Promise me no dead end streets and I'll guarantee we'll have the road [W7, Thursday Night]

[hydrokinetics]

[The hotel explodes just like he knew it would. He's out of the way as promised, but that's a pretty loud and obnoxious boom. He peers out of the saloon where he'd been hiding out, watches Hal walk past and stares at the debris around town. Whole Ass really is crashing to the ground, isn't it?

Oh well. No one's sleeping tonight, but as he stares out into the quiet nearly empty town, he spots a light.

...no, not a light. It's the bonfire. He blinks curiously, wondering why the fire's on now and without thinking he leaves the saloon to approach the flames.

It's only when he spots a familiar figure that he gets it and he feels his mouth go dry. He stands off to the side to watch for a moment before he speaks up.]

...what are you doing out here so late?

Comments

[bittybat]

[The hotel blowing up is pretty damn startling, but once Damian realizes what the hell happened, he also realizes that it doesn't much matter anymore.

So he goes back to standing like a sentinel at the bonfire, far enough back he isn't consumed by the smell of cooking skin or burning hair, just the smell of dust and debris.

There's some questionable signs when he looks over his shoulder at Percy. At his feet lays a familiar flat-tipped, red-ended and red-hilted sword. In one hand is a sword Percy will have never seen, long and sleek, a katana that looks like the cousin of the other held in the opposite hand--dark ochre, familiar. With him lies Winston.

More disturbingly, there seems to be three bodies in the bonfire, all charred and unrecognizable by now.]

[hydrokinetics]

[He lifts an eyebrow. Okay. So. It doesn't take long for him to figure out what happened and he's giving Damian a flat and solemn look even as he approaches. It's only when he's right at his back and he can look over his shoulder into the flames that he really looks everything over.]

...Jason, Milla, Papika. Am I right? [How does he know that? The process of elimination, though Damian may not know that. Maybe it's best he doesn't know.]

[bittybat]

[Damian, at least, isn't stupid enough to think Percy can't figure it out.] Yes.

[After a moment or two, he turns back toward the bonfire, but doesn't try to shoo Percy away.] I know about Barnham.

[hydrokinetics]

I know. Hal told me he mentioned it to you. [Likewise, he doesn't bother pulling back either.] What else has he told you?

[bittybat]

That everything was basically a set-up. None of us would have been alive in the end regardless of what we did. We all have to die in order to get on the train, and we have to get on the train to leave. [He's frowning. Of course he is.]

I accepted Barnham's duel. You'll be last man standing.

[hydrokinetics]

...[There's a heavy sigh before he steps forward. Whether Damian likes it or not, he's moving and pulling him into a hug with his chest to Damian's back. He knows it'll probably earn him a kick but he's standing out of the way of the blades and everything.]

He told me you accepted. Hal, I mean. Not Mr. Barnham. You were supposed to leave the others to us, Damian.

[bittybat]

[Percy, don't hug the kid with two swords in his hands....]

It doesn't matter anymore. [Surprisingly, he doesn't fight the hug. He doesn't reciprocate in any normal way because he's emotionally constipated, but... allowing Percy to hug is perhaps the best indication he's alright with it.] If anyone should have killed Todd, it was me.

Papika was my roommate. I knew Maxwell would have wanted a true fight, so I gave her one.

[hydrokinetics]

[Okay but you're still ten, swords or no. So he's doing this and keeping him there, eyeing Winston and the corpses in the fire.]

Guess I can't disagree with that. Did you tell them about the end, too? I just talked to Milla this morning. [A beat.] And it still matters. Why wouldn't it?

[bittybat]

I told them. They're idiots for believing me on my word, but--maybe they just didn't care anymore.

The fight with Maxwell wasn't a fair fight. She was wounded and at a disadvantage. It felt dirty. Todd and Papika... [He sighs.] I requested liquid tranquilizer from the box and received it. I made darts I had intended to use on the killers if I found them.

I overdosed them with it.

[hydrokinetics]

Then maybe I'm an idiot for believing people on their words, too. But that's what we do, isn't it? That's what we've done this whole game, believing people's words.

[He hears the methods of murder and he frowns, tucking his face down a bit into Damian's hair to think, arm still secured around his chest.]

...you know Milla. She's like you. She'd want to go down with a chance to fight instead of being ambushed. And...Papika knew what was coming, I think. Jason would be safer on the train. I know it doesn't feel like it, but you did the right thing, okay? You could have been much, much crueler in your kills if you wanted. I know you're strong, dude. You held back enough if this is the end result.

[bittybat]

[Being held reminds Damian of Dick, and it's only right around now that he realizes how much he misses Dick Grayson... and everyone else. His father. Alfred. Titus.

Like Percy, Dick would probably know the right things to say. But would Dick be just as disappointed in him for doing this as his father would be?] Murder is never the right thing.

There isn't a good or bad scale for murder. It's all cruel. [At least, that's what his father has taught him.] Don't try to make excuse for it.

[hydrokinetics]

[There's a soft sort of noise of agreement.]

It's not, you're right. And I shouldn't be excusing it, but in a place where all of the rules are flipped, do you really think the rules of murder here are the same as they are in our worlds? This game was designed to mess with us no matter what.

[bittybat]

[Damian just frowns at Percy for lack of anything better to say or do. The Sheriff said the same thing initially, and yet, Damian refused to acknowledge such talk. It's the Wayne in him.] I won't accept it. I won't accept that.

What I did goes against... what Robin would do, and what Batman would do. I failed to uphold Father's teachings.

But... I won't run away. I'm returning home to tell him.

[hydrokinetics]

[Excuse you, don't compare him to the Sheriff even in meta, Damian??? That's really rude. Percy doesn't quite know what to say because he has a lot of the same feelings, but he won't exactly explain it.]

...if it goes against what Robin would do, why'd you do it? Explain that part to me. It's brave you're going to face it head on, but I want to understand what you're thinking if you'll let me.