Downtime

Slumping to the ground, Nightwing slowly lowered Jason down and took a few steadying breaths. That had been a rattling experience. He had felt the entirety of everything Jason was in the last few seconds; who was struggling fiercely to fight away the darkness and who was holding on to Dick's heart like a lifeline. Dick had felt Jason's terror and desperation and determination all mixed into one. It was a unique experience, but he felt the cold terror that was in Jason now in him as well. Losing the light in one's heart was a fate worse than death. Dick shuddered. Jason needed to be whole again.

"I guess, that is to say..." Tim hesitated as he blinked at the unconscious figure on the ground. "He is safe now right? It's not like he is going to jump up and start killing us? The plan worked?"

Dick nodded wearily as Sora said, "He isn't whole yet, we need to give him back his heart. But the darkness in him is gone at least. Right now he's just a shell with no real feelings or emotions."

He looked over at Jason. "It's sad really, what a Nobody goes through. Having no heart is like being half a person."

Memories Roxas had shared with Sora come flooding back to him as he spoke, and he felt the weight of what Red Hood was going through. They needed to make him whole and fix this mess.

As if in response to his thoughts, the heavy footfalls of Batman announced the Dark Knight emerging from his home of shadows. He was walking quickly, aware it seemed that returning Jason's heart needed to be done as soon as possible. As he came closer, everyone marveled at the way he cradled the ball of light so gently in his huge powerful hands. A strange sight, especially when the man was wearing the cowl. Robin trailed about a foot behind Batman, shaky and obviously exhausted, but on his feet all the same. Weak as he was, his footsteps were as silent as if he weren't even there. Batman stopped slowly, carefully, next to Sora and looked down at his second eldest son. Jason was pale and uncharacteristically fragile looking where he lay on the cold pavement, sleeping. But he was breathing easily and the rage which seemed to have enveloped his face was gone.

Without taking his gaze off of Jason he murmured roughly "What now Sora? How do we make him Jason again?"

Sora cocked his head to the side considering. "His heart should naturally want to go back to his body now that the two are free. Just let his heart go and it will do the rest I think. "

Batman seemed unsure as he clutched the shining orb closer to his chest.

"Are you entirely sure?" He said. "I refuse to participate in any activity that will further endanger the life of Red Hood."

Sora had to resist the urge to shake his head in exasperation. The man was just being a worried father or mentor or whatever Batman was to Jason. What Sora didn't know was that he was experiencing the family famed-overprotective – sometimes irrational – habits Batman could display so easily if one of his children were threatened. Red Robin and Nightwing just rolled their eyes knowingly.

"He'll be fine." the boy replied. "Every heart belongs with its person. I guess if worst comes to worst we can just jump up and grab his heart again right?"

Sora smiled reassuringly at Batman, who seemed to falter. He looked at Red Robin and Nightwing then down at Jason's heart, before slowly holding out his hands and freeing the glowing orb from his care. It floated there silently in the air for a few seconds as if it was contemplating what to do next while everyone held their breaths. Then slowly, it began to move towards Jason. Sparkles of light trailing after it as it floated down. All eyes were fixated on the glowing ball is it approached Jason's chest. It seemed to stop for a millisecond before touching the unconscious hero and splitting into a million shards of light. As the brilliant brightness from the exposed heart faded, the silence seemed to press in around the group of anxious onlookers. Jason was lying quite still. Nightwing reached out a tentative hand.

With a jolt Jason bolted up into a sitting position and gasped, causing everyone to jump back, alarmed. He sat there for a few seconds simply breathing and shaking, before blinking in confusion and looking around.

"Are you alright Hood?" asked Batman, who was unable to keep the flooding relief he was experiencing out of his voice. "Do you... remember what happened?"

Jason looked up at Batman for a moment, then seemed to deflate and placed a tired hand to his forehead. "God" he whispered. "That was... that was terrifying."

Sora watched Jason contemplating all that had just happened to him. He could relate to the man; he remembered all too well what being lost in darkness felt like. First and foremost, it was unbearably lonely.

Suddenly Dick seemed unable to contain himself anymore and leapt forward, enveloping Jason in a bear hug.

"Hey!" Jason spluttered in surprise before Tim overcame his slight hesitation and jumped in to hug his brothers too. Jason fell backwards with their combined weight. Sora smiled and jumped on top of everyone, laughing and effectively turning the hug into a kind of dog pile. Next was Robin who gingerly approached with a look of half amusement half disgust and then seemed to give up and leapt onto Sora. By this point, Jason was gasping for air, laughing with the people who were effectively crushing him. Batman stood off to the side awkwardly until Nightwing jumped up and forced him down. Jason couldn't help it. He was grinning from ear to ear. He loved his family, every last stinking one of them! He began the task of trying to stand up which turned into a frenzy of chaos as his brothers attempted to cling onto him. But in the end he broke free and jumped to his feet, the rest of them following happily.

"Alright!" Jason growled feeling better than he had in months, maybe years. "Let's go beat the crap out of that sad excuse for a villain!"

Batman clapped a hand on Jason's shoulder, preventing him from doing anything reckless, like jumping through the first Dark Corridor he saw. Holding a hand up to his ear, he asked, "Riku. Is Xehanort still in Gotham?"

There was a sound of keys clicking, followed by a loud crash. Riku's long suffering voice came through everyone's comm. "Donald, stop letting Goofy fly the ship. To answer your question Batman, no, he's not. If he was re-gathering his thirteen darknesses, he probably went back to The World That Never Was."

Dick sighed. "That is such a long name. Can't we shorten it?"

"Neverland?" came the helpful suggestion from Tim.

Which Sora immediately vetoed. "Nope, that's the world where you can fly."

A growl of frustration sounded through the comm. "No shortening, please. The worlds are named that for a reason." More keys clicking. "Ok, that's interesting." A pause, probably so that someone would ask what. Sora obliged, and Riku went on. "It seems Gotham isn't always linked to the Corridors. It kind of… jumps, on and off of the darkness."

"Explain." Even though Riku couldn't see the infamous Batglare, he could hear it in the man's tone of voice.

"Alright, so Gotham, based on the journal entry Jiminy had time to make up at some point, is basically a hotbed of insanity, right? The minds there destabilize everything. Even the connection to other worlds. So even though it's coated in darkness, the minds in it prevent the Dark Corridors from latching on all the time. If we didn't have the gummi ship and could physically fly to the world, I don't think we would be able to get here at all."

Frustrated, Jason snarled. "So how did Xehanort get here then? If he travels by Dark Corridor, right?"

"Actually," Sora raised his hand cautiously, "Xehanort got here by Heartless ship. We followed him directly."

Tim rubbed his eyes. "Fantastic. So Riku, when is the next time the Corridors can attach to Gotham? And can Xehanort get here by ship again?"

"Not now that I'm here. If he approaches the world, I'll Ultima-G him to bits. That's a good enough final battle for me. As for the Corridors…" he paused, thinking. "I don't really know. Not for another day at least. When it does happen though, I can let you know."

His hand still on Jason's shoulder, Batman nodded. "Please do." Cutting out the communication, he grabbed Jason, calling the Batmobile and pulling his wayward son to the closest street. He motioned for the rest of the boys to follow him, which they did.

"Hey!" Struggling against his grip was futile, but Jason still tried. "B, let go!" The Batmobile pulled up, door opening automatically.

Batman tossed Jason gracelessly into the back seat, then jumped in himself. There was a bit of a scuffle as the other three boys realized that there was only five seats. By the time the Batmobile pulled away from the curb, Tim was in the front seat beside Batman, Sora was in the back between Jason and Dick and Damian was scowling on Dick's lap.

"Why do I have to sit on Grayson's lap? This is entirely beneath me!"

Grinning wickedly, Jason addressed the ten-year-old. "Because Dami, my lap is off limits, Batman is driving, Sora is our guest and we don't want to put him through that and you would have killed Red. Seriously, 'Wing is the only person in this car you can stand."

Between them, Sora scrunched up his face, thinking. "So Robin's name is Dami?"

Silence descended on the car. Every pair of eyes turned towards Batman. He glared at each of them in turn. When they didn't back down, he sighed. "Fine. But if you make me regret this, I will personally ensure that the rest of your lives are miserable."

Dick was the first one to stick out his hand. Of course. "Hi Sora! My name's Dick Grayson! It's great to finally tell someone!" With his free hand, he pulled off his mask.

After Dick was finished with his overly enthusiastic handshake, Jason put his out, the other cradling his face, elbow resting on the window. "Jason Todd. But you probably figured that out from the way these idiots were shouting it left, right and center."

"Tim Drake," reaching back, Tim pulled off his mask as well. "Pleased to formally make your acquaintance." He shook Sora's hand warmly.

Next was Damian's turn. He didn't stick out his hand, but he did pull off his domino mask. "Damian Wayne. Remember it, for I shall be the next ruler of this world." He gave off an un-ruler-like squawk as Dick grabbed his wrist and extended it, forcing him to shake hands with Sora.

Batman wouldn't pull off his cowl until they were safely in the Batcave. "Bruce Wayne. A pleasure." Sora shook his hand timidly. Even without the cowl, Bruce was intimidating.

"So B, what are we doing back in the Cave anyways?" As soon as the Batmobile pulled up, Jason had sauntered over to the lockers, where he kept his spare equipment. He grabbed out a new helmet and domino mask, as well as two new guns (his old ones had vanished somewhere). Batman didn't approve of him using guns, but as long as he kept his fatalities within the city at zero, he was allowed to keep a stash here.

Alfred chose this moment to walk in, carrying a large silver tray with enough tea and cookies for everyone. Grabbing a cup, Bruce stated simply "Resting. Riku said it would be another 24 hours until Xehanort could come back. We need to be at our best."

"Does that mean you actually intend to sleep sir?" Alfred drawled as Dick and Tim grabbed their cups gratefully. "Will the miracles never cease?"

Skillfully ignoring his oldest friend, Bruce continued, "I also want to run some tests Jason. Make sure you're back to normal." Jason rolled his eyes. Of course.

Alfred offered his heavily laden tray to Sora as the others ran off to change into "civvies" as Dick put it. "Welcome back Master Sora. As I assume you know everyone else's identities, I would like to reintroduce myself. I am Alfred Pennyworth, caretaker here at Wayne Manor."

Sora, unable to shake the butler's hand while he was carrying the tray, eagerly grabbed a cup and a cookie. "What's Wayne Manor? I thought this place was called the Batcave." These were seriously the best cookies he had ever had. He grabbed another one.

Alfred smiled a knowing smile. "Follow me young sir. I shall show you to the room you shall be using for the duration of your visit." Placing the tray on a table, he preceded the Keyblade Wielder up the stairs…

…and out of a grandfather clock, leading into the most luxurious room Sora had ever seen. If Beast's Castle hadn't been in ruins, it might have looked a little like this.

"Whoa!" He said looking around at it all.

He was particularly mesmerized by all the antique items being displayed, and by the strange architecture of the house. This place was super cool.

"Shall we go then?" Alfred asked.

Sora nodded and the two made their way out of the study and into a wide open room that had both a large oak front door and a huge staircase leading up to a second story. Alfred turned and took the staircase while Sora followed, his attention flickering from furniture to pictures to architecture. They reached the landing, passed a few doors, turned left, and walked forward a few more paces. Finally, they arrived at what was supposedly the room Sora was to stay in. Alfred opened the door for him courteously and with a quick thank you Sora stepped forward, eager to see what awaited him inside.

The room was spacious, with rich dark wood flooring and a huge four poster bed in the far right corner. Light shone in lazily from two high windows on the far side of the room, and a screen was mounted on the wall facing the bed. A metal and glass desk took up the closest corner, along with a dresser and a comfortable looking arm chair. Two other doors lead into a closet and bathroom on the remaining wall. The overall effect was a very neat and modern feel.

"Dinner shall be ready in about 20 minutes Master Sora." The butler said as he smiled down at the excited boy marveling at his new surroundings. "If you need anything do feel free to call. I shall be in the kitchen if you need me. Do come down when you are settled. The rest of the Wayne household will be there as well."

"Okay Alfred, and thanks!" Sora called as the butler walked back down the hall.

After lying on his bed for a few minutes and taking in everything that had happened to him in the past few hours, Sora got bored and began to explore his room. The dresser had more spare clothes, and Sora found a hoodie with a large S symbol that he liked and decided to put on. He discovered that the TV had a lot of interesting things on it, but he got weirded out by a show about talking ponies. He wasn't sure why though. Atlantica was almost as strange. After splashing some cool water on his face, Sora was itching to go down and see the others. The tantalizing aroma of what he assumed was Alfred's cooking was making its way through the huge house and Sora noticed just how hungry he was.

He left his room and began wandering down the hall following the smell before he ran into a problem. He had no clue where the kitchen was. He couldn't just follow his nose because by this time Alfred's cooking had permeated the entire house. Sora decided it was more likely to be coming from downstairs and headed in that direction. The only problem was when he reached where he thought the stairs should be, they weren't there. Sora blinked and looked around. If only he had had a map! How could he get lost in a house? He backtracked to where he thought his room was, but couldn't remember which door was his. Didn't matter though. He reasoned he had just come the opposite way when he left originally. He turned right and started walking, but when he came to a hallway where he could turn either left or right he was totally and utterly confused.

"You are so lost."

Whirling around, Sora saw Damian leaning on a door frame and smirking at the indignant look on his face.

"Am not!" Sora countered before he really thought. "I'm just...exploring is all."

"Tt, you are an awful liar, spiky head." Damian drawled. "You really are quite horrible at keeping a straight face."

Moaning, Sora admitted defeat and walked towards the youngest bat. "Riku and Kairi used to say that all the time." He muttered.

Damian started and the slightest trace of a grin flashed across his face when Sora turned towards him, but seemed to catch himself and asked "This Kairi must be another friend of yours?"

Sora nodded. "So, um, could you show me where the kitchen is? Alfred said to be there but I have no clue where it is."

"Such remedial tasks are beneath me." Damian sighed. "However, I believe father would wish for me to help a guest. Very well, follow me."

The two boys made their way through a maze of twists and turns before finally reaching the stairs. They appeared on the left side of the staircase, opposite from the side which Sora had originally come with Alfred. He had no clue how he had accomplished getting that lost. They had just made it to the main lobby when a bark broke Sora's train of thought. He turned just in time to see a huge dog come hurtling towards them. A massive, enormous, slightly terrifying dog! Sora thought the thing was going to run him over – or eat him – but it swept by him and jumped up to lick Damian's face! To Sora's astonishment the boy smiled.

"Okay Titus, get off!" He said pushing the dog away.

It immediately dropped down and wandered over to sniff Sora quickly before replacing its self at Damian's side.

"This is Titus." The boy said simply, offering no other explanation, before they began to walk again. When they reached the dining room, Bruce, Jason, Dick, and Tim were already there. Dick raised his eyebrows and grinned at them as they walked in. "You're lucky." He chuckled. "Another minute and you would have been late. And Alfred does not like it when we're late."

The others around the table shifted uncomfortably. Even Bruce, who looked up and caught sight of Sora's hoodie.

When an oh-so-familiar confused expression crossed Sora's face, Tim leaned in conspiratorially, "Alfred gets rather creative with punishments. It's not outright, but after making him mad, things start happening and they're never pleasant. We can't ever prove it was him either."

Damian nodded. "When I first arrived, I lopped off the tops of most of the trees outside. For training purposes, of course. Immediately after, most of my katanas and throwing daggers blunted themselves." For once, he didn't seem arrogant or pretentious, simply resigned. "I spent four hours resharpening them, and then when I turned my back, they had blunted again."

Sora paled at the prospect. It seemed like a minor thing, but frightening all the same. As he sat down, he noticed Bruce staring at his sweater with a slightly disturbed look on his face. Suddenly it occurred to him: what if he wasn't allowed to wear the sweater? It had been in the guest closet, so he had thought it would be ok, but what if it had been a gift for someone or if the last person to stay there had forgotten it? Flustered, he was about to blurt out an apology when Bruce turned his gaze to Dick.

"I thought you had gotten rid of that." His tone was flat, but almost disapproving.

Dick, so far successfully avoiding his father's gaze, grinned sheepishly. "Nope. I probably won't either. It's too much fun! Besides, it was a gift. It would be rude to throw it away." He turned to look at Sora, his grin evolving into a warm smile. "Looks good on you Sora. Warm enough?"

So he was allowed to wear the sweater. Ok! "Yup! Is there something wrong with it though? Why would you need to get rid of it?"

"That's a Superman sweater. Just like how Batman has the Batsymbol on his chest, Superman has that one." Dick's tone didn't convey much, but his eyes glinted mischievously. "It was a gag gift for Bruce a few Christmases ago. Not sure if he's ever worn it though."

"Nope, but pretty much everyone else has." Joining in, Tim's eyes had the same glint. "It bothers the Big Bad Bat quite a bit."

Sora was about to ask why, when Alfred walked in, bearing the most delicious smelling things that had ever graced his nose. The dished landed on the table, and everyone helped themselves. Dinner passed mostly in silence, small snippets of conversation about mostly nothing filling the air. After all the plates were clean, Alfred came in again with a pot of tea and a large plate filled with cookies. The group headed to the parlor to enjoy them. The nothing-conversation continued, until a small beeping in Bruce's pocket interrupted them.

He fished out a small tablet, glaring at the screen. Jason, who had a good idea what it was, glared at Bruce, willing him to react, give him some idea of good news or bad news. Finally, he broke down and asked "Well? Am I good to go or what?"

Jolted out of his thoughts, Bruce glanced up at his son, sometimes ally, sometimes enemy, and said cautiously, "It seems like you're back to normal. There was some residual substance in your blood samples early in the testing, but they disappeared about half way through. Presumably, the same happened with the substance still in your body." He paused, Bat paranoia screaming at him. "Just in case, I'd like to take a fresh sample. Knowing what I'm looking for, it won't take as long this time."

Sighing, Jason sat back in his seat. He'd had a feeling that was coming. "Fine." He grabbed the last three cookies off of the plate, glaring at his brother's small cries of outrage. "Hey, I'm losing a lot of blood here. I need the sugar."

He was saved from fratricide by Alfred's once again timely arrival, bringing another pot of tea and a steaming pile of fresh cookies. Jason grabbed another three, then followed Bruce down to the Cave. After a moment of deliberation, Sora grabbed a stack of treats for himself, then followed.

AN: So yeah, this is probably one of our favourite chapters. The best thing besides horrible violence is a bunch of people just chilling after the horrible violence. And cookies, which makes this chapter even more amazing. The next chapter or two will be chilling (spoilers!) but don't worry, the horrible violence will return. As it does.

Sorry it's so late by the way. I was having difficulty with the chapter title. Mostly that I couldn't think of one. Yup.

As always dear readers, read and enjoy!