Cyr dear we need to have a talk about leaving the good bits in the tags like— 😩💚
The literal shit show Bruce lands himself in is phenomenal with this one.
Of course he’s done his research. Of course he out multiple contingencies in place. Of course he knows how to properly make a deal with a demon to make sure they can’t exploit any loopholes.
But none of the many contingencies and fail saves prepared him for an impling.
Enter stage right: Dick Grayson, recently orphaned, baby incubus, whole heartedly confused about being summoned. He just felt that weird kind of tugging sensation behind his belly button and he wanted to desperately leave that stupid precinct where they were loudly discussing his fate anyway so he just kinda—- gave in.
Bruce now has to touch up on so many subjects because he was not looking to adopt an impling today. Much less an incubus. How do you even properly care for them? And, oh dear gods, he is never entering that into the google search bar ever again what is wrong with humanity—
What follows are some very tense few weeks of trial and error with Dick and Bruce tip toeing around each other (no way is Bruce letting Dick leave into any human custody with what the general consensus of “care” entails for an incubus and he’s not inclined to send him to hell and give him up to a random demon either because who knows what they’d do to the poor impling who doesn’t have a pack (??) to protect him) but they manage eventually and Dick gets to feed mostly on accident when he falls asleep on the couch and Bruce gently ruffles his hair and just— oh.
Cue: happy little impling with many happy demon sounds because he’s drunk on the affection and love Bruce already feels for him.
Bruce, absolutely confused, continues his hair pets and just enjoys the soft and mushy feelings being projected back at him.
Cuddle time becomes a regular thing afterwards. Alfred gets roped into joining as well 💚 (and Bruce writes and advertises new books on demon behavior)
Lol Can't help it. I must hide some juicy data away if only to keep people on their toes~
Speaking of which, BEWARE:
tw: violence, murder, death, mentions of rape, suicide, child abandonment
As backwards as this may sound, Jason was lucky.
With demonology becoming more popular in the mortal plane, it had become more common to leave hell (especially if you had friends on the other side). But, considering the number of demons that existed today, the fact that an impling like him had been randomly summoned at all was a statistical miracle in itself.
Jason was born into a pack that didn’t care to be much of one. Ifrits generally don’t care for implings anyway, because usually they came to be asexually, wrought from the brimstone and flame, which the Seventh Circle had copious amounts of.
But Jason was a special case. Again, he’d been born.
Abandoned, sure. But he’d still been born to parents that had abandoned him to his fate, whatever that may be. Jason’s parents certainly didn’t care about that; he remembered that much about them for sure.
And let’s not delude ourselves here. Jason would have died, if it weren’t for a damned soul taking pity on him.
Catherine Todd was human, had been human, and she’d made the stupid decision to bind her soul to hell in life. She never told Jason the reason she was there, in the Circle that was only known for its violence and murderous inhabitants.
And she never would.
Humans were not supposed to survive in literal hell, and it showed as the years passed. Catherine, for all that she pretended to be strong in front of what she saw as her child, only got weaker and weaker while Jason thrived in the environment they were in. Even if they survived the rest of the inhabitants, the plane itself was mercilessly sucking Catherine’s energy 24/7, until eventually it succeeded in killing the only person Jason loved.
And then he had nothing. Nothing except a task: to survive.
So, Jason concentrated on that until he was yanked out of the vicious Circle and straight into the human realm.
The realm Catherine was from.
He was not going back.
Seeing the shock in Wayne’s face when he glimpsed at the creature that he’d summoned, Jason pounced at the opportunity and enforced that decision immediately.
“You want a deal, Mister Wayne? Sure, I can try to give you some minutes with your dead parents. But in return, I want you guarantee that I’ll stay here for as long as that takes me.”
And Jason, being a human-raised ifrit that had no necromantic magic or knowledge to speak of, got himself a cushy spot in Wayne’s mansion while he worked towards an impossible goal he had no hope to complete.
He didn’t regret it. Not for a second.
Not even when Jason got the memo that Wayne had an unbonded incubus running amok, with no supervision to speak of, which terrified Jason to his core.
Not even when Bruce tried to cozy up to him, trying to modify their initial deal and almost made Jason have a heartattack in the process.
... Especially not when Jason began to understand that all of the Waynes (each in their own unique way) were trying to give Jason a place in their oddball family.
First of all, I have a weak spot for unfounded fears/misunderstandings so prepare for some d r a m a.
So yes, we have impling Jason snatching himself a spot in the Wayne family by virtue of his bio mother’s deceitful genes. But what exactly did/does that mean for Jason? How he survived?
Well, for one, baby Jason has learned to ruthlessly exploit weaknesses, and his mixed genes gave him an important advantage:
people (humans and demons alike) are compelled to believe the things he says because he can make them sound logical (“selling smoke”), but it only works as long as people aren’t aware they’re dealing with a (half) malebranche, otherwise the gig is up.
And when Bruce accidentally summoned Jason? Well, obviously he knows his demonology well enough to suspect that Jason isn’t a full ifrit (too thin, too small, not fully grown like ifrit usually are, too smart, maybe tiny horns instead of ones that curl all around his head depending on what ifrit usually look like) but as soon as Jason tries to trap him in a deal that’s too good to be true? Yeah, alarm bells going off like crazy. Malebranche characteristics for sure. Not that Bruce cares, like, at all. Because there’s still a malnourished impling standing in a summoning circle and he’s determined to do better than he did with Dick (looking back on it now Bruce is appalled that it took him over a week to find out how to properly feed his son).
Jason, not believing his luck, makes himself at home in the manor like a particularly snotty cat. He’s a summons, he made a deal, he’s a revered guest and any breach of the contract would allow Jason to kill Bruce immediately, so there’s nothing to be scared of.
Until Dick walks in through the front door and Jason comes face to face with a fully grown incubus, that is. An unbonded incubus.
Dick, predictably, is less than impressed at being confronted with a new impling only a couple weeks/months after his and Bruce’s little spat. He’s even less impressed when Jason turns on his heel and runs like the hounds of hell are chasing after him.
And, see, this is where Dick’s upbringing in the human world comes back to bite him in the butt. He knows next to nothing about demonic customs, so of course he wouldn’t know what his kind are known for amongst demonkind. Neither does Bruce, for that matter.
So after he and Bruce have their little fight about taking in stray implings (the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem Bruce! Implings aren’t Cheetos, Bruce, you can have just one!) and finding out that Jason is supposed to be an ifrit (what? But he’s- he’s so small!) Dick determinedly stalks the halls to get to know and integrate Jason into their little ragtag pack. Because apparently Bruce is determined the impling is staying.
Dick is very much not prepared for the onslaught of fear-terror that hits him like a brick when he finds Jason, however. Nor does he understand why the impling had literally squeezed himself into a tiny nook in the library.
It takes Dick a precious few minutes in which he’s unsuccessfully trying to coax the impling out of his hiding spot (and unintentionally making it worse by trying to nudge Jason’s emotions away from fear into something more relaxed) before Jason’s panicked rambling and pleas start making any sort of sense.
Dick promptly has a whole ass meltdown where he’s shrieking for Bruce and frantically tugging at their pack bonds to make him come to them faster.
Bruce soon finds both of his sons bawling their eyes out for two different reasons. Conversations are then had with the help of Alfred. Jason is not entirely convinced of the incubus’ good intentions, but he also isn’t deathly afraid anymore, so Dick and Bruce count it as a win.
Dick also decides that he never, ever wants to meet others of his kind that have grown up in hell and also vows not to let any near his family/pack.
Of course incubi/succubi tend towards pack dynamics. In hell, they hover over their victims as they take over swathes of land, needing to stay close to them in order to feed on their emotions and keep themselves going strong.
Some of the incubi/succubi are old enough to forge close bonds with the rest of their kin and damned. With humans, this is done with the purpose of having a very filling meal; the curse of lust (their curse of being) demands satisfaction, but the eldest of incubi/succubi have learned to go about it in a more practical way, working towards a more filling connection to a select few.
And while we're on this topic, I'll add this: pack bonds are sacredest amongst incubi-kind, if only because it allows for true intimacy and vulnerability, which is practically unheard of in hell.
Obviously, this a rare phenomenon.
Incubi and succubi are fierce and zealous in their capacity for love, because they lust for connections and emotional attachments from others. It's a basic need they have. However, that love often twisted and jealous in their natural habitat; it gets twisted into something ugly very easily.
After all, they are in Hell and Hell corrupts indiscriminately.
----
I like how in fanfiction we transform everything creature into a cat. That said, I vote in favor of there being universal behaviors when it comes to demons, and one of them is having the ability to purr. There are others of course, but so far the most affectionate of demon behaviors is this one.
Dick purrs and that's how Jason understands that the incubus is being authentic in his affections. That he's safe around him. And sure, it's still weird as fuck to feel the other demon go through his head and dissect his emotions, but he's not being drained or converted into a sex-obsessed doll, which was a real fear Jason had when interacting with Dick.
After Jason's tentative acceptance, it's easier to drag him into cuddles or even into one of the cuddle sessions Dick has with Bruce and Alfred every three days or so.
Soon, cuddles with Dick become one of Jason's favorite pastimes. The incubus was a riot to be around, willing to do so many dumb stunts no one human seemed to be willing to do, so being with his "older brother" was pretty entertaining all things considered.
And so, Jason learns to lower his guard. Just a little bit. He's still pretending to research for a way to use his powers to get Bruce his one hour chat with the ghosts of his parents. And this works for a time, until Bruce comes to him with the intention to talk about editing the deal they agreed to on the day he was summoned.
Panic sets in, and Jason runs away, unwilling to hear more about what Bruce had to say about it. Breach of contract or not, Jason had begun to view the man and the rest of the Waynes fondly, so he didn't want to kill him even if he was having second thoughts about their deal.
Being bigger and possessing a bigger legspan, Bruce catches up fairly easily and traps him in a tight hug, which makes Jason descend into hysterics after a very short time. However, the tears stop as soon as Bruce splutters more about his intentions behind his request.
Jason stops because Bruce just told him he knows he's been bluffing all this time and he wanted him to stop pretending because there was no need for any of that.
The new proposal comes in the form of a formal invitation to the family.
"My son," Bruce explains. "You'd be my son, Jaylad."
"But what's the catch?" Jason asks. There was always a catch.
"No catch," Bruce says. "I want you here, with us. With me."
"You... want to adopt me?"
Jason can see and feel how Bruce holds him, like a treasured thing he wants to protect. And suddenly, he cannot help but be reminded of Catherine. The tender look Bruce has is very reminiscent of hers when she was alive.
Back when Jason had a family.
The little demon doesn't allow himself to cry. The rain is the one producing the droplets running down his face, that's all there is to it, he tells himself.
"Ju-just to be clear... You want me here, even though I took advantage of you?"
Bruce smiles and tells him: "Yes."
"Then you're dumber than a pile of rocks," Jason tells him.
"You're not the first one to tell me," Bruce answers him, amused.
----
To gain some context about what's happening with Tim, I'll let you know some bits about what's a cambion: a creature that's half human, half demon. A cambion doesn't belong to any of these categories, but will yearn to be part of their groups. Moreover, it will have characteristics of both.
Considering that we have a lot of species of demons in this universe, no cambion is the same. A human reproducing with a demon of deceit (melabranche: tail, claws, wings) will produce a cambion who will have different traits than a cambion with a parent who is, for example, a demon of greed (mammona: horns, tail, goat soma).
In Tim's case, Janet had always had an affinity with greed/avarice and was an active worshipper of Mammon and his ilk. Most of her wealth came from such worship and Jack only got the memo of that after Tim began to express his demon half: with horns (constantly filed by Janet), tail (permanently clipped by Janet) and goat legs (which were always covered, until Tim knew how to shift them into a normal boy's).
After the gig's up, Tim was left to wander alone in Gotham, utterly forgotten by his family, and wreaked havoc there as he scammed people to survive being homeless.
Bruce and his sons crossed paths with him one day, and the loneliness he felt compelled him to stalk after them and then attempt to integrate himself in their family.
Maybe pack bonds, the real ones that would make both parties vulnerable, between incubi are rare/sacred enough that even other demons don’t know about them! And Jason, being half ifrit half malebranche, didn’t even know such things existed and when Dick and Bruce sat him down to patiently explain them Jason is absolutely blown away because—- a bond? Something semi-telepathic that would let them sense his emotions but also make him be able to sense theirs in return? What human would be dumb enough to willingly submit themselves to that?
Bruce, obviously.
(And Dick’s sad puppy eyes only have to work their magic for a short while before Jason caves and he lets the incubus expand the little pack. Jason isn’t quite sure what to make of all the emotions at first, there are so, SO many of them, but he quickly learns to like it because, wow, what Bruce says in his permanent state of consternation and what he actually feels are two vastly different things, and it helps them navigate domestic life.)
——
N O O O
My poor boy Tim 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 ok but really consider the MEDICAL implications of that! I don’t know how long of a tail you were thinking because if it’s a longer one it would obviously be used to keep his balance which— omg, Tim would have to relearn how move entirely. He would overbalance horribly at first, he would probably walk into tables and doorframes because he’s suddenly missing a limb and oh my poor boy. 🥺🥺🥺 and even if the tail is short and wasn’t used for balance, a tail is still an extension of the spine, the amount of nerve damage alone would be horrible.
I absolutely vote for Jason being the one to find Tim out tho! Dick is able to sense emotions, yes, but he grew up in the human world and in order to not lose his mind he has to shield himself when surrounded by too many people. Jason, not being an incubus and also hell-born, has a far better situational awareness than Dick when they’re out as civilians. Ifrit need to be constantly aware of their surroundings to not be caught off guard, and apart from himself Jason is also fiercely protective of his family so when he senses a demonic presence stalking them it’s only a matter of time until he sets up a trap. (A trap that mostly involves hiding himself in a dark corner until Tim emerges from his hiding place to see where he’s gone only to pounce on the poor cambion)
Tim has his life flashing before his eyes (Jason can be scary when he wants to be, and his skin is practically glowing with barely leashed hellfire) and promptly bursts into frantic tears, apologizing and pleading with Jason not to kill him. “I swear, I didn’t mean any harm! Please don’t kill me, I’ll leave, I promise!”
And Jason just blinks because— wtf even is that kid? Wait— did someone file his horns?? And where the fuck is the kid’s tail!?!?!?!
OR
You could have Tim integrate himself by just kind of— showing up like a leech every time the Wayne family is out and about. Casually striking up a conversation, walking with them, greeting them like “Oh! My, what a coincidence to meet you here Mr. Wayne!” and what not until Bruce finally realizes that, wait, where are your parents kid?
Both are valid options for Timbers ksksks
As to the matter of heroes or no heroes, well it depends on where you’d want this fic to go. If domestic fluff and drama is your goal I’d say skipping their vigilante activities is for the best, but if you want to focus on their superhero personas then we’d need to reevaluate.
Obviously Bruce would have to patrol first with one and then two fully fledged demons, and while Dick is much easier to “control” thanks to his upbringing in the mortal realm even he couldn’t be stopped entirely from maiming people if the fancy strikes him (usually for very good reasons but still). I don’t know how believably the no-kill rule could be upheld. Especially where Jason is concerned, because the baby ifrit can be positively murderous if his family is in danger. Unless the no-kill rule would be the one stipulation that Bruce made when Jason and him changed the terms of their contract. 🤔
Also now I gotta think of Damian, because pls how funny would it be if the boy didn’t have any demonic traits at all. Like, genetically he would be half demon but it’s like they skipped him entirely. No fangs. No horns. No tail. Just plain human, like Bruce. And Damian the poor kid would feel unbelievably insecure about that to boot. And then, of course, the absolute shock when he finds out his dad adopted three demons.
Lol That Jason jump-scare TT_TT
y u bully mah boi Tim like dat TT_TT
First impressions GO:
The kid looks completely human, and the disguise would have been perfect, if it weren't for the fact that he absolutely reeked of goat. Jason had him pegged as a demon as soon as he got close.
Filing the horns was something that demons in the human realm did somewhat frequently, but what was weird was how he moved. Tim was too uncoordinated when Jason ambushed him. It was extremely weird; mammona are perfectly balanced all the time. They loved to dig holes in high places and stick the contents of their hoard there; mountains were their playground, if anything.
Weird. So fucking weird.
Jason was stuck feeling a bit befuddled by Tim until he opened up about his tragic home life and then he was just plain incensed. He wanted to kill Janet. He couldn't (his deal with Bruce wouldn't allow it) but HE ACHED TO DO IT.
Luckily, there was an unbonded incubus in their family, who was also extremely offended on Tim's behalf. Jason didn't know how Dick had done it, but sometime next week after that reveal the Drake family had been caught in a car accident in Zimbabwe. Jack's corpse was found almost immediately on site, but Janet... The local authorities couldn't recover Janet's body for a month, because it had been dragged away by what seemed to be an unidentified animal. The only reason why her body had been found was because a couple of turists had spotted it near a dam in Sebakwe.
Dick had been peppering the entire family with smug satisfaction when the news had reached Gotham, but he never admitted anything to Bruce.
As for Tim? The little demon was smart enough to recognize who had done it. He had thanked Dick, but after that there was a long period where he'd been determined to not speak to his packmate for nearly a month (all while he oozed ire and outrage, which just about killed Dick). It was a rough patch in their relationship, agonizing, and for a hot second it seemed that their bond had been severed permanently, but then Tim finally cracked and succumbed to Dick's octopus hugs.
Jason was glad to see it. Dick and Tim had been fighting for Jason's attention on a daily basis and he wanted to finish 'The Great Gasby' sometime this month in the comfort of the Wayne library.
Bruce and Alfred would finally stop moping all day.
It was Heaven to have some time for himself.
---
It would be interesting to examine their superhero lives in this context. Dick is unbonded and has no limitations as to what he can do; Jason IS limited, but only when it comes to murder (everything else is fair game); Tim, similar to Dick, is completely free to do as he pleases.
(Bruce should have worried about both unbonded sons more tbh)
But this leaves me to question what their superhero personas would be. Is Robin even a posibility here? Dick's family had always broadcasted their demon ties because it was part of the show (John's father and mother had been summoned from Hell and trapped in a deal that demanded they both perform; John and Mary (who also had also come from a family of incubi and succubi in the human plane) continued the legacy of John's parents because they liked the life in the circus), so all members of the Grayson family were literally "Flying Graysons".
Maybe little Dickie liked to dress his own wings with discarded bird feathers, thus landing him the "Robin" monicker. Hmmm... this is actually a good idea. Maybe it was part of the show to disguise that part of themselves as well, with outrageous colors to catch everyone's attention.
So, we have Robin, Nightwing (because it's actually still extremely suitable to Dick), Red Hood (I think it can be done, actually; Jason loves to go out in a red hoodie and suddenly everyone calls him that... Joker actually hates Jason because of this, but he can't actually kill him so...), and Red Robin... (well, if Tim is so attached to Dick and Jason, it's actually possible for him to honor both of them with this name).
(Bruce's parents are still murdered by Joe Chill, yes or not? YOU DECIDE!)
Obviously, while they are vigilantes or patrolling, each and every one of the batkids has to shift into a more human form in order to preserve their identities. I'd love to see Constantine's face once he realizes that all the Batfam sans Bruce is actually a (part-)demon.
---
Oh, Damian. You'll have a demon inferiority complex. Technically you ARE a cambion, but you have none of the Al Ghul traits. That's a shame lol
In the plus side, Damian passes as a human, so he doesn't deal with the discrimination that his brothers receive daily. This can spark the beginnings of a bond between him and his brothers, because he'll feel protective over them.
Ooooo Dick would ABSOLUTELY maim the Drakes for that! But i need more in depth information on Tim’s reaction. Why would he be outraged and not talk to Dick anymore? Did he still love his parents? He must know Jason would have done exactly the same thing if his bond to Bruce didn’t forbid it. 👀👀👀
But pls the mental image of Dick and Tim both fighting for Jason’s attention is so funny to me. Especially with Jason as an ifrit, a kind of demon known for violence. But no sir, this one just wants to read in peace and cuddle both his brothers without them glaring daggers at each other thank you very much. (Bruce agrees. He’s already adopted Tim because, let’s be real, the moment Jason dragged a frazzled Tim up to meet them Bruce already knew he’d lost. Jason refuses to touch anyone who isn’t close family, and him basically hugging Tim into his side is as good as a demonic claim. So, yeah, adoption papers.)
Demon cuddle piles.
——
And Dick gluing feathers to his wings is such a good idea???? It would certainly help giving birth to the Robin name!
And Jason and Joker, well, let’s say Joker tries to go after Jason exactly once. Once, because as soon as he’s got Jason trapped and the kid looks at him all bored and with too many, too sharp teeth in his deceptively human mouth while he raises the crowbar, Joker knows he’s miscalculated. Because— that’s not a human child. That’s a demon child. An impling. And it’s no secret that Nightwing is an incubus, the one demon species notorious for their fierce protectiveness of their young.
And Jason is just grinning at Joker like the crazy little demon he is when Nightwing drops from the rafters like a nightmare made flesh and tears into the clown.
Bruce doesn’t even try to reprimand either of them for it. He cites willful ignorance when Nightwing and Jason reappear at his side a few minutes later and there’s a big explosion by the harbor.
Not his or his kids’ doing, no sir. He doesn’t know what you’re talking about. His kids are angels and wouldn’t hurt a fly. (Commissioner Gordon thinks about pointing out the blood stains on Nightwing’s teeth but thinks better of it.)
And Joe Chill… hm, I know we said Jason got summoned to maybe do some necromancy to let Bruce talk with his parents, but what if Bruce leads the talk about altering their deal with “So, my parents are actually alive and currently on vacation” and that’s what makes Jason freak out and try to run away (because how awkward would that be).
I just think there’s too little of grandparents Thomas and Martha who absolutely know about Bruce’s nighttime hobby (and wholeheartedly disapprove of it) but are still loving and supportive and immediately start treating the ever growing gaggle of demonic kids as their own grandchildren. Maybe Martha even has some very diluted demon blood in her as well 🙈
And Joe Chill still attacked them but the gunshot wounds weren’t lethal, but due to the trauma of witnessing his parents get shot Bruce still becomes Batman ✨
And they are both very disappointedTM when Damian shows up.
“Bruce, honey, we know you know how to use protection. But perhaps we should revisit that PowerPoint—“
“MOM!”
“Have you even been paying the poor woman child support? Bruce Thomas Wayne! We raised you better than this!”
Tim's feelings about his parents were complicated. Before Jack knew that Tim wasn't his, he treated him like he was his son and was actually the one that took the most interest in him. In a way, he was a below average good parent, mostly because he needed to work and was pretty absent, but he wasn't neglected or hurt by Jack in any way during his childhood.
Of course that changed after the big reveal, so any love was lost as soon as Janet confessed to her dalliances with the mammon. Instead of taking his ire out on Janet, he turned most of his anger to Tim instead: he exposed the filed stumps in his head, shamed him for having goat legs and mocked him for having terrible mobility problems (due to a large part of his spine being cut off by his wife, which he didn't acknowledge).
The abuse didn't escalate (too much) because Tim was "asked" to leave not long after, but this was a huge turnaround from how he'd been treated before.
Tim didn't see his parents again because they didn't come back to their penthouse, moving to Bristol because they wanted to see nothing of him.
Leaving him completely abandoned.
Janet's indifference and apathy would always hurt, regardless of what she'd done, and Tim was human enough to year for a connection with both of his parents. The fact that Dick had killed them meant that Tim was never recovering that connection, no matter how unlikely it was for it to be salvaged.
This was final.
So yeah, Tim's feelings here are complicated, but at the end of the day, the Drakes had been absolute monsters towards Tim, hence the reason why he had thanked and then finally reconciled with Dick.
Tim's situation is a whole emotional mess to deal with. Tim's therapist and his traumatologist (especialized in demonology, of course) will be appalled to hear about the Drake's mistreatment of Tim and resolve most of his issues... eventually.
Speaking of which, should Tim have a prosthetic tail in this? I'm undecided, but it sounds pretty cool.
And of course, he'd known that Jason would have been a little murderous (because that's like his default state of being) but the bond meant that he wouldn't be able to do anything too grave to his parents. Jason should have been a safe person to vent to because of it. What Tim didn't count on was that his other brother would be taking things on his own hands (hence some feelings of betrayal towards Jason, although that didn't last long because Tim wanted to torture Dick a bit by ignoring him and by stealing one of his packmates away).
---
As much as I want to wave away all Joker complications, I think we need to establish a reason why Jason may have a grudge against this villian (again).
@phantom-dc had several wonderful ideas about what's the deal with Joker in this universe:
Admittedly, there was more, but I'd like to make a stop here, specifically. The idea that Joker somehow gained enough power to break Jason's bond with Bruce is absolutely terrifying. Moreover, the clown put conditions that prevent Jason from ever escape hell, for as long as he lives.
And obviously, the joke here is that Joker wasn't about to get killed by Daddy Bats, not even to rescue his own son.
And it's true. Even as the clown gloated about what he'd accomplished with his son, Bruce cannot bring himself to kill him.
So, Jason is abandoned to his fate momentarily... and he has such a bad time there that by the time he gets himself out, he's got a bone to pick with all of his family.
And Joker. Let's not forget Joker.
For her part in Joker's plan, Sheila had already received the brunt of his anger. Having trained with All-Caste and the LOA (who, despite acknowledging Jason's potential, preferred that he stays out from their circle; Jason's propensity for mindless violence was not seen favorably by most of the LOA. Even so, Talia recognized the scent of her lover on his soul. It was enough to win him some favors with her after he did some tasks for her), it was fairly easy to overpower her.
Now unbonded and irate at his apparent abandonment, Jason took on the name of Red Hood after he decapitated Joker and (shortly after) took over Crime Alley.
In part, he does this to honor Catherine and, for the most part, he does it to satiate his primal and territorial instincts that insisted that he needed hunker down to prepare for war with the rest of the family.
Of course, after the news of Joker's death had reached Nightwing, and after he felt Jason's packmate bond flourishing again (slowly and distantly), he went looking for Jason, aggressively ignoring all the posturing his brother made and concentrating on soothing him the best he could.
Sometimes Jason really hated Dick.
(No, he doesn't.)
(Jason doesn't cry, he doesn't. But he may have missed - a tad - his brother's octopus hugs.)
---
Okay, let's recap a bit.
The whole reason why Bruce wanted to summon demons is to form a contract with one of them; he wished to speak with the souls of his parents because he was going through a depression episode and he wanted to at least try to close that chapter of his life.
Your crack idea about Martha and Thomas being alive is very funny, but I must admit that it doesn't seem all that compatible to the rest of the prompt. (Maybe we can consider that an AU if this prompt??? Something to consider maybe. It would be drama oriented, it sounds like.)
Bruce can have a little of demon blood in him, sure. But it has to be minimal, if he doesn't exhibit any demon characteristics at all.
(I find it funny that Damian should have been all ghul-like and he's not because something about Bruce makes demon DNA go all weird. In theory, Bruce should be as base human as possible.)
---
Finally, I wanted to add something to the lore of this prompt:
There is one singular demon that is rumored to rewrite reality in order to keep himself alive: Vandar Adg (better known in DC as Vandal Savage). People say that he cannot die and that he has mastered the secrets behind death and life. If there was anything that could do a ritual to speak to the dead, it was him. The fiend is a cruor ("of blood"), which is the species of demons that inhabits the ninth circle (the one of treachery). So, Bruce was planning to summon one of the baddest of demons of treachery into the human realm because he wanted to see if there was a necromancy spell that would allow him to talk to his parents.
(He was not in the right mind at all.)
(Vandal Savage has sabotaged his own summoning ritual, hence why Bruce kept getting demons who should have been "worthless" to anyone who wanted a favor from him.)
How did Red Hood decapitate Joker if Jason couldn't enter the human world while Joker was alive? Someone else had to be the one to kill him first.
So I propose the terms were regarding his death, but didn't account for a death and resuscitation.
So either Batman beats Joker almost to death before Superman stops him, but Joker flatlined in the ambulance or hospital before being brought back. (Thus being that it's actually Bruce who broke the binding on Jason even if both of them don't realize it.)
Or Dick killed the Joker, and then Batman (or someone else in the room) resuscitated him to prevent demon Dick from being bound/shackled/banished/killed as an uncontrolled murderous demon as punishment. Maybe he couldn't help dropping his human seeming in the middle of killing Joker in rage.
So the only reason Jason could come back to kill the Joker is because his family already broke the binding. But they didn't know they had, so didn't try to summon him back.
Regarding Tim and his tail and horns...
If Janet was hiding his demonic blood from Jack, she would likely have had the tail amputated as an infant, or as soon as it started growing in. Tim would have never had the chance to be accustomed to balancing with a tail. So wouldn't be unbalanced without one.
Also wanted to point out that if his species actually uses their tail to balance, a prosthetic tail would be almost useless. If it was prehensile then a prosthetic wouldn't be able to do so very well. Even if it wasn't prehensile, using a tail to balance still involves some movement to shift the weight to compensate for the body movement. But a prosthetic tail wouldn't be mobile. Unless we're going into cybernetic territory, but that's a different conversation.
And if Tim had never grown up with a tail, then adding a cybernetic prosthetic would unbalance him. His body and reflexes would already be adapted to being tail-less.
Tim also probably wouldn't know anything much about his demon species or culture. He was basically raised as human and his demonic traits ignored or suppressed by his parents. He knows even less about his species than Dick knows about his own.
Red Hood was born after Jason dug himself out of hell. After beating Sheila, she let it slip that she could no longer sense that her contract was active. Meaning that someone had killed Joker and Jason was free to go.
He still wasn't getting summoned by any of his so-called family, so he tries to wrangle a way of escaping out of Talia, who was merciful enough to accept but only if he did stuff for her.
Finally, after that was done, Jason gets out of there, only to be confronted by the fact that Joker was, in fact, perfectly alive and thriving with all the chaos he sowed in Gotham. That, and the fact that his family had not thought to rescue him, made him question their love for him. Also, the Joker being alive was unacceptable, so he took care of that problem as soon as he could.
Whether Dick or Bruce were the ones to kill Joker, it doesn't matter. But it adds a bit of a twist if Joker was revived in order to protect Dick (like in canon). Maybe Joker had been trying to unmask Nightwing as an incubus, just to make the Gotham citizens demand he be treated as a dangerous being.
You have many good points about Tim!! You are right: he would have adapted to the absence of the tail by now, the prosthetic wouldn't be actually useful and it seems that right now we have two demons who are totally oblivious to their demon-sides. Jason will be the local expert in all things hell-type demons (which is totally not going to bite them in the ass later, no sir).
Jason only knows plenty about rumours, if anything at all about the other circles and demons. His knowledge is incomplete and filled with plenty of misinformation.
I have a suggestion for the Bruce's genes are particularly resistant to demonic ones thing: Bruce has Angelic blood and one or both of his parents had angel ancestors. Or some other type of supernatural being that is the opposite of demons or otherwise is more dominant. Or that his parents ascended and became angels or something else themselves and blessed him, with the blessing being so powerful it overpowers Damian's al Ghoul heritage. Maybe they were reincarnated gods who upon dying returned to their true form?
i had some ideas floating in my head and made a couple things (i might draw some of the other demon types in the future)
i thought it'd be fun if mammona had limited bipedalism, so that they could walk either on all fours or upright to some extent, that way it would make sense for Tim to be horrifically unbalanced due to his lack of a tail even though it was removed while he was young
i rly took the incubi/succubi being the 'most humanoid', and if i do draw the other demons i'll probably make them all very distinctly not human
I... I totally forgot to post this spot art on Tumblr.
Made for the awesome story written by @iffondrels-library for the @bloodmoonzine ages ago.
Sorry for disappearing, life has been busy in the last year.
Instead of being sane and calling it a night, Dick Grayson finally gave in and went to visit Jay for the first time after his death. However, Dick was running on 4 hours of sleep for an entire week; his energy was utterly depleted. From the get-go, it was clear this wasn't going to be pretty reunion.
But then it got weird. Usually, his hallucinations were a little neater than this. His eyes were seeing blood all over the grass. The dirt looked like it had exploded outwards from down below, almost like a bomb (ha!) had gone off. As for Jaybird, the zombie look was not flattering on his brother at all.
Exhausted, Dick could only feel a vague sense of annoyance at his own mind for conjuring Jay in such a deplorable state and he almost forgot to scream when the walking corpse collapsed on him.
aahhhhhh!! Look, I’m a SUCKER for sleep deprivation! yes i may have a problem with that myself lmao but it’s even better when it’s in a batfam context! Because—- none of them have literally ever seen a healthy sleep schedule in their life lmao
The point is, Dick would totally get to this stage sooner or later. He’s set high standards for himself, he tries to juggle his civilian job with his identity as Nightwing so if we do a rough estimate and go with police work taking out approximately 8-10 hours a day (five days a week), add the way to-and-from work (let’s say one hour), then add his vigilantism (let’s say six hours) and THEN on top of that add the time he spends researching his cases and we’re at a nice and cozy 17-20 hour day. More or less, depending on the current situation. But it’s Nightwing so we can clock him at a solid 20+ hours probably.
So yeah, even if he caught an hour (or three) of sleep every now and again he’d be burned out and exhausted before long. And the fun thing about sleep deprivation? You get manic highs (sleep is overrated!) and lows (pls let me die so I can SLEEP).
But a Nightwing who’s in the hallucination AND exhaustion state? Yeah. “Hi Jason. Lmao ok so my baby brother just came back as a zombie. Totally normal, right? Is this- is this a walking dead thing? Hey Jay, you feeling hungry buddy?”
“Br-uce”
“Yeah? Thought so. Ngl sometimes I wanna eat his brain too just to make him shut up but you know how it is.”
Cue: Dick treating this like an everyday occurrence and taking Jason home to get him cleaned up (“look I know zombies can’t help the decomposing thing but we don’t have to ENCOURAGE it”) and there’s a part of him thats definitely freaking out but his brain is working on 1% so it’s out on the back burner for a while. Until, eventually, Dick falls asleep just holding Jason and then wakes up STILL with Jason in his arms and—- maybe he thinks he totally snapped and dug Jason out himself Jason is breathing. Oh god. Oh god-
Ngl This seems like an awesome one-shot of sort. Dick mumbling things about brains as he's sleeping just about kills me.
There's probably some continuation to this in the form of Bruce asking Dick what he's done to his brother's grave. Or perhaps it's the opposite: Bruce has no idea who visited Jason's grave last night, but came across all the mess after someone from the graveyard shift called it in.
Bruce, being Bruce, will attempt to investigate just to prevent himself from going insane (with rage, sadness, horror?) and tries to call in Nightwing as backup, only to hear Dick screaming over the phone as he realizes that he has Jason's body there.
So, Bruce goes to Dick's house and freaks out as well.
Does Jason ever recover from his catatonia? I think that's up for the writer to decide. It's not even necessary to put that in, if you're only going for the zombie comedy effect.
Thank you, Ghostie. Brainstorming with you is a pleasure :D
Danny working on an ectoplasm that seems to absorb everything it touches. Whatever it is, it's hungry.
What Danny didn't expect was for the ectoplasm to be looking for DNA to replicate. This gets revealed in a surprise raid by the Bat people of Gotham, who suspected him to be a mad scientist about to turn villian.
Turns out that clearing himself got a bit tougher, because now clones were involved and they seemed to like him a little too much. Now the originals were probably thinking that he was growing himself an army of vigilantes!
AKA, the time where Danny accidentally cloned a bunch of vigilantes, all at the same time.
I often think about the meaning of the Palace of the Four Sword extra dungeon from A Link To The Past in the context of the LU canon…there’s a lot of different interpretations that can be dragged out of that alone. I like to see peoples interpretations, takes and thoughts on it. Like: Did Legend fight dark shadow replicas of Four, or was that Four himself? If it was Four, what happens to Four, and how does Legend live with the knowledge of that? Is there guilt? Does he feel burdened, knowing that something untimely happens to Four? Is there guilt in killing Four, or what looks like him?
But there’s something else I often think of too, timeline implications.
This might have been answered by others before or theorized, but, I just want to ramble and talk, so and so. I mean it’s interesting!
If something terrible befalls Four, it probably happens sometime during his lifetime, that means after Four Sword. This happens before Ocarina of Time. Ocarina of Time splits the timeline. So logically Fours fate is unchanged by the time the spit happens.
In the Downfall Timeline, Legend fights him and eventually, possibly frees him by killing him.
But what about the other ones? The other Timelines? What happens there?
Do we account FSA from the end of the child timeline into this, that Four somehow conquers that quest despite, well, that being who knows how far in the future? Or do we assume Four here is also still simply cursed like in ALTTPs dungeon and still trapped with no one to free him if FSA isnt counted into this specifically. (Wouldnt it make more sense to put FSA after FS…???)
And in the Adult Timeline, I guess he’d also just get flooded and buried by the sea huh…would that kill him, I wonder if he’s already far gone from being human?
I think about it a lot. I mean, if it happens before the Timeline Split, during when Four is alive if we go with the theory the boss is— or was Four, then a version of this terrible fate must play out in every timeline. It can’t just be the Downfall one. Riiight? Right? Or am I thinking too hard. Well.
You have to understand that the doomed timeline has Ganon sealed in the Sacred Realm after the Doomed version of Time fails to take down Ganon.
After his sealing, the Sacred Realm is corrupted and twisted irrovacably until Legend comes and wishes to undo the damage Ganon left behind by the Triforce.
I don't know what happened to Four after his adventures, but if a spirit of him is connected to the Sacred Realm after his death, this corruption could be the catalyst that made Four what he is by the time Legend comes to the Palace and kills him.
Note: Triforce Heroes is still Legend’s adventure— it doesn’t count as an adventure for Silent or Hyrule. They’re companions who occasionally helped out, like Twi in BotW, or Time in TP. Legend did the majority of TH on his own using doppels.
I also freaking love the thought of Legend being forced to communicate in emotes. It probably drives him crazy.
Meanwhile, Silent is calm and efficient (he’s used to limited communication and working with a team), and Hyrule is having the time of his life 😆
Zelda already saw him talk to every animal he came across with a high pitched baby voice and that one time he fell out of a canoe because he fell asleep sitting up and every other thing. its too late.
could be a stand alone comic or be a sequel to this
Happy Valentines Day 💛 An hour after this comic the sea guard of Hyrule discovered a guy delirious from drinking salt water. To this day, Legend doesn't know if this conversation happened or not.
Howdy, LU fandom. I hope you enjoy this resource I put together to help everyone understand how the timeline works, and where our favorite heroes fall in it! SPOILERS AHEAD!
Sorry for the fact that this is broken up into multiple images - there really wasn't a way to upload it to Tumblr otherwise
The Text Version
(Under the cut)
This is a combination of in-game lore, Nintendo’s official timeline from the Hyrule Historia book, various other Nintendo publications/statements, documented Linked Universe lore, and a sprinkling of common theories.
An Important Note: In the Zelda canon, each game features a different Link unless:
It’s a direct sequel
Ocarina of Time is followed by Majora’s Mask
The Wind Waker is followed by Phantom Hourglass
The Legend of Zelda is followed by Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
Breath of the Wild is followed by Tears of the Kingdom
OR Nintendo has explicitly stated that a game features the same Link as another game
Publications attribute A Link to the Past, the Oracle games, and Link’s Awakening to the same Link. Recently Nintendo seems to have gone back on this and is now implying that these are different Links, but most fans still consider these games as having the same Link.
Linked Universe has a few other Links from various games merged together. This is not “Zelda Canon” but is “Linked Universe Canon.”
The Links from The Minish Cap and Four Swords have been merged into a single character
Link from A Link Between Worlds and Tri Force Heroes has been merged with Link from ALttP, the Oracle games, and LA
TIMELINE START
Creation of the world and the Triforce.
The Triforce is entrusted to the goddess Hylia, heralding the Era of Hylia.
Demon King Demise (an evil god) rises and starts a war to take the Triforce and remake the world in his own image.
To protect her people, Hylia sends a piece of the earth up into the sky for them to live on, keeping them safely out of Demise’s reach. She hides the Triforce there as well. This is the beginning of the Sky Era.
Hylia is unable to defeat Demise and instead seals him away temporarily. Knowing that only a mortal can use the Triforce, she resolves to give up her divinity and merge her soul with that of a mortal in the future to finish the job. Her chosen hero, born with the “hero’s spirit”, will also aid her. The original source of the “hero’s spirit” is a mortal man referred to in the fandom as “First Link”, and he’s somewhat of an enigma. He’s not spoken of in any games but is mentioned in other Nintendo publications (including a non-canon manga). A tragic love story between him and Hylia is heavily implied. The prevailing theory is that he died in the war with Demise, and Hylia’s love for him was so great that she hinged her entire plan to defeat Demise on his soul’s eventual rebirth.
The hero’s spirit incarnates as a boy named Link (of course). Based upon an adolescent Link’s growing romantic feelings towards his childhood friend, Zelda, Hylia chooses Zelda as the mortal with whom she will merge her own soul.
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: SKYWARD SWORD (LU Link: The Chosen Hero aka "Sky")
Upon his defeat, Demise vows that an incarnation of his hatred shall ever follow “those who share the blood of the goddess and the spirit of the hero” in an endless cycle. All future Zeldas are descended from this Zelda, and it’s therefore assumed that this Link is their ancestor as well.
Civilization moves back to the surface from the sky. After many years of peace, a group of sorcerers called The Interlopers attempt to seize control of the Triforce, sparking the Era of Chaos.
The Interlopers are banished to the Twilight Realm by the Spirits of Light. This eventually comes back to bite Hyrule, triggering the events of TWILIGHT PRINCESS in the far future.
The Temple of Time is built as a connection to the Spirit Realm, where the Triforce is being kept safe.
The Era of Prosperity begins. The Kingdom of Hyrule is founded, with Zelda’s (and presumably Skyward Sword Link’s) descendants becoming the Royal Family.
Hyrule is attacked by evil beings in the Force Era. The Minish (or Picori) save Hyrule. The Hero of Men (mentioned in the context of legend in THE MINISH CAP) wields the Picori Blade to seal away the evil beings. It is implied that the Hero of Men was likely a Link.
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: THE MINISH CAP (LU Link: Hero of the Four Sword, aka "Four")
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: FOUR SWORDS (LU Link: Hero of the Four Sword, aka "Four")
The Era of the Hero of Time begins with the birth of Ganondorf, the incarnation of Demise’s hatred.
A civil war (unrelated to Ganondorf) erupts in Hyrule. A dying woman flees the chaos and entrusts her infant son, Link, to the Great Deku Tree.
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: OCARINA OF TIME (LU Link: Hero of Time, aka "Time") Three possible outcomes of this game lead to a 3-way timeline divergence.
DOWNFALL TIMELINE
Link falls to Ganondorf. Princess Zelda and the sages manage to seal Ganon away in the Sacred Realm as a last resort (The Imprisoning War). The Sacred Realm becomes tainted and turns into the Dark World.
With Hyrule restored to relative peace, the Era of Dark and Light begins.
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: A LINK TO THE PAST (LU Link: The Hero of Legend aka "Legend")
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: ORACLE OF SEASONS AND THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: ORACLE OF AGES (LU Link: The Hero of Legend aka "Legend"). These games are connected and can be played in either order, hence their shared place in the timeline.
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: LINK’S AWAKENING (LU Link: The Hero of Legend aka "Legend")
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: A LINK BETWEEN WORLDS (LU Link: The Hero of Legend aka "Legend")
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: TRI FORCE HEROES (LU Link: The Hero of Legend aka "Legend”)
Hyrule begins to flourish again, giving rise to The Golden Age.
In a fit of rage, a power-hungry prince has his sister (Princess Zelda) cursed into eternal sleep, marking the beginning of the Era of Decline.
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA (LU Link: Hero of Hyrule aka "Hyrule"). In-game lore implies that this Link may be a descendant of the previous Link.
ZELDA II: THE ADVENTURE OF LINK (LU Link: Hero of Hyrule aka "Hyrule")
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: ECHOES OF WISDOM (Not featured in LU). Note: tentative/approximate timeline placement. Most Zelda fans agree that EoW takes place in the Downfall Timeline, but exactly where is up for debate. The only certainty as far as LU is concerned is that this Link is unique. Jojo has explicitly stated that EoW Link is NOT any of the existing LU Links, and won’t appear in the series.
CHILD TIMELINE
Ganondorf is defeated. Princess Zelda restores Link to his child form and sends him back to “his time”, right before his adventure began. Link, now a child again, goes straight to the King of Hyrule and warns him about Ganondorf, who is thwarted before he even has time to act and is banished to the Twilight Realm. Therefore an alternate timeline is established, and the events of OCARINA OF TIME technically never happen.
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: MAJORA'S MASK (LU Link: Hero of Time, aka "Time")
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: TWILIGHT PRINCESS (LU Link: Hero of Twilight, aka "Twilight"). It is implied that this Link may be a direct descendant of the Link from Ocarina of Time/Majora’s Mask.
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: FOUR SWORDS ADVENTURES (Not featured in LU)
ADULT TIMELINE
Ganondorf is defeated. When Princess Zelda returns Link to his original time, the timeline he left keeps going without him. To the people of this timeline, Ganon was defeated and then Link mysteriously disappeared.
Ganon returns during The Era without a Hero (there was no Link because Zelda sent him back in time to grow up in the Child Timeline… oops). As a last resort, the gods send a great flood to bury all of Hyrule and Ganon with it. Those chosen by the gods to create a new world retreat to live on the mountaintops, which become islands in the wake of the great flood. This sparks The Era of the Great Sea.
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: THE WIND WAKER (LU Link: Hero of the Wind aka "Wind"). It is implied that this Link may be a direct descendant of the Link from The Minish Cap.
The Era of the Great Voyage begins.
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: PHANTOM HOURGLASS (Though it’s universally accepted that this is the same Link as from The Wind Waker since it is a direct sequel, the status of this game in the Linked Universe canon is murky.)
A new continent is discovered, giving rise to the Era of Hyrule’s Rebirth
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: SPIRIT TRACKS (Not featured in Linked Universe)
End of Timeline Divergence.
Hundreds of Thousands of Years Pass…
From this point on, there is a huge timeskip. Nintendo states that the events of previous games have either become mere legends or have been forgotten altogether.
The only thing we know for certain is that the Kingdom of Hyrule eventually falls. It could be possible that it’s rebuilt and falls again several times here. It also seems that most knowledge of the Triforce is lost.
Popular Theory: The events of non-canon Zelda titles (like the cartoon and CDI games) may happen during this era. In particular, THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: HYRULE WARRIORS (LU Link: Hero of Warriors aka "Warriors") is commonly placed here by fans. This game does not have a canon place in the timeline; as a consequence of the War of Eras essentially breaking time itself, the characters of this game are left “outside of time” in their own unconnected timeline, but they had to originate from somewhere to begin with…
Events that take place after this era, according to Nintendo, could take place as a continuation of any of the 3 timelines - which one it is is up to the player’s interpretation. Some contend that it’s possible that the 3 timelines may have actually merged during this period.
TIMELINE RESUME
The Zonai arrive and are widely regarded as gods, heralding the Era of the Zonai. Peace is restored.
The Kingdom of Hyrule is (re)founded by Rauru and Sonia, the “first” King and Queen. Remember, so much time has passed that the Hyrule of previous games has been long forgotten.
The events of the flashback scenes in TEARS OF THE KINGDOM occur. Demon King Ganondorf is sealed away beneath Hyrule Castle during the Imprisoning War. This is a separate Imprisoning War than the one at the beginning of the Downfall Timeline.
During the Era of Calamity, Calamity Ganon torments the people of Hyrule several times. Note that Calamity Ganon is a completely separate entity than the Ganondorf who’s still imprisoned beneath Hyrule Castle. Both are embodiments of Demise’s hatred.
A divine princess and chosen hero (unknown Zelda and Link who are only mentioned in the context of legend in BREATH OF THE WILD) seal away Calamity Ganon with the help of advanced Sheikah technology. It’s theorized in the fandom that this “sealing power” wielded by divine princesses (still the descendants of Zelda from Skyward Sword) is actually the Triforce, and Calamity Ganon is banished to the Sacred Realm/Dark World. However, the people of this era are unfamiliar with what those things actually are.
10,000 years pass as this temporary seal holds, eventually giving way to the Era of the Wild.
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: BREATH OF THE WILD (LU Link: Hero of the Wild aka "Wild")
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: TEARS OF THE KINGDOM (LU Link: Hero of the Wild aka "Wild") Note: in LU canon, events of this game have not happened yet.
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