The Justice League summons the ghost king.
Unfortunately, the safest way JLD can find requires a host body to contain the being.
Obviously Superman, Wonder Woman, and Flash are out - who knows what this being would do with a super-powered body. They have no idea how Captain Marvel or Green Lantern type magic would interact with the summoning, so not them either. They need Constantine and Zatanna to perform the ritual.
Basically it's down to the bats.
Batman tries to volunteer - better him than one of his kids if anything were to go wrong.
That gets vetoed. As do a lot of his offspring. The safest options (ie the least contaminated by magic, lazarus water, time shenanigans, and everything else) are Red Robin, Spoiler, and Nightwing.
After a lot of arguing, everyone at least agrees to tolerate the arrangement.
Nightwing removes every possible weapon from himself, allows himself to be tied to a chair in the middle of a summoning circle, and waits for JL Dark to complete the ritual.
It's not long before he feels a surge of cold burning through him.
He expected to be unconscious while the Ghost King took over. That's what Zatanna said had been reported the last time this ritual was performed many years ago.
They had all expected a lot of things.
Pariah Dark was supposed to be terrifying to behold - a massive, cruel, FURIOUS dictator who turned to violence at the smallest sleight.
This was... definitely not that.
Dick was present. He had no control over his body, but he could see and hear in an almost dream-like state. Foggy and indistinct, maybe a little warped, but definitely present.
He felt his heart rate and breathing pick up in panic even though he felt mostly calm (or at least no more anxious than he had been, waiting for an angry deity to possess his body and all). It was a strange sensation.
He felt the vibrations of his own voice as it left his throat, high and confused.
"Wha... Where..." It asked, warbling and afraid.
He felt his eyes blink and his limbs struggle against the bindings.
His head tilted down without his say so, and he looked at his own body as if through rippling water, warped lenses.
"I'm not..." His voice came out, still confused. Still afraid.
"Your Majesty?" Zatanna asked from beyond the limits of the circle.
His head whipped up, and he felt his neck click at the abrupt motion.
His breathing picked up again. Dick felt the ghost (pun not intended) of anxiety, like it was leaking from the other consciousness inhabiting his body.
"We mean you no harm. Our associate has agreed to lend you his body for the duration of this meeting." She continued.
Dick felt the king's anxiety again, stronger this time. Other emotions too, guilt, sorrow, anger, and a strange sort of pressing-tugging sensation.
Suddenly, Dick was back in control. He could still feel the king's consciousness, stronger now than before, but he could also move and speak freely.
"What just happened?" He mumbled, speaking to the ghost, not the audience of heroes.
"Nightwing?" Someone called from outside the circle, but he ignored them for the moment, feeling instead the consciousness inhabiting his body push back fear, guilt, and apology.
"Yeah, it's me. He's still in here, though." Dick frowned, trying to figure out how to interact with the being.
He heard a voice in the back of his mind. It sounded like him. It sounded different. It was younger than him. It was small and afraid. It was neutral and quiet and him. But it wasn't. It was speaking. It was silent. It was emotions and thoughts and nothing.
"Oooookay, this is really weird. I think we're communicating. I don't know how to talk back, but if he's in the same situation I was a minute ago he should be able to hear us just fine. Is that right?" Nightwing tried.
The 'voice' (he figured he'd call it a voice for now. He wasn't sure what else he could call it) responded in the affirmative. Like a hand outstretched, flipping up and down in a 'kinda' type of gesture. Like a nod and a hesitant smile. The feeling of victory by default.
"Okay yeah he can hear us." He announced for the benefit of their audience. "Why didn't you stay where you could speak? Wouldn't that have been easier?" He looked at his own chest, as if he could somehow find a way to see the presence inside of him.
Disgust. Guilt. Fear. An unexpected step at the bottom of a staircase. Falling off a pier into tempestuous water. A stranger pinning your hands above your head.
"Oh." Dick breathed. "Thank you, but I can handle it."
"Okay. It's alright. You can speak through me or we can manage like this." He soothed.
"Nightwing, report." Batman demanded.
"Uhh, right. I think he's trying to be courteous? To me, I mean. From what I can gather, he doesn't want to possess me or take over. He seems pretty repulsed by the idea, to be honest. I think he can see and hear and generally experience everything I'm experiencing, he's just more passenger than driver? I can feel him, and he's communicating, he just can't speak through me without taking my autonomy again, and he really doesn't want to do that." Dick explained, looking at the various states of thinly-veiled bewilderment across the faces of the heroes.
"Ask him if he's Pariah Dark, High King of the Infinite Realms, Ancient of Rage and Destructio-" Constantine begins, before Dick cuts him off
"I just said he can hear everything we're saying. Ask him yourself."
Constantine huffs. "You heard me, mate. Are you him?"
Denial. Contemplation. A battle. Single combat. A crown made of black thorns and green flames. A throne too big for he who sits in it. Victory. Desperation. Insufficiency. A question.
"I think..." Dick starts, trying to understand. "I think he's the King... but he's not Pariah Dark."
Agreement. Apology. Questioning.
"He wants to know if we're looking for Pariah Dark, or if we're looking for the High King of the Infinite Realms." He glances between Zatanna and Constantine, uncertain of the answer himself.
"Whatever is inside you defeated the ancient of Rage and Destruction in single combat, Nightwing. It's a powerful motherfucker, and a total unknown." He warns cautiously.
"Get him out of there, now. Send it back." Batman demands.
TERROR. Pleading. Unbearable suffering. Shiny metal dripping with green blood. The end of love. Unfathomable loss. Death without release. Unending torment. Begging.
"NO!" The voice tears its way out of Nightwing without his consent.
Cowering. Apology. Apology. Guilt. Apology.
Dick clears his throat. "I don't think he wants to leave."
"All the more reason to send it back." Batman growls.
"Don't." Dick protests. "I know it's a risk, and there's a chance it's manipulating me. But, something doesn't feel right about all of this."
"Ghosts are well known for their skills regarding manipulation, mind control, and emotion tampering." Zatanna cautions.
"According to those dehumanising rags maybe," Constantine scoffs.
"Two sources, Love. Both of which have a bit of a vested interest, wouldn't you say?"
Fear. FEAR. Frustration. Heartbreak. An unheard voice in a crowded room. A layperson lecturing an expert. Mockery. A spectacle of suffering. Lies. Hurt. Fear.
"He agrees with Constantine." Dick pipes in.
Exasperation. Reluctance.
"I don't think he's too happy about it." He laughs.
"Of course he agrees with Constantine, he's giving him what he wants." Red Robin huffs.
"He's afraid." Dick's voice cuts through the argument and the heroes turn to look at him. "I don't know exactly what's happening, but he's terrified of being sent back."
Zatanna sighs. "Let's do what we came to do, and then maybe we'll talk about letting him out."
(Something goes wrong and Dick and Danny end up stuck like this for a while.
Dick moves back into Wayne Manor while they try to figure out how to remove Danny from Dick's body without hurting either of them.
Everybody starts referring to Phantom as Dick's little passenger.
Eventually they repeal the Anti-Ecto Acts and find out all of the trauma Danny's been through via talking and dream/memory bleeding between him and Dick.
When Danny does finally manage to tumble out of Dick he is promptly adopted into the Batfam (what did anyone expect, he's a traumatised young teenager with black hair and blue eyes and barely any sense of self preservation).
In the meantime, however, Dick is happily going about his daily life with his little passenger, and Danny is still very traumatised but he's also contentedly curled up in Dick's chest, thrumming with happiness whenever Dick takes care of him.
Once or twice when Dick gets into Big Danger while vigilante-ing, Phantom forcibly takes over Dick's body to save him, using his ghost powers to fight the bad guy and escape the scenario. He cries afterwards because even though he needed to save Dick's life, he knows how terrifying and violating it feels to have someone else controlling your body (thanks Circus Gothica) and never wants to put anyone else through that.)
