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Damian has been in Gotham for 5 years, Sent by his mother to train with Batman and honestly he didn't mind at first but he came to see how close everyone is and he came to a realisation, He was lonely. Now usually he wouldn't mind being alone but this. This felt different he saw how dick treats Tim and how Steph treats Cass and how everyone included in nearly everything with everyone. Everyone.. But him..
He felt like a stranger in a place he was supposed to call home. But this wasn't home. Home was in Nanda Parbat with mother and Akhi, Where swords would clash, where the stars would shine brightly, Where his akhi would chase him around. and as much as he'd hate to admit it. He missed his grandfather's snarky remarks on his training,
But as much as he missed them. This was his home now, Where city lights block the stars, Where Darkness covers every corner of the city, where the warmth and comfort of family was far from his reach.
Despite it all Damian did not brush away his families efforts to bond with him even if they were reluctant. But it all felt so fake with every attempt. Every hang out with Steph, Every patrol with Dick, Every spar with Cassandra, All felt so fake
But he knew they cared even Bruce.
✷
There had been reports about a new villian roaming around crime alley called Red Hood. It was a idiotic name and didn't seem like a big threat but father thought otherwise. Father had spent nearly the whole week trying to figure out who the mysterious new villian was, and what were his intentions. But when he found nothing he decided to put it aside for a while and focus on other things. Such as Poison Ivy's recent break out.
A few weeks of silence from Red hood, He was nearly convinced that the Vigilante had cowered away but he was terribly wrong. And Damian hated being wrong. A recent report showed the Red hood walking into a police department, dropping a duffle bag with the heads of 8 men all identified as pedophiles and rapists.
Damian didn't see the harm of this, He was disposing the world of its parasites. But as usual his father had his own opinions and so did the rest of the family..
"This man's sick!" Grayson exclaimed as he read through the reports, His body visibly tension with every passing sentence he read
"He's smart too.. Hacked into the GCPD's system and planted a fake bug so he could download case files." Drake explained as he was typing on the bat computer
"But the people of crime alley really seem to respect him" Brown pitched in
"Whatever it is. We can't let this continue." Finally it was Bruce who spoke up.
"Why is this a issue.. he is doing all of us a favour by exterminating the parasites that infest the city." Damian snarled, To him, Hood was doing no wrong. He did not understand why their all so pent up on the situation. Like the report said. Those men were rapist and pedophiles, They had it coming.
"He's a murderer Little D.. We have rules against killing. You know this" Grayson said as he suited up for patrol
"But-" Damian didn't even have a chance to defend himself before he rudely cut off
"Enough. Damian. Let's go" Bruce put on his cowl and walked towards the Batmobile expecting the younger to follow
Damian murmured insults under his breath as he followed Bruce into the Batmobile.
✷
(Insert the events of Jason's reveal)
When Bruce drove into the cave he looked completely distraught. As if he had just relived the worst day of his life, as if a wound had just been reopened and it was hitting him with a blow strong enough to wound Superman
"B! What happened? Did you capture Red Hood?" Dick said as he knelt down next to Bruce who was on his knees and had removed his cowl the second he got to the cave, He was unmistakably crying. What a sight to see.
"Dick.. It's Jason.." Bruce gasped as if the word the itself tasted like poison. The name of his dead son, His second robin, Expectedly dick was stunned to say the least
"No.. B Jay's dead!" Dick said trying to stop himself from getting his hopes up that his dead baby brother is back from the dead while visibly trying to hold himself back from bursting into tears
"It's him! But.. he's come back angry.. Angry at the world, the joker.. and especially me." Bruce choked on the last sentence as if it was a realisation.
Whatever Damian heard after that came to a blur, Jason was here? Akhi was in Gotham? Why didn't Akhi reach out to him did Akhi not miss him as much as he missed him?
Damian suddenly found himself zoning out at the thought that his akhi was in Gotham. He was in Gotham but he never reached out him.. His chest felt tight, Did Akhi not want him know he was here? Suddenly all Damian wanted to do was run to crime alley and find Akhi and confront him. But his trance was broken when he realised Grayson was calling out to him.
"C'mon Dames.. Let's call it a night" Dick said visibly tired despite his mountains of energy earlier, Tim also looked slightly tensed
✷
A month or more had passed and he still was not given the chance to see Akhi, No matter how much he pleaded to Bruce to go patrolling with him so that there could be a chance of bumping into his akhi but unfortunately fate has been cruel. He was turned down every time. It started to frustrate him deeply until fate had given him what he wanted.
By some miracle Grayson had convinced Jason to come to dinner, After barging into his safe house and bothering him for months, Jason finally agreed with the terms that Dick would stop treating his safe house like a second home. Damian was ecstatic. Finally! He was finally going to see his akhi again!
The evening came Jason had arrived to the manor, Damian visibly perked up, He ran down the stairs in a hurry to greet Jason but Grayson beat him to it
"Little Wing!" Dick cherped happily as he ran to Jason and pulled him into a bone crushing hug
"Ugh! Get off me dickface!!" Jason yelled pushing dick away but dick kept his ground, But Jason suddenly paused when he saw Damian
Damian's shoulders straighten when Jason caught him in his sight, All he wanted to right now was run into his arms and never let go "Akhi..?" Damian said quietly testing the waters
"Habibi?" Jason shoved dick away before he walked up to him, Damian saw that as a sign before running towards Jason and jumping into his arms
Damian found his heart swelling at the familiarity of the embrace, It felt so nice.. Damian had finally had that feeling of home that he missed so much "Akhi.." Damian whispered to Jason who only hugged tighter, He savoured the moment before he was rudely interrupted by Tim. He swears he'll kill him one day.
"What!? How does Jason know the demon brat!?" Tim looked visibly gagged
Dick was just as confused as he looked at the scene before him and had his own questions too but you could feel his jealousy radiating
Everyone had their questions but Cassandra looked the most fond, as if she was looking back at a fond memory.
"it's a long story I'm not willing to debrief at the moment" Stated Jason as he pulled away from Damian.
"Alright.. We'll talk later. Let's eat" Bruce stated as he walked towards the dining area, expecting everyone to follow along (as always)
During dinner Damian finally felt like he was being seen after being a stranger for so long now that Jason was here. Because Jason understands him, because Jason is his brother, A piece of Home he could reach
✷
Months had passed and the tension between the rest of the family members had lighten up, Jason found the time to build a bond with each of them after he had a long heart to heart with Bruce which lead to Jason staying in the manor much more often and to say Damian isn't please is wrong.
There had been reports of a drug ring in Gotham, Bruce has assigned Jason to the task and ordered Damian to assist. Damian didn't hesitate to agree, This'd be his first mission with Akhi that wasn't a stakeout with the rest of the family. It'd just be the two of them
They reached the designated location given to them by oracle, They had to find a way in
"So Baby bat, How should we do this, Loud or quiet" Jason said, He was crouched down on the edge of the rooftop overlooking the building that the drug ring dealing was taking place
"Quiet." Damian said without hesitation "Gather Intel, Perhaps they could lead us to the source of the drug ring" Damian said statistically as he considered the outcome
"Nice thinking Baby bat, Let's move out" Jason jumped off the building, Blending into the shadows as Damian followed.
✷
When they had entered the building, it was quite, awfully quite and that could either mean a good thing or bad thing, and in this scenario it would mean the drug ring had been bought off already. So clearly a bad thing
"Shit we're too late.." Jason said as he looked around for any trace of evidence that could help that at this moment though it seemed useless
"Impossible we were told to arrive to this building by 8:30 PM in which we did, We were not too late.." Damian started looking around growing suspicious of the information that was given to them
"yea well we can't trust all the source given to us Robin" Jason sighed, growing frustrated at the situation
"-tt-" Damian continued looking around before he accidentally knocked off one of the boxer and when it fell something came out of it. A bomb, His eyes widened the timer on the bomb showed 10 seconds
Jason turned towards the sound of the box falling, his eyes landing on the bomb and then at Damian, His body moving without his mind being given time to process what was happening, He lurched towards Damian, shielding his younger brother from the explosion just in time before the timer hit 0:00
✷
Damian woke up to a loud ringing in his ear, He groaned the pain shooting up his entire body as he pushed of the little rocks on top of him, he rubbed his head trying to recall what had happened, after he realised what had happened, remembered how Jason had shield him from the bomb he got up and started urgently looking for Jason
Damian found Jason under a wall of concrete, His head was bleeding but still breathing but that didn't ease the worry in Damian's heart
"Akhi.. Wake up, You might have a concussion sleeping won't benefit you" Damian knelt next Jason and tried to wake up him
Jason groaned before he fluttered his eyes open "Damian.." Jason said, His voice hoarse
Damian panicked "Hello? Batman? Do you copy?" Damian desperately tried the Coms but his got fried in the explosion and Jason's helmet had broken on impact, Desperate he tried lifting the boulder
"Damian.. don't.." Jason tried to knock him out of it but Damian was desperate, He used all his strength to lift the wall but it only lifted slightly before Damian let go because it was to heavy, the wall landing back on Jason
Jason let a strangled groan, a clear sign he was holding back a scream, Tears sparked in Damian's eyes seeing his akhi so hurt and bleeding, They needed help and fast but the coms were busted and they had no way of communicating, Damian felt so helpless
"Damian.." Jason's eyes fluttered closed
"NO! Stay awake Akhi! You have to stay awake!" Damian ran to Jason's side, his voiced cracked but he didn't care that he was being vulnerable because the man witnessing it was nearly a dead man (again)
"Damian.. Everything's going to be okay.." Jason whispered hoarsely, and despite being under a wall, he lifted his free arm and gestures Damian for a embrace
Damian sniffled before he laid down, His head on Jason's shoulder and his arm wrapped around him "Akhi.." He whimpered feeling truly helpess
"It's okay.. it'll all be okay.." Jason reassured as he rubbed circles around Damian's back while fighting the urge to stay awake
Damian started crying, He could hear Jason heart beat, and it was getting slower by the minute and that moment Damian didn't care who saw him cry, He was about to lose his brother "Akhi please.. please don't go.. help will arrive soon Akhi please.." Damian pleaded
Jason looked exhausted, like staying awake was taking everything he had but hearing his younger brother beg him to stay awake and that was worth trying. Jason knew he'd be dead before help could arrive, His ribs were broken and he's sure he was bleeding internally somewhere. Jason had regrets but that didn't matter at this moment because all the mattered was comforting Damian as best he could "It's okay Habibi.." Jason voice came out strained, He started humming
Damian's breath hitched at the familiar melody, A melody Jason would sing to him when he was scared and had a nightmare or when RA's was scolding him, Damian started to sob even harder knowing this'll be the last time he'll hear this melody, He knows this melody will come to haunt his dreams
Minutes felt like an eternity, Damian's sobs had died down to small whimper, Eventually Jason's heart had stopped beating completely, The arms that once sheltered Damian fallen limp on-top of Damian and the last thing he heard was Jason humming the last time from the melody
Tears starting to remerge "Akhi.. Akhi.." Damian sobbed in his dead brothers embrace
✷
Batman, Nightwing and Red Robin looked desperately in the rubble for the duo, Batman much more but as he continued the search his blood ran cold, Damian laying in Jason's arms.. and Jason was under a wall looking lifeless, without hesitating he ran towards them and used all his strength to push the wall off Jason "I found them!" Batman yelled signalling the other two
But then he finally noticed Damian sobbing, He quickly knelt to Damian's side "Robin report" came out harsher then he wanted in this situation but instead of clicking his tongue like Damian always did Damian continued to sob
"He's dead.." Damian managed to choke out
Bruce looked like he was about to collapse. No.. No No No No No No Not again, Not when Jason had finally warmed up to him, Not when Jason was finally back in his arms, He was too late. He was too late again, Batman reached out to Jason's lifeless body and held him close before tears started to fall and a gruelling scream escaped his mouth, Scarring off the birds in the surrounding area
When Nightwing came to view Damian could see how Nightwing looked like he was about to start spiralling, Like he was falling back into a hole he had just dug himself out off
Damian heard Red Robin, He was yelling through the coms for medical help urgently
But when they medics arrived, It was already far too late.
✷
The funeral was held at Gotham Cemetery, Nearly everyone who knew Jason was present.
Damian's eyes rimmed red before he felt a hand touch his shoulder, he tensed before he looked up to see his mother, Talia, Wordlessly Talia pulled her youngest into a tight embrace that initiated another round of tears
Because Damian had just lost a piece of Home