Demonfire Drabbles

Promise Me

This chapter was inspired by the Little Fall of Rain scene in Lés Mis and the final scene in Love Never Dies. Thanks to athunter99 for the suggestion!
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Armed robbers on Hudson and twenty-fourth," Oracle said through Damian's ear piece.

"You heard her. Let's go, Nightstar," Damian said and Mar'i curtly nodded.

And they took off. Mar'i in flight and Damian running and jumping across rooftops below her.

"Are you sure you don't want me to carry you?" She asked on her intercom. "It'd be a lot faster."

"No, I'll be fine," Damian answered.

"It's no trouble for me, Dami, and we'd--"

"Nightstar! What have I told you about--"

"Using real names out in the field, I know, I know. I'm sorry. But I'm in the air, so no one would hear me, anyways."

Damian simply rolled his eyes. Hopping of the edge of one rooftop to the next, he said, "Make a left and we're there."

Mar'i did so and Damian followed suit.

In an alley, there were three men at the back door of a Tiffany's loading bags of cash, diamonds, and jewelry into a (most likely stolen) moving van.

"Now," Damian whispered to Mar'i and she shot a starbolt at the wall next to them. The men jumped in surprise.

The teen heroes jumped from their perch on the rooftop and one of the men swore at the sight of them.

"Now, we could do this the Nightstar way," Mar'i said, making her fists glow.

"Or the Robin way," Damian said, cracking his knuckles and taking out his bo-staff. "Take your pick."

"Get in the truck now!" One of the thieves exclaimed. The three scrambled to close the back of the van and get inside the vehicle.

But before any of them could get inside the van, Mar'i had shot a starbolt at one's feet, making him trip and exclaim in pain. The man next to him swiftly pulled out a pistol and shot it.

Damian thought they had missed them until he heard Mar'i gasp.

He turned to her and saw the blood quickly staining her purple uniform. She began to go weak in the knees but Damian had caught her before she could fall over. He held her in his arms and sat down on the ground.

"Mar'i..."

Through her pain she managed a small smile. "I thought you said we couldn't use real names out in the field."

"That doesn't matter now, Beloved."

"They got away."

"That doesn't matter either."

Mar'i inhaled sharply and pressed her hand against her stomach to try and stop the blood flow.

"Don't worry, I'm going to call your father and mine, everything is going to be okay," Damian told her. He pressed on his earpiece and said, "Batman, Nightwing, I need help immediately. Oracle, please send them my coordinates."

Mar'i raised her hand to his face and placed her hand on his cheek. "They won't make it, Dami."

Damian lowered his head and bit his lip. "Yes they will, Mar'i, don't say that."

"Damian... are you crying?" She asked him.

He was.

"Yes," He answered simply. "But they're on their way and--"

"Damian," Mar'i interrupted him. "Listen to me. I don't have much time left, they won't make it."

"Mar'i don't say that!" Damian exclaimed. "You will not die! You can't... You can't leave me..."

"Dami..." She said. "I don't want to leave you either, but you can't stop death."

"But you can reverse it," Damian said softly.

"Damian, no!" Mar'i slightly raised her voice, though it pained her. She paused; breathing had become more difficult. "Damian, no Lazarus Pit," she told him.

"But, Mar'i--"

"Damian, don't put me through that, please. Promise me."

"Beloved, please don't--"

"Promise me," She repeated more firmly.

A single tear rolled down Damian Wayne's cheek. "I promise."

Voices were heard through Damian's earpiece. They were nearly there.

"They're almost here, Beloved, you'll make it," he told her, feeling hopeful.

The small hope quickly faded as he realized how cold she felt and her breathing became more labored.

"Dami," Mar'i said weakly. "Can you take off your mask? I want to see your eyes."

He complied and peeled his mask off his face. Her bright green eyes drank in his deep blue ones.

"I love you," She told him.

Damian smiled at her as a few more tears began to fall. "I love you more," he said.

"Kiss me," she requested, softly.

Damian tilted her head up and pressed his lips against hers and kissed her lovingly, hoping it wouldn't be the last time he got to do so.
She kissed him back, her lips sealing all her love onto his. Her hand, trembling, reached up to his face and rested on his cheek, as if to remind her what it was like to hold him, to feel him.

Mar'i became very cold. Her lips stopped moving and her hand went limp, as did the rest of her body.

Damian stopped and looked at her. Her eyes were closed. He waited for them to flutter open, but they did not.

And they never would again.

"No Lazarus Pit, " her voice echoed in his head. He wanted her, no, needed her back. But he had promised her. And he truly did love her, so he had to keep that promise.

A loud scream was heard around that street that night. A scream of anguish, agony, loss, and hurt.

Batman and Nightwing had arrived soon after. The hardest thing for them to do was not to see Mar'i dead, and not to have to call and tell others of the tragic news, but to have to pry Damian away from her dead body.