Bruce sighed, Danny was having a rough day.
After the event at breakfast Alfred left to take Dick to school and Bruce stayed home so he could keep an eye on Danny. Bruce wasn't comfortable, and he was sure Danny wasn't either, with leaving the halfa alone in the large house.
It started out fine, Bruce found some Legos for Danny to play with while Bruce did some work from home. The little halfa was intrigued by the interlocking bricks, he made a little house and used all sorts of colors but always avoided the color white. It all went downhill after Danny agreed to try and take a shower.
There had been lots of screaming and tears, the sterile feeling of the bathroom had given Danny a nasty flashback. Bruce was able to calm him down enough so he could take the shower and helped him dry off and get dressed. The vigilante had tried to comb the little half ghost's hair but Danny was having none of it. He ducked and dodged the hair brush, not really knowing what it did, so he kept back.
He seemed to calm down after that, his dark hair still up in untame spikes. They had gone back down stairs and Bruce found an old picture book and started reading to Danny. Bruce had skipped lunch, Danny not being at all hungry. Alfred was sad to hear the blue eyed boy didn't want to eat more, he was sure he could have cooked something the halfa liked.
It was near dinner time when things got really ugly. Dick had returned from school an hour before and was doing his homework, Bruce was reading Batman related stuff while pausing to check on Danny every now and then. Danny was amusing himself with a stuffed animal he may or may not have found in Dick's room.
He was sitting on the floor with the stuffed elephant, right next to a bookcase in Bruce's office while Bruce was sitting at his desk. Danny heard a distant thumpthumpthump, then realized it was just Dick running down the stairs, a few seconds later Dick's head popped into the doorway.
"Hey Bruce, hi Danny, has anyone seen Peanut? The elephant?" Bruce didn't look up but pointed to where Danny sat holding the elephant in question. Danny stared at the stuffed animal, its name was Peanut?
"Oh, thanks Bruce." Dick said and approached the child on the floor, crouching down to his level. "Hey Danny, that's Peanut my elephant, I've kept him with me since the circus. It's ok if you play with him just maybe ask next time ok?"
Danny nodded, noticing how serious Dick's core was, it's usual yellow was being poisoned by a dark black that crept in from the outer ring. Dick stood back up and walked out of the room, accidentally bumping the bookcase as he left. A few wobbly books fell onto the ground.
Thunk Thunk Thunk.
Danny froze at the noise, not hearing books, but bodies.
He didnt hear Dick apologise for bumping the books off the shelf, nor reacted when Dick tried to get his attention.
(note; nightmare is in italics, reality is normal)
His breathing hitched and his heartbeat sped up to alarming speeds. Blood roared in his ears, he looked up fearfully. He was no longer in Bruce's study, but his old house with the Fentons. He saw the prone forms of his loved ones, Maddy and Jack laying next to each other, looking into each others shocked unseeing eyes. Jazzy was in front of him cluching her bear and staring at Danny, her mouth open in fright. All of them with large holes in their chests, the blood crusty and brown on the floor, staining the ground.
Danny shook his head trying to clear it, it was another flashback, he had to get out of it. He shuffled backwards, as if a greater distance would break the hold of the nightmare. He started to shake as another body fell to the floor. Bruce's dead form lay in front of him, a smoking hole in his chest, fresh from the ecto gun that had been shot from behind him.
Bruce stood from his chair and walked over to the shaking halfa who had just scooted backwards away from Dick. Dick and Bruce shared a concerned look, Bruce wanted to sigh again, this would be the third time that day Danny has had a reality bending nightmare.
Dick followed suit, his only living relative falling in front of him, no longer living. Danny hiccuped and shakily looked behind him in horror. A large GIW agent stood with all his blindingly white clothes on, still pointing the smoking gun at Danny's dead family. Danny yelped and scrambled backwards.
Bruce tried to get close to Danny but the boy yelped as if being attacked and scrambled backwards away from him. Bruce's eyes narrowed as Danny cowered in the corner of the room, something must have triggered this one, and Bruce wanted to know what.
The GIW agent primed his gun once more, this time taking aim at Danny. Danny flinched and out of the corner of his eye saw his past and present family, all dead, because of him. A heartbroken feeling escaped him, he was so tired of being the victim, of everyone he loved turning out dead like him. The GIW agent spoke as if he heard his thoughts.
"After all, a dead kid needs a dead family." he smiled with pointed teeth, his body was unnaturally large, behind the shaded sunglasses fiery red orbs glowered down on the boy. But he spoke with the voice of Danny, a much darker, older Danny. The roof was gone from the house, a weird purple haze seemed to serve as the sky, the agent was large enough to step on him like an ant.
Danny cowered, but inside he didnt want a dead family, he wanted a living one. A flash of red crossed his face, he squeezed his eyes shut. He had to control it, he had to, he couldn't let it happen again. But the feeling was too strong.
The halfa suddenly stood up, no trace of fear left on him. He scowled at the agent easily 20 times larger than him, and with a startling war cry he charged with a large ecto-ray prepared in his drawn back fists.
Bruce took a step back as Danny suddenly stood up, his face grim and unseeing. White rings appeared around his waist, traveling in opposite directions to reveal Danny's ghost form, still wearing the black shirt and pants from the other day.
"Danny? You alright Danny?" Bruce asked, he didnt like the threatening stance Danny's body took. Dick frowned as he too sensed the underlying tone of power.
Suddenly not so emotionless, Danny roared at them as he jumped, charging an ecto-ray in his hands, his eyes trained on Bruce. Bruce was so stunned he barely dodged the ray, it grazed his shoulder next to his ear, the suit was singed but he was otherwise ok.
The vigilante rolled to the side under his desk as Danny shot at him again, a red tint over the child's face. Bruce was having a conundrum, what would cause Danny to freak out like this and attack him? Every time Danny had a flashback he was always cowering, he never fought back, though it wasn't uncommon for Danny to think Bruce was the bad guy. Bruce would have categorized it as paranoia (and obviously ptsd) with how often Danny was questioning his trust with Bruce. He was like a fish, flip flopping between trust and distrust, and equally as chaotically.
Danny floated in the corner of the room, looking for his target. Bruce dodged another ray and waved Dick out of the room. Dick hesitated but after seeing the look in his guardian's eye he ran out of the room.
"Danny! Calm down Danny!" Bruce tried to talk to him, Danny obviously saw Bruce as a threat, Bruce need to show him he didn't mean any harm.
"Danny, I'm not going to attack you, talk to me buddy." Bruce said, fear edged into his voice without his consent. His words fell on def ears, Danny's unnerving red eyes flashed.
Danny flew to the agents face, he let his body do something he couldn't explain. He sucked in a breath and screamed.
Rings of ectoplasm radiated from his mouth, his screams were added to a number of other mourning sounds and calls of agony... ghostly wails. The agent was unable to fight back as the rings smashed into his face and he lost his balance and fell. It was slow, as if the agent were living at a slower time rate. Danny's eyes flared red, he held a hand up blazing with green fire, ready to smash down on the agents heart.
Bruce sat numbly, the room was in ruins, Danny had what Bruce could only describe as Black Canary's scream but a million times more destructive. His desk had been obliterated, large splinters were strewn about the room, not to mention the hundreds of books that were now either ashes or missing most of their pages. Bruce had mostly dodged the rings coming from Danny's mouth but one had hit his leg. Bruce was astonished at how much the green rays hurt, it was not a good idea to be on the receiving end.
Danny had finally calmed, though 'calm' was a loose definition and was described in a way that meant he wasn't chaotically destroying things now, it did not, however, mean he was calm to the degree of returning to reality. He was still very much a threat.
The angered halfa stood over the blue eyed billionaire, the child's blood red eyes hooded by his white hair, a breath of condensation blew out of his now parted lips.
"Danny?" Bruce asked, wondering, hoping his little phantom was back to normal. He wasn't.
Danny raised a fist, glowing a fierce green, and aimed for Bruce's heart.
"Time out."
Everything froze.
Danny had tears streaming down his face, the red in his eyes shimmering as if weakened. Bruce's frozen position had a shock written all over it. Random papers from the bookshelves were floating in mid-air, ashes paused their falling, even the sun seemed to stop.
A purple cloaked ghost floated silently into the room, taking in the details of the situation. He grabbed an amulet from somewhere in his coat, he levitated the charm over Danny's head.
After a few seconds the halfa unfroze, still mid scream as his fist was thrusted down. A hair's width away from Bruce's tattered clothes Danny stopped again. The evil light left from his eyes, he blinked, then stood upright. Was he just about to kill Bruce? He staggered back, a hand in his hair. He had! He had almost killed Bruce!
He gazed around, noticing everything was stuck in free fall as if time had stopped. He saw the ghost in front of him and he flinched and took a step back. It took him a moment but he eventually recognized this ghost, it was the one he saw in his dream and the one in the hallway a few days ago.
He wore a kind smile and his red eyes didn't seem so intimidating as before. He held a staff with a clock on the top in one gloved hand while the other rested at his side. A purple robe adorned his shoulders, Danny was startled to see a huge clock in the ghost's chest, ticking ever so quietly.
"You've got a very strong mind there Danny, best not to let it run away with you." The nameless ghost said cryptically with another smile. Danny's eyebrows furrowed slowly in confusion, he was still trying to process what had been going on. What?
As if sensing his confusion the ghost introduced himself.
"I am Clockwork, the ghost of time. But not this time, a different time. Something you might call dimensions, I call it time. I must assume the Clockwork from this dimension knows what he's doing, it must be very important if he called me here." Clockwork had floated about the room as he talked, grabbing a stray piece of paper, inspected it then threw it back into the air where it got stuck again. This wasn't making any sense to Danny but he figure this guy was a good guy.
"I'm technically not supposed to be here, time streams are very difficult to maintain once other realities begin to collide" Clockwork said with a playful glint in his eye.
"But you are in dire need of help, and the Clockwork of this dimension cannot come to your aid at this point in time. So I am willing to make an exception." Clockwork said, his stance became more serious as he held a fisted hand behind his back in a sophisticated type of way. His staff hit the ground and suddenly the room twisted and shifted until they were in Danny's nightmare.
Danny flinched at the dead body's in the corner, then froze as confusion arose in him when he saw himself. Nightmare Danny was over a giant GIW agent, right about to pierce his heart with his glowing hand. It was the same position Danny had been over Bruce.
"As I said before, you have a strong mind, stronger than most. No doubt so much time alone with your thoughts made it so." Clockwork began. Danny gazed at himself, he looked so threatening, so willing to hurt someone. So much like...
"Don't let your fears control you. Yes, a lot of terrible things happened to you, but that does not mean everyone is out for your blood." Clockwork said, a serious frown on his calm face. "The one called Martian Man Hunter in this dimension could probably explain this better than I... but I will still attempt to explain. In the more complex minds there are little guardians in your head, trying to make sense of the world around you. Your subconscious, the little guardians, don't know how to deal with nice humans, so it deems them a threat. That is why your mind twists reality into something it's not."
Danny looked at Clockwork, trying to make sense of the ghost's words. Then it clicked; that's why he had all those nightmares and flashbacks. It was because he didn't understand why people were being so nice, so his mind literally changed reality to what he thought it should be. Clockwork saw the dawning on Danny's face. He nodded to himself, his work here was done.
"I must leave now, my dimension still needs me. As much as my Daniel thinks I know everything I simply don't. I do not understand everything you have gone through, but as little as I know about this dimension's Danny, I know you are strong, and brave." Clockwork put a hand on Danny's shoulder, for the first time Danny didn't flinch.
"Being brave is not being without fear young Danny, but deciding something is more important than fear. Never forget that fear is but the precursor to valor and to strive and triumph in the face of fear is what it means to become a hero. Don't over think it Danny, you are stronger than you know." Danny let the words sink in, he breathed in and out rhythmically.
Don't over think. Accept the fear, use it. His fear wouldn't go away in the blink of an eye, but if it was going to stay he might as well make it work for a living.
Danny's mind cleared, the bodies blew away into dust, the GIW agent burst into a thousand dragonflies. The house rebuilt itself, nightmare Danny floated back into the house, he stood in the living room, somewhat puzzled. Real Danny stood in front of himself, they looked into each others eyes and some unspoken agreement passed between them.
Nightmare Danny flew out of the house, he stopped and floated just outside, standing guard over his mind. Danny's eyes widened as the ground shook, the house seemed to grow and mold into a different shape. The manor, it's brilliant chandeliers and long echoey hallways that were fun to run through. The tons of rooms holding secrets Danny itched to uncover. The kitchen was no longer threatening but welcoming, new smells and wonderful aromas washed over him.
A new sense of purpose arose in Danny, a confidant smile spread across his face. He was Danny Fenton-Greyson and he may be afraid but that didn't mean he was weak.
Clockwork gave a slow nod and struck the ground with his staff once more.
"One more thing Daniel, don't forget there is always hope. Hope tames fear, fear will still be there when you return, but hope reminds us that not all is lost. One flicker, one notion of hope is all you need, because once you latch onto hope it's very difficult to tear down." Danny gave him a nod, silently thanking him for all he had done.
He was back in Bruce's chaotic office, Danny immediately felt guilt crush upon him for all the damage he had done. He wondered what the repercussions would be, but he knew, no mater what happened, it would be ok because Bruce and Dick loved him. But it didn't stop his heart rate from accelerating. He looked back to Clockwork but he was gone with one last whisper in the air.
"Time in."
Danny stood in front of Bruce, who had felt like he had been holding his breath. He frowned as he saw Danny standing in front of him, no longer with an air of power. Bruce realized how close Danny had been to killing him, he distinctly remembered Danny's fist over his heart, but now it was like Danny had teleported backwards and lost his rage.
Danny first noticed Bruce's core, it was only purple. Danny bit back a sob, Bruce was scared of him, or Bruce was scared for him, it didn't really matter. All Danny knew was that he nearly killed the only man who treated him like a human being since the GIW had gotten him.
"Danny? Are you alright?" Was the first thing Bruce was worried about, he half stood, ready to dodge if Danny returned to his chaotic state. But Bruce figured Danny was himself again by the lack of red in his eyes and the sniffling awkward arm rub Danny did when he was nervous. The child was probably freaking out because he nearly killed Bruce, he probably felt like he would be in trouble and was scared of it.
Danny's shoulders shook, tears streamed down his face, the now familiar white rings turned him back into human form. Danny could not hold it in any more so he tackled Bruce in a hug.
"Ohmff" Bruce was so surprised he and Danny crashed to the ground, uncomfortably landing on the splinters of his desk. Danny sobbed into his shoulder, devastatingly guilty for the mayhem he caused that nearly took his father figure's life.
"I-I-I'm s-so-sor-sorry!" Danny cried, then repeated the phrase in a pained whisper. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."
Bruce patted his back and shushed him gently, comforting the halfa's rapidly beating heart.
"It's ok Danny, it's ok, I'm sure you didn't mean to. You want to talk about it?" Bruce asked hopefully. Danny sniffed and nodded, stepping back to give Bruce room to stand up. Bruce had no idea what had snapped Danny out of it but he was grateful. Dick hadn't gone far as his head poked into the room, Alfred's head appearing soon after. No doubt the two had heard Danny's canary-like cry.
Bruce stood and picked Danny up, holding him on his hip with one arm. Danny clutched his shoulder, happy to be holding onto his living, breathing, Bruce. Then he noticed Bruce was limping, he hugged onto his guardians shoulder more, silently apologizing for causing him this pain.
Dick and Alfred followed the duo to the living room where Bruce sat on the couch with Danny. The vigilantes cool blue eyes flicked up to Alfred, "Is dinner ready?" He hoped to get some more food in Danny before the day was over.
"Just a few more minuets master Bruce." Alfred took that as his cue to leave and went back to the kitchen. Dick stayed and sat on the couch opposite to Danny and Bruce.
"Imi pare rau..." (I'm sorry...) Danny began, "Am primit un bliț înapoi când GIW mi-a ucis familia, și voi ați fost acolo. atunci am cam cam ... am tras. în flashback... coșmar am început să atacă GIW, i didnt știu că am fost, de asemenea, ataca voi băieți." (I got a fl-flash back to when the GIW ki-killed my family, you guys were there too. then I-I kinda... snapped. In the fl-flashback...nightmare... I didn't kn-know... I was attacking yo-you guys.) Dick, who was more skilled in the area of Romanian than Bruce answered first.
"Everything is fine now Danny, we're all fine... relatively. What got you out of... nightmare mode?" Dick asked, genuinely curious and concerned. If this happened again they needed to know if they could help Danny out of it or not. Danny bit his lip, not really sure how to explain the ghost of time, he didn't exactly use words Danny knew the meaning of.
"Clockwork... hi-his name is Clockwork." Danny eventually said, Dick and Bruce just stared blankly at him.
"Who is Clockwork?" The billionaire asked with furrowed brows, should he be worried someone was appearing to Danny while in his freaked out state?
"The gh-ghost of Time, h-he came and h-helped me. de fapt, el a oprit timpul înainte de a putea..." (he actually stopped time be-before I-I cou-could...) Danny switched into his more fluent language and trailed off, Dick hadn't been there when Danny nearly killed Bruce.
Bruce put a reassuring hand on his knee, Bruce was still here, he understood. Dick wanted to know what had caused his younger brother to trail off but he didn't want to press.
Danny continued, "el mi-a arătat că este bine să vă fie frică, că nu sunt slab pentru că mă tem. Nu cred că va trebui să ne facem griji în legătură cu alte spate" (He showed me it's ok to be af-afraid and that I am not we-weak by being afraid. I don't th-think we'll have to worry about anymore fl-flashbacks.)
Dick came over and hugged his little brother, "And if they do ever come back you know we can always help you." Bruce joined in on the hug, wrapping both of his boys in his arms.
Danny teared up, this was his family, he loved his family, and his family loved him.
-0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0-
After the hug fest Alfred came in and said dinner was ready, surprisingly it was Danny who was more than eager to eat. Bruce suspected that the Canary-like cry had drained him a bit.
Dinner was mashed potatoes and ham, Danny was wolfing down the gravy like he was starved, which wasn't far from the truth. Bruce had never seen Danny eat so hungrily, despite his shrunken stomach from lack of food he could have put the whole pig away. Bruce shook his head from out of his thoughts, he had something important to tell Danny and Dick.
"So me and some other Leaguers have to go off world for a few days..." He trailed off as he put some ham into his mouth. Dick looked up and Danny cocked his head to the side. What's a Leaguer?
"It won't be till the afternoon that I leave though. You two are going to the Young Justice Headquarters where I will introduce Danny to the team and a few of the adults who are staying." Dick nodded while Danny shrank in his seat. He didnt want to leave the manor, he just got used to the large building. And he had to meet new people, he had Dick and Bruce, he didnt need anyone else.
"What can I tell the team?" Dick asked, unaware of Dannys plight, "More specifically, what can I tell Wally? Can I tell him Danny is my brother?"
Bruce sighed in defeat, he was about to say no but he figured he would tell him anyway, so he might as well know from the beginning.
"Fine, you can tell Wally you two are brothers but no one else ok?" Bruce said, Dick's core beamed a bright yellow, the acrobat did a little fist pump and returned to his mashed potatoes with renewed vigor.
"Also, Danny, it's really important that you remember not to call Dick by his real name around the team ok?" Danny frowned, if he couldn't call him Dick what could he call him? "You can call him Robin, and were going to need a code name for you too."
"Phantom," Dick spouted, "I called him Phantom the other day, I kinda like it." Dick looked to Bruce and Danny, both deep in thought, it amused the acrobat of their mimicking postures, both black haired and blue eyed males scowling and looking down.
Bruce thought the name was adorable, Danny thought it was weird. He liked the name Phantom but he thought it was dumb to go by code names, why not go by their real names?
"I-I like Phantom." Danny said quietly eventually, Bruce smiled and nodded.
"Phantom works, but even if you two go into Romanian dont use your real names. Miss Martian will be there and she automatically translates everything." Danny frowned again but wondered who Miss Martian was, Clockwork said something about Martian Man Hunter, were they related? Dick dutifully nodded, knowing full well M'gann could be a little snoopy when it came to people's minds, even when she didn't mean to.
"Why?" Danny said, exercising new courage by asking a question. "W-why have c-code names?"
"Well, we are heroes, and heroes have secret identities, we use code names so the bad guy doesn't know who we are in real life. We use them around our teams because if too many people know the secret it's more than likely to get out." Bruce explained, hoping the little halfa would just go with it, he was a little young to understand the whole secrets and vigilante stuff.
Danny didnt quite understand but knew that Bruce was probably looking out for him, and if he said to do something he should probably do it. So he nodded, and the rest of the day occurred without another flashback, nor any nightmares while Danny slept. But there was something that bothered him in the back of his mind, it seemed to disapear when Danny tried to think about it but when he let his mind rest something lingered in the background.
Something evil.