Nightstruck- Damirae one-shots (Damian and Raven)

Apokolips Wars

Authors Note: As requested by @ symphonyl and @ xoxoluvmarisa :) 

Damian was standing in his office, watching the courtyard when Raven, Superman, John Constantine and Etrigan stepped out of Raven's portal. His blood boiled at the site of Raven returning to his league with Superman after one whole year of silence with nothing but the letter between them.  The letter that had taken Damian 3 months to recover from. Three months where he went over every conversation they had had, every interaction, micro-analyzing everything he or Raven had ever said to see if he had read things wrong. If he had said something to drive her away. He had come up blank and yet Raven was still gone. He wasn't sure who he was more mad at, Raven for leaving him with the barest of explanations or himself for driving her away. 

His anger slipped when he saw her fall to the ground, clearly too weak to stand. Thats when Damian took in her appearance and realized the last year hadn't been easy on her either; she had lost a lot of weight and had heavy bags under her eyes, Raven had a tired expression on her face like she desperately needed some rest but couldn't get it. He was deeply concerned by her appearance and almost went towards the door when he saw Kent kneeling to help her up. 

Just the sight of Clark Kent made him want to throw a Battarang at his face. Preferably one made of kryptonite. He was the reason his father was dead. The 'great' man of steel, so confident in his own power that he led a suicide mission that annihilated the JLA and left the rest of the world in shambles. Damien had lost everything because of Superman. He was so furious, the shock of seeing Kent alive didn't even register in his mind.

Instead of going out to the courtyard he opted to watch as his pupils attacked, just as they had been trained. The new arrivals were quickly overtaken by his shadows, although they were fairing better than he would've liked to admit. John Constantine was especially spry for someone who had been living at the bottom of a liquor bottle for the last 2 years. Damian was annoyed when he saw his own team losing so easily to Etrigan, he would have to train them harder next time. His annoyance was momentarily interrupted he saw one of shadow members take down superman. Nothing pleased Damian more at that moment than seeing great man of steel being taken down by someone who was barely 20 years old. Had his birthday come early this year?

Damian turned his head to see how the others were fairing and saw something that made his blood stop cold in his veins, he was moving towards the door before he even registered it. "Enough!" He yelled at the pupil who had raised his sword and was about to bring it down on Raven. He barely remembering to appear calm and collected in front of his students in his panic.

Damian watched Raven freeze at the sound of his voice before she slowly got up. "Hi" she said quietly, barely meeting his eyes, her entire demeanour tensing at the sight of Damian. He felt something crumble at the sight of her treating him like a stranger but he did not allow his expression to show it. Instead he opted to stare back with a cool expression. On the outside he appeared unaffected by her sudden appearance but on the inside his emotions were in a turmoil. He couldn't sort through everything he was feeling; joy, relief, sadness, humiliation and most of all rage. Rage at her for leaving him behind with this enormous burden, rage at himself for ever trying to move their relationship further than friendship when she obviously didn't reciprocate his feelings, rage at Superman and John for surviving while everyone else hadn't. He focused on that rage because it was the easiest to deal with.

"You" he growled as stepped towards Superman. His hand already reaching for his sword. Before he could draw it out Raven stepped forward in what seemed to him like a defensive position. "Damian, please listen to him" she said putting her hand out to stop him.

Was she trying to protect Superman? Before Damian could process the shock and outrage at that gesture, Raven stumbled and seemed to lose her energy as she swayed and fell forward. Damian forgot his anger as he lunged to catch her in his arms before she could fall. They sunk to the ground together with Raven wrapped tightly in his arms. He panicked when he saw that she was unconscious and vowed to kill whatever had affected her so greatly. 

"What's wrong with her?" He demanded, looking at John Constantine.

"How long do you got mate?" John sarcastically replied. Damian shot him a glare before turning to Kent. 

Clark stepped forward with a sympathetic expression. He looked like he had been through hell. Literally. His irises were shot through with what appeared to be kryptonite, and the white of his eyes were no longer white, instead they were a dark shade that looked like blackened blood. His face was so pale and translucent you could see the veins underneath them, the veins themselves looked like they were also kryptonite green. Kent looked like someone had pumped him full of kryptonite and then left the substance there to corrode him from the inside, Damian realized with a start that that might be what had happened. "I know you hate me, but I wouldn't be here if it wasn't necessary" he said softly.

Damian paused for a moment to consider what he said. It was clear that the past 2 years hadn't been easy on any of them. And if Raven had showed up with Superman then it must mean that the rescue mission they had talked about so long ago might finally be taking place. And with John Constantine here along with Superman they might finally have a shot at winning. 

But Damian didn't think about any of those reasons when he gently picked up Raven in his arms  and said "Fine, I'll let you live... for now". No he was only thinking about the girl in his arms and how right it felt to have her back.