Marinette was there when her baby brother was born. She had watched as her mother carefully removed the baby from the tube. While Talia did not love in any sense of the word, she still had enough love in her heart to care about her son. After all, it was this son who would one day become the league's leader. This left Ra's looking rather pleased with himself, finally having an heir secured.
Marinette watched as her baby brother started to fuss, no doubt displeased with the cool air hitting his skin. Her baby brother was wrapped in a blanket in an attempt trying to calm him. While this seemed to help, it appeared that the cool air wasn't the cause of his displeasure. The sound of the distressed child started to annoy Ra's. Talia quickly passed Damian over to Ra's in hopes that he would calm down. To everyone's annoyance, the moment he was in Ra's arms his cries only grew louder. Ra's passed him on to the guard near him, yet Damian continued screaming.
This created a cycle in which Damian was passed from one person's arms to another, but it did not put a deter to his cries. Finally, Damian was passed to the last pairs of arms in the room... Marinette's. The moment she held the child, his cries started to calm down to sniffles. He then looked up and his beautiful emerald green eyes met Marinette's bluebell ones. He nuzzled into Marinette's arms silently smiling in peace.
Marinette had a heart defect when she was born, so her heartbeat was different from the average human's heartbeat, it was therefore unique, but still soothing to listen to. And it seemed as if that was what her brother was listening to that made him feel so at peace. Marinette realized that this might be due to the many times she would simply lean against the glass talking to her baby brother as her heart was pressed against the cool glass allowing them to be heard by her brother.
Marinette looked up, she saw her mother staring at her with a furrow in her eyebrows, Ra's standing beside her clenching his jaw hard. The rest of the occupants of the room gaping at her in shock before they caught themselves, allowing no emotions to be present on their face in hopes that the demon head would not punish them. Ra's then stormed out of the room muttering about mistakes and corruptions.
The others present followed Ra's example and left the room. Letting out a sigh, Marinette cradles her baby brother closer to her chest, rocking him back and forth in a soothing motion. This caused the previously napping infant to wake at the movement. Although he was now awake, Damian did not start crying or screaming as he had done before.
Damian blinked slowly, before looking up at Marinette. He slightly tilted his head in wonder before waving his arms around attempting to grab her face. When Marinette smiled at his childish antics, he let out a joyful squeal. This made Marinette's heart swell with a light feeling, maybe this was what happiness felt like she couldn't help but wonder.
The light feeling in her chest made Marinette realize something. Her baby brother is real. He is real, breathing, making childish sounds, and able to move around just like any newborn could. He is a real person now, not just a being floating around in a tube. Damian is a living being just like herself. This realization just made her all the happier causing Damian to smile and coo brightly at her. She then continued to gently rock him and listen to his soft breaths as he listened to her heart. Marinette and Damian soon dozed off into a deep slumber, both of them content with being near each other for the time being.
It was now Damian's first birthday. Every single member of the League of Shadows was there celebrating. Usually, birthdays were not celebrated, not even Talia's or Marinette's, but as Damian was the heir and it was his first birthday, it was a significant day. Today was also the day that he would be receiving his first weapon, granted that he would not start proper training until he was five, but it was tradition. Although he won't be training with weapons, he will still be training a bit once he turns three because that was the usual age to start training. But Marinette has convinced Talia to prolong the age Damian would start training using the argument that while he should know how to fight he should also be knowledgeable and so his education should be his main focus from the ages of three to five.
Marinette, along with all important and high-ranking league members were present to watch as many weapons were placed in front of the Demon heads' heirs. These weapons included anything from daggers, spears, katanas, two-bladed swords, war fans, and crossbows. Each of the various weapons was brought before Damian, however, his face staying stoic in response.
Damian only paid attention to the weapons that were being presented to him when an obsidian katana was placed in front of him. The obsidian katana had emeralds and sapphires embedded in the hilt, causing Damian to start squealing. Ra's then walked forward and placed the weapon into Damian's tiny hands. He looked at it with a spark of curiosity in his eyes before he waved it around. As Marinette watched she started tearing up both by the pure amount of happiness on her brother's face and because the emeralds and sapphires on the katana looked like both her's and Damian's eyes. Marinette quickly wiped her tears away and put on a blank expression before any of the other assassins could see her tears. As she looked at her baby brother looking so free and happy, all Marinette felt was at peace with the world.
Damian was now fourteen months old. Since his birthday, he had wanted to spend even more time with Marinette. And boy was that a lot of time. He would now start crying the minute Marinette walked out of the room. When he saw Marinette pass him in the hallways he would start squealing. When Marinette would talk, he would look at her in fascination and occasionally giggle as though he understood her.
Talia and Ra's, on the other hand, were very annoyed with this new development. On top of Damian favoring the mistake, he would also not react unless she was there?! It annoyed them sincerely to no end. They were also frustrated with Damian, for he had not started speaking yet. Damian was the heir of the Demon Head, he should be a prodigy and start speaking at, at most, nine months.
But Marinette understood why Damian had not started speaking yet. What Talia and Ra's did not understand is that babies spoke based on the environment around them and how many words they heard. They would then try to mimic the words they heard. Damian was being raised in a secluded part of the League and therefore did not have many human interactions. The people he generally only heard speak were his caretakers, Marinette, Ra's, and Talia. But the caretakers were not allowed to speak much. And Ra's and Talia barely were ever around. So Marinette was the only person Damian would hear speak which is another reason that he favored her over the others. Marinette couldn't wait for when Damian did speak his first word though. She could imagine his adorable, soft voice trying to pronounce whatever he would be trying to say. Plus, she was also curious what his first word would be. But when Marinette did hear him speak for the first time, she was very surprised.
It was a day like any other and she had walked into Damian's room. She went over to his bed and sat on it gently stroking his hair. Damian then slowly opened his eyes and cooed seeing that it was his favorite person who had woken him up. He babbled at her for a while. Suddenly his babbling grew louder alerting Ra's and Talia who happened to be passing by. Right as they pushed open the door, Damian opened his mouth and softly babbled, "Mawinette! Mommy Mawinette!"
Ra's and Talia stood in the doorway looking as stoic as ever, but a slight twitch in their expression showed that they were furious that his first word was her name, and then right after he called her, "mommy".
Marinette, on the other hand, froze in shock when Damian said those words. She didn't even bother to hide her emotions. Damian saw how distressed she looked and started whimpering slightly. Marinette quickly snapped out of her shock and rushed to hug him and continuously kissed his cheeks while cooing in his ear, "Oh, my baby boy, I love you so much! You love me so much that my name would be your first word? Oh, I promise to always be there for you!"
She continued softly talking to him, completely forgetting about the others present in the room, while he giggled and chanted, "mawinette". She then stopped to look back at the other two occupants. Ra's left without sparing the two a glance while Talia stiffly said, "Congratulations. And a good job to you, Damian," before leaving the room, following her father. Marinette then went back to hugging Damian while rocking him back and forth; she was so touched by Damian's actions and at that moment, nothing could ruin her mood.
Time had passed and now Damian was two and a half years old. He had gotten even closer to Marinette and would now cuddle with her and listen to her heartbeat whenever he wanted to. One time this had occurred was when Damian had a nightmare. He had startled awake tears streaming down his face. He quietly snuck out of his room and went to Marinette's instead. He hesitantly stopped outside her door, tapping his hand against his leg to the rhythm of a familiar heartbeat. Damian took a small shaky breath, wiping away a few tears before gathering some courage and opening the door gently.
Marinette, who was an incredibly light sleeper, woke up and looked to see Damian standing in the doorway. She sat up and rubbed her eyes before groggily asking him, "Damian, what's the matter, Habibi?"
He quietly sniffled before replying, "I had a nightmare."
Marinette sighed deeply, before beckoning him to join her on her bed. Once he had laid down and his head was against her chest she gently told him, "You never have to be afraid to come to me, no matter the circumstances. I will always be there for you."
Damian nodded sleepily in response. Marinette smiled before closing her eyes and gently singing to him. As Damian listened to her voice and her unique heartbeat, his eyes started to grow heavy. The two basked in the sound of Marinette's voice, their heartbeats, and their breathing. As Damian finally closed his eyes, getting pulled into the void of sleep, he knew that he would always recognize the sound of Marinette's heart.
Hey everyone!!!
Ahhh!! Writer's block is so annoying! But this chapter is FINALLY complete! Yay me! Anyways, I would like to thank you all for reading this story! I hope you enjoy everything that is to come! Remember to stay safe and healthy! I love you all!!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
~Crystal❄️