Unpleasant Revelations - DPxDC Ficlet Idea for the Stillborn Au
"Have you met my youngest, Damian, Mr. Masters?"
Its only from twenty years of long, hard experience and practice that Vlad doesn't increase the room temperature from 'borderline uncomfortably cool' to 'unbearably hot' the moment Bruce Wayne pulls his youngest and "only" biological son out in front of him.
He puts only in quotations because twelve year old Damian Wayne looks scarily, uncannily like one Daniel Brown. Jack and Maddie's foster son, second victim of their foolishness, and only other halfa in existence. Second only to him.
It's nauseating how similar they look. From the scowl and terrible glare on the young boy's face, to his brown skin -- which was only a few shades lighter than Daniel's, the shape of his nose, and even the strange winged edge of his eyebrow. Something that Vlad has long since come to find endearing on the child he considered a son of his own. The only difference was that Damian had dark, sharp green eyes.
Daniel's eyes were blue. The same glacier shade as his father's, who stood behind Damian with a proud, oafish smile on his visage.
It was infuriating how similar they look. Vlad might not have rapidly swung the room temperature from one extreme to the other, but he can't stop himself from letting the fury burning within his core from slipping out and raising the temperature up a few degrees.
Because it really only meant one thing.
Damian Wayne and Daniel Brown were related.
Damian Wayne and Daniel Brown were brothers.
Standing in front of him, it was clear as day. He can already picture a phantom image of Daniel standing beside Damian, the same scowl written on his face, the same glare carved into his eyes. The only difference being the dark, exhausted circles beneath them that seemed to be permanently painted onto his skin. The only thing missing being the permanent loneliness and vigilance permeating his being like a scar.
This, if revealed, would be enough to ruin Bruce Wayne's reputation. Or, at the very least, darken it quite a bit. The great philanthropist Bruce Wayne with another secret blood child? One related to his youngest? One that had been put into foster care? Seemingly thrown away?
It would be a firestorm.
One that Vlad is not keen on starting.
It would ruin Bruce Wayne's reputation, yes. But it would hurt Daniel in the process -- the harassment he would face alone might just be enough to break that fragile child completely. That was just not something he could allow. Or, even worse, bring him into his biological father's care and custody -- something Vlad was even less willing to allow.
It's not out of kindness to Wayne that Vlad will keep mum about this.
His grip on his champagne flute tightens, just a bit. He's still aware enough of the world around him to not let it shatter in his hands. His plastered, pleasant smile tightens around the corners, and he forces his focus to slide from Damian to Wayne.
"The resemblance is uncanny, Mister Wayne." He says, slanting his smile to the side slyly. Although he's not talking about the resemblance between Wayne and his son. Rage simmers beneath his skin, burning coal and embers in the core of his chest, nestled between his lungs, as he meets the man's eyes.
Wayne swaggles his head proudly, his ditzy smile widening as he squeezes his son's shoulder affectionately. Bastard, Vlad wants to spit.
He breathes in through his nose, and exhales out through his mouth. The champagne in his hand cools, and stops its unusual bubbling.
The Damian boy scoffs under his breath, his mouth still coiled upward into a scowl. With the revelation of his blood relation to Daniel evident, Vlad's not sure if he should find it endearing or not.
He is not Daniel, so he decides that it's just simply irritating. He decides to ignore it.
"And you said he was your only biological son?" He asks, voice lilting and head tilting. He knows its a suspicious question at worst, insulting at best. But considering Wayne's past proclivities, he can hardly call it an unexpected question.
Damian puffs in great offense, face twisting angrily. It reminds him of Daniel when Vlad insisted that he was wrong about something or other, and for a moment his heart swells, fond.
But this is not his child, and so the feeling quickly crashes and burns, simmering back into rage. This was not Daniel -- this was his replacement. A replacement that Wayne was free to keep.
Wayne chuckles, idiotically, as if he'd said some funny joke. Vlad's other hand, the one gripping his cane -- something he's required ever since he was dispatched from the hospital all those lonely years ago -- tightens instead. He grinds his teeth -- him and Jack Fenton would get along like a house on fire, he hates it.
"I can understand why you'd ask that, Mister Masters," Wayne says, squeezing Damian's shoulder again, "but yes, Damian is my only biological son. Although that doesn't mean I don't love my other children any less."
Bastard.
For all his posturing and flouncing about caring for his city and his children, Vlad never would have thought the Prince of Gotham capable of abandoning one of them.
But, well.
They all have their dark secrets.
And what one man throws away, another man picks up. If Bruce Wayne didn't want the treasure child that was Daniel Brown, then Vlad Masters was more than happy to take him instead.
"I see."
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Season 4 hope/prediction: Deb's show is solid, zero issues, runs flawlessly with great ratings, but her personal life is completely eroding. We start with her discovering Marcus is leaving, and it culminates in DJ going into labor right before a taping. Deb chooses the show. When it's over, and she finally flies to Vegas, it's too late -- Aiden's not letting her in because he loves his wife too much to let DJ get into a shouting match with her mom right after giving birth, and instead takes the brunt of Deb's wrath, with her making excuses and talking about how they used her money for IVF, and anyway, DJ's fine, so who cares if she wasn't there? Kathy's in the room with DJ and the baby (DJ's the closest she has to a daughter, after all) and Deb leaves too furious to think about how badly she's hurt her family.
She heads back to her Vegas mansion -- empty, obviously, Josefina and the dogs would be in LA -- and pops open a bottle of wine. Alone. Completely alone. Can't call Marty, she has no friends, the closest she's got would be Kiki and wouldn't that be embarrassing, calling your poker dealer to talk about your feelings --
and then Ava's there. She got the news about DJ's labor, she got the story from Aiden (who was distraught, by the way, man's too much of a sweetheart for Vance drama), a spare key from Damian (happy to pawn that off on her, though if it isn't returned promptly he's taking legal action) and has arrived just in time to see the Deborah Vance having a breakdown the likes of which no one thought physically possible. Crying gives you wrinkles, you know. But Ava has to be here. She's the physical embodiment of a lesson Deb never truly learned: you don't have to like someone to love them.
In my imaginary fantasy land that I am concocting this would then subsequently lead into them fucking nasty but I understand that this may be a step too far for the surprisingly large number of very normal people who watch this show and would forgive JPL for not taking it that far. However I do believe they should fuck about it and let Ava take the reigns in their relationship while they see how many of Deb's bridges they can un-burn.
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[4]
OH EXCUSE ME??
WHY MUST THEY HURT ME THIS WAY????
Syaoran is just gushing blood at this point, to the point that HIS EYE COMES OUT
OR RATHER, FAI’S EYE COMES OUT
THE COLOUR (IE, THE SOURCE OF FAI’S MAGIC) COMES OUT OF HIS EYE AND CRYSTALISES LIKE FAI’S OTHER EYE DID BACK IN NIHON
Which gets me from a few angles, because like, could that go back to Fai now? Could he get that magic back? Or did he already trade away the ownership of it when he traded all of his magic to Yuuko? Does he even want it? It’s uh… caused many problems. And painful memories. And even more painful injuries.
BUT ALSO THE LOOK OF SYAORAN WITH HIS NORMAL EYES RESTORED?
THAT’S JUST SYAORAN!
MY CLONE SON IS DYING
AND IN HIS HARSH BREATHING HE FINDS HIMSELF MENTIONING THE FEATHERS BECAUSE OF COURSE HE DOES THAT WAS HIS CORE ALL ALONG
If he was going to have to talk about anything in his final moments it would have to be the feathers
And he almost looks lifeless as he passes on that they should give the feathers to Sakura. Because that was his central programming from start to finish.
Unless he knows something else?!
Is this the implication that maybe giving the feathers to Sakura at this point might cause something?
Is there a thread of a chance that Sakura is not just an empty body but that there is still something to be restored?
(And how cruel would that be to bring her back only to find that her most important person has died all over again?)
OH NO IM SCREAMING
HELLO ITS REALLY HIM
ITS SYAORAN tALKING ABOUT HIS FAMILY ON HIS DEATHBED
I WASN'T PREPARED FOR THIS
OH NO NOW I AM ALSO DECEASED
HE SEEMINGLY ROUNDS OFF THE FAMILY BY MENTIONING SAKURA BUT THEN ALSO ADDS LAVA LAMP
SCREAMING CRYING THROWING UP
HOW WILL I EVER RECOVER FROM THIS
THEY NEVER EVEN TECHNICALLY KNEW EACH OTHER
THEY SPENT THEIR WHOLE LIVES INTERTWINED
THEY FOUGHT AND TRIED TO KILL EACH OTHER AND DIED TRYING TO SAVE EACH OTHER
LAVA LAMP GAMBLED HALF HIS SOUL ON SAVING THIS BOY AND WATCHED SYAORAN'S ENTIRE LIFE FROM HIS OWN EYES RIGHT UP UNTIL HE LOST HIS SOUL
AND NOW HE’S HOLDING HIM AS HE DIES RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM AND SYAORAN LISTS HIM AS PART OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PEOPLE TO HIM, MAKING THEM FAMILY FROM START TO FINISH
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
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The gods basically failed at the ye old Spiderman adage. Great power, great responsibility.
Because truly at the end of it all, they can’t be both humanized and gods. They have too much power. Yes, you can sympathize with them but they aren’t allowed the same allowances as just a regular person. If a superhero chose to save their family over the world, they failed. Because they have a duty, they have power higher than themselves, higher than personal bonds.
And that’s what the gods fail at. The Raven Queen putting on the emotionless mask and saying they were children in their mortal forms is indicative of this. She knows what it means to chose godhood and she is failing at being this objective persona of death and fate. They are all failing at this. Erathis realized this. When what they call a squabble means war and destruction for everyone else, you cannot play the “we’re just a family” card. The power they hold is beyond that and they have a responsibility to use it wisely, to uphold the duty they promised they would.
And the Divine Gate is them choosing. Choosing to be gods or to be humanized. Pelor lamenting the idea of not being able to walk amongst mortals, Melora refusing to leave because she found this world. But ultimately, yes. They cannot walk amongst their creations because they are separate, they are not the same. There is a sheer difference in power that cannot be reconciled unless they give it up. And they can’t. They all choose godhood. They choose to be on a different level than mortals.
They chose power and have to deal with the responsibility.
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