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Danny washed off in Wonder Woman’s house, in her unused bathroom’s shower, his overnight bag sat just outside of the tub; the house eerily silent besides the sound of the water pelting down from the shower head.
His mind turned over the events of the final battle with Freakshow just hours earlier. What he could have changed, how the outcome could have been better.
“ You and I are the same Phantom boy. “
How he could have stopped more of the League from getting hurt.
“I wonder how long it’ll take you to snap like I did.”
How he could have stopped Diana from getting hurt.
“End me, get Justice for Vlady, for Ellie , they would do the same for you. “
How all of this could have been prevented from happening if he had just paid some attention to the slight shift in the Infinite Realms. And how it meant that a Living had entered the Realms without being welcomed. How the ectoplasm that filled the air curled in disgust wherever the Unwanted living had been.
“Why do you hesitate? Seize the glory, the Justice!”
He forced his anger down and focused instead on the burning sensation on his back, that didn’t come from the warm water that he used. Sighing he stared down at the water that now had a red tinge to it.
“Squeamish at the sight of blood Phantom. Get used to it! You shall soon be mine to command. And that will be all you see.”
Doing his final rinse off, he dried off, grabbing some paper towels to apply pressure to the now throbbing lacerations on his back.
“Why fight for humans? They are lesser!”
He turned slightly to look at the injuries, three deep lacerations crossed his shoulder blade only stopping before the spine. The position he was in gave clear view to the new injuries, as well as the many old and newish scars that littered his back, large, small, deep, shallow, old and new.
He grit his teeth, they must’ve happened without his notice in mid-battle. When adrenaline was high he wouldn’t notice.
“One day, she’ll turn you back on you, then you’ll crack. “
He sighed, rubbing his eyes tiredly. Turning back around to dig around for the First aid kit, he froze momentarily, realizing something, there was no way he could do clean stitches from the position the injuries were. “Diana?” He yelled out into the kitchen where he knew Diana was working. A slight shift told him she was listening. “Can you come help me with something?”
The scrapping of a chair and soft footfall followed by a soft gasp told him all he needed to know. The First Aid kit was removed from his hand, and Diana led him over to the toilet with a soft hand on his shoulder. She pulled a bottle of disinfectant from the small case.
“When did this-“
“Some point during the battle. “ he whispered, wincing as she rubbed disinfectant over the injury with a cotton swab. “Was too busy to notice. “
He got a soft hum as his new legal guardian began focusing on the tedious task of suturing the injury closed. Danny sat there, not moving a muscle as she gently guided the specialized needle through his skin. It was quiet, for the first ten or so minutes, not comfortably so but not uncomfortably either. The intake of air from Diana was all he needed to hear to know she was going to ask something or say something. .
“Most people squirm at the mere though of needles being used to stitch them up, but you don’t, might I ask why?”
Danny gave a laugh filled with sorrow, or acceptance.
“We both know the answers to that. “
“I wish I didn’t. “ Diana whispered sorrowfully. Moving onto the second one, it wasn't long or deep, but still a concerning amount of blood flowed from it.
“I’m sorry. “ Danny whispered as guilt clawed at his core, his eyes fixated on the spot on the wall where a decorative blue stripe was. He felt horrible for worrying her. He didn’t know how long he sat there quietly as Diana finished her work and began to wrap the now closed wounds. But it was enough to send his now undistracted thoughts in a spiral.
“Just watch ghost boy.”
“Danny?”
“Once she realized your true nature. “
“Chthon are you alright?”
“She’ll leave you.”
“Chthon. Are you alright?”
Danny finally broke out of his trance and stared up at his guardian’s concerned expression, it took him a minute to realize that he had spaced out unintentionally again.
“Oh yeah, just thinking.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah,” his voice wavered slightly and he cleared his throat to make it stop. “Just tired.”
“Too tired to eat?”
Danny noted the hopeful tone, he hated to be rude, Freakshow's words that had been flung at him so harshly echoed around vibrating in his skull. He pulled on a fresh black tank top, a screen print that Hal had given him as a gag gift of sorts, it read ‘ Casper the Friendly Ghost’
“Dunno.”
“Don’t know what?”
“If it’s gonna stay down. “
“Well, can you please try to eat something small, please?”
Danny relented, and asked quietly for a burrito from the Greek place they began to frequent after a night patrol. Danny would never regret shifting his haunt to DC, their people were more receptive, and willing to not spit, bite, pinch, or snarl at him for trying to help them out of burning wreckage.
“Kal will pick up our order.” Diana started quietly, “He and Bruce are coming over to make sure you're settling in okay.” Diana wasn’t that worried when they first arrived back home after the defeat of Freakshow, but as the night wore on. She could see Danny was closing off, something in the final battle between Danny and Freakshow was the cause of this and Diana was sure of it. From what she had seen it was a grudge match, and she would never be able to tell Danny how proud she was that he didn’t give into the goadings of the the man, she hadn’t heard all of it, but it was clear that Freakshow wanted Danny to kill him, for some reason. “Do you wish to talk about what is on your mind?”
“I don’t know.” Danny muttered softly curling into a ball on the sofa, as Diana sat next to him, this was the most troubled she had seen him since the Ending of Plasmus, and it bothered her to no end. She could help with the physical wounds, but she couldn’t help his mental state unless he let her. And that in itself would prove to be difficult , to say the least because the final battle took place mere minutes after the Dr’s Fenton had been sentenced to jail for Child Neglect, Endangerment, Violations of the Meta Protection Acts, and a whole slew of other things.
The door opened down the hall and two deep male voices rang clearly through the apartment despite being relatively hushed. Bruce and Clark rounded the corner after a few seconds, Clark had the bags of food, and Bruce looked around slightly, most likely analyzing the room for exits.
“Hey Diana, Danny.” Clark greeted with a wide grin, placing the bags down and allowing the two to grab their food, began a casual conversion. Danny ate silently listening to the adult’s conversations, until it turned to what would happen to Freakshow.
Danny listened silently as the two explained that Freakshow would be kept under heavy lock an key, guarded by ghosts, and humans alike for the rest of his life. Bruce took note of how tense Danny was, and politely excused himself and went to leave with Clark in tow. Danny couldn’t hold it in any longer.
“Did I do the right thing?”
The adults all looked at him surprised at the question.
“I think you did. “ Clark said slowly. “You showed more restraint than I could have, you could have ended him, and most likely had every right, but you didn’t. And that’s what matters.” Clark offered the boy a warm smile. Danny stared at Clark silently in shock.
“What?” he muttered
“Yeah, if I were faced with being responsible for the destruction of my home,my family,my parents? I would lose all of my restraint, I would end him right then and there, no questions asked.”
“I would have killed the man that killed my parents if he had said some of the things that Freakshow said to you to me, I would do the same thing for the Joker, or even Ra’s. You showed more restraint than my boys ever had, you did good, despite everything. “ Bruce offered the boy a kind smile, before dragging Clark out as well. Danny stared at the spot where Bruce had been standing mere seconds before.
“If we are still on the topic, I think you did good, you kept yourself from ending a man who was making it very difficult not to do so.” Diana praised, pulling the boy into a tight side hug, making sure that he knew how proud she was.
“But I wanted to kill him.” Danny whispered into the warm embrace. “ I wanted to so badly, I wanted to shred him from the inside like he did to Vlad, or mind control him to do horrible things like he made me do until he died. But then, I would have been providing them right, the GiW, Freakshow, my parents.” Danny’s rant started loud, but finished quietly.
“But you didn’t .” Diana stressed.” And that’s what matters, I’ve wanted to kill someone so badly before, and have been to timelines where I have ended people. You have shown much restraint and wisdom for someone your age. You said something that I quite liked actually, when Freakshow mentioned Justice. You said ‘justice is not the same as revenge.’ I am proud that you know that, I certainly didn’t at one point, when I was your age.” Diana reassured Danny quietly. She smiled down at him when he looked up at her, tears in his eyes, before leaning back into the hug. They stayed like that for a while, when she looked back down, Danny was asleep, and she didn’t feel like moving either, it was a simple matter of draping a blanket over the tow of them. She sighed, content with what the league had accomplished over a few months, and how Danny was now safe from his parents. She stared down at the scars that littered his body, and darkly wondered how many were caused by his parents.
While she did so an idea popped into her head.
Gently, not to startle or wake the boy, Olympus knew he needed more sleep and rest, she began tracing one of the larger scars on his shoulder, it looked like it had come from a large blast or sorts. She wasn’t sure he noticed at first, but he stirred slightly grumbling a little before asking in a quiet voice: “Wha’ are ya’ doin’ ?”
“I’m tracing one of your scars, is that alright?”
“I don’t mind it, it’s kind of nice actually.”
Diana smiled at the sleepy and truthful answer, it wasn’t hard to tell that Danny was asleep again. It was quiet enough that after five minutes, she heard a noise that she thought she would only ever hear from a cat. A soft purr echoed across the room, and she could feel the vibrations on her side from where Danny was curled close to her. She stared down and pondered on how far he had come, and one thing became certain in her mind.
She would protect the boy that had fallen under her charge with her life.