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On Danny’s 10th birthday, the whole family gathered around to countdown until 5:37 pm, the exact time that Danny was born, waiting for his soulmark to appear. Once it appeared, everyone cheered. A simple but elegant wishing well just under his left collarbone. Soulmarks would always start off a black and gray and shift to full color once the two met. It showed a connection between the two soulmates. It could be where they meet or a mutual interest. Maybe even related to their first words. It would always make sense once the two mates met.
The rest of the day was spent bouncing theories back and forth about what a wishing well could mean for Danny and his soulmate.
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Damian was already 10 years old when he noticed a new mark hidden under his hairline. He had seen others with various marks on their body and had not dwelled on it. It was not relevant to his training. He resolved to ask Mother about it. He must be knowledgeable about all aspects of his body so that he could better train. Unknowns were not to be permitted.
After her explanation, the whole ordeal seemed frivolous and unnecessary. How was a wishing well relevant to his life? He put it from his mind and focused on his lessons and missions.
Later that same year, Damian went to live with his father. Some weeks later, his father asked him about his soulmark. Damian brushed it off. This was a test, clearly. His father was asking him about meaningless things to determine his focus and commitment to the mission. “You needn’t worry. It is easily concealed for missions.”
His father must have found this answer sufficient because he didn’t ask about it again.
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Danny was 14 when he died. His ghost form kept the same mark. It helped to ground him. He wasn’t someone else. Phantom and Danny were the same person. He wondered if his soulmate would mind a ghost vigilante as a match. Danny would have to tell them about his dual life. Lancer loved to assign essays analyzing stories of soulmate relationships breaking down due to lies and secrets. It was a commonly assigned theme. Danny secretly wondered if something had happened between Lancer and his soulmate.
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At 14, Damian felt his world shift as the family celebrated Tim finding his soulmate. Tim and Kon’s shared image of a splendorously decorated Christmas tree didn’t make sense to anyone else but the two of them shared a soft secret smile whenever someone asked.
It finally sunk in, though, that his family cared about each other's happiness. That the soulmarks were a positive thing. A beacon of potential happiness. Not as the distraction that he’d always viewed it as. This required further consideration.
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Danny was 19 when he got stranded in the Zone. He should have known better. He heard them discussing a maintenance shutdown but didn’t think they’d ever actually get around to doing it! What his parents didn’t know was that the portal needed a death to bridge the veil between dimensions. Danny had never shared with them how the first portal opened. Vlad’s portal had long ago closed because of a lab explosion that Danny may or may not have caused. So that wasn’t an option either. He was stuck.
After weeks of drifting, he found a small portal, just big enough to squeeze through. When he tried to fly through, it was blocked. Like plastic wrap over a casserole dish. Having found nothing else, he kept at it. Surely there had to be a weak point somewhere….right?
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Damian was 19 when the Robin suit began feeling a bit tight. Not physically, of course. Pennyworth kept all of their equipment updated to their changing sizes and needs and in optimal condition.
Emotionally, Damian felt that he was outgrowing Robin. Grayson had mentioned this possibility years ago. Damian had dismissed him at the time. When Father retired the cowl, Damian would take up the cowl. Until then he would be Robin. This was the logical course of action. Now, several years older and wiser, Damian could admit (to himself at least) that Cass was a much better choice for the legacy of the Bat. This left Damian adrift in a Robin costume a size too small.
With such inner conflict, Damian did the only thing that he could do. He took Titus for a walk. Robinson Park was peaceful, well known for being under Poison Ivy’s control and so crime was very low. Nobody wanted to risk drawing her ire. The paths were plentiful and well maintained. Damian spotted a smaller path off the main wooden walkway and decided to explore it. A new path is what he was really looking for, after all.
The path, proving to be more of an animal trail than an intended walking path, wound back and forth through the brush. Only a small plank bridge over a stream convinced him that he was allowed to be there. Even still, after 20 minutes of wandering, it did not seem like the path was likely to loop back around to the main park, but may actually be leading him to the restricted nature preserve outside of Gotham.
“Titus, come. I believe we are trespassing.” Damian pulled the leash taut to turn Titus around only to be shocked when he did not obey. “Titus! Heel!” But Titus continued to strain forward, jabbing his head back forward, further down the path. Titus was well trained in all manner of tasks, including search and rescue. This kind of behavior is what Damian would expect during a search. Intrigued, Damian relaxed his hold. Clearly Titus knew something he didn’t.
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The high pitched whine of Danny’s newly invented, just right now, Ecto-Laser was beginning to hurt his ears. He’d been trying to break through the portal he’d found without luck. Sure, he might find another portal eventually but now this one had personally offended him. A challenge had been issued and he would not back down. A stupid hole in the fabric between realities was not going to get the better of him! (Ignoring completely that a stupid hole in reality had already killed him once and very much got the better of him. Shut up. He survived. Mostly.)
The barrier refused to yield. Pushing hadn’t worked. EctoBlasts hadn’t worked. Wailing hadn’t worked! The Ecto-Laser was his latest attempt. Despite the noise and the energy he was pouring into the laser, it was doing absolutely nothing. The laser left a blackened trail that quickly healed over. Staying in one spot did the same amount of absolutely nothing. Firing the laser and wailing at the barrier simultaneously was useful only as a way to relieve his frustration and further exhaust himself.
“That seemed wholly ineffective.” Said a voice above him.
Danny’s head snapped up. There was a face. A face at the end of a tunnel on the other side of the portal. The tunnel hadn’t been clear since the far side was all in shadow, but it was obvious now that there was a face at the end of it. Light shone on him from all angles, coming in from around the edge of the tunnel and reflected back up from the portal.
“Yeah? So what.” Danny called up, slightly out of breath from exertion. “You got any better ideas to get through this portal? Cus I’m stuck.”
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Damian could hardly believe what Titus had led him to in the depths of the forest. It was a wishing well. The exact likeness of the soulmark that sat just under his hairline. A romantic display of a time long past. The shale shingled roof covered a wide base. A bucket hung from a hand crank swaying softly in the breeze. A low surrounding wall, wide enough to sit for a time and relax, completed the look. It was a wonder it was still intact so close to Gotham. The surrounding clearing echoed with birdsong and untold history. And now with the untouched potential of the future.
A sound echoed up from the well. A high pitched whine and a scream. A sound of desperation and anger and death. Titus was right. Damian dropped the leash and ran to the rescue of whoever was trapped inside the well.
Peering down he was briefly taken aback. The bottom of the well was filled with Lazarus waters, covered by a silvery sheen. A young man below the surface was firing a thin laser from his fingers while screaming. So perhaps not a pit. It looked like a portal. The screaming finally stopped. The man on the other side was bent double, exhausted by his futile attempt.
“That seemed wholly ineffective.” He called down the well. When a challenge was issued back up the well, Damian used the rope to repel down. He took out his favorite dagger and struck the barrier….Which did absolutely nothing. Wrapping his arm in the rope and bracing his feet against the walls, he reached down to touch the barrier as the man on the other side reached his hand forward to the same spot.
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The barrier burst and sent them both tumbling. The man above went straight up into the shale roof. Danny flipped top over tea kettle back into the open void of the Realm. Looking back, he could still see the other man hung over the side of the tunnel, blood running down his chin. Danny flew up, grabbed the other man and set him on the grass to inspect the wound. His first aid was clearly not appreciated as the other man tried to stab him. He phased through the knife but let out a gasp when he saw his very own wishing well peeking out from under the hairline, blood running from the head wound set right in the opening of the well. Still half in shock, Danny let the other man’s knife phase into his body and then just…kept it. (He’d give it back later) Then pulled down the collar of his shirt to reveal the matching, full color wishing well.
The man’s gaze shifted from the well on Danny’s left shoulder to just over Danny’s shoulder. Curious, Danny turned around to see, yet again, the same well.
“Well,” Danny said with a chuckle, “this will be a story for the ages.” He looked back to the other man and saw the same mirth sparkling in his eyes.