FIVE YEARS AGO,

SCHOOL FUCKING SUCKED. Odile had registered that less than a day into her new international school and promptly reflected that to Remiel. She had much better things to do than learn about English literature and science and things she already knew about, things she could learn elsewhere.

It was a complete waste of time.

But Remiel hadn't agreed. You need to learn to be around kids your age. You have to know what life is like for a normal person.

No. No, she didn't. Odile would always stand out, no matter where she was, no matter where she went. She was a dead girl walking. She wasn't meant to be standing here. She wasn't meant to be enjoying life and smiling and living when the Eyu Sect was gone.

She'd made promises, and the guilt was killing her.

It was swallowing her inside and out. And if Remiel wasn't going to let her do what she wanted, she'd go off on her own.

That was what made her decide to pack up and go. Aged fourteen. Grimly determined, perhaps a bit unrealistic, but with a plan nonetheless. She needed to improve. Learn more. Start looking for clues, for a trail, for some way to investigate.

Not go to school.

So, on one night when Remiel was out on patrol and Odile was left in their apartment, she packed up and left. She'd bought three plane tickets, all on the same day. Two, on the accounts and identities that Remiel knew and used herself. One to Gotham. One to Changsha.

And then, under another identity, one she'd kept a secret from her mentor, a ticket to Guilin.

Seraphina al Ghul had made her a promise. No doubt, eventually, Remiel would locate her. Or Seraphina would give in and tell Remiel where she was. But before then?

She'd figure it out.

I'm fourteen. Damian pulled off more impressive stunts at this age.

Somehow, she got on that plane.

And then, a few hours later, with nothing more than a single backpack and some money, she landed in the city of Guilin. Tourist destination, known for its beautiful mountains and caves, and unbeknowst to most, the League of Assassin's largest base in China.

Another two hours later, she stood before a stunned Seraphina al Ghul.

"Odile, what...?" The woman shook her head in absolute disbelief. "Does Remiel know you're here?"

"No, and you're not going to tell her." Odile stared back at her, determination in her eyes. "You told me... you told me you'd help me when I needed it."

"Odile, what happened?"

"Sera, it's killing me. I can't sit in Hong Kong studying an some fancy school when my sect remains unavenged."

Seraphina al Ghul sucked in a breath. "Is Remiel not letting you investigate?"

"How am I supposed to investigate when I have to go to school every day?" Odile shook her head in disbelief. "And I need... I need to train more. I need to learn more. I need ways to investigate. By myself."

"You're certain this is the path you want to continue down?" Seraphina asked quietly, something indecipherable entering her expression. "Certain?"

Thing was, Odile had never really spoken to Seraphina about vengeance. She'd never even told the woman herself what happened back then with her sect, the things she'd witnessed. Not the way she had with Shan Ling, though she'd started hiding the bits and pieces she'd discovered over the years from the other woman. Shan Ling would, inevitably, end up passing things on to Remiel.

Odile didn't want that.

The last thing Odile needed was other people interfering. She needed privacy.

But Seraphina always seemed to understand that. Having raised Remiel, it wasn't particularly surprising. Remiel had her own path of vengeance to walk, and she'd completed it.

"Yes."

Seraphina pinched her nose. "Fine. But you play by my rules."

Odile glanced at her warily.

"You don't go off by yourself."

"But—"

"Three months. I'm giving you three months. And then I'm telling Remiel where you are. I'll lie to cover you before that."

That was fine. But she needed to do this alone. "I have to do this by myself, Sera, I don't want anyone following me around."

"I'll assign one person to go with you. Aid you in your investigation." Seraphina shook her head. "They won't report to me, but I don't want you off by yourself. Someone has to watch your back."

Odile gritted her teeth. "Fine." She'd find inventive and creative ways to get them off her track. It would be annoying, but she'd succeed somehow.

She was on Seraphina's turf. She would have to, at least on the surface, play by her rules.

She didn't have enough to fully go off on her own.

She didn't expect the person Seraphina sicced her on to be Damian.

It was an awkward reunion. It was mid-October when she'd hightailed to Guilin, around a month and a half after she'd left Gotham. Which made it a month and a half after she'd last seen Damian, who'd seemed rather content being beside his father. Which made it even stranger to see him here with the League of Assassins, katana strapped to his belt, eyes widened as he stared at her.

She didn't think she'd ever managed to scare him quite as much.

Instead of saying anything to her, though, he turned to Seraphina. "What is the meaning of this?"

Seraphina rubbed her temple. "You two are going to send me to an early grave."

"Why are you here?" Odile demanded, gobsmacked.

"Why are you here?" Damian snapped back. "Shouldn't you be in Hong Kong with Remiel, safe and sound? Seraphina, send her back at this instance."

"Yeah, unfortunately, that's not a decision I can make. She's adamant to stay."

"So what's he doing here?" Odile cried out, jabbing a finger in Damian's direction. "Shouldn't he in Gotham with everyone else?"

"Apparently," Seraphina growled, "neither of you are content staying where you ought to be. And both of you have decided to come here and become my problem. In a couple days' time both Batman and Remiel will be blowing up all avenues of contact with me trying to locate you two, and I'll somehow have to deal with that." She sucked in a breath. "But if you're both insistent on being nuisances here, you might as well keep each other in check, yeah?"

Damian's eyes had narrowed into slits. "I'm older than her."

"Not my problem." Seraphina's eyes flickered between the two of them. "I'm trusting the two of you to know enough to keep each other safe and out of trouble. I won't ask questions. Don't do anything your mentors would get mad at me for. And at least have the decency to tell me where you're going if you decide to leave."

"Three months, yeah?" Odile asked. "Three months."

"What?" Damian asked, blinking.

"Three months." Seraphina sounded grim. "I can't believe I'm agreeing to this. But it's not like my agreement matters anyways. Sort things out between yourselves."

And then she was gone.

And then Odile was suddenly left feeling like a guilty child who'd been caught stealing candy. Standing there before Damian—why was he so much taller than her now? He was only two years older than her. And he looked furious, staring down at her, arms on his hips.

"Go back to Remiel, Yu Lan."

Her eyes snapped up. "No."

"Before I tell her."

"Then I'll go tell Batman you're here," Odile retorted. "We're at an impasse here. How about this? You stay out of my business and I'll stay out of yours."

"Yeah, no, you're going to get yourself killed."

"You don't even know why I'm here!" Odile snarled.

"I know enough to know that you should go back to Hong Kong where you're safe, Odile. This isn't where you should be in. Remiel didn't escape the League just for you to come right back here! There is nothing the League can do for you that Remiel and the others cannot."

"You don't know that," Odile cried out. "You still haven't told me why you're here, Damian!"

"That's none of your business." He took a few steps forward. She was tempted to take a step back, but forced herself to stand her ground. "Go back."

"Yeah, no." How dare he act like he knew better for her? How dare he boss her around when he himself was here against instructions too?

She sent him a cutting glare, and then stormed out of the room.

—

HE ENDED UP finding her in her room a few hours later, sat in a corner, arms wrapped around her legs, quietly sobbing.

She didn't even hear him come in, too lost in her own thoughts (so careless of her), jolting when he slid down onto the ground beside her.

She stared at him, mouth wide, before quickly wiping the tears from her eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"Whatever it is, I'll help you out."

"I don't need your help."

"Maybe not." He shrugged. "But it'll make it easier."

She was quiet for a long moment. "Why are you here, Damian?"

"I just needed some space," he murmured. "It was getting... suffocating back there in Gotham. And I don't want to go back to Mother either. I wanted some time by myself. Just... being able to think. Guilin seemed like a good place for that."

"But you're... still among the League."

"Seraphina's not exactly a typical member of the assassins, is she? If she could leave, she would. But duty beckons. She doesn't want to abandon my mother."

"Oh."

"So, little Odile, why are you here?"

She stared at him. "Pinky promise? That you'll help me? That you won't try to stop me?"

"I promise."

She held out her pinky finger. He stared at it for a moment before relenting with a sigh.

"Okay." Odile gave him a little grin. "I want to find out who massacred my sect."

"And why can't you do that with Remiel?"

"She sent me off to school. It's horrible."

"I don't see how these two things correlate."

"She thinks I should focus on... being a normal person first. And go to school, using my spare time to investigate. Except I have the sense she doesn't really want me to investigate either. I need my own personal space."

"You know," he murmured, "she's not completely wrong. You're only fourteen. Revenge can wait until adulthood, when you'd be more capable anyways."

Odile shook her head. "Damian. It's killing me inside. Do you know what that feels like?"

That seemed to stun him for a few seconds. And then he said, "Survivor's guilt."

"Yeah. Survivor's guilt."

They sat there in silence for a while. She began to sob silently again. God. She was letting them all down. The entire sect. She didn't even have a clue who the culprit was. It had been five years.

What was she doing with her life?

How dare she be happy when her vengeance was still left uncomplete?

Her sobs grew more irregular. She felt like she couldn't breath. The guilt was crushing her. She'd let them all down, she'd failed all of them, she'd betrayed them, stabbed them in the back—

"—hey. Hey. It's okay."

He sounded a bit rough. A bit robotic. As if he didn't quite know what he was supposed to do. He probably didn't. Damian Wayne wasn't good at emotions, and that was something she'd registered early on.

But that was okay.

She shuffled towards him. He stiffened, but relaxed after a moment, releasing a breath.

Emboldened, she laid her head on his knees, not caring about his reaction.

It was a long second before he laid his hand on her back and gave her a pat. "It's okay."

Perhaps that was the moment she'd properly fallen. She'd always held him in high esteem, always saw him as someone incredible, someone to admire, but that was the moment when she fell in love. When she thought to herself, wouldn't it be nice to spend the rest of my life like this? Even though she was too young to properly grasp the concept of love. But her heart was fluttering and pounding and she felt like she had butterflies in her stomach, and she thought she might cry (even though she was already crying), and she just wanted to lay on him like this forever.

His body was warm. He stroked her hair almost mechanically, as if mimicking someone else's actions, but that was already enough for her. She let herself cry until all the energy had left her body, until consciousness slipped and slumber took over.

She didn't remember when she fell asleep. But the next morning, she woke up when the sun was shining, laying on her bed, tucked underneath ber blankets. He was nowhere to be seen, but there was a slip of paper on the bedside table.

O:

I said I'll help, and I keep my promises. I'll head to the archives and see what I can find regarding your sect. I'll ask around and see if anyone knows anything. We will avenge the Eyu Sect.

- D

A little smile found its way onto her face.

shorter chapter! this chapter was originally going to be chapter ten, but i didn't think it fully made sense (?) so i ended up writing this one today to go before that. this is the second flashback (and will be relatively shorter), acting more as a setup for the third flashback, which is where shit hits the fan. 

odile in this flashback might be a little ooc, mainly bc in my head she's going through her edgy teen phase at this point, except she has pretty good reason for it. like, her entire sect was kind of just killed five years ago, leaving her on her own. so she's not going to be as optimistic and positive as usual. & she's also kind of pissed at remiel.