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Talia holds out the tooth in her hand. It's small. A baby tooth. Most parents would probably be happy to see their children's baby teeth fall down. But not her. Not her.
"When did this happen?" She asks.
"This morning," Damian responds, mechanically. He's well trained. "The new one is already starting to grow."
She nods slowly in acknowledgement. "Leave me alone for a few minutes," she asks, and Damian obeys.
She looks at the tooth again. She knows how immortality works. The immortality that doesn't come with the Lazarus pit, the pure untainted immortality. The gift Damian had been graced with. One stop growing (and she knew when it happened for Damian, and she would never have forgiven herself if he hadn't been gifted but he was) and becomes immortal until they met their historical figure. A significant person in their life that makes them stop being immortal. They go back to being immortal when that person dies.
Damian had started aging when he arrived in Wayne manor.
It was Bruce, right?
It had to be Bruce. It had to be Bruce, otherwise...
Otherwise, what she did was for nothing.
But Bruce is dead, she's sure of it. And Damian just lost a tooth. His historical figure wasn't Bruce.
Her heart has been open wide since Bruce died. When she pulled her dagger through his chest, she felt like she was the one who was stabbed.
She did love him. More than she ever loved any man before. She did love him enough to think about betraying her father several times.
But there is nothing she wouldn't do to protect Damian.
And what she did, she did to protect Damian.
What she did, she did... for nothing.
She collapses down on the tooth in her hand, a inhuman scream tearing itself from the giant hole that is her heart through her lips.
Bruce is dead.
And Damian is mortal.
Dick looks at himself in the mirror. Grey bags are forming beneath his eyes, and if it was anyone else than him, he would probably be worried about the man with his face.
But, hey.
It's not like sleep deprivation would kill him.
Nothing would kill him.
Bruce is dead. He's sure of it. He knows who his historical figure was.
He hadn't touched his razor in days, yet his chin remains clean shaved. No aging. No dying.
He will be Batman forever. Literally.
Bruce is dead. Dick is immortal.
Bruce is dead, and Talia doomed Damian.