Gaming night

Cass left first on her motorcycle, as the clock ticked to nine p.m.

Jason, Rose, and Riyad followed in his car, watching as Cass went to and fro around the cars. She did it with such ease, Riyad was impressed.

Rose was giving tips for when Riyad met the leader of this whole family; Bruce Wayne, also known as Batman. Jason didn't provide much help, keeping his lips pressed together

Riyad was nervous. Scared almost. He knew everything about Batman, father of Damian Wayne, and a man his mother foolishly had loved. He knew that now, he was partnered with the woman of cats, Selina Kyle, also known as Catwoman.

Also knew that Catwoman had beaten his mother in a fight.

Jason turned off into a road, the buildings lessening, and Riyad's anxiety grew.

"You'll be fine, Riyad." Rose assured him. But she held on to his hand, anyway, easing his nerves.

As the car turned to the gates, that opened with no prompting, Riyad's eyes widened with how big the house was. It seemed intimidating from the outside, dark with heavy tinted windows.

A dog sat on the porch, and a figure stood next to it.

Bruce? Riyad thought, as he leaned up to his window for a better view.

No.

Damian.

Damian stood there, arms crossed, with the same scowl he always had on. Come to think of it, the only time he wasn't frowning was when he was with that death girl…Flatline? Heartstopper? back on Lazarus Island.

Her name was a bit of a blur.

Jason parked the car next to Cass's motorcycle, stepping out of the car first. The dog ran up to him, jumping on him. Jason laughed as he pet it, Rose, and Riyad coming out next.

Damian walked closer, standing in front of Riyad, with a cool demeanor. Riyad wasn't as nervous, nor did he feel the usual wave of jealousy or resentment that came with looking at him.

"Welcome." Was all he said.

Jason rolled his eyes, as he walked past him, ruffling his hair. "Hello to you too, shortie."

"Dammitt Todd! I just fixed this." Damian replied, fixing his hair.

"Oh right, your girlfriend is also joining us for this game night." Jason teased, as Rose, and Riyad walked behind him.

Damian said something else, but by then, they were already inside.

The interior of the house was nothing like the outside. Brightly colored with a sunroof, it let what little light Gotham offered into the house. There were statues, and so much art, Riyad lost count after twelve.

And then he froze as he saw an elderly gentleman approach them.

His suit was fitted nicely, white button up with a black overcoat, and pressed gray pants, with shining black loafers.

Jason broke into a smile, stepping forward, and hugging him.

"Alfred, it's so good to see you!" he said.

"Likewise, Master Jason. So glad you could join the rest of us in family game night." He replied, a faint English accent in the way that he spoke.

"And let Grayson try to ruin my running streak in One and Done? No way." Jason replied. Rose stepped up, hugging Alfred, and then pulling Riyad into the group.

"This is my and Damian's younger brother, Riyad." Rose introduced them. "And Riyad, this is Alfred, Bruce's rusty and trusty butler."

Riyad stared down at his shoes before looking up at Alfred. The kind old man seemed stunned when he saw his face, but then he broke into a smile.

"My, you look almost identical to Master Damian. Pleased to meet you, Master Riyad." Alfred said, as he held out his hand.

Riyad took it but didn't do what he had done to Grayson. "Hello." He said, finding his voice.

"So, this is the son of Slade Wilson, and Talia Al Ghul?" a voice said from up the stairs, and Riyad froze, feeling his heart dropped to the bottom of his shoes.

"Master Bruce, I didn't realize you'd come back from New York." Alfred responded.

With great effort, Riyad turned around and saw him.

Bruce Wayne, also known as The Batman.

He was tall, with his black hair slicked back, dark blue eyes staring at Riyad with assessment. He wore a black shirt, with faded pants, and running shoes. Even in his casual attire, Riyad could sense that this person was something not to be taken too lightly.

Bruce walked down the stairs, waving at Jason who returned the gesture with one finger. Rose smiled, and Riyad could even see there was a twinge of nervousness to it.

And then Bruce was standing in front of Riyad, staring down at him, and Riyad could feel his face go red because this was the man that his grandfather had warned him about.

Another failure to run the Al Ghul Empire.

Something crossed over Bruce's face, but then disappeared.

"Yeesh, Bruce, are you just going to stare at Riyad all night?" Jason asked, crossing his arms. Now that they were both next to each other, Riyad could tell that where Bruce was stockier, Jason had more of a lean built. Both were of course dangerous in their own ways.

But so was Riyad. And he was the grandson of Ra's al Ghul. He refused to feel small around Bruce or anyone else. Riyad stood up straight and tall, meeting Bruce's full stare with his own.

The door burst opened, and Dick walked in, followed by Tim, Damian, and Cass, and a blonde girl who was conversing with a redhead in a wheelchair. Another redhead girl walked in, followed by a young man who was sporting a yellow jacket.

"Ah, yes, the family is almost all here." Bruce said with a soft smile. Jason went to greet his brothers, Rose hugging the blonde girl.

There were so many people and apparently, it wasn't all of them.

Riyad could hear Rose asking for someone named "Starfire", and "Cassie", and he quietly tried to slink away.

He was quite literally an outsider in all this.

Through the commotion, he snuck off to the side door, relieved and disappointed that no one followed him.

The dog, who Riyad had heard Jason call Ace, laid in the grass, staring at Riyad with a bored expression. As Riyad sat in the grass near him, but not too close, Ace got up, and walked over to him, plopping his head down on his lap.

Riyad hesitated, but pet the German shepherd's soft fur, finally relaxing the tense set of his shoulders.

Someone stood behind Riyad, but he didn't move, or couldn't as Ace was now using him as a pillow. After a beat, the person cleared his throat, and Riyad his head around to face him.

It was Bruce. And he looked…apologetic.

Riyad didn't know what to say, so he opted for staying silent.

"I…I wanted to say that I've heard a bit about you, Riyad. I know who your parents are, and the conditions your grandfather put you through…" he trailed off as Riyad began to tremble a bit. "But look, you don't have to worry about Ra's anymore. He's dead." Bruce finished, watching Riyad's reaction carefully.

Riyad didn't know what to say. The man causing his existence, his suffering, was dead. Although Riyad was at first hell-bent on killing Ra's, he felt…empty. Like something was missing.

"Okay." Was all he responded with, still petting Ace. Bruce looked like he wanted to say more, but Rose stepped out.

"Come on, Riyad, everyone's here. The games are about to start!" she said excitedly, holding out her hand. Riyad stood up, petting Ace one last time as he followed her.

After everyone had introduced themselves to Riyad, while staring at him, and then Damian and then Rose with a mixture of shock, and then elation, they walked over to the living room, crowding around the board game shelf.

Damian wanted to play One and Done, but Jason suggested Apologize or Die. Cass and the one named Kate were on his side. Tim suggested something more brain inclusive, such as Sketch-n-Fix. Alfred, Dick, and Bruce agreed to that one.

The ones that didn't really seem to care, Starfire, Cassie, Nika, Rose, and Riyad stood off to the snack table, enjoying the food that Alfred had placed out.

"How long does it take to choose a game to play?" Riyad asked, stuffing the last of his stuffed pepper into his mouth.

"It all depends. Usually, votes are casted to see which game is the favored one, but it seems that they are all having difficulty choosing which one." Starfire answered.

Riyad could see why Dick was dating Starfire, and why Starfire was dating Dick. They were the two most good-looking people he had seen, and the fact that they wanted to be together blew his mind. There was no arranged marriage, no suitors scouted for each other's hands, just came to happen so naturally.

Riyad must have been staring too long at her, because Rose elbowed him in his ribs, giving him an arched eyebrow look. He shrugged, looking away then.

After about twenty-five minutes of discussing, and Jason threatening to leave if they couldn't agree to play a game, they all decided to pick Tales, or Truth? a game which each player would be given a subject, and a sentence of the subject where the player would have to decide if it was a truth or a tale.

Bruce, Tim, and Alfred seemed smug about it, Jason, Dick, and Cass staring them down. They seemed to all be competitive, ready to win.

Riyad wanted to laugh, following Dick's orders as the teams were split into randoms. The first team, which was of course led by Bruce, included Jason, Nika, and Stephanie. Dick who was leading team 2, had Cass, Rose, and Duke. Team 3 which was led by Tim, had Riyad, Selina, and Damian.

And the last group, group 4, was led by Kate Kane, had Cass, Cassie, and Starfire. Barbara, and Alfred would be the refs, and the ones to speak out in case anyone decided to cheat.

As Riyad walked over to his group, glancing at Selina Kyle, he felt his nerves act up again. He didn't notice when she had snuck into the group, and she smiled at him, walking up to him.

"You, and Damian look almost identical." She said, as she brushed his hair up. Riyad didn't know what to say, shrugging.

"A man of many words, I see. If I didn't know any better, I'd think Bruce was your father instead of Slade." She teased.

"That's quite enough, Selina." Rose called out, frost in her voice. Selina turned, eyes a bit wide.

"I was just making conversation." Selina said, raising her hands in innocence. Rose looked at her a bit longer, Dick putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Riyad didn't know what that was all about, but he turned to Tim, who was already explaining the rules of the game to him. There was a time limit, fifteen seconds, for a guess to see if the sentence was true or tale.

"Not to brag, but I've never lost at this game." Tim bragged, earning an insult from Jason, and a crumpled wad of paper thrown at him by Dick. "Hey, I'm just stating the truth."

As Alfred stood in the center of the living room, gesturing everyone to be quiet, and get ready for the games to begin, Riyad was filled with excitement and a strong determination to win.

This would be fun.

An hour and a half later…

It was indeed a disaster.

The leaders of each group had faced off first, screaming answers into each other's faces. Bruce, Dick, Tim, and Kate were squared off, Jason, Cass, Damian, and Stephanie trying to break it up.

Barbara looked at the group, rubbing her temples, as Alfred got up, and opened the side doors. He motioned for all of them to go outside, as it was obvious, they needed to let off some steam with each other.

Riyad had joined back with Rose, sitting next to her on the long red couch, as she talked to Starfire, and Cassie. Selina sat across from them, drinking a glass of wine.

She was beautiful and seemed so cat-like. Curious too. Riyad wondered if she was one to be trusted though, considering how Rose had reacted.

Alfred walked towards them, closing the side doors as the arguments went on.

"Just a heads up, Master Riyad, it is almost always like this. Though they do tend to spar most of the time." Alfred explained.

"Then the game times must be taken very serious." Riyad responded.

Starfire then stood up, stretching her arms out, Cassie getting up as well. "Since family game night is over, we will take our leave now." She said, Cassie nodding.

Rose checked her watch, nodding at the time. "We should probably head back as well. I don't know if Jason said if he was going to patrol Gotham or not."

Starfire, and Cassie waved good-bye, as they left through the front door. Selina crossed her legs, her dark pants stretching over her legs. She sported a casual dark red sleeveless shirt, staring up at Rose. "I don't think they're going to stop anytime soon. Why don't you spend the night here?" she asked.

Rose seemed uncertain, Barbara taking her leave as well. "Would that be okay, Alfred?" she asked.

"Of course, Miss Rose. We have plenty of rooms, unless you want to use Jason's for when he stays here." Alfred said.

"I can use Jason's, and Riyad, you're okay with using one of the extra rooms, right?" she asked him.

Riyad wasn't okay with that. He didn't want to sleep in another strange place that he wasn't familiar with the interior just yet. He would have nightmares, seek Rose for comfort, and get lost.

"Of course." He answered instead, digging his nails into the soft part of his palms. Selina got up, and excused herself, as she went outside to talk to the others.

Rose stood up, bidding a good night to the group, and went to lead off Riyad to his room.

Despite the outcome, Riyad had fun. The people were certainly interesting to be around, and it felt like a real family.

The house had many, many rooms. Riyad wondered how many guests Bruce usually had at a time, Rose stopping in front of one door.

"This is Jason's room. I'll be sleeping in here, okay?" she told him. Riyad nodded, not wanting to be treated like a child.

But it felt nice that Rose was guiding him in a gentler way. It was more than what he deserved.

She stared at the other doors in concentration, pulling him along to the door down at the far end of the hallway. Opening it, she smiled in victory.

"And this is where you'll sleep tonight."

Riyad walked around her, seeing a light gray colored room, with navy-colored curtains, and a huge bed. Multicolored blankets were folded neatly on the bed, various pillows piled on the bed.

He was going to sleep so well.

Jumping in the bed, he kicked off his shoes, burrowing under the covers. He heard a slight chuckle from Rose.

"Alright, good night. See you in the morning, okay?" she said. Riyad mumbled out a good night, his eyelids already closing.

Sleep came soon after.

A slap to the face startled him out of his sleep. What was going on? Why was he dangling-

A face came close to his and Respawn shied away from it as best as he could. Which wasn't much considering he was being suspended in air by the chains on his arms.

His grandfather stared at him, anger coursing through his black eyes. "I did not give you the order to sleep, yet I hear you dozing off. What did you do right that gave you a reward?"

Respawn stayed silent, knowing that this was bait. He couldn't speak unless his grandfather gave him the order to. Another slap was met and Respawn could feel blood drip down from his nose.

He didn't make a sound though.

Another hit was made, the blow catching Respawn on the back of his head. His vision swam, sweat pooling over his brow.

"I guess I must teach you a lesson." Ra's angrily said, walking closer to Respawn. The fear was going intense, making it harder for Respawn to breathe, and-

-Riyad couldn't breathe. He threw the blanket off his sweating body, and sat up, a wave of dizziness taking over. He tried to get out of bed, but the room spun, and he steadied himself by using the headboard for balance. Warm liquid dripped down from the front of his nose, and when he wiped at it, and squinted using the dim light from the lamp, he saw a red coating on his fingers.

Blood. He was bleeding from his nose.

Panic gripped him, as he opened the door, and walked out of the hot room.

The hallway seemed to stretch out endlessly, and Riyad wondered why Rose's room was so far away.

Oh, right, that's Jason's room. Riyad thought tiredly, dragging his feet forward. He must've slipped, because suddenly he was on the floor, his hands struggling to push himself up from the ground.

Pathetic. How dare an Al Ghul go down without being in battle. He thought to himself.

"Riyad?" a voice said, and he looked up to see a still sleepy Damian.

Oh. He must've said it out loud then. "Hello, brother. I didn't mean to wake you." He struggled to get out.

"What happened?" Damian asked, as he looked alarmed at the state Riyad was in. Riyad wondered if this had to do with the sudden salt-like blood that was filling in his mouth.

"G…grandfather." Was all he mustered to get out, before he fell back on his side, and blacked out.

There were many voices talking at once.

"…Damian, what did you do?"

"Nothing! He came out of the room like that and said grandfather did this!"

"Damian, Ra's is dead." Another voice said somberly.

"I know."

"He needs help! Figure out what's wrong with him!" another voice said, frantic. Oh, it was his sister, Rose.

Riyad wanted to turn to her and tell her he was okay. But he felt so heavy, and the person that was carrying was so strong.

So, he said nothing, and stayed asleep.