EUPHORIA

no more

I'm sorry I've been gone for a while but this story will be like a ten part story so I hope you enjoy it

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The auction hall was filled with an unsettling energy, a room full of wealthy men and women, waiting to buy power, or in this case, the broken souls on display. Raven stood at the front of the room, shackled and stripped of her dignity. The sharp, metallic clink of her chains reverberated in her mind as her heart raced. Her clothes were torn, her skin marked from the cruel treatment she had endured in the hours since she was taken. She didn’t understand why she was here, why she was being sold, but she understood one thing clearly: she wasn’t meant to leave.

Sixteen hours ago, her life was ripped from her hands. She had killed, without meaning to, in an act of desperation. But here, now, she was no longer in control. She had been pulled from her home, dragged across borders, and stripped of her identity. The men around her spoke in languages she didn’t understand, their words a blur, but she could feel their eyes on her—hungry, assessing.

But one pair of eyes stood out.

Damian Wayne, masked in shadows, his gaze fixed on her from across the room. His training had honed his ability to observe, to analyze. The girl on display was not just a captive; there was something deeper in her eyes. Fear. Loneliness. And a wild, untamed fire that no one else could see. The way she held herself, even in chains, was defiant. He could feel the rawness in her energy, like a spark waiting to ignite.

He wasn’t here for the auction. The League of Assassins had tasked him with securing another weapon—another tool for their use. But when his gaze met hers, he saw something more than a prisoner to be manipulated. He saw a person, a survivor, one whose strength had yet to be fully broken.

The bidding started, but Damian’s attention was fixed on her. She was trembling, her eyes darting between the bidders, the guards, as if looking for a way to escape. Her lips moved in soft mutters, but the words were foreign to him, a language he didn’t recognize. And yet, he could understand her fear. He could feel her confusion in the air between them, as if she were silently screaming for someone—anyone—to understand.

Before the first bid could be placed, Damian stood and moved toward the front of the room, bypassing the other bidders who didn’t seem to notice or care. His presence was commanding, but he wasn’t here for power, not in the way they all wanted it. He was here for something else entirely.

The guards who stood beside her tensed as Damian approached. Raven’s eyes narrowed, and the fury in them was immediate. She could see what he wanted—the same thing they all wanted. To buy her. To control her.

Her breath quickened, and she instinctively pulled against the chains, her teeth gritting in defiance. She didn’t speak their language, but she understood enough. He wants to use me. The thought was sharp, bitter.

She didn’t care that she couldn’t understand every word Damian spoke to her; the meaning was clear in his actions. He was here to buy her. She was just another prize to him.

“No,” she whispered in a voice so low only she could hear, but it was the only word that made sense to her. No. I won’t be a tool again.

But Damian, for reasons he couldn’t quite explain, wasn’t like the others. As the auctioneer continued to talk, Damian walked closer, now standing just a few feet from her. The air between them felt charged, heavy with something unspoken. And despite the fact that they couldn’t communicate in words, Damian had an odd, unshakable certainty. He was different.

She pulled against her chains again, trying to keep her distance, but it was futile. She knew what he wanted. She saw it in his eyes—he was not just here to buy her. He was here to control her, just like everyone else.

But then, unexpectedly, his voice broke through the confusion. Though she didn’t understand the words, his tone wasn’t cold or demanding. There was something softer there. Something like… understanding. She paused, just for a moment, staring into his eyes. There was no malice in them, no hunger like the others.

He wasn’t like them.

“You don’t need to be here,” Damian said in a voice that was calm, but filled with an odd kind of empathy. He wasn’t sure what drove him to speak—whether it was his mission or something else—but the words felt right.

Raven’s head jerked up, her eyes narrowing. She could see his mouth moving, but the language meant nothing to her. She didn’t trust him. Not yet. But there was something about his presence that unsettled her, something that made her instinctively want to take a step back and run.

Her confusion only deepened when, instead of acting as everyone else would, Damian raised his hand, cutting through the tension of the room. He bid higher than anyone else, faster than she could process. Her heart skipped a beat. No, this can’t be happening. He can’t—

But it was happening.

The bidding ended with Damian as the highest bidder, and Raven was immediately pulled away from the auctioneer’s podium. She tried to resist, jerking away from the guards, but their grip on her was too strong. She heard Damian’s voice again, low and firm, though the words meant nothing to her.

She understood only one thing: He had bought her.

Before she could stop herself, a growl of fury escaped her lips. “No!” Her body tensed with the instinct to fight, to escape. She wasn’t some object to be bought or sold. She had a will of her own, but no one had ever cared enough to listen.

Damian stepped closer, unfazed by her rage. The anger in her eyes didn’t scare him—it only made him more determined. He was no stranger to anger, to fear, to rejection. But he had seen enough in her eyes to know that this girl was more than just a weapon to be molded. She was a person, a survivor, and he would make sure she saw that, even if it took time.

“I’m not here to control you,” Damian said quietly, as he moved to stand beside her, blocking the guards from pulling her away. “You’re not a prisoner.”

She glared at him, and though she didn’t understand every word, she heard the truth in his tone. He wasn’t lying. Not like the others.

Raven looked at him once more, the rawness of her emotions flooding her chest, and for the briefest moment, she let her guard down. Maybe he’s different, she thought, her eyes flicking to the chains that bound her.