#too soft............ cant handle...................

the man is holding a sword

damian is on his knees, richard and todd on either side of him, plucked from their lives and their homes by a pathetic attempt at resurgence by League castoffs and stragglers, and thats enough to make damian want to scream

the league is his, even when it is nothing. even scattered to the wind and blown to bits, all that the league ever was and ever will be belongs to the al ghul

belongs to him

but that sword... that sword does not belong to him

that sword belongs in the hands of a boy more radiant than damian could ever be- bright and brilliant, crystalline and cunning, with skin two shades paler than damian's and eyes a bright, beaming blue

that sword belongs in the grave

that sword belongs to damian's brother

the words 'how dare you' are not strong enough. so when damian says it, he doesnt stop. he calls the leader of their captors- not the league, never the league- the shame of his family, the shame of his mother

he slings words with bitter meanings. says his mother would spit on him and call the dogs to piss on him if she knew what he had done

and he means it. he means it

he wants to carve out this traitor's heart for daring to defile his brothers grave, and he knows they do not kill, but he thinks this deserves an exception

this is more than a crime

this is a declaration of war

never has damian been so tempted to pick up the lethality of his weapons again, to sink back into the ideals he was raised to

shouldnt he? doesnt this sin demand retribution?

but who will give it to him? who else will take it but his own two hands

the absolute fury the thought causes, the resentment, leads damian to understand todd better than he ever has. if this is how he feels about the Joker, damian thinks its a miracle he can stand to be in the same room as their family at all

the leader of this egocentric farce laughs at him. taunts him. damian screams at him from a place pulled so deep in his chest it makes his throat hoarse, pulls at his lungs and his stomach

he can feel his indignance throbbing in his toes

at the other end of the hall, something explodes

black bat slips in through a hidden doorway, batman following close behind

the moment damian is freed, he launches himself at the leader, at the coward who hides himself behind a mask of gold and claims power he does not know how to wield

who dishonours his twin's sword

he throws himself into this fight with desperation, with the fury of a thousand suns. he feels more than himself now, feels almost as if his brother is beside him again, flowing like water as damian rages like fire

he knows he is not

(he wishes he was)

he is so so angry

he is so angry the sword he reclaims comes down on the arm that pulled it from where it belonged and severs it from its body, the move born as much from his own desire for vengeance as from muscle memory

he is pulled away by the bat as the man screams his pain for the world to hear

the assassins have been dealt with. they escape

drake pilots the aircraft, freeing father to speak sternly to damian about his excessive use of force, but his lecture falls on deaf ears

damian is curled over the blade like it is the body of his brother, is wiping the blood away with his shirt and whispering to it, crooning words of apology and atonement

he wonders if his brother will accept

its only when richard kneels in front of him that he realizes he has begun hyperventilating

richard, as ever, is gentlest with him. he is the first to ask what is wrong

he cannot help himself. tears streak down his face and his fears pour from his mouth because this sword is his brother's. his twin's. his most beloved person, the other half of damian's soul. his light and his joy and his hope and everything damian thought he took with him forever when he left. when he died.

(some of those things, damian got back. his family is patient, after all. stalwart, and as kind to him as they are capable of being.

there is still a part of damian that lies cool in the grave next to his brother)

what if he is unsettled now? that piece of filth unearthed his twin's grave, stole the only thing they had left to memorialize him- damian's bright, beautiful brother, crooked smile and excited jabber and all- tore it from where it belonged and what if it has disturbed his rest?

what if his spirit is untethered now

what if he becomes vengeful, becomes hungry, becomes attached to this plane, dragged back from wherever he might have been at peace because his final rites have been uprooted and cast aside

damian cries and he spews out all the fears in his chest because they are too big and he feels so so small

'baba,' he sobs into Dick's chest, firm arms wrapped around him as hes rocked slowly back and forth, like the baby of the family that damian always insists he is not, but right now very much feels like he is. 'baba what if he is hurt? what if he is lost?"

its too much. just the thought pulls a wail from damians throat, his feet kicking like a toddler in the throes of a tantrum

and he cries

damian drew blood with his brothers sword, and there are not enough apologies in the world

if his brother does become a wandering ghost, it will be as much his fault as the traitor's

he cries until he is sick

how dare the traitor? how dare damian?

...how dare they

~

OMAKE:

Tim: okay can i just be the first to say: what? no seriously what the fuck. damian has a brother?

Cass: had

Tim:

Tim: Had. had a brother

Tim: Fuck. fuck. *goes to his room to call Conner cause fuck*

Jason: *already whaling on a punching bag in the corner*

Steph: *working an overseas mission with babs, hasnt even heard about the whole Sword drama yet*

Duke: *asleep because hes the fucking day shift*

Bruce: *still in the batjet, gripping the controls and trying to talk himself down from a minor psychotic break*

Damian: *sobbing his brains out and also puking and also trying to clean his brother's sword and also trying to remember how to make sur so he can start burning offerings to hopefully appease his brother's spirit ASAP*

Dick: *helping damian get the right stuff to clean the sword because he is literally crying so hard he cant stand. staving off the breakdown to end all breakdowns*

i know i said it before but i want to write how the only thing recognized of him will be that of a man not because it'll make him feel better, but it's what everyone expected from chiyoko. and hell. HELL. it's to their advantage too so reallly jin feeling that way is much better. patriarchy am i right,

but also sakai jin in his 30s not only feeling that he is of a man but also:

Formless

doesn't know what he really is

samurai identity tied heavily to his masculinity so he's left grasping at straws, doesn't know what he really is, who he really is

given by somebody else who he trusts with his life

felt more at ease with the ghost persona bc it is abstract, shapeless, formless. not tied to this world but to a very human emotion

isn't looking for recognition when called "ghost", just that he's more comfortable with it as sakai jin and shimura jin are names that people tried to mold him into

cool name

But like I think it's so....... interesting in a very, very, very sad way how Duncan so easily latches onto anyone who directly feeds into his delusions of grandeur. And that's no fault of his own that he was manipulated by the nasty Schism but when you think about how desperately clung to the idea that Malistaire, easily one of the greatest necromancers any of us had ever heard of (at that time), somehow actually recognized Duncan's talents (even when canon supports that Duncan wasn't all that talented, at least no more than the next necromancer) and then praised him for it so often that Duncan believed that he would be the next Death Professor is. I mean ☹️

So like with that mindset I unfortunately feel like it would be quite easy to twist even Malistaire's death as something that's horrible and awful and all our fault. ESPECIALLY if the Schism was feeding into Duncan's already broken mind and shattered ego and was constantly telling him that everything bad that ever happened to him ever in his life was Our Fault. That's like a realistic conclusion that someone like Duncan could come to

And like, at this point in time, are Malistaire's crimes even a factor in how he thinks????? Was Duncan ever able to separate Malistaire's talent and skills and prowess from the terrible and awful things he did? If Duncan wasn't able to consciously tell that distinction in the first place I can't imagine it would be any better during the years he was being manipulated and isolated and lied to

Currently though, they added an animation where Lae'zel is a bit overly uncomfortable with the idea. I say overly uncomfortable because this seems to be the only way to open up the kissing option in act 2.

Makes me ponder if the game eventually gives you this kissing option in Act 3 when she's ready, or if you're blocked out of the kissing if you don't roll for it.