Batman saw the teenager enter a small church. He looked in from the window, only for the world to change. The darkness of night in the dark city swallowed everything, leaving a swirling mess of light and darkness in the church that now seemed as large as a cathedral. cathedral Batman found himself inside. The boy's black hair turned white. His body veiled with a cloak, and his legs seeming to disappear. A great scythe appears in his hands. His head turns and his once blue eyes and are now glowing a ghostly green colour. Organ music starts to play, which made Batman desperately trying to comprehend what was happening; desperately trying to think of a way out.
Just then the ghostly eyes focused on the organ, "Sam, do you have to?"
"I'm just trying to set the mood." said the goth girl. She wore a black leotard with a dark green hue, her eyes nearly occluded from makeup, as thorned vines visibly moved about the organ. And following the movement in the corner of his eyes, the vines had spread across the entire cathedral.
The ghostly eyes turned to look back at him, "Look, sorry, this was just meant to open the door. I should have known you've already walked through one."
"Where - are we?" Kevin Conroy Batman's deep voice asked.
"I call it the Ghost Zone, that doesn't doesn't really do a good job of describing it." He looked over to Sam, and sighed, as she continued to play. He looked back to Batman, "Sorry, she's just a bit of a drama queen."
"Gotham's Dark Knight is speaking to the Ghost King." Sam added.
"So, it's real?" Batman asked.
"As real as any ghost is." Danny nonchalantly replied, "I can't exactly say I'm the best king, but the last one was the worst." He then shrugged. In the blink of Batman's unblinking eye he moved towards him as if the space between them did not exist. If Batman had not trained with Giovanni Zatara, and his daughter, there's no way he would have noticed the space seem the warp between the two locations. The boy would have simply appeared in front of him. He turned to glare at the young man. The scythe disappeared, and he held out his right hand.
"What do you want with Gotham?" Batman uttered.
"That's easy." the young Ghost King said, no older than Red Robin. "Your city has a lot of... I guess we can call them ghosts."
"Spirits?" Batman asked, "Demons?"
"They are all really the same." Danny simply replied, and stepped back, without his legs moving. Even without legs. He seemed to just float there. "Tolkien called mortality the Gift of Men. It allows change. Every 20 years, the world of Men is different."
"And for - the spirits?" Batman asked.
"Some are incapable of change, and for others, time does not even pass. In the - Ghost Zone, past and future are one and the same. Without Sam, and the others, the last grasps of reality would slip through my fingers, like falling sand or floating mist."
He slowly floated back towards Batman, holding out his hand.
"And if I take your hand, what happens to me?" Batman harshly asked.
"We shake - and then let go." Danny simply stated. "Your mind is a fortress that not even my wail could penetrate. As I said, I should have known you've done this before."
"That doesn't mean I want to repeat it." Batman harshly uttered, the organ music seeming to reach a crescendo.
"And that's why I'm here." Danny uttered.
"To take over Gotham?" Batman nearly spat.
"Take over?" Danny asked, "You seem to think I have some attachment to this mortal world."
"Then - tell me - why - are you here?!" Batman shouted.
"To help the ghosts of the past come to rest." Danny simply stated. "I'll leave those with the Gift of Men in your hands."
The energy of the organ started to slowly fall, "Do you have to say it like that?" Sam asked, and Danny turned to look at her, and in that instant they both look so utterly ordinary and banal.
"I think we can trust Tolkien when it comes to English." Danny replied, and Sam rolled her eyes. Danny turned back to Batman. "We managed to calm the ghosts of my hometown." he simply stated, "I needed to find some place," he said, and looking between the windows, as if he could see reality beyond the jet-black frames. He then looked back to Batman, "Gotham is an - interesting - place."
"That's one way to put it." Batman crumbled.
"What if - a number of your problems weren't actually crazy?" the nascent Ghost King asked.
"Arkham would beg to differ." Batman grumbled.
"What if the things they saw were... well, not real?" the nascent Ghost King asked, "But as real as I am?"
Batman's eyes instantly grew distant. Anyone doing any research into the arcane knew that those not properly grounded in reality could often see more than what others could. Children, the fevered brains, and insanity. "Is that what the scythe is for?" Batman harshly asked.
"It lets me separate spirits, if some of them is overshadowing, or getting a little too involved in someone."
"And, if you use it on a living person?" Batman asked.
"I can give them a temporary out of body experience." he replied.
"That's it?" Batman asked.
"I know this is had to believe." he said, and turned to the organ as the music came to an end. He then looked Batman back in his eyes, "We have our own rich backers, and so all we really need is an abandoned church."
"Lovely what you've done with the place." Batman sardonically stated.
"Thank you." Samantha replied, as she stood up from the organ, and walked over, the vines seeming to follow her as if they were pets. "Why don't you stop by some time for tea?"
"We could take you to Scáthach's Fortress of Shadow." the nascent Ghost King added. "The cliffs are hauntingly beautiful."
"I don't know if you know this, but I'm a busy man." Batman harshly uttered.
"And I know you are also charitable." the Ghost King replied, "You can stop by, and donate to our food bank."
"Food bank?" Batman dismissed, and a man walked out with a black shirt and pants, grey blazer, and white, clerical collar.
"We are a small church, but we have a group of Blackfriars to run the soup kitchen."
"Dominicans?" Batman asked, and looked around the wyrd cathedral. "Wouldn't they be a bit - uncomfortable working here?"
"They are mendicants." the priest replied. "They go where those who need them most are."
"So, they've given up comfort?" Batman asked.
"Those that come here are often plagued by things they cannot comprehend." the priest continued.
"And that's where the Ghost King comes in?" Batman asked.
The nascent Ghost King simply shrugged. "Crime Alley is where they need help the most."
With that, Batman's life flashed before his eyes.
Bruce Wayne walked through the small church's front door, and when he stepped inside he was in the cathedral, the windows were occluded by darkness, and he was once again Batman. He quickly looked around in desperation.
"Like I said," the nascent Ghost called to him as he appeared form the ether, "your mind is like a fortress. How many other people in Gotham have that kind of discipline?"
The look of betrayal appeared on Batman's dark face.
"The Blackfriars honestly do not care who Bruce Wayne is." the Ghost King replied, "Other than the fact you want to help them feed the poor."
Batman thought this over. "I have one condition." he stated, and the Ghost King smiled at him, "The Martha Wayne foundation has programmes to help people get off the street."
"You want to put a flyer on the bulletin board?" the Ghost King asked.
"You know who am I?" Batman asked, "But who are you?"
"I honestly don't know." the Ghost King replied, "But Jazz is helping me figure that part out. Let's head to Ireland for tea."
