Injustice

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8 years later

~~~~~~~~~~~

"Zephyr, we have a guest!" An elderly man shouted from a dark room. No lights indicated what was happening in the dark place, leaving an 8 year old boy standing clueless on the doorstep.

"Don't just stand there boy, justice doesn't serve itself." The man who called before shot a reassuring smile towards the small boy, inviting him inside. It took the boy, Zephyr, few moments to adjust to his dark environment. As soon as his vision adjusted to the darkness, he was met with his grandfather and a young man tied to a chair in the middle of the room.

"What did this man do grandpa?" Zephyr asked innocently while examining the tied man. "Jason Clark, a rapist and a murderer of three women. It up to you to deliver his justice." Jason stared wide eyed at the man who spoke of his crimes. He desperately struggled against the rope that held him down as Zephyr slowly approached. "I... I'm sorry! I have a family! You can't take me away from them, please!" Tears were rolling down Jason's cheeks and he was trembling. "Please..." he breathed out and looked desperately into the child's red orbs, pleading him silently for mercy.

"There is no excuse for your actions, sir. You brought this upon yourself." With this final statement, Zephyr looked at his now intangible hand and reached inside the man's chest. "I'm now cleaning this world from your filthy existence." When the words were spoken, the child turned his hand tangible again and squeezed the life giving organ.

There was no struggle, Jason closed his eyes peacefully and drifted into afterlife. "Ewww... it was slimy and it moved under my hand." The ghostly child squealed and snatched his hand back. "Can't I just kill them with fire next time? Please grandpa? I don't like the feeling of their beating hearts in my hand."

"Zephyr, you have to learn how to use your powers on a full scale if you wish to clean this world. We already talked about it." Ra's al Ghul, grandfather to Zephyr al Ghul states and ruffled the boy's flaming hair.

"Fine, but next time, can we try something less touchy please?" Zephyr floated around the murder scene, helping his grandpa to clean the room. He liked his job. It made him happy that he had the honor of cleaning this world from the filth. "Deal, but promise you'll never forget any of those procedures."

"Never grandpa." Zephyr beamed and side hugged Ra's. After living with this innocent little boy for eight years, he unintentionally grew a soft spot for him. His little ghost was the only being in the entire universe who was allowed to hug him and hold his hand. If anybody else tried, their life would end on the spot.

As soon as the body was taken care of, the weird and small family made their way out of the basement into their small mountain hut. Since Zephyr's creation, they have lived in a small village, completely isolated from the outside world. The people were kind and sharing, something they developed over the years of survival in these harsh conditions. There was one person who from their perspective didn't deserve their kindness, Zephyr al Ghul. The entire village was aware of the al Ghul family position in their little society. They were the head of everything, like a mayor, a judge and an executioner. Most of the time, people minded their own business, but it always changed when the turquoise skinned boy was around. Something about his appearance and powers just scared them, fear turning into anger. Zephyr didn't have an easy childhood, growing up isolated without friends.

From what grandpa told him, he didn't need friends. As he was told, they were just heavy burden that slowed you down on your mission. Following those words, Zephyr grew up happy on his own, without any psychological consequences of the lack of human contact. Unfortunately, he wasn't protected from the harsh words and glares everyone sent him as he passed along, even children younger than him. It always left a small scar, something to remember for eternity. If you looked deeper under his layer of skin, his soul was the one suffering. 'Never reveal your weakness to your opponent' those were the words of his grandfather that haunted him. Never reveal your weakness. Holding your fears and pains hidden from the world, suffering silently.

"Zephyr, I need you to collect eggs for lunch." The little boy only nodded and made his way outside, into their small garden. A small field overgrown with vegetables stood near the hut. Sheep, goats and chickens swarmed the rest of the small garden, providing enough food to and resources to survive. Zephyr made his way towards the chicken nests, ready to collect the eggs.

He smiled to himself when a golden colored chicken that he named Goldie, nuzzled his hand. "Hi girl, do you have any eggs for me?" He asked her quietly and stroked her neck feathers. Goldie squealed and revealed three small eggs. Zephyr reaches out to collect them but a sharp beak stopped him.

"Ouch!" He cried out and shot a hurt look at his animal friend. "Sorry, I didn't mean to..." Zephyr stoked the bird one last time and he moved on to another chicken.

"Hey, freak! What are you doing back there?" A bunch of older boys sat on a fence nearby and watched the village's little disgrace.

"Nothing." Zephyr replied and rushed inside with three eggs in his hands. Unfortunately, he didn't get too far as a hand stopped him and forcefully turned him around. The same boy that shouted at him the first time was now dangerously towering over the little ghost.

"Please, let me go." Zephyr asked nicely, trying to get away without harming anyone. The rest of the boys soon gathered around, forming a small circle around them. "What do you have in your hands?"

"Eggs." He replied and held them closer to his chest, trying to protect them from their prying hands. "What a shame we can't rub them in your hair." One of the boys laughed and soon was joined by the others. "We can't even cook them on his fire."

"Leave me alone." Zephyr tried to reason with them but they didn't listen to him. He could just fly away, turn intangible or fight his way through, but he hated using his powers in front of other people. He felt even more of a freak when using them, so he kept them to himself.

"Give them to me." The tallest boy snatched his goods away and stuffed them in his pockets. "Next time we stop by, give me something a little sooner and we might leave you alone." He snickered and threw him to the ground. With his chin raised high, he walked away. The rest of the group watched the ghost struggle on the ground with smirks on their faces. Before they all left, each one of them managed to kick the boy on the ground hard.

Tears were flowing freely from Zephyr's eyes as he clutched his hurting stomach. Why did they have to bully him? Couldn't they just leave him alone? On all four, he crawled back to the chicken nests, not wanting to return home empty handed. He limped towards the hut with three new eggs while trying to get himself together. As the doors opened, Ra's immediately turned his head towards his grandson. He heard everything that happened outside, but he couldn't interfere. The boy needed to learn how to handle himself.

Despite the lesson he wanted to give to Zephyr, he still kneeled in front of him and hugged the sobbing boy. "I know what happened out there. You have to use your powers as I taught you. You can't hide them. They are part of who you are."

"But they hate me and my powers make it even worse. I just... their words hurt." Ra's wiped the boy's tears away and sent him to clean himself before serving lunch.

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