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Chapters, chapters, who wants some chapters~?

Well too bad. You're only getting one.

Spoiler: Chapter 10: Cause and Effect

The Cave was as cold as ever, making him very grateful for the hot tea and cookies in his hands, not to mention the sweater. Bruce and Jason had been moving very fast apparently, neither of them being anywhere in sight when Sora finished walking down the stairs. He followed their voices to the medbay, taking another sip of tea to ease the sudden chill down his spine.

“Seriously B,” Jason was saying, “Might as well stick a shunt in my arm and be done with it. All this poking is getting annoying.” He nodded in greeting when Sora walked in. He was sitting on one of the beds, sleeve rolled up with Bruce bending over a needle in his arm, the vial attached to it filling with deep red liquid. When the container was full, he pulled the needle out of Jason’s arm and quickly pressed a cotton ball to the small hole in his skin. Jason held it there as Bruce turned to the nearest computer, dropping the sample in for testing. “What’s up Sora?”

“Not much.” He took a bite out of his cookie, demolishing half of it in one go. Once it was safely swallowed, he said, “Just curious.”

“Ah.” Jason jumped off the table, and led him to the computer. “Well, this is one of our diagnostic computers. We can stick pretty much any substance in there and it’ll tell us what it’s made of, what’s wrong with it, and hand out a list of things we can do about it.” He tossed the cotton ball into the garbage and rolled down his sleeve. “Within reason of course. If it’s an unknown substance, it can give us a good guess. We still have to do quite a bit of the leg work to figure what else it is.”

Bruce, his face obscured by the microscope he was looking down, grunted an affirmative. “Which is why I needed another blood sample from Jason. To see if the unknown substance is still there and, if it is, determine what it is.”

“And?” Sora prompted. “Is it still there?”

Bruce spent another moment or two staring down the microscope, eyebrows creeping towards each other until they were almost touching. “Yes.” Finally looking up, his expression was grim. He did not like the idea of some mystery substance swimming around in Jason’s bloodstream. “It keeps vanishing at a rapid pace though.” He had a suspicion of what it was, but he wanted confirmation.

Jason sighed again. “I’ll get a shunt.” If the stuff kept disappearing once it left his body, Bruce would need an almost steady supply to figure out what it was. He would accept a shunt, but he didn’t want a million needle holes in his arm.

While Jason was rummaging in the supply closet, Bruce brought up a recording of the substance, floating around Jason’s red blood cells.

It was like nothing any of them had ever seen; a dark slithery kind of substance that seemed to attach itself to Jason’s red blood cells before breaking apart and forming into an almost symmetrical copy of the cell, losing its shape and dissolving into a liquid-like substance again. Bruce stared at the display, playing, pausing, and rewinding the footage as he observed the strange reaction. This was odd, very odd, and Bruce didn't like his lack of knowledge on the matter at all. This could be a poison, a negative kind of immune reaction to whatever Xehanort had done to his son, or something even more sinister. He had a bad idea that this was the latter.

“Whatever this thing is,” Sora began, “wasn't here until Jason was made into a Heartless right?”

Bruce nodded absentmindedly as he studies the cell’s reactions.

“Well.” Sora said. “I was turned into a Heartless just like Jason was. Could I have the same thing in my blood that Jason has in his?”

That caught Bruce's attention. He swung around in his chair and stared at Sora. “The same process happened to you before?” He asked carefully.

“Well yeah.” Sora said, faltering a little under the man’s intimidating gaze. “It's a long story, but my friend's heart got trapped in me and I had to release it, and the only way to do it was to use a Keyblade and turn myself into a Heartless.”

“You stabbed yourself!?” Came Jason's surprised voice as he popped his head out of the drawer he had been rummaging in.

“Like I said, long story.” Sora shrugged dismissively. “The point is… well, I don't really know about any of this science stuff, but maybe I could be helpful in finding out what is in Jason's blood because of my blood?”

“Hmmmm.” Bruce scratched his chin thoughtfully.

It was something to go off of at least. In any case, he could narrow down his options. “It's worth a try if you're willing to help,” he said finally.

“’Course I am! Just tell me what I have to do!”

Bruce directed him to a bed and told him to roll up his sleeve. He then went through the process of cutting off the arms circulation and then, after disinfecting the spot with alcohol, carefully sticking a needle into the crook of Sora's arm. He flinched slightly – he had never done this before – but otherwise sat patiently through the process. As soon as Bruce had a vial of blood he wasted no time dropping it into the computer’s scanners and analyzing the data.

“Ah, found one!” Jason finally reappeared from the medical cabinet.

He looked from Sora to Bruce, then tossed the supplies on a bed and walked up behind the older man, studying the screens. “Well look at that.” He said roughly, comparing the two videos playing. “You and me match Sora!”

Jumping off the bed, Sora came over to gaze at the screen with the others. He could see the strange substance surrounding his blood cells, taking on the circular shape perfectly before dissolving once again. Sora simply watched, mesmerized. Whatever Jason had, Sora had it too.

“It can't be.” Came Bruce’s astonished voice. Both boys looked down at him. He was again studying blood under a microscope, his face creased with concentration.

“What is it B? Give it to us straight. How long do we have?” Jason joked. But Bruce didn't laugh, just kept peering down at the slide, focusing intensely.

After a couple of seconds the man straightened up. “I'm sorry but I am going to need both of you to stay down here tonight. It is vital that I isolate whatever this foreign matter is and analyze it personally. We can't take any chances.

Jason leaned against the wall huffing while Sora stuck his hands into his hoodie pockets thinking.

“What do you think this stuff in our blood is?” he asked Bruce. “Do you have a theory or something?”

Jason was the one to answer as he shook his head slowly. “He's not gonna tell us anything until he figures out for sure what this stuff is kid. That's just the way he works. Annoying as hell, but not much we can do about it. All that's left is to leave him to it.”

So for the next few hours, Sora and Jason sat on the beds in the med bay, leaning against the cold wall and dozing on and off. Bruce had in fact placed intravenouses in both their arms and was drawing blood regularly. At one point Sora had woken up to see that blankets had been placed on both him and Jason. Definitely Alfred’s doing. He had fallen back asleep, and woke again when something wet touched his face. He blinked and looked up tiredly into the face of the dog Titus. Sniffing and walking around in a circle, Titus plopped down beside Sora who smiled and stroked his warm head. He could hear Damian's voice and assumed he was talking to Bruce. Unfortunately at that point he fell asleep again. It was almost 4 AM, according to the clock on the wall, and it had been quite a long exhausting day.

The third thing that woke him up was hands shaking his shoulders. “Sora, wake up!” That was Dick’s voice. “Bruce says it's important that you get up now!”

Startled but awake, Sora looked around confused. Titus had left, and was curled up on the floor next to Damian who was asleep leaning against a desk. Tim was also there, curled up in a chair and stirring in response to Dick’s grave voice. Bruce was shaking Jason, waking him up too, the latter not being all too happy about it.

“Jesus Bruce. What time is it?” he snapped. Jason had never been a morning person.

“Irrelevant,” the man said mechanically. “You two need to come with me now!”

Halfway through a stretch, he stopped at the man’s tone. “What’s going on?” Sora opened and closed his hand a few times, preparing himself to summon his Keyblade at a moment’s notice.

Instead of answering, Bruce and Dick grabbed the other two’s hands and pulled them towards the main computer. Filling the screen were two side-by-side videos, clearly of blood cells, one labeled “Jason”, the other labeled “Sora”. Sora’s blood hadn’t changed from the time of the first sample. The dark substance, whatever it was, still replicated his cells, then dispersed. However, in Jason’s, the substance was steadily getting more abundant. It copied the cell and then stayed, duplicating itself even as more of the substance copied another cell.

Mouth set in a grim line, Bruce spoke, his level tone betraying none of the dread he had inside. “These are the samples from an hour ago. As you can see, the substance is no longer dissipating, even now that it’s outside of Jason’s bloodstream.” He fiddled with the keyboard, typing a few commands. “This is the only difference I could see in the two samples.”

Sora’s half of the screen zoomed drastically. In between the cells were tiny flecks of light. Whenever the substance tried to replicate a blood cell, the flecks would gather, attacking and dispersing it. Shocked, Sora held up his hands, staring at them as if he could see through the skin, as if he could see the tug-of-war happening in his blood stream. The entire idea made him slightly queasy. Thus far, all Heartless attacks hadn’t really injured him. They were either blunt force trauma or directly affected his heart. If he got stabbed in the chest, he wouldn’t have bled: his heart would have simply flown off into Kingdom Hearts. For some reason, all this talk of blood didn’t sit well with him.

He looked up at Jason, wondering if this was as difficult for his friend as it was for him. Probably not. The Bats seemed… not comfortable with blood (who would be, really), but used to it. However, the look of abject horror on Jason’s face caught him off guard. He was staring at his hands as well, which were threaded with very faint dark lines, following his veins and arteries perfectly.

Bruce, still contemplating the two screens, noticed the second Robin’s unusual silence and turned. His eyes widened at Jason’s expression, then further when he noticed the lines. Before anyone in the room could blink, he had grabbed Jason’s hand and shoved it under a microscope. “Sora. Any ideas why you have these light particles and not Jason?”

Sora sat on the ground, knuckles to his forehead, wracking his brain for anything, anything, that could help. He had been carrying Kairi’s heart and had stabbed himself with the Keyblade of People’s Hearts to release it. Then he had gotten turned into a Heartless, and the light in Kairi’s heart had turned him back when she had hugged him. “Kairi?”

Bruce’s head snapped up, turning immediately to Sora. “Explain. Thoroughly.”

“Kairi is a Princess of Heart. That means that she has no darkness in her heart, none at all. Over a year ago, our island got swallowed by the darkness and Kairi lost her heart. But since it’s impossible for her to turn into a Heartless, it sort of went inside me. I carried it around for a little while, until I used the Keyblade of People’s Hearts to free it. Her heart was returned, but I got turned into a Heartless and then I wandered around Hollow Bastion for a while. I ran into Kairi and she recognized me and hugged me and the light in her heart turned me back.”

Dick’s eyes widened. “Kind of like how I turned Jason back?” Suddenly, the subject of their conversation stiffened, his face contorting in pain. His eyes flickered yellow and back.

Bruce wasted no time. He grabbed Dick, pushing him towards Jason. “Whatever you did last time, do it again.”

Grabbing his brother in a tight hug, he again thought of all the good times he had had with Jason. He closed his eyes, trying to focus. If he had kept them open, he would have noticed a soft light building in between them, and a faint dark cloud floating off of Jason’s skin. The lines on his hands faded, his muscles slowly relaxed. Finally, both light and dark vanished, leaving Jason, for the second time in as many days, passed out in Dick’s arms.

Bruce allowed himself a moment to feel relief, then went back into business mode. He grabbed a spare vial and attached it to the shunt in Jason’s arm, grabbing yet another sample of his blood. He prepared a slide, dropped it on the microscope stand, and stared at it for a long minute. Two pairs of worried eyes bored in to the back of his head until he finally sat back with a sigh. “It’s back to how it was ten hours ago.”

Both Sora and Dick sagged in relief. Dick gazed at the brother sleeping peacefully in his arms. “Now all we have to do is figure out how to stop it from happening again.” He sighed as well, then hefted Jason’s substantial weight in his arms and carried him off to a gurney in the medbay. Tim and Damian had both fallen back to sleep. Dick couldn’t blame them. It had been a long day after all.

Back in front of the computer, Bruce and Sora were staring at the screen, trying to will an answer to appear for them. Venturing a suggestion, Sora said, “Maybe we should give this info to Riku. He might have an idea.”

Batman’s eyes narrowed at the thought of sharing anything before he could figure it out. But he had to admit that this kind of thing was out of his knowledge base (for now), and until he learned more, it might be a good idea to get an expert opinion. Without answering Sora, he opened a link to one of his satellites, searching around until he found the gummi ship’s frequency in orbit above Gotham. He hacked in, the pitiful security giving him no trouble. He edited the file, taking out Jason's name – just because he trusted Sora with that information did not mean he trusted Sora's space friend – and then sent the entire thing over.

~*~​

In the ship, Riku had been napping in his seat, feet propped up on the console. The loud beeping of a received file woke him, startling him out of his chair. He bumped his injured leg on his way back up, but was pleasantly surprised to find that it didn’t hurt anymore. Maybe he was healed! Riku’s happiness at this lasted until he opened the file that had rudely been shoved into his computer.

Uh oh.

~*~​

“Can you hear me Batman?” Came Riku's voice from out of the computer’s speakers.

“Yes.” Batman replied. “I assume you have received the files I have sent?”

“Yeah, I did. And you could have just asked to transmit them instead of hacking my system. But that's not important right now. Do you know what you just sent me?”

“Only partially.” Bruce admitted hesitantly. This was no time for pride. “We know that Sora doesn't seem to be negatively affected by it, while Red Hood lacks whatever is in Sora's blood stream that is showing a resistance to it. But we don't know what this substance is or what it does. I...we were hoping you might be able to assist us with that.”

“I wish I didn't know about it,” Riku's voice was hoarse, “but I have some firsthand experience with it. Not in the same way Hood does, and the information has never been presented to me in this way, but I think I know exactly what is going on.”

Batman stiffened, every fibre of his being focused on the voice vibrating out of the computer. He didn't notice as Alfred seemed to magically appear beside him, placing down a steaming mug of rich coffee.

“It is possible,” Riku began slowly, “to accept total darkness into your heart. To use it to your advantage and turn away from any source of light in the world. By doing this, you can use the darkness to gain amazing powers. But it has a price. Having no light in your heart...well, it's not a nice concept as I'm sure you can imagine.”

Bruce placed both elbows on his desk, leaning further towards the computer and clasping his hands together.

“Most people are always fighting with this darkness and light. It is a normal struggle. But sometimes, people are less immune to darkness then others. It seeks them out, and slowly takes them over.”

There was a pause as Riku studied the information on the screen carefully. “I've never actually seen the existence of darkness presented to me like this before. I knew there was a physical reaction to it, but not at a cellular level. I can only guess that Hood and Sora's hearts, which were unprotected and completely exposed to the world, developed a kind of... I don't know, magnetic quality to darkness. The Keyblades must have something to do with it, because this reaction doesn’t appear in people who have lost their hearts to Heartless. But it looks like the process of releasing someone’s heart with a Keyblade attracts darkness more readily then is the natural process.”

Bruce's head was spinning as he listened to the young man talk. This whole subject was so far out of his understanding, which was unacceptable. But in any case, he needed to focus, to understand what Riku was trying to tell him.

“So what you are saying,” Bruce said slowly, “is that Red Hood is attracting this darkness, and that if it builds up, it will turn him back into a Heartless?”

“Not a Heartless.” Riku corrected. “He will be whole, but it will be up to him to fight his way back out of it. And that... it isn't easy. “

“Can anything be done to negate the effects?” Bruce asked, his calm voice greatly contrasting the emotional turmoil he was experiencing.

“Unfortunately a Princess of Heart like in Sora's case won't work for Hood. Sora's heart was brought back with a heart of complete light. Hood's was not.”

Riku typed on his keyboard surfing quickly through a few files. “I don't know of any other ways.” He said finally. “But I can look for you. I have some contacts I can ask if you want.”

“Yes.” Bruce said quickly. “Whoever you can. Ask anyone who might know something. It is very important!”

“Of course.” Riku agreed. “I'll get back to you as soon as I have any new developments.”

With that the channel closed. Bruce leaned back in his chair, rubbing his face with his hands. He spied the coffee Alfred had left him. It was now lukewarm but still wonderfully inviting as he took a sip.

What a mess Jason was in.

Glancing back Bruce spotted Sora standing a few feet away, looking tired yet alert at the same time.

“Get some sleep.” Bruce said to the kid, standing up. “It's late and we all need the rest.”

Bruce was surprised at his own advice.

Sora nodded and slowly walked over to the medbay, digesting all of the previous conversation as he went. He would rather sleep down here with everyone then trudge back up to his room. He was way too exhausted for that.

Bruce went to sit down in another chair in the med bay close to his boys. There was nothing to it, Riku was much better equipped to research this topic then he was. Bruce was simply out of his element. Jason would just have to deal with Dick and his hugs until they found a solution. Bruce smiled at that. Jason would not be happy. Not a bit. And with that last thought, he settled into his chair, wrapping a warm blanket that had been mysteriously placed around his shoulders, and fell quickly asleep. Despite the caffeine, despite the worry and stress, and despite the enormity of the past day, exhaustion won out.

I do appreciate your point, but the striking contrast Bruce uses in his vernacular just hits me harder. It flows so perfectly with both dialogue and exposition. I'll be sure to check out more of Bruce's work though. What can I say, you've convinced me.

No man, Wayne is the best. Between his line work and his colours, everything is so perfect. Ah, now I'm going to reread more of his stuff, just for the art.

It's a very comprehensive list, but I'm not sure I agree with all of it. I find Bruce's writing to be way more dynamic and lifelike than Bruce's. Although Bruce does have his own merits above the others as well.

As for art, I don't know. Wayne's has always popped to me, but I can see why you would put him below Wayne. It's a bit stylized. Still though, loving your choice for number 1. Wayne is definitely my favourite.

Another day, another chapter. Well. Sort of. Another Tuesday/Friday, another chapter? Yeah, that works.

Spoiler: Chapter 9: Downtime

Slumping to the ground, Nightwing slowly lowered Jason down and took a few steadying breaths. That had been a rattling experience. He had felt the entirety of everything Jason was in the last few seconds; who was struggling fiercely to fight away the darkness and who was holding on to Dick’s heart like a lifeline. Dick had felt Jason’s terror and desperation and determination all mixed into one. It was a unique experience, but he felt the cold terror that was in Jason now in him as well. Losing the light in one’s heart was a fate worse than death. Dick shuddered. Jason needed to be whole again.

“I guess, that is to say...” Tim hesitated as he blinked at the unconscious figure on the ground. “He is safe now right? It's not like he is going to jump up and start killing us? The plan worked?”

Dick nodded wearily as Sora said, “He isn't whole yet, we need to give him back his heart. But the darkness in him is gone at least. Right now he's just a shell with no real feelings or emotions.”

He looked over at Jason. “It's sad really, what a Nobody goes through. Having no heart is like being half a person.”

Memories Roxas had shared with Sora come flooding back to him as he spoke, and he felt the weight of what Red Hood was going through. They needed to make him whole and fix this mess.

As if in response to his thoughts, the heavy footfalls of Batman announced the Dark Knight emerging from his home of shadows. He was walking quickly, aware it seemed that returning Jason’s heart needed to be done as soon as possible. As he came closer, everyone marveled at the way he cradled the ball of light so gently in his huge powerful hands. A strange sight, especially when the man was wearing the cowl. Robin trailed about a foot behind Batman, shaky and obviously exhausted, but on his feet all the same. Weak as he was, his footsteps were as silent as if he weren’t even there. Batman stopped slowly, carefully, next to Sora and looked down at his second eldest son. Jason was pale and uncharacteristically fragile looking where he lay on the cold pavement, sleeping. But he was breathing easily and the rage which seemed to have enveloped his face was gone.

Without taking his gaze off of Jason he murmured roughly “What now Sora? How do we make him Jason again?”

Sora cocked his head to the side considering. “His heart should naturally want to go back to his body now that the two are free. Just let his heart go and it will do the rest I think. “

Batman seemed unsure as he clutched the shining orb closer to his chest.

“Are you entirely sure?” He said. “I refuse to participate in any activity that will further endanger the life of Red Hood.”

Sora had to resist the urge to shake his head in exasperation. The man was just being a worried father or mentor or whatever Batman was to Jason. What Sora didn't know was that he was experiencing the family famed-overprotective – sometimes irrational – habits Batman could display so easily if one of his children were threatened. Red Robin and Nightwing just rolled their eyes knowingly.

“He'll be fine.” the boy replied. “Every heart belongs with its person. I guess if worst comes to worst we can just jump up and grab his heart again right?”

Sora smiled reassuringly at Batman, who seemed to falter. He looked at Red Robin and Nightwing then down at Jason’s heart, before slowly holding out his hands and freeing the glowing orb from his care. It floated there silently in the air for a few seconds as if it was contemplating what to do next while everyone held their breaths. Then slowly, it began to move towards Jason. Sparkles of light trailing after it as it floated down. All eyes were fixated on the glowing ball is it approached Jason’s chest. It seemed to stop for a millisecond before touching the unconscious hero and splitting into a million shards of light. As the brilliant brightness from the exposed heart faded, the silence seemed to press in around the group of anxious onlookers. Jason was lying quite still. Nightwing reached out a tentative hand.

With a jolt Jason bolted up into a sitting position and gasped, causing everyone to jump back, alarmed. He sat there for a few seconds simply breathing and shaking, before blinking in confusion and looking around.

“Are you alright Hood?” asked Batman, who was unable to keep the flooding relief he was experiencing out of his voice. “Do you... remember what happened?”

Jason looked up at Batman for a moment, then seemed to deflate and placed a tired hand to his forehead. “God” he whispered. “That was... that was terrifying.”

Sora watched Jason contemplating all that had just happened to him. He could relate to the man; he remembered all too well what being lost in darkness felt like. First and foremost, it was unbearably lonely.

Suddenly Dick seemed unable to contain himself anymore and leapt forward, enveloping Jason in a bear hug.

“Hey!” Jason spluttered in surprise before Tim overcame his slight hesitation and jumped in to hug his brothers too. Jason fell backwards with their combined weight. Sora smiled and jumped on top of everyone, laughing and effectively turning the hug into a kind of dog pile. Next was Robin who gingerly approached with a look of half amusement half disgust and then seemed to give up and leapt onto Sora. By this point, Jason was gasping for air, laughing with the people who were effectively crushing him. Batman stood off to the side awkwardly until Nightwing jumped up and forced him down. Jason couldn't help it. He was grinning from ear to ear. He loved his family, every last stinking one of them! He began the task of trying to stand up which turned into a frenzy of chaos as his brothers attempted to cling onto him. But in the end he broke free and jumped to his feet, the rest of them following happily.

“Alright!” Jason growled feeling better than he had in months, maybe years. “Let's go beat the crap out of that sad excuse for a villain!”

Batman clapped a hand on Jason’s shoulder, preventing him from doing anything reckless, like jumping through the first Dark Corridor he saw. Holding a hand up to his ear, he asked, “Riku. Is Xehanort still in Gotham?”

There was a sound of keys clicking, followed by a loud crash. Riku’s long suffering voice came through everyone’s comm. “Donald, stop letting Goofy fly the ship. To answer your question Batman, no, he’s not. If he was re-gathering his thirteen darknesses, he probably went back to The World That Never Was.”

Dick sighed. “That is such a long name. Can’t we shorten it?”

“Neverland?” came the helpful suggestion from Tim.

Which Sora immediately vetoed. “Nope, that’s the world where you can fly.”

A growl of frustration sounded through the comm. “No shortening, please. The worlds are named that for a reason.” More keys clicking. “Ok, that’s interesting.” A pause, probably so that someone would ask what. Sora obliged, and Riku went on. “It seems Gotham isn’t always linked to the Corridors. It kind of… jumps, on and off of the darkness.”

“Explain.” Even though Riku couldn’t see the infamous Batglare, he could hear it in the man’s tone of voice.

“Alright, so Gotham, based on the journal entry Jiminy had time to make up at some point, is basically a hotbed of insanity, right? The minds there destabilize everything. Even the connection to other worlds. So even though it’s coated in darkness, the minds in it prevent the Dark Corridors from latching on all the time. If we didn’t have the gummi ship and could physically fly to the world, I don’t think we would be able to get here at all.”

Frustrated, Jason snarled. “So how did Xehanort get here then? If he travels by Dark Corridor, right?”

“Actually,” Sora raised his hand cautiously, “Xehanort got here by Heartless ship. We followed him directly.”

Tim rubbed his eyes. “Fantastic. So Riku, when is the next time the Corridors can attach to Gotham? And can Xehanort get here by ship again?”

“Not now that I’m here. If he approaches the world, I’ll Ultima-G him to bits. That’s a good enough final battle for me. As for the Corridors…” he paused, thinking. “I don’t really know. Not for another day at least. When it does happen though, I can let you know.”

His hand still on Jason’s shoulder, Batman nodded. “Please do.” Cutting out the communication, he called the Batmobile and started pulling his wayward son to the closest street. He motioned for the rest of the boys to follow him, which they did.

“Hey!” Struggling against his grip was futile, but Jason still tried. “B, let go!” The Batmobile pulled up, door opening automatically.

Batman tossed Jason gracelessly into the back seat, then jumped in himself. There was a bit of a scuffle as the other three boys realized that there was only five seats. By the time the Batmobile pulled away from the curb, Tim was in the front seat beside Batman, Sora was in the back between Jason and Dick and Damian was scowling on Dick’s lap.

“Why do I have to sit on Grayson’s lap? This is entirely beneath me!”

Grinning wickedly, Jason addressed the ten-year-old. “Because Dami, my lap is off limits, Batman is driving, Sora is our guest and we don’t want to put him through that and you would have killed Red. Seriously, ‘Wing is the only person in this car you can stand.”

Between them, Sora scrunched up his face, thinking. “So Robin’s name is Dami?”

Silence descended on the car. Every pair of eyes turned towards Batman. He glared at each of them in turn. When they didn’t back down, he sighed. “Fine. But if you make me regret this, I will personally ensure that the rest of your lives are miserable.”

Dick was the first one to stick out his hand. Of course. “Hi Sora! My name’s Dick Grayson! It’s great to finally tell someone!” With his free hand, he pulled off his mask.

After Dick was finished with his overly enthusiastic handshake, Jason put his out, the other cradling his face, elbow resting on the window. “Jason Todd. But you probably figured that out from the way these idiots were shouting it left, right and center.”

“Tim Drake,” reaching back, Tim pulled off his mask as well. “Pleased to formally make your acquaintance.” He shook Sora’s hand warmly.

Next was Damian’s turn. He didn’t stick out his hand, but he did pull off his domino mask. “Damian Wayne. Remember it, for I shall be the next ruler of this world.” He gave off an un-ruler-like squawk as Dick grabbed his wrist and extended it, forcing him to shake hands with Sora.

Batman wouldn’t pull off his cowl until they were safely in the Batcave. “Bruce Wayne. A pleasure.” Sora shook his hand timidly. Even without the cowl, Bruce was intimidating.

“So B, what are we doing back in the Cave anyways?” As soon as the Batmobile pulled up, Jason had sauntered over to the lockers, where he kept his spare equipment. He grabbed out a new helmet and domino mask, as well as two new guns (his old ones had vanished somewhere). Batman didn’t approve of him using guns, but as long as he kept his fatalities within the city at zero, he was allowed to keep a stash here.

Alfred chose this moment to walk in, carrying a large silver tray with enough tea and cookies for everyone. Grabbing a cup, Bruce stated simply “Resting. Riku said it would be another 24 hours until Xehanort could come back. We need to be at our best.”

“Does that mean you actually intend to sleep sir?” Alfred drawled as Dick and Tim grabbed their cups gratefully. “Will the miracles never cease?”

Skillfully ignoring his oldest friend, Bruce continued, “I also want to run some tests Jason. Make sure you’re back to normal.” Jason rolled his eyes. Of course.

Alfred offered his heavily laden tray to Sora as the others ran off to change into “civvies” as Dick put it. “Welcome back Master Sora. As I assume you know everyone else’s identities, I would like to reintroduce myself. I am Alfred Pennyworth, caretaker here at Wayne Manor.”

Sora, unable to shake the butler’s hand while he was carrying the tray, eagerly grabbed a cup and a cookie. “What’s Wayne Manor? I thought this place was called the Batcave.” These were seriously the best cookies he had ever had. He grabbed another one.

Alfred smiled a knowing smile. “Follow me young sir. I shall show you to the room you shall be using for the duration of your visit.” Placing the tray on a table, he preceded the Keyblade Wielder up the stairs…

…and out of a grandfather clock, leading into the most luxurious room Sora had ever seen. If Beast’s Castle hadn’t been in ruins, it might have looked a little like this.

“Whoa!” He said looking around at it all.

He was particularly mesmerized by all the antique items being displayed, and by the strange architecture of the house. This place was super cool.

“Shall we go then?” Alfred asked.

Sora nodded and the two made their way out of the study and into a wide open room that had both a large oak front door and a huge staircase leading up to a second story. Alfred turned and took the staircase while Sora followed, his attention flickering from furniture to pictures to architecture. They reached the landing, passed a few doors, turned left, and walked forward a few more paces. Finally, they arrived at what was supposedly the room Sora was to stay in. Alfred opened the door for him courteously and with a quick thank you Sora stepped forward, eager to see what awaited him inside.

The room was spacious, with rich dark wood flooring and a huge four poster bed in the far right corner. Light shone in lazily from two high windows on the far side of the room, and a screen was mounted on the wall facing the bed. A metal and glass desk took up the closest corner, along with a dresser and a comfortable looking arm chair. Two other doors lead into a closet and bathroom on the remaining wall. The overall effect was a very neat and modern feel.

“Dinner shall be ready in about 20 minutes Master Sora.” The butler said as he smiled down at the excited boy marveling at his new surroundings. “If you need anything do feel free to call. I shall be in the kitchen if you need me. Do come down when you are settled. The rest of the Wayne household will be there as well.”

“Okay Alfred, and thanks!” Sora called as the butler walked back down the hall.

After lying on his bed for a few minutes and taking in everything that had happened to him in the past few hours, Sora got bored and began to explore his room. The dresser had more spare clothes, and Sora found a hoodie with a large S symbol that he liked and decided to put on. He discovered that the TV had a lot of interesting things on it, but he got weirded out by a show about talking ponies. He wasn't sure why though. Atlantica was almost as strange. After splashing some cool water on his face, Sora was itching to go down and see the others. The tantalizing aroma of what he assumed was Alfred's cooking was making its way through the huge house and Sora noticed just how hungry he was.

He left his room and began wandering down the hall following the smell before he ran into a problem. He had no clue where the kitchen was. He couldn't just follow his nose because by this time Alfred’s cooking had permeated the entire house. Sora decided it was more likely to be coming from downstairs and headed in that direction. The only problem was when he reached where he thought the stairs should be, they weren’t there. Sora blinked and looked around. If only he had had a map! How could he get lost in a house? He backtracked to where he thought his room was, but couldn't remember which door was his. Didn't matter though. He reasoned he had just come the opposite way when he left originally. He turned right and started walking, but when he came to a hallway where he could turn either left or right he was totally and utterly confused.

“You are so lost.”

Whirling around, Sora saw Damian leaning on a door frame and smirking at the indignant look on his face.

“Am not!” Sora countered before he really thought. “I'm just...exploring is all.”

“Tt, you are an awful liar, spiky head.” Damian drawled. “You really are quite horrible at keeping a straight face.”

Moaning, Sora admitted defeat and walked towards the youngest bat. “Riku and Kairi used to say that all the time.” He muttered.

Damian started and the slightest trace of a grin flashed across his face when Sora turned towards him, but seemed to catch himself and asked “This Kairi must be another friend of yours?”

Sora nodded. “So, um, could you show me where the kitchen is? Alfred said to be there but I have no clue where it is.”

“Such remedial tasks are beneath me.” Damian sighed. “However, I believe father would wish for me to help a guest. Very well, follow me.”

The two boys made their way through a maze of twists and turns before finally reaching the stairs. They appeared on the left side of the staircase, opposite from the side which Sora had originally come with Alfred. He had no clue how he had accomplished getting that lost. They had just made it to the main lobby when a bark broke Sora’s train of thought. He turned just in time to see a huge dog come hurtling towards them. A massive, enormous, slightly terrifying dog! Sora thought the thing was going to run him over – or eat him – but it swept by him and jumped up to lick Damian's face! To Sora's astonishment the boy smiled.

“Okay Titus, get off!” He said pushing the dog away.

It immediately dropped down and wandered over to sniff Sora quickly before replacing its self at Damian's side.

“This is Titus.” The boy said simply, offering no other explanation, before they began to walk again. When they reached the dining room, Bruce, Jason, Dick, and Tim were already there. Dick raised his eyebrows and grinned at them as they walked in. “You’re lucky.” He chuckled. “Another minute and you would have been late. And Alfred does not like it when we’re late.”

The others around the table shifted uncomfortably. Even Bruce, who looked up and caught sight of Sora's hoodie.

When an oh-so-familiar confused expression crossed Sora’s face, Tim leaned in conspiratorially, “Alfred gets rather creative with punishments. It’s not outright, but after making him mad, things start happening and they’re never pleasant. We can’t ever prove it was him either.”

Damian nodded. “When I first arrived, I lopped off the tops of most of the trees outside. For training purposes, of course. Immediately after, most of my katanas and throwing daggers blunted themselves.” For once, he didn’t seem arrogant or pretentious, simply resigned. “I spent four hours resharpening them, and then when I turned my back, they had blunted again.”

Sora paled at the prospect. It seemed like a minor thing, but frightening all the same. As he sat down, he noticed Bruce staring at his sweater with a slightly disturbed look on his face. Suddenly it occurred to him: what if he wasn’t allowed to wear the sweater? It had been in the guest closet, so he had thought it would be ok, but what if it had been a gift for someone or if the last person to stay there had forgotten it? Flustered, he was about to blurt out an apology when Bruce turned his gaze to Dick.

“I thought you had gotten rid of that.” His tone was flat, but almost disapproving.

Dick, so far successfully avoiding his father’s gaze, grinned sheepishly. “Nope. I probably won’t either. It’s too much fun! Besides, it was a gift. It would be rude to throw it away.” He turned to look at Sora, his grin evolving into a warm smile. “Looks good on you Sora. Warm enough?”

So he was allowed to wear the sweater. Ok! “Yup! Is there something wrong with it though? Why would you need to get rid of it?”

“That’s a Superman sweater. Just like how Batman has the Batsymbol on his chest, Superman has that one.” Dick’s tone didn’t convey much, but his eyes glinted mischievously. “It was a gag gift for Bruce a few Christmases ago. Not sure if he’s ever worn it though.”

“Nope, but pretty much everyone else has.” Joining in, Tim’s eyes had the same glint. “It bothers the Big Bad Bat quite a bit.”

Sora was about to ask why, when Alfred walked in, bearing the most delicious smelling things that had ever graced his nose. The dished landed on the table, and everyone helped themselves. Dinner passed mostly in silence, small snippets of conversation about mostly nothing filling the air. After all the plates were clean, Alfred came in again with a pot of tea and a large plate filled with cookies. The group headed to the parlor to enjoy them. The nothing-conversation continued, until a small beeping in Bruce’s pocket interrupted them.

He fished out a small tablet, glaring at the screen. Jason, who had a good idea what it was, glared at Bruce, willing him to react, give him some idea of good news or bad news. Finally, he broke down and asked “Well? Am I good to go or what?”

Jolted out of his thoughts, Bruce glanced up at his son, sometimes ally, sometimes enemy, and said cautiously, “It seems like you’re back to normal. There was some residual substance in your blood samples early in the testing, but they disappeared about half way through. Presumably, the same happened with the substance still in your body.” He paused, Bat paranoia screaming at him. “Just in case, I’d like to take a fresh sample. Knowing what I’m looking for, it won’t take as long this time.”

Sighing, Jason sat back in his seat. He’d had a feeling that was coming. “Fine.” He grabbed the last three cookies off of the plate, glaring at his brother’s small cries of outrage. “Hey, I’m losing a lot of blood here. I need the sugar.”

He was saved from fratricide by Alfred’s once again timely arrival, bringing another pot of tea and a steaming pile of fresh cookies. Jason grabbed another three, then followed Bruce down to the Cave. After a moment of deliberation, Sora grabbed a stack of treats for himself, then followed.

Bam. Chapter. Whaaaat?