You're gonna be sooo haunted

Chapter 1

After years of being a vigilante, Tim Drake has become accustomed to adapting to any situation.

As he grappled from building to building, flying high above the streets of Gotham, Tim truly felt that he was doing the Red Robin name justice.

He had just finished taking out a group of human traffickers alongside Red Hood. While the antihero was supposedly on good terms with the family at the moment, Batman hadn't trusted him to handle the issue in a nonlethal manner.

Unfortunately, Red Hood would not be the one to take a life that night.

As Red Robin came to land on a rooftop, he paused to take a breath. While he was more agile than Hood, he could never quite compete with his brother when it came to stamina.

Right as the vigilante was preparing to take off again, he felt a hand grip his shoulder.

Startled, Tim whipped around, holding his bo staff ready.

This movement, however, seemed to startle the offender, causing them to stumble backward.

Right off the side of the roof.

The staff clattered to the ground as Tim lunged to catch them, hands grasping at air as he was just a moment too late.

He watched in horror as a boy around his age plummeted towards the cement below.

He watched the boy's body twist unnaturally as it made contact.

And the sound.

Tim would never be able to forget the sound.

Quickly grappling to the boy's side, he fumbled at his utility belt for his first aid kit.

"Nononononono," he whispered, holding the stranger's wrist in his hands.

All that managed to escape the other teen's mouth was a strangled gasp as he attempted to breathe.

"Red Robin, why did you stop moving?"

Of course! Why hadn't he thought to use comms before!

"Oracle, I-" his breath hitched in his throat, "I need an ambulance to my location immediately."

"RR? What happened? Are you injured? Answer me!"

Tim couldn't bring himself to say more, tuning out oracle's increasingly concerned inquiries.

The boy's opposite hand came to rest on his, which were still holding his wrist.

A small squeeze, then the hand went limp.

Tim sobbed, desperately searching for a pulse that he would never find.

"Shit... what the hell happened here, kid?"

Tim turned his tear-stained face towards Red Hood, who had just arrived in the alleyway behind him.

"I didn't- he just- I can't-" he stuttered, not able to find the words for what had just occurred.

Hood seemed to notice his brother's oncoming panic attack, kneeling to embrace Tim as he sobbed.

When the hyperventilating had calmed and the tears slowed, the younger of the two pulled away, pressing his face against the fabric of his cape.

Hood stayed silent, waiting patiently for Tim to collect himself before asking any questions.

"I... killed him," Tim gasped.

While Red robin had killed before, it was only out of necessity, or when he was under the influence of some murderous rogue.

This time, he had killed an innocent person.

Still out of it, Tim barely registered that Hood had picked him up. The alley filled with flashing lights as an ambulance arrived, which had been their queue to leave.

As he was carried away, tim squeezed his cape that he had bunched into his hands.

How could he just leave like that? He had killed a kid, taking away whatever future lay ahead. What would the boy's family think?

Oh god, he had had a family.

It felt like he was running away. After everything that had just happened, how would he be able to explain to the civilian's loved ones that he had accidentally killed their son, brother, or friend?

With Gotham's crime rate, so many bodies were left alone and unidentified every day.

Tim vowed that his victim would not end up one of those nameless, faceless numbers.

He made himself a promise: he would spend as much time as it took finding that teen's identity. Once he did, he would do anything necessary to atone for the needless death.
------
When Danny heard something land on the roof next to him, he had bolted straight up from where he lay.

He noticed a boy in what appeared to be... a cape?

This must be one of the vigilantes that lady Gotham was always doting on.

Well, Gotham's favorite or not, this guy was on Danny's favorite roof. He had been awake for far too long, and no kid in a Halloween costume was going to keep him from getting the sleep he so deserved.

Approaching carelessly, Danny placed his hand on Red Robin's shoulder, ready to tell him off for interrupting his beauty rest.

Unluckily for danny, he seemed to startle the hero, causing him to spin around, pointing some metal stick at him.

Danny stumbled backward, only to feel his stomach drop as the roof below him gave way to open air.

Well shit.

He could easily have caught himself. He could have flown away from the fall unscathed, but the vigilante, who stared, terrified, as he fell, would have gone and told his bat-daddy.

Danny didn't feel like being chased out of another city by closed-minded idiots, so he let himself fall, bracing himself for impact.

He had been hurt practically to the point of death before, but nothing seemed to keep him fully dead.

Gonna hurt like a bitch though.

After the impact, and the blinding pain that followed, Red Robin appeared at his side, looking mortified by the scene that had just unfolded.

Oopsies, traumatized a kid.

As terrible as he felt about it, Danny couldn't afford to let his secret get out.

He stopped his heart from beating, reenacting how he had felt during his half-death in the lab.

Danny did his best not to wince as Red Robin cried for him, staying deathly still as the ambulance took him away, towards a hospital that wouldn't notice when his body inevitably went missing.

------

I am so sorry, this is a comedy, I swear. What makes it 10 times worse is that I was listening to my upbeat playlist while writing this, and I need you to know that Danny's death was written while "hey ya" was playing.

Anyway, He's a Phantom is on hiatus while my computer is broken, but I'll be updating this story from my phone every once in a while.

Please comment/vote if you liked this chapter :)