DP x DC prompt - A Pariah Dark Who Works Two Jobs 🎶
SingleDad!Pariah Dark
After a disastrous war with the GIW, Danny was the last remaining Halfa. And one of two remaining Fentons.
Ellie/Dani had sacrificed her core to repair Danny's fracturing one - and it was only his promise to live enough for the both of them that kept him from breaking down.
Dan was technically closer to three-quarters!ghost than half.
Dan.
Danny never considered that there would be a day that he would consider one of his greatest enemies - one of his greatest fears - as one of his closest confidants and friend.
Dan had taken over the elder sibling role after...Jazz had died. She never reformed as a ghost, content with seeing her younger brother make it out alive.
Jack and Maddie Fenton - Danny's parents. Even now, there are times he considers them his parents. Even as they stood over his body and nearly pulled his core from his body. Even as they turned a deaf ear to his screams and pleas. There was a part of him that still loved them. He wondered if their Obsession with ghosts would have them reform as one.
And now, to address the elephant in the room.
The war had gotten so bad, that they had released Pariah Dark in a final effort to eradicate the GIW.
It was a pyrrhic victory.
They had won - but the three of them, Danny, Dan, and Pariah Dark had found themselves stranded in another universe. One filled with superheroes and supervillains alike.
Dan and Danny had reverted to their ghost ages - a young toddler for Danny and a young child for Dan. Fortunately for them, they kept a majority of their powers.
Unfortunately for Pariah Dark, he found himself severely weakened, and in a body that was closer to a liminal than a ghost.
As the sole adult among the trio (and reluctant guardian of two young children) - Pariah Dark found himself job-hunting in a city called [INSERT CHOICE OF CITY HERE].
Redeemed Dan gridlocking whenever a "I could just kill this guy and make everyone's life easier" situation comes up because he's trying not to give into his bloodlust, but it’s so goddamn tempting.
Someone has broken into The Batcave. They don’t know how, but suddenly two lifeforms were detected in the middle of the Batmobiles runway. Lifeforms, Tim noted, not humans. They all rushed into the cave, and were met with two Damian’s.
They could tell who their Damian was by the Robin costume so not a shapeshifter, but he was wearing a black suit with white gloves, boots and cape with a pulled down hood. His hair took the form of a flame, and his eyes were glowing red. Despite this his facial features were identical to Damian’s, even the scowl directed at them looked to be pulled right off of Damian’s face.
He heard Jason shout and turned to see a girl, also identical to Damian and more so with the other one, fighting Jason and Dick at the same time. She was wearing a suit similar to the other, just the top was cropped and half was white and the other half black. Tim joined the fray, but they were quickly defeated. Ice was wrapped around their arms and legs, and Damian was already iced to the floor. The girl whooped and jumped over them playfully.
“Great,” he heard Jason mutter, “more demon brats.” The girl paused and turned, as did the boy. They tilted their heads in sync, the boy looking far more annoyed and the girl amused. “‘Demon brat’,” she repeated thoughtfully, “Is that a new slur humans are callin us?” The boy scoffed so much like Damian and walked towards the Batcomputer. “Wouldn’t surprise me.” He turned towards them and glared.
“It’s just as uncreative as the other ones.” He turned back to the Batcomputer and started typing. Ok, Tim thought, let’s recap. There were two kids who looked identical to Damian in the Batcave. These kids were a different species that had interacted with humans before, and all these interactions had been bad enough and gone on long enough that there were human slurs for their species. These Damian-lookalikes wanted information on all the meta laws and extraterrestrial species laws in place on earth, from what he could see the boy looking up on the Batcomputer.
“It’s not! Really it’s not! It’s just that—“ Dick didn’t get to continue. The ice around his arms extended to cover his mouth, stopping just below his nose. The same happened to them. “Hey!” The girl whined, “I wanted to hear what he’d say!” The boy scoffed. “Humans don’t have anything good to say about us, so I don’t understand why you always want to hear them talk.” The girl huffed and went to the boys side.
“It’s history! We can put it in the books ‘humans called us this for this reason, and it meant this’,” she mimed reading from a book, and the boy huffed. “We already know why they call us names. It’s not any important as the other ones.” It was silent as he typed quickly, and more information came up. Earths relationship with the Martians, the Tamaraneans, Kryptonions, magic users and ultraterrestrials. So they were from off planet.
“What if they’re nice?” The girl asked, and the boy sighed. “Have you ever met a nice human?” The girl answered no. “Have you ever heard of a nice human?” The girl thought, then answered no. “Has any human even pretended to be nice to you?” The girl answered no again. “Humans aren’t capable of being what we know as ‘nice’ or ‘kind’; kindness is a form of higher cognitive ability and empathy, something human brains haven’t developed over the hundreds of years they’ve had the chances to. What they instead developed is a higher level of aggression.”
The boy touched screen, and the Batcomputer glitched as something green spread into the boys hand. He pulled his hand away, and turned towards them. The ice around their mouths and Damian melted away, leaving no water behind. “What are you?” Damian hissed, and was easily knocked to the ground. “If you hate us so much, why not kill us?” The boys scoffed and leaned in close.
“Because we are better than you. The only thing humans see as an answer is war, is blood and death. We’re capable of more than the senseless violence you’ve built your societies on.” He stood smoothly and walked down the way they’d appeared. “Da⃠nella,” he called, “let’s go.” Da⃠nella waved and the rest of the ice melted, and they scrambled to follow.
The last they saw of Da⃠nella and the boy they were walking into a bright green portal.
Here I am With All My Flaws (Seeking Form and Shelter)
Dick Grayson had half an hour left on his patrol before he could go home and go to sleep. Then Dante Nightingale and his siblings happened. And oh fuck, why is he so pretty.
OR
Dante Phantom has two deaged siblings to hide and Gotham is somehow the best option. The cute vigilante was a surprise though. The accidental murder is pretty par for the course.
Side Note: Does anyone know what the ship name for Dick/Dan is?
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
In his long years as a vigilante, Nightwing had learned one thing very well: Gotham did not know the meaning of the phrase “A quiet night.” In Gotham, a quiet easy night was the calm before the storm, the eerie stillness that preceded death and destruction.
Which was why he was pleasantly surprised to find his shift almost over and nothing worse than a few muggings and one stick-up to show for it.
Then again, this was the plan. Red Robin and Spoiler had the cult case, Robin was with Black Bat tracking down Dr. Freeze, Batman was out of town, and the Birds of Prey were working their way through a new crime family. Red Hood rarely discussed his plans with the other bats, but as far as Nightwing knew, Crime Alley was all normal operations at the moment, with only a minor intrusion by the Falcones for Hood’s men to deal with.
That left Nightwing with the simplest job of them all: petty crime. All he had to do was patrol the streets and make sure that the more minor criminals knew that even with all the wackos and bigshots running around, the bats still had more than enough hands to keep an eye on them too. A quiet, easy job, at least by bat standards. Just another half an hour, then Signal would take over for him and he could head back to the manor, get a quick shower in, snag some of Alfred’s cooking, and crash for the next eight hours.
A harsh crash echoed through the alleys beneath him, like flesh striking brick. Nightwing winced in sympathy and quickly tracked the sound to a nearby crevice.
A man was climbing his way back up to his feet, apparently the one to meet the wall with his backside. He looked skinny as a rake with ragged clothes and the symbol for one of the local gangs sewn onto his shoulder. He was laughing, short asthmatic huffs that were the hallmark of any Gothamite who’d had a too-close encounter with the Joker’s laughing gas and hadn't gotten proper treatment.
“A meta, huh? That won’t save you. We own these streets boy. We’ll own you too.”
Nightwing froze where he was crouching. He had already planned to wait until he understood what was going on, always a good practice when organized crime was involved, but with a meta in the mix, this could get bad. Even numbers on whether it’d be the meta or his opponents in trouble.
Dick turned sharp eyes on the other man in the alley. He was caught half in shadow, with broad shoulders and a sharp, strong jawline, messy hair tied back but swaying gently, flickering like fire. In any other circumstances, Nightwing might have tried to flirt with him. He’d always been a sucker for the sort that looked like they could break him in half.
"Stay. The Fuck. Away. From. Them," the taller man snarled.
Fuck, even his voice was sexy. It was deep and rich, with an eerie undertone like a roaring fire, marking another box in the meta-or-inhuman checklist.
The goon was still giggling. “Ooh, big scary man with a big scary voice. Not going to save you. Hand over the brats or watch them die, fuckhead. We’ll even—” he cut himself off with a sharp cackle. “We’ll even give you a cut of the profits, how about that?”
Every piece of electronics within ten yards shrieked and began throwing up sparks. Nightwing swore and jumped to dodge a falling air conditioning unit, thankful for the layers of magical and non-magical protection on his own electronic gear. He swiftly kicked the now-on-fire unit onto cement, pulling out the pellets of fire extinguisher foam from his utility belt.
When he looked back down into the alley, the meta had the fool by the throat, dangling him a foot above the ground where he thrashed frantically. The meta's eyes were glowing the color of congealed blood.
“You think you can sell my siblings? In this city? ” The man had a very sharp set of fangs, Dick noted, ones that didn’t seem to exist entirely in the physical plane. Mainly, there were too many of them and they were too long to fit in his mouth. Nightwing was sure they hadn’t been there twenty seconds ago. “Try it,” the meta snarled. “If the bats don’t get you, the Red Hood will. If he doesn’t get you, I will.”
The goon had frozen sometime during his speech but was now struggling fiercely, with an almost insane desperation in his eyes. He thrashed and yanked, while the man watched with disgusted derision, apparently unimpressed with the previously willful man’s terror. Nightwing snorted a little under his breath and went to make his way down and break things up before they could go too far. He needed to arrest the perp and interrogate him about his gang’s business. Just because this man could clearly protect himself and his family didn’t mean everyone in Gotham could.
The scrawny man got his foot up and kicked at the other’s torso. The man didn’t flinch, but his fingers did clench around the criminal’s neck in surprise. The meta had claws , Nightwing suddenly realized. Sharp ones.
They went straight through the goon's neck, severing arteries that started spraying blood like a fire hydrant. The idiot was dead before he hit the ground.
The two of them, the vigilante and the murderer, stared at the body in mute shock for a long moment.
Finally, Nightwing dug some words out of the hole in his chest. “Did you just kill him on accident ?” His words held more than a tinge of disbelief. Even in Gotham, or especially in Gotham, murder tended to hold a bit more intentionality behind it.
The man looked up at him, no surprise visible at the vigilante’s presence, but plenty of other emotions crowding his face. Annoyance and exasperation, startlement, bad-tempered fury, and intense stress competed for room in his body language.
“If I meant to kill him,” he spoke slowly, in the same way that the build-up before a volcanic eruption was slow. “He’d be a bloody smear on the wall. I don’t do overkill. Why the fuck—”
he cut himself off with a growl, seeming to struggle for words. “That amount of pressure wouldn’t put a scratch on my siblings. I didn’t expect—” he gestured towards the body, flicking the blood off his claws with a sharp movement— “ that .”
Nightwing gave a hum, carefully cleaning up his body language so the other man wouldn’t be able to read the shock and wariness in it. If the meta’s siblings were similarly endowed and he wasn’t used to interacting with normal humans, that would make accidentally tearing a man’s throat out plausible. It didn’t make it okay though, and the way the man used the phrase ‘bloody smear on the wall’ had Nightwing's hackles up. His hand inched towards the button on his belt that would call for backup.
The meta’s head jerked to the side and his eyes, still steadily glowing red, widened, causing Nightwing to jump. A door set into the apartment building across the alley opened with a rusty creak where the man was looking. Two children levered their heads out the door, peering down the alley with sharp, clever eyes that looked just like the meta’s. They couldn’t have been older than five or six.
Their eyes widened with delight when they caught sight of what must have been their older brother.
“Tay!” they shrieked. They hurtled down the alleyway, leaping at their brother from a distance that made Nightwings breath catch. The man spun in place to catch them, kicking the corpse behind a nearby pile of trash in the same movement.
“Tay! The food started boiling over and I know you said not to touch it but I did because it looked really bad and Danny said I should’ve just turned the stove off but I know you stir it whenever—”
The boy shoved his sister’s face to the side, cutting her off. “I told her she should have just turned it off but she tried to stir it and it splashed on her and she iced it! The whole thing! And I couldn’t get it to melt!”
The meta’s harsh expression melted into exasperated fondness, and he slipped his grasp down to the kids’ ankles, throwing them over his shoulder’s to their delighted shrieks. His claws didn’t pierce their skin.
It was a little easier to understand why he was so ready to murder with the kids right there. They were tiny .
Dick took a deep breath, fighting to get his body to relax into something less battle-ready. He felt his shoulders tense back up though as all three meta’s swung glowing gazes up to his perch.
Blood red, lazarus green, and cyan blue. All mildly alarming colors to see in glowing eyes. Dick was unsure whether it helped or not that, now that he could see the man’s full face, his sharp glare was uncomfortably attractive.
“Tay,” the girl leaned in to whisper in her brother’s ear. Of course, it was a five-year-old’s idea of a whisper, so Nightwing could still hear it. “We aren’t supposed to let the bats know. They’ll make us leave .” She looked very solemnly at his brother after disclosing this information.
Nightwing cleared his throat, determinedly not thinking about the goon who just lost his throat or about the beautifully soft expression the meta graced his sister with. “You really should leave. Gotham isn’t a safe place for any kid, but especially not metas.”
“We aren’t—” the girl’s face scrunched up and her brother slapped her hand over his mouth, before burying his face in their eldest brother’s back.
The man looked back at Nightwing, a hint of a snarl on his face. “You think we’d be here if we had any other options? This city is the only one that will hide us.”
Nightwing’s gaze sharpened. “Hide you from what?”
The man scoffed. “None of your business, Knight of Gotham.”
Nightwing examined him carefully. He was inclined to believe that anyone who so clearly cared about his little sibling couldn’t be all bad. Not to mention, Gotham had all sorts of weird energy fields going on and a strong hostility toward outsiders. The city truly might have been their best chance at hiding from whoever it was whose memory had the younger siblings curling up into themselves and the elder brother broadening his stance as if in preparation for a fight.
Still, Nightwing didn’t like the idea of someone with the man’s power sticking around in Gotham with no one keeping an eye on him, both for his sake and others. Luckily, he had an idea.
“Look. There is a reason we keep metas out of this city. But,” he painted a winning smile on his face and raised a hand to forestall any protests. “We aren’t going to kick you out if Gotham is really your best option.” Well, he said we, but really he was making the decisions here. Batman would just have to deal.
The man’s eyes narrowed. “What are you suggesting?”
“Red Hood’s territory is barely five minutes from here.” Nightwing paused, thinking of his younger brother with pride. “And he would fistfight God to protect his people.”
The siblings winced and the younger boy, now on the ground, peaked around his brother to talk with Nightwing. “We don’t want to intru—” he paused, struggling to pronounce a word for a moment, “ intrude in his ter-ri-tor-y.” The boy beamed after getting the full, clearly practiced, phrase out.
Nightwing cocked his head. That wasn’t a no, just a concern. “It’ll be fine,” he said cheerfully. “Look, I’ll call him right now, and we can get you moved over to somewhere I won’t have to constantly check to see if you’ve been kidnapped from by tonight.” Tonight being in twelve hours or so, because somehow it was nearly dawn, and Dick really wanted to be in bed right now but he wasn’t just going to leave this obnoxiously gorgeous man and his siblings. Who knows what trouble they would find? It took a special kind of bad luck to accidentally kill a gang member .
He pulled his phone out of his belt and pulled up Jason’s contact. Hood would be happy to shelter the family, even if he would probably be a bit twitchy about having metas with unknown capabilities in Gotham. Still, better to have them where they could keep an eye on them and hopefully get the chance to earn their trust.
“Hey, Hood?”
“What do you want, Dickhead?” Jason grumbled back at him. He sounded grumpier than normal, and Dick made a mental note to try to figure out if he’d been injured recently.
“I have a family of metas here that need to stay in Gotham, but they’ve already gotten in fights with one gang. Mind if they move into your territory?” Dick purposely used the same word the boy had earlier so they knew he was checking on their concerns.
“How many?”
“Three!” Dick turned to the kids. “Can you tell Hood how old you are so he knows who to expect?”
“I’m Danny and that’s Ellie. We’re five.” The child tilted his head as if in confusion. “I think.”
Dick blinked in mild alarm at that. Lots of kids didn’t know how old they were, but something about how Danny phrased that made his inner detective concerned. He looked at their older brother.
The man grunted. “Dante. I’m twenty-three. Probably.” Something amused sparked in Dante’s eyes at the bewildered look Nightwing gave him, and he drawled out, “Murphy’s Law.”
This did not assuage Dick’s concern or really explain anything.
Jason stayed silent for a moment, before sighing. “Fine. I’ve got an apartment they can stay at. I’ll text you the address and we can talk rent later.”
“Thanks, Hood!” Nightwing bounced cheerily on his toes, mindful of the kid’s wide eyes on him. He was probably not setting the best example standing on a rusty railing, but the theatrics tended to help keep civilians, especially kids, calm.
Hood spoke again, “You’re responsible for getting them moved in and checking on them until they get used to my men, Dick.”
“Sure.” Dick smiled at the thought. It would give him an excuse to do something he was going to do anyway. He didn’t plan to let go of the many concerning things the family had mentioned. It had absolutely nothing to do with his teeny tiny crush on the beautiful meta who moved like a predatory jungle cat and loved his siblings so much he practically glowed with it.
“Talk to you later Hood!”
“Yeah, yeah, fuck off asshole.” As he hung up Dick thought that that had gone better than many of his previous conversations with his little brother.
Crimson eyes were still straight on him, and something about the set of Dante’s shoulders screamed caution. “This is freely given?”
Dick blinked. “What?”
“Your aid,” Dante clarified. “It’s freely given. No strings attached?”
That was the sort of language magic-users tended to use. Dick considered his words carefully. “You are in Gotham. Everything in Gotham is mine and my family’s to protect. If the best way to protect you is for you to stay in Gotham,” an honestly insane idea, but they knew their situation best. “I will help you stay in Gotham safely. So yes. My aid is freely given.”
The meta(?) hummed. “Danny, Ellie, go grab our go bags.” The kids nodded and ran back into the building.
Dick’s heartstrings tugged at the idea that everything they needed could be grabbed so quickly, but his gaze was dragged back to the eldest meta.
Something was different about him. Something in the air, the weight and mass of it pressing on Nightwing's shoulders. Something in his shadow, too dark and too deep. Something in the glow of his eyes…
Nightwing had never seen that shade of red before, he realized suddenly. He was almost certain it wasn’t supposed to exist.
“If you cause my siblings any harm,” Dante looked him straight in the eyes and Dick felt oddly frozen despite all his experience that said he should be able to handle this. “I will peel the flesh from your bones and use your entrails to hang your body from the rafters of your family home.”
Dick blinked, finally unfrozen, and smiled brilliantly, the way that made seasoned Gotham rogues take a step back. “Understood.”
Dante looked at him with something like respect. “I’ll go make sure they haven’t caused any explosions. We’ll be ready in ten."
He swept out, and Dick let himself collapse against a wall.
He really needed to get himself under control. Being attracted to people who could (and would) kill you wasn’t a good thing for a vigilante, even if Batman made it seem normal.
Summary: "If someone listened to the Ghost Zone that day, they would know something great was about to happen. The realm practically sang it’s joy to all who would listen."
Or, Dan gets redeemed through parenthood or something.
Pt. 1 Pt. 2 Pt. 3 Pt. 4 Pt. 5 Pt. 6
Read it on AO3!
-
“Mmmm … Beatrice? No, that sounds terrible, um. Olivia, Charlotte, Isabelle.”
Dan listed off whatever names came to mind, finding something that might fit her.
The little ghost was sitting on the floor in front of a low table, one surrounded by a couch and a couple plush chairs. She was happily scribbling away on a piece of paper with some crayons, drawing one vague shape after another, humming as she experimented with mixing colors and shapes. Dan had wondered where Clockwork had gotten the papers and crayons, but ultimately didn’t care enough to ask. It made her happy and kept her entertained for a bit, that’s all that really mattered.
Dan sat on one of the chairs, thinking hard. He was running out of names at this point. He only knew so many to begin with. He didn’t want to pick a name someone else he knew had, that would get weird quick.
“Sophia, Daisy, Brianna, uh … Molly, Gloria …”
The girl interrupted his thoughts with a little sound of satisfaction, holding her paper up to inspect it for a moment. She flew over to Dan, sitting in his lap and shoving the paper in his face.
“Good?”
Dan smiled fondly at her, taking her paper to look over the colors.
As it turned out, it wasn’t difficult to teach the girl how to speak. She had been learning since before she could speak, was ever observant and curious. She was already using a lot of words, even if she struggled to string them together in proper sentences. It was only a matter of time, though, and he knew it would be sooner rather than later.
It also meant he really had to watch what he said around her. He was not about to be one of those parents who let their kids constantly curse.
“It looks lovely, dear. Do you want to put it with the others?”
“Yeah!” she said with an excited squeal, flying over to the couch where two stacks of papers sat. She added hers to the top of one, the drawings she had decided she liked for one reason or another. Dan couldn’t tell the difference between any of them. They all looked like scribbles to him.
She went back to the table, getting another piece of paper to start scribbling away, each stroke slow and thoughtful. It was curte, how focused she got over her little drawings. If only he could go to the human realm he could get her some coloring books. He could get her many things she would want and need. She would have to start learning math and reading soon.
Ghosts didn’t typically need to learn as much as human children were taught in schools. He definitely knew there was no proper education for them. There weren’t enough of them for it to be worth it. He figured their parents or guardians or whatever taught them whatever they felt they needed to know, and as far as he was concerned all his girl needed to was some basic math and reading. At least, that’s all she needed to know school wise. There was plenty to teach her about surviving in the ghost zone and using her powers.
If he was going to teach her math and reading, though, he would need some supplies, more paper and pencils and books and all that.
Perhaps he could convince Clockwork to let him go sometime …
But then he’d want to take the girl with him.
He wouldn’t dare take her right now. She’d have to learn how to properly disguise herself before he could do something like that and he wasn’t even sure that was something she could do. He could still try to teach her. She should be strong enough to learn how to use her ghostly powers by now. And if she couldn’t disguise herself, he would just have to go without her. He supposed he could introduce her to the human realm differently, maybe in a forest far away from people who might hurt her. He knew she’d love that, too. There would be so much for her to look at and explore. Then maybe when she was old enough they could go into a town or something while invisible.
Of course, that was all depending on whether or not Clockwork would allow it.
He’ll consider that step one for now.
Until then…
“Maybe Virginia … Leyla?... Willow?”
He really was going on empty here. He sighed, turning his head to watch the girl draw. Her hair flickered along her black, more flashes of purple streaking across the blue as she tried to concentrate. For a moment, it was peacefully silent.
“Aurora maybe.” He hummed to himself as he thought that one over. It was a nice enough name, probably the closest yet to something that would fit her. Yeah, it fit her really well. “What do you think, kid? Is Aurora a good name?”
She looked up at him with her big eyes, head tilted to the eyes and eyes squinting as she thought. Then she smiled real big.
“Yeah!”
Dan chuckled at her excitement, feeling it bubbling up in his chest.
“The congrats, kid, you have a name.”
“Yay!” She cheered, flying up to Dan to hug him and cuddle against his chest, picture forgotten on the table. He rolled his eyes but it wasn’t like he was about to push her away. She was far too happy and he wasn’t going to ruin her good mood. Instead he wrapped an arm around her, letting her rest against it and relax against him. He thought they would settle in for a cuddle and a nap for a while. That’s what she usually did, but he guessed she wasn’t ready for that yet. She was staring at his face and he could feel that was curious once more and wanted to ask a question.
“What is it, dear?”
She had to think for a bit to try and find the right words, eventually settling on, “What name?” She patted his face to with a little hand to make sure he knew she was talking about him.
The issue being, of course, that he didn’t really have a name.
Clockwork tended to call him Daniel and his old enemies called him Phantom, but that wasn’t really him anymore. Maybe part of himself had once been that kid, that boy who had thought of nothing but protecting his home and friends and family, but only part. He couldn’t really be considered the same person. Of course, he wasn’t Plasmius, either. That was just another part. He was someone different from either of them.
Sometimes, when he needed to call himself something in his mind, he would call himself Dan, but that wasn’t really his name, either. It was just a placeholder. He didn’t really want to go through the process of having to think up another name when he had only just thought one up for her.
“I’m your dad. You can call me that, okay?”
She nodded, snuggling back into his chest with a yawn.
“Nah-night Dad.”
Those words affected more than he really expected them to. He was flooded with warmth, emotion making his eyes sting. He blinked away the tears, burying his face into her flickering hair in an attempt to quell the sudden surge of emotion. He could feel the girl's core thrum with love in response, purring happily at the affection.
“I love you.” The words slipped from his lips so easily, but he couldn’t bring himself to regret them. Not when they were so true. He loved her very much, his little Aurora.
The batfam meet Danny Fenton and after weeks of research and one lucky blood test later there’s no doubt I’m anyone’s mind that he’s Damian’s long-lost twin brother.
But the day they go to his apartment to break the news someone else answers the door. Someone who looks identical to both Damian and Danny but is very obviously not them.
The new boy was albino and obviously a meta of some kind, his eyes a cherry red and his hair literally flaming white and styled a crowd braid. But his face shape was the same as Bruce’s, his eyes had the same curve as Talias, and his height the same as Danny’s.
“Oh, hi! You must be the Wayne’s. Danny’s told me about you. Sorry we haven’t been able to meet, I’ve been busy with classes.” He invites them in and the batfam take notes of his personality.
Danny was nearly entirely composed of snark and wit, able to run endless circles around not only rouges but their vigilante personas. He was wickedly intelligent, morally grey, and not afraid to resort to violence. He had a heart of silver; good intentions and beliefs but not afraid to get his hands dirty to achieve his goals.
As they talked with this boy, Daphne he said his name was, they learned he was just as sarcastic and witty but was also trying to stay on the positive side of things. He was intelligent like Danny, but had a chaotic lawful attitude similar to Danny’s chaotic neutral.
finally, Tim asked the question they’d all been wondering. “So, Danny’s never mentioned you before. Are you a new roommates or friend?” Daphne laughed, “Yeah, he’s really protective. He once got in a fist fight with someone for insulting me.”
Daphne smiled, and he was a carbon copy of both Danny and Damian. “I’m his twin brother.” There was a problem with that though. They knew for a fact that Daphne Fenton didn’t exist.
Everything was going great, Danny had though two weeks ago. He’d though that word for word and he knew it would come back to bite him in the ass. He just didn’t know when.
Dan–or Daphne, as he likes to be called now, said that the reason bad things happened after he said something hopeful was because he was ‘putting that energy out in the universe’. Daphne was always so positive, or trying to be, and it made it hard to remember that he used to be his future self hellbent on destroying the world.
Therapy had been a big help. They had Clockwork to thank for that, and for Daphnes new form. They couldn’t change his hair, no matter how hard he tried at first. It had made him incredibly upset and insecure, but nowadays he’d grown to accept his hair, saying ‘it’s a reminder of who I was and where I came from, and that everything’s ok now. I’m allowed to exist as the person I’d always wanted to be.’
Honestly, Danny couldn’t even begin to describe how proud he was. He’d come such a long way from the tyrannical King of the Infinite Realms to a scared, traumatized kid to the kind and gentle teen he was now. It’d been amazing watching Daphne grow not only out but in, growing as a person and a spirit.
And Daphne had helped him grow as well. It was nice, having someone so close to him and so aware of what he was thinking and how he acted because they were the same. So different but so similar. The first time they’d introduced each other as brothers, as twins, it’s felt right. Like that was exactly what they were supposed to be.
He got in a lot of fights after though. Not that any of them were Daphnes fault, who was holding him back most of the time, but there were just some assholes who, assuming Daphne was a meta, decided to insult him and even call him a few slurs. Of course, he knocked out one and broke the others nose.
There were a lot of people like this, people who felt it was ok to insult his baby brother–because no matter what Daphne said, he practically screamed ‘little brother’ vibes–felt it was ok to say hurtful things to his face because they didn’t consider him fully human.
So he got into fights a lot more often now, no matter how much Daphne begs him not to. But despite all those assholes things had been going great, despite it being, y’know, Gotham. He’d even made friend with a revenant and his family, who were weirdly nice and open about the whole ghost thing.
What a great surprise it was too when he got home and found that not only was Daphne back from school–he’d joined a lot of clubs and band–but that the Wayne’s were there and they seemed to be good friends already! Maybe Daphne was right; it was time he started projecting good vibes only.
Summary: "If someone listened to the Ghost Zone that day, they would know something great was about to happen. The realm practically sang it’s joy to all who would listen."
Or, Dan gets redeemed through parenthood or something.
Pt. 1 Pt. 2 Pt. 3 Pt. 4 Pt. 5 Pt.6
Read it on AO3!
-
“CLOCKWORK!!”
He smirked as he wound up the clock on his staff. He took his time turning around to face the angry ghost behind him, looking quite disgusted with the tiny little thing that was flying around excitedly.
“What the fuck is this?”
Clockwork raised an eyebrow, feigning ignorance.
“What are you referring to, Daniel?”
He growled, the sound low in his chest.
“Don’t call me that! You know what I’m talking about!”
As if to prove his point he grabbed at the little ball of light, managing to cage it in his hand before thrusting it towards the now young ghost. He smirked again.
“Ah, yes. Your new little friend. What about it?”
As he spoke it flew back up Dan’s arm, circling around his head and humming in his ear. He tried to wave it away but it just danced through his fingers like it was some sort of game.
“What is it? And why won’t it leave me alone?!”
There was a pause.
“You really don’t know, do you?”
Dan rolled his eyes.
“Does that really surprise you, Mr. All Knowing. Would you just tell me!”
Clockwork turned back to his screen and, with a wave of his hand, the image shifted. A familiar sight met them, one they had already seen. It was the same dance of colors and light that had taken place several weeks ago. Dan’s eyes widened slightly, glancing at the little ball of light that was now “resting” on his shoulder, humming. This was the thing that had been created? Of course, that still didn’t tell him what the stupid thing was. Before he could snap at Clockwork, the now elderly ghost spoke.
“You may be aware of the three types of ghosts based on how they are created.” He started, keeping his eyes on the screen. Dan huffed, moving over to stand by his side. It was clear he was about to go off on some sort of lecture or whatever, and, though he usually would just leave, disappear somewhere else in Long Now where he wouldn’t be bothered, he really did want an answer.
“The first are those who started off human. They died but something kept them around, perhaps some unfinished business or something worth staying for, and so they returned as ghosts. I’m sure you know plenty of ghosts like this.”
Dan nodded. That was most of the ghosts he knew.
“The second are those spawned from other ghosts. Those who wish can merge their cores and the energy produced is enough to create a third entity. It’s up to the parents whether or not they take up the mantle of caring for the new ghost. It will need protection and guidance while it grows. In the rare occasion that they choose not to care for them, they will be forced to enter the world alone and find someone else willing to do the job. Most, however, are cared for by those who made them.”
“Then there’s the third kind. The ones who are made like this.” He gestured to the screen just as it burst with light, leaving behind nothing but the little orb of light that was the new creature. “Some rare few are spawned by the ghost zone itself. They are the weakest at the start. Many don’t make it, but those that do grow to be the most powerful ghosts in the zone. And they can only survive by finding themself a guardian. They will start their search the moment they come into existence and won’t stop until the perfect match is found. Or they cease to exist.”
Clockwork turned to Dan with a kind smile, one that made his skin crawl. A snarl twitched at his lips.
“No.”
“Pardon?” Clockwork said with that stupid smirk on his face as he shifted again to a young adult.
“You’re telling me this thing,” he grabbed at the light again but it danced away, letting out a sound like the tinkling of a bell. He could only assume it was laughing at him. “Just shows up and expects me to take care of it?! I’m not exactly parental material here! I’m not going to do it.”
Clockwork shook his head, a knowing smile on his face.
“You can fight it if you wish.” He said with a shrug, turning back to his screens. They had changed back to the scene he had been watching before. “It won’t make much of a difference.”
Dan growled in frustration, hands clenched into fists as he tried his best not to swing at the old man. The last time he had tried something like that it … didn’t end well.
“Great! Fan-fucking-tastic! Thanks for your help!” Every word dripped with venom, but Clockwork only smirked and nodded.
“You’re welcome.”
Dan stomped away, no longer able to deal with Clockwork and his bullshit anymore. He hid away in some tower far away from the viewing room, in a room he claimed as his own. It wasn’t of course. This was all Clockwork’s lair and everything in it was his, but Dan didn’t care. If he was going to be kept trapped in here, then he was going to cause as much trouble as possible.
At first, when he had been released from the thermos he was just going to destroy the place and fly off. That didn’t really pan out. Whatever he attempted to destroy just rebuilt itself as if nothing had happened, as if time reversed until it was returned to the way it was. And Clockwork had just watched, face unmoving, maybe even bore with the whole ordeal. It only infuriated Dan further, but ultimately he could do no real damage to anything. So he instead dedicated himself to being as annoying as physically possible.
One of the ways he caused trouble was by claiming space that wasn’t his and refusing to let Clockwork in (not that he ever attempted to enter). It also had the effect of giving him some space to escape whenever he felt like it.
Though it wasn’t much of an escape now.
The little ball of light floated about the room, dashing from spot to spot. Exploring, he guessed. He sneered at it. As if he would even bother caring for something so pathetic.
He sat on a chaise in the corner, leaning against the armrest and crossing his arms, ready to ignore everything else for a while and maybe take a nap. There was plenty he just didn’t want to deal with.
Speak of the devil.
The little light flew over to him once he had settled, flying around his head again. He hissed at it but that did nothing to deter it. With a happy little trill it settled on his chest. He could just barely feel the slightest of warmth where it hovered and a faint tingling. He sneered at it, but it wasn’t like the thing could see him. It just hummed, content, the vibrations shooting right through his chest and to his core.
He gasped, suddenly feeling a rush of feelings, ones that he knew weren’t his. Content, happy, this was right, this was exactly where they should be, they loved him so much already. He grit his teeth, a hand coming up to grab at the light and move it away. It jumped into his hand, letting him bring it closer to his face so he could glare at it properly.
Not just a ball of light, he realized. Now that he was looking at it closer he recognized what it really was.
A core.
And those feelings, the ones it forced upon him were still there, echoes in his chest.
He growled.
Stupid pathetic thing! Did it not know who he was, what he was? He held the entirety of this creature in the palm of his hand. It would take nothing to crush it in his fist and be rid of the pest. And yet it still hummed happily, unaware of the danger it was in or maybe just uncaring. It felt no fear, just excitement at its very existence and love, more love than he had felt in a very long time.
He tightened his hand around it, could feel the heat and energy. It felt secure in the loose grasp, protected from the dangers of the outside world. It had escaped death so many times and it finally found somewhere it felt safe.
It would be so easy. Just a little more.
He growled again, louder, more frustrated, tears pricking at the corners of his eyes.
Just fucking do it! He cursed at himself.
He stared at the stupid thing. It felt like the warmth was in his chest.
A drop of something splashed against his hand, shimmering in the light of the light creature that spilled through the cracks between his fingers.
When had he started crying?
“Shit.” He cursed, wiping at his eyes and drawing his hand down his face. It hummed in his hand and he felt it’s concern in his chest. “God fucking dammit.”
He laid down on the chaise, holding the little ghost against his chest protectively.
Summary: "If someone listened to the Ghost Zone that day, they would know something great was about to happen. The realm practically sang it’s joy to all who would listen."
Or, Dan gets redeemed through parenthood or something.
Pt. 1 Pt. 2 Pt. 3 Pt. 4 Pt. 5 Pt.6
Read it on AO3!
-
There was a lot to explore in the Ghost Zone, though the little orb of light did not know that’s what some called this place. But then, it wasn’t really aware things had names or what a name was. It did know that there were others out there. It had no eyes and couldn’t see things properly, didn’t even know that it could see things in that sort of way, but it could sense energy. The little orb was itself made out of pure energy and could tell that it wasn’t the only one. So, after figuring out how movement worked with a few circles, it went out to go find those others.
And it did find them. There were so many, even if they were sometimes very far from each other. They were each very interesting. Some were cold, some were hot, some were kind, some gentle, some caring, some even mean. It loved meeting them all, all but something was wrong. It needed to keep looking for someone. So it played happily around its new friends before zipping off.
The Ghost Zone wasn’t an entirely safe place, however, especially for such a little, helpless creature. It hid often, the best it could when it could. Most of the Zone was just empty space, however, and the best it could was run whenever it sensed something dangerous. It had gotten lucky so far.
But today was not so lucky.
One of those monsters was there, out in the middle of the emptiness, and it had gotten really close. Too close for comfort. The little orb was fast enough to just stay ahead, searching for signs of anything else. Luckily, it could just make out the signal of something big, like the other islands, out in the distance. It could hide there, if it could just keep up the pace.
It put all its energy into it’s mad dash for safety, though that wasn’t saying much. It could feel the monster behind it, so close, inching closer. But safety was also getting closer.
It reached the island, dashing through a hole just in time. It wasn’t a millisecond later that the monster slammed into the structure. The little orb could feel the beasts rage burning like a fire and, though it couldn’t get in, the orb flew as far away as possible, down further into the structure.
It sensed someone nearby. They could protect it if the monster got in, so that’s where it went.
The other flared at it’s approach, radiating comfort and protection. The little orb had been right to come to them for help. It stayed by, humming an appreciative tone that it hoped they could hear. Not everyone did. Most didn’t respond at all. Thankfully, this one did. They hummed back in acknowledgement and went back to work. It couldn’t tell what they were doing. That was beyond what little it could sense of the world. It wanted to know, flying about them as if it would give them some sense of what was going on. It didn’t, of course, but it was worth a try.
It finally stopped, hovering close to its new friend to rest. It had spent a lot of energy running away from the monster and needed time to recover. This new friend could protect it for a little bit until it was better enough to continue it’s search. It liked them, but they weren’t right. They weren’t the one.
It settled into what could pass for sleep.
-
It was time to go. It didn’t want to go. The new friend was so nice. They always hummed back, radiated a gentle kindness unlike the others, one that seemed to come with their great age. They were by far the oldest ghost it had met. That was interesting, too. It liked interesting things.
But it needed to keep looking. There was someone it needed to find, and the new friend was not it.
It gave a goodbye hum, but they didn’t hum back. They didn’t do anything for a moment. It concerned the little orb. Had it done something wrong? Were they mad at it? No, they hummed back that they weren’t mad. They wanted to help! That was exciting! They knew of it’s search and knew where to look!
The person it was searching for was here, somewhere nearby. It just had to wait a little and they would be here. So it did. It did it’s best to hold still and wait, but it wasn’t very good at it. It couldn’t help it! It was just so exciting!
The person they were searching for would be here soon! They would protect it from all the dangers that had been chasing it. They would take care of it and love it and it would get the chance to grow and get stronger! It had the impression that there was a very real chance it wouldn’t make it this far. There was always the chance that something would have happened. A monster could have gotten it or it could have just run out of energy and faded away. But it had made it! It would get the chance to exist!
And the new friend had been right. It wasn’t long before another person was approaching from somewhere deeper in the structure. And the new friend had told it to wait, but it couldn’t!
It rushed forward to the new person. They flashed with surprise and anger when it got close, so it stayed back a bit. This person was very angry, they thrummed with it like the monster had. It fluttered back a bit in surprise, hovering close by but far enough that they couldn’t reach it.
Was this really the person it was looking for?
They tried to leave, but it wasn’t done looking at them so it followed, humming in confusion.
Because there was something underneath the anger, it just needed to look closer, try to unravel the energies of this new person.
There! Just below the anger was a great and terrible sadness, one that almost hurt to be close to. And underneath that was something very different, something warm and perfect and just right.
It practically vibrated now, singing happily and swirling around them, shouting to anyone who could hear that this was the one! This was their person! They found them, they found them, THEY FOUND THEM!!!
