Chapter Text
Damian had lost the sense of time, his internal clock, usually as perfect as machine work, was completely out of whack.
He hadn’t eaten in what felt like days, and slept even less, but his mind was whirling too fast to worry about something as trivial as bodily needs.
He needed to get out of his cage, find his family, defeat Ducard, and tell the prince everything.
The prince. Jon.
His…?
His what.
He was so confused.
His memory of the past had always been confused. He had always thought it was because after losing his mother to illness he had tried as hard as he could to push every painful memory in the corner of a very dust drawer in his brain. Closed and buried too deep to recall more clearly than an old fairytale he only heard once.
But now he wondered if there wasn’t more to it.
Were his memories so confused and broken because of his own trauma, or did someone purposely make him forget? If Ducard had the power to turn his entire family into animals surely memory tampering was not beyond his means.
He closed his eyes against the darkness of his prison and opened his mind to the memories of light, laughter and love.
There was one memory in particular he had always cherished, even though he never even had the certainty it was real and not wishful thinking.
He was small, the world immense to his eyes, and he was laughing, such a foreign sound. All around him, tall plants of lavender danced in the summer wind, their scent blooming all around him.
Someone was chasing him, someone special, that echoed his laughter at every turn.
He took a deep breath and sang the song he hadn’t dared to utter for eight long years.
“Lavender's blue, dilly dilly, lavender's green,
When I am king, dilly dilly, you shall be queen:
Who told you so, dilly dilly, who told you so?
'Twas mine own heart, dilly dilly, that told me so.
Call up your men, dilly dilly, set them to work,
Some with a rake, dilly dilly, some with a fork;
Some to make hay, dilly dilly, some to thresh corn,
Whilst you and I, dilly dilly, keep ourselves warm.
If you should die, dilly dilly, as it may hap,
You shall be buried, dilly dilly, under the tap;
Who told you so, dilly dilly, pray tell me why?
That you might drink, dilly dilly, when you are dry"
He turned then, in his memory, meeting the angry eyes of a small boy with rosy cheeks.
“Dilly dally, Lavender prince, too sleepy to catch me!” teased him, and ran away fast as lightning among the purple flowers.
He opened his eyes suddenly, his heart hammering in his chest.
His Lavender prince.
With purple eyes.
His prince...with purple eyes…
His…
His…
“Jon” he said aloud.
He let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.
And then another.
And another.
Then a laugh, a chocked sob, a laugh and another sob, until he wasn’t sure he was laughing or crying.
“Jon. Jon! Jon, Jon, Jonathan!” he cried, repeating that name, that beloved name over and over.
Jonathan.
His friend, his beloved friend he had forgotten.
That hayseed silly prince that used to follow him among lavender flowers, with a smile on his face more brilliant than the sun.
His friend...his...love.
His love he would have to tell all his crimes to.
He curled in a ball and took one deep breath.
“One problems at a time” he told himself, braced himself lifted his head and-
“ Hi there pumpkin! In a bit of a pinch are we?”
He jumped about three feet in the air and forgot he was currently squatting in a really low cage, hitting his head on really hard metal.
“Ouchie. That must have hurt. Want me to magic it better?”
“...no. I’m good. Harley, what are you doing here?”
“Fairygodmother, remember? I’m here to help, and here I am, helping!”
“I’ve been in need of help all my life, why do you keep bothering me only now?”
“I’m a fairy godmother, not a nanny, babe. Also… now is the right time!” she exclaimed, clapping her hands “Well. Cage. I suppose ya wanna get out?”
“You can break the lock?” he asked in eagerness.
“Well...no. It’s iron...fairies and iron...we don’t match”
Damian slumped down in defeat.
“oh come on, don’t give me that face! I’m sure there’s something I can do…” she looked around and then her small face lit up “‘course! brace yourself, birdie!”
“Wait, what? WAIT-”
No use. Harley’s green light enveloped him and he felt himself shift. His cage suddenly became huge all around him, the colors faded from his vision, replaced with a sharply focused black and white.
He tried to protest but all that came out was a chirpy sound.
“Yes, I know, awesome, right? I’m a genius!”
“Genius my ass!” He tried to say again, only to find shrill sounds coming out instead.
“Oh don’t be like that! See? You can literally fly out of your cage now!”
And indeed he could. It took him a while to figure it out, but whatever form Harley had turned him into, he was small enough to slip out of his cage!
He tentatively moved his legs, which responded to him as usual, and then his arms...which weren’t arms anymore. He tried to look at them, but couldn’t and panicked a little.
“Here, it’s not hard, see?” Harley insinsted, turning her back to show him her flapping wings.
Wings? He had...wings.
“Come here little robin!” called the fairy with a toothy smile.
Damian extended his arms, flapped them a little and…
and he was flying.
Out of his cage, all around the dark cage and back to Harley, that was back to clap her hands in happiness while doing summersaults around him.
“See? I’m brilliant”
She was. He was not about to tell her that however.
“Swell! Now, let’s boot out of here!”
“Wait!” Damian called in panic, utter fear rising again in his chest. “My...my brother! Ducard… he… his body must be here. He was transformed into a black mouse and Ducard...he...We...can’t leave him here!”
“Your brother...WAIT. YOU FOUND OUT ABOUT THAT?”
“...About what?”
“You family being turned into furries? YES! I CAN TALK ABOUT IT! MY MASTER HAD TURNED YOUR FAMILY INTO FURRIES, YES! I CAN SPEAK OF IT! FINALLY!”
“What are talking about? Your master? You knew ?!”
“Yes! But my master-well, ex master, I’m a free fairy now- had compelled me to talk about his doings with no one that didn’t already know about it! So I couldn’t speak to you about it, it was so annoying! So, your bother? Which one? Where is he hiding?” she looked around excitedly, while Damian felt even more dead inside.
“I...I’m not sure. Ducard… Harley… he’s dead. My brother. Ducard...showed me his body and threw it in front of my cage...i have to find him…” could birds cry? Damian felt like he would soon find out. He wanted to be strong and yet…
“That’s impossible”
“I’ve seen it!”
“Then it was an illusion”
“Harley! I’ve seen his body!!”
“And I’m telling you it’s impossible!”
He was getting angry. He knew what he had seen, he...he couldn’t… why was she feeding into his hopes like this?
“uuuuurgh, I HATE IT HERE I’M SO SICK OF NOT BEING ABLE TO EXPLAIN- LET THERE BE LIGHT!” She suddenly screamed in frustration and the dark cave was flooded in greenish light.
Damian looked all around, his wings carrying him in every nook and cranny, but there was no small black body to be found.
“but… I’ve...I’ve seen it…”
“Yes. But birdie, think about it. If Ducard could have killed you, you’d all be dead already”
“He said he kept us alive to make us suffer”
“Yeah, sure, the only living reminder of his betrayal? The only few people that could ruin his plans revealing everything to the king?”
“...but how…”
“UUUUURGH. I CAN’T TELL YOU. But one thing i can say...your brother Timbo….is a powerful bastard”
“...you mean...Ducard can’t kill us?”
“Not directly, no”
“But he could have someone else do it”
“yeah, but your family aint stupid”
“But-”
“But BUT BUT! WE WON’T FIND OUT UNTIL WE GET OUT OF THIS STINKING HOLE! Or you want Ducard to come back and get you again?”
He shook his feathery head.
He had no plan, and he was a bird now, to boot.
He was the picture of hopelessness.
And yet...some insane instinct was telling him to find Jon, and find him fast. As if the world couldn’t be right until they were together.
He and Harley flew away, away from Wayne manor that had been his prison for so long, towards the castle.
“Up up and away to find your true love, birdie! That’s what I’m talking about!” Harley shrieked.
Jon felt like flying.
The black horse was leading him with conviction and incredible speed through barely there paths among the wood, leaping over fallen branches and small rivers like it was nothing.
Soon they were racing down a path Jon almost remembered, but that now looked much more unkempt and sad looking than how he recalled it being.
Wayne Manor appeared behind a corner like a black monolith among the maple trees. His black walls even starker against the golden sun of early afternoon.
He remembered joking that the ancient house must have been haunted when he was a child. Now it really did look the part.
Had Damian really lived in this mausoleum by himself all this time? How could he have let that happen?
How could he have forgotten?
He wasn’t sure he could forgive himself.
Dick finally slowed down as soon as they got close to the closed gates and stirred abruptly to the left, to trot on a small beaten path that led around the walls.
He stopped by a curtain of ivy.
Jon stared at it in confusion, until Dick bucked in irritation under him.
“ok, ok, I’m getting off!”
He walked to the ivy and stared some more.
Something pinched him sharply on the neck and a black ball of anger emerged from his hood, where it had been sulking.
Tim had not been happy about leaving Kon behind.
He jumped down from Jon and ran straight at the ivy...and through it.
So did Duke, Babs, Alfred and Jason.
The two birds just flew over the wall.
Dick nudged him from behind gently with a small huff.
“Right. Right!” he braced himself, “I’ll save him. I promised” He swore, and Dick gave him another gentle nudge.
The curtain of foliage easily gave way to reveal a crumbling section of wall. Jon walked through it to find a sea of purple.
Thousands of tiny purple flowers assaulted his senses with their sweet perfume, reminding Jon of the sweet memory from his past.
He knew it was real now.
He smiled.
“It was real. I knew it was” he whispered to himself.
“What is?” A voice asked from behind.
Jon widened his eyes and turned around, heart in his throat, that voice…
“...Damian?”
He was just standing there.
He was dressed differently, in plain ragged black clothes and was not wearing his mask, but it was him. Jon knew it was.
“Jon. How did you come here?” Damian asked, getting closer, a smile on his face.
Was Jon dreaming it? Had Damian managed to escape?
It was too good to be true.
“I...how…” Somehow he felt like he shouldn’t reveal the truth. it was absurd, It was Damian after all, but…
“Are you ok, Jon? Are you hurt?”
“I...I came looking for you...to...talk”
“Oh, well, I’m here” Damian smiled, getting even closer, walking through the lavender’s bushes with purpose.
“...yes…” Jon answered, trying to think of more to say and finding his mind a bit scrambled.
There was something he was forgetting.
Something important.
“What do you want to tell me?” Damian asked sweetly, now just a foot away from Jon. He smelled like lavender.
Everything did. It was distracting, a bit suffocating.
“I… I am not sure….”
Damian smirked, his head tilting invitingly.
Jon really wanted to kiss him again…
“Oh, well, in that case…” Damian whispered, getting closer still, his face still angled just so, close, too close, and then closer still…
“OUCH!” Jon screamed again, as something viciously bit into neck, again.
“TIM! That hurts like-”
TIM.
Tim and the others. That’s what he had forgotten.
How had he forgotten?
Why hadn’t they run to Damian?
“Tim? Fucking hell, I should have know the little conniving beast would try to interfere” Damian rubbuted trough clenched jaws, with a tone that didn’t belong at all to him.
Right. Cause this isn’t Damian.
Jon jumped back, his head finally clear of any magic that was huddling it, thanks to Tim and his perfectly timed bites, sword at the ready.
“Uh, you would raise your sword on me? Your one true love?” the non-Damian asked, speaking the last words like a curse.
“I would raise my sword for my love. Reveal yourself. I know you are not who you pretend to be! Fight me with honor!”
The impostor gave a bitter fake laugh.
“Spoken like a true prince! well, then, time to fight for your damsel in distress then, little princeling. I will make it worth your while!”
Green smoke started swirling around him, his features morphing into something else, his bulk growing bigger and uglier until Ducard himself was standing in front of them. It wasn’t the man actually worrying Jon, but rather the big, mountain-like figure forming out of the green smoke, as if out of thin air.
A monstrous figure with a purple body, a green maine and crazy yellow eyes stretched his sharp teeth down at them in the nightmarish version of a smile.
“... that would be the dragon, I bet?”
For once Tim stayed silent.
Great.
Jon swallowed, gripping his sword tighter.
Something nudged him again from behind and he felt Dick’s warm breath on his back, Tim and Jason on each of his shoulders, Duke and Alfred at his side and Cass, Steph and Babs circling above.
Jon had to do this.
He had to.
He wasn’t alone.
They would win.
They would make it.
With a scream, he charged.