ATTENTION PLEASE! I, the author of this story, after a long and arduous battle with the many voices in my head, the great hand of inspiration has bestowed upon me an ending of satisfaction. It is an ending long fought to come up with. It is one that will make my story slightly more original, and will allow for more creative additions and expansions of this universe line. So thank you for reading and I hope the ending is enjoyable for you all.
P.s. There's and epilogue.
Enjoy!
MOTIVATION IS YOUR SUPERPOOOOOOOOWER!
Turns out, after a quick and brutal sweep though of Batman's computer system, courtesy of Barbara - now she knew too because Tim was the one who usually did the hacking for the boys but - um . . . he's tiny so - at least now they know how to find Witch boy.
Klarion was unpredictable, that for one was certain. The hundreds of years old child was used to following whatever fancy caught him at that moment. Although, there was something the kid would always come after, no matter what. And that was his precious cat thingy -
"You sure you want me to do this?" Zatana Zatara happens to be the only way to get to the cat though - so now she knew of Tim's tiny self too.
Jason frowns hard at her, Tim was busy making random sounds with broken words in between as he spins around on his little legs, kind of sounded like the lullaby Jason sang to him before -
"No, I am not sure - this is - this is all Dickheads idea, so if something craps up - it's entirely his fault." Evidently, Jason was still sore about this entire thing, the anger ebbs away to sadness, when his eyes flicker over to the blubbering toddler he deflates a bit more.
Dick clears his throat and looks away. "Yah, I'll - I'll take the blame Jason." He tries a small smile. Jason refuses to look at him. Dick sighs and turns back to the confused magician in front of them and nods.
Zatana sighs and pushes a strand of silky black hair behind her ear. "All right. Stand back."
The door to Jason's apartment flies opens suddenly, startling them, even if they should have been able to hear the intruders before they burst in.
Damian was seething as Stephanie tumbles in with a box of random things.
"What is that?" Jason frowns harder, glaring at the airy blond.
She grins. "Toys."
"Toys?"
She nods, as if this made total sense. "Yah - I figure that Timmy might need something to entertain himself for a while and - "
"Did you forget you blond airhead? We're tying to fix Tim now - you're a bit too late."
"That's what I told the moron." Damián snaps from behind the girl who glares at both Robins.
"You both suck. I was just saying - you know - just in case."
Jason's eyes snap up - nobody moves. Just - in case? He know he shouldn't feel this way at this moment, it's selfish - but - that thought gave him a teeny glimmer of hope that maybe Tim could stay small - for bit longer.
He reaches for the box and gives the blond girl a grim nod. "Yah - um - whatever." He turns to Tim who's currently attempting to chew a pillow. "Here buddy." Jason's lips quirk into a faint smile and hands the child a toy train. "Play with this for a while."
Tim gives off a squeal and grabs the train while making airplane noises. "Tanks Dayson!" He giggles as Jason ruffles his hair.
"Wow."
Jason's fingers stiffen as he remembers that there are other people polluting his space. He turns narrowed eyes at the dark haired magician, "what?"
She blinks. "Nothing - just . . . never thought I'd see the big bad Hood so nice to - anyone."
"Whatever." Jason doesn't feel like snapping back, he's tired. He just wants to get this over with. His eyes fall back to Timmy playing by himself, his little cheeks puff out whenever he makes train sounds.
"Go on Zee." Dick speaks up, quietly - almost gentle. Jason ignores him.
Zatana sighs and sits down in the middle of Jason's creaky floor, crosses her legs and starts muttering something backwards with her eyes closed as she presses three fingers together.
The bat kids stare at her as she starts to glow, she moves her hands, her fingers draw glowing marks in the air - the light gets brighter and brighter until they can't look anymore. Jason instinctively grabs Tim and holds on, shielding the kids face from the light.
Zatana lets out a shout and suddenly - the light shudders.
It fades, they blink to adjust their sight.
"What the hell?" Stephanie gasps as they all stare at the small furry creature sitting dazed on the floor in front of them.
Damian gaps. "A cat? It's just a cat. How is a mere cat supposed to - "
The feline suddenly hisses, coming to and bares sharp teeth, hairs and tail standing on end, its yellow eyes glow ominously and swipes at Damian who yanks his hand back and glares.
Zatana gasps as the creature starts shifting. "No!" She hisses a spell and aims a red bolt at the creature.
It's too fast and jumps in mid formation and kicks Zatana against a wall sending her flying and hitting her head against the wall with a painful crack.
"It's changed!" Steph yelps as she dodges a swipe of the humanoid cat's claws that just clip the edge of her hair.
The creature hisses and lets out a meow like shriek as it rolls away and twists out of all of their grasps. It flies through the small space and slashes at anything it can.
Damian hisses like a cat when it manages a swipe across his arm, claws marring the skin, he grips it as Dick - who's armed himself with a chair - flips in the way and knocks the thing aside.
It rolls up and screeches. Tim lets out a cry.
Jason, who's holding him, barely has enough time to dodge the on coming creature.
"Stop this thing!" He growls, flipping behind his old couch which the creature slashes, the stuffing spilling out of the cuts like guts. Tim's shrieks are scaring Jason. The cat thing seems to have zeroed in on the soft little ball of flesh because it doesn't stop - it slashes and swipes and hisses and shrieks and -
Zatana gasps awake, eyes blurry as she watches the thing nearly slices Tim!
Jason lets out a growl and brutally slams the thing in the wall with one arm, seeing as he's holding Tim with the other. The creature writhes and hacks, the wall cracks and - it stops moving, air knocked out of it.
Quickly, before it regains consciousness, Zatana slaps her hands together and mutters a containment spell which instantly envelops the shifter thing in a glowing prison.
The air is stiff as they all catch their breaths.
The silence is suffocating. Only broken by the small sniffles from teary Tim.
"Whelp - so much for just a cat." Steph suddenly break out, breath rushing out of all of them.
Jason snorts. "How is that thing supposed to help us?"
Zatana brushes off her tail coat. "Um - the Witch boy should notice his pet's missing by now and - "
"Wait- "Before Jason can get out another word the entire building shakes and a dark burst of purple smoke surrounds them like vines.
Damian lets out a curse as they suddenly become weightless and disoriented.
"Hey!" Jason yells when they can see again, they are on top of one of Gotham's tallest sky scraper. "Oh, come on!" He looks around frantically for Tim. The toddler shrieks and runs to him instantly, Jason lifts him up and tucks him in close as the smoke wisps vanish.
"Did you really think you could get away with kidnapping my Teekl!" A pale, horn haired boy with a vicious set of teeth glares at all of them, his beady red eyes glowing in an obvious starts to a temper tantrum.
Zatana throws up a magical shield just as the kid shoots a blast of flames meant to char them all to nothing.
"Wait! We don't want to hurt the thing!" Stephanie yells through the fire sounds.
Damian scoffs. "Tt, speak for yourself! I'd love to skin it and mount it on the wall."
Klarion did not like that. He lets out an angry wail and vines start growing under their feet. "Give her back! You heathens!" The witch boy shrieks. The vines thicken with his rage as they tie around their legs and threaten to tear at them.
"Wait!" Dick shouts above everyone's struggles. "Zee give him back his cat thing!"
She obeys and mutters a few words that release the creature. Klarion forgets them instantly, the vines disappear, as the creature twists back into a cat and runs into his outstretched arms.
"Oh, my little Teekl, did they hurt you! I'll skin them alive and feed their screaming corpses to a minitour!"
The cat purrs in agreement to that idea.
Damian hisses at them. "We don't have time for this!"
Klarion's beady little eyes zero in on them. "What do you meanies want." He seethes.
Dick raises hands as if to placate the witch boy. "Um - we're sorry for taking your - um - pet . . . just - we need to know - "
"What did you do to Tim?" Stephanie cuts in, evidently she's had enough of this.
Klarion's eyes blink, he seems confused for a moment then it changes to uninterested. He's getting bored. Uh oh.
"I don't know or care what you're talking about." He aims to disappear.
Zatana scowls, still angry for getting knocked out by that thing and hisses a spell quickly, the cat is suddenly yanked out of the witch boys arms which makes them both shriek. "You'll listen and fix this mess or I'll teleport your cat to a place not even you can find." She threatens.
The demon boy stops and seems torn for a moment, he clearly doesn't like it when people dare give him ultimatums.
Zatana decides to help speed up his decision and speaks backwards, the cat starts shaking and fading as she prepares to send it to who knows where.
The witch boy gasps, "What do you meat sacks want!?" He screeches, eyes starting to glow.
"Fix him." Jason says, eyes narrowing in a threat as he holds Tim out a bit. His heart tugs painfully but - all this trouble was starting to grate on his nerves.
Klarion stares.
"What. Is. That?"
Tim gurgles. "Witch Boy!" He shrieks then bursts out laughing.
"This used to be Red Robin, you know, the guy who kicked your ass last week." Jason grits out, the words bitter on his tongue. There was still hope, a selfish part of him thought - this little prick would probably deny helping them and -
"I can't." Klarion finally snaps, eyes narrowing, his mouth twitching as he glances at Zatana holding his pet prisoner. "If that pathetic small thing was that boring nuisance, he looks better this way by the way, then I can't."
Zatana glares. "Why not?"
The demon boy rolls his eyes in the most bratty way possible. "Because, you empty headed wannabe, the spell is irreversible - at least - for a long time."
Dick swallows. "What - what do you mean?"
Jason refuses to acknowledge the slightly excited thump his heart gives.
"I mean, why are you humans so slow!" Klarion whines.
Zatana makes to send the cat away. Panic flits across the demon child's face.
"Answer the question. you freak." Damian grits out, he's clearly done with this too.
Klarion looks at the boy, affronted, a 'how dare you call me a freak, you freak,' look on his pale face. "It's a punishment spell. He was making me angry so I turned him into something he didn't want to be. It appears a child was it!" He burst into a fit of high pitched giggles now that creeps everyone out like someone had just told him the best joke ever.
"So - he can't be fixed?" Dick voices, his eyes flashing his thoughts like a movie screen. Batman was going to kill them - Alfred was going to flip out- Red Robin was no more - Tim's life is over . . .and so much more.
Jason restrains the grin threatening to break his face.
"Now. He can't be fixed now. This spell has a time limit - say - a year or so. He'll turn back eventually." Klarion snaps like they are the dumbest creatures alive for not knowing that.
"A year?" Steph taps her chin thoughtfully. "Tim's gonna stay a baby for a year. Huh - "
"Yes, now give me back Teekl, I've had enough patience with you mortal meanies. Give her back." The horn haired boy's face contorts again, daring them to say no.
Zatana sighs. "You're sure? There's no way to - "
"No! My spell is too strong, it has a time set, you can not break it. Consider it like a curse from those silly fairy tales you people like to read. Now. Give. Teekl. Back." The witch boy was done being obliging, his aura darkens considerably.
"Here." Zatana tosses the thing back at him, it lets out a yowl as Klarion gasps and catches it with a scowl at them all.
"You're lucky I feel nice today." He hisses at them, then his eyes flicker to small Tim who just blinks up innocently at him, holding on to Jason's leg. "Funny - It seems he likes this after all." Then the creepy kid starts giggling again and disappears in a cloud of black and purple smoke.
Leaving them all to stare at each other then at Tim in defeat.
The child looks at them all and smiles. Then he claps his hands together, "Pway!"
Jason lets out a breath and practically tosses the kid up in the air with a huffed laugh. "Yah Kid - let's go play." He's ok with this - he's good - this went better then expected.
He ignores the others staring after him in confusion.
"Jay!"
Jason groans, foot on the edge of the building, he spares Dick a look. The older male is fiddling with his fingers before he looks up at Jason.
The younger vigilante knows what he's going to say before he does. It's in the infuriating man's eyes.
"We have to tell Bruce."
Jason's heart falls to his toes - no - no they didn't, he can just take Tim and run off, take care of the brat for a year, they didn't have to see him - he'd leave even Gotham for good, just - don't tell Bruce -
"We have to Jay." Dicks voice is irritatingly calm.
Irritating because - Jason knows . . . dammit - he knows Dick's right. The way they all look at him - they all know he knows.
"Bwuce?" Tim suddenly speaks up.
Jason blinks down at the boy in his arms. "What?" His heart gives a painful side beat.
Tim smiles and pats his face. "See Bwuce?"
He - remembers Bruce?
The big puppy eyes were doing Jason in - he can't - but - he feels a tiny bit betrayed. This little brat - "You want to see the Jerk?"
Tim giggles and nods. "See Bwuce!"
Dammit.
Jason turns to them. "Fine . . . Fine - we'll tell Bruce."
The collective sigh they all emit behind him was irritating.
"Tim's - a child?" Bruce blinks bright blue eyes at the totting toddler. Tim's busy shoving sandwiches Alfred made him down his cheeks which effectively made him look like a furless chipmunk.
"Yah - well - it's not Jason's fault at least?" Steph squeaks, tugging her hair uncertainly. Jason ignores them as he hunches on the far edge of the couch and watches little Tim with a ghost of a smile on his face.
Bruce lets out an exhausted sigh and pinches the bridge of his nose. "Ok then."
He really has nothing to say to this.
Dick speaks up ."Um - yah - and since he can't be fixed - yet . . .uh, Zee says she'll try to figure it out but - she doesn't hold out much hope and - Jason - " The oldest Robin sighs, he doesn't seem to know what to say either as his eyes flicker to Jason.
"Right. Alright - let's just - except this for now. Jason?"
Jay looks up now, body instantly going ridged when his eyes meet Bruce's, like he's waiting to be blamed. Bruce ignores that.
"You - you've been taking care of Tim?"
Jason nods, lips pull tightly together.
Alfred smiles lightly and hands the wayward Robin a cup of steaming tea. "And I must say, you've been doing an excellent job, Master Jason." The pride is unmistakable in the old mans face.
Jason hides a smile behind his mug. Bruce can see the happy flicker in the boys eyes. Good old Alfred - always knowing what to say.
Bruce, however, doesn't.
He knows one thing though - Jason did do a good job - but he also feels he should keep Tim here - but Jason, from what Dick has said, doesn't seem to want to - let the little guy go.
Tim squeals and hops to Jason, crumbs coating his little face. "Dayson! Look!" The boy smiles wide and opens his mouth with a load 'aaaaah', as if to show he ate all the sandwiches.
Bruce watches in fascination as Jason practically melts before his eyes and reaches to brush Tim's little face clean. "Good Job, Kiddo."
Tim giggles happily and latches onto Jason's leg. "More?"
Bruce finds himself shocked at the interaction as Alfred smiles. "Right away Master Tim."
"Stay here."
Everyone freezes. Jason included as they all look up at Bruce in confusion. Dick was the only one who seems to understand first.
"What?" Jason doesn't sound angry, not yet - just confused. Not sure if the words were directed at him.
Bruce clears his throat. "Until Tim's been - fixed. Stay here, with Tim - you two seem to - get along well." He almost cringes at his own flat tone.
Jason blinks - a tense moment passes, Bruce is suddenly afraid of a blow up.
Until Tim taps Jason's chin, it's as far as he can reach in his current position, Jason's eyes flicker down to the small boy and Bruce sees - with much relief - the way the older Robin deflates, his shoulder line dropping.
"'Tay? 'Tay Dayson . . .Pwease - "
It seems Tim understands more than Bruce thought.
Jason sighs and puts a large hand on Tim's hair, dwarfing the little boy's head. "Ok Timbo - we'll stay . . .for now."
It's Dick who lets out the exaggerated sigh of relive. Stephanie giggles and nods, as if this was all her idea and Damian looks a cross between upset and interested.
Bruce nods. "Alfred, maybe you should see to rooms."
The butler, who's smiling down at the two estranged boys with a smile brighter than the sun - which was rare for the elderly male, nods. "Already done Master Bruce."
Of course it was.
Suddenly, Tim waddles up to the large man and grips his black dress pants, cornflower colored eyes huge and begging. Bruce swallows - and he thought Dick was good at the Puppy look. Tim was - really good.
"Bwuce!" Tim giggles as the man bends and lifts the light little boy up unsure of how to handle him.
"Nice to see you too Tim."
The toddler giggles again making Bruce smile - Tim laughing was a rare sight - perhaps Jason was right - Maybe Tim was happier this way. Oh well - they can't fix him now so - let him be happy.
Jason shakes his head as he watches the great and terrifying Batman be awkward with tiny Tim, holding him and smiling like he doesn't know what to do with himself.
This wasn't what he wanted - but - whatever . . . at least Tim was happy. And Jason gets a little more time with the small version of him.
Steph squeals and attempts to tickle the little boy, she's ecstatic about this - which is weird since Tim's her . . . never mind.
Damian rolls his eyes and refuses to admit he's kind of interested in wanting to find out what it feels like to have a younger sibling for a while.
Dicks just happy nothing really bad happened through all this. Now he can go back to bed and let his aching ribs finish healing because, man - he was exhausted. But at least they were all under one roof for a while again. That was nice.
Judging by the smile Alfred was sporting, he thought so too.
Tim's laughing warmed the manor up like it hasn't been in a long time.
Jason can't sleep.
He's in a room, miles away from Tim and - he knows Alfred can handle the tyke but still - Jason's gotten so used to handling everything about Tim that having the kid out of his sight for so long was - unnerving.
Was this what parents felt like?
It wasn't a good feeling.
Jason tosses and turns. He knows Tim's safe - but it's a big house. What if the kid tries to use the bathroom or attempts to get water and gets lost or hurt or - His mind makes him seize as paranoia runs rampant until he actually tosses the blanket aside and rolls out of bed, bare feet chilled when they land on the cold floor.
Just a check up - just see - just see if the kid needs anything, no biggie - he's fine - just to see.
He tip toes like a ninja in red PJ pants and a tee shirt until he makes it to Tim's new room, his old ones too messy for a toddler. Unspeakable things could happen to a small person in that disaster area. Alfred thought it was safer to let Tim use a cleaner room for now.
The door is cracked open so the kid won't get scared. Jason smiles at Alfred thoughtfulness as he slips into the room. Tim looks like a teeny tiny lump in the gigantic bed underneath the hick covers.
Jason lets out a small breath and tip toes closer. He's ok - Tim's fine. The kid probably hasn't slept this well in a while - Jason lets a small smile slip on his face in the dark, the hard lines in his eyes soften as he reaches a hand and slips his fingers through the toddlers mess of hair.
It was fine - Tim was fine. At least for now he'll stay fine so that was something.
Jason sits down on the bed slowly, just for a little bit - he'll stay a little bit not too long - so he won't scare the sleeping kid. Looking at the kid is when Jason realizes that Tim being alright made him relax, like a choke hold on his neck slipped off. The toddler suddenly lets out a blubber in his sleep, his face squishes in the pillow, drool leaks out of his developing mouth while he makes little person snores, and Jason finds this adorable and hilarious at the same time.
Funny how it was only last week when Tim was a smart ass who irritated him sometimes. But then - Jason knows, for all the problems and coldness and hurt that they've all done to each other - Tim was the only one Jason ended up being mostly ok with. He knew how smart the little jerk was, and Tim didn't seem to care about Jason's past methods, he just went on - like Jason was still Jason no matter what. And Tim did sort of look up to him before - maybe he still did . . . Jason didn't know but -
They got along with each other better than they did with the others. Which isn't saying much but still - maybe that was why Jason got so attached to tiny Tim so fast. They already had a glimmer of some kind of bond before and -
Tim moves and flips over into Jason's side. The brat instantly huddles closer, his small fist grips into Jason's shirt as if to make sure this new source of heat doesn't get away. Jason grins to himself - little jerk -
He shifts lower on the bed and lets the kid settle in better anyway.
Whatever goes down in the future - at least Jason gets to remember something nice after this is all over - nice memories . . .
He doesn't have many of those.
Ok - so maybe he will stay the entire night after all.
Sorry this was soooo late, I was sick this past half month and it sucked really badly - I kept editing this but my laptop is a jerk and kept crashing and now I finally, finally got this, what I hope is a decently edited, chapter out!
Please let me know what you guys thought! It was difficult to twist the ending, I don't think I got it completely down to my liking but - meh - I hope you all like it anyway.
Epilogue should be coming sooner than this did ;)