When Damian woke, he was greeted by flashing bright lights and distorted voices. He opened his eyes wearily and blinked unfocused at the passing light.

Just like his father had taught him, he looked around for clues as to where he was, even if his head thundered with a massive headache. Damian could feel the cold touch of metal under his back and barely made out the familiar look of the back of a van.

He let out a whimper as the van he was laying in gave a jolt to the right, making his bruised muscles sting.

He looked up and could see blurry human forms, some men and one woman according to their bodily shapes, he deduced.

Damian saw the people suddenly look at him when he whimpered and he groaned at himself for letting his consciousness known. He heard their talk increase at his awakening and they let out sounds of laughter, mocking him.

The increase in volume and lights shining in his face made his headache increase by tenfold and he clenched his teeth at the pain. Tears prickled the outer corners of his eyes, as his breathing picked up.

Damian felt the sharp sting of a needle and weakly looked down as he saw the glint of metal enter him.

He laid on his back for minutes, or hours, or days, he couldn't really tell, his brain too fogged up to process much.

He felt as if the voices just got louder and louder, the vague shapes of humans opened their mouths wide and let out high screeches of laughter, sounding like hyenas ready to feast. Ready to feast they did, poking and probing at him in mocking fashions and he groaned at the pain of them.

His eyes rolled back into his head frequently from the pain but he refused to sleep, he had to find out where he was, he had to go home.

The lights of what he had known were the headlights of passing cars reflecting on the windows now seemed like flashlights being shone directly into his face. He blinked rapidly trying to simultaneously figure what was going on and adjust his tired eyes.

The noise of the people and the lights became too much and his head erupted into chaos. He opened his mouth wide into a silent scream of pain that came out as a wheeze from his dry throat.

He couldn't focus on anything as his senses heightened to an unbearable level. Damian felt hot tears leave a scorching trail down his cheeks as he whimpered. Crying out in his mind for his father, for Dick, for anyone even his mother.

As he saw the black edges of unconsciousness, a shape much tinier than the shapes of the other people (hyenas) took form. A child from the height, it seemed. It tilted its head to the left in curiosity and stared at him with unblinking eyes.

It shuffled forward and fell on its knees by his head and they stared at each other. The child slowly went down until it's nose touched his. He saw its mouth open and it whispered to him, "Oh, Damian, where are you taking me?"

Damian stared at the blurry child and said, "I am not taking you anywhere."

The child tilted its head again in amusement and looked around, before looking sharply down at him and placed its face back where had been before. "Oh, but you are."

Damian furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "Am I?"

"It appears so."

Damian looked around and it seemed to be true. "Hmm," he hummed in acknowledgement.

Silence hung between them, the child looking straight at Damian with its unnerving eyes that weren't really eyes but large black sockets. The child huffed, unliking being ignored. "You're taking me somewhere, you ought to tell me, Damian."

"Well, I too am unaware of where we are going." He looked outside the windows at the buildings rushing past the windows, he watched as the tall buildings slowly melted away, smaller and smaller, until no evidence of human structures remained.

God he felt so tired, maybe if he closed his eyes for a couple of seconds, he would be alright.

"That is untrue," the shadow, who seemed more like a ghost, said. It seemed to be vibrating in place, making it even harder to see.

"Is it?"

"Yes."

Silence. Damian tried to but failed to understand the child, he felt lost and unsure. He asked what he seemed to occupy his mind since the beginning of the conversation. "Then what is the truth?"

The shape of the child seemed to vibrate more rapidly at the question, as if unconsciously voicing its pleasure at him for asking. It went down closer to Damian, and whispered into his ear, "You, Damian, are going to your judgement day. Where half of people sent leave and half die."

Damian laid quiet at that. He didn't understand, this was all just too confusing. But even so a sinking feeling came over him, he remembered his mother telling him stories of such a day, how it would never fall on him as the Lazarus that ran in his veins would stop it from ever reaching him. Now seeds of doubt sowed themselves into his mind.

"Damian, oh, Damian, why must you take me with you?" The little one whimpered out. It vibrated and rocked back and forth in its place, seeking comfort against their impending location.

The Al Ghul swallowed as he thought of what was to come, he realized how unfamiliar the space around him was, how it had gone from loud to quiet and how the brightness had been dimmed down by the shadowy face of the whimpering child. "I don't want to be alone," he muttered, more to himself than his other companion.

"You already are." The child shook its head at him, and he frowned at it for mocking him

"Am I?

"Yes."

"Then how are you here?" Damian did not want to know the answer but willed the question out anyways.

The child looked down at him and finally moved its face away from his, Damian just realized that the time it had been near his face he had not felt one breath coming from the child. At that moment he understood.

It looked down at him and whispered, "I am not real, Damian."

Then just like the shadowy figure of the small child began to wisp away like smoke. Its body broke into dust and it reached its hand towards Damian, who shakily grabbed it. "Please don't go, I do not want to be alone."

The fading face of the shadow remained silent watching him with large black holes for eyes until the smoke had all but parted and vanished.

Damian felt his breath leave him as the crushing realization of his solidarity hit him. He felt his heart beat until it felt like it would jump out of his chest.

Slowly, he felt himself vanish too.

____

When Damian woke up a second time, everything was silent. So quiet, that he could hear his heart beat loudly in his eyes as his pulse raised and the hum of electricity above him.

Unlike the darkness of the van he had been in previously, the intensity of the white walls and ceilings of the room, illuminated by industrial lights above, made him scrunch his eyes.

Without the effects of the strong drugs his kidnappers had given him, his vision and head now cleared slightly gave him a more frightening sight than his hallucinations did.

Damian raised his head looked around the room that looked alarmingly like one from a hospital. His heart rate increased when he looked to his left and saw a metal tray with various sized needles, scalpels, and other medical tools.

He found a door across the room from him, he tried to move toward it but was stopped by metal bars clamping down on his wrists. His mind, still carrying of remnants of drugs, slowly began to notice his comprising state. His wrists where by his side and clamped down on the metal board he laid on.

He wrenched his ankle against the metal bar in a foolish attempt to move away. Damian felt his breathing pick up as adrenaline mixed up with other drugs in his brain, making his head ache. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, forcing himself to calm down.

He felt a growl as he looked around at his compromising state. His suit was gone and replaced with a white hospital gown meaning all his tools to escape where gone. It also meant his kidnapper was smart enough to realize that.

He scolded himself for putting himself in this situation. He should've listened to his father.

As he tried to release himself, the sharp squeaking sound of a door opening made him snap his head upwards, wincing as the fast movement caused his headache to briefly pulse.

A man in a medical garb stalked into the room, his black, leather shoes clacked every time he took a step nearer. His face was handsome and impassive if not slightly smug, his gray hair was immaculately styled and he looked of successful complexion.

His eyes, though, were two beady, black things, they examined him sharply and seemed to take him apart piece by piece, looking through his soul. They reminded him of shark eyes, emotionless, cold, dark, and looking to rip at its new prey.

The doctor stopped a feet in front of him, his face breaking into a wide, slender smile that reminded Damian of the joker and a shiver went up his spine. His black eyes
looked him up and down in a triumphant manner.

"Well, hello, little birdy, "He jeered, "how are you liking your new room, or shall I say nest, hm?"

Damian kept quiet, glaring at him with the iconic bat glare that he got from his father. His sharp look helped disguise the turning he felt in his stomach and a drop of sweat ran down his forehead.

"Not gonna say anything?" The doctor said in a false, sad tone, but his grinning face stayed on, "That's ok, little bird. You're gonna say something sooner or later, you know why?"

Damian did not guess and continued glaring but when the doctor came even closer, putting his face next to Damian's and leaning into his ears as if to say a secret, Damian's face faltered.

He could feel the doctor's breath hit his ear and flinched violently, he could almost picture the smile the man had.

"You wanna know why you're gonna tell me everything, why you're gonna let me do anything I want?" He whispered, "Because you don't want your family hurt now don't you, Damian Wayne?"

Damian froze and his breath became stuck in his throat, he closed his eyes when he felt a cool wind hit his face. No mask to stop the gust from cooling him, his face was out for the world to see. He panted as his heart picked up and blood flushed through his head.

The doctor must've noticed his epiphany because he chuckled and slowly leaned away to look him straight in the face. The slender, smirking face met Robin's panic stricken face.

"Nice to see that we are now on the same page," He said, "I understand that you'll cooperate now, correct?" He gave a smug half smile when Damian nodded slowly.

"Good." He turned abruptly and walked towards the door. He opened it and turned back to look at him again, "We'll see each other very soon, don't worry."

The door slammed shut and the only thing Damian heard after was his shuttering breathes and his heart beat in his head.

———————

Sorry for the wait but I hope y'all enjoyed this new chapter!

I hope that the first part, with the drugs and the van, made sense to you guys. I hope I wasn't too metaphorical and vague so you guys wouldn't understand.

Thank you for reading and I'll see you next chap!

Bye!