⭐️ Eternal Shadow 🌙 Damian wayne ~~~~complete

Chapter 20: Shadows And Steel

"You're gonna go off on him, aren't you?" Gar asked.

Dick didn't answer. His glare was fixed on the sparring room door.

And then it opened.

Damian stepped out, towel slung around his neck, his expression unreadable but his eyes sharp, wary — like a cornered predator. The moment he saw Dick, something in his posture shifted, stiffened.

"You wanna say something, Grayson?" Damian muttered.

"Oh, I've got plenty," Dick shot back, stepping closer.

Kory moved to intercept, but Gar gently tugged her back. "Let them."

"You've been sneaking around the Tower's mainframe," Dick snapped. "Encrypted files, security feeds rerouted. And don't insult my intelligence by denying it."

Damian didn't flinch. "If I wanted to get past your security, Grayson, you wouldn't have known it."

"That's not a denial."

"Because I don't owe you one."

"That's rich," Dick hissed, fury bleeding through his words now. "After everything — after what happened to Mars, after Ra's tried to use her like a weapon, you're still pulling League tactics under our roof?"

At that, Damian's expression cracked — just for a second. A flicker of something haunted, furious, protective.

"I'm not working with him."

"But you were digging for something."

Silence.

Kory stepped in then, her voice softer, trying to defuse the fire.
"Dick... he's not the enemy here."

"You sure?" Dick spat, glaring. "Because every time we let our guard down, it's like clockwork. More shadows. More blood. And now she's getting stronger — and no one seems to remember what happened last time."

Gar shifted uncomfortably. "Mars isn't like that anymore."

"She could be," Dick said, voice cracking. "And you all keep forgetting who trained Damian. Who raised him. Who taught him to manipulate and lie and—"

"I'm nothing like him," Damian growled, stepping forward now, his green eyes blazing. "You think I'm not watching for Ra's? That I don't know what he wants from her? I'm trying to keep her safe, you arrogant bastard."

Dick's fists clenched.
"Then why keep secrets?"

"Because the last time I told you everything, you locked me out. You treated me like a ticking time bomb, just like you're doing to her."

That hit something raw.

Kory stepped between them at last, hands raised.
"Enough. Both of you."

Silence stretched.

Gar let out a low breath.
"Look... none of us are okay, alright? Not with this. But Mars — she trusts you, Damian. And if you screw that up, there's no coming back."

Damian's jaw flexed. He didn't say anything else, just turned on his heel and stalked back toward the rooftop garden.

Dick sagged against the wall, scrubbing a hand down his face.

"I just don't wanna lose anyone else," he muttered.

Kory rested a hand on his shoulder.
"Then stop pushing them away."

⭐️🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑⭐️

The world was a haze of warmth and ache, the cool tile beneath her cheek an anchor against the spinning in her head. She wasn't sure how long she'd been out, only that her muscles still trembled from the spar, her shadows still flickering faintly at the edges of her vision.

And then she heard them.

Voices — sharp, heated, right outside the training room door. She recognised them instantly. Dick. Damian. And beneath them, Kory's gentle calm and Gar's uneasy humour.

Mars kept still, shadows slipping like mist beneath the door, carrying every word to her like a whispered confession.

"You've been sneaking around the Tower's mainframe."

Her stomach twisted.

"After Ra's tried to use her like a weapon, you're still pulling League tactics under our roof?"

She squeezed her eyes shut. Ra's. Even now, his name sent ice through her veins. No matter how many miles she put between them, no matter how hard she fought to carve out something human, something hers, that shadow clung to her.

And Damian.

"I'm not working with him."

Her chest ached at the rawness in his voice.

"Then why keep secrets?"

A bitter laugh threatened to break out of her throat. Secrets were all any of them knew. It was survival. It was instinct. She was a weapon before she was a girl — and so was he. They weren't allowed to be anything else.

Then came Damian's voice again, lower, a mix of anger and something cracked beneath it.

"Because the last time I told you everything, you locked me out. You treated me like a ticking time bomb, just like you're doing to her."

Something in her broke a little at that.

She'd spent so long trying to be untouchable, to be something sharp enough to keep everyone at arm's length. And still... Damian stayed. Even when it made him the villain in the room.

Even when she didn't deserve it.

Her fingers brushed over the obsidian charm Raven had given her, still cool against her skin.

"Look... none of us are okay, alright? Not with this. But Mars — she trusts you, Damian. And if you screw that up, there's no coming back."

It wasn't a threat. It was a promise.

She swallowed hard, throat raw, shadows curling tighter around her. Maybe Dick was right. Maybe she was dangerous. Maybe she wasn't supposed to be here.

But in that moment, all she could think about was the way Damian had looked at her after the spar — not like a weapon, not like a mistake. Like a person.

She dragged herself up slowly, wincing at the pull of bruised ribs and battered limbs, leaning against the wall as their voices faded down the hall.

"I don't need saving," she whispered to the empty room.

But a traitorous part of her wondered if maybe, just maybe, she wanted someone to stay anyway.

⭐️🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑⭐️