Raven Roth and Damian Wayne: The Walk of Life (Book 1 Of 2)

Chapter one

Five a.m. and loud thuds bounce down the corridor to the opening elevator. As Kori steps out half asleep she starts to wonder who could be down in the training room this early. After less than three seconds she got it. "Gar will be asleep until noon , unless there's an alarm or someone challenges him to a game. Jaime will wake up at eight so he can get ready to go to the soup kitchen for nine. Raven always goes to the roof if she wakes up before seven which granted is most days but still it would be the roof. That means it's.." her thought trailed as she rounded the corner into the Titans training room "Good morning Damian" she said as clearly and kindly as she could. She was always high spirited, just not as much when it's early and she was still tired. "Good morning Starfire " Damian replied in his usual stoic monotone voice as he wiped the sweat from his brow and walked to the table to grab his water. She didn't like that he never called her by her actual name, Dick had explained a lot about him and his background when he first arrived but that was long ago, they had done a lot of missions together, secondary to the fact that she was openly dating his older brother, adoptive or not. "Damian? I don't mean to press the matter but why don't you ever use my real name when we talk?" her voice soft and calm. He turned and cocked an eyebrow before straightening up and facing her, "Respect" he said plainly and nothing else, Kori looked at him slight confusion on her face. "Here at the Tower you are in charge, the leader of our team, as such I call you by your self appointed 'hero name'. Were we to be out elsewhere and not in uniform then I would address you by your name as I do with father, Drake, Todd and Grayson." He elaborated, the slight annoyance he felt dripped from his words. Kori took no offence to this, sharing emotions and feelings wasn't something Damian did, instead she stood tall and smiled. "Thank you Damian, it means a lot to me, hearing it from your perspective. Would you like a sparring partner or do you prefer the solitude that these early hours grant you?" Damian pondered the question for a moment. "As it turns out, I think I've done all I can by myself this morning, so a sparring partner would be much appreciated." He remarked with what appeared to be a genuine friendly grin.

As sword clanged against staff and knees blocked kicks, a feeling of pride began to swell. A lot had changed from when Damian had been ordered to the Titans by Batman. He was letting people participate in his training and daily routine, he took other people's feelings into consideration, thought about consequences and what his actions might do to those around him. He'd always be rough around the edges but he was the blood son of Bruce Wayne and Talia Al Gul, rough edges could be forgiven with that parentage. Still watching him spar with Kori, not fight her but spar with her and train, Dick couldn't help but feel proud of the man his little brother was becoming compared to the, frankly, entitled little brat that he had first driven to Titan Tower. So just for a little bit he'd stand there, leaning against the wall while they trained together, oblivious to his presence.

Before too long Damian hit the floor and Kori tapped him lightly on the head with her staff. "Out" she politely laughed. Damian was a little annoyed at himself for losing and Kori could see this in his face. Without giving her the opportunity to say anything the training room started to echo with clapping, it came from a single source. Damian looked up from the floor as Kori looked over her shoulder. "Very well done D, I'm gunna have to shape up if I want to stay ahead." Dick smiled as he walked over to the resting combatants."It was adequate. Nothing more. I wouldn't have lost if I trained harder." Replied Damian clearly beating himself up about something. Dick and Kori looked at each other quizzically, he had lasted longer than 'Nightwing' had when they were demonstrating combat before the whole Brother Blood Slade clan thing. Something was clearly up and Dick knew it. He nodded to Kori asking her to give them a minute and she smiled back walking away with some equipment to tidy up without listening in. "Damian? Whats eating you? You did great, better than I've done." Dick asked as he sat down crossing his legs on the floor. "Why would anything be up? I'm fine." Damian tried to snap back unconvincingly, Dick just furrowed his brow and leaned in, setting his elbows onto his knees and resting his chin in his hands. "Dude, really? Ok, one, you're still sat on the floor. Two, you're not ripping yourself a new one with pure rage like you usually would. Three, you look like you're about to weep, in a 'I must do better to protect blank' kind of way. And finally, four, whether you see it this way or that, I'm your brother, I can tell when you're not you. So spit it out. Or I get Jay over here and he will get it out of you." Damian looked back up at him, clearly livid at how easily Dick had seen into him but softened his expression. He was right after all, be it by blood or bond, Damian truly consider Dick to be his older brother, the others too but Dick was the one Damian had most contact with and trust in. "Fine" he spat out "I had a dream and it left me a little shaken if I'm honest but I can't figure out why." Dick looked at Damian as he spoke of his dream, of the death and devastation, the team dying, of himself dying in the arms of the only survivor. He listen as Damian told him of how his team mates, his friends, her father had escaped and killed everyone, then stood there taunting her. He listen while Damians anger grow with the retelling of his vision from the previous night, Raven sobbing over his corpse and becoming blinded by rage and sadness. And then Damian said something else. "He told her that as long as she loved me, she would fail. And I just got angry and then I, well I don't know, I woke up and came down here to hit the bag and work it off." He explained. Dick sat there for a second, first thinking that this was the most in-depth and meaningful talk they had ever had. Then he thought of what he'd been told about this dream, and he began to smile a bit. "Before we go into a theory I have I want to ask a few things, that cool? Answer honestly and truthfully, there'll be no fooling around this time cause I can see in your face that this means something to you. So serious answers for a serious talk, deal?" He put out as he straightened himself up. Damian looked at him for no more than half a second trying to work out if there was an angle Dick was trying to work. "Ok but I get the feeling I'm not going to see the relevance of these questions, am I?" "You Damian, probably wont but I assure you it will all be relevant to me and what I think might be happening. So first tell me about Raven. The relevance being she's the only survivor. So in your words who is she." Damian's brows crashed down into a frown "you've met her before Dick." "I am aware of that but I've only met her twice. Once dropping your sorry butt here and the second was when we took out that H.I.V.E base. I know her skill set and very little else, so as her friend, tell me about her." He replied folding his arms and leaning forward. Damian rolled his eyes and then closed them as a sign of disinterested and boredom. He then crossed his arms and became "she's an empath, keeps her emotions in line, she cares more than she appears to though, she can teleport to, anywhere as far as I know, doesn't partake in much physical combat, her power is magic based, daughter of literal Satan, though his name is Trigon, has many siblings on her demon side of the family tree and they all hate her from what I can tell" Damians eyes opened and he turned his head away without realising as he continued to describe his friend. "She enjoys quiet reading, her favourite author is Tolkien, she drinks tea, earl grey or green nothing else, she enjoys watching the sun come up whilst doing her morning meditation on the roof. She has purple irises, her hair is near black but has a ting of purple to it as well, most of her clothes are dark blues and blacks but her favourite colour is green." Damian had been talking about Raven for a while as Dick sat there and listened, a small smile growing slowly on his lips. Kori had stopped tidying as she heard Damian talk of Raven, impressed at how close the two must have been without her knowing, based on the wealth of knowledge coming from Damians lips. "Ok D, I think I have all I need" interrupted Dick. "Alright, who would you like to discuss next?" Damian asked assuming he'd have to do this for each team member."Now I'm going to ask you something you're not going to like but here goes. How does being around Raven make you feel, honestly" Dick asked trying to maintain as calm a composure as possible. Damian looked back at him, his right eyebrow raised as he thought the question over. What a stupid question, how is it relevant, what does feelings have to do with a dream? Whatever, he wanted to get this out the way. "I don't know Richard, I feel calmer around her I guess. I feel anger when she gets hurt. I get protective when Gar runs up and hugs her without warning as I know she doesn't like intimate contact. Sometimes I feel a bit nauseous when its just she and I, like when we're both on the roof sometimes." Dicks face softened so much it was almost liquid "Damian. You're dream, it's nothing to worry about. What its telling you is that you've finally found someone, someone your heart believes you could be with. I think its telling you that you love Raven."    

A/N. too long? too short? too rubbish? haha let me know :)