Y'all I will write a new chapter to my fanfic just please joinš I made a whole discord and it's got a texting and social media section so we can be silly in character
Bruce:š¤"How're your kids? Where are they now?"š¤"Feels like I've been ready for you to come home for so long"š¤"I will die in the house that I grew up in"š¤
Dick:š"Now I am stuck between my anger and the blame that I can't face"š"I was too afraid of livin' life in your footsteps"š"I divvied up my anger into 30 separate parts"š
Jason:ā„ļø"Now I know your name but not who you are"ā„ļø"Don't you know there's a coffin buried under the garden?"ā„ļø"it made you a stranger and filled you with anger"ā„ļø"the ghost you dressed up as sure knows how to haunt"ā„ļø
Tim:š"I could be your sacrifice"š"Someday I'm gonna be somebody people want"š"If my engine works perfect on empty I guess I'll drive"š
Batfam:š¤"At the end of it all, I just hope that your scars heal"š¤"I don't get much sleep most nights"š¤"Bodies riddled with scars from our preteens"š¤"There worse ways to stay alive"š¤"Why is pain so damn impatient? Ain't like it's got a place to be. Keeps rushin' me"š¤
How Dangerous, To Finally Have Something Worth Losing
Masterlist
Cross posted on AO3
Description:
Chapter One: If I Disappear Will You Look For Me?
Damian Al Ghul has always had his soulmates, has always known their names and their favorite colors and what foods they like. From the moment he was born there was writing, drawings, on his skin.
Platonic soulmates, his mother had explained to him, two of them, older than him, both of whom have already met. Raās tells him itās a disgrace, itās disgusting, to have not one but two soulmates. Two soulmates, he learns that love the colors red and blue, that love movie nights and popcorn and someone named Alfredās cookies, they write plans to steal them while Damian trains. Grandfather hates even more that Damian has platonic soulmates instead of a romantic soulmate, heād have to break the bond either way but at least a romantic soulmate is useful, his Grandfather says, glaring at the drawings of animals and flowers that litter his skin. Damian watches under the candle light as a blue pen draws what he assumes to be a flower, a rose perhaps, and not for the first time does he wish he was allowed to draw back, not because he cares- not because he wants so badly for them to know heās here, but because he knows he can draw far better than they can, the pink horse sitting on his arm looks like a deranged giraffe, Damian thinks the sight might make him laugh if only he was capable of such a thing. Sometimes, when heās positive that heās alone Damian will trace the outlines of the drawings and words with his fingers and do his best to bury the feeling of want that curls like a barbed wire in his chest. Damian isnāt allowed to want, what he wants does not matter, he is Ra's Al Ghul's heir that is all that will ever matter, that is all that he is ever meant to be.
Grandfather is excited for Damianās 18th birthday, it canāt come soon enough he says and thereās a fire in his eyes that burns Damianās soul to the very core, there will be a ceremony and Damian will be forced- or as Grandfather says he will finally have the free will to break his soul bond, they will celebrate for days after, Raās smiles and thereās nothing joyful about it, Damian isnāt allowed to smile. There will be pain, Raās explains and he tells Damian that he will become proud of the black marks that will appear on his skin once the bond is broken, he will carry them with pride, Damian will never need to see the disgraceful drawings and words on his skin again, he will be free from the burden of attachment and love that a soulmate brings, he will be cleansed. Damian holds his head high and agrees, but Damian knows that free will has nothing to do with it, he has no free will, his thoughts are the only free thing he has and he must hide them underneath a steel door, locked with a key only he can find or he will not survive. Damian dreads his 18th birthday, so far away and yet not nearly far enough.
Damian allows tears to slip down his cheeks at the thought of his birthday, of his soulmates, of Raās, of everything he will never have and everything he is to become, as he climbs a mountain he thinks might kill him on his fourth birthday. Heās become an intelligent and powerful boy his Mother had said as they blindfolded him, he will need to be so much more if he is to be the heir of Raās Al Ghul. When Damian finally reaches the top, the air here to thin to be comfortable but the view is more beautiful than anything Damian has ever seen before. He makes a mistake, looking down to his arms only to see his soulmates talking about a movie night, about going to the zoo the next day, and for a moment he hates them more than he can possibly bear. Damian screams out into the cold air, a birthday gift to himself, the only one he will receive, he screams as loud as his little lungs will allow and collapses with nothing more than a broken spirit, somewhere in the back of his mind he realizes this is what his Grandfather wanted all along. Damian breaks his arm on the way back down the mountain, Grandfather is disappointed, Damian promises to do better next time.
Damian is four when it happens, heās imagined before what it will feel like, what a breaking soul bond would feel like. His Mother says it is painful beyond compare, she smooths down his hair and tells him there's no sense in fearing it, it is inevitable. Damian never imagined it wouldnāt be his fault, he never imagined heād have to feel one of his soulmates die, he always thought he'd be the cause of his own pain, he thought he had 14 more years to build a tolerance to the inevitable pain his mother tells him about, Grandfather would say his unpreparedness is his own fault. One second heās reading, studying the Art of War under his Grandfather's command and the next heās screaming, or at least he thinks the screaming is coming from him, all he knows, all he can feel is white hot pain, coursing through his entire body, burning every cell and smashing against his training, his well built walls with such anger and such veracious agony. Itās so much worse than any broken arm Damian could possibly imagine, worse than any beating in training he's ever had to take without so much as a whimper.
Thereās people around him, grabbing at him and he knows heāll be punished for showing weakness but whoever is crying, hot tears spilling down his cheeks, drowning him in sorrow he was never meant to feel, will be punished too- or maybe thatās him as well. Damian isnāt sure and he has no control and that fear claws at his chest and adds to the horrific pain and all he knows is it hurts, he canāt move, he canāt think, it feels like someone has grabbed a piece of his soul and torn it from his body and then lit it on fire. The hands disappear and then for what Damian feels like is days heās left alone, screaming and crying in pain, inevitable and excruciating pain, pain he begs to never feel again. It isnāt until the pain has begun to subside leaving a numb and hollow feeling that makes it hard to breathe and yet impossible to do anything else, when he can finally feel the cold of the floor heās laying on does he even realize whatās happened. There on his arm below his wrist is a black circle with the picture of a Jay-bird sitting on a branch and Damian knows in the way he knows the sky is blue that Jason is dead. For the first time in his life Damian mourns the loss of a soulmate who he will never know.
For the first time his mother holds him through the entire night, after picking him up from the cold floor and carrying him to her uncomfortably warm room. She doesn't say much, a whisper of "You'll overcome this habibi." and a kiss to his forehead, but she spends the entire night gently rocking him in her arms, humming a melody he doesn't know and doubts he'll ever learn, the pain makes it impossible for him to sleep until the moon is high in the night sky, watching over them with it's soft glow.
It's two months before any ink appears on his skin again, the words form slowly right under the permanent black Jaybird Damian does his best to avoid looking at or even thinking about, Grandfather smiles every time he sees it. There in blue ink sits the words, "I'm so sorry Jay-bird, I love you."
Damian kills his first truly innocent person that night and washes the blood from his hands without shedding a single tear, Ra's throws a feast in his honor, Damian wishes he could take Jason's place.
How Soulmates Work In My Batfamily Fic: How Dangerous, To Finally Have Something Worth Losing
There is platonic and romantic soulmates but you only ever have one or the other.
If it's a Platonic connection then from the time the child is born until they die they will be able to write (or draw) on their skin and it will appear on their soulmates body. In most cases parents will have their children tested for which kind of soulmate they'll have and if it's a platonic soulmate they'll begin to write on their baby's skin in an attempt to contact their child's soulmate. In some cases it can take years to get a response and in others the other side will respond immediately. On a child's 18th birthday they can chose to either accept or deny the soulmate bond. If they accept the bond a small picture will form on their (and their soulmates) wrist. If they break the bond a grey outline of the picture will form and any writing will no longer transfer to the former soulmates.
If it's a Romantic connection then a red string, that only you and your soulmate can see will tie you and your soulmate to each other, once you've met your soulmate and both parties have accepted the connection the string turns golden and a small golden picture (What picture depends on the people) will appear for all to see on the soulmates ring finger. If one or both of the soulmates does not accept the connection the string will burn and disappear, a black mark like a burn will appear on the former soulmates ring fingers.
It is near impossible to regain any soulmate connection once it's been broken. If/When a soulmate dies it is similar to breaking a soulmate bond, for platonic soulmates the bond picture on their wrists will (appear if not yet 18) turn black, for romantic soulmates the golden picture will turn black. When soulmates break their bond it causes immense pain for both soulmates, similarly if a soulmate dies it causes horrible pain.
How Dangerous, To Finally Have Something Worth Losing Masterlist
Cross posted on AO3
How Soulmates Work In This Au
Description: Platonic Soulmate Au where you write on your skin and it appears on your soulmate./
Dick isnāt stupid, he knows that Jason coming back from the dead isnāt all sunshine and rainbows. But is it really all that horrible for Dick to allow himself to just be happy that his brother isnāt dead? After three years of blinding grief and regret is it selfish to for once ignore all of the pain? So maybe Dick hasnāt been the best older brother, and maybe Tim is a little traumatized and maybe Jason coming back from the dead canāt fix everything. But maybe it can. Maybe Jason coming back will fix it all./
There is simply his soulmates. Though now they are the source of Damianās fear. Damian hates to admit it, even to himself, but he has been afraid his entire life, from the moment he was born./
Aka it's a platonic soulmate au with angst and fluff for all 4 of the bat boys. Gotta give out the hurt/comfort equally.
The Batfamily as Taylor Swift Lyrics (Midnights Edition) pt1
Bruce:š¤"I gave my blood, sweat, and tears for this."š¤"I laid the groundwork, and then just like clockwork the dominoes cascaded in a line"š¤"I'm only cryptic and Machiavellian 'cause I care"š¤
Dick:š"Sobbing with your head in your hands, ain't that the way shit always ends"š"You would break your back to make me break a smile"š"flexing like a goddamn acrobat"š
Jason:ā„ļø"I find it dizzying. They're bringing up my history"ā„ļø"it must be exhausting, always rooting for the anti-hero"ā„ļø"You know how much I hate that everybody just expects me to bounce back, just like that"ā„ļø"it's the past that's talking/telling me to punish you for things you never did so I justified it"ā„ļø"if clarity's in death, then why won't this die?"ā„ļø
Tim:š"Did all the extra credit then got graded on a curve"š"What if I told you I'm a mastermind?"š"to a house, not a home, all alone 'cause nobody's there"š
Batfam:š¤"Midnights become my afternoons"š¤"Life is emotionally abusive"š¤"You're on your own, kid. Yeah, you can face this. You're on your own, kid. You always have been."š¤"I'm on my vigilante shit again"š¤"every single thing I touch becomes sick with sadness"š¤"memories feel like weapons"š¤
