Insanity

To Be A Child

The heroes were amazed by what they were seeing, this new version of Specter was definitely different. He was standing in a fairly large room that was made of the same marble as the hallways, the black running through the marble was more prominent though. The white running through the black marble floors were also more noticeable, they didn't know why though.

There were a few shelves with what looked like sheet music in them and it seemed well kept and organized. Another thing they noticed about the room was that there wasn't a single crack anywhere, it was completely fine. They had no idea why this room seemed to be the only stable part of Specter's mind but at least not everything was falling apart.

This version of Specter had white hair and green eyes but he was still different from Specter. He wore a choker with a cross on it and a necklace with a cross tilted to the side about forty five degrees. He wore a long sleeve black shirt and white gloves that looked like the white version of Rage's gloves, they also went over the sleeves of his shirt.

There was white cloth around his waist that overlapped slightly at the front of his body, it was cut in a way that it didn't hide his legs very much, almost a v shape. He also had black pants and white boots but they didn't go as high as Specter's boots did. Robin didn't know why but this version of Specter seemed a lot more calm then the others did.

Like he didn't overthink things or react to things just because of his emotions, he seemed more rational. This version of Specter looked away from them and put the violin he was holding where it was supposed to go. Rage spoke, "I'm sure you know about what's going on."

He nodded, Shadow crossed his arms, "Do you know where he is?"

He nodded again and everything started shaking, Rage looked at the unnamed version of Specter. "Then we should get going, I don't want anything happening to him."

He looked at Rage and nodded again before he walked past the heroes and out of the room, they all decided to just follow him. Robin's curiosity got the better of him and he caught up to the new Specter, Rage was on his other side. "So what's your name?"

Rage looked at Robin, "His name's Cross."

Robin looked at Cross and he thought of something, "Are you mute?"

Cross nodded and Rage elaborated, "He's selectively mute, he'll talk around people he likes but that's about it."

Robin hummed and the group walked in silence for a minute or two before Cross stopped. The heroes looked confused and Cross walked up to one of the doors, this one had some cracks around it but wasn't as bad as some of the other doors. Cross opened the door and walked through it, Rage walked in after him followed by Shadow and Static.

The heroes hesitated before they walked inside and once they did the door closed behind them. The area around them looked like it was full of mist and Artemis looked confused, "What is this place?"

Rage answered, "One of Specter's memories, since his mind is constantly changing and it's hard to navigate going through his memories is the easiest way to get around."

Shadow looked shocked, "Wait, it is?"

Rage glared at him, "Yeah, and you would have known that if you payed the slightest bit of attention to how his mind works."

Static was about to say something but Cross motioned for him to be quiet and Rage looked away from Shadow, "It's starting."

The heroes were about to ask what he meant but the mist got thicker before dissipating rapidly. They were in a park, they looked around but they had no idea where they were supposed to be looking. Cross whistled and once he had their attention pointed at the branches of a tree, the heroes looked and saw a boy in the tree.

He had black hair and blue eyes, they didn't know why Cross pointed him out but their thoughts were interrupted by two boys running toward them. The stopped under the tree and the one with blonde hair and blue eyes looked around, "Where did he go?"

The boy in the tree didn't move, he stayed perfectly still and waited for the two to leave with a completely indifferent expression on his face. The two ran away and after a minute or two the boy jumped down from the tree before brushing off his clothes. The boy removed a twig from his hair, "That's one less thing to worry about right now."

The boy walked out of the park and down the street, they all followed the child and the heroes wondered why. The boy looked to be about four, after walking for about ten minutes the boy walked to the front door of a building and tried to open it. He rolled his eyes when he saw that it was locked and he dug a key out of his pocket, "Good thing I made a spare."

The boy unlocked the door and went inside, he closed the door and he quietly sighed. There were two adults and a young girl sitting at a table in what looked like the kitchen. The three were talking and laughed, the boy just walked up the stairs and into what they presumed was his room. He closed the door and just laid down on his bed, he took a deep breath before he let out a frustrated yell.

He rubbed his eyes, "Okay, so I didn't eat breakfast, couldn't eat lunch, was chased by bullies, got ignored by my parents again, and I might be skipping dinner. I guess that's what happens when you've got parents that neglect you and a town full of people that seem to hate you." He paused and sat up, "Why am I talking to myself?"

He groaned and laid down on his bed again just before he heard a door close and he sat up again before leaving his room and walking down the stair. The three people that were at the table were gone and the kid looked pleasantly surprised, "Huh, looks like I won't skip dinner after all."

He walked into the kitchen and grabbed a can from a cupboard and a bowl, he opened the can and dumped what was in the can into the bowl. He heated it in the microwave and when it beeped he took it out, grabbed a spoon, and looked at the spaghetti-Os in the bowl. "The dinner of a neglected child."

The scene faded and another door appeared, they opened it and walked inside before it closed again. Kid Flash looked at the four different versions of Specter, "Who was that kid?"

Static rolled his eyes, "That was Specter."

Black Canary spoke, "But that couldn't have been Specter, they don't look anything alike."

The four facepalmed and Shadow explained, "That was him before he died."

The heroes were shocked, he looked so different, now that they thought about it Rage looked a bit like him, just with red eyes instead of blue. All of a sudden the scene changed and they were standing in front of a school, young Specter walked out of the front doors as the bell rang. A girl with black hair and a kid with a red beanie smiled and waved at him, "See you tomorrow Danny."

Specter, or Danny apparently, smiled and waved back, it was a small smile but it seemed genuine. The two ran off and Danny walked down the street, the heroes noticed that he was a bit older then he was before. He looked to be about six now, he didn't seem any less indifferent to the things around him though.

Danny walked for a few minutes before a van suddenly pulled up and two guys dragged him inside. Danny struggled, he tried hitting and kicking them, he tried shouting, and he yelled a long string of curses at them that no six year old should be saying. Despite his efforts he was dragged into the van anyway and once the doors were closed the van drove off.

The group saw the scene inside the van and Danny was tied up, he tried to get out of his bindings but it didn't work. He resorted to making as much noise as he could to try and get someone's attention from outside the van. After a few minutes one of the men got annoyed and to get him to stop he knocked him out.

The scene went black for a few seconds before it came back but they were in a different place. Danny was lying on a cold floor and he groaned as he started getting up and he looked around, "Fuck."

The scene faded again and another door appeared, the different versions of Specter walked through it immediately but the heroes were frozen for a few seconds. After they came back to their senses a bit they walked through the door and Rage crossed his arms, "What the hell is wrong with all of you?"

Megan spoke after a few seconds, "Specter was kidnapped."