"What's wrong?" She takes a step forward, he just looks away. Saying it to her would make it all the more real.

"What happened?" Damian knows he has to say it, knows it was something he had to accept and move past to properly carry the legacy that now rested on his shoulders, to regain his composure and focus on getting justice for his grandfather.

"My grandfather was killed." The bluenette softly gasps, her lips parting. She'd heard stories of the man her soulmate adored. They were really close. She takes another step forward, then another.

She kept getting closer, her hurried little steps getting bigger until she was right in front of him. As soon as he was in arms reach, Marinette hugs her person. His hands go to her waist, trying to weakly push her away.

"What are you doing?" He tries to sound defiant, like he doesn't want whatever is happening but Marinette just hugs him closer.

"This is called a hug, you wrap your arms around a parson and keep them close. That way you don't have to deal with the burden of standing all alone." He awkwardly reciprocates, ducking his head into the crook of her neck. Marinette hears a sniffle, he shakes in her arms. Using one of her hands, Marinette soothingly strokes his hair as she shushes him.

"It's going to be okay, I know it hurts but it is. I promise." He doesn't respond, clinging onto Marinette like it was the only sign of affection he's ever received. She carefully leads the boy to the plush bed before unwrapping her arms from around her and gets the cookies.

Looking at the tray of cookies as he eats one, then another. Marinette sitting next to him, a comforting hand on his knee to let the boy know she was there. To keep him grounded. A question slips past his lips.

"What am I going to do now?" The weight of everything seemed to come crashing down, a desperate look in his eye as he turns to her. Hoping for her to have all the answers.

"It's going to be okay, look at me. It's going to be okay." The two sit in silence, Marinette is unsure of what to say.

"When my grandpa went to heaven we told happy stories, Maman calls them happy thoughts." The boy understands and recalls some of his fondest memories of his family, telling Marinette of the few he can. She asks about the rest of his family, how they were doing. He explains that his mother was sending him to live with his father while she deals with the unrest.

Damian soon wakes, feeling better. The memory of the warm cookies keeping him calm enough, focusing on the imaginary lingering taste of them when he needed to refocus. With the new time zone he sees much less of Marinette.

The Bat-family has no idea whether or not Damian has a soulmate or if they're still alive. He was grown in an artificial womb, who knows if that has an effect on one's eligibility to have one.

Damian died. His mother made a clone of him, he grew faster- becoming a full grown man and killed the fourth Robin. Father brought him back but he still vividly remembers the cold blade passing through every fiber of muscle, the searing pain as he and the blade were dropped by his literal flesh and blood. The way he could feel his body struggle as he lost more and more blood, he could almost feel every vein and capillary strain for the vital fluid as it escaped from the wound on his stomach.

When Damian was brought back he was so relieved, terrified, grateful. When Damian goes to sleep, the first thing he does is latch onto Marinette who's sobbing and numbering about not seeing him for a year. He just hugged her like it was the last time he'd ever get to.

"Hugs are appropriate when one does not feel strong enough to stand alone, correct?" Marinette reciprocates, holding him close as he tries to shrink and hide in her embrace.  They end up on the bed eating countless cookies in silence, Marinette wants nothing more than to hug and feed him until he smiles.  

She never had the heart to ask what happened.

"-The purpose of this exercise is to establish trust and a deeper understanding of your fellow heroes or proteges in the event of a catastrophic event that requires mass collaboration." Batman finishes up his little intro to why he dragged every hero he could to the Watchtower for a training exercise on a quiet Sunday morning.

Red Hood raises his hand, he doesn't wait to be called on.

"Right we get that, B, but what is the exercise?" Martian Manhunter steps forward, they had put a lot of thought and effort into what they could do to help, for lack of a better word, humanize everyone. Get them on an even playing field.

"We will be going into a mental simulation that will go through each persons biggest fear, the goal is to cope or overcome said fear with the help of the rest of the league and its associates." Most heroes tensed at that, looking around. Worst fear, this would be bad under the circumstances of a normal person- but them? As heroes they'd all seen too much.

"Not it." Spoiler mumbles.

"Let's begin. We'll be doing this in a random order, take a seat if you haven't already. Manhunter and Miss Martian will not be participating because of their ability to affect the simulation. Let's begin." Everyone sits, J'onn closes his eyes and focuses, with so many people it's going to be difficult to fit them within the constraints of the fear.

The first was Superman, everyone could see the impenetrable façade the man had crack as he watched him self try to fight out of a space ship, his family crying, rubble falling around them, they sent him off Earth- it explodes behind him. He couldn't get out, he couldn't save them, he couldn't save anyone.

The Super Kids rush to hug the man, consoling him as best they could, it took a few minutes to get the man of steel to calm- as if he were reliving something else, he had to refocus himself. Nightwing helping him control his breathing.

Next was Artemis. Then Aquaman. Zatana. Kid Flash. One by one, people had to deal with their worst fears. Most were the death of a loved one, being killed by an villain, being a hlepess kid again.

Everyone watched, but it was decided to cycle who should intervene and help so as not to over crowd whoever was being affected by the vision. It was usually obvious, people usually tensed or gasped, some cried when their turn came.

The fourth Robin was the first of the bats to go, he didn't react when he saw the familiar room. The tan walls, dark flooring, the light pink bed, fresh cookies on the low table were all exact to the most minute detail. An eleven year old Robin surveyed the room with everyone else, the familiar cherry blossom trees in the window, the bookshelf tucked into a corner, some roamed a few feet to see some almost finished sketch of Marinette and another sheet with the Russian alphabet on it. Everything was identical, Damian felt so at home. He could almost smell the cookies but he couldn't. It was odd, Damian didn't bother to wonder why- forgetting why he was in the dreamscape when the door that never budged slowly opened.

People stepped back in preparation for some kind of foe, something more... more. The noisy door creaks open, a short, petite, blue haired, blue eyed little girl comes out with red rimmed eyes and a shaky breath.

Robin took a step toward her, forgetting about the peanut gallery he has. He opens his arms for a hug, she wasn't one to cry. Why was she so upset? What happened that she was so pale?

At Damian's approach, the girl's unfocused eyes snap to him. She takes a step back, then another. He gets the idea and stops his approach. Everyone was dead silent- there was more to whatever was happening. It was clear the girl was his soulmate, though it did surprise most to see Robin try to hug her.

"-" He couldn't utter a syllable, Marinette speaking over him before he got the chance.

"You lied." Despite her fear, the girl cuts in. Her voice wobbled, on the verge of tears. His worst fear was to be called a liar?

"You said the spars were a game!" She exclaims. "You said the languages were for fun!" Her voice suddenly drops, "You said your family didn't tell you about soulmates- but you lied." Her voice cut through him like a warm knife through butter- it was clear on his face. His lips separating ever so slightly, his right foot stepping back. Almost like he wanted to bolt.

"No, I-" Robin tried to speak, tried to explain himself but she just started up again. Her voice loud again, shaking as she accuses him. His characteristic scowl gone, replaced by confusion and pain.

"What? Just didn't say the truth? That those spars and languages weren't to 'prepare' for whatever your sick, twisted mind came up with? Or that you always planned to kill me? That was the plan since day one wasn't it?"

"No,-" He tries to explain again, his voice failing to come off as the confident, often brash fourth Robin many recognized him as. He sounds weak, unguarded, raw, exposed for all to see as his soulmate refuses to give him a chance to get a word in edgewise.

"J'onn that's enough." Batman says, the girl looked nowhere near done.

"No what? No that wasn't true or no that wasn't what you 'ommited'? Was it that you're a murderer? That you killed people with your bare hands and you don't even feel sorry? You hurt and killed people, and now what? You just washed your hands of it?" The girl accuses, some cover their mouths at the harsh reality they were faced with, everything the girl said had some kernel of truth in it. Even if his intentions changed, those claims were at one point true.

"He's so young." Wonder Woman comments, looking appalled.

"Wasn't it you that told me that people don't change? That it was just a hard fact of life?"

"Now, J'onn." Nightwing seconds, this isn't good for the kid. It was too late, Marinette had already started up again. Tears fell as she lifted her arms and harshly pulled the sleeves down with a wince.

"People dressed in all black just came to my house and attacked me! They said you sent them, they tried to kill me, D-" J'ohn finally pulls them out of the simulation, Superboy immediately moves to try and comfort his best friend but Red Robin stopped him as Damian walked away.

It isn't her, she doesn't know his name. It wasn't her. It wasn't her. It wasn't her.

"Give him some space, it took him a long time to come to terms with his past. That brought it all back."

That night, Damian doesn't say a word to Marinette. He refuses to look at Marinette in shame and remorse. She doesn't even know his name, she doesn't know anything and he could tell you everything about her in a heartbeat.

For the first time ever, Damian is grateful for the time difference, they only had to sit in silence for an hour or two before she woke up for school.

When Damian wakes up, he avoids everyone like the plague, only going into the same room as anyone else for breakfast. He was in uniform and ready for school.

After diner, his father pulls him aside.

"Damian-"

"I already know what you're going to say, Father. That it wasn't her and that what she said wasn't true." The man nods.

"Yes, though you don't seem to believe it."

"No, because it was right. That had been my intention, it's a right of passage in the league, Mother and Grandfather said that soulmates are an exploitable weakness that must be dealt with. I never intended to- not after I stopped ignoring her." He gives them a dry chuckle.

"I did the research. If I prepared her enough, trained her, I was convinced she would be a good ally, a new recruit. I never thought past that, but knew mother might approve if we could prove she was ready." Bruce shares a look with Alfred, the poor girl expecting to meet her soulmate had to deal with Damian making her train every night for years on end.

Guilt followed Damian like a shadow, every night while trying to stay awake- trying to delay the inevitable, at school where he sees soulmates holding hands whispering to each other with insuppressible smiles. He wanted to kill her. Not for very long but the guilt gnaws at him.

After a week or so, Damian caves. When Marinette enters he sits her down at the table, she looks concerned, he didn't deserve her worry- he didn't deserve her.

"I lied to you." He can't look the Parisian in the eye, trying to figure out what to come clean about. What could he tell her? What could he say to ease his own guilt, to tell her the truth- but not the whole of it.

"My mothers side of my family didn't want me to have anything to do with you. I was sure that if I could prepare you for the life they expected for me to have, you could keep up. That you weren't going to hold me back or be a distraction. I didn't think they understood." He still hadn't looked up to meet Marinette's eyes, he couldn't bear the thought of her disapproval and if she looked like she understood and tried to calm him, he was sure he'd say it was enough and stop- but he couldn't. He had to tell her what he could.

"Our relationship has also been very unbalanced, you don't even know my name. That's not fair to you, it isn't that I didn't want you to know as much as I didn't know what to say. As children I didn't know if you would accidentally let it slip or- it doesn't matter. I'd like to apologize- and make up for it." Damian's finger traced the grain of the wood before finally chancing a glace up.