ابني,

Charging the gates of Hell had been easy enough, however traversing on foot alone through the flames had not been. It would have been unwise, or even foolish, to have continued on that journey alone. So,

With Superman using his arctic breath to part the orange sea of flames, he traveled onward.

...that was the day the Justice Lords defeated the League of Assassins together, my son.

He had one goal in mind as he entered the threshold of Hades...

His Son.

My son.

This was a day that would be ingrained in his memory for forever.

It is a day I want you to know was a day that you, lost your hope, and in a way; I regained mine.

We, as the 'The Justice Lords', had been planning to annihilate the League of Assassins for some time. Nevertheless, this had given us the perfect opportunity to do so.

They had stolen his son.

As I had been stolen from my childhood, I had become determined that the same wasn't going to happen again to someone else if I could help it.

Charging the building, he busted the doors down. Anger couldn't begin to describe the rage of feelings tempting to brew over.

This was almost worse than the time when the 'Lords' had poured there murderous outrage against the Joker when the joke had mercilessly killed the boy whom he had cherished as his own.

Everyone of the Justice League members had been there. It had been one of the more memorable battles that we had all shared.

"Talia," he seethed. It was her fault. Everything that happened today, it was well due.

There were flames of fire now shrouding the inside of the building depriving the cramped room of its oxygen.

Damian had to be found before it was too late. No, he wouldn't be late this time... He couldn't be.

"Where are you, you coward!" The lungs of his quivering body screamed as it demanded for more air.

Talia had kept you a secret from me, from everyone. You were one of the next in line for her abuse and coy games. You were to be used like a puppet, and like a puppeteer she did.

Looking across the scope of the room, Talia could be seen standing at the back. She, along with his son were hiding in the haze embracing the room.

Swaddled around her chest was a babe. No more than a year old he would have to presume. So young... So vulnerable.

A life full of luxury no doubt, but at what such price.

"I'm right here beloved..." The flames seemed to coo along with her words, etching upon his heart.

Who knew that innocence had such a high cost when you yourself had lost it?

Watching as she began to approach slowly, there was a mischievous glint in Talia's eye. It was more so prominent than usual. It was like that even now, when she was surrounded by the crumbling of her own life, she wasn't being completely honest. Nor was she concerned. Not that it was expected of her to be anything less than the vile creature that she had steadily become over the years.

"Was this what you were looking for?" The viper spat with a snarl.

It was lies. One after the other...

It was as if she were disgusted by the beautiful babe she beheld.

And what do people normally do with trash?

They toss it away.

His mind screamed with horror.

"Talia..." he breathlessly whispered.

But did I expect any better from her?

Seeing her arms charge down he froze in fear, he knew he wouldn't make it. Even the Justice Lords had been too late.

Again.

Why was it always too late?

Why was he always too late?

No.

There was a feeling of defeat that had surged over him in that moment. It was an interesting notion that when having nothing, you feel a loss.

Learning to expect the worse, is the way that you can be surprised by the 'better'.

About to sink to the floor, a light of bright green shined and had caught his now wailing son.

Sighing with an overwhelming relief, he wanted to reach out and caress his son. However, he found that he could not. For everything was put at a standpoint when Talia had clicked her tongue and an assortment of assassins came dodging out in every corner.

That is why I had been surprised.

Jeez, there was no catching a break was there?

If it wasn't for Hal, he was absolutely positive that by the force and the trajectory Damien's head was directing, he would not have lived to have seen out this experience alive.

Thinking about you still brings me the terror of that day in which I watched you slip from my fingers. In that moment, there was nothing I could do to stop it. It just happened. I had thought that I had lost you.

Still in utter shock, he watched as Superman incinerated three of the assassins. With his wobbling knees, the pure force of Clark's beam vision nearby had unfortunately tumbled him to the ground. From the corner of his eye, he could defiantly see that out of the three assassins, one without a shred of doubt was absolutely dead.

Good Riddance.

Panting from the headache, thanks Clark... he could see Diana lassoing four assassins as they approached his sons floating form.

Talia had been cruel. She played the part of the tempter as she waved Damian about enticing everyone to give their all in all in that battle.

One assassin came towards his way as he still was strewn about on the floor.

With a quick thud that assassin no longer had a nose as of this point. He grimaced looking at the blood splatter on the tip of his boot. Alfred was gonna to gripe if he gets blood on the carpet.

Cursing, he pulled himself up. Seeing as the impending fire was getting closer to Damian, he trudged on.

Now looking back, it was in all semblance, a distraction. A distraction from you.

Barely missing a hit as Hawk-Girl viciously swung her mace at Talia, he smiled at her face of pure shock. She was effectively being beaten to a pulp... like his heart had been so many times from her alone.

Even amidst battle, I had no time to stop and think. My main goal was to rescue someone that need rescued. In turn, I had overlooked one thing...

Grabbing his son through the shield, he paused for a moment shushing him from his cries.

Someone that needed more rescuing even more than Damian did.

'Thankyou J'onn' he muddled through his mind when Damian's wails had lowered to soft coos and whimpers instead of the loud sobs they once were. Turning a foot, he headed to Diana's invisible plane just outside the entrance.

Walking through the piles of burning debris he, for the first time, left the battle scene. Wondering as to what Tim or even Dick would think of the new addition, he stepped over a smouldering piece of sandstone.

It couldn't be helped on his part when he had the thought of this being a new beginning. A beginning to make things... right. A genuine heir to his throne. The next rightful owner of the 'Batman'...

Entering the plane, the fighting commenced with everyone agreeing that the place was no longer habitable. They had come for what they wanting leaving the rest in shambles. Most important of all, most of the inhabitants were either dead, or were going to be.

The fact remained that it would take some work for the place to rebuild itself. It wasn't like any of them to leave matters unfinished, especially anymore. Nonetheless, there were more important matters to attend to at that moment.

Looking down at Damien he wiped a bit of soot that was smeared across the boys pudgy face. He was beautiful. With little tuffs of spiky black hair, down to all his five fingers and toes he was absolutely perfect. And he was all his. His alone.

Unbeknownst to anyone, a little boy stood afar off from the flames. With anger his eyes shined of bright green. A weary hand blistered with spattered blood landed on his shoulder, "Now your training can begin, my love."

Im so sorry... You should have been mine alone, my son.

Love,أبوك

This Story Prompt was requested on Ao3 and its just being posted here as well. :)

This Story has Two Sources: \ (•◡•) /
1) A Fandom page to learn about the Justice Lords - (Because this is about an alternate universe where the Justice Lords come to retrieve Damian and unknowingly leave Jason behind.)
2) Google Translate to translate the Arabic words in the title, beginning and end of the story. (•ω•)