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“Uncle Dami! Uncle Dami!” Mar’i’s young voice grabbed Damian’s attention. “It’s your turn to tell a story now!”
Most of the members of the Wayne Family were in one of the living rooms, having a great sleepover at Mar’i’s request. The six-year-old’s aim was to stay up until 3:00 am, they had been telling stories as a way to pass the time, and stay awake.
“Yeah, tell us a story, Damian” Tim added on with a slight smirk. The boy looked at his niece and she gave him her signature puppy eyes.
“Please, Uncle Dami, I don’t want a scary story like Uncle Jay’s.” She pouted as she looked at her other uncle.
“Yes, perhaps a fairytale.” Dick glanced at his younger brother, cursing him in advance if Mar’i got any nightmares from his idea of ‘a nice story’. The man just snickered, bringing a pillow close to his face to hide his amusement.
“Oh yes! A fairytale!” Mar’i’s eyes lit up. Damian looked at his brothers, his sister Cass, and his father, who surprisingly agreed to a sleepover.
The boy sighed. “Fine, I shall tell you a fairytale.” Mar’i scooted closer so that she was Damian’s centre of attention. “Quite some time ago-“
“Shouldn’t it be ‘Once upon a time’?” Tim questioned, mainly just to annoy the boy.
Damian glared at him. “Quite some time ago,” He continued with more emphasis before turning back to his niece. “There lived an ordinary girl with a talent for design.”
“What was her name?” Mar’i asked excitedly.
Damian pondered for a moment. “Mari.” His niece giggled but made no other comment. “Mari lived a normal life, until she turned thirteen years old.”
“What happened?” The hesitant voice came from Cass.
“A supervillain attacked her city.” Damian put blankly. Mar’i gasped. “She had never seen anything like it before. A psycho man had taken a butterfly, infused it with dark magic, and used it to control people feeling negative.”
“Really?” The girl questioned, horrified at the image. Damian nodded with exaggeration. “What did she do.”
“Well, there was nothing the Mari could do. Until, she was gifted the powers of a god.” Damian hid an amused smile at Jason’s interest in his story.
“Could she fly?” Mar’i asked, floating off the ground for a small moment.
“Not at that time, but what she could do was create.” Damian smiled down at the young girl. “Her gifted power was creation, so she could summon an object that could help her defeat the villain. She just had to figure out how to use it. Naturally, she was a very smart person, so she always knew what to do. Mari also had a partner by her side, and his power was destruction.”
“So did she defeat the villain in her first battle?” The young girl seemed hopeful, her eyes full of wonder at this character that Damian was describing.
“Not in the first battle. It took many, many battles before she actually met the villain in person because he would control civilian’s to do his evil bidding.” Damian talked directly to his niece, so he was caught by surprise when his father spoke. He didn’t show it, though.
“Why didn’t they just run a facial recognition test on the villain?” Bruce’s voice stood out from the rest.
“Bat, it’s a fairy tale.” Selina said to Bruce, her head resting on his shoulder.
“Actually, there’s a reason behind it, father.” Damian mentioned as he sent Bruce a small glance. “They couldn’t use facial recognition for the same reason why no one was able to recognise Mari and her partner: there’s magic protecting their identity.” Mar’i seemed very interested.
“That is both very useful and absolutely frustrating.” Tim said out loud. Damian hummed.
Mar’i patted his shoulder. “If they couldn’t recognise the villain, how could they defeat him?” She asked, her voice filled with worry.
“Well it took many, many years.” Damian told his niece. “And during those years, Mari had accumulated a powerful team.” The boy reached for a pencil that was on the ground and threw it towards the light switch, successfully turning the room pitch black. He then turned on his phone light and aimed it against the wall. “The first person to join the duo had the power of illusion.” He picked up a few of the puppets around him that they had previously used for a puppet show. “They had this magical flute and with a small tune, they could summon the image of anything they desired.”
Mar’i watched in wonder as her uncle animated his words using the shadows. “Anything?”
“Yes, anything. But if you were to touch it-“ Damian took one of the shadows out of the light. “-it would disappear.” Mar’i was fascinated.
“Tell me about the others!”
Dick watched as Damian told the young girl of the people in this mysterious magical group, each one being more unique that the one the came before them. It was heartwarming, watching the two bond and seeing Damian comfortable in expressing himself. The man looked at Bruce and, from what he could see, the billionaire was thinking the exact same thing.
“It was then, with help from a few other individuals, that they were finally able to take on the villain.” Damian started with a smile, using a few of the other props. “It was a great battle, all the heroes worked together to bring the downfall of their villain, and Mari did something incredible.”
“What did she do?” The young girl asked, her eyes filled with fascination.
“She unlocked the ultimate power and that allowed her to shift reality itself.”Damian stopped a wistful expression from appearing on his face. He remembered this moment well, it was incredibly terrifying. “And with that power, she was finally able to unmask her supervillain, destroying his evil reign once and for all.”
Mar’i clapped, showing her appreciation for her uncle’s story. Duke looked over at his brother. “What did they do with the villain?”
Damian blinked. “Well, Thomas, he tried to run away at first.” The boy’s lips moved into what was barely a smile, an undetectable layer of mischief was present. “But he tripped over a rock, and they were able to turn him in.”
“A… rock.” Jason lightly chuckled. Damian rolled his eyes.
“And they all lived happily ever after.” The boy ended, his voice filled with sarcasm.
“A lovely story, Damian.” Richard smiled, getting up to mess with his little brother’s hair. The boy scowled and swatted his hand away. He hummed, then his phone rang. He took it out of his pocket, looked at the caller ID and walked out of the room.
“Who do you think is calling him at this time?” Tim wondered out loud, looking over at Bruce.
Dick shrugged. “How about another story?” The man asked his daughter.
“I don’t know Dickie, it’ll be hard to top Uncle Dami’s story.” Jason pointed out, a smirk on his face. Dick chuckled and nodded.
“Why don’t we try baking? Alfred?” The butler nodded and Dick carried Mar’i on his shoulders, walking to the kitchen.
Damian made his way to a secluded place in the manor, not wanting anyone to interrupt his conversation. He then accept the call and put the phone to his ear. “Hello, Malaki.”
“How’s your all-nighter going so far?” His beloved Marinette asked through the phone, softly giggling at his chosen nickname.
“It’s going fine.” Damian looked over to where he vaguely saw Mar’i and his oldest brother in the kitchen. “Mar’i seemed to enjoy your origin story.”
“…” Damian’s smile widened as the silence dragged on. “My what?”