#it all started with me just tinking it'd be funny if like

[petite-phthora]

This yours?

[DP x DC fic]

[Love at first... murder? - part 12]

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Part 1

Ao3

---

Somewhere else, in a seemingly abandoned building on the outskirts of the city, a figure shrouded in darkness and wearing a dark cloak plots.

In front of them is a whiteboard. It’s covered in pictures, sticky notes, and illegible texts. Some of the notes thrown about that are legible are ‘fight…’, ‘draw blood.’, and ‘DEATH!!!’.

There’s a crude stick figure drawn in the corner of the board, it’s impaled. Other small doodles can also be found all around the board.

Most of the information and pictures are connected by red strings, like you see in movies.

In the middle is a picture of 2 people sitting on a motorcycle, the arms of the person sitting in the back are around the waist of the person sitting in the front. The picture has some arrows pointing towards it and the people in the picture are very obviously circled.

Though the face of the person driving the motorcycle is obscured by their helmet, the other person seems to be heavily blushing and grinning broadly.

“Yes… yes! That’s it! I know what to do…” They seem to be speaking to themselves.

Quickly, the person scribbles down a barely legible ‘sacrifice!!‘.

They start cackling.

“Mwuahaha!”

It’s an evil laugh they’ve been working on for quite a while now, and they’re pretty proud of it.

However, the effect is slightly ruined when a fly enters their mouth, cutting off their cackling with choking as they gasp for air, grasping at their throat.

A few good thumps against their chest, with some coughing out their lungs, helps them dislodge the fly from their throat and they spit it out on the ground. They take a few deep breaths before straightening up again.

“Curse you” the person exclaims, angrily waving their fist at the fly as it flies away.

---

Bruce’s face gives off nothing as he stares at the streets down below. He’s dressed as Batman, crouched at the edge of a building with Damian by his side as Robin. Spoiler, Black Bat, Nightwing, and Red Robin are further back on the rooftop.

They watch in silence as another group of the Joker’s goons passes by. They’ve been all over the city, wandering around, not doing anything obviously illegal.

They don’t stay in one place and they don’t seem to have much of a purpose. No attacks… No stealing… No smuggling or transport of goods… No, instead they’re inspecting every single inch of the city.

They don’t seem to have any weapons on them. All they’re carrying on them are some flashlights. While most don’t give anything away with their body language or expressions, some seem to give off a bit of anxious energy.

Spoiler claimed she even saw some of them climb down into the sewers earlier and then climbing out again sometime later somewhere else, but this time ‘dejected and stinky’.

One thing seems clear to the Bats.

They’re searching for something… or someone.

“This basically confirms that not even the Joker’s henchmen know where he is. He’s missing.”

“I’m not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing”

“Good… thing?”

“It’s… something. That’s for sure.”

“We don’t know if he’s really missing. For all we know it could be a trap. What if the Joker is hiding, pretending to be missing to have us bring our guard down? Besides, how could he be missing? He’s the Joker. No one’s just gonna kidnap him”

“For all we know he could be lying dead in a ditch somewhere”

“I highly doubt that”

“Everyone, focus” Bruce speaks up, having them draw their attention to him.

“It’s unclear whether the Joker is simply hiding away or missing. Instead of focusing on the why, we need to focus on the where. Missing or not, we need to find him and get him back to Arkham. Oracle, have you managed to find out anything from the footage yet?”

“Nope, still nothing. All the files from the moment he enters Crime Alley are wiped and any attempt at recovering them only brings back corrupted files.”

 “We need Red Hood. Where is he?” Bruce asks.

“He still has his phone on silent and he has removed the trackers and cams. We haven’t placed any new ones on him yet”

“Let’s visit him on his turf then. And keep an eye out for anything suspicious in the meantime. Oracle, try recovering the missing files. If that doesn’t work, go back to the breakout footage. Perhaps he left some kind of clues about his plans or whereabouts behind there.” Bruce states.

“Roger that.”

---

Red Hood has his arms by his sides as he gazes down upon the street below from the rooftop of a random apartment building in Crime Alley.

He’s lucky to have avoided the Bats so far. But he doubts his luck will last for long.

Red Hood stiffens as he suddenly feels something clamp down on his arm. As a reflex, his other hand has already drawn his gun.

He slowly raises the arm he felt something clamp down on and looks at it, only to make eye contact with a girl with black hair and blue eyes who has sunk her teeth into his arm and is now hanging off of it.

The teeth are sharp, as the girl seems to have some small fangs. They’ve gone through his jacket and sunken into his skin.

It doesn’t really hurt all that badly though, probably hasn’t even drawn much blood, and that’s one of the only reasons Jason hasn’t flung the kid off of him yet. Another reason is the fact that it’s a kid.

They both stare at each other for several seconds.

As Jason takes her appearance in, he notices that she seems rather familiar. In fact, she looks like a more feminine version of Danny, or if Danny had a twin.

The person hanging off of his arm looks younger than Danny though, probably a teenager around 13 or 14, if he had to make a guess.

Slowly, he puts his gun away and takes out his phone with his other hand, watching the random girl’s eyes follow his movements. He raises it level with her face and snaps a picture, quickly sending it to Danny and ignoring the girl’s curious gaze while she’s still hanging onto his arm by her fucking teeth.

---

Meanwhile, Danny checks his phone to see Red Hood sent him a message. He opens it and is greeted by a picture of Ellie in human form biting down on Red Hood’s arm with the caption ‘this yours???’

---

Taglist:

@i-always-say-yea   @uraniumwizard    @why-must-i-be-like-this   @griffinthing

#dp x dc #dp x dc fic #dpxdc #dcxdp #dc x dp #dp x dc crossover #dead on main #dead on main ship #Im wondering how easy/hard it is to guess who the person is #and also yes its supposed to have stereotypically comedic 'evil'/'villain' vibes #the person did that on purpose because they are dramatic and have style #also i aged ellie down a little from how old she *should* be cause i felt like it fit better #If you need a reason maybe she like ages a little bit slower due to being a clone or something idk #oh and i have a question for you all #should i make a masterpost?? #i have like the very first chapter pinned but i feel like a masterpost might be better #especially cause like i already have 12 chapters and the story is only getting longer #damn this story has gone further than expected from a oneshot lol #it all started with me just tinking it'd be funny if like #a character was basically in shock but was still like nah I cant just kiss someone without consent lol #also I said id post like 5-6 chapters and this is still only like 6k :( i really need to write more ;-; #and also if y'all haven't noticed already #all I know of dc is through fanfics and fandom posts #though I really want to start reading the comics #i just haven't really had the time nor do I really know what's good and where to start #so like if anyone has any recommendations for dc/batfam comics they are more than welcome!! ^-^

[art-blogge]

Everything is Fine, Nothing is Wrong, Dante is Safe, and Birds are Friends

It's been a week. A week of non-stop running, and I don't intend to stop any time soon. I can't. If I slow down for even a little while, the Shi Association will catch up to me. I don't want to die. I really don't want to die.

I'm a coward. I always have been a coward, at least in this life. I don't know how I was before, nor will I ever find out. I've given up on that. What matters now is staying alive. If sticking to the forests and avoiding the paths is what it takes, so be it.

It isn't much later that I start regretting my decisions again. There had to be other ways to deal with this. I should have said something. I should have alerted anyone else. Anyone else! I'm sure at least one of them would have taken me seriously!

On second thought, I doubted it. Even if a single Sinner believed me, it was bound to start fights. In-fighting would have just pointed directly to my location. The Mephistopheles was obvious enough even without the Sinners, too! My location, as long as I'd stayed on that bus, would have been clear as day. There was only one way I probably could have stayed on board, and I didn't want to take that risk. The back corridors were too dangerous. Worse, if the Shi Association had information on how the back corridors worked, it would have made my hiding useless. No, I couldn't risk it. I'd made the right decision. I had to of.

One more option to think over again before I could force my mind onto a different topic: If Vergilius would have done anything for me. I genuinely don't know, and that's probably why I keep coming back to it. Imagining the Red Gaze himself dropping everything just to help me of all people was clearly wrong, but imagining him completely ignoring me was also clearly wrong. I could never properly read that man, and I obviously wasn't going to start now.

I heaved a sigh (or at least imitated one) before taking a moment to observe my surroundings. While I'd been absorbed in my own doubts, I'd wandered back onto the forest path. As per usual, overthinking my circumstances had done me no good. I shook my head and immediately got off the path, opting to walk down into a ditch instead.

Not even a few steps down did I trip, sending me rolling down to the bottom of the ditch. Well, at least I was where I wanted to be. What was I going to do, complain? Instead I laughed, a bitter tone ringing out of my head. How funny I must have looked! I could already imagine what the Sinners would say… And felt a pang of pain in my heart.

<"No! No!"> I reprimanded myself, shaking my head and standing up. I was leaving everything behind to survive. As badly as I wanted to stay attached, I couldn't. Not like this.

To force myself off of these thoughts, I looked over my clothes and bag. I'd already been filthy, having gotten into several scraps and landfills, but now I was covered in mud. I'd just gotten this mostly-clean cloak from a dumpster, too… At least it wasn't my coat.

Another round of heart pain. What, really? I'd gotten attached to an article of clothing?

Well, yes, embarrassingly enough. It'd been so difficult for me to throw it into that river when I'd passed by. Again, though: Leave it behind. Move forward. Keep walking. Keep running. I could do this. I would do this.

Something made a "tink" sound against my head, and stopped to looked up. The sky had darkened more than it usually would at this time of day. Great. It was going to rain. As much as I hated rain, it was a genuine blessing. I'd be able to actually stop somewhere, and all my tracks would be washed away.

I found myself a tree with a particularly large empty space beneath it and squeezed into it before pulling my bag in as well. This would do for now. If the rain ended up being heavy like it was yesterday, I'd have to get out before it flooded…

--------

It wasn't the cracking of thunder that woke me some time later. As much as I dislike the sound, it wasn't the culprit for once. It was VOICES. Voices I couldn't clearly make out, but voices all the same.

Part of me wanted to immediately bail from my hiding spot and never look back. If they were close enough for me to hear over the storm, then they'd be close enough to find me. That meant they'd absolutely spot me if I ran, so I stayed put instead. I just had to cover my head with my cloak's hood so the light from my fire didn't give my position away.

After several minutes of anxious waiting, I was able to understand a voice.

"If we don't find them soon, Vergilius will be mad at us…!"

Sinclair!! The Sinners were here! Did that mean it was safe to--?!

The sound of a sword swinging through the air was followed by a pained cry from Sinclair, then a thud and distant yelling. Of course it wasn't safe. Who was I kidding? Being around the Sinners was like a death sentence.

I waited again. As badly as I wanted to revive Sinclair, that would tell both the Shi and the Sinners that I was present. The storm continued raging, and I pulled my hood down. It got in the way of my breathing, oddly enough, and I'd never quite figured out how that worked.

I couldn't hear voices any more, so I hesitantly pushed my bag down to peek out. All I could see was Sinclair's bisected corpse, unhelpfully enough. No one else seemed to be around, so I bit the bullet and revived him.

It hurt. It hurt. It hurt it hurt it hurt it HURTS. A sharp pain from the top of my head to the bottom of my foot blasted through me, and it took everything I had to not scream.

I hadn't considered how wide open I would be after reviving him. That was usually the first thing I considered, but this wasn't a normal situation- My priorities were different.

"Manager?" Sinclair called from outside. I wanted to respond so badly. So, so badly. The week alone had been bad enough. But I couldn't. If even one person knew where I was, the Shi would be onto me. I still don't even know what I did to earn their ire.

Upon recovering from my pain-ridden state, I looked up only to see Sinclair staring at me from outside. Shit! Fine, I could work with this!

<"Come in, quickly!"> I demanded, pulling my bag out of the way. Sinclair didn't question this at all, crawling in the hollow as soon as he was able to. I put my bag back where it was before turning my gaze onto him- He seemed tired, moreso than usual. Tired enough that he had eyebags rivaling Yi Sang's.

<"You stay here. Are-">

My question was cut off by Sinclair throwing his arms around me, and I instinctually reciprocated. This felt unfair! I liked hugs! Dammit!

<"Are the Shi gone?"> I asked anyway, pulling away from him. Sinclair seemed to understand and let me go while nodding.

"If you're g-going, go now. Vergilius and Ryoshu killed the two Shi that were here."

He DID understand. Thank the Light.

<"Thank you, Sinclair. Stay safe.">

With that, I pushed my bag out into the rain so I could leave. I trusted Sinclair. He was always honest, so he probably told the truth. It wasn't until I'd pulled my hood up, picked up my bag and started walking again that I fully registered something Sinclair had said-- Vergilius had been fighting. Vergilius. The Guide who was never helping us beyond mission information. Had been fighting. I wasn't sure why I was so shocked- The man was a Color Fixer after all!- but it was probably because I'd only ever seen him fight once. Maybe "seen" was a bit of an overstatement.

Whatever. No voices, no sensations of being watched. I'd gotten away.

--------

I don't know where I am now, and that's fine. I haven't for a while now. At least, I don't think I do.

But…

It's familiar. I have the sense that I've been here before. Something about this place worries me.

It's too quiet. It's way too quiet. The only sound in the silent forest was the singing of a bird.

I sat down where I was. If I move too much, I'll be making noise. Whatever's causing that silence would hear me, and the last thing I need is to get into a fight. I may have learned some self-defense over this journey, but not enough to fight Monsters or Abnormalities.

I still wasn't sure where exactly I'd ended up. I haven't heard a thing about Limbus since two weeks ago, and the last time I heard about the Shi was two days ago. I'm not safe. The longest I've gotten away from them has been two days so far. They'd be here for me any time now.

Something is on my shoulder. I turned to look, but it's just a little bird. Hi, buddy.

"Why do people commit sin when they know it's wrong?" the bird asked me, and I realized I was being used as a perch by an Abnormality that I didn't know. I had to answer carefully.

<"Because… Because there is nothing threatening them," I suggested, "They think they can get away with it.">

"They must be punished!" the bird decreed, throwing a wing outwards, "I will make them fear me and my great punishments!"

The bird stopped and looked straight at me. It was going to speak more? Most Abnormalities were happy with just one response.

"Do you think I can stop them from committing misdeeds?"

It seemed confident in itself despite it's size. I had to admit that I respected that, even if it was illogical.

<"I do.">

The bird puffed out its chest in pride, but didn't have time to answer- We both heard shouting, and it wasn't voices I recognized. The Shi were here.

<"It's not safe here anymore, little birdie. Those people want to kill me and I don't know why.">

Why did I tell it that?…. And what was behind me? There's a gold glow coming from behind me, but I don't dare turn around. A second Abnormality?

"May I watch over you, for your safety?"

I didn't need to look behind me to see how large this Abnormality was in comparison to the little bird. It's massive.

<"I would like to stand behind you. You may watch. Little Bird can stop them from committing misdeeds.">

"If I kill them first, they are safe from others!"

<"Death is not safety.">

The large bird behind me went silent. A second shadow joined the first- This one lanky.

"Let me weigh your sins and-"

Well, I'm damned there! I'll admit to panicking and shouting "Their Sin outweighs mine!" before it could finish speaking. I absolutely shouldn't have! I was far too loud that time!

A moment of silence, and then the little bird was cleanly sliced off of my shoulder. By sitting where it had been, it stopped the sword from connecting with my head. If I've ever been grateful for Abnormalities, it would be now.

"Let me weigh your sins!" the lanky one shouted before dashing past me. What an odd bird that was, featherless and tall. Slowly, the big shadow moved in front of me, and it took me a while to realize that it was the actual bird. I didn't realize until several eyes on it's backside shot open and stared at me. I squeezed my vision shut and repressed the urge to yell, but I still saw those eyes in my head. Bright gold, ever watching, ever watching, ever--

--The pressure on my head snapped me back to reality. Something was trying to crush my head! Out of instinct I pushed at whatever was on me, and the large bird cawed.

It'd been trying to bite my head off, I noted while frantically scurrying away from it and it's many many many teeth.

As I made distance, I looked around and learned three things: One, the small bird was red and pecking on a dead man's face. Two, there were only two Shi left and they were fighting the lanky bird. Three, there was a LOT of blood spilled. Four, some of it was mine. Wait.

Wait.

<"When was I injured?!"> I blared, checking over myself in a hurry. There, on my side! A clean cut through all of my clothes! I didn't even feel it. At least it was under my ribs… That could've been a disaster.

In the few moments I hadn't been looking, the number of Shi had tripled and the lanky bird had been reverted into egg form. Stealthy as always, I suppose.

<"Little bird, more sinners are here!"> I honked and pointed. It felt wrong using "sinner" as a word and not a title, and I wasn't going to do it again.

Distantly, I can hear rumbling. Something's coming. More lights in the distance. I'm in a terrible spot!

"I'll save you!" honked the big bird, biting down on my head again and failing to do any damage. It sure hurt though!

<"Stop that!"> I yelled back, but too late. One of the Shi noticed I was stuck and closed the distance before I got to blink.

"Sorry. Company policy and we've already been paid."

The big bird let go of me to chase the Shi that attacked me, and left me standing there in a daze. I'm not even sure where they'd struck. I feel fine still, albeit aware of the growing pain on my side. I don't see anything on me. Maybe they missed.

Now that the Shi were focused on the birds, and the birds focused on the Shi, I stumbled away safely. I've walked through worse pain than this before, easily. Two times, three times worse, even. This was nothing- Not to brag or anything. It's probably not good that I can withstand this.

Ahead. A clearing. I can hide there.

I ignored all the noise behind me as I dragged myself to the clearing. The shouts, the caws, the rumbling, the crashing, the honking. I ignored all of it in favor of collapsing to the dirt floor. I hadn't meant to collapse, but sure, it worked. I'd started getting dizzy anyway.

…

Oh, that's not a good thing. The blood-loss was getting to me. Faust and Outis had told me numerous times how to deal with this… Apply pressure. As I pushed down on my side wound and tried to get my focus back, I started to become aware of where the second wound was. Somewhere I couldn't see, but I could feel the blood dripping down my chest.

The minutes ticked by ever so slowly, and nothing was working. My brain(?) is full of fog, and my eyes are having trouble staying focused. I'm… So cold.

I should curl up… Retain some warmth. This was a monumental task when my limbs felt heavier than they ever have before, but I think I managed well enough.

Was I dying here? Alone?

<"What a miserable failure of a Manager I was,"> I wheezed, air coming out of my neck wound as I ticked to myself. <"What an idiot I've been. Of course running ended in me dying. Of course… I should've just stayed.">

I laid there, clutching my side with one hand and my neck with the other. I don't want to die here, but with my body in tatters and my mind fading, I wouldn't be going far. I've only got one option left.

I screamed. And scream I did, in an awful cacophony of sounds I've never made before. I screamed to the living who could possibly hear me, I screamed to the dead who couldn't possibly hear me. A horrible combination of sounds that I could no longer stop. A combination of all of my regrets, my fears, and my pleas for help.

I understand now why the Sinners screamed when they died. I…

"Dante!"

…Shaking. Hands, me. Hands, on me. Who is here..?… Someone is here. I'm not alone. Thank goodness. Thank the Light. Thank the Stars. Thank the Wings. Thank…… .. Uh, everything.

I forced my head to utter a weak whine from a few broken gears. It was all I could manage. The shaking stopped, and there are voices, but I can't tell who. People are here, with me. Me. I'm not alone so I'm safe. I'm safe. I'm safe…… I'm….

--------

...Beeping. Left side. Too bright. Brain sluggy. Other sounds. Rumbling. Bus?

…It is the Mephistopheles, I realized. I'm staring at the inner roof of the Mephistopheles. The Sun is being reflected right into my face. I need to move.

Slowly, I shifted and went to stand up. In a manner befitting me, I immediately slipped on something and slammed my head on the floor.

I'd slipped on my coat.

Wait.

I threw this in the river weeks ago..! Was I bought a new one? A quick check-over proved no, it wasn't, it has the shoulder stitches and the frayed ends. My coat! I've never been so happy to see my coat. Medical equipment be damned, I'm putting it on-

"Dante?"

While Sinclair was the one that asked, I can see all of the Sinners trying to peek out behind him.

"Clockface fell," Charon commented, reminding me that she was there.

Immediately there was an outbreak of questions from the Sinners that rushed up to check on me.

"Are you okay, Dante?" "Did you eat shite?" "Can we get your word that you won't pull that again, Executive Manager?"

The last question made me pause, and everyone else did too. I think… I think if I were capable of tearing up, I would be right about now.

<"Yes,"> I promised, holding my arms out to receive my team, <"Promise.">

~~~~

(end fic notes: goooooooosh. i started this during canto 2, stopped until canto 4 (added sinclair part), stopped again, added more in canto 5 (bird part) and finally got the end down (canto 6). gosh. golly. fuck ass tit shit. it isnt noted but sinclair stuck a tracker onto dante. this was also written with pre-clock dante in mind, sorta a "some of the old personality is back", which has worked startlingly well with dante keeping their figurative mouth shut lately. happy april fools (unintentionally))

#limbus company #writing tag #dante lcb #i need to note i started this one in like canto 2 and ive changed nothing so like. its ooc. i dont care. 1v1 me in the tar pit