Young Writers Society

"Hard to say," Damian said. When he looked up at Megara again, the cold tone to his voice was matched with a cold expression. "He says he's fine. But he's spent more time out patrolling than he usually does, and I can't remember the last time he came home for a family meal."

Megara winced, a worried expression on her face as she stared into the strange liquid of the pit. She couldn't look him in the eye.

"It's my fault, isn't it?" she said quietly. She was tense, bracing for a punch. She wouldn't block him if he felt like hitting her, not the first time, at least. Gods knew she deserved it.

"Seeing that it happened after he came back from going to see you, I'm pretty sure it is," Damian said. He looked into the Lazarus Pit, too, watching it bubble and swirl. "And something tells me you're not here to apologize to him."

She sighed. "I don't know why, or even how, I'm here," she admitted.

But she was here, so she could find Jason. She could apologize, at least try to settle things. Have some closure before he inevitably told her he didn't want to see her again.

"Of course," Damian said.

He kept staring into the Lazarus Pit, the cold expression remaining as he dug his fingernails into the palms of his hands.

After a moment, he finally looked back over at Megara. "I don't get what he sees in you," he said. "Back when you lost Eddie, I saw how worried he was about the two of you. I saw how excited he was before he left for your world, too."

He sighed.

"But maybe I understand it too much, and that's what's making me so angry with you right now." He paused, his grip loosening. "Jason is one of the nicest people I've ever known. From what I heard, he's nothing like the original. And I might have used that to my advantage in the past when I need a way out, but I never broke his heart. I never told him to go and never come back."

Deciding that he was done with this conversation - and with Megara - he started heading towards the real exit to the Lazarus Pit room.

"Jason's lost a lot of people," Damian said as he started up the stairs. "Not in the same way I have, but enough to make losing another hurt."

Megara didn't follow him. Her? She thought that she remembered something being said about one of Jason's siblings being a gender other than what they appeared. Megara couldn't remember.

It was a small, extra reason that she shouldn't follow. Another reason she didn't have the right.

She went the other way instead, planning to loop around and gather her things, in the meantime, she should look for a way to change her appearance.

Damian wasn't sure what he was going to do.

He knew that he needed to leave, and he knew that he needed to address the situation with Megara. But he didn't want to do the latter and didn't know how to do the former, so he was stuck wandering around the base. It was becoming increasingly harder to stay away from the fighting; he could hear the combat going on in the distance. He also couldn't run the risk of getting caught by anyone who worked for his mom - he would be stuck with someone who wouldn't leave him like "Ninny" did.

He heard someone coming.

Realizing he needed to find a hiding place, he darted into the first room he could think of - and quickly hid behind some discarded belongings.

He held his breath.

Hopefully, they would pass quickly.

Megara decided to get her things. Immediately, a problem with that emerged. As she moved through the...lair, as it was best described, she could hear the telltale sounds of battle getting closer and further. Moving around far quicker than any fight she'd been a part of before. She didn't hear the sound of blades, either, really. There were a few, but several of the fighters had to be using something else. Whatever it was, it was loud.

She went in the opposite direction, looping around and dodging assassins who were too busy with their own tasks to pay her any mind, until she got to the place where she had stashed her things. An alcove right near where she'd first been dropped by whatever spell or being brought her here.

Unfortunately, someone else had found the hiding place as well.

She stared at Damian a moment, then stooped down to pick up her things without a word.

Considering that he had just been discovered, Damian thought now was a good time to leave his hiding spot.

He climbed out of the alcove and jumped to his feet. Brushing off his shirt and pants, he looked over at her. "Where are you going?"

She slung her traveling pack over her shoulders and added a few of her knives to her ensemble, taking her time in replying.

When she finally did look back at him, she did so with an indifferent look that masked any emotion she might have been feeling then. "Nowhere that will bother you," she said, most likely untruthfully. If she was going to get back home, there was a chance she would have to go somewhere that would bother him. He didn't need to know that, though.

He crossed his arms.

"Is nowhere Gotham?" he asked. It was the only place that Megara knew of in this world, and the people there were the only allies she had. She had broken Jason's heart, but Damian knew she considered other members of his strange little family as her friends.

It didn't take much thought to get an answer to that. "No," she said curtly. After everything with Jason, she didn't think there was anyone left in Gotham who wouldn't feel the same way Damian did about her. She couldn't risk going there and having one of them try to kill her, possibly succeed. She'd seen them in combat.

There had to be another way for her to get home. She'd find that.

Damian raised an eyebrow.

"Then where are you planning on going?" he asked. "The last time I checked, Gotham was the only place that you knew."

She stared at him a moment, then turned away, choosing the direction she would take out of here. She began walking. "Then I'm going somewhere I don't know," she said, more to herself than to him.

Sticking to where and what she knew was what kept her within her father's reach for so long. If there was one thing she needed to learn, it was how to find what she needed in the unfamiliar.

"That sounds like a stupid idea," Damian commented. He fell into step beside her. Even if he hated how she had treated Jason, he couldn't miss an opportunity to escape. He still didn't even know who was attacking - Megara was his best shot at getting out of this place. "In this world, you can never what's right around the corner-"

As if to prove his point, a pair of red eyes was ominously looking out from the shadows clinging around the next corner.

Damian froze.

From where the eyes were, the person in question had to be much taller than either him or Megara. Maybe even Superman's height. Superman got those red eyes, right? Eye lasers? Or something? Damian didn't really know, but he really didn't want to run into Superman when he had Megara in tow.

A second later, a boy who looked to be just barely six went flying out of the shadows and almost knocked Damian right off of his feet with the force. As it was, Damian went stumbling back a few feet.

The red glint to the boy's eyes faded, leaving them a soft baby blue.

"Sorry," he apologized. "I keep forgetting how fast I can fly. I was just really surprised to see you here - is this why you haven't been answering on Discord?"

"You're energetic," Damian slowly said, giving him a wary, confused look.

"It's the adrenaline," he said. He let go of Damian and took a step back. "I think. I don't really get how my biology works."

Damian blinked.

"Okay," he said, drawing out the 'o'. "What are you even doing here?"

"I was bored," the boy replied. "You haven't replied to any of my messages, and I needed something to do. So I snuck onto the ship the league took here, and then snuck out so I could get an idea of where you spent the first eight years of your life. But I'm tiny compared to literally everyone here, so I've been hiding out in the shadows and doing the Superman laser eyes thing so I can scare assassins off."

Damian crossed his arms, the beginning of a grin spreading across his face.

"That's a good plan," he agreed. "And you haven't gotten caught yet?"

"If I had gotten caught, I would have been forced to get back on the ship," he said. "And then Superman would have had to lecture me because I'm pretty sure everyone in the league is normal. It's so awkward being lectured by him."

There was a pause.

He raised a finger and pointed at Megara. "Who's she?"

Damian faltered.

"A family...acquaintance," he said. "Her name is Megara. And she knows the secret, so don't worry about the whole acting as a six year old thing."

The boy breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank God. I hate acting like I'm six."

Before Damian could intervene, he flew up a little so he was Megara's height and stuck his tiny hand out. "I'm Noah," he said. "Better known as Jon Kent."