The Things That Bind Us- Damirae

Chapter Three

Raven looked in to her lap and saw that she'd been fumbling with her fingers. She lay her hands flat on her legs and sighed.

Right...Azar help me, here comes the backstory...

Batman was expectant; Robin folded him arms with an itchy impatience.

"I...I came to Earth a few years ago," she began, "running from...well...Hell-"

Batman frowned and glanced at Constantine.

"- my father's realm, at least... he's a demon lord, and a powerful one. Dead to me." She said, with a cold malice that made Damian start. "And he's been looking for me- that's what my brothers (half-brothers really) were here for, I think."

Robin tutted and Raven looked at him. She was offended but thought to pay him little mind; she was being questioned by Batman. Besides, Zatanna had talked to her about Gotham's infamous duo. She'd said that Batman was an old friend- fearsome but below the surface, understanding. But Zatanna hadn't yet met this Robin, only his predecessors, and they'd told her that he was a slowly reforming terror, crass, mildly terrifying but thawing... a little.

Raven saw what they'd meant.

"You mentioned your father, what about your mother?"

"Dead. A long time ago. On the planet that I was raised on...Azarath... before that demon found us and I was taken to his realm-"

"Until you escaped?" Robin offered.

She nodded, sitting a little more into the car seat.

Constantine turned back to look at the teens as Batman turned a corner.

The magician nodded his head to the empath and explaining, "Had a little stint with the Titans, she did. Helped 'me out on a few occasions before Zee and me found her. Must've been near-on eight-ish years back...nine maybe...gosh I feel old..." Constantine sighed.

The Batmobile had now driven away from the bustle of Gotham and rumbled down a path between evergreens. Batman had gone down this road a thousand times. His chest was overtaken by the comfort of nearing home. He knew all the bumps that jolted the Batmobile, up and down, and the trees that lined the road.

"You've lived with Zatanna and Constantine for these years?" He asked.

Raven nodded, "Mostly. They're... they're my family."

Batman wondered how Zatanna had never mentioned the girl...then he remembered her vague references to an 'apprentice' now and then. Raven was on the run, hiding; Zatanna had never had any reason to tell him, had she? Still, he knew he'd be paying her a visit soon to discuss it. She was an old friend and it wasn't a betrayal really, but Raven had called Zee 'family'...

Damian lingered still on what Constantine had said.

"The Titans- you were there when Nightwing was Robin?"

"He was a good leader...supportive...tactical..." she looked up at Robin, "Miss Kori is still there, isn't she?"

Robin hadn't expected a question to be turned back on him. He fumbled before finding his footing. "Yes, unless anything has changed in the last few weeks."

His relationship with the Titans was tentative. Damian had stayed with them a while, when he was younger. They'd grown and shaped one another, and he'd assumed a leadership role for a while. But the novelty of team-leader and proving himself worthy of taking Grayson's shadow wore off.