Yandere Platonic Batfamily x Neglected Coraline Reader
When Bruce allowed everyone in the cave to get ready for patrol, Damian headed down to get into his suit, only to be stopped by his father. Bruce crouched down to Damian's height, the two now staring into each other's eyes. Unlike you, Bruce's features were clear as day on his eldest biological child. It was like looking at a younger version of himself, even had the same haunted look in his eyes.
Bruce started by saying, "Damian, I need you to stay home tonight," barely finishing his sentence before the young boy introjected, digging his heels into the ground, berating his father for how important his mission was and how stupid it would be to leave him behind. He spoke with such fire, a for a second, Bruce swore he had gone back in time to when Dick first wanted to leave the manor, when Jason faced Batman after stealing his tires, Tim laying into him for a mission gone bad because of Bruce's call, or Steph refusing to stop patrolling even when Bruce stripped her of the title of Robin.
The young man was so much like his siblings that Bruce was sure he would soon understand why he had chosen to leave this very important task to him. "I know you wish to help take the Riddler down, but everyone is worried about-." Even if Bruce still didn't believe everything with that stupid doll, he couldn't stand the idea of you being alone anymore. All the nights you must have spent in the dark alone grieving, he can't stomach leaving you. And after tonight, he'll make an effort not to. From the moment Tim left the cave, Bruce's number one priority was your happiness and, "- safety. I need you to look after them while we're gone."
Damian only huffed, sitting on the sidelines while everyone else got ready to go. His trained eyes followed everyone around as they laid out the plan one last time and all headed out. Soon, the only two people in the cave were Alfred, who was in front of the computer, backing up Oracle, and Damian, still sitting in the same spot where he had first fallen.
With the new quiet that had taken over the cave, Damian finally grabbed his sword and headed up to the Manor. The silence up there was even worse, with all of the Manor's animals being nowhere in sight.
Silence was something common when he was growing up. Meditation was just another part of training, and everyone was taught how to walk without making a sound. It was on the quiet nights that he would see his mother, letting her wordless walk up to his bed and run her fingers through his hair while he drifted off to sleep. The quiet used to be his friend, but now it crept out of the shadows, slowly closing in around his throat.
Damian's step slowed as he got closer and closer to the guest wing, while his head tilted further and further down. As he walked up the stairs, his eyes were firmly planted on the floor, refusing to look around him. Because the moment he lifted his head, he knew what he would see, and he truly wished to never see it again.
As far back as Damian could remember, his hands were always tanned red. Blood and death were just another part of life, and ending another person was as easy as breathing. Never had any of the lives he ended weigh on his shoulder. Until his father took him in.
There, he truly learned the value of life and how truly awful it could be to take that away from someone. It took a while, but Damian developed a strong moral compass carved from his family's beliefs. No longer did he attack with the goal to kill, but to protect others.
So, when Damian had blood on his hands again, he couldn't look himself in the mirror.
He remembered that night so clearly that every time he thought back to those memories, it was like reliving them all over again. Everyone was stressed, pulled thin by everything happening at once. He didn't know how to help, learning that going off without thinking would only cause more problems, he stood back and watched as everyone scrambled to come up with a plan.
There was just enough of them for each of the Bats to save one of the captured civilians. There was just enough time for each to reach the locations and solve the riddle. Assignments on who was going after which person were dealt out by Bruce, and the Bats all rushed out of the cave and into the dark Gotham night. Because his siblings had access to vehicles his father refused to let him use, Damian was sent to one of the closer locations to the Manor.
He found himself in the middle of Gotham's train station where they house some of the spare railcars that need repairs. He searched through the empty train cars till he found his target. A woman who appeared to be in her late thirties to early forties was tied up on a subway seat. Around her neck was one of the collar bombs Oracle had told them about, and the device it was hooked to containing the riddle and the timer. On the side was a camera and a computer monitor showing all the other hostages.
Babs had explained earlier that the bombs are all connected: solving one riddle would free only one captive, and messing up a riddle would cause all the timers to lose a minute. With that in mind, Damian dashed over, crouching down to properly read the problem before he plugged in the answer.
This required intelligence, precision, and a steady mind, all of which he had. He sent in the answer, being one of the first to finish the puzzle. Only for the screen to flash red, causing the timer to lose a minute.
No, how's that possible? He messed up. He read over his answer and crap! He plugged in the wrong letter. That's fine. An easy fix. He changed it and sent in the correct answer.
There was only a minute on the clock.
He didn't know the answer.
Perhaps he could call in with Babs? Would there be enough time for her to get into his camera feed? Could he read out the question in time? Would there be a delay between Babs giving him the answer? Could he even type fast enough?
The other victims were being freed, so maybe he could steal Bab's for a second? Or would she be too busy searching for the Riddler since his location was still unknown?
His heart hammered in his ears, every thump fueling the tremor in his hands. No, not now—his hands couldn't fail him! He needed absolute precision for this. How could he save this woman if he couldn't type?
He looked up at the collar around her neck. Maybe he could break it? Oracle said that breaking the collar would cause the bomb to go off if done incorrectly. She insisted it was safer for them to just solve the damn riddle. But he can't solve the riddle! Maybe, if he got a grip on himself, he could disarm the collar. Maybe there was still a chance-!
For just a moment, his eyes flickered up to meet the woman's eyes. Ever since he entered, her eyes were trained on the screen, watching the other victims with bated breath. This was the first time he really got to look at her. She seemed so tired, with eyes that were baggy and sunken into her features, and too many wrinkles and gray hairs for someone her age.
But his focus was on her eyes. In those sleep-deprived eyes, he could see that she had lost all hope of coming out of this alive. She was facing death, and yet, there was still care in her gaze. Her voice was so calm as it came out, yet it carried such weight. He could hear every bit of her sadness, regret, and understanding in her words. "Your Dad's gonna be heartbroken if you don't make it out of this."
With how frazzled he was at the time, he didn't question her words. It wasn't until after that he found out that she knew about their secret identity. She knew that Robin was actually Batman's biological son and that Bruce would have been in utter anguish if he lost another son.
"Please go," she pleaded. One tear rolled down her face, then another followed, leading to a stream flowing down her cheeks. "Please save yourself. You still have so much life to live."
Her voice was now shaking. She was barely keeping it together. "Just please tell my baby that I'm so sorry for everything and that I love them more than anything."
All at once, he wasn't a vigilante who saved people or an assassin raised to surpass his forefathers, but a child who had woken up from a nightmare and was running to his parents' room to go sleep in their bed. He ran out of the broken subway car, jumping down onto the tracks, going as fast as his legs could carry him.
He knew the timer had hit zero when a shock wave and a piece of metal sent him tumbling to the gravel floor. His momentum caused him to roll across the ground, and small pieces of rock to cut into his face. The metal that hit his back moved with him, having broken through his suit, cutting just below his shoulder blade. And to add the cherry on top of everything else, when he finally stopped, he was facing the direction he just come from. No longer was there a subway car, only a smothering pile of rubble.
Facing his family after his mess-up was hard, but they all reassured him that he had done his best and that sometimes they can't save everyone.
Having to face you was even harder.
The family was thrown from one disaster to another, with Arkham having one of its biggest breakouts to date. Everyone tried their hardest to keep people safe, but with so much going on, they could only do so much.
When Damian finally came back home to rest, he thought his mind was playing a trick on him. As he stepped into the main entrance of the Manor, a familiar figure stood in the center. The woman he had just seen, who had died, was taking in the Manor with large, curious eyes. Those same eyes that bored into his, pleading with him to save himself, now once again looked at him.
No, this wasn't possible. The life snuffed out because of him, the weight of it unbearably sharp in his chest. When he saw the woman's ghost in the Manor, he didn't wait—he ran to his room, threw himself under the covers, a child hiding from a monster.
The next day, he found out he hadn't seen a very short ghost but the woman's child, who was apparently also his half-sibling. That day was a roller-coaster for poor Damian. He couldn't understand what Alfred was telling him. He refused to believe that the women he couldn't save had a child with Bruce, somehow kept it hidden till the Riddler brought it to light, and that kid was now living in the Manor.
Nevertheless as moving boxes started to fill the Manor, reality set in. He had a blood sibling whom he failed before he even got the chance to meet them. Thanks to Jason, you probably hated him before he even got say a word to him.
So, Damian avoided you to hide from the shame of having to face you and what he's done. Which started out as easy since the manor was huge. Then, school started, and he was sitting next to you for at least thirty minutes a day. He knew he should have sucked it up and actually spoken with you, but he just couldn't.
Every moment you were in his presence, the last words your mother spoke rang in his ears. He had so many chances to tell you, yet he could never find the courage. Those words weighed on him, pulling deeper into his self-loathing.
There are times when he decided it was time to finally tell about how, in your mother's final moments, her only thoughts were of you. His first attempt, he was going to do it before one of his patrols, clearing his mind some before he headed out. Yet as he approached your room, he stopped in his tracks right outside the guest hallway.
Many of the wings didn't have the lights on since that would be a huge waste of power. The hall was cloaked in darkness as usual, but in that raven tunnel was a figure who shouldn't have been there. Your mother stood in the shadows, her eyes staring at him with hatred and disgust. She didn't even move, just stood there staring at him. In the completely quiet of the manor, he could hear her muttering about him. About how he failed her and you.
His legs were shaking like leaves in the wind. He's fought literal gods, but he couldn't face a specter he knew wasn't real. In the end, he turned around and left one patrol, his regret growing even more.
He had tried several times after that to go and talk with you, but he was always stopped by his mind's trick. Not even turning on the lights helped because she was still there, in even more clarity, her whispers crawling into his ears. In the end, he was never able to conquer his fear. Hell, he was never brave enough to step fully into the guest wing until today.
He knew what he would see and hear, so he kept his head down and block out the noise. Your room was at the end of the hallway; he just needed to not focus on the feet he could make out in the distance or that hushed tone that echoed in the silence and just rush down to your room and make sure you're okay.
He didn't know how he was going to keep an eye on you. Would he just sit in your room? Could he hang out in the room across from yours? Perhaps he could take you back to his room? That would be nice. Hang out like normal siblings should. Finally, talk with someone his age who didn't have superpowers or was trying to suck up to him to get to his Dad. A nice idea, but one that would never come true if he continued to be a coward.
Maybe tonight was the night he finally came clean? Maybe he could finally face your hatred? No, not tonight. If you were in trouble, that was the number one priority. He can deal with the emotional stuff later.
Gosh, it took him forever to get to your room. Every step felt like he was fighting through wet cement. Walking was so hard with her eyes glaring at him, blaming him for her demise, and how he couldn't even fulfill her last wish.
He finally looked up when he heard a loud meow. Coming from your door was the sound of a cat screaming its little head off while scratching violently at the wood. Suddenly, that resentment was forgotten as Damian's heart began to pump.
He went from shuffle down the hallway to a full-on sprint, shoving your door to see what was going on. All the while, the worst-case scenario flashed in his mind. He was going to open his door and find that you were kidnapped or dead, and once again, he was going to fail you?
The door slammed open only to find a normal-looking guest room, with the sheets of the bed partly thrown to one side and no you. Alfred was there, his tail puffed out as he put himself in a fighting stance, staring into your closest.
Damian zoomed over to the closest, thinking that a kidnapper snatched you up and tried to hide in here when they heard him coming. He ripped his sword out, ready to attack and defend you, only to pause as his brain caught up to what he was seeing.
Most of the space was normal, an empty wardrobe that could be found anywhere in the manor. What was weird was the strange multicolored tunnel. He crouched down to get a better look and maybe see where the tunnel led, only for his heart to stop as he made out the image of you crawling through to whatever lay on the other side.
Without another thought, he shoved his katana back into its sheath before he fell onto his hands and knees to follow you. The tunnel shook some as he entered, but somehow, it stayed up as he made his way through. While you had a large start, he was much faster and managed to crawl out only a couple of seconds after you.
The first thing he did when he reached the end of the tunnel was to get back onto his feet and take in his surroundings. He somehow ended up in a similar-looking closet filled with clothes and art supplies. By the closest door was you, who still hadn't noticed him, turning the handle into this unknown world.
He can't believe it. You were just wandering into a weird place all by yourself, don't you know how unsafe this is? He called out to you, "What are you doing?"
Finally, you turned around and noticed him. The two of you lock eyes, and he freezes for a second. It was still so hard to look at you. But he can't back down, not when you're doing something so dumb.
It took you a second to respond, your eyes with pure shock. "W-What are you doing here?"
"Looking after you! Everyone in the family is worried about you, and you're just running into danger without a care in the world!"
That seemed to have struck a nerve as your face shifted from terror to rage. "You fat liar! They don't give two craps about me!"
Can't you be serious? Are you blind? They care so much about you, even if they don't make it obvious. "They've been freaking out about you almost all week!"
"Well, I wouldn't know since no one ever talks to me!"
Well, he can't argue with you there. He knows everyone tries to keep their distance from you so as not to drag you into their fights. But, you must understand, "it's for your safety. What if you got attacked-?"
"That didn't stop the Riddler before!" You were full-on screaming at that point, spit flying out of your mouth. Every bit of anger building up since you lost your mother now finally had an outlet. Too bad for Damian, it just happened to be him. "So don't give me that bs! You're ignoring me because you hate me!"
"No one hates you!" If anything, you should hate them. For shunning you and for getting you wrapped up in this mess in the first place.
"That's rich coming from the guy who won't even look at me! What am I not good enough for you? Mr. Wayne didn't let me be a bat, and you think that makes me pathetic!" Words were slipping out of your mouth before you even got a chance to think about what you were saying. You weren't thinking, just blinking, attacking in a rage, hoping to hit someone.
"I don't think that at all! I just knew that you hated me for what happened!"
You paused for a moment, your eyebrows risings as you squinted your eyes. "What happened? What the hell are you talking about!?"
"Your mother and the attack."
"Why the fuck would I hate you? You're not the Riddler!" You stomped your foot on the ground, your hands balling in your hair. "Of course, you would make the death of my mother all about you! That's such a Wayne thing to do! Take other people's suffering and make it a pity party about yourself!"
With that, you ran out, leaving Damian processing your words.
So strange how you screaming at him made him feel like a weight as taken off his shoulders. You didn't hate him, at least not for what happened with your mother. You might hate him for abandoning you, but that's something he can fix.
There's a chance you'll still accept him. That you could be actual siblings.
Damian dashed after you and into this strange world. He escaped the wardrobe and into what looked like a kid's room, only to be stopped by a figure standing in the doorway. His whole body froze as he stared at the person in front of him. His blood run cold and his feet no longer work. A figure that has been haunting him for a year now. Your mother stood in front of him. But, also, she wasn't there because her eyes weren't normal. They were pitch black buttons.
"Dear, what are you doing here? I don't think I invited you." And her voice. It wasn't her voice. This lady's voice was artificial, with a fake sweetness coating it. Whoever this lady was, she definitely wasn't your mother.
He doesn't have to concern himself with his poser right now. Right now, all that mattered was you. He tried to bolt past the women to get to you, going to find you in whatever strange place this was, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. Though, it didn't feel like a hand.
It felt multiple things stabbing him, breaking through the fabric of his shirt and his skin like it was paper. Turning his head, there wasn't a hand on him, but a horde of needles combined to resemble a hand.
"You've caused enough problems. I think you need a time-out." That fake voice was gone, replaced by an inhuman, jagged voice that held nothing but malice.
The woman who stood behind him no longer looked like the woman he failed to save, but a long monster. Her face was stretched out and had cracks running over her unnatural skin tone. Her body looked like someone was trying to pull her apart with a waist that looked like it was going to snap in half. Her now low cut dress displayed her ribcage pressing into her skin.
Even though her arms were paper-thin, she pulled him with great force, dragging him out of the room, across the hall, and into another room. He fell onto his side as she slammed the door closed, leaving him in a pitch-black room.
He scrambled to his feet, running to force it open. However, there was no doorknob. He threw his entire body weight against the door, and it did nothing. Well, that way is a bust, but there has to be another way out.
After his eyes adjusted, he started looking around the room. The only light in the practically empty room came from various piles of blankets all shoved into the corner. Every so slowly, he approached the piles, one of his hands holding the grip of his blade. The room got colder as he got closer.
When he was only a step away, the blanket began to shake. His grip tightened as he reached down and ripped the sheet off, revealing a group of children huddled together; however, they didn't look normal. They all had translucent bodies, all a muted shade of light blue. Beside that, they all looked dissimilar to each other, besides the buttons over all of their eyes.
One of the figures looked familiar, with wild hair and a round face. Damian had seen that kid hanging around you all the time like a moth fluttering around a flame. "Wyatt," Damian muttered. If he remembered correctly, another new kid and your only friend. He had stopped showing up to school not too long ago.
The ghost floated up, his body waning from being fully visible to completely transparent. "Was that my name?" The spirit asked.
"No, I can't. All I can remember is coming here."
How was that possible? How could he have lost all of his memories? How could he forget you? "Why are you here? What happened to you?"
Another ghost flew up, this one had wavy hair and a sun hat. "We all came here because we were unhappy with our lives."
Another flew up and around him. "She watched us through the doll's eyes. She lured us away with treats and treasure."
Doll? Didn't his siblings mention that you found a doll a few days ago? "She? Who are you talking about?"
"The Beldam." Another ghost joined in, flying around him as he spoke. "She said that we could stay, but that we had to sew buttons in our eyes."
A different ghost flew through Damian's body, popping through his back to get right in front of his face. "She said she loved us, but she trapped us and ate our lives."
He needs to find you right now.
Babs eyes burned from staring at her monitors for so long, but she couldn't look away. On one screen, everyone's locations were displayed, showing they were all in place for the mission. Another was security footage of the outside of your bedroom.
The operation was about to happen, and all of her attention should be on the mission. But her eyes kept drifting back to the video, since she'd just seen Damian running into your room. It could have been nothing, just Damian being himself and taking his job way too seriously. But she couldn't shake the feeling that there was more. That he was running with a reason.
She assured herself that if anything had happen, he would have gotten you out of there and contacted them immediately. Since neither one of those had happened, everything should be fine. Everything is fine. She needed to focus on—before she could finish the thought, the door into the watch tower whacked open, breaking her from her thoughts.
Bab's whipped her head around to see a familiar blonde man strutting into her space without a care. She hadn't seen the man in a long time, ever since she first became Oracle, but John looked just as disheveled and annoyed as he had the first time they met. She really didn't think she'd ever see him again, much less in Gotham, in her clock tower.
"Evening," he nodded to her, flicking his cigarette on the ground, stomping it out with his foot. "Got a sec to talk?"
"No, actually, we're in the middle of a very important-."
"Great, I just gotta ask you a few questions." He strode over with a shrimp-like posture. His eyes scanned over her screens as he perched himself on her computer desk. "Bruce's latest kid, did they happen to find a doll recently?"
Suddenly, the mission had fallen to the back of her mind. "Yes, why?"
You ran as fast as your legs could carry you out of your room and into the warm hallways of the other Manor. As your feet hammer the ground, the anger that filled you slowly gave way to sorrow and regret.
Crap! Why did you say all that stuff? At some point, in your first few months at the Manor, a lot of those feelings were true. You resented everyone for ignoring you, and maybe you did hate Damian a little bit for what happened with your mother. You really did believe that every thought you were some pathic stray taking up space.
But, as time moved forward, you were left with plenty of time to think over everything.
To think about how Damian must have been feeling in that moment with your mom. About how he's also just a kid, with cool ninja skills, but still a kid. He did everything he could. You can't blame the guy for trying. You also had time to reflect on how everyone treated you. You were definitely angry, and a part of you still is, but now you're more apathetic than anything. If they don't wanna care about you, then why should you care about them?
You really thought you were past the anger you held for the most part. Yet at the first chance of letting it go, it all rushed out like a dam inside you broke.
And now Damian probably hates your guts. After you spat out those painful words, how could he not? The guilt smolders inside you, heavy and inescapable.
You had heard whispers throughout the Manor about how Damian used to be a stubborn kid who looked down on the rest of Mr. Wayne's kids because they weren't his biologically. You always heard that he grew past that, but a part of you believed that's why he never spoke to you. He must have thought the same about you since you were just some nobody.
You never thought he was ignoring you because he felt guilty about what happened to your mom. You knew he probably felt bad, but never that...
That still doesn't excuse him for disregarding you. But, crap, you felt like such an asshole. How are you ever supposed move past this?
You couldn't face what just happened and how much you probably just hurt him, so you kept running. Rushing through the halls and down the stairs, you ran to the dining room, the only other place in the house where you feel somewhat safe.
You busted through the front door, your breath heaving with each breath. Your vision was blurry, but you could make out Mr. Wayne sitting at the table. When he saw you, he pushed his chair out, leaned down, and opened his arms wide for you. You tumbled into his embrace, letting him scoop you up in his arms.
He pressed you into his chest, his large hands rubbing your back as you melted into him. You never once shared a moment like this with the other Mr. Wayne. And you might never again if Damian tells him what you just said.
You messed everything up. You gasped onto his suit, hiding your head completely in his suit jacket. You wished you could go back in time and not say any of that. You wish you could make Damian forget everything that just happened. You wish you never had to face any of the Waynes after this. "I wish I could stay."
"You can if you want." Your head whipped around to see your other mother standing in the doorway. "You don't have to leave."
"Really?" She walked over to you, getting down onto her knees so she was on the same level as you.
"Yes, but to stay, you do have to do one thing."
"What is it?" You pulled away from Mr. Wayne, turning completely to your other mother. "I can do it!"
She reached behind her and pulled out a small orange hexagonal shaped box wrapped in a purple bow. You took the light weight present into your lap and unwrapped the gift. Inside, there were two large, inky black buttons, a spool of thread, and a needle in the middle.
There's no way! You looked to confirm, and she only hummed, "It's the only way."
No way were you doing that!
But... If you did, you wouldn't have to face Damian again. And you won't have to worry about disappointing the Waynes. Also, you won't have to do homework anymore.
You couldn't look at your mother anymore. Your eyes wandered around, trying to find something else to focus on as you pondered your thoughts. Only to stop at the family picture on the wall. It's the same as you saw the first time you were there, but now your eyes were open, and they were buttons.
Even with the buttons, you looked so happy.
I'm a little late, but it's out!
I have been writing like nonstop for the past two days. Holy crap! Finally it's done!
This chapter was rushed, but I liked it. Probably cause I got to write Damian. I've been waiting to write him for so long!
Hope you all liked this chapter as much as I did. Crap is hitting the fan!
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