"So…"

"Don't even say it, KF."

"Oh come on Rob." Wally slouched back against the sofa, scowling. "The kid's gone and holed himself up in your room, and no one's seen him in the past hour. Who knows what he's doing in there!"

Dick shrugged. "He's probably sleeping or something. Just leave him alone."

When Damian had finally left the bathroom (walking back into the room with no warning, and standing quietly by the doorway, going unnoticed for several seconds while the team continued to argue about him), he'd barely spent ten minutes with them before asking if he could borrow some clothes.

Since the rest of the team seemed happy with just standing around and staring at the kid, Dick had decided to step up. He'd had some clothes stashed somewhere in his room, and he was pretty sure they wouldn't be too big on Damian. He'd shown Damian to his room, and told him he could change in there and come out whenever he was ready.

An hour later and Damian still hadn't left the room.

"We are going to be so dead when the League finds out."

"KF!"

"He's right though," Artemis interjected. "They are not going to be happy with this. And we can't just let the kid stay here forever."

"And we don't want to let the kid stay here forever," Wally added, ignoring Dick's glare.

"One more day," Dick said. He thought about Damian, his initial hysteria, and the way he was now — quiet, blank, almost like someone had drained the life out of him — and felt his stomach clench slightly. He wasn't even sure how to get rid of the kid, who obviously didn't want to go home. Was it safe for him? What if he was in danger? What if his parents had been hurting him? Dick couldn't just let the kid go, not knowing what would happen to him.

He groaned and fell back against the couch, ignoring his team's questioning looks. No, sending the kid away without knowing the whole story was a disaster waiting to happen (heavy on the dis). He'd have to tell Bruce, whether Damian wanted him to or not.

"When you say 'one more day'," Wally said, "do you mean you're letting him stay here tonight?"

Connor stiffened. "What?" Well, fair enough — it'd be Connor and M'gann left here when the rest of them left Mount Justice. Dick could tell that his friend wasn't happy about that. M'gann seemed more of less fine, though, if her, "Oh, I should make him some milk and cookies before bed!" was any indication.

Dick shrugged, shooting Connor a sheepish grin. "It's just one night."

Connor scowled. "He's staying here?"

"Do you think he likes chocolate chip cookies?" M'gann asked.

Artemis considered this for a brief second and then shook her head. "No."

"Can't you take him home with you?"

Dick bit back a snort. He could imagine how that would go. Bruce would not be happy, would interrogate the kid, and Damian would probably end up having another panic attack.

Not to mention, he'd probably be grounded. And Alfred might withhold dessert.

…Not that that was the most important thing, of course, but there were a lot of things that would go wrong if he took Damian home with him.

"He's not coming with me," Wally said quickly. "Although you guys go ahead."

No one said anything.

Dick shrugged. "Well, looks like he's staying here."

Connor's scowl deepened, and M'gann clapped her hands together, smiling. Well, at least someone seemed to have warmed up to Damian.

…

This was starting to get really annoying. What Damian needed right now was to think of a plan; he needed to figure out what was going on, and then be on his way before his father or any of his family found out he was here.

On any other day he would've been able to do that. Damian was good with strategising. He was his father's son, after all. Right now, nothing seemed to be working. His head felt like it'd been stuffed with cotton, and the longer he sat here, the more he felt the urge to just fall asleep and forget about everything.

He'd long since changed into different clothes, and that didn't make him feel as good as he'd hoped he would. It was nice to be out of that strange white garment, but it didn't change the fact that he was wearing the new Robin's clothing. It was bad enough that he'd been replaced, but this was just making things even worse. He was wearing the Replacement's clothing, sitting in the Replacement's room — he shifted uncomfortably and shook his head.

Don't think about that. Focus on getting out. His family could have this new Robin (who was cheerful, and friendly, and considerate, and everything that Grayson would probably love in a little brother), and he'd start a new life. He didn't need family. They were more trouble than they were worth.

(They caused more pain that they were worth).

The suffocating despair had eased slightly, but that had only made room for the beginnings of anger. Damian still wasn't sure who he was angry at — his family? Himself? He was mad at Grayson, who'd always told him he'd always be there for him, but had abandoned him at the first chance he'd got. He was mad at Father, because he thought they were actually getting closer — maybe he'd never see Damian the way he saw the others, as a son who could actually be forgiven for his mistakes, but maybe he didn't hate Damian anymore, and that was enough.

He was mad at Drake and Todd because now he knew how they'd felt, and he he didn't want to be like them. He'd always thought he was better than them. In the end, all he'd been was the only child his father had never really wanted, and the child he'd gotten rid of the first chance he'd got.

He was mad at himself for feeling this way. What right did he have to be angry at Grayson and Father? He was the one who had failed. Grayson had been hurt because of him. Mother hadn't just hurt him, she'd attacked his family, his home, and Damian, for all his talk about being better than his predecessors, hadn't even been able to stop her.

He had no right to feel anything but disgusted with himself.

'You're useless, broken, and now everyone knows it. They're probably laughing at you — not Grayson, he'd never be petty enough to do that, no matter how much you deserve it. But Todd, Drake, Gordon, Brown — maybe even Cain, Father and Pennyworth…'

He shook his head. He needed to remind himself that this wasn't just about getting away from here. It was definitely on his list of priorities — high on that list, because he couldn't imagine staying here, with these people, for much longer — but he also needed to figure out what had happened, and why everything seemed so strange and different.

'All in good time. Right now, just focus on getting your head straight. You're no good like this. Do you WANT To mess up again?'

There was a knock on the door. Damian's head snapped up.

"Damian? Uh, can I come in?"

The Replacement. Damian shifted uncomfortably and didn't reply.

"Uh…so I'm just going to walk in okay? Unless you're changing, because I really don't think you'd want me doing that. Kid? Damian?"

Oh God, Grayson would love him. He was like a mini, more annoying version of him.

"Come in," he said, if only to shut him up.

The door opened a moment later, and the Replacement walked in, looking sheepish.

"Hey — I just want to say that you can take as much time as you like in here."

"I am," Damian said flatly.

"…Yeah. Well anyway, it's getting kind of late, so we're probably going to head back soon? Superboy and Miss M will still be here though, so if you need anything, you can just ask them. You can stay here tonight, everyone's fine with it — "

He doubted it. The others looked like they couldn't wait to get rid of him.

" — and we can figure out what we're going to do tomorrow, okay? Don't worry, we haven't called the League or anything."

Yet. Damian wasn't an idiot — it was only a matter of time. Hopefully he'd be long gone by then though.

"So anyway, yeah," The Replacement said, smiling in a way that seemed just a tad too forced (he did a pretty good job though, Damian had to give him that. He probably did a great job at recreating Grayson's old glory days as Robin), "if you need to talk about anything, I'm here."

He hesitated, and Damian bit back a sigh.

"One last thing…you said you knew Superboy?"

"I was mistaken."

The Replacement (and maybe Damian would have to start referring to him as 'Robin' eventually, but he was going to delay that for as long as possible) looked like he wanted to say something more, but then simply nodded his head, gave Damian another smile, and stepped out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

Damian let out a sigh and closed his eyes.

…

The alien was really starting to grate on his nerves.

She just wouldn't leave him alone. He'd sat on the sofa for a while, pointedly ignoring the clone's heated glare, but after a while he'd grown tired of it. Ignoring the clone was one thing — ignoring the alien (and Damian still wasn't sure of her name…she'd introduced herself but he'd promptly forgotten. It didn't matter too much anyway) and her incessant chatter was another thing all together.

In the end he'd left the room, and had walked back to the Replacement's bedroom — he'd told him that he could stay there for the night, amongst a whole lot of other things that Damian hadn't been paying attention to (along with some words that he was sure weren't even part of the english language).

It didn't help much, because it didn't deter the alien from repeatedly knocking on his door and asking him if he wanted a drink, or if he wanted cookies, or if he needed her to show him where the bathroom was.

What he needed was some peace and quiet so he could start figuring out what he was going to do. He obviously couldn't stay here forever; he wasn't foolish enough to think that they'd be keeping him around if it weren't for the Replacement. How long before they either told him to leave, or contacted the League? He needed to leave as soon as he could — preferably the next morning, if he could figure out a plan for after he left. He obviously couldn't go home, or back to his mother.

'Stop thinking about that.' He had more important things to worry about that his housing arrangements. Something was obviously wrong here, beyond his family wanting nothing to do with him — most of the team was unfamiliar, and the ones that weren't didn't seem to know anything about Drake. Damian had to figure out what was going on, if only to make sense of the whole situation.

It'd be a lot easier to do that if the alien's shrill voice didn't keep interrupting his thoughts.

"Would you be quiet?" he snarled. He'd been sitting on the bed, his back as straight as a rod, and his eyes closed. "It's been a long time since I've met someone as annoying as you, and I've had to deal with Fat Girl."

Her smile faded and she blinked in obvious confusion and hurt.

Well. At least she might leave him alone now.

"Hey!" The clone came barreling into the room, and Damian bit back a sigh. Fat chance of that happening now. "What the hell's your problem, huh? M'gann hasn't done anything wrong!"

Oh right. M'gann. That was her name.

"She won't leave me alone," Damian said, shrugging.

"We let you stay here," Superboy said, his eyes flashing dangerously. "We could've called the League. We're doing you a favour, so just stop being so annoying!"

"Connor, it's fine," M'gann said, tugging his arm, her lips quirked in a small frown. "Let's just go."

Damian nodded. "Yes, please."

"No." Superboy glared. "Not until you apologise to her."

Damian's jaw clenched. He didn't have to apologise to anyone. He was tired, and he just wanted to figure out what he was going to the next day, and then get some much needed sleep. He just wanted to forget about all of this. Maybe, when he was finally able to go to sleep, all of it — Mother's blank face, Grayson's lifeless body, the Heretic's sword rushing towards him — would go away, at least for a little while.

Or maybe it'd all just play out in his dreams in a never-ending loop.

"Apologise!" Superboy repeated.

"Sorry," Damian said, if only to shut him up. It seemed to work, because the anger faded, and was replaced by a look of confusion. The clone seemed genuinely surprised that he'd given in, and Damian had to force himself not to say something derisive.

"It's okay," M'gann said, smiling. She then stood there, still smiling, while the clone stood next to her, his face scrunched up in a frown.

Dear lord, he didn't think the clone could get anymore annoying, but he'd just managed it.

"Are you going to leave?" Damian asked, glancing pointedly at the door. Superboy's scowl deepened, and he turned around and out of the room, with M'gann following close behind after one last smile at Damian.

They left the door open.

Damian fell back against the bed and glared at the ceiling.

…

" — and now he's gone, he's GONE Bruce, because of your great idea — "

Bruce could hear Dick's furious screams, Tim's desperate words — "Dick, stop, this isn't fair, no one knew this would happen, we all agreed" — and could see the way Jason and Barbara stared at him, seeming too shocked to do anything else.

He could see the disappointment in all of their eyes, more apparent in some (Dick's), but present in all of them.

It wasn't supposed to be like this. He'd really thought…he'd believed that — that —

" — he's gone, dammit, he's — "

"He was already gone."

His words came out small and choked, everything that he wasn't supposed to be, but he might as well have yelled them with the way Dick stopped abruptly, staring at him with wide eyes, his chest heaving.

For a moment no one said anything.

"At least I could have still visited him," Dick said at last, his voice shaking. "Gone to his — " The word grave went unsaid, because it was still too painful, especially now that their hopes had been dashed so cruelly, " — and…spoken to him. Spent some time with him — I could've…" He swallowed and shook his head. "But you Bruce, you came in here, telling us we'd get him back, making me think — I thought — I thought I'd get my little brother back!"

'I thought I'd get my son back,' Bruce thought numbly.

He thought about the way he'd hugged Damian to his chest, the way it had reminded him of the last time he'd held his son (that awful, crushing moment when he'd felt how broken his son was, how Damian's blood had slipped through his fingers), and how this time he'd been so sure that things would be different, and his pleas for Damian to do anything — to scowl at him, say something biting, or maybe smile at him in that way that he sometimes did when Bruce managed to catch him off guard — would actually be answered.

After all that time, there was finally something he could do. Giving up on Damian had never been an option. His little boy deserved a chance to grow up, surrounded by a family that loved him (and God, Bruce had promised himself that once Damian returned, he'd make sure he never doubted that love for a second).

He'd been so sure that it would work. He had the chaos shard; he had his son's body back; he had his entire family at his back, supporting his mission to bring Damian home.

It should have worked. Damian should have been back with them.

Instead, Damian had vanished, leaving Bruce to stare in horror at arms that had desperately cradled his son's corpse only moments before.

Damian's body was gone, and with it any hope of bringing him back.

In the end they'd gotten out of there, barely, but all Bruce could think was that he'd failed. He failed Damian.

"You let me believe we'd be getting him back," Dick said, his voice a mess of choked sobs and heavy breathing. "Why?!"

"Dick, stop," Barbara said softly. Her eyes were red-rimmed, her cheeks stained with tears. "He didn't know this would happen. None of us did."

She reached a hand towards him but he pulled away and stormed out of the room. Barbara hesitated and shot a glance at Bruce, but he waved her away.

"Just go," he said stiffly. "All of you, go." He couldn't do this with all of them here.

They left without much convincing, all seemingly eager to get away from him. He briefly wondered if they all blamed him like Dick did, for getting their hopes up, for making them think they'd be bringing Damian home. It didn't matter in the end though, because worrying about what everyone else thought wasn't going to bring Damian back.

Bruce had lost his son.

Again.

…

AN:

So…the comics!Batfam finally make an entrance! Basically, for anyone who is still confused, Bruce and the Batfam went through with the whole plan to use a chaos shard to bring Damian back (and I know Dick wasn't present for this in the comics, but I needed Dick to be there so…let's just pretend he was), but while it DID bring him back to life, h ended up in the YJ!Universe. Bruce, Dick and everyone else don't know that Damian is still alive.

(Also it's been a while since I've read the Damian resurrection storyline, and to be honest the details aren't hugely important to this story…but there might be things that dont add up to exactly what was in the comics, so sorry for that xD).

Anyway, I've FINALLY got this chapter out, and hopefully it was worth the wait. Thank you to everyone who has stuck by this story!