Hi. I'm Sion, the author of From Your Point of View. And I have my own AU now! Like, a real one. This is Swap!Vampireverse, and it's pretty much what it says on the tin. So enjoy my little (cough, 48 chapters and counting, cough) story about vampire Ink and hunter Error! And also Nightmare. And literally everyone else, I guess, because I definitely don't stop at half measures. Anyway, enough preamble, here we go!
This happens a little after the first bite, but before they have reached a new stability in their relationship. Error continued to be at war with himself, not even because of the bite itself, but because of the feelings that said bite chose to intensify.
He liked it.
And he wanted more, which deeply unsettled the hunter. It made him doubt everything Ink had said to him back then, and eventually, these anxieties and suspicions took over, leading Error to the most "logical" — as he thought at the time — conclusion, that this was all a dirty trick. A way to make him let down his guard and turn him into one of the fake-happy dummies like the others in the castle. And maybe the hunter didn’t really believe it — or at least he didn’t want to believe it — but his rapidly growing paranoia insisted that he became a victim of vampire manipulation, and that Ink had never cared about him, just pretending in order to convince him that being a living food is okay, actually.
Which is further complicated by the fact that there was some truth to this assumption, because this is how Ink treats… almost everyone else. He had, what, five exceptions before Error? But for the most part, he cares about others' comfort for the sake of delicious food and positive emotions and it was never some big, deep-hidden secret. Although for him it isn't some evil plan, but just his normal behavior. This is how he's used to living and he doesn't see the difference between these two types of attitude. So when Error snaps at him, the vampire genuinely doesn't understand the very essence of the accusation. (Like, what, he’s somehow at fault for making the hunter happy? And that’s… bad?.. Okay, he’s clearly missing something here.) But just because he doesn’t see the problem, doesn’t mean that Error’s panic is unfounded. So, worried that he had messed up after all, Ink goes to Nightmare for advice, hoping that he can clear it up for him.
Night used to be a mortal, and as someone who regularly deals with the Council's intrigues, he really does understand where Error was coming from. When someone is overly friendly and nice, showing the world only their good side, while hiding all the flaws, it looks unnatural and immediately breeds suspicion.
As an example, Nightmare brings up his relationship with his brother. After the reveal about how he was treated in their past life, Dream made it his life's mission to surround Night with attention and care, and also set out to provide him with the best emotions. Which is all fine and good, but in practice, Dream ran himself ragged, putting his twin's well-being above everything else, including his own feelings. Trying to always be positive, he drained himself emotionally and constantly burned out, alternating periods of infectious joy with periods when he could barely manage a smile. Which the light twin then immediately perceived as a personal failure and drove himself more into depression — which manifested itself not in the form of tantrums or breakdowns, but in the form of a complete loss of energy and apathy, as if he was the starving vampire in their pair.
Which only served to emphasize that such toxic positivity doesn't work. Negative emotions are a part of life, but they need a healthy outlet. If you try to ignore or suppress them, nothing good will come of it, and no matter how hard you try, it's simply impossible to erase all the bad from a person's life. Especially in the case of someone like Error, who has had many negative experiences in his lifetime, and instead of bending an insufficiently flexible mind, such a persistent attempt to change his beliefs is more likely to just break him.
Ink isn't sure if he fully understands it, but he actually tries to understand. He doesn't want to lose Error when they've come so far, and it's a new feeling for him. The magic was incredible, but he didn't think it was the only reason for his attraction — he genuinely cared about the hunter's well-being. Ink asks Nightmare what he was supposed to do in such a case, to which Night, after a moment's thought, replies: "Try to accept him for who he is." The dark twin says this from experience, because he and Dream became much closer after they had an honest conversation with each other, and he assured his brother that Dream didn’t have to micromanage his emotions for him. And if one of them felt bad, they shared those feelings and worked through them together. Which allowed them to understand each other much better.
But while Ink wants to heed this advice, he's still not sure how exactly to do it. So in the end, he follows his mortal's example and solves the problem the same way Error solved it last time. He breaks into the hunter's room. And not the one in the castle — Error technically has a guest room reserved just for him — but no, Ink follows him all the way to the village. Error didn't expect such an audacious (and unscheduled!) attack in broad daylight — although in his understanding this is technically the "correct" behavior for vampires — and it was so sudden and out of nowhere that before the hunter could even reach for his weapons, he was thrown onto the bed and pressed against the rented tavern mattress. Ink didn't hold back his power this time, pinning the mortal down in a paralyzing grip, and Error realized that he was actually scared, which hadn't happened to him since his first serious loss, when he was injured.
He curled up under his opponent as best he could, protecting his chest and neck as usual, but the vampire had a different goal in mind, instead reaching for his hand, which for once wasn't covered by his signature combat gloves. There was a pause, during which Error wondered why the attack had stopped, losing the chance to push Ink off himself. The next thing the hunter felt was a cold tongue curling around his fingers and a slightest prick. Almost immediately, Ink's face changed to an expression Error had never seen on him. It was the first time in a very long time that Ink had tasted and experienced negative emotions. And not just Error’s, but in general — he could barely remember what it was like, too accustomed to the positivity in the last few decades of his carefully curated life. And it made him realize how much fear and apprehension Error had, and how much pressure he was under. Not to mention the guilt of betraying his beliefs.
It only lasted a couple of minutes, after which Ink just as abruptly pulled back and apologized, running away and leaving the hunter in deep confusion. Error didn't know how to react. He was both scared — because this was the first time the vampire had actually attacked him first — oddly flattered that his opponent had followed him even outside the forest, and completely baffled by this act and subsequent apology. His fingers tingled with warmth where the tongue had touched them, and for some reason it seemed more gentle than a bite, even without additional caress to soften the blow like last time. It was a minimal intervention, but it was direct and honest, without trying to influence his mood in any way.
When Error finally came to his senses, he headed straight back to the castle to ask one particular vampire what the hell was that, only to realize that something had changed. Ink no longer avoided him, but also didn’t push so much anymore, maintaining a comfortable distance, and the constant attempts to cheer him up decreased significantly. Error felt… strangely free. But he still corners Ink and demands an explanation, and this time it was an actual, proper conversation. A rare occasion when they used their words instead of playing charades with each other.
In response to the obvious question of what was the point of his latest stunt, Ink repeats that he wants him and is unlikely to be able to do anything about this pull. But he wants Error the way he is, and he's not going to change him to suit his tastes. He also apologized once again for the attack, explaining that he just wanted to understand the hunter’s feelings, and promised that he would never do such a thing again without consent. In fact, this is the moment when Ink clearly states how important consent is to him, and that this is why he had that period of avoidance. He hoped that one day Error would let him taste his magic, sure — but he was never going to force it. And maybe that's why he acted the way he did, impulsively and not really thinking, too excited when the hunter showed interest as well.
It all ends with the phrase: "I still want you to be happy, but you don't have to be happy for me. You have the right to choose what you want, and whatever it is, I will accept it. And if you think I'm doing something wrong, just stop me. You can."
This couldn't have been more perfect for Error, but when such intense attention disappeared, the hunter caught himself on the thought that he wanted this attention. Because the fact that Ink had sought him out even when Error was in a "bad" mood for a snack proved that it wasn't the only reason for his interest. And even if the vampire encroached upon his magic again, he did it not to satisfy his own thirst, but to feel what Error felt and truly understand him. Something that no one had ever tried to do for the hunter before. It was weird, to be so important and valued, and not just when it was convenient for others. Error was too used to being cajoled just for personal gain, so despite the rather crude execution, this stunt on Ink's part improved their relationship rather than worsened it.
Although it was definitely a risky move. Risky and reckless. It could have scared Error too much and completely ruined everything, and this idiot is just lucky that my goal is to build up their relationship, not to break them apart. Plus, as Nightmare predicted, it strengthened their bond, and if later the hunter was frustrated about something, but couldn't articulate what, throwing around phrases like "You don't understand!" — Ink just retorted with "Then give me a taste." It was never a full bite, so it was much easier for Error to excuse it, although once he got so annoyed that he just grabbed Ink and without hesitation stuck his finger in his opponent's mouth, reaching for the fangs himself. That day, he learned how to make a vampire crave him in less than a second. Let's just say they both quickly forgot the original reason for the argument.
Of course, Ink can't just stop seeing the sharing of magic as something natural — it's literally a matter of his survival, and it's like saying that the whole practice of cooking is an insidious conspiracy (and no, we're not talking about the ethics of the global food industry in my self-indulgent not-quite-fanfic, nope). And while the hunter is still concerned about softening his attitude towards this, he’s slowly warming up to the idea that for the most part these are his own desires, and even if Ink caused it with his actions, it wasn’t manipulation. It was ordinary sympathy in response to simple care that Error had been deprived of for far too long. And it doesn't matter if there was a catch or not.
I mean, if someone makes you change your mind about something, it's not always coercion, even if that's their goal. This is hard for Error to understand, and even harder to accept, so it will take some time before his suspicions subside for real. But the clearly stated fact that he had the right to say “no”, meant a lot to him. In particular, because he suddenly realized that he was the one who had been coming to Ink all this time. The hunter could have turned around and left at any point, or at least gone back to actually trying to kill the vampire, but he didn't. And not because Ink asked him to stop or stay. In a way, this is the moment when Error first looks at the castle as his home, which shocks him for a completely different reason, because he missed when it became so natural for him to come there and interact with its inhabitants. Especially with Ink.
I'm surprised, but one of the strong traits of this Ink is his self-control. He still often acts frivolously, and sometimes may behave like a child, but this is because he's completely uninterested in power. His natural strength level is sufficient to ensure him a solid place in the magical society, and he never strived for more, focused on getting the most enjoyment out of life. Which makes him somewhat self-centered, but in a very different way than the Council snobs. Ink is teetering on that fine line where he cares about his reputation and people under his protection just enough to not scare them away, and he would rather wait for consent than greedily throw himself at the person he wants at the first opportunity. Although when it comes to things other than feeding, he can be much more annoying and pushy.
But in this particular aspect — he is obviously interested in providing himself with the best food, so that's one thing this Ink has actually learned patience in, and of all the vampires in the castle, his control over his thirst is the strongest. Although his age and experience also play a role. He's an ancient vampire, and the days when he was guided by his instincts instead of the other way around are long gone.
Although sometimes his magical self rears its head more than usual, especially in situations where he tries to allow someone else to take control. Magical creatures have a built-in sixth sense that allows them to sense the power level of others, and they naturally form an invisible "hierarchy" on which their entire social structure is based. This happens automatically and unconsciously, and is especially noticeable with strangers — no matter who they are loyal to, who they respect, and who they despise, they will interact and treat each other with a nod to this system.
So it is simply unnatural for a powerful and ancient vampire to bow down to a mortal, no matter how much said vampire trusts that person or what they consciously think about it. So Ink's biggest problem isn't even suppressing his thirst, but instead it’s suppressing his instincts when they try to tell him that he should dominate when he doesn't want to.
Which manifested most clearly, of course, with Error. The hunter has caught his interest, and Ink wants him more than anyone else before, but he also cares about his trust more than anyone else's before. And to get that trust, Ink has to suppress his instincts as much as possible, which is a problem, because they are vital to him, and he constantly relies on them in battle. To give in and play by the other's rules, to allow Error to feel comfortable and on an equal footing with him, to not react as the hunter’s emotions shined stronger and brighter as they gradually grew closer — Error without a doubt became the biggest test of character for Ink and his self-control, an ancient vampire or not. It was a bet in which he had staked everything, and succumbing to temptation would leave him with nothing.
But in this attempt to gain trust by any means necessary, Ink miscalculated. He hoped to endear the hunter to the magical world by presenting it in a better light and dispelling his prejudices — but in the process he hid his aforementioned problems. While trying to get closer to Error, Ink actually didn't let Error get closer to him. He began to avoid the hunter, and fought his instincts more and more, eventually driving himself to a rather dangerous edge. Which — surprise! — isn't healthy at all, and Error, of course, is an idiot, but not to the point of not noticing that there is something wrong with his vampire. And where Ink had patience to spare, Error very quickly lost his.
The breaking point came when Ink had refused to indulge in their game and hadn't met Error when he had come to the forest for their scheduled battle, and the hunter had decided that that crossed the line, and enough was enough. Technically, he had never entered the castle by himself before — at least not without a fight first. He had vague plans to storm it one day, or maybe quietly sneak in, but to approach the main entrance as a guest and politely knock on the door — that was new. But it was the fastest way to get answers, and upon being let in, the hunter immediately demanded to know where Ink was hiding his vampire ass and how dare he ignore him.
Which led him to Ink's room. The door was locked, of course, but when did it ever stop anyone? One broken-down obstructing piece of wood later, the hunter faced his opponent once again, cornering the vampire in the heart of his own nest. The sight that greeted him was… different from the one he was used to, to put it mildly. The familiar red eye lights disappeared completely, leaving only empty sockets. The fangs clearly stood out as the only bright spot on the gloomy face, while the patterns that Error had previously mistaken for tattoos had spread and covered the bones almost completely, making them as dark as his own. And as the finishing touch to a truly terrifying picture, the characteristic black magic uncontrollably dripped and flowed down the vampire’s cheeks in yet another unintentional imitation. A dense, potent aura pressed down on the room, and everything inside Error screamed at him to get the hell out of there, but the hunter didn't back down.
Fortunately, Ink didn't try to attack — instead, he curled up in a ball, covering himself with his wings and hiding his face as much as he could. He didn't want Error to see him like this, but at the same time he couldn't help but react to the other's presence. The hunter’s emotions were… weird. There was a lot of anger and resentment, but Error didn't look like he wanted to kill him, even though it was a pretty good opportunity for that. But no, he wanted to talk.
When the hunter was sure that he had captured the vampire's attention and that the idiot was actually listening, he launched into the most furious tirade Ink had ever heard from him. Which was a high bar. Error told his opponent everything he thought about him and how tired he was of this game of tag and hide-and-seek. He's a hunter, damn it, dealing with stupid vampires is his job, so whatever the problem was, he could handle it! That day, Error finally admitted to Ink and to himself that he wanted to know more about him, wanted to see and understand — which he wouldn’t be able to do if the vampire continued to run from him.
The hunter ends his emotional outburst on the question that has been tormenting him since he first woke up in these very walls — what does Ink actually want?
"You" was a rather predictable answer.
Explaining what a stupid situation he had put himself in was much more embarrassing than Ink had imagined. In a way, he hadn't expected such a strong interest from himself, and this was completely uncharted territory for him. Usually, if someone was against the bite, Ink accepted it and simply didn't bother that person — he has enough mortals who are willing to help him voluntarily. So in his inner circle, there were never people with whom he had to choose between thirst and trust — they either trusted him, but didn't interest him in that way, or they did interest him, but agreed to share magic with him. This is a comfort zone that he has deliberately built around himself, the one he’s used to — but that's why the appearance of Error in his life shook him so much. It turned out to be a vicious circle in which trust was gained by restraining his desires, but the more said trust grew, the stronger this desire became.
It was a piece of honesty that changed a lot for Error, because it meant that even in an uphill struggle with himself, Ink put the hunter's well-being above his instincts. He still had doubts whether it wasn't all one big and clever manipulation — but even if it was, it worked, because his intention to kill his opponent had faded over the months, whereas Ink never seemed to have it in the first place. And as shocking as it was, Error realized that for the first time in his entire career as a hunter, someone cared so much about him, and that right now, in his enemy's lair and so close to a vampire, he felt comfortable. Safe. And just leaving the castle, with or without victory, seemed somehow wrong. Error liked their rivalry, and he wanted to preserve it.
Even if it meant doing something very reckless.
But even dead set on his decision, he still needed an excuse. So the hunter once again recalls the event that started it all — how Ink saved his life, and how he thought his magic would be the price. Error didn't express his thoughts directly, hardly able to survive such humiliation, but his emotions made the message clear enough as he awkwardly muttered:
"I don't suffer anymore. And I don't want to be in your debt forever."
Ink almost choked, for a moment sure that he had misheard him — or maybe misunderstood him. But when he approached, slowly and cautiously, Error didn't pull away. This moment of honesty between them calmed Ink down a bit, so his patterns receded, looking like… Well, like patterns again, as opposed to a full dark coating. His eye lights returned as well and immediately slid over the hunter’s scandalously light clothes — Error was still armed, obviously, and he kept his chest plate, but compared to his usual uniform it was nothing — making it easy to trace such enticing bones and streams of magic behind the tight-fitting fabric.
It was exciting. Being so close and cuddling up to the other’s chest when the hunter swapped their positions and leaned against the wall, throwing his head back in an uncharacteristically vulnerable gesture, but stubbornly refusing to close his eyes or look away. Still trying to look annoyed and ignoring the faint blue on his cheeks, even when Ink could feel the shiver running through the hunter’s body, or how he swallowed in a boiling mix of apprehension and anticipation.
Feelings that Ink shared, and he hadn't even touched his magic yet. His wings curled into a tight ball around them, and it was unclear who was pinning down whom as they huddled in the corner of the room in a tangle of limbs that was too rough and too intimate for a hug. Their heavy breathing mixed, and a short cry quickly changed tune, only to be cut off when Error bit his tongues. His magic pulsed with heat, warming them both and prompting him to pull the vampire closer. It was a point of no return, but where the hunter was prepared for the pain, he was completely unprepared for what he actually felt.
There is this popular headcanon in this setting that a vampire bite is pleasant, sometimes to the point of being an aphrodisiac, that calms down the victim and suppresses the potential resistance, but it isn't really applicable to my AU. If it worked on everyone the same way and was only pleasant, then there wouldn't be so many problems with "bad" vampires, and also, Ink, like other vampires, feeds on more than just one person (at least until Error, and even then, it took a long time before the hunter allowed him to get that close). Нe regularly turns to Dream or other residents of the castle, but I never wanted to turn this into a ship, let alone a harem. Especially since most of all Dream supports his brother, and incest isn’t really my thing. So instead of an unambiguously positive reaction, a vampire bite in this AU enhances the emotions that a person is already experiencing at that moment, pulling them to the surface and making them more vivid than ever.
Which can lead to both a bad reaction and a good one, enhancing both fear and joy, depending on the situation and attitude. So Dream, who loves Ink and Night only as a friend and a brother respectively, will never feel anything inappropriate from a bite. But when it happens to Error, he doesn't admit how he feels, but the bite doesn't care, bringing all his secret thoughts to the light and making it impossible to ignore them. As a result, the hunter turns into a blushing and almost moaning mess on the floor of Ink’s bedroom.
Which, of course, turned into even greater doubts and an internal fight of his beliefs with such a shameful reaction of his own body. Also, he had never been taught that it could feel like this in the first place (because even vampires can only encounter such a reaction from their lovers, which is quite rare, so Error couldn't find out about it even in the castle). The hunter doesn’t admit that he liked it, but at the same time he can’t deny it and struggles with a completely absurd desire to ask to bite him again. It's more than just a crack in his worldview, this is totally unacceptable, but tell that to his stupid feelings. And even if he accepted this attraction as something that deserved a chance, it posed a question how to communicate that he’s more or less okay with it, but without actually saying it, because Error would never, for anything in his life, voice such a thing directly. His pride has already suffered enough, and he wants to preserve at least a bit of personal self-respect, please and thank you.
But the funniest thing about all this? When absorbing magic, the strongest emotions leave a mark on the behavior of vampires, and for Error, the strongest were sympathy and trust, yes, but also huge confusion and uncertainty. And because of this, Ink also begins to question himself (which he did before, but not as strongly), whether he has gone too far, or maybe it's the opposite, and now he can ask for more. So while this first bite was definitely a big step in their relationship, at the end of the day, the two doubtful, embarrassed, and flustered idiots just keep beating around the bush.
Ink is attracted to Error's positive emotions. For vampires, positive energy is… not tastier per se, but it is more desirable for obvious reasons, and it's a delicacy in the sense that it's harder to get. And in this regard, as sad as it is, Ink's castle with its happy inhabitants is the exception rather than the rule. But in Error's case, it's even rarer, because he's generally not a very happy monster, and for a long time the only positive emotion he showed was the thrill of battle. The rest of the time he was either angry, or confused, or scared (he will deny it) — anything but pure, blissful joy. It didn't help that he was in enemy territory and therefore always tense and in anticipation of a trick, even when outwardly he seemed calm.
Because of this ever-gloomy mood, it was easy for Ink to control himself around him at first, but when Error finally allows himself to relax and actually enjoy something, it affects the vampire more than he expected. But he convinces himself that he just got used to the other's surliness and wasn't ready for the positivity, even if that’s exactly what he was trying to achieve all this time. Ink tries to calm down, hoping that this surge of desire is temporary, just because it's rare from someone like Error, and when it stops being unusual, it will pass. But he seriously underestimated the magnitude of this pull, not really realizing what he had signed up for by playing around with this interesting new mortal.
Until Error laughed.
In one of the conversations, something suddenly made him burst out laughing — loudly, openly and honestly, without the barest hint of sarcasm or mockery behind it, for the first time since Ink had known him. It was the first time Error had lowered his emotional wall and let his guard down, allowing himself to completely succumb to this rush of delight. And it hit a part of Ink that hadn’t given him trouble in years, if not decades. He had to run away and lock himself in his room, just to avoid pouncing on Error right then and there.
This was the moment when Ink realized that he was very much screwed.
As time went on, and Error slowly got used to Ink's company, just as slowly growing happier, it became harder and harder for Ink to restrain his desire around him. This is what he wanted from the very beginning, but he understands that if he lets himself loose now, he will break the fragile trust that he has managed to build. So he starts to avoid Error a little and often turns to Dream for help, drowning everything out with his positivity, even if they both know that this isn’t the mix of emotions that he wants. And of course, such a drastic shift in behavior didn’t go unnoticed by Error, who walks in on him and Dream and eventually becomes jealous — although without realizing why, or even that this is in fact jealousy — because at this stage he doesn't yet understand his feelings for Ink and doesn't admit them even to himself.
This happens in the period of time when Error begins to stay in the castle, but they’re still fighting. It becomes something of a tradition to come to the forest every few days and challenge Ink to battle. Although they’re not exactly equal in power — it’s more of a "might versus skill" type of deal. Ink is really powerful, but he never has the goal to harm and doesn't take fights seriously, so he’s worse in battles in the usual sense of the word, but compensates for it with magical abilities and physical strength and speed.
Error, on the other hand, has many years of training and experience in real combat, since he has devoted a good chunk of his life to it, and unlike Ink, he is very much focused on the victory, and will do anything, no matter how dishonorable, if it helps him win. Despite the fact that he's a mortal, he compensates for it with honed battle skills and an impressive arsenal of weapons. His favorite one — traps made of magic strings. His gloves have special hooks-dash-claws, which, first, can help him catch himself on and hold onto even almost vertical and/or smooth surfaces, and second, he can hook strings with them and change their location and tension that way, setting up the nets even in the haste of battle. Of course, he needs to be careful not to get stuck on something (cats will confirm that a stuck claw is unpleasant), but he has his skills and his own unique fighting style for this. Oh, and he can also knit right with his hands.
In practice, it means that the outcome depends on the location, mood and luck, but for the most part they have a permanent draw — with a rare swing of advantage in one direction or another. The first time Error obviously lost, he got help in the castle and met Dream, but when he ends up at Ink’s mercy again, the hunter finds himself tied up, while the artist shamelessly paints him. Error thinks that this is a way to humiliate and mock him, and at first trashes in outrage, but then resigns, naively thinking that at least it’s better than being bitten. But then Ink begins to do this after each win, and Error slowly comes to a dreadful realization that to buy Ink off with magic would have been much, much easier…
Later, Error doesn't know what to think about Ink's "gallery", because he can't help but admit that the idiot is good at art (life is long, there's not much else to do), and he's narcissistic enough to admire portraits of himself, but the sheer number of paintings drives him insane, because it reminds him how many times he lost. As for Ink, he just wants to capture what he likes, but understands that with his pride and attitude, the hunter would never pose for him voluntarily. To make it a prize in the case of his victory was the only way to get what he wanted on "legal" grounds.
This is also embarrassing for Error because his clothes are very closed. Haphephobia plus the hazard of work — to not be bitten, it's better to keep the bones covered in at least a couple of protective layers. Error made and modified his outfit himself — the usual medieval outfits are often too loose and baggy for comfort in battle, plus the work of a mercenary is not the most reliable, so he didn't always have the money.
But when Ink made it a habit to draw him — he first disarmed him, and then partially undressed him to capture those contrasting bones he liked so much. Also, in this story it's Ink who constantly teases Error about having too much clothes (this is a Swap!AU, so… hehe), even if it's not always noticeable, as he prefers tight form-fitting fabric — as long as it doesn't interfere with movement, of course. Anyway, the point here is that for Error to be a model for another piece was doubly humiliating, because it meant being undressed without his permission. Ink didn't strip him naked — mostly stopping at the outer jacket — and he definitely didn't grope him, just stealing some looks — but nothing like this has ever happened to the hunter during any of his jobs before.
But as it becomes part of their routine and sets in as new normal, Error unwittingly begins to get used to it, no longer feeling the need to wrap up like a cabbage next to Ink. Besides, in all this time, Ink didn't make any real attempts to bite him, even if he liked to joke about it a little, and instead he was set on trying to help the hunter with his haphephobia. Here, it's not strong enough to knock Error out with a single touch — otherwise he wouldn't be able to be in his profession — and it’s not so much the fear of contact, as the fear of being injured. He avoids being close to others to avoid the potential pain, because you never know who you can trust, and whether you will be stabbed in the back. Again, the hazard of work, because the ethics of bounty hunters leave a lot to be desired, but all sorts of intrigues are had in abundance.
But the tipping point comes when Ink begins to avoid him and often hides with Dream. Error doesn't understand what he did wrong, his trust in Ink had just begun to solidify, and for the vampire to change his tune all of a sudden, when Error finally wasn’t against his company, was very strange and disorienting. Unconsciously, Error tries to find a way to get Ink's attention, but he still doesn't accept his feelings enough to just go and ask what the hell is going on. So when the first few attempts to reconnect fail, he decides to play dirty — which is nothing new for him — and shows up at the castle in a much more light and open outfit than usual (nothing obscene, and in the style of the overall setting, but by his standards it's a lot).
Needless to say, it doesn't help Ink’s attraction at all.
The main idea of this AU that started it all — Ink needs to drink emotions, and there was already a headcanon that these emotions can be obtained from someone else's soul (cough, “His Wish”, cough). And if there's one thing I'm a sinner about, it's that I love vampires. Absolutely and shamelessly obsessed with them. But the original Vampireverse has become quite stale and boring in recent years, this universe has basically no development and is all but forgotten now. So of course, the solution is to create my own! And since it's me (the author of "From Your Point of View"), it just had to be Swap.
So, in this universe Ink is a vampire and the owner of a castle in the forest, and Error is a hunter who has come to kill him. Вut Ink doesn't take it seriously and flirts with him all the time, which turns into a deadly game of tag in their usual style, with each confrontation ending in a draw and a promise of a rematch. During each skirmish, they learn a little bit more about each other, and in the end, Error comes to the castle so often that he practically stays there to live (without noticing it), and Ink gets used to the other's presence and no longer wants to let him go. Error's hatred is slowly fading, and he even agrees to share magic, but there is a catch.
One of the basic concepts of vampire nature in this AU is that they need the magic of other’s souls to feel emotions, but it's not that simple. For it to work right, the victim has to feel those emotions at the moment of absorption. So in order to receive positive emotions, Ink has to actually care for people and help them, which is similar to his original motivation. This also explains why he's not interested in violence or real fights — the only thing he wants is to make Error happy, which is terribly disorienting for the hunter.
Mostly because Error doesn't know about this — mortals are convinced that vampires feed on magic only for survival, but that's not entirely true. They can last pretty long without feeding, but in that case they lose all emotions, and in such an empty state any emotion will be desirable. Which is why starving vampires are prone to attack openly — not caring that people will be scared, and that they will only get negative feelings or even share their pain — just to feel at least something. Plus, the absorption of negativity only gives them more incentive to continue, and since such cases are the most infamous, they had formed a reputation for all vampires. And then came prejudice, hunters, hostility, and growing escalation of the conflict.
But Ink didn't go down that path (although I'm sure he has a dark past with breakdowns and bouts of the same logic), and instead he has a castle where he tries to maintain a good life for people who trust him. Mostly those who got lost in his forest, or more often, were banished there by cruel people, believing that they were sent to certain death, because no one ever returned from the forest. But it's not because Ink kills them, but because they don't want to go back to those who didn't want to accept them. Sharing magic and positive feelings is only a small price to pay for salvation and a way to express gratitude.
But again, Error doesn't know this yet, and at some point their battle goes too far, and he gets severely injured. He's convinced that he has lost, and that this is the end of him, but instead he comes to his senses in the castle, bandaged and in a soft bed. The first thing he does is check himself for bite marks, but Ink didn't touch him, and when Error asked about it in surprise, the vampire only said: "You were suffering." Error doesn't understand what this means, but then he meets Dream — one of the inhabitants of the castle, who was assigned to take care of his wounds, and who finally explains it, while telling his story.
He and Nightmare were orphans in the village, but his twin was treated terribly, for the villagers believed that he was cursed and brought bad luck. Dream didn't know about it, because Night hid it from him, but at some point people decided to finally get rid of Nightmare, beating him half to death and leaving him in that very forest. Unfortunately, this was the first time Dream had caught wind of this, realizing how bad it was for his brother, and tried to intervene, but got caught in the middle of it, and they ended up abandoned in the forest together. Ink found them, but it was too late for Nightmare — his soul was too damaged. Then Ink offered them a choice — they could go with him, and he could save Night, but their lives would never be the same. They agreed, and then Ink turned Night, making him a vampire.
Error is horrified by this story, not understanding how someone can agree to such a thing, but Dream is adamant that they never regretted this decision. Nightmare got the power to protect them, which he always wanted, and Dream finally got the opportunity to help his brother and really make him happy. That's why he always tries so hard to be in the best possible mood — because he wants to share these feelings with Night. Nightmare cares for him too, although he thinks that Dream doesn't need to perceive happiness as a duty, and tries to convey to him that he can afford to be sad if this is really what he is experiencing, and that he will be happy with any feelings if they are sincere. Night remembers all too well how his previous attempt to lie to his brother that he was all right turned out. But the main thing is that they're both alive and now they can always be together, and they're both grateful to Ink for this.
This becomes the first moment of doubt for Error, when he begins to understand this world a little better, realizing that before he lived only by prejudices. It also makes him wonder if he's happy doing all of this. And whether he was willing to remain unhappy just so Ink wasn't interested in his magic. He leaves the castle in mixed feelings, not realizing yet how much this moment of weakness will change the future for both of them.
Where should I even start with this?.. It's a wild amalgamation of all the tropes I liked in one big pile, to the point that I'm seriously considering calling it a "Kitchen Sink" AU. But, okay, let's start somewhere and see how it goes.
The two main ideas at the core of this mess are "Danny and Damian are Demon Twins" and "Everlasting Trio are All Halfas". But there are also "Ghost King Danny (and Sam and Tucker)", "Summoning to Gotham", "Time Shenanigans TM", "Danny (and Sam and Tucker) gets adopted by the Waynes" and "Magic Robins" thrown in for spice, because I don't know when to stop.
Fair warning, it's going to be a long one.
So!
Danny and Damian are twins, and as the only kids in the League, they were very close and almost codependent, doing everything together, having nicknames for each other (Deimos and Phobos), and not trusting anyone else - which, probably smart. It wasn't an easy life, not by a long shot, but things were mostly fine - as fine as they can be with the whole "being raised in a cult as living weapons" deal going on - until their tenth birthday, when an assassination attempt on the heirs resulted in tragedy. Danny got mortally wounded, the Pit got involved, and we all know what that means.
Goodbye Nanda Parbat, heeellooo Illinois~
Skip forward a few years, with everything going more or less as you expect - but when it came to the activation of the Portal, Danny, Sam and Tucker died in it together. So now they're all Halfas, but more importantly, a unique, composite being - not three separate ghosts, but one ghost with three souls. They have one shared core with three interconnected fragments, which affects every level of their new afterlives. Most notably, they use the royal "We" when in ghost form and have local telepathy. And while they don't share all their thoughts as a hive mind, still having some semblance of privacy in their heads, their emotions are much more intertwined, constantly spilling over and bleeding through their connection, and it can be difficult to trace the origin of any specific feeling.
Their ghost names are Phantom, Pharaoh and Phacelia, but they also use Everlastings to refer to themselves as a unit. And, as if being literally fused together wasn't complicated enough, they deposed Pariah Dark and became the newly crowned Triforce High Ruler of the Infinite Realms - ascending as Ancients in the same breath. Or not breath, because ghosts, but you get it. Danny is the Ancient of Space, Sam is the Ancient of Nature and Tucker is the Ancient of Progress. You know. As a treat.
And then there was time travel. Oh boy was there time travel. Reality was rewritten dozens of times - and that's not counting whatever bullshit Flash was up to on any given week, that somehow always turned out to be Everlastings' problem. But that in and of itself wasn't even the frustrating part. No, what drove the Trio and Danny in particular insane is that all the reality resets always lined up in such a way as to systematically screw over any of their attempts to reconnect with Damian and the other Bats. Like, the Universe legitimately hated them and Clockwork just shrugged and said that Everything Is As It Should Be.
Bastard.
So the twins remained separated, until one day one of the local Gotham cults decided to mess with the veil - as they tend to do - and actually succeeded for once. Partially. The summoning worked, but the thing about Everlastings and their unique state of existence is that no one expects a ghost to have more than one soul and a jig-saw puzzle for a core. So magic gets really confused and often outright breaks whenever it tries to interact with them. In case of summonings specifically, it means the spell can pull through only one of them at a time, unless the circle is customized to account for that, and bounding of any kind is pretty much useless, since the whole of their being isn't in the circle - only one aspect of them is - and they can easily call that aspect back. Or just not respond in the first place, as they can't be compelled to answer for the same reason they can't be bound. It's neat.
Except in this case, the ritual was interrupted by the Bats - and paradoxically, that's what made it work, because it recognized the dormant traces of Everlastings' energy on them. Although the fragment to be summoned wasn't Danny - that was done to death and would be boring - so instead it's Sam.
The following conversation was… interesting to say the least.
Que revelations, que shock, que interrogation. After which it culminates in your typical "Danny gets adopted by the Waynes" storyline - except it's not just him. By the nature of their combined existence, it kinda has to be all three of them - which is ultimately why this AU is what it is. I like Sam and Tucker, but in so many DPxDC stories they feel like an afterthought and either straight up dead, estranged for whatever reason, or just Not That Important. Which is especially noticeable if you contrast it with the Bats. Fics can focus on certain members of Batfamily more than others, but they still feel like a family, with authors generally making an effort to include most of them in the events. They are a unit, a package deal. Not so much with Team Phantom. And I understand that combining the two groups properly with all their individual dynamics will be infinitely more complicated - I written stories with an enormous cast - I get it. But I've seen it done, and I can say with certainty that those stories are so much better for it. They tend to be my favorite in this fandom and I want more of them - hence this prompt.
Speaking of the prompt, if you think that's it - HA! That was only the basic premise and setup. Summary, if you will. Now is time for some actual details, so let's rewind the clock a bit.
Danyal al Ghul's first brush with death was during an attack on the League's base, as he tried to defend Damian - and he succeeded, as his twin escaped the whole ordeal practically unscathed - but Danyal himself was much less lucky. Afterwards, Talia tried to use the Pit - and it worked to heal him - but it also worked as a portal, sending him to Illinois, leading Talia and Damian to believe Danyal was gone for good when he didn't emerge.
Less than a month later, Damian found himself on the front steps of the Wayne Manor, as Talia wanted him safe - but also out of the way - while she was on a warpath, busy dealing with traitors who cost her one of her sons. Neither she nor Damian told Bruce about Danyal - because of the combination of very fresh grief, wanting to keep his twin to himself, and importantly, seeing how the family took the death of Jason. Danyal wasn't a failure and he wasn't a cautionary tale, and Damian wouldn't let anyone stain his memory. He was also blaming himself for his death and didn't know how to process that, which… he is Bruce's son. That man didn't tell Dick about Jason's funeral, so the apple really doesn't fall far from the tree.
As a result of all this, Damian was pretty cold to Dick and Tim at first, not wanting to do anything with them, because he already had a real brother and didn't want to replace Phobos in his mind. He also aggressively insisted on being Robin - not because he thought it was his birthright - but because it was Danyal's. Damian was raised to be the future Demon Head, while Danyal was trained to become the next Batman - but now his twin was gone, and the only way Damian could think of to preserve his legacy was to don the suit himself, even if he knew it would never fit, that he would never deserve it.
It is something he and Tim actually bond over once the truth comes out, and the reason Damian in this version didn't try to kill or demean him - his usual overly serious and sometimes snarky remarks aside. He was keeping his distance from him, but no more than from everyone else, and his attempts to get Robin mostly consisted of formal challenges to prove his own worth - as opposed to proving that Tim was inadequate for the role. Although you better believe that it wasn't conveyed properly, and there was a series of misunderstandings where Tim would take Damian's words as a jab at his insecurities and deny his challenges - which Damian took as a jab at his insecurities and that Tim didn't see him as someone worth even considering as a potential successor. There were a lot of hurt feelings all around, with absolutely zero intentions for it. A real comedy of errors.
But even then, Damian secretly respected Tim all along - even if he was terrible at showing it - because knowingly or not, Tim was the closest to actually understanding him. They both clung to Robin not for their own sake, but for someone else, someone clearly so much better yet who was unable to fly anymore. They both felt like placeholders, but couldn't let it go, because it was the only thing left of the people they held dear. And so the mantle had to be preserved, by any means necessary. But that also meant that Tim refusing to train and guide him - even if Tim didn't realize at the time that that's what Damian was asking of him - hurt in a way Damian didn't expect and just made him to close off even more.
It was a mess.
To the point that it actually kinda exploded when Dick tried to pass down the mantle of Robin without Tim's consent. Just as Tim opened his mouth to scream at Dick, hurt and betrayed - or maybe just silently turn around and leave, he himself wasn't sure - Damian beat him to it, shouting in rage that he couldn't do that. That even if Grayson was the originator of the role, it wasn't his call to make, and that only Drake had the right to do that if and when he considered Damian worthy. If it hadn't happened yet, then he couldn't be Robin, simple as that. And sure, Damian is frustrated by that, he hates it in fact, that he still isn't ready despite how much he trained to cath up and mold himself into a protector rather than an assassin, but he doesn't need Grayson's pity.
And that. Throws them all for a loop for a second.
Scratch that - for a good minute. Several minutes.
Several long, agonizing minutes of honest to Ancients bluescreening.
Tim even forgot to be angry because what?! Damian, who had been railing on him to become Robin since his first step into the Manor, not accepting the role when it was presented to him on a silver platter? Damian defending him and his rights to the name instead - and rather furiously too? Damian frustrated not with Tim as an obstacle to his goal, but with himself for not being enough to earn his approval? Which, since when was it something Demon Brat cared about?!
It just didn't make any sense.
And Tim hated not understanding something. So he confusedly asks what gives, and he and Damian for the first time have an actual proper conversation about where they stand with each other. Revisiting all their previous interactions and seeing them in a new light. Damian still didn't tell them about Danyal as his reason for wanting Robin, but he did explain how he was looking up to Tim as his immediate superior, and that in the League, challenging your superior is how you move up the social ladder. Tim refusing to engage with him and brushing him off therefore was seen as a failing on Damian's part, that his skills were still subpar and that he needed to work harder if he wanted to impress him. But even more importantly, that Damian wasn't a true part of the group until he and Tim sparred in an official capacity (there were some joint training sessions here and there, but they didn't count for what Damian wanted) at least once.
Sure, Father and Grayson acted welcoming enough, but it's not like he could challenge them - not right away - there was order to these things. And if his first opponent of choice thought so lowly of him, then what are his chances against someone older and more experienced? Damian didn't see them as brothers - not so soon anyway - but he still wanted acceptance in his Father's household. Something he thought he needed to fight for, because that's how it worked in the League, and no one bothered to explain to him otherwise, since it didn't look like attention seeking behavior to them. But it was, and so Tim refusing to humor him told Damian he didn't belong and wasn't wanted there.
And god if it struck a chord with Tim.
Hearing something that could just as well be coming out of his own mouth, remembering how hard he fought for his place with Bruce and Dick and later Jason, and realizing that he put Damian in that same headspace by accident? Wow he felt shitty now. Most of all because he really should have known better - they all should have known better. Damian came from a completely different culture, of course there were bound to be misunderstandings and cultural clashes. Things both sides considered normal and so didn't feel the need to clarify. And yet, Tim didn't question why Damian tried to fight him, just deciding that little shit hated him for being Robin and leaving it at that. Which in retrospect, was frankly embarrassing. They are a family of detectives, for crying out loud, examining your assumptions on a constant basis should be rule number one! And yet here they are, Bruce missing, presumed dead, Dick just tried to strip Robin from him, and that's how Tim finds out the kid was trying to make him notice him, in the only way he knew how, this entire time.
What a joke.
(And to add insult to injury, just a little bit later Tim took a dive into the timestream and finally got the full context of the situation. And felt even more guilty. He was fully intending to tell Damian about meeting Danny and reuniting them, but then he lost memory of that part of his journey, because of course, nothing could ever be that easy.)
Speaking of Dick, since Tim hadn't stormed out immediately, he had the chance to apologize and explain himself - that he didn't mean to fire Tim from the role, but rather to encourage him to make his own new identity. Tim wasn't just a sidekick anymore - never was one, really, he was positioning himself as an equal partner to Batman from the very beginning - and Damian needed something to ground himself in these trying times - so Dick did what he thought was best for everyone. But now he realized that he could have presented it better and actually discussed it with them - both of them - before just dumping his decision on them as if it was a done deal.
In the end, things turn out… Not fine. But better.
Tim admits he isn't ready to retire Robin, but hearing what Damian said about it, about him, actually makes him consider it. The chance to properly pass down the mantle when it was always stripped away - when it almost happened here too. So they all sleep on it, and after a bit Tim decides, screw it. He spars with Damian, evaluates his skills like the kid asked him to, and finally strikes him a deal - Damian could have Robin, but Tim would be Red Robin until he finds something else, something that would be truly his. It's not ideal, but it works. (When asked why Red Robin, he didn't answer, but Jason was suspiciously quiet.)
His following search for Bruce was still mostly a solo adventure, but it wasn't quite the same "drop from the face of the Earth" ordeal. His brothers couldn't go with him because Dick needed to hold Gotham together as Batman in Bruce's absence, with Damian helping him as Robin, but they more or less kept in touch - with Jason in particular helping with parts of it. He might not like the old man too much, but he didn't wish him dead. Dying sucked, and the League sucked even more - so like hell he would let Tim deal with those bastards alone, even if they knew something useful. (JL still didn't believe Tim, unfortunately.) So that's one lost spleen dodged. They still blew up Ra's bases and snatched three of his assassins though, because it's too cool to leave out.
And while all that was happening, unbeknownst to them, Danyal - now Danny - was actually alive. Not for very long, but, you know. Stumbled out of the cave on the other side of the world, got adopted by the Fentons, broke through the brainwashing thanks to Jazz and later found a role model to emulate in order to blend in in Tucker and a new moral compass in Sam - and the rest is history. Until, of course, the Portal, and there things got tricky.
Specifically, their continuing encounters with the Bats, and how each of them, one: happened in conjunction with some world ending catastrophe, and two: got retconned immediately after, seemingly just to spite them.
Like, to really drive home how bad it was, their first meeting - the very first time Bats learned about Danny's existence and relation to the family, and the first ever conversation he had with his Father - was during the mess with Dan.
Danny didn't tell Sam and Tucker about his past, but their new condition as one combined being really wasn't suited for keeping secrets from each other. And the thing is, all this time they had known him as Danny, it was, at some level, a mask. While Damian was trained to be ruthless with any weapon and a master of direct confrontation, Danyal's training was focused on stealth, deception and infiltration. Damian can perfectly copy voices, but in Danyal's case it went even deeper, changing mannerisms, speech patterns and body language as other people change clothes. His current persona wasn't a fake, per se - not anymore - but it was something purposefully constructed before Danny decided he actually liked it, and he still held back in some aspects in order to lay low. No need to alert the League to his survival.
And it was fine, right until the moment they died together, and suddenly Sam and Tucker got a glimpse on the inside, on his true self.
They didn't realize it at first - but about a month after the Accident there was an incident with Paulina.
Sam had a hidden hate-love crush on the other girl, feelings that were always stomped on and buried in the darkest part of her soul, but now found their way into the heads of the other two boys, who were not ready for that whatsoever.
Tucker was in that awkward phase where he hit on any female presenting person in his vicinity, so the crush itself wasn't weird, but he was self-aware about his own desperate attempts to attract girls' attention enough to know that he would probably get rejected - he was getting rejected on the regular - and so he never kept all his eggs in one basket. Instead, Tucker always had a backup, a never-ending list of girls to try his chances with next, and sure, it was kinda creepy and misogynistic in that "boys will be boys" way - something Sam was slowly working on - but in this specific instance it meant that there was no way he would abandon all those other options just to focus on someone so obviously unreachable as Paulina. It was way too abrupt and just didn't make sense for him at that moment in time.
Danny was even more suspicious - especially in retrospect. He was trained from birth to control his emotions, even more so than other assassins, and he was always trying to avoid attention by any means necessary. So even if he had a crush on someone, he would never express it so openly - and definitely not on the most popular girl in the school. It was just asking for trouble. So, yeah, the whole situation was fishy as hell.
Didn't help that Sam got jealous and tried to push the boys to confess since they liked her so much, and then it was an emotional loop, where her messy turbulent feelings bled over, made them all act stupid, and resulted in even more messy turbulent feelings, until they all made total asses of themselves and finally figured out that something was very, very wrong.
After that they got better at distinguishing the root of their shared emotions, but the very fact that they were shared deeply scared Danny. Terrified, really. He kept so many secrets from them, far more serious and dangerous than some childish crush. About who he was without layers of ingrained pretending. About Damian, and how he was yearning for his twin for years, ever since he found out Deimos was out of the League's clutches too, living with their Father of all people. And about how shortly before the Accident, he finally completed the preparations for his plan to secretly run to Gotham - only to have to put it on hold because of the ghost situation. Reunion was so close, and it was violently denied to him. Needless to say, Danny was frustrated and scared and in no way ready to talk about it.
So in one timeline, he decided to keep it to himself.
It was a mistake.
The more he shut down from the other two and created a distance between them, the more it put a strain on their shared core. They existed in a very fragile balance - one Danny disrupted, and eventually broke when Damian briefly died in a confrontation with Heretic. Danny felt it. And lost his already unstable mind, cutting Sam and Tucker off and absorbing all of their essence into himself. Dizzy and in shock from what he did, he went to Gotham, secrecy and caution be damned, he just wanted to see Deimos… But unfortunately in doing so, he intervened in some pretty important events that would have otherwise resurrected him. He lost his soulmates and his brother in one go. And in place of the triforce protection spirit now stood a singular vengeful one.
Dan.
Of course, Clockwork couldn't actually let that happen, so just as Danny's secrets started to noticeably weight on them, the Trio found themselves in that dark possibility of a future.
And wow it was a trip!
By the end of it, Danny cracked to Sam and Tucker about his past in the League, about Damian, and about his connection to the Bats. But since the whole thing happened in the future, and one where Damian died, it wasn't a reunion he had been dreaming of, and in the present the family still didn't know about him. It made his bond with Sam and Tucker stronger, but he still couldn't go to Deimos because of the aforementioned resurrection. Clockwork promised his twin would be fine, but warned that it wasn't the time for them to meet, and that until then, the three of them should really focus on stabilizing themselves to insure nothing like Dan happened again. It was a cold comfort, but Danny was hopeful for the next meeting.
The next meeting happened during Freakshow taking over the world.
They met the Bats, they fought together to save the day, they used the Reality Gauntlet to fix everything…
Reality reset and they forgot.
The next meeting happened during Pariah Dark taking over the world.
They met the Bats, they fought together to save the day, they used the power of their new crown to fix everything…
Reality reset and they forgot.
The next meeting happened during the quest for Clockwork to help Red Robin rescue Batman from the timestream - something that technically happened a while ago, even before they died, but time travel is confusing like that.
They met a Bat, they fought together to save the day, they used the evidence they found to fix everything…
Human memory couldn't hold what happened directly in the timestream, and so he forgot.
And then it just continued like that. Again and again and again. These are just the major DP events, because I'm not familiar enough with DC side to site any specific examples (except for this one with time stranded Bruce) - but I do know that comics' continuity is a mess, rebooting itself pretty much whenever it feels like it, so you can imagine any number of such situations and how Everlastings might have fitted into them. That sounds like a fun thought exercise, actually, especially because the guaranteed Ctrl+Z at the end means it can be as crazy and nonsensical as you like.
(Side note, it's also why the Trio didn't call JL to help with Amity Park. At first Danny wasn't sure if the pros of alerting them would outweigh the cons of potentially revealing his existence to LoA, but it turned out to not matter anyway. Because it's not that they didn't try, it just didn't stick. Anyone's guess as to why, but their current leading theory is that it has something to do with the Realms' energy pervading the place - espesially after Pariah Dark pulled the town into the Infinite Realms. It was brought back, sure, but maybe not all the way through. Everlastings are the ones who did it, and they are Halfas, so there is a nonzero chance Amity Park is now stuck between life and death like them. A literal liminal space - and evidently also a temporal anomaly. Time and Space behave differently in the Realms after all, so maybe that's why? Might also explain why the Universe didn't like the Trio meddling with the outside world, but Clockwork was especially useless on that one.)
Either way, the results were always the same.
Reality reset and they forgot.
Reality reset and they forgot.
Reality reset and they forgot.
…their final meeting happened during the return of Dan, who fused with Clockwork, overtaking their role as the Master of Time, and tried to destroy the world again.
They met the Bats, they fought together to save the day, the freed Ancient used their restored control over timelines to fix everything…
REALITY RESET AND THEY FORGOT.
By the time Sam got summoned to Gotham and was met with familiar faces once more, they all kinda… tired and wearied down and resigned. Tentatively hopeful, as always, but also scared, because after the last mindwipe, their core actually cracked from all that accumulated loss.
The first few times were relatively easy to move past, because they were brief and in high-stakes situations. By the time they could stop fighting and start asking questions, the reality would get hit with a rollback, and it would hurt each time, sure, but while the Bats forgot them, they weren't forgetting much. But take enough small things, and suddenly they aren't so small anymore.
And seeing Dan again was the straw that broke the camel's back.
Not even because of who he was or what he did or what his mere existence meant for their potential future - but for the simple reason that Dan was the one who it all started with. His timeline was the first time the Trio got to meet the Bats - and not just meet them, but even somewhat know them. It was one of the rare longer missions with some actual downtime, where they could get past the introductions and just talk, explain stuff, build real connections…
And then it all was stripped away, only to start a vicious cycle.
So being reminded of that, about how much all of this is freaking bullshit, staring down the Master of Time as they explained that the only way to fix Dan's mess was to rewind the clock again…
It shook Everlastings to their Core. And they almost didn't survive it.
If that was to happen even one more time?
No chance. Absolutely none. It would be their undoing, and probably another Dan situation - which they just averted. Realizing that and emotionally crashed, the Trio broke down and half threatened, half begged the Ancient to give them a concrete answer to this one thing.
Would they ever be able to reconnect with the Bats, or should they just stop trying and abandon the idea altogether?
Because they couldn't do this anymore, Danny couldn't do this anymore. If they rebuild this bond, only for it to be severed for the umpteenth time, they will either End, or tip to the dark side and find a way to End Reality. Both options are evidently not what Clockwork wants, so they better fess up.
And the Master of Time actually does, telling the distraught Trio that they couldn't go seek out the Bats and initiate things from their side - that would just destabilize the still fragile timeline and end up terribly for everyone - but when the Bats call them next time - that would be it. Everything from that point onward will be permanent - pinky promise and word of an Ancient.
So they wait.
And wait.
And wait some more.
Until finally, the call from Gotham brings Sam into that summoning circle - and simultaneously brings her to tears.
One broken syllable of "B?..", full of potent, tangible emotions was enough to make the Bats pause and reassess the situation.
They were ready for some demonic destroyer of worlds, as is usually the case with cults. What they got instead was a teenage girl, who looked like a physical manifestation of Gotham if Poison Ivy took over the city, with longing in her eyes and a family time travel code on her lips. She denied being Bruce's kid though, saying she was more like Steph - as in, dating his kid (she used the term soulmates), and only his daughter as much as a daughter in law counted. Which she promptly followed with the revelation that, oh yeah, it's a three for one deal. Eight for one, if they were to include Jazz, Ellie, Valerie, Wes and newly reformed Dan - all with varying levels of relation, but Fraid all the same.
Needless to say, Bats have questions. A lot of questions.
But Sam refuses to say more, at least not until Deimos tells the family about Phobos. It was his secret, and one Damian was never able to reveal on his own terms. It was always some apocalyptic scenario bringing the truth to light, in probably the worst circumstances for such a thing, and Sam isn't stealing that chance from him yet again. She heard some variation of it Clockwork knows how many times already, she isn't losing anything - and she was the wrong aspect to have this conversation with anyway. For Damian and the others, this time is first. It's always first. But that's why they deserve to have it for themselves.
Damian is, as expected, extremely distraught. He hadn't heard that name in six years. Because Phobos - Danyal - was dead.
But so was the girl in the summoning circle, with Lazarus green eyes and wispy white hair crowned with a leaf diadem that flickered like flames.
The girl who pointedly reminded them that dead doesn't always mean gone, and - just as pointedly glancing at every person in the room except Tim and pausing a moment too long on Jason, who hadn't moved a muscle since the ritual completed - especially not in this family.
The girl who spoke a pretty good, if accented League dialect, and knew not only that name, but their personal identification code - something no one should have even known about - let alone figure out. When confronted about it, she admitted that no one told her - not intentionally. But it slipped through their mind link at some point, and even if Phacelia wanted to forget it, she couldn't. It was a core memory for Phobos, something he ingrained in his mind, and it was full of meaning and emotions in the exactly right way to become an integral part of him as a ghost. And since they fused in death, it became a part of her and Pharaoh too.
And hearing that…
Damian doesn't like it, that something so personal was shared with strangers, no matter how it happened. And yet, it was undeniable proof. His brother was out there, maybe not alive, but Damian was on the other side himself, so it's not like he was in a position to judge. Most importantly, they could actually be together again, that's the only thing Damian has ever wanted…
But Phacelia was right, he would need to admit the truth to the family first. And after six years of keeping it to himself, he didn't know where to even start.
Luckily for him, Sam was ready for that too and pretty much bullied the rest of the Bats into actually giving him time and space to figure it out. After which she gave him a personalized summoning sigil, one only Damian would be able to use, with the instruction to call them when he is ready (just giving him her number would have been easier, but she knew that if you give your phone to one Bat, you give it to them all), and promptly excused herself, leaving stumped Gotham vigilantes to process that the hell just happened.
They have a big emotional discussion about it some time later, with all the predictable questions about Damian hiding a whole person from them, but while some part of him is regretful about not telling them sooner, the other stays firm. Because the thing is - Bruce was never normal about grief. Damian had known it since the moment he first laid eyes on the Cave. And while most of his reasons to stay silent slowly eroded over time, as he grew closer to everyone and started to actually trust them, one of them never did.
Specifically, the whole mess between Bruce and Jason, and even more specifically, the goddamn suit.
It has always bothered Damian, for a wide array of reasons. It was Jason's suit, but in Damian's mind, the role always belonged to the other dead boy - the one who never actually got to wear it - and yet the display hit just a bit too close to home. Especially with the engraving. It took him some time to put his finger on why he hated it so much, but eventually it clicked. He and Danyal were raised as soldiers. It was the only thing they ever were to the League - tools, disposable. And Damian shuddered at the thought of their Father thinking about his twin that way. Phobos was so much more, just like Todd was so much more.
Damian did his homework and studied all his predecessors. Jason was an excellent Robin, and he was still doing good now. Crime Alley actually had Hope thanks to him - and isn't that what a Robin should be? And yes, he was aggressive and violent and rough around the edges - but so was Damian. They were both warped by the League and they both tried to move past it, but where Damian was mostly given a pass, because he was a child and didn't know any better, Jason wasn't given such grace - despite the fact that he ended up in the hands of the League when he was fifteen. Maybe a bit later chronologically, but that is the age he died and that is the age he woke up with. Which doesn't matter anyway, because give or take a year, Jason wasn't exactly an adult either. And just like Damian was relating to Tim in regards to his reasons for wanting Robin, he was relating to Jason in regards to his thoughts about death - both dying and killing. So seeing Jason be treated like that, for things mostly outside his control, didn't exactly fuel him with confidence. Especially because Jason didn't stay dead, and he let them all know he didn't like that stupid memorial, but Bruce kept it anyway.
Damian finishes his passionate speech by saying, point blank, that if Father listened to Todd and removed that suit from the Cave, he would be having his son back in his life much sooner.
He doesn't clarify which one of them.
The whole room stays silent after that for a while. None of them knew Damian felt that way - except Cass, who knows everything - and Jason even teared up a bit. He and Tim figured out their shit years ago, being pretty much inseparable nowadays (and I don't like angst, so while there were some threats thrown around early on, I go with the interpretation that he didn't hurt Tim all that much, while Tim himself is a certified badass and was able to give Jason a run for his money. They did fight, but it just resulted in mutual respect more than anything else), and he was closer to the rest of the family too, but no one protected him quite like that - to B's stunned and actually emotional for once face. And it coming from Damian, too? Wow, the kid sure is full of surprises!
It doesn't fix anything immediately, but it gives them a lot of things to think about, and for all B's faults, he truly wants to be better for his children.
Which he apparently has more of, circling back to Zitka in the room. Damian has a twin, that twin died and became a ghost, and, if Phacelia is to be believed, was currently the Ruler of another dimension with his two partners, who are also fused with him into one being, because, and he quotes, "dying wrong is a family tradition". And they've all already met before, more than once, except they can't remember because the Universe likes to watch them suffer, so, that's cool.
Just another day in their sitcom of a life, really.
Anyway, after some more time to digest all that, Damian uses the sigil, and they watch with bated breath as this time three lights take form in the cleared up corner of the Cave. One of them is painfully familiar. Danny is… Everything they expected, but also not. He is much more expressive and laid back - at least on the surface - but Cass can tell that it's at least partially played up, and on the inside, the twins really aren't that different. They both don't trust easily and hold their secrets close to their chests, keeping the distance either by lacking tact to a fault or by hiding behind a mask of nonchalance. But also, both are much more perceptive than anyone gives them credit for, and they care, deeply and genuinely. There is sharpness in Danny's eyes, easily lost behind exhaustion and resignation - the type that comes from seeing the same events play out one too many times - but it's there.
A spark of aching Hope.
This is what they've been waiting for, and he wants to have this moment, wants to enjoy it - but they've been burned before. Even with Clockwork's promise, it isn't easy to believe this time would be different, not with a crack in their core still too real even after recovery.
This time is different, though. The world isn't ending around them, for one, and they are free to catch up - both on the Trio's misadventures in general and their previous encounters in particular. B, being B, wants a full report - reality shifts of such magnitude are serious and must be documented - and Everlastings actually have it on hands, both on paper and on USB, all formatted in signature Bat style. Not just their style, either, it's reports clearly written by the Bats, snatched straight from those other timelines. When asked how they got them, Tucker just shrugs and says "The Library". After which Sam sighs and clarifies that it's a Haunt in the Infinite Realms - the Burned Library of Alexandria - containing all the texts unwritten or lost to time. (Jason is delighted to find out that he has an eternal afterlife pass to the place.) It took forever to find all the relevant records and confirm they were the right ones - they owed both Ghost Writer and Clockwork big time now - but the Trio were tired of losing everything each time, and also knew B would want them.
So, that's convenient.
Actually reading the reports is illuminating, too. Tim's records are by far the longest, although very few of them were in the form of reports, with most looking like personal notes - written in code, of course - all stored in a slightly glowing green notebook. And while Everlastings could help with the other papers, adding details and context from what they can remember, these are a mystery even to them. The only thing they know is that it started out as a log journal from Tim's search for Bruce - and then he rediscovered and added to it each subsequent time they met. Tim never ends up revealing that was in it.
Still, B's paranoia was more or less satisfied - asking for a report and actually getting it was refreshing if nothing else - and after that there is a period of figuring out the logistics, as Danny, Sam and Tucker all have families back in Amity Park - but it's pretty much the only obstacle. They no longer have ghost business keeping them there, as ever since they defeated Pariah Dark and got the crown, they were able to gradually introduce rules about haunting the place, finally found a way to close the Fenton Portal, and overall established peace. Unfortunately they can't do anything about natural portals in the area - hence the rules - but Val is more than capable of handling that as their Fright Knight.
Yeah, uh, it turns out getting your high-tech ghost hunting exosuit infused with Death magic and then with you has some unintended consequences. Like not being fully human anymore. Everlastings can relate. On the bright side, it kinda speedrun Valerie's redemption arc once she realized she became the very thing she hated so much, forcing her to reexamine everything she believed about ghosts, and nowadays she is a highly valued member of both the Team and their Court. Also, sorry to anyone who was hoping one of the batkids would get to be their Knight, but I like unorthodox solutions, if you can't tell. Plus, it gives Val a role that allows her to be important and relevant even after the Trio moves to Gotham. Which is one of the explicit goals of this AU - to make sure DP crowd stays in the picture as much as possible, as opposed to focusing only on Danny.
Also, I say they still dated her. All three of them. Because it eliminates the awkward love triangle where Sam is jealous but doesn't do anything about it - not a problem if she's into Valerie too, you know? - and because it's hilarious to imagine. Look, teenagers are dumb and impulsive - especially ghost teenagers dealing with three times the amount of combined emotions - so sometimes they do some dumb impulsive shit. Also, it's called disaster bi for a reason. They were figuring themselves out, and the competent huntress girl was hot and not against polyamory. Sue them.
Anyway, yeah, Amity Park still has ghost visitors from time to time, but they're not messing with the town anymore. The GIW aren't a problem anymore either - although not for the reasons you might expect. Everlastings didn't wage war on them or anything (Danny did consider that as a potential course of action, because of course he did, gotta love those contingencies), but rather, their organization is no longer a thing because of the last reality reset. It was a gamble - especially knowing it would hurt the Trio - but the way it all played out allowed Clockwork to intervene way more than they are usually able to, creating an objectively better timeline. One where GIW lost their power long before they could seriously hurt anyone, much less shoot a missile into the Realms - even if arriving at this point took some trial and error. The Universe didn't exactly cooperate - the place is very unstable - and there are only so many variables you can account for even as the Master of Time, but it should be fine now. Everlastings still remember those other timelines, but they're just relieved there was an end to it after all.
As for the Fentons… Actually it's an interesting question and one I don't see truly explored all that often. Nothing is as jarring to me as reading a Demons Twins AU, where Danny behaves identically to a normal Danny, ignoring his different upbringing entirely. It's just a huge wasted opportunity - seeing how characters would react in new circumstances is kinda the whole point of AUs, you know? If you don't do anything with it, then what's the point?
Well, I don't ignore it here. I think the whole dynamic between Danny and the Fentons will be very different for several reasons - both because he came from the League and because Sam and Tucker are ghosts with him. If he was actually raised by them, he would be desensitized to their behavior and much more likely to excuse it, because it's just how it's always been. But if Danny is adopted - meaning he came into the picture later and as an outsider, he wouldn't give them nearly as much benefit of the doubt. And especially not this Danny, who was specifically trained to understand human behavior in order to imitate it. Like, he's no Cass, but if someone can get even somewhat close to her in reading body language and controlling every aspect of their own movement, it's Danny. So even with his definition of normal being obviously skewed, he knew from the very beginning that the Fentons were Not Normal.
It wasn't really a problem for him - he wasn't normal either - and in many ways it was outright beneficial, because let's be honest, who else would pick up a kid from a cult and decide "yup, nothing weird is happening here, you welcomed to stay however long you like". With any other family Danny would need to work for it to secure his place in their lives. With the Fentons he could relax and do whatever, they never questioned it. (Jazz did, extensively, but that's a story for later.) Which was a big part why he stayed with them at first, he was taught to use all the resources at his disposal, and the Fentons were generous and convenient in that regard, even if their eccentricity presented some additional challenges with lying low. It was fine, Danny could adapt. And later he grew to genuinely care about them - but there was always this gap between them that never really went away.
Danny kinda liked them, sure - they were loving parents, if not very responsible ones - but he never truly trusted them. And being raised in the League meant he was always ready to jump ship if it didn't pan out. Having ten different backup plans at any given moment was just common sense to him, which… he is Bruce's son. That man has contingencies to take out the Justice League, so the apple really doesn't fall far from the tree.
Plus, having his friends there - not just around, but directly experiencing everything with him after the Accident - meant there was a constant stream of additional perspectives. So even if some things flew over Danny's head - because life in the League was a whole separate level of crazy and he didn't see anything wrong with the armory in the house - Sam and Tucker could usually catch it and point out that, no, it's messed up actually. They constantly fill in gaps like that for each other, compensating for each other's blind spots, and that makes them way more observant and self-aware about any situation they're in.
It also means that they are much less self-sacrificial in their heroics, because the line between "caring about yourself" and "caring about your loved ones" is blurred into nonexistence in their case. One of them can't just choose to go on a suicide mission or take a massive hit for a teammate - because they are one, and math isn't mathing for them like it would for any other hero. There are still obvious priorities when it comes to civilians, but in general, Everlastings are rather careful about the risks they take, because even if one of them doesn't care about what happens to them, the other two very much do - and aside from some questionable dating choices, it would always balance itself out to a healthy amount of self-preservation.
So that's the psychological angle - Fentons couldn't just get away with their usual antics because "family" and "that's just how they are" - because Danny doesn't have the same blind attachment to them, and Sam and Tucker are acting as additional reality checks on that.
But there is also the physical angle - and the simple fact is, Danny is extremely competent. Like, I can't stress this enough, he came from the League of Assassins where he was trained by the assassins to become an assassin - and the only reason he got hurt enough to warrant the use of the Pit is because he was attacked by more experienced assassins - not because Danny himself was lacking in any way. He knows how to fight, he knows how to sabotage, he knows how to not leave evidence of what he's doing - and while he downplays all that in public in order to keep his cover, that's all that is - his choice. Pretending is kinda his thing, but he also knows when to stop and toss the mask aside.
The opening of the Portal was probably the most clear-cut of such situations.
Danny still held back a bit - at least until the truth about his origins came out - but he very quickly realized that this shit was serious, and approached it as such. Having a new identity to play with as Phantom gave him a lot of leeway too, as he could use most of his skills without compromising his human persona. Sam and Tucker were a bit suspicious about that, but they both already knew Danny was stronger than he let on at school, and they were too excited about learning cool ninja moves to question where exactly those came from. Don't look a gifted horse in the mouth and all that - plus they kinda assumed they had Mrs. Fenton to thank for it. Jazz wasn't a pushover either, after all, even if her aim with anything other than a grapple gun (which is a rather ironic exception, considering) was atrocious.
Their time as protectors of Amity Park was easier because of that - since there were three of them and they got some actual honest to Ancients training - but there was still a learning curve. Because as it turned out, skills meant for humans who adhere to gravity don't work quite as well when you're up in the air and don't have to be tangible. Danny effectively had to invent a whole new fighting style just for that on very quick notice. So while it gave them a solid head start, it wasn't an instant-win cheat code…
For dealing with ghosts.
Fentons weren't ghosts.
They were free game.
So when people Danny had lived with for the past few years suddenly became a threat? And not only to him, but to his friends - now soulmates - too? Yeah, no. He won't let it slide. He won't kill them - Jazz and Sam did a good job on that - but you better believe Danny used every ounce of his knowledge and League training to render them harmless.
Not to say it wasn't an uphill battle in need of constant management - unfortunately for him, Fentons were passionate, persistent and inventive, which is a rather annoying combination of traits - but I would stop on that word - annoying. There were some close calls, mostly in situations where Danny was stuck in his human persona and couldn't easily break character, but those were few and far between. Overall, the Fentons were never a big problem, because Danny didn't let them be a big problem.
Which doesn't mean there was no conflict, it just means there was a different type of conflict. Danny didn't have trouble hiding ghost stuff from the Fentons, but he was absolutely having trouble hiding League stuff from his soulmates - because how the hell do you hide things from essentially a part of yourself? Especially with a mind link at play?
With great difficulty, that's how. And then you destabilize your shared core and lose everyone you have ever truly loved in one fell swoop and crash the Universe about it, until your younger and still full self drops out of nowhere to stop you only for the Ancient of Time to step in and put you in a Time Out. And then you crash the Universe again, but this time it somehow ends up with you getting a second chance after all - which would be nice if not for the fact that you're still bound to forever be alone as a singular being, constantly reminded about your loss by the nature of your mere existence.
Yeaaah, okay, maybe not the best course of actions he might have chosen.
But you see how juicy it can get with just a couple of changes, right? And we can still keep the parents angle with Sam and Tucker, as they can't pretend as effortlessly as Danny can. It even allows for the original dichotomy between love and neglect - since Tucker has nice, very normal parents who he doesn't want to worry, while Sam has stuck up parents who don't accept her for who she is, and becoming a ghost only worsened the issue.
She was already right in the middle of her teenage rebellion, grappling with the fact that they just didn't care about anything she had to say - and now she literally died (and killed her friends, she was so stupid, it was all her fault), and they still didn't care - despite the fact what Sam was kinda open about it. Not, like, blatantly, but she did some ghostly stuff in their presence - just to see if they would notice. They didn't, other than to berate her for her even-more-goth-than-usual look. It was so bad, sometimes Sam thought she could literally transform in front of them, and they would just complain that ghosts weren't pink enough. She never went that far, but yeah, very much a conflict there - and since they all share emotions, it spilled into their other relationships as well, and it was a whole other can of worms to deal with.
But, anyway, back to the point. The Fentons were never really a problem - not for the lack of trying on their part - but also, even without Danny doing anything, this being a Demon Twins AU automatically implies some things about them that shove them much farther in the "likely to be chill about it after some explanations" part of the acceptance spectrum. Because if Danny is Talia's son, it means he's mix raced here. And Fentons adopted him without this ever being an issue - so it shows that they have some level of tolerance already. They don't have problems with being bi or polyamorous either, and since they live in a world with aliens and metas, but don't seem to hunt those, it's not some blanket bigotry. They're just stuck on the ghost thing as their only point of contention - but them having progressive views overall means they are much more likely to realize they are in the wrong once it clicks that ghosts = people, rather than some inanimate energy moved by inertia.
Which is an important stipulation to make here - I don't think the Fentons in this version consider ghosts evil. Just dangerous. Because calling something evil assigns it intent - which they insist ghosts don't have - while calling something dangerous is more or less a neutral descriptor - and even a factually correct one in this case. Framing it like that, there is no contradiction in their behavior, where they call ghosts mere imprints of post-human conscience in the same breath they warn about how manipulative they are - no, these Fentons are fully in the "ghosts are a phenomenon, no mind here" camp, and it reflects in how they talk about it. I mean, it's still dehumanizing as hell, but they're not sadistic about it. No dissection-vivisection debates here, I'm afraid. Not that Danny would ever give them the chance, but still, it's the thought that counts.
And with that established, what it effectively boils down to - the Fentons are well-meaning, but a bit short-sighted scientists who got one of their theories proven right and made the mistake of assuming all their other theories were also right, with it all snowballing from there.
Because they are passionate, persistent and inventive, which is a rather annoying combination of traits.
They easily carry away and don't stop to rethink their actions when they're on a roll - and they have been on a roll pretty much non-stop since the Portal opened, no thanks to Danny sabotaging all their efforts to "fix" the issue they caused, and that just made them exponentially more frantic and desperate as time went on. But they aren't doing it from a place of hate - they fully see themselves as protectors, actually - and there is a strong element of guilt, as they didn't expect the Portal to put the town in as much danger as it did. And due to some faults in the design they couldn't easily close it either - which they would have done otherwise. But because they don't do it out of hate - just ignorance and recklessness - it means they can be reeducated and made to see the errors of their ways.
It took some time and some very difficult conversations - including the fact that their invention killed someone - someone they had taken in and swore to care about - but eventually the Fentons backed down. The GIW arriving and spewing their blatantly xenophobic nonsense actually helped, strangely enough - because it gave the Fentons the clearest view on how their actions looked like from the outside and gave them that desperately needed "oh shit, are we the baddies?" moment. It's still a bit tense, but nowadays they focus on less lethal applications for their inventions and help the town that way. They are genuinely brilliant scientists and can do a lot of legitimate good for the world with a bit of change in direction.
But all of this is just a big preamble to say that that shit is all wrapped up and dealt with and our Trio are free to do whatever, so they can go live with the Waynes - it's just a question of, well, basically changing schools.
Sam's parents are easy - so easy it's infuriating - but she wants away from them and likes Gotham, while they are overjoyed at the mere mention of the Wayne name, so of course our little princess can go with you. Oh, what's this? Danny is your biological kid? Why, we always liked him, he and Sammy are so good for each other and isn't the young love just wonderful? Bleah.
Tucker's parents are the most normal ones, and they didn't really want to let him go, but the promise of a good education and a chance to work at his dream company in the future eventually convinced them. Luckily, it's the modern age, the Waynes are on the top of the telecommunications industry - along with like twenty other sectors - and Tucker is literally the Technomagic Overlord, so it's really easy for them to keep in touch, even states away. And being able to open portals means he can visit them whenever, too (his excuse for how easy such trips are to arrange is Wayne's private jet, but if he was to actually use it, Sam would strangle him, forget that ghosts don't need to breathe or that they share a core, she would find a way), so it's all good.
The Fentons are… Well, they didn't really know how to feel. There was definitely worry about Danny disappearing from their lives now that he can be with his "real" family - which, understandable - but they also realize now how much they messed up with him and his friends, so maybe some distance between them is a good thing, actually. And they are happy for Danny reuniting with his brother, it's just… a complicated time for them right now - lots of things to reevaluate and all that. The Fentons are misguided, but they're not bad people in this AU - so they don't try to stop him in the end. And they are still in contact, so… they will be fine.
From this point onwards I don't really have a plan as to what might happen, because the story is, despite all this drama, effectively a slice of life, with all the spice concentrated in the character interactions, rather than some external threat. Been there, done that ten times over and then some more, now is time for some long-overdue sibling bonding.
Which sounds easy on paper, but integrating five new people into the family at once is certainly an experience. Five because Val, Wes and Dan are distantly connected at best and are fine staying where they are - but Jazz and Ellie are very much family, and if the Trio are moving, their sisters are going with them.
And while explaining Jazz was easy - Fenton's kid, Danny's adopted sister, nothing weird here…
Well, okay, no. This is a gross oversimplification and doesn't do her any justice. I focused mainly on the Trio and the Bats, because it's the core of the AU, but Jazz is a very important puzzle piece in all of this as the main reason Danny is Danny. Sam and Tucker are his friends, partners and soulmates - but Jazz was the first person he ever connected with aside from Damian. She introduced him to the outside world, taught him how to want things for himself, and most importantly, what it actually meant to be himself.
Because Danyal al Ghul wasn't a person. He was whatever he needed to be at any given moment to achieve his current objective, a parade of masks with no real face behind them. The only exception, an identity that he in retrospect considered at least somewhat true, was Phobos - a name his brother gave him. Danny liked being Phobos, it was probably the most genuine and open he could be in the strict confines of the League, but it was still… limited.
Jazz showed him how to be more. How to say things and actually mean them. How to express emotions not to get a carefully calculated response, but because he just felt like it. And how to engage with things because they made him happy, with no other goal or potential reward in mind. Back at Nanda Parbat, then Danyal sometimes sneaked out to the highest roof of the compound in the middle of the night and looked at the sky - but he never understood why he did it. Stars could be used for navigation - and he was excellent at it - but he wasn't trying to go anywhere, he just… sat there and watched, mesmerized. Sometimes Damian would find him and stay with him, and those nights were his favorite. But still, even with all his training, the reason behind the impulse evaded him until he was Danny - all thanks to a sister he now had.
Jazz was a cornerstone of his new life - and later, a cornerstone of their death. She found out the same way as in canon - although before you say anything, it wasn't Danny who messed up. Even struggling with new powers, having a secret identity wasn't exactly new to him, and he knew how to not get caught in compromising situations. His until recently civilian friends… not so much, and it was before Danny could give them proper stealth training. So, yeah, the ghost was out of the bag - and in this version Danny noticed that she had seen them, because this Danny actually has situational awareness. Again - extremely competent. They had a small confrontation right then and there, but Jazz de-escalated it pretty quickly. Danny is her brother and she loves him - alive and dead and all - and she just wants to know how she could help.
Which was kinda perfect for them, actually. Having Sam and Tucker more involved is cool and all, but it has a cost, as they can't provide a truly outside and/or human perspective anymore - and that's where Jazz comes into play. Plus, she was the one who broke Danny's League conditioning all those years ago, and now that the Trio have their emotions all tangled up with each other - not to mention ghosts being more emotional overall - some psychological guidance (not coming from Spectra, thanks) was exactly what they needed. She kept them steady and sane, a point of calm familiarity in a world that was getting crazier and crazier with each passing day.
When secrets threatened to rip them apart and family was a constant source of anxiety, Jazz was there for them. When they saw the dark visage of the future that spilled the painful truths of the past, Jazz held them in the present. When they grappled with the embarrassing question of how the hell would dating work in their case and made the mistakes of the youth, Jazz got to be a teasing older sibling. And when they claimed the throne of the Infinite and ascended to godhood, Jazz stood by their side in all her mortal glory.
She didn't remember the reality shifts, but she was pretty much the only living person (except for Constantine, but that's another story entirely, he never hated being immune to the Mandela Effect this much) who was actively aware of them at all times. And like Tim, Jazz had a magically protected diary to keep track of whatever time she lost - although it's probably a good moment to mention that it wasn't something they could have given to all the Bats and solved the issue that way. One - you still need to know you have it and what it is to use it, and by that time you're usually already in the middle of the thing that is about to be sent to the shadow realm along with all the relevant memories. The Trio experimented with that a bit, but they were never able to notify Tim about his in a way that stuck. And two - both notebooks are immune to temporal machinations because it's the same paper that Clockwork uses for their post notes, and both were a personal gift from them, made to work only for Jazz and Tim respectively. Why them and only them? Why does Clockwork do anything. Everlastings stopped questioning the Ancient a long time ago, they're just thankful for whatever useful crumbs they can get from them.
So, yeah, that's Jazz. She is immensely important and we stan the (Regent) queen. But with all that said, explaining her existence and relation to the family was still easy. She's Fenton's kid and Danny's adopted sister, nothing weird here.
Ellie's intruduction on the other hand was… interesting.
Actually, her everything was interesting, starting with the fact that she existed in the first place. Vlad knew that Danny was a half-ghost like him, and that his friends were too, but he missed the whole "composite being" aspect of it. He believed they were three separate ghosts instead of one singular entity - and that was ultimately the reason his cloning attempts didn't work. Until Dani, who was the first to survive - and funnily enough, specifically because she was a girl. Vlad thought it was a flaw, but the thing is, Danny's DNA wasn't just his anymore, it had traces of all three of them. And Dani has got just enough of those traces in her to be something closer to a clone of Danny and Sam, rather than only Danny. It was a far cry from the true three-sided balance she needed - hence why she was so unstable - but still, against all odds, she was.
Dani - Ellie - was a person, with thoughts and feelings and no matter how ghostly life.
And she looked like Danny.
Like Damian.
So when she first came to him and lied about being his cousin? Well. Danny didn't believe her - obviously - but knowing his life, even before the Accident? It wouldn't be the first time the League dabbled in child soldiers. Or cloning. Cloning of child soldiers? Not only not out of the realms of possibility, but he literally had proof they had done it with Damian, so Danny couldn't afford to disregard the chance that Dani was his family in some way.
The better question was, what was her play? Had the League found out about him after all and sent a clone to kill him like they did with Deimos? But if so, why send this one - a girl who looked like him, sure, but didn't seem to act like an assassin at all? Or was she actually like him, and was just that good at pretending? But in that case, she should have been able to come up with a better lie, right? Unless… maybe she escaped the League too and was trying to ask for help that way, give him a cover story so that he could sell it to the others and cover for her? But the question remains - how did she find out about him? Was the League on her tail? How much danger were they all in, and what should they do about it?
Not to mention the enormous feeling of longing coating the whole thing. She wasn't Damian, but she wore his face, their face. It was almost like having his brother back - and at the same time a painful reminder of how far apart they actually were.
All this to say, Danny was confused, scared and overthought the whole thing - to the point that the reveal about Vlad being behind everything kinda blindsided him. But it also meant that as soon as it became clear the League wasn't involved at all, things were over very quickly. Frootloop got what was coming for him, and the Trio helped Ellie as much as they could - which was actually nothing to sneeze at.
Jazz once again helped with deprogramming, Sam is rich and got all her basic and not-so-basic needs covered, Tucker got to flex his hacker skills creating an identity for her, and even without access to the League's resources, Danny had his contingencies. Which he used to not only set their new sister up for life, but also to hide her from unwanted attention. If Ellie wanted to travel - fair enough - but there was a reason Danny stayed in the middle of nowhere Amity Park, even before the Accident made leaving the town complicated. The same reason he didn't have any online presence and was self-conscious about cameras - their face was dangerous to have, and it was anyone's guess if a bit of Sam's features Ellie also shared would be enough for her to fly under the radar.
(Side note, this Danny never needed extra credit, as school was kinda optional for him anyway, so the purple back gorillas thing was purely Sam's passion project, with her being the one to end up on the cover. So that's a bullet dodged. Otherwise, scrubbing that magazine from reaching any kind of notoriety would have been hell.)
They also told her to avoid Gotham at all costs, because… well, for a lot of reasons, but the most obvious one - Danny didn't want Ellie running into the Bats until he could properly reconnect with them and explain himself before he would need to explain her. And there was also legitimate worry about the will of the Universe and what its response to such a meeting might be, because their track record so far wasn't exactly encouraging. So better safe than sorry.
In the end, it was all sorted, and Ellie was fine. Which was… good. Yeah, it was good. Later, the three of them absolutely freaked out about being cloned - and yes, all three of them - both because it was factually true, Ellie isn't just Danny's clone in this version - and because of the emotional feedback loop, keeping them in a state of meltdown for… a while.
But after that, too, was sorted, there was still one last concern.
When it comes time to introduce her… How would Damian react to her existence?
He didn't have the best experience with clones. Died by the hands of one and all that.
And as much as Everlastings and Bats crossed paths in their one-off misadventures, Ellie was never brought up, so they didn't even get a preview on that. Which is probably a messed up way to think about it, but reality shifts that are essentially time loops just do that after a bit.
So this worry lasted all the way until the final (hopefully) timeline - and predictably, Damian was suspicious at first. But learning that Ellie wasn't connected to the League in any way shape or form at any point of her life mostly assured him that she wasn't a threat. And the fact that she wasn't fully Danny's copy, more akin to, well, a tube baby - like Kon, actually - kinda helped too. To be more specific, it was the fact that she was a mix of Danny and Sam - aka one of his beloved, as Damian put it (and is it a good time to mention that he very much approves of Sam? Damian likes Sam, they get on like a house on fire and it's as fascinating as it is horrifying) - elevating Ellie to the niece status in his eyes. It's not how Everlastings see her, but also not not how they see her? It's complicated. Even more complicated than in canon, so they prefer not to think about it too much, or Ancients forbid they get stuck in another emotional loop. They care about Ellie deeply, and that's enough for them.
So, that went well, ignoring the stage whisper of "there's three of them" heard somewhere in the background as they tried to explain yet another dark-haired and blue-eyed kid to Bruce.
Honestly, B is just rolling with it at this point. He lost any control over the situation. On the bright side, the Manor was never this full, and it warms his cold Bat heart.
It takes some time to truly get used to it, on both sides. Everlastings are… not necessarily distant, but they behave like Tim did when he was a kid - just waiting for the other shoe to drop and for everyone to leave. Not trusting reality to not turn on them again. It's most visible in how Danny is very clingy with Damian, but also almost afraid to touch him - which is mutual. They both still can't quite believe the other is here. Damian was convinced Phobos was gone and was made to forget any evidence to the contrary, while Danny knew where Deimos was and was even able to meet with him sometimes, but it didn't help - it just made the longing worse because he couldn't stay with him for vague timeline reasons. Like, it doesn't get more unfair than that.
But also, there is a clear disbalance in how much they know about the Bats versus how much the Bats know about them, and it leaves everyone wrong-footed. There is this look the Trio gets sometimes, one that makes you pause mid-sentence, sigh and tiredly ask "We had this exact conversation before, hadn't we?". To which they can only sheepishly shrug, before prompting whoever they were talking to to go on, because it doesn't matter if they've already heard it or not, they can't build a real relationship if the Bats - this, current version of them - don't get to say it and have all these little experiences with them again. Fortunately, that specific interaction got significantly rarer as time went on, because even if Everlastings know a bit too much for comfort, it's all mostly surface-level information, as they didn't spend enough time together in other timelines for anything deeper. Which is somehow simultaneously a relief and sad beyond measure.
The one Bat the Trio didn't have those problems with and with whom they are the most comfortable, surprisingly (or maybe not), is Tim. All three adore Tim. Although as they admitted, they aren't sure how much of that are their individual feelings, and how much is the gigantic celebrity crush Tucker had on him every time they met. Like, they know they're biased and that their judgment is skewed, they're just not sure about the exact percentages on that.
All Everlastings are bi and currently dating, but Tim - the future Tim they met in Dan's timeline - was the awaking moment for Tucker specifically, exacerbated by the fact that he was already a fan of him as a civilian for his technology. Now you're telling him that he is also a vigilante - and would grow up to be cool as hell? As in cooler than he already was?! (And yes, there was and still is an obvious age gap, but they were fourteen, right in the middle of puberty made worse by ghosts' nature as emotional beings, and it was never romantic. It just made Tucker very aware about some things about himself, so lay off, nothing creepy happening here.) Yeah, no, Tuck was absolutely gone after that, and it was also the reason he finally stopped pestering girls who clearly weren't interested. Which - Tim could be Sam's favorite for that alone. But she also respects him for his ecological and anti-League policies and relates to him a lot on the topic of shitty rich parents. Danny just likes him for the Santa thing. That's it, that's the reason. Don't ask him how he knows about it.
But jokes aside, it's also because Tim was the one they met and teamed up with most often across the various timelines. That time travel mission in particular wasn't a short one, and as a result, Tim was the one Bat they actually got to know rather closely. Which you would think would make that issue about disbalance of knowledge worse, but it just… didn't? For one, Tim somehow never repeated the questions he already asked them before. Well, not somehow, he just had all the answers in that fancy notebook of his, and while he clarified things a lot, it was always innovative in some way, never coming at it from the same angle. But more importantly, there was this sense of familiarity - not deja vu per se - but something of that nature, that he got that no one else did. Where other Bats had to rethread old ground before catching up to a point of something new, Tim seemingly started at that point from the get-go. He said it was hard to explain, but that it was almost like muscle memory - like some part of him knew the Trio and instinctively acted accordingly, even without actual memories to back it up.
But speaking of actual memories - Tim was also the only Bat who was able to recover a chunk of them - specifically about that abformention time mission. He forgot that part of his search for Bruce, but not because the reality was rewritten - but rather, because he wasn't a part of said reality while he was in the timestream, and so that stretch of his memory kinda just stayed there, out of reach.
But because it happened in the timestream, Clockwork was able to intervene, doing something… well, maybe not unambiguously nice, but they did something nice for once. They gifted Tim the notebook, but they also lent him one of their Time Medallions - which is normal practice for that type of thing - exept when it was time to give it back, the Ancient let Tim keep it instead. And that Medallion stored that piece of his memory all this time - as well as being the reason Tim got that not-exactly-a-deja-vu feeling. Time resets still affected him, but they couldn't erase his emotions from those experiences, because that part of him had temporal protection.
Why did Clockwork allow something like that to stay in his possession? Again, why does Clockwork do anything - but mostly it's because they could see that Tim wasn't done with time travel bullshit, and him having the Medallion would result in a better outcome than him not having it. Danny isn't the only one who had to deal with evil future selves after all, and Tim is somehow so much worse in that regard. So yeah, better to get on that. The memories were just a nice bonus. It's not all of them, but it's more than they thought they would get back, and definitely more than they could say about anyone else, so it means a lot.
Tim feels a bit weird being on the receiving end of this amount of attention - he was never someone's favorite (except for Jason, maybe?.. Their history was complicated though, so he wasn't sure if he counted) - but it's nice. Like… Really nice. He always wanted younger siblings, and he kinda got it after his misunderstanding with Damian was cleared up, but Damian still wasn't this… open and unashamed and normal in asking for his company.
He, Babs, Tucker and Danny had a lot of fun learning - or rather refreshing on - how ghost technology works. Ghosts are all about memory and emotions, so ghost technomagic works pretty much on a nostalgia cycle. The old models hold to the magic better not because of some intrinsic value, but rather for the simple reason that they were around longer. People had the time to get familiar with them and get attached, in contrast with some new hotness of the season that would be outdated less than a year later. Which is kinda the core of the issue here - the technological progress is so rapid and fast now, that individual inventions don't have time to accumulate meaning. The only emotion they have poured into them is hype, and that thing evaporates fast.
Older stuff though? It has history, it has memories, it has character. It was much more distinct, too, and having a signature look is important for memorability - which directly translates into compatibility with magic. (Fun fact - Batcomputer is surprisingly compatible. So are like half of their gadgets, and you have no other than Dick to thank for that. It's also why Fenton's stuff worked so well - and even better in the hands of the Trio. Names and aesthetics are very important for magic, okay? Doesn't mean those names and aesthetics have to be good.) It's why Tucker still uses his PDAs (and why he names them all, too) - but he also doesn't, not really. The more authentic it is, the better, but as long as you can trigger the right associations, you can make it work. Case in point - the inside of Tucker's PDAs is the most sci-fi shit you have ever seen, but because he kept the case intact, he can trick the magic into thinking it's still a PDA. It does impose some limitations, mostly with physical interface - aka buttons and screen size and stuff like that - but it's much less restrictive than you would think it is, as long as you're willing to be creative about it.
And it's one thing Tim is - he is inventive and often thinks outside the box. Not always - see his blunder with Damian - but that was his insecurity about his place in the family talking. Most of the time he is much more flexible and open-minded - see him figuring out that Bruce was alive. Which is a big part of why Tucker likes him so much - he is the Ancient of Progress after all.
Yup, that's still a thing. They are young Ancients in the making. I like this trope with Danny, and I like tropes about Sam getting powers from Undergrowth and Tucker getting powers from his previous life as a pharaoh and/or developing technopathy - so that's just a logical extreme of that.
Sam isn't limited to just plants though. Just as Tucker isn't limited to just technology - Progress spans all eras after all, a through line connecting past and future. Plus, specifically plants are already taken - Undergrowth and Green are both a thing. So instead she is Nature, encompassing a much wider range of life and life-adjacent phenomena. As someone noted, she is a disney princess when it comes to befriending animals (again, Damian approves), and we can tie that episode where Danny got weather powers from Vortex into it as well, as in this version it would be all of them, giving Sam all the pieces to combine into what she is now. And of course, Danny is still Space. Ice and void and stars.
Is it too much power for a group of teenagers? Yes, absolutely. Would it be fun to watch Bruce try to grapple with it? Yes, absolutely~ Because why adopt one baby god if you can adopt three? Shut up Constantine, he knows what he's doing. Probably.
But also, side note… The Trio liking Tim so much while being what they are kinda has consequences. Very real, very magical consequences. It's called being favored for a reason. Am I suggesting warlock Tim again? Maybe.
On the topic of Bats and magic though, and specifically Death magic, we still have Jason to address. Or rather, Jason and Damian. Don't think for a second that I missed the fact that Damian had powers after his resurrection! Like, are you kidding me?! Why is no one talking about this?! Especially in fics where he and Danny are twins! You have a direct connection to a powerful spirit and you have canonical powers manifesting after death, I swear this shit writes itself! So yeah, give me my magic Damian. Give him his powers back now that they have a Fraid bond.
Actually, screw this. Screw Duke being the only meta in the family. We are going all in with this!
One scene I really want to include is Damian passing down - or, he used the word share - the mantle of Robin to Danny. In his eyes, it was always meant to be his. Phobos was raised and trained for it, it was him who was supposed to be at their Father's side. And even if Danny doesn't have any intentions of wearing that suit now, it is still important to Damian to acknowledge that Danny is Robin, his Robin.
And, well. It works. It works a bit too well, because again, Danny is a spirit. And what Damian just effectively did, is bestowed him with a Title. A Name that was born from the love of a mother for her child. A name that was said to be Magic. A name that had been collecting memories and feelings for two decades, across five generations of holders - more if you count what Duke and the other kids from the movement used it for. Not all of those experiences were happy, the mantle was drenched in blood and loss, but despite everything, it remained a symbol of Hope.
And a thing like that? It holds very real, very tangible Power.
Power Damian said he wanted to share with a spirit - and not just any spirit, but an Ancient, the Ruler of the Infinite and most importantly his brother - who knows how to actually use it. And it doesn't help - or rather, it does - that all the Robins already have some connection to Death or Magic or both.
Duke wasn't a Robin strictly speaking, but he did use the name, and he is a meta - which isn't the same as magic - but we can't ignore the fact that he calls his signature power "Ghost Vision". It's just too perfect not to use, so I invoke creative license to say it counts.
Damian was raised around the Lazarus Pits, died and was resurrected with powers, and is twins with Danny, giving him a pretty solid link to the other side.
Steph is an agent of Chaos. Blonde, a girl, not adopted. Still a Robin. Briefly died. Faked her death? Eh, semantics, but also one more point to the "not like other Robins" column.
Tim didn't die, but he was in the timestream, has Clockwork's Time Medallion, the only one whose memories were partially recoverable and Everlastings' Favorite Bat.
Jason is a straight up Revenant and has the All-Blades. Very much died and is a spirit in his own right - although a different kind than the Trio. (He does have powers, but like with Damian, they kinda subsided after a bit, because he was revived by the Pits and is currently alive on a technicality - but it has nothing to do with corruption or anything like that. That trope is also done to death, I want a different explanation. Plus, he is getting his powers back and more after this anyway, no need to overcomplicate it.) And he was the one who proclaimed that Robin was Magic - which holds weight when it comes to Names and their meaning.
Dick is a special case because he is the Originator of the Role. He has Power over it that no other Robin, past or future, will ever have. Died a couple of times? People like to stop his heart, apparently, I didn't know that. Oh, and he also visited Hell at some point? Yup, add it to the list.
Sooo… Yeah. They all getting powers, your honor. The verdict is final, this decision cannot be appealed.
Which is fun, but more importantly, I want this moment to be about… Well, Robins. About their legacy and how they feel about it. Because just Damian saying that he wanted to share the mantle wasn't enough to turn it into a spell. No, what actually did it is that Tim witnessed the whole thing and decided to follow Damian's example. Because the truth is - Robin was never passed down without some sort of drama.
Jason was given the name by B without asking Dick if it was up for grabs. Tim blackmailed Bruce into letting him be Robin after Jason died - something his predecessor didn't exactly appreciate. Then Tim was forced to step down because of the Drakes and Steph sneaked into the role for some honestly bs reasons, before being fired less than three months later and never getting the chance to pass it down. Duke skipped the whole process entirely, not bothering with even a nominal permission - he just saw there was a need and that he could do something about it, and so he used the name to do what he thought was right. And finally, Damian was almost given the mantle by Dick without consulting Tim first - and only Damian refusing to accept it didn't turn it into another catastrophe.
And sure, Tim gave him the name willingly after that, but it was halfhearted at best. So still, the point stands - it was never the current holder intentionally choosing their successor or the time the suit changed hands. Damian was the fifth Robin, and somehow, he was the first one to do it right.
And that just doesn't sit right with Tim.
So in the moment of inspiration, he drags Steph, Duke, Damian and Danny aside and proclaims all of them his official successors. Not because of some external circumstances, but because that is how he genuinely feels about it. Damian is a great Robin and he proved himself a long time ago, proved that he deserved it, despite all the judgment and misunderstandings - from others and from Tim himself. Steph wasn't in the tricolor suit for long, but she has full rights to the name too. She is the fourth Robin, always was and always will be, no matter what anyone says. Duke didn't hold the name officially at all, but he still used it for good, and Tim "I bullied Batman into giving me the cape because the world was on fire and no one was doing anything" Drake would be the first to understand his thought process on that. If nothing else, he respects the audacity, and regardless of if Duke would ever want to be Robin for real, he is one of them in every way that counts, and Tim is honestly proud of all three of them. And while Danny, Sam and Tucker are new in their lives (with an asterisk on that, but still), Tim has enough memories about them to believe Robin is safe in their hands, so he supports Damian's choice in that regard.
And that could have been it - a nice emotional moment and little more - but you know it wasn't. No, what happened next is Steph just had to escalate it. Touched by the unexpectedly sweet words and sensing potential for some chaos, she follows suit and tells the younger boys something similar - but not before pestering Jason about lending her one of his All-Blades. They usually manifest only in the presence of true evil, but Everlastings hold the Ring of Rage, and as they figured out some time ago, it was enough to be a trigger too. So now armed with a cool flaming sword, powered by one of the Robins' very Soul, Steph passes down the mantle all while basically knighting Duke and the twins for maximum dramatic effect (and convincing them all to reiterate their respective endorsements now with the sword too, "Or it doesn't count!").
And where there are dramatics, there is Jason Todd. Plus, it is his soul sword, please and thank you. So he decides to add to the flame, so to speak, doing the same shit now with all five of them - but mostly focusing on Tim. They are good now. Really good. But Robin was a sore spot in their relationship for a long time, and while they moved past it, they never truly resolved it. Not like this. And, well, they might as well do it now and say the quiet part out loud. Tim saved the family when it was at its most vulnerable, just moments from falling apart. He rebuilt it, brick by brick from nothing and not expecting anything in return - and then he did it again as Red Robin. Tim is the best detective of them all, and heck, it's really not a mystery why the new kids like him. If there was someone truly encompassing everything a Robin should be, someone representing Hope and light in the oppressing darkness - it's Tim. And Jason is happy to call him his successor.
After that all the eyes immediately turn to Dick, expectant, and he doesn't need to be asked. He just smiles, softly and fondly, takes the sword as gently as he could - a part of his Little Wing, so bright and warm - and shares his thoughts on His name too. Before Robin was a partner to Batman, before it was ever Hope for Gotham, it had a different meaning. It was Family. And Dick didn't understand it at the time, but Robin never stopped being that. He didn't lose Robin when Jason put on the colors - he gained a brother. And then another, and then another, and now once more. That is his legacy, the legacy of Robin. They are a family, and he loves them all so much, and he fully believes those words that Jason said, that Robin is Magic.
And that is what finally does it.
There is a spark and something inside them all shifts, as the flaming blade in Dick's hands flairs and the Trio transform without meaning to - only to be caught off guard as their form changed to a rather familiar design. Because Robin is a part of their identity now, and for ghosts, it affects how they look. So, yeah, Everlastings got new suits out of this - which, neat, definitely better than the hazmats they started with before their ascension as Ancients took priority on that - but it's everything that the costume represents that is important.
Robin is Hope and Robin is Family and Robin is Magic and they all just acknowledged each other as Robins, bringing everything each of them felt about the name to the surface, powering it with all their collective memory and emotions using a manifestation of a Soul as a conduit, and then they gave all that to a spirit who can translate psychic into physical.
So… That happened. None of them really regrets it though? I mean, strictly speaking, it's not even something coming from the Trio, it is the pure innate power of the Robin name. They technically already had it all this time, they just couldn't make use of it without a spiritual touch.
(They totally get access to the local telepathy thing though. It's not as integral or deep as the one Everlastings share, but still, they have it as an option if they want. Also, Cass wasn't a part of the spell, but she is incredibly empathetic, to the point that it's pretty much Ghost Speak, and somehow that allowed her to tap into the link as well. No one knows how exactly that worked, but it worked. Because Cass is just that awesome.)
Bruce completely gave up.
He is getting so much grey hair over this. Sure, conduct magical rituals on a whim, why wouldn't you? Remind him again why he ever thought having kids was a good idea?..
Hmm, what else… Oh, right! Lady Gotham! I love Lady Gotham! With Everlastings residing in Her City, she has the energy to actually visit the Bats in person, which she does. A lot. Alfred might as well prepare another room in the Family Wing. There is some talk over patronage - especially after the whole sharing and accidentally powering up the name debacle - but the Trio has no intentions to lay claims to her territory, and on the contrary, more than happy to let her claim them. So no conflict there. She also likes her Robins having a connection to magic now, because it means she can interact with and help them much more easily. And it was about time they got a mother figure around here. B clearly isn't keeping up with it alone, and Alfred can only do so much.
From here, things can go pretty much in any direction you want? There is still so much to say about Danny and Damian's relationship and how they'll progress now that they can be together, or about Jason and his whole deal that I kinda skimmed over, about the Trio being the Ruler of the Infinite Realms as a unit and how that factors into things, the consequences of the spell and how all the Robins adapt to having powers now, the details of all the reality shifts and what the hell happened there, the proper integration of two groups as opposite to taking in just one new kid and B trying to stay on top of managing so many people both as Bruce and as Batman, Everlastings' dating life because even an idea like this can't escape shipping, I didn't even mention what Dan is up to these days, and so on and so forth. You saw the length of this text - I can continue until I hit the character limit, but I think I blabbed for long enough.
I just want Demon Twins, but with Sam and Tucker still in the picture, sharing the spot of the main character with Danny. I want all these cool tropes this community came up with, but applied to them too. If nothing else, it's a very easy way to make even a cliche idea interesting again. Like how Sam would react if she was the one summoned? What will she and Tucker do if they get to hold the same power Danny usually gets, eldritch forms and all? How does it all tie up to their dynamic with the Waynes, if they actually get to live there and interact with them as a family, rather than quietly supporting Danny from the sidelines or just not being there at all? Same with Jazz, same with Ellie, same with all of Team Phantom.
Actually, about them, I don't care if it's barely on topic because every part of this is barely on topic, but I want to mention Wes for just a second. Including him in DPxDC stories is always fun, but I saw this headcanon for him in literally one fic, which had SO much sense for his character, that now it's the only way I can see him.
Basically, it proposed that Wes is a ghost - specifically a neverborn - who is a mascot of sorts of Casper High's rumor mill. So he is literally a fictional character the community came up with, assigning him a nosy and a bit obnoxious personality, because he's supposed to be this source of all the spicy gossip floating around that people are too embarrassed to take credit for, and so they use Wes as a way to stay anonymous while sharing it. Just some harmless fun, right? Well, yeah, except then the Portal opened, the town was flooded with Realm's energy, and Wes suddenly became very much real.
His nature as a living rumor is also the source of his "Cassandra Curse". He can't see the future, but if there is a secret a significant number of people are thinking about, he can tap into it and "guess" it - mostly being spot on in said guesses, too. It isn't infallible, as if no one knows the truth, then Wes doesn't either, and since it's all information pulled from the public consciousness, sometimes it can still be wrong, despite the magic helping with that. And since gossip isn't meant to be taken seriously, others rarely believe him. It's better with suggestive or questioning language, than stating things as facts, but it's just part of who and what Wes is, so he can't really turn it off.
Although ironically, Wes doesn't really believe himself whenever he's "guessing" things like that either. Like, he's pretty sure he's right, but he still double-checks it each time and is very meticulous about his research, creditable sources and iron-clad evidence. He is a detective on par with Bats in both the skill and paranoia, and once he and Everlastings reached a consensus on "please don't ruin our lives", he became an integral part of the Team, doing a lot of things regarding information gathering, PR, hiding or uncovering various intel, and basically everything that has to do to figuring stuff out or manipulating public opinion.
He didn't follow the Trio to Gotham, but sometimes he just barges into the Manor from nowhere, drops some mystery on their laps, drives half of the colony insane while they solve it and disappears into the ether after, leaving no trace of him ever being there. So as you can probably guess, Bats have very mixed feelings about him, specifically because he is so similar to them in so many ways.
And while I shove minor characters in this - Greta! This is a Kitchen Sink AU, there are no limitations, so of course the ghost girl is here. I don't care how, I don't care why, but she is here. Tim can introduce them and the Trio can bond with her about being a bridge between life and death and running from the government or something. Or they might meet her on their own in one of the reality offshoots. Possibilities are endless, really.
Also, I heard Damian has a girlfriend, Nika? Aka Flatline? Who looks like a ghost, has death powers and literally took his heart? (I wonder how that would work if we had already established that Danny feels his deaths… something to consider for sure. He can't be too mad though, since he's also dating a girl who killed him, so if anything it's on brand.) I want her, too. Like, it has so much potential for a Demon Twins AU I can't put it into words other than perfect.
And I want more of this. More characters, more interactions, more rarely used concepts, or more popular concepts used in an unorthodox way. I want more magic Robins, because you really have all the ingredients for that ready to go. "I'm Robin and being Robin gives me Magic." is a goddamn quote. Use it!
So, yeah, that's the AU. Still no idea what to call it, and much less confident if any of that made sense at all, but it's here anyway.
Okay, it isn't literally about it, it isn't a fan song, but it is so perfect in every conceivable way, it might as well be. And I'm going to dissect every line of its lyrics to pledge my case, because if I don't rant about it, I'm going to explode.
First, the lyrics themselves:
RIELL - King
I’ll make you a king
And I’ll be your
God
It's lighting the sky, it's stirring the sea
The power I am, electricity
You're feeling me rise, is that fear in your eyes?
Are you scared of me?
Deep in your bones, sirens screaming
You're feeling exposed, something animal's taking control
It tells you to run, there's nowhere to hide when I'm on the hunt
Born in the black, I was raised in the blue
Blood running red, I drank from my wounds
Got a taste for the pain, doom and the gloom
Now I've got a taste for you
I'll make you a king
And I'll be your god
Material things
Got nothing on what I'm made of
Sinner or saint
They all come around
Predator or prey
One by one, watch them all bow down
Dressed in white
The sacrifice
Here comes the groom
Now I’ve got a taste for…
I was a saint, I had a god
He pushed me from grace, my wings got cut off
I rose again from the ashes and dust
I took my revenge for what I lost
Keep it in mind, it’s a warning
You better think twice before crossing me
It costs your life, it’s pointless to run
There's nowhere to hide when I'm on the hunt
Like calls to like and I know who I am
Do you recognise? We’re lions, they’re lambs
Join me at my side, King of the Doomed
‘Cause I’ve got a taste for you
(He loves me yes, he loves me no, he loves me or not)
For you
(He loves me yes, he loves me no, he loves me or not)
For you
(He loves me yes, he loves me no, he loves me or not)
For you
(He loves me yes, he loves me no, he loves me or not)
I'll make you a king (Make you a king)
And I'll be your god (I'll be your god)
Material things (Material things)
Got nothing on what I'm made of
Sinner or saint (Sinner or saint)
They all come around (They all come around)
Predator or prey (Predator or prey)
One by one, watch them all bow down
Now I've got a taste for you
Like. You see it, right? I can't be the only one who heard that and immediately jumped to CotL. I mean, I guess you need to know about both to connect them, and this song has surprisingly little views, but… Well, no matter, I saw it, and ooh boy, do I have some associations!
Let's freaking go.
"I’ll make you a king and I’ll be your God"
The game begins with Narinder positioning himself as Lamb's God and bestowing them with the Red Crown - making them his vessel and the cult leader.
"It's lighting the sky, it's stirring the sea"
After a quick beheading, Lamb opens their eyes to find themselves before the Gate of Afterlife - a very white, bright place with rippling water ground.
"The power I am, electricity. You're feeling me rise, is that fear in your eyes? Are you scared of me?"
There, they meet The One Who Waits for the first time. The power - specifically electricity - is associated with life, with resurrection. And at this point Lamb is just a mortal, who was executed mere seconds ago and met Death, so they are intimidated in the presence of this imposing divine figure.
"Deep in your bones, sirens screaming, you're feeling exposed, something animal's taking control"
Then, Lamb accepts the Red Crown, and its power transforms them into something else. No longer a mortal, but a tool for a God. Also, the mention of "animal" here, for one, can be read as alluding to the fact that everyone in CotL are literal animals, but also, that Lamb is getting new, more predatory instincts.
"It tells you to run, there's nowhere to hide when I'm on the hunt"
This isn't addressed to Lamb anymore, but to the heretics who killed them, as they return to life and immediately jump into their first vengeful crusade. Hunting their assailants as the cultists of the Old Faith run in fear, but of course, it doesn't help them.
"Born in the black, I was raised in the blue"
I don't have direct associations for this one, although I guess it can be interpreted as "I was born in secret and then raised in sadness" - because. Well. The sheep genocide.
"Blood running red, I drank from my wounds. Got a taste for the pain, doom and the gloom"
The aforementioned first crusade and Lamb's feelings about it. How they spilled their first blood, their first kill, how they get to touch the death power and point it at their enemies.
"Now I've got a taste for you"
And, of course, their feelings about their God. Adoration, devotion, and in my interpretation for the song, the start of something romantic.
Then we have the chorus, and it's a bit more abstract, but I see it from the POV of Narinder.
"I'll make you a king and I'll be your God"
This one was already discussed - Narinder is a God, and he made Lamb a leader of his faith in a deal they (literally) couldn't refuse.
"Material things got nothing on what I'm made of"
Alludes to Narinder's inner power and persistence. He is Death, he is patient, he is inevitable. He will outlast anything and everything - so the chains won't stop him, not forever.
"Sinner or saint, they all come around"
Narinder was imprisoned in the first place because he invented ressurection, a way to circumvent Death, and wanted to study new things outside of his immediate domain - something his siblings feared and condemn as a sin. But regardless of whether he's truly a sinner or not - he would make them regret their decision.
"Predator or prey. One by one, watch them all bow down"
As already stated, he now has Lamb as his vessel - a prey animal turned predator - and they would deliver his revenge, slayng all the bishops, untill the Old Faith is reduced to nothing.
"Dressed in white, the sacrifice, here comes the groom, now I’ve got a taste for…"
This. Should I even comment on this? I actually didn't hear this part properly at first, because it's intentionally a bit faint and wispery, but then I grabbed the text of the lyrics to explain my thoughts on them, saw this gold nugget, and felt so much more validated. I said that line was romantic in my interpretation, but this isn't so much subtext as just plain text.
Okay, the next verse is more complicated, because I imagine it as changing the POV not between paragraphs, but between individual lines, as a dialogue. It's because I view it as happening in the final confrontation, when Lamb refuses to die for their God and challenges him instead. So.
"I was a saint, I had a God"
Lamb in the moment of their defiance.
"He pushed me from grace, my wings got cut off"
Narinder, reacting to the betrayal and refusal to return his power. Also, in this moment in the game, there is actually an animation of Lamb getting red wings, so it checks out - and foreshadows Narinder's defeat in this battle.
"I rose again from the ashes and dust, I took my revenge for what I lost"
Lamb, referencing their resurrection and quest of avenging the genocide of their kind, by which they mean "Death has no power over me, I didn't stop then, and I won, what makes you think I would stop now?"
"Keep it in mind, it’s a warning, you better think twice before crossing me"
Narinder's response to that is an open threat - the last chanse to back down, but we all know what happens next.
"It costs your life, it’s pointless to run, there's nowhere to hide when I'm on the hunt"
The stage is set, the decision is made, and they both rush into their fateful battle.
"Like calls to like and I know who I am. Do you recognise? We’re lions, they’re lambs. Join me at my side, King of the Doomed. ‘Cause I’ve got a taste for you"
This is very overt as well. Like. VERY. They both have a claim to the Red Crown now, and Lamb already chosen who they want to be. It directly calls out lambs, and lions are just big cats. King of the Doomed is Death, and I don't need to explain what asking him to join them at their side means. And of course, that last line.
"(He loves me yes, he loves me no, he loves me or not) For you"
This is just a straight up confession. But it also reflects Lamb's thoughts, their feelings and their doubts, as they duel and eventually win. They did it because they wanted to stay with Narinder, and if to usurp him is the only way - so be it. But they also a bit afraid to hurt him too much and to be rejected in the end.
And then it's chorus again, but this time, it's from the POV of Lamb, so interpretation of the same lines is a bit different.
"I'll make you a king and I'll be your God"
Lamb ascended as the new God of Death, and they're welcoming Narinder to the cult. Preferably as their equal partner, who would still be in a position of power and be treated as king under their care.
"Material things got nothing on what I'm made of"
Kinda the same meaning as before, but applied to Lamb now, as they establish themselves as a new deity. What I think is most important here, is that this new status makes them much more resilient, so the previous threats are no longer dangerous to the same extent. That may or may not include some assassination attempts from a certain disgruntled cat.
"Sinner or saint they all come around"
More to the same idea. The whole betrayal ordeal was a difficult decision to make, and Lamb isn't sure if it was the right choice, but it was the only one viable for them. So now they have to live with it, but they're hopeful that Narinder will calm down and forgive them eventually.
"Predator or prey, one by one, watch them all bow down"
This one, again, about the bishops, but this time referencing how Lamb is tasked to save them from Purgatory in the second half of the game, after which they can join the cult as followers.
"Now I've got a taste for you"
And of course, it all ends on their love, with Lamb getting what they wanted and Narinder returning their feelings - with "taste" meaning a long awaited kiss.
Aaaand, that's the song. I am not crazy. It's just. There.
Now someone just needs to make an animatic for it. Honestly I would make it myself if I didn't suck at animation (and also actually was in this fandom). So the only thing I can do is cry about it to the internet to trew it out of my sistem. So... Do with that what you will, I guess?..
Jason is a vengeful spirit and makes it everyone's (but mostly Tim's) problem
DPxDC Prompt
Before anyone panics, that title is just a tad misleading. Okay, so you know that popular headcanon that Jason calls Tim Replacement? And how in DPxDC fics, it's common to make Jason ghostly, but with some exuse as to why he didn't know about it and didn't have typical ghost powers untill meeting the Phantom gang years later?
Cool, cool. But what if we… don't do that? And flip these two ideas on their head?
I present to you: "Jason Actually Gets To Be A Ghost, Dammit" AU.
It's a working title, we can workshop it. But the main idea is just that.
Jason dies and comes back as usual, except not as a resurrected human, revenant or a Halfa, but as a full on ghost. Specifically a vengeful spirit. And instead of landing in the hands of Talia, he comes to his senses and plans his revenge all on his own. There is no Pit or League influence to manipulate him, but there are his new ghost instincts, which he at first not even aware of, much less understands or controls, so for a couple of months he has only one thought on his mind:
Kill the Joker.
Getting back at B for not saving him would be nice too, but it's not really a priority. Joker is.
So Jason plans and scheemes and starts to lay the foundation for his debut as the Red Hood - but before he can hit the streets and truly set it all in motion, Dick kills the Joker. And just like that, everything crashes down. Because Jason feels it, with his entire being.
He was avenged.
By his brother.
…and he has no idea what to do now.
His reason for existing, for staying in the mortal plane is gone. He can move on. But it doesn't feel right, because Jason himself didn't do anything to achieve this. It is a victory, but it's kinda a hollow one (no thanks to B for saving the bastard after he already kicked it) and while Jason is thankfull and happy, he also isn't satisfied, and that keeps him lost in limbo, slowly fading without a purpose.
That is the state that Danny finds him in. Realising that he has a fading spirit on his hands, who doesn't even know that he is a spirit, our boy immediately employs to help, but it's tricky. Jason needs information about his new state of being to stabilise himself, but full on existential crisis on top of everything else isn't exactly helpful. What Jason really needs is a new purpose, something to anchor himself again, and he needs it fast. It's a race against time, but after a bit of introspection, Jason more or less accepts his situation and desides on two things:
He would go to Dick, thank him, and, if this is the end, say a proper goodbye.
And also, he would check on Crime Alley one last time.
Except when he visited Crime Alley on his way to Blüdhaven - it was closer, and he had a sinking suspicion the conversation he was about to have with his brother might be his last, so it only made sense to do it in that order - he saw Tim. As Robin. Patrolling, with no Batman in sight. And that spring up all sorts of feelings in Jason. Not becase he was replaced - he was vaguely aware about new Robin existing and low key pissed at B about puting another kid in that costume, but lost in the singleminded focus of his Obsession, he kinda ignored him until this point - and it's not that sticks out to him in that moment. No, that Jason sees is a Robin, patrolling Crime Alley, alone. It hits him with nostalgia just as much as it worries him, and before he knows it, he's following the kid across the rooftops. (Side note, invisibility is very useful for stalking. Especially if your target is a Bat. Who knew?)
This one split second decision derails all his plans about getting closure - although admittedly, those were pretty shaky - and by the end of the night, Jason has a few startling realisations.
The most important one?
This is his Successor right there.
Caring about his home district in a way only Robin ever bothered to, and there is no one to help him if something goes wrong. And that is something Jason couldn't allow to continue.
Crime Alley is his, Robin is his, that kid is his.
Baby bird would have backup, whether he likes it or not - because having no backup is how you end up in a warehouse with a crazy clown, a crowbar and a bomb.
No more dead Robins.
That simple thought burned itself into his mind, exploding like a supernova and consuming him whole.
A new anchor.
And so, newly motivated, Jason gets to work. Most of his plans died the moment Dick beat the shit out of his murderer, but some parts could still be salvaged and repurposed - now with a new awarness and understanding as to what and why he is doing. To that end, Jason trains with Danny untill he is confident with his powers and ghost instincts, properly claims Crime Alley as his Haunt - something his core was already trying to do before, but now he can do it consciously - and proceeding with the whole crime lord thing, although notably less bloody than he initially intended. He is still agressive in inforsing his rules - he is a vengeful spirit - and he is still dramatic - he is Jason Todd - but he mostly relies on ghost tricks to instill paranoia and fear in his enemies (ironically kinda early Batman style, when people still belived he was a criptid), instead of solving everything with mass murder. Not to say he doesn't kill at all - but it's nothing like mindless Pit rage or staged bloodbath just to send a message, skipping over a huge chank of character development there.
The most crucial difference though, is that when Tim inevitably comes to investigate (against B's wishes, but it's not like he was ever able to control his third Robin), Jason is really frendly and protective towards him. He doesn't try to kick the kid out of the Alley, helps him with fights, shares information for cases and overall is just nice to him, fondly calling him Successor at every opportunity and really confusing the kid in the process.
When Dick comes to asses the situation by Tim's request, him too.
New rogues popping up now and then is not even surprising by this point, but usually those don't like Bats very much, for self-explanatory reasons. They don't ask to bring more Bats on their proclaimed territory, because patrolling alone is dangerous. They don't instruct their gang to never attack a Bat, always choosing to flee instead, and what's more, to help, even at the cost of their operation, if said Bat is ever in a risky situation. They don't intentionally synchronizing their patrols with the Bats patrols, and definetly don't smile and wave when caught, only to continue on as if any of that is normal.
For the record - it's not normal.
Or, well… There was one precedent.
Selina.
Aka Catwoman, aka the notorious art thief, aka Bruce's unofficial girlfriend.
This situation wasn't exactly the same (whatever Hood's intentions were, they were not romantic, that much was clear) but their attitude towards Bats and overall vibes were surprisingly simular. Both were undoubtedly criminals and unashamed of that fact, but they weren't hurting innocents for no reason. Selina mostly stole the pieces that were contrabanded in the first place, or had some other shady history, and often anonymously returned them to their proper countries of origin. Red Hood took control of Crime Alley, sure, but his goal for this seemed to be to make it safer, targeting people like child traffickers, rapist, dirty dealers and other abusers, no matter now big or small. He was a crime lord, but he was closer to a vigilante than to a rogue - which would explain why he never tried to fight the Bats, only ever acting in self defence, and even then doing just the bare minimum to disappear if they tried to arrest him. He just didn't see them as enemies - even if B would never approve of his methods.
Tim's morals were much more gray though, and he knew Crime Alley. He made it a point to familiarise himself with it, even picking up the accent in the process. It was second Robin's home, Jason's home. Tim followed him on these very streets countless times in his stalker era, so it only felt right to continue when he done the mantle in his idol's absence.
All this to say - Tim can see how Crime Alley becomes better under its new benefactor. And Hood clearly doesn't mean him harm. If anything, the guy is kinda obsessed with his safety, and also really thankful to Dick for some reason?
It's weird, but… not in a bad way.
And then it progressively gets weirder and weirder as they get to know each other and grow closer, because shocker, but their new mistery player isn't human. He is a spirit, and apparently, the reason for his strange behavior is that the two Birds saved him. Dick saved his soul, and Tim saved his afterlife - whatever that meant - and per his own admittion, Hood forever owes them, in a very tangible, magical sense.
Which certainly explains some things, but one detail that keeps tripping Tim up is the nickname.
Successor is a very specific and very intentional word choice.
And aside from Dick, only one person could have called him that. The person who was dead… But so was their new acquaintance. A vengeful spirit, who explicitly came back for revenge, and pointedly called himself Red Hood - an old Joker alias - except he acted nothing alike. No, he hated the Joker, and it wasn't difficult to deduce why, even without Hood being pretty vocal about his demise at the hands of the clown. The name was part of the revenge, a reclamation.
It also explained his gratitude, almost reverense to Dick - he actually stopped the bastard's heart, if only for a minute, and it clearly meant a lot to Hood, probably more than humans could comprehend. But what caught Tim's attention is that he didn't talked about it like a stranger, simply thankful to the city's heroes. No, he talked about it like Dick did it for him, avenged him, specifically, in a very personal sense.
Dick killed the Joker because the clown was taunting them about Jason.
And here comes the nickname again, because… Because Bats didn't believe in consequences, and there were way too many of them, and it was the only thing that made any amount of sense.
Seeing the face of his hero - not quite grown up, but how he would look like if he lived to hit his growth spurt - and looking so proud of Tim when he confronted the crime lord about his suspicions actually makes Tim cry.
He never regretted picking up the mantle, but in the back of his mind he was always worried what Jason would think about it, about him. He wasn't chosen by Bruce, he forced his way into the family and stole the place of a dead boy. Not to mention years of stalking prior to that. He knew it was necessary, someone had to do something, and Tim was the only one who could, but it didn't mean he deserved it, that he actually belonged. Tim couldn't know if that's what Jason would have wanted, and on bad days it was eating him alive.
Except now he knew what Jason wanted, because Jason was here, dead, but not gone, and he was proud of Tim. Even more, now that Tim knows the truth, Jason actually takes the time to organise a little ceremony to officially pass down the mantle. It's something Dick didn't do for him until much later, and Jason was sad he couldn't do it in a timely fashion either - on account of being dead and all - but better late than never. And he wants to cement it in Tim's mind that Robin belongs to him, fullsale. That Jason wants it to belong to him. Tim is the best successor he could have ever asked for, and now that Jason is back, he would always be there for him.
From there, things escalate fast. Tim has so many following questions.
Why Jason didn't came back to the Manor?
At first he was consumed by his Obsession and the thought literally never crossed his mind. And later he stayed for Tim and Dick, but he couldn't forgive Bruce for saving Joker's life. It's a ghost thing, and while some part of him wants reconciliation with his dad, he isn't ready to meet him. Because Jason could easily go on a rampage and hurt him if triggered - spirits as a whole are very emotional and not known for their restraint, but vengeful spirits are especially volatile - and knowing B, he would get triggered. So yeah, maybe later, but not yet.
Can Jason stop killing?
Kinda, but not any time soon. As a vengeful spirit, he feeds on revenge, on causing suffering to people he thinks are deserving it. He helps innocent in the process, but the act of saving itself doesn't do anything for him. And he can't just drop bad guys by the police station only to watch them go free the next morning - it's not enough, not permanent in a way his being craves. He can become a protection spirit eventually, if he really focuses on it, but spirits are pretty static creatures by nature, and while a change like that is possible, it's a slow process.
There is something they can do to help though. Ghosts feed on emotional energy, and different types have different preferences in that regard, but they also share emotions as part of communication. Between ghosts, it's a purely informational exchange, they can't feed on each other that way - or rather, they shoudn't, because emotions are what they are literally made of, what their bodies are consist of, and the amount they have at any given time is limited. Doing so irresponsibly - or by force - can mess up a ghost pretty bad (cough, Spectra, cough). It's a whole thing.
But with the living, situation is different - they produce new emotions constantly, and those can be easily converted into energy. The process can even be automated somewhat - by establishing a Fraid bond. It creates a magical connection and allows to share emotional energy between parties more easily and directly, with a side effect that any overflow of living emotions that usually just disperse into the atmosphere instead goes to the ghost - passive and harmless. It doesn't fully alleviate the need to fulfill the ghost's Obsession, but it eases up the load. Which is especially helpful for Jason, who is in the process of transition. His Obsession already shifted, but he needs time before his form would follow and acclimate to digesting a new type of feelings - and any spare energy he could get without following his previos Obsession in the meanwhile is very much appreciated.
When Tim and Dick hear about this, they agree in a heartbeat, and now it's Jason's turn to cry. He wanted to do that for forever now, to claim his brothers as Fraid and be family again, but he wasn't sure how they would react to the supernatural aspect of that. Ghosts are possessive bastards - but luckily for him, so are the Bats.
So… magic, huh?
It's one point I really want to drive home in this - Jason has all his powers as a ghost from the very begining, as opposite to learning them as the story goes on. He did train with Danny, but he subconsciously tapped into his spirit nature even prior to that, and by the time Tim properly meets him, Jason already figured it all out, actively using his powers on a daily basis, both casually and in the field. Invisibility, intangibility and flight are a given and regularly applied for stakeouts, info gathering and evasion - although he tries not to depend on them too much, keeping his already existing skills sharp as well. If his time under B taught Jason anything, it's that you should never underestimate the value of purely human abilities. Humans are honestly scary - something Danny actually took the time to reiterate, which kinda surprised Jason at first.
He assumed Danny would fight like any other meta - favoring his powers other anything else - but sinse almost all his rogues shared his powerset and were often more proficient with it than him, in reality Danny puts more focus on strategy and use of technology - not unlike a Bat. And he saw firsthand that ordinary humans are capable of - both good and bad. His friends didn't have powers for the longest time, and still fought as heroes alongside him. While GIW almost destroyed the world with nothing but their ignorance and hate - no powers necessary. So when he starts to teach Jason, it's about integrating his new powers into his already expansive arsenal and having more options, rather than discarding everything he knew before as obsolete. Which is good, because Jason wouldn't have it any other way.
But I sidetracked. Other than the basics, Jason has various fire abilities in alignment with his core - including the All-Blades, which are natural to him in this version. He's not using them all that often, but when he does, it's mostly to scare the shit out of people, since he can choose whether they would hurt someone or not depending on his intentions. So he can get away with stuff like stabbing someone through the heart, or pretending to set someone on fire, or some other dramatic bullshit like that. His guns are still his go-to weapon of choice, and he doesn't employ the fireworks for every lowly goon, but generally, Jason is pretty open about his magical affinity. Not advertising it per say, but not really hiding it either, if only for the simple reason what it would be more trouble than it's worth.
After all, Jason isn't a Halfa like Danny. He doesn't have a living form, and while he remained mostly recognizable as a ghost, he looks human about as much as Jonny or Ember look human. Generally able to blend in as long as no one is looking too closely, but once you pay any amount of attention, you can't unsee it. It was actually a big part of initial shock for Jason, because stuck in his Obsession as he was, he didn't notice, until Danny pointed it out. He was distantly aware about green hue of his eyes and white stripe in his hair, but that was kinda it, and his mind quickly discarded any visual inconsistencies as unimportant.
Just like he didn't stop to notice he didn't need food and sleep like before. In retrospect, he probably would have died several times over with how much he was neglecting his body in those first couple of months - if he wasn't dead already, and adhering to new, magical rules. Realising it post-factum was… scary. But also weirdly liberating after Jason had time to get used to the idea. He still likes to cook and eat, but it's fully a hobby now, as he doesn't need human food to survive.
But back to the main point - Jason is a ghost and he looks like a ghost, with all their typical overworldly features. He appears more ghostly when he's overwhelmed with emotions - more prominent fangs and claws, blazing Lazarus green eyes and red fire hair (which is a referense to Jason having red hair in his original design), with his body overall shifting into flames and smoke - but he never not appears ghostly. His Red Hood getup isn't a physical costume either - not all of it anyway, his guns and some protective gear are real - but like any spirit, his form depends on his self-perception, so it just comes and goes as Jason needs it. Very convenient and way quicker than changing the human way.
Tim isn't jealous.
He's not.
And yeah, technically it means Jason has several forms, but there isn't such a clear divide between them as with Danny's forms. He can conjure himself a helmet, but the face behind it doesn't change - kinda the reason for the helmet in the first place - and that face is always ghostly. Actually, the funny thing is, he looks more human as Red Hood than as Jason, because more of his skin is covered. But other tells are still there, creating an uncanny valley effect, which he actively uses to his advantage to keep his enemies on their toes. Most of Gotham underworld knows there is something up with Hood, but very few know the specifics. Including Batman - he clocked pretty fast that the new crime lord was some kind of meta and even narrow it down to being magic, but both are very broad terms that can mean basically anything. So "interdimensional spiritual entity" wasn't his first leading theory, until he gave up and called Constantine.
Side note, it was also why he tried to dissuade Tim from investigating Red Hood on his own - magic was way too unpredictable and dangerous of a variable for his liking - but of course, it just made Tim more curious. And he wouldn't abandon Crime Alley just because of that anyway - Tim considered it his territory to look after, for Jason, and no one could take that from him. Something Hood was weirdly supportive of, with his only concern being the proper backup - but it made sense in retrospect. And in this version Jason never made threats against him, so no Titan's Tower.
(I mean, we can keep it, but the only thing that would happen is Jason would come to check on Tim, grill his friends about the importance of backup and that they should check on the kid more often too, and loudly complain about the Tower being too easy to break into all the way through. What do you mean you don't have ghost-proof walls in every one of your bases yet?! You known me for two months! It's like eternity in Bat time! What the hell is B thinking?! And even if he is an idiot, Raven was part of the team since its conception, there is literally no excuse for not having protective runes all over this place. So, yeah. If any fighting happens at all, it will be in the sparring room.)
Oh, and it also means that Jason's body is still in his grave. As I said, he is a full ghost, so he didn't dig himself out, but rather just… appeared? Formed? However you want to call it. That part of his memories was really jumbled though, and one more thing Danny used to break the "you're dead, dude" news to him. That was… probably the most difficult thing for Jason to process about all this. That he is still there. That that naive fifteen years old boy, who tried to see better in people and got blasted to pieces for it is still six feet under.
Is he even truly Jason? He remembers his life before, but implanted memories are a thing, and he clearly isn't the same. Would his family even want him back like that? Would Bruce want him back like that - a restless soul, hungry for people's suffering? Shitty people, sure, but would the distinction really matter to him? Batman refuses to be judge, jury and executioner, but Jason has to be - at least until he could rewire his core to protection - and at the time it wasn't an option yet. He eventually came to terms with it, and is mostly at peace with himself now, but it's one of those things that never really go away.
(Also, there was definetly a meltdown about Sheila's grave being next to his, the Wayne name not being on the headstone, and the funeral being held while Dick was still in space - with all three contributing to Jason not coming home sooner. He screamed at Bruce about it later, and they sorted it out, but, yeah.)
Anyway, the point is, I like the idea of Jason who gets to relish in his magic, to embrace it. He is a spirit, and he's already past the point of struggling to accept it. It's just his afterlife now, his new normal, and he enjoys it.
Which really confused Tim at first, because when he questioned Jason about it, he just… told him. Everything. In detail. Or, well, to the best of his own understanding, giving him Danny's contact for anything he doesn't have an answer for. But he always tried to answer, always humored his need to know everything, and not in a "I got a villain to monologue" way, but instead, like Tim's curiosity mattered. Like he mattered.
And it was about magic of all things! Bats and magic famously don't mix, but after a couple of these improvised lectures with Jason and later Danny, Tim is fully convinced it's the fault of presentation and attitude, rather then some innate unability to grasp it. Tim had had his encounters with the magical community, and they all talked about it like something you just don't question. Because then the magic would stop working, or it would melt your brains, or you would attract unwanted attention, or any number of reasons why you shouldn't meddle with it, so just shut up and leave the experts to deal with it.
In stark contrast, Danny was a scientist at heart and talked about it as something complicated, yes, but there were still rules and correlations and finally some real explanations - including as to why some things are better be left alone. It's because magic, at it's core, is a soft science. Psychology, rather than Physics. Or, more accurately, Physics that are run on Psychology. Magic is all about convincing some higher entity, or the fabric of reality itself, to please-pretty-please change in a way I want you to - and you need a very specific mindset for that - in addition to magical affinity, having enough energy at your disposal, and using proper tools and language for structure.
A mindset that is directly in conflict with Bat brand of skepticism, because if you doubt something would work, then good luck trying to convince others in that. The whole thing heavily depends on emotions and intentions, will and belief, and those are highly personalized, so the results can't be consistent 100% of the time. A new person in a magic equation means a new variable to consider, and in this case it's a big variable. But you can still work out educated guesses based on averages and prior data.
And that. Tim can do that.
He is a detective - all the Bats are - and a big part of detective work is actually understanding people. Their motives, their reasons, their habits - all to predict their next move. And Tim was always good at it, was trained in it since before he could walk (thanks Janet Drake). It was how he figured out Robin's identity at age nine, and how he strongarmed Bruce into giving him the mantle just four years later. It's also why his infiltration work is so efficient and smooth. Sure, B has his Brucie mask, perfected over the decades in the public eye, and a couple of other roles he can play just fine, but it was never something what came naturally to him. Tim, on the other hand, has dozens upon dozens of aliases, all fitting him like a second skin. He knows what people want to see and hear in any given moment, and how to use it for his advantage.
Hell, he can lie to Batman.
So surely he can gaslight some pecky laws of nature, as a treat?..
The answer is yes. Yes he can.
The minute Tim stops thinking about magic from the logical perspective, and starts thinking about it from the social engineering one, it all suddenly clicks into place. He still needs some external source to give him connection to magic - he has the blessing of Lady Gotham, like other Bats, but it on its own isn't enough to power spells - but luckily for him, Jason is right there, in all his spirit glory, and they just conveniently established a Fraid bond.
Am I suggesting warlock Tim? I'm suggesting warlock Tim. Those two together will be unstoppable.
On that note, Dick and Tim both get summoning sigils for him. Batman was too late for Jason. Jason wouldn't be too late for his brothers.
No more dead Robins.
As for Bruce, they will have a confrontation eventially, from where it transitions to the larger Batfamily, just with Jason being a known magical entity, which tweaks some things one way or the other. I imagine stuff with Steph would go differently, because she was the fourth Robin - which means Jason extended his claim of protection to her, which means she wouldn't be able to fake her death - because Jason would know if she was actually gone. I'm not sure when in the timeline that is, but I'm ignoring it anyway, since here Jason was never in a coma or with the League. He never left the city, and came back into Bats life way earlier than in canon - meaning he would be there even for the events that he usually misses.
It also means Jason is a bit younger here? Like, sixteen, sixteen and a half when he first showed up as Red Hood - going on seventeen by the time he and Tim build a rapport? It would probably also factor into things and shift the events even more. I'm not sure how exactly, but now that I think about it, Batman's attitude towards him would be softer if he knew he was dealing with a minor - even if said minor is clearly dangerous. Then again, if he knew the magic was involved, he would be carefull not to judge Hood by his appearance - he is way too familiar with Klarion for that. So… It could go either way, really - but my bet, it would make Mr. Contingency more paranoid, not less. Especially considering that if the timeline is shifted back, he would still be somewhat in his grieving (read: asshole) phase - not at his lowest point, but not over it either. Not that Bruce could ever be truly over it, but you know what I mean. There is a reason Tim patrolled Crime Alley alone, after all.
Other than that, with Jason being effectively an ally from the beginning - and a powerful ally at that - there would probably be less deaths overall, maybe even including the Drakes? I still want Steph to be Robin, but the circumstances of that would need to be different. (Also, from what I heard, her reasons for that were kinda bs? So yeah, we're changing that.)
The other thing is Damian, because Jason is very protective of Tim in this version, so even one murder attemt wouldn't fly with him - much less multiple - much less for the precived goal of taking Robin for himself. Tim is his - his Successor, his Robin, and as already stated - No more dead Robins. It would probably trigger Jason pretty hard, giving the family a glimpse at what a pissed off spirit looks like. Doubly so if by that time he's much further in his transition to being a protection spirit, so yeah, he's mad mad. Maybe even to the point that Danny had to intervene.
In the end, Jason calms down, but not before Damian gets set straight about how things work here. If he wants the Robin mantle, it's Tim and Steph's call to make, so the kid better try to impress them - not try to get rid of them - and he already has a negative marker on his score in that regard. And no, Bruce couldn't override them on this, for the simple reason that Robin never belonged to him. It's Dick's legacy, and the last time B tried to give it to a new kid without asking if he could do that, it tore them apart, with consequences spanning to this day, and even Bruce isn't so emotionally inept as to repeat that mistake.
Damian is predictably grumpy about it, but surprisingly, actually complies. He understands power, and Jason just established himself as higher in the hierarchy. And when he finally gets Robin, it would be with collective support and agreement of all four of his predecessors, since Dick, Jason, Tim and Steph are all generally much closer to each other thanks to the Fraid bond. There is still some miscommunication now and then, but this Dick would never give Robin to Damian without telling Tim, or refuse to belive him about Bruce being alive - because they're much more aware about each other's emotions. And again, Jason would know if someone in the family actually kicked it or not. (He and B still aren't close, but he eventually extended the Fraid bond to him, too. Jason can be mad at his dad and still consider him a dad.)
Duke might be fun too, having someone else with powers to bond with and not feeling as alone as a sole meta in the family. Every time his imposter syndrome flairs, and he feels like an outsider, others just collectively point in Jason's direction, and the feeling promptly subsides. Duke didn't hold the Robin mantle officially, but he was behind the "We All Robin" movement, and it's as good as being one in Jason's books, so if the kid thought he could escape the claim, tough luck.
Babs and Cass don't have direct connections with Jason as far as I know, aside for some general stuff, but I wanted to mention them anyway. I'm sure there can be some interesting interplay with ghost technology and empathy respectfully - I'm just not sure how exactly it would manifest or where in the new timeline they would fit. But they are as important as everyone else - obviously.
Oh, and as a personal guilty pleasure - Greta! Aka Secret! She is so underutilised in DPxDC ideas it's not even funny! You're telling me, that there is a ghost in DC canon, who was a part of Young Justice, has history with government persecution, and even confirmed to exist between life and death not unlike a Halfa? And you don't do anything with that?! Yeah, no, we're fixing that right now. With Tim already knowing about ghosts and actively dabbling in magic, there is so much potential for their dynamic! She doesn't have to be a main focus or anything, but the girl is there, she is Fraid, and I will die on this hill.
And Danny is also there, I guess, as Jason's mentor and periodic exposition mashine, but the core of the AU is in Jason and Tim's relationship, with DP crowd being almost a cameo. Danny is there to justify all the ghost lore and establish where Jason got his supernatural info and skills, but that's kinda it. He and the others from Team Phantom don't operate in Gotham, and they already solved all their ghost problems, so the story isn't about them, but they are Jason's Fraid too, his safety net, with everything that that implies.
So, yeah, that's the AU! God I hope it makes sense...
@willothewips I don't know enough about comics to say anything definitive, but probably both? He will be driven into Obsession overload, that's for sure - but it might be the last push Jason needed to become a protection spirit. And that means acting on his protective impulses would power him up, because he would finally be able to process them into energy. And I would like to imagine that with a powerful spirit guarding them, no one would die?.. Especially considering that Jason has all Team Phantom on speed dial, and if push comes to shove, in a situation where Bats can't keep up on their own, his Fraid would help him, no questions asked. Like, I'm not sure if Jason can duplicate - at this point or in general - but Danny certainty can, so it doesn't really matter how many people we're talking about. This AU generally leans towards fluff, so yeah, we're keeping it lighthearted, please and thank you.
Alternatively if Troy still dies, Jason can have a brand new ghost to teach and take care of. And on the the topic of Troy I feel like we should address the parallels between his and Jason's death.
If these two don't bond over this whether Troy is dead or alive I will eat a hat.
Also would Jason have thoughts about Alfred encouraging the We Are Robin movement? I imagine he has to be getting a bit exasperated by how many robins he needs to protect.
Oh wow! As a worldbuilder, I really like when people draw parallels like that, so yeah, it sounds plausible and would be really cool!
I still prefer for Troy to survive - Jason's Obsession is 'No more dead Robins' after all, and saving someone from a fate so simular to his own would be very cathartic for him. While failing at it at such a critical moment - when he finally transcended to a new form - might actually crack his core, even if the kid returns as a ghost after. And, well, I'm not a fan of angst. But both possibilities definitely have a lot of potential and worth exploring!
As for encouragement, Jason doesn't exactly have the room to talk? After all, he let Tim remain Robin and actively encouraged it himself, as opposite to trying to force him to quit. He doesn't have issues with there being more Robins. He does have issues with them going out without backup. And he's happy to be that backup - he is insistent on it - it is why he is here. It's his anchor, his purpose, his Obsession. He physically can't get exasperated with it. It's like asking if Danny would be exasperated with more Space. Like, no, this shit is directly fueling them and giving them the will to keep going even after death.
Jason is a vengeful spirit and makes it everyone's (but mostly Tim's) problem
DPxDC Prompt
Before anyone panics, that title is just a tad misleading. Okay, so you know that popular headcanon that Jason calls Tim Replacement? And how in DPxDC fics, it's common to make Jason ghostly, but with some exuse as to why he didn't know about it and didn't have typical ghost powers untill meeting the Phantom gang years later?
Cool, cool. But what if we… don't do that? And flip these two ideas on their head?
I present to you: "Jason Actually Gets To Be A Ghost, Dammit" AU.
It's a working title, we can workshop it. But the main idea is just that.
Jason dies and comes back as usual, except not as a resurrected human, revenant or a Halfa, but as a full on ghost. Specifically a vengeful spirit. And instead of landing in the hands of Talia, he comes to his senses and plans his revenge all on his own. There is no Pit or League influence to manipulate him, but there are his new ghost instincts, which he at first not even aware of, much less understands or controls, so for a couple of months he has only one thought on his mind:
Kill the Joker.
Getting back at B for not saving him would be nice too, but it's not really a priority. Joker is.
So Jason plans and scheemes and starts to lay the foundation for his debut as the Red Hood - but before he can hit the streets and truly set it all in motion, Dick kills the Joker. And just like that, everything crashes down. Because Jason feels it, with his entire being.
He was avenged.
By his brother.
…and he has no idea what to do now.
His reason for existing, for staying in the mortal plane is gone. He can move on. But it doesn't feel right, because Jason himself didn't do anything to achieve this. It is a victory, but it's kinda a hollow one (no thanks to B for saving the bastard after he already kicked it) and while Jason is thankfull and happy, he also isn't satisfied, and that keeps him lost in limbo, slowly fading without a purpose.
That is the state that Danny finds him in. Realising that he has a fading spirit on his hands, who doesn't even know that he is a spirit, our boy immediately employs to help, but it's tricky. Jason needs information about his new state of being to stabilise himself, but full on existential crisis on top of everything else isn't exactly helpful. What Jason really needs is a new purpose, something to anchor himself again, and he needs it fast. It's a race against time, but after a bit of introspection, Jason more or less accepts his situation and desides on two things:
He would go to Dick, thank him, and, if this is the end, say a proper goodbye.
And also, he would check on Crime Alley one last time.
Except when he visited Crime Alley on his way to Blüdhaven - it was closer, and he had a sinking suspicion the conversation he was about to have with his brother might be his last, so it only made sense to do it in that order - he saw Tim. As Robin. Patrolling, with no Batman in sight. And that spring up all sorts of feelings in Jason. Not becase he was replaced - he was vaguely aware about new Robin existing and low key pissed at B about puting another kid in that costume, but lost in the singleminded focus of his Obsession, he kinda ignored him until this point - and it's not that sticks out to him in that moment. No, that Jason sees is a Robin, patrolling Crime Alley, alone. It hits him with nostalgia just as much as it worries him, and before he knows it, he's following the kid across the rooftops. (Side note, invisibility is very useful for stalking. Especially if your target is a Bat. Who knew?)
This one split second decision derails all his plans about getting closure - although admittedly, those were pretty shaky - and by the end of the night, Jason has a few startling realisations.
The most important one?
This is his Successor right there.
Caring about his home district in a way only Robin ever bothered to, and there is no one to help him if something goes wrong. And that is something Jason couldn't allow to continue.
Crime Alley is his, Robin is his, that kid is his.
Baby bird would have backup, whether he likes it or not - because having no backup is how you end up in a warehouse with a crazy clown, a crowbar and a bomb.
No more dead Robins.
That simple thought burned itself into his mind, exploding like a supernova and consuming him whole.
A new anchor.
And so, newly motivated, Jason gets to work. Most of his plans died the moment Dick beat the shit out of his murderer, but some parts could still be salvaged and repurposed - now with a new awarness and understanding as to what and why he is doing. To that end, Jason trains with Danny untill he is confident with his powers and ghost instincts, properly claims Crime Alley as his Haunt - something his core was already trying to do before, but now he can do it consciously - and proceeding with the whole crime lord thing, although notably less bloody than he initially intended. He is still agressive in inforsing his rules - he is a vengeful spirit - and he is still dramatic - he is Jason Todd - but he mostly relies on ghost tricks to instill paranoia and fear in his enemies (ironically kinda early Batman style, when people still belived he was a criptid), instead of solving everything with mass murder. Not to say he doesn't kill at all - but it's nothing like mindless Pit rage or staged bloodbath just to send a message, skipping over a huge chank of character development there.
The most crucial difference though, is that when Tim inevitably comes to investigate (against B's wishes, but it's not like he was ever able to control his third Robin), Jason is really frendly and protective towards him. He doesn't try to kick the kid out of the Alley, helps him with fights, shares information for cases and overall is just nice to him, fondly calling him Successor at every opportunity and really confusing the kid in the process.
When Dick comes to asses the situation by Tim's request, him too.
New rogues popping up now and then is not even surprising by this point, but usually those don't like Bats very much, for self-explanatory reasons. They don't ask to bring more Bats on their proclaimed territory, because patrolling alone is dangerous. They don't instruct their gang to never attack a Bat, always choosing to flee instead, and what's more, to help, even at the cost of their operation, if said Bat is ever in a risky situation. They don't intentionally synchronizing their patrols with the Bats patrols, and definetly don't smile and wave when caught, only to continue on as if any of that is normal.
For the record - it's not normal.
Or, well… There was one precedent.
Selina.
Aka Catwoman, aka the notorious art thief, aka Bruce's unofficial girlfriend.
This situation wasn't exactly the same (whatever Hood's intentions were, they were not romantic, that much was clear) but their attitude towards Bats and overall vibes were surprisingly simular. Both were undoubtedly criminals and unashamed of that fact, but they weren't hurting innocents for no reason. Selina mostly stole the pieces that were contrabanded in the first place, or had some other shady history, and often anonymously returned them to their proper countries of origin. Red Hood took control of Crime Alley, sure, but his goal for this seemed to be to make it safer, targeting people like child traffickers, rapist, dirty dealers and other abusers, no matter now big or small. He was a crime lord, but he was closer to a vigilante than to a rogue - which would explain why he never tried to fight the Bats, only ever acting in self defence, and even then doing just the bare minimum to disappear if they tried to arrest him. He just didn't see them as enemies - even if B would never approve of his methods.
Tim's morals were much more gray though, and he knew Crime Alley. He made it a point to familiarise himself with it, even picking up the accent in the process. It was second Robin's home, Jason's home. Tim followed him on these very streets countless times in his stalker era, so it only felt right to continue when he done the mantle in his idol's absence.
All this to say - Tim can see how Crime Alley becomes better under its new benefactor. And Hood clearly doesn't mean him harm. If anything, the guy is kinda obsessed with his safety, and also really thankful to Dick for some reason?
It's weird, but… not in a bad way.
And then it progressively gets weirder and weirder as they get to know each other and grow closer, because shocker, but their new mistery player isn't human. He is a spirit, and apparently, the reason for his strange behavior is that the two Birds saved him. Dick saved his soul, and Tim saved his afterlife - whatever that meant - and per his own admittion, Hood forever owes them, in a very tangible, magical sense.
Which certainly explains some things, but one detail that keeps tripping Tim up is the nickname.
Successor is a very specific and very intentional word choice.
And aside from Dick, only one person could have called him that. The person who was dead… But so was their new acquaintance. A vengeful spirit, who explicitly came back for revenge, and pointedly called himself Red Hood - an old Joker alias - except he acted nothing alike. No, he hated the Joker, and it wasn't difficult to deduce why, even without Hood being pretty vocal about his demise at the hands of the clown. The name was part of the revenge, a reclamation.
It also explained his gratitude, almost reverense to Dick - he actually stopped the bastard's heart, if only for a minute, and it clearly meant a lot to Hood, probably more than humans could comprehend. But what caught Tim's attention is that he didn't talked about it like a stranger, simply thankful to the city's heroes. No, he talked about it like Dick did it for him, avenged him, specifically, in a very personal sense.
Dick killed the Joker because the clown was taunting them about Jason.
And here comes the nickname again, because… Because Bats didn't believe in consequences, and there were way too many of them, and it was the only thing that made any amount of sense.
Seeing the face of his hero - not quite grown up, but how he would look like if he lived to hit his growth spurt - and looking so proud of Tim when he confronted the crime lord about his suspicions actually makes Tim cry.
He never regretted picking up the mantle, but in the back of his mind he was always worried what Jason would think about it, about him. He wasn't chosen by Bruce, he forced his way into the family and stole the place of a dead boy. Not to mention years of stalking prior to that. He knew it was necessary, someone had to do something, and Tim was the only one who could, but it didn't mean he deserved it, that he actually belonged. Tim couldn't know if that's what Jason would have wanted, and on bad days it was eating him alive.
Except now he knew what Jason wanted, because Jason was here, dead, but not gone, and he was proud of Tim. Even more, now that Tim knows the truth, Jason actually takes the time to organise a little ceremony to officially pass down the mantle. It's something Dick didn't do for him until much later, and Jason was sad he couldn't do it in a timely fashion either - on account of being dead and all - but better late than never. And he wants to cement it in Tim's mind that Robin belongs to him, fullsale. That Jason wants it to belong to him. Tim is the best successor he could have ever asked for, and now that Jason is back, he would always be there for him.
From there, things escalate fast. Tim has so many following questions.
Why Jason didn't came back to the Manor?
At first he was consumed by his Obsession and the thought literally never crossed his mind. And later he stayed for Tim and Dick, but he couldn't forgive Bruce for saving Joker's life. It's a ghost thing, and while some part of him wants reconciliation with his dad, he isn't ready to meet him. Because Jason could easily go on a rampage and hurt him if triggered - spirits as a whole are very emotional and not known for their restraint, but vengeful spirits are especially volatile - and knowing B, he would get triggered. So yeah, maybe later, but not yet.
Can Jason stop killing?
Kinda, but not any time soon. As a vengeful spirit, he feeds on revenge, on causing suffering to people he thinks are deserving it. He helps innocent in the process, but the act of saving itself doesn't do anything for him. And he can't just drop bad guys by the police station only to watch them go free the next morning - it's not enough, not permanent in a way his being craves. He can become a protection spirit eventually, if he really focuses on it, but spirits are pretty static creatures by nature, and while a change like that is possible, it's a slow process.
There is something they can do to help though. Ghosts feed on emotional energy, and different types have different preferences in that regard, but they also share emotions as part of communication. Between ghosts, it's a purely informational exchange, they can't feed on each other that way - or rather, they shoudn't, because emotions are what they are literally made of, what their bodies are consist of, and the amount they have at any given time is limited. Doing so irresponsibly - or by force - can mess up a ghost pretty bad (cough, Spectra, cough). It's a whole thing.
But with the living, situation is different - they produce new emotions constantly, and those can be easily converted into energy. The process can even be automated somewhat - by establishing a Fraid bond. It creates a magical connection and allows to share emotional energy between parties more easily and directly, with a side effect that any overflow of living emotions that usually just disperse into the atmosphere instead goes to the ghost - passive and harmless. It doesn't fully alleviate the need to fulfill the ghost's Obsession, but it eases up the load. Which is especially helpful for Jason, who is in the process of transition. His Obsession already shifted, but he needs time before his form would follow and acclimate to digesting a new type of feelings - and any spare energy he could get without following his previos Obsession in the meanwhile is very much appreciated.
When Tim and Dick hear about this, they agree in a heartbeat, and now it's Jason's turn to cry. He wanted to do that for forever now, to claim his brothers as Fraid and be family again, but he wasn't sure how they would react to the supernatural aspect of that. Ghosts are possessive bastards - but luckily for him, so are the Bats.
So… magic, huh?
It's one point I really want to drive home in this - Jason has all his powers as a ghost from the very begining, as opposite to learning them as the story goes on. He did train with Danny, but he subconsciously tapped into his spirit nature even prior to that, and by the time Tim properly meets him, Jason already figured it all out, actively using his powers on a daily basis, both casually and in the field. Invisibility, intangibility and flight are a given and regularly applied for stakeouts, info gathering and evasion - although he tries not to depend on them too much, keeping his already existing skills sharp as well. If his time under B taught Jason anything, it's that you should never underestimate the value of purely human abilities. Humans are honestly scary - something Danny actually took the time to reiterate, which kinda surprised Jason at first.
He assumed Danny would fight like any other meta - favoring his powers other anything else - but sinse almost all his rogues shared his powerset and were often more proficient with it than him, in reality Danny puts more focus on strategy and use of technology - not unlike a Bat. And he saw firsthand that ordinary humans are capable of - both good and bad. His friends didn't have powers for the longest time, and still fought as heroes alongside him. While GIW almost destroyed the world with nothing but their ignorance and hate - no powers necessary. So when he starts to teach Jason, it's about integrating his new powers into his already expansive arsenal and having more options, rather than discarding everything he knew before as obsolete. Which is good, because Jason wouldn't have it any other way.
But I sidetracked. Other than the basics, Jason has various fire abilities in alignment with his core - including the All-Blades, which are natural to him in this version. He's not using them all that often, but when he does, it's mostly to scare the shit out of people, since he can choose whether they would hurt someone or not depending on his intentions. So he can get away with stuff like stabbing someone through the heart, or pretending to set someone on fire, or some other dramatic bullshit like that. His guns are still his go-to weapon of choice, and he doesn't employ the fireworks for every lowly goon, but generally, Jason is pretty open about his magical affinity. Not advertising it per say, but not really hiding it either, if only for the simple reason what it would be more trouble than it's worth.
After all, Jason isn't a Halfa like Danny. He doesn't have a living form, and while he remained mostly recognizable as a ghost, he looks human about as much as Jonny or Ember look human. Generally able to blend in as long as no one is looking too closely, but once you pay any amount of attention, you can't unsee it. It was actually a big part of initial shock for Jason, because stuck in his Obsession as he was, he didn't notice, until Danny pointed it out. He was distantly aware about green hue of his eyes and white stripe in his hair, but that was kinda it, and his mind quickly discarded any visual inconsistencies as unimportant.
Just like he didn't stop to notice he didn't need food and sleep like before. In retrospect, he probably would have died several times over with how much he was neglecting his body in those first couple of months - if he wasn't dead already, and adhering to new, magical rules. Realising it post-factum was… scary. But also weirdly liberating after Jason had time to get used to the idea. He still likes to cook and eat, but it's fully a hobby now, as he doesn't need human food to survive.
But back to the main point - Jason is a ghost and he looks like a ghost, with all their typical overworldly features. He appears more ghostly when he's overwhelmed with emotions - more prominent fangs and claws, blazing Lazarus green eyes and red fire hair (which is a referense to Jason having red hair in his original design), with his body overall shifting into flames and smoke - but he never not appears ghostly. His Red Hood getup isn't a physical costume either - not all of it anyway, his guns and some protective gear are real - but like any spirit, his form depends on his self-perception, so it just comes and goes as Jason needs it. Very convenient and way quicker than changing the human way.
Tim isn't jealous.
He's not.
And yeah, technically it means Jason has several forms, but there isn't such a clear divide between them as with Danny's forms. He can conjure himself a helmet, but the face behind it doesn't change - kinda the reason for the helmet in the first place - and that face is always ghostly. Actually, the funny thing is, he looks more human as Red Hood than as Jason, because more of his skin is covered. But other tells are still there, creating an uncanny valley effect, which he actively uses to his advantage to keep his enemies on their toes. Most of Gotham underworld knows there is something up with Hood, but very few know the specifics. Including Batman - he clocked pretty fast that the new crime lord was some kind of meta and even narrow it down to being magic, but both are very broad terms that can mean basically anything. So "interdimensional spiritual entity" wasn't his first leading theory, until he gave up and called Constantine.
Side note, it was also why he tried to dissuade Tim from investigating Red Hood on his own - magic was way too unpredictable and dangerous of a variable for his liking - but of course, it just made Tim more curious. And he wouldn't abandon Crime Alley just because of that anyway - Tim considered it his territory to look after, for Jason, and no one could take that from him. Something Hood was weirdly supportive of, with his only concern being the proper backup - but it made sense in retrospect. And in this version Jason never made threats against him, so no Titan's Tower.
(I mean, we can keep it, but the only thing that would happen is Jason would come to check on Tim, grill his friends about the importance of backup and that they should check on the kid more often too, and loudly complain about the Tower being too easy to break into all the way through. What do you mean you don't have ghost-proof walls in every one of your bases yet?! You known me for two months! It's like eternity in Bat time! What the hell is B thinking?! And even if he is an idiot, Raven was part of the team since its conception, there is literally no excuse for not having protective runes all over this place. So, yeah. If any fighting happens at all, it will be in the sparring room.)
Oh, and it also means that Jason's body is still in his grave. As I said, he is a full ghost, so he didn't dig himself out, but rather just… appeared? Formed? However you want to call it. That part of his memories was really jumbled though, and one more thing Danny used to break the "you're dead, dude" news to him. That was… probably the most difficult thing for Jason to process about all this. That he is still there. That that naive fifteen years old boy, who tried to see better in people and got blasted to pieces for it is still six feet under.
Is he even truly Jason? He remembers his life before, but implanted memories are a thing, and he clearly isn't the same. Would his family even want him back like that? Would Bruce want him back like that - a restless soul, hungry for people's suffering? Shitty people, sure, but would the distinction really matter to him? Batman refuses to be judge, jury and executioner, but Jason has to be - at least until he could rewire his core to protection - and at the time it wasn't an option yet. He eventually came to terms with it, and is mostly at peace with himself now, but it's one of those things that never really go away.
(Also, there was definetly a meltdown about Sheila's grave being next to his, the Wayne name not being on the headstone, and the funeral being held while Dick was still in space - with all three contributing to Jason not coming home sooner. He screamed at Bruce about it later, and they sorted it out, but, yeah.)
Anyway, the point is, I like the idea of Jason who gets to relish in his magic, to embrace it. He is a spirit, and he's already past the point of struggling to accept it. It's just his afterlife now, his new normal, and he enjoys it.
Which really confused Tim at first, because when he questioned Jason about it, he just… told him. Everything. In detail. Or, well, to the best of his own understanding, giving him Danny's contact for anything he doesn't have an answer for. But he always tried to answer, always humored his need to know everything, and not in a "I got a villain to monologue" way, but instead, like Tim's curiosity mattered. Like he mattered.
And it was about magic of all things! Bats and magic famously don't mix, but after a couple of these improvised lectures with Jason and later Danny, Tim is fully convinced it's the fault of presentation and attitude, rather then some innate unability to grasp it. Tim had had his encounters with the magical community, and they all talked about it like something you just don't question. Because then the magic would stop working, or it would melt your brains, or you would attract unwanted attention, or any number of reasons why you shouldn't meddle with it, so just shut up and leave the experts to deal with it.
In stark contrast, Danny was a scientist at heart and talked about it as something complicated, yes, but there were still rules and correlations and finally some real explanations - including as to why some things are better be left alone. It's because magic, at it's core, is a soft science. Psychology, rather than Physics. Or, more accurately, Physics that are run on Psychology. Magic is all about convincing some higher entity, or the fabric of reality itself, to please-pretty-please change in a way I want you to - and you need a very specific mindset for that - in addition to magical affinity, having enough energy at your disposal, and using proper tools and language for structure.
A mindset that is directly in conflict with Bat brand of skepticism, because if you doubt something would work, then good luck trying to convince others in that. The whole thing heavily depends on emotions and intentions, will and belief, and those are highly personalized, so the results can't be consistent 100% of the time. A new person in a magic equation means a new variable to consider, and in this case it's a big variable. But you can still work out educated guesses based on averages and prior data.
And that. Tim can do that.
He is a detective - all the Bats are - and a big part of detective work is actually understanding people. Their motives, their reasons, their habits - all to predict their next move. And Tim was always good at it, was trained in it since before he could walk (thanks Janet Drake). It was how he figured out Robin's identity at age nine, and how he strongarmed Bruce into giving him the mantle just four years later. It's also why his infiltration work is so efficient and smooth. Sure, B has his Brucie mask, perfected over the decades in the public eye, and a couple of other roles he can play just fine, but it was never something what came naturally to him. Tim, on the other hand, has dozens upon dozens of aliases, all fitting him like a second skin. He knows what people want to see and hear in any given moment, and how to use it for his advantage.
Hell, he can lie to Batman.
So surely he can gaslight some pecky laws of nature, as a treat?..
The answer is yes. Yes he can.
The minute Tim stops thinking about magic from the logical perspective, and starts thinking about it from the social engineering one, it all suddenly clicks into place. He still needs some external source to give him connection to magic - he has the blessing of Lady Gotham, like other Bats, but it on its own isn't enough to power spells - but luckily for him, Jason is right there, in all his spirit glory, and they just conveniently established a Fraid bond.
Am I suggesting warlock Tim? I'm suggesting warlock Tim. Those two together will be unstoppable.
On that note, Dick and Tim both get summoning sigils for him. Batman was too late for Jason. Jason wouldn't be too late for his brothers.
No more dead Robins.
As for Bruce, they will have a confrontation eventially, from where it transitions to the larger Batfamily, just with Jason being a known magical entity, which tweaks some things one way or the other. I imagine stuff with Steph would go differently, because she was the fourth Robin - which means Jason extended his claim of protection to her, which means she wouldn't be able to fake her death - because Jason would know if she was actually gone. I'm not sure when in the timeline that is, but I'm ignoring it anyway, since here Jason was never in a coma or with the League. He never left the city, and came back into Bats life way earlier than in canon - meaning he would be there even for the events that he usually misses.
It also means Jason is a bit younger here? Like, sixteen, sixteen and a half when he first showed up as Red Hood - going on seventeen by the time he and Tim build a rapport? It would probably also factor into things and shift the events even more. I'm not sure how exactly, but now that I think about it, Batman's attitude towards him would be softer if he knew he was dealing with a minor - even if said minor is clearly dangerous. Then again, if he knew the magic was involved, he would be carefull not to judge Hood by his appearance - he is way too familiar with Klarion for that. So… It could go either way, really - but my bet, it would make Mr. Contingency more paranoid, not less. Especially considering that if the timeline is shifted back, he would still be somewhat in his grieving (read: asshole) phase - not at his lowest point, but not over it either. Not that Bruce could ever be truly over it, but you know what I mean. There is a reason Tim patrolled Crime Alley alone, after all.
Other than that, with Jason being effectively an ally from the beginning - and a powerful ally at that - there would probably be less deaths overall, maybe even including the Drakes? I still want Steph to be Robin, but the circumstances of that would need to be different. (Also, from what I heard, her reasons for that were kinda bs? So yeah, we're changing that.)
The other thing is Damian, because Jason is very protective of Tim in this version, so even one murder attemt wouldn't fly with him - much less multiple - much less for the precived goal of taking Robin for himself. Tim is his - his Successor, his Robin, and as already stated - No more dead Robins. It would probably trigger Jason pretty hard, giving the family a glimpse at what a pissed off spirit looks like. Doubly so if by that time he's much further in his transition to being a protection spirit, so yeah, he's mad mad. Maybe even to the point that Danny had to intervene.
In the end, Jason calms down, but not before Damian gets set straight about how things work here. If he wants the Robin mantle, it's Tim and Steph's call to make, so the kid better try to impress them - not try to get rid of them - and he already has a negative marker on his score in that regard. And no, Bruce couldn't override them on this, for the simple reason that Robin never belonged to him. It's Dick's legacy, and the last time B tried to give it to a new kid without asking if he could do that, it tore them apart, with consequences spanning to this day, and even Bruce isn't so emotionally inept as to repeat that mistake.
Damian is predictably grumpy about it, but surprisingly, actually complies. He understands power, and Jason just established himself as higher in the hierarchy. And when he finally gets Robin, it would be with collective support and agreement of all four of his predecessors, since Dick, Jason, Tim and Steph are all generally much closer to each other thanks to the Fraid bond. There is still some miscommunication now and then, but this Dick would never give Robin to Damian without telling Tim, or refuse to belive him about Bruce being alive - because they're much more aware about each other's emotions. And again, Jason would know if someone in the family actually kicked it or not. (He and B still aren't close, but he eventually extended the Fraid bond to him, too. Jason can be mad at his dad and still consider him a dad.)
Duke might be fun too, having someone else with powers to bond with and not feeling as alone as a sole meta in the family. Every time his imposter syndrome flairs, and he feels like an outsider, others just collectively point in Jason's direction, and the feeling promptly subsides. Duke didn't hold the Robin mantle officially, but he was behind the "We All Robin" movement, and it's as good as being one in Jason's books, so if the kid thought he could escape the claim, tough luck.
Babs and Cass don't have direct connections with Jason as far as I know, aside for some general stuff, but I wanted to mention them anyway. I'm sure there can be some interesting interplay with ghost technology and empathy respectfully - I'm just not sure how exactly it would manifest or where in the new timeline they would fit. But they are as important as everyone else - obviously.
Oh, and as a personal guilty pleasure - Greta! Aka Secret! She is so underutilised in DPxDC ideas it's not even funny! You're telling me, that there is a ghost in DC canon, who was a part of Young Justice, has history with government persecution, and even confirmed to exist between life and death not unlike a Halfa? And you don't do anything with that?! Yeah, no, we're fixing that right now. With Tim already knowing about ghosts and actively dabbling in magic, there is so much potential for their dynamic! She doesn't have to be a main focus or anything, but the girl is there, she is Fraid, and I will die on this hill.
And Danny is also there, I guess, as Jason's mentor and periodic exposition mashine, but the core of the AU is in Jason and Tim's relationship, with DP crowd being almost a cameo. Danny is there to justify all the ghost lore and establish where Jason got his supernatural info and skills, but that's kinda it. He and the others from Team Phantom don't operate in Gotham, and they already solved all their ghost problems, so the story isn't about them, but they are Jason's Fraid too, his safety net, with everything that that implies.
So, yeah, that's the AU! God I hope it makes sense...
@willothewips I don't know enough about comics to say anything definitive, but probably both? He will be driven into Obsession overload, that's for sure - but it might be the last push Jason needed to become a protection spirit. And that means acting on his protective impulses would power him up, because he would finally be able to process them into energy. And I would like to imagine that with a powerful spirit guarding them, no one would die?.. Especially considering that Jason has all Team Phantom on speed dial, and if push comes to shove, in a situation where Bats can't keep up on their own, his Fraid would help him, no questions asked. Like, I'm not sure if Jason can duplicate - at this point or in general - but Danny certainty can, so it doesn't really matter how many people we're talking about. This AU generally leans towards fluff, so yeah, we're keeping it lighthearted, please and thank you.
Jason is a vengeful spirit and makes it everyone's (but mostly Tim's) problem
DPxDC Prompt
Before anyone panics, that title is just a tad misleading. Okay, so you know that popular headcanon that Jason calls Tim Replacement? And how in DPxDC fics, it's common to make Jason ghostly, but with some excuse as to why he didn't know about it and didn't have typical ghost powers until meeting the Phantom gang years later?
Cool, cool. But what if we… don't do that? And flip these two ideas on their head?
I present to you: "Jason Actually Gets To Be A Ghost, Dammit" AU.
It's a working title, we can workshop it. But the main idea is just that.
Jason dies and comes back as usual, except not as a resurrected human, revenant or a Halfa, but as a full on ghost. Specifically a vengeful spirit. And instead of landing in the hands of Talia, he comes to his senses and plans his revenge all on his own. There is no Pit or League influence to manipulate him, but there are his new ghost instincts, which he at first not even aware of, much less understands or controls, so for a couple of months he has only one thought on his mind:
Kill the Joker.
Getting back at B for not saving him would be nice too, but it's not really a priority. Joker is.
So Jason plans and schemes and starts to lay the foundation for his debut as the Red Hood - but before he can hit the streets and truly set it all in motion, Dick kills the Joker. And just like that, everything crashes down. Because Jason feels it, with his entire being.
He was avenged.
By his brother.
…and he has no idea what to do now.
His reason for existing, for staying on the mortal plane is gone. He can move on. But it doesn't feel right, because Jason himself didn't do anything to achieve this. It is a victory, but it's kinda a hollow one (no thanks to B for saving the bastard after he already kicked it) and while Jason is thankful and happy, he also isn't satisfied, and that keeps him lost in limbo, slowly fading without a purpose.
That is the state that Danny finds him in. Realizing that he has a fading spirit on his hands, who doesn't even know that he is a spirit, our boy immediately employs to help, but it's tricky. Jason needs information about his new state of being to stabilize himself, but a full-on existential crisis on top of everything else isn't exactly helpful. What Jason really needs is a new purpose, something to anchor himself again, and he needs it fast. It's a race against time, but after a bit of introspection, Jason more or less accepts his situation and decides on two things:
He would go to Dick, thank him, and, if this is the end, say a proper goodbye.
And also, he would check on Crime Alley one last time.
Except when he visited Crime Alley on his way to Blüdhaven - it was closer, and he had a sinking suspicion the conversation he was about to have with his brother might be his last, so it only made sense to do it in that order - he saw Tim. As Robin. Patrolling, with no Batman in sight. And that spring up all sorts of feelings in Jason. Not because he was replaced - he was vaguely aware about new Robin existing and low key pissed at B about putting another kid in that costume, but lost in the singleminded focus of his Obsession, he kinda ignored him until this point - and it's not that sticks out to him in that moment. No, what Jason sees is a Robin, patrolling Crime Alley, alone. It hits him with nostalgia just as much as it worries him, and before he knows it, he's following the kid across the rooftops. (Side note, invisibility is very useful for stalking. Especially if your target is a Bat. Who knew?)
This one split second decision derails all his plans about getting closure - although admittedly, those were pretty shaky - and by the end of the night, Jason has a few startling realizations.
The most important one?
This is his Successor right there.
Caring about his home district in a way only Robin ever bothered to, and there is no one to help him if something goes wrong. And that is something Jason couldn't allow to continue.
Crime Alley is his, Robin is his, that kid is his.
Baby bird would have backup, whether he likes it or not - because having no backup is how you end up in a warehouse with a crazy clown, a crowbar and a bomb.
No more dead Robins.
That simple thought burned itself into his mind, exploding like a supernova and consuming him whole.
A new anchor.
And so, newly motivated, Jason gets to work. Most of his plans died the moment Dick beat the shit out of his murderer, but some parts could still be salvaged and repurposed - now with a new awareness and understanding as to what and why he is doing. To that end, Jason trains with Danny until he is confident with his powers and ghost instincts, properly claims Crime Alley as his Haunt - something his core was already trying to do before, but now he can do it consciously - and proceeding with the whole crime lord thing, although notably less bloody than he initially intended. He is still aggressive in enforcing his rules - he is a vengeful spirit - and he is still dramatic - he is Jason Todd - but he mostly relies on ghost tricks to instill paranoia and fear in his enemies (ironically kinda early Batman style, when people still believed he was a cryptid), instead of solving everything with mass murder. Not to say he doesn't kill at all - but it's nothing like mindless Pit rage or staged bloodbath just to send a message, skipping over a huge chunk of character development there.
The most crucial difference though, is that when Tim inevitably comes to investigate (against B's wishes, but it's not like he was ever able to control his third Robin), Jason is really friendly and protective towards him. He doesn't try to kick the kid out of the Alley, helps him with fights, shares information for cases and overall is just nice to him, fondly calling him Successor at every opportunity and really confusing the kid in the process.
When Dick comes to assess the situation at Tim's request, him too.
New rogues popping up now and then is not even surprising by this point, but usually those don't like Bats very much, for self-explanatory reasons. They don't ask to bring more Bats to their proclaimed territory, because patrolling alone is dangerous. They don't instruct their gang to never attack a Bat, always choosing to flee instead, and what's more, to help, even at the cost of their operation, if said Bat is ever in a risky situation. They don't intentionally synchronize their patrols with the Bats patrols, and definitely don't smile and wave when caught, only to continue on as if any of that is normal.
For the record - it's not normal.
Or, well… There was one precedent.
Selina.
Aka Catwoman, aka the notorious art thief, aka Bruce's unofficial girlfriend.
This situation wasn't exactly the same (whatever Hood's intentions were, they were not romantic, that much was clear) but their attitude towards Bats and overall vibes were surprisingly similar. Both were undoubtedly criminals and unashamed of that fact, but they weren't hurting innocents for no reason. Selina mostly stole the pieces that were contrabanded in the first place, or had some other shady history, and often anonymously returned them to their proper countries of origin. Red Hood took control of Crime Alley, sure, but his goal for this seemed to be to make it safer, targeting people like child traffickers, rapists, dirty dealers and other abusers, no matter how big or small. He was a crime lord, but he was closer to a vigilante than to a rogue - which would explain why he never tried to fight the Bats, only ever acting in self defense, and even then doing just the bare minimum to disappear if they tried to arrest him. He just didn't see them as enemies - even if B would never approve of his methods.
Tim's morals were much more gray though, and he knew Crime Alley. He made it a point to familiarize himself with it, even picking up the accent in the process. It was second Robin's home, Jason's home. Tim followed him on these very streets countless times in his stalker era, so it only felt right to continue when he don the mantle in his idol's absence.
All this to say - Tim can see how Crime Alley becomes better under its new benefactor. And Hood clearly doesn't mean him harm. If anything, the guy is kinda obsessed with his safety, and also really thankful to Dick for some reason?
It's weird, but… not in a bad way.
And then it progressively gets weirder and weirder as they get to know each other and grow closer, because shocker, but their new mystery player isn't human. He is a spirit, and apparently, the reason for his strange behavior is that the two Birds saved him. Dick saved his soul, and Tim saved his afterlife - whatever that meant - and per his own admission, Hood forever owes them, in a very tangible, magical sense.
Which certainly explains some things, but one detail that keeps tripping Tim up is the nickname.
Successor is a very specific and very intentional word choice.
And aside from Dick, only one person could have called him that. The person who was dead… But so was their new acquaintance. A vengeful spirit, who explicitly came back for revenge, and pointedly called himself Red Hood - an old Joker alias - except he acted nothing alike. No, he hated the Joker, and it wasn't difficult to deduce why, even without Hood being pretty vocal about his demise at the hands of the clown. The name was part of the revenge, a reclamation.
It also explained his gratitude, almost reverence to Dick - he actually stopped the bastard's heart, if only for a minute, and it clearly meant a lot to Hood, probably more than humans could comprehend. But what caught Tim's attention is that he didn't talk about it like a stranger, simply thankful to the city's heroes. No, he talked about it like Dick did it for him, avenged him, specifically, in a very personal sense.
Dick killed the Joker because the clown was taunting them about Jason.
And here comes the nickname again, because… Because Bats didn't believe in consequences, and there were way too many of them, and it was the only thing that made any amount of sense.
Seeing the face of his hero - not quite grown up, but how he would look like if he lived to hit his growth spurt - and looking so proud of Tim when he confronted the crime lord about his suspicions actually makes Tim cry.
He never regretted picking up the mantle, but in the back of his mind he was always worried what Jason would think about it, about him. He wasn't chosen by Bruce, he forced his way into the family and stole the place of a dead boy. Not to mention years of stalking prior to that. He knew it was necessary, someone had to do something, and Tim was the only one who could, but it didn't mean he deserved it, that he actually belonged. Tim couldn't know if that's what Jason would have wanted, and on bad days it was eating him alive.
Except now he knew what Jason wanted, because Jason was here, dead, but not gone, and he was proud of Tim. Even more, now that Tim knows the truth, Jason actually takes the time to organize a little ceremony to officially pass down the mantle. It's something Dick didn't do for him until much later, and Jason was sad he couldn't do it in a timely fashion either - on account of being dead and all - but better late than never. And he wants to cement it in Tim's mind that Robin belongs to him, fullsale. That Jason wants it to belong to him. Tim is the best successor he could have ever asked for, and now that Jason is back, he would always be there for him.
From there, things escalate fast. Tim has so many following questions.
Why Jason didn't come back to the Manor?
At first he was consumed by his Obsession and the thought literally never crossed his mind. And later he stayed for Tim and Dick, but he couldn't forgive Bruce for saving Joker's life. It's a ghost thing, and while some part of him wants reconciliation with his dad, he isn't ready to meet him. Because Jason could easily go on a rampage and hurt him if triggered - spirits as a whole are very emotional and not known for their restraint, but vengeful spirits are especially volatile - and knowing B, he would get triggered. So yeah, maybe later, but not yet.
Can Jason stop killing?
Kinda, but not any time soon. As a vengeful spirit, he feeds on revenge, on causing suffering to people he thinks are deserving it. He helps the innocent in the process, but the act of saving itself doesn't do anything for him. And he can't just drop bad guys by the police station only to watch them go free the next morning - it's not enough, not permanent in a way his being craves. He can become a protection spirit eventually, if he really focuses on it, but spirits are pretty static creatures by nature, and while a change like that is possible, it's a slow process.
There is something they can do to help though. Ghosts feed on emotional energy, and different types have different preferences in that regard, but they also share emotions as part of communication. Between ghosts, it's a purely informational exchange, they can't feed on each other that way - or rather, they shouldn't, because emotions are what they are literally made of, what their bodies consist of, and the amount they have at any given time is limited. Doing so irresponsibly - or by force - can mess up a ghost pretty bad (cough, Spectra, cough). It's a whole thing.
But with the living, the situation is different - they produce new emotions constantly, and those can be easily converted into energy. The process can even be automated somewhat - by establishing a Fraid bond. It creates a magical connection and allows to share emotional energy between parties more easily and directly, with a side effect that any overflow of living emotions that usually just disperse into the atmosphere instead goes to the ghost - passive and harmless. It doesn't fully alleviate the need to fulfill the ghost's Obsession, but it eases up the load. Which is especially helpful for Jason, who is in the process of transition. His Obsession already shifted, but he needs time before his form would follow and acclimate to digesting a new type of feelings - and any spare energy he could get without following his previous Obsession in the meanwhile is very much appreciated.
When Tim and Dick hear about this, they agree in a heartbeat, and now it's Jason's turn to cry. He wanted to do that for forever now, to claim his brothers as Fraid and be family again, but he wasn't sure how they would react to the supernatural aspect of that. Ghosts are possessive bastards - but luckily for him, so are the Bats.
So… magic, huh?
It's one point I really want to drive home in this - Jason has all his powers as a ghost from the very beginning, as opposed to learning them as the story goes on. He did train with Danny, but he subconsciously tapped into his spirit nature even prior to that, and by the time Tim properly meets him, Jason had already figured it all out, actively using his powers on a daily basis, both casually and in the field. Invisibility, intangibility and flight are a given and regularly applied for stakeouts, info gathering and evasion - although he tries not to depend on them too much, keeping his already existing skills sharp as well. If his time under B taught Jason anything, it's that you should never underestimate the value of purely human abilities. Humans are honestly scary - something Danny actually took the time to reiterate, which kinda surprised Jason at first.
He assumed Danny would fight like any other meta - favoring his powers other anything else - but since almost all his rogues shared his powerset and were often more proficient with it than him, in reality Danny puts more focus on strategy and use of technology - not unlike a Bat. And he saw firsthand what ordinary humans are capable of - both good and bad. His friends didn't have powers for the longest time, and still fought as heroes alongside him. While GIW almost destroyed the world with nothing but their ignorance and hate - no powers necessary. So when he starts to teach Jason, it's about integrating his new powers into his already expansive arsenal and having more options, rather than discarding everything he knew before as obsolete. Which is good, because Jason wouldn't have it any other way.
But I sidetracked. Other than the basics, Jason has various fire abilities in alignment with his core - including the All-Blades, which are natural to him in this version. He's not using them all that often, but when he does, it's mostly to scare the shit out of people, since he can choose whether they will hurt someone or not depending on his intentions. So he can get away with stuff like stabbing someone through the heart, or pretending to set someone on fire, or some other dramatic bullshit like that. His guns are still his go-to weapon of choice, and he doesn't employ fireworks for every lowly goon, but generally, Jason is pretty open about his magical affinity. Not advertising it per se, but not really hiding it either, if only for the simple reason that it would be more trouble than it's worth.
After all, Jason isn't a Halfa like Danny. He doesn't have a living form, and while he remained mostly recognizable as a ghost, he looks human about as much as Jonny or Ember look human. Generally able to blend in as long as no one is looking too closely, but once you pay any amount of attention, you can't unsee it. It was actually a big part of the initial shock for Jason, because stuck in his Obsession as he was, he didn't notice, until Danny pointed it out. He was distantly aware about green hue of his eyes and white stripe in his hair, but that was kinda it, and his mind quickly discarded any visual inconsistencies as unimportant.
Just like he didn't stop to notice he didn't need food and sleep like before. In retrospect, he probably would have died several times over with how much he was neglecting his body in those first couple of months - if he wasn't dead already, and adhering to new, magical rules. Realizing it post-factum was… scary. But also weirdly liberating after Jason had time to get used to the idea. He still likes to cook and eat, but it's fully a hobby now, as he doesn't need human food to survive.
But back to the main point - Jason is a ghost and he looks like a ghost, with all their typical overworldly features. He appears more ghostly when he's overwhelmed with emotions - more prominent fangs and claws, blazing Lazarus green eyes and red fire hair (which is a reference to Jason having red hair in his original design), with his body overall shifting into flames and smoke - but he never not appears ghostly. His Red Hood getup isn't a physical costume either - not all of it anyway, his guns and some protective gear are real - but like any spirit, his form depends on his self-perception, so it just comes and goes as Jason needs it. Very convenient and way quicker than changing the human way.
Tim isn't jealous.
He's not.
And yeah, technically it means Jason has several forms, but there isn't such a clear divide between them as with Danny's forms. He can conjure himself a helmet, but the face behind it doesn't change - kinda the reason for the helmet in the first place - and that face is always ghostly. Actually, the funny thing is, he looks more human as Red Hood than as Jason, because more of his skin is covered. But other tells are still there, creating an uncanny valley effect, which he actively uses to his advantage to keep his enemies on their toes. Most of Gotham underworld knows there is something up with Hood, but very few know the specifics. Including Batman - he clocked pretty fast that the new crime lord was some kind of meta and even narrowed it down to being magic, but both are very broad terms that can mean basically anything. So "interdimensional spiritual entity" wasn't his first leading theory, until he gave up and called Constantine.
Side note, it was also why he tried to dissuade Tim from investigating Red Hood on his own - magic was way too unpredictable and dangerous of a variable for his liking - but of course, it just made Tim more curious. And he wouldn't abandon Crime Alley just because of that anyway - Tim considered it his territory to look after, for Jason, and no one could take that from him. Something Hood was weirdly supportive of, with his only concern being the proper backup - but it made sense in retrospect. And in this version Jason never made threats against him, so no Titan's Tower.
(I mean, we can keep it, but the only thing that would happen is Jason would come to check on Tim, grill his friends about the importance of backup and that they should check on the kid more often too, and loudly complain about the Tower being too easy to break into all the way through. What do you mean you don't have ghost-proof walls in every one of your bases yet?! You have known me for two months! It's like eternity in Bat time! What the hell is B thinking?! And even if he is an idiot, Raven has been part of the team since its conception, there is literally no excuse for not having protective runes all over this place. So, yeah. If any fighting happens at all, it will be in the sparring room.)
Oh, and it also means that Jason's body is still in his grave. As I said, he is a full ghost, so he didn't dig himself out, but rather just… appeared? Formed? However you want to call it. That part of his memories was really jumbled though, and one more thing Danny used to break the "you're dead, dude" news to him. That was… probably the most difficult thing for Jason to process about all this. That he is still there. That that naive fifteen years old boy, who tried to see better in people and got blasted to pieces for it is still six feet under.
Is he even truly Jason? He remembers his life before, but implanted memories are a thing, and he clearly isn't the same. Would his family even want him back like that? Would Bruce want him back like that - a restless soul, hungry for people's suffering? Shitty people, sure, but would the distinction really matter to him? Batman refuses to be judge, jury and executioner, but Jason has to be - at least until he can rewire his core to protection - and at the time it wasn't an option yet. He eventually came to terms with it, and is mostly at peace with himself now, but it's one of those things that never really go away.
(Also, there was definitely a meltdown about Sheila's grave being next to his, the Wayne name not being on the headstone, and the funeral being held while Dick was still in space - with all three contributing to Jason not coming home sooner. He screamed at Bruce about it later, and they sorted it out, but, yeah.)
Anyway, the point is, I like the idea of Jason who gets to relish in his magic, to embrace it. He is a spirit, and he's already past the point of struggling to accept it. It's just his afterlife now, his new normal, and he enjoys it.
Which really confused Tim at first, because when he questioned Jason about it, he just… told him. Everything. In detail. Or, well, to the best of his own understanding, giving him Danny's contact for anything he doesn't have an answer for. But he always tried to answer, always humored his need to know everything, and not in a "I got a villain to monologue" way, but instead, like Tim's curiosity mattered. Like he mattered.
And it was about magic of all things! Bats and magic famously don't mix, but after a couple of these improvised lectures with Jason and later Danny, Tim is fully convinced it's the fault of presentation and attitude, rather than some innate inability to grasp it. Tim had had his encounters with the magical community, and they all talked about it like something you just don't question. Because then the magic would stop working, or it would melt your brains, or you would attract unwanted attention, or any number of reasons why you shouldn't meddle with it, so just shut up and leave the experts to deal with it.
In stark contrast, Danny was a scientist at heart and talked about it as something complicated, yes, but there were still rules and correlations and finally some real explanations - including as to why some things are better be left alone. It's because magic, at it's core, is a soft science. Psychology, rather than Physics. Or, more accurately, Physics that are run on Psychology. Magic is all about convincing some higher entity, or the fabric of reality itself, to please-pretty-please change in a way I want you to - and you need a very specific mindset for that - in addition to magical affinity, having enough energy at your disposal, and using proper tools and language for structure.
A mindset that is directly in conflict with Bat brand of skepticism, because if you doubt something would work, then good luck trying to convince others in that. The whole thing heavily depends on emotions and intentions, will and belief, and those are highly personalized, so the results can't be consistent 100% of the time. A new person in a magic equation means a new variable to consider, and in this case it's a big variable. But you can still work out educated guesses based on averages and prior data.
And that. Tim can do that.
He is a detective - all the Bats are - and a big part of detective work is actually understanding people. Their motives, their reasons, their habits - all to predict their next move. And Tim was always good at it, was trained in it since before he could walk (thanks Janet Drake). It was how he figured out Robin's identity at age nine, and how he strongarmed Bruce into giving him the mantle just four years later. It's also why his infiltration work is so efficient and smooth. Sure, B has his Brucie mask, perfected over the decades in the public eye, and a couple of other roles he can play just fine, but it was never something that came naturally to him. Tim, on the other hand, has dozens upon dozens of aliases, all fitting him like a second skin. He knows what people want to see and hear at any given moment, and how to use it to his advantage.
Hell, he can lie to Batman.
So surely he can gaslight some pesky laws of nature, as a treat?..
The answer is yes. Yes he can.
The minute Tim stops thinking about magic from the logical perspective, and starts thinking about it from the social engineering one, it all suddenly clicks into place. He still needs some external source to give him a connection to magic - he has the blessing of Lady Gotham, like other Bats, but it on its own isn't enough to power spells - but luckily for him, Jason is right there, in all his spirit glory, and they just conveniently established a Fraid bond.
Am I suggesting warlock Tim? I'm suggesting warlock Tim. Those two together will be unstoppable.
On that note, Dick and Tim both get summoning sigils for him. Batman was too late for Jason. Jason won't be too late for his brothers.
No more dead Robins.
As for Bruce, they will have a confrontation eventually, from where it transitions to the larger Batfamily, just with Jason being a known magical entity, which tweaks some things one way or the other. I imagine stuff with Steph would go differently, because she was the fourth Robin - which means Jason extended his claim of protection to her, which means she wouldn't be able to fake her death - because Jason would know if she was actually gone. I'm not sure when in the timeline that is, but I'm ignoring it anyway, since here Jason was never in a coma or with the League. He never left the city, and came back into Bats life way earlier than in canon - meaning he would be there even for the events that he usually misses.
It also means Jason is a bit younger here? Like, sixteen, sixteen and a half when he first showed up as Red Hood - going on seventeen by the time he and Tim built a rapport? It would probably also factor into things and shift events even more. I'm not sure how exactly, but now that I think about it, Batman's attitude towards him would be softer if he knew he was dealing with a minor - even if said minor is clearly dangerous. Then again, if he knew the magic was involved, he would be careful not to judge Hood by his appearance - he is way too familiar with Klarion for that. So… It could go either way, really - but my bet, it would make Mr. Contingency more paranoid, not less. Especially considering that if the timeline is shifted back, he would still be somewhat in his grieving (read: asshole) phase - not at his lowest point, but not over it either. Not that Bruce could ever be truly over it, but you know what I mean. There is a reason Tim patrolled Crime Alley alone, after all.
Other than that, with Jason being effectively an ally from the beginning - and a powerful ally at that - there would probably be fewer deaths overall, maybe even including the Drakes? I still want Steph to be Robin, but the circumstances of that would need to be different. (Also, from what I heard, her reasons for that were kinda bs? So yeah, we're changing that.)
The other thing is Damian, because Jason is very protective of Tim in this version, so even one murder attempt wouldn't fly with him - much less multiple - much less for the perceived goal of taking Robin for himself. Tim is his - his Successor, his Robin, and as already stated - No more dead Robins. It would probably trigger Jason pretty hard, giving the family a glimpse at what a pissed off spirit looks like. Doubly so if by that time he's much further in his transition to being a protection spirit, so yeah, he's mad mad. Maybe even to the point that Danny had to intervene.
In the end, Jason calms down, but not before Damian gets set straight about how things work here. If he wants the Robin mantle, it's Tim and Steph's call to make, so the kid better try to impress them - not try to get rid of them - and he already has a negative marker on his score in that regard. And no, Bruce couldn't override them on this, for the simple reason that Robin never belonged to him. It's Dick's legacy, and the last time B tried to give it to a new kid without asking if he could do that, it tore them apart, with consequences spanning to this day, and even Bruce isn't so emotionally inept as to repeat that mistake.
Damian is predictably grumpy about it, but surprisingly, actually complies. He understands power, and Jason has just established himself as higher in the hierarchy. And when he finally gets Robin, it would be with the collective support and agreement of all four of his predecessors, since Dick, Jason, Tim and Steph are all generally much closer to each other thanks to the Fraid bond. There is still some miscommunication now and then, but this Dick would never give Robin to Damian without telling Tim, or refuse to believe him about Bruce being alive - because they're much more aware about each other's emotions. And again, Jason would know if someone in the family actually kicked it or not. (He and B still aren't close, but he eventually extended the Fraid bond to him, too. Jason can be mad at his dad and still consider him a dad.)
Duke might be fun too, having someone else with powers to bond with and not feeling as alone as a sole meta in the family. Every time his impostor syndrome flairs, and he feels like an outsider, others just collectively point in Jason's direction, and the feeling promptly subsides. Duke didn't hold the Robin mantle officially, but he was behind the "We All Robin" movement, and it's as good as being one in Jason's books, so if the kid thought he could escape the claim, tough luck.
Babs and Cass don't have direct connections with Jason as far as I know, aside for some general stuff, but I wanted to mention them anyway. I'm sure there could be some interesting interplay with ghost technology and empathy respectively - I'm just not sure how exactly it would manifest or where in the new timeline they would fit. But they are as important as everyone else - obviously.
Oh, and as a personal guilty pleasure - Greta! Aka Secret! She is so underutilized in DPxDC ideas it's not even funny! You're telling me, that there is a ghost in DC canon, who was a part of Young Justice, has a history with government persecution, and is even confirmed to exist between life and death not unlike a Halfa? And you don't do anything with that?! Yeah, no, we're fixing that right now. With Tim already knowing about ghosts and actively dabbling in magic, there is so much potential for their dynamic! She doesn't have to be a main focus or anything, but the girl is there, she is Fraid, and I will die on this hill.
And Danny is also there, I guess, as Jason's mentor and periodic exposition machine, but the core of the AU is in Jason and Tim's relationship, with DP crowd being almost a cameo. Danny is there to justify all the ghost lore and establish where Jason got his supernatural info and skills, but that's kinda it. He and the others from Team Phantom don't operate in Gotham, and they have already solved all their ghost problems, so the story isn't about them, but they are Jason's Fraid too, his safety net, with everything that that implies.
So, yeah, that's the AU! God I hope it makes sense...
