirk on her face, and Damian knew the gears were turning in her head.
"My word, desperate indeed. Have you heard something? A bad omen perhaps?" Titania asked, though if you asked Zatanna she wasn't focused on that anymore, rather she was simply eyeing Damian up like she had very different thoughts in her mind.
"Maybe, I'm not sure yet. It's why I'd like to use your Oracle, for confirmation."
"Wise. For if the Oracle has heard it, then it is most likely true." Titania agreed with the logic "But you know I can't just let you borrow my Oracle. I need something in return."
"Of course my Queen." Damian nodded "And what did you have in mind?" he questioned though he had a pretty good idea of what she wanted.
At this the queen smirked, wrapping her arms around Damian's torso holding him tight, she wasted no time pressing herself against him. Over the Queen's shoulder Damian looked at Zatanna who didn't seem very happy with the Queen's behavior, but Damian had expected it.
"I want you to spend the night here, in my quarters." The Queen told him plainly. And Damian wasn't blind the Queen was a beautiful lady, that much was obvious. But there were a million reasons why that was never going to happen. The most important ones being that there was something more than just sex the Queen wanted from him, even if he was so inclined there was not anytime for that. And of course the fact that that wasn't even her true form.
She was beautiful, hiding something, and he had his priorities straight. This was serious work business and he had mixed work and play enough to last a lifetime.
"A very tempting offer my lady. Unfortunately it's not one I can accept. I sadly do not have the time to leave you adequately satisfied, and I'd hate to have to leave in the middle of the night." Damian answered, making sure to sound disappointed.
She was clearly displeased, but the answer had also satisfied her enough. "Very well then. What will you offer me in exchange for use of my Oracle?"
Damian wasted no time digging in his utility belt and pulling out a small rectangular tracking device. "When you press this button a call will be made to your son, a call he won't be able to deny. He will be summoned to your location, however it will only work once."
At the mention of her son, Titania almost instantly sobered up. It was insane how quick things changed once Tim Hunter was mentioned, but it was because of that he knew she would accept.
"You're sure?"
"I would never lie to you." Damian promised.
"Well then, demon. You have a deal. Your summoner for the use of my Oracle." Titania agreed and after she said that she snapped her fingers and the tracking device disappeared from Damian's hands and instead in front of them a small old fairy appeared.
The fairy had a walking stick and long white beard and a bald head. He was also very clearly confused but Titania didn't seem to care about that as began to speak "Oracle. The demon and the witch need you to answer some questions for them."
The oracle looked over the two of them for a couple of moments before frowning "Well make it snappy then."
"There's a prophecy, we'd like to know if you've heard it before." Zatanna spoke for the first time in a long time.
"Let me hear it." He demanded
"And so it begins a forbidden affair will spurn the beginning and the end. Nyx's mortal champion and Zeus' descendent's coupling will bring the rise of two empires, and mark an age of death for the supernatural. It's been foreseen the King of the Night and the Duke of War's legend will be spread throughout all the nine realms. As well as their deathly hand." Damian quickly recited.
As he spoke the Oracle seemed to gain a pensive look on his face and Titania's interest in the whole affair seemed to increase dramatically. They all waited on the Oracle who after a few moments still hadn't spoken. Damian was going to remind him when he suddenly responded.
"Yes this is an old one for sure…Hasn't been brought up since the Recession but…I could see why it might resurface now."
"Recession?"
"Nyx's recession. It happened so long ago, the prophecy was disregarded. Recently however with her children and the rumors about Olympus right now…This does make sense. Tell me demon. Do you believe yourself to be the mortal in the prophecy?"
"I have reason to believe that could be the case." Damian answered truthfully.
"Well then you need to understand that Nyx isn't quite like the other gods. She's feared among them for reasons. Mortals have never been her strong suit. If you are this chosen one well then… You've more than likely doomed us all already." The Oracle finished harshly.
"I doubt that." Zatanna interjected quickly "Prophecy isn't always so linear."
"You came here for my help." The Oracle pointed out
"We came here for confirmation." Zatanna corrected and already began to tug Damian out of the palace "We got that, but we didn't come here for your opinions."
"You can't protect the boy witch! It's his destiny!"
"Don't listen to him he's clearly senile." Zatanna told Damian quietly, before turning back to the Oracle and the Queen "It was good seeing you, we will be taking our leave now."
There wasn't time for any other response as Zatanna lifted up her hand and quickly a huge blue light emitted from it and they were suddenly back at Titans Tower, right at the rooftop like they hadn't even left.
The only difference now was that it used to be morning and now it was nighttime. Landing on the rooftop Damian felt slightly woozy as a pressure on his mind was lifted, on that he almost hadn't realized was there.
For a while he straightened himself out and Zatanna began to clean things up from the ritual but no one spoke a word.
Hearing the words from the Oracle sucked for sure, but it was what he expected so he wasn't too torn up about it. However now that he knew this was true he had to switch his focus fully on Nyx and like he told Cassie before he had no idea what the goddess of Night could want with him.
"You are going to be a very busy man, Wing." Zatanna told him honestly "I'm going to do my best to find more stuff about this but…Nyx is one of those goddesses there just isn't a lot about. I have a feeling you have to figure this out on your own."
"I thought so too. Regardless Zatanna, thanks for everything. Getting me to Fairy, my mind, Cassie-
"Don't even mention it." Zatanna interrupted Damian "It's what we do right?"
"Right."
"Look I've got to get going to Shadowcrest, but please do call me if you think you need something. Magic related or otherwise. I'm still here if you need some help. Okay?"
"Okay." Damian knew he wasn't going to bother her with his magic issues anymore, but maybe he'd take her up on her other offer.
"Perfect, don't be a Stranger!" Zatanna called and once again in a flash of blue light she disappeared from the rooftop leaving Damian on his own.
With Zatanna gone Damian took a moment to check his wrist computer. It was 11:30pm. Checking his messages he saw a couple from his Father asking about when they would be in Gotham, a couple from Selina and Alfred, it was as if they knew something was wrong. Aside from those and a couple from work there hadn't been any from anyone else.
With that knowledge Damian began to leave Titans Tower himself getting on his motorcycle and heading to his apartment.
On his way he began to think of the many things he might say when he saw Cassie. Faster than he would have liked the apartment building pulled up in his view.
Like he usually did as Nightwing he stashed his bike and scaled the side of their building sneaking in through one of their windows.
Maybe he shouldn't have been, but he was very surprised when all the lights were off. Looking into the kitchen the eggs he had left out were still there. Old breakfast was still on the table, and it was clear that nobody had been in the apartment since he had left over 12 hours ago.
"Cassie?" Damian called anyway, As expected there was no response, but holding onto some hope Damian went and checked in her room anyway.
"Cassandra?" Damian called once more. The quietness was unsettling. He wanted to be mad but he managed to force the emotion down and instead was slightly worried. If she wanted to leave that was fine, but now she could have been anywhere and was pregnant.
He needed to find out where she was, so he went to flick on the lightswitch to her room and was stunned when nothing changed, rather it almost seemed like the room got darker.
"Great, how much do I pay for this apartment again?" Damian mumbled to himself, he flickered the lightswitch on and off again for a couple of moments before turning to leave the room.
Looks like he'd be calling her. He just had to make sure she was okay. As he left the room he flicked the switch once more and began to close the door but froze as something caught his eye.
Did-did that shadow just move? Are we compromised? Did someone take Cassie? Is she safe?
His mind was moving a mile a minute but he knew if he wanted these questions answered he needed to confront his enemy.
"Who are you? Come out or I'll get you myself, and I promise you mercy will be the last thing on my mind." He said while pointing his escrima at the shadow.
There was a momentary pause and the shadows around her bed shifted once more and suddenly he heard a feminine voice, one he could only describe as godly. "Perfect, I don't think anyone has ever managed to catch me like that before. You truly are fascinating."
"Who-
"Destiny has come to you, and it's time for us to have a little talk, Champion."
It was the only warning as once she finished speaking the shadows flew at an insane speed and wrapped around him like a cloak. In an instant all he saw was darkness. And as his eyelids began to get droopy, he couldn't help but collapse in the darkness around him.
Okay so that's the chapter and I hope you liked it, and I'm gonna try to break it down a little bit.
So first thing's first the relationship with Zatanna. If you've read any of my other stories with Damian you know I like the idea of him using Magic. IFor this story Magic is prominent but not in the most traditional way, it's more Olympian magic. Today's chapter will probably be one of a kind.
With Zatanna and Damian, It's was a thing of wanting to learn from the best. Damian wouldn't want to learn from anyone he thought was inferior. Zatanna would be one of the only people who could teach him, and he'd also have a respect for.
In this universe Magic isn't really something Damian is too concerned about. It's no longer a true temptation for him anymore. He's content with with leaving that to the true magicians, at the moment it's just a means to an end. So with Zatanna she knows Damian better than most maybe not on the level of like Jon or Dick. But better than some others. That's why he was okay telling her all that stuff.
With Fairyland it is as I said the place is in Hell and It's not exactly DC canon, more of a mixture of how I think things would work and some canon added in. So Damian's soul was sent to Hell when he died and so I just think being there would affect him like others who would have been sent to hell, because he had been there before.
The wicket in Fairyland almost puts them in another dimension. The wicket is just like a small wooden fence. When you pass it you are fully in fairyland and despite it technically being in hell Demons don't go there.
Everything else is pretty straightforward I think. Queen Titania is a very promiscuous woman and her having many different trysts isn't uncommon. Why does she have it in for Damian in particular? It was just an Idea I had for another story.
When they call Damian "Demon" in hell it's supposed to be mockingly, as they are legitimate demons so it's kind of like they find it amusing he compares himself to them. Or in Titania's case finds it cute.
Titania doesn't like Zatanna because she's really strong. Having someone as strong as Zatanna isn't good for business as some believe the strongest should rule, even if someone like Zatanna is not a fairy.
With Cassie Nyx hasn't done anything to her at the end of the chapter, she's not in her room because she's at the Kent Farm, if she hasn't texted it's because she's chosen not to. She has no clue Damian went to Fairyland or is being taken by Nyx.
Damian and Zatanna didn't actually spend 12 or so hours in Fairyland. It was probably 2 or 3 max considering how much they had to walk and stuff. It's just magic shenanigan's and time difference makes it feel that way.
Originally Cassie was going to talk with Ma and Pa Kent but I couldn't find a way to fit it in. With Damian right now, if you can tell he's kinda being pulled both ways. As shown before he can be dramatic, and is mostly switching between mad at Cassie and complete melancholy for messing up once again. Right now he knows that he messed up and was beginning to crack under all the pressure with all these expectations put on him. Though like I said he's being a bit dramatic as right now something like Work hasn't proven to be a true problem, but in his mind, amplified with everything going on in Hell, everything was very stressful.
I don't usually do a full breakdown of my stuff after a chapter, but in this case I felt it was necessary considering this chapter is pretty big even by my standards, and magic is confusing even for the most avid readers. Anyways once again I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and hopefully chapter 10 can be up soon enough, until next time!✌