Chapter Text
When Damian is nine, and his mother is visiting him for a fortnight, his mother brings someone to the compound where they live.
The stranger is tall, and strong, and injured.
His mother isn't showing it, not to anyone who doesn't know her, but she's worried. Her shoulders are a deliberately relaxed line, and her arms are folded across her body - to most people, this would project vague irritation, or perhaps confidence.
But Damian knows that she only stands like that so often when she's uncertain, and worried: she's not confident enough to have the calculated relaxation that she normally shows.
It's worrying.
Damian thinks his mother is right to worry, because the stranger doesn't wake up for a whole day.
When he finally does, Damian is not in the room, but he hears the panicked shouting and clatters of tables and chairs being moved violently, and his mother moves very quickly down the hallway towards the commotion.
She opens the door, and Damian hears the noise cease before the stranger says distinctly, "Talia."
He sees her stretch her hand out, possibly towards his face, before she moves out of the open doorway and the door closes behind her.
As it swings shut, Damian hears him say "Talia" again, and the grief in it is…. immeasurable.
Damian turns away.
He does not know this man, even if his mother does. If he is supposed to know more, or needs to know more, then she will tell him so.
But this moment is not the time.
*****
It is after this that his training changes.
Before, he had been taught how to cripple others, or to redirect their force against themselves, compensating for his size. In the last few months, he's finally become strong enough to learn how to kill.
He hasn't yet, but he's been learning the katas and sword strikes that are lethal: how best to bleed a man out quickly, or slowly, or painfully.
But a week after the stranger arrives -and his mother has not yet introduced them, except to explain that she is fond of him, because he used to be Batman's son, and she has been caring for him for several years- his mother sits him down and explains that his training will no longer include anything lethal, beyond the very basics. It will barely include the severely crippling strikes that he already knows, and he will no longer be required to practice them.
But before he can ask why, his mother says that who she had understood her Beloved to be, and what she had understood as his values - she had misunderstood. Batman did not value his family as highly as she had thought: he did not protect them at any cost, as she would Damian.
And so what Damian needs to be-, what he needs to learn, must change to fit with her new understanding.
She says that Batman would not tolerate killing, not from his family, not ever. And so Damian must not kill. Not in self defence, not in punishment, not in revenge. Or if he must, he must not be caught.
She impresses this last detail on him firmly.
And when he asks why he must not be caught, it is not his mother who replies, but the stranger, who is lurking nearby.
He says that there is the chance that if Batman finds out that one of his children is killing people, then-. And then the stranger stops talking, and Damian's mother takes over, and she says that Batman would not react well.
Damian is watching her, but he does not need to be looking at the stranger to see him flinch.
*****
Another month goes by.
His mother and the stranger -who has still not been introduced to him- have been, on occasion, screaming at each other very loudly.
The stranger will yell at her with a deep, husky, almost gravelly voice, in very strongly accented English, dropping more of his consonants the louder he gets, or sometimes he yells in Arabic. But then he'll catch sight of Damian, and he'll stop yelling. He'll step closer to her, and switch languages, to German, if Damian is closer, or sometimes to Mandarin, if Damian is further away - corresponding the distance to how fluent Damian is in those languages (Mandarin, he has a basic understanding of, and German, he can pass as a tourist who has looked at a guidebook, but not much more).
The stranger spends a lot of time, in the first few days, following Damian around, looking increasingly furious, before going to yell at his mother: often, the only word Damian will hear the stranger say clearly is wihyâtak - as he should, speaking to the Daughter of the Demon. But sometimes, he spends a lot of time sitting very still and silent in the gardens, whereupon Damian's mother will go and yell at him.
Though, when his mother goes to yell at the stranger, she spends some of it speaking tersely at him, and some of him speaking very softly, almost coaxing responses out of him, as if he's a feral cat she wants to tame.
One of the times she talked to him, she was visibly upset - even to those who did not know her. It was early on. And when she wasn't upset, she was angry, and almost-. Damian would never describe his mother like this, for she is Talia al Ghul, Daughter of the Demon. But on anyone else, he would describe it as desperation. In contrast, the stranger was lax. Damian wouldn't say relaxed-. Rather-, resigned. He looked as if he didn't care what happened to him - until she said something to him, and he knelt in front of her, and begged. He'd looked at Damian -and Damian still doesn't know how the stranger always, always knew where he was- and then he'd looked back at Damian's mother, and begged.
Damian does not understand why.
*****
Later, his mother sits him down again, and explains that even though Batman is not how she thought, and thus not how she had presented him to Damian, he will still have the choice of going to him, of learning from him, of being by his side.
Damian has spent years being told of Batman, of his skills, his intelligence, his determination.
He has spent years dreaming of going to him, of being the perfect Robin to his Batman, of being his perfect son.
And his mother cannot be wrong about him, no matter what she's saying now, no matter what the stranger has convinced her of: his mother is Talia al Ghul, and his father is Batman.
And he is Ibn al Xu'ffasch.
*****
This is the stranger's fault.
Before he came here, Damian was perfect.
He's been training since birth, so that he could help his father fight crime in Gotham. So that he could be the strongest, the most efficient, the best. That is his purpose.
And then this stranger comes here and says that no, he can no longer fight efficiently, he can no longer defend himself properly, he must not do this, he must do that, and on and on and on.
Damian had thought that his training would perhaps change for a short while, then mother would realise that he needs to train more, do what the stranger says is no longer allowed-. What does this stranger even know about what Batman would allow from his blood son?
Damian hates it.
And the stranger has been making his mother upset.
She no longer watches his training with pride. She no longer sits with him in the evening, drinking tea quietly. She no longer talks with him about his progress.
Instead, she watches him train while the stranger talks at her. Instead, she sits with the stranger in the garden. Instead, she argues with the stranger.
And the stranger forbids Damian from learning, from training, from doing anything.
Damian hates him.
He is Ibn Al Xu'ffasch. He is Heir to the Demon's Head. He is the son of Talia al Ghul.
He will not bear this insult.
So he takes his sword, and he remembers the one and only lesson he had on crippling strikes from before the stranger arrived, and he decides to put it to use.
But when he attacks, the stranger does not fight back. He has no sword, no weapons except a knife - and Damian recognises the handle and the markings on it.
The blade indicates that he is of the House of al Ghul, that he represents them.
That this interloper has a blade like this-.
It drives Damian's fury higher.
But still the stranger does not attack. He blocks and evades and blocks again: every strike that Damian makes has no impact on him. The stranger is stronger than most, and faster, and any hit that he does not simply evade, he absorbs, and ignores.
He does not react.
And finally, finally, in desperation, Damian brings his sword up and across the stranger's face, scoring a deep slice across his cheekbone, and at long last, the stranger does react.
But he does not strike Damian. Instead, he reaches, picks him up by the back of his robe, and flings him across the room.
Damian tucks and rolls, ready to spring back into action, and then his mother snaps "Damian," the command ringing across the room. He freezes.
And the stranger is hunched over, hand clasped to his throat, gasping. Blood is flowing down his cheek and over his fingers.
She says crisply, "Jason."
It is the first time that Damian has heard the stranger's name.
The stranger -Jason- whines. Tears start dripping from the corners of his eyes and he starts shaking.
Talia goes to the stranger. She puts her hand against his, joining him in putting pressure on his throat.
Damian does not understand: the wound is on his cheek, not his neck.
But then his mother beckons Damian to her side. He hesitates, then obeys.
And she tells him that the still livid red scar on the stranger's throat was given to him by Batman. That Jason had killed people, and then had asked Batman to kill someone. That Batman had refused. That Batman had instead thrown a batarang at Jason's neck, and cut open his windpipe and his artery. That Jason would have died - had in fact died several times on the plane and on the operating table before they managed to stabilise him. That Batman had done this despite his rule against killing. That Batman had done this despite the fact that Jason had been Batman's son.
Damian is silent.
She tells him that this is why they have changed his training. Because their understanding of Batman, and what he wants, or will allow from his children, has changed. That it had previously been based on their understanding of what he allowed from his allies, and that they had been wrong. That they are trying to work out how to keep Damian safe.
And she asks him if he understands.
Damian nods.
She turns towards the stranger, and puts her other arm around his shoulders.
And he sags against her. Into her.
She starts humming a lullaby, holding him close.
*****
Once the stranger- once Jason has calmed down, his mother takes Damian into the garden for a walk.
She explains to him that she looked after Jason for a year, when he was very ill. That he had had very little higher brain function, and had been running mostly on instincts alone. That those instincts meant he only attacked when provoked, when he needed to defend himself: he never attacked first. But at those base instincts, he had never attacked Talia, even when she had struck him.
And just now, when Damian had cut his cheek open, he had caused Jason to remember when his throat had been cut open. Jason had spent months training lethal instincts into himself - and a person is always at their most instinctive when they feel most in danger. Damian had put him in that position, because he had reminded Jason of when he had been most in danger, and by all rights, Jason should have instinctively fought back lethally. That he had not attacked Damian even then, meant that it was likely he would never attack Damian.
And so, Damian thinks: firstly, Batman had struck at Jason lethally because he had asked Batman for something that went against Batman's code. Thus, Damian must avoid doing so; secondly, this behaviour might also extend to Batman's allies, and Damian ought to find out if it did; thirdly, if it did, then Damian needed to find out exactly what went against their code, and what reaction they would have against Damian if he broke it.
From what his mother has told him just now, Damian had struck at Jason in a manner that should have caused him to react lethally. He had not. As a result, his mother had told him that he could trust Jason never to hurt him.
As such, Damian thinks, his course of action is clear: once he meets Batman's closest allies, though he cannot test Batman, he can test the rest of them. He simply needs to work out what ought to cause them to react lethally, and then do it. How they then react will tell Damian whether he can trust them. Or not, as the case may be. But he intends to find out for certain, as soon as possible.
He will not be betrayed unsuspectingly by those he ought to be able to trust.
*****
Jason tells Damian that for three years, Batman was the best parent he ever had.
And here, Jason cannot see it, but Damian can: his mother gets a determined glint in her eye.
Jason died, at the hands of a madman called the Joker. Batman did not avenge him. Jason tried to force him, but Batman refused, because Jason was no longer his son. Because Jason was the exception to his rule.
Damian's mother looks away.
Jason tells him that Damian should be fine. Damian is a child. Damian has never killed anyone.
And Jason tells him that Batman is a great man. But he might not necessarily be a good one.
But there is a very good chance that he will be a good father to Damian. That he will love him, support him, give him everything he needs and wants. That Damian will have a childhood, that he will be happy there, …that he will be safe there.
But there is a chance that he will not.
And if Damian feels unsafe, if Batman hits him, if he hurts him, or allows him to be hurt when it could have been prevented, or even if Damian just wants to leave-.
Then Damian should leave.
Because even if Batman won't, Talia will always protect him.
No matter what.
*****
Damian sees, only once, Jason lose himself. There may have been others, but he had not seen them.
Nothing that Damian recognises as a threat had precipitated the change, except Jason had suddenly been swept to the floor by his mother, and pinned there.
She'd ground his face into the gravel as he snarled "He did this to me! I can't-. That monster still lives and breathes and laughs, and he- . I can't-. I can't-. He claimed to be my father, and now he denies me!"
Jason tossed his head, like an untamed stallion wild with anger, "He won't claim vengeance on my behalf- he won't claim it for me, and he won't let me claim it myself!"
He bucked furiously under Talia's weight, "He cut my throat! To save the Joker's life!
"I'll kill him. I'll kill the new kid too, I'll kill fucking all of them- "
He'd thrashed helplessly. Then he'd turned his face fully into the ground and screamed in rage.
And then the Daughter of the Demon had wrenched Jason's head to the side, almost cruelly, stilling him, so that he looked at Damian. She'd pressed in close, and ordered him, "You will not.
"Yes, you remain unavenged. Bruce will not do it for you. But Bruce is not the be-all and end-all. Batman and Robin are not the be-all and end-all.
"Move on. If you desire a purpose, then I will give you one.
"Protect my son."
Jason had stared at Damian, limp with surrender, his eyes still glowing the vivid green of the Pit.
Damian had looked at the two of them, the almost rabid still-stranger that his mother had brought here, and intended to use to protect him; and his mother, the Daughter of the Demon.
He'd known that she was ruthless. Admired it. But somehow, it didn't feel honourable to hurt someone who was incapable, at their core, of fighting back.
Nor did it feel honourable to turn the Pit's focus onto something that served Damian , who had not earned it from Jason.
But he is an al Ghul. His mother has simply… given him another weapon. It is not for him to discard it carelessly.
*****
Later, Damian catches a glimpse of Jason kneeling at Talia's feet. She's bent over him, cradling him, and Damian can only catch small fragments of their conversation.
But what little he hears makes it clear that Jason is going back to Gotham, back to where Batman lives, back to where he got hurt.
Jason is saying that he needs to wrap up some loose ends, that he can't just abandon Gotham like that, even if he got hurt there - that he won't let Batman drive him out, that it has to be his choice.
His mother is upset. She clearly doesn't want him to return there, but the set of her shoulders is resigned. Damian doesn't understand: surely if she wanted Jason to stay, then she could just order him not to go. She should be able to stop him. She is the Daughter of the Demon.
Jason promises her that he'll be back in a few weeks, tops.
He leaves, and he does not return for months.