A Chance to Trust (YJ/DP)

-12- Reality vs Nightmare

Bruce sighed, Danny was having a rough day.

After the event at breakfast Alfred left to take Dick to school and Bruce stayed home so he could keep an eye on Danny. Bruce wasn't comfortable, and he was sure Danny wasn't either, with leaving the halfa alone in the large house.

It started out fine, Bruce found some Legos for Danny to play with while Bruce did some work from home. The little halfa was intrigued by the interlocking bricks, he made a little house and used all sorts of colors but always avoided the color white. It all went downhill after Danny agreed to try and take a shower.

There had been lots of screaming and tears, the sterile feeling of the bathroom had given Danny a nasty flashback. Bruce was able to calm him down enough so he could take the shower and helped him dry off and get dressed. The vigilante had tried to comb the little half ghost's hair but Danny was having none of it. He ducked and dodged the hair brush, not really knowing what it did, so he kept back.

He seemed to calm down after that, his dark hair still up in untame spikes. They had gone back down stairs and Bruce found an old picture book and started reading to Danny. Bruce had skipped lunch, Danny not being at all hungry. Alfred was sad to hear the blue eyed boy didn't want to eat more, he was sure he could have cooked something the halfa liked.

It was near dinner time when things got really ugly. Dick had returned from school an hour before and was doing his homework, Bruce was reading Batman related stuff while pausing to check on Danny every now and then. Danny was amusing himself with a stuffed animal he may or may not have found in Dick's room.

He was sitting on the floor with the stuffed elephant, right next to a bookcase in Bruce's office while Bruce was sitting at his desk. Danny heard a distant thumpthumpthump, then realized it was just Dick running down the stairs, a few seconds later Dick's head popped into the doorway.

"Hey Bruce, hi Danny,  has anyone seen Peanut? The elephant?" Bruce didn't look up but pointed to where Danny sat holding the elephant in question. Danny stared at the stuffed animal, its name was Peanut?

"Oh, thanks Bruce." Dick said and approached the child on the floor, crouching down to his level. "Hey Danny, that's Peanut my elephant, I've kept him with me since the circus. It's ok if you play with him just maybe ask next time ok?"

Danny nodded, noticing how serious Dick's core was, it's usual yellow was being poisoned by a dark black that crept in from the outer ring. Dick stood back up and walked out of the room, accidentally bumping the bookcase as he left. A few wobbly books fell onto the ground.

Thunk Thunk Thunk.

Danny froze at the noise, not hearing books, but bodies.

He didnt hear Dick apologise for bumping the books off the shelf, nor reacted when Dick tried to get his attention.

(note; nightmare is in italics, reality is normal)

His breathing hitched and his heartbeat sped up to alarming speeds. Blood roared in his ears, he looked up fearfully. He was no longer in Bruce's study, but his old house with the Fentons. He saw the prone forms of his loved ones, Maddy and Jack laying next to each other, looking into each others shocked unseeing eyes. Jazzy was in front of him cluching her bear and staring at Danny, her mouth open in fright. All of them with large holes in their chests, the blood crusty and brown on the floor, staining the ground.

Danny shook his head trying to clear it, it was another flashback, he had to get out of it. He shuffled backwards, as if a greater distance would break the hold of the nightmare. He started to shake as another body fell to the floor. Bruce's dead form lay in front of him, a smoking hole in his chest, fresh from the ecto gun that had been shot from behind him.