Danny always knew tax evasion ran in his veins. His parents hadnât been the most⊠morally sound of people, and less so as ecto-scientists.
He just didnât think their lessons would ever result in a criminal empire that spanned the entire city and then some. Danny hadnât seen it coming. His parents definitely wouldnât have.
âGood afternoon, Mr. Wayne. Mr. Fox.â
Danny âthe Phantomâ Fenton sat down across from a rather tense looking (to Dannyâs enhanced senses, anyways) Brucie Wayne and his right hand, Lucius Fox. He smiled pleasantly, matching Brucieâs vacant smile with that touch of Midwest suburban mother smile.
With his acquisition of multiple Gotham companies, his rather newly established Fentom Co. became one of the largest holding companies in Gotham, the first being Wayne Enterprises and the second being Drake Industries. After months of constantly working his butt off while fending off assassins, reforming Gothamâs slums and cleaning up some of the streets, and taking care of his nest of street kids, Danny garnered enough power to even stand close to Wayne Enterprises in terms of financial powers.
The topic of this meeting was, of course, the proposed merger of Wayne Enterprisesâ Medical R&D division with Fentom Co.âs pharmaceutical department. Usually, Wayne Enterprises wouldnât even consider such an offer, as their Medical R&D division was the most well funded and least likely to be part of a Rogueâs scheme- and therefore most beloved- department of the same nature in Gotham. However, Danny had something the other offers didnât.
Blackmail.
His overly polite smile widened as Bruceâs mask twitched. His eyes slid over to Lucius Fox.
âItâs an honor to meet you, sir. Iâve heard much about your genius in⊠research and development.â
By that, Danny meant that he knew Lucius Fox helped develop Batmanâs tech.
He did a lot of stalking that week. It felt rather⊠invasive, even if he did get a bunch of juicy secrets.
You know what they say: dead men tell no tales⊠but halfas are generally blabbermouths.
âIs that so? It is a pleasure to meet you as well, Mr. Fenton.â The man quickly glanced between the youngsters, accurately predicting that this might have something to do with Bruceâs active nightlife.
âYes, it is such a pleasure to meet you.â
Wow, Danny didnât think heâd ever heard anyone sound both so perky and dead inside at the same time, except for Susan at Gotham Highâs bake sale.
Bruce wishes he could be a Susan. Heâs at best a Becky.
âWill you be staying, Mr. Fox? Youâre the head of the R&D department, correct?â
âAh, yes-â
âOh, Lucius! I think you had an appointment with the finance department right now! I heard Sally talk about it, you know!â
Lucius Fox sent an unreadable look at Bruce before rallying.
âOh, it must have slipped my mind. My apologies, Mr. Fenton, it seems as though I can not skip this appointment.â
âThatâs alright. I suppose it gives you⊠plausible deniability⊠should things go wrong, haha!â Danny allowed his smile to widen a little further than natural. Bruce tensed but Lucius Fox simply politely smiled and left the room.
Ignorance is bliss and all that, Danny amusedly thought.
As the door shut with a click, Bruce dropped the vacant Brucie smile and sighed.
âWhat do you want,â he gritted out. Danny wasnât about to let that slide, not after he spent the better part of this month wrangling Bruceâs problem children.
âAh, it must be because Iâm from the Midwest, Brucie, but where I come from, we value these things called manners.â
You uneducated jerk, he doesnât say.
Danny leaned back in his chair, loosening his smile into something relaxed and sharp.
ââŠâ Oh, boy, Danny could just hear the other manâs blood pressure rising. âWhat is the purpose of your visit, Mr. Fenton?â
âRelax, Brucie,â Danny sing-songed in a non-relaxing way. âIâm just here to discuss a possible merger that Iâm sure youâll agree to, and give you a couple of updates on your⊠wayward bird.â
He heard Bruce take a slow, controlled breath. âVery well. Where. Would. You. Like. To. Start.â
Danny ignored the gritted out sentence. He passed a contract to Bruce, who took it like he was handling a live bomb.
âHereâs the proposal, Mr. Wayne. Please, look it over.â
He watched as Bruce looked over the contract with an eagle eye before lowering it, scrutinizing Danny.
âThis is⊠very fair.â
Danny raised an eyebrow. Of course it was fair. Danny wasnât interested in exploiting the Waynes, despite them being very able to afford it.
Heâd brought fifty manufacturing sites for pharmaceuticals, and offered up a building where both companies could send their workers. He provided top notch security- that definitely didnât have any talons on staff, what were they talking about?- that came from his own security division. Granted, most of them were reformed and trained goons, but hey, creating jobs can only help Gothamâs economy and help break the cycle of poverty, right? Guaranteed by the Wayne name and, most importantly, uncompromised medicine that was accessible to everyone would be a damn good start. Heâd also have Penguinâs empire to distribute it to those who couldnât make it to a clinic or a store, and there were plans in there to work with and establish contracts with Gothamâs welfare department. Well⊠once Danny finished replacing them with people who wouldnât try to take a cut of the funds and actually cared about the people. He was thinking⊠the multitudes of poor grad students and parents that need income. Heâs in the process of building childcare centers andâŠ
Itâs a good thing he managed to save money from the taxes (thank you, Gothamâs morally ambiguous tax experts that were in desperate need for clients! He could do it himself but having a team of accountants at the ready was seriously so helpful.) because ancients knows the government werenât about to step into Gotham and help the people here. He needs so much money to pull all of this shit off and a lot of it has to be clean.
Danny inwardly sighed and marked another thing onto his to do list.
Make money laundering fronts.
ïżŒ
âOf course, Mr. Wayne. You didnât think Iâd come in here demanding money, did you?â
âI considered it.â
âI am, in fact, trying to help Gotham. You might not agree with my methods, but Iâd rather not damage Wayne Enterprises when itâs doing so much to help the people.â
Ugh, he was doing too much work. Danny just wanted to- hah- chill at home and read bed time stories to his kids.
Bruce Wayne, the specific blend between Brucie and Batman, regarded him silently. Danny felt like he went up a few notches in the respect ladder.
Nice.
âYouâre a criminal.â
âSays the man in the bat-suit breaking into places and assaulting people.â
Bruceâs hands spasmed around the contract. Danny smiled at him, taking a sip of the coffee theyâd prepared. Oo, nice!
âAh, I heard youâre adopting- pardon, fostering- Tim Drake. Getting empty nest syndrome, Brucie?â He slipped back into using Bruceâs first name. The proposal was formal. This⊠was very much not.
âWhat about it?â
âThatâs very kind of you. Speaking of which, well, of your birds, I was wondering if you remembered what I asked you to do.â Danny continued, not giving Bruce a chance to reply. âDidnât I ask for you to keep your birds in line, Brucie?â
The CEO straightened even further, form filling out to be Batmanâs imposing figure. âI did.â
âNo, you didnât. Do you know where your charge is, right now? No, not the formerly dead one,â Danny tilted his head, smile shrinking.
âDonât you dare do anything to Tim. I swear, if you even lay a hand on a strand of his hair, Iâll-â
âSit your Armani clad ass down, Bruce.â Danny snapped. âYour sonâs in your office. I donât harm children, and your assumptions are deeply insulting. Threaten me again, Bruce, and Iâll make sure you know exactly how much I know about your birds, your cousin, and the commissionerâs daughter.â
Bruce snarled but leashed his anger just enough to sit back down. He itched to go check on Tim, but leaving a threat like Phantom unwatched felt inherently wrong.
âYour other son,â Danny continued. âIs doing quite well. Heâs learning that he has hobbies again. Heâs actually working under me, you know.â
âHeâs what.â
Oh, yeah, that tracks. It figured that Jason wouldnât tell Bruce about anything. Heâs still conflicted about his death. Danny got it.
âAh, thatâs precious information. Youâll have to offer something of equal value if you want to know. There is, on the other hand, a piece of information Iâll give you for free.â
Danny paused for the dramatic effect. It was lost on Bruce, the ultimate drama queen of this world.
âThe League of Assassins are hanging around Hotham lately. Itâs getting tedious, getting rid of them. I suggest talking to your old flame, you know, with words and what little communication skill youâve got rattling around in your noggin to get them to pull back. Her interest is⊠unnaturally focused on Jason.â
Danny read the dark agreement swimming about Bruceâs face and inclined his head. âShould negotiations fail, rest assured that Jason will be protected.â
ââŠThank you.â
âYou are most welcome. Go ahead and discuss the contract with Mr. Fox, I am sure youâll find little problems with it. Ah,â Danny stood up, fixing his suit jacket. âAnd you should probably check up on Timothy. Heâs probably having a great time in your office, Mr. Wayne.â
âIâll see you out.â
âOf course.â
Having Batman escorting him out should probably be more intimidating.
Danny stood in the elevator, waiting for Bruceâs contemplative silence to put itself into words.
Sure enough, âWhat⊠what kind of hobbies does Jason have now?â
âIâd tell you to ask him, but you two arenât on speaking terms, are you? He likes books, of course, but recently, heâs found an interest in glass blowing. He made quite a bit of progress on his attempts at sun catchers.â
âI see.â
Well, Dannyâs not about to step on that landmine any more than he has to.
ââ
âDanny.â
âOh, hey, Jason. Sit down, we were about to have dinner.â
Jason clambered into the window. Danny sighed. He had a door, but by the way Jason never used it, it was like the door didnât exist.
âMind telling me why the old bastard showed up on my rooftops with a bunch of glass and glassblowing tools?â
Danny smiled. âNo idea.â
âUh huh.â
Danny placed a hand on his chest and put on his best woe-is-me expression. The teenâs face twitched in annoyance. âDoubt? At me? Why, I never!â
A bread roll thwacked him in the face.
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The Justice League finds out about the Anti-Ecto Acts because of the Waffle House.
Waffle House already had a hurricane index, but the introduction of a non-ironic ghost index raised some questions.
Waffle House also patented the "Ghost and Liminal Friendly Space! We Didn't See Shit!" stickers, which overnight were put up on their doors.
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Batman and Dani Parallel Play
There are ecto-detectors in the Batcave.
Sometimes, they'll go off for no discernable reason.
This is why Bruce tells the kids to behave when they're in the cave.
The entity isn't Deadman, he knows that for sure. They don't mean harm or any malicious intent, or they wouldn't be able to get past the barriers. There's no poltergeist activity, so they aren't bored and there to deliberately cause chaos.
When he opted to look through the thermal imaging one day, once the ecto-detectors stop alerting, he sees a cold spot roughly the same size as Damian. It's sitting on the edge of the cave, swinging it's feet, and just, as the kids would say, vibing.
He decides to leave it alone. The dead can't really impact the living, and it appears that this one just shows up for some peace and quiet now and then.
He tunes the detectors to this particular entity's signature and sets them to silent. He'll still get an alert, but it'll only go to him.
Months later, when he finds himself mind controlled and helpless to do anything but watch himself attack his own family, he feels a cold sensation permeate through his body, and his punch freezes in the air before he feels his arms forcibly dropped to his sides.
Then, a tween girls voice comes out of his mouth.
"Okay, I've got him restrained. What next?"
Or; Dani likes the "ambient" side of Youtube. So much that it's no longer good enough for her, and she seeks out places that have good ambience. She prefers caves, but her favorite combination is cave sounds, waterfalls, papers shuffling, distant conversation, and computer typing.
This means the Batcave is literally the most perfect place ever if things get to be too much.
Her second favorite sounds are snowstorms, high tech beeps, the creaking of ice, and radio chatter. So her second favorite place to hang out is in the Arctic, in some fortress made of ice.
But there's not really a lot to do around it, so she doesn't go there that often.
She ends up hanging around Metropolis and Gotham just due to proximity to her favorite hang out spot, mostly staying out of sight.
She doesn't really care about who the Bats are, so long as they stay out of her hair. But she won't lie about getting a little bit attached from her creepy totally-not-spying thing.
Then Batman gets himself mind controlled, and he's about to lay out Robin, and all Dani can think about is Vlad and his 'discipline'.
She possesses Batman and forces him to stop.
The gig is up. Farewell sweet hangout spot, it was her favorite.
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the way val is totally trying to convince herself here
finally reading a glitch in time, very excited
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magical girl jazz fenton >>>
maslows hierarchy of needs but its just magical anime girl jazz fenton
finally reading a glitch in time, very excited
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Me when I hear that the Ghost King is Dead and I'm Next In Line for the Throne:
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I'm actually reading this because I'm working on a list of potential titles for all the member of dannys court in a ghost king au, and I heard that Vlad basically adopts dan at the end of this. whether he considers himself a phantom or a plasmius completely throws off how he should be addressed.
I have spent too long combing various wikis about royal titles and households to not get this correct.
finally reading a glitch in time, very excited
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Jazz. Jasmine. Jazzy-Pants. Jazz...
YOU WERE THERE FOR THE TRAUMA!!!
finally reading a glitch in time, very excited
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HIM FACE!!!!!!!!
finally reading a glitch in time, very excited
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obsessed with how fucking catty these two are
finally reading a glitch in time, very excited
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finally reading a glitch in time, very excited
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omg bby girl wat are you doing here????
finally reading a glitch in time, very excited
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finally reading a glitch in time, very excited
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1950âČs Danny âPhantomâ Fenton from the Cold War AU
âDanny is a hands-on kind of inventor. He thinks the required lab coats look a bit pretentious so he gets a pair of white coveralls to wear around the lab as a subtle snub to the âlegitimateâ scientists. Give him some nice sturdy black work gloves and boots then heâs all set.â
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Hera stood, waiting for her turn at last. The Queen of the Greek Pantheon traced the lines of neon green, its light reflecting against her true form in a soothing way. Sheâs no stranger to patience, to waiting. But there were little of those that had the gall to make her wait, and even smaller of that number that she would tolerate such behavior. Regardless, this was the one being she could not afford to offend and so, she waits. Her many forms, her divine self, perceived the room and compared it to her own halls of residence.
Olympus was much more intricate, carved of noble marble and inlaid with countless of priceless metals and gems and divinity. Twelve seats of power atop an engineering wonder, halls adorned with the brightest of the original flames, an hearth that was roaring at Hestaâs skillful hands.
In comparison, this throne room had been changed much since she was last here. Gone were the spikes of terror and screams of the damned. Now⊠it looked like the most bare throne room sheâd ever bore witness to.
And yet, as she waited for the Boy King, Hera could feel the subtle thrum of impossible power. The new king did not flare his will and might like the previous tyrant, and for that, Hera approved. She has had quite enough of living with and under tyrants who cared only for themselves⊠and their bed achievements whilst failing spectacularly in their marital roles. Zeus was not a good life partner and Hera regretted ever saying yes to him many times in her immortal life. And yet⊠she loved him still.
The doors opened, and a small figure floated in, flanked by the previous Kingâs Knight. Perhaps that is what makes this Boy King so dangerous, Hera thought as she dipped into a bow, because he can turn the loyalest to his side.
âYour Majesty,â she greeted, in ghost speak.
âHeya, Hera!â The Boy King greeted her back, before waving the Knight away. Hera marveled, a bit, at the sheer confidence he had to dismiss his knight in her presence. Even the last king kept the knights around to ensure his power was always in display, always unchallengeable. The Boy King could destroy her with a snap of a finger and he knows it. He knows that she knows it.
âWhat did you need?â The Boy King asked, grin still on place as he floated to her instead of seating himself on his throne. Hera masked the bit of confusion she felt in pursuit of her goal.
âI have come here to ask of you a favor,â she began. âI am aware that⊠you are fond of this, the earth in which I reside in?â
Hera carefully picked her word. Everybody knows that the new King Phantom had laid claim to not only the Infinite Realms as is normal of his station, but an entire Earth as his haunt. He had the power to do so, she could finally see, now that she was standing before him. It would not do for Hera to get her strings cut because she claimed what is his.
âSure. Why?â The Boy King tilted his head, narrowing that predator green upon her true form.
âDo you know of the Justice League, my lord?â
âPhantomâs fine,â he waved a hand. âAnd yeah, sure do! Why?â
Hera tilted her many forms in acknowledgement of the command. She bowed.
âMy daughter, of a sort, is Diana Prince. Wonder Woman. She is⊠in grave danger. We can not exert our influence over a land that does not have our history. I can not interfere and aid her.â
âOh, you want me to help her?â His tone was exasperated, and Hera spoke even more carefully in fear of offending him.
âYes, if it pleases you. And it would be most gracious of you should Your Majesty have time to watch over her. I fear the danger will not leave her so quickly.â
There was a brief period of silence before King Phantom sighed. âAnd if it does not please me to do so?â
Hera looked up and locked gazes with evaluating green. âThen I am afraid I will be breaking a fair bit of cosmic law, King Phantom.â
He laughed. âOkay, yeah, Iâll check up on Wonder Woman.â
Hera blinked her many eyes, peacock feathers spreading in shock at how easily he allowed her favors. She did not even have to beg.
King Phantom turned to leave before pausing. âHera, if you need help, just ask. Preferably without beating around the bushes next time. Also, Pandora misses you. You might want to hang around for tea later.â
Hera regarded him with the might of her divinity, which was but hardly a spec of his own kindness. The last one had not had her respect. Fear, yes. But never respect But this oneâŠ
âYes, my King.â
âItâs just Phantom.â He shot back as he left, the Knight returning to his side once more.
Hera transformed into a more mortal form. She had not seen Pandora in a long time, the young woman had made quite an impression on her. Perhaps her old friend could be convinced in helping her punch Zeus and ruin her beloved husbandâs day. Hera hummed, the green that used to flicker acidly against her divine form now only soothed. A reflection of its owner.
King Phantom is worthy of her regard.
ââ
Holy shit, a goddess asked him to check on the Justice League! She was super weird about it and talked in a really old way of speaking, but Danny hadnât had anything to do for the past few days while entering the zone for his annual check up.
Danny waved away Fright Knight and dived into the portal that would take him directly to the Justice League and Diana!
He floated down from the portal, blinking at group of disheveled and injured superheroes surrounded by a group of demons. Belial?
âKing Phantom.â Belial rumbled. Danny waved, not noticing the standstill his presence forced.
âShite.â The British man cursed, drawing on his magic once more.
âKing Phantom?â Diana Prince, Wonder Woman, said quizzically.
âWho?â Batman, Batman! Thatâs actually Batman, rumbled.
âHigh King of the Infinite Realms. Weâre buggered if he decides to help Belial.â
âWait, like the god of gods, that King Phantom?â Captain Marvel asked. Ancients, why are all of them electrical based? Danny hates electricity.
Danny floated closer to them, grinning in a friendly way before frowning as they tensed up.
âKing Phantom. May I ask why you have graced us with your presence, my King?â
âHey, Wonder Woman! Your mom asked me to babysit you!â He grinned, sharp and mischievous.
âWhatâŠ?â The Flash asked, zipping to their side. âHer mom? Queen Hippolyta?â
âNo, Hera,â Danny said, and watched Wonder Woman straighten at his words.
âThe Goddess Hera.â
âYep!â Danny rocked back on his suddenly formed legs instead of the whisp of a tail he usually kept in the Zone. He was also still floating. Danny sent a wave of ice and froze the rest of the demons in one fell swoop.
âThe rest of you can take care of clean up, yes? Diana has to get some snacks, dinner, and then go to bed.â He pushed gently at Dianaâs shoulders, nudging her towards the plane. She went willingly, respectful but amused.
ââ
Bruce, intellectually knowing thatâs a king but only seeing a superhero teenager: *fills out mental adoption paperwork*
ââ
Hera, a goddess, terrified of misspeaking and dying as a result: heâs so strong even though heâs young omg powerful and could end my immortal existence
Danny, an unserious king: golly gee why is she speaking like a Shakespeare novel
ââ
Hera, thinking Dannyâs gonna be dignified: pls watch over my daughter
Danny, who has a clone he sees as a daughter and therefore has no issues babysitting a grown woman: lol snacks, dinner, bedtime
Diana:⊠usually Iâm on the other spectrum of this but itâs from a higher up so⊠okay?
ââ
Danny, terrifying gods and ancients: theyâre my friends! The power of friendship!
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The Ghost Prince does not, under any circumstances, answer a summoning after it was made aware he existed. None know why he doesn't, some are bitter and hateful of it while others are thankful that it's one less bloodthirsty manic to deal with.
The Ghost King meanwhile hasn't been seen in multiple eons, so the magical community who wanted to use his power just, stopped, trying to summon him for a long time.
Most magic users knew that the Ghost Prince never answered a summons, and that the Ghost King just dropped off the radar.
So could you really blame Constantine for not taking it that seriously when some wannabe hotshot cultists try to summon both of them in the middle of a city to wreak havoc?
He'll give them some credit though. Points for doing it in broad daylight and actually being somewhat of a threat with not relying on just summoning the Ghost royalty and figuring out what to do from there.
The area they were in was somewhat destroyed, then the cultists manage to complete the summoning circle to summon both of them and Constantine, well he just light up a smoke.
It isn't going to work anyways so what does it matter?
...
Is that a fucking Ice cream truck he hears? Who the fuck is driving an Ice cream truck while their city is being under attacked with cultists trying to summon eldritch ghost royalty?
He'll give them some points for dedication, though.
Then he looked at the cultists and nearly had a goddamn heart attack to see that the summoning circle is actually fucking lighting up and working.
The Bat is so gonna give him a headache over this.
----
Danny Phantom, crown prince of the Infinite Realms. Does not answer summons.
For one, it is annoying as shit, whenever someone interrupts his day just to ask for infinite power (that he can't give), world domination (that he won't do) or infinite riches (which he also can't do).
It just got annoying being summoned all the time so. One day he just, well, no. And hey, it worked out well enough for him to not continue doing it.
Then he also learned that Pariah Dark is basically the same, after he got out the coffin and stopped trying to take over the world for whatever reason. He was actually a pretty swell guy!
He was just with him too, with him being not so swell at the time for making him go through lessons about Ghost etiquette, rules, stuff that's expected of him as the crown prince.
And don't even get him started on the engagement and marriage proposals.
Overall, he just wanted to find an excuse to leave. Then he felt the familiar suggestive pull of a summoning and, instead of rejection as he usually does in a second. He thought for a bit if he wanted to go with that or crown prince duties.
It was tempting, but dealing with cultists seemed worse than this so he was about to reject.
At least, before he heard an Ice cream truck playing in the background. He doesn't even know how the hell that popped up through the pull but by the gods has it been a while since he's had Ice cream.
So he answers and is gone with a pop.
Pariah Dark just stares for a good second or two, before breathing out and deciding to also answer. Fright Knight is just there, off to side, questioning what he should do now.
Danny wastes no time with the cultists on the other side and in fact, he pushes them out of the way and goes diving for that Ice cream truck he hears. Only to realize he doesn't, have any money on him.
Fuck.
Pariah Dark is less inclined to follow the rules imposed by humans like money, but he does know it can be important. Once in a while. Not that often, but it has its times.
So when he sees his adopted son being sad over being unable to pay for some kind of human delicacy, he digs around in his hair (yes, his hair.) and pulls out some money and puts it on the counter as payment.
The man inside the tiny vehicle had shrieked before getting what they wanted. Which is good. Fear is a good motivator, Pariah thinks.
Unknown to him, it wasn't out of fear (Well, mostly) but because the Ghost King placed down a coin made of pure, solid gold on his counter.
The two then go about their business in the human realm, completely forgetting about the fact that they were summoned here for something.
Constantine is both relieved and about to have an aneurysm at seeing Infinite Realm royalty only answering a summon because of Ice cream.
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It takes a lot to break a ghost. After all, even death didnât keep them down for long, not in any way that mattered.
There is, however, a sure fire way to utterly crush a ghostâs core without even touching it.
Find their grave, and defile it.
It is the height of cruelty. It is the ultimate act of disrespect. It is violation, of the deepest kind, an act that can never, ever be allowed to go unpunished.
As Danny stared at the remains of the toppled over rock tower that Tucker and Sam had made for him all those years ago, to honor his death, he wasnât sure if he could survive this.
ââ
Please.
Zatanna looked around. The magician knew better than to write off the sound as a trick of her mind.
You have to help him. Please. Heâs just a child.
âWho? Whatâs wrong?â Zatanna asked, heart aching for the grieving whispers of the young voice.
My brother. His grave. Itâs been destroyed. Please.
Zatannaâs hair stood on ends. âWhatâs his name? Where is it?â
Amity Park. His name is Phantom. Please. Hurry.
Her heart skipped a beat. Phantom. The name of the Infinite Realmâs Champion, the future king.
âShit. Iâm on my way. Can you lead me there?â
I canât. I wonât be here for much longer. Tell him Jazz sent you. Please. Help him. Help him.
âI will.â
When Zatanna portals out of her dressing room, she catches a flash of red hair.
ââ
âCONSTANTINE!â
âGah! Zatanna?â John Constantine fell out of his chair, legs slipping from their place propped onto the table.
âEmergency! Infinite Realms level. Someone destroyed Phantomâs grave.â
Constantine scrambled upwards, pulling on his coat as his mind all but bleated like a highland goat at the sound of âInfinite Realmsâ and âPhantomâs grave.â Destroying a ghostâs grave might destroy the ghost, but if they survive the initial splintering, right before their final death, theyâll explode in a ball of fury. Normally, it would be slightly less of a problem. Normally, it wouldnât be the most powerful ghost in the Infinite Realms. Normally, this wouldnât happen. Normally, even if it did, it wouldnât risk a war none of the universes would win. The Infinite Realms loves prince Phantom. Their grief over this⊠even if he survives, the consequences would be unimaginable.
âYou contact the League. I have to go fix this, right now.â
John doesnât bother going for his hottle, because he unfortunately needed to do this sober.
âGo, go!â
ââ
Danny doesnât turn even as he hears the crunch of grass blades. He sits, staring blankly at what used to be his grave marker.
âHi, there,â itâs a woman. She sounds sad. Danny understands, because all he feels is a whistling hole where his heart used to be. âAre you Phantom?â
Danny sighs, ice crackling at his lungs. He knows, when this is over, heâll find it in himself to rage. If he doesnât shatter from this, he knows heâll take Amity out. Perhaps heâd spare this one. Itâs been a long time since anyone bothered visiting or even knew about his grave.
âYour highnessâŠyour sister sent me. Jazz?â
That got Dannyâs attention. Glowing green eyes peeked from the curled ball of ghost to stare Zatanna down.
She swallowed.
âShe⊠had red hair?â
âWhy are you here?â Why did she send you? He doesnât say. Zatanna seems to understand anyways.
âTo help. Please, will you let me help?â
Danny looks down at the ice freezing her feet to the ground and thinks of the kind set of her eyes, the steel backing her spine, the carefully nonthreatening posture. Yes, Jazz would send this kind of person to help him.
The ice melts.
âThank you.â
Danny watches as she approaches his destroyed grave. She glances back for his permission. He shrugs. Itâs destroyed. Nothing would ever bring it back.
And then, he was proven wrong.
Zatannaâs eyes glow, and the stones began melding itself back together- no, it was reversing the damage and zooming back to its proper place.
âOh.â
The damage to his core was still there. But⊠he wonât kill this one at all.
Or her friends, who stand at the edge of the clearing with the soul-torn one standing at the helm.
âIs this⊠alright, your highness?â
Danny stares at Zatanna. His voice is hoarse but⊠but itâs not on the verge of insanity anymore.
âDo you always come to graves without an offering?â
He knows heâs being rude. Heâs past the point of caring. Zatannaâs response is to pull a bouquet of lilies from behind her back.
ââ
Phantomâs face is so young, and itâs even younger when he smiles.
âNot always,â Zatanna replies, rolling her eyes. But when she settles the flowers down, theyâre gently placed.
âCan you magic clovers around it?â Phantom asks, that note of painful hope cracking her own heart. She wonders how old he was when he died.
âOf course.â
A field of clovers surrounds the rock tower, and Zatanna adds four layers of heavy wards around the area when she grows them. Phantom notices, and looks up at her with⊠trust.
âI am Zatanna. Your sister, Jazz, sent me.â
âOkay. You can call me Phantom.â
ââ
âI want their heads.â Danny says.
âWe donât kill.â
âThen hand them over to us, for they have hurt the Great One. They will answer for their crimes.â Frostbite settles a hand on Dannyâs shoulder.
âAlright.â
âConstantine.â
Constantine somehow manages to drag Batman away to hiss in his ears.
âShit in a hole, Batsy, Iâm not fucking with the Infinite Realms. My demons wonât fuck with the Infinite Realms. Destroying a ghostâs grave is an act of war, and an act of complete violation, and weâre lucky Phantom liked Zee enough not to completely bring ruin to our universe. So shut up, and get the bastards that did this.â
âHm.â
ââ
Zatanna sits in the visitors chair, Batmanâs and Constantineâs disgruntled selves standing behind her.
âHow old are you, Phantom?â
âHm?â The future King looks exhausted, understandably. âOh, sixteen.â
âYouâre⊠sixteen? Thatâs how old you look, right?â
Sheâs hoping that heâs older, that heâs a millennia and a half years old. Because if he wasnât, whoever broke Phantomâs grave, broke the grave of a child.
âNo, Iâm sixteen. My body looks fourteen. I died when I was fourteen.â
Constantine swears.
Batman straightens and walks out, fists clenched.
Zatanna eases the hum of hunting magic at her finger tips and smiles at Phantom until he sleeps.
Then, she gets up, and hunts.
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