Insignificantly evil (DP and Batman crossover)

Shifting sides

"Your daughter has arrived, sir!"

"Very well, tell her to meet here in a minute." The messenger nodded in affirmation. Before he stepped outside, Ra's called out to him once more. "What about my boy, how is he doing?"

A thoughtful look crossed the man's face before he answered. "I do not have it confirmed sir, but a rumor has it he's on his way back."

"Good, I think it is time for the two of them to finally meet."

•••••••

Zephyr didn't make it home on his own feet. The battle with Phantom drained a much higher amount of energy than expected. Not the physical one, rather the mental one. So many voices talking  over each other, some not even his own. That was scary.

Ryan laid the boy down in his bedroom. He covered him with a blanket and shut the blinds so Zephyr could rest as much as possible. He deserved it after today.

With a one final glance, the man departed the bedroom, silently closing the door behind him. Now it was his turn to be taken care of. With an empty stomach and growing appetite, Ryan strolled towards the kitchen to have something made.

In a dream filled state, the assassin barely noticed when he bumped shoulders with someone. Both turned around to apologized, and that is when Ryan recognized the messenger. The only one that lived in that corridor was Zephyr.

"He is asleep now. You can relay the message to me. I'll inform him when he wakes up."

"I don't think this matter can wait. The Grandmaster requested young Zephyr's presence." The messenger spoke, stressing the part about the sender. Ra's al Ghul wasn't cruel to his men, but he didn't like his orders being blown off either.

"The boy needs his sleep." Ryan breathed out, letting all the tension go away. "I will go inform the Grandmaster personally about this. I need to discuss other matter with him anyway."

A little hesitant, the messenger agreed to the offer and made his way back from where he came from. Ryan looked in the same direction with a sad look in his eyes. Guess the kitchen would have to wait for a while.

•••••••

Dan

That was the first thing that has crossed the boy's mind. The welcoming warmth and softness of his bed strangely reminded him of the time when the ghost held him. It was disturbing how much the little contact affected him.

Zephyr was angry. How could he picture his enemy in that way? All he wanted to do at that moment was throw the covers off and jump into a freezing cold bath. All to get rid of those thoughts and feelings. But he did none of it.

A part of him realized that this was the last time he would be able to feel this way. There would be no future contact with the ghost. To the world, he was dead and there was nothing he could do about it if he wanted to keep his fragile family intact.

How did he get here? At what point did his resentment towards Phantom magically vanish? Zephyr wandered. And that was all he could really do.

When the last bit of the warm feeling simmered out, there was nothing else keeping him in the bed. There should have been a debriefing about the mission, but since he was asleep when they returned, it had to be postponed.

No one seemed to catch up on him being awake yet. That gave the boy a little more time to collect his thoughts before he would go face his grandfather.

The more time, the better. Zephyr has never really lied to grandpa before and even when he did, the truth was always revealed one way or another. That may have been fine then, but the lie he was about to present was far greater than any he has ever told. His words protected or executed Phantom, they held this family together. They had far greater value than he thought, and that fact was slowly catching up with him.