Chapter Text
Danny soared through the sky, feeling the wind whip around him as he looked for his brother. It was nearly three in the morning and the rest of their family had already started to turn in for the night but Danny couldn’t bring himself to go home, not yet at least.
It was nice going on patrols with his family. Being a vigilante in Gotham was so utterly different than being a vigilante in Amity Park. It was nice not having to fight ghosts, to not have people hate him for defending the city, he liked fighting side by side with his brother.
Being a vigilante in Gotham was different and he loved every single second of it. He spotted his twin sitting atop the roof of a skyscraper and smiled as he flew towards him and landed beside his brother.
“Ahki,” Damian acknowledged, nodding at him once as Danny sat beside him, cross legged. “How was your patrol?”
Danny shrugged. “Uneventful, but nice. It’s always nice to get to fly around and be in this form. I miss it sometimes.”
Damian nodded and pursed his lips, his feet dangling over the edge. “I never quite know how I should feel about you being a ghost,” he admitted and Danny gave him a curious look.
“What do you mean?” he asked, tilting his head to the side and Damian shrugged his shoulders, leaning back on his palms.
“It’s like, I know that you enjoy the powers and you enjoy being a ghost. I’m happy for you that you enjoy all of the perks that come with your ghost status. But as your brother, I sometimes look at your ghost form and my heart aches,” he admitted quietly, staring down at the city far below. “I look at you and I just think about how my twin has died, that you have gone through unspeakable pain and suffering and that I was always too late, always unable to save you from the things and the people who hurt you.”
Danny gave him a sad smile and bumped his shoulder against Damian’s. “I’m sorry,” he said, not knowing what else to say. He didn’t know what it was like for others. He knew that Sam, Tucker, and Jazz had always struggled with his status as a halfa, that they got prickly and weird any time he made a dead joke–especially Tucker and Sam as they had been there when he died.
But for him, it was just a part of his existence. He had died, multiple times. The pain was something he could feel each time he closed his eyes and thought about it. The torture at the hands of his Grandfather, the electricity that coursed through his veins, burning him from what felt like the inside out. He remembered each injury that marred his body, remembered each time his autonomy had been taken from him. But he couldn’t find himself to focus on it for too long, and if he did, it was easier to make jokes about it rather than the seriousness of the matter.
He knew the things that had happened to him were unspeakable, knew that it was horrific and hard to even think about at times, but it was simply a fact of life for him.
He had to focus on the positives, focus on the fact that now he had these amazing powers. He had new friendships and people who cared about him, he had a haunt and got to explore places most people would never get the chance to explore.
He knew that for Damian and the others it was hard. That seeing him as Phantom would always cause a pang of grief, how could it not? His ghost form was a reminder that he had died.
“You have nothing to be sorry for,” Damian said with a sigh, resting his head on Danny’s shoulder. “I think it will just take some getting used to. Despite grieving for you, I am also so grateful to still have you. I-I have missed you so much.”
Danny rested his cheek atop Damian’s head and loosened a breath. “I’ve missed you too Ahki, more than you know. But we’re here, we’re together and nothing in this world will ever keep me from you again, nothing will tear us apart.”
“We need to come up with our own hero team name,” Damian said, changing the subject. Danny gave him a knowing smile and didn’t mention the subject change.
“What about Red Bird?”
“Red Bird is fine, but I want to do something with my twin,” Damian said with a soft hum. “I was thinking Ghost and Shadow.”
“Ghost?” Danny asked, wrinkling his nose. “Isn’t that a little on the nose?”
“Coming from the man who called himself Danny Phantom,” Damian scoffed.
“I like Phantom!”
“It’s horrible, I will be Shadow and you will be Ghost,” Damian said with a sniff and Danny gave him a look.
“Who died and made you boss? Last I checked I’m the big brother and you’re supposed to listen to me,” Danny said and Damian pulled away and gave him the most unimpressed look, his lips pressed together in a thin line.
“You’re joking.”
“I could shove you off this roof right now,” Danny threatened and Damian threw his head back, letting out a loud laugh.
“I would like to see you try. I can take you in a fight any time,” he declared and Danny let out a soft growl.
“Rematch,” he declared and Damian shook his head just as a sudden light appeared and Robin flew in front of them, giving the twins a curious look.
“They must be done tormenting Grandfather,” Damian said, smiling as Robin shifted from Tim’s Robin to Dick’s Robin, giving them a toothy grin before they started to flip in the air, spinning and twisting, a bright light in an otherwise dark and dreary Gotham night.
“Maybe they just needed a break,” Danny said with a soft smile. “Grandfather can be pretty exhausting to deal with sometimes.”
“Tell me about it, at least you got about ten years of reprieve from the man,” Damian said with a sigh before he laid out on his back.
“Yeah it just took me getting murdered by him repeatedly,” Danny laughed, leaning back on his forearms. Damian let out a soft breath. “If the death jokes are too much, I can lay off for a while. I just like making them. I dunno, helps me cope.”
Damian breathed out. “It’s alright. I’m used to Jason making his stupid jokes all the time, you are much less dramatic about it than he is.”
“Jason just has a flair for the dramatic,” Danny said with a hum, watching as Robin shot off in the night sky. He smiled and closed his eyes and enjoyed being in his brother’s presence.
He couldn’t wait to see what his future was going to hold. He didn’t know what to expect with Ra’s, that was likely not the last that they were going to see of his grandfather, the immortal asshole was far too stubborn to ever fully let Danny get away. Not when he still didn’t know what Danny was or how he managed to survive all these years. No, Robin would keep him at bay, but it wouldn’t keep Ra’s away forever.
There were still other things he would need to deal with, things that were still waiting to happen. Bruce wanted to meet Vlad, Dani, and Jazz eventually.
There was always a chance that the Fentons would come looking for him. Sure, Jack had helped him get away that night, but there was still that chance. That chance that Maddie and Jack would see Danny on the news and get some hairbrained theory that he had managed to manipulate the Waynes into coming after him. There were still the Anti-Ecto Acts that needed to be taken care of. Now that he was no longer in crisis mode trying to figure out what the hell he was supposed to do with his life, he could try to maintain his friendships with Tucker and Sam again.
He needed to call Jazz soon, sure she had been getting updates on everything happening but he needed to figure out when she could fly out to Gotham to meet Danny’s family. Maybe they could be her family too.
There were still so many loose ends that needed to be tied up, so many questions that he was still needing answers on. But that was life, wasn’t it? Just a series of loose ends that you slowly tried to tie up as you aged and moved on with life.
What mattered right now was that he was home. He was home and he had his family and he had everything that he had been longing for right there within his grasp.
There were still a lot of unknowns in Danyal Thomas Al Ghul Wayne’s life, but one thing he knew for certain: his family would be with him every step of the way. And that mattered to Danny more than anything else in the world. He was home, he was safe, and he was loved.