Title: Flying to Redemption
Genre: Crime, Romance, Supernatural, Family, Friendship, Hurt/ Comfort, Angst
Pairing: Bruce Wayne X Dick Grayson (OC Semi Self-Insert)
Summary: It was only as he stared at his new guardian dressed as a giant bat that he realised that he had not simply been reborn. No, it was much worst.
Warning: Slash (Yaoi, Boy X Boy…), Reincarnation, Semi Self-Insert, OC as Dick Grayson (sort of), Age difference, OOC! Dick Grayson, Bat Family will not include Cass and Steph, Follows its own timeline (this is mostly its own dimension, different from any of what seen in the comics but also holds similarities).

Prologue

Dick woke up to a familiar muscled arm holding him close against an equally familiar chest. Callous fingers carded through his hair, the gentle ministrations relaxing him even more than sleep had. Dick smiled, keeping his eyes closed as he buried his head in his lover's neck. A fond chuckle reached his ears before a pair of lips pressed a loving kiss to his temple. He sighed in contentment and tightened his own grip around the other's waist.

The both of them said nothing, only enjoying the rare quiet moment they were being gifted. Unfortunately the quiet was not meant to last, as not long after the thought crossed their mind, than the door to their bedroom slammed open. Dick groaned and pressed closer to his lover, hoping that if he ignored the disturbance it would go away.

"Father, Richard. Wake up already," a young voice called from the door, making Dick groan again. After a moment of silence, he heard almost silent footsteps padding over to the bed. "Father! Wake up!"

Dick cracked one eye open and watched over his lover's shoulder as a small figure latched onto the man's sleeping shirt before tugging. He stifled a chuckle at the frustrated scowl on the cute visage when his lover refused to budge. So adorable. He looked up at his lover who looked back at him with an equally amused look. Then, as if they had planned for it, they separated in synchrony before they both grabbed the small figure and dragged him on the bed with them. The child let out an indignant and surprised squawk and tried to squirm free.

"Father! Richard!" the child whined though he would never admit it.

The two adults only shifted enough to make room for the child between them before they locked their arms around him and settled down.

"Hush now, baby," Dick murmured as he nuzzled the wiggling child's soft hair. "Sleep."

"I'm not a baby!"

After a moment of useless struggling, the child let out a huff of frustration before he relaxed and let himself be guided to sleep, comfortable between the two most important adults in his life. Dick smiled down at the adorable, sleeping child before he too dozed off.

He did not know how long went past, though it might be only a few minutes, before he heard another pair of footsteps nearing their room. This time they seemed heavier, indicating an older intruder.

"Are you for real?" the voice of the oldest child in the family groaned from the doorway, an exasperated growl making its way up his throat. "Hell spawn, we sent you up here to get them up and you just fucking go back to sleep? Seriously?"

"Screw you, Todd." Came the groggy grumbled reply from the small figure snuggled in Dick's arms.

"Boys, language," Dick chided automatically.

"Are you serious!?" was the incredulous reply from the oldest child (who was no longer actually a child but would always remain one for Dick). The footsteps came closer, rounding the bed until he was standing on Dick's side of the bed instead of his lover's. "Come on already; wake up!"

As he reached down to Dick, most likely to drag him out of bed, Dick's hand snapped up and clamped onto his wrist. Before the younger could react he was the one being dragged into bed, his body stumbling and falling right behind Dick and halfway on top him. He cursed fluidly, only for Dick to pinch his wrist in silent reprimand.

"Ugh! Fucking Seriously?"

"Hush, Jaybird," Dick said as he wound the other's arm until it settled comfortably around his waist, right under where the youngest was clutching Dick's sleeping shirt in his small hand. "It's too early and it's cold outside. Let's just sleep a couple of hours more." Jay grumbled a little but he did not protest further; he settled comfortably behind Dick, his forehead coming to lean lightly between Dick's shoulder blades.

(A small foot reached over Dick's legs to kick Jay away who retaliated by reaching in front of Dick to tug at the youngest child's cheek. Said child snapped his head back and tried to bite Jay's finger off but instead Jay moved his hand away before quickly flicking a finger at the younger's forehead.

"Boys," Dick grumbled, refusing to open his eyes and instead he reached behind his baby and poked his lover in the belly. Thankfully, said lover got the message and he reached out and flicked both boys on the ears.

"Father!"

"Dammit, Bruce!")

When Dick woke up a couple of hours later, it was to a small child nestled comfortably in his arms, small hands clutching at his sleeping shirt tightly, to Jay snoring lightly against his back, arm resting around his waist and as he looked up, he found a smaller form curled up against his lover's own back. He smiled fondly; Timmy must have come up earlier after no one had come down for breakfast and he must have climbed in after seeing everyone else already snuggling in bed.

As his eyes trailed up, he found his lover's blue eyes watching him with the same expression he was certain to have on his own face, except more subdued. Peace, awe, contentment… Love. This… this was everything he had ever hoped for; a family he adored, a lover he loved to the moon and back and who loved him just as much… and a life he would give or change for nothing.

He tilted his head up a little, his lover meeting him halfway and as their lips pressed against each other, a part of Dick wondered what his life would have been like… if he had not remembered his memories of another life all those years before; of a life where this world was plain fiction. He wondered if the decisions he had taken, if the things he had done would have been the same.

Either way, he loved how his life turned out. And it all started because he remembered who he had been in another life all those years before.

Years Earlier

Dick did not remember until it was too late to change anything. His parents were already dead and he had been living with his new guardian for a couple of weeks, his new absent guardian. Mr Wayne was never at the manor and when he was they never really interacted except for a brief uncomfortable greeting when they crossed paths in the hallway. The one time he saw Mr Wayne for longer than a minute was that time he was being scolded for breaking the chandelier by swinging from it and even then he could see that Mr Wayne wanted to be anywhere but there. Honestly, if the guy was just going to ignore him anyway then why had he even taken Dick in?

Frankly? It was lonely and he felt the loss of his parents every second of every day. Sure, Alfred was always there but he was also always busy with something or other. Dick was used to being surrounded at all times of the day from his life in the circus but he was also used to hugs and kisses, even to small casual touches from the others. At Wayne manor… there was nothing of the sort and in this large place… he felt lonelier than ever before.

The only thing that kept him distracted from his loneliness was the small investigation he had going to find out about his parents' murder. He knew they had been murdered; his father always checked the equipment before every performance so it was unlikely that they had simply deteriorated. Someone had tempered with them and Dick had a feeling he knew who had done it. That Zucco who had come to threaten Haly the night before the performance was the suspect in Dick head but he was also certain he was the one who had murdered his parents. All he had to do was find him… and end him.

And then it happened.

It was a nice, normal day or night for Dick. He had been sneaking out of the manor, going to try and find out more about his parents' murderer when a van suddenly pulled up in front of him. Before he knew what was happening, the door slammed opened and a pair of arms dragged him inside. Dick struggled, of course he did, but what could he do against grown men when he himself was just a tiny eight years old child? So it was no surprise that he could do nothing when one of them put a cloth with a pungent smell to his face. He knew it was a bad idea to breath in from the get go but after a while, holding his breath became too much.

He blacked out.

He woke up tied to a chair in what appeared to be a large room, though it was too dark for him to really make out where he was exactly. There were three men with black ski masks standing over him. Two others were standing a little farther away, talking in hushed tones, though not low enough for Dick not to hear.

"You really think Wayne's going to pay for the brat?" one asked.

"He went through all that trouble for that kid. I don't think he's just going to let us have him."

"Yeah, but it's been what? Two weeks? Three? Who says the guy would care to pay that much for a brat he just met?"

"Well, if he doesn't pay, we'll just have to find another way to get the money."

"What about the kid?" They both turned to look at Dick, their eyes catching on the moon rays from outside and looking particularly ominous at that particular moment.

"We'll tie up loose ends."

Dick could not help but shrink into himself. He really did not like that conversation.

He wanted his parents.

Dick did not know how long he stayed there, tied to a chair and waiting to know his own fate. He was terrified out of his mind and it was only his own pride and the memory of his father telling him to be brave that kept him from crying. From what he understood, those men who had kidnapped him were in for the money, the money they could get from having Bruce Wayne's ward in their grasp. And that made him even more apprehensive. No one was supposed to even know that he had been taken in by Bruce Wayne yet. Only the social worker and those working at the orphanage should know about it, apart from the circus.

Why would Mr Wayne even pay for him anyway? It would seem like he was more trouble than anything. The man did not even care for him anyway; he was never there and when he was it was so clear he wanted to be elsewhere. Maybe Mr Wayne would use this opportunity to get rid of him. Maybe Dick was lacking something and that was why Mr Wayne did not like him… Either way, Dick was not likely to get out of there and he was terrified.

And that was when it all happened.

A sound in the rafters was the only warning before a large black form fell in the middle of the kidnappers. They never stood a chance. They yelled and pulled out guns but before they knew it, they were knocked out and tied up.

The black form stood from where it was crouched and that was when Dick finally saw who it was. The moon rays shone through the windows, illuminating the man dressed in a bulky black costume, a long black cloak hiding his form. The pointy cowl was a dead giveaway of who it was but at that moment Dick could care less that it was the Batman standing in front of him, staring at him through blank white lances. It was at that precise moment when Dick's eyes caught sight of the man dressed as a bat that the memories came, sudden and painful like a searing saw from the back of his eyes. Dick winced, closing his eyes as the pain and the sudden surge of memories making him nauseous.

"Are you alright?" a dark, gravely voice asked from right in front of him. Dick cracked open his eye to find the Dark Knight kneeling in front of him, lips pulled up in a hard line.

"Y-You are –"

He blacked out.

When he woke up, Dick was back at the manor, in the large room he still could not bring himself to think as his own. He felt dazed and strange. His head ached and more than anything he was confused. He was confused about his own body; it felt right but at the same time so, so wrong. It was of the right size but too short, of the right shape but not curvy enough, had the right organs but not. His mind was a mess; he was Dick Grayson, acrobat, orphan, eight and a boy, but at the same time… he was not.

For a moment Dick remained in bed without moving, trying to get his mind sorted out and make sense of the mess that had become his life. It took him a while and when he did he almost started to laugh hysterically.

He was Dick Grayson. But he had once been someone else, a woman of twenty-six years of age who had lived a life of her own in a whole other world where Batman, Superman… The Justice League was all fiction. And it would seem like this same woman was now also him, Dick Grayson, eight years old boy who lived with the Batman of all people.

He had not simply been reborn. No, it was much, much worst. He had been reborn in a world where there were people like Superman, Green Arrow and Batman around, where there were actual Supervillains and aliens roaming the world, and he now lived with a vigilante.

Too bad he had been more of a Marvel fan. If he knew more about this new world he had found himself in he might be more prepared for what he was to find in his new life. Either way, he was stuck and he no idea what to expect.

AN: I could not help myself, honestly. I've had this and the next three chapters already written and I just had to post it.

You don't need to know the whole comics to understand, just the basics really.

Hope you guys like it.

Leave behind a review and tell me your thoughts.