Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Batman had never seen captain marvel…so still. So solem. It was unnerving. The cheery, childish hero was just sitting there, staring out into space, literally, through the window of the watch tower at the stars. It made his skin itch, with something akin to worry. This wasnt right. Was the captain injured from the mission he had just gotten back from?

Captain marvel seems to notice the skulking, observing bat and gives a wry smile, patting the bench beside him “batman. Sit with me?”

The bat grunts and sits quietly. Its silent for a moment before the magic hero quietly breaks the silence “youve always been confused by my power haven't you batman? Frustrated and curios right?”
Batman grunt in agreement. captin marvel annoyed him greatly. It didnt make any sense. He didnt seem to have weaknesses of any kind, he claimed to be *the champion of gods and magic*, he didnt seem to have any tangible civallian identtly, working around the clock, covering other heroes watchtower shifts all the time, no facial matchs despite the lack of mask. It drove the bat made. Worst of all, the man, despite being terribly cheery, was ridiculously secretive and ominous. He was careful with his information, in a way you wouldnt notice unless you were looking closely, like batman was

Marvel grins a little. Amused by bruces frustration “Well. I'll tell you now” that makes the bat pause. What? “You see, when life started, the world the universe, whatever you want to call it, when it all started, so did magic. They were interwinted, are intertwined, its hard to know where one ends and the other starts. Life exploded from evrey little crevice in evrey possible way, but magic bloomed from one spot. The rock of eteritinty. The seed of all magic. The gods, the creators, knew that magic was imporant. The engine of the world so to speak. The rock couldnt be damaged, it couldnt be allowed.” marvel let out a quiet sigh as he stared a the stars “the gods noticed that humans, well not just humans, all life really, sentient species, were destructive. Greedy. Self centerd. They tore apart everything in their path with little regard, and the gods feared they would come across the rock and damage it in their ignorance”

Batman quietly spoke up “why are you telling me this captain.”
Billy ignored him. He needed to just. Talk. about all of it, the origins, the crushing responbiltys, everything. “They chose champions. To protect the rock. Eveutully, there was teth adam. He was an egyptian prince. He was a good man. But still a man. He saved people, saved lives. But after a while. He…the line began to blur for him. He forgot he was a champion of the gods. He started beliving he was a god, above the rest of mankind. The gods panicked, they chose a temporary second champion, to fight him, to imprison him. They couldn't kill him, that wouldve required his powers be revoked and thats not possible. So he was imprisoned. The temporary champion relinquished their powers by will. And there was no champions any more. They hid away the rock, as best as they could. People forgot”

Marvel took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment, batman gave up on qeustioing the sudden spill of information, clearly marvel was going through something. “The imprisonment wasnt perfect. It weakened, over time. The gods looked and looked for a new champion. A perfect champion. They didnt find one. They ran out of time. Ya know what they told me *youll have to be good enough*” marvels eyes go a little hazy “and then suddenly, I had the strength of seven gods. The magic of millons thrumming through me. And a mad man rushing my way. Adam…he lost his mind. At least a little. Thats was being locked in a pyramid for centuries will do I guess. He wasn't even asleep or anything. He couldnt sleep. We cant sleep”

Marvel fiddles with gauntlets quietly as he thinks his next words carefully. Batman gets the odd urge to comfort the man “the way it works, being the champion, is weve got two separate bodies. Our mortal body, and the champion. The champion, it dosent. It dosent feel pain. Or age, or breathe or eat. Its power incarnate. When one body isnt in use so to speak, its placed in this pocket dimension. Until its called forth. The issue is, time still exists in the pocket. Teth adam couldnt sleep, because it would mean death, if he changed back, his soul would be forced into a corpse, he out aged his body long before he was imprisoned”

Batman feels sick. Marvel had just gotten back from a long space mission. A space mission he made it clear he did not want to go on, he had complained about the long time frame. Bruce had thought he was being childish, immature as usual and refused to change the assignment, marvel was the best suited to it. A morbid picture was settling in the bats mind
Bill speaks again, quietly. “Though age probably wasn't what killed adam. I mean, starvation and dehydration kill in, what, a couple of weeks, days?”

Bruce felt like he was going to puke. This couldn't be real.
Marvel swallowed, a little choked up "honestly, I don't even know if i would die if i changed back. Like i said, i dont know the exact number of days that are deadly. But i know id probably pass out. And there'd be no one to take me a hospital, if i stayed alive for more then a couple seconds. Not that i can afford a hospital anyways”
Bruce gruffly spoke up “captian. You- your not going to die”
Billy chuckled quiely sad “maybe I already have. And its- its fine. Theres no one there. Waiting for mortal me. The world needs captain marvel, way more then it ever needed me. I will miss… all of it though. The feeling.”
Batman shakes his head, determined “no. your not going to die marvel. With the right medical support, you will survive. Your systems wont have shut down fully yet. You…you deserve a life marvel.”

The captain stares at the stars quietly, as batman pages martian man hunter, the flash, and green lantern. With a determined frown, batman leads the spacy, desolate hero to the medy bay, where the other three heroes have gather

Hal chirps idly, lounging on a med bay bed “hey spooky. What going on, unlike you, some of us have lives, and cant be texted 911 over spilt bat juice.”
Batman scowls. He can bicker with lantern later, theres bigger things to attend to.
“Marvel is in danger. I have a plan to save him. Flash, gather evrey iv bag in the tower.”
Theres a bit of stunned questioning silence as eyes land on marvel. Hes popular, loved among the league for his socialbilty, realtibilty, and kindness. Flash whooshes away and soon the room is filled with a ridiculous amount of ive bags and poles.

Bruce turns to the captain “transform”
Billy looks lost, given up. Tired. “Batman, i told you, the world needs captain marvel, a champion” batman scowls a bit “your right. It does. No matter what, im not going to let you die. but what your talking about, giving up any semblance of a separate life, thats dying in its own right. Transform”

Marve wavers, unsure, he sighs quietly, he trusts batman, deeply. He knows this is going to be a shit show, part of him hopes he dosent wake up, if only to not deal with the league reaction to his idenetiy, and age. But also….he wanted to live. Billy wanted to grow up, wanted to do all the things he heard people talking about, saw in books.

He whispered quietly, a little ashamed of himself. He was risking the worlds protector, for what, a dream? “Ok.”
Batman nods relived. “On my mark. Flash will catch you and insert multiple ivs, j’ohn will keep your brain active, and lantern wlll keep your lungs and heart pumping.”
Lantern speaks up with a hint of panic “uh what hell is going on?!”
Batman answers clipped “marvel has two bodies, one civallan and this one. If he dosent attend to his regular body, he can starve and die. We are going to stop that from happening”
Lantern blinks shocked “cool cool cool. Got it got it, hey maybe explain that before demanding action from us”
Bruce rolled his eyes and eclected to ignore lanterns whining “flash, ready?”
Barry nods, clearly anxious for marvel “yup. Say the word”
Bruce look focused at marvel “now.”
Marvel whispers quietly “shazam.” lightning crashes into the room, and suddenly the four superheroes are looking at a thin pasty child, who promptly almost crumples to the ground, before the blur that is flash sweeps him up and place ivs. Lantern creates procgection across the boys bodes, pumps and a mask on his face, forcing him to breath. J’ohnn places a quiet sad hand on the boys forehead, encouraging the brain to stay active with light prodding.

The room is quiet and morbid. Will captain marvel, this child, die today?

Chapter Text

Captin marvel dosent wake for days. He dosent stabilze for twelve hours. Even after their no longer required to keep the boy alive, lantern and flash stay. The boy. They don't even know his name. He was so close to death, and batman had to convice him to get care. Their freind, the smiling, pun-y, carining, ridiculous, cheerful, captain marvel. The indestructible red cheese was child and he almost died.

The med bay was silent. Silent for a long long time. barry thought of all the times marvel gave him advice and comfort, a shoulder to lean on. Hal thought of how much better his days were when marvel and him talked. How the man -boy- seemed to perpetually light up evrey room, chasing away any bad moods. Bruce thought about robin. Not just damian all his children, all that had taken up the robin mantel. The boy, marvel, almost looked like he was dicks little brother. His co-worker, the man he sent into danger, the man he criticized heavily, practilly verbally abused with his after mission critiques, was a child. A child who was about to die. Willingly. Quietly. Who said there was no one at home to save him. J’onn thought about his little girl. The martian was the first to leave, quiet and mournful, once he was no longer necessary. He couldn't look at the boy for too long. The child…he had been through for too much. His mind was so painful to dwell in.

When billy wakes up, everything hurts. His mouth and throat ache and scratch. He squinted his eye open, to asses his surroundings. The three heroes don't seem to notice that hes awake yet. Good. maybe he can run away? he’ ll just have to keep an eye out for the next time they leave.

It makes billys heart ache to think he’ll have to leave the league. They had become his family, he loved fighting with him. But theyd never allow him to keep fighting, and if they did, itd be full of pity laden glances, over bearing worrying. They'd definitely start digging into his business. No, he needs to leave.

Idly, billy draws pallerals between the situation with the league and when he’d run from some foster houses. They werent all terrible. Some even cared. Some he liked and grew fond of. But he needed the freedom of being on the street to be the champion, needed to make sure no one got caught in the crossfire. More perosnally thought, it made his skin itch the way they fussed over him. Treated him. It felt wrong. He was broken, feral. They should funnel that care to someone more deserving. So he left, made room. Now he has to leave again, because he’s not their equals anymore, not their friends anymore. Theyll treat him like a fragile liability and no way in hell is he letting anyone, even the league, stop him from saving people.

Bruce looks over at him, silently staring. It dosent surprise billy that the bat was the first to notice. It sorta creeped out the boy how observant the man was at first, but it settled into comfort. Steadfast and foundatnal, the bat could be reiled on. “Your awake. How do you feel?”

Billy groans “like shit.” hal chokes on his spit, and billy grins a little bit. He never swore when he was marvel, it didnt go with the nice pure clean image marvel had, the lighthearted boy scout, the comforting pillar of safety. But as billy, he had a mouth that rivaled a sailors, it had gotten him into a couple scrapes, but soooo worth it. Hal finally stops coughing “uh language kid”

Billy smirks more, getting a glint in his eye “hey hal? Suck my dick. You swear as much, if not more then me” hal looks like hes going to keep over, bruce has a small disapproving frown on his face, and barrys just sort of stuck frozen in the corner of the med bay. “Yeah well im not a bratty seven year old am i? Im a grown man” billy gasps half mock offended, half really offended “i am twelve thank you very much!”

That seems to suck the air out of the room a little bit. All three adults are clearly thinking the same thing. Twelve? He’s so small. That has to be malnutrition. It gives billy the perfect opportunity to began struggling out of his bed, well trying to. His limbs seem to not want to listen to him. “Well this has been… so great. Really, aces. Glad im still alive thanks for that, but i gotta be going, shit to do, assholes to put in jail” that pulls batman back down to earth for a moment. Without even a modicum of strength, the bat gently pushs the boy back into bed “no. your staying here. It was touch and go. Your organs are still recovering from going into shock. Your glucose levels and hydration levels are barley tolerable. The fact that your councuis already is impressive within itself. You need to rest captain. This is not negotiable”

Billys a little startled that he’s still being referred to as captain, he’d thought that his title wouldve been stripped from him with the respect of being a fellow hero once they saw his age. But then it occurs to him that he didnt tell them his name. He just sorta…passed out. And then tried to escape. Whatever. He dosent exactly feel like telling them. In that social workers words, he has “trust issues especially regarding authority figures”. Billy thinks thats sorta bullshit. Its reasonable amounts of suspicion and awareness. To keep himself safe.