Beast Boy had been sitting with Wayne through the night in his dog form, which in hindsight was probably not the best decision. The moment Wayne opened his eyes and saw a green dog at his bedside his whole body went rigid and he threw himself back against the headboard, knocking a cup off the nightstand.
"Are you alright over there?" asked Beast Boy.
"It talks! Demon!" he shouted. "There's a demon, my vision is green, the demons are—"
"Calm down, Prince Wayne." Jonathan came through the door, moving past Beast Boy.
Martha was already at Wayne's side with her hand on his forehead. "His fever's still high."
"Something is still inside him." Raven had appeared in the doorway, her eyes going white. She crossed the room without asking permission and put her hands over his chest. "Something that is killing him. We need to get it out. Now."
Wayne's eyes rolled back and he went limp against the headboard. Raven moved closer and began her work again.
—
They sat in the main room while she did it, the four of them, Finn and Ciri and the old couple, listening to the occasional sound from the other room without much conversation. Martha had made tea. Jonathan had his hands around his cup, turning it slowly without drinking.
After a while Finn said, "If you don't mind me asking. Who is Prince Wayne, really? The others have told me what he does. I want to hear it from someone more..."
"Unbiased?" Jonathan said.
"Something like that."
Martha turned her cup in her hands. "We are not unbiased. We've sheltered many people to protect them from the likes of him." She paused. "But very well."
Jonathan set his cup down. "Prince Bruce Wayne is the son of Queen Martha Wayne. Though he is a bastard. King Thomas Wayne was not his father."
"Do you know who it was?" Ciri asked.
"People have theories. The Wayne family was close to their advisors. The Els. The ones that came from the sky." Jonathan continued. "Make of that what you will."
"So he's from the House of El." Finn said it quietly, more to himself.
"All but confirmed, from what we've seen." Jonathan said. "His parents were killed by an old advisor of theirs. Lex Luthor. A man who turned to magic and used it to assassinate them while they were on the road. The prince witnessed it. And something changed in him that day. He refused the throne, let the Els become king and queen instead, and vowed to put away everyone with unnatural abilities in this new land of El."
"It doesn't excuse what he has done," Ciri said. "Whatever he saw."
"No," Jonathan agreed. "It does not. But forgiveness is still a virtue. If the prince can change and atone for what he's done, perhaps he can be a great man yet."
—
Wayne woke the next morning with Raven's hands hovering over his chest, her eyes white, her mouth moving slightly. He shoved her away before he was fully conscious, already shouting.
"Witch! Get away from me!"
"Whoa, do not be hasty now, prince. The piece of stone inside you is out now." Jonathan came through the door before the echo of the shout finished. "That 'witch' saved your life. Do try to remember that."
The rest of the group had heard the noise and filed in behind him. Viktor came through the door with a flat but angry expression. Kory's expression was sour from the moment she entered. Beast Boy, still in his dog form, padded in last and sat near the foot of the bed.
"You should feel lucky we didn't just let you die," Viktor said. "Considering what you've done to our kind."
"We put it to a vote," Beast Boy said, tail moving slightly. "For the record, I voted to save you."
Wayne turned his head toward the green dog. "A… talking dog… I thought I was delirious."
"You were delirious. But the talking dog part was real." Beast Boy shifted back into his human form and offered his hand. "I'm Beast Boy."
"Do not shake his hand," Raven said from the doorway, her voice very flat. "His hands are full of the blood of our kind."
"I have never killed anyone," Wayne said.
"So you've only beaten, kidnapped, and imprisoned our kind." Raven refuted. "How virtuous of you, Prince."
Wayne went quiet at those words.
"We know who you are. We know what you've done." Raven continued. "But to think that you are one of us all along." She shook her head. "You make me sick."
She walked out. The others followed, Viktor last, and the door slammed behind them.
Finn and Ciri came in from the hall. Finn had heard enough of it to piece the rest together. One of us. The stone in his bag. The green glow of it. The laser eyes. He was almost certainly a Kryptonian.
"That could have gone better," Martha said. "But you must admit, you cannot deny it, Prince, that you have been attacking others like yourself while denying what you are."
"I take it you are Jor-El's son," Jonathan continued.
Wayne's head came up. "What gave you that idea?"
"It is common knowledge that you are a bastard, and that the Waynes were close to the Els." Jonathan exhaled slowly. "It is all but confirmed when you tried to burn Raven with the fire from your eyes when she was healing you. How long have you known?"
Wayne's chin dropped. "A few days."
"That must be a difficult thing," Ciri said, from near the door. "To discover you are the very thing you have been hunting."
"Miss Ciri," Martha said, gently.
Ciri said nothing further but she didn't take it back either.
Martha turned to Wayne. "I know what happened to your parents. I know what Luthor did to them. But it is long past due that you grow up, Prince. Not everyone that is different is a monster."
She gestured toward the door. "Those children out there. They are not what you think."
"What are they?" Wayne asked.
"Children," Martha said. "Frightened ones."
"Why are they here?"
"The same reason any child ends up under our roof." She folded her hands in her lap. "For protection."
Wayne already knew the answer but he asked it anyway. "From who?"
"From people like you," Jonathan said.
Wayne opened his mouth. But then Kory's voice came from outside, loud enough to carry through the wall.
"Jonathan! Martha!"
She came through the door a moment later, floating two feet off the ground, fury on her face, and hanging upside down from her grip was a boy. Black hair, around the same age as the others, struggling against her hold.
"I found this one sneaking around the farm," she said.
"You can put him down, Kory," Jonathan said.
"Richard?" Wayne said.
Kory dropped him. The boy hit the floor, rolled, and was upright in about a second.
"Bruce!" He scanned the room quickly, then scowled at Kory.
"What are you doing here?" Asked Wayne.
"The robins are trying to find you. I found a piece of your armour in a crater, and followed the tracks of some wagon that led me here." he said. "Are these demons holding you prisoner?"
Kory's expression darkened. "Excuse me? Demons?"
"Richard… they are not demons," Wayne said. "They saved my life."
Richard paused. Then faced Kory again. "Oh."
—
The Titans were in the main room when Wayne came out, all of them standing with their arms crossed, waiting. Richard stood near the wall behind him. The old couple stood to one side. Finn and Ciri near the door.
Wayne faced them head on.
"Raven." He spoke. "I'm… sorry. For what I called you. For what I've done."
Raven said nothing.
"You should have had a normal childhood. All of you." His jaw tightened. "If not for me—"
He stopped. His head turned toward the front door.
"Go on," Beast Boy said. "You were just getting to the good part."
"Yes, please," Viktor said. "A little groveling from a prince. Considering what we've been through, I think we've earned it."
Finn had noticed Wayne's attention shift. He crossed to the window beside the door and peered through the glass.
Two figures on the road in front of the farm. Both dressed in green, an old man and a woman. Both still.
"There's someone outside," Finn said.
"Who?" Jonathan asked.
Wayne was already moving toward his armour in the corner. "Someone you don't want at your door." He pulled the chest piece up. "The Demon's Head."
The old man's voice came through the wall, loud enough to be heard clearly inside.
"Send out the Titans! Send them out and no one will die!"
Wayne buckled the chest piece and reached for his cowl. "All of you stay inside. I'll handle them."
"We can fight," Viktor said.
"I've dealt with them before." Wayne pulled the cowl on. "Trust me. Please. Grayson, keep them safe inside. Nobody goes through that door."
Ciri drew her sword and put it across her back, ignoring Wayne's suggestion.
Wayne gave her a once-over, pausing briefly at the scar on her cheek. His jaw tightened slightly.
"What?" Ciri said flatly. "Anything on my face?"
"Can you fight?" he said. "Those men are not ordinary. And there are more of them hidden in the wheat fields."
"We've fought worse," Finn said.
Wayne nodded once and continued to the door.
Then Jonathan and Martha came out of the back room. Both of them are already in armour.
Wayne stopped moving. "I mean no offence, but I cannot protect you out there."
"You sound patronizing for someone trying not to offend," Martha said.
"We weren't always farmers, son." Jonathan said, pulling his axe off the wall. "We served in your parents' army."
"Then we found a child that needed saving," Martha said, drawing her sword. "And decided that was more honourable than spending the rest of our lives pouring bloodshed over the land."
Wayne looked at them both for a moment. Then he turned and opened the front door.