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darthvashtique93 · 10 months

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A Cosmos In The Sand

Chapter 2

Raven sat at her vanity, dressed and surrounded in luxury, but feeling as depressed as ever. Her top was made from gold and iolite, spun by Slaede's personal magic weavers. It was tight and covered only her breasts. Her skirt was made from the same material. It barely covered her undergarment as there were slits on both sides. A 2-row coin anklet made from gold decorated one foot, while a thin, iolite thigh-ring adorned the opposite leg. A tiny iolite stone decorated her belly button. A finger-to-wrist hand bracelet with five rings weighed down her left hand. An iolite armband with gold chains wrapped around her right arm. The large hoop earrings were surprisingly, thankfully, very light. Raven always forgot she was wearing them until after she moved her head. Her eyes were lined with a dark kohl, bringing out the natural, violet hues. Finally, her hair – black as night but shone violet when either sunlight or moonlight hit it just right – fell straight down her back. She looked every bit the prized jewel Slaede made her to be. She hated it. The soldiers referred to her as Slaede's treasure, and Slaede dressed her as such.

Her traveling tent was just as decorated as her room back at the palace. The most comfortable throws, the softest pillows, and iolite incense burned her lungs. She was even allowed to ride Slaede's favorite horse, something she only did when she felt compelled to do so. And while she enjoyed the finest foods and wines, her family – her sisters – suffered in dungeons. Raven's service to Slaede was the only thing keeping them alive and safe from Slaede's most perverted guards.

Raven closed her eyes and prayed for respite from her burning lungs. Tears gathered behind her closed eyelids. She didn't know how much longer she could continue this…this façade. She loved her family, but she was beginning to wonder if they were worth the pain and agony. The innocent lives lost because of you, her subconscious reminded her. Raven tried not to think of the screams of those dying at the hands of Slaede's army, but they flooded her dreams. She honestly couldn't remember the last good night's sleep she had.

A sob broke through Raven's painted lips. She was so tired – tired of being afraid, tired of feeling worried, tired of being tired.

Opening her eyes, Raven spoke, "I know you're there." She was greeted by silence. Turning on her stool, Raven faced her seemingly empty tent and spoke again, "Don't I deserve to see the face of my would-be assassin?" Scanning the tent, Raven's eyes came to rest on a dark corner, where a shadow seemed to emerge from a shadow. The warrior stepped into the light. He was tall – at least a head taller than Slaede. He was muscular, darkly tanned, and his eyes were a strange mix of green gold. The hatred that burned in his eyes seared her skin "You've been betrayed, Ibn al Xu'ffasch," Raven continued.

The warrior froze, a question marred his handsome face. "You know my name," the warrior stated in disgust.

"And I know why you're here, Damyan," Raven replied. She opened her mouth to say more when she felt a burst of energy in her soul. Colors of every kind swirled in her eyes. Multiple visions of the same event played in her mind. Suddenly, she saw her salvation – multiple ways to freedom that began and ended with him. She needed him. He needed to survive this night. "You-you've been betrayed," Raven repeated while her mind fought to come up with a plan to ensure her assassin's safety. "You-you've…" she paused as she willed her brain to think faster. Confusion swept crossed the face of Ibn al Xu-ffasch. It was quickly replaced by hate. He drew his weapon, but before he could take a single step, soldiers flooded Raven's tent, surrounding him. Shock and anger quickly replaced the hate on his face. But it was too late for him. His momentary lapse in focus allowed 10 of Slaede's finest soldiers the opportunity to rush him. Before Raven could think, Damyan was bound to a beam supporting Raven's tent.

"Well, well, well," Slaede was heard before he was seen. His soldiers parted, making room for Slaede to stride up to Damyan at a leisurely pace. "You look so surprised," Slaede smirked up at the young man. Damyan looked past Slaede. "You!" he spat at the short figure standing behind Slaede. "You betrayed us!"

"I did," the figure, Mara, smiled brightly. "Grandfather really should have listened to you. Alas, the old man was surprised when I slit his throat. I could tell…by the look on his face," she held up the decapitated head of Ra's al Ghul. Raven was surprised to see sorrow fill Damyan's face. He must have really loved the old man. "Here," Mara tossed the head at Slaede's feet. "By my grandfather's head, I pledge my allegiance," she bowed her head.

"I welcome you with open arms," Slaede said.

"Father!" another voice called out. Raven scowled at the sound of the voice. "Look who I found!" Graent dragged a squirming female behind him. Raven had no idea who the female was, but judging by his aesthetics, she was Damyan's mother.

"Ama!" Damyan gasped as the woman was forced to the ground.

"Hello, Talia," Slaede walked to the woman and smirked down at her. "You know, Damyan, in another life, I would have been your birth father. Who knows? Maybe the King of Go-tham would still be alive had Ra's given me your mother as promised," he angrily grabbed Talia's face. "Maybe I'll have her anyway," he smirked evilly.

"I'd rather die," Talia sneered.

"That will be arranged," Slaede marched over to a bound Damyan and searched him. Behind Slaede's back, Raven looked to see Talia staring up at her. Please save my son, Raven heard Talia's voice in her head. Raven looked at her in shock. Save him, Talia spoke again, and he will save you. Raven gave a minute nod.

"Here it is," Slaede pulled a knife from Damyan's ankle. "I'll give you another chance, Talia. Swear allegiance to me."

"Damn you."

"Fine." Grabbing Talia by the hair, he plunged the knife directly into her throat.

"Ama!" Damyan yelled out, and the sound tore at Raven's heartstrings. Talia fell to the ground as a gurgling sound came from her throat as she choked on her own blood. Raven looked away from the macabre sight, but instantly regretted it when she met Damyan's hateful gaze. "I'm going to kill you, sorceress," he growled, and Raven had to step back at the wave of hate she sensed coming from him. Yes, Raven thought, I can use this.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14253019/1/A-Cosmos-In-The-Sand

#damian wayne x raven #damirae #Robin/Raven #Robin x Raven #damian wayne x rachel roth

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bigfan-fanfic · 9 months

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How do you feel about Damien’s Mom Talia Al Ghul? Because some people said she’s a victim of bad racist writing and she’s had a bad portrayal in the animated movies. Is Talia really just victim of bad writing or she’s actually a horrible mother/person? I’m just confused because when I read the comics about Talia and the bad things she did and I just assumed that’s was part of her character because she’s a morally questionable villain of course she’s not a “good civilian person.” I knew DC is a dark adult comic book series and I already expected going in that the villain characters like Talia would committed terrible/horrible actions against the heroes. Like for example when she drugged Bruce and took advantage of him, I was slightly shocked but wasn’t surprised. Cuz to me this was the dark stuff DC was known for doing.

Alrighty, so the answer is a little bit of both!

TW for sexual assault mentions, miscarriage, parental abuse, etc.

There's a TL;DR ("too long, didn't read" summary) under the cut if you don't wanna read my report which is pretty awesome and was fun to write.

So, nobody seems to be able to agree on who Talia is at her core, and that's generally par for the course for a comic book character with multiple writers. She's been around since 1971, so that's already 52 years! And like Greek myth, there's just a lot of different interpretations of the character.

Let's get to the nitty gritty before we talk history. In 2006, writer Grant Morrison established that Talia drugged and raped Bruce, conceiving their son Damian (and also for some reason adding a whole unnecessary "artificial womb" thing? I don't get it either). However, this is based off the fact, which Morrison later admitted, that they misremembered the story they based the Batman and Son arc off of, and later comic arcs (in 2012 and 2014) would retcon the incident as consensual. Put a pin in this.

Talia was originally more of a damsel in distress slash prize for Bruce. Remember, this was the 70s. Her main deal is being the daughter of Ra's al Ghul and thus if Batman marries her, he becomes the heir, which Ra's wants. Despite not wanting to succeed Ra's, Bruce and Talia do share romantic attraction and Ra's considers them married. Then, later on, they do actually marry and she gets pregnant, and then Talia realizes that Bruce will always be in danger having to protect her and their child, so she fakes a miscarriage and they dissolve their marriage. She gives the child to an orphanage, and he is given the name Ibn al Xu'ffasch, or "son of the bat". This is the story arc Morrison adapted later.

Talia was kinda badass in the period before 2006, where she was sort of an anti-villain. She breaks out and starts having her own self after Ra's engages her to Bane whom she despises. She, under the name Talia Head, runs LexCorp as CEO while Lex Luthor is President of the United States, and basically not only tips Superman off about all his plans, but sells LexCorp's shares to Wayne Enterprises leaving Lex functionally penniless. Then she gets brainwashed and basically evil-fied by her half-sister Nyssa Raatko who literally kills her over and over, resurrecting her each time in the Lazarus Pit as an extreme form of torture and reprogramming. She usually does more evil shit after this like joining leagues of supervillains and such. However, her motives of helping Jason Todd recover and train are usually ascribed to her love for Bruce and not wanting Jason to kill him.

Then after 2006 she goes full tilt crazy ex girlfriend and murders people, trained Selina Kyle to resist any and all psychological coercion to reveal Bruce's identity, and PLANTS A DEVICE IN DAMIAN'S SPINE THAT LETS HER CONTROL HIS BODY, and reveals that she's started cloning him because she thinks he's too weak and disowns him.

Then comes the New 52 (the part where DC did a reboot to make everybody darker and "more realistic" that absolutely nobody liked, so it started in 2011 and then DC did another reboot in 2016 to make it better) and Talia is just off the wall completely evil. Genocide, cloning Damian, killing Damian, being resurrected, then fighting an ancient alien cult and claiming she's redeemed, then literally rejoining the League of Assassins moments later.

Incidentally, apparently Grant Morrison wrote Bruce, Talia, and Damian from their own experiences as a child of divorce, which is just... wow. Like... that's just a lot to unpack there, but we're just gonna step past it.

As of the DC Rebirth reboot, Talia is more or less sort of back to being anti-villain, still yes a killer, but also more emotionally open and supportive of her son and back to trying for true redemption.

Let's take, as I usually try to do, the sum total of these experiences and from other sources and try to average it out.

Unfortunately, despite the retconning, a lot of people now still see Talia's rape of Bruce as canon. I did too for the longest time, and honestly, although it makes Talia despicable and completely irredeemable in a very visceral way, it also does allow for interesting dynamics for Bruce and Damian, the batfam and Talia, Bruce in general, and allows there to be discussion for the tragically underconsidered circumstance for female-on-male sexual assault, and by having Batman, who is often used by hypermasculine dudebros for their weird ideals of stoic toxic masculinity be a victim, and be vulnerable, and go through this could be a deeply powerful arc that nobody in comics really wants to touch. It does however, deprive us of an interesting and nuanced Talia and instead catapults her right into mustache-twirling evil.

Ultimately, Talia is the daughter and heir of Ra's al Ghul. She sees no problem murdering people, and in fact she usually shares her father's genocidal ambitions of culling much of the human race to help preserve the planet. Ra's boils down to an ecoterrorist and genocidal maniac, and Talia his henchman, though when she does strike out on her own, I can't quite get a handle on her motivations. She does tout a desire for "equality and peace" but there's really no standard she gives for what this means, so I can't really see if she's just crazy or if she has good intentions.

I think, even at her best, Talia is a perfectionist and is very strict, intent on Damian being who she wants him to be. I think she has very little empathy or compassion for others, although parts of her, at her best, regret this and she tries to grow. At her worst, she is irredeemably evil, and at her best she is... morally shady to the point of never really being able to be thought of as a good guy.

I can't speak to whether or not racism plays a part in her portrayal either as mustache twirling villain or whatever. I don't know that it's necessarily bad writing because I don't know if Talia was ever intended to not be a horrible person or morally ambiguous, apart from the early days when she was mainly a figure to be pursued by Batman. When it comes down to it, adding sexual assault to her list of crimes is not going to change much because she's a mass murderer, an ecoterrorist, an abusive mother any way you slice it because she's training her child as an assassin, and generally just not great. A fascinating character, yes, but a terrible person.

TL;DR: Talia al Ghul is a terrible person in general, but the Big Incident you refer to has been retconned and is based off a poorly-remembered story. However, considering she's a mass murderer, assassin, eco-terrorist, and also let's face it classist villain, she's still not great even if you remove that from her rap sheet. She's done some cool stuff like putting Lex Luthor in his place and that one Elseworlds story where she left Bruce and gave her son to an orphanage to protect him, but otherwise, once she was made her own character and not just a love-interest-of-the-week, Talia has been morally ambiguous at best and irredeemable at worst. I can't say if it's racist or not because I don't know the motivations in her writing, but I don't know that it's necessarily bad writing to make her unsympathetically evil.

#talia al ghul #reports outside the fic #comic history #please read I actually did research on this

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northoftheroad · 5 months

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Hello!

I was just curious if you've been following Waid and Mora's World's Finest. Last thing I remember Dick did survive Kingdom Come—there was this panel of him, his daughter and Bruce in the hospital. Then why was there a headstone with Red Robin written on it in WF? 😭😭😭

I know... I guess it's to give us readers a fright that the future of the Kingdom Come world will change due to what happened with David earlier in World's Finest. �� And they're doing a damn good job of scaring me, I can tell you!

Dick and Mar'i not only survived Kingdom Come in the original comic, they were still alive when Bruce Wayne was buried some twenty years later. There's a picture from the burial in Justice Society of America #22. Dick is sitting with Mar'i and Ibn and their two children.

There are a few things that puzzle me with the visit to the Kingdom Come universe/Earth 22. Dick is called Nightwing and Dan Mora writes that it's before he called himself Red Robin. I don't remember ever seeing that before, though I do remember seeing him in a Nightwing-like suit in The Kingdom Nightstar. 🤷‍♀️ The bio of Dick Grayson of Earth 22 doesn't mention him being Nightwing, though with his daughter calling herself Nightstar, it really should be a combination of Starfire and Nightwing... Maybe Mark Waid decided fix this?

We could also see another Robin in WF # 21, which I'm pretty sure I've never seen in KC. The bio of Earth 22 Bruce Wayne only mentions Dick as adopted son and Ibn al Xu'ffasch as son.

Well, we'll just have to see what the future holds...

#dick grayson #mari grayson #nightwing #nightstar #world's finest #Kingdom Come

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luimnigh · 9 months

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Quiz question "How many children does Bruce Wayne have?" causes argument about whether Damian Wayne and Ibn al Xu'ffasch are separate characters or multiversal counterparts, 5 dead 23 injured.

#dc comics #batman #batfamily #damian wayne

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majingojira · 2 months

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Victorian Wayne Manor

It's an idea that's popped up from time to time (IE: Gotham by Gaslight), but few have actually looked into what a Victorian Mansion requires. Without a large staff, a household couldn't function well, even with all the latest amenities.

So, let's get a look at the Wayne Household as transplanted to Victorian England.

And how Bruce Wayne would buck conventions and defy social norms of the times even among his household and staff.

Let's set some ground rules for this thing. One, we're going to use the FULL Batman family, and we are going to draw from period piece in and around that time frame (IE: Gotham by Gaslight, The Doom That Came to Gotham and Batman/Tarzan: Claws of the Cat-Woman) Batman stories and his full expanded cast to fill in the various staff positions in a Victorian household.

The Wayne Manor will be in the latter half of the Victorian era, since Batman and technology are so intertwined.

First, there is the Family.

Bruce Wayne - Head of the Household. Heir to the Wayne Industrial Fortune, champion of the people, reformer, and technically Prince Consort.

Princess Khefretari of Memnon/"Selina Wayne" - Wife of Bruce Wayne, former Priestess of Sehkmet in the hidden city of Memnon in central Africa.

The Kids:

Bruce has 5 adopted children and 2 children from a previous marriage.

Dick Grayson, a Romani former Circus Acrobatic, adopted by Bruce when the boy lost his parents at age 10.

Sanjay Tawd, a Hindi street child who aided Wayne on his world travels 3 years after picking up Dick.

Timothy Drake, an American lad of English descent, adopted into the family 2 years after Sanjay.

Kai Li Cain/Wayne, an Half-Chinese martial arts prodigy who Bruce adopted 2 years after Timothy (though she is roughly his age).

Duke Thomas, an African American kid with keen eyes and a bright mind. Just slightly younger than Kai Li.

Ibn al Xu'ffasch/Damian Wayne and Athenasia al Ghul/Janan Wayne, fraternal twin children from Bruce's prior marriage to Talia al Ghul. They are the second youngest of the family.

With the current marriage, Bruce and Selina have one child -- Helena Wayne, who is the youngest of the family, 13 years younger than even Damian and Janan.

Now for the big one -- the Servants.

First there are the "Upper 10" (that's what they are called despite how many there are).

Butler - Alfred Pennyworth (was there any doubt). Aside from being Bruce's valet, Alfred is in charge of all the men of the house staff. He is also in charge of the house Alcohol.

Housekeeper - Leslie Thompkins. She is in charge of most of the runnings of the house and the female servants (save the lady's maid and governess). Formerly the nurse of the house (and still aids in those duties on occasion due to a joy of it -- and how often it is needed).

Lady's Maid - Given there are several ladies of the house, each one has their own Ladies Maid to assist them.

Eiko Hasigawa is the lady's maid of Selina Wayne.

Stephanie Brown is the lady's maid of Kai Li Wayne

Nika Glovasmerti* ("Flatline") is the lady's maid of Jana Wayne

Valet - Like the ladies maid, but for the gentlemen of the house. Alfred attends to Mr. Wayne himself, naturally.

Jefferson Pierce is the Valet of Dick.

Rex Mason acts as Sanjay's valet.

Bernard Dowd acts as Tim's valet.

Daxton Chilton* acts as Duke's valet.

Collin Wilkes acts as Damian's Valet.

Governess - Helena Bertinelli. The Governess is the tutor of the children in the family (Tim, Kai Li, Damian, Janan, and eventually Helena). Ms. Bertinelli is the namesake of the youngest Wayne after saving her. Usually, in England, it was custom to have a French maid, but the Waynes like to buck traditions by having an Italian one.

Nurse - Alice* Chilton. This is a rare case where we have an actual Housekeeper for the Wayne home, but she has a nurse background (IIRC, she hasn't really appeared since the Crisis), so she can fill in this roll. In the Victorian Manor, she'd be watching baby Helena most of the time.

Coach - Jean Paul Valley. He acts as the Driver of the Wayne family on outings.

Groom - Harold Alnut. Grooms keep the horses happy and healthy. Since Harold was originally a mechanic, it matches well.

Stableboy - Dre Cipriani. A minor character from "We Are Robin."

Gamekeepers/Gardeners - Grace Choi and Anissa Pierce. The grounds need keeping, and Damian has a LOT of pets (The dogs Ace & Titus, Dick's purbered three-legged mutt Hailey, Alfred the Cat, "Bat-Cow", Jerry the Turkey, a monkey named Monkey, anda golden crowned flying fox named "Goliath". )

Most of the grounds are a preserve for former Hailey Circus animals. This includes at least 2 elephants (Zitka and Elinore), a small pride of lions (2 males Gunther and Kimba are named) and at least one more monkey (Jimmie).

Seliha also has her cats. Aside from standard cats (Diablo, Slinky, Kitty, Isis, Julio, Otto, Hecate), she also owns two melanistic panthers, Lover and Diablo.

Cook - Tatsu Yamashiro. There's a joke about chef's knives here, but I think we're all making it.

Kitchen Maids - There's a lot of people in this house so the Cook is going to need a few helping hands. These are:

Gabrielle Doe

Jennifer Pierce

Julia Pennyworth

Housemaid - The standard maids of the house. However, because of the ratio of men to women in the household, many take up traditional 'mens' work, with others being stepped up to Lady's Maid depending on who is visiting.

Holly Robinson

Harper Rowe

Carrie Kelly

Riko Sheridan

Isabella Oritz

Claire Clover

Sophia Ramos

Parlourmaid - Emily Briggs. Parlourmaids are as Housemaids, but they have the added responsibility of answering the door.

Semi-Regular Visitors

Talia Al Ghul (along with her own Servants -- Ubu, Prudence Wood, and "Angela Breaker") does stop by on occasion, with Harper Rowe stepping up to assist.

'Sandra Wu', Kai Li's biological mother is usually attended by Harper and Sophia when she comes to visit.

That's a household of 9 Family members (with 2 guests), with 29/32 staff members on hand.

*Some characters don't have full names yet, so I'm giving them one. Or I altered one.

#Batman #Batfamily #victorian era

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evandarya · 2 years

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Seeds of the Father

{Read on AO3}

Chapter 1

The Apple Doesn't Fall Far From The Tree

Maddie Fenton was a lot of things. A scientist and a genius. A mother and a wife. A Fenton, and an Al Ghul. Not that that fact was public knowledge. Escaping the League was nearly impossible. She had to create a whole new identity to get away, and still needed help from the outside. She was lucky that she met Jack when she did. The man was easy to love and didn't judge her for her past.

Needless to say, Maddie lived every day looking over her shoulder, waiting for the time when her past would catch up with her. When she noticed a shadow following her as she drove Jazz to school one Wednesday, she knew her luck had run out.

After she dropped Jasmine off at school she headed to a local park. There were a few families with young children on the playground, but most of the park was empty, the ominous storm clouds driving most people inside. Maddie started on the walking trail before turning onto a lesser-used hiking trail. It didn't take long for the shadows to catch up with her. The trail curved around a bend deep in the woods, far enough from the main trail that no one could see. No witnesses. No one to stumble across the coming confrontation. Exactly how she had always done it.

The dagger thrown at her heart was expected, so she was able to quickly duck out of the way of it. The eight-year-old that knocked her legs out from under her and put a blade to her throat was a surprise.

"You've lost your edge, Adeline," Talia said, stepping out of the shadow of a large oak tree. She looked her up and down, like an entomologist studying an interesting bug. "It's good to see you, sister."

"I wish I could say the same, Talia." Maddie ground out. "And it's not Adeline anymore."

"Yes, it's Madeline now, isn't it? You never were good at crafting identities." Talia said. "You seem to be doing well for yourself, since betraying Father. Married an idiot and lost your sense of fashion. Your daughter is cute, though."

Maddie wanted to strangle her sister, but the child assassin still had a knife held firm against her windpipe. "Don't touch Jazz."

Talia crouched in front of Maddie and looked into her eyes. "What would you do to keep your child safe, Addy? Would you betray everyone you love?"

The question took her off guard, but the answer was easy "Without hesitation."

"Then know, sister, that I would do the same for mine. Danyal, release her." Talia said with a wave of her hand.

The boy, Danyal, hesitated for just a moment before complying, disappearing the knife into the folds of his black assassin garb. He took a step back, towards Talia, and stood much more still than a boy his age should. He observed her with intelligent ice blue eyes. It was more than a little unnerving.

"This is my son, Danyal Al Ghul Ibn Al Xu'ffasch. I need you to take care of him." Talia rested a hand on the boy's shoulder, but he didn't relax his stance at all. If anything the contact caused him to tense further.

"Ibn Al Xu'ffasch? The detective?! You slept with the detective?" Maddie asked in disbelief as she stood and brushed dirt from her jumpsuit.

"I nearly married the detective; sister. Will you take him?"

Maddie sighed and looked over at the boy. He hadn't so much as spoke since he appeared. Maddie wondered if that was something trained into him. "What will happen if I say no?"

"Father will take care of him." There was something in Talia's voice as she spoke. Maddie knew exactly how Ra's Al Ghul would take care of the boy.

"Okay. I will take him." Maddie said. She didn't have much of a choice, she couldn't allow the boy to die, and Talia always got her way in the end.

Talia didn't smile or show any outward sign of relief beyond relaxing her stance a little. She nodded and crouched down in front of the child and spoke quickly and quietly in Arabic. The boy nodded once, face grave before Talia stood again. "I won't forget what you have done for me, sister." And with those parting words, she was gone, disappeared into the woods.

***

Maddie watched as the boy, as Danyal, picked at his soft pretzel. Talia had dropped the boy off with nothing. He didn't have a change of clothes, or a blanket or anything, so their first stop had been the mall. Danyal followed her around, a few steps behind and a little to the left as she shopped. She hadn't even been able to get him to pick anything for himself. He just nodded or shrugged at every option. It had been hours since Talia had left, and he still hadn't said a word.

Maddie knew the kind of training Danyal had likely been out through. She had grown up under her Father's thumb, she knew the expectations he had for his children. It was hard to imagine such a quiet, almost meek boy was a killer, but she saw it in the way his eyes flicked around the room, in the set of his shoulders, and the steel in his eyes.

"Danyal." Blue eyes, harder than any child's ought to be snapped to her, alert and cautious. "I have to go get my daughter from school. Are you okay meeting her, or would you like me to drop you off with Jack?" Danyal searched her face for a few moments, for what she couldn't fathom before he shrugged and dropped his gaze back to the untouched pretzel. She didn't sigh, but it was a close thing. "Okay. We will go to the school together."

***

Danyal lay back on the bed. He had been given his own room, his own bed. He had his own bed before, but he always ended up in Damian's bed, anyway. He pulled the blanket up over his shoulder and longed for the warmth that his twin put out. His brother was like a furnace, creating enough warmth for the both of them. The nights in the desert were always so cold.

He didn't understand why he was still alive. He failed Grandfather's test. Mother had promised to "take care of it". Everyone knew what that meant. But she had brought him here, to her sister. He had expected Madeline to kill him. He could understand Mother not wanting to kill her son, so someone else would have to do it. But Madeline hadn't killed him. She had bought him western clothes and fed him, even let him meet her daughter and husband. If she was going to kill him, surely she would have done it in the woods. Right?

Danyal heard footsteps coming up the stairs and listened closely. Light, small steps. Jasmine. Jazz. She wants to be called Jazz. The footsteps hesitated for a moment outside of his door before continuing down the hall. He didn't relax until he heard Jazz's door open and shut again.

Jazz was not what he had been expecting from Adeline's daughter. She was bright, observant, but also kind. She had spent the entire time from when they had picked her up from school until he had left to go to bed bouncing between asking him questions and telling her parents stories about her day. He had watched, fascinated as Jazz told a story about correcting a teacher on some small fact, and Adeline smiled and asked questions. Mother never allowed conversations without purpose, and Grandfather never permitted them to speak without being spoken to first.

Danyal sat up in bed and put his feet on the cold floor. He wasn't sure what the rules were for leaving your quarters after lights out, but he wasn't told not to. He had to get out of this room. The bed was too soft, and he was too cold. Maybe Adeline had some tea he could make. He crept out the bedroom door and down the stairs silently but stopped just outside the kitchen. There were voices.

"I don't know what we are going to do, Jack. Do you think it's safe for him to be here?"

"Mads, we're Fentons. There isn't anything we can't handle." Jack said, voice full of fool's confidence.

"Assassins, Jack. We can't handle assassins." Madeline said, "If he wanted to take us out, there isn't anything that would stop him."

Danyal felt his heart drop into his stomach. He wanted to deny the accusation, but he knew. He had a body count. He took his first life at four. If he wanted to, he could take out the Fentons, easy. Part of him had been cataloging weaknesses all day, planning.

He slowly backed away from the kitchen and up the stairs on silent feet. Back in his room he pulled the blanket off the bed but didn't lay down. Instead, he lay on the floor under the window. If he lay just right he could see the stars. Not as many as back home, but the ones he could see were familiar. He picked out Algol from the Perseus constellation. It had always been his favorite. Grandfather disapproved of stargazing, but he had taught them how to navigate by the stars. Mother was a little more lenient. She would tell them stories about the stars. Damian was never that interested in them, but Danyal had always been fascinated.

And the Fentons? He wasn't sure, but they seemed to let Jazz pursue her own interests. Maybe, if he's good. If he shows them he isn't a threat to them. Maybe they will let him look at the stars. Maybe if he's good he won't be sent back to Grandfather.

With one final look at Algol, Danyal made a decision. He was going to be on his best behavior. He'd keep up with his training, plus whatever additional training the Fentons asked him to do, and he'd do it without complaint. He'd show them that he wasn't a threat to them. As long as he got to look at the stars sometimes, he could make it work here.

***

Maddie woke up early the next morning. Jazz was already up brushing her teeth in the bathroom. "Good morning, Jazz. How did you sleep?"

"Better than Daniel. He's been up since three." She said just a little bit irritated. "I could hear him moving around in his room all morning."

"I'll check on him." She said, leaving the bathroom and heading across the hall to Danyal's room. She knocked once before opening the door and was met with the sight of her nephew running through a sword routine. He was good, but she was surprised by his choice of weapon.

"Is that your primary weapon?" She asked.

Danyal didn't jump or react to the question in any way, just swiftly moved to the next form. After a moment he let out a quiet "Yes, Aunt Madeline."

"It's unusual to see a wakizashi without its katana." Danyal's grip on the blade tightened but he didn't say anything. "I don't think I've seen anyone use one as a primary weapon."

Danyal sheathed the short sword and turned to face her. "It belonged to Grandfather. He gave it to me after my first mission."

Her heart broke. She knew what kind of 'mission' her father was likely to send a child on. She hated to see another child go through what she had. "Can I see it?" Danyal nodded and held the weapon out, flat on his plans for her to take. She examined the sheath, a glossy black wood with black rope bindings and a silver guard and collar. She pulled the weapon out of its sheath and glanced down the length of the blade. "I remember this weapon." She said, "Father used to carry it and the matching katana around everywhere when I was small. I'm surprised to see him part with it." She held the weapon out to Danyal, who took it with thanks.

"May I take a shower?" He asked quietly.

"Of course, you may." Danyal nodded and brushed past her to the bathroom and she headed downstairs. Jazz was already in the kitchen, a pot of fresh coffee brewing and pancake batter ready to go. Maddie took over cooking breakfast for her daughter and Jazz took a seat at the table.

"What did you mean?" She asked after several minutes of silence.

"What did I mean by what?"

"About Danyal's weapon being an unusual choice."

Maddie paused for a second. She hadn't been aware that Jazz was listening to the conversation. "Danyal's weapon is called a wakizashi. It was a backup weapon used by Samurai with the katana. They usually are used as a pair, but if someone had to choose one or the other, they'd usually go for the katana. It's longer, so you can keep a better distance while fighting. The wakizashi is for more close combat, which most people try to avoid." Maddie placed a plate of pancakes in the center of the table while Jazz thought over that information.

"You said the katana and the wakizashi come in sets?" She asked, putting a pancake on her plate.

"Yes, it's called daisho, big and little."

"Who has the katana, then?" Jazz wondered out loud.

Maddie wondered as well. She heard the water shut off upstairs, but no footsteps. That wasn't surprising. No one trained by Ra's Al Ghul made noise unless they wanted to be heard. It wasn't long before Danyal joined them in the kitchen, dressed in the new jeans and one of the t-shirts she had gotten him the day before. The short sword was looking out of place hanging from his belt.

"Good morning," Jazz greeted him brightly. "Pancakes?"

"Yes, thank you." He said, seating himself at the table.

Jack came down soon after, loud and boisterous as always. "Morning, Maddie, Jazzy, Danny. How'd you sleep?"

Danyal seemed surprised, whether it was because of the nickname, or because of the direct question, it was hard to say, but he managed a quiet "Very well, thank you." Before returning to his breakfast.

The meal passed with energetic conversation. Maddie tried to involve Danyal, but only managed to get a few words out of him. After breakfast, Jack drove Jazz to school and she and Danyal cleared up the dishes. She washed, and he dried. They worked in silence for a while. As she was passing him the skillet she caught sight of his hands and had to stop herself from gasping. The tip of his left pinkie finger had been amputated at the last joint.

"Danyal, what happened to your finger?"

The boy curled his left hand into a fist, effectively hiding the digit. How had she not noticed that before?

"I…questioned Grandfather's authority when I was small." He said haltingly. "Grandfather required penance."

"Penance? He cut off your finger for penance?"

"No. Penance means nothing if it is taken. It must be given." He said it as if it were a fact. Like being made to remove body parts in payment for failure was a normal thing. The thought made her sick to her stomach. Somehow the years away had made her forget her Father's cruelty.

"Danyal. That isn't okay." He looked at her with that surprise again. The same look he had given Jack when he asked how he'd slept. No one had asked this child how he'd slept. No one had told this child it wasn't okay to be forced to remove body parts for any reason. Madeline came to two conclusions at that moment: one, Danyal Al Ghul was her son now. And two, any assassins Ra's Al Ghul would send would meet her full wrath.

#danny phantom #danny fenton #batman #dc comics #crossover #fanfic #maddie fenton #damian wayne #twins au

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