Old prompt but response to this here that has a lot of amazing responses but i had A Thought and this flew out.
—
Danyal died. Not like Danny did, but he died all the same. For a brief moment, something bigger and louder and so, so angry it terrified him pushed against his mind. He tried to hide, but that thing held tight and sort of softened around him but still felt hard at the same time.
The other thing was Phantom, and Danyal knew him, somehow. Like he was always there but the space between them too far to cross.
He was coughing up green water. Phantom, this buzzing, angry thing beneath his skin, hissed they had to run.
Danyal didn’t get it. Water was violently coughed out of his mouth, his arms starting to fail in holding him up, and his nose burned with more green water falling from it.
He looked up at his mother and Phantom snarled at her in his—their?—mind.
“Ommah?” his voice was too ragged and wrong.
“I told you not to call me that in public Danyal. Now rise—your wounds are healed by my Father’s mercy. You have much to do if you want to be a fraction of the fighter your brother was—and do not think dying means you will learn his or your father’s names any sooner. We do not reward incompetence.”
Danyal shrunk back. Phantom snarled something he didnt catch, but knew was a lot of words grandfather would have him flogged for asking about.
“Yes Mother.”
“Honestly, your brother never gave me any problems like this.”
“Yes Mother, Sorry Mother,” slipped out reflexively. Phantom lunged somewhere in his mind, only to be stopped by something.
Danyal was grateful for that.
“Get up and clean yourself off. You are to thank Father for his benevolence in letting you use the lazarus pit for such a pathetic death.”
Danyal kept his eyes low. “Yes mother.”
—
It had been a few weeks since Phantom entered four and a quarter years old Danyal’s mind.
Phantom is many things. Angry is the loudest around his family and teachers. But when its just them, Phantom is very gentle, telling him tales of the stars from his own life in a separate dimension. He got to see very pretty constellations and longed to learn more.
Phantom offered to teach him more once Danyal let him help them escape Mother and Grandfather.
Danyal didnt want to leave, but Phantom promised he’d get hurt less if they left and headed to places where the two had the least influence.
Danyal knew the places the man Grandfather called “the detective” lived were best for that. This detective even worked under Grandfather and helped with the traitor problem when Danyal was two!
San Fransisco is one of cities, but it looked more difficult to get to, and the dectective didnt frequent it as much as the other two. Grandfather complained about it being ‘vexing’ when trying to track the detective in his brothers’ territories—one claiming a city called Bludhaven that Danyal and Phantom were not uncertain of the pressence of vampires in and would like to avoid. and then there was Gotham, the detective’s hometown and a shared territory and testing ground for ‘the detective’s apprentices’ to learn in.
Phantom and him agreed Gotham was best—no vampires and the detective can be a good shield against Grandfather and Mother!
Waves of relief crashed over Danyal when he let Phantom borrow his body to get them away. Phasing through everything made it easier, and Danyal didnt have to worry about goodbyes.
—
Danyal frowned whenever an adult tried to stop him but their eyes turned green and they turned around.
“Phantom,” he huffed. They were going to get caught as foreign metas with mind control at this rate!
Phantom stuck his tongue out and blew a raspberry.
Danyal went back to their trainseat, and waited to arrive near the airport. The sooner they escaped to Gotham the rest of the way, the better.
—
Phantom got them sent to San Fransico.
Danyal looked at the dead teen in his mind’s eye.
Phantom laughed nervously. “Look, you guys have a different version of English here, okay?”
Danyal didn’t change his blank look at him.
“Fine, I’ll practice sifting through your memories and not wanting to punt your sorry excuse for a mom—happy?”
Danyal was not happy. He nodded anyways.
—
Danyal pressed against Phantom whenever dangerous people watched him for too long.
Phantom boosted them with that viscous green goop ectoplasm and Danyal knew from the tingling their body wasn’t visible anymore.
He laughed when the dangerous people would pause or investigate where he’d been from above. That always made them try to follow him but by then, Phantom called Cujo and Danyal was off to the next place to get them closer to Gotham—to the place he can use the detective as a shield! It did take him a month or so to work out the sigil and summoning whistle.
—
He groaned when he came across a clash between his Mother and Batman’s people.
He just wanted to get to Gotham to avoid his Mother and Grandfather’s influence. He wants to be a kid—not a weapon.
But he’s stuck running into a rooftop battle because he was too busy listening to Phantom argue by himself the pros and cons of staying in Gotham with how many times Danyal borrowed the intangibility to get himself and other kids out of little cells and the occasional dog cages.
Danyal thinks Phantom is over-reacting. They just need to find a nice adult to take them in that isn’t creepy after they backlock a forged birth certificate from a home birth. Danyal has high hopes for foster-care while Phantom is skeptical at best. Phantom insists he should steal money online from a billionaire and hire an actor to pretend to be their parent for an interview at a kindergarten and go from there.
Danyal isnt quite certain about that.
His own worries meant he wasnt as aware as he should have been while rooftop running. In his defense, he’d yet to run into anyone besides other adultless individuals. A few did try to get him to see someone called ‘Red Hood’ which Phantom vetoed.
“Danyal—how did you get here!” Mother’s voice was laced with a wrath Danyal didn’t want to deal with, and rooted him to the spot.
“Ghost dog,” Danyal answered honestly, not quite seeing his mother’s underlings or Batman’s or how they clashed.
His world narrowed to Talia’s expression.
“I—where did you get a ghost dog?” Mother asked while still fighting… someone. one of Batman’s kids. The one like him but a girl. She kept looking back at him too.
“Lazarus pit,” Danyal lied.
The fight stilled, and the girl whirled toward him, watching him too much.
“I only put you there once for your own good—did you go back in when i wasnt there?” His mother sounded like the moms on TV, and what the homeless kids who had a nice mom talked about.
Phantom’s wrath brushed against the back of his mind.
“No.” Danyal looked about for possible exits without relying on Phantom. Phantom was mad-mad at Mother and he doesn’t want Phantom to hurt her.
Danyal did have Cujo’s summon sound memorized and they did get there a few hours ago…
“Then where did you get the ghost dog?”
“He found me, we played and now he takes me places,” Danyal continued, careful to hold his distance as she tried to approach. Phantom nudged him to different sides to avoid her approach.
“I see—no wonder you kept failing at combat. You take after magic unlike your father.”
“Okay.” Danyal filed that tidbit away. There way no more roof behind him. “Goodbye.”
Danyal turned and jumped down, ignoring the scream someone let out and letting cujo’s portal swallow him whole and spit the two out in the warehouse Danyal claimed for the night.
“So are we sure Gotham’s safe from Grandfather still?”
“Thanks, who’s the goodest boy? You are!” Danyal began as he gave Cujo scritchies.
Phantom grumbled that they knew Talia had the least influence in Gotham, and it had to count for something.
Danyal hummed, continuing to shower their dog with affection.
—
Danyal was good at stealing food unnoticed at this point. Going invisible had its perks.
He was not expecting a teen to both notice him, and carefully guide him to their own shopping group. Especially not by holding out his hand and murmuring his family can cover it, so no need to worry.
Danyal hesitantly dropped the invisibility and did as the boy, Duke, asked and continued shopping with an old man who called them both his grandsons while the free cashier a few counters over rolled their eyes and grumbled about toddlers needing more supervision.
Danyal absently squeezed Duke’s hand a bit too tight.
While Danyal helped the pair load the old man’s car and Duke gave him a bag with his own selections, Duke asked if he was dealing with ‘bad people’ since he didnt have someone watching him.
Danyal frowned, weighing what to say.
Phantom snuck over and answered for them both. “Mom is in a cult run by Grandpa, and i think dad leads a different cult that took my big brother. I dont want to be in a cult.”
Duke nodded carefully. “You somewhere safe for now kiddo?”
Danyal nodded his head.
“Okay then. If you need help to stay safe, Red Hood’s territory in Crime Alley is a safe haven for kids from unsafe homes, okay?”
Danyal nodded, looking to the side as he felt Cujo open a portal.
The yip caught everyone’s attention.
“Gotta go—bye!” Danyal ran off to scoop up Cujo before someone tried to fight him. Again.
Phantom made them invisible again, while Danyal held his green dog close and ran back into the safehouse they’d claimed not far from the docs.
Danyal carefully ate a sour gummy worm while Cujo chewed on a busybone Mr. fake grandpa slipped in at some point.
Phantom didnt like it, and urged Danyal to avoid Red Hood if this many people are endorsing him. Danyal is pretty sure its because Phantom doesnt like rich people.
—
In the Batcave, Tim frowned as he ran over what Cass told him about this ‘Danyal’ that Talia was fixated on during their fight. Tim had been handling a different swath of league ninjas that had yet to defect to Tim’s side.
He knew their IT department still had a shrine to him. Even after he blew up a number of the bases. If anything, they’d grown more reverent since his last stint in the League three years ago.
He had wondered why Talia was so absent back then. He thought it was mourning.
Instead Talia showed a mild obsession with the teeny-booper that held a startling resemblance to Bruce and Talia.
A child that has a teleporting ghost dog he claims he found in a lazarus pit (cass is insistent that part was lie) and jumped off a roof into a portal to avoid his own mother AFTER having run away.
It did make Talia’s recent harassment in Gotham make more sense. She thought Bruce and them were hiding her youngest.
Duke’s update of ‘kid goes invisible so meta is not off the table’ despite Talia’s comment of the boy taking to magic.
Tim knew B would have a meltdown when he found out. Another month or so on his space mission and it would be Damian 2.0 all over again.
He’d need to get ready for possible stabbings.
—-
Danyal blinked up at a man in a cowl and a swishy cape with a pretty shiny in it.
He made grabby hands for it.
The man allowed it with a pinched brow.
“Pretty,” Danyal murmured.
The man hummed in response. “So this is where you’ve been hiding from your mom?”
Danyal blinked up at the man and pointed in his face happily. “The Detective!”
The man winced but nodded.
“Can you help me keep her and grandpa away? Cujo and his friend said they’re not good for me.”
The man opened and shut his mouth. “Cujo?”
“My ghost dog. He makes portals and space is an aspect of time and a blue guy in a purple cloak said its important i stay away from them or else something called a ‘Dan 2.0’ was on the table and cujo’s friend had a panic attack at that. But I dont know how to make them stay away, only how to get away.”
The man nodded slowly. “So you need somewhere safe from them, right?”
“And away from Dad’s cult. Mom and Grandpa mention he has a lot of followers in high places that run the world but dont work at the root of issues just its branches, and that if Father says jump they ask how high.”
A smile twitched onto the man’s face. “For now, you can stay with me. I may have some of my siblings visit while you’re over, but none close to your age for now, okay?”
Danyal nodded slowly. “Can cujo come?”
“I dont think i can stop a teleporting dog. Is his friend coming too?”
Danyal looked at phantom. “He says he’ll be observing.”
“Creepy.”
“He’s dead. He cant do much else.”
Phantom blew another raspberry while flipping him off.
“Shutting up then.”
—
All i got for now, but Danyal seeking Tim’s pressense out as The Detective that his mom and Ra’s avoid/respect/fear while B is off world, with Cass, Duke, and Alfred as the only Batfam members he’s met stuck around. Feel free to add below or drop ideas as only working on low effort writes atm
Damian discovers his little brother is alive from a news article about the purple back gorillias.
Talia had taken him when she left damian with bruce. Not wanting to put all her eggs in one basket. And well bruce caring for a 10 year old was one thing. Her 4 year old was another.
She tells damian danny was lost him during her escape and attempt loose her assailants. She kind of did. She hid him only to return to the cave she hid him in to find him gone and unable to track him. Part of his refusal to return to the league with her.
Damian has to move quickly if he has found his brother, so will have mother and grandfather.
"Mom dad thats not a ghost! Its a baby!"
"Not a baby" baby pout holding dagger.
"Thats a toddler jazzy pants! What are doing in a haunted cave little guy?"
"Hiding."
"This is a terrible hiding place. A ghost could get you sweetie. Come with us, we'll look after you till we can find your parents."
Around 3 am, I woke up with a bothersome feeling... I might have an explanation for why Sebastian and Modri's demon "look" so similar but behave so differently.
Until now, I had blown off any ideas in the fandom of Sebastian "having a twin" as a completely ridiculous crack theory, but now I feel as though I should consider it (or at least the idea that he has a "brother") as a feasible (yet still crack) alternative to Sebastian and Modri's demon being one and the same.
It's hard to define what makes two demons siblings, let alone twins, when they are shapeshifting swirls of inky goop... other than perhaps the mere fact they are "born" around the same time, have similar physical features, or function within basic constructs that have similar properties.
Examples might include (but not be limited to):
First existing within a certain timeframe of each other
First being summoned into the human realm within a certain timeframe of each other
Both springing forth from the same pre-existing source or location (and I don't simply mean Hell)
Both being made of the same materials (maybe not all demons in the Kuroverse actually have this goopy quality)
Both following a particular set of basic rules (defined as something completely separate from their aesthetics)
Both using the same or similar contract seals
What finally made me seriously consider the wild possibility -- what basically woke me up so early this morning -- is the mere fact that Modri's demon keeps being shown with stacked eyes on its right side... but ch225's cover art shows Sebastian with certain parts exposed "for what they are" beneath the human facade, and one exposed feature is stacked eyes on his left side.
I don't want to go quite as far as suggesting they could actually be mirror twins (like our earl and real Ciel), but I do find it interesting that Yana-san has made the conscious (and I do believe it's conscious) decision to reverse the placement of this distinctive feature.
If she had wanted to emphasize them being the same demon, she could have reversed the image for the cover of ch225, so that we would have seen this:
Therefore, I feel like she might be trying to say they are not the same... but are very similar for a specific reason.
Even the cover art for ch226 makes me think Sebastian could be pondering whether his own sibling is the one who had a "dalliance" with Modri.
I've seen this cover art described as showing both our earl and Sebastian bored by Modri's tale. But what if our earl is the only bored one here? If even he is just bored; he could be uneasy. Sebastian, on the other hand, seems downright pensive. Does he now recall the contract but not the name or face of his accuser? Or does he maintain that it's not him while getting the uneasy feeling he knows which demon it is? ...And why they are getting confused for each other?
I'm also reminded by this ch226 cover art that neither of them has lit their cigar yet. Once Modri once again accuses Sebastian as being the demon from his own past, our earl's quickest way to clear things up might involve ordering Sebastian to spin the wheel next. Besides, Fairchild, as the game master, might insist that no arguments break out until each player has taken their turn.
Inspired by this post and its reblogs. I recommend reading the linked post before jumping in here for clear context. Also let's say Danny's father is still Jack Fenton with Talia as his bio mom.
Brainworms hit me again so lets do this
---
Danyal was Talia's firstborn. Danyal was seen as excellent at first because of how he easily learns through his trainings at a young age, and executes his training missions perfectly. However, when it was time for him to do missions involving taking lives, things went downhill. He was seen as a failure by everyone (including Talia) because of how he refused to kill. In the end, Talia always had to clean up his mess during missions.
Danyal never had taken a life even after he was cast out of the LoA.
Things happen, and Talia was ordered to kill the failure, which Talia does coldheartedly. Ra's confirmed himself that Danyal was gone and everyone left his body alone.
What they didn't know is Danyal was still alive, but slowly fading away, and painfully crawled his way to the Lazarus Pits, in an attempt to save himself.
All he saw was green when he submerged himself in the pits.
By a stroke of luck, he woke up at Amity Park and was adopted by the Fentons. He assumed Daniel as his name, and Danny was given to him by his friends later on. Danny putting himself in the pits made him a Halfa but the portal incident awakened his powers.
The usual stuff happens, and lets do a good reveal because there's too much bad reveal AUs here and everything is fine.
Danny is happy, and has no qualms about his past. It may have taken him some time and lots of therapy sessions, but he made peace with his painful past and holds no grudges to anyone involved in it. Yay Danny!
Danny becomes the Ghost King after defeating Pariah Dark and all and was crowned as the prince of the infinite realms. Because no management was done when Pariah Dark was king, Danny had to overhaul the whole government system and used Earth's multiple forms of world leadership to find the perfect match suitable for the Realms, with Monarchy as the baseline. This was the Ancients' idea, more specifically, Clockwork convinced every Ancient available to convince Danny that monarchy was the only way to go. "Do I really have to rule this all?" "Yes, there's no other way" "I mean why not Democracy so the citizens of the realms have a say?" "No that would lead to chaos. Look at the human governments" (In reality, clockwork just wanted to give Danny the throne for the plot)
Meanwhile
When Damian came into the picture of the LoA, he was told of a story of Danyal as a lesson. Damian was even more loyal to the League. All missions are perfectly done, all lives that were tasked to him to be reaped were taken, and was seen as the perfect heir of the Demon's Head, all to succeed his "failure" older brother. He excelled in every aspect where Danyal had failed.
However, he never heard from Ra's himself that he succeeded his predecessor in terms of combat skill. Most of the time he would only hear "almost at Danyal's level" or at best "equal". This infuriated Damian while growing up because he made it his life mission to be the best there is. This sparked the start of his inferiority complex.
When Damian was given to Bruce, it was inevitable that Tim would be his target as he would want the mantle of Robin because he was the blood son. This started their feud that lasted for a while. Lets say everything started to calm down between Wayne Family Adventures style and they reconcile, but Tim learns of this supposedly older brother of Damian which is around the same age as Tim. However, Damian asked Tim not to tell Bruce as he was not ready to face his older brother, which Tim respects.
Now to the good part
Danny is roaming around Gotham looking for colleges, specially Gotham University, because it was one of the few places with high Ambient Ectoplasm, and it had his preferred degree program: Aerospace Engineering; to become an astronaut one day, or at least begin to work with NASA.
Talia spots Danny roaming around the streets and goes inside a Bat Burger joint. He orders his food and sits down.
Talia stealthily sits in front of Danny as if she was air for a second and in front of him the next. Danny doesn't mind, more like, he already knew that her biological mother was around, but simply didn't care. After all he didn't hold a grudge to his past anymore and was completely over the situation. Let bygones be bygones right?
"Mother, it's been a long time. Last time we were together you stabbed me in the heart that day. Honestly I forgot you existed" Danny greeted.
"Danyal. I'm surprised to see you alive considering I confirmed that you were cold and dead" Talia responded with a hint of venom in her tone
"Well, it was pretty stupid to kill me near a pool of literal revival fluid, and I've been killed so many times I'm desensitized to it." Danny let out a small chuckle.
"Listen. I do not know what your intentions are. But if you lay hands on Damian, I swear I will kill you where you stand."
"...who?" Danny asked with a genuine confused look.
"..."
"Did....Did you have another kid? Do I have like, a younger brother? Am I an older brother now?"
"That is none of your concern"
"Well yeah, it isn't, and frankly, I would like for it to stay that way. I don't pry open to your world, and you leave mine alone. We're both happier that way. But don't blame me if the little one begins to look for me." Danny sighed, as he ate his meal after. His phone vibrated from a text. "Well that's my cue to leave. It was nice talking to you, mother. Rest assured I've let go of the bad blood that we have in the past, but I'd prefer if we try to keep our lives to ourselves"
Talia couldn't read his firstborn's expressions. He was...high functioning? And apparently had no bloodlust or even a hint of vengeance present? He simply didn't care for it? Was she even significant in his life? Because Danyal had treated her as a stranger this whole encounter.
---
Classes had ended and Danny was in a park nearby, hanging out alone to unwind and all. He was happy and all, until he was approached by a person smaller and younger than him, accompanied by a person around the same age as Danny.
"You're Danyal" the kid stated.
"... It's Daniel now, but I'd prefer to be called Danny" Danny corrected his brother. "I assume you're Damian Wayne? And my younger half brother?"
"How did you escape the League?" Tim asks quickly
"Right for the jugular huh? And you must be Tim Drake? Long story short, I was killed because I didn't want to kill. Dipped myself in the pits, and now I'm here. Anything else? Both of you should schedule a proper meeting for this"
"...How are you okay with meeting Damian? Do you resent him? Or have any strong feelings?"
"Simply put, I've made peace with my past. It's too exhausting to focus on, and I have other obsessions I want to do-"
A loud explosion suddenly appears in the area. Both Damian and Tim were surprised but Danny seemed unfazed, unbothered even, as all three looked at an area and saw some random rogues wrecking havoc.
"Great" Danny remarked having an unamused face. "Aren't you both gonna fight?"
"huh?" Tim blankly asked, wondering how he knew.
"Oh come on. Your costumes ain't fooling me Robin and Red robin. It's pretty obvious. Hmm. I guess it's kind of hard to look for a hidden space for you to change costumes in a park, if you even have them with you." Both Tim and Damian paled at Danny's casual identity reveal of them both. "Leave this one to me for now then." He added.
"How-"
"Hey Damian, want to learn something from your older brother? Here's a secret from the league. The swordsmanship style they taught you? It's an incomplete and watered down version of the real one." Danny remarks with a smirk on his face as he opens a small portal with his hand, takes out a katana from it and assumes a sword stance (his brother was a meta?). He learned of the sword style when he was training under Fright Night after all.
"This may look like I'm using meta abilities but trust me, I'm not."
"What-"
"Don't Blink"
In an instant, Danny rushes towards his targets (the rogues) and unleashes a fury of slashes, cutting the rogues carefully that they don't die, but heavily subdued. Some of the slashes Danny made even seemed like visible ranged attacks, carefully cutting through the trouble and rubble, all while avoiding property damage. The rogues were apprehended and unconscious. Damian could only watch in awe while Tim was speechless.
The first thing Damian said after the whole display of his older brother's swordsmanship? All looking in awe? With a hint of sparkles in his eyes? Clearly portraying he might just had found his favorite brother?
"Still wild that you're Talia's kids," Dick chuckled, wrapping his hands around his favorite Bludhaven mug.
"And the fact that we're Batman's?" Danny asked dryly.
"Augh. Even weirder," Dick chuckled, and didn't look at the memorial. "I wish you had gotten to meet him. He'd have loved you both."
Danny didn't say anything, just dragging a finger along the rim of his cup. Frost grew in a slow creep as his finger circled it.
"Sorry." Dick murmured.
-- You Have Your Father's Eyes by Azlykumos
Finding out that Bruce had sons is difficult. Finding out that one of them doesn't consider himself Bruce's son is even worse.
-x-
anyways gk is ripe for the picking. I'm not beating the hurt/no comfort allegations tho.
OKAY a friend hyped me up to post at least this… plot bunny that got too far from the haunting hero’s server (dpxdc server), cause I’m literally always thinking about demon siblings aus,,,,,,,, Danny’s league assassins uniform getting reversed with his ghost form just Hits Different
