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Why do humans dream?
Well, scientists believed that it is a way for humans to regulate emotions, either from the past or the present. To reanalyzed memories of the owner of said body, relieving them- rehearsing the memories that draw out the most emotions out of somebody. It served as a defence mechanism, for both the mind and the body.
Damian takes this theory to heart. Seeing as he favours more for facts rather than 'beliefs'. It helps him understand why this happens, on why he's been appearing more lately. It comforts him. Understanding that he wasn't haunted, nor paranoid of these dreams. It was simply natural. The force of nature.
Yet he'd bet that the subject of the nightmares would beg to differ. He is one to believe in something, something that Damian couldn't understand till now. The way that he clings to something that only he can see, something so bright that it shines through the shadows looming over their home.
Hope.
It confuses everyone on how one of the demon's heirs is the most human out of them all. It is unnatural, simply unforgivable. Seeing as he brings promise to the future of the league, with his intelligence, sheer talent and intellect.
Only it is unexpected of him to be so emotional.
Maybe it's due to a sheer certainty that something would change, that something would change for the better. Maybe he's too smart for his own good, and acknowledged that the environment where they lived isn't the most ideal. For them both, not only him. Especially for Damian.
He used to pray to the stars above that Damian would have the best outcome in life out of them both.
Damian guessed that something had changed after all.
Because he was dead. His twin is dead, and only he knows.
It's a fact that both of them had already accepted. The fact that only one would inherit everything, and the other will lose everything. They were born with that news drilled into their head. At first it served as a motivation for them to thrive better than the rest, to prove they were worthy of this life, the future legacy,
And the mantle of Batman.
Ra's Al Ghul only needed one heir, and Talia Al Ghul didn't have enough power to protect both of them at once. It was obvious what would happen to the twins. To one of them at least.
It shamed Damian that the memories of his other half had hurt him so terribly. How it keeps appearing in his head in random moments where he was inclined to remember their upbringing. Where he dreamed, with only silent screams escaping him throughout the night with no one to tell.
Damian had always handle his problems alone, to sit through them until it healed and leaves a mark. Only this time, it was the first time that he got a scar on where he can't see. It bothers him.
Memories of them together, side by side like nothing else matters.
Damian hadn't known that only he mattered in the picture.
Not until his twin's dead body was laid in front of him to see. Displayed in a way that was seen as the black sheep of the family, as the disappointment that couldn't handle a simple mission. As a warning to Damian that it's everything that he shouldn't be.
The only thing he learned from it is that nothing good comes out of believing in anything but the demon's head.
Damian thought for the longest time that his twin had deserved it, convinced himself so. For being hopeful of another life, for dreaming of a re-do, for entangling Damian in his fantasy of living like a normal kid. That curiosity of the outside world doomed him.
And that prayers he did had killed him.
The way the other had clasped his hand in a smile, wishing to the stars as it's the only thing he can see. Whispering sweet dreams that can only be heard by Damian that sits beside him. Damian however makes no effort to stop these from happening, only letting the other do as he please.
He guessed that he had a selfish side to him after all.
That unexplainable feeling to live, to see more of the world out there, to see their father and the rest of father's ward that they had only read about. That selfish thought of wishing that he'd be the one to live to see this through, to experience the things that he couldn't now.
Maybe his twin has sensed that deep seething desperation inside Damian too. Maybe even understood it and willingly stepped away from the ongoing siblings rivalry. Maybe he died peacefully on his own will with no ill intentions.
Or maybe, he just went on to the better option and left Damian to go to heaven. It is like him after all to want only the best that were given to them both. Claiming that he was the most selfish out of them two, when he is the most selfless person that Damian has ever known.
Stupid brother.
After all these years, when Damian looked back to the stars. He starts to wonder. Then only can he relished himself in the things that he was afraid of the most. The ones that he didn't dare to indulge in for a long time.
Imagining his twin to be there with him, his hands hanging tight on his as he skips over the trees like it was a light obstacle that bothers none of them. At least, none of them ever had a problem for free parkour. It was a light game for them both disguised as a competition on who's the first to arrive at the end of the tracks.
Though most of the time, both of them came to a draw. As none wanted to proceed without instinctively waiting for the ones left behind.
The urge to hang tight on his brother's chest as the other sings, with a voice that proves that nobody else can do it better than him. To have someone that understands him through every sheer moment, someone that would acknowledge him and accept him.
Those unnatural eyes that reflects sapphires which contrast nicely with his emerald greens. Those little bangs he insisted on having. That cheeky behaviour of liking extreme activities. Those wonders for the truths of the world.
Oh, how he missed his brother.
Damian didn't believe in anything paranormal. The ideas of a god in itself bothers him, seeing as god didn't help him whenever he needed help. When his twin needed help.
He finds it pathetic that someone would only ever rely on god whenever they are distressed, pretending that some higher force would turn the tides in their life. Damian couldn't possibly stoop that low.
But he believed in his twin.
And Damian isn't stupid enough to not recognise the feelings of need for his brother.
So often would he clasp his hand in the dark when no one was there. Having a conversation with him and him alone. The prayers that he did is something that were relied to God and God only.
Only he wished that his twin would hear it too, as Damian did in the past.
He wanted his brother to know that somebody cares for him. To return his favours of all those wishes that he'd sacrificed for Damian.
Because In the cost of Oliver's life, he had lived.