Gifts From the Sea, a Batman fanfic by Raberba girl
Batfam Bingo 2019: AU: Zoo
Chapter 37 - Go, and Take Him With You (rough draft 2)
Jason's eyes shot open. It was the middle of the night and at first, he had no idea what had woken him. Then there was a rumbling sound, and he thought at first that it was thunder but the whole building shook. A weird, wavering light started up outside, and when he raised his head to look, he realized that something was on fire.
He hesitated, trying to decide whether to feel scared or not. Then he sighed and laid his head back down, the fear draining out of him and leaving numbness behind.
o.o.o
He didn't know how long it had been, but the sky was lighter as dawn approached, and now that there were shouts and the sounds - some of them nearby - of gunshots and clanging blades in addition to even more explosions, Jason was scared again. Trapped like he was, he couldn't actually do anything except wait by the shelf to start throwing books if anyone came in to kill him.
The person who finally did burst into his room batted aside the first two books and then gave Jason an annoyed look. He stared at the Daughter, tense, wondering what she was going to do.
"Come with me," she snapped. She held a naked, stained sword and was splattered with fresh blood, crimson dripping down her cheek and boobs and hair. Her outfit was black, so she probably had even more blood on her that he couldn't see.
"Are y-you gonna kill me?"
"No. Come, or I'll leave you to the mercy of my enemies."
Jason scrambled after her. She marched down corridors without glancing at any of the carnage littering them, and Jason tried his best to suppress his nausea and not look at the bleeding, broken bodies, either. (Not all of them were dead. He clamped his hands over his ears to block out their cries.)
He recognized Damian's suite when she flung the door open. The place was a mess, and Goliath was in the courtyard with an agitated-looking Damian already sitting on his shoulders. The Daughter marched over to them, hissed at Jason when he scrambled to catch up, then practically launched him up to join the smaller boy. She said something to Damian in another language and Damian replied, then she whirled around and disappeared through the doorway.
Damian called to Goliath and the dragon-bat leaped into the air, huge wings climbing higher and higher.
"What's happening?" Jason demanded.
"There was a coup," Damian said tightly. "Mother...deemed me unworthy to stand in defense of the Demon's Head, so I have been sent away to complete my training elsewhere."
Jason watched the burning compound recede behind them, and the relief in his chest was nearly swallowed up by an ache of grief. "My pelt was back there..."
"Oh - no, I have it."
"What?!"
"Mother gave it to me. It's in my pack."
Jason seized the pack, which was conveniently right in front of him, and started frantically digging through it.
"Stop, you fool, you'll knock us out of the air! Or lose our supplies!"
Jason didn't notice if he lost any supplies or not; all his attention was caught up in HIS FREAKING PELT. Once he'd turned it into a hoodie and had it on, he sat there hugging it around himself and cried.
When the tears finally slowed, he looked around and found them flying over a desert.
"Are you finished?" Damian asked coldly.
"If you try to take my pelt away, I will kill you."
"Pah. You can try," Damian scoffed.
"Where are we going?"
There was a pause. "To America," Damian finally said in a low voice. "To...see my father. He has...connections to the Justice League, and I am to ask them for sanctuary if necessary."
"What- The Justice League? Who the hell is your father?" He knew the Justice League, it didn't seem to fit that any of them would have ties to a weird Demon's Head cult.
Damian looked over his shoulder at him. "My father is Bruce Wayne."
Jason blinked. He sat there for a while. "Uh, no," he finally said. "That's my dad."
"Mother wouldn't lie to me," Damian said impatiently. "And if I'd known before today that we share a father, I would have considerably stepped up your training. Your incompetence is disgraceful."
"We do not-! Bruce doesn't HAVE any kids except me and Dick!"
"I shall prove it," Damian shot back. "As soon as we get to civilization."
"Or we can just ask Bruce," Jason snapped. He meant it mockingly, but once the words were out, the air suddenly left his lungs when he realized that - this was it. He was escaping, he had his pelt, he was going to see Bruce. He was going home.
He started crying again, and for the first time in forever, they were tears of joy.
TBC
Gifts From the Sea, a Batman fanfic by Raberba girl
Batfam Bingo 2019: AU: Zoo
OUTTAKE - Original epilogue (rough draft 2)
A/N: At first, Damian wasn't going to have any screentime in this fic at all; then he was only going to be in the epilogue; then I decided to write an Al Ghul arc where he would obviously make an appearance; then once I'd done that, it didn't make sense for Jason to leave him behind, and including Damian in the rest of the fic wouldn't mess up the plot, so I decided to send Dami along with Jay. That means I had to throw out my original idea for the epilogue, but here it is as an outtake for anyone who's curious.
o.o.o
The heir of Ra's al Ghul was reading when his mother came striding through the door of his suite. "Damian."
"Mother." He stood up at once and laid the book aside, glad that he'd had the foresight to wrap it in colored paper. It was ostensibly to protect it in the absence of a dust jacket, but in reality, it concealed the cover, which displayed a photo of two mer and a boy with webbed toes playing on a beach under the title Gifts From the Sea. Damian knew he wasn't yet allowed to read this particular book or even, indeed, to know that the author was anyone noteworthy.
"Pack your things. You're leaving, and I don't know when you'll be able to return."
She spoke in English with an American accent, and his heart beat faster. It was a clue about his destination, and if he was headed to America, that might mean... "Am I- Am I to meet my father?" he asked, also in English.
"You will be staying with him." She was at his wardrobe, sorting through garments - the special ones.
Damian was already gathering his belongings, including his father's memoir, trying to prioritize irreplaceable items of personal value. He already had an emergency bag of supplies, weapons, and spare clothes ready to go in every room of his suite; he'd grab one of those last. "Which oceanic robes am I bringing?" he asked.
She turned and looked him in the eye. "All of them."
He should be alarmed, but instead, he could feel his face lighting up. He really was setting out to make his way in the world, deemed mature enough to fend for himself. "Yes, Mother."
"There's a boat waiting. You have ten minutes."
She left as suddenly as she had arrived, taking a bag of robes with her. Damian spent a bit of his allotted time packing the rest with care. Slinging the strap over his shoulder, he grabbed his main bag and one of the emergency bags.
Then he left his rooms for the last time, already planning which robe to choose for presenting himself to his father. He had to both appeal to the man's weakness yet project himself as strong. He was an Al Ghul, of the best lineage on land and created to be a superior child of the sea as well, so his father's choice was almost guaranteed...but it didn't hurt to be prepared, just in case.
