Avoiding Past And Future

29

Danny didn't know what to do. His mind was going a mile a minute and he was stuck in quicksand unable to catch up.

He saw Cujo and Gotham in danger

He escaped prison

He followed Cujo to take care of the ghost behind this

He helped Dick and his friends

He ran

He, as a prison escapee, ran from the Justice League and his brother

Danny couldn't wrap his head around just how much trouble he was in. He can't go back, everybody will know who he is, what he is now. Batman will for sure go there too to look for him and make sure he's locked up forever. God what would Dick think of him? Was he an even bigger stain on his reputation now that he got to add 'prison escapee' to his list of sins? If anything Dick would probably want him buried somewhere in a hole nobody would find him to save face. Being related to a criminal was probably career ending for a hero like him.

Even after trying so hard to keep everybody safe from him, he still managed to hurt those he tried to protect.

Danny crash landed somewhere in a remote forest. All that pain he had been feeling over the years and now his powers in overdrive. He couldn't hold it in anymore. Destruction followed as Danny cried harder than he ever had before. His cries turned into his ghostly wail as trees were obliterated and uprooted from the force. Danny doesn't even know when he was forced to detransform, still crying and screaming into the night. Vaguely his mind registered the pressure on his chest from Cujo trying to calm him down. Tears blurring his vision, Danny shoved his face into Cujo's side as he cried into the pup's side. As the minutes ticked on, Danny's senses started to come back. He could feel the warmth off of Cujo as the pup faked breathing. Danny had no proof, but he just knew Dr. Frostbite taught him how to act more alive to comfort Danny more. But it worked quite well so he really couldn't complain.

When Danny finally calmed down enough to stop shaking, he released Cujo from his death grip. The poor pup was all nasty with snot, tears and bayou mud. Danny held out Cujo so the pup could go intangible and get rid of all the gunk before hugging him close again, softer this time.

"What do we do now, Cujo?" Danny sighed, looking up at the twinkling stars above. He didn't really expect an answer from the pup, or from anybody really. They could start living out here, away from people. He could learn how to hunt and just live off the land. There were trees enough, a bit further away from the clearing he just created but he could make a treehouse if he practiced hard enough.

But Cujo won't survive out here. There wasn't enough ambient ectoplasm for the ghost pup to feed off of and Danny would eventually not have enough to sustain him either. Cujo would still be forced to roam and somehow find ways between the realms like he always does. Could he really subject Cujo to a life like that? Always moving between wherever a portal would be or a good enough source for him to survive and then go look for Danny in the middle of nowhere? Could Danny even survive that? being cut off from the world, no social interaction besides Cujo?

"But how would I know if Dick was safe?"

Danny's idle musing was interrupted by the sound of Cujo hacking. Not wanting to get puked on, Danny floated them up onto a little platform and rubbed Cujo's back as the pup coughed. To his utter surprise, Cujo coughed up a gigantic feather. Danny had no idea where he even found that but he was mildly impressed it had survived inside of Cujo for that long. Cujo also looked very proud of himself and tried to give Danny the goo covered feather. He tried to push the feather closer to Danny before he tried to climb back in Danny's lap. Tried being a key word here as Cujo slipped in his own goopy vomit on the way. Danny sighed as he felt the stickiness of it still on Cujo's paws as the pup settled. Occasionally Cujo glanced between Danny and what used to be his stomach content, as if waiting for Danny's synapses to fire up again.