The silence in the mansion was unbearable. It made his footsteps louder than he intended, his breathing heavier than it was.

Damian walked slowly toward Raven's room, leaning against the hallway walls when he needed to take a break. Alfred had warned him not to move as he recovered from the blow Damian barely remembered, and he wasn't exactly known for following orders to the letter. But at that moment, what was forcing him out of his bed was not any kind of discomfort regarding the physical pain he felt.

No. The physical pain was bearable.

Damian opened the bedroom door and leaned against the frame. The lights were off and the only type of lighting entering the room was through the window, thanks to the moon and the lanterns from outside the mansion.

Closing his eyes for a few seconds, Damian took a deep breath and concentrated on the feelings that were welling up inside him. Anguish, anger, resentment... fear.

Feelings that weren't his, but for some reason left their mark on him.

It wasn't the first time he felt them. However, tonight they had been strong enough to wake him.

"I believe I told you, Young Master Damian, that in order to heal faster you ought to rest."

Alfred's voice, though ironically cordial as ever, echoed through the place.

Damian didn't bother to look at him, having noticed his presence for a while.

"It's been days…" he said, narrowing his eyes. "She should have woken up by now."

Alfred raised an eyebrow and looked from Damian to Raven, a sigh escaping him.

"I wouldn't know, young master," Alfred answered truthfully, the lack of light hiding his expression in the shadows. "But it won't be faster if you visit her at the cost of your health."

Damian didn't respond to that and just walked over to the bed, where Raven lay.

Whatever had happened to her wasn't something physical. Her body was in a coma, but her mind and soul were still functional. Not just from the sounds or the sporadic movements she sometimes made, Damian knew. He felt it. It was as if she were asleep, trapped in a dream that haunted her enough to seek his help.

Save me.

Like when he heard her voice in his mind.

Damian took a seat on a stool next to her and frowned as he watched her purse her lips in her sleep. He wanted to help her. He couldn't leave her alone. For some reason, Raven wasn't someone he could ignore.

Not even when the rest of the world seemed to be going to shit. Damian must have known that from the first day they met.

Unconsciously he reached out his hand to rest on hers. His eyes fixed on no specific point and with no real intention on his mind, but as if under a spell, Raven relaxed her expression in a matter of seconds.

A sigh escaped her lips and Damian felt warmth.

He would have smiled if it wasn't for the fact that Alfred pulled a blanket around his shoulders, startling him.

Damian swallowed, and though the butler didn't comment on it, they both knew what had happened: he'd forgotten he was there.

Raven dreamed of her mother.

Or at least, Raven was aware that she was dreaming, as much as those dreams tried to pretend to be longing memories.

At first, of course, she'd been confused. Enchanted, even, by the warmth of her home —which was palpable —and Arella's smiles —which were bright… by the fragments of a stable, happy, normal life.

But…

The houses they had lived in had never been homey and if Arella smiled, it was only to avoid showing any other negative emotion.

Their neighbors didn't greet them when they passed, people avoided them wherever they went. Just as they did them.

With Arella it had always been like that: cold, distant, lonely. Raven loved her as every child loves their mother figure, and Arella did nothing more than try to give and show her all the love she had for her, but the reality was different and she would always remember it, no matter how much she wanted to hide it in a dark corner of her mind.

"Hey, isn't that girl scary?"

"Why did they move here? I have chills whenever they're near me."

"The mother is crazy, the child is weird. They shouldn't be here."

The murmurs of random people they had at some point interacted with interrupted the beauty of the dream and echoed in her mind.

Raven tried to cover her ears, but her hands didn't move.

"Why do they hate us?"

Her own voice, higher and tinged with innocence, came from her lips, but it wasn't Raven who said it.

Like a memory, but much more intense.

Raven squeezed her eyes shut and her jaw clenched.

"We haven't done anything wrong."

"Why are we hiding?"

"Why can't I get out?"

Her younger self's resentment melded with her own, bringing to life a deep hatred Raven hadn't known she held.

Stop.

Not just hate, but sadness.

A terrible eternal suffering that threatened to split her in half —to bring out something Raven didn't know she had.

"It's not her fault, Raven," her mother's voice rang in her ears. From everywhere and at the same time from nowhere."They are not to blame."

But then did that mean she was? That everyone's hatred was her own fault? Did they always end up moving because of her?

Raven never understood it. Arella had never explained it.

And then her mother would disappear from her dreams, as if she were torn from them each time, and Raven would be left alone. Alone, in complete darkness that barely allowed her to see her hands. Alone, with only her feelings and the pounding of her heart in her ears to keep her company.

Sometimes, she felt a distant warmth. A warmth that wanted to protect her and kept her sane. A warmth she wanted so desperately to reach, and yet felt so far away that she knew it wasn't hers or part of the dreams.

But that warmth that she already knew was not always enough.

She hated them.

It was their fault.

Ba-thump.

She was alone.

They were to blame.

Ba-thump.

She could eliminate them all.

Ba-thump.

She could conquer that world just by wishing for it. Raven had that power. Raven could release it.

And then, Raven realized that those murmurs were not her thoughts, that that voice didn't belong to her and that whatever she was feeling was not what she really felt.

But was she sure of that? Was she sure that as soon as she woke up, she wouldn't be the monster she really was? That she would not avenge her mother?

She was the half-blood, after all. Destined to bring the world of humans to ashes and establish the kingdom of Trigon. Destined to belong nowhere.

Raven's jaw clenched, or so she felt it did. She felt smaller and smaller. Weaker. More frustrated. That wasn't her. Arella had never resented humans. Why would she? Raven wanted it to stop. Get it out of her head!

Please!

Damian's face appeared in a flash.

And at last, Raven was able to feel something outside.

To hear.

"Raven!"

Raven's eyes snapped open and she was up in one motion, panting as if she had run a marathon and reaching for anything she could hold on to as everything around her was spinning.

The dizziness she felt quickly vanished and she realized she wasn't alone. The light from one of the lamps fell on Damian, who, next to her, seemed to have jumped to his feet since a stool had basically tipped over as it fell. She swallowed, feeling an incredible relief to feel him with her again, even though his torso was wrapped in bandages and there were dark circles under his eyes.

"You are.. fine!"

He seemed surprised at her words, almost as surprised as she was to let them escape her lips without thinking better of it, but for a moment, for that very moment, Raven didn't care. She didn't care at all when she felt the warmth she already knew very well running through her body as if it were in her veins. When she remembered and recognized the warmth that had saved her on more than one occasion since they had known each other.

She didn't care when she reached out her arms to embrace him and pull him closer to her, even though her limbs felt clumsy, even though he tensed his body, utterly stunned by the sudden contact.

Raven was relieved. Very relieved.

Damian couldn't seem to pull her away from him as her head rested on his shoulder, and embarrassingly he tried to return the gesture, resting one of his hands on her back while the other instinctively covered his ribs.

"That's what I should say."

Raven frowned and looked up, ready to ask what he meant. He is the one who had been almost killed because of her. She had just passed out. There was no point of comparison.

However, before any questions could cross her mind, Raven stopped her movements, swallowing as her gaze met Damian's. Suddenly, she was aware of the strong beating of her heart and for the first time she felt that the desire to get closer to someone, even though it was apparently physically impossible, was not due to uncontrollable thirst or deep anger.

Raven wanted more from Damian. Much more.

And from the way Damian was looking at her, conflicted and almost surrendered, Raven sensed that it was the same for him.

And now they were so, so close...

"Is this a cheesy movie or something?" but then Dick's voice made them both jerk away and Damian glared at his brother, who was leaning against the door jamb, arms folded and a smug expression on his face, as if he knew something they didn't.

Damian rolled his eyes and stepped away from Raven. She reluctantly let him go. They couldn't look at each other again for a while and silence reigned as Dick looked from one to the other.

He shook his head, as if he couldn't believe it, and exhaled before pointing down the hall.

"It's good to see you awake," he said, then looked into her eyes. "You have a lot to catch up on."

Raven frowned and tilted her head.

"What are you talking about?" she asked and when Dick raised both eyebrows, she turned her head to Damian. "How many things could have happened in one day?"

Damian shared a look with Dick, neither of them really understanding what Raven was saying, but then he exhaled, knowing it was best to speak bluntly.

"It's not one day, Raven," he said. Raven raised both eyebrows. "It's been ten."

After cleaning up and eating something, Raven was accompanied by Damian and Dick to the cave, as Bruce had sent for them.

In those ten days, several things had happened, but the main ones were: first, the Queen had decided to make the existence of vampires public and second, the government had declared a curfew as a consequence due to the many deaths they were causing. .

It was enough to turn on the television and Raven saw countless news reports of missing people, or homicides, and even people with banners and going on strike, demanding the government to do something. The revulsion in their expressions was clear, the loathing was obvious.

Basically, they were in a state of emergency.

And Raven was disgusted. Nervous, or even scared.

Suddenly, everything she knew had changed again. Her chance of being normal, or at least being able to live as normal, was getting slimmer.

Damian watched Raven as Dick explained what was going on with Gotham. Although it was something that he already expected, or rather something that he knew would happen sooner rather than later, for some reason he couldn't help but feel a little sad about it.

From time to time, Raven would look up at him, as if seeking confirmation from someone she trusted, and Damian found it hard to admit that each time he nodded, it broke his heart a little.

Those afflicted feelings, he was sure they weren't his. However, it did not seem prudent to comment on it at the moment. If what he suspected was correct, Raven already had a lot to think about.

When they arrived, like the first time Raven was there, the other members of his family were waiting for them. Luckily, if any of them had injuries, they were treatable, or perhaps just scratches that had healed in that time.

Raven found herself thinking that she was glad to see them mostly fine, even though they didn't get along very well, the truth was that they had accepted her enough. More than other humans would have done and more than other humans would.

She took a seat next to Barbara and Damian sat next to her.

Bruce was the first to speak, as expected.

"It's good that you're here Raven."

Raven nodded, but it was Jason who spoke.

"Well, sleeping beauty is awake, can you tell us now why you've been so secretive?" he asked a little offhand as he looked from Dick to Bruce and back again.

Raven tilted her head, curious as to why it seemed like they had been waiting for her for this meeting.

And, of course, Bruce was quick to nod.

"I know you've been busy trying to sort out what the Queen caused, so I figured it's time to explain to you clearly the real reason the plan failed."

Barbara raised both eyebrows.

"Real reason?" she repeated, outrage brimming in her voice. "Are you saying that being ambushed by an army of wild vampires wasn't reason enough?"

"Getting ambushed was on the cards," Bruce explained simply before looking over at Raven. "I had a plan and that plan failed."

Damian frowned, crossing his arms.

"Speak clearly, father," he demanded. "What does it have to do with Raven?"

She hadn't betrayed them, but that his father had waited until she was awake to call that meeting, as well as that mysterious conversation he'd had with Lady Shiva to convince her… Jason was right about one thing, and that is that he was omitting information from them.

But then, Raven straightened up in her seat, and after pursing her lips thoughtfully, she spoke:

"Does it have to do with my heritage?" she asked, cautiously. "Because I am the half-blood, right?"

They all looked at her with some level of confusion, but Raven had no idea what they meant by that. She had heard it during the battle, and had heard it again in her dreams. She knew who her parents were. She had struggled with that fact for a long time, though that didn't mean it was relevant to what she did.

However, Bruce just exhaled and pulled out an old book from one of the nearby drawers.

"The half-blood... Trigon's daughter with a human, that's you, isn't it?" he asked and Raven blinked. Her palms were sweaty, the disbelief of the others clear on their faces.

"Wait, wait," Jason held up both hands in front of him, drawing attention. "Trigon? Trigon as in the lord of the vampires?" Bruce agreed. "Wasn't he a myth? Nobody ever talks about that."

Damian looked at his father and then at Raven. She looked sick all of a sudden, curled up in her seat, pressing her lips together.

"He existed," Bruce clarified. "There is no record of whether he was eliminated or not, though."

If anyone had a question or comment about it, Bruce didn't give them time to voice it, since demons weren't his area of expertise honestly. All he knew was that he had somehow been sealed and that it was impossible for him to escape from wherever he was trapped. However, that had been twenty years ago and before that, since long before that, the hunters had had trouble controlling the vampire population.

Of course, the half-bloods were within that population.

Although few, it was always noticeable when one appeared. Their presence, their abilities. Everything that was constant in normal vampires was varied in them. Some had the strength of a superhero, others were so weak that they could barely stand on their feet. Raven hadn't been wrong that they were rare, especially half-bloods who reached her age without complications. However, the strength, the presence of her, and everything that had led them to believe that she was a high-class vampire had only been enough to confirm what he believed.

And it is that Raven was not only a half-blood. She was the half-blood, the one mentioned in that poem that few knew about.

"A poem my parents found before they were murdered," Bruce said, opening the book in his hands just where there was a bookmark. He paused, as if he needed everyone's full attention, and then he read:

Beware the half-blood child of night,

Her power brings both dark and light.

She'll walk a path of blood and pain,

Leaving only ruin in her wake.

Her soul is torn, a constant fight,

Between the forces of dark and light.

Her heart is pure, yet tainted still,

By the darkness of her father's will.

The half-blood comes with powers great,

To shape the world and seal its fate.

Her touch brings death, her voice a curse,

Bringing ruin to both man and earth.

Beware the half-blood child of night,

For she brings destruction to all in sight.

Her path will end in blood and fire,

Leaving nothing but a funeral pyre.

Of all of them, it was Tim who spoke first as Bruce stopped expectantly. "It's a prophecy," he concluded, frowning. "Of destruction?"

"At least that part is," Dick was the one to answer, clasping his hands on the table. "But Bruce had suspicions that it was incomplete. As expected, he was not wrong."

Bruce hummed.

"It wasn't really a suspicion. The sheet was torn in half."

"Anyway, no one would have thought twice about it."

Dick himself was the one who took something out of his pocket to hand it over to Bruce. It was a paper folded in four and wrinkled. At first glance it looked like a normal print, but when Bruce opened it, Damian could tell from the inside edges of the paper that it was more like a photocopy.

His father, with a sterner expression than usual, wasted no time in continuing.

Amidst the dark and shadowed night,

A half-blood child shall come to light.

A daughter born of darkness and light,

Whose destiny will set the world alight.

With powers vast, her soul will shine,

A beacon of hope, a powerful sign.

Her touch will heal, her voice will guide,

Beware the half-blood child of night.

But with great power, comes great strife,

And many will seek to end her life.

For those who fear what they don't understand,

Will try to extinguish the light, with a ruthless hand.

And so, the half-blood child must choose,

To fight for good, or let evil loose.

Her path is set, her fate unknown,

But the choice is hers, and hers alone.

For in her hands lies the path of salvation,

A way to end the eternal night.

But should she choose annihilation,

Her power will consume and take command.

Beware the half-blood child of night,

For she shall shine ever bright.

"Wait, I'm confused," Jason put a hand to his temple, and exhaled. "The first part talks about destruction, but the verses in the second part talk about salvation. Are you sure it's about Raven?"

Bruce didn't instantly agree.

"I am now."

"Hm…" Tim laced his fingers in front of his face and narrowed his eyes at Dick. The memory of the exploding glass, the fearful vampires, and the heavy atmosphere during the battle, fresh in his memory. "Why did you stop her, then?" he wanted to know.

It's not like he was accusing him of negligence, but from the way things were going, it was obvious that the first death would've been that of their current enemy. Dick had stopped her, so something wasn't going according to the plan they hadn't been informed about.

Damian looked at his older brother as well, aware of the frustration building within both him and Raven, whose knuckles had turned white from clenching her fists.

Dick exhaled.

"Because at the time, what was unleashing her powers was the Queen's influence," he explained. "According to what I found, there are two possible—"

BAM!

But before Dick could continue, Raven shot to her feet, slamming her hands on the table and stealing the attention. Her breathing heavy with outrage and her eyes bubbly. If Damian didn't know better, he'd say she was ready to murder someone by how strong her presence seemed on the brink of getting out of control.

"Enough," she demanded, her jaw clenching.

At the time, they sounded like the Queen, Raven thought. Trying to get out what she always struggled to hide.

"Since when do you know all that?" Raven inquired, looking up at Bruce and Dick, trying not to let her fangs or claws snap out of strong dark feelings. "Why didn't you say something earlier?!"

Did they not understand the magnitude of what they were talking about?

But Bruce only returned a serious expression. And Raven understood.

He knew it. He was aware of the risks.

"Would you have come with us if you knew what could happen?"

She clenched her jaw.

Ba-thump.

"Of course not!"

Being Trigon's daughter, being a half-blood, was not what defined her. Raven was sick of it.

But for them, as for the vampires, it was her most important trait.

Raven swallowed hard and approached Bruce with angry steps. She had no trouble pulling the book out of his hands, although he probably didn't make an effort to retain it. She felt, somehow, betrayed.

"You're insane!" she yelled, not caring that it was disrespectful, not thinking about what the others would think of her. Which was a slight mistake, since her presence inadvertently increased and everyone was already prepared to fight, hands on their weapons, positions ready. Raven's heart broke. "You all are!"

Her eyes lingered for two seconds longer than expected on Damian. Not because she wanted to blame him, but because she wanted to see something —some indication that he didn't think like his father, or wasn't on guard like his brothers. And even though he wasn't, his expression was enough to make Raven unable to meet his gaze. He hadn't known either, there was no reason to be angry with him…

But still, she stormed out of the cave. The back of her hand passing discreetly over one of her eyes before disappearing.

An awkward silence settled.

It was not uncommon for his father to use people. A long time ago everyone had understood that for the mission, for the greater good, Batman would give his life and that of his allies.

But this time, was it really worth it? Damian watched where Raven had gone.

The fact that she wasn't mad at them, but at herself. Sad and scared… As always, he wasn't the best when it came to feelings, so his own confusion mixed with her despair.

He didn't want her to feel this way.

"Shouldn't someone go with her?" Jason asked.

Damian exhaled, his gaze going to Bruce for half a second before he started to walk away.

"Good job, father."

"There's something I don't understand," Barbara crossed her arms and then leaned back in her seat. The sarcasm in his younger brother's voice had silenced them, perhaps because of the slight guilt they felt, but it wasn't going to stop her from asking. "Why did you hide such an important piece of information?"

They all knew that regardless of what they thought of Raven, they would have followed Bruce's plan.

He held her gaze for a long moment, however, before exhaling.

"Because the easiest way for her to use her full potential is when she's protecting those she holds dear," Bruce said. "You guys aren't the friendliest, a prophecy like that would only make the situation worse."

Jason rolled his eyes.

"Pot and kettle now, B?"

The night wind off the Gotham coast was cold, and it felt worse when she'd just taken a bath and her hair was still wet, so Raven hugged herself as she read the poem.

She read it over, and over, and over again, and all it did was make her angrier. What destruction? What salvation? All she knew was that when she was in that state, she stopped being herself and became something she had no control over. She became what everyone hated and the reason her mother had suffered so much to hide her from the rest of the world.

She almost laughed at herself.

And then she heard the sound of a batclaw's cable and before she saw him she knew who it was.

"You really like heights," Damian's voice was loud in the silence of the night and Raven wondered how he had gotten there without drawing the attention of all the patrolmen.

"How did you find me?" she asked, frowning. "There was no time for you to put another tracker on my clothes."

Damian shrugged and without answering, slowly moved closer to her to sit on the edge of the lighthouse, both of them with their backs to the huge spotlight that had long since stopped working. It seemed incredible that the empty city due to the curfew was the same Gotham they both knew as a nest of vampires. Probably the only people they would see go by would be homeless people or armed policemen. There were no party goers or criminals, much less the normal people of Gotham, it was funny how that peace was only the result of a worse threat.

"I had a feeling," he said simply, and they both fell into a comfortable silence.

Raven kept looking at the cover of the old book, or at least pretended she did. Being aware of Damian's presence was… confusing. Not unpleasant, quite the opposite, and that, which the Queen had used to her advantage, scared Raven.

She didn't want to accept it, but it was something that was already a given.

With her fingers caressing the cover of the book, she looked up.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't want to explode against you and your siblings."

Damian shook his head, not looking at her.

"I would have reacted worse," he replied.

And Raven pressed her lips together, only to look up at the star-sparse sky. She put the book aside and sighed.

All this time, she had been fighting against that darkness that she had always felt inside of her. Fighting in order not to lose control. She had tried to be the best version of herself, doing what she believed was the right thing to do by siding with the feeble humans. Doing what she thought her mother would have wanted. But it turns out that that was the least of it. Turns out it didn't matter at all.

"…Turns out it was going to happen anyway," she finished saying and for some reason, she felt like smiling.

Laughing at the irony.

But she didn't, and instead met Damian's gaze as she turned to him.

"Tell me, what am I supposed to do now?"

The question sounded like a plea, and Damian was stunned for a few seconds, not only because he didn't really know what to say to that, but because there, for some reason, in that moment, Raven looked totally different.

Her strength, her presence... Suddenly everything felt... tiny. A shadow of the confidence he'd seen in her when they'd first met. A trace of what had caught his eye.

And Damian didn't like that. It was hard to say, hard to explain, but what he was sure of was that he didn't want to see her like this. Not when she was so much more.

He clenched his hands into fists. For some reason, feeling guilty for thinking… feeling what he was feeling.

He liked Raven. He liked her more than he was willing to admit.

"I don't know," he answered her question after a while, being completely sincere, and still looking into her eyes. "But you are strong, Raven. Stronger than any of us, and more human than many people."

There was a pause, as if he wasn't so sure about what he was going to do, but he did it anyway, and Damian placed his hand over hers. A gesture that Raven didn't reject at all, feeling almost natural, and although he didn't interlock their fingers, she wished he would. He knew it was so, just as he knew that whatever had long been ignited in him wasn't one-sided. "If you don't want to do it, I wouldn't blame you. None of us would."

And he knew it. After all, none of them would judge another for deciding to leave such a lonely and dangerous life.

But instead of accepting it, instead of just nodding and letting it all fall with its own weight, Raven shook her head.

"It's not about that," she confessed, pressing her lips together and lost in thought for a few seconds as she seemed to consider what she would say next.

Raven knew it wasn't a matter of wanting or not wanting. According to what Bruce had read, according to everything she had experienced up to that moment, it was something that was going to happen even if she didn't want to. It was something inside her, dark and macabre, that was going to come out and show itself to the world at any moment, so why waste time refusing?

That wasn't the problem, she knew, so she didn't look at Damian when she spoke again;

"You will have to stop me at all costs."

It was fast. An almost murmur, which Damian barely managed to hear only to frown sternly, hardly resembling his father.

"What?" he needed to hear it clearly.

And she, filled with an audacity that she didn't always have, looked up at him and cupped his face in her hands, forcibly connecting their gazes.

"You don't get it," she tried to explain. Trying to keep her voice from cracking. "It is not about salvation or destruction. It is not one or the other, Damian. Once what has to happen happens, you will have to stop me to prevent something much worse than the Queen from happening… even if it means killing me."

She swallowed, her eyes drifting unconsciously to Damian's lips as if the context they were in was anything but romantic.

"You have to promise," she requested, dropping her hands and finding herself unable to maintain the eye contact she herself had initiated, placing her hand back over Damian's for a squeeze. "Promise me."

There was no immediate response. Damian's mind clouded with various questions and doubts. What did she mean? Why did she seem so sure? Why didn't she believe what Dick was saying?

However, the only question he was able to cast was;

"Why me?"

Damian had no doubt of his abilities. Quite the contrary, he knew that he was a highly trained person and raised to do what he did. There was no one like him. But also, he was also aware that for cases like that, normal people would go to his father or one of his siblings, classifying him as too young or too reckless, or both.

Damian had no doubt of his abilities, but of his will to eliminate her.

However, Raven laced their fingers together in an effort to regain his attention and in almost a whisper, as if it was something she shouldn't say, she replied:

"Because you're the only person qualified to stop me... The only one I could never hurt if I still had a bit of a conscience."

For Raven, that had become a given. As much as the sun rose in the East and set in the West, Damian was the only one who could bring her back even as the darkness began to engulf her. He had done it more than once, he had saved her from herself. Raven simply knew that he was going to be the only one capable of stopping her.

She looked up again. Damian made her feel, after all, that there was still a chance. An opportunity for her, for the future, for everyone. It wasn't just a warm, bubbly feeling in her chest. No. It was much more than that.

And she wasn't willing to let it go.

So, before she knew it, before saying anything that would ruin the moment, before she started thinking about all the problems again, Raven leaned into him and pressed her lips to his.

Damian's surprise was evident in how tense he was at first. Perhaps it was more than just surprise, in fact; however, sooner rather than later, his hands had already risen to her face, only to bring her closer to him than she thought possible.

In that moment, from how fast her heart was beating and how warm her body felt, Raven couldn't feel more human…

At that moment, together with Damian and thanks to him, for some reason, it was easier to accept the fate or curse that some god or whatever had imposed on her just by being born.

It was so weird, so euphoric that for a moment, just a few seconds, she had to force himself to stop. She had to force herself to break away from Damian to verify that it wasn't just another dream, that that feeling —that his touch, his closeness, his breath on her lips and his rapid breathing —that it was all real.

And yes it was. His chest rising and falling, his thirsty eyes assured her of that.

And then it was he who sought her lips again. His hands going to her back and tangling his fingers in her cloak as she wrapped around his neck. A kiss that was chaste and uncertain at first soon evolved into a deeper and more desperate one. Under Gotham's night sky, behind the back of a world in conflict as if it were a secret, they kissed, and kissed, and kissed.