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Things didn't seem right, but that was okay, Tim was fine. So he unexpectedly woke up on a random rooftop, it was fine. His head throbs but he's dealt with worse. He's been functional under worse conditions so he'll be functional now. Even if his head hurt all the time and worse after every move.
Tim has to get himself up, Tim needs to get up. Tim get up, GET UP.
Tim manages to stagger to his feet and even if everything goes sideways for a moment, he's fine. He's not entirely sure how he ended up on the ground again after he woke up but he'll just get back up!
Wait where's his grapple? He should have one, unless… unless he's in the past. He has to be, because he doesn't have his gun or his bo! Where did his Bo go? He doesn't even have a comm either, clearly he's in the past because why wouldn't he have a comm?
He needs to find someone, Bruce? Maybe this is before Jason died! He can warn Bruce and save Jason. Sure he won't become Robin, but honestly, it's fine. He only wanted to be Robin to save Bruce and if he makes himself disappear by warning Bruce to save Jason, there are worse ways to go.
Nodding his head, and ignoring his darkening vision and the spots that fade in and out, he is determined to find Bruce or maybe Dick. Wait, but Dick won't be in Gotham, aw Tim could use a hug, he stopped getting them from Dick and he missed them.
Maybe he should find Dick and get a hug from him first and then find Bruce, Dick has to know where Bruce is.
Tim starts to move, but moving is difficult, he needs to stop a lot, getting off the roof was really hard. Tim needs to stop and rest a lot, and his head really hurts, his vision also looks bad, and his leg hurts too.
After such a long time, when Tim stops to catch his breath, it's getting harder to breathe, he sees…himself?
Tim accidentally found himself in the past? He's not sure why he's in that store, but he should go see where in time he actually is and if his younger self already has an in with Bruce, it would make things so much easier.
Tim follows at a distance his younger self, it's so hard to keep up, his younger self moves fast and randomly keeps looking back, but Tim is smarter than that and keeps to the shadows, to not give himself away in public.
Eventually Tim finds himself in front of a random apartment so unless he's forgetting a friend, his younger self led him to a safe place to confront the person following him. Tim nods at how smart he used to be; before he started getting frequent head injuries.
Tim breaks into the place and sees his younger self. He looks older than Tim thought he did at a distance so maybe Tim is older than he thought he was, he can't save Jason? Tim tears up at his on-going failures.
"Woah Red Robin? The fuck are you doing in here? Are you crying? Are you bleeding?" Young tim asks.
"Tim! How old are you? What year is this? Did Jason die?"
"What? My name is not Tim, it's 20XX and who the fuck is Jason?"
Tim rips his cowl off, frustrated, "Stop lying! You're me from the past! I'm you from the future Tim Drake-Wayne , tell me who Robin is? Is it Dick? Is it still Jason, are we Robin? Or is it Damian?!?! Wait am I in a different universe?"
"Dude you're Tim Drake-Wayne, wait Dick, Damian? Are you all heroes, wait is Bruce Wayne Batman? Bruce Fucking Wayne?" Young or maybe alternative universe Tim says.
"You know who we are, maybe I came to a different universe, is dad still alive? Is mom? Did Bruce get lost in time? Did Bart and Kon die?"
"Woah I didn't realize that so many people you carried for died, I'm so sorry."
"Tim! That's not important! Did Jason die? Is there Batman here, wait you said Batman, so he's clearly a hero, does he have a Robin?!?!"
"Dude you're bleeding all over, let me help you, you're barely standing, you need help."
"I'm not important! I never am! I need to know where I am so that I can fix things! I know the future, I can make things better! What I need doesn't matter, what I need to do is save Jason, so that Bruce doesn't lose it. "
"Okay, once again I'm not Tim, my name is Danny, I'm just trying to help you, let me help you."
"I don't need help! I need to fix things, no one helps me, I have to fix things."
"Okay, you're starting to fall, so let me help you."
"Tim, other me are you happy? You looked happy?"
"…yes I'm happy, are you happy?"
"I don't think I've been happy for a long time? But I don't care, I need to fix things, just let me rest for a bit but when I wake up, can you tell me where we are; so I can go back to my world? I can tell you how things go and we can stop the bad things. Jason won't die, I won't become Robin. It's gonna save me a lot of hurting, and I'll still have my spleen but I won't ever have had my friends but who cares, I won't know what I never had."
"Yeah buddy you rest."
Tim wakes up in a lurch, where is he, did Ra's successfully capture him this time? Weird place to take him, as he looks around the sparse apartment.
He hears movement in the other room, and he looks to find something to defend himself when he realizes half of his costume is gone, fuck he really hopes that Ra's didn't go for a kidney this time.
A guy walks into the room, he doesn't seem like Ra's usual type of ninjas but maybe he's broaden his range.
"Oh you're awake again, no I'm not you, this isn't the past or an alternative timeline. I still don't know who Jason is but you're okay." The guy, huh he looks a lot like Tim, but his eyes are a different colour, his hair is different and he seems slightly…otherworldly?
"I'm sorry what, who are you, where am I, why is my costume off?
"Who are you?"
"I'm Red Robin."
"Try again."
"What?" Tim feels up and realises that his face is exposed.
"Oh fuck."
"Hi Tim Drake Wayne, you came in here injured and raving about being in the past, you then pivoted to something about being in an alternate universe."
"Am I?!?!" Tim says trying to manifest that he is.
"No, unless something really went wrong with you."
"Fuck."
"Yeah well, I already knew who you were so when I saw you were hurt. I took it off the damaged parts to care for your injuries."
"Just me?" Tim asks in hope.
"You sang like a canary, which is ironic because you're clearly a red bird."
"Not a robin?"
"You said you never wanted to be Robin."
"I did?"
"You did."
"Well you should know that in a disoriented state; you can't trust anything someone says."
"Maybe, but you were quite forthcoming , you may have been confused but you did reveal a lot."
"Well if you misheard anything, then I sure you'll know it's best for everyone's sake to keep it quiet. I'm sure Batman and the Justice League would be very concerned about you knowing the identity of some of their most important members."
The temperature in the room drops and the tension increases. The guy's face doesn't change, it's still a pleasant look, but suddenly it flattens.
"So, the fact that you were so focused on everyone else and that you didn't matter shouldn't be discussed?"
"What."
"You said that being Robin and making friends and being happy wasn't a thing for you."
"Does this really matter, I was injured and incoherent, just please, give me my costume back and I can get out of your hair, I just thank you for helping me."
"No."
"No?"
"I said no."
"What do you mean no?"
"Tim, what you said deeply concerned me, along the fact that you had a comm on you and there was absolutely no attempts to contact you. Hell I tried to comm them for you and it seems like it was blocked."
"Oh I did that, just to know where they are so I know where is covered and I don't need to be there."
"Or so that you can avoid them and they can't hear you."
"That is not true, but either way, I would like to leave here, you can't keep me here."
"Can't I?" The guy's hair and skin start to change, his skin darkens while his hair lightens and his eyes change colour.
"First rule little hero, never go into a ghost's haunt uninvited. Second rule, never try to leave after forcing yourself in. The third and final rule, never offer rudeness to a ghost who has welcomed you into their haunt. You my little hero have done all 3, it's honestly quite impressive. I can say I appreciate the attempts of manipulation and threatening, it's fun to see a living try and play with a ghost. But don't forget, the living have to rest, the dead do not. "
He waves his hand, "Actually your biggest mistake was willfully giving me your full name. What a shame, if you hadn't, I would have had to let you go since I had no way to keep you to tied to me even if my own obsessed now demanded that I keep you. But! But you fucked up little hero, you came into my haunt uninvited, you broke in and you were rude by threatening me. This is the most fun I've had in decades, so I think I'm gonna keep you. We'll get your attitude changed most certainly and those silly ideas about you not mattering or not being important. You're mine now and anything that I own is important. Being happy, I own you, you're thrilled that I do that that makes you happy."
"Who are you? I do not consent and I'm not legally a Wayne, you don't know my true name!"
"Oh little hero, you think of yourself as that, so yes I do. And guess what, the moment you came into this place, I owned you."
Tim looks around trying to find way to escape and not seeing one. It's just a simple apartment with nothing descript within it.
Tim pulls the knife out of his hidden holster and rushes at the entity, hoping to find a way to escape while it was injured.
The entity lets Tim rush at him, and gleefully takes the slash, but nothing happens to them. They then snap their fingers and Tim is instantly subdued, not frozen in body but not in mind.
"Fun fact, I knew that was on you, I wanted to see if you would do it. And yes you did! I knew that you were special when you started following me confused, noble and with a death wish. You don't care about yourself, you care about the others you circle. Well little hero, it's time for them to protect you, because it's quite evident to me that you need a guiding hand and a steady influence and who am I to not assist. Don't worry, there are some benefits, you will have your mind, mostly. You will learn to embrace a more selfish mindset and I think you, such a pretty thing will do wonderfully at my side. You will be adorned in jewels and refinement and you will be happy! Now sleep, things will make more sense the next time you awaken."
"Shame about his life, he really did have a ton of promise. But he made the mistakes and needs to live with the consequences." Danny shrugs and then opens a portal, crushing the comm under his foot.
"Still cannot believe Bruce Wayne is fucking Batman. I knew there was something about him." Danny muttered to himself.
Danny snaps again and the little hero floats up amd follows behind him into the portal leaving no evidence of their presence here. The apartment they were both such in disappears with them, leaving no trace of what has happened.