Demons (Damirae)

Chapter Nine

*Art Not Mine- All Rights To The Original Creator*

After an half-an-hour-or-so of conversation, Kori declared it time to leave: as the 'mother' of the Titans, her word was pretty much final, regardless of the fact that Bruce, Diana and Clarke were present. With the assurances of meeting soon, the Teen Titans and Batfamily departed, heading back to Wayne Manor. And Adyn trailed along because...what else could he do?

Upon arrival, they were greeted by a not-so-pleased Alfred.

"Just what time do you call this, Master Bruce?", the billionaire (who had somehow, with the rest of the batkids, managed to change back in to civilian clothes) looked at the Alfred slightly ashamed, "It's seventy-two minutes past dinner!", he sighed, turning to the others, "Please do enter. I have prepared fresh clothes for you in your individual suites, if you would change and make your way to the dining hall."

The butler held the door open until everyone except Bruce had walked inside, opting to nearly slam the door in his face. Prim and proper though he might have been, Alfred was the definition of savage. Shaking his head in defeat, Bruce stepped over the threshold, acknowledging that he'd have to work hard to get on Alfred's good side again.

Meanwhile, in the main corridor, the Titans were struggling to figure out which staircase led up to their rooms. Until Damian helpfully pointed out that he knew the house back to front, earning him a look from Raven projecting 'are you damn serious?'.

Making their way up the stairs, the empath sensed a severe emotional shift from a certain green-eyed demon. She shot him a look of concern, one which he refused to heed. Raven could hardly blame Damian for ignoring her, it wasn't like she didn't do the same. They had sat through half-an-hour of tension. Tension that the others had failed to notice. A tension created by the expulsion of pent-up not-secrets. Not-secrets that they didn't want to accept because then they would have to accept that...you can't run from your past. No matter how fast you are.

The emotion Damian was experiencing, Raven knew it well -even if her experience with emotions was severely marred. There wasn't a specific word for it. A feeling of...comfort, regret and anticipation. It was eating him up like a parasite.

Feeling bolder than usual, Raven nudged Damian with her shoulder, raising an eyebrow at him. He looked at her, startled, before recognising that there was no imminent threat. Raven noted the change in his mood as he shrugged at her, as if to say 'Life is terrible but that's old news.' There was an unusual edge to his eyes, like that which you would find on a person laughing bitterly.

"Turn left.", Damian said in a deadpan tone.

They rounded the corner, entering a long corridor with three oak doors on each side. It came to a dead-end at a large window, revealing a picturesque scene of the Manor grounds at night. Damian couldn't count the number of times he had slipped through that open pane of glass, disappearing for hours at a time and returning to harsh reprimands. It was hardly a surprise that his father had gotten decorative metal instalments placed on the outside. Beautiful to look at, useful in keeping Damian in.

Of course, he had just used the other windows.

"Damian,", he cleared his head as Kori spoke to him, "There is no room for myself. The sixth one does appear to be prepared for Adyn. Dick and I discussed that we would be staying with Bruce not at our apartment so...", her voice trailed off.

Not unkindly, Damian replied, "You'll be staying in Grayson's room in that case.", he crinkled his nose a little. "Inform Alfred if that is an issue."

Unabashed, Kori answered that it wasn't, giving Damian a wide smile before bounding back round the corner and down the stairs. Realising that he was the last one left in the corridor, the rest having entered quite a while ago, Damian opened the door to his old room: whilst it might have baffled some that his bedroom was so isolated, Damian had chosen it for that reason alone - it meant that he didn't have to face making conversation at ridiculous times in the morning.