It was dark, he supposed. It was hard to tell for certain. After all it would be a stretch to say he could actually feel anything. And for that reason he was hesitant to say that it was actually dark. After all, he couldn't tell if his eyes were open.
It was odd he knew he was there, but he couldn't really feel his body in any sense. But it wasn't like there was a "lighter than air." feeling either. He just didn't exist, but at the same time he did. He knew this because he was also certain he was falling and falling fast, but he couldn't explain it. It made no sense, but at the end of the day, that was magic.
He guessed it had to do with the properties of the void. In the end that's what he was going with. Despite everything he didn't believe that he had suddenly gone blind, nor did he think his eyes were simply closed.
Damian was an Assassin. He was a Bat, he lived in the shadows, and yet he was certain they were rejecting him now. It was like anything he thought he knew about the properties of darkness were completely useless now.
Everything pointed to this being extreme magic. He was certain that he had never even seen Zatanna perform magic on this level. He wasn't even sure if she could, and she could do anything. This darkness was obviously abnormal, and similar to the one he had experienced the moment he entered Cassie's Room. And yet the only way he thought he could describe this current darkness, was to say it was simply more serious then the one in Cassie's Room.
It was worrying. No, that was understating it. Damian Wayne wasn't one to often use this word, especially in relation to himself. But the experience was honestly terrifying. It was as if his body had been locked in this position for hours. His arms, legs, fingers, toes, he couldn't even blink if he tried. He had no control over his body, he couldn't feel properly, and he couldn't see properly, but he was certain he was falling to his doom.
But what made it worse, was that it was seemingly unending. Currently Damian would estimate that he had been falling for a couple of hours, at minimum. It was the only reason he could even analyze what he was doing now.
At some point he managed to get his wits about him and hoped that he'd be able to think his way out of this situation. But he also couldn't speak. And so he certainly couldn't use any magic that might be able to get him out of this tight bind.
His saving grace was knowing that he would certainly be kept alive. He wouldn't die here. Nyx surely wouldn't allow it. Because that was who had to be behind this. The so-called Goddess of the Night, surely only she could control the shadows on such a supreme level.
The timing was, of course, too perfect. It only really made sense that he was dealing with her or one of her subordinates or children.
As he began to understand this, Damian gained a bit of confidence. This was simply scare tactics. They wanted him afraid and lost. But no matter what he was still Damian Wayne Al Ghul. Son of Batman, and Grandson to the Demon's Head. He never backed down, and he'd be damned if he started now.
As Damian began to think this, his vision slowly changed. He had been shrouded in darkness before, but now was falling through what he could only describe as a dark purple, almost black haze of shadow as he fell through the endless abyss.
And just as suddenly as he was pulled into the abyss, he was suddenly pulled out and dropped in what he could only describe as an infinite space of darkness. There was a lack of any light. He figured he couldn't see a step in front of himself. And yet now he could say for certain he could see.
Still, he was completely in the Goddess Nyx element. I've got to be careful. If this isn't bad yet, it can get way worse from here.
As Damian finally got his bearings together as feeling returned to his extremities, once it felt like the action of breathing was his own again, he heard a soft whisper of a voice.
"You did better than I expected Damian. Many would have died just from the shock of what I put you through. I'm impressed. You'll do well for me."
His mind was racing as the silky voice invaded his ears, there were many things he was prepared to say, but he eventually decided on silence. Not believing there was an adequate response to the woman's chatter.
"Quieter than I expected. No matter. As long as you can perform your duty we will have no issues."
"And what exactly is this duty? What do you believe I'll agree to do for you. Or rather, why are you so certain I'll do it no matter what."
"You'll work for me of course. You'll be my Champion of the Night."
"And why's that?"
"You are Damian Wayne correct? Damian Al Ghul? Hafid Al Ghul, Hm? Ibn al Xu'ffasch? The Grandson of the Demon, The Son of Batman. That is you right?" The voice boomed out in an almost teasing tone. But Damian could tell it was dangerous.
And so once again the young man did not respond, instead he wondered what point the Goddess was trying to make.
"Well if you were to admit to being all of those things. Then I'd tell you that this is destiny. That is all."
Destiny, seriously? How could this bullshit be destined? It still doesn't make sense. As Damian thought this, the purple shadows of the void broke off and began to take a corporeal form of a woman.
Her skin was pale, and her hair was as black as night, her eyes were wide and a deep purple. Her lips were full and conniving.
Her form was slender and she was draped in a dark blue-black dress adorned with tiny white stars. She wore large crescent shaped earrings and emanated a cold radiant beauty that he was certain he'd never seen in anyone before.
And with that beauty also came a twinge of fear. In this form her power seemed far more real. Somehow just by seeing her it was obvious who was the Master of this domain.
"I know what you're thinking boy. How could this be destiny? Destiny isn't real. Along with a bunch of other nonsense. And to a point you'd be right. Your human concept of destiny is wrong. Destiny simply means something was planned long ago, and now it is coming to pass."
"What was planned and why was I involved?" Damian questioned annoyedly. The woman smiled but her eyes were now narrowed, obviously annoyed about something.
"You're quite confident to be demanding things from me. You do know who stands in front of you, correct?" Nyx questioned.
"Your Nyx, the Goddess of the Night." Damian told her with a small sigh. "I figured we were past the point of introductions considering I obviously know you are, and you know who I am."
"Even so, If you know that, then you best act like you know it."
Didn't figure you were one to waste time. Regardless Damian nodded wordlessly, prompting her to continue.
"It's simple boy. You were chosen by me, which I guess can be misconstrued to be Destiny, but I simply chose you to do this task for me. Like you might choose someone to do a job for you. But I could have chosen anyone else."
Damian nearly growled at this notion, and couldn't help but frown at the woman. "So if it's not destiny, give the job to someone who wants it. I'm sure there's a bunch of nutjobs who'd like to be the Champion of Nyx."
"It's not that simple child. Destiny may not be how you see it, but Fate certainly plays a role in all of this."
"..."
Is she serious?
"Fate and destiny are the same thing."
"No they are not."
"They definitely are, Fate is basically just another name for destiny."
"No it isn't."
"Fate just refers to an event that is meant to happen indefinitely. Whereas destiny is like the path you'll eventually follow. You see, it's my destiny to become Batman, and it's also my fate to become Batman. It's the same thing."
"IT ISN'T!" The woman suddenly roared, Damian took a step back and raised his hands in a mock surrender. It was the first time he figured the woman was truly annoyed with him, but seriously he knew he was right about this. The goddess needed to go back to school.
Hell If I know my mythology, Isn't Nyx the mother of the three fates? "My apologies, Goddess. I overstepped."
He didn't really mean it, but he thought it did a fairly good job of getting the primordial being off of his back. She ran a hand over her hair, attempting to calm herself by messing with her appearance.
"How old is your Grandfather?"
The question froze him for a second, the abrupt switch surprising him, along with the fact that questions about the other side of the family always made him a bit nervous.
"A couple hundred years old. Probably half a millennium."
"Hmph, Still a babe, and yet, that's more than enough time to strike a deal don't you think?"
The implication was obvious and unsettling, but it didn't make sense for a couple of reasons. This prophecy was over thousands of years old, and his Grandfather was old but not senile. He didn't forget stuff like this. If he knew this was coming he'd have been preparing all this time.
"My Grandfather isn't one to forget and I thought this prophecy was meant to be far older than a couple hundred years."
"Who says it isn't it, it still is. A prophecy delivered to me ages ago by my own children. And over the millennia I've simply prepared to find a solution. You were part of the answer and it was given to me nearly half a millennia ago."
But how? "How did you even come into contact with grandfather?"
"Your grandfather was a very ambitious mortal. Constantly messing with things he didn't understand. Surely you must know that the Lazarus Pits are far from nature's natural concoction. When I met your grandfather he wanted to be my Champion. Or rather he wanted my power, he thought he'd usurp me somehow. Become a God."
"It was laughable. And I was going to kill him until I found out about his abnormally high fate. It was one of the highest I had ever seen. He was destined to change humanity over the course of hundreds of years. Not just anyone could do that. I realized the man may have actually been able to fulfil the needed requirements to be my Champion."
"Once it became clear he was special, but couldn't help me, I looked into his family line. Surely someone in his family would inherit his abnormally high fate. Most of his children did live longer than normal, but it was all luck. And it wasn't the sort of fate I was looking for. As I searched the future for the birth of his offspring, I found you. The Grandson of the Demon. The future of the Al Ghul's. Created to be humanity's definition of perfection. At that moment you were perfect for me."
I am so confused.
"I can tell you're not getting it, child, but know this. Your Fate is high Champion. It has been determined you have the ability to survive situations you otherwise wouldn't be able to. Because of this high fate, I've given you a high destiny to follow, a destiny as my Champion."
He supposed he sorta understood what the Goddess was saying. He was rated to do good, presumably, he was fated to even succeed and survive in whatever field he chose in this life, His "destiny" was then chosen by Nyx, to be her Champion.
However this wasn't an official thing it was more like she was demanding he be her champion and he was supposed to do it. For whatever reason she believed he wouldn't say no, effectively making it his destiny.
However his true destiny was likely important, but on a far smaller scale than a war of magic and deities. Like being Batman or Ra's Al Ghul. What he was understanding from this was...I'm being used.
"So what happened to your original champion? The one who was destined to fight for you."
"Destiny and Fate are cruel. He was destined to lose." Nyx spoke simply, an aura of annoyance shrouding her. "As you've said, this issue is ancient and you are not the first I employed to solve the problem."
So she's failed once before? Nyx the Goddess of the Night? The way she speaks it seems clear to me that she can not be directly involved. But why? It was someone else's Destiny to lose this battle for the Realms of Magic. But it's my Fate to survive. No that's too simple, it's even worse than that.
"You're destined to lose." Damian realized with a bit of a start. "Destiny says you'll lose and there's nothing you can do about it. It's not the man that was the problem. It likely was his destiny to help you. The problem is that it's your destiny to fail."
"Smart indeed. What a good Mortal you are."
She was effectively screwing him over by tying him into this battle. But then, it was always going to happen wasn't it? The prophecy foretold his involvement and his children's involvement. It foretold him and Cassie's slip up. And the Goddess Nyx should have known before she employed someone else. Or else she was just cruel. "I'm assuming that you only learned of the prophecy after your first Champion was killed."
"Correct." Nyx said simply, apparently she was just fine with being tight-lipped but it was getting on Damian's nerves. Damian took a deep breath and knelt on one knee, lowering himself in front of the Goddess; he believed it was the only way to gain favour with her.
"Look, Goddess, Lady Nyx. I…I think I understand on some level how we got here. How you eventually ended up choosing me. But it still doesn't add up. I need to know how my family plays into this. I need to know what enemy we're fighting, I need to know how to plan against what I'm assuming is our common enemy. So can you please tell me what I need to know, and be as straightforward as possible."
It was as low as he was willing to grovel. Any more and he wasn't sure what he was going to do. He despised the fact that he had to lower his head. But knew in the end for the greater good, it was what needed to be done.
He waited on Nyx who seemed to be studying him. And in turn Damian studied her. While the old goddess had adopted a somewhat young look and playful tone, he knew better. This was no mere game for the Goddess, and it was likely her life was at stake.
He was certain it was one of the only reasons she'd actually care enough to fight to protect the Realms of Magic. At the end of the day, she wasn't known for her being nice with Mortals. She was actually a fairly cruel Goddess most of the time.
But still he was sure on this she would at least be reasonable. Give him enough to work with to ensure both of them came out unsca-
"No."
"..."
What?
"What do you mean no, How do you expect me to do anything with this bullshit!" Damian yelled at the Goddess, but it was far too late.
Time had seemed to drag on forever since he had reached the void. But that time was clearly coming to an end as the woman began to return to the surrounding purple shadows, as her form dissipated.
Damian himself lost his footing on the ground of the void and slowly began to fall once more except this time the purple shadows engulfed him as he fell faster and faster, he once again couldn't move, he couldn't speak, he couldn't feel, it was hell. But this time it was worse, as the purple shadows surrounded him, it felt as if his very soul was being attacked as the shadow's engulfed his body.
"Remember Damian, You will be my King of the Night. That is all that is important. It's going to hurt. You will feel great pain. And for a while it's going to feel like you are truly dying, but just remember. We Have Been Unbound By Chains Through The Remedy of Melodies, We Were, We Are, And We Will Be, Victorious."
He was sent flying after that, except now he could suddenly feel. And it hurt, As feeling returned to Damian he immediately let out a guttural roar as his body felt like it was being torn to shreds.
He wasn't sure what Nyx had done to him, but it had been something. "GRAHHHHHH!" He couldn't stop screaming if he wanted to.
As his body underwent what he believed to be a metamorphosis of some kind, the pain lasted for hours as he returned back to the Earthly plane. Damian had died before, and so he was acutely aware of what that pain felt like and he was certain he was feeling it for the second time in his life.
Except this time it was going on for hours, and it refused to stop "..."
Until it did. Just like before It was sudden, one moment it was pain and the void, the next moment it was gone. Just like before.
It took a few moments for him to get his bearings, he must have laid on his stomach for a couple of moments before he gained the strength to lift his arms and his head. Feels like I'm on wood. Looks dark but…smells like Cassandra.
As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he found he was indeed in Cassandra's room, he was finally back home after what felt like a thousand years. I'm…I'm back.
The realization hit him in waves. And it hit his body in waves too. A shudder passed through him immediately as he was wracked with fear, the urge to puke was suddenly too strong and he only barely made it out of Cassandra's room before throwing up all over the floor.
"W-what the fuck was that." Maybe he had been a little more scared than he thought, but puking because of fear just wasn't something Damian thought he'd ever do. No, it had to have been more than that. She did something to me. With that smoke.
It was the truth, his body was beginning to feel different. Not necessarily good different, or even bad different, but just different. It was something he was actually used to feeling as he got constant transplants as a child. It felt somewhat similar to that.
Except there were no Lazarus Pits to help him out. No, now he felt incredibly drained. He barely had the strength to take the time to clean up the vomit, but he figured it wouldn't be good for Cassie to see him like this, and so he cleaned it up.
He stumbled into his bathroom, haphazardly flicking on the light switch and entering the shower where he stood under the water for ten minutes nearly unmoving the entire time, the effort to actually get clean a burden on his arms. But eventually he made it happen.
He toweled off, and got dry, and headed to bed, not even finding it worth it to throw on any clothes. He felt like death, he calculated that there was a 50% chance he might not even wake up once he went to sleep, he felt like he was seconds away from heart failure.
Still Damian flopped down onto his bed, ready to catch some sleep from the tumultuous past 36 hours.
HIt took a little while but after 3 minutes of laying still, unable to move, he finally felt like he was going to be able to sleep.
Bzzzt, Bzzzt!
Despite everything Damian shot up quickly, the sound of his alarm blaring in his ears. No it can't be. 6:30 already?
He had originally gotten back with Zatanna at around midnight. Not perfect but there still should have been 6 hours for him to sleep. But it seemed Nyx had other plans. Rising up from his short slumber, the Son of Batman could only say one thing.
"Fuck."
WINGDINGS
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.
Gods I wish I knew what this all meant. Currently Cassie found herself alone in a cafe near the Kent family farm. It had been a long 36 hours, everything with Kon and Damian had genuinely been exhausting.
No like seriously exhausting. Mentally, physically, everything. It was worrying. She had been assured she wouldn't lose her powers during her pregnancy, and she hadn't but…it seemed she was still susceptible to the nature of man.
Don't stress the pregnant lady out was basic manners 101, but neither Damian or Kon had gotten the memo.
Still she did feel kind of bad for Damian. This whole situation was a clusterfuck for her, but she figured it might have actually been worse for him.
He was just 18 years old. Far too young to be having a kid, and yet now he was having two of them. Sure money wouldn't ever be a problem, but he was still in the early years of his life, and was now tied down to Cassie and the children forever.
More than that expectations were high for the young man. Not just from Cassie, but from everyone else. Tim had long since briefed her on everyone's thoughts on the whole thing, and they seemed to simply believe the young man had needed to step up and be a father. It was a nice sentiment for her, but in the end it really just added to her own feelings of guilt.
Because at the end of the day she was the older one. By six years no less. It was certainly her responsibility to make sure what had happened between them would never happen. But instead there was no doubt about it, as annoyed as she had been when he said it, the truth was that she was the one who approached him recklessly.
It would be a stretch to say Damian didn't know any better. No that night he certainly proved he knew what he was doing. But it could be said that expecting an 18 year old to be able to turn down a woman like herself was laughable.
She wasn't stupid, she knew she turned heads around on some of her worst days, but that was what made her feel terrible about the whole situation.
It felt like it was her fault. That she not only screwed up her own life but Damian's as well in the process. It's why she initially wanted to raise the children in Themyscira. She could raise them on her own for a couple of years and then maybe, when Damian wasn't a literal teenager, she could bring them to Man's World and hope for the best. He'd miss out on formative years and would definitely be pissed, but at least he'd be ready.
Too scummy. But in the end she couldn't bring herself to run away and not tell him. And his passion for their unborn children was obvious to anyone who talked to him for like five seconds. It would be cruel to rob him of their development now.
Which is why despite what Connor wanted, there was no chance this little argument was going to make her leave. She wasn't the type to give up that easily. Damian wanted the opportunity to be a parent badly, But she wasn't sure anyone realised how bad Cassie wanted that to be the case too.
Did Damian's words hurt? Definitely, she hoped he'd never say something like that to her again. Did she also mess up a bit by bringing someone he obviously didn't like into their apartment? Certainly, there was blame to be shared and she was willing to share it. She hadn't been ready yesterday, but she was ready to hear Damian out and reconcile now, though there would need to be a few caveats.
This couldn't happen again, for both of their sakes. They'd never get anything done like that. Oh and she was back to dating Conner now, so there was that. But at the end of the day, they could literally fly at a moment's notice so she was certain they could keep things away from the apartment.
And after we make up we can go back to normal, and hopefully figure out this prophecy! The prophecy was certainly a doozy. While it gave basic information, it didn't really give them any leads on where to go, or even who to speak to. Cassie had spent the last two and a half hours going through each and every single interaction she had ever had with Ares.
Her Uncle was a bastard, one who at times helped her out for reasons seemingly unknown, and one also seemed content to try and kill her. Their relationship was far from normal.
Still she was trying to identify if the God of War had ever done or said anything to tip her off of the fact that he had always known about the prophecy.
Currently the pantheon was in shambles, but Cassie was sure that it wasn't impossible for Ares to not know of the prophecy at all. And in that case it would be up to her to figure out just how she would become this "Duke of War."
Of course I could ask Ares directly but…If there had been one thing Damian had been right about, it was the fact that she couldn't risk anything at the moment. She'd do her best, but she wasn't going to actively put the twins in danger.
"Tch, I'll be a better Mom than that at least." Cassie murmured to herself. The words gave her pause for a quick second as she took in what she said. "I'm gonna be a Mom soon...of twins."
It was daunting to think. She hadn't expected this for a few more years honestly. Maybe 3 or 4 years until she and Kon had finally grown enough to take that step. But things didn't always go according to plan.
I wonder if they will be girls or boys? Maybe a girl and a boy? A male amazon would certainly be something. The immortal race of warrior women had grown since Diana left the Island, and Cass was certain they wouldn't do anything to physically harm him. But she had to admit she wasn't sure how things would be emotionally for him as an Amazon. It made her worry a bit, and she almost hoped for two girls because of it. But honestly she was thinking one of each was still best.
I wonder what we'll name them. Because it was a decision the both of them would need to make, she was open to many names, though she was hoping they wouldn't go with something like Damian Jr. for a boy.
It seemed like something he might do, but Cass wasn't a fan, nothing against the name, but she thought those naming conventions could be a bit lazy. He'd probably want something strong. We could probably do something Greek like Nicholas…or something crazier like Vassilis…Tch yeah no, I'm sure that's something Damian's batshit insane Mom would approve of…Michal? Hmm….Alexander? Simple, but not bad.
For a girl we could do something like Penelope. It's a classic. Eleni works and we could always go for Alexandra. But still at the end of the day it was something she wanted to do with Damian. She was sure he was thinking about the kids as much as she was.
She wondered, what would they look like. She imagined they'd be a mix of both, both of them had fairly strong genes she was certain, and so it'd be a fight to see which one might come out on top. Her own blue eyes or Damian's beautiful green ones.
Her lighter skin, or Damian's own that seemed to almost be sunkissed. There was no doubt that Damian was extremely handsome, and so she was sure they would make some cute kids. She wondered what they'd grow into.
Would they care to be superheroes? Just how much of her power would they receive? She assumed it was more than she understood because they supposedly played a part in this prophecy as well. Knowing that she wondered, did they do a good job raising them?
Would they do their best to protect people and be defenders of justice, would they truly bring down the world of magic and destroy so many lives? She hoped to the Gods that wasn't true, but she didn't know.
What I do know is that Damian and I aren't going to let that happen. She was certain about that fact. They would do their best to protect the twins no matter what. And that was why she needed to be on good terms with the Young Bat. It was only together could they find out everything they needed to know about the prophecy.
Cassie sighed and looked at the time, it was just barely noon. And as much as she said she wanted to go home as fast as possible Damian was likely at work, and it was best that she spent a couple of hours sorting out exactly what she would say. And in the meantime, she'd continue to work.
So much to do, so little time.
WINGDINGS
His lips were numb. No, maybe that wasn't the best way to describe it. But they were cold, and didn't feel as they should, more than that it almost felt as if they were vibrating. When he left his mouth shut it was almost as if he could feel his mouth humming. It was certainly weird wasn't it? Just another thing he had noticed recently.
"Are you even listening to me Mr. Wayne?"
"Hm?" Damian said as he suddenly looked away the ceiling he had been staring at intently for the last eight minutes as he had these musings.
"Dude, you look like shit." Mercedes told him plainly. "If you're too busy crashing out from your hangover or whatever, I get it. But come on, don't waste both of our time."
"No I-" Damian started, before sighing and rubbing his temples. He guessed it did look like he had just gone on a classic Wayne bender. Of course that couldn't have been further from the truth. But it didn't change the fact that his brain felt like scrambled eggs.
"I'm sorry Mercedes, I wanted to be 100% for this. I promise I wasn't out partying. I guess I'm just…not myself at the moment."
"Yeah, I didn't really think you were out partying, you're younger than me but you don't really seem like the sort of guy to be partying all night." Mercedes admitted. "But if you're not feeling up to it, boss, then you should just go home."
"Yes, but we made plans-
"It's 2021 Boss. I'm pretty sure we can handle a meeting or two from home." Mercedes pointed out, cutting Damian off. "Look Boss, you just get home, get some rest, and come back when you're ready to sort this all out."
The young woman was right, and Damian had to reluctantly agree with her. He had no business being at work at the moment. But he didn't want to disappoint anyone, or have anyone believe that he was already ditching the responsibilities of his job.
Mercedes seeing his reluctance gave him the last needed push to convince the young hero to get some rest. "Besides, If I'm being honest Jade, Sal and I were thinking about asking you to push this to Thursday anyways. So don't worry, this works better for us too."
Damian didn't actually think that was true, he had overheard the young group of friends talking about their excitement over their project, but he figured his co-worker was trying to do something nice for him so there was no reason to look a gift horse in the mouth.
"Right thanks….I guess I'll head out then. And we'll reconvene in the coming days."
"Sure thing boss."
Damian lethargically began to pack up his stuff, and Mercedes gave him one last look, before slipping out of his office, the young Wayne just barely aware of her exit.
Grabbing his things and exiting the office his ride home wasn't much different, though he did find himself taking a bit of a scenic route as he thought things over. And maybe he was overthinking it but time had begun to feel like it wasn't even real anyway. Tt, who needs it? He had enough of time after the past 24 hours.
It was obvious he wasn't okay. To what extent he wasn't sure. He had thought it over for most of the day and yet he still struggled to analyze himself. It was hard to tell if it was just fear or something else entirely making him feel like this.
Fear honestly would have been the preferred option. He was certain he could eventually overcome that. It was simply what they did.
He didn't know the process he should take if it turned out Nyx had done something to him. Which was his working theory.
He felt like shit. That was undeniable. He felt sluggish, his bones felt hollow, he was cold, and the few moments he didn't feel like death, it was because he couldn't feel much of anything at all. And to make matters worse he wasn't sure what he believed anymore.
Just how in the world does this prophecy make any sense? What is the difference between destiny and fate, or was Nyx just bullshitting? How much of her words can I even trust? And what was all that nonsense about melodies and victory?
Thinking about it genuinely made his head hurt. It was a lot to deal with, but it felt like this was his trial. And so he did take it on the chin and figure it out on his own for now. It was the least he could do for his unborn children.
Still as Damian pulled into the parking garage, he figured before he did anything else he'd need to sleep for a little…a couple of hours at least. Yeah, a little sleep and I'm sure I'll be just fine.
WINGDINGS
Cassandra had gotten herself home from Conner's place at around 5:45 She had expected that Damian would have been back from the office at least an hour prior.
She was completely mistaken. It took the wind out her sails honestly. She had geared up to be slightly firm with Damian insisting that this couldn't happen again, but also wanting to make sure he knew what she was more than willing to make up, and apologize for anything she had done to annoy him as well.
She was fairly certain that was all going to go down fine, and she really only had to worry about how he might react to the news that she had gotten back together with Conner. It really shouldn't have mattered, it had nothing to do with Damian and it was courtesy more than anything, but still she didn't want something like that to ruin their budding acquaintance.
Within the first 30 minutes of Damian not arriving from work it was almost all she could think about. But once her stomach entered the equation, worry was replaced by hunger. Damian's absence was highlighted even more by the lack of food. It's fine, guess I'll just make something for the both of us.
Preparing to make a mean Chicken Tikka Masala, she enjoyed the silence as she prepared for all of 8 minutes before her thoughts became a little too deafening. She facetimed Bart to keep her company, and she truly appreciated how the speedster who could never stay still managed to stay on the line with her for half an hour.
She ate alone, and fell asleep watching TV waiting for the young Wayne to show up, as she did drift off into blissful sleep, she begrudgingly conceded that it was very annoying to wait for someone to show up.
The Amazon was determined to not miss Damian, and slept lightly, waking up almost instantly the moment she heard the lock turn on their door.
A bit groggy and feeling like she probably looked a mess, she was more than ready to get this over with. She hadn't expected what she saw when the door opened. What in the world…
It was Damian Wayne she guessed. Well it had to be him, but…Am I really seeing this right? It was maybe just a tad hard to believe.
The boy opened the door slipping through it like a spectre before shutting it somewhat loudly, he then immediately dropped his keys. And if that wasn't bad enough when he went to scoop it off the ground he completely whiffed.
Muttering something that vaguely sounded like curse words in Arabic, he finally picked up his keys, and stood upright, swaying as he did so before settling into a slight slouch.
He began walking towards his room and Cassie's heart sank. He looked a bit pale, and had a slight far off look his face, it was hard not to assume the worst.
Oh Gods. I can handle a lot, but there's no way I can deal with a drunk Damian. I thought Tim said he doesn't do shit like this!?
Damian kept walking towards his room, walking right past her without acknowledging. Except this time, she was certain the boy just hadn't seen her. His senses are dull too…Damn it.
Resigned to the fact that she might now have to deal with the fact that Damian was a secret drunkard, and/or thought their fight was bad enough to go on a drinking binge, she walked up behind him, not even trying to hide her approach, before tapping him on the shoulder.
She felt kinda bad when jumped launching his keys in the air once again, she took the time to fly around him and snatch the keys out of the air, holding them out for him. "Damian." She said, unimpressed.
"Cassandra…I didn't think you were back." Damian spoke a bit awkwardly, he quickly took his keys back from her and shoved them into his pocket. she could tell he was trying to figure out just when she had appeared behind him. "Did you come in after me?"
"No, I was in front of the TV the entire time." Cassie tried to emphasize to the young Robin, that she had seen his little display at the front door.
"Hmm, how odd."
It was all he said, and the two fell into a silence that Cassie wouldn't necessarily describe as good or bad. Now that he was right in front of her, she would say the boy actually looked more like he was sick, rather than drunk.
His skin was taking a sickly pale tint to it, and for a moment she worried that it was something else. After all, he didn't really smell drunk.
But as she thought this possibility over she watched as the 18 year old looked her up and down, without a care in the world, She wasn't even wearing anything provocative. Just a plain t-shirt and some sweats, but it didn't stop the former Boy Wonder, "Eyes up here!" She eventually hissed at him. To his credit he quickly averted his gaze. But the damage was mostly done.
"Look I don't know what's wrong with you tonight." Cassie sighed, and spoke plainly. "Your acting pretty weird. I just wanted us to talk, we can still do that right? If not and we have to wait until tomorrow when you sober up-
"No, no, I'm completely sober!" Damian quickly insisted. He did seem to completely sharpen up at Cassie's statement. He even began to stand upright once again. "It was just…a tough day at work."
"Yeah I figured, you came home pretty late."
"Late?" Damian mumbled to himself, he tried to discreetly check his watch and was clearly surprised when it showed 9:23. She didn't even want to attempt to dissect the fact that he had seemingly forgotten how time worked, just two days after getting pissed at her. It was time to get this all over with.
"Look Damian, I just want to sort things out between us. I'll start off by saying I'm sorry. The thing with Connor honestly slipped my mind, I never meant to go behind your back or anything. I should have let you know beforehand and come to some sort of agreement with you before inviting him over, especially considering your history with him." Cassie began apologizing.
"That being said, your reaction to all of this was unacceptable. There was no need for us to take things as far as they got. We're supposed to be a team, you know? We have to be able to solve little things like this without fighting, or else we will never be able to co-parent effectively."
"I agree completely. I was out of line." Damian admitted. "I'm sorry. I need to be better. For you and for the kids. I have to be the man I promised you I could be. Our survival depends on it."
The last part was spoken much quieter, and Cassie couldn't help but raise an eyebrow and the odd statement. I mean, I wouldn't go that far. Cassie decided to just chalk it up to Damian's need to be dramatic, and continued.
"It's okay D, I forgive you, And we're in this together, it was never going to be smooth sailing the entire time, so I rather we got the bumps out of the way now, rather than 10 years down the line."
"Exactly." Damian agreed. "So are we okay now?"
"Almost, you're supposed to say you forgive me too, you know?" Cassie said teasingly.
"Tt, Of course your forgiven Cassie, who could ever stay mad at you?" Damian responded as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. The look that accompanied his words was…something else.
"D…"
"What?"
Yeah, he's got to be on something. Though Cassie couldn't help but think it was kind of sweet at least. "Nothing, never mind. One last thing though, Connor and I are…dating again, I-I just thought I'd let you know."
She wasn't sure why she got a bit tongue-tied when it came time to say that, but she eventually managed to spit it out. Still Damian took this new information in stride. "That's good Cassie. I hope things work out for you two, he seems to make you happy."
She had expected a little snark, but hadn't gotten any. Instead it was a genuinely nice response from the young Wayne. I can't tell if him saying that supports my drunken theory or not.
"Uh yeah…thanks Damian." Cassie eventually responded. The two roommates stared at each other for a short while, before Damian turned back towards his room. "Well, like I said Cassandra, it's been a long day. I think I'll head to my quarters. If you need anything, just call me."
"Right, Good night Damian."
"Good night Cassie."
He left after that, much quieter than he had been when he tried to enter their apartment. It certainly one of the weirder states she had ever seen Damian in. He's likely not drunk, and I didn't spot any obvious wounds…
"Maybe it really was a hard day at work." Cassie considered. In the end she decided it didn't matter that much. They had righted the ship, and gotten things back on track. And hopefully they could go back to figuring out the deal with the prophecy.
She headed to bed, feeling that things would be alright. This was not the same for Damian. The energy needed to even engage Cassie in conversation far too much, that feeling of death was back, and he barely managed to strip from his work clothes before flopping on his bed, and slipping under the covers.
His mind was a whirlwind as he thought of Nyx and her parting words. "Remember Damian, You will be my King of the Night. That is all that is important. It's going to hurt. You will feel great pain. And for a while it's going to feel like you are truly dying."
"For how long…" Damian murmured to himself sleepily. He wasn't sure how long this feeling was going to last. But as he felt himself slipping into a state of dreaming he could only hope that this was all worth it.
