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“What have you done?” Mom hissed, her head tilting in an unnatural way that made Jason's stomach twist in knots.
In Jason’s defense, he didn’t actually believe that the summoning spell would work. Which was ridiculous in hindsight considering that Dick had apparently gotten that spell from Raven. He would later deny knowing this when questioned by Bruce because no, he didn’t know where the spell came from. Which was his first mistake. He should have suspected something when Dick casually mentioned that he just so happened to know how to summon a ghost.
His second mistake was doing it in Gotham of all places. Anyone with half a sound mind knew better than to try and mess with things in that cursed city. Heck, even the crazies knew better consider how none of the even tried to fuck with magic, much less summon a ghost of all things.
So all things considered, Jason should have known better. He’d both fought against and encountered enough of the supernatural and everything in between enough that he should have never even thought about agreeing to try and summon a ghost. Funny how trying to prove whether or not there were actual ghosts in the manor landed them with a demon that claimed to be Talia fucking al Ghul in the library.
Almost immediately, Jason knew that there was something off about her. He couldn't exactly put a finger on it but there was something about the way she moved that made his skin crawl. Something that made alarm bells ring in his head and made the library’s air hard to breathe. He was starting to regret going along with Dick's idea.
Not even a minute after they'd finished the spell and Jason felt like they had done something wrong. Like they had disturbed something they shouldn't and that something was his mom. How did they even end up in this situation?
It all started after dinner. Today was one of the rare days where the entire family decided to stay at home. Not because they were injured—though Bruce definitely was—or to work on a case but just to slow and relax. Though admittedly none of them would be there if Alfred hadn’t locked down the batcave and stared down both him and Bruce when they tried to break in.
So really, they had no excuse but to just take a break and wind down. Dick, after Bruce was retired, read: forcibly dragged to bed by Alfred to get some rest, suggested they play a game. Considering it wasn’t everyday that the family would be at the manor, they should make the most of it and actually hang out together.
At least, most of the family was considering that Damian was currently at Kent Farm. The little demon brat had asked Bruce earlier that day to let him visit Jon and Bruce being the big softie that he was, agreed.
And don’t Jason wrong, he was happy that his little brother was making friends. He had always been worried that Damian would have a hard time forming bonds with his peers considering his upbringing. So, yes, he actually was happy that Damian was getting along with Superman’s son.
Though that didn’t mean that Jason was happy that Damian chose to hang out with his friends instead of his family.
In his opinion, Damian should have stayed home with them instead. But he wasn’t exactly going to stop his brother when Damian was just finally, finally starting to hang out with other people no matter how much it hurt him. He wasn’t like Dick, after all, who was still moaning about it.
Seriously, you’d think the kid moved out with how he was acting. To stop his moaning about Damian-
“Shut up, Jason, I’m not moaning about anything.”
“Whatever you say, Dickhead.”
The entire family, aside from Alfred and Bruce, agreed to play a game. Which was obviously a mistake. Both Alfred and Bruce should have known better than to leave them unsupervised. Considering that having all the children in one place unsupervised has historically ended in some form of disaster for any and all parties unfortunately involved.
So really, both Alfred and Bruce had some hand in the sort-of-mess they got themselves in.
“Shut up, Dick for brains, I am not missing Alfie’s cookies because of your bullshit.” Jason very helpfully hissed at him.
Mom, who was still very much in front of them and still looked very much like a demon, was growing increasingly bored. She arched her brow, her lips that seemed almost too long for her face stretched into a snarl. “Well, you summoned me, what do you want, Gray Son of Gotham?”
“First off, it’s pronounced Grayson not Gray Son, Talia.” Dick said hands to his hips, not at all concerned at how Talia appeared in the summoning circle. How he managed to maintain that tone with her looking at him like that, Jason would never know. “Second, we didn’t summon you, you just randomly appeared in this house so what are you doing here?”
Mom, with her too big irises, audibly sighed as if being asked what she was doing there was some sort of crime. Then she pinched the bridge of her nose with her sharp and almost claw-like darkened fingers, “As if I would willingly abandon my most comfortable bed to waste my time and speak to you and your… mismatched cohort of siblings when my Damian isn’t even here, Gray Son.”
“So I will ask you again, what do you want?” This time when she said these words, the lights flickered.
Jason’s stomach churned, his fingers flew to grab on the sleeve of Dick’s sweater as he suddenly found it harder to breathe. While the others unconsciously stepped closer to one another as shadows seem to grow all around them.
“For the last time, we don’t want anything from you, Lady.” Steph said, shifting uncomfortably. A shiver ran up her spine when Talia looked directly at her. “So leave.”
Talia tilted her head, a manner more akin to an owl staring at its meal than a human looking at them. “Let me leave then.”
There was something in her too quiet voice that made the bats freeze. None of them could really understand why but for some reason the way she said it made the entire library grow colder. If they didn’t know any better, it would be easy to think that it was the middle of winter with how cold everything was despite it being deep into the summer.
“Well, I’m waiting.”
None of them could move, the next few moments felt like entire eternities passing. Jason’s fingers almost instinctively curled tighter on the sleeve of Dick’s sweater as he more or less positioned himself in front of his siblings. He didn’t know why but there was something in the way that she looked at them that made his stomach drop. It was like he was fifteen again facing the Joker instead of in his home playing with his siblings and with his mom in front of him.
That moment, it didn't even feel like it was his mom in front of him but something else. Something dangerous that wouldn't hesitate to devour them if given the chance. Jason tried to bury that thought, his mom would never devour him. She wouldn't. She never did in the past even when she could.
“We don’t know how.” He said, he didn’t exactly know what possessed him to say that but that moment it just felt right to. He almost jumped when she let out an exasperated sigh.
“Get your father, Jason.” Talia ordered, and the hairs on the back of Jason’s neck rose.
For a moment, he was hesitant to do as she said. The primal part of him begged him to stay. To protect his sibling from this unknown danger in front of him. But another part of him, the part that formed during his time in the League urged him to do as he was told. It told him to apologize for daring to waste her time by making her wait and run off to get Bruce.
He felt a tug from behind him and looked to see Cass, urging him to go. Even though she didn’t say or sign to him, it was clear to him what she wanted to say. ‘Get dad’.
And he did.
Fighting against his urge to stay, Jason broke into a run. Slamming against the library doors as he desperately raced to his dad’s room. With each step he took, the louder his mind yelled at him to go back. To stay with his siblings and protect them. But Jason didn’t. He knew that he was no use there so he did the only thing he could and ran.
He reached his dad’s room at a record speed and slammed open the door. From the bed, Bruce shot up. It was more of a muscle memory than anything, something engrained deep into his dad’s unconscious that even the slightest noise was enough to wake him up. Never in his life was Jason more thankful for this.
“Jason, what-?” Bruce was able to croak out before Jason grabbed him by his hand and yanked him off the bed. “What’s happening?”
“Mom, she-” A violent chill came over Jason and almost immediately Bruce’s eyes snapped open and with a blink of an eye he was by his side.
“Jaylad, are you alright?” Bruce asked warmly, and Jason so desperately wanted to climb into his arms and hide away. That moment, his dad was the safest person he could be with Jason was so tempted to say fuck it and bury himself in his dad’s warmth.
But he didn’t. He couldn’t. Because his siblings needed him and they came first. They always will.
“What’s going on?”
This time, Jason was finally able to find his words. “T-Talia, she-” He swallowed, and then in a quiet voice, “In the library, we summoned her.”
Bruce’s brows knit together, “You summoned Talia?” He sounded confused. Where there was genuine concern a few seconds before was replaced by disbelief, by doubt.
Jason’s heart sank to his stomach, for a moment he was afraid that his dad didn’t believe him. That Bruce would return to his bed and send him off. He couldn’t let that happen, not when his sibling’s lives were at stake. He quickly forced himself to swallow that growing fear and grab his hand. “We don’t have time for this.”
He succeeded in pulling him out the door but Bruce stopped him before he could turn the corner.
“Jaylad, what is going on?” Bruce said, hands on his shoulders, eyes wide with worry and concern. “What do you mean you summoned Talia in the library? Where-”
“Dad,” Jason pleaded, voice cracking with barely concealed terror. “Please.”
That moment, something shifted in Bruce and he nodded. Nothing short from relief washed over Jason. From there, Bruce led him to the library, always one step ahead of him.
When they finally reached the library, Bruce forcefully shoved the doors open and Jason’s heart skipped a beat. His siblings were alright. They were still alive, he hadn’t failed them. He hadn’t-.
Before Jason knew it, his feet had carried him across the room and to his sibling. He checked them, eyes carefully looking them over for injuries and letting out a breath of relief when he found none.
“Finally.”
Jason and his siblings flinched at her voice. Behind him, Talia laid stretched on the summoning circle leaning against her fist. Her other hand, or perhaps claws was a better word to describe it, drummed against the wooden floors. She looked indifferent, like she was bored out of her mind or maybe she had grown tired of waiting for them and was deciding when it was best for her to pounce, his mind supplied.
Jason swallowed, almost shrinking beneath her piercing gaze. He almost wanted to disappear. To never show his face again in the world as her eyes switched from him to Bruce. His dad, who was now tense, pushed them behind him.
“Talia,” He growled, “What do you want?”
For a moment, Jason wanted to slap his hand over Bruce’s mouth to shut him up. That was not how someone addressed an al Ghul. Did he have a death wish or something? That was just asking to get killed by them. To be devoured by them.
Talia merely arched her brow, “Is that really how you’re going to speak to me? After your brats graciously interrupted my evening? My, my, Beloved, I’m disappointed.”
Jason’s blood went cold and suddenly, he couldn’t breathe. She was disappointed. She was displeased. She was not supposed to be displeased. In the League, displeasing an al Ghul meant death. It meant being devoured. Why would it be any different in Gotham? How could it be when there was no escaping them? When they had displeased her so now even in death, there would be no escape from her.
Distantly, Jason could feel Dick wrap an arm around him. Maybe he was even calling his name? Jason couldn’t really tell, everything felt muddled around him and the only thing he could really focus on was his dad.
His dad, who apparently didn’t have any survival instincts and doesn’t back down from her, “Enough, Talia, why are you here?”
Talia scoffed, limbs stretching as she made her more comfortable on the floor. Like a polar bear crouching down to watch its meal. Jason shivered, burrowing closer to his dad while keeping Dick’s arm around him.
“Your brats are the ones who called me here.” They flinch. “If you have nothing to ask of me, send me back.”
There was a pause, like Bruce didn’t know what she was asking of him before she sat up. Her pupils sharpened into slits, bones audibly snapping and limbs contorting even impossible for Dick as she hissed, “Well?”
“We don’t know how.”
A growl erupted from her throat, it almost sounded like a wolf but not quite. The tone of it was just too quiet, too human to be of an animal’s but also unhuman at the same time. It was like an uncanny amalgamation of something not quite human trying and failing to produce an animal’s sound. It was unsettling to say the least.
“Damian,” Talia said, dark cracks spreading across her once flawless cheeks, “Call him, now.”
Jason flinched, hands shaking as he hurriedly pulled his phone from his pocket and dialled Damian’s number. It rang two times before it was dropped. He tried again, only for it to be dropped again at the first ring. On his third attempt, the call didn’t even make it past the first ring before it ended.
Talia let out an unholy screech, and the entire batfamily had to block their ears and brace themselves at its intensity. Cass and Steph clung to each other while both Tim and Jason tried their best to make themselves as small as they physically could and hide behind Bruce, and Dick curled into a tight ball pressing his body against Bruce’s legs.
“Retched humans, no decency, no loyalty, not even from you!” Her claws dug into the hard wood of the floor. “Send me back!”
“-party in the U.S.A., Yeah, it’s a party in the U.S.A.”
Talia paused, for a moment she seemed to be caught off guard by the sound before his eyes landed on Jason’s phone. It was Damian. “Answer it.”
Jason did, with his hands shaking, he answered the call. “Damian.”
“What, Todd? You realize that it’s three in the morning, right? What do you want?” Damian’s snappy tone echoed through the silent walls of the library. “Well?”
It was probably the most beautiful thing he’d heard the entire night. “Our-Your mom,” Jason quickly corrected, “is in the library. Dick summoned her and we don’t know how to send her back.”
There was silence on the other end and for a moment, Jason almost thought that Damian had dropped the call when he heard a loud groan from the other side. “You summoned- Grayson, what in Lazarus’s name were you thinking?!”
“He wasn’t, Habibi,” Talia said dryly, her tone more human now as the cracks on her cheeks receded. “None of them were.”
Another loud and exasperated sigh was heard, before the sound of sheets being moved came through and-
In the corner of the library, shadows thickened. Ink like tendrils rose from the floor and came together before falling away to reveal Damian in all his four-foot-nine glory. Jason thought he would be relieved upon seeing his little brother and he did, for a moment, before it was immediately replaced with dread.
Damian, like Talia, looked unnatural. It was his brother, he knew but there was just something about the way he moved that made Jason’s heart skip a beat and made it hard to breathe. Something inhuman enough to make alarm bells ring in his head but human enough that he felt the urge to grab him and shield him away from danger.
Jason was halfway through an argument with himself when Damian appeared just feet away from them and if he thought he looked unnatural from afar, he was down right uncanny up front. He flinched, luckily Damian didn’t seem too interested in them as he stared down their mom.
“Mother.”
“Damian.” Mom’s too quiet voice whispered, by now the black cracks that had appeared on her face were gone leaving cheeks smooth as before. “Took you long enough.”
Again, Jason held his breath. A distant memory of his mom devouring an assassin that wasted her time back in the League came to him. For a moment, he was worried that his little brother would meet a similar fate but Damian merely huffed and a familiar pout appeared on his face.
“Apologies, I was-” Damian paused as if looking for the correct word to use before, “busy with Kent’s animals. It was not my intention to make you wait, Mother.”
That moment, Damian looked human. More human than he did earlier like he’d finally figured out how to move his body without the unnecessary contortion. It was almost enough to make Jason forget how unnatural he appeared to them. Though his iris remained too big for his eyes and pupils too cat-like for a human, made it hard to.
Talia’s expression softened, well, as soft as one could expect an owl’s would. Still, it was apparently enough to make the shadows recede and the air easier to breathe. “You will tell me about that boy.”
For a moment, Damian looked like he wanted to protest but thankfully, he didn’t, “Fine.”
Wait, what boy?
He must have said that out loud because Damian immediately snapped, “None of your business.” with his cheeks flushed red.
“Damian.” Mom said with a sharp tone, and suddenly, the fear that Jason had for his brother being devoured disappeared. He almost wanted to laugh because suddenly, mom looked as she did years ago scolding Damian he went too far.
And just as he would years ago, Damian pouted like a little murderous kitten. Cute. “Apologies, Akh.”
Fuck, he was starting to become like Dick.
“Apology accepted, Squirt.”
Damian huffed and loudly cleared his throat, “Moving on.” He said, voice a little off tune but otherwise human. He purposely avoided his gaze as he pours his attention on the summoning circle that bound their mom. “Grayson used his blood to perform their ritual, correct?”
“Yes.”
Damian scoffed, head tilting like an owl's as looked at Dick with judgement in his too-wide eyes. “Seriously?” He sounded more annoyed than surprised as he'd expected Dick to do something like this.
Dick, peering over Tim's shoulder, and had the decency to appear sheepish. “Sorry, Baby Bat.”
To which Damian responded with an exasperated sigh. For a moment, it looked like he was going to insult Dick and his life choices as he usually did but he decided against it. Instead, he reached over to grab Dick's hand and cut the palm of his hand with a swift motion of his sharp claw-like finger.
Then when Dick tried to pull his hand back, Damian hissed, “Stop that.” and Dick immediately froze.
They all did as they watched with bated breaths as Damian all but dug his claws into the wound he made on Dick's palm. When he appeared to be satisfied with the amount on his claws, he turned his attention to their mom and reached her with a blink of an eye.
The temperature dropped again and before anyone could say another word, Damian clawed at the summoning circle that bound their mom.
The aftermath was instant, all the light bulbs in the library shattered simultaneously and the entire library was plunged into darkness. An overwhelming feeling of dread floods the room and his siblings screamed, someone, Steph most likely, barreled into him. Unintentionally shoving Jason into their dad and forcing him to the ground.
For a split second, Jason couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t hear anything aside from the ringing in his ear and could only feel the walls closing in on him again. Like he was going to die again.
God, he was going to die.
He was going to die and he was sure of it. He was going to-
“Jason.”
Distantly, he heard someone whisper his name before he was pulled from the pile and into someone’s arms. Jason’s breath hitched and he froze. Fingers card through his hair, a grounding gesture that he’d grown used to in the League. Then a pair of lips pressed on his forehead and instantly, all the fear and helplessness he felt disappeared.
He melted into the arms that held him. A wave of calm washed over him and for a moment, he was almost tempted to allow it to pull him under. To sink into a familiar cold that he had long found comfort in. “Mom.”
“Apologies, I did not intend to scare you.” Mom whispered into his ear. Her voice was silky and much more human than it was before. It was nice to hear her voice again. “Your brother merely called me at the wrong time.”
“‘s okay” Jason slurred out, dazed as he tried to force his eyes to focus on his surroundings.
“Tt. That should teach them to know better than to summon you at this hour, Mother.” His little brother sneered before leaning down to face him. “Hopefully this encounter would serve as a lesson to you, Akh.”
Then to their other siblings, “Grayson, I can confirm that this will be the last time you will try your hand at summoning demons, correct?”
Grayson?
Right. Dick was still here.
Jason opened his eyes to look at them, he didn't notice that he'd closed them in the first place, and immediately noticed the green flames surrounding them. They were bright, almost painful to the eyes when stared at and almost creepy with how they seem to tempt him into looking.
Beautiful.
Behind him, Mom laughed, “You would be one of the few people that think that, Albi.”
Jason's cheeks flushed red and he did his best to tilt his head away to prevent his siblings from seeing him like that. He never really did get used to hearing pet names from his mom. Though that wasn't a surprise given that his mom usually avoided calling both him and Damian by anything but their names in front of an audience.
“I must go now.” He felt his mom's arms tighten around him and another kiss was placed on his head before he was pushed off towards his dad, who immediately checked him over.
Mom stood, now back to her usual height, and pulled his little brother into her arms. She appeared to whisper something into his ear before letting him go with a kiss pressed on the crown of his head. “I will see you soon, Habibi, but until then take care of yourself.” and with a teasing twitch of her lips. “And your brother too.”
Then she stepped away. Shadows gathered at her feet and inky tendrils snake into the air. When she turned to face them, her lips spread into a too-wide grin and her pupils sharpened as her head tilted with an ominous crack.
“Hopefully this will be the first and only time that we will see each other through a summoning, Gray Son of Gotham.” She said through a number of voices. “Take care of our sons, Beloved, I will not be pleased if I receive word of any incidents falling upon them.”
With that, she disappeared and with a blink of an eye, the lightbulbs that earlier cracked, were replaced by new ones and light returned to the library once more.
The heavy atmosphere dissolved from the room and for the first time since they made the summoning circle, Jason and his siblings were able to take a breath of relief. Though that was quickly replaced by worry as Bruce started to inspect the all one by one to make sure that they were uninjured.
All the while Jason continued to look at the area his mom occupied with awe.
Suddenly a lot of the things he's seen in the League were making sense to him. All the hallucinations he believed he was having, the dramatic shifts in the atmosphere when either of the older al Ghuls were there, it was all making sense now.
The al Ghuls weren't human. They weren't even close to being human, aside from Damian that is, though even that, Jason was starting to suspect.
“What the fuck was that?” Someone wheezed out. Tim.
Jason, as well as the rest of the family, turned to look at Damian for an explanation. To which Damian merely scoffed and rolled his eyes, “The reason why none of you should be playing around with summoning circles.”
Then, he looked over to the summoning circle that he earlier broke. “Tt. You're lucky that it was Mother you'd summon, though your timing was unfortunate since you interrupted her feasting. Lazarus knows that Grandfather wouldn't have been merciful enough to wait for me to set him free.”
“What the fuck are you saying?”
“What?” Damian looked at them with a curious expression, mischief glittering in his eyes as his lips stretched into a similar too-wide grin. “You didn't honestly believe that the Demon in Grandfather's title was just for show?”
Their siblings took a step back as the lights flickered and shadows grew.
Damian's neck cracked into an unnatural tilt and his pupils sharpened. A mirror image to their mom's. “Did you?”
This little shit.