Chapter Text
Dan spoke into the quiet, voice thick with guilt.
“One.”
Tim let out a breath, squeezing his eyes shut, letting himself take just a single moment as the other two siblings protested.
“Only one of us?”
“Are you sure? What if- maybe if we took more breaks, or- or snuck around for some of it? Surely, we don’t need to be in the shadows the whole time, right?”
“Or- or! What if we, like, did multiple trips? We’ve still got time before Pariah comes back, right? That could work!”
Tim pushed of the wall and made his way quietly over to the desk in the corner of the room, exchanging a look with Val, who had stationed herself by the window.
“If it comes to it, I’ll stay behind. We know that he probably won’t kill me, at least.”
He dug around, pulling out a blank sheet of parchment, as well as a quill and some ink.
He stared at the page for a long second, quill posed over it until a drop on ink dripped off the nib, shaking him from his reverie. He started to write.
“Danny, no! You’re the one he wants, we have to get you out, or what’s the point!”
Just a few short sentences. He couldn’t write everything he wanted, he could fill entire books and still not have enough. But without that he couldn’t think of what to say.
“The point is to get you somewhere you can be safe! It’s my fault you guys are here, I can’t abandon you to Pariah while I run off to save my own skin.”
Tim stared at the note for a long moment.
Added a final sentence.
Signed his name.
“That’s not true, you know it isn’t. None of this is your fault, you didn’t ask for any of this. You can’t blame yourself for what Pariah’s done.”
He folded the page and carefully dripped some wax from Jazz’s candle onto the overlap. He pressed the ring he still wore on his little finger, the last connection he had to house Drake, into the still warm wax, sealing it.
“So, I should just leave you behind?! Jazz, you know what he’ll do to you! I can’t- I have to get you all out, I have to. There has to be a way for all of you to be safe!”
Danny’s voice rose even further than it already had as Tim was addressing the letter, and he finally looked over. Jazz and Danny were standing now, both of their eyes red with tears waiting to fall. Danny looked ready to start tearing his hair out, harried and frantic.
“I’m sorry.” Dan whispered from where he was still seated, his face a rictus of misery as he looked between them. His brother and sister turned back to towards him, each opening their mouth to no doubt console him, but Tim spoke before they could.
“Don’t be.”
His voice wasn’t loud, but it cut through the air. The three siblings, and Val, whose attention on him had never wavered, turned to look at him as he carefully picked up the letter and turned to face the room again.
“Don’t be sorry,” He repeated, trying to offer a sympathetic look to Dan. He didn’t know how well it came across. He felt like his emotions had all been locked behind a solid wall of ice.
“It’s not your fault.” He continued, “You’ve been held captive by Pariah for almost three years. Locked in a cell, cut off from your powers. They’ve been practically starving you as well, haven’t they?”
Jazz and Danny, obviously unaware of this little tidbit, whipped around to stare at Dan, who just looked shocked.
“How did you…”
Tim smiled sadly.
“I have a brother, Jason. His build is very similar to yours. I don’t know exactly what you looked like before Pariah got you, and from the sounds of it, Danny would have been too out of it to remember the details, but your shoulders are far too wide for the amount of bulk you have left. Beyond that, I can see the hollows under your collarbones and your cheek bones are starting to stand out. I bet that if you took your shirt off, I could count every single one of your ribs.”
Dan looked away, refusing to meet either Danny’s or Jazz’s horrified looks. It was as good as confirmation. Tim sighed, before continuing.
“I asked you to use a huge chunk of power knocking out those wards and then expected you to carry all of us out of here when you barely have enough energy to keep the meat on your bones. I’m sorry, I should have considered that, should have come up with a better plan, shouldn’t have put all the weight on you. That’s my fault, and I apologise.”
“I…” Dan stared at him, a horribly vulnerable expression on his face that didn’t suit him. Like he was shocked at not being forced to shoulder the weight Tim’s own failures. When a few more seconds passed without him speaking, Tim turned to Jazz and stepped forward, offering the letter.
“I know it’s a lot to ask, but if you can, please try and get this to Gotham.”
Jazz looked down at the letter, then back at his face with dawning horror.
“Wait-”
“Even if you can just get it to the border.” Tim continued, relentlessly, steeling himself against her expression. “It has my seal, that should be enough for the guards to send it on to the capital.”
“Tim, no!” Jazz exclaimed, shaking her head desperately and reaching out to grab his hand between hers. “I can’t leave you behind! You deserve to get out of here, to deliver this to them yourself.”
Tim shook his head, eyes stubbornly focused on the wall. He could still see the tears welling in Jazz’s eyes.
“What if Jazz went with Val?” Danny asked, desperately. “She comes and goes all the time without anyone noticing! She could sneak you out the old-fashioned way, now, before Pariah returns.”
Val bit her lip, looking pained at the suggestion.
“Danny…” she hesitated. “No one notices me leaving because it’s expected for guards to come and go between shifts. They still see me every time, they just don’t care. Trying to leave completely unspotted, especially with someone recognisably out of place…” She looked like she was kicking a puppy with every word spoken, especially with how Danny’s face fell.
“Besides, there isn’t time.” Tim took over for her. “Pariah has been alerted, he’ll already be on his way back. Without shadow-stepping we won’t get far, and we’ll be caught the second he gets back and puts the whole city on high alert.”
“Besides,” he added, exchanging a look with Val. “She needs a way to get out herself.”
“What do you mean?” Dan asked, his voice rasping slightly.
“I-” Val’s eyes flicked to Danny’s, before dropping again. Her face was almost ashamed as she spoke.
“I won’t be able to stay here anymore. If Jazz disappears then I’m prime suspect and they lose any reason to keep me around. Besides, Vlad might trust me, but Pariah is a suspicious bastard and he’s not an idiot. The moment he has cause to look closely at me, he’ll suspect what we’ve been doing, and we all know he isn’t to type to wait for evidence.”
“And since she won’t have time to get out now,” Tim adds, “We need to make sure she avoids suspicion long enough for the first frenzy to pass over, so that she can sneak out safely. Which means she needs to be visibly not part of this.”
“Then you should be the one to go, Tim!” Jazz burst out, holding the letter back towards him. “If I’m still here then they won’t have a reason to suspect Val!”
Tim shakes his head, hands spread as he backs up slightly from the letter.
“I can’t. Jazz…” He sighs, dropping his hands, and forcing himself to look up and meet her eyes. He almost drops them again at the pain he sees but forces himself to hold her gaze.
“If we all got out, it would be one thing.” He started, unusually hesitant. “Pariah would be so preoccupied searching for Danny, that he wouldn’t care about the rest of us. We aren’t his priority. But we can’t get Danny out alone or whoever is left here is suddenly useless, and he’ll kill or torture us out of frustration.” Danny made a choked sound of protest at that, but Tim ignored him for the moment, reaching out to take Jazz’s hands.
“If I leave-” he had to pause, his lips suddenly dry. “Jazz, if I leave, and Danny isn’t also gone to distract Pariah? He’ll declare it a breach of treaty, and he’ll declare war on my homeland. On all of Justria. I- It took us everything to hold him back before, but they won’t be expecting it now, the ceasefire is supposed to last for five years, they’ll be caught off guard, and he’ll be furious at me, looking to get revenge, and I can’t, I-”
He managed to cut off the panicked ramble he had descended into, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. He opened them to meet Jazz’s eyes again. The tears that had welled up in her eyes had started dripping silently down her cheeks, and her lower lip had started to quiver.
Tim doubted he looked much better, he could feel his own eyes stinging terribly.
“I can’t do that to them, Jazz. Don’t ask me to, please.”
Jazz dropped her head, shoulder’s shaking and tears dripping off her nose. She didn’t say anything. The room was silent with the tension of a held breath.
Gently, Tim pressed the letter back into her hands, and pushed them to clasp over her chest, holding them there.
“Please, do this for me Jazz. I need you to try and get this to them, I need them to have something, just to know I’m still alive.”
Jazz’s next breath broke in a sob, and she surged forward to throw her arms around him.
“We’ll come back for you.” She promised, managing to sound impressively fierce even through the tears he could feel gathering on his shoulder as he squeezed her in return. “You’d better still be there to rescue, or I swear to the Ancients I will find you beyond the grave and make you regret it. That goes for both of you!” She added, pulling back to glare at Danny, who chuckled wetly through the tears on his face.
“I promise.” He sniffed, holding out his pinkie finger.
“We’ll be here. If we don’t break out first.” Tim murmured to her, squeezing tightly for a moment before loosening his grip.
“You’d better.” She threatened, before letting go and moving to hook her finger in Danny’s. They held it for a second, before Danny’s chin wobbled, and she wrapped him in her arms, letting him sob into her shoulder despite how much taller he was.
Tim had to look away, both his eyes and his heart burning at the sight of one more sibling he was losing, and the reminder of all the ones he’d already lost.
Him and Jazz might technically only be brother and sister in-law, but he didn’t know if he would have been able to get through these months without her. Without her kindness, her empathy and knowledge, and yes, her relentless teasing when she got the chance. He didn’t know if she felt the same but losing her now hurt like a knife to the gut, even if he was so glad she and Dan were escaping.
“Guys…” Val’s voice, as tense as he had ever heard it, cut through the tender moment. “I can see Pariah’s entourage coming through the pass. We’re out of time.”
Tim crossed to the window she was looking out of in a few long strides, peering out alongside her. He instantly spotted what she had, a procession of men and horses had emerged from the forest and were advancing along the road to the capitol.
As they cleared the trees, the horses were spurred into a gallop, leaving the foot soldiers in the dust. Already, Tim could imagine the shouts as people dove out of the way of the massive warhorses tearing through the streets towards the keep.
“Dan,” Tim ordered, turning back towards the others. “You and Jazz need to go. Now.”
“I-” Dan looked so torn that Tim’s heart ached for him, even as it beat faster and faster at the approaching threat.
“I can’t leave you here.” Dan whispered, staring at Danny, who careful released Jazz and instead stepped forward to wrap his arms around Dan, squeezing tightly.
“You have to.” He said, almost too quiet for Tim to hear. “You have to get yourself and Jazz out. And hey,” He pulled back, hands still on Dan’s shoulders, and smiled at him, as much as he could through the tears. “Don’t blame yourself for this, ok? Freeing the two of you is already more than I could ask for.”
“We’ll come back for you.” Dan said, as if forcing it to be true through strength of will. He glanced over at Tim, his expression not wavering. “The both of you. I won’t forget what you’ve done for us, Tim.”
Tim pulled the best approximation of a smile onto his face, trying not to show how those words had cut right through him. The fact that he was being thanked for such a disaster of a plan almost managed to put a dent in his self-recrimination.
“We’ll be waiting,” he said. “Now, you need to go.”
They nodded, Jazz moving close enough to link arms with Dan. Jazz offered them a shaking smile, love and grief warring in her eyes. Dan opened and closed his mouth, but the words didn’t seem to come. Finally, he shut his mouth and gritted his teeth, offering them a single nod before his eyes flared red.
As if dissolving, the two of their bodies seemed to be overtaken by shadows, fading and losing definition until only Dan’s glowing eyes were visible. Then, even they disappeared from view.
The room was silent for a long moment, feeling suddenly empty as they stared at the empty patch of floor.
Finally, the sounds of shouting echoing up to the window drew them from their reverie, and Val turned towards Tim and Danny, her jaw set.
“Punch me.”
“I- what?” Danny asked, clearly struggling to change mental tracks. Val didn’t waver though, switching the bulk of her focus to Tim.
“You need to punch me. Now, before they arrive.”
“Val, what are you talking about?” Danny asked, still working on pulling himself together enough to sound properly baffled. “We’re not going to-”
Tim stepped forward and, without a word, hauled off to catch Val against the cheekbone, sending her staggering.
“Wh- what the fuck, Tim?!” Danny exclaimed, having moved right through bafflement and into incredulity.
Val straightened, putting a hand to where her cheek was already reddening, promising a brilliant bruise soon enough. Maybe even a black eye.
“Good.” She said, spitting a little blood to the side. She must have bit her cheek. “Now…”
She stepped forward in turn, and Tim held his ground, lifting his chin to give her a better target. She hit it beautifully with a right hook to the jaw, and he let himself be knocked to the ground.
“Wait, wait, wait, guys stop!” Danny exclaimed, putting himself in between them, hands held out. “What are you doing? We don’t have time to be-”
Whatever else he was going to say was cut off as the door to the chambers slammed open, hitting the wall with an echoing crash… and they all froze as Pariah Dark stepped through, Vlad and a dozen soldiers flanking him.
Nobody breathed as the man took in the room. Tim kept his eyes down, trembling visibly, but couldn’t help a little flicker of satisfaction at the tableau they had made.
Tim was on the floor, clutching his face and looking terrified. Above him was Danny, standing over him protectively as he faced off against Val, who had clearly taken a hit already and had blood dripping from her mouth.
As far as alibis went, they couldn’t have given Val a better one. And as much as it galled him to play the wilting damsel, it was by far the safest route for him. Better to play to expectations and keep himself underestimated for as long as possible.
“Phantom.” Pariah spoke into the silence, his voice like steel. “Stand. Down.”
Danny hesitated, but lowered his hands, letting them hang limp by his side.
Once he did, the soldiers swarmed the room, two of them grabbing Danny roughly and forcing him to his knees. Another grabbing Tim, pulling him into the same position next to Danny, kicking him roughly when he didn’t move fast enough.
Val, once the ‘threat’ was handled, turned and bowed deeply to Pariah.
“High Chief.” She intoned.
Pariah glanced at her, once, taking in her bruised cheek, guard uniform, and red knuckles. Then he turned away, all his focus returning to Danny as if Val wasn’t even there. Tim supressed a sigh of relief as Val smoothly stepped back to stand at attention along the wall next to the remaining soldiers.
“How dare you defy me.”
Tim flinched, keeping his head stubbornly bowed, eyes focused intently on the floor. Pariah’s voice was icy, freezing him in place, but he could hear the rage boiling and churning beneath his composed demeanour. Just waiting to escape. Age may have taught him a measure of control, but Tim had read enough accounts of the man’s infamous temper not to be fooled.
Beside him, he heard Danny swallow thickly. Then he spoke, and Tim was astounded to hear barely a tremor in his voice as he lied to the High Chief’s face.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Pariah scoffed, the noise cutting harshly through the room.
“Do you think me a fool, boy. I am alerted to the escape of that broken shadow of yours, at the very moment I am farthest from my keep, and now I find you in your sister’s rooms, with neither of them in sight. What you have done is clear. What I want to know,” his voice somehow lowered further, into a threatening growl that seemed to reverberate in Tim’s bones. “-is how. How did you come to learn of this mission, and well enough to take advantage of it.”
Danny said nothing, but he must have shown some expression, or glanced a certain way, because Pariah stilled, and Tim heard a sharp intake of breath from Vlad.
“Plasmius.” Pariah growled, and Vlad began blabbering desperately.
“I- High Chief. Surely you cannot believe what a traitor like this says, can you? I have been your loyal servant for years now, surely-”
Pariah straightened from where he had been looming over Danny, and Vlad changed tracks, words tripping over themselves in an effort to escape his mouth, as if fleeing a sinking ship.
“I swear, High Chief, I never breathed a word of this plan to Da- to Phantom. I would never betray your confidence like that, never in a thousand years, please believe me.”
Pariah turned, and whatever expression Vlad saw on his face had him staggering back, bumping into the soldiers that had appeared behind him.
“I- I- It was him!” he burst out, pointing at Tim. “It must have been! He revealed the secret to Phantom, he told him when we would be gone. He has betrayed you, High Chief!”
“And how, exactly,” Pariah growled, “Did he know in the first place? How did he find out in order to reveal it to Phantom? Who told him, Plasmius?”
Tim risked a glance up and saw what must have been the last of Vlad’s blood leave his face, making him almost grey with fear, sweat rolling down his brow as he stammered, digging himself deeper and deeper.
“Well, I- I meant to bring him to our side! A spy against Phantom, from his own rooms. He- he could tell us so much, help me- help us reveal the secrets behind the Shadowborn. Create you an army strong enough to conquer the world, with me at your side! I never thought-”
Pariah backhanded him, viscously, cutting him off mid-sentence and sending him sprawling across the floor.
“You arrogant, short-sighted fool.” Pariah hissed as Vlad spluttered, clutching his cheek. “How many years have you promised me greatness. Promised to bring me an army, to unlock the secrets of life and death and still you give me nothing! You betray your homeland, sacrifice your own countrymen and yet all you have offered me is a waste of my resources and a one defective shade that you then lost! And now this! Now, your over-inflated ambition loses me not only a hostage, but the one true shadowborn I had in my possession. Do you even understand what you have done!”
By the end, Pariah was thundering, and Vlad was frozen, cowering on the floor as he looked up in terror. After the silence hung for a few seconds, Pariah sighed in disgust.
“You have run out of chances to impress me, Plasmius. And you have cost me far more than you are worth.”
He reached down and grabbed Vlad’s arm roughly, pulling it up so that Vlad was forced to rise to his knees. Tim could see him wince at the grip on his forearm.
“In your arrogance, you styled yourself as my right hand.”
Pariah’s hand went to the pommel of his sword. Almost before Tim could process the action, the blade swung through the air-
-and Vlad’s severed hand landed on the floor with a dull thump.
There was a long moment where the entire room seemed to hold still. Vlad gaped at the stump of his right arm still in Pariah’s grip. Tim stared at the severed hand lying on the floor. No one seemed to breathe. Realistically it couldn’t have been more than a second, but to Tim it seemed to stretch into infinity.
Then, Vlad’s scream pierced the air, and blood began to spurt from his wrist. Pariah didn’t let go though, didn’t let up.
“Know that this,” he snarled, shaking Vlad’s wrist roughly, making the man whimper and choke on his sobs, “will still be of more use to you than you ever were to me.”
He dropped the man carelessly, and Vlad gasped, curling protectively around his mutilated limb.
“Stem the blood flow then throw him in the dungeons.” Pariah ordered one of the soldiers, who bowed and stepped forward.
“Afterall,” he continued with a nasty sneer down at Vlad’s quivering form. “We suddenly find ourselves with a vacancy. Perhaps a few days without food will let you reflect further on your actions.” If Vlad was coherent enough to process the threat, he didn’t show it beyond continuing to whimper.
“Take him away.” Pariah ordered the soldiers with disgust, his bloodstained sword still held casually in one hand.
And then he turned back towards Tim and Danny.
Tim couldn’t breathe.
His entire body felt frozen, by fear or shock or some sick combination of both. His thoughts were both spinning out of control and trickling as though through treacle.
He didn’t dare lift his head from where it was bowed, as though the monster might not see him if he stayed perfectly still.
Vlad’s hand still sat on the floor, leaking blood in a slowly growing circle on the rug.
“Your husband is to be confined to your rooms.” Pariah’s voice was flat, as if he hadn’t just mutilated a man in front of them.
“He will leave only when I send a guard to summon him. You are no longer an acceptable escort.” He didn’t even look at Tim. As if he was entirely irrelevant compared to the words’ impact on Danny. “Do not test me on this.”
“As for you…” Pariah’s voice became thoughtful, and Tim barely had a moment to tense before the sword was swinging again and Danny fell back with a cry.
Tim whipped his head around, a new kind of terror filling him as the breath caught in his chest.
He felt a sick kind of relief amidst the horror as he took in Danny, fully intact baring a slash across his face, cutting through one eyebrow and barely missing his eye as it stretched down to his opposite ear. The blood was flowing freely, covering half his face with a sick crimson, gluing one eye shut and spilling out between the fingers of the hand he brought up to cover the wound.
The other eye stared up at Pariah, and Tim hated the fear he could see there, even as he knew it would be reflected in his own face.
“I think I have let you enjoy far too long a leash if you thought you could get away with something such as this. You delude yourself that because I have given you this empty title, because I cannot yet harm or kill you outright, that you can act as you please. As if I can’t destroy your soft heart in ways that you couldn’t imagine, all without lifting a single finger.”
Finally, Pariah sheathed his sword, but Tim couldn’t bring himself to be relieved as he continued to speak.
“We’ll have to take steps to disabuse you of this notion.” He took a step back, clearly already finished with this interaction. “Present yourself at court first thing tomorrow, you will be starting some additional duties.”
He was fully turned away, facing the door, when he spoke one last time.
“There is nothing that happens in this keep without my knowledge and say so. You would do well to remember that.” He gestured at the remaining soldiers by the door. “Return them to Phantom’s quarters. Don’t bother with a healer. If the Lands want him to live, then he will heal.”
And then he swept out of the room, leaving Tim and Danny bruised and bleeding on the floor.