Damian had brought her to a calm and serene spot and they were sitting on the rocky stones on the side of the distant rocky pathway seldom used by people. It was far off from Wayne Manor and the other suburban settlements, but it offered a peace of its own that couldn't be found elsewhere.

Titus was wandering freely close by, taking its time to play outside in the fresh open air and unrestricted environment. Usually, Damian would stay close to Titus but now that he had company, he stopped for a rest too as they had been walking for quite a long time.

"So you got fired," he remarked and she nodded in reply.

"Yes. On the bright side, I won't have to write judgmental crap about people anymore," she sighed softly, looking ahead of her at the barren landscape, "but it also feels like an end to my career. Being fired from two big agencies in just a year puts my credibility as a journalist at risk..."

"I don't think so," he remarked in his calm but monotonous voice, "you don't need an agency backing you up if you want to be a good journalist."

"That's what I thought too before I got into this field," she replied, turning to look at him but found his face devoid of any expression as usual.

"Independent journalism is a thing too," surprisingly, he took hold of the conversation, "Drake and Barbara can guide you better in this but there are a lot of opportunities for you to work independently and pursue the stories you want to."

"Oh..." She had thought about it earlier but it all boiled down to the fact that she had no proper resources or investment to make that happen.

It seemed like Damian had read the speculation right out of her mind as he spoke up, "I remember reading your article on the crime families... The very article you'd blame for putting you in this mess. It was the only piece of investigative journalism I ever found worth reading."

Ember paused as she didn't know whether she was supposed to take it as a compliment or not. Damian wasn't expressive so a compliment coming from him had to be a very big deal.

"I abandoned that story but it got me nowhere," she replied, "sometimes I think if the price we pay for chasing the truth is worth it or not."

Damian could understand her perspective as he had been in the same position years ago. But unlike her, he had people to count on and to rely on when things took a turn for the worst.

She had no one.

"It is worth it if we know what we are doing is right," he remarked, turning slightly toward her.

She shook her head, and her eyes seemed to shift in conflict, "But you don't understand..."

His emerald green eyes met with her olive ones and she stopped herself from resuming with the sentence. "I do understand. I was in a similar situation too once."

She hadn't been expecting to hear that so she paused, letting him resume by himself.

Damian knew he was taking a risk but at the moment, it felt like the right thing to do. And for all he knew about Ember Sullivan in that time of helping her out with her case, he knew she wasn't the sort of person to betray someone's decision of trusting her with something confidential.

"I didn't always live here, I spent my early years with my maternal relatives in Nanda Parbat," he began and he knew he had her undivided attention shortly after his statement. "Mother brought me to Gotham when I was thirteen, so before that, my life was very different."

She was listening closely to him, knowing there had to be some reason that he had chosen to open up to her about something about his personal life.

"It all changed when my grandfather was murdered in front of me. I knew who the killer was and I felt it was my responsibility to bring my grandfather's murderer to justice, to do anything it took to avenge his death."

"But you were just thirteen?" The rest of the words were very clear even though she didn't say it out loud. He was thirteen, what else could he have done?

A derisive smile threatened to crease his features as he remarked, "I don't think I would fit anyone's perspective of an average thirteen-year-old, yours included."

Her eyes were wide in alarm, thinking about the trauma such a young boy could have gone through to see a close family member get murdered. Little did she know that the boy in question was himself responsible for a long list of lives that he had taken when he was part of the League of Shadows. 

"At that time, I thought revenge was the right thing to do," he took in a deep breath, avoiding her concerned gaze as he busied himself with picking up the twigs from the stones around them. "I made it my goal to do all it took to find the killer and kill him. I ended up putting myself in a lot of danger but back then, I didn't care. I had one goal and could do anything to take it to completion."

His words were cold but she understood the sentiment behind it. She hadn't had a family herself but she knew how important bonds of blood could be for some people.

If she had her family, perhaps she would have been just as devoted to them as Damian was telling her about himself right then.

"But what I wanted to do was not the right course of action to take," he sighed softly, letting go of the twigs at last, "and I wouldn't have realized it if I didn't meet Father, Richard, and the rest of them. They made me see that bringing the killer to justice and having the law decide his fate was better than staining my hands with his blood. They showed me that there's a difference between vengeance and justice."

A heavy silence engulfed them, given the nature of the topic under discussion. Ember was hesitant about what to say in reply but she eventually had to break the silence. "The person who killed your grandfather, where is he now?"

"In Belle Reve under life imprisonment."

"So... Was it worth everything you went through to bring him to justice?" She asked cautiously, observing each flicker on his face.

"It was hard at first. I felt the guilt of not being able to save my grandfather or avenge his death years later. But now when I think about it, I know what I did wasn't wrong. I don't have a burden over my conscience. Besides, even if I took my revenge, it wouldn't have brought Grandfather back to life. It would only have ruined me."

His words were deep but as she thought them over, she could see why he had shared that dark part of his life with her. He saw her standing at the same fork of paths that could either lead to her destruction or to the destiny that awaited her.

"I had vowed never to let the truth be buried beneath the weight of fear," she spoke up when she saw that he was looking at her as if expecting her to say something. "That was why I pursued the story for that article which Gotham Gazette took down. I did my research and collected everything I could even though it involved two of the most dangerous crime families in Gotham. I thought it was the right thing to do, that it was my responsibility as an investigative journalist to uncover the darkness that grips our city. But then Evan got endangered, people came for me and I got fired twice... I felt like there was a price to pay for honesty and that's what I was facing."

He didn't interrupt her either as he knew letting it all out would help her ease the burden over her heart.

"But now I have nothing left to lose," she remarked, a new resolve lighting up in her heart, "I have come too far to back off. So you're right, it's futile to let go of the truth. I can't give up, it won't be the right thing for me."

He smiled though it was there for just a brief moment, "you get it."

"I think I do."

"You're not alone, Miss Sullivan. Even if you have nothing left to lose, you have your voice that can't be silenced as long as you choose to fight back," he added and she found his words quite similar to what Jason had said to her earlier as well. "I don't know about the others but I will stand with you whenever you want me to."

Saying that out loud seemed to have lifted a weight off his heart too. It was almost as if he had accepted the fact that she was important to him and that he could fight for her and with her if the need arose.

"It means a lot," her olive eyes welled up at the sincerity in his voice but she blinked away the tears, "thank you." 

They stayed together for some more time after that, finding comfort and companionship in each other's company. That morning walk had served more than just the purpose of cheering her up. It brought them closer together by sharing their experiences and finding that they weren't so different after all.

They had a similar perspective on life, fate, and self-made destiny.

Only when the clouds began to engulf the sun again and a considerable time had passed since the two had left the manor, they finally headed back to the Wayne family's property. Titus led the way back and stopped at the heavy metal gates that parted as Damian swiped his card again.

"Can I be on a first-name basis with you?" She added just as they were about to go in through the front door, "if you don't mind, that is."

He paused, assessing her words then nodded, "I don't mind."

"Oh, great."

He didn't respond as the smile on her face made him think how beautiful she looked when she didn't have any worries clouding her. Her tangerine lips and gentle olive eyes painted quite a captivating sight.

But he was shaken out of his thoughts when the front door opened and much to their surprise, Jason was standing in front of them. 

Damian tried not to react to the unexpected confrontation at all because Ember probably still thought that Jason was a ghost of their long-dead brother and the others couldn't see him. 

Whereas Jason was going to use that misconception to his full advantage in being super annoying to Damian. He was going to have the best day of his life and none of them could stop him because they had to pretend that he didn't exist.

Damian's assumption was proved right shortly afterward.

"Looks like someone just came back from a marathon," Jason remarked playfully, referring to the faint crimson on Dami's face, "welcome home, lovebirds."

***