Chapter Text
In some universes, Amity is its own planet situated in the Andromeda Galaxy. Sector 4610, to be specific, as some universes keep track of that sort of thing. But in Danny’s universe, Amity was called Amity Park, and it was a small city in the middle of Illinois. There wasn’t a specific reason for this change, except for how the energies of his universe formed. As all things happened, a boy walked into a portal and was forever changed.
Amity Park was a closed off city for as long as Danny could remember. The magical borders kept the outside world out of the city, making outsiders not even aware that the city had existed. But when Pariah Dark stole the city, the magical borders disintegrated, and for the first time, Amity Park was exposed to the outside world. What followed was a brutal and bloody war that had all but decimated the small city. The government hunted down anyone inside the city, and were well within the law to do so. The GIW were efficient in their hunts, and within months, most of the city was dead.
Danny had tried to hold them back as much as he could. Ultimately he failed, and was forced to leave the city. He was bleeding out and had little hope of actually making it to the Far Frozen for treatment. His bloody hands made the controls of the Specter Speeder malfunction, but the unconsciousness was pressing in on him from all sides, and he couldn’t find it in himself to care that much. The speeder started to spiral out of control.
This is it. This is how I die. He thought to himself.
He felt the ship slow down and land. The controls were beeping loudly, signaling an imminent explosion. He sank lower into the chair with a soft groan, waiting for the explosion that would kill him.
Light assaulted his eyes as the top of the cruiser was ripped off. His bleary vision didn’t give him much of a visual as he heard shouting all around him and hands touching him as they lifted him from the speeder. He didn’t fight against the hands; he was far too weak to find the strength to move his limbs. He fell unconscious.
When he woke up the next time, he noticed he was floating on top of a bed. He allowed himself to drift down until he was laying flat against the bed. Every bit of him hurt, and he felt something foreign in his stomach. He ran his hand across his stomach, partially surprised to feel the stitches covering his abdomen. Phasing the stitches out took no effort as he hated the feeling of them in his skin. As he sat up, he realized he was in a medical bay. Immediately, he felt his panic rise as he realized the GIW had probably captured him.
“You’re okay.” A voice told him.
Problem was, he had no idea what the man had said to him. The man was tall and muscular, and wore a bright blue uniform with a red cape.
He immediately shrank away from the man, stuttering out a threat as he moved. ”G-get away from me!”
It seems as if the man had no idea what he was saying either. The man looked at him in confusion as he gestured for another man to come into the room. This man was tall, but lean in a way the other man wasn’t. He glowed green, which would’ve comforted Danny, but it wasn’t the familiar ghostly-green glow that he was used to.
”Hey. You’re safe.” The man told him, “My name is Green Lantern and this is Superman. What’s your name?”
”I SAID GET BACK!” Danny yelled, creating a wall of ice that separates him from the two men.
“Woah!” One of the men shouted.
”Buddy, I promise we’re not going to hurt you. We’re superheroes. We’re the good guys.”
He considered his options. He didn’t know what a superhero was, but if they were the good guys, should he trust them? Then again, the GIW thought they were the good guys, too. Could he escape from here without a fight? Where was he even?
”You don’t have to be scared. We know you’re an alien. You’re safe with us.”
That comment made him pause. An alien? These people thought he was an alien? He dropped the ice wall and looked at the two men again.
”Are you going to turn me in?” He asked Green Lantern.
”Turn you in? What do you mean?”
“My planet, Amity, was destroyed and since then I’ve been on the run.” He said, leaning into the alien story they had crafted for him, but telling them the truth at the same time.
”What? Who’s hunting you?” Lantern asked.
”The GIW.” His voice was laced with confusion. How did they not know what the GIW was? Was he not on Earth?
Superman looked concerned. If he couldn’t understand Superman, he assumed that Green Lantern was somehow translating what he was saying.
”What’s that?”
Danny was starting to get annoyed. ”The Ghost Investigation Ward.”
”Is that what you are? A ghost?” Lantern asked.
He huffed in annoyance and crossed his arms. An action that very much so showed his young age. ”That is what they call us, it is not what we call ourselves.”
”So what do you call yourselves? Lantern’s voice was gentle.
”It depends on what side of the Veil you ask.” Danny paused, thinking his words over. “On my side of the Veil, we call ourselves Amitians. On the other side, they call themselves Denizens.”
”And what’s your name?
Danny hesitated. This man didn’t seem like he was aggressive, or like he was going to turn him into the GIW. This made him believe that he was on another planet that had human-like beings. He knew the Realms were infinite—he’d just just never considered the possibility of going to a new planet. Maybe he was an alien, after all.
”Phantom.” He said after a long silence.
”It’s nice to meet you, Phantom.” Lantern grinned, extending his hand out to shake Danny’s.
Danny flinched so violently he fell off the bed with a shriek. He peeked up from the floor, using the bed to cover most of his body like Lantern was going to attack him. The only thing that Lantern could see of him was his white hair and green eyes. Everything below that was covered by the bed.
“Sorry.” Lantern retracted his hand, rubbing the back of his neck with it awkwardly, ”You don’t shake hands on Amity?”
He shook his head, crouching lower to the ground. Was Lantern trying to fight him? ”What did you call that? Shake hands?” He waved his hands in a jazz hand motion.
Superman burst out laughing. He tried to stifle his giggles by turning away and clearing his throat, but he definitely didn’t fool Danny. Danny had superhearing; he could still hear Superman laughing.
”No, I’ll show you with Superman.” Lantern extended his hand to Superman, who shook it.
Danny watched curiously from his position on the floor. After a few seconds, he floated back up to the bed so that he could be seen by the two men. He hovered in the air, tucking his legs under him so that he was sitting criss-crossed.
”Why do you do that?” He tilted his head as Superman let go of Lantern’s hand.
”It’s a traditional Earth greeting.” Lantern explained.
Danny’s stomach dropped. So they were on Earth, but was this his Earth? He couldn’t understand Superman, so it was entirely possible that he had fallen through a portal to a different universe. He hid his expression under his mask of curiosity.
”Superman wants to ask you a few questions, is that okay?” Lantern asked.
”Sure.” He shrugged.
“How old are you?” Superman asked.
He waited for Lantern to translate the question. Once Lantern had repeated it, he decided to be honest with the two superheroes.
“15.” He said.
“What else can you do?” Superman asked.
At that, Danny grinned, exposing his razor sharp teeth. He knew his teeth were far sharper than normal humans, and that he had more teeth than humans did. He had two rows of razor-sharp teeth on the top and bottom of his jaw, along with a longer tongue. His teeth more closely resembled wolf teeth than humans. Superman visibly blanched when faced with Danny’s fangs.
“Do you want to see?” He asked. He didn’t have many chances to show off, and he always took the opportunity when it arose.
Lantern and Superman exchanged a glance before Superman nodded. They gestured for him to follow them, which he did. They led him to a large empty room that was in the middle of the base. They passed a few heroes on their way up, some of whom waved at them when they saw Danny. He waved back, confused on why he was waving. Must be another difference of being on a different Earth.
They were joined by another hero who introduced himself as Batman. Danny stared at Batman for a long moment, floating close to the caped crusader. He tilted his head as he saw Batman’s entire body tense at the close contact with Danny. He wasn’t looking at Batman, but at his aura. Mixed in with the scent of a human was a far more intriguing scent that had grabbed his attention.
”Time traveler.” Danny said confidently.
“What? How can he tell?” Batman asked.
Lantern conveyed the translation, making Danny laugh. ”I can smell the fabric of time on him. I can also feel it on him, he’s a time anomaly.” His words didn’t seem to comfort Batman at all.
“What does that mean?” Batman asked.
”Nothing bad. Time travelers just light up like beacons for me because of my mentor.” Danny hummed, floating away from Batman. He wondered if it was Clockwork who had sent him here, or if he had just fallen through a natural portal. The trio exchanged a glance behind him. Batman didn’t seem pleased about the conversation.
Eventually they made it to the training room. Superman had stayed by Danny’s side the entire time, making him wonder why the man was so close. He wasn’t going to run; they hadn’t tried to hurt him yet.
“I can show you what I can do first, if you want.” Superman offered.
He nodded eagerly, excited to see what powers Superman had.
Superman used his laser vision to set a training dummy on fire. Then a second later, used his icy breath to put the fire out. He looked at Danny, who was positively vibrating with excitement.
”I can do that too!” He used his own laser vision to set the same dummy on fire, and used his icy breath to put it out. He then went a step further and waved his hand, coating the entire dummy in ice, and using a weak sonic wail to break the ice. He had to be careful how much power he put into the wail, but it was weak enough to only damage the dummy.
Superman was eying him in curiosity. “Ice powers?”
”To an extent,” He hummed, trying to think of a way to explain denizen powers. Core powers varied from person to person; the most common cores were fire and ice, but Danny was neither. Danny had a space core; which allowed him to create or destroy matter at will. Due to the vastness of space being cold, it also gave him the ability to create ice, but if he created a star, he could use heat from it as well. It was complicated to anyone who wouldn’t understand how his powers worked.
”My powers are… volatile.” He finished. ”I can control them, though, so you don’t have to worry about that.”
“What else can you do?” Superman asked.
In response, he created a yellow sun in his hands. The last thing he expected was for Superman to suck in a breath and absorb the energy from the sun he’d created. He watched the interaction for a minute until he allowed the sun to dissipate. He could see the effect it had on Superman’s skin. Superman’s skin was now glowing, but he wasn’t sure if anyone else but him could see it.
”Your skin glows.” He floated closer to Superman, looking at the skin of his face closely.
“It does?” Superman asked.
He nodded, poking Superman’s cheek with his finger. The man let him, and didn’t interrupt him. Danny curiously watched the way that Superman’s skin glittered like sunlight itself. He swore he could watch it all day, but the longer that he watched, the more it lost the effect of the sunlight. It must be an automatic effect from absorbing sunlight. The man’s blue eyes were extraordinarily blue, a specific shade that he hadn’t seen before. Even Danny’s blue-eyed Amitian form didn’t have such a clear blue color.
Batman cleared his throat, drawing Danny’s attention away from Superman, who was blushing at the attention Danny was giving him. He floated away from Superman, tilting his head in confusion at the Bat.
“Was that a real sun you created just now?” Batman asked.
He nodded. ”My powers basically boil down to space powers on top of normal Denizen powers. I’m the only of my kind that had space powers. Most Denizens have ice or fire power, but I know my sister had electricity powers, so it’s not unlikely to develop different powers. Does that make sense?”
“I thought you said you were an Amitian?” Lantern asked.
“I’m half and half.” He responded, lansing on the ground. Danny’s Denizen form had light blue skin, bright white hair, neon green eyes, and pointed ears. He changed to his Amitian form, which looked more human-like, but was clearly still alien. White rings formed around his waist, revealing his Amitian form. His skin turned to a light shade of green, his hair changed to black, and his eyes turned to a blue-green color. His ears were still pointed, and his teeth were sharp, but not as sharp as they were in his Denizen form. Freckles dotted his face, giving him a little bit more of a human look. “I’m called a halfa.”
With all of the ectoplasm in the air, Amity Park had become its own species of human. That was why they called themselves Amitian, because they hadn’t been human for a long time. Even since the opening of his parents' portal that turned him into a halfa. Amitians had looked nothing like humans for generations.
He noticed the three men outright staring at him, and it made him slightly nervous. He put his hands in the pockets of the blue jeans he was wearing. ”I know it’s weird. Where I’m from, it’s normal. I’m not the only halfa, but there’s not a lot of us. My sister, godfather, my two best friends… we were it of the halfas.”
“I’m sorry for your loss.” Superman reached out, putting his hand on Danny’s shoulder.
Danny reacted on instinct, grabbing Superman’s hand, flipping him, and slamming him into the ground of the training room. An angry snarl escaped his lips before he realized what he was doing. He immediately got off of Superman, floating in the air with a sheepish look on his face. ”Sorry.”
Superman laughed. “Do you want to live with me?
”What?” He stared at Superman in shock as the man got out of the dented metal floor and cleaned the non existent dust from his suit.
“We have similar powers, and we’re both aliens. I’d like it if you came to live with me. On Earth.” Superman grinned.
“Uhhh.” He hesitated, then realized he had nothing to lose. “Sure…?”
Superman grinned. “We aliens have to stick together, you know? Oh! That means you have to learn English. I could start teaching you tomorrow when I get some supplies.”
Danny stared at him. Superman was definitely more excited about this than he was. He knew that he couldn’t go home, not like there was one to go home to. But if he had to be stuck anywhere, he was glad that it would be with kind people.