Time Reveals All Things

I Saw The Same

"Wake up."

"The time is now to learn from the past." Damian twitches in his sleep, his eyes cracking open and breathing picking up at seeing a blurry form of a woman standing over him and staring at him, "Have you forgotten the words already?" Damian begins to think he's dreaming but—wait this cant be a dream! He's inside of his own house... father is right next to him... still sleeping?

Damian turns towards the woman and reaches under one of Bruce's pillows, cursing when nothing is under it and remembering he's in his father's room and not his. "Tch! Whatever, I don't need weapons to beat your sorry ass!" Damian moves to the floor, fists held out in a fighting position, feeling mocked when the woman smiles at him like he's a joke.

"I guess you've been around that boy Jason too much? You speak like him sometimes, you know?"

Damian knows he should keep his eye on the woman but can't help but quickly look back at Bruce; only to see him still sleeping. He should be awake by now, why isn't he awake!? Damian turns towards the woman angrier than he was before.

"What did you do to father!? You answer me right now or I will help you answer!" Damian dashes towards the woman only to end up back where he started; right next Bruce on the bed.

Damian keeps doing that for a couple minutes, finally realizing he doesn't have the power to beat this woman. So, he turns to Bruce the next time he's on the bed and shakes him, "Father, Wake up!" Nothing... his father is doing nothing. The young boy shakes Bruce again, raising his voice louder.

"Father! Wake up—" the boy swallows roughly before continuing—"I-I need you to wake up! The wench we saw at the museum came back!"

Damian watches as his father still does nothing—wait. He's been shouting the whole time and no one else in the house came running in, Damian turns to glare at the woman but finds that she's disappeared. Causing his heart to tick up a bit and for him to scramble off the bed and out of Bruce's room.

"Grayson!—" Damian pauses his shouting to listen for any noise—"Todd!—" the young boy once again stopping to listen for the curses of irritation at having been woken up, only hearing the silence instead.

Damian stops outside of Alfred's room. He should probably have looked into the rooms of the people he was calling for... but he knows deep down he's afraid of what he might see. What if they were killed? But... but this woman wouldn't hurt the old man, right? He has no fighting skill... at least not in the way him and his siblings are trained, and plus! He's old now and doesn't move like he once did, right?

Damian slowly opens Alfred's door, "Alfred?" Damian takes a look—seeing the man lying still as a corpse; just like Bruce was. The green eyed boy runs up to Alfred's bedside and shakes him, "Alfred! Wake up now! I demand it!" Damian knows if he spoke to Alfred that way the man would have woken up just to scold him about manners already, but yet he gets nothing for his efforts.

Damian turns to glare when he hears a tired sigh behind him, who is this woman to act as if he's bothering her!? The small boy turns and charges at the woman again, closing his eyes when there's a flash and opening them only to see he's now in Richard's room.

"What's the meaning of this!?" Damian looks at Grayson's still body, fists clenching at his sides.

"You seem to forget what I asked you?"

If humans snarled like animals... Damian would be an accurate example of that. The boy turning to glare harshly at the woman once again, veins popping out on his little neck. "I don't give a crap about your questions! Wake them up!"

Damian blinks and the next second his eyes are open the woman is gone again, the boy looking around while taking a cautious step back. Only to feel hands on his head and his arms falling limp; he can't move them. They feel like heavy weights have been tied to them, he can't move them at all; only his head.

When the upset and worried boy looks up at the woman, he hears the words that were chanted in the library echo through the room. "Hanaphta Rogul Zemek. Kanaktu Achta. Time, time, time!"

Damian feels the hands release his head, feeling dizzy after that happens. The room begins to spin and he jumps when he suddenly hears Richard's voice behind him chanting those same words robotically, "Hanaphta Rogul Zemek. Kanaktu Achta. Time, time, time!"

Damian hears the words in his head now, clutching his head in his small hands as everything seems to get louder and the room's walls begin to melt. The young boy gasping when he hears Jason chant and then Alfred and then Bruce, until everyone in the house is around him, their words sounding louder than normal.

"Hanaphta Rogul Zemek. Kanaktu Achta. Time, time, time!"

"Hanaphta Rogul Zemek. Kanaktu Achta. Time, time, time!"

"Hanaphta Rogul Zemek. Kanaktu Achta. Time, time, time!"

Damian lets out a scream of pain as a sharp pain pierces through his skull and the form of his family began to melt while chanting those words continuously.

Sweat soaks down his back, lungs gasping for air as Damian shoots up in bed. The young boy looking around the dark room for signs of melted walls, the form of a woman and lastly his father... who is right next to him and moving in his sleep. Damian realizes he must have pushed away from Bruce at some point?

The boy sucks in a deep breath and flinches at the sweat spots on the bed, silently climbing out of bed and exiting the room, only to see everyone standing outside of their doors looking fearful just as he is.

Richard swallows around the lump in his throat and sends a shaky smile towards Damian: "What are you doing up? You thirsty?"

Damian looks Richard up and down before rushing forward and hugging on the man, Richard looking up into the worried eyes of Jason and Tim. "Hey, Damian. W-What's wrong?"

Damian may be scared... but he isn't stupid. He knows they must have had similar dreams, "Don't play dumb w-with me. You saw her too, didn't you?" Damian burries his face back into the acrobatics stomach, embarrassed at how it came out sounding like a plea.

Jason goes to ask what the hell is going on but Kate and Alfred appear with Barbara, Stephanie and Cassandra. All of them looking relieved when they see the boys standing together hugging, they've never seen Alfred look so stressed; it's concerning.

Alfred walks forward hurriedly: "Master Bruce? Where's master Bruce!?"

Damian rushes to hug Alfred next, for his comfort or Alfred's? He has no idea, "Father is still sleeping! I-I don't think he saw whatever we did in our dreams." Alfred relaxes after hearing his young master (son) hasn't been harmed in anyway, looking down at the boy for his specific words. "Did you happen to see a woman?"

Damian nods his head, "That was the woman in the museum we saw—" Damian's brow furrows in deep thought, everyone's attention being caught at hearing a curse—from Jason of course.

"I saw the same woman too... and by the looks of you all I think we all did. We need to sort this the fuck out, now."

Everyone looks at each other in agreement, Alfred leading everyone away to a private room. None of them realizing the room their led to is the Antique room, the watches time ticking away in the little box Bruce put it in, quiet chanting beginning when the last family member enters the room and the door shuts behind them.