DP X DC - A Child of Misplaced Time
Ever since Danny became king, he has slowly come to realize that he isn’t aging like the others; he hasn’t hit his growth spurt, his voice hasn’t dropped, and the natural changes that his body should have, never happened. At first, he didn’t want to believe it, but after a few years, it became undeniable that he hadn’t aged at all. It hurt, but after a while (and after everyone had confirmed that they would still be with him and love him all the same), he came to accept that he wouldn’t grow old with his friends or even have a family of his own, but this didn’t stop him. When Sam, Tucker, and Jazz had kids of their own, they always made sure that Danny was involved with their kids' lives, from their baby phase to teenage angst, and ultimately, when they had kids of their own. He stayed until they too passed before he decided to live within the Infinite Realm after burying another child (they died when they were 98 years old, but he still saw them as his child).
The move was different; it was a lot noisier than expected, and people were running around with things to do, but with so little time, even though time was irrelevant. He took his duty as king seriously, ensuring that the balance between the living and the dead was at equilibrium and no one was trying to manipulate the two worlds. He didn’t think that would be his main problem when he first sat down, but he quickly realized this was an everyday occurrence; so much so that some worlds have been marked as a danger and are in need of supervision by an Ancient or to be wiped out entirely.
Everything was going well until some of the Ancients were noticing some of his decision-making with the worlds. At first, Danny would try so hard to help the other worlds to get out of the danger zone, but after a few hundred years, the desire to ‘help’ the worlds diminished to, ‘Do they really need saving?’ It became clear that his compassion for the living had slowly started to fade, and the empathy for their plight went in one ear and out the other. Some believed that the strong resolve the King is showing is good, but Clockwork didn’t see the same thing; he saw history repeating itself, not with a desire to rule the world, but with plans that would enslave the world into following a strict routine that wouldn’t even be called living. Something had to change.
So one day, Clockwork, Frostbite, Pandora, and a few others decided that ‘the king needs a vacation’, so they managed to convince their king to leave for a few decades to relax, maybe to find himself along the way. Clockwork already had a world where he could go and be a normal kid, and to grow up safely; Frostbite even mentioned that ‘being in the realms for too long was doing some harm to his human side, and he needed to care for both sides.’
So Danny left, he was reborn as a baby and carried on with his life, not as a ghost or king, but as a mortal child, surrounded by love and care. He remembered the beauty of being alive, what it meant to be human, and not having people consistently put pressure on him to be great or to save a whole world that won’t appreciate his sacrifices or pain. He got to be normal, something that he never got to have in his first life.
And then he died.
He died young, at the age of 14, from an accident that wasn’t anyone's fault; he was just at the wrong place and at the wrong time. When he arrived back at the Realms, he joked that he died at the same age and time as his first life, but commented that he had fun and felt well rested. Although the Ancients wanted him to have a longer life, they were happy to see that the old Danny was back, still carrying the same amount of care for the living as he had for the dead. So now, every few hundred years, they would send Danny away for a vacation into the human world, and then he would come back feeling replenished and start picking up his Kingly duties with a steel resolve.
But after his third vacation, Clockwork noticed something was wrong. It wasn’t unusual for some things not to go the way they’ve planned, and although it is rare, it happens. Danny’s second death (his first vacation) was an accident that could have happened, then his third death (second vacation), where again, he died at the age of 14 due to an illness that had a small possibility of him surviving; but his fourth death (his third vacation), he died at the age of 14 due to poisoning. His death has always been at the age of 14, never older and never younger, like he couldn’t physically survive past that age. That is when Clockwork started looking into it and found out that Danny’s time is warped; ever since his first death, something had shifted while he was being electrocuted and revived at the same time, forcing a permanent mark on his soul. Nothing could change this, which saddened the Ancient, but Danny didn’t mind the time limit; actually, he was grateful because he would have felt even worse if he had a child and died before preparing them for the world ahead, the worry would have eaten him (un)alive.
For eons, whenever Danny went on vacation, he would return glowing and have a better perspective on things, from understanding different people and how they preserve their own emotions or actions, to witnessing battles and fights in a different light and finding a different outcome. These things made him a better king, and when he is reborn into another life, he will have become a great son and friend. Every vacation Danny has taken so far, he has always played a small part in a larger scene: a best friend to a neighborhood hero, a younger brother to an innocent boy who was destined for pain, and a son to a villain who would have given the world to him. He was never the hero, always the side character, but he made sure to leave an everlasting mark for them, something that would shift the world back into orbit instead of its destruction. Manipulative? Maybe, but his heart is true when he is with them, even with the limited time, he loves them all.
Everything was going smoothly until his latest rebirth.
The world he was meant to go to was destroyed sooner than anyone thought, which began the problem. Danny was already in his ‘birthing’ phase, so they needed to find another world that would work; somewhere where he is protected and loved, where he can live a good life without having to become a hero again; so they picked the closest, similar universe. Everything would happen the same way as the other world, same heroes and villains, same deaths and births, same pain and healing; the only difference here? Danny wasn’t conceived.
So instead of a baby being welcomed into the world, Danny was placed in a dirty alley, crying because he was cold and hungry. Thankfully, he was found by an old gentleman butler, who happened to be shopping when his car suddenly broke down, and happened to hear the cries when the city suddenly started to quiet down, and luckily enough to spot the bundle thanks to a white cat that seemed to be licking the babe’s face in a comforting way.
Alfred didn’t know why, but the moment he picked up that infant and saw the ocean blue eyes, the ones that seemed to be longing for something, he couldn’t help but take the child with him back to the manor. There was something about the child that seemed so familiar to him, but it was enough to ask Tim, who was home due to a broken rib, to do a DNA test on the child and fast. The outcome: the baby was 100% Bruce’s, but more shockingly, also Salina’s.
Bruce and Salina have been in an ‘on-again-off-again’ sort of relationship, not fully committed to one another, but not outright single; it's complicated. But what isn’t complicated is the fact that Selina was never pregnant, and they would know this because they have been seeing her jumping around Gotham. The last time Alfred saw Salina was about a month ago, when she came to a Gala as a plus-one for Bruce, wearing an elegant black cocktail dress that showed every curve of her body, yet there was not a baby bump in sight.
Tim had double-checked a few more times and tested to see if maybe, just maybe, the baby was a clone or something, but all of them showed that the baby is biologically Bruce’s and Selina’s with no added genetics.
So they called the couple in, along with the family, and showed the child. At first, people cooed over the baby, Cass signing if this could be their new baby brother, while Dick tried doing peek-a-boo to get the babe to smile. Damian rolled his eyes and stated something about ‘another stray’, but they saw more gentleness within his eyes than anyone in the room, Jason’s a close second, but instead of his normal, quiet demeanor, he wanted to hold the baby and tried to convince Alfred that he would be careful, but Alfred didn’t move. Bruce and Selina sat on the couch together, watching everyone become love-struck over the sleeping baby in Alfred’s arms, wondering why everyone was calling in and who the baby was. Tim coughed to get everyone's attention, motioning them to sit down as he held a folder that may or may not explode his family and their dynamic.
When everyone sat down, Alfred decided to be the one to rip the band-aid before Tim started having a panic attack, “First of all, Congratulations, Master Bruce, Mistress Selina, to your new, healthy baby boy!” he said excitedly. Everyone was silent and motionless for a few seconds before screaming out in shock, making the baby shift and start crying at all the loud noises.
“What do you mean? When did this happen? How did it happen!?” Bruce yelled, looking to Selina, who was just as confused, and then back to Alfred, who was trying to rock the baby.
Tim handed him the file, and Bruce immediately looked over it; even Selina looked over his shoulder to see how she could have a baby without knowing. Everything pointed to them being parents, but it also showed that neither Bruce provided any sperm nor Selina giving her eggs. Then, Tim handed them a note, something that Alfred found when he went to change the baby’s diaper; it was written in Bruce's handwriting, stating everything they needed to know. The baby’s name is Danny Thomas Wayne. Bruce and Selina are the parents; they have been married for a few years, and Danny is their miracle baby, and he deserves to live and be loved. The note had mentioned that their world was ending, and Danny had just been born within the chaos, and with the last of the JL members, he managed to send his son away and hoped, prayed even, that his last surviving son could get the chance to live.
Bruce started crying; he felt the pain that was written on that paper, and the silent prayer that weighed heavily within his hands. Selina held Bruce close, crying along with him as the note started getting shared around, and everyone’s expressions fell; it told just enough for them to know, although not much, it was enough. So after everyone calmed down and wiped their tears, Alfred handed the baby, Danny, to Bruce; helped him adjust Danny just right so he wouldn’t fuss, and they watched Bruce smile so gently as Selina cooed at their son, promising him to give him everything twice as much for not only them, but the other Bat family too.
That is how Danny got his new life within the Wayne family. He brought light back to the manor, running around when Dick, Jason, and Damian were playing with him, cuddled with Tim until they fell asleep, and Danny would babble to Alfred whenever they went about with their shopping. Bruce and Selina’s relationship was still the same, but now their commitment was fully focused on Danny, spoiling him whenever they could and just letting him know that he is loved.
Danny, on the other hand, has been fully aware of what is going on and is loving every bit of it. He does feel bad for them because he knows that he will die, and nothing is going to stop that (he tried a few times, but nothing changed). But hey, Danny will make a big show of it, be pitiful and weak, maybe sacrifice himself at the end so he can die a pretty and tragic. Of course, he will make sure that they can still keep going on after his death, make it meaningful, and maybe make them promise to scatter his ashes in space.
What Danny didn’t know was that his family would do anything for him. Not by gifting him things, but they would try to bend reality itself if it meant keeping Danny with them. When JLD members checked Danny over, they found he had warped time, and that Danny might not live long enough to be an adult, or even start high school, this made the Wayne family heart break, but demanged and away to change his fate, because they have beaten the odds before, they can do it again, no matter how long it took. They placed contingency plans in case anything would happen; from world galaxy ending scenarios, to interdimensional collapses. They would do anything for Danny.
Clockwork, on the other hand, is a bit anxious. On one hand, Danny might get the chance to actually live life to the fullest, but on the other hand, there is a possibility that their king might not come back. For once, the future is unclear.
