Dani's To-Do List

- celebrate Halloween!

- go to a party (it's not all that fun)

- meet Damian's friends (that IS fun!)

- break up a child trafficking ring

The costume turns out better than Dani could have ever dreamed. It's a pain to get on, but Cass helps her lace up the corset, settle all the swathes of fabric just so, and pin up her hair so it won't get in the way of the wide-brimmed hat and veil. Since her face is going to be covered, Dani forgoes any makeup or jewelry.

Except the watch. Dani doesn't know what to do about the watch. It's kind of bulky, a little too silver and green for the black ensemble, and too futuristic to match the time period. But Dani remembers the seriousness that Danny lectured her with when he gave her the watch, the flicker of fear in his eyes, and decides to wear it anyway. It doesn't fit under her lacy black gloves, so it sits on top, in all its grungy glory.

Oh well. At least Dani won't get shot in the streets by the government rejects or whatever Danny's so worried about.

Dani and Cass head to the downstairs family room where Tim, Dick and Stephanie are eating Halloween-themed treats in normal clothes. They're so lame. All of them have work… and Damian is disappearing after their Academy party too. Dani can't believe they're not dressing up on Halloween. It's borderline blasphemous.

"Oh, you look amazing!" Steph exclaims the second Dani passes through the door. Dani's still holding her hat in hand and grins at the blonde's enthusiasm. "Give me a spin!"

Dani spins for her, letting the fabric fan out impressively.

"This has some maximum spin power," Stephanie observes approvingly. "Aren't you going to do something with your face? Black eye-shadow, bloody tears?"

"Nah," Dani replies, then puts on her hat. "See? You can't make out my face anyway." Makeup isn't something Dani's ever used anyway, and she's already restless from all the time she spent getting ready. She wants to go already!

Stephanie examines her from all angles now that she has the full ensemble and then nods in satisfaction. "This is a very good costume. Wait, but the watch?"

Dani winces from under the safety of her veil. She kinda hoped they wouldn't ask. "My brother gave it to me. I don't want to leave it at home."

She can feel the curiosity from Tim. From all of them, really, but with Tim it's loud. Dani wonders, not for the first time, about Tim's mental stability.

"Alright," Steph says easily. "Want some vampire cupcakes? They're jelly filled~"

"Do you even have to ask?" Dani says, heading over to the little treat table Alfred had set up and grabbing herself a cupcake. It's raspberry jelly and chocolate cake with buttercream frosting. Best cake Dani has ever put in her mouth. She grabs another.

Damian joins them a few minutes later, dressed like he walked straight out of a Japanese war film. The two teens worked hard the past week to create a costume as historically accurate as possible, though Dani has no idea where the real swords came from. Rich people, she guesses. Dick insisted that he switch them out for fakes before they go to the party, though.

He's wearing a traditional samurai hakamo, a kimono-like robe that is layered with armored plates. Shoulder plates end just above his elbows and are continued just past the joint with gauntlets. An armored skirt falls below the cuirass that protects his chest, separated by a baldric holding two katanas. He also has a hooded helmet and neck protector. He insisted it be made out of hard kevlar-like material and studded with actual metal, so Dani can only imagine how heavy it is. Despite that, he wears it gracefully.

"Let's take a picture!" Steph insists, whipping out her phone camera. "This is the first year Damian's dressed up, we have to save this moment for prosperity!"

Damian looks at Dani, an unreadable look in his eyes. "Would you like a photograph?"

More than anything, Dani wants a photograph. She wants to hang it up on her wall with dozens of others, physical proof of all the memories she's making here in Gotham.

So, she gives up a little secret. Just a small one. "I don't photograph well. If it's a film camera, though, it might work," Dani says. "Can you take a picture with one of those?"

Tim's mind demons are practically visible with the manic look that sparks in his eyes. They're dancing the macarena in his poor, sleep-deprived head. "Yeah, I have one. One sec."

Dani just said a little, just so they had a better idea of why she doesn't like her picture taken. They deserve that much. Dani wants to tell them everything. She wants them to know. But she also wants for no one to ever know… not about the clone thing, not about Vlad, not about the whole dying experience. This, though, this is such a small thing. She doesn't take good pictures… It may not seem like a big deal, but for Dani, any information about herself is dangerous to reveal, leaves her exposed and vulnerable.

But she's not too worried once she says it out loud. The curiosity flames in all of her fraidmates, but it doesn't scare her as much as she thought it would. Instead, she feels giddy, a little lighter.

Maybe she should talk to Danny about possibly revealing one of the smaller things. Like her relationship with ghosts? Maybe? Jason's died, but maybe the Waynes didn't know that whole story, and Dani's situation would be too bizarre for them to handle without at least a little background.

She should visit Danny soon.

When Tim gets back, Dani poses for a picture with a grumpy Damian. Dani's pretty sure the only reason he decides to take the picture is because the others look like they'll pin him down if he refuses.

Tim snaps a few pictures, instructing them to move a little this way or that and tilt their heads just so, then adjusting the lights and angles, then fiddling with the settings. They have to try four different poses before Damian starts the transition from disgruntled to truly annoyed. Tim seems to recognize this and backs off with an unhinged smile.

Before they break, however, Cass swoops in and snaps a picture with a lavender colored camera. Dani hadn't noticed she'd even left… Cass is way too quiet.

The camera whirs and then releases a small white rectangle. Cass plucks it out and waves it around in the air.

"Oh, a polaroid, nice!" Steph says, stepping up to admire the camera. Dani does the same, but more out of curiosity. Stephanie notices Dani's interest, even from behind her veil, and explains: "It's a film camera too, but it prints out the picture immediately. In a couple of minutes, you'll be able to see it."

Dani takes off her veil so she can see the rectangle better. Cass hands it to her with a smile, indicating that the photo is hers. Dani can just barely make out some of the shapes in the picture, but as she studies it, the lines become more clear. She stares at it in fascination as it saturates until she's looking at a clear picture of her and Damian. Sure, she can't see her face, but the costume is in sharp focus.

"Can you take another one?" Dani asks in a soft voice, still studying the picture. "One without my hat?"

They do. Six, actually, so everyone can have one. Dick puts his in his wallet, grinning like a maniac, and the others pocket theirs. Damian is handed one, and he scoffs at it.

Dani doesn't miss how carefully he tucks it away into an inner pocket of his hakamo. She pretends she isn't looking at him.

"Are the young master and lady ready for their Halloween night?" comes Alfred's voice from behind. Dani turns to him and bursts into laughter: the serious, uptight butler is wearing one of those cheesy plastic nose and mustache glasses. She's not the only one to laugh, and the contagious giggling even gets stone-faced Alfred to crack a fond smile.

Tim and Stephanie each take a picture of that too.

"Alright, go to your party!" Dick prompts them, making a shooing motion with his hands. "Damian has to be back at ten, so you don't have too long!"

Again, it's weird Damian has anything at ten or later. What starts that late at night? But Dani doesn't ask. It's not her business.

"Have fun!" Stephanie orders. Cass makes jazz hands with a wide smile that crinkles her eyes.

"Be safe," adds Tim, brow starting to pinch in worry as he undoubtedly begins to overthink.

Dani and Damian both tire of the overprotective older sibling at the same time and make their escape, Dani grabbing a bat-shaped sugar cookie on her way out.

The party they're going to is a Halloween Bash hosted by some Gothamite elites for the youth. Normally Damian wouldn't think twice about rejecting the offer, but the two teens had to do something with their costumes, and it's not like they could go trick-or-treating in Gotham. (That's what Dick said, anyway. Dani's still going to go after Damian abandons her later in the night.) Since they both put so much work into their costumes, Damian reluctantly agreed to go. Dani thinks he wants to show off his costume. He worked really hard on it, and it turned out phenomenal.

Alfred drives them to the party in the city car, playing Monster Mash and This is Halloween and other spooky songs Dani hasn't heard before but decides she loves. She otherwise occupies her time admiring her photos, trying to decide where she wants to display them. On her wall? In a scrapbook?

"Is that your first photograph?" Damian asks suddenly, startling Dani a bit. He doesn't often start conversations. She wonders why he's starting one about her pictures.

"Of myself," Dani confirms, seeing no reason to keep it a secret. Then she remembers, "That I get to keep, anyway."

"What do you mean?" Damian asks, deceptively casual. Dani can see past the polite tone into the ravenous hunger for knowledge beneath. Maybe Tim and Damian are more alike than they care to admit.

"My brother has some of us," Dani answers carefully, gauging Damian's reactions. "But I've never asked for a copy."

"You have mentioned your brother before," Damian notes. "Why do you not live with him?"

Dani is silent for a moment. She and Damian stare at each other, unblinking, expressionless. After an uncomfortably long moment, Dani sighs and tucks away her pictures into an inner pocket. Damian is being nosy, yes, but Dani recognizes that this line of questioning comes from the deep-seated curiosity that's threatening to burn him up from the inside. But there's also another layer under that: a genuine desire to understand her, to know her. And that's what prompts her into answering. "He's not really my brother, he's my cousin. He has this whole family and house with a life and friends and I just… don't belong."

"Would he refuse you sanctuary?" Damian's eyes are sharp as steel, and Dani pretends she isn't pleased by the immediate protectiveness from the hard-hearted boy.

"No, of course not," Dani defends Danny, grinning a little. "He's tried to get me to stay loads of times. I just don't want to."

"So you've been traveling," Damian concludes.

Dani nods.

"Why stop traveling now?"

"I want to live with Dick," Dani answers truthfully. "And the rest of you guys."

"Is that the only reason?" Damian presses. "You gave up traveling to stay in Gotham. Have you lost interest?"

"Absolutely not," Dani says immediately. "I love traveling. I need traveling. I want to see everything."

"You're no longer traveling here," Damian points out. "What has changed? Is it truly just Richard's presence that sates your ambition?"

Dani is about to snap at him in frustration, but it's a sincere question. Damian isn't being accusatory at all… which is remarkable for him, and enough of a surprise that Dani pauses to think. She still wants to explore. She wants to see Canada and Australia and the North Pole and Mexico. She wants to learn traditional Irish dances and basket-weaving and how to build a proper igloo. She wants to eat every dish ever made, learn every language ever spoken, collect every interesting souvenir that ever catches her eyes, talk to every person in the universe and hear each and every story.

But she also wants a home to return to. She wants experiences shared with the people she loves.

She feels like she's just realized something very important.

"No," Dani admits after a long pause. "I'm happy here, but I still want to travel everywhere. That hasn't changed."

"But your urgency has," is his response. "You are not so desperate to travel now as you were in the past."

Dani's snapped out of her contemplation at the comment. "Who said I was desperate?"

Damian tilts his head, considering her, as if he's trying to decide if she's genuinely confused or feigning obliviousness. "You have mentioned that you were traveling from country to country. That you wished you had stayed longer in some, to experience festivals or different times of years and so on. Why would you leave if you wanted to stay?"

Dani's quiet. She hadn't realized her stories hinted towards desperation, but now that she thinks about it, it's a reasonable question. Dani was choosing when and where she went. What was stopping her from staying? To any listener, it wouldn't make any sense.

"Were you searching for something?" Damian guesses. "Were you running from something?"

"No."

"Then what changed?"

Dani's quiet for a minute. Should she answer truthfully? Dodge the question? Refuse to answer? She already feels so vulnerable, like she's spilled her darkest secrets to the boy across from her, but has she really even shared anything? Why did keeping herself a secret matter to her so much? She trusted Damian. He's fraid. She can give him the answer, a piece of her puzzle that'll he doesn't have a fraction of the pieces for yet.

She can admit to this without him figuring out anything she's not ready to share yet.

"I wasn't searching or running," Dani confesses after another long moment. "I just didn't think I had much time left, and I wanted to see everything I could."

Dani can practically see something clicking into place for Damian. She wonders what it is. It's not like he has the information to figure out that she was destabilizing last year due to the incompatibility of cloned human DNA and ectoplasm. Who would come to that conclusion? It's so nonsensical.

Damian's revelation fades and is replaced by a poorly-concealed, desperate worry. "And you have more time now? How much? Are you sick?" He has to visibly stop himself and waits impatiently for her answer.

She decides to put him out of his misery. "I'm fine. I had some… health issues, but they're resolved now."

"Have you been examined by a doctor?" Damian demands. "Regardless of their expertise, you should be examined by more. Richard can contact some of the top professionals in the field–"

Dani shakes her head and interrupts, "I have a doctor. I'm perfectly fine now."

"How can you be sure?" Damian whips out his phone from his hakamo, pulling up a browser. "What is the doctor's name? I will verify their credentials. Do you have lab results? A diagnosis?"

"Stop," Dani says, trying not to get annoyed because she can feel Damian's concern. "I'm fine. And I'm not going to tell you what it was. It's personal."

"But what if it isn't–"

"Master Damian," Alfred interrupts, startling them both. Honestly, Dani forgot the butler was even there. "I'm quite certain Miss Dani has made it clear she no longer wishes to discuss her health. It is extremely rude to continue this line of questioning."

Damian's mouth clicks shut, and he glares at Alfred.

"That is enough of that, young sir," Alfred scolds, successfully chiding Damian into something resembling concession. "And Miss Dani." He meets her eyes through the rearview mirror. "I trust you will alert us to any aid we can lend you if you do experience any additional health issues?"

"It won't be necessary," Dani complains, but is immediately cowed by the sternness in Alfred's slate-blue eyes. "Yeah, I'll tell you. There's nothing right now, I promise."

Alfred seems satisfied with that answer. "Now Master Damian, Miss Dani has shared something incredibly personal with you, presumably in confidence."

"It will stay confidential," Damian reports back immediately.

"And what do you say to Miss Dani?"

Damian looks genuinely confused by this line of prompting. Dani knows the answer. Every child on the planet knows the answer to that question in that tone: you thank them. Instead, Damian gives her the most random and out-of-pocket response that has nothing to do with anything they've discussed in the past month and a half. "You do not like the name Danielle. Am I correct to assume you have a bad experience with the name?"

What? "I don't like it." She says it almost petulantly from surprise.

"But that is what your chosen nickname is short for," Damian says.

"It doesn't matter," Dani snaps. "I'm never going to use that name again."

This seems to satisfy Damian. "Then I have found a new name for you."

"What?"

"I must have some moniker to address you by," Damian explains, as if this all makes perfect sense and Dani isn't completely lost. Is this what everyone else feels like when they talk to her? "As you do not have a known surname, and you refuse to be called by your full name, I searched for names that are not dissimilar."

"Huh?"

Damian nods to himself, all proud. "After thorough research, I have decided on the name 'Danishara'."

"Wait, I'm confused –" She never asked for a new name? Why would she need one? Technically her name is Danielle, as much as she hates it.

"Danishara is a name of Roman origin," Damian continues, "and I feel it embodies your character traits quite well. While I place little stock in the obvious pseudo-science of numerology that assigns each name to a number that correlates with certain personality traits, Danishara's listed natures seem to align with you fairly well."

He stops here, watching her carefully. Dani's still confused, but after studying the boy across from her intently, reading the fluttery anticipation in his emotions, she thinks she gets it. Damian is giving her a gift for opening up, something he's put a lot of thought into. He's given her a new name, because he knew she hates Danielle.

… Damian might be the sweetest, most considerate person she's ever met.

"What does it mean?" Dani asks softly, half-curious, half-buying herself time to settle the storm of emotions in her chest.

"'One who is always learning'," he replies instantly.

Dani feels something in her core. A little shift. A little click of two jagged pieces fitting together. Danishara, one who learns, who grows, who sees. "Oh," she says dumbly. Her core accepts the name. She didn't know she… she didn't know that was a thing. Is that why Danny hates being called Daniel so much? Is it because he associates the full name with Vlad, or is it because his core doesn't accept it as his name?

The silence stretches a little. Dani distantly notices that they're parked, Alfred politely ignoring their conversation. Damian grows more anxious at her silence.

"I will attempt to find a more suitable name," he breaks at last, staring stonily out the window and pretending he isn't hurt by the idea.

"No! No, I like it," Dani rushes out. "I just… I wasn't expecting it. Danishara." The name rolls off her tongue. She feels a little tingly. She likes it. "I like that name."

She pretends not to notice the equal measures of relief and satisfaction that replaces Damian's anxiety. "Very well. You may continue to go by the ridiculous shortened version as you wish, but I will address you in full."

"Sounds good," Dani says faintly. "Danishara."

"Yes," Damian says, impatience coloring his tone but not his emotions. "We have arrived, Danishara. Now come, or you will be left behind."

Dani follows him out the door immediately, sharing a soft smile with Alfred on her way out. Before she manages to get all the way out, Alfred tells her, "It's a fine name."

"I think so too," Dani agrees with a bright smile. "I wasn't really expecting that today."

"It is the young master's way of expressing gratitude for your gesture of trust," Alfred replies, nodding thoughtfully. "I suspect he was waiting for an excuse to bring it up for a while." They share a fond smile over the prickly teddy bear that is Damian Wayne. "Shall I address you as Danishara from now on?"

"No need," Dani assures him. "Damian can call me that, but I still like my nickname. Maybe on a birth certificate, if I ever get around to getting one of those."

"Of course, Miss Dani." Amusement sparkles in his eyes. "Now run off and have fun. I will see you later this evening."

Dani nods and hurries after Damian, who despite his warnings to the contrary, is waiting for her to catch up.

They've been at the party for an hour and a half and Dani's been ready to leave for the past hour. There are so many rich snobs that keep trying to take Damian's attention and leave her friendless and alone she's ready to leave alone. As soon as people realize she doesn't come from some long pedigree of money and connections, they ignore her completely. It's so frustrating.

Her one consolation is that Damian is equally annoyed. He and Dani may not be conversing or anything, but he clearly doesn't want to be interrupted from it anyway. However, when Dani suggested they go wander the streets, he turned her down and insisted there was "one or two tolerable guests" attending tonight.

Translation: Dani's about to meet some of Damian's friends!

"Hey Damian!" comes a young girl's voice from somewhere in the crowd. The speaker is quickly revealed as she breaks through the crowd and comes up to Damian, who is trying to end a conversation with two guys dressed as Green Lanterns. The girl is dressed in feminine Robin outfit with a miniskirt, leggings, half-cape, and characteristic "R" symbol, all topped off with a poorly made cloth mask that barely conceals any of her face. She's followed by a couple other teens, two girls (one with stark white hair dressed as a witch and the other as an Egyptian goddess) and a guy (dressed as some kind of tennis player).

Damian doesn't immediately try and get rid of her or her entourage, which clues Dani in that they may be the "tolerable guests" Damian was referring to.

"Mizoguchi," Damian returns evenly.

"I love your costume! I had no idea you were going to be here!"

The Egyptian goddess adds, "Or that you'd deign to dress up like the rest of us peasants." The Robin-dressed girl elbows her in the ribs with a glare.

"Be nice!" Then she turns her attention back to Damian, eyes sparkling. "So why are you dressed up?"

"It is a costume party, is it not," Damian replies in a droll voice, and Dani giggles, drawing the girl-Robin's attention to her.

"Oh, hi! Who are you?"

"That's rude," Tennis-player hushes her from behind, prompting an eye roll from the younger girl.

"I'm Dani," Dani says, pushing back her veil so they can see her face. "Are you Damian's friends?"

"Ha!" barks Egyptian goddess. She and Damian glare at each other.

"Kind of," Robin-girl says. "We talk sometimes. He won't join my club."

"It's a ridiculous club," Damian says immediately.

"What's the club?" Dani interjects.

"We're the Detective Club!" she states proudly. "We investigate mysteries in the Academy."

"It's cooler than it sounds," the witch girl adds with a soft smile.

"It's really not," Egyptian goddess grouses. Tennis guy just smiles and offers no input.

"It is cool," Robin-girl insists. "We solved the case of the ghost of Gotham Academy!"

Dani's interest is immediately piqued. "Ghost?" Damian turns his attention away from the Egyptian goddess lady to look at Dani with an unreadable expression. "Was there really a ghost?"

"No," Tennis guy answers before Robin girl can. "It was one of Gotham's rogues, Killer Croc. There's no such thing as ghosts."

Dani gasps in offense. There were people that didn't believe in ghosts? Despite all the evidence to the contrary?! "I'm a ghost!" Dani says in offense, gesturing at her outfit. "I'm the ghost of Gotham City! How dare you insult my kind?"

"Yeah, Kyle," Robin-girl agrees. "Ghosts are real. I'll prove it to you one day."

"Maybe I'll believe it when I see it. Oh wait~"

"You have derailed the conversation entirely," Damian interrupts, putting an end to the argument before it can really get going. "You have not properly introduced yourselves to Danishara."

"You can call me Dani," Dani corrects. 'Danishara' is what Damian calls her… at least right now, as of an hour or so ago.

Robin-girl seems apologetic and starts naming her companions. Tennis–guy is introduced as Kyle, her brother, who's dating her friend Olive, the witch. The Egyptian goddess is another of their friends, Pomeline, and apparently there's another member that couldn't come tonight.

"And I'm Maps!"

"Maps?" Dani parrots, tilting her head.

"It's my nickname," 'Maps' explains. "My real name is Mia, but I'd rather you call me Maps."

"Oh, cool," Dani replies. "I like maps."

"ME TOO!" is her immediate response.

Obviously, this makes the girls best friends, and they immediately start discussing their favorite maps and cartographer tools. Maps even invites her to their club meetings, if she ever wants to join, but is disappointed to find that Dani's not attending the Academy.

"You can still come, though!" she tells Dani. "We hang out outside of school, too! Damian is welcome, and maybe he'll even go with you and we can have even more people!"

She's really excitable, not really what she would picture as Damian's type of friend, but she can see how they would get along. Actually, now that she thinks of it, Damian does need people that are outgoing like Maps. He'd stay in his shell otherwise. Maybe that's why they get along so well, why Dani and Damian get along so well.

"I have another engagement," Damian interrupts after another lengthy conversation about the possible ghosts on campus. Dani has to return and investigate these ghosts. She's barely researched any ghosts in Gotham, and that's the best part! She's really been slacking. "My car is here. I will see you Monday."

Maps doesn't seem phased by the abrupt departure. "Okay! See you then, Damian!" Olive and Kyle echo the sentiment politely, but Pomeline just scoffs. "It was nice to meet you, Dani!"

"Nice to meet you too!" Dani echoes, waving her goodbye and then following after Damian. "Hey, your friends are nice."

"They are not my friends."

"Then what are they?"

"Peers."

"Right, sure." As if. Damian only considers people he respects as peers, which makes them his friends. He thinks he's so obtuse, but Dani can see right through him. "Can we get candy on the way back?"

"Absolutely not," Damian responds immediately. They walk out of the auditorium and start heading down the hall when Dani feels a shiver down the back of her neck. She stops and turns immediately, zeroing in on a girl her age peeking out from behind a corner down the hall. Dani can instantly tell she's a ghost, just from the subtle glow around her. "What are you looking at?"

"I have to go to the bathroom," Dani says, pointing up at the sign above the corner where she saw the girl run off. "Go on without me!" She hurries down the hall, waving back at Damian from where he stands in the dim hallway, arms folded as he watches her.

She slips into the girls bathroom, does a quick audio check for any additional people in the stalls, and then holds the door closed. "Hello?" she whispers into the empty room.

The lights flicker. The figure of a girl peeks out from one of the stalls, eyeing Dani apprehensively. "You can see me," she warbles in a voice that would be inaudible to anyone else. Dani nods, and the girl looks more shocked. "You can hear me!" She ventures out from the stall. "Are you like me?" Dani nods again. "Who are you?"

Oh, Dani's still wearing her veil. Holding the door shut with her foot, Dani lifts the veil and smiles at the young ghost. As far as she can tell, the other girl's ghost is fresh and unstable. Typical of violent deaths without a lot of ectoplasm to sustain them, ghosts like her are called 'spirits', since they can only be seen by others that have peeked beyond the veil. "My name is Dani," she introduces herself. "You look like you need help."

"I'm Sara," returns the spirit. "I do need help. Well, I guess, not anymore? I don't know, this is really confusing…" She gestures at herself, and her agitation causes the lights to flicker again. "My friends, though, they're not… they're not like me yet. Please, you have to help –" One of the bulbs shorts out.

"It's okay, I can help," Dani assures her, trying to be as soothing as possible. "I'll meet you outside, alright? You're really unstable right now. Take a little break and calm down, it'll help you stay on this plane."

"They need me," Sara cries. "They'll die!"

"Ten minutes," Dani bargains. "Just take a ten minute nap."

"But what if I can't come back?" she hiccups. "Then I won't be able to show you where they are, and they'll die, just like, just like–"

"Hey," Dani says softly, abandoning her station at the door to approach the girl. When she's not given any negative signs, Dani slowly puts her arms around her and hugs her. The girl gasps at the contact, likely shocked that she's being touched at all, and then claws her fingers into the back of Dani's dress and holds on tight. "I'll call you," Dani murmurs. "You'll feel more stable, and we can go save your friends together, okay? I just need to get outside."

"Okay," Sara warbles after a moment. "Okay, I'll trust you." With that, the young spirit fades into nothing. Dani saves the feeling of her soul, planning to use it to summon her later. Now she just has to ditch Damian.

Dani approaches the door and can hear the soft taps of someone running further down the hall. Perfect time to leave the bathroom, then. She swings the door open and sweeps her dress out of the bathroom and back into the hallway. Damian is back where she left him, arms folded in irritation.

"I said you could go on without me," Dani chides him. "Shall we?"

Damian doesn't answer and simply turns to walk down the hall with her. Dani hums a little to herself as she contemplates how to convince Alfred and Damian to let her wander Gotham, how she'll slip away when she fails, and where she'll summon Sara back.

Before they exit the front doors, Damian abruptly stops and demands, "Are you planning to explore Gotham tonight?"

Dani's no liar. "Yeah."

Damian stares at her for a moment, unreadable as usual. Even his emotions are hard to understand. Something between apprehension and anticipation? Dani's confused just trying to read it, so she ignores the turmoil in Damian and focuses on his expressionless face. "I suggest you leave through the side door, then."

Dani pauses from where she's fiddling with one of her ribbons. "What?"

"I am certain you heard me the first time," Damian grouses with a little huff. "Alfred will surely stop you. I will tell him you left."

"Aren't you worried about me?" Dani asks in surprise. Damian is certainly overprotective, despite his insistence that he doesn't care about her.

"No," Damian replies, and Dani's first instinct is to get offended, to get hurt, but then he says, "You are at least capable enough to keep yourself alive." And that's one of the best things anyone has ever said to her.

He trusts her to be safe. He trusts her. It's nice to have someone worrying about you, she guesses, but it gets so old to explain herself over and over again that she knows what she's doing, that she'll keep herself safe. And Damian just scoffed at the idea that she would do otherwise? That means so much more to her than Damian knows.

So she nods at his side profile, certain he'll see her, and then turns away in a swish of skirts.

She's kept Sara waiting long enough already.

"Hello?" Dani says softly into the darkness, afraid of startling the other children.

"Who's there?!" comes a hushed but aggressive response. "Show yourself!"

"Sara sent me," Dani replies, walking further into the room. Sara floats behind her, incorporeal fingers buried in Dani's copious skirts. It was past midnight, and Dani was infiltrating the trafficking ring that had killed Sara just last night. She'd been giving her scarce amounts of food to the other children, shielding them from beatings as much as she could, and one of her captors had eventually dealt the final blow – a shove that sent her crashing into the floor, her head hitting an uneven piece of the concrete. She died after bleeding out, surrounded by young children begging her to stay with them.

Dani was trying very hard not to think about it. She is focusing on saving these children, finding Sara's body, and putting the dead girl's soul to rest.

"Sara's dead," hisses the voice, suspicious and full of anger masking grief. "Don't you dare pretend she sent you, she's dead. They took her away this morning." One of the other children starts sobbing quietly, pressing small hands into their mouth to muffle the cries.

"She is dead," Dani agrees. "But she's not gone. She's right here, with me. You just can't see her." They wouldn't be able to see anything, not in the pitch black they're in now.

"Prove it."

Dani looks over at Sara, prompting her for a response. "Tell him… tell him that I wanted to be an artist. Like my mom. That I wanted to spray paint every building in Crime Alley, and that I would paint a picture of him with a guitar, just like he wanted."

Dani repeats the words to the boy, who starts crying quietly. He's the oldest of the four children, but he's only ten or eleven. The others are younger – much younger. Two little girls and a younger boy that can't be more than four, all clinging to the boy in the dingy little cage they're crammed into. There's a pool of blood staining the concrete to one side. Dani tries not to look at it.

"Is it really you Sara?" the boy whispers.

"It is," Sara says back, desperate. "I'm right here, Tommy!"

"Sara," Dani says gently. "They can't hear you." Sara cries out, a heartbroken sound, curling around herself. Over the sound of her broken sobs, Dani tells the others, "She's here, Tommy."

"Why can't we see her?" one of the little girls asks.

"She's dead," Dani answers. Sara flinches, and Dani pretends it doesn't hurt to see another soul in so much pain. "She's supposed to be in the afterlife with the other dead people, but she had to make sure you were safe first." Dani kneels at the cage door, withdrawing two bobbypins from her hair. With a silence that comes from hours of practice, she slips in the makeshift lockpicks and teases each tumbler.

"Why can you see her but we can't?" the little girl rephrases, unsatisfied with Dani's first answer.

"Living people can't see dead people," Dani answers. "Unless they've got special powers, like me."

"Are you gonna save us?" the other girl asks, her voice thick with tears. "Are you gonna get us outta here?"

"Of course," Dani assures her. "I'm not leaving until you're safe and the bad guys are in jail."

"How?" Tommy asks. "They have guns. And there's a lot of them."

Dani calls a little ectoplasm into her hands. The situation warrants it, so she ignores the light flare of panic at her use of power. A soft green glow illuminates the room around them, casting the children's forms into dim light. "I've got special powers, remember?" Then she turns her lockpicks, and with a click, the door is unlocked. Dani eases it open, applying pressure upwards to quiet the hinges until they're little more than a soft whine. "It's going to be scary, but I need to you trust me, alright? Just a little bit, and then this whole thing will be over, I promise."

"We don't have a choice, do we?" Tommy says bitterly, even as he eases himself up and helps the other children climb to their feet so they can shuffle as silently as possible out of their prison.

"Have a little faith," Dani chides him, fully aware of his circumstances when she says it. "Sara won't rest until you're safe, and I won't either." Dani walks over to the concrete wall that faces the alleyway street. Reluctantly, the children trail after her.

"There's no way out," Tommy insists, clutching the other children close to them. Sara trails after them like a guardian angel, whipping her head around to look for threats. "They're right in front of the door, and there's no windows."

"I got in, didn't I?" Dani whispers back. "There are nine of them total. Two are at the doors, and the rest are waiting for the people who are coming to take you away." Dani leads them to the wall until they're right up against it. "There are only a few people outside, since they want to look as normal from the outside as possible so Red Hood doesn't know they're here. I'm going to get you out, and I'm going to lead you to Dr. Leslie's clinic, okay? Sara showed me where it is."

"I like Dr. Leslie," the inquisitive girl says, at last looking a bit hopeful. "She gives me suckers."

Dani smiles at the little girl, even though she won't be able to see it. Not only is there barely enough light to see shapes, but Dani's also still wearing her Halloween costume, veil intact. She'll be little more than a wraith to the others.

"Tell Lily she has butterscotch," Sara adds, smiling down at the younger girl fondly. "It's her favorite."

Dani does, and Lily beams.

"Now you have to listen very very carefully," Dani says to them, voice serious. "We're going to be walking to Leslie's straight from here. But I'm going to do a little magic trick." Dani crouches down to the level of the other children, her dress pooling out around her. "I'm going to make us disappear." Dani holds out her gloved hand, glowing softly with the ectoplasm still clinging to it. "No one else will see us. We can see each other, but the bad guys will see nothing but air." Dani makes a swooshing sound, eliciting a small giggle from the young boy. "But they can still hear you. So you have to be really really quiet."

"How do you know they can't see you?" Lily asks.

"I walked right by them when I came in," Dani brags, still trying to set the other kids at ease. "Right up to one guy's nose, and he didn't see a thing." Then she sobers up and says more firmly, "It's my special power. I'm going to take your hand, and it'll be like we're ghosts. We'll walk right through the wall and all the way to Dr. Leslie. But you have to promise me you won't make a sound, alright?"

Lily nods in determination. Tommy looks grim. The other two children seem to understand, even if they stare at her without making a move to respond.

"Take my hand," Dani whispers, outstretching one glowy hand. "Let's get you guys out of here, alright?"

Lily takes one of her hands immediately, clutching onto it tightly. Tommy takes her other, more reserved, one arm holding up the young boy.

"What about Bailey?" Tommy frets, glancing at the other girl.

"Come hold on to Lily," Dani answers. "It'll work as long as we're all holding on to each other."

Bailey feels her way over to Lily and holds the girl's other hand as tightly as Lily is gripping Dani's.

"Okay," Dani says, "Follow me. Quiet as mice, alright?" Dani first lets the ectoplasm stop glowing from her hands, plunging them into darkness. She doesn't want them to resist walking through the wall when she turns them intangible.

Without giving herself a moment to feel nervous about the amount of power she's about to use, Dani guides them forward, letting intangibility wash over her and her companions. They walk through the wall, the children none the wiser until they're bathed in the light of the smoggy sky. Bailey lets out a soft gasp that she instantly stifles with horrified eyes. Luckily, there's no one close enough to hear. The closest guard is several meters away, leaning against the brick wall casual as can be.

Dani tugs them forward. She doesn't think they believe that they're invisible until they wander past a homeless guy who continues to stare blankly through them. Bailey even uncovers her mouth to wave her hand with no reaction.

Their tension eases as they pass that street and onto the next. Their breaths come easier, and Tommy starts crying quietly in sheer relief.

"We're almost there," Dani says when they reach the final street. No one's out here, despite the occasional wandering soul they'd run into on their way over. It might be Halloween, but it seems like all the criminals are making mischief elsewhere.

"Why are you wearing a dress?" Lily asks immediately after Dani breaks their silence.

"It's Halloween," Dani answers with a smile the other girl can't see. "I'm dressed up."

"Are you like Robin?" she demands. "Are you a hero?"

Dani laughs softly. "Just for tonight."

She leads them up to the clinic. "I'm going to let go of your hands, and then you'll see each other but you won't be able to see me, okay?"

"Don't go," the boy Tommy's holding whimpers.

"I have to," Dani insists.

"What about Sara?" Tommy asks. Sara, who'd been floating behind them this entire time, tries to wipe away his tears. Her hand passes right through him. "What's going to happen to her?"

"Sara is going to the afterlife," Dani says. "It's where all people go when they die. You won't be able to see her anymore, and she won't be able to see you, but she'll be happy." For all the children's benefit, Dani gives away a little secret: "You'll see her again. I promise."

"After we die?" Lily asks, eyes wide and curious.

"Yes," Dani says truthfully. Then, she repeats the final words Sara has for them, as closely as she can. "But don't you dare die young. You have to live until you're very very old. You have to be happy, and look out for each other, and have lots and lots of fun, and then when we play together again, you can tell me all about it. Okay?" Dani pauses, then clears her throat. "Uh, that was Sara."

"Okay," Lily echoes.

"Goodbye, Sara," Tommy chokes out.

Dani releases their hands, stepping forward to knock on the door. The children gasp as she disappears from their sight, then huddle together when the door opens to an older woman dressed in lab coat.

"Oh, my, Tommy!" She steps back and ushers them in. "My goodness, get in here! I've been worried sick since Red Hood mentioned he hadn't seen you out and about…"

Tommy doesn't move. He looks off in Dani's general direction, face set. "Thank you."

Dr. Leslie turns to look, but Dani's still as invisible as before. Tommy offers no explanation and leads the others inside, and Dr. Leslie eventually decides to follow them inside, casting one last searching glance around the street.

Dani remains outside for another moment, letting the wind rustle her skirts, face tilted towards the sky as she tries to shake off the intensity of the past hour.

Then she stands up straight, adjusts her veil, and picks up her skirts.

"Let's go make those guys wish they were never born, shall we?"

She and Sara walk back the way they came, invisible as shadows in the dark, silent as the grave.

It may be after midnight, but for all intents and purposes it's still Halloween, and Dani is about to show these guys the true meaning of fear.

Okay, honest, I didn't plan on splitting this chapter into two. But then it was nineteen pages and I was only half-done and I figured, eh, I'll make it two parts. It's not like I was going to be able to get the Christmas chapter out in the next week even if I did finish this chapter (TT) Anyway, I think you guys will REALLY like the next chapter. For a little teaser... Dani meets Lady Gotham again... and she's not alone ;);)

Instead of a Christmas chapter, I'm thinking about maybe doing a Christmas one-shot in this universe. Just as a little gift for you guys (seriously, the amount of comments and kudos I'm getting this time around is... I can't even describe it. It makes me feel like a good writer 3) Plus, it's nice to write something different! Like, how she discovers their identities is already pretty set it stone, but it'd be fun to do something eldritch or whatever. If you want to either comment or PM me with some ideas you'd like to see, that'd be great! I can't promise I'll do all of them, since I'm just going to write a one-shot, but I'll see what fun things I can come up with :D I'll start writing it beginning of next week, and post it as a separate story in a series on Christmas day.

Comments about the chapter itself:

- Part of Dani's obsession is revealed here! Can you spot it? No? Well I'm gonna tell you it here lmao. Like Danny, Dani has a couple different obsessions (comes with being alive and able to learn and grow, more on that later in the story). Traveling and exploration is the obvious one. Her less obvious one is "home". Danny protects family, but Dani protects home. And the Wayne family is her home. That's why Dani never stayed with Danny. He's family, but he's not her /home/. So yeah. Hope you guys like that little lore drop ;)

- The plan to rename Dani was something I toyed with for a bit, then I figured, yea, why not. It was originally just going to be the Arabic version of Danielle, but I didn't like that the meaning was literally just "female version of Daniel". This is about her being her own person soooo. I thought about Daniyah, cuz I liked the sound of it, but it means "near" or "close" and that's like, the opposite of Dani's whole shtick. I thought of Daneen too, since it means "princess", but I don't like the sound of the name, not gonna lie. I'm not a huge fan of Danishara just aesthetic-wise, but I do really like the meaning. Lol, you should see my search history. There was so much research that went into this XD If you don't like it, no worries. She'll still go by Dani, only Damian will call her by her full name.

- I like the Gotham Academy storyline. I read it a while ago, probably five or six years back. The Detective Club won't be a huge part of this fic, but it's fun to add them in and maybe flesh out Damian's social life a little. Maybe they'll pop back up later...? Idk, my writing has a mind of its own XD For all those that have read the comics: in this fic, Damian WAS expelled, briefly, but Bruce throws a bunch of lawyers at them and he's accepted back and his record expunged.

- Trafficking: they're NPCs, so don't worry about their spot in lore. But this is an important adventure for Dani... it showcases her willingness to push past her apprehensions about using her powers for the good of others. Her powers are fine. She just doesn't FEEL like they're fine, and that's a huge reason she doesn't use them. This is both for future character growth and a convenient writing mechanic that keeps her from being too overpowered too soon lol

Get ready for some eldritch Dani next chapter ;)