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Part 4 of where have you buried all your children?
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2025-09-13
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2,058
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like your heart that was so eager to be hid

Summary:

Danny didn't know where he ended up after flying off to cool down after a fight with Sam, but he should really figure out what city he's in.

Damian catches a glimpse of those bright blue eyes out of the corner of his eye, and he calls Oracle to start a manhunt for his no-longer dead brother.

 

Or, the boys finally meet again!!

Title from Harpy Hare by Yaelokre like always

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Work Text:

A glimpse of those blue eyes in the corner of his vision, and Damian was sharply turning with a choked off inhale.

 

There was nobody there.

 

He had not imagined it, he knew it. He had never been prone to hallucinations, and he surely would have noticed if he had been dosed with something.

 

Danyal had always had these bright blue eyes, like nothing else Damian had ever seen. And he had seen those eyes out of the corner of his sight. But… Danyal was dead. There was no way he had survived grandfather's actions.

 

Had he perhaps been resurrected during one of the mass resurrections? Why had he not come home?

 

Damian would find him and pull the answers out of him even if he had to pry them out of his throat. 

 

He tugged his phone out of his pocket, muttering curses when he struggled to get it out, and pulled up his contacts. “Barbara, I require assistance.”

 

There was a short pause, then, “Sure, what's up, Baby Bat? What's wrong?”

 

“Please pull up the footage of my immediate surroundings from the past few minutes.” Damian took in a deep breath. “Specifically everything to the left side of how I am facing now.”

 

“Can do.” Barbara's voice became serious, focused. “Any idea what I'm looking for?”

 

Damian didn't move his torso, so that Barbara could still tell which direction he had been talking about, but he scanned the streets with a deadly precision. “Blue eyes. Hopefully a young boy with dark hair and light brown skin. Scar on the left side of his bottom lip from splitting it too many times. Likely a similar height to me, though perhaps a bit taller or shorter.”

 

Barbara audibly paused her clacking at the keyboard. 

 

“Do you know this person?” She asked cautiously. “That's too specific for you to not, who are they?”

 

Damian willed his eyes not to water, but they ignored his order. “Danyal, my twin brother.”

 

Barbara inhaled sharply. “Damian…”

 

“I know what I saw, Barbara. I did not imagine it.” Damian said sharply. Then his voice weakened, grew softer. “I would know those eyes anywhere.”

 

There was a sigh. “Alright. I'll do my best to find him. But,” and here she paused, to emphasize her point. “I make no promises. He might just not want to be found.”

 

Damian’s grip tightened on his phone, and he gritted his teeth. “I will not accept that unless he will tell me to my face that he does not want to see me. We are brothers. I will accept nothing less.”

 

 

Danny didn't know where he was.

 

It had been a long week, back to back fights every day, and he was sick and tired of it.

 

He had missed more of his classes this week than he had gone to, and the principal had called his parents down to the school to “talk”. Then they had given him shit for taking them away from their work, and had grounded him.

 

Not that it would do much, since they never paid enough attention to him to enforce it, but their disappointed and irritated faces had made his core ache in his chest.

 

On top of that, Tucker was constantly irritated since his glasses had broken and he hadn't been able to have them replaced yet, so he had to use an older pair with the wrong prescription, which gave him headaches. The irritation also made him not really want to be around people a lot, so Danny couldn't even hang out with his friend.

 

He had gotten into a screaming match with Sam after this latest ghost fight, and Jazz had told him to go for a fly to blow off some steam. He had taken off in a random direction, and had gotten so distracted watching the stars and the sunrise over the ocean that he hadn't even realized how far he had gone.

 

And now he was lost. And he had forgotten his phone at home.

 

At least it was the weekend, so he didn't have to worry about missing more school.

 

Danny had dropped down into the shit-hole of a city he had been closest to, the one with the great view of the sunrise, and tried to figure out where he was. And, more importantly, how to get home.

 

He had been wandering the city for hours, too embarrassed and wary to ask for any help, but he hadn’t been able to figure out where he was. Likely because he hadn't asked.

 

Sighing, Danny finally decided to throw in the towel and ask someone at least what city he was in.

 

“Excuse me,” Danny said, waving slightly at a black-haired man, maybe mid twenties, who was walking his – adorable – three-legged dog. No response. Louder, Danny repeated himself. “Excuse me.”

 

The man turned to him and pulled an airpod out of his ear, then smiled a cheery, dimpled grin. “What are you doing out here, Baby Bat?”

 

Danny balked, then chose to ignore that. Maybe it was normal for random men to nickname you in this place. He ignored the small part of his brain that screamed in a familiar voice about the sons of the bat. This was completely unrelated. This man had no idea what those words meant to Danny.

 

“Uh, I was wondering if you could tell me what city I'm in, please.”

 

The man just blinked at him. “Gotham? Obviously? Dami, did you hit your head?”

 

Danny froze. Why did this man know Danny's nickname for his twin? Where the hell had he heard it? Danny absently fended off the man's hands as they tried to latch onto his head and examine it. He was in Gotham. Home of the bat. He was in Batman's territory.

 

Fuck.

 

Danny took a step back, ignoring the man's concerned call of, “Dami–”

 

He ran.

 

 

Damian had decided to search the city himself while Barbara searched the cameras. He picked a likely direction and began to walk, eyes narrowed slightly as he stared hard at his surroundings.

 

“Ugh, how the hell is this kid evading cameras so damn well!” Barbara fumed over the comms – disguised as a wireless earbud – that Damian had slipped into his ear. He needed to have his hands free in case he found Danyal and he tried to run.

 

“We were taught how to do so from a very young age, so it is not so surprising.” Damian was glad that the streets were rather empty for a Saturday, as it made it easier for him to scrutinize every person that he saw.

 

“Yeah, well, sometimes I wish you weren't.” Barbara sighed. “And the cameras that do catch him go all glitchy and fuzzy. There's something off here.”

 

Damian's heart sank to his gut. “Do you believe that this is an imposter?”

 

Barbara hummed. “Well, I think you have to prepare yourself for the possibility, Baby Bat.”

 

Damian scowled, his brows drawn together in a scrunch that was absolutely not adorable, shut up, Richard!

 

“I do not want this to be an imposter,” Damian admitted softly. “I want this to be my brother.”

 

“Yeah, kid. I don't want him to be an imposter either.”

 

Damian closed his eyes for a second, took in a breath, and pulled out his phone with the family chat.

 

 

(Dami)

This is a call to arms, I will need assistance scouring the city in search of someone.

 

(Dickie)

Who're u looking for bb bat?

 

(Timmy)

Yeah, demon brat, what's so important that you'd call for a full-on manhunt?

 

(Dami)

My potentially resurrected twin brother.

 

(Brucie)

What.

 

(Timmy)

Is he not .. dead?

 

(Dickie)

Wait so that kid i ran into just now wasn't u??!??

 

(Jayjay)

Damn, nother dead-not-really-dead kid in the fam

Aight

 

(Dami)

Richard, you have seen him?!

 

(Timmy)

Wait so you're dead brother is like, actually alive again? Like for real?

 

(Dickie)

I think so Dami

I didn't even realize

The two of you look so similar

 

(Brucie)

Where did you see him.

 

(Stephie)

Wait, when the fuck did the kid get revived? Why am I only hearing about this just now?

 

(Dami)

Because we only learned about it “just now”, Stephanie, try to keep up.

 

(Stephie)

Okay, I'm choosing to ignore that because I know you're stressed to hell and back rn but know that I don't appreciate it

 

(Dickie)

I was walking Haley when I ran into him. Normal route, almost at the coffee shop on third when he caught my attention to ask what city he was in. He ran off to the north, but I lost him pretty fast in the maze of streets this area has, since I didn't give chase.

 

(Timmy)

Got it, omw to that area.

 

(Jayjay)

I'll be there in about ten minutes

 

(Dami)

Thank you, Richard.

 

(Brucie)

On my way.

 

(Stephie)

I'll be there

 

 

Damian put his phone away and started speed walking towards the location Dick had shared. His heart quickened as his mind raced. What if this was his brother? What if it wasn't? He didn't know what he would do.

 

The siblings met up briefly in front of the cafe, and split into different routes to scour the whole area more effectively. Damian struggled not to run to his own area to search, knowing it could only scare off Danyal.

 

Dead ends and goose chases and false leads and Damian could feel himself losing hope. He whined, high pitched and miserable, and caught up handfuls of his hair and tugged at them. The pain was grounding in a way, familiar. He knew Dick would scold him for hurting himself, though, so he let his grip fail and his hands fall back to his sides.

 

Oracle still hadn't caught sight of him on any cameras. It was disappointing, but unsurprising. They had been trained, far more stick than carrot, to always avoid cameras. Damian would do it, habitually, even and especially when he was injured or otherwise impaired. It stood to reason that Danyal had likely avoided them as well, more of habit than anything. He likely did not even know that he was being tracked down.

 

An hour passed, then two. Hope was failing him, and crowds were beginning to fill the streets with people who had places they needed to get to.

 

A loud curse echoed from an alleyway to Damian left, and he hesitantly poked his head around the edge, hand creeping towards his hidden dagger.

 

His heart stopped. It restarted. His vision blurred. His hands shook as he lunged forward and tackled his brother to the ground. Danyal grunted and tried to throw him off, but paused when he got a good look at his face, and his eyes took on a haunted look as he wrapped his own arms around Damian.

 

Damian whimpered, clutching Danyal like he would disappear. Damian would make sure he could never disappear again. He didn't know if he would survive it a second time.

 

They stayed like that, wrapped in each other's arms, sitting on the dirty, hard cement, cold leeching through their pants, until long after their butts had gone numb. Damian finally pulled away enough the cradle Danyal’s face with his hands, and he asked the question that had been burning in his mind for the past several minutes.

 

“Why were you cursing?” Damian asked, voice congested as his nose and eyes ran.

 

Danyal huffed, embarrassed. “I kicked the dumpster trying to climb on top of it,” he admitted.

 

And Damian… Damian couldn't help but laugh. He laughed and laughed and laughed, burying his face into Danyal's neck as he thanked every god he could think of for letting his brother hurt his foot to let Damian find him.

 

Soon, Damian’s laughter turned back into sobs, and Danyal rubbed a hand soothingly up and down his back, making a shushing noise that reminded Damian painfully of Dick.

 

He should really text Dick and the others that the search was over.

 

…

 

It could wait.

 

Damian pressed his forehead harder into Danyal's shoulder. “I love you,” he whispered, so quietly that he was scared that Danyal wouldn't hear him, that his message would get lost to the wind. Still, he continued, “I missed you.”

 

Danyal's breath hitched, and sobs began to stack his body, still pressed so tightly to Damian's. “I love you, too.”

Notes:

Danny, lost: 🚶
Damian: 👀 😱 🤯 👈 🤯 😭 😭

Danny: 👋 🫤
Dick: 👋 😁 🚼 🦇
Danny: 🤨 🙅 👎 🏃💨

Damian, via text: "my dead bro is alive. Send help."
Bats: 🤯 😱 🤨 🫥 🤖 👀

Danny, fucks his foot up: 🤬 😭 ❗
Damian: 👀

Danny: 😭 🫂
Dami: 😭 🫂

The bats, who don't know Dami found him: 👀 👁️ 🕵️ 🕵️‍♀️ 🕵️‍♂️ 🔍

 

Thanks for reading! Drink water and eat food and try not to fall into a depressive spiral, even if it's hard. 🌬️ 🌴 🍃 🥥 🧍🎯 😱 🤯 🤕 😭

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