Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise.
Billy POV
I look to the soaking wet flowers in my hand before moving towards the graveyard, I use to come here every year with my Mom and Dad on Mom's sisters birthday. My parents are gone now but I know they would want me to keep going to remember the Aunt I only knew through stories. I would have come earlier0 today when it wasn't basically a typhoon but I had a League mission, but I promised myself I would always come on her birthday so here I am in one of Gotham's many graveyards.
"Uhhh!"
I pause, hearing a sound coming from another part of the graveyard through the wind, curious I walk over to see what it is and freeze in surprise, someone is digging in a grave.
Correction, digging their way out of the grave with their bare hands.
I drop the flowers and run over and help pull the teenager out, "Are you okay? Did someone bury you alive, I need to get you to a hospital."
He has dark hair, blue eyes, is wearing a ripped tux, needless to say his hands are a mess and has a wild look in his eyes. Did this guy just come back to life?
"No!" as soon as he hears the word hospital he jumps away, looking like he'll attack if I try, "No-no hospital."
I probably shouldn't anyway, people at a hospital might find something about coming back to life if they test him. Should I take him to the Watch Tower? If I do that Batman will want to know what I was doing in his city and my age will come to light, I can take care of himself right? I know a lot of healing spells as cap, if I bring him somewhere safe then wait for him to fall asleep I can turn into cap and do some spellwork.
"Okay, okay no hospital" I promise, "But we do need to get out of this rain. Come with me, I saw a abandoned toy factory two blocks away, we can go there until the storm calms down."
He gives a shaky nod and lets me lead him to the abandoned building and collapses as soon as we get there.
I step back outside and say my word, then go back in and start scanning with magic, I don't know what brought him back but whatever it was also gave him all the injuries that killed plus he still has his autopsy cuts.
I pour my magic into healing, focusing on the deadly injuries and brain damage, mostly leaving the cuts and bruises (my magic is needed in much worst injuries,) turning them into new scars. Its not pretty but he's alive.
He's kinda lucky I found him, without the spell knowledge I get from Solomon it would have taken a Lazarus Pit to really restore his soul but doing that would have corrupted it.
Once I'm done I turn back to my 10-year-old self and sit down next to him, waiting for him to wake up.
He does so over three hours later, "Who-Who-where am I?" he asks sitting up.
"Abandoned building" I reply, "I'm Billy by the way, what's your name?"
He blinks, "I-I don't know."
Oops, that's my bad one of the risks of the restoration spell I used is memory loss, it should come back with familiar people and sites, I just need to get him home, being around his family should do the rest.
Still better than what would have happened if he went in the pit.
"Okay" I smile, "No worries, check your pockets. Maybe you have something with your name on it" fingers crossed he was buried with his wallet or something with his name.
He starts going through his pockets but finds nothing, until he gets to the inside pocket of his ripped suit coat, and pulls out a book, To kill a Mockingbird. He smiles "This is my favourite….Dad got it for me…on my first birthday with him" he looks confused to how he knows that.
I smile, good he is starting to remember…..wait, "Is their anything written inside? Sometimes when people give books as gifts they write notes inside."
He opens the front of the book, "BluJay, I know you haven't been here that long yet or celebrated your birthday for a while but I hope you will enjoy your birthday with us. B" he looks to me smiling a little, "That's all it says."
"BluJay has to be a nickname" I nod, "I guess I'll call you Jay."
He nods, "Okay…..but how do we find my Dad?"
"We could go back to your grave" I suggest, "It has to have your name on it, after that we Google you."
He nods and gets up, heading for the door, I follow him out.
The graveyard is a mess, the storm hit it really hard, half the tombstones are destroyed, and the ground is a mess, there's no way to tell which of these graves Jay dug his way out of, and its not like either of us were keeping track of were we were when I found him.
"I don't think we're going to find it" I yell over the wind, "Maybe we should go to the police" I suggest.
"No fucking way!" he shakes his head, as we go back into the abandoned building "When it gets weird you never go to the cops or the doctors, that is attention, we help each other with whatever it is" he speaks before blinking, that must have been something he remembered.
"Do you know who said that to you?" I ask, hopeful for a name.
"Dick" he replies with a confused look.
"Someone you don't like then" I sigh, wish he knew the name, not just to call the guy a jerk, "So going to the cops?" I try again.
He shakes his head, "I don't know if I liked this guy, but I got a feeling it wasn't just some dickhead who told me not to go to the cops. I'll figure out who I am by myself."
"With my help" I correct, "I'm going to help you Jay, no stopping me."
He smiles, "Thanks Billy."
"First we need to get you some clothes…..that don't look like well" I trail off.
"Like I crawled out of my own grave" he smirks.
"Exactly" I agree, not able to help smiling a little, "I'll go get some stuff for you."
"Don't you have to go home?" he asks suddenly realising its way to late for a 10-year-old to be out by himself.
"Nope" I shake my head awkwardly, "Umm my parents died a few years ago, but I use to come here with my Mom to visit her sister every year, she might be gone too but I still come here to Gotham for her birthday."
"Come to" he blinks, "So you're here in Gotham by yourself, having run off from your foster home or whatever to celebrate a dead woman's birthday."
He must be thinking I'm crazy. No one comes to Gotham unless they have no choice, let alone kids. Gotham is not a nice place.
"I promised myself someone would remember my Aunt," I tell him, "She deserves to have company on her birthday."
He shakes his head, "I don't know if you are nuts or just to dam kind."
"Why can't I be both" I grin, heading for the door.
I head into the city, and to a second-hand store (that is absolutely a front for something bad, why else would it be open this late?) then I get some food before heading back.
I give him his clothes, sleeping bag (also second-hand) and some food and we both go to sleep.
The next morning (after sneaking away to help with a Earthquake) around 9am we both get up and go back to the graveyard to have another look, but don't find anything, so we go to the public library and look up teens who died in the last two months (he can't been dead that long right?) but its Gotham so we spend all day searching through the many names but find no one who looks like Jay.
Jay seems to have spent time on the streets like me, having vague memories of time in Crime Alley, which means I don't need to tech him how to get by, in fact here in Gotham he knows more than I do.
So I let him go to find food after dark while I go to a League meeting (Batman seems grumpier than normal, must be having a really bad day,) do my patrol, then meet Jay in time with food as well (I went back to my hideout back home and got some supplies.)
This goes on for two months, us looking for who he is and me sneaking off to do my work and not lying to him exactly, just never saying all that I'm doing.
We also become very close, he remembers the plots to lots of great books and tells them to me before bed and random stuff from his time on the streets, I do the same, telling him about things I've read and my time on the streets and in foster homes, what I remember of my parents. Its nice, I think this is what having a big brother might be like.
"So…" he speaks making me freeze as I sneak back in at three in the morning after a face off with Black Adam, "Were is it you've been going kid?"
"I just went to the to-" I start but he cuts me off.
"Don't bother" he puts a hand up, "I may not remember a lot but I seem to be pretty good at noticing stuff, you sneak off a lot, you tell a lot of half-truths…so gang?"
"No" I shake my head, "I….." I trust Jay, he deserves to know, "I have powers, when I say a Wizards name anyway, it lets me turn into a grown-up superhero, I sneak off to do the hero thing."
He laughs a little, "Shoulda known. You have good hearted hero written on your face…Captain Marvel?" he guesses, knowing were I'm from and that there's only one hero there.
I nod.
"So why are you still here in Gotham?" he asks, "Shouldn't you be back home watching your city?"
I shrug, "I check a few times a day, deal with bad guys when they come, I don't have to be in Fawcett to watch over it."
"But why stay here" he presses, "Being here doesn't make it easier either."
"I promised I'd help you" I reply, "I can't do that if I go home."
He snorts, "We're not gonna find out who I was. If we were going to it would have been two months ago. I have to get use to just being Jay, you are needed back in Fawcett. Maybe we should both go back."
"You would leave Gotham with me?" I blink surprised.
"Sure, its not like I'm doing anything important here, abandoned building is a abandoned building, the only real difference will be where it is and how crappy the city is."
I hug him, "You're the best Jay."
"Oh I know" he smirks, "Speaking of I've seen you fight on TV, you have a hell of a lot of power but no real fighting skills, last month I beat the crap out of 12 gang members with guns on pure instinct, I bet I could tech you how to fight."
Yes last months incident, we don't know were he learned to fight like that but he's been practising non-stop since, learning to fight like him would be cool. "Yes that sounds great" I agree with a smile.
We have moved to Fawcett City by the next morning and started my training the same day.
Its hard and weird, bringing up a lot of incomplete memories for Jay involving a cave and flipping across rooftops.
I convince him to go to my school as well (the principal is lenient with the guardianship rules, so half the school is like me; street kids trying to get a education and not wanting to worry about being sent back to the foster system if found.) when it opens again after the Summer Holidays, which he does well in, doing well in school and making a few friends.
Its not til five months later when I really get to use the fighting skills he taught me.
When Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman, Green Arrow and myself a captured on a mission, and locked in cells inside a building lined with power dampeners, Batman and Green Arrow had all their gear taken and have been locked in some kind of impossible to pick restrains, while the rest of us have normal cuffs (except for Superman's who's are made out of Kryponite.
I smile a little, knowing Jay will say I told you so about the lock picks he added to the sleeves of my suit as I pick the lock. "Hey" I speak to the guard staying outside my cell.
She turns to me, "What?"
"Could I have some water please?" I ask nicely.
"We were told to take care of them" another guard points out, "Besides its Marvel. He can't to shit without his powers."
"True" she agrees, getting a bottle of water and bringing the energy shield down.
As soon as its down I take off the cuffs and move, hitting her to the ground, flipping over a shot from the other guard and taking him down, then taking out the extendable batons Jay hid in my boots (they are the weapon I'm best with and my favourite from training) then take on the other 12 guards.
Once they're all down I can't help smiling, "Oh that was so cool! I knew getting some non-powers training would be helpful, but that was so cool!" I grin.
"Marvel" GA calls, "Thank your teacher later, right now we need to move."
"Right, right sorry" I apologise, taking the keys and unlocking everyone and hand GA the short sword in the bottom of my left boot and Batman a bunch of throwing stars, knowing they had their weapons confiscated.
"Why do you have this stuff on you?" Superman questions.
I shrug, "Ja-the guy teaching me to fight is crazy paranoid and thinks I should be too, he made all these weird compartments in my suit and hid weapons everywhere, though I'm still learning to use most of them" I say looking to GA who's testing the weight of the blade like a pro.
"We'll talk about later" Batman growls, looking thoughtful and a small bit upset (the fact I can tell at all shows he's feeling something too much to hide it) "Now we need to get out of here."
We make our way out of the room and once we have our powers back easily take it down and have everyone on their have to jail within two hours.
"Who taught you to fight like that?" Batman demands as soon as everyone gets back to the Watch Tower and we're in the meeting room.
I blink, "Why does it matter?"
"Marvel" GA steps forward patting Batman on the shoulder and speaking before he can, "Fighting styles are like a fingerprint, you can tell League Of assassins by the way the swing a sword or do a flip, lots of us though learn from people all over the world and make up our own styles. Yours had Bat all over it."
Fighting like a Bat? No way, I learned from Jay and Jay…. Wait Batman lost a Robin like a year ago is it possible? It would make sense, and I'm a idiot for not thinking of it before.
"Who taught you how to fight?" Batman glares.
I sit down with a sigh, "About seven months ago I went as a civilian to my aunts grave."
"What does that have to do with fighting like a bat?" Wonder Woman questions.
"She's buried in Gotham" I reply, "When I was there I heard someone in pain and found…..found a teenager digging himself out of his own grave."
Batman's glare drops into a look of shock, "Jason" he whispers.
Superman and Green Arrow share their own shocked looks.
"Oh Hera" Wonder Woman says looking shocked too, "What happed to this boy?"
I look over to Batman, this means Batman is Jay's dad, how do I tell him Jay doesn't remember him? "Back at my place" reply awkwardly, "Ummm Batman there is something you should know, whatever brought him back didn't bring all of him back, so he was without his mind and soul, I know some pretty cool spells and put his soul back, but he doesn't have all his memories."
"That's why you didn't bring him back to me" its not a question.
"Yeah" I nod, "As soon as I said hospital or police he would fight or say something weird that he doesn't remember all that well about dealing with weirdness away from the law. It was weird and probably should have been a clue."
"Does he remember who told him not to go to the police?" Superman asks, sending Batman a look.
"Nope" I shake my head, "When I asked he would just say dick, so I guess someone he didn't like?" I shrug.
Batman smiles slightly while everyone else laughs.
"What did I say?" I ask confused.
"Dick is Batman's oldest sons nickname" Superman smiles, looking amused.
Oh its his brother's name….well okay then.
"I want to see him" Batman tells me glaring again.
"Okay" I agree, now isn't the time for secret ID's, Batman is going to find out my name through all this, "I need to tell him first I think, we can meet you in Gotham in a hour" I offer.
He nods moving away, "The top of Wayne Tower. One hour" with that he's gone.
I head back home and to Jay, finding him doing his homework.
"Jay" I speak walking up to him, "I umm I found out who you are."
He drops his book and looks to me, "You know my name?"
"Umm no" I admit, "I found out you were the second Robin. Batman wants to see you."
I expect him to say something but he does the blinking thing for when he gets new memories. Once he done he grins, "Yeah I was Robin! I kicked bad guy ass" he laughs a little then stops, "There's a new Robin."
Oh boy I didn't think of that.
"He replaced me" Jay glares at the ground, "I've only been gone what a year? Not even cold and he has a new kid."
"He didn't want a new Robin he just wanted you" I tell him, "I might not be in Batman's inner circle, but I've heard things. When Rob-you died Batman went into a tail spin, he tried to kill the Joker twice, having to be stopped by other heroes, he got really violent on the streets. The new Robin forced his way in because he knew Batman needed a Robin, Batman didn't want him."
Jay calms down, "Thanks Billy I needed to hear that, might of gone off and Dad and the new Robin otherwise."
Oh I know, Jay as quite the temper. "Are you going to ask for it back?" I don't to say what 'it' is.
He pauses and after a long while shakes his head, "No. I'm not Robin anymore, I think I still wanna be a hero but I've outgrown Boy Wonder."
"Fair enough" I nod, "…How about BluJay?" I suggest, "It would be a cool hero name."
He smiles, "Yeah, plus its kinda is my name. BluJay it is."
He gets up and packs his bag, "I'm betting BatDad wants to see me right away."
I nod, "We have to be on top of Wayne Tower in….20 minutes."
"Then we better get flying" he grins, loving it when I fly with him.
It only takes a few minutes to get there and Batman is already waiting, with Nightwing and Robin.
"Littlewing!" Jay is hugged by Nightwing as soon as we land.
"Hey Big Bird" he greets without thinking before looking to the other two, "Dad" with the one-word Jay hugs Batman and he hugs back.
"Its good to see you Jason" Batman says quietly, hugging Jay back.
"You too old man" Jay smiles, backing out of the hug then looking to the new Robin, "Replacement" he nods.
"You can have Robin back" is the first thing he says, "I only did it because Batman needs a Robin. I'm not trying to take your place."
"Keep it" Jay shrugs, "I've outgrown Boy Wonder. I was thinking BluJay now, what do you think?"
Nightwing grins and Batman nods.
"Sounds good" Robin nods, looking relived Jay didn't take Robin back.
"You'll be coming home tonight?" Batman asks his son.
"Yep" Jay nods before looking to me, "Billy turn back."
"Jay" I frown, "I don't ne-"
"Cap is really ten" Jay cuts me off, "He looks like that with magic and I have decided he is my little brother. He's coming home with me."
Batman looks to me, "Are you Captain?"
"SHAZAM" I sigh, knowing Jay won't give up on me being his brother.
Nightwing looks to me a grins, "He's even your type."
True, dark hair, I guess they all have blue eyes.
"You a orphan or seriously neglected?" Nightwing asks a little rudely.
"I'm not that neglected" Robin crosses his arms with a pout.
"Orphan" I admit.
Nightwing looks to Batman to nods, "Your coming home with me too Billy."
Jay puts a arm around me, "BatDad."
ONE-SHOT.