The Fear of touching you ( Damian X Jon)

a Robin's flight

The last thing he remembered wasn't the pain
But Jon's screams
That terrible look on his lovely pale face as he held him

He remembered seeing tears run down his love's cheek's and Trying to move to wipe them away

But he couldn't
He remembered the metallic smell of his own blood as it ran freely
Pooling around him
Soaking poor Jonathan as he refused to let go
He had been vaguely aware of Dick screaming his name

He remembered seeing his mother hold the sword in triumph
The sliver blade doused in crimson red
His blood
Blood they shared

But none of that was important
The only thing that mattered was Jon's pain
The look on his face as he watch Damian lay dying
He'd always accepted he'd die on the field
To be unprepared was the real surprise
To want to live
He wanted to be by Jonathan's side

To get married, to grow old
But that wasn't going to happen now

He'd died
Hadn't he?
He remembered dying
So why then, was his body on fire
Feeling seemed to be coming back to him
His body burned like the sun ran through his veins
For a moment he thought he was being burned alive
He opened his mouth to scream but it filled with liquid
Not fire then
He desperately tried to crawl to the surface
He needed air
Or he thought he did
Maybe this was hell
How else could he be on fire and drowning simultaneously?

He stopped struggling
Perhaps if he'd stop fighting he'd finally truely die and the pain would stop

Though that didn't seem to be the plan for someone else because a hand gripped his wrist and yanked him out of the liquid

He coughed and gagged spitting the liquid he'd swallowed out

He was breathing
He really was alive
At first, his vision was so blurred he couldn't see anything
Vague colors, greens and browns, shapes, shadows of people maybe
Four of them

Perhaps Thalia was torturing him
It seemed fitting for her
He couldn't have died in his lover's arms
It was too peaceful wasn't it?
She was a dramatic woman, his mother

He could hear voices, but they were muffled, as if the liquid still covered his ears

He couldn't recognize them, couldn't make out words

Perhaps they weren't speaking a language he even knew
He could not tell

Damian could feel the rawness of his throat
His lungs burned
And a sound finally registered in his head
Though it wasn't anyone else voice
It was his
And he was screaming

Hands gripped him under both arms, and he struggled against them
But his body ached so much there wasn't enough fight in him

They pulled him out of the water, or whatever he'd been drowning in, burning in

And they laid him down
He could feel cold against his skin, the sharp points of stone beneath his body
Dirt and dampness filled his nose like the scent of a cave

It seemed familiar
Like he'd been here before
Perhaps he had, he was in his mother's capture now after all

Or hell
Maybe they were one in the same thing

Perhaps she were the devil herself
It wouldn't surprise him

"Damian"

That was not his mother's voice
It was a man's, and he sounded like he was crying
If he didn't know better, he would have thought it was Bruce

But his father didn't cry
His father wouldn't come for him, would he?

He wouldn't risk his life for a body
Well, it was Bruce he was talking about
Batman risked his life for most things

" Damian!, Can you hear me son?"

Oh, it really was his father
The large man was slumped over him
He pulled Damian's rigid body into his arms
And sobbed

Now Damian was sure

" I must be dead"
He rasped

His throat was so sore it pained him to speak
It almost wasn't worth it

" Surely there's not a world where Batman cries?"

There was a garbled laugh as Bruce chuckled through his sobs

" You're gonna be okay kid, you're gonna be alright"

His vision was starting to clear
His father did not wear his mask
His dark graying hair was damp, and his blue eyes were puffy and red rimmed from crying

Damian looked up at him in amazement
He  had never seen his father like this

He was starting to realize others surrounded him
His brother's
All three of them

The only face he wanted to see was not In the group

"Jon?'
He whispered
His voice could not take the strain of speaking loudly

" He's okay, we had to sedate him after...well after she stabbed you "
After I died
Damian wanted to say
After he held me as I bled out
He thought
" Take me to him, now "

He heard Jason's voice reply instead of his father

" You need to go to medical first but we'll call Clark, Jon will meet us there, okay? You cannot die on us again you little shit"

He realized now that the burning liquid most have been the Lazarus pit

The thing his grandfather used to live longer than any human had the right to

Avoiding death again and again

He never thought he'd be grateful for it

But he was
It gave him a second shot at life
With Jonathan
Poor Jon
His heart ached, he wanted nothing more than to comfort him

He would soon, he'd hold him as tight as he could and never let go