Chapter Text
Damian POV
Father has been coddling me since I was revived from the dead. I believe he thinks I will follow down Todd's path when the Lazures pits brought him back from the dead. Todd got Pit Rage since he isn't an Al-Gul and is used to the waters of the Lazarus pits. I've been prepared to die and be brought back since I could walk so I was prepared and didn't get pit rage unlike Todd and yet Father believes me moments from snapping.
The rest of the family seems to believe it as well except for Todd because from his time in the league, he knows I'd be fine...Todd believes I do not remember him being in the league but I do remember and I remember how I felt when he left me...That isn't important what's important is Father and my "siblings" looking at me as though I'm a feral animal as they did when I first arrived in Gotham.
That shouldn't bother me as much as it does but I hate the looks, especially from Richard those feel just as bad as when my mother stabbed me through the side on my eighth birthday. It shouldn't feel that because I'm the son of the Bat the future Deamon's head emotions are beneath me...Maybe Mother is right living in Gotham has made me soft.
I was sitting in the library working on a painting I've been working on of a young Robin leaping off the side of the nest and expanding its wings to take to the sky for the first time toward the rising sun. It's reminiscent of how I felt my first night of Robin alongside Richard because we weren't, an unsure older brother and an outsider we were Batman and Robin, the perfect Duo leaping off the side of an apartment building to protect the citizens of Gotham.
I looked around the room and saw Pennyworth dusting the mantle and Drake reading a book on a nearby armchair and Father wasn't present probably in his office. It was a tentative peace that encompassed the room anything could shatter it so I focused back on my task working on the detailing of feathers and sticks.
I don't know how much time had passed but the next time when I looked up Pennyworth was gone and Drake was almost finished with his book. I put my pencils away in my art supplies box before stepping off my stool and covering my canvas with a sheet before placing it in the corner where my art projects are kept when I work on them in the library. I looked at Drake who had closed his book and was watching me intently and when I looked at him a little closer I saw his muscles tense and I scoffed before I left the library.
Drake believed I would attack him he was searching for anger within me and he was prepping for an attack from me. He believes me to have Pit Rage like everyone else but as Richard has explained numerous times Drake is still uneasy from when I tried to kill him the first night of me being in the Manor. I am still not on the best of terms with Drake after everything but I'm annoyed that even Drake who I thought respected me as an adversary would believe me low and untrained enough to succumb to Pit Rage.
I walked toward my room and grabbed my sketchbook before heading out to the manor grounds to find something to sketch. I walked toward the orchid and when I arrived I looked at the Pear trees and I could tell Winter was truly on its way to Gotham... The pears that were still in the trees were shrinking and dying which is standard for Pears in Gotham at least according to Richard and Pennyworth. I climbed up into the tallest tree to get a bird's eye view of the orchard.
I eventually found an Eagle to sketch out and lucky for me the Eagle was sleeping so I was up in the tree for a couple of hours then I heard..."Deamon Brat you up there??!" Drake yelled up in my direction as I was putting my sketching supplies away. "You wouldn't be asking if you didn't know. What do you want Drake? Tt." I asked as I looked over the edge of my branch to see Drake standing at the base of the tree with his hands on his hips. "Hey you're going to fall so peek your head back over onto your branch and come down...CAREFULY!!" Drake shouted up at me and I rolled my eyes before I started descending the Pear tree.
"Hey, Deamon Brat I told you to be Careful!!" Drake shouted at me as I was making my way down the tree. "I climbed the mountains of Interlaken at age four with a broken wrist I can handle climbing down a Pear tree with no damage," I said as I reached the halfway point of the tree. "Yah Deamon Brat that isn't normal and that's why you shouldn't live with Tahlia ever again," Drake said and when I reached the ground I felt anger surge beneath my very skin toward my mouth... "How dare you insult my mother Drake!?" I shouted as I swiveled to meet Drake. "Because your mother wasn't/isn't a very good mother she shouldn't have been a mother to begin with!" Drake shouted back at me. "My mother raised me to be the best Blood Son of the bat!!" I shouted. "Your mom and Grandfather are terrible people who tried to kill all of us in some way shape or form!! They harmed you all your life Damian you should be grateful you got out of the league!!" Drake shouted and when he finished his eyes went wide and he turned paler than a fresh piece of paper.
"B Damian's experiencing PIt Rage!!!" Drake shouted not letting his eyes leave my form. "What are you talking about Drake?? I am not I am above that." I snarled glaring at Drake before I heard the sound of the back door being flung open and Father charging at us.
Father stood between me and Drake but his eyes never left me making it clear who he believed to be the threat in this situation. Fathered scanned me up and down and lingered on my eyes for longer than the rest because he was looking for a flash of Lazarus green in my natural darker green eyes. "Damian we need to talk," Father said as he started walking toward the Manor and looked at me expectantly and I knew that whatever we were going to talk about probably wasn't going to go in my favor...Stupid Drake for causing this whole mess because now I'm going to be punished.