#alternative ending

"It's fine. They'll come back. This happens a lot-"

"Daniel! You're dissolving," Damian cuts him off, sounding choked with tears and panic. Danny blinks at him, then glances down to his legs where he finds- oh.

His legs haven't gone intangible or invisible. They were instead breaking apart into little specks of light. The same kind of thing that appeared around Clockwork whenever the ghost used his time staff.

That means this was Time's doing.

"If we do that, there is a chance that Time will try to force his existence out. It could…. erase Daniel completely." Dick had said, but at the time, Danny had been so sure he wasn't in any real danger. Or maybe Danny had been with the Waynes before the Flash had gone back and changed the timeline, and the Fentons had been Clockwork's way to correct it?

Damian and Danny had broken the safety net Clockwork had placed under him, and now he was falling to his death.

"Danny! Hold on, just hold on. " Dick begs, typing on his phone, likely calling for a speedster.

"Kon! Help!" Tim cries next, head through the window, and sounds like his world is ending. There is a boom in the distance, likely from Superboy, racing over as fast as he could. But Danny doubts neither Kon nor Wally will make it in time.

He gasps as his insides shift, breaking apart, and feeling every second of it, yet somehow feeling no pain. Damian's arms are around him, trying to ground him, but Danny's form is nearly gone.

He feels his brother, sobbing, running his arms over his body desperately, and any other time, Danny would have been amazed that Damian showed so much emotion, as he slowly raises his eyes to meet his horrified father's gaze.

Reaching out a hand to him, Danny gasps out, "Save me, please, Dad."

Bruce jerks as he's been struck. He tumbles out of his chair, reaching for Danny's hand. Only the second his fingers brush his son's, they vanish.

Danny's broken plea echoes in the room as Damian tilts over, now only clutching air.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. I don't want to die. You can save me, right Dad?" His trusting smile and tearful eyes only have a few seconds of visibility before Danny's face breaks into pieces, and that's the last expression he will ever make.

Bruce falls to his knees, images of a blown-up warehouse playing behind his eyes. Steph covers her mouth, tears rolling down her face. Cass turns away, shaking all over and clutching her arm hard enough to draw blood. Kon is embracing a devastated Tim, who had collapsed into his hold the second he arrived. Alfred, Duke, and Jason fall into their chairs, looks of horror and disbelief playing across their faces.

The worst, however, is Damian, who is rubbing his hands on the carpet as if searching for the light particles that had fallen between the fabric, calling Danny's name.