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He hadn’t expected this.
Sure, there had always been the promise, the assurance that it would all end the same, hell he’d already met those ends a few times before. But something, somewhere deep in the recesses of himself whispered that this would be the last of those many ends.
There would be no restarts. No do overs. No fathers or brothers or magical islands or vats of glowing green waters to bring him back this time.
Unlike all the other times, this death was taking its course slowly. Almost as if Life was saying its final goodbye to him and wasn’t quite ready to let go.
Vaguely, he knew that outside the mount of rubble that had claimed his body there were his friends, his family, all the people who the younger version of himself had always sworn to be strong enough to never need.
The broken bird stuck helplessly within the clutches of the Earth who was going to keep a hold on him until the very end smiled. A bloody, painful grin that broke across his face like a burning light, breaking through the last bits of darkness that his past sins had gifted him.
The boy long since turned into a man knew he would never be absolved of pain he had once been so happy to pull from anyone who got too close. But he was proud to remember the growth he’d experienced along the way.
Around him sounds of still shifting cement and iron rods collapsing inwards together roared. He didn’t have much time left if the jarring crashes of stone meeting the Earth were anything to go by. He’d certainly be caught in the moving rock if he didn’t bleed out first.
But he pushed those thoughts away and focused on his family that was still fighting above him instead.
He hoped they wouldn’t blame themselves. He also knew that hope was futile. His siblings were all predictable enough.
No doubt Grayson would believe that he should have kept a better eye on him as though that was a feasible option in the midst of battle.
Drake would do his best to think of all the ways that would have kept this all from happening. In the end, it wouldn’t change anything, but at least he could be trusted to not attempt to bring him back.
Todd would act as though he was unbothered. As though death was just a matter of time. Internally however, he would tear himself into pieces trying to convince himself that he somehow could have prevented it as well.
His father would accept it with the same cold silence that he always did. Even after a number of years with his cowl being passed on, the original Dark Knight’s tendency to compartmentalize had never truly gone away. But his father was too old to beg and bleed in the ways that would bring his son back to him again.
Somehow, the helpless bird lost in the rubble, with blood welling up in his mouth and metal beams piercing his chest, was at peace. Or at least as much as someone who had always expected a final bloody death in honor could be at peace.
He vaguely wondered if he would be buried next to Todd’s empty grave or closer to Pennyworth. Either way he didn’t mind. There were worse places for his body to lay than by his grandfather or where his brother was meant to be put to rest.
Through his broken domino mask, Damian’s glinting green eyes caught sight of a single piece of sunlight casting its brilliance on the mangled form of what was the remnants of his fading body. He guessed that the battle above was waning as the sun cut through the previously billowing smoke above.
The young hero smiled at the sun, as if accepting its final gift of light in his life before his eyes fell closed for the last time