Work Text:
Keep what you need to survive packed. You must always be prepared to leave.
It was a lesson taught to Damian by a boy he knew once, but now has little recollection.
There is no impression of his stance, his features, or any physical traits of note.
If Damian tries hard enough, he can scarcely recall the voice this boy once used.
That’s okay, because the boy himself could scarcely recall the words to use.
Most of the time, the boy’s presence is silent, yet still there, by Damian, in his memories.
It is surprising, weird, enough to have such a steady figure by his side during an uprising with the League.
It is even more shocking that Damian nearly forgets a boy, who had to have some sort of influence over him.
Based on the facts, evidence.
That he remembers the shape his mouth makes when saying, “akhi.”
There should be no reason, no explanation, for such a term to fall out of his mouth.
Nonetheless, this is what he has to reminisce.
A boy that was family once.
He barely ever is reminded of this, though.
The boy is not there, he has checked League records, and the boy’s lessons are overruled by those of Bats and Birds.
By Richard’s guided teaching and Jon’s whining messages.
By the shouts of Father and disappointment of a butler that held the most important-
The boy had said, when he could pretend to be whole again and ignore the stutter or the moments of heavy quiet where it seemed he was a scratched record that was better replaced than to fix, “Keep what you need to survive packed. You must always be prepared to leave.”
It was the second rule that the boy held to heart, oftentimes repeating to Damian like he had forgotten about imparting the same wisdom last week.
His first was the only phrase let out more frequently.
Besides screams Damian was not supposed to hear, and begs for someone who did not come.
The boy was not saved.
It is easy to ignore the truths of a broken boy much more than it is to ignore the screams.
He can pretend to not know the boy at all because of all this uncertainty around him.
Damian can pretend.
He, unfortunately, let himself be blinded with this ignorance.
The instruction of a boy that was there for Damian.
The warning of a boy that no one was there for.
It all fell on ears that did not listen.
Only after everything, did this first statement come back to haunt Damian.
Always look for a place that is safe but never accept that places are safe.
The sickening crack which echoed Wayne Manor haunts him like the desperate pleads of a brother gone.
Why were these the times he listened?
Damian should have known better.
And he takes another step away from the estate.
It is not safe.