Chapter 4
“If your absence doesn’t bother them then your presence never mattered to them in the first place.”
~
They should’ve noticed.
Dick paced inside of the foyer, biting his nails as Bruce and Alfred reviewed the footage from weeks prior, the footage of the boy -brother, he was never afraid to call Damien that alone- leaving through the Batcave when everyone was not giving him mind. He had left with his animals, a supply bag with his katana, and vanished into the shrinking rays of light in one of Dick’s cars. Because unlike Bruce, his didn’t have automatic shutdown systems if it was driven by someone other than him.
Surprisingly, startlingly, sadly, it hadn’t been he or Bruce or Alfred who had noticed the missing presence.
It had been Timmy.
Tim had sounded disgruntled when he brought it up, wondering where the stink of murderer was, but the undertone of worry was clear, in scent and tone. Surprised, they questioned one another, even Alfred was bewildered, and he was the most perceptive. So, they looked….
And Damien had left them well over a week before their first notice. Honestly, the timing was too perfect, thanks to the holiday season, no school, and no true…expectations required from the twelve-year-old, and each of them busy with something or some other -avoiding, he should admit it to himself, they avoided him when they could- they never noticed him missing.
God, he was the worst brother! How could he forget to check on the little guy? He promised Damien they’d spar after he’d get home following his patrol, but he had been tired. Then his car was missing so he had to get that, then had back to Bloodhaven-!
But he just wants to add excuses…hell, they all do.
Tim might not have been close to their brother, but the omega couldn’t help but whine when they inspected his room, his scent long gone and no longer lingering. He had dove into the internet, trying to find some scrap of proof their brother was alive and somewhere out there, but he was nowhere in America, Canada, Tibet, or anywhere he would go.
Bruce was brooding, growling under his breath and even snapping at Alfred, though the Beta was quick to snap him back into place. He was searching as both personas to try and get any trace of the ex-assassin, but nothing.
The closest thing they found was when Damien exited Dick’s car and vanished from the camera’s sights.
Gazing down to the picture in his lap, Damien’s broody gaze meeting his own, he couldn’t help the quell of worry coiling in his stomach. He was almost thirteen, presenting age, the baby alpha was going to be alone to deal with it. No one should present alone; they needed their pack!
…
…
…
…
…
But were they his pack, in the end?
~
Marinette frowns at the series of sneezes the poor pup released, the disgruntled look on his face reemerging as she hands him the tissue box, “This is absurd,” he complained in his nasally tone, “for me to have caught a cold…”
“Mon Tigre, I am fairly certain it is not.” She chirps, giggling at his half-hearted glare. She would’ve frozen from it a week ago, but as it was, she knew the fierce demeanor he held was a protection more than anything. “You tumbled into the snow with Titus! Of course, you gained a cold so quickly after recovering from your fever.”
His scathing glare told her everything as he moodily hid in the nest she had crafted for him.