Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Prologue

Run fast for your mother, run fast for your father

Run for your children, for your sisters and brothers

Leave all your love and your longing behind

You can't carry it with you if you want to survive

The dog days are over

Danny grinned as he fell onto one of the reclining seats in Sam’s home theater. “Can you believe we’re just six months away from graduating high school?” He breathed, looking at his two closest friends. 

Sam grinned and slung her arm over his shoulder. “I’ve been counting down the days,” she drawled, a smug smile on her face. 

Tucker beamed from Danny’s other side, his legs now draped over Danny’s as he pulled up his PDA. “Six months, twenty-three days, and eight hours until we are all officially high school graduates.”

“Then we’re off to Stanford,” Sam breathed out, her smile wide. She turned to Danny and grinned, her elbow slightly dug into his shoulder as she did. “But more importantly, you’re turning eighteen in January. How’s it feel knowing that in just two months you’ll finally be a grown-up just like us?” She asked with a teasing smile. 

Danny scowled and made his shoulder intangible, making his best friend fall off of him. Sam scowled and flicked him in the forehead after she sat up and readjusted her ripped t-shirt. 

“I dunno,” Danny admitted, shrugging his shoulders as he reclined back in the chair. “Ever since I became a halfa, aging feels weird? I don’t know how to explain it either. It’s like yeah, I’m obviously aging and growing, I mean hell, I hit that weird growth spurt last year and I’m like six foot now. But I don’t know, aging just feels weird,” he said, his nose wrinkled slightly as he tried to figure out best how he felt about turning eighteen. “I’m just grateful I’ve lived this long. That my parents haven’t tried to kill me yet for being Phantom,” he finally admitted, his brow still furrowed. 

“You still planning on going to find out about your biological family this summer?” Tucker asked, looking up from his PDA to give his friend a curious look. Danny simply hummed and nodded his head once. 

“Yeah. I don’t know, don’t get me wrong, Mom and Dad are ya know, my parents. But they’ve never actually been good parents. They never quite treated me like I’m their son, just that kid that they got to keep their daughter happy. I just want to know what the hell happened that led to my parents finding me wandering around in the mountains of Pakistan of all places,” Danny said with a huff. 

“Why were your parents even there in the first place?” Tucker asked, his brow furrowed. 

Danny shrugged. “The Pichal Peris,” he said and snorted at the blank looks on both of his friends' faces. “It’s an urban legend. Pichal Peris are said to roam the mountains of India and Pakistan. They’re supposedly in the Himalayas but they appear as beautiful women whose feet are backward and lure men into the forest where they transform into these tall demonic creatures who will attack and eat the men they steal. They were traveling the globe looking into different ghosts and urban legends that existed there. Instead of finding a Pichal Peri, though, they found me and couldn’t find anyone in the surrounding villages who were looking for a kid so they took me home.”

“Is that even legal?” Sam asked, leaning forward to look at Danny curiously. Danny simply gave him an incredulous look. 

“Have you met my parents?” He asked, his voice dripped with sarcasm. 

Sam threw her head back and laughed loudly. “You’re right,” she admitted and shook her head. “Okay, shut up, we’re gonna watch the new Godzilla movie, remember?”

“Finally,” Tucker groaned, resting his head on Danny’s shoulder.

Danny smiled and petted his best friend’s head as Sam put on their movie and the three got comfortable as the opening credits appeared.  He couldn't wait for the next six months!

When he got home he found himself sitting across from his parents who were giving him a look he had never gotten from either of them.

Pure disgust. 

They were sitting at the kitchen table, both of his parents had their arms crossed over their chests as they looked at him. Finally, his mother slid her phone across the table to show him a picture of Danny mid transformation in the middle of the lab. 

“Would you like to explain?” She asked carefully, her voice even. His mom had her goggles off, her red hair out from under the hood of her jumpsuit. Beside her, his dad was still dressed in his pajamas, looking ruffled and ready to go to bed.

“Uh, I’m a ghost?” Danny said, looking up at his parents, his heart was racing fast in his chest. His palms were dripping with sweat and he kept wiping them off on his jeans as he tried to stay calm. This was absolutely not how he wanted to come out as a halfa to his parents, not at all. This was a situation completely and totally out of his control and he hated it. 

Maddie’s lips thinned. “I can see that,” she murmured. “How long have you been masquerading as our son?” 

Danny froze. “What?” He rasped out, his mouth suddenly dry as a desert. 

“She said, how long have you been acting like you were our Danny boy?” Jack grounded out. 

“It-It’s not an act. I am Danny, I’ve always been Danny,” the teenager stammered out, wishing that his sister wasn’t all the way in England of all places for school. He needed her here, needed her level mindedness, her calm disposition, her logic. He wouldn’t be able to explain his way out of this with his parents, not when they were already staring at him like he was a monster. “Look, when I was fourteen I went into that portal and it turned on with me inside. It-it changed me. It turned me into this and I died but not all the way,” he said. Why did it suddenly feel like he couldn’t breathe anymore? His lungs were tight in his chest and he felt like he was going to asphyxiate. 

Maddie nodded her head, her lips still pursed tight as she stared at Danny with that unnerving, probing gaze of hers. “I see, so you are the leftover remnants of our son that never passed on,” she said and closed her eyes for a moment before she opened them and leveled Danny with a frightening stare. “Out of respect for my son, I will give you ten minutes to get your things and go. But I want you to go, and I don’t want to see you in this town again. Do you understand me?” She snarled out. 

Danny’s face paled, it felt like his heart had finally stopped beating. “What?”

“We don’t want you here, ghost. The only reason I’m letting you leave this place is because you are the last vestiges of my son and I’m letting you go. But I want you gone, now,” she told him. 

The halfa let out a breath and looked at his father. “Dad?” He whispered, his eyes wide, burning with tears that he refused to shed. 

“Go,” he whispered, his voice hoarse.

He nodded and stood up. “Alright, fine,” he croaked out, his heart thudded dully in his chest. He said nothing else to his parents as he made his way up to his bedroom and started to pack up whatever he could think to pack. He grabbed his backpack and emptied it of his textbook and notebooks before he started shoving his clothes in the bag, a pair of shoes, and his toiletries, he was on autopilot as he packed whatever he could think of in the backpack. 

He shot a text to his group chat with Sam, Tucker, and Jazz. He let them know the situation before telling them that he was going to be going to the Ghost Zone for a while. 

It was the only place he could think of going when he was obviously no longer welcome in not only his home but Amity Park in general. He turned his phone off as phone calls started to come in one after another and shoved it in his backpack.

He headed back downstairs and turned to his parents–the Fentons. “I need to use your ghost portal to go home,” he said quietly. 

Jack said nothing as he nodded his head and led Danny down to the lab. 

Somehow this was worse than anything Dany had imagined happening. He had thought that if his parents ever learned of his halfa status they would strap him down and vivisect him. But this? This was somehow worse? Because he could see the grief in their eyes when they looked at him, the distrust in him, the fact that they looked at him like he was a monster.

That was the worst feeling he had ever felt in his life. He wanted to curl up in bed and cry for days and never get up. 

Jack punched in the code to the portal and turned to Danny. “I hope you are able to move on, Danno. I-” Jack cut himself off for a moment and his shoulders slumped down. “I’m sorry that we let this happen to you. You deserved better.”

Danny stared at his father, his heart hurt so bad. He had never felt so betrayed in his entire life. “Yeah,” he whispered, his hands gripping the straps of his backpack. “I did. I do,” he said as he walked towards the portal. “And I’m going to find it.”

With that, Danny stepped through the portal without another word. 

He drifted through the Infinite Realms aimlessly, not quite sure where to go, who to talk to, what the hell he was even going to do. Part of him wondered if he should just go to his haunt and stay there, that was his designated place now that he was a ghost but it just didn't feel right. It didn’t feel like home to him. 

Nowhere felt like home to him anymore, and he wasn’t quite sure if he would ever have a home again. Not when he had been cast away from the only home he ever knew.

“Why are you pouting?” Clockwork said behind him. Danny turned from where he lay sprawled out, floating along the realms. 

“I’m not pouting, I’m thinking. And I’m thinking because my parents just kicked me out of my home and you didn’t even bother to warn me about it,” he said as Clockwork shifted from that of a small child to an elderly man. He leaned on his staff and looked at Danny curiously. 

“That was never your home, Danyal,” he said, saying Danny’s name in that strange accented way he had always done. 

Danny gave him an indignant look. “Well then where is my home? Huh? Because it’s definitely not here in the Ghost Zone and it’s not in Amity Park. Now that I’m a high school dropout, I have no hope of going to college, especially if my par-the Fentons declare me dead, which they probably will, I’m screwed, Clockwork.”

“You are not,” Clockwork said in a bored voice. “Your home is somewhere else, somewhere far away.”

Danny snorted. “What? Pakistan? I’m not going all the way to Pakistan, I don’t know who my biological parents are,” he muttered, rolling his eyes. 

“No, Danyal, not Pakistan. Gotham,” Clockwork said, his eyes shining with the knowledge that he knew something Danny didn’t. “You have family in Gotham City. That is where you need to go to find your true family, the ones who will love and accept you unconditionally.”

Danny gave the man a curious look, his eyebrow arched high. “Can you tell me who they are?”

He scowled as Clockwork gave him that knowing grin that basically said he wasn’t going to tell Danny jackshit about his family in Gotham.

“Go tell your friends goodbye, and then go to Gotham, find your family. You will know them when you see them,” he said before practically throwing Danny into a portal that opened up in the middle of Sam’s room. 

“No Jazz! I don’t know where he is! Tucker’s here trying to find him but he’s somewhere in the Ghost Zone and– and nevermind, he’s here,” she said, her eyes landing on Danny’s sprawled-out form. He felt himself shift from his ghost form to his human one and continued to lay sprawled out on the floor.

“He’s fine, I don’t know what happened but I’ll update you once we talk to him,” she said. “I’ve got it, Jazz. Go to sleep, it's like midnight in England.”

“Hey buddy,” Tucker said softly, shaking Danny’s shoulder lightly. “YOu wanna tell me what happened?”

“I have to go to Gotham,” he mumbled into the carpet. Tucker’s hand on his shoulder froze. 

“Gotham? Like Gotham City with the bats and the Joker and the big bads?” he stammered. 

“Yup,” he grumbled before Sam grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled him up by it. 

“Tell us everything, Danny. What the hell happened?” She asked. Danny sniffed and let everything out, telling his friends about the conversation with his parents, what Clockwork told him in the Ghost Zone, and how he felt lost as hell. 

By the end of it, his head was pillowed in Sam’s lap and Tucker was squeezing his hand tight as he sat cross-legged beside him. 

“You’re going to have to go to Gotham, Danny,” Sam said softly, petting her fingers through his hair softly, her sharp manicured nails scratching his head lightly. 

“I know,” Danny said, his eyes closed tight. “I’ll at least find some answers in Gotham. But I don’t have any money, or any plans or even any ideas about what I’m looking for when I get there.”

“Sam gave him a sad smile. “Let’s come up with a plan together, then,” she said softly. 

Danny pursed his lips and nodded. They would come up with a plan, this couldn’t be the end of it, he refused to let it. He was going to find his family and he was going to be able to move past this somehow. How could he not when he had the best friends in the world helping him every step of the way?

Chapter Text

Six Months Later

Danny loved Gotham City. In fact, he might even say he was thriving in this dreary city. It was of course, no where near normal but it reminded Danny of home in quite a few ways. The way the city would erupt with plants whenever Poison Ivy got upset, or the way the villains here would inconvenience everyone’s days. It was reminiscent of Danny’s ghost friends whenever they decided to cause trouble for Amity Park.

Life had been nice here, so far. It wasn’t perfect, definitely not by any means. Danny had taken a while to get used to the way things worked here, get used to no longer having Sam and Tucker by his side every day. The Fentons had declared Danny legally dead so with the help of Tucker and Technus, Danny managed to create a new life for himself. 

Danny Nightingale was an eighteen year old psychic who ran a little fortune telling shop in a small brownstone building on the outskirts of Old Gotham. He had his little shop on the first floor and a small studio apartment right above it. His landlord had been amused when Danny had shown up with an entire year’s rent upfront for the entire two story building but had accepted it without asking any questions. Danny had never been so grateful that he had gone to Gotham of all places to lay low.

He had also been so immensely grateful that he had allowed Tucker and Technus steal money from Vlads account and wire it to Danny, the fruit loop didn’t even notice the money was missing. 

Getting set up in Gotham had been surprisingly easy. Danny had quickly gotten his meager belongings moved in and set up shop. It was Sam’s idea to run a fortune telling shop. It was an easy way for the ghost to go under the radar, use his powers and make a quick buck without having to go to school.

Danny Nightingale ran his fortune shop while studying for his GED test and did a few side jobs here and there. It was maybe a month into living here, though, that he had found that he was starting to miss the hero life more than he originally expected to.

So, once the ghosts realized that the new psychic in town was actually a ghost himself, they had started lining up at his door to get their unfinished business taken care of. It wasn’t too bad of a set up, though. 

The ghosts were typically rather pleasant, and some of them even managed to pay him for his services. Gotham ghosts were nothing like the ghosts that he had dealt with in Amity Park, which made sense when he started to think about it. 

In Amity they had managed to open a portal to the ghost zone itself, the ghosts that typically came through were the ones who either had already crossed to the other side and chose the Ghost Zone to be their forever or they were ecto entities, or neverborns who were creations of ectoplasm and thought. The ghosts in Gotham weren’t either of those. 

These were people who had died and had not managed to cross over to their eternity, whether that be because they had unfinished business or needed that extra push to move on. So, Danny did what he could to help. 

He appeared at random houses and told people that their loved ones had hidden cash under that creaky floorboard in the living room, he talked to some about what existence was like on the other side and walked them over, and sometimes he found himself giving information to the Bats so that they could solve the murders of some of the ghosts.

Those were always the weirdest ones for Danny. The Gotham Vigilantes were unlike anything Danny had ever encountered, they were intense and they were a little too much at times. He had made sure to establish himself with them as Phantom rather than Nightingale, though. 

Phantom had shown up in front of Batman on Danny’s third week in Gotham when he realized he wouldn’t be able to help the ghosts get avenged the way they were wanting to. Batman had been startled and questioned Phantom within an inch of his life before he had accepted the fact that Danny was just a slightly more powerful version of the ghost hero, Deadman. Thankfully the ghost knew Danny from their run ins together in the Infinite Realms and had been more than happy to vouch for the halfa when it came to the big bat and had told Constantine to tell Batman that Phantom was a hero in the ghost realms. 

Most ghosts were like Deadman, though, they weren’t visible to others unless they were magic in some way or connected to death. It was due to their lack of ectoplasm. The ghosts in Amity were different because the entire town was dripping in the substance but everywhere else? They would have likely been invisible. 

Batman had accepted that Phantom was trying to get answers for victims and had told the rest of his merry crew of vigilantes to take any information they got from the ghost. It was a rather good system, if Danny did say so himself. He had a few favorites in the Batcrew that he was more likely to go to with his information. 

He particularly liked talking to the youngest one, the former Robin who now went by the name Red Bird. He also enjoyed Red Robin’s company whenever he got the chance to talk to him. The two were the easiest to give information to and seemed to get it taken care of the fastest. 

“So, what do you see?” a woman asked, giving Danny a wide, hopeful look. Danny tore his from the crystal ball he had gotten from Desiree and frowned. 

“I see a man, blond hair, green eyes, he has freckles and a small scar on his eyebrow,” Danny said, squinting into the crystal, the swirling ectoplasm inside showed him the ghost of this woman’s brother who was currently playing volleyball in Akropolis with the gorgon sisters. “Mik-mark- Marcus, is his name,” he said, looking up at the woman whose eyes were now watering, her hands pressed to her mouth. 

“Marcus is my brother,” she said quietly, tears streamed down her face. “He died in a car accident last year. I, I have always wondered if he was at peace. He died so young.”

Danny gave the woman a small smile. “He’s at peace, he wants you to know that he’s happy where he is now. He wants you to move on, you can’t keep blaming yourself,” he said and the woman burst into tears. This was always the most awkward part. He passed some tissues over to the woman and gave her a polite smile as she finished letting it all out before she finally managed to calm down enough to pay him for his services. He even managed to get her to buy a few special crystals that would help her feel at peace (crystalized ectoplasm) and a few of his cards to give to friends in the future. 

Once she was gone, Danny let out a breath of air and slumped in his seat as he looked around his shop. He was dressed in long, flowing fabrics with mandalas and other shapes on them, a costume idea that Desiree had gleefully shared when she found out that Danny’s new schtick was going to be as a fortune teller. She had been more than happy to help Danny figure out everything he needed, sat down, and explained tarot cards, palm reading, moon cycles, and everything else he needed to get away with his new business. 

With the help of his ghost powers, he had made a rather convincing fortune teller and had been making a lot more money than he had expected. He had even made a name for himself in the city as one of the only legit psychics around. It was a pretty great set up if he did say so himself. 

But he did feel rather cheesy when he looked around his shop at the tapestries that hung from the wall, the beaded curtains that separated the front of the shop from the back, the candles and incense, the teas and crystals, it all had Danny feeling a little silly if he was being totally honest. But he was also starting to get more and more interested in all of the things he had learned since he had taken up his new craft. 

Sam had been beyond excited when she learned that Danny was actually rather in tune with the occult and had a knack for what he was doing. So far he hadn’t had a single upset customer. He wasn’t sure how long that would last but six months was a pretty damn good record if he could say so himself. 

He snapped his fingers and the candles went out within the shop. He flicked his hand and the front door locked and the sign spun to close. Danny stood from his plush chair and put up his supplies before he slipped past the wooden beads and started up the stairs to his apartment. He needed to change and eat dinner before he met with his ghosts for the night to see what they needed taken care of and meet up with the bats for any new information he had for them.

As busy as Danny was with his new routine, with his customers, his ghostly activities as well as his team ups with the bats, he was still lonely. 

He had yet to find this family that Clockwork had told him about and wasn’t quite sure where to start. The ghost of time had been absolutely no help, either with his mysterious smiles every time Danny even so much as asked. It was a fruitless endeavor and Danny had given up on getting any kind of information from the ghost. 

He was starting to wonder if maybe it was a found family situation, maybe he needed to go out, make some friends, get to know people in town that aren’t his customers. Maybe then he could find this family he was being promised. 

He didn’t know, but he hoped to the ancients that he found them soon. The phone calls to Jazz, Sam, and Tucker just weren’t enough. Neither were the visits from Dani when she flew through Gotham and even the visits to the Ghost Zone. 

It just, it wasn’t the same as having family here, as having a home and a place to go where he is held and he is loved. That’s what he was wanting and he hadn’t found it yet. 

He hated to say it but he was starting to get touch starved. As shitty as the Fentons were at times, they were tactile and they gave hugs and cuddles daily. Danny was missing it. The last time he had been hugged by someone he cared about was when he had flown to England to visit Jazz before his move to Gotham. 

Preparing his dinner was something Danny did on autopilot nowadays. He turned on his electric kettle for a glass of tea, started water on the stove and started to grab the things he needed for macaroni and cheese. Was a blue box of artificial cheese and tea a healthy meal? Likely not but Danny hadn’t gone grocery shopping yet and it was what he had. 

He hadn’t realized just how much went into being an adult. If it hadn’t been for the help of his friends and sister he wasn’t sure if he would have survived as long as he had so far. He didn’t know how to pay bills, wasn’t sure how to lease an apartment, and he sure as hell didn’t know how to buy groceries. The whole being an adult thing was hard, much harder than he expected. 

Now as he came up to the hot summer days of July within just a few weeks, he had a feeling things were going to be even more interesting. His electricity bill would probably go up with him turning on the air conditioning, he would likely need to find light, cooler meals, and not to mention he would have an uptick in business with school being out for the summer. 

School. He should have graduated by now, instead, he was a high school drop out getting his damn GED. He was a legally dead individual living under a fake name with no real future. Everything just felt bleak as fuck and he hated it. 

He tapped his fingers on the tiled counter as he watched the water boil and tried to keep from getting angry. He would likely never forgive the Fentons for what they had done. Part of him wondered if getting vivisected would have been better than to be turned away, to be declared dead. 

Sam and Tucker had told him about the funeral the Fentons held, the memorial that was now at Casper High, his grave that was full of flowers and notes. It left a sour pit in his stomach that had him feeling sick and gross and angry. Vlad had gone searching for him in the Ghost Zone when he learned the news. He had explained to the older halfa everything that had happened and well, Danny hadn’t heard from his godfather since, but he had been angry when he left Danny in the Ghost zone. 

He poured the noodles into the pot and let out a breath. This wasn’t the life he wanted for himself, but it wasn’t permanent. He was going to find his family, he was going to find his home. Eventually. 

Chapter Text

Twelve Years ago 

The little boy stumbled through the desert dazed and confused, his head hurt something fierce. When he had touched it earlier, there was blood that came back with his hand. His eyes were sore which he didn’t know was possible. But that was not the thing that was weird. 

What was weird was that he didn’t know who he was. He was pretty sure his name started with Dan, but he was not sure. He wasn’t sure of a lot of things in that moment. He didn’t know where he was, he didn’t know who he was, he knew nothing except that he was in pain and he wanted something. 

What that something was, well, he wasn’t sure on that either. But he wanted. He wanted more than anything. The sun was starting to set and he knew that being in this forest was not the place he needed to be when the sun was gone. 

His head ached as he tried to remember why he couldn’t stay in these woods. He clenched his eyes closed as he stopped walking and leaned against the tree and pressed the palms of his hands to his eyes and pressed hard. Things weren’t right. He didn’t know where he was or what was going on but he knew that things were wrong and he knew that things were not supposed to be like this. Somehow he knew that he needed to take care of the wound on his head but he couldn’t do much until he found water. 

Water. 

His mouth was dry. His tongue hurt it was so dry. He doubted it helped his headache. He sat there and tried his best to take a catalog of what all was wrong with him. A concussion for sure. He knew that, how he knew it, he didn’t know. It was likely the same reason he knew that he was going to need to get stitches on his head wound and that he would need something better than a ripped shirt to wrap his broken ribs. 

He didn’t know what happened to him, wasn’t sure why he was in so much pain or covered in bruises but he knew what he needed to do to take care of it. He pulled his hands away from his eyes and blinked a few times until the spots went away and let out a shaky breath. 

He had been able to hear running water earlier, he was sure that it was coming from the North but those sounds were now covered up by loud voices. A man and a woman. 

He blinked again and listened as whoever they were made sure everyone within a 100 kilometer radius heard them coming. The boy let out a sigh as they started towards his direction, though, maybe they would help. Maybe they would see a little boy and help him find water, and medical assistance. 

“Mads! I think I found a ghost!” a man with a booming voice said as he came upon the small clearing that the boy had found himself in. A moment later a woman came running behind, some sort of weapon that he had never seen before held up in the air. 

“Come out where we can-” the woman stopped, her steps faltered as her eyes fell on the boy. “See you,” she finished softly as she tucked the odd weapon in her pants. The boy blinked, letting out a gasping breath as he watched the woman take careful steps towards him. 

“Jack, grab the first aid kit,” she ordered, her eyes never leaving the little boy’s as she made slow steps towards him with her hands up in the air. He was thankful for that. For some reason alarm bells were blaring in his head, telling him to not trust her, to run as far as he could. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Not when every part of his body hurt, not when he saw a clear bottle on her hip with water sloshing inside with every step she took. “My name is Maddie, is it okay if I come closer?” She asked, stopping just a few meters away. 

He nodded his head before clenching his eyes shut. Nodding was a mistake. 

She gave him a worried look and crossed the distance between them. She unhooked the bottle from her waist and twisted the cap off. “Are you thirsty? Would you like some water?” 

The boy whimpered and she handed it to him without a word. He tilted the bottle back and nearly let out a whine as cold, refreshing water fell onto his tongue and down his parched throat. 

“Is it okay if I take a look at your head? And your other wounds?” She asked, her hands hovering around his head. He nodded. 

“Yes,” he said simply. She gave him a kind smile and carefully moved to look over his head as he continued to suck down the water. He wasn’t sure how he understood what she was saying. The language they were speaking wasn’t the same one he was thinking in but he knew it just as easily, knew the words just as well as he knew the words in his brain. He had a feeling he knew a lot of words but he didn’t know why.  Why did he know how to get to safety? Why did he know how to take care of himself? Why did he know these things but couldn’t remember his name? Couldn’t remember where he came from?

“Sweetie, do you know where your parents are?” Maddie asked gently once he had finished off his water and set it by his feet. He frowned and tilted his head to the side, looking up at her in confusion. Parents? He didn’t have those. Did he? What were they? “Your mother or father?” she asked again and for some reason, a feeling of dread filled his stomach and he found himself bending over away from the woman as his stomach released its contents, mostly the water he had just sucked down. 

Maddie rubbed his back soothingly as he continued to retch before he sat back up and shook his head at her. “No mother,” he finally gasped out. He didn’t know what it was but the very idea of mother had him in near tears. Whatever Mother was, he didn’t want it.

“That’s okay, sweetie,” she said, running her hand over his head softly, staying careful of his wound. He tensed as he heard the man come bumbling through the woods and towards them with a large red box.  “We’re going to fix you up and then take us back with you, okay?”

He nodded and allowed the woman to wrap him up in her arms, his head cushioned on her chest as she stood with him cradled. “Jack, he doesn’t have parents,” she whispered softly to the big man above them. 

“Well, Jazzykins has always wanted a sibling!” he said in a booming voice before Maddie shushed him. “What’s the kiddo's name?” 

Maddie frowned before she looked at the boy whose eyes were now starting to droop. “Sweetheart, can you tell me your name?”

He frowned and furrowed his brows as he tried to think. “Dan-Dan- Danyal,” he garbled out, unsure if the words were coming out right. He was just so sleepy. 

“Daniel,” Jack said softly. “That’s a good name. A strong name for a strong little boy,” he said. 

Danyal frowned and opened his mouth to correct the man on how to pronounce his name. But no words came as he felt his body sag beneath him and his eyes fell closed. He could correct Jack later, he was sure of it. 

Now

Danny groaned and rubbed his eyes as his alarm sounded beside him. He felt exhaustion deep in his bones as he lay there staring up at the ceiling. He had a long day ahead of him and he wasn’t looking forward to any of it. 

He needed to run to the grocery store and grab a few things there to restock up on. He needed to make a trip to the metaphysical shop over in the Upper West Side. It was a bit of a walk from his place in Old Gotham but now that he had gotten a hang of the public transportation systems it wasn’t too bad. Once he finished up there he would need to go to Robinson Park and get some herbs and spices from Poison Ivy and her nursery.  Then he would open up shop for the day and in between clients start working on some of the teas he would be selling. 

He was still surprised by how much he was enjoying all of this. Sure, some parts of it were scams. The crystals he sold were just crystalized ectoplasm and he couldn’t actually see the future. But the ghosts around him constantly made it pretty damn easy to make predictions and to learn about the people who were coming into Nightingale’s Fortunes.

The ghosts were able to whisper to Danny anything he needed to know about the people coming to his shop, hell over half of them were the reason why these people were coming into Nightingale's in the first place! They had managed to leave hints to the unsuspecting humans that led them to Danny’s shop where he would help the ghost reach their unfinished business. 

Nine times out of ten, their business was to say goodbye. But every so often Danny was surprised and they were telling them where they had hidden their fortune or where they left some important document. Those clients always seemed to come back and give Danny a rather large gift for his help. 

He still wasn’t the best at palm reading and tarot reading didn’t make too much sense to him but Sam and Desiree had made sure to drill all of their knowledge into his mind as best as they could.  

Danny let out a breath and forced himself out of bed as he started to go through the motions of getting ready for the day.

“Heya Danny!” Harley said as soon as he walked into the shop. He couldn’t help but smile at the former villain. She had pegged Danny as a non-native Gothamite from the moment she laid eyes on him and had grilled him within an inch of his life about why he was in Gotham. She hadn’t believed his cover story that the ghosts were calling him but very few did. 

He never had the heart to tell her that she was haunted by so many spirits it was unreal. Some of them protected her, others wanted her downfall for aiding in their deaths. It was a pretty even split. Poison Ivy was the same way. 

Each time he came by the shop the ghosts and spirits would hiss and demand that Danny get rid of the women, to take them out so that they could move on. But he couldn’t do it, couldn’t get rid of them when they were both trying so hard now to be better people. Instead, he quietly wiped away any of the curses that were on them each time he saw the women and ignored the shades. They could stay mad but Danny believed in redemption and these women had done so much to redeem themselves.

“Hey Harley,” he said, rocking on his heels once he made it to the front counter. “How’re Lou and Bud?”

She rolled her eyes and grinned. “Fat and lazy like always. Ives has your order already packed up for ya,” she said before she turned around to grab the box of teas, herbs, and spices. “So, how’s business in your fancy faker shop?”

Danny scowled. “I’m not a faker Harley. You’d know that if you’d let me give you a fortune,” Danny said with a sly smile. “Maybe we can have a chat with your Ma, or someone else?” 

Harley made a face. “My ma is sufferin’ in hell where she belongs. I don’t want to hear shit from her,” she said and one of the ghosts that floated beside her slapped at Harley’s head, an angry look on her face. 

“She didn’t like that very much,” Danny pointed out and Harley just rolled her eyes. 

“Whatever ya say, con man,” she said, as he pulled his wallet out and laid a few bills on the counter. Danny just grinned and shrugged his shoulders. 

“Believe whatever you want, nonbeliever,” he joked, ducking his head as she threw a tulip bulb at his head. “I’ll see you in two weeks when I restock. Tell Ives I said hello,” he sang as he spun on his heel and headed out of the shop with his box of goodies. 

He slipped into the alley behind the shop and opened up a portal, sticking the box there for storage as he made his way out of Robinson Park and back to the subway station. 

He liked Harley and Ivy. They were like a couple of grumpy aunts who liked to give him a hard time every time he came into the shop. They gave him a hard time but they were also insanely caring. They were both concerned about him, according to Harley, it was obvious that he was running from something. They both offered multiple times to help him with whatever he was running from but he managed to turn them down each time. He didn’t know what would happen if he set Harley and Ivy’s sights on the Fentons. He wasn’t sure who would win if he was being honest. 

Like Harley and Ivy were reformed supervillains. 

But Jack and Maddie had no sense for safety, theirs or anyone else’s. They also used weapons that were far too dangerous to actually use half the time. 

He still wasn’t sure how he had made it to fourteen before being killed by their inventions. Or the fact that Jazz had managed to survive as long as she had. 

He felt his phone go off in his pocket and pulled it out. Danny couldn’t help but grin when he read the text from Harley. 

Harley: Ives said if you don’t come over for dinner next Friday you’re dead to her. 

Danny grinned and slipped his phone in his pocket after sending her a middle finger emoji and confirmation that he’d be there. 

Chapter Text

Danny was sick and tired of weird ass dreams plaguing his life. His nightmares consisted of one of two things. Either he was lost in the woods, stumbling around concussed and dehydrated. Or it was the one he had that night. 

A large bubbling pit of ectoplasm. He was small, still around six years old wearing a stiff, black, ninja costume as he fought another little boy who looked just like him with a sword. It was always the same, the two putting everything they had into the fight until Danny drops his sword and just holds his hands up, allowing the other to run his sword through him. 

It was strange. The dream felt so real each time he had it that he always found himself checking to make sure he hadn’t actually been stabbed. Each time he found nothing there, no scar on his stomach, nothing to show that he had ever been impaled by a sword but his stomach seemed to cramp with the pain each time.

He rubbed at his eyes tiredly and sat up in bed once he had finished making sure that he hadn’t actually been stabbed in his sleep. He had been having the dreams ever since he died in the portal. He wasn’t sure why the portal had left him with such a horrifying nightmare but it did and it always had Danny wondering what the hell it was. Was it a memory from when he was still living in Pakistan? The clothes were similar to the ones he had been found in. He had been found in stiff black pants and a white t-shirt that had been soaked in blood and sweat. But it still didn’t explain the stab through his stomach, or the bubbling pit of ectoplasm. 

It was something he had spent the last four years obsessing about, trying to figure out what the hell the dream meant and who the kid who looked like Danny was. He had thought about trying to find someone who could analyze dreams and see what they thought but he didn’t want them thinking he was a crackpot.

A loud knock sounds on his door downstairs and he lets out a huff. 

“It’s the trenchcoat man,” a ghost whispered in his ear and Danny let out an even louder huff, borderline whine as he climbed out of the bed and threw his blanket over his bed, lazily making it before he shoved his feet in slippers. He grumbled to himself as he phased through the floor and into the front of his shop. He flipped the four locks he kept on the door and swung it open. 

“It is seven in the morning, what the fuck do you want?” He hissed. 

John Constantine gave him an unamused look and stepped into the shop with a sigh. “This looks like a train wreck,” he stated, walking over to one of the large bookshelves that was covered in the ectoplasm crystals. 

“Yet it pays the bills,” Danny said with a smirk as he shot his hand at the door and the locks spun back into place. He leaned against the wall and watched as the magician walked around the shop curiously. 

“You could always take me up on my offer,” Constantine said with a grunt and Danny couldn’t help but make a face at that. 

“I’m not joining the Justice League Dark,” Danny told him as Constantine picked up a packet of tea and sniffed it curiously. 

“You’d be great at it, kid,” Constantine said, making a face down at the tea. Danny arched an eyebrow. 

“You don’t even like being a part of the team, why would I want to join? I’m not a hero. I don’t care about the living, just the dead,” he said with a sigh. 

“I want you to join because you’re the most knowledgeable person on the Infinite Realms. You know more than even the oldest magic books do,” Constantine said with a grunt and set the teas back down before he looked at the ectoplasm. “You still haven’t told me how you do it.”

“Do what?” Danny asked, tilting his head to the side as he walked closer to the older man. He let out another grunt and took a sip from his flask. 

“Turn into a ghost,” he said and Danny just gave the man a secretive smile.

“I can’t tell you everything, John,” he said with a shrug. “Now what’re you actually here for? You don’t come over for social calls.”

John grabbed a few more of the crystals and gave Danny an annoyed look. “I have a job for you,” he said and Danny made a face at him. 

“I don’t need a job from you. What do you actually want?” He asked and John let out a loud groan. 

“I need your help on a case and I am willing to pay you a large sum of money to assist me in this situation,” he said and Danny grinned and rubbed his fingers together in the air. John let out a grumble. 

“The ghost Nocturn, has been causing extreme nightmares in a town in Texas. Can’t figure out how to stop the bastard. Need help from you,” and Danny gave him a smug smile as John pulled his wallet out of his pocket and slapped some bills in Danny’s hand. 

“Want me to take care of it or just tell you how to take care of Nocturn yourself?”

John squinted. “How much for you to handle it?” He asked and Danny sucked on his teeth. 

“Two grand,” Danny answered after a few minutes of thinking it over. 

The man spluttered. “That’s obscene! I’ll do it myself,” he exclaimed bitterly. “What the fuck do I have to do?”

Danny grinned and waltzed around John and went behind his counter where he rummaged around for a bit until he found exactly what he was looking for. “Suck him up with this and bring him back to me, I’ll throw him back into the Infinite Realms.”

“How do I defeat him?” John grounded out. 

The halfa squinted at the man for a moment before he leaned back down and pulled out an ecto gun. “Use this,” he ordered. “Shoot to weaken, point the thermos, it’ll suck him up. Bring him back to me,” he said simply. 

John blinked at him but took the gun and shoved it into his trenchcoat along with the thermos. “I have so many fuckin’ questions,” he muttered grumpily to himself and Danny made a noise in the back of his throat. The man looked up to find Danny holding his hand out with a smirk. “You’re kiddin’.”

“Three hundred, don’t act like I’m putting you out. You only gave me fifty a few minutes ago,” Danny chided and John scowled before he yanked out his wallet and slapped a few more bills in his hand before he stomped out of the shop.

“Fuck you Nightingale,” he called over his shoulder. Danny simply chuckled to himself and locked the door after the man left and headed back up to his apartment to get started on his day. 

He went through his usual motions for the day, ate breakfast, tidied up around his home, studied a bit for his GED before he opened up shop for the day. It was slow, something that Danny found that he hated most days if he was being honest. 

He got a woman who was wanting to know if her dog had crossed over the rainbow bridge only to be disappointed to learn that Danny couldn’t talk to dogs. She had bought a few teas and asked about her parents but it had been mostly uneventful. 

A few teenagers came in after their classes let out for the day, giggling and gushing over the crystals, teas, and tarot cards that Danny sold before one of them was pushed towards Danny by her friends to have her palm read. 

Danny had done his best to embellish some romantic story for her about finding her high school sweetheart in the next year and the girls had left squealing and chattering loudly. 

His last customer had been an elderly man who had just wanted to give one last goodbye to his wife who had tearfully appeared as soon as Danny opened the portal and gave him a final goodbye. It had even brought a tear to Danny’s eye as he watched their interaction.

Once the last customer for the night left, Danny let out a breath and lit a candle, signaling to the ghosts that Phantom was now open for business. 

He shifted to his ghost form and smiled a little when the first ghost appeared at his table and waved happily. 

“Hello, Phantom,” she said. She was young, maybe seven or eight. The younger ones always had a special place in his heart, maybe because he himself died young, maybe because Youngblood was a ghost who had died young and Danny had eventually learned how to play with the ghost without him causing too much damage. 

Either way, the kids meant the most to Danny and he was willing to do whatever they needed to feel better. 

“Hi there, what’s your name?” Danny asked with a small smile, resting his forearms on the table. 

“I’m Emily,” she said and let out a breath. “I died last week. Red Bird couldn’t save me and I know he feels really bad because Mommy and Daddy only had scratches. I just want you to tell Red Bird it’s not his fault and I’m not mad.”

Danny frowned and tried to wrack his brain on how or why a little girl could have died recently before he remembered the recent Freeze attack that resulted in a building collapsing, there had only been one casualty, a little girl. 

“I’m sorry that happened to you,” he said and she shook her head. 

“It’s okay, I’m not mad. I made a friend, his name is Youngblood and he said once I finish my business, he’s gonna show me how to pass over. So I need you to tell Red Bird that it’s not his fault, and I’m not mad at him.”

“He’s going to want to know how I know it’s you,” Danny said gently and Emily screwed up her nose for a moment. 

“Tell him that his song made me less scared,” she said and before Danny could ask anything else, she faded from view. 

Danny went through a few more ghosts with simple or small things that they needed when his final ghost for the evening appeared and Danny’s heart hurt just seeing the man. He looked like he was in his mid-forties judging by what was left of his face. The lower half looked like it had been blown off by a shotgun. 

“I didn’t kill myself,” was the first thing the ghost said, his brows furrowed, his jaw hung uselessly from his face but his voice came out crisp nonetheless. “I was murdered and they called it a suicide.”

Danny furrowed his brow. “Who was it, do you know?” He asked, tilting his head to the side. 

“It was my wife. I caught her cheating and I was going to leave her. She killed me and I need someone to know,” he said, slamming his hands on the table, an urgent look in his eyes. “My name is Robert Ingram, my wife is Lillian Ingram and we have two children. I have a sister in Bludhaven who would be able to take care of them, her name is Margert Lionel and she can take them. The gun was a shotgun, she put it in my hand after I died. But if they look at the trajectory, they’ll see it’s not an angle of someone who committed suicide. Not only that but my bullets are in a drawer in the basement, they’ll have her prints.”

Danny nodded his head, committing everything the man said to memory. “I’ll let the bats know, they’ll get you justice, Robert,” he said seriously.

Robert reached over and took his hand and squeezed it tight. “Thank you. Please, make sure my children know how much I adored them,” he said and Danny smiled. 

“I’ll make sure they know. Now, I’m going to go and meet with the Bats. I’ll summon you if I need more information. We’re going to make this as right as we can.”

Robert gave him a thankful smile and disappeared from view. Danny took a breath and blew out his candle, signaling that he was done meeting ghosts for the night. He locked up the shop and took off in the skies to hunt down one of the bats or birds to relay his information.

It didn’t take long before he tracked down one of the birds. Red Robin and Red Hood were prowling the city together. Danny landed in front of them with a wave of his hand and a wide smile. 

“Hey there Reds,” he said and rocked on his heels. 

Red Robin gave him a kind smile as Red Hood just nodded, his face hidden by the helmet. “What can we do for you tonight, Phantom?”

“Two things,” he said and looked around for a moment. “Is the third Red on comms tonight?” He asked and Hood snorted once but nodded. 

“Red Bird is patrolling in Bludhaven with Nightwing, but he’s connected to our comms. Do you have a message for him specifically tonight?” Hood asked and Danny nodded his head once, his brow furrowed. 

“Emily wants Red Bird to know that it’s not his fault he couldn’t save her in the building collapse. She was stuck and he tried his best, and the song that he sang to her helped her a lot. She said it was the last thing she heard before she passed,” he said solemnly. 

He couldn’t quite get a read on either of the vigilantes as they sat there motionless for a moment.

“Bird said thank you,” Red Robin told him after a few minutes. He took a shaky breath. “What was the other thing you had for us?”

Danny relayed the information about Robert to them. The two vigilantes asked questions, took in everything he said, waiting as Danny asked the ghost more questions, even using his powers just enough to make the ghost visible to the others so that he could relay the information to them. 

“We’ll do what we can,” Red Hood said, looking directly at the ghost. “I’m so sorry that happened to you, Robert. But we will do everything we can to get you justice.”

That was what he liked about Red Hood. He was someone who had been murdered himself and never got the justice he likely still desired. So, whenever Danny had a ghost who needed to be avenged or was in need of justice, Red Hood was the first one to jump up and do what it took to fix it. He imagined one day he would find whoever Red Hood’s civilian persona walking into his shop to talk about what happened to him.

 Or at least he would like to. 

He couldn’t do much, but he could maybe give the guy closure, especially since he had a ghost of himself attached to him, a small boy dressed as Robin always seemed to follow him around like a guardian angel. Danny assumed that it was a part of Hood who didn’t come back when he came back to life that just stayed with him. If he was a betting man, he would bet that Hood didn’t get hurt nearly as bad as the others did.

“Thank you,” Robert said softly and the two vigilantes nodded and Danny waved at them. 

“Alright, now I've got to go deal with Constantine and a ghost problem he's got. Pleasure workin' with you,” he said cheerfully as he and Robert popped away from view, Robert wherever the ghosts went when they were still trapped in the in between and Danny just invisible as he flew back home, his heart light, knowing that he had done his part. 

“Are you okay, Baby Bat?” Dick asked quietly, looking over at Damian. Damian hadn’t said a word since they heard from Phantom over the comms in that warbly voice he always seemed to get when he tried to communicate to them through one of their comms devices. 

“Yes, I’m fine,” he said, letting out a breath of air. “We need to continue on with our patrol, Nightwing.” 

Dick nodded, his forehead still creased in concern. He knew that the little girl had his Damian hard, it always did when he was unable to save someone from their deaths but this one had been different for him. Dick wasn’t entirely sure why but he knew that Damian had been beating himself up ever since it happened. 

He knew that they were coming up on Danyal’s death day and the little girl was close the age that Damian’s twin was when he had died. He couldn’t help but wonder if that had something to do with Damian taking Emily’s death as hard as he did. 

Phantom had randomly shown up around them just a few months ago with a mile long list of answers to some of their cold cases, and just enough hints to be able to help them solve them without using the supernatural as their only evidence for why they knew what was happening. 

They had tried to look into him but there was nothing they could find. Constantine and Zatanna both had given them vague answers in regards to Phantom. 

Zatanna had told them that all she knew is that he was a denizen of the Infinite Realms but had barely even been able to explain what the Infinite Realms were. She was the one to have them talk to Constantine. 

John had told them that Deadman adored the ghost. Not only that but he had managed to explain what exactly the Infinite Realms were, how the realms were the place of the inbetween, the connection between the afterlife and the living, the connection between the multiverses. Phantom was a being from that world who was strong enough to come to the living realms and help others move on.  Constantine couldn’t tell them much more than that, just some theories and ideas. 

He had sworn, though, that Phantom was friendly and probably one of the kindest ghosts they would likely ever come across. 

“Will you quit looking at me like that,” Damian snapped, glaring at the elder brother. Dick just gave him a small smile and shook his head before he followed Damian once more. Hopefully the message from Phantom would ease his brother’s heart just a bit. Now that he knew that Emily not only didn’t blame him but found comfort from Damian. 

Chapter Text

Damian scowled at his eldest brother. The two were currently getting lunch together to catch up after their patrols last week. These days he spent half of his time in Bludhaven helping his brother with the riff raff there, the other half of the time was spent in either Gotham or with the Titans. But after the building collapse just a few weeks prior, he had been spending more time in Gotham. 

Despite the fact that it was thousands of miles away, he always felt closer to his brother there where Father and him had placed his memorial rather than anywhere else.

“Why are you looking at me like that? I’m fine, Dick,” he said with a hiss, tapping his fork against his plate impatiently. His brother simply arched an eyebrow and just took another bite of his food. Damian glared harder and the man’s shoulders slumped. 

Dick stabbed at his bowtie pasta a few times and swallowed. “Have you ever considered asking Phantom about your twin?” He asked finally and Damian suppressed a sigh. He knew that the questions as coming eventually. Ever since the ghost had first shown up, the very question had plagued his own mind but he continued to push it away each time. 

“Why would I do that?” He finally asked before taking a bite of his own pasta. 

Damian had told his family about his twin brother, Danyal just a year after he joined the family. It was when they had attempted to throw him his first birthday party and he had all but run out of the room in tears. He had struggled to celebrate the event, especially when it was his first ever birthday party. Danyal had always wanted to have a birthday party after he learned about it in one of his encyclopedias that Mother would smuggle for them. 

To finally have one without his brother there, it had been well, too much for him to handle. His family was understandably horrified when they had learned that at just six years old, Damian’s brother had failed a test at the hands of Ra’s al Ghul and was left in the middle of nowhere in Pakistan. Damian still wasn't sure where he had been left. 

Damian and his mother never quite found out what Ra’s had done with him. He had been beaten within an inch of his life by Grandfather and then dropped out in the middle of Pakistan with nothing but his own hands to survive. It was his brother’s final test to prove himself to Grandfather. If he managed to survive two weeks in the desert without any assistance, he would be allowed to come home. Only he never came back and Grandfather never said a word about him again and the League moved on, acting as if there had never been an heir and a spare the entire time. 

Dick frowned and took a sip of his water. “Haven’t you ever wondered what happened to him? If he moved on? If he’s happy? Phantom said that he can visit the other side whenever he wishes. I bet that means he can see if Danyal passed over and is happy.”

Damian shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t need some ghost hero to tell me whether or not my brother has moved on. I know he did and I know that in whatever afterlife he chose for himself, he’s happy.”

It was a lie, of course. It was the lie that Damian told himself sometimes when he let himself think that Danyal was dead. But there was a part of him that was also convinced that his twin was not actually dead at all. A very big part of himself held on that hope that his brother was still alive somewhere.

He knew it sounded silly, and he would likely never say it out loud to another living soul. But he and Danyal had a connection that only twins could have. A connection that never went away and he felt it in his soul that Danyal wasn’t dead. Maybe it was just him being blind to the truth, or willfully ignorant but he felt it in his soul that Danyal was still alive. That he managed to survive the desert and that he ran away, far away from the League of Assassins. That wherever his brother was, he was happy. 

He still mourned his brother, mourned the fact that he would never see his best friend again. He mourned the fact that his brother had gone through so much pain and torture simply because he couldn’t bring himself to kill the same way that Damian could. So, he went to the memorial that he and his family had erected for Danyal, and he told his family that he was dead. Because as much as he wanted to convince himself that Danyal was alive, he knew that others would never believe him. They hadn't believed Timothy when he said the same about Father, so why would they believe him about a six-year-old child?

Sometimes he allowed himself to think that Danyal was dead, that he had died in the desert or the forest and they never found a body because he had been eaten by scavengers or killed by a cougar. But it never lasted long, he always managed to talk himself out of it. 

So, he didn’t want to talk to Phantom about Danyal because that would ruin the illusion that Danyal was still alive somewhere in the world. That he really, truly was dead. That was something that he didn’t think he would be able to handle. He would have to actually admit and accept that his twin, his other half, was dead. The very thought that Danyal was dead had his heart aching something fierce and therefore, he refused to believe it. 

He would allow everyone else to believe that Danyal was dead. They had been the ones who came to that conclusion when Damian had told them about what happened to him, how he had been left in the middle of nowhere to die. He never once tried to correct them either, it was easier this way. He would just continue to maintain the lie that his brother was dead and quietly have faith that his brother was still alive. 

Dick frowned. “Don’t you ever want closure? I know that you have to be wondering what happened to him,” he said and let out a breath. “When Jason died, I would have loved to have been able to ask Phantom about him. Honestly, I’ve even thought about asking Phantom about my parents if I wasn’t worried about Bruce getting pissed at me for revealing my identity to a ghost.”

Damian couldn’t help but snort at that. “When have you ever been worried about pissing off father?” He asked and Dick made a face at him, sticking his tongue out as he did. 

“You know what I mean, that would make him even madder than anything else I could possibly do. It wouldn’t just give up my identity but everyone else’s too.”

The younger man let out a hum and stirred his noodles around. “I mean, you could always try to phrase it to father that each of you could ask Phantom about your parents. You, Jason, Timothy, and Father could each ask about your parents and get some closure. It could be healthy for all of you.”

Dick chewed on his food for a moment as he thought about it before he shook his head. “I doubt that B would ever go for that in a million years,” he admitted. “Although, I have heard a rumor that there’s some kind of psychic shop that opened up in Gotham. According to Harley he’s the real deal,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows. 

Damian scoffed. “You would go to some kind of fraud just to get closure? He will do nothing but steal your money and get your hopes up, Richard. You deserve far better than that.”

“Hey! Harley said he’s real and I trust Harley!’ he argued and Damian simply shook his head in disdain. He didn’t believe in all of that junk, not really.

“Of course you would trust Harley,” Damian muttered before he let out a breath of looked at his brother and tried to give him the most earnest look he could possibly muster in that moment. “I do not need to wonder about whether or not Danyal is happy or safe, I can feel it,” he lied. 

He didn’t know how to explain the connection he felt to Danyal, but it was like their was a second spot in his soul where Danyal sat. Like a rope attached from him to Danyal and it was alive and well. He didn’t know if it was simply because they were twins or if it was because of how they were created, or if it was because they had both been dunked into the Lazarus Pits so many times as children to heal their various wounds and it connected them. He wasn’t sure what it was, but he knew that Danyal was alive, he would have felt it if his brother died. He was sure of it. 

He couldn’t feel anything else, couldn’t feel if he was happy or sad, just that he was alive. Even then, it was tentative at best. There were times where that feeling went dull inside of him, where the spark was just gone but there were also times where it was bright and strong and he could feel his brother. He didn’t know what it meant, his only real theory was that due to how distant they had become, that because of how long it has been since they’ve seen each other it was just starting to dim. 

The feeling disappeared sometimes but he wasn’t worried, it always came back. The first time it disappeared was when he was fourteen and it had been the first time he ever let himself wonder if Danyal had truly died. But it came back just moments later and it seemed to flicker every so often since then.

“Well, I think I’m going to go and try it out,” Dick said with a haughty look before he took a large bite of his pasta and sniffed at Damian. Damian let out a soft chuckle and just shook his head in dismay. He couldn't’ believe his brother would fall for something so utterly ridiculous. 

But if he wanted to waste his money by throwing it at the a fake psychic than so be it. Damian wasn’t going to try to stop him. 

A shiver went down Danny’s back and he frowned before shaking his head. Instead he rapped his knuckles against the door to Harley and Ivy’s. It was family game night or whatever the hell Harley called it. Danny liked to call it, let Harley and Ivy fuss over him because they’re worried about him. 

It was a long name, he could workshop it but that was more work that it was worth. Instead he just let himself go over and allow the two to look him over and make sure he’s okay in thinly veiled concern as they picked on him and stuffed him with food. It was Danny’s favorite part of the week and he enjoyed the comfort of being having someone fuss over him for once. 

He couldn’t remember the last time someone aside from Jazz, Sam, or Tucker fussed over him. Harley acted surly and like she didn’t believe in the shit that Danny spewed when it came to the metaphysical and the dead but he knew that it was just a ruse. She liked to give him a hard time and he liked to do the same to her. 

It was similar to how Ivy would pile more and more food onto his plate and complain about how he needed more plants in his shop. 

He pushed the door open after hearing one of them call for him to come in and smiled to himself as he heard both of them call and let him know they were in the back. 

Danny made his way back there and couldn’t help the grin when he saw the large spread of dinner on the table. 

“It’s like you guys are trying to stuff me up to cook me,” Danny teased as he took a seat at the table across from the two women. 

“You’re too skinny, you need to be eating more anyway,” Harley told him, already piling a large amount of cabbage, potatoes, and sausage onto his plate. “This was a recipe my ma used to make for me all the time, it’s very filling and just what you need.” 

Danny smiled as the ghost of Harley’s mother smacked her on the back of the head before crossing her arms and letting out a huff that only she and Danny could hear. 

“She didn’t even make it right, used too much seasoning. Too salty,” she complained and Danny took a bite of the potatoes and refrained from wrinkling his nose. Mama Quinzel was certainly right about the salt but he would deal with it. It was a home cooked meal and much better than the prepackaged, frozen, or boxed meals that Danny made himself most days. He was slowly but surely learning how to cook but he still wasn’t overly confident in it, not the way he wanted to be at least. 

“So, how’s the shop been?” Ivy asked him as she took a bite of her own food and wrinkled her nose before continuing like she was used to it. 

“It’s been good, now that school is out, I’m getting more customers. Lots of teenagers are coming to see the freaky medium guy who can talk to ghosts and predict the future,” he said with a soft chuckle. 

“I still say it’s all a joke,” Harley muttered, stabbing her fork into a piece of sausage. “I mean there’s nothin’ after this, you die and that’s it.”

Danny grinned at that. “Don’t you think that’s a sad way of looking at things? All the pain and suffering of life only to have nothing as a reward?” He asked, tilting his head to the side. “There’s some really cool and interesting afterlifes out there and I think it’s neat. I also think it’s cool that I get to be the one to help people move on to the other side.”

Harley gave him an unconvinced look and held her palm out as she chewed on her dinner. “Read my palm.”

The halfa arched his eyebrow in mild surprise. “You would rather have your palm read than I dunno, talk to your dead mother? Or someone else you know?”

Harley just arched her own eyebrow and lifted her hand and slapped it back on the table lightly. 

Danny just let out a breath and looked at the right hand in front of him before he took it in his hand and traced the first line. “This is your heart line, it’s believed to indicate emotional stability, romantic perspectives and depression. See how yours starts between your middle and index finger? That means that you’re caring and understanding. And see how it runs parallel with your headline? That means that you have a good handle on your emotions.” 

He looked up to find Harley giving him a less than impressed look. “You can get all of that from a line on my hand?” She asked and Danny shrugged his shoulders and narrowed his eyes. 

“You want me to keep going or not?” He asked and Harley just stared at him. Danny worked his way through the rest of the palm reading, wracking his brain to remember everything he learned from the books that he had bought over the practice. 

Once he finished, Harley leaned back and looked him over. “I guess you got some things correct,” she finally said. 

“Wanna talk to your mom?” Danny asked and Harley made a face. 

“What the fuck is with you and my mom?” She asked. 

He shrugged and finally got back into his dinner. “Ghosts are my speciality, and your mom is haunting you. She’s been complaining all night that you put too much salt in the potatoes and that you slouch too much.”

Harley stared at him for a moment before she sat up and her back cracked loudly. “Whatever, you’re just makin’ shit up,” she grumbled but Danny could see it in her eyes that she believed him. He just smiled and dug back into his meal.

Chapter Text

Dick couldn’t help but feel just a little silly as he walked towards the shop that he had recently learned about. 

Ever since his conversation with Damian, he hadn’t stopped thinking about maybe talking to the psychic to see what he says. He didn’t know how much validity he would put into it, but he was curious and what did it hurt? Besides, if it was real, well, that was a chance to learn about his parents and he wasn’t going to pass that up for anything. 

So with a deep breath, he walked into Nightingale’s Fortunes and the bell rang above him. The place reminded him of the fortune teller’s tent at the circus. There were large tapestries, incense was lit and the smoke curled around the room. There were crystals and tarot decks, candles scattered throughout with dim lighting from some fairy lights that were strung along the ceiling, and a soft ambience held the place together. Soft music played quietly throughout the shop, a nice way to round off the soft, comforting vibe of the entire shop.

A person stepped through a beaded curtain and a young man about Damian’s age stepped through. Dick actually almost stepped backwards when he saw him. The person looked to be about eighteen with dark black hair that hung just past his ears, he had freckles scattered across his cheekbones and nose and a familiar look. If Dick didn’t know any better, he would have thought that he was Bruce’s long lost son. Or Damian's dead twin brother. 

“Welcome to Nightingale’s,” the man said as he came from behind the counter and gave Dick a kind smile. Dick shook himself for a moment, ignoring just how much he looked like Damian and smiled at the man. The only difference was that where Damian was bulky and broad like Bruce, this guy seemed to have that same broadness but more of a lankiness to him, something that would happen if someone didn't work out obsessively the way Damian did for his training as Red Bird. 

“Hi, I’ve been hearing that you’re a medium and can talk to the dead,” he said and the man gave him an appraising look. 

“You’ve seen a lot of death in your life,” he noted, a mysterious air to him as he walked around Dick, looking him up and down. “Richard Grayson-Wayne. I’ve been wondering when I would see a Wayne come into my shop.”

Dick shifted from one foot to the other as the man motioned towards  a small round table in the middle of the shop. He frowned, he hadn’t noticed it when he first came in.

“Why do you say that,” he said as he sat across from the man. 

The medium furrowed his brow. “The Waynes are entrenched in death. You all have experienced it in one way or another and I’ve wondered if my little shop reached your ears,” he said with a small smile. “My name is Danny, by the way.” 

Dick just smiled at him, his heart was racing and he felt a little silly. He didn’t know why this was making him so unsettled but it was like Danny was staring into his very soul and knew things about him that not even Dick knew. 

“Now, do you want to learn about your parents, your brother who died and came back, or one of the many victims you’ve seen in the line of duty as a police officer,” he asked, his eyes twinkling. 

“What do you know about my brother?” Dick asked, his eyes wide. Jason had officially come back into the public eye just a few years before, the cover story was that they had never actually recovered a body, believable since it was closed casket funeral. Jason had spent years trying to get back home after the explosion and a kidnapping. Or well, that was the official story at least. 

“I know that he died, I can see it on you, see the way death follows you like a shadow.” Danny tilted his head and he let out a curious hum before he snapped his fingers and candles all around the room lit up. Dick’s eyebrows raised in surprise. Maybe he really was the real deal rather than a fake. 

“Would you like some water?” Danny asked him as two cups and a pitcher floated towards them. 

“Yes,” Dick said, still feeling just slightly off kilter. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting but it wasn’t this. “Thank you.”

The two paper cups sat down first and then water poured from the pitcher into both. He watched as Danny took a sip of his before he took a drink of his own.

Danny set his cup down and smiled politely at Dick.

“So, John and Mary Grayson,” Danny said, still looking Dick over. “Do you want to see them or do you just want to know how they’re doing?” He asked and Dick’s heart skipped a beat in his chest. 

“I can see them?” He asked in a hushed voice and Danny smiled at him. 

“It’s a bit expensive but if you’re willing to pay, I’m willing to dredge up the energy to do it,” he said. 

Dick was trained to know when someone was lying or if someone was fucking with him. He could tell without a doubt that this guy was telling him the truth, he would show Dick his parents. 

“I’ll pay anything,” he breathed, already pulling his wallet out-- only the medium held his hand out. 

“Payment is at the end,” he said with a sly smile before he waved his hand once again and a crystal started to fly towards them from a shelf behind Danny. Dick looked around and didn’t find any strings attached or a remote or anything to explain what the hell was happening.

The crystal landed in front of them, floating just a few inches from the table and a Lazarus Green glow seemed to emanate from the crystal. 

“Show me John and Mary Grayson,” Danny said in a hushed voice, his hands just a few centimeters from the crystal. The glowing green inside of the glass seemed to shift and change and Dick held his breath as a picture suddenly appeared within it. First it showed him a version of Haly’s circus, a huge big top, only it was just slightly different. There was no crowd, there were what looked like picture frames with scenes of Dick’s childhood along the walls of the tent and the only people in the big top were John and Mary. They looked just how Dick remembered them. 

“What is this?” He asked in a hushed whisper and Danny smiled. 

“This is their eternity,” he answered as it zoomed in on the couple as they did a routine that Dick still remembered perfectly. “Their perfect heaven is a place where they get to do what they love while they watch over the one that they love,” Danny explained. “Look at the walls, those are your memories from after they passed. They’re able to watch and see how you’re doing and just watch over you,” he said and smiled at Dick who was staring at the crystal transfixed. 

“They look so happy,” Dick whispered softly, he wanted to reach out and touch them, to just hold them one last time. 

Danny grinned. “They are, they’re at peace. They’re in a place where they can watch over you, they never truly left. Not only that but they are so unbelievably proud of you,” he told Dick earnestly. 

“How can you tell?” Dick asked and suddenly the scene in the crystal shifted and changed. Now it showed Mary and John lying in bed together. A large frame floated before them and on it was Dick. He was standing at the alter, Jason at his side as he watched Barbara wheel down it. 

“I’m so proud of him,” John whispered, tears in his eyes as he blinked them away and looked at the screen. 

“Look at him, our little Robin isn’t just flying anymore,” Mary whispered, clasping John’s hand in hers and squeezing it. “He’s soaring,” she breathed and that had Dick unraveling faster than he ever expected.

A sob fell out of his chest as he watched them watching him. His wedding day had been one of the best days of his life. Bruce had preached the wedding, Jason had been his best man. Barbara looked absolutely stunning in her dress and he remembered just thinking that it would have been absolutely perfect if his parents had been there. Bruce had pulled him aside before the wedding and told him that they were watching over him, they would always be there. Dick just hadn’t expected so much truth to be in that statement. 

They watched a few more scenes of his parents as they laughed and talked, sometimes they were in the big top, other times they seemed to be in different places, talking to others, laughing and having fun. They were a little younger than Dick remembered but Danny had simply told him that when one passed to the other side, they took on the looks they had at their happiest moments when they were alive. 

From what Dick could remember, this was what they looked like when Dick was a baby. Or at least they looked like the pictures he had of them from when they were younger. 

By the time Danny had finished showing him everything, Dick had tears streaming down his face. His nose was stuffed up and he felt like he had run a marathon. His shoulders felt lighter than they had ever felt in his life and his heart felt at peace in a way he never thought it could. 

“Thank you,” he finally managed to choke out. “I-I don’t know what I was expecting when I came in here. Maybe some vague messages or explanations that you could have easily found on the internet. But that, that was the real deal,” he breathed. 

Danny smiled as his crystal ball floated away from them and the candles all flickered out. “I’m glad I could make a believer out of you,” he said. “I can give fortunes and get glimpses of the future, but death in particular is my speciality.”

Dick let out a soft, disbelieving laugh as he leaned back in his seat and took a tissue from the box that floated over to him and dabbed at his eyes. “I can tell,” he said and looked around. “This isn’t what I expected.” 

The medium grinned and leaned back in his own seat. “Well, I do parties, festivals, and any other events so if you’re looking for a side show at one of your fancy Wayne galas, I’m available.”

“I’ll have to remember that,” Dick said. He took a breath and let it out slowly. “Thank you so much, Danny. You have no idea just how much this meant to me. I’ve-I’ve always wondered about them but I never really thought to go to a medium. I didn’t want to get my hopes up.”

“Well, I’m happy to help,” he said politely as Dick finally pulled out his wallet and handed over a stack of cash for the man who stared at it in surprise. “Oh, it’s uh, it’s not this much. I was just going to charge you two hundred,” he said honestly and Dick shook his head. 

“You’ve given me the best gift I could have ever received. Take it,” he said, shoving the money into his hands before he shook the man’s hand.

Danny let out a soft laugh. “Well, let me grab you some teas or something to go with it. I can’t just take all of this,” he said as he stood up. Dick waited until the man’s back was turned before he reached over and grabbed the paper cup that Danny had been drinking from and swapped it with his own. 

Between how crazy intense it was to see his parents and the fact that Danny looked oddly like Bruce and Damian, Dick needed to get some answers. Either to figure out how the hell Danny managed to do something like that, was he a meta? Was there something more to it? And was he possibly related to Bruce? Maybe a clone of Damian that got away and made a life for himself? The inside of the crystal looked a little too much like Lazarus Water in Dick’s opinion. Not only that but the rock hard crystals throughout the shop were reminiscent of it as well. 

Dick had questions and he was going to get some answers. 

Once Danny was back with a small bag of teas, Dick took them graciously along with the paper cup with just a little water left in it and said his goodbyes to the medium before he made his way out of the shop as quickly as he could. 

Danny smiled as he watched Dick Grayson walk out of his shop with his tea.

“You know who that is, right?” A ghost asked, appearing at Danny’s shoulder and the halfa nodded his head. 

“Yeah, I know who he is,” he said with a roll of his eyes. “I’d be pretty shitty at my job if I couldn’t tell if someone was a vigilante. As soon as he walked in the shop I recognized him as Nightwing,” he said. 

The ghost simply let out a hum and floated around the room, inspecting everything. They were just one of the ghosts that had the tendency to haunt Danny throughout the day to keep him company. This one in particular, Teddy, was a seventeen year-old nonbinary person who had died just a few months back. Danny still wasn’t sure how they died but he knew that it had been rough. Teddy never seemed interested in talking about themselves, though, just giving their sarcastic commentary here and there.

“Well good luck, you’re going to be on the bats radar now,” Teddy said blithely. “They’re never going to leave you alone. Especially once they find out you’re–”

“A legal adult who’s doing something totally legal?” Danny asked with an arched eyebrow. “They can sniff around all they want, they aren’t going to find anything weird aside from the fact that I’m a totally normal medium who is just living my life.”

Teddy let out a hum. “If you say so,” they murmured. “I’m gonna get going, you have fun!” 

With that, the ghost disappeared and Danny just shook his head in dismay. Now that one of the bats showed up, maybe the others would follow and he could figure out why the hell they were all so goddamn haunted.

Chapter Text

Danny shoved his hands in his pockets as he walked down the sidewalk of Old Gotham, Teddy was behind him chattering away about something or other. Danny was listening with half an ear but honestly his mind was elsewhere. Six months and he still hadn’t found his family that Clockwork told him about. He was starting to give up hope, starting to wonder if Clockwork just told him that so that he could get out of Amity Park. He wouldn’t put it behind the bastard ghost to do something like that. But he digressed. He just wanted to find his place in the world and it seemed like he had yet to truly find it. 

Life was getting lonely. Sure, the ghosts that came to visit were nice, he enjoyed talking to Teddy and the others who would come by to just chat, even the old rogues of his from his time in Amity came and checked in on him. Hell– Vlad had called him last week after realizing that Danny had stolen money from him just to check in and see if he needed more. Which, that had blown his mind completely. He hadn’t quite known what to expect after Vlad had learned everything that happened, but for him to get angry with Jack and Maddie and side with Danny was something he never expected in a million years and he still couldn’t quite wrap his head around it.  He didn’t quite trust it, but he hadn’t done anything malicious to Danny yet which had him just a little on edge. Things had died down between the two halfas over the years, Vlad tended to stick to his own thing and Danny tended to do the same with his. Every so often they would see each other, nod, maybe chat and go on with their lives. But now it was like Vlad was making an effort to check on him and that was just insane. 

“Daniel!” a voice called out, jarring the halfa from his thoughts. He slid his gaze over and found Edward Nygma waving at him from across the road.  Danny couldn’t help but smile as he quickly ran over, waving at the ex rogue as he did. 

“Hey Ed, how’s it going?” He asked, allowing the older man to all but yank him in for a hug. He had first met the man at dinner at Harley and Pams a few months back and the man had taken a liking to the teenager, finding him and his medium practices interesting and puzzling as he would say each time they were brought up. 

Ed had once been the wild villain known as Riddler. Now he was just known as the guy who owned the world’s most difficult escape room. So far, no one had managed to escape in the allotted time. Ed even had a thing going that whoever would win and escape before the timer went out would win a ten thousand dollar cash prize. Everyone in Gotham had tried to go, Danny heard that even the Wayne family had gone once only that it ended with the brothers trying to murder one another rather than actually even try to escape. Someone– Ed– had released a leaked video of the security cameras showing Jason Todd choking out Tim Drake as Dick screamed and tried to separate them, Bruce Wayne was in the background putting fake glue on nails on and the other three siblings all seemed to just be watching the three brothers go at it. 

Part of Danny wondered what it would be like if the family actually tried to win it rather than fall into their fake personas that they showed to the public. The bats would likely manage to escape in the first thirty minutes or less if it was Tim and the youngest bird, Damian trying to solve it. 

From what Danny had learned of them while in the field, he knew that they were the smartest of the bats. Tim Drake, or Red Robin was a natural detective, he could figure out any case set in front of him, Red Bird, while a little grumpy and prickly at times was smart as shit and had the patience to sit and try to figure out the puzzle. Plus Batman, well he was less stupid than his Brucie Wayne persona, that was for sure.

“It’s going well Daniel, I have just finished up at Riddler’s Emporium and am about to grab some dinner before heading home for the evening. How are you doing?” He asked politely as the two started walking together. 

Danny smiled. “Doing the same, actually. I’m getting pretty sick of my cooking lately and I did pretty decently today in tips at the shop so I’m trying to figure out what I want,” he said and Ed just grinned. 

“Well then, would you like to join me? I am meeting up with Harley, Pam, and Selina soon and you know that you are always welcome to join us for our little outings.” 

Danny grinned. “I would love to.”

He soon found himself eating with the group of reformed criminals and smiling, listening as they regalled him with tales of their former exploits, how much fun it had been but that now that they were nearing their fifties it was time for them to calm down just a bit. Selina still went out as Catwoman sometimes to mess with the bats but she had mostly stepped back to care for her cats and enjoy her time with her friends. 

Danny thought it was nice that they had all been given the chance to reform and grow and be better. He also couldn’t help but smile, as a former vigilante, it still amused him that a group of former villains were the ones who had seemingly pulled him into the folds of their little group. 

One of the ghosts that haunted Pam told him that it was because they were worried about him. Apparently being an isolated teenager who lived alone, had appeared out of nowhere with a very obvious midwestern accent and was mysterious as all get out (the ghost’s words, not Danny’s) that they were concerned that he was a villain in the making. 

A man who could see and talk to ghosts could make for a somewhat terrifying villain, said the ghost and Danny hadn’t even tried to argue against it. He knew what would happen if he ever let himself throw away his humanity. 

Dan may have been a combination of Danny and Vlad, but he was still created because Danny had been the one to take Vlad’s ghost from him. He wouldn’t be turning villain any time soon, that was for sure. 

But if it meant that he had people to talk to, even if they were old enough to be his parents, he would take it. The loneliness that seemed to creep up on Danny like a disease always disappeared in their presence. 

Again, he enjoyed his ghosts, he did. But he was still human, he still needed those living, human interactions. It was just different, he wasn’t quite sure how to even explain to someone. It was the same way that Danny had felt a pang of loneliness inside of him for as long as he could remember. 

There was always this space in his chest where he felt like there was a missing piece, like a part of him that he lost when he had first been found in Pakistan. He was able to mask the missing piece with bandaids. Jazz, Sam, and Tucker made the emptiness a bit easier to handle, it wasn’t quite as obvious. But now without them, the emptiness was obvious again, it hurt and it felt cold in a way. When he was here with the people who seemingly had taken him in, though, it wasn’t quite a bandaid, but it felt as though he had put a balm over it, felt just a little more secure in a way. 

Part of him couldn’t help but wonder if maybe this was what Clockwork meant when he said that Danny would find family in Gotham. Not a biological family like he had initially thought, but a found family. People who took him in, who cared about him even though they didn’t have to, people who were there despite his weirdness, his otherness. 

Ever since coming to Gotham, Danny had completely dropped the pretense of being normal. He allowed his strangeness to come out a bit more, Sam had suggested it, saying that it would add to the appeal of a mysterious psychic medium. Danny was just happy to not be masking anymore in all honesty. 

Jazz told him once when he was a child that he had a dangerous air to him, that there were times where just looking at him her hair would stand on end and scream that he was a predator. He had learned quickly to hide that to not scare her anymore. His parents never quite noticed it, not with how utterly oblivious they tended to be. But others did, and when he died and came back wrong, the wrongness was even stronger. He had taken months trying to cover it, to pull it back. 

Now, he let those shields down, let people feel that danger, that mystery that seemed to emanate from him. Let them feel how wrong he was. It was likely why the ex rogues thought he was going to turn into a supervillain but he couldn’t bring himself to feel bad about it. 

It was nice to just be him. 

And the ex rogues, his family, they had learned to accept it about him.

In a blink of an eye, it seemed like, dinner was over and Danny found himself walking home to his shop, alone once more. Teddy had left as soon as Danny had gone to speak with Ed, something about not being able to stomach the rogues. So this time he didn’t even have their idle chatter to fill the silence and the loneliness that seemed to hit full blast as soon as he left the warmth of the Italian restaurant they had been eating at. 

His steps slowed, though, as he got closer to his home and found Dick Grayson standing outside of it, biting at a fingernail nervously. Danny walked closer and the vigilante brightened as he spun to find Danny coming towards him. 

“Danny! I was hoping I’d see you!” He exclaimed happily. 

“Hey, is everything okay?” Danny asked, furrowing his brow as he checked the man over, not seeing anything out of sort. 

“Everything’s fine! It’s great, actually. I was telling my dad, Bruce, about you and how great our session was and he told me I should hire you for the Wayne Family carnival coming up! We host this big carnival out in Robinson Park each year to celebrate the end of another school year and the oncoming of summer break. We thought it could be fun to have you do some readings and whatnot for anyone who was interested. You’ll be compensated heavily by the Grayson Charity Foundation for coming to be a part of the event.”

Danny blinked at the man. “When is it?” He asked faintly, already thinking about how much he would be making. If Dick Grayson was telling him he was being heavily compensated then it had to be a lot of money, considering the man had thrown six hundred dollars at him last time like it was nothing. 

At his question, though, Dick winced. “May nineteenth,” he said, wringing his hands. 

Danny blinked again as he ran through the calendar in his head. “That’s six days away,” he said finally. “I don’t–I don’t have a booth or anything. I don’t have anything to carry my supplies or a tent or–”

“All covered,” Dick interrupted, holding up a hand. “We’re going to have a tent ready for you, and I can have some guys come and pick up anything you want to take with you. The readings will be free as we’re going to pay for all of them. But you’re welcome to sell your teas and candles!” 

His heart had stopped beating, it must have. He also must have been hallucinating because it sounded like Dick had just told him that they would be paying for all of the readings and for the set up. 

“What’s the catch?” He finally asked and Dick let out a loud laugh, his head thrown back as he did. 

“The only catch is that you’re going to have to deal with a bunch of people and hopefully not scare them off with your spookiness.”

Danny grinned at that. “Spooky? You think I’m spooky?” He asked, looking up at the man who wrinkled his nose. 

“I think you know that you’re spooky and you enjoy it,” he said bluntly and Danny couldn’t help but chuckle because he wasn’t wrong. “The spookiness adds to the whole medium thing, though. I think it’s going to be fun! This year the carnival is going to be Summerween themed!” 

“Summerween?” Danny asked and Dick smiled again, he loved to smile it seemed, and went into a long explanation about summer halloween and how people in Gotham loved Halloween but it was the one time a year that every single villain in the city decided to run amok. 

Eventually, though, he finished his explanation and Danny found himself agreeing to working the carnival with Dick beaming that bright, sunshine smile of his as he clapped him on the shoulder and informed him he would be coming back the next day with the contract for Danny to read over. 

He couldn’t help but feel a little hopeful, though, as he watched Dick walk away. This was a big opportunity for him, even if he was going to be at risk of being under the scrutiny of the bats themselves. He wasn’t looking forward to that bit. 

Dick watched as the computer scanned the DNA he had gotten from Danny from his two visits. The first time had been the cup, the second time, he had managed to get a hair off the man before coming back to the manor. He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the fact that Danny looked identical to Damian save for his bright blue eyes.

It had him wondering if he was a clone, a different son of Bruce’s or what was going on. But he wasn’t sure if he had managed to get enough off of the boy’s cup the first time and the hair he swiped from Danny when giving him a hug before he left earlier could help quite a bit on figuring out for sure if Danny was related or if it was just a coincidence. 

“What are you doing?” Tim asked, walking into the cave and falling into a seat. Dick looked over at him for a moment, the twenty-five year old was bundled up in a hoodie and sweats, his big comfy slippers covered his feet as he sat curled up on the large office chair and looked up at the Batcomputer. 

“There’s a psychic medium in Gotham who looks just like Bruce and Damian, like it’s scary how similar they are,” Dick admitted and Tim frowned. 

“A psychic medium?” He asked slowly. “Are you thinking a clone?”

“If he’s a clone, he’s managed to deprogram really well,” Dick said, clacking his fingers on the desk. “Not only that, but he’s got the metagene or something, he can actually see the dead and show them.”

Tim’s frown seemed to deepen. “What do you mean by that?” He asked, tilting his head in that quizzical way he seemed to do when he was starting to try to put the pieces to a puzzle together. 

Dick heaved a sigh before he got into his explanation, telling his little brother about the crystal, how he was able to actually see his parents in it, the things he heard, the way Danny told him things that no one would ever know. 

Dick’s younger brother furrowed his brow. “Huh, I might have to stop by and see how legit he is,” he said contemplatively. “But he might not even be related to B or Dami, I mean that just feels a little unlikely, don’t you think? Not every black haired, blue eyed kid is his. I mean Dames doesn’t even have blue eyes, his are green,” Tim said. 

“I’m telling you, they’re related. They look so similar it’s scary,” Dick said with a shudder. The computer finally let out a ding and Dick held his breath as he looked up at the screen. 

It was a fifty percent match to Bruce but a one hundred percent match to Damian.

“That makes no sense,” Tim murmured, leaning forward on the edge of his chair. “How is that possible? He would either have to be Damian’s clone, or he would have to be–”

“A long lost twin that never really was confirmed to be dead!” Dick exclaimed, spinning around in his seat to face Tim. “Damian never out right said that Danyal died, you know. He just said that he was left to die in the middle of nowhere but no body was ever recovered and–”

“But how are they identical? Damian has green eyes and you just said that this kid definitely had blue eyes.

Dick made a face at that as he looked at the report and then back at his brother. He squinted before he grabbed his phone. “Jason’s eyes turned green after he was dipped into the pit, Ra’s and Talia have green eyes too, maybe Damian’s are green from the pit.”

“Has he ever been dipped in the pit?” Tim asked, still looking to poke holes in all of Dick’s arguments. 

Dick said nothing as he dialed his youngest brother’s number and waited for him to answer. 

“Yes Richard, I am in the middle of something,” Damian said as soon as he answered the phone. 

“Aren’t you supposed to be heading home from class?” Dick accused. 

“I am in the car with Colin, now what do you need?” He asked, sounding bored and Dick let out a huff. He hated teenagers, specifically his brother. Damian was in the moodiest phase of his teenager phase and it was actually making Dick’s eye twitch more than anything. He would rather deal with angry and petulant ten-year-old Damian than teenager Damian sometimes. 

“Did you always have green eyes?” Dick asked and Damian was quiet for a moment. 

“No, I did not. Mother said that I had crystal blue eyes like Father’s when I was first taken out of the artificial womb. But, I had a weak constitution and only hours after I was removed, I was starting to die. Mother said that Danyal had taken more of the nutrients in our womb and it had left me weak. So, she dipped me into the Lazarus Pits soon after birth and my eye color changed from blue to green. Mother liked to joke that it was the only way for her to tell us apart,” he said with a soft chuckle. 

Dick looked at Tim who was now staring at him slack jawed. “Dami, I’m so sorry that happened to you.” 

“Don’t be,” Damian said simply. “I was a newborn infant and did not know what was happening. I do not even remember it happening. Besides, I am grateful that I am not reminded of Danyal every time I see my own eyes in my reflection, I already see him in everything else.” 

“I understand that. Well, thank you for answering my question, Dames, I appreciate it,” he said with a small smile. 

“Is there a reason you were wanting to know about my eye color?”

“I was just wondering,” Dick said. “I was looking at some pictures and realized your eyes were the same shade as Jason’s are now.”

“Yes, it is a side effect of the pits. Now, I will talk to you later, Richard. Collin and I are going to the arcade so that I can watch him fail miserably at flirting with girls.”

With that, Damian hung up and Dick stared at his brother for a moment as he tried to collect his thoughts. 

“Identical twins,” Tim breathed, looking back up at the DNA. 

“We need to tell Damian and Bruce,” Dick said, still staring at the results. “I don’t think Danny knows.”

“Why do you say that?” Tim asked, arching an eyebrow. 

Dick shrugged. “He knew who I was before I introduced myself. If he knew who the Waynes are, he would know that we’re related to Damian. Damian said that they knew who Bruce was from the time they were born, Talia never kept it from them, just wouldn’t let them come to Gotham until she deemed them ready.”

“What if we do some recon on this kid and then when we learn for sure, we bring the evidence back to Bruce and Damian? I don’t want to get his hopes up,” Tim said, staring back up at the screen. “Besides, I’m interested in his little psychic medium schtick.”

“I think that would be the best idea. Bruce would be suspicious and scare the kid off, and Damian well,” they both shuddered at the idea of telling their baby brother. 

Damian was protective when it came to Danyal and his memory. He never tried to argue with them when they made a comment about his dead twin, but they all knew that he didn’t believe Danyal was dead. He had been holding out hope all these years and maybe this would be the chance for him to finally be proven right. Maybe Danyal was alive and he was here in Gotham somehow and they would finally be reunited. 

Dick felt his heart soar in his chest. He was so excited to learn more about Danny and see if he really was Danyal. 

Chapter Text

Tim tapped his fingers on the desk as he stared at the picture of Danny Nightingale. It was a surveillance picture of him with a group of reformed rogues and he seemed to be having a good time. The more he looked at Danny the more he saw Damian but it was just so, so weird. 

Danny was nothing like Damian. 

Sure, Damian had eased up since he came to them all those years ago and he was a lot more human but he wasn’t, well he wasn’t normal. Not even normal for the bats that is. He was stiff and formal, he still refused to use conjugations most of the time when he spoke, he was so awkward it wasn’t funny. He was like the opposite of a people person sometimes.

Danny, on the other hand, from what it looked like was a complete and total people person. He was laughing loudly and waving his arms around as he spoke to the rogues. From what Dick said, he was very much a people person during his meeting with Danny as well. It made sense if the amnesia theory was true, though, Danny likely didn’t remember his time in the league and it had an effect on him. 

Tim was going to have to meet him soon. 

He and Dick had already agreed that they weren’t going to tell Bruce or Damian until they were totally for sure. Because even if the tests came back as identical, there was still the whole finding out if Danny really was struck with amnesia or if he was purposefully avoiding them and they needed to see how they were feeling about the entire thing before introducing him to he family. 

“I think before the Summerween Carnival, I’m going to go and introduce myself to him,” Tim declared as he looked over at Dick who was still watching the video. 

“It’s just so weird,” Dick breathed. “Identical twins but Danny is so different. I just want to see what the baby bats would do if they interacted with one another. Would Damian be horrified at how different Danny is? Would Danny hate Damian for how stiff he is?”

Tim shrugged his shoulders.  “I think you’re overthinking this. Right now we need to focus on Danny and what he knows before we even try to introduce them.”

“You’re right, but I just don’t want anything bad to happen. I don’t want Damian to be upset that Danny has been alive all these years and never contacted him,” Dick said quietly. 

“Well, we won’t know until we find out. Either way, Danny deserves to know that he has a whole ass family out here and the Demon Brat deserves to know that the brother he thought was dead all these years is actually alive and well.”

Dick pursed his lips and nodded. Tim just gave him a small smile.

He looked back up on the screen to get back to digging and try to figure out why Danny Nightingale didn’t exist beyond this year. It was definitely starting to look like Tim had a lot of work to do in the coming weeks if he wanted to learn anything about Danny Nightingale and it was going to start with him paying a visit to his possible little brother. 

Danny chewed on his lip as he started packing up supplies for the carnival that upcoming weekend as he listened to Sam catch him up on everything that was going on. 

“So anyway, Vlad has been making Jack and Maddie’s life a living hell which has been pretty damn funny,” Sam told him as he grabbed the bag full of his teas and dropped them in the box beside his crystals. 

“I mean, I don’t blame him. I would have likely done the same,” Danny said with a snort. “I think it’s crazy that they reacted the way that they did. But what really gets me is the fact that they thought throwing me away was better than just vivisecting me or I don’t know, I just wasn’t expecting what they did.”

“It’s been weird around here,” Sam admitted softly. ”But hey, I’m going to be in Gotham this weekend for some kind of carnival that the Wayne Family is doing to raise money for schools so maybe I can stop by and visit you at your shop.”

Danny grinned. “I’ll actually be working the carnival,” he told his best friend. “One of the Waynes came by my shop and got a reading and now he’s wanting me to have a booth at the SummerWeen carnival. So you’re in luck, you’ll be able to hide away in my booth the entire night instead of schmoozing it with your parents,” he said and Sam let out a disbelieving laugh. 

“Thank the Ancients, I’ve been dreading this stupid carnival. Like, don’t get me wrong, the carnival is cool. It’s a chance for kids to go and have fun and get school supplies and all that but it’s also where the rich get to brag and donate and all that shit instead and I hate it.” 

“Well, this time I’ll be there and we can have some fun,” Danny said lightly as he taped up yet another box.

“You know, you look a lot like Bruce Wayne,” Sam said after a few minutes of comfortable silence. “Do you think maybe Clockwork sent you to Gotham because you’re related? What if Bruce Wayne is your biological father?”

Danny let out a disbelieving laugh. “I highly doubt that, Sam. I was wandering around the woods in Pakistan with a concussion and a shit ton of wounds at just six-years-old. I highly doubt that Bruce Wayne is my dad.”

“I’m just saying, it makes sense. I mean didn’t he like, learn eight years ago that he had a long lost son that he never knew about, it could be the same for you. His youngest son is the same age as you, you guys look alike and–”

“And nothing, Sam. It’s just a coincidence. Besides, I don’t look like Bruce Wayne, nor do I look like his youngest son. Wouldn’t they have been looking for me if I was Damian Wayne’s twin or something?” 

“You never know. I mean it’s too much of a coincidence, don’t you think?”

“No, no I don’t think. Besides, I’ve made friends while here. Poison Ivy and I are practically besties now,” he said, it was a bit of a lie. Pam treated him like she was his aunt or something. The ex villains had all but adopted him. It was sweet actually.

Sam just let out a dramatic sigh. “I can’t believe you’re living my dream,” she said sadly. “You’re in the most gothic city in the world, you’re friends with my personal hero and you’re running a metaphysical shop. When did you become me, Danny? How is any of this fair?”

Danny shrugged despite the fact that his best friend wouldn’t see as he had more supplies float towards him. “I’m just lucky like that, I suppose.”

“Whatever,” Sam said with a huff. “I’m going to have to get off here soon, we’ve been talking for three hours now and I have to get started packing my things up for the trip to Gotham.”

“That’s fine, maybe you can stop by my booth when you’re at the Summerween carnival,” he said. 

“Will do, bye best friend, love you,” Sam said quietly. 

Danny grinned. “Bye best friend, I love you too,” he said before the call ended. Danny continued with his packing, getting everything he could to get ready for the carnival in a few days. 

He was starting to feel the nerves settle inside of him and he wasn’t quite sure how he felt about it. It was cool, definitely cool that he was going to get to work a carnival and he was going to be set for months with how much Dick was paying him just for being there, but it was also just slightly weird? 

He was worried he’d get caught as a fraud or they would just give him shit the entire time. He didn’t like unknowns and that’s exactly what this felt like. 

The bell to his shop eventually dragged him from his reverie and he looked up to find another Gotham Vigilante walking into his shop. 

This time it was Red Robin, or well, Tim Drake as he was currently in his civilian clothing. 

“Welcome to Nightingale’s,” Danny intoned, plastering a smile on his face. “What can I do for you today, Mr. Drake-Wayne?”

“My brother told me that you were super accurate when it came to predictions and talking to the dead and I just wanted to try it out as well,” he said with a small, polite smile.

Danny grinned and waved a hand, clearing off his table. “Please, take a seat,” he said before the large crystal ball came floating towards the table and Danny followed after it, taking a seat across from him. 

Tim stared at the ball curiously, looking like he was trying to find the rope that dragged it along only to find that there wasn’t one. 

“So, who would you like to see? Your mother? Your father?” Danny asked, tilting his head to the side as he looked Tim over. “Your step-mother?” 

The vigilante looked him over for a moment. “What do you do aside from showing the dead?” He asked. 

Danny simply shrugged his shoulders. “I can read your cards, read your palm, whatever you want,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders. “I will say that my expertise is the dead but I can do fortune tellings if you really want that,” he explained. 

Tim leveled his eyes on the crystal ball. “The dead is your expertise?” He asked, tilting his head to the side as he looked over the crystal ball. “Then I guess I’d like to do that,” he said. 

The halfa simply grinned wide and started to show Tim snapshots of his parents in their forever world. Tim stared in quiet awe at each scene, each interaction that Danny displayed in the ball. 

“That was, that was unbelievable,” Tim breathed as the crystal’s bright green smoke faded to black, the lights slowly dulled away. 

Danny just quirked up a small, smug smile.  “I told you, it’s my expertise,” he said as he waved a hand and the crystal ball floated away back to its place on the mantle. 

A deck of cards soon floated towards them at the table. “Now, we’re going to read your past, present and future,” Danny told him with a sly smile. “Before we being, I need you to pick a question or some kind of intention that you have. Make sure it’s something you’d like to learn, something you don’t have a bias on,” Danny instructed him.

They went through the motions and soon enough there were three cards in front of Tim. 

“These cards represent the past, present, and future. The past is all about what holds you back or will help you move forward. Something you need to take from the past and sue to your advantage,” Danny explained, pointing to the first card. He moved to point at the second card. “This is your present card, it’s showing you what’s going on right now, what opportunities or challenges that are being presented to you. And then lastly, the future, this is the outcome of the situations, what you’re wanting.”

“So the five of cups is my past,” Tim said, staring at the first card intently. “What does that mean?”

Danny clicked his tongue. “It means that there was a time that was marked by loss or disappointment. You were so focused on the loss that you have not been able to realize that it was a time to grow. You were too focused on what went wrong that you were unable to fully understand and grow like you needed to,” Danny told him.

Tim pursed his lips and nodded but said nothing else. 

“Your present card is the Queen of Swords. This means that you’re in a period where you need to be objective in your decision making. She usually means that you ned to cut through confusion and see the reality of the situation, if you harness her resilience and level-headedness you will be able to navigate the challenges at hand in a more effective manner.”

“Holy shit,” Tim breathed out and Danny looked up at him with an arched brow. 

“Am I hitting something for you?” he asked with a sly grin.

“You have no idea,” he breathed out. “What does the four of wands mean?”

“So for your future card, you got four of wands. This card usually means that you are approaching a time of joy and fulfillment.  It represents reaching a milestone. You’ll find yourself surrounded by family and love and support.”

“So, what does this all mean?”

Danny simply shrugged his shoulders. “If we want to go literally, something that you were grieving in your past has reappeared but not as it should, now you need to look into it and be level minded as you try to figure it out. But once you do it, the prize will be even better than you thought it could be, all the hard work you’ve put into this will come into fruition. It’ll all be worth it in the end,” he said simply and Tim just leaned back in his seat, his eyes wide. 

“Holy shit,” he breathed out. “I was already amazed when I saw my parents but the fortune? It’s like you’re hinting at exactly what’s going on right now and that’s just–holy shit dude.”

Danny just gave him a polite smile. “I’m glad I was able to help,” he said simply. 

Soon Danny was left with yet another stack of cash as Tim Drake rushed out of the shop, leaving Danny befuddled and slightly confused. 

Maybe it was just a coincidence that Tim showed up just minutes after Sam said that he might be related to the Waynes. Besides, that theory was ridiculous. How could he be related to one of the richest men in the world? Even then, though, wouldn’t they have said something by now if that was true?

It was just a weird coincidence and nothing more.  

Chapter Text

Damian tapped his fingers on the table as he stared at his older brother. “What is it, Dick?” He asked with a sigh. 

“Nothing, nothing!” Dick said with a wide grin on his face and a slightly panicked look on his face. “Can I not just spend time with my favorite baby brother?” He asked and Damian narrowed his eyes. 

“We have biweekly lunch meetings Dick,” Damian said, letting out a huff as he looked at his older brother. “You came out of your way to have dinner at the manor tonight knowing full well that Father is at the Watchtower and no one else is coming by the manor today. What do you want?” He asked, narrowing his eyes. 

He had made plans to go and visit Colin this evening after dinner with Alfred and those plans were now in the trash because Dick had shown up unannounced and insisted on monopolizing Damian’s time. 

Dick’s shoulders slumped and he let out a sigh. “I’m lonely,” he admitted, giving Damian the biggest pair of puppy dog eyes. “Babs is out with her friends for the weekend and Jason is in space with Kori and Roy and Tim is with his boyfriends and Duke is away at college and then Cass is with Steph and Steph told me she would castrate me if I crashed their date night,” Dick whined and Damian stared at him. 

“So, I am your last choice? I see how it is, Richard,” he said with a sigh as he leaned back in his seat. These days he tended to call his brother Dick as he had grown more comfortable with using his brother’s nicknames, he still slipped into the habit at times. But for the most part, he resorted to Richard when he wanted to make his brother squirm and if he was truly angry with his brother, he called him Grayson. It made Dick cry every single time without fail. 

Damian won many arguments with his brother that way.

He watched in mild glee as his brother’s eyes grew wide. “No! No! Not at all, it’s just, you’re eighteen now and I know you’re trying to hang out with your friends as much as possible before you go off to college and I just don’t want to monopolize your time,” he said in a rush.

Damian rolled his eyes. “You’re ridiculous,” he said with a soft chuckle. “So, what do you want to do?”

“I was thinking movie night?” Dick asked, his smile wide. 

He nodded his head. “That’s fine,” Damian said before finally taking a bite of his tuscan pasta in front of him. 

Dick beamed his obnoxiously wide smile before he dug into his own supper. Before Damian knew it, they were both curled up on the couch with large fuzzy blankets and the intro to Lion King starting. 

“I have a question,” Dick said softly. “It’s going to sound really stupid but I saw this fortune teller and he could speak to ghosts and he showed me my parents,” Dick said and Damian let out a scoff. He still couldn’t believe that his brother fell for a fortune teller’s tricks. It was ridiculous.  

“Okay, and?” Damian asked, arching an eyebrow. 

“And it just had me thinking about my parents you know. What I would do if they came back to life,” Dick said. “Like, would things be okay? Would they remember me? Would things be awkward because it’s been over twenty years since they last saw me? Do you ever think about that stuff with Danyal? I mean, I know that there’s a chance that he’s still alive, but what would you do if you saw him?”

Damian pursed his lips and leaned back in the couch as he grabbed the remote and pause the movie. It was odd how much Dick had mentioned his brother in the recent weeks, it was more than usual. He wondered if it was because their birthday was coming up or not. 

Either way, he truly did enjoy the chance to talk about his brother. He had adored Danyal and Danyal adored him in return. 

“I would be happy that he’s alive,” Damian finally said. 

“Even if he’s been away from you for so long? And never tried to find you?” Dick asked and Damian made a face and nodded. 

“Yes, even then,” Damian admitted. “It sounds odd but I never truly believed that he died. There is this feeling inside of me, it feels like a piece of Danyal and it tells me that he’s alive. I think that whenever I was dipped in the pit as a child, it gave me a connection to my brother. I don’t know if he had one towards me, if he did, he never gave any inclination towards it. But I could always tell when he was hurt or if he was okay,” Damian explained, feeling a bit anxious explaining something he never really said out loud to anyone. 

“And you still feel it?” Dick asked and Damian nodded his head. 

“There was a time, when I was fourteen where I truly thought he died because the spark was just gone for hours. Ever since then, it comes and it goes, it feels like he’s dead and sometimes minutes or hours later, it comes back. I don’t know if it’s because the feeling is fading inside of me because we’ve been separated for so long or if it’s because it’s been so long since I’ve been close to a Lazarus pit.” 

“So, if he did show up what would you do?” 

Damian tilted his head. “It depends.”

“On what?” 

The younger man let out a hum. “If he has been away from me this long just because he never bothered to come find me, I would kill him. He has been alive this entire time and never once tried to come to me? I mean, he knows who our father is, he knows that we are Waynes and yet he never had the decency to let me know he was at least alive and happy? I would destroy Danyal and then throw him in the Lazarus pits just to do it all again,” Damian said venomously. 

If that little shit was alive and he was actively avoiding Damian, oh he would murder him. He would give his brother so much shit for staying away from him. 

“Don’t you think that’s a little harsh?” Dick squeaked out, his eyes a little wide. “You just said you’d be happy?”

“Perhaps, but I have been the one to grieve him all these years, I deserve to be angry. I would be overjoyed that he’s alive, but I would also kick his ass for leaving me,” Damian said with a shrug before he gave his brother a small smile. “Now, say I somehow find Danyal and it turns out he doesn’t remember his time in Nanda Parbat? I would just see if he still had space in his heart for me,” he said softly. 

“Really?” Dick asked, looking surprised. 

Damian nodded. “Yes. Danyal had a lot of injuries when he was taken away, I would not be surprised if he had a concussion and blood loss as well. That whoever found him, got him help but it left him with no memories of his time with me and he has been able to live a happy and fulfilling life somewhere else.” He looked down at his hands for a moment and twisted at the end of his blanket and stared up at the screen. It was frozen on the scene where the animals were cheering and celebrating and he smiled to himself. 

“I like to imagine that he was adopted by a nice family, that even though he doesn’t remember me, he’s loved and he’s happy and that one day he will possibly see me on the news and think wow, I look identical to that person, and reach out,” Damian said and chewed on his lip for a moment. “If I did ever find Danyal and he did not remember me, I would want to see if I could be in his life and get to know the new Danyal and build a relationship with him.”

Dick smiled. “That’s really sweet,” he said and let out a laugh. “So if he’s an amnesiac, you’ll forgive him. But if it turns out he’s just been avoiding you, you’re going to kill him,” he said and Damian grinned and nodded his head. 

“Exactly,” he said. “Now you’re catching on.”

“You’re definitely Bruce and Talia’s child,” he said with a snort. 

“Is there a reason you’ve been asking about Danyal and my life in Nanda Parbat so much recently?” Damian asked, glancing over at his brother. 

Dick shrugged. “I don’t know, your birthday is in like a month and I keep thinking about what it would be like if we had two Damians,” he said and kicked his feet up on the coffee table. 

Damian smiled. “We were polar opposites, it would absolutely not have been like two Damians. Danyal was,” he faltered for a moment as he tried to think for a moment. “Danyal is the light, he has always been the brightest star in the sky. He was funny and smart and he was so kind. That was why Grandfather hated him. He was supposed to be the heir, I was the weaker twin since I had to be dipped in the pit to just survive. I was the spare to the heir. But Danyal? He would do everything Grandfather told him to do except hurt me. Every time we would spar, he would throw the spar and allow me to live. I remember once, I stabbed him in the abdomen because he knew that if I didn’t win I would get beaten by Grandfather. Luckily it didn’t do any real damage and he wound up being alright, but Grandfather was livid. After they rushed him into surgery and fixed it, Danyal was given thirty lashings. A month later, Grandfather tested him and Danyal was gone,” Damian said quietly. 

He ran his fingers over the soft, plush blanket. “

“Damian, I’m so sorry,” Dick whispered, reaching over and taking Damian’s hand in his and squeezed it tight. 

Damian smiled. “It’s alright, I like to imagine that wherever he is, he’s happy. That he’s thriving and having a great time,” he said and Dick grinned. 

“I hope he is,” he said. “Can I know more about him?” He asked. 

Damian smiled and launched into a story about the time he was four and he and Danyal had managed to convince Talia into taking them out on an adventure to her. How she took them to a nearby village and bought them treats from a small stand. 

“I had never had panipuri until that day but it was delicious,” Damian said with a wistful smile. “We had the chefs making it for us for months because we both loved it so much. Mother also bought us small children's books that we cherished so much, I think I still have both of our books in my room somewhere.” 

“He was the perfect heir, he was efficient, he kept his emotions underwrap, he performed beyond Grandfather’s expectations at every turn. But when it was just us and mother? We saw a different side of Danyal,” Damian said and bit at his lip. “I know that I was only six when I lost him but we weren’t normal children, Dick. We were beyond our years mentally and emotionally. But when we were alone in the safety of our rooms, he was funny and he was so smart. He told the funniest jokes and we would laugh and play make believe. We would make up stories about our lives if we were normal kids. I wanted to live on a farm, Danyal thought that it would stink too much. He wanted to live in a big city and just learn how to be a kid,” he said and Dick grinned. 

“So you’ve always been obsessed with animals?” Dick asked and Damian laughed. 

“Yes, we used to sneak into the farms at the cradle to pet the cows and other animals whenever we had free time,” Damian said softly. “It was wonderful.”

He pulled his blankets closer and looked at his brother. “If he is alive, if he is truly out there like I feel he is in my heart; I just hope that he is happy,” Damian admitted finally. “I don’t care if I ever see him again as long as he is happy.”

“I get that,” Dick said before he leaned over and wrapped Damian in his arms in a tight hug. Damian sighed and let himself relax in his brother’s octopus grip and leaned into the hug. “I love who you’ve turned out to be, Baby Bat. I bet Danyal would love who you are too.”

Damian let out a soft laugh and hugged Dick tight. “Thank you. And thank you for asking about Danyal, I enjoy talking about him. It makes me feel close to him,” he said, leaning into Dick’s embrace. “Now, can we please start watching this ridiculous movie?” He asked and Dick let out a loud laugh before ruffling his hair. 

“Yeah, Baby Bat, we can,” he said and snuggled up close to Damian before they started the movie. Damian just got comfortable beside his brother and let the sounds of the Circle of Life suck him into his favorite Disney movie.

Chapter Text

Tim stared at the teenager sitting under his tent and crossed his arms. It was the night of the SummerWeen carnival– he still thought that Dick had given it the stupidest name ever– and Danny had set up his tent at the edges of the garden where the other booths were lined up. 

The carnival was in full swing in the Wayne Gardens. Food trucks lined one side, carnival booths lined the other with games and exhibits, a ferris wheel and even a petting zoo were all available for the guests to play with. The Grayson foundation had covered the costs for food and about ten tickets for each kid to play games and take a ride on the ferris wheel. 

Tim had to admit, despite his brother’s shitty naming skills, it was a pretty amazing event for the kids of Gotham. 

But right now he wasn’t focused on any of that. He was focused on the fact that Danny Nightingale was one million percent Danyal Al Ghul.

The teenager was currently at his tent talking to one of the donor’s daughter’s, Samantha Manson. Pamela and Jeremy Manson were one of the families who donated to the Grayson Foundation each year at the insistence of their daughter, an eighteen year old woman who was active in social justice and environmental rights. 

He wasn’t surprised that she was drawn towards the fortune telling booth, especially since she had always been more on the edgy side. The girl had been dragged to enough galas and events by her parents that Tim had recognized her rather easily. 

Dick let out a breath. “Without a doubt,” he said, arms crossed over his chest.

“How do we want to tell Damian?” Tim asked, glancing over at his eldest brother. Damian had conveniently managed to weasel out of the carnival, stating that he had a team bonding activity this weekend with the Titans and therefore couldn’t come to the carnival.

Tim and Dick had both called bullshit on the spot. Both previous Titans members knew exactly what a team bonding activity was. It was all piling together on the massive couch in the tower and playing video games until their thumbs fell off. 

“I want us to get all the information from Danny first,” Dick said, that cheesy gala grin plastered on his face as carnival goers walked by, giving the two Wayne brothers a quick handshake and a hello before passing by to chat with others. “I don’t think Danny knows who he is, or that he’s family. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had amnesia considering what we know about him being sent out at six-years-old. So, I think talking to him about it, telling him our suspicions would be better. If Damian just showed up, well, you know how Damian is,” he said and Tim winced. 

Did he ever. 

Damian had grown exponentially since he had first come to live at Wayne Manor eight years ago. He was no longer an evil little demon who didn’t know how to socialize with people and had no personality. 

Now he was just a bratty eighteen year old who was solidifying who he was as a person. He was funny and snarky as hell, he had Talia’s cutting sass and Bruce’s glare down pat. He was also incredibly caring and kind when he wanted to be, he especially had a soft spot for animals and little kids. 

But he was also still Damian Thomas Al Ghul Wayne and he was a bit brusque and rough around the edges, just like his parents. It wasn’t that he didn’t mean well, he did, he just had a tendency to put his foot in his mouth because the filter between his brain and mouth was practically nonexistent at times. Especially when emotions were running high.

So, Tim imagined if Damian found out that his twin was not only alive but living in Old Gotham, he would likely combust and screw up the conversation badly, especially if Danny didn’t remember him. 

No, it would be better to try to prepare Danny before telling their baby brother. Even though it would suck ass to keep it secret from Damian, it would likely be the best way to handle it. 

“So, how do we want to do it?” Tim asked after another group of guests stopped and chatted with them. 

“Let’s go to his shop in a week or so and talk to him and tell him our suspicions,” Dick said thoughtfully. 

“I think he’s hiding something,” Tim told him. 

“What makes you think that?” Dick asked, glancing over at Tim who just shrugged his shoulders as he stared ahead, his head tilted to the side as he watched Danny and Samantha slip into the tent right before Danny got a customer. 

“When I ran his DNA, I found a match,” Tim said simply. “Danny Nightingale isn’t his actual name. His name is Daniel James Fenton of Amity Park, Illinois. He was declared legally dead just a little over seven months ago.”

Dick frowned, his brow furrowed. “Why? How the hell is that possible?” 

Tim sucked on his teeth. “From what I’ve read, his parents Jackson and Madeline Fenton are scientists who were studying beings that they called ecto-entities or more commonly known as ghosts.” Dick was now fully staring at his younger brother, surprise clear in his eyes. “He went down into their basement and got into something he wasn’t supposed to and it killed him is what they claimed.”

“But he’s alive, I shook his hand,” Dick said, confusion more than clear on his face. 

“That’s why I’m confused. But then I started looking into what the Fentons study and ectoplasm is a bit similar to something else we know of that’s neon green and suspicious,” Tim told him. “But there’s been a bunch of discourse since Danny  allegedly died,” he murmured quietly. 

“What do you mean?”

“Samantha Manson,” he said, pointing his head over in the direction of the tent. “Her friend Tucker Foley, and Jasmine Fenton, Danny’s sister are all arguing that something else happened to Danny. Edward Lancer is also pushing for the police to look into things. He was Danny’s high school English teacher and had put in multiple notices to child protective services about the Fenton children,” Tim murmured quietly. “Not only that but the Fentons held a closed casket funeral and no one ever saw his body.”

“Huh,” Dick murmured. “I think we should ask Danny about it once we tell him about him being Damian’s twin.”

“Probably a good idea,” Tim hummed and rocked on his feet before he got the polite smile on his face again as a family came up to talk to them. Beside him, though, Dick stiffened and when he followed his line of sight he had to hold in a curse as they watched Jason Todd walk into the fucking fortune teller’s tent.

Danny was having the best time with his best friend. Sam had been a breath of fresh air as she stayed by Danny’s side the entire day. From the moment she had stepped foot in the carnival she had all but hung off of Danny’s elbow, telling him everything that had happened, things that she and Tucker had already told him multiple times. Yet, he listened attentively nonetheless, a wide smile on his face as he soaked in the affection of his best friend. 

“Anyway, so this is so much better than half the shit that’s been going on in Amity. Now that we’re graduated, though, Tucker and I have been making plans to come out here and visit you before we go to school. Tuck got in at MIT so he’s going to be close by but I’ll be in Chicago at the art school there. But he told me he’d come and visit you any chance he can get,” Sam said as they walked back in the tent after Danny had closed for a quick snack break. 

“That’ll be fun,” he said, throwing a feta canape in his mouth. “You guys can stay in my apartment or something. I can show you guys all of my favorite places and have you meet Ives,” he told her and Sam got a wide grin on her face at that. 

“Oh my god, I would love you forever,” she breathed when the tent flaps opened and a tall man walked in. Danny looked him over and held back his grin. 

Red Hood finally made his way to Danny’s shop and he was about to have the time of his life. 

“Welcome to Nightingale’s Fortunes,” Danny said in his airy, whimsical voice that had Sam smothering a laugh from the corner she stood in. He shot her a look and she saluted him before slipping out of the fortune tent. “What can I do for you, Jason Todd?” 

The man arched an eyebrow curiously but took a seat at the round table. “I’ve been hearin’ around the carnival that you’re the best fortune teller in Gotham, that you get shit spot on,” he said and gave him a cocky grin. “So, I thought I’d come see what you’ve got.”

Danny just gave him a small, smug smile. “Oh you’ve come to the right place then,” Danny said and leaned forward in his seat. “Your hand, please?” He asked.

He watched as Jason gave him that cocky smirk and placed his hand on the table and Danny had to hold back his own conspiratorial grin. 

“Interesting,” he murmured, running his forefinger along the lines of Jason’s palm. “You’ve died before. It was a painful and gruesome death, something that has left a deep scar on your soul. Something that has left you angry and desperate for revenge. I hear, laughing and smell fire,” Danny lied, looking Jason over. 

The man was sitting deathly still in his seat as he watched Danny with hard eyes, the ghost of Robin floated behind him with a shit eating grin on his face. 

“Did you know that the ghost of your childhood has been haunting you like a guardian angel ever since you came back?” Danny asked him, arching an eyebrow. “When you came back to life, it wasn’t all of you that returned.”

“What do you see?” Jason finally asked and Danny gave him a knowing smile. 

“I don’t know if your family would be happy if I said it out loud,” he said conspiratorially. “But I can show you if you would like,” he said and Jason pulled his hand back before he leaned across the table, his eyes a bright green. 

“Show me what you know,” he said, baring his teeth ever so slightly. 

Danny waved a hand and allowed the crystal ball to float towards him. He had mostly spent the night reading palms and listening to ghosts tell him hints and secrets. But for Jason? He was more than happy to use his actual powers to have some fun.

“Show me Jason Todd,” Danny murmured and the ball showed him exactly what was in front of him, Jason sitting straight backed at the table with the ghost of Robin at his shoulder. “Not all of you came back, did it?” He asked, his eyes flicking up at Jason. 

“How?” He snarled, his hands fisted at his sides. 

The halfa shrugged his shoulders. “I see things others don’t. He has been floating at your shoulder for years. I would imagine you manage to go unseen even when you think you should have been noticed. That situations that would be deadly or lethal for anyone else, you walk out of unscathed,” Danny said simply. "He existed before you died, but wasn't strong, I imagine he originally started out as an idea, a love for you know who by the people that manifested his creation. But then someone died and that caused the love for you know, to grow stronger until he managed to fully manifest as a ghost. I imagine that he is a protector spirit, that the others have a version of him that haunts them as well."

It wasn't a lie. The ghost of Robin had grown strong, they were a manifestation that grew and became an idea. Similar to ghosts like Lunch Lady, Nocturn, or Undergrowth. Just an idea that had grown and grown until it manifested into an ecto being, a neverborn in a way that got even more powerful with the death of the second Robin. 

Danny saw Robin often. Their face and looks changed with each Robin or former Robin they protected. Spoiler had a Robin with blond hair and a dress version of the Robin suit. Red Robin had Jason's Robin most of the time, as did Jason himself. Dick had the first Robin. And Damian, he had Tim's Robin keeping him safe. For Signal and Orphan, it was ever changing, the Robin ghost shifted and changed whenever Danny saw it around them, as if it just knew that they were important, that they needed to be kept safe. 

Robin was the protector spirit for the sidekicks and partners of Batman. They were a spirit that kept an eye on all of them, first as a thought and then when Jason died, they had become a full formed ghost and protector spirit. A spirit that most commonly followed Jason even when he was out of his Red Hood persona. 

Jason shot out of his seat, the chair flipped to the ground as he did before he stormed out of the tent. A few moments later, Sam came slipping back in. 

“What’d you do to scare Jason Todd off?” She asked, fixing the chair as Danny let the crystal ball float back to it’s place. 

Danny shrugged his shoulders. He hadn’t told Sam and Tucker about how he knew who the bats were and wasn’t planning on sharing that secret any time soon. Technically he shouldn’t even know and the only reason he did was because of the ghosts. 

“Weird,” she said and started to walk around the tent. “My parents keep looking over at the tent but I imagine you don’t want them to know that you’re well, you,” she said. 

Danny shook his head and got up and snatched the crystals out of Sam’s hand. “Don’t take those,” he said before placing them back on the table. Sam stuck her tongue out at him but went on to the next thing, sniffing at the bags of tea tied up in little mesh bags that Danny had spent hours meticulously tying up.

“No, I wouldn’t want them to know, I’ve got my own thing going on and I don’t need anyone from Amity finding out that I’m here,” he said simply before he took the crystal ball and spun it on his finger carefully. 

Sam let out a sad sigh. “Fine, fine,” she said. “They still think it’s suspicious how Danny Fenton died, you know, everyone does.”

“I know but Danny Fenton is dead and we’re leaving it at that, Sam. I’m not coming back any time soon.”

She nodded, a sad look on her face. “I miss you, so does Tuck,” she said softly and Danny gave her a soft smile and threw his arm over her shoulder, pulling her in for a tight hug. 

“I miss you too,” he murmured, pressing a soft kiss to the top of her head. He did, too. He missed his best friends more than anything in the world. He had gone from spending every single day with Tucker and Sam, from doing homework with them at the Foley kitchen table to going bowling at the Manson’s bowling alley, to fighting ghosts in Amity. For such a long time, his days were filled with spending time with his two best friends. 

They knew everything about him, he knew everything about them. They had spent every moment together for years and now Danny was lucky if they were all able to make it on their three way call they had once a week.

Things were different now, he could feel it in his bones. Could see it in how they texted a little less each day, how easily they ran out of things to talk about. But it didn’t make Danny love his friends any less. They were still some of his favorite humans in the world but he had a feeling that in a few years, they would likely rarely if ever see one another. 

The way Sam seemed to hug him just a little tighter made him wonder if she was also aware of the fact that their friendship would likely change as the months turned into years. 

“Go hang out in the carnival Sam,” he murmured. “Your parents are going to be suspicious if you hide out in Nightingale’s Fortune tent all night long.” 

She pulled away and gave him a small smile. “I love you, Danny, you know that right?” She asked and Danny grinned. 

“I know,” he said with a small smile of his own. It was true, he would always love Sam. Sure, things hadn’t worked out for them romantically, not after Danny had finally realized he was gay but that didn’t mean he stopped loving her. He just loved her in a different way, in the same way that he loved Tucker. Even with all the distance and even if they went years without ever speaking, he would always love her. Just like he knew that she would always love him. 

Her eyes were sad. “I’ll stop by before we leave, okay?” she asked before pressing a chaste kiss on his cheek and hurried out of the tent. 

Replacing her not too long after was none other than Bruce Wayne.

Danny’s heart dropped at the sight of Gotham’s most fearsome vigilante standing in his little tent. In fact, it had been why he was hesitant about agreeing to the carnival in the first place.

“Mr. Wayne,” he said cheerfully as Mr. Wayne took a look around the inside of his tent and gave Danny an easy going smile. 

“Please, Mr. Nightingale, just call me Bruce,” he said with that charming smile that he was seen giving the adoring masses every time he stepped out of his fancy manor. 

“Only if you call me Danny,” he said with an easy going smile as he tried to calm his nerves. He was thankful that none of the usual ghosts that haunted him were there at the moment or else he would never hear the end of it. 

“I just wanted to thank you for coming and being a vendor for our carnival tonight. Everyone in attendance has been talking about your fortune reading skills all night,” he said as he walked around the tent, taking everything in. 

Danny watched the man with a distrustful eye. He had a feeling that Bruce was here for far more than just to check out the cool fortune teller. How could he not when he was the fucking Batman of all people. He always found everything suspicious, hell, Danny was convinced he still found Phantom suspicious half the time. 

“Thank you for inviting me,” Danny said politely as he watched the older man look over his tent. “Would you be interested in a fortune yourself?” he asked, arching an eyebrow. He grabbed his stack of tarot cards and shuffled them in his hand lazily. “Maybe I can read your cards?”

The corners of Bruce’s eyes crinkled ever so slightly. “I’ll be honest, I’ve always been a skeptic. But Dick and Tim both swear by you so I would be an idiot to say no,” he said and Danny motioned towards his table. 

“We’re going to do a three card spread, I want you to think of a question in your mind. Something meaningful to you, something important,” he said as he took a seat across from Bruce and spread his cards out, showing the beautiful constellations that covered the backs of the cards. “The spread is going to be your past, present, and future. By looking at our past, present, and future, we get a deeper understanding of the things that have influenced and shaped our lives. Each of the cards in this spread will represent a different aspect of your journey, it’ll offer some insight into what’s going on in your life,” Danny said before he shuffled the cards once more and laid the first card face down, then the second, then the third.

Danny looked up at the vigilante and gave him a small smile. “Do you have your question in mind?” He asked, arching an eyebrow at him.

Bruce pursed his lips and nodded. “I do.”

“The first card is your Five of Cups. This represents loss and grief,” Danny told him, pushing the card just a bit closer to Bruce. “Usually of a person but it can also represent something like a situation and a thing that you wanted. But nonetheless, it’s something that you have lost.”

Bruce arched his eyebrow at Danny. “I think everyone knows that I lost my parents as a child,” he said and Danny just gave him a secretive smile as he flipped his next card. 

“For your present, you have the Two of Wands. This card means discovery, progress, or coming to a point where you need to make a decision of some sorts. Most of the time, it represents that there’s a spark of an idea or a future plan. Looking at your last card, it can be seen as you have an idea but you haven’t acted on it. You know you lost something but now you need to figure out how to go about handling that loss,” Danny said and now his heart was racing. 

Were the cards showing Bruce that he knew who he was? That he knew that Bruce Wayne was Batman? First the card about loss, a present card about decisions and plans, that could easily be interpreted that he was making a discovery about himself, plotting out the path ahead and working towards it. 

Danny hoped to the ancients above that the third card didn’t make it more obvious that this was showing Bruce’s timeline of being Batman.

“Lastly, for future, we have Judgement,” Danny told him, flipping over the last card. “This means you’re heading towards a major moment of reflection. It’s time to assess your past actions and move forward. It can symbolize a new beginning or when you look at the five of cups, a new life beginning with new family. It can be seen as absolution as a resolution to the discovery, or truth coming to light. Almost like coming to terms with your inner calling,” he said with a small, hesitant smile, his nerves alight.

Bruce was staring down at the cards with his brow furrowed, a look of confusion on his face. Danny genuinely couldn’t tell if the man was acting or not. His heart was racing, though, as he stared down at the cards. It was so blatantly obvious that the cards were showing that he knew that Bruce Wayne was Batman and now the man was giving him a tight smile, the corners of his eyes crinkled. 

“Thank you, Danny,” he said politely as he sat up, his eyes still on the cards. “That was very insightful,” he said and Danny let out a nervous laugh. 

“Yeah, uh, I have a second part of the reading that I like to do, especially for my special customers,” Danny said nervously, his crystal ball floated slowly towards him. Maybe if he showed Bruce his parents it would distract him from asking too many questions? Maybe even make him forget about the fact that Danny just did a reading showing him that he knew he was Batman. 

He let the orb turn bright ectoplasmic green and didn’t notice the way the man’s eyes widened ever so slightly as he focused on the picture in the crystal. Slowly it took form, showing a picture of what was known in the Ghost Zone as Old Gotham. It zoomed in on a version of Wayne Manor before going inside to showing Bruce and Martha Wayne. 

Bruce’s back slammed into his chair as he stared at the crystal in wide eyed shock. 

“Your parents are very proud of you,” Danny said with a soft smile and Bruce watched the two as it played along, showing different scenes with his parents, watching over Bruce, keeping the pride on their faces. 

“They know that things have been hard, but you have done so well and they are so incredibly proud of the person you’ve become. The father you have become,” Danny said softly as he looked up at Bruce who was staring back with a haunted look. 

“Does it show all family members?” Bruce rasped out and Danny nodded. 

“It does,” he said and arched an eyebrow. “Is there someone in particular you were wanting to see?”

Bruce cleared his throat. “I have a son, he died young. I never met him,” he said carefully and at this Danny frowned. 

“Mr. Wayne, you don’t have any dead children,” he said and waved a hand over the crystal ball, willing it to show the ghost of any possible children of Bruce Wayne. “Unless you’re talking about Jason but he came back.”

“Just, just try?” Bruce asked and Danny’s frown deepened. 

“Show me the deceased son of Bruce Wayne,” he ordered at the crystal. The ectoplasm whirled and swirled around in the crystal before the picture changed and morphed until it just showed Danny and Bruce sitting at the table. 

Danny let out a hum and looked at Bruce. “I’m not sure who told you that your son died young, Mr. Wayne, but I can’t find anything,” he said honestly. “I’m really sorry I couldn’t help.”

“No, no, you did enough,” Bruce said, his face more pale than it had been when he first stepped into Danny’s tent, his entire demeanor just a bit more off. He carefully pulled out his wallet and gave Danny a small, polite smile. “For the fortune, and for allowing me a chance to see my parents,” he said before pressing the bills to the table. He gave Danny a quick farewell and rushed out of the tent with his head down. 

Danny frowned and slipped the money into a pocket. “That was weird,” he muttered to himself before his next client, a younger man, came waltzing in. Danny simply rolled his shoulders back and gave the man a polite smile before he went on with his business, trying to put the oddness of the night to the back of his mind.

Chapter Text

Dick watched as Bruce strode out of the psychic tent and to anyone else he likely looked like everyone else who had been in the tent, he looked like someone who just saw the most unbelievable things and was in shock.  But Dick knew it was more than that. 

It was like watching a train wreck in slow motion. He and Tim had watched Jason go into the tent first only to run out looking as though he had seen a ghost, a look of complete and total horror on his face. Judging by the look on his face, Dick wondered if he was looking like that because he realized that Danny looked just like Damian or if Danny had said all the right things to fill Jason with enough horror and shock that he hadn’t even realized. 

He had resolved to checking on his younger brother later after watching him run out of the Wayne Gardens altogether.

They had assumed they were in the clear, at first. That no one else in their family would go into the tent but they had been wrong, so horribly, terribly wrong. See, they weren’t the only ones to watch Jason all but sprint out of the tent, no, Bruce had seen it as well. Knowing Bruce, he was curious to see what the hell had caused his son to run like the entire house was on fire. 

“Dick, this is bad,” Tim had whispered when they watched Bruce walk into the tent. 

“I know, he’s going to figure it out as soon as he sees Danny,” Dick rasped to him and he had been right. 

Because now, Bruce had laid his eyes right on Dick and gave him a look that said more than a million words ever would. 

Bruce knew who Danny was and he had figured out that Dick also knew who Danny was. 

“We’re dead,” Dick whispered and Tim snorted. 

“You mean you’re dead. He doesn’t know I know, but you’re the one who personally invited Danny here which means he knows that you know who Danny is or at least knows you have suspicions, you’re screwed,” he said with a harsh chuckle. Tim patted his back once before he allowed himself to be enveloped in the crowd to schmooze and chat up anyone who was near him.

Dick just gave his father a nervous look before he followed him into the manor and up the stairs to a study. 

“So, I just met my son,” Bruce said, his words even, calm. Like he didn’t just learn that his son who was supposed to be dead was not only alive, but had powers and likely showed him his dead parents. “How long have you known?”

Dick winced. “Not long,” he admitted. “I didn’t want to tell you or Damian until I was entirely sure. I also didn’t know if Danny knew who he was or not and didn’t want to bring it up to you guys until I talked to Danny about it.”

Bruce turned and looked at Dick, his gaze hard, not showing a single emotion to let Dick know how the hell he was feeling. But this was Bruce, this was the man he had known for years now and he could read even the simplest of twitches and know how his father was feeling. Which was why he was able to tell that Bruce was likely having a complete and total breakdown at the moment. 

His face was only ever this smooth when he was forcing himself to go into Batman mode as Dick and his siblings called it. 

“I can assure you that Mr. Nightingale has no clue who he is,” He said in a gruff, strained voice as he stalked over to his desk chair and shook the mouse to his computer awake. “What do you know?”

Dick sucked on his teeth. “Moved here around seven months ago. Tim did some research, his name is Daniel Fenton,” he said and pulled out a USB that Tim had tucked in his pocket before he had disappeared into the crowd. 

“Of course Tim knows,” Bruce said almost bitterly. 

Dick gave him a tight smile as he handed over the USB. “Tim knows everything, I think he sees more than even Oracle sometimes,” he joked and Bruce took the USB and plugged it in. 

The younger man came around the desk and watched as a file opened to show everything that Tim had learned about Danny Fenton. 

“Parents declared dead but hardly anyone in the town actually believes this, no reports of a body, closed casket funeral. Sister, friends, teachers, and classmates all demanding that authorities look into the situation. Authorities have done nothing to investigate,” Bruce said with a hum before his brow furrowed. “Amity Park, Illinois?” 

“We have some acquaintances who reside there, Jeremy and Pamela Manson, their daughter Samantha was a known friend of Danny’s and spent most of tonight in the tent with him,” Dick provided and Bruce frowned. 

“That’s not it,” he murmured, before typing in a code that gave him access to the Justice League files. “Constantine has a strict ban on anyone in the Justice League going into Amity Park,” he murmured.

“And you listened?” Dick asked, eyebrows raised in surprise. 

Bruce simply nodded his head. “Believe it or not, I know when I am not an expert in an area and Constantine and Zatanna gave a rather thorough report on why we needed to leave Amity Park alone,” he said simply. 

The report appeared on the screen and Dick leaned over to read the information before he straightened. “The Fentons punched a hole into the center of the universe?” he asked with a furrowed brow. 

“No, they punched a hole into the center of the multiverse, the thing that keeps our universes from overlapping and keeping them separate,” Bruce said. “A ghost from the Infinite Realms, this connector, came through to combat all of the others who attempted to escape.” 

This was where Bruce paused in his seat, his hand pulled away from the mouse as if it had been burned. 

The ghost who had been protecting Amity Park the last four years? 

Their very own friendly neighborhood ghost, Phantom. 

“What kind of coincidence would it be that Phantom followed Danny to Gotham?” Dick breathed. 

“The same kind of coincidence that had Constantine realize that Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom were the same person,” Bruce said, clearing his throat. “I knew that Phantom came from Amity Park when I first asked Constantine about the boy when he appeared. Constantine had said something strange.”

Dick arched an eyebrow. “Strange how?” He asked and Bruce clicked on a picture of Danny, his school picture for the eleventh grade.

“He said that things changed in Amity. The portal had been permanently sealed and the ghosts disappeared, so he imagined Phantom came to Gotham because he still wanted to be needed, something about ghosts having obsessions and thinking that Phantom’s was the need to help,” Bruce said with a frown. “He seemed relieved to know that Phantom was in Gotham, though, like he knew more than he could share. I didn’t push.”

“You just needed to know that Phantom was safe,” Dick said with a nod of his head. “So Danny Phantom is Danny Fenton who is Danny Nightingale,” he said with a sigh. 

“It appears so,” Bruce murmured. 

“How do you know that he doesn’t know he’s related to us?” Dick asked and Bruce gave him an amused smile. 

“At the end, I asked to see my dead son,” Bruce said, amusement just barely laced his voice. “The crystal ball showed the two of us sitting at the table together and Danny thought it just meant that the crystal was confused and just showed us since there was nothing else to show. I however, realized that my dead son is Danny.”

“Do you think he is?” Dick asked quietly. “Dead, that is.”

“Phantom always made it clear to us that he died young,” Bruce answered. “I would not be surprised if he was some kind of hybrid of dead and alive. We have seen stranger things."

“So, what should we do now?” Dick asked, leaning against the wall behind him as he stared at the picture of Danny. So different from Damian, just looking at a seventeen year old Danny, Dick could see the differences. 

There was still the look like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. But where Damian still had the stiff posture, the slightly elevated speech patterns, the look of someone who knows he comes from money, Danny didn’t have any of that. Even from the posture in his picture, Dick could see that growing up away from the League for so long had done some good for the kid. Danny’s shoulders were slumped, he had an easy going, if slightly mischievous smile on his face, along with just a general sense of comfort in who he is. Something that Dick knew that Damian still struggled with. 

It had Dick wondering how things would go when the two finally reunited. 

“For now, we need to get to know him,” Bruce said. “He doesn’t know who his family is, he likely ran away from an abusive and unsafe situation and thought Gotham would be the safest place for him. We can also get closer to Phantom, get to know that side of him. Considering Danny’s gifts, I wouldn’t be surprised if he figured out our identities,” Bruce said simply. 

Dick quirked up a small smile. “He kinda reminds me of you,” he admitted. 

Bruce arched an eyebrow. “What makes you say that?”

“Smart as fuck but denser than shit,” Dick joked and Bruce simply rolled his eyes.

“You’re right,” he admitted. “He seems rather intelligent for his age, as for being dense, I believe he interpreted the cards far differently than I did and he did not question it whatsoever when the crystal showed himself.”

Dick snorted. “Jesus. Now we know why Damian doesn’t act like you, he’s a carbon copy of Talia, or at least as a load of her mannerisms. Danny on the other hand, you couldn’t deny him if you wanted.”

Bruce smiled. “He has my mother’s eyes,” he said, staring at the picture of Danny once again. 

Of the lazy grin, the half lidded eyes and the slump of his shoulders. The blue background did make his eyes pop, the lighting also showed the smattering of freckles on the kid’s cheeks. He was far more pale than Damian was and Dick wondered if that was normal or if it was a side effect of dying and coming back.

He had so many question and he would have to wait just a while longer to get the answers he needed. 

After the festival had ended and Danny had thrown his things straight into a portal that connected to his shop, he found himself in the skies.  Jason had seemed more than just a little spooked and Danny wondered if maybe a chat with an actual ghost could help him. Maybe talking to Phantom would help him get answers to his problems. 

He also hadn’t realized just how worried he was for the ex-crime lord until he found him sitting at the top of Wayne Enterprises, his feet swinging as he drank a bottle of soda and glared out at the skyline. Relief had washed over him as he came closer and floated in front of the man. 

“Do I need to convince you to not jump? Or remind you that I’m definitely faster than you?” Danny joked lightly, knowing the guy would at least smile. 

Which he did, a sad, crook of the lips as he raised his eyes to Phantom. 

“You’re dead,” he said bluntly and Danny snorted. 

“Thanks for the reminder,” he answered plainly and looked behind Jason at the little Robin that was staring at him in worry. 

“I died once,” Jason said, his eyes flicked away from Danny and back to the skyline. “Beat to hell and back with a crowbar and then blown up.”

Danny stared for a moment. “I was electrocuted. Felt like every part of my body was on fire from the inside out, I could smell myself burning as I died,” he admitted. “Is there a reason we’re talking about our deaths?” 

“A fortune teller told me that my dying created a ghost,” Hood said and looked back at Danny again. “Was he telling the truth?”

Danny nodded. “They’re incredible,” Danny told him honestly. “Ghosts are sometimes created in reaction to things, they aren’t always like me. They aren’t always people who died. Sometimes ghosts are manifestations of people’s beliefs and dreams. I know a ghost, his name is Nocturne, he’s the ghost of dreams. One, his name is Ghost Writer, he’s a manifestation of people’s love of books and writing. They were never alive, never actual humans. We call them Neverborns.”

“And Robin, he became a Neverborn?” Jason asked and Danny nodded. 

“They were a manifestation of hope,” Danny said before he reached a hand out and smiled when Robin took it, allowing Danny to feed them just enough ectoplasm to become visible. “Robin is magic, and they share that magic with each Robin or former Robin. Nightwing, you, Red Robin, Spoiler, Signal, Robin, you all have Robin protecting you.”

Robin nodded their head, a small smile on their face as they shifted from Jason’s Robin to Stephenie Brown’s Robin. Black hair changed to blond curls, scaly shorts and kevlar shirt changed to a red dress and green leggings. 

“They also protect Gotham, they aren’t quite strong enough yet. I think the We Are Robins movement gave them a lot of their strength,” Danny admitted as Robin reached out a hand towards Jason who stared at it like he was seeing a ghost. 

“They first appeared in the Infinite Realms as a small core when Nightwing was still Robin, when he was jumping through Gotham, giving hope to kids all over the city for better days. Then, you became Robin and you said that Robin was magic and the light to Batman’s darkness and you believed it so much that Robin’s core started to get stronger. Then you died,” Danny said and he watched as grief flashed over Jason’s face. “You died and Red Robin became Robin because he believed that Robin was important and between your death and his grief and desire to make sure that Batman had a Robin, the ghost of Robin took form. But they weren’t strong enough to leave the realms quite yet.”

Danny let out a soft laugh and shook his head. “Then there was the new Robin and then Signal started the We Are Robins movement and Robin got strong enough to leave the Realms. Now they spend most of their time protecting the Robins but I think as they get stronger, their power spreads and they start sharing that hope, the light of Robin with everyone,” he said and Robin nodded, a wide smile stretched on their face as they changed from Stephenie to Duke. 

“Do they talk?” Jason asked and Robin shook their head before a sound reminiscent of tinkling bells of laughter came out of them. 

“No, not yet. But I imagine one day they’ll get strong enough,” Danny said with a soft smile as he sat in the air cross legged as Robin danced and flipped across the sky, morphing from Duke’s We are Robins to Dick’s original Robin and then into Tim and then Damian. 

“They’re beautiful,” Jason whispered. 

“They are a manifestation of Robin, all of your pain and your joy, your desire to make Gotham a safe place, to be the light to Batman’s darkness, it’s all there inside of Robin,” Danny said. “Sometimes you’ll notice when you’re being shot at that no bullets ever actually hit you, or you manage to fade into the darkness more than you expected, Robin isn’t as powerful as I am yet but they’re powerful enough to protect you from certain things or manipulate the space around you. The more people believe in Robin and the good that they can do or the vigilantes who once were Robin, the stronger Robin will grow.”

“Thank you for showing me,” Jason said softly as Robin started to fade from view for the human eye and wrapped their arms around Danny’s shoulders, hugging him tight before moving back to Jason, their arms wrapped around his shoulders. “Do they only stay with me?” He asked and Danny shook his head. 

“Part of Robin’s power is to stick with each of you,” he said and Robin nodded in agreement from their spot behind Jason. Their chin rested on his shoulder and Danny couldn’t help but smile at the way Jason seemed to relax into the hug subconsciously. 

“But if one of you is in more danger than the others, then they will put more of the power into protecting that specific Robin,” he said and laughed at the face that Robin made at Jason. “They usually are around you or Red Robin,” he admitted with a laugh and Jason scowled. 

“Makes sense, the little shit is always getting into shit,” he said with a huff. 

“There’s something else on your mind,” Danny said, tilting his head to the side. “What is it?”

Jason shook his head. “Nothin’,” he lied and swung his feet. “Jus’ got some things I’m thinking about.”

Danny wondered if Jason knew that whenever he was lying he picked up more of a Crime Alley accent. 

“Well, if that’s the case, I’m gonna sit beside you for a while,” Danny said simply, floating over until he plopped himself on the ledge beside Jason. 

“Sometimes I wish I remembered what it was like when I died,” Jason said and Danny gave him a small smile. 

“I’ve heard that the other side is nice,” Danny told him, his core ached with a longing that it had ever since he died. 

“I thought you’ve been,” Jason said and Danny shrugged. 

“It’s more convoluted than I’ve shared in the past,” Danny said before he held out his hand and let ectoplasm pool in it before it showed a small replica of the Ghost Zone. “This is where I exist when I’m not here. It’s got a bunch of different names depending on who you ask but most ghosts call it the Ghost Zone or the Infinite Realms,” he said before he used his free hand to point to the doors. “These are the doors to different universes, some for the living, some for the dead. So heaven, hell, Earth, Earth five hundred sixty eight, they’re all connected by these doors.”

“Where’s your door?” Jason asked and Danny gave him a grim smile.

“Haven’t found it,” he admitted. “It’s not my time to move on yet, so I haven’t gotten to find my own personal heaven. I can go to others, to visit, to see what their’s are like. But I haven’t found my door.”

He likely hadn’t found it since he was still half alive. Danny imagined once he died all the way, a door would appear and he would find his place. Others like him had their own doors on top of their haunts. Ember, Johnny, Kitty, they had doors that led to their heavens if they ever decided they were tired of residing in their haunts in the Ghost Zone. 

But Danny hadn’t found his yet. 

“The Otherside is beautiful,” he admitted. “The pieces I get to see when I go to show people how to cross over, the pieces I can see when I manipulate the ectoplasm to let me see, it’s lovely. I imagine yours was beautiful and everything  you could have ever wanted,” he told Jason. 

“Why do you think you’re not ready?” Jason asked and Danny shrugged. 

“I still have unfinished business,” like living, he didn’t say. 

“I’ll be sad to see you go when it’s finished,” Jason said and Danny laughed. 

“No, you’ll still see me,” he said. “Some ghosts choose to stay in the Ghost Zone. I don’t know how to explain any of this to someone who hasn’t been to the Ghost Zone. But some people who have died, they stay as ghosts because they enjoy it, they enjoy the Ghost Zone and they like the world. I’m one of those ghosts. So whenever I find my door, I’ll be in and out, I imagine. Going to the Elsewhereness whenever I want but coming back to the Ghost Zone and maybe if I’m still as powerful as I am right now, coming to Earth,” he said.

Jason shook his head and looked out at the city in front of them. “Sounds complicated.”

Danny huffed out a laugh. “You have no idea.”

“How old were you, when you died?” Jason asked and Danny shrugged. 

“Fourteen,” he answered simply. “My ghost form ages with my mind. I see myself as eighteen so it aged me up to eighteen,” he explained when the question came across Jason’s face. Danny actually had no idea how it worked. He knew a part of him was dead, that he even had a form that showed what he looked like when he died. But his ghost manifested itself however Danny saw himself and rarely did he see the version of himself that was still dead. 

It was a horrifying thing that Danny kept tucked in his core. The burnt flesh, lightenberg like scars that raced across his body, the singed clothing and hair, he didn’t like the sight of it. 

“I was fifteen,” Jason told him. 

“I’m sorry,” Danny said honestly and Jason shrugged. 

“At least I got to come back,” he said and guilt curled in his stomach. He hated not telling the bats who he was, a part of him missed the easiness of having people who knew both sides of him. But right now, he couldn’t risk it. Not yet, at least. But maybe one day he would tell the Gotham vigilantes that Phantom and Nightingale were one in the same. 

“I still think you’re delusional,” Danny told Harley as he hugged her tight. Harley just let out a soft laugh and rubbed his back comfortingly. 

“I think you’re delusional,” she aimed back as she pulled away. “You came to Gotham because something told you that you would find your family here,” she said gently. 

“But that doesn’t mean my family is the Waynes,” Danny said with a huff. He didn’t know where this conversation even really came from. He had made a side comment to Harley and Ivy during dinner that he was told he would find his family in Gotham and the two had looked at one another before looking back at him with twin serious looks telling him he looked identical to Bruce Wayne. 

Danny had met the man, he didn’t see it. 

Besides, why would Bruce Wayne have a son that got lost and left for dead in another country? It didn’t make sense. 

“I’m just sayin’, crazier things happened Puddin,” Harley said with a small smile. “Besides, you can have more family than just a couple of washed up supervillains,” she told him and Danny just scoffed. 

“I happen to like my washed up supervillains,” he said and Harley just smiled and shook her head. 

“I’m just sayin’ don’t stop lookin for that family, I think it’s more than just us,” she said, motioning back behind her where Ed and Pam were arguing about who knows what in the living room. 

“I won’t,” he agreed. “But it’s certainly not Bruce Wayne and his family that I belong to. I’m not perfect enough for all that,” he said before giving her one more hug. “I’ll see you next week, Harles.”

She gave her goodbye and Danny hurried down the steps to start the long walk back to his house. There was no way he could be related to the Bats, it just didn’t make sense. Sure, Bruce had learned about his secret son Damian just eight years ago but Danny was pretty sure it was different. That Damian’s mother had just kept Damian’s existence from Bruce a secret. The man couldn’t have had multiple exes do that to him, right? And it was just too unbelievable that Danny would be left for dead in the forests of Pakistan of all places. 

He still had those dreams, though. 

Of the boy with a sword and bright green eyes. Of a boy who looked just like him. Of a boy who was Danny’s second half. Of a brother. His twin flame.

The halfa shook his head. They were just weird dreams. Something that he had dealt with ever since he died, but not real, not actual memories of his life before the Fentons found him. There was no way.

But it makes sense, doesn’t it? A voice whispered in the back of his mind. The injuries he had when Jack and Maddie found him, the lack of memories, the way he felt like a part of him was missing ever since he came home with the Fentons. It had to point to more, right? There had to be a reason that Clockwork told him to come to Gotham City of all places, right? 

He was a half dead, half living teenager who had been found wandering the forests of Pakistan when he was six with a body covered in injuries and major blood loss. 

Was it really that far fetched that he could possibly be Bruce Wayne’s long lost son?

“Danny!” A voice shouted, stirring him from his thoughts. He looked up to find none other than Dick Grayson jogging towards him, a wide smile on his face. 

“Dick, hey,” he said, mustering up a smile as he pushed his crazy thoughts to the back of his mind. He threw the whole thought away, it was far too crazy to believe, even for him. 

“I thought that was you,” Dick said once he met Danny halfway on the sidewalk. “Whatcha up to?”

Danny just shrugged. “Just finished visiting some friends,” he said. “Was planning on stopping by Batburger and then head home.”

“Do you mind if I join you?” Dick asked as they started to walk together down the pavement. 

“If you want to,” Danny said hesitantly. He still wasn’t quite sure why Dick was so invested in him, he had stopped Danny multiple times now ever since his first visit to Nightingale’s Fortunes, he even got Danny’s number and started to send him memes after the Summerween festival. 

“I would love to,” Dick said with a small smile. Danny just gave him a nervous smile as they turned the corner. Part of him wondered if Dick was onto him. If he knew that Danny knew they were the Bats. How could he not suspect it when Danny showed him a fucking vision of his dead parents. It didn’t take a genius to put two and two together when you realized someone had the power to see the dead and talk to them. 

Plus with that reading he gave Bruce, he wouldn’t be surprised if all of the bats were onto him. He just had to hope that they didn’t connect Phantom to Nightingale. 

On the other hand, he genuinely enjoyed hanging out with the older man. Dick gave off such brotherly vibes that Danny, desperate and lonely, latched on easily. Sure, he had Harley, Pam, and Ed. But he was still lonely, still needed more companionship than just three adults who saw him and took him in. He wanted connection and friendship and while Dick was still like sixteen years old than Danny, he still felt closer to him in age than the former rogues who were all in their fifties. 

He was lonely. 

Besides, Dick was easy to get along with. He was happy and charismatic, he was funny and just so incredibly easy to talk to that Danny found himself wanting to spill all of his secrets to the man. He also seemed to genuinely care about Danny and his wellbeing and Danny didn’t have a lot of people like that in his life right now. 

So he was going to take as much of it as he could and relish in the feeling of being seen, of being known. 

Because wasn’t that what everyone wanted? 

To be known? To be loved?

“You’re thinking really hard on something,” Dick pointed out and Danny shrugged his shoulders. 

“Just thinking. I’ve been in Gotham for a little over half a year and it’s been lonely,” he admitted. “The ghosts are nice company but beside that all I really have are Harley, Pam, and Ed and they’re all in their fifties. Also, I think they took me in because they think I’m going to turn into a supervillain,” he said with a soft laugh. 

“You don’t give supervillain vibes to me,” Dick said lightly. “But hey, you’re the same age as my baby brother. If you want, I can introduce the two of you one day. Or you can come over for dinner sometime,” he said with a hopeful look. 

Danny smiled. “Maybe one day. But I was mostly just thinking, it’s been nice having a friend,” he admitted, looking up at Dick. 

Dick just gave him a wide grin and slung his arm over Danny’s shoulders. “Danny Nightingale, from the moment I saw you, I decided you were going to be my newest brother and I haven’t changed my mind since. So consider yourself adopted, by me, the best brother in the world,” he teased and Danny just snorted. 

Dick he could handle, but the entire Wayne family? Maybe not. 

Not until he was able to either prove or disprove Harley’s theory that he was related to the Waynes. He wasn’t going to get his hopes up on that one, not until he got some kind of proof one way or another first. Maybe he would talk to her more about it, see why she thought he was related to Bruce. 

But for now, he was going to get Bat Burger with Dick and let himself just be an eighteen year old, just for a little bit. 

Chapter Text

Danny flicked through his tarot cards, taking in the designs of each one, the backs showing off beautiful constellations. They were a gift from Sam and were probably one of his most cherished items, right next to the souped up laptop that Tuck had rebuilt for him and gifted right before he left. The day was going by slow as hell. 

The first two weeks after the carnival at the Waynes business had been absolutely booming. But now they were in the dog days of Summer and Danny had learned pretty quickly that Gotham Summers were no joke. It was hot, it was humid, and it was absolutely miserable. 

Just the night before he had been helping Ed set up a new escape room and had to listen to the older man bemoan how much he hated Gotham summers. Danny had just smiled and let his body temperature drop a bit, his smile had turned gleeful when frost climbed up the walls and Ed shivered a bit but said nothing about the sudden temperature change. He just looked at Danny in consideration for a moment and moved on.

But the heat meant business was deader than he was and he was bored beyond belief. He shuffled the cards and stared at the top of the deck for a moment and chewed on his lip.

What would it hurt? He reasoned with himself as he focused on his intent and his desire. Was coming to Gotham worth it?

He flipped a card over and stared down at the King of Cups as his stupid face stared back at him. Danny let out a huff and slipped it back into the deck. 

King of Cups. 

He shuffled the cards. King of Cups usually advised one to be reflective and look at one's faults, to have an honest attitude towards failures and try to grow. But that didn’t answer his question about if coming to Gotham was actually worth it or not. Unless it was telling him no, it was a mistake and he needed to re-evaluate his decisions and try again. 

Something inside of him told him that was wrong, though. That wasn’t the thing he needed to re-evaluate. 

“King of Cups?” A voice asked and Danny looked up to find Teddy staring down at him with interest in their eyes. Danny looked down and found that through shuffling the cards the card he had pulled somehow came face up again.

“What about it?” He asked and Teddy simply let out a hum. 

“I’ve been researchin’ tarot ever since I started haunting you,” they said simply. “King of cups is a messenger of wisdom right? Clarity and aid? Love and nurturing, grounding?”

Danny let out a hum. “The king is smart and he gives protection to families who need it. He also cares a lot about his children and it’s supposed to help manifest what matters most in your life.”

Teddy hummed again. “Sounds very paternal, maybe you have like a rich dad or something,” they said and Danny snorted and slipped the card back into the deck just as the bell to the shop started to chime and Teddy disappeared with a shit eating grin. Danny watched warily as Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, and Tim Drake filed into his shop. 

Jason looked better since the last time he had seen him out of his bright red helmet. The other two he had seen quite a bit out of costume since the carnival. Tim and Dick both had been insistent on getting close to Danny and getting to know him better, it was like they were wanting to be friends with him. Which well, Dick had already said he was adopting Danny as his brother. 

Just another tick to the found family theory he had created after realizing that maybe Clockwork’s words about finding family in Gotham could be much more than finding his biological parents. The ex villains and the Wayne family seemed to be his found family from what he was gathering.

Danny still wasn’t quite sure how he felt about it. He couldn’t help but wonder if they wanted something from him. Why else would they be interested in some eighteen-year-old psychic? Especially when there wasn’t anything interesting about him aside from the fact that he could talk to ghosts? What if this was how they were investigating him? What if they found Danny suspicious and this was how they were trying to investigate him? Were they going to throw him in jail?  He was starting to get too attached to the Wayne sons and he was going to be really fucking hurt if he had to leave because the Bats were being too nosey. 

“Danny!” Dick exclaimed as soon as his eyes landed on the psychic. “We were in the neighborhood and wanted to see if you wanted to come hang out with us for a while?”

“What are you all planning on doing?” Danny asked as he kicked his feet off of his little table and let his cards float back to the spot they belonged on the counter. 

Tim watched the cards float away in mild amusement. “I’ve never seen someone who just uses their powers so carefree,” he said and Danny’s lips twitched. 

The casual use of powers was something that Danny had been doing for four years now, it helped take the edge off for him. He had noticed about a year into being half dead that if he didn’t use his powers in some way or another, they would build up inside of him until he felt like he was going to explode and at that point, things would start icing over, rooms would get cold and he would accidentally start phasing through walls and furniture. 

“Yeah, the way I see it, if you have them, use them,” he finally said with a shrug. “Besides, it’s just a mild telekinesis,” he lied. 

He looked over the brothers and tilted his head to the side. “You still haven’t answered my question. What are you guys planning on doing?”

“Going to the bookstore around the corner,” Jason said as he eyed a piece of ectoplasm crystal curiously.

“Dick wants to start learning about tarot,” Tim supplied dryly. 

“I do!” The eldest said with a huff. “I remember the fortune teller at the circus would read cards too and I just think it would be neat to learn.”

Danny quirked up a small smile and stood up. “I have some books,” he told his friend and waved his hand at the trio before he went past the beaded doorway. “I just need to find where I put them,” he said with a huff as he started up the stairs to his apartment. He listened as the three brothers followed close behind. 

“This isn’t what I was expecting,” was the first thing out of Jason’s mouth as he looked around the living room. 

Danny looked around and smiled. There were a few pictures of some of his favorite hubble telescope images hanging on the walls, a plant that Pam had given him hung in the corner. He had a modest brown couch and simple coffee table facing a medium size tv. A picture of him, Tucker, and Sam hung directly behind it beside a picture of him, Jazz, and Dani. 

“What were you expecting? The whole thing downstairs is just for show, you know. I don’t actually like that, it’s just for better tips,” Danny said simply as he walked over to the large bookshelf that sat beside his TV stand. 

“Well, we knew that,” Dick said with a huff as he looked around the living room, going up towards the pictures of Danny and his family. He made a weird noise that had Danny glancing back at him and frowned. 

The eldest was staring at the picture of him, Jazz, and Dani like he had seen a ghost. “You okay?” 

“Yeah, uh, yeah. Are these your sisters?” 

Danny grinned. “The redhead is my sister,” he said as he looked back at the bookshelf. “I know that according to your parents you have a thing for redheads but Jazz is off the market, she’s a lesbian. But the other girl is my cousin, Dani. Well, kinda, her dad is my godfather.” 

He was honestly pretty happy for Dani. Once Vlad had gotten his head out of his ass, he had built a pretty good relationship with Dani. To the point where Vlad and Dani saw each other as father and daughter. 

“Oh, you look a lot alike,” Tim said, his voice sounding curious. 

“She’s like my clone,” Danny said idly. “It’s funny, Jazz and I don’t look a thing alike but people never really remembered that I was adopted since my adoptive father had really dark hair and was pretty bulky. I mean, I didn’t really bulk out like he did, I’m more lithe. But there was enough resemblance that I didn’t stick out like the sad little adopted kid.”

“You’re adopted?” Jason asked and let out a soft snort. “Welcome to the club.”

Danny finally found the two books he was looking for and pulled them out of the case before he cast Jason an amused smile. “Yeah, my adoptive parents found me wandering the forests of Pakistan when I was like five or six, they couldn’t find my family and just decided to take me home. With how eccentric they are, no one really questioned a random kid just appearing. I don’t remember anything before them finding me though, don’t know why I was in the forest but apparently I had been incredibly injured when they found me.”

“Forests of Pakistan?” Tim asked, his voice sounded faint and Danny looked over at him to find the younger brother staring at him like he was a science experiment. It reminded him just a bit too much of how Jack and Maddie once looked at him. 

He hummed in affirmation and handed the books to Dick. “These are my favorites, they do a really good job at breaking down the meaning of each card. This one focuses only on Rider-Waite which is the more common tarot deck and what I use. This one also goes over oracle decks and angel decks in case you’re ever interested in learning more but it also has some cool history about Rider Waite as well,” Danny said, watching as Dick flipped through the large of the two books curiously.

“This is really interesting,” Dick murmured as he moved to sit on the old couch and looked through each page. Danny just shrugged and fell into the large papasan chair he had tucked in the corner beside the couch. He curled his legs up underneath him. 

“Yeah, I want to look more into those decks eventually but I just haven’t gotten the chance,” he said with a small smile. 

“So, how much of this is just you doing an act for tips and how much is real?” Jason asked him bluntly as he sat down beside Dick, Tim moved to the other side, looking down at the pages of the book curiously. 

“The tarot, I learned from a friend, I don’t know how accurate they really are. But from experience, it’s usually pretty damn close,” he said with a laugh as he ran his fingers through his shaggy hair, frowning at the length. He really needed to get a hair cut soon. Jason let out a hum. 

“And the rest?”

Danny shrugged. “I can’t see the future, that’s usually a shot in the dark and I base it off of what the ghosts tell me or based off of what I gather from your cards. The death stuff? That’s real,” he said and smiled. He watched as Robin slowly appeared for a quick moment and waved at him happily and Danny simply winked at them as they shifted from Tim’s Robin to Spoiler’s Robin.

“So, you can actually tell when people have died?” Tim asked, now looking at Danny in interest before his face turned red. “Sorry.”

The halfa waved a hand at him. “Don’t be,” he said with a shrug. “It’s different and you’re curious.”

Also he was probably investigating Danny and part of him had just kinda accepted it. Maybe if the bats learned about him, they wouldn’t kick him out of Gotham. Or maybe it would show if they were really just interested in Danny or just viewed him as a case. A lonely part of his heart hoped that they would accept him and continue hanging out with him. 

It was nice to have people similar to him in age to talk to. The last half year had been lonely and he wanted more. 

“So you can see uh ya know?” Jason asked awkwardly and Danny simply tilted his chin down for just a moment in confirmation. “Why haven’t you said anything?”

Danny shrugged his shoulders. “Why would I?” He asked, tilting his head to the side as he looked over all three brothers who were now just a little more tense. “You all are here to help people and you do good work. It’s not like it would benefit me in any way.” 

“How do you see them? And the thing with the crystal? I’ve never seen anything like that,” Dick blurted and Danny just grinned. 

Maybe since he shared that he knew their secret he could give a little of his own secret. 

“I died when I was younger and I came back… wrong,” he said and cast a look at Jason whose face turned a pale color. “I came back and I could see things I hadn’t seen before and I could manipulate this stuff that let me see into the other realms,” he said and let his palms fill with ectoplasm for the briefest of moments before it faded away, receding back into his palms. 

“Holy shit,” Jason whispered, his eyes wide as he stared at Danny’s hands. “And I thought I came back weird,” he muttered. 

Danny threw his head back and let out a loud, genuine laugh at that. Jason Todd had absolutely no fucking idea just how weird Danny had become. 

“If anyone understands weird I would assume it would be the bird furries,” he said once he had finished laughing and Dick and Tim spluttered in faux rage as Jason laughed. 

“I like you kid,” Jason said with a wide smile. “Even if you got some freaky powers ‘n shit.”

“Have you ever heard of Phantom?” Tim asked suddenly and Danny smiled. He wasn’t about to share that much with them. Not yet at least. His ghost half was a closely guarded secret. 

“I was the one who told him to go to the bats to help people pass through. There’s a lot of lost souls in Gotham and I can only do so much,” he said with a shrug. 

“That makes sense,” Tim murmured and Danny just flashed him a grin as he continued to let the brothers riddle him with questions. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t enjoying himself, he had missed this, just talking with others and hanging out. Even if it was just him blowing their minds with his ghost knowledge.

Phantom watched as the ghost slowly, finally crossed over to the other side before he looked over at his vigilante companion for the night. 

“You seem grouchier tonight than usual, Bird,” he said, looking over at Red Bird and the scowl that had been permanently affixed to his face all night. Red Bird let out a huff and crossed his arms over his chest. 

“I’m fine, Phantom,” he lied and Danny flew around him, rubbing his chin curiously. 

“Hm, I don’t think I believe you,” he said and Red Bird let out a grunt that Danny interpreted as ‘I’m not going to tell you otherwise’ which was fine. He could surprisingly read his grumpy friend like the back of his hand. “How are things going with Superboy? Have you told the others that you’re dating?” 

“No,” Red Bird ground out and Danny leaned in close until their noses were touching and he was staring into the whites of his dominoes. 

“No, this is a different type of irritation. Come on Bird, talk to me,” Danny said with a small smile. He had said it before and he would say it again, Red Bird was his favorite out of the vigilantes. Sure, he had a grumpy exterior but something about him always drew Danny to him more and more. He still wished Damian would come with his brothers to hang out but apparently the youngest Wayne was at that point in his life where he was decidedly not a big fan of spending time with his family. 

Which Danny totally understood, he was the same way until he had been forced to leave. Now he would give anything in the world to spend time with them again.

“You’re a pest, have I ever mentioned that?” Red Bird said with a huff as Danny pulled back triumphantly. 

He created a bench made of ice and sat on it before patting the spot beside him. “Come, tell Dr. Phantom all of your woes,” he said dramatically and Red Bird grumbled as he walked over. 

“You are a dead teenager, you never got a degree,” Red Bird said and Danny acted offended. 

“Ouch, you are in a mood if you’re going to mention my death so rudely,” he teased and Red Bird finally gave him a small smile. 

“I apologize,” he finally said and leaned into the ice bench. “My birthday is coming up and it makes me…morose.” 

Danny let out a hum. “Birthdays shouldn’t make you miserable,” he said. “What’s wrong with a birthday?”

Red Bird crinkled his nose. “I have a twin,” he said carefully. “I lost him when we were six and everyone thinks that he is dead. Maybe he is, but it does not feel like he is, I think I would know it in my being if he were truly dead. We’re linked.”

Oh. 

He didn’t know that Damian Wayne had a dead or missing twin. He racked his brain on celebrity trivia for a moment. Damian Wayne had shown up when he was ten, four years after his twin’s disappearance. 

A lightbulb went off in his head. This must have been the son Bruce was telling him about. 
 
“Well, you know, I can always go looking for him,” Danny said gently, resting his hand on Damian’s shoulder. “Or, there’s this psychic in old Gotham, a friend of mine. Danny Nightingale, he’s the real deal, you can always ask him.”

He didn’t know what it was but there was a part of Danny’s core that longed for Damian to come to his shop. There was a longing there, like his core just knew that he and Damian would be best friends if they met outside of their hero personas. He just didn’t know how the hell he could get it to happen, not until now that is. 

Damian let out a hum. “I shall think about it,” he said. 

“In the meantime, do you want to talk about him?” Danny asked hesitantly. 

Red Bird smiled. “He was my best friend,” he whispered. “We were two halves of a whole. Where I went, he went and where he went, I went. We were only six when he disappeared but there was a bond, I do not know how to explain it without it sounding insane.”

Danny gave him a feral grin. “I’m a teenage ghost who can’t seem to move on. Try me.”

The vigilante barked out a soft laugh. “Red Robin and Red Hood like to say that we were test tube babies which I suppose we were. Mother did not wish to be pregnant and so we grew in a test tube. But we had started out as a single fetus and somehow we had split off into two separate fetuses, the scientists weren’t quite sure how it happened considering we were supposed to be the perfect creation.”

Red Bird tilted his head back to look up at the sky as if he were looking for his brother in the stars and Danny said nothing as he waited for his friend to continue. “But it’s like we were one person and turned into two. Mother would tell us that it was because fate thought that if we were a singular person we would be far too powerful and had to tamper us down. But because of it, we were connected, more than other twins. Then when we were finally born, I died and was brought back and I know that it sounds insane but I think that just added to our connection, it’s how I know that he’s not dead. I would feel it.”

Danny squeezed his shoulder. “I believe you,” he said, feeling a weird rush of deja vu fall over him. It was as if he knew this story but he didn’t know how. His brain was tugging at him to remember, to figure out why it felt familiar. But he couldn’t bring himself to do so. Not when he was listening to Damian talk about his twin, about Danyal.

Chapter Text

Tim gave Danny a small smile and a wave before leaving Nightingale’s Fortune. The two had just had lunch together and spent most of the afternoon talking about Gotham and Danny’s favorite parts of it. It had been a week since Danny had admitted to knowing that the Waynes were the bats and lying about saying he sent Phantom to meet with them. Tim was more than positive that Phantom and Danny were the same person but he just needed Danny to actually confirm it. 

His corkboard was starting to get full with all of his theories and ideas so far as well as all of their discoveries. 

The facts of the case were simple. 

Danny Nightingale was legally Daniel James Fenton who was also Danyal Al Ghul Wayne. 

Danny was found in the forests of Pakistan at just six-years-old. 

Danny had absolutely no idea he was Danyal Al Ghul Wayne and had no memories from before he had been found. 

Danny had died. 

That was what Tim knew for fact either from things that Danny himself had confirmed or what theories matched up with what they had discovered. 

His theories? 

They were a bit more all over the place if he was being entirely honest. For the first one, he was convinced that whatever Ra’s did when Danny was six killed him and he somehow came back to life, either from long term exposure to the Lazarus Pits or because someone dipped him in it. Tim wasn’t sure but he was pretty certain that it was why he had no memories from what happened to him. 

They knew from Jason’s experiences with the pit that it warped memories at the best of times and obliterated them at the worst. 

Danny’s death caused him to come back wrong, as some sort of half ghost, half human combination. Somehow it gave him supernatural abilities. The green goo he showed them was absolutely a form of Lazarus Pits and they could never allow Ra’s to know that Danny had the power to control it. Tim couldn’t even imagine what the old creep would do it he found out about Danny’s abilities. It was nothing good, that was for sure. 

His other theory was that Danny ran away from his adoptive family after they discovered his powers. From what Tim could find, the Fentons were self proclaimed ghost hunters who studied the existence of ghosts and how they worked. 

He had theories that Danny was actively running form something, theories that Danny was actually dead and the human part was a facade and he was just in denial about his death, theories that maybe Danny had died more than once and that was what created his ghost half and that he was brought back too many times to come back normal or well, close to normal. 

On top of that Tim was getting more and more convinced that Talia had something to do with the fact that Ra’s was convinced that Danyal was dead. Unless she herself thought that he was dead. 

But then it led Tim back to more questions. 

How the hell did a six-year-old boy manage to survive Ra’s al Ghul? Not only that but how did he get away? What actually happened to Danyal and did anyone actually have any answers? 

Tim tapped on the steering wheel of his car as he drove, turning a sharp corner and making his way to his agreed upon meeting location. He needed answers and if there was anyone in the world who could give at least a few of them would be Talia al Ghul. 

It had taken a little finagling to get the meeting arranged and a lot of favors to Pru but the ex-assassin had managed to get a meeting set up between the two of them.

Before he knew it, Tim found himself leaning against the wall of a dilapidated building on the outskirts of Old Gotham waiting for the mother of his youngest brothers. 

“Timothy,” a voice said from the shadows as Talia stepped forward, her face carefully blank as she scanned him for any possible weapons or threats. 

“Talia,” he said with a sigh, his own eyes flitted around the room, looking for any hidden ninjas, weapons, or traps. Upon finding none, his eyes snapped back to Talia. “I had a few questions for you and in return I am willing to give you some information that I think you will be happy to learn about.”

“And what would that be?” She asked, moving forward until she was cautiously taking a seat at the old kitchen table that had been left in the room. Tim moved to sit across from her. 

“I want to know about what happened to Danyal,” he said bluntly, as if ripping off a band aid. Talia blinked at him which in her case could be considered a flinch as if he had hit her. 

“What about my habibi?” She asked, her voice carefully neutral. 

“What happened to him?”

Talia pursed her lips. “He died,” she said simply. “He was unfit to be the heir and Damian took his place.”

“Talia, you know what I mean. What happened to him?” Tim asked and Talia let out a breath, looking beyond annoyed with the younger man as she leaned back into her seat and crossed her arms. 

“Father decided it was time for Danyal to prove that he was a worthy heir. For years he had been excelling at his training and education. But he had one weakness and it was Damian,” she said softly, her eyes trained on the hole in the table. “Father decided to test him to see if he would be ready to take his place as heir. He ordered a battle between my boys and ordered Danyal to kill Damian. But instead, Danyal allowed Damian to run him through with his sword.”

“So Damian was the one who killed him?” Tim asked in horror and Talia shook her head. 

“No,” she said, her green eyes flicked up to Tim. “He had been grievously injured and Father was livid. He wanted to be the one to punish Danyal personally. He had my son submerged in the Lazarus Pits until he was adequately healed and then he punished Danyal for defying him. I do not know the extent of the punishment, I was not permitted to be present as Father believed my presence would provide Danyal with comfort.”

“So Ra’s tortured a six-year-old boy,” Tim said with a scoff, trying to ignore the roiling in his stomach. The look on Talia’s face said it all, he wouldn’t be surprised if she was still plagued with nightmares and regrets.

“When I managed to get to Danyal he was dead. Left on a slab of rock close to the Lazarus Waters. I do not know how many times Ra’s had killed him and brought him back at that point,” she whispered, her voice a rasp. “But I knew that I needed to end his suffering. He deserved rest. So, I had a close associate of mine take his body and lay him to rest in a forest miles away. It was the most that I could do for him at that time. He was so broken, Timothy, his poor body had been through so much and he needed to rest.”

“What happened when Ra’s found out?” Tim asked, the nausea was worse now, his stomach was a knotted roiled up mess. No wonder Danny had no memories of what happened before he was found by the Fentons, the amount of trauma he experienced at the hands of Ra’s, who knew how many times Ra’s had dunked him into those waters. Tim hoped for his little brother’s sake that he would never remember what happened to him. 

“I was beaten within an inch of my life. Ra’s searched for my acquaintance who had taken Danyal but never found her or Danyal’s body. I do not know what she had done to him but she had ensured that neither of them were found again. Father gloated that it didn’t matter, that regardless of if I got him away, he was still dead and he was a failed heir. It was then that I started working to find a way to get Damian away from the League and my father so that his fate would not be the same as his brothers.”

Tim couldn’t believe it. He had never in his life felt sympathy for Talia Al Ghul, not after every stunt she had pulled, every time she had hurt Damian for his own supposed well being, for everything she had done to Bruce. But listening to her describe the torture her son had endured and the decisions that she had made, a small part of his brain felt sorry for her. 

But more importantly he grieved for Danny and Damian. For the lack of childhood they had due to Ra’s and Talia, for the fear and pain they suffered. When he went to the manor he was going to scoop his baby brother in his arms and hug him for hours, even if Damian attempted to stab him for it. 

“Who was the acquaintance that you had take Danyal?” Tim asked, trying to focus on the case itself. 

Talia furrowed her brow. “Her name was Desiree, she was odd. I don’t remember much about her, but I trusted her to take Danyal far away.” She let out a soft laugh and shook her head. “I believe she had said something like “so you wish it, so it shall be” before she left into the night with Danyal’s body.”

That was interesting. Tim tucked the tidbit of information into his mind for later, he would have to ask Pru if she knew anything about Desiree or if any of her contacts knew anything. Maybe he would be able to do what Ra’s couldn’t and find her. 

“Why do you need to know about Danyal?” Talia finally asked.

Tim gave her a small smile. “Hypothetically what if Danyal was alive and hypothetically, what if Bruce was planning on bringing him to the manor soon?”

Talia’s eyes flared a toxic, Lazarus green. “Then I would do everything in my power to make sure that my father dies before he manages to get his hands on Danyal,” she said with a vicious snarl that had Tim thankful that he was no longer considered one of Talia’s enemies. 

“Good,” he said simply as he leaned back in his seat. “He goes by Daniel Nightingale. He is currently living in Old Gotham and he works as a fortune teller. A pretty good one too in my opinion. But he has no memories beyond being found in the middle of the forests in Pakistan. It’s interesting, though.”

Talia’s eyes were shining and if Tim were a fool, he would think she was crying. “What is interesting?”

“People who have been dipped in the Lazarus Pits always come out with green eyes, Ra’s, you, Jason, Damian, you all have green eyes from being in the pits. Danny doesn’t have green eyes, they’re crystal blue like Bruce’s,” he said idly. “I’m not sure how that happened if Ra’s was dipping him into the pits, especially if he did it multiple times.”

The assassin’s eyebrows furrowed at that. “I’m unsure. I watched him dip Danyal into the waters at least once,” she said, thrumming her fingers on the table. She quickly, sharply looked up at Tim. “Does Damian know?”

Tim shook his head. “Not yet, we want to make sure that Danny is comfortable first and that he’s aware and then we’re going to tell Damian. Figured it would be better to deal with the amnesiac brother first and then the stabby one,” he said with a lazy grin. 

“That’s fair,” she said, her lips curled. “I will do what I can to prevent Ra’s from learning about Danyal until we are sure that he can protect himself.”

The vigilante nodded once. “Thank you,” he said before he frowned. “The way Damian tells the story, it sounded like Ra’s had purposefully left Danyal in the woods to survive the elements on his own with his injuries.”

At this Talia gave him a sharp, feral grin. “Ra’s does not like to be caught with his pants down, he does not like when people double cross him. That was the story he told those who wondered what happened to Danyal. I thought that it would be easier for Damian to believe that story about his brother rather than the reality of what happened to Danyal. It would give Damian the belief that Danyal had the fighting chance to get away,” she said and let out a disbelieving laugh. “I have questions, I want to know how he is alive but I am not surprised about Damian being correct about his brother still being alive. They have always had an interesting connection.”

Tim just gave her a small smile. “Maybe once we get this all sorted out, you’ll be able to see Danyal again.” 

“I look forward to it,” she said and stood from her seat. “This conversation has been enlightening, Timothy. I appreciate what you have shared with me.”

The young vigilante just nodded his head and watched as Talia Al Ghul slipped out of the building as if she had never been there in the first place. 

Danny’s eyes flicked up to the door as soon as he heard the chime of the bell and smiled as the customer walked in. The woman walked in slowly and stopped as soon as her eyes landed on him, wide and full of surprise. 

“Welcome to Nightingale’s,” he said with a polite smile. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost, ma’am. Are you alright?” he asked as he came around the counter. The woman stepped the rest of the way in and smiled at Danny. 

“Yes, I’m alright,” she said hesitantly and Danny was suddenly struck with an odd sense of deja vu as the woman looked him over with a critical eye. “Tell me, are you well? You are happy?”

Danny shrugged his shoulders, slightly confused. Usually he was the one who was asking those questions to his customers during a reading. To have a random stranger ask him, though, it was oddly comforting.

He eventually settled for a small, timid smile. “I’m okay, I’m working towards happiness,” he finally said. “It’s not an easy thing to obtain sometimes.”

The woman gave him a grim smile. “It is not. But we all deserve to find our happiness in the world, I’m happy to see you are working to find yours,” she said and stepped forward and looked him over. She pressed a hand to his cheek and Danny startled at how familiar it felt, how comforting it was. It took all of his restraint to not lean into this woman’s hand.  “You will move mountains one day. It was good to see you,” she said, her smile tight and eyes sad. 

“Thank you?” He asked and blinked at the woman who seemed to blink away tears of her own. 

“I must go, but keep your head held high, you come from a powerful line and you will do many great things. I am happy I will get the opportunity to see them,” she said as she pulled away. “Have a lovely evening,” she said before leaving the shop on quiet feet. 

Danny let out a hum as he leaned back in his seat. Gotham sure was weird. 

Chapter Text

Danny gave Harley a tight hug as soon as he walked into the house and let himself soak in the comfort. He was just so utterly touch starved and truly missed home. In Amity Park he and his friends were extremely tactile, constantly cuddled up with each other, or even just holding hands. In Gotham he didn’t get that as much. He got a hug from Dick every time they hung out and of course Harley hugged him every time she saw him but that was the extent of it these days. 

So he treasured each and every hug he got. 

“Hey there sweetheart,” she said as she pulled away and brushed her fingers through his hair. “How are ya doin?” 

Danny mustered up a small smile as he followed her into the kitchen where Ed, Selina, and Pam were already sitting. 

“Pretty good?” He said as he followed her over to the table and took a seat. “Ever since I worked the SummerWeen carnival I’ve had three of the Wayne kids coming by like twice a week to come visit and hang out which has been nice. Dick even told me he’s adopting me as his little brother,” Danny said with a soft huff of a laugh as he stabbed at the roasted cabbage on his plate. 

“Well it makes sense you know, since you’re definitely Brucie’s son,” Harley said and Danny just rolled his eyes. 

“I’m not Bruce Wayne’s son. Why would he have a son that was lost in the middle of a Pakistani Forest?” He asked and Harley just gave him a mischievous smile.

“You never know with Bruce,” Selina said in a dry voice. “Damian appeared out of nowhere and he’s from somewhere close to Pakistan,” she said and Danny just snorted. 

“It’s ridiculous, I have the worst luck in the world. How could I even be Bruce Wayne’s son? Besides, I’ve met him, he would have said something if he thought I was his long lost son, or you know his kids who keep coming to my shop every week,” he said sardonically before chewing on his cabbage, slumped down in his seat ever so slightly. 

“Honey, you look just like Bruce,” Pam told him, an amused smile on her face. 

“Yeah, you’re the spitting image of a young Brucie,” Harley said, pointing her fork at Danny. “I would know, we went to school together, ya know. We used ta be really close.”

“Really?” Danny asked, suspicion creeped into his voice and Ed let out a soft hum. 

“We all went to school together, either high school or college,” he told Danny with a shrug of his shoulders. 

“You look just like he did his senior year of high school,” Selina told him with a small smile. “I remember when Bruce was that young.”

Danny wrinkled his nose. 

“She’s right ya know, same baby blue eyes, dark hair, freckles on your nose just like he has. You even have the same nose and jaw!” Harley exclaimed, waving her fork in the air excitedly, nearly  hitting Ed as she did. 

Ed gave Harley a look of pure annoyance before he turned to Danny and smiled. “Are you sure you know you’re not his son? The likeness is uncanny, especially when you think about what his biological son, Damian looks like,” he said before taking a bite of his own meal.  

Ivy had prepared cabbage steaks with roasted carrots and mashed potatoes and Danny was absolutely living for it. He was still learning how to cook more than those ready made meals or the frozen bagged meals he found at the grocery store. So any time he came to Harley and Ivy’s he made sure to eat his fill. 

“I dunno,” Danny finally admitted. “I was adopted. My parents found me in a forest and brought me back to the states and I don’t know anything about my biological parents. I don’t know why I was in that forest or what happened to me. Apparently I was nearly dead when they found me.”

Harley frowned. “I’m really sorry that happened to you, Danny. That must be a lot to deal with.”

Danny nodded his head and swallowed the bite of food. “I’ve come to terms with it. But after everything that happened with my adopted parents, there’s a part of me that wants to know. I want to find them and I want answers about what happened to me. How did I wind up there? Why was I nearly dead at just six years old? What’s my real birthday? Was I actually six when they found me? Or was I older or younger? There are so many things about me that I don’t know about.”

“Then why don’t you talk to Bruce and see if there is a possibility that you are his son?” Selina asked gently, resting her hand on his clenched fist that was still on the table. “What’s the worse that could happen?”

The halfa chewed on his bottom lip. “I’m not going to lie to you,” he said softly. “I’ve suspected it for a while. That I might be his son, that the Waynes really are my family. I mean I’m not stupid, I’ve seen what Damian looks like, and there was this instance at the carnival where it was like all signs pointed to me. I’ve just also purposefully ignored it and just…pushed the thought out of my mind. But I’m–I’m scared.”

“What are you scared about, sweetheart? I thought you said you wanted a family and,” Selina took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment before she breathed out and looked at him. “I know things didn’t work out between Bruce and myself but he’s such a caring person. He loves his children more than anything and he would love to have you as his son.”

“There’s a lot of reasons,” he admitted quietly. “My adoptive parents didn’t want me, they were disgusted by me. What if Bruce is the same way? What if things aren’t better? I mean it’s one thing to spend time with Dick, Jason, and Tim. But the rest of it? What if it’s different? I mean what if the others don’t like me, or they learn that I’m not just a psychic and they’re disgusted by me? What if Bruce takes one look at me and realizes that his life was easier without me in it?”

“Danny,” Harley said softly as she came around the table and crouched in front of him. “If he doesn’t want anything to do with you, that’s his fault. You are so incredibly kind and funny. You are the sweetest boy I have ever had the pleasure to meet and if they can’t look past your differences that’s on him.”

Danny looked down at the table for a moment, unable to meet Harley’s gaze. “I have to be honest with you guys,” he said softly. He traced the grooves of the table with his eyes, felt Selina squeeze his hand and Harley’s hand rest on his arm. “I’m not fully alive.”

He breathed out a laugh and tried to squeeze the tears away from his eyes. “My parents had this invention that didn’t work and I was fourteen and stupid and I wanted to impress my friends so I went in and it killed me,” he said in a voice thick with tears he refused to shed. He still felt the electricity that traveled through his body, the pain and burning, the way he felt he was being completely destroyed and rebuilt. It was a feeling that would never go away, he would never forget it. He let his powers wash over him, showing the ghost half of himself that he had kept hidden. “My parents found out about it and they didn’t think I was still their son. They thought I was just masquerading in his body and kicked me out. They were disgusted by me and kicked me to the curb like I was nothing, like I hadn’t lived with them for over ten years.”

He finally looked at Harley, at the look of complete heartbreak on her face. Her mouth was slightly agape as her eyes roved over him, taking everything in. 

“I disgusted them. They thought I was a monster, and who’s to say that Bruce wouldn’t think the same?” He asked. “If he ever found out about what I am, what I can do, what if he hates me too? I’m not normal, I’m not even a meta like you guys, I’m a half dead freak.”

A hand slammed on the table and Danny looked up to find Pam glaring at him from across the table. 

“Listen to me, Daniel Nightingale, you are not a freak,” she said with a snarl. “Do you look at me and see a freak or a monster? I got into an accident that changed my entire physiology and I’m way too powerful.”

“You’re not a monster,” Danny rasped. 

“Then why would you be?”

“It’s different, Pam, I’m dead,” he said quietly. 

“You seem pretty damn alive to me,” she said and let out a breath. “Danny, I know it’s scary and you’re right, you’re different. But I doubt Bruce or any of your siblings would care about that. They would just be happy to know you exist, that you’re alive. Wouldn’t it be worth it to just try?”

“I don’t know, ya know with the whole thing?” He asked and Selina let out a bark of a laugh. 

“Of course you know,” she said with a shake of her head. Danny mustered up a small smile as he looked over at her, her hand still on his. 

“Psychic, remember?” He rasped out. 

“That would just mean he’d want to investigate if anything,” Ed said with a small smile. “He would likely try to find a way to get your adoptive parents arrested for what happened to you, or he would do everything in his power to make sure you never have to see them again.”

“You guys know?” he asked, eyes wide. 

Ed snorted. “I’m the Riddler, you think I couldn’t figure out Batman’s secret identity?” he asked, his voice dripped with sarcasm. 

Selina shrugged. “We dated on and off for years as the Cat and Bat and Selina and Bruce, of course I knew.”

“We work for them,” Harley said, looking between her and Ivy. “Of course we would know who they really are. Besides, Brucie and I used ta be best friends in college and he spent years trying to get me away from J,” she said. 

“What we’re saying is that Bruce would love you,” Pam told him. “He would do everything he could to protect you and he isn’t one to turn his children away. No matter what.”

Danny nodded and sniffed a bit. “I’ll think about it. But for now, i don’t want to do anything about it, not yet.”

“That’s fine, we’ll be here to support you no matter what. And when you’re ready, we’ll be right by your side,” Harley said and kissed the side of his head before she returned to her seat. Danny smiled despite himself, at least if things did go badly with him in the Waynes, he would always have this family. 

Chapter Text

Danny shot up in bed, his chest heaving as images of his nightmare played on repeat in his mind. He clutched at his chest, squeezing his shirt tight as he tried to calm his breathing. He was in a cavern, ninja surrounded him, his body hurt, cuts and burns covered his body, his body ached broken and weary.

The halfa blinked, trying to rid himself of the images that seemed to be burned into the backs of his eyelids as he stared ahead. He tried his best to distract him from the nightmare. The burning green water that was reminiscent of ectoplasm only painful and suffocating. He tried to focus instead on the glowing stars that covered his ceiling, tried to count each one instead of the cuts that had marred his body in his nightmares. 

Instead flashes hit his mind one at a time. A woman, dark hair, green eyes, he had seen her before, somewhere. At some point. A boy, his mirror, sword in hand, horror on his face. An older man, long black goatee, evil in his eyes. 

Pain. Pain. Pain and more pain. 

Then it was the Ghost Zone and Clockwork looking at a young, small Danny marred and scarred and tired and telling him it wasn’t time. 

Then it was Desiree. 

A forest. 

The Fentons. 

Danny squeezed his eyes shut tight and let out a groan as he fell back in bed and rubbed his hands over his face. He needed answers. Needed to know what the fuck had happened and what those dreams meant. Clockwork and Desiree had been in them, though and that made him think that maybe, just maybe they would have an idea about what the fuck had happened to him.

He rubbed his eyes tiredly and sat up, swinging his feet off the side of the bed and allowed the rings of light to change him from human to ghost. Danny ripped a claw through the air and opened up a portal. The halfa took a steadying breath before he stepped through and started his flight towards Clockwork’s island. He felt his legs fuse into a tail as he soared through the Infinite Realms, keeping his eyes out for the ever familiar island of Clockwork, the ghost of Time itself. 

The more he thought about it, the more he was convinced that if anyone had answers it would be Clockwork and Danny sure as hell was going to get some ancients damned answers. Flashes of the nightmares kept playing in his mind as he tried to do his very best to think about anything else to no avail. 

Every thought he had circled back to those dreams.

They couldn’t be memories could they?

He had always had questions about what happened to him as a child. For all intents and purposes, the child that Jack and Maddie had found should have been dead. He should have never been able to survive with the damage that his body had sustained. Internal bleeding, infection, broken ribs, a broken arm and leg, lacerations all over his body, a severe concussion that should have resulted in TBI. It didn’t make any sense. His body had gone through so much pain at such a young age and he shouldn’t have survived it. 

Bright green pools appeared in his mind’s eye. 

He blinked it back, focusing on the ectoplasm in front of him, only for him to go back to those green pools. His skin felt like it was burning just thinking about it. What the hell had happened to him? Who had allowed that to happen to him? He was just a child, he should have been loved and protected, not tortured. 

Danny shook his head, squeezing his eyes tight. He had bad dreams in the past, that was all these were, just bad, horrible dreams. 

Soon he spotted Clockwork’s island straight ahead and sped through the air as fast as he could go. Being alone with his thoughts right now wasn’t good for him. Thinking about those dreams without having someone to talk through them with him wasn’t good. He needed Clockwork, he needed answers and he needed them now. Danny feared he would go insane if he didn’t get them soon. 

As soon as he came across the island he felt a relief wash through him. He was hopefully close to getting answers, and if not answers at least some kind of riddle that would point Danny to the right direction to figure out what the hell was going on. The dreams, as much as he wanted to convince himself that they were nothing more than dreams, he knew it wasn’t true. They were too real, too vivid to be dreams or a product of his imagination. 

He went through the large clock tower before finally finding the ghost floating in front of his screens, watching humanity at different times. As soon as his eyes landed on Clockwork floating there in his middle aged form, Danny felt his heart stutter just once, his drooped down ever so slightly. 

“What’s wrong with me?” He breathed, his legs forming once again now that he was in the safety of the ghost’s tower. He landed on the steady ground on shaky legs and attempted to step forward. “Clockwork, what’s going on?”

The ghost turned to look at Danny approvingly, his red eyes bright. 

“Memories, Danyal,” he intoned before turning back to his screens. “I had hoped that they would not return but that was a fool’s hope. I recognize that.”

“Why are they showing up now?” Danny breathed, his knees threatened to buckle as he took a step closer to the ghost that was for all intents and purposes his mentor. 

Clockwork let out a quiet hum. “They have been slowly returning to you since you died at fourteen. Now that you are in Gotham and close to finding your family, I would assume that the memories are ready to come back.”

“Can we get rid of them?” Danny begged, images of ninja slicing and beating him stark in his mind and panic edged his voice. “I don’t want these, I don’t-Clockwork if this is what my past was, I don’t want it.”

“You must remember, Danyal. It is the key to you finding your family and being at peace,” the ghost told him as he turned and gave Danny a pained look. “I wanted to protect you from it, but the timeline shifted from what I had hoped would happen. My ideal timeline would have been one where the Fentons had accepted you and you would never need to go looking for your biological family. But that is not what happened.”

“I found my family,” Danny said, still too stubborn to admit the quiet longing he had felt about going to the Waynes and telling him that he was Bruce Wayne’s son. The desire was there, but so was the fear. The fear of being thrown out, of being cast away and looked at with disgust in their eyes. He couldn’t handle it, he couldn’t handle the idea of another family throwing him away for not being what they wanted. Harley, Ivy, Ed, they loved him for him, they accepted him and cared for him.

“They are not the family you are looking for and you know it, Danyal.”

Danny stared at the ghost, his form unwavering as he stared Danny down.

“It hurts,” he whispered, a tear slid down his cheek. “If they were my family, if they loved me–why would they allow that to happen to me? Clockwork, what the hell happened to allow that to happen to me? I mean, beaten, tortured? Did I get killed as a kid? What the hell happened to me?” He cried, his core was aching inside of him and he wanted nothing more than to curl up in a ball and cry. He wanted Jazz, he wanted Sam and Tucker. He wanted his parents. He just wanted someone to hold him and tell him everything was going to be okay. 

Instead he had a ghost he didn’t understand human emotions looking down at him with what Danny assumed was pity. 

“There are two options for you, Danyal. You can continue to let the memories trickle to you, or I can take away the mental block and allow it to all come back to you in a fell swoop,” Clockwork told him, his voice carefully neutral. “But the memories will come back regardless.”

Danny closed his eyes and nodded his head. He could continue to get horrible, painful nightmares where he was re-experiencing everything that happened to him. Or he could just have the memories hit him like a tidal wave and experience it all at once but not deal with the nightmares–hopefully. Danny pressed the palms of his hands into his eyes and took a deep, shaky breath as he weighed his options. 

He had always been an all in guy. Just get it done and over with and move on. He would do the same with this. He would find out what happened to him and maybe that would lead to him getting answers. 

“Before I answer, can I ask two questions?” He asked as he pulled his hands from his eyes. Clockwork tilted his chin down in a simple nod. “Does Bruce and the others know what happened to me–did they let that happen to me? And how did I get away? I keep seeing Desiree and I think you?”

Clockwork gave him a mirthful smile. “You did see Desiree and I when you were younger. I saw that you would be the catalyst for us in locking away Pariah Dark. You see, Plasmius’ future was set in stone, he was always going to be power hungry and set Pariah Dark free. He would always lose that fight. The only timelines where Pariah was successfully sealed away were the ones where you became a halfa. The Fenton’s portal was always set to be successful, the only difference was without you, ghosts ran rampant, the GIW would destroy them and the Infinite Realms. With Phantom around, that timeline was destroyed. You becoming a halfa was instrumental to the timeline being safe.”

Danny blinked at the ghost before him. He had never realized he was that integral to things, that much of an important part of the safety of the Infinite Realms. He was just a guy. Sure Frostbite called him Great One but that was just the yetis. He was nothing special, nothing important. But apparently, his existence as a halfa was important enough to cause Clockwork to step in. 

“So, what did you do?”

“I had Desiree disguise herself as a human and convince your mother, Talia al Ghul that she was a trusted confidant. When it was time, she stole your body at your mother’s behest and fled into the night with it. Once we had you away from that horrible place, I rewound time just enough to bring you back from death. Then we left you there for the Fentons to find,” Clockwork said and the ghost’s lips twitched at the corners. “It had not taken much prodding on Spectra’s part to convince your parents to go to Pakistan to look into a ghost story.”

Danny stood there for a moment, taking everything Clockwork said in. It was all so much, so crazy and out there and it was nearly impossible for him to wrap his mind around it all. He clenched his fists as he took a deep breath, trying to steady him. 

“So the ghosts knew?”

“I don’t believe that either ghost has quite made the connection about you and what I had them do,” Clockwork said with a chuckle before he sobered up. “As for your other question, no. Your mother and your brother, Damian knew. They were powerless to stop it. But the rest of you family, they did not know of your existence until Damian Wayne arrived on Bruce Wayne’s doorstep with a story of his own.”

Danny swallowed. 

Damian. 

He remembered the story that the vigilante had told him. About his twin brother. Danyal. Pieces had been clicking together for a while and he had chosen to ignore them at every turn because he didn’t want to admit to himself of the possibility that it was true. But with the pieces laid out in front of him by Clockwork, well, he was forced to confront them now. 

Damian Wayne was his twin. 

He was Danyal Wayne. 

He looked up at Clockwork and squeezed his fists tight. “Unlock the memories,” he declared. 

Clockwork arched an eyebrow. “Are you sure about this, Danyal?”

The halfa nodded his head and chewed on his bottom lip for just a moment. “Look, they’re going to come back to me either way. This way we just get it done and over with and then I can go to the Waynes and hope they accept me. I can hope that Damian doesn’t hate me,” he said quietly. 

The Ghost of Time gave him a small smile. “If you do this, you cannot take it back. What will be known, cannot be unknown,” Clockwork warned. 

“I’m sure, they’re going to come back anyway,” Danny confirmed, letting his fists slowly unfurl. Clockwork floated towards him and pressed his staff to the center of Danny’s forehead. 

“Sleep, Danyal Wayne.”

Chapter Text

Danyal Al Ghul walked quietly, side by side with his twin. Their pinkies interlocked between them, hidden within the folds of their robes. They were five years old and it was time for them to begin their next spar. The twins had been training for a little over two years now and were becoming more and more proficient with each day. Mother had started to call them prodigies, others tended to call them freaks. Danyal found he didn’t care as long as he had Damian by his side. 

Suddenly, scenes change and he is now sitting cross legged on mother’s bed. Damian is beside him, their shoulders are touching as Mother tells them a story about their father, The Batman. She tells them about the way Batman and Robin save the lives of innocent bystanders who cannot take care of themselves while also preventing a villain from destroying the city. Damian is listening with awe obvious on his face. Danyal is growing restless, though, he wants Mother to bring out her star maps instead. He found that enjoys learning about the stars, how people can travel and find where they are going based just on the stars  

Damian makes a joke and Danyal looks up to find himself lying on the floor beside his brother. They’re supposed to be in bed. It’s late and they have Katas first thing in the morning, yet the brothers are too haunted by the events of the day to even think about sleep. Instead they find themselves hidden under Danyal’s bed. They have their pinkies interlocked as they quietly tell stories to one another to distract themselves from the nightmares waiting for them. 

He wants to hate his mother. He really does. He finds himself staring at her from across the room as she reads from some report. He wants to hate her, for bringing him and Damian into this world. For allowing Grandfather to hurt them. Danyal knows that she protects them from the worst of it. That a blade has not been used against them, that the worst they experience is training and no actual punishment from Grandfather. He knows this yet he can’t find it in himself to forgive her. They were children, they were barely six years old and they were enduring things that other kids never would. Danyal didn’t know what other children experienced but it couldn’t be this.  Mother said that she loved them but this didn’t feel like love.

Danyal blinks and finds himself now sitting at a desk. Damian is with him as their tutor drones on about grammar within the English language. Damian is diligently taking notes, ever the perfect heir. Danyal’s eyes are flitting about the room, looking for anything more interesting, more up his alley so to say. 

Mother is holding him. She’s singing a song to Danyal in her soft, contralto voice. Damian is training with a sword master and Danyal is about to leave for his own training. Grandfather was growing unhappy with Danyal’s progress but he struggled to find it within him to care. This wasn’t what he wanted. He knew there would be a day soon where he would be forced to fight Damian for the position of heir and he didn’t want that. He was the first born, the one to be born healthy and alive, unlike Damian. 

But the idea of being heir was heavy on his shoulders and he found himself wanting nothing more than to get away. 

Mother’s servant slipped him an encyclopedia about the outside world. It has things that they are not taught in their lessons with Tutor. Not only that but it’s in English and Danyal is forced to read the words slowly and carefully until his eyes ache from the strain and he is beyond exhausted. But he inhales every word that lies on the pages of the book. He is desperate to learn about everything outside of the safety of the Cradle and Nanda Parbat. The stifling lessons and spars, the tutoring and punishments. This was not the life he wanted. He wanted out. 

He finds himself staring out the window more often during classes. His mind wanders to what could have been. What would his life be like if he and Damian grew up with Batman? Mother said that Father was a hero. His encyclopedia said that heroes were the good guys, that they saved little kids and took care of people who needed it. 

Would Father have taken care of him and Damian? Would his love look differently from Mother’s? He wasn’t sure but he had his dreams and they were lovely. He would be in Gotham with father and Damian and they would be happy. Danyal would be happy. 

Damian is important to Danyal. He knows that with all his being. They’re twins, of course, two sides of the same blade. Damian is an extension of Danyal.

Damian is his Saathi. 

He learns the word from a servant one night as she tells a story during his bathing time. It means companion, it’s a sacred word as there is nothing more important or sacred than companionship in life. Saathi is a confidant, a companion, the one you see when you walk the path of life and turn your head to realize you are not alone.

Damian is Saathi. 

He is more than Danyal’s brother, or twin. He is his companion and he knows that one day he will leave Damian and it will be the hardest thing he will ever do.

Danyal is standing in front of his brother. They are supposed to fight to the death. He blinks as he stares across at his opponent, at his brother, his twin, his other half. He cannot kill him. And he is so very tired. He doesn’t want this life. 

Danyal is six-years-old but he is old enough to know that he does not want to be heir. He is old enough to know that his options are to kill his other half, or to allow his twin to kill him. Maybe it’s selfish of him, to force Damian to kill him, maybe he is a coward. But at just six-years-old, he is wise beyond his years and he is aware of the future that is meant to be his and he doesn’t want it. If he cannot be a normal boy, cannot have birthday parties or go to elementary school, or make friends his age, then he will accept this. 

He will accept death with open arms and happily embrace the freedom that comes with it.

The Heir to the Demon’s Head watches as his twin runs him through with his katana, feels the deep, burning pain as the blade embeds itself into his stomach. He feels his knees threaten to buckle beneath him. But he refuses to allow himself to fall. He grips the blade protruding from his stomach and squeezes, feeling it cut into his fingers.  Feels the blood drip from his hands and stomach as he looks Damian in the eyes, in those deep, lovely green eyes that Danyal hopes to never forget. 

“Ahbak,” Danyal whispered to his brother before he slipped into Urdu instead and smiled at his brother, at the tears that were glistening in his eyes. “Saathi”

Things start to blur together, it’s pain, so much pain. Grandfather is angry, he’s disappointed. He gasps for breath as he is dunked into the Lazarus Pits again and again. Screams turn his throat raw at some point and things no longer feel real. He doesn’t know if this is death, if this is what hell was, he hated it. His being hurt as blades slid across his body, as sharp whips hit his body, pain is all he knows. He is pain. 

Danyal wakes up and he’s in the woods. It’s cold out and he feels lost and confused. His head hurts and his body aches worse than it has in a long time but he is alive and he doesn’t know how he got here. He doesn’t know who he is or where he is but he knows one thing wholeheartedly. 

He wants to live. 

Danny sits up and finds himself in his bed. A shaky breath slipped out of him as he pressed the palms of his hands into his eyes until he saw stars and tried to steady himself. It was all there, every horrible, disgusting thing that had happened to him. 

He remembered it all. 

Locking pinkies with Damian. 

Mother holding him in her arms and singing her quiet, silly lullabies on nights when things were too much. 

He remembered Grandfather looking at him with disappointment as he ordered Danyal to be beaten again. 

His core aches within him as memories of his punishment plagued his mind and he let out a sob that wracked through his body. Frost started to spread from his body, covering his entire room in an even layer of ice. Danny-Danyal tried to even his breathing as he tried to account for everything. 

He was alive. He was here and he was living in Gotham City. He got away from Grandfather. He got away from the Fentons. He was free and he was safe and he was happy. Danyal Al Ghul was dead and Danny Nightingale was alive and free and whole. 

Life wasn’t perfect, there were things he missed, things he longed for. But he was alive. He had a home and he had a family that he found all by himself. He had a chance for more if he was willing to take it. That was the big thing, wasn’t it? Whether or not he was willing. 

He had a sort of clarity he didn’t have before. He knew he was anxious about the Waynes finding him, knew that there was a fear to being discovered as Bruce’s biological son, something that was allowing him to completely and totally ignore it despite the proof being right there in front of his eyes. It made sense now.

Danny had a decision to make. 

He could continue on with his life. He could be plain old Danny Nightingale, Psychic medium and friend of former rogues. 

Or he could be Daniel Wayne, son of billionaire Bruce Wayne and twin to Damian Wayne. 

The second choice, it had a caveat and Danny didn’t know if he was strong enough to deal with the repercussions of that choice.

Coming out as Bruce’s son, as Damian’s brother, it would paint a target on his back. Not only him but his entire family’s. Ra’s would be angry if he learned that Danyal was alive after all this time, he would likely stop at nothing to drag Danny back to Nanda Parbat and finish what he started all those years ago. Not only that but if Ra’s learned about what Danny could do now, if he learned about Phantom and his powers and half ghost status. 

He shuddered just thinking about it. 

Danny pulled his hands away from his eyes and took a deep, calming breath as he tried to focus on what was before him.

He had a choice to make. Live this quiet life, longing for more, for belonging. Or risk everything and everyone for his own selfish choices. 

Ancients, his life seemed to be getting more and more complicated with every passing day.

Chapter Text

Damian thrummed his fingers along the wood of his desk as he stared down at his art piece. They were coming up on his birthday in just a week and with all the talk about Danyal recently, his twin was heavy on his mind. He was starting to wonder if maybe his family would let him get away with not celebrating his birthday this year. With how much Danyal had been on his mind, it just felt wrong celebrating without him. 

When they were children, birthdays were a small affair, not something they really celebrated beyond Danyal, Mother and Damian in the quiet confines of their quarters without the probing eyes of his grandfather’s followers. They were quiet affairs where Talia would hold them tight, give them a small bowl of Gulab Jamun to share and tell them a story of their father. It was nice, just spending a quiet night with the two people he loved most.

 He missed it. 

Those were the moments that Damian missed the most. The quiet nights with Danyal as they laid together in bed and told one another stories about what it would be like once they got to live with Father or talk about their days and soak in the quiet peace that they rarely got when awake. 

Damian stared down at his artwork, chewing on his bottom lip. He had been thinking about Danyal a lot lately. Would they still look alike now as adults? They were identical twins sure, but their eyes had always been their tell. He was currently sketching what he thought Danyal would look like and he was coming up with so many ideas. He wouldn’t go by Danyal, no, Damian could see his brother going by Danny as plebeian as it was. He would probably want to try new things, try to make himself different as a way to distance himself from Grandfather. He would probably get a piercing or two. Maybe even a tattoo, something cosmic, something to do with stars and planets or moons. He would probably grow his hair out, keep it more shaggy compared to Damian’s close crop that was similar to their fathers. 

Damian liked to imagine that if Danyal were here, he would likely be close with Timothy, the two would have gotten along and it would have driven Damian crazy as a child. Danyal had always been precocious and he always wanted to know more, Timothy would be exactly that. 

A knock sounded on the door, shaking Damian from his thoughts. 

“Are you busy?” Father asked as he walked in. Damian rolled his eyes, for some reason, Father thought that if he knocked first he was fine to just walk in. It was a losing battle at this point.

“No, I was just working on a drawing,” Damian responded as he turned in his spinny chair and faced his father. Bruce was in a pair of sweats and an old Gotham University shirt. He looked like he had just woken from a nap–something that Alfred likely had forced him into. “What is it?” 

Bruce’s eyes landed on his sketch and he smiled. “I wanted to talk to you about your brother.”

Damian let out a sigh. “What has Richard done now?”

His father chuckled and came into the room before taking a seat on Damian’s bed. He picked up a small stuffed Robin toy that Jon had gifted Damian just a few years prior and squeezed it lightly. 

“No, not Dick this time. I was wanting to talk to you about Danyal,” he said, blue eyes flicked up to meet with Damian’s.

“Very well, I was actually thinking. I don’t think I want a birthday party this year,” Damian said and the corners of his father’s eyes crinkled slightly as he smiled. The older Bruce got, the calmer things got in their lives, he seemed to relax more. Richard had once said that the way Bruce was starting to behave now was reminiscent of how he acted before Jason had died. It was like he was softening the older he got, it was nice.

“No, well yes, that’s completely fine if you’re sure. But actually, that’s not it either,” Bruce said softly. Bruce took a deep breath, his eyes closed for just a heartbeat before he opened them and looked at Damian. “Recently, Tim, Dick, and Jason have undergone an investigation of sorts. With this investigation they have learned vital information about Danyal Al Ghul Wayne.”

Damian wasn’t sure if he was still breathing as he waited to hear what his father said next. 

“It started as a hunch but after DNA testing it has come back that Danyal is alive,” Bruce said carefully, his words even and thick with emotion that he dared not let out. “The three decided to learn what Danyal knew and came to a conclusion that he has amnesia.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Damian whispered, his heart racing in his chest so hard it was starting to hurt. “He doesn’t remember me, he wouldn’t want to–why would he want to?”

“He’s in Gotham, from what Dick has shared, apparently Danyal is here trying to find his family. He goes by the name Daniel Nightingale he–”

“The fortune teller?” Damian asked, his brow furrowed. 

Bruce raised an eyebrow at that. “You’ve heard of him?”

Damian nodded, his mind racing in a million directions at once. “Yes? I believe Phantom mentioned him to me once, he said that Nightingale might be able to tell me if Danyal was alive or not. I told him I would think about it.”

“Well, I think you should go and meet him. On your own,” Bruce said quietly. “Dick, Tim, and Jason think it would be best for him to see you and see if that brings any memories to the surface.”

“What if he doesn’t want me?” Damian asked, clenching his hands into fists as he rested them on his thighs. Would Danyal want anything to do with him? If he had amnesia would he even trust him or actually believe that any of what Damian shared with him was real? Would he want to be brothers with Damian? Be a part of his family?

“I think that Danyal has been searching for his family for a very long time and he would be very happy to have someone actually tell him that he has a family out there waiting on him,” Bruce told him evenly. 

“But me? Why not you or Richard?” Damian asked, feeling as though he was going to panic. 

“Damian, you and I both know that it needs to be you. He needs to hear it from you,” Bruce said. Damian swallowed thickly and nodded his head once. His father was right, if anyone was going to tell Danyal, it needed to be him. But could he do it? More importantly, could he do it without fucking it up with his twin? Would he be angry at Damian? He didn’t know how the hell he was going to navigate this situation.

“Go,” Bruce told him softly. “Go and see your brother.”

Danny looked up as the bell jingled for the front door of the shop. He had gotten his memories back and he had spent the last three days trying to sort through them and figure out what the hell he wanted to do now. Although, judging by who the hell it was that was walking through his door, he didn’t think he would have much of a choice any more. 

“Welcome to Nightingales,” he said carefully as he watched Damian Wayne walk into his shop and stop short as soon as he laid eyes on Danny. “How can I help you, Damian Wayne?”

Damian stared at him as if he had seen a ghost. He swallowed hard and blinked a few times. “I would like to get a reading.”

The halfa crooked up a grin. “I think I can do that.”

He led Damian over to the small round table and took a seat, motioning to the chair across from him. Damian carefully sat across from him and for a moment, Danny just sat there and took in his twin. 

The similarities were there. Danny’s hair was shaggier, just long enough to be pulled back in a ponytail whereas Damain’s was short and trimmed properly with straight edges and perfectly coiffed. He was in a t-shirt and shorts, there was a scar on his right eyebrow and Danny was reminded of the time they were five years old and the two had sparred with knives. Danny had cried under their bed for hours for cutting Damian’s face. Grandfather had been livid. 

He had those bright green eyes, reminiscent of the Lazarus Pits and for a moment they reminded Danny of his own eyes when he was in his ghost form. Just not as glowy. They had the same nose, same chin and lips, Damian was a bit darker than Danny was but honestly that made sense. Ever since his death, he had been a lot paler, he theorized that it had to do with being dead but he wasn’t super sure. It was likely the same reason he didn’t eat as much as the living did or need as much sleep anymore. 

“Give me your hand?” Danny asked, finally shaking himself from his reverie. 

Damian laid a hand on the table and Danny smiled, taking it in his own. He dragged a finger down Damian’s life line and let out a soft hum. 

“You died when you were young, a stillborn, you came back but death marked you for the rest of your life,” Danny said softly. “You had a twin, a second half that you trusted with your life. He abandoned you.”

“Tt,” Damian scoffed, pulling his hand back. “I do not know what you’re talking about. My brother never abandoned me.”

Danny looked up and smiled at him, a sad, fragile thing. There was a lump in his throat that he tried desperately to swallow around as he looked at his brother. It was now or never. 

“You know exactly what I’m talking about, Ahki,” Danny whispered. 

“So you do know,” Damian said with a scoff as he leaned back in his seat, his arms crossed over his chest. “So you what? Just decided to lead our siblings and father along and convince them that you didn’t know, that you had amnesia? Were you even going to come home to me?”

Trust Damian to ask him the hard questions. 

Danny didn’t know what to do with his hands. He stared at his brother for a moment before awkwardly folding his hands together and resting them on the table. 

“The memories have been slowly coming back to me,” he finally decided to say. “I wasn’t sure if I wanted to come home to you or not,” he said truthfully and Damian looked as though Danny had struck him. He hurried to continue. 

“Not because of you or anything but because of Ra’s,” he admitted. “If Grandfather learned about me, I wasn’t sure what he would do. Would it be worth risking the lives of our family just so that I can have a family? It feels selfish.”

Damian scoffed again, looking at Danny as if he didn’t believe him. 

“They would do anything for you, Danyal, they’re our family. Grandfather would never be able to get you. Father and the others would make sure of that,” Damian said before his eyes softened ever so slightly. “They’re strong, and they’re different from what we grew up with, Ahki. They have loved you from the moment I told them about you. You even have a memorial in the gardens. Grandfather is afraid of Father and our siblings, he wouldn’t do anything.”

“I just don’t want to put them at risk because of me,” Danny said meekly. It wasn’t much of an argument, and if anything he was hiding behind his fear. Fear of not being accepted, fear of them learning about his ghost half and deeming him a monster, fear of not being good enough. He didn’t want to risk it. 

“Danyal,” Damian said with a soft laugh. “We’re a family of crime fighting vigilantes. You wouldn’t be putting anyone at risk. Besides, we are a family we protect one another.”

Danny slumped down in his seat. “Aren’t you angry at me?”

“Immensely,” Damian said dryly as he finally sat forward and looked at Danny for a moment. “I’m angry that you thought that you couldn’t come home, and angry that you deem us incapable of protecting you from Grandfather.”

“You’re not mad at me for abandoning you?” Danny asked in a small voice. Damian snorted and kicked him lightly. 

“I stabbed you in the stomach and killed you. If anyone should be mad, it should be you,” he said in a dry voice. Danny cracked a small smile. 

“I let you stab me,” he admitted. “I could have avoided it if I wanted.”

“You did not! I caught you fair and square!” Damian exclaimed, giving Danny an offended look. Danny let out a soft laugh, feeling the tension in his shoulders start to ease slightly. He didn’t quite feel like he was going to throw up anymore. 

“I absolutely let you stab me. Do you really think I would have just lost like that?” He teased, grinning at Damian who was now glaring daggers at him. “Or do you want to admit that you stabbed your poor, defenseless brother and sent him to his death?” 

“I hate you,” Damian declared haughtily before he sobered up. He looked Danny up and down with sad eyes and reached over, grabbing Danny’s hand and squeezing it tight. “What happened?”

Danny gave him a sad smile. “I was tired, Dami. I didn’t want to keep going anymore, as much as I love you, I couldn’t handle living like that anymore and I thought death would be better. But Grandfather, he saw that I was using death as a way to escape him and he punished me.”

The halfa tapped his fingers on the table for a moment. “I don’t want to tell you what happened. All it will do is make you sick and I just need you to know that I got away. Mother had a servant take me away. They thought I was dead but I think there was residual Lazarus Pit in me and it brought me back. I woke up in a forest and some scientists found me.”

“I’m so sorry,” Damian whispered and Danny shook his head. 

“Don’t be. Look, things haven’t been easy for me and I’m not going to pretend like they have been. But we’re here now and we have a lot to learn about one another.” He cracked a small smile and squeezed Damian’s hand tight. “I want to know my family, if you’re willing to have me.”

“Of course I’m willing to have you, you’re my other half,” Damian told him, sounding offended that Danny would ever assume otherwise. 

“I’m glad,” Danny said quietly. “We still have a lot to talk about. I’m different than I was before, Damian. I’m not–”

“You don’t have to explain anything to me until you’re ready,” Damian told him quietly. 

Danny let out a breath and nodded his head. “Thank you,” he told him, feeling relief flood through his veins. He didn’t know quite how to explain the ghost thing to Damian. He knew that he would have to explain but not yet. Not until he felt just a little more secure. 

“Of course,” Damian said, giving him a soft smile. “I have to go soon, I have to go on patrols with Father. But I will see you soon. We can get lunch together, talk some more?”

“I would like that,” Danny replied, hope fluttered furiously in his chest. Damian stood and came around the table, he leaned down and wrapped his arms around Danny’s shoulders and hugged him tight, his face buried in the crook of Danny’s neck as he seemed to breathe the halfa in. 

“I knew you were alive, I never stopped hoping that you survived,” Damian whispered, his hands clenched into fists in Danny’s shirt holding him tight. 

Danny swallowed roughly as his arms wrapped around Damian’s waist and he hugged his twin tight. 

“I’m sorry I forgot you,” he whispered, his heart aching with the realization that he had forgotten the most important person in the world. That he had gone so long not even remembering his other half. 

“You went through something traumatic Danyal, it’s only natural that your mind would block out the memories until you were ready. Maybe our idiot brothers are what knocked the memories loose for you,” Damian said with a chuckle as he pulled back and ran his fingers through Danny’s hair an amused look on his face. “I always imagined that you would have shaggy hair. You always gave off the impression that you didn’t want to do things the proper way.”

Danny cracked a grin. “Can I tell you something else about me that isn’t proper?” 

Damian arched an eyebrow in response. 

“I go by Danny,” he said in a hush whisper. Damian gave him a faux scandalized look that had Danny laughing loudly. 

“Mother and Grandfather would be horrified,” he exclaimed and Danny laughed, nodding in agreement before he stopped and furrowed his brows. 

“I think Mother came into my shop the other day,” he said, tilting his head to the side. “She asked if I was happy and told me I would move mountains one day.”

Damian stilled. “Mother is in Gotham?” He asked, his voice tight. 

Danny nodded. “I believe so, or at least she was. She didn’t do anything, I didn’t really recognize her at the time but she was kind. She,” Danny hesitated for a moment as he tried to remember how Talia had been behaving in the shop. “She seemed regretful and happy to see me.”

His brother pressed his lips into a fine line and nodded before he spoke. 

“I will check in with Father, she is not supposed to be coming to Gotham without checking in with him first.”

“Go, go and be Red Bird,” Danny said with a small smile. “If you need me, I’ll be here. And tell the others they can come visit.” 

Damian gave him a blinding smile. 

“I’ll be sure to tell them. I’ll see you soon, Danny,” he said softly before leaving Danny alone in the shop. Danny let out a breath and leaned back in his seat, a small smile on his face.

He reached forward and grabbed his phone, pulling up a now familiar contact before he let it ring. 

“Danny! I was just thinkin’ about you, bud, what’s up?” Dick exclaimed as soon as he answered. 

“How long did you know?” Danny asked him, not even bothering to say hello as he smiled to himself. For the first time in a very long time he felt peace. 

“Know what?”

“That Damian and I are twins. How long have you known?”

“Danny,” Dick said warily. “If I tell you the truth, are you going to put some curse on me?”

“If you tell me the truth, I’ll confirm something else that I bet you’re already suspecting,” he said quietly, picking at his jeans nervously. 

“I suspected from the moment I saw you but I knew for sure sometime after the Summerween carnival,” Dick said with a sigh. “I just didn’t know how to bring it up because it didn’t really seem like you remembered. Did that change?”

Danny let out a sigh of his own and glanced up, looking around his shop for a moment. “Yeah, it changed. I remember everything.”

“And?”

“And you should know that I’m not the same Danyal that Damian remembered. A lot has happened since then and Damian thinks it’s going to be fine but I don’t think it will be. He’s going to be horrified if he ever learns everything and I don’t want him to hate me,” Danny said in a whisper, his heart was racing again as anxiety started to stir within him. 

He didn’t want Damian to hate him. He really didn’t want his potential family to react the same way that Jack and Maddie had all those months ago. 

“Let me hear it, then. I’ll be the judge of what will be too much for Damian now and then we can go from there,” Dick said calmly. “Do you want me to come over or is over the phone okay?”

“Over the phone is fine,” Danny said and released a shaky breath. “The first thing you need to know is that I’m Phantom.”

Chapter Text

Dick fell on his dad’s bed and let out a long suffering sigh. Bruce glanced up from where he had been lounging while reading his novel. 

“What is it?” He questioned, raising an eyebrow. Dick looked at him and let out another sigh. At this Bruce just blew out a breath and shut his book before setting it down on the mattress. 

“Danny told me that he’s Phantom,” Dick said quietly. “And I’m sad.”

“You’re sad that he trusted you with a secret?” Bruce asked and Dick let out another whine. “You’re sad because he told you how he became Phantom,” he surmised and Dick nodded his head. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Dick sighed. “I think Danny needs his dad,” he admitted and Bruce let out a soft chuckle. Dick just grinned at him. Everything that Danny had told him had been so fucking heavy it was unreal. He was still reeling over everything that Danny had told him, how he had come to live with the Fentons, how he became Phantom, the way he ran away from his adoptive parents who had wanted to destroy him for killing. After years of torture at the hands of Ra’s and the League of Assassins, he had ended up with the Fentons who had subjected him to years of abuse and neglect. 

Dick’s heart broke for his baby brother and he wanted to wrap him up in his arms and hold him close and never let him go.

“He’s scared of telling Damian about what happened to him, he’s also scared you won’t want him,” Dick said quietly and watched as his father frowned and rested his hand on Dick’s head, running his fingers through his eldest son’s hair. Dick smiled, it had taken him so long to train his father into being so comfortable with physical contact with his children and he had gotten so much better at it after all these years. Dick let his dad continue to comb through his hair as he thought over everything that Dick had shared with him. 

“Would he, hn, be upset if I knew what you told me?” Bruce finally asked and Dick let out a hum of his own. “He would feel relieved that he did not need to share the story again?”

Dick hummed once more and Bruce let out a breath. 

“Very well, I will go and visit his shop today and speak with him. Danyal should know that there is nothing he can do that would make him unwanted by our family,” he said and Dick felt so utterly proud of his father for coming up with that solution on his own. Maybe he was finally emotionally un-constipated enough to be able to navigate the conversation with Danny without having any help from Dick. 

“Go my little butterfly, comfort my baby brother,” Dick crooned and slipped under the blankets of Bruce’s bed. “And I am going to take a nap. I deserve it.”

Bruce let out a chuckle and patted Dick’s head lightly. “You do that, Chum. I will let you know how my conversation with Danyal goes,” he said with a hum. 

“He likes Danny,” Dick said with a yawn, wrapping the blankets around him like a cocoon. “Good luck, B.” 

“At this point, I don’t know why I even expect actual customers coming in,” Danny said with a sigh as soon as Bruce Wayne walked through the doors of his shop. Bruce quirked up a small smile as Danny came from around the counter. “Go ahead and lock the door, we can go upstairs and talk,” he said tiredly. 

“I don’t want to impose,” Bruce said hesitantly as he locked the shop door and watched as the door covered itself in a thick layer of ice.

“I think that’s just something Dads are supposed to do,” Danny said with a small smile before he led Bruce past the beads and up the stairs to his apartment. 

“I figured Dick told you about our phone call,” Danny told him over his shoulder before he led him to the living room and curled up on the couch. Bruce stared at him for a moment before he took a seat beside the halfa and let out a breath.

“How are you doing? Dick said all of your memories came back at once,” Bruce said and Danny let out a soft hum as he pulled his knees up to his chest and hugged them tight. 

“It’s a lot,” he admitted. “I wasn’t expecting everything I learned and now I’m just, I’m scared,” he said quietly, resting his chin on his knees and took a breath. He wasn’t just scared, he was terrified beyond belief. 

He didn’t know what was going to happen next, things were fine with Damian now, sure. But how was he going to feel when he learned about Phantom? When he realized that he had shared secrets with Phantom, not knowing that the ghost was his brother all along? Not only that but what about Ra’s and Talia? Mother had already come and visited him once when he didn’t have any memory of her, now that he did, what was she going to do? 

Sure mother cared for him as much as she could but it wasn’t the same as normal mothers. It did make him laugh a bit, though, to think about how similar Talia and Maddie were when he really thought about it. He exchanged one emotionally constipated, obsessed with her work mother for another. It was a little ironic when he really thought about it.  

But then he started to think about it. If Talia knew he was alive, what was she going to want with him? Damian hadn’t said much about bother, hadn’t really talked about how he came to live with their father nor on if she was a safe person to trust. She hadn’t been when they were children and that left him feeling nervous. What if she told Ra’s about him still being alive? What would Grandfather do?

“What has you scared?” Bruce asked gently, resting his hand on Danny’s shoulder. 

Danny snorted. “Where do I start? I have a whole family I know nothing about, Damian and Dick say that I’ll be accepted just fine but I’m not like Damian and I don’t want you to expect me to be like Damian and then there’s the matter of Grandfather and mother and–”

“Take a deep breath,” Bruce told him gently. “Let us work this out together. First, you do have an entire new family to get to know, but we also get to learn about you. I believe you’ve already had the chance to get to know Dick, Jason, and Tim. Now you’ll get to meet Duke, Cass, Alfred, and I as well as Damian.”

Bruce took a deep breath with Danny and slowly let it out. “You’re not Damian, and I don’t want you to be. You are Danny Nightingale and I am excited to learn just who Danny Nightingale is. If you would like to become an official Wayne, you should know that I would be more than excited to announce to the world that my long lost son has come home,” he said, moving his hand from Danny’s shoulder to slowly start petting his hair. “Ra’s and Talia will be another case. Talia is an unknown most of the time but when it comes to her children, she wants nothing more than to protect you. As for Ra’s, I wish that I could tell you that I can protect you from him forever. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Just like he has spent the last eight years trying to get Damian to come back to him, he will likely do the same with you. What we can do is fight him each time he shows up and do what we can to ensure your safety and comfort.”

“If he got a hold of Phantom,” Danny whispered and glanced over at Bruce who was giving him a look of concern. “He could–”

“We will cross that bridge when it comes. But he will not be able to get to you, Danny. You are strong and you are resilient and most of all, you are a Wayne and Waynes never give up,” he said, still combing Danny’s hair softly. “If you would like, we can come up with some contingencies on how to handle Ra’s and what to do to prepare for Talia,” Bruce suggested and Danny gave him a small smile. 

“I would like that,” he admitted.

Bruce smiled and pulled Danny close to him, wrapping his arm around his shoulder. He pressed a soft kiss to Danny’s head and the teenager let out a soft sigh of relief. 

Things were going to be okay. His family would help him protect his newfound peace. 

“I told you so,” Harley sang operatically as she set a large baked potato in front of Danny who was giving her a look of total annoyance. Pam just smirked as she stabbed at her own potato, looking rather pleased with herself. 

Ed, thank god for Ed, just gave him a small smile. 

“I’m happy for you, Danny,” he said quietly and Danny grinned at him. 

“Thank you,” he said, reaching for the bowl of sour cream. “I’m happy too. Everyone has been really nice and accepting of me and Bruce didn’t even hesitate. He was just happy to know that I’m okay.”

“So what’s going to happen next?” Pam asked, adding cheese to her own potato. 

“I don’t know,” Danny admitted. “Bruce told me he would give me some time to think about it. He said that if I wanted it, I had a room at the manor that was all mine. But I don’t know if I want to leave Nightingale’s. It’s the first place that has ever been just mine.”

“You can always do both,” Ed told him. “Move into the manor and get to know your family and if it gets too much, then you can go back to your apartment to take a break.”

“But close Nightingales,” Pam said as if it were obvious. 

“What do you mean close Nightingales?” He demanded. “I like being a psychic.”

“Because you’re eighteen kiddo, you need to go to school, you should do more than just this. You have so much potential Danny and you should do something with it. Be a hero, go to college and get a degree, make friends, be a fucking kid for a while,” Harley told him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and pressing a kiss to his cheek. 

“It would be nice to go to school,” Danny admitted, fixing up his baked potato with more condiments. “I just don’t know what I want to do.”

“Danny, sweetheart,” Ed said with a soft chuckle. “Your father is a billionaire who throws money around like it’s nothing. I’m sure that he would be more than happy to let you just go to school and figure out what you want to do. Just talk to him about it.” 

“Just don’t become a scientist,” Pam said and Harley let out a cackle. 

“Or a therapist,” she said. 

“I have bad trauma from both so I think I should be fine, and no, don’t worry Ed, I won’t become a carny either,” he told them with a wry smile. 

“For now, close Nightingales, focus on getting to know your family and finding your place with them and then figure out if you want to stick as a psychic or if you want to do something more than that,” Harley said, petting Danny’s hand softly before she took a seat. “And we’ll be here to support you every single step of the way. Got it, Sugar?”

Danny smiled to himself as he started to eat his potato. He couldn’t believe that this was his life, that he was getting the chance to be more than just a sad little orphan who had no one. Now, he had so many people who loved and cared about him, he had his Rogue family, his brothers and sisters, his dad, and he had his twin. Danny had never felt so cared for or secure in all of his life, he could get used to it.

Chapter Text

Danny watched as his brother stepped into his shop and looked around curiously. “You know, it reminds me of those stalls we saw that one time as children,” he stated, in lieu of greeting. Danny smiled, resting his forearms on his counter. “I remember that,” he said quietly. “It was our fifth birthday. Mother took us to a market to learn how to blend in.”

“You got lost,” Damian said dryly as he walked over to his brother and clasped him on the shoulder. Danny gave him an indignant look. 

“I did not get lost,” he said with a sniff as he looked at his brother’s smiling face. Bright green eyes, the same freckles that covered the bride of his nose, a single dimple on the right cheek. It was like looking in a mirror when he looked at his twin. A part of him finally felt at ease for the first time since he was six. He marveled over it all, at the fact that he was here with his twin, his other half.

 “I got distracted by all of the cool stalls.”

Damian snorted. “Sure you did, Ahki. Now, are you ready to go?” he asked, motioning to the door as his hand slipped from Danny’s arm. 

The halfa nodded, a small smile on his face as he followed his brother out of the shop and locked up behind him. It had officially been two weeks since Danny got his memories back and found his family. They were easing into things for the time being. He had yet to officially meet the entire family quite yet. 

So far, Tim, Jason, and Dick had come to visit him a few times to check in on how he was doing with all the changes, Bruce came over a few times to simply talk and get to know Danny. And Damian? Damian had been awkward about it all, not quite knowing how to act around Danny, which was fine. Danny was the same. His brother had come to visit him a couple of times, the last time with their father who had sat there stiffly with an odd smile on his face as he looked at the two boys sitting shoulder to shoulder across from him in a booth at Batburger. 

It was there that Danny had declared that he and Damian needed a day just for them, to take some time to get to know one another as they were now and not who they were at just six-years-old. So much had happened for both of them, Danny knew that Damian had questions, just like Damian likely knew that Danny had his own questions. 

“So, where are we going to eat?” Danny asked, shoving his hands into his pockets as he followed Damian towards his car. 

Damian let out a hum. “There is this Pakistani restaurant close by, I was thinking we could go there?”

Danny grinned. He couldn’t remember the last time he had Pakistani food, it had to have been before he ever left Nanda Parbat. There was so much of his life, his culture that he had been cut off from due to losing his memories and leaving Ra’s. It wasn’t just his family that he missed, it was the connection he had to who he was. Culture, language, beliefs, they were so far cut off from him for so long, he was ready to find himself again. To learn about where he came from, not only on his father’s side, but his mother’s as well. 

Talia Al Ghul was not the best mother, far from it. But she was his mother and he wanted to know about her, he wanted to know what led her to the choices she made, did she actually, genuinely have love for her children? Why did she come to his shop to check on him? 

He had so many questions, so many unknowns that he desperately wanted answers for. The only way he would be able to get those answers, though, was by asking questions. He was already prepared to do so, with Damian, Bruce, and the others. He wanted to learn as much as he could from all of them. 

“That would be amazing,” he breathed out as Damian unlocked his car and the two climbed in. Danny took a moment to take in the fanciness that was Damian Wayne’s car and it hit him once again. He was the son of a /billionaire/ he would want for nothing for the rest of his life. The fancy sports car reminded him of that fact. 

“Perfect,” Damian said as he started the car and the two sped away towards the restaurant. 

“So, important question,” Danny said, glancing over at his twin. Damian let out a soft hum, letting Danny know that he was listening. “Is Bruce always weird and awkward?”

Damian let out a loud laugh. “Brother, you have no idea. He’s actually better now than he was when I first came home.”

Danny snorted at that and shook his head. Looking at Bruce he could absolutely believe it. Bruce was kind, he was a very good listener. But his people skills really needed to be worked on. When his father had come over just the day before, there was a point where he and Danny just sat there and stared at one another. Danny had tried so hard to make small talk but it was like his father spoke in grunts and mumbles that he couldn’t quite decipher yet. 

“I can’t even imagine,” Danny said with a laugh and looked over at his brother. Damian had a small smile on his face as he drove and it struck him just how much he looked like Bruce. How much both of them looked like Bruce. 

“What is it? Do I have something on my face?” Damian asked, glancing at him for a brief moment. Danny simply smiled and shook his head. 

“No, I just can’t get over this,” he said quietly. “You’re real, you’re alive and you’re okay and we’re here together.”

“We are,” Damian said quietly. “And you’re alive. I never stopped believing it, you know? I know that our connection has been growing weak over the years, but I always felt you.”

Danny furrowed his eyebrows at that. A connection? He didn’t have a connection to Damian. How did he have one? Wait. 

“That’s what that is?” he asked incredulously. 

“What?” 

“For as long as I can remember, there’s always been this feeling like a part of me was missing,” Danny said softly. “I thought it happened because of the accident with my parents but I think it just made me even more aware of it. Like, right now, the feeling is gone. But I know the moment I walk away from you, I’ll feel it again. It’s like I’m a puzzle with a missing piece and you have it,” he explained carefully. 

“Interesting,” Damian hummed, thrumming his fingers along the top of his steering wheel. “Mine is like a light inside of me, I can feel your spark constantly, even now I can feel you. There are times where it disappears, sometimes for a few moments, sometimes for hours or days. But it always comes back.”

“When did the disappearing thing start?” Danny asked curiously. 

“Around when we were fourteen, I suppose.”

Danny snorted. That sounded about right, he would imagine the light disappeared every time Danny turned into his ghost form. He still needed to figure out how the hell he was going to tell Damian about that. He knew his brother would be accepting of Phantom, that wasn’t the thing that worried him all that much. What worried him was how would Damian react once he found out about what happened to Danny?

As much as he disliked the Fentons, they were still his parents for a large majority of his life. There was still a part of him that wanted to protect them, no matter how badly they hurt him. He would always see them as his parents, even if they no longer saw him as their son. 

“We’re here,” Damian said as he pulled into a parking spot. Danny brightened and unfasted his seatbelt, all but tripping out of the car as he waited excitedly for Damian to follow him. 

“I can’t wait, I hope they have Chicken Briyani, I haven’t had it in so long,” he blabbered, following Damian into the restaurant, and then following the waitress to their table. The two ordered their drinks and Danny looked around the restaurant curiously, taking everything in. 

“May I ask you questions?” Damian asked as the two looked over the menus together.

“Of course,” Danny said with a snort. He loved how proper Damian sounded even years later. Danny had that properness teased out of him as soon as he moved to Amity Park. The first thing that Qwan and Dash had zeroed in on when they met a young Daniel Fenton was his strange accent and how oddly proper he acted at all times. 

Tucker of all people was the one who taught him how to behave “normally” as he put it. He had quashed all politeness and properness out of Danny like a bug. 

“Why did you come looking for your family in the first place?” Damian asked and Danny sat back in his seat, resting the menu on the table. 

“Jumping right into the difficult questions, huh?” He teased and Damian at least had the decency to look somewhat embarrassed. “That’s a very long story. It’s not a happy one, Dames.”

Damian took a sip of his tea and set the glass down primly. “I have time, if you have the capacity to tell it.”

Danny smiled. “I can tell you.”

He took a drink of his water and then took a long, deep breath. 

“It started when I was fourteen,” he said carefully. “What you should know, Jack and Madeline Fenton are scientists, they study ecto-biology and the existence of ghosts.”

From there, Danny told his brother everything, how he had died in the ghost portal, become a ghost himself, then become a hero in his own right. From there he told Damian about his adventures as a ghost hero to surviving in his house, desperate to stay alive in the mad house. 

His shoulders sank, though, as he told Damian about the events that led up to him leaving Amity Park for good. He shared how he struggled to find a place, how Clockwork had told him to go to Gotham, how he was just desperate. Desperate to find a family, desperate for his place in this world, desperate to feel loved. He had all of this longing inside of him, for answers, for family, for a place and he was ready to leave it all behind. 

By the time he had finished his story, they had already ordered their food and were nearly finished with their meal. Damian hadn’t said a peep the entire time, he simply listened. He nodded or hummed when necessary but he otherwise kept his mouth shut. Danny was thankful for that, he didn’t know if he could have handled the apologies and the pity that came from everyone who knew what happened to him. 

“I should kill them,” Damian finally said, setting down his spoon and placing his hands on the table, fingers weaved together. Danny went to protest, only for his brother to continue. “But I will not. Because I can see that despite their wrongdoings, you still care for them. But just know, if they ever, and I mean ever harm a hair on your head, I will not hesitate in destroying them and their work.”

Danny swallowed hard and reached over the table. He grabbed Damian’s arm and squeezed it lightly. “I appreciate it, Dames. But I don’t think we have anything to worry about.”

“Nonetheless, it is on the table,” Damian said with a sniff. “I will have you know, that I do require you to take me flying once we have the chance.”

Danny gave him a small smile. “I think I would be amenable to that.”

Damian grinned and poked him with his fork lightly. “Now, that has answered quite a few of my questions but I have one more, perhaps the most important question of the evening.”

“What is it?” Danny asked, sitting at attention, his back ramrod straight. 

“What do you want to do next?” Damian questioned with a small smile and Danny’s shoulders drooped in relief. 

“That’s easy,” Danny said simply. “I want to get to know my family, I wanna be a part of our family.”

There was a gleam in Damian’s eyes as he grinned at Danny wide and happy. “I think that can be arranged.”

Chapter Text

Danny sat cross legged on the couch facing Bruce’s office desk, his brow furrowed. The two were having their first actual meeting in regards to Danny fully joining the family and how they were going to do it and they were at a crossroads. 

The halfa steepled his fingers together as he looked at his father. “What if we just didn’t say anything to the media? We could gaslight the absolute shit out of them and never say a word,” he said and Damian let out a hum beside him. 

“It’s a good idea, Father. I’m sure that both Barbara and Timothy would be more than willing to assist us in gaslighting the nation. Timothy has shown me that he is rather proficient in Photoshop.”

Bruce winced. “I know just how talented Tim is at Photoshop. We cannot gaslight the nation into thinking that Danny has always been here.”

“I think it would be easier,” Danny said with a forlorn sigh. He chewed on his bottom lip as he mulled over different solutions for how they could respond to the sudden appearance of Damian’s long lost twin brother. “We could just…not say anything.”

“Danyal, we can’t just not say something,” Bruce said and Danny let out a huff. He was already being full-named by his dad, what a time to be alive. “We can simply make a statement. Something such as “after years of endless searching, we have finally found Damian’s long lost twin brother, Daniel Wayne who had been separated at birth. We are thrilled beyond measure to announce that he has joined our family. We ask that you give us this time to connect and learn about one another.”” 

Bruce looked up at the twins and arched an eyebrow as if to wait for their response. 

“I suppose,” Damian said hesitantly. “I still like the idea that we just do not say anything and allow the public to make their own assumptions.”

“Tim would murder me,” Bruce said with a sigh. “It would be a PR nightmare and he would be the one to have to deal with it and I really do not want to get another lecture from my son about how I need to be more mindful about his position as CEO and how my decisions can negatively impact his life and make it more difficult for him.”

“What if we said I mysteriously came back from the dead? That could explain any powers I show in public–”

“We have already done the mysteriously come back from the dead with Jason,” Damian said with a sigh. “Honestly, I don't even think it will be that newsworthy, Father gets a new child every couple of years. People barely even blinked at the announcement of you fostering Duke.”

“Damian,” Bruce said with a sigh. “Danny. This story will be just fine. We aren’t holding a gala, we aren’t going to do any press releases or anything for the sort. But we need to make a statement or else people will start speculating the more we have public outings as a family.”

“I just don’t want anyone to look into my past,” Danny admitted quietly. 

“I’m sure that we can do something to keep anyone from speculating about who you are, and if it comes down to it; we can create a new backstory,” Bruce said with a soft smile. 

“Fine,” Danny said with a huff. “If we have to give a statement, I guess that one’s not super bad. People are going to think I’m faking it, though, that I’m not actually Damian’s twin.”

Bruce gave him a wry smile. “I can just about guarantee that no one is going to question the fact that you two are twins.”

“We are identical, Ahki,” Damian said with a laugh and Danny gave him a small smile. 

“Right, right,” he said with a huff. He let out a breath and let his legs sprawl out in front of him and leaned back in the couch. Damian patted his arm lightly. 

“Are you ready for dinner? I’m sure Alfred has something prepared by now and he has been quite excited to finally get to know you, as have our other siblings.”

“Dick, Jason, and Tim stalked me for like a month,” Danny said with a scoff. 

“Yes,” Bruce said. “But you have yet to meet Alfred, or my other children, Duke and Cassandra. They do not tend to meddle as much as the other three do. Now, let’s go eat and you can get to know everyone.”

Danny nodded his head and found himself following his father and twin down the hallway and down the stairs to the dining room. 

“I know you gave me a tour, Dad, but I think I’m gonna need a map,” Danny joked as they made a twisting turn down a hall. When he had first arrived at the manor just an hour before, Bruce had made sure to give him a tour of the entire manor, including the Batcave considering Danny was already aware of their secret. But he had a feeling that he was going to get lost the moment he’s alone in this giant maze of a house. It had him a little more grateful for his tiny apartment over his store. 

“I believe I might have one of those lying around somewhere, Master Danyal,” Alfred said in a demure voice as the trio walked into the setting room in front of the dining room. 

“Uh, just Danny is fine,” he said awkwardly, he reached his hand out. “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Pennyworth.”

“Just Alfred is fine, Master Danny,” Alfred said and took Danny’s hand, shaking it lightly. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I have heard so much about you from your father and brothers.”

Danny grinned. “All good things, I hope.” 

“Quite definitely,” he said and looked the three over. “Dinner is ready in the dining room, we have simply been waiting for you all.”

“Perfect, thank you Alfred,” Damian said with a polite smile before following Alfred into the dining room. Bruce placed his hand on Danny’s shoulder and stopped him from following. Danny turned and looked at his father curiously, tilting his head to the side. 

“Danny, I have an odd question for you,” Bruce said hesitantly. “I know it may be strange of me to ask but–”

“You want to se your parents again.”

He watched as Bruce’s Adam’s apple bobbed while he swallowed harshly and nodded his head. 

Danny gave him a small smile. “I think we can do that. Maybe one day, when you're ready to actually see them instead of just a momentary glimpse. I think I scared you last time but, I can show them to you. You won’t be able to talk to them, and they won’t be able to see you, but you can see them.”

“I would like that very much,” Bruce told him quietly and Danny grinned. 

“One day in the manor and you’re already abusing my ghost powers,” he joked and Bruce let out a soft laugh as he squeezed Danny’s shoulder lightly. Danny took the initiative and wrapped his arms around his waist and hugged him tight. 

“Let’s go eat dinner, shall we?” He suggested, patting Danny’s back lightly. 

The two stepped into the dining room and Danny looked around at his new family nervously. Each sibling made their official introduction, waving and grinning at Danny as if he had always been a part of the family. 

“So, what’s it like being the demon brat’s twin?” Jason asked, a sharp smile on his face as he leaned forward onto his elbows, only for Alfred to give him a sharp look. The man gave him an apologetic smile and removed his elbows from the table. 

Danny shrugged and glanced over at Damian. “Not bad. I’m obviously the fun twin,” he teased and Damian let out a huff and elbowed him in the ribs lightly. “But I’m just happy to have Damian around again, it’s like I found my missing half.”

Dick let out a loud coo as Alfred started to set plates in front of each of them. 

“Danny, that’s the sweetest thing I have ever heard in my life. Your other half?” he crooned and Danny felt his cheeks heat up. 

“I don’t know how to explain it,” Danny said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. 

His twin huffed out a laugh. “What Danyal is attempting to say is that due to our conception, we have always felt as though we were two parts of a whole. He was my right side, I was his left side. As children, we did everything together and were treated as two halves. It has been, lonely, not having my other half,” Damian admitted quietly. 

Danny grinned, bumping his shoulder against Damian’s lightly. That was exactly it. Sure, they were nearly complete opposites in a lot of ways. But they also had quite a few similarities. It was nice getting to relearn one another and figure out what their new roles are together. 

“That’s so interesting, is it because of the Lazarus waters?” Tim asked, looking beyond fascinated as he looked at the two. “I know that Talia grew you guys in an artificial womb, did the fluid have Lazarus water in it? What about growing up? Do you think that had any impact? I know Dames was technically still born but were there any other instances? Do you think that Lazarus Waters caused the two of you to have a connection and–”

“Tim,” Danny said with a laugh, interrupting their older brother. “Yes. The artificial womb had Lazarus water in it, I think that it definitely caused us a connection, one that was stronger for Damian since he was actually dipped in the pits immediately after birth when I wasn’t. But then I’m not super sure about further than that. I mean when Grandfather was torturing me, he kept submerging me in the pits and–”

Danny was cut off by multiple sharp inhales of breath. He frowned and looked at Damian. 

“I did not tell them the particulars of your death,” Damian admitted quietly. Danny nodded. 

“Makes sense, makes sense. Uh so anyway, when I was six? Six, yeah, Grandfather was upset with me for letting Damian win a spar and so he punished me by torturing me and bringing me to the brink of death and then bringing me back. Then Mother managed to get me away with a servant of hers. But anyway, I don’t know if that did anything since we were separated for so long. And then you take into account that I’m half dead and ya know, had pure ectoplasm pumped through my veins. So I think the connection is a little diluted for me compared to Damian’s. Like ever since I’ve been away from him I’ve been aware that I was missing something. But Damian can actually sense when I die and come back, like he’s aware of my existence when I’m alive and can tell when I change forms.”

“Holy shit,” Jason said with an incredulous laugh. “And I thought I was fucked.”

Danny simply shrugged his shoulders and took a sip of his water. “I’m an Al Ghul, I would be surprised if I wasn’t fucked up,” he said simply. 

“So, you’re like actually dead?” Duke asked, squinting at him. 

“Half the time,” Danny said with a wry grin. He was trying to not feel like he was in the hot seat as his new siblings continued to ask questions about him but it was difficult not to. Sure, they were curious, most of them had likely never seen anything like Danny despite being involved in the hero world. A half ghost was unexpected especially when the majority of what they knew about the supernatural likely came from people like John Constantine and Jason Blood. 

Magic users knew magic. Blood had a bit of a hand up with his connection to a demon and the demon world, but the Infinite Realms as a whole? Only a ghost knew every single intricacy of the afterlife. It was why Danny had made a successful fortune teller, why Constantine wanted him to join his little Justice League team. 

Which, he had a feeling that if he was going to be involved in this family, he was likely going to be dragged into the team one way or another. 

Danny also knew from what Damian had told him that Bruce didn’t quite trust magic users, neither did most of their family. It was going to make for an interesting time considering Danny fit pretty well into that category. He couldn’t cast spells or curses like Blood or Constantine could, but he had his own understandings of the occult and had far more power in the Ghost Zone than most beings. 

Save the Infinite Realms once or twice and they tend to give you a bit more respect than the average joe. It didn’t matter that he refused the title of Ghost King and had passed that responsibility of to those who were actually interested in it; he was still, unfortunately, considered the Great One. And the Great One had at least a little bit of pull when needed.

“So, are you planning on moving in any time soon?” Dick asked once they had finished questioning him within an inch of his life about being a ghost. 

“Move in?” Danny asked, his eyebrows raised just a bit in surprise.

“If you would like to, we would love to have you,” Bruce said with a small smile. “We would enjoy getting the chance to get to know you better.”

Danny looked between his family members and their supportive, hopeful smiles and nodded once. “Yeah, I think I’d like that,” he breathed out. It was true, too, his core all but screamed at him to go home and be with his family. He deserved it, he deserved happiness and that meant being here, with his family, connecting with his roots in a way he had never really gotten to do before. 

“Well a bit of advice,” Tim said, his eyes sparkled with just a bit of mischief. “Keep your apartment, you’ll need it for when you get sick of Bruce and Damian and their constant emotional constipated-ness.”

Danny let out a soft laugh. “That might be a good idea.”

Once dinner ended the family had migrated to the living room where Danny had found himself giving tarot readings, showing them his ghost side and powers and telling them about what it was like going to the Infinite Realms and exploring the different worlds within it. It was nice, getting to just exist with family and be accepted as he was. It was one thing with Sam, Tucker, and Jazz, and another with Pam, Harley, and Ed. But this was different, he couldn’t quite figure out how to explain it, but sitting in the manor with his brothers and sister and his dad and grandfather, it was different. Maybe it was because there was a sense of camaraderie between them, they had each understood the struggles of being a hero, many of them knew what it was like to die or to tortured near death, they understood Danny’s experiences intimately. They weren’t the exact same, but the similarities were there and they were comforting. 

“And this will be your room,” Damian said as the two stepped in front of a bedroom door. “Mine is next door, we have a connecting bathroom between us. Father is at the end of the hall.” 

Danny smiled, bumping his shoulder against Damian’s. “Thanks Dames,” he said softly as he looked around the hall. 

Damian gave him a soft look. “I am happy to have you home, Brother. I know this has all been quite a lot, but I am glad that you are here and that we can, not pick up where we left off, but get to know one another once again. I am excited to continue to learn about who you have grown to be.”

“I’m excited too,” Danny said and opened the door to the bedroom. “Now, go get a nap before you go on patrol in a few hours. Maybe you’ll see a familiar face in the skies.”

“Tt, you shouldn’t be–”

“Don’t even start with me, Damian, I’m just as much as a hero plus I’m more durable than any of you,” he said. 

“Goodnight, Danyal,” Damian said with a chuckle before he turned on his heel and went to his room. 

Danny bid him goodnight and slipped into his own room and looked around. He pressed the door shut and let out a soft sigh, he couldn’t wait to see how things would play out. He just had to hope that the world took the official press release okay with no real issues. He also hoped to the ancients that no one would try to look into his past and learn about Fenton, that was the last thing he needed.  There couldn’t possibly be anything worse than people learning about the Fentons and Amity Park.

Chapter Text

Danny watched with a small smile on his face as Titus and Cujo played chase in the large gardens of Wayne Manor. He had made the mistake of telling Damian that he had somehow managed to get a ghost dog attached to him and his twin had all but demanded that Danny let him meet Cujo that instant. So, once the brothers and Titus were out in the gardens, Danny let out a shrill whistle and a portal had opened up before the bright green dog came bounding out and pounced right on top of Danny. 

Damian had cooed and gone practically feral as he pet Cujo, telling the dog that he was the goodest boy and promising him a lifetime of treats before it hit him that Cujo was dead and he had all but burst into tears demanding to know what happened to the poor animal. 

“I don’t think he’s dead,” Danny murmured, the two still watching the dogs play as Damian calmed down ever so slightly. “Not all ghosts are dead, there’s some that are called Neverborns. They’re beings created based on thoughts. I have a theory that Cujo was created based on people’s love for dogs. He’s loyal, caring, comforting, he’s amazing,” Danny said with a small smile as Titus pounced on the ghost.

“That makes me feel better,” Damian said, his eyes tracking as the two dogs started to run in circles, chasing one another. “How are you liking the manor, Ahki?”

Danny grinned and leaned back on the bench, kicking his feet out. He had been living in the manor for about a month now. His family helped him pack up his things and he temporarily closed Nightingale’s Fortunes for the time being. The Waynes had done a press release and announced Danny’s arrival and it had gone rather well. 

So far the press were respecting their privacy but something told Danny that things were too good to be true. And based on the reactions of the vigilantes he called his family, he had a feeling they agreed. It felt like they were all still waiting for the other shoe to drop and just weren’t sure when it was going to happen. For the time being things were nice. 

He had gone to a Gotham Knights game with Dick and had allowed his eldest brother to smother him with affection as he told Danny that he would be safe in Gotham, that they would never allow the Fentons to get to him and that he would make sure that the Waynes would be at least somewhat competent. 

Jason had taken him out on patrols, the two talking about how dying had changed the course of their lives as Danny showed him Robin who danced and soared through the sky, watching over their Robins. 

Tim had pulled him into a game of Doomed and told him in no uncertain terms that the moment the Al Ghuls showed their faces to let him know he would utterly destroy them. It was a nice sentiment and Danny was still debating on if he wanted to do that or if he wanted to be the one to take care of his grandfather himself if Ra’s ever showed up. 

Cass had smiled and held his hand and tried to teach Danny to dance. 

Duke and Danny had sat down and compared power sets, talking about the different weird things that they could do and bonded over being the only ones in the family with powers. 

Bruce and Alfred had done everything they could to make Danny feel welcomed and supported as he moved into the manor. Alfred had talked to Danny about ghosts and what he wanted out of his future. Bruce did what he could to get to know his son, choosing awkward bonding activities and dragging Danny to Wayne Enterprises to learn about the family business. It was all with well intentions but at times it absolutely made Danny want to pull his hair out. 

The best part, though? 

The days he spent with his twin. 

Once upon a time, Damian had been his other half, there were no secrets between them. Now, there were so many things that they didn’t know about one another, so much to catch up on, so much to learn. The twins were finally getting the chance to catch up on years and years of lost time and Danny was beyond happy about it. The two had grown up to be so incredibly different  from one another and Danny was so utterly intrigued with this version of his brother. 

Damian was an artist, an incredibly talented artist. Not only that but he loved animals, more than anything in the world. He had plans to be a veterinarian and was already looking at pre-vet programs in Gotham and Metropolis. Damian was the leader of his hero team but had been looking at possibly stepping back for a few years to focus on himself and what he wanted out of his future. He was smart, so fucking smart it was insane. But he was also kind, and the way he had been fighting for years to beat back Grandfather’s teachings had Danny so incredibly proud of his brother. 

His twin spent every single moment trying to be a better person and make up for his past and Danny couldn’t be more proud of him. 

“It feels like the home we grew up dreaming about,” Danny said with a small smile as he watched Titus and Cujo roll in the grass. 

Damian smiled and bumped his shoulder against Danny’s. “It is pretty amazing, is it not?” He asked. 

It was better than nice. It was the family Danny had always dreamed about. 

Growing up with the Fentons had been nice. It wasn’t perfect, not by a long shot. They weren’t that great of a family, Jack and Maddie had been too consumed with their work. As bad and unsafe as things were at times, they had been the only real parents he’d had for a very long time and getting at least a taste of normalcy. But he always felt like he needed more, like he deserved more when it came to having a family. Jack and Maddie never truly got to know who the hell Danny was, they never cared about his interests or what he wanted to do with his life. They mostly just cared about ghosts and their own whims. It was never about Danny, never. 

But with the Waynes? 

Bruce was already talking to him about his future, he was learning about what Danny liked and he was making plans to take Danny up to the Watchtower so that he could explore the ship as well as get a look at space. Could Danny technically fly out there whenever he wanted? Sure. But the fact that his dad wanted to encourage his interests meant everything to him. Bruce was also interested in learning about Danny and his interests, he wanted to see Danny thrive and hell, he wasn’t even mad when Danny told him that he had absolutely no idea what he wanted to do with his life. Instead he told Danny he would be here to help him figure it out. 

That was already a step up on Jack and Maddie. 

His siblings were beyond amazing as well. Along with Bruce, they were all encouraging him to invite Jazz to Gotham soon to meet his family. The idea that he could have his sister be a part of his new family was something he hadn’t even realized that he could have and he was excited for it. He was excited to see where the future would go from here and he couldn’t wait. 

Before Danny could tell Damian any of that, though, he heard the soft crunch of grass and spun out of the bench with instincts that never quite went away. A dagger made of ice appeared in his hand only to get knocked out by a quick slice of a hand. 

“You’ve gotten sloppy, Habibi,” a voice said and Danny took a step back as his eyes settled on Talia al Ghul. 

Damian, who had gotten up only a second after Danny stared at the woman in surprise. 

“Mother,” Damian said and Danny scowled. The dogs bounded towards them, both letting out soft growls at the woman as Cujo pressed against Danny’s calf and Titus stood at attention beside Damian. Talia gave Cujo a mildly curious look before she looked up at Danny once more.

“What are you doing here?” The halfa asked and Talia gave him a soft smile, her hand moved to cup his face in her hand. 

“You have grown to be so incredibly handsome, my son,” Talia crooned, her eyes light. “I have been keeping track of your appearances on media outlets. I am proud of you.”

“Mother,” Damian said again before reiterating Danny’s question. “What are you doing here?”

Their mother’s eyes grew sad. “Your grandfather is aware of Danyal’s existence. Once the media in Gotham made it know that you had a long lost twin that was presumed dead, he started plotting. I do not know what he is up to, Father has all but cut me out at this time. But he is wanting you, Danyal. I imagine your father has already taken this possibility into account.”

“If you were Grandfather, what would you do?” Damian asked as Danny felt his heart start to race in his chest. His hands shook, his palms started to grow sweaty at the thought. Tim had already told him that he would destroy Ra’s for him, Bruce had already told him that they had a plan in place if they needed to come down to it. They had contingencies for this very thing. 

But all Danny could see was Grandfather standing over him, ordering the White Wolf to whip him again and again. He could hear the crack of leather in his ears, he could feel the burn of the Lazarus Waters stinging his skin. He couldn’t go back, he would kill Ra’s Al Ghul before he ever went back.

“He will likely come and pay you a visit, learn how you survived and try to frighten you,” Talia said and swiped her thumb across Danny’s cheek. “My love, I need you to breathe for me. I know that he did horrible things to you, but we will not allow that to happen once again. Do you understand me?”

Danny’s breathing hitched ever so slightly. “Yes, Mother.”

“You are strong, you are capable, you are a Wayne,” she told him fiercely. “You survived after all these years, you are beyond resilient and you know that Ra’s al Ghul will never break you.” 

Danny nodded again. “Yes, Mother.”

Talia smiled and pressed a soft kiss to Danny’s forehead. “Shall we go inside and speak with your father?”

“I believe that would be a good idea,” Damian said, resting his hand on Danny’s shoulder. “This should be a family discussion that we all have a say in. Besides, I’m sure Timothy would have some interesting insights on how to handle Grandfather.”

Danny let out a soft laugh at the annoyed look that appeared on Talia’s face at Tim’s name but nodded nonetheless. Danny bent down and picked up Cujo, holding his dog tight to his chest as the three made their way back to the manor. They would figure it out. They had to. 

Chapter Text

Once Talia left, the first thing Danny’s family did was sit at the Batcomputer and make sure that every bit of information about Danny Fenton, Amity Park, and the Fentons were completely scrubbed from all databases and any place that could even possibly host that kind of information. Barbara and Tim had been diligent as they scrubbed everything clean. 

Part of Danny felt silly but he knew his Grandfather, he had been tortured by the man for days before he had finally been whisked away from him. He knew that if Ra’s learned about where Danny came from, the people he lived with, his childhood friends, they would all be used as ways to hurt Danny.  While the Fentons may have hated Danny now, thought he was a ghost that had replaced their son, they were still the closest thing he had to parents for years and he didn’t want to see them hurt. Not to mention the others in Amity Park that he loved and cared about, Tucker, Sam, Val, Jazz, they were all there and they would be defenseless against Ra’s Al Ghul and the League of Assassins and he would rather die again than allow a single person he loved to be harmed like he had been.

The next step had been Bruce talking Tim off the ledge. Tim and Jason had decided that they just needed to full on blow up the Cradle and every base that Ra’s had. In Tim’s words “I did it once, I can damn well do it again.”

Bruce was, unfortunately, against this plan. 

Just as he was against the idea of Danny freezing Ra’s in a block of ice and dropping him in the bottom of the Lazarus Pit. 

So, instead, once they had made sure that anything that led to Danny being the same Danny Fenton that had been declared dead in Amity Park were absolutely gone, they got into planning. 

When Danny had first been shown to the public as the long lost son of Bruce Wayne, they had created a new backstory for Danny. It was some sob story that he lived in an orphanage in a Pakistani village before he got adopted by a random American couple and decided to go looking for his biological family when he turned eighteen. It was believable, and the fact that the Fentons had Daniel Fenton declared dead made the story a little bit easier.

From there, they discussed how they were going to deal with Ra’s. 

There was a consensus from his family that Danny never allow Ra’s to know what he was. 

Danny vehemently disagreed with this stance and absolutely made it known to each of them. 

“You don’t understand,” he stressed. “I’m more powerful than him now. Even if he knew what I could do–he will never be able to beat me. I’ve survived against the Ghost Investigation Ward and my parents. I can handle Grandfather.”

“I know you think that, son, but we can’t know that for sure,” Bruce said, resting his hand on Danny’s shoulder. “Not only that, but if Ra’s ever learned about Phantom he would never stop hunting you. Even with us completely erasing your connection to Amity Park, he could still find a way to use that to his advantage. Imagine he learned you were a ghost, and realized that capturing you would take nothing more than a thermos.”

Danny’s shoulders slumped. He didn’t have an argument for that. 

He squinted. Or did he?

“But how would he make the connection that I’m a ghost? For all he could know, I would never show that I’m Phantom and he could think my powers are because of the pit. Maybe he could think I’m a pit demon.”

“Danyal,” Damian said with a scoff. “What on earth is a pit demon?”

He shrugged. “I dunno, I made it up.”

“No Phantom, and no powers,” Bruce declared. “That’s final.” 

 They were all gathered around the small lounge area in the Batcave. It was mostly just a bunch of couches and recliners in a circle but it was a nice place to work on case work and relax after patrols according to Dick. Danny let out a huff and kicked his feet up on the coffee table in front of him as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“Why don’t we just do what we always do with Ra’s?” Duke asked, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. “We’ve already destroyed any connection Danny has to his previous life. We even covered and replaced the money trail for how he bought the fortune shop. I say let Ra’s show up, do his whole intimidation thing, and let him underestimate us again.”

“What, you want us to just let Ra’s walk in Gotham and threaten Danny and not do anything about it?” Jason scoffed and Tim let out a soft hum. 

“It could work. We will never get rid of Ra’s and the League. Not unless we all break the no killing rule and do my and Jay’s idea–” Tim was cut off by a resounding no from Bruce, Cass, and Dick at that. The man made a face at them before he continued. “Anyway, he’s always going to be obsessed with our family. If we can give Danny the same contingencies we give ourselves for dealing with Ra’s and just keep an eye on things for the next few months until Ra’s shows up, we should be fine.”

“What contingencies?” Danny asked, his brow furrowed. 

He wasn’t quite interested in killing people, not even as a child had he ever wanted to take lives. But he had, and with the resurgence of his memories, so had the resurgence of those childhood trainings. And with that, came the reminder from Mother and Grandfather so many years ago. The ones hunting you will never stop until you put them down permanently. 

That saying never felt more true than it did when it had to do with his grandfather. Ra’s would never leave him alone. He considered Danyal Al Ghul a failure that got away from him. That was all Danny had ever been to him. He would see it as Danny defying him for living all these years and he would take it personally. It wasn’t the same as it was for others, they had never been Ra’s al Ghul’s heir, they had never outwardly defied him the way Danny had. Despite the fact that he had never done much to defy him, but he got away from Ra’s and the torture he had committed and he had lived and that was the greatest insult there could be.

Ra’s would never stop hunting Danny down until he killed him for good.

He glanced at his twin and could see the same thoughts going through Damian’s head as they met eyes. The others all continued with talks on how they could protect Danny and keep an eye on him, how they would give him trackers, same as theirs and how Oracle would keep an eye on any and all ninja that came into Gotham. But Oracle wasn’t infallible, she would miss things. Just as the others would miss things. They were only human, they couldn’t protect him, not completely. They wouldn’t be able to babysit him twenty-four seven just to keep him from being alone with Ra’s. No amount of planning is possible. 

“We’re going to keep you safe from him, Danny, believe me,” Bruce said, giving his son a comforting look. Danny mustered up a small smile for his father before glancing back at his twin. His family wouldn’t be happy, but their way just wasn’t good enough. If they weren’t going to allow Tim and Jason to just get rid of the League, then Danny and Damian would just have to come up with their own contingencies. 

“I don’t want him to know about Phantom,” Damian said as soon as Danny slipped into his brother’s bedroom. Danny let out a soft scoff and climbed into his brother’s bed and laid on his side to face him. 

“Hello to you too, Brother,” he muttered and Damian rolled his eyes. 

“Father is right, if Grandfather learned about Phantom at all, he would never stop trying to figure out how to control you.”

Danny let out a huff and rolled onto his back. “I’m not letting him take me, Damian. I would rather kill myself than ever let him touch me again.”

Damian didn’t get it. He didn’t know what Danny had gone through under the hands of their grandfather. Grandfather had tortured him, mutilated him, had him wishing for death for days without ever personally lifting a finger the entire time. Danny had spent days praying for death, each time he was dunked in the Lazarus Pits, he had sobbed and begged Ra’s to just let him die. He would never, never wish that experience on anyone, not even his worst enemy. Looking back, he was grateful that his memories had been locked away. If they hadn’t and Danny had still survived the way he did, he probably would have gone off the deep end and killed himself. Now, at eighteen, nearly nineteen, he was still struggling to come to terms with all of it. But he was coping with it better than he would have at six years old. 

Bruce had already set up sessions for him to meet with a therapist to talk about everything that he had experienced and he was equal parts excited and dreading it. 

“I won’t let him take you,” Damian said quietly, reaching over and taking Danny’s hand in his. “He’s never going to touch you or take you from me again. No matter what, we will never be separated again.”

“You can’t promise that, Dames,” Danny whispered, his eyes said. “You’re not always going to be around and if it comes down to it, I will use every power in my arsenal to destroy him before he can take me.”

“Then we kill him,” Damian said as if it were the most simple thing in the world. “We kill him and destroy his body so that he cannot be brought back to life.”

“We don’t kill,” Danny said and Damian shook his head. 

“Waynes do not kill. If we kill Grandfather, we will be doing it as Al Ghuls,” he said simply. “It will be our last case scenario, though. I would rather we figure out other options first.” 

Danny let out a hum. 

“I would be amenable to that,” he finally said. “But we need to come up with different plans. I still like my pit demon idea. Even if everyone else is against it.”

Damian huffed out a soft laugh. “Run your idea by me.”

The halfa grinned and launched into his idea about how he could use his powers to convince their grandfather that he gained them because of the Lazarus Pits and how he could use that to his advantage. Sure, Ra’s would never stop hunting him, but Danny could use that. He had so many powers he couldn’t keep up with them, Ra’s would prepare for one power and never expect the next. Not only that but he had the element of surprise on his side and he could use that so fucking well.

“Let us come up with a few contingencies that no one but us will know about. We can consider that as an option,” Damian said and Danny nodded.

“And worst case scenario, the Demon Twins will kill one last time,” he said and Damian grinned, a wild, feral thing that Danny hadn’t seen since he was a child. 

When they were children, they had been known by the entirety of the League of Assassins as the Demon Twins. They were the heirs of the Demon’s Head, the deadliest five-year-olds in the world. At just five they had already taken so many lives, taken down enemies and impressed their instructors on the daily basis. 

“We should start training together again,” Danny said after a few minutes. “I’m so out of practice you’ll probably take me down in less than a minute. But I need to remember how to fight without relying on my powers to save me.”

“I’ll always accept the offer of getting to kick your ass,” Damian said before letting out a loud, undignified squawk as Danny shoved him out of his bed. His brother fell onto the floor and glared up at the halfa, his eyes glaring daggers at him. Danny for his part, let out a loud cackle as his brother pounced on him and pressed a pillow to his face in an attempt to smother him. 

The halfa, though, simply phased through the feathers and popped his head out the other side. “Boo,” he said with a shit eating grin. 

Damian growled and flicked Danny in the nose. 

“I am going to find blueprints of the Fentons disgusting inventions and I am going to use them against you every time you use your powers against me in a fight,” he declared in a haughty voice. Danny let out a dramatic gasp and shoved Damian away from him. 

“You hate me.”

“Tt, I do not hate you Danyal. But you said it yourself, you rely far too much on your powers and it is unbecoming of a son of the bat and heir to the Demon’s Head to not be able to defeat their opponent with nothing but their wits and own physical strength,” Damian told him and Danny rolled his eyes. 

“You sound like Mother,” he muttered. Damian let out another offended shout before he started hitting Danny over the head with the pillow once more. Unfortunately for them, this was how Dick and Bruce found them just a few moments later after hearing screams and yelling coming from the room. 

“Boys,” Dick said with a soft laugh. Neither twin paying them any attention. 

“It’s nice to see this side of Damian,” Bruce said quietly, watching as Danny finally managed to get the pillow from Damian and start hitting him back. “I feel like no matter how much he has opened up over the years, he has never quite allowed himself to relax.”

“Not like this,” Dick agreed, a small smile on his face as they watched their Baby Bat rough house with their Baby Ghost. “But it’s nice–to see this side to him. And for Danny too. He’s getting comfortable with everyone still, but it’s different with Damian.”

Bruce simply smiled. It was odd, having yet another son come back from the dead. It was odd watching his twins fight and play like they were children. But it was also nice. Nice to see both of them laugh and smile and play despite the atrocities that they had dealt with for such important, formative parts of their lives. Danny had been tortured for days at just six-years-old, Damian had been stuck living with the thought that he had killed his brother, they both had experienced pain and brutality as small children. Yet they were both able to sit here and laugh as they played around like children, something about it warmed Bruce’s soul, reminded him of why he was on this mission. 

It was like watching a person’s hope come to life before him. Every hope and dream both of the boys had, they had finally come to fruition. They were reunited, they were safe, they were happy. They had a family here that loved and supported them and Bruce knew that it meant more to them than anything in the world. And he was so honored to know that he played a part in providing them with such comforts. 

Bruce shut the door quietly, neither boy even noticing their presence as they fought one another. He was not always the best at conveying how he felt, but he hoped both boy, hoped all of his children, knew just how much he loved them. 

“We can’t let Ra’s get him,” Dick said softly as they walked away. 

“He won’t,” Bruce said with the utmost certainty. “We won’t allow it.”

He would kill Ra’s himself if it meant protecting the peace that his sons were finally, finally getting.

Chapter Text

Bruce gave his sons an amused look as he watched two sitting side by side eating. He had decided to take the twins out to lunch to get their minds off the entire Ra’s ordeal that was looming over them and it was starting to truly hit him that he had twins. He had identical twins and it was never more clear than right now just how identical they were. 

It was like they were completely and totally synchronized, almost down to blinking at the same time. It was odd to watch but also, there was something slightly endearing about it. 

“Father, what are you staring at?” Damian asked, arching an eyebrow curiously. His son had set down his fork as he gave Bruce a curious look and he smiled. 

“It’s just now occurred to me that you two are truly identical,” he said with a small smile. They had their differences, absolutely, they were of course different people after all. Danny kept his hair longer and had a septum ring. His hair was pulled back in a bun at the moment and he was dressed in a red flannel, white shirt and baggy jeans with rings littering his fingers. Whereas Damian kept his hair short and perfectly gelled and styled, no piercings in sight. He wore a nicely pressed shirt and slacks, kept his face perfectly shaved and clean, no piercings or jewelry aside from a chain that Dick had bought him years ago and a watch that Bruce had purchased for him for his last Christmas gift. 

“We look nothing alike,” Danny said with a soft laugh. “Dami is all prim and proper and I look like you just picked me up from the orphan center.”

“The orphan center?” Damian asked, giving him an incredulous look. “Danny, you are not an orphan. We are literally sitting at lunch with our biological father.”

“I feel like I’m allowed to be like a half orphan, my adopted parents abandoned me,” he argued and Damian gave him a look of utter disdain that Danny copied on his own face perfectly. Bruce simply smiled at his boys, he had to admit, it was sort of like looking into a mirror as he looked at the two. 

“If you say so,” Damian said, his nose wrinkled in disgust. Danny just stuck his tongue out at him and took a bite of his salad, a pleased smile on his face. 

“If you want, I can make myself look like Damian’s carbon copy, wanna see?” Danny asked, a grin still on his face. That smile somehow, was all Talia and it had Bruce feel reminiscent of a young Talia Al Ghul who had been hungry and desperate for change, who wanted to have a better world as much as Bruce did. It still hurt sometimes, to think that they had to go separate ways. That those ideals split so much from one another that Bruce couldn’t bring himself to stay with her. 

“Really?” Damian asked, looking unconvinced.

Danny glanced around, noticing that they were in a small, private alcove of the restaurant with no prying eyes paying any attention to them. He grinned as slowly Danny’s hair receded, his eyes changed from bright blue to dark green like Damian’s, and glanced over at his twin for a moment before he screwed up his lips in a scowl similar to the one currently on Damian’s face. 

“I would never wear clothes like those,” Damian told him. 

“I cannot change my clothes, Damian, I can simply change my own physical appearances,” Danny said in a prim and proper voice similar to the one that Damian used. 

Danny changed back into his own form and grinned sharply at them, showing just a bit of fang. Bruce was reminded yet again that his youngest son was not quite human, not anymore. It caused so many questions for the older vigilante. He wanted to know everything he could about his son’s ghost form and the world that was just beside this one.

“Just what all can you do?” Damian asked and Danny gave him a wide smile. 

“Everything,” he said, his blue eyes bright. “I can walk through walls, disappear, and fly. But there’s so many other things I can do too. I can’t actually keep up with all of the things I can do. But I’m not even considered a powerful ghost, not like some of the others I’ve come across. I mean, they have specialties, powersets that are unique to just them and they’re strong as hell. I’m more of like, I dunno, a Jack of all Trades if that makes sense?”

“I would like to meet other ghosts one day,” Damian said with a hum as he took another bite of his salad. Bruce chewed on his sandwich for a moment, thinking about what his son had shared with him. He knew that Phantom was powerful, he had seen him use his powers before to help ghosts move on, whenever Phantom would swoop in to help the bats fight against a rogue or crime group. He knew that he was strong, but the inquisitive part of Bruce itched to test and study just how powerful his son was. 

He wouldn’t, of course, without Danny giving him express permission. Certainly not after learning about how the Fentons had told him constantly that they wanted to tear him apart molecule by molecule and destroy him from the inside out while they studied his anatomy. A simmering rage filled Bruce at just the very thought. No, he would never do anything to make Danny feel other or different. He would squash down the desire to know more if it meant that it kept his son safe and comfortable.

“I’ll bring you guys to the Ghost Zone some day if you’d like. Once we’re done eating lunch, I can let you guys meet Robin,” he said with a small smile. “Robin is the ghost of Gotham, they’re the embodiment of light and hope. They’ve been slowly growing stronger and stronger as the years go by.”

“Is there a Batman ghost?” Damian asked and Danny shook his head. 

“No, there’s no need for a Batman ghost. Batman isn’t just an idea, not the same way Robin is,” Danny explained, his brow furrowed a bit. “Robin is an idea that is passed down from one person to another, to the point that there was an entire Robin movement, the We-Are-Robins thing ya know? Robin has surpassed the idea of just a vigilante, they’re a belief, an ideal. Robin is a representation of hope and joy, and that everyone has a little magic in them,” he said with a wistful smile. “Robin is the light to Batman’s darkness, the one who brings peace where Batman brings safety.”

“Robin is light,” Bruce said quietly. “Robin has always been light. Like the reminder that there will always be good days. It makes sense that the title would become an ideal eventually.”

Danny nodded. “Not all ghosts are people who died and were unable to move on. Some are creations based on ideas or beliefs. They start as a small kernel of power and slowly grow more and more the more people believe in it. The more people put power into an idea.”

“That’s lovely,” Bruce said, his eyes prickling with unshed tears just a bit at the thought that Robin had become timeless. There was something about that, about knowing that Robin would exist even when there were no vigilantes named Robin.

The three soon finished their meals and walked down the sidewalk towards a specific destination. Danny didn’t know it, yet, but Damian had requested that they take the newest addition to their family to the Watchtower. Danny loved space, he loved the stars and planets, the study of astronomy, it was a special interest of his and Bruce was more than happy to give his son a chance to explore one of the greatest space stations in the universe. 

They soon made it to the zeta tube and Danny gave him a curious look. 

“A phone booth? I didn’t even know these still exist,” he said and Damian just grinned and pulled Danny into the phone booth with him. Once they disappeared, Bruce followed quickly behind and grinned as he found Danny staring out at the space, his face pressed against the window, a wide smile on his face. 

“You know, sometimes I forget that I can just fly out to space,” Danny said, his nose smooshed against the window. “Like I can just fly out there and be just fine. But I always forget that I can just, do that.” 

“Well, if you would like, go out there,” Damian said and Bruce blinked away the sudden flash of light to find Danny in his Phantom form now floating just a few centimeters from the ground. “When you’re finished, we can show you around the Watchtower.”

Danny nodded and without another word, he phased through the window and went out into the darkness of space. 

“It’s moments like this when it truly hits me that he is dead,” Damian said quietly. He stood beside Bruce, his hands clenched into fists. “He died and I was not there for him. He died alone.”

Bruce swallowed hard. He had gone through the same spiral after realizing that not only were Danny and Phantom one and the same but that Danny had been tortured to the brink of death and brought back over and over. He had spiraled for days before Alfred had reminded him that Danny was still here, he was still partially alive and they were getting a chance to get to know him and that was what mattered most.

Bruce couldn’t have protected someone that he did not know exist and then later presumed was already deceased. It was not a failing on his part, no matter how much he thought it was. There would always be a part of him that wondered what things would have been like if Talia had never hidden their existence from him, what things would have been like for his boys if they were raised in the manor instead of the cradle.

“He’s here now, that’s what matters,” Bruce said quietly. 

“I should have protected him,” Damian said, his voice bitter and filled with pain. Bruce found himself wrapping his arm around his son’s shoulders as they watched Danny flying through space, exploring the outside of the Watchtower. 

“You were a child, Damian, it was not your job to protect him,” he said gently. “Do not blame yourself for what happened. Instead, be happy that he is here now and you have a second chance to get to know your brother.”

“He is my other half, Father,” Damian said quietly. 

Bruce simply smiled as Danny flew back through the glass and landed in front of them. He held his hands out expectantly and Bruce raised an eyebrow as he took his son’s hand, Damian followed suit beside him. A large green bubble erupted around them before they raised into the air and floated out of the Watchtower. 

“Isn’t it beautiful,” Danny breathed out, his eyes wide as saucers. 

Bruce smiled. “It is.”

A laugh bubbled out of Danny’s lips as he floated them around the vast emptiness of space, his arms spread out. 

Damian laid curled up on the bed beside his brother. They were staying in Danny’s apartment for the night and Damian couldn’t take his eyes off of his brother. It was still so odd to think that Danny was here, with him. He was alive and he was okay and sure, they had Ra’s looming over them, but they were together again. It was as if he had found his missing piece after all this time. 

“Penny for your thoughts?” Danny asked quietly and Damian let out a soft huff. 

“I’m just thinking,” he admitted and Danny gave him an unconvinced look. Damian tucked his arm under his head and closed his eyes for a moment. “I wish I could have protected you.”

A finger pressed to the middle of his forehead for a moment and Damian opened his eyes to find Danny giving him an amused look. 

“It wasn’t your job to protect me,” he told him quietly. “When we were fighting, I made the decision to let you beat me because I wanted you to live, Ahki. I wanted out and I thought that if I lost, then it would be a quick death. That was my mistake for thinking it would be quick and easy. It never is with Grandfather. But I would choose the same thing every single time. With no regrets.”

“But–”

“Damian,” Danny said, cutting him off. “I need you to listen to me and listen well.”

Damian pursed his lips but nodded his head nonetheless. 

“Everything in this world happens for a reason, whether it be fate, or the ancients, or God, things happen for a reason. I don’t regret losing that match between us, I don’t regret going to live with the Fentons or becoming Phantom or anything. Now, we’re at a place where we’re getting to know one another again. We’re here, we’re together again and that matters more than anything.”

“I just wish that it did not have to cause so much pain for us,” Damian whispered. 

“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” Danny said with a shrug of his shoulders. “I know it sucks and you feel guilty. But Damian, I’m happy, I finally found you again and I’m happy. So, quit blaming yourself and be happy. For me, okay?”

Damian swallowed hard and nodded his head. He would be happy, for Danyal.

Chapter Text

Damian watched as his brother packed up some of his trinkets. For now his twin had decided that it would be for the best to keep his things packed up and stored away until things calmed down. Danny had tried to stay open at first but the amount of people who had come to gawk at the new, weird Wayne kid was a bit overwhelming. So for now, he had closed up shop and was trying to figure out what he was wanting to do next. Damian was trying his very best to convince his brother into going to college but he wasn’t sure if that was the route that Danny was interested in. Which was alright, college was not for everyone. He simply wished that his brother did not feel too aimless in his life. 

“Quit staring,” Danny told him with a huff as he pulled out a length of tape before pressing it against the two cardboard flaps, sealing the box shut. 

“I’m allowed to stare at you all I want,” Damian said petulantly. 

“Or you could quit being a lazy ass and help me pack like you said you were going to,” Danny said wryly. 

“You can make multiple duplicates of yourself. Why do you need me?” Damian asked. In all honesty, there were times like now where he couldn’t help but stare at his brother. To marvel over the fact that he was here, he was alive and they were together. It was still so hard to wrap his mind around, to think that all those years of feeling that his other half was alive he was right. 

His twin was here, he was alive–mostly, and he was okay. It meant more to him than he could ever imagine and he couldn’t quite get over it.

Danny gave him a sour look. “You of all people should know that relying on power is weakness. Grandfather made sure to pound that into our heads. The only one we can trust is our own strength and our own mind.”

“And that means that you cannot use your powers to move?” Damian asked with an arched eyebrow. Danny simply stuck his tongue out at him and set another box to the side before opening up another one. “Are you going to miss all of this?” Damian asked, finally standing up and walking over to look at the case filled with crystals and tarot cards. 

His brother shrugged his shoulders. “It was fun. I really enjoyed learning more about the metaphysical and I think it helped me get a better understanding of myself and my powers. But it was mostly out of necessity, you know? I mean this wasn’t my dream, it was just a means to an end. Now, I’m going to be who I want to be out of freedom. I dunno, as fun as this was, I think my psychic days are behind me,” Danny said with a small smile, resting his arms on the cardboard box. 

“Do you know what you want to do next?” Damian asked, grabbing a deck of cards and shuffling them lazily. 

Danny hummed quietly. “No, not yet. Kinda want to get settled first and then I’ll figure something out.” 

Damian frowned, opening his mouth to tell Danny he needed to figure something out when the door to the shop opened and the chimes Danny had yet to take down rang throughout the room. The twins both turned to find their grandfather walking into the shop, wearing an immaculate black suit and his nose wrinkled ever so slightly as he took in the shop. 

“Grandfather,” Damian said tightly. He grabbed one of the crystals from the counter, more than prepared to use it as a weapon if need be. “What are you doing here?”

Ra’s spread his hands, a pleasant smile on his hands. “I heard that this is the best psychic shop in all of Gotham, I was hoping to receive a reading,” he said, his eyes on Danny. Damian glanced at his twin. 

The half-ghost was standing ram rod straight, his eyes narrowed into slits as he stared at their grandfather, his knuckles white with how hard he was holding onto the box. 

Danny took a breath before he gave Ra’s a dazzling smile. “I would be more than happy to provide you with a reading, Grandfather,” he said politely. Ra’s gave him a slimy smile before he stepped further into the shop. 

“So, where have you been hiding from me, Grandson?” Ra’s asked as Danny motioned to the small table he typically did readings. Damian stood at the edge of the room, his eyes never leaving his grandfather. 

Danny still had that plastered on smile as he sat across from the man and motioned his hand at Damian, pointing towards the crystal that sat in the box beside the younger twin. 

“I can’t tell you all of my secrets, Grandfather,” he said pleasantly. “You should have known from the beginning, though, Al Ghuls are resilient, you never would have been able to get rid of me.”

Ra’s chuckled. “I have never tried to get rid of my grandchildren.”

Damian set the ball atop its holder on the table and glanced at his grandfather. 

“What do you want?” He bit out. Part of him was already contemplating on sending a distress signal to their family, he was sure their Mother and father especially would be here within minutes. But from the look on his brother’s face, he wondered if it was time for them to enact one of their many plans for getting rid of their grandfather. 

“I simply wanted to see my grandson after all these years,” Ra’s said simply, sitting down across from Danny. He looked at the crystal ball in between them and Damian simply stepped back. 

“Where should we start,” Danny asked, cocking his head to the side as his eyes roved up and down Ra’s. “I think the beginning is always best.”

Before Ra’s could say anything in response, the crystal ball filled with green smoke. Danny’s eyes took a Lazarus Green color as his hands hovered on either side of the ball. Damian watched with rapt eyes, wondering what the hell was going on in his brother’s head. Why the hell was he showing Ra’s any semblance of the power that he had?

“Did you know, Grandfather, that when you brought me to the brink of death over and over again it caused the Lazarus Waters to bond with me,” Danny said, his voice deathly sounding, unlike anything Damian had ever heard from his brother before. 

“It showed me things, things that you cannot even begin to imagine, Ra’s,” Danny said, his eyes pulled up to stare their grandfather dead in the face. “It showed me that you are not only cursed, but your days are numbered, Grandfather. Your hubris has shown to be too much, your belief that you can defy death is false. You fill yourself with thoughts of grandeur, convince yourself that you are not only unbeatable but that you are the smartest person in the room. You could not be further from the truth.”

“And what do you plan to do about it, Grandson?” Ra’s drawled, clearly looking bored with the entire conversation. 

Danny simply let out a soft chuckle as he leaned back in his seat. “I am powerless, nothing more than a conduit for the waters to speak. And all I can say is that you have made the spirits angry, each one is desperate to destroy you and everything you have created off of the backs and lives of others. They have a gift for you.”

It was like something from a horror movie. 

Damian watched with bated breath as a head slowly started to push out of the crystal ball. It looked like Todd’s Robin, only after he had gone toe to toe with Joker, after Joker had taken his life. Blood dripped from Robin’s face, their jaw barely hanging from their mouth as they crawled out of the crystal. 

“You see, Robin has become more than just a vigilante. Robin has become a being of their own, a light in the darkness, a reminder of better days. But you, Grandfather, Robin has a bone to pick with you. How many birds have you had a hand in destroying? You brought Jason back from death, brainwashed him and tried your best to undo him. You held Timothy as an unwilling partner, kept him prisoner as he took down your enemies and then kicked him from the top floors of Wayne Enterprises,” Danny said as Robin shifted from Todd’s Robin to Timothy’s, a tired, bright eyed boy who was now floating over the ancient man who was staring up at him with wide eyes and nostrils flared. 

“Then there is Damian,” Danny said, his voice hard and solid as Robin shifted once again to Damian, his mouth upturned in a frown, his brows furrowed. Damian’s heart broke as he looked at the younger version of himself. He had forgotten how sad he had been when he first came to live with his family, how broken and desperate he had been. How badly he wanted to be loved and accepted by his family, how instead he had hurt them from his own insecurities. 

“Destroying me wasn’t enough for you, Grandfather, it never would be. You also had to break my brother,” Danny snarled, his lip curled. “Because let’s admit it, Grandfather, at your very core, you are nothing but a broken and weak man. You’re pathetic,” he spat as Robin floated closer to Grandfather, his legs formed together to form a tail that wrapped around the assassin’s head. 

“And because of that, the Lazarus Waters have deemed you irredeemable and unworthy of their gifts. They have deemed you cursed,” he said with a sharp smile. 

“And you think that this will stop me?” Ra’s asked with a harsh laugh, leaning back in his seat as if he were unaffected by the ghost that was now floating around his head in lazy circles.

“Robin will,” Danny told him quietly, his voice dripping with death and threats. Damian couldn’t help but wonder, just how powerful was his brother? Just what all could he accomplish with those new powers of his? It was clear that he no longer feared death, if he ever really had. 

“And whatever Robin leaves behind, well, I’m sure that it will not be much left,” Danny said, his eyes still that bright, Lazarus Green. Robin leaned forward and wrapped their hand around Grandfather’s throat and lifted him in the air. “You have been weighed, you have been measured, and you have been found guilty of your sins.”

A bright laugh floated out of the room as Ra’s was all but dragged out of the shop, a true look of fear on his face. Something that Damian had never seen before in his life, a look that would live in his dreams until the end of his days. 

“This won’t be the last that we see our grandfather,” Damian said once he found his voice. 

Danny gave him a hint of a smile. “I hope not. I want to see just what Robin does to him.”

Damian gave him a small smile of his own, his heart still racing just a bit. Sure, he and Danny had talked about this, this was one of the many plans they had made together, but that didn’t mean it still made him anxious to think about the consequences. 

“I think it’s time to call our brothers and let them know it’s time for Tim’s bombs to be detonated,” Danny told him as he walked back over to the box he had been packing. Damian sucked in a breath and pulled out his phone to let their brothers know it was time. 

Chapter Text

Bruce was giving the boys a look. Danny didn’t particularly know what the look meant, but judging by the pouty look on Damian’s face, he had a feeling that this was Bruce’s “I’m disappointed in you” face. It made Danny want to roll his eyes.

“What?” Danny asked, giving their father a look. “Why are you looking at us that way?”

The twins were currently sitting across from their father in his study as he stared them down. Danny knew that the man likely already knew what had happened at the fortune shop, but it had been a few hours and he had hoped that Bruce had calmed down by now. If not, well, he was just going to have to deal with the fact that Danny had sued his powers. But he also lied through his goddamn teeth. Connection to the Lazarus Water his ass. It was just some toxic sludge and nothing more. Danny’s powers came from the Infinite Realms, not the sludge that Ra’s kept dunking him in as a child, it was just dead adjacent. 

“Why did we just learn that your grandfather is allegedly being haunted by the ghost of Robin?” Mother asked, stepping into the room. Danny gave her a shrug. 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said, leaning back in his seat. “Robin does whatever they want. If they want to haunt Grandfather, that’s on them.”

“Why were we not informed directly by either of you that Ra’s Al Ghul was in your shop, Danyal?” Bruce asked and Danny wrinkled his nose at the use of his legal name. 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Danny said, tapping his foot against the ground. “Dami and I were just packing away my things like you asked me to. But nothing happened.”

“We had a plan, Habibi,” Talia said with a sigh, resting her hand on Danny’s shoulder. “Or did you forget that plan?”

“Never went against the plan,” Danny said with a hum. His mother squeezed his shoulder and Danny regrained from the shudder that threatened to wrack through him.  He was still coming to terms with the fact that his mother of all people was seemingly back in his life. He had already been excited to have Bruce in his life, to have his father be there and want him to live with him. But Talia Al Ghul? He couldn't quite wrap his head around the fact that his mother was here and she had apologized for not protecting him and she was here now to be better. 

She wasn’t the best mother, definitely wasn’t going to win any awards for Mother of the Year. But hse was here, she apologized and she was trying to protect him and that meant more than Danny could even begin to explain. 

“Danyal, you have always been a terrible liar,” Talia said with a sigh.

Danny let out a huff. “I am not a terrible liar. I spent years lying about the fact that I’m literally half dead.”

“Danny, you’re a terrible liar,” Damian said with a sigh. “Grandfather came by Ahki’s shop and was trying to intimidate us. Danny and I made multiple contingency plans that no one else knew about. That plan included allowing Grandfather to think that Danny had a connection to the Lazarus Waters due to all of the times that Grandfather dunked him in it when we were children, he used that to convince Grandfather that he is cursed and Robin appeared to punish him.”

“What do you mean Robin?” Talia asked and Bruce rubbed his face tiredly. 

“You mean the ghost, Robin?” Bruce asked, arching an eyebrow. Danny nodded his head, giving Damian a look of betrayal as he did. 

“Yes,” he said with a sigh. “What’s done is done, there’s literally nothing you can do to change it. I’m not allowed to time travel anymore anyways.”

Danny crossed his arms over his chest and slumped down in his seat. Honestly, they should just be happy that he took care of their Ra’s situation and if the immortal asshole tried to show up again, Danny would call in a favor to one of his former enemies in the Ghost Zone. Skulker owed him one, so did Fright Knight. Danny wasn’t a big supporter of murder, even when he had been a kid in the League he hadn’t been able to stomach it. But if his grandfather refused to leave him alone, he would take those necessary steps, he would darken his soul just a little more if it really meant being free from his grandfather. 

The Ghost of Robin was just a warning. 

If Ra’s didn’t listen to that warning, well Danny and Damian had come up with quite a few ideas. 

Bruce let out a sigh and rubbed his forehead tiredly. “Next time, just run these ideas by me first,” he said and Danny gave him a petulant look. “You’d just say no.”

“Within reason,” Talia told him, her own face filled with disappointment. Which, thankfully Danny was used to disappointing his parents, her look did nothing to upset him. 

“I’ll have you both remember that I’m already dead. It’s not like he can do much to me.”

“And if he somehow got his hands on the Fenton’s tech?” Bruce countered and Danny just shrugged and tapped his foot. “That’s where Damian can help me. Or one of my other siblings. You’re not going to make me feel bad for siccing Robin on him, Grandfather deserves so much worse.”

“Be that as it may, you rely far too much on your ghost half to get you out of trouble. If you’re going to make decisions like this and get into these sorts of situations, we need to start working on your training. Just because you’re powerful in your ghost form means nothing, your human side needs to train.”

Danny pursed his lips as he stared across the training mat at his twin. “Is this really necessary?” He asked as Damian crossed his arms over his chest. 

“Yes, Danyal. You are sorely out of practice and we need to get a baseline idea of your talents and skills,” Talia said as she stood on the sidelines. Danny turned and scowled at the woman. 

“Mother, why are you still here? Don’t you have a whole assassin league to deal with?” 

Talia gave him a wry smile. “I will leave in a few days. Until then, I would like to ensure that my child can defend himself on the chance that his decisions come to bite him in the ass,” she told him and Danny scowled. 

“This family is fucked up,” he said with a sigh before he got into a fighting stance and waited. Bruce looked between the twins, a small smile on his face before he nodded and the fight was on. Danny let muscle memory take over as he watched his brother, looking for the tells he knew by heart, tells that no one else in this world ever knew or noticed. The way Damian’s left eye twitched ever so slightly before he was preparing to strike, how he always seemed to come from the left, how he could never wait for Danny to strike first. He was impatient like that, but Danny wondered if the others ever noticed all of his tells and taught him to fix them. 

Then again, Ra’s had never noticed them, nor had their mother. But Danny did, just like Damian knew his tells better than Danny knew them himself. It was why they had been so evenly matched in every single spar they had, until Danny had thrown a match to let his brother win. 

Damian struck first, a kick to Danny’s right, his weaker side. He jumped over the leg and kicked out a foot of his own. The game was on, he and his brother became a flurry of movement on the training mats. It was as if Danny had never stopped training, which honestly he hadn’t, not really. Sure there were a few years he had been a normal kid, but that hadn’t lasted long. Once he had become Phantom, his old training had kicked in, along with the martial arts training from Maddie, the fights with different ghosts, it had helped him learn new tricks along the way. 

Danny imagined his twin had learned new things from his time with their father and the Teen Titans, which made their sparring just a little more fun. It also made Danny take a few more risks. While Talia and Bruce were worried he relied a little too much on his powers, which was true, they didn’t understand that it had completely altered his DNA even in his human form. He pulled punches, trying his best to not actually cause real harm to his brother, but he also let Damian get a few hits in. He was a little more solid now than he had been as a child, his body more durable than the average human’s body. Half of his brother’s hits felt like nothing, feather touches when he knew with others they would hurt. 

“Quit holding back,” Damian snarled and Danny huffed out a laugh. 

“Ahki, if you want this to be a fair fight, we need to put some blood blossoms on me or get the specs for the Fenton Specter Deflector,” Danny said with a huff as he avoided a punch from Damian. “Not all of my powers just shut off. Even in my human form I’m more durable and I’m much stronger than a human could ever dream about being.”

Danny swiped his leg out only for Damian to skitter back a few steps, avoiding his brother.

“Beloved, they will continue fighting until they tire,” Talia said and Danny let out a soft laugh as he took a hit from his brother. She was right. Danny was more durable, yes, but also he and Damian were evenly matched, one would not beat the other without throwing the fight. “It seems that our son has not forgotten his training.”

Danny glanced over at her for a split second and gave his family a lopsided grin. “Just because I left the League doesn’t mean I forgot my training. I was a ghost vigilante for a few years ya know?” He said and ducked down before Damian could kick him in the skull. Damian let out a growl of frustration and tackled Danny, knocking them to the ground. 

The halfa let out a loud laugh and flipped them, not allowing Damian to get him on his back. Bruce let out a tired sigh. 

“That’s enough you two,” he called and Danny let out a whoop of triumph only for Damian to pounce on him once again. A squeak slipped out of him as they landed on the ground once again and Damian glared at him. 

“You’re beyond frustrating, do you know that?” Damian asked, his voice just a little breathless as he fell onto his back and stared up at the cave stalactites. Danny laughed and fell back beside him. 

“So are you,” he said, smacking Damian’s move. “Your fighting turned dirty.”

“So did yours,” Damian said with a snicker. “I have missed sparring with you, Ahki.”

Danny grinned, resting his hand on his brother’s shoulder. “I’ve missed you,” he admitted quietly, ignoring their parents who were staring down at them in curiosity. 

“They did this when they were young,” Talia said, amusement laced her voice. “They were always attached at the hip. Some would whisper that Damian was Danyal’s shadow, the way they clung to one another.”

“I wish I could have seen it,” Bruce murmured. Danny closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he listened to Damian’s steady breathing and their parents murmuring to one another. 

Their lives weren’t perfect, Talia and Bruce were far from perfect parents. But he wouldn’t change anything in his life.

“I don’t remember our spars being so fun as children,” Danny finally said, glancing over at Damian who’s own eyes were closed. Damian opened a single eye to glare at Danny. 

“Because as children there was a constant threat of punishment for the loser,” he said in an icy voice, his eye shutting once more. “It was why we stayed evenly matched so that neither of us would win or lose. Until you decided to ruin that.”

“I’m sorry,” Danny whispered, still staring at his brother. “I never really thought about what my decision would do to you and I’m sorry.”

“You’re here now, that is what matters,” Damian finally said, his voice even. He said nothing for a moment before Damian rolled on his side and opened his eyes to give Danny a serious look. “If you want to make it up to me, take me to the ghost zone.”

Danny grinned. “I think I can do that.”

Chapter Text

“Thank you for coming,” Bruce said with a small smile as soon as he sat across from his guests. Harley, Pamela, and Edward all stared back at him with small, nervous smiles of their own. “I know it’s a bit odd, but you three have been taking care of my son for the last few months and I would really like to thank you for everything you’ve done for him.

“Danny’s a sweet boy,” Harley said politely. “I’m glad we got the chance to meet him.”

“You saved his life,” Bruce told them seriously. “If you three were not around, I don’t know what would have happened to Danny. But you all kept him safe and made sure that he knew that he was loved and cared about and that means more to me than you know.”

“He did have the makings of a super villain,” Ed said with a sigh, crossing his leg over his knee. “I’m glad we were able to do what we could to keep him from going that route.”

“Ah Danny’s a good kid, he wouldn’t have turned into a villain,” Pamela said, flipping her hair behind her shoulder as she got comfortable on the couch. 

“Regardless, the three of you provided him with love and care when I could not. I will never be able to show you how thankful I am for that. But I want you to know that you are welcome in this manor any time and I want you to keep your relationship with Danny. You’re his family just as much as we are.”

Harley gave him a soft smile and reached over, grabbing Bruce’s hands. “Thank you,” she whispered. “Also I want you to know that I called it. Ed and Pammy thought I was crazy but I called it. I knew Danny was yours the moment I saw that kiddo.”

“Now that I’m staring at Bruce, you’re right. The resemblance is strong,” Ed agreed, nodding his head.  Bruce let out a soft chuckle.

“I’ve learned that Danny is a rather bullheaded young man. You can’t convince him of anything he doesn’t want to see himself,” he said and the three former villains snickered, nodding in agreement.

“Preach it,” Harley muttered. Bruce let out a soft chuckle as he caught up with his college friends as they told him their own stories about his son.

Danny opened up a portal in the middle of the living room of the manor and waited patiently as his family each took a moment to inspect the large swirling green ectoplasm. While it was nothing more than just the norm for him, Danny knew that for others seeing a portal to a completely different dimension was off putting. 

“So, explain what the Infinite Realms are again?” Duke asked, eyeing the portal warily.

“Think of it like the place that connects dimensions.” Danny held out his hands and a piece of ice started to form what Danny and the Fentons theorized what the Realms looked like. A large circle with thousands of little lines that ended in little circles appeared from the ice and Danny pointed a finger at the center. 

“This large sphere here? This is the Infinite Realms. It’s the thing that connects the multiverse. Each little dot, that’s a universe or dimension of some sort. So there’s Olympus, Hades, this universe, thousands of others all throughout with one thing connecting them, the Infinite Realms,” he explained, pointing to each spot. 

“So what are beings like you? You mentioned being half dead but if heaven and hell are real as well as other afterlives, what does that mean?” Jason asked, tilting his head to the side as he poked one of the spheres. 

Danny shrugged. “When you die, you go to your own personal heaven like what I showed some of you. Sometimes, though, you get a choice, to either move on, or to become a part of the Infinite Realms, usually if you have unfinished business or no desire to go to heaven. Or they’re neverborns like Robin or Cujo which is much more likely. I’m technically neither,” he said before he shifted into Phantom. “When I went into the portal, it killed me from the electricity. But, the ectoplasm became infused with my genetic structure. A ghost, Frostbite, he’s like a doctor; he thinks that I’m not really a ghost.”

“What does he think you are?” Damian asked, tilting his head to the side. 

The halfa flashed him a grin, sharp fangs peaking out. “Frostbite thinks that I became one with the Infinite Realms. He thinks that with how I was created, I fused with the Infinite Realms. Now that I remember everything with the Lazarus Pits, I wouldn’t be surprised if that was actually the case. But I have powers not even other halfas have, I have a connection with the Realms that no other ghost has,” Danny said, a gleam in his eye. 

“So, what does that mean for you?” Bruce asked, his voice just a bit raspy. Danny shrugged again. 

“No clue,” he said with a smile. “I try not to think about it.”

Damian swallowed and nodded. “Let’s go see your home, shall we?” He asked and Danny grinned before he stepped through the portal and onto his haunt. Immediately he felt any leftover stress drain from his body as he stood atop his haunt and looked around. 

His haunt was a simple one. Just a large island with an observatory in the middle. There were a few trees, but it was primarily just the observatory, the large globe the perfect place to look at any set of stars he wanted to. Not just his universe but so many others, the sky changed whenever Danny wanted to whatever universe Danny wanted. It was beautiful, it was perfect.

He waited as each member of his family stepped through and smiled at their voices in awe. 

“Welcome to my home away from home,” he said quietly, staring up at the sky full of beautiful stars. “This is my haunt.”

“It’s beautiful,” Damian said quietly, staring around in awe. “The sky is purple?”

Danny hummed. “For now, I can change it if I want. Since this is my haunt, I have control over everything in it.”  He led his family to the observatory where his friends were all already waiting for him. 

“I can’t really take you all throughout the zone without bringing the Batplane or something through the zone. So, I figured you guys could meet some of my former rogues and friends and learn a little bit about the Infinite Realms,” he said with a small smile before opening the door to the observatory. “You’ll also notice, in the Infinite Realms, your body will behave like a ghosts’ body in the human realm. So you can walk through walls and float.”

“Really?” Dick asked, his eyes bright. Danny nodded his head and his eldest brother let out a loud laugh before he launched himself into the air and did–Danny frowned and counted for a second– a quadruple backflip before he just floated in the air. 

“This is amazing,” Dick breathed, sprawled out. “Is this what the Kryptonionans feel like?”

Danny gave him a small smile. “Yes,” he said simply. “Defying gravity is fun.” 

He jumped up and grabbed Dick’s ankle and pulled him back down to the ground before they all trekked inside. 

“Everyone, meet my family,” he said to the ghosts lounging about the Observatory. “Guys, this is Frostbite, Ember, Technus, Skulker, Pandora, Clockwork and Desiree. Desiree and Clockwork are the ones who saved me from Ra’s,” he said quietly, a small smile on his face. 

Desiree floated over and squeezed his hand lightly. “I was wondering when you were going to remember,” she said. 

Danny grinned and bumped his shoulder against hers. “Uh just some warnings. Frostbite is a doctor, Ember is a rockstar, Technus and Skulker are tech freaks who used to hunt me down. Pandora was the first human, Clockwork is what humans call Kronos, and don’t use the word wish around Desiree, she will grant any wish you make except it never turns out the way you want it,” Danny explained.

“Aw babypop, I’m just a rockstar?” Ember pouted, throwing her arms around Danny’s shoulders and hugging him tight. Danny laughed and leaned him into her embrace and patted her hands. 

Danny watched as his family spread out, talking to different ghosts and asking questions. He smiled at Tim and Barbara who were already drilling Technus with a thousand and one questions. Damian was already in deep discussion with Skulker. Alfred and Clockwork seemed to quietly regard one another, Talia and Bruce were talking quietly to Desiree. Jason and Cass were staring up at Pandora in awe while Duke waved his arms around wildly as he spoke to Frostbite. 

“This is your new family?” Ember asked, resting her chin on Danny’s shoulder. He let out a soft hum. 

“Yeah,” he said softly as Steph bounded towards them with a look of determination on her face. 

“You’re telling me that Ember the famous rockstar Ember is a ghost?” She demanded, her cheeks red as she stared at Danny in awe. “I’m a huge fan, oh my god, I love your music so much. It’s so catchy!” 

Danny slipped away as Ember started to talk to the girl about music and floated up to his telescope to watch his family talk with one another. It was still crazy to think that he could have it all. He smiled, resting his head on his hand as he watched them all chat.

“I see that you have found your family,” Clockwork said with a small smile. Danny smiled, looking down at his family. 

“Yeah, I knew ‘em when I saw them,” he said quietly and glanced over at Clockwork. “I was just too in denial at first to see it.”

Clockwork let out a soft hum. “But look at the life you created for yourself. An entire family who loves you, along with friends who care about you immensely.”

Danny smiled. “Woulda been easier if you just told me, ya know,” he said with a scoff. 

Clockwork chuckled. “When have I ever made anything easy for you Danyal?”

The halfa scoffed and shook his head as he watched Talia suddenly start sparring with Pandora while Bruce shook his head in dismay. Damian was currently sitting on the side talking with Frostbite, his brow furrowed as he nodded along to whatever the yeti was saying. 

He had to admit, the last few months, despite being stressful at times, was a fun adventure. He had learned so much about himself and he got the chance to be free in a way he hadn’t done in a very long time. Something in his core fluttered as happiness hit him, like a train on a track.

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.