Chapter Text
It had been his thirteenth birthday.
The day they disappeared.
Damian remembered he had been excited. He had just turned thirteen, who wouldn’t be excited? Not that he would ever admit it, of course. Richard had promised him weeks prior that they would do something special. He wanted to go to the new art gallery and the zoo, and Richard promised they would.
He still had to go to school, which he wasn’t exactly thrilled about, but even that wasn’t enough to ruin the good mood. Damian went downstairs for breakfast. For once, Timothy was sitting at the table. He was rarely at the manor, having left for college as well as just preferring to be around his team instead. It was even rarer to see his father at the table. The two men were engaged in a conversation about something at Wayne Enterprises. A conversation that Damian was not meant to be apart of and knew better than to include himself in.
Damian had recently switched to calling the older boy, as well as the rest of the family, by their first names. Not out loud yet. He didn’t deserve that quite yet.
Timothy looked up and for a second Damian thought he would smile or even wish him a happy birthday. The older man just raised an eyebrow, confusion and wariness in his eyes. “You’re in an awfully good mood today. You plotting another murder attempt?” Damian should’ve known better than to get his hopes up. Timothy would never see him as anything other than the angry, aggressive child assassin he had been when he first arrived to the manor. Damian couldn’t even blame him for it.
It didn’t matter how much he tried to make up for it. It didn’t matter how many times he tried to make amends or be kind, Timothy wouldn’t trust him. He had tried to kill him. Damian wasn’t Jason. He couldn’t be forgiven.
Damian neglected to answer and instead decided to sit down at the table. Not long after, Alfred placed a plate in front of him. He noticed it was his favorite. The elder man smiled kindly at him and Damian found himself smiling back. At least Alfred still cared.
Tim’s eyebrows rose further, nearly touching his hairline.
“Ok, seriously what is going on with you. You’re acting so… un demon like.”
Damian ducked his head to hide his flush. His fists clenched and bit back the urge to retort. He opened his mouth to reply calmly, but the stern tone of his father’s voice had him freezing.
“Damian, don’t provoke your brother.”
Damian barely managed to push down the hurt. He hadn’t even done anything. No one had given him a chance. No one had bothered to wish him a happy birthday either. He felt his appetite go away. Damian silently excused himself from the table and went up to his room to prepare for school.
His missed the questioning look Tim sent Bruce’s way and the way Bruce’s eyebrows furrowed.
School was not much better than the manor, though Damian was determined to push through. He forced himself to endure the usual shoving and taunts that seemed to be his daily life. Finally he reached art and it was if all the tension left him. He loved his art class. It was one of the few places he felt truly free.
He let himself get lost in the process of painting. The project was the paint something important to him so had decided to paint his pets. His mind wandered back to that morning.
There was no way his family had forgotten his birthday. Richard would never let them. Perhaps they were just planning one of those surprise parties Damian had seen in the movies and shows Richard demanded he watch. Sure, Damian didn’t like surprises very much, but it was the thought that counted, right?
The day couldn’t pass by fast enough for Damian. Finally, he found himself standing outside the school building with the rest of the students, waiting to be picked up. Normally, Alfred would already be here to pick him up, but Richard had insisted a few days ago that he would be the one to pick Damian up. His older brother must be running late. Probably traffic.
Damian found himself waiting for another 30 minutes. Then an hour. He had started glancing at his phone, waiting for an apology text from Richard or an explanation. He could feel the teachers’ eyes boring down on him. They were whispering about him. He didn’t have to look to know.
After two hours, the teachers went back inside.
After the third, it started pouring.
Damian stayed waiting.
He knew he shouldn’t linger. It wasn’t a good look for his family. His father would kill him if he got CPS called on them for no reason. It was a good reason, though, why was no one here? He was soaked through, his hair plastered to his forehead. He couldn’t bring himself to care, though. He couldn’t find the effort to move.
After the fifth hour, Damian knew.
No one was coming.
He should’ve expected it. As much as he tried to pretend otherwise, as much as Dick tried to hide it, Damian wasn’t truly apart of the family. As much as he used to go on about being the blood son, he knew it was true. Bruce hadn’t chosen him, not like had his other sons. He wasn’t like them, as everyone loved to remind him.
It was foolish of him to think that just because it was his birthday, just because he had been trying to change, it would actually mean something to them.
With a sigh, Damian began his trek back home. He could see himself in the window reflections. He looked pathetic. If his mother could see himself now, she would be disgusted. But that didn’t matter, now did it?
His mother wasn’t here.
No one was.
By the time he had reached the manor, he was drenched, cold and tired. He didn’t want to face anyone. He just wanted to lie in bed and got to sleep. He felt numb. The door opened before he had even fully approached.
He saw the way Alfred’s expression crumpled subtly. He saw the grief and despair in his eyes.
Somehow he just knew.
His family was gone.
Damian sighed as he exited the fifth meeting of the day.
It was barely even a quarter past noon! For some reason they loved pushing him into meeting after meeting and giving him no time for anything else.
He didn’t know how his father and Timothy had done it. This was tiring. He didn’t think he’d ever get used to. No matter how long he’d been doing this. The thought of his father and brother brought a frown to his face again.
It’d been exactly ten years since they’d disappeared. They held a funeral, but it didn’t matter when there were no bodies to bury. Alfred had stuck around for all these years. Even when he didn’t have to. Sometimes, Damian got the feeling that the man had wished it had been anyone else. The butler was quick to reassure him otherwise but he couldn’t shake the feeling.
Speaking of the butler, his birthday was coming up soon, right?. Damian should probably give the man a vacation. He definitely deserved it.
A knock on the door broke him from his musings. A few seconds later, a man popped his head in. He was relatively young, one of the new employees they’d just hired, but still much older than Damian. Damian couldn’t quite remember his name. He thought it was ‘Mark’ or something like that.
Most of the employees tended to float between either shamelessly flirting with him or being terrified of him. Judging by the smile on the man’s face and the hungry look in his eyes, Damian figured he was the former of the two.
“Dames, hey, happy birthday!” The man exclaimed stepping into the room.
Damian had to fight the urge to groan and snap at him. He obviously wanted something and Damian was a hundred percent not into it. Instead, he put on his best smile and stood.
”Ah, thank you. Was there something you needed?” Honestly, Damian was proud of how friendly he managed to keep his tone.
“Ah, no, just wanted to wish the boss a happy birthday, you know.” The man walked closer, obviously not getting the memo. He smiled in what he probably thought was a sultry way, but really just made Damian cringe internally.
“So… Rumor has it you’re single. Care to-" Damian’s phone rang. He thanked every god in existence for interrupting whatever that was.
Damian held up a hand to stop the man from continuing and slipped out of the room. “Hello?”
He heard a quiet laugh on the other end and immediately pulled his phone away from his ear. He knew exactly who it was and he knew exactly what they were about to do. He’d like to keep his hearing, thank you very much.
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!”
Damian couldn’t fight the small smile growing. People were staring, but he didn’t really care.
“Seriously, Jon?”
“What? I’m excited!”
Damian just shook his head and laughed. Years ago, he would’ve never shown so much emotion or vulnerability, but he was practically a different person now. He let himself laugh openly and even let his guard down when he was around people he truly trusted. On the phone, Jon continued.
”Anyways, you busy?” Damian wasn’t even able to get a word out before the man was flying into his sentence. “Great because I’m already outside! I called you out for the rest of the day, by the way.”
Damian huffed a laugh and made his way outside. Leave it to his partner to find unconventional ways to get him off of work, knowing full well Damian probably had another meeting soon. He couldn’t say he wasn’t grateful, though. He was exhausted enough already and he still had the rest of the day to get through.
Jon was leaning against his car door, a goofy grin stretched across his face. Damian would never admit that his heart fluttered slightly at the sight.
“Come on! Your chariot awaits!”
They drove to the new restaurant that had just opened up. It was famous for its vegetarian and vegan options actually being well made and delicious. Damian enjoyed it. Afterwards, Jon took him to a surprise trip to the zoo. It didn’t matter how old he got, Damian’s love for animals would never diminish. While he didn’t particularly love seeing animals in captivity, he did have to admit that Gotham had gotten better at treating its animals. Plus, he just loved seeing the animals.
Besides the trip hadn’t even been about the zoo. It was about doing it with Richard.
They went to an art exhibit next. Damian had sneaking suspicion on why Jon was doing this. The past few years they hadn’t really been able to celebrate Damian’s birthday “properly”, as Jon had put it. Before that, Damian just hadn’t celebrated at all. The reminder that his family disappeared on that very same day was just too much for him. A few months ago, Damian had finally opened up about that day. He supposed this was Jon’s way of making it up to him.
Their next destination wasn’t particularly enjoyable, but it was necessary. It was practically tradition at this point. He left Jon behind in the car, ignoring the concerned look on his face.
The path was familiar. He had it memorized from the moment they put the empty caskets in the ground. It wasn’t a particularly long path but it gave him time to think.
It’d been ten years. Every year he had hoped that maybe his family would come back. That they’d just appear unharmed and relieved. They would tell him how much they had missed him and how sorry they were. His father would tell him he loved him and tell him about how proud he was.
It would never happen, of course. He would finally accept it. Ten years had passed. They weren’t coming back. Sure, there may not be any bodies, but that didn’t mean they were alive.
Even if they were alive, Damian wasn’t so sure they would come back for him.
Damian came to a stop in front of a grave. It was well kept and clean. There were plenty of fresh flowers surrounding it. Damian slowly knelt. He stayed silent for a moment. Letting the chill of the wind creep over him.
“Hello, Father.”
The cave was dark and silent. It was surprisingly empty for once.
In the middle, a small glowing orb of light started to grow. It expanded further and further until it became blinding. The cave shook slightly from the force. Finally it dimmed completely and everything settled. In the orbs place stood 6 figures.
“Did we do it? Are we back?”
Tim turned to look at Dick before looking back down at his device. It’d taken him a few months but he’d finally gotten it to work. A device that would let them travel between dimensions.
“This should be it.” He responded.
Everyone displays varying degrees of relief. Jason laughed, Stephanie cheered, Cass smiled, and even Bruce let his shoulders relax. Dick, however just looked around.
“Hey, where’s Damian?”
Tim paused and his eyes narrowed. Where was Damian? Shouldn’t he be down here sulking or training or whatever it was he did? Jason scoffed. “He’s probably just sulking somewhere because he couldn’t go on patrol.”
Dick sighed and crossed his arms. “Come on, we’ve been gone for months. He was probably worried!”
Tim rolled his eyes along with Jason. Honestly, Dick worried too much. The kid was probably fine.
“Please, he was probably grateful to have the manor to himself. Besides, he can take care of himself. He’s fine, Dick, stop worrying too much.”
Dick just sighed again and shook his head. He fixed Tim with a disappointed look, the one that always made Tim’s skin crawl.
“Come on, guys, he’s just a kid. And he’s gotten better! He hasn’t tried to kill you in a while!”
Tim just turned away. Why did Dick always have to defend Damian? Sure he’d stopped trying to kill Tim but that didn’t mean he wasn’t still a murderous little brat. The kid was still as rude and stand offish as ever.
“I still don’t see why we had to leave him behind.”
Bruce turned to his eldest at that. At some point while they were arguing, he had taken his cowl off.
“I know you don’t like it, but it would’ve taken too long to get him from school.”
Dick didn’t seem very pleased but relented. Tim moved to the Batcomputer. Stephanie and Cass already had already gotten out of costume and were doing something quietly in the corner. Jason had started as well and Dick moved to join after a moment.
Tim’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. No matter how many times he put the password in, it kept coming up wrong. Had Damian changed the password? Ugh, that brat. He turned to call Bruce over but froze.
A door opened and footsteps sounded down the steps. They all paused and tensed, ready for a fight. Those weren’t familiar footsteps at all. Did they have an intruder?
“Baba, look what we ma- You’re not Baba,”
A little girl around nine or ten came running down the cave steps. She froze at the sight of them and tensed. Tim gaped. How did a child get into the manor? Let alone the Batcave. Bruce stepped forward to try to calm her.
“Hey, how did you-"
“Stay away from her!”
Bruce narrowly dodged the throwing knife that lodged itself into the wall behind him. A boy around the same age as Damian entered the cave. He took a protective stance in front of the younger kid.
Tim was finally able to get a good look at the kids. They were definitely siblings. They had the same dark hair, same brown eyes, and most of the same features. They didn’t look like they were related to any of them. Their skin was brown, maybe a shade or two darker than Damian’s. The scowl on the older boy’s face made him look uncannily like Damian.
Another man came running downstairs at the commotion. He had dark skin and short dark hair. He looked to be in his mid twenties. He froze at the sight of them before his expression hardened.
“Who are you and how did you get in?”
Tim’s eyes narrowed and he stepped up to join Bruce. The man didn’t seem to be shocked to see their identities. He must have already known, but how? He had come from upstairs, how many people were in the manor?
“I could ask the same of you.”
The man huffed. He glared at all of them, but didn’t move to attack. They had them outnumbered, but he didn’t seem too worried. The little girl was the only one not outwardly hostile. She watched them from behind her brother with curious eyes.
“You know it’s not funny impersonating people. This isn’t a joke.”
Tim’s eyebrow’s furrowed. He shared a look with the others. Impersonating? What was going on? Dick stepped forward and the trio tensed even more, the boy reaching for another weapon. Dick put up his hands placatingly, but eyes were hard.
“Look, buddy, I don’t know who you are, but we’re not impersonating anyone-"
“Liar!”
The boy darted forward and attacked, Dick, pulling a dagger out from nowhere. That set everyone on alert. Jason moved to intercept the kid, but before he could even put his hands on the kid, the unfamiliar man darted in and attacked.
They worked together to drive them back. At some point, the little girl had darted into the fight with a sword. Their fighting style and skills showed that they were affiliated with the league, but it was odd. There were moves in there that Bruce had come up with himself. The only people who should’ve known about them were the people in this room, excluding the strangers of course.
This was so confusing. Where had these people even come from?
A clang at the entrance of the cave drew all of their attention away from the fight. Alfred stood at the entrance. A tray lay abandoned at his feet, pieces of cups and tea scattered about in a mess. His expression was worrisome. Tim didn’t think he’d ever seen the butler so grief stricken and horrified. Not even when Jason had been dead.
“Oh dear.”