She's Sunshine, She's Grace, She'll Punch You in the Face

Chapter 54: Honesty and I Love You's

Marinette had just got out of the shower and gotten dressed when she stepped out of her bathroom and into her bedroom. She looked at her bed to see Damian already laying there petting Titus, who was sitting beside the bed next to him.

"Hello, Damian." She smiled at him before turning her attention to the large dog. "And hello, Titus." The bluenette walked over to the Great Dane to playfully pet him. "He's such a good boy." She gently patted him on the head before finally climbing into the bed with Damian.

"Hello, Angel." He gave her a brief kiss before laying back down. "I hope you don't mind that I brought Titus in here. I feel bad leaving him all alone in my room."

"I don't mind. Both of you are welcome here at any time." She snuggled up next to her boyfriend. "Just don't let Batcow in here." Marinette joked.

"I don't think Batcow would enjoy it in here anyways. There is no grass." Damian smiled down at her.

"Well I guess that's a good thing then."

The both laid there in comfortable silence for a moment before Marinette spoke again.

"Hey, I have a question for you." She looked up at him.

"What is it?" He looked down at her as he brushed a few stray strands of hair out of her face.

"You were talking about previous training you had before training with you father, right? Can you tell me about it?"

Damian stiffened for a moment before taking a deep breath. "Sure, but I don't think you will like what I have to say."

"Does this have something to do with you mother?" Marinette spoke in a very comforting voice.

"Part of it, yes." Damian kept his eyes on the chandelier. "A lot if it has so do with the bad things that I have done."

"You know I won't judge on the things that you have done in the past, Dami."

"I know." He finally looked down to see her sincere face. "I just don't want your perspective of me to change."

Marinette waited for him to continue.

"I guess I should tell you about my mothers' side of the family. You see her father, my grandfather, was a man named Ra's al Ghul. Technically my name is Damian al Ghul-Wayne but I dropped the al Ghul a long time ago. Anyways, my grandfather was the leader of the League of Assassins, a dangerous group of well... assassins."

"I see." Marinette nodded. "So, you were born into this group and you were trained to be an assassin like your mother and grandfather before you."

"Yes." He looks back to the chandelier. "I was an assassin for many years. I was trained to kill and so I did what I was told. I was supposed to take over the League after my grandfather but my mother didn't like that idea too much. She believed that she was next in line like it's some kind of throne but grandfather wanted his successor to be male. He saw the male gender as superior in every humanly way."

"So, he didn't love is own daughter enough to have her take over? He wanted a male instead?"

"He didn't love anybody. All he ever wanted was power and he had that for centuries."

"Centuries?" Marinette raised her eyebrows. "How old was he?"

"Probably around 500 years old but I'm not too sure."

"How did he live so long?"

"It's called the Lazarus Pit. It can heal anything. Even death."

"Wow. That's amazing."

"Not really." Damian looked down at her. "The waters change a person. It changed my grandfather and even Todd. It really messed with him."

"I don't understand."

"When you die and use the pit to bring yourself back to the living, you never come back exactly the same. It can corrupt you."

"Jason died?" Marinette sat up.

"And so did I but thankfully I wasn't brought back by the pit. My father used a chaos shard that was infused with Darkseid's Omega Sanction and he chose to resurrect me over his parents... But Todd wasn't as fortunate."

"What happened to Jason?"

"When he came back he was so full of anger. He tried to kill father because he blamed him for his death and was angry that he stopped searching for him, even though father watched the video the Joker sent of him killing him and saw the building he was in blown up and burned to the ground."

"The Joker killed him?"

"Yes. He tortured him for days and broke him down. Just when he became compliant, that was when he killed him. It was a game for the Joker. He wanted to try and make my father finally snap, to break his sense of Justice. The only thing he succeeded in was breaking Todd's sense of Justice. It take's all of us to keep him on the right path. Guns are still his favorite weapon of choice after all."

"He seems so happy and joyful all the time though."

"Just like me, he took a lot of work but I think that if you caught him alone with the Joker, you would see his dark side. It will never go away."

"And how did you die?" Marinette reached over to cup his cheek and looked at him sadly.

"It was my own clone that my mother and grandfather made. I told you that they aren't good people. I'm thankful that my death was swift and I wasn't tortured like Todd. I think that would have changed me for the worse."

"I'm sorry that all of this has happened to you and your family."

"It's okay, Angel. I just hope that we never have to encounter my mother ever again."

"So, you think your grandfather is dead for good and we only have to worry about your mother?" Marinette asked.

"Yes, I'm pretty sure of that. My mother runs the League now and he would never allow that if he were still alive."

It was quiet for a moment before Marinette smiled back at her boyfriend.

"Thank you for opening up to me again. I'm glad you trust me with these things." She gives him a loving smile.

"I should be thanking you for not running away the second I told you. I'm just grateful that you are still here with me."

"I will always be here with you as long as you want me." Marinette leaned down to give him a lingering kiss.

When she pulled away, Damian reached up to gently hold both sides of her face as he sat up to look at her. "I love you, Marinette Dupain-Cheng." He whispered.

The bluenette held a shocked expression before settling into her loving glare again.

"And I love you, Damian Wayne." She said softly before swiftly embracing him.

Damian sighed in relief. "I'm so happy you said that." He held onto her tighter.

"Me too." She whispered back. "I'm kinda mad that you said it first though." Marinette joked as they pulled away.

"I had to tell you that I love you though. I couldn't hold it in anymore." Damian smiled at her.

"I guess I forgive you then." The bluenette laughed before laying down and snuggling back up to him. "I love you too much to actually stay mad."