Chapter Text
Danny sits surrounded by pillows of all sizes. One particularly small pillow hugged tight to him, and he teethed the little floppy flaps of dino spikes it had on its back.
Life has been… interesting, to say the least, for Danny.
For his whole life, he'd done nothing but play around in his house—as should be the usual, since he was five an' all.
But then his mom had a big, huge portal! And Danny was really curious. A giant metallic dome, the far end of the inside had a button to switch on.
…
The rest were painful.
His parents were painful.
When they had entered the basement and stared at his body on the ground, he'd thought they would help him. Tell him what's going on, explain why he was white and black and glowing green. Maybe hug him.
None of that happened.
…
He squished his face on the top of his dinosaur plushy, the fabric was soft and bouncy; it was better to think about that rather than those.
"Danny? " A muffled voice called somewhere outside of his makeshift pillow cave.
One pillow was removed, revealing a hole that bled intense light into a dark abyss. A face peeked in, one that he knew.
"Are you okay, Danny? " Dick whispered, thoroughly concerned and his face soft with worry.
His new family was nice so far. They didn't show him any pointy stuff the first time Dami tried showing him his katana.
Danny felt bad for overreacting. Dami looked so proud of the katana too.
But then Danny kinda shut down in the middle of his big brother's ramble, and they had to move Danny away and sit him down on one of their couches. He remembered someone carding their fingers through his hair, and that they gave him his plushie too, but he really only noticed those tid bits after he snapped out of it.
No one really told him how long he's went weird like that, and that kind of hurt, since Danny pestered them over and over but they just kept denying him!
He wanted to be mad at them for it... but they've been so nice. Danny was weak to nice. Some parts of Danny, maybe older—he can't remember—knew that about himself, too.
That was why everything crumbled to dust, anyway.
And he owed them! They saved him—he's grateful! Even if he wanted to know what happened to him he wouldn't force them, that'd be...
Dunno. Bad?
On the other hand, the weird man in red underwear told him he wasn't a freak! That was huge! That means mom and dad's been wrong this whole time!
He wasn't a monster.
He wouldn't hurt people.
Mom did though, he hurt him. And that was unfair. What about Danny being the one hurting people? Where did that go?
Why did she say that?
She was wrong.
...So what was all that for?
But how does he hate her?
How do you hate someone? Someone so close to you, the only someones you knew your whole life?
He missed her hugs, he missed her smiles, he missed her kisses and he missed her voice. Her face.
The way she covered it in front of him didn't help him remember her more. Her face.
He wanted to remember Dad's face too, but he also covered it from Danny.
He remembered once, a few times, where he'd get head pats.
It was so easy back then.
And his Jazz, they'd been arguing. He tore out her notebook, and she got pretty mad. He didn't even know he did, after he moved away from flipping her books she yelled at him when she found one of her papers a bit ripped.
How do you apologize to someone's not there. Danny has no idea where she is. Would she even need the apology? He swore that memory had been ages ago.
But how long ago? Danny's five, it shouldn't been too long.
"Dann-o~ ? " Danny whined at that. He hated it. It reminded him of his Dad. His Dad used to call him that, and Danny-boy. He wasn't his boy though so he started to cry.
They must've heard his hiccuping sobs, because then the pillows above and in front of him was removed. Danny didn't even blink at the sudden change in light, he was too sad to notice or care.
Dick was shushing him, firm hands immediately scooping him up onto the man's lap as he bounced Danny on his thigh. It calmed Danny a bit, it was nice to be held and shown he was cared about, but he couldn't stop crying.
"What is it? A nightmare? Did you see something bad? " Dick asked in a low and soft tone, that also reminded Danny of his Dad. When he could still enter his parents' bedroom and climb between the two. His Dad would sound like that when he asked a simple question, like 'Why are you here?' or 'Hello, Danny. Are you okay? ', laid on his side as he was. His Mom would be on his other side in a similar position, but her voice would be a bit louder usually, so it didn't have the same affect as Dad.
The reminder of his father only made more tears leave his eyes in a fitful cascade down his small cheeks. Blurring his eyes completely as he sniffed. A mess of clogging snot and fat tears, yet, a bundled up child in a protective rope of warm arms.
"…Nothin…. " He made a small frustrated sound as he furiously rubbed his eyes that couldn't stop leaking tears. Once again, his hands, arms and even his lap was being drenched with the amount. He didn't like how it made him look so weak. But he couldn't help that in times like these, talking felt hard. Sometimes, he just liked to shut his mouth and never speak again.
On that table, whatever he said always received a reply he always liked less and less. "…Bad memories. " He fought to say anyway. Dick would liked to know, he told Danny once that he should tell him things like this. That just because he could, he shouldn't keep it to himself. That he should try and share it with people Danny knew for sure cared about him.
"Ah," Dick made a knowing sound, rubbing his back and bouncing him still, "Do you want to talk about it? " A hand was at the back of Danny's head, and he loved the warm weight.
Danny shook his head, even when it pounded with the sheer force of his tears. He wanted to say 'No', but what came out in lieu of it was a mumbled mess. But the message was thankfully taken as a refusal by Dick.
Danny was lifted. "Well, how about some hot chocolate today, okay? " Though Danny hadn't answered yet, Dick had already long sloped off the bed and walked towards the door speedily.
He didn't love his family, but he sure loved this weird one.
His core purred inside him warmly, a soft thing as he melts into the hold with a dopey, if teary eyed smile. They were so, so nice.
Dick had handed him a mug of hot choco, slipped in a few marshmallows into it discretely.
See, here, uncle Tim had him on a strict diet. He was very scared for Danny, sort of like Jazz. He fretted why his skin was cold, wondering when would be the next time Danny had trouble breathing, checking over and over the stitches Danny still had on his chest like a Y alphabet.
For Danny's health, that somehow meant he wasn't allowed too many sweets, or junk food, which was completely unfair and uncalled for. Danny would not like seconds, but tens. Some milkshakes and fries. But he sipped his chocolate for now, eyes closed in bliss as warm sweetness hits his tongue and down his throat.
"You hungry, Danny? " Dick asked, surfing through the cabinets for something.
"pizza"
Dick sighed, long and loud which Danny didn't like. "No. It was a mistake letting Duke order that pizza for you. "
"Duke just wanted me to try… "Danny muttered to his mug of chocolate. They stopped giving him bottles, which sucks. He liked it. But they said he had to ease him off of it. He was five, not three. It was to help his mentality, or, or whatever.
"Well, who knew you didn't know what pizza was? "
Well, excuse him, Danny had living sausages for breakfast, no thanks to Mom anymore. She didn't really buy anything much other than the odd bread, sausages and eggs sometimes. She was a very basic cooker, and most times relied on takeout.
The takeout would fight him too after contamination, so Danny thought he fought pretty well if he'd say so himself by now.
Danny stared down at his mug in his hands. The steam wafts to his face, which he liked. The warmth was nice on his cool face. He pretended that not knowing what pizza was wasn't making him embarrassed. "I liked it. "
Dick hummed his acknowledgement with a smile.
In the dawn of comforting silence, Danny lets his legs swing on the high stool. His eyes strayed away to scan the kitchenette. Every room feels large to Danny, and he wasn't sure if it was because he was smaller than he should be, or because he was in a fruitloop's mansion.
Being crime-fighting vigilantes should count as fruitloop activity, right?
His young mind starts to wander, somewhere darker. But to everyone else, he sipped his cocoa absently.
A year, he had found out
A year, he was in there.
It was enough time to undo everything he thought he was starting to understand about living in general.
Before, he had thought he could go back to playing with his toys, searching for stars in the night sky. Maybe even practice moves on another feral sausage, maybe. That one was starting to feel like a game for him.
And then, he learned pain. He learned how his insides could twist and squirm like there were a handful of worms inside it when it was just his mother's hands. He learned that the ceiling could look so endlessly, mind-numbingly bright after staring up at the fluorescent lamp right above his head for so long. He learned the green was his blood, the white were his gloves, the black were his clothes. Or at least they were for the longest time.
Then there was so many things that happened all at once, he still couldn't really understand what happened.
He remembered sudden screeching, something vibrating in the air and screams. The endless white light was slammed to the ground and away from his eyes at one point. There were a lot of things glowing, green or paleness of what he thinks should've been skin, there was maybe a person who had bright turquoise hair and green eyes with some kind of marking around it.
There was someone with a bright blue face, a purple cloak over them, a pair of bright red eyes and a ticking wand.
There was someone huge and golden, bright blue skinned like the cloaked man, but Danny had been so sure they had two more arms than what was necessary.
And there was someone else that Danny was sure was bigger than the Golden One, with white fur and an arm that was only bones and encased in a thick ice to act as a moving arm.
Danny stared at his melting marshmallow, blanked his brain and tilted his head back as he took another sip.
It was probably a fever dream. He didn't care how many holes that logic had.
The warm cocoa surged in him like a refreshing evening breeze. Making him sigh in his lung's relief. It would take a bit long for the more damaged parts of his bits to heal, but they always did take long. It was a kind of respite back then, in one way or another when his parents had to stop and wait for things to regrow.
His gaze flicked to Dick, who was washing some chicken, preparing for dinner. The smell normally would summon people to the table later on once the man starts cooking.
…He wondered if Dick can regrow organs.
Can anyone else grow organs, or was it just because Danny had gone through that weird portal? His mouth pursed to stop himself from asking.
It wasn't really something he should be asking, even Danny knew that.
Did Dick feel a lot of pain?
Maybe he got cut up, too.
He tilted his head back and stared at the lights, like how he always did.
His parents liked to cut him up and take his organs all the time. Maybe he could show that to Uncle Tim later? He looked like the type of guy to like research. Uncle Jay had a weird vibe, something like ectoplasm. Maybe he should show him too—
He jolted and glared at the man who'd flicked his forehead.
His eyes widened minutely. Oh, it was Uncle Tim. As if Danny summoned him telepathically. Did he have telepathy?!
"What were you thinking about, huh? " The man asked of him, dragging another stool out and elbowing the counter as he sat. Tim shot a glance at Dick. "And why are you cooking instead of Al? "
"Oh, Tim. " Greeted Dick, looking back at him before continuing to chop the raw chicken. The older man shrugged. "Just wanted to. No reason. "
Tim had hummed in acknowledgement, and as the man lost himself in whatever thoughts he had running around in his head, Danny made the smart judgement not to look at him in the eyes. Sure, the man was close now, exactly what Danny wanted. He could ask him about the organs thing.
The thought made him uneasy for some reason.
As they waited there, it was… domestic surprisingly. He missed this. He didn't know why he missed it so much but he did. It felt like he was missing more than he should.
It was probably after a good deal of the rest have been summoned by the smell of chicken bubbling in the pot that he decided to bite the bullet.
"Uncle." Danny looks up beside him. He had his chin on the counter and sweater-donned arms circling his head. "Do you need my organs? "
Suddenly, the whole room froze.
Did Danny's ice core plummet the temperature, too?
…What's an ice core?
"Why… do… you… ask that? Danny? " Tim smiled, but Danny swore he saw his bottom lip quiver a little.
Huh.
"Well, uh, uhm… " Ah, and there he goes.
He had a habit of losing his voice and willpower after someone spoke to him. It was really annoying! He was even worse with strangers. He can feel himself sinking into his arms.
He wet his dry lips, before tentatively looking up again. Everyone looked so scary with how still they were, some were staring really hard. Some weren't but they weren't moving either so it was a little obvious. "my… my Dad and Mom… wanted… some. "
And he felt his will to speak disappear.
He wanted to cry.
He thought he was getting better at it, but, turns out he's not.
When he buried his face down and squeezed his eyes shut, a churning feeling of disappointment and sadness in his small chest. The silence was almost helping since he could easily imagine himself on bed instead. Alone, and trying to suffocate himself on a lot of pillows again.
But after a while someone did speak up.
They seem to inhale deeply first, and then suddenly Danny was met with a seat full of a scary looking man as Dick briskly pulls a stool out and sat down directly in front of Danny. The scraping noise sounded so loud in the silence.
"Danny, I'm sorry if I'm asking too much, you don't need to tell me if you don't want to. But, we need your parents' names. "
Dick seems to ignore the multiple alarmed hisses from his younger siblings, and Danny lifted his head back up from his head burrow.
He wasn't expecting the scary face Dick had, so he might have jolted a little. His stool jolting back and scraping too, but it did soften those hard features somewhat.
Danny feels intimidated. He had never felt more intimidated his whole life. Minus one. And he's fought off Ghost Kin… huh?
He shook his head off of those weird thoughts again. It was also a shake of his head to Dick's request.
Dick's face and tone wrenched with pleading so much that even Danny got surprised. "Danny, please—" The man started to lean forward as if he wanted to reach over to Danny, but Tim had cut him off.
"Stop that, Dick. " The uncle beside Danny said. "You said if he didn't want to answer he doesn't need to, and he's not answering. "
Dick looked heartbroken over something, gesticulating wildly with his face still looking that amount of sad Danny has never seen before. He didn't know how to feel about it.
He scooted closer to Duke, who had taken the seat on his other side as he whispered to him. "Why's Dick like that? "
"You… u-uhm, just. " Duke stuttered, as he awkwardly raised his hand behind Danny. It landed on his back and started rubbing him. "Don't think about it, okay? "
Danny looked up at him blankly, but did nod.
Man, this family was so weird.
Ignoring the words thrown around as more voices joined the discussion about him that he didn't really wanted to hear, he actually felt happy today.
His therapist told him to count all the good things that happened in his day! He got hot chocolate, with marshmallows, and more proof that these people love him!
And he couldn't help but kick his little legs under the counter, enjoying the backrubs as he smiled to himself.
He loved them.
A million weights fell on his shoulders. It was taking everything in him not to slump down on the batchair like some kind of child.
He sighed, his hand was on his face, pressing in and against his cheeks. He opened an eye to look back up at Red Robin, feeling much of his hair greying at that moment. "…And you're saying… that Danny's parents might have took his organs? And that his regenerative ability is strong enough to grow him new ones? "
Tim stood there, looking, for the lack of a better word, devastated. His hands were clenched and theeye bags he sported regularly now looked like it could hold truck tires. His suit wildly creased as if he had worn them down by pacing in worry.
"It's a possible theory. " Tim said resolutely, his determination wavered at the sheer prospect though. "I don't want to think about the worse, but… "
Bruce sighed heavily, his whole shoulders heaving with it. "…You did shove his organs back into him the first time you found him. "
Bruce felt empathy when he saw the tiny full body shudder that Tim made. He remembered he used to do that too at the start of his career. "Uh, yeah… " His boy answered. Sounding a bit forced and strained.
Bruce wanted to sigh again, but he rolled his chair around to face the Batcomputer instead. "It's not a wild theory. "
Knowing Danny, on top of a powerful Meta in the brewing that was possibly the work of mad scientists, that theory was actually only mildly suspicious at best.
It's what it could entail was the problem. Bruce felt sick just testing the possibility in his head.
The admittance, though they had both known it, felt like a heavy boulder that had landed on them from the sky.
Danny James Wayne, boy of their current living nightmares even as much joy he brings to the manor with his oblivious antics. It was unfortunately also the source of their recent headaches and rising temper.
It was injustice that they couldn't forgive for.
Actually, unlike popular belief, Bruce did intimately felt the need to murder someone. You don't quite break bones of someone else for nothing and then not feel like murdering someone.
And not for the first time, was he lamenting his no kill rule in his entire legacy.
"Don't push him. " Tim said softly, suddenly. "Dick already tried to. You don't need to do it too. "
"I won't. " He won't. Only after Tim said it.
He was still going to find his answer in more ways than one.
"…We promised. " Tim, direly bleeding heart, pushed.
They did. They have promised.
The whole family promised.
The promise to not push Danny, to let the boy breathe. To let him settle and reveal information exactly when he feels like it.
How much that fact was hard to uphold to. When Bruce had all this money, and all this tech, and all this option,
Yet not a single. One of them. Ever saves his own children.
Everything he worked so hard for always never mattered in the end.
They always do.