A Breach in Contract

For a prompt over on the yj kink meme. The prompt was a crossover with the Pet Shop of Horrors.

A/n: Um, I went with one of the animals from the first series. I hope you like, this is my first time posting.


Conner's breath rasped in his throat as he watched the wave of oncoming snakes descend on where the Young Justice team was bound. He looked to his left and saw Robin struggling to wiggle himself free, and turned and saw Kaldur unconscious on his right. He could only assume the others were in the same shoes as Kaldur by the silence from all around.

They were chained to a thick pillar in a deep pit, and this normally wouldn't have been a problem, except for the approaching mob of snakes and the sliver of Kryptonite embedded in the wall in front of Superboy.

"This is such a disaster!" Robin growled as the snakes advanced. Conner just barely managed a nod, feeling woozy because of the green light hitting his skin.

"FINE! I'll show you DISASTER!" Robin yelled, and if Conner hadn't seen what happened next he wouldn't have believed it was possible.

Giant black wings exploded from Robin's back in a shower of inky black feathers, on of which brushed along Conner's face.

He watched with wide eyes as Robin wrenched his way out of his bindings and threw himself forward, making Conner cry out in shock. Robin landed delicately in front of the snakes, which had paused in their advance but roiled in place, hissing threateningly.

Then Robin opened his mouth and began to do something that could barely be labeled singing it was so beautiful. The song was in a language Conner didn't know, but still reached into his soul and wrenched at it, yet it soothed him at the same time. The song flowed like the gentlest river, and to Conner's surprise, the snakes dropped off into sleep one by one.

He was startled from his reverie when one massive black wing was extended, blocking the light of the Kryptonite. He felt his strength sluggishly return and snapped his own chains easily. He darted around the pillar and broke Megan from her chains next, waking her to help him free the others. He put his finger to his mouth when she opened hers, her eyes wide as she listened to the singing and saw the sleeping mass of snakes not five feet away. They both made quick work of freeing the other members of the team, Megan gaping in awe at Robin's winged back.

Robin turned to look at them, ice blue eyes serene (both Megan and Conner were shocked to see his real eyes), before he motioned with the wing not shielding the Kryptonite for them to escape.

Conner and Megan both shook their heads, Superboy handing Aqualad over for Megan to fly them all out. He waited until they were clear of the pit before running forward, scooping Robin up and jumping out of the way of the awakened snakes.

Superboy set down beside a smiling Megan, both of them relieved to be out of the pit. Though the villain they had been chasing had run off to leave them there, they figured their mission was over. They both looked at Robin, who was still singing though they were out of danger.

"You can stop singing now, you saved us Robin." Megan said kindly, tilting her head to the side.

Robin closed his eyes and shook his head, and kept singing.


J'onn J'onzz reeled in the Watchtower when a telepathic scream echoed in his head.

'M'gann? What is wrong!' he demanded, phasing through the floor in a rush toward the transporters.

'It's Robin! He won't stop singing! His throat is bleeding!' his niece cried, panic in the tone of her mental voice. J'onn reversed his path and headed toward the meeting room, where he could hear the raised voices of Superman and Batman arguing again.

"Batman!" he called, calling the attention of the rest of the Original Seven at his nearly panicked tone.

"What?" Batman growled, a sound that would have cowed lesser men.

"There is something wrong with Robin-" J'onn didn't get to finish his sentence before Batman was sprinting past him. The rest of the Seven followed on the Dark Knight's heels.

J'onn prayed nothing else was wrong with the Young Justice team.


Batman ran out of the transport room and skidded to a stop, frozen by the song he hadn't heard in ages. He started running again when he heard the faint sound of Miss Martian's sobs over the song. He rounded the corner and nearly ran into Superboy, who was leaning in the doorway of the med-bay, a depressed expression on his face as he faced away from the source of the familiar song. Conner jumped when Batman shoved past him and into the room, and nearly quailed under the harsh stares of the other Six.

"What happened?" J'onn asked, his neutral calm back.

"I-I don't know! We were captured and trapped in a pit of snakes with Kryptonite and Robin just… sprouted wings! He broke out and sang the snakes to sleep and he hasn't stopped… since." Superboy's voice softened in surprise when the singing stopped. He whipped around and nearly ran the few steps to the end of Robin's bed.

Robin's clothes had changed on the way back to Mount Justice and he now wore clothes in deep scarlet and bright gold. He wore a sarong in red with gold designs, gold bangles up and down his arms, a multitude of ruby rings and a gold choker that extended down onto his bare chest. On his head was a thin gold circlet that had rubies dangling from gold chains to drape around his face. But these things weren't noticed by the League members, considering the state Robin himself was in.

His breathing was labored and there was blood dripping steadily from his mouth and onto the white bedding, Batman supporting his weak body and rubbing soothing circles on his protégé's back. The League was entranced by the massive black wings that extended from Robin's back, which rustled weakly as Batman massaged between them.

"You broke the contract." Batman said quietly, as sad as his fellow League members had ever seen him. Robin raised his head and gave a sad smile in return.

"…save… them…" he rasped brokenly, looking over at the teammates who'd had yet to awaken.

Batman smoothed Robin's hair back, nodding his acceptance.

"Bruce, what is going on?" Superman asked, tearing his eyes away from the wings of the Robin to look at the face of the Bat.

"Five, nearly six, years ago, a circus came to Gotham. Their star act was a family of trapeze artists called The Flying Graysons. Tony Zucco sabotaged their act to get back at the ringmaster for refusing to pay the protection money he demanded. All three of them died that night. The next day, I felt wracked with guilt because it was a charity event for Bruce Wayne they were preforming for and I stumbled into a tiny pet shop in Chinatown. The man there gave me a bird, and I named him after the boy from the circus who'd made such an impression on me. Isn't that right Dick?" Bruce said hoarsely, petting Robin's hair as the boy smiled and nodded.

"A bird with a human body? Are you sure you aren't from Thanagar?" Shayera asked, much more at ease with a human sprouting wings than the others. Dick shook his head violently.

"He's a Strelizia, a rare bird from a tiny island in the South Pacific." Bruce said, collecting Dick into his arms. Dick grinned, wings rustling and gave a happy whistle.

"What are you doing?" Conner asked, fists clenching in worry.

"I'm sure Dickie-bird wants to stretch his wings after so long." Bruce said with a smirk at an indignant looking Robin, who stuck his tongue out at his father.

"Should he be out of bed so soon? He was bleeding really badly." M'gann said nervously, wringing her hands. Dick smiled at her and whistled a reassurance.

"His species has been enhanced with magic, they're fast healers." Bruce said as he walked past them, Dick perched on his arm as if he weighed nothing. Only Superboy, Superman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl followed after them, Flash, J'onn, and M'gann staying behind to tend to the other Young Justice members.

They marched into the high ceilinged training room, where Bruce threw Dick into the air with a massive heave. Robin trilled with delight, corkscrewing and stretching his wings out to their fullest. He turned back and whistled something to Bruce.

"Anyone up for a game of tag?" before anyone could answer Robin swooped forward and smacked Superman right in the face with one of his wings before twirling around and taking off toward the ceiling, laughing his unique little giggle. Superman spat out a long black feather before darting up after the bird boy.

The fliers laughed and took off into the air too, leaving Batman and Superboy on the ground as the game started, Superman trying and failing to catch Dick, who used his acrobatics to their fullest to evade the Man of Steel. Conner watched them dart about in the air longingly, wishing he could fly along with them.

"Always makes you wish doesn't it? Looks like you don't have to." He heard Batman say, and turned to ask what the man meant, and was shocked when he was looking down at the taller man. He nearly yelped in surprise to find himself floating nearly three feet off the ground.

He heard Dick let out a happy noise and when he looked up he was nose to nose with his winged teammate, who smiled and grabbed his hand to drag him into the game.

"Feeling… the… aster?" Robin rasped quietly, and Superboy was relieved to find out that this exotic creature was still the Robin he knew. Then he imagined what Wally's face was going to look like and grinned.

"Definitely." He said with a grin, crying out in shock when Shayera darted in and tagged him, Dick flitting away with his signature laugh.

Definitely feeling the aster.


End?

I might write a sequel for Wally's reaction xD

Like? hate?