Demons (Damirae)

Chapter Ninety-Six

Talia bowed her head, trying, "Damian..."

"No." he looked up at her. "Just no."

It was hard, after that. They'd won...it didn't feel like it at first. Damian had held Sahara's limp hand and held it up to his lips, a parting sign of love and respect. He'd stood first, out of the four around his sister, and spoken quietly, calm as a pool of water with a swelling rain cloud hanging overhead. Any minute now, the storm would crack open the sky and disrupt the still body of water. "We'll take her back- bury her."

Raven stood next, her voice was smaller than ever, "Where?"

"Next to- next to my grave.", he said. "Always close enough." Damian tentatively glanced around the room, passing over the familiar faces which seemed, in that moment, all too foreign. He looked to Raven. He looked to Adyn. He couldn't look at his mother. "She's coming home."

Raven would see to the remaining demonic forces and spread the message to the nearby towns, the tyranny was over. New demonic leadership would be established, the spirit of the demonic overlord would pass in to that demon: Raven didn't want it, she didn't want it at all in any capacity, Adyn couldn't and wouldn't take it. The natural order would resume in Hell- she would call on Lucifer to ensure the proper procedures were carried out, Etrigan would join him. It wouldn't be the first time that all those of the ruling bloodline had killed eachother, the mantle would pass to another, as those of the Sins do. A new bloodline to carry the weight of Hell, and the end of thousands of years of Al-Djinns.

And they went back.

It was that simple. A portal or two, a few mumbled words, and they were all back. Deposited in the League of Assassin's new Gotham HQ. Earth. Numb thank-yous left numb individuals with numb hearts and that greyness only intensified. Constantine did that sad sort of half-smile. Zatanna, another half-smile. Zeela, another half-smile. Aleil, half-smile. Batwoman, half-smile. Emrys, half-smile. Like they were all silently saying 'cheer up love, it's okay'.

It fucking wasn't. No way. Not nearly. Ha-fucking-ha, it's all good.

Talia stood, motionless and soundless. Through the numerous people in the room, Damian saw her kip quiver first, then her fists tightened, and she looked at her daughter's body: wrapped in her son's cape and hovering in a yellow glow above the ground. Talia's hands covered her mouth and she choked back a cry, her eyes streaming water unblinkingly. Something clicked in her mind, and hysteria pushed through. That was the final shove, the last piece in the puzzle that was Talia Al Ghul's madness. She couldn't breathe, her chest was too tight.

This was one time too many. All those years, she'd chucked Damian's body in to those green waters time after time. This was one child too many, one time too many.

Raven felt it, she knew that her brother did , Constantine and Zatanna also, Damian too. Something in the air, something new, something very very dead. Not dead, but death. The reapers three, the claimers of souls. Damian couldn't see it; he could sense it. They were visible to the other three, unbiased creatures whose cloaks were black as the Styx.
Batman turned his head sharply, staring at them. He had apparently encountered them before, somehow, which came as a surprise to Raven.

Sahara's soul had long since departed; these reapers sought another's. Talia quivered before the body of her daughter, her eyes open a little too wide and her eyebrows a little too arched. Her aura screamed wrong to Raven.

A soul was for reaping.

Raven couldn't help it. "No!", she blurted, on a whim, covering her mouth as soon as the word had left. The reapers three turned and faced her direction, almost inviting her to continue. Constantine and Zatanna looked at her in alarm. "It's not her time,", she whispered, "it can't be her time. Not yet."