The circumstances of one’s birth are predestined, and Damian was fortunate enough to be born a mere thirty minutes earlier.

But that minuscule amount of time held enough gravity to determine who would be the future Head and who would be the future Hand. And just like the Sun, his very existence cast a shadow over the life of his twin in total eclipse.

It wasn’t until when Damian chose to walk away that they both saw twilight.

“I know your loyalties are with Mother,” he began, fighting to steady his voice as the crushing weight of various legacies bore down upon him.

The future Demon’s Head.

The Son of the Bat.

The Boy Wonder.

“But I promise that there will always be a place for you within Gotham,” he vowed, offering a steady hand while he clutched his sword in the other. “A place for you in this entire world even. Where you are free to be whatever you wish.”

They’re two sides of the same coin — And Damian aches with the shared guilt deep within his heart every time he gazes into a mirror. The sense of emptiness they feel as their reflection haunts them, and follows them throughout their separate lives.

But he knows that the sentiments of his twin run deeper than just a simple preference for one parent over the other.

Their loyal and filial Mother had always stood alongside their Grandfather, despite knowing she’d always be the Hand and never the Head — And with the waves of a burgeoning generational curse, Talia had swept away her littlest one, whose only sin was being born last, alongside with her.

“There is more to this life than just sacrifice and faith,” Damian pleads, as his resolve crumbles in front of the other half of his soul. “I know you are not truly happy living like this.”

With every passing day alongside their Father, he’s reminded that the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.

But that doesn’t stop him from hoping and praying that the Moon will choose to orbit onto a path of their very own alongside him.