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[theknightshift]

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[theknightshift]

[ Nothing he wants to say feels good enough. Excuses for his failures. Platitudes that would ultimately mean very little. I'm sorry doesn't feel like it's enough. Saying nothing is not how he wants this conversation to end. And so Bruce powers through the pain. He breathes and says the only thing he can come up with. ]

You were.

[brat]

( were. it's a better answer than the alternative, he supposes. there's jon, who knows damian when he is older. whether or not they are from the same timeline is in question, but he wanted to - to confirm that he isn't as off as he could have been. you were means he came back. you were means he had died-died, too far gone for the lazarus pit to bring him back. he supposes that could be a good thing, too.

there are dozens of follow up questions he could ask, so much that has yet to be answered, but damian - chooses not to ask.

not like this anyway. )

I don't regret my decision.

( it's acknowledgement. he was dead, he knows that now for certain. but knowing doesn't mean he wouldn't do it again should he be put in the same situation once more. and knowing doesn't make him regret the choice he made to go out despite his father's orders. )

[theknightshift]

[ Damian does not ask his follow up questions and Bruce doesn't provide anymore details. The spiral afterward had not put him in a good place. Still, defying the Justice League and starting a war with Apokolips needed to be done. Bruce would have burned through every relationship he had to save his son.

He still would. ]

I know.

[ He's not surprised by Damian's reply. It's something Bruce admires about him. His near unbreakable conviction. ]

I'm proud of you, Damian.

[brat]

( it's impossible to come up with a reasonable response to bruce. he could remind his father that it isn't damian, it's robin. the man should know that well enough by now, especially since it's his secret identity they are working so hard to keep. but he cannot think of anything else he could possibly add, here. thank you for believing in me, maybe, except bruce hadn't before damian had taken off. he does now. damian knows that. knows that the i'm proud of you isn't in response to his sacrifice, but to his unwavering will that he hadn't trusted before. he'd expected damian to fall back under his mother's wing. to become something he swore he wouldn't.

bruce knows now, to some extent. knew already, before damian had disappeared and returned before he'd noticed. he's voicing it now, because he recognizes it's damian who needs to hear it. damian who needs his father's approval, damian who tries so hard to be the kind of son who would make bruce proud.

the message sits for a long time, while damian mulls over how to answer. not acknowledging it at all is likely bruce's preference. it's damian's, too. unfortunately for them both, he's been taught better than that. )

Understood.

( even if he's dead - albeit temporarily if he is from bruce's universe - he's died proving himself to be a son worthy of batman. it's enough, for him. )