#Damian is tiny stabby boy and I love him | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

cdelphiki · 5 years

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Jason and the Three Terrors, ch 2, rough draft. 3292 words.

prologue, chapter 1

I love sharing my WIPs, so I’ll probably keep on sharing what I’m doing on this. Everything will get a revision before it’s posted to AO3, eventually, so just keep in mind this is a WIP. :) Let me know what you think, even if it’s you don’t think something is working. (I can take it if you’re nice. lol)

Mara was blissfully silent the rest of the trek to the cliff. Her blatant distrust and outright snobbery was not, at all, helping Jason’s already frayed nerves.

This whole whatever was going on better not last too long. Jason would gladly help Talia get the kiddos to safety somewhere, just as long as that was it. He wanted to go back to training as soon as possible, or whatever. He had no idea what he wanted to do with his life, in all honesty. Training was at least productive. Trying not to murder a couple little brats would not be.

When they finally reached the cliff, Jason was annoyed to see Talia hadn’t beaten him there. The fact that she wasn’t there was extra annoying, too, because the boy was. And he didn’t look any happier than Mara was to be woken in the middle of the night.

Damian, Jason presumed, was sitting on his backpack. He started glaring at Mara the second the two of them turned the corner, around some rocks, and came into view. Jason kind of wanted to nope it right out of there. Have nothing to do with any of this.

“Tt,” the kid huffed, as he stood and crossed his arms to address Mara, “What are you doing here?”

And holy guacamole Jason could definitely see the Bruce in this kid. He was the spitting fucking image of Bruce Wayne. The only thing Talia about this kid was his eyes. And his complexion.

“Lady Talia summoned me,” Mara responded, stopping about fifteen feet away from Damian. Jason paused with her, although he wasn’t sure why, but he figured the brat knew her brother way better than Jason did. Considering Jason didn’t know him at all.

Both kids rested hands on the hilts of their swords, and Jason groaned internally. They weren’t going to get violent, were they?

Holy-sibling-rivalry, Batman.

“My mother asked me to meet her here, of course. Why she would summon you is beyond me,” Damian said, all but sticking his little snot nose right up in the air.

“You must be the servant Mother mentioned,” Damian added, turning his gaze to Jason as he looked Jason up and down before rolling his eyes, “You don’t look like much.”

And yep. Jason was gonna have to work on that not-smacking-children thing.

“I am not a servant, you little brat,” Jason said, taking his bag off and dropping it on the ground, so he could sit on it, “And that’s no way to speak to your sister.”

“This bastard is not my sister,” Damian declared, at the same time Mara said, “I am not his sister.”

“Wait, what?” Jason said, completely thrown now.

What the fuck did that even mean? If Mara wasn’t his sister, then what was she? And why did Talia call her one of her ‘children?’

It would make sense, though… Since Mara looked nothing like Bruce. Jason would believe Mara and Damian were related, but even then it was kind of stretching it. That had far more to do with her complexion. And eyes.

The only two things Damian had from Talia….

Jason would easily believe half-sister. But then they wouldn’t have agreed on ‘not’ sister.

So what the fuck was Mara?

“I said, this bastard is not my sister, why would you assume-”

“Why are you being an asshole?” Jason interrupted, because sister or not, that was no way to speak about the little girl. “I think you owe her an apology.”

“You watch your tongue, peasant,” Damian growled, scowling at Jason and absolutely not apologizing to Mara, “You will not order me around.”

Oh boy.

“Are you both gonna call me peasant? Cause that’s just rude.”

“Tt,” Damian huffed, drawing his sword, “I will not be insulted by one of Mother’s servants.”

Jason hopped up and further away from Damian while he held his two hands out placatingly. “Look, kid, I told ya, I’m not a servant, so I’m gonna talk to you however I damn well please. But it’s no reason to get all stabby, yeah? So how about you put down the sword.”

“Damian,” Mara said, then switched to Arabic as she said, “He claims he did not know of our existence until Lady Talia ordered him to bring me here.”

“How could a servant possibly not know who I am?” Damian responded in like, and Jason just rolled his eyes. These stupid little brats acting like they could have a conversation right in front of his face. Yeah right. His Arabic wasn’t perfect, but he wasn’t terrible, either.

“I am not a servant,” he replied, also in Arabic. If either child was startled he could understand them, they didn’t show it. “Stop calling me one.”

“Then what are you?” Damian asked dryly, crossing his arms as he turned to face Jason.

“Like I told Mara, Talia trains me.”

Damian scowled, likely at his lack of ‘respect’ for his mother. These brats thinking they were royalty. And that Jason would even care about that. But then his face softened as he looked at Jason assessingly. “Ah. Then you are Mother’s pet. I have heard of you.”

“Pet?” Jason objected, “I’m not a fucking pet.”

“You would be wise to watch your-” Damian started, in a nasty little snarl as he pointed his sword at Jason, but was cut off by Jason’s current favorite person on the planet.

Because Talia Al Ghul said sharply, “Damian,” from just out of their sight, causing the little brat to snap to attention at his mother’s chastisement.

“Mother,” Damian said, turning to face Talia just as she rounded the corner, and froze, cutting off whatever argument he had been gearing up to share.

Right along with Jason.

Because in Talia’s arms was another kid.

This one was clinging to Talia in a way Jason would expect a kid to do at 3 in the morning, her arms wrapped tightly around Talia’s neck and her face buried into Talia’s hair.

“Jason is an ally and you will treat him with respect,” Talia said, exhaustedly, as she coaxed the little girl in her arms to sit up and look around.

Damian scoffed, rolling his eyes and whole head dramatically, as if Talia had just asked of him the world, then motioned at the little girl and said, “And who is she?”

Talia narrowed her eyes at Damian, then said, “He is your brother, Damian, you will respect him. And this is your sister.”

Jason opened his mouth to protest that instantly, because he was not a brother. He did not have brothers. Or sisters. Or fathers. No one. He had no family, and he was perfectly fine with that. He refused to allow Talia to trap him like this into family and all the bullshit that accompanied that. Especially not with such little brats.

But before he even got one syllable out, he was shut down by the nasty glare Talia shot him.

“My-” Damian said, then just stared helplessly at Talia for a moment before steeling himself and declaring, “I do not have siblings.”

“Are you questioning me, child?” Talia said warningly, causing Damian to stand just a little straighter, before she softened her voice and said, “This is Athanasia.”

Talia set the girl down on her feet and Athanasia didn’t let go of Talia’s hand. In fact, she stepped behind Talia, just slightly, and looked between Damian, Jason, and Mara with a tiny little smile on her face. After a second, she waved and hid her face behind Talia.

“Hi,” Jason said dumbly, not sure how else to react. He’d already met two other kids, so what was a third, right? But Athanasia seemed incredibly shy, while the other two were aggressively, well… everything. Aggressive. And damn was she adorable.

When Damian looked at Talia searchingly, rather than speak to Athanasia, Talia sighed. “I kept her secret,” she explained, her hand carding through the little girl’s hair absently, “so that Father would not take her from me.”

Damian shook his head, and Jason looked over to see a whole slew of emotions flickering across Damian’s face. Hurt. Betrayal. Confusion. Anger. It was kind of making Jason feel bad for the little brat. What had he been subjected to that Talia clearly didn’t want Athanasia to suffer?

“Damian,” Talia said, letting go of her daughter to close the distance between her and Damian. Once she’d knelt down to Damian’s height, she put a hand on his cheek and whispered, “My love,” before pulling him into a very long hug, that Damian clearly found to be incredibly confusing.

If this kid honestly wasn’t used to hugs, Jason would gladly hike across all of Afghanistan, if that’s what it took to get him away from here. Brat or not.

“Mother, what is happening?” Damian asked, his voice a near whisper.

Talia pulled him back, placing her hands on either side of his face. “We are leaving, my prince, so you and your sister may grow up in safety.”

“We are defecting?” Mara asked, her voice partially incredulous, and partly shaken.

“Mother,” Damian said in alarm, pulling away from her touch, “We cannot-”

“I will not betray my Grandfather,” Mara said, this time with much more confidence as she took a few steps back from them all.

“We are Al Ghuls,” Damian asserted, scowling at Talia, “Mother, be reasonable.”

“Silence,” Talia shouted, when the two of them delved into speaking over one another in protest. Both children, amusingly, snapped their mouths shut instantly and stood at attention for Talia, who just sighed. “We haven’t a choice.”

“What possible reason could we have for defecting,” Mara asked, taking a step back from Talia, as if she were about to turn and bolt to get away from them.

“Father learned of Athanasia’s existence, and ordered her and Mara to face each other in battle,” Talia said, and the sheer bitterness on her face was staggering.

Then her words sank in.

“Holy shit,” his whispered, “Like to death?” He wanted one of them to kill the other?

Just looking at Athanasia and Mara, Jason had no doubt Mara would win that. But what kind of damage would that cause Mara? Had she already killed? Probably, right? Jason had killed a few times, himself. All while on missions, which were part of his training. It bothered him, a little. Sometimes. When he let himself think about it. But he was 16. He was 16 and chose this. Plus, all his targets have been adults. Horrible adults, at that. Human traffickers, child rapists, baby killers. All of them deserved it.

But a little girl, barely up to his waist? Probably 6 years old, if Jason had to guess? What would killing her do to Mara? She wouldn’t have a choice. She’d live the rest of her life knowing she took the life of an innocent child. Would she be able to live with herself?

Talia nodded grimly, and Jason could feel the fire in his blood start to burn.

“I could-” Mara started, only to pale and take another step back, looking up at Talia anxiously, “If it is what Grandfather orders…”

She could kill Athanasia, she meant, Jason was sure. Of course she could.

But she shouldn’t have to.

No child should have to live with that. Fuck Ra’s Al Ghul for even suggesting such thing. Jason was immensely grateful that he was no where near Ra’s at the moment, because had he been in the compound he’s fairly certain he would have barged into Ra’s quarters and punched him right in the face. As it was, all he had was his duffle bag, so he kicked it as hard as he could. His knives clanged against each other, and the bag skidded across the snow covered dirt a good six feet, stopped only by one of the many rocks surrounding them.

“Fuck him,” he growled, clenching and unclenching his fists. He needed something to hit. All he had around him were rocks, though. Rocks and children and Talia. He’d either hurt his hands or immensely regret his life choices, so instead he flung himself down on his bag and sat there, trying his best to calm his breathing and chill.

Everyone was staring at him, he noticed, when he looked up, so he closed his eyes in order to practice meditating in the way Talia had taught him, when she learned of his ‘anger management’ problems. He still had to roll his eyes at that. Since his anger was never unjustified, he didn’t see much of a problem with having it. But whatever.

“Mara,” Talia said after a minute, and Jason’s eyes snapped open at her her tone. Because she sounded so kind and almost… loving. Jason would expect that tone from a mother to her child, but everyone had been clear Mara wasn’t her daughter.

It’s a tone he’d heard from Catherine, many times. Jason, darling, she’d say, and no matter the circumstances, or why she was using it, the tone always made him feel safe. Like a warm blanket being wrapped around him, his mother’s words were more comforting, no matter what message they delivered.

Talia’s words clearly had the same effect on Mara, because her shoulders drop, slightly, as Talia knelt before her and repeated, “Mara, my niece. Do you think so little of yourself that you believe it acceptable to be pitted against an untrained child to prove your worthiness at life?”

Mara froze so visibly at that, Jason just wanted to get up and go murder Ra’s for sure. Because what the fuck was this. Damian wasn’t used to hugs, Mara wasn’t used to hearing someone affirm her worth in life, and Athanasia was standing off to the side, clinging desperately to a stuffed cat that apparently materialized out of no where. Perhaps she pulled it from the backpack she was wearing.

In fact, Athanasia looked downright terrified, in all honesty. Talia must not have told her about the whole battle-to-the-death thing. Her little body was trembling, and her face was ghost white as she looked pleadingly at Talia, whose attention was still on Mara.

“I-” Mara said, then paused and shook her head.

“Tt,” huffed Damian, rolling his eyes as he took a step closer to Talia and Mara, putting himself within arms reach of Talia, “She is not.”

“Damian,” Talia hissed, and Jason had enough of this.

He stood slowly, so not to draw attention to himself, and slowly made his way over to the trembling little girl lost in the background.

He knelt down next to her, earning only a wary glance before he said, “They’re pretty loud, huh?”

Athanasia nodded slowly, as Damian started ranting about their station and honor or some other nonsense. Talia was pinching the bridge of her nose, and Jason was suddenly glad he wasn’t the little brat. Because he was fairly certain Damian was about to get told off. Or maybe even smacked.

“So you’re my little sister, huh?” he asked, suddenly wondering whether the little girl spoke much English. If she were kept secret from everyone, it was unlikely she’d had much of an education. “How old are you?” he asked, in Arabic this time.

“Seven,” she whispered in Arabic, so Jason figured he’d just stick with it.

“Seven, huh? That’s a good age. I’m sixteen.”

When all the little girl did was take a deep, shaky breath, Jason inched a little closer. “Hey,” he whispered, resisting the urge to reach out and hug her, “There’s no reason to be scared.” Athanasia turned her head to look at Jason, so he added, “Not with me around. I’m your big brother, right?”

She nodded.

“And do you know what big brothers do?”

“No,” she whispered, pulling her stuffed cat up closer to her face.

“We protect our little sisters and make sure nothing bad happens to them.”

The tiny little smile Athanasia graced Jason with made him just grin wider. He could already tell he was going to like this kid. She was just so damn cute.

“Does your cat have a name?” he asked, after looking over at Talia and seeing her speaking quietly to the other two kids, still. He couldn’t make out what she was saying, but both of them were absolutely entranced by her, so he figured she was getting through to them and convincing them to ‘defect’ from this damn cult.

Athanasia held her cat out so Jason could see her better and said, “Kitty,” in English.

“That is an excellent name.” Jason reached out and ‘pet’ the cat before Athanasia snatched it back and hugged onto it again. “Do you know how old Damian is?”

“He is eight,” she said, louder and more confident now. She’d quit shaking, too. Jason still had that urge to just hug her, though. Maybe she wouldn’t stab him, if he did.

“How old is Mara?” he asked instead.

Athanasia shrugged.

“Jason,” Talia said, successfully gaining his attention as she stood to address all of them, “We should get moving, we do not have time to waste.”

“Sure.” Jason stood and slung his back over his shoulder, then smiled down at Athanasia as she followed him to join Talia and the kids. “So what’s the plan?”

“We will hike to Kabul and fly out of there,” Talia explained, pulling out a small device from her bag, which appeared to be a GPS of some sort. Which was good, because Jason knew for a fact there were no roads anywhere near them.

Which… just meant this was about to be one hell of a hike. Because most of it was going to be through mountains and desert…

“Mother,” Damian said, shuffling to catch up as Talia began walking southwest, “That is a week’s hike.”

“Yes, my son. Father will be expecting us to cross into Pakistan or Tajikistan and catch a ride, so we will not.”

Jason slowed, a little, so that all the children were walking ahead of him, and took up the rear. Athanasia grasped onto Talia’s hand, and Damian just scowled at the little girl.

Oh boy, he thought. The next week was going to be hell.

“Do we have enough supplies for this,” Jason asked uneasily, mentally cataloging everything he had in his bag. Which was mostly weapons, clothing, and very basic sleeping supplies. No food or water. He did have an empty water bottle that he could fill, if he wanted to risk drinking melted snow, which he didn’t. Hopefully they’d stumble upon enough springs…

Talia waived their concerned off with a simple, “My pack is almost entirely food, do not despair.”

Looking at her backpack, Jason had doubts. While it was a decent size, he was having a hard time believing she had enough food for four people for a week. Maybe if it were entirely protein bars…

“Do you not trust me?” Talia asked harshly, apparently sensing his hesitancy. After sighing, she added, “If you are worried, we will encounter a village in four days where we can replenish our supplies and perhaps sleep for the night.”

“Where will we fly to, Lady Talia,” Mara asked, as she trailed along behind Damian.

“N-” Talia started, then halted throwing her arms out in either direction to stop the rest of them from walking forward. “We have been found,” she whispered harshly, turning and pushing them all in the opposite direction, “Run.”

They didn’t have a chance, though.

Because not even a step into their retreat, the sound of a gun firing engulfed the previously quiet mountain soundscape, the bullet whistling right past Jason’s ear.

And when he looked back, he saw the smug face of Deathstroke grinning back at them.

#Jason Todd #wip wednesday #Jason and the three terrors #jtat3t #Its like half rough draft half first revision #because the last 2000 words have been revised already #but the first 1000 I didnt even reread today #so yeah keep that in mind #but YAY finally I'm to the first big event #I don't know much about Deathstroke but I think it's pretty in character what he's about to do...?#hopefully #anyway after I write chapter 3 it should be SO MUCH EASIER to write this damn story #and maybe I'll start doing at least a chapter a week and get that much closer to publishing this

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