TO PURPLENIGHTWING: Danny doesn't die! Calm down, and check your PM box for me please! I explain some stuff there!

Ch.29: The First Time

"What happened the first time you met Batman?"

"The first time I met Bats…"

Danny groaned before opening his eyes. That small victory lasted for a minute before they closed again, eyelids feeling like a thousand pounds and the fluorescent lights blinding him.

…

Wait a minute, fluorescent lights?

Danny's eyes shot open again, breathe hitching. His eyes were blinded by the lights but his eyes remained open, staring at the lights. His breathing picked up, panicked.

Fluorescent lights shown down on him as he screamed and screamed and screamed. Fresh green-red blood stained it, some of it dripping off.

BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP-

"Oh dear! He's panicking! What do we do?"

"Notice he's staring at the light and only the light."

The lights dimmed until they barely gave off only a small, faint glow. As the lights dimmed, so did the pain in Danny's eyes. The dim light eased the memory away.

Danny laid on his side in the pitch black. He could feel his blood under him, growing cold. But it was quiet and still: a blessing.

Danny's eyelids sagged again, already tired. He tried using his arms or hands so he could itch his eyes but found he couldn't. That made his panic level rise again. He tried desperately but they just wouldn't listen to him.

They twisted.

Danny's panic level spiked. They weren't immobile; they were restrained down with leather straps.

Danny tried taking the metal cuffs off but they had been on so long, they were easily becoming ingrown. The teen ignored the pain and tried harder.

"Hey, hey, hey, it's ok… You don't like the restraints? It's ok. I'll take them off."

The words went in one ear and came out the other for Danny. He had long since figured out how to filter out talking so he wouldn't have to listen to the new discoveries the GIW found or the mean words they said. Hearing was a torture in itself.

Danny covered his ears and cried. The noise was getting louder and even more high-pitched. His eardrums were going to blow.

Danny's hands were freed and he immediately tried pushing himself up. That didn't work too well, as half-way up, white-hot pain shot up his spine and attacked his mind. He hissed and was quickly pushed back down. He smacked the hand away and stared at the perpetrator in fear, panic spiking again. Danny shrunk in himself because that was a form of disobedience.

Various hands threw him onto the table and kept him down until others had strapped his hands and feet down. They grabbed his jumpsuit and began pulling it off.

Batman held up his hands up in surrender but that made Danny flinch away. The Dark Knight dropped them to his sides. Danny looked him up and down, confused. Why hadn't he hit him?

Oh wait. This guy was like some of the agents. They liked to pretend Danny wasn't in trouble but they always beat him the worst.

The teen shook fearfully. What was going to happen this time?

Danny whimpered as he agent drew closer with the knife, a smirk plastered on his face. The teen's arm was grabbed roughly and his body was pulled off the ground, dangling from his arm in the man's grasp.

The tip of the knife touched his open side and Danny struggled to get away. He gave a bloodcurdling scream when it was plunged into his skin, all the way to the hilt.

Danny grabbed his head, closing his eyes. He whimpered pathetically as a few tears leaked out of his closed eyes. He tried staying quiet, knowing everyone liked him best when he was quiet, but the small sounds escaped him unintentionally.

"Hey kid… Hey, can you look at me? Will you please look at me?"

Danny hesitantly opened his eyes and moved his gaze to the Dark Knight. The black-clad man had begun kneeling beside the bed, getting lower than Danny himself to try and become less threatening. The Caped Crusader gestured, slowly, to the IV and the breathing tube around his nose.

"Stay still so those things won't bother you, ok?"

Fire. Fire. His veins were on fire. His blood was boiling. Fire. Fire.

What were they continually pumping into his body?!

Danny immediately tried ripping the IV out but Batman jumped forward and grabbed the teen's wrist over the needle taped to the boy's skin. Danny clawed at his hand before shrinking back again, biting his lip in fear as a few more tears trickled out of his eyes.

The agent twisted the knife painfully in his side, ripping Danny's insides apart. Blood sputtered out of his mouth and stained his teeth and lips.

Hand still on his wrist, Batman lowered himself down again. Danny remained waiting for the hurt sure to come. He was curled on his side, the sheets and blankets covering everything up to his waist.

The teen, though scared out of his mind, did enjoy the soft weight on his legs. Though he'd never admit it.

The Dark Knight withdrew his hand from around Danny's wrist slowly. The teen wasted no time in trying to get the needle out of his skin. Batman grabbed his wrist again, stopping him, but kept himself kneeling this time.

Liquid fire. Liquid fire. His blood was on liquid fire.

"It's just an IV... It's not going to hurt you..." Batman whispered.

"It's not going to hurt you."

Burning. Burning. His veins were burning.

"That's what they said." Danny whispered and flinched.

SMACK!

"Did I ask for your input?!"

"Who's 'they'?" Batman asked, straightening up but still not getting up from his kneeled position.

Danny opened his mouth but closed it again. He shouldn't have said anything before. Talking more would get him in lots of trouble. It did last time.

"I-I'm sorry...!"

SLAP!

"I told you to SHUT UP!"

"Who's 'they'?" The Dark Knight asked again.

Danny panicked, breathing picking up. The man was asking him a question, really asking a question, and wanted him to answer but he wasn't supposed to speak or he'd get in trouble and he didn't want to be in trouble but he might get in trouble anyways for not answering and Danny didn't want to get in trouble with this man and-

The teen turned his head from the older male and began looking around the room in hopes of finding something to ease his nerves. His breathing hitched.

Needle. Thread. Scalpel. Syringe. Fluorescent light. Table. Knives. Scrubs. Masks. Scissors. Restraints. Observation window.

"Hey, look at me. Look at me. Don't look at that stuff. Don't look at that. Look at me."

Batman grabbed Danny's chin and turned his head towards him. The teen's eyes, though, were still locked on everything but the Dark Knight. Tears were streaming down his face steadily and seemed to actually be picking up speed. Which was bad.

The Dark Knight turned towards the doorway, where Alfred was standing nervously. "Knock him out."

Alfred grabbed a needle and began walking towards the IV, where he injected the sleep aids. Danny caught a glimpse of Alfred injecting the meds and immediately starting clawing at the Dark Knight's hand again.

Screw consequences. He didn't want his insides to feel any worse than they already did.

The meds entered Danny's system and the more he struggled against the older male, the more he felt tired. Danny, eventually, just collapsed and fell on his back again, which made him hiss in pain, though he was half-conscious. The teen calmly laid on his side, one arm over his torso while the other laid by his head. His eyes drooped tiredly and his breathing became deeper.

Batman let go of the teen's wrist and stood back up. He grabbed the sheets and the spare blanket and pulled them up under the teen's chin. Walking out of the med bay, he turned off the lights completely.

"What about Robin?"

"The first time I met Robbie, huh…"

Danny's eyes fluttered before they opened. His vision was blurry for a moment before it focused on the figure sitting beside his bed.

The figure, a teen younger than him, was sitting in an arm-chair, head propped on his fist which was propped on his leg. He had midnight-black hair, like Danny's own, and was wearing padded armor that made him look like a traffic light without the green thrown in. A mask covered his eyes, hair spiking over it just a tad.

The two just stared at each other.

"Hi." The raven-haired boy said. Danny didn't answer, still staring at the younger male with wide, blue eyes.

"Uh… You feeling ok?" The masked teen asked.

Danny didn't even blink.

"You're really quiet." The younger teen mumbled.

Danny didn't even seem to be breathing.

"My name's Robin." The raven-haired boy, Robin, said, nodding. His lips were pressed tight. "I'd ask for your name but Bats kind of already found it in the missing kid's files for Amity Park…"

The city didn't even register in the older boy's mind. His brain was filtering out Robin's speaking, as he had done Batman's for awhile. He was just staring.

"You were out for a week." Robin continued. "You were pretty much in a coma. There were a few times you would open your eyes before falling into unconsciousness again. The first night you did get here you flat-lined a couple of times. Scared the crap out of us… We didn't want to see you die."

Stare.

"On the bright side, you're getting better." Robin commented, smiling.

He didn't get a reaction.

The raven-haired teen frowned. "I'd be with Bats right now, fighting crime, but I was asked to stay here to watch you. Alfred's busy shopping and blah blah blah…"

Stare.

Robin sighed and looked away. "I wish you would talk…"

"Don't say wish…"

Robin jerked his head towards the older teen, who had a semblance of what the world was doing around him in his eyes. That scratchy, hoarse, misused voice had to be his.

"Why can't I say 'wish'?" Robin asked.

"Wishing is bad… Bad, bad, bad, bad…" Danny mumbled as his eyes drifted shut.

"Why is it bad?" Robin asked, despite himself.

"Never goes the way you want…"

"When'd you start trusting your mentor?"

"I started trusting him after he let me have my room outside of the med bay. It was the first time he caught me…"

"Caught you?"

"I was doing something horrible… But at the same time… I thought I was horrible…"

Danny twirled the lighter in his hand, his other in his hair, gripping some strands tightly. He was sitting in the empty bathtub, tears streaming down his face. His knees were pulled up under his chin. The lights in the bathroom were off, leaving him in complete black. The teen stopped twirling the small lighter and unraveled himself, sitting in a lotus position, hands in his lap.

He flipped the lighter on. The small flame glittered in Danny's eyes, reflecting the image off the blue orbs.

"You're a worthless piece of crap!"

"It doesn't matter if you get damaged! You already are!"

"No one's going to care if you get worse!"

"We'll go away if you hurt yourself."

The flame licked the skin on his wrist. His skin blackened and cracked. The pain was horrendous and made his hand shake but Danny didn't pull away.

The flame made his tears glisten as they fell down his face.

Danny turned his wrist so another patch of skin could be burned and cracked and bloodied.

"HAHA! He's doing it again!"

"He finally did something right, for once in his pathetic life!"

"And this is the reason no one likes you, you little shit."

"What a screw-up. He's not even doing it where it hurts the most! And he knows it!"

"You said you'd go away…" Danny said, voice cracking.

He turned his wrist again. It was half-way blackened. And cracked. And bloodied. Some of his skin had peeled and revealed reddened skin underneath.

"Look who's still stupid!"

"So not only is he worthless, damaged, and pathetic, but he's also retarded. Lovely…"

"Someone needs to tattoo 'gullible' on his forehead."

"I lied this time, Danny…"

The fourth voice, the one always getting him in trouble, whispered in his ear instead of the usual announcement with the other three. It hurt to hear his name used like that. But there was one thing that really, really upset him…

It was Sam's voice.

Danny choked on a sob and turned his wrist again. It looked like he was wearing a black band on his wrist now.

"Do it where it hurts. Do it where it hurts. Do it where it hurts. Do it where it hurts."

And now they were chanting.

"Will you go away?" Danny ground out through his teeth.

"If you do it where it hurts, Danny… Gotta do it where it hurts."

Danny moved the lighter from his blackened wrist and moved it towards his cheek. He stopped his hand before the flame could lick his skin there, too.

He couldn't scar the one place the agents had left unscathed, could he? Nowhere else on his body had been left so unblemished.

"Do it where it hurts. Do it where it hurts. Do it where it hurts. Do it where it hurts."

Danny bowed his head, his tears dripping off his face. "I don't wanna do it... Please don't make me do it..." He choked on a sob.

"Come on, Danny. Do it for me, you worthless piece of shit."

Danny moved the lighter closer till he could feel the heat of the flame against his skin. It was the kind of heat that burned you anyways, even when the flame was only hovering near your skin.

The lights flipped on.

The lighter dropped from Danny's hands and he instantly pulled his knees to his chest, arms wrapped around himself, sobbing.

He was so stupid. He had been so close to giving up something so precious.

Click. Clack. Click. Clack. Click. Clack.

A black-gloved reached beside the teen and grabbed the lighter, studying it. The other just barely graced the burnt skin on Danny's wrist.

"Why?"

Danny wondered how the Dark Knight was so calm. His voice held no anger, no contempt. Not even judgment. All Danny was able to pick up on was curiosity.

"I wanted to make the voices stop." Danny choked out. "Sometimes it works…"

"And others?"

"It makes it worse."

"Did burning yourself make the voices stop?"

Danny shook his head miserably.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Danny shrugged.

"Liar!"

"You do too know."

"Seems the piece of crap is back to his tricks again."

"Good job, Danny. Smooth one, Baby."

"Danny, do you trust me?"

The teen stiffened. Danny's shaky breathing and Batman's steady one were the only sounds in the room.

"Danny, if you don't, that's ok. I can't force you to. And I don't blame you. But if something's bothering you, you have to tell me so I can help, ok?"

Again, Danny wondered, as he nodded his understanding, how the Caped Crusader was so calm in chaotic situations.

Closing his eyes, Danny let himself fall asleep, ignoring the voices in his head.

Batman reached into the tub and picked the teen up. He carried him to the bed and tucked him in before leaving, taking the lighter with him.

"What was your first good memory with Robin?"

"It was the first time he said 'yes' to me."

Danny rested his head in his hands and sighed. He was sitting at one of the desks, pieces of paper scatted everywhere. The teen had written something on everything. There were pros and cons, small details he had noticed, more pros and cons, and lists on everything he had seen.

Batman, or say Bruce Wayne, had asked him if he wanted to be adopted.

It had startled Danny when the billionaire asked. Not only because it was a question that was shot out of nowhere but he had asked for his opinion on the matter.

And that was something Danny was not used to.

At first, he had been psyched. He had hid it well but he had been excited. He had really grown to like the Dark Knight.

But Robin popped into his head.

The Dark Knight's protégé hadn't spent much time with him so Danny hadn't made a judgment on him yet. As a person, he seemed ok. A bit eccentric, but ok. Danny just hadn't made any effort to know the other male of the Bat-Cave. What was the point if he was just going to leave when he was better anyways?

But Batman had asked him to stay, which changed everything.

The Dynamic Duo had a thing, a bond, an understanding, something. Danny didn't have that. He was originally jut a charity case that turned into something more. And the older teen didn't want to hinder the Dynamic Duo's relationship or, possibly, enrage the younger male to the point where there would never be a thing, a bond, an understanding, something between the two raven-haired boys.

Danny really wanted to stay because it made him happy. But at the same time he just couldn't do that to Robin. That wouldn't be fair.

But then again, life wasn't fair. If it was, Danny wouldn't have as many scars as he did.

But (there always seemed to be another but) no matter how many pros outweighed the cons or how much logic there was in saying 'yes', Danny couldn't allow himself to drive a wedge between a mentor and their protégé. It was hard but it was right.

Danny let out another sigh before laying his head on the table.

"Whatcha doin?"

The raven-haired teen yelped, head shooting up. He fought to get his breathing back in control as he stared at the being in front of him.

Speak of the devil…

Robin was leaning on the table, a smirk on his face at being able to scare the ever-vigilant Danny. He had his head cocked to the side innocently, chin resting on both of his fists.

Danny replaced his head back on his hands. "Nothing. Just some thinking."

"About?" Robin asked, tilting his head even more.

Danny looked up and placed his chin on his fists, much like Robin. "Nothing important."

"And by 'nothing important', are you talking about the adoption?" The younger teen asked persistently.

Danny frowned. "Bats told ya?"

Robin nodded. "Yeah. I actually knew about it before you did. He asked me first if it would be ok if he adopted you."

Danny narrowed his eyes in confusion. "But… That means you would have had to say yes…"

Robin nodded again. "Yep."

"But you hardly know me… We haven't even bothered to talk to each other… Why would you say yes?" Danny whispered.

Robin shrugged. "Because look at this!" He said and gestured to the table. "You weighed every pro and con you could think of, got a heck of a lot more pros than cons, and you were still planning to say no because you didn't want to mess with the Bat-Family. Dude, that's gotta count for something."

"I don't wanna intrude. I've already done enough of that." Danny reasoned.

"That's not your fault. That's more Bats'. He coulda just dropped you off at a hospital but that old man-" Danny snorted. "-can see potential a mile away. That's kinda the reason I'm here. And if he sees something in you, he's not wrong cause I see it too." Robin said.

Danny sighed. "Are you giving me permission to say yes?"

Robin smirked. "Yeah. But I'm more like telling you to say yes, more-so than I am giving you permission."

Danny cracked a smile, giving a hollow chuckle as he looked at all his papers. "Alright, I'll say yes. But if you find out you don't like me, you can kick back out into the streets, ok?"

Robin snorted in return. "Yeah, like that's gonna happen anytime soon."

"How bad were the nightmares?"

"They were bad, of course. But how I dealt with them was worse. The first time I really dealt with them was the first time I talked to Bruce."

Danny bit his lip.

He had to calm down. He wouldn't face the Dark Knight as a sobbing mess.

Walking out from the hallway, Danny began his journey to where the Caped Crusader was seated. He took each step carefully, as if the ground would disappear under him if he stumbled.

Once he had made the way, he stood silently beside Batman's chair, tears threatening to spill from his eyes. The Dark Knight was typing something rapidly over the keyboard. He paused when he felt Danny's presence.

"There's a chair over there that Robin uses when he wants to talk."

Danny nodded and rolled it over. He sat down in a lotus position, rubbing the back of his neck nervously, noticing how long his hair was getting and figuring he needed to cut it.

Batman stopped his typing, saved whatever it was, and turned to Danny, leaning on his knees. The Dark Knight turned Danny's shaking form to his own. "Alright, what's the matter?"

Danny bit his lip again before he started. "Well. Um. I had a, uh, nightmare. It's the not the first time but. Well." He stumbled.

Batman waited patiently.

"I feel stupid." Danny mumbled, using both hands to grab his hair.

"You're not stupid. Nightmares are natural. Dick and I both have them. You're no different." Batman whispered.

Danny nodded, biting his lip again, hands still gripping the loose strands of ebony hair.

"What was the nightmare about?" Batman asked gently.

Danny, almost instantly in response, tried clamming up.

"Don't do that to me, Danny. If you want to get better, you have to tell me." Batman whispered, placing one hand on the boy's knee.

Danny took a shaky breath. "The nightmare was stupid… The agents were just cutting me open again." He mumbled. He was unable to stop one tear from falling, which pretty much unleashed a flood of salty tears and sobs.

Batman ran a hand through Danny's hair. "Danny, that's not stupid. What's stupid is that you think something so major is so minor. What they did was not your fault. You shouldn't have gone through it. It was not your fault."

Danny nodded in response and didn't fight it when Batman held him to his chest so he could sob.

"I know the Bat-Family can be pretty chaotic. When was your first moment of peace?"

"It was the first time they left me home alone."

The Bat-Mobile drove into the Bat-Cave and parked in its designated spot. The top opened up and the Dynamic Duo exited. Robin cackled, nursing his injured arm. "Well, nothing is more interesting than fighting Joker and his goons."

Batman rolled his eyes. "Just go to the infirmary, you idiot, and then go to bed. You have tests in math and science tomorrow."

"You ruin all the fun." Robin mumbled, smirking as he limped down the hall.

Alfred walked up, stoic as his 'master', as always. "Welcome back, Master Bruce. Have a fun night out?"

"It was just fantastic." Batman replied sarcastically. Alfred smirked in response, a very devious smirk indeed.

"Where's our new little resident?" The Dark Knight asked, straightening his posture to hide any pain he might've had (who knows(?), he hides everything).

Alfred's smirk widened. "He would be at your desk, watching a movie."

"My computer has a password."

"Precisely."

"Did you give him that password?"

"I wouldn't have dared."

"Did you type it in for him?"

"I forgot he was even down here."

Somewhere in the Cave, Robin yelled "I KNEW THERE WAS AN INNER HACKER IN HIM SOMEWHERE! HA-HA!"

Batman sighed before walking away. He made his way to his desk and, sure enough, a movie was playing on his computer, using up his memory space.

The Dark Knight turned the chair towards him but Danny was not awake. He was curled up in the chair, a blanket wrapped around his form. His head was leaning against the side and his eyes were shut. His expression was the most at peace the Dark Knight had ever seen on the boy.

Batman gave an irritable sigh before picking the boy up. He carried him to his room and tucked him into his bed, yet again.

As he was leaving, he stopped in the doorway and looked back at his new adopted kid. He gave a faint smile before leaving.

I imagine the people talking in the bold print would be Danny and Canary talking during a therapy session but I never clarified so if you think it's Danny and someone else, I'm fine with it. I'll leave it to your imaginations! XD

Kadzait: This next part is going to be very fun. Sarcasm was implied.

With good reason.

And everyone, welcome SoulSonicReasonance25, RoitEve, Apeman342, Atelierduquette, SkullMate, and DarkKing1 to the Young Justice family cause they favorited and/or followed!

SoulSonicReasonance25 and Poison59 also favorited and followed me in general. THANKS!

Reviews:

Bibbledoo: I will take that cookie now. XD *eats cookie*

KuriMaster13: ...How come it's always your review that always gets lost? Like seriously, this is the second time it's happened. XD And making them prank people is fun. And hilarious. And something they'd do. XD

Guest(1): SORRY!

Supaherolena02: And I screwed up.

BringbackDannyPhantom: ...don't give me that eyebrow raised look...You'd be tired too...XD

BrownHair2918: ...You just unintentionally helped me write a chapter. THANK YOU! XD

Breyannia: I know, right? And he didn't sound like a dying cow. More like a herd of sick, dying elephants.

Suntan140: SORRY!

Guest(2): SORRY!

Hitomi-tama: SORRY! Skymuse: SORRY!

Guest(3): SORRY!

Anonymous: SORRY!

Sina Xiel: I'm sorry! XD Glad you liked the chap before too!

Azorawing: SORRY!

SomeItalian: *face-palm* For once, this is not Nancy's fault. Surprising, I know. (Kadzait: I hate you...) SORRY!

Lee: SORRY!