We're Longing for Daylight

by AKelaNakamura

Summary:

Based on Tumblr Prompt: Detailed inside.

Gotham is well used to Rogue attacks. There's always something blowing up or getting robbed or a Bat dropping from nowhere and kicking someone's teeth out. Gotham has adapted to this way of life. Of Rogues and Bats and Birds. Of gas attacks and fate decided by a flip of a coin. But there's something different about this latest attack. People across Gotham--from regular citizens to Rogues--are falling asleep. And not waking up. This rash of unexplained comas has left the city in shambles. There's no cause, no reason, and no answers.

With every Gotham vigilante working around the clock to try and find a cure, everyone is stretched thin. When the sickness hits one of their own, Jason decides he's had enough. He's going to find the cause for this and he's going to fix it. He's got a single thin lead and he's going to make it count. No matter what it costs him.

No one messes with his family. No one messes with his brothers.

Notes:

Prompt: Nocturn makes a pact with Professor Hugo Strange to advance both their power and skill. Gotham residents are falling into comas. The Bats don’t know what’s happening. One of their own has fallen and the amount of comatose Gothamites exponentially increases each day. If only they had a connection to someone from the GZ or liminal person that could help them.

This prompt was submitted to Stealingyourbones (https://www.tumblr.com/stealingyourbones) by Birsima (https://birsima.tumblr.com) on Tumblr.

Chapter 1: Foreword

I wanted him dead, Jason thinks, on the edge of hysteria. I wanted him dead, at my feet. And now...

And he might get his wish, long after he’d stopped wanting it.

“TIM!” He tries again, shaking the boy’s shoulders. He doesn’t twitch, his face relaxed in sleep, his breathing deep and even. His laptop’s on, the lists of the unnatural coma patients running by too fast for Jason to read. There’s several programs running, algorithms, and theories, and notes.

And the boy running them, who’s spent the last three days trying to crack this case, is now one of the victims.

He hears the door slam open, as he tries again to shake Tim awake. There’s something clawing at him, deep in Jason’s chest. He won’t call it grief, he won’t call it guilt. He will give it no name, because to name it is to give it power. It doesn’t stop the unnamed feeling in his chest, doesn’t stop the tearing that’s building its way up his throat, that’s turning his voice to something he doesn’t recognize.

“Jason, Jason, stop!” There’s arms pulling him away from Tim, and he nearly sends his elbow slamming into the person’s face when he recognizes the voice. It’s Dick, his voice thick with emotion. It’s Dick, pulling him off Tim, shaking like a leaf. “Stop.” Dick says again, sounding wrecked. Jason stands, breathing heavily, his older brother holding him tightly, Jason’s back to his chest. They’re both shaking, staring at their sleeping little brother.

For a moment, it’s silent. It’s three in the morning, the manor is finally at rest, and there is nothing but the sound of Jason and Dick’s harsh breathing.

“Fuck this.” Jason snarls suddenly, emotions slamming into fury, his vision flaring green. The Pit within him is crowing in delight, he usually keeps it on such a tight leash nowadays. But fuck that, he’s going to figure out who did this to his brother and rip them apart. He’s going to find who dared take his brother beyond where he could follow.

He saw something, once. Heard a rumor, once. Back when the Pit was all he could hear, back when he had barely dried from its rancid waters. Something that may be able to help.

He’s going to find that rumor, that whisper, and force it to be true, make it speak loud.

He’s going to save his little brother.