Chapter Text
Flying around Gotham, Danny wished he could properly enjoy the city on the first smog-free night in months, maybe even take his boyfriend out on a date. But no, he was instead frantically rushing around trying to collect every shade, specter, wisp, blob and half formed ghost in the city before the GIW captured them.
The sadistic Guys In White had finally thrown caution to the wind (in Danny’s opinion), just deciding that they weren’t going to play by the rules anymore and instead going after any ghost they found. It was thankfully easy for Team Phantom to get everyone in Amity Park to safety, but then they all dispatched themselves to the other places around the country they knew of that had high enough levels of ectoplasm to warrant a search. Since Danny has been living in Gotham for school the last few years, he started near home and made the executive decision not to inform the bats about what was happening.
He figured they would just scare the ghosts he was trying to look out for, and Bruce would panic (no matter how calm the old man tried to act, Danny knew better) before locking up his ecto-contaminated kids. Then they would sneak out and he’d have to waste time tracking them down instead of the ghosts he was searching for. Especially Jason, because his idiot boyfriend would take the first opportunity he had to hunt some shady government organization and fight them.
“My Liege! Come quick, this way!” Danny stalled in the air, hearing a voice call out to him from below. Looking down, he saw a ghost flickering in and out of the mortal plane, unable to keep their form but he could see the panic on their face from his position. Swooping down to meet them, he saw upon landing in the alley that nothing was wrong at first glance. Was it a trap?
Cautiously, Danny stopped just before the entrance to the alleyway and kept his feet floating slightly above the ground. “Hello, what’s wrong here?” Danny looking around carefully, senses peeled for any kind of attack. Ancients, his boyfriend’s paranoia was rubbing off on him. “I thought I told all of my citizens within the city limits to evacuate to the Infinite Realms for their own safety.”
The ghost nodded their head in reverence, “Yes sire, you did.”
“Then why are you still here?” Danny raised an eyebrow, playing the part of a regal monarch versus the frantic twenty-year-old he was. “I gave the order with the safety of my people in mind, is there a reason you are not following the orders of your King?”
He really hated having to act like this, it made his skin itch and other people always looked freaked out or terrified of him when he did. Like this poor ghost, who upon looking more closely, seemed to be flickering because they were just barely strong enough to resist his command due to something that was keeping them very lightly tethered to the mortal plane. Danny surveyed the area they were in again, but it was just another small alley in a run down part of Gotham that’s seen better days. The nearby theater was small and obviously abandoned, while other shops and buildings on the street were in similar disrepair.
“Forgive me my Liege, I swear to you this is not an act of disrespect!” The ghost frantically shook their hands, ragged and singed sleeves flapping around with the action. Their face was the picture of fear and their eyes begged for forgiveness.
This, this right here is why I hate being King, Danny groaned inwardly. Everyone was afraid to upset him thanks to Pariah's previous tyranny and all the ghosts outside of Amity Park knew about him were from rumors. He was the Great One, King Phantom. He was the one who defeated Pariah Dark, who bested Ancients time and again, who protected the mortal plane as his haunt. It was exhausting having to hold up to the standards some of the ghosts had for him, but he knew the world wasn’t prepared to accept his people so as the Balance he had to protect them from harm. Even though it meant stuffy court sessions and acting like a nobleman when he was only a tired college student.
“Then what is it?”
The ghost nervously wrung their hands, “It’s just, my Liege it may be easier to show you…” The ghost gestured to the alley in front of them before floating forward, beckoning behind their back for Danny to follow.
Hesitantly, he took a few steps forward into the alley and felt a rush of emotions screaming at him like the crowd at a rock concert. It was so powerful he even stumbled for a moment before righting himself. Rubbing at his chest, Danny felt his core being tugged by the overwhelming sadness and fear radiating from the alleyway while he walked with his feet fully on the ground.
“Where are you taking me?” Danny questioned the ghost. He stopped and watched as the ghost paused their floating, casting a melancholy look back at Danny–one that made him want to wrap the poor ghost up in a blanket burrito and give them candy.
“To some poor people who I believe, my Liege, only you can help now,” they responded solemnly, continuing their stride into the alley before disappearing in a bend of light.
Danny took a deep breath and followed quickly, afraid of losing his guide. He felt the same invisible barrier wrap around him as well when he entered and Danny quickly blinked when he was met with a brightly lit alley–the complete opposite of the dark hole he had just been staring into. Glancing around, he noted the walls weren’t as dirty and the trash was actually in a trashcan, the alleyway seemingly used often. He quirked an eyebrow at the nervous ghost with him, wringing their hands as they waited for something to happen.
But after a few moments of nothing except the regular city noises he’s become accustomed to living in Gotham, Danny began tapping his foot impatiently. “You said that there were people here who needed help, did you not?”
The ghost nodded, eyes trained on a single door a few feet away from the two as their form flickered again. Danny squinted and watched the door as well, but he could feel anxiety fill his veins as he thought of getting back to the bats before any of them could be hurt when they eventually went on patrol. As far as Danny could tell, this ghost was the only one stubbornly sticking around Gotham now, so he couldn’t protect the very liminal batclan until they were safe in the Infinite Realms–and Danny’s patience was wearing thin right now.
“Okay, so you made me follow you into a dark alley that seems to have a pocket dimension of some kind within it and what? We just wait for something to happen?” Danny shook his head. He had expected an injured person, maybe a ghost that needed an ecto-transfusion after being attacked by the GIW before Danny could reach them. But an empty alleyway? If he wasn’t already dead, he would probably give himself the “stranger danger” lecture.
“My Liege–”
Danny cut them off with a harsh swipe of his hand in the air between the two. “No, I humored you but I’m sorry , we have to leave before you’re either captured by the GIW or torn apart from ignoring the king’s command,” Danny rubbed a hand across his face, giving into the tiredness seeping into his bones. He felt a pull in his core as he tried to control the stress tightening his shoulders, practically begging the ghost before him. “ Please , as your King, let me protect you.”
The ghost’s face softened before bobbing their head and Danny wanted to take it as a sign they could leave, but they didn’t move. Danny opened his mouth to argue his point again when he heard something like the faint chiming of a clock. Whipping his head around expecting to find Clockwork but not seeing anyone, he turned back to face the door in front of them. The door his ghost friend was now staring at with a heartbroken expression on their face.
“Please, watch if you are able my Liege,” they told him, gesturing to the shimmering light suddenly enveloping the small space. He could almost see figures moving as he covered his eyes, but couldn’t make anything distinct out for a moment. “These are the poor souls who need the guidance of their King to save them.”
************
It was a night out like any other, smog filling the skyline while people honk their horns angrily in the rush to get home. Dogs barking, gunshots blasting, music playing in the streets as people filled the sidewalks.
For their little family however, it was a special night for their son. They surprised him with tickets to see the new action movie all of his classmates were talking about and he had been begging to watch. The name of it escaped his father, but the joy on his son’s face was all he needed.
As a group, they went on their own to a small theater that had recently opened up to watch the film, laughing and joking the whole way and sure that the night would be a long-lasting memory for them.
***********
Danny didn’t know what to expect after the light show and ominous words from his subject, but being witness to a mugging turned murder wasn’t on his list. Like, it wasn’t even close. Neither was the fact that the ghost at his side held him back from stopping it, so Danny felt helpless as he watched the fear on the woman’s face as her husband was shot in front of her. His ears felt muffled while he screamed behind her to move before a bullet was in her chest as well, her body then falling to the wet ground while Danny struggled to rush in and help. The man responsible ran off, slipping on the woman’s broken pearls but managing a retreat without paying for his actions. He seethed at the injustice he just witnessed, but felt a large amount of his rage vanish when he heard sniffling come from the spot covered in shadows behind the couple.
Danny watched, heartbroken, as a little boy stalked the edges of the alley before the whole scene disappeared before his eyes. He had no idea what had just happened, if it was a trick or a mirage or memory, but he was furious nonetheless.
Feeling arms loosen around him, Danny freed himself and rounded on the ghost with a face of controlled fury ready to be let loose. “What the hell was that?” Danny hissed, feeling his claws extend in reaction to his anger. “Why did you hold me back? I could have helped them and now they’re dead!”
The ghost gave him a pitying look (which was annoying to say the least, he was the King after all) and told him, “My Liege, they are already long since passed now.”
Danny felt his brain short circuit for a second and retracted his claws. He cleared his throat, trying to reboot and give off a sense of regal calm again. “What do you mean by that? I just watched those people die!”
“Yes, my Liege.” You know, Danny was getting really sick of hearing that over and over. “What we just witnessed was their death, but that event happened around thirty years ago at least.”
Danny cocked his head and glanced over at the spot he had seen the woman drop like a doll with cut strings, seeing no evidence of bloodied pearls rolling on the ground. Cautiously, he stepped forward and waved his arms around the exact spot they had died and felt no traces of residual magic that may have caused a hallucination.
“Explain,” he demanded of the ghost, hearing the rasp in his own voice. “Explain to me what happened here. If they died thirty years ago, how was I able to witness their death now?”
“It is called a ‘Death Echo’, my Liege. It’s a relatively rare occurrence that happens when a ghost dies, they can become trapped in the last moments before their death,” his ghost friend heaved a great sigh, most likely out of habit or dramatics since they didn’t actually have to breathe. “Reliving the experience over and over again, unable to snap themselves out of the anguish that fate has left them in for eternity.”
Danny turned, horror-struck at the idea of that even being possible. He was nauseous at the fact that it very well could have happened to him when he died. Danny’s death was so traumatic at such a young age, it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility that his mind at fourteen might not have been able to process his death and he could’ve ended up reliving the electricity charring his body repeatedly for eternity. Holy shit, that was definitely not a train of thought he wanted to hop aboard.
Shaking his head, Danny noticed the chiming again and watched as the figures appeared before them again. The ghost didn’t seem to feel the need to restrain Danny this time, and they quietly watched the little family be torn apart again.
“Give me your wallet and pearls! Now lady, or I’m gonna shoot your husband here!”
A revolver shook in the man’s hand, but its nozzle stayed trained on the woman’s husband who had a stormy look on his face.
“Darling, just do what he says alright?” He told her, reaching out a hand to rest on her shoulder.
“Hey! What did I tell you about moving?” The mugger threatened, a cruel sneer on his face as he tried to keep the upper hand.
Danny closed his eyes in preparation for what he knew was coming, but it didn’t make things any easier. He knew they had to hurry. They had to get his ghost friend to the Realms before they de-stabilized. He had to help these people, but he didn’t know how. How did he help ghosts trapped reliving their death for decades?
“Please, don’t hurt him,” the woman begged, tears tracking her cheeks. “I’ll give you everything I have on me please, just leave my family alone!”
“Then get to it with the jewels, you broad!” The mugger shouted back at her, moving the gun briefly from her husband to point it directly in the woman’s face.
Danny opened his eyes and watched as in that brief moment, her husband reached out to the mugger and punched him square in the jaw. But any victorious pride he felt at protecting his wife quickly left his eyes as the gun moved back to him and with a loud BANG he was stumbling backwards before falling down. His old hat soared away as he landed and Danny forced himself to not close his eyes again, thinking they deserved to have their ending witnessed and not ignored.
“Thomas!” The woman screeched. A choked gasp left her throat as she clutched the pearls around her neck and backed away, arm outstretched as though to protect something.
The gunman mumbled obscenities to himself and trained the revolver on the woman, shouting once again at her. “See what happens lady? Now, gimme the damn pearls and maybe you can live…unlike him.”
She cried, rough sobs ripping out of her as she broke the pearl necklace and threw it at her feet. “You want them? Have fun picking them all up!”
Danny glanced around as he backed away from the scene and he realized that she was trying to cover the hiding spot of the kid he saw the first time– her child that she was protecting. He felt a dull pang in his chest, realizing that this poor kid had seen his father be gunned down right in front of him. Danny felt the urge to give the small child a hug, but grit his teeth at the reminder this was just a memory.
“You crazy–” The gunman shook his head around, eyes chasing the pearls and shoulders vibrating in anger. He kicked a can nearby and stalked towards the woman, revolver raised at her chest. “You’re gonna regret that.”
She widened her eyes and screamed as the shot rang out, echoing in the dark night. Her pupils dilated and she fell to the ground, her legs crumpling beneath her and her body causing puddles of rainwater to splash back up at her son. His eyes were frantic, his whole body shivering as the gunman ran and the memory began fading.
“...ce…bru…baby…” The woman whispered as the light shimmered again and their images faded.
Danny took in a shaky breath and stalked out of the alleyway, unable to bear watching the scene unfold another time. The ghost followed him, their form flickering viciously as they passed the veil and Gotham’s night enveloped them once more. Suddenly there were no lights on the street except the faint glow from their own bodies, and he had the small hope that it had all been a terrible hallucination.
But he knew it was real, that their murder had happened and those spirits were suffering for decades . Shaking out his hands, Danny took a deep inhale and faced his subject who floated next to him with a straight back and determined yet resigned expression on their face.
“How the hell am I supposed to help them?” Danny asked, his voice broken. “I’ve never even heard of a Death Echo before–I don’t know the first thing about freeing someone from one!”
“Their case is certainly an unusual one,” the ghost hedged and Danny gave a glare to keep talking. Gulping, they continued, “Normally the echo is contained within the mind of the spirit themselves, their physical appearance being the only indicator they’re trapped. It doesn’t affect an entire area of the mortal plane, giving those with the sight or connection to the afterlife only , a chance to witness the moment of their death as though it were happening then and there.”
“So, you’re saying that something happened with these two that they’re more powerful than they should be? That their death was so strong or impactful they can affect the world around them?” Danny was shocked to say the least. The couple seemed relatively normal, maybe a little fancily dressed for this part of town, but it was also a long time ago and things like fashion were probably different. But nothing jumped out at him as so special that they could accomplish a Death Echo on this level.
Honestly, Danny wanted to consult Frostbite or Pandora but he didn’t have the time for it now. He checked his phone and the time was already approaching midnight–and Jason made him promise to be back at the Cave by then or he’d come after Danny.
“Exactly my Liege, I was a witness to their death myself. I had already died a few months beforehand and was haunting this street,” they told him, abnormally excited but hey, ghosts were weird. They pointed to an abandoned building down the street that was boarded up and covered in graffiti. “That was the local grocery shop, I was shot trying to escape a robbery.”
“I’m sorry that happened to you,” Danny told them sincerely. “But, you said you watched them die?”
“Oh yes, it was very traumatic for their little boy,” they hung their head sadly. “He was so excited when they left the theater, and then that horrible man went after his parents. The poor thing, you wouldn’t see it in the echo since that only lasts as long as both of his parents lived and then it repeats, but he stayed there for hours afterwards.”
“ Hours? ” Danny rasped. He couldn’t imagine what ran through that little boy’s mind, losing both of his parents right in front of him and just hiding the whole time. Danny can only imagine what the kid’s therapists must have gone through after that and he did not envy them. “Who was he?”
The ghost gave him a puzzled look, “You know…I’m not really all that sure. I feel like I knew of the little family, but my memories at the time were a little fuzzy,” they shrugged and held a hand out to the alley. “But my Liege, they can be freed–you must help them. With your strength, I’m sure you could do it.”
Danny wanted to, but he didn’t know how. Could he drag them out of the alley? Would anything happen if he were to interfere in the memory? Would it change or would it just evaporate like mist if he involved himself?
Steeling himself, Danny took another deep breath and marched back into the alleyway, determined to help the poor couple escape.
*************
“I don’t know what to do anymore!” Danny flung his hands into the air, frustration coloring his tone. It felt like it had been hours now, but time was strange in this little pocket dimension as he termed it. “I tried to stop the mugging, I tried breaking the gun, I tried flying them away…but every time it just restarted when I interfered!”
Danny shook his head as he watched them be shot all over again, the sock to the jaw and her screams piercing his ears as her husband fell to the ground. He had watched this scene so many times now that Danny felt a bit desensitized and he decided to approach it like a bat. While he may not be part of the furry brigade and actively tried to stay out of the night life (besides emergencies concerning ghosts or patching up his reckless boyfriend), he did receive some training after the family let him in on the secret in case he was kidnapped.
So, Danny sat there and watched every facial expression the adults made and followed along with every movement. From the gun’s safety being clicked off to the soft rustling of a child hiding, as well as the heavy breaths being taken while the fear of death overcame the woman. The gunman was left handed, he was constantly popping his right knuckles and his eyes never stayed focused on one spot. The husband was dressed wealthily, but still modest and his jawline felt familiar as though Danny had seen it before. But what he paid the most attention to was the woman–from her frizzy curls wetting in the rain to the shape of her eyes and the cupid’s bow on her top lip. Everything about her appearance tickled something in Danny’s brain, yet he couldn’t quite place it.
“Hand over your wallet and the jewels–”
Thunder crackled in the distance and he felt electricity sizzle across his skin.
“Please, please don’t hurt my family!”
One shot, a scream and then moments later Danny watched her fall next to her husband. He peered at the woman’s hand as it stretched out towards where her son was hiding. Try as he might, Danny hadn’t been able to get a good look at the young boy but he knew from his enhanced hearing that she had whispered broken words whenever she fell down. Her final words, spoken like a prayer to her son.
“...ce…bru…baby…” Was all that could be heard. But Danny observed her lips silently form the words again as she took her last breath, eyes focused on her son as the light faded from them.
What was it? Ce…bru…bru…ce… Bruce . Danny’s eyes widened as his mind flashed back to the first time he went to Wayne Manor for a family dinner, all of Jason’s siblings had been insisting that he come over (he knew it was to tease Jason and give Danny “the shovel talk”).
“So, how badly do you think dinner will go tonight?” Danny cheekily asked Jason who groaned and pulled him into a side hallway. He laughed at Jason’s expense but smiled as he gave Danny a kiss on the temple, his eyes so indescribably fond that Danny felt his chest fill up with warmth.
“Well, I can guarantee it’ll be a shit show,” Jason hummed and trapped Danny between his legs. “Everyone has been placing bets since you agreed to come on what’ll happen.”
Danny tugged on Jason’s shirt collar and smirked, “Let me guess, Tim bet something like how long until my lore-dropping gives Bruce an ulcer?”
The two of them snickered and Danny nestled his head in the crook of Jason’s neck, feeling too comfortable to move yet but knowing they have to go to the dining room before someone comes looking. Blinking his eyes open, he spotted an old painting that was very obviously lovingly kept–he couldn’t see a speck of dust or age on it.
“Hey Jay, who’s that in the painting over there?” Danny pointed at the one in question and felt Jason turn to look, his chin mussing up Danny’s hair more. He grumbled but didn’t pull away from his boyfriend’s warm arms, instead choosing to tilt his head up and watch Jason’s face.
Pinching his lips and sighing, Jason popped a kiss on the top of Danny’s head and quietly told him. “That painting is of my adoptive grandparents, technically, but yeah they’re Bruce’s folks sometime before they died. Alfie keeps the painting in tip-op shape, always has.”
“What do you mean by ‘technical grandparents’?” Danny used finger quotes when he asked and Jason shifted uncomfortably.
“I mean, respectfully they are legally my grandparents but like, they died when Bruce was eight so there isn’t any emotional attachment to them,” Jason explained, shrugging his shoulders in a way that didn’t feel disrespectful but just a bit apathetic. “I grew up with Alfred taking care of us. He raised Bruce and helped B raise all of us, everything from skinned knees to colds to mental health you know? He’s my grandfather and always will be.”
Danny hummed, deciding on what to say to lighten the mood a little. Nipping at Jason’s chin, he smiled and whispered, “So, it’s really Alfred’s permission that I need to court you, is what I’m hearing?”
Jason had simply laughed a full belly laugh and dragged Danny towards the kitchen to meet everyone officially.
It had been a great evening, so great in fact that Danny had completely forgotten about the old portrait of his future father-in-law’s parents, young and beautiful. They were timeless in that painting and right here in front of Danny, because he finally realized why Thomas’ jawline seemed familiar–it was just as sharp as Bruce’s when he frowned all upset (i,e. all the time).
“Oh no,” Danny mumbled to himself, but the ghost heard him and floated closer to stand beside him. Both of them watched from inches away all of the expressions on Martha Wayne’s face as she saw her life coming to an end once more.
“What is it, my Liege?” They softly asked, seeing the devastation on Martha’s face match Danny’s own.
He felt his phone buzzing incessantly in his pocket, knowing he was past his midnight curfew and Jason was blowing up his phone–probably pissed as hell that Danny wasn’t answering him. But he ignored it as he just thought about how he was going to bring up to the Big Bad Bat that Danny finally found his parent’s ghosts like he promised, but they’re trapped in an endless loop of torment. Oh, and that he didn’t know how to free them.
He was really regretting giving Fenton tech to Batman right now...Danny saw a shiny thermos in his very near future.