#I’m trying to decide if I want the batfam to feel psychologically divided on how they should feel about Damian

[noxcheshire]

No keep going

This is what I live for 🤌🏼

I’m trying to think on how the batfam find out that Damian had been sabotaging their leads for his own gain.

Did he make a mistake?

Or did one of the siblings (going off of previous comments let’s say Tim) noticed how odd Damian had been.

A little too quiet, a little too eager to linger against the shadows to listen in on their search — and when they turn, digging to understand why the new kid who had showed nothing but hostility to Danny suddenly became as silent as the grave?

Oh, the anger and heartache.

Maybe deep down everyone had hoped that perhaps Damian had taken their scolding’s to heart, their insistence and proof of their own love for Danny, to heart. Now they saw that wasn’t the case.

Damian had his own agenda to make.

When it is brought to everyone else’s attention, what face will they make? What acts will they take?

Because they had been running themselves ragged trying to find their youngest brother, only to find out that everything they had looked into was nothing more than a falsehood.

Damian won’t give in, he refused to.

He is very willing to cut where he must to be rid of Danny for good.

And Bruce… Bruce looks back at the spitting image of Danny. Yet can’t find even a little bit of Danny there.

Danny has never made that face before, of someone whose willing to burn to see their way through. Of someone willing and eager to sink their claws down and drag out the last breath of something they perceived —

Danny had always been a shy child. Hesitant, but hopeful.

He was a loving child.

One who had smiled like the sun when his siblings helped to hang up stars on the ceiling of his room.

One that dogged Tim’s footsteps with big, guileless, blue eyes as the elder boy spun tales for a child that was never allowed to be.

One that clung to Dick’s back, giggling into black hair when the eldest would dramatically turn on his heels, playing pretend just to hear Danny laugh.

One that curled up at Cass’s legs like a kitten that had a long day and wanted a moment of companionship, tiny and small, tucked by an old used blanket that Cass had seen better days with.

Danny couldn’t even sleep well unless someone cuddled him to sleep.

Damian was none of those things.

But Bruce still searched for something familiar, anything that could make the heat in his chest cool to a simmer, and then he sees it.

That faint shadow in Damian’s eyes that sometimes Danny got too, if he was alone for too long.

It was a shadow of fear, of hesitance, and uncertainty.

No one ever never knew why Danny always had that look in his eyes, but it was the reason why everyone would assure that Danny was never left alone. They didn’t want him to linger on sad things, terrible things, things that made him hide around the manor for hours even while they called for him frantically.

Bruce willed himself to calm even while his children argued amongst themselves, their shadows heavy and long even where Damian stood glowering back tensely at them.

“There will be consequence for this,”

Bruce’s voice broke through the noise and the room fell into tense silence.

“What you have been doing, there will be consequence for it, Damian.” Bruce made sure that this time, Damian would only hear the stern, disappointment from him. He could see the way the boy tensed at the tone, back straight and at attention.

“Danny will be returning to this family — alive. Safe. And unharmed, physically or mentally. After that…”

Bruce wasn’t even sure what to do, truth be told. What can he do with years of taught hate like this?

“We will return to this.”

Bruce turns away, returning to his search for Danny.

The children wait, silent, before shuffling after him in an eagerness to pick up the search with better results.

Dick is the only one to lean into Bruce, muttering a soft, complicated, “B,”

“I know,” he shoots back. “But not right now. Danny has been out there for too long,” and that is the truth.

Danny had been gone for far too long. So much longer than a kid his age should be.

He might have grown up part of the LoA, but he had been so very young when Bruce had extracted him out, bleeding and slowly dying in his arms.

Danny, once safe from Death’s embrace, from there had lived far more like a civilian child.

Bruce had wanted him to, and Danny for his part, was far too willing to be that child.

He feared what sort of situations Danny could be experiencing out in the world now, just a kid, all by himself, hurting and hungry.

The fact that all their progress had some form of sabotage didn’t help Bruce’s mounting frustration. They would all have to scrape everything they had found and go through everything again with a fine tooth comb just to make sure there were no discrepancies.

Months passed that way, retracing every step to see where things had gone wrong.

Months of rerouting every clue and every path Danny might have taken before it had been wiped clean.

Months that led to sleepless nights, and Bruce still reeling in a tumbling daydream of all horrific possibilities when he heard Flash speaking.

He had been tuning the other man out for days now. He had been doing that for everyone, really.

But something the man said made him shake off the constant voices to actually look at the man.

He was grinning excitedly, vibrating as he swung a picture around towards Bruce like one would swing a treat in front of a dog.

Bruce, Batman, scowled.

“I’m telling ya, Bats! He looks like he could be one of yours!” Flash laughs, and finally allows Batman to see.

Batman, Bruce, lunges.

Flash yells in surprise, quickly moving to the other side of the room just before Batman’s fingers could graze across his collarbone.

Bruce snarls.

That was Danny.

That was Danny.

“Take me to him. Now.”

He laid there on the ground, letting the cold sink into his bones as he bled out. Deep down, Danny had known for a long time this was coming. He was the Shadow, the Spare. The Inferior. He'd always been the shame of his family. After all, what good was an assassin that didn't kill?

That's why he knew it'd only be a matter of time before Grandfather got rid of him. He just never expected it to be like this. Struck down by his own brother. In hindsight, it made sense. It was a way for Damian to be completely initiated before his first mission and to cut off the rotted rope of the Al Ghul line.

It made sense, Danny repeated to himself, but it didn't stop the hurt. The pain that cut deeper than the sword to his gut. Damian hadn't even hesitated. He'd picked up his weapon and charged as soon as Grandfather had told them to begin the duel. Sure, he'd known Damian was never too fond of him. And maybe sometimes he'd thrown knives at Danny whenever he called him "Dami". But he always thought there was at least some form of affection between them. After all, they were twins. Yet Damian had ran him through as easily as breathing. He hadn't even spared a glance back as he left with Grandfather and Mother. None of them had.

Danny couldn't help but weakly chuckle. To think this was how his second death would go. Being stabbed by his own brother.

As his consciousness began to fail him, Danny distantly heard was sounded like a plane. Maybe a jet. He heard once that people can hallucinate before they died. Funny, he always figured he'd hear a train or something. Maybe a family member calling his name sweetly. Instead Danny heard heavy footsteps charging towards him. Gloved hands picked him up and held him close to a chest as an unknown voice whispered, "I've got you."

Ah, he realized what was happening. This was his mind's desperate attempt to give him some comfort in his final moments. It was nice, feeling cared for like this. He couldn't remember the last time he had been. Danny quietly thanked his mind for the blissful illusion, before his consciousness fully faded away.

(Bruce finds out he has a son and goes to rescue him. He gets there just in time to stop Danny from bleeding out and leaves, not knowing he's leaving his other son behind.)