Chapter Text
Danny didn't know what he was doing. Scratch that Danny knew exactly what he was doing: he was being an idiot . In his defence he had just run away from his home town after his parents found out about his secret, ghostly alter ego. Saying they didn't take it well was putting it lightly. Danny could still feel the incisions in his torso itch whenever his thoughts drifted back to his family.
Jazz was the one to find him in the end, and Danny didn't know whether to be grateful or horrified for that. She broke him out of the lab and shoved his go bag into his arms before giving him a hug and a tearful but quick goodbye. His parents wouldn't let him go that easily though, trying to bring him back so they could "cure" him. He didn't even have time to wash off all the blood.
He knew he was being stupid, that flying all the way to Gotham, with only a three hour nap at about the halfway point, was probably a bad idea. He knew Batman didn't like metas. He knew the city was dangerous at the best of times and down right hellish more often than not. He knew it would be one of the first places they looked. But ancients damn it he just got violently chased out of the only place he could call home by parents who would rather he didn't exist - again . He was feeling a little irrational. Sue him.
It's not like he can remember much from the Todd household anyway, he was only five when Willis dragged him to the adoption agency, and what he did remember wasn't always pleasant, but he remembered Jason. Remembered him reading to him, quietly so that Willis wouldn't hear. Remembered watching him do impossible things just because someone dared to question whether he could. Remembered that determined look on his face.
He'd only found out that Jason was dead a few months ago. That he had been dead for nearly five years now. Danny never even knew his brother had gotten adopted by Bruce Wayne, of all people, until Tucker had helped him dig into his bio family.
Apparently Willis wanted him gone for good, so he told the agency to change his last name and conveniently "lose his documents". He even faked his death certificate to really sell the whole thing. And now the rest of the Todd family was dead along with him.
So Danny was going to Gotham. If he couldn't see his brother again, his only fond memories from a half remembered family, at least he could finally pay his respects.
He was about half a mile outside the city limit when he finally landed, transforming back into his human form and pulling up the tattered hood of his NASA hoodie. Well, former NASA hoodie considering his parents had shot a hole straight through the logo. He'd have to get a new one at some point.
He trudged through the city's ever present fog, and over one of its many bridges, towards Old Gotham. The late hour didn't seem to matter to the Gothamites and the streets were alive with people and noise. Danny could even see the lights of Amusement Mile's roller coasters shining in the distance, though he kept his head down and his pace quick. Looking at the sights in Gotham was a one way ticket to getting mugged, not to mention the ridiculous amount of dried blood on his face.
It's not that he was scared, per se, he was a halfa after all, which meant there wasn't much anyone could really do to hurt him. Well, no one outside of Amity anyway. But he didn't want to get noticed, especially not while looking like either a violent criminal or the victim of one. All he wanted was to spend the night by his brother's grave - invisibly if he had to - and not get caught up in any of the city's weird, neon themed crime.
Danny tried to blend in with the crowds, acutely aware of all the people not so subtly side eyeing him, and of the ever present eyes of the CCTV cameras. He could have sworn he even felt the gargoyles looking at him in silent judgment.
Seriously though he did not remember there being so many gargoyles in old Gotham what were the city planners thinking ?
Eventually Danny found himself in front of a wrought iron gate with Gotham Cemetery emblazoned above it in the same dark metal. He drew in a stuttering breath to steady himself, and slipped intangibly through, head low and hands still in his pockets.
As he slipped over the threshold he felt the familiar chill down his back and mist climbing up his throat. There weren't any fully formed ghosts here but there was significantly more ectoplasm lingering over the graves than he'd expected. He wouldn't be surprised if he ran into a couple of blob ghosts.
His eyes scanned the graves as he passed them, not needing to read them or wonder where he was going. There was a soft pull on his core, tugging him towards a small family plot, not far from the grand statue that marked the graves of Thomas and Martha Wayne.
Danny didn't know what to feel about the fact he could apparently sense his family's bodies but decided to shelve it in his brain in the "not gonna think about it" section, right between "well below average heart rate and breathing" and "my parents want to tear half of my DNA out".
He could have those meltdowns and existential crises later (or better yet never). Right now he had to focus on what was in front of him, four graves all different styles.
The two rounded, standard gravestones belonged to Willis and Catherine Todd. Danny would have almost been tempted to spit on Willis' grave if he didn't think that, with his luck, it would mean the asshole would come back to haunt him. He was sad to say he didn't remember much of Catherine. She was definitely better than Willis, and there was the faintest sense of a memory of her teaching him and Jason how to cook… something. Well teaching Jason while Danny toddled along behind and made a mess.
He hadn't even gotten to the hard bit but he felt his eyes start to sting. Neither grave had much embellishment, just the names, dates, and the usual "a father and husband" deal, but they might have been grand mausoleums in comparison to the small plaque beside them. It looked like it had been cracked once, but had gotten repaired and was now well maintained, (he noticed then that all four graves were spotless, even if there were no flowers or small stones placed on them), and all that was on it was a name and a date.
Danny stared down at his grave, feeling just as empty as he knew it was.
After a solid minute of staring his fingers started to tremble and his eyes started watering. Not because of the empty little plot, but because he knew he couldn't avoid what came next.
He walked to the tallest and most expensive of the graves, a statue of an angel praying over it, and read the inscription over and over again. Jason Todd. Beloved son and brother.
Danny's fingers shook, so he curled them into fists, as his blood rushed in his ears. He knew Jason was dead. He knew. But that didn't make seeing it any less painful. Didn't stop the memories of a gap toothed grin and stolen books and protection and determined eyes, always so determined, and -
"Jaylad?"
Danny's head snapped up, locking eyes with a man wearing a crisp suit, holding flowers and with blue eyes blown wide in shock and grief. The boy turned invisible faster than he could blink and fled only thinking ' shit shit shit I got spotted DAMN IT'.
In his spiralling grief he hadn't heard the man approach and in his panicked flight he didn't see that same confused man he left behind setting flowers on the graves of Thomas and Martha Wayne, thinking that perhaps the grief of the anniversary of his parents death had him seeing ghosts where there weren’t any.
And not once through his short stay in the graveyard had Danny noticed that Jason Todd's grave was just as empty as his own.