A/N: So this is a much darker fic than my usual.

This is a fic about Damian's first kill.

This one is much shorter than usual, but it's the type of fic that should be short.

Be warned: Damian angst.

Also, Talia is occasionally referred to as 'Mama', so Damian is about 6 years old at this time.

Enjoy!

His first kill was nothing special.

Nothing he wasn't trained to handle, anyways.

By now, he's had extensive weapons training, more than enough hand-to-hand combat training, and training in countless other areas including various fine arts. He'd nearly mastered them all at the age of 6. And finally, after years of training with slaughtering animals and attacking stuffing filled dummies, his mother had given him his biggest task yet.

Ending a human life.

The woman – one of his teachers – was placed in front of him, her hands tied behind her back and a gag stuffed in her mouth. Even at such a young age, Damian could clearly see the fear shining in her gray-blue eyes. Her pale face was red and puffy, streaked with tears both dried and new. She looked pitiful groveling at a child's feet.

Something in the pit of Damian's stomach hurt, like he had swallowed a rock. He didn't know why, but this didn't feel right. It didn't feel like a game, as all of Mama's tasks before this had been. He wanted to tell his mother 'no', but he knew that he couldn't. She just wanted what was best for him, right?

And when the sword was placed at his feet with instructions to slice it through his old instructor's throat, it felt even more wrong to him. He had gotten rather attached to this particular instructor – his art instructor. She had been encouraging, sympathetic even. She told him he was a natural at art and sketching. Damian had grown to enjoy her company and looked forward to their lessons.

But then Damian grew proficient enough at art to please his mother, which meant this teacher had to go.

Just like the others.

But Mama noticed how this teacher had grown on him. So she decided that this was the perfect opportunity to give Damian a new lesson.

How to kill a person.

Damian lifted the sword slowly, almost hesitantly, as his mother gently encouraged him in the background. He gripped the familiar cool handle, trying to transport himself back to one of his old training exercises. He tried to imagine a dummy in front of him, not his weeping art instructor. Anything but her.

Why was this so hard to do?

His hands just barely shook as he brought the sword's tip to the woman's throat, resting it lightly against her jugular vein. She trembled so violently that Damian could feel the shock waves traveling up to his arm.

This would have been so much easier if she wasn't staring straight at him with those fear filled eyes.

Slowly, he let his sword glide over her delicate throat. He could feel each movement of his arm, each cut he made in her. Worse yet was her muffled screaming into the gag. It was scratchy and desperate, like an animal being stabbed through the stomach. A sound he knew well. Except the sound of a human being stabbed was worse, somehow. More guttural. Even through the gag, it made his ears ring painfully.

One more twinge of his blade and her cries were silenced for good.

He watched in a haze as she fell to the ground. Blood spilled from her neck like a fountain and leaked out onto the sand. Her eyes were wide and glassy, glazed over with the fear she was feeling as Damian ended her life. Everything about her was still. So still.

Damian couldn't stop staring at her.

Even as his mother put a hand on his shoulder and congratulated him on his accomplishment, he could not bring himself to tear his gaze away and follow her back inside the compound. He stayed there, staring at his old teacher. Staring at the life he had just ended. He thought it was all a game, a challenge. But this… This was different. So much different. He didn't know what to think.

What just happened?

Unable to face what he had done anymore, he turned away. He stomach lurched and bubbled painfully, and he ended up throwing up his lunch into the sand, hacking and gasping for breath.

Maybe it gets easier, he thought desperately.

Quickly, he wiped his mouth clean of bile and rose from the sand, following his mother inside the compound on wobbly legs, not daring to look back.

Eventually, it would get easier.

But Damian would never forget his first kill.

The end of whatever semblance he had to a childhood.

The end of innocence and games.

And the beginning of his life as a hardened killer.

A/N: NOOOO, MY BABY!

He breaks my heart sometimes.

Also, guys, I had a few prompt ideas...I want you guys to tell me if you like any of them:

Prompt #1: Dick and Damian songfic to the song 'Til Him' from the musical 'The Producers' (if you have never heard of this song, I suggest you look it up because it is perfect for those two)

Prompt #2: Damian getting de-aged on patrol (done before, but fun to read)

Prompt #3: A fem!Damian AU where the teenaged Damian (or whatever the frick I would decide to name female Dami) falls for one of the ex Boy Wonders (I'm making this up as I go, people)

Prompt #4: Damian and Bruce have their first real conversation since Bruce came back from the 'dead'

Tell me if you like any of these and feel free to give me some prompts of your own!